Garden and Forest; a journal of horticulture, landscape art and forestry

GARDEN AND FOREST

■ i
A JOURNAL OF \

i

HORTICULTURE, LANDSCAPE ART AND FORESTRY

Conducted by
CHARLES S; SARGENT

Director of the Arnold Arboretum, Professor of Arboriculture in Harvard College, etc.

ILLUSTRATED

Volume VI. January to December, 189J

New York

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO- 1 I 'i^ I ^

1893

Copyright, 1893, by The Garden and Forest Publishing Co.

All rights reserved.

INDEX TO VOLUME VI.

The asterisk (*) denotes that the sub-
ject is illustrated.

Abandoned farms and wasted for-
ests • 20I

Abellarupestris 454

Abies amabiiis '. 458

- — ■ — ^ brachyphylla 524

Cephalonica 14

Citidca 468

concolor 4^S

firma 468, 524

erandis 14

nomolepis 524

Mariesii 65, 524

nubilis 14, 45q

Nordmanniana 458

Numidica 248

pectinata , 458

Pinsapo 14, 458

Sachalinenais 524

Sibirica 458

Veitchii 525

Abutilon, Eclipse 537

Souvenir de Bonne 397

Acacia iellcerJa 514

Riceana 506

Acacias for the cool-housc. ... . 115, 157

Acaiypha marj^inata 68

musaica 68

Acanthopanax aculeatuni 234

innovans 234

ricinifoliuin 234*

sciadophylloides 234

sessililifloruni 234

trichodon 234

Acercapillipes 153

carpinit'oUum ,54

circinatum 4^3

cissifoHum ,54

— — — cratteKifolium 154

- — — - diabolicum j-4

Japonicum 154

macrophyllum 182,377

Miyabei ,44*

-—— — Nikoense 154*

palmatum., 154

Alkii ^

Dictum 144

Pseudo-platanus 202*

rufi nerve 154

spicatuin 2S0

lartaricum Ginnala 153, 249

Tchonoskii ,. . ,54

Trautvetteriiryihrocarpa 90

Achillea aurea 287

Ptarmica 156

Achimenes, summer cultivation of, 276

Acidanthera J^quinoctialis 133, 515

Acokanthera spectabilis 184*

Aconitura autumnale 410

Napellus dclphinifolium 373

Acropera Charlesworthii 255

Actinidia arguta 88

Kolomikta ] ] gq

poly^ama 88

Adianlum Capillus-Veneris 367

cuneatum 367

macrophyllum 54

Adirondack Park, the 171

Aerides Ballantineanum aureum ... 394

— ; Sanderianum 346

/Ksculus ar^ta 503

parviflora 320, 386

Pavia 3,0

rubicunda 310

• turbinata \\] 143

A^thsea cfxjlestis [" 468

Agave Americana 300* 433

angustissima 5*, 76

Franzosini ' 54

Leopoldill [[[ ,04

Aglaonema costatum 52

versicolor .' 184

Agricultural bibliography of Maine* 340

Agriculture in public schools 37

instruction in 260

text-book of tropical 117

Agropyrum dasystachyum 15

repens ,-

Ailantus glandulosa ..'. 242

A juga Genevensis 287

Albizzia Julibrissin 163

Aleurites cordata --23

Algonquin Park, the 301

Allamanda Hendersoni ig

Allen, C. H., paper by 375

C. L., article by 169

Allium fragrans 307

Kansueiise 54

Karativiense 247

J?**'^--,: 247 307

i\ eapolitanum 307

nigrum 307

Ostrowskyanum 247 307

Rosenbachianum 247

triquetrum 307

Victoriale 47

AInus incana 343

Japonica ■ 343*

maritima 343, 436, 492

viridis, Sibirica 344

Alocasia Dussii 90

■ nobilis.... 52

Rex 52

Watsoniana 195

Aloe aurantiaca 54

Alpine plants 152

Alsopliila atrovirens 194

Alstromeria aurea 317

haeraantha 288

Altheas in autumn 430

Amaryllis Belladonna 424

cultivation of J77

garden varieties of 506

Amelanchieralnifolia 313, 369

Canadensis oblongifolia 336

American Big-Gam*e Hunting 509

Amea. Frederick Lothrop, death ot. 391

Ammophila arundiiiacea 15

Amorpha canescens 4

fruticosa 4

AmsoniaTabernaiimontana 257

Amygdalus Davidiana alba 55

Analysis, chemical, of California

fruits 220

Anamomis dichotoma 130

Andromeda campanulata 252

Japonica 254

speciosa, pulverulenta 490

Androstephium violaceum 16

Anemone Cypriana alba 186

Peniisylvanica 257

Anemonella thalictriuldes 257

Annuals, hardy 397

Annual plants', sowing seeds of,

^■35. 146. 186

Anthurium Chambertainii 122

crystallinum variegatum 255

■^■- Goldrine i 269

Hotlandi 269

Anthuriums, seedling and hybrid. . 255
Antirrhinum maurandioidea.. .283, 514

Apera arundinacea 338

Aphananthe aspera 324

Apios tuberosa 272

Aphis in rose-house, destruction of. 420

Aplectrum hiemale 34

Aplopappus rubiginosus 513

Apple, Colville Blanc 389

exhibits at the Columbian

Exposition 239, 409

—pest aoo

Apple-scab, prevention of 58

Apple-trees, aphis on roots of 270

.flowering 231

Apple, Yellow May 279

Apples at the Columbian Exposition 239

cross-fertilization of 480

harvesting of 390

in Arkansas 320, 380

in Kansas 404

- ■ - Russian 374

Apricots, Russian and other 338

Aquatic plants at the World's Fair.. 419

Aquatics in modern gardening 197

Aquilegia Canadensis 257

caerulea 288

;-Transylvanica 54

Arabia, flora of southern 514

Aralia Chinensis 234

■ cordata 233

Aralia quinquefoUa 233

spinosa 233

canescens 233

Araucaria Inibricata 15

Arboi- day, celebration of 151, 328

for Sunday schools. .. . 160

Arbutus Andrachne 4

Architecture and garden art 73

in the rural districts of the

west 132*

Arctnstaphylos Usa-ursi 15

Areca lutescens 417

Aristolochia elegans 380

Arkansas, apples in 320, 380

Armeria maritima 287

Arnolt, S., paper by 90

Aroids, tuberous 226

Art societies and city parks 291

Artemisia muteUina 47

Artichoke, globe 227

Arum Palestinum 114

Arundinaria macrosperma 534

tecta _ 534

Arundo donax - 338

variegated 338

' wmter care of 497

Ash, rust of the mountain 508

Asia Minor plants 480

Asimina triloba 260,378

Asparagus, decorative species ot.. 79

decumbens 80

plumosus 79, 537

nanus 530

retrofraclus arboreus 537

tenuissimus 80, 537

~ -virgatus 80

Aspidium marginale 207

Asplenium an^ustifoHum 403

Bradleyi gg

Goringianum pictum 207

Rutarnuraria 207

Trichomanes 207

Aster alpinus specious 287

amellus Bessarabicus... 395, 424

grandiflorus 47^

■ longifolius. Lady Trevylian.. 407

Palineri ^,4

spinosus 514

turbinellus jC*

Asters, perennial 407

Astilbe Chinensis 54

Astragalus mollissinuis i(,

Monspessulanus 287

Atkinson, George F., article bv.. .. 536

Aucuba Japonica Fructu-albo'. 174

Autumn planting 4,5

work in the garden 367,457

Ayres, H. B., articles bv.. 318, 348, 418
Azalea, Anthony Koster 205

- mollis 254

vervieniana 170

Azaleas at Knap Hill, hardy '.. 262

at the Columbian Exposition. 249

cultivation of 63

Azaleo-dendrons [ 265

B

Baccharis halimifolfa, the fruits of. 508

Bacterial diseases of plants 420

Baden-Baden, new and rare plants

^' 267, 446

Bailey. Prof. L. H.,artirlesbv. 239, 249,

259. 269, 279, 289, 299, 30Q, 319, 329, 338,

349.358,369,379,389,398,409, 412,419,

429. 448. 459

papers by. ... 2, 87,

r. . . '3'' 206

Bamboo, dwarfing of 373

Bamboos, hardy 533

Bambusa palmata , . . . 338

liagamooski 338

Banana supply of New York, the. . . 422

Barberries, hardy deciduous 134

evergreen 196

the fruits of 507

Barker, M., articles by.. 68, 93, 115, 125.

146, 166, 468

Barrens, plants adapted to sandy. .. 190

Barrows, Walter B., papei- by 58

Barry, Wm. C, paper by 57

Bassett, Wm. F., articles by.... 20, 177,

Battle Pass, Prospect Park.^'^Brookl '*^^

lyn, scene near 3,*

Bauera rubioides ,66

Bauhinia Candida ,63

Bay berry, fruits of 508

Beach, Prof. B. A , article by jgg

paper by 58

Beans, bush Lima 240.417. 490

the best ,67

Bedding-plants in parks 372

Begonia Haumanni • 305

gijou 125

■" - — Bismarcki 537

decora 53

Excelsior jgj

Gloiredejouy ,25

de Lorrame 486

deSceaux.... 76, 125, 426

Gogoensis 537

Haageana ,. 470

Madame Hardy 125

— ■ Lionel..'. 125

Mrs. Bourne 346

oculis alba ggc

President Carnot 125, 470

rubra 125

Saunderbruchii 125

Scharffiana 470

semperflorens 356

atropurpurea 356

Foliis-aureis 356

Socotrana 12^

Souvenir deFran9oi3Gaulin 125*

Triomphe de Lemoine 125

r Nancy ,25

Vernon 375

Winter Gem 10

Begonias at the World's Fair 419

for winter flowers 506

notes on 357, 388

tuberous... 138, 169, 177,356, 388,

- , „ . 395. 428

• winter flowering 125

Belgium, horticulture in 353

Benton Harbor Melon Industry, the 412

Berberis Amurensis ,35

Aquifolium 196, 222

Canadensis, the fruits of 507

Darwinii 4^ ,g6

empetrifolia 4

Fremontii 410

Japonica ,g6

nervosa j 97

repens ,97

Sieboldii 135

stenoph^-lla 4

Swaseyi 332

7'^""^»e•■eii 135. 454. 479. 507

trif oliata 283

r -vulgaris 10. 45, 507

Berchemia racemosa 142

Bessera elegans 56

Betula alba 343

Tauschii 343

verrucosa 343

Ermanl 343

Maximowicziana 343

populifolia 379

— ; serra 343

Bignonia purpurea 344

venusta 115

Biilbergia Bakeri as a house-plant . 103

Bindweeds, Japanese 78

Birch-trees, habit of 467

Bird notes fur horticulturists 58

Birds, feeding- places for 105

winter, in the pines 39

Bismarckia nobilis 244*

Bittersweet, the fruits of 507

Blackberries, cultivation of 466

in Indiana 347

diseases of 486

pruning 310

winter i>rotection of 428

Bladderwort 383

Bladhia panicutata 324

Blister-beetles 423

IV

Index.

^ >9»

Baocowa anMma joj

Boted'Arc-ttTe.. S14

Books SeHewed :
Aavfcaa Wood*. RomcYO a

HwHSh. S-o

Alt O«ho|.<loart ; or, Somv llinn

oa Good Tiiste in GanleninK;.

Mn. Sctayter Vu RenairUef. nf

A«ic«lMral Bibaoamphjr of ttw

SbM of Mum. the. Sanmel L.

Alow New E^(iani'Raad«l "W.
cTlWme. .J

Aaericaa Bte-CuK HunUnfr.
fillHil br Tbcodorr Rooaetrlt
•ad Gaom Bud Grinadl s°9

aio«raphicd iBdei of Brilith and
Mok BotulM*. lame* Brinea
aadG.S.D»ktef 360

Catery lur Profit. T. Crcin«r — 119

Cerion. Handbook 10 the Flora uf .
Prol.Triown 370

Coakributioa to our Knowledj^ ot
Sccdiinc*. a. Sir John Lub-
bock 117

Dtctkieaalre I' 1 'i-ticul-
mre c< de 1 '.«>ri;r
Nickolaaaai. 360

Eeoaomic Ftu>Ki. A. B. Scvmour
aadP.S.Earie 189

rcftfUier rarmlDK- Herbert W.
CoWacwaod. 159

naral Sntck-book. the. John
Weatbara. soo

Ffaararcanlen.lbeEnKlish. WU-
Haia Kobiaaon 65

FotaM-plaalinK. H. NichoUs jar-
chow— 138

Foorth aaaaal report of the Mil-
aoori Boanh^l Garden, the 339

Hawka and Owls of the United
Slatea. their rdatioa to aKrIcul.
tare. Dr. C Hart tlerriam and
A. K. Flaber, M.D 258

Hialary of Hiagliam. Masaachu-
•ctta. a. Cbapcers on Plants by
ThooiaaT. Bour^ and Edward
T. Boot)* 499

How to Know the Wild Flowers.
Mrs. Wlttiaai Starr Dana 189

tcoaocrmpbic Florae Japonica'.
RToUckl Yalatie 7>

In Cold and Silver. Geoi^ H.
BlwanKer it

Johnsoo's Gardeners' Dictionary.
Reriaed byC. H. WriKhi and D.
Dewar 127

Landscape-gardeninf; in Japan.
JoaephConder 418

Lea Makidies de U Vif^e. Prof.
PicfTcVLala ....... .... loo

Letters of Asa Gray. Edited by
Jane Lorinjc Gray'. 539

List ot the Plants contained in the
sixth edition of Gray's Manual.
Compiled by John A. Allen 3,40

Lynn woods, with Pen and Cam-
era, in. Nathan Mortimer
Hawkes 8a

Manures : How to Make and How
to Use Them. Frank W. Scra-
pers 179

Orchid Review, the. R.A.Rolfe. 10,540

Poems of Nature. William Cul-
ten Brvant 509

Potash fn Afcricullure 189

Flwitea de Grande Culture— C^-
r^ales, Plantes Fouraf^crcs, In-
dostrlelleset Economiques. Les.
Henry L. de Vilmortn 96

ProtectKMi of Woodlands against
dancers resultlnfi; from oreanlc
andinorxaniccauses^the. Hcr-
naiin Flirvl 439

Recrearions in Botany. Caroline
A. Creevey 449

Rosa. BlbJiofcraHa de la. Dr. Ma-
riano Venrara 60

Roae. the. H. B. EUwaneer 169

Shrubs of North-eaalem America,
the. ChariesS.Newhall 449

Saedlinn. a contribution to our
luowledi^ of. Sir John Lub-
bock. 117

Text-book of Tropical AeHcut-
tur«. a. H. A. Atford NicholU,

M.D. F.L.S., etc 117

iirikl Flowers of America, the.
Prof. Gcorjce L. Goodale 199

Woody Plants of Manhattan in
their Winter Condition. Prof.

A. S. Hitchcock 60

Bom.irea (rondea 164

PataoioetMis ••i454

R^jnes for drainage 460

Bordeaux mixture for apple>scab. . . 58
■ for lichens on fruit-

trees. 289

Borontas, cultfraiion of 156

Borrichla fruteacens 513

BiMston chrysanthemum show 478

Ikiwer show 149

lolerestlne points near 187

roetropolUao park commis-
sion lOI

public garden, the 488

lac

> show S78

Botanic gardrn at Chelsea 475

■■— ■ Harvard, notes from. 91,

166. 468

of Edinburgh 140

of New Yorfc City, pro-

poaeil 108

Botanical a8i>ect uf Pike's Peak 452

—— garden at Oxfoni, the 466

■ Missouri, course of

study in '339, 509

■—■■'notes from Texas — 15, 163, 34a.
37a, rfi, 398, 333, 393, 433. 473, 51 3. 534

Society, the Royal 387

Botrytia clne'ra $■<>

Boueainvillea glabra 380

Boulevard, proposed, in New York

City 13. 43<

Bouvardia, Huwers In winter 506

-^^^ iasminoides 426

Bouv<«.' E. T., article by 4*8

bowiea rolubllis 197

Brassia Lewisit 355

Brectling of plants si^

Britton, Pn»t*. N. L., articles by.... 433.
463. 518

BroadTup, Pennsylvania 86*

BrodUea cocci nea 368

-congesta a68

i^randiflora 315

lactea 268

•laxa a68

minor 315

Brodifisas. ^-arieties of 56

Bromelia argentina 334

- fastuosa *.. 324*

■ Penguin 335

Broughtonia sanguinea 355

BrowalUa RoexU 330

Brown, Waldo F., aHicle by 83

Brydon.J^ articleby 373

Buckhout. Prof. W. A., article by.. 81

Hucklcya 108

Buddleia Colvillei 55

globosa 140

Bud-moth aoo

Bulbocodlum vernum 177

Itulltophyllum anceps 89

comosuin 4a

Kricssoni . : 484

HamelJnii 336

■ O'Hrienianum 43

aut'imn-Howering 436

Bulbous plants for conservatories.. 296

hardy 396

Bulbs, American 56

Dutch in America a88, 357

- -■ ■ -in Texas 263

hardy 377

in North Carolina, cultivation

of 185, 339, 470

indoor cultivation of 477

- ■ - ■ ■ Mexican 197

Bpring 377, 306

summer, care of 477

Bulletin, from the Vermont Experi-
ment Station, a novel 250

Rumclia lanuginosa 503

Burbidgr, F. >V., honorary degree

conferred upon 350

Buraera Pringlei 303

Butea frondosa 73

Butt, George C, articles by 56, 80

Cabbage. Winnlgstadt

Cacti at the Columbian Exposition. .

in F.ngland

Cseaalpina multitlora

Cakllemaritima

Caladium cinnabarinum

- Duchartrc

- Katzer

Le Nain Rouge

rubescens

' venosum .

Caladiums, fancy

Calamagrostis lungifolja.
Calandrinia umliellata ...

Cabnthe Sanderiana

Vcitchii ,

Calceolaria scabiosacfulia

Caldwell, Dr. G. C, paper by

Calltomia, a garden in northern . . .

dimbmg ruses in

— day at the Columbian Expo-
sition

■ - farm-house In

-' flora

fruits, canned

fruit, supply of. In New York

■ - -— chemical analyses of.

— ^— notes Irom.. .35, 106, 182, 408.

^^^ railroad-station gardens

wild fruits in southern

- winter in ....

Callas, yellow

Callicarpa Americana

a white-fruited

Calltrrho^ involucrata 63,

Calluna vulgaris

Calochortus amM*nus 54.

— ^— Bonplandianus 56,

■ flavus

Kennedyi

4»7
439
534
303

409
409
346
334
334
409

•5

333
4»
39
395
121
258
528

399
133

.38

43»
330

498
4'3

'A

400
387
355
358
408
54
54

Calocliortiis longibarbatus 56

pulchellus 257

splendens 358, 377

■ venustus 358

Caltha palustris 357

Camassia esculenta 257

' Fraseri 257

Leichttini 237

Camellia Japonica 88

Sasanqua 88

— -^ varieties of 55

Camellias for the greenhouse 115

Cameron. Robert, articles by 33, 80, 357

Campanula aparinoides 383

Carpathica 287,315. 39s

Gai^Hnlca 387

macrantiia 387

— — nobilis 277

punctata 377

rhomboidalis 229, 315

rotunditoHa 287

Camptosorus rhizophyllus 207

Canulel>errv, the fruits of the 508

Candolte. Alphonse de, death of. . . . iBo

Canna Oermania ySo

Kaiser Wilhelm II 380

' ■ ■ ■— Konigin Charlotte 380

■ Madame Crozy 399

Sarah Hill 390

Cannas, cultivation of 68

— ■ new French or dwarf 379

Capam, H. A., aiticle by 522

Canigana Alt:\gana ' 265

■ -— ■■ arhorescens 265

Chamlagu 227, 365

f i-utescens 265

gmndiflora 265

■ pygmaea 265

— spinosa 365

Caraguata cardinalis 164

Card, Fred. W., articles by 153. 216.

336. 368, 4'. 6, 486

Cardinal-flower 383

Carnation Ada Byron 479

American Flag 167

■ — — Belle Hunnewell 167

■ Buttercup 137

Dayln-eak 137, 166

Edna Craig 137

Ferdinand Mangold .*i66

Fred. Craighton 167

Golden Triumph 167

Grace Wilder 166

Hector 166, 167

Helen Keller 479

Henrietta Sargent 167

Lady Maud 137

Lizzie McGowan 166, 376

Mary Fisher 167

-- Mary Godfrey 454

Mrs. Fisher 166, 167

Nicholson 167

Ophelia 137, 479

Paxton 167

Reginald Godfrey 454

Sweet Briar 4';9

■ flowers in summer 316

in winter 506

rust 506

Society, American, meeting

of 118

Carnations, autumn, cultivation of - . 375

cultivation of... .30, 115, 166, 375,

440, 500

in Philadelphia 107

in summer 307

■ summer treatment of 356

—— the Clove, or Border 316

Cvclops 316

IVfalmalson 316

Rcdondo 316

Remontant 316

Carolina foot-hills, farms and for-
ests on the 441

Carpinus Carplnus 364*

cordata 364

■■ — erosa 364

laxltlora 364

-- — Vedonsla 364

Caryopteris mastacanthus 437, 434

Cassava for bedding 377

Cassia Bstula 16

Castanopsis chrysophylla 4

Castcta Nicholsoni 393

Castilleia densa 243

scorzoneru'folia 243

Catalogues, how to use seedsmen's. 94

Catalpa blgnonioides 273

■■ ■ in Kansas, the 528

speciosa 272

Caterpillars, their destruction by

children '. ^18

Cattleya Alexandra; 10, 42, 484

- ' - Amesla- 42

Baroness Schroider 42

.. ■ Balalini 42

— ^— Btesensis 455

^^— Bowringiana 426

Brownii.... 515

Burberryana 43

CaUimmata 378

■ Gaskel liana 519

Harold 336

" — - intermedia 255

■ ' ' labinta 426

^^^ -.— . alba 10

autumnalis 519

Cattleya tabiata, new varieties of .. . 42

— ■ ■ vera 426

■ Lawrenciana 255

— leucoglossa 42

Minacia 43

— ■ Mossiu" 519

■ Princess May 355

Percivaliana 519

Rex — 326, 344

Schllleriana Lowii ^.... 43

— — ^— Schoficldiana 378

Triana* 519

■ ■ Victoria Regina 4a

Wirscewiczi RoehelUcnsis.. 378

Wellslana 255

William Murray 255

Cattlevas, cultivation ot" 436

Cauliflower for winter-forcing ..435, 536

Cave plants 403

Ceanothus Americanus 320

ovatus 270

Cedars of Lebanon 14

Cedrela 222

— -' Sinensis 23, 290, 377

Celastrus ariiculata 142, 507

■" Hagellaris 142

scandcns, the fruits of 507

Celery for profit 219

Celosia pyramidalis 136

Celtis Sinensis 324

Centaurea suaveolens, a strain of.. . 270

Centradenia floribunda 8

grandiilora 8

Ccntrosema grandifioi"a 377

Cephalanthus occidentalis 356

Cerastium arvense 257

Biebersteinii 229

Uoisseri 229

Ccraflus aciduus 200

Ceratostigma plumbaginoidea 370

Cercidipliyllum Japonlcum 4, 52*

Cercis Chinensis 474*

Cereus Peruvianus 108

Ceylon, handbook to the flora of . . . 370

Chamiecyparis obtusa 442

--- pisif'era 442, 459

sph:i'roidea •.... 397

■ tliuyoides -^97

Chamjcrops excelsa ^^_' 5^^

Chamberlain, John, articles JyfcJ^^ 417

Cheilanthes vestita 207

Chelone Lyoni 397

Chelsea botanic garden 475

Cherries, choke 368

Cherry, Cornelian 238

improved dwart Rocky Moun-
tain 480

Chestnut-tree in Llewellyn Park 13*

Chilopsis saligna 433

China asters 400

plants recently discovered in 522

■- tree, wild 503

Chinese Primrose 94, 506

Chionanthus Vii-gtnica 360

Chionodoxa Alleni, 55, 115

gigantea 277

Lucilise 177, 247

Sardensis 275

Tmolusi 275

Chionoscilla Alleni 133

Chorozema ilicifoUa .20, 80

Christ, H., article by 46

Christmas green 540

in London 23

Chrysanthemum A. G. Ramsay 469

A. H. Fewkes 478

——Abraham Lincoln 489

Ada H. Le Roy 478

■ Annie Monahan 479

Bellevue 47^

Brigand 489

Bronze Giant 480

C. B. Whitnal! 517

Challenge 489, 517

Charles Davis 489

—— Christmas Eve 517

Daisy 469

Dr. Covert 517

• — — ■ Dr. H crbert M. Howe 479

Dr. John H. Taylor 489

Dr. Julius Callendrear 469

Eda Piass 517

Edward Molyneux 475, 504

Eiderdown 517

Elsie N eville 5(14

Emily Dorner 517

Ermf^nelda 470

Ethel 5,?

Eugene Dailledouze 479, 489

Florence Percy ..... 4*^*

G. W. Childs.'. 504

Golden Dragon 518

Golden Wedding... 478,479,489,

,, ..- . 504. 517

Good Gracious 478, 479, 489

Harry Balaley 479

Harry May 478

Helen J. Joyce 47^

Inter-Ocean , 489

^*^''y,v/,; 479

Joey Hill 489

John Hunyan 504

JudgeHolIt 489

^^ Katheriiie I^ech 479

L'Enfant des Deux Mondes. . 489

Livingston 469

■ Louis Menand 469

Index.

Chrysanthemum Louise D, Black..

Major Bonnaffon

Marie Louise

Miss Kate Brown

Molly Bawn

Mrs. Andrew Carnegie

Mrs. C. J. Salter

Mrs. Charles L. Sharpless. ..

Mrs. Crai^ Lippincott.. 479,

Mrs. E. G. Hill 450.

Mrs. F. Gordon Dexter

Mrs. F. L. Ames

. Mrs. Florence P. Lang

Mrs. H. G. Jones

Mrs. Humph revs

Mrs. H. W. Hij^inbotham..

- Mis. Irving Clark

- Mrs. Isaac Price

- Mrs. James B. Crane

- Mrs. James W. Paul, Jr

-Mrs. Jerome Jones

- Mrs. Potter Palmer

- Mrs. Robert C. Ogden

- Mrs. Robert Craig

- Mrs. W. A. Reed

-Mrs. W. G. Newitt

-Mrs. W. K. Harris

- Mutual Friend

- Niveus 478, 479,

- O. P. Bassett ,.

- October Beauty

-Olga

- Peach-blossom

- Pitcher & Manda. . . 469, 478,

- Potter Palmer

- Portia

- President Smith

- Princess

- Redondo

- Robert Mclnncs

- Robert Owen

- Rose Wynne

- rotundifolium

- S. C- Burpee

- Syrinca

- The Queen .... 478, 479, 489,

- Viviand Morel

- W. G. Newett

-W.N.Rudd

-W. W. Aslor

- WhiteCap

- White Gem

-Yellow Queen

- a naturally grown

- exhibition in Boston

inChicugo

in New York

in Philadelphia

in Short Hills, N. J....

- in England

489
489
489
440
5'7
517
504
479
. 489
479
469

5>7
469
518
517
479.
489
479
5*7
469

479
478
489
479
5'7
479
5»7
517
478
489

517
440

5»7
478

489.

5'4*
517
478

489
504
55
517
517
498
478
489
489
504
517
5^7
440

453
478
489
478

479
469

503
491
508
5'o
504
200
328.

popularity ot the

shows, the

Chrysanthemums, American

Anemone-flowered 469,

classification of

cultivation of. . . 187, 228, 275,

disease of 108

early 440

exhibition 488, 498

gi-aftcd on Anthemis frutes-

cens 510

prize-taking varieties in Eng-
land 504

propagation of 68

m vases for competion 499

i udging 508

late-flowering 516

new pink 469

new white 469

■ — new yellow 469

specimen plants of 508

spring cultivation of 126

varieties for specimen plants. 509

CibotiumSchiedei 449

Cineraria maritima a urea*. 255

Cinerarias at the Columbian Expo-
sition 178

double 178

Cinnamomum Camphora 292

pedunculatum 292

Cirrhopetalum Ameslanum 89

ornatissimum 484

Cisaus incisa 513

Cistus laurifolius 280

Citrus Aurantium Japonica 240

fruits at the Columbian Expo-
sition 309

City parks, attacks on 85

Cladrastis flava 268, 378

Clark, Wm S., article by 528

Claytonia megarrhiza. .' 453

Clematis, a new hybrid 380

coccinea 370

crispa 370

Davidiana 354, 395

Drummondii 162, 514

flammula 370

indivisa i66*

l>aniciilata 397

Stanleyi 454

stans 354

tnbulosa 395

Virginiana 370

Cleome integiifolia 452

Clerodendron trichotomum. .. . 274, 394

Clethra ainifolia 356, 447

barbmervis 254

canescens 254

Pringlei 1 203, 303

tomentosa 447

Cleyera ochnacea - 88

CHtoria Mariana 162

Clivia Scarlet Gem 164

Club root fungus 78*

Cocculus diversifolius 473

Cochlioda Noezliana 255

Cocoanuts, manufacture of desic-
cated 530

Cocos plumosa 104, 131

Codman, Henry Sargent, death ot. . 36

C<t;logyne Dayana 254

Colchicum montanum 426

■ ■ ■ Parkinsoni 426

Sibthorpii 423

speciosum. 425, 426

Cold frame for sowing seeds of an-
nuals 186

Coleus, varieties of 475

Columbian Exposition, apple exhib-
its at 239

aquatic plants at 419

artistic arrangement of,

192, 293, 361

■ Azaleas at 249

Begonias at 419

Cacti at 429

■ Caladiumsat 409

Chinese Primroses at. 94

Cinerarias at the 178

citrous fruits at 3-8

' ' - cold - storage ware-
house at 310, 320

Cyclamens at the 157

flowers at 399

front esplanade of the

Horticultural Buildmg 371

fruit displays at.. 239, 279,

358, 398. 399. 409. 4'9

gardening at the. . 302, 459

general design of 361

grapes at 419

greenhouse exhibits at 448

horticultural congress

ol 359

— exhibits at. 271, 382

horticulture at . . . 341, 399

Hyacinths at 188

■ Japanese horticulture

at 369, 380

persimmons at. 399

nursery exhibits in the

Midway Plaisance , 389

Pansies at the 84

pecan nuts at 449

photograph monopoly

at 292, 462

plant-effects in the

Horticultural Building 349

plants around lagoons

of 419

■ -■ — in bloom 289

— ^— Polyanthus Narcissus

at 188

—^— potato exhibit at 409

Rhododendrons at.... 259

Roses at 299

—— ^ seed exhibits at 319

■ - -■ ■ stone-fruits at 398

the Wine Building at. . 329

vegetables at 269, 399

Common names of wild plants, the. 448

Condalia obovata 283

Coniferous forests, American 408

Conifers and Oaks, how to identify

certain 397

■ at Dosoris, Long Island .... 248

hardy at Wellesley, Mass. ... 229

Conservatories, bulbous plants for. 296

plants for, in summer 275

Conservatory, preparatory work in

the 375

Convolvulus major 78

Cook, Vincent, article by loi

Cool houses, flowering plants for.. 156
Copper mixtures for apple-scab. ... 58

Coral-berry, the fruits of 507

Corallorhiza multiflora 314

Corbett, L. C, article b^ 528

('oreopsis Drummondii 136

grandiflora 156

rosea 383

Corn, cultivation of sweet a88

sweet, early varieties of 197

Cornusalba 253

Canadensis 253

florida 377, 507

Kou3:i 55, 253, 260

macrophylla 253, 393

mas 180, 238

officinalis 253

species on the coast dune of

Lake Michigan 15

Suecica 253

Cornwall, notes from 444

Correa cardinalis 108

Correvon,H., articles by 152, 496

Coryanthes macrooorys 89

(^orylopsis paucifiora 164, 227

Costnos, hybrid 449, 528

Costud Lucanustanus 90

Cotoneasteracuminata, the fruits of, 507

Cotoneaster niicropliylla, the fruits

of 507

vulgaris, the fruits of 507

Country hie, eftect upon women.... i

—^^ seat in California, a 159

Cowslip, Virginian 156

Crab-apples, the fruits of 507

Cranberries, injury by katydids. ... 84

Cranberry bog 389

Crassula jasminea coccinea 255

lactea 506

Crataegus chlorosaca 214

coccinea 499

cordata, the fruits of 507

Crus-galli, the fruits of 507

Korolkowi 446

mollis 499

pyracantha, the fruits of 507

lartarica major 446

Crinum Abyssinicum 90

amabile 296

Americanum 407

Capense 407

Kirkii 407

latifolium 388

Moorel 296

Powelli 387, 407

— alba 387

— Yemense 90

yucciefolium 90

Crocosmia aurea 534

Crocus cancellatus 425

Imperati 177

nudiflorus ■ 425

pulchellus 446

speciosus 425

zonatus 424

Cross-fertilization of pears and ap-
ples 480

Crotalaria longirostrata 340, 468

Croton elaea^noides 203

Crotons, cultivation of 68

Crozier, A. A., articles by 20, 347

Cry ptomeria Japonica 443*

Cupressus macrocarpa 346

Currant, the Crandall 206

Currants, cultivation of in Indiana.. 347

ornamental 245

Cut flowers, how to preserve 322

Cycas revoluta... 526

Cyclamen album 158

Crimson King 158

Emperor Wilfiam 158

Giganteum magnificum 158

superbum 158

Mont Blanc 158

Persicum. ..I02. 125,146,158, 506

Roseum superbum 158

Rosy Morn 158

Cyclamens at the Columbian Expo-
sition 157

hardy 426

Cyclanthera dissecta 242

Cymbidium grandiflorum 112, 123

Winnianum 42

Cvnorchis grandiflora 78, 114, 486

Cyperus pungens 115, 245

Schweinitzii 51

Cypress as a building material 130

Cypress-knees, development of. .. . 460

Cypripedium acaule 33

ariettnum 33

-■ ■ - Arite 10

Chamberlainianum 42, 258

Charlesworthii 455, 540

Charles Rickman 336

conco-lawre 113

■ ■ Edwardii 346

Exul 43

Fairieanum X Lawrencia-

num 534

Germinvianumaureum 258

H. Balla'ntyne 378

Hebe 105

insigne 115, 506, 519

Johnsonianum 10

Lawrencianum 519

Leeanum ampliatum 117

Massianum 326

— — Minos 534

montanum 258

Nicholsonianum 350

nitidissimum 378

parviflorum 33, 247

pubescens 33, 247, 257

Rothschildianum i44*f 255

Sallierii pictum 117

Southgatense superbum 534

Stonei Carna^rtianum 326

— Tacita 105

tonsovillosum 117

vernixium punctatum 117

villosum 519

Volonteanum giganteum.... 255

Winnianum 114

Cypripediums, cultivation of. 146

new hybrid 42, 89

Cyrtanthus carneus 78

Galpini 54

Huttoni 255

hybridus 28

intermedins 184

Cyrtomium caryolideurn 367

falcatum 367

Cyrtopodium Anderson! 255

Cyrtosperma ferox 90

Cytiaus nigricans 320

Cytisus racemosua 8

.— Schipk^ensis 90

Scoparius 227

D

Daboecia polifolia 447

Daffodil farm, a 180

■ Poet's, double white 237

Daffodils in masses 206

new 220

varieties of 218

Dahlia dissecta 182

Dahlias 445

——— an insect injurious to 500

cactus and show 487

' ■ " dwarf 377

^ single 407

^—^— failure to bloom 417,448, 500

single 415

varieties of 475

Daisy, decorative value of tjie ox-
eye . 352*

Dakota, two wild fruits in North .... 368

Dalea frutescens 64

Dana, Charles A., article by 248

Dandelion as a salad plant, the 497

Dandridge, Mrs. Danske, ailicles by

222, 263, 453, 468
Daphne Cneorum 229, 409, 447

Mezereum 133, 169

Daphniphyllum humile 323

macropodum 323

Dasylirion inerme 304

Decay of an Ash tree, treatment for. 388

Decays, fruit 342

Decoration, economy in 352*

Decorative plants in winter 18

Delphinium, a white! 59

Sinense 199, 316

Dendrobium Benita 184

Bryan 184

formosum giganteum , .. 519

nobile 519

^^— Amesi;e 114

Ballianum 114

■ Owenianum 114

Phahenopsls 190, 519

•^-^— Scnrcederianum 467

Svbil 184

Wardianum. ...- 519

alba 184

Dendrobiums, new hybrid 42

Dendropanax arboreus 203

Japonicum 233

Design of the Columbian Exposi-
tion, the general 361

Deutzia gracilis, propagation of... 179

f>arviflora , . , 280, 300
f, John, article by 26

Dianthus annulatus 287

atrorubens 287

barbatus...' 156

callizonus 55

deltoides 287

. dentosus 287

. neglccta 287

Sinensis Heddewigii 136

subcaulescens 287

superbus 287

Dicentra eximea 329, 246

Dichondra repens 162

Dichorisandi-a angustifolia 90

musaica gigantea 90

Didymocarpus lacunosa 346

Dieftenbachia meleagris 90

ol bia 90

picturata 90

Diervilfa Japonica 254

Diervillas 234

Dimorphanthus Manchuricus 234

Diospvros Kaki 273

Lotus -. 273

Texana 283

Di pladenia Brearleyana 445

eximea 344

■ Harrisii 344

Dirca palustris 180

Disa Kewense 244

Veitchii 296

■ -—- tripetaloides 455

Disanthus cerciaifolia 214*

Diacaria serratifolia 4

Disease, filbert 134*

Diseases of grapes 43S

of the vine 190

and injurious insects, legis-
lation against 401

Distylium 214

Dock, Miss Mira Lloyd, articles by

85. 273

Dodecatheon medea alba 229

Dodge, Miss Louise, articles by.... 22
Doronicum Harpur Crewe 229

plantagineum excelsum 156

Doryanthes Guilfoylei 333

Douglas, I ., paper by 114

Robert, articles by 106, 136, 252,

448

T. H.. articles by 116, 182

Dracaina Godseffiana 194

Sanderiana. .53, 194, 236, 378, 397

Drainage and irrigation in the gar-
den 516

Draining of the Zuyder Zee 350

VI

— -^It—omUth*- 4>8

Daatar. John, arttde by iS*

Dwfaa-Ml. *«

■rpluilitaijapao Vi

Mf^tbcanoUM •«>

Index.

13

gi*^— ~» porpure* ••• 3*9

ctuDKi •»». S'o

r in decoralion .is»'

1 4*. '»

I iorthc larm and garden, sj

|pP««wl<i««.- ■»*

Skreton acuiiiinata ■7*

. M>- •'i

' 303

EidK... ' ■ M'

craAJ«tJCS ma|or 347

Ehpa^mu hui1en«« in Dakota. s*°

lon^ipea *9i

_— — uuncens »93

Gmbdiatut a6j, >9i 4*9

BlBr"~T— ph.iiiiiif»ili» ■■

IkMlhtrorocoM ••■■• '33

Eafnafecrft Barry, nrtJcle from... »99

Bn. tbe American 4<>7

Iheccdarorred 5J4

ihi- Enicttah 4*7

Dm-«rer bark borer Tj

Bmt^ an avenue 01 i?**

Bw«.H. J. article by.. 408

Byno* Canadensis "5

— — frtaucus 338

hyalrii 338

Emmafkanthe pendulifera 55

Eodicott. W. E-. articles bjr..6. loj, m,
s88. 3<». 357. 4 '5. 487

Endive, cultivation of 3*7

El.hrdrj iititwiphililica 393

El.i.lendrum H.^dseiBanum 4»

Mantinianum 89

radicans 477

Watsonianum 4J

Epimedium alpinum "58

macranthum 'i°

niveum »«V. "S"

,ulviliureuro '5°

! ? Veitdiil 378

I iruncatuui '?

l.,_ _iliclca «33. '8*

EroDuru* rubustus »77

Eriaiiihus Ravenme 33°

Erica Caffra 537

hvemals..- 8

nielanthera 537

TetralU 447

vagans 355.447

Eri(ceron heteromorphus aoj

Erioatemum buiifollum 5*

Eritrichlum nanum >5»

EitKlium Mauesciivi '^7

Eryngium prolivlV'rum "43

■ ErynRiums. FUiropean 49*

b>vtliea ormata >o5,

— : — edulis "OS

Eryllirocliiite palmadfida 317

Erytlironium albidum »77

grandifioruin 5*

Erythroniums. cultivation of 267

Eucalyptus j^lobulus "

Eucbans Amaiooica.. '9

Candida "9°

^^— erandlHora 39*

Lowli '9*

Eucryphia Billardieil 344. 386

Uoorei 345

pinnalifolia 344. 38*

Eulalla Rraallima univitatia 338

Jap.inica 3""

varie$^ta 338

. zebrina 338

Eulophiella Eli»ab«rth;e 89,204, 204

EupatoriumaKeratioidcs 283

atrorubeiiB 426

ccelesdnum • 381

riparium 4»*. 5°*

Euphorbia fulKens 8

Ipecacuanhie 330

* jacquinlorflora t8. 32

pulcherrima 8. 32, 506

splendens • 3'

Europe, notes of a summer joumer

In 4. ■4.*». MO

Euplelara polyandra 52

Eurodalanau "

Eurya Jaixmlca 88

Eoryaleleroi 434

Eanoma ailenifoliam 5>4

Sumttvau, transplandng 400

Enxfla ruta«arpa ■>

Evonyrous alatus 42

American and European 45

. Europu'U- Hamiltonlanus... 142

Jap<>ntcus 142

macropterus »42

Nlp|H>nicus >42

oxyphyllus >42

EKacnm mai.Tanllium 394

Exc<nariaJaponlca 3»3

Exhibition, Boston chrysanthemum. 478

sprloK flower M9

Chlcaeo chrysanttn'irium — 489

New York chrysanthemum.. 478

Exhibition. New York Florists' Club 138

sprinK Hower.. 2^19

. Philadelphia carnation ii>7

chrvsamhemuni 479

. spring flower »37

sprinir tiowcr. Rose Hill Nur-
series':... T. ;VVV '"'

Roval Horticultural bociely.. 254

United Stales Nurseries,

Chrysanthemum ■- 4*9

Uidted States Nurseries, or-

chid ••••.• ^

Experiment Stations, work of.

•^ 381, 429, 52'
__^_ work of American 46a

Faimiount Park, trees iiJ. 378

Fariow. Dr. W. O.. articles by.. 23,
Farm house In northern California. .

Farms abandoned .■■■A""u"

and forests on the Carolina

foothills 44>,

FarwcU, O. A., article by

Fatsla horrlda

Japonioa

papyrifer.1

Fences 482, 502. 5'^.

Insects sheltered by

Fern, a rare

Ferneries, hardv ,••.•■■•.

Femow, Dr. B. E.. articles by... 34,

Ferns, cultivation of

filmy

3*3

3»'

518

■ 49
233
233
233
530
24

206

147
207

237

- suitable lor house-culture ... 367

Fertilizer farming.
Fertilizers for small fruits...

Ficus Guadalajaraiia

Jaliscana

Pringlel

Segovlio

>59
83*
304
303
3"4
203

Filbert disease •■ '34*

Fir. the Douglas '4

Fires, forest 3"> 3>8

Fisher & Co., article Iroiii 32*

Flannagali, L. C article by 459

Flora of California ■ 390

of Ceylon, handbook to the.. 370

of New South Wales 370

of south Arabia 5'4

of West Virginia 128

of the coast dune ol Lake

Michigan 5'

Floral sketchbook, the . 500

Florists, convention of the Society

of American • • • • • 359

Flower and Fruit Mission, New

Ybrk .•••■ 23s. 450

buds in winter, forcing 81

garden in spring, the 231

the 357

theEnglish *5

gardens for children 278

- market in New York, the.

60

pictures 232

at the Academy of De-
sign • 83

seeds to be sown In July 2yo

show at Rose Hill Nurseries. 107

at Short Hills. N.J 4*9

in lioston 149. 478

in New York 20.J. 478

In Philadelphia... 137. 479

of the New York

Florists' Club "38

shows and their uses. 139, 408. 508

Howering plants for cool houses. . . 156

odor ot 260

Flowers, a bunch of meadow 352*

^ annuals for cut »•*

autumn blooming of spring.

4'7. 430

Wuc "98

cut, how to preserve 322

Easier >*o

-favorite 4*

- for cutting In winter 50*

forcing in winter 81. 117, 141

hardy 22. 33. 90, 1 36, 1 39, 152,

156. 170. 177. 186. 192. 197, 200, 207. 209,

210, 217, 218, 2Z7. 237. 24s, 246. 247, 257,

267. 274, 277, 280, 287, 288, 296, 304, 306.

307. 3>5. 328, 377. 387. 395. 397. 407

in Paris "4

of tlie Riviera i74

preservation of 470

seasonable 118, 160. 186, 520

spring, at Short Hills, N.J... 247

the love of Japanese lor par-
ticular 50

the names of garden 25

the use of, in ceremonies 282

■ wild .

257.

268, 314

- at exhibitions 4*°

how to know 189

in market 273

of America 199

. the re-appearance of. . 219

Flushing. 1-ong Island, trees in 38Z

Foliage, color of. In spilng 209

Foraec-plant, a new 39^' 4*8

Foreign plants, how they came to

Europe 312

Forest air and forest soil, hygienic

significance of 34

Forest commission. Pennsylvtinia.. 261

fires in Newjersey '7°

lossby 3"2

the annual 312. 3"8

HoraofJaiKin... 26.38*. 51*. 64*.

75*. 88. III*. 121. 142*. 153*, 1*2*. "93''.
211*, 233*. 253. 273, 292*. 323*. 34=*.
3*3*. 38 s*, 40,!. 442*. 473- 493*. 5»4*. 532

— of Virginia 208

lands, careol the public 140

legislation in Pennsylvania.. 271

planting '38

reservations, care of the na-
tional 35". 5n

in the west '20

tree plantation in Illinois 49"

, trees in the southern states,

the distribution of some 37=

Forestry and lumbering 45'

Association, American, an-
nual meeting of 520. 5^9

Building, Columbian Exposi-
tion, exhibits in 35°. 3 80

commission of Pennsylvania.

110, 250

report of the New

Hampshire ">9

congress, the coining 251

exhibit, Michigan 470

in the west >3*

Forests. American coniferous 408

and farms on the Carolina

foothills 441. 518

and the army, the 95, 5'"

climatic influence of 147

coniferous 252

cutting down signorial 332

destiucrion of 201. 402

in Germany •• '=8

. in the Amador, second-
growth "8

of Minnesota, suggestions

from the White Pine 348

of Ne-lla-Sa-Ne Park in

northern New York >68

of the south 'SO

of the While Mountains. . .62, 106

of Wyoming 240

timber production of our 212

the national government and

the national 511

was the desolation of central

Tunis caused by the destruction of 481
Forget-me-nols, seeds, sowing of... 328
Formal gardening. 119, 129, 161, 302, 371

planting inparks 37"

Foriuine.Dr. H. A.artideby 498

Foster, Prof. M., article by 47

Fourcova gigantea 399

ft(.e/.lil 360

Four-lined leaf-bug 5°o

France, training of fruit-trees in . . . 3S9

FraxinelLas »8o

Fraxinus Americana Texensis 524

excelsior. 4*7

. longlcuspis 274

Manchurica 274

■ potamopliila 4*7

raibocarpa 90

. rliyncopliylla 484*

French, J. D. W., article by ys

■ schools of horticulture 284

Freyliiiia cestroides 5 '4

Fringe-tree, white 263

FritiUaria acmopetalis 275

aurea 1*4. 2'7. =75

blflora 227

L-itifolia 275

pallidiflora 277

pudica 5*. 258, 267

. recurva? 5*

Irislis . . . ; 227

■ tiilipicfoUa 277

Whittallii 184, 220

Frilillarias "97

hardiness of 267

Frost, effect of in North Carolina ... 74

Fruit decays, an observation on 342

exports, Calif ornian 13B

farm, a large 170

— new types of 206

jihosphate for 121

thinning ol ;••• 320

trees for road-side planting,

objections to 190

; French 389

.. girdled by mice 93

pruning 170

sprayinp of 160

Fruits at Columbian Exposition, 239, 279,
309. 358. J98, 399, 409, 4'9

cultivation of, in lexas 298

failure of promising varieties

of 2

in North Dakota, two wild . . 368

late ornamental 507

. new tropical 1*0

Russian 374. 409. 490

small, in Indiana 346

stone, at the Columbian Ex-
position 398

two unappreciated 336

wild in southern California.. 313

Fuchsia procunibcns 179

Fungi, economic • 189

In English woodlands 5 to

Fungicides upon potatoes, a test of, 297*

Fungus, a usefnl ; S'O

club-root 7°

on the Mountain Ash 508

Funkia subcordata 397

Galllardia grandiflora ■•• "3*

pulcliella 283, 513

Galactia heterophylla 393

Galanthus Byzimtinus 124

Elwesd robustus 124

gracilis

fkariic

. Iinperati

. Atkinsi

tnaxiinus

2S0
320
170
'77
■84
480
124
.36
268

ochrospeilus

Perryi

varieties of 9°.

tjalium aristatum -

Gallaher, Frank M ., artide by 199

G.altonia caiidicans 397

Garden, a seventeenth century 49

art and architecture 73

autumn in a West Virginia.. 469

botanic, at Edinburgh 140

English flower •• 65

hardy flower... .136. 218. 246. 277,

357

in a Mexican 283

in May. the 223

in Northern California 258

Japanese -49. 380

at the Columbian Ex-
position •, 3*9

— - — Missouri bot.inlc *o. 339. 509

notes 377.407. 457

from a Northern 437

October in a West Virginia.. 453

of Mr. E. H. Hart. Federal'

131

. .68

Point. Florida

spring preparation for the

students at Kew 475

the flower 357

the rock 287

the spring • '77

the water 207. 29*. 347

the wild 257.268

work in August 337

Gardeners' certilicates, questions to

be answered by candidates lor. . . 302

Gardenia florida ,-^"K '''

Gardening at the Columbian j!.xpo-

sition 302. 459

city ■"

. co-operative 3°7

formal 119. 129. '*'• 302,37"

Gardens, Hower, for children 278

. Italian, notes on 322

surrounding the Taj Mahal.. 171

Gentiana acaulis

angustifolia

cruciata

Geranium Balkanum

inaculatum

rose, for perfumes

sanguineum ..

87

382

2S7

245

257

128

287

Gerard7j.?'.,ai'ticlesby,9, 16, 22,31, 43,
55,57,69,92, 102. 115. 125, 136, 157, 177,
186. 197. 207, 218, 227, 229, 237, 245. 247,
257. 267, 274. 288, 296, 308, 315, 328, 338.
347. 356. 357. 377. 395. 407. 4'*. 42*, 434.
445, 457. 4*4. 4*9. 488, 497. 498, 508. 526.
537
German wine building at the Colum-
bian Exposition 329

Gcrmantown, slreelsof 378

the Meehan nurseries and the

trees of •• • • 377

Gesneras, summer culllvation of... 27s

Geuni triflorum 257

Ghent, quiM(|uennial exhibition at. . 204

Ginger-beer plant..- 5°

Gingko-tri:e 473

Ginseng, cultivation of 490

the American 35=

Girdled pear-tree restored by graft-

iiig 93*

Gladioli, eariyflowering 3*8

French 379

hardy =57

hybrid 243

Gladiolus, Bowiensls 3*8

. ■ Papilio Gandavensis 243

Breiichleyensis 3*8

ramosus, hybrids of 3*8

opposiflflorus 44*

sulphureus 35°

Victorialis 243

Glass, substitutes for 15°

Gledilsiajaponica 163*

Gloxinia crassifolia, summer culU-

vation of 275

^ speciosa 33

Gloxinias, cultivation of 33

diseases of 9

Gnaphallum lavandulaceum 243

Gonzalia glabra 303

Goodyera pubescens 34, 3'4

Gooseberries, cultivation of, in

Indiana 347

Gordonta Altamaha 227. 378, 437. 492

Lasianthus 492

Gramiiiatophylluin Feiizlianum 255

Index.

VII

Grammatophyllum speciosum 225

Grape, Black Hamburg 68, 370, 374

Campbell's Early 530

Geneva 72

Munson's Brilliant 374

Muscat 374

Nectar 410

pollen, impotency of 199

Samuels 279

vines, pruning 189

Grapes, bag;ginp; 240

California raisin 265

Concord, experiment with ... 375

• cultivation of 447

diseases of 438

exhibit of, althe World's Fair 419

for winter keeping 10

gi-afting - - - 1 70

hardiness ot 210

■ in North Carolina, cultivation

of 3oo» 374

Munson's seedling 375

trials with 96

under glass, cultivation of

326, 475
Grass, Crab 427

Pampas 170

Ravenna 338

seedfurlawns 427

Grasses 338

on the coast dune of Lake

Michigan 15

Gray, Asa, Letters of 539

Greenhouse, a summer 176

exhibits at the Columbian Ex-
position 448

plants T15, 179, 397

winter-flowering 536

preparation for winter,

337» 367J 477

repairing of 375

work 506

Greenhouses, small 92, 526

Greiner, T., articles by 288, 447, 516

Grevlllea robusta 56, 389, 520

Grewia parviflora, the fruits of 507

Grey, Robert M., articles by 105, 169,

258, 269

Griffinia hyacinthina 296

Grindelia inuloides ; .. 36

Groundsel-free, tiie fruits of 508

Grub, the white, in lawns 357, 369

Grubs and seeds in greenhouse soil,

to kill 427

Guevina Avellana 534

Guiacum angustifolium 283

Guiilot, Jean Baptiste, death of 410

Gustavia pterocarpa 424

Gypsophila cerastioides 287

repeng 287

Raddiana 90

Gypsy moth, destruction of 69

H

Habenaria carnea 394, 485

ciliaris 34

■- dilatata 34

■ fimbriata 34

psycodes 34

H^manthus multiflorus 296

sanguineus 296

Halesia, a new name for the genus. 433,
463, 486, 518

■ Carolina , 434

diptera 434

Meehani 377

parviflora 434

tetraptera 249, 273, 434

the use of the generic name. 433,

463

V. Mohrodendron 486

Hallophytes 433

Halstcd, Prof. Byron D., articles by 78.
134. 342, 508

Hamamelis arborescens 214

Japonica 214

Virginiana 436, 492

Hamburg, villa gardens of 430

Hammond, A. C, death of 280

Hardy annuals 397

ferneries 206

flowers. . . 22, 33, 90, 136, 139, 152,

156, 170, 177, 186, 197, 200, 207, 209, 210,

217, 218, 227, 237, 245, 246, 247, 257, 267,

274, 277, 280, 287, 288, 296, 304, 306, 307,

315. 328, 377, 387, 395, 397, 407

herbaceous plants . 377, 391

perennials for sub-tropical

effect 45

plants, winter care of 497

Harrison, J. B., articles by 106, 328

Harvard Botanic Garden, notes

from 93, 166, 468

Harvey, J. C, articles by 104, 439

Hatfield, T. D., articles by 126, 135,

146, 156, 166, 179, 187,208, 228, 246, 275,
387, 298, 307, 308, 317, 328, 337. 348, 357,
378, 388. 395. 397. 408, 437, 508, 518, 537

Havard, Dr. v., article by 452

Hawks and owls of the United
States, their relation to agricul-
ture 258

Heating apparatus, valves in 81

Hedysarum coronarium 425

Hedysarum multtUigum 386

Helianthus argopnyllus 272

— Maximilliani 272, 440

rigidus, var. Miss Mellish. . . 394

Helianthuin vulgare ^ 270

Heliconia illustris ' 183

spectabilis 90

Heliotrope, cultivation of 20

Helleborus niger 10, 156, 537

Helwingia 233

Hemerocallis flava 280

Mittendorfiiana 287

Thunbergii 287

- — - varieties of 156

Hemlock forests in japan 39*, 495*

Hemlocks in Minnesota 418

Henshaw, Samuel, articles by. 197, 397,

407

Herbaceous plants, hardy 377, 391

Heuchera sanguinea.. 156, 287, 316, 395

Hibiscus Moscheutos 383, 499

Hicoria myristjcselormis 372

Pecan 372, 378

Hickory, Nutmeg ■ 372

Hieracium Pilosella 290

Highlands of New Jersey 491

Hilgard, Prof. E. W., article by 463

Hill, E. J., articles by. ... 15, 51, 94, 157,
178, 188
Holmes, Thomas, articles by.. 132, 308
Hingham, Massachusetts, history

of.

499

Hippeastrum procerum 326

Hogg, Tliomas, death ot 24

Holland, treatment of waste lands in no

Hollies, hardy evergreen 196

Holly, American, transplanting of.. 138
Hollyhocks, double, cultivation of. . 315

winter care of .... 497

Home-grounds, planting of 471

Honeysuckle, Hall's Japanese 446

Honeysuckles, climbing 314, 507

Tartarian 240

Hop Hornbeam 383

Horsford, F. H., articles by. .33, 47, 56
82, 107, 267, 296, 367, 437, 518
Horticultural Building of the Colum-
bian Exposition, plant effects in

the : 349*

of the Columbian Ex-
position, the front esplanade of

the 379

Congress at the Columbian

Exposition 359

education in France 214, 284

exhibit at the Columbian Ex-
position 271, 382

Hall in Philadelphia, destruc-
tion by fire 250

Society, general 370

of Wayne, Pa 84

Royal 112, 387

Western New York,

meeting of 57, 70

Horticulture and Birds 58

at tlie Columbian Exposition, 341,

369. 399

in Belgium 353

in Finance 124

Japanese, at the Columbian

Exposition 369

- technical instruction in 214

Hoskins, T. H., articles by. .30, 374, 526

Hot-bed, care of ■ 180

Hough, Romeyn B., article by 93

House-plants. . .84, 102, 103, 115, J57, 416

Houstonia coerulea 257

Hovenia dulcis 142, 300, 377

Huckleberries, white 363

Hudsonia tomentosa 51

Humulus Japonicus variegatus 346

Hunn, C. E., articles by... 167, 187, 197,
227. 417

Hunnemania fumariit^folia 424

Hunnewell, H. H., article by 228

, . honorary degree con-
ferred upon 350

Hybrid genera 126

Hybridization, experiments in 200

Hybridizing 216

Hydrangea hortensis 340

panicutata 21^, 387

, .. . -grandiflora 355, 387

quercifolia 300

vestita pubescens 394*

Hydropyrum latifolium 338

Hymenocaliis calathinum 350

Hymenophyllum, varieties of 237

Hypericum calycinum 447

Moserianum 63, 247,407, 454

Hypericums 354

Iberis Garrexiana

Gibraltarica

Icacorea paniculata

Ilex Aquitolium

crenata

geniculata

glabra

Integra

lijevigata, the fruits of

latifolia

macropoda

opaca 196, 499'

229
229
324

196
121

507
.121

Ilex pecundulosa 122

rotunda 121

serrata 122

Sieboldi X22, 227, 507

■ ■ Suderoki 1 22

■ verticillata, the fruits of 507

Illicium anisatum 75

religjosum 75

■ verum 75

Imantophyllum miniatum 84

Impatiens Hawkeri 68

Micholitzii 90

pallida 403

Impotency of pollen 199

Improvement and care of public

grounds 371

of useful plants, experimental

work in the 261

Incarvillea Delavayi 267

Index Kewensis 306

of agricultural literature of

Maine 340

I ndian Currant, th e fruits of 507

Indiana, small fruits in 346

Insects, legislation against 69. 401

Inula grandiflora 404*

I pomcea fistulosa 514

Mexicana 267

pandurata 267

sinuata 514

triloba 78, 537

Iris alata 43, 457

amcena, hybrids of lo

aphylla 218

atrofusca 180

- - aurea 43

bracteata 32

Bismarckiana 220

— — Bosniacae 267

Caroliniana 32, 334*

Caucasica 9

Cengialti 227

■ Chama;iris 18, 227

cristata ... 32, 227, 257, 268

cuprea 32, 268

■ Cypriana 267

• ■ — Douglasiana 32, 497

ensata biglumis 47

fimbriata 43

Florentina 43, 238

fcetidissima 43

Germanica 18, 244

alba 18

Amas 18

— ■ macrantha 267

semperflorens 18

gigantea 267

— -— '■ graminea 245

Hartwegii 32

hexagona 32

Iberica 227

lacustris 32

laevigata 31

longipetala 238

Lorteti 204, 255

Lusitanica 257

Madonna 90

maridensis 267

Missouriensis 32

Monnieii 43, 47, 268

moneoides 9

neglecta, hybrids of 18

Nepalensis 55

Letha 55

ochroleuca 267

— ■■— Olbiensis 18, 227

Oncocyclus 55, 204, 220

orchioides 9, 197

■ orientalis 43, 267

oxysepala 238

pallida 18, 238

Pavonia 9

Persica 9 »

prismatica 32

Pseudo-acorus 43. 268, 297

■ pumila 18

Regelia 55

Rooinsoniana 9

Sibirica 43

Sindjarensis - 9

sordida 257

spectabilis 238, 297

stylosa 44, 537

speciosa 12

Susiana 2^8

Suwarowi 180

Tectorum 197, 267

tenax 32

tennis 32

the Pearl 28S

Tingitana 9

■ tomiolopha 267

tripetala 32

tuberosa 9

unguicularis 44

variegata 18

Vartani 9

verna 32, 268

versicolor 32

bulbous, a monograph of. ... 9

season , the 47

Irises, American 32

and their cultivation. 9, 16, 31, 43,

55

bulbousi reprint of lecture

on by Prof. Michael Foster 310

Japanese 31. 32, 288

Irises, Japanese, at Short Hills 308

Pacific coast 497

rhizomatous, cultivation ot... 288

Irrigation and drainage in the gar-
den, combined 516

Italian gardens, notes on 322

Ixiolirion macranthum 90

Sintenisi 90

Ixora coccinea 409

1 za wa, Henry, paper by 373

J

Jacobinia magntfica.i 68

Jack, J. G., articles by 4, 14, 62, 134,

140, 196, 226, 245, 265, 286, 314, 354,
419. 436, 446, 455, 467, 492, 507.

Japan, torest flora of 26, 38*, 51*,

64*. 75*- 88, III* 121. 142*. i>;3*, '162*,'
193*. 213*. 233*. 253» 273* 292* 323*,
342*, 363*, 383*, 403, 442* 473, 493*
524* 532.

dwarfingplants in 373

Mr. Parsons' pictures of 127

Japanese Horticulture at the Co-
lumbian Exposition 369, 380

nursery practice 373

oaks 385

trees in Rhode Island 468

wax-tree 12

wineberry 206,440

Jatropha Berlandieri 393

■ stimulosa 16

Jericho roses 23

Johnson, Dr. Laurence, death of..'.! 150
Johnson's Gardeners* Dictionary. . . 127

Jones, Beatrix, article by 378

Charles L., article by 68

Prof. L. R., article by 297

Juglans Californica 3,3

cordiformis 3^2

■ Mexicana 304

regia 342

rupestns 272

Sieboldiana 3^2

Juneberry 369

a dwarf 206

Junipers, fruiting of am

Juniperus Chinensis 493

communis ^03

conferta 493

— — J.^*^*^ 493

babina 15, ^^3

Virginiana 492

K

Kalanclioe carnea 93

Katsura Japonica 75

Katydids, injury to cranberries by. 84

Kentia Forsteriana 104

Kew gardens, description of 4

Kitchen-garden, the 468

Knap Hill, hardy azaleas at 262

Kniphofia caulescens 304

citrina ^^86

longicolhs 304

modesta 55,454

Natalensis 446

Nelsoni 55

paucifiora 55

Koeberlinia spinosa 433

Kolreuterias 320

Korameria ramosissima 433

Krameria secundiflora 283

Kraus, Prof., paper by 312

Kumquat fruit 240

Label, a new plant

Labisia smaragdina

Laburnums

Lachenalia orchidioides

pendula

— ■ ■■ Aureliana

Lachenalias, cultivation of 488,

LaUia albida

anceps Amesiana

autumnalis Arnoldiana

elegans Littleana

Statteriana

tenebrosa .255,

Finckeniana..

■ furfuracea

■ Maynardii ,

■ monophylla

■ purpurata

Lowiana..

Lselio-Cattleya, new hybrid.
Nyssa

Statteriana

Lagers trie mia Indica

Lagoons of Jackson Park, plants
around the

La Mance, Lora S., articles by, 20,

Landscape-art, composition in

■ in public parks

■ at the Columbian Ex-
position 192, 293,361,459,

57"
90
270
296
296
124
536
537
534
537
378
373
378

10
527

114

344
355
230

42
378

515
.78

4'9
219,
428
522
191

501

Vlll

>'r" r-"* '" 53

njiuxr'*, tu Maine 37»

Index.

393

7«

4»«

I^uiUna Canur*

Di«pd-Or

Larlx IcDtolcpi*

— UomymBL...

D»harie»J»|>«»<»—

16}
346

»5*

433

5>

s

.3^

LBTcnder, cuMnOoo of ■••• 3*7

Lawofc Sir Joho Bennet. memorial

"••-IIllVK^woritoL! !!•"•••• 3»»

LawaBotn ■ *"

Lawn*, machine for wateru»K

\ju^*Vin-—-:

. .MTMainL

UnrwIlenoMa

Ladiyraa mnril>"»>*

- •flTCsaris •••

LavsBiMa (pica

_ thewhileeniliin,.... ...357

Lurobv. Pruf. W. K, article by.. . .

LeaMorniain relaUoD to rainfaO....

Learaea. J. £. article by

Lsaro. their WUne in autumn..... 4^
lie.W.W,«nicleT)y 398

5"
510

4'7
430

40J

.44«
«oo
"46
437
4»4
4
4

m
111

L,^ialatloa a^nst plant diseasea

^2l«l injurioua Inaects • • •

— inaecls ^>

Leicbllin. Max. articles by J67.

LemoiMin New York

Lconlopodiam....---

Lcpachya columnari*

Leplactiim MannU

l,cipedeia bicolar

_!2sieboMI

Lett.. ieiteaof..

\!^ ianimV. „,, 5u

IJalris ^

. j^inimilolia !•* 497

Ubonia floribunda !"• 1„

Penrho«ien»l» 8°. 537

Llgualnim Ibota »74. 4>4'. S°«

japonicum '74

medium • "74

vulv-are. the fruit* of. 50»

^ - - - 290

390

236
»90
457
»90
55
394

Lindera umbellata

Limner. Dr. J . A., paper l.y

Linum percnne

irievnum

Liparis Ulilfolia 3M.

Listcra auslralia

Lilsea glauca ; •••

Uoyd. FrancI* Ernest, article by. . .

Lobelia puberula

spicata

Lodenum. E. G. articles by 9.

Lomoria priicera : ■ ■■

Lonicrra bracbypoda aureo-reticu-

lata .'

Caprilollum

Etrusca

flava 3'5i

flexuosa •

fragi"antissima

taponica

Morrowi

. . Peridymcnum

Ruprcchtiana

Standisbii

Sullivanti 3"5i

Lupezia coronata '79

lx)tl.A. M., article by >"7

Lotus corniculatus 287

Egvplian ■9»

Luculia (»ratissima 497

Ludovia crenifolia '94

Lumbering; and forestry 45'

Lupinus subcaniosus "'S

Lycaste Pii^lmani

Skinncri leucoglossa . . .

Lvchnis Clialcedonica

— veapertina plena

Lyciuni Carolinianum

347
3'4
393

383

3S
445

3'5
3'5
3'5

5°7
3'5
340
3«5

■ 3'5
. 340

■ 3'5
. 940

240
507

Chlncnse, the f niita of.

Lynn Woods, in the, with pen and

'camera

Lvlliruni Salicaria 370'

36
"4
'56
'56
5'3
507

83
499

M

Meiican travel, notes of. . . i7». '83, »o3.

333, 343, 363

Mexican trees, new species of 3"3

Mexico, plants from 3=?

Michelia conipressa •■•■ 75

KlicliiRaii garden, mid-November,

in a 49°

MicroMieria nij>estri3 y-^

Microstvlis ophioslosBoidcs 3 ' 4

Mildew of goosebeiTy, remedy for. 240
Mildews as inHuenced by climate

and variety •• 43°

Millabitlora 50, 380

Miltonia vexillaria 34^

Aniesiana 378

l^iincess May 335

Mina lobata 4^4

Miscantluis Sinensis - 3^'^

Missouri Botanic Garden ...60, 339, 5°9

Mistakes in planting =0

Mohr. Dr. Charles, articles by. . .31, 373
Mohiodendron, the generic name

of 463.486, 518

Momordica Cochinchincnsis 336

Monarda discedens "67

^punctata 38.1

Monodora grandillora 54

Montbretias, hybrid 407

Moore, F. W., paper by 3*-7

Morina elegans 3'7

longifolia 3'7

Mornineglories, Japanese 537

Morns alba 3»4. 4*7

rubra 467

Mount Royal Park, Montreal 5=3

Mulberries, American 33°

Russian 33°

Mulching, does it retard the ripen-
ing of fruits 495

Musaand allied genera 306

Cavendishii '9

coccinca ^22

Mannii : 122

Martini 9°

rosacea '32

Muscari lingnlatum i77

Musenium alpinum 343

Mushrooms as a side crop 407

44.

Lilac, Clara CoclieU.

Lucie Ballet

Marie leGrayc

Persian

Philemon

Lilacs, the be«t

varieties of.... _

Lille*, autumn flowering..

cultivation of

• at Kew

LiUum, Alexandrao

aaratum H4. 395.

___« and varieiie*

_^___ .^-^— macranthum ■

platyphyllum.

. . 236
. . 393
.. 524
•• 373
.. 178
340

3»4
4'4

44
395
39s

14

candidum '8o> 4

Chalcedonicum 4'4

Columbianum 5*

Coridioa 3»

croceam *j 4'4

gi^anteum

Grayi

HarH.il ......388,477

autumn cultivation of. 375

in California 408

Henrvl 56. '74. 394. 4'4

Hum^ldlii 5*

In California 408

Kramcri 55

. lancifolium

■ longifl<«Tm

. Formosaoum.

■ Lowii

. Nej>a'ense

. nardalinum

. Parkmanni

. Parryl

• parvum

- rubei^^en*

- specjosum.

..56.

455

4>4

55

56

56

,... 56

.56. 414

arielles of 56, 394

sulphureum 4i4

su|>erbum 4M

testiceum 3"*

— . tigrinuni 44, 4'4

varieties of 44

Wallichianum Buperbuin.374, 395

Washingtanlanum 50

fJly culture in pot* "4

water, Swedish 347

of the Valley, indoor cultlva-

dooof ■■■■■:■ 477

Uomanthemum nympha-oides 347

Umoocharis Humboldtil 379

Unailacvrobalaria »o7

Uocolo Park, Chicago 4o»

Llndelo6a*pcctablli*praECox 240

Uodenia. ■:■■■—,• 5"

Liodeo-lree, the bark of 400

Lindera Benoln 338, 393

glauca ^3

meliasaflolia 393

obhwiloba >9^

pnccux »93

triloba "93

Maairanga Porteana

Machilus Thunbergii

Madura auranti.aca

Macoun, James M., article bv...
Macl'hcrson, James, article by .

Macrozamia Miquellii

Magnolia acuminata 378

— ^conspicua 230

Halleana 230

. hypolcuca 04

Kobus 64*, 330

I.ennlana 330- 445

macrophylla 378

obovala 330

salicllolla 65*

Soulangeana 330

stellata i74. 330

Maine, nature's landscape garden-
ing in • • 378

MalvaviscusDrummondii...63, 343, 514

Manda, Jos. Jr.., article by ''7

Manettia bicolor so, 80

,,, Mangrove-tree in Florida ... ...... 97*

173*. 395 Manning, J . Woodward, arUcles by,
. . . . . 4J4 . 45. 255. 307

Manures, how to make and bow to

use them '79

Maple, the Big-leaf 493

sugar making. . . 110, 141, 173, 198

the Mountain 3'8

Maples, grafted 373

Japanese 44* '54', 49o

Maranta Mooreana 5"

S.anderiana 5?

Marica Northlana 358

Marsh lands, value of 98

Marshall, Humphrey, sketch of 46"

Marshallia crcspitosa 64

Martindalc, Isaac C, death of 30

Masdevallia Gclenlana 336

Harryana Gravesiae 43

. HincKsiana "4

McVitia; •»

Schrooderiana "4

Massey, Prof. W. F>, arttcles by ..6, 74,

82, 176. 185, 378, 320, 374, 377. 4»9. 5'S

Masters, Dr. Maxwell T., article by. 136

Mastic =73

M.axillaria H-irrisoniu' 187

May. waiting for the 193

McMillan. William, i>apcr by 70

Meadow (l.iwer*, a bunch of 353*

Meehan Nurseries in Germantown. 377

Jostrph. article by '15

Thomas, testimonial to 310

.^_ work for small parks. 343,

348

■ cultivation of.

M usknielons

Myosotidium nobile

Myilca ceritera, the fruits of...

Gale

rubra

Myrsiphyllum asparagoides . .

436
390
445
508
343
343
8a

74
116

337

177

iSo

, 206

"5

...388, 414
....174, 4'4
334

Melilotus alba, planting for honey.. 270

Mellusma myriantha 162

Melon Industry, the Benton Harbor.. 413

Osage 4"'

Melons, Hackensack 39°

Mentzelia omata 63

Merendera Kulbocodlum 420

Mertensla Virginica 156, 179, =47

Me«iuit, cuiiy 5'3

Meiican bulbs '97

garden. In a 383

Names of lakes and peaks, restor-
ing primeval

of plants, the commi)n

Narcissus, Bcrnaidi

, bicolor pra-cox

cernuus pulcher

Empress 180,

Horsfieldi 'So

incomparabilis. Sir Watkin.. 347

. obvallaris 180

poeticus 307, 237

, rugilobus 206

Scoticus 177

Sir Watkin 218

cultivation of 306

new ■••■ 330

Polyanthus, at the World s

Fair '88

season, the 307

varieties of.. 180, 318

Nasturtiums, varieties of

Nature, poems of

Nectarines at the Columbian Expo-
sition

Nehrling, H., article by -.

Nelumbium speciosum 198,

Neluinbiums, cultivation of

Nelumbo lutea

N emastylis brunnea

Nemesia strumosa 55,

Suttoni

Neopringlea Integritolia

Nepnrolepis davallioides . .

* furcans 3^7

exaltata 3*7

. tuberosa "5

Nerine elegans alba 454

. rosco-crispa 488

New England roads, along 23

New Hampshire Forestry Commis-
sion, report of the '09

New Jersey H ighlands, the 49'

New plants Irom Asia Minor 374

New South Wales, flora of 37°

New Year's awakening, the 32

New York's proposed speed-road.. 431
Nicholson, George, articles by. .413, 424

. ■ in America 389. 383

NIcotiana alRnis 338, 457

Nidularlum Makoyanum 54

striatum 54

Nomenclature of decorative plants.. 330

^ of garden flowers 35

North Carolina, effect of winter In. . 74
grapes in 374

330
509

398

131

297

78

16

56

25s

103

183

367

Nurseries, H. Cannell & Sons 474

Knap Hill 6-

Meehan, in Germantown 377

Rose Hill, flower showat 107

Sulton&Son's 'oi

Nursery exhibits at the Columbian

Exposition • • • 389

Nyclaginia capitata 03. 333

Nvmphiea .alba 3™

_: candidlssima 258

rosea 347. 366

. _ rubra 347

albida 258

albiflora 366

Amazonum 300

blanda 366

Caroliniana 297

Caspary 347

Devoniensis superba 379

Hava • 366

gigantea 40", 397, 366

gracilis 54, "45. 3*6, 379

Kewensis 3°*

Laydeken 54.245. 347. 36°

rosea 4od

Marliacea carnea 4°?

chromatella 400

. ■ rosacea 366

rosea 407

rubra 366, 407

pygmea 245

sphierocarpa 347

Sturtevantil 366, 4°°

the Berlin variety 360

Trickeri 4*4

tuberosa 4' 5

flavescens 300

— . versicolor 3^6

Zanzibarensis 347, 3°°

Nyinphu-as, propagation ot 150. 347

tropical 407

O

Oak, Luconibe 444

Poison -'38

theBlack 398

theHn 524

the Red 398

the Scarlet 398

. the southern Bastard W hite. .372

the southern Pin 372

Oaks, an avenue of Live 3*

and conifers, how to identity

cerL.in 397

foliage of 467

fruiting of 492

in Texas 1°

Japanese 385

Live, on Chelsea Plantation,

Beaufort County, S. C 2*

Odontoglossum crispum 500, 5'9

. . Owenianum 42

. — Pescatorei 89

platycheiluin 42

Wattianum 255

Wendlaiidianum 42

(hnothera Drummoiidii 5'3

Fraseri 287

Missouriensis 287, 395, 437

Youngi 389

Ohl, Percy C, article by 105

Okra, cultivation of 227

Velvet 4'7

Olearia Haastii 140

Olives in Calitornia 12

Olmsted, Frederick Law 420

honorary degrees con-
ferred upon ■• 350

the work of, at the

Columbian Exposition I93

Oncidium Gravesianum 42, 537

— ■ macranthum 255

ornithorhyncluim 497

Rolfeanum 42

— — Saint Legorianum 42

. Sanderianum 336. S'S

tigrinum 5'9

varicosnm 519

Onion-culture in the south 6

the PrizetaUer 5>7

Onions, cultivation of Si^

for profit 07

Spanish 4'°

Opuntia Engelmanni 273

prollfera "

Orange, the, in northern California. 308

-the Kumquat 368

Oranges, Florida, in England 450

in New York 5°°

Orchard diseases 7'

. fruits, are the varieties run-
ning out 87, 131

Russian varieties of. . . 490

why varieties disap-
pear '49

Orchards, fertilizing 7'

spraying '60

Orchid collecting 466

. culture 5'4

— ; Review, the 'O

weevil, the 527

Orchidaceous Plants, Veilchs' Man-
ual of 226

Index.

IX

Orchids at North Easton, Mass 378

tor house-plants 84, 102

for market-flowers 519

hardy, for outdoor cultivation 33

in London 454

— new garden liybrids 42

hybrids 226

Orchis spectabiiis 34

Oregon autumn notes 493

Oreopanax Jaliscana 303

Sanderianum 54. ^94

Orpet, E. O., articles by. 18, 33, 93, 145,

177, 206, 217, 246, 277, 316, 367, 394, 415,

426, 436, 457, 467, 468, 477, 488, 497, 506,

527. 536

Osage Oran,^e-tree 524

Osmanthus aquifolium 274

• ilicitolium 274

Osteomeles anthyllidifoUa 464

Ostrowskia magnifica 274*, 508

Ostrya Japonica 383*

■ Virginica Japonica 383

Oxalis bifida 8

bifurca 8

Bowiei 8

caprina 6, 8

cernua ■ 6

Comorensis 8

compressa 8

dichondraifolia 162

filicaulis 8

imbricata 8

incarnata 8

lutea 6

Piott,'.e 8

the Cape 6

Oxydendrum arboreum 355, 450

Pa-onia albiflora 190

a variety of 304*

■ Smoutii 229

Piieonies, Moutan , 234

single 357

flowered herbaceous. 304*

tree ■ 247

Palm, Chinese or Chusan 4

Palms, cultivated, in California 104

Desert 535*

in Florida .'. . 131

Pammel, Prof. L. H., articles by . 428, 439

Panax repens 233

Pancratium ovatu m 93

Pandanus Baptistii 54

Dyerianus 54

inermis 114

variegatus 54

Pacificus 54

Veitchii 417

Panicum spectabile gigantea 338

virgatum 15

Pansies, seeds, sowing ot 328

strains of 208

tufted 315

Papaver alpinum 156, 287

glaucum 246, 288

nudicaule 156, 287, 288, 373

orientale 288

Pa paw-trees 378

Paphiniagrandiflora 484

Parades in Central Park 241

Paraguay, enumeration of plants

collected by Dr. Thomas Morong, 340

Parish, S. B., article by 313

Park, a glorified 293

Algonquin 301

Central, military parades in. 241

thedesign of 331

Mount Royal, Montreal 523

Jackson 293, 302, 390, 419

Lincoln, in Chicago 402

movement in the United

States, the 221

Ne-Ha-Sa-Ne 168

system, Boston's proposed

metropolitan 6t

the Adirondack 171

Parkinsonia Texana 433

Parkman, Francis, death of 471

Parks, city, and art societies 291

. • landscape-art in public 191

New England 212

small, of Philadelphia. . .242, 248

tender plants in public 371

the wa ter-f ront of public 421

Parsons' pictures of Japan 127

Parthenium lyratum 393

Passiflora, Constance Elliott. . , 20

foetida 473

incarnata 272, 283

racemosa , 166

Peach, Governor Garland 279

growing 96

Orange Cling 520

the Sneed 279

trees, pruning of 150

Peaches at the Columbian Exposi-
tion 398

Montreuil 108

Pear- blight, cause of 480

culture 280

Pears, Anjou 510

cross-fertilization of 480

Pears, late-keeping 30

Peas, early 180

sweet, exhibition of at

Springfield, Massachusetts 310

Mr. Eckford's 408

varieties of • 30S

Pecan-nuts, cultivation of 190

■ exhibits of 449

tree, the 372

Pelargoniums, Zonal 474

Pelbea atropurpurea 403

Pennisetum longistylum 338

Pennsylvania Forest Commission... 262

Horticultural Society, Chrys-
anthemum show of 479

spring show of, 1 37

Pentstemon Cobsea 64

antirrhinoides 455

Peperomia metallica go

Perennials, hardy, for cutting 156

for sub-tropical effect, 45

Perezia nana 433

Peristeria Lindeni go

Peristrophe speciosa 80

Pernettya mucronata 140

Perrv, Curtis A. , article by 258

Persimmons, Japanese.. 12, 273, 360, 399
Phajus amabilis 112

Gravesii 169

Sanderianus 42

tuberculosus 123

Phakenopsis Amphitrite 42

Artemis 42

granditlora 519

Schilleriana 519

vestalis 113

Stuartiana - 519

tetraspis 226

Phiiadelphus microphyllus 60

Philageria Veitchii 29

Phlox Bride 229

divaricata 222

ovata 287

- ■ ■ - Sadie 229

subulafa Atropurpurea 199

Phoenix Senegalensis 72

Phosphate for fruit 121

Photograph monopoly at the Co-
lumbian Exposition 292, 462

Phyllophaga quercina in lawns 357

Phy salis Ai kakengi 470

Phyteuma Charmeili . . 288

Picea Ajanensis 468, 494

bicolor 494

Breweriana 253

Engelmanni 458

a fastigiate form of .. 377

Glenhi 494

Morinda 14, 248

orientalia 458

polita 468, 494

pungens ..63, 458

glauca 394

Sitchensis. 14, 458

Smithiana 458

Picrasma ailanthoides 112

guassioides 112

Pike's Peak, botanical aspect of. . . . 452

Pinaropappus roseua 283

Pineapples, cultivation of 470

Pine, the Table Mountain 204

White, for lumber 106

forests of Minnesota.. 348

in Pennsylvania 160

plantation of. 69

Pines in October, the 443

late summer in the., 382

summer in the 314

true, fruiting of 492

White 11

Pinetum at Dropmore, England.... 14

at West Chester, Pennsyl-
vania, the 458

Pingree, David, ailicle by 69

Pinks, Cyclops 395

Pinus Austriaca 458

Banksiana , 252

Bungeana 458

contorta 252

densiflora 458, 4g3

excelsa 248

insignia 14

• Koraiensis 458

Lambertiana 253

Laricio 458

monophylla 313

Monticola 458

parviflora 494

pentaphylla 494

Peuce 458

pumila 65, 494

•' pungens 204

- ' "- Strobus nivea 458

■ svl vestris 458

' Ttcda 220

Thunbergii 468, 493

Pi nxter- flower, tlie 230

Pittosporum undulatuni 166

Plains, the treeless 81

Plank, E. N., articles by 15, 162, 242,

272, 283, 332, 392, 433, 472. 513
Plant certificates 9

■ house, a tropical 408

decorative, in winter 18

Plants, experimental work in the im-
provement of useful 261

- for home-grounds 471

Plants from Mexico 389

hardy, in California 267

- ■ in bloom .227, 288

at Passaic, New Jer-
sey 229

in the Columbian Ex-
position 289

— ■ on the Pribylofflslands 373

recently discovered in China. 522

winter flowering 18

woody, for winter flowering. 8

Platycarya strobilacea 343

Platycodon grandiflorum 346

Playgrounds, city 510

Pleurothallis punciulata 10

Plum, Perfection 380

Plumb, Prof. C. S., article by. .. 126, 537
Plumbago Capcnsis 8, 320

Lady Larpent's 370

Larpentao igq

rosea-coccinea 8

Plums at the Columbian Exposition 398

for the cold north 526

Japanese 194

Poa Lettermani 453

Podach;t>nium Andinum 90

Podocai-pus macrophylla 474

Nageia 474

pectinata 54

Poems of nature 509

Poinciana regia 44s

Poinsettias 18, 19, 367, 506

Poisonous plants in the United

States 150

PoUmonium coeruleum 257

humile, a form of. 453

reptans 257

Pollen, impotency of

Polygonum cuspidatum 392

polystachyum 464

Sachalinense 333, 392, 428

varieties of 141

Poly podium vulgare 207

Polystichium angulare proliferum. 367

Ponds, heating tor water-lilies 398

Poppies, Iceland, double-flowered. 326

Oriental 257

the Shirley 288

the Tulip 288

Poppy, Blush Queen 245

Popufus angustitolia 452

Euphratica 330

Monticola igo

■ suaveolens 404

tremula villoaa 404

Porter, Prof. Thomas C, article by.. 204

Potash in agriculture i8g

salts for Pine-trees 340

Potato exhibit at the Columbian Ex-
position 409

Potatoes, a test of fungicides upon 297*

— from Norfolk 300

grown under a mulch 400

relation of yield to weight of

tuber planted , .126, 200

second crop of 82

Potentilla glabra 140

grandifiora 156

tridentata 288

Powell, E. P., articles by 10, 45, 168,

244, 307

Pratt, H. G.. article by 528

Preparatory autumn work 375

Pribyloff Islands, plants on the 373

Price, Miss S. F., articles by gg, 403

Primroses as house-plants 477

blue 1 64

Chinese, at the Columbian

Fair 94

Primula calycantha go

capitata 3g5

Chinese 102

denticulata 217

nivalis 217

Forbesii 124, 508, 537

glutinosa 47

imperialis 350

obconica grandifiora 1 86

Poissoni 334

rosea 217

Primulas, Chinese 18

hardy 186

cultivation of 307

Pringle, C. G., articles by . . 172, 182, 203,
223, 242, 263, 283, 303

Privet, the fruits of 508

Prosopis iulifiora 503

Prospect Park, Brooklyn, the battle-
ground in 26*

Protection of plants in spring 244

in winter 226, 518

Pruning shrubs 251

Prunus Avium . . 467

Caroliniana 162

Davidiana 200, 370

demissa 313, 368

Grayana 194

Lawrocerasus 227

Maximowiczii 193*

Mume 193

— Padus 194

pendula 193

Prsecox go
seudo-cerasus 193

pumila 15, 389

Salzeri go

serotina, weeping variety of. 377

Pnmus Simonii 206

Ssiori 194

subhirtella 193

' triflora 194

Pseudolarix Kasmpferi 382

Pseudotsuga taxifolia 14

Ptelea angustifolia 242

trifoliata 15, 342

Pteris Cretica 367

albo-lineata 367

magnifica 367

'• cristata 54

hastata 367

Regina 54

semi-pinnata 367

tremula 367

variegata 54

Pterocarya rhoifolta 342

Pterostyrax corymbosum , 273

hispiduin 260, 273, 377

Ptychoraphis Augusta 54, 454

Public grounds, improvement and

care of 371

Pueraria Thunbergiana. ..227, 350, 504*

Purdy, Carl, articles by 35, 106, 159,

258, 408, 497, 498

Puschkinia scilloides 2:8

Putnam's Wolf-den, Pomfret, Con-
necticut 212*

Pyrethrum roseum 156

Pyrethrums 268

cultivation of _ 277

Pyrus angustifolia fiore-pleno 59

arbutifolia, the fruits of 507

aucuparia 213

— — — baccata '. 231

gracilis 213

Japonica alba 206

atropurpurea 206

card inaiis 205

rosea.. 206

lanata '. 213

Malus floribunda 231

Maulei 206

Miyabei 214

Parkmani 232

sambucifolia 213

Sinensis 214

spectabiiis 231

Toringo 214, 231

Q

Queen's Cottage at Kew 463*

Quercus acuta 385

coccineasplendens 455

crispula 385

cuspidata 385

Daimio 383

densiflora 182, igg

dentata 377, 383*, 469

pinnotifida 384

Durandii 372,524

germana 203

Kilva 385

glandulitera 385

glauca 385

grosseserrata 3B5

Macedonica ... go

Mongolica 385

Muhlenbergii 499

Schochiana , 90

serrata 385

■ undulata Gambelii 452

variabilis 385

Virginiana, Chelsea Planta-
tion, Beaufort County, S. C 2*

Quince, history of the 420

Radish, Ne Plus Ultra 227

Railroad station gardens in Cali-
fornia 413

Raisin grapes, Californian 265

Rand, Edward L., article by 105

Ranunculus Carpaticus 55

Lyallii 464

Rape-plant for fodder 290

Raspberries and blackberries, cul-
tivation of 466

autumn bearing 466

crop of 347

cultivation of 169

of in Indiana 346

diseases of 486

harvesting and evaporating. 368

varieties of 176

■ winter protection of 168, 428

Ravenala Madagascariensis 306

Recreations in botany 449

Red Bud, American 474

Chinese 474'*'

Regina alba 290

Reinwardtia trigyna 8, 536

trigyna 536

Renanther'a matutina 326

Retinospora ericoides 378

obtusa 468

pislfera 378

Index.

X

^ Ke«*owon •^'J^;

KcnKfeoB. ur. J- ^ j,^

R^,« „l BoolM. ** Boofa He-
Ri:|2^»l«K»«lnnorid. 9p

. AorUutdil •••

. CaMwbieBM *>

. Caacuacom

. Daaricum...

Dooa Malta.

— — l«n«l<|i'>e'>''»

HetMiSchlfloer

. |iir»<i<<><B

»ucDo«w- -,;;;•,•/«,

Ro«e. Gu.ta« BfRl" •" **

. Hermosa.. "'

Jrnnv Dkkson '"

. iohii' Hooi>er *H

. laFraichcur *'^

. La Kran>-'«''-;-.

Ihe while

La Mar>iu<-----;"
Madame Caroline

178

raccoMMan »* "^

Ro«rBeU

lel.

437

538

450

Tesloul, 104.
137. 464
Clrmeiice JolRneaux.. ij7

Cusin '^

dcWattcville "H

GcorRTS Bruant 378

Pernet-Ducher.^.....- 4«>

437

76
■ 74
255

332

Mademoiselle Gabrielle Liil-

.JIllMiriirhalNlel 5^|

u._r..i Dickson •7'>

S«inK>wa

SmithU aoreom..

— Sdlwoi

Uone"'''

^^ WKxfodendrons

hambian EipoMtion..
coltlTanua of. . .

.63. »Jo.
Ihe Co-

: ^!!^;;wdkaaWy, Ma.«i

•96
•S4
3»4
.96
444

^3^

178

m8

dnisett*.-; ...

. Himatajran J"

^Injapaa --^ ;2

Rh«lomyitu.iomMito» •■•• .

RhodotypM herrioldea. 3°. 5~

Rims, arooiattca •■

divetaUoba *5°

ri:sM('^:::v.v;.v.-.V34;i?M
=2S§i:uu f3-j4»

.uccedanea "• ■"

.Toxicodendron ■"3.

. tricbocarpa

_— Temidfera ■

Rlbe*. alplnum

. aureum * • ■•••*'

_ Ooriduoi —

Gordooianum

Meniiesil

ni({T>«ro

437

437

•37

. 437

%%
386

498
• s»°

.- as

. 378
5

238

■63
■61
«45
"45
»45
"45

3V
MS
»45

148
433
■ ■5

.anRuineum ^ ,„. 336

Ricbardi^ aurata '°*' "">■ i

Hlioltiana. ?|

Lulwychei i^

Penllandil Sl

Rchmanol -J-V'

RidKeway. Robert article by
RlvInJa UevU ■ 1

Rock-Rarden and '»™*'^; V/.;.;. ,§7

Rose

Romncva Coulter!

Kosa acicularis

alpina

. blanda

canina ii",V.'

. Carolina »»*• 354

. Kl|p>Ji«e»

lucida

. rooschaU •■•■

muWflora a57. 2»7.

nitida.

. Nutkana......;

pimpemellllolia

bolyantha remontant

repeos. the fruita of

ruoiKinosa '

■ robrifoUa •■•

. ruRoaa... "'

alba

Margaret Dickson

MurKGulllol 437

Henrictte 5a»

Van Houtte

Mr».John LuinR

Whitney

Papa Gontier °4-

Perledesjardins

Prairie -.

m^-JlnrSl^aXwurtembu^K:

Sweet l>rier V

Ulrich Brunner......"-----'

William Allan Richardson.,

chaler, remedy for

of Jericho

show in Uoslon.....

Prol. J. N.. article by . • ■

Roses at the Columbian Exposition 299
. autuinn flowering •■•• 43°

' cUmb!'i?K.ini:aUfornla...45<>. 528

cuUi»ali..n of, in winter.... . . 104

earty spring, cultivation of.

. fall planting ot

for cut flowers.

hybrid hrier •■■• •"

i,{ Calilornia 258. 49"

. Lenten ; '?.

. new hybrid Tea 4^4

. outdoor.... • 437

in November • 409

under glass, cultivation of. . . . 3?7,

wild ofsingle, for cultiva Ion

Rolham»ted farm, agricultural

R^In-rnre.En«pe"an;fruii3"ofV.::|o7

506

Scabiosa Caucarica »^^

1,"'™ '.'.WV. 389

Schinus inolle • 'J"

SchlKindia Chlnensis "

- cmxinea ''

Schiiocodon soidanelloidt
Schoinburgklatibiclna...

Schrankia plnlycarpa • • • • •

c..i...i,M^liva vertlclllata 240,

307
3°7

176
275
220
363
164
63

>04

article by 489

210

395

■^mlhoclottls Viellardii rubra • ■ 42

ISeedSad. New York's proposed. 43.
Sp<iX"''i arvensis ^

238

Spice-bush, llie ....■•■ ■

Spinach. New Zealand «j7

S^laJopiTvrVertlciliata .48, 474

Scilla bifolia...; '^

^ campanulatu

cernua ■•••

Siblrica "47.

. alba

WhittalU

. — a new

Scleiiitlnia Baccaruiii

Scopolia Fladnichiana ....

Scutellaria brevil olia

Scaforthia elegans
Seavev, Mrs F- *-'•
Seaweed lor manure

li:!:(":,rs:;;d"u by-\i»^DeK^^

jr'^i^";I'"l^Agric.muVal
Building of the Culumbian k-xpo-

SeedlinVs."»"<^°''''''^"'^^

knowledge of. ... • ■ ;.• • • ■ • ■

Seeds, garden, cultivation of

^e'.^lrlnclla Pringlei ;, * : '

leUge?. Mrs. ■VVilhelmine. article ^^

Spinea astilboides

___ BuinaUla^..^.^__^ ^^^^_.^^

sporiof ^3

variety ot 34"

250

37

447

Wateier 324

512

3"9

• 17

370

23

=4?
, 316
, 205

.. 538

286
363

Royal Botanical Society

' Horticultural Society.
Rubber-plants, cuttings of..

Rubus Icucodermis 3'3

Nutkanus •; ''

phoenicolasius 206, 440

^ urisinus '"

trivialis

Rudbeckia purpurea 3'

Ruellla cUiosa ''

. macranthra

. ^ strepcns

Russian fruits ......... . • ■• y • V ;

varieties of orchard fruits

313
514
389
395
30
242

374
49a

by .

Senecio aureus

. Galpini 5'

Halleri

^Japonicus

sagittif olius V ;,'.9°'

Sentimentalism and tree-felling .... 3ii
S^iagiganjea^^j^^.^.^-;;;-;;; ^^„

sempervirens ... ^^4

Screnopsis Kempii • ^^

Scsbania Cavamllesii _^^

maciocarpa ^^^

vesicaiia

Besuvium portulacastrum SU

Seiualityin plants...... 4

Shade-trees in city streets ••■••■•■•• '°
Shamrock, consignment to America. .80

Sherwood Hall, California '59

S Ss, kinds of wood used for .
Ih'iXcharies Howard, articles by. 45^

Shores of the lagoons of" Jackson

Park, plants on the • 4'9

Short Hills, New Jersey, chrysan-

thcmums »'-:::i-:::i: j-^nese

308

Cantoniensis

discolor aria^tolia

Japonica

Kamschatkiana. .

Thunbergit

. tomentosa

. trilobata

Van Houttei

Spirioas. herbaceous ^'i

S in Central Park »5

Spring coloring ^^

J flowers •••

in autumn 4' 7

. in Virginia

Spruce, Whale's Norway

Stiichvurus pra'CO,x

Stanh'opea Amesiana

~~ Lowii

Moliana

Statice Limonium ,-

Stalue, " The (Sardener

of President Artluir

Stauropsis Warocqueana

Sternbergia lutea

Stevia odorata '^

serratifolia .-••,••; =

Stewart, Wm. J., article by 499

Stillingia anguslifolia

ISii^cK^^le^-arti^lei^;.-^::^ 448

. in 1893.. .•■.

. the best of the new.

varieties ot ........ .

StrawbeiTy. Clark's Early - 279

227

447
296
192
354
250
. 250
317

430

108

459

88

. 226

. 42

■ 90
. 5"3

■ 152
. 86

. 426
537

34°

318

279

279
306

460

80

51
207

Irisesat.

spring

flowers a'- • • •.• • ■ • ■ ■;>,"

Shrubbery 111 winter, the . .........

Shfubs and trees, slow-maturing

fruits of • • •

. deciduous-leaved

eariy-bloomlng

. __ deciduous

flowering in mid-August

270

386

247
45

492
377
164
455
354
321

.386,

386
507
5'4
i°7
4
507
386
286
257
257
507
387
287
447

J28
J^h!SSMl™.;""-.257. 386, 507

86 Sabailasubnuda.

243
383

forplanting 3"

late-flowcring ■.• ■ • 43"

of North-eastern "

the.

Sabbatia gracilis 3 3

__— lanceolata ^^-^

stellaris . .

Saghalin knotweed

'. ?alue"of deciduous, for our

383
392

<^liitpaulla ionantha 304

Sake "

Salicornia herlacea .....

Salisbury. Albert, article by .
SalU balsamitera 28'', 82

. crioicarpa - ,

- species on the coast dune ot

442
5'3
397
■49
404

•ericea.

. 287
• 334*
. «04

Wichuraiana

, - a hybrid

Rose, American Belle.

_ Arnold Sj

llour»ault.. »~

. Bridesmaid '°4

i=8rr.eSr^a;.ii.o.Goi<i5Ji

Claire Camot

. Cloth of Gold

CkXhndeSoupert...

Coquette des Alpes.

2 des Blanches

Crimson Rambler. .....255.

Dawson ••>» hybrid multi-
flora

15
404
■94
227
210
5'4

13

162
446

■99
3'3

, 388

the hybrid mult

498

437

360
464

• 3' 4*

. Dinsmore

. Duke of York

. EUeBeauvllaln.......-..-.-

. tJnpresB Augusta Victoria.

- Engineer •

- General Jacqueminot

437

■04
370
437

Lake Michiifin

subfragllis

SalmiaLauchlana.. . .....

Salsify, Siindwich Island..

Salsola Kali Tragus

Salvia ballota'flora

Columbariije

tarinosa

. Hydrangea

patens —

SambucuB glauca . . . . . . . ■ •

Sanborn, W. T.. article by

Saplt.dus marginatus 5=3

Sauonaria ocymoldes.. ■ ■"''

&^ent. Prof.'c. S., articles bv. . .26, 28.

tS. ?.. 63, 75. 88, III, '21. 130, ■42, "53.

%f\-„^'l ^33. 253. 273. 292 333. 342.

363. 383. 403. 442, 473. 483. 493. 524. 532

Sargentia (Jreggil . .

Sorracenia purpurea

Satyriums — •,•,••••.

Satil, John, articles by . . •

Saururus cemuus

Sawara •

Sazifraga Aiioon minor

.crassifolla

peltata

Virglniensls

WaHacel »37'

climate "■" ^

Siberian Pea- trees. 5

Side-saddle flower, the. '77

Sierra club ot Cahfornia »■

Silene Virginica ?

Silphium laciniatum

Sisyrinchium grandiflorum 104

lir^SgtuitVori^ecs-ani
shrubs

Curtis No. 15.

. Marshall . .

Strelitzia Augusta ^"^

parvitolia ■.■■.'.:;■..... 306

in^o?aTp",lVbridsand '"flings ^^^

"'•- summer cul'tivaUon of. 277

Streptosolon Jamesoni 53^

Strotilanthes anisophyllus... ..... -^

Uyerianus 194. 34n. 47^

isbphvllus...

Strophostyles angulosa. . . .
Struthiopteris Germanica..

Stuartia monadelpha

nentagyna \o

i>seud;;-Cainellia 88

cjinrtcnls' earden at Kew 475

lur.ev^nt!E.D..arlideby .44

^^l^lyC^:::: '■■■'■■ ■'■'■■''^' ="

Sub-ln-igation for vegetable forcing- ^^^

Sn'To^ThVGeorgeni.'alticieby".".:: 324

Sulphuric acid and water 459

Sumachs, poison, frmt of .- 5o

Swainsona Galegifolia 3^^

s_wee, p:ff:.-^-^^-rfo°rd';-.-.-.-.-:.-.-. VoS

potato flour •.• 'K

Sycamore, the Co.-storplune ^..... 202
Symphoricaipos occldentalis, the ^^

Jll^r^cemosusV ihe ■f^itV of'. .... 507

vulgaris, the Iruils ot 5°?

dix vermiloxicus 54

Synandrospa

Syringii Japonica

. pubescens

vulgaris and varieties.,

Syringas, varieties of

.264*

457

. 290

Smilax argyroca .

492

SmUh: fro^f'. Mn 13., articles by. . . .3^^

Snowberry. the f nilts of SW

Snowdrops, Howcnng ol • . • ■ 3°

variations in 9°i ^75

Sobolewskya clavata ; '"'

loK macrantha Klenast.ana .. 254

Sod, how to get a blue grass 83

Soil for seed-pans ■ • • ■ •••••• ■>

. moisture, preservation of.. -281.

, of..

5
33

vlld

..23,

303
■77
455
357
314
442
237
229
257
229
247

Solandra grandiflora. ..
Solanum capsicastrum.

. nanum

. cHspuin

. Wendlandii

SoUdago Canadensis. . .

lanceolata

nemoralis

rugosa

Sophora affinis

. Japonica

- sccundiflora

41'
, 115

236

454

■SO

ISO

■SO

>50

503

360. 467

33J

Sophro-Cattleya Batemanlana ••••■378

Calypso "o- 42

-Veilchil 42

Spann.innia Afrlcana "4

Tahebuia, a species
Taliema;moiitana coronana

Tacsonia Sniylhiana

Tail L. R., article by

Taj Mahal, gardens surrounding the .7

Tamarix Indica ^^

Gallica '3

■ Kashgarica... . . . ■ •■ • ••• '

Taplin, W. ft., articles by... 8, 3°. 61

?9, .04. .56. 2.8, 237. 275. 296. 32

" 367. 375. 397. 426, 437. 477. 5<

Taxus Canadensis 4.

cuspidata • '-

Tchichatscheiria isatidea

Tecoma grandiflora

Mackenii

. radicans

Ricasoliana

— rosea

_ Smilhii

Tecophihca cyanoci-ocea ......

Tender plants in public parks.

Ternslrtemia Japonica

55.

■.■.■.■.■.385,

Index.

XI

Texas, bofcinicat notes from 15, 162,

242, 272, 283, 298, 332, 392, 433, 472,

503. 513. 524

„■ ,— Dutch bulbs in 262

. horticulture in 298

garden plants 63

Thalictrum ad lanti folium 237

. aquilegifolium 237

Fendleri 277

minus adiantifolium 277

rhyncocarpum 55

Thaspium aureum 257

Thermopsis Caroliniana 156

mollis 257

Thistle, Russian 210

the Rocky Mountain 210

Thistles. Canada 448

Thouinia acuminata 303

Thoni, the Cockspur, fruits of 507

the Washington, fruits of. . .. 507

Thunbergia grandiflora alba 54

Thuya Japonica 442

.. occidentalis 378, 397

Thuyas, dwarfed 373

Thuyopsis dolobrata 442, 46^

Tiarella cordifolia 257

Tigridia buccifera 4S, 368

— conchiflora 368

Dugesii - . . 48

granditloraliliacea 367

rosea 367

pavonia

alba 368

Princlei 48

- pulchella. 368

Van Houttii 368

Tigiidias m California 408

Tilia Mqueliana m*

■ ulmit'olia Japonica m

Tillandsia Massangeana superba.. . 54

Moensii 54

Timber, in the south, hard wood 21

— production of our forests. . . . 212

supply in Central California.. 182

of the United States... 181

Tincher, George W., article by.... 528

Tinnea >Ethiopica 96

Todea, varieties of 237

Tohnan, Henry L.. article by 158

'Lomato-plants. cultivation of. ...... 278

Tomatoes, color of 187

— ^— crossing. 250

ripening green 510

Torreya Californica 182

Toxicophlaja spectabilis 80

Trachycarpus excelsa 526

'Fortune! 4

Tracy, Will. W., articles by 57, 94

Tradescantia decora. . 54

Reginje 90

■ superba ■ ■ 90

Treat, Mrs. Mary, articles by . . .39, 141,

314, 382, 443

Tree, a twin 339

telling and aenlimentalism. .. 311

fruits, Russian ....374, 490

- guard, an effective 128

■ guards 540

- leaves for fodder 200

planting and fountain society

of Brooklyn 150, 290

on Mount Hamilton.. 45

Trees and shrubs, slow maturing

fruits of 402

decaved, treatment of 388

deciduous-leaved 377 ■

-■ — early bhjoniing 164

- — for late autumn foliage 467

—— girth of 380

in Fairmount Park 378

. in Flushing, Long Island.... 382

in the southern states, the

distribution of some forest 372

■ Japanese, in Rhode Island. . . 468

' local segregation of 148

Mexican, new species of.. . .. 303

Trees, North American 130

of eastern America 26, 27, 28

ofGermantown 377

of Japan. 26, 38* 51*. 64*, 75*, 88,

111*, 121, 142*, 153*, 162*, 193*, 213*,
233* 253' 273, 292*, 323* 342* 363*,

383* 403, 442* 473, 493* 532

protection of street.... .290, 532

- removal from Boston Com-
mon 221

street 70, 532

Texas, notes on 15, 162, 242,

272. 283, 298, 333, 503. 513, 524

the care 01 newly planted an

winter aspects of ij8

Trichomanes, varieties of 237

Trichostema 383

Tricker, Wm.. articles by 18, 79, 406,

, . 427. 437. 475. 497
Tnfohum amphianthum 16

- -— minus 118

repens n8

Trillium grandifiorum. .229, 237, 247, 296

atropurpurum 247

recurvaturn 237

styKjsum 296

Trocodendron amlioides 75

Troop, J., article by , 346

Tropseolum Leichtfinii 267

tricolorum 166

Trumpy, J. R., article by 299

Tsuga diversifolia 65, 495*

— Hookeriana 63

■ Mertensiana 15

Pattoniana 63, 459

Sieboldii 248

Tsuga 495

Tulip mania, the 170

Tulipa apula 277

■ ■■ carinata 277

— comuta 277

■ - Gesneriana 277

Greigi 277

■ Orphanidea 277

sylvestris 277

vitellina 277

Tulips, Darwin 237

■ Mariposa 257

the Parrot 247

varieties of 218

Tumion nuciferum 473

Tunis, the desolation of Central .... 481
Turnips, cUib-root of... 78*

r

Ulmus Americana, weeping form of. 377

campestris 323*

crassifolia 524

montana laciniata 323

Wreedii aurea 236

Umbellularia Californica 182

Uraria crinita 424

Urceocharis Clibrani 28, 54

Utricularia 383

■ Humboldtii 54

— longifolia . 54

Vaccinium Canadense, white ber-
ries of 363

citiatum 254

Japonicum 254

ovatum as a hedge-plant ... . 116

stamineum. 270

vacilians, fungus on 363

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, ac-

(luirement by the state 160, 250

Vallisneria spiralis 383

Vallota purpurea 296

Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler, ar-
ticles by 83, 115, 127, 208, 318, 339

Vanda, Miss Joachim 295

Vanda teres alba 42

Variegation, a case of inherited. ... 35

Varieties of fruit, failure of 2

Varilla Texana 433

Vasey, Dr. George, death of 138

Vegetables, cultivation of.. 227, 278, 298,
317. 348, 388. 4'7. 437. 5»6

under glass in the

south 330

green, at the Columbian Ex-
position 269

• in the New York markets .... 72,

118, 128, 150, i6o, 200

Vellozia equisetifolia 184

Verbascum pannosum 267

Verbesina Virginica 16

Vermont, hardy plants in 267

Vernonia podocoma 54

Veronica cerieoides 229

longifolia subsessilis 397

■ rupestiis 229

Traversii 140

Viburnum acerifolium, the fruits of. so8

cassinoides, the fruits of ... . 508

■■ ■ -■ furcatum 254

Lentago, the fruits of 508

macrocephalum 250

Opulus 250, 507

plicatum 250

rotundifolium 250

Victoria regia ' 197, 434*

Vincetoxicum acuminatum. 277

Vineyard, notes from the home . . . 447

Vineyards, fertilizers in 24

spraying 160

Vintage in France 72

Violeis, cultivation of .... 337, 367, 477

dropsy of 536

Russian 186

Virgilia 268, 299, 378

Virginia, spring in 208

Vitex Agnus-castus 453

Vitis Californica 313

Coignetiae 450

Vriesia tessellata Sanderae 195

Waem, Miss Cecilia, article by ... . 11

Waldron, C. B., articles by 299, 368

Waldsteinia frngrarioides 257

Walker. E J., & Co., article from. . . 81

Ward, C. W., paper by 356

Washingtonia filifera 535*

Waste lands in the low countries, no, 202
Water-garden at Clifton, New Jer-
sey 434*

the 207, 296, 347

Watering, device to facilitate 350 •

lawns, machine for 330

Water-lilies . . .• 197

cultivation of 406

in England 364

from seed 79

heating ponds for . . . . 398

winter care of 438

lily, a new 464

. a Swedish 347

Wat erer. John, death of 520

Water-plants, the care of 347

Watson W., articles by 9, 28, 41, 52,

65, 76, 8g, 117, 122, 133, 163, 174, 183,
194, 204, 225, 234, 243, 244, 254. 294, 304,
324. 333. 336. 344, 364. 385. 393. 408, 444,
453. 454. 463. 464. 474. 484. 503. 5M. 527.
533

Wax industry, Chinese white 358

Wayside planting by village im-
provement societies 188

Weeds injurious to stock 270

Weidenmann, Jacob, death of 118

Weeds and the modes of destroying
them 60

Weigela, Eva Ratke 394

Weigelas 234

Wellcsley, the gardens at 228

Wellhouse F., paper by 404

West Virginia, notes from 128, 22a,

263, 460

Wheat, yield of 7^

Wheeler, Timothy, articles by 120,

<4>i 173

White grub in lawns, the '357. 369

Wickson, E. J., article by 149

Wild garden, the 257, 268

plants, common names of. . . 448

Williams, E., articles by 176, 236

Willow-leaves, venation of 460

Willows on the coast dune of Lake

Michigan 15

Window plants... 84, 102, 103, 115, 157,
367, 416, 477
Wine Building, German, at the Co-
lumbian Exposition 329

Winterberries, the fruits of 5C7

Winter care of hardy plants 497

decoration, plants for 18, 141

flowering plants 18, 80, 426

woudy plants 8

flowers in 81

'— protection of fruit-trees 168

of blackberries 428

of raspberries. .. .168, 428

Wistaria multijuga 252*

Sinensis 55

Wittinack, Dr., impressions of

America 382

Woodlands, protection of . 439

Woodpecker, usefulness of 483*

Woodwardia radicans pendula 54

Woods, American 529

Woodsy corner, a 179

Woody plants, late flowers on 446

of Manhattan in their

winter condition 60

Wright. Walter C, article by 69

Xanthoceras sorbifolia 284*

Xanthorrhaea Hastile 533

pectoris 533

Preissii 533

quadrangulata 533

Xanthoxylum ailanthoides 112

Clava-Herculis 162

Fagara i6a

piperitum m

Pringlei 203, 303

Plerota 283, 514

Yucca filamentosa 330

Hanburyi 54

rupicola 64

Zamia latifrons 449

Zelkova Keaki 323*, 369, 468

Zephyranthes 380

- concolor 437

Lindleyana 296

stricta '. 296

verecunda 296

Zizyphus vulgaris 377

Zygadenus ele^ans 51

— Fremontii 237

■ " ■ paniculata 237

Zygopetalum leucochilum 43

ILLUSTRATIONS.

A

Acanthopanax ricinifolium in the

forests of Yezo 235

Acer Miyabei 143

— ■ Nikoense 155

— -— ' ■ Pseudo-plalanus, near Edin-
burgh, Scotland 205

Acokanthera spectabilis 185

Agave angustissima 5

Ainus Japonica 345

Aster turbinellus 17

Battic Pass, Prospect Park, Brook-
lyn, N. Y., scene near 31

Begonia Souvenir de Fran9ois Gau-
lin 133

Bismarckia nobilis 246

Broad Top, Pa., the edge of the
Barrens 89

Bromelia fastuosa 225

C

Carpinus Carpinus ... 365

Cercidiphyllum Japonicum in the

forests of Yezo 53

Cercis, Chinese, in Flushing, Long

Island 476

Chestnut tree, Llewellyn Park, N.J. 19
Chrysanthemum Florence Percy,

naturally grown 456

Chrysanthemum Pitcher & Manda.. 515

Clematis indivisa 167

Club-root fungus 73

Cryptomerias at Nikko, Japan, ave-
nue of 446

Cypripedium Rothschildianum. .. . 145

Disanthuscercidf folia 215

Elms, an avenue in New England.. 175

Farm-house in northern California. 132
Filbert-twig attacked by blight. 134, 135

Flowers, a bunch of meadow 355

Fraxinus rhyncophylla 485

Fungus, club-root {Plasmodiophora
Brassica;) 79

G

Girdled Pear-tree restored by

grafting 91

Gleditsia Japonica 165

Ground plan of the Horticultural
Building at the Columbian Expo-
sition 349

xu

Index.

llaaKrw»««eUrtorida oi. loj

Maa3s<r4hm«ra, • (Minck of }SS

Mtcli«li« ooipcwwi 77

N

Myinpli— |{<g»»»»« 4<

— — tub«ro«a.. 4»6

O

Oak*. Ut«. oa Cheite* PbntaUon.
BmafcrtCovBljr, South Carulina. 7

OmtowiU* awKiiifiai tjt

OMnrmJapeaka jlt

I*

PtaoaiaalbUon 305

>Q>i>»>rid la VenDoot, •bowine

plot b«alHl and plot untreated

wttk Bordeaux mixture 397

Praapect fmi^, Brooklyn, scene

Bear Battle Pbm 31

Praaoa MaxUBoiricxU 19;

INieraria ThaaberKiana in German-

lowi^ PenaaTlvanla yA

Pataaa'a WoU-den at Pomirel, Con-

ncctlcttt 117

n

8ueea*s cottofce at Ke w 465
^uercus deatata 366

Vir^lniana in South Carolina a

WL

RhUophora Manf^le In Florida. .101. 103
Rosa Wichuraiana, a hybrid of. .... 337
Roar, hybrid miiltiflora* Duwson.. 316,

Salix bolsamtfera 29

Sycamore Maple, near Edinhurgti,

'Scotland 905

SyrinRa pubcsccns in a Massnchu-
srtts garden a66

T

Tilia Mlqueliana...,. 113

Tsuga diverstfolia in the Nikko
Mountains. Japan 495

Ulinus campestris in Vezo 327

V

Victoria Tfffia in Clifton, New Jer-
sey 435

Washinpjtonia flUfera 535

Wistaria, a standard Chinese 256

Woodpecker, work of, on an Oak-
tree 487

Xanthoceras sorbifolia , 285

Z

ZelkovaKeuki 395

January 4, i8gj.]

Garden and Forest

GARDEN AND FOREST,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY UY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTSREO AS SECOND-CI.ASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4. 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGF.

EoiTORlAL Anna es :— The Effect of Country Life upon Women i

AnAveiiueof Live Oaks. (With figure.). 2

Why do some Promising Varieties Fail? Professor L. H. Bailey. 2

Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe.— XXI y. G. Jack. 4

New or LirrLE-KNowN Plants:— Agave angustissima. (With figure.)

Professor f. N. Rose. 5

Cultural Department :— Onion Culture m the South.. . .Professor IV. F. Massey. 6

Cape Oxalis.— IV iV. E. EndicoH. 6

Woody Plants f(.r Winttr Flowering \V. H. Taplin. 8

Diseases of Gloxinias E. G. Lodeman. g

Irises and their Cultivation. — III f. N. Gerard. g

Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter IV. JVaison. g

Correspondence :— Grapes in Winter E. P. Powell, 10

Among the White Pines Cecilia Waern. 11

Recent Publications 11

Notes 11

Illustrations :— Agave angustissima, Fig i 5

Avenue of Live Oaks (Quercus Virginiana), Chelsea Plantation, Beaufort

County, South Carolina, Fig. 2 7

The Effect of Country Life upon Women.

THE growing interest in their country homes shown
by people who can afford to spend their winters in
the city is manifested in the long sojourn that they make
in them, and in the springing up all through the country of
small estates, which are a refuge for the city-dweller to
fly to in the summer. In the adornment of these homes
great interest is taken, the problems of horticulture are
present to the small cultivator as to the great proprietor,
and add interest to his hours of recreation. As has been
shown in these columns before, the country gentleman of
the days of our forefathers has almost departed from the
face of the earth. As a nation our leisure class now con-
sists of women only. In them there can be seen to de-
velop all the vices and virtues inherent to a leisure class.
Indolence, lu.xury, triviality, narrowness, we find among
them, with compensating reactions in the way of activity,
prudence, seriousness and an endeavor for larger sympa-
thy with all sorts and conditions of human beings.

Our men find their leading interests in the active life of
towns. In professions, in business, in politics, in stirring
careers of all kinds they utilize the restless energy of the
true American, to whom repose is stagnation and rest a
bore. Whether it is our stimulating climate, or the admix-
ture of blood, that affects the male inhabitant of this country,
certain it is that his nature demands occupation of an ex-
citing kind. The man who loafs, the tramp, and the
flaneur, who is the fashionable variety of the species, are
all anomalies in our civilization ; they exist, but under pro-
test ; they are freaks, not types ; sports, and not the natural
growth of our soil.

The general opinion is that the country is the place to be
born in, but also a place to go away from as soon as one is
old enough and big enough to know better what is worth
while. Hence the country becomes merely a dormitory
for young men, as our increased facilities for transportation

make cities and great towns accessible to larger and larger
regions of suburbs. The friction of their kind, the stir of
multitudes, the thrill of competition, the struggle for suc-
cess, prove irresistible to the young, and once inured to it
the mature man rarely desires to leave it for a more health-
ful and quiet existence. The philosophical and contem-
plative temperament alone finds in the country that serene
atmosphere where it can breathe most freely, but philoso-
phers are rare birds.

Since, then, to most men of means their rural retreat
rarely amounts to more than a place to smoke their cigars
of an evening, or to drive or ride their well-groomed horses
over pleasant roads of a Sunday, there remains to be con-
sidered what effect a prolonged residence in the country
may have upon the mind of the woman who really bears
the brunt of it, so to speak ; whose life is molded by its re-
strictions, and whose character must receive from it a cer-
tain impression. To some of them, it must be confessed,
their country life is but an interruption to their occupations
and amusements ; to others it is but a variety of social en-
tertainment, while to a third and larger class it opens a new
set of possibilities and affords a fresh field for their ener-
gies and tastes. To this latter class it becomes valuable,
as every healthful experience is valuable, by showing the
resources of one's own spirit,

American country life for the rich differs widely from
English country life, in that it carries with it no exacting
duties — no traditional customs to be followed out. The
life of an English country gentleman is quite a business in
itself. He has tenants to look after, he is apt to be a
magistrate, he has a personal concern in the people of his
village, who are often his political constituents, he has
social relations all over his county ; his wife and daugh-
ters are equally responsible, and held to strict account in
that conservative land, in which people do not find it
so easy to escape from obligations as they do with us.
The country life is the real life there, the town life the rec-
reation of a few weeks or months ; whereas, Americans
may be said to live in the city, and to go to the country
for a little change. Their real social relations are all with
the city; the natives of the villages near which they spend
their summers, not being objects of charity, are practically
outside the current of their existence, which is, on the
whole, charming, luxurious, indolent, but largely selfish in
its enjoyments.

But that there is both entertainment and profit for women
in a country life for months at a time is undeniable. The
most important lesson of a prolonged country sojourn is
the discovery that amusement is not the rule of life, but its
exception. Instead of being hurried from one thing to
another, with days crammed full of distractions of all
kinds, there is time for serious pursuits, reading, drawing,
needlework, and, above all, gardening. One learns to be
content with simple pleasures, interested in natural objects,
in quiet details. That critical sense, over-stimulated by
city life, which finds fault with all amusements because
they are not ideally perfect, gets supplanted by a healthy
satisfaction in such diversions as fall to one's lot without
exceeding effort A drive, a woodland walk, the planning
of a parterre, the thoughtful study of a bit of landscape-
gardening, a sketch, a new book, suffice to lend interest to
the day, and afford subjects for conversation. What one
does, gets a new significance from not being smothered
by things one wants to do and cannot ; a steadier habit of
mind results, a greater power of concentration. There are
fewer interruptions, therefore more can be accomplished.
There is time for reflection — for reconsideration. What-
ever work is done, one learns to depend, not on others,
but on one's own judgment, one's own taste ; hence ensues
greater individuality, less imitation, a temporary emancipa-
tion from the effort to follow the crowd, which is the
special temptation of city life.

The tendency of women being to nervous excitement,
the greatest benefit to them arises from a suspension of
many of the causes of undue stimulation, such as late

Garden and Forest

[Number 254

houra. variety of experience, continued rushing about to
very little purpose. The soothing influences of rural hfe
are soon felt, the mind reposes from its overstrain, anxiety
is stiller! ess prevails. If the tirst effect of country-

life ben r effort to escape from it leads to whole-

some results. l"he interest in gardening, on a large or small
acak* «* verv ant to arise in the mind which seeks active
o^^ in that pursuit one can tind an outlet for

all l..^ ............ as energy. And if one insists upon worry-
ing, it will also afford a chance for that entertainment of
the unoccupied hours.

Gardening is for women a most salutary occupation,
firing them occasion to exercise their taste and skill, to
add to their knowledge, to give value and importance to
their surroundings. It can be conducted on a large or
small scale ; with great expense, or with very little, ac-
cording to circumstances ; and it is not only healthful to
the body, but rousing to the mind to grapple with Nature,
and bend her to purposes of profit or adornment.

Any purely objective interest is good for our over-sub-
jective women, who need just what Englishwomen seem to
have'by nature, a delight in outdoor pursuits and direct
contact with Nature. They ought to walk more, to live
more in the open air, to rejoice more freely in woods and
6elds. As this interest increases in our leisure class we shall
see a more natural and wholesome livinj^ result from it
year by year ; so that in the end we shall find that this
strong instinctive love of the Anglo-Saxon race for the
country is really as much a part of the true American
flevelopment as it is an evidence of that of his British
relations.

An Avenue of Live Oaks.

AMONG North American trees of the first size none are
/\ mure picturesque or ornamental than the great Live
Oaks of our southern Atlantic and Gulf states, and the il-
lustration on page 7 shows how these trees can be used to
the best effect They grow rapidly when young, so that
formal lines of these trees will become objects of rare inter-
est and beauty in a few years, and, when they attain their
full dimensions, will arch over an avenue a hundred
feet wide. In the coast region of South Carolina and
Georgia a few such avenues were planted a century ago,
and these arc now une(|ualed in this country, at least for
dignity and imprcssiveness. A portion only of the grand
approach to the typical old southern mansion is given in
the picture. In these rows seven trees only can be
seen, while there arc thirty-three on either side of the broad
avenue, which extends straight from the highway to the
house. On either side of the central avenue another line
of similar trees is set so as to make four equidistant rows
and three parallel avenues. It is said that in the old ante-
t>ellum days the small army of slaves belonging to the
plantation filed every morning down one of the outer
avenues, and, after passing in review before the house and
receiving directions for the day, marched out under the
moas-bung arches of the opposite one.

The scene of our illustration has been known for gener-
ations as Chelsea Plantation, and it is situated seven miles
from Grahamville, on an arm of the Broad River, opposite
Beaufort, South Carolina. The place is now owned by a
club of gentlemen, mostly residents of this city, who oc-
cupy it as a place of winter resort. Game is abundant,
the winter climate Li remarkably genial, and the locality
ofliers a grateful relief from the rigors of the north at this
season. The soil here, with its underlying phosphate, is
well adapted, not only to rice and cotton, but especially
to the growth of trees, which flourish with great luxuri-
ance in the moist air. On tiiis and the neighboring
plantations there are individual Live Oaks, much larger
than any shown in the illu.stration, while many of the
evergreen Magnolias are famous for their size and beauty.

The illustration is reproduced from a i)hotograph taken
by Mr. John L Kuscr, of Newark, New Jersey.

Why do some Promising Varieties Fail?

THE following are the essential parts of a paper by
Professor L. H. Bailey, recently read before the Illi-
nois Horticultural Society at Champaign, Illinois :

There is probably no greater discouragement in horticul-
tural pursuits than the uncertainty which attaches to the pur-
chase and production of new varieties. So great is the fear of
new productions that very many people decry the introduction
of novelties as hazardous and unfortunate. Tliere must be
reason for so widespread a feeling. There is one proposition,
however, which needs to be presented at the outset in order
to arrest attention upon what may seem to be a trite sul>-
ject. There is probably no variety in existence, whether of
fruit, vegetable or ornamental plant, which perfectly meets all
the requirements demanded of it— that is, there is none which
is ideal If this perfect variety is not in existence, it must yet
appear in the guise of a novelty. It is to the new tilings, there-
fore—to the future— that we must look for advancement ; the
old things are not capable of improvement. I may be asked
here if the ideal variety ever can come— if it is among the pos-
sibilities ? We only know that there has been a general upliM
in the merits and variety of our cultivated productions during
the present generation, and if we compare our varieties with
those of a century or more ago, we find them to be, for the
most part, far superior to their predecessors. We are justified,
therefore, in expecting better things for the future.

But why is it that so many of the promising new things fail ?
There are ]irobably some varieties which are introduced dis-
honestly for the sole purpose of money-getting, tlie introducer
knowing that they are inferior or only old sorts renamed. Hut
I ain convinced that there is less of this practice than is gen-
erally supposed. I cannot believe that even ten per cent, of
the failures in the new varieties is chargeable to any inten-
tional moral fault of the introducer. These inferior varieties
are not considered in this paper, for I have confined my in-
quiry to promising novelties. The reasons why promising
varieties fail, fall readily into two categories : i. The false or
unfortunate ideals of the purchaser and seller. 2. The uncer-
tain or unfavoral)le attributes of the varieties themselves.

1. It is a question if we should expect any new variety to ex-
ceed the combined merits of existing varieties in all points —
that is, it is probably better to look for a variety which shall
thoroughly satisfy one or two demands, rather than all de-
mands. The details of horticultural pursuits are now so
various that many of the ideals are contradictory, and there-
fore unattainable in one variety. We probably need to special-
ize in varieties as much as in other directions. I therefore
look with suspicion upon a new variety which is introduced
with the assumption that it shall supplant all other varieties ;
it should supplant only one other, and that the best of its class.
This exaggerated praise is not wholly the fault of the intro-
ducer, for there is a demand for it among a very large class of
our rural population.

2. But varieties themselves lack merit and persistence ; that
is, they do not bear out the promises which they seem to
make. I may say at the outset that we often mistake the
promises and regard the variety as more valuable than it has
given us warrant to suppose. This is especially true if the
variety is one of our own raising, for our interest in it. is so
great that we are unconsciously apt to forget or excuse its
faults. But varieties often do promise more than they fulfill.
Perhaps eighty or ninety per cent, of the varieties in our
manuals and catalogues never come into general cultivation.
Nearly 3,000 varieties of Apples have been described in Amer-
ican publications, but the important varieties probably do not
exceed 100, certainly not 200. Nearly 700 varieties of Apples
are offered in the catalogues of 1892. In the year 1889, 434
varieties of fruits, vegetaliles and ornamental plants were
offered for sale in North America; in 1890, there were 575 ;
in 1891, 884. This makes the enormous total, for three years,
of 1,893 novelties. No one can expect that a greater part of
these foundlings will find a permanent place in cultivation.
In 1869, twenty-eight new Strawberries were introduced or
prominently mentioned, of which only two— the Charles
JDowning and Kentucky— are at present known. In that year,
also, thirty-six new Raspberries vvcrc introduced or promi-
nently advertised, of which only the I^hiladelphia and Turner
are now known, and these are rapidly passing from sight. Of
the eight newer Blackberries of that year. 'five still persist.
however — the Kittatinny, Missouri Mammoth, Wachuset,
Western Triumph and Wilson's Karly. Of the twelve or fif-
teen Dewberries now named, only three are prominent, and
only one has gamed a general reputation. All these illustra-
tions show that there arc in existence many more varieties

January 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

than we need, and yet there arc few wliich really satisfy
our expectations. This failure has little relation to the mere
date of introduction of the varieties, that is, to their novelty,
but to the broader and more important facts that very few
varieties tend to surpass others which have come into exist-
ence earlier, and that variations run largely in similar direc-
tions, giving us many essential duplications in leading charac-
ters. The reason, I think, that so many comparatively unim-
portant varieties are disseminated, is because the varieties mis-
lead us, and in several ways :

(i) New varieties are often not fixed or permanent in their
characteristics, or do not show their full attributes at once.

New Tomatoes illustrate this fact forcibly. A year ago a
chance Tomato-plant appeared in one of the benches of our
forcing-houses. It proved to be- the best forcing or winter
Tomato which I had ever seen, and of a new type. I was proud
of it, and I named it. Seedlings and cuttings were raised from
it and set in the field, but none of the offspring seemed to pre-
sent any decided merits. Many of them were entirely unlike
the parent, even in the color of the fruit. Yet this plant stood
in an isolated position where the seeds could not have been
crossed. In fact, the plant cuttings varied much more widely
from the original than did the seedlings. In 1889 and 1890 I
sent out a new Tomato under the name of Ignotum. By care-
ful selection we have kept this variety very close to its origi-
nal characters ; yet, from seeds of Ignotum, from fifteen
seedsmen, last year, eight lots failed to produce a single typical
Ignotum-plant. Varieties of Tomatoes are notably unstable,
so much so that a variety rarely persists in its original charac-
ters for more than ten years, unless extra care is exercised to
keep it true. This instability is true to a greater or less extent
of all varieties which are propagated by means of seeds. But
it is sometimes true of fruits as well which are propagated by
buds or division of the plant. A young Cherry-tree stood in
an English garden. The fruit was so inditferent that the owner
was about to destroy the tree, but his little daughter had be-
come attached to the tree and pleaded for its life. The tree
was left, and the fruit began to improve. The mature tree
gave an excellent fruit, which is now known as the Black
Eagle. All fruit-growers or nurserymen of wide experience
know that the first fruit of a plant is not to be accepted as a
reliable indication of the permanent character of the plant.
Sometimes the first fruit is better than the later fruit, and
sometimes poorer, but I think that it is oftenest better. The first
may be unusually profuse, or the fruit may be unusually large
and fair, and if the originator or introducer draws his descrip-
tion from it, he is very likely to be disappointed in after years.
On the other hand, some fruits show their full merits only after
years of fruiting, like the Josephine de Malines and other
winter Pears. In these cases, an impatient man might destroy
a meritorious variety. This danger of introducing varieties
which are not fully fixed, or whose habits are not fully known,
can be avoided by giving the novelties a longer trial before
they are introduced. Of course, the introducer feels that he
cannot afford to wait a few or several years before he places
a variety upon the market. He is afraid that others may in-
troduce a similar variety, or he is impatient for the gain and
notoriety which an introduction may bring. It is certain, how-
ever, that the novelty which has the longest record behind it
is likely to win the greatest favor, and, therefore, to bring the
greatest gain ; and certainly one's reputation gains more from
deliberate than from precipitate action.

(2) New varieties are often not adapted to a wide range of
conditions.

However well a variety may thrive in its original place,
this is no evidence that it will thrive in other places. Every
horticultural convention affords new evidence that few varie-
ties are cosmopolitan. A few days ago I heard a spirited dis-
cussion upon the merits of the Cumberland Strawberry, and
almost every conceivable opinion was expressed concerning
it. Some thought it to be among the most meritorious of
Strawberries, and others had discarded it. Essentially this
same discussion could be applied to most varieties of fruits.
It does not follow that a variety is necessarily best adapted to
the place or conditions in which it originates, but it is true
that it stands little chance of being noticed and disseminated
unless it is adapted to its birthplace. I am often tempted to
construct a detail map of the distribution of some prominent
variety of fruit. We should find the distribution to be pecu-
liar, to be dense here and there, sparse in contiguous areas,
and to skip entirely an irregular space now and then. Here in
Illinois and westward, even the comparatively cosmopolitan
Baldwin Apple is supplanted by the Bea Davis. It is too much
to expect anyone variety to thrive equally in all parts of a sin-
gle state, not to speak of all parts of North America. Yet we

are likely to regard an adverse report upon any novelty as a
necessary condemnation of it, while the report may only de-
fine the limits and merits of the variety and thereby prove to
be a decided advantage by tending to restrict the variety to its
true place and sphere. I mean, in other words, that the suc-
cess of a variety is not determined by the number of favorable
reports upon it, but rather by its perfect adaptation to certain
conditions and requirements. A variety is not a failure if, in
one place alone, it is better than all other competing varieties.
A very important question now arises : Shall the originator
endeavor to determine the conditions to which his variety is
adapted before he introduces it ? Adaptations often differ
very widely between very small contiguous areas, and a variety
may not be adapted to all the arable soils and all the expos-
ures of a single farm. To discover, therefore, the full range
of adaptability of a variety is to introduce it. The originator
cannot discover these facts and still hold the stock in his own
hands. The experiment stations can help him somewhat, but
there are only about fifty of them in all North America. We
cannot expect the originator or introducer, therefore, to know
all the conditions under which a variety will succeed or fail.
But we can expect, however, that he shall tell us all that he
does know about it. He should tell us the soil upon which he
finds it to succeed, the exposure and the treatment which it
enjoys. It is his duty, also, to give the adverse as well as
favorable reports, and the conditions under which they arose.

(3) Varieties bear a variable and uncertain relationship to
disease and insect attacks.

We know that in every species of plant, which is ordi-
narily variable and which has been cultivated for a century or
more, there are some varieties which are more susceptible
than others to disease and insect injury, and that in some
years these varieties are more injured than in others. Of a
new variety, its relationship to these attacks has not yet been
learned, and whether it is to be subject to them or to have
immunity from them. Growing in limited quantity in a small
space, it may escape attack for several, or even many, years ;
but as the area of its cultivation enlarges, the enemies find it,
and it may turn out to be as liable to injury as any of the
older varieties, and, like them, it may fail for this reason. In
other words, absence of injury to a new variety may not
indicate immunity from disease, but simply escape from it.

I am inclined to believe, also, that a variety may change in
its relationship to disease, and possibly to insect attack. May
it not be true that many of the so-called blight-proof Pears
really have measurable immunity, and that after a time they
become susceptible to attack ? It is true, no doubt, that some
varieties of Pears are freer from attack than others ; that is, the
species, the Pear, varies within itself in this particular. Now,
the variety differs from the species in degree only, not in
kind ; it is variable within itself, and there is no philosophical
reason why it may not acquire new habits. More than this,
the behavior of many varieties of various plants in reference to
disease appears to indicate some such change in character.
How many are the old-seedling Pear-trees standing near af-
fected ones, which rarely or never blight, but whose offspring
blight as badly as other kinds ! The same variety of plant
often behaves differently in different parts of the country in
reference to the same disease. The difference in amenability
to disease in different varieties of the same species is ad-
mirably shown in the Tomato. The little-improved sorts, like
the Cherry and Plum Tomatoes, are not attacked by fruit-rot,
but the large modern varieties are seriously affected. In other
words, if we had no large tomatoes we should probably have
no such disease as Tomato fruit-rot. Moreover, the rot in any
variety appears to depend considerably upon the conditions
under which the variety isgrown. It is also known that these
conditions exert a great infiuence upon the habit and other
characters of the variety. The influences of these conditions
or environments upon both amenability to disease and upon
variation or modification in the variety itself, must, therefore,
proceed somewhat in common. It is conceivable, also, if
varieties or individual plants become modified with age in
reference to productiveness and qualities of fruit without
showing other external modifications, as we have already seen,
that they can become similarly modified in reference to their
attitude toward diseases.

(4) The standard of merit is constantly rising, and varieties
wflich would have been acceptable at one time may no longer
find favor.

Every variety which supplants other varieties, by that much
raises the standard of forthcoming varieties. A grape must
now be better than the Concord if it is worth introduction.
(rOod varieties are not worth introducing; they must be su-
perior if they are to have permanent value. Yet this fact ap-

Garden and Forest.

[Number 254.

to be O¥eflook«a bv many nurserymen ami other intro-
ilMcera. and the sinnJv good or meritorious varieties which
lliey pui upon the market fail as s.>on as they hecome well
known. 11 llie SlaiKUnl o( eicelleiK-e is constantly nsinp. the
oMMioa at once ariaes. if amelioration in |>lai>ts is keepin(<:
pMX with thia uplift. Arc there as many su|ienor variations
wdiefe were wl>eo the standards were lower ? This question
ia too laiie (or diactiaaioa here, but it may be said that there
■IV pfobutir enough aupen^^r v uinions (o suit our present
imtih ThesratfeMdifRo. .i.s. is to distinguish tliem

■Dd to brinr them properly .c public.

It may h«e be sjiid. also, that tlie chance of a new variety
to iUCCfWl, other things being equal, is in direct ratio to the
Itv ol ita characteristics— that is, the variety which dirters
t widely from all other varieties finds the field of least
"loii. or least impediment to its progress. This same
perttJna under wholly natural conditions. That or-
___ HMcada moat rapidly which differs most widely from
_J its leOowa. This principle has been called by Darwin the
diteigcuce oJ character. Any new character, or combination
of chafacters. in any organism gives such organism an im-
•e advantage, because it is enabled to o<.xu|iy places of
t Straggle. The Lucretia I>cwberry, for instance, spread
Oy because it found no similar plant with which to com-
pete; but erery s variety of Dewberry will encoun-
tor great difhculi: iliese difficulties will increase with
the at^imeotalion of varieties. The new Japanese Plums are
now spreading rapidly. These early varieties, because of their
wide distribution, are very difficult to disloilge by later, and
e»en superior, varieties. We all know how hard it was to
KiTe up the Isabella Crape, the L,awton Blackberry, the
Houghton Gooseberry, the Red Dutch and White Dutch Cur-
rants and the Wilson Strawl>erry. There are, no doubt, varie-
lieaof Apples superior to Baldwin and Ben Davis among the
yooo American kinds, and native Plums superior in all points
to the Wild Gooae. Perhaps the merits of these obscure va-
rieties have not been sufficiently advertised ; but the fact re-
ntains that it is exceedingly difficult to dislodge an old variety.
li these aiguments are well taken, it follows that the blame
for the introduction of unsuccessful varieties is not so much
monU dishonesty as a misconception of the merits of the va-
rieties and the nature of the demand which they are to meet ;
Mid the remedy for the evil is a better understanding of the
pisinta at issue, both by the introducer and the purchaser.

Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XXI.

ASTLDY of the hardy shrub collections at Kewismoreofa
task than one is likely to find elsewhere in the same lati-
Iwle, (or, besides the large scries of species and specimens, un-
eapected examples are frequently found which are not often
seen in other regions so far north. Here, for instance, is the
Chinese or Chusan Palm (Trachycarpus Fortune!), which re-
mains out in the open ground" all winter, year after year,
doing even better In other parts of Hngland ; the dark, green-
leaved and spiny Discaria (or Colletia) serratifolia, from Peru,
appears quite hardy, and other species of the genus Colletia
irom the same region are sufTiciently enduring to t>e given a
place. Such interesting Barlierries as B. Darwinii, from
south Oiili, an erect bush, several feet high, with smalt holly-
bbe leaves, and B. empelrifolia, from further south on the
Sooth American continent, with narrow leaves and dwarf-
spreading habit, can l>oth be grown here, but have, thus far,
utterly failed at the Arnold Arfx)retum. This seems some-
wliat strange, when it is known that what is called B. steno-
pliylla. which is a supposed hybrid between these two South
American species, will tivean'd present a fairly decent appear-
ance, although it has never yet blossomed or fruited very
freely with us. It also requires protection in winter. We can-
not grow any of the hardy species of the beautiful wild rose-
like blossomed Ctstus yet introduced, but at Kew some of
tlicm form very pretty bushes. The possibilities in this cli-
mate are further shown by a fine specimen of Arbutus An-
dnchne, introduced from Greece, which has a stem fully
flfleen Indies in diameter, dividing into three large branches
at three feet from the ground and spreading over twenty feet.
The true R <>«-■• tnrwurhala, known in Old World gardens for
centuries. »' s also verycommonlv found under its

synonym of ni, has not yet proved a thorough suc-

oeain Boston gardens, but a beautiful spt^cimen at Kew has
stems two or three inches in diameter and twenty feet high,
and bears flowers and fruit in great abundance. The blos-
soms of this species are white or yellowish white, the stamens
being yellow, and as the flowers are produced in large clus-

ters like those of our Prairie Rose, the plant nuist be a very
beautiful object when in full bloom.

But, while it is possible to grow in the open air at Kew a con-
siderable numberofkindsot shrubs and otlierplaiits wliidi we
cannot get to thrive in America, at a much lower latitude, we
can grow a few plants which behave unsatisfactorily in tins part
of ICngland. Among these the interesting JapancseCercidiphyl-
lum Japonicum has not yet done well. It is often more or less
injured in winter, periiaps, because the seasons are not warm
enough to thoroughly ripen the wood. With us this pretty foli-
aged plant is thoroughly hardy, and gives every promise ot be-
coming as large a tree as it does in its native home. What ap-
peared to be a form of the true I.cspedeza bicolor was seen
here apparently with very little more of a woody or shrubby
nature than the more familiar L. Sieboldi (which has been
commonly known as Desmodium peiululiHoruni), while in
our climate it forms a distinctly tree-like shrub. The same
peculiarity was noted in our so-called Lead Plant (Amorpha
canescens), which did not appear to be any more of a shrub
than Lespedeza Sieboldi, although under favorable conditions
it does grow up to have quite a woody stem. Its close ally
and companion in the genus, the False Indigo, Amorpha fru-
ticosa, is, of course, perfectly hardy, and there are now numer-
ous slight variations or forms of it, procured by selection,
which Tiave been honored by having names in Latin form
given to them. These peculiarities are generally so trivial and
unimportant that it seems a mistake to cumber the synonomy
on account of such slight deviations from an accepted type.
If the formal naming of every variation or modification of
trees and shrubs in cultivation was generally followed, there
would soon result such a hopelessly long catalogue as would
be a real cause ot discouragement to every amateur planter.
And if an enthusiast does raise a seedling which he thinks has
some distinctive merit, it would be better to give it some other
than a Latin name, in the same form as is usually given to
species or self-perpetuating natural varieties. For instance,
most people will agree that the custom of giving such plants
as the new garden Azaleas and Rhododendrons some popular
name is better than affixing a Latin appellation, which might
cause a tvro to think of it as a new species.

I noted the curious Castanopsis chrysophylla of California
growing here, being fairly hardy and represented by an exam-
ple about four feet high, evergreen, and producing Howers,
but no fruit.

A large portion of the surface of the Arboretum, as well as of
the Botanic Garden at Kew, is covered by well-kept lawns. Few
or no reminders to "keepoff the grass" are to be seen, and visi-
torsare at liberty to roam almost everywhere, so that the differ-
ent specimens and groups of trees and shrubs, the latter in culti-
vated beds, may be seen closely and on all sides. In other areas
the grass is allowed to grow, and among it large numbers of
bulbous and other plants come up and bloom in their season.
It is a most commendable feature that in the whole establish-
ment there are no public carriage-roads, and therefore no
annoyance or confusion of a parade of vehicles, which could
only be afforded and enjoyed by a small portion of the com-
munity. Those who wish to see Kew, to enjoy its rich plant
collections, or to study them, must walk; and it is besttortlie
good order of the place as well as for the obtaining of a quiet
and reposeful effect that it should be so ordered. Wheeled
chairs are provided at some of the various gates for visitors
requiring them. Well-ordered paths lead to the chief groups
and objects of interest. The visitor of a short day is not likely
to find time to go over them all, and in choosing those which
will give the most concentrated pleasure and instruction, the
path leading to the pretty rock-garden should certainly not be
omitted. Although originally constructed in a flat and un-
promising situation, it has been so skillfully and well arranged
as to give new pleasure at every turn. A visit to it, especially
in spring and early summer, must afford great delight to every
lover of Howers, and especially of that class of plants known
as Alpines among horticulturists.

The great glass-houses and their rich collections, in beau-
tiful order, tempt one to spend more time there than can per-
haps be afforded, and every visit reveals something notable
not seen before. The policy of an aggrandizement of a great
collection of species for the sake of a long list of all the species
possible to beobtained, is not now followed at Kew so much
as the selection of all that is best and most desirable in every
class of plants which are amenable to cultivation. In earlier
days it was, perhaps, necessary to bring together as many
species as could be obtained in order to make a judicious
weeding out and selection possible.

Next to the living plants, the beautiful collection of pictures
of flowers and vegetation, painted and presented by the late

JANUARY 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

Miss Marianne North, are most instructive. Tliese are pre-
served in the North Gallery, a building removed from all
others and also the gift of Miss North. This collection em-
braces about 850 subjects, and represents nearly a thousand
identitied species of plants belonging to nearly a hundred and
fifty natural orders. It gives a remarkably good idea of the
general character of the vegetation of different parts of the
globe. The pictures were nearly all painted in the countries
inhabited by the plants, and during journeys covering a pe-
riod of over twelve years.

Three separate museums are open to the public. In these
are exhibited well-preserved specimens of plants, woods and
plant-products, the collections displayed having chiefly an
economic interest. They evidently furnish a very interest-

New or Little-known Plants.

Agave angustissima.

IT will be of considerable interest to the readers of
Garden and Forest to know^ that Dr. Edward Palmer
has collected what seems to be the little-known Agave
angustissima* (see figure below). The plant is entirely
unknown to the growers of Agaves, and is only represented
in herbaria by the type specimens in the Engelmann Herba-
rium at the Shaw School of Botany, St. Louis.

The following note from Dr. Engelmann, published in
the Transactions of the Academy 0/ Sciences, St. Louis (vol.

Fig. I. — Agave angustissima.

ing and important series of object-lessons to great numbers
of visitors and seekers after information. The great library
and herbarium, which occupies still another separate building,
though necessarily not open to the multitude in the same free
way as are most of the other departments at Kew, is available
to all real students of botany. The Herbarium contains vast
numbers of types, and no systematist or monographer can
afford to work without reference to it.

Those interested in public museums, and botanical displays
in them, will find an easily accessible and a very interesting
and instructive one in the Natural History Museum, at South
Kensington, which has been arranged under the direction of
Dr. Carruthers. <~t r ':t b

Arnold Arboretum. J * ^* jdCti,

iii., p. 306), contained all the information that we have
previously had respecting this plant :

" Dr. Gregg collected, near Ocotillo, direction of Tepic, in
western Mexico,leaves of a plant which he says bears a scape

* Agave (Litttea) angustissima Engelm. Acaulescent, leaves fifteen to thirty in a
dense rosette, straight, linear, twelve to twenty inches long, four to five lines broad
above the inflated base, flat on both sides, the edge splitting off in fine threads,
the end spine slightly pungent ; peduncle twelve feet long, including the dense
spikes ; flowers in pairs, corolla yellow ; tube slender, cylindrical, eight to nine
inches long: lobes linear, six lines long: stamens purple: filaments more than
twice as long as lobes : anthers becoming curved and forming almost a complete
circle : fruiting peduncle very shoi-t or none in the axil of a long setaceous bract
(one to two inches long) ; pedicels, one to two lines long; capsule glabrous, nine to
ten lines long. Growing among rocks, with little soil, along the margin of the bay
at Manzanillo, December i to 31, 1890 (No. 1070).

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBKR 254.

five to six (fM high, and which, like many narrow-leaved
Aztixes and Yuccas, was called Palmilla by the natives ; un-
(wtunatcly. no flowers came along, but, as it seems to be an
undescribed Agare. it may l>e designated as A. angustissima ;
le«vw.two to three feet long, two and one-half lines wide,
cooTez on the back, filamentose on the margin, narrowed
into a short (two and one-half lines), stout, triangular,
brown spine It seems allied to A. tilamentosa. Salm.,
which, however, has much shorter and wider leaves. I he
form of the terminal spine precludes its bemg taken for a

Dr. Palmer's plant reaches twelve feet in height. The
leaves are numerous in a dense rosette, the flowers, in
pairs, as in A. Schottii. yellow, with linear lobes. I sub-
bitted this species to Mr. J. G. Baker, of Kew, as probably
a new species, who wrote me as follows : "We have noth-
ing like this either in the herbarium or the garden ; its
itMrest aflSnity is evidently the imperfectly described A.
angustissima. of which we have no specimens."

■ft'lth this suggestion 1 applied to Dr. William Trelease for
the loan of Engelmanns plant. Through his kindness I
have been able to examine the type of this species. I have
little hesitancy in referring mv specimens here. The type
specimens, however, consist of only a few leaves cut oft
above the enlarged base. With such material, any com-
parison is very unsatisfactory, but until specimens can be
obtained from the original sUtion, and it is proved to be
diflferent, this plant should stand for A. angustissima.

Dr. Palmer's plant was collected at Manzanillo, Decem-
ber 1 to 31, 1890 (No. 1070). The plant is common, grow-
ing among rocks, with little soil, along the margin of the
bar. I have some small plants growing in the green-
houses of the Department of Agriculture. Seeds, when
planted in pans, germinated in seven to ten days. Seeds
have been sent to Kew and to the Shaw gardens, but no
report has yet been received. We still have some seed
remaining, and any person wishing to grow the plant can
obtain the seeds by writing to Dr. George Vasey, Botanist
of the Department of Agriculture. ^ ^^ ^^^^

D. c

Cultural Department

Onion Culture in the South.

IHA\ t for years been trying to convince our southern peo-
ple that better cropw of onions can be grown here from
the seed direct, the first season, than by the use of sets. From
Marvland southward it has for generations been thought that,
while at the north onions can be grown from the seed
in one season, everywhere souibward the only way to get good
crops is to plant the seta raised the season before. So general
is tM impression that the growing of these sets has been a
large part of the seed-growers' business, and immense (quan-
tities of them are still sold, both in fall and spring, all over the
soutlu The buying of sets for a large crop, or the raising of
them the season before, is a very expensive matter and largely
reduces the profit of the crop. Of course, the Potato Onion,
which is largely grown for early marketing, must always be
grown from sets, as this is the only way it reproduces itself.
But the Potato Onion only comes in to supply a temporary
scarcity of onions in summer. All dealers know it is a bad
keeper, and it soon disappears from the markets when better
onions come in. The southern market is still largely sup-
plied in winter with onions grown at the north, while equally
good and solid onions can be easily grown here.

The introduction of the Italian and Spanish onions first
demonstrated the fact that Onions properly treated would
make a good crop here from the sowing of the seed. Of
course, Onions sown here in April, as is done at the north,
will only make sets, as the season of cool weather needed
lor their growth is then too short. But when the seed is put
in the ground here in February, the success is as certain as
is ttat o( almost any other crop. To demonstrate this plainly
for UMbcoeAt of our people, I sowed on our station grounds
kHtapttog a variety of Onion-seed both of the Italian varie-
ties and of some of the sorts commonly grown at the north. All
made a good crop, notwithstanding the fact that the only land
I had. available tor (he purpose, was a dry hill-slope of hard.

red clay of very moderate fertility, which had never before
been used for vegetable culture. This land was liberally
dressed with stable manure and about 700 pounds of am mo-
niated superphosphates, distributed in furrows under the Onion-
rows the soil being then bedded over the fertilizer by throw-
ine a furrow from each side over the first tunow, makine a
shhrp rldre. which was flattened down nearly evel, and the
seed-rows laid out upon it. This bed, slightly elevated above
the surrounding surface, made the first cultivation niore easy
than if tlie seed had been sown on the level surface, and
made horse culture possible from the start. This is the most
economical plan with most garden vegetables raised from
seed where Mand is the cheapest thing that enters into the
problem, as in most parts of the south. The seed was sown
eariy in February, and was scattered quite thickly, the inten-
tion being to transplant all thinnings. At the same time seed
was sown in a cold frame, under glass, in order to have plants
ready for transplanting earlier. The result showed but little
advantage in this. Had the seed in the frames been sown
January 1st, the result would have been quite different, we
think, as we should have had sets ready to transplant before the
end of February. While all made a fair crop, the transplanted
onions were larger than those not so treated. This was true
not only of the Italian and Spanish sorts, but also of the New
England varieties, which are not usually thought to be bene-
fited by the process. , „ , „ j n»

The'varieties sown were White and Red Bermuda, Mam-
moth Pompeii, Queen, Giant Rocca, Large White Italian
Tripoli, Giant White Garganus, Barletta, Southport White
Globe, Yellow Globe Danvers, New Opal, Eariy Flat Red,
Wethersfield Large Red and White Portugal. The Barletta
grew as large as the Queen, and seems to differ very little
from it. The White Portugal made the finest bulbs of any of
the flat white sorts, with the White Bermuda nearly as good.
The Red Bermuda grew to the largest size of any of the Hat red
sorts, but the New Opal is heavier and more solid, and prom-
ises to keep better. Of the Globe sorts the Southport White
Globe made the most handsome bulbs. The Giant Rocco, too,
was very fine, particularly the transplanted ones. The Red
Wethersfield made fair-sized bulbs of great solidity, and prom-
ises to keep well. None of the white sorts promise to keep
well except the Southport White Globe. We believe this va-
riety will be found very valuable in the south. We were very
much disappointed at not being able to get the Prize-taker
Onion at the time our seed was sown. We are now pursuing
this investigation further by sowing the seed in October very
thickly for the purpose of transplanting in February. Unfor-
tunately, the intense drought which has prevailed this fall has
interfered with this, and we fear the plants will not get start
enough to do well. We will make a further sowing in frames
about Christmas, so as to make sure of plants for February
setting.

At our State Fair in October we exhibited all the varieties of
onions grown, and it was amusing to hear the expressions of
surprise on the part of farmers and gardeners when they were
told that all had been grown from seed the first season. We
venture to predict that more Onion-seed will be sown here the
coming spring than ever before. Had our seed been in more
open and fertile soil I feel sure the crop would have been sur-
prisingly large, and in the mellow coast-lands of this state,
where the trucking interest prevails, the crop ought to be made
a very profitable one. ,,. „ , .

Raleigh. N. c. ^- ^- Massey.

Cape Oxalis.— IV.

THE last of this series of notes upon Cape Oxalis is to de-
scribe those kinds which cannot be said to form a group
of species which resemble each other in any noticeable de-
gree. Oxalis ceruna is, perhaps, the best known of these,
either under its own name or as O. lutea of most of the cata-
logues, or as O. caprina, under which name it is figured by
Burnett. This is so common as to need no description, though
it may be worth while to advise those who are about to buy
dry bulbs of it to test them by pressure with thumb and fin-
ger, for the interior of these bulbs often shrink in drying,
owing to too short a growing season. There is thus left a
shell of fair size, while the living part is no larger than a
millet-seed. This condition is betrayed by the cracking
of the bulb under the pressure of thumb and finger. The
hollow bulbs may also be told by their dull appearance, the
sound bulbs being somewhat glossy, but it takes an experi-
enced eye to detect the dill'erence. ' This species has also a
double form, not by any means as attractive as the single one,
and not as easy to get, for most of those who advertise the

January 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

00

>

m

8

Garden and Forest.

[NUtlBBR 254.

double have really only the single one to sell. The tault is
probably not theirs, but that of flje growers, who might easily
•eparale the single from the double when the plants are in
btoom. The bulbs of the two varieties are exactly alike, but
the leaves ol the single kinJ have the brown specks scattered,
while in the double son Ihev are clustered at the base of the
leaflets. O. cemua will endure the winter in the open ground
with a slight covering, but will not Hower in the following
q>ring, therefore pot-culture is the best for it.

Oialis Bowiei is one of the best-known, one of the oldest in
nidens.an<l e finest of all. It is very distinct from

•U others in s of large rosy Howers. broad, tlesh y

bright green leuiuts and horn-shaped'bulbs. The bulbs should
be selected for their thickness, not their length. If a plant of
Oxalis be turned out of its pot while in full growth it will be
found to have thick, translucent roots ; these are used by
natives of South Africa and South America as articles of food.
I bare enten the roots of all the kinds of Oxalis which I have
•^mwn and6nd those of O. Bowiei by far the best in flavor,
ry sweet and sugary and devoid of the smoky taste
:))ake« many so disagreeable. O. Bowiei should be
piaiKcU much earlier than it gfenerally is ; I sometimes put a
lew bulbs into the open ground tarly'in July and have flowers
in abundance from the middle of August until October. Few
garden plants can surpass O. Bowiei when so treated.

Oialis Piotiaf is pro! ' ce rarer and prettier than any

otlierkind. I include r. ape species with some doubt.

It is tlie subject of plati- loi/ i>i the Bolanical Register, whose
deacription says. •• It is said to be a native of the Cape of Good
Hope. Itis not included in the list of Harvey and Senders
•• Flora Capensis," nor can I tind any mention of it except in the
place already referred to, which quotes Colla as authority for
the species. The editor of the Register received it from a
ladr to whom it had been piven by Professor Savi, of the Bo-
tanic Garden of Pisa, and it seems to have been kept there
very closely, for after searching for it through all the cata-
logues I could find lor twenty years I found it at last in the
list of the Italian firm of Dammann & Co. The figure spoken
of is only ■ ■ ; lie. The foliage, as I find it, is not bright

green. I > mcous; it grows very thickly, so that a

pot of itmucii rt-scnir>les a sod of close white Clover, though
the lesflets are much smaller ; the flowers are large, about an
inch and a half across, of a bright salmon color, entirely un-
like those of any otiier species I have seen. The dense, thick
cluttered, blue-green foliage and the large, attractive and
distinct Howers render O. Piottse, on the whole, the most
plessiny of my collection, though, probably, a part of my ap-
preciation of It may l>e due to its having been obtained after
so long a search. The bulbs are small and very curiously
covered with sharp, interlacing ridges. There is no doubt
that the species belong to some part of Africa, for the bulbs of
the New World species have a structure of their own, so
peculiar that they could be distinguished in the dark.

Osalis bifida is another very pretty kind. Its manner of
growth is somewhat rambling ; at the end of the long leaf-
Stalks thick tufts of leaves appear, composed of three sharply
notched, vivid green leaflets. The flowers are bright pink,
and very pleasing, but not very freely produced. The bril-
liantly colored, finely cleft foliage is the chief attraction of the
ent. O. bifurca lias purple or lilac flowers of medium size ; its
flets, arranged in threes, are so deeply notched as to be
very neariy of the shape of a capital V.

Oxalis caprina (of Linna;us) is a species of much beauty,
bearing siiiall. bluish purple flowers, with yellow centres, in
great abundance. The plant is much branched, and the
sharply cleft leaflets, resembling the print of a goat's foot,
•iMmsied the name.

(Kalis compressa much resembles O. cernua, but is of a
more compact habit, and the leaf-stalks are much flattened.
The flowers, somewliat deeper in tint than those of O. cemua,
are stroc^ly and agreeably perfumed.

Of OxaUs imbricata I have the double-flowered variety only.
It is a low-growing trifoliate kind, whose blossoms, unlike
those of the double O. cemua, are very pretty and well worth
having. I owe my possession of this to the kindness of Mr.
Watson, of Kew. One or two other species are sometimes
double-flowering, but 1 have so far seen only these two.

Oxalis inomau was formerly sold under the name of O.
luculla. This species has much the appearance of a tree in
miniature, in the manner of branching resembling a White
Oak. The flowers are freely produced, and are so faintly pink
as to seem white unless looked at closely. If the plant grows
In the shade the under side of the leaves is deep violet or pur-
ple. The bulbs are long and of neariy even thickness until
near the tip, and are covered with a loose, yellowish skin.

Oxalis fthcaulis is given by Harvey and Sonder as a synonym

of O. bifida, but the species which I have under that name is
quite distinct and much less attractive. It has no great inter-
est, and I omit any description.

Oxalis Comorensis, though not a Cape species, is certainly
African, and is most probably from the Comoro Islands. I
have never been able to find it in any botanical work. I ob-
tained it from E. G. Henderson, of London, more than twenty
years ago, and lost it after cultivating it some years ; it is a
"very curious kind, inasmuch as the lower surface of its larg^e
round leaflets is covered with a dense brown fur, which,
projecting from the edges, gives the plant a very fantastic
appearance. The flowers are large and pink.

Canton, .Mass. ^- E. Etldicott.

Woody Plants for Winter Flowering.

A VARIETY of stock is required in order to keep the con-
servatory bright with flowers during the dull winter
months, and while much can be done with Primulas, Cycla-
mens, Begonias and other soft-wooded plants in conjunction
with various forced bulbs, yet something more is needed to
vary the arrangement. Among the plants adapted for such
use, none are more showy or more lasting than the various
varieties of Euphorbia pulcherrima, the type producing the
largest bracts, while the variety known as Major gives a head
of moderate size and of crimson shade, rather than scarlet.
The double variety also forms very large heads, and of bril-
liant color, and, from its highly decorative character, quite
justifies the enthusiasm with which the collector, Roezel,
presented it nearly twenty years ago. An advantage also pos-
sessed by these Euphorbias is that they can readily be stored
away beneath the stages after their blooming is over until the
spring or early summer, this season of rest being requisite to
their welfare. Euphorbia fulgens is another valuable sub-
ject for winter decoration in the conservatory, and requires
very similar treatment to E. pulclierrima, though during its
growing season this plant is more impatient of extremes of
drought and moisture than the other. Both species are readily
propagated from cuttings either of hard or soft wood, the
latter needing more heat to enable them to root, and also more
attention to prevent damping off.

Plumbago rosea-coccinea is also a valuable shrub, bearing
quite large, bright red flowers. This plant flourishes in a
somewhat higher temperature than the well-known P. Capensis,
and is stronger in growth than the latter, but like it in needing
no special culture. P. Capensis is also admirable during the
latter part of the winter and early in spring, for while this
plant is considered a summer bloomer, yet it is not closely
confined to one season, and its pale blue flowers are accept-
able at any time.

Reinwardtia trigyna is another useful plant at this season,
and, with proper attention during the summer, in the matters
of watering and potting, can be made into a very attractive
specimen for decorating the conservatory in winter. This
plant is sufficiently familiar to most growers to require no
special description here, and while its bright yellow flowers
are not very lasting, yet they are produced in such an abun-
dance that the plant retains its beauty for a length of time.
R. trigyna is best grown outdoors during the summer, in a
frame or beneath a lath shelter, it being less liable to the
attacks of red spiders when grown in this way, providing it is
not permitted to get too dry.

Erica hyemalis is probably the easiest member of this exten-
sive genus to grow, since it can be rooted without much
trouble in the spring, and, unless abused, it will form nice
little bushes by the following winter, and will produce long
sprays of delicately tinted little flowers during the winter and
spring. This is really a charming plant, so graceful in habit
and profuse in flowering, and the cut sprays can also be used
to advantage. In short, it is a plant deserving of much wider
use.

Cytisus racemosus should not be omitted, for when properly
grown it may be brought into bloom quite early in the spring
or rather late in the winter. To have this plant in condition
for early flowering, the growth should be well ripened out-of-
doors during the summer ; young plants that have been
rooted early in the spring should be shifted on as necessary
until they are in six-inch pots, when they should be plunged
in a bed of coal-ashes. Naturally grown plants, that is, with
only enough pinching to make them moderately bushy, are
the most graceful, though some growers trim them in with
shears until a perfectly round head is formed, after the manner
of an Azalea.

The Centradenias are old-fashioned plants of considerable
merit for winter decoration, two species in particular being of
value, namely, C. grandiflora and C. floribunda, the first-

January 4. 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

named being the stronger-growing of the two, and having
leaves some two or three inches long, bright green above and
reddish beneath, with pink tlowers, produced in clusters. C.
tloribunda is smaller in all its parts, the flowers being white or
pinkish, and the leaves dark green, the plant making a com-
pact little busli and flowering most abundantly. Both are very
readily propagated by means of cuttings, and of the easiest
culture.

Tabernajmontana Coronaria and its double form are also
desirable plants for a warm conservatory, their pure white
and fragrant tiowers reminding one of small Gardenias. The
plants also bear some resemblance to Gardenias, the foliage
being very bright and glossy, and, as cuttings root readily,
there is but little difficulty in securing a stock.

Holmesburg. Pa. IV. H. TapHtl.

Diseases of Gloxinias.

TOURING the past season Gloxinias in France have been con-
-L-' siderably injured by various diseases. The exact nature
of the troubles does not seem to be very well understood, as
some are supposed to be due to fungi, and others to bacilli.
The remedies proposed are not always efficient, but good re-
sults appear to follow the use of some of them. The presence
of so much disease can partially be explained by the fact that
when the young plants are moved from thepropagating-house
to their flowering quarters the sudden change in temperature
weakens them and lowers their powers of resisting disease.
The change should be made as gradual as possible. Another
suggestion is found in the fact that Gloxinias which are
grown in new houses, or in houses before unoccupied by
them, are quite free from disease, while their successful culti-
vation is an utter impossibility in houses which have been
tilled by them year after year. Great care in growing only
healthy plants will undoubtedly soon become a very important
factor in their cultivation, for these plants now appear to be
the prey of an ever-increasing number of enemies.

Eugene Vallerand mentions four diseases of Gloxinias in
Revue Horticole, and gives brief directions for combating
them. One disease that has occurred more or less during the
past thirty years is known as the grise. It attacks strong as
well as weak plants. It first appears in the form of spots upon
the leaves ; these extend, and the bloom is soon destroyed.
Finally the entire plant succumbs. In some places this disease
is so serious that the cultivation of the plant has been given
up. No good remedy has yet been recommended.

Another disease, which is sometimes very serious, is fre-
quently found in the fall upon plants which were started in the
spring. It is first seen when the nights begin to get cooler. It
works upon the foliage, and appears to dry it, so that it soon
becomes very brittle. The disease spreads rapidly, and in a
few days will attack many frames in which the plants are kept.
The best remedy is to keep the plants in a warm temperature,
as the trouble, at least, is partially due to cold.

Gloxinias are also subject to the attacks of a third disease,
but this is much less serious. Like the preceding, it is found
upon grown plants, particularly when in full bloom, but only
in certain places. The stem of a branch, leaf or flower is sud-
denly attacked by a rot, and unless something is done the de-
cay will extend to the centre of the diseased part. The remedy
is to cut away all unhealthy parts as soon as the injury is
discovered.

The fourth disease is also a rot, found principally upon ma-
ture plants. The stems blacken and decay, and the entire
plant soon succumbs. All diseased parts should be cut away.

Cornell University. E. G. Lodeman.

Irises and Their Cultivation. — III.

I

N March or early April, the Persian Iris, I. Persica, begins to
open its flowers while the leaves are still inconspicuous.
This is an old variety known to Parkinson as the Persian
bulbous Flower-de-luce. While interesting and of a dainty
order of beauty, it is quite inconspicuous in a border. The
color is a very pale blue with a very dark purple blotch
at the end of the blade of the falls, and it has an orange crest.
It is extremely dwarf, and, in an unfavorable season, will

the soil.

Iris Caucasica blooms at the same season. While it is a
distinct type, the form flowered by me has little garden value,
the flower being a dull washy yellow. There are said to be
flowers of a more satisfactory hue. Iris orchioides is a species

very close to I. Caucasica ; with this and I. Sindjarensis I have
had but little experience, the bulbs not yet having flowered.
Tiiese Irises are all of the same botanical section. They have
thick, fleshy, persistent roots, and for this reason should not
be moved unnecessarily or kept out of the ground long. It is
said they do well in a soil rather more stiff and moist than the
other bulbous kinds.

The Vartans Iris (I. Vartani), from Palestine, seems a hardy,
reliable producer of long, green leaves, but as it is due to
flower in November, it must either be removed to shelter or
await the opportunity of a mild season to show its flowers
here. I. Tingitana is also one among several others of the
bulbous Irises the flowers of which have so far eluded me.

Iris bulbs may be secured in late summer, being mostly dor-
mant in August. These are known as summer-ripe bulbs in
the gardens. It is, of course, good practice to plant them as
soon as secured, burying them in an envelope of sand. It is
well to plant the early-flowering kinds where they will besome-
what retarded, if possible, but it is difficult to find a warm and
rather dry spot where they will not come on in the first warm
spell of the year. After flowering, the greatest care must be
taken to ripen them up for the next year by preserving their
foliage in growth as long as possible, as on this will depend
their successful flowering another season.

The Snake's-head Iris (I. tuberosa), or, properly, Hermo-
dactylus tuberosus, while neither bulbous, nor properly an
Iris, is curious and interesting with its greenish falls and
deep brown markings. It is, however, of little garden value,
and by no means a reliable flower-bearer in this section.

The Morseas and Vieusseuxias, which in the garden are
rated as Irises, are, properly, greenhouse-plants, though, in a
favorable season, the Peacock Iris (I. pavonia) will live out and
flower in this latitude. This variety is a gem for pot-culture ;
its small flowers, though fugacious, are beautiful with the
white falls and curious peacock-blue eye. Even more fuga-
cious are the flowers of Morasa iridioides (I. morajoides),
though the charming little pale lilac blooms, with broad falls and
high standards, are miniature fac-similes in form of the large-
bearded Irises. The strongest-growing plant of this section is
M. Robinsoniana, the flowering of which at Kew was illustrated
in Garden and Forest (vol. iv., p. 355). The timeand attention
given to the culture and flowering of this plant-also illustrates
the fact that in the garden patience is often necessary. To the
fancier of odd choice flowers the Morasas and Maricas, a' group
with Iris-like flowers, are very interesting, and will repay the
trouble of cultivation. They are fairly numerous, as the list of
names in the catalogues show.

EUzabeth. N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Foreign Correspondence,
London Letter.

Plant Certificates. — The practice of awarding certificates
to plants, to indicate their value in horticulture, was insti-
tuted many years ago by the Royal Horticultural Society.
As a rule, every plant which receives this certificate does
so after having been submitted to the judgment of a com-
mittee of experts representing the best English practice in
horticulture. The Society has prepared a complete list of
all the plants, flowers, including Orchids and Ferns, fruits
and vegetables which have been awarded certificates from
the year 1859 to December, 1892, and offers it for sale at
tvi^o shillings and sixpence per copy. This list will be
valuable to all who are interested in the introduction and
history of garden-plants, as it comprises almost everything
of special value introduced in the period here named.
Other societies, such as the Chrysanthemum and the Bo-
tanic Societies, award certificates, but the certificate of the
Royal Horticultural Society is by far the strongest recom-
mendation that a plant can receive in England.

A Monograph of Bulbous Irises, by Professor Michael
Foster, F. R. S., will shortly be published by the Royal
Horticultural Society. Professor Foster has paid special
attention to the introduction, cultivation and classification
of Irises of all kinds, and in his garden at Shelford, near
Cambridge, he has collected together all the species and
varieties procurable. He unites with his professional du-
ties as a physiologist a keen love of practical horticulture,
taking an interest, not merely in his special hobby, the
Iris family, but in gardening of every description. The
present flourishing condition of the Royal Horticultural

lO

Garden and Forest

[Number 254.

Society is due very largely to the efforts of the Professor
and a few other eealous horticulturists at a lime when
the ver-. ce of the Society was threaleiie<L Pro-

fessor F "itributioiisto the history ami culture of

bulbous Irises will l>e welcomeil hy all who are interested
in this most delightful, if somewhat refractory, section of
one of the most beautiful of all garden flowers.

Thi Orchid Rkvikw. — We are to have a monthly illustrated
journal, devoted exclusively to Orchids, and edited by Mr.
R. A. Rolfe, of Kew, and Mr. Frank Leslie, According to the
prtJspectus, it will be conducted on broad and independent
lines as a general repertorium of Orchid lore Among the
subjects treated of will be found, descrijitions of new
species and hybrids, notices of collections ; portraits, all
reproduced by photographic process ; cultural notes, geo-
graphical notes and sketches of Orchids at home, reports
of meetings, etc The first number will be published on
January ist next, price one shilling. Monsieur L. Linden,
of L Horticulture Inierrutlionale, Brussels, has issued for sev-
eral years now a similar publication {Les Orchidees) to that
here announced, and Monsieur Godefroy Lebeuf, of Argen-
tueil and Paris, also publishes a paper, the Orchidophile,
which is devoted to Orchids exclusively. In addition to
these we have the three large "Albums," issued monthly :
one from St Albans, Reichenbachia ; another from Hollo-
way, The Orchid Album, and the third from Brussels,
Zuidenia. Pretty strong evidence these of the popularity
of Orchids in Europe. Never before in the history of hor-
ticulture have there been six periodicals devoted exclu-
sively to one family of plants.

New Orchids. — Sophro-Cattleya Calypso is a very beau-
tiful hybrid of so-called bigeneric extraction, its pareirts
being bophronitis grandiflora and Cattleya Loddigesii. It
was shown in flower this week by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons,
its r ■ lid was awarded a first-class certificate. The

psc ■ and leaves are more like those of the Cattleya,

but smaller and more slender. The flower, too, is like the
Cattleya in size and form, but colored deep rose, with tips
of bright purple on the three-lobed yellow lip.

Lxtia Finckeniana is a supposed natural hybrid between
L. albidaand L. anceps. It has the pseudo-bulbs and habit
of L albida, but the flowers are more like those of a small
form of L. anceps alba ; they are white, with a blotch of
purple on the front lobe of the labellum.

Cattleya labiata alba is a white form, very like the white
C Gaskelliana. The flower is pure white, save a yellow
shade in the throat It was shown by Messrs. Sander& Co.,
and obtained a first-class certificate.

Twelve new Hybrid Cypripediums were exhibited this
week, but C. Arite (concolor x Spicerianum) and C.
Johnsonianum (nitens x Lawrcncianum) only obtained
certificates.

Pleurothallis punctulata was described by Mr. Rolfe
in 1889 from a plant introduced by Messrs. Veitth from
New Granada in 1885, and now in the collection of
Mr. R. I. Measures, who exhibited it in fine health, and
flowering freely this week. It is about eight inches high,
with erect leathery, lanceolate leaves clothed with a white
meal at the back. The flowers somewhat resemble those
of a Restrepia antennifera in size and shape ; they are light
yellow, spotted with brown-purple, the lip, which is large,
being deep maroon. The flowers are produced at the back
of the leaf-blade. This is certainly one of the best of the
few good species of Pleurothallis known.

Masdevallia McVilia; is a hybrid between M. Tovarensis
and M. VeitchiL It has leaves like the former parent and
large rosy lilac flowers on a scape nine inches long. It is
remarkable as a curious hybrid, and is likely to prove a
good addition to the cultivated Masdevallias. It was raised
In a garden at Stone, Staffordshire, the seeds having been
sown about twelve years ago. It was certificated.

Cattleya Alexandrae was shown in flower by Messrs.
Linden and Mr. B. D. Knox, the former sending a three-
flowered scape, the latter a plant with a single flower. The
committee reserved its opinion, and asked to see more of

this Cattleya, in the hope that better forms may be forth-
coming. So far it has disappointed expectations. The
flowers shown were darker tiian that produced at Kew,
but in no way more attractive.

The CHRisr.MAS Rosk. — This is now beautiful in the wild
garden at Kew. The ground is thickly carpeted with the
brown leaves which have fallen from the Limes and Elms
and other trees about, and the pure white flowers of the
Hellebore are in numerous crowded clusters, rising a few
inches above the leaves. Helleborus niger, in a pot or
grown singly in a border, is not to be despised, but when
it is planted in hundreds in such a position as is here de-
scribed it is a glorious winter picture. We do not make
nearly enough use of this plant. It thrives under trees,
asking only for a loamy soil to root into and an annual
top-dressing of a good compost, such as loam and manure.
With these conditions it increases and multiplies, and in
winter, if the weather in December be favorable, as it has
been this year, it flowers abundantly. Certainly the Christ-
mas Rose is one of the most valuable of all hardy plants
here, and to enjoy its full capabilities it must be liberally
treated and planted in a position where it can be seen to the
best advantage. There is surely something remarkable in
the fact of this plant developing its large attractive flowers
in midwinter, when vegetation generally in the north is
apparently fast asleep.

Berberis vulgaris. — This old garden-plant is the most
attractive shrub outside at this season. . For more than a
month past some bushes of it, ten feet high and as much
through, have been beautiful sheaves of long, elegant
branches crowded with bright crimson coral-like berries.
The birds often prevent the effect such shrubs would make
by devouring the berries as they ripen, but in places where
the birds are disturbed the Barberry assumes its full winter
beauty. The sprays of berries are most decorative when
cut and arranged in vases, etc., and they keep fresh several
weeks in water. A charming Christmas picture, which, in
England, at any rate, could be easily obtained, would be
some bushes of this Barberry growing out of a carpet of
Christmas Rose, always assuming that the birds did not
spoil the arrangement.

Begonia, Winter Gem, is well-named. It is one of the
Socotrana hybrids raised by Messrs. Veitch several years
ago, who exhibited a group of it last Tuesday. It is B.
Socotrana, but with larger flowers of the most brilliant
crimson color. Flowering as it does in midwinter, and in-
heriting from its Socotran parent the valuable character of
holding its flowers till they wither, this Begonia is certain
to become a general favorite. Mr. Mcale, the raiser of
these hybrids, informs me that he has a new hybrid which
is even better tiian Winter Gem, and which also has been
obtained from B. Socotrana.

London. W. WalSOIl.

Correspondence.

Grapes in Winter.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— I have been making some experiments in keeping grapes
in open baskets set in a cool room, and send you a few
notes. For Noveml)er 15th 1 iiave recorded :

The Concord, if carefully handled, will keep much better
than I had supposed. At this date it is in good condition, but
lacks somewhat in flavor. Tlie thin-skinned sorts are not de-
caying any more than the thick-skinned ones, unless tlie grapes
are bruised. Diamond growsin l)eauty and improves in flavor
from keeping. It cannot be distinguished in color from Golden
I'ocklington, and does not shrivel easily. Vergennes is skinny
and seedy, but keeps very well from rot. I do not care for it
as a table fruit. Amber is a wonderful grape to keep. The
bunches are as fresh-looking as when picked, but the acidity
is such that few will eat it. It does not quite ripen in this lati-
tude. I recommend that farther south it be tested for a winter
grape. Tlie bunches arc very handsome ; color, green Her-
bert IS an ideal grape up to date, and is a favorite with every-
body. It wdl keep if not eaten up. It is the very best of our
black grapes for keeping. Niagara is in good order as yet and

January 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

II

sweet, but loses flavor. It is not a late keeper. Duchess is a
better l<eeper than I liad supposed, but it must not be left too
long on the vines, for in that case it cracks and decays at once.
Diana is not well ripened this year, but is a late keeper, and
about as good a grape as we have. Not one of all my grapes
is in finer condition than Goethe. It does not quite generally
ripen here, but if grown on long vines on the side of a house
or barn it becomes a fairly good fruit. Then, if put away, it
improves in color and flavor. The lona has exactly the same
tendency as Goethe ; it improves after picking, even taking on
color. It is very thin-skinned, and requires careful handling,
but keeps when so handled admirably. Jefferson is another
grape that improves after storing, and only for that we must
discard it from our latitude. Lady Washington is also better
than when gathered, and is in fine order. Ulster is one of our
really good keepers so far. Pocklinglon is in splendid condi-
tion and fine flavor. Gaertner is showing no signs of decay.
August Giant is keeping so far very well.

For December 15th I append the following notes : The grapes
in best condition at this date are Diana, Amber, Goethe, Ver-
gennes and Gaertner. Those somewhat shriveled are Her-
bert, Ulster, Jefferson and August Giant. Those that have
shown decided signs of decay are Niagara, Concord, Diamond,
Duchess, Lady Washington and lona. Of these it is hardly
worth while to expect to keep Niagara, Concord and Duchess
in good order beyond December ist. If now selecting a list
for late winter storage, I should, considering quality and ten-
dency to resist decay, select Diana, Goethe, Herbert, Gaertner,
Ulster, Vergennes and Pocklington. For early winter I should
add lona, Martha and August Giant. The last of these is
very fine, only for its tendency to shrivel.

This happens to be my present list, but on previous occa-
sions I have tested Wilder, which kept admirably, and might
be classed about with Herbert, although shriveling rather less
quickly ; Worden, which keeps about with Concord, but loses
flavor ; Diana I have kept until April in cool drawers.

These notes are made of grapes which are in no way specially
prepared for keeping by packmg or by waxing. The bunches are
carefully picked, carefully examined, and all decaying or loose
grapes removed and laid loosely over the bottoms of clean
new baskets. They are then placed in a cool dry room. I have
had still better success in cool dry drawers. As the grape is
now recognized as an exceptionally wholesome fruit, I see no
reason why we should not store it in large quantities. I have
had enough for a generous daily supply, and shall not be with-
out abundance imtil the new year. I find, on looking over all
my baskets, that I have misjudged one variety, the Diamond,
for two baskets from our vineyard are in splendid condition at
this date. The baskets in front, froin which we had eaten,
came from an old vine somewhat shaded, and the fruit lacked
the perfect color and sweetness of the others which had the
full sunshine. It must be borne in mind that a grape may not
be able to show its real qualities as a keeper unless grown in
a choice location. I think it quite certain that a well-ripened
Diamond is one of the best keepers we have. I am glad this
is so, for this grape has failed to meet our expectations both as
to prolific bearing and early ripening. Amber I have not in-
cluded in my list of select latest, only because it has an acid
that makes it unacceptable to most consumers. Personally I
like it.

My experiment was not intended to see how late I could
keep grapes, but to ascertain which were best keepers under
conditions open to almost any family. I am able to keep
Diana until April.

Clinton, N. Y. E. P. Powell.

Among the White Pines.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Were I called upon to choose an emblem for America
I should select the White Pine. I have thought of the wild
Grape-vine for its old indubitable connection with Wineland,
its irrepressible energy of growth and the quiet perseverance
with which it ))rcaches its gospel of wild natural loveliness and
latent possibilities of beauty in the very face of the most
hideous structures of bad, cheap taste. But nothing seems as
expressive as the White Pine ; I cannot exactly say why. Does
not the essence of a good emblem lie therein that its beauty
and appropriateness would be lost by translating into words ?
Perhaps it is because it is nowhere so beautiful as here in its
native home, where it has been one of my inost charming ex-
periences to study its beauty in different surroundings and
stages of growth.

There are the young trees, looking like bevies of graceful
girls in silk attire, bowing their heads together and whispering
gayly at the grotesque attitudes of their boy cousins, the Pitch

Pines ; the serried ranks of the old ones, with boughs bent and
broken in the battle of life, but still indomitable ; the copses
on the hill-tops, where they raise their splendid crowns in mid-
air from among a fringe of lower trees, and the stately ave-
nues, looking like rugged veterans on courtly parade, traversing
smiling slopes of New England landscape.

But most of all do I love an old grove in a certain seaside
spot of New England, and well do 1 remember my first dis-
covery of it. I had left the village, attracted by a belt of trees
on the further side of some fields. An old road skirted it,
running along a stone wall to a closed gray-stone building, so
suggestive in its silence that I had to peep through a oracle in
the door. It proved to be a half-dismantled studio, surely
once tenanted by a lover of trees. How he must have reveled
in the classical poetry of the long rays of light playing over
the ground between the dark stems of the Pines in the open
grove to the right of this studio ! Through this grove a wind-
ing track conducted me to a veritable fairies' parlor of young
Oaks, tall grass and graceful Sweet Fern, and there lost itself.
Fairies' parlors are not thoroughfares, as a rule. So I had to
find my way out as best I might, and in doing so I came
unawares upon the most magnificent grove of old Pines that
I have ever seen. The needles lay piled thick on the ground
in soft drifts and cushions, adorned here and thSre with tan-
gled cords of Sniilax and graceful feathers of Bracken, spread-
ing a carpet of dull gold, with light touches of green between
the grandly shaped trunks of the majestic old trees, every tree
an individuality, as full of character in the forms of the bole
as a piece of the best Japanese bronze-work.

This grove became my study. I brought my books, but
used to spend most of my time leaning back against the
natural cushions at the foot of one of the trees, never tiring of
watching the play of light and studying the forms of the trees —
some straight and splendid in harmonious growth, like young
heroes, others twisted about by some liigher power into forms
of grotesque fantasticality. The shadows, too, seemed to be
unconsciously obeying great laws of beauty in their rhythmic
movements ; sometimes solemn and grand, sometimes alight-
ing only to move on, caressing so softly, wandering so airily,
moving, yet never rushing. I know people here whose
thoughts move in the same way. .

New York. Cecilta IVaerit.

Recent Publications.

In Gold and Silver. By Geo. H. Ellwanger. D, Appleton
& Co. : New York.

This book consists of a series of sketches on subjects which
do not naturally fall within the field occupied by Garden and
Forest, but the last three, entitled Warders of the Woods,
A Shadow upon the Pool and The Silver I>"ox of Hunt's Hol-
low, bring the reader into contact with so many delightful
phases of the outdoor world that all who have a love for na-
ture will be captivated by them. If the book has any fault it
is a certain super-refinement of style, which at times suggests
a lack of spontaneity and smacks of the library rather than of
the woods. There is no doubt, however, as to the genuine-
ness of Mr. EUwanger's enthusiasm or the accuracy of his ob-
servation. He does not sketch at second-hand, but from a
personal familiarity with the scenes he describes, and a pro-
found and appreciative admiration of them. The illustrations
are as dainty as the author's style, and, taken altogether, the
book is one of the handsomest of the holiday publications of
the year.

Notes.

The Orange-growers of Southern California are reaping a
rich harvest, and the total yield will'probably amount to 7,000
car-loads. liuyersare paying $3.25 a box for the best fruit de-
livered at the railroad station, which means a return of from
$500 to $800 an acre for groves that are over eight years old.

According to the American Florist, the Pansy-seed at Lin-
coln Park, Chicago, is sown on Christmas-day. The seedlings
are pricked out in flats when large enough to handle, and
carried through the winter in a cool greenhouse, which is
considered a much less troublesome and expensive way than
keeping the plants in frames.

The January number of Meehans' Monthly gives a picture
of Opuntia prolifeia, which was discovered by Dr. Parry on
the dry hills about San Diego, in California, in 1849. Mr.
Meehan says that ;it home it appears in immense masses,
forming impenetrable thickets often eight feet high, and
likened to masses of coral reef, the -flower-branches pushing

12

Garden and Forest.

[Number 254.

out on all »ide« and somclimcs |Kjnd<ilous. Tl.c crtcct on tl c
hlmtoipeot Ihe bright pink rtowcrs aRaiust the huge, succu-
Icnl pay branches is wonderfully sinking.

\ r '^patcli to the Tribune of this city sjiys ffrnt

,1,; .; of Pomona, in that state. Imve proved so

ittCtpuLie mat u grocer in this city. U.st week, sent out an order
Sii»o«Uoo8 of them. This ouler has Riven a stimulus to
tS^WiSluslry in that neighljorhood. and several thousand
acres will be planted with the tree.

On llie tast day of the year Mr. Gerard sent to this ollice
. perfeS flower of the U-autifuI and fragrant Iris stylosa
IJ^oM. This is the natural season for the blooming of this
SedMTand •• the wtathcr is inclement in this latitude the
Molcction of a cool house or frame is necessary to secure
dowers. It is an excellent subject for pot-culture.

fruits. This Persimmon is too tender to bear transportation
and it is only had in perfection where it matures. When dead
ripe It is of the consistency of custard, and when " placed in a
siirer cup stem down, the blossom end cut off with a sharp.
thin knife and served with a dainty spoon to match the cup. it
is an olTering tit for the queen of the fairies."

Mr Georee F. Wilson writr* to the Gardener s' Chronicle of
his famous Lilies, that his mode of cultivating them in the
open ground in sunken casks, from which the bottoms have
been taken away, lias proved more advantageous than ever
this year. In one cask there were twenty-one stems of For-
tunes Tiger Lily, the tallest of which was eight feet six inches
high. When grown as close as these, the top soil needs re-
newing every year. The tops of the cask should not be
sunken nuicli Ijclow the surface of the surrounding soil, for
if they are. the roots of shrubs will come in over the top of the
cask and rob the Lilies of their share of the food.

The . ' r> of Kew. past and present, are desirous of
jormiip Ives into a guild, and propose to publish

anmiali* ,1 .w,,.al in which will be recorded the present Kew
sta(t. from the director to the gardeners, a list of all old
uttachrs. with the date of their leaving Kew and their present
positions and addresses, together with notes of interest from
the gardens and correspondence from various members of
tlic guild. The journal will consist of about fifty pages, to
cover the expense of which, with postage, an annual sub-
scription of one shilling will be necessary. It will be pub-
lished on May ist. All persons who have at any time worked
as gardeners at Kew are requested to send their names, with
date of leaving Kew. present position and address, to the
Secretary, J. Aikman. Whitestile Road, Brentford. There are
prol»ably 500 Kew men distributed all over the world, but of
the whereabouts of all except a small proportion there is at
present no record.

A few years ago seeds of Eucalyptus globulus were sent to
Kew Gardens, which had been collected from trees growing at
such a high altitude in Tasmania that theywere accustomed to
severe frosts. It was hoped that plants from these seeds
might endure the rigors of an English winter, but the exper-
iments were disappointing, and the first hard frost so severely
checked the seedlings, Uiat, notwithstanding the protection
received later from a canvas screen, they all died before the
winter was over. In fact, at Kew. these seedlings from Blue
Gum trees, which had been accustomed to frost, were, if any-
thing, not so hardy as those from the ordinary forms of Euca-
lyptus globulus, and later experiments with plants raised from
Eucalyptus coccifera from trees which were coated with
icicles a foot long, seem to corroborate these results. After
all, this only means that there are a great many conditions
which afTccI what we call hardiness in trees, for there is no
doubt that, as a rule, seeds taken from the northern limit of a
species will produce hardier trees than seeds of the same
•pedes from trees which grow in warmer latitudes.

In writing of various Japanese plants. Mr. P. J. Berckmans,
in a private letter, inlorms us that Rhus succcdanea, the
Japanese Wax-tree, is often injured at Augusta, Georgia, by
spring frosts, although if seedlings escape for two or three
vears the : ' ; ■ T'-clly hardy, making handsome.

buafay shn; jra is a native of southern Japan.

w^•-' " mil) .1 ii.iini.-Kime small tree twenty-live or

ti ^'lit, and ill late auliinin is particularly beauti-

fui ..w iliant scarlet color the foliage assumes at that

season of the year. It is still sometimes cultivated in southern
Japan for the wax which surrounds the seeds, and which at

one time was largely manufactured into candles, which, how-
ever, are now rarely used in lapan, owing to the general in-
troduction of petroleum oil. In the latitude of Tokyo, Klius
succedanea is perfectly hardy, ripening its seeds and attaining
tree-like proportions. It might, therefore be expected to
nourish anywhere in the coast region of the United States
south of the Delaware peninsula, or possibly even farther
north Of Broussonetia, another inhabitant of the sou hern
islands of Japan, Mr. Berckmans writes: "I have a tree thirty-
three years old which produces male flowers only. The young
shoots are covered with purple bark, and the leaves, as they
first appear in the spring, are also purple, changing to dark
green during the summer. The objection to this tree is its
tendency to throw up numerous suckers, which appear some-
times at a distance of thirty to forty feet from the parent tree,
but otherwise it is a very handsome shade-tree."

Professor Rothrock writes to Science to suggest that many
leagues of what is apparent desert, west of the Mississippi,
might be put to some productive use. In the first place, some
of the vegetation there, especially some species of the Chcno-
podiace;f, may develop possible value. This family already
furnishes the Beet, the Mangel Wur/.el and some other species
whose seeds the Indians use as food. Eurotia lanata is a valued
forage-plant in some of the drier regions of the west, and it
would seem to be worth inquiring what other plants of the
order can be used as food, what each one promises in the way
ofimprovementunderlong-continuedcultivation, and whether
there is any way of treating the seeds of any of the plants of
the order which contain nutritive qualities so as to render them
fit for food. Inasmuch as it would take a long time and care-
fully conducted experiments to find satisfactory answers to
thesequeries, Professor Rothrocksuggests that the government
or the agricultural colleges of the states in which these plants
grow might make the tests. Among plants of the Mint family
the seeds of .Salvia Columbariae have been used by llic abo-
rigines, and was an article of food among the Aztecs. They still
hold a place on the diet list of the California Indians. Besides
this search after new plants it may be worth while to inquire
whether we get the largest use from our rainfall, for this barren
ground is only barren for lack of water. The question of water
storage and supply is complicated by state lines since, for
example, much of the water which might be used in Kansas,
Nebraska and Utah comes from the mountain-slopes of Colo-
rado. These questions are not immediately urgent, but when
our population becomes sufllcient to press upon our available
food-supply they will demand attention.

In the December issue of The Botanical Gazette there is a
figure reproduced from one of Mr. Faxon's drawings of a
species of Tabebuia, a native of Mexico and central America,
which Professor Rose, of the Department of Agriculture, de-
scribes as a new species, and which he dedicates to Mr. John
Donnell Smith, of Baltimore, its discoverer. It is said to be
a tree fifty to seventy-five feet in height, with a trunk often
four feet in diameter, palmately compound leaves on long
petioles, and ample terminal panicles of flowers with bright
yellow tubular five-lobed corollas, and followed by Catalpa-
like pods twelve inches or more in length. This fine tree was
collected by Mr. Smith at Cuyuta, in the Department of Es-
cuintla, in Guatemala, at an altitude of two hundred feet.in April,
1890, and a year later by Dr. Edward Palmer, at Colema, in
Mexico, where it is common on the neighboring mountains,
and where it is often cultivated. It is said to be one of the most
beautiful trees in Mexico, and is called "Primavera." The
flowers, which are a beautiful golden yellow, are produced in
great abundance and usually appear before the unfolding of
the leaves. The trees are cut into logs about twelve feet in
length and shipped from Manzanillo, in the state of Colcma,
to tlie United States, principally to Cincinnati and San Fran-
cisco, where they are used a great deal for cabinet-work and
veneering. The tree is very common in the lower part of the
Department of Kscuintla. It is tall and slender, usually leaf-
less, and with |n-ofuse delicate yellow flowers standing out
against the sky like golilen clouds. For the last twelve or fif-
teen years a handsome light-colored wood has been imported
into the market of San Francisco from the west coast of
Mexico, and is said to have been produced by a tree called
" Primavera." This wood, of late years, has been quite ex-
tensively brought into the eastern markets under the name of
"white mahogany," and is now considered here one of the
most valuable and useful of all cabinet-woods. Its origin has
long remained unknown, and although there may be still
some doubt as to the identity of white mahogany with the
Primavera of Manzanillo, Professor Rose's note gives the in-
dication of the direction in which further investigations of the
origin and source of supply of this wood should be made.

January ii, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

13

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

• Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by ProfeMor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGF.

Editorial Artio es : — Mr. Heintz's Boulevard 13

A Chestnut tree in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey. (With figure.) 3

Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XXII J. G, Jack. 14

The Coast Dune Flora of Lake Michigan.— I E. J. Hill. 15

Botanical Notes from Texas E. N. Flank, 15

New or Littlh-known Plants : — Aster turbinellus. (With figure.) 16

Cultural Department: — Irises and their Cultivation. — IV y. N. Gerard. 16

Decorative Plants in Winter E. O. Orfiet. 18

Some Winter- flowering Plants H^m. Tricker. 18

Mistakes of the Year A. A. Crazier. 20

Heliotrope, Mannettia bicolor, Ruellia macranthra Wtn. F. Basseti. 20

Passitlora, Constance Elliott Lora S. La Mance. 20

The Forest: — Hard-wood Timber in the South Dr. Charles Mohr. 21

Correspondence: — Christmas in London Louise Dodge. 22

A New Year's Awakening J, N. G. 22

The Rose of Jericho W. G. Farlow. 23

Cedrela Sinensis John Saul. 23

Recent Pubucations 23

Notes 24

I Lt.usTRATlONS :— Aster turbinellus. Fig. 3 17

The Condit Chestnut, Llewellyn Park, New Jersey. Fig. 4 9

Mr. Heintz's Boulevard.

ON Christmas Day the late Mayor of this city revealed
to the public the outlines of a scheme for a drive-
way of unparalleled magnificence, and five or six miles
long, for the district north of the Harlem. This so-called
boulevard is, in fact, a cluster of wheel-ways and foot-
ways, with a possible bridle-path, one hundred and eighty-
two feet wide ; the two central ones are to be used as speed-
ways ; two other macadamized roads are for more stately
carriage procession and general traffic, besides which there
are broad outer sidewalks, with rows of trees separating
the tracks. Of course, in a work of this magnitude there
are arches and walls and bridges galore, with approaches,
viaducts and tunnels, so that the $6,000,000 which is
spoken of casually as about the sum of money needed to
complete it, is probably a very modest estimate of the ex-
pense. Altogether, this contemplated work is one of the
highest public importance both in magnitude and expense
as well as on account of its influence for good or ill upon
the city that is to be.

We do not propose to discuss here the desirability of
broad and tree-bordered park-ways or of a road where
those who delight in fast trotters can put their horses to
speed. But, admitting that a city of the size and preten-
sions of New York should provide facilities of this sort,
what would be the natural, business-like way of going to
work to secure them .' In the first place, the authorities of
an enlightened community would naturally look about for
men of expert ability to examine all the possible sites and
report upon them. After a large public discussion of the
matter, and the selection of a general site, the next step
would be to employ some landscape-architect of distinc-
tion, a man of well-known engineering ability, to make a
careful study of the grounds and give a report. Such a re-
port would not be an essay in elevated language on the
coming grandeur of the metropolis, with rhetorical flour-
ishes in the place of specific facts. It would give definite
reasons at every stage of the plan ; it would show how ad-

vantage could be taken of every natural feature, and how
elements of use and beauty could be introduced which would
never be suggested to the untrained eye. This report
would also be subject to the closest scrutiny and the widest
discussion, and in this way it would be an education to the
people, and would help them to appreciate a work which
might be made an object of the noblest civic pride.

What has happened in the present instance is that the
site for the boulevard has been privately selected and a
complete plan evolved by a gentleman named Heintz.
Mr. Heintz may be an estimable citizen, but as he was
bred to the business of brewing it is not likely that he has
any training which fits him specially for designing park-
ways. No person who wished to lay out and construct on
his private grounds a path fifty yards long would think of
taking counsel with Mr. Heintz, in the hope of receiving
advice of any value. Mr. Heintz himself may have taken
counsel, but the public has no information as to who was
consulted when these plans were developed. So far as tax-
payers have been informed, no person known to possess the
requisite taste or training, or experience for such work, has
given any advice in the matter, and yet leading organs of
public opinion in the city at once endorsed this scheme as
one which the city should rush through with all possible
haste. Some opposition has been manifested by persons
who look upon the proposed boulevard as a gigantic
scheme of public plunder, but no one seems surprised at
this method of conducting public business. Of course, the
city wants the best road possible, and yet the chances are
a hundred to one that it would be improperly located and
badly constructed if the promoters of the scheme were
allowed to have their way. The one way to get the best
work is to secure the services of the men who know best
how to do it ; but we have so little regard for expert ability
that no one expresses surprise or indignation when a great
public work, which deserves the study of the foremost en-
gineers and landscape architects of the time, is planned off-
hand by Heintz, or Smith or Jones, or when their crude
opinions are at once accepted as the best solution of a great
municipal problem.

It is asserted in the newspapers that a bill has been pre-
pared and will soon be laid before the legislature, to
authorize the construction of this grand drive-way, and if
such a measure is not enacted as promptly as the one for a
speed-road in Central Park was passed a year ago the failure
will not be due to any objection on the part of our law-
makers to this method of administering the affairs of the
city. It has been given out officially that the business men
of New York are incompetent to conduct the city's business,
and an architect is the last man whom a city official would
think of consulting in regard to a municipal building. All
the training now considered necessary to fit a man for
the general supervision of the city's public works is to run
of errands for a Mayor or his political creator. A com-
mission from the City Hall is a certificate of ability to de-
sign a parkway or park, and if it could be shown that the
designer, or his friends, had a personal and pecuniary
interest in the work, this would be counted an additional
guarantee of his fitness for the job.

A Chestnut-tree in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey.

AMONG deciduous trees of north-eastern America the
Chestnut is one of the few which take rank with the
White Oak in majesty and dignity of expression. It grows
rapidly when young, and although it does not attain its best
proportions until it is a hundred years old, still it wears a no-
ble expression long before it reaches that age, and long be-
fore the White Oak has assumed the grand air which finally
characterizes it. Its top is usually round and dome-like,
and is not quite so impressive as the broader top of the
Oaks, but its foliage breaks in heavy masses with pecu-
liarly deep and dark shadows, a result of the great hori-
zontal projection of its branches and the wide angles at
which they ramify. The foliage is not particularly dense,

14

Garden and Forest.

[Number 255.

but th« leaves are large and glossy, and are attacked by few
insects. In late summer the light green clusters ot burs
contrast in a pleasant way with the darker color of the leaves,
while in July, when tasseled over with clusters of cream-
colored flowers, it is one of the most beautiful of trees.

The tree illustrated on page 19 is not one of the largest
sixe, as it girths only ten feet at tive feet from the ground,
and its spread of branches is only little more than sixty
feet It is, however, as can be seen, a tree of great sym-
metry, and as it is in vigorous health it will yet attain
much greater dimensions. It stands in Llewellyn Park, in
West Orangfc, New Jersey, in an open field which has been
cultivated a hundred years. Elderly men say that it was called
a big tree when they were boys, and its fruit was much cov-
eted on account of its size and quality. In the open soil of
this part of the countr)' theChestnut thrives luxuriantly, and
many trees much larger than this were once standing in
the park and its neighborhood. Little care has been taken
to produce strains of our native Chestnut, which yields su-
perior fruit. Several varieties bearing large nuts have
lately been disseminated, but they are mostly seedlings of the
European Chestnut In Europe and Asia the Chestnut is an
important food-product, and if the time ever comes here
when it will be necessary to husband our resources, it will
not be strange if varieties ar« produced which bear more
abundantly of larger fruit than any with which we are now
acquainted. Besides its beauty as a tree for ornamental
planting and its delightful nuts, the Chestnut is one of our
most valuable timber trees, so that it will probably be
lately planted in the future.

Our illustration is reproduced from one of a series of
photogravures of the famous trees in Llewellyn Park.

Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XXIL

THE best and most famous Pinetum in England is said to
l>e that at Bicton, but this is too much out of the way for
inspection by the average visitor in London. A more avail-
able collection, and one well worth visiting by every admirer
of fine conifers or student in arboriculture, is the Pinetum at
Dropmore, an estate founded and embellished by the late
Lord Grenville, and now owned by Lady Fortescue. It is
within easy distance of London, beyond, but within sight of
Windsor Castle, and within an hour's walk through a pretty
rural road from the station at Taplow. There are carriages
to be had at this station, too, for those who prefer to ride.

Dropmore is famous as a beautiful estate, for its Rhododen-
drons and Azaleas, and, more than all, for its well-developed
and old exotic conifers. As one goes through the grounds
they everywhere give the impression of being a natural
growth, and the effect is extremely pleasing in many respects,
although there are doubtless some visitors who wish for more
sip^B of "cultivation " than the present owners have allowed.
The natural arrangement and growih of the fine old Rhodo-
dendrons and A/, ileasand many other shrubs gives the im-
preaeion that the seed had been scattered by nature, while the
mtroduced trees seem a natural and proper part of the glades
and woods, and as we tramp through the ferns and bracken
to g^t at them it is hard to realize that this soil had ever been
disturbed b> cultivation.

A large part of the territory devoted to trees is a gravelly
subsoil, covered by only a very few inches of good soil, while
other portions are of just the quality which Heath-plants, such
as Rhododendrons, delight m. The climate in this beautiful,
woodedsectionof England compares favorably with any, except
the southern portion of the island. Here are large old Camel-
lia*, growing and bloomine well in the open air, and large old
FucMias thrive luxuriously, having endured the Dropmore
winters (or scores of years.

The planting of Dropmore was begun nearly a century ago by
Lord Grenville, who evidently had a mania for conifers. After
his death Lady Grenville had a care for the trees and increased
the collection. But since her death, twenty-five or thirty years
ago, and until within a very few years, practically no additions
were made to the species already growing on the grounds.
Lately many of the newer introductions have been added, and
the present head-gardener, Mr. C. Herrin, shows much in-
terest in the care and preservation of the fine specimens which
have come under his charge. No small part of the value of
this collection is the fact that the ages of the trees are known

and therefore furnish valuable data to the dendrologist and
student of forestry.

Almost the only evidence of formal planting of trees is a
long avenue of splendid Cedars of Lebanon, eighty or ninety
years old, planted twenty-five feet apart and fifty feet between
the rows. These trees average considerably over eighty feet
in height, with trunks eight or ten feet in circumference. The
largest tree of this kind on the estate, planted jusja hundred
years ago, is over 100 feet high, with a girth of trunk of over
fifteen feet. A Deodar Cedar, in fruit, planted in 1840, is
seventy-two feet in height and nearly ten feet around the
trunk. One of the prides of the estate is a Douglas Fir, Pseu-
dotsuga taxifolia, about a hundred and twenty feet high and
having a stem twelve feet around at several feet from the
ground. It is a splendid example of the adaptability of this
evergreen of our Pacific Coast region to the soil and climate
of many parts of Europe. This specimen was raised from
some of the seed originally sent over by David Douglas
when he was collecting in the region of the Columbia River
for the Horticultural Society of London. It was sown in 1827,
and in 1830 the plant was transferred to the spot where it now
stands. Some years ago its top was broken by a winter storm,
or its height to-day would have been greater. In these sixty
years it has made an average annual growth of fully two feet
in height and has yearly added four-fifths of an inch to the
diameter of its trunk. Of course, there are other conifers
which make quite as much annual growth, but very few main-
tain the average for so long a time. Specimens of our Big
Trees (Sequoia gigantea), planted thirty and thirty-five years
ago, are respectively over sixty and nearly seventy-five feet
high, while the circumference of their trunks at five feet above
the ground is as great as that of the Douglas Fir just men-
tioned. The trunks of the Sequoias, however, are always very
large at the base and taper rapidly toward the top. It seems
to be characteristic of the Sequoias in cultivation that when
they get to be as old as these tliey begin to lose much of their
beauty of form, the lower branches becoming bare and strag-
gling in appearance. It seems to be the opinion of some
people who have carefully observed the growth and develop-
ment of these trees in England, that they are not destined to
attain the grand proportions or long life of the parent frees in
California. Certainly most of those which came under my
observation did not look very promising, considering that it
is not yet forty years since the first seed was brought to Eng-
land, and that tlie trees, although fruiting, must be regarded
as comparatively in their infancy. When young they" make
handsome pyramidal or cone-shaped specimens.

A Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), planted in 1845, is over
seventy-three feet in height, ten feet around the trunk, and is a
handsomespecimeii,with a full supply of branches to theground.
Among the true Firs, one of the finest here, as it is also in its
native habitat, is the so-called Rod Fir, Abies nobilis, which
was introduced to England by the same indefatigable collector
who secured the Douglas Fir, and probably from nearly the
same region. This specimen was planted where it now stands
in 1837. It is seventy-one feet in height, has smooth, slaty-gray
bark, and branches which sweep theground. Abies grandis, said
to have been planted in 1861, is fully seventyfeet high. Abies
Cephalonica. planted six years later, has reached the same
height ; while the peculiar and interesting Spanish Fir, A. Pin-
sapo, planted at the same time as the Cephalonian, forms a
fine symmetrical tree, measuring sixty-six feet.

The Spruces do not appear to be so well represented as the
Firs, but among them were noticed Picea Sitchensis, which,
planted just fifty years before, had reached a height of sev-
enty-three feet, with a circumference of trunk of eight and a
half feet, while a very handsome tree of P. Morinda (also
known as P. Smithiana), from the Himalayas, spreads its
branches over a diameter of nearly forty feet, and is more than
sixty feet in height. It was planted in 1843. As is character-
istic of the species, this specimen has long, graceful, pendu-
lous branchlets, which suggest a Weeping Willow. This is
another tree too tender to withstand New England, or, at
least, Boston, winters without generally receiving great, and
often fatal, injuries. Even at Washington, where specimens
may be seen on the public grounds, they do not appear to be
at home or thrive as well as they should.

Quite a number of species of our western and south-western
Pines have developed into fine trees. Among them might be
mentioned such species as Pinus Lambertiana, P. ponderosa,
P. insignis, P. muricata, P.tuberculata, P. Monticolaandothers.
The tree which is said to be P. insignis, planted in 1839, is now
ninety feet high, with a trunk diameter of nearly four feet ;
Lambert's Pine, planted in 1843, is considerably over seventy
feet m height, with a girth over eight and a half feet, while a

.January ii, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

15

handsome P. ponderosa, whicli was planted in the same year,
is fifteen feet sliorter, and the circumference of the trunk
almost two feet and a half less.

In just thirty years from its introduction on the estate, our
western Tsuga Mertensiana has become a handsome tree,
sixty feet high. In England this beautiful Hemlock most com-
monly passes under the specific name of Albertiana, a name
given by Murray in honor of the late Prince Consort, and one
which, like Wellinglonia for the Sequoia, it is hard for the
English mind to abandon.

Probably a large proportion of the visitors to Dropmore find
most interest in, and their curiosity most awakened by, the
odd-looking Cliili Pine, or Monkey Puzzle trees (Araucaria
imbricata), which grow here in fine shape and freely produce
their enormous fruits or cones, while we in a lower latitude
in northern America regard them almost as greenhouse-
plants. The cones take two seasons to mature, and in this
sheltered place they produce ^ood seed. The pollen and fruit-
ing catkins are produced on different trees, and I was told that
the male or pollen-bearing trees are more vigorous than those
which bear fruit. There are many of the trees planted here,
the largest, placed in the collection in 1830, is sixty-eight feet
high, with a trunk approaching nine feet in circumference.
They are handsome symmetrical trees, many of these being
clothed with a full supply of branches to the ground.

Arnold Arboretum. 7" ^' 7"^^"

The Coast Dune Flora of Lake Michigan. — 1.

I HAVE occasionally received letters of inquiry regarding
plants which grow by the shores of the Great Lakes and aid
in keeping the loose sands in place. These questions mainly
come from persons interested in park sites which overlook
the water, and under conditions like those on the shores of
Lake Michigan. The shifting sand must be fixed so that
damage by the wind and water can be prevented, and a com-
parative waste changed into a place of beauty. Nature has
succeeded in clothing the sand-hills with vegetation where the
shallows have been filled with earth and the shore-line has
been driven back. Forest-conditions have been established
where the White and the Gray Pine, the Red Cedar, the Black,
the Scarlet, the Bur and the White Oak grow side by side.
Scattered among the trees are many desirable shrubs and
herbaceous plants, and what nature has done may with greater
certainty be effected under the intelligent direction of man.
The vegetation of the sands shows a variety on the ridge
nearest to the shore, or on the coast dune, and along the
beach, where plants are exposed to the most adverse conditions.
They offer an instructive lesson of the way in which plants
fulfill their mission and furnish beauty throughout the year.

The Grasses are among the first plants to gain a foothold,
and give a chance to seedling shrubs and trees to spring up.
A common one is the Sea Sand-reed (Ammophila arundi-
nacea). It is known in Europe as the Marrum Grass, and is
planted in coast dunes to keep them in place. It is found
along the Atlantic coast, and the harbor and town of Province-
town are said to owe their preservation to it. Adventitious
roots spring from the joints as the sand is heaped about the
stem. These roots may extend thirty or forty feet, and form
a net-work in the loose earth. The clusters of rigid stems
have narrow leaves, and rise two or three feet above the sur-
face, and its broom-like structure fits the grass admirably to
catch and hold the drifting sand. It has a stiff and formal
habit, bearing a thick spike of flowers, and can only be com-
mended for its usefulness. The allied Calamagrostis longi-
folia has a similar root habit, though the roots do not spread
so extensively. It is from tliree to six feet high, with an open
panicle, in marked contras twith the dense spike of the Sea
Sand-reed. The long leaves are rigid below, but taper almost
to the fineness of a thread, and, with the panicle, are moved
gracefully by the wind. Panicum virgatum is of kindred
character. It is four or five feet high, and has long flat leaves
and a large and very open panicle a foot or two long, which at
length neatly bends the culm by its weight. In place of the
Elymus arenarlus of the Old World, planted for the same pur-
pose as the Marrum Grass, we have the Wild Rye (E. Cana-
densis), and its variety, glaucifolius. This has broad flat
leaves and a large nodding spike, five to ten inches long, fur-
nished with long and spreading bristly awns. These grasses
are light green in color, the variety of Elymus being so glau-
cous as to have a whitish look. Farther north, by the shores
of Lake Michigan, are two kinds of Agropyrum — A. repens, the
common Couch Grass, and A. dasystachyum. The former
appears to be indigenous by the shores of the upper lakes.
The latter is very glaucous, but has narrow involute leaves.

Elymus mollis, more like E. arenarius, being Reed-like in
habit, has the upper part of tlie culm and thick, erect spike
velvety pubescent. All the Grasses mentioned are perennials,
and spread mostly by running root-stocks, and readily propa-
gate by their division.

The Willows are the most common shrubs in the sand-ridge
along the shore. Seven kinds are represented, but the pre-
vailing forms are Salix glaucophylla, S. adenophylla, S. cor-
data, S. longifolia and S. lucida. They are not equally com-
mon, but wherever established one seems to thrive aljout as
well as another, though the last two, perhaps, require a more
moist location. These Willows are generally from two to six
feet high and grow in dense clumps, largely due to their
mode of spreading, so that where one is in possession of the
ground the others are mostly excluded. But the shrubs in
contiguous masses exhibit a pleasing variety of foliage, and
when the leaves have fallen the glossy stems and buds are
bright objects in the winter landscape. The color of the
leaves varies from the light but shining green of S. glau-
cophylla to the rich, glossy green of S. lucida. In shape they
range from the narrow, nearly linear leaves of S. longifolia
to the broad and neatly tapering ones of S. lucida.

Three species of Cornus share in the work of retaining the
sand : C. stolonifera, C. Baileyi and C. sericea. . Their habit of
spreading by subterranean shoots and stems adapts them to
this purpose, and their cleanly appearance makes them hand-
some for summer or winter decoration. The shapely leaves
are prominently veined, and when interspersed with bunches
of white flowers, and white or pale blue fruit, the plants are
always delightful, while their red or purple stems are equally
pleasing in the winter.

The Sand-Cherry (Prunus pumila) is sometimes seven or
eight feet high, but is more helpful in holding the sand when
but two or three feet high and growing in a tangled mass.
The branches rise from a trailing or prostrate stem, furnished
with smooth, thickish leaves, lustrous green on the upper
surface, paler beneath. When massed the bushes form hand-
some clumps, and their attractiveness is increased by the
profusion of white flowers and the dark red or blackish fruit.
The drupes are sometimes as large as Morello cherries, and
the larger ones are juicy and have a pleasant, acid taste.
Another shrub, Rhus aromatica, the Aromatic Sumach, also
spreads freely in the sand, the stems rising from two to five
feet, clothed with pretty trifoliate leaves, and red. hairy fruit.

Two trailing or creeping shrubs, Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi
and the prostrate form of JuniperusSabina, spread their matted
stems over the sand and efficiently shield it from the wind.
The stems of the Creeping Juniper are frequently six or eight
feet long. Both plants are good protectors at all seasons,
since they retain their leaves all winter. The leaves of the
Bearberry are tinged with various shades of purple and red
in the winter, and the plants make pretty groups of variegated
color as they lie on the slopes of the dunes. IBoth shrubs are
seen on the side of the sand toward the beach, and their long
stems may reach down to where the water laves them when
the waves run high.

Some taller shrubs and arborescent species are able to existj
or even flourish, on the coast sands. The Hop-tree (Ptelea
trifoliata) is occasionally found, and is especially ornamental
when the branches are hung with bunches of wafer-like fruit.
The Sassafras forms a shrub or low tree of straggling habit.
Even plants rarely seen outside of swamps, or by their
borders, obtain a footing and present a curious mixture of
species. We come across the Button-bush (Cephalanthus
occidentalis) close by Smilacina stellata, which is not uncom-
mon even on the highest dunes, growing by the side of
Artemesia Canadensis or Solidago humilis.

Englewood, Chicago, III. E. "J. Hill.

Botanical Notes from Texas.

A RIDE of one hundred miles north from Waco brought me
to Dallas, the capital of Dallas County, and one of the
larger cities of Texas. The city is about 700 feet above tide-
water. It lies in the valley of Trinity River and in the midst of
the finest farming lands of the state. The valley of Trinity
River was evidently an inlet or bayou of the older Gulf, which
in later times the upper Trinity chose to convey its waters to
the present Gulf. Lying wholly within the " black lands," the
river is nearly destitute of sand-bars and has a leisurely flow.
It is deeper, even here, than its width would indicate, so that
during most of the year it might probably be utilized for light
navigation from Dallas to the Gulf.

It is said that there are no Live Oak trees in this county —
conditions of soil, not of climate, preventing — this species not

i6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 255.

liking the waxy soils of the Trinity bottoms nor the finely com-
minuted chalkv limestone of the higher lands, yet the Oak
genus is well represented in the county. The Bur Oak (Quer-
cus m»croc«rp«). Scarlet Oak (Q. coccinea), Durand's Oak (Q.
Durandii). Shinn Oak. Post Oak (Q. stellala). Black Jack (Q.
nigral Chestnut Oak ((>. Muhlenbergii) and Q. cinerea are here.
I'lmiis. too. is well represented, Wliite Elm {U. Americana).
Slippery Elm (l'. fulva). Winged Elm (U. alata) and U. crassi-
folia being more or less common. Red Cedar is abundant on
the hills, and the common Juniper is often seen. In cultiva-
tion the last-named species becomes a handsome little tree.

Of the smaller trees I noticed Ilex decidua, Viburnum prunl-
folium, Forstiera pubescens. F. acuminata and Sophora aflinis,
which sliould be read for S. tomentosa in my notes from
Waco. Mv good friend, Mr. Julien Reverchon, to whom I am
indebted for a knowledge of plants of this county, whjph win-
ter and rainy weather have prevented me from seeing, invited
my attention to a way that this species has adopted in order to
keep on good terms with its larger neighbors, and under their
protection to rise higher in the world tlian it otherwise could
nave done. It often grows within a few inches of another tree,
and rises among the branches of it thirty feet or more, with a
very slim tlexible stem, which of itself could hardly stand alone.
When standing by itself it is seldom twenty feet tall. It some-
times attains a diameter of six inches.

Silphium laciniatum is common in centralTexas as farsouth
as Bastrop. It is the larger Roun-weed of the north, the Polar-
plant of the plains. It is the Compass-llower of Longfellow's
" Erangeline." The license of poetry is seen in his description
of the Com[>ass-flower, as it also is in that of the country. At
the time when " Evangeline" was written I should hardly have
dared to trust iiiyself alone on the prairies with no other guide
but a Compass- flower. It is certain that if our laureate poet
could hare lived to look over now the beautiful prairies of this
western country, supplied with all the arts and appliances of
civilization, he would not have called it a desert. The little-
known S. albitlorum is also abundant here. It occupies the
higher limestone-lands, and much resembles in habit, thoueh
less tall and more bushy, S. laciniatum, which likes better the
lower and richer soils.

Nelumbo lutea grows abundantly in still waters over most
ol Texas. It may readily be distinguished from species of
Castalia by its larger, centrally peltate, entire leaves. It bears
larger flowers than any other North American plant, excepting
one species of Magnolia. It is also remarkable for its large
top-shaped receptacle, holding in its cells the edible round
nuts, and for the great development of the embryonal bud be-
fore germination, it becoming foliaceous and green before it
leaves its shell. Leaves of it that I measured in BigSodusBay,
New York, were over three feet in diameter. The species is
easily queen of North American water-plants, and it belongs
to a family of plant-gods. Such extreme southern plants as
Parkinsonia aculeata and Cassia occidentalis still accompany
us northward.

When at Victoria I saw a thriving West Indian, officinal
Cassia fistula, growing in a garden where it had been raised
from a seed. The large, woody pods of this species are some-
times two feet long. The pulp in which the seeds are im-
bedded is a well-known cathartic. Dallas County has quite a
number of native Ferns. Mr. Reverchon has collected here
large and handsome specimens of Woodsia obtusa, Pellsea
purpurea, Asplenium ebeneum, Pteris aquilina, and of Poly-
podium incanum. The last is sure of success in the struggle
for existence, for when its tastes or its plans prevent it from
growing on the ground, it grows on rocks, on logs, on trees
sometimes forty feet high, and near the coast it grows in pro-
fusion on roofs of buildings.

Callicarpa Americana, French Mulberry, is abundant in this
region, extending westward to the San Antonio valley. It lav-
ishes all its beauty upon Its fruit, which It, makes very hand-
some, but barely edible.

Homely Verbesina Vlrg^nlca Is very common over most of
Texas. It prefers rich, moist soils. It is the Ice Plant of Texas.
The cause of the phenomenon that gives to one species its
common name does not appear to be well understood. The
exudation from the lower part of the stem resembles pressed
■now on frost more than it does fro/en water. In the speci-
metis which I examined the ice was in flakes, layers or plates,
very light, and when pressed in my hand little remained.
Roots of this plant arc of reputed medicinal value as an
astringent

Liliaceous Androstephium violaceum is often to be met In
this region. It is worthy of cultivation. I was first introduced
to the species in Comanche County, Kansas.
Stillingia angustifolia is common in sterile places. This

species is sometimes used instead of officinal S. sylvatica In the
preparation of proprietary medicines. Having heard of no
ill effects arising from its use in that way it may be presumed
that our plant is at least innocent. Innocency is the great
principle to be observed in the preparation of such medicines.

Tall-climbing Cuscuta exaltata grows near Dallas ; also,
humble Marsifia vestita, floating AzoUa Caroliniana, and rare
and curious Isoeles melanopoda. I have not observed Astra-
galus mollissimus, " Loco," in this county. It is, however,
abundant farther west. It has a very unsavory reputation ;
all manners of hard terms have been applied to it ; it has even
been accused of driving horses, cattle, and sometimes men
and women, to insanity and death, and states have paid boun-
ties for its extermination. But after a careful examination of
the subject from his own observation, and what he has learned
from the stories of cattlemen during extended tours through
the extensive region which it inhabits, the writer has reached
the conclusion tliat the common notion, that the use of our
plants by live stock produces insanity or other ill effects upon
them, must be relegated to the waste-basket of popular delu-
sions. Before an intelligent and honest court it would not be
convicted of such offenses, even upon an ex parte examina-
tion. The same holds in regard to Oxytropis and to all the
leguminous so-called " Locos." It may, however, be proper
to suggest that the ills upon stock that are attributed to these
" Locos " may be produced by species of Ergot (Claviceps),
which grow in great abundance upon many grasses through-
out the range of our species. Ergot being known to produce
insanity and other ills upon live stock and upon people.

Jatrapha stimulosa, Bull Nettle, Tread Softly— the common
names of this species of extended southern range — indicate
somewhat its vicious character. But its large, white calycine
leaves are fragrant, and its seeds have none of the poisonous
qualities of Castor-beans, which they closely simulate. They
are edible and pleasant. In their season they are eagerly sought
by boys and by pigs. The boys, in dread of the stinging hairs
of the plant, use little sticks to get the seeds out of the pods ;
the pigs, more patient than the boys, wait for the seeds, of
their own will, to drop. The roots of the plant become very
large and are sometimes four or five feet long. Pigs feed also
upon them.

Throughout central Texas, in early spring, the handsome
little Clover, Trifolium aniphianthum, displays its red Howers.
They, indeed, make the show, but its rarely seen underground
flowers produce most of the seed, thus preserving the plant
from destruction and keeping it true to its specific character.
It seems as though nature was sometimes as bent on prevent-
ing cross-fertilization in some species of plants as she is in de-
vising ways to effect that result in others.

Kansas City, Kansas. E. N. Plank.

New or Little-known Plants.

Aster turbinellus.

THIS handsome Aster, although well worth a place in
any large collection of plants, is rarely found in gar-
dens, and no portrait has ever been published of it pre-
viously to the one which is found on page 17 of this issue,
made by Mr. Faxon from a plant grown in Professor Sar-
gent's garden at Brookline, Massachusetts, where it was
sent many years ago by the late Dr. Engelmann.of St. Louis.
Aster turbinellus produces slender stems three feet or
more in height and diffusely panicled above, light green
oblong or narrowly lanceolate leaves two or three inches
in length, and showy heads of bright blue-violet flowers.
It inhabits uplands and prairies from Illinois and Missouri
to western Arkansas and Louisiana, and, like all the Ameri-
can Asters, is a plant which can be easily established in the
garden and readily increased by the division of the roots.

Cultural Department.
Irises and their Cultivation. — IV.

'T'HERE are so many species, varieties and hybrids of
■»■ rhizomatous Irises in cultivation that it is impossible to
give within reasonable limits of space more than mere sugges-
tions as to those which seem most interesting for some reason,
or are of special value in the garden. Considering all points!
there is no group of Irises more satisfactory for general cul-
ture than the bearded ones, especially the taller forms, such as

January ii, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

17

Fig. 3. — Aster turbinellus. See page i6.

I. Germanica, I. pallida and the hybrids of various species
which are known as German Irises. These plants have the
merit of being reliably hardy. They are sturdy, make large
clumps quickly, and among them may befound those producing

flowers of the rarest beauty, second to no Orchid in texture,
coloring or pleasing forms. To some is also given an added
charm of fragrance. If cut as they are about to unfold they
will open and will prove fairly lasting and most useful and de-

i8

Garden and Forest

[Number 255.

sinble flowers for indoor arrangements. Grouped with their
own foliage, there are few flowers more decorative than these
Irises.

The tirst of this group to flower is I. Germanica, light and
dark purple forms of which are so com.nion in gardens. The
white variety, onlv less common, which is known to the trade
as I. Germanica all)a. seems to be of a different type. These
Irises do not seem to produce potent seed. I have from
Dammann & Com|>any an Italian form under the name of I.
Germanica semperflorens, which gave early dark-colored How-
ers, but it has faileil to establish its title to its varietal name as
yet .A friend h.is sent me 1. Germanica, var. Am is, but this has
not flowerevi here. I understand that there are several other
varieties differing in coloring and stature which are referred to
this species. After these follow closely the species I. pallida,
I.samoucina, I.squalens, I.lurida variegata, and the hybrids of
which they are the parents. Hybrids of these are numberless.
They are offered under names by the plantsmen, and it is
difficult to make a selection from the lists without including
those which are nearly identical. Practically they inay be
divided into about half a dozen groups, though there are those
which are puz^ing to determine. If one wished to form a rep-
resentative collection it would be well to first collect the spe-
cies named above : also those known as I. neglecta, I. amaena
and I. plicata. Having these types, one can refer the hybrids
with some success to different groups, and gradually father a
complete collection, avoiding an excess of those colors which
may not be considered desirable. I. pallida appears to me to
be the handsomest of the Bearded Irises. It is a plant of a
stately habit, with rigid, very wide leaves, and stem some two
to three feet high, furnished with large flowers, in good form,
of a beautiful soft lilac shade. The standards are large and
full, and the falls are wide and furnished with a bright orange
beard. They are delightfully fragrant. The Dalmatian form
of this Iris is considered the best. Hybrids of I. pallida will be
found in all collections of (jcrman Irises, differing in shades of
purple mostly. I. sambucina, 1. squalens and I. lurida are re-
sponsible for the hybrids with smoky or bronze-tinted forms,
which are so odd in coloring. From I. variegata come the
forms with yellow standards and brown falls, very effective and
striking flowers in the garden. Hybrids of I. neglecta have
standards and falls of white, or marked with purple in its va-
rious sl>ades, from reddish purple to pale lavender, while the
hybrids of 1. amoena, with similar falls, are distinguished by
white standards. The blood of I. plicata is seen in the beauti-
ful flowers, which have white standards and falls, somewhat
crimped and margined with purple.

The dwarf Bearded Irises so far have not awakened much
enthusiasm with me as garden-plants, though they have the
merit of being hardy and making a formal dwarf edging. The
best known ones are I. pumila and its variety alba, of a dis-
tressingly impure white. I. Chamaeiris has a yellow flower of
not a very attractive shade, though there may be better forms
than mine. I. Olbiensis, as I have it, bears a purple flower,
but there are also yellow varieties. While these may be de-
sired for a collection, handsome dwarf Irises may be found in
other sectiotts.

Ombtit^. M.J. 7. A'. Gerard.

Decorative Plants in Winter.

A FTER the season of Chrysanthemums, there is a scarcity
*»• of winter-blooming plants for the greenhouse until the
natural blooming of spnng bulbs ; and forethought and care
are necessary to provide a supply of decorative [Mants for use
during the winter months. It is not a difficult thing to have
Hyacinths and Tulips flowering in pots or pans, and the
methods of hurrying them on are generally well understood.
But it is a mistake to crowd them into bloom too early, and
the results are usually meagre and disappointing. It is far
more satisfactory to have a good stock of other plants to carry
through unni February, when bulbous plants may be had
with long flower stems and ample foliage. To fill this void
we grow Linum trieynum to follow the Chrysanthemum'
The plants are rooted from cuttings in the spring. These are
set out in the summer and lifted in the autumn, beginning to
bloom in November. They are brightness itself in the green-
house. L. tngynum is very suscepUble to coal-gas and is lia-
ble to the red-spider when crown indoors, but occasional
svnnging will keep it clean. Th^ more recent name for the
plant IS Reinwardtia.

The various strains of Chinese Primulas seem to be almost
perfectly established; one can obtain seed of a given color of
flower and form of foliage and rely on the results almost to a
f.i .n' the colors are very rich and the foliage abundant, and

it seems almost impossible to improve on the single varieties.
The double ones, as obtained from seed, like the double Cin-
erarias, need a great deal of improvement. It is, indeed, a
question if they are desirable, the single kinds are so much
more beautiful. To have good large plants of Primulas, the
seed should be sown early in spring ; about the end of March
seems to give the best results if the plants are carefully
tended. To obtain plants of the blue variety, which is very
pretty by contrast with the others, it is necessary to sow the
seed even earlier, as this strain seems to lack the vigor of the
other colors. The Chinese Primroses succeed best in the cold
frames in summer and may remain there until there is dan-
ger of frost and damp; the latter evil is more to be dreaded
than cold, but at this period they need the warmth of a green-
house, where they will soon become gay with flowers. I find
there is a tendency with some strains of Primroses to flower
during early autumn. This is a decided disadvantage, as the
flowers are a very poor color at that time, besides being out
of season, and the plants do not give good results in winter,
even if the flowers are picked off in summer. The Chinese
Primrose seems to flower to a certain extent and then the dis-
play is past, and the period is governed by the time they com-
mence. Early flowering may be obviated by the later sowing
of those kinds that have this tendency.

Poinseitia pulcherrima, an old and very showy winter dec-
orative plant, is indispensable. There are several varieties of
this species, which is a native of Mexico. The double variety,
so-called, is very poor as compared with the typical plant ; it
seems impossible to keep the foliage on, even when the plant
is small, and the bracts never make a good display. The white
form is attractive, though seldom seen. Old plants of Poin-
settias when kept dry, after flowering, may be kept at rest
until summer and then cut down and two or more shoots
allowed to grow. For most purposes cuttings taken in sum-
mer with a heel and rooted any time between May and July,
will give plants of various sizes. All of these are useful, as
the bracts are much more persistent and durable than the
leaves. To make Poinsettias last well in a cut state thev should
be cut several days before they are needed for use, 'and the
stems immersed in water their whole length, when it will
be found that the foliage will not fade when used for decora-
tion, as it will when fresh cut from the plants.

Of berried plants for winter use there is none so valuable as
the Jerusalem Cherry, though why this Solanum should be so
widely known by this name is a mystery, as the plant is a
native of Brazil. The Jerusalem Artichoke is also a native of
America. The best strain we have seen is that of Benary's,
calledSolanumcapsicastrumnanum. Itisadwarf compact kind
that needs no pinching to make a very compact bush, which
is laden with the bright berries in profusion. As decorative
plants for the greenhouse they are good for three months, but
for the dwelling-house they are not so valuable, as they soon
shed their leaves and berries. To have good plants of this
Solanum with the least trouble, seed should be sown this
month and planted outdoors in June, where they will remain
until fall comes, and with it the time to lift and pot such plants.
I have noticed that the larger the berries of this Solanum the
less freely they are produced, and in this respect this dwarf
strain is the best I have ever seen, though the berries are
small compared with those of other strains.

South L.ancaster, Mass. £, Q. Orpet.

Some Winter-flowering Plants.

A T this season of the year no brighter place can be found
-^ *- than a greenhouse or conservatory, and, althou"^h only
a few square feet may be available, each single flower has
greater attractions than a whole border full of the same kind in
the summer season in the garden. There is no better con-
struction of simple design than a span-roof from twenty to
twenty-five feet wide, about sixty feet long, twelve feet to the
apex, and five feet six inches on the sides. Such a house is
very light, and with twenty-five feet inside there is ample space
for side-benches under which to place the heating-pipes and
for a good walk around a central bed raised only six or eieht
inches above the walk. This bed provides a good place for set-
ting out a few ornamental plants and for the storage of useful
Palms and other decorative plants used out-of-doors in sum-
mer; It is also a useful and desirable place in which to plant
climbers for the roof. ^

Just now the long racemes of Bignonia venusta, heavily
laden with bunches of bright orange flowers, are very
beautiful. Another old-fashioned flower, seldom seen and
often cramped and starved in a pot, is Euphorbia iacquiniffi-
flora. Planted out it is a revelation ; its long wreaths of bright

January ii, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

19

orange-scarlet, gracefully drooping flowers make it one of the
handsomest of winter-flowering plants. Palms, Ficus and
Ferns, with their deep green foliage, and Eucharis Amazonica,
with spikes of star-shaped flowers of purest white, are all de-
sirable for planting out in the greenhouse ; so is the» useful
and gorgeous Poinsettia pulcherrinia, wliich, planted out, is
equally as surprising as Euphorbia. Its enormous bracts of
brilliant color are marvelous, and it is most useful as a pot-
plant. Grown as dwarf plants, from nine inches to two feet
high, in six-inch pots, it will produce bracts twelve inches in

Antigonon leptopus, with its long racemes of beautiful rose
colored flowers. On the benches stock plants of tender varieties
for summer bedding can be safely kept, and though it is get-
ting late for such plants as Streptocarpus, Gesnerias and Achi-
menes, they yet make a very effective display. On wires
strung from the rafters, as well as in pots, Cattleyas of sorts
will grow and flower satisfactorily ; the house will be found
suitable for Cattleyas the year round, with slight shading dur-
ing very hot weather. C. Percivaliana, C. Trianje, C. Men
delii and C. Mossise are unequaled for winter and early sprin

Fig. 4.— The Condit Chestnut, Llewellyn Park, New Jersey.— See page 12.

diameter. These plants are very useful for parlor decoration,
and are in demand at Christmas-time for church and other
decorations.

I A beautiful tropical feature in a house of this description
is now provided by two fine specimens of Musa Cavendishii,
€ach about twelve feet high, with massive trunks and superb
foliage and a huge cluster of more than two hundred fruits.
These specimens have only been planted out a little more than
«ix months and the growth has been surprising. As a summer
Climber, Allamanda Hendersoni is quite at home here ; also,
I

flowering ; C. Percivaliana is at its best during the holidays.
Several other variedes succeed admirably in the same house,
as do Dendrobiums, Odontoglossums and Cypripedium in-
signe, which blooms during the holidays and lasts for several
weeks. Coelogyne cristata blooms later on.

Epiphyllum truncatum, commonly called Crab's-claw Cactus,
and its varieties are worthy of extended cultivation, bloom-
ing as they do iii the depth of winter and being very easily
grown. At the same time Callas, Bermuda Lilies, Roman Hya-
cinths and Paper-white Narcissus are also in flower. If a

20

Garden and Forest.

[Number 255.

bencit c»n be spared. Mignoiu-tte. such as cannot be grown
out-of-<)oors in summer, may be had in perfection at this sea-
son of the year, and no plant is easier to grow. Hehotrope,
with its own distinct and pleasant fragrance, is seasonab e
either as a pot-plant, to be planted out and trained to a single
stem, or for covering the walls or the end ot the building.
The Camellia, once so popular, still deserves mention at
this season, since it is worth possessing for its bright glossy
deep foliage alone. Chorozema ilicifolia and its varieties are
seldom seen, but a plant in flower now always commands

■•£S:£SWn.v. "•'«• Tricker.

Mistakes of the Year.

LAST year was a hard one for vegetables. Until the ist of
July there were such constant rains that it was difficult to
get crops planted in time or to property care for them after-
ward, while the remainder of the season, until well info the
autumn, was an almost unbroken drouglit.

The firet mistake was in not being ready to plant as soon as
the season permitted. Eariy in May there was a favorable op-
portunity for pUinting Com, during which the eariiest Sweet
Com and a portion of the main crop were planted, but other
things interfering, and there being plenty of time under ordi-
nary circumstances, further planting was delayed until heavy
raiiis came on and made it impossible to plant. With Potatoes
it was the same. My eariy crop was planted in April, and
yielded finely, but the late crop was checked by excessive rain
during the eartv stages of growth, and never recovered ; in
fact, we finished planting one field with the dibble in the mud,
but might as well have left it unplanted, for the ground packed
so luird that the crop amounted to nothing. Thousands of
acres of late-planted Potatoes in southern Michigan and north-
em Ohio and Indiana were in the same condition. I shall here-
after plant all my Potatoes eariy and push them to maturity as
soon as possible, for there is not one year in five here that they
can l»e kept growing through the summer drought and receive
the benefit of the fall rains.

The next mistake I recall was an attempt at double cropping.
I had a piece of sandy land planted to Melons, and concluded
to utilize a portion of it until the Melons needed the ground by
g^wing a crop of Radishes. The Radishes did finely, but the
weather being dry the Melon-vines among them received a
check fronj lack of thorough cultivation, so tliat the crop on
that portion of the field was a total failure. Possibly in a wet
summer the plan might succeed, but it is evidently a risky one.

Another mistake was in the late planting of Peas. In order
to prolong, the season, several plantings were made in the lat-
ter half of May, and even into June, but none of these yielded
anything like a fair crop.

Tomatoes were about the most successful of anything I
raised ; in fact, nearly half of my earlycrop was sold before any
others from the vicinity appeared in the market. The year has
demonstrated more fully than ever the importancefortheearly
crop of setting large stocky plants on well-prepared and care-
fully selected soil. There was fully three weeks' difference in
the'ripening of the crop on several sandy knolls and on lower
land adjoining. Sun-scald was the most serious trouble I had,
and artificial covering of the growing fruit was found neces-
sary to save it. In raising the plants tin fruit-cans, with the
bottoms removed and sides unsoldered, were used to some
extent, but nothing was gained by their use, though, perhaps,
there would have been had the weather been dry at the time
of setting ; but Tomatoes transplant very easily, and if stocky
and well hardened a little disturbance of the roots in trans-
planting does no particular harm. Nothing was gained by very
early planting. A few plants set May nth ripened their first
fniitonly aday ortwo earlier than the main planting, May 30th,
after the weather had become warm and settled. Frost did no
harm to the early set plants, but they became pinched and blue
and require<l a long time to recover. . . ~

Am After. Mich. A. A. CrOZUr.

Heliotrope.— The cultivation of Heliotrope in pots has not
been altogether satisfactory, and last jrear I concluded to try it
in the fi^round. The house in which it was planted is fen feet
wide, with a flue on one side, over which there is a bench, the
opposite side being nearly level with the walk. A little of the
earth was removed from a section of this bench and replaced
by clippings of shrubs. Over this some three inches of coarse
manure was thrown, and the whole well covered with soil
which had been prepared for jx)tting. When finished the
bench was eight inches al>ove the walk, and the Heliotrope
was then planted in it. The result was a vigorous growth,
with healthy foliage and abundant bloom, while plants in pots

on the bench directly opposite lost a large portion of their
foliage by rust. With very little attention these plants con-
tinued to bloom through the following summer. It was my
intention to remove them in, eariy fall and plant a new bed for
this winter, but when September came they showed such a
vigorous new growth and such promise of bloom that they
were allowed to remain, and have been blooming freely
through November and December. They still continue in
vigorous condition, although they are losing their leaves on
the lower portion of the stems. It would.no doubt, have been
better to have cut them back near the ground about the ist of
September and to have applied an inch or more of fresh soil.
A modification of this plan might be applied to ordinary win-
dows, or more especially to bay-windows, by using boxes not
less than one foot square and six inches deep. Jersey Beauty
is the most satisfactory variety I have ever tried for general
purposes. Fleur d'Et^, nearly white, is a strong-growing va-
riety, with remarkably large foliage, which it holds well, but it
does not produce much bloom. Queen of the Violets is a
very fine dark variety, which succeeds fairly well, but, like all
the very dark kinds, is specially liable to rust.

Mannettia bicolor is another plant which does not always
prove satisfactory in pots, and seems to do better planted out.
Last spring some plants came up from self-sown seed nearone
of the supports to our greenhouse, and were allowed to grow
and twine around it all summer, reaching the top, which was
about six feet high. These plants commenced to bloom about
December ist, and the flowers have continued to increase in
number all through the month, so that they are one mass of
bloom, and bid fair to increase in beauty for several months
to come. This plant is one of the easiest to grow from cut-
tings, and would, no doubt, have commenced to bloom much
earlier if grown in that way. To keep it thick at the bottom
several plants may be grown in a box for the window, and the
vines may also be trained to run down the supports as well as
up. The foliage should not be wet in damp and cloudy
weather, as continued moisture is likely to cause the leaves to
decay.

Ruellia macranthra.— This is a shrubby plant with foliage like
a Justicia, and with monopetalous, tubular, expanded flowers
two to three inches across. These are a deep rose-color
when first open, fading to pale rose, with a white throat well
marked with crimson veins and a large cream-colored blotch
on tlie upper segment. They are very showy, last a long
time, and the plant may always be relied on to bloom in De-
cember and January if properly treated. It is a very strong
and rapid grower, with large foliage, and requires considera-
ble pot-room and plenty of water during the latter part of the
season. To prevent it from getting out of reach, it may be
started in a moderate-sized (say four-inch) pot for a fair-sized
plant, in spring, and kept pinched backfill midsummer, when it
can be potted on in larger sizes, as it requires. I have one now
in a nine-inch pot that produced fifteen stems, all laden with
flowers. This plant stands at present three and a half feet
higii, but it should have had one more shift, as it has lost
its lower leaves ; it required water so often in its cramped
quarters that it did not always get enough. I have some
smaller plants which were cut back severely and repotted
about September 1st, and they are all that could be desired in
foliage, but the cutting was done too late, and most of them
will not flower.

Hammonton, N.J. Win. F. BaSSett.

Passiflora, Constance Elliott.— One of my favorite climbers is
the white Passion Flower, Constance Elliott. It was intro-
duced with a great flourish some years ago, but it now seems to
have secured a fixed position on the list of forgotten favorites.
No doubt the causes of this are its shyness of bloom and its lack
of entire hardiness. It has, however, merits that ought to out-
weigh these defects. Its habit is peculiarly graceful, its foliage
is handsome and is retained later in the season than that
of almost any other deciduous climber. In this latitude, our
first killing frosts occur about the last of October. From that
time on we have occasional spells of freezing weather, with
spits of snow and sleet, and cold north winds. About New
Year's, winter sets in in earnest, and though less severe than
it is farther north, the mercury drops several degrees below
zero almost every season. Yet my notes show that this Passi-
flora has retained its foliage until the 6th of January in the
severest winters, and in one instance it kept in full leaf until
the 28th of January, when a sharp drop in the temperature
brought the leaves in a shower to the ground, while still as
green as ever. To me, these deeply cleft, five-fingered leaves,
thick and firm of texture, and as deep green and glossy as
those of a Myrtle, are quite as beautiful as flowers, and they

January ii, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

21

are doubly appreciated because they last long after the hardiest
outdoor flowers are gone.

Tlie roots are less hardy tlian the leaves of this plant. North of
the Ohio it must have a sheltered location out-of-doors, and the
protection of a heavy mulch if it survives the winter, and in
the northern tier of states, as an open-air plant, it can prob-
ably only be grown as an annual. Even there the case is not
hopeless. Tlie vine increases so rapidly from underground
runners, that plenty of young rooted plants can be taken up
for the house each season, and those, if given good-sized pots,
will succeed admirably in the window, festoonmg it with their
rich drapery of foliage, and ready with the coming of spring to
be turned into the open borders, where they will grow luxu-
riantly. As a flowering plant this Passion Vine has proved
almost worthless with me. I have tried it in sun and shade,
in clay and loam, in soil made rich with fertilizers, and in the
virgin mold. The flowers are beautiful, but very rarely pro-
duced. And yet we can forgive this in a climber that drapes
our piazzas with summer greenness until the snows of winter
have set in.

Pineviiie, Mo. Lora S. La Mance.

The Forest.
Hard-wood Timber in the South.

UNDER the title, "Our Remaining Hard-wood Re-
sources," our correspondent, Dr. Charles Mohr, of
Mobile, has an interesting article in a late number of Tlie
Engineering Magazine. After showing that north of the Ohio
River Black Walnut and White Ash are for commercial pur-
poses practically extinct, while the better qualities of White
Oak are growing scarce, he explains how rapidly our forests
are being depleted of other kinds of lumber. In the south-
ern states all the hard woods of the north grow, besides
several other kinds of economic importance peculiar to
the southern flora. We quote Dr. Mohr's interesting notes
on the amount and quality of this timber still standing
in the south.

Among the States south of the Ohio River, West Virginia
takes the first rank in the wealth of its hard-wood forests.
Only twenty-five per cent, of its area has been cleared of
them. Nowhere is Black Walnut now more frequently found ;
nowhere is Wild Cherry, Ash, White Oak, Chestnut Oak or
Tanbark Oak more abundant. It is only in the narrow strip
along the larger water-courses that these supplies in this state
have been largely removed, and only in the more accessible
parts that they have been more or less culled. Large bodies
remain untouched in the southern valleys and the lower slopes
of the mountains enclosing them. By the tenth census it was
estimated that 2,500,000,000 feet (board measure) of Yellow
Poplar timber were then standing in the valley of Cheat River
and its tributaries, and 300,000,000 feet on Shaversfork, besides
largequantitiesof the valuable timber named above, which can-
not be driven in the shallow streams, and can only be made
available by the construction of railroads. On the upper part
of the Little Kanawha River and its tributaries there are large
supplies of White Oak yet untouched ; in fact, all the country
back of the counties fronting on the Ohio River is one vast vir-
gin forest of Oak, Tulip, Wild Cherry, Bfack Walnut and Sugar
Maple, only touched upon along the largest channels of drain-
age, being yet for the greater part inaccessible. The develop-
ment of these resources has made comparatively slow pro-
gress, but with the increasing facilities for transportation by
rail it is certain to make rapid strides within the next few years.

In the report of the chief of the forestry division of the
Department of Agriculture, for 1887, the area of Kentucky
covered by forest is stated at thirty or thirty-five per cent. The
White Oak is the timber most prevalent and most character-
istic of the state. Large Tulip-trees and most of the valuable
hard woods are found in greater or lesser abundance in the
forests of various sections of the state, and in eastern Ken-
tucky ; and the region of the Cumberland Mountains is yet
almost untouched. The area of 10,000 square miles between
the Louisville and Nashville railroad line and the Ohio River
has been pronounced by Professor N. S. Shaler to be one of the
richest and at the same time most easily accessible hard-wood
timber regions in the Ohio valley. In a report by R. C. B.
Thruston, made to the president of the Louisville and Nash-
ville railroad in 1887, it was stated that the hard-wood forests
of the valleys and the table-lands of the Cumberland Moun-
tains extend over an area of 4,000 square miles, with a stand
of timber running from 6,000 to 14,000 feet, board measure, to
the acre. The 2,319 establishments of the state, based upon

these resources in 1885, were using material valued at $14,-
576,014, with products valued at $29,446,339. The lumber pro-
duced from Oak and Tulip trees by 805 saw-mills in that year
was estimated at $4,889,196. Louisville is looked upon as the
best and cheapest hard-wood lumber market in this country,
if not in the world.

Tennessee, with sixty per cent, of its area still covered by
woodlands, possesses a larger proportion of forests of decidu-
ous-leaved trees than any other state. The Commissioner of
Agriculture of that state stated in 1884 that 16,000,000 acres of
forests in Tennessee remained in almost their original condi-
tion. The nature of their timber-growth differs but little from
that of Kentucky. The Tulip-tree is found in the valleys in
greatest perfection, and nowhere in the United States in greater
abundance. Portions of the state are unsurpassed m the
quality and the vast quantities of White Oak and Tulip-timber
which they possess. In Obion County alone there were in 1887
fifty-five saw-mills with a daily output of 1,000,000 feet of the
latter. Tulip-trees from six to seven feet in diameter are not
rare ; no state has yet a greater quantity of Black Walnut ; ex-
cellent Hickory abounds ; Blue and White Ash, scarce along
the high-roads of communication, are yet found in considera-
ble quantities in the remoter districts. In the lowlands along
the Mississippi River Red Gum, Tupelo Gum, Cottonwood and
Cypress prevail. Nashville is the rival of Louisville as a hard-
wood timber market. The black walnut, cherry, ash, tulip,
elm and maple received in this market amounted to 30,000,000
feet, board measure, and the amount shipped in 1887 was
valued at $80,000,000.

In the mountainous part of western North Carolina are
found virgin forests of the most valuable hard-wood timbers,
which have become accessible only during the last few years!
The table-lands between the Blue Ridgeahd the Smoky moun-
tains, and the basin of the Tennessee River, bear a heavy and
diversified hard-wood timber growth so far but little drawn
upon. In the Atlantic states further south and in the Gulf re-
gion the hard-wood growth is confined chiefly to the higher
levels section ; with the swamp White Oak, Red or Sweet
Gum, Mockernut Hickory, Tulip, Cucumber-trees, some
White Ash, Red Ash, Spanish Oak and Shell-bark Hick-
ory in the lower valleys ; and Mountain or Tan-bark Oak,
Chestnut and Post Oak on the ridges and table-lands of great-
est elevation. Black Walnut is found scattered in the dis-
tricts least difficult of access. In Alabama the hard-wood
timber trees are most frequent in the eastern half of the Ten-
nessee valley, in the wide rivers and the intricate valleys
which separate the detached outliers of the Cumberland
Mountains, where Tulip-trees of fine growth form the larger
proportion, with White Oak, Elm, Willow Oak and Shell-bark
Hickory. The timber has been largely cut along the railroad
lines intersecting these parts of the state, and of late years a
number of smaller establishments, manufacturing wagon-
stock and cooperage-stuff in the rough, have been erected in
northern Alabama.

The largest body of hard-wood timber in the Mississippi
valley, if not the largest in this country, is found in the per-
petually damp lowlands between the Yazoo and Mississippi
rivers, the unbroken forest covering over 6,000 square miles,
unsurpassed in the density of its growth and the great devel-
opment of the trees which are of economic importance. Here
the swamp White Oak, the Spanish Oak, Red Oak, Sweet or
Red Gum, Honey Locust, Cottonwood and Sassafras are found
in the greatest perfection. In the water-covered depressions,
forming shallow lakes, the mighty Cypress rises in the fullness
of its development above all other monarchs of the forest.'
The forests of Arkansas, on the Mississippi and in the valley
of the St. Francis and White rivers, with a timber-wealth sim-
ilar in kind and development to that found on the opposite
side of the Mississippi, extend over more than 2,000,000 acres.
In the valleys of a higher level in the same state vast quanti-
ties of the ridge or upland White Oak and considerable quan-
tities of Black Walnut yet remain almost intact. In similar
situations in northern Louisiana and in the uplands of that state
and of eastern Texas the forests, together with their growth
of conifers, harbor bodies of fine White Oak, Magnolias
and White Bay, with some of the other hard-wood timber
spoken of.

Immense as the supplies of hard wood in the southern
states must appear, there can be little doubt that their deple-
tion will be effected in a period of time scarcely exceeding in
length that which witnessed the disappearance of the similar
resources once to be found in the north. The timber-lands in
the states south of the Ohio River comprise 211,375,000 acres,
or forty-one per cent, of the forest-area of the United States.
The number of saw-mills in that territory has increased a

22

Garden and Forest.

[Number 255.

hundred-fold since the census of 1S80. The next quarter-
Si^issureto witness an unprecedented act.v.ty m the m-
m^ of the industries dependent upon the products of he
Silhem forests. Kurtl>ermore. a large propor ion of the
S«« now covered by the hard-wood forests w.il be c a med
forthe cultivation of crops to which they are so highly adapted
The spontaneous reproduction of the better qualities of
iMfd-wood timber is limited by obstacles that leave no prom-
Le for the future. There are difficulties in natural dissemina-
tion due to the nature of the seeds of most of the hard-wood
timber trees of economic value, and to the dangers threaten-
ne the .—.".>• and healthy development of tTieir ottsprmg
in the c ^ of growth. Under the shade of the original
forest-c. ^ lie second growth is to a large degree sup-
prened or remains stunted ; in the open their progeny is ex-
bo«ed to the danger of destruction by fire and live stock, of
Which but the smallest part escapes, and which is also liable
10 succumb under the struggle for the possession of the soil
with competing species of little or no commercial value. 10
reproduce successfully the more valuable hard woods thefos-
lenni: care of man is required ; in short, these supplies must
beerown. This fact more generally understood, with the
comprehension of the heavy and ever-augmenting strain to
which in many sections these natural resources are subjected.
cannot fail to arouse the intelligent land-owner to energetic
efforts in that direction. No other improvement can impart
to his possession a more permanent value and insure a more
profitable inheritance than the raising of timber on his waste
or otherwise unproductive lands, not to speak of the increase
of comfort and content resulting from the sheltering cover
of the forest in its beneficial inHuence upon the health and
success of bis crops. ^

Correspondence.
Christmas in London.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir —The dullness which has invaded all branches of trade
in I^'ndon this autumn has extended to Christmas greenery.
Though it has been what is known as "a beautiful year for
berries." there seems httle demand for the superb bunches of
Holly and Mistfetoe which han^ about the fronts of all the
greengrocers" shops, and a shilling will give you an unwieldy
armful of stiff, long holly-boughs, or all of the waxy mistletoe
which you can grasp. If you want to find your Christmas dec-
oratioris all ready-made — and many people must have this
perverted taste, or so large a provision would not be made to
meet it— you must seek them at the florists', who are all abun-
dantly supplied with formal circlets of thegreen and the varie-
gated holly-leaves, each having eight bunches of Ijerries reg-
ularly interspersed. It needs the hollv-wreaths to point the
season in these shops, for the window display is bewilderingly
indefinite. The Chrysanthemums have held their own bravely.
and still appear in good variety, but by their side are all the
spring blossoms from the Riviera gardens— pink Anemones
and white Narcissus, and sheaves of Mimosabranches. Theold
prejudice or superstition which kept such blooms as these out
of the market until after the New Year has quite disappeared,
and one is fain to regret that this is so. for. after all. it is better
to preserve to each season its proper (lower-harmony, and it
is incongruous when a flower-barrow appears out of the gray
foe propelled by a blue-lipped man who rilowson his chapped
red hands to try to warm them, and vainly endeavors to draw his
thin coat closer about his bare throat ; it is incongruous, 1 say,
to find that this man's merchandise is Tea-roses and Violets,
"Roses and Vilets, fresh from the sothe er Krarnce," he
lioarseljr calls, then blows on his hands again, dances up and
down in his ill-mated shoes and looks attout forlornly for a
purchaser ; and he finds but few. There is little superfluity
for (lowers in most Ix>ndon households this December, little
superfluity for anything, so it appears. Kven on Friday, the
twenty-third, shopping was practicable in the most frequented
•hope, and a true Christmas crowd has never once been found
on Regent Street.

For Christmas church-decoration this year, in London, white
Callas and Chrysanthemums were the flowers most used to
relieve the greenery, and no especially novel effects were pro-
duced. In the management of the green, one misses the wild
fjracc of the New England Lyco|K)dia. The English decorator.
l;i idc stiff material at command, and his' results arc

ri;i .;f; Ijoughs and twigs cannot be made to wreathe

about pillars like the flowing, straggling verdure of our winter
woods. So, at least, it seems to a patriotic American, who is,
on the other Itand, unwilling to go quite the lengths of the en-

thusiastic young Australian who bewailed the other day that
Christmas came at so inclement a time in England, rather than
in the early summer, "just when there are all the loveliest
flowers to decorate with, you know ; here there s absolutely

""noI much is going on in a floral way. certainly, except, indeed,
the great auction sale of the Blenheim Orchids, which was go-
ing on the greater part of last week. The young Duke ot
Marlborough has in truth lost no time in following the prece-
dent set by his father, and dispersing the best that Blenheim
held. The late Duke, whose dubious and stormy career closed
so unexpectedly the other day, was a great amateur in the
quaintest and most human of plants ; his son, apparently, does
not share this expensive taste. At all events, he at once set
about making arrangements for the sale by a well-known hrm
of London auctioneers of his father's collection, and was him-
self in constant attendance to watch proceedings. Many
people were present on the first day, but the bid-
ding was rather slow. As the sale proceeded the
crowd fell off and competition became more lively,
and so it went on, till over the ownership of the last lots a few
devotees wrangled fiercely. The total realized was between
five and six thousand pounds. There were, however, none of
those fabulous prices for single plants which have sometimes
been obtained in this line. Amateur growers have learned
how short a time it takes for nftvelties in Orchids to beconie
little better than drugs in the market. The plants were all in
excellent condition. Forty-five guineas was the hij^hest figure
reached in the course of the sale, and twenty-five or even
twenty guineas sufficed to purchase some excellent things.
To the latter bid fell a Cattleya Mendelii, of the best variety,
with eleven sheaths and twenty-six heads (it was stated that
three times that sum had been refused for the plant pre-
viously), while two specimens of the Blenheim specialty. Cat-
tleya Gaskelliana Blenheimensis, which, though small, were in
the most healthy condition, went for six and three guineas
respectively, one falling to the agent of Baron Alphonse de
Rothschild, who was a considerable purchaser. Nearly all the
leading papers here have devoted editorials to this sale.
London. Louise Dodge.

A New Year's Awakening.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The outdoor garden has been rather more of a dreary
waste than usual at this season. The earth has been steadily
frozen during December, giving no chance to the most ven-
turesome plant to make advances. I have before said that it
is usually possible to have flowers from the open in this lati-
tude every month in the year, and this could be said almost
without qualification if December were excepted. The chances
of this being a close season are. I find, about even, for. with
the short days, dull skies and prevailing frosts, the winter-
flowering plants make little progress. That they have, how-
ever, made some progress was demonstrated in the very first
days of the year in one of those sudden changes which make
the hardy garden so interesting. The temperature, which had
ranged below thirty degrees so long, advanced on Sunday (New
Year's Day) to an average of forty-one degrees, with a maximum
of fifty degrees, accompanied by an abundant rain, whicli only
ceased in the evening. On Monday the temperature was the
same, with a bright, clear sky, and, the ground having been
softened for a few inches, many plants bounded forward
as if loosened from a leash. Snowdrops, of course, needed
but a look from the sun under such conditions, and one va-
riety,an Albanian one. fuUyshowedits whitedewdrops. Elwes'
variety was only slightly less backward, while Scillas, Chiono-
doxas. Zygadenas. Anemones and some of the reticulated Irises
as suddenly became visible. The only Daffodil to show itself
was the Campernelle. The mossy Sedums and various fall
seedling plants, as Centaureas, Poppies, Carnations, etc.. shook
off their dejection and appeared eager for growth. Scilla
Sibirica seed exposed in the border germinated, as it usually
does, at the first opportunity after the first of the year. Hard
weather again and snow quickly called a halt to this activity,
and these plants will pass through more seeming hardships
before genial spring ends the changes. I do not find, however,
that they are seriously harmed by the severe changes.

This incident illustrates as clearly as possible what we are
often told as to the quick awakening into life of vegetation in
arctic and alpine regions, and is here noted not as new, but to
call attention to the fact that, with suitalile subjects, we can
make our gardens interesting at all seasons. He must be dull,-
indeed, who does not feel at least interested in the ever-won-
derful awakening of plant-life in the early year.
ElUabcth.N.J. ' ' J.N. G.

January it, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

23

W. G. Farlow.

The Rose of Jericho.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest ;

Sir,— The account of Jericho Roses in Garden and Forest
of October 26th reminds nie tliat, while passing along Oxford
Street, in London, last June, my attention was attracted by a
large heap of plants marked " Rose of Jericho," in the shop-
window of a seedsman. The plant was, however, not the
Anastatica Hierochuntica, usually called by that name, but a
Selaginella. I entered the shop and found that what, on closer
examination, proved to be Selaginella Pringlei, was done up in
boxes with a descriptive ciicular, as enthusiastic as it was
botanically inaccurate, and sold at a shilling each. On sug-
gesting to the dealer that his much-lauded plant did not come
from Palestine, but probably from America, he admitted that
" it might have come from Mexico." It appears that the sale
of the Selaginella was large.

Cambridge, Mass.

Cedrela Sinensis.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In your issue of November 15th (page 543) Mr. Jack
writes about Cedrela Sinensis in France. I have grown these
trees a dozen years or more and distributed them in consider-
able quantity, so that it must hjve been tested in many parts
of the United States.

The Cedrela is a very beautiful tree, and succeeds admirably
in Washington. It has somewhat the appearance of an Ailan-
thus ; it is exceedingly vigorous in growth, giving luxuriant
shoots with fine, large, clean, pinnated leaves. I have never
known the foliage to be infested with insects or injured in any
way. The tree grows rapidly and transplants easily. Some
specimens have been planted in one of our Washington
streets, where they succeed well ; and the intention is at an
early day to plant a street with this species, and I have no
doubt in the near future it will be largely used for this purpose.

Washington, D. c. John Saul.

Recent Publications.

Along New England Roads. By W. C. Prime. New York :
Harper & Brothers.

This neat little volume is a reprint of letters written to the
New York Journal of Commerce in the course of a correspon-
dence which has extended over more than forty years. They
are, for the most part, casual records of vacation journeys
among New England hills, and, in the author's judgment,
ought to have been left in oblivion. Finding, however, that
they had been preserved by admiring strangers who threat-
ened to publish them if he did not, he has gathered together
the long-buried sketches and made them into a book "simply
because he did not wish that such a book should be made."

This preface disarms criticism and leaves to the reviewer
only words of praise ; and yet the sketches hardly need any
such protection, for slight as they are they furnish pleasant
reading for a leisure hour, and, in addition to heir restful vaca-
tion air, they have a charm often lacking in a more ambitious
work — the crowning charm of spontaneity. Mr. Prime has
that love of country life which only attains its best develop-
ment wlien implanted in childhood. If genuine, it never fails,
but grows stronger and sweeter with advancing years. In his
journeys over the familiar ground, Mr. Prime's eye rests with
delight upoli the little homely details which would escape the
notice of the careless traveler, and his delight we cannot help
but share. Only one to the manner born could have written
this : "Nearly a half-a-mile ahead stood a farm-house with its
barns and outbuildings. The house stood back from the road
among fruit-trees, some of which were in blossom. But
what especially attracted attention was a large number of
horses and wagons, vehicles of various descriptions, which
made the front yard and the road near the house look black.
Only two events in the country are likely to cause such a gath-
ering around a house. When you see it you are quite safe in
thinking that there is a funeral or an auction sale. Either is
sure to bring together all the wagons of a very widespread
population. There is this difference, however, that to the funeral
men and women and children come, but to the ' vandue ' only
men." The words are simple, the scene is homely, but every
reader whose childhood has been passed amid rural surround-
ings will feel the chords of memory touched, and be trans-
ported at once into the happy past, to smell the earthy fra-
grance of the trampled grass, and hear the merry jests of the
auctioneer, while friends and neighbors, unthought of for
years, come trooping into the chambers of meinory.

This, too, is genuine : " Deserted farm-houses in New Eng-
land are all alike in the most prominent features and generally
resemble each other in many minute details, for the life in-
them was very much the same, and the life in the house gives
specific character to the surroundings. The worn spot on the
little piazza of the kitchen end, or L, is again and again vis-
ible ; the spot where the farmer sat down daily for a little while
when he took the very short rest the farmer can afford to give
himself in daylight. The marks on the inside of the window-
seat are almost always there, made by the broken mugs and
teapots, and the cans and boxes in which his wife kept her
flowers growing when frost drove them indoors for the win-
ter. Her garden is always there, and I know a place where I
go and gather roses, sometimes, from bushes in a dense tan-
gle, which were the garden Roses of a farm-house that
utterly vanished more than fifty years ago."

Combined with this simplicity of thought and feeling is an
old-time flavor, a subdued and softened Puritanism, very re-
freshing in these days of enervating luxury. No matter how
far afield Mr. Prime may wander, either literally or metaphor-
ically, in his search for recreation or adventure, he travels
always "along New England roads." He is at one with Mr.
Ruskin in his detestation of railroads, which he says have
" cursed and depopulated northern New England. Carriage-
travel has been abandoned, intercommunication between out-
lying farms and villages is nearly at an end. The old social
intercourse and mutual dependence of the country-folk is
mostly gone." With this loss of the old-fashioned "neighbor-
liness" has died much of the charm of country life, and what
is true of New England is equally true of other sections of tlje
country.

" Seeking a Better Country" is an attempt to showhoworder
and beauty may be wrought out of ruin and desolation in the
many abandoned farms if only the inhabitants will give up
their thirst for riches and cultivate once more the almost for-
gotten virtues of their forefathers, for now, as in the olden
time, it is only by patient, loving labor, both of hand and brain,
that the waste places of the earth can be made to rejoice or
the wilderness to blossom as the rose.

Many of the papers contain slight sketches of New England
village-life, but the best are those which treat of the beauty of
the hills. Much of the modern love of natural scenery is only
another form of dissipation — an effort to escape from the
heart-weariness of our artificial city-life — but Mr. Prime's en-
joyment of his spring and autumn drives is deep and genuine.
The letters were written in the days before the love of nature
had become the fashion ; when only those in whom the love
of her beauty was an unconscious passion sought her soli-
tudes to gain refreshment after vigorous toil, or strength for
fresh endeavor; hence the slight descriptive touches, scattered
at random throughout the volume, have a freshness of feeling
in marked contrast to the work of those observers of nature
who have a conscience on the subject, and seem always seek-
ing for effects. What can show more delicate appreciation
than this ?

"Snow is a wonderful beautifier. It packs down the dead
growth of the past, so that the first show of the new growth is
visible and colors the earth and the landscape. There is a day
when all the country looks wintry ; the next day soft green
tints show in the damp hollows or on the southern slopes ; then
in one or two or three days the whole landscape has become
brilliantly green ; the forests have begun to color. We all
know the gorgjeous autumnal colors, but little has been written
of the exquisite tints of the spring forests in New England.
They are often quite as beautiful as the autumn glories. They
are softer dnts, but more varied — pink, mauve, purple and
gray, in broad and gentle gradations, broken now and then by
deep tints when the Maple is budding. Sometimes in valleys
where Willows are plenty, and when sunlight falls richly after
a shower, there are patches of golden-yellow stretching across
green fields which are as beautiful as one's golden dreams."

This, too, is exquisite in a different way : " As we began the
up-hill journey we came sl6wly into thinner mist, and after
a while into that most weird and solenm of all lights, thegolden
atmosphere of the Octoljer sun in fog among autumn forests.
Stopping the horses on a water-bar for a little breath, we lis-
tened to the silence. Do you know what that means .' It is
not listening to nothing. There are sounds, and many of
them, but in the stillness of a foggy morning these sounds
seem to cut sharply into the silence, and thus make you aware
of the excessive stillness and calm which reign around you.
The fall of a single leaf, broken off by the weiglit of moisture,
is distinctly audible as it flutters to the ground. The voice of
a crow, far away in the fog, comes through the yellow
air with a metallic ring. You start along, and the crush

Garden and Forest

[Number 255.

of the wheels in the gravel is echoed from tlie side of the
woods across a hollow, so that you tliink there is a waterfall
over there. You stop again, and the echo dies away with a
low niurmuring along the trees, and the stillness is wonderful."
Mr. rrinie has traveled in many lands, but nowhere does he
tind itaturc so rich, so varied or so beautiful as in the heart of
his own New EngUnd hills.

Notes.

Good Carnations have never been so abundant in this city as
they are now.

The AmtrUaH Florist has a flash-light picture of a Mush-
room cave inside of the artificial mound under the great dome
of the Horticultural Building of the Columbian Exposition.
The bed was spawned October 4th and has been bearing for
some weeks Muslrrooms of the finest quality and in great
abundance.

In former times Live Oak was used largely in naval con-
struction, and our old war-ships had their frames and planking
principally of this wood, so that a web of historical sentiment
and romance has been woven about the tree. The wood is
stilt used to a considerable extent in buildine ships, but its
value has increased hirgely on account of the diminished
quantity now available.

In 1738, Mr. Menzies, of Culdares, Scotland, brought a few
small Larch seedlings, which had been secured in the Tyrol,
and pbnted eleven of them at Blair-Athol. These were the
first Larch-trees planted in Scotland, and two of these, which
are still standing, are now more than one hundred feet high
and in good health. The trunk of the largest one girths
eighteen feet nine inches at three feet from the ground.

Yellow Callas are becoming plentiful. After Richardia Elli-
otti app>eared another one was exhibited under the name of
Richardia Pentlandi. Still later another one from Africa,
which was said to have been found in a swamp with other
water-plants, was sold at auction in London under the name
of Pride of the Congo. Richardia aurata, a name suggesting
another yellow flower, is now announced from France, and is
said to be a garden-hybrid produced by a nurseryman of Mar-
seilles.

In the last number of the American Agriculturist, Mr. J. S.
Woodward argues against the abundant use of stable-manure
or nitrogenous fertilizers in vineyards, as tending to produce a
rapid growth of long-jointed and soft wood. A moderate
growth of well-ripened wood is much more certain to give
abundant fruit of the highest quality. Bone-dust or other phos-
phates, together with unleached hardwood-ashes or potash in
some form, make the best application to insure strong, short-
jointed and well-ripened canes.

At the last meeting of the general committee of the National
Chrysanthemum Society of England, Mr. Taylor presented a
report on the cut bloom's that were staged at the Society's ex-
hibition last fall. Two lists were presented, showing the num-
ber of limes each variety was exhibited. The ten flowers of
the Japanese section, which were exhibited the greatest num-
ber of times, were listed in the following order: Avalanche,
Viviand Morel, Sunflower, Ed. Molyneux", W. H. Lincoln,
Etoile de Lyon, Stanstead White, Gloife de Roclier, Florence
Davis, Monsieur Bernard. The first ten of the incurved sorts
were these : Princess of Wales, Empress of India, Lord Al-
cester, Jeanne d'Arc, Queen of England, Lord Wolseley, Gol-
den Empress, Violet Tomlin, John Lambert, Miss N. A.
Haggaa.

Some forms of farm-fences» harbor a great many insects, and
the old worm-fence, made of rails, with its wicle margin of
neglected ground, takes the lead in this respect, although
followed closely by the stone-wall and the hedge. In a paper
read l>efore the Biological Society of Washington, and repub-
lished in Science, Mr. F. M. Webster says that even the post
and board fence, although its ungrazed margins are narrower,
offers much protection to various kinds of insects, as is made
plain by the number of cocoons and eggs that can always be
seen where the Ijoards and posts come in contact. Among
the principal species which are fostered in this way are the
chinch-bug. which winters under a covering of leavesormatted
grass, the army-worm, the larvje of the stalk-borer and grass-
hoppers. The fall web-worm delights to pass its adolescent
stage in the crevices about rail-fences and stone-walls, and
where in field-comers or in the angles of a worm-fence
Raspberry and Blackl>erry bushes are allowed to grow, the root-

borer, the saw-fly, and, worst of all, the author of the gouty-
gall of the Raspberry (Agrillus ru(icollis) will find harbor.
Where mulleins grow among the briers, the tarnished plant-
bug will pass its winters in comfort, and altogether the fence-
corner is a veritable nursery, where injurious insects are prop-
agated to the injury of neighboring gardens, orchards and
fields.

Thomas Hogg, for many years one of the best-known and
most highly respected among the horticulturists and bot-
anists of the country, died suddenly of angina pectoris on the
30th of December last, in this city. His father, whose name was
also Thomas Hogg,wasardently devoted to horticulture and had
charge of the greenhouses belonging to William Kent, Esq., of
London, who had the largest private collection of plants then
in England. In this situation he became intimate with Mac-
nab, of Edinburgh ; Alton, of Kew ; Pursh, Goldie, Don and
other collectors of note. Thomas Hogg, the younger, was
born in London on the 6th of February, 1820, and was brought
to this country by his father when only nine months old. In
the spring of 1822 Thomas Hogg, senior, took a piece of
ground in this city where Twenty-third Street and Broadway
now meet, but which was then quite out of the city, and com-
menced business as a nurseryman and florist, the only other
nurseries then about New York being those of Messrs. Prince,
of Flushing, and Floy and Wilson, in this city. In 1840 the
nurseries were removed to Seventy-ninth Street and the East
River, and here young Thomas Hogg and his brother James,
who had been brought up to the business, assisted their father
and took charge of the very flourishing establishment at his
death in 1855. In 1862 Thomas Hogg received an ap-
pointment from President Lincoln as United States Mar-
shal, under which he went to Japan, where he remained
eight years. He then resigned, and after a short visit to
America he returned to Japan late in 1873 and remained
there for two years longer in the customs service of the
Japanese Government. His close relations with the authori-
ties gave him opportunities for exploring the islands which
other foreigners did not possess, and he collected many plants
and seeds of horticultural value and sent them home. We
hope at some future time to give a complete list of these in-
troductions which made Mr. Hogg eminent among the col-
lectors of garden-plants. The garden of his brother at the
foot of Eighty-fourth Street, in this city, where most of these
treasures were cultivated for the first time in America, was,
for many years, the most interesting spot in the United States
to the lovers of Japanese plants. Many of the very best trees,
shrubs and herbaceous plants which have come to us from
Japanese gardens, were thus brought to America before they
were sent to Europe, and not a few of them are now among the
most familiar inhabitants of our gardens. In 1875, Mr. Hogg
left Japan the second time, and afterward traveled through
China, Ceylon, South America and Central America. Later in
his life he went to California, and to Europe several times.
His last journey to Europe was made two years ago, and while
in Paris during an exceptionally severe winter he was attacked
by the influenza, and never fairly recovered from its effects.

During the latter years of his life Mr. Hogg was engaged in
no business and devoted his leisure to his favorite studies.
His investigations took a wide range, and he was recognized
as an authority in many branches of horticultural science and
practice. In person Mr. Hogg was tall and spare, but well-
knit and muscular, with a strong but refined face and great
dignity and gravity of manner. He was almost shrinkingly
modest, but in congenial company was one of the most agree-
able of companions. He was never married, but was singu-
larly devoted to his sister and brother and the members of
their families. His integrity was above any suspicion ; and
the purity, sincerity and unselfishness of his life commanded
the respect and won the affection of every one with whom he
came in contact.

Catalogues Received.

D. S. Grimes, Denver, Col.; Wliotesale Price List of Seeds of Rocky
Mountain Conifers.— Pitcher & Manda, United States Nurseries, .Short
Hills, N. J.; Beautifully Illustrated and Descriptive Catalo'jue of New
and Rare Seeds, Bulbs and Plants.— SnERWOOi> Hall Nursery Co.,
427-429 Sansome Street, San Francisco, Cal.; Illustrated Catalogue of
.Selected p'lower and Vegetable Seeds, Bulbs, Roses, Decorative
I'lants, Fruil and Ornamental Trees.— J. M. Thorhurn & Co., 15 John
Street, New York; New Annual Descriptive Catalogue of Flower,
Vegetable and Tree Seeds.— B. M. Watson, Plymouth, Mass.; Whole-
sale Price List of Bulbs, Hardy Decorative Flowering Shrubs, Orna-
mental and Fruit Trees, etc.

January i8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

25

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York,

Conducted by

Professor C. S. Sargent.

entered as SBCOND-CXASS matter at the post office at new YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGR.

Editorial Article :— The Names of Garden Flowers 25

The Battle-ground in Prospect Park. (With figure.) John De tVot/. 26

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — 1 C. S. S. 26

New OR Little-known Plants :—Salix balsamifera. (With figure.) C. S. S. 28

Foreign Correspondence:— London Letter W. IVdtsoH. 28

Cultural Department :— Late-keeping Pears T, //. Hoskins, M.D. 30

Work t)f the Season W. H. Taptin. 30

Irises and their Cultivation. — V J. N, Gerard. 31

Euphorbias Robert Cameron. 32

Gloxinias E. O. Orpet. 33

Hardy Orchids for Outdoor Cultivation F, //. Horsforii. 33

The Forest: — Hygienic Significance of Forest Air and Forest Soil. 5. ^. /vrwtra;. 34

Correspondence : — The Season in Northern California Carl Purdy. 35

A Case of Inherited Variegation E, G. Lodeman. 35

Notes 35

Illustrations:— Salix balsamifera, Fig. 5 29

Scene near Battle Pass, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N. Y., Fig. 6 31

The Names of Garden Flowers.

A RECENT article in these columns called attention to
the lack of imagination displayed by florists in the
names they give to the beautiful blossoms of the Chrysan-
themum, which, in the land whence they come, bear
such delicate and appropriate appellations that the title is
almost as charming as the flower. The same contributor
has been consulting the index to our last volume and its
list of the names with which these unhappy blossoms are
weighted, and the examination shows that out of a hundred
and forty flowers, ninety bear the surnames of men or
women, with a Christian name or an initial attached, such as
Mrs. H. J. Smith, Mrs. R. A. Jones, Mrs. Governor Robinson,
and the like, the ladies being largely complimented in this
manner ; and when J. John Raiferty, Jacob Beemer and a
score more of that sort are added, the catalogue reads like
a Sunday-school list.

Then follow various proper names, such as Leila, Ethel,
Olga, Irma, Roselyn and Clarence, or meaningless titles
like Mars, Exquisite, Faust, Syringa, Gold, Thrumpton and
Good Gracious, all of which might with equal propriety
be applied to a cow or a kitten. This leaves about twenty,
which aspire to be descriptive or to have some fanci-
fulness or grace to recommend them. Of the twenty,
a few are fairly happy, such as Avalanche, Rosy Morn,
Snowflake, Pink Pearl and Mont Blanc. The others are
simply tolerable and commonplace, like Golden Ball, White
Cap, Sunflower, Black Beauty and Marvel, which convey
no particular idea.

Our contributor finds quite as much to criticise in the
names of modern Roses. The old-fashioned Sweet-brier was
redolent of fragrance and eloquent of thorn in its very name.
The Baltimore Belle and Prairie Rose wreathed about our
portals, the Cinnamon Rose scattered its musky petals at our

ifeet, the Damask Rose spoke to us of the far east, the
Provence Rose brought with it memories of the trouba-

and Generals like a battle-field, or are gay with Dukes and
Countesses like a royal ball-room. Even Ferdinand de
Lesseps and Charles Darwin are to be had for the picking,
and Captain Christy appropriately climbs hand-over-hand
upon a trellis. Empress of India is, to be sure, not a bad
name for this regal flower, and the titles of the court ladies
who lend their proud names to adorn the proud blossom
do not seem quite so out of place as Mrs. Jones and Mrs.
Smith attached to a Chrysanthemum ; but how much bet-
ter we like Boule de Neige or Perle des Blanches or Perle
d'Or, The Bride or Sunset or Gloire de Dijon than even the
stateliest of these unmeaning titles, which, after all, flatter
the person and not the Rose.

Our correspondent might have uttered the same lamen-
tation over the names of Dahlias, Gladioli, Geraniums and,
in fact, all other flowers whose garden forms are rapidly
multiplying every year. The case of Orchids is still more
distressing, because, while the names are quite as inappro-
priate, they have been made ridiculous by giving them
barbarous Latin terminations. A glance at the list of
Irises proved so staggering that our correspondent wrote :
"It is not easy to run a word like Kolpakowskyana trip-
pingly off the tongue, or to airily recommend a Xiphioides or
a Scorpioides as an attractive object of contemplation. There
is a crawliness about the one and a deadliness about the
other that are truly repellant, while so lovely a blossom
seems to merit something better at the hands of its baptizer
than such a word as Missouriensis or.Chama;iris as its only
handle." But the nurserymen are not responsible for these
names, and they only show that the botanists are quite as
prosaic as the commercial plantsmen.

But, after all, while there is something to regret in all
this, the practice of the producers of new garden-flowers
is not singularly reprehensible. There is occasion for simi-
lar complaint wherever many new names are in constant
demand. Jay-Eye-See and Maud S. are neither of them
ideal names for trotters, and the names of distinguished
individuals in all the other families of horse-flesh, from the
Percheron to the pony, are generally unpoetical and mean-
ingless. The herd-books of various breeds of blooded
stock repeat the same lesson, which is emphasized in the
inappropriate names of our towns and counties and the
streets of our cities. Our common wild flowers rejoice in pic-
turesque and winning names because the name represents a
type, and not one of a thousand individual forms. We praise
the skill of the Japanese in their selection of names, and
argue that in sky and light and in the phenomena of night
and day there are similes enough to set forth fitly the deli-
cate charms of an Iris, the opulent gorgeousness of. a
Chrysanthemum, or the fragrant fullness of a Rose. But,
after all, a thousand or so of such names for Chrysan-
themums as "Disheveled Hair in Morning Sleep," or
" Border of the Thin Mist," however suitable they may be
for the use of the oriental poet, would become absurd to
the unimaginative western mind. In these rapidly multi-
plying garden forms of a popular flower a name is
only needed for purposes of identification, so that we
can talk about it and know which one of a thousand forms
is referred to. It is utterly impossible that each one of
these forms should have an accurately, or even poetically,
descriptive epithet. The best that we can hope for is that
they will not be vulgar or repulsive or utterly common-
place. Nine-tenths of them will never be heard of in a few
years, and the names of those flowers that prove worthy
to live will become mellowed, if not hallowed, by associa-
tion. Who objects to Madame Plantier as the name of that
grand old Rose to-day ? Besides this, the selection of a
name of a man or woman may be justified by some fact in
the history of a plant, just as the name of Mrs. Alpheus
Hardy was appropriately given to the sensational flower of
that name, because the lady had befriended the young
Japanese who sent the Chrysanthemum to her on his return
to his native land.

At all events, before vve utterly condemn the general
practice we ought to be able to lay down some general

26

Garden and Forest,

[Number 256.

laws which could be followed in choosing names for gar-
den plants. The most conspicuous effort at reform in hor-
ticultural nomenclature that we now recall was made by
the American Pomological Si>ciety. In the first place all
coarse and vulgar names for fruits were excluded, and such
Strawberries as Big Bob and Legal Tender had to be rechris-
tened As a matter of catalogue convenience long names
were abbreviated, and the Duchess dAngouleme Pear be-
came simply Angoulfme, and the King of Tompkins County
Apple became Tompkins King, and many useless repeti-
tions of " Beurre," " Pippin" and the like were discarded.
All adjectives which seemed to assert the superiority of a
variety in any particular way were ruled out as undigni-
fied and unjust, so that the Shaffer Colossal Raspberry be-
came simply the Shaffer, and the Hartford Prolific Grape
was henceforth the Hartford. Many changes like these were
made in the catalogues of fruits which had been long cul-
tivated, and the law was laid down that for new fruits one
word, if possible, should be selected as the name ; that this
word should be, if practicable, explanatory of some char-
acter of the fruit, or of the place of its origin, or the name of
its producer. There is not much poetry in these rules, but
there is a great deal of hard sense, and it is by no means
impossible that equally wise and practical laws might be
laid down for the naming of new flowers. There are Chry-
santhemum societies in this country and in England where
the names of new plants are registered, and it would not
be impossible for them to formulate a code of laws to gov-
ern the nomenclature of their flowers. The Carnation
Society might do the same for that flower, and, after free
discus-sion, any glaring evils in naming flowers would cor-
rect themselves under the pressure of public opinion.

We may add that, in many classes of vegetables, there
is a tendency toward improvement in nomenclature.
Terra Cotta is the name of a Tomato sent out by Thorburn,
of this city, which is at once novel and descriptive of its
color. Ignotum is the very happy name of another
variety, which was adopted by Professor Bailey because
its parentage was never discovered. Peter Henderson &
Co. last year gave a prize of I250 for the best name of a
Tomato which was described as of large size and great
substance, and from the competition it derived the taking
and appropriate name of Ponderosa. It might be added,
too, that the originators of new fruits and flowers have a
strong commercial incentive for selecting names which
will captivate buyers. Many a plant has been sold by its
name, and good judges believe that Rogers' Hybrid Grapes
would have made their way in popular favor much sooner
if they had been named at once instead of being num-
bered. The Massasoit, the Lindley, the Agawam and the
Salem Grai>e would naturally be talked about, experi-
mented with and sold long before ordinary buyers thought
of testing them as Rogers No. 3, Rogers No. 9, Rogers
No. 15 or Rogers No. 52.

The Battle-ground in Prospect Park.

THE scene illustrated on page 31 is interesting his-
torically as part of the field where the battle of Long
Island was fought, and it is now one of the most peaceful
passages in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The old fort stood
on an eminence among the trees to the right of the picture,
and the locality is marked by a large bronze tablet suitably
inscribed and set in the face of a rock in full view from
the drive passing near it Many visitors are attracted to
the spot by revolutionary associations, and derive, let us
hope, patriotic inspiration from them. They certainly can
find in the place much to appeal to their sense of beauty as
well as to their love of country, and those who are interested
in landscape-art will find the whole arrangement worthy of
careful study. While nostrong contrasts are offered, the ever-
changing, peaceful beauty of the scene at all hours of the
day has made it a favorite spot with thousands of visitors.
One can readily perceive how much better is the gently
sloping surface of the lawn, slightlr concave in the centre,

to what it would have been if made a dead level, with the hil-
locks rising abruptly from the margin, as we too often see them
in park formations. Now there is an ever-varying play of
light and shadow that arrests the eye and stimulates the
imagination.

This result is largely assisted by the grouping of the
trees and large shrubbery. The knoll at the right of the
picture is largely planted with evergreens. Nordman's
Silver Fir and the lofty Bhotan Pine mingle their contrast-
ing graces, while the darkness of the Oriental Spruce and
the plumy Hemlocks are relieved by the silvery white
trunks and graceful spray of Weeping Birches. Some
Austrian Pines are among them, but they are not at their
best on Long Island soil and in its changeable atmosphere.
Although these trees have been much thinned since plant-
ing, they will soon need the further use of the axe to pre-
vent crowding. The more distant trees are deciduous in
character— Walnuts, Beeches, Oaks and Maples— while still
beyond those in the picture is a screen of evergreens and
shrubbery which shuts Flatbush Avenue entirely from the
sight of persons in the park. The view-point is under the
shadow of a great American Elm, known to all familiar
with the park as the "Nellie Tree," and dedicated to the
memory of one who was fond of the spot. This is a
favorite place for memorial trees, and many have been
planted here in memory of different persons and events.
The Centennial Oak, for instance, is near here, planted on
the one-hundredth anniversary of the battle, and thriving
vigorously. The paths that cross the meadow are so well
concealed by the slight variation of its surface that they are
unseen, and, therefore, they do not break the continuity of
the view or lessen the feeling of breadth and expansiveness
which it conveys as the greensward flows among the open
groups of trees, losing its outlines in the mystery of their
shadows. Altogether it is a most instructive example of
what can be accomplished with the simplest elements —
grass, shrubs and trees — in producing a perennially charm-
ing landscape, and it is an object-lesson to the hundreds
who daily walk and drive past it. . , _ „. ,,

Brooklyn, k V. John Dc Wolf.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — L

IN one of the most interesting papers * which have been
written on the distribution of forests, Professor Asa
Gray many years ago drew some comparisons between the
forests of eastern North America and those of the Japan-
Manchurian region of Asia. Here it was shown that, rich
as is eastern America in tree species, Japan, with the
regions to the north of it, is, in spite of their compara-
tively small area, even richer. Professor Gray's Asiatic
region included the four principal Japanese islands, eastern
Manchuria and the adjacent borders of China, while the
contrasted American region embraced the territory east of
the Mississippi River, but excluded the extreme southern
point of Florida, inhabited by some sixty tropical trees
which belong to the West Indian rather than to the true
North American flora. In the Japan-Manchurian region
he found 168 trees divided among sixty-six genera, and in
eastern America 155 trees in sixty-six genera, the enumera-
tion in both cases being confined " to timber-trees, or such
as attain in the most favorable localities to a size which
gives them a clear title to the arboreous rank." In the
Japanese enumeration were included, however, a number
of species which are not indigenous to Japan, but which, as
we now know, were long ago brought into the empire
from China and Corea, like most of the plants cultivated by
the Japanese. Early European travelers in Japan, like Thun-
berg and Siebold, who were unable to penetrate into the
interior, finding these plants in common cultivation, natu-
rally believed them to be indigenous, and several Chinese
plants were first described from individuals cultivated in Jap-
anese gardens. Later writers f on the Japanese flora have

• Forest Geojjraphy and Archaeology, Scimlific Papers, ii., 204.
t See Franchel & Savatier, Enum. Pi. Jap.: Forbes &. Hemsley, Jour. Linn Si
xxiii. and seq.

r

January i8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

27

generally followed the example of these early travelers and
included these plants in the flora of Japan. Indeed, it is only
very recently that it has been possible to travel freely in
all parts of the empire and to study satisfactorily the char-
acter and distribution of its flora.

The list of Chinese and Corean trees cultivated in Japan,
and usually enumerated in Floras of the empires, includes
Magnolia conspicua, M. parvifolia, M. Watsoni, Ster-
culia platinifolia, Cedrela Chinensis, Zizyphus vulgaris,
Koelreuteria paniculata, Sapindus Mukirosi, Acer trifidum,
Rhus vernicifera, Sophora Japonica,* Prunus Mume, Pyrus
Sinensis, Crataegus cuneata, Eriobotrya Japonica, Liquid-
ambar Formosana (Maximowiczii), Cornus officinalis,
Diospyros Kaki, and probably D. Lotus, Chionanthus retusa,
Paulownia imperialis, Catalpa Koempferi, Lindera strych-
nifolia, Ulmus parvifolia, Thuja orientalis. Ginkgo biloba,
Podocarpus Nageia, P. macrophylla and Finns Koraiensis.
If these species.f twenty-nine in number, are deducted
from Professor Gray's enumeration, there will remain 139
species in fifty-three genera, or a smaller number of both
genera and species than he credited to eastern America.
This, however, does not alter the fact that the Japanese
region for its area is unsurpassed in the number of trees
which inhabit its forests.

Indeed, the superiority of the forests of Japan in the num-
ber of their species over those of every other temperate
region, eastern North America included, in proportion to
their area, has certainly never been fully stated as,
perhaps, I shall be able to show, having lately returned
from a somewhat extended journey through the northern
and central islands, undertaken for the purpose of studying
Japanese trees, in their relations to those of North America.
The case, perhaps, can best be stated by following Professor
Gray's method and making a new census of the inhab-
itants of the Japan-Manchurian forests and of those of
eastern America, as these two regions extend through
nearly the same degrees of latitude and possess somewhat
similar climates, although Japan has the advantage of a
more equally distributed rainfall and a more equable cli-
mate, and offers a far more broken surface than eastern
America, with mountains twice the height of any of the
Appalachian peaks.

As the true Atlantic forest extends west to the eastern
rim of the midcontinental plateau, the American region,
for purposes of proper comparison, may be extended to
the western limit of the Atlantic tree-growth, although this
will add to the American side of the account a few genera
and species of Texas, like Koeberlinia, Ungnardia, Parkin-
sonia, Prosopis, Acacia, Chilopsis, and Pithecolobium,
which Professor Gray certainly did not include in the enu-
meration from which his deductions were made. The south
Florida species are again omitted, and, as in The Silva
0/ North America, those plants are considered trees which
grow up with a single stem. In eastern North America,
that is in the whole region north of Mexico and east of the
treeless plateau of the centre of the continent, but exclusive
of south Florida, 223 species of trees, divided among 133
genera, are now known. The Japan-Manchurian region
includes eastern Manchuria, the Kurile Islands, Saghalin,
and the four great Japanese islands, but for our purpose
does not include the Loochoo group, which, although it
forms a part of the Japanese empire politically, is tropical
and subtropical in the character of its vegetation, which,
moreover, is still imperfectly understood. In this narrow

* Even Rein ( Tke Industries o/ ya/an), usually a most careful observer,
states that Sophora Japonica is " scattered through the entire country, especially in
tlic foliaceous forests of the north." He had evidently confounded Sophora with
Maackia, a common and widely spread tree, especially in Vezo. Sophora, which
is only seen occasionally in gardens, does not appear to l>e a particularly popular
plant with the Japanese.

t A number ot shrubs, familiar in western gardens, and usually supposed to be
Japanese, Irom the fact that they were first l<nown in Japan or first sent from that
country, are also Chinese or Corean, and in Japan are only found in gardens or in
the neiglilxirhood of habitations. Among them are Climatis patens. Magnolia
stellala, M. obovala, Berljcris Japonica, Citrus Japonica, Prunus tomcntosa. P.
Japonica, Spir^a Tluinbergii, Rhodotypos kerrioides.Cercis Chinensis orjaponica,
Enkiaiithus Japonicus, Forsythia suspensa, Olea fragrans, Tecoma grandifloi-a.
Daphne Genkwa, Edgworlhia papyriiera, Wikstrtemia Japonica. Nandina do-
meslica, the most universally cultivated ornamental plant in Japan, is probably
not a Japanese plant, although Rein states that it grows wild in Shikoku.

eastern border of Asia there are now known 241 arborescent
species divided among ninety-nine genera. The extra
Japanese portion of the region contributes but little to the
enumeration. In Saghalin, Fr. Schmidt * found only three
trees which do not inhabit Yezo, and in Manchuria, accord-
ing toMaximowiczf and Schmidt,]: there are only eighteen
trees which do not also occur in Saghalien or in the north-
ern Japanese islands. In the four islands of Yezo, Hondo,
Shikoku and Kyushu, therefore, we now find 220 arbor-
escent species divided among ninety-nine genera, or only
three less than occur in the immense territory which ex-
tends from Labrador to the Rio Grande and from the shores
of the Atlantic to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains.
Neither Cycas revoluta nor Trachycarpus (Chamserops) ex-
celsa is included in the Japanese list, as the best observers
appear to agree in thinking that these two familiar plants
are not indigenous to Japan proper. I have omitted, more-
over, a few doubtful species from the Japan enumeration,
like Fagus Japonica, Maxm., and Abies umbellata, Mayr,
of which I could learn nothing in Japan, so that it is more
probable that the number of Japanese trees will.be increased
than that any addition will be made to the silva of eastern
America.

The proportion of trees to the whole flora of Japan is re-
markable, being about I to 10. 14, the number of indigenous
flowering plants and vascicular cryptogams being not very
far from 2,500 species. Still more remarkable is the large
proportion of woody plants to the whole flora. In Japan
proper there are certainly not less than 325 species of
shrubs, or 550 woody plants in all, or one woody plant in
every 4.55 of the whole flora — a much larger percentage
than occurs in any part of North America.

The segregation of arborescent species in Japan is, how-
ever, the most striking feature in the silva of that country.
This is most noticeable in Yezo, where probably more species
of trees are growing naturally in a small area than in any
other one place outside the tropics. Near Sapparo, the capital
of the island, in ascending a hill which rises only 500 feet
above the level of the ocean, I noticed the following trees :
Magnolia hypoleuca, M. Kobus, Cercidiphyllum Japonicum,
Tilia cordata, T. Miqueliana, Phellodendron Amurense,
Picrasma ailanthoides, Evonymus Europaeus, var. Hamil-
tonianus, Acer pictum, A. Japonicum, A. palmatum, Rhus
semi-alata, R. tricocarpa, Maackia Amurensis, Prunus
Pseudo-Cerasus, P. Ssiori, P. aucuparia, Pyrus Toringo, P.
alnifolia. Hydrangea paniculata, Aralia spinosa, var. canes-
cens, Acanthopanax ricinifolia, A. sciadophylloides, Cornus
macrophylla, Syringa Japonica, Fraxinus Mandshurica, F.
longicuspis, Clerodendron trichotomum, Ulmus campestris,
U. montana, var. laciniata, Morus alba, Juglans Sieboldiana,
Betula alba, B. alba, var. Tauschii, B. alba, var. verrucosa,
B. Ermanni, B. Maximowicziana, Alnus incana, Carpinus
cordata, Ostrya Japonica, Quercus crispula, Q. grosseser-
rata, Castanea vulgaris, Populus tremula, Picea Ajanensis,
Abies Sachaliensis — forty-six species and varieties. Within
five miles of this hill also grow Acer spicatum, var. Kurun-
duense, A. Tartaricum, var. Ginnala, Styrax Obassia, Apha-
nanthe aspera, Quercus dentata, Q. glandulifera, Alnus
Japonica, Salix subfragilis, S. Caprea, S. stipularis, S. acuti-
folia, S. viminalis and Populus suaveolans — in all sixty-
two species and varieties, or more than a quarter of all the
trees of the empire crowded into an area only a few
miles square, in the latitude of northern New England
in the whole of which north of Cape Cod there are only
about the same number of trees.

A further examination of the trees of the two countries
shows that, although the Japan-Manchurian region pos-
sesses more arborescent species than eastern America, the
silva of the latter is much richer in genera — 132, to ninety-
nine in Japan-Manchuria. Forty-four genera have arbor-
escent species in the two regions ; forty-five genera with
Japanese representatives have none in the flora of eastern
America, and thirty-seven genera represented in the Ameri-
can flora do not appear in that of Japan. A few genera,

* Reisen in Anuriami. t Prim. Fl, Amur* t L. C.

28

Garden and Forest

[Number 256.

fire in eastern America and seven in Japan, are repre-
sented by trees in one region and by shrubs only ni the
other. Of endtmic arborescent genera the silva of eastern
America contains Asimina, Kceberlinia, Cliftonia, Ungnar-
dia. Robinia, Qadrastis, I'inckneya, Oxydendrum, Halesia,
Sassafras, Planera, Hicoria and Taxodium, thirteen, while
in Japan there are only six— Euptelia, Cercidiphyllum, Tro-
codendron, Platycarya, Cryptomeria and Sciadopitys.

Such a comparison between the silvas of eastern America
and Japan is interesting as showing the great number of
arborescent species inhabiting four small islands. The sig-
niticant comparison, however, if it can ever be made, will
be between eastern America, as here limited, and all of
eastern Asia from the northern limits of tree-growth to the
tropics, and from the eastern rim of the Thibetan plateau
to the eastern coast of Japan. This would include Corea,
practically an unexplored country botanically, especially
the northern portions, and all the mountain-ranges of west-
em China, a region, if it is to be judged from the collec-
tions made there in recent years, far richer in trees than
Japan itself. It is impossible to discuss with precision or
with much satisfaction the distribution of ligneous plants of
the north temperate zone until more is known of western
China and of Corea, where may be sought the home of many
plants now spread through eastern China and Japan, and
where alone the enterprising and industrious collector may
now hope to be rewarded with new forms of ligneous
vegetation. C. S. S.

New or Little-known Plants.
Sali.x balsamifera.

AMONG the shrubby Willows of eastern America there
is. perhaps, not one more desirable as a garden-plant
than this species, of which a figure from a drawing made
by Mr. Faxon in the Arnold Arboretum, is published on
page >9 of this issue.

Salix balsamifera is a stout much-branched shrub, grow-
ing, under favorable conditions, to the height of eight or
ten feet, forming clumps of some size, and conspicuous
from the lustrous young shoots which on the side exposed
to the sun are bright chestnut-brown. The leaves are
lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, two to four inches in length,
acute or acuminate, broadly rounded and usually some-
what cordate at the base, slightly glandular-serrate, and
long-stalked ; when they appear they are thin, nearly trans-
parent, and bright red, but later become thick and rigid,
dark green on the upper, and pale and prominently
reticulate-veined on the lower surface. The stipules are
minute or abortive. The flower-clusters are borne on slen-
der leafy stalks. The male flowers are thickly clothed with
pale silky hairs, and are conspicuous from the rose-colored
scales and from the anthers, which are at first red, but later
become bright yellow. The female aments, which are
from two to two and a half inches in length, are less silky,
and become lax in fruit

Salix balsamifera inhabits open swamps ; it is scattered
along the northern borders of the United States from Maine
to Mnmesota, and extends north into British America.

The history of this plant, as told by Mr. M. S. Bebb in the
Bulletin 0/ the Torrey Botanical Club (xs ., laz), is interest-
ing. In the spring of 1879. in looking over the collection
of Willows in the Herbarium of the Philadelphia Academy
of NaturaJ Science, he discovered a few leaves which had
been collected in the White Mountains more than half a

century before. The label read : ".Salix ? Bank of

Ammonoosuc, White Hills, N. H., H. Little, August, 1823."
This fragmentary specimen he recognized as Salix balsami-
fera, and realized that it was the earliest collection of the
species, as the .specimens of the English collectors, Drum-
mond and Richardson, made in British America, upon
which the species was founded, were made later, as were
the specimens from which Andersson, the Swedish botanist,
described his .Salix pyrifolia, which is only another name
for Salix balsamifera.

Mr. Bebb communicated his discovery to Mr. Pringle,
who was at that time particularly interested in the flora of
the White Mountains. In company with C. E. Faxon,
Pringle scoured the banks of the Ammonoosuc for Little's
Willow, but without success. After having given up the
hunt and returned to the Crawford House, they accident-
ally stumbled on the missing plant growing on the banks
of the Saco River, not five minutes' walk from the hotel,
where for the last fifty years it had remained unnoticed. A
fortnight later, Mr. Edwin Faxon "succeeded in finding
another clump of females on the south branch of the Am-
monoosuc, about three-quarters of a mile from Mr. Prin-
gle's habitat, and a very fine clump of males on the
east branch of the same stream, about four miles further
north, very near the railroad to the Fabyan House, at the
base of Mount Washington." In subsequent years Mr.
Edwin Faxon detected this plant in a number of localities
in the White Mountains, especially in the neighborhood of
Franconia, where "it is common in and around the large
swamps."

In 1880, Salix balsamifera was introduced into the Arnold
Arboretum, where it is perfectly established, the two sexes
flowering freely every year, and where it is one of the
most beautiful and distinct of the shrubby Willows in
the collection. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Ukckocharis Clibrani and BiGENERic Hybrids. — The pro-
duction of a genuine hybrid from two plants recognized as
members of distinct genera is an occurrence of some in-
terest, both to botanists and cultivators. The last case of
this kind is that of Urceocharis Clibrani, the history of
which is as follows : In July last, Messrs. Clibran & Son,
of Altrincham, Cheshire, exhibited, under the name of
Eucharis Clibrani, flowers which they said were from a
plant raised by them from Eucharis grandiflora and Urceo-
lina aurea. The flowers attracted little notice at the time,
but a few weeks later. Dr. Masters published in the Gar-
deners' Chronicle a figure and description of Messrs. Cli-
brans' plant, which he had renamed as above, the generic
name being a compound of that of the two parents. A few
days ago Messrs. Clibran sent flowers of the plant to Kew
for examination, and Mr. Baker is satisfied that it is a hy-
brid from the two parents named. The general habit of
the plant appears to be like that of the Eucharis, the leaves
being as large, the scape stout and eighteen inches long,
bearing an umbel of eight flowers. In the flowers, how-
ever, we get some evidences of the Urceolina, the low;er
part of the tube being slender, the upper urceolate or cam-
panulate, and the segments recurved at the tip. As a gar-
den-plant this hybrid is likely to prove useful, the flowers
being pure white, graceful, three inches long and two inches
across the mouth. The buds are white, with green tips.
The plants appear to bloom freely and frequently, Messrs.
Clibran having had them in flower in July, August, and
again in December.

The question arises. Are we to accept the Urceocharis as
a genuine bigeneric hybrid, or to look upon it as conclu-
sive evidence that the parents belong to one genus ? Dean
Herbert held the view that bigeneric hybrids were impos-
sible, the occurrence of so-called hybrids being presump-
tive evidence that botanists had been mistaken with regard
to the genera concerned.

The only other recorded case in Amaryllidaceas is that
of Cyrtanthus hybridus, which was bred in the garden of
Sir Trevor Lawrence, from Cyrtanthus sanguineus and Val-
lota purpurea. Mr. N. E. Brown, of Kew, who described
and named this plant in 1885, and whose knowledge of
Capo plants is probably unsurpassed, said of it, "I think
this plant can scarcely be claimed as an example of a
hybrid between two distinct genera, but rather as proving a
view that I have held for some time, namely, that Cyrtan-
thus and Vallota are not really distinct genera, but merely

January iS, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

29

different types of form belonging to the same genus, just
as one finds in many other genera, as, for example, in Rho-
dodendron, Lilium, Erica, Gentiana, Pelargonium, etc."

Viewing the Urceocharis from this standpoint, we are, I
think, forced to the conclusion that Urceolina and Eucharis
belong to one and the same genus. The diagnosis of the
two as set forth by botanists, including Mr. Baker, shows
that there is very little difference between them ; far less

He follows Dr. Masters in designating these hybrids by
compounding for them the names of the two parents, such
as Phaio-calanthe, Laelio-cattleya, Sophro-cattleya, Zygo-
colax, etc. No one acquainted with Laelias and Cattleyas
would object to their being united to form one genus, and
Sophronitis might, with equal reason, be included with
them, these three genera being, confessedly, very closely
allied. Calanthe Veitchii was a supposed bigeneric hybrid

Fig. 5.— Sallx balsamifera.— See page 28.

than we find between, say, some of the species of Cyrtan-
thus. Narcissus or Hippeastrum. Urceolina itself, as now
constituted, is made up of three species, one of which is
almost everywhere known as Pentlandia miniata.

The "bigeneric" hybrids already recorded are very few,
most of them being Orchids. Mr. Rolfe has dealt with the
Orchids in a paper which he read before the Linnsean So-
ciety in 1887, afterward published in the society's journal.

until Bentham showed that Calanthe vestita and Limatodes
rosea, its parents, not only belonged to the same genus,
but were closely allied species. Phajus and Calanthe are
very near allies, if we compare such species as Phajus ve-
ratrifolius with Calanthe masuca, etc., the botanists'
opinion, notwithstanding.J ■»*— f/fffr^

Philageria Veitchii, the offspring of Philesia and Lapa-
geria, only proves what might easily have been admitted

30

Garden and Forest.

[Number 256.

without such proof— namely, that the two plants belong
really to one genus. , . j, , ■

The whole system of classification is admittedly arbi-
trary, and the division of plants into genera is necessarily
often only a temporar>- arrangement, to be reconsidered
when more is known. In England we keep the genera
Aloe. Gasteria and Haworthia distinct, but many Conti-
nental botanists unite them under .\loe. We have a plant
at Kew, Aloe Lynchii, which is the product of a Gasteria
crossed with an Aloe. In England this is a bigeneric hy-
brid, elsewhere it is not As a rule, however, the boot is
on the other leg, Continental schools being the "splitters,"
English the "lumpers."

I know of seedlings which are the result of crossing
Amaryllis Belladonna with Vallota purpurea. Should these
prove genuine hybrids, we must, to be consistent, unite the
Belladonna Lily with the Vallota, and these again with
CyrUnthus. To those who believe in bigeneric hybrids,
this is a " rather large order," and yet any one who knows
the genus Cvrtanthus must agree that it comprises plants
that are remarkably like both the Vallota and Amaryllis.
It would simplify matters if botanists would look upon the
intercrossing of two plants as conclusive proof of their
generic relationship. Of course, the converse of the above
argument does not hold good — namely, that plants which
refuse to intercross are therefore, ipso facto, generically dis-
tinct We have tried again and again to cross certain
plants of undoubtedly the same genus, such as Begonia,
Crinum, Nymphaea, Rhododendron, etc., but have never
succeeded. Failure in such cases is, no doubt, due to some
slight difference, constitutional or other, and certainly not
to any such structural differences as those upon which all
good genera are based. ^ Watson.

Cultural Department.

Late-keeping Pears.

IN the matter of keeping, pears have their own ways, not
onlv as to the length oftime they may be kept after gather-
ing without decay, but also as to the time of gathering them
with a view to keeping. I know of no apple that is not better
ripened on the tree. With pears the rule is almost, if not quite
al>soiutelv, the reverse, although there are a number of sum-
mer and fall pears that do not rot at the core before their ma-
turity for eating. Persons not informed of the peculiarities of
pears in this particular are apt at once to condemn a sort which
does not ripen well on the tree, retainmg its soundness and
flavor. I remember Quite well when Clapp's Favorite was first
brought prominently into notice, and a great many trees were
sold alxjut Boston at high prices ; also tlie uproar there was
among the purchasers when it was found that the fruit rotted
on the trees before tiecoming eatable. The same thing has
happened here in northern Vermont in regard to the ironclad
Russian Pear, Bessemianka. As to the latter, I do not know
that this trouble can be headed off ; but as Clapp's Favorite,
in fine order, has tteen for quite a number of years abundant
in the fruit-stores of Boston and elsewhere, I suppose that
most growers have found out how to handle it.

There is a standing rule that as soon as a pear will part
readily from the tree, when lifted to a right angle with its nat-
ural position, or a little farther, if should be gathered ; and, if
it is not then eatable, it should be ripened in the house. But
there are not a few pears which will wither and become use-
less, without ripening, if this rule is followed as most would
follow it, by putting the fruit in a drawer, basket or box, in a
room of varying temperature. The fruit must be kept cool,
dark and protected from currents of air, to mature it accept-
ably.

I speak of this class of pears first— what may be called the
autumn pears — because they are the class which usually gives
inexperienced gjrowers the most trouble. Yet there are a good
number of autumn pears which may be handled much like
apples, and these are the common favorites. In going over
the whole list of our foreign and native pears, running in num-
ber far into the hundreds, there is great difficulty of selection.
Marshall P. Wilder, the greatest of our pear experts, is quoted
as saying that if he were asked to name all the sorts which he
considered of unvarying and unquestionable excellence in all
respects, he could not count more than twenty. But, of course,

Mr. Wilder was limited by the conditions of his environment.
Twenty may be enough for any single locality, but the list
would hardly be identical in any two localities fifty miles apart.

Mr. Downing, in his big book and its supplements, gave us
a list of 213 winter pears, including all the varieties marked as
November and December varieties, of which there are thirty-
eight. From this long list he places in his select list for table,
market and cooking, Clairgeau, Diel, Gris d'Hiver Nouveau,
Dana's Hovey, Josephine de Malines, Lawrence, Leon Le
Clerc, Lycurgus, McLaughlin, Pound, Prince's St. Germain,
Spanish Bon Cretien, Vicar of Winkfield, Winter Bon Cretien
and Winter Nelis.

John J. Thomas, in his American Fruit Culturist, speaks
of Clairgeau as often very good and rich, but frequently
poor. Of Lawrence he says that it ripens easily, and is of
uniform excellence, while Lycurgus is rich, a little coarse,
but very high-flavored. McLaughlin, he says, is juicy,
melting, sweet, rich and perfumed. Of Diel, the flesh is
rather coarse, but rich, sugary, buttery and juicy. Gris
d'Hiver is buttery, melting, very juicy, rich, sub-acid; Dana's
Hovey is rather small— flesh buttery, melting, and of excellent
quality. Josephine de Malines is characterized as sweet, melt-
ing, buttery, and of good flavor; Lawrence, an early good
bearer, medium size, buttery, with a rich aromatic flavor ;
Leon le Clerc, rather large, flesh crisp, firm, moderate quality ;
Lycurgus, small, russet, rich, very high-flavored ; Pound Pear,
very large, a good culinary pear; Prince's St. Germain, juicy,
melting, fine flavor. Spanish Bon Cretien is a large yellow
and red cooking pear. The Flemish pear of the same name is
of medium size ; also a cooking pear, which stews nicely, and
is of good flavor. The Winter Nelis is of medium size, but
of very choice quality. It keeps until midwinter, being in good
condition for eating for a month or more. Downing says that
it holds the same position among winter pears that the Seckel
does among the autumnal varieties.

Of course, there is a very wide range of choice among the
remainder of this long list of pears maturing through the win-
ter. It would be difficult to obtain most of the kinds as trees
ready for planting, even from our most extensive nurseries,
though the older and larger concerns can supply from their
orchards cions of many more sorts than those I have named.
Every variety has its favorite locality, where it seems to be at
home, and to thrive in the greatest perfection. Even in such
places, however, none of them will show its full value, except
under the most careful cultivation and training. Pears will
not, as a rule, " rough it " as well as apples. They need a deep,
rich, strong soil. Nevertheless, they can be grown success-
fully, at least many varieties can be, on lighter soils, if they are
otherwise well cared for. Vast quantities of very fine pears
are grown all through eastern Massachusetts. Indeed, they
have seemed to thrive there better than in the Connecticut and
Hudson valleys. But 1 take it that the true reason for this is
to be found in the fact that the growers of pears about Boston
know that it is useless to trust their Pear-trees to luck. I have
been much surprised, for instance, to see many very fine Pears
growing in the Merrimack valley about Lowell, and from
thence both up and down the river, and this in soils where one
would think, in the common way of speaking, that White
Beans would not grow, though my experience is that no crop
requires a better treatment to make it pay than those same
White Beans. 1 make these remarks to encourage those who
may hesitate to plant Pears, and particularly the winter Pears,
in what may be thought to be unfavorable localities. Planting
for market is one thing, planting for home use is quite
another. Mr. Wilder lavished very large sums in fitting the
soil of his Pear-orchards for the trees. But to keep the ground
about three or four, or half a dozen, trees in prime condition
is within the means of every householder, since the ordinary
wastes of the domestic menage will suffice. It is best, how-
ever, to inquire of the older denizens what varieties they have
had the best success in growing. _, ,

Newport, vt. T. H. Hosktns.

Work of the Season.

ONE necessary portion of the work of the season, under
glass, is the propagation of stock for outdoor planting, and
also for the cut-flower supply of the following winter. Among
the plants of the latter class requiring attention now are Car-
nations, of which a good supply is indispensable, for these
beautiful flowers are deservedly universal favorites. The
propagation of Carnations does not present any particular dif-
ficulties, providing a few general points are observed, the
chief of which is to have good clean sand, well packed down
before the cuttings are inserted therein. The selection of
stocky side-shoots for cuttings, and a temperature of about

January i8, 1893.

Garden and Forest.

31

sixty degrees, with sliglit bottom-heat, are also points to ob-
serve. The cuttings should be made from sturdy shoots,
such as those generally found on blooming stems, for they
are much superior to bottom shoots, because the latter usually
run up to a flower very soon after they are rooted.

Carnation-cuttings should never be cut from the parent
plant, but always broken, and the cuttings above mentioned
seldom need any trimming, even at the bottom, though it is
best to trim the leaves somewhat with a sharp knife, for the
removal of part of the foliage leaves less strain on the vitality
of the cutting, and makes it more convenient for planting.
They should then be inserted in the sand at once. The com-
mon method for planting small cuttings, by scoring a line in
the sand with an old knife, makes a drill deep enough to hold
the cuttings securely after they are watered in. Some shading
will be needed to protect the cuttings from the full strength of
the sunshine, and newspapers laid on laths placed across the

test what sorts are most suitable for a given locality, but the
following are all good, and among them some satisfactory
ones in each division. Among the many white varieties the
following are particularly good : Mrs. Fisher, Hinzie's White,
Lamborn, Silver Spray and Lizzie McGowan. In pink shades,
Edna Craig, Daybreak, Grace Wilder and Grace Battles may
be considered among the best, the first of the quartet not
being as yet in general cultivation, though it shows marked
good qualities in the vicinity of Philadelphia. In the extended
list of red and crimson shades, Portia, Alegatiere, Lady Emma,
Ferdinand Mangold and King of the Crimsons are leading
favorites, though the last-named is rather late-flowering.
Among the yellow and striped flowers, Buttercup, Golden
Gate, Chester Pride, American Flag and Mrs. Carnegie are
considered best.

A generally satisfactory yellow Carnation would be hailed
with much enthusiasm by most growers. This is apparently

Fig. 6. — Scene near Battle Pass, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York. — See page 26.

1°

bench answer very well for this purpose. If proper attention
is given to the necessary supply of moisture the cuttings will
be rooted in from two to three weeks. When rooted they
should either be potted off into small pots or planted in shal-
low boxes. Growers who prefer the latter plan argue that
the plants so treated do not get root-bound and stunted, as is
sometimes the case with pot-grown stock. On the other hand,
it is claimed by some that the plants grown in boxes are likely
to suffer from disturbance of their roots at planting-out time.
It will readily be seen that the latter objection will not hold
:good if the separation be carefully made, and the plants treated
in this manner can be conveniently moved from house to
frame as soon as they are sufficiently established. This cool
treatment of the young stock before planting out induces a
sturdy growth.

It is not a safe rule to recommend any varieties of Carna-
tions as being reliable in all localities, for differences in soil,
'oubtless, make some difference in the behavior of certain

rieties, and it is, therefoi-e, necessary to find out by actual

the most difficult want to supply among the Carnation experts,
and while the two yellows noted above may not prove entirely
satisfactory, yet they are probably the best of that color.

Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. TapUtl.

Irises and Their Cultivation. — V.

THE Japanese Irises of our gardens are varieties of I. laevi-
gata (I. Ksempferi), a species which is native of eastern
Siberia and Japan. In the latter country it seems to be one of
the most popular of garden-plants, for it is not only in exten-
sive cultivation, but it is also one of the flowers very frequently
appearing on those flamboyant screens, etc., in which the Japa-
nese artisans delight. These Irises seem to have been culti-
vated in gardens here only since the opening of the treaty
ports of Japan. Probably the first were Introduced by the late
Thomas Hogg, about the year 1869, and were grown in James
Hoeg'sgarden,andbyDr. George Tnurber, who described them
in the American Agriculturist in 1870. It is interesting to know

32

Garden and Forest.

[Number 256.

that the varierte* then introduced are still all grown at Wool-
8on"» nursery, where thev have been tlie parents of a large
number olfine varieties.' The Japanese Irises are admirable
eaiden-pUnts. perfectly hardy, making numerous short creep-
ine rhizomes and are readily propagated by these or by seed,
«£ich germinates rapidly and protUices flowering plants the
aecond year. The leaves are abundant, thin, finely ribbed,
•word-Shaped, and light green in color. The stems overtop
the leaves and bear usuidly a single cluster of two or three
flowers. The standards are very short, the falls wide and
usually arranged laterally, flat or slightly waving, and in color
whitemarked with vcllo'w and in all shades of purple, from
daiet to a light violet. Some of these are self-colored, some
have parti-colored markings, and an interesting group has
dark reticulations on light grounds. Good forms of the
flower spread about six inches, but by cultivation they are
often to be had half as large aeain. There are double forms
of this Iris, usually with six falls, and this doubling does not
detract from its grace. The peculiar grace of the plants in
flower seems to me to be their special charm. Their color-eftec
is rather sombre, but the flowers seem lightly poised on their
tall stems, and the etTect is in striking contrast with that of the
more formal German Irises, with their tall standards and
drooping falls. They also succeed the latter in their flowenng
season, and with proper selection of varieties one should have
quite a month of Japanese Irises. They are cultivated as sub-
aquatics to get the best results as to size of flower, but they do
well in a moderately moist l>order, or elevated slightly on the
margins of water, where their roots easily find abundant mois-
ture. Otherwise, the proper way to cuUivate this Iris is in
groups of moderate size. In masses, as seen in nursery rows,
or in the large collections of which one sees occasional pic-
tures, they seem to lose that airy grace which is so character-
istic.

The American Irises should have a separate chapter, as they
are among our liandsomest native flowers. Mr. Sereno Wat-
son, in Garden and Forest (vol. i.. p. 18), in an interesting
note called attention to the fact that " they have received little
attention from horticulturists, and most of them are imperfectly
known to professed botanists." It is difficult to discover what
plants are being cultivated in gardens, and there may be com-
plete collections of American Irises in cultivation, but a num-
ber of them seem difficult to obtain except through collectors,
and there are those which appear to be difficult to retain in cul-
tivation after they have been collected. Mr. Watson enumerates
eighteen species in the article referred to, and there has since
been added Iris Caroliniana, discovered by Mr. W. A. Manda
near Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1888. It may prove use-
ful to repeat this list. The eastern and arctic species are : I.
lacustris, I. cristata (I. odorata, Pers.), 1. verna, I. tripetala (I.
tridenUta, Pursh), I. Hookeri and I. setosa (the latter also be-

ing found in Siberia), I. prismatica (I. Virginica, Gray, I. graci-
lis, Bigelow, I. Boltoniana, R. & S.), I. hexagona, I. cuprea (I.
fulva, Ker.), I. versicolor.

Iris Missouriensis (I. Tolmieana, Herbert) is the only species
of the interior plateau ranging from the Rocky Mountains to
the Sierra.

The species of the far west and Pacific coast are : I. tenax,
I. tennis. I. Macrosiphon, I. Douglasiana, I. bracteata, I. Hart-
wegi and I. longi[>etala.

Iris lacustris is a very dwarf species, resembling I. cristata,
found on the shores of the Great Lakes in moist gravel, and sub-
mits readily to cultivation ; color, lilac, with a yellow crest. I.
cristata is second to nodwarf Iris in beauty. It is perfectly hardy
in this latitude. The light lilac flowers, beautifully crested, are
freely produced and are fragrant. The thin root-stalks creep
at or near the surface in all directions, and when flowering the
low foliage is fairly hidden bv the abundant flowers. I. verna
Is another fragrant dwarf wi'th darker flowers and grass-like
foliage ; a fine variety for lx)rder or rockery. 1. tripetala is a
distinct and interesting Iris botanlcally. It proves to be at-
tractive in the garden, growing strongly in an ordinary border,
with purple flowers. As it is from Florida, I have, as yet, lifted
it in winter, and cannot report as to its hardiness. Trans-
planted in the border it flowered this year in July. I. pris-
matica, the narrow-leaved, and I. versicolor, the broad-leaved.
Irises are so abundant in the eastern states as to be familiar to
every one, and are both worthy of cultivation in the garden,
where thev are not at all fastidious, and seem to do equally
well in a cfry border or as sub-aquatics.

Iris Carolinians is a species near to I. versicolor, but is very
distinct horticulturally. It proves to be an attractive Iris with
rather pale green (not glaucous) lax leaves, about two feet high.
The stems and spathes are dark brown and the flowers are
lilac. It is very vigorous and free-flowering.

Iris hexagona is the tall crested species of the southern
Atlantic coast. I. cuprea has been long in cultivation, and is
one of the most distinct of the family, with its coppery brown
flowers, which are expanded laterally, and are quaint and at-
tractive. While a native of swamps of the interior, it grows
well with me in the driest border. I. Missouriensis has the
distinction of being the only member of the family in the vast
territory between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada. It is
rather attractive, with pale purple reticulated falls.

Native plants of the California coast are not, as a rule, very
satisfactory ones for careless cultivation on this coast, and the
Irises, or, at least, some of them, are, apparently, not excep-
tions to this. 1 tenax, however, lives and flowers freely here
with no special care. I. tennis was figured in Garden and For-
est (vol. i., p. 7) and I. bracteata in vol. i., p. 43. and it will be
found that these, with I. Hartwegii, which also has thin, wiry,
creeping root-stalks, are rather difficult subjects in the garden
here. I. Hartwegii is found in the high ranges of the Sierras
under Pinus ponderosa growing in red volcanic clay. I have
found among my friends no one who has succeeded in grow-
ing it successfully for more than a year or two at best. There
is an experimental clump in one corner of my garden, but it is
not a corner where many hopes are centred. I. Douglasiana
is of more robust habit, with flowers white-veined, rosy lilac.
A friend has found some natural hybrids of these, apparently
from a cross with I. macrosiphon. He describes them as so
singularly beautiful that it is to be regretted that they are still
in the wilderness. ~. ^ ^„.„j

Eiitabeth,N.j. J.N.Gerard.

Euphorbias.

FEW of the many Euphorbias grown in our greenhouses
are good ornamental plants. At this time the three species
in bloom areE. pulcherrima, also known as Poinsettia pulcher-
rima, E. jacquinaeflora and E. splendens. All these plants
have inconspicuous flowers, but they produce very brilliant
scarlet bracts, and are showy and ornamental at this season
when flowers are sqarce.

Euphorbia pulcherrima has large terminal scarlet bracts, which
make if a striking object. We grow a large number of these
plants. When they have finished blooming they are put under
a bench to rest for two or three months and are kept perfectly
dry. About the end of April they are cut back to within two
buds of the old wood. They are then put into a warm house,
where they are syringed for a few days to make the buds push.
When fairly started, all the old soil is sliaken from the roots
and they are repotted in soil such as is used for ordinary stove
plants. After repotting they are put back into the greenhouse
for a few days until the weather is sufficiently warm for them
to be plunged outside in the garden, when they require a lib-
eral supply of water and are greatly benefited by syringing
every evening. They are taken back to the greenhouse in
September and the pots plunged in old sphagnum moss and
kept close and shaded for a few days. I find that by plunging
them in moss they keep their leaves better, and in a few weeks
the moss is full of their roots. Then I begin to give them weak
liquid-manure. Under this treatment the plants produce long
stems, with plenty of large healthy leaves and large heads of
flowers, some twelve, fifteen and eighteen inches in diameter.
E. pulcherrima is easily propagated from cuttings of the young
wood in spring or summer. If plants of various heights are
required, cuttings should be put in at different times during
the summer and grown along in pots.

Euphorbia jacquinreflora is not quite so showy as E. pul-
cherrima ; when it is well grown it is, however, a handsome
and useful winter-flowering plant. The color of the bracts is
bright orange-scarlet, and the flowers and bracts are produced
plentifully in long racemes, which make the plant very showy.
It is very useful for cutting, and the bracts remain in perfec-
tion for some time after being cut. It is increased by cuttings
in spring, and if the young plants are potted on and checked
once or twice during the summer they make nice stocky
plants for winter decoration. Old plants should be cut back
and treated in the same way as E. pulcherrima. When set out
in a border with plenty of room and light it makes a fine speci-
men plant, producing a large quantity of long racemes of
bright bracts. Both of these Euphorbias are natives of
Mexico.

Another Euphorbia which deserves a place in every collec-
tion of plants IS E. splendens. This species is in bloom more
or less during the entire year. Indeeci, I do not remember the
time when the plant we now have in bloom was without flow-
ers. E. splendens has stout succulent stems, which branch
freely, and these are thickly set with long, sharp thorns. The
leaves are small, bright green and thin in texture. The bracts

January i8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

33

are bright red and wax-like, and are produced on the points of
the young growth. Under liberal treatment an abundance of
flowers will be produced. Plants are obtained from cuttings
of the young growth, which root with great ease. This Eu-
phorbia has been in cultivation since 1826 and was introduced
from Bourbon.

The other forms of Euphorbia cultivated here are not grown
for their flowers or bracts, but rather as botanical curiosities.
Some of them have succulent prickly cactus-like stems and
are for the most part without leaves.

Hanard Botanic Garden. Robert Cameron.

Gloxinias.

TT is not too much to say that no summer-flowering bulbous
•*• plant makes such a grand display in the greenhouse as the
Gloxinia. Begonias are not at their best during summer in the
greenhouse, for very hot days sometimes cause their flowers
to drop, and it is not until early fall that they are at their best.
They should be treated accordingly, that is, kept back without
artificial heat, not started before their own proper time, and
kept cool during the summer. Begonias will come in as a
good succession to Gloxinias, which are essentially summer-
flowering plants and are most difficult to obtain in good con-
dition later than August. Gloxinias are also admirably adapted
for decorative purposes, either as pot-plants or as cut flowers.
It is surprising how long the flowers will last when cut, but
Ihey cannot be sent any distance, as the least bruise disfigures
them. When well grown as pot-plants the rich deep green
foliage often completely hides the pots, and the richly colored
flowers make a great display.

There are two distinct strains of Gloxinias, the thick-leaved,
or G. crassifolia, which usually has flowers with solid colors ; '
the strain that produces spotted flowers has thin and compara-
tively narrow foliage. These strains are so distinct that the
difference is easily recognized in the seed-pans. It might be
supposed that the two strains were of different specific origin,
but I can find no reference to any other species than G. spe-
ciosa as the parent of the present race of Gloxinias, though the
first seminal variations that occurred under cultivation were all
distributed under Latin descriptive names. These might
easily, now fifty years later, be taken for distmct species,
which they were not ; this emphasizes what has so often been
urged in Garden and Forest, that mere garden forms of cul-
tivated plants do not merit Latin names to distinguish them,
though the practice too often prevails to our confusion. It
should be stated that Gloxinia speciosa had drooping flowers
of a purple color, and it is quite a common occurrence for
seeds of good strains to revert to this original type and color,
though the pendent flowered section is by no means as orna-
mental as are those with erect flowers. Any particular plant
of a desired color can be perpetuated as easily by seed as by
leaf-cutlings as usually practiced. It is only necessary to fer-
tilize the newly opened flower with its own pollen to obtain a
quantity of seeds which will come true to the parent, and the
foliage will be as characteristic as the flowers. It is now, con-
sequently, an easy matter to select desired colors when pur-
chasing seeds.

The best time to sow Gloxinia seeds is in January, if a mini-
mum of sixty degrees can be secured. The seeds, being very
small, should be sown on a layer of sand and sprinkled with a
fine sprayer, without any covering of earth. The pans should
be covered with a piece of glass, leaving a space for air and
moisture to escape. It will not often be necessary to water
again before the seeds have germinated, which will be in
about three weeks. As soon as the plants are large enough to
handle they should be transplanted into other pans or boxes,
and, later, potted in small pots. At this period the young plants
grow very rapidly ; seedlings may often be potted to advantage
m six-inch pots during the first season and give fine results.
Loam and plenty of decayed leaf, with enough sand to make it
porous, is the best soil for Gloxinias. The plants may be potted
on at any time before the flowers begin to develop ; after that
time no advantage is gained, but liberal treatment in the way of
liquid-manure is beneficial until the flowers are fully open. A
good brisk, moist heat is necessary to bring Gloxinias along to
the flowering stage, when more air and less moisture will pro-
duce better flowers and they will last longer. The two important
points essential to success with these plants are that they
should not be exposed to direct sunlight, and, if they are,
should never be watered or sprinkled over the foliage. The
plants are liable to be attacked by thrips, and these minute
msecfs speedily ruin them for the season. We fumigate reg-
ularly for thrips until the flowers open, but no longer. The
work of these insects can easily be detected on the flower-

buds and foliage, and remedial measures must be taken at
once.

After the flowering period is over, the plants must be cared
for and the foliage kept green as long as possible hy careful
watering; and shading ; if forced to rest prematurely the bulbs
will be inclined to start into fresh growth. In winter we store
the bulbs under the benches or in a warm cellar until they
start to grow again ; the earliest have just been repotted and
will be potted on as they require it ; they will begin to
flower in May and will continue through the following months.
In the hottest weather a heavy shading is necessary, or the
flowers will fade in the heat of the day, recovering usually at
night.

Of the various strains now offiered, too much cannot be said
for Emperor Frederick ; it is brilliant crimson with a pure
white margin, and is a vigorous grower. Defiance has a vivid
coloring, but lacks vigor and is very diflicult to grow. Cceles-
tina is a very large white flower flaked with blue, and is very
robust. Of the strain sown as G. alba, every plant came pure
white ; it is evidently a selection from the spotted strain. A
good white, with foliage like G. crassifolia, would be an acqui-
sition in form, size and substance of flower. Corona is another
of the spotted class. The purple and red coloring can always
be obtained in plenty from a packet of any strain of seed
which, with the erect-flowered G. crassifolia, would form the
basis for a collection, which can be increased or diminished
at pleasure, for we always find some varieties that are worth
perpetuating and some that may easily be spared.

South Lancaster, Mass. E. O, Orpet,

Hardy Orchids for Outdoor Cultivation.

A BOUT forty species of the Orchid family are native to the
•*^ north-eastern United States. For those who have acquired
an interest in these wild plants, all varieties have an attraction,
and even thp least showy is interesting. For general outdoor
cultivation a selection of a dozen species would include those
which are easily cultivated and which have the qualities prized
in garden-plants. Perhaps half of the remaining kinds could
be grown with fairly good results.

The Cypripediums (Lady's-slippers) are the jnost showy of
these native Orchids, the largest and finest of which is C. spec-
tabile. It is an easy plant to grow if a little pains is taken in
the start. It requires good drainage, partial shade and well-
decayed peat about the roots. It never thrives with me when
its roots come in contact with sand, gravel or loam. A good
mulch of some sort is quite essential. I have seen plants too
small for flowering set in heavy clay loam, and brought up to
a good flowering size by using fine chip-dirt about their roots.
Rich wood-soil or leaf-mold is also good, but I prefer well-de-
cayed peat.

The two yellow Lady's-slippers, C. pubescens and C. parvi-
florum, are the easiest to manage and the most permanent
when established. If the right location is selected and the soil
properly prepared they will continue to thrive from year to
year almost indefinitely. I know of a clump that was setin
a shady place in a garden at least fifteen years ago. These
plants have not received any care for the last ten years ; they
have flowered every season, and are as strong now as they
were twelve years ago. The plants in a small bed of C. parvi-
florum, planted nine years ago in a shady position with plenty
of peat mixed into the soil, were taken up and sold after a year
or two. From fragments of their rhizomes; left in the bed, small
plants came up and flowered. These plants have been twice
taken out within the last six years, and there are now several
flowering plants in the bed. The bed had no care after the first
two years.

The stemless Lady's-slipper (C. acaule) does best in a light
sandy soil ; it also thrives in a mixture of peat or leaf-soil in a
shady place. The ground around the plants should be covered
with a mulch, not only to keep it light and moist, but to keep
heavy rains from spattering the soil over the leaves, and thus
injuring them. Pine-needles make the best mulch for this
plant. I have found spring to be the best time for transplant-
ing. C. acaule bears transplanting well, and will flower the
first season. It will not, however, flower readily two years in
succession after transplanting. I doubt if this is as permanent
a species as some others. Even in its natural home it occa-
sionally takes a year for rest, producing only its two radical
leaves, or it gradually dwindles to a very small plant, and
finally dies.

The little Ram's-head Lady's-slipper (C. arietinum) is a more
difficult plant to grow than either of the yellow-flowered spe-
cies. It needs more shade and a liberal supply of peat. Good
drainage and a tine mulch of some sort is also essential.

34

Garden and Forest.

[Number 256.

Orchis Bpectabilis, so common in some of our New England
woods, is somewhat difficult to establish, but is well worth
extra trouble. Leaf-mold and sand is the best soil for it, and a
mulch of old leaves, broken up tine, should be placed over it.
It may be transplanted when in full bloom, or if strong plants
are set out in autumn they will usually llower the next season.
It needs shade, moist, but well-drained, soil, and a hght cover-

ing in wintering.

v« the Rein Orchis (Habenaria), the two purple-fnnged
species of New England. H. fimbriata. which flowers m June,
and H. psycodes. which comes in July and August, are some-
what alike In their general appearance. They grow in similar
locations and the same treatment will answer for both. They
like shade and a dark peaty soil, with plenty of moisture. It
is necessary to give them a good mulch as well as a well-
prvpared soil if they are planted in ordinary garden ground.
They grow in wet places, but will not bear any stagnant
moisture. . , . „

The Yellow-fringed Orchis, H. cilians, with its orange-yellow
flowera, likes a sandy soil best. It also needs plenty of mois-
ture. It should be protected from sudden changes by a light
mulch. It is perhaps the best Habenaria we have for cultiva-
tion- ■ 1

The white-flowered H. dilatata of our cold northern bogs

will thrive in peat or sand. Its pearly white flowers are quite
fragrant and beautiful. A cool spot, shade and moisture are
necessary for it in cultivation

Adam and Eve, or Putty Root (Aplectrum hiemale), is one
of the species of Orchids which sends up its dark green leaf
late in autunm. These last until the flowering season of the
next year, when they die down. The flowers are not very
showy, but the large single green leaf in autumn and early
spring is interesting, and it grows easily in ordinary gardens.
It is a deceptive plant in cultivation, since its leaf disappears
at the time other plants are in full growth, coming up again
just before winter.

The Rattle-snake Plaintain (Goodyera pubescens) is valued
more for its strongly white reticulated leaves than for its short
spike of pretty white flowers. The leaves endure through the
winter, and in spring are quite conspicuous when the snow
first disappears. This species must have perfect drainage and
a rich dark soil.

Only the strongest-flowering plants should be grown, and
with these one or two flowering seasons are pretty sure to fol-
low if anything Uke fairly good treatment is given, and they
will repay the trouble and expense ; weak plants may never
bloom, and the results at best are not satisfactory. Most of
these species may \>e transplanted either in spring or in
autumn with fairly good results, or even at their flowering
season. But spring is probably the best season when this is
possible, when the plants can be set before they begin to

^a^TrioticVL F. H. Horsford.

The Forest.

•Hygienic Significance of Forest Air and Forest Soil.

MUCH has been written and said about the influence of
forests upon the health of mankind, and many differ-
ences of opinion as well as ignorant conjectures have com-
bined to increase the confusion surrounding the subject. In
our time, when so much attention is given to physical well-
being, it seems the duty of science to make clear a more exact
knowledge of the matter based upon accurate observations.
Every one agrees that a residence in the country among the
mountains, by the sea or near great forests is more conducive
to health than a continual breathing of the impure, smoky air
of the great cities, impregnated with dust and rich in bacteria.
Health resorts have been preferably established in forest
regions, and various explanations of the healthfulness of forest
life liave been given. The protection afforded by the trees
against the sun, the high percentage of oxygen and ozone in
the forest air due to the assimilation of carbonic acid by the
foliage, and, Anally, the influence which the trees in the pro-
cess of transpiration exert upon the moisture of the atmos-
phere and the amount of water remaining upon the ground —
all these single or combined conditions have been cited as the
effective salubrious principle. Yet the exact scientific basis
for all these theoretical explanations has been scanty, and it
seems that, .iccording to more careful investigation, some of
them will have to be relegated to the realm of pleasing fancy.
One of the first to fall is the oxygen theory. Although, do doubt,
the respiratory action of all green plants, and forest trees in
particular, changes a (xirt of tlie carbonic acid of the air into

oxygen, the carbon being consumed by the trees in making
the wood, yet the amount of oxygen exhaled by a forest when
assimilating carbonic acid is, according to the calcuhitions of
Dr. E. Ebermayer, a most excellent authority, proportionately
to the needs of animal respiration, so insignificant as to make
the special sanitary significance of small woods or street or
park trees in large cities irrelevant from this point of view.
The daily consumption of one person in respiration is 475
quarts of oxygen, equivalent to the oxygen exhalation of two
square rods ot forest area, but when we add the consumption
of oxvgen in burning fuel every two persons would require
one and a quarter acres of forest to supply all the oxygen
needed. Take, in addition, the consumption of animals— a
herd of forty sheep consumes more oxygen and exhales more
carbonic acid than one acre of forest exhales and consumes—
and the irrelevancy of this supply of oxygen will be evident.
This does not, however, entirely exclude the limited useful-
ness of forest growth in that direction. It is a fact that in and
near forests greater amounts of ozone are found in general ;
but although this " condensed oxygen " has been often claimed
as a special health-restorer, its significance as a hygienic factor
is still doubtful.

Dr. Puchner, in his very extensive measurements of car-
bonic acid contents in the atmosphere under different con-
ditions, found great irregularities in time as well as in local
distribution. In a total of 162 cases, the amount of carbonic
acid in the forest air exceeded that in the open in 108 cases,
only forty-one cases showed less than the open, and in
thirteen the proportions were equal. This surprisingly greater
proportion of carbonic acid in forest air than in the open is
easily explained by the decomposition of the forest litter which
gives rise to this gas. It also varies according to seasons. In
winter-time the difference is inconsiderable, while in summer
it becomes proportionately greater. According to Dr. Eber-
mayer, the air in the forest soil contains less carbonic acid
than that of the field, varying from three to four times less in
winter to five to six times less in summer, the reason being
that the vegetable matter in fields decomposes much faster
than under forest cover.

While the chemical purity of forest soil and air, with refer-
ence to oxygen and carbonic acid distribution, remains doubt-
ful, we nevertheless know that, like sea and mountain air,
forest air is freer from injurious gases and dust particles ;
furthermore, the shade and tiie process of assimilation and
transpiration have a cooling effect in the day, especially in
summer-time, and a warming effect at night in winter, so
reducing the extremes of temperature. The forest protec-
tion against winds is also undoubtedly of great value for pro-
moting health conditions. Finally, the psychic influence is
not to be forgotten, and we may consider the sanitary im-
portance of the forest from these considerations alone as
scientifically established. The main agency of the healthful-
ness of forest air is, however, the comparative absence of
bacteria, and this is mainly due to the conditions of forest
soil.

Since cholera, typhus, yellow fever and malaria are soil
diseases of miasmatic origin, according to Dr. Pettenkofer,
the forest soil becomes important in its relation to this phase
of the subject. There are two classes of bacteria. Saprophy-
tic bacteria are those which thrive upon decomposing animal
or vegetable matter. Pathogenic bacteria, or disease germs,
on the contrary, demand for their full cycle of development
living organisms, although existing also outside of them.
The vegetable matter in the forest soil is deficient in albumi-
noids, potash, phosphates and nitrates, and is therefore less
nutritive for bacteria than field, garden or city soil. Tempera-
ture and moisture conditions in the forest soil are also difter-
ent and less favorable to microbe life, which thrives best with
certain temperatures and an alternation of dry and wet as is
found in unshaded fields.

While, therefore, forest soil encourages saprophytic de-
velopment, no pathogenic bacteria have as yet been found in
it, proving it pure soil hygienically. Since bacteria get into
the air only when tlie upper-soil strata dry out and the wind
raises the dust with its bacterial germs, it is natural that with
less liability to dryness in the upper soil and soil cover and
absence of winds, the air in the forest must be freer from
such germs. It would probably be entirely free, or nearly so,
of pathogenic germs if they were not carried in from the
outside. But in this respect, too, a filtering process takes
place, at least, whether due to the reduction of velocity of the
wind, or to the obstacles to movement in the trunks of trees,
either of which would make the germ fall to the ground, and
the forest air contains fewer microbes. This has been
actually ascertained by two Italians, Serafini and Avatra, who

January i8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

35

for forty consecutive days counted the microbic contents of
the air in and outside and found from twenty-three to twenty-
eiglit times more bacteria in the air on neigliboring- fields.

Referring to specific diseases in particular, Dr. Pettenkofer
argues, from observations in India, the infiuence of forests on
cholera and yellow-fever germs. He and other investigators
find that villages surrounded by forests are free from both
diseases, and that the withdrawal of troops into wooded dis-
tricts stops the spread of the disease. On the other hand it
has been observed that with the removal of the forest,
cholera appears. Extensive moors seem to offer similar anti-
bacterial soil conditions and immunity from these diseases.
Says Dr. Ebermayer : " If it is considered that the comma
bacillus which produces cholera makes great demands in its
nutrition and belongs to the most sensitive bacteria, especially,
sensitive against free acids, being destroyed by the sour
stomach juices ; that when dried it dies quickly and is easily
destroyed by decay-producing bacteria, prospering best in a
temperature of 90 to 100° Fahrenheit, and ceasing to grow
when the temperature sinks below 61° Fahrenheit, the pro-
tective influence of forests against this epidemic is easily ex-
plained."

According to Marchiafara and Celli, malaria is no bacterial
disease, but is produced by parasitic protozoa, called by these
authors "Plasmodia," which are found in the red-blood cor-
puscles. Although their exterior existence is unknown, they
probably come also from the soil. Warmth and wet soil,
periodically dry in the upper strata, are the best conditions
for their development. As long as the soil is covered by
water, the air being thereby excluded, there is no danger.
The danger arises during the change of the water stage,
when the soil becomes exposed. Malaria plasmodia do not
rise high above the soil, whence the desirability of houses
elevated above the danger-line. With water and temper-
ature conditions such as exist under forest cover, these
Plasmodia have less opportunity for development, and the
abs'ence of dust-formation and lack of movement of air pre-
vents their distribution, while the water conditions in the
forest soil are not as liable to the sudden changes necessary
for their development.

In conclusion it may be said, in regard to the larger parks in
cities, that, besides their most desirable aesthetic influence,
their value is mainly in the better drainage conditions of the
soil which they secure, and besides the coolness and circula-
tion of fresh, pure air, which they induce, in their capacity of
absorbing decaying animal matter, in the absence of dust
and in the reduction of bacterial life. These effects, to be
sure, are confined to their own limits and nearest neighbor-
hood, but the possibility of breathing purer air, at least
occasionally, must be an advantage to those who are forced
to spend their lives in the impure conditions of a large city.

Washington, D. c. B. E. Femow.

Correspondence.
The Season in Northern California.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Northern California has had a very open autumn and
early winter. The rainfall early in October was sufficient to
start the grass. The later storms were short, but with violent
winds and great rainfall. During December or January we
expect from ten days to three weeks of frosty weather ; near
the ocean and around San Francisco Bay the temperature does
not fall more than a few degrees below freezing. Geraniums
and Fuchsias become perennial, running wild over houses
and even in neglected places. In the valleys north of the Bay
and the Sacramento valley it is colder during these frosts, the
thermometer falling as low as twelve degrees below freezing,
although favored spots are almost frostless ; the earliest fruit,
vegetables and oranges from California are grown north of
San Francisco. The frosty spell this season lasted two weeks,
with clear, bright days and the ground in shady places re-
mained frozen all day. Probably twenty-four degrees would
mark the lowest point reached.

In our little town, as elsewhere, the Chrysanthemum is a
great favorite, and a church flower-show brought out quite a
creditable exhibit. All the plants are ^rown out-of-doors. We
have little advantage over eastern cultivators, for, although we
may get a fine bloom without shelter, the light frosts of late

Ictober endanger the earlier kinds, while with late varieties
e can do nothing out-of-doors. From my collection of more
lan a hundred variefies I am discarding all late bloomers,
id find that I can usually get a fine bloom from early and
liddle season Chrysanthemums with slight protection.

From the large number of good Chrysanthemums it is easy
to select enough of the earlier sorts for a varied collection.
This season I found Lord Alcester, Madame M. Fabri, Mikado,
Louis Boehmer and Melanet Robinet among the most satis-
factory. I must say, with Mr. J. N. Gerard, that a well-grown
plant, with dozens of naturally grown flowers, is a more pleas-
ing object than the immense blooms of the artificially trained
plants. Here, where we irrigate in summer, the problem is
rather to keep plants down than to sfimulate growth ; a small
plant in May, such as dealers send out by fall, will be a tree
six or seven feet high, even when repeatedly pinched in ; and
even May slips, in open ground, will become unmanageably
large.

Roses blossomed until late this season. Early in December,
when the frosts set in, many sorts were blooming freely, and
on Christmas-day I examined buds of Hermosa and found them
uninjured, so that a few warm days will bring them out. There
is nothing more satisfactory than Roses. I like to try those
new to me, although new RoseS will not compare with older
ones. An old sort, Delphine Grandit, charmed us this fall. It
is always a free bloomer, but it is not fully double in the sum-
mer ; late in the fall, however, it gave great ivory-white roses,
the best we had. Of some 150 sorts which I grow. La France
is the best. The most satisfactory kinds during the past sea-
son have been La France, Duchesse de Brabant, Bon Silene
and Catherine Mermet. There are many others which I
esteem highly, but for reliability and real satisfaction at all sea-
sons I rnust commend these four. Among satisfactory and
free-blooming climbers are Reine Marie, Henrietta, William
Allen Richardson and Gold of Ophir, which is exacfly like
Richardson, except in color, which is a copper-red.

On Thanksgiving-day I noticed Manzanitas in blossom on
the mountains, and on Christmas-day they were blooming in
town, and the flowers of California Laurel were almost open.
The difference in climate in a short distance in California is
remarkable. A German of my acquaintance purchased trees
of Orange, Lemon, Lime and Loquat three years ago, which
he planted a few miles from here on the mountains. They have
been unprotected, have never been touched by frost, and
Lemons were in blossom in last December. In a similar place
I have seen Blackberries in flower, and green and ripe fruit at
this season, yet here frost did not go out of shady places for a
week. It is for this reason that native trees or shrubs blossom
in some spots on the mountains a month or two earlier. In
the fall and spring the frost often draws a sharp line through
hill-side vineyards, freezing all below it.

A charming object in December is that always beautiful tree,
the Madrofia. It is a native here, and throughout the town it
has been spared in yards. There are scores of healthy young
trees, twenty to twenty-five feet high and erect, with glossy
brown bark and large oval evergreen leaves. The berries,
which are at first orange, and later turn to crimson, grow in
large clusters. This year I have noticed some seven inches
long and three inches through. One tree, about three feet
through, forty feet high and spreading finely, was such a mass
of crimson berries as almost to hide the leaves. This, with
California Holly (Photinia arbutifolia), another fine evergreen
with bright red berries, are the Christmas decorations. Mis-
tletoe abounds, but is not even noticed.

Ukiah, Cal. Carl Purdy.

A Case of Inherited Variegation.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — A stock of Cornus Mas, upon which a variegated form
was grafted, was allowed to send up a branch, which eventually
equaled in size the variegated portion. During 1 890 seeds were
borne by each part. The seeds were sown, and the following
spring the young plants which came from the seed borne by
the variegated portion showed the same coloring as the parent
form ; the other seedlings were normal. Another noticeable
difference between the two lots was that the variegated seed-
lings were much weaker from the start, and eventually they all
died, although they were grown under the same conditions as
the others, and these are still alive.

Cornell University. . E. G. Lodematt.

Notes.

The Pennsylvania State Horticultural Society begins its
thirty-fourth annual meeting at Harrisburgh to-day, and con-
tinues for three days. Special attention will be given to re-
ports on the peach-yellows and plant diseases in general.

Among the fancy fruits for sale now in the market of this
'*,ity are Gros Colman grapes, imported from England, which

36

Garden and Forest

fNUMBEK 256.

kII at Sj.oo « pound. Choice selected Albemarle Pippins retail
at from fifty cents to Si.oo a dozen, and tind ready sale at $9.00
a b«nel.

Forty-five students have registered for the short course in
agriculture at Cornell L'niversitv, to which we invited attention
some time ago. There are alJoul tlie same number of stu-
dents who are taking the full course in the agricultural depart-
ment of the university.

An interesting garden arrangement noted during the past
summer by a traveler in England was a large rectangular bed,
about twenty feet across, wliich was a sofid mass of purple
Oematis presenting from a distance the effect of an immense
bed of Violets. The plants had been set at intervals over the
whole surface of the bed, and then trained to cover a flat trellis
built oTer the l>ed at something less than a foot from the level
of the soiL Nafurallv, the trellis was soon covered, and the
blossoms as they appearetl sought the light, so that the whole
expanse was thickly strewn with them. This bed was m full
bloom in late J une, and was still in full bloom when revisited
eariy in September.

In a recent issue of the San Francisco Wood and Iron, Hum-
boldt County, the most western point in the United States, is
slated to be the most densely wooded section in California, and
to contain, according to the Inited St;ites olTicial estimates,
468.000 acres of Redwood-timber, 400,000 acres of Pine,
Spruce, Fir and Cedar, and 2tx-.ooo acres of Madrone, Tan-bark
Oak, Live Oak and Laurel. The yield of Redwood-lumber
reaches as high as yao.ooo feet to the acre, a low average price
t>eing $15 a thousand feet. About 5,000 men are employed in
the logging woods and the mills ot this county. Mendocino
County is said to have an area of 700,000 acres of Redwood,
yielding from 20,000 to 250,000 feet of lumber to the acre. The
total cut of the mills in this county amounted, in 1891, to
99,438,190 feet.

When rabbits were first introduced into Australia no one
seems to have considered how destructive they would be-
come, or that the different governments of the island would
be compelled to furnish hundreds of miles of wire-netting to
keep them out of certain districts, besides expending large
sums for destroying them. The Victorian government has
erected a fence of wire-netting 150 miles long against them,
and during the last ten years has expended ;^ 177,000 sterling
for their extermination. The extent of the evil may be imag-
ined from the fact that 15,000,000 rabbit-skins have been ex-
ported from New South Wales in one year. Twenty years ago
there was not a rabbit in all New Zealand, and since then more
than 106,000,000 rabbit-skins have been exported, while the
property destroyed by rabbits is estimated by millions.

Two or three weeks ago we quoted from a letter of Mr. C.
Wooley Dod, in the Gardeners' Chronicle, in which it was con-
jectured that a yellow-flowered plant in his garden was a
hybrid between Chrysanthemum maximum and Anthemis tinc-
toria. The seedlinR came up among plants of C. maximum,
and although it had leaves which he called abnormal, Mr. Dod
had no doubt that it was from the seed of C. maximum, and
since the flower was of a yellow color he inferred that it might
l»e the result of a cross with the Anthemis, which stood near. It
is, however, a dangerous thing to guess at the parentage of a
plant, and Mr. Dod now writes to the Gardeners' Chronicle
that his bigeneric hybrid has been pronounced Grindelia inu-
loides by tlie scientific committee of the Royal Horticultural
Society. Mr. Dod wonders how the plant got there, as there
never was a plant of that kind in his garden, so far as he knows.
Bui, after all, it is a good deal easier for the seed of a Grindelia
to find a comfortable germinating place in almost anybody's
garden than it is for the pollen ofa plant of one genus to find
hospitable and fructifying admission into the ovary of a plant
of another genus.

Henry Sargent Codman died suddenly, afteran operation for
appendicitis, on the 13th instant, at (Thicago, where he had
charge of tlie landscape department of the Columbian Expo-
sition. No man at his age had ever accomplished more in
his profession, or gave brighter promise of what could con-
fidently be expected from his matured powers.

Mr. Codman was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on the
19th of June, 1864. He graduated at the Institute of Tech-
nology in 1&84, and almost immediately entered the office of
Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted. In the summer of 1887 he
traveled with his uncle. Professor C. S. Sargent, through Eng-
land, France, Germany and Italy to study living collections of
plants, nurseries, parks and gardens. Soon after, he went to

Paris and pursued his professional studies for more than a year
under the direction of Edouard Andrt?. and on his return he
was taken into partnership by Mr. Olmsted. Since then he
has been intimately associated with Mr. Olmsted in all the
important works that have been carried on by that firm, in-
cluding the design of the Exposition Grounds in Chicago, in
the construction of which he has been practically the execu-
tive head from the outset. Mr. Codman was tall, strong,
of commanding appearance and apparently of great con-
stitutional vigor. He had inherited a profound love of natural
beauty, and his taste had been disciplined and refined by close
observation and wide reading. He was thoroughly acquainted
with the literature of his profession. His library in this de-
partment was uncqualed in this country, and his index of
works on the subject, published in this journal, was the most
complete that has yet appeared. He invariably gained the
confidence and esteem of all with whom he came in contact
professionally, and he was remarkably successful in impress-
ing his opinions upon them and leading them to see things
from his point of view. That he won the affection as well as
the respect of his associates was remarkably manifested in his
Chicago work, where he came info warm comradeship with
almost the entire corps of artists, and where he helped, no doubt,
materially, to bring about that sympathetic co-operation and
unity of purpose which has been so marked among them. This
was due partly to the fact that from his position he stood for
the one uniting element and represented among the various
jirofessionsand crafts the general design in its comprehensive-
ness and consistency. But his professional position was made
eflecti ve by his personal qualities and accom plishments — by that
broad, liberal and catholic cultivation which brought him into
cordial and appreciative relationship with all the artists in all
their varied fields. His leadership was, therefore, natural and
spontaneous, for, although he was modest almost to diffidence,
he never shrank from assuming responsibility. He had the moral
qualities which mark the master, in addition to the highest
intellectual appreciation of the possibilities of his profession,
and in view of what he was and of the relations he had estab-
lished with so many of the foremost architects of the country,
his untimely death must be lamented as a serious loss to rural
art in America.

Isaac C. Martindale died January 3d at his home in Camden.
New Jersey. An active business man all his life, he found
time to devote serious attention to the study of botany and to
form a large and comprehensive herbarium, particularly rich
in North American plants, while for many years he was an
active and useful member of the Philadelphia Academy of
Natural Science. The American Naturalist of November,
1879, contains his list of plants collected on the excursion of a
number of members of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science to the Rocky Mountains in 1878, with
critical notes on various species. In a paper entitled "Notes
on the Bartram Oak" (Quercusheterophylla), first read before
the West New Jersey Surveyors' Association, in 1880, and after-
ward issued in pamphlet form. Mr. Martindale recorded the re-
sults of careful observations on this rare and interesting tree,
which he believed was entitled to be considered a species and
not a mere hybrid which other students of our Oaks had some-
times thought it. Here will be found the summary of the
rather voluminous literature of Quercus heterophylla, a species
which has long had special interest to dendrologists, both on
account of its rarity and for the uncertainty of its origin. The
Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy for 1880 contain a
short paper prepared by Mr. Martindale on "Sexual Variations
in Castanea Americana." No. 2 of i\\^ Memoirs of the Torrey
Botanical Club is "A List of the Marine Algae hitherto observed
on the Coasts of New Jersey and Staten Island," by Isaac C. Mar-
tindale. These are his principal publications, for Martindale
was a collector rather than an author and probably never had
the time to do more than arrange and keep up his large collec-
tions and library.

Catalogues Received.

W. F. Allen, Jr., Salisbury, Md. ; Illustrated, Descriptive Cata-
logue of Choice Strawberry Plants.— F. Barteldes & Co., Lawrence,
Kan. ; Novelties in Vegetable and Flower Seeds; Seeds of Rocky
Mountain Wild Flowers; Grass, Field and Tree Seeds; Nursery
Stock.— BoWKER Fertilizer Co., Boston and New York ; Catalogue
of Stockbridge Manures and Bowker's General Fertilizers. — Nanz &
Neuner. Louisville, Ky. ; Flower Seeds, Ornamental Climbers, New
Roses; Shrubs and Trees.— Charles E. Pennock, Fort Collins,
Colo. ; Rocky Mountain Fruits and Shrubs.— O. D. Shields, Colorado
Nursery Co., Loveland, Col.; Catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental
Trees, Grape Vines and Roses ; Wholesale Price List of Seeds and
Plants of Rocky Mountain Evergreens.

January 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

37

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by

Professor C. S. Sargknt,

ENTKRED AS SECOND-CUISS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. V.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Editorial Article :— Agriculture in Public Schools 37

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— II. (With figure.) C. S. S. 38

Winter Birds in the Pines Mrs. Mary Treat. 39

New OR Littlk-known Plants :—Nymph£ea gigantea. (With figure.) 40

Foreign Correspondence:— The New Plants of iSge.— I W, Watson. 41

Cultural Department:— Irises and their Cultivation.— VI J. N. Gerard. 43

Autumn-flowering Lilies G. Reuthe. 44

Hardy Perennials for Sub-tropical F,ifect % Woodward Manning. 45

The Shrubbery in Winter E. F. Powell, 45

The Forest: — Tree-planting on Mount Hamilton Charles Howard Sh inn. 45

CoRRBSPONDENCB : — Favoritc Flowers H. Christ. 46

The Iris Season Professor M. Foster. 47

Tigridias F. H. H. 47

Notes 48

Illustrations:— Nvrnphaeagigantea, Fig. 7 41

Lake Yumoto, Japan, with Hemlock Forests, Fig. 8 43

I

Agriculture in Public Schools.

A SPECIAL bulletin has lately been issued by the Hon-
orable C. C.James, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of
Ontario, on the " Teaching of Agriculture in the Public
Schools." It is argued in this paper that instruction in agri-
culture should be made obligatory in the common schools
because so large a proportion of the people depend upon
it ; because such a large amount of capital is invested in it,
and because of the large share it contributes to trade and
commerce. But if it is admitted that such instruction is
needed, a more practical question is : How is it possible
to teach this art in any way that will be effective.'' In our
common schools, for example, there would seem little place
for the introduction of any new branches of study for chil-
dren between seven and fifteen years of age. If they are to
receive lessons in farming or gardening, it is very plain, in
the first place, that some other branches must be neglected
or e.xcluded from the curriculum ; and, in the second place,
a corps of teachers must be trained to a rather intimate
knowledge not only of the practice of the art of cultivating
plants, but of the sciences on which this practice rests. We
cannot expect graduates of public schools to have any pro-
found knowledge of botany, economic entomology, agri-
cultural chemistry and the like, but the man who teaches
these pupils must have a reasonable familiarity with these
and other sciences, or he is not fit to be an instructor.

When we consider how much time and labor and or-
ganization all this implies, we feel inclined to say that the
project is impracticable ; but we are faced by the fact that
in France the Government is doing just this thing, and do-
ing it v/ith apparent success. We do not refer particularly
to the agricultural university in Paris, which is famous all
over the world, nor to the national schools of horticulture,
agriculture, forestry, veterinary science, dairying and sheep-
raising which have been established in various parts of the
Republic. Agriculture has not only been introduced into
"■ e superior schools, where there are pupils from thirteen

to fifteen years of age, but in the elementary schools, where
the pupils range from seven to thirteen years old, and even
in the infant schools, attended by children under seven
years of age. At first, instruction in agriculture was made
optional in the public schools, and between 1850 and 1879
it was dependent upon aid from agricultural societies and
private benefactions. In 1879, however, a law was passed
which compelled all the one hundred and sixty normal
schools of the country to provide within six years agricul-
tural instruction for the teachers in training, and requiring,
further, that the primary schools should within three years
make instruction in agriculture and horticulture com-
pulsory.

The introduction of agriculture in the schools then began,
where it should have done, with the training of the teachers.
Many of the schools have small gardens attached as well
as agricultural museums, and children under nine years
old have lessons in these gardens. From nine to eleven
years, together with their reading, object-lessons and ex-
cursions, they receive lessons on the principal kinds of fer-
tilizers and on the implements of husbandry and agricul-
tural work in general. From nine to eleven, in addition to
this, they are instructed in seed-sowing and harvesting, in
growing the vegetables of the district in which they
live, in cultivating and propagating trees, and in caring for
domestic animals, etc. In the superior schools the course
extends over two years, and it includes a very complete
course in agriculture, which is varied to suit the special
needs of the locality, and illustrated in school-gardens and
experimental fields, and by visits to the farms of the sur-
rounding districts. In some of these schools there is a
special agricultural section under the charge of an agricul-
tural professor.

Of course, this work is only in its early stages, but the
success achieved is encouraging. At all events, good
observers say that the practice of agriculture and horticul-
ture in France is admirable, and that this is largely due to
the Government colleges and that it is being steadily im-
proved by the teachings in the public schools. Mr. James
feels that a similar movement ought to be begun in On-
tario, and one of his best reasons is that this primary in-
struction will very largely increase the number of those
who desire a more thorough course of training in the col-
leges. Knowing how our teachers are paid, and remem-
bering, too, that teaching has hardly reached the dignity
of an established profession in this country, but is usually
taken up by young persons for a few years as a tempo-
rary occupation until they can find something better to do,
the prospect of securing a corps of instructors who are
able to teach the arts of cultivation as thoroughly as they
should be taught, seems very remote. But, if we can
imagine such a thing as teachers adequately equipped for
this work in all the common schools of the country, we are
convinced that this would be a most valuable part of the
education of the rising generation. By this we do not
mean that all these students would be competent to
conduct a farm or garden in the most successful way,
but as a mere mental discipline and as a part of ordi-
nary mental furniture such training would have great
value. In the first place there is no greater mystery
to the ordinary man and woman than the processes of vege-
tation which go on all about them. Even intelligent men
do not know the names of the trees which they pass every
day, much less of the grasses and plants they tread upon.
No story is too wonderful for their belief. Reputable news-
papers will publish accounts of an extraordinary Elm-tree
somewhere which bears acorns, or of a plant which can
accurately foretell the weather ; and sharpers will go
through a village street and sell in almost every house, at
%\ each, the seeds of some novel plant which he assures
the buyers will bear a flower with all the colors of the rain-
bow and with a fragrance which can easily be enjoyed a
mile away. All this is simply because men do not observe
the ordinary ongoings of life about them, and elementary
instruction in these matters to the young will give them

38

Garden and Forest

[Number 257.

habits of observation and a knowledge of principles which
would make life more interesting to any one, even if he
never owned a garden or was the proprietor of a rood ot
land. If a competent and sympathetic teacher should do
no more than devote a portion of a day each week to the
work of familiarizing children with plant-life and its essen-
tial conditions, with the help of living illustrations which
could be found by the way-side, or in an experimental
nrden-bed a rod square on the school-grounds, or even
from a dozen window-plants in winter, the young people
would find this the most delightful part of their course of
study, and they would acquire knowledge and habits of
thought that would be invaluable all through their lives.

-II.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.-

TRAVELERS in Japan have often insisted on the
resemblance between that country and eastern
America in the general features of vegetation. But with
the exception of Yezo, which is slill mostly uninhabited
and in a state of nature, and those portions of the other
islands which are above 3,000 feet over the level of the
ocean, it is difficult to form a sufficiently accurate idea of
the general appearance of the original forest-covering of
Japan to be able to compare the aspects of its vegetation with
those of any other country, for every foot of the lowlands and
the mountain valleys of the three southern islands have been
cultivated for centuries. And the foot-hills and low moun-
tains which were once clothed with forests, and might be
again, are now covered with coarse herbage (principally
Eulalia) and are destitute of trees, except such as have
sprung up in sheltered ravines and have succeeded in
escaping the fires which are set every year to burn off the
dry grasses. Remoteness, bad roads, and the impossibility
of bringing down their timber into the valleys have saved
the mountain forests of Japan, and these may still be seen,
especially between 5,000 and 8,000 feet over the level of the
sea, in their natural condition. But these elevated forests are
composed of comparatively few species, and if it were not
for the plantations of Conifers, which the Japanese for
at least twelve centuries, it is said, have been making
to supply their workers in wood with material, and
for the trees preserved or planted in the temple grounds in
the neighborhood of towns, it would be impossible to ob-
tain any idea at all of many of the Japanese trees. But,
fortunately, the priests of Buddha have planted and re-
planted trees for a thousand years about their temples,
which are often surrounded by what now appear to be nat-
ural woods, as no tree is ever cut and no attempt is made
to clear up the undergrowth. These groves are sometimes
of considerable extent and contain noble trees, Japanese
and Chinese, which give some idea of what the inhabitants
of the forests of Japan were before the land was cleared
for agriculture.

The floras of Japan and eastern America have, it is true,
some curious features in common, and the presence in the
two regfions of certain types not found elsewhere, show
their relationship. But such plants are usually small,
and for the most part rare or confined to the high
mountains. Diphylleia, Buckleya, Epigaa and Shortia
show the common origin of the two floras ; but these are
rare plants in Japan as they are in America, with the ex-
ception of Epigaea, and probably not one traveler in ten
thousand has ever seen them, while the chief elements of
the forest flora of northern Japan, the only part of the
empire where, as has already been said, comparison is
possible — those which all travelers notice— do not recall
America so much, perhaps, as they do Siberia and Europe.

The broad-leaved Black Oaks, which form the most dis-
tinct and conspicuous feature in all the forests of eastern
America, are entirely absent from Japan, and the decidu-
ous-leaved White Oaks, which, in Japan, form a large part
of the forest-growth of the north, are of the European and not
of the American type, with the exception of Quercus den-
tata, which has no related species in America. The Chest-

nut Oaks, which are common and conspicuous, both in the
northern and southern parts of eastern America, do not
occur in Japan, and the Evergreen Oaks, which abound in
the southern part of that empire, where they are more com-
mon than any other group of trees, are Asiatic and not
American in their relationships.

Many of our most familiar American trees are absent from
the forests of Japan. The Tulip-tree, thePawpawor Asimina,
the Ptelea or Hop-tree, the Loblolly Bay or Gordonia, the
Cyrilla and the Cliftonia, the Plum-trees, which abound
here in many forms, the Texas Buckeye (Ungnadia), the
Mesquit, the Locusts, the Cladrastis or Virgilia, the
Kentucky Coffee-tree or Gymnocladus, the Liquidam-
bar, the Tupelos, the Sourwood or Oxydendron, the
Osage Orange, the Kalmia, the Sassafras, the Persea or
Red Bay, the Planera or Water Elm, the Plane Tree, the
Black Walnut, the Hickories and the deciduous Cypress-
all common and conspicuous in our forests — are not found
in Japan. Cratajgus, with a dozen species, is one of the
features of the forest flora of eastern America, while in
Japan the genus is represented by a single species, confined
to the northern part of the empire, and nowhere very com-
mon. The Japanese Maples, with the exception of Acer
pictum, which is not unlike our Sugar Maple, have no close
resemblance or relationship with the American species ;
the Beech and the Chestnut are European, and not Ameri-
can ; the Birches, with one exception, are of the Old World
type, as are the Lindens, Ashes, Willows, the Celtis, the
Alders, Poplars and Larches.*

On the other hand, the Japanese miss in our forests
Euptelia, Cercidophyllum and Trochodendron, all of the
Magnolia family, Idesia, the arborescent Ternstrcemiaceaj
(Ternstroemia, Cleyera, Eurya and Camellia), Phelloden-
dron and Hovenia, Euscaphis, Mackia and Albizzya, Disty-
lium, Acanthopanax, Syringa, many arborescent Laurinia;
(Cinnamomum, Machilus, Actinodaphne, Litsea), which,
next to the Evergreen Oaks, are the most salient features of
the forest flora of southern Japan. He will miss, too, the
beautiful arborescent Linderas which abound in Japan,
while in America the genus is only represented by two un-
important shrubs, the arborescent Euphorbiaceoe, like
Buxus, Daphniphyllum, Aleurites, Mallotus, Excoecaria,
Zelkova, Aphananthe, Broussonetia and Debregeasia, or
find anything to remind him of Pterocarya and Platycarya,
of Cryptomeria, Cephalotaxus and Sciadopitys.

The forests of the two regions possess in common Mag-
nolia and vEsculus, which are more abundant in species
and individuals in America than in Japan. The Rhuses, or
Sumachs, are very similar in the two regions, and so are
the Witch-hazel and the arborescent Aralia. Cornus macro-
phylla of Japan is only an enlarged Cornus alternifolia of
eastern America, and the so-called Flowering Dogwoods
of the two countries are very much alike. The Japanese
Walnut is very like the American Butternut, while, rather
curiously, the Japanese Thuya and the two Chamascy-
paris, the Piceas and Abies, resemble species of Pacific
North America, a region whose flora has little affinity
with that of eastern Asia. Torreya is common to the
two regions ; in America it is one of the most local of
all our trees, while in Japan it is abundant in the moun-
tainous regions of the central and southern parts of the
empire.

Apart from the characters which distinguish related
genera and species of Japanese trees from their American
congeners there are many aspects of vegetation which
make the two countries unlike. The number of broad-
leaved evergreen trees is much greater in southern Japan
than it is in the southern United States, there being fifty
species of these trees in the former, and only twenty in
eastern America' (exclusive always of southern Florida),
and the general aspect of the groves and woods at the sea-
level, even in the latitude of Tokyo, is of broad-leaved

*Of the arljorcsocni p;cncra of Japan thirty arc represented In Euroi)e, and all,
with the exception of Buxus, arc also found in eastern America.

January 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

39

evergreens. The number of evergreen shrubs in propor-
tion to the entire flora is much greater in Japan, too, than
it is in America, and plants of this character grow much
further north in the former than in the latter country. The
small number of species of Pinus in Japan, and their
scarcity at the north, is in striking contrast to the number
and distribution of this genus in eastern America, where
there are thirteen species, to only five in Japan (including
one shrub). In Japan the Hemlock forms continuous and
almost unbroken forests of great extent on the mountain-
slopes, which are over 5,000 feet above the sea, while in
eastern America this tree is rarely found except scattered in
small groves or as single individuals through the deciduous-
leaved forests. On the other hand, Picea and Abies, which
in America form immense forests, almost to the exclusion
of other species, wherever I have seen them in Japan, grow
singly, or, in the case of Abies, in small groves on the
lower border of the Hemlock-forests or mingled with de-
ciduous-leaved trees. Picea Ajanensis is said, howeyer, to
form extensive forests in some parts of western Yezo, and
Professor Miyabe informs me that in the extreme northern
part of that island there are fine continuous forests of Abies
Sachalinense. In northern Japan and on the high moun-
tains of the central islands Birches are more abundant than
they are in our northern forests ; and the river-banks at the
north, like those of northern Europe and Siberia, are lined
with arborescent Willows and Alders, which are rare in
eastern America, where these two genera are usually rep-
resented by shrubs.

The illustration on page 43 gives some idea of the
general appearance of the great coniferous forests which
cover the highlands of central Japan. In the foreground,
Lake Yumoto, famous for its thermal springs, nestles 5,000
feet above the sea among the Nikko Mountains. The
forests which rise from the shores of the lake are princi-
pally comprised of Hemlock (Tsuga divisifolia), among
which are Birch (Betula Ermanni), Abies and Picea, Ptero-
carya, Cercidiphyllum and the Mountain Ash. In the
dense shade by the shores of the lake grow dwarf forms of
the Indian Azalea, Elliottia paniculata, our Canadian Bunch
Berry (Cornus Canadensis), great masses of Rhododendron
Metternichii, which in these forests replaces Rhododendron
Catawbiense of the Appalachian Mountains, the dwarf Ilex
rugosa,Clethra, here at the upper limits of its distribution,
Panax horrida, and the dwarf Blueberries which inhabit
mountain slopes in all northern countries, as well as the
ubiquitous Bamboos.

The undergrowth which covers the ground beneath the
forests in the two regions is so unlike that it must at once
attract the attention of the most careless observer. In
America this is composed of a great number of shrubs,
chiefly of various species of Vaccinium and Gaylusachia,
of Epigasa, wild Roses, Kalmias, dwarf Pyrus and Lico-
podiums ; in Japan the forest-floor is covered, even high
on the mountains, and in the extreme north, with a con-
tinuous, almost impenetrable, mass of dwarf Bamboos
of several species, which make traveling in the woods,
except over long-beaten paths and up the beds of
streams, practically impossible. These Bamboos, which
vary in height from three to six feet in different parts
of the country, make the forest-floor monotonous and
uninteresting, and prevent the growth of nearly all
other under-shrubs, except the most vigorous species.
Shrubs, therefore, are mostly driven to the borders or roads
and other open places, or to the banks of streams and lakes,
where they can obtain sufficient light to enable themselves
to rise above the Bamboos ; and, it is the abundance of the
Bamboo, no doubt, which has developed the climbing habit
of many Japanese plants, which are obliged to ascend the
trees in search of sun and light, for the Japanese forest is
filled with climbing shrubs, which flourish with tropical
luxuriance.

The wild Grape grows in the damp forests of Yezo with
a vigor and to a size which the American species do not
attain, even in the semi-tropical climate of the southern

Mississippi valley. Actinidia arguta climbs into the tops
of the tallest trees, and nothing is so un-American or so
attracts the attention of the American traveler in Japan as
the trunks of trees clothed to the height of sixty or eighty
feet with splendid masses of the climbing Hydrangeas (H.
petiolaris and Schizophragma), or with the lustrous evergreen
foliage of the climbing Evonymus. Wistaria is represented,
it is true, in eastern America, but here it is nowhere very
common or one of the chief features of vegetation as it is
in Japan ; and the Ivy, a southern plant only in Japan,
and not very common, helps to remind the traveler that he
is in the Old and not in the New World. C. S. S.

Winter Birds in the Pines.

"XirE see many more birds in winter when it is very cold, and
» * the ground is covered with snow, than we do in mild
weather, for the snow forces them from the fields and vine-
yards, and from the covert of wild tangled undergrowth in tlie
low Pines to our homes for food. I have observed some thirty
species that visit our grounds during winter, and many others
stay about the streams and along the coast.

The birds which accept our hospitality, and become more
or less domesticated in winter, are the song-sparrow, the
white-throated sparrow, the slate-colored sparrow, the English
sparrow, tlie black-capped chickadee and the blue jay. The
occasional visitors which mingle with our regular pensioners
at the door are the fox sparrow, the tree sparrow, the gold-
finch, the purple finch, the field sparrow and the meadow lark.
Others which I see about the place that do not mingle with the
feeding birds about the house are pine linnets, cardinal birds,
vesper birds, bluebirds, quails, golden-winged woodpeckers,
downy woodpeckers, brown creepers, winter wrens, Carolina
wrens, cedar birds, crows, two or three species of hawk,
screech owls and robins. Some observers report that tfiey
have seen the catbird in winter, but I have never been favored
with a sight of him after November.

We can form some estimate of the importance of these birds
to farmers and gardeners when we realize the amount of food
a comparatively small Hock will consume at oiir doors in in-
clement wccither. They will accept almost any food when the
ground is covered with snow, but they prefer millet-seed and
coarse-ground corn and oats. The flock which I feed con-
sumes daily a quart or more of this grain, besides much from
the table. Very rarely does an English sparrow mingle with
these birds. I have at last, by patient perseverance, banished
these pests from my premises, and in the most humane man-
ner possible. I have simply not allowed them to breed 'on the
place. A few years ago they were here in great numbers,
driving bluebirds and wrens and martins from their boxes.
At last I had boxes made on purpose for the plagues with a
hinged cover, and allowed each occupant to lay the requisite
number of eggs, usually six, and commence to incubate, when
I would destroy the eggs without disturbing the nest. At first
the litfle simpletons, after making a great ado, would in a few
days thereafter again lay eggs in the same boxes. Sometimes
over thirty eggs were laid in one box. But even the English
sparrow finally learns prudence. Each year they appeared in
diminished numbers, and last season only one pair attempted
to preempt a box, and they left after the first setting of eggs
was destroyed, and the bluebirds and wrens had peace. They
also tried building in the Cedars, and these nests were promptly
removed.

Most of the birds that we see in winter are permanent resi-
dents ; a few, however, come from the north, and remain until
spring. Among these is the white-throated sparrow, our most
handsome species. His throat is pure white, and white streaks
are on the head, bordered on either side with dark reddish
brown, with a bright yellow spot near the eye, and the back and
wings are streaked with bright bay. Heremainswith us until he
is in full song, and then departs in May to his northern home.

The fox sparrow is another handsome winter resident,
something larger than the white-throat and more shy. His
color is reddish, or bright rufous, on the back, and under parts
lighter, streaked and spotted with brown. He makes a great
commotion scratching among the dry leaves under Lilacs
and other shrubs. He does not scratch like a chicken, but
strikes with both feet at the same time, and then looks for
what seeds or hibernating insects he may have unearthed.
The tree sparrow is a beautiful aristocratic dweller among the
winter birds, who retires to the mountains in summer, as his
scientific name, Spizella monticola, indicates.

The slate-colored sparrow (Junco hiemalis), or snow-bird, as

40

Garden and Forest.

[Number 257.

it it iwually called, is our most abundant species. He seems
to be evervwhere and a general favorite. He is ively and
aoirited. often making his larger comrades— white-throats ana
«0«e-«»arrows— stand .-isidc while he takes his meals. He
commences to sing in March, and before he leaves in April
his music is he.ard on every side. .

The purple tinch remains with us until late in May some-
time* until earl v June. He is the dandy among winter birds ; his
full dress is a dark, rich crimson, while his mate is attired 111
simple drab. He is one of our best early songsters ; his notes
are loud and rolling. He never leaves us until he bus helped
to thin out the superabundant fruit-blossoms, especially of the
Cherry and Apple. The pine linnet is an irregular visitor, but
there 18 scarcely a winter that 1 do not see a flock now and
then on the Pine-trees picking the seeds from the cones and
uttering Httle plaintive notes, something like those of thegold-
tinch. As they scatter the winged seeds some of the party
are sure to show their dexterity by catching them before they
reach the ground.

Many of our permanent residents are also charming song-
sters, uke the song-sparrow and the little tield-sparrow— the
smallest of all our species, more diminutive than the little chip-
pinff sparrow which goes south for the winter. And the ves-
per bird— what music is sweeter than his twilight song ? And
where can we find a more exquisite creature than the little
goldfinch, which puts on his greenish drab or olive suit for
winter and comes out in early spring in brilliant black and
v^low ? And now in full gala dress, before the company dis-
band to attend to its domestic duties, he gives us his fascinat-
ing song. At such times these birds often congregate on an
old Pine near the house, where their bright color is set off to
the best advantage. Here they preen and prim, and sing in-
ceasantly. until one makes a move to adjourn, when all with
one accord, in graceful, undulating Hight, still singing as they
fly, pass out of sight.

The merry little black-capped chickadee is alwajrs with us,
but in winter we notice him more, when he is willing to be
rery friendly and to accept our hospitality ; while he can easily
manage for himself without any of our aid, still he is not
averse to taking bits of meat which are fastened to the twigs of
trees or pinned to the window casement, where his diminutive
lordship watches us closely while hedaintily takes his meal. He
is often in company with the small brown creeper and a small
black-and-white woodpecker, when together they search over
the fruit-trees for hibernating insects and for the eggs of in-
sects. Beneath the loose bark of Apple-trees they find the
larvaeof many fat codling moths, which have spun themselves
silken cradles in which to repose during winter, and if left to
themselves they become chrysalids in the spring, and in early
summer come forth as moths to work destruction to our ap-
ples. In the spring, when t look over my trees, I find but
few of the larvje or chrysalids. I have marked trees in the
fall, when the larvjc were hibernating abundantly, and when
spring came nearly every one had been destroyed. Many
times I liave seen the chickadee clinging to a twig of an Apple-
tree, going all around it, head downward, picking at something
which he evidently relished. On examination I find he was
feeding on the eggs of the tent-caterpillar. These eggs, two or
three hundred in number, are in a compact cluster, glued firmly
around the twig, but the chickadee can loosen and eat them.

When we consider how many large birds remain with us in
winter which are dependent in a great measure upon insects
for their living, we may partly realize the immense number
destroyed. In winter insects are in a condition most relished
by birds, as now they are mostly in the egg, larva or chrysalis
stage. Packard enumerates over a hundred different insects
that feed upon Pine-trees alone, and a lai^e number of these
are found in the trees of New Jersey. The old I'ine-trees near
the house give me something of an idea of the ferreting work
of these birds. Among the largest of these workers is the
goklen-winged woodpecker, which is about a foot in length,
and very handsome he is with his rich golden wings and his fine
head, a light fawn-color on the top and a brilliant red behind.
On his breast is a broad crescent of black and a stripe of black
on each side of the throat, and his rump is pure white. This
is his general appearance as he flits around us, but in hand we
find each feather has distinct and beautiful markings. He is
somewhat shv. owing to the persistent persecution of spiortsmen,
•tiU he soon learns whom to trust, and makes his nest in our
orcliards, often within a few yards of the door.

The blue jay is another elegant bird, a little smaller than the
golden-wing. He is the gypsy among birds, camping with us
in great numl.irs rmc winter, and the next somewhere else.
He is so am iiis talents so varied that he needs a whole

chapter to dr. _ .^tice. Crows are everywhere, and I am

cxinvinced that they find the larv;e of the rosebug. When the
eround is not frozen they are often digging for sonietliing in
the vineyards, but thev are so shy that I cannot get near
enough with a glass to determine exactly what they unearth.

The downy woodpecker is one of our stnallest species, but
he is nimble and strong. He is black and white, and the males
have a bright crimson spot on the back of the head. He is
abundant in winter, tapping the Pines and Oaks and fruit-trees
around the house ; no place escapes him where he thinks may
lurk a hidden insect. The active little winter wren and the
larger Carolina wren are both busy peering into crevices and
beneath piles of old lumber and wood and around tlie base of
trees, looking everywhere for hidden chrysahds and larvte.
Bluebirds and robins stay in the dense Cedar-swamps during
severe cold, but are with us in inild weather. The silent
beautiful cedar birds visit us in flocks, soon stripping a Cedar-
tree of its berries, and then away as noiselessly as they came.

Viaeland,N.J. Mary Treat.

Since the above was written, the bluebirds and robins, as if
to disapprove my statement that they remained in the Cedar-
swamps during the coldest weather, have come around the
house in considerable numbers. Perhaps it is because they
find it so much colder in the Cedars than they have done in
former winters. The robins feed on the Cedar-berries, and
the bluebirds are eating the fruit of the Japan Honeysuckle
which climbs about the piazza. Very handsome both of them
look against the sun, for their color is now at its best, and
much more brilliant than it is in summer.

New or Little-known Plants.
Nymphrea gigantea.

THIS Water-lily is a native of tropical Australia, and is
a plant of great beauty both in flower and leaf. The
leaves on well-developed plants are large, peltate, dentate
and light green above. On the under side they are strongly
ribbed and of a vinous-purple color. The flowers, as
shown in the illustration on page 41, from a photograph of
a well-grown specimen, are large and well formed. The
picture, however, fails to show the color and satiny texture
of the petals, which, it will be noticed, are more blunt than
those of N. stellata, of which the variety Zanzibarensis is
the most familiar in gardens. The petals are white at the
base, shading to a pure light blue at the ends. A large
cluster of deep yellow stamens is in beautiful contrast.
Altogether, in distinctness, purity of color and te.xture
of petals, this may be considered the handsomest of
the blue Nympheeas ; it is, besides, one of the most per-
sistent in flower, and is seldom without blooms while in
active growth.

Like other tropical Water-lilies, it is grown successfully
here in a number of gardens, but, though introduced many
years ago, is comparatively rare, as not every one suc-
ceeds in its management. The main secret of success
seems to be in keeping it moving, from the time it first
breaks from the tubers. In a young state the slightest
check will cause it to become again dormant. After it is
well started and growing strongly, it may be transferred to
quarters outside, where, once in flower, a succession can
be depended on for the entire season. A sandy, rich
loam seems to be its requirements as to soil. Like all
tropical Nymphoeas, this requires a fairly high temperature,
and while our summers are usually warm enough to grow
them successfully in the open, it is agreed that for the best
results tanks with available heat are desirable. This species
should not be confused with a white variety introduced
lately as Nymphtea odorata, var. gigantea.

For the excellent photograph from which our illustration
was made, we are indebted to W. W. Lee, Esq., Northamp-
ton, Massachusetts. The photograph of Mr. Lee's water-
garden, a tank some forty-two feet in diameter, which
accompanied this shows a wonderful collection of varieties,
with Victoria rcgia in prominence, apparently growing in
the great vigor required to produce the specimens as illus-
trated. The illustration has been reduced about one-third
from the original photograph, in which the flower of natural
size appeared rather more than ten inches in diameter.

January 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

41

Fig. 7.— Nymphaea gigantea, reduced one-third.— See page 40.

I

Foreign Correspondence.
The New Plants of 1892.— I.

THE new plants of last year, although more numerous
than usual, do not include many of extraordinary merit ;
'indeed, the number of really first-rate garden-plants among

them is exceptionally few. I propose to deal now only
with the plants for which English horticulture is responsi-
ble, deferring the introductions of foreign establishments
for a subsequent letter.

Orchids. — The new introductions among Orchids are
fewer than usual, and the really good acquisitions fewer

42

Garden and Forest

[Number 257.

stilL Collectors have not been very fortunate in their dis-
coveries, for I cannot name more than one of a first-rate
character, Cypripedium Chamberlainianum. This plant
has not yet revealed anything like the magnificence which
the vendors, Messrs. F. Sander & Co., say it assumes in a
wild state. It may, however, be expected to improve con-
siderably under cultivation, and we may yet see the tall
many-flowered scapes which characterize this species as
seen by the collector in New Guinea. C. Exul is distinct
enough, but wanting in attractions.

The new Cattleyas of last year have not yet fulfilled ex-
pectations. C Alexandra (Linden), instead of being "one
of the most beautiful of all Cattleyas," has proved so far
one of the poorest, the several plants which have flowered
quite justifying this view. It is hoped that these are ex-
ceptionally bad varieties. C Victoria Regina is "mixed."
Messrs. F. Sander A Co. exhibited a plant of it in flower
early in the year, which was not wanting in beauty, but, so
far as I can ascertain, no one has yet had one that deserves
to rank with first-rate Cattleyas. C. Schilleriana, van Lowii,
is very distinct in color, having lavender segments and a
blue and white labellum, but it looks worse than the type
in constitution, and the type is bad enough. C. Batalini is
another of the same category, being like C. Schilleriana,
with rose-purple flowers. C. Oweniana (Sander & Co.), C.
Statteriana and C. aurea, van Statteriana (T. Statter), are
forms of C labiata, van Dowiana, of which there are now
a considerable numben As was to be expected, some good
varieties have turned up among the thousands of plants re-
cently imported of C labiata (Warocqueana), and some of
these have received names, such as C. labiata, van San-
derae, C. labiata, van alba, etc. Disa Cooperi and D. in-
carnata are very pretty in flower, but they belong to the
wrong section of the genus to be of much value in English
gardens. Bulbophyllum comosum (Kew), from Burma, is
a pretty little species with the habit of a Pleione, and erect
spikes bearing curved racemes of hairy white flowers, which
develop in January and are sweet-scented. B. O'Brienianum
(J. O'Brien) is another pretty little species from the Hima-
layas likely to interest those who love the smaller Orchids.

Calanthe Sanderiana (F. Sander & Co.) is a likely plant
for the greenhouse, as it has the habit and sturdiness of C.
Natalensis, but is larger in flower and deeper in colon
Natal. Epidendrum Godseffianum and E. Watsonianum
(F. Sander 4 Co ) are evidently very robust-growing spe-
cies with large-branched scapes of yellow and purplish
flowers two inches across, but they are not likely to grow
so well with us as they do in the Brazilian forests. The
white-flowered Masdevallia Harryana, van Gravesiffi, ob-
tained by Mn Sander from Mr. H. Graves, of New Jersey,
is the b«Jt new Masdevallia of the yean There are three
promising new Odontoglossums — namely, O. platycheilum,
a new species, now in the possession of R. J. Measures,
Esq., with creamy white Miltonia like flowers, the large
labellum colored soft pink, with spots of purple ; O. Oweni-
anum (F. Sander & Co.), a large-flowered new species from
Colombia, with brown-spotted sepals and petals and a pure
white labellum, and O. Wendlandianum (F. Sander & Co.),
a new species, similar to O. blandum, the flowers white,
with chestnut spots, the labellum spotted with purple.
There are improved or distinct varieties of O. crispum and
O. Pescatorei this year as before. The allied genus, Onci-
dium, also yields a trio of promising additions, all of F.
Sander & Co.'s introducing : O. Rolfeanum, from Colombia,
is a brown-and-yellow-flowered species of the Microchila
section ; O. Saint Legerianum, from south Brazil, is an ally
of O. bifolium, with long scapes of bright yellow flowers
remarkable for the size of the crest and its bright purple
color, and O. Gravesianum, ajso of Brazilian origin, is one
of the crispum or prsetextum fraternity.

Phajus Sanderianus (F. Sander & Co.) I should call a
form of P. Wallichii, which Sir Joseph Hooker, in The Flora 0/
British India, makes to include P. bicolor and P. grandifo-
lius. SUnhopea Lowii (H. Low & Co.) is a large-flowered
•pecies, not unlike S. ebarnea, I am told, but with purplish

markings on the labellum. Sobralia Lucasiana (C. J.
Lucas, Esq.), S. Breyeriana (Seeger & Tropp) and S. Lowii
(H. Low & Co.) are all untried plants of apparently close
affinity to S. macrantha. Spathoglottis Viellardii, van rubrse
(SirT. Lawrence), is a dark-colored, large-flowered variety of
a very good stove Orchid. Vanda teres, van alba (Lord Roths-
child), is, as its name indicates, a white-flowered variety of
considerable beauty — so far the best of the new introductions.

Turning now to the hybrids of garden origin, we find an
enormous number, certainly running into nearly a hun-
dred. I must, in fairness, own to a prejudice against hy-
brids which have nothing to recommend them beyond their
mongrel characten A good hybrid is a plant to be proud
of, and there are some, a few, good ones among last year's
productions. The best is, I think, Cymbidium Winnianum,
raised by C. Winn, Esq., from C. giganteum and C. ebur-
neum, exhibited a few weeks ago by Sander & Co., bearing
six spikes of large beautiful flowers, creamy white, with
blotches of red-brown on the labellum. Cattleya leuco-
glossa (C. fausta x C. Loddigesii), C. Philo (C. iricolor x C.
Mossia;), and C. Minacia (C. Loddigesii and C. labiata) are
the best of the hybrid Cattleyas flowered this year by Messrs.
J. Veitch & Sons. The St. Albans nurserymen have also
produced two good hybrids in C. Burberryana (C. imbri-
cata X C. superba) and C. Amesiae (parentage not given).
A hybrid named C. Baroness Schroeder (C. labiata, van X
C. Jongheana), raised in the garden of Baron Schroeder, is
also deserving of special mention.

There are over forty new hybrid Cypripediums among
the certificated plants of last yean The principal raisers of
these were Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, F. Sander & Co., and
Messrs. Pitcher & Manda. There are among them some
curious combinations, such as C. Brysa (C. Sedeni x C.
Boisserianum), C. Chrysocomes (C. caudatum x C. con-
chiferum), C. Cowleyanum (C. Curtisii x C. niveum), C.
Evenor (C. Argus x C. bellatulum), C. Juno (C. Callosum
X C. Fairreanum), C. Lawrebellum (C. Lawrencianum x

C. bellatulum), C. Telemachus (C. niveum x C. Lawrenci-
anum) and C. Vipani (C. niveum x C. Isevigatum). I am
informed that, strange and incomprehensible though it may
appear to outsiders, these hybrid Cypripediums are much
sought after by certain amateurs, and often realize very
high prices. With a genus like this it would be worth
while to self-fertilize the flowers and try what effect selec-
tion and cultivation would have on the size and colors of
the flowers of the later generations.

Dendrobiums have yielded D. dulce (D. Linawianum x

D. aureum), D. Wardiano-japonicum, D. striatum (D. ja-
ponicum x D. Dalhousianum), D. enosmum leucopterum
(D. nobile x D. endocharis), D. Adrasta (D. Pierardii x
D. superbum) and D. Euryclea (D. lituiflorum x D. Ward-
ianum). These are all Veitchian productions. Messrs. F.
Sander & Co. have also been successful, having flowered
during the year D. Rolfeae (D. primulimum x D.
nobile), and Sir Trevor Lawrence has bred D. burfordiense
from D. Linawianum and D. aureum ; Messrs. Veitch also
made this same cross, calling their plant D. dulce.

Lselio-Cattleya Marriottiana (L. flava x C. Skinneri), L.
C. Phoebe (L. cinnabarina x C. Mossise), L. C. Aurora (L.
Dayana x C. Loddigesii) and L. Latona (L. cinnabarina
X L. purpurata) are other hybrids of promise, for most of
which we are indebted to Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons.

Phalaenopsis Amphitrite (P. Stuartiana x P. Sanderiana),
raised by F. Sander & Co., is a handsome hybrid of sturdy
constitution, and the same may be said of the Veitchian
hybrid, P. Artemis (P. amabilis X P. rosea). The produc-
tion of further crosses between Cattleya and Sophronitis by
Messrs. Veitch is only what we might have expected to
follow on their splendid success in producing Sophrocat-
tleya Batemanni. I have said elsewhere that the fact of
these plants intercrossing is a conclusive proof of their
near relationship. Still the boldness of the attempt deserves
all praise, more particularly as it has given us already sev-
eral beautiful hybrids. Sophrocattleya Veitchii (Sophro-
nitis grandiflora x Laelio-Cattleya elegans) and S. Calypso

January 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

43

(Sophronitis x C. Loddigesii) are two beautiful hybrids.
Breeders might do worse than make this same cross for the
sake of the plants it yields, as we shall have to wait a long
while before Messrs. Veitch will have a stock of Sophro-
cattleyas to dispose of at, say, a guinea apiece.

Zygopetalum leucochilum (Z. Burkei x Z. Mackayi), a
sturdy plant, remarkable for its large white labellum, is
another Veitchian production of some merit. This list will
be continued next week.

London. W. Wa/SOfl.

Cultural Department.

Irises and their Cultivation. — VI.
T RIS PSEUDACORUS and I. foetidissima, the British Gladwin,
*■ are Flags, appreciated in wild gardens. The yellow flowers
of the former are not very pure in color, but in suitable damp

Iris Siberica and its varieties have long been favorite garden-
plants, growing with extreme vigor in an ordinary garden-bor-
der, not too dry, which place they prefer to a wet one. The
type has purple flowers, veined white, very freely produced,
and the foliage is narrow, rigid and abundant, about two feet
long. Variety flexulosus has white flowers with crisped petals.
Variety haematophylla has purple flowers, and the young leaves
are tinged with red. This is a synonym of variety Onentalis,
but the plant grown here with the latter name is a variety hav-
ing very dark purple, almost blue, flowers, and leaves of the
normal type.

Iris Orientalis (species) is that known in gardens as I. ochro-
leuca, or I. gigantea. It is a remarkably tail-growing and beau-
tiful-flowered kind with stout rhizomes. The flowers are
white, flushed with yellow on the falls. This is one of the best
of the tall kinds. Others of this class worthy of cultivation are
I. monnieri and I. aurea, both with yellow flowers of pure color
and seemingly not particular as to location. This trio of tall-

Fig. 8. — Lake Yumoto, Japan, with Hemlock Forests. — See page 38.

places the plants are effective. The flowers of the latter va-
riety are dull, but are succeeded by well-filled pods which show
rows of red seed as they burst, when they are striking objects.
The milk-white Iris of Florence (I. Florentina), besides being
a plant of remarkable beauty, has the distinction of being the
only member of the large family which has any important
commercial value. The dried and cleaned rhizomes of this
Iris are an important article of commerce under the name of
Orris-root. In the form of powder it is used as a dentifrice
and for sachets. Oils are both expressed and distilled from
the roots, which, with alcoholic tinctures of the same, are
largely used in the manufacture of perfumery and soaps. Its
special value being to simulate or strengthen the more expen-
sive perfume of violets, the essence of violets without some
admixture of orris or cassie (Acacia Farnesiana) is a rather rare
article. This Iris prefers moist spots.

growing kinds have rather long narrow falls and inconspicuous
standards, and hence have a grace of their own quite distinct
from that of the Japanese kinds. The two latter kinds have
not proved very free of flower in my borders. There are a
number of other rhizomatous kinds in the same borders which
are possibly as effective, but they have not spoken to me as
yet, or I have failed to catch their special characteristics. The
flowers of the Iris do not quite round the entire year, but there
areseveral winter Flags which will prove interesting at that sea-
son. I. fimbriata (I. Chinensis or I. Japonica) is the well-known
evergreen-leaved greenhouse-plant with lilac flowers, crimped
on the edges of the falls, and borne in racemes on graceful stems.
This thrives well in ordinary greenhouse temperature potted
in a small amount of sandy loam, with abundant drainage.
The flowers are fugitive, however. I. alata (I. scorpioides) is
an Algerian bulbous species, also much grown in green-

44

Garden and Forest

[NUMBBK 257.

houses, and of this there are several varieties, white and lilacs.
Except that it re<^uire8 a rest from July to October, its culture
offers no difficulties.

The most interesting winter Iris seems to me to be I. stylosa,
which, though Algerian by birth, is apparently hardy here. This
by precedence is I. unguicularis, which name, as Professor
Forster has remarked, has the advantage of containing five
more letters, and being more difficult to pronounce. It
is. however, a plant which is more satisfactory under protec-
tion, though only requiring a moderate temperature to bring
it into Hower in December or January. It is necessary to have
it well established in pots for such treatment, and it will re-
quire attention and some stimulants in the early year to keep it
moving. There are several varieties of this. Var. Speciosa, now
in flower with me. is rather light purple, with white and yellow
maridrais on the falls, and the standards, which are erect,
are suffused with a coppery bronze on the inner base.

Since the appearance of this series of notes I have had sev-
eral communications, seeking, with jjerhaps unconscious sar-
casm, cultural directions for tlie Iris, and perhaps a few more
notes in that direction may be useful, though, unless otherwise
noted, the plants before mentioned demand the simplest possi-
ble treatment. Many, or most, of the rhizomafous kinds are
evergreen, where the leaves are not killed bv frost, and may
be moved at any time, but, preferably, it should be done after
flowenng and before the ground commences to cool off in the
fall. Thev can be secureS at any time in the spring or fall
from the dealer*, and if care is used in setting out, few of them
will give further trouble until they have exhausted the soil,
which they do somewhat rapidly. Those with thick rhizomes
are apt to be bruised in transportation, which will cause them
to rot, and they should be carefully watched, and the decaying
part cut out as soon as it appears, after which they should be
planted in sand till they recover. These, like other plants, are
tetter planted, as some one has said, with a spade. In other
words, in a good, broadly, loosely worked space such as a
spade would open. Spread out the roots well and work loose
earth among them, with the thick rhizomes just at the surface.
Those with short underground rhizomes should be planted so
that the buds are near the surface. As these often make a
matted mass of fine roots, difficult to spread and separate in
the earth, if is well to cut up such masses to single eyes, and
plant with a space between. Such masses of roots can other-
wise often be successfully treated by washing out and throwing
sand between while wet. This will help to keep them separate
and enable one to plant satisfactorily. In the outdoor garden,
where one is entirely at the mercy of the elements, careful
planting is usually of more importance than after-cultivation,
for after planting, nature and the plants have it mostly out be-
tween them. However, we all like to think that we are mas-
ters even in the garden, and a judicious use of water and
manure, as observation seems to indicate, will hejp the Iris,
as well as other plants, and a loose state of the soil will tend

to increase tliem rapidly. ..^ „ ^ _,

tMmt»ik,tt.}. y. N.Gerard.

Autumn-flowering Lilies. — I.

STRICTLY speaking, the sub-genus Archelirion consists of
three separate groups. Lilium figrinum, L. auratum and
L. speciosum, each diffenng considerably, either in the shape of
bulb or flower, far more than in the case of other sections.
All the Archelirion Lilies, as far as they are known to us, are
natives of Asia, principally of Japan and China, where they
are collected by the natives for food, but for some years large
quantities have been cultivated and exported, mainly to
Europe and America.

Lilium tigrinum Group. — L. tigrinum has a stem from
three to five feet in height, greenish purple or dark brown in
color, and pubescent ; the leaves deep green, scattered, and
the lower ones enlarging more to the apex. It is one of the
few bulbous species bearing bulbils in the axils of the leaves.
which adhere at first firmly to the stem, but as they grow
larger assume a more separate existence, until, on maturity,
they drop to the ground in the autumn and soon produce
little rootlets and leaves. There are only two other truly
bulbiferous species of Lilies besides this, namely, L. bulbi-
ferum and L. sulphureum (L. ochroleucum). L. tigrinum
flowers from the end of July right through August and up to
the middle of Septeml>er. The variety, Splendens, differs
from the type in the much broader, deep green and shiny
leaves, a dark brown ebony-like stem, and much larger and
brighter-colored flowers. It is of vigorous growth and later
in bloom. This I consider is the best of the Tiger Lilies. L.
tigrinum Fortunei difl°ers principally from L. tigrinum by the
lighter-colored flowers, less recurved segments, larger and

lighter spots, narrow leaves and downy stem. It blooms a
week or two later than the type, and a few days before Splen-
dens. On account of its tall,' vigorous growth, in the first, and
sometimes also in the second, year after importation (for the
stem grows from six to eight feet high, and produces a great
number of flowers), it is erroneously called Giganteum, but
when grown for a few years it loses this character, and becomes
simply Fortune's Lily. I have found imported Tiger Lily bulbs
always of this variety, but never of the form Splendens, or the
type. The form Fortunei is to all appearance the most com-
mon, and has undoubtedly a wide distribution. A friend sent
me a few bulbs of it from a then unexplored part of Burma,
which lie bought from Chinese merchants, who sold them for
food ; and he, having only a slight knowledge of Lilies, sent
them to me as a new kind. L. tigrinum erectum is a very rare
and distinct form, but, as far as I know, not now in cultivation.
The flowers are erect, but the plant is of rather weak consti-
tution. The double-flowered variety is like Fortunei, except
in the perfect double flowers of camellia shape — a most
handsome and vigorous-growing form, and a native of China
and Japan. It flowers the last of all, lasting from September
to October. Tiger Lilies are easily propagated by the bulbils ;
in fact, under favorable conditions, they sometimes become
a perfect weed. L. jucundum is an almost real Tiger Lily,
with the exception of not being bulbiferous. The bulbs differ
but little from those of L. tigrinum, only being more com-
pressed. The stem is from four feet to five feet high, covered
with white down, and the leaves scattered, linear and twisted.
The color of the flowers is bright red, dotted brown. Among
these are one or two verydistinctforms. L.Leichtlini, with yellow
flowers, spotted with brown, might rightly be put here, having
the whole character of L. jucundum, but at the same time it
might be classed with the Martagon Lilies.

LiLiUM AURATUM GROUP. — Lilium auratum has a stem from
two to six feet high, deep green, smooth tinted purple, rather
slender, leaves scattered, short-stalked, lanceolate-acuminate,
deep green, shiny and smooth ; the lower ones are shorter and
much narrower than the upper ones ; the perianth is frorr>
four to eight inches long, segments fulcrate, one to two inches-
broad in the middle, white streaked with yellow and dotted
with purple. It is strongly scented — a most variable Lily,
with many distinct and beautiful varieties, and a native of
Japan, flowering from July till October. The most distinct
forms are : Wittei, having a small, light-colored bulb, very-
slender stem, growing from two to three feet high, and small,
milky-white flowers, streaked yellow, but without spots.
Rubro-pictum has narrow, long leaves, and a smooth, lurid,
purple-tinted stem, flowers of medium size, very numerous,
white, tinted outside with greenish purple, and streaked faintly
with red, also enriched with large, crimson dots. A late-
flowering and very pleasing form. Rubro-vittatum has a
slender stem, about three feet high, green, tinted with purple,
the leaves lanceolate, dark green, tinted purple and very
smooth ; the flowers are large, white, streaked deep crimson.
This I consider to be the most beautiful, not alone of this group,
but of all the Lilies. As far as constitution is concerned, it is
far more satisfactory than the common L. auratum. Platy-
phyllum has a light or deep green stem, tinted with purple,
the leaves broad and lanceolate, the flowers large, much ex-
panded, white, the exterior tinted purple, the interior often tinted
andsfreakedwithsulphur, and dotted with maroon — a vigorous-
growing and beautiful form. The stem is very stout, and
often attains a height of from six to eight feet, especially the
second year after importation. The first year it is much
dwarfer. It is the most vigorous variety of this group, and a
native of Japan, flowering in August and September. Virgi-
nale differs but little from Platyphyllum as tar as the general
habit and shape of the bulb are concerned ; the principal dif-
ference lies in the large, white flower, which is not spotted as
the preceding, but has a pale yellow band running through
the middle ot each of the inner segments. It is a very rare
form. The variety Wittei, a much more plentiful variety, is
usually sold for Virginale. Besides these varieties there are
others, but they are not quite so distinct. Any one buying a
number of imported bulbs of L. auratum will find an almost
endless variety among them. Some are of dwarf growth, and
have narrow, long leaves, the plants usually early-flowering,
with flowers almost as good as those of Platyphyllum. In.
Rubro-pictum they are more or less spotted, and tinted pur-
ple or crimson. Others, again, have a tall, slender stem often
fasciated, while some have curly leaves and small flowers,
which are produced late. These last two forms are of weak
constitution and are short-lived. The dwarfer, long or broad-
leaved forms are the most amenable to culture, while the tall,
late-flowering, curly-leaved varieties are the most difficult to

January 25, 1893.!

Garden and Forest.

45

keep after the first year. In fact, we have yet to learn how to
cultivate L. auratum successfully. What becomes of the many
thousands of imported bulbs every year ? In some localities
from sixty to seventy per cent, of imported bulbs will live and
grow for a number of years, while in other localities they sel-
dom survive beyond the second year, evidently neither soil
nor climate being suitable. The kind of soil, though not the
same, but approacliing that of its native habitat, would be
neither too heavy nor too light or dry, and then this bulb likes
plenty of moisture, though not stagnant moisture, and shelter
from wind or sun. I remember a bed in a Continental
garden containing bulbs of the first importation that ever
reached Europe. The soil was sandy, containing much
humus deposited by a river, and though not actually damp it
could not be called dry. This bed was not disturbed for more
than eight years, except that now and then a bulb was lifted.
Unfortunately, the severe winter of 1890 annihilated this bed
completely, as it was left uncovered, although sheltered
by conifers against the north and east. — G. Reuthe, in Garden-
ers' Magazine.

Hardy Perennials for Sub-tropical Effect.

IT is a matter of surprise to me that so little attempt is gen-
erally made to produce sub-tropical effects with hardy
plants, for variety of material is not wanting. Situations where
such effects can be used to advantage are in every large estate
and public park, while in private places of small extent a spot
for the purpose can often be found.

One cannot reasonably expect the highly colored and richly
varied foliage, often of gigantic size, which can be attained
with purely tropical foliage and which requires the peculiar
soils and conditions of a warm climate; and yet a showy effect,
quite distinct from that usually produced with hardy material,
can often be had by an appropriate grouping of certain hardy
species which show marked difference from the prevailing
characteristics of the vegetation of a temperate climate.

In places of large extent and to prod\ice broad effects, the
list of suitable hardy plants is by no means limited ; the large
broad-foliaged and tall-growing sorts can be used in quantity,
while medium-sized sorts can often be well grouped with
them. Bocconias, Aralias, Arundo donax and varieties. Poly-
gonums, Inulas, Helianthuses, Silphiums, Rheums, Acan-
thuses, Heracleums, Centaureas, Eryngiunis and other coarse-
growing sorts that can have room to develop, can be made
most effective. Groupings of this sort are possibly best made
where there are heavy backgrounds of trees, especially when
placed in the deep bays and recesses that are so commonly
found in places where large ornamental plantings have ma-
tured. The plants named are, from the nature of their growth,
gross feeders, and, to give the best effect, must each year re-
ceive good cultural treatment, and they should be set so that they
will not suffer from the shade of the trees. These coarser-
growing sorts should be mainly used apart from less vigorous
varieties, which might otherwise be crowded and overrun.

Where it is desirable to extend the varieties, Bambusa
Metake, Echinops in variety, Eulalias, Gyneriums, Erianthus
ravenna; and Verbascums can be used as plants of medium
size to extend the variety of color and form of foliage and give
contrast in habit. Among the plants named are several which
can be used as single lawn specimens, such as the Eulalias,
Acanthuses, Rheums, Erianthus and Gyneriums, and here the
cultural skill of the gardener will be well repaid. Wherever
dwarfer kinds than those mentioned are desirable, selections
can be made from the Tritonias, Megaseas, Artemesias, Di-
centras, Epimediums, Funkias, Hemerocallis, Yuccas, and
the like, and where Ferns are suitable, the Osmundas, Struthi-
opteris, Woodwardias and Dicksonias make a good list to
choose from.

The effect of large groups is enhanced by a foreground of
lawn, and, except where the smaller sorts are used, the view
from a moderate distance is best. I find that too much va-
riety is likely to be attempted ; this mars the general effect by
lessening the individual attractions of each.

Where there is water for aquatics, the deeper portion can be
occupied with the Nympliaeas and Nelumbiums, the shallows
with Pontederias, Sagittarias, Calla palustris, Nuphars, Typhas,
and the banks with Scirpus, Juncus, Acorus, Eulalias, Carex,
Equisetums, Eryngium aquaticum, Bamboos, Elymus glaucus
and Japanese Iris. Here also can be used to advantage the
Gunnera, Saxafraga cordata, Funkias, Hemerocallis and Ophio-
pogon in their various forms, taking care, of course, to pre-
vent the submergence of these plants at any time.

These notes are but hints as to the use of plants to produce
sub-tropical effects ; the study is capable of great elaboration

in grouping for effect or in selecting single specimens for the
lawn. There is a great variety of color among the sorts
noted ; the bright glossy greens of the Acanthuses, Megaseas
and Morinas ; the light greens of the Hemerocallis, Rheums,
Polygonums and Centaureas ; the glaucous hues of the Bocco-
nias, Elymus glaucus and Yuccas, and the bright silver and
golden variegated foliaged forms of Eulalias, Arundos and
Sweet Flag. Of course, the flowers in their season are items
of importance, though the general acceptance of the term sub-
tropical relates more especially to effects of foliage.
Reading, Mass. J. Woodward Manning.

JI

The Shrubbery in Winter.

'HE value of shrubbery to relieve the monotony of the win-
ter landscape deserves more consideration than planters
have usually given. Heretofore the evergreens have been the
main reliance for winter effect ; but we have three or four
shrubs, which, if used judiciously, will produce a marked in-
fluence in relieving the chilly and dead-white effect of mid-
winter. ■ For early winter nothing compares with our Ameri.
can Evonymus. The European variety is very pretty, with_
yellowish red berries ; but our native sort is a briHiant scarlet'
The whole bush, after the leaves fall, is a flame of fire and would
appropriately be named by the people the Burning Bush. The
European Evonymus may be grown even thirty feet high, as
a small compact tree ; but I have not found it as hardy as the
native, which rarely rises more than ten feet, and is prettiest
when grown as a bush. For bordering a group of evergreens
the nurserymen offer dwarf varieties.

The Barberry, for some reason, is neglected as a lawn shrub.
I rarely find it, even in somewhat extensive grounds, if we
except the inferior purple-leaved sort. By all odds the most
useful Barberry is the European Berberis vulgaris. This has
become quite at home in our country and can be found all
along the Atlantic states in pasture lands. Among the best
five shrubs for general planting, I should certainly name this
one. The Evonymus is spoiled by severe freezing, but the
fruit of the Barberry endures until spring. These two shrubs
for upland planting, and the red-barked Corqus for lower
grounds, create a rich diversion of color that we should not
lose. The Dogwood can easily be grown in large masses of
twenty or thirty feet diameter. The fruit is white and appears
in the summer; but the bark is exceedingly rich from the time
leaves fall until they put out again in spring.

Clinton, N. Y. E. p. Powell.

The Forest.

Tree-planting on Mount Hamilton.

THE University of California has a tract of 2,600 acres of
wild land upon Mount Hamilton, including the site of Lick
Observatory. I went there last December to study the place
with a view to some tree-planting. My visit proved extremely
interesting and suggested further possibilities in the direction
of a forestry station, that could not but prove of value to the
entire Pacific slope.

Previous attempts to plant trees, at an elevation of more than
4,000 feet, on the crest of Mount Hamilton, have been some-
what disastrous. In 18S9 about fifty trees were sent from the
University gardens to the mountain, and again, in 1890, but too
late in the season, a large number of trees were planted, few
of which remain. Cork-bark Elms and California Soft Maples
are the most promising deciduous trees. Sequoia gigantea, Li-
bocedrus decurrens. Thuya gigantea, Austrian Pine and a few
other conifers, such as the Monterey Cypress and the Monterey
Pine, have done fairly \\&\\. The most promising tree of all is
the Sequoia. The Redwoods died ; they are entirely unsuited
to the locality. The total coniferous tree-planting of 1890 con-
sisted of three hundred and sixty trees of six species, all but
one natives of the Pacific coast. About fifty fairly healthy
trees, and perhaps as many more that may live, now remain
from the plantings of both 1889 and 1890. In every case it was
necessary to blast out a hole in the rock and fill it with earth
hauled from the gulches. The winds are very strong on the
summit and the summers are dry and hot. The water-supply
is sufficient to give trees a start, but of course they must be
species that are well adapted to extremes of heat and cold,
moisture and drought, for irrigation can only be upon a small
scale and for a short time.

The nature of the horticultural problems offered by the more
rocky and arid portions of the mountains can be understood
better from the following notes taken from the publications of

46

Garden and Forest.

[Number 257.

the Uck Obsen-atory : Since 1880 the least annual rainfall has
been about thirteen inches ; the greatest has been more than
fifty-eight inches ^rom Julv. 1883, to June. 1884, inclusive).
The moui; • rally receives thirty-three inches or up-

ward. Th U'litlv rain enou(;;h for a great variety of

plant-life. » ai- uiy months " are said to be May, June, July,
August and September, but in 1883 more than seven inches
fdl in Mav. in 188) more than three inches, and during eleven
years only one May was entirely rainless. The lowest temper-
ature during eleven years" observation was eleven ; fourteen
aod sixteen occur nearly every year. Snow falls on the peak,
but soon melts, and some ye;ir8 there is no snow at all.

The heads of the ravines, and small plateaus nearest the
peaks, fortunately offer much easier problems to the planter.
There is more soil there, the force of the winds is somewhat
broken, and the ra)*sof the summer sun are less perpendicu-
lar to the plane of the slope. There are large Oaks, in fact,
quite a forest of them, and one hill-side has been plowed and
cultivated. One plateau of five acres would make an excellent
Apple orchard ; another, higher up, is suited fo a collection of
mountain species of conifers. Tlie surface should be broken,
wad the grass and weeds kept down by cultivation, as, other-
wise, small trees would lack moisture. Several small planta-
tions could l>e established within easy walking distance of the
Observatorj-, and will give better results than the elVorts to
grow trees 'uf>on the rock platforms of the mountain. The
need of shade and shelter around the buildings upon the peak
is most pressing, and the effort to establish a few more trees
of the hardiest species there must not be neglected.

Hitherto all the planting attempted has been at, or near, the top
of the mountain. Therealpossibilitlesof the large, and, for many
uses, very valuable tract of wild land owned by the University,
have been neglected. The tract consists of 2,600 acres, cover-
ing a range of^soofeet in aliitiide, from about 2,700 feet above
the sea to the crest of Mount Hamilton, 4,200 feet high. By a
comparatively slight additional expenditure the reservation
could be increased to 3,000 or 3.500 acres, and this would
greatly add to its future value as an experiment station for
hardier fruits and forest-trees. In parts of Italy the Olive
thrives at an elevation of 3,200 feet, and in Algeria at 4,800 feet,
white bearing orchards are not uncommon at 3.000 feet above
the sea. The Olive requires thorough cultivation, but needs
no irrigation in the Mount Hamilton district, where the rainfall
is sufficient. It endures summer heat of from 100 to 120 de-
grees, but, as before stated, the winter temperature must not
be less than fourteen degrees.

From both the botanical and the horticultural standpoint,
this tract of land on Mount Hamilton is one of the most inter-
(»tin(^ areas to be found in the entire Coast-range. It ought to
be utilized, and portions of it should in time yield a very con-
siderable income — probably enough to pay the expenses of
planting the other parts.

There are many warm " flats'.' containing rich soil and flow-
ing springs ; here orchards of Olives and the deciduous fruits
will thrive. Peaches, Apricots and Prunes are growing well in
simikir localities. About 3.200 feet would probably mark the
natural limits of such orchards, but the hardier Apples and
Pears could l>e planted higher up on the mountain. If five or
six hundred acres prove well adapted to these cultures, it
would be all one could exi)ect. Possibly, in tlie course of time,
Olives could be established over a large area of the rocky
slopes.

For pure forestry treatment, after the best European methods,
with modifications to adapt them to California conditions, tliere
are a thousiind or more acres that can be covered eventually
with as fine a coniferous forest as that which clothes the base
of Shasta. Ultimately, with sufficient funds to carry on the
work proiKrrly, every part of the tract, except a few precipices
too steep for trees to obtain a foothold, can be covered with
regetation. This, the Director assures me, would not injure
the astronomical value of the Lick Observatory, but would
undoubtedly steady the atmosphere and improve the general
conditions.

The creation of profitable orchards upon the suitable por-
tions of the 2,600 acres lielonging to the Mount Hamilton
reservation, and of equally valuable forests of Sugar Pine,
Yellow Pine and .Sequoias, will undoubtedly be the task of a
lifetime, and it will In; hard to (ind men who combine the
requisite knowledge and energy for its accomplishment. Hut
I know of no l)etter place for a forestry station of the first rank
to deal directly with the practical problem which the state and
national government are just beginning to recognize— the
utilization of our rough lands, the reforesting of denuded
mountains.
BeHMiejr.CL Charles J/oward Shinn.

Correspondence.

Favorite Flowers.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I wish to say a few words, not about the popular flowers
with which people are often strangely enamored until a more
recent novelty causes them to be forgotten ; such flowers are
double Dahlias, Fuchsias, Cacti, and, at the present moment,
the Chrysanthemum. I would speak of the flowers popular
among village folk, among the primitive dwellers on the
mountains and in valleys far remote from the stir of city life.
With us, in Switzerland, le Rosace des Alpes (Rhododendron
ferrugineum and R. hirsutum) has been in favor for a long
period. This is, without doubt, our national flower. It orna-
ments our coins, and is largely used in decorations. But on
inquiry as to whether this popularity is of old standing, I find,
on the contrary, it is of comparatively recent date. Among
our shepherds the old name of Rose des Alpes is simply " le
buisson des poules," the wild bird's thicket, because its
densely clad branches afford excellent cover to the Alpine
grouse, the heath-cock, etc. So prosaic a name fails to show
that the common people of old held it in the slightest favor
from an aesthetic point of view. One of the earliest praises
of the Rhododendron is found in the immortal poetry of
Albert Haller, Les Alpes (1729), where he writes, "Smaragd
und Rosen-gliihn audi auf zertretner Heide,'' taking care to
say in a note that he refers to Ledum foliis glabris flore tubu-
loso and to Ledum foliis ovatis flore tubuloso, which in ante-
Linn;ean nomenclature designate our varieties of Rhododen-
dron. The first author who makes mention of the poetic
name, "Alpenrose," is the celebrated Clusius, in his charm-
ing work, so beautifully illustrated, The History of some Rare
Species in Hungary and Austria, printed by Plantin at Antwerp
in 1583.

The Edelweiss, the Leontopodium, so much the rage at
present, coveted by every traveler who makes his tour of
Switzerland, so sought after, that year by year a dozen rash
climbers lose their lives by falling from steep slopes where
they hope to find if. This plant, whose flowers are insignifi-
cant, and whose sole attraction lies in a rosette of fluffy bracts
surrounding a short corymb of dark flower-heads, enjoys a
wholly artificial popularity in Switzerland. Previous to the
publication of the novel Edelweiss, by the German author,
Berthold Auerbach, it was little known in our country. From
a remote period its popular names among the peasantry were
either Ruhrkraut (specific against dyspepsia), or Katzenpfoet-
chen (Cat's-paw). Thus we see that, before the advent of ex-
aggerated worship of this little composite, the common people
held it in no resthetic esteem, but only recognized a useful
medicine in the nature of Camomile, or found in the flower
the likeness of a cat's-paw. Clusius, in the work already cited,
gives an excellent figure of this plant and .says that, according
to Josias Simler, it is called Wullblume, that is, woody flower;
but he makes no mention either of its popularity or of its hav-
ing been put to any use by tlie people. It was only about
1850 that a change in public opinion arose in Switzerland, and
the name Edelweiss, made upof tlie adjectives nobleand white,
had doubtless its origin in the eastern Alps, in Bavaria and the
Tyrol, where, it appears, the young men in the villages have
long had the custom of offering bouquets of this flower to
their fiancees. The popularity of the Edelweiss has since,
without exaggeration, become a public calamity, for every
summer sees numerous deaths caused by this ill-omened,
plant. There are always rash young men, who, for the pur-
pose of gathering a flower on which they set such undeserved
value, venture on steep and very slippery slopes, the favorite
habitat of tlie Leontopodium, to fall into the depths below and
find a horrible death. What has contributed, unfortunately, to
the renown of this plant and to the seeker's enthusiasm, is the
fatal idea in some cantonal governments, under pretense of
protecting the plant, of forbidding its collection with its roots.
It would have been infinitely better to have er.idicated it en-
tirely from localities fre(|uented by travelers, and so have
removed temptation, for tlie plant is much overrated. In the
first place, it is by no means rare. Every Swiss botanist knows
of regions where the Edelweiss abounds, covering accessible
and safe slopes, and furnishing its flowers in unlimited quan-
tity. The neighborhood of Zermatt and the Tessnio are such
localities. In addition, the Edelweiss, not being an endemic
plant, or one confined to Switzerland and the Alpine chains,
cannot be called a characteristic product of our mountains.
On the contrary, it is one of the plants of the Siberian steppes,
where it is widespread, and only finds its last station in the
European mountains, where it occurs in the Pyrenees, as well

January 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

47

as in the Apennines, and the Alps properly so called. More-
over, its artistic value is at least doubtful. It does not possess
a graceful, perfumed, delicate-colored corolla, but has the sole
merit of resemblance to an irregular star cut out of a bit of
flannel. In reality, the imitation Edelweiss, fashioned from
v?hite flannel, is perfect and could not be improved upon.
Therefore, why should people kill themselves for a plant
neither rare nor essentially Alpine, and which any skillful
dressmaker can so faultlessly imitate ? It is high time to aban-
don this craze. It should also be remembered that the Edel-
weiss is very easily cuUivated, that it is raised easily from seed,
and that the flowers are as fine, or nearly as fine, as those
gathered on Alpine heights. Any one can grow, in a small
pot, the quantity of Edelweiss sufficient for his needs.

If inquiry is made of our shepherds what, other than forage
plants, are their favorites, the following is learned, but not
without difficulty, for they do not talk freely with strangers.
The plant held in the highest esteem, nay, even venerated, is
certainly rAllium Victorialis, L., by no means common in
Switzerland. Its root, covered with fibrous transverse-veined
envelopes, is reputed a sovereign charm against every species
of witchcraft, and there are few chalets under whose thresholds
fine roots are not hidden, or in whose interiors, by dint of
searching, small bundles of the same are not found concealed.
The names of this plant are characteristic and of very great
antiquity ; " AUermannsharnish," that is, the armor of AUer-
mann, who was probably some German god ; and "Neiinkern-
ler," that is, root with nine coverings, because of the en-
velopes already mentioned.

Another plant which every mountaineer gathers and places
in his hat, but which is carefully put in a box at home as a sov-
ereign remedy, is Artemisia mutellina, Vill., a charming spe-
cies, several inches high, covered with shiny and silvery down
and bearing little yellow tlower-heads. This rather rare plant,
found only on slopes much exposed to the sun, at an elevation
of 7,000 feet and higher, has a very powerful perfume and an
exceedingly bitter taste. Taken as tea it is an excellent sudo-
rific, and generally affords great relief in colds and neuralgia.
A friend, one of the foremost Swiss geologists, follows this
peasant custom, and always keeps on hand a supply of this
plant to serve in case of need. I have seen a tourist, nearly
exhausted by the great hardships of an excursion on the Treft-
joch, in Valais, quite restored in a single night by a strong dose
of "Genipe" tea, which I was able to furnish his guide from
the collections I had made that day.

Another much-sought-for flower, and that solely for its
beauty, is the " Speick," so called by the Tyrolese. Universally
known and admired, it is in reality the national flower of the
Tyrol, givingtheir name to many localities, for example, "Speick-
leiten," hill-side of the Speick; "Speickecken," point of the
Speick, etc. In reality no plant merits its popularity more than
this, the Primula glutinosa, for it is the most beautiful and
odoriferous of its kind. It is not widely diffused, but in its
habitat is found in little close-growing clusters covered with
blooms, and the entire plant is enveloped with a glutinous
matter so delicious in perfume that one never tires of it. This
perfume, a mixture of balsam and vanilla, is agreeable beyond
words. Its flowers, in close little heads, are dark violet, verg-
ing toward indigo, rich and beautiful in form. A bouquet of
"Speick" is the most glorious thing all Alpine nature can
show, and the embodiment of truly original beauty. When
presented by a Tyrolean to his lady-love it is a genuine declara-
tion of love, admiration and endless homage. This Primula,
not found in Switzerland except in the mountains of the lower
Engadine, becomes more coiumon in the eastern Tyrol, and
extends into the Austrian ranges and those about Salzburg. I
have found it on Italian soil also in the Passo di Gavia, leading
from the Val Canonica to Santa Caterina, in the Bernese Alps.
It was found growing beside the Ranunculus glacialis with very
large snow-white corollas, the rosy flowers of the Primula
oenensis, the Androsace glacialis, Wopp., and the intense blue
of the Gentians. It was a vision of beauty. I have brought it
home to my garden, but I fear so delicate and exquisite a plant
will not succeed under conditions so different from those to
which it has adapted itself.

Bale, Switzerland. H. Christ.

The Iris Season.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— I observe in Garden and Forest of November
30th of last year, that one correspondent thinks that the Iris
season may last from May to August, while you yourself ex-
tend it to the period from February to August. I cannot resist
the temptation to say that, with the help of a cold frame and

a cool greenhouse, I manage so that I am never, I ;think, a
whole fortnight during the year without an Iris bloom to
look upon.

Iris Monnieri, a very handsome yellow Iris of the spuria
group, is somewhat later than I. Kasmpferi, and very soon
after its last bloom has gone, I have, during early September or
later, a fair succession of blooms from I. ensata, var. bighimis.
This latter is a second blooming, but with me is better and
fuller than the first blooming. I can always depend on this
plant blooming twice. When it has passed away I have to
depend on second blooms of certain dwarf Irises, namely, a
variety of I. Cengialti, and certain hybrids from it, some dwarf
Irises of the biflora group, some hybrids of I. virescens, etc.
These all bloom fitfully, and as the damp, late autumn comes
on, the blooms are poor; but still they are there. And I often
get late second, or even third, blooms from the little North
American I. lacustris. Before these have wholly failed, I.
Vartani (belonging to the reticulata group) and I. alata make
their appearance in a cold frame ; very soon afterward I. un-
guicularis (stylosa) comes out in a cool greenhouse, say, in De-
cember, and then I am quite safe, for I. unguicularis goes on
blooming for many weeks. I. Palaestina flowers at Christmas in
the greenhouse, and with the help of a few pots of I. histrio,
and others of the reticulata group, I am secure until the various
forms of I. reticulata and I. Rosenbachiana flower in the open
ground, to be followed by other bulbous Irises until the first
I. pumila expands. I may add that the hybridization of Irises
is not wholly unbroken ground. I have some thirty hybrids
of my own raising which have flowered, and of some of which
I am rather proud ; and there are very many more "on the
way."

Shelfoid, Cambridgeshire, England. M. Foster.

[The note to which our correspondent refers was from
the owner of an estate whom we knew to be especially in-
terested in hardy plants, and our comments were only
intended to note the flowering of Irises in the open with-
out protection. We know of gardens here where Irises
may be found in flower under protection from early No-
vember till flowers appear in the open ground in the early
year. It will scarcely be denied, we think, that Irises are
very scarce flowers from August to November, but we are
obliged to Professor Foster for calling attention to the fact
that from his well-known rich collection of plants it is pos-
sible to secure flowers even at that dry season. Further
notes from him as to varieties likely to flower then will be
helpful to our readers. We say likely to flower, for it ap-
pears from the list given that most of the blooms of that
season are secondary and fitful. The horticultural world
will welcome any hybrid Iris bearing Professor Foster's
endorsement, and we trust others may follow the good ex-
ample and add to the riches of our gardens.— Ed. ]

Tigridias.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Mr. W. Watson, in reviewing Mr. Baker's book on
Irideas in Number 250 of Garden and Fosest, says : "There
does not appear to be any good reason for keeping upTigridia
Pringlei as a species distinct from T. pavonia." I infer, there-
fore, that Mr. Baker has placed it under T. pavonia. The late
Sereno Watson named this species from bulbs collected by
Mr. Pringle, and flowered at Cambridge, affording him the
best material. In his description of it vi'hen figured in Garden
and Forest, October 10, 1888. he speaks of it as closely related
to T. pavonia, but he mentions certain specific differences
which led him to call it a distinct species. After growing T.
Pringlei several seasons with T. pavonia, it is hard to believe
them the same. T. Pringlei seeds very freely in this climate ;
almost every flower produces a full capsule, while T. pavonia
produces none. T. pavonia increases fast by division, while
the opposite is the result with T. Pringlei ; indeed, it does not
seem to divide at all. I never knew a flower of T. Pringlei to
open the second time, but I have seen those of T. pavonia
open, close toward night, and open again the second day. But
these characteristics may have no bearing as to its being a dis-
tinct species.

In the same paragraph of this review Mr. Watson says,
" Tigridia Dugesii and T. buccifera are likely garden-plants
from the description of them." Are we, then, to infer that T.
buccifera, Watson, is also not a true species ? I believe that
Mr. Watson decided that T. Dugesii was not a Tigridia, but be-
longed to the genus Nemastylis.

48

Garden and Forest.

[Number 257.

The question suggested to a vendor of these plants, who
would like to keep as near tl>e correct nomenclature as possi-
Ue is whose authority is best? If Mr. Sereno Watson was
wrong, then how many other species are we growing unUer
the wrong name ? F H. H.

CtMufcHlr.Vt.

fTigridia Pringlei. T. buccifera and T. Dugesii are de-
scribed as distinct species in Rakers Handbook 0/ Iridece.
In a note to T. Dugesii, Mr. Baker says, "It was after-
ward. I think wrongly, removed by Dr. Watson to Ncnia-
stylis." — Ed. J

Notes.

••You must nurse your own tlowers," wrote Robert Southey,
"if YOU would have them flourish, unless you happen to have
a ga'rdener who is as fond of them as yourself."

The New York Lumber Trade Journal, in the receipt of
lumber for 1892. in the metropolitan district, includes among
U>e foreign woods imported, rattan, $546,485; mahogany.
$9^3.341, and cork. $1,166,393.

Choice cut tlowers of the American Beauty Rose are selling
at $J a piece in this city ; and among fruits, Naval Oranges
bring $1 to $1.25 a dozen, and Grape Fruits $1.50 a dozen.
Cups ol New Jersey hot-house Strawberries, contammg fifteen
berries, sell for $3.

A recent article in the American Agriculturist describes
San Maguil ranch, in Ventura County. California, as the largest
tract m the worid devoted to the cultivation of Lima Beans,
there being 1.350 acres. The shipments in 1891 amounted to
i.oos tons, and twenty-five tons were retained tor seed.

In regard to the relative rank of the architect and the land-
scape-gardener, the poet Cowley, in the seventeenth century,
saidin his treatise. "Of Agriculture," "The three first men
in the world were a Gardiner, a Ploughman, and a Grazier;
and if any man object that the second of these was a mur-
thercr. 1 desire that he would consider that, as soon as he was
so, he quitted our profession and turned builder."

The agricultural experiment station at Yuma, Arizona, has
been testing during the year the varieties of early fruits and
vegetables which can be cultivated to the best advantage in that
torrid climate. It is thought by the people of that region that
An/ona and some of the favored parts of southern California
will ultimately furnish eastern cities with the supply of winter
vegetables which now largely come from Bermuda and the
southern Atlantic states.

The first number of The Orchid Review, published this
month, contains illustrations of the hybrids Cypripedium
Niobeand C. Edwardii. together with the Hrst of a series of
historical articles on Orchid hybridization, descriptions of new
and notable Orchids, and a list of recently pubhshed Orchid
portraits. This new English periodical, devoted exclusively
to Orchidology in all its departments, is established with special
reference to the interests of amateur cultivators, and is in-
tended to be a monthly repertorium of information and a
record for future reference.

The two-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of sexuality
in plants i« noted in the Popular Science Monthly for February,
Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, professor at Tubingen, having pub-
lished his report on this subject in the Ephemerides of the
Leopoldinc Academy, December 28, i69i,and in his memoir,
Dt Sexu planlarum Epistola. His statement made but little
impression, and, in 1793, the schoolmaster. Christian Conrad
SprengeL of Spandau, published a book in which were de-
scribed the functions of the organs of Howcrs, and of the col-
ored petals. This valuable work remained unknown until
1862. when Charles Darwin found it and made it public.

It is usually thought that no one in Europe- cared for anv
but formal gardens until the eighteenth century, and that Mil-
ton's imaginative picture of what we should now call a land-
scape-garden, as the home of our first parents, showed a taste
distinctly in advance of that of his time. Yet if seems as though
certain individuals who were born before Milton must have
loved the idea of "naturalness" in a garden, even if they did
not express it as completely as the artists of the eighteenth
century. In the Elements of Architecture, for Instance, which

irregular,

The recent sale to a building company of a tract of land, in-
cUuling about 3,000 feet of water-front, between Asbury Park
and Elberon, on the New Jersey shore, has called attention to
the fact that this property was granted by the Crown ot Great
Britain to the great-great-grandfather of the person who owned
it until the transfer in question was made. It was specially
conveyed to a colonist named Drummond at the time when a
eeneral grant was made by the Crown to Sir George Cartel et
and John, Lord Berkley, of the district called " Nova C:csarea,
or New Jersey " ; and, with the exception ot two farms, in-
cluded in the recent purchase, has always remained in the pos-
session of the Drummond family. The old Drummond home-
stead, bearing on its chimney the date 1755. and scarred with
bullet-marks, which testify to the skirmish which preceded the
battle of Monmouth, is to be preserved, and likewise a modest
hotel long locally noted under the name of Hathaway s. The
present name of the shore, Deal Beach, will be retained, and
It is to be hoped that, although a range of villas will be planted
along the blutf, a part at least of the picturesque back country,
with its little lakes and streams and passages of dense wood-
land, may not be needed for building purposes.

Describing, in her Recollections of a Happy Life, the striking
plants which grow in wild profusion in South Africa, Miss
North says that near the head of Van Staaden's Gorge, winch
is reached from the town of Cadles, she saw acres of Protea-
bushes of different sorts, and huge Everlasting-plants standing
a yard or two above the ground, with white velvety leaves
around a thick stem surmounted by a cauliflower head of white
petals and yellow stamens. These looked like tomb-stones at
a distance. Near this in a marshy hollow was Sparaxis pen-
dula. Its almost invisible stalks stood four or five feet high,
waving in the wind, and were weighed down by strings of pink
bells with yellow calyx and buds ; they followed the winding
marsh, and looked like a pink snake In the distance. Masses
of Agapantluis In bloom made another beautiful picture, and so
do the groups of Oldenburgia, a striking shrub which grows
only on these hills, and on the very tops of them. Its stalks
and young leaves are of the purest white velvet, the older
leaves lined with the same, but the upper sides resemble the
leaves of the great Magnolia. The flowers are like Artichoke-
flowers, purple, with white calyx, stalks and buds, growing in
a noble bunch. The whole bush is under six feet high.

In Antheoloi^ia, or The Speech of Flowers, a book written
by old Thomas Fuller, described by him as "partly Morall,
partly MIstlcall," and which was published during the height
of the Tulip-mania in the seventeenth century, the Rose
makes an elaborate oration in praise of her own charms, and
then remarks : " More would I say in mine own cause but
that happily I may be taxed of pride, and selfe-flattery, who
speak much in mine own behalf, and therefore I leave the
rest to the judgment of such as hear me, and pass from this
discourse to my just complaint." And then she explains,
"There is lately a Flower (shal 1 call it so ? in courtesle I will
tearme it so, though It deserve not the appellation), a Toolip,
which hath engrafted the love and affections of most people
unto it; and what is this Toolip? a well complexlon'd stink,
an 111 favour wrapt up in pleasant colours ; as for the use
thereof in Physick, noPhysitlan hath honoured it yet with the
mention, nor with a Greek, or Latin name, so inconsiderable
hath It hitherto been accompted ; and yet this Is that which
flUeth all Gardens, hundred of pounds being given for the root
thereof, whilst I, the Rose, am neglected and contemned, and
conceived beneath the honour of noble hands, and fit only to
grow In the gardens of Yeomen. I trust the remainder to
your apprehensions, to make out that which gi'ief for such un-
deserved injuries will not suffer me to expresse."

written by Sir Henry Wotton, who died In 1639, nearly

forty years l^cfore Milton, we may read, " First, I must note a
cert;iin contrar'-ily Ixitwcen building and gardening; for as

1 1)6 regular, so GarflenB should be irre

,iilo a very wild Regularity."

Catalo^^ues Received.

W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Illustrated Catalogue of
Flower Seeds and Seeds of Novelties in Vegetables ; also, " All About
.Sweet Peas." — Henry E. Burr, Montrose Nurseries, Orange, N. J.;
Rare Evergreen and Hardy Shrubs, Fruit and Ornamental Trees. ^
Jacques Collette, Ronchaine. Huy, Belgium ; Flower, Vegetable
and Grass Seeds. — W. Piercv, 89 Beadnell Road, Forest Hill, London,
S. E.; Descriptive List of Early and Semi-early and Late-flowering
Chrysanthemums. — T. II. Spaulding, Orange, N. J.; Choice Chrys-
anthemum Seed, Plants of Selected Native and Imported Chrysanthe-
mums, Seeds and Bulbs of Tuberous Begonias, Cannas. — KlNTON
SrEVENS, Santa Barbara, Cal.; Tropical and Semi-tropical Fruit and
Ornamental Trees and Plants. — J. C. Vaughan, New York and
Chicago; Trade List of Seasonable Bulbs and Flower Seeds.— VlLMO-
RlN-ANDRn;ux & Co., 4 Qua! do la MegLsserie, Paris ; Seeds of Novel-
ties in Vegetables and Flowers. — M. WiNUMlLLBR & SoN, Mankato,
^linn. ; Tree Roses and Tuberous Begonias.

February i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

49

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Saxgrnt.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY i, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGR.

Editorial Articles; — A Seventeenth Century Garden 49

The Love of the Japanese for Particular Flowers 50

The Ginger-beer Plant Professor H. Marshall Ward. 50

The Coast Dune Flora of Lake Michigan. — II E. J. Hill. 51

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — 1 11. (With figure.) C. S. S. 51

Foreign Correspondence: — The New Plants of 1892. — II W. Watson. 52

Cultural Dkpartment: — Irises and their Cultivation. — VII J. N. Gerard. 55

Autumn-flowering Lilies. — II G. Reuthe. 55

Some American Bulbs F. H. H. 56

Grevillea robusta George C. Butz. 56

Correspondence ; — A New Plant Label. (With figure.) J. N. Gerard. 57

The Old Hedge-rows on Long Island Will. W. Tracy. 57

Meehngs of SociEriES : — ^The Western New York Horticultural Society. — I.: 57

Address of the President William C. Barry. 57

Prevention of Apple-scab Professor S. A. Beack. 58

Bird Notes for Horticulturists Walter B. Barrows. 58

Notes t 59

Illustrations : — Cercidiphyllum Japonicum, in the Forests of Vezo, Fig. 9 53

An English Plant Label. Fig. 10 57

A Seventeenth Century Garden.

EARLY in the seventeenth century, and not long after
leyasu by the selection of Yedo for the Shoguns'
capital made it the most important city in Japan, the Prince
Mitsukuni laid out within the borders of the city a garden
in which to find, after a life of labor, a peaceful old age.
This garden, which has been maintained in an excellent
state of preservation, is one of the most interesting sights
of Tokyo; and, in view of its age and the purity of its
style, is certainly one of the most remarkable and instructive
pieces of landscape-gardening in existence. Korakuen, as
it is called, forms a part of the grounds connected with the
Koishikawa Arsenal, and English-speaking travelers in
Japan know it as the Arsenal Garden.

In conception and design this garden is Chinese, for the
Japanese, with their other arts, brought many centuries ago
the art of landscape-gardening from China where what we
call the natural style was conceived and brought to a high
state of perfection long before it was thought of in Europe.
In Japan several examples of good Chinese gardening art
exist, all dating from the early years of the seventeenth
century, notably the Garden of the Golden Pavilion con-
nected with the Rokunji Monastery at Kyoto and that of
Ginkakuji in the suburbs of that city, although none of
them compare in simplicity of design and preservation
with the Arsenal Garden at Tokyo, in which, probably,
the gardening art of China can now be studied better
than in China itself, where many of its best examples
have been destroyed during the last fifty years or have
been allowed to fall into ruin.

The Arsenal Garden occupies, perhaps, twenty acres of
ground, although it is so skillfully planted that its area may
not be ten acres or it may be fifty ; of the shape of the
piece of ground it covers the visitor can form no idea what-
ever. In reality it is a parallelogram, rather longer than
broad. The garden is entered through a small and rather
shabby outer garden of the prevailing Japanese fashion.

with the pond of dirty water surrounded with its irregular
semi-rustic stone coping and filled with plethoric part-
colored gold-fish, with the Box and Holly plants cut into
fantastic shapes, the masses of closely clipped Azaleas and
Enkianlhus, the piles of moss-covered rocks as full of
associations to the Japanese mind as they are meaningless
to ours, with the artificially moidded surface of the ground,
the contorted Pine-tree, the unhappy-looking Apricots, and
the leafless Cherry-trees. This dreariness and unnatural
monotony serve, however, to intensify the pleasure which
the visitor feels as soon as he passes the simple gateway
in the high masonry wall which surrounds the inner
enclosure ; then he finds himself in a broad walk paved in
the middle for a width of five or six feet, with flat, irregu-
larly shaped stones raised a few inches above the surface,
the whole being constructed in imitation of that portion
of the Tokaido, the great sea-coast highway of Japan,
which crosses the pass in the Hakone Mountains. This
path winds gracefully through a grove of Live Oaks,
Camphor- trees, Camellias and Hollies, and in the hottest
day of summer affords a retreat as cool as a grotto.
On either side the ground rises and falls in natural un-
dulations and is covered under the trees with a thick
carpet of evei-green plants, Aucubas, Aralias, and many
Ferns ; ascending and descending as it crosses the undula-
tions of the surface it reaches the shores of a lake at a point
where the broadest and most perfect view of the garden
is obtained. Here the lake, made in imitation of a famous
sheet of water in China which occupies perhaps half the
area of the garden, can be seen in all the simplicity of
its design surrounded by what appear to be high hills
clothed to their summit with an unbroken mass of ever-
green foliage through which here and there the tall spire
of a great Fir-tree stands out boldly against the sky.
The walk now leaves the border of the lake, and, cross-
ing a small lawn, passes by a tea-house, -and, plunging
into the woods, rises and falls sometimes steeply, at others
gradually, as it leads the visitor around the borders of
the garden ; now it comes to a point from which a vista
has been cut through the trees for a view across the
lake ; now it passes a miniature reproduction of the
temple of Kiyomizu at Kyoto, and then by a shrine
which commemorates the glory of two Chinese brothers
famous because they preferred death to disloyalty ; then
across an arching stone bridge to an octagonal shrine, so
formed in allusion to the eight diagrams of the Chinese
system of divination ; and then over a rushing torrent
which falls with a high cataract into the lake, and by
other lawns finally reaches the point where the shore' of
the lake was first approached. The wonders of this walk
are its mystery and quiet, for while it is perhaps not more
than half a mile long, it appears, so varied is it in inter-
est, to extend for miles, and, in the midst of a great city,
it seems to climb the hills and to cross the ravines and
streams of a primeval forest.

The Arsenal Garden occupies what was once probably
a perfectly level piece of ground. The soil, taken from
the site of the lake, was heaped up around the borders
to protect them and to diversify the surface, and then
the water which fills the lake was introduced at the
highest point of the artificial hills and allowed to fall
naturally in a series of cascades ; the natural grouping
of a few varieties of harmonious trees did the rest, the
whole producing a result so quiet and perfect that a
visitor, standing on the shore of the lake might well
imagine himself a thousand miles from any human habi-
tation. The little tea-house where guests are refreshed,
the shrines and temples, the bridges and the other struc-
tures which make the walk through the garden interest-
ing, are all hidden and do not intrude upon the harmony
of the scene. And hidden, too, are the special collections
of plants which add to the attractions of the garden with-
out disfiguring it as a work of art At one point the
principal walk passes through a little grove of Apricot-
trees dear to the hearts of all Japanese, for the flowers

50

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBEK 25S.

which cover the naked branches in February tell them
of the coming of spring ; in another part of the garden
there is a collection of Cherry-trees which produce their
pink and while, flowers after those of the Apricots have
fallen ; atone point where the trees recede from the shores
of the lake, leaving a grass-covered recess, arc a number
of Wistaria-vines trained over low frames in the Japanese
fashion ; and in the middle of another little lawn is an Iris-
emrden, with irregulariy shaped sunken beds separated, like
Uiose of a Rice-tield, by narrow walks. Each of these
special features makes the garden interesting at a particu-
lar time of the year, while they are so carefully placed
that they do not interfere with the artistic feeling which
controls it and has made it what it is ; and it is this group-
ing of inharmonious units, buildings, and collections of
plants in such a way that they do not intrude themselves
in the landscape, which is the chief merit of this garden
and which makes it so worthy of study.

The mere lover of plants, as well as the student of the
art of gardening, will find much to interest him in Mitsu-
kuni's creation, for in this garden he will find some of the
finest trees that can be seen in Japan, and among them
several which are probably as old as the garden itself; and
it is interesting to note that, although as a general rule the
Japanese cultivate Chinese rather than Japanese plants in
their gardens, here the plantations are composed almost
entirely of Japanese trees ; and that none of the clipped,
dwarfed and distorted plants, which are always a feature in
the gardens of the Japanese school, appear here. On the
hilb al)ove the lake are splendid specimens of the Cam-

Jhor-tree, and of the two familiar Live Oaks of central
apan (Quercus cuspidata and Quercus glauca) ; nowhere
can be seen nobler plants of the two broad-leaved Hollies
of Japan, Ilex latifolia and Ilex Integra; the common
Japanese Maple, growing here to its largest size, dips its
delicate branchlets into the waters of the placid lake, while
above it the Momi (Abies firma), the handsomest of all the
Japanese Firs, sends up its straight, massive stems to the
height of at least a hundred and fifty feet. Here are
thickets of the great arborescent Bamboos, which are still
largely planted in all the temperate parts of the empire ;
and in this garden is to be seen what experts declare is
the finest plant of the so-called square-stemmed Bamboo
known.

The garden is admirably kept, indeed, so well kept, that
the keeping seems to be the work of nature, and the inter-
ference of man's hand is barely noticeable, except, perhaps,
in the too formal trimming of the margin of the lake at
those points where the trees do not grow close down to the
water. But, except for this single fault, it is not easy to
see how this garden, created before Le Notre was born,
and when the art of landscape-gardening was unknown in
Europe, could be improved, or how a more natural, restful
or delightful spot for all seasons of the year could be made
in the midst of a great city.

quickened by their interest in the unfolding of the petals of
Cherry-trees or Wistarias.

It is certainly possible to arrange in the parks of any
great city special collections of hardy flowering plants in
sufhcient numbers to make their flowering an object of
enough public interest to draw into the parks at these par-
ticular times many people who, without some special
object, would never go into them at all. As our cities grow
large and absorb the surrounding country, many of their in-
habitants must pass their lives in ignorance of some of the
most beautiful things in nature, without beholding, for ex-
ample, the glory of an Apple-tree in flower. In some cor-
ner of any one of our large parks, or, better, in different parks
in a series or system, a number of permanent outdoor flower-
shows might be arranged which would add immenselyto
their value as places of resort, and would have a powerful in-
fluence in directing and educating the public taste. There are
many trees, for example, with showy and beautiful flowers,
which only display their greatest beauty when massed to-
gether in considerable numbers, and if the people of our
cities had the opportunity to see such collections they
would very soon make holidays for the purpose, and
fiower-festivals before many years would become as much
a part of the life of our cities as they have become in Japan.

In the arrangement in this garden of special collections
of plants selected for the purpose of producing a display
of flowers at different seasons of the year, and so placed that
the general landscape-effect of the whole is not interfered
with, there is perhaps an idea which can be adopted ad-
vantageously in other parts of the world. It is the expres-
sion of the love of the Japanese for particular flowers and
of the popularity of the flower-festivals held in spring, when
the Apricot-trees and the Cherry-trees bloom ; in summer,
when the Wistaria, the Irises and the Morning-glories are
in flower, and in the autumn, at the season of the Chrysan-
themum and when the leaves of the Maple-trees assume
their brilliant coloring. Every public garden in Japan con-
tains collections of these plants, at least of the Apricots, the
Cherries and the Maples, and they are visited by the great-
est number of people when these plants are in flower.
Their flowering is the excuse for parties of pleasure, and
the intelligence of millions of people has in this way been

The Ginger-beer Plant.

AVERY thorough and interesting study of what is called
in England, and in some parts of this country, the
Ginger-beer plant, has recently been published by Professor H.
Marshall Ward, whose investigations have been prosecuted
for several years. The plant is usually found in small lumpy
masses, which look like sago or tapioca, and vary in size from
as small as a pin-head to as large as a plum. It is these lumps
which have been used from an unknown date for producing
the fermentation in the making of ginger-beer, but the exact
nature of the lumps and the way in which they produce the
fermentation was unknown, although it had been supposed
that they resembled the Kephir-grains, which have been
studied by several botanists.

Professor Ward finds that the masses of the Ginger-beer plant
are composed of a mixture of several forms of yeast plants
and bacteria, not to mention other fungi which we may call
molds. It was his object to discover exactly which of the
forms were the active agents in producing the fermentation,
and which were unessential, or more properly accidental, con-
stituents of the masses. iX'^ith this object he isolated the
different forms by means of cultures, and, after obtaining pure
cultures of the different forms, studied their chemical and
physiological action individually, and afterward in combina-
tion with one another. The subject is a difficult one, and Pro-
fessor Ward was forced to contrive a number of rather com-
plicated systems of apparatus in his very careful investigation,
of which we can only state briefly the result.

The three principal yeast fungi found in the masses were
Mycoderma cerevisise, a common form found especially on
the surface of stale beer, Cryptococcus glutinis, a pink form,
and a new species to which he gave the name of Saccharomy-
ces pyriformis. Of these three forms, the two first named
were proved not to be essential to the fermentation. S. pyri-
formis, however, must be regarded as the really active yeast
of the Ginger-beer plant. It resembles in its ordinary condi-
tion the Saccliaromyces ellipsoideus of some wine fermenta-
tions, but is distinguished by the following characters : It is a
bottom yeast which ferments cane sugar; it produces spores
in from two to four days at 25 degrees C, and in beer-wort
forms at length a film over the surface composed of pear-
shaped cells from which the species derives its name.

A number of forms of bacteria were found in the masses
mixed witli tlie yeasts, among them the Bacterium aceti of
acetic acid fermentation, but tlie only specially active bacterium
was a new species named Bacterium vermiforme from the
gelatinous, worm-like coils which it forms under favorable
conditions. The habits and action of this bacterium are very
complicated. It is sometimes in the condition of free fila-
ments, or short rods and motile, and sometimes the filaments
are fixed in gelatinous sheaths. After a long series of experi-
ments it was found that the sheath form was only found when
the bacterium was growing in media, in which there was no
oxygen, and tliat when it was removed to cultures in which
oxygen was present, the filaments escaped from the sheaths

February i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

Sr

and remained free as long as the supply of oxygen was kept
up.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Professor Ward's investi-
gation is the account of his attempt to reconstruct the Ginger-
beer plant after having separated the constituent yeasts and
bacteria by means of pure cultures. He combined the differ-
ent forms one with another, and found that in order to recon-
struct the Ginger-beer plant it was only necessary to
combine Saccharomyces pyriformis and Bacterium vermi-
forme, the other forms having no special significance
in this case. When growing in a saccharine fluid the
Saccharomyces was proved, either by its direct chemical
action on the fluid itself or by excreting some substance dur-
ing its growth, to render the fluid especially well-fitted for the
growth of the bacterium in its sheath form. The better one
grew the better the other grew, and Professor Ward considers
this a clear case of symbiosis. Where the ginger-beer plant first
came from is unknown, but by placing lumps of unsterilized
sugar and pieces of unsterilized ginger in water. Professor
Ward was able to produce a Ginger-beer plant like that in com-
mon use. But the studies in this direction are to be carried
out more fully hereafter, and it is not yet certain whether
the Ginger-beer plant in the experiment last mentioned came
from the sugar or the ginger.

The Coast Dune Flora of Lake Michigan. — II.

OTHER evidences of the mingling of species on the coast
dune are the appearance there of trees of different habits,
presenting novel and, at times, delightful conformations of
form and color. Within a small area I have seen the Black
Oak — the most common Oak of the sand region — and the Bur
Oak, the Black Willow (Salix nigra) and the Cottonwood.
Some of the trees supported a heavy growth of Frost Grapes,
which had climbed up their trunks and were bending down
their limbs. The ground at the root of the trees was covered
with dense undergrowth of Willows, Osiers and Hazel-bushes.
Celastrus scandens is another vine which twines among the
branches of the trees. The Poison Ivy (Rhus Toxicodendron)
is a common occupant of the ground ; it is always the low,
trailing form, sending up branches a foot or two high, not un-
attractive in foliage and pale fruit. Other trees often seen on
the shore are the Red Cedar, the Jack Pine and the White
Pine. One of the first trees to gain a foothold is the Cotton-
wood, seedlings of which are seen springing up in the damp
sand as low down on the beach as the waves permit, to be
washed out or buried, perhaps, by some heavy storm. On the
coastdune, which it may fringe for several miles in succes-
sion, this tree takes a low, spreading, and often, somewhat
bushy form, sometimes about as broad as it is high, the limbs
so low that the pendent racemes of fruit trace furrows in the
sand as they are moved to and fro by the wind.

Rosa blanda is the most common Rose by the lake-shore.
R. Engelmanni and R. humilis also occur. A form with very
prickly stems, blossoming throughout the summer, and re-
sembling R. Arkansana, if not identical with it, is frequent.
Hudsonia tomentosa is another little shrub, with prostrate
stems and numerous branches, very pretty when covered with
hoary leaves and a profusion of yellow flowers.

The play of sunlight on the masses of foliage formed by the
various bushes, with their differing shades of green, is very
beautiful. There is a charming variety of color, subdued and
restful to the eye, which is dazzled by the glitter from the
white sand or the reflection from the water. The groups also
have a wavy outline, due to the little mounds of sand heaped
about them along the common dune. One or two kinds may
occupy the top of a hillock and others clothe its sides or skirt
its base, the colors blending or contrasting.

There are other herbaceous plants besides those already
mentioned, which give variety to the coast dune and the bor-
dering beach. The most common Golden-rod is Solidago
humilis and its variety Gilmani. Tliey bear rather large heads
of flowers. S. nemoralis is frequent, and S. speciosa and its
variety angustata are sometimes seen, making handsome
reaches of showy flowers. Asters are not so common as Soli-
dagos in thecoast sands, but Aster multiflorus, A. ptarmicoides,
A. sagittifolius and A. azureus are often found, the last two in
more sheltered situations among or near the shrubbery.
Cnicus Pitcher! is a Thistle almost confined to the shore.
It is a low-branching plant, conspicuous by its hoary stem and
leaves, usually standing apart from otlier plants in the bare
sand. Zygadenus elegans, a liliaceous plant, may be found
growing in company with this Thistle farther down the lake.
It is a smgular companionship for a plant one may find in a
Cedar-swamp or by the mossy brook-side amid the stones.

Anemone multifida is found in similar situations, and Campa-
nula rotundifolia, var. arctica, is more widely spread. This is
usually a taller plant than the type, and has narrower leaves
and larger flowers. The Bug-seed fCorispermum hyssopifo-
lium) and the Winged Pigweed fCycloloma platyphyllum) are
also met with, the fatter an introauction from the west. Both
have spreading bushy tops when not growing too thickly,
branching close to the ground like the Tumble-weed. More
humble plants are Euphorbia polygonifolia, which spreads flat
on the ground, and Cakile Americana, the American Sea-
rocket, a fleshy plant, with small, but numerous, pink or pur-
ple flowers. Both these annuals grow in the damper sands,
and are strictly plants of the beach, the Cakile establishing it-
self nearer the water than any other.

A Wild Bean (Strophostyles angulosa) is frequent near the
shore. It is variable in habit, being sometimes nearly erect
and from six to twelve inches high, or with a procumbent stem
that may be six or eight feet long. It often climbs over bushes
and bunches of grass, if near at hand. The stems and terete
pods, and sometimes the whole plant, are tinged with purple.
The Beach Pea (Lathyrus maritimus) grows along the base of
the coast dune, and forms patches of considerable extent. The
stems are from one to two feet long. The leaflets are large,
and the handsome racemose flowers are purple, changing to
blue with age. It is one of the most attractive plants of the
lake-shore. It is easily propagated, the perennial root being
tenacious of life, and spreads readily along the railway em-
bankments which approach the shore. Petalostemon violaceus
is another showy plant of the same family which comes down
to the beach, making a large bunch of stems which rise from
a strong, deeply growing root.

Among the Sedges the most characteristic Cyperus is C.
Schweinitzii. It has a stiff and wiry culm, one to two and a half
feet high. Cyperus filiculmis is a prettier and more ornamen-
tal plant, with a shorter and more slender culm, terminated
by a dense, roundish head, or by several on spreading rays of
unequal length. Of Carex the more usual kinds are such dry-
ground species as C. cephalophora, C. Muehlenbergii and C.
Pennsylvanica, the latter near the base of trees. Equisetum
hyemale, the Scouring Rush, is seen in the lower and damper
parts of the dune, with coarse stems sometime^ three or more
feet high.

The plants mentioned have all been seen along the beach
or on tlie first ridge of sand which borders it, and form the
mass of the coast flora. Other less noticeable ones might be
added, with estrays coming in occasionally, especially upon
the more sheltered slope facing away from the lake. Of these
the handsome Hypericum Kalmianum, Potentilla fruticosa, P.
anserina, and farther north P. tridentata and Rosa Sayi are
most worthy of notice. The plants named are oftenest seen,
and seem best fitted to endure the rough treatment to which
they are exposed from the fierce winds of the lake. They vary
a good deal in the effectiveness with which they bind the loose
sands, but the humblest shares in the work by offering points
of resistance. The roots usually run deep and are consider-
ably branched, some of the most abundant grasses and shrubs
dividing extensively and forming a network of roots and fibres
in the loose soil.

Englewood, Chicago. 111. E. J. Hill.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — III.

THE general character of the composition of the Japa-
nese forests having- been briefly traced in the first
chapters of these notes, I shall now say something of the
most important Japanese trees ; and as their botanical
characters are already pretty well understood and their
economic properties are only of secondary interest to the
general reader, these remarks will relate principally to their
quality from a horticultural point of view. A comparison
with allied eastern American species will perhaps be use-
ful ; it will, at any rate, show that, while Japan is extremely
rich in the number of its tree species, the claim that has
been made, that the forests of eastern America contain the
noblest deciduous trees of all temperate regions,, can, so far
as Japan is concerned, be substantiated, for, with few ex-
ceptions, the deciduous trees of eastern America surpass
their Asiatic congeners in size and beauty.

To begin with the MagnoliaceEC. In the number of
genera of the Magnolia family Japan is not surpassed by
any other botanical region, eight of the twelve genera be-
ing represented in the empire, while in the United States
there are only four. In Japan arborescent Magnoliaceae

52

Garden and Forest.

[Number 258.

reach the most northern limit reached in any country by
these plants, and one of the most interesting features of
the Japanese flora is the presence in Yezo of three large
trees in two genera of this tropical and semi-tropical family
•s far north, at least, as forty-four degrees, while the repre-
sentative of a third genus, Schizandra, is found still further
north on the Manchurian mainland. In eastern America
two species of Magnolia reach nearly as high latitudes as
this genus does in Japan, but in the United States Magnolia is
really southern, and has only succeeded in maintaining a pre-
carious foothold at the north, while in Yezo it is a most
important element and a conspicuous feature of the forest-
vegetation. Of the eight genera of Magnoliaceae repre-
sented in Japan, all but two, Schizandra and Kadsura,
which are woody climbers, are trees, while in America
Magnolia and Liriodendron are the only arborescent
genera in the family.

Of the Japanese trees of the family, Euptela?a polyandra
is the least desirable as an ornamental plant, and will
probably never be very much cultivated except as a bo-
tanical curiosity. It is a-small tree twenty to thirty feet in
height, with a slender straight trunk covered with smooth
pale bark, stout, rigid, chestnut-brown branchlets marked
with white spots, and wide-spreading branches, which
form an open, rather unsightly, head. The leaves are am-
ple and bright green ; they are thin, prominently veined,
sometimes five or six inches long and broad, nearly circu-
lar in outline, deeply and very irregularly cut on the mar-
gins, with a long, broad, apical point, and are borne on
long slender petioles. In November they turn a dull yel-
low-brown color before falling. The minute flowers ap-
pear in early spring before the leaves, and are produced in
three or four-flowered clusters from buds formed early in
the previous autumn. They have neither sepals nor petals,
and consist of a number of slender stamens surrounding
the free, clustered carpels. The fruit, which ripens in No-
vember, is not more showy than the flowers ; it is a small,
stalked samara half an inch long and furnished with an
oblique marginal membranaceous wing. The handsomest
thing about this tree is the winter-bud, which is obtuse,
half an inch long, and covered with imbricated scales,
which are bright chestnut-brown and as lustrous as if they
had been covered with a coat of varnish. Euptelia poly-
andra is found in the mountainous forests of central Japan
usually on the banks, or in the neighborhood, of streams
between 2,000 and 3,000 feet above the sea-level, but it
does not appear to be anywhere very common. It is the
type of a small genus represented in the flora of Bombay
by a second species.*

Cercidiphyllum Japonicum, the second of the Japanese
trees of the Magnolia family, is the representative of a
monotypic endemic genus. It is the most interesting, as
it is the largest deciduous tree of the empire, and, more than
any other of its inhabitants, gives their peculiar appear-
ance and character to the forests of Yezo. Of the botanical
characters and relationship of this tree we shall have some-
thing to say in a later issue, in connection with a figure of
the male and female flowers, for Cercidiphyllum is dice-
cious and produces its minute apetalous precocious stam-
inate and pistillate flowers on different individuals. In
Yezo, Cercidiphyllum inhabits the slopes of low hills and
selects a moist situation and rich deep soil, from which the
denseness of the forest and the impenetrable growth of
dwarf Bamboo, which covers the forest-floor, effectually
check evaporation. In such situations it attains its greatest
size, often rising to the height of a hundred feet, and devel-
oping a cluster of stems eight or ten feet through. Some-
times Cercidiphyllum forms a single trunk three or four feet
in diameter and free of branches for fifty feet above the
ground ; but more commonly it sends up a number of
stems, which are united together for several feet into a stout
trunk and then gradually diverge. The trunk of a typical
Cercidiphyllum of this form appears in the illustration on

• Bjr • lUp Eoptdia wa« laduded In ihe liil of the ei)deinlc arborescent genera
of Japaa, prialea la die firal iaaoe of tbeae note*.

page 53, of this issue. It is the reproduction of a photo-
graph made last summer on the hill near Sapporo alluded
to in the first number of these notes, and represents a large,
but by no means an exceptionally large, trunk, which, at
three feet above the ground, girted twenty-one feet six
inches.

The trunk of Cercidiphyllum is covered with thick pale
bark, deeply furrowed and broken into narrow ridges.
Similar bark covers the principal branches ; these are very
stout and issue from the stem nearly at right angles;
gradually drooping, the slender reddish branchlets in
which they end are often decidedly pendulous. The upper
branches and branchlets are erect, the whole skeleton of
the tree showing even in summer through the sparse,
small, nearly circular leaves which are placed remotely on
the branches ; in the autumn they turn clear bright yellow.
In port and in the general appearance of its foliage, Cer-
cidiphyllum, as it appears in the forests of Yezo, might, at
first sight, be mistaken fora venerable Ginkgo-tree, which, in
old age, has the same habit, with pendulous branches below
and erect branches above ; but the trunk and its cover-
ing are very different in the two trees.

Cercidiphyllum is distributed from central Yezo south-
ward nearly through the entire length of the Japanese
islands. At the north it grows at the sea-level and is very
common, but on the main island it is confined to high
elevations and is rather rare. Except in Yezo, it sel-
dom grows more than twenty or thirty feet high, and I
never saw it, except in that island, below 5,000 feet ele-
vation, where, as at Yumoto, in the Nikko Mountains, it is
scattered through the lower borders of the Hemlock-
forest.

Cercidiphyllum is a valuable timber-tree, producing soft
straight-grained light yellow wood, which resembles the
wood of Liriodendron, although rather lighter and softer
and probably inferior in quality. It is very straight-grained
and easily worked, and in Yezo is a favorite material for
the interior finish of cheap houses and for cases, packing-
boxes, etc. From its great trunks the Ainos hollowed their
canoes, and it is from this wood that they make the
mortars found in every Aino house and used in pounding
grain.

Seeds of Cercidiphyllum were sent to the Arnold Arbo-
retum from Sapporo fifteen years ago, and there are now
plants in the neighborhood of Boston nearly twenty feet
high raised from these seeds. In New England Cercidi-
phyllum is very hardy and grows rapidly ; in its young
state it is nearly as fastigiate in habit as a Lombardy Pop-
lar, the trunk being covered from the ground with slender
upright branches which shade it from the sun, which seems
injurious to this tree, at least while young. As an orna-
mental plant, Cercidiphyllum is only valuable for its pecu-
liar Cercis-like leaves, which, when they unfold in early
spring, are bright red, and for its peculiar habit, as the
flowers and fruit are neither conspicuous nor beautiful.
C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.

The New Plants of 1892. — II.

Stove Plants. — There were no very remarkable plants
among the new introductions from the tropics last year.
Aglaonema costatum (Veitch) is a dwarf ornamental-leaved
plant, green, spotted and veined with white, the leaves
ovate, about five inches long ; native of Perak. Alocasia
Rex and A. nobilis (Sander & Co.) are promising additions
to the many kinds of Alocasia in cultivation. Begonia de-
cora (Veitch) is a prettily variegated little plant which is
certain to become a favorite with those who are interested
in the ornamental-leaved Begonias. Dracaena Sanderiana
(Sander & Co.) is an elegant plant in the way of D. reflexa,
with the leaves prettily lined with white on a green ground.
Maranta Sanderiana and M. Mooreana (Sander & Co.)
are distinct-looking additions to Calatheas, of which we

February i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

53

54

Garden and Forest

[Number 258.

already possess dozens of named sorts, some of which
do not materially differ from each other except in name.

Nymphwa Laydekeri rosea has won golden opinions
from those who have seen the few plants which we owe to
American nurserymen. N. gracilis, although introduced
for N. Mexicana, is worth a place in the aquarium, as it
grows freely and produces numerous pure white, elegant,
medium-sized flowers during the summer.

Monodora granditlora is not new, but it flowered for the
first time in cultivation last year at Kew. It is a small tree
with stout branches and oblong glaucous-green leaves,
which are reddish when young. The flowers are produced
singly from the axils of the leaves on their drooping pe-
duncles, and they are formed of three long lanceolate seg-
ments four inches long, colored exactly like the labellum of
Oncidium Papilio.

Nidularium striatum (W. Bull) and N. Makoyanum (San-
der A Co.) are pretty foliage-plants, particulariy the former,
which has strap-shaped, recurved, bright green leaves, con-
spicuously striped with creamy white.

Oreopanax Sanderianum (Sander & Co.) is a new species
similar to Fatsia papyrifera, with tough, leathery, yellowish
green, lobed leaves ; it is a native of Guatemala.

The best (indeed. I believe, the only) new Palm is Ptycho-
raphis Augusta (Kew), which grows freely in a warm
house, and is as elegant as Cocos Weddelliana.

Pandanus Baptistii (Veitch) and P. Dyerianus (Sander)
are identical with P. inermis variegatus, introduced this
year to Kew from Australia. P. Pacificus (Veitch) is a dis-
tinct-looking plant with broad, graceful, shining green
leaves, the margins clothed with fine teeth, and the apex
narrowed abruptly to a long tail-like point It is said to be
a native of the South Sea Islands.

Podocarpus pectinatus (Kew and Sander & Co.) is an
elegant Yew-like plant from New Caledonia, remarkable
for the coating of white waxy "bloom" on the leaves,
which have in consequence a silvery appearance. The
plant grows freely and is easily multiplied by means of
cuttings.

Synandrospadix vermitoxicus (Kew) is a tuberous-rooted
Aroid from Tucuman, with large annual heart-shaped green
leaves, and a scape a foot high bearing an open ovate
spathe six inches long by four mches wide, colored gray-
green outside, tawny-red inside. Thunbergia grandiflora
alba differs from the type, which when well treated is one of
the most ornamental of stove climbers, in having pure white
instead of blue flowers. Urceocharis Clibrani is one of the
most interesting plants of the year. It is to be distributed
by Messrs. Clibran & Son, of Altrincham, in Cheshire, in
June next As I have recently described this plant in Gar-
des AND Forest, I need only say here that it is a hybrid
between Eucharis grandiflora (mother) and Urceolina pen-
dula, and that it has all the vigor and much of the charm
of the former, with flowers intermediate between the two
parents. Tillandsia Massangeana, var. superba (Veitch), is
a near ally of T. zebrina. It has broad recurved leaves
colored applfe-green, with transverse bands of deep choco-
late. T. Moensii (Veitch) is somewhat similar to the last,
but the leaves are veined and mottled with bright green on
a yellowish green ground. Tradescantia decora (W. Bull)
is an ornamental foliage-plant, with elongate lanceolate
leaves colored olive-green, with a broad median line of
silvery gray. Several other new kinds of Tradescantia will
be mentioned under the list of plants introduced by foreign
horticulturists.

Utricularia Humboldtii and U. longifolia are probably
the largest-flowered and most beautiful species known.
They were discovered by Schomburgk on the Roraima in
British Guiana and described by him in his charming
Reminiscences. They were introduced into cultivation
several years ago, but not flowered before last year. U.
Humboldtii has broad reniform leaves, four inches wide and
a foot high when well grown. The flowers, which are
larger than those of U. montana and colored pale lavender,
are borne on graceful scapes. U. longifolia has strap-

shaped leaves a foot long and short erect scapes of mauve
flowers. These plants grow well in a warm, moist house,
but they do not flower freely.

Hippeastrums, Streptocarpi, Begonias and Cliveas have
been improved by breeders interested in these genera. A
hybrid between Streptocarpus Galpini and a variety of
S. Rexii, raised and flowered at Kew, promises to be a
lirst-rate plant

Greenhouse Plants. — Several new additions of more than
ordinary promise are to be noted here. Taking the selection
in alphabetical order, we have first the noble Agave Fran-
zosini (Kew), which is of the size and stature of A. Amer-
icana, but the leaves are silvery. There is a description of it
in the Kew Bulletin, 1892, p. 3, by Mr. Baker, taken from a
specimen flowered in Mr. Hanhury's garden at La Mor-
tola, Mentone. Aloe aurantiaca is another of Mr. Hanbury's
treasures. It is intermediate between A. ciliaris and A.
arborescens, a very free grower, forming a huge mass
which in spring and summer is covered with crowded
racemes of Kniphofia-like red and yellow flowers. Cyrtan-
thus Galpini (Kew) is likely to rival Vallota purpurea in
the size and color of its flowers. Richardia Pentlandii,
which is the best of the yellow-flowered "Callas," I have
noted several times recently. It is certain to become as
great a favorite as the common Arum Lily. Several other
so-called yellow-flowered kinds have been advertised, but
they have not yet been proved. Rhododendron racemo-
sum (Veitch and Kew) is a charming little species, dwarf
as the Cowberry (Vaccinium Vitis-ida;a), very free-flower-
ing, and pretty in the form and color of its flowers. It may
prove hardy in the warmer parts of England. Senecio
Galpini (Kew), from the Transvaal, is a Kleinia, with glau-
cous leaves on branched stems, less than a foot in height,
bearing erect terminal heads of bright orange flowers.
Tacsonia Smythiana is a supposed hybrid, but, as I have
recently stated, it is remarkably like T. mollissima. Tricho-
desma physaloides (O'Brien) is an interesting and orna-
mental Boragewort from South Africa, with a fleshy root-
stock, annual stems, glaucous green leaves, and large pure
white bell-shaped flowers in erect branched racemes. Un-
fortunately it has proved hitherto bad to establish. Verno-
nia podocoma (Kew) is a tree like composite from south
Africa, with large leathery foliage and a huge terminal
panicle of rosy purple flowers. Yucca Hanburyi is a new
species described by Mr. Baker from a plant at La Mortola.
It has the habit and appearance of Y. angustifolia, the
leaves being linear, green, rigid, with a yellow-brown edge
and curling filaments; raceme simple, one and a half feet
long, bearing white campanulate flowers two inches long.

Ferns. — There are no new species of Ferns to record for
last year. These plants do not now receive much attention
from horticulturists. Hardy kinds, and particularly the
rarer varieties of British Ferns, are increasing in popularity,
and in consequence of high cultivation they are most pro-
lific in the production of what are called sports, a number
of which have received certificates this year. Among the
exotics we have the variegated variety of Adiantum macro-
phyllum, which obtained a certificate this year. Pteris
tremula variegata is a pleasing variation of one of the most
useful of Ferns, and P. Regina and P. cristata are sports from
the ornate P. Victoria-regina, introduced by Mr. Bull several
years ago. Woodwardia radicans, var. pendula, is not un-
worthy of a place among basket Ferns for the conservatory.

Hardy Plants. — There are a few promising new herba-
ceous plants and two or three trees and shrubs, but the list
is, on the whole, meagre. Allium Kansuense (Kew) is a
pretty species allied to A. coeruleum, but dvvarfer and with
larger heads of nodding deep blue flowers. It has been
introduced from China through St. Petersburg, and was one
of the prettiest of the rockery plants in flower at Kew last
July.

Aquilegia Transylvanica (Kew) has large purplish blue
flowers on branching stems two feet high. Astilbe Chi-
nensis (Kew) resembles Hoteia (Astilbe) Japonica, but the
flower-heads are looser and the flowers rose-colored. Calo-

February i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

55

chortus amoenus, C. flavus and C. Kennedyi are three
pretty additions to this genus, the last-named being excep-
tionally brilliant in color, that is, bright scarlet, with black-
purple basal spots. Chionodoxa Lucilias, var. Alleni, is a
beautiful large-flowered variety, and Chrysanthemum ro-
tundifolium (Kew) is a Transylvanian species, two feet
high, with numerous white flowers an inch across. One of
the very brightest-colored of the pinks is Dianthus callizo-
nus (Kew). It is only six inches high, blooms in July, is
tufted, with glaucous foliage, and flowers two inches wide
of the brightest rose-purple, zoned with a darker shade. It
also is Transylvanian. Emmenanthe penduliflora (Veitch
& Sons) is a Californian annual, a foot high, which in July
is covered with nodding, bell-shaped, creamy yellow flow-
ers. Iris parabid is a hybrid between I. Iberica and I. para-
doxa, raised by Professor M. Foster, and I. Nepalensis, var.
Letha (Foster), is a pretty plant with fragrant flowers.

There are three new additions to Kniphofia in K. modesta
(Kew), an elegant plant with grassy leaves and spikes of
white flowers two feet high ; K. Nelsoni, a new species
with brilliant scarlet flowers on scapes two feet high, and
K. pauciflora (Kew), also grassy-leaved, and remarkable for
its loose racemes of pale yellow flowers. Nemesia stru-
mosa (Sutton & Sons) is a bright-colored Cape annual of ex-
traordinary attractiveness. I have lately described this in
Garden and Forest. Ranunculus Carpathicus, from Hun-
gary, is a showy perennial a foot high, with palmate leaves
and golden yellow flowers two inches in diameter. Tchi-
hatchewia isatidea is a badly named beautiful-flowered
perennial Crucifer, and bears its racemes of bright rosy
pink fragrant flowers in May. It was introduced by Max
Leichtlin from Armenia. Thalictrum rhyncocarpum (Kew),
from the Transvaal, is an elegant plant, three feet high,
with Maidenhair-like foliage.

Buddleia Colvillei is a beautiful Himalayan shrub which
has been brought into prominent notice by Mr. Gumbleton,
in whose garden at Cork it flowered profusely last year. It
has loose racemes of large rose-colored bell-shaped flowers.
It is scarcely likely to be hardy except in favored parts of
England. Cornus Kousa, Amygdalus Davidiana, var. alba,
and the white variety of Wistaria Sinensis, received certifi-
cates last year, but they are not really new additions,
although as yet little known. The varieties of Camellia
Sasanqua, shown in December by Messrs. Veitch & Son,
and said to be quite hardy, are of sufficient interest to be
included here. There is apparently a good opportunity
for a nurseryman who would interest himself in the intro-
duction of new trees and shrubs for the outdoor garden.

London. W. Watson.

Cultural Department.
Irises and Their Cultivation. — VII.

IN the change of fashions and tastes in matters horticultural,
plants which have continued to interest successive genera-
tions of gardeners, at least as long as the garden has had a
literature to make records, are few in number. One of the
plants to continue in favor is the Mourning Iris, I. Susiana,
which seems to-day as interesting to tlie owners of the best
g:ardensas when it was first introduced from its eastern home.
The interest in I. Susiana has also been increased rather than
lessened by the discovery and introduction within recent years
of other species of the same group, the Oncocyclus, and an
allied one, the Regelia, among which may be found the most
beautiful, if not curious, flowers in the large family. Some
cultivators, with favored conditions of soil and climate, seem
to have little difficulty in flowering I. Susiana and I. Iberica, the
other best-known member of the group, but these fortunate
gardeners are few. Probably a number of the rhizomes sold
by the plantsmen each year flower the succeeding spring,
but only to disappear or dwindle in the following season. Un-
der the glass of a cold frame or cool house the plants are not
specially difflcult ones to grow, but they are perfectly hardy,
and the open border seems the place for them. A well-grown
and well-flowered group of these plants in the borders in early
May would be as interesting and enjoyable as it would be rare,
and, perhaps, unique, for they are plants which require a
distinct resting season and careful treatment, and are

among those which test the ability of the most skillful culti-
vators.

For their culture one cannot do better than follow the direc-
tions of the master-gardener. Max Leichtlin, who probably first
reduced their flowering to some certainty. These directions
should have double weight, in the words of Professor Foster :
" I place thein in the sunniest, driest spot I have, in sandy or
rather gritty, but fairly rich, soil, planting them, if possible, in
the beginning of August, putting them in dry, and never letting
the watering-pot touch them. At the end ot May or beginning
of June I put a light over them, but not round them, letting the
air hav.'e free access beneath the glass to the plants, but shut-
ting off all the rain. I keep the light on until the end of July
or beginning of August, varying the exact time according to
the state of the weather and the forwardness of the plants.
Then the lights come off, and the plants are left exposed to
wind, rain, frost and snow until the following summer, though,
perhaps, during a wet November I ward off the excess of rain
for a few weeks. If I leave the plants exposed to the freaks of
an English summer they linger on flowerless for a while, and
after a time they are no more." These are simple directions,
and should probably produce satisfactory results in this coun-
try, but I have found that a good covering of hard leaves is
desirable, for our winters are very capricious, and the great
changes of temperature, especially in a warm corner, injure
the foliage so much that they fail to recover. If March
especially could be dropped from the calendar we could grow
a number of hardy things more successfully. However, I do
not claim much progress with my collection of these Irises,
and only desire to indicate the lines on which success may be
expected, and call attention to the wealth of material ready for
those who have a fancy tor rare, curious and beautiful flowers
to be had at a considerable expenditure of care and patience.

Baker enumerates twelve species of Oncocyclus Irises, and
it seems desirable to note them as I. Susiana, I. Gatesii, I. Bis-
marckiana, I. Heylandiana, I. Lortetii, I. Sari (and var. lurida),
I. Haynei (" perhaps not distinct from I. San"), I. lupina, I.
Helenas, I. Iberica (var. Perryana, var. ochracea, var. Bellii
and var. Van Houttei, the last a hybrid), I. acutiloba, I. paradoxa
(and var. violacea). To these may be added I. Marias, sent
out by Herr Leiclitlin this season. I. Nazarena seetns to be a
synonym of I. Bismarckiana. There are others — I. atropur-
purea. Baker, and var. Odysseus — bought as Oncocyclus Irises,
but they are yet unflowered by me, and of their places I am
not sure.

When the Russians advanced into Turkestan one of the minor
results was the discovery of a new section of Irises, General Kor-
olkowi, the wargovernorof thedistrict, havingin 1872 sent home
from eastern Bokhara, among other valuable plants, rhizomes
of the Iris now known by his name. This is a species distinct
from, but nearly allied to, the sub-genus Oncocyclus, and was
determined by Professor Foster, and made a sub-genus as Re-
gelia. After this followed a few other species and varieties of
the same class. These are I. Leichtliniand var.Vaga, I.Suwarowi
and var. lineata, I. Korolkowi and vars. violacea, concolor,
venosa, venosa pulcherrima, Leichtliniana and I. Barnumje.
These require the same culture as the plants of the previous
section. Many, if not most, of these plants are obtainable from
dealers. None of them are without great beauty. Asia is the
home of all these Irises, missionaries and Russian generals
seeming to be the usual collectors. Some one was quoted in
Garden AND Forest a few weeks since as objecting to a Mus-
covite name of an Iris. After the magazine horrors of many
months, it is to me distinctly pleasing to see the Russian
names on my labels, and to feel that, perhaps, the Mus-
covite is, after all, not without his finer traits when even their
hard fighters seem to find time for the beauties of nature.
Elizabeth, N.J. J. N.Gerard.

Autumn-flowering Lilies. — II.

LiLiUM Parkmanni is a hybrid produced by crossing L. au-
ratum with a dark flowered form of L. speciosum. Itapproaches
closely the form Rubro-vittatum, the latter being actually the
better of the two. L. Krameri, if not quite like L. auratum, is
very closely allied to it, requiring the same treatment. The
stem is very slender, smooth, tinted purple, while the leaves
are lanceolate, smooth, dark green, often tinted purple, the
flowers large, broadly funnel-shaped, pinkish purple, or deli-
cate pink, sometimes almost white. They are strongly
scented. The cultivator will find the same difficulty with it
as with L. auratum. As L. Krameri blooms early, seeds
will ripen in this country, and although I have not succeeded
in crossing it with L. speciOsum, it readily crosses with L.
auratum, showing by this an affinity to the latter species. A

56

Garden and Forest.

fNUMBER 25S.

few yews ago a stem was shown in London with several very
large flowers of a pale rose color, the whole appearance of the
i^nt resembling L auratum as much as L. Krameri, but the
bulb resembled that of the former more closely. Unfortunately
the two plants have suflered so much that they have not flow-
ered for the last two years.

LiLiVM SPECIOSUM Group.— Liliumspeciosum is of the utmost
value wherever cut flowers are required, as it is equally well
adapted for pot-culture or the open border, and as long as the soil
is neittier too dry nor too damp there are few places where the
bulbs will not 'grow. If wanted for early flowering, bulbs
should be potted in October, without injuring the roots much,
and then plunged in a cool frame during the winter. Early
in the spring, when well-rooted, they might be moved at first
to a cool house and later on to a tempenite house and forced
into flower. Those for the open border can either be planted
during the autumn or winter, and as late as March if the bulbs
are not shrivelled up and the roots have been kept grow-
ing. The best material to preserve them in is cocoanut-fibre. L.
speciosum (or L. lancifolium as it is often incorrectly called)
is usually divided into sections. Those with green stems are
put under var. Album, and those with a purplish tinted stem
under var. Rubrum. It is, however, difficult to draw a line,
especially as many of them are crosses between the two and
belong as much to one as to the other. L. speciosum roseum
has a stem from two to three feet in height, the flowers of a
delicate rose-spotted crimson. Of these we have several very
beautiful forms, the principa. being the following: Album
Krjetzeri. which has white flowers, the segments bemg marked
with green mid-ribs. Album verum, which is synonymous
with Album novum, and Album vestale, which flowers a
week or two earlier than Kraetzeri and has broader leaves,
larger and broader segments, with less green. Album punc-
tatum has the same bulb and leaves as the last, the flowers
being white, dotted delicate rose and tinted pale rose. Rubrum
has reddish-tinted flowers, the stem green tinted with purple,
leaves dark green, often purplish tmted. The outside seg-
ments of the flower are more or less shaded with rose or red.
The intensity of the coloring depends much upon the strength
of the plant and u[>on the weather, a sunless autumn meanmg
paler-colored flowers. I have often seen flowers of the com-
mon Rubrum sent from the south having a deeper color even
than the variety Melpomene purpureum, or even Cruentum.
Roseum, properly speaking, is only a poor Rubrum with
paler-colored flowers. A form sold under the name of
Roseum verum, though having greenish purple stem, has pale
rose flowers with white edged segments, dotted purple, the
pedicels being much branched and twisted. Purpureum has
a slender stem from three feet to five feet high, the flowers
large, rose-tinted, and dotted with intense purplish crimson, the
segments irregular, recurved. Melpomene has a large, but
less pointed, bulb tlian Purpureum, the flowers large, rose in
the centre, tinted and dotted with deep crimson, the exterior
purple. Cruentum difiers by having a straight stout stem,
short lanceolate leaves, and deep-colored flowers, the outside
being rich crimson-purple. Multiflorum, or Schrymackersi, is
almost like Rubrum, but flowers a week earlier. The bulb is
in proportion smaller but well shaped.

L. speciosum and its numerous forms flower from the be-

f inning of August till the middle of October, the first in
loom t)eing Album verum and Multiflorum, the last Purpu-
reum and its allied forms Melpomene and Cruentum. Besides
forcing them earlier into bloom, there is also a way of retard-
ing them, which is done by keeping bulbs out of the ground
tillMarch in a dry, cool and airy place, laid in cocoanut-fibre.
They are protected from rain and sun, and must, of course, not
be allowed to shrivel. Imported bulbs flower also much later
the first year.

L. Henryi properly belongs to this group, the whole charac-
ter of the plant being like that of L. speciosum, except that
the flowers arq apricot-colored or orange-yellow. It is a most
beautiful, but at present verv rare, Lily. It flowers in Septem-
ber, and is a native of China.— C Reuthe, in Gardeners' Maga-
Mine.

Some American Bulbs.

'T'HE bulbous flowering plants of Mexico, as a rule, do much
■■■ better in our northern climate than those of California and
Oregon. The collected bulbs, after a year's growth in good
rich soil, double, and often treble, in size, producing larger
and more abundant flowers. Our soil seems to suit them
exactly, as also our climate, so far as summer is concerned,
but our severe winters would, no doubt, be too much for them
unless they were entirely protected from frost. When well-

ripened off" and properly dried their bulbs winter well indoors,
most of them nicely in any dry cellar, and the Tigridias in a
dry warm place.

The number of Calochortuses in Mexico is small, as com-
pared with those of California, but they are attractive, and do
finely. Not only do the bulbs become larger when grown here,
but they seed freely, and some of them multiply fast by the lit-
tle bulblets borne in the axils of their leaves, as with Lilium
tigrinum, only in much greater profusion. The best Calo-
chortus I have seen from Mexico, and, as well, the best from
any locality, is C.Bonplandianus. The large, dark purple, bell-
shaped flowers are borne in greater profusion, I believe, than
those of any other species. C. flavus, which is another name
for Cyclobethra flava, is also a fine specits, and so is C. Ma-
drensis.

These Mexican bulbs all do best planted in spring, and seeds-
men who handle these and the California bulbs, I believe,
place all the Mexican bulbs in their spring catalogues, and all
those from California and Oregon in their autumn lists. Milla
biflora, which was not common ten years ago, has won its way
into almost every catalogue of flowering bulbs in the country.
It is easily grown in any ordinary garden soil and, unlike most
bulbs, does not have to be replaced every year. The Tigridias
too, with half a chance, are sure to give satisfaction. Bessera
elegans has never matured here, not so much because of our
short season as that it is so late in starting. It may be planted
very early and not come up perhaps until July. There is then not
sufficient time before frost for it to mature. When the bulbs
do not mature it is difficult to keep them over. This is the
only species of Mexican bulbs that has not done well here.
Nemastylis brunnea, though it does not multiply, grows much
larger flowers and bulbs than the collected ones. The Coope-
ryas also thrive in our northern soil and the Zephyranthes all
produce much larger bulbs. The bulbs of Cooperias and
those of the various species of Zephyranthes, if well dried, keep
perfectly well in any ordinary cellar.

The various species and varieties of Calochortus from Cali-
fornia and Oregon have never done as well with me as those
from Mexico. When wintered in a cool cellar, if above the
freezing point, they begin to grow in February. By the time
the weather is sufficiently warm to plant them out they have
become so weakened by this growth that they do not amount
to much. The only way is to plant tliem in autumn and pro-
tect them, when good bulbs will Bower the first season at least.
They do not, however, increase in size like the Mexican bulbs,
but, on the contrary, they decrease. C. longibarbatus has done
the best with me of any from the Pacific coast and C.Benthami
next best. I am not satisfied that they cannot be successfully
grown here. The trouble is that they are so early. If they
were in frames covered with glass I believe they would do
much better.

The Brodiaeas do better. They not only seem to hold their
own so far as size of bulb is concerned, but they multiply by
offsets and flower quite freely. A clay loam seems to suit
them. Brodiaea grandiflora, B. ixioides and B. stellaris are
among the best. B. coccinea is very attractive, but it is not so
thrifty here as some of the others.

The Erythroniums do nicely here. They should be planted
out by the last of August, that they may become well-rooted
before winter. E. grandiflorum has several varieties, all very
firm. One of the best of these is the one from Oregon, some-
times called E. giganteum. It has large nodding creamy
white flowers. E. Hendersoni is a very handsome species from
Oregon, but not so robust as some of the others.

The Frittillarias are pretty and easily managed in the same
beds with Brodiaeas and Erythroniums. F. recurvae, with its
orange-red lily-like flowers, is the best. The little F. pudica,
producing its little yellow flowers so early, is also valuable.

The California Lilies are among the best of the genus. Lil-
ium Washingtonianum is a little difficult to manage. It
needs time to become established and to have protection in
winter. L. Parryi, with its canary-yellow flowers, is quite easily
managed. Any of these Lilies, planted in well-drained soil,
four or five inches deep, mulched with two or three inches of
peat, will thrive. Perhaps L. pardalinum is the hardiest of the
California species, but if L. parvum or L. rubescens are planted
in sandy loam, they will thrive. L. Columbianum is a fine
plant, with its spotted recurving petals ; it has done better with
me in clay loam than in sand. L. Humboldtii needs two
years to establish itself before it does its best.

Charlotte, Vt. F. H. H.

Qrevillea robusta. — This has proved to be a very satisfactory
plant for the conservatory. I put a strong specimen in the
ground of a house having no centre bench, where it rooted

February i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

57

freely and grew to the glass fifteen feet above, bearing a magnifi-
cent crop of its fern-like foliage and it has gained much admi-
ration. The leaves have a much longer life than would be
supposed from the appearance of the plant. There are now
on the tree, in good color and health, leaves that were de-
veloped over eighteen months ago. This, of course, is on a
thrifty plant. Having seen the tree in flower in California I have
been endeavoring to secure some of the beautiful racemes of
orange-colored blossoms upon this plant. Some of its side
branches have been girdled and others bowed in with the hope
of developing flowering wood.

State College, Pa. GeorgC C. Bu^.

Correspondence.
A New Plant Label.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Garden-labels are always necessary in a collection of
plants, but they are always a care, and usually a disfigurement,
especially when the plants to be identified are small and
numerous.

No one label is adapted to all the requirements of a garden,
and there is seldom a design which proves as satisfactory in
service as it appears when first devised. Every gardener has
memories of labels which have been heralded as perfect, but
which have proved delusive. The
usual experience is a return to a
painted wooden label of suitable ,
size, generally too conspicuous, but
if of the right kind of wood, proving
fairly durable and legible for a sea-
son or two. It is a great tax on
one's time and patience, however,
to keep a quantity of the best
wooden labels in good order. There
has always been desired a large
permanent label, not conspicuous,
but carrying a legible name in
characters which can be removed
or altered when necessary, and so
substantial as not to be broken by
a blow, and able to keep its place
firmly during frosts and thaws. This
want seems fairly met by the label
illustrated on this page, samples of
which have been sent me by Mr.
John Wood, of Kirkstall, England,
the well-known hardy plantsman,
who is the patentee. The label is
stamped from pure zinc, a metal
which proves practically indestruc-
tible in the weather. The oval
head, one and a quarter by three
inches, has a rim on the reverse,
making a stiff firm plate ; on this
the plant name is written with
suitable ink, or if painted, a soft
pencil mark will be fairly perma-
nent. This plate slopes back so as
to make an angle of about sixty
degrees with the upright shank.
This shank, which is eight inches
long, is braced and stiffened by
being bent through its length, as

shown in the figure, so as to form Fig. 10.— An English Plant Label.

two sides of a triangular prism ; it is practically rigid, and yet
sharp and thin enough to enter the ground easily. Being
stamped out of a single piece of metal, there is nothing about
it to get out of repair.

Owing to the slope of the plate it is easy to read the legend
without stooping to its level. The writing can be erased
readily with sand-paper. This label seems to possess, in short,
the qualities of permanence, simplicity, indestructibility and
legibility. Owing to the present high duty on zinc, these labels
are fairly expensive, costing over $5.00 per gross ; considering,
however, that they are indestructible, this cannot be consid-
ered prohibitory where the best is desired.
Elizabeth. N. J. J. N. Gerard.

The Old Hedge-rows on Long Island.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — If one whose acquaintance with the country had been
formed in the western or central states, or even in western
New York, were to drive through that portion of Long Island

which lies east of Riverhead, he would see much that was
new, strange and interesting. First, there are the old farm-
houses, roomy, comfortable-looking buildings, covered with
shingles both on roof and sides, and very different in expres-
sion from the smart modern houses on the newer farms
Many of these buildings are very old ; at least, for America.
One at Southold, which was built in 1647, was torn down last
fall, and we can scarcely go a mile without seeing some that
were built 100 to 150 years ago. Around the old house are
clumps of Lilac and other shrubs which are so old as to seem
quite distinct from the more common younger forms, while
the great barns and wide yards have an expression of' open-
handed hospitality which is delightful to see. Formerly the
dividing lines between farms were marked by hedge-rows of
a peculiar and distinct character, and they are worthy of par-
ticular attention now, as they are rapidly being rooted out, and
a few years hence hardly one of them will be left. These
hedges are formed by lopping down Oak or other trees and
forming with their stumps, trunks and a few rails a sort of a
fence at first. Sprouts from the lopped trees are then allowed
to grow up, and, with briers and vines, form a thicket or hedge
often a rod thr6ugh. After a few years the sprouts are again
lopped downandtrimmed, and this process is repeated untilthe
original stumps come to be five or six feet in diameter in the
line of the row, although not more than one or two feet in the
other direction, and exhibit most picturesque forms, the result
of their mutilation and of natural grafting. However unprofit-
able and shiftless these old hedge-rows may be from an
economic point of view, they are often exceedingly beautiful,
not only of themselves, but in their effect upon the landscape!
and a study of them can scarcely fail to furnish the landscape-
gardener most valuable hints in arrangement and combi-
nation.
Detroit, Mich. Will. W. Tracy.

Meetings of Societies.
The Western New York Horticultural Society. — L

THE thirty-eighth annual meeting- of the Western New
York Horticultural Society was held at Rochester last
week, and the proceedings were interesting, As usual, and
conducted with that peculiar dash and promptness which
characterizes this body. The address of the President, Mr.
William C. Barry, who was re-elected for the following year,
was very comprehensive and covered an unusual range of
topics, including the experience of the year with insecti-
cides and fungicides, the discussion of methods of mar-
keting fruits and the systematic distribution of them so as
to secure remunerative prices, the prospects of securing a
market abroad, good roads, the proper use of farm-lands,
and many other subjects. In speaking of the necessity of
education for the farm and garden, Mr. Barry said :

At no period in the history of this country has it been so
apparent, even to the indifferent and careless observer, that
the cultivator of the soil must possess more than ordinary in-
telligence in order to succeed. Competition is so keen
on every side that every acre of land must be productive.
Even in this particularly favored state, famous the world over
for remarkable climate and fertile soil, there are now thou-
sands of acres of waste land which should be reclaimed and
cultivated, hundreds of farms impoverished and unproductive
which should be made to yield good crops, innumerable or-
chards which are too old and going to decay which should be
uprooted and replaced with young, thrifty, fruitful trees. I am
aware that" the members of this progressive organization are
not to be counted among those whose surroundings are of the
nature referred to, but it is our duty as intelligent cultivators
not only to do well ourselves, but to encourage others to do
likewise. The influence of educated labor is one of the re-
quirements of the times, and the agricultural school is one of the
most efficient agencies for developing the resources of the state.
The advancement of agriculture means the advancement of
civilization. The farmer and fruit-grower of to-day need far
more information than they did in the past. Labor-saving im-
plements are now so numerous that the old-time drudgery of
farm-work is no longer experienced, and some time is afforded
for reading, study and improvement. I, therefore, ask the
members of this association who have sons intending to take
up agriculture or horticulture as a life-work, to permit them to
take advantage of the opportunities afforded at the colleges of
agriculture, and thus become intelligent cultivators of the soil,
and scientific and skillful farmers and fruit-growers. Not

58

Garden and Forest.

[Number 258.

only will tliey as individuals reap incalculable benefit from such
a coure«. but the people of the state as well. Experiments
must be carried on bv some one ; individuals certainly can-
not bear the expense ;' hence, if the state or national govern-
ment is unwilling to appropriate the necessary funds, the work
of scientitic investigation cannot be thoroughly done.

The work carried on at these stations is such that it is well-
nieh impossible to obtain immediate results. Much tinie is
r«luired to make accurate and reliable investigations and ex-
periment* and as all of the stations are comparatively young,
It is not fair to demand too much of them at present. Ten
years hence, when the stationsare well underway, their impor-
tonce will be universally recognized, and then there will be no
difliculty in obtaining appropriations ample for their work.
I call upon you, members of this society, to exeri all the influ-
ence you possess to secure forthis state institution the funds it
needs.

PREVENTION OK APPLE-SCAB.

Professor S. A. Beach, of the Geneva Experiment Station,
after naming some twenty preparations which had been tested
as preyentives of Apple-scab, continued in p«irt as follows :

Of the many fungicides thus far tested for Apple-scab, the
copper mixtures have undoubtedly given the best results, but
some of them are liable to injure the foliage. The ammoni-
acal solution of copi>er sulphate has proved decidedly bene-
ficial in several experiments. It does not injure the foliage,
and it also has the advantage of being readily prepared and
easily applied, but when mixed with Pans green or London
purple it is liable to injure the foliage seriously. Therefore.
If this solution is used, it is necessary to make separate appli-
cations of Paris green or London purple for the codling-
moth. , 11.

The strong Bordeaux mixture (six pounds copper sulphate,
four pounds lime and twenty-two gallons water) is more expen-
sive than the ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate, and it
is not so readilv prepared or so easily applied as that solution.
But dilute Bordeaux mixtures, which contain from two to four
pounds of copper sulphate for twenty-two gallons of water,
have given practically as good results as other fungicides and
are more easily applied than the strong mixture. They are
also less expensive than the ammoniacal solution of copper
carbonate. All Bordeaux mixtures have these advantages,
namely, tliat they compare favorably with any other fungicide
so far as efficiency is concerned, that they do not injure the
foliage, and that Paris green or London purple in the propor-
tion commonly used for the codling-moth may be mixed
with them without any fear of injurious results. Where
orchards are badly infested with the codling-moth, it is best to
apply Paris green or London purple immediately after the
petate fall, and follow with two more treatments atinlervals of
al>out ten days. Since the Paris green may be mixed with the Bor-
deaux mixtures, it is readily seen that such a combination will
save the labor of three applications as compared with the am-
moniacal solution of copper carbonate, with which the appli-
cation of Paris green must be made separately.

A few weeks ago a circular letter was mailed to each experi-
ment station in those sections of the United States where ap-
ples are grown extensively, requesting the station horticultur-
ist to state what remedies had been used for Apple-scab dur-
ing the present season, and with what success. The verdict of the
replies wasalmost unanimousfor Bordeaux mixture for Apple-
scab, and usually a dilute formula was particularly specified.
Ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate and modified eau
celeste also received favorable mention in two or three in-
stances.

After describing the simplest way of preparing the mixture
and the best method of applying it. Professor Beach said :
The true improved Vermorel nozzle is considered best for
applying the Bordeaux mixture, better than the modifications
of it which are sometimes offered. It forms a perfect spray, is
easily cleaned when it becomes clogged, and uses the fungi-
cide in a very economical manner.

The cost of spraying for both Apple-scab and the codling-
moth for the entire season will vary from fifteen to twenty-five
cents a tree, according to the skill of the operator, the kind of
tools used, the kind otfungicide selected, the cost of materials
and the number of applications. At the Geneva Experiment
Station, even under the unfavorable conditions of the past
season, three treatments of five Fall Pippin trees with the
ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate and two treatments
with Paris green apparently reduced the scab on the foliage
thirteen per cent.; on the fruit, four and seven-tenths per
cent., and the worminess of the fruit, twenty and eight-
tenths per cent., as compared with six untreated trees of the
aame variety, making a total increase of twenty-five and five-

tenths per cent, in the first-class fruit, seemingly due to
spraying. Much more favorable results were secured from
the same treatment on Roxbury Russets and Golden Russets,
but it not best to e.xaggerate the benefit of this particular
treatment by selecting exceptionally good results for the pur-
pose of illustration. There can be little doubt that better re-
sults could have been secured by varying the time and
increasing the number of the treatments in the manner
hereafter recommended. Even this low per cent, of gain in
first-class fruit will more than pay for the expense of treat-
ment.

Iif the light of our present knowledge of the nature of the
Apple-scab fungus, and guided by personal experiments and
those of other investigators, the following line of treatment is
suggested :

After the buds open and before the first leaves are half-
grown, make the first application, using either the ammoniacal
solution of copper carbonate or dilute Bordeaux mixture.
Mr. D. G. Fairchild found, last spring, that the Pear-scab in-
fection begins -before the blossoms open, and the writer found
that the same thing is also true with Apple-scab. The foliage
and the calyx and pedicels of the unopened flower-buds be-
come thus early infected with the scab fungus. Spraying at
this time is therefore considered very important. The second
application, using the same fungicide as before, should be
made after an interval of ten days, and shortly before the
flowers begin to open. The third application should be made
immediately after the blossoms fall, using also at this time
Paris green or London purple for codling-moth. Many pre-
fer to use the dilute 15ordeaux mixture at this time, because
l^aris green can be added to it without fear of injurious re-
sults, whereas if the ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate
be used the Paris green must be used by itself. A fourth ap-
plication should be made after an interval of from ten days to
two weeks, using the same material as before, including the
Paris green.

After another interval of from ten days to two weeks make
a fiftli application, using the same material as before, includ-
ing the Paris green, if it is desired to make further treat-
ments after this time the Paris green may be omitted.

BIRD NOTES FOR HORTICULTURISTS.

This was the subject of a most interesting paper Iw Walter
B. Barrows, Assistant Ornithologist of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture. The greater part of it ig here repro-
duced :

The interrelation of birds and horticulture is a many-sided
problem, one requiring for its complete solution a larger array
of facts than has been made yet, and a more careful study of
these facts than most people imagine to be necessary. No well-
informed person can doubt that, as a whole, birds are benefi-
cial to the agriculturist, yet many a farmer and fruit-grower
has a strong feeling that he bears more than his share of the
damage inflicted by birds, and receives less than the average
of benefit.

It is useless to deny that fruit-growers suffer a direct loss
each year. It is equally useless, in the present state of our
knowledge, to attempt to demonstrate that the particular birds
which cause this loss make any satisfactory return. In some
cases a considerable offset to the harm could be shown, but
the exact amount of the credit could not be determined, and in
many cases it would be difficult to show any compensation to
the loser. As a rule, the larger the area of any one cultivator,
and the greater the variety of the crops grown, the smaller
will be the relative loss and the larger the direct compensation
for the harm done. An example may make this point clearer.
Suppose a man to cultivate 100 acres, giving a fair proportion
to vegetables, small fruits, orchards and vineyards, with shade-
trees and shrubberies, and a little lawn or pasture. Ignoring
the English sparrow, almost the only loss occasioned by birds
will be in the damage tocherries, strawberries, raspberries and
grapes, and this will be caused mainly, or entirely, by four or
five species of birds, probably the robin, cat-bird, cedar-bird or
cherry-bird, red-headed woodpecker and Baltimore oriole.
Purple finches (red linnets) may cause annoyance by nipping
the flower-buds of choice Cherries and Pears early in the
spring, orioles and grosbeaks may destroy some Peas, and the
goldfinch or yellow-bird may eat and scatter the seed of Let-
tuce, Turnip and Cabbage ; but these are minor and irregular
thefts, and ordinarily not worthy of notice.

Except in the case of grapes the harm will he done mainly
during June and July, and nearly all the marauders will be
local, that is, birds with nests in the immediate vicinity, and
will obtain all the food for themselves and their youngfrom the
same farm. Cedar-birds are great rovers and very possibly may

February i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

5^

come from a distance for their fruit, but even in that case they
are sure to eat something else belonging on the farm. Now,
no one of the species mentioned, even when adult, feeds ex-
clusively on fruit, and the young get far less fruit than the old
birds. On an average, at least two-fifths of the food of old and
young consists of insects, even during June and July, and many
of these are decidedly harmful insects, so that certainly some
good is done by their destruction, and whatever the amount
may be, it should go to the credit of the birds as helping to
balance the account for fruit stolen from the same premises.
So long, therefore, as the amount of harm done is not very
great, and the amount of good is uncertain, a truck farmer or
market gardener might reasonably be asked to tolerate the
birds. On such a farm as has been instanced, they may be
looked upon as a class of laborers working for their board
and probably earning it, although, unfortunately, they insist on
selecting their own food, which is seldom done in an econom-
ical manner, and often in a way very annoying to their em-
ployer. If, on the other hand, we consider the effect of fruit-eat-
ing birds on a farm of similar size given entirely to small fruits,
including grapes, the conditions are somewhat different. The
losses are fully as great, and the compensation less. True, the
farm itself will offer few suitable locations for nests, and its
more central portions will suifer less from the inroads of birds
from neighboring groves and orchards ; but for this very
reason its edges will sustain more injury, and the return made
in the destruction of injurious insects will be made almost en-
tirely to the owner of the nesting-grounds instead of to the
fruit-grower. The marauders may do some good, incidentally,
to the owner of the fruit, but the bulk falls to his neighbors
who have less fruit and a greater variety of other crops, and
it does not seem just that he should support these birds — so
far, at least, as half their food goes — and get practically no good
in return. On the other hand, it may be fairly asked, whether
he has the right to kill them, even in defence of his own crops,
thus depriving his neighbors of the good they have been re-
ceiving.

Such preliminary studies of the food of our native birds as
have been made thus far show it to be highly improbable that
any species ought to be exterminated altogether. It is abso-
lutely certain that our native birds, taken as a whole, do more
good than harm, and in the present state of our knowledge it
woukl be unwise to recommend the wholesale destruction of
any. It does not follow, however, that the good done to any
one farmer or fruit-grower will equal or exceed the harm done
himl, though this is probable in most cases where the acreage
is large and a fair variety of crops is grown. It should be
noted that, in the supposed cases cited above, no mention was
made of the other common birds of farm and garden which
do not eat fruit or grain to any appreciable extent. Among
these inight be mentioned the warblers, chickadees, wrens,
song and chipping sparrows, swallows, cuckoos, flycatchers,
smaller woodpeckers and others, most of which are distinctly
beneficial whenever and wherever found. It also should be
borne in mind that the species mentioned as most addicted to
fruit-stealing are injurious only during three, or at most four,
months of the year, although all are present and perhaps
actively beneficial during at least one or two months, and
some, as the robin and cedar-bird, during the larger part of
the year.

It is very clear, nevertheless, that fruit-growers are likely to
suffer more in proportion than other farmers from the attacks
of the birds, and it is but fair to consider the possible means
which can be taken to prevent, or at least to lessen, this loss as
much as possible.

Shall we shoot the birds ?

In my belief this should be one of the last resorts. From
what has been said already, it is clear that most birds are too
valuable to be killed ; but, aside from this, their shooting
would be both expensive and unlawful. The imported nui-
sance, the English sparrow, ought to be killed whenever it is
possible, but triis can be done most effectively by other means
than shooting, particularly by poison in cold weather, and the
destruction of nest and eggs in the summer. Air-rifles jmd
light collecting guns might be used on English sparrows un-
der some circumstances, but even if the ammunition costs
nothing the time required makes the process expensive.

As to other fruit-eaters, three classes of treatment may be
considered.

1. The fruit may be protected by nets or similar devices,
which mechanically keep the birds from the fruit. This
method is expensive, but sure.

2. The birds may be frightened away by the use of
such devices as are commonly called scarecrows, or by
the presence of boys, cats, or other animals. Scarecrows are

inexpensive — but commonly also ineffectual. On a large scale
the employment of men or boys becomes expensive, unless
they are actual pickers — and often the most critical time is
when the fruit is beginning to ripen, and not ready to be
picked.

3. Perhaps a counter-attraction may be given the birds — a
fruit which would attract and satisfy them, though worthless
or nearly so to the fruit-grower.

Methods coming under the first head are too expensive,
generally, to be applied to any considerable area, the cost of
the nets being the most important item. It is probable, how-
ever, that a net with a very large mesh — large enough to let a
robin through easily — ^woidd be just as effectual as one with a
close mesh. Remembering the fact that crows are kept away
from corn-fields with more or less success by one or more
white strings stretched across and around the field, it seems
probable that if one set of these strings were put closer to-
gether, and another series stretched at right angles, the practi-
cal effect of a net would be gained, although the mesh might
be very large ; the larger size which would answer being de-
termined by experiment. By using a cheap white twine, and
stretching it between temporary stakes set about the edges of
the field, no doubt, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries
could be protected almost completely, and at a cost which
would be very moderate compared with the use of actual nets.
Whether the same method could be applied advantageously
to Cherry-trees would depend somewhat upon their size and
location, but in any case the meshes would need to be smaller
and the labor and expense of putting up poles for a frame-
work and stretching the twine would increase the cost mate-
rially.

Under the head of scarecrows it may be well to consider
the actual enemies of wild birds as well as elTigies of them,
which commonly do duty in berry patches and orchards. It
is not probable that the common cat can be utilized to any ex-
tent as a scarecrow, but it has been demonstrated beyond
question that a living hawk, confined only by a thong about
the foot and placed conspicuously, will prevent absolutely the
approach of birds over a considerable territory. Even a stuffed
hawk is perfectly effective for a day or two, and by shifting it
from one position to another, or by having several individuals
of different sizes and kinds, the protection of a large area can
be assured. This method also is somewhat expensive, but
the hawks need not be of the largest size nor mounted in the
highest style of the art, although good work will deceive the
birds longer than poor work. If the mounted specimens are
well cared for they should last several seasons.

The possibility of providing a special supply of fruit for
birds, and thereby preventing their depredations on the more
valuable kinds, has been recommended many times by horti-
culturists as well as by ornithologists. The great trouble is to
find a fruit which is early enough to protect early cherries and
strawberries, and attractive enough at all times to compete in
the birds' favor with fruits more valuable to the grower. The
typical fruit of this kind should also be a profuse bearer, should-
remain a long time in season, and be hardy enough to thrive
anywhere without much care. It is needless to say that, as
yet, such a fruit has not appeared, and, perhaps, is not likely to
be found, but fruits fulfilling part of these requisites are avail-
able, and by combining several of these and using a little fore-
sight in planting, much good can be accomplished. Probably
some form of the Juneberry would serve to divert many birds
from early fruits, and possibly some species of Mulberry would
keep up the attraction for a week or two longer. The Wild
Cherry planted freely along road-sides and between fields
would save many thefts of grapes from neighboring vineyards,
and the Elder and Viburnum would be useful, as well as or-
namental, if included more generally in hedges and shrub-
beries.

Notes.

It is said that a pure white Delphinium has been produced
by Messrs. Kelway & Son, of Langport Nurseries, Somerset.

The amount of cider made in France during 1892 was the
largest since the year 1885, reaching a total of 340,679,835
gallons.

We are advised that the seed firms of Messrs. C. H. Thomp-
son & Co., Parker & Wood and Joseph Breck & Sons, of Boston,
have been united under the name of Joseph Breck & Sons.

Under the name of Pyrus angustifolia flore-pleno there is
figured, in a recent issue of the Gardeners' Chronicle, the
double-flowered American Crab, which appeared a few years

6o

Garden and Forest

[NUMBKR 258.

aeo in a nursery in the western states, and which is really
a form of P. coronaria. the northern Crab. P. angusti-
folia being contined to the southern states. This double-
aowered Apple-tree is one of the best among the recent
introductions of hardy plants, and it should be more often
seen titan it is in our gardens.

A Spanish authority on Roses, Dr. Mariano Vei^ra, has
recently published at Madrid a small book, Bibhografia de
Im Rcsa. Among the contents is a list of books dealing with
this plant, of periodicals, existent and deceased, which have
been devoted to it, of the catalogues published by Rose-
erowers in various countries, and of the Rose-growers' asso-
oations and societies in all parts of the worid. The practical
utility of the little volume is further increased by the fact that
only alternate pages are printed, the others being left in blank
for manuscript notes.

A late dispatch to the New York Tribune states that one
rancher in San Diego County has sown this year 160 acres to
mustard on dr)- mesa land, and though the season has been
so dry as to kill bariev, the mustard has grown luxuriantly. It
yielded a ton of seed' to the acre, worth $200 a ton. In the
same county the agent of an English syndicate is inspecting
sites for the establishment of a beet-sugar colony. The plan
is to buy 100.000 acres, divide the tract into twenty-acre colony
homes, and settle upon it small English farmers, who will
grow sugar-beets to supply the company's factory and re-
finery.

A correspondent of the Country Gentleman writes that in
Lancashire acres of glass are devoted, and devoted successfully,
to the growthof Cucumbers, Tomatoes and some other paying
things, which return well for artificial heat and for protection
from frost. Thus far the experiment has done admirably, the
prices obtained being far in excess of what is commanded by
their more sunnily situated competitors. Of course, the fact
of b»»ing within cartable distance of the Warwickshire coal-
fields is a great factor in economizing expense, while prox-
imity to markets that seem never to be surcharged also helps
wonderfully.

A recent issue of the London Garden refers to the small-
leaved Mock Orange. Philadelphus microphyllus. as a very
valuable shrub, especially when in flower, as its flower-laden
branches bend over to touch the turf. It is also deliciously
fragrant. He adds : " Being an introduction from Mexico,
it is not hardy in the more northern districts of England. "
This plant has proved hardy as far north as New England,
where it makes an admirable little shrub for the rock-garden.
It is a native of the mountains of southern Colorado and New
Mexico, whence it was introduced into cultivation several
years ago by the Arnold Arboretum.

A floor space, 42x27 feet, has been reserved in the centre of
the Forestry Building of llie Columbian Exposition, for the
American Museum of Natural History of this city, whicli will
exhibit a duplicate set from the Jesup Collection of North
American Woods. More than 400 species will be represented
in the collection by half-sections of trunks 14 inches long,
whicli will be arranged on shelves in two cabinets. Each
specimen will be accompanied by a label 12x6 inches. One-
half of the lal>el will consist of a map of North America,
colored in green, to indicate the distribution of the species,
the other half containing a brief description of the tree and its
uses. These labels are now being prepared at the Arnold Ar-
boretum by an officer of tHe Museum.

In the Fruit report of the South Haven Sub-station of the
Michigan State Agricultural College. Mr. T. T. Lyon names
the foliowine varieties of grapes for a family vineyard in that
region which willgive in succession fruit of high quality.
The varieties are given in the order of their ripening: Early
Victor, Wincheir. Worden, Lady. Delaware, Diamond.
Brighton, Ulster and Jefferson. For a family garden list of
red and yellow Raspberries, Hansell, Cuthbert. Golden
Queen and Herstine. if protected in winter, are named ; while
of Black Caps. Palmer. Hilborn and Earhart for an autumn
crop, with Shaffer and Muskingum for canning. For a family
plantation of Strawberries, Alpha, Beder Wood, Cumberland,
Parker Earle and Gandy are named.

An Instructive bulletin has just been issued by the Ontario
Agricultural College, on " Weeds and the Modes of Destroying
Them." It sets out by enumerating the various agencies by
which weeds are distributed, and then lays down certain
general principles to lie observed in destroying them. These
utter include a study of their habits, with the different methods

to be used for annuals, biennials and perennials ; certain di-
rections in reference to the rotation of crops, hindering weeds
from ripening seed, and the necessity of care in purchasing
seeds for the farm and garden. Then follow specific directions
for the destruction of the most troublesome weeds, like
Canada Thistle. Couch Grass, Burdock, Wild Mustard, etc.
The little book contains good illustrations of various noxious
growths, and altogether it is worth careful reading, not only by
the farmers of Ontario, but by people interested in agriculture
and horticulture on this side of the boundary.

The growing interest in trees in this country is shown by the
number of publications relating to them which have recently
appeared. The last to reach us is entitled The Woody Plants
of Manhattan in their Winter Condition, a pamphlet of twenty
pages, in which Professor A. S. Hitchcock has arranged the
woody plants of central Kansas according to the appearance of
their branchlets in winter and the character of their winter
buds. His first division includes such plants as show more
than one leaf-scar at each node, with subdivisions in which
genera with pubescent and glabrous buds are grouped. In his
second division (B) are placed those genera which have one
leaf-scar at each node, with two subdivisions, in which are
placed plants armed with prickles or thorns and those which are
unarmed. A quotation from the description of the White
Maple (Acer saccharinum) will serve to show the scope and
value of this interesting paper. It reads : " A large tree with
reddish or yellowish brown glabrous twigs, V-shaped, opposite
leaf-scars not quite meeting, but joined by a line and three-
bundle scars. Terminal buds with two or three pairs, the ap-
pressed lateral with one or two pairs of smooth ovate-obtuse
scales. Common along the Blue and the Kansas River be-
low the mouth of the Blue." The list includes sixty-three
native plants and four which, common in cultivation, have es-
caped from gardens.

We are indebted to Professor Trelease for advance-sheets of
the fourth annual report of the directors of the Missouri Botanic
Garden. From them it appears that the income of this mag-
nificently endowed establishment amounted last year to S98.-
830.97. and that the expenditures were $72,936.40. of which
nearly $17,000 were paid for labor in the garden, while only
about $500 were spent on the lierbarium and $1,600 upon the
library. In the herbarium there are now 203,000 specimens,
including the 98,000 specimens from the George Engelman
Herbarium, the nucleus of the collection. The library con-
tains in round numbers 5,000 volumes and 6,000 pamphlets,
the whole being appraised at $21,150.00. Visitors to the garden
are increasing. 16,000 having entered its gates on the open
Sunday in June. The number of species of plants in the gar-
den has been greatly enlarged during the year by contributions
of seeds and living plants from other botanical establishments,
and more than 3.000 packages of seeds were distributed in re-
turn. Professor Trelease reports that Dr. E. Lewis Stiirtevant
has presented to the garden his entire botanical library, par-
ticularly rich in pre-Linnaean works, which the donor has been
collecting for many years. The course of study for garden
pupils, one of the most valuable features in this establishment,
has been shortened from six to four years, it having been
found, after the practical working of the system during the
last three years, that the course could be thus modified with-
out omitting any of the manual labor or any of the studies
originally determined on. Of the seventy-two weekly exercises,
each for three months, which the garden pupils receive,
twenty are given to the garden proper, including fruit-culture,
nine to surveying, drainage and landscape-gardening, six to
book-keeping, seven to economic entomology, five to forestry,
and twenty-five to botany in its direct application to gardening.

Catalogues Received.

Brackenridgb & Co., Rosebank Nurseries, Govanstown, Md. ;
Wliolesale and Retail Catalogue of Orchids. — Alfred Bridgeman,
37 East Nineteenth Street, New York, N. Y. ; Standard Vegetable,
Grass and Flower Seeds. — William 15ull, 536 King's Road, Chelsea,
lx)ndon, S. W. ; Novelties and Specialties in Flower and Vegetable
Seeds. — ^JoHN Burton, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pa. ; American
Belle Rose. — Iowa Seed Co., Des Moines, Iowa; Fruit and Vegeta-
ble Novelties, Vegetable Plants and Roots, Flower Seeds, Roses. —
D. Landreth & So.MS, 21 and 23 South Sixth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.;
Flower, Vegetable and Grass Seeds. — William G. McTear, Prince-
ton, N. J.; Descriptive List of Chrysanthemums. — Price & Rked,
Albany, N. Y. ; Flower, Vegetable and Grass Seeds. — Isaac F. Til-
LINGHAST, La Plume, Lackawanna Co., Pa. ; Flower and Vegetable
Seeds.— -J. H. Tryon, Willoughby, Ohio ; Price List of Grape Vines. —
ViCK & Hill, Rochester. N. Y. ; Flower Seeds and Plants and Small
Fruits.

February 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

61

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OrncB : Tbibunb Building, New York,

Conducted by

Professor C. S. Sargent.

Ein-ERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles : — Boston's Proposed Metropolitan Park System 6i

The Value of the White Mountain Forests and the Dangers which

threaten Them 62

Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe.— XXIII y, G. Jack. 62

Some Texas Plants in a Texas Garden J. Reverckon. 63

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— IV. (With figure.) C. S. S. 64

Foreign Correspondence :— London Letter W, Watson. 65

Cultural Department :— Black Hamburg Grapes in the Open Air,

Charles L. Jones. 68

Seasonable Notes W. H .Taplin. 68

Notes trom the Harvard Botanic Garden M. Barker. 68

Correspondence:— Orchids at Short Hills, New Jersey J. N. G. 69

White Pine in Massachusetts David Pin^ree. 69

Legislation against Insects IVatter C. Wright. 69

Meetings of Societies: — The Western New York Horticultural Society II.: 70

Shade-trees m City Streets William McMillan. 70

Fertilizing Orchards Professor I. H. Roberts. 71

Brevities 71

Notes 72

Illustrations :— Magnolia Kobus, Fig. 11 66

Magnolia salicifolia, Fig. 12 67

Boston's Proposed Metropolitan Park System.

OUR readers will remember that last summer we called
attention to the appointment of a Metropolitan Park
Commission by the Governor of Massachusetts to inquire
into the needs of the towns and cities in the vicinity of
Boston in the way of open spaces. This commission has
just submitted a report, which, with the accompanying
papers, forms a volume of exceptional value and attrac-
tiveness, with its numerous maps and plans, and its hand-
some illustrations depicting various features of the charm-
ing natural scenery of the Boston basin, together with a
few graphic examples of things as they should not be, and
some corresponding examples of things at home and
abroad to show what they should be.

The commissioners have followed the lines which, on
the occasion of their appointment, we indicated should be
followed, and which, indeed, in an intelligent consideration
of the question, they could hardly help following. The
report of the commissioners themselves is a brief elucida-
tion of the legislation they recommend. For full details
of the results of their investigations and the studies based
thereupon, they refer to the elaborate reports of the secre-
tary and the landscape-architect of the commission, Mr.
Sylvester Baxter and Mr. Charles Eliot, respectively.

Every one who has had occasion to consider the ques-
tions involved in a proper administration of the affairs
that mutually concern a great city and its surrounding
communities, must be impressed with the need of an
effective form of political organization to deal with these
matters. The commissioners are thus very naturally im-
pressed with the necessity of some definite plan of metro-
politan organization. One of the most important features
of a common metropolitan interest is that of parks and other
open spaces, the utility of which cannot be determined
upon arbitrary political boundary lines. Boston, for instance,
has been enabled to create a magnificent park-system
within its own limits, but the needs of the remaining por-

tions of the metropolitan community have, with a few ex-
ceptions of very recent date, been almost entirely neglected.
To remedy this difficulty the commissioners recommend
the establishment of a "metropolitan parks district,'' com-
prising twelve cities and twenty-four towns, containing
to-day about 900,000 inhabitants. The proposed legisla-
tion provides for the appointment by the Governor of a per-
manent Metropolitan Parks Commission, the members to
serve without pay, and appointed respectively for terms of
one, two, three, four and five years, annually thereafter, one
member to be appointed each year for a term of five years.
To enable the acquiring of the various sites that might be
agreed upon the state is to advance its credit to the amount
of one million dollars, to be paid by the accumulation of a
sinking fund, the charges for which, together with those
for interest, are to be met through apportionment, by sepa-
rate commissioners appointed for the purpose at intervals
of five years, among the various cities and towns, accord-
ing to the degree of their benefit Boston's proportion for
the first five years is fixed at fifty per cent. As the present
commissioners have simply advisory functions, they wisely
leave this matter of the selection of sites to the permanent
commission, and content themselves merely with two defi-
nite recommendations : the reservation of the Middlesex
Fells and of the Blue Hills, both of these cases appearing
to them urgent. For the guidance of the permanent com-
mission in its work they feel it sufficient to refer to the
studies of the landscape-architect and the secretary. In the
proposed act ample power is given to act in harmony with
local park commissions, water boards, etc., and to make
arrangements for the common administration of lands held
by various public authorities.

In addition to the commissioners' bill the secretary
recommends, as the result of his studies, three other
measures. One of these is an addition to the General Park
Act of the commonwealth, in substance the same as the
Boulevard Act of Illinois, enabling park boards to take and
improve, by consent of local authorities and of the owners
of a majority of their frontage, streets or parts of streets lead-
ing to parks. The second is a General Playground Act,
which in substance meets a general want by enabling
cities and towns to exceed their debt limits in procuring
lands for playground purposes. The third is to encourage
the building of tenement dwellings about enclosed play-
ground and garden spaces by practically exempting such
spaces from taxation through leasing them at a nominal
rental to the local authorities for a term of years.

Subject for comment in many numbers of Garden and
Forest might be found in the various aspects of the problem
considered in the reports of Messrs. Eliot and Baxter. Mr.
Eliot treats the subject from the standpoint of a profes-
sional adviser as delightfully as he does instructively.
How thoroughly he is grounded in his art is shown in
this concise paper, which impresses one with the feeling
that he might have devoted a volume to the subject
without exhausting either it or the reader's interest.
In a summary of the physical and historical geography
of the district he tells the story of the rock founda-
tion, the glacial rubbish, the fresh waters and the sea,
and how these have given it the strikingly attractive
shape it presented until its human occupancy marred much
of nature's handwork, while it has respected and added to
the charm of other portions that point the way how to
deal with the whole. He then studies the way in which
this peculiar geography of the metropolitan district ought
to govern the selection of the sites of recreation-grounds
and open spaces for public use, lying as it does, even at
this late day, between two wildernesses, "on the one hand
the untamed heights of the rock-hills, on the other the un-
tamable sea." And he says : "Thus has nature placed
and preserved, at the very gates of Boston, riches of scenery
such as Chicago or Denver or many another American city
would give millions to create, if it were possible."

In accordance with the governing considerations laid
down in this study, Mr. Eliot reviews the opportunities

62

Garden and Forest.

[Number 259.

that still present themselves for creating new open spaces
among the rock-hills along the ponds and streams, and by
the bay and the sea. By logical, natural steps he leads
the way from the hills down the river-valleys to the sea,
and along and near the courses thus traced he finds sites
ready at hand, and demanding for their utilization little
more than a restoration to their original conditions— some-
thing not of extreme difficulty in the accomplishment. The
courses of the three rivers, the Mystic, the Charles and the
Neponset, present the pleasantest ways to the sea from the
interior. This would, therefore, give three valley park-
ways with adjacent recreation-grounds as opportunity
might oflfer. These would lead to the bay down from the
rock-hill regions, where we would have the Lynn Woods,
already established, on the north ; then the Middlesex
Fells resen-ation of 2,500 to 3,000 acres, also on the north ;
Prospect Hill, in Waltham, already provided for by local
action in that city ; the Muddy Pond Woods in Hyde
Park, and the West Roxbury district of Boston on the
south, corresponding to the Middlesex Fells in relative
position, and then the noble range of the Blue Hills in the
same direction, also corresponding to the Lynn Woods.
Then with the northerly sea-shore reserved from Winthrop
Great Head and along Revere Beach to Lynn, and perhaps
Nantasket to the southward of the bay, together with two
or three islands in the bay, the future of Boston would be
well provided for, so far as open spaces are concerned.

Mr. Baxter's report deals largely with the problem from
the point of view of political and social economy. The
careful investigation of the territory made by the com-
mission leads him to consider the need of an ample pro-
vision for open spaces, and the difficulties at present in the
way of obtaining them. The logical method of solving
the problem is pointed out, and the special advantages
that will follow the adoption of this plan are discussed.
He carefully examines the separate features under con-
sideration, and, in treating of the Charles River, special
stress is laid upon the necessity of securing public owner-
ship of the banks, as well as control of the stream, in order
to deal with the serious menace of malaria now threatened
in that neighborhood. The questions of special pleasure-
ways, or roads for light traffic, and of local pleasure-
grounds, playgrounds and breathing-spaces, are separately
dealt with.

It is along the lines indicated in these studies that a
permanent commission would naturally work. While two
years ago it would have seemed almost chimerical to
expect favorable action upon such a far-seeing, enlightened
and truly conservative proposition, public sentiment has
now been so well developed by the educative forces at
work, that it would really be surprising if the commission's
recommendations were not agreed to. And, if the outcome
proves what it should be, Boston will be fortunate in the
most comprehensive dealing with the park problem that
any great city has yet been favored with. The work of
this metropolitan Board must be of great value to every
impyortant American city ; it points out the way to deal
with a great question in a broad and comprehensive man-
ner ; and it should be studied by every one interested in
the growth and prosperity of urban populations.

Ik the current number of The Atlantic Monthly Mr. Julius
H. Ward discusses, in a clear and forcible manner, the value
of the White Mountain forests and the dangers which
threaten them, and shows conclusively the disastrous re-
sults which will follow the destruction of these natural pro-
tectors of the water-supply of northern New England.
Unlike most writers on the forestry question in the United
States, Mr. Ward has a scheme to propose, which, if it can
be carried out, will go far to prevent the denudation of
northern New Hampshire.

The great difficulty which reformers in the care and man-
agement of forest-property in the eastern states have to
encounter is found in the fact that it is exclusively in the

hands of individuals, and that the state cannot interfere with
it without infringing on private rights. The forests which
cover the White Mountains, protecting the streams which
rise among them, and making them attractive places for
summer visitors, belong to individuals and lumber-corpo-
rations, who have bought them for the purpose of convert-
ing them as quickly and advantageously as possible
into money without reference to the future results of their
operations. In doing this they are exerting an undeniable
right, and any attempt to prevent a man from cutting down
his own trees would, at this time, be considered an unwar-
rantable piece of tyranny to be resisted to the utmost
But, as Mr. Ward points out, if only trees of a size which
would represent the average development of the species at
its most valuable commercial period were cut, the forest,
instead of being destroyed, would be improved and perpet-
uated ; and he would purchase, by the state, through a
forest commission, from owners of woodland in certain
designated regions, the agreement that they would not cut
trees below a certain size. The state, by such an arrange-
ment, would acquire no title to the land and would have
no control over the forest beyond seeing that the contract was
fairly performed by the owners, who would have the right
to cut and dispose of all mature timber which it might pro-
duce. In this way the forest in such parts of the state, as
required, for various reasons, a forest-covering could be per-
manently preserved. Forest-land would produce a regular
and permanent crop, and those advantages which the peo-
ple of New Hampshire derive from their forests would be
saved to them.

The compensation to land-owners might take in part the
form of a remittance of taxes, to be refunded to the dif-
ferent towns from the state treasury. Of the money ben-
efit which the people of New Hampshire derive from their
forests there can be no question ; they preserve their
streams and bring millions of dollars into the state every
year, spent by travelers who come into it to enjoy the
beauty of the White Mountains ; and they are capable, if
properly managed, of producing a large and constant sup-
ply of lumber. It is proper, then, that the cost of purchas-
ing their immunity from destruction be borne by the en-
tire population of the state, and for doing this economic-
ally and quickly no better plan than that proposed by Mr.
Ward has been suggested.

Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XXIIL

TT was a great pleasure to me to visit the far-famed Knap
■■■ Hill Nurseries and inspect their contents under the
guidance of Mr. Anthony Waterer, the proprietor and veteran
Rhododendron grower. The visitor in London desiring to see
this establishment will find it an easy journey of about forty
minutes by the South Western Railway from the Waterloo
Station to Woking in Surrey. At the Woking Station, car-
riages may be taken to the jnurseries, but if the traveler is a
good walker he will enjoy the tramp through a quiet, peaceful
country, and delight to linger by the roadsides, where many
pretty wild plants abound, especially two or three species of
Heaths. As one approaches the well-known nurseries, the
native vegetation, the situation and the deep dark rich soil sug-
gest a location unsurpassed for the successful cultivation of
Rhododendrons. These plants are the great specialty here, al-
though all other kinds of really hardy trees and shrubs and
some of the best herbaceous plants are also raised in quantity
and with care. There is no claim made that this place con-
tains an arboretum or collection for public display, but fine
specimens of many species of plants are frequently seen.
One of the finest of uncommon trees is a splendid example of
a Weeping Beech, whose branches spread over ninety feet.
Our Magnolia glauca is here with a trunk a foot in diameter]
and a nice specimen of the rather uncommon Kcelreuteria
paniculata has a stem twenty inches through, is over thirty
feet high, and has something of the general aspect of a Wal-
nut-tree. Curiously enough, Magnolia macrophylla is here
considered almost as tender as our great everereen species of
the south. b V

It is a pleasure and delight to the true horticulturist to see
the healthy, honest way in which all the plants are grown in
this nursery of over two hundred acres. No shiftlessness is

J

February 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

63

allowed, and everything inferior or lacking in hardiness is dis-
carded to make room for something better. It is exceedingly
gratifying to find a persistent effort made to get as many plants
as possible on their own roots instead of resorting to grafting
or budding. Our Colorado Blue Spruce ^Picea pungens) is
raised from seed and is not grafted ; only richly glaucous
seedlings are selected, the others being thrown away. It is
well known that this species is very variable and sometimes
comes out a dull green instead of the highly prized "blue"
color of the foliage. Tsuga Pattoniana and the so-called
T. Hookeriana, which are maintained to be distinct by some
growers, are here both raised from the same lot of seed.
Golden Yews are raised from seed, having been found to vary
more in their peculiar varietal characteristics and to do better
and prove hardier than when grown from cuttings. There are
also variegated-leaved forms of our Ash-leaved Maple or Box-
Elder raised on their own roots by layering whenever possible,
though some budding has to be done to keep up with the de-
mand. An attempt is made to grow all the choicer variations
and hybrids of Lilacs on their own roots. Thus, all the
suckers or new shoots which may come up from the ground
will be of the kind originally purchased, a fact which amateur
gardeners will appreciate if they have had any experience
with hastily grafted stuff which is too often liable to be poor,
and eventually to have the place of the scion usurped by
strong growths of common Lilac or of Privet, the stocks com-
monly used in hasty propagation. For the same reasons some
of the peculiar forms of our common Locust (Robinia Pseuda-
cacia), such as Bessoniana, are grown on their own roots from
cuttings. Such plants should only be planted, in this country
at least, where the original stem is too likely to be destroyed
by borers.

A deep red flowered sport of the dwarf Spiraea Bumalda is
considered quite an acquisition, and it may be found in bloom
from early July until the end of the season. A fine lot of
the comparatively new Hypericum Moserianum was at this
time, the last week of September, flowering freely and mak-
ing a pretty show. This is scarcely hardy enough to with-
stand the severity of our northern winters, but south of New
England it ought to thrive and be a great acquisition. It orig-
inated in France, and is said to be a hybrid between the hand-
some dwarf H. calycinum and H. pptulum, both of which
will live in New England, but it lacks the hardiness of such
native American species as H. aureum and H. Kalmianum.
The flowers of H. Moserianum are about two inches across ;
the petals are broad and rounded, and of a rich chrome-
yellow color, with the usual large tuft of yellow stamens red-
tipped.

But while some of these shrubs may be seen in other
nurseries, I know of no place where the thoroughly hardy
strains of Azaleas and Rhododendrons are so faithfully and
so thoroughly grown and propagated as here. Everything
tender, everything lacking in foliage, or with imperfect bloom,
is set aside to make room for only the very best. Mr.
Waterer has for many years given much attention to hybrid-
izing and crossing between these plants, with the result that
he has originated a great many of the finest forms in modern
collections. Many of these hybrids and crosses have proved
thoroughly hardy when introduced into our American
gardens as far north as any of our native species of Rhodo-
dendron can be found growing naturally. This should be
expected, because Mr. Waterer depends mainly on R. Cataw-
biense in deriving new forms, .while R. maximum is also
very much used, both plants probably the hardiest of any
species of their class in existence, which can be generally and
profitably cultivated. Of R. Catawbiense I noted a very large
plant, which is said to be between 75 and 100 years old, and
which has played an important part in a very large propor-
tion of the hybridizations.

The deciduous Rhododendrons or Azaleas also receive
due attention, and apparently those heretofore most used in
obtaining the hardiest forms have been such species as our
own R. calendulaceum and the Asiatic R. Sinense. Some-
thing has been done with R. occidentale and others, and in
such skillful hands as Mr. Waterer's we may expect to see
some interesting hybrids, from the peculiar, hardy and as
yet little-known R. Vaseyi. I was told that this last species
has so far not proved altogether satisfactory at Knap Hill,
the very early blossoms being nipped by frost.

Immense quantities of both Rhododendrons and Azaleas
are grown on their own roots, and grafting is avoided as much
as possible. The nursery is so old and Rhododendron culture
has so long been a special feature of it, that the proprietor is
enabled to raise fine stocky plants on roots of their own in a
way that cannot be afforded by many competitors. For in-

stance, great full-grown plants, perhaps six or eight feet high,
of some desirable kinds are sacrificed, and almost entirely
buried in the rich peaty loam, so that only the tips of all the
branches are seen above ground. By this system of
layering, two years must pass before the plants are disturbed,
and by this time each tip is a fine vigorous bush, ready to be
transplanted anywhere, and bearing blossom-buds. Where it
is necessary, in order to increase stock, to resort to grafting,
the stock and scion are joined at a point well below the
ground, so that eventually the scion may put forth roots of its
own. Grafted plants answer best for pot-plants for forcing.
There is a considerable demand for standard Rhododen-
dron plants, that is, grown into tree form with a long clean
stem. Such specimens are procured by grafting high on
stems of some tall-growing kind ; the variety here found best
suited for this purpose is Album elegans, which isof very fast
upright growth. Rhododendrons in plants of all sizes are to be
had here, and every year in June the firm has splendid exhibi-
tions in some of the public parks and gardens of London.
Many of our American private gardensVhich are famous for
their Rhododendrons are largely under obligations to this es-
tablishment for many of their best and hardiest plants.

A visit to Knap Hill at any season cannot fail to be of inter-
est to all cultivators and admirers of healthy vigorous plants ;
but any one so fortunate as to land here in early summer, in
the best of the Rhododendron season, will be rewarded by
a display of color to be seen in few gardens in any country.

Arnold Arboretum. "J . G. JaCk.

Some Texas Plants in a Texas Garden.

MALVAVISCUS DRUMMONDII is known in Texas as Wild
Fuchsia. It is a perennial, with a long tap-root and nu-
merous sub-erect stems two feet high, and branching freely,
each ultimate division terminating in a bell-shaped flower,
with the stamens extending. Fuchsia-like, beyond the corolla,
•which is bright scarlet, and makes an agreeable contrast with
the deep green of the leaves. The flower is succeeded by a
red berry of mawkish taste, relished by children in the south-
western part of the state, where this plant grows wild. In cul-
tivation it is a free bloomer, the flowers appearing in great
numbers from May until the first killing frost. It grows
readily from seed, and generally flowers the first year.

Nyctaginia capitata is another fine plant of the dry region of
the south-west. It is a perennial, with fleshy roots and nu-
merous decumbent stems ; the flowers are dazzling red and
produced in dense long-stalked heads from the axils of the
leaves ; they are trumpet-shaped, and the stamens, being
much longer than the corolla, add considerably to their beauty
and singular appearance. The leaves are cordate, and the
whole plant is of a grayish color and covered with small hairs.
Nyctaginia flowers all summer, and the only objectionable
thing we find about it is that the flowers are too sweet-
scented. It may be propagated by root divisions and by seeds.

Mentzelia ornata is a very remarkable and beautiful bien-
nial, or, rarely perennial, plant. Its long deep root permits it
to withstand severe drought ; the main stem is stout and
straight, with many branches, which usually form a perfect
pyramid some three feet high, covered all summer with im-
mense flowers which resemble those of the Night-blooming
Cereus ; they are white, with a wealth of beautiful yellow sta-
mens, and appear only during the night or on dark days, the
corollas opening during two successive nights. I have counted
as many as fifty flowers open at one time on a single specimen.
When the plant is in full bloom it is a charming object, and the
sweet fragrance of its beautiful flowers adds to its merit. Some-
times, however, it is less attractive, for in very dry and hot sea-
sons the leaves are apt to shrivel up, when the whole plant
presents a dead appearance during the day, although at night
the bright and beautiful flowers appear in spite of any drought.
It can only be propagated by seed, and flowers only the second
year, which it rarely survives. The only spot where I have
ever found M. ornata growing wild in Texas was on Fish
Creek, in Dallas County, and there were only a dozen plants.
There are several other species of the genus growing in this
state, most of them with yellow flowers. M. nuda, which
grows in the upper Brazos country, produces white flowers,
although they are not so large as those of M. ornata.

Callirrhoe involucrata is a good garden-plant ; it is very
common in rich sandy soil, and is a perennial with a root
which looks like a diminutive turnip ; it produces several de-
cumbent stems and large, solitary, red-purple flowers on long
stems from the axils of every leaf. Between April and Octo-
ber this plant is rarely without a flower.

Scutellaria brevif olia is a native of Dallas County ; it is a neat

Garden and Forest.

[Number 259.

compact plant of rigid appearance, from six inches to a foot
high. It produces large dark purple Howers in terminal spikes.
and remains in flower during a large part of the summer. It
is a perennial, and grows naturally in nearly pure limestone,
and will theiefore t« a good rock-garden plant.

Marshallia coespit08a,like the last, grows on limestone-rock,
and may also be found valuable in the rock-garden. It has
been useful with me for edgings. It is a little Composite with
a simple stem terminating in a solitary large white head,
looking ver)- much like a Scabiosa ; it is a perennial withsmall
spathulate. reticulate leaves. M. cccspitosa blooms only in the
•pring, and can be increased by root division and by seeds.

Pentstemon Cobxca is a well-known species with lai^e mag-
nificent rtowcrs, shading very nearly from pure white or violet
to red-purple, with darker markings. This plant appears to
offer an opportunity for producing a new strain of garden-
plants by intercrossing the different varieties or by hybridizing
It with other species, several of which grow in Texas. P. Cobrea
is quite abundant on upland prairies, and never fails, when it
is in flower, to attract the attention of the most indifferent peo-
ple. It blooms during the spring, and occasionally also in
summer.

Dalea fmtescens is a small shrub; the upper part of the
stems, which are covered with elegant foliage, divides into
numerous branchlets, which are literally covered with loose
heads of pretty, bright violet-colored, pea'-shaped flowers. The
great merit of this fine plant is that it blooms late in the au-
tumn. It grows naturally on rocky limestone prairies, but is
not very common in this part of the state.

Yucca rupicola is a stately species with glaucous rigid
leaves without threads on the margins. The Hower-stem is
branched, five to seven feet high, and sometimes bears as
many as seventy pure while Howers, which appear in May and
June. In several respects this species is superior as a garden-
plant to Y. filamentosa. It grows wild on rocky limestone
Dlufiis in western Texas. ^ „

DaiUs, Tex. / • Reverchoti.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — IV.

OF the true Magnolias three species grow naturally in
Japan ; two of these belong to the section of the
genus which produces its flowers before the leaves appear
and which has no representative in the flora of America ;
the third, Magnolia hypoleuca, bears some resemblance to
our Magnolia tripetala. This tree is seen at its best in the
damp rich forests which cover the low rolling hills of
Yezo, where it sometimes rises to the height of a hundred
feet and forms trunks two feet in diameter ; on the other
Japanese islands it is confined to the mountain forests, and
apparently does not descend below 2,000 feet above the
sea ; and it is only in Yezo and on the high mountains in
the extreme northern part of the main island that I have
seen it of large size. In central Japan it rarely appears
more thaii twenty or thirty feet high, although this can
perhaps be accounted for by the fact that all trees in the
accessible parts of the Japanese forests are cut as soon as
they are large enough to be used for timber. Magnolia
hypoleuca must in any case be considered a northern
species, requiring a cold winter climate for its best de-
velopment, and it probably does not thrive in regions
where the ground is not covered with snow during several
months of every year.

Ma^olia hypoleuca is one of the largest and most
beautiful of the deciduous-leaved Magnolias ; in the early
autumn when the cones of fruit, which exceed those of
any of our species in size and are sometimes eight inches
long, and are brilliant scarlet in color, stand out on the
branches, it is the most striking feature of the forests of
Hokkaido, which in variety and interest are not surpassed
by those of any other part of the world. Like Magnolia
tripetala, it is a tree of open habit, with long spreading
irregulariy contorted branches covered, as well as the
trunk, with pale smooth bark. The leaves, however, are
not as much crowded together at the ends of the flowering
branches as they are in the American species, and are
placed rather remotely on the branchlets ; they are twelve
or fourteen inches long and seven or eight inches broad,
and on young vigorous trees are sometimes twice this
size. On the upper surface they are light bright green

and pale steel blue, or sometimes almost silvery on
the lower, so that when raised by the wind they give the
tree a light and cheerful appearance. A flowering branch
of this species, obtained from a tree in Central Park, New
York, was figured in the first volume of this journal (Fig.
49), in which the flowers are described as six or seven
inches across when expanded, with creamy white petals
and brilliant scarlet filaments; they appearin May and June,
after the leaves are nearly full grown, and are very fragrant.

Magnolia hypoleuca is still rare in gardens, although it
was sent by Mr. Thomas Hogg to the United States as
early as 1865, and has been propagated in the Parsons'
Nursery at Flushing. For many years it has flowered in
the neighborhood of New York, and more recently in !\Ir.
Hunnewell's garden at Wellesley, INIassachusetts, and it is
probable that it will thrive in any part of the northern
United States, although, like other Hokkaido trees, it may
suffer from summer and autumn droughts, which are un-
known in Japan, where the rainfall during August and
September is regular and abundant. As an ornamental
tree Magnolia hypoleuca is superior to Magnolia tripetala
in the fragrance of its flowers and in the coloring of its
leaves ; it is less desirable than Magnolia macrophylla,
which surpasses its Japanese relative in form and in the
size and beauty of its flowers and leaves, which are the
largest produced on any plant of the Magnolia family, and
larger than those of any other North American tree.

As a timber-tree Magnolia hypoleuca is valuable. The
wood, like that of all the Magnolias, is straight-grained,
soft, light-colored, and easily seasoned and worked. It is
esteemed and much used in Japan for all sorts of objects
which are covered with lacquer, especially sword-sheaths,
which are usually made from it ; in Hokkaido it is also
used in the interior finish of houses and for boxes and
cabinets, although harder woods are generally preferred
for such purposes.

In the forests of Hokkaido a second species, Magnolia
Kobus,* occurs. A figure, the first which has been made of
this species except by Japanese artists, appears on page 66
of this Issue ; it is from a drawing of a specimen for which
I am indebted to Professor Miyabe, of the Agricultural
College at Sapparo.

Magnolia Kobus sometimes grows in the neighborhood
of Sapparo to the height of seventy or eighty feet, and de-
velops a tall straight trunk nearly two feet in diameter,
covered with rather dark, slightly furrowed bark. The
branches are short and slender, and form a narrow pyra-
midal head, which only becomes round-topped when the
tree has attained its full size. The branchlets are more
slender than those of most species of Magnolia, and are
covered with dark reddish brown bark. The flowers ap-
pear near Sapparo in the middle of May, before the leave.",
from acute buds an inch long, half an inch broad, and pro-
tected by long thickly matted pale hairs. They are from
four to five inches across when fully expanded, with small
acute caducous sepals and narrow, obovate, thin, creamy
white petals ; the stamens, with short broad filaments, are
much shorter than the narrow acute cone of pistils. The
leaves are obovate, gradually narrowed below, and abruptly
contracted at the apex into short broad points ; they are
pubescent on the lower surface at first, especially on the
stout midribs and primary veins, but at maturity are
glabrous, or nearly so, and are bluish green, and rather
lighter-colored on the lower than on the upper surface ;
they are six or seven inches long, three or four inches
broad, rather conspicuously reticulate-veined, and are
borne on stout petioles half an inch to an inch and a half
in length. The fruit is slender, four or five inches long,
and is often contorted or curved from the abortion of sorhe
of the seeds ; it is dark brown, the carpels conspicuously
marked with pale dots.

• Magnolia Kobus, DeCandolle, Syst. !., 456. Miqiif I, Prol. Fl. Jap.. 146. Maxl-
mowicz, Mfl. Biol., viii., 507. Franchet& Savalier, Enuin. PI. Jap., i., 16.
Magnolia lomcntos.i, Thunberg, Trans. Lin. Soc, ii., 336, in part.
Magnolia giriuca, var, a, Thunberg. I'l. Jap., 236,
Kobus, Kcempfer, Icon. Select., t. 42.

February 8, 1893

Garden and Forest.

65

Magnolia Kobus is exceedingly common in the forests
which clothe the hills in the neighborhood of Sapparo,
where it grows to a larger size than in any part of Japan
which I visited ; near the shores of Volcano Bay it occurs
in low swampy ground and in the neighborhood of streams,
in situations very similar to those selected by Magnolia
glauca in the United States. On the main island Magnolia
Kobus is much less common than it is in Hokkaido, and I
only met with it occasionally in the Hakone and Nikko
Mountains at considerable elevations above the sea.

This handsome tree was introduced into the United States
by Mr. Thomas Hogg, and was distributed from the Par-
sons' Nurseries as Magnolia Thurberi under the belief that
it was an undescribed species. In cultivation it does not
flower freely in the young state, although a tree in Mr. L. C.
Moon's garden in Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
has produced flowers for the last two or three years. In
the Arnold Arboretum, where it was raised from seed sent
from Sapparo fifteen years ago, it has as yet shown no
sign of flowering, although it is the hardiest, most vigorous
and most rapid-growing Magnolia in the collection.

I spent the 2d and 3d of October in company with Mr. James
Herbert Veitch and Mr. Tokubuchi, an accomplished Japa-
nese botanist, on Mount Hakkoda, an extinct volcano
6,000 feet high, which rises south-east and a few miles
distant from Aomori, the most northern city of the main
island of Japan. Botanically this was one of the most in-
teresting excursions I made in Japan, and we were able to
gather the seeds of a number of plants that we did not meet
with elsewhere. On this mountain, in the very spot, per-
haps, where Maries discovered this fine tree, we found
Abies Mariesii covered with its large purple cones ; and on
the upper slopes saw the dwarf Pinus pumila, forming almost
impenetrable thickets five or six feet high and many acres
in area, and numerous alpine shrubs like Andromeda
nana, Gaultheria pyroloides, Epigaea Asiatica, Phyllodoce
taxifolia and Geum dryadoides. On this mountam, too, we
established the most northern recoided station in Asia of the
Hemlock ( Tsuga diversifolia) ; and near the base Ilex cre-
nata, Ilex Sugeroki, a handsome evergreen species with
bright red fruit, the dwarf Ilex Integra, van leucoclada, and
Daphniphyllum humile were very common ; and here we
were fortunate in finding good fruit and ripe seeds of Mag-
nolia salicifolia, of which a figure from a drawing made by
Mr. Faxon is published on page 67 of this issue.

On Mount Hakkoda Magnolia salicifolia is a common
plant between 2,000 and 3,000 feet above the sea-level. As
it appears here it is a slender tree fifteen or twenty feet
high, with stems three or four inches thick and covered
with pale smooth bark, and sometimes solitary, or more
commonly in clusters of three or four. The branch-
lets are slender, light green at first, like those of Magnolia
glauca, later growing darker, and in their third year dark
reddish brown. The leaves are ovate, acute, gradually nar-
rowed, or rarely rounded at the base, contracted into long
slender points and sometimes slightly falcate at the apex ;
they are thin, light green on the upper and silvery white on
the lower surface, quite glabrous at maturity, five or six
inches long, an inch and a half to two inches broad, and
are borne on slender petioles half an inch in length. When
bruised they are more fragrant than those of any species of
Magnolia I am acquainted with, exhaling a delicious odor
of anise-seed. The winter flower-bud is two-thirds of an
inch long, rather obtuse, and protected by a thick coat of
yellow-white hairs. The flowers of this tree are not known
to botanists, but from the size and character of the winter-
bud they are probably of good size and produced in early
spring before the appearance of the leaves. The fruit is
slender, flesh-color, an inch and a half to two inches long
and half an inch broad.

Magnolia salicifolia * grows on Mount Hakkoda in low

•Maenolia salicifolia, Maximowicz, Mi'l. StW., viil., ax. Franchet & Savatier,
Enum.Pl. 7a^.,i.,,6. ^

Buerjjeria (?) salicifolia, Siebold & Zuccarini, Fl. rui. Fam. Nat., i., 187. Miguel,

Prol. Fl. Jap., 144. • J r , . 1 ^ .

wet situations, generally near streams, and is evidently a
moisture-loving plant. Later I found a single small plant
of this species near the town of Fukishima, on the hills
which rise above the valley of the Kisogawa, not far from
the base of Mount Ontake, in "central Japan.

Magnolia salicifolia is new to cultivation, and we were
fortunate in obtaining a good supply of seeds, by means of
which, it is to be hoped, this interesting tree will soon
appear in gardens. c. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

ANEW edition, the third, of Mr. William Robinson's
book, entitled The English Flower-garden, has just
appeared. The first edition of this work was published in
1883; a second appeared in 1889, when I briefly pointed
out its character and merits in Garden and Forest in 1889
(vol. II., p. 243), but this last edition contains so much that
is fresh, and the book generally is so greatly improved, that
American horticulturists may like to hear of it again.

Mr. Robinson is an eminent authority on English gar-
den-making ; indeed, he may be called the champion of
that school of landscape-gardeners known as the purely
natural or anti-formal school. He knows what he wants in
the garden, and in his writings he fights lustily for it. "We
shall never settle the most trifling question by the stu-
pid saying that it is 'a matter of taste.' If the reader will
come with me through these early chapters I may convince
him that flower-gardening is 'a matter of reason.' I do
not want him to think as I do without considering the mat-
ter for himself. The laws of all true art can only be based
on the eternal laws of nature." By the term, flower-gar-
den, Mr. Robinson really means every department of open-
air gardening, save that of fruit and vegetable culture, and
his book contains descriptions and pictures of almost every
kind of ornamental plant or tree which he thinks deserving
of a place in an English garden. It also contains chapters
on garden-design, including a vigorous protest against for-
mality and bedding, which, he says, the artist hates and
cannot help hating. "This dislike is only natural and right,
since from most flower-gardens the possibility of any beau-
tiful result is shut out. . . . Why is the cottage-garden
often a picture, and the gentleman's garden near wholly
shut out of the realm of art — a thing which an artist can-
not long look at? It is the absence of pretentious 'plan'
in the cottage-garden which lets the flowers tell their own
tale; the simple walks going where they are wanted;
flowers not set in patterns ; the walls and porch alive .with
flowers. Can the gentleman's garden, too, be a picture?
Certainly; and the greater the breadth and means the bet-
ter the picture should be. But never, if our formal 'deco-
rative ' style of design is kept to. Reform must come by
letting Nature take her just place in the garden."

There is reason enough in this, but I am afraid many
people who love gardening and have some pretensions to
taste, too, would be unhappy in the kind of garden that
Mr. Robinson would insist on. A garden should be a re-
flection of its owner's character and feeling, just as his
house is. Some men are satisfied to pay a decorator or an
artist to arrange their places after the most approved styles.
But the man lives his own life, sets his own house in order
to his own peculiar liking, and, if he has a garden, he will
do that also. There is likely to be as much affectation in
a good deal of what is called the "natural" style of gar-
dening as in the "artificial " or formal. Mr. Robinson
M^ould "Whistlerise" garden-making. I do not wish to do
more than simply to defend those who believe in making
their gardens to please themselves. Even Mr. Robinson
can tolerate the formal garden when it is old.

The first two hundred pages of the book are devoted to
a consideration of Design, the Wild Garden, Borders, Beds
and Groups, Special Culture, .-Mpine and Rock Gardens,
Trees and Shrubs, Aquatic and Bog Plants, Beauty of Form,

66

Garden and Forest.

[Number 259.

nimh^Ts. \utumn Flowers Roseries etc. These chapters which is a most delightful feature in a garden when prop-

Fif;. II.— Maf^olia Kobus.— See page 64.

writes about, and lays down the law of the English garden themselves. It has nothing to do with the 'Wilderness,'

as it should be, in a most fascinating and convincing way. though it may be carried out in connection with that. It

The Wild Garden, which jwe owe to Mr. Robinson, and does not necessarily mean the picturesque garden, for a

February 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

67

garden may be picturesque, and yet in every part the re-
sult of ceaseless care. What it does mean is best ex-
plained by the Winter Aconite, flowering; under a grove
of naked trees in February ; by the Snowflake grow-
ing abundantly in meadows, by the Thames sides ;
and by the Apennine Anemone staining an English wood
blue. Multiply these instances a thousand-fold, add
many different types of plants, and hardy climbers from
countries as cold as our own, or colder, and one may

descriptions and pictures of and cultural directions for all
that is of known value for outdoor gardening. The pic-
tures are themselves full of beauty and interest. Mr. Rob-
inson in all his publications has shown exceptional taste
and care in the selection and execution of the illustrations.
The English Flower-garden contains hundreds of them.
The book is not limited to hardy plants, many tropical
things being included, but they are such as are used for
outdoor effect in summer. Thus Cycas, Musa, Ficus,

Fig. 12.— Magnolia salicifolia. — See page 64.

get a just idea of the Wild Garden. Some have thought of
it as a garden allowed to run wild, or with annuals sown
promiscuously, whereas it does not meddle with the gar-
den proper at all, except in attempting the adornment of
bare shrubbery borders in the London parks and else-
where— waste spaces, not gardens." This chapter con-
tains all the directions that any one requires for the making
of such a garden, and some of the illustrations of " wild-
gardening" are delightful pictures. The greater portion of
the book, some five hundred and fifty pages, is devoted to

Brexia, Dasylirion, Agave, etc., are among the plants
recommended. There is no gardening book known to me
which is so filled with sound knowledge about plants, such
pleasant reading, and so delightful to look through as this
on the English flower-garden ; and seeing that the author
has made this department of horticulture his special
study for at least thirty years, and is, moreover, proprietor
and editor of several papers devoted to horticulture, the
excellence of his book is scarcely to be wondered at.
London. W. Watson.

68

Garden and Forest.

[Number 259.

Cultural Department.

Black Hamburg Grapes in the Open Air.

THE suggestion of Colonel Pearson (vol. v., p. 618). that the
European Vine might be successfully grown in our Atlan-
tic states if protected from mildew and phylloxera, prompts me
to give mv experience in growing these Grapes without pro-
tection, although this experience is limited, covering only the
year 1892. I hare for several vears grown the Black Hamburg
and the White Muscat of Alexandria in a small lean-fo cold-
house with good success, and with little care. My vines are
now eighteen years old and quite large. A year ago part of
the sash became badly broken, leaving the growing vme fully
exposed to the weather; in this condition I sprayed them with
Bordeaux mixture throughout thesummer and succeeded in
retaining the foliage and perfecting the fruit, as well as that on
the vines under the glass.

Last spring 1 took tlie entire structure away and trained the
vines on a wire trellis about four feet high and sprayed them
frequently with the Bordeaux mixture, keeping them well
pinched back through the season, and the foliage remained
good till killed by frost. The fruit was as good as that grown
under glass — possibly a little later.

My opinion is that this Grape can be grown successfully in
this latitude in the open air with theabove treatment, and pos-
sibly a slight protection over the roots in the shape of a good
mulch of coarse manure through the winter. 1 think the vines
are hardy enough to stand our ordinary winter weather, and if
the mildew is kept away from the leaves so that they will be able
to perform their proper functions throughout the season, I
don't see why we can't succeed. Still, much more time must
be given to testing this, and experience from various sections
must be collected before we can speak with any positiveness

on this matter. ^. 7 r ~

Kcwark. N. J. Charles L. Jones.

Seasonable Notes.

WORK in the indoor garden at this season is varied and
interesting, and comprises, besides careful attention to
routine operations, such as heating, watering and ventilating,
preparation for next summer's outdoor display, the plans for
which should now be laid. In many amateur gardens the
available space for such preparation is decidedly limited, but,
however small the conservatory, a certain portion should be
set aside for a propagating frame. Something of this charac-
ter is almost indispensable where a variety of plants are
gfrown. A frame some four or five feet long, placed on the
side bench at the warmest end of the house, will afford proper
accommodation for many cuttings and seeds of tender plants,
and also provide the conditions for interesting experiments.

For many stove-plants, and especially some species consid-
ered difficult to root, there is no better medium in which to
plant the cuttings than cocoa fibre. This material retains
moisture for a considerable period without becoming soured,
and at the same time is sufficiently porous to allow the bot-
tom-heat to penetrate it readily. Cocoa fibre can be purchased
by the barrel in most seed-stores, and may be either used in
bulk to form a cutting bed, or in store pots. It is also an excellent
material in which to plunge the pots or pans used for propa-
gating purposes. Cuttings of Ficus, Crotons, Aralias and
many other plants will root readily in it, providing some bot-
tom-heat is given, and a smaller percentage of cuttings will
fail than when they are planted in sand or soil.

This is a suitable time to put in Croton cuttings to furnish
young stock for this year's outdoor bedding. To grow Crotons
rapidly, a high temperature and moist atmosphere are required,
seventy to seventy-five degrees at night being none too much,
though after such treatment it is necessary to harden off these
plants gradually before planting them out in June. The
Acalyphas are included among select bedding plants, and,
though nearly as tender as a Coleus, are much more effective.
A. musaica and A. marginata are the most satisfactory sorts
for the purpose, and cuttings put in at this time will soon be-
come large enough to supply a second crop.

The stock of Cannas may be considerably increased by start-
ing the roots in pots and afterward dividing them. In this way
a much greater display is |K>ssiblc than when the dry roots are
planted out in the garden. Canna-seeds should also be sown
quite early to secure strong plants. And as the seedlings vary
greatly, their development will interest the grower, though it
must be admitted that really improved varieties are few, a
Madame Crozy or Alphonse Bouvier only appearing at inter-
Tato. In a batch of 150 seedlings raised by me only two were
found worthy of a second year's trial, though all the seeds were

gathered from good varieties, many of which had been fer-
tilized with a view to their improvement.

It is not too early to begin the propagation of Chrysanthe-
mums, and when the young plants are sufficiently established
they may be placed in cold frames until needed. Old plants of
Bouvardias from which the crop of bloom has been exhausted
should not be thrown away, but stored under the stages until
warm weather, when they should be planted outdoors for
summer flowering. The result will be a surprise to those who
have not tried this plan, there being a wealth of bloom all sum-
mer. The planting out of Bouvardias in a permanent bed in
the conservatory would give much satisfaction providing they
do not become infested with mealy-bug, to which they are
somewhat subject. ,,, ,, _ ...

HolmesburK, Pa. ^- H. Tap lift.

Notes from the Harvard Botanic Garden.

IMPATIENS Hawkeri.— For pleasing brilliance of color there
is no flower, in my opinion, to match that of this soft-wooded
plant, and it blooms so freely and is so easily managed as to
be indispensable in a greenhouse of the smallest pretensions.
I. Hawkeri is yet much of a novelty in this country, and there
are only a few places in which it is cultivated to any extent.
This, however, is due to its comparatively recent introduction.
It was brought to England from the South Sea Islands by
Lieutenant Hawker, in 1886, and was subsequently distributed
among amateurs and commercial growers by Mr. William
Bull, of the King's Road Nurseries, London. It was warmly
welcomed by European horticulturists, and is still highly
valued beyond the water. The few who have seen it here are
also well pleased with it, and there is every reason to believe
that it will have a long run of popularity. It is a much-
branched plant, abundantly supplied with ovate, acuminate,
serrate leaves, which are opposite, or arranged in whorls of
three, and dark green, while the stems, branches and petioles
are of a dull red color. The flowers proceed, singly, from the
axils of the leaves, borne on long, slender pedicels. They are
quite flat when fully developed, nearly round in outline, and
about three inches in diameter. Larger flowers are by no
means rare, but the size here given is a fair average for well-
grown plants. The color, deep carmine, has a lustre that
baffles all description, and there is a hazy bluish tinge around
the white eye which gives a soft relief to the more dazzling
shade. The plant thrives best in an intermediate tempera-
ture, with shade in summer. Plants raised in early spring
bloom incessantly through the summer and early autumn
months, and they should be propagated later in the season to
secure a supply of flowers in winter and spring. I. Hawkeri
is easily increased by means of seeds and cuttings, but the
plants obtained from seeds are the most shapely and flo-
riferous.

Jacobinia magnifica. — This is excellent among our winter-
flowering greenhouse things, and a plant of some rarity in
gardens. It is a native of Rio Janeiro, and was introduced in
1827. The plant is of dwarf and shrubby habit under proper
treatment, and the leaves are lanceolate, bright green in color,
and from six to nine inches in length. The two-lipped flowers
are of a showy reddish purple color, and are borne in dense
clusters as long as the leaves, and from four to six inches in
diameter at the extremity of the branches. They are produced
very freely during the winter months, rendering the plant con-
spicuously useful at a time of great floral scarcity ; but, as is
the case with all members of the Acanthus family, to which J.
magnifica belongs, the flowers are of no account for cutting,
as they fall to pieces soon after being removed from the plant.
This is, perhaps, the reason that J. magnifica is so seldom cul-
tivated. For greenhouse decoration this plant will be found
eminently serviceable, and it is easily cultivated. It is best to
commence each year with young plants, discarding the old
ones when they cease flowering. Old plants are very often un-
satisfactory, and it is unwise to take risks where space and
time are limited. Cuttings taken early in spring root quickly
in sandy soil with the aid of a little bottom-heat. The plants
may then be placed in small pots, using any ordinary potting-
soil, and grown in a warm greenhouse until the latter part of
May, when, if the weather is then sufficiently mild, they should
be turned out and planted about two feet apart in the open
garden. Here, with a plentiful supply of water, they will make
good growth before the latter part of August, 'when they
should be taken up and potted in a light soil — three parts of
the first to one each of the latter. They should be kept
in a shady place and freely watered until they recover from
the effects of the change ; they may then be given full ex-
posure until late in September, or such time as the external

February 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

69

temperature' descends to a dangerous degree, when removal
to a sunnygreenhouse willbe in order. In due time tlie flowers
will appear, provided tlie temperature is not allowed to fall be-
low forty-five degrees, Fahrenheit. This plant is also known
tmder the generic names Cyrtanthera and Justicia ; Jacobinia,
however, is now considered the proper one.

Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker.

Correspondence.
Orchids at Short Hills, New Jersey.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Another Orchid season is at its height, and the annual
winter show was again held at the United States Nurseries last
week. It is well known that each succeeding Orchid exhibition
at Short Hills has been a distinct improvement on preceding
ones, but in no one year do Messrs. Pitcher & Manda seem to
have made a greater progress than in the year ending with the
present show. This was noticed, not alone in the larger num-
ber of plants and flowers and the increased number of species
and varieties, but in the ability to show important plants
gathered by the collectors of the establishment and flowering
for the first time, and not less important, in an increasing
number of seedling hybrids, some of rare beauty. Of course,
it is from the gatherings of special collectors and the constant
hybridization and raising of seedlings that such an establish-
ment maintains a front rank in the trade in these highly
esteemed plants.

Last week, the flowering plants were massed in the main
Orchid houses on the hill-top, and so many were the flowers in
the range that the houses were fairly aglow with color in all
directions. Even the familiar Cypripedium house; with its
celebrated collection, had an air of refined gayety from its
very wealth of glistening, delicately marked flowers. This
collection, which is one of the most complete in existence, seems
to be continually growing, and, perhaps, has never been seen
in better condition. Mr. Manda exhibited several new hybrids
for the first time, last week, which certainly vied in beauty with
any of the established favorites. This does not seem to be the
place to describe new Cypripediums, but to convey some idea
of the extent of the collection it may be said that there were
219 species and varieties in flower during the week, probably
the largest number which ever bloomed at one time in any
single establishment. No doubt Messrs. Pitcher & Manda
would be glad to furnish a complete list of the names of this
remarkable group upon application for it.

The number of striking and distinct forms of the use-
ful Cvpripedium insigne was an interesting feature of the
exhibit, though in all directions were to be seen rare and
unique flowers of all sections. The next house was a
great contrast, with a large collection of Cattleya Perci-
valiana of the last year's collection, now first in flower.
There were numerous forms or colorings of these ; rare
whites and purples, from palest flush to the deep coloring
of the type. Probably all visitors stopped instinctively at the
entrance to the next house, for in this was displayed the gen-
eral collection of species in most bewildering profusion. The
eye was held at once by a plant of regal beauty, a white Cat-
tleya Trianm, with flowers of the finest form and largest size
and of perfect purity of color. One could well believe that this
was a specimen of the utmost rarity. This was one of a group
consisting also of Lycaste Skinneri alba, Laelia anceps alba,
white Cattleya Percivaliana and Saccolabium giganteum
album, the last said by Mr. Manda to be unique. Beyond this
remarkable collection of very valuable white Orchids were to
be seen flowers in confusing variety — Dendrobiums, Lycastes,
Angraecums, Calanthes, Epidendrums, Odontoglossums, Van-
das, etc., in many varieties. Cattleya Trianae, of which a large
importation was housed near at hand, seemed but a dull
flower after so much bright color. One noticed as something
unusual that no attempt had been made to enhance the effect
of the Orchids by the foil of foliage-plants, an experiment
which was decidedly successful, foreign foliage being seldom
entirely satisfactory with any flower. Some dark corners were
lightened up by masses of flowers such as Primula obconica,
Lily-of-the-valley, white Azaleas and Genistas, but otherwise
florists' flowers were not to be seen. However much hurried,
one cannot leave this nursery without a look at the Palm-house
and the lateral small houses filled with a wealth of foliage-
plants in endless variety. The house of Adiantum Farleyense
is especially pleasant to see. The small forest of Tree Ferns,
with specimen Palms and plants, are soon to go to Chicago,
where the firm will make one of the principal exhibits in Hor-
ticultural Hall. I came across a house filled with specimen

plants in immense pans, being prepared for the journey, and
I was forcibly struck by the fact that even the great floor-space
of Horticultural Hall would scarcely allow the arrangement for
best effect of the stock contained in the tropical houses here.

The enlightened self-interest which induces Messrs. Pitcher
& Manda to exhibit flowers and plants on every available occa-
sion is to be much commended ; it must result in great benefit
to the general cause of horticulture, an interest which lags
probably as much from ignorance of what to grow as to the
indifference of the average citizen. Every floral show en-
lightens this ignorance, and to some extent arouses the indif-
ferent.

Those very practical persons who consider horticulture a
failure without the production of edible crops must be inter-
ested in a novelty of the nursery in the way of a Potato with
variegated foliage and tubers of excellent quality. As seen
imder glass, the plants were strong growers, and the leaves
finely mottled with white in the way of the variegated Box El-
der. This seems to open up a new field, and one can imagine
our practical friends growing their patches of variegated Pota-
toes, bordered, perhaps, by masses of ornamental Beets, and
pointing witli pride to the happy combination of the useful
with the ornamental.

Elizabeth, N.J. . J . N. G.

White Pine in Massachusetts.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The following account of a plantation of White Pines
in Topsfield, Massachusetts, may be interesting to the readers
of Garden and Forest.

The land on which it was made was a pasture containing
about twelve and one-fourth acres. The soil was a very poor
sandy loam, a small swamp-hole being covered with bushes
and Water Grass. The dry ground has been planted with
Pines, a single furrow being plowed for each row of trees.
The trees were quite small when transplanted from the bor-
ders of a wood lot in Boxford, where the seed had sown
itself. The first trees were planted in the spring of 1885, eight
to ten feet apart, in furrows ten feet apart; this first planting
only occupied a small part of the lot. The planting was
continued during the two or three succeeding years, until the
space was all occupied. A comparatively small number of
the trees died, and these have been replaced by others.
There are now 5,300 trees firmly rooted. The only drawback
to the plantation has been the loss of the terminal shoot on
many trees, owing to the attacks of a borer. The dead leaders
were carefully cut off and the trees soon formed new ones.

I found that Pines set out as early as the ground can be
worked in the spring grow the b«st, as they have the advan-
tage of the spring rains, which are important where the soil is
porous and dries up quickly. I have taken much pleasure in
watching the growth of these Pints and can recommend tree-
planting as a useful recreation.

Salem, Mass. David Filigree.

Legislation against Insects.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— I was much interested in your articles of September
28th and December 31st, about " Co-operadon against Insect
Invasion." But, living in a district where the gypsy moths
were few, and having suffered not a little from what I consid-
ered the over-zealous action of our Gypsy Moth Commission,
I cannot agree that more law, authorizing unlimited trespass,
is the most satisfactory co-operation for us to invoke. We
may, in dread of apprehended danger, rob ourselves of liberty
and privacy. The conclusion which I have reached is, that,
taking your assertion as true that the injury to " our fruit and
farm crops" from the ravages of insects may safely be reck-
oned as amounting on an average to "a tax often per cent.,"
trained entomologists should be stimulated to prove their
ability, if employed by the farmers, to reduce this average with
a profit to themselves and their employers. In short, the pro-
fession of practical and scientific insect exterminators should
be developed and encouraged. Against many sorts of insect
invaders, the farmer's have neither the education nor means
and implements to cope. For instance, to gather effectively
from tall trees gypsy moth and other eggs similarly deposited,
demands cosfly ladders and special tackle for which an indi-
vidual farmer would have no use on ninety-nine days in one
hundred, or one year in a dozen. I would gladly spend a rea-
sonable sum yearly on trained help in reducing insect ravages
on my own grounds, when I can only imagine that the visits
of ofHcials, with no regard to my private plans and purposes,

70

Garden and Forest.

[Number 259.

would simply be an exasperating annoyance. Of course, pub-
lic grounds and really nqglected or abandoned private grounds
are ihe propwrcare of tlie public officials. What private land-
owners ne«^ is instruction and help, and if the call is as great
as you say, why may not the professional entomologists ar-
range to take their pay in produce (a share of the enlarged
crop) where thev cannot get cash ? Cash is usually a scarce
article with the farmers, but few would hesitate to agree to
give a liberal share of any increase of crop they could be as-

"Judfc.rt.'u.w. IValter C. Wright.

Meetings of Societies.

The Western New York Horticultural Society.— II.

THE report of this meeting, which was begun last
week, is continued below. Mr. William McMillan,
Superintendent of Parks in Buffalo, in his usual vigorous
manner, read a paper entitled

SHADE-TREES IN CITY STREETS.

Shade-trees along the borders of the streets were at one
time a distinguishing feature of American cities, and this city
of Rochester is a gtxxl exemplar of the practice to-day. Per-
haps no city in the country has had equal advantages in soil,
subsoil, natural drainage, tree-supply, good example and
public spirit. If in summer we take a bird's-eye view of the
town from the outlook p>avilion in Highland Park, the houses
seem to be nearly all hidden by the trees. The section where
trees have given way to business is probably smaller than in
any other city of its size.

In nearly all our cities street-trees are set out and cared for
solely by the owner or the occupiers of the abutting property.
Each man plants or not according to his own taste or interest
in the matter. This involves much diversity and incongruity
in the selection of species, in age and size, in the distance
from the curb-line and from each other. Uniformity in these
respects can only be obtained for any given stretch of street
where the work is done by municipal authority. This method
has been eminently successful in the leading cities of Europe,
and in Washington, where nearly every street that has been
opened and graded has been systematically planted under the
central authority of a special commission.

Few persons realize the constant liability to damage and
destruction to which young trees are exposed. Some idea of
it may be gained by inspecting t!ie trees on any given street
and noting how few show no signs of stunted growth, scarred
trunk, mutilated top, or blemish of some kind. The most
common damage is the gnawing of the bark by horses, or of
the branches, if within reach, l)ut up to a certain age mis-
chievous tK>ys are far more destructive. If the sapling gets
safely out of its swaddling-clothes it is next attacked at the
roots by trenches for sewers, gas-pipes, water-pipes and elec-
tric cables, or by changes of lines or grades in laying curb-
stones, or flagging. In later years the largest limbs will be
mutilated by telegraph line-men and their wires. Again,
under ordinary conditions the trees suffer constantly from
lack of moisture, because the pavement or the beaten ground
sheds most of the rainfall ; from lack of food, because the
roots cannot penetrate the hardened subsoil ; from poison by
gas, because the small service pipes soon become rusted
through ; and from want of air, because the soot and dust of
the city stops up the pores of the leaves. The unhealthy con-
dition resulting from these and other causes invites grubs and
borers, slugs and caterpillars, scale, spider and fungal blight,
all in great profusion. In the streets these insect pests are
safe from their natural enemies, the birds, and from the poi-
sonous spray of the gardener's syringe.

The trees most commonly used are probably the best under
average conditions. " Nothing succeeds like success," and
the points contributing most to this success are ease of prop-
agation, cheapness of nursery culture, quickness of early
erowth, endurance under careless transplanting, average good
looks and alisence of bad habits, the ability to pick up a living
on a scanty diet, and patience under abuse of every sort.

After explaining the merits and defects of the various Elms,
Maples, Lindens, Ashes, Beeches and several other trees, Mr.
McMillan continued : Oaks require early transplanting and
extra care for a long time. But, in any city, where they can be
securely protected until of good size, they endure the ordinary
street conditions as well as Elms and Maples. Once well
established, a Black, Red or Scariet Oak will grow as fast
as the average of other street trees. The habit is al ways good ;
pruning or thinning of the branches is rarely necessary, and
the glossy foliage is a special attraction all through the season.

But for foliage-effect the finest trees are the Tulip and
the Plane. Fine examples of each are occasionally seen in
our streets, but general experience seems to condemn them.
The soft roots of Ihe Tulip-tree make it impatient of careless
transplanting, unless very young, and protection from severe
frosts is necessary in clay soils until the roots get below the
frost line. But once well-established in any favorable soil and
subsoil, it becomes a noble street tree, well worth any extra
care bestowed on it. The Plane-tree is as easily transplanted
as any Maple, and, if in good soil, its growth for many years is
as rapid as that of the Poplar or Willow. But mature trees are
so subject to serious fungus-blight that a healthy, clean-
branched tree is rarely seen. In spite of these defects, both
Tulip and Plane frees deserve persistent trial and experiment.

Fifty years ago, during the Silkworm craze, the Chinese
Ailanthus was extensively planted in the eastern cities. Its
rank growth, sub-tropical aspect, exemption from insects, and
its fresh foliage in spite of prolonged heat or drought, made it
very popular. Then came a reaction, so strong that the
tree is now virtually tabooed, all apparently because the
flowers have an unpleasant odor. But no tree has withstood
so persistently the onslaught of all the destructive influences
of a crowded street. Where the subsoil is porous its roots
penetrate to an extraordinary depth, and thus find food enough
under the closest pavements, and moisture enough during the
longest droughts. There is a place for the Ailanthus in every
large city, and that, if you give it no other, is the place where
no other tree will thrive.

Americans despise " the day of small things." This national
foible is always prominent in the selection of trees for
street planting. The general practice is to procure the largest
trees that can be obtained and conveniently handled. If
nurserymen cannot or will not furnish them of suitable size,
they are procured from the neighboring woods if possible. It
is surprising and mortifying to every experienced grower of
trees, to see each spring the numerous wagon-loads which
countrymen bring in from swamps and thickets, and expose
for sale in our streets day after day with little or no protection
from sun and wind. They are usually much larger than the
most overgrown nursery stock, and the younger saplings
twice or thrice the height becoming to their age, but they are
bought in preference to the nurserymen's " small fry." The
only roots are a few stout prongs, and they are set out in the
smallest holes that will admit tliem, with the tree tops left
unpruned or entirely chopped off. They remain standing like
bean-poles for one or more years. Then they are pulled out
and other bean-poles stuck in their places. It is said "experi-
ence teaches fools," but on this subject they need many years
of schooling, else the class always under instruction would not
be so large. Trees grown in nurseries have needful qualities
of root, htem and branch, entirely lacking in the spindling
sapling that has struggled for life and light in a shady thicket.
But, of course, after being planted, the smaller the tree the
greater the risk of serious damage by accidents thaf would
be trifling to one of twice or thrice the size. This argument
is the clincher in all discussions on this point. For this reason
Elms, Maples, Horse-chestnuts, Poplars and Lindens are com-
monly preferred, as they can be successfully transplanted of a
much larger size than Tulip-trees, Oaks or any of the nut-bear-
ing trees. Yet the rule holds good, even in street planting, that
whatever kinds of trees may be selected, the youngest that
can be protected with a reasonable chance of safety ought to
be preferred.

A common error is planting too near the curb-line and too
close together in the row. Any young tree within four feet
of the curb is ten times more likely to be gnawed by horses
than one twice as far back. The roots also should be con-
sidered and given a fair chance to spread on all sides. Ample
distance apart contributes not only to the health and sym-
metry of the tree, but also allows a pleasant play of sunshine
and breeze to the people on the street. Close planting may
look best for a few years, but the spread of the trees at
maturity should always be provided for. The future cutting
out of each alternate tree is a pleasing illusion, but in reality
a sad delusion, because it is so rarely done, and never done
soon enough.

Some protective guard against ill-bred horses, worse-bred
boys, careless workmen on the street or adjacent lots, and the
daily run of miscellaneous accidents, is necessary for years.
Nothing yet invented is conveniently applicable to small trees
or always effective. A temporary railing on the curb line,
though unsightly, is more useful than a casing for each tree.
When the trunk becomes thick enough, a strip of fine galva-
nized wire netting wrapped loosely around it as far up as a
horse can reach is cheap, serviceable, neat, unobtrusive, and

February 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

71

can readily be adjusted to the growth of the tree from year to
year. The damage done to street trees by horses and by care-
less usage of workmen about them is incalculable. Prose-
cution is useless, because an adequate penalty that would deter
others is never imposed.

The gist of the whole matter may be summed up in theform
of sententious advice. Select the kinds of trees that expe-
rience commends to you as most likely to satisfy your own
taste. Select young trees only, of thrifty habit and good form.
Furnish good soil in ample quantity at whatever cost or
trouble. Handle and transplant with proper care and skill.
Mulch and water effectively until the trees be fully established.
Guard from damage by any device that will serve your pur-
pose. Fight to the death every pest and plague as soon as it
appears. Give constant watchfulness to the trees' welfare
while you live, and, in making your will, impose the same duty
upon the successors to your trust when you die. " Eternal
vigilance is the price " of every street tree.

FERTILIZING ORCHARDS.

The paper of Professor Roberts of Cornell University, on
this subject, was mainly as follows :

When our arable land was cleared of its forests a large
amount of soluble plant-food was in the soil, the product of
the ages of growth and decay. Even the subsoil, to a consider-
able depth, was filled with roots which disappeared very slowly
and formed natural drainage tubes, which not only relieved
the land of much of its surplus water, but also allowed the air
to penetrate into the earth and hasten chemical action so that
plant-food which was partially inert became available.

In those early days the lands situated in a climate adapted
to fruits were extremely productive. The orchards were
usually separated by considerable areas of timber; importa-
tion of fruit-trees had not yet begun, and many of the enemies
of the orchard were in those early days entirely unknown. All
this has changed. The forests have been swept away,
the natural drainage of the land has been destroyed, and, in
most cases, nothing has been substituted for it. The best of
the plant-food has been removed from the soil, and more than
this, in developing new and better varieties of fruit we have
succeeded too often in producing a tree of less sturdy consti-
tution. In orcharding, then, we are met with the following
conditions : land, water-logged ; available plant-food, scarce ;
insect enemies, multiplied ; fungus growth, abundant ; sweep-
ing winds and changeable weather ; trees, delicate in char-
acter.

In many orchards the cheapest way to overcome some of
these difficulties and secure available plant-food would be by
the intelligent use of drain-tile. There is an abundance of
food yet in the soil. A poor clay soil in Tompkins County was
analyzed and found to contain in the first nine inches 3,094
pounds of phosphoric acid, 3,410 pounds of potash and 1,876
pounds of nitrogen. Such a soil certainly cannot be said to
be deficient in plant-food. What might be said of it is, that
quality of plant-food which is demanded for the highest char-
acter of plants is deficient. There would be no difficulty in
raising a very large crop of Mulleins or Field Pines on such
land, therefore it cannot be said to be exhausted. Twenty
years in hay — one ton per acre, ten in wheat — twenty bushels
per acre, ten in corn — forty bushels per acre, and ten in oats
and barley — forty bushels per acre, with straw and stalks,
would carry in this fifty years' rotation, from each acre of land,
plant-food valued commercially at 404 dollars per acre. Hav-
ing removed all this vast amount and returned only a quarter
or, at most, a half of it to the land, it is no wonder that our
orchards do not produce abundantly when set upon this par-
tially depleted soil.

In our numerous experiments with the cultivation of soil,
we naturally are attracted to the one that has given marked
results by culture alone. Then, by improved implements and
superior'skill, we may get the plant-food needed cheaper than
by any other method.

Again, lands may be so poor and light that comparatively
little plant-food can be obtained even by the most skillful cul-
tivation. In these cases some positive addition of plant-food
should be made to the soil. To secure this supply farm ma-
nures stand in the front, because they can be had at little or no
cost. The feeding of animals on the farm, under good man-
agement, results m profit, without taking into consideration
the value of the manure produced by them. But farm ma-
nures are not well balanced — that is, they are too high in nitro-
gen for the mineral matter they contain, and so should always
be used in small quantities, and, if possible, should be well
rotted before they are used. Nitrogen can be secured in other
ways than by purchase. The sowing of Clover or of Vetches,

or of other leguminous plants, will furnish not only all the ni-
trogen the orchard should have, but it will also bring up much
mineral matter from the soil which otherwise would not have
been used, and this mineral matter, when given up to the plant,
will form soluble food of which the fruit-tree can avail itself.

Again, the fertility of the orchard is often less important im-
mediately than the amount of water which is present. The
trees should be set at wide intervals, and the land should be
kept moist on the surface by cultivation. Frequent midsum-
mer tillage forms a mulch and conserves moisture. The
orchard should be kept shaded by plants in the after part of
the season, and these plants should be of such a character that
they will not die until after the dry fall has past. It is of prime
importance that water be present in the soil in order that the
plant-food may be taken up by the trees. Many an orchard
has sufficiently available plant-food, but lacks in water at that
critical period when the trees are making fruit. If there is no
water present some forms of fertilizers, such as nitrogen, are
positively detrimental if they are present in abundance.

To sum up, the factors of success are : (i) The removal of
water where it is too abundant ; (2) The conservation of water
where it is deficient ; (3) The use of the refuse of the farm and
nitrogenous plants ; (4) The use of potash and phosphoric acid
in forms that are readily available ; (5) Surface culture where
it is applicable to the conditions present ; (6) Reducing the
number of trees per acre ; (7) Withholding tillage and nitro-
gen, and increasing the mineral matter until that point is
reached where the tenderest trees develop hard wood, firm
bark and mature fruit-buds ; (8) Encouraging the cultivation
of forest-trees and wind-breaks, so that the winds may, in a
measure, be prevented from sucking up the moisture of the
land ; (9) Mulching the earth when the orchard is open land,
and keeping a covering of porous earth at the surface through
the first half of the season ; (10) Fitting the land and fertilizing
it in the best manner possible before the orchards are set.

BREVITIES.

I am positive that some of our older fruits that have been
neglected will become popular again. There are several ex-
cellent varieties of Pears which have been tested and proved
valuable, and which have passed out of use because they are
not handsome, although the quality is better than many of
those now grown. There is an increasing demand for quality
rather than for appearance. — IV. C. Barry.

By extra feeding and careful spraying with copper com-
pounds, I have grown, in succession, three heavy crops of
Spitzenburg apples on trees which had previously failed almost
entirely. — Geo. T. Powell.

In order to have good, hard wood, healthy leaves and well-
developed buds, we must rely upon potash and phosphoric
acid.— 5. D. Willard.

There is a tendency to grow small fruits too thickly. Rasp-
berries, Blackberries, Currants, etc., should be grown in hills
in check rows. Even Strawberries are not at their best in
matted rows. Plants resist drought better when not too thick.

— 7. H. Hale.

■The city market will never be overstocked with the best
quality of fruit. There is always a sale in Hartford, Connecti-
cut, for the Black Defiance Strawberry on account of its high
quality. It is not a productive plant, but it never sells at less
than twenty-five cents a quart. Chemical fertilizers give me
firmer, higher-colored and better-flavored fruit. — J. H. Hale.

The Victoria Currant will remain on the bushes until other
varieties are out of the market, and for that reason it is fre-
quently very profitable and sells for as much as the finer
varieties do early in the season. — J. H. Hale.

Soil has much to do with success with Currants. On loose,
loamy land they do not yield a profitable crop oftener than
once in five years. On heavy upland they are very profitable.

— Walter Tabor.

Of Japanese Plums, Botan, Abundance, Satsuma and Bur-
bank are the most satisfactory. The quality is not equal to
that of the European varieties, but they are attractive in ap-
pearance and keep well, which gives them the advantage over
ordinary varieties, and they ripen up well even if they are
picked a little green. I consider this the most important type
of fruit that has been introduced within the last twenty-five
years. — L. H. Bailey.

The worst orchard diseases in western New York in 1892,
named in the order of their destructiveness, were apple-
scab, plum-fruit rot, pear-scab, quince-fruit spot. Some
correspondents estimate that from fifty-five to seventy-five
per cent, of the mature fruit in Apple-orchards were af-
fected by scab so much as to effect its market value, and the
loss of a considerable amount of fruit which failed to reach

72

Garden and Forest.

[Number 592.

maturity was due indirectly to its attacks. Among the pears
affected severely were bartlett. Seckel, Flemisli Beauty.
White Dovenne. while Angouleme and Anjou were less se-
verely atUicked. In some instances the entire crop of Seckel
pears »-as lost. The fruit-rot of Cherry, Plum and Peach,
which is caused by the same fungus, was specially destructive
to nluma and sometimes destroyed half the crop. Lombard,
Gueii Bavav's Green Gage and 'Yellow Egg were mentioned
specially as being badly attacked.— AV/or/ of Committee on
&Uny and Fruit Diseases.

Notes.

Probablv house-plants are more frequently mjured by too
much than by too little water, but now that the days are
eeltine longer, it is advisable to push them mto growth and,
Qierefore. the supply of water should be increased with the
supply of light.

Mr Ryokichi Yatabe, of Tokio, has recently issued the third
nart of Volume I. of his Icono^aphia Flora Japonica. The
teit in Japanese and English, is illustrated by full-page engrav-
ihgs. and plants, indigenous to Japan, belonging to seventeen
orders, are described.

A recent issue of the Afoniteur Viticole brings us the statistics
of last year's vintage throughout France. Fifty thousand more
acres were under vineyard cultivation than in 1891, but the
estimated yield was less than in that year, although superior
to the yields of 1889 and 1890. In the seventy-six departments
where wine is made, the total product of 1892 is said to have
been alwut 654,348.015 gallons, as against 679.115,000 in 1891
and 616 660.000 in 1890. The vintage of 1892 is said to have
been remarkably good in quality, alike in the Burgundy dis-
tricts, in the Marne districts, where most of the champagne is
made, and in the Pyrenean regions.

Monsieur Naudin sends us fresh seeds of Phoenix Sene-
galensis which, he writes, fruited last season for the first time
UJ Provence, the (lowers having been fertilized through the
agency of insects with pollen from the allied Phoenix Canarien-
s^. The fruit of Phceuix Scnegalensis is a small black date
with soft sweet flesh and a flavor similar to that of the dates
of commerce, the fruit of Phcenix dactylifera. The flesh,
however, is so thin and the nut so large, that the fruit is
scarcely edible, although cultivation, or perhaps hybridization,
with Phijcnix dactylifera will possibly, as our learned corre-
spondent suggests, improve it. The experiment is certainly
worth making.

From the annual report of Her Highness the Maharana of
Oodeypore, as quoted in the Gardeners' Chronicle, it appears
that native ladies are very fond of decking their hair with
the gorgeous scarlet flowers of Butea frondosa. When
this plant is in flower all the jungles look like a blaze of fire.
In some jungles, too, there are Bauhiniasof sorts which come
in flower at the same time as the Butea. The lilac flowers of
the Bauhinias and the scarlet flowers of the Buteas are very
beautiful. Lantana alba and Poinciana pulcherrima growing
side by side on the hill, together with Gloriosa superba, make
the natural blending of color in this wild country truly grand.
The dripping ghauts are filled with such Ferns as Adiantum
Capillus-veneris, A. caudatum, Actiniopteris radiata, a hand-
some little silvery Fern, Cheilanthes farinosa and Pteris longi-
folia, growing almost side by side.

Of the Geneva Grape, sent out six years ago by Messrs. R. G.
Cliase & Co., Mr. Carman writes that it is one of the few varie-
ties containing the blood of Vitis vinifera which thrive on his
grounds. TImj striking characteristic of the berries is their
translucency. So nearly transparent are they, that the seeds of
those grown in paper bags can be distinctly seen. The skin
has little bloom and is of firm texture, although thin ; the berry
is lai^e, often olx)vate, with few seeds, usually two, and these
separate easily from the flesh, which has an agreeable, sprightly
flavor. It ripens early and seems to resist mildew. Mr,
Joi^iali Hoopes is quoted as saying that it perfected last year a
larger crop than any other variety on his grounds. Its origina-
tor claims that the Cieneva is the result of a cross upon a wild
L;il>rusca vine fertilized with Muscat of Alexandria, the
].ro.;cny being again crossed with lona. The berry is a clear
aiiil/or color.

We have received the first issue of The Western Garden,
a handsomely printed quarto of sixteen pages, published in
Souih Denver, Colorado — a monthly journal edited for and
adapted to tlie peculiar needs of horticulture in the dry

climate of the west. On the title-page is a half-tone print from
a photograph of the Rocky Mountain Columbine, the state
flower of Colorado, and apparently Aquilegia cctrulea, al-
though the editor tells us that it is " a dit'terent variety from
any Columbine grown in the east, the size of the blossom be-
ing much larger, and the plant of much thriftier and much
hardier growth." Two capital illustrations, representing
Chrysanthemum niveum and Mrs. E. T. Adams, beautify the
pages of this first issue of our new contemporary, which has
a useful field to itself, and the best opportunity to make known
the horticultural value of many Rocky Mountain plants still
unfamiliar in gardens, especially the numerous alpine species
which form the most interesting feature of the Colorado flora.

According to the annual crop report of the Statistician of
the Department of Agriculture, the Dakotas now produce
more wheat than was grown in the United States fifty years ago.
The exports of last year were greater than the aggregate prod-
uct twenty-five years ago. The yield per acre of old lands is
increasing, and that of new lands decreasing, and new wheat
lands are annually brought into cultivation. Granitic New
England, in the few fields cultivated, obtains more per acre
than the richest soils of the west. The yield declines fastest
in the newest and richest soils, not because of soil exhaustion,
but because of its fatness in stimulating the growth of weeds.
The census of 1880 made an average yield of wheat of 13
bushels ; that of 1890, when the season was far less favorable
and prospects apparently much worse, gives a yield of about
14 bushels per acre. With good cultivation and fertilization
it should be increased to twenty bushels. Individual farms in
Maine report between thirty and forty bushels per acre ; some
in New York report thirty-two or more ; and many in Illinois
and North Dakota return between twenty and thirty bushels
per acre. The rate of yield could readily be increased
one-half ; but it will not be till the virgin soils are scratched
over after the prevailing practice, misnamed cultivation. The
present breadth of wheat, under wise and skillful cultivation,
would suffice for double our present population.

One who cares for choice fruits and vegetables may at this
season gratify his taste in New York by purchasing straw-
berries at three dollars a dozen, and peaches and apricots from
the hot-houses at proportionate prices. He can buy the finest
Indian River or Halifax county oranges, cut on the branch
with a few leaves, at three dollars a dozen, while Black Ham-
burg grapes can be had for two dollars and a quarter a pound.
Neighboring growers can furnish good mushrooms for a
dollar a pound, Florida sends string beans ; rather stale arti-
chokes come from Algiers at forty cents each, and Germany
sends Brussels Sprouts of good quality. It appears, how-
ever, from a recent article in the New York Tribune that in
Paris, at the same season, similar luxuries will make as heavy
a demand upon his purse. By paying from eight to ten dollars
a peck, a Parisian can have fresh green peas brought from
Algiers. Artichokes from the same region are four or five
dollars a dozen. A large basket of string beans costs twelve
dollars, and a bunch of asparagus five. A basket containing
six dozen black truffles from Perigord commands twenty
dollars, while the same number of white truffles from Milan
brings the same price. Fashionable flowers and fruits are
quite as costly. The pink Lilac, now in such high favor, costs
tliree dollars a spray, and dark damask Roses — " Roses de
velours" — sold at the New Year for five dollars each. Large
strawberries are a dollar and a half a dozen ; a small basket of
grapes from Fontainebleau costs five dollars ; red or white cur-
rants are three dollars a pound ; hot-house peaches three dol-
lars apiece, while for hot-house pine-apples the happy buyer
can pay from eight to ten dollars each.

Cataloj:^ues Received.

R. Douglas & Sons, Waukegan Nurseries, Waukegan, III. ; Whole-
sale Catalogue of Hardy, Ornamental Evergreens, Shade and Orna-
mental Trees, Evergreen, Forest and Ornamental Tree Seedlings,
Tree Seeds. — Ellwanger & Barry, Mount Hope Nurseries, Rochester,
N. Y. ; Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Roses, etc., New Supplementary
Catalogue of Rare and Choice Trees, Shrubs and Roses. — Wm. Baylor
Hartlani), 24 Patrick Street, Cork, Ireland ; Flower and Vegetable
Seeds.— Johnson & Stokes, 217-Z19 Market Street, I'hiladelpliia, Pa. ;
Novelties and Specialties in Vegefaljles, Choice Flower and Vegetable
Seeds. — P. C. Lewis, Catskill, N. Y. ; Combination Force Pump,
Powell's Fertilizers.— J. T. LovETT & Co., Little Silver, N. J. ; Fruit
Novelties and Wholesale Price List of Small Fruits, Fruit Trees, Orna-
mental Trees and Slirubs. — W. W. Rawson & Co., 34 South Market
Street, Boston, Mass. ; Vegetable and Flower Seeds. — James Vick's
Sons, Rochester, N. Y. ; Vick's Floral Guide. — Wood Brothers,
Fishkill, N. Y. ; Trade List of Plants and Rooted Cuttings.

February 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

73

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OrncE : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by

Professor C, S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SKCOND-CLASS HATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PACK.

Editorial Articles : — Garden-art and Architecture - 73

Restoring the Primeval Names of Lakes and Peaks 74

A Cold \V inter in North Carolina Professor W. F. Massey, 74

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — V. (With figure.) C. S. S. 75

Entomological ; — A Destructive Elm-tree Bark-borer Dr. J, A. Lininer. 76

Foreign Corresponde.\ce : — London Letter W. U^atson. 76

Cultural Department ; — Fatal Club-root of Turnips. (With fij^re.)

Professor Byron D. Halsted. 78

Water-lilies from Seed Wm. Tricker. 79

Decorative Species of Asparagus W. H .Taplin. 79

Winter, flowering Plants Robert Cameron. 80

Manettia bicolor George C. Buiz. So

Correspondence: — The Treeless Plains E. f. Walker ^^ Co. 81

The Sierra Club of California Charles Howard Shinn. 81

Valves in Heating Apparatus. ...■. \V. S. 81

Flowers in Winter Professor IV. A. Buckhout. 81

Salix balsamifera F. H. Horsford. 82

Second Crop of Potatoes Professor iV. F. Massey. 82

How to Get a Blue Grass Sod Waldo F. Brown, 82

Recent Publications. 83

Exhibitions ; — Flower Pictures at the Academy of Desi|:jn,

Mrs. ixhuyler Van Rensselaer. 83

Notes 83

Illustrations : — Michelia compressa, Fig. 13 77

Club-rout Fungus (Plasmodiophora Brassicae), Fig. 14 79

Garden-art and Architecture.

IF the art of gardening in America is to develop in a vig-
orous and versatile way, it should have the intelligent
support of the architectural profession. French architects
recognize its importance to some extent ; they feel that it
is a needful adjunct to architectural art, and the problems
given out in the Parisian schools require that the surround-
ings of the proposed building shall be developed as well
as the building itself; but the full value, the wide range,
and often independent character of gardening-art, are not
thoroughly understood, even in France. This is proved
by the phrasing of a precept which one constantly hears in
Parisian studios : " The art of gardening must be studied,
for it is the sauce of architecture."

The art of gardening, in the broad sense, is much more
than this. It is the art of design applied to the creation of
beautiful pictures on the surface of the ground. Sometimes,
in truth, it must merely supplement the art of architecture ;
but sometimes, on the other hand, architecture must
become its handmaid and helper; and, as a whole, it is a
vital, independent, individual art, the sister, not the servant,
of architecture. This fact should be recognized in America,
for it is the home of the greatest of all the masters of this art,
or the greatest, at least, of those who have followed its natu-
ralistic branch ; and where have been created, if not the
finest private estates in the world, yet the finest of those
great public parks which are among the lai)dscape-gar-
deners most difficult tasks, and which, more than any
other products of his hand, show how truly independent
his art may be.

All lovers of this art must therefore regret that some
architects do not appreciate its dignity, or even recog-
nize its existence. Too often they ignore it in their prac-
tice, even when the designing of a building ought not to be
their controlling artistic purpose, but rather the designing
together of a building and its surroundings with such unity
of purpose that the whole shall be a consistent creation.

The architectural journals, too, do not always recognize
the value of garden-art, and even when they attempt to
give instruction in this field their teachings may be incor-
rect and misleading. For example, the pages of an architec-
tural quarterly of good repute lately contained an article
entitled "A Hint for Preparing a Country-house," with an
accompanying plan, which included grounds as well as
house. The author speaks to those who want "inex-
pensive country-places, with the grounds laid out in
a sensible manner, or as the occupant wishes, and the
house modern and exactly what the occupant likes"; and,
he asks, "In what way are such places to be obtained?"
The first part of his answer is wise enough ; "Each man
must prepare his own country-place" if it is to suit him
precisely. But the next phrase, "This is not a difticult
thing to do," is misleading, if doing is understood in the
sense of doing well. Then he supposes that a site of some
three acres, with a frontage of about 2co feet on a high-road,
has been secured,in con venient nearness to a small settlement
on a line of railway ; and finally he passes to specific sug-
gestions for its treatment. The ornamental grounds are to
occupy about one-third of the whole area, having, there-
fore, a depth of some 250 feet and lying next the high-road.

The first thing to do for their improvement, says the au-
thor, "is to remove every tree on the front lot and have
their stumps extracted. Then the lot should be plowed,
graded and rolled and seeded. In the fall or spring the
trees are to be planted. . . . The line for the front
of the house should be placed back from the new front
fence-line, say seventy-five feet. Referring to the illustra-
tion, it will be seen that along the front fence, ten shade-
trees have been located. Down each side fence are eight
Cherry-trees, these combining fruit and shade. Surround-
ing the location for the house are eight Maple-trees, and on
one side of each of the two front carriage-roads are two
shade-trees. Along the back roads are placed Pear-trees,
eighteen in all, and intervening, in three rows of three
trees each, are nine Apple-trees. Additional Apple and
other fruit-trees may be placed in the rear lot to any de-
sired number."

This certainly is far from an ideal scheme for a small
place, but the full measure of its folly cannot be ex-
plained without reproducing the plan. Sufhce it to say
that, in a place of only 200 feet frontage there are
two carriage-drives of equal im])ortance leading to the
house, and two similar ones leading away from it, one of
the latter to a stable, but the other to — what? It is hard to
divine the nature of the little building indicated at its ter-
mination unless we assume it to be the coachman's cot-
tage ; and it is hard to assume a coachman who requires a
carriage-approach to his door. Furthermore, these roads,
converging at the house, encircle it on all four sides with
broad stretches of gravel, thus giving it an isolated station,
as of a boat on a beach, when it ought to have at least
three of its fronts based on the grass and united to the soil
by green and sheltering plantations.

VVe do not think that in all cases the scheme for small
grounds ought to be a true landscape-scheme, or even a
definitely informal scheme. Regularity — even geometrical
regularity — can be made very beautiful on certain sites,
amid certain surroundings, and with a house of a certain
character. But when a man is so enamored of regularity
that he advises, as the necessary first step, that all the trees
which may exist on a place shall be destroyed, and that its
surface shall be "graded" (by which he evidently means
made quite flat), then he ought surely to devise some artis-
tic scheme of formality. But in this case the roads are
neither simply straight nor pleasingly curved. They con-
verge at the house in awkward sweeps, so as to emphasize
the mistake of their needless repetition. Again, planta-
tions of trees must make something — if not naturalistic
groups and pictures, then shady lanes and bowers. But in
this case the Maples and fruit-trees simply run along the
fences and along one side of the roads, producing a stiff,
yet not a rightly formal, systematic effect In short, an

74

Garden and Forest.

[NlIMUKR 260.

acre of ground arranged around a house, as here sug-
gested, would produce a mechanical, tiresome and ugly
general result. There would be no union between house
and grounds; no good setting for the house ; no pleasing
outlook from any of its windows ; no attractive picture for
the eye that looked inward from the road, or for the one
which looked outward from the house. The most frankly
inartistic method of letting things alone could hardly pro-
duce so bad a result as this attempt at new creation of
a professedly artistic sort

It is needless, probably, to say again to the readers of
this journal that no good general scheme for the treatment
of undetermined, imaginary country-places can be formu-
lated. A definite scheme is of value only if the character
of the lot to be treated is definitely set forth, and the reader
is shown how the artist has adapted his ideas and methods
to its manipulation. The present scheme would be bad
enough even if the author had said, " Let us suppose an ab-
solutely flat lot, devoid of trees and shrubs." But to as-
sume that it is well to put an imaginary lot in this condi-
tion makes the evil teaching still more vicious.

Now that the Columbian Fair Grounds arc eloquently
teaching what high success can be won by sympathetic
and intelligent co-operation between architects and artists
in landscape, it is to be hoped that architecture will more
readily accord to its sister-art its proper rank. And when
architectural journals attempt to give counsel in the matter
of designing grounds in connection with buildings the
time has come when we are justified in expecting advice
based upon sound principles.

In some recent numbers of the Ridgefield (Connecticut)
Press we are pleased to see that the residents of the pic-
turesjjue region of West Mountain have not only restored the
sonorous primeval names of the lakes and peaks, but they
have done almost an equal service in naming the roads
which intersect that region. West Mountain Road, Lake-
view Road, Oreneca Road, Tackora Road and Mamanassee
Road are names which mean something, and which con-
nect these highways with the history of the region through
which they pass. The practical use of these names in as-
sisting to direct travelers and to locate places is incidentally
illustrated in the difficulty which the Ridgefield Press finds
in designating clearly the particular road-ways to which these
new names apply, through the want of any heretofore known
names. This section of the country will be more attractive
not only to those who live there, but to the public who
visit it, for the change from the homely descriptive names
given to its charming sheets of water by the original settlers,
who naturally failed to see as much poetry in the Indian
names as their descendants do. Long Pond, North Pond,
South Pond, Round Pond and Burt's Pond, more recently
called lakes, are now known as Waccabuc, Rippowam,
Oscaleta, Oreneca and Mamanassee, from names pre-
served in the early records of land purchase. That these
aboriginal names are thus attached to the beautiful country
of whose early history they are a part, must give satisfac-
tion to all who are familiar with this region.

A Cold Winter in North Carolina.

NOW that January is gone, and the snow and frost too, it is
interesting to note some facts in regard to the coldest
month on record in the south. The cold winter of 1856-57 has
long been the traditionary coldest winter in the history of North
Carolina. The monthly mean of the cold January of 1857 was,
at Chapel Hill, thirty-eight degrees. January, 1893, will break
this record, going proljably eight degrees lower, but I have
not seen the report of the observer yet. Monthly means of
temperature are, however, very misleading, and the best
gauge is the effect u{X)n vegetation. It is the lowest tempera-
ture and not the mean temperature that decides what will
winter safely. Our cold January will be of great benefit to any
one engaged in the study of the capacity of plants for enduring
cold and the best means for protecting half-hardy plants. It
is, therefore, witli a great deal of interest that since the sun-

shine has strengthcneil and the frost is out of the ground I
hiive been examining the effects of the frost and of the pro-
tection given some plants, as compared with the condition of
plants not protected. TUe full extent of the damage done can
only be determined by the way m which the plants resist the
II actuating weather of spring, for I have noticed that fre-
quently a plant which seems to be only partially killed will
continue to fail after hard frosts are gone and be dead when
warm weather reappears. The present notes cannot, therefore,
be regarded as the final results.

Figs vary a great deal as to hardiness in different varieties,
and in the same variety under different conditions. Brown
Turkey and Osborn's Prolific show little injury, but all the
large white Figs are killed to the ground. Early Violette,
Negro Large and other black sorts are little hurt. Celestial,
the little Chinese Fig, is very little injured. A bed of yearling
seedling Figs, from dried Smyrna Figs, in a sheltered place
seems to be perfectly sound, except the immature tips. But
before noting damage further, let me state the temperatures
these plants endured. The lowest temperature observed at day-
break by an exposed standard thermometer was four degrees
above zero. On other days the mercury marked eight, ten
and twelve degrees, and several times sixteen to eighteen de-
grees at daybreak. But it must be taken into consideration
that on few days did the weather continue below tlie freezing
point all day. These tigures will be seen to be extremely low
when It is considered that in our ordinary winters the mercury
seldom goes below twenty degrees. The early summer crop
of Figs is, of course, lost, and there is damage enough to make
the late crop very short. Trees protected by Pine-boughs
around them are but little hurt, and if our trees had been bent
to the ground and covered with Pine-boughs they would
be hardly hurt at all. With a cover of earth on the branches
I have carried Figs safely through much colder weather.

Prunus Caroliniana, our Laurel Cherry, or Mock Orange
as it is called here, has its foliage utterly destroyed, and Live
Oaks likewise. Pittosporum Tobira, fully exposed to sun
and wind, has its foliage badly browned, but not crisped like
that of the native Prunus Caroliniana. This plant will winter
in New York City, I believe, if protected from the morning
sun and wind. One would suppose that Magnolia fcctida
would have suffered, but I have so far not seen a scorched
leaf. Chinese Tea-plants, of which 1 have 3,000 in an exposed
place, have their foliage browned as badly as Pittosporum.
Gardenia tlorida, sheltered close under the walls of the col-
lege, will lose its foliage and young growth, but the stem and
main branches are sound. Satsuma, or Oonshin Oranges,
fully exposed to sun and wind, are dead down to the Trifoliata
stock. Two other trees, one of which is covered with Pine-
boughs and the other close to a board fence which caused the
snow to bank over a great part of it, are both in about the
same condition, the leaves and young shoots dead, the stem
and large branches still perfectly sound. With protection, in
a sheltered place, there is no doubt that this Orange will suc-
ceed here, and as it inakes only a bush on the Trifoliata stock
the protection is easily given. Our trees of Citrus trifoliata
do not show an inch of injury, in fact, none at all, although
the experimental hedge is fully exposed to the northern blast
for twenty miles. This is, doubtless, the coming hedge-plant
for the United States. It will make a g-ood hedge with but a
tithe of the labor required by the rank Madura.

Neriums (Oleanders), unprotected in the yards in town,
are certainly killed to the ground and, probably, entirely dead.
Those which I bundled up with Pine-ljoughs are also killed
two-thirds or more. Abutilon vexillarium, pulled down off
the trellis on my piazza and drawn in through a hole in the
brick wall under the piazza, with its base covered with strawy
manure and Pine-boughs, seems unhurt. Aucubas will lose
most of their leaves when fully exposed. Chinese Azaleas, in a
sunny place, were so seriously hurt by the hot weather last
summer that they are now badly killed back. The heat hurt
them worse than the cold. Roses are injured worse than I
have ever seen them. Banksias, on porticoes, and Marechal
Ntels will lose not only their foliage, but all immature wood.
All our Tea Roses have their foliage killed and all the late
shoots, but no plants are lost so far as I have observed, though
in low-lying places some may be killed down. Cuttings of
Hybrid Perpetuals, which we usually root easily in the open
ground, and of which I have some thousands in, have suffered
badly and I fear will be a total failure.

Raspberry-canes of many varieties, even Black Caps, are
badly killed. Fruit-tree buds are as sound as can be, and the
winter has been favorable to a good crop of peaches. The
leaves of the more tender sorts of Narcissus which have shot
up are scorched, but are not hurt. How our Amaryllis, Cannas

February 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

75

andCaladiiimesculentum in thegroundaredoingl havenotex-
amined. Many are doubtless killed, for the soil has been
deeply frozen. The severe weather will add much more to
our knowledge of the capacity of plants to resist cold, but our
losses will doubtless be heavy. In the mountains the weatiier
was Canadian.
Raleish, N. c. ^- F- Massey.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — V.

AMONG the Magnolias of Japan there is no evergreen
species which resembles the great evergreen Magno-
lia of our southern states or at all equals it in the beauty
of flowers and foliage ; and the nearest approach to an
evergreen Magnolia in the empire of the IVlikado is the
representative of a closely allied genus, Michelia, which
differs from Magnolia in the position of the flowers, which
instead of being terminal on the branches are, except in
the case of one Indian species, axillary ; and in the num-
ber of ovules and seeds, which are two in each carpel of
Magnolia and more than two in each carpel of Michelia.

Michelias, of which a dozen species are known, inhabit
southern and south-western Asia, including the islands of
the Indian Archipelago, and, with the exception of the
Chinese Michelia fuscata (or as it is habitually called in
the southern states. Magnolia), which is cultivated for its
exceedingly fragrant small flowers in all warm temperate
countries, the genus is not seen in American or European
gardens.

The Japanese species, Michelia compressa,* as it appears
in the Botanic Garden of the University of Tokyo, is a tree
thirty to forty feet in height, with a trunk twelve to
eighteen inches in diameter, covered with smooth dark
bark, and rather slender branches which form a compact
handsome round-topped head. The winter-buds and the
branchlets during their first year are clothed with soft fer-
rugineous or pale hairs ; in their second season the branch-
lets are slender, light or dark brown, marked especially
near their extremities with large pale lenticles, and con-
spicuous from the raised nearly circular leaf-scars. The
leaves are oblong or narrowly obovate, gradually con-
tracted into long slender petioles, and are rounded or
short-pointed at the apex, entire, coriaceous, conspicuously
reticulate-veined, dark green and lustrous on the upper and
pale and opaque on the lower surface ; they are three or
four inches long, an inch to an inch and a half broad, with
petioles an inch in length, and fall when a year old after
the appearance of the new shoots. The flowers, which
are very fragrant, are from an inch to an inch and a
quarter across when expanded, with pale yellow, narrow,
obovate sepals and petals, nearly sessile anthers, and a
stipitate head of pistils, the ovaries, according to Maxi-
mowicz, each containing five or six ovules. The cone of
fruit is two inches long and is raised on a stalk half an
inch or more in length ; the rusty brown thick-walled car-
pels, which are marked with large pale circular dots,
usually containing three seeds ; these are broadly ovate
and much flattened by mutual pressure.

Michelia compressa is the most boreal species of its
genus ; it was discovered near Nagasaki by Maximowicz,
who saw a single tree. Oldham, an English botanist, col-
lected it near the base of Fugi-san, doubtless from a culti-
vated tree, and it is said to be found in several places in
the extreme southern part of the empire, although I have
never seen it except in the Botanic Garden of Tokyo, where
there are several large trees from which were collected the
specimens figured in our illustration on page 77, from a
drawing made by Mr. Faxon. It is not improbable that

Michelia is at the northern limit of its range in Japan and
that it will be found to be more at home on the Loochoo
lands or on Formosa when the interesting flora of these

glands is carefully explored.
The fact that Michelia compressa flourishes in Tokyo,

jrhere our southern evergreen Magnolia hardly survives.

* Magnolia (Michelia) compressa, Maximowicz, M>}t. Biol,, viii., 506. Franchet&
bvatier, Enum, Ft. Jap., i., 15.

indicates that it may perhaps be grown as far north as
Washington and, possibly, Philadelphia, in southern Eng-
land and Ireland and on the west coast of France, that is,
in regions where no other species of Michelia can exist in
the open ground and where broad-leaved evergreen trees
are rare and much desired.

In Japan, representatives of two other arborescent gen-
era of Magnolia, Trocodendron and Illicium occur. The
former is endemic, monotypic, and, like Cercidiphyllum
and Euptelia, produces flowers without sepals and petals.
Trocodendron aralioides is a small, handsome, glabrous
evergreen tree with alternate broadly rhomboidal crenulate,
penni-veined leaves four or five inches long, borne on long
stout petioles and clustered at the extremities of the
branches. The flowers are produced in short terminal
racemes and consist of numerous anthers raised on slender
filaments and surrounding the carpels, which are connate
in a vertical series and which ripen into a small fleshy
fruit crowned by the remnants of the persistent styles. It
is a tree fifteen to twenty feet in height and is said to be
very common in some parts of the country, although I
never saw it growing wild, and it is certainly not an inhab-
itant of alpine forests or of Hokkaido, as is stated in some
works on the Japanese flora, although, perhaps, it occurs
north in Hondo, at the sea-level, as it is hardy in the
gardens of Nikko, at an elevation of 2,000 feet above the
ocean. Trocodendron aralioides is not infrequently culti-
vated by the Japanese, and fine specimens of it are found
scattered through public and private gardens in Tokyo and
Yokohama.

The Japanese Illicium is a more beautiful and interesting
plant. It is the representative of a genus with two species
in our southern states and half a dozen others in India and
southern China, one of which, Illicium verum, supplies the
star anise of the pharmacists. Illicium anisatum, or as it
should, perhaps, be called, Illicium religiosum; is a beautiful
small evergreen tree, fifteen or twenty feet high, with bril-
liant persistent leaves and small fragrant yellow flowers, and
one of the sacred plants of Japan. Siebold considered it a
native of China or Corea and an introduction by Buddhist
priests into Japan. This may be the correct view, although
Japanese botanists now believe it to be a native of the
southern part of the empire, where Rein, found it, as he
supposed, growing wild. Sacred to Buddha, it is always
planted in the neighborhood of his temples and is common
in private gardens as far north as the thirty-fifth degree of
latitude. The branches of this tree, especially when it is
in flower, are used to decorate the altars in the temples, or
in cemeteries serve to mark the respect of the living for the
dead. From the powdered bark, mixed with resin, are
prepared the "smoke candles" with which incense is made
in the temples, and with which the "moxa" is burned on
the human body as a sovereign cure for many of its ills.

The remaining Japanese plants of the Magnolia family,
Katsura and Schizandra, are woody climbers. Katsura
Japonica is the type of a genus consisting of seven or eight
species, all natives of southern and western Asia, and its
most northern member growing spontaneously in the south-
ern islands and at the sea-level in Hondo as far north as
the thirty-fifth degree of latitude. The flowers are not
showy, but it is a plant of extraordinary beauty in the
autumn when the clusters of scarlet fruit are ripe, their
brilliancy being heightened by contrast with the dark green
lustrous persistent leaves. There is a fine specimen of
this plant in the garden attached to the Agricultural College
at Tokyo, but I have never seen it in any other, although
it might well be grown wherever the climate is sufficiently
mild, as in the autumn no plant is more beautiful.

Schizandra is familiar to American botanists as one
species ; the type of the genus, Schizandra coccinea, in-
habits our southern states ; in Japan two species occur,
and one of these, Schizandra Chinensis, which grows also
in Manchuria, carries the Magnolia family further north
than any of its other members. It is a vigorous plant, with
long twining stems and small, unisexual, white flowers.

7<i

Garden and Forest.

[Number 260.

followed by clusters of brilliant red berry-like fruit, which
in September and October enliven the forests of Hokkaido,
where this plant is extremely common. Schizandra Chi-
nensis is now well established in our gardens, flowering
freely every year, but in the neighborhood of Boston has
not yet ripened its fruit.

The second species, Schizandra nigra, is much less coni-
mon in Japan than Schizandra Chinensis, from which it
mav be distinguished by its broader leaves, larger flowers,
and' by its blue-black fruit and pitted seeds. It grows in
southern Yezo, where, however, I failed to find it Mr.
Veitch collected it in September at Fukura, on the west
coast of Hondo, and at the end of October I found a single
plant near Fukushina, on the Nagasendo, in central Japan,
from which 1 had the good fortune to gather a few ripe
seeds, as this interesting plant has not yet been brought
under cultivation. C. S. S.

Entomological.
A Destructive Elm-tree Bark-borer.

WE are permitted to extract from Dr. J. A. Lintner's ■' Re-
port on Entomology," presented at the annual meeting
of the Western New York Horticultural Society, at Rochester,
on the 26ih January, the portion relating to a very pernicious
Elm-tree pest, the operations of which have not received much
attention from our economic entomologists. After speaking
of Zeuzera pyrina, Labr., a destructive borer of some of our
most higlily prized shade-trees, as the Elra and Maple, which,
during the last five years, has been brought to notice in
northern New Jersey, and in New York city and its immediate
vicinitv. Dr. Lintner stated that

Tliese attacks are yet cjuite local in this state, butare destined,
we fear, not long to conUnue so. Throughout the entire state,
and t>evond its limits, the beautiful White Elm, Ulmus Ameri-
cana, which has been so liberally planted and so highly prized as
our most valu;il>le shade-tree, is suffering from the ravages of a
hidden and insidious enemy, and the trees are dying, one by
one, from a cause not apparent and known to but few. This
is chargeable to the operations of one of our longicorn beetles,
Saperda tridentata, Olivier, the larvae or grubs of which work
in the inner bark and sap-wood of the trunk— the attack ap-
parently commencing not far above the ground and gradually
extending upward. When the grubs are numerous, their
broad, flat burrows so reticulate and run info one another as
effectually to girdle trunks of two and three feet in diameter ;
with the circulation arrested, the death of the tree inevitably
follows.

No effective remedy against this attack has as yet been
found. It is probable, however, that where it has not pro-
ceeded too far, protection may be attained in coating the bark
with some thick repellant substance (of which carbolic acid
and Paris green should l>e components) that would repel egg-
deposit or prevent the passage through it of the newly hatched
larva. This coating need not be applied to the entire
tnmk, but might be limited to a broad zone of several feet
at and beyond that part where the burrows of the preceding
year were mainly run — to be found by reinoving portions of
the t>ark, which will readily scale off from the deserted older
infested portions.

A still better remedy, I think, would be to remove the outer
bark from the entire infested portion of the tree in the spring
(occupied at the time by larva; or the pupre), by shavmg it
down to the inner bark until the first indications of the fresh
burrows are disclosed. A kerosene emulsion of good strength
brushed over the shaven surface would kill the insects, after
which a coating of some thick substance, as lime and cow-
manure, should be applied to prevent the splitting of the sap-
wood from exposure to the sun, drying winds or extreme
weather.

That the Ijarking of Elms to even a greater extent than this
may safely be resorted to, appears from experiments made in
France by Monsieur Robert,detailed in the Gardeners' Chronicle
and Agricultural Gazette, for April 29, 1848, and quoted by Dr.
Packard in his recent report on Insects Injurious to Forest
and Shade Trees, as follows: "The whole of the outer bark
was removed from the Elm ; thismay be done conveniently by a
scraping-knife shaped like a spokesha ve. The operation caused
a great flow of sap in the inner lining of the bark (the liber), and
the gfrubs of the Scolytus beetle were found in almost all cases
to perish shortly after. The treatment was applied on a large
■cale, and the barked trees were found after examination by

the commissioners at two different periods to be in more
vigorous health than the neighboring ones of which the hark
was untouched. More than two thousand Elms were thus
treated."

Monsieur Robert had also obtained good results from cutting
out strips of the bark of old Elms, about two inches wide, from
the boughs down to the ground. "It was found that where
the young bark pressed forward to heal the wound and a vig-
orous flow of sap took place, that many of the larv;e near it
were killed ; the bark that had not been undermined was con-
solidated and the health of the trees improved." For a long
period of years the Elm had been remarkably free from insect-
attack, but now it is struggling for existence against four insect-
destroyers, so pernicious in their operations that we are al-
most compelled to look upon it as a doomed tree. The Leu-
zera is robbing it of its beautifully branching top ; the Elm-leaf
beetle is defoliating it and rendering it in midsummer useless
for shade ; the caterpillars of the white-marked Tussock-moth
(Orgyia leucostigma). are skeletonizing its leaves and arrest-
ing terminal growth by amputating the ends of the twigs and
strewing them over the ground ; and, lastly, the three-toothed
Saperda — the most dangerous of all — is running its mines
through sap-wood and liber so closely and tortuously that the
death of the tree is the inevitable result.

It is sincerely to be hoped that, should these suggestions for
staying the ravages of the last-named insect not prove to be
practicable, other means may be found so efficient and so sim-
ple as to lead to their general use by individuals and city au-
thorities, and that the steady progress northward and westward
of the two other Elm destroyers — the Zeuzera borer and the
Elm-leaf beetle — may be stayed, and the most beautiful and
serviceable of our shade-trees be spared to us and to coming
generations.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Agave angustissima. — The picture and full account of this
Agave, published in Garden and Forest (vol. vi., p. 5),
were highly interesting to growers of succulent plants in
this country, and still more interesting is the fact that,
through the kindness of Professor Sargent, who sent seeds
of it to Kew, it is likely soon to become known in collec-
tions here, the seeds having germinated quickly and freely.
The offer of seeds through your pages (vol. vi., p. 6) to any
person wishing to grow this plant should be taken advan-
tage of by all cultivators of such species of Agave as A.
filifera and A. Schottii, to which ornamental and compact
growers A. angustissima is closely related. The attention
of collectors and botanists generally should be drawn to
the forethought and good nature which attended the re-
discovery of this plant. It is difficult to interest botanical
collectors in the introduction of desirable plants into cul-
tivation.

Begonia, Gloire de Sceaux. — This is a hybrid between B.
Socotrana and B. metallica (sometimes called B. subpeltata),
which was raised by Messrs. Thibaut & Keteleer, of Sceaux,
near Paris, in 1885, and distributed the following year as
"a. very floriferous, vigorous, compact, pyramidal plant,
two feet high, with broad obliquely cordate leaves, deep
green, with a rich metallic lustre, and terminal and axillary
panicles of bright rose-colored flowers, produced in the late
winter or early spring." Somehow the plant did not take
in England, and it was almost forgotten when Mr. Jen-
nings, the gardener to Mr. Rothschild at Leighton Buzzard,
showed a group of it beautifully grown and full of flowers
at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society
(January 17th). It was then generally thought to be a new
plant, even those who had tried the plant when it was first
sent out failing to recognize it again in the fine specimens
shown. Of course, it was awarded a first-class certificate
as well as a Banksian medal for good cultivation, and was
generally voted the best " new " plant of this winter. The
flowers stand well above the leaves, are of good size and
substance, and, what is even more valuable in a Begonia,
they stand several weeks both on the plant and when cut.
The progeny of B. Socotrana is proving of exceptional
value in the garden. Here is another instance of the good

February 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

77

Fig. 13. — Michelia compressa. — See page 75.

that comes from botanical collectors' bagging a few
scraps of likely plants for the gardener. Professor Balfour,
when on a botanical visit to Socotra in 1880, sent to Kew
a few small tubers of this Begonia for the gardens, along

with dried specimens for the herbarium. The result was a
pretty and very interesting Begonia added to the few good
winter-flowering species we possess for the stove, and, still
more important, the production by the breeder of a race of

78

Garden and Forest.

[Number 260.

hybrids between this species and others which is likely to
take a high position among the most useful of flowering
garden-plants. I hope Mr. Jennings will tell how he grew
his plants. I confess to having tried to grow B. Gloire de
Sceaux, and failed, owing, as 1 believe, to winter fog.

Cyrtaxthis CAR.VEUS. — ^This is a good winter-flowering
Cape bulb ; at any rate, it is in flower now at Kew, and
from its behavior one might e.xpect it to turn out a good
garden-plant It is very similar to C. obliquus, but dif-
fers in the color of its flowers, which are bright red. The
leaves are broad, strap-shaped, a foot or more long, and
the scape is erect, two feet long, with a large umbel of
drooping, tleshy, tubular tlowers two inches long. Although
almost unknown in cultivation now, it was introduced and
flowered at Chiswick sixty years ago.

Neli'mbiuxs. — Many of your readers evince a more than
ordinar)' interest in aquatic plants, and especially in
Nympha-as and Nelumbiums. The naturalization of the
Nelumbium speciosum in your ponds and lagoons is a
gardening achievement to be proud of. Could not some
of your importers of Japanese plants obtain some of the
distinct and beautiful varieties of Nelumbium which are
known to grow in Japan ? A few years ago I saw in a
rare Japanese work of great ^ alue, called Honzo Zou/it, a
series of beautifully executed colored pictures of Nelumbi-
ums which revealed a surprising range of variation in the
flowers of this plant, far beyond anything we have ever
seen here Altogether there were eighty-eight pictures of
Nelumbium, including leaves, seed-vessels, germinating
seeds, roots and rhizomes, besides flowers. I made tracings
of some of the most striking of the latter. In size the range
was from that of a Niphetos rose to one almost equal to the
flower of Victoria regia, the largest measuring eleven inches
in diameter. In form, in the width and number of the
petals, and in pose there was considerable variation, while
in color the variety was equally striking. My notes of the
colors of some are : rose, with crimson tips ; yellow and
white ; pure white ; white, golden at the base ; white, edged
with yellow ; white, margins crimson, flecked with maroon ;
crimson. In 1887 some rhizomes of Nelumbiums from
Japan were obtained for Kew, and among them there were
deep red and pure white ones. These are in the collection
still. The late Sir George Macleay tried several times to
introduce these fine Japanese Nelumbiums, but did not get
any except the white and rose-red kinds. Probably you
would meet with much better success in America. Our
difficulty is in establishing the plants the first year and
getting growth into them of sufficient- strength to carry
them through the winter. Nelumbium is not by any means
a kindly plant with us.

Japanese Bindweeds. — ^The picture of the double-flowered
Convolvulus recently published in Garden and Forest
(vol. v., p. 592), recalled to my mind an interesting com-
munication from an English correspondent in Japan in
1885, accompanied by a collection of seeds of garden varie-
ties of Convolvulus major, among which were supposed
to be double-flowered and many colored kinds. He wrote :
" Your request for some Convolvulus-seed came very op-
portunely, as it was at the season when the plants are
offered in pots in bloom for sale. I bought fifty to plant,
and saved the seeds from them myself. Some have sky-
blue, some yellow, flowers, and two of the seeds are from
one which had a stem like a Cockscomb, is two feet high,
has variegated leaves and flowers growing from the sides
of the stem. We have also a double Convolvulus in all
colors. I planted some among the single ones, and I have
no doubt some of the seeds sent will be from plants im-
pregnated from them. We grew these plants in a sunny
greenhouse, but found no double ones among them. There
were, however, some pretty colored forms among the
single-flowered kinds." A race of C. major with double
flowers in various shades would probably be of considera-
ble value in the garden, as the flowers would, no doubt,
remain fresh longer than the single forms do. It would be
interesting to learn how these double-flowered forms are

obtained and perpetuated by the Japanese. [The Morning-
glory grown in such large quantities in Japan in pots
appears to be Ipomoea triloba, Mig. — Ed.]

Narcissus Broi'ssonetii. — This rare and interesting spe-
cies is said to be a good plant for cultivation in pots to
flower in February. The bulbs should be planted in good
soil in pots in October or November, and kept in a slightly
heated frame where they will get plenty of light after
growth begins. After flowering they should be plunged
outside for a time till growth is finished, and then shaken
out of the soil and thoroughly dried. The plant is a native
of Morocco, where it was found by Broussonet, but was not
introduced into cultivation until a few years ago, when it
was sent to Kew, where it flowered in a greenhouse in the
spring of 1888. It has long narrow leaves and tall scapes,
bearing umbels of from four to eight flowers, which are
pure white, trumpet-shaped, and an inch across the
limb. They are remarkable in having the corona reduced
to a mere rim and stamens much more prominent than
usual. They are also sweet-scented.

Cynorchis grandiflora. — This Orchid has lately been in-
troduced into England and shown in flower by Messrs.
Lewis & Co. at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural
Society, when it received a botanical certificate. The
genus, which is confined to Madagascar and the adjacent
islands and is composed of fourteen species, belongs to
the Ophrydece and is closely allied to Habenaria. C.
grandiflora appears to be the largest-flowered species
known. It has a tuberous root-stock, fleshy, green, de-
ciduous leaves nine inches long, one-third of an inch wide,
channeled, green above, striped or blotched with purple
below ; scape, nine inches long, erect, one-flowered.
Flower, of three lanceolate sepals, an inch long, white
with purple spots ; petals reduced to filaments ; lip, large,
one and a half inches long, one inch wide, three-lobed,
spreading, colored pale violet with a white claw ; spur,
straight, two inches long, slightly svv'ollen in the lower
half. C. grandiflora, when wild, frequents wet places and
appears to require the same kind of treatment as suits Disa
grandiflora, with more warmth. When not in flower the
plant might easily be taken for a Disa. It was introduced
from Madagascar along with D. incarnata. I am afraid it
will not find much favor as a garden Orchid.

London. W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

Fatal Club-root of Turnips.

LAST autumn some diseased turnips were brought to the
station laboratory with the complaint that a large field of
them was rotting badly, and that the crop would be a failure.
An examination showed that the trouble was caused by tlie
Club-root Fungus (Plasmodiophora Brassicae, Wor.) This rot
of the turnip infests the cabbage also ; the Cabbage Club-root
has been known since 1780, or more than a hundred years. It
has a common name in many languages, and several in the
English, " Fingers-and-toes " being one of them. These
various names come usually from the prevailing habit of dis-
torting the roots of the Cabbage or Turnip into a knotty mass.
It is difficult to estimate the loss to the cabbage and turnip
crops from this enemy. Mr. Eycleshymer, in his recent paper
upon the "Club-root in the United States,"* states that for
Russia the loss for 1876 was $225,000. It must be much more
in this country. Much of the damage is done to seedlings,
which it attacks in the seed-bed, sometimes ruining every
plant ; the sickly plant is unable to form any healthy roots, and
therefore quickly succumbs. The fungus works below ground,
and is therefore difficult to detect until the plant is beyond re-
covery. Besides this, it is a fungus that works in the indi-
vidual cells of the root, and has no filaments that reach from
cell to cell, and no spore bodies that form outside of the
affected parts. The diseased root upon removal from the soil
will be found much knotted, with soft rotting places, which
give off a most disagreeable odor. New roots may start out
above the diseased portion, which in turn become affected,
and the Cabliage or the Turnip falls a victim to the countless
germs that have multiplied within its substance.

• The yaurnat of Mycology, vol. vll., No. a, March 10, 1892.

February 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

79

The accompanying illustration is from a photograph of a
turnip, natural size. The lower portion of the original root
had rotted off, warts had formed, and new roots were sent out
to get nourishment for the starving plant. Precautionary
measures are the only effective ones, for when the fungus has
got a hold there seems to be no help. The germs, as the tissue
of the host decays, are set free in the soil. How longtiiey may
survive there without the appropriate feeding plants is not
known. It is certain, however, that Cabbage planted to suc-
ceed a badly infested crop, is attacked by an increased develop-
ment of the fungus. Turnips should not be grown after an
infested crop, as they will sliare the same fate. Radishes will
also take the club-root under these conditions. It is possible
that this fungus lives upon the roots of weeds of the same

Fig. 14.— Club-root Fungus (Plasmodiophora Brassicae). — See page 78.

family as the three crops named. These include the Shep-
herd's-purse, all kinds of Mustards, Pepper-grasses and the like.
If the trouble begins in the hot-bed, all club-rooted plants
should be discarded at setting-time. New soil should be used
for seed-growing the next year. The rubbish left after a crop
of cabbage or turnips is harvested should be burned.
Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted.

Water-lilies from Seed.

npO raise flowering plants of any kind from seed requires
-^ patience and enthusiasm, but it is always a fascinating and
interesting pursuit. Though the general characteristics of
plants raised from seed are similar, they vary greatly in vigor,
size of leaves and in the color and markings of the leaves and
flowers. Raising Water-lilies from seed is quite a new idea
with general flower-growers. Those familiar with our native
Water-lily know that it is readily propagated by the root, which
is perennial; but there are exotic Water-lilies which differ,
not only in the color of the Howers, but also in their leaves and
roots. Most of these do not have fleshy or rhizomatous roots,
like our native Nymphsea odorata, but reproduce themselves
by seed. Of course, a Lily from the tropics will not succeed
under exactly the same conditions as our northern varieties.
The tropical kinds, with their gorgeous coloring, are now
indispensable, and all of these produce a tuberous root and
flower from a crown. Some of these tubers are very difficult

to winter over. On the other hand, they produce seed very
freely and can be treated as annuals, but seedlings must be
started early in the season if good flowers are to be had in
plenty. It takes from three to four months to raise plants fit
to set out at the beginning to the middle of June, but where
temperature above seventy degrees cannot be secured a still
longer time will be required. Seed may also be sown in fall,
and young seedlings successfully carried through the winter
season in a lower temperature than that necessary for germi-
nating seed at this season.

Seeds of Water-lilies differ but little from other flower-seeds,
and the same method must be observed in having suitable
pots or pans for sowing the seed ; a four-inch pot will hold a
good numberof seedlings of any one variety. Finely sifted soil,
not too rich or light, should be used, the pots compactly filled
to within an inch of the rim and leveled off so as to leave a
smooth surface. The seed should be scattered evenly and
covered with clean sand. After sowing, stand the pots in a
vessel of water at a temperature of seventy degrees. A shal-
low tub will be found very useful for this purpose. Do not
cover the soil in the pot with water for a few hours, as the dry
seeds would rise to the surface, and if there is more than one
variety would easily get mixed, if not lost. After the pots have
thus soaked for about two days they should be covered with
water totlie depth of an inch. Should they be lower than this
from the rim of the tub they may be raised with blocks to the
proper height. The tub must be full of water so that any scum
can be taken off without disturbing the pots or plants. At first
appearance the seedlings look more like blades of grass of a
brownish color, but very soon the small green leaves are seen.
As soon as the second or third leaf appears the seedlings
should be singled out and the strongest pricked into pots.
When they attain strength and size they should be potted
singly in three-and-a-halt-inch pots. When pricking off the seed-
lings the young plants can more readily be taken hold of under
water. As the plants advance in size they will require deeper
water. The soil for plants in three-and-a-half-inch pots and.
larger may be used inarougherstate than for seed-pots. Good
maiden loam, with thoroughly rotted manure, or soil that is
good for Roses, with an addition of about one-third more
manure, will answer for the purpose. Cover ,the tops of all
seed pans and pots of various sizes with clean sand when
fresh potted, to keep the surface clean and the soil from ris-
ing. When plants in three-and-a-half-inch pots require re-
potting they may be potted into fivt or six inch pots or planted
three in a tub. But if strong plants are desired they should be
set singly in six-inch pots, and after that planted into tubs for
summer blooming, using the same kind of soil in a rough
state, but thoroughly mixed. If kerosene barrels or other large-
sized casks are sawed into tubs for use there should not be
more than two or two and a half inches of wood left above the
top hoop, or the staves will open and the tubs will not keep full of
water ; besides, they will be found too heavy to move, if that
should be necessary.

Dongan Hills, N. Y. Win. Tricker.

Decorative Species of Asparagus.

UNDER this heading are included some of the most elegant
of decorative plants, their slender branches reminding
one of Fern-fronds, which they surpass in their longer
endurance when cut. For conservatory decoration, and
even in the window-garden, some species of Asparagus
are excellent; a very high temperature is not necessary,
and no special culture is needed to insure a satisfactory
growth. Good loam, preferably of a light character, is the
best soil for these plants, and proper attention should be paid
to the drainage of the pots ; for while an ample supply of water
is needed at all times for Asparagus, stagnant moisture will
soon cause the roots to decay.

Propagation of some of the species can readily be effected
by means of cuttings, but with others there is much difficulty
in inducing the cuttings to root, and consequently either di-
vision of the roots or seeds must be depended on. Among the
specially desirable species is A. plumosus and its variety
nanus, the type being a stronger grower and more scandent in
habit than the variety, growths fifteen to eighteen feet in
length not being uncommon on strong, well-established plants.
A. plumosus nanus is better suited for pot-culture than the
type, its growths being more slender ; in habit it is tufted, and
the color of the foliage is dark green. The Fern-like branch-
lets of these plants are almost invaluable for mingling with
cut flowers, and may be used repeatedly with fresh flowers,
the Asparagus keeping in good condition for two or three
weeks in water.

8o

Garden and Forest.

[Number 260.

A. tenuissimus is another valuable sort, and also grows to a
considerable height when planted out in a greenhouse ; the
leaves are extremely fine and the branches less regular in ap-
pearance than those of the preceding varieties ; it is also of a
much lighter green. By cutting back from time to time, A.
tenuissimus may be grown into a desirable pot-plant, and in
this condition makes an admirable addition to a decoration.
This species may be multiplied easily by cuttings made from
Che small side shoots, providing the wood is not too soft, and
also that the cuttings are given some bottom-heat, the young
plants soon starting into growth from the bottom after they
are potted off. These three sorts are the ones chiefly grown
by commercial growers at the present time and form an im-
portant part of most house-decorations. There is no other
toliage so well suited for draping a large mirror or forming a
delicate tracery of green on a table.

Asparagus d'ecumbens is of somewhat similar character to
A. tenuissimus, but has coarser foliage of a slightly glaucous
hue ; the branches are of irregular form and the habit of the
plant is scandent. This species has not been received with so
much favor as some others, but it becomes an attractive plant
when well grown. A. virgatus is a later introduction than the
sorts already mentioned and seems to have a compact habit
and frond-like branches, the growth being quite unlike the
other members of this family. The leaves are very fine and
are produced in great numbers on the much-divided branches,
which are erect.

It may also be noted that the so-called Smilax of the florists,
eenerally known .as Myrsiphyllum asparagoides, has now
been referred to Asparagus, so that this charming vine can
safely be included among the decorative Asparagus ; the con-
ditions favorable for the development of Smilax will gener-
ally give good results when applied to the other members of
the family. Asparagus-seeds should be sown in light soil,
and will germinate at irregular intervals, some of the seeds
possibly remaining dormant for nearly a year.

. Holmeaburx. Pa. '*'• H. TapHn.

Winter-flowering Plants.

A LARGE assortment of plants has to be grown to keep
the conservatory or greenhouse supplied with flowers
during the dull winter months. For this purpose there are
some plants which are indispensable, owing to their free-
flowering habit and to thefr simple cultural requirements.

Notwithstanding that Peristrophe speciosa, often seen in
g^ardens under the name of Justicia speciosa, has been in cul-
tivation since 1826, it is still one of the favorite plants for
brightening up the conservatory at this season of the year. It is
so well known that it requires no description. Although easily
grown, it is often seen in bad condition, with long, naked stems.
This is due to bad treatment, for the habit of the plant is good,
but, like other free-growing plants, it is apt to lose its lower
leaves under bad management. To get good results this plant
should be propagated every spring. When the old plants are
done blooming a few should be saved and cut back so as
to get good cuttings from the young growth. The cuttings
should be struck in March, and if put in sand with a gentle
bottom-heat they will root in a few days. When rooted, they
should be potted off singly into small pots and placed near the
glass in a warm house. As soon as the roots get hold of the
soil the points of the shoots should be stopped so as to induce
a bushy habit. They should be planted out in the garden
about the end of May and given plenty of space, as they will
make large plants by the time they are lilted in the fall. Dur-
ing the summer the young shoots will require to be stopped
frequently, and as the plants are free growers they will need
an abundance of water. When they are about a foot high
thev should be staked, as they are very easily broken by wind,
and in September potted and put into the greenhouse and kept
close for a few days. Although this plant will grow in a cool
greenhouse, it can easily be seen by its sickly foliage that it is
not happy in such a place. It is a native of India and requires
a temperature of fifty to sixty degrees to produce its beautiful
carmine-purple flowers.

Another exceedingly floriferous plant in bloom now is Stro-
bilanthes isophyllus. The plants m bloom were raised from
cuttings struck last spring, and are about two feet high and one
foot across. Thev are completely covered with their beautiful
lavender-colored flowers, which will last five or six weeks if
the plants are kept in a warm greenhouse. This plant has a
rather erect bushy habit, with dark green lanceolate leaves.
Strobilanthcs anisophyllus is also in bloom. This species has
not such an erect or bushy habit as the first-named. If
grows higher and its branches have a beautiful, graceful

habit. The flowers are almost the same as those of S. isophyl-
lus, but the leaves are larger and are very unequal. They
both require the same treatment. Although the two species-
are very like one another in their flowers, they are quite
distinct otherwise, and they are well worth growing together.

For continuous blooming during the dull winter months
Libonia floribunda has few equals. It is a South American
plant, and was introduced from Brazil in 1862. It has elliptic,
oblong leaves. The tubular flowers are scarlet, with yellow
tips, and are produced very abimdantly, one or two from each
axil of the leaves. Some time after its introduction it was
crossed with Sericographis Ghiesbreghtiana. By this crossing
Libonia Peurhosiensis was obtained, which is in many ways
an improvement on its parent. It is dwarfer and of denser
growth. The flowers are more abundant, there being from
four to six at the axils of the leaves instead of two, and their
color is a bright rich crimson. At this time both these plants
are blooming very freely here. When the plants are done
blooming they should be cut back and additional heat given
to them, and they will soon make a new growth. From the
young growth cuttings may be made and inserted in the cut-
ting-bench, where they will root in a few days. When rooted
they should be potted ; they will require to be occasionally
checked, so as to encourage a bushy habit. In June they may
be planted out in the garden, where they must be well
watered ; and as they are liable to be attacked by red spi-
der they must be syringed frequently. In September they
ought to be potted and taken back to the greenhouse. When
the pots are full of roots the plants are greatly benefited by oc-
casional doses of liquid-manure.

For the last six weeks, Winter-sweet, or Toxicophlrea spec-
tabilis, has been one mass of white flowers. The Jasmine-like
flowers are not only beautiful, but are also very tragront, one
plant being sufficient to perfume a whole house. It is a small
shrubby plant with lanceolate, leathery leaves, and the flowers
are produced in axillary corymbs, making a long dense spray.
This plant was introduced from South Africa in 1872, and
although it has been in cultivation twenty years, it is seldom
seen. The popular belief is that this Toxicophlaea requires a
stove-temperature, but this is a mistake ; it grows and flowers
more freely in an intermediate temperature. The plants in
bloom here have been grown in a house where the tempera-
ture runs from fifty to fifty-five degrees. In the spring they
are potted rather firmly in good rich soil, and in summer
placed out-of-doors in a position where they can get plenty of
light. After they are taken lack to the greenhouse in the
autumn they are greatly benefited by a few waterings of weak
liquid-manure. During the spring months cuttings are easily
struck from the halt-ripened wood.

Among New Holland plants the Chorizemas are the showiest
at this time. Chorizema illcifolia, with its deep green Holly-
like leaves, is completely covered with orange-yellow flowers,
which will last in bloom a long time. The Chorizemas are not
so hard to grow as some other hard-wooded plants. When
they are done blooming they should be pruned so as to make
compact plants. Just as they begin to make new growth the
plants ought to be potted in a mixture of fibrous loam, peat
and sand. Like most other hard-wooded plants, they need to
be potted firmly, and given plenty of drainage, as they require
an abundance of water during the growing and flowering sea-
son. Abundance of light and air is very essential to their wel-
fare, and in summer they should be placed in the open air,
where the new growth will Ijecome thoroughly ripened. Be-
fore taking them back to the greenhouse tlie plants should be
staked up, and the small shoots left loose, that is, not fled in
tightly on trellises, as they are treated sometimes. Chorizemas
can be raised from seeds' or cuttings. Tiie small side-shoots
are not hard to strike, and plants raised in this way flower
while small, whereas seedlings are not so free-blooming while
they are young.
Cambridge, .Mass. Robert Cameron.

Manettia bicolor.— Running over a Grevillea is a noteworthy
specimen of the Manettia bicolor, wliich is planted with it
in the ground. This seems to be the only satisfactory way of
growing this vine, as I find it but seldom blooms with pot-cul-
ture. Upon this plant, which is now a little more than a year
old and which has been eight montlis in its present position, I
estimated about 800 flowers. This floriferous condition has
been maintained ever since tlie plant became established in
the new ground. In the greenhouse it is subject to attacks of
the mealy bug, but this insect can be successfully held in
check by frequent syringings of Fir-tree oil. Some of the
catalogue wood-cuts exaggerate the size of this flower by rep-
resenting it to be as long as the leaf, and 1 have even seen it

February 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

81;

stated that the flowers are i^ to 2 inches long. The particular
vine I have mentioned is in a very tlirift^ condition ; the
Hower is tubular with four short lobes scarcely spreading,
covered on the outside with a coat of short, bright scarlet
hairs, which conceal the yellow tube except at the apex. The
flower-buds, many days before opening, show these colors
and add greatly to the apparent abundance of flowers. The
flowers, after opening, are from 3,^ to i inch long, and keep
fresh upon the vine for ten or fifteen days. The inflorescence
is solitary and axillary, but as the flowering branches are
very short, as many as six flowers seem to appear at each joint
of the vine. Maturing at different periods, fresh flowers and
buds are seen for several months upon the whole length of
vine. The leaves are opposite, ovate, acuminate, glabrous,
shining; margin entire ; the length of leaf from one to four
inclies. The stem is tetragonal, twining, and will grow from
ten to twenty feet long. The plant is allied to the Bouvardia
and was introduced into England about 1842 from Brazil.
Slate College. Pa. George C. Butz.

Correspondence.
The Treeless Plains.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — We are readers of Garden and Forest and sympa-
thize with the efforts of the paper to instruct the public with
regard to the importance of preserving the American forests.
We are particularly interested in forestry and should like to
see it discussed in detail, particularly with reference to the re-
gion west of the one-hundredth meridian and east of the
Rocky Mountains, now treeless. This part of the country has
not been an unqualified success, although large enough to
support a nation. The few attempts at planting trees there
have so far been subterfuges used to obtain possession of the
public domain, and have only demonstrated the fact that
forest-trees cannot be grown there. Will not Garden and
Forest urge the importance of this region on its readers that
they may come to think more seriously of its possibilities ?

Blue Springs. Mo. E. J. Walker Gr' Co.

[Trees, in order to grow, require evenly distributed and
abundant rainfall, and the reason that the great elevated
plateau east of the Rocky Mountains is destitute of trees is
that it does not enjoy a sufficient precipitation of moisture
to enable them to live. Rain causes trees to grow, but
trees do not produce rain. The Timber-culture Act, which
sought to cover these plains with trees, was abortive be-
cause, conceived in ignorance of the true conditions of the
country, it sought to produce results which were physically
impo-ssible. Trees will grow anywhere between the one-
hundredth meridian and the Rocky Mountains where suffi-
cient water can be obtained for irrigation ; but unless the
ground is artificially watered most of this great region
must remain treeless, except in the immediate neighbor-
hood of streams. — Ed.]

The Sierra Club of California.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The second issue of the Btilletin of the Sierra Club has
appeared. It contains three articles, any one of which would
easily furnish the basis for a sixteen-page magazine article.
One is by Mr. Hubert Dyer, a capable young chemist, a gradu-
ate of the University of California, and for some time an
assistant in the agricultural laboratory there. It is upon the
Mount Whitney trail, and is illustrated by a map and by two
reproductions of Mr. Dyer's photograplis, one of " False
Mount Whitney," or " Sheep Mount," or " Mount Corcoran " ;
the other of the true Whitney, the highest peak in the United
States. Mr. Dyer and several friends have wandered for
weeks in the fastnesses of the Sierra Nevada, and few young
Californians have seen more of the "Whitney Alps," and the
vast sea of mountains about the head-waters of Kaweah, Kern,
South Fork, Cottonwood and Lone Pine, where hundreds of
great peaks rise about the still greater shoulders of Tyndall
and Whitney.

Mr. R. M. Price describes in most vivid language a difficult
and dangerous descent, in company with Mr. L. de F. Bartlett,
of the Grand Canon of the Tuolumne, one of the most mag-
nificent of the Yosemites of the Sierra, where mighty water-
falls " plunge amain " down granite cliffs.

Mr. W. W. Price gives a more complete description of the

Placer County grove of Sequoia gigantea, which he was the
first to make known. The tirst memorandum of this dis-
covery was read before the California Academy of Sciences in
August, 1892, and published in Zoe, Garden and Forest and
other papers. The new grove is "at an altitude of 5,100 feet,
and nearly seventy miles north of the Calaveras Big Trees."
It has been known to the mountaineers for many years, but
not to the botanist. Mr. Price was led to visit the place be-
cause of a report obtained in the region by Miss Irene Hardy,
teacher of English literature in the Oakland High School.

The tliree articles, taken together, so emphasize the present
needs of California in respect to forest-reservations, such as
outlined by Secretary Noble, that they ought to be in general
circulation. It would be a national misfortune if the next Ad-
ministration should pay any heed to the querulous complaints
of a few sheep-men who live by stealing public pasturage, and
a few politicians who only see their own petty interests.

The Sierra Club, John Muir, President, contains among its
members some of the most thoughtful, well-educated and in-
fluential men in California, and its work is certain to be felt in
every direction. It opposes, after full and free discussion, ihe
Caminetti bill to curtail the Yosemite National Park. It favors
the proposed topographical survey of California by the state
and the general Government. It has voted to do all in its power
to aid the passage of the Paddock Forestry bill. In every move
it has made the Sierra Club has been well and wisely directed,
and it does not lack the necessary funds, and, still more, es-
sential fighting quality. At the present rate of growth it will
have a thousand members in a few years — merchants, profes-
sional men, horticulturists and men of affairs in every de-
partment of human activity.
Berkeley, Cai. Charles Howard Shinn.

Valves in Heating Apparatus.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Are valves necessary on hot-water pipes to properly
regulate the temperature of plant-houses or any horticultural
buildings in which heat must be provided by such heating
apparatus? Is there any means of controlling the tempera-
ture of hot-houses under all conditions of sunshine and cloud
and sudden changes of temperature in the optn air without
the use of valves .'' Would you advise the building of a hot-
water heater for horticultural purposes without valves ? Is
there any danger of steam being generated in an apparatus
furnished with valves, provided an open vent or valve is fixed
on the highest point of the boiler and on the highest point of
the flow-pipe ?

Eddy, New Mexico. W. S.

[If a number of greenhouses require different tempera-
tures, and are heated from one set of boilers, stop-valves
should be used on each flow-pipe in each house in order to
regulate the temperature in the different houses. If, how-
ever, only one house is being heated, flow-pipes would be
convenient and advisable, but not necessary to control the
temperature, as it could be controlled by regulating the fire.
The only means of regulating the temperature in a green-
house without valves is by sash-ventilating and by watch-
ing the fires. The omission of valves in the hot-water
heating system is not advisable, except in the case of small
conservatories. If all the flow and return pipes at or near
the boiler should be valved and the valves shut off, steam
would be generated in the boiler, and it would burst.
Valves should not be placed on either flow or return pipes
except in the grapery or in houses that require freezing, in
which case the valves are shut off and the water drawn
from the pipes. If valves are used on the flow and return
pipe at the boiler they should be chained and locked, so
they cannot be closed except by the person in charge of
the key. — Ed,]

Flowers in Winter.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The ease with which some of our common plants can
be forced into bloom in ordinary living-rooms during winter
should lead to their more frequent use in this way. At this
time of the year a few standard but relatively expensive things,
like Hyacinths, are favorite window decorations, but sprigs of
our common shrubs, our native bulbs and perennial plants
are seldom seen flowering indoors, although their treatment
for this purpose is of the simplest character, and presents no

82

Garden and Forest.

[Number 260.

difRculty which a novice or a child may not readily overcome.
Anything which premrcs its tiower-buds the year before, and
is then ready for early-spring blooming, is fitted for this simple
kind of forcing. . , , „

To show how easy and etTective the process is, the follow-
ing example is given. On January 3d, a few branches of
Forsythia suspensa were cut from an outdoor bush, put in a
*ase'conta\ning water, and lelt on a table in my room. Water
was supplied as fast as it evaporated, but no other care was
given. In about a week the buds had begun to push, and
Hjeir scales were distinctly separated. From this time the
growth was rapid. On the nth inst. the yellow petals showed
plainly ; on the I7lh a few flowers were wide open, and on the
J2d there was a mass of yellow bloom almost as abundant and
with flowers as large and perfect as we see out-of-doors in
April or May. They will remain in good condition for ten
davs or more if the air of the rooni does not get too hot
and dry. Later in the season the time rc<iuired for forcing
is somewhat less, and in March, only a little before the
time for natural flowering, eight or nine days is sufficient. The
Forsythia is specially well adapted for this purpose, since it is
a profuse bloomer, perfectly hardy, and, although not a native
shrub, is one which is deservedly becoming very common
and seems already as thoroughly at home here as in its native
China. I seldom let a winter pass without having at least one
such bouquet, and some years have repeated the process at
short intervals, since material is so abundant and so little
trouble is required. Other shrubs could be used in the same
way.

Of slightly different character only is the forcing of such
native pfants as the Bloodroot. Where they are abundant it is
generally not dillicult to dig out a few of the large root-stocks
with the buds uninjured, and treat them the same as Hyacinths
or put at once into earth in flower-pots. They will flower in a
few weeks, and, although short-lived, the purity of their blos-
soms and the curiously shaped leaves which quickly follow
fuUy repay the trouble.

Such simple practices have an added value in any household
where there are persons — young or old — who have an interest
in the life of plants as well as in the beauty of their flowers.
They suggest and provoke inquiry as to how plants live and
have their being ; and this flowering, which appears at first to
be entirely out of the course of nature, is only what we should
expect under the circumstances. The late winter, moreover,
is apt to be a trying time for all who are condemned to an in-
door life. Although the backbone of winter may be broken,
and, by the almanac, spring near at hand, yet we long for a
touch or a hint. We would have a sign. The dormant life in
many of our native plants can be quickened and forced in our
ordinary living-rooms, and thus make more real to us the
promise of the coming days.

>itote Collcite, Pa.

IV. A. Buck/tout.

Salix balsamifera.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In your account of Salix balsamifera, published
January i8th, you overlook the fact that this plant lias been de-
tected at .Mount Mansfield, Vermont. Soon after finding it in
the White Mountains, Mr. Pringle discovered one bush on a
shelf of the cliff on the north peak of Mount Mansfield, south
of the hotel, but in sight of it. It occurs also in several places
along the carriage-road, about a mile and a half from the
hotel. Last spring I transplanted several specimens into the
arboretum of the St. Louis Botanic Garden, and when I left
there, at the beginning of last spring, they appeared to be doing
well.

CbaiioMe, vt F. H. Horsford.

Second Crop of Potatoes.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest:

Sir. — I ol>serve in the report of the Kansas Horticultural
Society that there was some surprise at the possibility of grow-
ing two crops of potatoes in the same season. This practice
of raising a second crop has long been common in the south.
TheRuperiority of these late-grown potatoes for spring planting
over potatoes brought from the north is now so well known to
planters that thia year's supply will probably reach fancy
prices by planting-time, since the crop was short owing to
drought. Had the season been favorable the fall potato
crop would have been a large one, for the reason that the
breakdown in the price of the early crop left a great many
of them in the growers' hands, and, as a consequence, there
was a much larger acreage planted than usual. Last spring
there was quite a demand northward for these potatoes for

planting, a demand that is likely to grow larger. Interest
in this second crop, therefore, as a profitable one for the
south, will doubtless increase, since all wlio planted them
northward, so far as 1 know, have been pleased with the
results. ,.^ _ ,.

RaleiKh, N. C. ^- F- Massey.

How to Get a Blue Glass Sod.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir. — In an address before the New Jersey Horticultural So-
ciety, on the " Formation of Lawns," which was published in
vol. v., page 618, Mr. George C. Woolson advocates the plan of
getting a perfectly pure sod of a fine variety of Rhode Island
Bent Grass, and then, breaking this up into separate plants, he
sets them out a few inches apart. His experiments have con-
vinced him that this is a better way of getting a good lawn
than the ordinary way of sowing seed. In the course of his
paper he adds, " I believe that farmers mightadopt this method
of putting down their fields to grass where labor is not too
high." 'This is a plan which I have recommended and tested.
Fifteen years ago I was seeding a twenty-five acre pasture-lot,
and as an experiment I grafted, as I called it, half an acre in
the following way, with Blue Grass sod : I broke the sod up
into pieces about two inches square and dropped them a yard
apart each way on the plowed surface and then pressed
them in by stepping on them. The first year these pieces
spread to the size of a dinner-plate and in a few years I had a
complete sod. I believe this would work well on a lawn, only
the pieces might be dropped a foot apart. I would sow the
ground with pure Timotliy-seed at the same time I planted
the bits of sod, for this would give a fairly good stretch of
green at once, while the Blue Grass would crowd it out entirely
in two years. ,,, , , „ „

Oiford; o. Waldo r. Brown.

Recent Publications.

In Lynn Woods, with Pen and Camera. By Nathan Mortimer
Hawkes. Lynn, Mass : Thomas P. Nichols.

This little book, with its charming illustrations of the noble
woods of Lynn, is full of interest to the lover of old New Eng-
land towns, with their early customs and socialistic experi-
ments, and is attractive to the lover of the woods from its
pleasing descriptions of the forest, its glens and slopes, its
rocks and brooks, and the overshadowing trees in interesting
variety. Its writer is learned in the legends of the region, and
has many a tale to tell which imagination might expand into
romance. The attraction of these woods and hills, which
were in the earliest days of the settlement the commons of
Lynn, is inexhaustible.

The story, too, of how the woods were re-acquired for the
people is well worth telling, and the energy and enthusiasm
shown by Mr. Tracy and Mr. Chase, in impressing upon the
town the value of its antique possession, are an example to all
who take an interest in the preservation of forests. The Mas-
sachusetts people take a just pride in the Puritan settlements,
which still preserve in the commonwealth the importance of
precedent. The great names associated with them are rever-
ently spoken, and if some are of but local fame they are still
hallowed in the memory of the towns which owed to them
their foundation and prosperity. These local names are pre-
served in the Lynn woods, attached to hills and sections of the
park, so that they shall be held in eternal remembrance by the
community; and it is pleasant to think that in that stirring
manufacturing town, given over to shoemaking and other
prosaic industries, originated the first systematic movement
in the state toward preserving the forests as a treasurer of
the water-supply, and as the guardian of their purity and
wholesomeness.

Curiously enough, the deserted commons were less known
to the present generation than to the early settlers of Lynn,
until, in 1870, the city purchased Breed's pond as a water-sup-
ply. From that time onward a series of intelligent men, like
Mr. Edwin Walden, Mr. Cyrus M. Tracy and Mr. Philip A.
Chase, have labored to add more and more to the city's tract
of woodland, until at this time there are 1,600 acres of undis-
turbed forest, contiguous, not only to the city which owns
them, but to many neighboring towns, of inestimable service
to the rapidly growing population as a place of healthful resort.
Sixty-seven acres have been acquired by gift, but the rest has
become public property by purchase or by the right of emi-
nent domain. Lynn thus holds, not merely a newly planted
pleasure-ground, but a properly guarded woodland of real
antiquity.

February 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

83

The Lynn woods have acquired, not only a local, but a na-
tional fame, as a successful municipal experiment in practical
forestry, proving satisfactorily that by keeping the hill-sides
clothed with the living drapery of trees, the soil will not
shrivel, nor the springs go dry. Moreover, it takes careful
charge of this public domain, to the end that it may not be
wasted by fire, nor by depredations or defilements of any
kind that may interfere with the healthfulness of the waters.
The studv of forestry is in its infancy in this country, and it is
a great thing to have at hand such an experiment as this, to be
studied on a large scale and quoted as an example of wise and
judicious practice of that valuable art. The author speaks
with enthusiasm of his subject, dwelling affectionately on the
ancient customs and thestrange adventures of thesingular peo-
ple who have been associated with these woods. He describes,
with vigor and grace, the rocky summits and the comprehen-
sive views that are characteristic of this region ; he inter-
sperses his narrative with quaint bits of verse and prefaces
his chapters with apt quotations, while the photographic re-
productions bring vividly before us the winding woodways,
the broad extent of lake after lake, the wild brooks that tumble
under the Hemlocks ; the strange rock formations, known as
the Dungeon and Sugar-Loaf ; with glimpses of the heart of
the woods shimmering with the foliage of Birches, or dark
with Oak shadows and massive trunks. We see the old pas-
tures, with their dividing walls of immense extent, built by the
early settlers, working together for the common good ; the
camp, and the rustic tables and benches where the picnickers
take their luncheon ; with bird's-eye views from the high sum-
mits of Mount Gilead and of Burrill Hill, " the granite back-
bone of the woods, upon whose naked surface titanic agen-
cies in prehistoric ages hurled mighty boulders from far-off
regions." To one familiar with the woods these pictures are
full of suggestion, and to those who know them not they are
still beautiful and interesting.

The book shows how much is due to individual effort, and
how great a service the preservers of the woods have rendered
to their fellow-citizens in its protection, and makes us thankful
that in the heart of man lingers so fond a love of Nature, and
so active a desire to communicate it to others. The appropri-
ate motto from Emerson, which opens the book, seems to strike
its keynote: "The tempered light of the woods is like a per-
petual morning, and is stimulating and heroic. The an-
ciently reported spells of these places creep on us. The stems
of Pines, Hemlocks and Oaks almost gleam like iron on the
excited eye. The incommunicable trees begin to persuade us
to live with them and quit our life of solemn trifles."

A'

Exhibitions.

Flower Pictures at the Academy of Design.

GOOD many paintings of flowers and fruits may be foimd
at the water-color exhibition now open in the Academy of
Design ; but the average excellence in this branch of water-
color painting seems lower than it has been during the past
few years. Roses, as usual, are attempted more often than
any other flower ; but the fact that they are the most difficult
of all flowers to paint speaks clearly from every wall. It seems
almost impossible to render in paint all the characteristics
which make up the beauty of our florists' Roses — their bear-
ing, which is always graceful yet sometimes very sturdy too ;
the peculiar quality of their color, which results from the
delicate yet firm substance of their petals ; and the solidity
which the close association of many of their petals suggests.
We often see painted Roses which are not quite exact even in
color, because they are not both solid and delicate — because
they do not suggest at once firmness of build and fragility of
texture. Sometimes our painted Roses look like tin, and some-
times like cotton, and sometimes like the wraiths of flowers,
retaining color but devoid of all bulk and weight. There are
examples of all these kinds in this exhibition, with a few in
which true excellence has been more nearly achieved. Mrs.
Scott's white Roses are better than the pink ones which hang
near them, for they have some substance although not quite
enough. Miss Wilcox has done fairly well with her Merniets,
and I daresay that Miss Finney's red Roses would be satis-
factory if they had not been hung almost out of sight, over a
doorway. But I do not think that there is one Rose-picture
in the whole collection which is all that a Rose-picture
should be.

Perhaps the best painting of flowers of any kind is Miss
Maud Stumm's " Violets," where we see three large bunches,
such as our florists tie, two lying on the table and the other
resting in a greenish glass bowl. The general color-scheme

in this picture is charming, the handling is vigorous, and the
true color and quality of the solid clusters of flowers are
delightfully rendered. Next to this should be named, perhaps.
Miss Field's crimson "Gilliflowers," in a tall green glass, a
drawing which, naturally, is not very graceful in line since it
truthfully portrays stiff spikes of flowers, but has much linear
dignity, is nice in color, and true to the subject. Miss Abbatt
has put three garden subjects, very minutely painted, into a
single frame, rather to the injury of their effect. The best of
them shows a tall cluster of Foxgloves. Miss Redmond
sends a faithful if not very attractive picture of Hydrangea
paniculata ; Miss Williams a "Garden Corner," where a big
group of red Poppies is prettily displayed ; and Miss E.
P. Williams a good little study of Pansies. Miss Stumm
has been almost as cleverly faithful to her little sprays of
May-flower as to her big bunches of Violets, and the
best of the Water-lilies have been done by Miss Conant. Miss
Goodyear's pink and white Chrysanthemums are good, but
not especially so, while her pink and white Azaleas, growing
in pots, although they make a picture which is delightful in
color, lack the transparent crispness proper to the petals of
these flowers. Their petals, as Miss Goodyear paints them,
look thick and a little woolly ; and, again, her big. drawing of
>ellow Chrysanthemums is much better as regards the color
than as regards the substance and texture of the blossoms. In
a small drawing of Tulips, on the other hand, where only two
yellow blossoms are shown. Miss Wilcox succeeds both with
color and with texture. Mr. , Steele Kellogg's Primroses, in
pots and baskets, would be very good if the handling had
been a trifle less watery. Miss Arens has painted some
dark red Zinnias very well, contrasting their rich lone with the
green and tawny colors of a half-glazed pot ; and Miss Sylves-
ter's Lilacs are well drawn and good in color, although, once
more, lacking in transparency of petal. The best Paeonies —
pink and white ones in a glass bowl — have been done by Miss
Mary Van der Veer ; there are two other pictures of the same
flowers in the same room which show that it is easy, on the
one hand, to make them look metallic, and, on the other, to
give them a cottony aspect. The best bit of fruit-painting is
Mr. Beacham's "California Grapes"; and, again, if any one
thinks that it is easy to paint as well as this, he will find other
paintings of grapes in the exhibition to undeceive him.

One cannot help wishing that a cleverer painter than Mr.
Symington had happened to go in his stead to Trinidad. His
garden scene, called "January in Trinidad," sliows elements
which some one with a more facile and spirited brush, and a
more poetic sense of color, might have made brilliantly beau-
tiful. But here the vine, which arches over the gate-way, with
its burden of purple flowers, and the yellow-blossoming and
scarlet-blossoming shrubs wliich stand near by, do not have
their individual cliarms well brought out, and are not com-
bined into a whole as attractive as Nature must have shown.
And much the same may be said of another picture from the
same hand, called "A Flowery Road, Trinidad," where we see
again great masses of the purple-flowering vine, presumably a-
Bougainvillea.

One misses from this exhibition several names which in
former years have been signed to flower-paintings better than
any that the walls now bear. Among these, for instance, is Mr.
Hassam, who, if he never professes to paint flowers for their
own sakes, has sometimes painted street-venders and their
piled-up wares in very delightful fashion ; he contributes to
the exhibition this year, but no pictures in which flowers play
a part. Miss Greatorex is still more sadly missed, for her big
decorative arrangements of showy blossoms, often encircled
with the white papers beloved of Parisian market-women, are
always a centre of attraction wherever one may come upon
them. I wish also that Mi.ss Grace Pomeroy had added to her
single contribution, a little still life study, some of the Roses
which in former years she has done in an eminently satisfac-
tory way. Nor has Mr. Alden Weir given us this year any of
the pictures in which Roses are conspicuously poetized, yet
more truthfully portrayed than by most " realists " ; nor Mr.
La Farge any of the Water-lilies or other flowers which he
paints in a different way from any one else — poetizing them,
not by enwrapping them in mist like Mr. Weir, but by care-
fully defining their forms with a hand so delicate and with
color so lovely that, while faithfully following Nature, he seems
almost to have improved upon her. „ ^ -, „

New York, N. Y. M- G. Van Rensselaer.

Notes.

Mr. T. T. Lyon, of the South Haven Sub-station of the Mich-
igan Agricultural College, finds that the variety of Asparagus
known as the Palmetto steadily maintains its superior size and

84

Garden and Forest.

[Number 260.

productiveness. It seems to have acquired a fixity of char-
acter through a process of selection.

Mr. John Thorpe. Chief of the Floricultural Department at
the World's Fair, is making extensive preparations for a show
of Kinsies next spring. Tlie seed lias come up remarkably
well, and it is said that something like a million plants will be
exhibited in .Mav. In comprehensiveness and variety the ex-
hibition will pro't>ably excel anything that has ever before been
attempted.

In the last bulletin from the Iowa Experiment Station it is
st-itcd that several dwarf varieties of the June-berry have been
tried there during the past ten years, and three orfour of them,
which have been deemed worthy of a name on account of
bearing the largest and best fruits, are being sent out on trial.
In size and quality the berries are said to compare favorably
with the Large-bush Huckleberry.

We have frequently spoken of the value of Imantophyllum
miniatum as a window-plant. It will endure more neglect
than almost any other plant, and its umbels of large showy
flowers of a bright orange-tinted vermilion will be freely pro-
duced all winter long. The plants increase in size from year
to year, and there are few others which can be depended on
to give as much pleasure for the same outlay of time and
trouble.

An article on the Malay Peninsula, published in the January
number of The Century Afagasine, givesa picture of the Durian-
fruit, which is famous tor its disgusting odor to all foreigners
when they first make its acquaintance, and for the unique and
delicious Havor to the same persons after they have learned to
appreciate it. In the illustration only the lower part of the
tree is seen, and the lai^e. oval and pear-shaped fruits hang
from stems which come directly out of the trunk and larger
limbs. The tree itself attains a height of sixty or eighty feet,
with a spreading top, which gives it the general appearance of
an Elm.

Many causes combine to operate unfavorably on the growth
of trees and shrubs in Holland. The numerous heavy winds in
the neiglilK)rhood of the sea. and more particularly the north-
west winds, destroy the tops of the high-growing trees, break
their branches, and by shaking their trunks loosen the roots
in the soil and blow the trees down. This ischietly occasioned
by the little depth to which the roots can penetrate into the
ground, for as soon as ihey reach the water they are com-
pelled to take a lateral direction, inconsequence of which the
trees soon become sickly, or are suddenly loosened from the
soft humid soil by the wind.

A novel idea for a park was that of King James V. of Scot-
land, who founded the palace of Holyrood about 1 528, by build-
ing a house to reside in, with a circular turret at each angle.
To accommodate himself with a park, King James enclosed a
large tract of ground in the neighborhood of this place with a
stone-wall about three miles in circumference, which, as Mait-
land says, in his History of Edinburgh, " is nowhere to be
paralleled ; for, instead of trees and thickets for cover, which
other parks abound with, I could not, after the strictest search,
discover one tree therein: in lieu whereof, it is supplied with
huge rocks and vast declivities, which furnish the Edinburgh-
ers with the best of stones to pave their streets withal ; as do
the other parts of the said park yield good pasturage and mea-
dow-grounds, with considerable spots of arable land." Two
hundred years after, however, the level portion was covered
with magnificent Oaks.

We are occasionally asked whether Orchids can be used as
house-plants, and our reply is that we have never seen them
used in that way to any great extent, although there is no rea-
son why certain varieties cannot be grown m the witidows of
ordinary living-rooms. Mr. W. A. Manda says that there are
half a dozen Cypripediums which can be grown by any one
who knows how to grow a Geranium or a Palm, and among
those whoso cultural requirements are the least exacting he
names Cypripedium insigne, C. Boxallii, C. villosum, C. barba-
tum, C. Harrisianum and C. Sedeni. Of other Orchids which
can be trusted to similar conditions he names C(jL-logyiie cris-
tata, Odontoglossum Rossi, Phajus grandifolius, Dendrobiuni
nobile, La:lia anceps and Lyciste Skinneri. There are white
forms of some of these last which are very beautiful, but they
would probably be too delicate for the windoW-garden. As a
general rule, the white varieties of these plants are rather
more tender than the ty{>es.

From the premium list for 1893 of the Horticultural Society
of Wayne, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, it appears that the

society was organized in July of last year and met with suclj
popular favor that in two months' time it had two hundred
members. At the autumn exhibition last year there were so
many visitors that a small admission fee paid all the expenses
incidental to the organization and left a small balance in the
treasury. The annual dues are only fifty cents, and competi-
tion is open to meniliers only. At the spring exhibition prizes
are offered for Roses. Geraniums, Heliotropes, Freesias and
other plants grown in pots and to be competed for by children.
Among the requirements of this class are that the plants must
have been grown by the exhibitor personally and that they
must come in clean pots. Children's prizes are also offered at
the autumn exhibition, and special prizes are offered for the
best-kept school-house grounds within five miles of the Wayne
post-office, and for the best-kept grounds, irrespective of the
size of the lots. There is also to be a competition for collec-
tions of wild Howers under admirable rules which regulate the
mounting of the specimens, while careful and ample instruc-
tions for collecting and preparing these are added. Dr. W. P.
Wilson and Dr. J. C. Macfarlane, of the University of Pennsyl-
vania, have each consented to arrange a field-excursion with
those who intend to compete for these collections of mounted
specimens, when a practical demonstration will be given of
the best way of gathering plants and of making observations
upon them. On a day set, also, the collectors are invited to
visit the herbarium of the university and receive instruction
to enable them intelligently to begin the examination of the
local flora about their homes. It would be well for the inter-
ests of horticulture if a thousand societies, managed with the
same intelligence and vigor, should be established this year in
as many towns throughout the country.

Bulletin No. 90 of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment
Station is on the subject of grasshoppers, locusts and crickets,'
and in it Professor J. B. Smith, the entomologist of the station,
shows with great clearness that the serious injuries to cran-
berries, and which have been charged upon grasshoppers, are
really occasioned by katydids. This injury is always of the
same character. The berry is eaten into from one side, the
pulp is rejected and the seeds only are taken. The berry
soon dries and shrivels up. Professor Smith, in an instructive
way and with abundant illustration, shows how much better
equipped for eating into fruits the katydid is than the grass-
hopper. The head of the katydid enables it to dig into the
fruit with a much less expenditure of time and energy than is
possible for a grasshopper, while the mandibles of tlie former
enable it to do clean-cut work quite beyond the power of the
grasshopper. The digestive system of the katydid also is
much better adapted to reduce hard food like seeds than is
that of the grasshopper, which has a less powerful grinding
apparatus. Still further, by direct experiment with living in-
sects, the truth of this theory was corroborated. The habit of
eating seeds only gives the katydid a power to cause much
more injury than if the entire fruit was eaten, since the seeds
of three or four berries at a meal is easily within the capacity
of a single specimen, so that at one meal a day for three
weeks a single insect would destroy eighty berries, and no
doubt their powers are much greater than this. There is no
need here to give the details of the measures which are ad-
vised to be taken against this insect, although, in a brief way,
what is needed is: (i) A clean bog, that is, a hog free from
grasses, rushes, and shrubs. (2) The use of as much water
as is consistent with good culture, keeping the soil quite wet
in spring until it is thoroughly warm through. (3) A marginal
ditch, at least six feet wide. (4) The clearing of all vegetation
from the dams, particularly shrubbery, and, where it is pos-
sible, the burning over of a fairly wide margin about the bogs
after the brush has been destroyed. Every owner of a Cran-
berry-bog should at once procure this little treatise and study
it thoroughly.

Catalof^ues Received.

J. BoLGiANo & Son, 28 Calvert Street, Baltimore, Md.; Vegetable,
(Jrass and Flower Seeds.— JosErH Breck & Sons, Hostoii, M:iss.;
Vegetable, Grass and l<'lower Seeds, Small Fruits, Vines, Shrubs,
Shade, Ornamental and Fruit Trees.— CuRRlE Bros., Milwaukee,
Wis. ; Vegetable and Flower Seeds, Plants and Bulbs. — K. B. Jones,
Hartford, So. Dak. ; Success Barley.— J. T. I.ovett Co., Little "Silver,
N. J. ; Small Fruit Plants, Fruit and Nut Trees, Garden Roots, Orna-
mental Shrubs and Trees. — Marvin & Brooke, Ithaca, Mich. ; Price
List of Strawberry Plants. — L. L. Olds, Clinton, Wis. ; Seed Potatoes.
—OLIVER A. Smith, Clarkson, Midi. ; Iron Land Roller, Spraying
Pump.— J. C. Vau<;iian & Co., Chicago, 111., Vegetable and Flower
Seeds.

A

February 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

8s

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by

Professor C. S. Sargbnt.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles :— Attacks on City Parks 85

The Statue of President Arthur 86

On Broad Top.— III. (With figure.) Miss Mira Uoyd Dock. 86

Are the Varieties of Orcliard-fruits Running Out ?. . Professor L, H. Bailey. 87

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— VI C. S. S. 88

Foreign Correspondence; — The New Plants of 1892. — III W. Watson. 89

Cultural Department : — Snowdrops S. Arnott. gO

Small Greenhouses J. N. Gerard. g2

Romneya Coulteri E. O. Orj>et. 93

Notes of the Harvard Botanic Garden M. Barker. 93

Correspondence:— Fruit-trees Girdled by Mice. (With figure.)

Rotneyn B. Hough. 93

How to Use Seedsmen's Catalogues Wilt. W. Tracy. 94

Chinese Prftnroses at the Columbian Fair E. J. Hill. 94

The Forest :— The Forest and the Army J.D. IV. French. 95

Notes • 96

Illustrations : — The Edge of the Barrens, Broad Top, Pennsylvania, Fig. 13 89

A Girdled Pear-tree restored by grafting, Fig. 16 91

Attacks on City Parks.

IT is a popular belief that few cities in the world rival
Boston in the reverence with which she regards her tra-
ditions as well as her places and monuments of historic inter-
est. It has been generally believed that the Common espe-
cially is an object of such profound local affection and noble
civic pride that it is in no danger from the attempts at inva-
sion and confiscation which constantly threaten the public
grounds in other cities. It seems, however, that railroad
companies and other corporations would be quite willing
to possess and occupy as much of this famous ground as
they can secure without paying for it, and we observe that
some of the Boston papers are criticising the energetic pro-
tests which have been made against any desecration of it
as mere sentiment. Now, without discussing the merits or
demerits of any of the projects to divert the Common from
its present use, it is worth while to say that reasons drawn
from sentiment are not necessarily trivial or unworthy
of consideration. A large part of the motives which con-
trol the best thought and action of the world might easily
be stigmatized as sentimental. It is nothing but sentiment
which glorifies a piece of bunting and invests it with such
a sacredness that men are willing to follow it to death.
There are certain acres of ground which may not be very
attractive'in themselves, and which certainly are quite in-
ferior in beauty or value to a great many other parts of the
earth's surface, and yet which have for each of us a charm
which is found nowhere else in the world. This certainly
is mere sentiment, but it is a part of our love for home just
as devotion to a (lag is part of and inseparable from the
virtue of patriotism, and there is little doubt that the people
who have such a regard for the Boston of history and tra-
dition can be more safely trusted with the Boston of to-day
and of the future than those who would feel no pang at the
spectacle of horse-cars running across the Common or of
Faneuil Hall removed to make place for a more modern

Id fashionable structure.

New York was settled half a dozen years before the Pil-
grims landed at Plymouth, and what was known as "The
Flat" in New Amsterdam, and later as "The Fields" in
New York, and later still as "The Park" — for it is only in
recent years that it has been styled the City Hall Park — was
probably set apart for public use before Boston had a Com-
mon. If New York had as much local pride as smaller
cities this bit of ground would be invested with quite as
much sentiiTient as Boston Common, for the early history
of the two spaces were much the same. "The Fields"
were for generations a place for special muster and fes-
tivity, for bonfires and ox-roastings in times of rejoicing
and thanksgiving, for indignation meetings and the hang-
ing in effigy of oppressive officials when the people felt
that they had some wrong to redress. Here was the rally-
ing-point of the Sons of Liberty in the early days of the
Revolution, and here was the camping-ground of the vol-
unteers who came trooping to the city in 1861 on their way
to the south. It is hardly necessary, however, to make use
of appeals of this sort to the men who have determined to
cover over another piece of this historic greensward with
stone and tear down the only public building possessed by
the city, which is at once satisfying as a work of art and
venerable with the civic memories of a century. Of the New
York of the past these men have no inherited traditions, no
family memories. Their past is usually connected with
Ireland or other lands across the sea, and although their
regartl for the city of their adoption may be genuine and
strong, it is not the same kind of love as that which attaches
men to the place of their birth. They do not shrink from
accepting the control of the city's destiny for the future, or
from assuming the burdens and emoluments of official
responsibility, but the local history of New York and the
memories that cluster about its antiquities have for them no
inspiration.

There is no necessity, however, for confining our argu-
ments to the realm of sentiment, powerful as such consid-
erations are, and appealing as they do to the most generous
passions and emotions of the human soul. These open
spaces in densely populated cities have a value quite inde-
pendent of history and tradition. Nor should there be any
need of citing Boston Common or our City Hall Park as
modern witnesses to racial instincts and customs which go
back as characteristics of Teutonic people to the dawn of
history. Every intelligent man must recognize the fact
that if these breathing-places are to be preserved we must
be on the alert to repel every attempt at curtailing them in
the slightest degree. The stress and pressure of an ex-
panding city are felt upon every foot of unoccupied ground
within its limits. The measure of this pressure about the
City Hall Park, for example, is seen in the piling up of
buildings to such a height that within fifteen years the floor-
space in this neighborhood has been more than doubled.
In this city St. John's Park is obliterated. A large part of
the City Hall Park has already been confiscated. Powerful
corporations are making continued assaults upon the Bat-
tery. Central Park, so far, has been kept intact only by
most determined resistance. The danger becomes most
serious when the attacks are made by men of public spirit,
who are organized for some purpose which may be worthy
in itself, and which, by its apparent present importance to
some special interest, blinds its promoters to the broader
use and more comprehensive value of park-space to all
classes and every interest. Even where public sentiment
in favor of preserving these open spaces is strongest there
is always the danger that the sober sense of the commu-
nity will be prostrated before a sudden gust of enthusiasm
for some dazzling enterprise, so that the rights of tht peo-
ple are sacrificed before they realize what has been lost
forever.

These dangers are so certain to recur with ever-increasing
force as our cities grow that we once proposed the formation
of an Association for Park-protection, which should always
be prepared with organized resistance against these assaults.
We do not care to enlarge upon this subject here, but if

86

Garden and Forest.

[NUMIIER 261.

there were in Boston, New York and other cities voluntary
leagues of citizens whose names would command respect
and who were prepared with a permanent secretary and
staflf, not only to sound a warning against approaching
danger, but to help to give effective expression to public
opinion, such associations would accomplish much toward
assuring the integrity of many urban parks. A few rods
less of open space in the Common or in the City Hall Park
may appear of no great importance, even to the more
thoughtful residents of Boston or New York ; but really
the least curtailment of either of these pleasure-grounds
would be a national calamity. If the rights of the people
are surrendered in one instance, it establishes a precedent
for a still further surrender, and the second attack would
succeed much more easily than the first. It is not only
that New York and Boston would ultimately lose a park or
a portion of a park, but every foot of park property in
every part of the union would be rendered even more inse-
cure than it already is. It would strengthen every
attacking force and weaken every defense. It would dis-
courage and paralyze the efforts of far-seeing people all
over the country who desire to give land for park purposes,
and who are studying t<> meet the demand for open spaces
which is sure to arise in the cities of the future. Every
official who is entrusted with the administration of city
parks has an obligation which ought to be as binding as a
written covenant to hand down this property, without
impairment, to his successors. And we hope and be-
lieve that public sentiment both in Boston and New York,
kindled and strengthened by every consideration of
patriotism, local pride and enlightened self-interest, will
avail to save for coming generations the two oldest
pleasure-grounds in the country.

A STATUE of President Arthur, executed by Mr. Keyser
for a committee representing a number of the prominent
citizens of New York, was recently passed upon by the
Advisory Art Committee of the Park Department. These
experts recommended that the statue should not be ac-
cepted by the Board, because it did not possess sufficient
artistic merit It is plainly the duty of the Park Board to
exclude, rigorously, every work that is not so good that it
will both adorn the spot where it stands and be an educa-
tion of public taste, no matter whom it may commemorate
or by whom it may be offered. It seems a pity that well-
intentioned labor, and money given in a patriotic spirit,
should be wasted ; liut the worst possible waste is to deface
the open spaces of the city with works which ought never
to have been made. A careful consideration of the public's
interests and a studious determination not to let private
■ interests outweigh them is the only rule for public officials
to follow. The advisory art committee are men of the
first rank. Competent artists are too rarely produced by
public officials, and the Park Board does itself credit by
accepting as final the judgment of such a tribunal.

Another Columbus monument, presented by our Spanish
residents, is on its way from Spain. This, too, must be
passed upon by the Board's Advisory Committee, and this,
too, should be excluded from the Park unless it proves a
worthy ornament. If it does, its site should be selected
with the greatest care, for it is a large fountain that will
have a marked effect upon the general aspect of its sur-
, Foundings. It is, indeed, time that the minds of our citizens
should be cleared of the idea that any statue may be put in
our parks, and that any site may be petitioned for, in any
case. The projectors of the Arthur monument not only
asked for the acceptance of their figure, but also that it
might be placed in the Plaza Circle, at the junction of Fifth
Avenue and Fifty-eighth Street which is the very finest site
for a monument in all New York. This site should be
scrupulously reserved until some work of entirely appro-
priate size and character, and of exceptional artistic worth,
like the monument designed by St Gaudens in memory of
Sherman, may be obtained by the city.

On Broad Top.— III.

THE abandoned farms on Broad Top form a very insignifi-
cant portion of its topography, but olTer such a variety of
attractions that as objective points for wall<s and liunting, or
photographic expeditions they are unrivaled. One, now al-
most covered with a growth of beautiful White Pines, occupies
a commanding position on the outer slope of the mountain,
at the head of the projecting ridge that separates Wells from
the euphoniously named Groundhog Valley. Another, also on
the outer slope, lies upon natural terraces which overlook the
broken outlines of the mountains along the Raystown Branch.
Others within the mountain's rim are upon the upper slopes
of the ridges, and have almost become part of the forest again ;
while others on the leveled crest show broad open sweeps
of grassy fields and meadows.

All differ not only in site, but in the vegetation fast filling
their fields, and conceahng, but not obliterating, their roads.
It is curious how these unused and little frequented roads re-
tain their character; many are untrodden for years at a time,
and quite hidden by overhanging shrubbery, but a little cut-
ting soon restores the path to view, grass-grown and mossy,
perhaps, but obviously and distinctly a roadway. A confusing
network of bark and timber roads crosses the township roads
and old farm roads, and except by careful remembrance of land-
marks, and constant watchfulness for blazes, it is the easiest
thing in the world to lose one's way. While it is always possi-
ble in tliis country to return on a different road than the one
taken at the start, such a return is often quite involuntary, and
may mean an extra journey from one to ten miles long.

A very beautiful forest-road leads to an abandoned farm
lying almost at the head of the valley formed by Trough
Creek. It is included in the lease of one of the occupied
farms, but of its half-hundred or more acres only one field is
ever planted ; the rest are used for pasturage, and some have
been so denuded of their soil that only weeds and vines find
lodgment, but in their autumn coloring these give a transient
beauty to the fields, far exceeding that of more useful days.

Our road to the " upper place " leads past the barn, where
the men are threshing buckwheat with flails ; October for
them is not an autumn holiday, but means hard work, made
harder by their utter lack of system. We pass on from the
noise and dust into the grateful quiet of the woods, always
beautiful, but now inexpressibly so with the sunshine trans-
figuring each leaf and branch. In less than half a mile the
road crosses three little streams, now mere threads, and
almost invisible between their fringed border of Ferns. The
Adiantums and Dicksonias are especially numerous and fine ;
the latter have marked this path for their own. They crowd
into the foot-way, surround fallen branches, and have carpeted
the forest-floor with exquisite combinations of ivory and green.
Some beds show pure ivory tones throughout, others liave
only a few tips, or perhaps half a frond blanched, while others
retain unbroken the delicate yet vivid green of midsummer.

As we approach the farm the road widens, and is quite
grass-grown as it rises gradually through a beautiful grove of
Oaks and Chestnuts to a plateau at the lower extremity
of the fields. From this point we have vistas down the road
we have just come, and between the trees growing in the
fence angles, up the surface of the fields to where their sum-
mit touches the horizon. Botrychiunis are drooping in the
grass at our feet, and across the path Medeolas lift their crim-
son throats above a guard of briers. Beyond us our path lies
through a grassy avenue, framed by Maples and Chestnuts,
whose interlaced branches form a flamboyant arch.

We pass from this arch into an open space, where formerly
the house stood. All that remains of what was once a home is a
tumbled heap of stones,a portion of the great stone chimney,
now covered with a tangle of vines. Butternut-trees edge the
forest and outline the fields ; they have a ragged, uninterest-
ing look on dull days, but in brilliant sunshine the b'ark of the
older ones has an ebony and silver effect. One of these trees
beside a path leading to the barn is very striking, with its
massive trunk and strong, bold lines. Near by, the frame of
the old log-barn is standing, though apparently with a short
lease of life, in a field overgrown with thickets of young trees.

Our way through it to tlic upper fields leads across open
spaces dotted witli Starry Campion, past a group of Hickories
sijowering golden leaves upon an immense bed of Aspidium,
bordered by Chelone, and over a tangled mat of Lycopodium
to the field above, where Yellow Pines struggle for supremacy
with Thorn Locusts.

On we climb until, at the upper level of the " top fields," we
are on the dividing ridge of the mountain, all the streams we
have passed emptying through Trough Creek into the Juniata,

February 22,

Garden and Forest.

87

while on the other side of the ridge they run into the Raystown
Branch. South of us. across the edge of the barrens (see page 89),
the forest hides a Httle orchartl set in a meadow of turf, whose
beauty is somewhat marred by the untiring efforts of a small,
black animal, known in tlie vernacular as a " hock." The
gnarled old trees bear apples that in most instances are to be
avoided, but one sort, known as "Johnny or Jenny," with
small scarlet and white striped fruit, combines beauty and
goodness in a remarkable degree. From our summit we
look down the length of the broad, shallow depression where
Trough Creek flows north, and beyond that to the great local
landmark, Grave Mountain. Except for a few clearings,
nothing but forest is before us, most of it composed of
deciduous trees, though the upper levels are outlined by belts
of Pines. It is quite noticeable that the Pines, as well as the
lateral ridges, all run diagonally from the axes of the two main
ridges.

Around to the right there is a break in the forest where the
" I^innacle Farm " lies, its stone chimney rising unbroken from
the fallen frame-work of the house. From the Gerardias,
Asters and Blazing Stars trying to cover the stony field at our
feet to the Pines serrating the farthest ridge, the whole land-
scape is a harmony of the most glorious color — color so pure
in tone, yet so exquisitely blended, with the Pines giving their
minor chords, that, as one realizes the brevity of this pageant,
it is impossible not to wish it might be always October.
Harrisbuiij, Pa. Mir a Lloyd Dock.

Are the Varieties of Orchard-fruits Running Out ?

PROFESSOR BAILEY'S thoughtful paper on this subject,
recently read before the Western New York Horticultural
Society, is here reproduced almost entire:

Two years ago I presented before this society a discussion
upon the general question of the running out of varieties, in
which I reached the conclusion that plants grown from seeds
constantly tend to vary or run out, as also do those which are
grown from buds of highly developed or abnormal -parts, but
those grown from buds of normal or natural parts, as the or-
chard traits, remain permanent. Running outdoes not neces-
sarily mean the deterioration of a variety, but simply a change
or modification which obscures its identity; but inasmuch as
varieties of orchard fruits, being propagated by buds, do not
vary or change to any extent, the discussion now in hand really
turns upon the question as to whether varieties may not wear
out or be limited in duration without having passed by varia-
tion into other forms. Is the Esopus Spitzenburg Apple, for
instance, approaching the limit of its life ?

The most direct meansof approaching the subject is through
the historical method. What proportion of the varieties cul-
tivated fifty or a hundred years ago are now known ? If any
of these old varieties are not cultivated at the present day,
wliat are the causes of their disappearance ? In 1806 M'Mahon
catalogued fifty-nine varieties of Apples for cultivation in
North America. Of these, twenty-one were offered for sale in
1892. In 1817 William Coxe gave a list of one hundred kinds
of the best Apples for cultivation in North America, of which
forty were still offered for sale in 1892. In 1845 A. J. Down-
ing described 190 varieties of Apples, of which eighty-four are
now offered for sale. That is, from sixty-four to fifty-four per
cent, of these varieties have disappeared withm a century.
Why?

I. Have they disappeared because of age ?

We do not know that any type or species of animal or plant
is pre-limited in duration. It is true that many of the earlier
forms of life have wholly disappeared, but this disappearance
may have been due to change of physical conditions to which
they were subjected, or to defeat in the struggle for existence,
rather than to a wearing-out or predetermined death. But,
even if species do wear out, the deterioration is so slow that
it could not be detected in many centuries, probably ; and, it
is fair to assume that any such tendency would be much
overbalanced by the protecting care which man extends to all
species or varieties which please him.

But there are now sufficierit records to show that mere age
of a variety counts for little or nothing. The White Jennet-
ting Apple was described as early as 1660 by Evelyn, and it is
still grown in England, and Downing described it fully in 1852.
The Ribston Pippin, which is probably the most popular Apple
in England, and which is well known in America, is probably
about 200 years old. Its history is clear for more than a cen-
tury, at least. The White Doyenne, or Virgaleau Pear, is over
200 years old, and although this variety has nearly disappeared
in America, it has not run out, as we shall see. The Bartlett
Pear originated in 1770. The Green Gage Plum was mentioned

as early as 1629, and it was probably then an old variety. Simi-
lar instances are frequent, especially in European fruits. It
is obviously a fallacy to say that certain varieties, which were
grown a hundred years ago, have disappeared because of their
age, when certain other varieties of equal age are still in
profitable cultivation. About two-thirds of the varieties which
M'Mahon catalogued in 1806 appear to have been lost, but the
other third, which still persists, contains some of our best
Apples. These persistent varieties are : Early Harvest, Sum-
mer Queen, Margaret, King, Bough (or Bow), Woolman's
Harvest, Golden Pippin, Summer Pearmain, Fall Pippin,
American Pippin, Orange, Vandevere, Newtown Pippin, Mon-
strous Pippin, Holland Pippin, Rhode Island Greening, Swaar,
Yellow Bellefleur, Harrison, Hughes" Virginia Crab, Cooper's
Russeting. All these facts show either that age does not de-
termine the virility of a variety, or that varieties differ widely
in this respect. It we can find satisfactory reasons for the dis-
appearance of these lost varieties, we shall be forced to con-
clude that varieties of orcliard fruits do not wear out with
age.

2. Do varieties disappear because they are ill-adapted to new
environments ?

Most varieties are more or less local in their adaptations ;
that is, they are not suited to cultivation over wide areas which
comprise great differences of soils and climates. It must fol-
low, therefore, that those varieties which are most local and
which must require most skill in cultivation, must constantly
tend to disappear, because they cannot compete with the more
cosmopolitan sorts which nurserymen find it more profitable
to propagate. There is a constant selection among the varie-
ties of fruits, which eliminates the least adaptive kinds. This
fact is remarkably well illustrated in the relative behaviors in
America of the old varieties of European and American
origin. In 1817, as I have said, William Coxe made a list of
100 varieties of Apples especially commended for cultivation
in North America. Of these, thirty-two are known to be of
European origin and fifty-seven of American origin. In 1892,
forty of these varieties were sold by American nurserymen,
but thirty-three of them belong to the American group and
only seven to the European group. In other words, only forty
per cent, of the Apples of American origin in Coxe's list have
been lost, while seventy-eight per cent, of the European group
have disappeared. In this instance, therefore, very many of
the varieties appear to have passed out of cultivation because
they were not well adapted to American conditions. Coxe also
listed sixty-five varieties of Pears in 1817. Only four of
them are now in cultivation, and these are all of American
origin.

In 1845 there were 190 varieties of Apples in North America.
Eighty-seven of these are known to be of European origin and
ninety-three of American origin. At the present time, seventy-
seven per cent, of the European lot have been lost in America,
against only thirty-three per cent, in the American lot. This
shows that with the greater number of varieties which had
come into use since the time of Coxe and from which selec-
tions had been made, there had appeared more Americaii
tlian European varieties of merit for American conditions.
In other words, American varieties are better adapted to
American conditions than the European varieties are ; and
this accounts for the disappearance of many of the Apples
in the old lists. There has been a constant tendency from the
first toward the disappearance of the Apples, Pears, and all
other fruits of European origin, and toward the persistence
of American kinds. There is a like tendency, very strongly
marked, toward the disappearance of New England Apples
and other fruits from the prairie states, and a corresponding
increase in the percentages of fruits original to those regions.
If a certain variety, therefore, as the Baldwin, disappears from
large portions of a western state, this fact is an illustration of
lack of adaptability to those conditions rather than of a run-
ning out. Many of the varieties which are commonly thought
to have run out, are now and then found thriving in perfection
in some isolated localities, showing that they still retain their
pristine vigor. I may illustrate this point by the fact that many
of the novelties of any year or decade fail to become popular
because they are not adapted to a wide range of conditions, and
some of them are almost immediately lost from this reason.
This is a forcible illustration that disappearance and running
out are very different matters. I am becoming more and more
convinced that the study of the adaptations of varieties to con-
ditions of soil and climate and other environments, is one of
the most important subjects with which the horticulturist has
to do, and that the neglect of it in the past has been a serious
hindnonce, and is a source of much confusion now that the
least adaptive varieties are being sifted out.

88

Garden and Forest.

[Number 261.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— VI.

THE chiefly tropical family, Ternstraemiacea;, which,
in North America, is only represented by Gordonia
and Stuartia, trees and shrubs of the southern states, in
Japan appears in eight genera, in which are a number of
interesting plants, although none of them become very
large trees. Of these. Camellia Japonica is horticulturally
the most important, for its relative, Camellia theifera, the
Tea-plant, is evidently a Chinese or Assam introduction
and not a native of Japan. In southern Japan the Camellia
is a common forest-plant from the sea-level to an altitude
of 2,500 feet, on the east coast growing as far north as lati-
tude thirty-six and nearly two degrees further on the
west coast Here it is a dwarf bush only two or three feet
high, although where the soil and climate favor it the Ca-
mellia becomes a tree thirty or forty feet tall, with a hand-
some straight trunk a foot in diameter covered with smooth
pale bark, hardly distinguishable from that of the Beech.
In its wild state the flower of the Camellia is red and does
not fully expand, the corolla retaining a cup-shape until it
falls. In Japan, certainly less attention has been paid to
the improvement of the Camellia than in Europe and
America, although double-flowered varieties are known ;
and as an ornamental plant it does not appear to be partic-
ularly popular with the Japanese ; it is sometimes planted,
however, in temple and city gardens, especially in Tokyo,
where it is not an uncommon plant and where beautiful
old specimens are to be seen.

Tsubaki, by which name Camellia Japonica is known in
Japan, is more valued for the oil which is pressed from its
seeds than for the beauty of its flowers. This oil, which
the other species of Camellia also produce, is used by the
women in dressing their hair and is an article of much com-
mercial importance. The wood of Camellia is close-
grained, moderately hard, and light-colored, turning pink
with exposure ; it is cut into combs, although less valued
for this purpose than boxwood, and is manufactured into
numerous small articles of domestic use. Sansan-kuvva,
Camellia Sasanqua, a small bushy tree of southern Japan
and China, is perhaps more commonly encountered in
Japanese gardens than Tsubaki, and in the first week
of November it was just beginning to open its delicate pink
flowers in the gardens of Nikko, although the night tem-
perature was nearly down to the freezing-point.

Temstroemia Japonica and Cleyera ochnacea are small
bushy trees scattered from India to southern Japan, where
they are considered sacred by votaries of the Shinto re-
ligion, and are therefore planted in the grounds of Shinto
temples and in most private gardens. The evergreen
foliage of these two plants is handsome, especially that of
Temstroemia, but the flowers and fruit possess little beauty,
and they owe their chief interest to their association with
Japanese civilization.

Eurya Japonica is another member of the family, of
wide range from Ceylon and India to China, the Fejee
Islands and Japan, where it is exceedingly common in the
southern islands and in Hondo as far north at least as the
Hakone Mountains. It is usually a shrub only a few feet high ;
but I saw a specimen in the woods surrounding a temple
near Nakatsu gawa on the Nagasendo which was fully thirty
feel in height, with a well-formed trunk nearly a foot in
diameter. Eurya, although not particularly handsome, is
interesting from the color of the leaves, which are yellowish
green on the upper surface and decidedly yellow below.

Stuartia is represented in eastern America by two hand-
some shrubs, one an inhabitant of the coast region of the
south Atlantic states, and the other of the southern Alle-
ghany Mountains ; in Japan there are two and, perhaps,
three species. Of these, Stuartia monadelpha, which inhab-
its also central China, appears to be a southern plant only;
at any rate, I saw nothing of it in Japan, nor of the
little-known Stuartia serrata of Maximowicz. The third
species, Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia, is common ia the
Hakone and Nikko Mountains between 2,000 and 3,000

feet elevation, where it is a most striking object from
the peculiar appearance of the bark ; this is light red, very
smooth, and peels off in small flakes like that of the Crape
Myrtle (Lagersrcumia) ; to this peculiarity it owes its com-
mon name, Saru-suberi, or Monkey-slider. Stuartia Pseudo-
Camellia is often a tree of considerable size ; on the shores
of Lake Chuzenji we measured a specimen whose trunk at
three feet from the ground girted six feet, and which was
upward of fifty feet high ; and specimens nearly as large
are common on the road between Nikko and Chuzenji.
The flowers of this tree, which resemble a single
white Camellia, are smaller and less beautiful than the
flowers of our coast species, .Stuartia Virginica, but are
larger than those of the second American species, Stuartia
pentagyna, a handsome plant which is not made enough
of in .our northern gardens, where it is perfectly hardy
and one of the best of the summer-flowering shrubs.
Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia was sent to America nearly thirty
years ago by the late Mr. Thomas Hogg, and it appears to
have flowered in the neighborhood of New York several
years before it was known in Europe, where of late it has
attracted considerable attention.* In New England this
Japanese species appears perfectly hardy, and two years
ago flowered in the Arnold Arboretum.

Stachyurus priccox, another Japanese member of this
family, is still little known in our gardens, although it was
one of the plants sent by Mr. Hogg to New York soon after
the opening of Japan to foreign commerce. It appears
hardy in the neighborhood of New York, as there is at
least one plant established in Prospect Park, on Long
Island. In Japan Stachyurus is exceedingly common in
the mountain-forests and at the sea-level from southern
Yezo to Kyushu, appearing as a tall graceful shrub with
thin semi-scandent branches and ovate-lanceolate acute
leaves. In summer or early autumn it forms axillary
spikes of flower-buds two or three inches long, and in very
early spring, before the appearance of the leaves, these
buds expand into bell-shaped pale yellow flowers ; these
are not more than a third of an inch long, but they are pro-
duced in great profusion, and as they appear so early in
the season Stachyurus will probably prove a po])ular plant
if it is found to flourish in cultivation. The genus is rep-
resented in central China and in the Himalaya Mountains
with a second species described as a small tree.

The genus Actinidia, woody climbers of the Himalayas
and eastern Asia, appears in Japan in three species, of which
two at least are exceedingly common, and are conspicuous
features of the mountain vegetation. Of these, the largest
and most common, especially at the north, is Actinidia
arguta ; little need be said of this handsome plant, as it is
now common and well-established in our garden.s, where
it grows with great vigor and rapidity, and where it is one
of the best plants of its class. We have heard a good deal
of the value of the fruit of this plant, which is depressed-
globular, an inch across, and greenish yellow ; it is eaten
in Japan, but the flavor is insipid, and its merits appear to
have been exaggerated. It was offered for sale in the
streets of Hakodate in great quantities, but, of course, green
and hard, as the Japanese use all their fruit before it ripens.

Actinidia polygama, although it inhabits Manchuria and
Saghalin, and is common in the forests of Hokkaido, is
more abundant than those which cover the mountains of cen-
tral Japan ; it is a more slender plant than Actinidia arguta,
with elliptical, acute, slightly serrate, long-stalked leaves.
The fruit is an inch and a half long, half an inch broad in
the middle and narrowed at the two ends ; it is canary-yel-
low, rather translucent, soft and juicy, with an extremely dis-
agreeable flavor. Actinidia polygama does not, like Acti-
nidia arguta, climb into the tops of tall trees; its weaker
stems tumble about and form great tangles sometimes
twenty feet or more across and fifteen or twenty feet
high. The most remarkable thing about this plant is that
in summer the leaves toward the ends of the branches

*See Rn. Hort., 1879,1430 — Card. Chron., ser. 4, iv., 187, f. i2.—Bot. Mag. A'
7045.

February 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

89

become pale yellow either over their entire surface or only
above the middle, not because they are drying up or ripen-
ing but apparently from an insufficient supply of chloro-
phyll. The effect that the plants produce at this time is
curious and interesting, and when seen from a distance
growingon a mountain-side or on the banksof a stream they
appear like huge bushes covered with pale 'yellow flowers.

Rhododendrons and Menziesia, and where it was a deli-
cate, slender vine, with stems only a few feet in length.
Unfortunately, there were no seeds to be obtained, and I am
doubtful if this species has ever been introduced into our
gardens, although the name often appears in nurserymen's
catalogues. C. S. S.

T'

Ki^. 15.— Ihe Kd^e ot the liarrens. Broad Top, Pennsylvania. — See page

This fine plant is still little known in cultivation, but if it
flourishes in New England like Actinidia arguta it will
form a most valuable addition to our shrubberies.

Actinidia Kolomikta, which is found also in Manchuria
and northern China, is much less common in Japan than
the other species. I saw it only on the rocky cliffs
of a hill near Sapporo, where it was growing with

Foreign Correspondence.

The New Plants of 1892.— III.

HE plants of interest among those intro-
duced by Continental growers, and
described in foreign periodicals, are suffi-
ciently numerous to be dealt with in an
article by themselves. As in the case with the
plants introduced last year into English
gardens. Orchids predominate both in num-
ber and interest. A few of them, such as
Cattleya Alexandrae and Epidendrum God-
seffianum (Capartianum), are both foreign
and English introductions. The majority of
the following we owe to the enterprise of
the Messrs. Linden, L'Horticulture Interna-
tionale, Brussels :

Bulbophyllum anceps, Lindenia, t. 351, is
an elegant little Bornean species with stout
rhizomes, large flattened pseudo-bulbs, bear-
ing each a single oblong fleshy leaf and
loose racemes of flowers, which are one inch
across, creamy yellow, striped and spotted
with maroon-purple.

Cirrhopetalum Amesianum, Lindenia, t.
314, is a pretty little species with umbels of
from six to ten flowers, each an inch and a
half long, and colored yellowish white and
bright rosy purple. It is a native of Java.

Epidendrum Mantinianurh (Linden), a
dwarf species with large solitary white and
purple flowers, and E. Ortgiesii (St. Peters-
burg Botanic Garden), which is in the way
of E. amabile, with rather large flowers,
colored red and white, with a purple lip,
are noteworthy additions to this large, varied
genus.

Eulophiella Elisabethae, one of the most
interesting and distinct of recent introduc-
tions, is described on pages 304 and 510 of
the last volume of Garden and Forest. It
was introduced by the Brussels firm, \yho
do not divulge its habitat, and is dedicated
to the Queen of Roumania.

Hybrid Cypripediums. — Six of these have
been raised on the Continent, and two de-
serve mention here. C. Albertianum was
shown in flower by Monsieur Jules Hye
at Ghent last November, and was awarded a
gold medal. Its parents are C. Spicerianum
and C. insigne, van Wallacei, and it is, of
course, very near C. Leeanum. The other
hybrid is C. La France, raised from C. niveum
and C. nitens.

Coryanthes macrocorys is a Peruvian spe-
cies, introduced by L'Horticulture Interna-
tionale, Brussels, and figured in Lindenia, t.
342. It has large Stanhopea-like flowers,
creamy white, spotted and dotted with purple.
If the several known species of this genus
were less difficult to flower they would be
much more in favor than they are at present. There are few
Orchids with flowers more remarkable in form than these.

Odontoglossum Pescatorei, van Lindeniae, Lindenia, t.
329, is a beautiful addition to the many fine varieties we
already possess of this most useful garden Orchid. It is
remarkable for the large blotch of chestnut-brown on each
of the flower segments, including the lip.

90

Garden and Forest.

[Number 261.

Peristeria Liiideni. I.indenia, t. 328, is an attractive spe-
cies in the way of V. pendula, with flowers globular in
shape, one and a half inches in diameter and colored pale
green and purple, mottled with a darker shade of the same
color. They are borne on a short raceme, which is repre-
sented as erect

Stanhopea Moliana, Lindenia, t. 331, is a large-flowered
species, similar to S. Wardii, white-spotted and mottled
with reddish purple. It is said to be Peruvian.

Stauropsis Warocqueana, Lindenia, t. 319, is a large,
Vanda-like plant, from New Guinea, not unlike the old V.
gigantea, now called Stauropsis, but with large-branched
racemes of flowers an inch in diameter and colored buff-
yellow with brown spots.

Stove and Greenhoise Plants. — Most of the new plants
which may be classed under this heading are chiefly re-
markable for their ornamental leaves.

Alocasia Dussii (Dammann & Co.) has large olive-green
leaves with red nerves and petioles. Ampelovitis Roman-
etti is described as a vine with lobed leaves, glaucous on
the under side, and long bunches of black grape-like fruits.
It is probably Chinese.

Costus Lucanusianus is a new species from the Came-
roons and is figured in Garlenflora, t. 1379, where it is
shown as a tall-stemmed plant with lanceolate leaves and
terminal heads of yellow and purple flowers.

Crinum Abyssinicum, C. Yemense and C. yuccaefolium
are three white-flowered species which have been intro-
duced from Africa and are offered by Messrs. Dammann
A Co. Cyrtosperma ferox (Linden), from Borneo, is not
unlike C. Johnstonei, which used to be called an Alocasia,
and is remarkable for its spiny leaf-stalks and sagittate
blades. Dichorisandra angustifolia (Linden), from Ecua-
dor, has prettily variegated foliage, and is not unlike D.
vittata, but the leaves are more distinctly lined with white
and are purple beneath. D. musaica, var. gigantea (Lin-
den), has stems two feet high and leaves nine inches long
by five inches broad. Dieffenbachia meleagris, D. olbia
and D. picturata are three new Lindenian introductions
which may be recommended to growers of ornamental-
leaved Aroids, the best of them being the first-named,
which has the leaf-stalks very prettily marked with trans-
verse zigzag lines.

Heliconia spectabilis (Linden) is probabl)' the same as
H. metallica, a handsome foliage-plant for the stove, with
long lanceolate leaves, dark green above, purplish beneath.

Impatiens Micholitzii is a new introduction from New
Guinea and described as a dwarf branching plant with
white and rose flowers. Labisia smaragdina (Linden) is
a Bornean plant, with a short stem and numerous lance-
shaped obtuse leaves of a pleasing deep green color and
panicles of small pink flowers. It is very like an Ardisia.
Musa Martini is described by Monsieur Andr6 as a hand-
some species which may be grown in as low a tempera-
ture as M. Ensete. It has reddish leaf-stalks and veins and
rose-colored flowers. It was introduced into France from
Teneriff'e. There is a figure of it in the Revue de F Horticul-
tute Beige, 1892, p. 107.

Peperomia metallica (Linden) is a pretty addition to the
variegated plants of this genus, its lanceolate leaves being
dark green, striped with gray above and tinged with red
beneath. It is Peruvian.

Senecio sagittifolius is one of the most interesting
species in the enormous genus Senecio, and, moreover,
it is one that is likely to take a prominent place among gar-
den-plants. It was discovered in Ecuador by Monsieur
Ed Andr^, and introduced by him into France. He also
figured and described it in the Revue Horticole, 1892, t. 16,
17. Young plants of it are now offered by Monsieur Bru-
ant, of Poitiers, who publishes a figure of it in his plant
catalogue for this year. It has huge green radicle leaves,
three feet or more long and about a foot wide, sagittate,
with toothed margins and a curiously crested midriU
These leaves are arranged in a rosette, from the centre of
which IS developed a stem, eight to ten feet high, clothed

with erect lanceolate leaves, and bearing at the top an
enormous corymb of Marguerite-like flowers, which are
white, with a yellow disk, and measure an inch and a half
across. A specimen grown in the open air inTouraine last
summer developed leaves a yard long. It was removed
into a temperate house for the winter, where it produced a
stem eight feet high which bore a corymb of 140 flowers.
A young plant of it has grown rapidly in a warm green-
house at Kew. It appears to push up suckers freely.

Tradescantia Reginae and T. superba are two Lindenian
introductions from Peru. They have prettily marked fo-
liage, the former gray-green and purple, with transverse
lines of dark green, the latter dark green, with whitish
stripes along the midrib. Smilax argyroea, from Bolivia
(Linden), is a pretty little stove-climber with prickly stems
and small lanceolate leaves, green, attractively spotted
with white. It is an improvement on S. maculata.

Hardy Herbaceous Plants. — Gypsophila Raddiana. This
is a new species which has been introduced from Persia
into the Botanic Gardens of St. Petersburg, where it flow-
ered last year, and was figured xw'Cc^e. Garlenflora, t. 1365. It
is dwarf and tufted in habit and has pink flowers. The
Gypsophilas are most useful plants for the rockery or bor-
der and as a source of cut flowers. . Iris Madonna (Dam-
mann & Co.) is described as a half-hardy evergreen species
from Arabia, with large lilac-blue flowers. Ixiolirion ma-
cranthum and I. Sintenisi are two of Herr Max Leichtlin's
introductions, and are said to have large blue-purple flow-
ers. Podachsenium Andinum is a large-leaved composite from
the Andes of Colombia, and is recommended by Monsieur
Andre for sub-tropical bedding. It bears lax corymbs of
white and yellow Daisy-like flowers. Possibly it is not hardy.
Primula calycantha, from Yun-nan, is described by Herr
Max Leichtlin as having smooth gray-green leaves and
numerous reddish blue flowers in umbels.

Hardy Trees and Shrubs. — Acer palmatum, var. Alkii, is
figured in the Garlenflora, t. 1363, and described as a hand-
somely variegated variety. A. Trautvetteri, var. irythro-
carpa, from the Caucasus, is remarkable for its red fruits.
It is cultivated in the arboretum at Zoschen.

Cytisus schipksensis is another Zoschen plant, introduced
from the Balkan Mountains. It is a compact shrub, only
about a foot high, with numerous white flowers.

Fraxinus raibocarpa is a species from central Asia, which
has been known in botanic gardens several years, but hith-
erto has not been happy in cultivation. It is a tall tree of
graceful habit, with few and rather small leaflets and is
remarkable for its sickle-shaped samara;. It was introduced
to St. Petersburg and described by Dr. Kegel.

Prunus prtecox is an early-flowering seedling from P.
Japonica (Sinensis), var. sphoerica, and is described and
figured by Carriere in the Revue Horlicole, 1892, p. 488, figs.
142-3.

Prunus Salzeri is nearly related to P. Padus and has pale
yellow fruits. It is said to come true from seed, and is a
native of Carinthia and Styria. It is cultivated at Zoschen.

Quercus Macedonica is described as "a magnificent Oak
of the Cerris group, bearing large edible acorns." It is in
the Kew collection. Q. Schochiana is said to be a hybrid be-
tween Q. phellos and Q. palustris. It is grown at Zoschen.

Robinia Neo-Mexicana, var. luxurians, is described by
Dr. Dieck as a beautiful tree, taller than the type and with
branched racemes, which were produced at Zoschen twice
in the year, namely, in June and again in August, on the
youngest branches. „, „,.

London. W. WatSOTl.

Cultural Department.

Snowdrops.

'T'REATING of the Snowdrops in cultivation in the order of
■•■ their flowering, we liave, as the pioneer of the gjenus, the
early Galanthus octobrensis, blooming in Britain in October or
early in November. This is a pretty but delicate flower, par-
taking of the character of G. nivalis, of which it is in realitv
only a variety or sub-species. This Snowdrop was first in-

February 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

91

troduced into this country by tiie late Rev. Harpur Crewe, who
received bulbs from Lord Walsingham, who had collected
them on one of the Albanian mountains.

Following Galanthus octobrensis are some others, which are
as yet too rare, and have been too short a time in our gardens
to make it possible to speak with any certainty of their average
blooming time. Of these, G. Rachelae and G. Elsae are in cul-
tivation, but are so rare as to be almost priceless. The former

'. — A Girdled Pear-tree restored by grafting.

was collected by Professor Mahaffy, on Mount Hymettus, in
1884 or 1886. This was in leaf in Dublin in December, and I
have a bulb, received under this name, which is also in leaf,
but it is quite possible that mine may not prove the true sort,
as there are several winter-flowering varieties at present going
under the names of G. Olgfe, G. Rachehe and G. EIseb on the
Continent. Of the authenticated G. Rachelae there are very

few bulbs in existence. G. Elsae was in bud in Dublin in De-
cember, but it has been known to open earlier. G. Olg^e is at
present in uncertainty. It was originally found on Mount
Laygetus by Orphanides, but, unfortunately, on account of his
sad illness, no further trace of it seems to have been found.
G. Elsae was brought from Mount Athos by Professor Ma-
haffy.
In all probability, however, it will be found that Galanthus
Corcyrensis or praecox, said to have been
sent from Corfu to the Rev. Harpur Crewe,
is the Snowdrop which in ordinary seasons
will succeed G. octobrensis. This flow-
ered with me in the end of November,
1892, but it generally flowers from the
middle to the end of December. This is
a small but pretty form of G. nivalis, to
which species G. Rachelae and G. Elsae
also belong. It, like all the other autumn-
flowering varieties, possesses the glaucous
line down the centre of the leaf, which is
a noteworthy feature of these varieties.
There are several Snowdrops from Corfu,
of which little can be said, for tlie sufficient
reason that they have not yet been properly
named, and in all likelihood some of these
will be offered under the names of some
of the rare varieties being inquired for.
I have two bulbs from the Continent, as
" received from Albania, and probably
octobrensis." They are only in bud, and
although «f the autumn and winter-flow-
ering type, it is likely enough, from their
appearance, that they will prove to be
bulbs of G. corcyrensis.

The next to bloom in our gardens is
Galanthus Elwesi, one of the finest of our
Snowdrops, although having the defect of
failing in some gardens, and also of being
weak in the stem. Mr. Allen, of Shepton
Mallet, to whom, in a very great degree,
the movement in favor of the Snowdrops
is due, is endeavoring to raise seedlings
of a more vigorous type, and it is to be
hoped that he may be successful. G.
Elwesi is very distinct, not only from the
inner petals being arranged in a tube-like
manner, but also from the dark green
basal blotch extending to half their length.
There is a very considerable variation in
this species, and several superior forms
are at present in process of selection. Mr.
Allen has found some with the inner
petals almost entirely green, and Mr. Boyd,
of Melrose, has raised a seedling which
flowered for the first time in 1892, and
which is entirely white. According to Mr.
Baker's Handbook of the Atnaryllidea, G.
Elwesi was discovered by Balansa in 1854,
but was only individualized in 1875 by Mr.
Elwes. Mr. Baker gives February as the
flowering period in this country, but I
have found this species flowers very early
in January, in ordinary seasons, with me.
This season it is later than usual. Im-
ported bulbs are, however, earlier, and
have been showing flower from early in
December. I have also under observation
bulbs received from the Bithynian Olym-
pus, and marked by my correspondent as
probably G. Elwesi. The leaves, however,
appear broader than those of Elwesi, which
has been introduced from the mountains
near Smyrna. I can find no note regard-
ing theGalanthiof the Bithynian Olympus,
and am in hope that I may find some-
thing near G. Foster! among my bulbs.
G, nivalis, our common Snowdrop, has
proved much more variable than is
generally believed.

Besides the various autumn varieties already noted, those
which flower in spring vary considerably. Taking these varie-
ties in alphabetical order, we have G. wsti valis, a very pretty and
distinct little Snowdrop with bright green markings, and flower-
ing much later than the type. I have had this tor some four
or five years, and find it very useful for cutting purposes. G.

92

Garden and Forest.

[Number 261.

Cathcarti%. found, I believe, in a Scottish garden, is a form
with twin spathes and no green markings on the sepals. G.
flavescens has yellow markings on the inner petals and a yel-
low ovarv. This was found in Northumberland by Mr. Boyd,
and it is found a stronger grower than G. lutescens, which is of
somewhat similar character, but with the yellow of a paler
tint. This was also found in Northumberland, but in a dif-
ferent garden, and by Mr. Sanders, of Cambridge. G. major
is said to l>e a large Howered form of G. nivalis, and is one
which 1 only succeeded in obtaining last autumn.

Among varieties of G. nivalis, Melvillei, a seedling raised
at Dunrobin Castle by Mr. D. Melville, has stouter and longer
leaves and stem and large tlowers. Pallidus is a pale green
marked variety of rather earlier habit than the type. Poculi-
formis was originally raised at Dunrobin, but afterward found
also in Wales. This has the inner perianth segments nearly
as long as the outer, and the green markings are entirely ab-
sent. Reflexus does not seem to be in cultivation, but I
understand the name is given on account of the inner seg-
ments being partly reHexed. A double form of this has been
catalc^ued, but I have found it not forthcoming when ordered.
Scharloki has twin leafy spathes and large green spots near
the base of the outer sepals. Serotinus, another Dunrobin
seedling, is a very small form, Howering even later than G.
aestivalis. Virescens is more valued as a curiosity than tor its
beauty, the sepals being striped with green near the base and
Uie inner petals nearly all green except the margins. The
ordinary form of G. nivalis is well known, and, in addition,
there are a few seedling doubles which have not yet deen dis-
tributed.

There are a considerable number of other forms of G.
nivalis, varying in form, stature and markings, and it is highly
probable that others will be found in gardens now that atten-
tion has been more widely attracted to the existing varieties.
I have heard of plants of G. nivalis which were found near Gals-
ton in Scotland, and which had stems twenty inches in length
and with Howers of proportionate size. The bulbs were
lifted, and are being grown in order to ascertain if this large
form will prove permanent, or is only due to exceptional soil
or position.

G. Imperati, which is a sub-species of G. nivalis, has broader
leaves and larger flowers. It is a native of Naples and Genoa,
and, like the other sub-species, G. Caucasicus, has produced
some fine varieties. Atkinsi is one of the finest of these,
being of large size and purity of color. I am indebted to Mr.
Allen for this variety, and for some others. Boydi is another
very fine form, having flowers occasionally one and a half
inches long. G. Caucasicus, which is the Caucasian form of G.
nivalis, has broader leaves than the type and is later in flower-
ing. According to Mr. Baker, this sub-species includes Re-
doutei, major, and Caspicus of Ruprecht. Mr. Baker also
seems to consider G. virescens a variety of G. Caucasicus,
although Mr. F. W. Burbidge only mentions it as a variety of
G. nivalis.

G. latifolius, which flowers in this country in February and
March, is a very distinct species from the Caucasus, with
broad, shining green — not glaucous — leaves, and small white
flowers one-half to three-jquarter inches long, with only a green
patch in the outside and inside of the inner segments. There
IS a fine variety of this called latifolius major.

G. Fosteri, introduced from Amasia in the province of
Sirwas, Asia Minor, and named in honor of the introducer,
Professor M. Foster, is one of our latest acquisitions, which
has been the subject of considerable criticism, due to its pre-
senting much variation. It is supposed to be a hybrid between
G. latiK>lius and G. Elwesi, and has broad green leaves with
somewhat similar markings on the flowers to those of G.
Elwesi. The first of this which I bloomed gave me consider-
able disapjxjintment, but other flowers caused me to modify
my earlier opinions, and the best forms are well worthy of
cultivation.

G. plicatus, readily recognized by its plicate leaves, is now
fairly well known. It is a native of the Crimea, and, although
not so well formed as some of the others, is valuable from its
late-flowering habit, it being the last in flower. Several varie-
ties are now in cultivation, some of these being seedlings and
others selected forms. The first, Maximus, has long, narrow
flowers, which, in favorable conditions, are quite two inches
long. The other, Chapeli, has smaller flowers, but these are
of fine form and with broad petals. Several hybrids raised
between G, plicatus and G. nivalis, by Mr. W. Thomson, of
High Blantyre, have l^een described, and Mr. Allen has
another seedling apparently of the same origin, but not ob-
tained bv artificial fertilization.— 5. ArnoH, in the Journal of
Horticulture.

Small Greenhouses.

AT this season, when greenhouse plants are mostly at their
best, it always seems pertinent to make a plea for more
small greenhouses. Such a building is especially indispensa-
ble where many plants are grown, if they are to be cultivated
with the minimum of care and tlie maximum of success. Yet
among amateurs of small or moderate means there is a gen-
eral disinclination to build such houses, usually from the sup-
posed expense. Of course, large amounts may be invested in
fancy greenhouses, but examination of a commercial house,
built plainly, according to modern methods, will show that
such forms may be built on a small scale at a very moderate
cost, the construction being simple and the material not ex-
pensive. The different horticultural builders offer small port-
able houses at a moderate price, but much cheaper green-
houses can be constructed at home with the aid of a carpen-
ter, by one who is capable of planning the building. The
cheapest construction is a space roofed over with cold-frame
sash spanning an enclosure the walls of which are formed ot
two thicknesses of one-inch boards, with paper-lining between.
Two rows of sash will make a ten-foot house and the length
would be multiples of three feet.

Friends with whom I talk are deterred by cost of heating
rather than the cost of building, and a cheap heater for green-
houses is needed. Great ingenuity has been wasted in devis-
ing schemes to heat conservatories and small greenhouses,
which have proved to be mere make-shifts and would quickly
be discarded if a satisfactory appliance of low first cost were
to be had.

The patent base-burning heaters now offered by several
firms are perfect appliances, but for a fifteen or eighteen foot
house an outfit could scarcely be had under fifty dollars. A
very good outfit may be made for much less by securing a
round cast-iron stove, and having a smith bend an inch pipe
in three or four coils to fit the inside, with ends passing through
the side of the stove. These are to be joined with expanding
fittings to two-inch pipe, the upper one for flow and the lower
one for return. These pipes can be bought cut to proper sizes,
and with white-lead in oil can be quickly and tightly joined. It
is always well to have plenty of radiating surface, and if the
house is exposed these pipes should be carried around three
sides of it. At the ends furthest from the stove there will be
needed an expansion-tank, and this can be made of a water-
tight box or cask, into which the ends of the pipe may be in-
serted and packed with oakum. If one can secure a second-
hand stove, such an outfit, with pipe at fifteen cents per foot,
will not prove costly, and will give satisfactory results equal to
a patented article. Of course, the stove must stand in a ven-
tilated separate apartment, to avoid gas and dust, and must be
capable of perfect regulation in the way of dampers. Hot-
water circulation from coal heat is the only satisfactory way to
heat such a house, and is also the cheapest. No doubt, houses
are heated by coal-oil stoves with an infinity of care and
anxiety, but there are numerous reasons why these are not
permanently satisfactory. All coal-oil burners have a mod-
erate length of life, and will eventually give off injurious fumes.
It is very difficult to arrange a connection between a stove and
outside air without back drafts, which are dangerous. One
sees occasionally reports of successful heating of houses by
coal-oil stoves burning in the open hou?e with no outside con-
nection. As the stove is a great consumer of oxygen, which
is usually only too scarce in a greenhouse, it is difficult to under-
stand this suspension of natural laws. Besides, the stove set in
any part of the house naturally starts drafts toward it. If it is used
to start a hot-water circulation the expense is, of course, equal
to the fittings with a coal stove. It is unnecessary to say tiiat,
as compared with coal, the units of heat will cost more from
high-test oil such as it is safe and pleasant to use. These re-
marks apply only to a greenhouse proper, where one wishes a
night temperature of, say, fifty degrees in December, gradually
rising to sixty degrees as plants commence to move freely.
Such a house may be successfully run with the simple ar-
rangement here described, and there will be spare heat enough
to allow for ample ventilation in all fit weather. A coal-oil
stove with proper outside connection will answer very well for
houses from which it is only intended to exclude frost, but
such a house is merely a storeroom for plants more conve-
nient than a cold frame, but not such a place as is required for
ordinary collections of plants or adapted to securing the great-
est pleasure for the grower.

A type of conservatory or greenhouse common in small
towns is that procured by enclosing a veranda. These places
usually suffer from stagnant air, produced in the endeavor to
heat them from the surplus heat of the dwelling. They offer

February 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

93

complications of their own in. the cultivation of plants. A heater
would tend to make tliem more satisfactory, and it is often pos-
sible to arrange the stove in an adjoining room in sucli a way
as to utilize all its heat. The pipes, of course, will necessarily
be elevated considerably above the floor of the conservatory,
an arrangement which, with the help of bronze paint, need not
be unsightly, and would prove entirely practical. This is a
very fertile subject on which many amateurs could, no doubt,
relate interesting experiences. <v »r ^ j

Elizabeth. N.J. J.N.Lrerard.

Romneya Coulteri.

THE question has been often asked why this plant is so sel-
dom seen in gardens in the east. Seeds are easily obtained
from California, where this lovely Poppy grows, both wild and
cultivated. I have often, in previous years, sown the seeds,
but never succeeded in securing any plants. In response to
the inquiry regarding R. Coulteri, in GARDE>f and Forest,
vol. iv., p. 392, a correspondent in California sent me seeds of
1890 and 1891, with the remark that they would probably take
two years to germinate. It seemed a long time to wait, but
they were sown in the fall of 1891 and have been kept watered
ever since and wintered in a cool house. To my surprise, a
few days ago, I found a few seedlings already up. Since giv-
ing a top-dressing of sand to kill a growth of Moss that had
covered the soil, and a little extra warmth, the plants have
come up in numbers, and I hope to grow and flower them
here.

Much has been said of the beauty of this American plant in
English periodicals, and it is not difficult to obtain the plant
in England. I have not been able to procure it in the eastern
states, presumably because the seeds sown did not come up
as expected. I would advise those who have sown seed to
wait patiently, for after two winters they are almost sure to
germinate. It saves much trouble to know just when one may
expect seed to germinate ; seedsmen would confer a favor to
their customers in stating this fact so far as they are able.
At another time I should sow the seed in sound boxes, cover
the soil with porous bricks and place the boxes under the
benches in the greenhouse. This would prevent loss of seed
by careless watering, and when they were expected to germinate
the boxes could be placed where the young plants might have
light and air.

It may be well to say here that the seeds of any plants that
have been exposed to frost in cold frames may now be brought
into warmth in the greenhouse, where they will germinate with
certainty. This applies especially to seeds of Trollius, Antheri-
cums, Gentians, Aquilegia glandulosa, A. coerulea and their
varieties ; also to Dicentra exiniia ; all of which are peren-
nials that should be sown only in. fall, as nothing is gained by
sowing now, and they would require care and attention all
summer. c- ^ ^ vi /

South Lancaster, Mass. -C. U. UrpCt.

Notes from the Harvard Botanic Garden.

Kalanchoe carnea. — Succulents are a class of plants which
find scant favor in these days. It is to be regretted, for there
are many admirable and meritorious things among them. K.
carnea (figured in Garden and Forest, volume iii., page
. 53) is a recent addition to this class, and its introduction
will perhaps serve to revive the interest in plants of a similar
character. It was secured in South Africa by the Messrs.
James Veitch & Sons, of London, in 1886, and since that time
It has been given a fair share of attention. This has been
well bestowed, for in beauty and utility the plant has proved
to be entirely worthy. The erect stems are from eighteen to
twenty-four inches high, and are amply furnished with ellip-
tical, crenate leaves from four to five inches in length, and of
a metallic green color. The flowers, borne in large compact
terminal cymes, are of a beautiful pale pink shade, and
deliciously fragrant. They appear in winter, lasting a long
time, and they are most valualjle for cutting purposes. Good
turfy loam appears to be the main requisite in compost, but to
this should be added a small proportion of leaf-mold and
sand. A minimum temperature of forty-five degrees suits the
plant admirably, but it likes all the light and sunshine that is
to be had. It may be placed in a cold frame during warm
weather, affording protection against heavy rains ; for,
although a moderate and regular supply of water is essential
to its successful cultivation, a soddened condition of the soil
is invariably baneful in results. K. carnea can be propagated
from seeds or cuttings, and early spring is the best time for
this work. A slight degree of bottom-heat is necessary in either
case, and a loose sandy soil will be required at this period.

More than ordinary care should be exercised in watering until
the plants are well established, as they damp-off speedily when
young if the soil is too long retained in a very moist condition,
and also if the atmosphere be frequently laden with super-
fluous moisture. Plants raised from cuttings are more in-
clined to branch than seedlings ; but the latter, if cut back
after Howering to within two or tliree inches of the soil, will
soon send out a large number of side-shoots, forming large,
bushy specimens during the second season. Old plants, of
course, make all the better progress if they are re-potted
annually, and this should be done soon after the lateral shoots,
which follow pruning, have made their appearance. The
greater part of the exhausted soil must be removed from
the roots in this operation, and the pots employed should
be so small as is compatible with convenience, for the
plants flower most freely when the roots are somewhat
confined.

Pancratium ovatu.m. — The decorative character of this
plant is sometimes said to be inferior to that of some other
species of the same genus, but with us, nevertheless, it is decid-
edly beautiful when in bloom. P. ovatum has long been familiar
in our greenhouses, so long, indeed, that the dale of its intro-
duction is veiled in obscurity. Miller, the celebrated English
gardener and botanist, who flourishedearly in the last century,
makes mention of the plant in his Gardeners' Dictionary, and
it is known to have been cultivated by that worthy. It is a
bulbous plant, with large, ovate, deep green leaves. The flow-
ers are large and graceful, pure white and charmingly fra-
grant, and borne in immense umbels slightly above the fo-
liage. They are Lily-like, the segments of the perianth being
long and narrow, and the stamens prominent, with showy yel-
low anthers. The foliage alone is quite handsome in appear-
ance, but when the flowers spread out in all their purity of
color above the verdant mass, filling the surrounding atmos-
phere with the sweetest odor, the plant is certain to gain the
friendship of all who see it'. The flowers are developed, gen-
erally, in winter and spring; but this does not appear to be a
fixed rule, for the plants occasionally start into bloom quite
unexpectedly at other seasons. P. ovatum likes a moist stove
atmosphere and plenty of water when in active growth during
the summer months ; but a smaller supply of water will suffice
at other times, though the plant should never be dried-off, in
the strict sense of that term. A suitable compost is found in
strong, rich loam and well-decayed cow-manure — three parts
of the former to one of the latter — and occasional applications
of liquid-manure will be found highly advantageous. Hymen-
ocalhs ovata is another name for the same plant.

CambridKe, Mass. M. Barker.

Correspondence.
Fruit-trees Girdled by Mice.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — While gathering material in October last for the state
exhibit of woods at the coming Columbian Exposition, we
chanced to visit a Pear-orchard, the trees of which years ago
were badly girdled by mice. It interested us greatly, as illus-
tradng the success of a method of repairing the damage done
by the mice, and that others may know of it and possibly save
their own trees threatened in this way, we ascertained what we
could of its history.

The orchard is situated in the town of Ledyard, Cayuga
County, New York, on property formerly owned by Mr.
William Grinnell, a nephew of Washington Irving. We learned
that, on the disappearance of the snows of a severe winter
some twenty years ago, Mr. Grinnell discovered that mice had
. girdled nearly his entire orchard of a thousand fine young
Pear-trees. As they had been set a few years, and were grow-
ing well, he was greatly dismayed.

He mentioned his loss to his neighbor, Mr. J. J. Thomas,
of Union Springs, who was then in the nursery business near
by, and particularly versed and skilled in grafting. Mr.
Tho'mas told him that he need not at all despair of saving his
orchard, and directed him to cut from young, vigorous Pear-
branches, about as thick as his finger, pieces slightly longer
than the section laid bare by the mice, and sharpen them
wedge-shaped at both ends. After driving in a chisel at the
upper and lower extremities of the exposed portion of the
trunk, just at the edges of the bark, and in such direction as to
receive the ends of "the pieces, these pieces were sprung in
by bending out the centre. A bridge was thus made to con-
duct the sap over the girdled portion. Two or more of these
bridges were placed in each tree, the points of contact pro-
tected with graffing wax, and nature was left to do the rest.

94

Garden and Forest.

[KUMBER 261.

The result was most gratifying, as Mr. Grinnell saved very
nearly, if not quite, all of the girdled frees. The orchard has
thriveil and l>een very productive since, and it is interesting to
visit it to-day and see the strange forms of trunks that it con-
tains. Many of the trees were evidently repaired with only
two cions, on opposite sides, and it was such a one which we
photographed for the illustration on p. 91. In it may be
seen the old original trunk as laid bare by the mice, about
two inches in diameter, dead and dry. while the cions on
either side have grown to ample size and support the tree

above. , . . , ^ ,

Some trees were found In which the useless ongmal trunk
had rotted away, leaving an opening through the base of the
tr«e. Others had evitlentlv been repaired with several cions.
which had more or less grown together along their contiguous
sides and made a thick, bulging base. A few trees contamed
but one cion, which had, however, proved sufficient to save
and support it.

After visiting the orchard, we very much enjoyed a call
upon Mr. Thomas, who. in speaking of saving girdled
trees, remarked that it is a very simple and easy opera-
tion ; that he had often practiced it and " had never known

''l!^?iii:'N. Y. Jiomeyn B. Hough.

How to Use Seedsmen's Catalogues.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir. The seed catalogues of the year are out. and those who

had hoped that the tendency shown for the last few years
toward more candid description and trutliful illustration
would be carried still further are somewhat disappointed.
Still, many of them are so full of useful information and
beautiful illustrations that one enjoys looking them over, and
a few hints as to how to make the best use of them may be
acceptable.

We should always bear in mind that a variety which does
the best of all under one set of conditions of soil, culture and
climate and best suits the tastes and requirements of one man,
may prove one of the poorest under another set of conditions
and requirements. And seedsmen offer a long list of varieties
more in an effort to meet the conditions and requirements of
different customers than because many of them are necessary
or even desirable in any one garden. P"or them to offer a
single kind as the best for all would be as foolish as for a dry-
goods merchant to have but one kind of cloth to meet the wants
of all his customers. A variety becomes popular in propor-
tion as it proves satisfactory in the hands of ordinary planters
and under ordinary conditions. Every new variety offered by a
reputableseedsman has proved, in the liands of some grower and
under one set of conditions, to be superior to any with which
the grower was familiar. In many cases, however, the nov-
elty is judged superior because its producer had seen it under
conditions favorable to this particular sort, and again, the pro-
ducer may not have been familiar with the best strains of the
old varieties suited to his particular requirements. A certain
strain or stock of a standard kind often shows a superiority
over the common stock which is more marked than the im-
provement shown in a new variety which is considered quite
distinct.

The cost to the seedsman of growing the seed he puts into
a twenty-five or fifty-cent packet of a novelty of his own
introduction is often less than that of the seed he puts
into a five-cent packet of the standard sorts. Again, the acci-
dent of a shortage of one sort and of an abundance of another
may make the sale of the latter the most desirable. And
as the catalogue is got up primarily in the interest of the
seedsman rather than of the gardener, it naturally exaggerates
the merits and pushes the sale of the most profitable sort. On
the other hand, the seedsman who values his reputation will
naturally take especial care that the stock of a kind he recom-
mends IS the best procurable, and the more common a variety
is the less personal interest and pride each seedsman will take
in maintaining its purity and quality.

Packet is a most indefinite term as to quantity. Of five
packets of the same variety and price from different seedsmen
the largest contamed nearly three times as many seeds as the
smallest. Seedsmen procure their seed from the locality
where it can be grown to the best advantage, and.tlie " north-
ern-grown seed" of the man in Maine, the "home-grown
seed" of the man in Nebraska, and the plain "seed" of the
man in New Orleans are all quite likely to be grown in the same
township in Canada, Kansas or California, and one might as
reasonanly expect to buy cheaper or better cotton-clotTi at a
retail store in New Orleans than he could in New York as to

expect to get hardier seed from Diiluth than from Phila-
delphia.

From these considerations are deduced the following; con-
siderations for making an order for the seeds of vegetables or
ordinary flowering plants :

Decide upon the quantity of seed of each vegetable you wish
to plant. From a combination of the descriptions of the
standard kinds given in the catalogues of several seedsmen,
not relying implicitly upon the statements or recommendations
of any one, decide what variety or varieties will best meet your
requirements and suit your conditions of soil, climate and cul-
ture, making the number of varieties as small as possible. One
rarely needs more than three, an early, medium and late sort,
and generally one is better than more. After thus making a
list of your needs, decide, from the general character of their
catalogue, your own and your neighbors' previoim experience,
and any other obtainable data, which firm is most worthy of
your confidence, and elect them your seedsmen for the year.
Now go through the catalogue of this firm, and if in any case
they offer a superior strainof one of your chosen kinds, or a
sort which for several years in the hands of their customers
has proved an improvement, substitute it for the one on your
list. Lastly, to the extent to which you can afford it, order
trial packets of novelties or newer sorts which you think might
prove an improvement on the kinds you have selected. An
order made up in this way will certainly give more satisfac-
tory results than to purchase the highest-praised and most at-
tractively pictured sorts of a dozen catalogues.

Deti-oii. Mich. ^''ill- ^^- Tracy.

Chinese Primroses at the Columbian Fair.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir. — The principal midwinter attraction in the horticultural
department of the World's Fair has been the Chinese Prim-
roses. About five thousand specimens were shown, filling
two greenhouses, each one hundred feet long by twenty-two
wide. They have since been placed in the Horticultural Build-
ing, and are more accessible to the public. Though awards
have been made, the names of those receiving them are not
yet given to the public. Seventeen houses competed, six from
this country, five from England, four froin Germany, one
each from France and Italy. The largest lots from America
were those of Peter Henderson & Co., New York, R. & J.
Farquhar & Co., Boston, and Henry S. Rupp & Sons, Shire-
manstown, Pennsylvania. The exhibits from England were
also large. Those from Germany were from Erfurt and
Quedlinburg. Four hundred varieties, so called, were said
to be shown, but many of these differed more in name than
in fact, and half the names would apparently designate the
real differences. There was, however, a great variety in the
plants as a whole, both in the color and size of the flowers,
and in the foliage and general appearance. All were labeled
Primula Sinensis fimbriata, and Howers without fimbriate mar-
gins were exceptional, the greatest number of these being on
plants with crisped leaves. As the plants were started from
seed sown about the middle of April last, and cultivated under
the same conditions, they came into Hower essentially at the
same time. It was a brilliant display of colors, mostly of the
red, white and blue series and their combinations, and caused
many exclamations of delight from visitors.

From so much that was excellent it is not easy to choose. The
plants from R. H. Cannel & Sons, of Swanley, Kent, were re-
markably thrifty, with large flowers and well-developed
trusses. Cannel's Pink impressed one as the finest of the lot.
It resembled the Queen, with flowers about as large on the
average, but of a more decided pink. The leaves are of
medium size, arranged so as to set off the flower-cluster well.
The stems were very strong at the base of the cluster of leaves,
with no tendency to fall to one side when the pot was tilted.
The scapes are not tall nor the flowers numerous, but they
rise far enough above the leaves to show effectively, and offer a
charming mass of delicate pink, though the petals are a little
multiplied ; they lie so nearly in a plane as to give the flowers
the simplicity which is liked by most persons in the blossoms
of the Primrose, for those much doubled by the crown of
leaves at the throat looked somewhat disheveled even when
at their best. Some flowers of the Queen, in the same collec-
tion, were the largest noticed in the whole exhibit, measuring
fully two and a quarter inches across. I'ine flowers of the
Queen were also shown by James Carter &Co., High Holborn,
London, and by other exhibitors. Other good plants from
Swanley, were Swanley Giant, a large rose-colored variety,
White Perfection, Princess Mary, a large white with leaves of
extraordinary size, Lilacina, exquisitely variable in color, with

FeISRUARY 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

95

delicate tints of lilac-blue. This and White Perfection were of
the long--leaved kind.

The purest white seen was in the exhibit of Vilmorin-
Andrieux et Cie., Paris. It was appropriately named Purity,
being- perfect in its tone of white. The flowers were of
good size, though not of the largest, the truss well placed amid
green leaves on purple stems. Many tlowers of Mont Blanc,
in the same lot, were nearly of as pure a white, but some were
faintly blushed with pink, as were some good ones of this
name in the exhibit of William Bull, Chelsea, England. The
Avalanche, from Mr. Bull, was a large and beautiful white,
one of the best. Another good white, Filicina alba, was in the
exhibit of Henry Metle, Ouedlinburg. The plants were tall and
strong, abundant bloomers, Howers of fair size, and Fern-
leaved foliage. Other good strains in the sets from Paris were
Grand Rose and Grand Blanc Came, both large-flowered, the
pale corolla of the latter with a Hush of pink. In the exhibit of
Mr. Bull may also be mentioned Pink Beauty, a very hand-
some pink, with flowers of medium size, those on the lower
branches too much covered by leaves for the best effect;
Comet, a showy red ; Fulgens, a bright red, with the margins
of the petals a little dotted with white, and slightly of the punc-
tate order.

In the exhibit of John Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, London,
were a number of good double-flowered kinds. Macros alba
plena showed pinkish white flowers and long leaves. Marmo-
rata plena was a double reddish white, the flowers prettily
splashed and colored with red or dark pink. The best red in
this collection, Chiswick Red, carried very large flowers of a
rich dark red, inclining to purple, the greenish eye encircled
with a narrow band of white. They were fine, thrifty plants,
with large leaves and prolific umbels. The same strain in the
lot of Farquhai & Co. v^as about as good. Crimson, sent by
Kelway & Son, Langport, England, was another very bright
red, and Vermilion, from Carter & Co., red, and a little punc-
tate. The Dark Red of Rupp & Son showed well. There
were several reds of the Kermesina sort, some quite coppery,
and with slight metallic reflections. These, with the salmon-
reds, carmines, scarlets, purples and other shades, showed the
multiplicity of tints into which the color of the original stock
had been varied. Dainty flowers of the punctate kind were
frequent, with two or three rows of white dots quite regularly
placed near their margins, but occasionally scattered. The
flowers were generally small, but abundant.

There were blues and lavenders in most of the exhibits
which attracted much attention. It is barely ten years since
the blue race of Chinese Primroses with fringed corollas was
established, but the display here made shows that the color is
fi.xed, and comes true from seed. Carter & Co. showed two
excellent kinds, London Blue and Porcelain Blue, both large-
flowered. Haage & Schmidt, of Erfurt, had fine ones labeled
Coirulea. Another was the Blueof Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie.,
with purple foliage.

A few sets were seen of a different character, the flaked or
striated. They were mainly white-flowered, with lines and
spots of various shades of red, in form and size varying from
dots and lines to spots covering a petal or even half of the
corolla. The colors were mostly too irregularly placed to be
harmonious and pleasing, but may point the way to some
striking variegated forms. Some plants in the exhibit showed
possibilities of yellow flowers by enlarging the yellow of the
throat. One in particular was noticed, Oculata lutea (Laing &
Son), a singular form of this character, having a large yellow
spot enclosed by a border of white or white tinged with red.
Even the foliage had a yellow cast.

The most peculiar exhibit was that of Hillebrand & Brede-
meier, Italy. They were very distinct in foliage, with leaves
remarkably crisped, their lobules having the parenchyma
very full, so as to be formed into a frill or ruffle. To some
extent this characterizes the calyx also. The leaves are sym-
metrical in form, from oval to oblong or a little obovate in
some cases, their color varying from pale green to dark purple.
They are beautiful-leaved plants, as handsome and decorative
in their way as are the fine-flowered kinds. The flowers are
generally single, mostly small, and often without the fimbri-
ated margin. One of the most crisped was Candidissima,
white-flowered and with purple foliage. Carnea has flesh-
colored corollas, the yellow eye enlarged and star-shaped, and
the foliage green. A view of these plants led one to think that
the perfect Primrose would be one combining the crisped
leaves of the Italian growers with the fine flowers seen in the
collections from northern Europe.

Too much praise can hardly be given to Mr. John Thorpe
for the cultural skill which has brought forward tliis immense
collection in such uniform health and vigor.

Englewood, Chicago, 111. E. J. Htll.

The Forest.

The Forests and the Army.

'pHE establishment of five national parks by acts of Con-

-•■ gress, and the setting aside of six reservations of forest-
lands by the proclamation of the President, covering 3,252,360
acres, necessitates the adoption of some well-defined metiiod
for their care and protection. The reservation of forest-lands
surrounding the head-waters of our great rivers is an impor-
tant gain and a most beneficial act ; but unless some plan is
matured at once for their government and protection, the trees
are liable afany time to be destroyed by fire or the axe of the
plunderer. Requisition has already been made on the army
for the protection of the parks, and it is to the army again that
we must turn for the preservation of these new reservations
at least until Congress can find the time to pass some law like
the Paddock bill, Senate, 3,235. Until suitable laws are en-
acted it is evident that the army must be our chief reliance-
and even under so comprehensive a measure as the Paddock
bill the assistance of the army would often be needed. Brio-a-
dier-General Ruger. of the Department of California, under
date of September 8, 1891, writes : " In view of the probability
that for convenience, if not from the necessity of the case
troops will for some time to come be employed to protect
from damage the large tracts of country like the national parks,
set aside for specific objects, it is desirable that general neces-
sary rules applicable for all the parks should be made, prefer-
ably by statutes, with suitable penalties for infringements, and
that the powers of the troops employed in the enforcement of
rules for the protection of the parks be more clearly defined."
Even should suitable forest-laws be enacted, the question
arises. Would it not be well for at least some portion of the
army to have a knowledge of the general principles of forest-
management ? If this is desirable it can be accomplished in no
better way than by the introduction of text-books on forestry
and instruction on that subject in the post schools. By general
orders from headquarters of the army, dated October 7, 1890,
the methods of management and instruction in these schools
were left to the discretion of post-commanders under such
special instructions as department-commanders might deem
essential, and the latter were intrusted with the duty of the
selection of text-books. The general sentiment of the officers
directly interested in this matter, as well as of those respond-
ing to the circular of inquiry, is in favor of a uniform course
of studies prescribed by the' War Department under a general
system and with fixed rules for exemptions and rewards, and
for qualified teachers, to be suitably remunerated. That the
maintenanceof a post-library, containinga judicious selection
of interesting and instructive books, is a positive benefit to the
enlisted men and becomes an important factor in improving
the morale of the army, is too evident a proposition to need
argument. *

Some of the results of Lieutenant Reber's non-commissioned
officers' school at Fort Meyer, Virginia, are interesting. He
regrets the lack of proper text-books, and then goes on to give-
an example of work done. Hasty sketching was explained at
full length, and detailed instruction given in the use of the
various topographical signs, use of instruments and plotting of
a hasty survey. Then the class was divided into parties and
sent into the field equipped with box and prismatic compasses,
and the road in the vicinity of the post surveyed and plotted!
The various maps were then condensed into one large map by
two members of the class.f Although a majority of the men
had never before seen a compass, the work proved most sat-
isfactory. Here we see what can be accomplished with a class
of ignorant men by an able and interested teacher. Quoting
again from Lieutenant Reber's report, he says : "The unques-
tioned necessity of a larger scope in their instruction being
admitted, I can see no better way than to unite the non-com-
missioned officers of each battalion into a class under a compe-
tent instructor and to follow a course prescribed by the War
Department."

If the care of the forests on the public domain is to be as-
signed to a portion of the army, why may not the War Depart-
ment include the study of forest-condilions in the larger scope
of instruction ? It would be a subject likely to interest many
of the men, especially if it were known that some forestry work
would probably be a part of their duties. It has been said in
some quarters that the soldiers object to the work assigned
them of protecting our public parks. I have yet to hear of any
well-grounded proof of this report.

Whatever may be done respecting the army, there is impera-

* Report of Adjutant-Getieral J. C. Keltoii, 'October i, i8
t Report, March 23, 1891.

96

Garden and Forest.

[Number 261.

tive need of further legislation by Congress for the preserva-
tion and care of our forests, leading to some system by which
the trees on certain tracts shall be preserved, and in other
places cut down under suitable restrictions.

My conclusions are : I. That text-books on forestry and km-
dreii subjects sliouKl be placed in all the army-post libraries.
2. That instruction should be given to the non-commissioned
officers, wherever possible, in forestry and collateral studies
bv competent teachers. 3. Forestry and the related sciences
should be t.iught at West Point until a national forestry school
is established by the United States Government.

NorU,A,.dov.r.Ma«. J. D. W. FreMCh.

Notes.

The name of the Cineraria comes from the Latin cinis,
cincris, meaning ashes, and refers to the whitish down which
covers the leaves of tl>c plant.

The MorMtng Netcs, of Wilmington, is authority for the
statement that a Spanish Oak was lately cut on the land of Mr.
F. T. Warrington, near Georgetown. Delaware, which meas-
ured eight feet across the stump and from which he obtained
a stick of timber sixty feet long, which squared two feet
throughout its entire length.

One of the least famous monuments in New York is the
statue of Washington which stands on the Riverside Drive
near the foot of Eighty-eighth Street. Yet it deserves attention
more than most of our statues, for it is a copy of tlie one which
was executed by the great French sculptor Houdon, in the
vear 1785, and now stands in the State House at Richmond,
Virginia.

The Journal of Horticulture shows an interesting picture of
Tinnea /Kthiopica, a beautiful winter-flowering plant, too little
known, and belonging to the Labiatte. Not only is it elegant
in habit, and the ilowers richly and distinctly colored, but they
also possess a delicious fragrance very strongly suggestive of
Violets, so that a few specimens in bloom will agreeably per-
fume a moderately large house. The corolla is two-lipped,
the lower lip being of a fine maroon color, and the upper one
more of a rich crimson hue. The calyx is large, slightly in-
flated, and pale green. The flowers are freely produced in
axillary clusters at the upper portion of the shoots.

In bulletin No. 22 of the Mississippi Experiment Station some
interesting trials with Grapes, with careful explanations as to
the method of cultivating thein, are recorded. It seems that
the Vine is perfectly at home in that latitude and that it bears
well even on rather wet ground. Common Vine diseases are
not specially destructive and the much-dreaded Black Rot is
not prevalent. Another disease, however, which is called the
Ripe Rot, or Bitter Rot (Melanconium fuliginium), is a rather
serious enemy which the copper compounds as yet have failed
to prevent. July is the season when the grapes ripen in Mis-
sissippi, and the wet weather which usually occurs then seems
to aggravate the trouble. It continues to develop on the fruit
after it is picked.

From the January issue of the Quarterly Bulletin of the
University of Minnesota we learn that the plant collectionsof the
botanical department of the university are united with those
of the botanical division of the Geological and Natural His-tory
Survey of the State, under the direction of Mr. Conway Mac-
Millan, the state botanist. The field-work of the botanical
division of the survey was specially directed during 1891 to
completing the representation of the flowering plants of
Minnesota, the Ferns and Fern allies. Fungte and Algae ;
and the collection is now believed to be reasonably com-
plete so far as relates to the highei; flowering plants, al-
though it is said to be still deficient in well-filled series of
Mosses, Liverworts, Lichens, Alg:c and Fung.-e.

The abrupt faces of the cliffs which form certain parts of the
shore of the Isle of Wight yield a harvest of useful herbs, to be
gathered with diflficulty and danger. The most important of
Uiem is the Samphire (Crithnium maritimum), which has
fleshy leaves and pallid, odd-looking flowers. Very dangerous
parts of the cliffs are sometimes scaled to procure it in quanti-
ties, the plants as they are picked beingdroppedintoaboatlying
below. Occasionally one man undertakes the work alone, but
usually two or three engage in it. The one who is to descend
lies around his body a rope which is fastened to a crowbar se-
curely planted at the edge of thecliff,andholdsanotlicr by means
of which he can signal to his fellows above. When he shakes
this they haul at the safety-rope, and he assists their efforts by
climbing up it, hand-ovcr-hand. The most difficult part of the

feat is when the top is reached, and he must unfasten the
safety-rope in order to pull himself over the slippery verge.

From the publishers. Messrs. Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie., of
Paris, we have received Lcs Plantes de Grande Cultitre-Ce-
rfales, Plantes Fourageres, Industrielles et Economiques—^n
enlarged edition of the catalogue of these plants first issued
by this house more than thirty years ago. The present work,
a volume of two hundred pannes, contains carefully prepared
descriptions from the pen of the head of the house, Monsieur
Heni.y L. de Vilmorin, of the principal species and varieties of
plants employed in agriculture, illustrated with excellent figures
reproduced from drawings by Monsieur Godard, and accom-
panied by cultural notes. As the author points out, in his short
introduction, the races and varieties of cultivated plants are
changing with such rapidity that many, like most Potatoes, for
example, which are now most valued and most generally cul-
tivated, were not known fifteen years ago. This necessitates
the frequent rewriting of books of this character, which, to be
of any practical value, must be based on careful experiments
and close observation ; that the present work is written in this
spirit and that its authority is unquestionable no one will doubt
who is familiar with the scientific methods and conscientious
research which mark Monsieur Vilmorin's previous publi-
cations.

We have, in former numbers, quoted from Mr. Hale's in-
structive talks on peach-growing, but we add here a few dis-
connected paragraphs from his address at the recent meet-
ing of the Western New York Horticultural Society on the
suljject of which he is so thoroughly a master. Ele-
vated lands have returned the most fruit-crops, and the
heaviest fertilizing with potash and phosphoric acid, with the
least nitrogen, have given the healthiest growth. By severe
pruning and high fertilizers he has succeeded in forcing a tree
which was attacked with yellows to produce one or two good
crops, but afterward the tree would suddenly die. His prac-
tice now is to root out such a tree as soon as it shows any symp-
toms of the disease. He prunes so as to make a low, broad
tree with an open head until it comes to a bearing age. No
pruning is done until the buds begin to swell in spring, and if
none of these buds have been killed then the tree is pruned
with care as to its form. But if many of the buds are killed
the aim is to cut these away and leave the living buds. This
practice has resulted in giving some very bad-shaped trees,
but very profitable ones. The fruit is always thinned so as to
leave no specimen within six inches of another. Experi-
ence has shown that a well-developed tree, which will bear six
baskets of fruit, will bear just as much if half of the fruit is
removed. If two-tliirds are removed there is a chance of
getting seven or eight baskets of fruit and two or three times
as much money for it. The fruit is left on the trees
until thoroughly ripe, though not mellow, and then it is sorted
into three grades, packed into the cleanest baskets possible,
and no defacing is allowed. To judge whether the fruit is
ripe enough to pick, a branch is lifted carefully and then the
most shaded spot on the peach is examined, and if that has
begun to tinge then the peach is fit to gather. The white first
varieties seem to be the most hardy, and Mountain Rose and
Keyport White are the best of these. Hill's Chili is the best of
the yellow varieties, but if it is not well-grown it will be so
woolly that it needs shaving before being sent to market.
When thoroughly thinned, however, the fruit is admirable,
and it is the best of peaches to can. He uses about a ton of
fertilizers to the acre, broadcast always, and applied every year
from the time the trees are first set out. Two parts of bone
to one of potash is about the proportion of his mixture. Stable
manure makes too coarse a growth.

Catalogues Received.

E. F. Brockwav, Ainsworth, la.; Evergreen Seedlings. — D. M.
Ferry & Co., Detroit, Mich. ; Illustrated Oescriplive Catalogue of
Choice Vegetable atul Flower Seeds, Fruit Tree, Forest Tree and
Hedge Seeds, Grass and Grain Seeds. — Lord & Burnham, Irvington-
on-Hudson, N. Y. ; Large and Handsomely Illustrated Catalogue
showing Greenhouse Structures designed and erected by the firm and
representing types of houses varying from siin])le to the most elab-
orate.— Wii.i.iAM Parry, Parry, N. J. ; Small Fruits, Fruit and Orna-
mental Trees. — Parsons & Sons Co., Kissena Nurseries, Flushing,
N. Y. ; Deciduous Trees, Shrubs, Vines and Creepers, Evergreen
Trees and Shrubs, Hedge Plants, New and Rare Hardy Plants, etc. —
Carl Piiroy. Ukiah, Mendocino County, Cal. ; Wliolesale Price List of
California Bulbs. — Vii.morin-Andrieux & ClE., 4 Ouai de la Megis-
scrie, Paris ; General Illustrated Catalogue of Grass, Vegetable
and Flower Seeds, Catalogue of Cereals, Forage-plants and Plants
for Food and Imlusfrial Purposes. Beautifully printed and il-
lustrated.

March i, 1893. J

Garden and Forest.

97

r^ ADr^triVT a l\Tr^ HT/^DCCT' from the woody tube which has connected it with the seed-

VjAKLJtlrlN AINU rLJrxCOl. leavesduringitsgrowth, andfallstothesround, theroot-end

sticks fast in the mud, while the young unfolding leaves at

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY the Other end are held up above the surface of the water.

Without this arrangement for aerial germination the seed

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. dropping into the wet mud would rot, and without the long

radicle weighted at the lower end the seedling-plant could

Office : Tribune Building, Nkw York. not fasten itself in the ground, and SO might be washed

away and destroyed, or hold its unfolding leaves above the

surface of the water.

^ , ^ ^ ^ A tree on an exposed shore, with nothing but soft mud

. Conducted by Professor C. S. Sakghnt. ^^ j^^j^ jj^ ^^^^^ ^^^j^ ^^^^ ^^ overturned by the wind

____^ , without it was provided with a special anchoring appara-
tus ; and the Mangrove is made secure in its position by
KST^ED AS sEa>Ni«L«s MArm. AT THE Po^ OFFICE AT NEW voRK. N. V. ^^^-^j ^^^j^ devcloped from the stcm and branches. The

^=^=:^=^=^^==^=^^=^=:^^^^^^=^= first appear at some distance above the ground, and arch-

NEW YORK. WEDNESDAY, JWARCH i, 1893. !"& outward descend into the mud at a considerable dis-

^■^ tance from the stem, while the second descend vertically,

===^=======^=^=^== and, attaching themselves to the soil, gradually thicken,

TABLE OF CONTENTS ^""^ finally become stems. By means of these extra roots,

' the home of oysters and barnacles, the Mangrove is not

„, „ , ,,„.,. c > ''*'^^' only firmly held in position, but, by gradually extending

Editorial Articles :— The Manerove-tree. (With figures.) 97 ,, "^ , ,. , .. , ° , , ■', =".

The Gift of a Tract of Land on the Charles River 98 the shore-line by a contmuous outward development of

The Value of Marsh Lands .....98 j-Qots, IS able to reclaim solid land from the water. For the

■K,'"^ '^^Z'-a'^'-'-d ""' ^' mass of roots and stems hold a part of the mud washed in

Plant Notes :—Hvbnd Brier Roses 100 . . . . r . , , , . , ,

Foreign Correspondence :-A Famous English Nursery V. C. .01 by rising tides, and With the aid of the leaves, which the

Cultural Department :— Orchids for Window Plants y. N. Gerard. 102 Mangrove sheds in great numbers every year, gradually

ROT'S'!^?.^f.'l!".^^.^".°"^''.'''.'f."V.y.;V.'.y.V.:V.V.V \°o consolidate it, and the seedling-plants are provided with

Cuftivited'paims in California J. c. Harvey, zoa, soil. In this Way a vast territory has been formed along

CoRREspoNnENCE:—FeedinK-piaces for Birds .Percy c.ohi. ,os the tropical shores of the world, and for a period longrer

New Hybrid Cvpripediums Robert M. Grey. 105 ,, ,, , . 1 ,1 ht , , "

Saiix baisamifeVa Edward L. Rand. 105 than the human mind Can measure the Mangrove has been

The Season in Northern California CariPurdy. 106 fulfilling- its mission on the earth and slowly turning- water

The Forest:— The White Mountain Forests J. B. Harrison 106 • t 1 V4 jo

The White Pine for Timber Robert Douglas. 106 inlO lanQ.

Exhibitions :— Carnations at Philadelphia 107 In the gcnus Rhizophora three species are recognized

The Flower Show at Rose Hill Nurseries..., 107 by botanists ; thesc are all similar in general appearance

ECENT oBLicATioNs 107 ^^^ j^^ habit, and only differ in the form of their leaves and

Illustrations :-The Mangrove-tree (Rhizophora Mangle) in Florida.Fig! ,7." '. '. ,01 i» SOme Unimportant floral characters. TwO SpCCies belong

The Mangrove-tree (Rhizophora Mangle) in Florida, Fig. i8 103 to the Old World, whcrc thesc trees are found in Asia,

= Africa, Australia, and on all tropical islands, while the

The Mano-rove-tree third species, Rhizophora Mangle, is American and an

'^ ' inhabitant, in the United States, of Louisiana, Texas and

A TREE which seemed to shoot dart-like branches from southern Florida, where it is extremely abundant south of

its top into the ground, where they proceeded to take Mosquito Inlet and Tampa Bay, especially on Cape Sable,

root and grow, which from its trunk sent forth roots cov- the shores of Bay Biscayne, and on some of the smaller

ered wi,th oysters and other shell-fish, and appeared to drop southern keys, which are occasionally covered by it.

from its branches streams of resin which consolidated into Rhizophora Mangle is a beautiful, round-topped, bushy

stems, was naturally an object of astonishment to Europeans tree with spreading branches ; usually it is only fifteen or

three hundred years ago, and in many of the narratives of twenty feet high, and so entirely occupies the ground with

the early voyages to the west coast of Africa and to the its innumerable roots and stems that no other tree can

West Indies and Brazil are accounts more or less fantastic grow in company with it ; sometimes, however, it is found

of the tree which is now called Mangrove, or Rhizophora. in ground which is not saturated with salt-water, and then

Wonderful as were these stories travelers brought home, it grows up tall and straight to a height of seventy or

they are less wonderful than the peculiar adaptation of the eighty feet and forms a narrow head and few aerial roots.

Mangrove to maintain its existence under conditions which Such trees as this (see illustration on page loi) are not

would destroy it without some such special provisions, and uncommon in Florida on the shores of some of the small

not only to exist, but to spread over large areas and play a streams flowing into Bay Biscayne and on Cape Sable, and

well-defined and important part in the economy of nature. when they are seen from a distance it is dililicult to be-

The home of the Mangrove is on the borders of muddy lieve that they belong to the same species as the trees

tropical tidal marshes along the margins of shallow salt or which grow on the tide-water banks of the neighboring

brackish streams, lagoons and estuaries. A tree placed in lagoons. The trunk of a tree of the ordinary form, with

such a position without a solid hold for its roots, and its stout anchor roots, appears in the illustration on page

with no dry ground for its seeds to germinate in, would 103, which shows the peculiar habit of the tree as it usually

soon disappear unless supplied with special means of over- appears in Florida, growing under favorable conditions,

coming these difficulties. This the Mangrove is able to do The leaves of Rhizophora Mangle are opposite, oval,

by its power to develop aerial roots and by the peculiar entire, thick and leathery, dark green and very lustrous,

structure of the seed, which germinates in the fruit while and are enclosed in the bud by long lanceolate stipules

on the branches. The fruit of the Mangrove is a conical, which fall as the leaves unfold. The flowers, like those of

dry berry containing a single seed with fleshy, closely many tropical plants, are produced continuously through the

united seed-leaves and a long thick radicle or stem ; this, year, as the Mangrove knows no period of rest; they are

when the fruit is of full size, begins to grow, and, perforat- yellow, an inch across when fully open, with acute-ribbed

ing the point of the fruit, increases in length until it is some- calyx-lobes and minute petals covered on the inner surface

times a foot long ; the lower end, from which the roots are with long white hairs, and are borne singly on the branches

to grow, for the radicle is the first joint of the future trunk, of stout two or three-branched stems produced from the

is much heavier and thicker than the other which contains axils of young leaves. The fruit, before the radicle pro-

the bud, so that when it attains its full size, and separating trades from its apex, is shaped somewhat like a strawberry

98

Garden and Forest.

[Number 262.

and is an inch or an inch and a half long and of a rusty-
brown color.

As a timber-tree the Mangrove is valuable. The wood,
which is considerably heavier than water, is dark red-
brown in color, very strong and solid, with a handsome
satiny surface ; it makes excellent fuel, but as long straight
trunks are not very common it is not much used as timber;
in Florida it is valued for wharf-piles, as the teredo does
not relish the tannin it contains and so leaves it alone.
All the Mangroves hold in their wood and bark large quan-
tities of tannic acid, and the bark has been used in tan-
ning, but the leather it makes is of inferior quality, and
until some method can be found for making it valuable
this immense store of tanning material is practically value-
less and the Mangrove is left to carry on in peace its quiet,
tireless labor.

The two portraits of the Mangrove which appear in this
issue are from photographs made on the streams flowing
into Bay Biscayne, in Florida, by Mr. James M. Codman,
of Brookline, Massachusetts, to whom we are indebted for
the opportunity to reproduce them.

The town of Weston, near Boston, has accepted, with
gratitude, from >Ir. Charles Wells Hubbard the gift of a
tract of land along the banks of the Charles River. This
tract, says the Boston Herald, "comprises about nineteen
acres of beautifully diversified meadow and woodland,
bordering East Newton Street and the river, and forming
part of the picturesque valley through which the Boston
and Albany Railroad winds its way between Riverside and
Wellesley Farm stations. So much interested have promi-
nent citizens of Weston become in the proposed recom-
mendations of the Metropolitan Park Commission, with
regard to the preservation of water frontages near Boston,
and so desirable do they regard the permanent preserva-
tion of the beauty of the river-banks, that it is understood
that, in case the Legislature favorably considers the Com-
mission's report, Mr. Hubbard's example will be followed
by further gifts of land, so that ultimately the entire front-
age of the Charles in the town of Weston may be dedicated
forever to the use and enjoyment of the public. This will
not only preserve one of the most beautiful parts of the
river, biit will go a very long way toward securing the de-
sired action relating to the entire stream."

The Charles River is not only especially beloved by the
residents of eastern Massachusetts, but is held in affection
by all intelligent Americans, even those who have never
seen how singularly charming a stream it is ; for it has
been celebrated in prose and verse to a greater extent than
any other American river, not excepting even the Hudson.
It is the one stream in America whose name has a classic
flavor as connected with the lives and imaginings of many
writers whose works are sure of permanent life. Therefore,
we may accept, from the point of view of poetic sentiment,
as well as the point of view of merebeauty, the words of the
writer in the Boston Herald, when he adds : "The Charles
River has the same value to the people of Boston and its
metropolitan surroundings that the upper river Thames
bears to the inhabitants of London. It is a great factor in
the recreation of the people. Particularly important in this
respect is the charming stretch between Newton Lower
Falls and Waltham. Here alone over 800 pleasure craft of
various kinds are kept. This proposed gift of land on the
Charles, aggregating something between 200 and 300 acres,
is but one instance of the prospect of valuable gifts of the
kind in other parts of the metropolitan district, in case the
recommendations of the Metropolitan Park Commission are
adopted. The prospect of such beneficent action on the
part of public-spirited citizens should prove one of the
most powerful arguments for favorable action by the Leg-
islature in relation to the work of the commission." Those
who have followed the work of the Boston park commis-
sion during recent years, who know how broadly, yet care-
fully, its steps have been considered and then taken, and

who have seen the tracts, lying in various directions from
the centre of population, which have already been pur-
chased or condemned for future purchase, realize, indeed,
that in some respects the government of the chief city of
New England may be held up as an example for imitation
to the governments of all other American towns. The
Metropolitan commission was appointed to consider the
needs of the community living in and outside the munici-
pal limits of Boston. If the recommendations, which we
have already discussed, are adopted, then the New Eng-
land metropolis will indeed be fortunate.

The Value of Marsh Lands.

PROFESSOR SHALER, in an interesting paper published
in the annual report of the Massachusetts Board of Agri-
culture, calls attention to the value of the extensive marshes
of that state, vvhicli should really be esteemed a valuable
possession rather than a melancholy encumbrance. While
our country was but thinly inhabited, such land was allowed
to go to waste, but, as population increases, public attention is
beginning to be called to the necessity of utilizing more of the
area of tiie state for cultivation, and these once disregarded
tields are beginning to be regarded as objects of economic
importance. In Holland the value of its polder land is fully
appreciated, and large sums have been spent in draining such
marshes as are to be seen along the New England coast for
miles. It is estimated that there may be ninety thousand
acres of marine marsh in addition to 150,000 acres of fresh
meadow in Massachusetts alone, most of which could be
made to pay a sfood income upon the amount necessary to
expend for reclamation. The process of making peat-bogs
serviceable for agriculture in Europe has been conducted m
tlie slow and unenterprising fashion that characterizes the
movements of the older world. It has been left for New
England to find out the way in which cranberries can be raised
with prompt and satisfactory results upon the lightly sanded
surface of a peat-bog, which Professor Shaler considers one
of the great discoveries of modern agriculture and a proof of
the inventive talent of the Yankee farmer.

When it is possible to secure a sufficient supply of fresh
water to inundate these bogs, in order to protect the flowers
and fruit from frosts and from insects, this industry has been
so successful that it is said to return a larger percentage on
the capital invested than any other form of tillage which has
been practiced in the northern states of this union. Unfortu-
nately the area in Massachusetts where the Cranberry can be
cultivated is veryjimited, as it cannot be raised profitably far
from the sea-coast nor very far north of Boston. The berry
is, to be sure, raised even as far north as the St. Croix River in
Maine, but untimely severity of the weather often endangers
the crop in that more rigorous climate. The marsh is pre-
pared for planting by covering the surface of the peat, after
stripping off its upper coat of vegetation, with sand, preferably
from the sea-shore, and inserting therein the plants to such a
depth that their roots can feed upon the underlyinjj vegetable
matter. Stimulated by the moisture and protected by flooding
in case of early frost, this late-ripening berry brings in valu-
able returns. There are many anxious moments as the critical
period arrives, and only the eye of the master has the requisite
vigilance to know just when the door of waters must be un-
locked to prevent an unlucky nipping of the blushing fruit.
Also, when the picking time comes, a whole neighborhood
has to be turned into the meadow to secure the ruby harvest
with requisite promptness.

When it is considered that a million dollars' worth of straw-
berries and cranberries are raised in one year in Massachu-
setts alone, the value of land where both these crops can be
supplied with the requisite moisture may more seriously be
estimated. For, not only are these bogs valuable for the
Cranberry, but it is certain that with much less expense they
can be made available for the crops of the market gardener.
For these crops the costly arrangements for flooding the land
will not be necessary, nor will pure sand only be required, and
any arenaceous soil at hand can be substituted. The great
difficulty of plowing such land can be avoided by using trac-
tion plows, drawn l)y engines placed on the firm ground, or
by spading the whole surface. By thorough ditching and
draining the water-level can be lowered until the peat attains
sufficient firmness to support draught animals, and should
plowing be impossible even then, from the frequency of
the ditches, the light character of the soil would make hand-
cultivation easy. On such land, strawberries, which delight in

March i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

99

moisture, can be grown to great advantage, and the needs of
the soil can be met with mineral fertilizers, which can be ap-
plied with comparative accuracy. The best market ground in
Florida is a mixture of peaty matter and pure sand, and there
the mineral manures are applied as experience dictates with
good results. We have much to do in the way of experiment
m the management of such lands, but there is no doubt that
when the shrewdness of the American farmer is once brought
to bear intelligently upon the problem, the peat-bogs can be
made as valuable for gardens here as they are in the low
countries, and with less trouble and delay.

The same is true of the salt-marshes that abound along our
Atlantic border, which result from the gradual filling up of
small bays and arms of the sea by marine grasses, which af-
ford a lodging-place for sediments borne to the spot by the
action of the tide, or washed down from the shore. This pro-
cess, which goes on constantly, can be observed in any small
harbor where the Eel Grass flourishes and gradually closes up
the channel. These sea-marshes, when reclaimed, show a
fertility which is surprising from its apparent inexhaustibility.
The soil, unlike that of the peat-bogs which requires constant
application of chemicals to correct the excess of vegetable
matter existing in it, seems rich in material for the growth of
economic plants, and affords enormous crops of grass and
grain, year after year, without other fertilization than the occa-
sional renewal of the surface by deep plowing. All garden
crops that do not demand especially dry soil grow on such
land with great freedom, and a flower-garden on such soil is
a delight to the gardener, for it never needs watering. Irises
and Lilies of all kinds do especially well in the rich, damp
mold, and perennials grow most luxuriantly.

It requires several years to conquer a salt-marsh, even after
it is drained of salt-water and provided with an exit for the
fresh, for the fibrous peat, made of the tangled remains of the
grasses of hundreds of years, is slow to decay, and the salt
still at times encrusts the surface and has to be destroyed by
plowing. Still, under favorable conditions, the ground after
three years can be brought into excellent condition. In the
beginning, root crops are the most desirable, and later, the soil
is fit for grasses, of which Red-top affords the best returns. In
Marshfield, Massachusetts, an area of about fifteen hundred
acres was diked off from the sea some years ago, and though
local dissensions have delayed the work, yet the results have
shown the value of the experiment — fields which once yielded
only a scanty crop of marsh grass now giving a generous har-
vest of hay and root crops.

As a feature in landscape-gardening a bit of meadow-land
is most valuable. The drains can take the form of a winding
stream. Osier Willows can readily be made to grow even along
a salt-marsh, by affording them a bed of sand to spread their
roots in, and shrubs can be tastefully grouped in the curves of
the miniature river, while flowers that love moisture can be
effectively disposed in masses. The varying tints of the level
stretches of turf are full of beauty, and the smooth, flat ex-
panse has the charm which always attaches to an open, grassy
space well girt with trees. If the meadow be fresh, all sorts of
planting is possible to enhance and emphasize its characteristic
beauty, and even if it be salt, there are many things that can
be made to grow along its borders, and its own level will lead
the eye away and give a sense of openness and distance that
are of great importance in any landscape.

Thus, both for use and beauty, marsh lands are to be prized
and made available for profit and delight. The peculiar
struggle involved in their reclamation has always a singular
attraction for him who undertakes the business, for no man
who joins b itlle with a meadow is content to come out second-
best, no matter what victory may cost him. Hence ensues a
prolonged encounter, in which the man ultimately finds profit
and gains valuable experience. That the experiment will pay,
the experience of Europe amply proves, for the best lands of
Great Britain, northern Germany and Holland, and much of
those of excellent quality in southern Europe, were, a thousand
years ago, in exactly the same state as the undrained territories
of this country.

A Rare Fern.

THIRTEEN miles from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I found,
September 10, 1892, a specimen of the rather rare Fern,
Bradley's Spleenwort (Asplenium Bradleyi). About a quarter
of a mile from Young's Ferry, Warren County, a hill extends
for a mile or more, crowned by perpendicular sandstone cliffs.
On the side of the bluff sloping from the river, shaded and pro-
tected from the winds by the overhanging cliffs, the Mound
Builders or Indians evidently made their homes. In some

places the cliff is almost a perpendicular wall of sandstone, at
others the rock is worn and broken into picturesque ravines
and grottoes. Into one cleft an immense stone has fallen and
lodged between the walls, resembling in miniature the well-
known Flume of the White Mountains. In other clefts are
grotto-like places resembling parts of Mammoth Cave. Over
and above these caves, through shrubs and Ferns, could be
caught glimpses of the sky.

The soil along the river at this point and in the adjoining
counties is rich in asphaltum. At the foot of the lull is a grove
of magnificent Beeches. The hill itself is covered with a
stunted growth of Sassafras and other trees and a tangle of
Blackberries. On the sand-stone cliff and ridge is a growth of
Laurel (Kalmia latifolia). Huckleberries (Vaccinium arboreum)
and V. vacillans) and Sourwood(Oxydendrun arboreum). On the
ridge I found the grass Erianthus alopecuroides and the still
rarer White Gentian (Gentiana ochroleuca). The view from
the top of the ridge is fine in the extreme, being a panorama
of the knobs and valleys for miles around, and overlooking
three counties. On the cliff above and below are masses of
Ferns drooping in the greatest profusion, the smaller ones
growing in mats in the moss on the rocks. The latter were
common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare). Walking-leaf Fern
(Camptosorus rhysophyllus), called by the country people Wall-
link, Maiden-hair Spleenroot (Asplenium trichomanes), and
with them Liverworts and Partridge- berry.

The larger Ferns, some of them over three feet in height,
were Aspidium spinulosum, var. intermedium, A. marginale
and a few of the Cinnamon Flowering Fern (Osmunda cinna-
momea). But the gem of all in point of interest, if not of
beauty, was the one specimen of Asplenium Bradleyi. Here
in a crevice of the moist sandstone, shaded and protected
from the wind, grew this rare Fern, first found in 1872 in the
Cumberland Mountains, near Cold Creek, East Tennessee, by
Professor F. H. Bradley, and described by Professor Eaton soon
after. The mature fronds are seven and a half by one and a
half inches, linear oblong, pinnate, pinnse numerous, oblong
ovate, the largest pinnatifid, fruit-dots short, stipe black, tufted,
the lower half of rachis black also ; root-stock ^ery short and
covered with black scales..

Professor Williamson, in his Kentucky Ferns, says that
though he botanized throughout the entire state where A.
Bradleyi was likely to be, he failed to find it. Professor Hus-
sey, in his report, wrote that he found one specimen in Ed-
monson County, near Green River and Mammoth Cave, and,
though he searched a hundred similar localities, failed to
find another. The only other report of it I have heard is by
Mr. C. C. Hoskins, m 1876, from near Big Clifty, Grayson
County. A specimen is now in the herbarium of the Uni-
versity of Indiana, but where this was gathered I do not know.
Professor Eaton, in his Ferns of North America, mentions that
a single specimen of a less-developed form has been collected
near Newburgli, New York; also, that Williamson found a
plant in Estill and Rockcastle Counties, Kentucky. This must
have been since the publication of his Kentucky Ferns. Hp
adds that it will probably prove to be less rare than is sup-
posed, and to have a wider range, since the Newburgh plant
is manifestly identical with the plant found in Kentucky.
However, this work was published in 1880, and few, if any,
specimens have been reported, at least to my knowledge,
since that time. I should very much like to know whether
there are other botanists who have found this Fern during
recent years, and if it is still considered a comparatively rare
species.

Professor Hussey thus described the place where he found
it, in Edmonson County, Kentucky: " Under the overhanging
sandstone, sheltered from the sun and sweeping winds, are
sometimes spaces of vast extent, where the aborigines had
their homes, as evinced by the numerous fragments of flint,
and by the mortar-holes in the detached masses of sand-rock.
On one of these sandstone clift's I found the Asplenium Brad-
leyi, and, recognizing it as new, sent it to a botanical corre-
spondent, from whom I learned it had already been described
by Professor Eaton. . . . Under a moist overhanging rock, a
few hundred yards distant, was found the Trichomanes radi-
cans, shut out from direct sunlight, and where there was con-
stant dampness."

This is a perfect description of this point near Green River,
where I found the plant of A. Bradleyi, and not three fee
away, under an overhanging rock, grew the rare Tricho-
manes radicans. Flint fragments were picked up and a large
mortar-stone stood near by, in front of the grotto. The rock
was about five feet in diameter, two feet high ; near one side
was a mortar-hole about five inches in diameter and about ten
inches deep.

lOO

Garden and Forest.

[Number 262.

I have since visited the Old Indian Fort, a natural fort,
seven miles from this point, and other similar cliffs in this
locality, but have failed to find another plant of this Fern.

BovUoK Green. Ky. ^- ^' i^i^e.

Plant Notes.
Hybrid Brier Roses.

A RECENT issue of The Garden contains a colored
/\ plate of a group of the hybrid Brier Roses shown in
London last year at the metropolitan exhibition of the
National Rose Society by the raiser, Lord Penzance, an en-
thusiastic rosarian and liberal supporter of the society.
These hybrids are obtained by crossing the Sweet-brier
with various Hybrid Perpetual Roses, chiefly Alfred
Colomb, Dr. Sewell and Paul Neyron. The new race is
sweet-scented, with foliage as fragrant as that of the Sweet-
brier. The color of the flowers varies, however, from
light pink to scarlet, and in the Rosarian's Year Book,
Lord Penzance reports that " as many as four or five of the
seedling Sweet-briers which have hitherto flowered have
now turned out to be perpetuals, blooming a second time
tin the autumn and blooming then freely. During the au-
umn of 1 89 1, indeed, in spite of the heavy rains they
have gone on blooming right through the month of Octo-
ber, and they bloom, like tneir seed parent, in clusters. An
additional charm, and in my estimation a great charm, is
to be found in the fact that these flowers have a very de-
licious scent — a scent quite independent and different
from that of the foliage." From an article by a correspond-
ent of TTie Garden which accompanies the plate of these
charming flowers the following account is condensed :

Many lovers of the Rose will call to remembrance the col-
lection of hybrids of the Sweet-brier and other types Lord
Penzance sent to one of the meetings of the Royal Horticultu-
ral Society in June, 1891, and later I0 the Rose show held at
the Royal Aquarium. They illustrated in a remarkable de-
gree the possibilities of cross-breeding in Roses, in which work
nis lordship has proved eminently successful.

In a paper contributed to the Rosarian's Year Book for 1891,
Lord Penzance asks. How do these modern Hybrid Perpet-
uals comport themselves in the garden ? He answers his own
question, by saying, " We all know how hard it is to make a
lovely object out of a standard Rose, and whenever this is
done it is achieved only by a very careful and skillful use of
the pruning-knife. But, take the dwarfs. Do they form them-
selves into what used to be known as a Rose-bush ; or are
they not given to exhibit a straggling, unequal growth, one or
two shoots breaking up from the crown or the lower part of
the plant and robbing the life from the rest ? If cut back hard
in the spring the plants become a stumpy, somewhat insignifi-
cant and not a very captivating object. If subjected to what
the French call the 'taille longue," they are apt to become
leggy and shabby in the lower branches. Here, again, there
is no doubt but that a good deal may be done by skillful
pruning, but the growth of the plant does not lend itself
readily and naturally to the formation of an even head or sym-
metrical bush." It must be admitted there is much truth in
the foregoing remarks.

Lord Penzance is of opinion that the gift of autumn-flower-
ing of the Hybrid Perpetuals comes from having been crossed
with what he calls the Eastern Rose — the Rose de Bengale of
the French. The comparatively scanty bloom of many of the
Hybrid Perpetuals, and the contrast between the old summer
Roses and the modern Hybrid Perpetuals are very striking.
The old summer-flowering Roses are covered with bloom in
their season. I saw a striking instance of this in an old gar-
den at Enfield during the past summer. A path, arched with
wire trellises, had been covered years ago with the old-
fashioned summer Roses, and at the time I saw them they
were in grand bloom ; indeed, in such happy plenteousness,
as to form a floral sight worth going miles to see, but the gar-
dener, knowing the fleeting character of the Rose-bloom, had
wisely planted, among the Roses, Clematises and other late
summer-flowering subjects to carry on the floral Succession
until the autumn. Lord Penzance points out that the class of
Roses known as Hybrid Chinas and Hybrid Bourbons, none
of which ever bloom a second time in autumn, put forth a
sheet of bloom in ever^ part of them during the summer
with a profusion which it would be difficult to name half-a-
dozen Hybrid Perpetuals capable of emulating. Two more

well-known defects in the Hybrid Perpetuals are mentioned.
They are destitute of fragrance, and "many, if not most of
them, are short-lived." It was the existence of these defects
in our most popular class of Roses which induced Lord Pen-
zance to try if something better could not be produced by
working upon new lines. Recognizing the fact that the races
or families of the Rose are capable of combining by cross-
fertilization, his lordship entered upon a line of action of his
own with the object of securing a new Rose which might be
free from some of the existing defects. The Sweet-brier was
selected as the natural basis of a new race. In the first place,
it is indigenous to the soil and climate ; it is proof against the
most vicious attacks of our English winters ; it is superior to
the weakness of mildew, and as little subject to the troubles
of the Rose as any other species. It is a prolific seed-bearer,
and " more certain to bear fruit when fertilized with pollen of
other Roses than any Rose or class of Roses that in my limited
experience has presented itself."

Some interesting facts are noted. The seedlings obtained
by impregnating the Sweet-brier with foreign pollen had a re-
markable strength of root and growth, and struck readily from
cuttings. The sweet-scented foliage of the Sweet-brier was
also produced. A complete cross was obtained between the
Sweet-brier and the Persian Yellow, the bloom larger than that
of the Sweet-brier, pale yellow in color, and the foliage fully as
fragrant, if not more so. The Austrian Copper, crossed on to
the Sweet-brier, produced a seedling, the bloom not quite so
deep in its color as that of the pollen parent, yet a close copy
of the original, with the sweet scent of the Brier diffused in its
foliage. The pollen of the Hybrid Perpetuals, the Hybrid
Bourbons and the Hybrid Chinas, put upon the Sweet-brier,
produced distinct crosses — distinct in the sense that the wood,
foliage, habit of growth and the thorn are not those of the
Sweet-brier.

"Among hundreds of Sweet-brier seedlings," says Lord
Penzance, " which are evidently crosses, I have had only one
that did not retain the sweet foliage of the seed parent, and as
to this one I cannot help thinking there must be some mistake
as to its parentage." All attempts to cross the Sweet-brier
upon the Hybrid Perpetual have failed to produce scented
foliage, but the seedlings so obtained have been small, and
Lord Penzance is not by any means hopeless of attaining this
result.

So far the blooms of the Sweet-brier seedlings show but little
tendency to doubleness. Lord Penzance states that none of
them as yet have given him more than two complete rows of
petals. It is his desire to secure a greater degree of double-
ness, and he hopes to succeed in another generation or two of
seedlings. With this end in view, it is his intention to cross
them again with the pollen of Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid
Chinas and Hybrid Bourbons. Other crosses have engaged,
and still are engaging, the attention of Lord Penzance, such as
the Moss Rose, Cellini, with the Musk Rose, Fringed Musk,
which he has secured ; the joint characteristics of the progeny
are unmistakable. Monsieur Cr^pin, the distinguished au-
thority on the botany of the Rose, pronounced it to be a dis-
tinct hybrid.

One difficulty in the way of the cross-fertilization of Roses is
to procure " the pollen required at the right moment. The
time at which, and during which, the stigmas of the flower to
be operated upon are mature and fitly receptive is very uncer-
tain and of short duration. The same thing is true of the
anthers, and the liberation of pollen, and this makes an op-
posite combination between the stigmas of one race and the
pollen of another no- easy task." But in the course of his
operations Lord Penzance has discovered that the pollen of
the Rose can be kept in full vitality if preserved from all
moisture or damp for many weeks — in short, from one end to
the other of the hybridizing season — and in his experience the
preserved pollen may actually produce a larger proportion of
seed than the pollen fresh from the flower. Not that it is to
be understood that preserving pollen adds to its fertilizing
power, but that " it can be applied to the stigma of the seed-
bearer in much fuller quantity and much more handily and
adroitly than can be done with the fresh. When the pollen
bursts from the anthers in the first instance it very often breaks
forth in small quantity only, and the supply of it is at times apt
to fall sliort in the midst of an operation." Then ripe pollen
is not always obtainable when the flower to be dealt with is
exactly fit for the work, and there is a temptation to take the
pollen before it is fully ripe.

It must not be supposed all the crosses made by Lord Pen-
zance have succeeded. He has failed with the Boursault and
Microphylla types ; also with Rosa Sinica and the Macartney
Rose, but there is the right ring in the resolve with which his

March i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

lOI

lordsllip concludes his interesting and instructive paper when
he says, " I have hitherto been vanquislied in these attempts,
hut I shall not give them up until I have received a good
many more rebuffs."

Reading by the banks of the river Thames. American
visitors to England who are interested in horticulture find
much to interest them in the fine seed warehouses and

Fig. 17.— The Mangrove-tree (Rhizophora Mangle) in Florida.— See page 97.

(Foreign Correspondence.
A Famous English Nursery.
\NE of the most famous English nurseries is that of
/ Messrs. Sutton & Sons, who, with the Palmers, of

trial-grounds. Mr. Martin Hope Sutton is the senior mem-
ber of the firm. The father of Mr. Sutton was a miller
and corn merchant and was greatly averse to adding
garden seeds to the business. Soon after leaving school
in 1832 the present Mr. Sutton undertook a three days' walk
to see some remarkable Tulips at Slough^and Brentford,

102

Garden and Forest.

[Number 262.

and then, via Staines and Sunninghill, to see the celebrated
nurseries of Knap Hill and Woking. He met there Mr.
Low and Mr. Waterer and walked back in the night some
twenty miles to be at his desk at the usual time in the
morning. In 1S37 a nursery was established at Reading.
The nursery business was ultimately abandoned, and plants
are now grown solely for seed.

Probably the first impulse to the cultivation of field as
well as garden seeds was made on the occasion of the
great Irish famine, when immense quantities of seed were
required by the Government and large orders were exe-
cuted. The warehouses and offices of the firm are unusu-
ally fine and the buildings represent, inclusive of the land
upon which they are erected, an outlay of /"loo.ooo. The
imposing front of this establishment is one of the con-
spicuous features in the town. The arrangements for the
quick delivery of orders and replies to the daily corre-
spondence are perfect, while the welfare of the employes is
carefully considered. On the King's Road in a large block
of buildings are a restaurant, lecture hall, with a sitting ac-
commodation forone thousand persons, and reading-rooms.
A caf6, designed especially for the workmen of the firm, is
opposite to the Abbey Square, and contains bedrooms, din-
ing and club rooms. In the seed or trial grounds there are
broad acres of vegetables, annuals and other flowers for trial.

Several houses are given over to the Chinese Primula and
Persian Cyclamen. This firm has done much to improve
the Chinese Primula, of which they have the latest and
choicest varieties. These flowers can now be had for
about six months in the year by successive sowings, and
they furnish an abundance of bloom at a dull period of the
year. It is interesting to compare the varieties of the
present day with the first Primulas ever raised and with
the typical plant sent over from central China to England
in the year 1S21, and reintroduced recently. I saw plants
of this wilding in bloom here, differing greatly from the
superb flowers with which these houses are filled. The
type has lilac flowers ; the leaves are small, but vary con-
siderably in size and also in the color of the stems, some
being red and others white. The blue Primula is the result
of selection and recrossing, during many years) of flowers
showing shades of lilac. The latest successes with this
variety are seen in the plant-houses at Reading. While the
blue Primula of the present cannot be described as an
ideal blue, the color is improving each year, the magenta
tone being less evident Reading Blue is a superb flower,
broad, large and of intense color, with a compact truss car-
ried well above the base of sturdy leafage. There is a
double counterpart to this fine form raised from a single
variety. The flower is quite double, but less so than the
Marchioness of Exeter, and approaches more in character
the old Double White Primula, as it was called in Eng-
land. In spite of the many splendid recent acquisitions,
the old Double White Primula is still more largely grown
for the English markets than almost any other greenhouse
plant It blooms freely, the flowers are of the purest white
and the plant is easy to grow. One market-grower in the
vicinity of London has several houses filled with this
variety. The double Primula is just becoming a favorite
in England and its popularity is likely to increase. At
Reading this section is well represented. A double blue is
one of the most pleasing varieties, and there are, besides,
double carmine, double white, fern-leaved, double rose, a
very pleasing shade of color, and double scarlet, a brilliant
scarlet and exceptionally free in blooming.

Additions to the prevailing list of colors are continually
being made, and in time these may be surpassed by even
such fine single varieties as Giant White, Pearl, Giant
Crimson. Purity, Reading Scarlet, Ruby King and Reading
Pink. The change in habit has been almost as great as
that in the flower. Years ago the Chinese Primula, like
the Persian Cyclamen, was scraggy and leggy, the leaf
long and lacking in robustness. This is all changed now.
The leaves of the Primula of to-day are vigorous and make
a splendid base from which, on a sturdy stem, the head of

flowers rises, borne in a compact shapely truss. A mass
of the Giant White presents an even surface, each flower
standing out boldly. A section likely to become popular
is the moss curl-leaved, the foliage of which is very pretty
and curled up like moss. I also noticed a variety named
Terra Cotta, which is quite distinct. The flowers are single,
finely shaped, terra cotta in color, shaded with salmon.

The Persian Cyclamens figure largely at Reading, and
this fine winter flower was at its best at the time of my
visit. A great advance has been made in the improvement
of these plants in the matter of sturdy habit and decided
color of flowers. There are no dingy magenta shades in
the strain at Reading, a color that spoils utterly many
otherwise fine varieties. Sutton's White Butterfl)' is a su-
perb kind ; the flowers are very large and of the purest
white. This is a useful variety for cutting. The same
high standard is reached in Giant Crimson, Wliite, Rose and
Vulcan, the latter of a rich crimson tone. Splendid plants,
a mass of leafage, are the results of one year's cultivation,
the seed being sown early in the year and the plants flow-
ering the following winter.

What has been written respecting the cultivation and
improvement of these two great classes of indoor plants is
true also of Gloxinias, Tuberous Begonias and many
other florists' plants grown by this firm. In the summer
months the extensive trials of annual flowers are interesting
and important features of the work of the firm. Last year
broad beds were filled with the new annual introduced by
them, named Nemesia strumosa Suttoni. This is likely to
prove a great favorite. The seed grows readily, and a bed
of plants produces flowers in great variety of color,
the shades of orange from sulphur to deep crimson making
a rich effect It belongs to the Scrophulariaceae and was
introduced about 1887 from central Atrica. The plants are
very free-blooming, each of the flower spikes, which rise
nearly a foot in height, bearing many flowers, which meas-
ure about an inch across individually. The same cultivation
that applies to half-hardy annuals is suitable for Nemesia.

An important department of the firm's work is that of
growing vegetables for trial. All visitors to English horti-
cultural shows are acquainted with the splendid produce
exhibited by Messrs. Sutton & Sons. The firm makes a
specialty of Potatoes, and in all their trials have carefully
kept in view the importance of securing kinds that resist
disease. The well-known Magnum Bonum variety was
sent out by them. The firm has seed farms in many
counties of England and also in Scotland, and they are
thus able to furnish tubers from different conditions of cli-
mate and from various soils. They also give this same
special attention to the cultivation of Peas, and no less
than four hundred trials of the leading kinds in cultivation
are made each year. Ringleader was distributed by this
firm, and many other excellent varieties. They have now
a large list of unnamed seedlings on trial, and these will
undergo the selecting process until they are ready for dis-
tribution. Cabbage, Turnips, Mangel Wurzel and other
farm crops are grown largely and subject to the same
painstaking care as in the case of the Potato and Pea.

Reading is about thirty miles from London, and express
trains run at frequent intervals to this busy country town,
which has much of interest to antiquarians. A pleasant
and profitable day's outing is offered in a walk through the
quaint streets of the town and through the spacious
grounds and houses of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, especially in
the summer season, when the various trials of flowers and
vegetables are seen to the best advantage.

England. V. C.

Cultural Department.
Orchids for Window Plants.

THERE is no doubt that even a larger list of Orchids than
that given by Mr. Manda in a recent number of Garden
AND Forest can be cultivated and Howered successfully in
window-gardens. Tliose able cultivators, the women who

March i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

103

manage so many home plants, often grow plants which are
more difficult to cultivate. A few Orchids in the amateur's
collection need not displace old favorites. They usually re-
quire just enough management to make them interesting, and
in most places are still unique enough to excite general atten-
tion. It is unfortunate in many respects that there has been
so much artificial glamour thrown about Orchids, as it has
greatly impeded their distribution among small growers who
are apt to think of them as plants beyond their means or skill.
The actual fact is that many of the free-tlowering kinds are
easily managed and can be bought at a moderate price. A
newspaper description of a dinner commonly includes a satin
and point-lace table-cover, and the same authority rarely fixes
the value of an Orchid at less than a thousand dollars. While
every one discounts the first story there is a tendency to accept
the latter, and amateurs simply let the plants alone without
further inquiry.

Any one having a window-garden or conservatory not
heated by hot air, or a greenhouse, need not hesitate to grow

easily grown white-flowered Orchid, and one of the most sat-
isfactoiT. Any one should be able to flower Lycaste Skinneri.
Of the Cattleyas, C. Trianae is the most common, and seem-
ingly tlie most popular, though the type is of a most depress-
ing red-purple. C. Mossiae, C. Percivaliana and C. Dowiana
are also easily managed. C. citrina, the curious yellow fra-
grant Cattleya, is not apt to be long-lived, but is worth grow-
ing. Another yellow-fiowered Cattleya, C. chrysotoxa, of the
usual family form, is beautiful, and a relief from the purples.
Of the Odontoglossums, O. Alexindrae crispum is undoubtedly
the handsomest. O. Rossi major is a very satisfactory species,
white, with brown spots, easily managed, and very profuse in
flower.

Any of these plants can be had, established in pots or bas-
kets, at a moderate price, or at a higher price if select forms
are wanted. Sometimes one can do better by buying unflow-
ered plants, with a chance for something better than the av-
erage. When a plant-collector finds a lot of plants in flower he
naturally marks the extra choice, which, of course, a re ht Id

Fig. 18. —The Mangrove-tree (Rhizophora Mangle) in Florida. — See page 97.

Orchids, especially the cool kinds. I find considerable satisfac-
tion in growing about three dozen plants. They do not re-
ceive more special attention than other classes of plants in the
same house, and they give a full share of flowers. During the
winter there is usually a succession of bloom from even this
small collection. As my greenhouse is at some distance from
the dwelling, when the plants flower I enjoy them by the sim-
ple expedient of hanging them up in the living-room, the air
of which does not seem to affect them nearly so much as it
does soft-wooded plants. As to temperature, they take their
chances with Begonias and similar plants, but I find that those
do the best which hang under the glass near the ventilators,
where they get plenty of fresh air. Here I have Cattleyas
in variety, Laelias and Odontoglossums, the latter only when
they are about to flower ; at other times they are grown
in a cool compartment. Many of the Cypripediums, as C. in-
signe, C. barbatum and C. Lawrencianum, as is well known,
offer no difficulties in culture. Coelogyne cristata is also an

for high prices. The general collection will vary considerably,
and it is reasonable that the dealer should not sell the best
varieties, after testing, at the lowest price. Those who are
making collections of Orchids usually buy largely of collected
unflowered plants, especially if they think a collector has been
in a good district, so that they may select good forms at a fair
price, and then sell the discarded plants. This wholesale buying
had, however, better be avoided by the amateur beginner, as it
leads to business, which it is well to keep free from if pleasure
is the object of growing Orchids. ,^ ., ^ ,

Elizabeth, N.J. _± . J. N.Gerard.

Billbergia Bakeri as a House-plant.

IT is not easy to say why the Bromeliaceous order is not
more favorably regarded by cultivators ; for, though it con-
tains many plants of a highly ornamental character, a large
part of which require no more care than Geraniums and similar
plants, and succeed in a temperature by no means high, we may

I04

Garden and Forest.

[NOMBER 262.

go through a score of gjreenhouses without tlnding one of this
order, except, perhaps, a variegated Pine-apple. I have culti-
vated Billbergia Bakeri for the last twenty years with much
satisfaction, it never having failed in that time to blossom at
the proper season. At this time, February 15th. every
new growth is sending up its thick clusters of buds, although
on our coldest morning the water in the deep vases of its
leaves was skimmed over with ice, showing a remarkable de-
gree of hardiness in a Brazilian plant.

Billbergia Bakeri has a tufted habit of growth, the leaves, to
the number of six or eight, springing up together from the
surface of the soil and clasping each other at the base so
closely as to form wafer-tight vases. These leaves are about
twelve inches long and two broad, as stiff to the touch as
parchment, dark green changing to dull red at their edges, and
covered externally with a whitish dust. If kept in a warm
house the Hower-spike will show itself as early as the first of
January at the bottom of the leaves, the buds wrapped in the
rose-colored bracts, forming a mass as thick as a man's
thumb.

When fully developed this plant is a very beautiful object,
with its four or five large rosy bracts and its dense pendulous
cluster of tubular blossoms, bright green with violet tips, and
twisted orange anthers. The cultural requirements of the
plant are simple. Like most of the order, it lives, apparently,
on the moisture of the air and the water in its vases. It has
no need of a pot except as a base to stand on. I have had as
many as six spikes in bloom at once on a plant in a two-inch
pot, and, of course, no repotting is necessary. Beyond giving
an abundance of wafer, almost the only care needed is to cut
off the old leaves when the flowers have faded and the new
growth is about six inches high. IV. E. Endicott.

CantoD. Mass.

Roses.

T HE month of February usually includes a number of dull
days and much damp weather in this latitude. Great care
in watering, ventilating and heating Rose-houses is therefore
necessary, for while the rays of the sun are becoming stronger
each day the changes are sudden and frequent. Light top-
dressings of manure should be given from time to time. If
[the Roses are in a good growing condition such an application
will be beneficial once in six weeks ; not more of the fertilizer
than a depth of one inch should be applied. The fertilizer
most in favor among large Rose-growers is a mixture of horse
and cow manure, short and well-rotted. Special fertilizers
have been tried by some growers, and occasionally with good
results. Nitrate of f>otash and nitrate of soda are among the
most satisfactory, but I think in most instances they have been
more effectual when combined with the soil than when given
in surface applications. Bone-dust continues in favor and is
an excellent and lasting plant-food, providing it is the natural
bone, ground up, and not the mere fibre of the bone from
which various oils have been extracted, this having very little
value for indoor-gardening. This fertilizer may be used to
advantage by mixing a moderate quantity in the compost in
which the Roses are planted, and also as a top-dressing,
though in the latter case it is well to mix the bone with some
soil, or the fertilizer may be thinly spread over the surface of
the bed and then covered with a very thin coating of stable-
manure. Droppings from the hen-house make a quick and
powerful fertilizer, but must be applied with caution, and are
l>etter mixed with some fine soil.

Methods and measures of heating still prove interesting
topics among Rose-growers, and especially so at this season
of the vear, for the quality of the Bowers produced largely
depencls on the care given to this particular. Among com-
mercial growers steam-heating is quite general, from the fact
tliat it is more easily regulated; but its economy as compared
with a good system of hot-water heating has not been
thoroughly proved ; and, in fact, the weight of evidence, where
comparative tests liave been made, has been in favor of hot
water on the score of economy. For small establishments
and private growers the latter system is best, as a night man is
not required.

The difference in temperature required by different varieties
make a careful selection of varieties for forcing needful ; it
will readily be seen that, among Roses, Meteor, a variety that
furnishes good flowers in a temperature of sixty to sixty-five
degrees cannot be successfully grown in company with Papa
Contier, because the latter gives its finest blooms in a night
temperature of fifty-three to fifty-five degrees ; when grown
in a warmer temperature it usually fails before the end
of the winter. Madame de Wafteville is another Rose of
peculiar behavior when forced, and also seems to be most

satisfactory in a comparatively hii^h temperature and ir>
rather light soil ; Madame Cusin is oi somewhat similar char-
acter, both these being admirable varieties when well grown,
but having little beauty unless properly managed. Madame
Tesfout has been receiving some adverse criticism as a com-
mercial variety during this, its second season, the fault most
noted being the comparatively weak stem on which the large
flowers are produced ; but as the requirements of this variety
are better understood better results will probably be secured.
Some other varieties now considered standard have passed
through just such criticism in the first years of their introduc-
tion. Empress Augusta Victoria seems to be gaining in favor ;
the flowers are large, full and borne on stout stems well
clothed with handsome foliage. The claim of the introducers
seems to be warranted that this variety would prove a decided
acquisition to the list of white, or nearly white, Roses.

Mr. Burton's new pink Rose, American Belle, is, in my esti-
mation, superior to its parent, American Beauty, in one respect
at least, that its color is clear and pleasing. American Beauty
is seldom clear except when freshly cut, whereas flowers of the
American Belle, kept in wafer for several days, continue in good
colortotheend. In habitof growth it would be almost impossi-
ble to distinguish American Belle from the parent variety, ex-
cept that, at present, if appears slightly weaker ; this may be
due to overpropagafion, and will probably be remedied by a
few seasons of careful growing.

The latest Mermef sport placed upon the market, and now
recognized under the name of Bridesmaid, is a handsome
Rose ; it is best described as a dark Catherine Mermef, the
lovely form of the original Bower being faithfully reproduced.
This sport seems now to be much more promising than its
predecessor on the same line, Waban, the latter having failed
as a forcing variety in most places, though at times producing
some very handsome flowers.

Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin.

Cultivated Palms in California.

NOTHING in the whole range of vegetation so impresses
the traveler from less-favored climes than the presence of
lofty Palms. Af the residence of Mr. Kinton Stevens, of Mon-
tecifo, Santa Barbara County, can be seen a pair of Cocos
plumosa, less than eleven years old, over twenty feet high,
with well-defined trunks. In the same gardens are thrifty
specimens of Seaforfhia elegans and Jubsea spectabilis, the
Coquito, or little Cocoanut of Chili, the latter a very hardy
Palm ; there is also a good collection of fan-leaved Palms,
including Sabal Palmetto, of Florida. At the residence of Mr.
Sheffield, in Santa Barbara, is a fine Seaforthia, which has
already produced fertile seeds.

In Los Angeles, at the home of Mr. E. Germain, flourishes a
thrifty plant of Kentia Forsteriana. This plant has been in the
open three winters and is a model of health and beauty. Few
species can surpass Kentia Forsteriana ; it ultimately attains a
height of forty feet ; it is indigenous in Lord Howes Island.
At Mr. H. Jevne's place a smaller example of the same species
seems well established. Near Rosedale cemetery, in a private
garden, a good young specimen of Cocos plumosa occurs ;
this has been planted out for several seasons. Mr. Forester, on
Seventh Street, and Mr. Declez, on Sand Street, also havegood
plants of Seaforthia elegans, out several years in the open
ground; at Coronado Beacli, beautiful plants of Areca Baueri,
Kentia Forsteriana, Seaforthia elegans and Cocos plumosa can
be seen. There yet remains a number of good Palms to be
introduced to open-air cultivation, notably Kentia Belmoreana,
K. Canterburyana, K. sapida, Areca Baueri, Cocos flexuosa,
C. australis, C. coronata, C. Yatai and C. Romanzofflana, Ce-
roxylon Andicola, Caryota urens and Ptychosperma Alexan-
drias, all of varying degrees of hardiness. In some particularly
sheltered and warm places along the foothills, it is not improb-
able that Oredoxa regia would flourish.

We know comparatively little of the Andean Palms of Bo-
livia, or the remoter alpine regions of Venezuela, while Para-
guay is almost a botanical terra incognita. Count Castleman,
during his great Brazilian expedition, records having seen
many Palms on the confines of Paraguay; of only a few of these
isanything known. Spruce, in his valuable essay on thePalms
of the Amazons, alludes to several genera and species as
occurring at considerable altitudes. Iriartea ventricosa and
I. exorhiza ascend the Andes to 5,000 feet. According to Hum-
boldt, Ceroxylon Andicola, the famous Wax Palm of Columbia,
was found growing in the Cordilleras, near the pass of Quindiu,
between Ibague and Cartago, at from 7,900 to 10,000 feet, in
company with Podocarpus-trees and Quercus Granatensis, not
very far from the snow-line. From the temperate mountain
regions of subtropical Mexico are known, among others,

March i, 1893."!

Garden and Forest.

105

Chamsedorea concolor and Copernicia Pumos, the latter a fan-
leaved Palm, at elevations^f from 7,000 to 8,000 feet. In my
garden, Chamsedorea desmoncoides seems quite hardy.
Some of the Mexican Acrocomias and Astrocaryums, splen-
did spinescent Palms, would undoubtedly flourish in favorable
places here. In Ceylon, Oncosperma fasciculatum, a slender-
stemmed prickly Palm, of great elegance, occurs as high as
5,000 feet, while Copernicia cerifera, the Brazilian Wax Palm,
extends into Argentina, and would likely flourish here.

It should- not be inferred that the fan-leaved section of
Palms is much less beautiful in all species than those of the
former group. Indeed, a few species rival and some excel
the pinnate Palms in magnificence, and no paper would be
in any degree complete without reference to them. Com-
mencing with Washmgtonia filifera, which is abundantly rep-
resented, we have, in lesser numbers, Chamaerops excelsa
and C. humilis, picturesque, but stiff and ungraceful Palms.
Not quite so common is Corypha australis, a fine Australian
Palm. Still rarer is Latania Borbonica, a fine fruiting speci-
men of which can be seen at Mr. Hancock Johnson's place in
East Los Angeles. There are two other fine Palms, rarely
seen, and yet their native habitat is less than 400 miles distant —
Erythea edulis, from Guadaloupe Island, off the coast of Lower
California, and E. armata, occurring in deep canyons just
below the state line in Lower California. They are both quite
hardy and make splendid plants as they attain size. The for-
mer has rich, dark green leaves, much darker than Washing-
tonia, and without the filaments so characteristic of this spe-
cies, while the foliage of E. armata is an ashy blue, and one of
the most distinct of Palms.

The Sabals, of which S. Palmetto, of Florida and other
southern states, is so well-known, are rarely seen in our gar-
dens here. All are sufficiently hardy. All of the species of
Thrinax are elegant plants. — J. C. Harvey, in Rural Calif or-

Correspondence.

Feeding-places for Birds.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The destruction of birds through the severe cold and
the snowing under of seed-bearing weeds and other food-sup-
plies, will in some sections of the country be complete. Cedar-
trees provide excellent shelter for quail and grouse, and their
berries, which last season were very abundant, afford them food.
Years ago an occasional stack of grain was left in the fields for
the birds, giving them at once food and protection from the
cold. There are yet some farmers imbued with the spirit of
Walter von der Vogelweid, who

Gave the monks his treasure,

Gave them all with this behest.
They should feed the birds at noontide

Daily on his place of rest.

One of my neighbors daily throws a few handfuls of grain
on a stack of corn-stalks near his barn, to the delight of a
large number of birds, who are regular visitors. Game socie-
ties should see that food is distributed where birds abound, in
places that will not be covered by snow and ice. Many of our
quail are the offspring of southern birds, and their instincts do
not prepare them in the first generation to battle with our cli-
mate or to search for food. I observed recently a bevy of
nine birds frozen to death, within half mile of a sheltered
swamp, to which our native birds would have gone.

Plainfield, N.J. Percy C. Ohl.

New Hybrid Cypripediums.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest:

Sir, — The following new hybrids have recently flowered in
Mr. H. Graves' collection at Orange, New Jersey :

Cypripedium X Tacita, Measuresianum X Tonsum. The
foliage of this new hybrid is very striking. The leaves are five
to eight inches long and one and a half inches wide, dark
green, with darker reticulation above, the reverse suffused
with vinous purple, particularly the midrib and base; flower-
scape slender, pubescent and monoflorous ; seed-pod pale,
covered with purplish pubescence ; flower waxy, large, five
inches across, ground color sepia-green, shaded with vinous

Irown ; the dorsal sepal is veined with brown and margined
ith white ; petals rounded, tapering toward the base, a me-
ian line of brown extending their full length ; the upper half
I slightly the darker, on which the customary hairs are want-
ig ; lip rather acute, with longouter lobes, which are barbate ;
i

the infolded lobes are slightly spotted with brown ; staminode
obcordate.

Cypripedium x Hebe. This variety was obtained by cross-
ing C. Spicerianum with C. Stonei. The general appearance
of both plant and flower is like C. Spicerianum, but the foliage
is more pointed and stiff, and the flower more graceful. The
flower-scape is erect, slightly pubescent, about ten inches long,
and bears one flower; the dorsal sepal is much reflexed, hir-
sute, and white, with a purple midrib and green base ; petals
two inches long, pointed, wavy and hirsute at base, primrose-
yellow, shaded with brown, divided by a brown midvein from
apex to base ; lip apple-green, tinted with brown on front ; the
infolded lobes lavender ; staminode octagonal, lavender-pur-
ple, with a yellow disk. ... ^

Orange, N.J. Robert M. Grey.

Salix balsamifera.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — A few further notes regarding the distribution of Salix
balsamifera in New England may be of interest to those who
have read the account of this species on pages 28 and 82 of the
present volume of Garden and Forest.

Since the article by Mr. Bebb, in the Bulletin df the Torrey
Botanical Club was written, it has been found that this hand-
some Willow extends over northern New England. Although
somewhat local in distribution, this species may be confidently
looked for in more or less abundance anywhere north of the
latitude of the White Mountains, and it may appear frequently
somewhat south of this line. In some localities it is far from
being an uncommon plant, and in others it appears only here
and there over a great extent of territory. It certainly is extraor-
dinary that such a well-marked and distinctly beautiful spe-
cies should have been so long confused with S. cordata, and
perhaps with S. discolor, some forms of which it slightly re-
sembles. To the description of the species it seems proper to
add, that under favorable conditions the height of this shrub
may be much greater than ten feet. In a swamp at Fran-
conia. New Hampshire, it has been discovered by Mr. Charles
E. Faxon, fully eighteen feet in height. Such plants, however,
are rare.

About twelve years ago specimens of this Willow were col-
lected at Fort Kent, Aroostook County, and at Patten, Penob-
scot County, Maine, by Miss Kate Furbish. They were laid
aside and their identity unsuspected until last year. In 1888,
a number of new stations were discovered in Maine, and the
plant was identified beyond question. These stations were :
Orono (M. L. Fernald), Mount Desert (Rand), and Greenville
(Edwin Faxon). At the first-named station only one small
plant was found, which has since been destroyed. At the last-
named station a great number of plants were observed. In
Mr. Faxon's opinion this Willow is probably common in all
the region south of Moosehead Lake. A year later, in 1889, I
discovered one plant at Andover, Oxford County, nearer the
New Hampshire line.

Thus far. Mount Desert Island seems to be the only coast
station within the limits of the United States where the pres-
ence of this interesting Willow has been reported. It may be
well, therefore, to say a few words in regard to its distribution
and growth under such geographical conditions. As seen at
Mount Desert its height varies from two to six or eight feet.
Its range of distribution is from the sea-level to mountain-
bogs, about one thousand feet in altitude. Although the moun-
tain forms are smaller-leaved and more stunted in habit, they
cannot be regarded as anything but typical in form. The most
marked peculiarity of its distribution lies in its local character,
and in the fact that in very many of the fifteen or more sta-
tions here known, the plant is represented by only a single
specimen, with no other plant of the same species apparently
occurring in the neighborhood. During the last four years,
Mr. John H. Redfield, Mr. Edwin Faxon and myself have made
close search for this Willow on the island, but we have no-
where been able to find it in very great abundance. It is not,
therefore, a plant that at Mount Desert would be likely to make
much impression on any but a sharp-eyed observer, in spile
of the great beauty of its male flowers and of its foliage. It
would be well if this striking Willow could be more used for
planting at Bar Harbor and elsewhere in place of shrubs that
are little in keeping with the character of the scenery, and that
can thrive only under artificial conditions.

In this connection another interesting Willow of Mount
Desert may be mentioned, Salix petiolans, Smith, var. angus-
tifolia, Anders., D C. Prod, xvi., pt. ii., 234 (S. rosmarinifolia, Bar-
ratt. Hooker and others). " It is a northern form of the species,
undistinguishable at the west from var. gracilis, Anders., into
which it passes, but is here worthy of varietal recognition,"

io6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 262.

says Mr. Bebb. As it is found at Mount Desert it grows in
meadow copses to a height of eight to ten feet or more. The
leaves are small, seldom more than one mch m length, very
narrow dull in color, usually with more or less rusty pubes-
cence on the under surface. The foliage is very thick, almost
gray in color effect. The shrub is often very compact and well
shaped. It is common on the island under suitable conditions,
and would make an excellent shrub for planting in low ground.
Away from Mount Desert 1 have not yet observed it. Mr. Bebb
states that it had not been called to his attention when the sixth
edition of Gray's Manual was published as occurring withm

'^^^S^*"'*^' """"^ °^ "'^' *'°'''" Edward L. Rand.

The Season in Northern California.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— The vegetation in this part of California is but little
more advanced now in the second week of February than it
was in December. Throughout January the nights were
frostv. the days being bright, except that the month ended in
a heavy storm, cold weather and a flurry of snow. Tiie lowest
temperature of thisseason was twenty-four degrees below zero.
There have l)een few flowers, and 1 have observed in blossom
only Irish Anemones, Crocuses and Narcissi. Lauristnius is
blooming, and so also is the Japanese Quince. Acacia molis-
sima,very common here as ashade-tree, begins toshow color,
and among the wild trees the Manzanita and California Laurel
are beginning to grow.

The open winter has been favorable for starting new
orchards. Throughout the state the number of fruit-trees
planted has been very large. December and January are
the favorite months for putting out deciduous trees. More
Peach and Prune-trees are being planted this season than any
other kind of fruit-trees. Favorable prices for products last
season have greatly stimulated the fruit industry.

In a January issue of Garden and Forest I called attention
to some inequalities of climate here in places not far apart.
An incident of last week serves well to emphasize the point.
Cloverdale, a neighboring town, situated on the same stream,
at an altitude differing but a hundred feet or so, and only
thirty miles distant from us, has been holding a citrus fair.
The town-hall was well filled with fine oranges grown without
the least protection in the yards and orchards of the burgh. In
a few years the Orange-groves now planted there will yield
several car-loads of fruit.

It was with much interest that I read Mr. Horsford's article
in Garden and Forest of February ist, on "Some Ameri-
can Bulbs." The rainy season in Mexico comes at the same
time as the dry season in California. Hence Mexican bulbs
are naturally dormant during your winter and start intogrowth
in spring. In California, bulbs, such as Calochortus and Bro-
disea, ripen up soon after the cessation of the winter rains, that
is, in May and June in northern California, and a little earlier
in southern California. The dry summer is their season of rest,
and with the first fall rains they commence active growth,
which iscontinued during winter. All Californian bulbs should
be planted In the fall, and it is my experience that they can
scarcely be kept from growing in winter, even when dry, in the
house. I notice that cultivated bulbs can be kept dormant longer
than wild bulljs, but it is likely that these will gradually change
their habit in cultivation. I note that bulbs of Camassia escu-
lenta, from Holland, are quite dormant now, showing no
sign of growth, while collected bulbs kept dry have long
sprouts. In Oregon, bulbs are much later in ripening than
in California, and it is possible that some sorts can be
kept dormant during the winter and planted in the east
in the spring. The seasons in Arizona are more like
those in Mexico, and it is not unlikely that some bulbs
from that state will be valuable for spring planting. The
dwindling away of Calochortus-bulbs after the first sea-
son, of which Mr. Horsford complains, is not a result of the
eastern climate. My earlier experience here was the same.
Bulbs blossomed, but at the expense of the bulb. Some rare
sorts still serve me in this way until I learn how to treat them,
but I find now that with most sorts I get fine bloom and a well-
developed bulb. Too much moisture, too deep planting or a
stimulating soil will cause a decrease in the size of the bulbs.
I have no doubt that several Calochorti will grow successfully
in the open in the eastern states. In the cold frame In pans
they can be grown splendidly there.

Mr. E. O. Orpet, in writing of Lilies a short time ago, re-
ferred to the habit of someCalifornian varieties remaining dor-
mant for a season. I am satisfied that L. Washingtonianum
frequently does so in its native home. I have often dug sound

bulbs at the end of a season which had made no growth, and
have heard the question asked why in places where the plants
are rare one year, many are to be found the next season. None
of the rhizomatous Lilies have this habit, and I do not think L.
Humbokltii as markedly so as L. Wasliingtonianum.
Ukiah. Calif. * Car/ Purdy.

The Forest.
The White Mountain Forests.

THERE is not anywhere else in the United States such an
opportunity for co-operation as is now offered by the
entire condition of things in the White Mountain region of
northern New Hampshire.

The three great interests there— the three kinds of property
— are, very curiously, not merely situated very close to each
other, but they occupy absolutely the same ground. The area
of the beautiful scenery which attracts the summer tourists,
who bring millions of dollars to the state every year, Is the
land that produces the timber that is worth other millions of
dollars. Then the same land, the same area of mountain-
forest, that grows the timber and is clothed upon with the
beautiful scenery, is also the great sponge that stores and holds
the water that feeds the summer flow of the Androscoggin and
the Connecticut, the Merrimack and the Saco. The great
towns and their beneficent industries at the falls of all these
rivers depend on the preservation of the spongy forest-lloor
which holds and distributes the water which falls on the whole
region. Whatever impairs the permanence of forest-condi-
tions on any considerable area injures both the Scenery and
the water-supply.

The question of the proper adjustment of these different in-
terests, and of their relations to each other, is one of the most
important problems ever presented to our people by the
changing conditions of life in our country. The fact that these
different interests and investments belong to different owners,
and that the entire region is private property, renders the
problem peculiarly delicate and difficult. But there is really
no necessity that the slightest wrong or injustice should be
done to anybody.

The people who receive the money from the sale of the
timber-products of the region are not the same people who re-
ceive the other millions of dollars from the commercial value
of the scenery. Then the millions of capital produced and
banked up by the power of the falling water, in the cities far
down the rivers toward the sea, constitute the very means of
existence, and the basis of the home-life and civilization, of
multitudes of men and women who never saw the mountain-
forests which sustain the streams, the mills and the homes.

There is no antagonism between these several interests if
they are regarded and managed with intelligent recognition of
facts and essential conditions ; they harmonize perfectly with
each other, and what is best for either of them is the very best
thing possible for both the others. Why should not the men
who represent and control these different interests and re-
sources recognize the value of each other's property, and co-
operate with each other, in business-like and practical ways,
for the conservation of all these great possessions ? 1 think
that enlightened self-interest is a pretty good principle or
rule of conduct ; but, unfortunately, self-interest is not always
enlightened. Sometimes it does not look far enough ahead to
have a right understanding of the present time.

The matter is important enough to require and reward the
careful attention of the foremost people of the civilized world,
the people of New England. — jf. B. Harrison, in the Boston
Commonwealth.

The White Pine for Timber.

REFERRING to the correspondence printed on page 609 of
the last volume of Garden and Forest, with regard to'
the White Pine (Pinus Strobus), I can agree with the writer
that it is one of the most valuable trees, not only in Massachu-
setts, but in a greater part of the eastern states than is gener-
ally believed. It thrives and grows rapidly on land too sandy
to produce any kind of farm crops profitably, although it
grows more rapidly on richer land. I have heard of immense
White Pines on poor land in Virginia, and have been surprised
at finding such remarkably fine specimens, and In such quan-
tities. In the forests of western North Carolina and eastern
Tennessee.

The writer of the paper printed in Garden and Forest de-
serves much credit for the pains he has taken In examining
into the subject. He is mistaken, however, in thinking that
because the seeds ripen in September they should be sown

March i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

107

in the autumn. The White Pine is no exception to the rule
that all the cone-bearing trees in the northern states, with the
exception perhaps of one or two kinds of little or no commer-
cial value, ripen their seeds in the autumn ; and the seeds of
all are scattered in nearly the same manner. The cones hang
on the trees until the seeds are distributed by means of the
winds. A plantation made with the seeds planted two
together, with spaces four or five feet apart, would be an
absolute failure. It is doubtful if twenty seedlings to the acre
would be produced by this method. No White Pine-seed
could germinate if it was covered with half an inch of soil,
and half an inch is a doubtful measurement when left to the
judgment of the ordinary planter. I speak thus positively be-
cause I speak from experience. There are 20,000 White Pine-
seeds in a pound, and on the very best land in the best pos-
sible condition, and sown by the most experienced workmen,
and protected from birds, I do not believe that it would be pos-
sible tor any one to raise 10,000 seedlings from 20,000 seeds.
5,000 would be a good stent, and 7,000 much above the aver-
age.

White Pine-seeds, when gathered, should be put in paper
bags and laid away in a box or drawer until spring. A few
years ago I imported from Germany several hundredweight
of the seeds of this tree that had been exported from the
United States in the autumn of the previous year ; they
reached Waukegan before the opening of spring, and the
person for whom they were intended, not being able to
plant them, they were left on our hands. The following
spring, that is eighteen months after the seeds were gathered,
we sowed fifty pounds of it and it germinated perfectly.
Rather than to plant seeds it would be better, of course, to
take young trees from open places in the forests, where tliey
can be found in quantity, but it would be expensive to dig
them with balls of earth, and they are rarely found growing in
the sort of soil which adheres to the roots. The method of
covering the roots with puddle would be a much better and
cheaper method.

The White Pine grows rapidly after the first few years,
although, on account of the delicacy of its foliage, it is un-
certain for the first two or three years, especially the first year,
as it is subject to damp off in rainy or cloudy weather and to
burn off in sunshine. However, in the moist climate of
Massachusetts, young plants might not suffer as much as they
do with us in Illinois, and the experiment would not be a very
expensive one ; but instead of two seeds to every twenty-five
square feet, as recommended by your correspondent, I would
advise the sowing of at least two pounds of seed to the acre,
and a larger amount even would be better.

As to hiring men to prune forest-trees from the time they
are ei-^ht feet high until they are of a size and age to make
clear lumber, my opinion is that it cannot be done with profit
to the planter. Fortunately this is not necessary. No better
or clearer lumber will ever be grown than the Michigan
pineries produced naturally forty years ago. "Plant thick
and thin quick," is as good advice to-day as it was a hundred
years ago.

Larkspur, Cal. Robert Douglas.

Exhibitions.

Carnations at Philadelphia.

'T'HE feature of the monthly meeting of the Pennsylvania
'^ Horticultural Society, held on the 21st of February in Hor-
ticultural Hall, Philadelphia, was a display of Carnations. The
flowers were above the average in quality, some of the varie-
ties being particularly well grown.

In A. M. Herr's exhibit the committee commended Grace
Darling, Daybreak, Aurora, Fred. Dorner, Annie Webb and
Louisa Porsch ; a vase of Golden Triumph won high praise
from the committee, and received general admiration.
'Among choice llowers shown by Edward Swayne, Mrs. Fisher,
Daybreak and Lizzie McGowan were singled out for com-
mendation, and Aurora, Puritan and Thomas Cartledge received
favorable mention.

Mr. Craig had a fine vase of the beautiful Edna Craig ; J. R.
Freeman and Puritan were also good. In a vase of seedlings
shown by G. F.Christie, Clifton Heights, a white and pink were
selected by the committee as promising. If these Carna-
tions continue as good after further testing they will certainly
hold a place among the best new varieties of the year. A vase
of Pearl in this collection was good, and Lizzie McGowan and
Hinze's White were also worthy of note.

Herman Brushaber showed a fine specimen of the white
Cyclamen, a well-grown plant of fine habit and medium large
flowers.

Arrangements were perfected at this meeting for the spring
exhibition to be held in March. The decorations will, as usual
be under the management of Mr. Wescott. '

JI

The Flower Show at Rose Hill Nurseries.

'HE seventh annual exhibition of Messrs. Siebrecht & Wad-
ley is now in progress at Rose Hill Nurseries, New Ro-
chelle, New York, havinjj begun February 22d, to continue to
March 4th. The firm will take part in the exhibition of the
New York Florists' Club, to be held in Madison Square Garden
m May, and the change from the usual exhibit in this city has
therefore been made.

Plants in greenhouses in various stages of development
naturally make a less imposing display than selected
plants in a hall arranged with a special view to effect but
a visit to the nurseries is highly interesting and instructive.
The grounds comprise thirty acres, and there are fifty-two
greenhouses. As is well known, this firm are extensive
growers of Orchids, Roses and fine ornamental plants. Five
houses are devoted to Ferns alone, and twice as many to
Roses. In one of the Palm-houses specimens of Caryota urens
Dicksonia antarctica and Ptychosperma Alexandr;e reached
the roof, eighteen feet above. Pyramids and standards of
the Bay-tree (Laurus nobilis) filled one house, and in another
Lilacs were in luxuriant bloom. In a large collection of Dra-
caenas were many unnamed seedlings which promise some
good distinct varieties. Woody canes of the Dracana, grown
for this purpose in the nurseries of the firm at Trinidad, are
layered for propagation in a forcing-house. Lilies-of-the-valley,
in Mower and in various stages of growth, filled several houses!
One hundred and sixty thousand pips are used here during the
season. Besides a house of Jacqueminot Roses, Azaleas, Hy-
drangeas, Lilies and Cytisus are being brought on for Easter.
_ The variegated Begonia B. metallica aurea attracted atten-
tion, and the bronze purple foliage and dark green veining of B.
Arthur Malet made these plants conspicuous in this class. A
new seedling Amaryllis from Trinidad, Mrs. James W. Water-
bury, showed a compact habit with clusters of from five to
seven flowers. Many of the Rose and Orchid houses indicated
the extensive trade done in cut flowers, only buds sliowing
among the leaves. The main exhibition house is 137 feet
long and is bright with color. Numerous plants of
Odontoglossum crispum Alexandrse show this favorite in vary-
ing forms. Dendrobium crassinode Barberianum is a note-
worthy variety with orange throat and white petals tipped with
purple ; the colors are brighter, darker and more distinct than
in the type. D. nobile elegans is a pleasing new variety of rich
coloring darker than the type throughout. Epidendrum bi-
cornutum is especially delicate and pleasing, resembling
Phalaenopsis amabilis, but is smaller. Dendrochilum glu-
macea, with fragrant racemes on spikes over a foot long,
Cattleya trianas alba, Coclogyne cristata and Lselia albidii
bella were also shown in this house. A collection of
Orchids suggested for window-culture included Lslia an-
ceps, Cypripedium insigne and varieties, C. barbatum, C.
venustum, Epidendrum vitellianum, Coelogyne cristata and
Lycaste Skinneri. A distinct department is the flowering of
Orchids for the summer season at Newport, where there
is a branch establishment.

Anthurium Chelsoni, a dark form of A. Andrianum, made
a favorable impression. A. Schertzerianum Wardi showed a
more erect stem and a longer and finer form than the type.
The spathe of a flower grown in a six-inch pot measured three
and three-quarter inches across and five inches long. A. Roths-
childianum was also represented. An idea of the business
done in furnishing private greenhouses and conservatories was
given by a large house filled with several hundred decorative
foliage-plants just returned to the nurseries for treatment.

Recent Publications.

Onions for Profit. By T. Greiner. Published by W. Atlee
Burpee & Co., Philadelphia.

This little book attempts to set forth in a clear way what is
known as the " New Onion Culture," a method which is based
on the fact that Onion-seedlings endure transplanting better
than most vegetables. The crops can, therefore, be started
under glass several weeks before the seed can be sown out-of-
doors, so that the crop matures much earlier. The size of the
bulbs under this treatment can be increased as well as the yield
per acre. The cultivation is made much easier and the task of
weeding is reduced to a minimum, since the ground can be
made clean before the plants are set put, and when the weeds

io8

Garden and Forest.

[Number 262.

do appear they will not be larger than the Onions, as they
usually are when the seed is sown early in the spring. Of
course, there is nothing absolutely new in this idea, but the
application of it to Onions te comparatively recent. Mr.
Greiner goes carefully into the details from the very begitining
and talks instructively about the various kinds of fertilizers,
the proper tools for the preparation of the soil, the methods of
sowing the seed and setting the plants, and all the other details
to the curing and preserving of the tubers. The book is pri-
marily for market-growers, but its clear statement, coming
from practical and thorough knowledge of the subject, makes
it entertaining and instructive to every one who has a vegeta-
ble-garden.

Notes.

Mr. Charles Eliot has become a member of the firm of F. L.
Olmsted & Company, landscape-architects, of Brookline, Mas-
sachusetts.

A photograph of a Hop-field, taken at Tacoma, represents
the poles at least fifteen feet high and so densely covered
that they appear like solid pillars of foliage more than two
feet in diameter.

Mr. Dewar, an occasional correspondent of this journal, and
for many years the head of the Hardy Plant Department of the
Royal Gardens at Kew, has been appointed curator of the Bo-
tanic Garden at Glasgow.

Rhododendron arboreum, an Indian species, not hardy here,
is an excellent greenhouse plant. Kept in buildings in which
only enough heat is given to keep out frost, it expands its
heads of rich rose-colored flowers in February.

In a greenhouse in Germantown, Philadelphia, is a specimen
of the Cactus, Cereus Peruvianus, planted fifteen years ago,
which reaches to the roof, twenty-five feet from the ground.
Its large yellow flowers are produced toward the close of
June.

At a meeting of the finance committee of the incorporators
of the Botanic Garden of New York City, held last week, Mr.
J. Pierpont Morgan reported that $175,000 has been procured
of $250,000, the cost of 250 acres of land in Bronx Park, which
it is desired to secure for the exclusive use of the Botanic
Garden. Mr. Morgan proposes, in addition to $250,000 re-
quired by legislative act to establish the Garden, to increase
the fund to $1,000,000.

Correa cardinalis is perhaps the most beautiful shrub of this
genus which comes from the southern part of Australia, where
It is often called Fuchsia, from a fancied resemblance between
tlie blossomsof the two plants. Tiiisisby no means a new plant
in gardens, but it is seen more rarely in American greenhouses
than it should be. The flowers are handsome and they are
borne in great profusion at this season, when just such bright
colors as their red and yellow are needed. Correa cardinalis
is one of the special attractions of the rich outdoor-gardens of
southern Europe.

The spring exhibition of the New York Florists' Club will
be held in the Madison Square Garden during the first week
in May. But, meanwhile, smaller free exhibitions have been
planned for at the headquarters of the club at 20 West Twen-
ty-seventh Street, the first to be held early in March. Admit-
tance will be by tickets, which can be obtained from the sec-
retary of the club, Mr. John Young, or from any florist who is
a member. Many growers have promised interesting contri-
butions for these small displays, and it is expected that prizes

will be awarded to the best exhiljits.

»

The large and beautiful Montreuil peaches, known to all
visitors to Paris, are said to date froiii the reign of Louis
Quatorze, and to have been first planted by an oflicer of mus-
keteers named Girardot. The king's approval of an offering
of these peaches gave an impulse to peach-growing, and a
century later, not only Montreuil, but a whole circle of neigh-
boring villages, possessed many Peach-gardens. Some of these
villages have been absorbed by the city of Paris, but the re-
maining villages supply, during the season of two months and
a half, atK>ut twenty-five million peaches, or some three hun-
dred thousand each day. The finest specimens are often sold
in restaurants at sixty cents apiece. They are grown on
espaliers trained against sunny walls.

Signor A. Goiran, who has investigated the influence of
recent earthquakes in northern Italy, thinks that they were
beneficial to vegetation as promoting a more rapid germina-
tion of seeds, a quicker rate of growth in the young plants, a

distincter greenness in all vegetation, and a greater luxuriance
in pastures, arable lands, copses and vineyards. These results
he lays to an increased production of carbonic acid, an aug-
mented development of electricity, and a completer distribu-
tion of fertilizing matters through the shaken soil. If, in
certain cases, vegetation seemed to have suffered after an
earthquake, Signor Goiran attributes the fact to the prolonged
droughts which accompanied them.

In an article recenfly published in the Popular Science
Monthly it is stated that, inasmuch as the food of the garter-
snake consists largely of frogs and toads, it is probably harm-
ful to vegetation. The argument to establish this theory runs
as follows: "The greatest enemies of the leaves are the in-
sects ; frogs and toads depend upon insects for their food, and
snakes, in their turn, feed upon frogs and toads. So that the
more snakes the more insects, and the fewer perfect leaves."
Such generalizations, however, are dangerous, for although
the snakes will eat frogs and toads as well as anything else in
the line of small animals that they can master, they also eat a
great many insects, and they could not, under any circum-
stances, in justice, be called protectors of insects.

Dr. J. T. Rofhrock is now to devote his whole time to the
interests of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, as its gen-
eral secretary, and those objects which the Association was
formed to foster are to be pressed with vigor. He will deliver
illustrated lectures in various parts of the state and incident-
ally contribute an illustrated article to each number of Forest
Leaves, the organ of the Association, that in the February
issue being devoted to an account of the Button wood (Platanus
occidentalis), with a portrait of a remarkable specimen grow-
ing in Chester County, Pennsylvania, with a short trunk divided,
not far above the surface of the ground, into three enormous
primary divisions. In speaking of the value of the wood of
the Buttonwood, Dr. Rothrock overlooks the fact that in recent
years it has been used in considerable quantities in our north-
ern cities in the interior finish of houses. It is well suited for
this purpose and its popularity is increasing. It is used in the
natural color or stained to the color of mahogany.

In the United States Buckleya, of which a figure was pub-
lished in an earlier issue of this journal (vol. iii., p. 237), is one
of the rarest of all our shrubs, being found only on one small
rocky cliff near the boundary line between North Carolina and
Tennessee. In Japan, however, where the genus is repre-
sented by a species very similar to its American prototype,
Buckleya, although not very abundant, is rather widely dis-
tributed through the interior of the main island between 2,000
and 3,000 feet above the sea, where it grows in the neighbor-
hood of streams and forms a tall graceful shrub. Indeed, it is
so common in some parts of the country that the fruit, which
is gathered when about two-thirds grown, having been sub-
jected to some pickling orpreserving process, is sold as a con-
diment, packed in small, neat wooden boxes. Nikko is the head-
quarters of the industry, and in late autumn the fruit of
Buckleya is displayed in many of the shops which line the
street leading through the straggling village up to the burial-
place of the ifounder of the dynasty of the Tokugawa Shoguns.
To appreciate the flavor of Buckleya, the culture and refine-
ment of the Japanese palate is essential.

In the autumn of 1891 the Chrysanthemums at the Geneva
Experiment Station were troubled with a leaf-spot, which was
pronounced by Dr. Halsted identical with the fungus referred
to in an article of his entitled "Fungous Troubles in the Cut-
ting-beds," and published in Garden and Forest (vol. v., p.
91). During the last year investigation has been made at the
station of the work of this fungus, which belongs to the genus
Septoria, and it has been found that the disease can be practi-
cally controlled even if infected plants are used for cuttings.
The removal of spotted leaves, however, is a reasonable pre-
caution, and since such foliage is full of disease germs it is
always best to burn it. The remauiing foliage is sprayed
through a Vermorel nozzle with Bordeaux mixture five or six
times during the season. If soap is dissolved in the mixture
it causes a thin film to spread over the entire leaf-surface. The
fungicide applied in this way adheres so well to the foliage that
it is not necessary to make another application until there is
sufficient new growth unprotected to require another treat-
ment. Since the Bordeaux mixture is quite noticeable on the
foliage, an ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate is almost
as effective, and it can be substituted for the last application
before the plants come into flower. This solution is made of
five oimces of copper carbonate dissolved in three pints of
ammonia, twetity-six degrees, and diluted to fifty gallons with
water, enough soap being added to form suds.

March 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest,

in

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Send 6c. postage for Wood
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Samuel Cabot, Sole ManTr,

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TICKNOR & COMPANY

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No. 202, Jan. 6th, 1892, of Garden and Forhst. — Address,

GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO..

New York City.

ADVICE, personally, or by letter,
on all matters pertaining to
the Garden, Greenhouse and Orna-
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WINCHESTER,

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IV

Garden and Forest.

[Number 263.

BUYING
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IlenilocliS, I to 5 feet.

All transplanted bushy stock.

ISO&an&XeriioriousSpecies&TarietiesofETergieess

Including Golden, Silver and Varief^ted forms.

Four Catalfi^es (228 pa^es), fully describing (he best
collection ot Kardy Trees, Shrubs, Fruits and Flowers
in America. (By mail for 10 cts. postaj^e.)

THE READING NURSERY

JACOB W. MANNING, (Prop.,)
(Established in 1854.) BEASIMO, MASS.

Lar^G Elms

All kinds of Ornamental Nursery Stock.

Send for descriptive cataloj^ue.

SAMUEL G. MOON, MorrlsYille, Bucks Co., Pa.

CRAPE VINES.

Forii.00. i will mail, post-paid. Treatise on GRAPE
CULTUKE (price, as cts.) and o first-class Vines : 3each
Niaeara, Ilrighton and Worden, best white, red and
Uaac Tarieties, and 10 Gladiolus Bulbs, beautiful mixed
colors. Safe arrival in good condition guaranteed.
Prfee-List free.

J. H. TRVON, inrilloaKtiby, Ohio.

ft&Uakofitr

LfflcSIo.gjjaRoTrPE

7.»tt.|l NEW CHAMOiaiS ST,
- ^YORK.

ZOOiffSt.

THE ROSS HILL HURSERIES

NEW BOCHELLE, N. Y.

Headquarters for
I

Our standard catalogue free.

SIEBRECHT & WADLEY.

o30 Catalpa speciosa, 4 to 7 ft.,

At $10.00 per 100.

S79 Catalpa speciosa, 9 to 11 ft.,

At S35.00 per 100.

p. H. FOSTER, Babylon, N.Y.

DCAIITV I'KAKS. fiov. Hoard
DtAU I I STRAWISEKKIEIS.
' CAKOI-INA POPLARS. Catalogue free. Address
SAMUEL C. DeCOU, Moorestown, Burt Co., N.J.

1,000,000

STRAWBERRY PLANTS
FOR SALE. Good stock ;

..^w' kinds; low prices. Send for price-list.— JAMIiS

LIPPINCOIT, Jr., Mount Holly, N.J.

ONE MILLION *

«•

*

Trees, shrubs, decorative herl:)aceous
plants, etc., for landscape gardeners,
parks, cemeteries and private gardens.

. , Catalogues Free. Prices Low. . . .

B. n. WATSON,

Old Colony Nurseries, PLVnOUTH, HASS.

Cnr " RDCCUUII I C " Strawberry Plants ad
rOl UntCnVILLC dress GEORGE W. TRYON,

Tryonvillc, i^'l. Is naid to have given the best results
of any berry at the Penna. Experiment Station in iSyz.
tS~ Send for circular.

I ship A No. 1 FKUIT PLANTS all over the U. S.
every year and save many itten much money. Proof —
My free 93 Price-list. Wiite ncnv. Strawberry, 1B1.75
per 1000 and up. Raspberry, S4.00 per 1000 and
up. Blackberry, «5.75 and up. Also SEED PO-
TATOES. Address

O. A. BALDWIN, Bridgman, Berrien Co., Mich.

STMDARD FLOWER POTS

Price List for any number,
per 1,000, ^^3.25 6 inch per loo, $2.20

2 inch

2 >^ inch ..." " 3.50 7 inch.

2^4 inch.... " 4.00 8 inch

3 inch " 5.00 9 inch.

3>^inch.... " 7.25 loinch.

4 inch " g.oo 11 inch.

5 inch '* 13.80 22 inch.

Terms cash, F. O. B. here.

Addr

3-5°
5.00

7-50
jo.oo
15.00
20.00

HILFINCER BROS.' POTTERY

Fort Bdwurd, N. Y.

CHOCOIATMENIER

rtocw "'^"■-V

$50

to aid

you

to comprehend the figures

33,000,000

_A Because the ordinary

mind fails to gr.tsp any sucli amounts, we
ofter tins sum for tlie best illustration of the
fact that thirty-three million pounds are made
by Menier, of the famous chocolate— "Choc-
OLAT Menier"— yearly. To show the mar-
velious hold this perfect product has upon
the civilized world, for quick comprehension,
in the size of this advertisement, either by
word or illustration, is the point to attain.

Address our advertisincr reDresentatives, thus :—

Every competitor
will receive a sam-
ple of the finest
chocolate on earth.
Remember that Chocolat Menier can be taken
immediately before retiring so easily is it digested

Cocoa and Chocolate boar the same relation as
Skimmed Milk
to Pure Cream.

Sold throughout
the civilized world

MENIER.
West Broadway,
N. Y. City,

DCDD's Advertising Agency,

265 WASH-N ST..
. . BOSTON. MASS.

Mfnu

ASK YOUH GROCER FOR

CHOCOLAT
MENIER

Annual 8aUt Exceed 33 million lbs.
SAMPLES 8CNTFREC.MENICH. N.Y.

LANDSCAPE GARDENERS.

OTTO SCHNOOR,

ARTISTIC
DESIGNER

Superintendent of Rustic Work
and Floral Gardeninc.

Artistic Rustic Builaines con-
structed in Japanese, Chinese,
Indian, Swiss, German, Nor-
wegian and Swedish styles.
Floral Stands, Fences, etc., etc.
Gardens reshaped in the most
artistic stj'Ies, and taken under
supervision. Contracts solicited. Address,

OTTO SCHNOOR, 829 W. 3d St., Davenport, Iowa,

or care Garden and Forest.

SAMUEL HENSHAW,

Landscape Gardener,

West New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y.

Plans and Estimates made for laying out Public and
Private Grounds.

LANDSCAPE GARDENING, with or without the
cost of i)lans. Advice in most branches of Gar-
denine*. Grouping i"' sequence for college grounds,
etc.— JAMES MACPHERSON, 328 W. State Street,
Trenton, N. J.

Garden and Forest.

Among the contents of next week's issue (No. 264I
will be the following articles :

Formal Gardening: Does it Con-
flict with the Natural Style?

EDnOKIAL.

Notes on the Forest Flora of

J apan .— V III. (illustrated.)
By Profes-sor Sarghnt.

Winter-flowering Begonias. (lHus-

tnited.)

Ry J. N. CiEKA'^n.

Notes of a Summer Journey in
Europe.-XXIV.

By J. G. Jack.

The paper will contain an illustration of BcKOnia,
Souvenir tie Francois Gaulin, from a photocrapli, and
an illustration of Acer Nikkoense, from a drawing by
Mr. C. E. Faxon.

March S, 1893. J

Garden and Forest,

109

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by

Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CtASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICB AT NEW YORK, N. V.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PACE.

Editorial Art[cles : — Report of the New Hampshire Forestry Commission log

A Bill Relative to a Forestry Commission in Pennsylvania no

The Treatment of Waste [.ands in the I.ow Countries. — 1 no

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — VII. (With figure.) C. S. S. in

Foreign Corresponde-nxe: — London Letter JV. IVatson. 112

Cultural Department :— Lilv Culture in Pots y. Douglas. 1 14

Garden Notes J.N.G. 115

Window and Greenhouse Plants Joseph Meehan, M. Barker. 115

CoRRESPO.vnENCE : — The Protection of Road-sides. .iVrj. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 115

Vaccinium ovatum as a Hedge-plant T. H, Douglas. 116

The Common Names of Plants C. y. S. 116

Annuals for Cut Flowers ■- F.M.G. 116

New Cypripediums Joseph Manda, Jr. \i-j

Flowers in Winter A. M. Loll. 117

Recent Publications 117

Notes :"8

Ii.lustratjon ; — ^Tilia Miqueliana, Fig. 19 113

Report of the New Hampshire Forestry Commission.

THE second report of the New Hampshire Forestry
Commission analyzes the condition of the White
Mountain region in relation to its timber-supply, the flow
of water-power rivers which rise in it, and the commercial
value of the scenery. The commissioners declare that the
necessity of destroying the forests which cover the White
Mountains does not exist, and has never existed ; they
show that the timber can be cut when it is of the greatest
value in such a way that the growth of another crop of
trees need not be endangered, and that the integrity of the
forest over the whole territory can, with the application of
scientific forest-methods, be perpetuated forever.

The adoption of such methods a quarter of a century ago
would have preserved the beauty of the scenery for which
this region is famed ; the lumbermen would have made,
in the long run, more money than they ever have made,
and the full-fed rivers would have rolled to the ocean ever-
lastingly with undiminished flow. Rational and practical
methods, however, have not been followed in New Hamp-
shire any more than they have in other parts of the coun-
* try. Unwise methods of cutting the timber and the
degradation of the soil of the forest-floor after the trees
have been cut have reduced the capacity of the region, as
a whole, to produce timber. In some portions of the White
Mountain territory the forest-conditions are said to have
been permanently ruined by the destruction and removal
of the forest-floor itself. The soil has been burnt out and
swept away down to the inner rocks, leaving bare slopes
upon which trees can never grow again for lumber or for
any other use. Over some areas the beauty, attractiveness
and value of the unequaled White Mountain scenery, every
acre of which is needed for the summer playground of the
urban population of the United States, has been entirely
blotted out, and this extinction of sylvan beauty and of its
commercial value is permanent.

The destruction of the forests, too, has reduced the
capacity of the White Mountain region as a natural storage
reservoir for thQ retention and distribution of water. How
great the damage to the water-storage capacity of the re-
gion really is can only be surmised, as the flow of all the
rivers was not measured before the removal of the covering
of the mountain-slopes was begun ; and numerous dams
and artificial reservoirs constructed on the upper portions of
the New Hampshire rivers would naturally prevent the first
effects of the destruction of forest-conditions on the moun-
tains from being recognized. Artificial reservoirs would
hold back the water in times of flood, and would thus
equalize the flow of streams in periods of drought. But
artificial reservoirs cannot be used safely on a large scale
as substitutes for Nature's great storage reservoir — the
mountain forest. When the mountain forest is destroyed
artificial reservoirs on the streams below are gradually
filled up by soil, sand and gravel washed down from the
hills.

Men and women, unless they have devoted special
thought to the subject, do not recognize these dangers, be-
cause the evil results growing out of the mismanagement
of the forest are developed slowly and gradually. The
people who make the mistakes do not usually live to see
their full consequences unfolded. They live and die, think-
ing they have done no mischief and wrought, no change ;
then when another generation begins to feel the ruinous
effects of the policy of their ancestors, it is too late for
action of any kind. History abounds with such lessons,
but the people who need them usually give little heed to
such warnings.

The report wisely calls attention to an abuse of the
mountain streams of the state, already revealed in its effects
in a striking degree. The choking and befouling of the
rivers with sawdust and saw-mill refuse is ruining some of
the most attractive features of the mountain scenery and
destroying the fishermen's interest in the region. This
abuse of the streams menaces also, and in a serious
manner, the health of the people living on their banks.
The commissioners insist that if this policy is continued it
will, in time, result in filling up and destroying the reser-
voirs which have been constructed along the upper por-
tions of the mountain rivers.

The commission recommends the establishment of a
permanent forestry commission, to consist of the Governor,
ex-officio, and four other persons specially fitted for the work,
to be selected in equal numbers from the leading political
parties of the state, who shall be appointed by the Gov-,
ernor, with the advice of the council, and so commissioned
that the office of one shall become vacant each year ; and
that the selectmen of the several towns in the state be con-
stituted fire-w^ardens by their several towns, whose duty it
shall be to watch the woods, and whenever a fire is ob-
served therein to summon such assistance as they may
deem necessary, go at once to the scene, and, if possible,
extinguish it before it has made such progress as to be
irresistible. In regions where no town organizations exist
the county commissioners are to be empowered to appoint
the fire-wardens and to pay for their services for the time
actually employed in their duties, the money to be repaid
by the towns in which such fires occur, and, in the absence
of town organizations, by the county.

At this writing it is doubtful if the legislature of New
Hampshire adopts the recommendations of the commis-
sion. The forest-property of the northern part of the state
is chiefly in the hands of powerful corporations, who have
purchased it for the purpose of converting the trees into
money in the most rapid manner possible. They appear
indifferent to the future of this region, and the appeals of
those persons who realize that the future wealth and pros-
perity of the state is to be "largely dependent upon its at-
tractiveness to summer visitors, do not make much real
headway in the community, owing, no doubt, to the fact that
this report, like many publications of its class, while it
points out and explains in a clear and forcible manner the

no

Garden and Forest.

[Number 263.

dangers of the situation, does not present a good practical
plan for meeting them. People are slow to believe,
especially if their immediate interests point in another
direction, that the White Mountains, without their forest-
covering, will attract less visitors than they do at present,
or that the streams upon which some of the most important
manufacturing interests of New England are dependent
will suffer from the destruction of these forests.

The bill relative to a forestry commission, now being
considered by the Pennsylvania legislature, has been en-
dorsed by the State Board of .\griculture, the Academy of
Natural Science of Philadelphia, the Phigineers' Club of
Philadelphia, the Commercial Exchange of the same city,
and by many other prominent and influential organizations.
It provides that the Governor shall appoint a commission
of two persons, one of whom is to be a competent engi-
neer and the other a botanist practically acquainted with
the forest-trees of the commonwealth. It shall be the duty
of the commission to examine and report upon the con-
dition of the important water-sheds of the state for the pur-
pose of determining how far the presence or absence of
the forest-covering may affect the water-supply, to report
upon the amount of standing timber in the state of com-
mercial value, and to devise a measure for securing a
supply of timber in the future. Two years are allowed
the commission to complete their labors, and the members
are each to receive a salary of $2,500 a year, with neces-
sary expenses.

Professor Rothrock, the secretary of the Pennsylvania
Forestry Association, in an argument for the passage of
this bill, points out the fact that the destruction of timber
in the state of Pennsylvania is now vastly in excess of its
annual production. "Taking the country at large," he
says, " we cut each year twice as much timber as is repro-
duced. What would be the rate of forest-destruction
fifteen years hence.' Where is the future supply to come
from .' But few rafts now come down the waters of the
Delaware. The vast forests about the head-waters of the
Lehigh are practically gone. The splendid white and
rock oak, which for so many years has reached the market
of the Juniata region, is almost exhausted, and even in the
lumbering regions of the West Branch, vast areas are de-
nuded of their most important trees. Forest-fires destroy
about two millions' worth of timber each year ; timber
thieves plunder and often escape unpunished ; cattle kill
the young shoots of the growing timber, and we are
practically making no effort to protect and renew the
forest-growth." '

The Treatment of Waste Lands in the Low
Countries. — L

IT is one of the most instructive lessons for a new country to
examine tlie methods by which an old one has been made,
or the processes by which it has been developed into its ma-
turity, and the subject of the encroachment of sand upon the
arable lands and forests in ttie neighborhood of the low coasts
of New Jersey and Cape Cod has drawn attention to the neces-
sities of dealing with just such a problem in our own case, as
the inhabitants of the Netherlands have been struggling with
successfully for the last 500 years. It may therefore prove in-
teresting to consider some of the methods of the Dutcli for the
cultivation of their own wastes of sand for our own instruction.
It is a common idea that the lands of Holland and Belgium
are universally rich, but it is quite otherwise. Their great pro-
ductiveness under good cultivation has given rise to this im-
f)ression. In fact, over one-half the entire area of Holland is
ighf drifting sand, and yet anotlier extensive portion is cov-
ered by turf and heather wholly sterile in its natural condition ;
and the great lesson Dutch husbandry teaches to us and to
other countries is, how to make very poor land profitable, or
at least productive. These sandy lands are to be found all
along the shores just inside the little ridge of hills which form
the coast, and are themselves a deposit of sand. They also lie
to the south and west of theZuyder Zee, sometimes in districts
of 40,000 or 50,000 acres. Nothing seems more hopeless than
the attempt to bring them under cultivation. They are deep

and utterly leaky, so that after a week of rain they willlje dry as
a desert, and yet the indefatigable industry of the Dutch suc-
ceeds in making them fairly productive.

To do this, the land, which lies in little humps and inequali-
ties of surface, here and there diversified with patches of moss,
but often bare, is first reduced to a level by means of the
shovel, the aim always being to bring the patch to be culti-
vated below the surface of the surrounding land. Sometinits
such patches, containing many acres, are seen sunk several
feet below the level of the contiguous ground. This prevents
the struggling crop from being entirely covered with the drift-
ing sand, which blows about like snow. When circumstances
do not favor one of these cellar-like excavations, the end sought
is obtained as nearly as may be by small fences of reed or
straw matting, run across the land at intervals, to form eddies
to gather the sand and prevent its sifting over the whole field.

No more unpromising process of getting a crop can be im-
agined, yet the cultivator next strews in his manure in rows,
and on it drops his potatoes, and when the time conies he finds
they are worth digging, unless he wholly loses the trail in his
row. It is a singular fact that on these bottomless sands liquid-
manure, applied principally to the growing crops, produces
the best results, in spite of the rainy climate. The quality of
roots grown on this arid surface is'excellent, particularly ot the
potato.

Another way of treating these sandy lands, and one more
beneficial in the long run, is to cover them with small planta-
tions of trees. These, by careful tending, get a foothold, and
though growing but slowly, begin at length to shed their
leaves, which, after numerous weary years, finally form a mold,
which in its turn affords nutriment to the tree itself. The noble
forest at The Hague, containing several hundred acres of trees,
some of which must be four hundred years old, has sprung
from just such small beginnings.

But the worst of these sea-sands is not their barrenness.
There are districts in which they are so abundant that they
menace the good soils adjoining by sweeping over them.
Here Government comes to the aid of the proprietors, and
helps to keep the sands at bay by making appropriations for
fighting them in the ways already referred to, and by covering
them with turf or heath. In some of the provinces the flying
sands have been fought systematically for 500 years by the cul-
tivators, and they fight them still, as the inhabitants of the Cape
Cod and Jersey shores will have to do. But for hard work and
poor returns, the most sterile portions of the northern United
States or the British Provinces cannot vie with these shores of
Holland.

The cultivation of sandy soils of a better quality than these
is a very interesting study. Some of the inland sands of Hol-
land have settled into plains, or have been at some period the
beds of fresh-water lakes and ponds. These are often found
very productive, and sometimes possess peculiar (pialities,
leading to the inference that no man can tell, except by expe-
rience, what crops any given piece of land is best adapted to
grow, or of what it is capable, thus pointing out to the culti-
vator the wisdom of never tiring of experiment with a view to
determining wherein the greatest value of his land consists.

There are two well-marked districts in Holland, each con-
taining but a very limited quantity of sandy land, to be meas-
ured almost by hundreds of acres, hardly running into thou-
sands, in one of which is grown grapes, and in the other flow-
ers, in the greatest perfection. In one of these are produced
the world-renowned Hyacinths and Tulips of Haarlem, which
grow to unrivaled perfection, and which have become articles
of vast commerce in Europe and the most distant parts of the
world. The environs of tliis town in the spring; are a garden
of fragrance and beauty. Though the soil in which this result is
produced does not appear to be different from that of other
localities in the region, yet the confinement of this profitable *
culture to so limited a tract would seem to indicate that it pos-
sesses some peculiar virtue, for the bulbs when transplanted
to other parts of Holland, it is said, are apt to deteriorate.

The other instance is that of a little district called the West-
lands, near The Hague, in which a large purple grape of great
repute is grown in perfection. The land here is covered by
brick walls about eight feet high, facing the south, and vary-
ing from 150 to 500 feet in length. They are built in an endur-
ing but cheap form, only a single brick in thickness, supported
by hollow abutments about fifteen feet apart, standing in the
rear; on these the Grapes are trained. The Grape-lands are but
slightly manured, and the soil on which the fine fruit is grown,
when dry and rui>bed in the hand, seems to be nothing but
pure fine sand slightly discolored. Yet it doubtless possesses
some peculiar virtue for the Grape, as the Haarlem soil does
for flowers, and as certain soils along the Rhine produce vin-

March 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

Ill

tages of special quality, indicative of some hidden virtue apart
from natural fertility.

The Westland Grape is severely pruned, only two shoots
being permitted to grow from the main stalk — one trained to
the right and one to the left along the foot of the wall near to
the ground. From these lateral stallis perpendicular shoots
are permitted to grow at a distance of one foot apart toward
the top of the wall. Each perpendicular shoot is allowed to
bear two bunches of grapes. These will average a little over
half a pound apiece. The estimated product of a wall in full
bearing is fifteen pounds to every twelve feet. Some of tlie
plants are over fifty years of age. In the early spring the
vines are so closely trimmed down that they cover but a
small portion of the wall. They begin to ripen early in Sep-
tember and last into November, large quantities of them being
exported. They somewhat resemble (lie Black Hamburg in
quality, and are highly esteemed in England, which affords
them a large market. The largest bunches weigh a pound
apiece ; the calculation being that fifteen pounds of grapes
will be produced to every twelve feet of wall.

In winter the vines need a slight protection of mats, woven
from the long, coarse grass in which the partially submerged
lands of this country abound. In addition to the matting,
portable windows are used, which stand at an angle against
the wall when it is desirable to force the growth, but these are
rarely employed. The hollow stalk of the vine, large enough
to stand on end when cut, is used extensively for thatching.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — VII.

IN the forests of Japan are found two Lindens. They are
both extremely common in Hokkaido, and in the other
islands are rare, and confined to the mountain-slopes of
considerable elevation. The larger of the two, Tilia Mi-
queliana, is a handsome tree, often growing in central Yezo
to the height of one hundred feet and forming a trunk
four or five feet in diameter. As it is only seen crowded
among other trees in the forest, the branches are short and
the head is oblong and rather narrow. The bark, like that
of all the Lindens, is broken by longitudinal furrows, and
is light brown or dark gray. The young branchlets are
unusually stout for a Linden-tree, and in their first season
are covered, as are the large ovate-obtuse winter-buds, with
hoary tomentum. The leaves are deltoid or deltoid-obovate,
abruptly contracted at the apex into broad points, obliquely
truncate or sub-cordate at the base, coarsely and sharply
serrate with incurved callous teeth ; they are four to six
inches long, three or four inches broad, rather light green,
and more or less puberulous on the upper surface and pale
and tomentose on the lower, especially on the prominent
midribs and primary veins, in their axils, and on the stout
petioles, which are two or three inches in length. The
peduncle-bract is rounded at the apex, sessile or short-
stalked, three or four inches long, from one-third to two-
thirds of an inch broad, and, like the slender stems and
branches of the flower-cluster and its bractlets, covered
with pale tomentum. The flowers appear in Sapparo
toward the middle of July. Like those of the American Lin-
dens and of two species of eastern Europe, Tilia petiolaris
and Tilia argentea, which Tilia Miqueliana resembles in
several particulars, the flowers are furnished with petal-
like scales, to which the stamens, united in clusters, are at-
tached. The sepals are ovate-acute, tomentose on the two
surfaces, especially on the inner, and shorter than the nar-
row obovate petals. The style, which, like the stamens, is
longer than the petals, is coated at the base with thick pale
hairs, which also cover the ovary. The fruit, which ripens
in October, is ovate to oblong, wingless, and nearly half an
inch long. It is from the inner bark of this species that the
Ainos make their ropes.

Tilia Miqueliana* is comparatively little known, having
at one time been confounded with Tilia Mandshurica,
which does not reach Japan ; and the figure on page 1 13 of
this issue, the first which has been published, will give an
idea of its character and the beauty of its foliage and flow-
ers. This noble tree will probably thrive in the northern

♦Tilia Miqueliana, Maximowicz, M^t. Biol., x., 585.
lilia Mandaliurica, Miqucl. Pral. Fl. yap., 206, in pari.— Francliet & Savalier,
Enum. PI. yap., i., 67, in part.

states, as plants which have been growing for a few years
-in the Arnold Arboretum appear perfectly hardy. In Europe
it is cultivated as Tilia Mandshurica (Kew), and as Tilia
heterophylla (Paris), although it does not appear to be
much better known there than it is in the United States.

The second Japanese Linden is a small tree, rarely grow-
ing more than fifty or sixty feet tall in Hokkaido, where,
perhaps, it is rather less abundant than Tilia Miqueliana.
In books it appears as Tilia cordata, var. Japonica, but
Tilia cordata is a synonym for Tilia ulmifolia, a common
European and north Asian species, so that unless the
Japanese plant is found specifically distinct, which is not
probable, it should be known as Tilia ulmifolia, var. Japonica.
It is a round-headed tree with dark brown bark, slender red-
brown branches, glabrous, like the buds, even when young,
and marked with oblong pale lenticels. The leaves are
broadly ovate or nearly orbicular, contracted at the apex
into short or long broad points, and usually cordate, or oc-
casionally oblique, at the base, and sharply serrate, with
incurved callous teeth ; they are membranaceous, light
green and lustrous on the upper surface, light green, pale
or nearly white on the lower surface, which is marked by
conspicuous tufts of rufous hairs in the axils of the principal
veins, three or four inches long and two or three inches
broad. The peduncle-bract is from three to three and a
half inches long, half an inch broad, with a slender stalk
sometimes an inch in length. The stem and branches of
the flower-cluster are slender and glabrous. The sepals,
which are acute, slightly puberulous on the outer surface,
ciliate on the margins, and furnished on the inner surface
at the base with a large tuft of pale hairs, are shorter than
the narrow acute petals ; the ovary is clothed with white
tomentum. The fruit is oblong, or slightly obovate, and
covered with rusty tomentum. The petaloid-scales, which
Maximowicz t found developed in some of the flowers of
this tree, I have not seen.

This is the only Linden cultivated by the Japanese, who
occasionally plant it in temple gardens, especially in the
interior and mountainous part of the empire. It was intro-
duced in 1886 into the Arnold Arboretum, and has so far
proved hardy. It is, however, scarcely distinct enough
from the European plant to ma^e its cultivation as an orna-
mental tree particularly desirable.

Elaeocarpus, agenus of the Linden family distributed with
many species through tropical Asia, Australia and the
Pacific islands, is represented in Japan by two fine trees, .
found only in the extreme southern part of the empire. Of
these I only saw Elaeocarpus photinifolia, a noble tree,
planted in the gardens of a temple in the sea-shore town of
Atami, where there are the largest Camphor-trees in Japan
and good specimens of a number of other southern trees.

The Rue famile has a number of woody plants in Japan.
Of these, Skimmia Japonica is the only one which is much
known in our gardens, although Phellodendron Amurense
and Oriza Japonica are now found in most large botanical
collections. Evodia rutaecarpa, a shrub or very smalltree,
with large, pinnate, strong-smelling leaves and terminal
heads of minute flowers, although not at all handsome, is
an interesting plant, as it is from the bark that the Japanese
obtain the yellow pigment which they use in dyeing. For
this purpose the bark, which, with the exception of the
thin brown outer coat marked with pale lenticels, is the
color of gamboge, is torn off .in long strips, air-dried, and
sent to the large cities. Evodia rutaecarpa. Which also in-
habits central China and the Himalayas, is now becoming
rare in Japan, and I only saw it on the coast near Atami ;
it is said to be still abundant, however, in Aidsu and on the
peninsula of Yamato. The scarlet aromatic fruit is used
by the Japanese in medicine.

In Xanthoxylum there are four Japanese species. Of
these, the most common and the most widely distributed
at the north and in the mountainous regions of the main
island at elevations of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet above the
sea, is Xanthoxylum piperitum. It is a bushy shrub with

\Mil. Biol, X., 585.

112

Garden and Forest.

[Number 263.

many slender stems, or rarely a small tree with a well-de-
veloped trunk three or four inches in diameter ; it is
always a handsome plant, with dark or often nearly black
branchlets marked by pale spots and armed with stout
straight spines ; with narrow, unequally pinnate leaves
with about six pairs of ovate, pointed leaflets, very dark
green on the upper surface and pale on the lower ; with
small inconspicuous flowers and with heads of handsome
showy fruit four to six inches across, the pods rusty brown,
but the seeds, which do not drop for some time after the
pods open, black and lustrous. The fruit of this plant is
gathered in large quantities by the Japanese before the
pods open and is used as a condiment and in cooking, as
we use pepper. In Hakodate and other northern towns it
is commonly exposed for saJe throughout the year.

A nobler plant than Xanthoxylum piperitum, and cer-
tainly one of the most beautiful of the genus, is Xanthoxy-
lum ailanthoides, which I only saw in the Hakone Moun-
tains, where it is abundant, and near the coast at Atami.
It is a round-topped, broad-branched tree, sometimes fifty
or sixty feet tall, with a trunk twelve to eighteen inches in
diameter, covered with pale bark, upon which the corky
excrescences, common in many species of this genus, are
well developed. The branchlets are stout, pale and cov-
ered with short stout spines. The leaves vary from eigh-
teen inches to four feet in length and are unequally pinnate,
with about ten pairs of lateral leaflets and stout red-brown
petioles; the leaflets are dark green and conspicuously
marked on the upper surface with oil-glands, pale or nearly
white on the lower surface, ovate-acute, often slightly fal-
cate, long-pointed, rounded or subcordate at the base,
finely serrate, stalked, four to six inches long and two to
four inches broad. The flowers, which are greenish white,
and small, and inconspicuous like those of all the plants of
this genus, appear in the Hakone Mountains at the end of
August or early in September in clusters four or six inches
across. The fruit I have not seen. In habit and in foliage
this is one of the most beautiful trees which I saw in Japan,
but as it does not range far north or ascend to the high
mountains, it is not probable that it will prove hardy in our
northern states. The other Japanese species of Xanthoxy-
lum are shrubs of no great beauty or interest

Simaruba;, a mostly tropical family, to which the familiar
Ailanthus of northern China belongs, appears in Japan only
in Picrasma guassioides, a member of a small tropical
Asian genus, which, as an inhabitant of Yezo, seems to have
strayed far beyond the limits of its present home. As
Picrasma ailanthoides appears in the forests near Sapparo,
it is a slender tree twenty to thirty feet in height, with a
trunk about a foot in diameter. The branchlets are stout,
dark red-brown and conspicuously marked by pale len-
ticles. The leaves are unequally pinnate, with slender
reddish petioles and four or five pairs of lateral leaflets,
which increase in size from the lower pair to the upper-
most ; they are membranaceous, very bright green, ovate-
acute, finely serrate, stalked, three to five inches long and
an inch to an inch and a half broad. The flowers, which
are produced in loose, long-branched, few-flowered, axil-
lary clusters, are yellow-green and not at all showy, but
the drupe-like fruit is bright red, and handsome in Septem-
ber, when the thickened branches of the corymb are of the
same color. It is, however, for the beauty of the color of
its autumn foliage that Picrasma guassioides should be
brought into our gardens. The leaves turn early, first
orange and then gradually deep scarlet, and few Japanese
plants which I saw are so beautiful in the autumn as this
small tree, which, judging from its northern home in Japan,
maybe expected to flourish in our climate. It is a plant of
wide distribution, not only in Yezo and Hondo, but in Corea
and in northern and central China ; it occurs on Hong
Kong and Java, and is common on the sub-tropical Hima-
layas, which in Garwhal it ascends to an elevation of 8,000
feet above the ocean. To the bitterness of the inner bark,
which in this particular resembles that of the Quassia-tree, of
the same family, it owes its specific name. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

THE annual general meeting of the Royal Horticultural
Society was held last Tuesday. Sir Trevor Law-
rence presided, and in commenting upon the year's work
of the society he pointed to the excellent results obtained
at Chiswick, where many important trials of plants had
been made. Financially the society is in a fairly satisfac-
tory condition. Its income for the present year is estimated
at j(f4,8oo, and its expenditure at £a, 500. There has been
a considerable increase in the number of fellows, the jour-
nal continues to give satisfaction, and the meetings, confer-
ences and exhibitions have been most successful.

Besides the great spring show in the Temple Gardens,
which will be held this year on May 25th and 26th, the
Council have decided to liold a show at Chiswick on July
nth, at which prizes will be offered for local exhibits, and
an autumn show will be held in the Royal Agricultural
Hall, Islington, from August 29th to September ist, inclu-
sive.

A novel feature in the programme for this year is the
examination of students and others in the principles and
practice of horticulture, and a scheme is on foot for provid-
ing scholarships of the value of ;^"26 annually, whereby the
most promising students may be enabled to pursue their
studies in connection with the society's gardens at Chis-
wick, or elsewhere. The first examination was held in the
early part of the year at the request of the Surrey County
Council, when seventy-two candidates presented them-
selves, with the result that twelve passed to the satisfaction
of the examiners in the higher grade and seventeen in the
lower grade. A second examination will be held in May
of this year, which it is proposed to extend to candidates
in all parts of England.

American horticulturists will doubtless be interested in
the list of the ])rincipal subjects upon which lectures are
to be given at the meetings of the society this year. These
include : " Some effects of growing plants under glass of
various colors," The Rev. Prof. Henslow, M. A. " Flowers
of the Riviera," Monsieur Henry L. deVilmorin. "Orchid
Life in Guiana," Everard F. im Thurn. " How to Solve
Chemical Questions concerning the Soil without Chem-
istry," Prof. Cheshire. "Fritillarias," Mr. D.Morris, M. A.
" Hardy Rhododendrons and Azaleas," Sir J. T. D.
Llewelyn, Bart. "Cannas," Mr. J. G. Baker, F. L. S. Sir
John Lubbock, Bart., has also been invited to give a lecture.

The exhibition of plants concurrent with the general
meeting was a particularly good one for the second week
in February. Orchids were well represented by groups of
showy popular kinds as well as numbers of new and rare
plants.

Cymbidium grandiflorum was shown in flower, the
same plant having flowered last year, which is noteworthy,
this species having the reputation of being difiticult to
bloom. It was described by Reichenbach in 1866 from a
specimen flowered by Veitch, of Exeter, and named Hook-
erianum, in compliment to Sir Joseph Hooker. It was
afterward proved to be identical with C. grandiflorum of
Griffith. It is a native of the eastern Himalaya and may
be briefly described as a C. giganteum, with larger flowers
colored bright green, except the lip, which is creamy white
with reddish blotches. It obtained a first-class certificate.

Phajus amabilis is a new hybrid of more than ordinary
merit. Its parents are P. grandifolius and P. tuberculosus,
and it was raised by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. It has pli-
cate stoutish leaves, a scape a foot high bearing four flow-
ers, which are nodding, three inches across, of the form of
P. tuberculosus, the sepals and petals blush white, tinged
with dull brown, the lip large, crisped and wavy, claret-
colored, lined with coppery red, flaked with white, paler
on the lateral lobes. It is singular that this plant should
differ so widely from the beautiful P. Cooksoni, flowered
three years ago and raised by Mr. N. C. Cookson from P.

March 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

"3

Fig. 19.— Tilla Miqueliana— See page iii.

tiiberculosus and P. Wallichii ; the latter scarcely differs in
the form and color of its flowers from P. grandifolius.

Phala-nopsis Schilleriana, var. vestalis, is a pure white
variety, which was described by Reichenbach in vol. xvii.
of Gardeners' Chronicle from a plant imported by chance
among a batch of the type. A second plant was imported
in the same way by Messrs. H. Low & Co. about four years

ago, and this was show^n in flower by the Clapton firm. It
differs from the type in having less gray marbling on the
leaves, a green, instead of purple, under surface, and
green-tipped roots. The plant had a scape a foot long
bearing six flowers. Its value was set down at fifty guineas.
Cypripedium c'onco-lawre is a hybrid between C. con-
color and C. Lawrencianum, raised by Sir T. Lawrence.

114

Garden and Forest.

[Number 263.

It is pretty, as are all the concolor hybrids, and it has large
flowers colored creamy white, with rosy mauve reticula-
tions and small purple dots, the lip a shade darker than the
other segments.

Dendrobium Owenianum, a hybrid between D. Wardi-
anum and D. Linawianum, was raised by Mr. Cookson,
and shown in flower by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. Its flow-
ers are as large as those of a good variety of D. Wardianum,
and they are colored like that species, except the lip, which
has a reddish brown blotch at the base. The plant looks
sturdy and most p.'omising in every way. It obtained a
first-class certificate. Other new or rare Dendrobiums
shown by Sander & Co. were D. Sandera; (nobile x aureuni),
D. nobile, var. Amesisc, an e.xceptionally pretty variety,
pure white, with a maroon-colored throat, and D. nobile,
var. Ballianum. From the same establishment came some
choice varieties of Lycaste Skinneri, one named leuco-
glossa, with rosy segments and a white lip, being notewor-
thy. A new hybrid Lfelia named Maynardii was another
of Sander & Co.'s choice exhibits. It is the result of cross-
ing L. pumila Dayana and Cattleya dolosa. Its stature is
like that of the former parent, while in color the flowers are
deep rose, the lip purplish crimson, crisped and spreading
as in L. dolosa.

Cypripedium Winnianum, a hybrid between C. Druryi
and C. villosum, is like the former in the shape and color
of the flowers, with the shining surface of C. villosum.
Cynorchis grandillora was again shown by its importers,
Messrs. Lewis <& Co. It is a pretty Orchid, certainly de-
serving of a place among garden Orchids if it only proves
easy to grow. Masdevallia Hincksiana and M. Schroe-
deriana were represented by well-flowered specimens, the
former of hybrid origin, the latter a species related to M.
acrochordonia, with large flowers, colored rich chocolate,
with a blotch of white, and long orange-colored tails.

Arum Palestinum, which was distributed several years
ago under the name of A. sanctum, is a good plant for the
greenhouse, its large spathes nine inches by four inches,
Colored dark maroon-purple, erect black spadices, and
apple-like fragrance, being really attractive. It was shown
in flower. White Lilacs, grown in pots, and very well-
flowered, were shown — bushes about two feet high, clothed
with healthy leaves and crowded with clusters of pure white
flowers; such as these are valuable in February. The kinds
were Marie Legrange and Alba grandiflora. Sparmannia
Africana was shown in a new character as a small pot-
shrub, the pots only five inches across, and the plants two
feet high, well-branched, and each branch bearing a cluster
of flowers. These specimens were the result of starving
the plants by not repotting them in the spring, keeping
them in small pots and cutting them back hard in April.
Pandanus inermis, var. variegata (Baptistii), was again
shown by Messrs. Veitch. There were also various kinds
of late Chrysanthemums, Ericas and other hard-wooded
plants from Messrs. Low & Co. and Cutbush & Sons. Mr.
Rivers sent a collection of oranges \yhich had been grown
under glass, and which were a centre of interest both for
their n:olor and size. Orange-blossom, by the way, is an
expensive article in England in January and February ; for
a guinea one can obtain no more than would fill a small
cigar-box. It might pay Floridans to send Orange-blos-
som to the English market in the first three months in the
year. Of course, it is chiefly in demand for weddings, but
these are mostly affairs of early spring. ,„ „,

Loodoo. W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

Lily Culture in Pots.

A CONSIDERABLE number of species and varieties of
Lilies are well adapted for pot-culture, and the plants,
when -well grown and (lowered, have an excellent effect in
greenhouse or conservatory. Indeed, those who would see
the finer species and varieties of Lilies in full beauty should
grow them under glass, not that they require the aid of glass
through all the periods of their growth, but they need it when

in flower, and immediately afterward, to perfectly mature the
bulbs. Mr. H. J. Elwes, writing on Lily-culture in his Mono-
graph of the Ginus Lilium, recommends that Lily bulbs be
planted in a prepared bed, in a liouse specially built for them,
and the lights made to draw off, or arranged in some way that
the plants could be exposed to the weatlier if it was thoiis^ht
desirable at any time. Mr. Elwcs recommends a bed ot pre-
pared soil, two feet deep, with over nine or ten inches of drain-
age. Part of the bed should be formed of a compost from
which peat is excluded, and tlie other part of it should be half
of peat and a quarter of leaf-mold, loam and sand, with the
addition of charcoal, being used where needed. A part of the
house should also be set aside to contain a bed built of brick,
in which to plunge Lilies in pots. " All newly imported bulbs
should be planted in small flower-pots," says Mr. Ehves.
" However large a bulb tnay be, and whatever depth of soil it
may.require when established, it is always good policy tostart
in a small pot, and either shift it to a large one, or plant it out
when well rooted." I do not intend the following remarks on
culture for famous cultivators who have had more experience
than 1 have ; but questions are frequently asked about Lilies,
and failures are so frecjuently met with, especially when grown
in pots, that as I have found no dil'ficulty with them, my suc-
cessful experience may be helpful.

The most useful of all Lilies for culture in pots is L. auratum,
and perhaps the trade would consider this the only profitable
Lily. L. auratum is sold cheaply enough now, but I can well
remember when small bulbs cost a guinea, and large ones
three guineas. From fifty to a hundred bulbs can now be ob-
tained for that money.

Some persons have a fixed belief that L. auratum degen-
erates when cultivated year after year in po!s. It may do so
under bad cultivation, but under other conditions it improves
year after year. The first year they must not be overpotted ;
this is a grave error. Small bulbs may be planted in pots four
or five inches in diameter (inside measurement), medium-
sized bulbs in six-inch, and the larger ones in seven-inch. The
soil I use is a good yellow loam, two parts, with an addition of
one part fibrous peat. Leaf-mold is not necessary, but it may
be used if peat cannot be obtained. Drain the pots well, and
plant the bulb in the centre of each, moderately firm, a little
clean coarse sand to be placed under and over each bulb. The
crown of the bulb should be half an inch at least under the
soil, and the pots should not be filled up to the top by about
one inch. I find I have omitted to mention that some decayed
marmre should be added to the compost, and coarse white
sand if necessary. When the plants are potted, plunge them
in cocoanut-fibre refuse in frames well over the rims ; if the
potting-compost was moderately rich at the lime of using it,
no water will be needed until the plants show through the
fibre. If the soil in which they are growing then seems to be
very dry, give them a good supply of water. It is before the
plants arrive at this stage that much mischief is done by inex-
perienced cultivators. Instead of plunging the newly potted
plants as I have advised, they are placed on the stage in the
greenhouse, where the soil soon gets dry upon the surface,
and water is applied freely before any roots are formed. The
result is that the bulbs rot at the base more or less, and do not
start to grow at all. or but weakly. I have also seen the bulbs
after being repotted plunged or placed under the stage of the
greenhouse, where some of the poor bulbs become saturated
with the constant drip from above, and those not under a drip
may even suffer from dryness. The only sure way to success
lies in starting the bulbs as I have recommended. The cocoa-
nut-fibre retains the moisture in the soil without increasing it,
and the bulbs are also maintained in a uniform low tempera-
ture, so that the roots are formed before any top-growth is
made. This is the way in which all bulbs should be started
that are intended for greenhouse-culture. Encourage the
roots to make good healthy growth before the flower-stems
show from the crowns.

Another important point is the repotting. The best time to
repot bulbs of this kind is just before they begin to make roots.
Lilies are different from the bulbs of Hyacmths, Tulips and
Crocuses, in that the roots from the base of the bulbs are
always in a plimip, sound condition ; it is only the roots that
issue from the base of the stems that die annually with the
stems. Referring again to the bulbs which were starting into
growth in the frames, as soon as the stem shows through the
filjre, this should be removed with the fingers, leaving the
rims of the pots exposed. Admit air freely, removing the lights
in fine weather, but closing them at night, and when frost ob-
tains. When the plants have grown so much that they come
into contact with the glass, remove them to a light part of the
greenhouse where they may get plenty of air. Abundance of

March 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

"5

air and light is necessary to keep them in sturdy health. After
a time roots will form at ihe base of the stems very freely.
The pots beinn;- filled only to within an inch of the surface, and
the soil would subside about half an inch more, this space
may now be tilled in with some rich dressing. This should
consist of about equal portions of decayed manure and good
fibrous yellow loam. The stem-root.s push freely into this and
form a perfect mat. When the flowering period is over, and
the stems show signs of decay, reduce the water-supply con-
siderably, and do not commit the error of putting them out-of-
doors to be saturated with the autimin rains. They flower at
different periods between June and October and cannot all be
potted at one time. At the time of repotting turn tlie plant
out and with a gentle twist of the stem screw it out from the
crown of the bulb. Repot the bulb again in a larger pot with-
out disturbing the useful roots which have been produced
from the base of the bulb. The above treatment applies
especially to Lilium auratum. Nearly all Lilies grown under
glass may be treated as I have advised. L. lancifolium is
next to L. auratum in usefulness, and the variety amongst
them is very charming. The slender-growing L. tenuifolium
is easily managed, and for pot-culture the best varieties of L.
tigrinum are very effective, such as the double-flowered
variety splendens and. Fortune!. L. Hansoniiis also a distinct
and stately species. — j. Douglas, in the Gardeners' Chronicle.

Garden Notes.

Chionodoxa Alleni. — The bulbs of this new variety sent
out this season by Mr. Whittall were evidently gathered Viefore
maturity, and it will be impossible with such material to verify
the collector's estimate of its value. At present it is showing
only single-flowered scapes, and seems to be a white-eyed C.
Sardensis.

Burnt Earth for Seed-pans. — Mr. Orpet's interesting note
on slow-germinating seeds reminds me that I find burnt earth
a very satisfactory medium in wliich to plant seeds which are
likely to require a long stratification. This is easily prepared
by burning clayey soil in a stove or furnace to red-heat, thus
ridding it of all humus and impurides which are likely to
Cause fermentation and sourness. Seed-pans long kept moist
are not only apt to contain sour soil, but they usually develop
a crop of moss. These condifions are not possible in seed-
pans containing burnt earth.

CvpERUS PUNGENS. — This proves to be a very distinct Sedge.
The smootli, round, unjointed stems are from three to five
feet long and topped with umbellate leaves, in the way of C.
alternifolius. Either in the water-garden or in a greenhouse-
tank it IS very effective. It is also, when grown into a speci-
men in a glazed pot, a striking and distinct plant for conservatory
or house decoration. Horticulturally it may be considered a
magnified C. alternifolius. My plants have never borne seed,
but they can be quickly propagated by the numerous side-
shoots and probably by cuttings of the tops. This plant has
lately been sent out as C. strictus, I believe in error.

Elizabeth, N.J. J.N. G.

Window and Greenhouse Plants.

WITH reference to your recommendation in a recent num-
ber of Garden and Forest, I have grown Cypripedium
insigne as a window-plant with entire satisfaction. It does well
planted whollv in moss, or in loam, moss and potsherds mixed,
with but ordinary attention. On plants in my collection there
are flowers which expanded before Christmas, or over two
months ago, and these will continue in good condition several
weeks longer.

Nephrolepis tuberosa is one of the best Ferns for the living-
room, not bemg affected by the dry air, as many other Ferns
are. Watered properly, it seems indifferent to other condi-
tions. During sum merit may be used as a tub-plant out-of-doors,
a position in which few Ferns do well.

Though the Camellia is no longer a popular florist's flower,
it is still in the collection of most amateurs who have green-
houses. The proper time to repot it is just after the bloom-
ing season, in March or April. It does not do well if over-
potted. Good loam, sand and leaf-mold is the best soil, and
good drainage is necessary. In summer they need no care
other than to be placed in a partially shaded place out-of-doors,
the pots partly plunged in ashes.

Bignonia venusta is decorative in the greenliouse at this
season. A thrifty specimen, planted in theground here, is pruned
in closely each year after flowering, thus making vigorous
young shoots. These are fastened to the roof, and from them
at this time are hanging great clusters of deep orange flowers.

Germantown, Pa. Joseph Meekan.

"\1 yHILE the Carnation will succeed in ordinary soil, from a
* * light sandy loam to fine clay, different varieties require dif-
ferent sods to produce the best results. The best average
success is attained in a soil composed of well-rotted turf, with
one-fourth its bulk of old manure, adding one bushel of air-
slaked lime and one bushel of hardwood ashes to two loads of
the mixture.

Acacias make the greenhouse gay during the winter and
early spring months with their golden flowers. A. armata, A.
cultriformis, A. Drummondii, A. longifolia and A. pubescens
are among the best for general utility. They bloom freely,
and a temperature of forty degrees is not too low tor them.
Their cultural requirements are simple, and any ordinary soil
will suit them. In summer they may be placed out-of-doors
to make new growth.

The large trumpet-shaped flowers of Solandera grandiflora
are conspicuous in the greenhouse at this season. The plant
is a shrub of somewhat straggling habit, requiring a minimum
temperature of fifty-five deg-rees. It is easy of cultivation and
is worth growing for its striking blossoms, wfnch are a dull
yellow color. The branches must, however, be trained to
wires or similar supports, and they flower most profusely
when fully exposed to sunshine.

Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker.

Correspondence.
The Protection of Road-sides.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — No service your paper can perform is more needed, I
think, than the awakening of our rural communities to a sense
of the beauty of properly treated road-sides, and a feeling that
this beauty has its useful side in making their localities attrac-
tive to summer visitors. You have named and rightly found
fault with road-side devastators of various kinds. But there is
one whom, as yet, I do not think you have held up to public
condemnation. This is the lineman, who is perpetually
stretching or re-stretching his wires between even our remo-
test villages. If he works in other districts as barbarically as
he worked near Buzzard's Bay last summer, he is not the least
harmful of our rural vandals.

Last summer the telegraph lines were repaired between the
village of Marion, where I live, and the towns of Wareham,
four miles away in one direction, and of Mattapoisett, five
miles away in another. And there was not an eighth of a mile
in this nine-mile stretch where wreck and ruin had not been
wrought. Of course, the big, new poles shone out a ghastly
yellow against the background of foliage which largely
borders these nine miles of highway. But one did not com-
plain of that, for it was felt to be inevitable, and, moreover,
one knew that under Nature's treatment during a single winter
they would weather to a more peaceful gray. But the new
poles were a good deal taller than the old ones, although to the
non-professional eye there seemed no reason why they should
be ; and in planting them not the slighest care had been taken
to do the work in even a rationally conservative spirit. Here,
a big Pine-tree had been ruthlessly cut down to give place to
a pole which, one felt, might just as well have been set on a
neighboring spot where no tree chanced to stand. There, the
splendid branches which partially shaded the road had been
lopped off as roughly as though by stone hatchets, to admit
the free passage of the lifted wires ; and almost always more
had been thus lopped than the position of the wires demanded.
Moreover, shrubbery and smaller trees had been recklessly
cleared for the greater convenience of the workmen, and all
the debris of big boughs and withered foliage had been left to
spoil the beauty of the road-side during the entire summer.
Of course, the damage was greater in some spots than in
others ; but it was so great in many that the aspect of a stretch
of road which, before, had been beautifully natural and bowery,
was changed into a resemblance with the aspect of the edge
of some rude settler's clearing.

We do not pride ourselves greatly on our trees near Marion,
but we do pride ourselves on our shrubs and- creepers and
flowers. The luxuriance with which they grow is surprising,
and the borders they make, not only along our wood-roads
but along our high-roads too, are of wonderful and very varied
beauty. Almost everywhere, on the high-roads, there is a
wide strip of waste land between the road proper (or improper
— for many of the road-beds are extremely bad) and the rough
stone fences which enclose the fields, ^nd this waste land is
apt to be thickly overgrown with shrubs and young trees along
the fences, and with lower floweiing vegetation near the road-
bed, forming natural hedges as beautiful as those in any
English lane.

ii6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 263.

But it is not only the linemen who interfere with these, the
most strikiiisjly beautiful features of our landscape. The road
commissioners or highway commissioners (Ulo not know their
lejjal title in Plymomh County, but their proper title is road-
agents or highwaymen) whet their scythes wlien their private
acres have been mown, and go forth about tiie middle of Au-
gust to dull them along the road-sides. There seems no
science or art, no reason or plan in their work. Here, where
the wild border actually encroaches upon the road, it is left in
peace ; there, where it' discreetly keeps its distance, it is piti-
lessly cut down clean back to the stone wall. Occasionally
one sees the taller, more distant growth left intact ; but one
feels it has been by accident, not by design, for at the next
step some perfectly wanton act of vandalage is noted. Fortu-
nately, road-side Nature is so bountiful and energetic with us
that, when one returns the following summer, the signs of
August depredation are not often painfully visible — that is,
they are not to unaccustomed eyes ; itisonly theeyesof theold
resident which remember that here, where there used to be
lovely tall thickets of wild Roses and Viburnum and tangles of
luxuriant vines, there is now only rough grass and the sprouts
of bushes and vines to come.

Where road-side growth is so very luxuriant, some trimming
and pruning, and even cutting down, must, of course, an-
nually be done ; but there is no excuse for doing it so reck-
lessly, and in the middle of summer, when many weeks of
rich beauty are still possible, and no excuse for leaving the
mowed-down plants in dead brown heaps. It is dismal and
exasp>erating to see, where yesterday there were long broad

Catches of Golden-rod just bursting into bloom, to-day long
road piles of brown rubbish, hideously ugly in themselves,
and destructive to the effect of the hedge-rows or forest-edges
which lie beyond them. But Golden-rod is not the only plant
which is thus piled up along our drives. Young Maples and
Pines and Tupelos, which, if thinned discreetly, or even if left
to themselves, would eventually shade tracts of road which
now are hot and sunny, are felled without mercy, and likewise
left to rot slowly on the spot, often to its disfigurement during
more than one subsequent season. It is, indeed, fortunate for
us that our soil is exceptionally favorable to the growth of way-
side vegetation ; for, otherwise, it is impossible to say how
soon the loveliest portions of our high-road borders might be
rendered wholly barren by the road-agent's scythe.
New York, N. Y. M. G, Van Rensselaer.

Vaccinium ovatum as a Hedge-plant.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — One of California's most beautiful hedge-plants is en-
tirely overlooked in its native state, owing to the craze for
foreign plants. No matter how insignificant the flower or
straggling the growth of a plant may be, if it comes from Aus-
tralia, New Zealand, Japan or China, it meets with a ready sale
here, while plants like the beautiful native evergreen Blue-
berry (Vaccinium ovatum) cannot be found in any nursery-
man's catalogue, and I doubt if there are a dozen plants in
cultivation in the whole state.

This plant has several qualities which recommend it ; it is
an evergreen with beautiful flowers, followed by pretty berries,
a delight to the eye and to the palate. It grows from three to
eight feet high, with small, thickly set, bright, shining green
Iciives, their edges slightly tinged with red during the winter ;
the stems are red, and the flowers, which are borne in racemes,
although small, are very numerous ; they are white, tinged
with pink, and are followed by black or dark purple berries.

Vaccinium ovatum is very tenacious of life and bears prun-
ing well ; it may be propagated from suckers, cuttings and
seed, which it bears in profusion, and I have occasionally
found ripe fruit and flowers together on the same plant.

I have found V. ovatum growing in the Coast-range in
Santa Cruz County and in Marin County, and on the northern
slope of the Siskyou Mountains near their junction with the
Coast-range. It grows most abundantly on the northern
slopes, but is often found growmg luxuriantly on southern
slopes exposed to (he full rays of the sun.

L.ari(»[>ur, C'al. ' T. H. DoUglas.

The Common Names of Plants.
To the Editor of Garden and Fore.st :

Sir,— I read with interest the remarks of your correspon-
dent, H. Christ, about "the Edelweiss craze and the origin of
its romantic name, its original people's name being quite un-
romantic. It is a sort of text for a sermon. Much super-
sentimentalism has been printed as to the familiar names of

plants, and much contempt expressed for their scientific
names ; as though Englisli names, however meaningless,
were more poetic and, so to speak, affectionate than Latin
ones. To a certain extent this is true ; but it is a truth which
rests mainly upon habit. This very plant. Edelweiss, has a
foreign sound in English mouths. If these had begun by
calling it Leontopodium, that name would be as pleasant to
hear as the German for noble wliite. Everybody nowadays
speaks familarly of Gladiolus, Lantana, Begonia and scores of
other common plants, as one does of Rose, Lily and Violet.
To the real lover of plants, as well as to the systematic
botanist, the Latin names sound as sweetly as the English.
There has been no little superficial gush written about the old
names which have come down to us through the changing
speech of the old English people, names which had no mean-
ing to them beyond the mere sound. In some cases they
have, unquestionably, a certain prettiness. But I am willing
to say that the Latin names are, in most instances, as eupho-
nious, and in many cases more so, as the English ones. The
meaning of the English names, in very many instances,
originates in their reputed medicinal properties, not from any
poetic associafions among the English peasantry.

I give a few examples of the common and scientific names :
Marigold: from Mary Gowles, Ang. Sax., mean-
ing marsh, horse, gowl, .... Calendula.
Mullein: French, moleine, scab in cattle, . . Verbascum.
Columbine : Latin, columba, a pigeon, . . Aquilegia.
Cowslip : Flemish, kousloppe, hose flap, . . Primula.
Motherwort : from supposed medicinal quali-
ties Leonurus.

Maiden: a prefix to several plants; not love
meanings, but they were supposed to have
medicinal effects.
Pink : Dutch, old word for Whitsuntide, . . Dianthus.

Rose : like the Latin, Rosa.

Lilv: ' Lilium.

Violet : • . . . . . . Viola.

Pansy : from the French, pens^e, . . . Viola.

Daisy : Day's-eye, Bellis.

Flower de luce, ) ,- , a ... , .

Fleur de lis, ( French, fleur de Louis, . Ins.

Lay-lock, ) „ .

Lilac, [ Synnga.

Candytuft, Iberis.

Honeysuckle, Lonicera.

Primrose : a vulgarization of the French prime-
role, prime-roUes Primula.

Bachelor's Buttons Scabiosa.

Lady's Smock : in England, from the white

flowers in spring Cardamine.

Cuckoo-buds : which blossomed when the

cuckoo came, Ranunculus.

All of these Latin names are as pleasant to say as the English
ones. A studv of the derivation of the old English names de-
prives most of them of all the sentiment with which time and
association has clothed them. The truth is, that what we are
familiar with we become fond of, and our children and grand-
children will associate with the Latin names, now used famil-
iarly, all of the poetry and sentimentality which we and our
progenitors have associated with the old English ones, em-
l)almed in poetry and romance. Emerson's lines to the Rho-
dora have more tenderness and beauty than if he had called
it a Swamp Pink.
Boston. C y , S,

Annuals for Cut Flowers.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In the flower-garden on our farm at Littleton, New
Hampshire, there are fourteen regular oblong beds. I do not
remember their dimensions, but they are wide enough to allow
the centre to be reached easily. Can you suggest to me the
best annuals to plant' in these beds, such as are easily grown,
and to be used entirely for cut flowers. The intention is to
grow only one variety in each bed. The garden is formal and
not in sight from the walks.

I do not wish to include Poppies, Lupins or Sweet Peas,
which we grow in large quantities in other places.
Chicago, III. F. M. G.

[Annuals are so numerous that one would hesitate to
name fourteen as the best ; but as our correspondent notes
that they .shall all be useful for cutting, the problem is
much narrowed. We should recommend as the most last-
ing annuals, China Asters (Comet, Truffant and Victoria),

March 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

117

single and double Calendulas, Calliopsis, Centaurea cya-
nus, Chrysanthemum coronarium, Marguerite Carnations,
Marigolds, Mignonette, tall Nasturtiums, ten-week Stocks,
Pansies, Sweet Sultan, miniature Sunflowers and Zinnias.
As alternates, useful flowers are Sweet Alyssums, Torre-
nias, Acrocliniums, Rhodanthes and Gaillardias. Among
useful perennials, which will flower from seed during the
first season, are Snapdragons, Single Dahlias, Salvia splen-
dens and Gypsophila paniculata ; the latter is almost in-
dispensable for mixed bouquets. Fancy or taste would,
of course, modify this list. — Ed.]

New Cypripediums.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Among the new hybrid Cypripediums in the United
States Nurseries at Short Hills, New Jersey, and of which
general mention was made in a recent number of Garden
AND Forest, are the following :

Cypripedium tonso-villosum. — This distinct hybrid was
obtained by crossingC. tonsum with the pollen of C. villosum.
Leaves long, broad, light green, beautifully tessellated with a
darker green ; stem ten to twelve inches high and light green.
Flower large and bold, well proportioned ; dorsal sepal large,
pointed, reflexed at the top, ground color green-yellow, shaded
and lined with dark brown. Petals large and broad, yellowish
green, with a mid-line of dark brown color and shaded with a
similar color in the upper portion. The upper part of the
petals is similar to those of C. tonsum, having no hair along
the edge. Lip large and long, with a large opening, yellowish
green, shaded with light brown.

Cypripedium Leeanum ampliatum. — Among the many va-
rieties of C. Leeanum, the above hybrid, raised and flowered
lately, rriay be considered the gem. The flower is one-
third larger in all its parts than the type ; dorsal sepal broad,
with fine, large, purplish spots, as in C insigne Chantini ;
petals broad, dark brown ; lip large, round, with a large open-
ing of a dark brown-purple color, almost black.

Cypripedium Sallierii pictum.— This is a very distinct type
of C. Sallierii, having for its parents C. villosum superbum
and C. insigne Chantini ; dorsal sepal yellow, shaded with
brown to about half of its surface, while the upper portion is
white, lined and shaded with old rose color.

Cypripedium vernixium punctatu.vi.— A fine and distinct
variety having the dorsal sepal recurved at the top ; ground
color white in the upper part, yellowish green in the lower
part, and spotted all over with small brown-purple dots ;
petals long and drooping, spotted with large brown-purple
spots ; lip small, yellowish green, shaded and veined with
brown-purple.

Short Hills, N.J. Joseph Manda, Jr.

Flowers in Winter.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I was interested in the article, " Flowers in Winter," in
your issue of February 15th. I have forced Forsythia and also
Cherry blossoms in March. Two years ago I took up Crocuses
and Daffodils which had pushed their way to the surface too
early in the season, and they bloomed in a very short tiine in
the house. Some two or tliree weeks ago I found Hyacinths
appearing above ground in a sheltered place in the garden,
one of which I dug up and planted in a pot. This is now in
bloom in my window-garden, while those in the garden are
again hidden under the snow.

Bath Beach, N. Y. A. M. Lott.

Recent Publications.

A Contribution to our Knowledge of Seedlings. By Sir John
Lubbock, Bart., M.P.. F.R.S., etc. Two volumes, with 684
figures in the text. New York : D. Appleton & Co.

Sir John Lubbock has already discussed the various forms
of leaves and the causes to which the endless differences they
present can be ascribed ; and in the two stout volumes now
before us he has collected the results of his comprehensive
observations, carried on through many years, upon the forms
of cotyledons or seed-leaves, a subject which, strangely
enough, has never attracted the special attention of botanists,
although the fact is well known that they differ, often remarka-
bly, from later leaves on the same plant. The explanation of
this difference between the first and subsequent leaves has
never been satisfactorily explained, and it does not appear, in
spite of the vast amount of matter bearing upon the subject

which Sir John Lubbock has here brought together, that he
has succeeded in forming a good working hypothesis for its
solution. Cotyledons, while they do not vary to such an extent
as leaves, differ considerably one from another. Some plants
with narrow cotyledons have broad ultimate leaves, while in
others iiarrow leaves succeed broad cotyledons. In some
families there are genera with broad and with narrow cotyle-
dons ; and this peculiarity appears occasionally in different
species of the same genus. Sometimes the two cotyledons are
unequal ; in others the two sides of each are unequal, as in the
Geranium. They are sessile or petiolate, and are sometimes
united together at the base ; they are usually entire, some-
times crenate or emarginate, or two-lobed at the apex, as in
the California Eschscholtzia, usually leaf-like, but in many
plants like the Bean, Pea, Oak, etc., thick and fleshy. All these
forms, and many others, are discussed in the introduction,
while the main body of the book is devoted to a systematic ac-
count of the seedlings of an enormous number of plants in
many genera and families. The young plant of each species
is illustrated by a capital outline drawing from material fur-
nished, for the most part, from the propagating-houses of Kew,
where a larger variety of plants is grown than in any other one
place in the world, and without which such a work as this
would have been impossible.

To the systematic botanist, whose business it is to describe
plants. Sir John Lubbock's new contribution to science will be
of invaluable service, while gardeners and others who study
and raise plants will find in it a mine of useful and interesting
information set forth in a clear and convenient form.

A Text-Book of Tropical Agriculture. By H. A. Alford
Nicholls, M.D., F.L.S., etc. Macmillan & Co. : London and
New York. 1892.

Tropical agriculture means a good deal more to the world
than untraveled persons living outside the tropics often realize.
It supplies a large portion of the human race with its great
food-staple, rice, and with many of its luxuries, to which it is
now so accustomed that they seem necessities, for it is in the
tropics that coffee, sugar, chocolate and most of the tobacco
used in the world are raised. The Tea-plant grows on their
borders, as does the Orange, the Lemon and all the citrus
fruits. The Banana and the Cocoanut only ripen their fruit in
the tropics, which is the home of the Pepper-plant, the Spice-
trees, the Ginger, the Vanilla, and of the plants from which
many of the most important drugs are derived. It is aston-
ishing, therefore, how little of practical value, suitable for
elementary instruction, has been written on this subject, and
the field was free for a good text-book. This Dr. Nicholls
seems to us to have produced.

The history of his book shows that it has already proved
valuable. Sometime ago the government of Jamaica offered
a prize for the best text-book of tropical agriculture. The au-
thor of the present work obtained it. The manuscript, with
some additions, was published in 1891 by the Jamaica govern-
ment and has since been adopted officially in other colonies.
The Text-Book of Tropical Agriculture, as it now appears, is an
enlarged edition of this work.

Agriculture, in its relations to tropical America, is of special
interest to us in this country because we are dependent upon
tlie West Indies and Central America for a constant and cheap
supply of tropical fruits, and everything that serves to stimu
late the intelligence ot West Indian planters and increase the
product of their plantations is of direct benefit to us as a nation.

Under the press of Europeancompetition, sugar-raising has,
in many cases, been found unprofitable in the Antilles, and
planters have been obliged to put their land to a different use.
This cannot be always accomplished at once, and in order to
aid in developing profitable farming under new conditions
several of the colonial governments have introduced the sub-
ject of scientific agriculture into the schools and colleges, and
for this purpose, and for the general reader interested in the
products of the soil, this book has been found to stand the test
of several years' use. The leading facts connected with soils,
plant-life, fertilizers, tillage, the rotation of crops, are clearly
and intelligently discussed in the first part, while the second
part is devoted to practical advice for the cultivation of a large
number of tropical plants.

Great progress, no doubt, has been made in some of the
West Indies in improving agriculture, but how far the plant-
ers will Be able to overcome the difficulties of the labor ques-
tion and adapt themselves to new conditions still remains to
be proved. If they succeed in obtaining cheap and reliable
labor there is no reason why the. cultivation of these islands
and that of a large part of tropical America cannot gradually
be made more profitable, as the demand for tropical fruits

ii8

Garden and Forest.

[Number 263,

increases in the United States. fl»an it has ever been. The
Coflfee-leaf disease has almost exterminated the cultivation of
Cottee in the east, so that the world, which is every year con-
suming a larger quantitj-of the berry, must rely upon America
for its supply. The cultivation of Cocoa has increased largely
of late years' in the West Indies and Central America, and ap-
parently the demand is only limited by the supply. Spices,
like nutmegs and cloves, can be grown apparently as success-
fully in the West Indies as in their home in the east. Of
bananas, cocoanuts, pineapples and oranges, the United States
consumes at fair prices all that are sent here. The market,
therefore, for the crops of tropical American plantations is not
wanting. That the people are making a serious effort to im-
prove their opportunities the appearance of a second edition
of a practical twok of this character seems to indicate.

Notes.

In England toads are valued as destroyers of insects and are
offered for sale at a shilling apiece, it is said, in the London
markets, being bought by market-gardeners.

A special course of practical instruction in botany is an-
nounced by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, to
begin March 17th. The course is under the direction of Dr.
Thomas Morong. of Columbia College, and will comprise fif-
teen illustrated lectures and ten field-meetings.

A Belgian horticultural journal, referring to Professor L. H.
Bailey's Annals of Horticulture for the year 1891, notes its
assertion that, of the ten thousand plants indigenous to the
temperate regions of America, more than 2,400 are in present
cultivation, and adds: "This seems to show that Americans
do not despise their native tlora as people do elsewhere, in
favor of foreign species, which are often less valuable and in
no way adapted to their climate."

The ability to identify trees in winter by the appearance of
their buds and the markings of the so-called bare twigs adds
greatly to the pleasure to be derived from them and by awaken-
ing a new interest in these daily associates of our lives, adds a
new charm to the winter landscape. In Boston and in several
of the neighboring towns, Miss Frances Prince, who has made
a careful and critical study of the subject, has been delivering,
during the past two winters, a series of lectures on the winter
aspects of trees, which have been attended by large and in-
terested classes and have met with marked success.

An Irishman might certainly be expected to know what the
Shamrock is. It appears, however, from a paper recently
printed by Mr. Nathaniel Colgan, in The Irish Naturalist, that
all Irishmen are not agreed as to the identity of their national
flower. Mr. Colgan, in order to investigate the matter, ob-
tained what was professed to be the genuine Shamrock from
eleven counties. The specimens were planted and carefully
labeled with the places of origin, and when they flowered
two months later the plants from eight counties proved to be
Trifolium minus, and those from five counties Trifolium re-
pens, while two counties, Armagh and Carnow, each of which
contributed two specimens, were divided on the question, one
district in each sending Trifolium repens and the other Tri-
folium minus. It is noted that in North Down Trifolium minus
is always regarded as the true Shamrock, although a vigorous
specimen or one in flower is usually regarded as an impostor.

Among noteworthy new Carnations shown at the recent
meeting of the American Carnation Society, in Pittsburgh, was
a white flower which it is prop>osed to name for Mr. John
Thorpe, exhibited by Mr. Frederick Dorner. The form and
size were good and the petals nicely disposed, but the stem
was hardly stout enough. The judges recommended certifi-
cates of| merit to Richmond, Madame Diaz Albertina, Edna
Craig and William Scott ; the last two were the best light pink
varieties on exhibition, Thomas Cartledge being the best dark
pink. Varieties reported as doing well on the Pacific coast in-
clude Anna Webb, Thomag Cartledge and President Degraw.
For spring pot-cultivation, Mr. Thomas Cartledge recom-
mended Century for deep pink ; Robert Craig for scarlet ;
Lizzie McGowan or Peter Henderson for white ; Buttercup for
yellow ; Sunrise and American Flag for variegated. Carna
tion diseases and proposed remedies were among the most
important subjects considered. The committee on nomen-
clature request growers to have the names of meritorious
seedlings registered promptly, as a matter of record and to
prevent duplication. Since the organization of the society in
1891 the membership has grown to nearly one hundred and
fifty, under the retiring President, Mr. Edwin Lonsdale. The

next annual meeting will be held in Indianapolis, with Mr. E.G.
Hill as the presiding officer.

With the advance of the Lenten season there is less demand
for cut flowers in general. Choice stock, however, continues
to sell freely, the best American Beauty, Magna Charta and
Ulnch Brunner Roses bringing eighteen dollars a dozen in
this city. Violets are from one to two dollars a bunch, and a
dozen stems of Lily-of-the- valley cost one dollar. Mignonette
is in popular favor, specially tine sprays selling as high as
twenty-five and fifty cents each. A variety of early vegetables
is to be had, notwithstanding the prolonged cold weather has
retarded hot-house crops in the north and seriously affected
field crops in Florida. Malaga grapes are offered at from
thirty to sixty cents, and the best Gros Colman, from England,
for three dollars and fifty cents a pound. Hot-house cucumbers
from Long Island maybe had for forty cents each ; strawberries
from Florida for one dollar and seventy-five cents a quart,
and a smaller and better berry from Hackensack, New Jersey,
is one dollar for a cup box. The finest Navel oranges are one
to two dollars a dozen, and grape-fruits cost almost as much.
Large pineapples may be had as low as fifty cents. Among
pears, Winter Nells are one dollar and twenty-five cents and
Easter Burrg two dollars a dozen. Northern Spies and Spitz-
enberg are the best apples in the market now, and, assorted,
cost sixty cents a dozen. The crop of tomatoes due from the
northern hot-houses is delayed by the weather, and the small
supply which has come from Florida sells at thirty-five cents
a pound. The experiments in shipping fruits from Africa and
Australia to England last year are recalled by the arrival here, a
week ago, of two dozen peaches, said to have come from the
Cape of Good Hope. These sold for as much as three dol-
lars apiece, the last one being offered yesterday for one dollar.

Jacob Weidenmann, the well-known landscape-gardener, died
at his residence in Brooklyn, on the 6th of P"ebruary. Born
in Switzerland in 1829, Mr. Weidenmann studied architecture
in Munich, and then, having traveled extensively in Europe,
came to America. Here he first found employment as an
engineer on the Panama Railroad, and later visited Peru, where
he practiced his profession during two years. After a short
stay in Europe, he came to this country and adopted the
profession of landscape-gardening, which he continued to
practice during thirty-seven years, until his death. He lived
in Hartford, Connecticut, for many years, as superintendent of
the public parks, and laid out Cedar Hill Cemetery in that
city. At one time he was associated with Mr. Frederick Law
Olmsted, with whom he was engaged on a number of impor-
tant works, such as the grounds of the Schuylkill Reservoir,
in Philadelphia, and Congress Spring Park, Saratoga. He was
employed upon the Hot Springs Reservation, in Arkansas, the
grounds of the Iowa State Hospital for the Insane, and of the
St. Lawrence Stale Hospital, in this state, and upon many pub-
lic and private works. Af the time of his death Mr. Weiden-
mann was engaged in laying out Mr. A. A. Pope's Cottage
Park, in Hartford. Mr. Weidenmann was an accomplished
and gifted man, and after sixty years of study and practical ex-
perience he was full of vigor and energy in his work. His
death is a loss to a profession in which the laborers are few
and the demands made upon them are heavy and exacting.

Catalogues Received.

C. S. Curtice Co., Portland, N. Y.; Illustrated Catalogue of Roses,
Vines, Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Descriptive Catalogue of Grape-
vines and Small Fruit Plants. — T. J. DwvER, Cornwall-on-Hudson,
N. v.; Vegetable Plants, Small Fruits, Vines, Shrubs, Fruit and Orna-
mental Trees.— J. Wilkinson Elliott, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Cannas, Irises,
Gladioli and Hardy Plants. — Edward Gillett, Southwick, Mass.;
Bulbs, Native Shrubs, Wild Flowers and Ferns. — Peter Henderson
& Co., 35 and 37 Cortlandt Street, New York, " Manual of Everything
for the Garden," Descriptive Illustrated Catalogue, 25c. — IlncHlNGS
& Co., 233 Mercer St., New York ; Hot Water Koilers and Heaters,
Pipes and Pipe Fittings for Greenhouses, Conservatories and Graperies,
Illustrated Catalogue of Greenhouse Construction. — ^jACoit W. Man-
ning, Reading, .Mass.; Recently Introduced Trees, Shrubs, Vines and
Hardy Herbaceous Perennials.— John R. & A. Murdoch, Pittsburgh,
Pa.; Flower and Vegetable Seeds, Greenhouse, Stove and Hardy
Plants, Bulbs, Fruit and Ornamental Trees. — Pikknix Nursery Com.
I'ANY, Bloomington, III.; Wholesale Catalogue of Trees, Plants, Slirubs,
Ro.ses and Bulbs. — Pitciikr & Manda, The United States Nurseries,
Short Hills, N. J.; Descriptive Catalogue of Selected Novelties in
Chrysanthemums. — A. M. PuRDY, Palmyra, N. Y.; Flower and Vege-
table Seeds, Small Fruits and Fruit Trees. — Stark Bros., Louisiana,
Mo.; Wholesale Price List of F'ruit Trees. — ^J. H. Tryon, W'illoughby,
O. ; Descriptions of Small Fruits and Fruit Trees, A Treatise on
Grape Culture.

March 15, 1893. J

Garden and Forest.

119

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office: Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by

Professor C. S. Sargent.

entered as second-class matter at the post office at new YORK. n. y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles: — Formal Gardening: Does it Conflict with tiie Natural

Style il iiq

Establistiment of Forest-reservations in the West 120

Making Maple-sugar : The Old Way and the New. — 1. . Timothy Wheeler. 120

Phosphate tor Fruit Dr. G. C. Caldwell. 121

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — VIII C. S. S. 121

Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter W. Watson. 122

Pads Letter H. 124

Cultural Department :— Winter-flowering Begonias. (With figure.)

y. N. Gerard. 125

The Persian Cyclamen. — I M. Barker. 125

Spring Cultivation of Chrysanthemums T. D. H. 126

Correspondence : — Hybrid Genera Dr. Maxwell T. Masters. 126

Relation of Yield of Potatoes to Weight of Tuber Planted,

Professor C S. Plumb. 126

Recent Publications 127

ExHiB.TioNS : — Mr. Parsons' Pictures of Japan Mrs. Schuyjer Van Rensselaer. i2j

Notes 128

Illustration : — Begonia Souvenir de Frangois Gaulin, Fig. 20 123

Formal Gardening:

Does it Conflict with the Natural
Style.

IT is not credible that the art which brings men into
closest contact with Nature's kindness and serenity
can tend to make them narrow and unjust; and there-
fore it is strange that so much narrowness and in-
justice should be revealed in treatises on gardening. In
elder days very few writers who advocated either the
formal or the naturalistic style of gardening could see any
merit in the opposite style ; and the same temper is often
manifested in our days. Too many recent books, which
otherwise would be useful, are rendered dangerous by the
bitterness with which the words and works, the ideals and
processes of the opposite camp are attacked. This is unfor-
tunate, for the judgment and taste of a novice may easily
be warped foreverby the first books he may chance to take in
hand ; and one must read a good many books on gardening-
art, and check ofT their contradictory statements one against
the other, using, meanwhile, one's own eyes out-of-doors,
to arrive at the right understanding of what they teach.
This understanding shows us that each system of design is
right in its own place, and that the advocates of each have
not always dealt fairly with the advocates of the other, or,
at least, with the system which did not chance to be their
own. Occasionally we do find a wise and temperate
writer who puts the fact of the essential value of both
styles of gardening into brief, plain words. Mr. Walter
Howe, for example, in the charming introduction to his
little book called "The Garden in Polite Literature," tells
us that "the mistake should not be made by the adherents
of one school of art, of utterly condemning the other. There
are elements of truth in the ideas of both schools which
intelligent amateurs and professional men should cherish
and utilize whenever and wherever circumstances will
permit" And Monsieur Edouard Andr6, the foremost pro-
fessor of landscape-art in France, goes still further in his
Ar/ des Jardins, and very instructively says, "Three
styles may be recognized : The geometrical style, the

landscape style, and the composite style. . . . The mixed
or composite style results from a judicious mingling of the
other two, under favorable conditions ; and, to my mind,
it is to this style that the future of gardening-art belongs."

In truth, if we use our own minds and eyes, there is no
reason to think that formal gardening and landscape-gar-
dening are deadly rivals, each of which must put the knife
to the other's throat if it wishes itself to survive. There
is no real opposition between the two systems, although
they seem very far apart when their most extreme results
are compared.

" Natural gardening " is a term which is often used, but
it is so inexact that it may well move to contumely any
advocate of the formal styles. No gardening result is
natural. At the most it is only naturalistic. " True, be-
hind all the contents of the place sits primal Nature, but
Nature 'to advantage dressed,' Nature in a rich dis-
guise, Nature delicately humored, stamped with new quali-
ties, furnished with a new momentum, led to new
conclusions by man's skill in selection and artistic concen-
tration. . . . Man has taken the several things and trans-
formed them ; and in the process they passed, as it were,
through the crucible of his mind to reappear in daintier
guise ; in the process, the face of Nature became, so to
speak, humanized ; man's artistry conveyed an added
charm. ... A garden is man's transcript of the wood-
land world ; it is common vegetation ennobled ; outdoor
scenery neatly writ in man's small-hand. It is a sort of
twin-picture, conceived of man in the studio of his brain,
painted upon Nature's canvas with the aid other materials.
. . It is Nature's rustic language made fluent and
intelligible, Nature's garrulous prose tersely recast —
changed into imaginative shapes, touched to finer issues."

These are the late James Sedding's words, "written by an
architect and printed in a book the purpose of which is to
exalt formal gardening-art and to decry the "so-called
landscape-gardener" as a person who is not an artist at
all but a helpless meddler with Nature, professing to
do work exactly like Nature's, and, of course, always
failing in the attempt. But this book is one of those
which most grievously misrepresent the true ideals,
methods and results of landscape-gardening, however
faithful may be its pictures of what the actual professors
of the art to-day achieve in England. And we are glad to
emphasize the fact by quoting this one passage and saying
that it is an admirable description of genuine landscape
arrangements, and essentially inappropriate to definitely
formal arrangements.

In a true formal garden the canvas is not Nature's and
does not profess to be, while in the naturalistic garden it
may be Nature's, and, if not, must look as though it might
have been. In a formal garden the language is not a re-
finement of Nature's, but a translation of it into quite
another tongue. In a formal garden Nature is not deli-
cately humored, but is boldly compelled in a direction
opposite to any of those which she ever chooses for her-
self. A formal garden is not man's transcript of the wood-
land world, but a wholly new conception based on archi-
tectural knowledge and elaborated by architectural taste.
It is as artificial, almost, as a building ; for, although its
materials are Nature's, so are the stones of a cathedral ;
and Nature shows us nothing which at all resembles it,
either in fundamental idea or in finished effect

On the other hand, Mr. Sedding has exactly and beauti-
fully painted such scenes as we may find, for instance, in
some parts of Central Park. They are not natural scenes,
but they are naturalistic, in effect as well as in idea. Sug-
gestions and hints for them may be found in wild Nature,
although no exact patterns or prototypes. They speak to
the mind in Nature's language, although more clearly and
exquisitely than she ever speaks herself. No study of
architecture could have taught a man how to conceive
them, and no degree of architectural taste could have
enabled him to perfect them. Nature was our great artist's
school-master, and not merely the store-keeper from whom

120

Garden and Forest.

[NUMllKR 264.

he bought his materials, to be treated after methods of his
own inventing. If nothing similar existed in England,
nothing to show Mr. Sedding a true original for his charm-
ing verbal picture, the fault did not lie, as he thought, at
the door of landscape-gardening ; it must be laid to the
fact that no real artist had practiced landscape-gardening
in the regions which he knew.

It is important thus to realize that no garden or park or
landscape picture can be treated in a "natural way" —
that the work whose result comes nearest to Nature's can-
not be more than naturalistic work ; for this realization will,
in the first place, teach us to apply a right standard when
we judge works of naturalistic kinds, and, in the second
place, will remove the prejudice which most Americans have
against formal styles of gardening. When we feel that all
gardening which is artistic must, to some extent, be artificial,
we shall feel that the measure of artificiality may now be
greater and now less, and that, under certain conditions,
a very strictly architectural, geometrical scheme may be
the best that we could possibly employ. This lesson
needs to be taught, and there is small danger that it will
harm us in any way. Our Teutonic blood predisposes us
to a more spontaneous and general love for Nature than
for art, and thus to an instinctive preference for naturalistic
rather than architectonic ideals in gardening. We are not
likely ever to become so enamored of formal gardening
that we shall turn to it in cases where landscape-gardening
would serve us better ; the danger lies in the opposite direc-
tion. Moreover, a true appreciation of the charms of
formality would protit our landscape-work itself. Giving
us a clearer insight into the true character of each artistic
ideal, it would help us to use formal elements well when
they are needed in a naturalistic scheme, and to dispense
with them altogether when they are needless and, there-
fore, inharmonious and inartistic.

Secretary of the Interior and place it on the role of the
wise, far-seeing and useful statesmen of this country.

At the very close of his administration. President Har-
rison established by proclamation a number of forest-
reservations in the west. The Yosemite National Park has
been enlarged in this way by over 4,000,000 acres, or
by more than 6,000 square miles, the new territory lying
south of and adjoining the present park, and containing
that portion of the Sierra Nevada Mountains which is con-
sidered by many observers to contain the grandest scenery
in the United States. Within it is the highest land in the
United States outside of Alaska, and it includes the won-
derful King's River Canon and considerable forests of Se-
quoia, immense bodies of Sugar Pine, Libocedrus and other
valuable trees, and the sources of the San Jaquin River.

Three other reservations in California and Washington,
comprising 2,500,000 acres, and a fourth in the Grand
Canon of the Colorado, of nearly 2,000,000 acres, have also
been established. Mr. Harrison and Mr. Noble, his Secre-
tary of the Interior, have by these wise measures conferred
a benefit upon the nation of an importance that it is difficult
to estimate. Something, however, in this connection is left
to their successors, for it must not be forgotten that these
reservations are only reservations on paper, and that de-
signing men will continue to plunder them ; that fires will
continue to rage through them, and sheep and other graz-
ing animals will continue to threaten their existence until
proper means are adopted for their care and protection.

The government is still without adequate machinery for
protecting its forest-property, and although a great step
forward has been taken in the direction of forest-preserva-
tion and the proper use of the national domain, the situa-
tion will remain critical until some system is devised by
which these forests can be managed for the benefit of the
nation, and by which they can be made not only self-sup-
porting, but capable of yielding a revenue to the govern-
ment Few questions of public policy require more imme-
diate attention at the hands of the present administration
than the care of these great forest-reserves, which, if
properly managed, will perpetuate the name of the late

Making Maple-sugar : The Old Way and the
New. — I.

AS a practical worker in the sugar-orchard, my memory
carries me back sixty years, when the methods and oper-
ations in this industry were very primitive as compared with
those of the present time. The changes I speak of have all
taken place between my own boyhood and old age. Tlie
making of maple-sugar by the Indians four hundred years
ago was a much cruder process than our own one hundred
years ago.

At the age of twelve years I followed my father from tree
to tree and set the troughs to catch the sap after he had tapped
the trees. His method of tapping was to strike two blows
with a sharp axe so as to take out a chip, leaving the wound
clean, which was then called " l)oxing." The cuts of the axe
were made diagonally across the tree so that the lower faces
of the gash met in a point and led the sap into the spout.
About an inch and a half helow the wound an iron instrument
was driven into the tree to receive the spout. This instrument
was called the tapping iron, and it was eight or ten inches long,
with the lower enti flattened and curved and brouglft to an
edge. Spouts were made to fit this instrument and driven
home. Troughs in which to catch the sap were made by cut-
ting Basswood-trees into logs two feet long, then splitting the
logs once through the middle and digging out the flat side.
At the close of the sap season these troughs were turned bot-
tom-side up and left in the woods until the next season.

The first boiling apparatus I remember was a potash-kettle,
hung on one end of a long pole with weights attached to the other
end and the whole balanced on a post so that the kettle could
be swung on or off the fire as needed. The sap was gathered
with pails and a sap-yoke balanced on the shoulder. In those
early days no tubs were used for storing the sap, which was gath-
ered as fast as the kettle would receive it. Large green logs
were rolled one on each side of the kettle. Green wood only
was used in boiling, for it was cut as it was wanted.

No sugar-house or shed of any kind was ever thought of.
The open firmament was our only shelter; storms of snow,
rain and wind beat on us as mercilessly as it did upon the trees
around us. The gathering of sap otherwise than by hand was
unknown. The fire was kindled under the kettle with Birch-
bark peeled from standing trees and tucked in between the
kettle and logs. Cinders, smoke, steam and occasionally a
brand of wood would fall into the boiling sap to discolor the
product.

In those days we boiled the same sap from morning till
night by constantly replenishing the kettle, thus wasting time
and fuel and sacrificing quality, and at night we "syruped
down " to a density of al)out ten pounds to the gallon. This
was then taken home and reduced to tub-sugar. Syrup was
not madefor sale, and therefore it was taken from the fire before
the malic acid and lime of the sap combinetl to form what the
chemists call malate of lime, or, as it is popularly called,
" nitre."

This sediment that so troubles sugar-makers now is the ash
of the sap, and it was in the sap then, no doubt, as it is now,
but it was not precipitated to give trouble as it now does.

After the potash-kettle, in my experience, came smaller
kettles, the chaldron, holding from three to five pails, swung
on a pole supported by two crotched posts. Next came the
sheet-iron pans set on stone fire-places, built up in the woods
with no flue or chimney. After this came sugar-houses, with
regular arches built for the pans, with chimneys ; this was a
great advance. In process of time evaporators were invented,
which was a still longer stride forward.

After the axe, in tapping, came the auger ; a two-inch hole
was bored by some and an inch-hole by more. After this bits
were mainly used, first a tliree quarter-inch size and then a
half-inch size, which many use still, although the more ad-
vanced and intelligent sugar-maker uses only the three-eighth-
inch bit. We now have vats or store-tubs in which to Iteep
the sap, and drawing-tubs and teams to transport the sap in
bulk to the place of storage.

Sap should never come in contact with wood, therefore
store-tubs and drawing-tubs should he lined with metal; the
sap-tubs also should be of metal ; tin is good in some respects,
but objectionable in others. It renders the sap warm, which
is a serious fault, as the cooler the sap is kept the better the
product in color and flavor. If tin is used for tubs they should
be painted white inside and out, so that the heat of the sun

March 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

121

will be reflected. The spouts, loo, should be of metal. The
best tub now made is of the best iron dipped in a solution of
white metal, which renders it rust-proof and a non-conductor of
heat. Tubs made of wood, if thoroughly painted and kept
painted, will be very good and serviceable. Every sap-tub
should have a cover easily and quickly adjusted to the tree
above the tub, and disconnected with it, but so set as to ex- -
elude snow or rain, falling bark, floating leaves and other im-
purities. The best covers that I have seen are made in Stowe,
Vermont, of wood, painted white.
Waterbuiy Centre, vt. Timothy Wheeler.

Phosphate for Fruit.

DR. G. C. CALDWELL, of Cornell University, read a paper
before the Western New York Horticultural Society on the
fertilizer known as Basic Slag Phosphate, Thomas Slag Phos-
phate, as well as by other names. This is made from the slag pro-
duced by a process for making Bessemer steel from ore so rich
in phosphorus that they are unfit for steel made by the usual
process. Nearly all the iron ores of the southern states are of
this character, so that the prospect is that great quantities of
this ore will be utilized. About all the phosphorus of the ore
goes into the slag, and when the product is ground very fine
it may contain as much as twenty per cent, of phosphoric
acid. In 1880, fifteen thousand tons of this phosphate were
used as a fertilizer in Europe, and ten years later 783,000 tons
were used, an increase which speaks strongly for its usefulness.

In comparing the different forms of phosphates, it is proba-
ble that the trade value of a pound of phosphoric acid in this
slag will not differ much from that of the so-called reverted
phosphate. The solubility of the phosphate in slag differs so
little from that of the reverted phosphate that there will be
little reason for any difference in this respect. As there will
probably be a great demand for it, methods of adulteration are
already sought. As it comes from the furnace it is not all
equally good, so that the best can be easily niixed with ground
rock phosphate, which is very inferior to it in value. When it
comes on the market, therefore, it ought to be subjected to
the scrutiny of the agents of the experiment stations. Experi-
ments in Germany seem to show that this phosphate is espe-
cially useful on bog lands and on irrigated meadows, or on
such as are periodically overflowed. On dry lands, or in dry
seasons, it is apt to fail, although its effect may appear in the
following year, so that there will be no loss. It has been tried
with success on every crop that is usually benefited by phos-
phoric acid, and two hundred pounds of slag-flour, ground
very fine, has given as good results as one hundred pounds of
superphosphate. The European chemists consider it one of
the best materials to use for the purpose of stocking the soil
with a desirable surplus of phosphate of a suitable degree of
assimilability.

Atter giving a very complete account of the experience with
this slag in Euroi)e, and assuming that the product which is
beginning to come into the market in this country is about of
the same quality. Dr. Caldwell continued :

Now as to the use the horticulturist can make of this fertilizer,
I have nothing but suggestions to offer. For most of the
crops that he raises, it would seem to me that he requires a
fertilizer that acts slowly ; his berry-bushes, his vmes and his
trees grow slowly, as compared with the crops that the farmer
raises, and especially compared with those of the market
gardener. For him a fertilizer that comes somewhat slowly
to an assimilable condition is at least just as good as one that
is all or mostly soluble, and assimilable when he applies it ;
and if the first is cheaper than the second, while supplying, for
the money invested in it, a larger amount of the valuable
constituent for which it is bought, than he can get in the
second, it is the best manure for him to get. In the papers
that I have read, or the talks that I have given here or at
farmers' institutes, on commercial fertilizers, I have advised
my hearers to give up such exclusive use of the ordinary
superphosphate as is commonly practiced, and to experiment
on their soil with their own mixtures of the three plant-foods,
phosphate, potash and nitrogen compounds, for the reason
that the ordinary superphosphates contain all three of these
substances ; that the cost of the fertilizer is based on the
quantity of each of them that it contains ; that it may often be
the case that a particular soil or crop to which this complete
fertilizer is applied, does not require some one or another of
these foods, and if so, will not yield in return, and that, there-
fore, all the money paid for the hundred pounds, or two
hundred pounds, or more in each ton of the fertilizer bought,
may be entirely thrown away for the time being. This slag
phosphate is a good material with which to begin to carry out
this idea. It contains no other plant-food than phosphate, and

that exists in it in a very useful form ; it is very probable that
in many cases it would do its best work not alone, but either
with nitrogen compounds, or potash, especially ashes, or both.
With a little patience in putting the question two or three
times to his soils or to some special crops, by experiments in
the field, any farmer or horticulturist can get satisfactory
answers to his questioning, and learn how to feed his crops,
less like a mere machine, and more like an intelligent reason-
ing man.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — VIII.

JAPAN and eastern North America are equally rich in
species of Holly, there being thirteen or fourteen in
each of the two regions. In Japan, however, Hollies
grow to a larger size than they do in North America, there
being eight or nine trees in this genus in the Mikado's
empire, and only four in the United States ; and some of
the Japanese Hollies are much larger and far more beauti-
ful than any of our species. The most beautiful of them all
is certainly the southern Ilex latifolia, an evergreen tree now
occasionally seen in the gardens of southern Europe, where
it was first carried more than fifty years ago. Although a
native of southern Japan, Ilex latifolia appears perfectly at
home in Tokyo, where it is often seen in large gardens and
temple-grounds, and where it occasionally makes a tree
fifty to sixty feet in height, with a straight tall trunk cov-
ered with the pale smooth bark which is found on those of
most plants of this genus. The leaves are sometimes six
inches long and three or four inches broad, and are very
thick, dark green, and exceedingly lustrous. The large
scarlet fruit of this tree, which does not ripen until the late
autumn or early winter months, and which is produced in
the greatest profusion in nearly sessile axillary clusters.'re-
mains on the branches until the beginning of the following
summer. Ilex latifolia is probably the handsomest broad-
leaved evergreen tree that grows in the forests of Japan,
not only on account of its brilliant abundant fruit, but also
on account of the size and character of its foliage. It may
be expected to prove hardy in Washington, and will cer-
tainly flourish in the southern Atlantic and Gulf states.

Ilex integra is also a beautiful and distinctly desirable
ornamental tree, often cultivated in the temple-gardens of
Japan, where it frequently reaches a height of thirty or
forty feet. The leaves are narrow, obovate, three or four
inches long, and apparently quite entire. The fruit, which
is rather long-stalked, is nearly half an inch in diameter, and
very showy during the winter. A variety of this species
(van leucoclada, Maxm.), a shrub two to three feet high,
with narrower leaves and smaller fruit, is a northern form,
growing as far north as southern Yezo. On Mount Ha-
koda, near Aomori, we found this plant in full flower and
with ripe fruit on the 2d of October, and secured a supply
of the seeds, so that its hardiness can be tested in the
northern states. It must be remembered, however, that,
although this plant, and several other broad-leaved ever-
green shrubs, including two or three species of Holly, grow
in Japan in a higher latitude than Massachusetts, they are
protected, as Maximowicz has already pointed out, during
the winter by an undisturbed covering of snow, and are
not exposed, therefore, to the changes of climate which en-
danger the existence of many plants in eastern America.
In Japan, moreover, plants do not suffer from the summer
and winter droughts, which often sap their vitality in the
United States, and which are often more directly responsi-
ble for the apparent want of hardiness of many plants than
intense winter cold.

A third Japanese evergreen species, Ilex rotunda, is also
occasionally cultivated by the Japanese, although I only saw
two or three specimens of it ; these were handsome trees,
thirty to forty feet in height, with well-formed trunks twelve
to thirteen inches in diameter. The leaves of this tree are
broadly ovate to nearly orbicular, with entire thickened
margins, and are very dark green and lustrous, although
not thick nor very coriaceous. The fruit is smaller than
that of the two species already mentioned and rather ob-
long in outline.

122

Garden and Forest.

[Number 264.

A very distinct evergreen species, Ilex pedunculosa, is
exceedingly common on the Nagasendo, the great central
mountain road of Japan, in the valley of the Kisogavva.
This plant is sometimes a shrub two or three feet in height,
and is sometimes twenty or thirty feet high, when it is a
well-formed tree, with a narrow, round-topped head. The
leaves are lustrous, two to three inches long, ovate-acute,
entire and long-petiolate. The stems of the flower-clusters,
from which is derived its specific name and which are
longer than the leaves, give this plant its greatest charm,
for they hold the large bright red fruit, which is solitary, or
arranged in clusters of three or four, well outside the leaves,
giving to the plants a peculiar and beautiful appearance in
the autumn. Occasionally a tree of this species was seen in
the garden of an inn on the Nagasendo, but it is evidently
little known or cultivated in Japan, and apparently has not
been introduced into western gardens. Ilex pedunculosa
will certainly flourish in western and southern Europe, and
I am not without hope that it will survive and possibly
thrive in the northern United States, as in Japan it is found
at high elevations in a region of excessive winter cold.

Ilex crenata is the most widely distributed and the most
abundant of the Japanese Hollies with persistent leaves ;
this plant is abundant in Hokkaido, on the foothills of
Mount Hakkoda, and on the sandy barrens near Giffu, on
the Tokaido ; and I encountered it in nearly every part of
the empire which I visited. It is usually a low, much-
branched rigid shrub, three or four feet high, but in culti-
vation it not infrequently rises to the height of twenty feet
and assumes the habit of a tree not unlike the Box in gen-
eral appearance. The leaves, which are light green and
very lustrous, vary considerably in size and shape, although
they are rarely more than an inch long and are usually
ovate-acute, with slightly crenate-toothed margins. The
black fruit is produced in great profusion and in the autumn
adds materially to the beauty of the plant. This is the
most popular of all the Hollies with the Japanese, and a
plant usually cut into a fantastic shape is found in nearly
every garden. Varieties with variegated leaves are com-
mon and apparently much esteemed. Ilex crenata and
several of its varieties, with variegated foliage, were intro-
duced into western gardens many years ago and are occa-
sionally cultivated, although the value of this plant as an
under-shrub appears to be hardly known or appreciated
outside of Japan. Of the broad-leaved Japanese evergreens
I have the most hope of success with Ilex crenata in
this climate; and if it proves really hardy it will be a most
useful addition to our shrubberies.

Ilex Suderoki, another evergreen species quite unknown,
I believe, in gardens, may be expected to thrive in Europe,
and possibly in the northern United States, as it is an in-
habitant of southern Yezo and northern Hondo, where on
Mount Hakkoda we found it in fruit, and were able to se-
cure a supply of the seeds. It is a spreading bush five or
six feet high, with stout branchlets, light green ovate leaves
an inch long, rounded at the apex and coarsely crenulate-
toothed above the middle, and with bright scarlet long-
stalked solitary fruit half an inch in diarneter. Ilex Suderoki
is an unusually handsome plant in the autumn and of con-
siderable horticultural promise.

Of the section of the genus with deciduous leaves (Prinos),
represented in eastern North America by the familiar Black
Alder (Ilex verticillata) of our northern swamps and by the
arborescent Ilex Monticola of the Alleghany Mountains,
there are several species in Japan. The largest of these,
Ilex macropoda, is widely distributed, but not a common
plant I saw it on the cliffs at Mororan on the shores of Vol-
cano Bay, on the hills above Nikko, and on the flanks of
Mount Koma-Ga-Take in central Japan, although only a
single plant in each of these widely separated localities.
Ilex macropoda is a round-headed tree, twenty to thirty
feet in height, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter.
It is a well shaped handsome tree, with stout branchlets
furnished with short lateral spurs and ample, membrana-
ceous, ovate-acute, long-petioled leaves conspicuously

reticulate-veined, which turn bright clear yellow in the
autumn, when they make a beautiful contrast with the
bright red long-stalked fruit, which, although not very
large, is exceedingly abundant. Ilex macropoda grows
not only far north, as Professor Miyabehas recently written
me of its discovery in the neighborhood of Sapparo, but in
the most exposed situations and at high elevations ; and
there is no reason, therefore, why it should not thrive in
our northern states, where it may be expected to add con-
siderably to the beauty of shrubberies in the autumn and
early winter.

A much more common plant than Ilex macropoda is Ilex
Sieboldii, although this species does not reach Hokkaido
or ascend to high elevations on the mountains of Hondo.
It much resembles our North American Ilex verticillata and
Ilex laevigata, although much less beautiful than either of
these species, the fruit being smaller and less highly col-
ored. Ilex Sieboldii is a tall-spreading shrub, very com-
mon in low grounds and near the borders of streams, with
slender stems often twelve or fifteen feet tall, small ovate-
acute sharply serrate conspicuously veined leaves, and small
scarlet fruit clustered on the short lateral spur-like branch-
lets. In the autumn the leafless branches of this shrub
covered with fruit are sold in immense quantities in the
streets of Tokyo for the decoration of dwelling-houses, for
which purpose they are admirably suited, as the berries
remain on the branches and retain their color for a long
time. Ilex Sieboldii was introduced many years ago into
American gardens by the late Thomas Hogg ; it is an old
inhabitant of the Arnold Arboretum, where it now flowers
and produces its fruit every year. As an ornamental plant,
however, it is less desirable than the related American
species, and it will probably only be cultivated in this
country or in Europe as a curiosity, or in botanic gardens.

The other-Japanese Hollies with deciduous leaves. Ilex
serrata, which is closely related to and resembles Ilex Sie-
boldii, and Ilex geniculata, a rare shrub of the high moun-
tains, with black fruit, I was not fortunate enough to find.
C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Mus-vs. — Three species of Musas, of special value as dec-
orative plants, are now flowermg in the Palm-house at
Kew, M. rosacea, M. coccinea and M. Mannii. The first-
named is an Indian species, with stems from four to eight
feet high, leaves of the usual form, but narrower than
those of the common Banana, and an erect flower-spike
which projects a foot or more above the base of the top-
most leaf and is clothed with yellow tubular flowers which
are hidden under the large ovate concave rosy lilac bracts.
M. coccinea, from China and Java, is less tlian three feet
in height, with beautiful dark green leaves a yard long, and
an erect spike with large cardinal-red bracts. M. Mannii is
a recent discovery in Assam and has been named in com-
pliment to Mr. Gustav Mann by Wendland. It is similar
to the last-named species, but the bracts are a darker shade
of red and the leaves are coarser. These are beautiful
stove-plants, easily cultivated, and, besides the charm of
their foliage, they add bright color to a collection at a time
of year when this is most acceptable. They appear to
flower at almost any season.

Anthurium Chambkrlainu is a plant of some beauty, both
of foliage and inflorescence. It was named, five years ago,
b)' Dr. Masters, in compliment to the Right Hon. J. Cham-
berlain, M. P., in whose garden, at Birmingham, it first
flowered, and where it had been introduced by chance on
a plant of Cattleya Gaskelliana. Until recently the Bir-
mingham specimen was the only one, but last year a
sucker of this plant was ])resented to Kew by Mr. Cham-
berlain, who takes considerable interest in the Royal col-
lection, and this plant is now in flower. It has leaf-stalks
four feet long, with large cordate shining green blades
three feet long and two feet wide, with an unusually broad

March 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

ft be

U

123

basal sinus. The flowers are borne on stalks a foot long,
the broad concave boat-shaped spathe is six inches long,
the spadix is as thick as a man's finger and the color of the
;whole is coppery red. In the large genus Anthurium, of
hich over a hundred species are in cultivation at Kew,
there are only very few with showy flowers, A. Andrea-
num, A. Scherzerianum and A. ornatum being quite excep-
tional in the size and color of their inflorescences. A.

Society, was sold by auction last Friday. It realized fifty-
four guineas, the purchasers being Messrs. J. Veitch&Sons.
This is suggestive to collectors residing in the eastern
Himalaya, where this species is a native.

Phajus tuberculosus is a most beautiful Orchid, but it
does not thrive under cultivation, as a rule. It was intro-
duced in quantity from Madagascar about twelve years ago
by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., and flowered for the first time

Fig. 20. — Begonia Souvenir de Francois Gaulin (re luced). — See page 125.

Chamberlainii may, however, take rank with them as a
large and handsome flowered species. Of course, we have
also a considerable number of garden-hybrids with large
flowers, and which have been raised from this trio, or one
or other of them, crossed with some outsider.

Cymbidiu.m (iRANDiFLORU.M. — The specimen of this rare Or-
chid, mentioned in my letter last week as having beer,
shown in flower at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural

in Sir Trevor Lawrence's garden in 1881. Its erect sturdy
scape, bearing from six to ten flowers, each two inches
across, with overlapping segments of the purest white, ex-
cept the lip, which is crimson and gold, is a delight to all
who see this flower. The late Mr. Spyers, who was Orchid-
grower to Sir T. Lawrence, succeeded with this plant by
growing it on a pad of moss against a piece of fibrous Fern-
stem, watering it copiously, keeping it in a very warm

124

Garden and Forest.

[Number 264.

house and fumigating it once a fortnight by smoking his
pipe near it, puffing the smoke under a bell-glass placed
over the plant. There is a good example of P. tuberculosus
in flower at Kew now, treated after Mr. Spyers' plan.

Galanthus Byzanti.nus is a new species of Snowdrop,
which Mr. Baker has named from specimens sent to Kew
by Mr. Allen, who makes a specialty of these plants. It is
also in the collection of Messrs. T. S. Ware & Co., Totten-
ham. It has the look of an ordinary Snowdrop, but when
examined with the scrutiny of a fancier of Snowdrops it
shows peculiarities of its own. Mr. Baker places it inter-
mediate between G. plicatus and G. Elwesii. Its leaves
are glaucous, channeled, reflexed along the margins, a foot
long, three-quarters of an inch wide. The flower-stalks are
six inches long. The flowers have oblong-convex outer
segments three-quarters of an inch long, and deeply emar-
ginate inner segments, with a green horseshoe mark at the
margin and a green blotch at the base. This description
would tit fairly well half a dozen species of Snowdrops, so
called, still when one sees the flowers together their differ-
ences are perceptible. In the " wild garden " at Kew there
is now a wide stretch of Snowdrops in full bloom close to
the colony of Christmas Roses which I wrote about a few
weeks ago. They are common Snowdrops, but what a
charm they have here under the tall trees, their white flow-
ers, like snowflakes, lying thickly upon the brown leaves
and green grass. The Daffodils will soon be open in their
thousands close by, and on the other side in this wild gar-
den, on the sloping turf, the yellow Crocuses are a cloth of
gold. This is one of the easiest forms of gardening, and,
at the same time, it is one of the most effective. G. Perryi
is another new Snowdrop, described as " differing little
from G. Alleni so far as general appearance goes, only the
latter has larger flowers and is a purer white." Mr. Baker
has also named a form of G. Elwesii, var. robustus, which
has a large bulb and a thick glaucous leaf, the flowers
scarcely as large as the type. It is said to be very hardy
and a late-flowering kind. These three new kinds are cul-
tivated by Messrs. Ware & Co., at Tottenham.

London.

W. Watson.

Paris Letter.

OUT-OF-DOORS horticulture in France has experi-
enced in recent years one bad season after another.
For the third year in succession we have a winter of
American severity. The thermometer in Paris has lately
marked thirty degrees of frost, Fahrenheit ; and at Lyons
fifty-one degrees, Fahrenheit, an almost unheard of occur-
rence, has been registered.

The supply of fresh flowers in the Central Market of
Paris and at the innumerable florists' shops is consequently
somewhat reduced by the severe weather, and flowers
would be scarce had not the construction of glass-houses
for the production of forced flowers been greatly increased
in the last half-dozen years. Even on the Riviera, where
the mildness of the climate is proverbial, acre upon acre of
glass is put up every year, often on very slight and tem-
porary structures, in order to aid the action of the sun and
to prevent intense radiation during clear cold nights. All
the best Roses grown on the Riviera are produced under
glass, with the occasional help of hot-water pipes. The
protection afforded by glass frames and the solar heat
suffices, however, to bring on the buds in a state of im-
maculate beauty which no Roses can equal when grown
out-of-doors.

It is owing to the largely increased number of glass-
houses on the Riviera that a horticultural exhibition could
be held at Cannes at the close of January, a most unusual
time for a di-splay of this sort. Highly interesting speci-
mens of hybrid Aroids were staged, including several
crosses of Anthurium Andreanum and A. Veitchii, all
stately plants. Great masses of Chinese Primulas, Cine-
rarias, Pinks and Violets formed a striking contrast with
the snow-capped hills and mountains in full view from the
Exposition building.

A rare and, in some particulars, an exceedingly puzzling
plant is shown every year in great beauty at these exposi-
tions at Cannes, namely, Lachenalia pendula, var. Aureli-
ana, which was described and figured on page 396 of the
Revue Horlicole for 1890. According to a tradition held
sacred on the spot, this plant was found wild not many
years ago on the Esterel, some miles west of Cannes, near
the line of the Via Aurelia, a great Roman highway into
Provence.

At first sight it seemed preposterous that a plant belong-
ing to a genus whose representatives are all natives of
South Africa should be discovered growing wild in Europe
at the end of the nineteenth century, after escaping
the notice of botanists and country people for hundreds
of years. This is made all the more incredible by the fact
that the plant produces bright and showy flowers not at all
likely to be passed by uimoticed. On the other hand, it
cannot be denied that it is a very distinct form of Lache-
nalia, and if it must be referred to L. pendula, as the best
botanists believe, it is at least a strongly marked variety.
It differs from L. pendula in its stronger and more compact
habit, in the broad green leaves and in the greater number
of flowers, often amounting to forty or fifty on a spike, and
in the fact that it blooms earlier. At Cannes, L. pen-
dula flowers about the middle of January, while this
variety is commonly in flower on or before Christmas, that
is, a fortnight or three weeks earlier.

At this season the greatest quantity of flowers are sent
from the Riviera to Paris. Roses, Pinks, Sweet Violets,
the feathery Acacia dealbata, etc., and the flowers of many
bulbous plants. The snow-white Roman Hyacinths are
shipped by tons to northern cities, and the Paris florists
have devised a new trick by which to tempt their customers.
They color the spikes of flowers by immersing the stems
in chemicals dissolved in water ; in this way, at the end of
a few hours, the whole inflorescence becomes evenly dyed
from within. The favorite shades of color are a rosy lilac,
salmon pink, and glaucous green, suggesting the color of
the flowers of Ixia viridiflora. Bright crimson and golden
yellow trusses of Lilac have been produced, and are the nov-
elty of the week. It is claimed that the process makes the
flowers last longer instead of shortening their power of du-
ration. The coloring substances, extracted from coals,
bear terribly long compound names. The same process
was applied to Pinks last year with only indifferent effect,
the petals being dyed unequally and showing patches of
color on a white ground. With White Hyacinths and forced
Lilacs the deception is quite complete.

At the Concours General Agricole, which is the great agri-
cultural fair held in Paris at the Palais de I'lndustrie every
winter, some space is usually devoted to ornamental and
forced flowers. Although no heating department was pro-
vided last year, some of the leading houses volunteered to
exhibit floral novelties. Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie. showed
improved forms of Cyclamen Persicum of immense size
and great beauty, also very large seedlings of Primula ob-
conica, and in large numbers the no less perpetual-flower-
ing Primula Forbesii, a native of the Chinese province of
Yun-nan. This plant is very pretty and extremely grace-
ful, with slender airy floral stems which require support ;
they are a foot or a foot and a half tall, and bear on thread-
like stalks four or five whorls of pretty flowers not unlike
those of Primula farinosa in shape and color. The first
plant originally raised from seed in 1890 bloomed in Sep-
tember of the same year, and has never been out of bloom
since that time, ten to fifteen spikes being always in bloom
together.

Chrysanthemums in flower are not a common sight in
February, yet a good group of them were shown on the
same occasion by Monsieur Boutreux, of Montreuil. The
])lants, of course, were not forced, but rather kept back.
The best kinds among fifty or sixty varieties staged were :
Fair Maid of Guernsey, Mademoiselle Marie Hoste, Peli-
can, Monsieur Parent, Louis Varay, Etoile de Lyon, Grandi-
florum Alcazar, Yellow Dragon, Monsieur Boutreux, Dr.

March 15, 1893.)

Garden and Forest.

125

Lacroix, George Maclure and President Harrison. The
plants were all strong- and well furnished with flowers, and,
considering 'the lateness of the season, made a creditable
display. „

Paris. •"•

Cultural Department.
Winter-flowering Begonias.

MONG the numerous varieties of Begonias I have found
the following to be the most desirable for winter flowering :
Begonia Souvenir de Francois Gaulin (Crozy), said to be a
hybrid between B. olbia and B. rubra, is a winter-flowering
Blant of great beauty and value. Under ordinary cultivation
It grows strongly, but not rankly, producing straight stems
from the bottom, in the way of B. rubra. The leaves are long,
of good substance, green above, with a satiny lustre, and
ieeply suffused with a vinous-red color on the edges, which
are coarsely serrated, and on the reverse. There is often a
Blight suffusion of red on the upper surface of the leaf, which
Is very attractive. This Begonia blooms in clusters of about ■
twenty Howers, which, individually, are probably the largest of
any existing fibrous-rooted Begonia. The longest single flower
on the spray, illustrated on page 123, is quite three inches long.
The plants sometimes bear male flowers, but they are usually
female, with large-winged ovaries, which, with the petals, are
self-colored of a deep translucent carmine. The petals remain
partly folded, and the flowers are not apt to become fertilized.
They retain their beauty on the plants for several weeks, and
are useful for cutting.

Begonia President Carnot is a hybrid of the same parentage
as Begro^'a Souvenir de Francois Gaulin. It differs from this
in the'color of the flowers, which are lighter; there is also
rather more suffusion of color in the leaves. B. Paul Bruant
is quite the most free-flowering Begonia of the season, and,
altogether, a beautiful plant with finely serrated leaves light
green in color, and with numerous racemes of medium-sized
flowers. These are light pink, with a trace of green on the
ovaries. B. Gilsonii is an old and popular variety, the flowers
a deeper pink, but not so numerous as those of B. Paul
Bruant. It is one of the most robust and vigorous of Begonias,
every leaf and stem in a damp place showing young buds. B.
semperflorens gigantea, var. carnea and var. rosea, both have
flowers in large racemes of various shades of red. The foliage
is gross, and the plants are not specially desirable in small
places, tliough valuable in large houses, where bold effects are
desired.

There are three hybrids which should be in every collection
for their beauty of foliage and flower. These are B. Gloire de
Sceaux, B. Gloire de Jouy and B. Madame Hardy or Madame
Lionet, the last two being smiilar. They are each distinct and
make very handsome specimens. The first-named has smooth
dark red leaves and large racemes of rose-pink flowers.
B. Gloire de Jouy has oblique leaves deeply channeled and
covered with silvery spots on a green hairy surface, with a
metallic green lustre. 15. Madame Hardy has leaves of a sim-
ilar form, very dark maroon in color and resembling cut and
figured velvet.

Of the smaller-flowered kinds, B. manicata, B. manicata
aurea and B. hydrocotofolia are established favorites too well
known to need description. They are three excellent house-
iplants. B. Saunderbruchii is a fine plant for a bracket and is
Icspecially effective against a rear light, which shows off the
Icoloring of the leaves. These are large, deeply cut and pen-
dent. From the creeping rhizome spring many long spikes
Iwith racemes of beautiful light pink flowers. There seemed
to be a promise at one time that we should have a race
)f winter-flowering tul)erous Begonias, similar in form to
the popular summer-flowering kinds. A few of these have
Ibeen produced, but do notseem likely to become popular or
luseful plants, as they do not bear seeds or submit readily to
propagation. It is quite evident that we must depend on B.
bocotrana for the most important advances in winter-flower-
5ng Begonias, these advances being in the lines of larger,
Imore persistent or lasting flowers. B. Socotrana seems to be
tlie link between the tuberous and fibrous-rooted Begonias,
crossing equally well with either. It is a plant of much beauty,
having large persistent flowers in winter. In the early year it
lorms small bulblets at the base of the stem and dies off.

The crosses already made with the fibrous-rooted kinds are
at value. B. Gloire de Sceaux is, as already said, a fine plant.
i. Bijou is less noticeable, with bright, small cherry-colored
flowers. Monsieur Lemoine seems to have made the most
progress in this line in B. Triomphe de Lemoine and B. Tri-

omphe de Nancy, which are dwarf plants with hard stems and
which bear a profusion of almost imperishable flowers. In-
dividually, however, these flowers leave something to be de-
sired, while the plants do not seem to be as easily grown as
most Begonias. I grew them fairly well one season in the
greenhouse, but last year, at the suggestion of Monsieur Le-
moine, grew them in the open, with full exposure. Although
this produced hard stems and good foliage, they have not
flowered well, and I am inclined to think that a medium
course of growing them outside, with partial shade, will se-
cure the best results. The same growers claim an advance
this season in the new B. Triomphe de Lorraine, with larger
and very abundant flowers of tlie same texture as the varie-
ties just named.

The cultural requirements of Begonias are usually of the
simplest. They should be potted in small pots in rich open
soil, and shifted along into larger sizes as required. After the
plant has grown to the size desired, and when coming into
flower, they are rather better for being pot-bound. At this
stage regular applications of weak manure- water will be bene-
ficial. They are particularly impatient of stagnant water at the
roots, which will cause them quickly to drop their leaves.
With plenty of pure air they are little subject to insect pests.
Though Begonias are easily propagated, and are thus widely
grown plants, a well-grown specimen is rare. Such speci-
mens, showing the best possible results, always make a sensa-
tion, as in the case of B. Gloire de Sceaux in England lately, as
related by Mr. Watson. B. rubra is a good plant for special
culture m this direction. When well grown it makes straight
bamboo-like canes, seven or eight feet long, with leathery
foliage and an abundance of bright-colored flowers in large
clusters. From indications I presume B. S. Pres. Gaulin could
be grown into a specimen of the same character, possibly only
inferior in size.

Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

The Persian Cyclamen. — I.

/^YCLAMEN PERSICUM is a common greenhouse plant,
^ unfortunately rarely seen at its best in this country. A
native of south-eastern Europe and various parts of Asia, it
was first introduced to English gardens from the island of
Cyprus, in 1731, but was much neglected until about half a
century ago ; since then it has steadily increased in popularity.

In its wild state the plant has handsomely variegated leaves,
so conspicuous in the cultivated varieties. Many foliage-
plants in our greenhouses are less ornamental. The wild flow-
ers are comparatively smaU, white with a prominent blotch of
purple at the base, and in some instances they are fragrant.
The credit of the great improvement in its general habit and
in the increase of size and development of colors in the flow-
ers belongs to the market-gardeners and nurserymen about
London. It is due to their unceasing efforts that we have
plants of perfect habit, the flowers borne well above luxuriant
foliage that is compact and sturdy. The colors of the flowers
range, in selfs, from rich crimson to pure white, and in numer-
ous kinds are beautifully blended and intermixed. The few
varieties distinguished by the delicate odor of their flowers
are commonly inferior in other respects. Fragrance would
be a valuable trait in the best forms of the Cyclamen, and with
persistence it is possible that a strain with handsome, scented
flowers might be established. The work of the successful
Cyclamen specialist in cross-fertilization, selection and seed-
saving involves, of course, persistent and continued experi-
ments.

There is, thus early in the cultivation of the Cyclamen in
this country, a strong inclination to deteriorate in the offspring
of plants obtained from European seed. Too often quantity
is the main consideration of growers and degeneration is in-
variably the result. It is most essential to guard, and, if pos-
sible, to improve the quality of the seed. Its excellence is in
proportion to the quantity ripened on a plant ; the average
plant will not produce more than six pods of high-grade seeds,
and the number should be reduced to three or four where the
plants have been cross-fertilized. More seeds than this will
certainly result in plants of inferior type, as has been proved
bycareful experiments.

By judicious treatment Cyclamen may be had in flower
during seven months of the year, from the ist of October until
the early part of May. The long, stiff stalks of the flowers
make them admirable for cutting, and their duration is re-
markable. Specimens that have been fully developed in the
greenhouse do as well in the dry atmosphere of rooms as any
plant I know of, and they are serviceable favorites in window-
gardening^. That this plant can be successfully cultivated with-
out the aid of a greenhouse is am ply demonstrated in an instance

126

Garden and Forest.

[Number 264.

recently gHven in the Gardeners' Magazine by a well-known
correspondent. The writer says that "early in 1892 he saw a
fine specimen of the Persian Cyclamen in full bloom that had
been grown in a cottage-window for the past nineteen years.
It had at that time nearly one hundred and sixty Howers upon
it, and was in robust condition. This particular corm was two
years old when it came into the hands of the present owner, so
that it must be now nearly twenty-two years old. The blos-
soms are delightfully fragrant, and they seed freely, as some
of the progeny is in cultivation at the present time.
OtmbridK^. Ma... M. Barker.

Spring Cultivation of Chrysanthemums.

CHRYSANTHEMUMS intended for specimen plants or cut
flowers during the coming season need cultural attention
now and will continue to require it. From new varieties, de-
livered by the dealers in March, it is possible, with proper
management, to secure two or three good plants for exhibi-
tion flowers and still have the stock plant left in good form.
For this purpose only the soft tips are taken, thus ensuring
the break immediately below. If specimen Howers only are
wanted the tips may be cut into the hard wood, when, instead
of breaking along the stem, suckers will be developed from
the base, and these make the very best cuttings. After this
treatment the original plant is of little use for making a
specimen.

The standard varieties on hand may be established in five
or six inch pots. If not already done, this should be attended
to at once. A moderately rich compost should be used at this
stage, pressed firmly if the soil is light and loosely if it is
heavy. It is very important at all stages that the drainage be
free.

The plants should be placed in cold frames- as soon as this
is safe, to encourage a good stocky growth, and the final shift
be made into ten or twelve inch pots about the 20th of May in
this latitude. My plan has been to turn the plants then into
the frame for a week or longer, that they may have the pro-
tection of sashes in case of heavy rain before new roots are
made.

Stopping is an important operation to secure good symmet-
rical plants. The plants should be examined for this purpose
every few days throughout the season. Untrained plants be-
come leggy, and stopping is also an important factor in retain-
ing the lower foliage, without which no specimen is perfect.

Wellaley. MaM. T. D. H.

Correspondence.
Hybrid Genera.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest:

Sir, — I see in your number for January i8th that my friend,
Mr. Watson, following the precedent of no less an authority
than Dean Herbert, raises objections to so-called bigeneric
hybrids. By implication, at least, he casts some amount of
disapprobation on me for having conferred a name or names,
the construction of which must, if he is right in his contention,
be altogether faulty and misleading.

I believe in certain quarters I am credited with having been
the first to apply a hybrid name to the product of two assumed
genera. It may be so, but I have a vague impression, which
I have not vet been able to confirm, that I was not the first
person to follow such a course, and that there were bigeneric
hybrids — named as such — previous to my Philageria x. Be
this as it may, I do not wish to shirk my responsibility. If
similar circumstances were to arise to-morrow I think I should
follow the same course. The reason will be obvious when I
have concluded.

Mr. Watson, I am sure, would disclaim the ability to define
accurately what is a genus, or what is a species. I should be
equally unwilling to advance any claim to infallibility. Both
he and I, for our respective purposes, are obliged to adopt
certain more or less arbitrary postulates and to say this is a
species, or that is a genus. What we include within these
limits is partly an affair of judgment and experience, partly of
expediency. Moreover, we take genera and species as
we find them described by our predecessors. It is obviously
im[>os8ible for us to study every genus as a monographer
does. The number of species and genera upon which any
botanist is entitled, from personal research, to pronounce an
authoritative opinion is infinitesimal in proportion to the total
number. He is compelled to rely upon the opinion of others.

The same arguments that Mr. Watson uses in the case of
genera were once employed in the case of species. Such a
thing as a hybrid between two distinct species, it was averred,

could not exist. The fact of the existence of a so-called hybrid
was taken as evidence that the two parents belonged to one
and the same, not to two different species. If any one still
prefers to adopt that view, it is not for me to say nay. To en-
ter into any discussion on the matter would occupy much
more space than the Editor of Garden and Forest would, if
I may judge from my own experience, be able to afford. I
would simply record my opinion that, at least for garden pur-
poses, it is expedient to admit the existence of species and of
hybrids between them. As a matter of physiology, when I
read of the characteristics of natural hybrids being produced
artificially, as in many Orchids, and of the counterparts of arti-
ficial hybrids being found in a wild state, I think we have
stronger grounds than mere expediency to justify our proced-
ure. But this part of the subject I do not wish just now to enter
upon ; I simply repeat that in gardens we cannot do otherwise
than recognize certain forms as hybrids, and this being so it is
expedient to give them names indicative of their origin. If
this be admitted in the case of species, a fortiori it must be
admitted in the case of genera. The plant known as Phila-
geria X is not a Philesia, it is not a Lapageria. What is it ? In
the case of Urceocharis x the gap is wider still. No gardener
would confound UrceoIinaandEucharis, and Messrs. Clibrans'
plant was neither the one nor the other.

The recent publication of Dr. MacFarlane's paper on the
microscopical structure of various hybrids shows that in ana-
tomical construction, as well as in outward appearance, the hy-
brids are intermediate between their parents. It shows also that
the variation in minute structure is greater than we usually
see in different species of the same genus. Considering all
these circumstances, I remain of opinion that it is desirable,
for practical purposes, to give these hybrid productions appro-
priate names according to their degree of distinctness.

As to the bearing these intermediate forms have on the
question of the origin of species and of genera, that is,
as I have said, too speculative a matter to be entered upon
here. I would merely say that I am, so far as I see, more
nearly in accord with Mr. Watson in his speculative than in
his practical views. ., „_ ,^

London. Maxivell T. Masters.

Relation of Yield of Potatoes to Weight of Tuber

Planted.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — For many years there has been mucli written and said
concerning the amount of seed tuber to be planted per hill to
secure the best and most productive crop of potatoes. The
ordinary custom adopted in many tests was to plant in sep-
arate plats seed potatoes of different sizes, or to cut tubers in
various ways, and plant given areas with certain forms of cut-
tings. The weight of the seed was guessed at instead of definitely
ascertained. To get more definite information on the weight
of the seed planted and the resulting crop, in 1889, at the Ten-
nessee University lExperiment Station, I carried on quite an
extended experiment ; the individual tubers planted were first
weighed and a record kept of the growth and harvest of each
hill. Prime New York State Early Rose tubers were used and
the potatoes were planted whole, and in eight lots, grading
from tubers weighing from one to two ounces to from twelve to
fourteen ounces.

The following table is of special interest and importance as
bearing on the results :

Weight tubers Averas;e height Total average Yield per hill,

planted. plants grew. weight. Number.

12 to 14 ounces. 20 inches. 29.8 ounces. 19.3

10 to 12 " 20 " 20.9 " 19.1

8 to 10 " 17 " 26.5 " 16.7

6 to 8 " 17 " 22.8 " 16.3

4 to 6 " xiiYi " 21.4 " 15.4

3 to 4 " iS>i " 19-8 " H8

2 to 3 " 16X " 191 " I'-S

I to 2 " 15 " 17.4 " 9.5

Other experiments were also conducted, in which it was

shown that the larger the seed-piece planted the greater the

yield. But it was also demonstrated that the large and whole

tubers produced smaller and poorer merchantable potatoes

than did halves, quarters or single eyes.

For several years past Dr. J. C. Arthur has been investiga-
ting this same problem at the Purdue University Experiment
Station, from the standpoint of the physiological structure of the
tuber. A very large amount of experimental work has been
done, in the field, with weighed seed-pieces or tubers. This
involved a study of the entire structure of the tuber, and the
relation of the number of eyes to the tuber; the number of
stalks compared with number of eyes; number of stalks com-

March 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

127

pared with weight of seed-material planted, and number of
stalks per hill compared with the yield.

Comparing the number of stalks with the number of eyes,
we find the following to be true : "Increasing the number of
eyes from one to two, or two to four, upon pieces of uniform
weight only increases the number of stalks in the proportion
of I to 1.2. but increasing the weight of the pieces from twenty
to forty grams, with the number of eyes remaining the same,
increases the number of stalks in the proportion of i to 1.5, or
doubling the weight by increasing it from forty to eighty grams,
and at the same time doubling the number of pieces, with the
number of eyes, however, remaining the same, increases the
number of stalks in the proportion of i to 1.6." Further, it is
strikingly shown by figures, that when the tubers are of the
same variety and weight, the number of shoots does not per-
ceptibly increase with the increase of eyes on the tuber, prob-
ably due to the comparatively small amount of nutriment
available for each eye. A definite relation is also found to
exist between the weight of the tuber and the number of shoots
to which it will give rise ; the heavier the whole or partial
tuber the more shoots it will send out. Evidence also proves
that equally good results may be secured by planting accord-
ing to weight of tuber, and entirely ignoring number of eyes to
the piece. Comparing the number of stalks per hill with the
yield, it was found that there was a uniform increase in the
average number of stalks per hill to correspond with the in-
creased size of the seed-tuber used. With the increase of the
number of stalks per hill there is also a practically uniform
increase in weight of product.

As a result of his research, Dr. Arthur concludes that the
number of eyes per piece is immaterial, but that the weight
of the piece of tuber is of much significance. Instead of cut-
ting to one, two or three eye-pieces, the approximation should
be to one, two or three ounce-pieces, or other definite weight.

Purdue University Agr. Exp. Station. C, O. Plutno,

Recent Publications.

Johnson' s Gardeners' Dictionary. Revised edition by C. H.
Wright and D. Dewar. G. Bell & Sons, London.

Tlie first edition of this work, in one volume, was published
in 1847. A second edition appeared in 1856, and a third, with
a supplement prepared by Mr. N. E. Brown, was issued in
1882. A new and thoroughly revised edition, much larger
than the original, has been carefully prepared by Messrs. C. H.
Wright and D. Dewar, both of Kew. It is to be issued in eight
monthly parts at one shilling each, the first part appearing on
March ist. Although not so comprehensive nor so abundantly
illustrated as the Dictionary of Gardening, this new edition of
Johnson's book is certain to find considerable favor among
gardeners and others who require a handy book for constant
reference on all matters of garden interest.

Exhibitions.
Mr. Parsons' Pictures of Japan.

A LARGE collection of water-colors, painted last summer
■^~*- in Japan by the English artist, Alfred Parsons, has recently
been on exhibition in this city and is now to be shown in Bos-
ton. Every one has been eager to see them, for Japan is per-
enniallyattractive, and Mr.Parsons'delightfulworkinblackand
white, which is as familiar in this country as in England, seemed
to promise that his paintings would be conceived in a different
spirit from those of any previous traveler of the brush.

This promise has been fulfilled. The ninety-three pictures
include a number of landscapes pure and simple, among the
most interesting being some of those where the great moun-
tain, Fujisan, fills the background, and certain views of lake-
shores with rainy or misty atmospheric effects. But the most
characteristic examples may be described as plant-portraits
with landscape backgrounds, similar in conception to many
of the delightful portrayals of English meadows and wood-
lands which have been frequent in Mr. Parsons' illustrative
work for books and magazines. There is a good deal of
variety in the paintings of this class. Sometimes the landscape
is more important than the foreground plants, which are not
distinctly individualized, but appear in striking masses of uni-
form or brilliantly varied color. In one example, for instance,
we have a whole foreground and middle distance tinted a
vivid pink by masses of a plant which the catalogue calls "A
Pink Weed," Ijut which the accompanying Japanese name
proves to be Dyer's Weed, Polygonum tinctorium — not really
a weed therefore, but a crop grown for industrial uses.

Again, a real weed, a blue-flowered one resembling in general
effect our familiar Pickerel-weed, occupies marshy fore-
grounds with Rice-fields beyond and distant reaches of water
or ranges of hills ; and still again we see a Rape-crop in
fiower, making wide bright yellow stretches across the whole
canvas.

In contrast with such pictures as these are others where the
plants near at hand are carefully defined and elaborated in
leaf, petal and stamen— as in the very characteristic " Lotus
Patch at Kawasaki," where a big clump of the huge blue-green
leaves and pink blossoms rises from a Rice-field— notaccident-
ally occurring, and not grown for the sake of beauty, but for the
sake of the edible roots. Naturally, Mr. Parsons very often shows
us the Lotus, but seldom twice in similar situations. Here it
occupies half the picture, filling a pond by a temple in Tokio,
with a bridge and a part of the temple completing the compo-
sition. Then we see it growing rampant in the " Old Moat at
Akasi Castle," with groves of Bamboo beyond it ; and this is
one of the most charming of all the pictures. And, once more,
we have a " Study of White Lotus " on a larger scale, in
which the very blue leaves of this variety and its great snowy
blossoms are explained with especial care and skill.

Almost as numerous as what I may call the Lotus land-
scapes are those where the chief role is played by great masses
of Lycoris Japonica. These plants Mr. Parsons calls "Autumn
Lilies," but they belong, not to the Lily, but to the Amaryllis,
family. Their flowers are not very large, but are borne, many
together, on the top of naked stems late in the summer after
the leaves have withered ; and, being of the brightest scarlet,
they are extremely effecfive in the mass as well as very charm-
ing in form when individually examined. Mr. Parsons shows
us in what varied situations they may grow — now encircling a
little graveyard huddled full of gray head-stones, on an ap-
parently dry site; now edging a cultivated field, just under
the edge of the slightly raised road, bordered by plantations of
Pine-trees, which is such a characteristic feature in Japan ; and
now (in one of the most charming of all the pictures) forming
irregular clumps amid tall grass near an evergreen grove be-
yond which lies a placid bit of water. I am not aware that this
scarlet Lycoris has yet been cultivated in our country ; but Mr.
Parsons' revelafion of its beauty ought at once to bring it into
high favor.

Japanese Lilies of many kinds we already know and value ;
and, consequently, it is interesting to see how the Japanese
behold them. On the shore of Lake Chusenji Mr. Parsons
shows us orange-colored ones growing wild and grouped with
tall bushes of white Rosa multiflora ; on a moor near Nikko,
white ones (L. auratum) mingle effectively with the tall flower-
ing-stems of Bocconia Japonica ; in a Bamboo-grove at Ten-
nenji (the multitudinous details of which Mr. Parsons has most
delightfully worked out) grows Rosa multiflora again with
Lilium Krameri ; and in the picture called " A Field of Lilies "
we have L. auratum once more, but grown as a crop. The
bulbs of this plant are in such demand for exportation that
fields much more extensive than Mr. Parsons has printed are
devoted to its cultivation ; and I remember a photograph
in which wide masses of it covered the ground between
the small tree-trunks in a young fruit-orchard.

Of fruit-trees in blossom Mr. Parsons naturally shows us
many examples — Plums, Cherries and Peaches in all shades of
white and pink and red. But Azaleas are perhaps more pro-
fusely explained to us than any other plant, and it is hard to
say where we admire them most — in foregrounds beyond
which show stretches of sea-shore or lake-shore, in temple
gardens, or on hill-sides where small stone Buddhas stand
amid their gay masses.

Of course, these are not all tiie flowers of Japan which our
artist celebrates, but I have space to speak only of one or two
more pictures which especially appealed to me. Among these
is the "Sacred Palm-tree, Ryugeji," a faithful portrait of what
is supposed to be the oldest Cycad in Japan, with a huge short
trunk and a spreading head, supported, in its old age, by many
props ; the large " Edge of Kasuga Park, Nara," interesting by its
contrast with the more wholly naturalistic scenes ; the studies
of purple Wistaria clambering over trees in this park just as it
does in our own Central Park ; the " Peonies by the Temple
Steps, Hasodera," which is especially brilliant in color ; the
" Single Camellia, Corner of Hotel Garden, Hara," which
seemed to me the most perfect bit of color in the whole col-
lection ; the "Iris Pond near Osaka," filled with masses of Iris
laevigata or Ksempferi ; and the "Foot of Nantaizan," where
we see, growing in wild profusion, Irises of another and a
smaller sort.

It should be added, in conclusion, that Mr. Parsons' pic-
tures are unfortunately framed. They are enclosed with-

128

Garden and Forest.

[Number 264.

out margins or mats, in gold borders which are much too
heavy for such delicate pieces of handiwork, and, impelling the
eye to contrast them with the works in oil for which such
frames are appropriate, do injustice to the skill with which Mr.
Parsons has used his aquarelles. All the examples would
look better, and some of them would look much better,
had they been mounted in a more appropriate fashion. And,
moreover, I think they would appear most entirely successful
—alike in color and in handling— if, instead of being seen as
they hang on an exhibition wall, they could be drawn one by
one from a portfolio for separate and close inspection.
New York. M. G. Van Rensselaer.

Notes.

In rural England the blossoming twigs of Willow, which our
children call " Pussy-Willows." are often used in churches on
Palm-Sunday, as the only available branches which have yet
begun to show proofs of returning life.

In Germany 200.000 families are supported from the care of
the forests, upon which about $40,000,000 are expended an-
nually, 3,000,000 people more finding employment in the va-
rious wood industries of the empire. The forest account
shows an annual profit of between $5,000,000 and $6,000,000.

The largest vineyard in the world, according to a corre-
spondent of the Tribune of this city, belongs to Senator Stan-
lord, of California. It consists of 3,500 acres of bearing vines.
A large warehouse and cellar for the wine and brandy are to be
completed at once at Port Costa, near the Mare Island Navy
Yard, and at the edge of deep water, to facilitate shipping.

A correspondent of The Journal of Horticulture says that
he has raised seedling potatoes for more than half a century,
and has always found those having yellow-colored flesh or
skin to be the finest-flavored. In the production of new
varieties, too, much attention is usually given to productive-
ness and showiness, and too little to flavor and nutritive
qualities.

The total rainfall in the northern counties of California has
been this year twenty-five inches, while the fall throughout the
entire state has been more than fifteen inches. The recent
excessive rains have checked the planting of fruit-trees and will
prol>ably lessen the acreage planted. For this reason Navel
Orange-trees are now selhng for twenty-five cents each, while
they were held firmly last month at seventy-five cents each.

A Horticultural Congress, organized by the Soci^t^ Nationale
d'Horticulture de France, will be held m Paris at the time of
the spring horticultural exhibition, from the 24th to the 2qth of
May. The following subjects will be discussed : The value of
chemical manures in the market-garden and in orchard-cul-
ture ; the production and value of hybrids ; the most econom-
ical methods of heating greenhouses ; the comparative in-
fluence upon the vegetation of greenhouse-plants of the heat
of the sun and of the atmosphere ; the different soils used in
horticulture ; the comparison between French and foreign
horticulture.

The practice of defacing natural scenery with great adver-
tisements is not so prevalent in the United States as it was a
generation ago, and public sentiment is steadily growing
stronger against it. This practice has recently developed in
England to such an extent that lovers of Nature recognize that
some definite action must be taken. The Thames valley, the
most picturesque mountain spots in Wales and the loveliest
comers of Devonshire have been greatly injured by huge ad-
vertisements. The well-known architect, Mr. Waterhouse,
has proposed that if they cannot actually be prohibited, they
should at least be diminished by the imposition of a heavy
license-tax.

At a recent meeting of the Agricultural Society, in Paris,
Monsieur Maurice de Vilmorin exhibited a blossoming
spray of the new Asiatic Rose, Rosa sericea. Its home is in
the Himalayan regions of the Chinese provinces Yunnan,
Sz-Tschwan and eastern Kanson. Its seeds were sent home
two years ago by the French missionary, Father Delavey. The
young plants were kept over their first winter in cold frames
and now are vigorous shrubs with a singular appearance. A
foreign journal describes them as remarkable on account of
the yellow flowers, the calyx and corolla of which have only
four segments, while our roses have five ; and also on ac-
count of the peculiar character and size of the thorns, of which
there are two kinds. One kind are very numerous, long, thin
and sharp, but similar to those on our Roses ; the other kind,
found at the base of each leaf, are flat, very long, and bent in

the middle so that their oufline is like that of two bows join-
ing in a blunt point.

We have received a preliminary catalogue of the flora of
West Virginia, by Professor C. F. Millspaugh. one of the in-
teresting regions, botanically, in eastern America, and almost
a virgin field, as few botanists have ever explored it systemat-
ically, although a few partial lists of West Virginia plants have
been published in recent years. Professor Millspaugh's cata-
logue will be of great service, therefore, to students of Vir-
ginia botany, and will enable them to aid the author in com-
pleting his work, which, he tells us, does not cover " all that
unexplored and fascinating region lining the south of the
great Kanawha River — a region that, as far as I can learn, the
toot of the naturalist has never trod." In the nomenclature,
the principle of priority and the double-credit system is
adopted.

A remarkable dwarf Cedar, known to be three hundred years
old, was sent some time ago to the Chicago Fair by the Em-
peror of Japan. It seems strange to learn that it was prepared
tor transportation by being taken from its pot and wrapped in
paper ; and not at all strange that when it reached Jackson
Park it should have been nearly dead. Every effort was used to
resuscitate it, but a few days ago it died. Nevertheless, its
defunct form will be carefully set in a pot and exhibited in the
Horticultural Building. It is described as a remarkable exam-
ple of the skill of the Japanese in retarding the growth of trees
and yet preserving, in miniature, the aspect of an ancient,
weather-worn specimen. It is larger than the most interesting
of these dwarfs which were shown at the Paris Exhibition,
being about three feet in height.

A writer in a recent issue of American Gardening describes
a cheap and effective tree-guard made by driving three stout
stakes in a circle about the tree, equally distant from one
another. Fence wire is then stapled to one of the stakes close
to the ground and wound around the stakes close enough to
prevent animals from getting their heads between the spaces
until the top of the stakes is reached. A few staples driven in
at intervals hold the wire in place. It is evident that a tree-
guard made in this way is better than one made of wood, as
it excludes little sun from the tree and does not afford shelter
to insects ; it protects the trees from workmen that are care-
less with plow or cultivator, and when the trees are large
enough no longer to need protection the stakes can be drawn
out, the wire unwound and used elsewhere.

On the African as well as on the European coast of the west-
ern part of the Mediterranean Sea, flowers are largely grown
for the purpose of making perfumes. A favorite plant is the
Rose Geranium, and one farm has been described where the
plantations of it cover seventy acres. This area is divided into
four parts, which are occupied, respectively, by plants one.
two, three and four years old. Those which have attained the
age of four years are gathered wholesale for the distillery, the
ground they leave bare being immediately reset with slips.
The collected plants, which average fully two feet in height,
are carried by cart-loads to the distillery, where, in great copper
vats, they are subjected to the action of steam. This extracts
their oil, and, in a cooler connected by pipes with the vat, the
oil gradually separates from the water which condenses from
the steam, and is then ready to be bottled for the market. The
copper vats are then raised and placed on tram-cars, which are
run out into the fields, where their contents are emptied on the
soil to fertilize it. Sweet Alyssum is one of the weeds which
most seriously trouble the cultivators of these Geranium-fields.

Cuba is now furnishing string beans at twenty cents a quart,
peppers at thirty cents a dozen, okra at forty cents a hundred,
and for twenty-live cents a dozen small egg-plant fruits, some
four inches long and two inches in diameter. Florida is send-
ing to our markets lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, squashes and
beets. New Florida potatoes are said to be superior to those
from either Cuba or the Bermudas, and sell at from sixty to
eighty cents a peck. They are grown on newly cleared land as
a preparatory crop for pineapples and bananas, and are of
especially fine flavor, and cook dry. Long Island mushrooms
bring from fifty cents to a dollar a pound, according to quality,
and rhubarb is ten cents a bunch. The northern hot-house
lettuce is the best in the market, crisp and white, and sells for
fifty cents a dozen. Other northern hot-house products are
carrots at fifty cents a dozen, radishes at five cents a hunch,
large egg-plants from twenty to fifty cents each, and dandelion
at fifteen cents a quart. Boston cucumbers are twenty-five
cents each. A large flesh-colored squash from the Sandwich
Islands, resembling the Boston Marrow, is selling for fifteen
and twenty-five cents. Shallots sell readily to French buyers
at thirty cents a dozen.

March 22, 1893. J

Garden and Forest.

129

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tkibunk Building, New Yokk.

Conducted by

Profesaor C. S. Sargent.

KNTERKD AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles ; — Formal Gardening : Where it can he Used to Advantage. 129

Cypress as a Building Material 130

Notes on North American Trees. — XXX C. S, S. 130

Are the Varieties of Orchard. fruits Running Out? — II.

Professor L. H, Bailey. 131

Palms at Federal Point. Florida H. Nehrling. 131

A Study o£ Architecture in the Rural Districts of the West. (With figure.)

Thomas Holmes. 132

Foreign Correspondence :— London Letter IV. IVatson. 133

Cultural Department :— A Serious Filbert Disease. (With figures.)

Professor Byron D. Halsted. 134

Hardy Deciduous Barberries J. G. Jack. 134

Sowine; Seeds of Annual Plants T. D. H. i-^S

The Hardy Plant Garden 7. N. G. 136

Correspondence :— Forestry in the West Robert Douglas. 136

Exhibitions :— Spring Show of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society 137

Notes ^. -38

Illustrations : — A Farm-house in Northern California, Fig. 21 132

Filbert Twig attacked by Blight, Fig. 22 134

Sections of Blighted Branch ot Filbert, Fig. 23 135

Formal Gardening : Where it can be Used to
Advantage.

WE said last week that there is no real opposition be-
tween the formal and the naturalistic styles of
gardening, widely apart though their extreme results may
lie ; but that they are twin branches of that great art
which means the e.xpression of man's sense for beauty on
the surface of the ground by the use of Nature's materials.
Formal gardening does not, as we are apt to think, cramp
the artist within very narrow limits. The hill-side garden
of Italy, with its terraces and balustrades, stairways, grot-
toes and statues, and its rich masses of free-growing
foliage contrasting harmoniously with these artificial fea-
tures, is formal in aim and aspect — that is, it does not aim
to suggest effects which Nature spontaneously produces,
or to clarify and deepen impressions which wild scenes can
make. Formal is the vast level park at Versailles, with its
magnificent straight alleys of trees, its big rectangular ba-
sins of water, its stately fountains and cascades and wide
graveled spaces — splendid outdoor drawing-room that it
was for a pompous king and his courtiers. But formal,
too, is the park at Dijon, which also Le Notre designed,
where a straight avenue runs through the centre, and nar-
rower ones radiate from it to the drive which encircles the
park, but where the whole of the remaining space is a free-
growing forest, traversed by winding foot-ways of turf.
The old Dutch garden was formal, with its trees and shrubs
clipped into fantastic shapes, and its puerile, toy-like orna-
mentation ; but so, too, was the great walled garden of old
English days, symmetrically arranged and partly planted
in stiff fashions, but partly given up to more naturalistic
" heaths " — the garden that Bacon described and that Evelyn
loved. An enclosed court-yard laid out with gravel and
pattern-beds of flowers, such as the one at Charlecote Hall,
in England, which was illustrated some years ago in these
pages, is formal, of course; but so, likewise, are those
small Parisian pleasure-grounds which are formed by sim-

ple lawns, encircled by borders of varied and naturally
growing flowers, and so, too, was your grandmother's gar-
den in New England, with its masses of luxuriant plants,
but its straight walks bordered by prim little edgings of
Box. Some of these types are more formal — more archi-
tectural than others ; but in none of them has Nature been
" delicately humored," as she is in the naturalistic park or
garden ; in all of them a non-naturalistic ideal has been ex-
pressed by non-naturalistic methods of arrangement.

We can thus draw a line between one great gardening
style and the other. But it should be felt that this line is
not a rigid one. The borders of the two styles overlap, not
as regards fundamental conceptions, but as regards details
of execution. Nature must be allowed her freedom to
some extent, even where all the trees are clipped and all
the grass is shorn and all the flowers are set in pattern-
beds. Within the prescribed shapes and lines she must
grow her flowers and foliage as she will, and she must sup-
ply light and shadow and the atmospheric envelope. And,
on the other hand, artificial, formal elements must enter
into every landscape which man's foot is to tread and
man's eye is to enjoy as a work of art. We must always
have roads and paths and the non-natural curbs or edges
of grass that they imply. In private grounds we have a
house as the very centre and focus of the scene, as the very
reason for its artistic treatment ; and in public parks we
have minor buildings, bridges, steps and a dozen other ar-
tificial preparations for human comfort. No garden can be
altogether artificial, and none can be altogether natural ;
and this is enough to prove that the elements characteristic
of the one style may sometimes be very freely introduced
into a general scheme which we class as belonging to the
other style.

The Thier-garten in Berlin is probably the finest public
pleasure-ground in all Europe. Some of its portions are
wilder-looking, more distinctly naturalistic, than any parts
of Central Park. But through its whole breadth runs a
wide formal space, with straight drives and walks, richly
adorned with works of sculpture and planted in appropriate
ways. In the park at Dresden, on the other hand — once a
royal, but now a public possession — the general scheme is
formal, with a beautiful seventeenth-century palace as its
central feature; on one side of this a rectangular sheet of
water, and on the other a flower-beset lawn of similar size
and shape, and with straight avenues crossing the whole
tract in various directions. Once this park was much
smaller than it now is, and was formal throughout ; but
later additions and alterations have given its outlying por-
tions a thoroughly naturalistic look, here being little forests
tangled with freely growing shrubbery, and there broad
glades where huge Oaks and Elms stand in semi-rural
isolation. Yet, as the transitions have been artistically
managed, there is no want of harmony in the scenes
through which one passes ; the free park-like charm of
some of them merely seems refreshing in contrast to the
architectonic dignity of those we have just left; or, if we
come first upon the naturalistic parts, they merely make
more impressive and appropriate the formality of those
which encircle or lead up to the palace.

In our own Central Park we have a distinctly natural-
istic scheme, with no such dominating formal feature as
the many-pathed long avenue in Berlin. But here, too,
we, nevertheless, find a formal feature of great impor-
tance, in the wide straight walk which is called the Mall,
symmetrically planted with rows of Elm-trees, and ending
upon an architectural terrace with flights of stairs descend-
ing to the plaza at the edge of the lake. Nothing in the
park is more beautiful than the harmonious contrast we
note when, standing on this terrace, we look in one direc-
tion down the formal Mall and in the other across the
water to the naturalistic opposite shore of the lake. Each
of these prospects gains in charm by its artistic opposition
to the other — an opposition which is turned into union by
the presence of the intervening sheet of water. And even
when we are far away from the terrace, the Mall plays a

130

Garden and Forest.

[Number 265.

necessary part in the scene. It was needed in such a park
to accommodate great concourses of pedestrians ; and what
is needed in a park must, if skillfully treated, increase its
beauty by increasing- the force and truth of its expressive-
ness. The Mall gives just the one strong touch of con-
fessed art which was required, in the centre of this wide,
naturalistic pleasure-ground, to prove that it is a public
pleasure-ground and not a stretch of pastoral country with
an excessive number of roads and paths, and not a private
domain. It was needed to show the exact artistic char-
acter of the general scheme, and to prepare the mind for
such other formalities and artificialities as are required
in a much-frequented public park. It says, in unmistak-
able accents, that the whole scheme is not natural ; that the
purpMDse of the neighboring landscape-pictures is not to
make j>eople believe they are in the country, but merely to
suggest the country ; not to assume rusticity to but to
typify it ; not to affect naturalness, but to be poetically nat-
uralistic.

In truth, while naturalistic methods of treatment are most
appropriate in the large urban pleasure-grounds of to-day,
there must be a difiference between their treatment and
that of those beautiful natural sites, more remote from
the centres of population, which are now being reserved
in many places for public pleasure-grounds of another
sort No really urban pleasure-ground, like the Thier-
garten or the Central Park, or Franklin Park at Boston,
could be a satisfactory work of art without some conspic-
uous formal features. For in all gardening schemes, as
well as in all architectural schemes, utility must be joined
with beauty in the artist's ideal ; and the franker the ex-
pression of a feature's utility, the better, as a rule, the artis-
tic result With regard to such parks, at least, there can
be no doubt that the words which we quoted last week
from Andre are true : "To the composite style, which re-
sults from a mingling of the other two, under favorable
conditions, belongs the future of gardening art" And what
is evidently true in certain cases can hardly be assumed
as always false with regard to allied cases. What
must be done in an urban park may be done in a vast
variety of other works. Surely there is no essential oppo-
sition between the formal and the landscape styles of gar-
dening, although, of course, it takes an artist's hand to
marry them with any promise of a peaceful union.

of the south, the inaccessibility of the swamps in which it
grows, and the difficulty of cutting the timber and floating
it to market except when they are inundated by spring
freshets, having thus far protected it With the disappear-
ance and increasing cost of white pine, cypress, which is
the best substitute for it the eastern states afford, will be
more used and more fully appreciated at the north.

Cypress, as a building material, is discussed in a re-
cent issue of the Si. Louis Lumberman. This wood, the
product of Taxodium distichum, is, according to our con-
temporary, one of the most satisfactory that can be used
in every part of a building. The price at which it is sold
makes it too expensive for framing, but for siding nothing
is belter, its enduring quality making it for this purpose
cheaper than wood of less first cost A roof made of
cypress is said to last a hundred years and to require little
repairing. It can be used for all sorts of inside finish, as it
combines the qualities of the best hard wood and is as
cheap and as easily worked as pine. It is not surpassed
by any other American wood for sashes, doors, window
and door frames, partitions, ceilings or mouldings. The
variety of its grain and color makes it suitable for furniture,
and gives to this wood a special value in the construction
and finish of moderate-cost houses where it is desirable
that the use of paint should be avoided.

Cypress, although it has a tendency to "shrink end-
wise," as carpenters say, is one of the most valuable of the
North American soft woods and is not now as well known
at the north as it should be. In some parts of the south,
especially in Louisiana, it has for a century been the prin-
cipal wood used in the construction of buildings ; indeed,
the wooden houses of New Orleans are about all built of
cypress, which is also almost exclusively used for the large
cisterns with which nearly every New Orleans house is
supplied for catching rain-water.
The supply of Cypress-timber is still large in some parts

Notes on North American Trees. — XXX.

Anamomis. — In the Flora 0/ the Brilish West Indies,
Grisebach established the genus Anamomis to receive a
small group of trees of the Myrtle family previously re-
ferred to Eugenia. It differs from that genus in the intior-
escence, which is an axillary, dichotomously branched
cyme, and by the radicle of the embryo, which is much
longer than in Eugenia, which is best distinguished by its
very short contracted radicle. From Myrtus it differs in its
membranaceous seed-coat, large cotyledons, and shorter
radicle, and in the inflorescence, although Bentham, mis-
led, perhaps, by Grisebach's description of the embryo of
Anamomis, in which the radicle is said to be "basilar, in-
curved, approaching the top of the cotyledons," referred
Anamomis in the Genera Plantarum to the South American
Luma of Gray, a genus distinguished by its very long
curved radicle, although in other resjiects much like Ana-
momis, of which he made a section of Myrtus.

In the silva of North America Anamomis is represented
by the West Indian tree which has usually been called
Eugenia dichotoma, and which inhabits the southern ex-
tremity of the Florida peninsula. In this plant the seed is
reniform, with a thin membranaceous coat large fleshy
cotyledons, and a slender basilar, terete, accumbent radi-
cle a third as long as the cotyledons ; these are distinct,
large, thick and fleshy, obovate, flat and rounded at the
apex, or often contracted at the apex into broad points in-
curved and variously folded one over the other. The
cymose inflorescence is composed in its simplest form of
an axillary peduncle with a single sessile flower ; usually
a secondary peduncle (generally described as a pedicel) is
developed from the axil of each of two linear-acute bracts
placed on the primary peduncle immediately below the
flower ; these secondary peduncles are also one-flowered,
so that the inflorescence in its usual form is three-flowered,
the middle flower appearing sessile in the forks of the long
stalks of the two lateral flowers. The secondary peduncles
are also bi-bracteolate at the apex, and from their bracts a
second series of peduncles are sometimes prcduced, in
which case the cyme is seven-flowered.

If the arrangement of Bentham and Hooker is followed,
this tree must be referred to Myrtus, but in Myrtus the in-
florescence is mostly one-flowered, and the seed, which is
enclosed in a thick hard coat contains an embryo with
small cotyledons much shorter than the slender curved
radicle, and as in Myrtaceae the length and character of the
radicle is an important character in limiting genera, it will
be convenient perhaps for this, as well as for geographical
reasons, to retain Grisebach's genus.

Unfortunately, in removing this plant from Eugenia to
Anamomis, Grisebach did not retain the specific name, but
coined an entirely new one, which, according to modern
rules, cannot be maintained; and for his Anamomis punc-
tata Anamomis dichotoma should be adopted if the genus
is retained. The synonymy of our Florida tree, as it will
appear in The Silva of North Atnerica, is :

Anamomis dichotoma.

Myrtus fragrans, Sims, Bot. Mag., t 1241 (not Willdenow,
teste Grisebach).

Myrtus dichotoma, Poiret, Lam. Did. Suppl. iv., 53.

Myrcia Balbisiana, De Caiidolle. Prodr. iii., 243 (teste
Grisebach).

Eugenia dichotoma, De Candolle, Prodr. iii., 278.

Anamomis punctata, Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind., 240.

C. S. S.

March 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

131

Are the Varieties of Orchard-fruits Running- Out ?

II.

THE following is the conclusion of Professor Bailey's
address — a portion of which appeared in our issue
of February 2 2d :

3. Are more meritorious varieties supplanting the old ?
Yes ; not only because they are better adapted to varying

environments, but because varieties of greater intrinsic merit
are appearing. This improvement is, in fact, the chief incen-
tive to the origination of new varieties. The changes in our
fruit-lists mean nothing if they do not indicate that we are pro-
gressing. Poor or indifferent varieties are introduced, but they
soon tind their level, disappear, and are said to have run out.
If every new country develops varieties specially adapted to it-
self, then it must follow that changes in the original fruit-lists
come most rapidly in such countries, and that they will afford
the greatest list of discarded varieties in any given length of
time. Thus American fruit-catalogues appear to contain few
very old varieties as compared with European countries, even
when allowing for the great difference in the age of the two
countries. That is, varieties disappear more rapidly here ; but
a certain stability will come with age, as in other countries,
and we shall then probably hear less about the running out of
the tree-fruits.

In 1892, 763 varieties of Apples were offered for sale in North
America. This great list must contain enough meritorious
varieties to supplant all the old ones which have weak points.
This leads me to say that nearly all the old varieties which pos-
sess superlative merits still exist ; and this is proof that varie-
ties do not wear out, but drop out. Any nurserymen knows
that the Isabella Grape has not run out, but that it is crowded
out by the Catawba and Concord. The Barnard Peach, still
grown here and there, is driven out in nearly all Peach regions
by brighter and larger varieties. It would be but a few years
before such Peaches as Amsden, Alexander and Hale would
disappear if a good variety of their season were introduced.
You may be inclined to doubt this last statement — that nearly
all the superlative old varieties still exist — and cite me to the
fact that the Esopus Spitzenburg Apple, White Doyenne
Pear and some others are little grown now. This leads me to
ask :

4. Are not certain varieties peculiarly liable to disease or in-
sect injury?

It is well known that some varieties are much more subject
to fungous and insect attacks than others, and when they are
seriously injured year by year the cultivation of these varieties
becomes restricted or may stop entirely. The Kittatinny
Blackberry, attacked by the red rust ; the lona Grape, attacked
by phylloxera, and the Fameuse Apple, very subject to scab,
are grown only in particular localities, and were it not for the
fact that they possess superlative merits, they undoubtedly would
have entirely disappeared before this. The White Doyenne
Pear has been almost entirely driven out because of fruit-
cracking, and Flemish Beauty, but for the sprays, would soon
follow. I am convinced that the chief causes of the failure of
the Ksopus Spitzenburg are the apple-scab and insufficient fer-
tility of soil, and the experiments in spraying indicate that this
good old Apple can yet be grown with satisfaction and profit.
The decreasing popularity of the Spitzenburg is regarded as
the chief contemporaneous example of the supposed running
out of varieties ; but it is chiefly driven out by disease.

5. Do fashions and demands change and call for new types ?

Yes ; and the chief reason why many of the good old des-
sert fruits are now unknown is because our modern demands
are for fruits of great productiveness, large size, beauty, good
carrying qualities, and ease of propagation and growth in the
nursery ; varieties which least satisfy these demands tend to
disappear. There is no money in the Dyer, Jefferis and
Mother Apples so long as we have the Baldwin and Ben Davis.
The persistence of varieties is determined very largely by the
money there is in them, and when fashions and demands
change, the varieties change.

I may say here that the merits of many of the old varieties
are exaggerated through rosy or unreliable memories.
Scarcely a season passes that some one does not regret to me
that the old Summer Hell and Jargonelle Pears have passed
from cultivation ; yet, as compared with even our commonest
varieties, these Pears are inferior. Memory is at fault.

It is by no means true, I imagine, that only the best varieties
are in cultivation. Probably there are as good, if not better,
varieties for particular purposes in the old or obscure fruit-
lists as those we now commonly cultivate. They may have
been overlooked or neglected, or their merits may not have
been properly placed before the public. We have more richest

than we know. It is true, also, that it is very difficult to sup-
plant a variety which has once obtained a firm foot-hold.
Even a better Apple than the Baldwin, for all purposes to
which the Baldwin is adapted, would find great difficulty in
dislodging it. The lists of tree-fruits change more slowly than
those of bush-fruits and vegetables, because the age of the
plant is greater ; and for this reason there are fewer epitaphs of
dead varieties in the old orchard books than in the literature of
the smaller fruits. It should be said, too, that there are fewer
places to be filled now than there were a century or even a
generation ago, when a few varieties had to do duty for all
demands. So new varieties come in slowly in orchard-fruits ;
and for this reason they are apt to stay when they do come,
and the old varieties may be completely driven out.

The conclusion of the whole matter, as I now see it, is this :
Varieties of orchard-fruits, which are propagated by buds, do
not run out or wear out, but they may disappear because they
are ill-adapted to various conditions, because they are suscep-
tible to disease, and because they are supplanted by better
varieties or those which more completely fill the present de-
mands or fashions. The disappearances are, therefore, so
many mile-stones to mark our progress !

Palms at Federal Point, Florida.

/^NE of the most beautiful and interesting gardens in the
^^ south, certainly the most beautiful in Florida, is that of
Mr. E. H. Hart, at Federal Point, Florida. This has been for
several years famous for its magnificent Palms, but it is
equally rich in ornamental evergreen shrubs, such as Michelia
fuscata, Tibouchina (Pleroma) Benthamiana, Brumfelsia and
many others.

The garden and Orange-grove are located in the flatwoods,
with a clay subsoil, and they are artificially drained. A large
number of plants thrive luxuriantly in this soil. An Acacia
dealbata had attained a height of twenty-five feet in a few
years. It was not damaged materially by the great freeze of
January, 1886, but died in 1887, apparently without a cause. A
large and dense specimen of Podocarpus Nageia is a revelation
of beauty to the lover of plants. Araucarias are usually not
successful in Florida, but a specimen of A. Bidwilli, one of the
most striking species, has already attained here a height of
thirteen feet. Bamboos also do well, and a Bambusa ar-
gentea stricta is thirty feet high.

But the most important feature of Mr. Hart's garden is the
collection of Palms. All the species tried by Mr. Hart grow
well, with the exception of Washingtonia filifera and the
Braheas, which do not appear to find favorable conditions of
soil and climate, although they are hardy enough. Frost is
the only drawback in growing nearly all the Palms, and only
the hardiest will survive an exceptionally cold winter. Corypha
australis is generally hardy, but all the large specimens on this
place succumbed to the four-days continuous freezing in
January, 1886. Mr. Hart says that Palms can hardly be
fertilized too much, and the more fertilizer and water they get
the faster they grow. They will thrive under the application of
nitrogenous manures in quantities sufficient to kill most other
plants. It is well known that on the Riviera and in Italy a cart-
load or more of stable manure is applied to each large speci-
men Palm, and that the plants like such treatment is proved
by the large and healthy specimens seen there.

Most of Mr. Hart's Palms are planted about in the Orange-
grove and on the borders and headlands, and they receive the
same treatment as the Orange-trees. In order to show what
immense growth they make in a very short time on this
famous place, I shall only mention that a Cocos plumosa, set
out as a pot-plant not six years ago, now stands twenty-five
feet high, with a cylindrical, ringed trunk ten inches through.
Among measurements made of some of the specimens in this
large collection were several Latanias (Livistona) fourteen
feet high ; one of these was in bloom when I saw it on the 20th
of January. Several Washingtonia robustaare sixteen to twenty-
six feet high, and plants of W. filifera measure from twelve
and a half to sixteen feet. Acrocomia sclerocarpa measures
thirteen feet ; Cocos plumosa, from twenty to twenty-five feet ;
Phoenix primula, fourteen and a half feet; P. dactylifera as
high as twenty-seven feet ; P. Canariensis, from seventeen to
nineteen feet ; P. vinifera, eleven feet ; P. sylvestris, thirty
feet ; P. reclinata, twelve and a half feet ; P. rupicola, eight
feet ; a specimen of P. Canariensis, twenty-two feet, with a
spread of twenty-eight feet, the trunk four feet or more in
diameter ; P. Leonensis, eleven feet ; P. tenuis, twelve feet ;
Cocos flexuosa, blooming, thirty feet ; C. Datil, six feet ; C.
australis, in all sizes up to eight feet ; Livistona Hoogendorpii,
nine feet ; L. olivaeformis, eleven feet ; Sabal (species un-

132

Garden and Forest.

[Number 265.

known), eighteen and a half feet; S. Mocini, with immense
leaves, ten feet ; S. longipedunculata, ten feet ; S. umbraculi-
fera, seventeen feet ; S. Havanensis. twelve feet ; S. princeps,
twenty feet ; Chamaerops humilis Sinensis, eleven feet ; C.
elegans, ten feet, and Diplothemiuni campestre, subdivided
into seven trunks, eleven feet.

These constitute a small part of the great collection, but they
are the largest sp>ecimens in the garden. The immense num-
ber of younger plants deserves a separate article, but these
notes can give only an inadequate idea of the great luxuriance
and beauty of Mr. Hart's garden, which is most attractive in the
winter season. ,, ,, , ,.

MUwaukee, Wis. -"• NehrttHg.

is common, standing clean-cut and black against a far-reaching
background of glistening snow. This house is made of bits
of sod cut about twelve inches square, and laid one upon the
other, until four walls of solid earth a foot thick are built
around the hearthstone. The roof is of sticks and brush cov-
ered with sod. When the house is completed it is as imper-
vious to cold as the best lath-and-plaster house in the country.
There is an extreme plainness and barrenness, however, that
renders a house of this sort very unattractive. Blossoming
vines and quickly growing and richly foliaged trees and shrubs
are impossible, owing to the unfriendly climate. It must
stand and appear at its face value until fortune enables its
owner to build over it a more costly and elaborate house.

Fig. 31 — A Farm-house in Northern California.

A Study of Architecture in the Rural Districts of
the West.

"T" HE study of architecture in the rural districts of the west
■*■ is an interesting one. Of all the environments of the
western home-builder that of climate is most potent in the
planning and construction of the dwelling-house. This applies
especially to emigrants to the prairies of the Dakotas, Iowa,
Nebraska and Minnesota.

The domicile of the pioneer farmer of Iowa was a small
house built of logs, between which was thrust a plaster made
of mud, a building which afforded a sufficient protection from
the bleak winters of that section. Farther west, in Nebraska,
whci^e the winters were much more severe, the settler's house
was built of logs, with earth heaped around it nearly to the
roof. This made a characteristic and comfortable shelter. In
tJie Dakotas, where the mercury is in the habit of dropping to
zero in the fall, and to forty degrees below zero during the win-
ter, the pioneer farmer is almost compelled to burrow to pro-
tect himself against the cold. Here the sod-house, or " shack,"

Throughout the northern half of California the observer can-
not but De impressed with the cosy and inexpensive houses
which he sees on every side, and in the same region he also
finds many dwellings apparently in the last stages of decay.
The degree of vigor, energy and enterprise of the new-comer
to an agricultural district is clearly shown in his barns and
dwelling, and in the Pacific coast states this object-lesson is too
frequently an unfavorable one. The thrifty immigrant from
the states east of the Mississippi River surrounds himself with
well-kept buildings, upright fences and thoroughly cultivated
lands. The native-born farmer is listless, easy-going, devoid
of enterprise. His farm, his barns, his fences, his house and
his family present the .same shiftless, despondent appearance.
There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, hut they are very
few.

The farmer in the Pacific coast states, and especially in Cal-
ifornia and Oregon, is greatly favored by climate in the build-
ing of his house. It may be constructed of matched boards
and batten. If he cannot afford to paint it, two coats of white-
wash will give a clean and fresh appearance. About the door

March 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

133

many sorts of shrubs and flowering; plants may be set. Over
the porch and roof Rose-vines will bloom the year through.
Inside the house there need be no expense for lath and plas-
ter. Muslin, made especially for this purpose, and costing but
three cents a yard, may be tacked to the walls, making a good
surface for wall-paper.

The illustration on the opposite page shows a cosy and com-
fortable dwelling, and the Prune and Cherry-orchards of afarmer
in the northern part of California. The house cost less than $150
as it stands. A part is built of matched boards and a portion of
it is constructed of what is called " rustic " — redwood boards, a
foot wide, beveled at one edge so that they lap each other like
clapboards. The house, the barns and the windmill were
whitewashed at a cost of less than two dollars for lime. Dwell-
ings of this character are a striking contrast to the uncouth
houses of logs and turf which were the habitations of early
settlers on the farm-lands of the middle-west.

Hamburgh, Conn. Thomas Holmes.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

AciDANTHERA (EQUiNOCTiALis. — This is a HCw introduction
of considerable interest, botanically, and a likely plant for
the garden. It is described by Baker in his Handbook of
Iridece, as having a lax spike of white flowers, with a slen-
der tube fiveand a half inches long and lanceolate segments
one and a half inches long, spotted with red at the throat.
It was known to Herbert, whose drawing of the flowers is
in Lindley's Herbarium. The corm and leaves were un-
known. The species is a native of Sierra Leone, and Mr.
Scott Elliot, when on a botanical visit to that country a
year ago, saw it on the Sugar-loaf Mountain, where speci-
mens, including good corms, have since been collected
and forwarded to Kew by Captain Donovpn. The corms
are two inches in diameter, with brown gladiolus-like
tunics ; the leaves are stout, as in G. brenchleyensis, and
the stem, including the spike, is thick, erect and over a
yard high. We look forward to the flowering of this plant
with great expectations. The only other species of Aci-
danthera known to me is A. bicolor, an Abyssinian plant,
of which a figure and interesting particulars were published
in Garden and Forest, vol. i., pp. 486 and 487. The dis-
tribution of this genus in Africa Is remarkable, thirteen
species being natives of Cape Colony, two of Abyssinia,
one of Sierra Leone and two of Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro.
A. cequinoctialis comes from a high elevation and will
probably prove as hardy as A. bicolor. Last year plants
in flower of this species were exhibited from Kew, and they
excited bulb-growers generally, who were quite unac-
quainted with the plant. Many applications for it have
since been made to Kew, whose stock, by the way, origi-
nally came from Professor Sargent. Until the picture
and account of this plant appeared in Garden and Forest,
its beauty was not known here.

Chionoscilla Alleni is the accepted name for a natural
hybrid between Chionodoxa Luciliae and Scilla bifolia,
which was first noticed several years ago by Mr. J. Allen,
of Shepton Mallet, growing in his garden among Scilla
bifolia. Seeing that both parents occur wild together and
that they are evidently closely related, the origin of the
hybrid is not surprising. Mr. Allen has just sent flowers
of it to Kew. They are very similar to the Scilla in gen-
eral effect and color, but they certainly combine the char-
acters of both genera. Mr Allen wrote of this plant in
1891, in The Garden, as follows : " For the last four or five
years I have had natural hybrids between Chionodoxa and
Scilla bifolia come up in my garden. Some of the earlier
plants have now become strong and give good trusses of
flowers, but I am sorry to say they show little inclination
to multiply, and so far I have only the original bulbs. The
flowers are mostly self-colored, although a few are lighter
toward the centre. While showing their origin most
plainly they are very distinct from both parents, and the
flowers are bright and attractive and they look you straight
in the face. Most of them have pale yellow anthers, adding
much to their beauty. The first year the flowers are small,

usually about the size of the Scilla, and it is not till the
third or fourth year that they show their true character. I
have flowered a few seedlings of the second generation,
and I think they will show improvement on the first break.
One of these has given a flower with a white centre." The
most conspicuous difference between the Scilla and the
Chionodoxa is that the flowers of the former have the seg-
ments divided to the base, radiating star-like, and purplish
anthers standing clear of each other, whereas in the Chi-
onodoxa the segments are united at the base, forming a
distinct tube half an inch long, and the yellow anthers are
close together, hiding the stigma. The hybrid has a short
tube, and the anthers in their pose are intermediate between
the two parents. I think we may look upon Mr. Allen's
interesting find as proof of the generic oneness of Scilla
bifolia and Chionodoxa, whatever other Scillas may be.
The fact of fhe hybrid reproducing itself from seeds is in
itself most interesting, even if we admit the close relation-
ship of the parents. I am not aware of another case of a
hybrid reproducing itself true from seeds.

Scilla bifolia is one of the most charming of hardy early
spring-flowering plants. We grow it largely at Kew,
patches of it in the wild-garden, in beds as a carpet to
Roses, etc., and in tufts in the rock-garden being beautiful
in February and March. It is also pretty in combination
with tufts of the Snowflake (Leucojum vernum), a delight-
ful picture at the present time in the rock-garden. Winter
Aconite and Snowdrop are the first heralds of spring among
the small plants. After them come in quick succession the
elegant Snowflakes, Chionodoxa, Scilla and the Hepatica
Anemones. A. angulosa is a beautiful plant all through
March, its handsome lobed reniform leaves and bright
blue starry flowers two inches across forming, a true alpine
picture against a gray boulder in the rock-garden. The
same plant occurs again in quantity as a carpet to a bed of
Brier Roses, and it is included among the choice spring
flowers for cultivation in pots to decorate the greenhouse.
The varieties of A. Hepatica, of which there are now some
superb colors, are grown in a bay in the rock-garden, and
are a source of great delight to the many visitors who know
only the old Hepatica.

Eranthis Cilicica. — Growers of that most delightful of
early spring-flowering plants, the winter Aconite (E. hye-
malis), will welcome this second species, which appeared
for the first time in cultivation a year ago at Kew, and has
lately been distributed among English horticulturists by
Mr. Whittall, of Smyrna. According to Mr. Baker, who no-
tices it this week in the Gardeners' Chronicle, where the
flower is figured, it differs from E. hyemalis in having
shorter anthers and six sepals nearly half an inch broad ;
it also has a smaller and more deeply incised involucre
with narrower lobes. It does not flower till the middle of
February, whereas E. hyemalis is often in full bloom a
month earlier. The new species may also be recognized
when growing by its red-brown stems. We grow the
winter Aconite very largely at Kew both on the lawns and
scattered among the plants on the rockery, as well as in
beds among Roses, etc.

Rhododendron Dauricum. — This is the most attractive
shrub in flower out-of-doors at the present time, bushes of
it five feet high and a yard through being smothered with
clusters of rosy mauve flowers. It is very hardy, and it
flowers even in bad weather in February and March. Even
superior to it is the hybrid raised between it and R. cilia-
tum by Davis, of Ormskirk, and named by them R. preecox.
I question if there is a more charming spring-flowering
shrub known than this, but it is not at all abundant in cul-
tivation, notwithstanding the fact of its having been raised
and sent out over thirty years ago. It is certainly a plant
of exceptional merit. There are several varieties of it, one
of which, called Rubrum, we use for forcing for the conser-
vatory. There is no more useful hardy Rhododendron.

Daphne Mezereum. — A letter devoted to spring-flowering
plants must contain a word about this, albeit I have more
than once noted its beauty in the garden at this time of

J34

Garden and Forest.

[Number 265.

year. There are two large beds of it, each over twelve
feet across, on the end of a long grass vista in the arbore-
tum at Kew, which, when the sun is shining upon them,
are visible nearly half a mile off. The plants are bushes
two feet high, composed of numerous erect wand-like
branches clothed from base to tip with bright rosy purple
flowers. These two beds have been a great attraction for
about three weeks, and they will last a week or two longer.
Certainly the Mezereum is a plant for every garden.
Loodoo. W. Watson.

Cultural Department
A Serious Filbert Disease.

EARLY in the season a large grower of exotic trees found
that his test orcliard of several hundred Filbert-trees was
being destroyed by some obscure enemy. Many of the
branches were more or less blighted, often for several inches
along one side, and rough oval warts had developed, varying
from a quarter to a third of an inch in length. These warts
had evidently contained the sf)ore-cases of the fungus enemy,
but being of previous years' production they had become ma-
ture and the spores were gone. From the general appearance
of the diseased parts it seemed quite likely that the trouble was
due to a fungus somewhat related to the black knot, well
known as an enemy of Plum and Cherry-trees. Early in the
summer it was evident that the disease was very deeply seated

I il;. ,— Filbert Twig attack' ^. i ..i:

and was present in nearly all the trees. Sometimes one
side of a trunk was affected, in other instances the trouble
seemed confined to a single large branch, while frequently the
twigp of last year's growth were dead or dying. Figure 22 is an
engraving of the Fill)ert blight as seen upon the twig, shown
natural size. With considerable variation at different sizes
and stages the same general appearance obtained, namely, a
shrinking of the tissue and the presence of the rough oval
warts, which are somewhat inclined to an arrangement in one
or more rows on the affected parts. An inspection of the
native species of Hazel (Corylus Americana) showed that
only at rare intervals was any of the Filbert fungus to be
found.

Examination of the warts led to the conclusion that the fun-
gus is perennial, and the spore sacs within and developed with
the warts require a lone time for their formation. In mid-
summer only immature living warts could be found, and by
examining these freshly cut from the trees at intervals of a
month or so through the season it was demonstrated that
spores in sacs were produced In the warts at the end of the
season. Figure 23 helps to show the nature of this blight, with

longitudinal and transverse sections of an affected stem. The
depth to which the fungus penetrated is sliown in the trans-
verse sections. The fungus checks the formation of wood and
the stem becomes eccentric with the warts upon the non-
growing portion.

It seems probable that the spores falling upon the young de-
veloping twigs in early spring germinate and penetrate the
soft epidermis. After vegetating for a time the warts are de-
veloped possibly at the natural minute rifts in the bark known
as the lenticels. Likewise, it is probable that these lenticels
furnish the proper places for the entrance of germs to twigs
that are more than a year old. The fungus when once wifhui
the twig feeds upon the assimulated sap of the host, and
spreads up and down the twig, in these respects resembling
the fungus, Plowrightia morbosa, causing the black knot. The
similar structure, methods of growth and propagation of these
two fungi suggest that the same treatment should be followed
for both. The importance of eradicating the blackk not by
meansof the knifeandburnheap wasmadeemphaticyears ago.

As the European Filberts are not generally grown in this
country, tills subject of twig-blight is not of general interest.
It, however, might become so should the Filbert industry de-
velop in this country, or if the disease above described should
spread to some of the Filbert's many closely related native
trees. We cannot afford to overlook the importance of making
a study of fatal diseases simply because they are local. It is
then that they can be stamped out, if ever. Those who im-
port new kinds of plants and cultivate them forthe tirsttimein
this country should watch carefully for symptoms of disease
of any sort, as it is possible to introduce an enemy that may
neutralize all the good of the importation. It is a pleasure to
record the fact that the owner of the test orchard ot European
Filberts is willing to root out all of his trees if they cannot be
cured, and will sell no young stock although it looks perfectly

healthy. ,, ,, , j

Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted.

Hardy Deciduous Barberries.

JI

'HE common Barberry of our gardens, often so plentiful
along the way-sides and in the fields of the older-settled
parts of the eastern states, is not a native plant of this country,
but belongs to the flora of Europe and Asia, and has been in-
troduced here since the first settlement of the country. The
freedom with which it appears to have adapted itself to the
conditions of climate and soil and the seemingly natural and
spontaneous manner of its growth along with the indigenous
vegetation, might well lead any one not acquainted with its
history to believe that it was one of the aboriginal tenants of
the soil.

There is really no native species of Barberry to be found in
the New England or northern states or in that part of the Do-
minion of Canada lying north of them. One native species
only is found in North America east of the Mississippi River.
Although this was named Berberis Canadensis by the early
American botanist, Pursh, it is not found in Canada at all, but
only from Virginia southward, chiefiy along the region of the
Alleghany Mountains. The two species have a good deal of
general resemblance, but sufficient differences in their bo-
tanical characters are found to maintain their specific dis-
tinctiveness. The American species is hardly such a stout-
growing shrub as the foreign one. It has usually smaller, less
bristly pointed leaves, with bristles or teeth farther apart, ra-
cemes of blossoms shorter and fewer-flowered, petals notched
at the apex instead of entire, as in the other, and with smaller
berries, which are roundish or oval in shape, while those of
the European species are larger and oblong.

For all cultural purposes the commonly introduced species
is probably the equal, in every way, of the rarer native one.
It is perfectly hardy in all well-drained situafions, enduring
winters when the temperature sometimes falls to thirty de-
grees below zero, as at Montreal. It may be used in almost
any manner in plantations, and will thrive better than most
shrubs in rocky situations where it is almost impossible to
make any attempt at cultivation or planting. While it is al-
ways much more handsome and picturesque when allowed to
grow naturally and produce its long pendent branches laden
with flowers or fruit, it will bear pruning into any desired
shape, and in most situations may be trimmed into a very
good and close hedge. Close pruning and trimming involves
the loss, however, of a large proportion of the bloom and
fruit, the chief attractions of the plant. Where it is desired to
prune into formal shape and to insure also a good supply of
blossoms in the following summer, the pruning should be
done just as soon as die plants have flowered in early summer.

March 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

135

The flower-buds are formed during the preceding summer,
or winter pruning would, of course, cause these to be lost.

The common I3arberry seems to be very widely distributed
in the Old World, and a numberof named kinds, found in both
Europe and Asia, are probably only varieties. There are also
cultivated in Europe a number of selected forms which have
fruit of a yellow, white, violet, purple or black color. There
is a form known as the seedless Barberry, while still another
has berries which are considered sweeter and less acid than
those of the type. But it should be stated that the trials of
these at the Arnold Arboretum have not shown them to pos-
sess any remarkable individuality to make them worth special
consideration. The fruit of the so-called sweet-fruited form is
certainly not sweet ; one rarely finds a berry without a seed in
the seedless form, and the fruit of the white or yellow berried

Fig. 23.— Sections o£ Blighted Branch of Filbert. — See page 134.

forms is poor and undergrown, and even the plants appear
to lack vigor. A variegated-leaved variety is both ugly and
useless ; there is a purple-leaved variety which grows well and
may be sparingly planted with good effect. It may be grown
from seed.

Within a comparatively few years there have been introduced
into our gardens two or three Chinese and Japanese species of
Barberry, which are thoroughly hardy and very distinct from
those in common cultivation. They have been frequently
referred to in these pages, but it may be as well to again call
attention to them. Berberis Sieboldiiisa Japanesespecies, with
stout gray stems and erect rather than the pendulous habit of
the common Barberry. Its leaves are larger, of a lighter green
color and have the margins thickly beset with slender bristles.
The flowers are larger, of a paler greenish yellow color ; they
are followed by juicy fruit, which at maturity is somewhat
larger than the fruit of the average common Barberry, though
not so long. In autumn the foliage changes to bright, warm
orange and scarlet colors. By its strong stems and erect, close,
compact habit, this Barberry is likely to prove useful planted
thickly as a hedge.

Berberis Amurensis, or Berberis vulgaris Amurensis, as it

has been called by some botanists who consider it but a va-
riety of the common species, has an erect habit of growth
much like that of B. Sieboldii, but less rigid. The foliage is
not so attractive in summer, nor so brilliantly colored in au-
tumn, and it falls earlier. The plant, however, appears to be
an extremely hardy one, and, according to Professor Budd, it
withstands the cold of winter and the heat and drought of the
prairie region at Ames, Iowa, better than almost any other
species.

The most unique among hardy Barberries is the deservedly
praised Thunberg's Barberry (Berberis Thunbergii), now adver-
tised in many catalogues. It is of rather low stature, usually not
growing more than three or four feet in height, and the
branches have a tendency to grow horizontally or to become
deflexed or pendulous, so that the whole bush finally assumes
a broad dome shape. It differs very strikingly from its con-
geners in northern gardens. The small dark green leaves are
without teeth or bristles on the margins, and are so thickly
produced that they very effectually cover the branches and
give the whole plant a handsome verdurous appearance. In
autumn the green is displaced by rich colors, lasting for some
weeks before the leaves fall. The flowers are of a lighter yel-
low color than those of most Barberries. It is most prized for
the fruit. The berries are somewhat smaller than those of the
common Barberry, and, instead of being produced in many-
fruited racemes, grow in short clusters of two or three along
the under side of the branches. They are of a shining bright
scarlet color. This alone would not give them value over
other Barberries, but they have the quality of keeping their
color and of remaining full and fresh-looking throughout the
winter, and even until the plants blossom again the next sea-
son. These berries are particularly dry and juiceless, there
being comparatively little pulp, so that the outer skin remains
entire, and does not become shriveled and wrinkled. Their
juicelessness renders them unfit for any culinary use, but
causes them to be of more lasting beauty than any of the ordi-
nary kinds.

The branches are very spiny and numerous ; 'they interlace
closely and form an effective barrier to any small animal. B.
Thunbergii will prove an excellent under'shrub or border to
the shrubbery or to drives. It may be planted in masses
for the effect of its bright fruit in winter, or be used as a low
hedge-plant. For a hedge its peculiar compact habit of growth
will necessitate little or no pruning, and it will yet have a cer-
tain formality of outline agreeable to the taste of many per-
sons. It is one of the most interesting and satisfactory of all
hardy shrubs not grown for their flowers which have been in-
troduced into cultivation for many years.

As some difference in fruitfulness has been noticed among
a large number of seedling plants, it might be well, where fruit-
age is especially desired, to select some of the very best forms
and to perpetuate them by layering or by cuttings. Cuttings
of the ripened wood of this and other species of Bar-
berry may be made in the autumn, or layers may be
put down at the same time. Grafting is sometimes prac-
ticed, but it is very objectionable in this class of plants, and
should be avoided. For all ordinary purposes, growing the
common kinds from seed is preferable. As a rule, the seed
will germinate much more quickly if the fruit is allowed to
freeze hard a number of limes before it is gathered. It
should be washed from the pulp, and may be sown directly
in prepared soil in the open ground, or in shallow boxes in the
propagating-house. Unless subjected to the action of frost, or
if allowed to become dry, the seed is likely to be slow and un-
equal in germinating and to tax the patience of the grower.

Arnold Arboretum. J, G, yack.

Sowing Seeds of Annual Plants.

C EEDS of annuals suitable for cutting and general planting
•-^ may be sown from now until the middle of April. A hot-
bed is necessary for tender kinds, and, while hardy annuals
germinate freely enough in an ordinary cold frame, time is
gained by early sowing in a little heat. In preparing for a hot-
bed, good fresh stable manure should be gathered into a pile
and moistened, if dry, when it will soon generate a strong
heat. If violent it should be turned over a few times until the
rank odor, caused by an excess of ammonia, is dissipated. It
should be still further moistened, if disposed to burn. The
frame should be dug out to the depth of four feet and filled
to the depth of two feet with hot manure and covered with six
inches of loam. When the temperature of the soil falls to
about seventy degrees seeds should be sown. A good plan is
to mark out drills four inches apart, with a straight stick, to
keep .the varieties separate. Only a light covering of soil

136

Garden and Forest

[Number 265.

should be used, the smoothing down of the ridges formed by
making the drills generally being sutTicient. It need hardly
be added that careful attention must be given to watering with
a fine sprayer, never in large quantities, but suflficient to keep
the surface moist. The frame should be kept somewhat close
and shaded on bright, warm days. It should never be entirely
closed, sufficient vent being required to allow the escape of
steam generated by the manure. After the seedlings appear,
and as the season advances, more air will be required. These
details, relating to management of the frame, after the seeds
are sown, are of the utmost importance.

Tlie earliest spring flowers with us are Pansies and Violas.
They may be classed as perennials, and in the cool, equable
climate of Great Britain behave very much as such. Here,
however, they are best treated as annuals, or, almost, biennials.
Seeds sown in spring germinate very rapidly, and the plants
will keep in good flowering condition for nearly two months,
until July, when the flowers gradually grow smaller. The Vio-
las and the hybrids, called Tufted Pansies, continue blooming
throughout the summerand last until the heavy October frosts.
Tlie difference between Pansies and Violas is not very clear
in the popular mind, and the botanical distinction is some-
what obscure. The Pansy originated from Viola tricolor,
and is nearly always parti-colored, and when, as in the case of
Emp)eror William, the llowers become nearly self-colored, it
will be generally noticed that there are infused some of the char-
acters of the Viola, which are mostly self-colored. It should
further be noted that the Violas increase very, much from
stolons below the ground, which are rare, indeed, in the
Pansy.

Coreopsis Drummondii, yellow, with a crimson centre, is one
of the most profuse and continuous bloomers, and one of the
most elegant and effective annuals for borders and cut flowers.
It is also a very useful winter bloomer in the greenhouse, for
which purpose seeds may be sown in August. Few plants
give so much satisfaction as the common Celosia pyramidalis.
The flowers are borne in long plumes of crimson, yellow or
silvery white, and sprays of it are very effective mixed with
other flowers in vases. Where a good even strain can be se-
cured these plants may be appropriately used for lines in bor-
ders or mixed in subtropical bedding. Single Dahlias are
preferable to double varieties for cutting. Seedlings flower
quite freely during the late summer months. Indian Pinks
make very neat bedding-plants. Some of the subvarieties of
Dianthus Sinensis Heddewigii are gorgeous, notably the doubl
form known as Diadematus, and Crimson Bell and Eastern
Queen, which are single. Some of the new varieties from D. plu-
marius are excellent for cutting. Gaillardias are unrivaled for
the beauty and durability of their large handsome flowers. G.
grandiflora, although a perennial, will bloom the first year if
sown early. G. Drummondii is an annual and very beautiful.

WeUesley, Mate. T. D. H.

The Hardy Plant Garden.

'T'HE winter-garden this season has offered opportunities for
■*• the study of snow-crystals rather than plants and flowers.
A covering of snow lasting almost continuously from early
December to nearly the middle of March is a rare experience
in this latitude, and only possible under conditions of abnor-
mally low temperature, such as have made the winter a nota-
ble one. We are so near the sea that our atmosphere is usually
humid, and snow quickly disappears. However, the garden
has not been a dreary blank. In a warm spot Snowdrops
(Galanthus Corcyrcnsis) put in a belated appearance on January
2d, and an occasional bit of soft weather allowed some progress,
so that when the snow disappeared on the loth instant, it re-
quired few hours of sunshine to gladden the border with a
whiter row of Snowdrops, the cheerful Anemones, dainty Irises,
gay Crocuses and sombre Squills.

However fond one may be of the greenhouse it is pleasant
at this season to escape its enervating heat and in the free air
of the garden note the ever-wonderful quickening of life.
Plant-life has in every season some interesting phases, but
none so absorbing and charming as in the early garden, when
one is not only entranced with the mystery of it all, but with
the dainty beauty of flower and exquisite tints of the newly ex-
panding foliage. There is a certain pleasure in the uncer-
tainly. Old favorites will sometimes disappear, new ones are
to be watched, and all so much at the mercy of the elements,
so that the time of flowering from year to year is very much a
movable feast. Even with considerable plantings, the early
garden is not an effective one, but one to be enjoyed especially
by those interested in plants for their individual beauty. There
is a something— perhaps indefinable— something, at least, that

one would scarcely care to analyze in the appeal which the
flowers of the early year make to the lover of nature.

While the conditions of the winter have set back the very
earliest flowering plants, they have not apparently been deter-
rent to those which follow hard after these. At present Iris reticu-
lata is nearly ready to flower quite at the normal time, while I.
Bakeriana and I. histrioides have just expanded their petals
three or four weeks later than the average. Elwes' Snowdrops
may be depended on to flower usually during the first January
thaw. At present theyare at the height of their beauty. Forsize,
earliness and availability these may be considered the best
Snowdrops for the garden, though complaints are made that
they do not do well in all gardens and they do not appear to
increase very rapidly. They have been collected largely, how-
ever, and the price for stock is moderate. Snowdrops when
closed are specially pleasing, and in this condition I do not
fancy the globose form of G. Elwesi as well as those with nar-
rower buds, G. Imperati Atkinsi having an especially long bud
of this character. Still such points are minor matters of indi-
vidual taste.

As is well known. Snowdrops are exciting much interest
among hardy-plant gardeners, and many varieties are now
known in gardens, though comparatively few of them are
available. Garden and Forest lately contained an interest-
ing article describing the better-known kinds, though the best
description cannot convey a very lucid idea of differences seen
as the varieties grow side by side. G. Forsteri has improved
this year, but, I think, does not compare in beauty with Mr.
James Allen or Charmer. G. Melvillei major is also a fine
form of great purity and vigor. G. Caucasicusisa favorite both
for purity and beauty of form. However, one can scarcely go
amiss with these plants, though to secure some of the varieties
one has to depend on his garden friends. The Snowdrop is
now inseparably connected with the name of Mr. James Allen,
of Shepton Mallet, who sees wonders in them, and by his
studies and courtesy has been the principal agent in exciting
special interest in their cultivation.

Apparently this has been a fortunate season for hardy flow-
ers, as they have not been exposed to many changes and the
snow has covered them with a dry mantle during tlie excessive
cold. Low temperature, however, does not cause the loss of
so many plants as the winter rains and constant freezings and
thaws. Unless I wish to experiment I class my plants as hardy
and not hardy. The latter, if worth saving, are lifted and stored
in some suitable place ; the others get no protection, except in
exceptional cases, and this mostly incidental to a needed mulch
of manure. For plants with soft evergreen foliage a covering
is a detriment as well as a hiding-place for slugs. It seems
useless to cover hardy bulbs, unless the ground needs enrich-
ment for the following season. The flowers are already
formed and the manure has a trifling effect on their growth,
while hardy bulbs generally are the hardiest of subjects.
Sometimes, when they are planted late, it is beneficial to cover
warmly to keep out frost and allow them to make progress
during the winter, but the covering should not be one in which
mice care to live. One cannot, however, always depend on
late-planted bulbs making progress during the winter, even
though well covered, as I found this season. I had a lot of
late-planted Narcissi in pots and flats cached under mats and
boards and these covered with snow, and they have made
practically no progress. This was the surprise of the season
to me, quite contrary to any previous experience. A gardener
is apt to have many such warnings, and, conning his lesson, he
learns to speak with modesty and caution. The slight shading
even of a picket-fence will prevent much thawing during the
winter, and in many cases an equally effective protection can
be secured by a slat-screen tilted to the north over plants which
it is required to keep dormant.

Elizabeth, N.J. /. ^V. G.

Correspondence.

Forestry in the West.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — My attention has been called to a paper on forestry
published in Kansas some time ago. The writer of the article
claims that their lands are becoming more fertile owing to in-
creased rainfall. He calls attention to the old school-books, in
which the land west of the Missouri River was called the Great
American Desert, and says that the railways — or, to use his
own words, " the iron bands crossing the continent attract
electricity and increase the rainfall." I can find nothing to
prove that the rainfall has increased, but there is abundant

March 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

137

proof of greater benefit from the rain which falls, owing to the
cultivation of the land.

When Kansas and Nebraska were comprised in Indian Ter-
ritory the upland was covered with Buffalo Grass, which " shed
the rain like a shingled roof" — a common expression in those
days. Now there are millions of acres under the plow, and
the water that ran off in the " draws " is mainly absorbed. It
one inch of rainfall is equal to one hundred tons per acre, we
can hardly compute the amount of water now saved that was
formerly lost.

I well remember seeing the school-book the writer speaks
of. It had a picture of an immense herd of buffaloes wading
up to their humps in tall grass. It did not agree with my idea
of a desert then, and I had no reason to change my mind after
exploring it. The land immediately west of the Missouri River
has undoubtedly been fertile for generations. I planted over
three million forest-trees in one county in Kansas, and so have
had some experience in that state. If the writer had examined
the land further west thoroughly, the iron bands would not be
equal to holding him to his present opinion. I have investi-
gated this matter carefully for many years, and have convinced
myself that west of the cultivated districts, both east and west
of the mountains, the country is becoming perceptibly drier.
We cannot prove this by the grasses, as they have changed
wonderfully since I saw them first, over forty years ago, when
the buffaloes were roaming in immense herds unmolested. A
close examination in many places shows that the timber is not
making as thrifty growth as in the past, or, rather, that the
growth is becoming more stunted, for there is little that can be
called thrifty.

I will take one of many cases to prove that this section of the
country is becoming drier, and this since the iron bands were
laid across the continent. The western Juniper, a tree similar
to the Red Cedar, but not red-hearted, occupies the driest land
on which trees are found to grow in Colorado, New Mexico
and Arizona. I have made a special study of this tree in the
latter territory. Here were belts, miles upon miles in length
and several miles in width, where these Junipers, in hundreds
of thousands, germinated their seeds and produced trees in
abundance up to forty years ago. Since that time no new
trees have been produced, although the old trees are matur-
ing seeds in immense quantities. These I have examined
closely and find their germinating qualities perfect. Fires
may be said to have an influence in producing this result, but
a careful examination shows no signs of fires during that time,
and fires of a half century ago could be detected on the old
trees in that climate. Facts like these should be convincing,
and it is certain that the interior of the continent is gradually
becoming drier.

During the month of August, 1871, Thomas Meehan, Dr.
John A. Warder and I measured a petrified stump in the pet-
rified forest near Fairplay, Colorado, over eleven feet in diam-
eter. From pieces broken off it appeared more like a Sequoia
than any other tree ; no tree eleven inches in diameter could
be grown there now. With water in abundance the same re-
sults could again probably be accomplished.

Larkspur. Cat. Robert Douglas.

Exhibitions.

Spring Show of the Pennsylvania Horticultural
Society.

AT the spring flower show in Philadelphia, last week, the
staging was almost entirely dispensed with, and Horticul-
tural Hall became in effect a garden, with the plants grouped
naturally on the floor. The only exceptions to this arrange-
ment were some fine specimens of Palms, Ferns, Pandanus,
etc., on pedestals, either as parts of the decoration of the
hall, or as the centre of groups of exhibition plants, so as
to give a mound-shaped form to the collection. The decora-
tions were harmonious, not excessive, consisting chiefly of
bamboo arches, rising from the floor to the gallery and
wreathed with Wild Smilax.

As in former exhibitions, the collections of Miss Baldwin,
Mr. Drexel and Mr. Childs were drawn upon for many of their
finest plants. Nearly all the specimens on columns were con-
tributed by Miss Baldwin, and her gardener, William Joyce,
received much praise for such plants as Pritchardia Pacifica,
the tall Cocos Weddelliana, which showed that this plant was
quite as attractive when its elegant leaves spring from a stem
a yard high as it is as more commonly seen, and many more.
On the stage, John Westcott, who had charge of the decora-
tions and arrangement of the whole, had massed many fine
Palms and Dracaenas, with well-flowered Azaleas, Acacias and

Cytisus, and masses of Cinerarias and Lilies from Westcott's
Laurel Hill Nurseries. In front of the stage, and extending its
entire length, were nearly two hundred Cactuses, Agaves and
similar plants of such rarity, value and interest as can be found
nowhere else, perhaps, in the country, except in the collection
of Mr. A. Blanc.

A noteworthy group was that arranged by Thomas Long,
Mr. Drexel's gardener, with its superb specimens of Latania
rubra, Pritchardia grandis, Geonoma Seemannii, Phenicopho-
rium Sechellarum, Livistona aurea and many other plants
of regal beauty. The collection which Mr. Huster brought
from Girard College had for its centre-piece asuperb Kentia,
surrounded by many other Palms and plants distinguished for
the grace and color of their foliage. Near the border of the
group were four large pots of Bletia Tankervilla;, the flowers
of which stood out in striking relief against the dark foliage.
Each of these had a dozen flower-spikes some four or five feet
high. Very rarely do we see such a group of Ferns as those
from Mr. Drexel's collection, which were all of the first size
and in perfect condition to the very tip of every frond. An im-
mense Gleichenia Mendelii, which was probably five feet in
diameter, and whose arching fronds quite concealed the pot in
which it was grown, stood on a raised column for the centre-
piece, and around it were equally well-grown specimens of G.
dichotoma, G. flabellata, Adiantum Williamsi, A. decorum,
A. cuneatum, the crested form of Microlepia hirta, Nephro-
lepis davallioides, DavalliaaflRnis and several others. The last-
named, D. aflfinis, is a Fern whose good qualities are hardly
appreciated, since it not only can be grown into an admirable
exhibition plant, but it is equally useful for ordinary decora-
tion. It transports well and endures much neglect.

Roses and Carnations, together with Orchids from Edwin
Lonsdale and William Joyce, were the particular attractions in
the foyer. The Roses were admirable. Nothing more beau-
tiful can be imagined than the blooms of Madame Caroline
Testout, which were sent here by Ernst Asmus. We have
described this Rose before, but too much cannot be said in
favor of the clearness of its color and the other good qualities
which make it the best of pink Roses. John Burton again showed
a large cluster of his fine new American Belle, a sport from
American Beauty. All the old Roses of merit were admirably
grown, and one new to Philadelphia was shown by Mr. John N.
May, of Summit, New Jersey. This is the hybrid Tea Rose,
Mrs. Whitney, which won the silver cup at New York last au-
tumn. It is a bright pink of excellent habit, with long well-
formed buds, and it has the addifional merit of being one of the
most fragrant of Roses. John Gardiner showed some very fine
flowers of the old Madame Clemence Joigneaux, a Rose which
was sent out thirty years ago, but, like many others, has been
put aside for new ones which are no better. It was sent out in
1861 by Liabaud, who was the originator of Madame Gabriel
Luizet and many other good Roses.

Prizes for Roses were awarded to CharlesE. Meehan, Joseph
Heacock, Edwin Lonsdale, John N. May, Thomas Monahan,
J. Kift & Son and Fred. Ehret.

The exhibition of Carnations was, as usual, large and good.
Among the white varieties Lady Maud took the first prize over
Lizzie McGowan. The plant has size and substance and per-
fect form, and is a clear white, with no suspicion of yellow.
Portia still holds its own among its scarlet varieties, and has
everything to commend it except size. Buttercup is still in the
lead as a yellow flower, or, rather, as the best substitute for
that color, since a pure yellow has not yet appeared. Edna
Craig, by universal consent, is the best light pink, but for a very
pale shade Daybreak is worthy of notice. It is a first-class va-
riety and of a color which may almost be called a blush-white.
The best crimson exhibited was the Pride of Kennett. A very
interesting exhibit was one made by W. R. Shelmire, of Ches-
ter County, consisting entirely of seedlings from the variety
Caesar. It is claimed that all the seedlings from this variety
come double, and of the twenty shown here some were of
great merit. Ophelia is a large new Pink raised by Edward
Swayne, of Kennett Square, which took the Craig Cup as the
best seedling of the year. The flower is of good size and habit,
but lacks fragrance. On the second day of the exhibition Mr.
Frederic Dorner, of Lafayette, Indiana, showed some seedlings
of the finest quality, to three of which were awarded the Went-
worth silver medals for superior seedlings which have never
been offered for sale. The great needs now, from a florist's
standpoint, seem to be a clear yellow, a bright scarlet larger
than Portia, and a crimson larger than Pride of Kennett.

Besides the persons previously mentioned, prizes for plants
of special merit were awarded to Robert Craig, F.G.Cox,W. K.
Harris, John Hughes and H. A. Dreer.

It seemed a misfortune that so good an exhibition should not

138

Garden and Forest.

[Number 265.

have been made better by the addition of more of what are
popularlv known as spring flowers. Even in such a cold sea-
son as this many flowers of ereat delicacy and beauty are
blooming out-of-doors, and with the help of a cold frame col-
lections of most of the early-blooming spring varieties could
have been prepared. How inter&ting some of the common-
est old-fashioned plants appear in such a place was evinced by
the attention given to the collection of the tall, white, sweet-
scented Stocks which were displayed by C. W. Cox, gardener
to H. Clay Kimball.

Notes.

Three counties in Florida, Brevard, Marion and Orange,
have nearly 2,000 acres of Lemon groves, containing more than
30,ooo trees.

In a garden near New York, last week, we saw Iris Histrio,
Iris histrioides and Iris Bakeriana, with their beautiful and
fragrant flowers all fully expanded and looking cheerful, in
spite of the fact that the mercury stood at twenty-four degrees,
Fahrenheit.

A writer in the American Florist, in speaking of the prep-
aration of hot-beds, gives the timely suggestion that a mixture
of fresh spent hops from a brewery, and stable-manure in equal
proportions, not only produces heat longer than manure
alone, but the remains of the mixture, when thoroughly decom-
posed, make a most valuable ingredient for potting soil.

Our readers have been told of the Chrysanthemums frozen
in cylinders of ice, which were sent last autumn from New
Zealand to a London flower-show. Now, it is said, a return
gift has been made ; several blossoms of English prize-win-
ners at this show have been similarly prepared and are now
on their way to New Zealand, where, it is hoped, they will
arrive in time for the autumnal flower-show at Wellington,
which, in that antipodean clime, is held in April.

A great many persons have been disappointed at the be-
havior of Tuberous Begonias when they have been grown in
the open air. In a recent paper, however, before the Massa-
chusetts Horticultural Society, Mr. John G. Barker, Superin-
tent'ent of Forest Hills Cemetery, spoke strongly in favor of
these plants for bedding purposes. He stated that he had
grown thousands of them in different parts of Forest Hills, in
small beds and in large ones, and in all cases they proved the
best flowering plants in the cemetery.

Meehans' Monthly calls attention to the fact that the Ameri-
can Holly is one of the easiest of trees to transplant if it is
severely pruned at the time of moving, although it will rarely
live without this treatment. South of this latitude this is one
of the most beautiful and useful of broad-leaved evergreen
trees even when it produces no fruit. The tree is said some-
times to bear flowerg of both sexes, but Mr. Meehan states
that he has never found a berry on one which stood a long
way from others, and that, in fact, a large proportion of both
the English and American Hollies are strictly dioecious.

The last issue of the Journal of the Royal Horticultural
Society, parts 2 and 3 of vol. xv., contains several papers of
special interest. The Fuchsia, its history and cultivation, is
treated upon by Mr. G. Fry, one of the most successful breed-
ers and growers of garden Fuchsias. Begonias are exhaust-
ively dealt with in four papers : The History of the Genus in
Gardens, by Mr. Harry Veitch; the Fifty best Species of Begonia,
by W. Wat-son ; Tuberous Begonias by Mr. J. Laing, and winter-
flowering Begonias by Mr. H. Cannell. The papers read at
the Conference, on the Apricot in France, Plums for the Mar-
ket and Dessert Plums, by Monsieur F. Jamin, Mr. J. Smith
and Mr. T. F. Rivers, respectively, are valuable contributions
to the literature of fruit-culture ; the paper and report on
Michaelmas Daisies, by Mr. D. Dewar, are also really good
works.

Official statistics show that 25,326 car-loads of green and
canned fruits were sent out of California last year. The in-
crease in the shipment of canned fruit is specially gratifying,
inasmuch as it helps to prevent a glut in the market in very
abundant years, and next year promises to be an abundant one,
especially in California orchards, where irrigation is necessary.
The winter's snowfall is largely above the average, and that
will insure an ample supply of water in all the streams that
feed the irrigating canals. How much of promise there is in
this assurance will be appreciated when it is remembered that
in almost all the districts where oranges, lemons and raisins
are produced regular irrigation is needed from April until

November, and this is largely true also of the places where
peaches, apricots and grapes are produced in the greatest
abundance.

Mr. William Baylor Hartland, in an interview published in
the County Cork 'Advertiser, states that among the neglected
industries of Ireland is fruit-growing, which is, no doubt, true.
One of his schemes is to plant several thousand acres of
Gooseberries for the American market. He prophesies that
by the time the bushes are in full bearing steamships will be
making five-day trips to New York, so that the berries picked
fresh in south Cork could be carried over in cool compart-
ments to New York, where they could be readily sold to
wealthy Americans who " do not well know what to do with
their money." Weshould be very glad to get some first-class
Irish gooseberries, and it must be confessed that hitherto those
we have raised at home cannot, as a rule, compare with the
British berries. We are learning, however, how to cure the
mildew, and perhaps by the time the steamers are making
five-day trips across the Atlantic we can grow berries good
enough to export to such connoisseurs as Mr. Hartland.

The first monthly flower-show of the New York Florists'
Club proved that the club must seek more spacious quarters
or provide a smaller exhibition and one which will attract
fewer visitors. The throngs who came were well repaid for
the difficulty of pressing through the crowded rooms by the
beauty of such plants as the Azaleas, shown by J. M. Keller
and James Dean ; the collection of Anthuriums, a new Datura,
and a fine variety of Cypripedium Greyanum, by Pitcher &
Manda ; the superb Roses by Ernst Asmus, F. Moore, J. H.
Taylor and W. H. Young ; and the Carnations and Cyclamens
of C. H. Allen and John McGowan. Among other plants of
special interest was a variety of Genista racemosa, shown by
I. Forstermann, which had very distinct foliage and flowers,
larger than those of the type, borne in the greatest abundance ;
a pmk form of Primula obconica, shown by William Tricker ; a
huge mass of the so-called Tulip Orchid, Cattleya citrina,
which Mr. Manda had suspended from the arch between the
two rooms; a fine White Heath, by James Dean ; and some hy-
brid Cinerarias, by Louis Schmutz. Besides the exhibitors
mentioned above, George Bennett, Peter McDonald, Siebrecht
& Wadley, G. Bergman, H. A. Francis, C. Pesenecker & Son
and Dailledouze Brothers received certificates for flowers ;
Thomas Griffin for mushrooms and tomatoes, and A. Hughes
& Co. for vases, jardinieres and pots.

Dr. George Vasey, the head of the botanical division of the
United States Department of Agriculture, has died in Wash-
ington after an illness of only three days. Dr. Vasey was born
in England on the 28th day of February, 1822, and was brought
by his parents to this country when a year old. The family
settled in New York, where theboy was educated in the com-
mon schools and then studied medicine, graduating from the
School of Medicine in 1848. He practiced his profession in
Illinois for twenty years, and from 1870 to 1872 was in charge
of the Museum of the Illinois Natural History Society. In
his early years he must have paid considerable attention to
botany.forin 1874 he was appointed botanistin the Department
of Agriculture, a position which he held continuously until his
deatli. For many years Dr. Vasey has devoted especial study
to the Grasses, and a number of important papers on this
family of plants from his pen have been published by the gov-
ernment of the United States. Among these may be men-
tioned the Grasses of the South, a report on certain Grasses
and Forage Plants for cultivation in the south and south-west ;
Grasses of the Arid Region, being a report of an investigation of
the Grasses of the arid district of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
Nevada and Utah ; The Agricultural Grasses and Forage
Plants in the United States ; Illustrations of North American
Grasses, probably the most important of all Dr. Vasey's pub-
licafions. The first volume, entitled Grasses of the South-
west, was published 1890-91; the first part of the second volume.
Grasses of the Parific Slope, last year ; the second part of this
volume is now in press. A Monograph of the Grasses of the
United States and British America, part i., was published in
1892. In 1876 Dr. Vasey published a useful Catalogue of the
Forest Trees of the United States, explanatory of the collec-
tions of North American wood-specimens exhibited by the
government at the Centennial Exhibifion in Philadelphia. Un-
der his active administration Dr. Vasey has seen the national
herbarium enlarged from a modest beginning to its present
size, and througli his activity and energy become one of the
greatest collections of North American plants. His death will
be felt by a multitude of correspondents to whom he was uni-
formly kind, obliging and helpful.

March 29, 1^93.]

Garden and Forest.

^39

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

tHE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

KNTBRED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Abticlhs : — Flower Show3 and their Uses 139

Warnings which should he Heeded by the Guardians of our Public

Forest-lands. ■ 139

Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XXIV J. G, Jack, 140

Native Plants tor Winter Decoration Mrs. Mary Treat. 141

Making Maple-sugar : Approved Modern Practice. — \\.. Timothy H'heeUr. 141

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— IX. (With fig^ure.) C SI i". 142

Plant Notes :— Cypripedium Rothschildiaiium. (With figure.) 144

A New Nyniphiea h. D. Sturtevant. 144

Cultural Department:— Cypripediums O. O. 145

The Persian Cvclamen. — II M. Barker. 146

Sowing Seeds of Annual Plants. — II T. D. H. 146

The Forest; — Notes on the Climatic Influence of Forests B. E. Ferntrw. 147

CoRRESPONnENCE :— On the Local Segregation of Trees Robert Ridgway. 148

Why Varieties of Orchard-fruits Disappear E. J. Wtckson. 149

Salix balsamifera O. A. Farwell. 149

Exhibitions :— The Boston Flower Show 149

Notes 150

Illustrations :— Acer Miyabei. Fig. 24 143

Cypripedium Rothschildianum (reduced). Fig. 25 145

Flower Shows and their Uses.

IN our report of the Philadelphia Flower Show last week,
regret was expressed that so few real Spring flowers
were exhibited. The season was still young and back-
ward, it is true, but in the very same paper it was stated
that some of the early Irises, like I. Histrio and I. Baker-
iana, were showing their beautiful and fragrant flowers in
the neighborhood of this city, while the ground about them
was frozen hard. Of course, there were Snowdrops and
Crocuses in many Philadelphia gardens at that time, and
with the help of sashes and no other heat than that from the
sun, spring flowers could have been shown in great abun-
dance and variety and with that unique charm which invests
these earliest reminders that the winter is past and the
time of the singing of birds has come. These flowers then
were not absent there because it was impossible to procure
them, but because the burden of preparing the exhibition
fell chiefly upon commercial dealers and growers. Of
course, there were many admirable exhibits from private
collections. A flower show in Philadelphia without speci-
men plants from the collections of Miss Baldwin, Mr.
Drexel and Mr. Childs can hardly be imagined now ; but
besides these noteworthy plants, the preparation of thegreat
body of the show, and of the flowers in particular, devolves
upon those who sell them or raise them for the market. Very
naturally, these men grow plants for which there is a de-
mand, and they exhibit what they grow to perfection. One
never fails, therefore, to see at our exhibitions Roses and
Carnations, Lilies and Cytisus, with similar plants in their
season, and beyond these little else. Just now the florists
are unusually busy with Easter work, and this makes it
still more difficult for them to prepare anything for exhibi-
tion which is not directly in the line of their business.

Of course, no one can criticise such exhibitors for limiting
their display to this class of flowers. On the contrary, we
should feel inclined to thank them for showing flowers of
such perfection and finish, for no one grows them better.
But, after all, it is plain that one sees nothing at a flower

show conducted on this plan which cannot be seen in a
florist's window, and certainly the show would be more
attractive and more instructive if visitors could find there
Something which they have no opportunity of seeing else-
where. We have spoken of a few of the Irises which were
blooming a fortnight ago. The truth is, that the entire
Reticulata group of these plants, with the exception of the:
type, could have been had in flower out-of-doors a week
ago, while the type itself and many others, like I. Persica;
could have been flowered at the same time in a cold framfe.
There are no more beautiful flowers than these, and every
lover of hardy plants at Philadelphia would have been de-
lighted at the opportunity of seeing the different varieties
together, and noting their similarities and distinctions.

Again, few people know any other than the common
Snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis, and, perhaps, the Crimean
Snowdrops, but there are a score or more of distinct varieties
which can now be obtained, and half a dozen of them, at
least, are good species. The varieties of Narcissus have
multiplied almost beyond computation, but all the types
except the latest ones could have been easily brought for-
ward in a cold frame, so that they could have been admired
and studied together at Philadelphia. Scillas and Bulboco-
diums were already open in the borders, and Spring Snow-
flakes, Fritillarias and Chionodoxas, if slightly protected,
might have kept them company. Anemone blanda has
been flowering all through February in the open air, and
in a cold frame many other varieties could have been
brought forward. The lovely Winter Aconite, the hardy
Primroses, the Lenten Roses and many strictly alpine plants
could have been had with little trouble ; but there is no
need to continue the catalogue. It is enough to say that
at this time, and a little later, when the Tulip species will
come into bloom, there could be brought together in this
latitude a group of flowers that would rival in beauty and
excel in poetic charm any collection of outdoor blooms
made at any other season.

Now, to insure the exhibition of such flowers, it is neces-
sary to interest those who grow them. In the vicinity of
New York, Boston and Philadelphia there are many per-
sons who cultivate, for example, a great variety of garden
Narcissi, and yet we have never seen anything like a com-
prehensive exhibit of these plants. The same is true of Snow-
drops and other genera. The mere offering of premiums
by societies will hardly suffice to induce growers of such
specialties to exhibit their pets, but a direct appeal to those
who are known to have such collections might perhaps
avail. Again, why should not horticultural societies offer
sufficient premiums to induce commercial growers to ar-
range for exhibits of this kind.' The men who have bulbs
for sale could hardly devise a better way of advertising
them than by an exhibit of their flowers in early spring.
Can it be doubted that if a group of spring Irises in flower
had been exhibited in Philadelphia a fortnight ago many of
the visitors would have at once prepared for a similar exhibi-
tion in their own gardens next year.? If the men who sell
seeds, plants and flowers wish to educate people as to the
best varieties there certainlji is no surer way to do this than
by exhibiting them, so that every one can learn how beau-
tiful they are.

These exhibitions by the great societies now give pleasure
to thousands. If the plan on which they are conducted
were broadened out in the direction we have indicated
they would have a much higher value as educating forces
and essential factors in the horticultural progress of the
country.

Many warnings, which might well be heeded by the
guardians of our public forest-lands, have come down
from past ages embalmed in literature ; and the beauty of
form which has preserved them adds to the impressiveness
of their counsel. That this counsel, although repeated a
thousand times for thousands of years, is still disregarded,
proves how hard it is for a knowledge even of firmly
established facts of the highest practical importance

140

Garden and Forest.

[Number 266.

to implant itself in the conscience of the people at
large. In these latter days should our people still need to
be told the same truths which Virgil needed to tell nearly
two thousand years ago ? His words were spoken of ar-
tificially established young plantations, but they are just as
applicable to young plantations which Nature is establish-
ing, and to older ones where the undergrowth should be
preserved :

Guard, too, from cattle, thy new planted ground.

And infant vines tliat ill can bear a wound;

For not alone iiy winter's chilling frost.

Or summer's scorching beam the young are lost;

But the wild buffaloes and greedy cows.

And goats and sportive kids the branches browse;

Not piercing cold nor Sirius' beams that beat

On the parched hills, and split their tops with heat,

So deeply injure as the nibbling flocks.

That wound with venomed teeth the tender, fearful stocks.

Then, could any testimony be clearer than that which is
borne by John Evelyn in his Sy/va ? "Our main planta-
tion," says this famous seventeenth-century authority on
silviculture, "is now finished and our forest adorned with
just variety. But what is yet all this labor, but loss of
time and irreparable expense, unless our young and (as yet)
tender plants be sufficiently guarded with munitions from
all external injuries ? For, as old Tusser,

If cattle or coney may enter to crop,
Young Oak is in danger of losing his top.

The reason that so many complain of the improsperous
condition of their woodlands and plantations of this kind
proceeds from this neglect. . . If through any accident
a beast shall break into his master's field, or the wicked
hunter make a gap for his dogs and horses, what a clamor
is there made for the disturbance of a year's crop, at most,
in a little corn ! whilst abandoning his young woods all
this time, and perhaps many years, to the venomous bit-
ings and treadings of cattle, and other like injuries. . .
the detriment is many times irreparable, young trees once
cropped hardly ever recovering. It is the bane of all
our most hopeful timber. But shall I provoke you by an
instance ? A kinsman of mine has a wood of more than
sixty years' standing. It was, before he purchased it, ex-
posed and abandoned to the cattle for divers years. Some
of the outward skirts were nothing save shrubs and miser-
able starvelings ; yet still the place was disposed to grow
woody, but by this neglect continually suppressed. The
industrious gentleman fenced in some acres of this, and
cut all close to the ground ; and it is come in eight or
nine years to be better worth than the wood of sixty, and
will, in time, prove most imcomparable timber ; whilst the
other part, so many years advanced, shall never recover.
. . . Judge then by this how our woods come to be so
decried ! Are five hundred sheep worthy the care of a
shepherd ? And are not five thousand Oaks worth the
fencing and the inspection of a hay ward?"

And are not our great public forests in the west, where
we want the trees to grow well in order that they may
serve the interests of beauty as well as of utility, worth a
protection which does not mean a fence and a "hayward,"
but a systematic guarding against danger from fire and,
equally, against danger from the flocks and herds of un-
scrupulous individuals, intent upon private gain at the ex-
pense of the people's property ?

Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XXIV.

TN spite of our knowledge of the modifying influence of the
* Gulf Stream on the climate of the west coast of Europe, it
is often difTicult for Americans to realize that places situated
geographical!;^ so much farther north enjoy a winter tempera-
ture which is in every way so much more moderate than pre-
vails in our New England and northern states.

The Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, in Scotland, furnishes as
interesting an object for comparison as may generally be found
if we study climatic differences by the plants which it is possi-
ble to grow in any given region, and, as a rule, the character
of the vegetation gfives a pretty correct indication of the tem-

per of the climate. Edinburgh is situated very nearly in lati-
tude tifty-six degrees, a position approximately equivalent to
the northern coast of Labrador, on our Atlantic seaboard ; to
a point not very far south of Sitka, on the Pacific coast,
and between thirteen and fourteen degrees farther north
than central Massachusetts. But so moderate is the win-
ter climate that many New Zealand, Tasmanian, Indian and
South American plants flourish in the open air here which
we should not dream of leaving out-of-doors in winter if we
wished to keep them alive and in good health.

The Botanic Garden at Edinburgh is generally considered
one of the best-kept and best-arranged in Europe, although it
may be surpassed in area. Its origin dates from 1670, when
it was founded by Sir Andrew Balfour, with assistance from
Sir Robert Sibbald. Thirteen years later, the first curator of
the garden, James Sutherland, published a catalogue of the
plants in it, which is said to have contained about 3,000 species.
In its history of over two hundred years the garden has occu-
pied three different sites, occupying the first for ninety-three
years, the second for fifty-six, and finally being removed to its
present location in 1819. The area included in this garden was
a little over twenty-seven acres, and this is what is called the
garden to-day. But within the last twenty years an area of
equal extent has been added, which is called the arboretum, so
that the whole now comprises about fifty-five acres of diversi-
fied land with varied exposures.

The area at command has been very well utilized, so that
there is little was^e, and not much crowding, although the
number of species in this garden is by no means small. One
is likely to be impressed with the compactness and general
prettiness of the garden upon first entering the main gateway.
The arboretum, at the farther end of the garden, may not
seem so interesting and picturesque, because its trees are not
so old or so fully grown, and it has the aspect of comparative
newness ; but it contains much that is valuable to the student
of woody plants. The shrubs have generally reached the best
state of development, and some of those which we would con-
sider beyond question too tender for our gardens seem to
thrive here and lend a peculiar interest to the collection.
Some of the so-called " Prickly Heaths," Pernettya mucronata,
from the Straits of Magellan, seem quite at home. I noted
this species fruiting in great abundance, the ripe fruit be-
ing about the size of peas and of a pretty bluish color. The
most interesting point in connection with it I found in the
seed, which, while still in the mature fruit on the plants, had
germinated and formed perfect little plantlets. The leaves of
this shrub are small, shining, dark green and persistent. The
plant belongs to the Heath family, and the fleshy berries seem
quite as edible as those of some of our Huckleberries, although
they are somewhat drier.

Another South American plant which appears to do fairly
well here is Buddleia globosa, which, while it may not reach
the size and height possible in warmer regions, is here repre-
sented by very broad-spreading specimens eight or ten feet high.
It bears orange or honey-colored flowers in large globose termi-
nal heads, and is also peculiar in the densely hoary tomentose
character of the branches and under-surfaces of the leaves.
Among other woody plants from the southern hemisphere,
those from New Zealand and Tasmania are at once the most
conspicuous and the most numerous in species. The so-called
Daisy-tree, Olearia Haastii, is interesting as being a woody
Composite which, in New Zealand, attains the proportions of a
good-sized tree. Transplanted to the northern hemisphere,
it blossoms in August and September, the last of the numer-
ous heads of smaU'white flowers, in corymb-like cymes, just
fading away when 1 saw the Edinburgh plants at the end of
September. It is not unknown in American gardens, but can-
not be grown in the north. Some of the shrubby New Zealand
Veronicas thrive fairly well in the open air here, although they
are liable to severe injury or destruction in unusually rigorous
winters. One of the best goes under the name of Veronica
Traversii, and here forms a smooth-branched bushy shrub
several feet high, with opposite leaves looking something like
those of Box. It is a very pretty object when covered by the
innumerable little white flowers which it bears.

Several species of Fuchsia live here in the open air through-
out the year and bloom quite satisfactorily. Some Escallonias
survive the winters, especially if planted in the shelter of a
warm wall, and some small shrubby Polygonums are quite
effective in certain uses in gardening. There is quite an in-
teresting and rich collection of species of Fragaria and Poten-
tilla, and among the latter the long-known, but rare, shrubby
and white flowered Potentilla glabra of Loddiges was seen.
Although a native inhabitant of a cold northern region, and
quite hardy, this species seems to be almost lost to cultivation.

March 29, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

141

Its flowers are about as larg-e as those of the yellow blossoms
of the well-known P. fruticosa. Saxifrages, too, are well
represented by a very large number of species, each in good
distinct clumps.

The Edinburgh Botanic Garden is perhaps more famed for
its pretty rock-garden than for any other single feature. This
was constructed of rocks from a stone wall by the late curator,
James M'Nab, and its good order and its interesting character
are still maintained by Mr. Lindsay, who has the active charge
now. It is prettily built, without any more formality than is
necessary in a structure of this kind in such a place, and it is
on the whole probably one of the best, if not the very best, of
rockeries in any public garden. It is divided into numerous
sections, and these are again subdivided into several thousand
compartments, or pockets, for the reception of the different
species and varieties of alpine and hardy dwarf herbaceous
and small shrubby plants. Bulbs, of course, are also included,
so that Crocuses and Snowdrops may be found at the end of
winter, and Crocus speciosus and others and the showy Col-
chicums in the autumn. Of the species of the latter genus, C.
speciosum is one of the largest in cultivation and is very
handsome. With such plants as the Hellebores and Erica
carnea in the collection, good flowers may in some seasons be
found almost every week of the year. The collection of Ferns
in the rockery is a very neat and creditable one. Among the
autumn-blooming plants in the rockery, several species of so-
called Knot-weed, or Polygonum, were very interesting, those
specially noted being P. afflne, P. capitatum and P. vaccini-
folium, all north Indian, the last more particularly Himalayan.
The individual blossoms of all these are small, but as they
are borne in dense spikes, or heads, and quite abundantly they
make a pretty show. P. afflne produces rosy red flowers ;
those of P. capitatum are pink, in dense round heads, while
the blossoms of P. vaccinifolium are of a bright rose color
and are produced on comparatively long and nearly cylindrical
spikes. This last species has distinctly woody stems, is a low,
prostrate, much-branched trailer, and is one of the best of its
genus and one of the most interesting and useful plants in
cultivation for planting in rock-work and such places. It is
especially valuable because it will continue in good bloom
from August till November. It is not likely, however, to be
found quite hardy in our northern New England climate.

In the collection of trees the Conifers are represented by a
large series of species, though they are much crowded and
none of them have attained any notable size. The species of
Yews, Arbor Vitaes, Chamaecyparis and Cedrus appear in
better condition than those of most other genera. Araucaria
imbricata grows well, and so does Sequoia gigantea, though
straggling in appearance. Other places in Scotland are famous
for the growth of exotic Conifers, and of them all the Douglas
Fir or Spruce is one of the very best.

To most Americans in Europe the Mistletoe has a particular
interest, and in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden there is an un-
usually handsome specimen encircling the trunk of one of our
Pin Oaks (Quercus palustris) at five or six feet from the
ground, so that it is in just the best position for public view.
This parasite has found congenial hosts in quite a number of
species of American trees which have been transplanted to
the Old World.

Arnold Arboretum. y « ^* jl^CK,

Native Plants foY Winter Decoration.

WINTER began in good earnest in the Pines about the 20th
of December, and since then walking in the woods, or
anywhere else, except in paths prepared by the snow-shovel,
has been almost impossible. A few days ago, however, I ven-
tured on a ramble, and found the wild plants in all my favorite
haunts none the worse for the season's severity, and ready, at
the earliest suggestion of spring weather, to put forth bud and
blossom.

But no winter is so inhospitable as to shut us out entirely
from companionship with our native plants, especially if we
have prepared a wild-garden. One day when the mercury had
fallen almost to the zero mark I brought in some twigs of
Alder (Alnus serrulata) and placed them in a vase of water,
and I was amazed to see how rapidly they developed. In less
than a week the clusters of long, sterile, drooping catkins were
in full flower, so that I was obliged to place them in the wind
to let it blow away the superabundant pollen-dust. It was sev-
eral weeks after this before any appreciable growth was ob-
served on plants in the open ground. But on the 8th of March
a warm rain came, and the catkins lengthened half an inch or
more in a single night. Then it grew colder, and growth was
arrested until the next warm period.

The catkins of the Filbert, both European and American,
develop with even more rapidity than those of the .'^Ider, both
indoors and out. I placed some twigs of a European species
in tepid water in a warm room, and in less than twenty-four
hours the clusters of sterile catkins were three inches in length,
and the small, fertile blossoms were peeping out from their
scaly buds with bright red pistils at the base of the sterile flow-
ers. And what can be more charming in winter than a vase
of red, shining twigs of some of the Willows which soon dis-
close the soft, silky "pussys" that always delight the young
folks ? Lessons like these in winter make more vivid and last-
ing impressions on children, while mostly shut within doors,
than the same plants do in the spring, when the attention is
diverted in so many ways.

Twigs of both the Soft Maple and of the Swamp Maple make
handsome indoor ornaments, and the red blossoms appear
very quickly. These Maples usually flower with us in Feb-
ruary, sometimes even earlier, but this season they did not
commence to blossom until early March. But one of the most
desirable of all these early-flowering trees for winter bouquets
is the ash-leaved Maple (Acer Negundo). The green bark of
the twigs makes a fine contrast with the red ones of the Willow
and the brown ones of the other Maples, and the delicate droop-
mg clusters of greenish flowers are quick to appear.

Branchlets of the various species of Oak are also interesting,
as they put out their yellow flowers rapidly in warmth and'
moisture. All of the Elms, too, respond quickly to this treat-
ment, soon rewarding us with their small, bell-shaped flowers,
with long slender, exserted stamens. Some of the flowers
are purplish, others yellow. Twigs of the Hickory are spe-
cially pleasing. Our warm rooms soon cause the buds to ex-
pand, and the flowers become eager to push off the numerous
wrappings in which they are enclosed. These large, scaly,
resinous buds have a delicious fragrance of the woods, which
is so exhilarating in early spring.

One of the most fragrant, delicate, aromatic trees from which
to make our selecdon is the Sweet Gum. Theglobular heads of
fruit formed the previous season are still gracefully hanging
from their long slender stems, and the quaint and fanciful)
corky-ridged branchlets are ready to put forth their numerous
flowers almost as soon as we place them on the table. Many
of our wild-flowering shrubs are also admirable for forcing in
winter. Cassandra calyculata, whose flower-buds formed in
the summer, expand very quickly in a warm room, forming
long one-sided racemes of little white bells among the small
evergreen leaves. The Shad Bush (Amelanchier Canadensis)
is excellent for winter-flowering, and so is the wild Crab-apple,
which has fragrant rose-colored blossoms.

Among low-growing plants the Trailing Arbutus is one of
the most satisfactory. A clump of this kept moist and warm
will soon repay us with handsome clusters of fragrant flowers.
And our charming Pyxie will quickly unfold its pretty blossoms
among its tiny evergreen leaves.

Vineiand, N.J. Mary Treat.

Making Maple-sugar: Approved Modern Practice.-II.

OVER natural conditions the sugar-maker has little or no
control, while certain artificial conditions are wholly within
his power. The quantity and quality of sap vary with location,
aspect, altitude and sparseness of growth. The product also
varies with the age and vitality of the trees. All these condi-
tions are natural, over which we have no control, except it may
be the sparseness. When these conditions are all favorable
there is nothing to hinder any one from making first-class
syrup and sugar.

We will suppose a sugar-orchard situated on upland, in-
clined to the south or south-east, having no underbrush or
evergreen trees, and the Maples much scattered, full-grown
or large second growths, having broad and branching tops and
short stems that have never been tapped. As to how and
where these trees should be tapped, I would say tap on the
warmest side of the tree, or where the sun strikes it the fairest.
The height of tapping should be governed by circumstances.
As a general rule, the lower we tap the more sap we get and
the greater per cent, of sugar.

The sugar-house should be located on sloping land, when
convenient, so that sap will run from the drawing-tub into the
holder and from that into the evaporator. I have seen several
evaporators of diverse patterns, but the one I prefer is made
by the Farm Machine Company, Bellows Falls, Vermont. This
evaporator, as now built, has a faucet in each end and a water-
tight gate, which is a great advantage. It has corrugated par-
titions, thus nearly doubling its heating surface, and the malate
of lime nuisance is overcome.

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Garden and Forest.

[Number 266.

The evaporator should be set on an arch, well constructed,
with fire-box and an ash-pit. A necessary appendage to any
evaporator is a regulator, which of itself governs the flow of
sap into the evaporator, and relieves the sap slowly or rapidly
according to the rapidity of the evaporation. Thus arranged,
with store-tubs and drawing-tub metal-lined, we are pre-
pared to gather the sap. It is presumed that the tubs are also
of metal, or, if wooden tubs, they should be painted white on
both sides to reflect heat and so keep the sap cool, which is
of great importance. The colder the sap-season the whiter is
the sugar.

Sap should be gathered as fast as it runs. When convenient,
gather in the early morning when it is cool. Sap can easily be
strained three times: (i) into the drawing-tub, again (2) into
the storage-tub, and finally, (3) as if goes from the tub to the
evaporator. Care should be taken to set the evaporator level,
and the fire can be started as soon as the bottom of the evapo-
rator is covered. The shallower the sap is the faster it can be
boiled.

One great advantage in using a corrugated evaporator is
thatcold sap can be run into one end and syrup drawn from
the other end, there being a regular gradation of sweetness
from one end of the evaporator to the other, so that the sap is
boiled only once, so to speak, that is, without any dilution
with fresh sap before it is off and out of the way, thus saving
time, wood, color and flavor.

An accurate syrup thermometer is an indispensable neces-
sity for accurate work. This should stand continually in the
back end of the evaporator. Sap begins to boil at a tempera-
ture of 213 to 21S degrees. When the thermometer indicates
219 degrees the syrup should be drawn off and it will weigh
eleven pounds to the gallon. If the syrup is boiled until the
thermometer indicates 220 degrees some crystals will be
formed in it. If a saccharometer is used it should indicate
from thirty-two to thirty-three degrees. If syrup is drawn off
at 219 degrees it should stand and settle, and then if the syrup
is poured otT the sediment will remain in the bottom ; but, if
tlie nitre, so called, is not taken out when sugar is wanted, then
draw the syrup from the pan before the malic acid and lime
combine to form malate of lime. This syrup should not be
allowed to cool, but should be made into sugar at once. By
taking off the syrup thus early the precipitation to the bottom
of the evaporator is measurably prevented. A small pan for
sugaring off set near the evaporator, in an arch, is used to finish
off into sugar.

In " sugaring off," the smaller the quantity the whiter the
sug^r. To prevent boiling over use a few drops of sweet
cream, which will save stirring and prevent loss of color.
With all precautions for cleanliness complied with there will
be no need of using eggs or milk to raise a scum. Start the
fire slowly and skim without boiling the scum in. The process
of sugaring requires thirty minutes, and the cooling should be
done by dipping rather than stirring.

To make the whitest sugar possible, fill up a new sheet-iron
jjan with sap caught early in the season and boil down to sugar
without stopping. For this sap bore one-half inch and no more,
as the best sap is found in the outer layers of the tree's growth.

To recapitulate, tap low down with a three-eighths of an
inch bit ; tap shallow, from a half inch to one and a half inches
deep ; let no sap come in contact with wood ; use covers to the
8a{>-tubs, to keep the sap clean and cool ; gather in the early
part of the day ; keep ice in the holders, even if it has to be
taken from the ice-house ; strain the sap three times ; evapo-
rate at once ; skim often ; keep the sides of the evaporators
clean by wiping them frequently with a clean wet cloth ; clean
the entire evaporator and holders at least twice during the sea-
son of Ijoiling.

If nitre adheres to the bottom of the evaporator in the two
or three back spaces, clean it off every morning to prevent the
coloring of the syrup. This malate of lime is burned on to
the bottom, and no syrup can pass over it without being
scorched and discolored.

Walerbury Coilre. vt Timothy Wheeler.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — IX.

THE flora of Japan is rich in Evonymus, there being
no less than nine species found within the limits of
the empire. Of these the best known in our gardens is the
evergreen Evonymus Japonicus, now cultivated in all tem-
perate countries, and its climbing variety usually known as
Evonymus radicans. Evonymus Japonicus is a small tree
generally distributed at low elevations, and more common
in the south than at the north, although it grows naturally

in the cold climate of southern Yezo, where, however, it
does not attain a large size, and where its presence may be
accounted for by the thick covering of snow which pro-
tects it in winter. The scandent variety is a hardier plant
found carpeting the ground under the forests of Hokkaido,
and in the mountain-regions of Hondo climbing high on
the trunks of trees, which it encircles with great masses of
lustrous foliage borne on stout branches standing out at
right angles sometimes to the length of several feet, with
leaves which vary from an inch to four or five inches in
length and correspondingly in width, and which show the
connection of the climbing plant with the arborescent type.

There is a second arborescent Evonymus in Japan, a va-
riety of the widely distributed and variable Evonymus
Europaaus, to which the name van Hamiltonianus is given.
This handsome plant, with its stout branchlets, large leaves
and showy fruit, was introduced from Japan several years
ago by the late Thomas Hogg, and it is now well estab-
lished in the Arnold Arboretum, where it flowers and fruits
freely. It is one of the commonest of the Japanese species
in all mountain-regions, and grows at least as far north as
central Yezo, where it becomes a tree twenty to thirty feet
in height.

Evonymus alatus, a variable plant in the development of
the wings on the branches, to which it owes its specific
name, and in the size of the leaves and fruit, in some of its
forms, is also very abundant in the north and on the moun-
tains of central Japan. The wing-branched variety, which
is the only deciduous-leaved Evonymus which I saw in
Japanese gardens, where it is rather a favorite, is now well
known in those of the United States and of Europe, where
it is valued for the peculiar pink color the leaves assume in
very late autumn. The variety subtriflora, a more northern
plant, with slender terete branchlets and small fruit, is, I
believe, unknown in gardens. It is one of the commonest
shrubs in the mountain-forests of Japan, and on the shores
of Lake Chuzenji, in the Nikko Mountains, I saw it rising to
the height of fifteen to eighteen feet with slender diverging
stems.

In northern Japan there are three other species of Evo-
nymus, all tall shrubSj with large leaves and large showy
fruit suspended on long slender stalks, which may be ex-
pected to thrive in our climate, and to be decided acquisi-
tions in our shrubberies. Of these Evonymus Nipponicus
and E. oxyphyllus produce globose fruit, and E. macrop-
terus more or less broadly winged fruit.

Of Celastrus nothing need here be said of the now well-
known C. articulatus, which is one of the commonest plants
on the mountains of Japan, except that its leafless branch-
lets, covered with fruit, are sold in the autumn in great
quantities in all Japanese towns, where they are used in
house decoration, for which purpose they are admirably
suited, as the bright-colored fruit remains on them for many
weeks. The second Japanese species, Celastrus flagellaris,
I only saw in the Botanic Garden in Tokyo, where there is
a single small plant ; it is a common Manchurian species,
but appears to be exceedingly rare in Japan. I judge that
it has no particular horticultural value.

Half a dozen genera of Rhamnaceae are included in the
flora of Japan, among them Zizyphus, perhaps an introduced
plant, often cultivated as a fruit-tree ; Berchemia racemosa,
a twining shrub with long slender branches, very or-
namental during the last weeks of summer, when the half-
ripened fruit, which is produced in large terminal clusters,
is bright red ; two or three species of Rhamnus, of no hor-
ticultural value, and the curious tree, Hovenia dulcis, an
inhabitant also of China and the Himalaya region, and in
Japan often cultivated for the thickened sweetish fruit-
stalks, which are edible, although insipid in flavor, and
which enjoy among the Japanese a certain reputation for
curative properties. Hovenia was first introduced into
Europe eighty years ago and is occasionally seen in the
gardens of southern France and Italy. In the northern
states, where it has probably been tried, it cannot be ex-
pected to survive the winter. In general appearance this

March 29, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

143

tree, which is sometimes thirty or forty feet in height, is
not unlike a large-leaved Pear-tree, and as an ornamental
plant possesses little value.

In arborescent plants of the family of Sapindaceee, Japan
is richer than eastern America, owing to the multiplication

tree— one of the largest and stateliest of all Horse-chest-
nuts. In the forests of the remote and interior mountain
regions of central Hondo, at elevations between 2,000 and
3,000 feet. Horse-chestnuts, eighty to one hundred feet
tall, with trunks three or four feet in diameter, are not un-

Fig. 24. — Acer Miyabei. — See page 142.

of species of Maple in the former country. yEsculus, on
the contrary, which finds its headquarters in North
America, where there are five species, appears in Japan in
only one — vEsculus turbinata. This, however, is a noble

common. These were perhaps the largest deciduous'trees
which I saw in the main island growingTnaturally in the
forest, that is, which had not been planted by men, and
their escape from destruction was probably due to their

144

Garden and Forest.

[Number 266.

inaccessible position and to the fact that the wood of the
Horse-chestnut is not particularly valued by the Japanese.
In habit and in the form, venation and coloring of
the leaves, the Japanese Horse-chestnut resembles the
Horse-chestnut of our gardens, the Grecian yEsculus
Hippocastanum, and at tirst sight might easily be mis-
taken for that tree, but the thyrsus of flowers of the
Japanese species, which is ten or twelve inches long
and only two and a half to three inches broad, is more
slender ; the flowers are smaller, pale yellow, with short,
nearly equal petals ciliate on the margins ; and the fruit is
that of the Pavias, that is, it is smooth and shows no trace
of the prickles which distinguish the true Horse-chestnuts.
The Japanese Horse-chestnut reaches southern Yezo, find-
ing its most northern home near Mororan, on the shores
of Volcano Bay, at the level of the ocean ; it is generally
distributed through the mountainous parts of the three
southern islands, sometimes ascending in the south to an
elevation of 4,000 or 5,000 feet There seems to be no
reason why this tree, which has already produced fruit in
France, should not flourish in our northern states, where,
as well as in Europe, it is still little known. In northern
Japan the fruits are exposed for sale in the shops, although
they are probably only used as playthings for the chil-
dren.

To the Maples the forests of Japan owe much of their
variety, beauty and interest Not less than twenty species
are known in Japan, while in all of North America there
are nine, with six only on the eastern side of the continent
None of the Japanese Maples, however, grow to the size
of real timber-trees, or can be compared in massiveness
and grandeur with several American species, which are un-
rivaled in size and beauty by the Maples of any other part
of the world.

Some of the Japanese Maples are exceedingly common
and form a conspicuous feature of the forest-vegetation,
and others are rare and confined to comparatively small
areas of distribution. Several of the species I did not see
at all, and others in only one or two isolated individuals.
The most common of the Japanese Maples, and the largest,
is Acer pictum, a handsome ' small tree, not unlike our
Sugar Maple in general appearance ; it is one of the most
abundant trees in the forests of Hokkaido, where it occa-
sionally attains the height of fifty feet and forms a trunk
eighteen inches in diameter. It is a tree of wide and gen-
eral distribution in Japan, Manchuria, China and northern
India, and even in Japan varies remarkably in the size and
pubescence of the five to seven-lobed leaves truncate at
the base, and in the size and shape of the fruit This tree
must be extremely beaufiful when the yellow flowers are
just opening in May, for the large, lengthened inner scales
of the winter buds are then bright orange color and very
showy. The autumn coloring of the leaves I did not see ;
it is described as yellow and red.

Of more interest to the lovers of novelties is Acer Miyabei
(see Fig. 24 on page 143), the latest addition to the list of
Japanese Maples. It is a tree thirty to forty feet in height,
with a trunk twelve to eighteen inches in diameter covered
with pale deeply furrowed bark, spreading branches which
form a round-topped handsome head, and stout branchlets
orange-brown in their first, and ashy gray in their second
season. The leaves are five-lobed by narrow sinuses, with
acute entire, irregularly two to three-lobed divisions, cor-
date or almost truncate at the base, five-ribbed, conspicu-
ously reticulate-veined, puberulous on the ribs and in their
axils on the upper surface, and more or less covered with
ferrugineous pubescence on the lower, especially on the
ribs and veins; they are dark green above, pale below,
four or five inches long and broad, and are borne on stout
petioles enlarged at the base, two to seven inches in length,
and thickly coated while young with pale hairs, which also
cover the unfolding leaves. The flowers, which are yellow,
are produced on slender pedicels in few-flowered, short-
stalked corymbs. The sepals and petals are narrow, obo-
vate, acute and ciliate on the margins ; in the male flowers

the stamens, composed of filiform filaments and minute
ovate anthers, are inserted between the lobes of a conspicu-
ous disk, and are longer than the petals ; the pistil is minute
and rudimentary ; in the fertile flowers the stamens are ru-
dimentary and shorter than the ovary, which is coated with
long white hairs. The style, which is described as some-
what shorter than the revolute stigmas, is caducous. The
fruit is two inches long, with broad puberulous nutlets
diverging at right angles to the stem, and thin, slightly fal-
cate, conspicuously veined wings. This fine tree, which is
closely related to the European Acer platanoides, was dis-
covered a few years ago in the province of Hidaka, in Hok-
kaido, by Professor Kingo Miyabe, the accomplished pro-
fessor of botany in the college at Sapparo and the author of
an important work on the flora of the Kurile Islands, in
whose honor it was named in 1888 by Maximowicz.*

On the 1 8th of September we stopped quite by accident
to change cars at the little town of Iwanigawa, a railroad
junction in Yezo some forty or fifty miles from Sapparo,
and having a few minutes on our hands strolled out of the
town to a small grove of trees in the hope that they might
prove interesting. In this grove, occupying apiece of low
ground on the borders of a small stream, and chiefly com-
posed of Acer pictum, our Japanese guide recognized at a
glance a number of fine trees of Acer Miyabei covered with
fruit, and surrounding the house of an officer of the impe-
rial Forest Department who had been living for years in
entire ignorance of the fact that he was enjoying the shade
of one of the rarest trees in Japan. The find was a lucky
one, for Iwanigawa is a long way from the station where
this species had been discovered, and full-grown fruit had
not been seen before ; and from these trees I obtained later
from Professor Miyabe a supply of ripe seeds large enough
to make this Maple common in the gardens of this country
and of Europe, in which there is every reason to believe
that it will flourish. C. S. S.

Plant Notes.

Cypripedium Rothschildianum.

AN illustration of a flowering spike of this distinct and
noteworthy plant from the collection of Mr. Hicks
Arnold, of this city, is given on page 145. The scape in
this specimen is twenty-one inches long, stout as a drawing-
pencil, dark and almost black, with a bold, upright position.
The petals of the individual flowers extend ten inches from
tip to tip and stand out at a right angle from the scape.
They are narrow and tapering, of a rich cream or yellow
ground and striped and spotted with an Indian-red purple.
The dorsal and lower sepals are almost equal in size, each
some four and three-quarter inches in length. They are
yellow, with dark purple, almost black, stripes, the lower
one being somewhat the lighter. The bracts are striped
like the dorsal sepal. The lip is striking in form, and its
color is a bright Indian-red, beautifully marbled and veined
on a lemon ground and shading from light to dark.

It is several years since this plant was imported by
Messrs. Sander & Co., from New Guinea, and although it
is known as one of the slow-growing varieties, this three-
flowered scape shows that the plant is a sturdy one. C.
Rothschildianum is one of the thick-leaved varieties, and
therefore it needs more warmth than most of the Cypripe-
diums, and Mr. Arnold is .to be congratulated on having so
vigorous a plant growing side by side with the neat little
C. Fairieanum and C. Wallisi. One great merit of C. Roths-
childianum is that its individual flowers endure for an un-
usually long time.

A New NvMPH.iiA. — During the year 1892 quite a list of new
Water-lilies was described, but I have seen no notice of
Nymphaea gracilis, except an incidental one in a recent letter
of Mr. Watson's from Kew. I flowered the plant last summer
and am well pleased with it. It resembles the N. stellala
type, has leaves about a foot across and flowers six or seven
inches in diameter. These flowers are very freely produced.

• Mil. Bio!., xil.. 735.

March 29, 1893.!

Garden and Forest.

145

The petals are white, without any trace of blue or pink and the
stamens are a very deep yellow or orange. The flowers have
a star-like appearance, owing to the slender or narrow shape
of the petals, and they have a peculiar habit of standing twelve
or fifteen inches above the surface of the water. N. gracilis is a
native of Mexico, and, though not taking rank with the Zanzi-
bar Lilies for beauty, is attractive on account of the novelty of
its color in this class. It blooms in the day-time.

Los Angeles, Cal. E- D. Sturtevatlt.

Cultural Department.

Cypripediums.

IT may be safely presumed that Cypripediums are sure to
be represented in even the smallest collection of Orchids
by one or more of the very many kinds now in existence, and

continually. But, perhaps, the greatest incentive to the cul-
ture of Cypripediums is the ease with which seedlings can be
raised and flowered. Some of the best work in this field has
been done by amateurs, and one often finds promising lots
of young seedlings coming on in the hands of both profes-
sional and amateur growers.

Newly imported plants of this family establish themselves
rapidly from nice plants. A single growth of C. Chamber-
lainianum obtained last June has, since that time, becomeestab-
lished, and produces four promismg young growths. A lot of
C. insigne, obtained as imported plants in the fall of 1891, are
now fine plants in six-inch pots, and will flower freely next
winter ; many were strong enough to flower last winter, but
as we desired to obtain strong plants they were kept in a warm
house and they did not stop to flower, but kept on growing all
the time. Many Orchids, when newly imported from their

Fig. 25. — Cypripedium Rothschildianum (reduced). — See page 144.

the taste for this easily grown class of plants is rapidly devel-
oping, both here and in Europe. There are several reasons
why cultivators, once interested, go on from small beginnings
to the larger collection of species and hybrids, the principal
one being that the flowers last many weeks in perfection with-
out apparent injury to the plants; indeed, it is quite possible
to have flowers of Cypripedium insigne lasting, in good condi-
tion, from Christmas till Easter. The plants themselves are hand-
some when not in bloom, even to the casual observer. Of all
the known kinds at present in cultivation, there are but very
few that can be called poor growers, and it is safe to say that
Cypripediums are the safest of all Orchids as an investment
for beginners. There is no difficulty in meeting their de-
mands, chief of which is a plentiful supply of water, as they
need no season of rest, but should be kept moist at the roots

native country, are best kept out of pots until they show signs
of life and begin to root, but Cypripediums are best when
potted up at once, as they start quicker and the foliage begins
to freshen up from this time forward, while if the plants have
but few live roots they may be placed in pots with small pieces
of broken pots to keep them in position until they begin to
make roots, when a little Fern-root and moss may be placed in
the pots over the crocks.

If plants at any time become unhealthy they may be taken
out of the old soil and the roots and leaves thoroughly cleansed
with tepid water. The live portions should be placed in
crocks like newly imported plants and kept moist by frequent
syringing, and in this way they may be speedily brought round
to a healthy growing condition. It is quite possible to repot
Cypripediums at any season if care is taken not to mutilate the

146

Garden and Forest.

[Number 266.

roots, but it is preferable to do this as they are about to start
into growth with the returning warmth and sunshine of spring.
Ours have all l>een taken in hand and either repotted or the
surface of the material carefully removed and replaced by
fresh moss and Fern-root in about equal portions. Many advo-
cate the use of loam in the material for some of the more
robust-growing sorts, such as C. insigne, but we have always
succeeded well without it. Others again recommend the useof
moss alone mixed with broken pots, but with the capacity of
moss to retain water very careful attention is necessary to
avoid over-watering. We recently received plants that were
potted in moss alone, and their condition was anything but
desirable ; they have all been repotted in Fern-root and moss.
Sphagnum, even the best, has a tendency to decay rapidly,
and when used in any quantity it soon decomposes, and,
therefore, should not be used near the roots, but rather on the
surface, where it will speedily grow and become green, mak-
ing an excellent reminder when water is needed. The " Fern-
root" named is that of the several Osmundas, common in the
United States, preference being given to those growing in well-
drained soil. Two distinct grades of fibre can be obtained
from the same mass ; the more recently formed will be brown
and spongy and is excellent for the thick roots of Cypripedes
to run through, while the older and wiry portions will suit Cat-
tleyas equally well. It used to be the rule to elevate the
plants above the top of the pot when repotting, but this ren-
ders the operation a little more difficult, and is altogether un-
necessary, as the plants succeed equally well, and in some
cases better, when placed in the pots as other plants are.

There are few Orchids that are so easy to satisfy as to other
conditions. Most Cypripediums will thrive admirably in a
temperature of fifty-five degrees at night, and some will stand
a much lower temperature, while, again, others need more
warmth, these being such as come from the islands of the
Malay Archipelago and their offspring. But a house that can
be maintained at sixty degrees at night in winter, with a corre-
sponding rise by day, will suit those that come from those
warmer countries. Those kinds that have tessellated foliage
need shade from bright sunshine at all times, or the leaves
will lose much of their healthy green coloring, and this means
loss of vigor, as Cypripediums, being devoid of bulbs, do not
store up vigor. The green-leaved kinds will stand much more
sunshine, though from this time forward shading is desirable
for them also.

The taste for Cypripediums in most cases appears to be the
result of education ; few take to them at first as they do to the
more showy genera of Orchids, but all are almost sure to ac-
quire a growing appreciation of their refinement and elegance
as time goes on. A careful selection of a dozen kinds would
give flowers every day in the year and a pleasing array of
foliage always. The hybridist has done much to improve and
refine the quality of these plants, and if I were to select a lim-
ited number of the best kinds the majority would be of garden
origin. Great advancement is possible in this direction, and
proofs of this are constantly visible. The introduction of a sin-
gle species new to science makes possible innumerable com-
binations out of which much progress is sure to be made.
Rigid selection must begin very soon, or what will be the con-
dition of the nomenclature ofCypripediums a few years hence ?

South Lancaster, Mass. O. O.

The Persian Cyclamen. — II.

w

riTH regard to cultural requirements, the Cyclamen is now
much better understood than at any time since its intro-
duction. Formerly it was the custom to grow only a few
corms, preserving the same plants until they died of sheer ex-
haustion. These old corms, grown year after year, were given
a severe rest during the summer months. They were, indeed,
pretty thoroughly ripened by exposure to the sun, and then,
early in autumn, were potted and placed in a greenhouse tem-
perature. The corms treated in this way were often, though
not invariably, unsatisfactory. Some excellent gardeners still
pursue this method, and in good hands it is not unusual for a
corm thirty years of age to yieldas many as scx5 flowers in a
single season.

Usually, however, the younger generation prefer more relia-
ble, if smaller, plants, each bearing about 200 flowers, especially
when these can be had, by the modern system of cultivation,
in about eighteen months from the time the seeds are sown.
The seed ripens about the latter part of June or early in July,
and should be sown in August in shallow pans and light sandy
soil. The pans should then be placed in a propagating-frame,
where, with the proper watering and shading, the seedlings
are fit to prick oft in October or November. A moist atmos-

phere and intermediate temperature are now most beneficial
to the plants, and they should be placed moderately close to
the glass, at all stages of their growth a desirable position. If
well grown they can be placed singly in small pots in February,
with the corms entirely covered. Later on they should be
placed in four-inch pots, and the last shift into five-inch pots
should be made early in May.

The best soil for Cyclamens, from the first potting onward,
is composed of equal parts of light loam and leaf-mold, with
the addition of well-decomposed cow-manure and sand in
small proportion. The plants should be stood in a cold frame,
with a solid, moisture-holding floor of coal-ashes or similar
material throughout the summer months, and they will then
require careful attention. Watering, shading and airing will
not admit of neglect, if plants of the highest quality are desired,
and in bright weather they should be lightly sprinkled over-
head two or three limes daily. They may be again transferred
to the greenhouse early in autumn, and it will be all the better
if the atmosphere is kept rather more dry than when they
formerly occupied the same quarters. The application of
some stimulating fertilizer is beneficial while they are bloom-
ing. The only insect which troubles the Cyclamen to any se-
rious extent is the green-fly, and this is easily held in check by
fumigating with tobacco.

Whether individual plants should be retained or discarded
depends upon their quality. Good varieties should certainly
be preserved, but such plants will require treatment some-
what different from that of younger plants. Less moisture
will suffice during the cold-frame period, though the soil
should never be allowed to reach a state of thorough dryness,
and the corms should be repotted only in autumn. They may,
with these cultural modifications, prove even more valuable
than seedlings ; and to employ them as seed-bearers to the
moderate extent indicated in the first article, will not affect
their value as flowering plants. Cross-fertilization is best per-
formed in March and April. The weather is then clear and
bright, and the sun has gained sufficient power to impart a
free-working condition to the pollen. There is, moreover, the
greatest variety of plants in bloom at this time, affording oper-
ators the wildest possible range of selection. But it is useless
to embark on this work without some definite aim at im-
provement, for good seed may be had in abundance, quite in-
dependent of artificial intervention, other than that entailed in
the removal of superfluous seed-pods.

Cambridge, Mass.

M. Barker.

Sowing Seeds of Annual Plants. — II.

"\iyHILE Sunflowers will do well enough sown in the open,
* » nothing is lost by having them early. The Texan silver-
leavedandtheminiature Sunflower (Helianthus cucumerifoli-
us) are among the handsomest and best for any purpose. In
notingplants for cutting it is hard to omit the common Helichry-
sum, al ways afavori te with children. The common annual Lark-
spurs are constantly in bloom, and their long spikes in various
shades of blue, pink and white flowers, single and double,
help to make a pleasing variety. Wlien once established in a
garden they may be relied upon to take care of themselves,
coming year after year.

Mignonette is another useful plant. It should not be raised
in a hot-bed, but sown where it is required to bloom, as it is
very hard to transplant. Poppies are becoming popular, and
worthily so ; they are among the easiest plants to grow. Gen-
erally the annual kinds do well, and bloom early enough if
sown in the open border in May. As they do not transplant
easily it is better to sow a few in pots, and plant them out with
a ball of earth. The Munstead varieties of the Iceland Poppies
are beautiful. Daneborg has flowers in the form of a Maltese
cross, scarlet, with the base of each petal white. Papaver um-
brosum, a selected variety of P. Rhaeas, is very handsome, the
flowers a brilliant crimson, with black at the base of each
petal. The Shirley Poppies are, of course, indispensable.

Sweet Peas, during the past few years, have increased in
beauty and variety. There are now many well-defined varie-
ties which come tolerably true, and each year brings its share
of novelties. Some of the best varieties are Apple Blossom,
Boreatton, Countess of Radnor, Emily Eckford, Firefly, Mrs.
Sankey and Miss Hunt. The buyer of new varieties will prob-
ably find not more than twenty-five seeds in some of the pack-
ets. With these special kinds I would advise a plan which I
shall fry, and which a friend has successfully followed for a
number of years. This is to sow Sweet Peas by drills in the
hot-bed and pot them off singly in three-inch pots. When
established, as they will be in a few days, they should be
planted out six inches apart in a double row. When given
plenty of room these plants "stool" surprisingly and produce

March 29, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

H7

very large flowers. Sweet Peas require abundance of water
during the dry season and ought to be closely picked ; all
seed-pods, especially, being picked off, to keep them contin-
ually in bloom.

Varieties of Sweet Scabious are among the most useful bor-
der plants grown, and are universal favorites. They are rather
tall and should have at least one foot of space ; the flowers
are aster-like, on long stems, varying in color, from white to
the deepest crimson. Ten- weeks Stocks for bedding and cut-
ting are indispensable. Dwarf Bouquet are the best for bed-
ding ; for cutting, the large-flowered pyramidal are to be pre-
ferred. Stocks had better be transplanted when small into
boxes or pots, from which they are more easily shifted into
blooming quarters ; if left in the seed-bed, crowded, until
large, they are established only with great difficulty.

The Chinese Aster, a beautiful summer and autumn flower,
repays good culture. The first sowings should be pricked off as
recommended for Stocks ; subsequent ones may be made
thinly where the plants are intended to bloom. The Comet
strain, now in five or six colors, including white, I consider
the best for all purposes. It is comparatively dwarf in habit,
very early, and bears an immense number of loose flowers,
after the form of a Japanese Chrysanthemum. It is superior
to the Paeony-flowered and the Victoria, being of loose con-
struction, and does not suffer nearly so much from heavy
rains. The Pompone, Quilled and Dwarf Bouquet are general

favorites. ~ t n M

Wellesley, Mass. ■' • iJ. n-

The Forest.

Notes on the Climatic Influence of Forests.

WHILE writers on forestry and friends of the forestry
movement have been advocating reform in the public
treatment of forests on the ground of their conjectured cli-
matic importance, a thorough investigation (rf the question by
scientific methods and careful systematic measurements has
been made in Europe, where well-established forest-adminis-
trations rendered possible such work on an extensive scale —
such a scale as is necessary for conclusive results.

The question of practical importance is not so much as to
the effects of the forest upon the general climate, but as to the
local modification of climatic conditions produced thereby.
We are not concerned as to whether the total rainfall over the
continent is increased, but whether the distribution of precipi-
tation in time and quantity over and near a forest-area is influ-
enced by its existence ; whether we or our crops feel its
absence or presence in our immediate neighborhood.

We can readily understand that an effect upon climate, if
any, must be due, in the first place, to the mechanical obstruc-
tion which the forest-cover presents to the passage of air cur-
rents and to the action of the sun's rays upon the soil ; that it
must result from a difference in insolation and consequent dif-
ferences in temperature and evaporation over forest and field ;
and that this influence can become appreciable only when
large enough air columns of differentcharacters are opposed to
each other, capable of producing local currents of air which
may intercommunicate the characteristics of one area to the
other, or else of changing the character of passing air currents.
The size and character of the forest-growth, its density, height,
situation and composition are much more important in deter-
mining its influence than has been hitherto supposed. It is
not trees, but masses of foliage, which may be effective.

The most important contributions toward a solution of the
question of climatic forest-influences are the observations at
three sets of forest-meteorological stations, established in
Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The systems, made up of
double stations, one within, the other without, the forest, but
under similar conditions otherwise, cannot finally decide the
question of the climatic influence of the forest, but they may
furnish preliminary data, in establishing the differences be-
tween meteorological conditions in the forest and in the open,
from which finally the reaction of one upon the other may be
deduced with the aid of additional observations in radial sta-
tions, such as have been more recently established in Austria.

The observations in the forest-meteorological stations of the
Canton Berne, lately published, comprise nineteen years at
three sets of stations, the longest systematic series of observa-
tions so far recorded. Only the temperature observations of
air, soil and tree-interior are so far published, with results
which permit of the following conclusions : The air tempera-
tures taken three metres above ground are found in the forest
lower for mean annual as well as mean monthly, except during
winter months. The difference is greater at 4 p. m. (time of

daily maximum) than at 9 A. M., and increases as the season
temperature increases, reaching its maximum in July, then
decreasing toward fall ; in winter the air temperature in the
woods is nearly the same as in the open, or, at least, only
slightly warmer. The evergreen forest seems to exert greater
cooling influence than the Beech-woods. Altogether, the
range of temperatures through the year is from two and a half
to three degrees, Fahrenheit, greater in the open.

The soil-surface in the open in summer is warmer, in win-
ter colder than the air ; in the forest, on the contrary, the sur-
face temperature is always lower than the air temperature,
and the forest-soil shows at all dejiths during spring, summer
and autumn lower temperatures, but in winter either the same
or slightly warmer than the open. The greatest difference is
found at the surface, the Spruce-forest at Berne exhibiting the
greatest cooling effect to the extent of nine degrees, Fahren-
heit, while the warming effect in winter ranges only from one
to two degrees.

At 9 A. M. no difference was found between tempera-
tures breast-high and in the crown of the trees, but at 4
o'clock the crown shows higher temperature, except in winter,
when it is as cold as, or colder than, the lower parts. The
trees are always colder than the surrounding air and colder
than the air in the open, especially in summer. This may be
one of the factors which help to cool the air temperature in
the forest and possibly induce condensation of moisture-
laden air currents. The range of tree temperatures is smaller
than that of air temperatures.

From the observations at the German stations, sixteen in
number, which extend through now eighteen years, the most
interesting result regarding forest-influence upon rainfall may
be cited at the station of Lintzel. This station is situated in the
great Lueneburg heath, a prairie-like country, which, during
the existence of the stations, has been reforested, so that on an
area of twenty-five square miles the following change took
place :

Before reforestation. After reforestation.

Field and meadow, 12 per cent. 10 percent.

Heath, ----- 85 " " 10 " "

Forest, - - - - 3 " " (old) 80 " "

The reforestation took place at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 acres
a year at first, afterward more slowly, until 8,000 acres were
under forest.

Comparing the rainfall observations with those from stations
outside of the forest-conditions, but near enough to be avail-
able for comparison, the following changes took place at Lint-
zel. While at first the rainfall was only about eighty per cent,
of that at the other stations, it increased as follows :

1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. 1886. 1887. 1888.
81.3 86.3 95.2 99.8 100.6 103.7 1039

So that finally it rose from a deficiency of nearly twenty per
cent, to an excess of nearly four per cent.

The observations at the Austrian stations cover a period of
eight years. These stations, of which there are three sets, are
radial, that is to say, there are several sets of instruments in
the open at varying distances and in different directions from
the forest, by which arrangement, it is to be hoped, not only
the difference of ineteorological conditions, but also the
influence, if any, of forest-areas, may be determined. These
observations are especially valuable, because they have been
taken at various heights above the soil, and, therefore, indi-
cate the differences in vertical distribution of these meteoro-
logical factors of temperature and moisture. Comparing the
air temperatures of forest and field at the same height above
the soil, namely at sixteen, thirty-six and forty-eight feet, we find
in the day-time the same temperature, lower below, higher
above the crowns than at corresponding heights in the open,
while in the night the temperature in and above the crowns is
lower. Yet the differences are not very great.

The absolute humidity is always greater in and above the
forest. This excess is smallest toward morning and reaches its
maximum at noon, then decreases again. The difference at
noon is 0.55-0.63 inches, with calm air. The relative humidity
at all heights and at all times is higher in the forest, the differ-
ence in calm weather at sixteen feet reaching as high as
thirteen to thirteen and a half per cent, in the mean of obser-
vations. At forty-eight feet it is less, yet in the hours toward
morning it is still ten and nine-tenths per cent, greater than
over the open. In regard to the humidity of the air, it is note-
worthy that in the forest the relative humidity increases and
decreases at the same time with the absolute humidity, while
usually in the field they have opposite progressions. This
leads to the conclusion that the forest is at the same time a
source of atmospheric water-supply and of cooling. Since in

148

Garden and Forest.

[Number 266.

the open, the water-supplies, under the influence of higher
temperatures and unchecked winds, are more readily exhausted
or reduced to a minimum where evaporation and transpira-
tion of the soil covering plants does not increase proportional
to temperature increase, it becomes evident that the forest
retains for a longer time a water-supply which is easily
available. , . , . ,.^

The observation that both absolute and relahve humidity
are increased in the forest is a new and important fact, which
had not been apparent from the observations of the German
stations situated under the influence of an oceanic (the Baltic and
Atlantic) climate, which is characterized by high relative humid-
ity and only occasional high temperatures, while the Austrian
stations are situated near the region of the pontic dry climate.
In such a climate the dry air is capable of taking up additional
water-supplies from the fbrest.'and since the latter has also a
cooling effect, both absolute and relative humidity of air cur-
rents passing it are increased, while in the oceanic climate the
absolute moisture, already high, cannot be increased, and only
the cooling effect of the forest affects the relative humidity.
This important difi"erence in general climatic conditions must
be kept in view when discussing forest-influences. In com-
paring forest and open field, the kind of cover of the latter
must also be taken into account. During the early develop-
ment of meadow-growth and of crops, while they are green,
they furnish by transpiration more water to the air than the
forest. Since, therefore, during this season the open soil
loses both by evaporation and transpiration more water than
the shaded forest-soil, the latter is able to supply moisture
when that of the field-soil is exhausted and begins to absorb
moisture from the atmosphere, especially when, with the rip-
ening of the crops, the plants cease to transpire much water.
Hence, the difference of absolute humidity appears greater in
the forest, especially in dry seasons.

The decrease in absolute humidity above the forest-crown
must, of course, take place at about the same ratio as above
the field, but altogether the observations seem to show that
the enriching of the air with moisture above a forest-cover
can extend to a considerable height. These conditions of
moisture and temperature above the forest lend countenance
to the claim that the possibility of precipitation over large
and dense forest-areas is greater than over open fields.

As far as the temperature and moisture conditions of forest-
areas may be communicated to adjoining fields, further light
is promised from the radial stations in Austria. The results
from these have only just been published, and I will refer to
them at some other time. Theoretically, there are various
objections to the assumption that the influence, if any, is an
appreciable one. But we know that meteorological theories,
more than others, are liable to be at fault and unsatisfactory in
many respects, probably on account not only of the compli-
cated nature of the phenomena with which they deal, but also
of the defects in methods and means by which the data have
so far been collected.

It is hardly a conclusion, but at least an impression, that
seems to come from looking at results already presented that,
as a climatic factor, the forest of the plain is apparently of
more importance than the mountain forest, the more potent
meteorological influences of the mountain elevation obscuring
and reducing in significance the influence of their cover,
while for soil and water conditions the mountain forest is of
considerable importance. r- v c

Correspondence.
On the Local Segregation of Trees.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, In the first of Professor Sargent's highly interesting

and instructive papers on the Forest Flora of Japan, he tells us
that " the segregation of arborescent species in Japan ... is
the most striking feature of the silva of that country" ; and he
says that in Yezo are " probably more species of trees growing
naturally in a small area than in any other one place outside
the tropics " ; in support of which statement he gives a list of
forty-six species and varieties (forty-three species and three
varieties) which he noticed " in ascending a hill which rises
only 500 feet above the level of the ocean." To these he adds
thirteen species " growing within five miles of this hill,"
making " in all sixty-two species and varieties, or more than a
quarter of all the trees of the empire crowded into an area
only a few miles square."

Unless the list given by Professor Sargent is a very incom-
plete one, I think it can be proved that at least one locality in
the eastern United States is even richer than Yezo in respect

to the number of species of trees growing in a restricted area.
In the Proceedings of the United States National Museum for
1882 (vol. V.) I published lists of trees found by me growing in
limited areas of forest in south-eastern Illinois and south-
western Indiana, which I reproduce here, although, to save
space, they are presented in a different form, names of the
species being omitted, and a summary of the number of spe-
cies and. genera found on each tract, with the size of the tract,
being substituted. For convenience, the tracts are designated
as " a" and " b."

Number of Number of
Tract. Locality. Area of tract, genera. species.

a. Wabash County, Illinois, 50 acres. 24 46

b. Knox County, Indiana, . 75 " 29 52

Both these tracts were absolutely level ground, the first
varied only by a creek which meandered through it, and the
second bordered by a wooded swamp along one edge. Within
half a mile of locality "a" there were identified twelve addi-
tional species and five additional genera ; while within three
miles in a nearly opposite direction were found seventeen ad-
ditional species' and five additional genera, making a total of
seventy-five species and thirty-six genera — against sixty-
two species and thirty-two genera of the Japanese list —
growing on very much less than five square miles of ter-
ritory.*

In locality " b " an enumeration of the species of trees grow-
ing on a separately enclosed tract of only twenty-two acres in
extent, about eight acres of which had been partially cleared,
showed forty-four species, belonging to twenty-five genera, to
be growing there, or two species and more than one genus for
each separate acre of ground. I am quite certain that the two
localities referred to are by no means exceptionally rich in the
number of species for that region ; in fact, I am sure that five-
mile-square areas might be selected in the valley of the lower
Wabash which would produce a still larger number of species
and genera ; but it would be necessary to include within their
limits a greater variety of surface — that is, to include not only
the usual bottom-land forest, but also swampy tracts, river-
banks and a portion of the river-bluffs.

In his second article on the forests of Japan, Professor Sar-
gent calls attention to the great difference in the undergrowth
which covers the ground beneath the forests in the two re-
gions, which he says is so great that it "must at once attract
the attention of the most careless observer." This under-
growth, he says, in America is composed of a great number of
shrubs, while " in Japan the forest-floor is covered . . . with a
continuous, almost impenetrable, mass of dwarf Bamboos of
several species." Now, this latter character of undergrowth
is exactly what is found in parts of the Mississippi valley, ex-
cept that only one or two species of arborescent grass, instead
of several, constitute the nearly impenetrable undergrowth.
Large areas of forest in southern Indiana and Illinois (though
farther northward t in the former than in the latter state) have
the ground chiefly occupied (where not destroyed by horses
and cattle) with a very dense growth of the "Switch-cane"
(Arundinaria tecta), growing, as do the Bamboos of Japan,
from three to six, though sometimes ten or more, feet high ;
and the parallelism is carried still farther by another feature
mentioned by Professor Sargent in connection with Japanese
forests, these very forests of southern Indiana and Illinois be-
ing "filled with climbing shrubs, which flourish with tropical
luxuriance"; though many of the genera are different, our
forests having, of the larger or higher growing vines, repre-
sentatives of the genera Vitis (five species), Cissus, Ampelop-
sis. Wistaria, Celastrus, Calycocarpum, Rhus, Bignonia, Te-
coma and Aristolochia, most of which ascend to the tops of
the tallest trees, frequently more than too feet from the
ground, and the largest stems of Vitis, Tecoma and Rhus
sometimes measuring a foot in diameter.

With all these elements of similarity, however, there are
equally marked points of difference between the forests of
Japan and those of the region under consideration. Most con-
spicuous is the absence of evergreens in the latter, there being
among the seventy-five species representing the silva of the
southern Illinois-Indiana area described above not a single
evergreen tree. In fact, the general absence of evergreens,
both among trees and shrubs, is a conspicuous feature of these

♦The Reiiera represented were as follows: Liriodendron, Asimina, Tilia (two
species), vl^sculus, Acer (three species), Negundo, Gleditaia (two species), Gymno-
cfadus. Cercis, Prunus (two species), Pyrus (two species), Crataegus (four specie*},
Amelanchier, Rhus, IJrjuidambar, Nyssa, Cornus, Viburnum, Diospyros, Fraxi-
nuB (five species), Sassatnis. Catalpa, tjlmus (three species), Celtis (two species),
Morus, Piatanus, Juglans (two species), Carya (seven species), Quercus (thirteen
species), Fagua, Carpinus, Ostrya, Betuta (two species), Salix (two species), Populus
(tnree species) and laxodium.

t To a distance of several miles above the mouth of the Wliite River,

March 29, 1893.]

Garden and Forest,

U9

forests in winter, tlie only woody plants which preserve their
verdure from November to April being the forest Reed or
Bamboo (Arundinaria), the Cross-vine (Bignonia capreolata),
the Mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens) and two or three spe-
cies of Smilax. The almost complete absence of coniferous
trees is the next most conspicuous characteristic, there being
only one species, and that a deciduous one (Taxodium dis-
tichum).
waahington, D. c. Robert Ridgway.

[In writing of the difference in the character of the under-
growth in American and Japanese forests, I had in mind
New England and the Alleghany country, that is, the
regions which most nearly correspond with Yezo and the
central mountain chain of Hondo, and not the alluvial
Mississippi plain, which finds no counterpart in Japan. —

c. s. s.-x

Why Varieties of Orchard-fruits Disappear.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I have read with much interest Professor Bailey's paper
entitled " Are the Varieties of Orchard-fruits Running Out?"
His argument, drawn from lists of desirable varieties published
early in the century and at present, is certainly strong in the
line that disappearance is not due to the decay of the variety
as such, but to its lack of adaptation to the conditions and en-
vironment. Professor Bailey seems to consider only natural
conditions as factors.

If California nurserymen's lists of forty years ago, which was
at the beginning of things out here, were compared with lists
nowcurrent, there wouldappeara vastchange. Thepercentage
of old varieties retained would be smaller than in the contrasts
which he cites laetween the new and the old on the Atlantic
coast. Both European and eastern sorts of fruits, notably Peaches
and Apricots, have been displaced by California seedlings.
This exchange is unquestionably due to' the fact that the varie-
ties which are now listed, both those of distant and local origin,
are better suited to the local environment, but this only par-
tially explains the rejection of the old and the choice of the
new varieties. Another strong force in preserving some old
varieties rather than others, and in the popularity of certain
new varieties of local origin, is found in their commercial as
well as natural adaptations. Possibly this is a stronger con-
sideration here than at the east ; with us it undoubtedly has
more to do with choice of varieties than any other. We are se-
lecting varieties which endure shipment over long distances or
varieties with certain characteristics for canners' use or with
certain others for drying. Planters have these special re-
quirements in mind, andselectfor oneorseveral of them. This
leads to the rejection of many varieties which succeed so far
as natural conditions go, but which do not meet commercial
considerations. In California, surely, the disappearance of a
variety from public view does not necessarily indicate its de-
cadence. I should like to see Professor Bailey's estimate of
this force in connection with the disappearance of varieties at
the east.

Berkeley, Calif. E. J. WicksOtl.

Salix balsamjfera.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — To the discussion of the geographical distribution and
frequency of this rare and beautiful Willow, in recent numbers
of your journal, permit me to add that I chanced to find a
clump of Salix balsamifera in Keweenaw County, Michigan,
early in June, 1888. The specimen was a low, spreading male
shrulj, and its flowering season was nearly over. As the home
of S. balsamifera is in Tow, wet, swampy ground on banks of
small streams, or in copses of Alder, Birch and Maple, it at-
tains its best growth here, where the soil is rich moist earth
covered with leaf-mold. It often assumes the character and
liabit of a tree, reaching a height of twenty-five feet, and a
girth, two inches from the ground of from three to ten inches.
But it assumes its most beautiful aspect, and is more frequent,
in the open, swampy grounds, where it is exposed to the sun
on all sides. Under these conditions it forms large broad
clumps, and rarely exceeds three feet in height. When in
flower it is the most beautiful of all Willows.

Some two or three years ago Mr. Bebb informed me that S.
balsamifera appeared to take the place of S. cordata along our
northern borders, the two plants never having been reported
to him from the same locality. I do not know whether bo-
tanical collectors since then have found these two Willows

together, but it is certain that S. cordata is not found in Kewee-
naw County, where S. balsamifera is not uncommon. S. bal-
samifera was also found at Flint by the late Dr. D. Clark, but
the station, I believe, has since been destroyed.
Detroit, Mich. O. A. Fariutll.

Exhibitions.

The Boston Flower Show.

'X'HE annual spring; exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticul-
-•• tural Society, which was held in Boston last week, although
smaller than usual, perhaps, in the number of plants ex-
hibited, was one of the most interesting which have been
seen in Boston for several years. The feature of the exhibi-
tion, from the cultural point of view, was a collection of Per-
sian Cyclamens, staged by Mr. Kenneth Finlayson, the gar-
dener of Dr. C. G. Weld, of Brookline. The plants were
admirably grown and covered with long leaves and beautifully
colored flowers ; they deservedly received the first prize. A
collection of these plants staged by G. M. Anderson was no-
ticeable for the size of the flowers, which surpassed, in this
respect, those in Dr. Weld's collection.

Of forced hardy bulbs the Hyacinths were remarkably fine,
especially those shown by Dr. Weld, who carried off the prin-
cipal prizes ; by Mr. N. T. Kidder, the president of the society,
and by Mr. John L. Gardiner. Dr. Weld's collection was
especially strong in such standard sorts as La Grandesse, Lord
Macaulay, King of the Blues, Von Schiller and Sir Henry
Berkeley. Tulips, Narcissi, and other plants of this class which
usually appear at flower shows at this season of the year, were
not abundant, and while a few were good, they were not, as a
rule, of high quality.

The exhibition of a number of well-grown plants of Acacia
indicates, it is to be hoped, that these beautiful and useful
winter-flowering plants are regaining their popularity in north-
ern greenhouses. The species shown were Acacia pubescens,
one of the most graceful and beautiful of all winter-flowering
shrubs ; Acacia Drummondii and Acacia cultriformis, the last
rather a difficult plant to manage ; and it is unusual to find it
under glass in as good condition and as well flowered as the
specimen exhibited by Dr. Weld.

Mention should be made of a collection of hardy shrubs
forced into bloom at the Bussey Institution, especially of some
well-flowered plants of Andromeda speciosa, the most beauti-
ful of all our native species, with large, waxy white, abundant
flowers. This, apparently, is one of the best shrubs for the
winter decoration of conservatories.

The plants of Indian Azaleas were not very numerous or
striking. Mr. Kidder, the president of the society, obtained
the principal prizes for them. Orchids were represented by
good specimens from E. W. Gilmore and N. T. Kidder, an in-
teresting novelty from Pitcher & Manda, of Short Hills, New
Jersey, inCypripedium Greyanum unicolor. Siebrecht & Wad-
ley, of this city, besides some good Orchids, exhibited a re-
markable new pink hybrid Tea Rose of exceptional beauty,
and one of the most promising of its class which has lately
come under our notice. It was unnamed, and is said to be a
seedling of La France. It received honorable mention at the
hands of the committee, as did John N. May's new hybrid Tea
Rose, Mrs. W. C. Whitney. Joseph Tailby & Sons received a
certificate of merit for a seedling self-yellow Carnation named
Henrietta Sargent, which was exhibited the week before in
Philadelphia and attracted much attention on account of its
pure color.

There was, perhaps, nothing more beautiful in the hall than
a vase of seventeen varieties of Carnations shown by R. T.
Lombard, and one of Sweet Peas sent by Harry S. Rand. Fran-
cis B. Hayes received a silver medal for a dwarf Japanese plant
of Cycas revoluta, recently brought from that country by his
gardener, James Comley. The plant, which is a fair specimen
of Japanese dwarfing, is about eighteen inches high. It was
claimed by the exhibitor to be one hundred and twenty-five
years old and to have been grown in the pot in which it was
shown for fifty years, and to be worth $500. Persons inter-
ested in such oddities ought to be informed, perhaps, that still
more distorted and more expensive plants than this can be ob-
tained in Japan.

Among other exhibits, mention should be made of the Cine-
rarias grown by Mr. C. M. Atkinson, gardener to John L. Gar-
diner, Esq.; the general collection of bulbous plants from
Wm. Elwell & Son ; and seedlings of Primula Sieboldii by Rea
Brothers. Besides the exhil)itors mentioned, above, prizes
were awarded to Mrs. Mary T. Goddard for Cyclamens ; Wm.

iSo

Garden and I^orest.

[Number 266.

Patterson, gardetlef to Mrs. G. F. Adams, for Polyanthus and
greenhouse plants; J. Newman & Son for Roses; Martin H.
Cumniing, A. H. Fewkes & Son and George B. Gill for seed-
ling Carnations.

Notes.

Mr. Frederick Vernon Coville, one of the staff of the botan-
ical department of the Department of Agriculture of the
United States, and recently associated with Mr. E. Hart Mer-
riam's Death Valley Expedition, has been appointed chief of
the botanical division of the department, in place of the late
Dr. George Vasey.

Professor Bailey has tried various preparations of paper and
cloth as substitutes for glass in greenhouse roofs, but paper is
so easily torn and punctured tiiat it is nearly useless, and the
cloth, even if it would last for two or three years, would soon
become darkened by dirt and mildew, so that in the end glass
roofs are not only better but cheaper.

Professor A. S. Hitchcock contributes to the Transactions
of the Academy of Science, of St. Louis, an interesting paper
on the opening of the buds of some woody plants, illustrated
by a large number of figures showing the development of the
buds, the folding of the leaves, the appearance of the young
stipules, etc., in a number of native trees and shrubs, charac-
ters which have heretofore been too much neglected by the
students of American trees.

Quoting recent accounts of the great development of the
culture of aquatic plants in America, the Illustrirte Garten-
zeitung, of Vienna, strongly recommends its readers to follow
our example, and says that the fact that the various species of
Nymphaeas and Nelumbiums would flourish in some parts of
Austria is proved by the excellent condition of the plants of
Victoria regias in the royal gardens at Schonbrilnn, where, last
autumn, the flowers were still unfolding at the beginning of
November.

With regard to poisonous plants, Professor Brooks says :
" It will possibly surprise many to learn that there are thirty-
nine species of' poisonous plants in the United States, either
indigenous or naturalized, all of which are mentioned in a
recent work on medicinal plants, as now or formerly consid-
ered valuable in the treatment of disease. Yet in descriptions
of patent medicines we read that ' it is entirely harmless, as it
contains only vegetable substances." It should be known that
many of the most virulent poisons are of vegetable origin.
Morphine, strychnine, aconite and prussic acid may be cited
as examples of vegetable poisons."

The first Havana watermelons are now offered in the New
York fruit-stores at two dollars each, and West India mangoes
are a dollar a dozen. Florida strawberries are more plentiful
and improved in quality, notwithstanding the effect of recent
heavy rains; the best sell forseventy-fivecents a quart. The sea-
son for southern oranges is on the wane, the best Florida navel
oranges selling for a dollar and a half a dozen, and the Califor-
nia fruit, which is later, at a dollar a dozen. The first new
Bermuda potatoes received last week sold readily at ten dol-
lars a barrel. Butter-beans brought as much as thirty-five
cents a quart, and new Florida celery two dollars a dozen stalks.
New southern cabbage and new Havana onions are two dol-
lars and a half a crate.

Peach-trees, from their peculiar habit, need some pruning
every spring, and a writer in The Country Gentleman gives the
following general directions : The tree should be kept in a
compact shape, that is, the limbs should not be allowed to
run out into long poles, with tufts of leaves at the ends. The
one-year-old shoots should he cut back one-half or more of
their length, and, if pruning has been neglected for two or
three years, limlis nearly an inch in diameter may be cut off
at the base. Trees thus treated will be longer-lived and will
bear better fruit. A good way to prevent overbearing, which
not only gives poor fruit, but injures the tree, is to thin out
every alternate shoot which has a surplus of blossom-buds.
Peach-trees bear heavy pruning better than most other trees,
and they naturally recover soon from the operation.

A new Rose, for which Mr. Jackson Dawson lately received
a silver medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society,
is a seedling of 1889. Its seed parent was Rosa ru^osa, and
thia was fertilized with the pollen of General Jacqueminot. The
plant is of medium growth, perhaps hardly so robust as R.
rugosa, but rather more so than the pollen parent, and it bears
freely flowers nearly as large as those of R. rugosa, single.

and clustered after thd fhahner of that plant. The color of the
flowers is a brilliant crimson which does not fade, but keeps
bright until the flower closes. The plant flowered for the first
time in 1891. The next year Mr. Dawson received a first-class
certificate for some cut blooms of it. This year he exhibited
a plant which won the medal. Mr. Dawson has named it Ar-
nold, in honor of the founder of the Arboretum with which
he has been so long connected.

At a recent meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural So-
ciety, Mr. L. W. Goodell, of Dwight, said the seeds of
Nymphasas should be sown in small pots in February or
March, in good soil, well pressed down. The seeds should be
placed on the surface and covered with an eighth of an inch
of sand. The pots should then be immersed in a pan contain-
ing water enough to cover them an inch, and the water kept
at a temperature of from seventy-five to eighty degrees until
the seeds germinate, a period varying from six to ten days.
Before the seedlings become crowded they should be trans-
planted into three-inch pots, and again into four-inch pots be-
fore planting out in June. The starting of seedlings can be
done in the dwelling-house, care being taken to maintain the
temperature and to move the plants to a sunny window during
the warm hours of the day. The young plants grow rapidly
under proper conditions, and they will bloom in one hundred
days from the time the seeds are sown. Some seedlings of N.
Zanzibarensis have flowered in sixty-five days, from seeds
started in June.

The Tree-planting and Fountain Society of Brooklyn, under
the leadership of the president, Mr. A. Augustus Low, is actively
engaged in arousing intelligent interest in the planting and
care of street-trees in that city. Articles containing practical
suggestions on the subject are being published in the daily
press, and a set of circulars for general distribution is in prep-
aration. These will give lists of the best street-trees and
the most approved methods of planting and caring for them.
Neighborhood clubs have been formed, comprised of property-
owners interested in improving their neighborhoods, and ar-
rangements made with reliable nurserymen to furnish well-
grown trees, shrubs and vines for the use of the society and for
sale to citizens. A listof competent pruners in various sections of
the city is kept on file in the rooms of the society, 44 Court Street,
where the secretary, Mr. L. Collins, is in attendance every
afternoon to give information and advice. The annual fund
of $500, provided by the late president, Mr. Samuel B. Duryea,
will be used in improving and beautifying different sections of
the city.

The various species of Solidago, although many of them
are quite distinct from the botanist's standpoint, have never
received distinguishing popular names, but are all included
under the general name of Golden Rod. In Professor Hal-
sted's pheck Listof American Weeds, ten species are included,
although the genus as a whole does not seem to be intrusive as
weeds. In a bulletin of the Cornell University Experiment
Station, Professor Prentiss names four species which have
attracted attention as weeds which give some trouble in the
central counties of New York. These are Solidago nemoralis,
which drives out grasses in upland orchards, where the soil
is cold and sterile ; S. rugosa, which is less likely to be found
on poor soil ; the tall and stately S. Canadensis, which is com-
mon on field-borders, though less likely than the others to
overrun the soil completely, although it is very persistent
when established ; .S. lanceolata, which belongs more espe-
cially to moist meadow-lands and the banks of streams, and is
more likely than any other species to become troublesome,
owing to the fact that its power of propagation by under-
ground stems is greater than that of the other species.

Dr. Laurence Johnson, who died in New York on the i8tli
instant, had devoted especial attention to the medical proper-
ties of North American plants and was the recognized au-
thority in this country in this department of science. His
Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States, in two
handsomely illustrated volumes, is the standard work on the
subject. Dr. Johnson, who was born in Wayne County, in this
state, in 1845, was, at the time of death, a member of the Board
of Managers of the New York Physicians' Mutual Aid Associa-
tion, of the New York Society for the Relief of Widows and
Orphans of Medical Men, of the Medical Society of the State of
New York, of the New York Academy of Medicine, of which
at one time he had been the librarian and at the time of his
death was a trustee, and a lecturer on medical botany in the
University of the City of New York.

April 5, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

151

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Offics r'TiuBUNB Building. New York.

Conducted by

Frofesaor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles ;— Arbor Day 151

A Too Realistic Statue 152

Alpine Plants H. Carrtvon. 152

Impotency of Pollen Fred. W. Card. 153

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— X. (With figure.) C. 5. S. 153

Cultural Department :— Hardy Perennials forCuttins T- D. H. 156

Flowering Plants for Cool Houses W. H. Taplin. 156

City Gardening y. N. Gerard. 157

CoRRESPONnKNCE:— Cvclamens at the Columbian Exposition E. J. Hilt. 157

The Forests of the South Henry L. Tobnan. 158

TheEdelweiss M. G. tr^g

A Country-seat in California Carl Purdy. 1 59

Recent Publications "59

Notes "So

Illustration :— Acer Nikoense, Fig. 26 155

Arbor Day.

THE highest purpose which can be served by the ob-
servance of Arbor Day is to increase popular knowl-
edge in regard to trees. The forest-problems which confront
us cannot be dealt with efficiently until an active public
opinion is aroused ; that is, until the great mass of people
have becoine so well informed as to the nation's needs that
they will compel the establishment of an enlightened forest-
policy. Nor can good taste in regard to tree-planting for
ornament ever become general so long as the great bulk of
the people grow up without being able even to call by
name the trees under whose branches they pass every day.
It is a fortunate thing, therefore, that this celebration has
become a children's holiday, for few people who do not
begin to study trees early ever acquire any adequate
knowledge of them later in life. That the idea of instruc-
tion has been a fundamental one in the observance of
Arbor Day is proved by the number of addresses delivered
on that occasion. But sometimes those who arrange for
the celebration are apt to think that any man who can talk
fluently is capable of instructing children in such a simple
subject as trees and their uses, and that any minister, law-
yer or editor can rise up and deliver an address off-hand
which will not only interest the children but give them all
the instruction they need. Of course, this is a mistake.
Whatever is said to make the day one worth observing
must come out of the fullness of knowledge and experi-
ence, and whatever is done should be done with fore-
thought and deliberation if it is to have any educational
value.

But where shall the teaching of the children begin .? It
certainly cannot be out of place, at the outset, to give them
an object-lesson in the proper method of planting trees. In
order to plant them to the best advantage the ground

should have been prepared last fall. The holes to receive
the roots should have been dug wide and deep and the
ground shoveled back again and left for the winter to set-
tle, and in the centre of this a fresh excavation should be
made large enough to receive the roots in their natural po-
sition, and about them the fine earth should be carefully
sifted and rammed down tightly, so that the roots and the
earth should come into the closest contact. Trees dug up
with few roots and thrust carelessly into a hole may live,
but any one who has marked the difference between a
starved and dwarfed tree and one which has developed to
its full proportions, with sturdy growth and ample foliage,
will understand why it is worse than a waste of time to do
the work of planting in any other than the best manner.
There is no need here to give any further details, but it is
certainly worth while to instruct children as to the very
best methods of planting and to explain the reason for
every step in the process until the final staking is done,
and to explain, still further, that the care of the tree does
not end at this point, but, in reality, just begins, and that
years of watchfulness can alone insure the development of
a perfect specimen.

Of course, very little can be learned about trees and tree-
planting if the subject is only touched upon one day in the
year. If it were made a part of the ceremony of Arbor Day
in every place to examine the trees that had been planted the
year before, and to report on their present condition, it could
be ascertained whether the enthusiasm of the planter was
fictitious or so genuine that the regard for the trees had
continued throughout the year and had expressed itself in
proper care and protection. If these ceremonies inspire
the young people who take part in them with something
like an affectionate interest in the trees that are planted,
whether as memorials of persons or of events, or because
they are dedicated to or adopted by some special class, they
will be much less likely to suffer from lack of oversight.
This is one of the cases where the influence of sentiment, which
practical people so generally scoff at, can be directed to
practical purpose. The young people, who are anxious to
see the trees they love increase in strength and beauty, are
in the mood to receive instruction as to the proper mode of
pruning where this is rteeded, as well as the most effective
means of guarding against insects and disease and the attacks
of animals. All this means that Arbor Day should be the
culmination of instruction which should continue through-
out the year, and should broaden out until school-chil-
dren are familiar, not only with the names of native trees,
but with their special uses and their special habits, and until
they can give an intelligent reason in every instance why
a tree of a particular species should be selected for a par-
ticular place or a particular purpose. They should know
how to plant it, so that it would be reasonably sure of vigor
and long life, and they should know how to care for it
afterward intelligently.

It is only when Arbor Day exercises take such a practi-
cal and definite character that much good can be expected
of them. The music and the oratory will be of little avail
without something substantial in the way of example and
instruction. It is of the first importance that young people
should grow up to know more about trees before they can
give any proper thought to their true relation to the life and
welfare of the people. We shall never have a national
forest-policy that is of any value until every farmer in the
country has been instructed from his youth up in the
care of his wood-lot, and every dweller in town has been
brought in the same way to have a life-long interest in the
care of the trees along the public highway. And when we
turn from the economic aspect of tree-planting to its ees-
thetic side we can say, with equal truth, that trees will
never have for us as a people that poetic charm, they will
never fill us with that deep delight, they will never express
to us those ideas of grace, mercy and peace which it is
theirs to give, unless we are attracted to them in early life
and feel their influence growing with our growth and
strengthening with our strength.

152

Garden and Forest.

[Number 267.

WE have recently seen a photograph, taken in the
sculpture-gallery of the Salon exhibition at Paris last
spring, of a statue which the Government has since pur-
chased for the outdoor decoration of the city. It is called
"The Gardener," is explained as " a design for a fountain,"
and is the work of Monsieur Jean Bather, a young sculptor
who has recently attracted much attention in France, is a
follower of the famous Rodin, and, therefore, we need
hardly explain, is a member of the most pronounced
branch of the modern realistic school.

Now, while a statue of a gardener might easily be con-
ceived in a thoroughly idealistic way — our first ancestor
serving, perhaps, as the artist's inspiration— there is no
reason why it should not be conceived in a thoroughly re-
alistic way and still be a very beautiful work of art. The
great desire of the modern sculptor is, of course, to escape
from the rigid bonds of conventional modern attire ; any
figure from humble life, and especially any figure of a
rural type, is more attractive to him than figures which
have been " properly " attired by a tailor or a dress-maker ;
and M. Baffler's gardener, with his sleeveless shirt widely
opened over his chest, his trousers stopping at the knee
and revealing the sinewy legs below, and his slouched
felt hat, resembling the hats worn by peasants in far-off
classic days, is, indeed, a figure which any sculptor might
gladly have handled. Moreover, M. Baffler, from the
testimony of the photograph and from that of Parisian
critics, has handled it extremely well. His man is young
and vigorous, yet slender of form, and has a serious, beard-
less face. He is standing on an irregular rock, with one
knee sharply bent that one foot may rest at a level con-
siderably higher than the other ; and his head is inclined
so that he may watch the stream of water issuing from the
massive, well-shaped pot which he holds in his right
hand. The pose is at once natural and effective ; all
the lines are both emphatic and graceful ; and the whole
figure seems to be really in action — not merely posed to
look as though it were.

Thus far the art is realistic, but is genuinely art. But in
the pedestal of the statue the artist — for no French sculptor
would entrust the mounting of a figure to an irresponsible
hand— has abandoned the path of true art and entered
the path of puerile artificiality. Not content with a figure
which suggests life, he has given it a base which aims to
produce an actual illusion of life. The rock on which his
gardener stands is not artistically conventionalized, but is
made to look as natural as possible ; it is supported by
large rough stones, simulating the effect of a rustic garden-
mound ; these stones are placed on a bed of real turf; real
j>lants are growing on this turf and in the crevices of the
rocks ; and among them, in very realistic fashion, falls
a great stream of real water from the simulated watering-
pot held by the simulated figure of the gardener.

Surely, naturalism must indeed be running riot in
France to-day, when such a design as this can be praised
by the critics and endorsed by the Government, and no
voice be raised in protest. And we have thought it worth
while to call the attention of Americans to the lack of true
art in the placing of this statue, because we have so often
recommended them to study French example as regards
such matters. The figure itself is a real work of art ; and,
in so far, this fountain is superior to those iron dogs and
sheep and deer which we used sometimes to see in Ameri-
can country-seats, so placed as to produce upon unwary
eyes the impression of living animals. But in general
idea as a would-be artistic conception, and in general
effect as an ornament for park or pleasure-ground, this
Gardener must be put in the same class as those long-
dead iron animals. When the attempt is made to produce
the illusion of life by the artificial uniting of natural and
artistic elements, an ignorant eye may be tickled by the
plausibility of the result ; but any intelligent eye will resent
the trick and will feel that, if the artistic work is good in
itself, it deserved a distincter exaltation. Monsieur Baffler's
fine figure would produce a much better effect if it were

mounted on an architectural pedestal, and if the water
supposed to be distributed by its hand, were left to the ob-
server's imagination.

Alpine Plants.

THE vegetation covering the slopes of our European moun-
tains, as well as that on the great snowy peaks of the
American Cordilleras and other ranges, has an individu-
ality, a character of its own, striking even the most indifferent
of tourists. In this flora all is dwarfed and on a small scale.
The flowers alone, of relatively exaggerated size and generally
brilliant in color, seem to be abnormally developed. The
manner of growth of these plants is a surprise to those igno-
rant of their history and the causes of their peculiar appear-
ance. While in the lowlands, large plants, with spreading
branches and well-developed foliage, generally have flowers
smaller than the leaves, the reverse is true in the higher regions.
There we find a very small stalk, comparatively large, some-
times even very large flowers, and diminutive scarcely devel-
oped foliage often covered, especially at great elevations, with
down, which protects the cells from the night frosts. In many
instances this foliage is glabrous and leathery, so that the tis-
sues are armed, as it were, for the struggle for existence. The
leaf, close and thick in texture, is thus furnished with a solid
skin, covered with a waxy coating, enabling it to withstand
both the heat of the sun and excessive moisture. Species
growing both in the shade and in the open show none of these
characteristics, and their leaf-organs are for the most part soft
and delicate. On the other hand, on dry and arid slopes, ex-
posed to parching winds and a hot sun, we find many species
covered with tomentum, as the Edelweiss, Senecio, Achillea
nana, Hieracium, several downy Willows, Artemisia, Draba,
Arabis tomentosa, etc. We also find there glabrous species,
sucli as Azalea procumbens, Rhododendron ferrugineum, the
crustaceous Saxifrages, several Silenes and Veronicas, all of
whose leaves are hard, thick and shiny. In shade and mois-
ture on wooded and northern slopes, we find Ferns, Mosses,
Lycopodiums and Primroses with viscous or soft foliage, and
a whole series of Saxifrages totally different from those dwell-
ing in sunshine and which show sott and delicate character-
istics. Another easily noticed peculiarity is, that while the
Alpine flora in sunshine shows flowers of great size and vivid
coloring, as the Gentians, Auriculas, Anemones and Violets,
in the shade, on the other hand, we find them small
and weak in color. Thus, the action of the sun's rays
on vegetation at great elevations seems to be more intense
than on the plains.

The annual varieties, so common in the vegetation of the
lower country, are almost entirely wanting on the Alps and in
snowy regions. The very short summer at these elevations
prevents their accomplishing the full round of their existence.
The only plants not perennial are some Rhinantheie and
one or two Gentians (G. nivalis, G. tenella) and Pleuro-
gyne Carinthiaca. The perennial plants, with roots spread-
ing at the base, always stretch out over the soil, whose
protecfion they seem to seek against the harsh air, the chilli-
ness of the nights and the hurricanes so frequent at tiles'- ilti-
tudes. Certain species, which, in our plains, form grer ^d
imposing trees, such as Salix, Arbutus, Betula, etc
represented on the Alpine highlands by dwarfed and t g-
ing specimens only a few centimetres high, as Salix re-
tusa, S. reticulata, S. herbacea, Azalea procumbens, S.
betula nana. We find in the fissures of the rocks and in
the stony wastes, compact plants in the shape of close hemi-
spheres, species of balls made up of an infinity of little
branches f)acked tightly against one another and carrying at
their tops a profusion of stemless and sessile flowers, placed in
such a way that at the moment of flowering it is almost impos-
sible to perceive the foliage through the mass of corollas with
which they are covered. In tliese plants the leaves are
generally small, overlaying one another, closely packed,
and almost always hairy or pubescent. Among these
are Androsace Helvetica, A. imbricata, A. pubescens, A.
ciliata, Eritrichium nanum, Saxifraga c;csia and Silene
acaulis. These close and dwarfed tufts produce a mar-
velous effect. They brighten the rocks and stony ex-
panses and make an enchanting |)icture. On certain high
Alpine slopes and bare elevated ridges large numbers of these
dwarfed plants are found together, making the resemblance
of a brilliant parti-colored carpet. In these localities the dwarf
Myosotis (Eritrichium nanum) shows in great drifts of in-
tense blue, a blue possessed by it alone. It seems no longer
a Myosotis, but a jewel ; its low, stemless flowers are so
massed one against the other that the tiny and vividly blue

April 5, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

453

clumps are like a dash of the brush in a picture ; but it is a
blue no artist could ever render. This Alpine jewel, whose
presence no botanist mentions elsewhere in Europe than on
the high granite rocks of our mountains, is also found among
the Rocky Mountains of the United States, whence a friend, a
Swiss botanist, has brought me a specimen, which I have
carefully preserved. Dwarfed and low, turning to the sun its
masses of stemless flowers, which vary in tint from tender to
deep rose color, side by side w^e find the Androsace glaciale ;
further on we see the yellow of the sulphur-hued Saxi-
frage, S. aphylla, the carmine and purple of S. oppositifolia,
and S. biflora, and other parti-colored plants, which form
a mass of rubies, as it were, sparkling on the mountain-side.
Such a unique, charming sight is well worth an annual pilgrim-
age to the higher regions. There one may truly say, " Terres-
tria sidera, flores."

Geneva, Switzerland. ■"• LorrevOn.

Impotency of Pollen.

THE investigations made by Mr. M. B. Waite, of the United
States Department of Agriculture, the results of which
were presented before the Western New York Horticultural
Society, have led to some interesting and valuable conclu-
sions. It has long been a mystery why certain trees and
orchards, growing apparently under favorable conditions in
every way, failed to yield satisfactory crops ofsfruit ; and
these studies suggest what may prove a solution in many
cases. The point which Mr. Waite tried to determine was the
efficiency of the pollen of Iruit-trees on the pistils of the same
variety, and his experiments covered trials on the stigma of
the same flower, on another flower of the same cluster, on
one of a different cluster on the same tree, and on those of
different trees. The study of the effect on the ovule of the
same flower, and on those of the same cluster, was made, both
by simply covering the cluster with paper-bags and by hand-
pollinations. The hand-pollinations were made by removing
all flowers except the ones to be operated upon, emasculating
these before they opened, then keeping them carefully covered
with paper-bags and applying the desired pollen at the proper
time. The results are of especial value, because the number
of experiments was very large. The first were made in a large
orchard in Virginia, and as the season advanced the work was
continued in the orchards of Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, at
Rochester. It was found that a large number of our more
common varieties of Apples and Pears are nearly sterile when
reached only by pollen of the same variety. To make sure
that failure to fruit did not come from the method of manipu-
lation instead of the inefficiency of pollen, many crosses were
made, subject to the same conditions as the individual polli-
nations, and summaries of the figures were given, to verify
the conclusions drawn. Observations showed that Pears
which did develop fruit by being impregnated with pollen of
the same variety, were generally different in shape from those
which were cross-fertilized, being less dilated toward the blos-
som end, where the seeds are borne. This points toward an
imperfect seed-development, even though the pollen had
sufficient potency to develop the fruit. If the attempt were
made to grow such seeds it would not be surprising to find
mpsf of them unfertile.

,e varieties of Pears which the experiments thus far indi-
to be self-sterile, are Bartlett, Anjou, Clapp's Favorite,
V. .^eau, Sheldon, Lawrence, Mount Vernon, Gansel's Berga-
m ^te, Superfin, Pound, Howell, Boussock, Louise Bonne de
Jersey, Souvenir du Congress, Columbia, Winter N^lis, Beurre
Bosc, Jones's Seedling, Easter and Gray Doyennt;. Those
which appear to be self-fertile are White Doyenne, Le Conte,
Kieffer, Duchess, Seckel, Buffum, Manning's Elizabeth, Flem-
ish Beauty and Tyson.

Among Apples the following were found to be self-sterile :
Tolman Sweet, Spitzenburg, Northern Spy, Chenango Straw-
berry, Bellflower, King, Astrachan, Gravenstein, Rambo, Rox-
bury Russet, Norton's Melon and Primate ; while Codlin (par-
tially), Baldwin and Greening are self-fertile.

The inefficiency of pollen in fertilizing flowers on the same
plant is well known among vegetables, a fact which presents
one of the chief difficulties in breeding new varieties. This is
well illustrated by experiments with Cucurbets, at Cornell Uni-
versity. In the season of 1889 there was found among the
many crosses being grown one Squash which appeared to
possess qualities which would render it valuable for cultiva-
tion. The seeds of this were planted the following year, and
among the large number of plants thus produced there was
found just one, the fruit of which resembled that of the parent.
This was a discouraging outlook for that line of breeding, and
that year the attempt was made to fix this type by individual

pollination. The earliest blossom had been crossed before the
character of the fruit was known ; this produced a perfect
fruit, but all those furnished with pollen from the same plant
grew for a brief time, withered and died. Other forms ap-
peared throughout the field which seemed desirable, but only
one plant of a type, so that crossing could not be resorted to,
and to plant all the seeds, with the expectation of a crop with
few or none like the parent, was out of the question. Indi-
vidual pollination was the only way, and this proved the same
in every case ; of the 185 flowers thus treated that year, not
one produced fertile seeds, although twenty-two carried fruits
through to maturity. It was a tantalizing effort to watch forms
more attractive than any in cultivation, apparently within the
grasp and yet so far from it.

Hitherto this similar condition of affairs has not been sus-
pected in fruit-planting, especially the fact that pollen from
one tree may be unable to fertilize the blossom of other trees
of tiie same variety. The first thought is to account for this
latter fact by the much closer affinity of the same variety of
fruit than of the same variety of vegetable produced from
seed, owing to the very different physiological principles upon
which they are propagated. To account tor the opposite be-
havior of difterent varieties of the same fruit is not so easy, but,
whatever may be the underlying cause, it will be of great in-
terest to note whether two plants of the same variety which
have been propagated from the same source, and under the
same climatic and other conditions, will behave toward each
other the same as two which have been subjected to very
different conditions, both in the present and past genera-
tions.

The history of the Virginia Pear-orchard, which led to these
investigations, is an interesting one. Many years ago the
owner ordered a few trees of different varieties from a firm
in New York state. These being planted near together proved
so satisfactory that he ordered a large number of Bartletts
alone for a commercial orchard. These were planted in a sin-
gle block, and never bore satisfactory crops, with the excep-
tion of a few of the trees surrounding the original planting of
mixed varieties. The disappointment, owingto failure of the
undertaking, led to inquiries which brought about the present
investigations. The orchard of Ellwanger & Barry, on the
other hand, being largely of specimen trees, with but few of a
kind, presents just the opposite conditions, and is noted for its
productiveness.

It has been well known that certain varieties of Raspberries
and Grapes have proved unproductive unless planted near
other sorts, but this has been attributed to a deficiency in the
amount of pollen produced. Closer observations may show
that in some cases it is due rather to a lack of potency than to
a lack of quantity.

In the transactions of the Illinois Horticultural Society for
1886 a case is reported in which the behavior of the Dewberry
seems to bear on this point. One hundred plants were ordered
of a nurseryman and set by themselves. These grew vigor-
ously and blossomed full every year, but yielded only a few
imperfect berries. Later it so happened that a plot of Black-
berries were planted beside them ; when these came into bear-
ing the Dewberries began to fruit, and continued to do so regu-
larly.

It is very evident that the practical lesson of these experi-
ments is an emphatic warning against planting orchards in
large blocks of a single variety, or planting isolated specimens
for family use. It may succeed, but the chances of failure are
far too great.

Cornell IJniversity.

Fred. W. Card.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — X.

IN the last issue of these notes something was said of
two Maples (Acer pictum and Acer Miyabei) which in-
habit Yezo ; scattered through the forests of this ^land are
eight other species. Among them, growing only in the
extreme north and on the high slopes, is a variety of our
Mountain Maple, Acer spicatum, so like the New England
form of this common tree that it is difficult to distinguish
the two plants ; Acer Tartaricum, van Ginnala, a common
Manchurian tree, not rare in northern Japan, where it
grows in low, wet ground near the borders of streams,
and now well established in American gardens in which it
might be seen more often to advantage, as its flowers are
very fragrant and the leaves of very few trees take on more
splendid autumnal colors. In Yezo, too, Acer capillipes
has been found ; this is a species with small racemose
flowers and thin, delicate, nearly circular, lobed leaves,

»54

Garden and Forest.

[NuXtBER 267.

deeply cut on the margins. On Mount Hakkoda, in north-
ern Hondo, where Acer capillipes is extremely abundant
at i.coo to 3,000 feet elevation above the sea, we found it in
October, growing as a stout bush or bushy tree, twelve or
fifteen feet in height, with delicate canary-yellow leaves,
and secured a supply of ripe seeds.

In Yezo, Acer Japonicum and Acer palmatum are both
common; these species, next after Acerpictum, are the
most generally distributed Maples in Japan, and the only
Maples which the Japanese cultivate at all commonly.
They are both small trees, rarely, if ever, exceeding a
height of tifty feet, and both, as is well known, varying
remarkably in the size, form and cutting of their leaves.
A few of the varieties of Acer palmatum, particularly the
one on which the leaves are divided into narrow lobes
and the one with pendulous branches, are favorites in
Japan, where few of the numerous and monstrous forms of
this tree, with which we have become familiar of late years
in this country, are seen outside of nursery-gardens with a
foreign trade and connections. Of these two trees the
autumn foliage of Acer Japonicum appears the more bril-
liant ; and some isolated trees of this species which we saw
in October, high up on Mount Hakkoda, were as beautiful
in color as a good American Scarlet Maple. These two
Maples have not proved very satisfactory in this country,
where they have a way of dying in summer without
apparent cause. This is due, perhaps, to the fact that
nearly all the plants brought here have been raised from
degenerate nursery -stock, obtained in or near the treaty
ports; and it will be interesting to watch the behavior here
of plants raised from seed gathered in the forests of Yezo.
For us these Maples have the advantage of retaining their
leaves later in the autumn than our species, which are bare
of foliage before the Japanese trees assume their brilliant
colors ; and this is true of many other Japanese and Chi-
nese plants, like Ampelopsis Veitchii and Spiraea Thun-
bergii, for the autumn in eastern Asia is fully a month
later than it is in this country.

Acer carpinifolium, which is occasionally seen in our
gardens, is evidently extremely rare in Japan. There are
a few plants in one of the temple-gardens in Nikko, and I
saw a single wild specimen hanging over the bank of a
stream in the mountains above Fukushima, on the Naga-
sendo, and was fortunate in obtaining from it a good sup-
ply of seeds. In Nikko, Acer carpinifolium is a handsome
round-topped tree, perhaps thirty feet tall. It is well worth
growing for its beauty as well as for the unusual form of
the leaves, which resemble those of the Hornbeam, for
which, at tirst sight, it might well be mistaken.

Acer Tschonoskii is common near the margins of Lake
Chuzenji in the Nikko mountains, and a thousand feet
higher is found as a common shrub in the Hemlock-forests
which cover the slopes rising from Lake Umoto. It is a
small bushy tree, perhaps twenty feet tall, with bright red
twigs and ample leaves, not unlike those of Acer capil-
lipes in shape and cutting, although in autumn they turn
deep scarlet We could not find a single seed of this pretty
plant, which has probably never been cultivated. Acer
rufinerve, hardly distinguishable from the Moosewood of
our northern forests (Acer Pennsylvanicum), and Acer cra-
ta;gifolium, both familiar now in our gardens, are rather
commo% especially the latter, in all the mountain regions
of central Japan, and need no mention here.

Among the rarer and less-known species we found Acer
diabolicum rather common in the neighborhood of Nikko,
where it is a round-topped tree twenty to thirty feet tall,
very like the European Sycamore Maple in habit and gen-
eral appearance, with dull yellow-green leaves four or five
inches across, which apparently do not change color before
falling, and large dirty brown fruit covered on the nutlets
with fine stinging hairs. This seemed the least beautiful
of the Maples which we encountered in the forests of
Japan. Acer distylum I only saw in the Botanic Garden
in Tokyo, and Acer pycnanthum, A. purperascens, A. argu-
tum, A. parvifolium, and A. Sieboldianum, the last, prob-

ably, only a pubescent-leaved variety of Acer Japonicum,
I looked for in vain.

Of Maples of the section Negundo, with the male and
female flowers on separate plants and pinnate or ternate
leaves, there are two species in Japan— Acer cissifolium
and Acer Nikoense. The first is said to be common, and
widely distributed from southern Yezo through the moun-
tain ranges of the main island, but I only saw a few small
plants in hedge-rows near Nikko, none of them half the
size of specimens which may be seen in some Massa-
chusetts gardens, where Acer cissifolium is a handsome,
compact, round-headed little tree with slender, graceful
leaves, delicate green in summer and orange and red in late
autumn, and where it is one of the most distinct and satisfac-
tory of thejapanesetreeswhich have been tried in ourclimate.

The second Japanese Negundo, as it appears in the
forests of Japan, is a distinct and beautiful tree, which, if it
thrives in this country, will be a real addition to our plan-
tations. Acer Nikoense, of which a figure appears on
page 155 of this issue, grows to a height of forty or, per-
haps, fifty feet, with a trunk twelve to eighteen inches in
diameter covered with smooth, dark, slightly furrowed bark,
and stout, rather slender branches which form a narrow
round-topped head. The branchlets are thick and rigid,
and are coated at first, like the inner scales of the ovate-
acute winter-buds, the young leaf-stalks, the under surface
of the young leaflets, the peduncles and pedicels, with short,
thick, pale or rufous, villous tomentum ; at the end of their
first season the branchlets are dark red-brown and marked
with numerous minute lenticular dots. The leaves are ter-
nate, with stout rigid petioles an inch or an inch and a half
in length, and ovate or obovate acute, long-pointed, entire,
or remotely and irregularly coarsely crenate leaflets, the
terminal leaflet long-stalked, symmetrical and wedge-
shaped at the base, the lateral leaflets rounded on the
lower, and oblique on the upper edge at the base, and
sessile or nearly so. The leaflets are thick and rather rigid,
two and a half to five inches long, an inch and a half to two
inches broad, conspicuously reticulated, dark yellow-green
on the upper surface, pale and coated on the lower surface
with pubescence, which is rufous on the stout midribs and
broad straight veins, or sometimes bright green on the
lower surface and glabrous, except on the midribs and veins.
In the autumn the leaflets turn brilliant scarlet on the upper
surface, but remain pale on the lower. The flowers are
yellow, half an inch across, nodding, and are borne in short,
few, usually three-flowered, subsessile, terminal corymbs
on slender, graceful pedicels. The sepals and petals are
ovate or obovate, rounded at the apex and contracted at the
base into narrow claws ; in the sterile flower, in which the
ovary is reduced to a minute rudiment, the stamens, which
are inserted between the lobes of the conspicuous disk, are
exserted ; the filaments are filiform and the anthers are
large and oblong ; in the fertile flower the stamens are ru-
dimentary, and not longer than the ovary, which is coated
with thick pale tomentum and crowned with a long stout
style with revolute stigmas. The fruit is three inches long,
with remarkably thick and hard-walled puberulous nutlets
and broad, falcate, diverging or converging obovate wings,
rounded at the apex.

Acer Nikoense is not a common, although a widely dis-
tributed, species. I saw a number of plants in the temple-
grounds of Nikko and on the road between Nikko and Lake
Chuzenji, a single tree near Agamatsu, on the Nagasendo,
and ten or twelve more on the Yusui-toge above Yokokawa.
According to Maximowicz,* who distinguished this tree
nearly thirty years ago, it grows as far south as Nagaski.
Acer Nikoense is practically unknown in gardens, although
a single small plant was sent from Japan two years ago to
the Rixdorf Nurseries in Berlin, and a figure of a leaf taken
from this specimen was published in the Gartenjlora last
summer (page 149).

• MH. Biol., vi., 370 : X., 60Q ; Bull. Acad. St. PHfrshourg, t 76 Franchet & Sava-

tier, Enum. PI. Jap., i., go. — Pax, EnzUr*s Bot. Jahrb., vi., 205. ; Gartenjlora, xli., 149.
Acer Maximowiczianum, Miquel, Arch. Nier.t U., 473, 478.

Aprii 5, 1893.1

Garden and Forest.

155

In September we hunted the Nikko hills in vain for a
seed-bearing tree, and had given up all hope of introducing
this species. One day late in October, however, we sat down

seeds which were new to us floating in a pool at our feet.
A search on the bank above discovered a single tree of
Acer Nikoense, from which the wind was scattering

on the rocks in the bed of a torrent far up on the side of
Mount Koma-ga-take, in central Japan, to eat our luncheon,
when our attention was attracted by some large Maple-

Fig. 26.— Acer Nikoense. — See page 133.

showers of seed. If we had been a day later, or
had selected another resting-place, we should have
missed one of the best harvests we made in Japan,

156

Garden and Forest.

[Number 267.

as this single tree yielded at least half a bushel of good
seeds.

If Acer Nikoense proves hardy and flourishes in our
gardens, it will be particularly remarked for the brilliancy
of its autumn foliage, which is not surpassed in beauty by
that of any other tree which I saw in Japan, and which,
unlike that of most trees, is only bright-colored on one
surface. <^- "^^ "^■

Cultural Department.
Hardy Perennials for Cutting.

NO garden can be considered complete withoutaserviceable
border of hardy perennials for cutting. Although there is
never at any time a general display, except, perhaps when
Squills, Narcissi and otherspring-tlowering bulbs are in bloom,
something of interest may be had continuously, and by judi-
cious selection it is possil)le to have at all times a good supply
of cut flowers. Flowers in early spring are especially appre-
ciated, since considerable time must elapse belore a general
display of summer-blooming annuals, like Sweet Peas, Stocks,
Poppies and Asters, may be had. New or rare kinds are not
always satisfactory to the amateur, but there are many of free
and easy growth which can be thoroughly recommended.

Lenten Roses, mostly hybrids, or forms of Helleborus orien-
talis. are among the earliest flowers. These are bowl-shaped,
white, sometimes shaded with green, or reddish purple, and
often beautifully spotted. They are borne on leafy stems, and
are very serviceable flowers to cut, keeping well for a long
time. The best time to plant or to divide the clumps is in the
autumn. Some of the best hybrids are FraO Irene Heine-
mann, Hofgarten Inspector Hartweg and Willby Schmidt. The
Christmas Rose (H. niger) blooms in southern and eastern
Europe during the winter, and imported roots are frequently
offered in this country. It would be well to note here that it is
not a very satisfactory hardy plant, at least in the New England
states. Being disposed to bloom on the occurrence of a mild
spell, it is sure to be cut down by the succeeding sharp frosts.
Spring frosts usually injure the young leaves, and consequently
it is rarely in a very thrifty condition.

The numerous species and varieties of Narcissus furnish
some of the most beautiful spring flowers useful for cutting.
While many of the newer and rarer garden hybrids are costly,
there are common kinds in abundance which may be had
cheaply enough to be within the reach of all, and it may be
taken as an axiom that the cheaper they are the more satisfac-
tory they will be. The common English Daffodil ajid its va-
rieties are probably better known than any, and are seen in
tiorisfs' windows from January until Easter-time, having been
forced in greenhouses. The flowers are large, trumpet-shaped,
borne singly on stout stems, wholly yellow in such varieties as
Golden Spur and Trumpet Major, and with a white perianth,
and yellow trumpet in Horsfieldi, and a primrose trumpet,
with yellow perianth, in Obvallaris, the Tenby Datfodil. The
Incomparabilis and varieties follow the trumpet section in
their period of blooming, and are distinguished by a larger
perianth and smaller trumpet, which is in these called the
crown. Of this class the great Welsh Chalice-flower, Sir Watkin,
is the l>est. It has a vigorous constitution and increases quite
rapidly. The Poets' Narcissus is the latest of all to bloom. The
flowers are white, with a small crown edged with red. It is,
moreover, very sweetly scented.

Doronicum planfagineum excelsum is a very handsome
early yellow blooming composite. It makes an excellent bor-
der-plant and furnishes a good supply of flowers for cutting.
The Virginian Cowslip (Mertensia Virginica), with its lovely
panicles of metallic-blue flowers, is ever welcome ; the cut
flowers are charming. This should always be planted where
it can have especial care. It forms long tuberous roots ; dying
down very early in the season, it is apt to be overlooked and
destroyed by hoeing. The common English Primrose and
the more recent Primrose-Polyanthus hybrids have devel-
oped a beautiful class of plants for early spring border-work as
well as for general house decoration. There are now strains
producing flowers of all shades of red, purple, lilac, yellow
and white. Heuchera sanguinea is a comparatively new and
l>eautiful species from Mexico. It is suitable for the front
rank of the border or for the Alpine garden. Its long, slender
spikes of coral-red flowers are particularly beautiful and last
for a long time. Sweet Williams (Dianthusbarbatus), although
rather unwieldy for outline, have the affectionate regard of all
flower lovers. These are best cultivated as biennials. Seeds
may be sown in May, and, transplanted eight inches apart, they

make nice clumps for shifting into blooming quarters in the
spring following. Day Lilies (Hemerocallis) are among the
most satisfactory border-plants. The flowers are of various
shades of yellow. By taking H. Dumortieri, orange-yellow,
early, H. graminea, sulphur-yellow, early, H. flava, yellow,
summer-blooming, and H. Tlninbergii, sulphur-yellow, late,
a supply of these may be had for a long time. The flowers are
sweet-scented and are effective for decorative work.

Paionies generally sug^gest, in the popular mind, very showy,
but rather coarse, double flowers. The single varieties are ex-
ceedingly handsome, and very appropriate for vases. The Mal-
tese Cross, or Scarlet Lychnis (L. chalcedonica), is a very com-
mon border-plant, very bright and pure in color. In this respect
it is unique. No plant gives so much satisfaction, taking care of
itself perfectly ; it remains, more or less, in bloom during the
entire summer. L. vespertina |)lena is the double form of the
common eveningscented species of Europe. While healthy
enough where established, it is safer to protect its rather fleshy
root-stock with a few dry leaves. The Alpine Poppy (Papaver
alpinum) and the Iceland Poppy (P. nudicaule) are more or
less in bloom the whole season, and if picked when freshly
opened will last two or three days. The colors of the first-
named are mostly shades of red and white, of the latter yel-
low. In habit and constitution they are very much alike.
These elegant little species are not quite happy in an ordinary
border ; they should have a space set apart, free from the
shade of coarse-growing plants and also have the slight pro-
tection of leaves or Pine-needles rather than manure. Peren-
nial Larkspurs are noble border-plants. Their majestic spikes
of blue stand out distinctly. The double varieties are desira-
ble for cutting, lasting well. By a little care in cutting away
seed-stems, a supply may he had until late in the autumn.
The double white Achillsea Ptarmica, although rather weedy
in habit, is a free bloomer and quite indispensable where cut
flowers are required.

Coreopsis grandiflora is a clear yellow flowering species,
giving an abundance of blooms until late. It is rather bien-
nial in character, but sows itself so freely that there is never
any danger of losing it. The double as well as single varie-
ties of Pyrethrum roseum and Potentilla grandiflora are
general favorites in European gardens, where many fine-
named varieties are cultivated. These should be grown in beds
or borders by themselves and receive abundance of water in
summer and light protection in winter. Thermopsis Caro-
liniana, a yellow-flowered member of the Pea family, makes
a bright and attractive border-plant. Its handsome spikes of
yellow flowers are useful in vases. Many other perennials
might be added, but Helianthus decapitalus, single and double,
Aster Bessarabicus, A. Nova;-Angliae and the Japanese Anem-
ones must close this- list of useful plants, and these will fur-
nish flowers from spring until autumn. -r n u

Wellesley, Mass. 1. V. H.

Flowering Plants for Cool Houses.

SOME of the Boronias make a pleasing addition to the stock
of spring-flowering plants suitable for cool-house culture.
While the members of this genus are not extremely showy
plants, they are neat and compact in habit and produce a great
abundance of their small bell-shaped flowers ; these are usu-
ally sweet-scented.

Boronias are not specially difficult to grow, and easily recon-
cile themselves to the ordinary conditions of a conservatory,
as a temperature of about fifty degrees, some sunshine and a
fair supply of water. A light, open compost is best suited to
their needs, preferably consisting largely of peat. Attention
should be paid to the drainage of the pots ; stagnant water is
highly injurious to Boronias, in common with all new Holland
plants. Propagation is effected by cuttings, which should be
made from firm growths, and planted in cutting-pots filled
with peat and sand made quite solid. The cuttings should be
kept close during the day, but have some ventilation at night.
Some little care is required at this stage in order to keep the
cuttings fresh and unwilled, without allowing enough mois-
ture to accumulate in the frame or under the bell-glass with
which they are protected, to create fungus.

During the summer months Boronias may be kept outdoors
with less risk of red spider than if kept under glass at that
season ; they should be plunged in ashes and slightly pro-
tected from full sunshine by the use of lath shades over the
plants. Among the best species are B. megastigma, the flow-
ers of which are purplish outside and yellow witliin, B. elatior,
rosy carmine, and B. Drummondii, pink-flowered in the type,
but also having a white variation ; all these are very attractive
and free-flowering.

Eriostemum buxifolium is another good Australian shrub and

April 5, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

157

belongs to the same order as the Boronias. It thrives under the
same treatment, but is somewhat more difficult to root, prob-
ably because the branches are slightly pubescent ; it is fre-
quently the case that woolly-leaved or woolly-branched plants
are more difficult to strike from cuttings than are smooth-
leaved and smooth-stemmed plants. E. buxifolius has small
ovate leaves of dark green color, and through the late winter
and early spring produces a great number of small pinkisli
flowers from the axils of the leaves. In habit this plant is
dwarf and bushy ; it is of comparatively slow growth and will
not soon become too large for a small greenhouse.

The Acacias also include some of the most graceful of
spring-flowering plants, and as hard pruning after the flow-
ering season is good practice in their cultivation, it is not hard
to keep these admirable plants within convenient size. The
species of cool-house Acacias, of which there are many, are
the most useful and also among the easiest plants to cultivate.
They luxuriate in sandy peat-soil, but with some of the com-
moner species, as A. dealbata and A. pubescens, even this is
not absolutely essential, a light open loam answering the pur-
pose very well. After having bloomed they should be cut
back quite severely, and then encouraged into new growth.
During the summer they require to be plunged outdoors, and
the lath shelter already spoken of is also quite beneficial to
these plants. This course of treatment produces strong, well-
ripened growth that may be depended on to give a good crop
of flowers during the following winter and spring.

Among the most satisfactory species for general use are A.
Drummondii, A. dealbata, A. pubescens, A. Riceana, A. ar-
mata and A. lineata, these presenting such distinct character-
istics among them as to show quite plainly how many-formed
this genus is. and also how beautiful. Seeds of some species
of Acacias may be had from the leading seedsmen, but they
are usually propagated from cuttings ; these require to be
planted firmly in sand or sandy peat, and to have slight bottom
heat ; they should also be kept rather close until rooted, provid-
ing always that sufficient ventilation is given to prevent damp-
ing off.

Holmesburg, Pa. IV. H. TapUtl.

City Gardening.

THIS seems the proper time to talk over the possibilities of
city gardening, while the rising sun is stirring the fever in
every one who has any gardening blood in his veins. In spite
of the annual exodus from our cities, they are by no means de-
serted in summer. Among the permanent residents there are
large numbers of flower lovers whose attention should be
turned to the pleasure to be derived from simple expedients
which will not only be satisfactory to the owner, but a continual
pleasure to the community. This brings us to the point that
for the average city dweller, window or balcony gardening is
in all respects the most satisfactory, as the window-sill is often
the only available place for growing flowers. For some reason
this form of gardening does not seem to grow in popularity in
New York, though one often sees behind the glass, or on the
window-ledges, potted plants and flowers, proving that the
taste is there and only waits development. This scarcity of
window-boxes is striking, for it seems to me, after some obser-
vation, that mankind, or, perhaps, womankind, generally, has
an inherent fondness for growing plants in boxes and unnat-
ural conditions. In walking or driving through the country,
one who observes gardens must notice that a large, if not the
largest, portion of the cultivation of flowers is carried on in
elevated boxes, pans and the like, even when there is availa-
ble land by the acre. One often wishes that these boxes could
be transferred to the ledges of city windows to brighten the
dreary streets. There is a great field here for a concerted
effort. Fancy the effect of a city block lighted up by a display
of well-grown plants in all the available windows. Certainly
the means are simple and the expense not great ; in fact, a
mere trifle for the effect which could be produced, for the
plants best adapted for the purpose are the commonest and
the cheapest, and the boxes are a very minor consideration.
A street-garden is not the place for dainty effects, which would
be dwarfed by the surroundings. Here we want gay, showy
flowers and foliage and broad effects. The window-garden is
one where we can safely give way to our inherent love for bar-
baric color and gay arrangements.

There are numerous varieties of fioxcs on sale, but as these
are seldom of the measurements desired, it will be usually ne-
cessary to have them niade to order. I have tried tile boxes,
lined with zinc, and those made of iron, both of which are ne-
cessarily heavy, and on the whole I prefer a plain wooden box,
simply constructed, of chestnut or walnut. This should be
about eight inches deep, of the length desired and as wide as

the ledge will admit, with simple brackets to support a slight
projection. This box should be securely nailed together.
When it is to occupy a position in full sunlight a partition
should be put in lengthwise in the front part of the box, leav-
gin an air space of, say, half an inch between this and the front
to keep the plant roots as cool as possible. By tacking a strip of
oilclotli of some light-colored tile pattern around the box and
finishing with mouldingattheedges, one can produce a box as
effective at a distance as the highest-priced article. A good
effect can also be secured by using lincustra and bronzing or
painting it tastefully— I trust none of the readers of Garden
AND Forest paint their boxes and tubs a fiery scarlet.

The boxes should have about three inches of broken char-
coal for drainage, over which there should be a thin slice of
sod, grass-side down, to keep the soil from washing through.
There should be a few holes bored in each end of the box near
the bottom to insure against excess of moisture from rains or
overwatering. The soil should be rich, but open ; good pot-
ting-soil, in short. The care will depend not only on the ex-
posure, but, of course, on the various plants grown. A mulch
of some kfnd is an advantage, Cocoanut-fibre, as odorless, be-
ing the best. Success will usually depend very much on care-
ful watering, especially when plants requiring very diverse
treatment in this respect are grown in the same box. If Nas-
turtiums or other plants requiring somewhat dry treatment are
grown with those needing more frequent watering, an addition
of some sifted sphagnum to the soil, in which the latter are
plunged will be helpful in obviating the necessity for frequent
irrigation. For a sunny window a very bright and striking ef-
fect can be produced by a row of Nasturtiums (Tropasolum
major), backed by a mass of Madam Pollock Geraniums.
Any of tlie scarlet-flowered Zonale Geraniums are excellent in
such a position if care is taken to select the summer-flowering
ones. With the Nasturtiums should be grown a row of the
variegated Gill-over-the-ground(Cylechoma) to cover the base
of the Nasturtiurp-vines should they become bare. A well-
grown box so planted would attract attention from the most
careless observer. Perhaps frequent boxes of this character
would be rather dazzling in a quiet city street, but there are
numerous variations which will occur to every one familiar
with flowers. In selecting plants for such positions pseference
should be given, as far as possible, to those wiih smooth
foliage which will not collect dust, and are readily cleansed by
showering. The best effect is usually secured by a very hm-
ited variety of plants. Of course, the desirable plants for boxes
will vary according to the exposure. Plants will not flower in
the absence of all sunlight, and in shady positions effects must
be produced from plants with variegated, glaucous and silvery
foliage. Vines are of the first importance in window-boxes,
giving a touch of vivacity as they sway to every passing breeze.
A beautiful effect can be produced by planting shallow trays,
to fit the inside of the boxes, very closely in the fall with bulbs
of Hyacinths or Narcissi, and brmging them out as they start
in the spring. Even in the winter it is possible to secure a
bright effect with small evergreens, such as Arbor-vilaes. A
row of these is very pretty, and quite in harmony with the most
formal architecture.
Elizabeth, N.J. J. N. Gerard.

Correspondence.
Cyclamen.s at the Columbian Exposition.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The exhibition of Cyclamens now in progress embraces
eleven competing collections. Besides American and English
firms, Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie. represent France, and Haage
& Schmidt, Germany. About twenty-five hundred plants are
shown, the proceeds of sowings made from February 8th to
February i6th of last year. Enough more are coming on, and
are partially in flower, to more than double this number, but are
not placed in competition. The plants were, therefore, but
little more than a year from seed when the awards were made
at the beginning of March. They should be considered com-
mercially as well as ;Esthetically in passing upon their merits.
Mr. Thorpe, who has managed their cultivation so well, and
whose experience entitles his opinion to weight, considers
plants of this age profitable to sell at about halt the price re-
quired for those started in late summeror autumn and carried
over to the second winter or spring. Such plants would be
larger and bear a greater nun)ber of flowers, but the higher
price would hardly compensate the grower for the increased
cost of cultivation. The plants here are now accommodated
by four-inch pots, and display from six to twenty flowers in good
condition at once, ten or twelve being a common number.

158

Garden and Forest.

[Number 267.

Thevareall forms of Cyclamen Persicum and its garden va-
riety, C. gig^nteum. Or we may, with Bossier, take both as
^rden varieties of C. latifolium, of western Asia and the
islands of the ^gean Sea. A plant which has been in cultiva-
tion for a hundred and sixty years has had ample time to de-
viate from the original type. The range of color is not as great
as that of the Primroses, being confined to white and shades of
red. Viewed in mass little but color is observed at first, for
the flowers are raised so well above the foliage that this is
scarcely noticed except when near at hand or the plants are
individually examined. An impression of great beauty of
form and color is made, not of brilliant, but of restful shades.
And the nearer view shows leaves of good shape and texture,
pleasingly varied with spots and bands of lighter green ; a
pretty root-stock, compact and cleanly looking, seemmg to lie
on the surface of the ground, and bearing its ample stock of
leaves and Howers ; nodding buds, wiih the floral segments
neatly twisted in a spiral. AH these lead us to admire the so-
called " Persian Violet," and pronounce it one of the best of
winter-blooming plants.

A classified list of the various forms had been prepared by
Mr. Thorpe, ample enough for purposes of study and compari-
son, without going too far into unprofitable minutias. Being
seedlings there was some variation in each group, mostly in
size and color of flower. They were placed under thirteen
"types." The sub-groups under Cyclamen Persicum were
Sanguineum, Rubrum, Album, "Wiggin's strain," and a
"mixed type" left for some not easily brought under other
heads. Under Cyclamen giganteum were Superbum, Atro-
purpureum, Magnificum, Roseum superbum. Crimson King,
Rosy Morn, Mont Blanc and Emperor William.

Several of the exhibits are large, the specimens reaching
into the hundreds. That of R. & Q. Farquhar & Co., Boston,
is one of the largest and makes the best impression as a wliole.
The plants run pretty evenly, being well grown and thrifty.
Their Mont Blanc is the finest white in the exhibit, if not the
best of any strain. It is a pure snow-white, only an occasional
flower showing a trace of pink at the base of the petals, most
noticeable in the lot known as Dame Blanche. The flowers
are very large, some with segments more than an inch and a
half across, and from two to two and a quarter inches long.
They bear from six to twelve flowers on sturdy foot-stalks,
which are three to four inches high. The samestrain is shown
in several of the exhibits and makes a good appearance in
nearly all. The Giganteum superbum of the same firm has
some individual flowers with petals two and a half inches long,
but not as wide as those of Mont Blanc. They are parti-
colored, the white ground splashed with red or colored with
pink, and the throat a purple-magenta. Other good examples
of the stram were in the exhibit of J. M. Thorburn & Co., New
York, but with the ground more apt to be of pink. The Rosy
Mom lot of Farquhar & Co. is also remarkable, ranging from
a light to a deep rose color, with a throat of purple or crim-
son. The flowers are large and the plants bloom profusely.
A fine lot of this type, of a very pure rose-pink, is shown by
James Carter & Co., London, whose exhibit is large and ex-
cellent. Rosy Morn, as seen in the collection from Haage &
Schmidt, makes fine, showy plants, but smaller-flowered ; in
that of J. C. Vaughn, Chicago, and of H. Cannell & Sons,
Swanley, England, the plants are all superior. Wherever seen,
the strain proved itself one of the best, being compact, thrifty
and holding its flowers well up. Crimson King appears in two
exhibits, Farquhar's and Carter's. They are liandsome flowers
of a bright rose-crimson, with a more deeply colored base of
similar tints. Giganteum magnificum was shown by several
houses, a white flower with a purplish crimson base, the
ground not always pure, but blushed with pink. Fine exam-
ples of these are in the exhibits of Farquhar, Thorburn and
Vaughn. The large and attractive flowers are frequently quite
numerous, as many as twenty being counted in some stands.
Emperor William is also a good strain, the ground a deep rose-
pink, with magenta leanings and a purple or crimson base;
flowers of good size. Those of Vaughn were quite noticeable,
the flowers on rather tall but sturdy scapes. In the Roseum
superbum class the ground is a light to an occasional deep
pink-magenta, blotched with darker shades of purple or pur-
ple-magenta, the plants of good sturdy habit, as shown by
Thorburn & Co. and Haage & Schmidt. Though not striking,
it is a type with variation enough to be rather pleasing.

The Cyclamen Persicum strains did not appear in as many
lots, and were less noticeable on account of their smaller flow-
ers, but there were some choice plants among them. Persi-
cum sanguineum has a very rich color, a bright red-purple.
Son>e of this type, with velvety crimson petals, show the
richest-colored flowers in the exhibit. Not many such were

noticed, the type generally being devoid of the velvety appear- !
ance. Several of them were seen in a fair lot of very deep j
crimson, shown by John Gardiner & Co. They were also )
noted in a few cases in the lot of Farquhar & Co. and Carter & '
Co. The Album type is as neat and pleasing in its way as the
Mont Blanc, though much smaller-flowered, the petals being
about an inch and a half long. It is a very pure white. But
two lots were shown, both by Philadelphia houses, Henry A.
Drew and J. Gardiner & Co. In the "mixed" or unclassified
sets quite a variety is discernible. Some come near the
original wild plants of the Levant, the flowers with segments
an inch and a half long and barely half an inch wide, the
corolla white, with a bright claret-purple throat. They served
well to indicate how far away from the type the gardener's art
has carried the plant in its variations, for the contrast was
great between these small, but pretty flowers, and the large
ones of Mont Blanc and Rosy Morn, all of them being in the
exhibit of Farquhar & Co. Three or four stands of the
" mixed" type in a lot of Peter Henderson & Co. differed from
others observed, having the ground-color rose-pink, neatly
shading off by the thinning of the petals to a lighter tint at the
upper margin, with a very pleasing effect.

Among so many seedlings some marked deviations from
given types, showing tendencies to new forms, which might ;
be fixed by careful selection, were to be expected. Some of
the most distinct of these were taken out and placed by them-
selves, being provisionally designated " World's Fair Collec-
tion." They made an interesting study, both as showing how
plants vary and how new forms originate. Some of these,
colored like others in the exhibit, had corollas much more
spreading, the petals being much less reflexed, in two or three
cases so little turned back as to have a surface nearly flat.
Such flowers presented a greater area when viewed in front,
thereby increasing the color-effect when they were separately
considered. But this was hardly a compensation for the loss
of that striking peculiarity which gives so much individuality
to the flowers of that group of Primulacea; comprising but two
small genera, Cyclamen and Dodecatheon. When a change
goes so far as to obscure or destroy the most original feature
of a plant, in itself desirable, it is obviously not an improve-
ment, however interesting it may be as a novelty. We some-
times feel like calling a halt to the gardener. The change in
this case was a kind of arrest in development, the petals having
been fixed at an angle which they must all pass through on the
way from the opening bud to the fully expanded flower, and on
looking through the greenhouse some might be seen in this
position. One of the most variable specimens of this kind, with
a corolla quite flat, or subrotate, had a diameter of nearly four
inches. It was of the purest color, a delicate rose, and showed
this so efficiently by its attitude that one felt like forgiving it
for its abnormal shape. Another flower of ordinary form and
medium size was very distinct in its markings. The ground
was a somewhat dull rose, and was quite regularly penciled
with numerous narrow lines of varied length, running length-
wise of the petals, and- of a darker shade of the ground tint.
Though the color was not of the best, the markings gave it a
character differing from anything seen elsewhere.

Englewood, Chicag^o, III. E. J , UllL

The Forests of the South.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Under the heading of " Hardwood Timber in the
South," Garden and Forest for January nth had an extract
from an interesting article by Dr. Mohr, of Mobile. The writer
was quite correct in his statements as to the vast quantities of
timber in West Virginia, Arkansas and the Yazoo delta of Mis-
sissippi, but I think his estimates of the quantity of hardwoods
in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee are too high. It is a well-
known fact, for instance, that the yellow variety of the Tulip-
tree, Liriodendron Tulipifera, only grows well in cool, well-
watered ravines. The tree can grow on the hard, gravelly
soil of the Trenton limestone and Cincinnati or Hudson River
group, which forms the principal part of the highland rims
and Hickory barrens of central and eastern Kentucky and Ten-
nessee, but it is of the white variety, small in size, stringy in
quality, and inferior to good Cottonwood. In the same way.
Oak, Ash and Hickory deteriorate in quality and decrease in
quantity on these dry, often gravelly uplands, of which so
large a partof these two states consists. East of the Cumberland
range in Kentucky, and of its continuation, Walden's Ridge,
in Tennessee, the broken, well-watered calcareo-siliceous soil
forms the finest possible land for luxurious tree-growth of all
kinds. Siill further east, between the Smoky Mountains and
the Blue Ridge, the soft limestones and clays of the Quebec

ApRtL 5, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

159

and Niagara groups are equally favorable to plant-growth. In
the common sense of the term, central and eastern Kentucky
and Tennessee may be said to be well wooded, but in a com-
mercial sense, tliat is, as liaving an abundance of trees at least
sixteen inclies in diameter and forty feet to the first limb, so as
to furnish log's for a good stationary saw-mill, the statement is
not correct. The statement as to Obion County, in western
Tennessee, founded on data taken in 1877, is now no longer
applicable. Fifteen years ago that county was probably the
most luxuriantly wooded county of the state, but the great saw-
mills of Boyle, Stewart and Mengel have done their work, and
one of them has succeeded so thoroughly that the supply has
been totally exhausted and the plant dismantled and transferred
to the Sunflower River country. The Patterson tract, as it is
called, containing 3,000 acres of fine forest, is the largest body
of timber-land yet untouched in western Tennessee, and its
value is indicated by the fact that $40,000 was refused for it
three years ago.

Another considerafion which should be taken into account
when estimating the value of timber is its variation by changes
of climate. A prominent barrel-maker of Louisville told me
that Kentucky White Ash was not nearly as good as Ohio
White Ash and Indiana Oak for spirit-barrels, being too
porous. It is a well-known scientific fact that the develop-
ment of lignin is hindered and that of cellulose favored by a
hot, moist climate. So, taking an extreme case, the Beech,
which reaches its best development in the Ohio valley,
although growing to a great size along the bayous of Louisi-
ana, is yet so worthless that it is left to rot when cut down to
make the roads in getting out Cypress. The White Pine along
the French Broad River, in North Carolina, is far inferior to
that on the flat plains of the Michigan peninsula, and tlie Calico
Ash of the Yazoo delta is less strong and much more given to
shrinking and warping than that grown farther north and on
higher ground. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely,
but these are sufficient. Mere mechanical tests for transverse
strain or torsion are by no means adequate. The whole
physiology of plant-growth is involved, and an investigation
on this line has scarcely yet been attempted. When it is com-
pleted the result will add another and yet stronger argument
to those already known, in favor of the preservation of our

Chicago, 111. Henry L. Tolman.

The Edelweiss.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Will you inform me if the Edelweiss, of which your
Swiss correspondent speaks so slightingly, can be raised in this
latitude ? Even if it is true that a perfect imitation of the plant
can be fashioned out of white flannel I should like to have a
genuine specimen if possible.

Boston, Mass. M. G.

[Edelweiss is not a difficult plant to grow here, and requires
no special care except with regard to water, since excessive
moisture will injure it, as it will all down-covered plants.
Most of the dealers who advertise hardy herbaceous plants
in Garden and Forest can furnish plants of Edelweiss, and
seed can be procured of all the leading seedsmen. It is
sometimes found in catalogues under the name of Gnapha-
lium, which was its botanical name before the genus Leon-
lopodium was established. — Ed.]

A Country-seat in California.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In riding down the peninsula, on the northern end of
which San Francisco is situated, the strong prevailing winds
are distinctly indicated by the uniformly southerly lean of all
the trees. In and around the city good specimens of trees are
not often seen. The Australian Blue Gum is the most com-
mon, and is stately when grown naturally, but these specimens,
dingy from fog and smoke and annually sheared, are far from
beautiful ; the same must be said of the Monterey Cypresses,
Araucarias and other common trees. The indigenous trees
have neither the stature nor symmetry to command admira-
tion, and are, in fact, scrubby. Continuing down the peninsula
on the bay side trees become larger and finer, until, when
Menlo Park and Palo Alto, the site of the Stanford University,
are reached, there are many really beautiful native Oaks and
Laurels and very many fine cultivated trees.

In this vicinity are the finest country-seats in northern Cali-
fornia, for within a few miles most of the wealthiest citizens of

San Francisco have their country homes. On this stretch, lying
between the bay and the ocean, frosts are light and not fre-
quent, and the summer heat is not excessive. With good soil
and beautiful natural surroundings it has not required rriucli
art to create beautiful home scenes. Among these, Sherwood
Hall, the home of Mr. Timothy Hopkins, is, perhaps, the most
beautiful, and certainly the best known. Its great fields of
Sweet Peas and beds of Violets under the LiveOaks have made
its name familiar throughout the country. Sherwood Hall was
the country-seat of Moses Hopkins, one of the four builders of
the Central Pacific Railway, and in a grove of about fifty acres
of native trees he built a beautiful house. Good judgment was
shown in sparing the native trees and in planting others that
now seem a part of the original woodlands. The native Oaks
are the White Oak (Q. lobata) and the Live Black Oak (Q. agri-
folia), a low, dense, round-headed evergreen, very charming
and well grown. The Laurel and Buckeye were also native,
and I saw as fine young specimens of Pinus insignis, Douglas
Spruce and other conifers as I have ever seen. These have
been planted since the place was started. An Araucaria Bid-
welli in front of the mansion, a perfect specimen, fully thirty
feet high, is famous as the best tree of its kind in California.

Several of (he California Fan Palms on the lawn are admira-
ble, though not as large as the old trees of southern California,
their native home. The largest are about thirty feet high, the
upper half draped by the pendulous old leaves, which are per-
sistent, as in Pritchardia filifera. Tliere are very large speci-
mens of ChaniEsrops excelsa and superb specimens of Draccena
australis and Erythrseas. These, with other Palms which are
hardy here, give quite a tropical look to the lawn and grounds.

The middle of February is not tlie best time for a visit to
Sherwood Hall, especially in this cold year. But here under
the Live Oaks, looking exactly like the familiar pictures, the
great beds of Violets were full of flowers, and filled theair'with
fragrance. A half-dozen men were busy picking them. These
field-flowers are sent to the San Francisco market, as are
great quantities of Roses and other flowers from the large
greenhouses. Sweet Peas and Chrysanthemums are grown in
large quantities. In bequeathing this place to his nephew,
Moses Hopkins failed to include a simi for its maintenance]
and the younger Mr. Hopkins went into the sale of cut flowers]
in which he made a signal success. The Sherwood Hall Nur-
sery Company last year succeeded to the business. In addition
to cut flowers, this company has more than fifty acres planted
in flowers for seed.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

Recent Publications.

Fertilizer Farming. By Herbert W. Collingwood. Rural
Publishing Company.

This is a pamphlet of some thirty pages, which is written to
demonstrate that under certain conditions thin and poor lands
can be brought up into proper condition by the use of chemi-
cal fertilizers, without any addition of barn-yard manure. The
examples are striking and are drawn chiefly from market-
farms on Long Island. In some cases it is shown that truck-
farms, which had been profitably cultivated for generafions,
while they were annually enriched with the waste from Brook-
lyn and New York, together with tons of fish, have in later
years produced, with commercial fertilizers alone, even larger
crops than they yielded before, and at a great deal less ex-
pense. It might, in these instances, be argued that the car-
bonaceous matter left in the soil from the previous manuring
had some influence in the case. Other examples are given,
however, in which the land was a desert, with no soil what-
ever, and even these sand-barrens were made productive and
profitable by the abundant use of commercial fertilizers. Of
course, it is true that experience and skill on the part of the
grower and perfect system in every detail are needed to win
good crops from any soil, even with the aid of the costliest
and most effective fertilizers. It is true, also, that these re-
ported results cannot be repeated on lands not thoroughly
drained, or on lands which, although of greater natural fer-
tility, are so rugged that it is not possible to use the most im-
proved machinery in tillage and cultivation. There is little
need, however, to suggest caution in accepting the rosy views
of what is possible to one who uses standard fertilizers' with a
liberal hand. Intense farming will hardly be undertaken by
men who grow standard field-crops like hay and wheat and sell
them for wholesale prices. It is the truck-farmer and the
market-gardener to whorh these examples appeal most
strongly, and there is more danger that such persons will use
too little fertilizer than that they will use too much. In horti-
culture and in concentrated agriculture, as men come to know

i6o

Garden and Forest.

[Number 467.

the needs of their lands and the needs of their crops, they will
use the so-called chemical fertilizers more and more, that is,
they will use manures which contain definite and known pro-
portions of the various plant-foods, so that they can tell just
how much potash and nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and in
what forms and combinations, they are feeding to their crops.
The rather slighting way in which stable-manure is spoken
of in the pamphTet does not add to the strength of the argu-
ment. Rich stable-manure will always fill a large space in
farm-economy, and as farm-practice approaches toward the
exactness of a science this manure will itself have a much
greater and more uniform value. And it will always be the
men who have learned to utilize to tlie best advantage the
waste products of their farms who will use most intelligently,
and, therefore, most liberally, the concentrated fertilizers of
commerce.

Notes.

It would seem that some good White Pine still remains in
Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. An account is given in a
local paper of twenty-five sticks of Pine-timber, each one hun-
dred feet long and cut by one man during the winter. At
Belleville, a stick of Pine was drawn to the river which meas-
ured 113 feet in length and was estimated to be worth $100.

Mr. Richard T. Lombard, of Wayland, Massachusetts, in a
paper recently read before the Horticultural Society of that
state, stated that nearly four thousand florists are engaged
wholly or in part in growing Carnations for cut flowers. It is
estimated that fully two hundred millions of these flowers
were sold last year, yieldingabove one million dollars to the
growers.

At the World's Horticultural Congress, to be held in Chicago
in August, papers are to be read on the following subjects:
Technical Horticultural Education, Relation of Experiment
Stations to Commercial Horticulture, Horticulture in its Gen-
eral Relation to Art, Improvement of Public Grounds (school-
yards, cemeteries, highways, the development and preserva-
tion of natural beauty).

Mr. Charles A. Green, Secretary of the American Association
of Nurserymen, sends us the programme of the eighteenth
annual meeting of that body, which is to open on the 7th of
June, in a beautiful hall which has been built expressly for
such gatherings, near the centre of the Columbian Fair
Grounds, Chicago. The programme is an instructive one, and
papers will be read by such well-known authorities as C. L.
Watrous, T. V. MunsOn, Charles W. Campbell, Professor L.
H. Bailey, J. H. Hale, Thomas Meehan, William C. Barry,
B. E. Fernow, Robert Douglas, P. J. Berckmans, Parker Earle
and many others.

Since there are hundreds of churches and Sunday-school
buildings whose unpicturesque exteriors can be clothed with
Ivy or other vines, and whose grounds could be planted with
trees and shrubbery, so as to make them more attractive, it is
suggested by the Sunday-school Times that the Sunday-school
as well as the day-school might do well to have an Arbor Day.
And, indeed, if the children of the public schools can on the
day appointed help to beautify the public parks and village
common, the roadsides and their own door-yards, there is no
reason why the home-church and rectory or parsonage grounds
should not receive similar attention. If Arbor Day is to have
the influence which its founders and friends hope for, the
more people and classes of people who can be made to take
an active interest in its observance the better.

More flowers for Easter were sold last week in this city than
in any previous year. In the church decorations white Azaleas
were profusely used with Lilies, Lilium Harrisii being still the
favorite, while the use of large Palms, Hydrangeas and Aza-
leas was very general. The flower-market in Union Square
on Saturday morning drew together the largest number of
buyers ever seen at a similar sale. Fully one hundred dealers
were in attendance, and some of these sold three and four
wagon-loads. The quality of the plants was generally good,
notwithstanding the earliness of the season and the severe
winter. Ascension Lilies sold at fifty cents, L. longiflorum at
seventy-five cents for a plant having from three to five flowers,
and L. Harrisii from a dollar to two dollars. Cinerarias,
Spirseas, Deutzia gracilis, Cytisus, Roses, Lilacs, Pansies, Vio-
lets, Carnations, Stocks and Daffodils were favorites, and
prices continued firm until the close of the sale.

Returning lately from a journey in southern France, Mon-
sieur Edward Andr^ exhibited in Paris, before a meeting of the
Soci^t^ Nationale d' Agriculture of France, the fruits of various

tropical trees recently produced in the south of Europe.
Among them were fruits of Phoenix Canariensis, Phct-nix Sen-
egalensis, to which allusion has recently been made in these
pages, and of Pha-nix dactylifera, the Date Palm, fertilized
with pollen from the flowers of the Canary Island tree which
has now been established for many years on the shores of the
Mediterranean. There were also fruits of the Chilian Jubrea
spectabilis, which had recently ripened at Lisbon, and which is
surrounded by a yellow pulp of agreeable flavor ; and of Cocos
australis of southern Brazil, which produces clusters of small,
edible, rose-colored fruit. Hardly less interesting were the
fruiting branches of the California Madrofia, Arbutus Menziesii,
which fruited last year for the first time at Antibes ; of the
south African Grape, Vitis Capensis, a curious species with
evergreen entire leaves and fruit from which a high-colored
red wine is made ; and the Australian Nut, Macadamia terni-
folia, whose hard shell contains an almond of exquisite flavor.

The last bulletin of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion puts into available form such instructions as to spraying
orchards and vineyards as will be needed by persons who have
not closely followed the work in this field for a few years past.
Directions for preparing the fungicides and insecticides for
various purposes are carefully given, as well as the proper
methods and precautions to be used in applying them to dif-
ferent trees and against different enemies. There is no need
to give a summary of this bulletin here as we have more than
once published the various details it contains. We must re-
peat, however, that no one with an orchard, or a vineyard, or a
small-fruit garden, can afford to neglect the practice which is
here set forth, and persons who are not familiar with the
methods cannot do better than to send to the Experiment Sta-
tion, Wooster, Ohio, for the Bulletin No. 48. What is stated in
the conclusion of this little pamphlet is perfectly true, namely,
that the fruit crop of the single state of Ohio" would be en-
hanced in value by several million dollars every year if this
practice were generally followed.

Of the oranges now on the market, those from Messina and
blood-oranges from Catania are in the best condition, the late
Florida fruit being injured by frost. California oranges are
gaining favor slowly, with the disadvantages of twelve to fif-
teen days' time consumed in reaching New York, against five
or six days from Florida, and a cost of eighty-five cents a box
for freight, instead of thirty-five cents for Florida oranges.
Perhaps even a greater disadvantage is the fact that there are
no commission consignments of California oranges to the east,
and only dealers' orders are sent here. The Riverside Wash-
ington navels are the best California oranges now offered and
bring a dollar a dozen. Excellent Forelle pears from Cali-
fornia are now selling for two dollars a dozen, and the largest
Easter Beurre for twenty-five cents each. Charleston vegetables
are succeeding the Florida supplies at prices nearly as high as
those asked for the earlier crops several weeks ago. Asparagus
brings eighty-five cents a bunch, and peas one dollar and
twenty-five cents a half peck. Northern-grown hot-house
cucumbers are forty cents each. French Artichokes, from
northern Africa, are thirty-five cents, and selected Tunis dates,
on stems in boxes of a pound, are thirty-five cents.

Every American who takes a patriotic interest in places with
historic associations will sympathize with the movement to
set apart the Revolutionary camp-ground at Valley Forge for
a public park. Some years ago the house known as Washing-
ton's headquarters here and a few acres of ground were ac-
quired and restored by an association. The bill now before
the legislature of Pennsylvania provides that the title to and
ownership of 250 acres of land shall be vested in that state, so
that the fortifications and their surroundings may be main-
tained as near as possible in their original condition as a mili-
tary camp and for the enjoyment of the public forever. The
establishment of the boundaries of this park, with the power
to manage and maintain if, is to be vested in a board of ten
unsalaried commissioners, appointed by the Governor, and a
sum of $30,000 is appropriated for the purchase of the land
and other necessary expenses. The price per acre is to be de-
termined ultimately by the courts of Montgomery County, so
that there can be no suspicion that the project will be turned
to the advancement of any private interests. The forts and
the line of entrenchments are remarkably well preserved, be-
cause the hills on which they were built are so rugged that
they have had little value for agricultural purposes and have
escaped tillage. A growth of thick underbrush has helped to
protect them from washing by the rains. The view from the
hills up and down the Schuylkill, extending for many miles, is
very beautiful, and the plan seems commendable from every
point of view.

April 12, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

161

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by

Profeeeor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Article: — Some Uses of Formal Gardening 161

Botanical Notes from Texas. — VI E. N. Plank. 162

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XI. (With figure.)... C. S, S. 163

Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter W. Watson. 163

Plant Notes: — Clematis indivisa. (With 6gure.) 166

Cultural Department : — I]^otes from the Harvard Botanic Garden. .J/. Barker. 166

Notes on Carnations T. D. Hatfield, 166

The Best Beans C. E.Hunn. 167

Winter Protection E. P. Powell. 168

The Forest :— The Forests of Ne-Ha-Sa-Ne Park in Northern New York 168

Correspondence : — Concerning Raspberries 5. A. 169

Tuberous Begonias .- C. L. All n. i6g

Daphne Mezereuin yohn Dunbar. 169

Phajus X Gravesii Robert M. Grey. 169

Recent Publications 169

Notes

170

Illustrations: — Gleditsia Japonica, Fig. 27 165

Clematis indivisa, Fig, 28 167

Some Uses of Formal Gardening.

WE have endeavored to show in recent articles that
there is no essential hostility between the formal
and the landscape styles of gardening ; and that, although
each piece of ground should be treated according lo some
well-defined scheme, it is impossible to exclude formal
elements altogether from any scheme, however naturalistic.
It has also been said that formal and naturalistic elements
may sometimes be so commingled that the result will
really belong to neither of the rival styles, but to a com-
posite style between the two.

When grounds are quite small, the form.-;! style, in some
of its phases, is not so difficult to manage well as the
other. And this is not the only reason why it should be
more often used in this country. We are not likely to have
many country houses so large and stately that they would
justify a return to the grand ideals of Le Notre, and be ap-
propriately surrounded by spacious formal parks. Nor are
such parks suited to American rural surroundings or to the
manners of living of even our idlest and wealthiest people.
But the great excuse for formality in gardens is the domi-
nance of other formal elements in a given locality ; and,
therefore, formal designs may rightly be used in small
pleasure-grounds, although they would not be adapted to
larger parks. In many American towns and summer colo-
nies of cottages or villas formal gardens might produce a
much more satisfactory effect than is now attained by at-
tempts at creating rural landscapes in miniature.

In a really rustic colony, where the houses are very sim-
ple and the encircling landscape has not been much altered
from its original estate, formal gardens, no matter how
small and simple, would be too palpably artificial. One
would not want to see even the square old New England
door-yard, with its Box-bordered beds, reproduced on a
Catskill mountain-side under the shade of ancient Hem-

locks, with a panorama of wild woodland scenery showing
beyond it ; nor, again, in front of a rough sea-side cottage
on the edge of a beach with its fringe of wild-growing
shrubs, vines and flowers. But formal gardens, even of
boldly geometrical kinds, would not be out of place on the
main streets of our little towns, or the outlying villa-streets
of larger towns, or alofig the fine boulevards, with their big
"detached" houses, which give special character to many
of our western cities, or in luxurious summer resorts like
Newport. At Newport especially the visitor must often
wish that some one had been gifted with the instinct to see
how charming and how individual his little domain might
be made by some regular inethod of arrangement Of
course, we do not speak of the larger estates which are be-
ing established toward the rocky end of the promontory,
or even of the more spacious of the grounds which border
upon the avenues. But scores of Newport houses, which
are called cottages, but, in reality, are large and dignified,
and sometimes very pompous villas, or even mansions,
stand in very small grounds ; and the smallness of these
grounds, combined with the self-assertion of the house,
points to some degree of formality as the right gardening
solution.

What are these grounds to-day? If their proprietors
have some taste, they are, perhaps, green little lawns, cut
by one or two lines of gravel and encircled by naturalistic
groups of trees and shrubs. Then they are pretty in them-
selves, but not dignified enough, not consciously artistic
enough, to befit their place as adjuncts to a big, costly
house, or as foregrounds over which, from the house, one
sees the rigid lines of street and the symmetrical forms of
neighboring buildings. But, very often, no taste at all has
presided over their disposition, except a hunger for con-
spicuous plants as such; and then they are hideous as
well as inappropriate — a huddle of trees in clumps and
showy shrubs and bits of grass, speckled with exotics re-
cently brought from the greenhouse and loudly confessing
their homesickness, or splashed with gaudy pattern-beds of
chromo-like vulgarity. The planter's one idea has been to
get': as much variety as he could within his narrow
limits. As a result he has entirely lost the unity which
alone can give value to variety ; his garden has no char-
acter, no individuality ; it is a place in which plants are
grown, but not a place which, as a whole, makes any im-
pression upon the eye, except to confuse and pain it. Nowhere
better than at Newport can we understand what Monsieur
Andrd, the French landscape-gardener, meant when he
wrote that most people's idea of gardening is "the clean-
ing up of spontaneous productions," followed by "the accu-
mulation of strange and dissimilar objects." This is to say,
that most people go to work in their gardens as they would
in their houses, if, after moving out all the old furniture,
th"ey should bring in a bric-a-brac dealer's stock and ar-
range it as a bric-a-brac dealer prefers. Such a house would
not be fit to live in ; and many small gardens are, for the
same reason, not fit to look at.

Nor is true variety evident when, in a place like New-
port, we pass a long series of gardens in review. How
little their owners really care for them, or even for the
plants they contain, is clearly proved, not only by their
perpetual lack of design, but by the perpetual repetition of
the same small list of showy plants and flowers. Inside
their houses these people want an artistic general scheme,
worked out with features which shall not be exactly the
same as their neighbors'. Outside, they care nothing for
any plan, and want, apparently, to be in the fashion by
having precisely the same furnishings as the man next
door. It would be pleasing, indeed, if a good, formally
disposed garden sometimes met the eye among those which
reveal no desire to follow any style that can be fitted with
a name. Even a bad formal garden would necessitate
some plan, some intention, some definite ideal. And where
good results are almost entirely lacking, a visible good
intention would of itself excite some sympathy.

When villa-grounds are large enough to demand a drive-

1 62

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBEK 26S

way to the door, a straight avenue, symmetrically bordered
by trees, might often advantageously replace the road
which now winds about on a level soil simply because
some one has thought curves always essential, and which,
therefore, cuts up the space without the excuse of either in-
creased usefulness or increased beauty. Such an avenue
would imply, of course, some measure of formality in its
immediate neighborhood ; but farther away the design
might gradually pass into an informal plantation of trees
and shrubs for encircling the boundaries and masking all
but the most desirable points of outlook from the house.

Botanical Notes from Texas.— VI.

GONZALES, which is the base of these notes, is a pleasant
Utile city of south-central Texas, the capital of a county of the
same name. Its existence runs back into the days when the
state was under Mexican occupancy and ownership. The How
of the Guadalupe River, which is near the city, is here rapid,
affording good water-power. Gonzales is about half a degree
north of the twenty-ninth parallel, and about the same distance
west of the ninety-seventh meridian.

Sesbania Cavanillesii— the Coffee Bush, or Rattle Weed-
keeps in remembrance the name of Antoine Cavanilles, the
Spanish priest and botanist, who studied the plants of southern
North America about one hundred years ago. This shrub
does not extend far northward, but is very common in the
coast country of Texas. Usually a low shrub, it sometimes
attains a height of fifteen feet, and, growing with a single
stem, is entitled to rank as a tree. It affects damp soils, and
often covers low prairies with a miniature forest. When
growing in water the immersed part of its trunk becomes en-
larged and spongy. The rather large flowers are yellow, with
a purplish tinge. These are succeeded by pendent four-angled

Cods, which persist through the winter. The peas have
een used as a substitute for coffee, and hence its common
names.

Sesbania vesicaria, a common southern species, is found
near Gonzales, extending in Texas to the valley of the Red
River at Denison. It is a late annual, blossoming in July, and
biearing short, sharply pointed pods which open at the apex.
The gap discloses the persistent white lining which envelops
the seeds, usually two in number, and gave to the species its
earlier name of Glottidium. If I have seen the flowers of this
species they are not properly described in the books, which
make them yellow and the size of those of our other species.
What I have taken to be the flowers of this species are pur-
plish and not more than one-half as large as those of its
congeners. S. macrocarpa is also an annual, very strong and
tall-growing, becoming ten to fifteen feet high. Its flowers are
yellow. The curved pods are sometimes a foot long. It is
common throughout the coast region of the Gulf states, ex-
tending northward in the Indian territory to the thirty-sixth
meridian, or near it.

Oxalis dichondrsfolia is a common Oxalis of south-western
Texas, with yellow flowers. Its specific name reveals nothing
to the student who has not seen a Dichondra. It would have
been better to have had all plants so described that they might
have been known of themselves and without reference to
other genera or species. But this good rule of Linnaeus is
commonly broken, until now a large proportion of plant-names
express nothing of the characters of the plants which they
represent Dichondra repens is also common around the
city, and it leaves with those of our Oxalis.

Prunus Caroliniana — the Wild Peach, or Mock Orange — is
one of the best-known and handsomest of southern ornamen-
tal trees. It is native to all the coast states from North Caro-
lina to this merifiian, or near it. It is common as a street and
lawn tree in most of Texas, and its shining evergreen leaves
render it conspicuous and easily recognized. The small white
flowers are borne in stout, erect racemes from the axils of the
persistent leaves, and so on the wood of the previous year.
They begin to appear in the extreme south as early as Feb-
ruary. The cherries, for it is a Cherry, and not a Peach, are
produced in such abundance as often to bend the branches on
which they grow. They are black when ripe, larger than those
of any other of our wild cherries, somewhat bitter, rather dry
and persist until after the next anthesis. A tree with evergreen
leaves, loaded with a profusion of white flowers and bending
beneath the weight of the previous year's black fruit, presents
a unique and very handsome appearance. It seems that the
leaves of this species have been justly accused of causing the
death of cattle, when eaten by them. The species pleads in
extenuation of its guilt that the cows, when they were hun-

gry, ate too many of its wilted leaves. A cold-water infusion
of the bark of tliis tree is used in intermittent fevers, and as a
tonic some people prefer a whisky infusion of the cherries
themselves.

Xanthoxylum Fagara, the Prickly Ash, is much smaller
than either of its more northern and eastern congeners, which
it otherwise closely resembles. The main rachis of the com-
pound leaf is winged between the pairs of leaflets. This
species is the "Correosa" of Mexicans. TheX. Clava-Herculis,
southern Prickly Ash, Toothache-tree, or Pepper-tree, extends
as far west at least as the ninety-eighth meridian.

The liandsome Clitoria Mariana, remarkable among our le-
guminous plants for its very large purple flowers, is common
as far west as the meridian of this city. Dysodia ciirysanthe-
moides, the Foetid Marigold, or Yellow Dog Fennel, is a strong,
but not very ill-scented, composite, common in central Texas
and northward, and is moving eastward. In the fall this spe-
cies lengthens its rays, paints the scales of its involucre purple,
and makes quite a successful effort to be handsome.

Salvia farinosa is abundant here. Its bright blue flowers
contrast pleasantly with its leaves, calyces and stems, which
are whitened by a dense hoary pubescence. Cucurbita foeti-
dissima is very common on the prairies from near the Gulf to
Nebraska. This species, too, is traveling eastward. It is
already in Arkansas at Texarkana, and in Missouri at Kansas
City. The yellow fruit is as large as a small orange. Mexicans
call it "Calabacilla."

Clematis Drummondii is one of the commonest plants of
southern Texas. It extends northward nearly across the state
and far westward. It clambers over any support within its
reach, and when it finds no support it often spreads itself out
over damp places in the prairies. Our species is very
conspicuous in fruiting-time by the long plumose tails of
its carpels. The tails are often purplish, when they are
handsome.

Lantana Camara, "Frutilla" of Mexicans. This southern spe-
cies is common in cultivation, and wild from this meridian
westward. It is remarkable for its strong spicy odor and for
the changing colors of its flowers. Dr. Havard charges tliis
species with the grave offense of poisoning sheep and cattle.

Kansas City, Kan. E- N. Plank.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XI.

IN eastern North America the small family of the Sabi-
aceae has no representative, although Meliosma, which
is mostly a tropical and sub-tropical Asiatic genus, also oc-
curs in Mexico and Central America. In Japan there are
three species of this genus, of which only one, M. myrian-
tha, attains the size of a tree. This species grows some-
times to the height of twenty-five or thirty feet, and pro-
duces slender trunks and wide-spreading branches; its
large thin leaves, which are sometimes eight inches long
and three inches broad, of a light delicate green, are its
chief attraction as a garden-plant, for the flowers of Meliosma
are minute, and the terminal panicles in which they are
gathered are loose and long-branched. Only a small por-
tion of the flowers are fertile, so that the fruit, which is a
small red berry-like drupe, is sparse and scattered on the
clusters, and not at all showy. This plant is new, I be-
lieve, in cultivation, and its behavior in our climate will be
watched with interest. It can hardly be hoped, however,
that Meliosma myriantha will succeed in New England, as
in Japan it does not range far north, and in central Hondo,
where, although widely distributed, it is not common, it
does not rise much above two thousand five hundred feet
over the sea-level.

From the Rhus family we miss in Japan the Smoke-tree
(Cotinus), a familiar European and western Asiatic type,
represented, too, in eastern America by one of the rarest
and most local of all our trees. Of the true Rhuses we
have in eastern America a dozen species, including three
small trees, while in Japan there are five indigenous spe-
cies, and among them three which can properly be consid-
ered trees. The Japanese Lacquer-tree (Rhus vernicifera),
which has played a conspicuous part in the development
of the mechanical arts of China and Japan, and which is
certainly the most valuable plant of the genus to man, is
not a native of Japan, where it was brought long ago from
China, and although much cultivated, especially in north*

ApRitja, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

163

fern Hondo, I saw no indications that it is growing spon-
taneously or anywhere establishing itself in the forest.

The Japanese Rhuses are not as ornamental in the
autumn as our Sumachs, as none of them bear fruit covered
with the long red hairs which give to the fruit-clusters of
the American plants their dense appearance and brilliant
color ; but the flowers of the Asiatic Rhus semi-alata, a com-
mon small tree distributed from the Himalayas to Japan,
which are white, and produced in large terminal panicles,
are much more beautiful than the yellow-green flowers of
any of our Sumachs, and in August and September, when
this tree blossoms in Japan, it is a striking object in the
shrubby coppice-growth which so often covers the low
mountain-slopes. In autumn Rhus semi-alata is one of the
most brilliantly colored plants of the Japanese forest ; and
very few Japanese plants succeed as well in our climate.
It is from a gall formed on the leaf of this tree that the dye
with which married women in Japan discolor their teeth, as
a sign of domestic bondage, is obtained.

Economically a more important tree, as from it the Japa-
nese obtained their principal supply of artificial light before
the introduction of American and Russian petroleum, Rhus
succedanea is less interesting in flower, at least, than Rhus
semi-alata ; it is a southern species, still much cultivated on
the southern islands, and in Tokyo seen only in gardens.
In habit, although it grows to a larger size, and in foliage
it much resembles our Stag-horn Sumach, although the
leaflets are narrower, but the flowers are in slender few-
flowered clusters pendulous in fruit ; and the drupes covered
with a thick coat of the pale waxy exudation, to which this
species owes its name and value, are much larger. Rhus
succedanea will, no doubt, flourish in the southern states,
and it is not improbable that it will prove hardy as far
north as Philadelphia ; it will certainly never be grown,
however, in the United States for the wax it might be made
to yield, and as an ornamental plant, while it is, of course,
interesting, it is inferior to the American Sumachs.

Rhus trichocarpa, which, so far as I know, is not in our
gardens, should be cultivated for the extraordinary beauty
and brilliancy of the leaves in autumn, when they assume
the brightest scarlet and orange tints. It is a slender tree,
sometimes twenty or twenty-five feet high, and very common
in the forests ofYezo and on the mountains of central Hondo.
The leaves are eighteen to twenty inches long, with dark
red puberulous midribs and broadly ovate, long-pointed,
short-stalked, membranaceous leaflets, slender panicles of
flowers, which open in July, and pendulous fruit-clusters
with large, pale, prickly drupes ripening in August or early
in September. Neither the flowers nor fruit are attractive,
and there is nothing very distinct in the appearance of this
tree, except in the autumn, when, however, it is so beauti-
ful that if it succeeds here I believe that it will prove one of
the best introductions of recent years.

Of the poisonous species of Rhus I did not see the pin-
nate-leaved Rhus sylvestris, which is said to be a small
shrub and a native of the southern part of the empire; in
the Hakone Mountains, where it is reported to grow, I
looked for it in vain ; but our Poison Ivy is one of the
common plants in all the central parts of Hondo and in
Yezo, where it grows to its largest size and climbs into the
tops of the tallest trees. The leaves of the Japanese plant
are larger than they usually appear on the American form ;
they are thicker, too, and more leathery, and turn in the
autumu to even more brilliant colors, often to deep
shades of crimson, which are rarely seen on this plant in
America. In the autumn no other vine is so handsome
in Japan.

Japan is remarkably poor in arborescent Leguminosse,
with only three species in three genera, while here in east-
ern America there are twenty species in a dozen genera.
The best-known Japanese tree of the family is Albizziajuli-
brissin, a small Mimosa-like tree which grows from Persia to
Japan, and through cultivation has become naturalized
in our southern Atlantic states and in most other
warm, temperate countries. Familiar now in this country

is Maackia Amurensis, which, introduced many years ago
from the valley of Amour, is now sometimes cultivated in
northern gardens. This little tree, which, under favorable
conditions, rises occasionally to the height of thirty or
forty feet, is common in all the forest-regions of northern
Japan and is not rare on the mountains of central Hondo.
The Japanese form produces larger and more numerous
flower-spikes and larger fruit than the mainland tree, as we
see it in this country ; and it is not improbable that it will
prove a more desirable garden-plant. In Yezo, the wood,
which is hard, close-grained and pale brown in color, is
manufactured into many small objects of domestic use and
is considered valuable.

The third Japanese leguminous tree isGleditsia Japonica,
which, in most essential characters, much resembles our
North American Gleditsia triacanthos, but the leaflets are
broader and more lustrous, and the bark, instead of being
dark brown, is quite pale. Although it does not grow to
the great size of the American species, the Japanese Gle-
ditsia is, perhaps, a more beautiful tree.

Gleditsia Japonica * (see figure 27 on page 165) is a tree
sixty to seventy feet in height, with a trunk occasionally
three feet in diameter, stout branches horribly armed with
flattened, often branched lustrous red-brown spines, two or
three inches in length. The branchlets are remarkably stout
as compared with those of our species, and are covered with
bright green bark, marked with orange-colored elevated len-
ticular spots. The leaves are ten to twelve inches long, with
broad ovate-acute remote leaflets, or they are sometimes
bipinnate as on our species, with smaller leaflets. The
male flowers (the female inflorescence I have not seen) are
very similar to those of Gleditsia triacanthos, although
they are rather larger and the racemes are longer and less
closely flowered. The pods are compressed and thin-
valved, like those of our northern tree, ten or twelve inches
long and an inch and a half broad, but the seeds, instead
of being placed close to the ventral suture of the pod, are
sometimes nearer the middle and surrounded by the pulp,
which is more abundant in the Japanese than in the Amer-
ican species. This pulp is used by the Japanese in wash-
ing cloth, and long strings of the pods are displayed for
sale in many towns of northern Japan, where Gleditsia Ja-
ponica grows, not very abundantly, according to my obser-
vations, near the banks of streams at the sea-level. It is
common and reaches its largest size on the banks of the
Kisogawa and other streams of central Japan, at an eleva-
tion of some two thousand feet. Here it grows sometimes
close to the water's edge, in rich, humid soil, but as often
is found at a considerable distance above the water, grow-
ing on dry, gravelly slopes. By Rein this tree is said to
be often planted in the neighborhood of villages in Japan,
but I saw no specimens, except in the scientific gardens of
Tokyo, which did hot seem to be growing naturally.

As an ornamental tree, Gleditsia Japonica, as it appeared
on the mountains of Japan, is a more beautiful tree than
any of the species known in cultivation, and it may be ex-
pected to become a valuable addition to the list of exotic
trees suitable for the decoration of the parks and avenues
of the United States and Europe. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Bauhinia CANDIDA. — This is the best stove-plant now in
flower at Kew. It is an erect shrub six feet high, branched
above, with bright green bilobed leaves as large as a child's
hand and numerous axillary flowers. These are nearly
four inches across, in shape exactly like a Pelargonium or
Fraxinella, pure snow-white, with reddish styles, and they
are deliciously fragrant. This plant is a native of southern
India, the Kew specimen having been raised from seeds

* Gleditsia Japonica, Miquel. /Vo/. F/. Jap., 242.— Franchet & Savatier, Enum.
PI. Jap., i., 114; ii., 325.— Maximowicz, M^l. Biol., Jtii., 452.

r64

Garden and Fores^t.

[Number 268.

received from Sir Mount-Stuart Grant-Duff when Governor at
Madras in 1883. There are not many Bauhinias of garden
fame, beautiful though the majority of them are in tropical
countries. B. Candida is far and away the best of those I
have seen, and should it prove florlferous under cultiva-
tion, it can hardly fail to become a popular stove-plant.
According to botanists, B. Candida is only a form of B.
variegata, which is described by Sir Joseph Hooker as "an
exceedingly common plant throughout India, but more
often seen planted than indigenous ; it forms a small tree,
six to twenty feet high, and when covered with blossoms,
which appear in March, it resembles a gigantic Pelargo-
nium, and is, indeed, a glorious object. . . . The flowers
vary greatly in color, from white, variegated with yellow-
ish green, to rose, variegated with crimson, cream color
and purple." I quote this from the Botanical Magazine,
t 6818, where B. variegata is figured from a plant which
flowered in the Palm-house at Kew in March of 1884. B.
Candida is recorded to have been cultivated at Kew in 1777,
but it does not appear to have flowered or attracted the at-
tention of horticulturists then.

Sknecio sagittifolius. — This plant is described in my
notes on the foreign new plants of last year (see page 90).
It is now flowering in a greenhouse at Kew, and is a most
beautiful plant, even as represented by the Kew specimen,
which is small compared with what this species becomes.
The bold leaves are of a rich deep green, and the flowers
are creamy white, with golden disks, and of good form
and substance. It is a plant of the greatest interest and
promise for the garden.

BoMARE.v FRONDEA is a handsomc climber for the warm
greenhouse. There are two specimens of it trained against
Sie roof of the succulent-house at Kew, their stems ten or
twelve feet long, being now terminated by elegant clusters
of orange-red Alstrcemeria-like flowers. Bomareas, when
happy, are of first-rate value for the conservatory. They
are in flower with us almost all the year round.

Caraguata cardinalis was shown and certificated last
week as a new plant, although it is really an introduction
of 1880, when a figure and description of it were published
by Monsieur Andr6, in Illustration Horticole. In 1882 a
plant of it flowered at Kew, having been obtained from
Monsieur Linden, who distributed it. Mr. Baker reduces
it to a form of C. lingulata, an old garden-plant which is
in the West Indies and some parts of South America. Cara-
guatas are very similar to Tillandsias in habit and foliage,
differing only in having a gamopetalous corolla. The
charm of the cultivated species of Caraguata is in their
large imbricating leaf-like bracts on the flower-scape and
which are colored bright red. In well-grown plants of
some of the kinds, such as, for instance, that called C. car-
dinalis, the bracts are six inches long and nearly two inches
broad, and they extend up the flower-scape nearly a foot.
These plants are among the most ornamental of Brome-
liads.

Clivia Scarlet Gem. — This is an exceptionally fine va-
riety, large in truss and with well-formed, large flowers,
colored rich, deep orange, very nearly dark enough to be
called red. It was exhibited last week by Messrs. B. S.
Williams & Son, and was certificated by the Royal Horti-
cultural Society. The value of the Clivias as spring-flower-
ing, greenhouse or stove plants is now almost universally
recognized. The great desideratum is some variety of
color in their flowers, for, notwithstanding the many names
and glowing descriptions of them, we have not yet anything
very different in color from the sole progenitor of the whole
of them, namely C. miniata, which was introduced from
Natal by Messrs. Backhouse, of York, in 1854. The type,
as well as the varieties, are most accommodating in the
garden, thriving almost equally well in a hot stove, a warm
greenhouse, or even an ordinary conservatory. Good cul-
tivation has a most marked effect on the size and color of
the flowers of these plants.

. CoRYLOPSis pauciflora is a pretty addition to the culti-
vated Japanese Witch-hazels. It was shown in flower by

Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons last Week and was awarded a
first-class certificate. The leafless, twiggy branches were
laden with yellow flowers, the plants being quite effective
enough to be grown in pots for the conservatory in early
spring. It is quite hardy. [For an illustration of a fine
specimen of this plant, grown in the garden of Dr. Hall,
Bristol, Rhode Island, see Garden and Forest, vol. v., p.
342.— Ed.]

Fritillaria aurea, a dwarf species with handsome yel-
low flowers, spotted with black and sweet-scented, was
shown by Mr. T. S. Ware and obtained a certificate. The
forms of F. meleagris are represented by a delightful group
grown in pots in the conservatory at Kew, where, mixed
with yellow Narcissi, they are a great attraction. Fritilla-
rias are a much-neglected genus of hardy plants ; the forth-
coming paper on them, by Mr. D. Morris, of Kew, is there-
fore likely to win for the genus the attention from cultiva-
tors which it undoubtedly deserves.

ScoPOLiA Fladnichiana. — This is a new addition to the
genus, and it was shown in flower last week by Mr. George
Paul, who says it is a native of central Europe and that it
is hardy on his rockery at Cheshunt. It is a robust-growing
plant, about a foot high, with petioled ovate-lanceolate
green leaves and axillary pendent bell-shaped flowers, half
an inch long and colored dull yellow. The flowers are not
hurt by frost. The genus is a small one of some three or
four species, one of which is Japanese, another Himalayan.
The latter, S. lurida, is an old garden-plant which has been
called a Physalis and also a Nicandra. The genus is closely
allied to Henbane (Hyoscyamus) and Atropa. There is
a figure of S. Fladnichiana in the Journal of Horticulture, p.
241.

Blue Primroses are one of Mr. G. F. Wilson's hobbies,
and he has been so successful in breeding them that he has
now numerous varieties of P. acaulis and P. polyanthus
which are distinctly blue in shade. He showed a basket
of about fifty seedlings recently, all descendants of the one
called Scott Wilson, which was raised by him several years
ago. This fact is interesting as showing that the fixing of
the blue shade is so far accomplished as to repeat itself
from seed. A race of blue Primroses as hardy and easy to
manage as the common yellow Primroses is something to
look forward to, and it has very nearly been reached by
Mr. Wilson.

SiSYRiNCHiuM grandiflorum is a beautiful hardy spring-
flowering Irid, for which we are indebted to North America,
but, beautiful and easily managed though it is, very few
cultivators here make any use of it. Patches of it in a
sunny spot on the rockery or little beds of it in sheltered
positions on the lawn are very pretty at this time of year.
The white variety, which, I believe, originated in the FMin-
burgh Botanic Gardens, is equally charming. For cultiva-
tion in pots to decorate the conservatory in early spring
both of these plants may be recommended. I have lately
seen some most delightful tufts of them, which suggested
tufts of grass crowded with nodding blue Campanulas, the
flowers being purple or white and borne on slender stalks
a foot high.

Rhododendron racemosum, or the plant shown by Messrs.
Veitch & Sons under this name last year, is now flowering
nicely in a cold house at Kew. It is a pretty little plant,
an excellent subject for the alpine garden, its height being
only about six inches audits flowers pretty little white and
rose bells, clothing the branches in racemose fashion. The
flowers are fragrant and lasting. There is a plant of it also
in flower in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. A figure of it
will shortly be published in the Botanical Magazine, when,
no doubt, the question of its name will be decided.

A collection of flower-branches of hardy trees and shrubs,
which bloom in early spring at Kew, was a special attrac-
tion at the last exhibition held by the Royal Horticultural
Society in conjunction with the fortnightly meeting. Kew
is exceptionally rich in hardy, spring-flowering plants of
all kinds, and so charming are these to visitors generally,
that special attention is now paid to this, one of the most

April 12, 1893. |

Garden and Forest.

165

Fig. 27. — Gledifsia Japonlca. — See page 162.

delightful departments of the garden. The plants exhibited ponica, Cassandra calyculata, . Daphne Mezereum and its
in flower were the following : Acer rubrum, A. Neapolita- variety album, Dirca palustris, Erica carnea and its va-
uum, Amygdalus communis, A. persicoides, Berberis Ja- riety alba, Andromeda Japonica, A. floribunda, Forsythia sua-

i66

Garden and Forest.

[Number 268.

pensa, Lonicera Standishii, Nuttallia cerasiformis, Parrotia
Persica, Prunus cerasiformis, var. Pissardii, P. divaricata,
Pyrus Japonica, Ribes sanguineum and its variety gluti-
nosa, R. spectabile, Salix caprea, S. cinerea, S. mollissima,
Rhododendron altaclerense, R. fulgens, R. Nobleanum,
R. praecox, R. Thomsonii. A bare list, such as this, is the
tliinnest of suggestions, simply ; I wish I could convey to
your readers an adequate idea of the telling effect of such
plants as these when planted in large masses among
dark-leaved evergreens, in shrubberies, or even used as
specimen groups on lawns. Add to the trees and shrubs
the wealth of spring-flowering herbaceous plants, bulbs,
etc, now in all their glory, and one has material for most
exquisite garden effects.

Daffodils, Hellebores, Chionodoxas, Scillas, Dog's-tooth
Violets, Grape Hyacinths, Anemone Pulsatilla, Saxifrages,
Primroses ; these are some of the most striking of the hum-
bler plants which come before the swallows and make the
garden in spring as delightful as it is at any season.

London. W'- Wa/SOtt.

Plant Notes.

Clematis indivisa.

THIS New Zealand plant, known ever since Captain
Cook in the last century visited its native islands, is
very rarely seen in gardens, at least in those of this coun-
try, although it is one of the best plants we have for the
decoration of cool greenhouses, where it produces hand-
some white flowers in March. Our illustration on page 167
represents the end of a flowering branch, much reduced in
size, from a plant in Mr. Hunnewell's collection at Welles-
ley, Massachusetts, where it is planted at the end of a cool
house in a well-drained border, and now occupies 2,500
square feet of roof-space. The capacity of Clematis indi-
visa to bear flowers when well treated appears in the fact
that this specimen bare at one time, according to a careful
estimate, not less than seven thousand expanded blossoms.

Cultural Department.
Notes from the Harvard Botanic Garden.

Bauera rubioides. — The flowers of this evergreen shrub
are very pretty, though small, and they are freely produced
from early spring until late in summer.' It was introduced a
century ago from New South Wales. Hooker, in his Flora of
Tasmania, informs us that it is very abundant in that country,
prowing in poor, wet soil, and that it is somewhat variable.
One form is about six feet high and of rambling habit ; another
erect and compact in growth, while a third is dwarf, with de-
cumbent stems. The setond is the one most frequently cul-
tivated, but even that form is comparatively scarce m gardens.
With occasional trimming the plant makes a neat bush, from
two to four feet high, the deep green leaves closely arranged
on dark stems. The leaves have the appearance of being ob-
long and disposed in whorls, but in reality they are ternate,
sessile and opposite. The flowers, with petals pmk and white,
are like miniature single Roses, almost an inch in diameter,
with yellow stamens prominently clustered in the centre.
They appear on the tips of the young shoots and branchlets,
borne on slender, sUghtly drooping pedicels an inch in length.
Much of their attractiveness is due to their noddmg habit, for
the entire beauty of the petals is not seen until the flower
spreads out like an inverted saucer. This Bauera is easily
increased from cuttings. A temperature of forty degrees is
not too low for it in wmter, while in summer it makes satisfac-
tory progress out-of-doors.

Passiflora racemosa. — The occurrence of flowers on this
species so early in the year is not r^re, but the event is always
interesting, as showing one of several ways in which the same
plant may bloom. Better known as P. princeps, the plant is
perhaps one of the most decorative of stove climbers, bloom-
mg ordinarily during the summer months, and producing the
flowers singly at the joints of the young growths. Sometimes,
howerer, they appear on the same shoots in terminal ra-
cemes, and now we have the racemes, absolutely destitute
of foliage, pushing from the hardened old stems. P. ra-
cemosa has long been an inhabitant of our greenhouses.

since 1815, when it was brought from Brazil. The leaves
are large, bright green, and either pandurate or trilobed,
most frequently the latter. It blooms freely in summer,
and the flowers, measuring from four to five inches in diame-
ter, are bright red, with the short rays of the corona white or
purplisli. Being free of growth, the roots require a large
space, and the soil should be moderately rich and porous. It
thrives most satisfactorily when trained to a rafter, though in
exceptional cases succeeding fairly well on bright pillars and
walls. The old stems may be tied in quite rigidly, but the
younger ones should be allowed a good deal of their own way,
as they are then more ornamental and flower better.

PiTTOSPORU.M undulatum. — This is one of those plants which
are never showy, but always satisfactory and pleasing. It is an
Australian evergreen shrub, of compact habit and amply fur-
nished with deep green, wavy leaves of oblong outline. Under
pot-culture it is usually seen from two to four feet in height ;
but where the climate admits of its being permanently grown
in the open garden, and it will survive three or four degrees
of frost, it attains twice that size. Bursting into blossom
with the first sign of spring, the white Jasmine-like flowers,
borne in short terminal clusters, cover the plant completely,
and fill the air with their grateful fragrance. In our latitude it
is most useful in a cool greenhouse, serving as a foil to the
bright colors of Acacias, Azaleas and the like.

Trop^:olum tricolorum. — This is, perhaps, the best of the
useful tuberous-rooted Tropaeolums. Indeed, the greenhouse
that is without one or more representatives of this section
lacks a striking element in the production of bright effects. T.
tricolorum is a climbing plant with very slender stems. The
small light green leaves have filiform petioles an inch long;
they are peltate and divided into from five to seven obovate
segments. The flowers, borne on long pedicels, are axillary,
and about an inch in length. They are of a rich orange-scarlet
color, tipped with black and yellow, and have been compared
to a tadpole in outline, the erect, tapering spur corresponding
to the tail of that animal. Commencing to flower in January,
it continues in full bloom more than two months, and adds a
rich glow of color to its surroundings. A trellis of some kind
is needed for the support of the stems, one of globular form
being tasteful and serviceable, though otherwise the design
may be such as fancy or convenience suggests. The tubers
of this and similar species should be kept quite dry in sum-
mer, and about the middle of September they may be turned
out and repotted, using a mixture of loam, leaf-mold, old ma-
nure and sand in equal parts. The plants may then be set in
a sunny greenhouse, the temperature of which is never al-
lowed to descend lower than forty-five degrees, and here, with
ordinary attention to watering and training, they will in due
time make charming objects. T. tricolorum is usually propa-
gated by means of seeds, but tubers form readily along the
young stems if they are brought in contact with the soil.

Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker.

Notes on Carnations.

CARNATIONS, which have been blooming steadily through
the winter at a temperature of fifty to fifty-five degrees,
Fahrenheit, are now somewhat off crop. Such, however, as
have been held as low as forty-two and forty-five degrees are
now at their best, giving large flowers of excellent color.
Growers are beginning to realize that it pays to clean the plants
of dead leaves and weeds, even if they are healthy and vigor-
ous, and to stir the soil gently. All useless growth should also
be cleaned out, to admit light and air more freely, as well as
to check the development of fungal diseases.

The Carnation is a flower for all seasons and purposes, and
good Carnations are always in demand. The aim of growers
and raisers is to get perpetual bloomers as nearly as possible.
The fact, however, that this is the off-season is proof that most
varieties now under cultivation are croppers. Growers here-
aljouts are agreed that the varieties which hold out best are
Mrs. Fisher and Lizzie McGowan, white ; Grace Wilder, rose-
pink ; Hector, scarlet, and Ferdinand Mangold, crimson, if
grown cool, as it always ought to be. Daybreak continues to
give a few very fine flowers. It is doing well here, though the
reports generally are unfavorable. The blooms are a beauti-
ful blush shade, very much in the way of the old Mrs. Jolliffe,
a variety which has been in cultivation more than twenty
years, and never until now superseded. No good reason can
be given why location affects Carnations. Mr. Dorner has fre-
quently stated that having had poor success with a majority of
the standard kinds he has raised a set of his own, including all
the market colors, and these answer his purpose better than
any he can buy. The fact that Carnations differ in different

April 12, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

167

localities may account for the conflicting opinions of growers
of any one variety.

Among tlie recent varieties of rose-pinlc, which it was
tliought would supersede the old Grace Wilder, none have
filled the necessary requirements. Many produced fine large
flowers of exquisite tints and fine form, but they are either too
coarse in growth, not floriferous enough, weak in the stems or
lack lasting qualities. Fred. Craighton gives fine large flowers,
but is late. The flowers of Aurora are of fine form, but are
thin. Nicholson, a handsome rose-pink, is not yet in cultiva-
tion ; it comes nearest to John Thorpe's ideal of any I have yet

hngs which showed the perpetual type and crossed them with
some of the poor French yellows ; he managed at last to get
the vigor of the border variety incorporated witli perpetual
characters. He has also an excellent striped-yellow the bright-
est and best I have seen, free and perfect in form and bright
in color. The constitution is all that can be wished. This has
been named Belle Hunnewell. Golden Triumph has been do-
ing duty for a yellow up to this time, and where it has done
well has proved very profitable. It is not a pure yellow, being
flaked slightly with red; if is, however, a very pleasing shade
and IS a favorite in the market. It is, moreover, a very free
bloomer, an important consideration where
flowers are grown for market.

The fact that especial care in selecting
stock helps to improve varieties is every-
where evident, from the fact that it takes two
years to give new varieties a proper test. In
propagation for distribution, every available
cutting is taken ; the consequence is, a very
small percentage of plants are in a thrifty
condition during the first year.' Side-shoots
from flowering stems make the best cuttings
and grow into the best plants ; by care in
this direction the stock of old varieties may
be improved and held up to a good standard.
The summer-blooming Marguerite Carna-
tions are pleasing and strongly resemble
the florists' Carnations ; but by comparison
they lack enduring qualities, as well as re-
finement. Growers in this locality are look-
ing for varieties which will bloom out-of-
doors in summer. Mrs. Fisher, white, and
Hector, scarlet, gave satisfaction last year,
and several additional kinds are to be tried
this summer. The plan is to strike cuttings
in January, pot two in a pot and grow along
until May, when they are planted outdoors,
given one pinching and then allowed to
bloom, which they will do in July.

WeUesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

The Best Beans.

Fig. 28. — Clematis indivisa. — See page 166.

seen. The flower is often quite three inches across, and,
although very double, the calyx never bursts. In shade it is
similar to Tidal Wave, bright rose-pink, with a touch of red
in it.

Fancy bizarres have a select set of buyers and are fast in-
creasing in favor. The best are American Flag, scarlet, on
white ground ; Paxton, pink, on white ground, and Mary
Fisher, violet, on yellow ground. Joseph Tailby, the veteran
grower and pioneer raiser of the true American type of Car-
nation, has at last succeeded in raising a pure yellow perpet-
ual in Henrietta Sargent. Since 1882, when Mr. Tailby had a
very fine border yellow in bloom, he has selected the seed-

■pEW vegetables have been hybridized or
-•■ selected with greater care than the Bean,
and varieties suitable for several purposes
have been developed, until little improve-
ment now seems possible. Among Snapi-
beans, the new yellow-podded wax varieties,
which are almost cylindrical in shape, solid
yet tender, and of the finest fibre and flavor,
are quite superior to the old-time flat, green-
podded and stringy varieties. Among the
best varieties are Wardwell's Kidney Wax,
Yosemite Mammoth Wax, Golden Wax and
Perfection. Of Shell Beans, the best are
Dwarf Horticultural; Golden Cluster, which
is very productive and bears flat beans about
two-thirds as large as Henderson's Bush
Sieva, meaty and well-flavored ; Hemisphere,
a bean almost round, but solid and of extra
quality, half of it being light brown in color,
splashed with red. This color would detract
from its value as a market variety, but in the
process of cooking the color to a great ex-
tent disappears, so that it is one of the very
best for the kitchen-garden. On the station
grounds, as the main experiment crop for
the past four years, a pure white bean has
been grown which has proved of extra quality
and productiveness. It is very hardy and is
proof, thus far, against the anthraenose, so
prevalent throughout this section. It has been called the Hatt
Bean, after its originator, but I am not aware that it has been
offered for sale under any name, although it should be more
generally known.

The search and selection necessary for a true Dwarf Lima
Bean has been successful, and it would now seem hardly ne-
cessary to grow the pole Lima Bean. The latter come to ma-
turity a trifle earlier than the bush type when both are planted
together, it is true, but the dwarf varieties may be started
earlier, either in common beds, or in inverted sods, or in pots
in the kitchen or greenhouse. When planted out they can be
protected from early or late frosts with ease so that the season

i68

Garden and Forest.

[Number 268.

of bearing can be lengthened out by the same method. Cheap
cloth protection or wide boards can be used against frost. Two
distinct tvpes of these beans are now otTered by seedsmen,
Burpee'sBush Lima, with large flat pods, well filled with beans,
and resembling the old garden Lima, and Drear's or Kumerly's
Dwarf Lima, with shorter pods and beans reseniblingin shape
Dreer's Improved Lima. Either of these can be grown in the
kitchen-garden, and for market they will certainly crowd out
the climbing varieties, since many more can be planted on the
same area and no expense is necessary for poles.

Geneva. N. Y. C- E. HuHH.

Winter Protection.— My orchard and small fruits have come
through the winter well, and this is a good time to recall
some precautions that I have found useful. In a climate where
Peaches and Apricots fail out-of-doors we can protect the buds
in several ways, but the most satisfactory plan is to keep a few
dwarf trees m tubs in a cold greenhouse which is used for
Lettuce and early vegetables, and they will give fine fruit in
July. Such trees' might be set in a light room in a barn, and
gently watered once or twice in the winter, as the fruit-buds
will CTidure zero weather, although they are injured by sharp
alternations of cold and warmth. They can often be kept in a
cool light cellar. To keep my Quince-trees from drying north-
west winds I put up a solid board-fence in autumn, taking it
down again in April. With this protection the trees bear well,
but the trunks of the young ones should be bound with straw
or hay for the winter. Clean sawdust, or sawdust after being
used in the stable for bedding, I use for covering Strawberries.
It is put on thickly enough to leave the larger leaves uncovered.
and it should be allowed to remain in the spring to hold up the
berries from the earth. When land is well drained there is no
danger of Currants and Raspberries " heaving out," but where
there is danger the use of stones about the plant is efficacious.
The use of coal-ashes is invaluable about fruit-yards, but one
of the best purposes it serves is as a winter mulch. Raspber-
ries trained to a single wire about four feet high and stapled to
posts suffer no damage from heavv snows. „ „ „

Clinton, N.y. E. P. Powell.

The Forest.

The Forests of Ne-Ha-Sa-Ne Park in Northern
New York.

FROM a report recently prepared by Mr. Gifford Pinchot, on
the condition of a large forest-estate in the Adirondacks,
we are permitted by the author to print the following extracts,
which are of general public interest, as Mr. Pinchot's conclusions
and suggestions with regard to the management of the prop-
erty are applicable to similar forests in many of the northern
states.

" Except for local variations and the greater proportion of
the soft timbers in the western and northern part," Mr. Pinchot
writes, " the forest over the whole park is approximately the
same. The high ground is covered by a magnificent growth
of hard-wood timbers, thinly interspersed with Spruce. Beech
is here the most common tree, with Birch and Maple closely
second. The swamps and low grounds are chiefly occupied
by Balsam, Tamarack, Hemlock and White Pine. To these,
which have been mentioned in the order of frequency, are to
be added in the same order. Cherry, Poplar, Cedar and Ash.
Spruce and Pine are at present the most valuable timbers. It
seems likely thatin future Birch will be the most important tree.
The silviculfural value of the soil has been reached by the
accumulation of mold from the waste of many generations
of forest-trees. The ground itself is rocky and not rich, and
its sustained vigor depends entirely upon the preservation of
the^umus or duff, with which it is covered almost every-
where, sometimes to the depth of six feet. Humus disappears
gradually upon fr^e exposure to light and air, and may be
entirely consumed by forest-fires. Hence fire and reckless
cutting are especially destructive to the Adirondack forests,
entirely apart from the important loss which they occasion in
standing timber and the growth, it would have made during
the years in which the burnt area is slowly reclothing itself
with forest."

Want of space compels us to pass over the description of
many of the trees found in the Adirondack forests. Of the
White Pine, he says that it " grows on the west and south-west
slopes of the ridges and on the borders of swamps in mixture
with Spruce and Balsam. It would be exceedingly advisable,
however,to defer this removal,at least in part,until the reason can
be discovered why the enormous number of cones produced by
this tree do not result in a plentiful young growth. It is pos-

sible that the conditions favorable to the germination and
growth of the Pine-seed may be found to be producible at
very little cost, so that it may be possible to assure a large
proportion of this valuable timber m the next crop."

In discussing the age of the trees found in this forest, Mr.
Pinchot points to the fact that " young trees are almost always '
seriously retarded in their growth by the heavy cover of the
older specimens. For this reason the rings of annual growth
formed during early life are much closer togetherthan the later
ones. In endeavoring to count the rings of stumps standing
on the right-of-way near Lake Lilla, I was often unable to sep-
arate those of the first fifty or one hundred years, even with a
glass. I found no Maple or Birch whose inner rings could be
counted, and but one Beech. This tree was twenty-eight
inches in diameter at four feet from the ground, and some-
what over two himdred years old. A Hemlock of seventeen
inches diameter on the stump was two hundred and ninety-
two years old. Spruce-stumps, on which all the rings were far
enougli apart to be counted, were also exceptional. One butt
log, with a diameter of seventeen inches, was two hundred
and eighteen years old. This tree had evidently been stunted
by the shade of older hard woods. It is remarkable that the
finest Spruce, that on the hard-wood ridges, must have passed
through this period of repression before making its principal
growth. By cutting away the merchantable hard woods, which
are suppressing the young Spruces[over a large portion of the
park, their rate of growth may be enormously increased. For i
example, two young Spruces, eight inches in diameter, which
had grown among others of the same age, and, therefore,
with a comparatively abundant supply of light and air, were
but fifty-two and sixty years old, although almost twice the
diameter of another tree one hundred and twenty-one years old.

" The power of natural regeneration of all the trees which I
have mentioned, with the single important exception of White
Pine, seems to be amply sufficient for all the purposes of
forest-management. The presence of this reproductive power
is of the greatest importance. It puts aside at once the diffi-
culty and expense of planting and insures a steady improve-
ment in the condition and value of the forest.

"The vigorous and abundant young growth makes it possi-
ble to remove mature trees without injury to the forest, and
under proper handling will insure the continuance of its pro-
ductive power. The constant character of the forest, even in
its changes, lends itself easily to the needs of forestry, while
the presence everywhere of mature trees over the young
growth makes it possible to cut and yet increase the annual
growth of wood from year to year. This steady increase in the
value of the forest under forest-management is one of the
strongest reasons for its introduction. Forest-management
will add constantly to the proportion of valuable timbers in the
forest, by judicious cutting, without a corresponding abate-
ment in the amount of lumber produced. In other words, for
a few years the forest will yield slightly more under ordinary
lumbering than it will under forest-management, because in
the latter case greater care is used, and many trees which
would otherwise fall at once must be allowed to stand. After
that time the revenue from forest-management will surpass
that from lumbering, and will go on increasing indefinitely,
while the returns from lumbering methods will as steadily
diminish. The profits will certainly pass their lowest point
during the first twenty years, and probably during the first ten.
Thereafter they will rise with the rise in prices and the grow-
ing productive capacity of the forest. Timber-land as produc-
tive as this, as safe from fire, and as accessible to the centres
of consumption by rail and water, is, in my judgment, one of
the best of long investments."

Mr. Pinchot recommends that this forest should be carefully
examined and mapped with a working plan made "with the
supposition that it will be best to cut over the same ground a
second time at an interval of from twenty-five to forty years."
Then he would "divide the forest into as many parts as there
were years in the period decided on, and assign the land most
in need of cutting to the first year, the second to the second
year, and so on ; but in such a way as to make the annual pro-
duction of timber as uniform as possible."

The forest managed in this way is expected " to yield a
steady annual return, which ought to constitute a fair rate of
interest on the investment," and " to increase the value of the
forest by favoring the better kinds of trees, so that the market
value of the land, as well as the return from the lumber, would
increase steadily from year to year."

In conclusion, Mr. Pinchot discusses Lumbering versus For-
estry, as follows : " The statement is often made that it is pos-
sible to lumber the same land a second and then a third time
at intervals of fifteen or twenty years, and get as good a cut

April 12, iSgj 1

r

Garden and Forest.

169

from it as at first. In exceptional cases this is true. Tlie proba-
bilities are, however, that tie second and third cuts were as
good as the first in a pecunnry way, and not otherwise, since
during the years which intervened the diameter of merchanta-
ble trees has steadily diminished, while the price of lumber
has increased. Forestry provides not merely for sustaining the
proportion of the more valuaLle woods, but for increasing it.

" The ordinary methods o£ Kjmbering are exceedingly care-
less of thp life of all the young ijrowth which may happen to
stand about th old trees. Such carelessness is not only de-
structive of the future value of i the forest, but also increases
the danger of fire by the presence of a quancity of dry sap-
lings which forest-management would have allowed to grow.
Young green trees are the gre^tjest protection a forest can have
against the spread of fire. Hence forest-management tends
distinctly to keep fire out, as compared with the methods of
ordinary lumbering.

"Lumbering yields a slightly larger revenue than forest-
management, but in the end falls far behind it. It increases
the danger from fire, tends to deprive the forest of its more
valuable timber and lowers its capital value. Forest-manage-
ment does none of these things."

Correspondence.

Concerning Raspberries.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I last year planted a small area of Raspberries, and
this spring they are hardly more than slender branches, which
trail over the ground to the length of five or six feet. Why do
they not stand erect ? They are planted on ordinary soil. Do
they need any special soil ? I am setting out some more ;
how far apart shall I place them, and how long will they last
in good bearing condition, if they ever reach such condition ?

Plainfield, N. J. S. A.

[Our correspondent has evidently planted Blackcaps,
which have a trailing habit during their first season's
growth. The growth this year will, no doubt, be stronger
and sufficiently erect. Space would be economized and
the plants would be more secure if the young canes were
staked and tied this year before they break down of their
own weight. The present plants are probably from one and
one-half to two feet high, with strong branches which run
over the ground, and these should be cut off to within a foot
or eighteen inches of the main stem. The new canes of this
year should be pinched off, say, three or four feet high, to
induce branching and prevent unwieldy growth. Black-
caps should have abundant room. Four and a half feet
apart in the row and the rows six feet apart is none too
-much space on good soil. Red Raspberries, or those
which are propagated from the roots, may be planted three
feet by four, and if mulched with stable manure the roots
will be kept cool and there will be less need of hoeing, and
vitality will be furnished. They should be kept clean,
however, and the plants topped in spring to about three or
four feet high, according to their vigor, and their branches
shortened in to six inches or one foot long. Some varieties
sucker inordinately. Three to four canes in a hill are
enough and the others should be removed as so many
weeds. Raspberries usually develop all their good qual-
ities in any ordinary soil if well cared for, although a light
sandy soil is not congenial to them. They readily respond to
liberal feeding. Blackcaps have usually done their best
when four or five years old, but Red Raspberries, if liberally
treated, will remain healthy and will last for many years.
— Ed.]

Tuberous Begonias.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — That disappointment with Tuberous Begonias is com-
mon is well known, as you state on page 136, and yet these
plants have few equals in usefulness, whether for greenhouse
or garden. The disappointments come in this case, as in
many others, because the wants of the plants have not been
understood. When first introduced, few florists or gardeners
had the courage to expose them to our burning suns and dry-
ing winds. A few, however, persevered in their cultivation

until the fact was established that they nbt only can endure,
but actually delight in our climate. The experience of last
season, which was one of the most severe in point of heat and
drought which we have ever known, proved this, and the dis-
play on Mr. Griffen's grounds near here last year excelled any-
thing I have ever seen in the low temperature and moist air of
England. The point to emphasize in regard to the cultivation
of these Begonias is that they must not be treated as ordinary
bulbs or tubers, but, so to speak, as plants. Amateurs have
been led to believe that the tubers could be kept dormant all
winter, like bulbs of Tigridia or Gladiolus, and then be planted
out in the same way in spring. This is the mistake which has
caused so much disappointment, for the tubers will not endure
so long a rest, and they cannot be exposed for much time to
the air without having their vitality impaired. They must be
kept in. dry earth or sand in the winter until they show signs of
growth, which will be as early as the ist of March, and they
should at once be started rapidly. After the eyes are devel-
oped the tubers may be divided, so that each eyfe will make a
plant ; then they are to be treated in all respects as greenhouse-
plants, and grown on steadily until the time for planting out,
which is not earlier here than the ist of June, since these Be-
gonias are sensitive to cold, but not to heat. By June the
plants will be six inches high and proportionately stocky, and
such plants will make a fine display all the season, no matter
how high the temperature may be. On Mr. Griffen's grounds
last year the strong plants which were first set out grew vig-
orously, while the young stock from seed, sown too late to
make strong plants, did not prove satisfactory. If Tuberous
Begonias are to be grown from seed the seed should be sown
early in January, and a greenhouse will be necessary. The
amateur, however, can start tubers in any window and grow
them on until time to set out.

Floral Park, N. Y. C. L. Allen.

Daphne Mezereum.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— The beautiful European shrub. Daphne Mezereum, is
apparendy becoming naturalized in certain parts of this con-
tinent. About a year ago a healthy plant, three feet high, was
found growing in Seneca Park, an extensive piece of land
bought by the Rochester Park Commissioners, situated on the
banks of the Genesee River, on the north side of the city. It
is not known how it came to be there as there are no cultivated
plants in that locality.

On the loth of August of last year, Mr. Cameron, the assist-
ant superintendent of Queen Victoria Park, showed me a large
number of shrubs of this Daphne growing in a wild state on
the Canadian side, in proximity to Niagara Horse Shoe Falls,
and covered with their scarlet fruit. They grew as freely as
the native Viburnums and Cornels around them. It would be
interesting to learn whether the shrub has been found else-
where growing wild.
Rochester, N. Y. John Dunbar.

Phajus X Gravesii.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — This new hybrid is the result of cross between Phajus
Wallichi and P. grandifolius. The seed was sown July 6, 1889,
came up December i, 1890, and bloomed February 12, 1893.
The general habit of growth and shape of spike and flower is
that of the seed parent; the flower is five inches across;
sepals and petals cinnamon color, with white reverses ; lip
pink-rose on front, with a white pencil-mark extending to
apex, the part enfolding the column white, stained with yellow
near the base ; column pure white. The name is complimen-
tary to H. Graves, Esq., of Orange, New Jersey.

Orange, N.J. Robert M. Grey.

Recent Publications.

The Rose. By H. B. Ellwanger. Revised edition. New York :
Dodd, Mead & Co.

It was ten years ago when this treatise first appeared, and it
at once took its place as the most accurate and valuable manual
on the subject that had ever been prepared. The author was
especially successful in his plan of grouping together Roses
belonging to certain types. This bringing together in separate
sections Roses which have in common a few marked charac-
teristics made a more convenient, classification in regard to
garden qualities than any that had before been devised. The
book was especially good, too, in its complete list of Roses
which were generally grown ; in the careful descriptions of

170

Garden and Forest.

[Number 268.

them; in the painstaking way in which their history had
been studied, and in the instructive notes on their value for
various purposes.

In his preface to the book Mr. Ellwanger stated that no manual
of Roses can ever be final, because not only new varieties, but
new classes and types of Roses, are constantly being produced
by the introduction of new blood. A noteworthy example of
this is seen in the recent hybridizing of the Sweet Brier with
well-known Hybrid Perpetual and olher garden Roses. Of
course, new diseases and new insect enemies, which must be
met and controlled, make their appearance almost every year,
and even in the cultivation of the flower which has been grown
for centuries, new methods, or modification of old methods,
are always on trial, and these will always furnish original mat-
ter for a new treatise. These considerations will suffice to
justify the revised edition of this work which has just been
published. In addition to the original matter, the book con-
tains an appendix, which was written by Mr. Ellwanger for
Tkt Century Magazine; it contains also an introduction by the
brother of the author, Mr. George H. Ellwanger ; while the
catalogue of varieties, which is brought down to last year, con-
tains one hundred and thirty-two more names than the origi-
nal, making 1,086 all told. Altogether, this is a book which can
be heartily commended, and which no grower or lover of
Roses can afford to be without.

Notes.

Galanthus Imperati is an Italian Snowdrop, in great favor for
its well-shaped pointed buds. It is one of the most robust and
largest-flowering of the family. Several forms have been dis-
tinguished in cultivation. A specimen of the still rare and ex-
pensive Atkins' variety, recently brought to this office by Mr.
Gerard, showed a bold flower, with the perianth about
an inch and a half long, and borne on a scape nearly a foot
tall.

Among the hardy plants wintered in cold frames at the nur-
series of Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, we found, on a recent visit
to Short Hills, Ins cristata, Bird's-foot Violets, Columbines,
Doronicums and many more in admirable flowering condition.
But the most interesting of all was the Iris Germanica, which
seems to delight especially in this treatment. Masses of these
plants placed in large pots last autumn and set in frames are
now very effective.

The comparatively new Azalea vervaeniana brought much
better prices in this city than any olher variety in the market
which was sold for Easter decoration. The plant was shown for
the first time in this country, we believe, by James Dean, at the
spring flower-show at Philadelphia, in 1891, when we spoke of
it as a very promising variety with double flowers, richly varie-
gated from white to deep crimson. It is very floriferous, and
small plants were entirely covered with blooms.

The English horticultural journals are speaking in praise of
the interesting appearance which a mass of many varieties of
Dog-tooth Violets are now making at Kew. There is no rea-
son why the various species and varieties, which are always
beautiful in form and many of them exquisite in color, should
not be more frequently seen In American gardens. They like
a little shade and a good peaty soil. The border of a Rhodo-
dendron bed Is just such a situation as they desire.

The advantages of pruning fruit-trees low, so as to bring the
heads near the ground, are summarized as follows, by Profes-
sor Rane, in a late bulletin of the West Virginia Experiment
Station. Low trees can be more easily pruned and their fruit
more easily gathered. They can be more conveniently sprayed,
and thus protected against insects and fungi, and are not so
liable to break down. The vigor which is required to build
up a trunk in a high-headed tree can be used to advantage by
the branches and fruit of a low-headed one.

Colonel A. W. Pearson, of Vineland, New Jersey, has grafted
on stocks of his Ironclad Grape about one thousand scions of
Black Hamburg, Muscat of Alexandria and other varieties of
the Eurojjean Grape. He has not done this with the view of
improving the Ironclad, which he still considers the most val-
uable wine-grape for his purposes, but he uses it as a founda-
tion for the scions of Vitis vinlfera, because it Is proof against
phylloxera, and he has perfect confidence that tlie European
Grapes can be grown to advantage if tlie copper compounds
are used to prevent mildew. The Ironclad Is a very vigorous
vine, and Colonel Pearson thinks that other vines grafted upon
this stock will improve in size and the time of their ripening
will be hastened.

According to Gartenflora, about fifty German horticulturists
have now signified their intention, to Exhibit at Chicago. The
Dresden Association of Florists vwill make a particularly Im-
portant display, having asked for ?oo square metres of covered
space for Camellias, and 300 for Azalea Indica, with 300 square
metres of outdoor space for Roses. One Dresden grower will
contribute 500 blossoming Azajjetis, and Herr Barth, of Pome-
rania, will send a fine colIecfio.v of Caladiums. Altogether,
Germany promises to rank third among the nations exhibiting,
as regards quantity, and it seems to be well content with the
spaces assigned, which incldde 100 square metres under the
great dome of the Horticultural Building.

One of the largest fruit-farms this side of the Rocky Moun-
tains, according to a recent bulletin of the West Virginia Ex-
periment Station, is to be found on the foot-hills of the Blue
Ridge in Jefferson County, of that state. In 1887 Becker
Brothers set out 33,000 Peach-trees, since which time eight
adjoining tracts have been added, until the fruit-farm com-
prises 2,400 acres in one body. The planters have not stopped
with Peaches alone, but they have a large area in Grapes,
Quinces and Cherries, besides American and Japanese Plums,
Apricots, Japan Persimmons, Nectarines, English Walnuts,
Italian Chestnuts and Paper-shell Almonds. It will be Inter-
esting to learn how well the soil and climate of West Virginia
is adapted to some of these fruits.

For more than a week there have been reports of forest-fires
in various parts of New Jersey, and a large area of the sandy
plains in which the Pitch Pine predominates has been burned
over. There is little good timber on these lands except the
White Cedar, in the swamps, and much of the so-called forest
is merely brush-land or charred Pine-tree stumps. Neverthe-
less, these lands are capable of yielding a good forest-growth.
The annual fires, however, come with such certainty that the
owners of such land have little encouragement to devote them
to forestry. These fires in New Jersey, as elsewhere, do much
damage besides the destruction of timber. They render tim-
ber-growing so uncertain that forward-looking men are de-
terred from venturing upon it, even as an experiment.

In an interesting article in the April number of the Overland
Monthly \\ is stated that Pampas Grass was first introduced into
the United States in 1848 from South America, where the area
covered by this Grass amounts to 1,500,000 square miles. The
plumes have been grown for market in California only since
1872. From one tract of twenty-eight acres in that state, and
managed by a woman, 260,000 plumes were sold in 1890. The
soil and cultural requirements are similar to those of Corn, but
as the female plants produce the best plumes, it is customary
to propagate by division of roots in order to secure these. No
plumes are borne the first year ; the second year one plant will
bear twenty-five plumes, the third year seventy-five, and for
three years following a hundred or more, when the plant de-
teriorates. In California the Grass grows to a height of twenty
feet, and a single stool attains an equal diameter. The prin-
cipal market for the plumes is in London and Hamburg. Of
three leading varieties Hayward is the largest. The standard
retail price for a long time was fifty cents a plume ; they now
retail for from ten to twenty cents each, the grower receiving
one cent for small plumes and two cents for the larger
ones.

During the Tulip mania which raged in Holland in the
seventeenth century, special marts for the sale of the
bulbs were opened in the mercantile exchanges of the
various cities. Speculators here bought them, In expec-
tation of a sudden rise or fall in prices, just as they buy
railroad stocks to-day ; and some were enriched to a de-
gree which now seems hardly credible when we consider
the character of their wares. Many persons converted
their whole property into cash for the sake of buying Tulips,
believing that tlie mania was destined to last forever, and to
spread all over the world ; and there was scarcely any one, how-
ever prudent and serious, who did not now and then take
what would to-day be called a " flyer," in Tulips. For a time
foreigners were wholly bitten by the Dutch craze, and to such
an extent that money flowed into Holland In unprecedented
streams. Indeed, In Paris and London, special marts, like
those of Holland, were established, and when Tulip-bulbs were
quoted in London at $1,000 each, Dutch cultivators naturally
felt rich and began to Indulge in many unaccustomed splen-
dors of living. When the mania gradually died out the reac-
tion was, of course, correspondingly great ; and truly it may
be said that never, before or since, has a commodity of such
small intrinsic value disturbed, to anything like the same de-
gree, the economic condition of a whole nation.

April 19, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

171

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office: Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by

Professor C. S. Sargent.

entered as second-class matter at the post office at new YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles :— The Adirondack Park 171

Tlie Gardens Surrounding the Taj 171

An Avenue of Elms. (With figure.) 172

Notes of Mexican Travel.— I C. C. Pritigle. 172

Maple-sugar: How the Quality Varies.— UI Timothy Whteler. 173

Foreign Correspondence:— London Letter W. Watson. 174

Cultural Department :— Notes on Varieties of Raspberries E. WitUams. 176

A Summer Greenhouse Professor W. F.Massey. 176

Amaryllis .L-'W^- ^- '''

The Spring Garden J- N. Gerard. 177

The Sidesaddle Flower W. F. Bassrtt. 177

Correspondence: — Hardy Rhododendrons Jitmes MacPkerson. 178

Cinerarias at the World's Fair E. J. Hill. 178

A Good Collection of Greenhouse Plants T. D. H. 179

A Woodsy Corner ".' ?"• '79

Recent Publications 179

Notes '^o

Illustration :— An Avenue of Elms in New England, Fig. 29 175

The Adirondack Pari.

THERE must have been some public interest in" the
woodlands of this state considerably more than half
a century ago, or Governor DeWitt Clinton would not have
sent a message to the Legislature in whiijh he insisted upon
the importance of sustaining the productive capacity of its
forests. This sentiment had grown so strong by 1S72 that
a commission, with Horatio Seymour at its head, was ap-
pointed to inquire into the expediency of legislation for
vesting in the state the title to the timbered Adirondack
region and converting it into a public park. It would have
been comparatively easy then to acquire these lands, but
public opinion was not ripe for the project, and as acre
after acre of the forest has disappeared, the difficulties in the
way of rescuing what remains have become greater and
greater. The bill drawn up with care by the commission
of '85 v\:as not adopted, and a substitute containing only a
few of its features was enacted, but the destruction of the
timber and the absorption of the land by various corpora-
tions and individuals has gone on as before. This imper-
fect scheme has now been superseded by another plan of
administering the state forest-lands, embodied in a bill to
which Governor Flower has just affixed his signature. How
much this will accf)mplish in the way of saving the rem-
nants of the North Woods depends largely on the intelli-
gence and the executive force of the forest-commission
just named. The measure is not such a one as has been
recommended by those who have given the most study to
the subject, but it may embody most of the protective pro-
visions which it is possible to enforce until public opinion
becomes more thoroughly educated. We have often ex-
pressed the opinion that a forest-tract which is such an
important factor in the welfare of the entire community as
the North Woods should belong to the community, and that
state ownership in fee-simple is, therefore, the only final
and satisfactory solution of the problems involved.

The first part of the act just passed relates to all the
forest-preserves throughout the state, but the important part
of the law is that concerning the Adirondack Park, which
sets apart certain townships in the counties of Hamilton,
Franklin, Herkimer, St. Lawrence and Warren to be held
in forest for the preservation of the chief rivers of the state
and its future timber-supply and for the free use of the peo-
ple for their health and pleasure. The state already owns
a half-million acres within the boundaries of this park, and
the novel feature of the bill is an effort to gain control of
about as much more land for park purposes, while leaving
it to be owned as it now is Ijy private individuals. The
proposed covenant is, that in return for the remission of
taxes on these lands by the state their owners shall contract
to refrain forever from removing any of the timber thereon
which is less than twelve inches In diameter at a height of
three feet above the ground, except that the owners have
the right of clearing for domestic purposes one acre in each
one hundred of forest-land covered by the contract. The
commissioners also have the authority to issue leases of not
more than five acres in one parcel for the erection of
camps or cottages under conditions prescribed by
them. They are also empowered to sell fallen timber
and timber "injured by blight or fire," and standing tim-
ber which shall measure twelve inches or more in diameter
three feet from the ground, the proceeds of which shall be
credited to the fund for purchasing other land within the
Adirondack Park. They have the power to sell portions of
the 250,000 acres of forest-land owned by the state without
the park and to apply the money thus received to the pur-
chase of land within the park, and they may exchange
directly state lands without the park for lands within its
boundary. Finally, they may buy lands within the park
and leave the present owners the privilege of cutting down
timber above the regulation size for fifteen years. This is
an attempt at the gradual acquisition by the state of land
which it is considered too expensive to take at once.

As we have said, the immediate value of this legislation
depends on the quality of the commission just appointed.
The power to lease tracts for camp-grounds and to make
compacts for a divided ownership of the land may result
in the establishment of many small parks which are practi-
cally private property, or in which the people have, at
most, but few rights. The privilege to sell large timber is
dangerous. If the proper method of cutting and transport-
ing this is not strictly prescribed and enforced, great,
damage may be done to the smaller trees. No doubt, it is
right for the state to sell its forest-products, for this is the
only legitimate revenue which can be expected from the
land. But this should only be done under the supervision
of trained foresters, and with such men in charge there
would be no need of fixing a limit to the size of the trees to
be cut. A skilled forest-master knows what trees to cut,
whether they are large or small, without any assistance
from the Legislature. In many instances, for example, it
would be advisable to thin out small trees of inferior
kinds to aid the growth of better kinds. For the present,
however, the restriction as to the diameter of timber felled
may be on the side of safety. It would be easy to criticise
other details of the act. But if a better law would fail of
enforcement, owing to the lack of enlightened popular
sentiment behind it, and if it is impossible to find men to
whose charge the forest can safely be entrusted, the proper
attitude now of all patriotic citizens is to encourage the
commissioners in well-doing as they deserve it, to watch their
conduct closely and point out mistakes of administration
when they are made, and to continue through the press and
otherwise to educate the people as to the vital importance
of this forest to them and their children, until they are
jealous of the slightest encroachment upon their right to
have it preserved and perpetuated.

According to the Kew Bulletin, the famous gardens sur-
rounding the Taj at Agra are in imminent danger of de-

172

Garden and Forest.

[Number 269.

struction, and have, indeed, already been grievously injured.
The marble tomb itself is one of the most famous struc-
tures in the world, and the gardens surrounding it, which
were laid out by the artists who built it, are equally cele-
brated, and have been praised by all travelers as charming
in themselves and exquisitely appropriate to their architec-
tural centre. Nevertheless, certain European vandals, ap-
parently calling themselves landscape-gardeners, have
ruined their chief feature, cutting: down nearly all the
great Mimusops, which, with a straight canal between
them, formed an avenue from the main gateway of the
garden to the tomb. And they have also pronounced
" the existing medley of shrubs on either side the canal
unsightly," and, says the London Siandard, commenting
upon the facts given in the Bulleiin, "would like some
cheerful carpet-bedding and some winding walks."

The Lieutenant-Governor would probably have been
shocked by a suggestion that the Taj itself should be
altered to bring it into accord with the taste or tastelessness
of modem England. But that its gardens are likewise a
work of art probably occurs to comparatively few persons
who visit them, even though their admiration for them may
be great Yet the Mahometan artists who built the Taj
knew this ; their garden was as carefully planned as the
structure to which it forms a fore-court and indispensable
setting. Indeed, structures of the class to which the Taj be-
longs, and among which it is the most beautiful, are spe-
cifically known as "garden-tombs."' Such a place was
prepared during the life-time of the potentate whose body
it was to enshrine ; while he lived its gardens were used
as a pleasure-ground, and after his death as a place of pious
pilgrimage. Thus, shorn of its gardens, the Taj would no
longer represent either the beliefs and customs of the peo-
ple who built it or their artistic ideals. We may say, in-
deed, rather that the Taj is the central feature of these
gardens than that they are its environment. And to say
this means, of course, that any tampering with them is an
artistic crime. Probably they have fallen from their original
estate of beauty in many ways ; but it seems that the most
ignorant gardener or ofWcial should feel that, if anything is
done to them, it must be in the way of restoring them to
their pristine estate— not of introducing alien elements,
whether beautiful or ugly in themselves. Certainly the
English critics of Indian mal-administration are right when
they say that plants not native to the soil should be kept
away from them. In a modern garden, whether in Eng-
land or in India, exotics may be desirable; but in an
ancient garden, wrought by men who could not use foreign
material because they had small means of getting it, exotics
are in every respect out of place. The imported Cycads
and Eucalypti, which are now spoken of as probable sub-
stitutes for the trees which have been destroyed, would be
as inappropriate in the gardens of the Taj as a cast of the
Venus of Milo beneath its dome. And even the Venus of
Milo would seem offensive to a sensitive eye in a place
where her aesthetic type and the associations it excites
would be out of harmony with everything around her.

O^

An Avenue of Elms.

kNE of the characteristic features of New England land-
scape appears in the illustration on page 175, repre-
senting an avenue shaded by American Elms, with their
branches forming a Gothic arch over the path beneath. From
its graceful habit of growth no tree is better adapted for this
purjjose. While affording sufficient shade, it still leaves a
wide and unobstructed view along the way it shadows, and pro-
duces at all seasons an architectural effect of permanent
beauty by the arched interlacingsof the great bending boughs.
In all the older villages of New England these rows of Elms
glorify the village street and strike tlie stranger as singularly
beautiful. Sometimes there is a double row, with a wide,
gra.ssed space between, making even a more imposing and
cathedral-like effect, asof a vast nave tlanked by columnssup-
porting a groined and vaulted roof. The tender wreathings
of small branches and leaves about the massive trunks
«till further suggest the fanciful carvings of the Gothic

architect, and indicate the source that inspired his fertile
fancy. Nothing can be more pleasing and playful than tlie
way Nature fantastically weaves about the rugged and sliaggy
stems this graceful garniture of Ihittering leaves and cluster-
ing twigs, which give the last touch of perfection to the beau-
tiful picture. " The openness of the foliage permits glimpses
of the sky, while flecks of sunshine, straying through the
leaves, encourage the growth of grass and Howers up to the
roots of the trees. In the picture the nodding heads of Dan-
delions gone to seed are seen, and along the pathway the sun-
light emphasizes the dancing shadows of the lightly moving
leaves above.

An avenue of Elms is never sombre, however cool and
shadowy it may be. It does not shut out the light and air, but
merely tempers them. In winter the intricate tracery of twigs
is revealed and is of itself a beautiful sight. The massive shaft
bursts into a sheaf of springing boughs, which again break
into a shower of brandies, with a spray of twigs. The tree
suggests a fountain in its manner of growth, particularly when
swathed and dripping with snow or ice, and the aspect of one
of these aisles on a glittering, frosty morning is of fantastic
loveliness.

Who is there of New England birth to whom the Elm-
shaded way is not a vivid memory ? As the wanderer returns
to his home the first sight of the village street, with its leafy
canopy, thrills him with its familiar charm. However simple
the dwellings that border it, the sight of that accustomed way
is beautiful, and dear the roof-tree for which he has longed
during his pilgrimage, and to it he returns with a deep and
satisfied sense of unchanged beauty. Experience and travel
dwarf many things to the mature eye, so that a home-coming,
after a far journey, is not without its shadow of disappoint-
ment; but, wherever one may roam, whatever visions may
have satiated his eye, the sight of the Elm-shaded paths of
New England can never disappoint one of her returning chil-
dren.

Notes of Mexican Travel. — I.

IN SAN LUIS POTOSI.

'pHROUGH eight successive summers spent in Old Mexico,
*■ extensively traveling over her table-lands and lowlands,
diligently exploring the vegetation of her plains and moun-
tains, her desert- regions and her lake-regions, her rich valleys
and her high mountain-peaks, her tropical forests and her sub-
alpine forests, her frightful box cafions and her grand river
barrancas full of tropical growths, the charm of those regions
has grown upon me, the fascination of the work has bound
me more and more. There is exhilaration in the clear air of
the Mexican table-lands ; there is delight in living under those
clear tropical skies. In its outline on the map a cornucopia,
Mexico is a veritable horn of plenty to many. To the sight-
seer it is full of wonderful and inexhaustible interest. As he
passes from state to state the scene is constantly shifting. The
phases assumed by nature vary in the extreme, and the people
and their dwellings show wide differences. To the sportsman
it offers hunting-grounds illimitable ; to the invalid or the aged
it furnishes a climate almost perfect, where extremes of tem-
perature are unknown, where life may be prolonged in com-
fort ; to the enterprise of the age it offers virgin fields for de-
velopment ; to the naturalist rich fields for exploration, not to
be exhausted till after long years of patient toil.

As our continent narrows in its southward trend, its surface
rises from the plains of Texas and New Mexico into the cooler
strata of the upper air. Hence the plains of the Mexican
plateau are from 5,000 to 8,000 feet over sea-level. Every-
where above these, at irregular intervals, rise mountain-
chains, which are usually 3,000 to 5,000 feet higher, and whose
direction is generally that of the continent, from north-west to
south-east. In northern Mexico these seldom exceed 10,000
feet elevation, but in the south they culminate in several peaks
from 15,000 to nearly 18,000 feet high. It is only in the north
that snows may be expected on the mountains during two or
three winter months, and where the intervening plains may be
whitened for a day or two at a time. To the south of the cen-
tral states a snowfall is rare and frosts are light, except at the
greater heights. Thus lifted above the heat of the tropics,
though lying under the tropic, and by its southerly situation
secluded from boreal cold, the plateau of south Mexico pos-
sesses an equable climate, where summer, with its sweltering
heats, and winter, with its bitter cold, are eliminated from the
cycle of the seasons, till only spring-time and autumn seem to
remain. Spring begins with the rains in May or June; and,
while the rains (daily thunder-storms occurring in the after-
noon) continue, the course of vegetation goes on with a rush,
as with us in June. With the closing of the rainy season in

ApkiL Jg, 1893. j

Garden and Porest.

m

October and the rapid drying upot the country andswift ripen-
ing of tlie vegetation that follows, autumn conies quickly in.
It is a golden and flowery autumn, and it lasts unchanged
throughout all the winter months of the calendar — every day
the same luminous sunlight suffusing the landscape, the same
serene skies, the same clear air, always by day a genial warmth
without, always trees and shrubs and perennial herbs to be
found in flower.

Amid the delights of such a climate have I lived and worked,
tramping over plains or climbing mountains in August with-
out knowing discomfort from heat, and making my bed on
the earth under the open sky in December without suffering
cold, the while my northern friends have been commiserating
me upon spending my summers in the torrid zone, or upon
my lingering in the field after winter had set in.

Since reporting to Garden and Forest on the forest-
flora of Nuevo Leon, I have kept my base chiefly in the city
of San Luis Potosi. No city was more renowned than this in
the days of Spanish occupation and treasure-hunting. Charles
v.. Emperor of the Indies, as well as King of Spain, bestowed
upon it the name Potosi, The Rich and Wonderful, in ac-
knowledgment of plates of silver from its mines. And Scott
sings, in his " Vision of Don Roderick," of "ingots of ore from
rich Potosi borne." Ages ago her mines were lost beneath a
subsidence of the mountain ; but compensation returns to
San Luis to-day, when she is selected, as is fitting, for the
location of an immense smelter, to be fed with oreirom mines
of states far and near.

Here, at San Luis, intersect the two principal railroad lines
of the country, the Mexican Central and the Mexican National ;
and by the courtesy of these roads I was enabled to make trips
in several directions into neighboring states and thus to cover
much ground. A district could be revisited for a week or a
month at favorable seasons ; and detriment from drought or
other causes could be avoided by a change of field. In San
Luis, if anywhere, could be found sunshine and a dry atmos-
phere for drying off my collections and 'lor safely storing
them.

The city of San Luis Potosi is situated on a plain in the dry
interior of the plateau, and at an elevation of 6,000 feet above
sea-level. Its parks and suburban gardens are shaded almost
solely by the Mexican Ash and the Pepper-tree, Schinus
moUe. All about the outskirts of the city we see, where the
gray adobe garden walls end, the Organ Cactus, with its erect,
dark green stems, fifteen feet high, planted in close lines for
a garden-barrier. Within the gardens, huge, awkward plants
of the Prickly Pear crowd upon the Apples, Pears, Peaches,
Quinces, Pomegranates and other fruit-trees. Spreading Grape-
vmes, with luxuriant Morning Glories, make shade about the
houses. Around the doors, in garden-beds and in pots, grow
old-fashioned flowers. Beyond the patches of Onions, of Let-
tuce, of Cabbages, and of Peppers, are always the ampler plats
of Alfalfa, set in regular lines. Excepting the Cactuses, all
growths within these gardens are dependent upon irrigation —
therefor the well, centrally located, and the two tall well-
sweeps, bending over it, side by side. Before the well,
throughout the warm, dreamy summer days, two men stand,
side by side, theirswarthy bodies naked to the waist. We see
their rapid, dexterous motions as they bend to their toil, and
hear the monotonous creaking of the sweeps and the swash
of the water as it falls into the irrigating channels from their
buckets.

Beyond the gardens, sometimes alternating with them, be-
gin the plantations of the Maguey, Agave Americana, whose
juice, either in the fresh state, as pulque, or distilled, as nnes-
cal, constitutes the chief drink of the people. On both sides
of the narrow lanes running back into the country, ditches are
dug, the earth being thrown upon the edge of the fields. On
the bank thus formed a closely set lineof Maguey-plants makes
a most effectual cheval de. frise. Within the fields the plants
are set in squares, eight to twelve feet apart. The regularity
with which the plants are arranged, and their bluish green
color, make a plantation of Magueys a unique spectacle. But
it soon becomes a familiar sight as we travel southward from
San Luis and find much of the best land, plain, valley and hill-side,
quite to the limits of the table-land, devoted to this crop. And
familiar, too, becomes the sight of the pulque gatherer, suck-
ing the juice from the excavation in the cro*n of the plant by
means of a long, tapering gourd, and from that transferring it
to a pig-skin sack, carried on his back by means of a strap
passed over his forehead.

Owing to its location in the arid region, San Luis Potosi is
the centre of Prickly Pear growing, and the chief point of ship-
ment of this important fruit. Large areas of mesa land, some-
what elevated it may be and rocky, are covered with the gro-

tesque forms of this plant ten to twenty feet high. From July
until December, in the streets of the city, piles of the fruit
under awnings, and booths of sacking and mats are exposed
for sale by the poorer class. Besides wild species of poor
quality, there are of the planted species, Opuntia Ficus-Indi-
cus, several varieties, all named, varying in size, form and
color. Their colors are various shades of green, yellow and
purple. Until I came to San Luis to live, I supposed the tuna
a plebeian fruit ; but here I found that some of the sorts are
delicious and refreshing, well adapted to our needs in so dry a
climate. It is a fact that upon this plant hangs the existence
of the lowest class and of their animals. Though the rain fail
to come year after year, the tuna crop is never lacking. The
younger joints of the stem also serve as food for the people,
when cooked, and almost any part is eaten with avidity hv
donkeysand cattle, especially after the spines have beensing'^'l
off by fire.

Beyond the Maguey fields and Tuna fields rises, a few miles
to the west of San Luis, a low range of mountains butscantil)
wooded ; and some fifteen miles to the south-west is a loftier
group, rugged in the extreme with crags and pinnacles and
box cafions. Inasmuch as these mountains were the favorite
tramping-ground of Dr. Schaffner, who lived in San Luis some
years ago, and whose grave is there, and as Drs. Parry and
Palmer, also, in 1878, worked this region, I chose to give my
attention to other districts.

My chief object in locating in San Luis in the spring of 1890
was to work the country between that point and Tampico, on
the Gulf of Mexico, a region then just opened to travel by the
completion of a branch of the Mexican Central. Thedistance
by railroad from San Luis to Tampico is 275 miles. The de-
scent from the city to the sea is constant, passing down suc-
cessive benches of the verge of the plateau. Mountain-ranges
intervene, but no point on the line is so high as the city on the
plain. This comparatively short run takes us through regions
of remarkably diverse character. Of course, the vegetation
changes with the elevation, soil and climate.

These regions I explored with one faithful and hardy assist-
ant through many weeks of two summers, having San Luis as
our base, and making free use of the friendly train. Carrying
with us our supplies for the trip, we alighted at some promis-
ing point, walked sometimes from station to station, often
pushed back from the railroad as far as practicable, lay down
in our mackintoshes to sleep where night overtook us, some-
times in a cave or railroad-tunnel, but oftener in the open, not
rarely in the rain, sometimes on a shelf of a dizzy mountain-
side, sometimes on an alkaline desert, and sometimes, fortu-
nately, under a sheltering tree. Wherever we traveled, and
we explored the entire line, we met with as many strange
plants as we could manage. When we had collected heavy
loads of these, fatigued with toil in the heat of the lowlands
and wet with their daily rains, we welcomed the returning
train, and rode back to San Luis by night to dry out there our
collections. In no other way could those difficult regions be
successfully worked. The botanical interest which attaches
to them is attested by the discovery of more than seventy new
species there, of which five are arborescent. „ ^ „ .

Charlotte, vt. C. G. PringU.

Maple-sugar: How the Quality Varies. — III.

I HAVE said that Maple-trees vary much in the quality and
quantity of the sap they yield. When New England was a
wilderness — uncleared — about one to one and a half per cent,
of sugar was found in the sap, so that two pails, or thirty-two
quarts of sap, yielded a pound of sugar, while now, with our
lands so cleared up and the trees scattered, we have on an
average three and a half per cent, of sugar in the sap, sixteen
quarts of which make a pound of sugar. In my early expe-
rience in sugaring, sap would start out with a stream, while
nowadays this rarely occurs. The sap then was thin and
watery, while now it is more dense with sugar.

Trees on high lands yield a better sugar than those on low
lands. Trees standing on low lands, in soil which is moist,
dark and mucky, will give much sap, but it will be poor in
quality, and the sugar and syrup made from it will be dark in
color and scant in quantity. The richer the soil is naturally
the darker are the products. The poorer the soil is naturally
the whiter and purer are the syrup and sugar.

For the benefit of those unacquainted with sugar-making,
and especially those living in cities, it should be said that the
lighter the color of the sugar the niore pure it is. This is also
true of syrup. From a chemical standpoint maple-sugar is a
clear white, like pure cane-sugar. The chemist, in his labora-
tory, can detect no difference between pure maple and cane-

174

Garden and Forest.

[Number 269.

sugar. Many purchasers in cities think that maple-sugar is
adulterated in proportion to its light color; this is a mistake.
I have heard of instances where sugar has been returned on
the supposition that it was adulterated because it was so light-
colored. The dark color of the sugar and syrup is taken as
evidence of its purity, while actually the reverse is true — that
is, the color is caused by impurities, natural or artificial.

The darker sugar is the more pronounced in its taste, and
our city people think this is the genuine maple flavor. But
really this taste is wholly due to impurities, natural; perhaps,
but something besides sugar. Pure sugar is without smell or
flavor, being simply sweet.

The more uneven, rocky and ledgy the land, and the drier
the soil, except where cold springs abound, the better are the
products of the Maple. Trees standing in or near cold springs
will discharge the most and the sweetest sap. I am acquainted
with one tree standing by a spring, seven quarts of whose sap
will make a pound of nice white sugar. The richness of this
sap will be realized when it is remembered that it takes sixteen
Quarts of average sap to make a pound. The Black Maple is
the richest for sap of any variety.

Our poorest sugar-orchards give us about two pounds of
sugar to the tree, while our best ones yield five and six pounds
a tree. I have heard of a few extra orchards yielding seven,
eight and ten pounds to the tree, and one extraordinary one
that has yielded sixteen pounds a tree. The quantity of sugar
thatcan be made from single trees in one season of six weeks
at most will depend on many circumstances. The more
spouts put into a tree the more sap is obtained and the more
sugar is made. From the tree already referred to as standing
near a cold spring there were made thirty and three-quarter
pounds in one season, with two spouts, which emptied into
the same tub. They were set in holes bored one and a half
inches deep with a three-eighths bit. Another tree I have
known yielded thirty pounds, and a third twenty-eight. Still
another tree was tapped with ten spouts, and fifty pounds of
sugar were made, but it killed the tree.

As a general rule, trees should not be bored over an inch
and a half deep, and small trees but half an inch deep. It
should be remembered that the best sap lies in the outer layers
of the trees, so that the shallower we bore the whiter the
products. Again, I have found, by a large number of experi-
ments, that sap varies in quantity, quality, taste, color and
density in different parts of the same tree. 1 have made sev-
eral grades of su^ar from a single tree in one day. I have
tapped trees at various distances from the ground up to thirty-
eight feet from the ground, and down on roots fifteen feet
from the base of the trunk, and madesugar from all these places.
I have also tapped up to six inches in depth, makingsugarfrom
the first two inches, from the second two, and from the third —
that is, from the fifth and sixth inches in depth — and twice as
much sap from the deepest bore was required to make the
same amount of sugar that was needed from the first two
inches. The sugar, too, was very dark. The best and lightest-
colored sugar is made from sap coming from the white, or sap-
wood, and the darkest-colored product comes from the sap of
the duramen, or darker heart-wood.
Waterljury Centre, Vi. Timothy Wheeler.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

AucuBA Japonica kructu-albo is a plant of considerable
interest It was shown last week by Messrs. Paul & Son,
Cheshunt, and was awarded a first-class certificate. In
every character it resembles the type, but the berries, in-
stead of being colored bright crimson, are ivory-white. At
Kew the Aucuba is a fine feature outside, large beds of it
being frequent, and as the male plants are plentiful there
is always a good crop of berries. In my opinion, a well-
berried Aucuba here is one of the handsomest of hardy
shrubs. This white-berried variety ought to prove a valu-
able plant, if it is as hardy and fruits as freely as the type.
In English gardens it frequently happens that the Aucuba
as a berry-bearing plant is unknown, owing to the absence of
one of the sexes. A single plant of the male in an ordinary
garden is sufficient to produce berries on a large number
of female bushes.

Magnolia stellata. — A pink-tinted variety of this beau-
tiful little hardy, early-flowering shrub was exhibited last
week by .Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, along with flowers of the
type for comparison. It was awarded a certificate. The

same firm showed some beautiful little specimens of your
North American Fringe-tree, Chionanthus Virginica, in pots,
and wreathed in pure white flowers, and they were a reve-
lation to many who were acquainted with this useful, hardy
shrub, but had no idea of its beauty and value when treated
as a pot-plant and slightly forced.

ScHizocoDON soLDANELLOiDES, the Japanese representative
of Shortia, was again shown by Captain Torrens, who in-
troduced it two years ago and sent it in flower to Kew last
year, where a figure of it was prepared for publication in
the Botanical Magazine. It is a pretty little Alpine plant, the
pan shown being so effective as to gain a first-class certifi-
cate. A plant of it in the Kew collection has thriven under
the same treatment as suits Shortia galacifolia, which, as
well as the Schizocodon, is now flowering in the Alpine
house.

SciLLA SiBiRiCA, van Ai.BA. — The white variety of S. bifolia
is now fairly well known, but we have not possessed a
white form of the equally beautiful S. Sibirica till now, and
for this we are indebted to Messrs. De Graaf, of Leiden,
who exhibited flowering specimens of it this week and se-
cured for it a certificate. The flowers are as large as those
of the type and of the purest white.

LiLiuM LONGiFLORUM, var. FoRMosANUM, has stood the win-
ter outside at Kew and is now pushing up strong stems.
I have before recommended this rare Lily as being one of
the handsomest of the L. longiflorum set, and now that it
has proved hardy its meri{sas a garden-plant may be called
exceptional. In this respect it is superior to all the Indian
forms, such as L. Philippinense, L. Wallichianum and L.
Nepalense.

LiLiUM Henryi. — An importation of eighty bulbs of this
new Chinese Lily was sold by auction in London a few
days ago. The catalogue described it as follows : Lilium
Henryi, a beautiful new Lily, now offered for the first
time for sale. It was received from Dr. Henry, at Kew,
in 1889, and has flowered every year since, and this year
has been well grown in the open air. This new Lily has
been aptly described as a yellow-flowered L. speciosum, a
correct comparison, as the shape and general expression of
the flowers recall vividly to mind that species. It is quite
new, and flowered for the first time in England in the Royal
Gardens, Kew, in August, 1889, but it was not until the
present season that its value and beauty were strikingly
revealed. It is named in compliment to Dr. Augustine
Henry, who discovered it in China, and in the Botanical
Magazine, i. T\'n, an illustration is given. It grows be-
tween three feet and four feet in height, its leaves pointed
and deep green, the largest, which are about eight inches
in length, being at the bottom, as they decrease in size
toward the apex of the stem. The flowers have a marked
likeness to L. speciosum, having the same reflexing, lanceo-
late segments, and the raised papilla; on the surface. Kach
stem carries about eight flowers, which are bright yellow,
distinct and pleasing, in bold relief to the red-brown spots
near the base. On first expansion they measure about
seven inches across, but this is reduced as the segments
curl back.

All lovers of the Lily are familiar with L. speciosum, its
variety Kraitzeri, and other delightful forms, and will there-
fore welcome this new acquisition to that type. As far as
we know it has no peculiar dislikes, exhibiting no special
difficulties in cultivation, but promising to become a thor-
oughly good hardy garden Lily. It will, doubtless, by rea-
son of its scarcity, be long before it has-established itself in
English gardens ; but its position is assured.

Flowers of the Riviera. — This was the title of a paper
read at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society
by Monsieur Henry Vilmorin, and it was quite appropriate
for the season here, since the weather in March has been
quite as mild as that of the Riviera. High-class gardening
has long been a feature of the principal towns on the
northern shores of the Mediterranean, where nature favors
flower-culture to such a degree as to make the production
of almost all kinds of choice flowers in midwinter and early

April 19, 1893.)

Garden and Forest.

175

Fig. 29.— Aii Avenue ot Elms in New England.— See page 178.

176

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBfiR 269.

spring comparatively easy. The cultivation of flowers
there is consequently now an important and growing in-
dustry, enormous quantities of all kinds being distributed
from thence to the principal towns in Europe, and more
especially to France and the United Kingdom. Hitherto
comparatively little glass has been used, the principal
plants cultivated being such as grow in the open air and
flower early, such being Anemones, Narcissi, Roses, Tulips,
Hyacinths, Freesias, Carnations, Pinks, Marguerites, Al-
lium, Gladioli, etc. The Acacias, which luxuriate in some
of the districts on the Riviera, are made to supply an enor-
mous quantity of flowers annually, tons of flower-branches
of A. dealbata being distributed by rail almost daily in
January and February, the price being about two pounds a
hundredweight. A. cultriformis, A. floribunda and A. longi-
folia are also grown largely. Several species of Eucalyptus,
particularly E. robustus and E. globulus, are cultivated for
the sake of their flowers, the heavily laden branches being
cut and sent to market, where they find a ready sale. A
list of all the more important plants grown for market on
the Riviera will be published with the paper in the journal
of the society. Many of the plants which are wild, or have
become naturalized there, are made the source of a consid-
erable revenue, such being Anemone fulgens and A. coro-
naria, Iberis Gibraltarica, Violets, Lachenalia, Mignonette,
Arctotis aspera, etc.

Roses are grown everywhere on the Riviera, railway
banks, houses, fences, tree-stumps, and all other suitable
places being utilized for them, and there is abundant de-
mand for all their flowers. Those kinds of which Safrano
and the Banksian may be taken as the type are most fa-
vored, as their long buds are easily packed and keep intact
longer, and these varieties flower in winter when the
warmth is scarcely sufticient for such sorts as Lamarque
and Gloire de Dijon. Marechal Neil is also largely grown,
but only as a pot-plant, to be started early under glass. The
flowers are sent by rail at favored rates, and they are deliv-
ered in London in less than forty-eight hours and in about
half that time in Paris. IMonsieur Vilmorin referred to the
valuable work done by Mr. Hambury in his garden at Men-
tone, where he gets together and cultivates all possible
kinds of plants, which any one may inspect and turn the
knowledge thus gained to practical account.

London. W- WatSOU.

Cultural Department.

Notes on Varieties of Raspberries.

THIRTY years ago the principal Rasplierries in cultivation
were the Hudson River Antwerp, Brinkle's Orange, Belle
de Fontenay, Falstaff and Purple Cane. Besides a few Black
Caps, the Hudson River Antwerp was the principal berry to be
found in the New York markets, the finer varieties which re-
quire special protection during the winter being only grown
for family use. The introduction of the Philadelphia about
the year 1864 encouraged the hope that a productive and hardy
red variety had been secured which was adapted to general
market use, and by means of extensive advertising it was
widely planted. It proved hardy and productive, according to
the claim, although of rather disappointing quality to people
of exacting taste, but it supplied a want among the masses at
prices which they could afford to pay.

The introduction of this plant was truly the beginning of the
boom in Raspberry-culture, and its success stimulated the
production of new varieties and the bringing forward of old
ones whose merits, it was claimed, had been overlooked. One
of these, the Franconia, was tested extensively, but it was
found adapted only to limited areas, and was no hardier than
others of its class. Antwerps seem to thrive only along the
Hudson River, while the Philadelphia appeared at home
everywhere. The awakened desire for something earlier and
better soon brought forth the Highland Hardy, Rhode Island,
Brandywine, Reliance, Early Prolific, Hansel, Elm City, Clark,
Lindley, Herstein, Sanders, Crimson Beauty, Superb, Lost
Rubies, Hornet, .Montclair, Cuthbert, Marlborough, Turner
and many more among the red kinds, with Gunargua,
Rochelle and Shaffer's Colossal among the purples ; Doolittle,
Seneca, Davison's Thornless, Souhegan, Miami, Mammoth
Cluster, Ohio, Carman, Ada, Gregg, Progress and others

among the blacks, and still they come year after year. Many
of the red ones named were larger and better than the Phila-
delphia, but they are adapted only to special localities, and,
with the exception of Superb and Montclair, they were not en-
tirely hardy.

The Cuthbert, soon after its introduction, was disseminated
widely by means of extensive advertising, although it was a
late berry. The prominence given to its other qualities put
this fact in the background, and it has been, perhaps, the most
popular of red berries for some years. The Marlborough, an
earlier berry, was introduced to meet the objection to the
Cuthbert, and has since then been largely planted, and the two
varieties have been the only ones to make any excitement
since the days of the Philadelphia. Neither of them ranks with
Clark, Antwerp, Franconia or Brinkle's Orange in quality.
Caroline is a fair substitute for the latter in quality and color.
Though undersized, it is productive, delicate in flavor and
hardy, but neither of these berries is adapted for other than
family use. The widespread prevalence of galls and knots on
the roots of the Cuthbert are beginning to tell against its popu-
larity. The disease may trouble other red varieties, but if so,
it is not so noticeable. The Marlborough, too, seems to be
diseased also, although at the last meeting of the New Jersey
State Horticultural Society there was a report from a field of
this variety which had been planted ten years, and is still pro-
ductive and promising. I have been compelled to abandon
Marlborough, and have reduced the number of my Cuthberts,
not only because of disease, but partly because the berries are
too acid for my taste. I have increased my plantation of
Montclair because I like the berry and the plant is well adapted
(o my soil and suits our market. It was troubled a few years
ago by a fungus, but I have hopes that the Bordeaux mixture
will prevent its reappearance. Among recently introdticed
kinds are Early Prize and Early Prolific, sentoutby Mr. Thomp-
son, of Virginia. They are productive and of fair quality, but
too small, and the plants reproduce themselves inordinately.

Among the Black Caps I have found no great advance for
thirty years. Doolittle, Davison and Souhegan have not been
surpassed. Mammoth Cluster was a little larger than its pre-
decessors, and the Gregg larger still, so that in size it leads all
the others. It is deficient, however, in quality. Kansas is no
better than Gregg, while Turner, Progress and Lovett's are no
better than many others. All the Black Caps make a brave
show in the first crop, after which the berries diminish in size
very generally. If we could secure a berry with the quality of
Souhegan or Carman and the size of Gregg, with perfect hardi-
ness, we should have all that can be reasonably hoped for.
Perhaps some of the new candidates will fulfill this require-
ment ; at all events I am confident that this perfect berry will
come sooner or later. None of the small fruits have been so
neglected by scientific hybridizers as the RaspVjerry, and none
offer a better field for experiment. If some of our agricultural
experiment stations were to attack this problem with a definite
purpose and breed for certain well-known characteristics,
there is little doubt that progress would be made.

Among the novelties offered now is Superlative, a foreign
variety, which Ellwanger & Barry pronounce hardy in Roches-
ter, and a great advance on all existing sorts of this class.
Royal Chruch, offered by C. A. Green, is a large, handsome
berry of American origin, which also is highly praised, but
which still needs the test of time. Some of our old varieties
may have a new value if the copper sulphate will rid them of
the rust and blight which affect their foliage. It may be that
the lack of hardiness in winter in some varieties is due to the
weakening by disease in summer, and therefore the spraying
nozzle may help to give us hardy plants. „ ,,,.,,.

M.,ntclai.-, N.J. E. IVtlliams.

A Summer Greenhouse.

BY a summer greenhouse I do not mean the usual glass-
house, though that may be made attractive all summer
with blooming Gloxinias, Achimenes, Tuberous Begonias and
other plants. I refer to a cheaper structure that any one can
build. While many plants require protection from the sun
during the summer, the shade of trees is usually unsatisfac-
tory. The seeds of coniferous trees cannot be successfully
grown without shade. Celery-plants need shade, and Violets
carried over summer for winter-blooming are much more
healthy when kept in pots in a shady place than when planted
out in full sunshine. In this latitude even the Zonal Gera-
niums do better in pots in a shady place, for while at the north
these Geraniums are the best of bedding-plants, they are un-
satisfactory here ; our summer deluges spoil the llowers, and
the hot sun destroys the foliage.
A dense uniform shade is always objectionable for plants

April 19, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

177

which require to be shielded from the sun. Our summer
greenhouse is built in span-roofed shape, with sides six feet
high ; both the sides and roof are of laths, nailed an inch apart.
A flat top is just as good, but is unsightly, and if the house is
wide is apt to sag. Door-ways in the ends open to a central
walk. On the west side a step-stage accommodates large
plants in pots. The east side has a bed of rich soil for grow-
ing evergreen seedlings, Celery, etc. In one corner a bed of
sifted coal-ashes accommodates pots of Violets. Many years
ago I adopted the plan of dividing up Violets in April and set-
ting the young plants in three-inch pots under shade for the
summer. I have never had any disease in Violets treated in
(his way, and have always found clumps grown in the open
ground all summer to be diseased. Such a structure can be
made very attractive and ornamental in any garden if built of
neatly dressed materials and painted. Hanging pots and bas-
kets of Achimenes will make it gay, and the pots of hard-
wooded greenhouse-plants will find here a congenial summer
home. Many species of Orchids will pass the summer here
in a more healthy condition than under glass, and the gardener
will always find it a comfortable place in which to work when
it is too hot in the open garden. The gleams of clear sunlight
alternating with shade give the most wholesome conditions
for the plants, and there is no drawing up and etiolation as
under heavily shaded glass.

For all that has been said of the bedding-out qualities of the
tuberous Begonias, they are sorry-looking objects here in full
sunshine ; in a lath-covered house the plants produce flowers
almost as perfect as those grown under shaded glass. For the
very highest development of these flowers, however. I prefer
the glass. I have seen pictures of fields of tuberous Begonias
growing out in the north and in England, but I have never
seen a good plant bedded out in the south. While the various
sorts of Coleus are usually grown only for summer bedding,
and serve this purpose admirably, I confess to a fancy for
growing specimen Coleus in pots, and in such a structure the
size and color of their leaves are a revelation to those wholiave
only seen these plants grown out-of-doors. The lath-screened
structure is as essential to a well-ordered garden in summer
as the greenhouse is in winter. ,„ „ ,,

RaleiKh, N. c. W- F. Massey.

Amaryllis.

THERE are few places in America where the showy and
useful kinds of Amaryllis, which flower in spring and
early summer, receive the attention and prominence which
they deserve. The reasons why they should become popular
are many. Apart from an annual repotting in spring, they
need very little attention besides watering, for after the flow-
ering period is past we place them m cold frames to grow all
summer, and they mature both the foliage and bulbs thor-
oughly in the frames and are stored away in the greenhouse
under the benches all winter until signs of growth appear in
spring. Re-potting is always done before leaf-growth has
advanced, as the leaves are very liable to be injured when
young, and if bruised they need staking to preserve their nor-
mal habit. The chief hindrance to the making of a collection of
Amaryllis is the first cost, bulbs of choice varieties being very
expensive, and those of common varieties, from which the
good ones have all been selected, are by no means cheap ;
but there is one way in which one can get together a very in-
teresting lot of plants, and that is, to raise them from seeds.
Some may say that it takes too long to bring them to a flower-
ing size, but I have found by actual comparison that it takes
quite as long to establish a dry imported bulb, such as are sent
here in the fall, without roots, as to sow seeds and flower the
bulbs. We are now flowering a nice lot of bulbs from seeds
sown in November, 1890. The seeds of Amaryllis are pecu-
liar in structure and lose their vitality quickly and should be
obtained as soon as ripe, about midsummer, from a specialist
who supplies seed, and when received should be sown at once
in a warm greenhouse. A packet containing sixty seeds was
sown June 30th last, and we have now fifty plants well-rooted
in four-inch pots, and these, if grown on all summer, will some
of them, perhaps, flower next spring. Seedling Amaryllis do
not require any period of rest until they reach maturity. When
they have flowered and begin to develop offsets they may be
kept rather dry through the winter as with older bulbs, and
when a quantity are grown they may be brought on in succes-
sion or grown to form a display at one period as suits the
cultivator. Thrips are very liable to disfigure the foliage when
young, but as we grow them indoors at this period an occa-
sional fumigation of tobacco smoke will put an end to this
pest, the only one that is likely to give any trouble.
This section of the Amaryllidse is now more properly known

as Hippeastrum, and the genus is peculiar to tropical South
America. The original parents of our present garden forms
were several, and their individuality is now almost lost, as the
hybrids themselves easily intercross. It is rather singular that
to a Lancashire weaver, John Horsfield, we owe the most beau-
tiful Narcissus, and so also to a Lancashire watchmaker do we
owe the first hybrid Amaryllis, A. Johnsoni, perhaps the best
known variety in gardens to-day. It was raised in 1799, ^'^d
the parents were A. Reginiu and A. vittatum. There is a wide
field open for the further improvement of garden Amaryllis.
In the southern states growers could cultivate them in the
open air altogether, and they could be sold at very remunera-
tive prices if the strain were carefully selected and only the
best kinds used to start with. European growers realize high
prices for their bulbs, and even then it is sometimes ditTicult
to supply the demand.

Souih Lancaster, Mass. O. O.

The Spring Garden.

T N this first week of April the first Daffodils are greeting
^ many of the winter flowers. Many of the Narcissi are bear-
ing well-filled spathes, but N. Scoticus led the van in showing
its trumpets, closely followed by some Italian forms of N.
bicolor prfflcox. The Daffodils which I grow under this name
are such as are supplied by Italian bulb merchants at a low rate,
and seem to be a mixture of collected wild kinds not all bi-
colored, but among themaresomecapital varieties in the way of
N. princeps, and not a few like Umberto, which has an orange
keel to the perianth-segments. They are not of great sub-
stance, but are very satisfactory for forcing or garden-culture.
Of the other flowers of the season a few Snowdrops are still in
good form, with Galanthus nivalis in its greatest beauty.
Among some plants of G. Imperati Atkinsi this season I have
noticed a strong tendency to doubling, some flowers having an
extra outer and also inner petal. This tendency is more inter-
esting botanically than aesthetically, a single Snowdrop being
usually a perfect gem.

The spring Snowflakes, Leucojum vernum„with their large
snowy bells tipped with gold, are second to none of the flowers
of the season. With the exception of these and the summer
Snowflakes, I do not succeed well with the Leucojums, which
disappear or do not appear after planting. I should like to
know how to establish them outside. The mauve-colored
Crocus Imperati is a delightful plant for the early garden,
opening wide and making a glow of color. It is now suc-
ceeded by Cloth of Gold and others, the former well-known
kind being the brightest flower of the season, a glowing rich
orange, most attractive. It is a flo«er which, like a scarlet
Poppy, will fill the eye with color.

Bulbocodium vernum, owing to its bad color, does not seem
worth garden-room. Of true blue flowers, always scarce, just
now we have Muscari lingulalum, a pure light China-blue,
changing to deep blue. The Grape Hyacinths, by the way,are
late this year. Iris reticulata is in full beauty with its fragrant
pure purple flowers. TheCliionodoxas are also in great beauty,
all the varieties capital garden-plants, but C. Luciliffl easily first
for general culture. Anemone blanda is another belated plant,
and will scarcely close its starry flowers before A. Apennina
opens. Among the herbaceous plants only English Daisies,
Arabis alpina. Lent Lilies and Chickweed have as yet shown
flowers. ,^ >, ^

Elizabeth, N. J. /• •A'. Gerard.

The Side-saddle Flower. — Besides its oddity, our Wild
Sarracenia purpurea has decided claims to beauty, both in
flower and leaf, and it is well worthy of cultivating. It is often
found in dense Cedar swamps, where there is no undergrowth
except Sphagnum, in which the plants are often partially im-
bedded, the larger ones rooting in the soil beneath, while the
small ones live in the moss itself. The plant grows here, where
the shade is so dense as to make a constant twilight, with
great vigor and produces enormous pitchers. These are green,
however, and the plant seldom flowers. In depressions, where
there is a good deposit of vegetable-mold and standing water
most of the year, these plants, when exposed to direct sun-
shine for a part of the day, grow large and highly colored
pitchers, some of them a rich crimson-brown, in shades of
varying intensity and others reticulated with rich crimson
veins. Where the sun shines clearly on the plants in hot sum-
mer days, portions of the pitchers are burned and disfigured.
On the banks of road-side ditches, half-shaded by sedges and
coarse grasses, in low spots, we occasionally find plants with
pitchers less highly colored, but still well developed, and they
produce large and fragrant nodding flowers. These are brown-
crimson on the outside and a pleasing greenish yellow within,

178

Garden and Forest.

[Number 269.

with the st)'le expanded in the form of an open umbrella cov-
ering the whole interior of the flower. Cultivation should be
directed somewhat bv these natural conditions. Directions
are often given to drain pots thoroughly, and, in fact, we see
them growing welt on drained ground, but at their best in nat-
ural condition the roots are in stagnant water most of the year,
and my plan is to fill a pot half-full of swamp-muck or leaf-
mold, place the plant on this and then till the remainder of the
pot with living sphagnum, such as we find on swamp-borders,
growing somewhat rigidly and only two or three inches high.
This can be lifted easily with a little soil attached. Set the pots
in glazed saucers in which water is kept constantly. Set the
plants where they will have sunshine three or four hours in
the morning, and as inuch at night, with partial shade in the
middle of the day. For open-ground planting they are specially
adapted to lake borders and other moist places, with the same
conditions of sun and shade.

Hamnionton, N. J.

IV. F. Bassett.

Correspondence.
Hardy Rhododendrons.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I ran out, recently, to the old Moon Nursery, now Mr.
Samuel Moon's, to observe the effect of tlie winter upon two
or three plants'. The Crape Myrtle, Lagerstroemia Indica, ap-
pears to be killed down to the ground, altliougli slightly pro-
tected. It lived through the previous winter without protec-
tion and flowered strongly last summer. It is said to have
endured a succession of mild winters, both at Pliiladelphia
and Harrisburgh, Pennsylvania. There are magnificent plants,
eight to twelve feet high, in Trenton, which are regularly win-
tered, dry, in cellars. Out-of-doors in summer they are cov-
ered with hundreds of blooms for six weeks during July, Au-
gust and September.

Rhododendron Caucasicum album has survived with R.
maximum in a bed of seedlings from R. Ponticum, which are
all killed, or badly injured. R. Caucasicum, from high alti-
tudes, was introduced into England in 1803, and is recorded as
flowering there in August. R. Caucasicum album flowered
at Trenton in early June. If any of the varieties of R. Cauca-
sicum can be had in floweratthe same time with R. maximum,
or if the pollen of R. Caucasicum can be preserved until R.
maximum flowers, it looks as if American nurserymen have a
chance to originate a set of hybrid Rhododendrons which will
probably lie hardy as far north as Nova Scotia, where, accord-
ing to Gray, R. maximum is found. R. Caucasicum sta-
mineum is recorded as a variety flowering in England in April.
Hemsley describes the flower as a clear pale yellow. Prince
Camille de Rohan, with large white flowers, spotted with
brown, and Pulcherium, with rose-colored flowers, are men-
tioned by Hemsley as varieties, or possibly hybrids, of R. Cau-
casicum. I have no knowledge of either R. Caucasicum or
its hybrids, English or American, but they are certainly worth
the attention of growers and hybridizers for their seeming
value for this climate, after the crucial test of the late winter.

It would be a great gain to have a race of early Rhododen-
drons as hardy as R. maximum. Several varieties of R. max-
imum are quoted in English works, and Professor Marquand,
of Princeton, had a variety in bloom last summer which re-
minded me of the beautiful red variety figured. I think, some-
where in the Botanical Magazine as from North Carolina, un-
der the name of R. MacDonaldae. Dona Maria is another
variety with rosy flowers, spotted orange red, while Prince
Camille De Rohan is thought by some to be a hybrid of R.
maximum. Hardly any of these are named in American cata-
logues, but they are probably all well worth further trial for
their hardihood and diversity of color.

Trenton. N. J. J antes MacPherson.

Cinerarias at the World's Fair.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest:

Sir, — The varieties of Cineraria cruenta now on exhibition in
the horticultural department of the World's Fair are from seed
sown May 5th and June 7th, 1892. They are grouped under five
types — Grandiflora, " with foliage and flowers of a heavy tex-
ture, and the average height of the plant fifteen inches";
White ; Ca;rulea ; Dwarf, " not exceeding nine or ten inches,
measuring from the surface of the pot," and with flowers simi-
lar to the Grandiflora type ; and Double. Thirty lots of twenty
plants each have been selected from the material grown, and
most of the nineteen exhibitors are represented by more than
one lot and type. The largest exhibits are those of Peter Hen-

derson & Co., Henry Metfe, Haage & Schmidt, Vilmorin-
Andrieux et Cie. and Henry A. Dreer. Good, and even excel-
lent, specimens can be found in almost every lot, but some
become prominent by their general excellence.

The admirable collection of Ernst Denary, Erfurt, Prussia, is
of the Grandiflora type, and the plants are of good habit, from
twelve to fourteen inches high. The corymbs are broad and
somewhat convex, so as to show the heads effectively. They
are remarkable for the beauty and variety of the colors and
their harmonious combinations. The heads are concave or
flattish, some having the rays a little recurved, and are quite
uniform in size, from an inch and a half to two inches in
diameter. Being of compact structure, the heads are free
from that loose and open look seen in the old-time Cinerarias.
Each plant is distinct, and to describe the colors it would be
necessary to describe the plants separately. The blues and
purplish blues, some of them velvety, are among the best.
The effect is very cheerful where the main color is white, with
a band of blue or red of varying width and intensity surround-
ing it. Sometimes the rays are coppery, and glow with a me-
tallic lustre. A lot of Peter Henderson & Co. was nearly as
good, but lacked the variety of Denary 's. The plants are rather
taller, and particularly commendable for their so-called " vel-
vets." These are of deep or dark shades — crimson, purple
and blue, or some other pronounced colors, varying in inten-
sity, so as to give quite a range of tone. A dark rose and a
bright crimson, not velvety, are also found in the lot. The
heads are very compact, and mostly convex in form. In an-
other and similar lot from this firm is a beautiful velvet purple
with a white band encircling the disk. It is a well-marked
plant, showing strong individuality. James Carter & Co. and
William Dull, of England, have good lots, Mr. Bull's dark purple
velvets and red velvets being noteworthy. A beautifully marked
flower, with a ground of bright red, and a red disk, enclosed
by a narrow clean-cut band of white, was seen in the collec-
tion of R. & J. Farquhar & Co. Dippe Drothers, Quedlinburg,
Germany, have good parti-colored flowers. A showy one has
the ground white, edged with a narrow rim of reddish purple.
One could not fail of noticing the pure and delicate colors seen
in the flowers shown by Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie., Paris.
They were well represented in the Grandiflora type. Among
them are seen a bright rose-pink and a crimson-red, with sev-
eral velvets of red and blue shades.

The flowers of the Dwarf type are so nearly like those of
Grandiflora that they need no special description. Of the half-
dozen lots, that of Hildebrand and Dredemeico, Italy, is most
pleasing in its variety, the noticeable flowers being pink, purplish
blue, some with metallic reflections, and velvet blues. A gay
flower is in the lot of Far<iuhar & Co., white, with a blush of
pink at the tips of the rays, and the disk bright red. A very pure
and perfect blue is seen in the exhibit of Frederick Rtrmer,
Quedlinburg. Henry Mette has a pure blue velvet recurved,
a purplish blue, a delicate pink and a very bright rose-red, the
last three concave in form.

Only two lots of white flowers were shown, one by Vilmorin,
the other by Dreer. In the first group the rays are a little
creamy and quite free from spots of red'and blue at their tips,
only an occasional one thus marked being seen ; the bright
blue disk presents a neat appearance in its setting of white.
Dreer's collection is also good, but the flowers are a little more
creamy and the spots of red and blue more frequent, although
in growth and habit about the same. These white varieties
are dwarf to medium in stature, from eight to twelve inches
high.

There is but one lot of the Cjerulea type, though many
stands with blue flowers are seen in the Grandiflora and Dwarf
types. It is from Henry Mette, and is quite distinct in the col-
oration of the flowers. This varies from azure to deep cyanic
blue, some of the heads being velvety. There are several
shades, grading into each other and readily detected by the
eye, but difficult to name in any scheme of color. It is rare to
find so pure and intense a blue as these Cinerarias show. An
additional charm is imparted to the flowers when the florets
of the disk shed their yellow pollen, for it is a combination of
" blue and gold." The rays are thin in texture and the heads
small, from an inch to an inch and three-fourths across. Aster-
like inform, but in suflicient numbers to be effective for dis-
play. The plants are low, from seven to twelve inches high
and bear the corymbs well above the foliage.

About the same number of Double varieties as of Dwarf
ones were shown. The salient points of the type are given by
Mr. Thorpe as plants "of a good, stocky habit and fairly good
growers. The flowers are becoming larger and more double
each succeeding year. The best types to-day are globular in
shape, and measure two inches in diameter and two inches in

April 19, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

179

depth." There were not many in the exhibit which reached
this size, tliough several approached it. The heads mature
more slowly than those of the single-flowered sorts, some be-
ing in bud or but partially developed, while others of the same
truss are fully formed. But as they last a long time they ulti-
mately form a very full and compact mass of color. Some of
the blues in the lot of Henry A. Dreer are nearly two inches
in diameter and quite perfect in form, while one with bright
rose-red heads forms a large, close corymb. There were also
pretty button-like forms, white, with the edges of the florets
rose-purple or with a deeper margin of bluish purple. In the
lot of Haage & Schmidt are a handsome rose, a bright rose-
red and a dark purplish blue, tall plants with corymbs full and
compact. Peter Henderson & Co., Dippe Brothers and Vil-
morin-Andrieux et Cie. are well represented in the Double type,
and good stands of flowers could be seen in all. A very last-
ing form was in the lot of the Paris firm, a bright rose-pink
with funnel-shaped florets, whitish within. It was an enlarge-
ment of the disk-flowers without any tendency to opening out
into the usual ligulateform, making exceedingly dense, globu-
lar heads an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, and quite
attractive in appearance.

These double flowers did not receive as many commenda-
tions as the ordinary kinds. Though of good form, they do
not show the colors so well, and are much less bright and
lively in appearance. Their form and size well adapt them
for button-hole bouquets. Though desirable, perhaps, for
variety's sake, they can hardly be considered an improvement
on the typical form. Their lasting qualities are one of their
best points for decorative purposes.

The display of Cinerarias is the most brilliant of the three
yet held. The colors are remarkable for intensity, of hues so
bright and in patterns so varied as to be almost dazzling. It is
color which is chiefly noticed, for there is little in the foliage or
form of the plant to attract the attention of the average visitor.
Even the purple slain on the lower surface of the leaves is
scarcely perceptible at the time of flowering, though noticed at
an earlier stage of growth. But the floral colors are specially
noteworthy, being of great depth and substance, and the tex-
ture of the flowers so dense and firm that they bear micro-
scopic inspection.

Englewood, Chicago, lU. £•■ J- ritU.

A Good Collection of Greenhouse Plants.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — During a recent visit to the greenhouses of Mr. Nick-
erson, of Dedham, Massachusetts, I found the conservatory
gay with Azaleas, Camellias, Cytisus and other seasonable
flowers, among them being many forced plants of the old
Azalea amoena. English Primroses had been forced to good ad-
vantage, along.with Cinerarias, and the usual complement of
winter decorative plants. Very neat plants of Deutzia gracilis
had been raised from cuttings and grown along in pots, and
they were far more satisfactory than plants which have been
taken from the borders, or old plants divided up in the usual
way. A plant, not commonly seen, was Lopezia coronata, a
native of Mexico and hardy in England. Small plants in five-
inch pots were completely covered with rosy purple flowers,
resembling very much those of the border annual, Clarkia, to
which it IS very nearly related. For an edging to the benches,
plants of Fuchsia procumbens were very appropriately used.
This is a very accommodating little species, witli almost in-
conspicuous flowers, followed by purple berries. Several
plants of Gardenia florida were abundantly set with flower-
buds, and Mr. Monteith, the gardener, explained that his plants
had been plunged out-of-doors in the sun and had had no
especial care. This calls to mind an instance where a well-
known New York gardener, for market, had imported a fine
lot of plants, and after growing them indoors all summer, with
good, rich soil and plenty of artificial food, he failed to get
them to bloom in the winter, as he had hoped. They were a
total loss and were finally thrown away. If, after his plants
had made some good growth, he had placed them out-of-doors
to ripen, he would probably have had a good crop of bloom.

The tropical plant house is a special feature here, and is
justly celebrated throughout New England. This house was
built by Mr. E. W. Bowditch, and from an architectural point
of view is a handsome structure, being %"]%. feet long, 25 feet
wide and about 20 feet high, with a curved roof. Among the
noteworthy Palms was an elegant specimen of Kentia Belmo-
reana, eight feet high, with a spread of twelve feet. Here,
also, is one of the first plants of Phoenix rupicola ever raised.
It is fifteen feet high and has tliirty-one well-developed leaves,
many of them measuring nine feet in length. The collection

is rich in species of Phoenix ; here were P. sylvestris, P. tenuis
and P. reclinata, and there are several rare Palms which are
yet undetermined specifically.

A shapely and well-colored Croton Andreanum, twelve feet
high, a C. interruptum, fourteen feet high, and a C. Queen Vic-
toria, ten feet high, were among the best plants of this genus,
but the grower's skill was displayed to as good purpose in man^
other plants with handsome foliage and some superb speci-
men Ferns.

Wellealey, Mass. T. D, H,

A Woodsy Corner.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — As the woods are being removed farther from the
towns some of the frailest and fairest of our forest-flowers have
in some localities become nearly extinct, and it may be neces-
sary in the near future to protect them in their native haunts.
Before the time when these plants shall be known as rare, a
woodsy corner can be arranged in the home-grounds, which
will give rare pleasure and keep the woodlands in remembrance.

Hepatica, Blood-root, Mitella (true and false), Claytonia,
Medeola, White Trillium, Mertensia, Aquilegia Canadensis
and others are seen in every bouquet of wild flowers in their
season. These bear transplanting well, and with proper care
they thrive wonderfully. A winter blanket of brown leaves
spread over them will insure their protection and early growth.
Wild Violets, from a way they have of scattering their seeds
broadcast, are soon troublesome in the grass, and plants like
these, which soon become weeds, should not be brought to
the home garden. Hepatica makes a border, and is also beau-
tiful in masses. The trailing branches of Mitella and the ram-
bling root of Sanguinaria require more space than do clusters
of Trillium. Claytonia is often found in old meadows, and
seems to love the sod. The bulb is small, almost black, and
should be planted deep. I have had it blossom in my window-
garden. The pride of my collection is Mertensia, our com-
mon Lungwort. It grows in the grass, as do many bulbous
plants in the garden at Kew. Its nodding flowers, somewhat
trumpet-shaped, are a lilac color in the bud and blue in the
blossom. It is in its full beauty when the Cherry-trees are in
blossom, and the two are charming grouped in a bouquet.
The first leaves are of a beautiful purple, completely shielding
the flower-buds. I have seen it above ground as early as
March 6th. While wood-flowers fade quickly after being
picked, they remain in good condition on the plants for many
days, and, growing near by, their beauty can be most fully
enjoyed.

Hornellsville, N. Y. 7.

Recent Publications.

Manures : How to Make and How io Use Them. By Frank
W. Sempers. W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Philadelphia.

This little book of more than 200 pages aims to treat of
manures and manure-making in such a plain way that it will
be helpful in practice for farmers, market-gardeners and hor-
ticulturists. The author does not pretend to advance any new
doctrine, but to edit the results of research in experiment sta-
tions and elsewhere, so that the substantial facts which have
been established will be presented without discussing such
questions as are still in controversy. The language used is as
simple as it is possible to use in writing of such a subject, but
it must not be understood that any compendium of this sort
is " easy reading," which can be digested without study and
thought. The processes of plant-growth are intricate, and
many of them mysterious, and no ordinary man can begin to
master the subject by a casual reading of any handbook, how-
ever carefully prepared. Mental exercise, however, will not
prove injurious to farmers any more than to other classes of
men, for no one can practice agriculture intelligently without
study. This compilation contains as much that is essential on
the subject as can be found in any other work of the same size,
and after it has been carefully read, the farmer, by the help of
a very complete index, will be able to find answers to many of
the questions which confront him in his daily work. Attention
is very properly directed to the methods for determining the
commercial values of unmixed chemicals, of raw material and
commercial fertilizers ; for as soon as a cultivator knows what
plant-foods he wishes to supply, the next problem is to know
how and where to get these foods in proper proportions and in
the best form at the cheapest rates. Considerable space has
been wisely given to formulas for mixing manures at home, and
they are based chiefly on the analyses and valuations given in
the New Jersey Experiment Station report for 1891. From the

i8o

Garden and Forest

[Number 26$.

Connecticut Experiment Station come reports of mixtures pre-
pared by farmers themselves, where the actual cost was greatly
re<luce<l by a number of farmers who clubbed together and
gjave cash orders for chemicals by the car-load. Altogether,
me book can be commended as a successful effort to classify
some of the facts in chemical science as it is related to agricul-
ture, and to help the farmer make a practical use of these facts.

Notes.

A statue to Bernard de Jussieu was recently erected in Lyons
on a small square near the Lafayette Bridge, and the square
itself was given the name of the famous botanist.

This is the season when the hot-bed deserves close care. It
is essential that air should be given to young plants under
sashes every day, but it is equally essential that they should
receive no chill, for when vegetables like the Egg-plant, for
example, receive a check in their growth they never recover
their wonted vigor. When open to the air the soil dries out
very rapidly, and, therefore, watering must be frequent. But
here, too, caution should be given never to let the ground be-
come water-soaked.

Mr. Gerard sends us a flower of the beautiful Iris Suwarowi,
which belongs to the sub-genus Regelia, established by Pro-
fessor Foster. It is not a showy flower, but both sets of its
pale green perianth-segments are veined all over with a net-
work of claret-purple, and the falls have a beard of violet-blue,
while the anthers are a light sky-blue. Altogether it has a
grace of outline and delicacy of color which make it singularly
attractive. Like several other Irises of thissection, it comes
from Turkestan, where it was discovered in 1885.

In the Gardeners' Chronicle for the first of April, Mr. Baker
describes Iris atrofusca, a distinct new species of the Oncocy-
£lus section, which has been imported from that part of Pales-
tine which lies east of the river Jordan. The plant is as tall
as Iris Susiana, but the outer segments of the perianth are
much shorter and of a brown-black, while the inner ones are
longer and broader and of a mottled dark claret-brown with
black veins. It is probable that many more species of this
beautiful group of Iris remain to be discovered in the little-
known regions of western Asia.

From a recent Dublin newspaper we learn that Mr. Baylor
Hartland, of the Ard Cairn Nurseries, near Cork, has received
from Lady Aberdeen an order to supply a thousand pots of
Shamrock for the Irish village in Chicago. The first consign-
ment will be sent out on the i6th of April, and the plants will
be carried on the deck of the steamer, a rather dangerous
place, one would suppose, since irrigation with salt-water is
usually injurious to plant-life. So far as we know it is a rare
thing to send living market- plants of Shamrock from Ireland
to .\merica, and if they will endure the voyage well this may
be the begiiming of a thriving industry. If it should become
the fashion among the Irish families in America to cultivate
Shamrocks straight from the old sod there would be no limit
to the demand.

The first shrub to brighten the thickets of Central Park with
its blossoms is the Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mascula). Its
precocious flowers are very small, but they are produced in
such abundance that they wreath the leafless branches with
yellow, and just now they make one wonder why the plant is
not more often used in American shrubberies. There are oc-
casional plants of our native Leatherwood (Dirca palustris) in
the Ramble, and these are also in bloom, but the flowers are
not nearly as bright as those of the Cornus. Daphne Mezereum
would also be showing its pink-purple flowers if it had an op-
portunity, but it has never been planted here in any quantity.
The attractiveness of these early-flowering shrubs ought to en-
courage the propagation of Corylopsis pauciflora, which is one
of the most useful of this class of plants.

In reply to a Canadian subscriber we would say that the
American Wonder long ago took its place as a Pea of estab-
lished merit. We should add that in some soils it is not satis-
factory in quality or in abundance of yield. Of course, the
earliest Peas should be planted as soon as the ground can be
worked. For home use it is good practice to plant Alpha for
the earliest crop, then some ten days or a fortnight later to
plant at the same time Alpha, Premium Gem, McLean's Ad-
vancer and Champion of England. These Peas follow each
other so closely in the order named that they will afford a con-
stant supply for three or four weeks. Additional plantings of
Champion of England or other good late varieties may be
made at intervals after the second planting. The varieties

here named may not be absolutely the best, but they are all
good, and experience has proved that they can be trusted to
come into bearing in such regular succession as to make the
supply continuous. Some of the most recent introductions
have been improved in quality until they are toosweet, that is,
they contain too much sugar to suit the taste of many persons.

On the great Daffodil farm of James Walker, at Ham, where
the plants are grown to perfection under the very smoke of
London, only the varieties which are best for the market are
cultivated on a large scale. These kinds must be of vigorous
growth, they must increase well and bear freely bold flowers
of fine color. It does not pay to cultivate the feeble varieties,
or those which have pale-colored flowers. Mr. Walker con-
siders Empress the best variety, and Horsfieldi almost as good.
Broad areas are also planted with the varieties Grandis, J. D.
Camm, the early-flowering Golden Spur, Countess of Annesley,
Ard Righ and Henry Irving. Narcissus obvallaris, usually
called the Tenby Daffodil, is also very popular, since its flowers
are of perfect shape and a clear self-yellow color. As a rule, the
flowers coming from the Cernuus type are not good market-
flowers. The bulbs are fastidious, and the white or pale sul-
phur color is against them, but the forms of N. Cernuus,
known as Pulcher, and Mrs. F. W. Burbidge are cultivated in
considerable quantity. Sir Watkin, which belongs to the In-
comparabilis section, with its bold, pleasing flower and strong
constitution, is in much favor, and so are Gloria mundi, Stella
and Princess Mary. But after Sir Watkin and Empress the
varieties of the Poet's Daffodil are grown more largely than any
others. Of these varieties, Ornatus is cultivated by thouands,
and so are Grandiflorus, Poetarum and Recurvus. Another
large Daffodil nursery is that of Mr. Baylor Hartland, near
Cork, Ireland, where eight acres of these plants contain
something like two millions of bulbs. A recent letter from
there states that more than two tons of cut flowers had already
been sold, while the later varieties were just coming into
bloom.

A cable dispatch announces the death, at his home in Ge-
neva, of the venerable Alphonse de Candolle, one of the wisest
and most respected of the men who have devoted their lives
to the study of plants, and the second member of a family
whose name, it is safe to predict, will be remembered as long
as science lasts. The studies of the younger Candolle, who
was born in Paris in 1806, before the establishment of his father
as professor of botany at Montpellier, have been chiefly de-
voted to the classification of flowering plants and to geograph-
ical botany. He worked almost entirely in the herbarium and
library, and it is doubtful if his journeys ever took him fur-
ther from Geneva than Paris and London. In 1830, when only
twenty-four years old, Alphonse de Candolle published a mon-
ograph of the Catnpanulacece, a classical production which has
been considered a good model for works of this character,
and from that time until a few years ago hardly a year has
passed without the appearance of some important contribu-
tion in systematic botany from his pen. In 1824 the elder
Candolle began the publication of the Prodroinus, a synoptical
flora of the flowering plants of the world, and at his death, in
1841, seven volumes had been published. The son continued
the work, and as editor and, in part, author brought it down to
the end of the seventeenth volume, published in 1873, when,
with the completion of the dicotyledonous plants it was discon-
tinued, although later, under a somewhat different form, a work
of a similar scope was begun and has been carried through
seven volumes by Alphonse de Candolle and by his son, who
worthily continues the labors and upholds the fame of the
family. The Prodroinus is the great work of the Candolles.
For them this monument of learning and industry has earned
the gratitude and respect of every botanist in every country,
and no individual or family has ever produced a work of de-
scriptive science which has a better promise of long life and
universal recognition. The name of the younger Candolle
will also be associated with the science of the geography of
plants; and his Giographie Botanique, published in 1855, is
the great repository of facts relating to this subject. Of a sim-
ilar character, but of more general interest, is his later work on
the origin of cultivated plants. In 1867 Candolle presided over
the Congress of Botanists, held in Paris, and drew up a set of
rules for botanical nomenclature, which have been very gener-
ally adopted.

The family of De Candolle, with its hundred years of con-
tinuous labor in one field, has made an immense contribution
to human knowledge ; it has added new lustre to its native
land and has set an example to the world of industry, patience,
uprightness and public spirit. The record is a noble one.

April z6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

181

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Buiujing, New York.

Conducted by

Professor- C. S. Sargent,

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Article:— The Timber-supply of the United States i8i

Notes from Central California Thomas H, Douglas. 182

Notes of Mexican Travel. -II C G. Pringle. 182

Foreign Correspondence;— Some New Plants W, Watson. 1S3

Acokanthera spectabilis. (With figure.) 184

Cultural Department:— The Cultivation of Bulbs in North Carolina,

Professor W. F. Massey. 185

Plants in Flow r J. N. Gem^d. 18-=

Sowing Annuals 7- N. G. 186

Chrysanthemums T. D. H. iZj

Maxillaria Harrisoniae M Barker. 1S7

Tomatoes C. £. Hunn. 187

CoRREJ''ONnENCE:— Interesting Points near Boston C. 187

Polyanthus Narcissus at the Columbian Fair E. J. Hill. 188

Wayside Planting by Village Improvement Societies L. P. L. 188

Pruning Grape-vines H. A. i8g

Recent Publications 189

Notes • 189

Illustration : — Acokanthera spectabilis. Fig. 30 185

'/■

The Timber-supply of the United States.

SOME years ago, Mr. Henry Gannett, Geographer of the
United States Geological Survey, prepared a paper in
which he attempted to prove that the beneficial influence
of forests was not nearly as important as was generally
supposed, and that in some cases this influence was detri-
mental. In the course of his discussion he urged that " in
our arid region, which is dependent for irrigation upon its
streams, it is advisable to cut away as rapidly as possible
all the forests, especially upon the mountains, in order that
as much of the precipitation as possible may be collected
in the streams. This will cause an increase in the annual
flow of the streams, coupled with greater concentration of
the flow in the spring months." A fact worth noting is
that Major Powell, the distinguished Director of the same
Survey, also advocates the destruction of the western
mountain-forests, but for the contrary reason. He denies
that this destruction would concentrate the flow of the
water in spring floods, as Mr. Gannett asserts, but argues
that it would deliver the water more equably to the streams
below. According to Major Powell's theory, when the
trees are gone the snow will be swept into gulleys, so that
the available water-supply of the valley below will be de-
posited in snow-banks and trickle slowly into the general
circulation as it melts throughout the summer. The notion
that for either of these conflicting reasons, or for any other
reason, it is a patriotic duty to help on the extermination
of our western mountain forests has not made much head-
way, however, and no acts of the late administration have
received a more enthusiastic approval by the people and
by men of science than the establishment of forest-reserva-
tions, and, no doubt, the people are right. It is true that
some popular arguments for protecting the forest-cover of
the hills have been based on fancy or sentiment rather than
on fact, but the tendency of the most careful scientific in-
vestigation of recent times is to corroborate what has been
accepted as the teaching of experience, namely, that dis-
aster to the plain is sure to follow the destruction of the
forest-cover of the mountains.

Mr. Gannett has just caused the wide publication of an-
other article to show the folly of extending any protective
policy toward the forest. The first part of the article,
which attempts to undermine the prevalent belief in refer-
ence to the influence of forests on climate and soil, needs
no consideration here, since no new facts are brought for-
ward, and even the unproved statements have all been dis-
cussed before. The second portion of the paper is devoted
to the question, " Is our timber-supply sufficient to with-
stand the great and increasing demands upon it.?" Mr.
Gannett contends that it is ; that, in fact, the timber is
growing faster than it is cut away, or, in other words, that
we are not spending all our income, but adding to our
capital. It follows, of course, that there is no need to stay
the axe, but, on the contrary, since the supply of coal and
of iron ore can never increase, it is true economy to use
more wood for fuel to save the coal, and to use timber
wherever it can supply the place of metal to save our rap-
idly diminishing supply of iron.

Mr. Gannett demonstrates the soundness of his proposi-
tion by a simple arithmetical calculation. There are in the
United States 750,000,000 acres of woodland. On each
acre forty cubic feet of wood are produced every year.
Therefore, the entire woodland of the country produces an-
nually 30,000^000,000 cubic feet of wood. Now, the annual
cut is between 20,000,000,000 and 24,000,000,000 cubic
feet, and this deduction leaves from six to ten billions of
cubic feet of wood to be added to our capital every year.
Now, this proof would be conclusive if the original data
were correct, but the fact is that these are little more than
guesses, and some of them wild guesses at that. The given
extent of the wooded area of the country is based on several
estimates of varying value, and no one knows how nearly
correct any of them may be. It is well knpwn, however,
that much of this territory, which is counted as woodland,
is not, in the remotest sense, a productive forest. And
iiow does Mr. Gannett know that each of these acres would
yield forty cubic feet of wood.? The amount of timber pro-
duced in a given time by any tree depends on the sort of
tree, the soil in which it grows, its age, and a hundred other
conditions, and the yield of an average acre over the so-
called forest-area can only be found with reasonable cer-
tainty after close investigation of the whole region. In the
farmr-eturns of the census, land was returned as forest which
had grown up with sprouts and Blackberry-bushes, and
might produce a hundred feet to the acre, or ten. In much
forest-land recently cleared, and afterward swept over by
fire which has burned away the soil down to the very rock,
there is now a growth of Briers and stunted Pigeon-cherries,
but it has no significance whatever in the timber-supply of
the country, although if let alone it would help to prepare
the ground for a forest some hundred years hence. The same
is true of the growth of scrubby trees which are extending
over ground which has once been cultivated in some New
England states, and there are miles of virgin forest still
standing which reached its maximum development long
ago and contain no more wood to-day than they did when
the Pilgrims landed. The chief of the Forestry Division
of the Department of Agriculture names twenty-five cubic
feet as the possible yield for an average acre of the so-called
woodlands in the United States, and in one of his annual
reports it is estimated that, instead of adding to our capital
several billions of feet of wood a year, we are actually
consuming twice as much as our woodlands yield. Mr.
Fernow, however, only gave this as an approximate esti-
mate, but it is without doubt as trustworthy as Mr. Gannett's
assertions or the figures with which he fortifies them.

To enforce his thesis, that the " laissez faire policy is the
best that can be devised for the protection of our forests,"
Mr. Gannett goes on to " venture the assertion that there
is to-day nearly, if not quite, as great an area of woodland
in the United States as when the white man set foot on our
shores." When the New World was discovered, so far as
we can judge from the narratives of early travelers, and
from what we know of the climate and topography of the

1 82

Garden and Forest.

[Number 270.

land, a continuous forest extended from the shores of the
Atlantic to beyond the Mississippi, except where the prai-
ries were projected, like a great bay, to the shores of Lake
Michigan and a few treeless valleys, where the Indians
seem to* have set annual fires to facilitate the chase of the
buffalo, which, in those days, ranged far eastward. There
were other treeless regions, as, for example, a fringe of
salt-marsh along the seaboard, some narrow river-bot-
toms subject to annual floods, and here and there a
clearing where the Indians cultivated corn. Treeless, too,
in those days were the summits of the White Mountains, and
probably some of the summits of the Alleghanies, as they
are to-day. Out of this forest have been cut, according to
Mr. Gannett's estimate, 270,000 square miles which are
now devoted to agriculture, besides the land occupied by
cities, highways, etc. Undoubtedly, forests have in recent
years encroached largely upon the prairies, and woods
have started in some of the once treeless valleys of Penn-
sylvania and Virginia. But what trustworthy data are at
hand to prove that this forest-increase covers anything like
the quarter of a million and more of square miles which
was once forest, and now is plow-land ? Until some care-
ful survey shall show the contrary, the people at large will
not be persuaded that after working steadily for centuries
to get rid of our forests we have not been able to prevent
them from holding their own against axe and fire.

In the above estimate no guess is made at the amount of
timber wasted in lumbering operations, by fire, or by other
causes, although Mr. Gannett admits that this useless destruc-
tion is extensive. It is well known, however, that in many
cases only a comparatively small portion of the material in
the standing trees is marketed, while the remainder is left to
rot on the ground, and in the Tenth Census it is estimated
that in a single year fire had run over ten million acres of
forest-land. All these facts are so well known that there
would be little need of noticing the statement of Mr. Gan-
nett that the area of the country's woodland is increasing
but for the fact that he is one of the most distinguished
geographers in the country, and there is danger that his
random conjectures on matters with which he is not familiar
will be accepted as of equal weight with his carefully consid-
ered utterances on subjects within his own special branch of
science. Certainly Americans have never shown such an un-
due veneration for their forests that there is need to belittle
their influence or value. The growing scarcity of some of
our most valuable woods is one proof that we have failed
to appreciate them as we should. Instead of advising the
people to let our forests take care of themselves we should
welcome every effort to instruct them as to the import
tance of forests in their relation to the life of civilized man.
It is a wasteful policy to allow them to struggle on without
assistance, even in a region where trees will spring up of
themselves whenever they have an opportunity, for skilled
forest-management means an increased production of im-
proved material. To permit their extermination on the
arid slopes, where they will not reproduce themselves
without human assistance, would be a crime for which pos-
terity would justly execrate us.

Notes from Central California.

LARKSPUR is in Marin County, California, about thirteen
miles from San Francisco, ancl at the foot of Mount Tamal-
pais. The valleys and slopes of the lower ranges of hills were
originally covered with a magnificent growth of Redwood, Bay,
Madrona, Live Oak, White Oak, Tan-bark Oak and Buckeyes.
There was a saw-mill erected here in 1847, one of the first on
the Pacific coast, and all of the trees easy of access were felled.
A few years later wood-choppers were all through the hills cut-
ting the remainder of the timber and selling it to the brick-
yards at four dollars per cord. After the choppers had com-
pleted their work fi res ran over the hills, and have done so every
few years since. But, despite all of this, a few fine specimens
of all the above-menfioned trees are found in the sequestered
nooks overlooked by the woodmen, but most of the hill-sides
are covered with a thick growth of chapparal, consisting of

Manzanita, Heteronieles.Ceanothus, Poison Oak, Adenostonia,
Baccharis and other low-growing shrubs. In the valleys and
moist spots on tlie hill-sides the Redwoods are growing in cir-
cles about the stumps of the fallen trees. They are from thirty
to seventy-five feet high and as straight as an arrow. The
original trees were of an enormoussizein the main cafion, some
of them measuring over twenty-five feet in diameter, and the
wood, which seems almost indestructible, is now as sound as
it was the day it was cut, forty-seven years ago. There are
places along the creek where the banks have washed away,
showing large logs six feet below the surface, where they have
lain, perhaps, for lumdreds of years.

Stumps of the California Bay-tree (Umbellularia Californica)
are frequently found from three to five feet in diameter, and still
alive at the roots, sending- up shoots annually, and annually
eaten off by the stock raised on the hills which are too steep to
cultivate. Some fine old specimens are still standing, and
some of the young ones which have got the start of the cattle
are now fine large trees. This tree, to my eyes, is the most
beautiful of the California broad-leaved evergreens. A few
Oregon Maples (Acer niacrophyllum) are found here, but a
great deal of dead wood appears among theirbranches to show
that the locality does not agree with them. The Elder here
makes a large forest-tree, in some instances being over two
feet in diameter. A few Azaleas, here called Honeysuckles,
are found growing along the water-courses, and on the hill-
sides are found impenetrable masses of Ceanothus, just now
in bloom. Here we also find the evergreen Huckleberry (Vac-
cinium ovatum), especially where the fires ran over the hills
two years ago. Ceanothus-seedlings are also seen here, but
none are found undertheolderbushes, where millionsof seeds
fall every year. A few fine specimens of the Tan-bark Oak
(Quercus densiflora) are still standing. This tree is also very
tenacious of lite, and springs up rapidly from the collar. On
the northern face of the low range of hills dividing Larkspur
Cafion from Ross Valley the trees are much more difficult to
reach, and considerable of the natural timber is still standing,
among them fine large trees of Ouercus agrifolia, Q. densi-
flora, Q. Kelloggii, Madrofia (Arbutus Menziesli), Bay, Red-
wood and the beautiful and rare Torreya Californica, or Cali-
fornia Nutmeg, one specimen being over seventy feet high and
three feet in diameter. The trunk continues this size to the
first branches, some twenty feet from the ground. The first
flowers to appear here this season were those of Scoliopus,
followed by Castilleia, Dodecatheon, Cynoglossum, Esch-
scholtzia. Ranunculus, Tellima, Vaccinium, and then the
ever-beautiful Manzanita was covered with bloom.

Larkspur. Calif. Thomas H. Douglas.

u

Notes of Mexican Travel. — II.

ON THE TAMPICO BRANCH.

ET US consider in detail the several diverse districts trav-
ersed by the Tampico branch of the Mexican Central.
Heading for the north-east from San Luis, the train now glides
over plains whose arable portions are sown to Wheat in win-
ter and planted to Corn in summer, wherever irrigation is pos-
sible, or in summers when the rainfall is sufficient to make a
crop of Corn without irrigation ; or, anon, it winds among dry,
rocky hills scantily covered with vegetation, conspicuous
amongst which are various wild Cactuses and Agaves. Fifty
miles out from San Luis we enter the San Jos6 Pass of the
Guadalcazar Mountains, mountains of gray limestone, moder-
ately forested and the haunt of deer. The principal arbores-
cent species here are Ouercus grisea and polymorpha, Juglans
Mexicana and Sargentia Greggii. In meagre soil, partially cov- j|
ering extensive ledges of lime-rock, was found here Neoprin- *
glea integrifolia, Watson, a slender shrub, ten to fifteen feet
high. Rooting in the fissures of the bare ledges was found
an undescribed Dahlia, D. dissecta, Watson, with finely dis-
sected leaves and purple flowers. On these ledges certain
Rock-brakes grow in abundance and in perfection ; Pellaea
pulchella, Notholcena sinuata and Aschenborniana, Cheilanthes
leucopoda, etc.

By a sinuous grade cut in the mountain-side the road
descends to a lower bench of the table-lands, the plains
of Cerritos, similar in character to those left behind ; and thence
our course bears eastward.

Beyond the town of Cerritos the road leads for forty miles
over the great hacienda of Angostura, an estate owned by the
family of Espinosa y Cervantes, descended from the old Span-
ish Counts of Pefiasco. This family does not dislike Americans
on general principles, and is, of course, given to the practice
of the fullest Mexican courtesy and hospitality. So, in its great

April 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

183

country house, a few miles south of the station of San Bartolo,
my friends and I have been entertained from time to time, as
had been Drs. Parry and Palmer a dozen years before, and
were given guides and transportation over the estate, whether
our object was tlie pursuit of game, deer, turkeys, etc., or a
search for plants. Of wonderful interest to me was the haci-
enda of Angostura. A large stream of water has been brought
through the barrier of hills above the hacienda-house by
means of cuts and tunnels, showing excellent engineering.
Carried in open ditches over the fat, black soil of the adjacent
plain, this water ensures for Angostura unfailing crops of
Wlieaf and Corn. Where the waste water of this stream flows
down the valley, it gives rise to a swamp, many miles in extent,
of the Mexican Cypress, Taxodium mucronatum. The trees
are immense ; a trunk diameter of ten feet is not rare ; and the
great trunks are often undivided for a long distance from the
base. Going from the house to the station of San Bartolo, our
road, after passing the tillage, enters a Mesquite forest with la-
goons. The trees are at first of the largest size for the species,
two feet in diameter, and are hoary with Tillandsias ; but they
become sparse and stunted as we near the station, and the soil
becomes white with alkali and is bare, except as it is dotted
with clumps of Atriplex, Suagda, etc. On this white plain, a
short way east of the station, when, for the first time, we aliglit
there in the dim light of the early morning, our attention is
arrested by columns of steam arising from pools and streams
rimmed with green sod. We stop to explore the vicinity, and
it requires several days to secure all the plants, new or rare,
which it yields us. In little open meadows, lying here and
there amid scattered groves of Mesquite and Juniper, we
come upon these streams of warm water, which are remarka-
bly transparent and show a bluish tinge. These issue from
subterranean channels, meander a little way on the surface,
forming sometimes broad, deep pools, and then abruptly dis-
appear from view again. Near by these living streams are
long, tortuous, shallow lagoons, fast drying up. Such water as
remains in lowest hollows is thick and brown with alkali ; and
the dried margins are deeply covered with salts of a dirty-
white color. A deathly odor pervades their neighborhood ;
dead, gaunt trees stand around, and in the tops of these great
ghostly white birds perch, watching over the silent scene and
adding to the uncanny feeling we experience here.

Going on from San Bartolo to the station of Las Tablas, pass-
ing on our way another Mesquite-forest, passing a considerable
forest of Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis, var. conjugans), and
a low flat which is covered with fine deep alkali dust, like a
layer of ashes, a soil which is said to be slimy and nasty in the
extreme when wet, and which bears, amid crimson-fruited
Op^untias, little but a few stunted and half-dead Mesquite-trees,
we* find ourselves at Las Tablas upon ampler meadows than
those of San Bartolo, meadows miles in extent, covered with
deep grass, interrupted by belts of Juniper-forest and bounded
by gray desert hills of half-bare lime-rock. These meadows
appear to rest on a subterranean lake. A tough sod and layer
of black soil a few feet in thickness covers mud and water. In
the railroad-ditches animals are liable to break through the
crust and to be lost. If you dig a hole a few feet deep you
may strike upon a water-course and see little fishes passing.
Anywhere at intervals over this strange meadow we may come
upon a circular pool some fifty feet in diameter, where an un-
derground stream comes up to the surface, and from which a
stream flows away for a short distance, taking any direction as
would appear, and then plunges into the soil. These fountain-
pools are so deep that their bottom cannot be discovered, as
we peer down through their limpid water. Curious little fishes
abound in them ; black they are, with white backs. Around
their shallower margins commonly grows a white-flowered
Pond-lily (Nymphaea ampla). Upon the verge of pools and
brooks Sedges crowd, chiefly Rynchospora mariscus and
Carex Pringlei, Bailey, n. sp., and stand six to eight feet high.

We tramp these meadows for miles and miles through deep
Grass, Spartina densiflora, the sharp points of its rigid leaves
annoying us greatly. Before us scuttle away half-wild herds
of cattle, sleek and fat, herds of horses and mules, whose
smooth coats show scarce a saddle-mark, and drovesof plump
donkeys, whose backs have never known a galling load. In
order to obtain a view of the country we mount a rocky hill on
the border of the meadow, and there among Tree Cactuses
come upon a spot where a tiger-cat has recently killed a deer,
and with the aid of vultures has already disposed of its car-
cass. There are found alkali sinks in which few or no plants
can grow. In places the soil is quaky ; open pits or dark pools
yawn before us ; some of the streams are hard to cross in
safety ; we find the body of a horse which has wallowed to his
death in the mire ; and from all these comes a slight sense

of peril which lends excitement to our exploration of the
region.

When we leave Las Tablas and the limits of the hacienda
of Angostura the train hurries us for twenty miles over a dusty
plain between parallel ranges of dry hills. Here, in sharpest
contrast with the green country just left, is presented a scene
of the utmost desolation. A thin growth of desert shrubs and
stunted trees, with Cactuses, covers the plain. Here are Mes-
quites but fifteen feet high which are venerable with age, hoary
and shaggy with lichens and Spanish moss. Everything is
draped in this gray, and everything seems to be starved and
sickly. This plain and the enclosing hills are a station for
Yucca australis (Engelmann), Trelease, and the hill-sides bear
that curious thing, Hesperaloe Engelmanni. But beyond Car-
denas, the next stafion, and its billowy, grassy hills, on which
Corn-fields appear in autumn, what a change of scene again !
We will let the train go on its way to wind in bewildering
curves among these hills and the curious knobs of lime-stone
below them, where the strata is set on edge, and will ourselves
walk down the trail to Las Canoas, a station a dozen miles dis-
tant and nearly a thousand feet below. This we do that we may
pass through La Labor, a village of the quaintest and most pic-
turesque houses, which are thatched with Palm or Yucca
leaves. A little way below the village we descend into a nar-
row valley between Oak-covered hills. The soil of this valley
is deep and black with humus; so we find here fields of Corn
as dense and as tall as the Corn of a Mississippi bottom.

The Valley of Las Canoas, however, is the most charming
spot on all our line. Lying among wooded hills at the head of
the great Tamasopo Cafion, through which rain-clouds are
always, you might think, pouring up to water its grassy slopes
and tilled fiats, it shows perpetual verdure and unfailing crops.
The soil is a red clay loam, and it would seem that the Grape
and most other fruits ought to flourish here in perfection.
Here, from a hill-side cave, issues a stream of the purest
water, and behind the village is a wild and deep barranca con-
taining another stream. These waters united h^ve cut through
the mountains next ahead of us the wonderful Tamasopo,
which has afforded a pass for the railroad. To bring the rail-
road up through the mountains from the hacienda of Tama-
sopo on the bench next below to this plain of Las Canoas (for
the construction of the road advanced from the east to this
point) was a great triumph of engineering. Let us go on by
train from Las Canoas. Gliding beside the stream, whose
course giant Cypresses mark, the train advances cautiously to
the gate of the cafion. It enters above plunging, boiling
waters. Then for eight or nine miles the road-bed has been
cut in the rock of the steep mountain-side, or has been laid on
walls which spring from far below. On such dizzy heights the
train hangs and sways and winds through constantly occurring
curves. Where mountain-buttresses interposed, tunnels open
a way, till eight are passed. Within the cafion long vistas of
the wildest mountain-scenery open before us. We awake re-
sounding mountain echoes. Below us yawns the fearful gulf.
The opposite mountain-side is precipitous in places, in others
cut by gorges. It is everywhere covered with a variety of
trees, except here and there on the steeps near the summit,
where some Indian has built his hut and cleared a plat for Corn
or Bananas. Outside the narrow pass the scene shifts again.
From our perch, still high on the mountain, we are looking
down upon a fertile hacienda, on broad open valleys stretching
among low hills, which are covered with heavy tropical forests,
on meadows with grazing herds and on broad fields of Corn
and Cane. In making the descent from the mountain-side to
Tamasopo siding the road turns back upon itself in several
long loops. At the foot of the mountain it passes through a
heavy forest, in whose shade is a Coffee-plantation.

Charlotte, Vt. C. G. PHngle.

Foreign Correspondence.

Some New Plants.

Heliconia illustris. — This new introduction from the
South Sea Islands is in the possession of Mr. W. Bull, of
Chelsea, and is likely to be exhibited in the collections of
new plants at the forthcoming quinquennial exhibition at
Ghent. It is certainly one of the most beautiful plants of
the Musa family, and is certain to become a great favorite
with growers of beautiful-leaved stove-plants. It has the
habit of H. metallica or H. spectabilis ; the leaf-stalks are
a foot long and colored bright rose, the blades are a foot
long by four inches in width, and they are colored, red-
purple, with clear rose-pink midrib and veins. Mr. Bull is

1 84

Garden and Forest.

[Number 270.

to be cong^tulated on having added such a handsome
plant to the many beautiful stove-plants which we owe to
his energy as an introducer of new things.

Fritillaria Whittallii is a new species, which is now
in flower at Kew, and which has been named in compli-
ment to its discoverer, Mr. E. Whittall, who found it in
Smyrna and sent it to Kew last year. It is similar to the
common Snakes-head (F. meleagris), differing chiefly in its
shorter segments and dull brownish color. F. meleagris is
now beautiful in a large round bed on one of the lawns at
Kew with its nodding flowers on stalks a foot long, some
white, some reddish or brown and spotted, all elegant and
pleasing both in form and color. It is a good companion
to the Daffodils, Hyacinths, etc.

Cyrtanthus intermkdr's. — This is a new hybrid of garden
origin which has been raised in Mr. Bull's nursery, its
parents being C. angustifolius and C- Mackenii, both of
them small, narrow-leaved species with slender scapes a
foot long bearing a few-flowered umbel of narrow tubular
flowers, two inches long, colored bright red in C. angusti-
folius, white in C. Mackenii. In the hybrid the flowers are
rose-colored, slightly suffused with green. If the hybrid
inherits the adaptability to cultivation of C. Mackenii it will
be a useful plant for the cool greenhouse, but if it is any-
thing like as difficult to keep in health as C. angustifolius
it will not find many admirers. C. lutescens is similar in
habit to and quite as well behaved under cultivation as C.
Mackenii, and its flowers are colored bright yellow. The
above is the second hybrid Cyrtanthus raised in gardens,
the first being the remarkable C. hybridus raised by Sir
Trevor Lawrence a few years ago from C. sanguineus and
Vallota purpurea. There are evidences in England of a re-
vived interest in bulbous plants from South Africa. Only
this week I have been consulted by two amateurs who had
imported collections of them from the Cape, and wished to
know how the less well-known kinds should be treated.

Vellozia equisetifoli-v — I quote the following note from
R. W. Adlum, Transvaal, which appeared in the Gardeners
Chronicle of April ist, as it refers to a most interesting
plant which was introduced to Kew a few years ago and
has since been distributed under the name of "Witsenia
species " : " Imagine a stout Draecena-like stem two feet
high, crowned with long, drooping grass-like leaves, inter-
spersed with many solitary pendent pale blue Zephyr-
anthes-like flowers, four inches across. No one at first sight
would take this fine plant to be an Amaryllid, since root,
stem and leaves are like those of Dracaena. It is a very
rare plant in Natal and the Cape, and is only found here in
the driest and most rocky places, at great elevations, gen-
erally about 6,000 feet. About six years ago I collected
seeds of this plant and sent it to Professor McOwan, of the
Cape Town Botanical Gardens, who in turn forwarded it
to Kew. It is a plant that transplants very badly." Some
time ago I drew the attention of readers of Garden and
Forest to the interest and beauty of the Vellozias and Bar-
bacenias, which are now scarcely known in gardens. The
perpetual-flowering Barbacenia squamata is now bearing
numbers of its bright vermilion flowers in one of the stoves
at Kew, where it has been represented by a fine specimen
for the last three years. This plant has matured plenty of
seeds from which numerous seedlings have been raised and
distributed.

Aglaonema versicolor is a new stove Aroid lately intro-
duced from the east by Mr. W. Bull. It is described by
Dr. Masters as a small plant having an erect stem, bearing
beautifully mottled, short-stalked, spreading leaves, the
blade four inches long by two inches in width, irregularly
blotched with patches of dark velvety green interspersed
among patches of lighter green and some of milky white.
It has not yet flowered, so that its name is only provisional.
Hypolytrum Schroederianum is another of Mr. Bull's new
introductions, and a very promising plant for tropical
houses. It is a Sedge, and forms a handsome tuft a yard
high,' the leaves over two inches wide, purplish at the base,

the upper portion green, with dark red margins. This plant
will be useful for aquaria.

Tamarix KASHOARicA. — This IS a new plant offered by
Monsieur Lemoine i^ Son, of Nancy, who describe it in
their catalogue as having been discovered by Roborowsky
in central .\sia, and as differing in aspect from the other
species of the genus. It has small glaucous green leaves
imbricated as in a Lycopodium. It has not yet flowered
under cultivation. Messrs. Lemoine do not say to what
size it grows, or whether it is hardy with them, but from
the brief description they give of the plant it appears to be
worth looking after.

Galanthis ma.ximus. — This is another new species of
Snowdrop, which Mr. Baker describes as being " remarka-
ble for its very robust habit, large leaves, spathe and flower
and long pedicel. " Its bulbs are so large that they have
been mistaken for those of Narcissus, and its leaves are
broad, glaucous, with recurved edges. Its flowers are as
large as those of G. nivalis, van Imperati. Mr. Baker
thinks that, if not a true species, it is probably a hybrid be-
tween G. plicatus and G. nivalis.

New Dendrobiums. — Dendrobium Wardianum album ob-
tained a first-class certificate last week, and deserved it
The pure white of the sepals and petals and the delicate
markings of the lip, which had the yellow blotches, but
only a faint indication of the maroon eye-like spots found
in the type in a flower of full size, place this among the
choicest of the forms of this fine species. It was shown by
Mr. W. R. Lee, of Audenshaw. D. Bryan was raised by
Mr. Cookson from D. luteolum and D. Wardianum, and it
obtained a first-class certificate when shown in flower last
week. Mr. Cookson's hybrids are, as a rule, of first-rate
merit, and this is no exception. It has slender stems two
feet high, primrose-colored flfiwers with purple-tipped
sepals, and a red-brown blotch and lines on the large lip.
D. Sybil is another of Mr. Cookson's hybrids, raised from
D. bigibbum and D. Linawianum. It has the general habit
of D. nobile, to which D. Linawianum is closely allied ;
the flowers have deep purple sepals, purple and white
petals, and the lip white, with blotches of yellow and crim-
son. It obtained a certificate. D. Benita, a hybrid between
D. aureum and D. Falconeri, raised by Mr. Brymer, M.P.
Its flowers, which are nearly four inches across, are very
similar to those of D. Ainsworthii, which was raised from
the same parents. „, „, ,

London. W. WalSOH.

Plant Notes.

Acokanthera spectabilis.

ALTHOUGH it is over twenty years since this plant
was introduced into English gardens by Mr. B. S.
Williams, of Holloway, and highly recommended to horti-
culturists by Dr. Masters as a beautiful, fragrant winter-
flowering stove-plant, it has yet attained comparatively
little popularity. It forms a shapely shrub if grown in a
pot and judiciously pruned, or it may be grown against a
pillar or as a roof climber ; in any position it is a success
if only it gets plenty of sunlight all the year round. In the
Palm-house at Kew there is a plant of it (see fig. 30, p. 185)
trained against the glass, which makes long shoots every
year, which in midwinter are wreaths of white Ixora-like
flowers, as odoriferous as Gardenia or Jasmine. In the
same house there are specimens grown in pots, and these
flower most profusely. This species is quite as healthy in
a greenhouse as in a stove, the difference being that in the
cooler house the leaves become purplish in winter, the shoots
are shorter and the flowers do not develop until March.

According to Hooker, A. spectabilis is a native of the «
western districts of South Africa, from Albany to Port Wk
Natal, where it forms a large shrub, with masses of white
fragrant flowers, on woody sand-hills near the sea. There
is only one other species, namely, A. Thunbergii, which
has been in cultivation over a century, and which is almost
as serviceable as A. spectabilis, differing in the shape and

April 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

185

size of the leaves and in its smaller flowers. It is the
" Gift-boom " or Poison-tree of the Dutch and English col-
onists, and, like A. spectabilis, has the reputation of being
very poisonous. Of course, it is perfectly harmless in the
garden. We have sometimes obtained small flowering speci-
mens of these plants by striking branches in the autumn,

Cultural Department.
The Cultivation of Bulbs in North Carolina.

T RECEIVE, almost daily, letters from persons in the north
■•• inquiring about the commercial cultivation of flowering
bulbs in North Carolina. Many of these letters are evidently

Fig. 30.— Acokanthera spectabilis. — See page 184.

and these in January have flowered just as profusely as if
they had not been removed from the old plant. For the
supply of white, fragrant flowers this plant well deserves
the attention of market-growers and others.

[This plant is occasionally found in American gardens
under the name of Toxicophlaea. — Ed.]

from men who have had no experience in practical floricul-
ture, but who have been attracted to North Carolina by ac-
counts of the climate, and who are anxious to engage in this
business. My uniform answer is that no favoring influence of
soil and climate will make up for lack of practical experience,
and that without this the attempt to establish a comparatively
new industry would fail in nearly all cases. But other in-

i86

Garden and Forest.

[Number 270.

quirers are evidently practical florists who are acquainted with
tlie demands of the trade. Some of these can otter only skill
and eijjerience, and wish to be employed by growers. Want
of capital is the great difficulty in the way of our own people.
The growers of Tuberoses in the eastern part of the state
have become somewhat discouraged by low prices for bulbs,
and they are not inclined or able to buy other bulbs in sufK-
cient quantities to make a profitable business, though a few
are experimenting in this way. What is needed is a combina-
tion of capital and skill to develop the capacity of the state for
this industry. This will probably be done by persons interested
in the wliolesale bulb trade in the northern cities, as in the
case of the Bermuda Lily.

While I am satisfied that the deep peaty soils of the coast
region south of Hatteras will grow as good Lily-bulbs as
those grown in Bermuda, it is hardly likely that we can
compete with Bermuda in the production of bulbs ripe enough
for early forcing in autumn. For later use I feel sure that
these lands will produce Lily-bulbs of a superior quality.

I have been asked what bulbs could be most profitably
grown here. I am not prepared to answer with certainty, and
my own ex{>eriments at Raleigh will hardly be conclusive as
to the capacity of the true bulb soils, as our soil here is of a
clayey nature. There will also be found a great difference in the
suitability of different localities for the various sorts. In Raleigh
we can produce good bulbs of Roman Hyacinths, while Narcis-
sus-bulbs grown here would hardly compare with those grown
eastward or in the thermal belt of the sand-hill country. The
sandy soils about Southern Pines, Fayetteville and elsewhere
in the eastern section will grow Gladiolus to great perfection,
and will produce blooming cornis from seed a year sooner
than Long Island. Our soils here will produce superb Ama-
ryllis-bulbs, but while Lilies do well here we cannot grow such
bulbs as the black lands of the east will produce. A gentle-
man in the section where Tuberoses are cultivated bought
Lily-bulbs about the ist of June last. Having been out of the
ground so long the bulbs were hardly f^rst-class, but he
stripped the scales and planted them in the open ground. Not
much could be expected from such a venture, but, to my sur-
prise, he wrote me last fall that all his scales had grown good
bulblets. If this is the case with unseasonable and unskilled
treatment, what may we not expect of Lilies in this soil and
climate ?

The unexampled cold of last January made the blooming of
all spring bulbs later than usual, and tested the resistant
powers of some of them more than ever before. Roman
Hyacinths began, according to their usual custom, to throw
up flower-spikes just before Christmas, but the cold and snow
put a check upon them. At the beginning of February the
snow and frost disappeared, and they soon began growth
again, and continued to throw up spike after spike until
April. My own Roman Hyacinths, from which the flow-
ers are constantly cut for the sake of the bulbs, will aver-
age eight spikes to the bulb. Narcissus of some varieties
usually begin to bloom here in late January. This year their
flowering was delayed until late in February, and now the varie-
ties are succeeding each other in full beauty. The Chinese
Narcissus have survived the winter, but are slower in getting
into bloom than the old occupants of our borders. The flow-
ering stems of Ascension Lilies had well started more than a
month ago. These bulbs can doubtless be ripened off in this
latitude, ready for lifting, a month earlier than in the latitude
of Baltimore. They would, therefore, make their autumn
leaves and be ready for forcing earlier.

Gladioli are usually well above ground by March 1 5th, and the
bulbs of such sorts as are used for forcing can be ripened here
early. Bulblets taken off in autumn and planted at once, with
a mulch of fine manure to guard against possible cold, will
start very early and make a surprising growth the first season.
My present opinion is that the Gladioli, most of the Narcissi
(probably all of them). Lilies of all sorts and Roman Hyacinths
may be successfully grown here. When the cheapness of land
is taken into consideration, I am convinced that, with sufficient
capital and skill, the cultivation of bulbs in North Carolina can
be made highly profitable. „, r- ..r

JlaldK»>. N.C. W. F. Massey.

Plants in Flower.

Russian V^iolets. — Under this name nurserymen have lately
been offering a variety as perfectly hardy and with fragrant
flowers. It would be interesting to know the true name or this
Violet, for it seems to be a good garden-plant, with stout, firm,
dark-colored foliage and with abundant very fragrant double
flowers, very dark purple in color. If one can judge from its
behavior last winter in an exposed border with heavy soil, it is

very hardy. It passed the summer without spot or mildew,
and, altogether, is a very desirable plant.

Primula obconica grandiflora.— I refer to this hybrid
again to say that some of the plants survived the winter in the
border, a fact which seems to indicate an infusion of the
blood of P. cortusoides, which was claimed as one of the
parents. If by selection we can secure a race of hardy Pri-
mulas with the free-flowering character of P. obconica, which
is not at all hardy, it will be a great gain. In the open the vile
spicules would not be so objectionable as in the closer quar-
ters of the greenhouse. Of course, one winter is a poor test of
the hardiness of a plant, for often plants will live through a se-
vere winter like the last and perish incontinently in a milder
one, conditions being really less favorable for some reason.
Hardiness is a comparative term as applied to plants, but there
is nothing comparative about the "occasional helper," who,
with spade and pruning-knife, usually spoils more plants than
the severest frost. Those of us who cultivate hardy plants,
and especially the smaller ones, are forced to give them per-
sonal supervision and forbid the helper to trespass on the bor-
der, for the bedding mania seems to have left them all with a
firm conviction that everything must be replanted each season.
The colored brother who favors me occasionally breaks his
bonds. As he dug among my fine grasses the other day,
and carefully transferred the labels to some seedling Plantains,
I thought, among other things, that the race was not advancing
very rapidly. I was glad he saved the labels.

Hardy Primulas. — These are charming plants easily had
from seed. I find that a stock can be gotten up for spring
flowering by sowing seed in August or September, which is
usually the time the new crop is received by the seedsmen.
These seedlings should be kept in a warm frame or cool house,
where they will gradually make progress, and will come into
flower in March or April. My crop this year flowered early in
March, and are still in flower, but I should have retarded them
to plant out before they bloomed. Dean's hybrids are a very
satisfactory strain with large well-colored flowers.

Eranthis Cilicica, for which I was indebted to Mr. Whit-
tall last year, is a good companion to E. hyemalis, which it
succeeds. It has flowers of rather deeper color, and the leaf
is more finely cut and elegant than that of the better-known
species.

Anemone Cypriana alba, introduced by Max Leichtlin, is a
distinct variety with greenish white flowers, but as a garden-
plant not as attractive as A. blanda, a clump of which is yet,
when the sun shines, the brightest and most attractive thing in
the garden. A. blanda is slow to become established sometimes,
but IS indispensable in the early garden. Mr. Whittall has col-
lected two new forms, but they have as yet not made much
progress here. The Taurian plants collected by Mr. Whittall
prove perfectly hardy here and well adapted to the climate.
They include Chionodoxas, Scillas, Fritiilarias, Anemones,
Snowdrops, Irises, Gladioli, Eranthis, Cyclamens, Crocuses,
Narcissi, Tulips, Colchicums, Ornithogalums and AUiums,
among which, being collected bulbs, there are often to be
found specially interesting varieties. ^

Elizabeth. N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Sowing Annuals.

ONE of your correspondents lately advised the sowing of
the annuals on a hot-bed. A hot-bed is certainly very
useful when it can have constant care, but dangerous to trust
to the changes of our spring weather without close super-
vision. The common annuals, grown in gardens, scarcely
require special forwarding, and for most of them the forcing
of a hot-bed is rather a detriment than otherwise. In this lati-
tude I find the most simple and satisfactory way to sow ordi-
nary annuals and perennials, which flower the same season,
is in a frame. About the 20th of April, usually, making up a
seed-bed in a warm corner, I surround it with a frame made
of four boards, nailed at the corners. Over this is placed a
screen, made by tacking cheese-cloth or waterproof-shading
to a frame made of narrow strips. After two or three bright
days the ground will have warmed up sufficiently and the
seeds of all the annuals, tender or otherwise, from Asters to
Zinnias, may be planted with safety and will germinate
promptly. If there should be a very heavy rain-storm it may
be necessary to place some sloping boards to shed the water,
but otherwise such a frame is perfectly safe. Most of the seeds
of the favorite annuals will germinate in a week or ten days,
and at this time the screen should be lifted and as much air as
possible given. By taking advantage of dull days the seed-
lings may be soon inured to full exposure. After the screen is
off' it will be the part of prudence to lay some brush over the
seedlings to discourage cats and chickens.

April 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

187

Such a frame is not only simple and inexpensive and expe-
dites the growth of the plants sufficiently, but it is also a great
saver of labor. Everything can be seen at a glance andean
be attended to rapidly. Where seeds are sown in patches
around the garden it requires time and vigilance to watch
them all, and many failures are certain. An immense number
of seedling-plants can be disposed of in an ordinary garden,
and they can be dibbled out rather more rapidly than seed-
lings sown in the borders can be properly thinned out. In
transplanting seedlings the screens, cloth-covered, as men-
tioned above, will be found very useful and labor-saving.
When one has little time to devote to the garden and is not
over-fond of work, devices to save time and labor enable him
to keep up the garden without being hurried. The seedlings
should be carefully lifted, separated and firmly planted, the
earth being especially firmed about the roots. They should
be well watered and mulched with well-rotted manure, and
then a cloth-covered screen should be tilted over the bed and
allow it to remain till the tirst shower begins. In this way the
plants are established with the least possible care and atten-
tion- n \7 r

Elizabeth, N.J. /• ^^- ^■

Chrysanthemums.— Plants for specimens should now be in
six or seven inch pots, and plunged in sand or coal-ashes in
cold frames. About the middle of May they should be ready
for the final shift info ten or twelve inch pots, in which they
will remain and bloom. The soil should be moderately rich
loam. If light, it should be packed firmly ; if heavy, lightly,
but always evenly. It is well to keep the plants for a few days
in frames, or until new roots are formed, when they may be
plunged outdoors up to the rim of the pots. As they will re-
main until autumn, it is better to place them three to four
feet apart, so as to give room for easy passage among them to
do the work of stopping, staking and tying. As the drainage
should at all times be free, some means must be adopted to
prevent the entrance t>i earth-worms from below, or they will
work the soil in among the drainage, and finally close the vent.
Slates or slabs of wood, often used, are objectionable, since
they do not freely admit of air, or allow of the passage of
water. Something which will carry the base of the pot well clear
of the soil is needed, and this we do by placing under them
rings of earthenware, made by a local manufacturer. What-
ever success I have had I attribute as much to this little device
as to any other cause. Stopping, or taking out the tips of the
shoots, should be done every few days, care being always
taken to keep the plants well balanced.

Wellesley, .Mass. T. D. H.

Mkxillaria Harrisoniae. — This excellent Orchid blooms very
freely during the winter and early spring months. All the
parts of the flower are large and fleshy, and the two lower
sepals are joined and elongated at the Base, forming a sort of
spur. The sepals and petals are creamy white, the lip purple
and yellowish, with numerous lines of bright red in the inte-
rior. There are several varieties of M. Harrisonias, differing
from the species mostly in the color of the flowers, which in
every case have a slight pleasing odor. A large number of
generic synonyms exist, of which Lycasfe is more common
than any other, although it is many years since Reichenbach
referred the plant to the genus Bifrenaria. M. Harrisoniae and
its varieties make most satisfactory progress in the cool
Orchid-house, the low temperature and moist atmosphere of
which seems to suit them. Forty-five degrees, Fahrenheit, is
a good average night temperature in winter, and strong sun-
shine should be guarded against at all times. A good supply
of water is always necessary, and the drainage material should,
therefore, be ample. The plants may be potted in rough peat-
fibre, mixed with a little lumpy charcoal, any time after the
flowering season.

Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker.

Tomatoes.— It is surprising that so few people are aware that
yellow-fleshed tomatoes have a more delicate flavor than any
others. Even in the large markets the yellow varieties are
rarely seen, and yet, if they had not the merit of superior
qualify, if would be worth while to grow them for the attrac-
tive appearance they make when sliced together with the red-
fleshed sorts. The Shah and Golden Queen are good yellow
varieties for this purpose. Among the red varieties one must
be very fastidious if he is not satisfied with Ignotum, Living-
ston, Potomac, Brandywine, Mayflower, of Thorburn's Long
Keeping. Ponderosa bears a huge fruit, which will, no doubt,
win prizes at fairs, but probably it will not be the most profita-
ble kind for market, because its color is not desirable, and

then it is not always symmetrical. A purple tinge, such as is
found in Ponderosa or Mikado, is a drawback to the popularity
of any tomato.

Geneva, N. Y. C. E. Hunit.

Correspondence.

Interesting Points near Boston.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Will you kindly name a few places of much natural
beauty which can be reached in half-holiday excursions from
Boston ?

Bridgewater, Mass. C.

[There are so many charming scenes in every direction
about the New England metropolis that it would be diffi-
cult to give a complete list. With only one half-holiday a
week, it would take considerably more than one season to
cover the ground. One who has the fortune to possess a
report of the Metropolitan Park Commission can hardly do
better than to follow its guidance in selecting- places to be
visited, and the contour map accompanying ^the report
gives an excellent idea of the topography of the country.
One of the best ways to see the region about Boston is to
join the Appalachian Club, which makes pedestrian trips
in the neighborhood every Saturday. These trips are very
carefully planned, thoughtful arrangements for the comfort
and convenience of the members are made, and unusual
pains are taken to obtain information concerning the pic-
turesque and historic features of the places visited.

Among the most interesting half-holiday trips is one to
the Lynn Woods, going by street-car from the railway-sta-
tion in Lynn and then walking in any direction through
the well-marked foot-paths, or taking a drive in the park
carriage that connects with the cars at the entrance to the
woods. An excellent map of the Lynn Woods was in-
cluded in this year's report of the Lynn Park Commission.
Several successive half-holidays might easily be spent in
roaming through this noble pleasure-ground, without dan-
ger of repetition.

The same may be said of the Middlesex Fells, which may
be pleasantly reached by steam-cars, either to Medford,
West Medford, Winchester, Stoneham, Maiden, Fells Sta-
tion or Melrose, from each of which different portions of
this beautiful wild region are accessible. The most inter-
esting section of the Fells lies in the eastern part, and the
best way to visit this is by way of Fells Station, on the
western division of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The
beautiful cascades are only a few minutes' walk from this
station, but these run full only during the wet months, and
are best seen in the spring-time. A walk across the rough
country to the westward takes one to Spot Pond and Bear
Hill ; the latter is the highest eminence in the region to
the westward of Spot Pond, and is best reached from
Stoneham.

Another interesting trip is to Woburn, by rail, for a ram-
ble among the wild hills toward Lexington, on the west-
erly side of Horn Pond. The famous Waverly Oaks, lying
between Belmont and Waltham, are but a few minutes'
walk from the Waverly Station, on the Fitchburg Railroad.
Those who visit the Oaks should not fail to see the Beaver
Brook cascade, celebrated by Lowell in one of his most
charming poems. It is only a few minutes' walk from the
Oaks up the road leading to Lexington, called Mill Street

Prospect Hill, in Waltham, is the finest outlook point
west of Boston, and in height it ranks next to the Blue
Hills. A large tract here has recently been taken by the
city of Waltham for a public park. Prospect Hill is but a
short walk from the Fitchburg station in Waltham. A
pleasant stroll across country is to the neighboring eminence
of Bear Hill, to the south-westward, and thence southerly
along the line of Stony Brook, a large portion of the valley
of which belongs to the Cambridge Water Supply reserve,
and thence south-westerly to Doublet Hill, in the town of
Weston, where glorious views up and down the valley of
the Charles are obtained.

There are numerous interesting excursions to be had on

i88

Garden and Forest.

[Number 270.

the Charles River, the nearest of which is to the great metro-
politan boating-ground between Riverside Station, on the
Boston and Albany Railroad, in Newton, and Waltham.
Boats may be easily hired either at Riverside or Waltham.
One of the wildest and most beautiful examples of natural
scenery in the neighborhood of Boston is that of the Hem-
lock Gorge of the Charles, below Echo Bridge, at Newton
Upper Falls, very near the station of the Boston and Albany
Railroad on its Newton Circuit branch.

Another pleasant boating-ground on the Charles is at
Dedham, reached by the Dedham branch of the Old Colony
Railroad. The same branch will take one to Roslindale
Station, near which is Bellevue Hill, the highest ground
within the corporate limits of Boston. Superb views are to
be had here from the outlook in the water-tower, and a
stroll southward will take one through the wild Muddy
Pond woods to the town of Hyde Park, with line vistas of
the Blue Hills across the Neponset valley. The Great Blue
Hill is best reached from Readville Station, on the Old
Colony Railroad, and a rough walk eastward through the
range brings one out at West Quincy Station, on the Granite
branch of the Central division of the Old Colony.

The Neponset valley has some very beautiful scenery.
It may be reached from Hyde Park, Mattapan and Milton
Lower Mills. At Milton Lower Mills a walk over the high-
way up Milton Hill gives one a superb view down the
estuary of the Neponset into Dorchester Bay, one of the
most beautiful sea-coast landscapes in New England. On
the South Shore notable attractive points are Merry Mount
Park and Faxon Park in Quincy. The former is best
reached from Wollaston Station, on the Old Colony's cen-
tral division, and the latter from Braintree Station. Other
strikingly beautiful landscapes on the South Shore are along
Weymouth Fore River, best reached from Weymouth Sta-
tion, on the South Shore branch of the Old Colony, and the
neighborhood of Hingham by the same railroad.

No mention has been made of the various interesting
harbor excursions by steamboat, or of the visits to histori-
cal places like Lexington and Concord, these being so well
known. — Ed.]

Polyanthus Narcissus at the Columbian Fair.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — A nice display of Polyanthus Narcissus, sometimes
called clustered Daffodils, was made in the early part of April
in one of the greenhouses of the World's Fair grounds. They
were from Dutch bulbs, sent by H. Zijp, Haarlem, and were
potted about tlie middle of December. Rather more than a
thousand well-formed plants, from ten inches to two feet high,
and with umbels five to fifteen flowered, afforded a represen-
tative variety of these standard plants, which have ever been
favorites for home cultivation. Hyacinths, mostly single-
flowered forms, from Mr. J. C. Vaughan, of Chicago, were in-
terspersed with them, and added to the attractiveness of the
exhibit.

Grand Monarque ranks among the most satisfactory of the
nine varieties shown. The flowers have a broad white perianth
and a deep lemon-yellow crown, from eight to twelve of them
being borne in a cluster. Muzart orientalis has a shorter scape,
with flowers similar in color, a shallower cup, and a smaller,
waxy-white perianth. Prince Metternich, with a white peri-
anth and bright yellow crown ; Lamartine, white, with golden-
yellow crown ; Gloria Mundi, a creamy white with a yellow
cup, are all good and distinct. The plant labeled Pearl White
is much like the form known as Paper White, and was the
only pure white in the collection. The plants are fifteen to
eighteen inches high, and the umbels five to ten flowered.
The best of the yellows, and the most showy plant in the col-
lection, was Grand Soleil d'Or, which carries a golden-yellow
flower, with a deep orange crown. JauneSupreme, a sulphur-
yellow, with orange crown, closely resembles Bathurst, with a
primrose-yellow perianth and orange cup. The scapes of each
average hardly a foot in height, and the umbels are from six
to fifteen flowered.

Mr. V'aughan's Hyacinths were mostly show varieties, like
Lord Macaulay and the bright carmine-colored Queen of Hya-
cinths. Of pure whites. Madam Van der Hoop was noticeable
for its broad leaves and large flowers in a rather open raceme,
and Grand Vanqueur for its large, dense truss. Elfride, a

white, tinged with pink, has a very open truss, the exception-
ally large flowers sliowing well individually. Moreno, a pecu-
liar salmon-pink tint, was quite distinct. L'Or d'Australie'is a
rich cream-yellow, and La Citronifere is much like it, Ijut paler.
Blondine has a good-sized truss of blue flowers, and William
I. has flowers of so dark a purple as to be almost blue-black.

Englewood, Chicigo. lU. E. J. Hill.

Wayside Planting by Village Improvement Societies.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In the planting of trees by village improvement socie-
ties both use and beauty should be mcluded in "improve-
ment." What is useful and beautiful in one case may be un-
necessary and unpleasing in another. The great aim should
be appropriateness. For instance, no tree is more suitable for
shading village streets than the Elm, its high arching branches
affording ample shade for comfort and not enough to keep
the road in a muddy condition after rain. The old New Eng-
land towns owe much of their charm to the wayside Elm. I
refer especially to villages and towns where houses and shops
are close together. Outside of towns, on inland high-roads,
long level stretches of Elms may be used effectively, especially
where clusters of houses at short intervals form a semi-de-
tached village. There are many other fine shade-trees which
may be planted for variety — the Oak, Maple, Beech, Chestnut
and Linden. The Tulip-tree has recently been suggested for
road-side planting, but it is not a graceful tree for this purpose.

For a shade-tree along much-frequented inland roads the
Elm has an evident advantage over conically shaped trees. It
is admirably adapted, also, for planting on home and school-
house grounds and for shade in fields. Along less-frequented
roads, in many places, no trees should be planted at all. I
have in mind a country road where occasional White Birches
had grown up irregularly, and Maples had recently been
planted on either side. In several instances a young Maple
was set out directly under a good-sized Birch. The new trees
might have been grouped naturally at intervals for shade and
thus made to harmonize with the irregular Birches, but the
effect of this planting wasformal in the extreme. I know also
a triangle by a country highway where a few Pitch Pines atone
end have been left in a group. I doubt if any one would have
thought of planting Pines in such a spot in such a manner, but
the effect of this natural arrangement is both interesting and
beautiful.

Asarule.ourcountry road-sides are at their best when planted
by nature. Open views on one or both sides of the way, alternat-
ing with shady spaces, are vastly more attractive than con-
tinuous, monotonous, artificial planting. Occasionally we see
a piece of road on which trees would be an improvement,
especially where a new way has been cut through a bare re-
gion. But often nothing is wanted beyond leaving the bushes
and vines unharmed. Now and then there is an obtrusively
ugly spot where an adjoining bank of the highway has been
dug out for gravel or blasted for rock. In such a spot a clump
of English Beeches or White Birches in the foreground would
quickly soften the effect. In repairing our roads, care should
be taken not to disturb the wild Roses, Barberries, Elderber-
ries and many other delightful shrubs and flowers, where they
will flourish and multiply if left alone ; if these have been dis-
turbed it would be well to replace them.

I would urge, also, that our country roads be not widened
unnecessarily. In villages and towns wide roads are important,
but in the country, narrow roads are, as a rule, much more
picturesque. As to the useful side of the question. Professor
Shaler, in a recent article on the "Betterment of our High-
ways," writes : "In this country, as well as in most of the
states of Europe, the tendency is to make the road-bed a good
deal wider than sound practice dictates. A part of the badness
of our American roads is generally due to the fact that the
tracking is far too wide to be effectively maintained. In this,
as in many other of the grosser arts, we may well take a lesson
from the ancient Romans, perhaps the earliest skillful road-
makers in the world. Their roads were, indeed, much nar-
rower than those which are commonly found in our country
districts."

If more trees are desired for a tree-lined sea-shore road with
occasional stretches affording glimpses of the ocean, other
kinds than inland Pines should be chosen. These should not
be set regularly in a row, but in occasional groups. Willows,
and in some especially adapted places a row of Lombardy
Poplars, harmonize with marsh or sea. An objection to Lom-
bardy Poplars may be made because they are not long-lived ;
but where they are planted at rare intervals for beauty, not for
shade, they can be replaced after a number of years.

April 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

189

I should suggest that these three points he borne in mind :
Where continuous passing and frequent houses close to the
road (as in village streets) demand shade-trees, there artificial
and regular tree-planting, especially of Elms, is appropriate
both for use and beauty. That in improving country roads
outside of villages, we should remember that improving does
not necessarily mean changing in effect, apart from keeping
the road in order. That what may be a most charming addi-
tion inland may be inharmonious by the sea ; and that in
every case we should consider whether we are working for
use or for beauty, or for both combined, so that each result
may be appropriate.

Pride's Crossinj^, Mass. ^' .■ • ^»

Pruning Grape-vines.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — By an oversight several Grape-vines on my place were
not pruned last autumn or during the winter. I am told tliat if
they are pruned now they will be weakened by much bleeding.
What is your advice in the matter ?

Hartford, Conn. -fi- A.

[Prune the vines at once. They will undoubtedly bleed
freely, but we have never seen any evil effects from such
a loss of sap. With very vigorous vines this loss might
tend to lessen the growth of new cane, but sometimes this
would be a desirable result. One who is nervous at the
sight of blood and apprehensive of injury will be spared
some alarm by simply rubbing off the buds which are not
wanted, and then waiting to prune until the remaining buds
have expanded into leaves and have made a good growth.
The early run of sap will drop almost as soon as the
cut is made, but no such loss occurs to growing vines
when they are summer-pruned and the leaves are do-
ing their work. Some German gardeners defer their
pruning until the buds are well started, late in May, and
they are successful cultivators of the Grape. Opinions differ
among experts as to the best time for pruning. Many in-
sist thatFebruaty is the only proper season for this work,
but the preferable practice seems to be to prune in October
and November after the leaves fall. However, when this
is neglected for any reason, as in the case of our corre-
spondent, we should have no hesitation about pruning at
the present season.— ^Ed.]

Recent Publications.

Economic Fungi. By A. B. Seymour and F. S. Earle.

The fifth fascicle of this series of specimens, designed
principally to illustrate the fungous diseases of useful and
noxious plants, is chiefly concerned with " Uredinese para-
site on woody plants, including gymnosporangia, with their
ajcedial stages." Professors Seymour and Earle, in edit-
ing and publishing this work, are doing a valuable service
to all who are interested in the subject of mycology, and to
vegetable pathologists in particular. While thirteen families
of plants are represented among the fungi considered in fas-
cicle v. (Nos. 201 to 250), the two orders which take the lead
are the Rosace* and Coniferas, the fqrmer containing the
y4icidial and the latter the Teleutosporic forms of the several
species of gymnosporangium.

From the standpoint of the fruit-grower, perhaps, the most in-
teresting specimens are those of Gymnosporangium globosum,
Farl., and G. macropus, Lk. The former is common upon the
Red Cedar, as small galls, while the latter produces the so-
called " Cedar-apples," which often measure an inch in diame-
ter and have long orange gelatinous horns during moist
weather in spring. From the Cedar the spores are carried to
the young apple-leaves and there produce orange patches,
which, in the worst cases, are confluent and cover the whole
leaf. This collection shows fine specimens of the two species,
both upon the Cedar and the Apple. The G. globosum grows
upon several species of the Rose family, and specimens are
shown upon Crataegus coccinea, C. punctata, Pyrus Americana
and P. coronaria.

Of interest to the mycologist are the specimens of Gym-
nosporangium Bermudianum, Earle. This fungus is re-
markable in that the two forms are produced in succession
upon the same galls upon the Juniper. In other words, the
iEcidial form precedes the final spores upon the Cedar, and

no member of the Rosaceai seems necessary in the life his-
tory of this rust. The new species of Pine-rust, Coleosporium
Pini, by Professor Galloway, on leaves of Pinus inops, is also
included, while several species of Peridermium of the Pine
group are given.

How to Know the Wild Flowers. By Mrs. William Starr Dana.
Illustrated by Marion Satterlee. New York : Charles Scribner &
Sons.

The purpose of this book is well set forth in its sub-title,
where it is described as a guide to the names, haunts and
habits of our common wild flowers. This is practically the
purpose which an ordinary manual of botany serves, but the
author, as is explained in the preface, imagines that learners
have a dread of technical terms and scientific classification.
The plants described are, therefore, not arranged in natural
orders, but are grouped l)y colors in accordance with a sug-
gestion once made by Mr. John Burroughs. On this plan
about a hundred pages are devoted to white Howers and their
description, fifty more to yellow flowers, and so on through
pink, red, blue, purple and miscellaneous to the end. The
flowers of each color are then arranged as far as possible to con-
form with their time of blooming, so that the learner will find
flowers succeeding each other in the same order as that in
which they appear by brook-side and road-side. The book
does not attempt to furnish a complete list of plants. Butter-
cups, Wild Roses, Thistles and other species which everybody
is supposed to know are ruled out. Plants with inconspicuous
flowers, among which are mentioned Ragweed and Plantain,
are also excluded, as well as the rarer plants and escapes from
gardens. Each plant has a brief description with the common
and scientific name and the English name of the family to
which it belongs. There are illustrations of rather more than
a hundred of the flowers described, and in choosing the sub-
jects those which are prominent for their beauty or for their
special interest have been usually selected. The pictures are
gracefully drawn, but since they have been prepared for the
special purpose of identification, it would have been better if
less study had been given to mere artistic effect and more
pains taken to show sharply the distinctive characters of the
subjects. Careful reproductions of outline drawings would
have been more useful than the text as a popular aid to deter-
mining species, but one might be thoroughly familiar with
some of the plants figured here and yet be unable to identify
their portraits ; still the pictures are generally helpful as well as
pretty. Their usefulness would have been increased if the scale
on which they are drawn had been indicated in every case.

All efforts to familiarize people with our native plants and
flowers are praiseworthy, and we trust that this book will stimu-
late many readers to investigate our native flora. There may
be persons who like its poetical quotations and the chatty
talk of its descriptions better than the more exact and com-
plete statements in botanical handbooks, although we appre-
hend that it is a mistake to suppose that detailed botanical
descriptions are dry to any one who has a real desire to study
flowers.

Potash in Agriculture is a little pamphlet which has real
value, although it is issued from the office of the German Kali
Works in this city as an advertisement of the potash salts
which they have to sell. The quotations from the experiment-
station bulletins, in which are recorded the results of using
potash as a fertilizer, make an interesting body of experience.
Years ago the use of plaster was universal in many farming
regions where it now shows no good results. We have some-
times thought that this was because the plaster had helped the
plants to exhaust the potash-supply in the soil. At all events,
we have observed that the use of potash on such lands has
generally proved immediately eiificacious.

Notes.

A man, now living in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, who is sixty-
seven years of age, planted a White Pine-tree near a spring on
his father's farm when he was a boy some twelve years old.
The circumference of that tree is now ten feet and seven
inches.

We have often invited attention to the beauty of the leaves
of forest-trees in spring, and have ventured to assert that for
variety and delicacy of color they are not excelled even by the
display of rich color which makes our woods famous in au-
tumn. In this latitude there are few trees showing leaf as yet,
but last week the light yellow-green leaves of the Willows just
began to appear, and in bright sunshine the trees were singu-

190

Garden and Forest.

[Number* 270.

larly beautiful, as they seemed to be enveloped in a luminous
mist

A correspondent writes that he has lately sent to a dozen of
the leading plantsmen of the country for the single white-
flowered Paeony, Paeonia albiflora, and has been unable fo get
a plant. This is not a new plant, and it ought not to be difficult
to obtain. The flowers are of the purest white and of a
satiny texture, four or five inches in diameter, rather cup-
shaped, and enclosing a cluster of bright yellow stamens. Be-
sides being one of the most beautiful of hardy flowers, here,
tbesf. Paeonies are delightfully fragrant.

A late number of the London Garden contained a beautiful
plate representing several clioice varieties of Dendrobium
Phalxnopsis, and the beauty of these flowers will make it ap-
parent why the lovers of Orchids should be grateful that this
sp>ecies has now been collected in such quantity as to place it
within the reach of every one. The plants grow freely and
mature their pseudo-bulbs if kept in a hot moist house dur-
ing the summer, where, in the climate of England, they are
exposed to full sunshine. Hybridists are already making suc-
cessful crosses between (his and other species.

A German horticultural paper calls the attention of tourists
to the fact that they may be grievously deceived in thinking
that the objects which they buy in Switzerland, decorated with
dried blossoms of the Edelweiss, are really mementoes of the
Alps. An enterprising horticulturist near Dantiz, on the
northern coast of Germany, has, we are told, established an
Edelweiss- farm, whence, last year, considerable quantities of
the flowers were sent to a tradesman on the other side of the
Alps, while (his year the amount thus expor(ed will be (wice
as large. The seeds are sown in (epid ferfilized beds at the
end of March or beginning of April, and are transplanted once
before they are set out in the fields in July, after which it is
only needful to weed the ground and loosen the soil around
the plants.

The third edition of Les Maladies de la Vigne, by Professor
Pierre Viala, recently appeared at Paris and Montpellier in the
series en(itled Bibliotheque du Progris Agricole et Viticole.
The second edition, which appeared in 1887, was a volume of
462 pages, well illus(ra(ed wi(h wood-cuts and a few colored
plates. The present edition, which was awarded (he Desma-
zi^rs prize by the French Instifute, is a superb volume of nearly
600 large octavo pages, beautifully printed and admirably illus-
trated. The subject-matter has been entirely remodeled and
brought up to date, including the results of researches, some
of which were made as late as 1892. There is probably no
work relating to the diseases of any cultivated plant which has
ever been offered to the public in so a(trac(ive a form, and
none which furnishes a more comple(eand scientific account,
both of (he diseases and (he me(hods of combating (hem.
The author is to be congratulated on the successful publica-
tion of a work destined to form one of (he classics of vege(a-
ble pathology.

We have received from Mr. T. S. Brandegee, of San Fran-
cisco, a sp>ecimen of the wood of Populus Mondcola, the fine
Poplar-(ree which he discovered in Lower California, and
which was figured in (hese columns (vol. iv., p. 329). This
specimen, which only shows (he sap-wood, is quite unlike the
wood of other Poplars ; it is liglK red, much resembling cherry
in color, and is close-grained, modera(eIy hard, and shows a
handsome saliny surface. I( appears well sui(ed for (he inte-
rior finish of houses or for the be((er classes of cabine(-work ;
and it is therefore desirable (ha( (his (ree should be (ested for
timber in coun(rie8 wi(h temperate climates. As i( grows
naturally at a considerable elevation above (he sea, where the
temperature some(imes falls below freezing-point, Populus
Monticola might be expec(ed (o (hrive in sou(hern California
and in all (he MedKerranean basin. As i( is a tree of large size,
and as i( will probably grow under favorable conditions as rap-
idly as o(her Poplar-(rees, i(s introduction as a source of
timber-supply may prove to be a ma((er of great economic
importance.

Many French horticultural societies have petitioned (he
Government during recent years (o substi(u(e frui( for forest
trees in the plantations made along railway routes. To (hese
petitions (he Minis(ry of Public Works has now replied by say-
ing that, some twelve years ago, it recommended (he employ-
ment of frui(-(rees for (he purpose named, that extensive ex-
perimen(s had since been made, and (ha( these experimen(s
fjad shown (he inferiori(y of frui(-trees to forest-trees. Either
the fruit-(ree8 had not flourished or they had been pillaged and

mufilated by marauders ; and, moreover, (hey cast too heavy
a shade, thus causing dampness and deterioradon in road-beds
near which they stood. " It is needful," says the explanatory
circular, " that trees planted along tracks shall be capable of
developing in isolation info tall slender forms, so that excessive
shade may be avoided ; and this requirement is best fulfilled
by forest-trees. Therefore the administration has renounced
(he aftempt to popularize the plantation of fruit-trees except in
one or (wo depar(ments, where a single species of nut-bearing
(rees will henceforth be admissible." In Belgium the case is
about (he same, and, indeed, a member of Parliament re-
marked, when the question was recently under discussion,
that the only trees which should be planted along railway-
tracks were telegraph-poles.

Professor J. P". Sfelle, agricultural editor of the Mobile
Register, feeling assured (ha( (he pecan-nuts grown in (he ci(y
of Mobile were of remarkably good qualily, invi(ed persons
with (rees in bearing to send him some samples. He received
nearly a hundred responses, and early in (he year he pub-
lished a classified description of twen(y-(wo of (hese nu(s,
grading them according to (i) size of nut, (2) thinness of shell,
(3) fullness of interior, (4) firmness of kernel, and (5) excel-
lence of flavor. Being judged in (his way, some of (he largest
and most beautiful nuts were classified below (he smaller ones
which had reached a higher development in other parficulars
than size and appearance. The nut which headed the list was
slightly conical in shape, about one and (hree-quarter inches
in length and one inch in diameter. The second nut was (wo
and one-eighth inches long and seven-eighths of an inch in
diameter, blunt at each end, regular and wi(h a firm kernel of
exceedingly fine flavor. The (ree which bore (his is now fif(y
fee( high, and came from a nut planted (hir(y years ag'o, and
bears from six (o seven bushels of nu(s annually. The (bird was
one and (hree-quarter inches in length and one inch in diame-
ter, slightly conical and sloping toward (he beak from one-
quarter of (he length of the base. From the twenty-two de-
scriptions given, it is plain that (he nu(s were sufficiently
distinct to warrant their division into separate classes. They
differed widely in many particulars, but the shells of all were
so thin that any of them could have been crushed in the hand
by pressing two of them together. Judging from the recorded
yields of the trees which bear many of (hese nuts, it is not sur-
prising that one of Professor Stglle's correspondents should
state that a bearing Pecan-grove was wor(h more (o its owner
than an Orange-orchard, or, indeed, than any other kind of an
orchard.

At a sub-s(a(ion of (he Michigan Experiment Station (rials
have been carried on for some years with a view (o discover-
ing plants adapted to (he sandy soil of the Jack Pine Barrens
in the northern part of (ha( s(ate. There is very li((Ie vegetable-
mold in this soil. The winters are long and cold, there is
always danger of untimely frosts in late spring and early au-
tumn, and, although the entire rainfall of (he year is no( shor(
of the average for the region, a long summer drought is usual,
when the sun beats on the sand and scorches all vegetation
which has not extraordinary powers of endurance. The Eu-
ropean plant known as Spurry (Spergula arvensis), a member
of the Pink family, has been tried now for some years, and.
both the oflicersof the station and the farmers who have (es(ed
i( have found it a good plant for plowing under to fertilize
the land as well as an excellent forage crop for cattle and
sheep. The seed germinates very quickly, and a field will be
green on the third day from sowing. In six weeks it can be
mowed for hay and the seed will be ripe in eight weeks. It is
in (he bes( condifion for pas(urage from four (o six weeks
af(er sowing, (hough, if necessary, animals can be (urned in(o
(he field much sooner. One farmer wri(es, that with proper
care fifteen or (wen(y bushels of the seed, which is smaller
(han clover-seed, can be raised to the acre. But since Spurry
diesafterseeding, the experimenters are lookingfor a perennial
plant which has value, both for forage and for green manure,
and which will endure pretty severe frost, and roots so deeply
as not (o be injured by severe drough(. Experiments are now
in progress in (he Michigan Barrens with the so-called Flat Pea,
Lathyrussilvestris, a plant long known to botanists in Europe,
and which, in its wild state, contains elements unpalatable
and unheaithful (o animals. I( is claimed (hat Herr Wagner,
of Wurteniburg, has bred out these undesirable qualities, and
seed of this strain is under trial. The experimenters do not
care (o make posifive assertions about (he value of this plant
as yet, but so far it promises (o endure considerable tros(,
to winter well and to make good growth on this soil. It does
not seed until (he second year, but cattle eat the green forage
readily.

May 3, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

191

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OpncK : Tribunk Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 3,- 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles : — Landscape-art in Central Park igi

The Work of Frederick Law Olmsted at the Columbian Exposition.. . 192

Waiting; for the May Mrs. y. H. Robbins. 192

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— Xn. (With fiRure.) ..C. S. S. 193

Foreign Correspondence: — New Plants ]V. Watson. 194

Cultural Department : — Hardy Evergreen Hollies and Barberries.. y*. G, Jack. 196

Plants in Flower j J. N. Gfrard. 197

Sowing Annuals, etc jf. N. G. it^y

y'=xican Bulbs F. H. H. 197

Sweet Corn C. E. Hunn. 197

Correspondence : — Aquatics in Modern Gardening Samuel Henshaw. \i^'j

Maple-sugar J. E. C. 198

Blue Flowers A.G. 198

Quercus densifiora Frank M. Gallaher. 199

Impotency of Grape Pollen S. A. Beack. 199

Recent Publications 299

Notes 199

Illustration ; — Pninus Maximowiczii, Fig. 31 195

Landscape-art in Public Parks.

WHILE the rapid growth of popular sentiment in
favor of securing open spaces for recreation in our
cities and towns is evident and altogether gratifying, there
is always the danger that when a community realizes the
need of pleasure-grounds it will eagerly seize the first site
that is offered at what seems a reasonable price. The
preparation of the land thus hastily secured is not always
entrusted to an artist of experience in designing and con-
structing works of this sort, and it is often the case, there-
fore, that the ground which was selected without proper
forethought is treated without proper intelligence. A cap-
ital mistake at the outset of such an enterprise will leave
it a crippled and misshapen thing forever, and therefore
when the 900,000 inhabitants of the twelve cities and
twenty-four towns which constitute the greater Boston
determined to have some pleasure-grounds, they made an
admirable beginning by creating a Metropolitan Park
Commission to take the whole complicated question under
advisement to ascertain the best way of establishing a
homogeneous park system for the entire district. The first
report of the commission justifies the confidence expressed
in it at the time of its organization, and no town or city
which contemplates any similar work can afford to go on
without a careful study of this admirable document.

When New York decided to enlarge its park area, a
commission was named who at once proceeded to select
several large bodies of land to meet the growing needs of
the city. At some future time some designer, good or bad,
will be invited to make plans of these various pleasure-
grounds. The Boston commission, on the contrary, began
by taking counsel with Mr. Charles Eliot as to the selection
of park sites, and no doubt his assistance in outlining
the general scheme, and later on in defining the boundaries
of the various parks and studying them in their relation to
each other, will be worth a great deal more than it would
have been had he not been called in as a professional

adviser until after the land had been secured. The great
number and varied forms of the municipal bodies which
together form the greater Boston, make the problem a
rather intricate one from a political point of view, and for
this purpose Mr Baxter was made secretary, because he
not only knew the ground, but his studies had made him
familiar with subjects of this sort and with the necessary
documentary evidence in the case. A legal adviser was
also chosen to examine the precedents for legislation and
to draw up acts which were necessary to carry the scheme
into effect, and each one of these gentlemen has done his
work in a singularly comprehensive and thorough way, so
that a distinct service has been rendered not only to Bos-
ton but to every rapidly growing town and city in the
country.

The political and social difficulties may be less serious
in many other cities than they are in the case of
Boston and its suburbs, but in every instance the physical
problems can only be dealt with by a true artist, and no
one can read Mr Eliot's report without feeling that expert
advice is a necessity in every park-project from the very be-
ginning. The opinion prevails too widely that the sole
business of an artist is to contrive something which will
please the eye, when really the true artist is the most prac-
tical of men. His scheme of development will be prima-
rily based on what is the most useful, and the beauty will
grow out of it as something natural and appropriate, and
will therefore have a strength and character which it never
would have possessed if it had been tacked on as an
ornamental after-thought The water which flows about
the great buildings in Jackson Park doubles the beauty
of all tfie stately structures there by reflecting their images
from its surface, and it adds a certain sparkle and anima-
tion to the scene which make the only appropriate finish
to a picture of joyousness and festivity; but the foundations
of the buildings are firm because they rest on the earth
that was dredged out to form these very water-ways, and
the same glittering channels furnish the most convenient
means of intercommunication between the buildings. In
this way a true artist commands every, opposing force to
render helpful service and converts difficulties into oppor-
tunities. So, in the construction of a park, the designer who
will utilize the ground to its fullest extent and make it
furnish the highest pleasure to the greatest number will at
the same time make the most beautiful park, for the beauty
will not be merely superficial, bvit it will be vitalized by an
informing purpose. In public works, and even in the ar-
rangement of private grounds, the complaint is sometimes
made that it costs too much to employ a landscape-gar-
dener, when, in reality, a true artist will not only rescue all
possible beauty from clumsy destruction, but will turn
every natural feature to its highest use, and, in this way,
will not only prevent waste of priceless opportunities, but
in most cases prevent positive blunders, which mean a
double loss.

Of course, this report of Mr. Eliot's is simply a prelimi-
nary survey of the ground, and attention is invited to it
primarily to show the value of just such a study. The
impression prevails too generally that the true function of
a landscape-gardener is to make shrub-borders and flower-
beds, but even a hasty perusal of this report will convince
any reader that it is the duty of some one to make such a
fundamental study if the park system of any city is to be
developed on the best lines, and that a searching rev/'ew of
the physical and historical geography of any disirict is
needed in order to establish the principles which should
control even the selection of its park sites. It is obvious
that when the time comes to work out in detail these new
Boston parks the same painstaking method will be needed
if their boundaries are properly defined and their entrances
properly adjusted to the highways of traffic and travel ; if
all the beauty of land and water is to be saved and aug-
mented ; if every age and class is to find its. special want
met most conveniently ; if proper provision is made for
festal assemblage and for the distribution of visitors who

192

Garden and Forest,

[Number 271.

are looking for sylvan or pastoral quiet The sum of the
matter is that the proper designing of any considera-
ble public park demands the best thought of an artist of
the first rank, and that a work of genuine landscape-art,
like the work of an architect of commanding ability, does
more than simply make appeal to the esthetic sense. It
-meets human necessities and human longings, in the most
practical, economical and satisfying way, and wherever
any planning of a public park is not entrusted to an artist
of broad mental attainment, of catholic taste and thorough
training, the result will be a costly and unsatisfactory sub-
stitute for what the people have a right to demand.

In the throng who witnessed on Monday the Columbian
Exposition few probably realized that the harmony of the
scene and the perfection and convenience of the whole
scheme of arrangement were due to the genius of one man,
Frederick Law Olmsted. Many others have brought to
this great enterprise their gifts of labor, devotion, artistic
training and the enthusiasm born of a great opportunity,
but the spark of genius which has produced a single and
consistent work of art, changing the sandy and uninviting
waste of Jackson Park into a marvel of stately beauty,
sprung from his brain. Of this the world may still be
ignorant, but his associates realize and proclaim it ; and
the architects, sculptors and painters who have been in-
spired to their sincerest efforts feel that their work serves a
nobler purpose, because the labor of each contributed to
the harmonious development and expression of his com-
prehensive idea.

At the end of a few months the visible result of theJabors
of the group of remarkable artists who have built the
Columbian Exposition will have disappeared, but their
work will live in the educational influences, direct and in-
direct, which it must exert on the people of this country.
The immediate results will pass away, but the light which
has been kindled on the shores of Lake Michigan will
make American homes happier and more beautiful from
one end of the continent to the other.

The foremost arfist which the New World has yet pro-
duced, Mr. Olmsted, has been singularly fortunate in im-
pressing himself during his own life upon his time and
people, and in living to see with his own eyes the develop-
ment and perfection of his greatest conceptions. The
memory of his name and personality may be dimmed in
the passage of years, for it is the fate of architects to be
lost in their work, but millions of people now unborn will
find rest and refreshment in the contemplation of smiling
landscapes which he has made, and will enjoy the shade
of trees which he has planted. No American has been
more useful in his time or has made a more valuable and
lasting contribution to civilization in this country.

Waiting for the May.

THERE is a period when " the slow feet of the New Eng-
land spring" seem to linger upon the mountains, and
when, to change the metaphor, the season sticks in the ways,
as it were, and refuses to be launched.

April, this year, has been a sort of diluted March — March
and water. A good deal of water and much east wind have
prevailed, as well as snow and blustering winds, which have
prolonged this unconscionable winter in the old colony, till we
are all tired and sick of it. Now that May has about come, we
walk abroad and consider the situation, which is still pretty
disconsolate. In the last week of April the grass is only green
in sunny and highly cultivated spots, the tree-buds are swelled
perceptibly solely upon the most sheltered of the trees, while
even the Crocuses have been whipped and battered by the
icy storms till they are a ragged-looking crowd. Tulips, which
ought to l>e abroad in their gay spring bonnets, are curled up
in tight little imbrications against the east wind ; only the
points of the Iris-leaves are showing, like Cadmus's warriors
rising in the furrows, spear-heads first. The sturdy perennial
Poppies make a show of green, and Pseonies stick up their
round red leaf-buds, just to show they are there and ready for
action when the time comes. The fragrant single Violet per-

fumes the grass, where it has strayed from the. border ; but
our own timid, white native flower, which is rarely late, lingers,
hidden under its hooded leaves.

The shrubs are struggling forward, the foreign ones ahead.
Spiraea Thunbergii is the first in my group to adorn, as it is
the last to desert, the border, and is beautiful from its first
showy sprays of white blossoms in the spring, to the last
autumn-tinted tuft of feathery leaves that clings to its graceful
stems. In a warm corner the pendulous Forsythia is trying
to bloom so impatiently that I took pity upon it and brought
some sprays into the house. The warmth of a sunny window
acted as an incubator, and in a few days hatched a long scep-
tre of yellow blossoms that shine like stars in the drawing-
room and echo the glow of the laugliing Daffodils, which no
weather can daunt, and which are ready to wag their gallant
heads in the very teeth of a north-easter. The Flowering Al-
mond shows almost invisible buds, and the Ladies' Tresses
are also alert, while all the Rose-bushes show lively color in
their stems and rudimentary leaves at intervals. The Ash-
leayed Spirrea 'has put forth little plumelets of leaves ; the
bush Honeysuckles are wide-awake, with the Pliiladelphus
close behind, while the Lilacs of several varieties have flower-
buds in fine condition, not having been coaxed, as they often
are, into a premature appearance, to be nipped by an untimely
frost.

In fact, this year the development has been slow enough, to
be sure. Nature has been in her most cautious mood. The
careful Elms still house their timid buds ; the Oaks are hardly
astir. In the lee of the house an Ash-leaved Maple has dared
to blossom, and in each budding tuft of leaves displays a pur-
ple flower. The Evergreens look scorched by winter winds,
but they are never encouraging at this season, so one must be
patient with them, but there was a minute sough in the
branches of the biggest Pine upon the windy hill, which it had
never been old enough to give before, that fairly gave it a
grown-up air.

In spite of its lateness, its chill, its persistent delay, the sea-
son is struggling along. The May is coming after our " weary
waiting," and even the east wind has a shy breath of promise
like the coy smile of a Boston maiden. This stir of coming
life in all the brown twigs is one of Nature's most delicate de-
lights, which she provides annually for her true lover. To
walk abroad in the garden when the plants begin to revive in
it is like the coming of joy after sorrow, doubly dear and
sweet. Each little clump of withered leaves stores in its heart
a surprise, and we welcome the blossom with enthusiasm.
There is an anxiety about plants that have been moved late in
the fall, that is allayed by the appearance of a tiny shoot; some-
times we are called upon to mourn the loss of some favorite
which has failed to survive the winter. From year to year our
gardens change, old things disappear, new ones arrive (without
our invitation, sometimes), and strange visitors appear beside
the familiar faces. Verily, " a bird of the air shall carry the
matter," and some chance seed thus sown may give us an
unexpected splendor in a neglected corner.

As we push aside the old withered stalks of last year's
growth and see the coming of the green successor^, we have
a thrill of affection for the returning guest, and welcome it
with cordial rejoicing. There is a sunny bank in my garden,
well sheltered by a wall on the north, and overhung by shrubs
and trees, where every spring the Violets grow. They are
constantly trodden under foot, and bring with them the same
lesson of sweetness and humility, thesamecliarm of fragrance
and promise. Were those Violets missing, the spring would
lack something that we have learned to count on and rejoice in ;
for garden-fiowers that spring spontaneously in the grass,
whether because tlie green setting enhances their value, or
because we do not expect to find them there, always have a
peculiar charm, so that I wonder that people do not always
plant such harmless varieties as Come Early, when they can
give so much true pleasure.

In the great pleasure-grounds of the Italian noblemen in
Rome in tlie Villa Borghese, the Villa Pamphili Doria and
others (for the villa means the grounds with them, and not the
house, as with us), the grass in late February and early March
is studded with Anemones of all hues. Red, yellow, white
and purple blossoms bestar the ground, and with true kindli-
ness the princely proprietors allow the people to come and
gather them at will, so tliat on any fine day groups of happy
children may be seen filling their hats and aprons with these
gay flowers, which are as plenty as Dandelions upon the
spacious lawns. And as you wander through the Borghese
Park, a hint of sweetness invites you to where the Violets
grow, blue and dark, in some shady, moist nook, free for the
picking. Nor shall I ever forget tlie sensation of driving in

May 3, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

t93

May from Lake Como across the country to Lake Magg^iore,
and being haunted by the perfume of Lilies-of-the-valley,
which here and there grew wild along the road in the shelter
of a wall. In the country near Washington the two-colored
Violet is also a delicious surprise to one who is not familiar
with its delicate velvet petals of deep purple and pale violet,
like a Pansy waiting to be evolved.

In the District of Columbia, too, the Mayflower is not so shy
and rare as in our colder climate, but one who drives out from
the capital may readily tind it by its fragrance in any wood
along the road far earlier than we dare look for it here, and
much more plentiful.

All these early blossoms of spring have a value that the later
and more splendid darlings of the parterre miss — they have
the charm of surprise, the delight of promise, the hint of the
coming May, for which all hearts wait, on each succeeding
season, with impatience and desire. They tell us that the
dreary winter is over ; that the joy of summer is at hand ; that
warmth and fertility are coming back to the cold bosom of
mother earth, and thus we hail them as prophets and harbin-
gers of the pleasures to come.

Hingham, Mass. M. C. Robbins,

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XII.

TREES of the Rose family in the flora of Japan are not
numerous as compared with that of eastern America,
and among them there is not one of first-rate value as a
timber-tree. Horticulturally they are more important, and
Japanese gardens owe much of their interest to species of
Prunus. Although the most popular garden-tree in Japan,
Prui.us Mume is probably not Japanese at all, but a native
of Corea, where, last summer, Mr. Veitch found it planted as
a shade-tree along the borders of the high-roads. This is
the tree which all foreign writers upon Japan speak of as
the Plum, although it is really an Apricot. In cultivation
Prunus Mume produces white, rose-colored red, and often
double flowers, which appear before the leaves in February
and March, and are revered as harbingers of spring. It
is planted in nearly every Japanese garden of any preten-
sions, and is one of the most universally used pot-plants.
Care and labor are often expended in producing dwarfed,
contorted or pendulous-branched specimens, which some-
times command what seem exorbitant prices. The por-
trait of one of these Apricot-plants growing in a pot was
published in vol. iii., page 333, of this journal.

A more important tree than Prunus Mume is the Japa-
nese Cherry, Prunus Pseudo-cerasus, the largest tree of
the Rose family in the empire, and, next to the Apricot,
more cultivated for flowers by the Japanese than any other
tree. In the forests of Yezo, Prunus Pseudo-cerasus occa-
sionally rises to the height of eighty feet and forms a trunk
three feet in diameter. In the character of the bark, in
habit and general appearance, it much resembles the Euro-
pean Cherry, the wild type of the familiar Cherry-tree of
our gardens and orchards, and as it appears in the forest it
might well be mistaken for that species. The Japanese
Cherry is common in Yezo and in all the mountain-regions
of Hondo up to 5,000 or 6,000 feet above the sea-level,
and often forms a considerable portion of the forest-growth,
although, in Hondo, all large trees appear to have been cut.
In the early autumn it is conspicuous in the landscape and
very beautiful, as the leaves turn deep scarlet and light up
the forest before the Maples assume their brightest colors.
For centuries the Japanese have planted these Cherry-trees
in all gardens and temple-grounds, and often by the bor-
ders of highways, as at MukOjima, near Tokyo, where there
is an avenue of them more than a mile in length along the
banks of the Sumi-da-gawa, and at Koganei, where, a cen-
tury and a half ago, 10,000 Cherries were planted in an
avenue several miles long. The flowering of the Cherry-
tree is an excuse for a holiday, and thousands of men,
women and children pass the day under these long avenues
in more or less hilarious contemplation of the sheets of
bloom The flowers of the wild tree are single, white, and
of the size of those of the garden Cherry, but, not unnatu-
rally, many varieties have been produced during the centu-
ries it has been a garden-plant. Bright red and pink single.

flowered varieties are common in Japan, as well as many
double-flowered forms. Of these several have been intro-
duced into this country and Europe, and are now well
known in our gardens, where, however, they do not flower
as freely as they are represented to flower in their native
land. Prunus Pseudo-cerasus is a cold-climate plant, and
great summer heat evidently does not suit it, as in Tokyo
planted trees never grow to a great size, and by midsum-
mer are leafless ; so that, except during the short blooming
season, the excessive use of this tree is a real injury to the
appearance of the gardens and promenades of the capital
and of other southern cities.

Prunus Pseudo-cerasus is of some value as a timber-tree,
producing hard, close-grained red wood, which is hardly
to be distinguished from that of the European Cherry. It
is used in considerable quantities for all sorts of wooden
dishes and other small articles of domestic use. Rather
curiously, perhaps, no attention has been paid to improv-
ing the size and quality of the fruit, which is not larger
than a small pea with a thin layer of flesh.

The pendulous-branched Cherry-tree, with precocious
pink flowers, now common in our gardens, where it is
known as Prunus pendula, is often cultivated by the Jap-
anese, who, however, do not appear to feel the same re-
gard for this graceful tree that the Apricot and the Cherry
inspire. I never saw it growing wild, and cannot refer the
cultivated plants to a wild type, unless it is derived from
the Prunus subhirtella of Miquel, from which Prunus Mi-
quelliana appears distinct in its flowering time and in the
veining of the leaves. Specimens fifty or sixty feet high,
with wide-spreading, fountain-like heads, are not uncom-
mon in old temple-gardens in many of the cities of Hondo.
This beautiful tree thrives perfectly in our climate, and in
early spring, when its branches are covered as with a sheet
with its pale pink pendulous flowers, no tree is more beau-
tiful.

I did not see the Cherries in bloom, and most of them
had dropped their fruit before I reached Japan ; several
species described by botanists I did not see at all, and of
several others I obtained a very superficial idea ; and there
is evidently still much to be learned of the proper limitation
of described east Asian species and varieties, and of
their geographical distribution. Among the little-known
species, Prunus Maximowiczii, of which a figure is pub-
lished on page 195 of this issue, from a drawing made from
material for which I am indebted to Professor Miyabe, seems
to deserve the attention of horticulturists.

As I saw it in' Yezo, Prunus Maximowiczii* is a tree
twenty-five to thirty feet in height, with a slender trunk
and branches covered with smooth pale or light red bark.
The young branchlets and petioles, the under surface of the
unfolding leaves and the branches of the inflorescence are
coated with rusty pubescence which only partly disappears
during the season. The leaves are elliptical or elliptical-
obovate, contracted at the apex into long slender points,
wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, long-petiolate,
coarsely and doubly serrate, thin, light green on the upper
and paler or rufous on the lower surface. The stipules are
foliaceous, knceolate-acute, coarsely serrate, an inch long,
or rather shorter than the petioles, and deciduous. The
flowers, which, in the neighorhood of Sapparo, appear in
May, are produced on long slender pedicels in axillary
racemes three or four inches long, and conspicuous from
their large foliaceous bracts, coarsely serrate with gland-
tipped teeth ; they are half an inch across when expanded,
with leafy serrate hairy calyx-lobes and obovate or orbicu-
lar white petals. The fruit ripens in July and is oblong
and rather less than a quarter of an inch long.

In Japan, Prunus iMaximowiczii is not apparently a com-
mon tree. I saw a few specimens on the hills near Sapparo
and a single tree on the main island, where it is said by
Maximo wicz to grow in several of the mountain provinces ;

* Prunus Maximowiczii, 'B.\ipTf^c\\^, Bult. Pkys. Math. Acad. St. Pitirsbimrr,x-i ,
131.— Maximowicz, Ft. Amur., 89; Mit. Biol., xi., 700.— F. Schmidt, Ft. Sachal'.,lio.
117.— Fianchel & Savatier, Enum. Ft, Jaf., i., 118.— Forbes & Hemsley, Jour. U»n.
Soc, xxiii., 219.

194

Garden and Forest

[Number 271.

it also inhabits Saghalin, Corea and eastern Manchuria
where it was discovered.

The common Prunus Padus of Europe and northern
Asia reaches northern and central Yezo. where it is not
rare in low ground in the neighborhood of streams and
where it grows to a considerable size. A much more
common tree in Yezo and in the elevated forests of Hondo
is Prunus Ssiori, another Bird Cherry, always easily dis-
tinguished by its pale, nearly white bark. It is a hand-
some glabrous tree with oblong membranaceous leaves
and long graceful racemes of small flowers, well worth
introducing into our plantations as an ornamental plant.
It grows also in Saghalin, where it was discovered by
Schmidt, in Manchuria, and in western China. The wood
of Prunus Ssiori is very hard and close-grained, and is
used by the Ainos for numerous domestic purposes.

Prunus Grayana, the third Japanese Bird Cherry, is com-
mon in all the mountain forests of Hondo and extends
across the straits of Tsugaru into southern Yezo. It is a
small tree twenty to thirty feet high, with a slender trunk,
ample membranaceous long-pointed setaceo-serrate leaves
bi-glandular at the base but without glands on the petioles,
a peculiarity which best distinguishes this species from
Prunus Padus, although the hair-like teeth of the leaves
are characteristic and apparently constant.

Of true Plums there are in the flora of eastern America
no less than nine or ten indigenous species, of which si.x
are considered trees ; in some parts of the country these
plants are exceedingly common and in early spring en-
liven forest-glades or the sea-coast of the north with their
profuse and fragrant flowers ; but Japan apparently pos-
sesses no indigenous Plum-tree, and although Plums are
sometimes cultivated in the neighborhood of Japanese
houses they are by no means common, and the fruit
which is offered for sale in the markets is not abundant or
of good quality.

In recent years a good deal has been heard in this
country of Japanese Plums which are now successfully
cultivated in the southern states. Some of these varieties
have possibly been made in Japanese gardens, but the
original stock from which they have all been derived is
probably some southern China or Indian species of doubt-
ful identity — perhaps, as has been suggested, the Prunus
triflora of Roxburg, an obscure plant, which is possibly a form
of Prunus domestica. But the parentage of the so-called
Japanese Plums will not be satisfactorily settled until
competent botanists have explored western and south-
western China, where are to be solved many of the prob-
lems which relate to the origin and geographical distri-
bution of a considerable number of cultivated plants.

C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.
New Plants.

I SAW this week the collections of new and rare plants,
some of which are to be exhibited by Messrs. Sander
& Co., at the Ghent Quinquennial Exhibition next week, and
as some of them are of very exceptional merit and likely
to attract a good deal of attention, I propose to briefly de-
scribe them here.

Stkobilanthes Dyerianus. — A very beautiful foliage-plant,
introduced from Singapore and named in compliment to
the Director at Kew. It forms a compact herbaceous
plant, eighteen inches high, with opposite leaves six or
nine inches long, three to four inches wide, tapering at
both ends, smooth, and colored shining rose-purple. As a
foliage-plant it is likely to rank with the very choicest, hav-
ing all the attractions of a Bertolonia. It has terminal erect
fiower-spikes six inches long, each flower being an irreg-
ular tube, nearly an inch long and colored dark blue. If
the leaves had no attractions, the plant would be worth
growing for the sake of its flowers. It requires stove
treatment

Dracsna GoDSEFFiANA. — This is a true Dracaena, and is a
near ally, if not a variety, of the anomalous D. surculosa,
which has thin stems six to ten feet high produced in tufts,
and whorls of short, oblong, pointed leaves ; its habit is
more like that of a Bamboo than a Dracaena. Mr. Sander's
new introduction came, I believe, from the west coast of
tropical Africa. Its stems and leaves are like those of D,
surculosa, but instead of the dull gray-green spots on the
leaves, which characterize the latter, it has numerous large
spots of bright yellow on a green ground, not unlike a good
spotted variety of Aucuba Japonica.

Dracsna Sanderiana. — I do not feel certain that this is a
Dracaena, for I know no species at all like it. But, to what-
ever genus it really belongs, its merit as a garden-plant is
of a high order. It has slender, erect stems, which appear
to produce suckers freely, forming a cluster of the most
ornamental character. The tallest stems I saw were two
feet high, clothed to the base with leaves which are about
six inches long by one and a half inches broad, tapering
gradually to a point, the base spreading again into a clasp-
ing sheath. The slightly twisted recurved pose of the
leaves gives the plant a very elegant appearance, which is
greatly enhanced by the bands of creamy white running
from base to apex through the silvery-green ground color.
This plant is certain to be in great requisition with growers
of table plants.

LuDoviA CRENiFOLiA. — A noble foliage-plant, very similar
to some of the Carludovicas, to which it is closely allied,
but differing in the form of its leaves, which again suggest
Cyclanthus or Cohnia ; they are semi-erect, rigid, thick and
leathery in texture, with prominent ribs extending from
base to apex. The largest leaves are a yard long, broadest
near the ape.x, which is blunt, and in some cases jagged ;
the lower part of the leaf is gradually narrowed to a petiole,
and finally to a broad sheathing base. For large stoves,
I expect this plant will prove a useful acquisition. It looks
like a free grower. Dr. Masters, who describes and fig-
ures it this week in the Gardeners' Chronicle, says that in
its fully developed condition it is said to be an epiphyte or
a trailer, with adventitious roots after the manner of an
Aroid. It is a native of Brazil. There is a figure and de-
scription of it in Martins' Flora Brasiliensis, by Drude, pub-
lished in 1 88 1. The plant is new to cultivation.

Alsophila atrovirens. — This species was described by
Presl and has long been known to botanists, but, so far as
I know, it has never been in the trade till now. We have
had a plant of it at Kew since 1880, which was unnamed
until we received a specimen from Mr. Sander for deter-
mination, when the identity of the two was manifest. It is
a very elegant tree-fern, with a stem as thick as a man's
wrist,bearing a spreading head of broad tripinnate fronds,
two feet long and nearly as much broad, with the large,
glabrous dark green pinnae, crisped and undulated in such
a way as to give the plant a distinct and attractive appear-
ance. It is a native of Brazil.

Oreopanax Sanderianum is a green, stout-stemmed plant,
with its near relationship to Ivy clearly stamped upon its
triangular foliage. It will be useful for the conservatory
or for subtropical gardening. It was described by Mr.
Hmesley last year in the Gardeners' Chronicle, from a plant
flowered by Messrs. Sander & Co., who introduced it from
Guatemala.

Salmia Lauchiana is a provisional name for a very noble
stove-plant from South America, and which is now repre-
sented by a magnificent specimen in the Sander nursery. It
may be a Carludovica, of which, by the bye, Salmia is a
synonym, but it differs from all the cultivated species of
that genus. The leaves, which are distichous, are stout
and leathery, six feet or more long, six to eight inches
broad near the apex, which is curiously notched or trun-
cated, the lower part narrowed to a sheathing base. This
is a grand plant for large tropical houses. I would like
to see half a dozen such specimens as the one I saw at St.
Albans in the Palm-house at Kew. It deserves to rank
with Strelitzia and Ravenala as a noble foliage-plant.

May 3, 1893.!

Garden and Forest.

195

Vriesia tessellata, van Sander^:. — This is a fine varie- rich green, with a net-work of darker lines all over the
gated Bromeliad, differing from the type, which is itself a surface,
handsome stove-plant, in having broad bands of creamy Alocasia Watsoniana is a beautiful Aroid, one of the

Fig, 31.— Prunus Maximowiczii,— See page 193.

white running .along the leaves. It is certain to win the handsomest, in fact, the leaf-blades nearly two feet long by
admiration of all who are interested in Bromeliads. The one foot wide, with long ear-like lobes, the front side olive-
type has thirty to forty leaves in a rosette, the leaves being green, with silvery gray, feather-like veins, the back rich
four inches wide, channeled, recurved, smooth, spineless, vinous purple ; the leaf-stalks are tviro feet long and rose-

196

Garden and Forest.

[Number 271.

colored. The plant comes from Sumatra, and I am afraid
it is identical with A. Putzeysii.

EucHARis Lowii. — This is another new species of Eucha-
ris, named by Mr. Baker in compliment to its introducers,
Messrs. H. Low & Co., Clapton, who imported it by acci-
dent from New Granada along wi.th E. Sanderiana, and
have just flowered it. A plant was shown in flower at the
last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, and was
awarded a certificate. It may be described as a very large
E. Sanderiana ; some have suggested that it is a natural
hybrid between that species and E. grandiflora (.\mazonica).
The leaves are like those of the last-named species ; the
flowers, which are semi-erect, are formed of a tube three
inches long, and si.x overlapping, slightly twisted segments,
each an inch and a half wide, the whole flower measuring
over four inches across. The corona is reduced to a toothed
rim bearing stamens half an inch long, with black anthers.
Altogether, this is distinct from all the known kinds of
Eucharis, and while it cannot be said to rival the popular
E. grandiflora, it deserves to rank with the best of the genus.

Rhododendron Smithii aureum is one of the most interest-
ing of the hardy hybrid Rhododendrons, and although
raised many years ago it is a rare plant in cultivation. 1
received recently a fine truss of flowers of it from a garden
where it has been grown almost from the date of its distri-
bution. It IS evergreen, quite hardy, with distinct broad-
wrinkled foliage and compact heads of about a dozen
flowers, which are each two inches across, well formed,
with wavy segments, and colored pale golden-yellow, with
conspicuous spots of brown on the upper segment. There
is a good figure of it in Paxton's Magazine of Botany, ix.,
p. 79 (184 1), where it is said to be "one of the handsomest
and most distinct seedling Rhododendrons in existence."
It was raised by Mr. Smith, nurseryman, in Norbiton, Sur-
rey, from a variety of R. caucasicum crossed with the yel-
low-flowered R. (Azalea) Sinensis. It was exhibited at
Chiswick in May, 1841. Paxton states : " Notwithstanding
its entire hardihood, it is an admirable plant for lifting when
it comes into flower and placing in a pot in the green-
house. Submitted to such treatment it constitutes a splen-
did ornament to a show-house or conservatory." The
flowers I received a few days ago came from a garden in
Hertfordshire. Rhododendrons generally are flowering
unusually early this year.

Rhododendron Rosy Bell is a useful spring-flowering
hybrid, whether grown in a pot in a cool house or in a
sheltered border. Its raiser, Mr. Davies, of Ormskirk,
sends it out as a hardy plant, and some little bushes of it
now flowering freely in the open border at Kew are perfect
masses of flowers. It is a hybrid of R. ciliatum. In
habit, size and foliage it is like the parent plant, but
its flowers are much more abundant, every twig on
small plants less than a foot in height producing a cluster
of two or three bell-shaped flowers which are about two-
thirds the size of the flowers of R. ciliatum, and colored
rose, with a faint tinge of purple.

Loodoa. W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

Hardy Evergreen Hollies and Barberries.

SOUTH of Boston, in Massachusetts, particularly in the re-
gion near the sea-coast, we find a true native Holly, Ilex
opaca, the only Holly which can withstand the rigor of our
winters without injury and without artificial protection. Even
this indigenous species, when planted in the vicinity of Bos-
ton, is liable to have its foliage badly injured if in a situation
where it does not receive, in winter, at least partial shade and
shelter from other trees. I. opaca is rare in New England, but
becomes more common south of the Hudson River, extending
southward, chiefly near the coast, into Florida, and again ap-
pearing in abundance in the lower Mississippi valley. In at-
tempting to grow this plant at the north the stock sliould be
procured from the coldest and highest latitude where it is
growing naturally.
The English Holly, I. Aquifolium, and its innumerable varie-

ties will live out-of-doors, in this region, in some situations
and under peculiar conditions, but it cannot be called hardy
here and cannot be planted with any assurance that it will live
and keep in good condition for any number of years. Some
forms, however, appear to be hardier than others. This lack
of hardiness is to be regretted, as I. Aquifolium is much hand-
somer in foliage than our American Holly, and the great
variations derived from long cultivation make the European
species particularly useful for producing various effects in gar-
dens and plantations. We are familiar with some of the best
of the variegated forms grown in pots or tubs for decorative
purposes, and kept out of the reach of frost in winter. Typical
specimens of both the American and European species ap-
pear almost identical in the outlines of their wavy-margined
and spiny-toothed, thick, stiff leaves ; both also show the same
remarkable modifications in some individuals where the leaves
are quite without teeth, the margins entire and not wavy. In
both species the lower leaves are sometimes spiny, while the
upper ones are entire. But tlie upper surfaces of the leaves of
the European species are much darker in color and more glossy,
and are thus more valuable from a decorative point of view.
Though lacking this latter peculiarity, and being of a lighter
green color, the native species is beautiful enough to warrant
more attention and more general cultivation by all interested
in trees and shrubs. It will make a compact, large shrub or
small tree and will bear pruning into hedge form. Its growth
is rather slower than that of many shrubs or small trees in
general cultivation. The size and coloring of the well-known
red fruit may be a little inferior to that of the foreign species,
but it is, nevertheless, exceedingly ornamental. Immense
quantities of the plant are now annually cut near Christmas-
time and sold in the large city markets for decorative pur-
poses.

Tlie flowers of the Holly are small, white and inconspicuous.
The species is dioecious, the pollen-bearing and fruit-produc-
ing flowers l)eing borne on separate plants, so that in order to
be sure of liaving fruiting plants some prolific individual
should be selected and propagation effected by division. This
method, of course, is only necessary where but one or two
plants can be afforded ; where there are a large number seed-
lings may be selected, as there will, no doubt, be a sufficient
number of fruiting plants among them to make the collection
interesting. The seeds germinate slowly, and are not likely to
develop little planilets until the second year. A dry gravelly
soil is generally considered the best for the development and
growth of this Holly, and, while Boston may be considered as
about the northern limit of its successful growth, south of New
York it should become of more general use as a hedge-plant
and for the beautifying of grounds. It will be found less liable
to injury on a northern exposure and sloping ground.

The only other evergreen Holly which has proved suffi-
ciently hardy to endure the winters here is the so-called Ink-
berry (I. glabra), also a native, of Massachusetts, and thence
southward. In this latitude it requires a somewhat sheltered
or partially shaded situation. It is a rather slender shrub from
two to four feet high. Its small dark green leaves are leathery,
shining, oblong in outline, and with entire or but slightly
toothed edges. The fruit is black, persists all winter, and has
little claim to being called ornamental. The plant is interest-
ing as a low evergreen shrub, which may be made to grow in
this latitude, but it has not yet seemed sufficiently vigorous or
peculiarly attracfive to become a favorite with planters. It is
likely to thrive best in sandy situations, not too wet. In this
latitude few of the leaves persist for more than twelve months,
while most of those of the true Holly remain on the branches
for two or three years.

Our climate, so unfavorable to the growth and development
of Hollies, which do so finely in England, and even far north
in Scotland, is congenial to few evergreen plants outside of the
conifers.

No evergreen Barberry has as yet been found which will
withstand our winters in any satisfactory mariner. Such beau-
tiful species as Berberis Uarwinii, from southern Chili, and
others from the same region, and peculiarly distinct kinds, as
B. Japonica, will thrive in England, but we think ourselves
fortunate if we get them to survive a winter liere, even though
most of the plant is killed in spite of much protection and
covering. In fact, it is almost useless to attempt to grow, so
as to be satisfactory in this climate, any of the evergreen Bar-
berries except the so-called Oregon Grape or Mahonia (B.
Aquifolium) and one or two closely allied species or forms.
B. "aquifolium is also sometimes called "American Holly"
from the resemblance of its leaflets to the simple leaves of the
true Holly, and persons not familiar with the characteristics of
the two plants have sometimes declared that the Oregon

May 3, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

197

Grape was found wild in the woods in tlie sea-coast towns
south of Boston when the_ Holly, Ilex opaca, was the plant
seen.

Berberis Aquifolium has usually three or four pairs and an
odd terminal leaflet to each of its pinnate leaves ; it never ac-
quires free form, but is a low shrul), spreading over the
ground from subterranean stems. It is now pretty commonly
known and cullivated, but it is only in exceptionally favorable
situations that it will prove a hardy and satisfactory plant in
this latitude and climate. It usually requires shade and shel-
ter in winter, but it will live much farther north and in colder
regions if there is a good, deep, natural snow coveiing. It is,
however, too liable to have its upper leaves turned brown-
colored and lost, and its flower-buds injured, ever to be very
popular here. Notwithstanding its tenderness, it is well
worth growing in some sheltered nook for its dark
glossy foliage, and also for its large ornamental clus-
ters of deep yellow flowers, which appear early in May.
The fruit of this species is also handsome. It is a good
deal larger than that of the common Barberry, is of a
dark color and is covered by a rich violet-colored bloom. This
species grows well in the shade of other trees and should be
planted in well-drained soil. The B. repens found in some
gardens is a dwarf plant, a few inches high, having leaves
much less pointed and more rounded in outline than those
of Berberis Aquifolium. It is a native of the Rocky Moun-
tains.

Berberis nervosa is a plant with handsomer, darker green
and larger foliage than either of the species just men-
tioned ; it is a native of the Pacific states, extending northward
into British Columbia. Though introduced early in the cen-
tury into English gardens, it is not often seen here in cultiva-
tion. I; is much more dwarf than the Oregon Grape and can
scarcely be called any hardier, although, on account of its low-
growing liabit, it is likely to be naturally protected in winter,
and therefore may sometimes show less injury with the return
of spring.

Arnold Arboretum. J- ^' jilCK,

Plants in Flower.

Iris orchioides,' now in flower in the border, is a very dis-
tinct plant with golden-yellow small flowers, blotched slightly
wjth greenish purple near the crest. It is a bulbous Asiatic
species, and at a glance bears a considerable resemblance to
the better-known I. Caucasica ; there are marked differences,
however, botanically, and it is a much more attractive species
than the latter ; at least, my variety of I. Caucasica has a rather
dull flower. The leaves, which are very shiny, are arranged
on opposite sides of the stem, and a single flower appears
from each axil. It appears to be hardy in somewhat stiff soil,
having wintered without protection in a position subject to
many variations of temperature.

Iris Tectorum, the Japanese Roof Iris, is a species which has
given me some pleasure for a few years, the curved or lax
sword-shaped leaves having rather taken my fancy. It has
been grown in a pot in the greenhouse, but has only now
commenced to give me flowers. It is evidently a plant which
requires to become well established before it will bloom. The
flowers are a handsome shade of light purple, variegated with
darker lilac, and white at the throat, with a lilac and white crest.
I have not tested its hardiness.

BowiEA VOLUBILIS is a most curious and interesting bulbous
plant from -South Africa. Nature evidently destined this for a
botanical collection or a curiosity seeker. From a slightly
flattened fleshy-looking bulb, some five inches in diameter,
there rises a green fleshy stem about five feet. This has a
slightly climbing haljit, though in its young stage it had a cu-
rious erratic habit which seemed almost inquisitive. It is said
that true leaves are not developed on this plant for years ; my
plant has none, but is furnished, according to the botanists,
with green, fleshy, mostly abortive inflorescence, which per-
forms the functions of leaves. There are a few flowers, which
are small and inconspicuous.

Fritilt.arias.— Among bulbs collected by Mr. Whittall last
season were some which were received as a large-flowering
form of Armenia. The variety now in flower proves to be a
very distinct one, and, horticulturally at least, quite different
to the type. The plant, about six inches high, has glaucous
dark green leaves, with purple flowers sometimes clouded on
the inside with yellow blotches, and in some forms yellow
with purple lines. The deep purple of the outside is covered
with a silvery bloom. The Dwarf Fritillarias, with nodding
bell-shaped flowers, are charming plants for the rockery, where

they should be grown in masses. „ ., ^ ,

EiUabeiii.N.j. J.N.Gerard.

Sowing Annuals, etc. — There was one point omitted from my
note last week which it seems well to add. The conventional
cultural directions for sowing seeds are, in short, to " make of
light earth a firm seed-bed, moisten thoroughly, allow the sur-
plus moisture to disappear. With a straight flat stick make
shallow trenches or drills, in which spread the seed, covering
with fine earth in depth proportioned to the size of seed ; press
down firmly." In practice this succeeds with most large seeds
or those of strong germinating powers. Those seeds which
germinate slowly or feebly are often ruined in the drills, espe-
cially when it becomes necessary to moisten them, either be-
fore or after they germinate. No matter how carefully the
bed is sprayed, if the earth is at all liable to bind it packs so
closely as to confine the germs under an unbreakable crust,
and the seeds receive too much moisture. In their secondary
stage even a slight excess of moisture adds to the general ten-
dency to damp off. A better way is to make the drills as
usuai, but to sow the seed on the ridges, where they are much
safer from contingencies. To supply moisture the water may
be poured from a spout into the drills, from which the ridges
will be supplied by absorpfion. The danger from surplus
water and the chance of washing away the seeds or young
plants, as by overhead watering, is thus avoided. Watering
young seedlings is always a delicate operation, often carelessly
performed. It is a common mistake to keep the seeds too
wet, when they are easily ruined by either too low or too high
a temperature. These remarks apply to seeds in frames. Re-
versing the usual order of planting would not ordinarily an-
swer in the outer border, but would be good practice in a re-
tentive wet soil, especially in the early season. As previously
stated, for all seeds which remain unplanted after the middle
of April in this latitude, frame sowing is the safest.

Elizabeth, N.J. J. N. G.

Mexican Bulbs.— In planting certain bulbs from Mexico, such
as various species of the Tiger Flower, Calochortuses, from
that locality, Milla biflora, Besseraelegans, etc., I believe noth-
ing is gained by being in a hurry. I have freq^uently waited
until tlie middle of June for the Mexican Calochortuses, which
had been planted early, to come up — waited for a month after
they had been planted and until I had given them up as dead,
and then upon examination have found them just beginning
to grow. Tigridias in their natural home grow quite deep in
the soil, Mr. "Pringle tells me, and I believe better flowers and
plants can be had if the bulbs are set five or six inches below
the surface than when not more than three or four. Milla
biflora and Bessera, as well as Calochortuses, do not grow so
deep. The Zephyranthes need deeper setting than Calochor-
tus or Milla. Last year I used for these as a fertilizer a mixture
of superphosphate and nitrate of soda, composed of about
one-third nitrate and two-thirds Bowker Hill and Drill super-
phosphate, with very good results. I believe this is a better
fertilizer for such bulbs, and, perhaps, for Lilies, too, than
ordinary manure. It should be used with caution two or three
inches above the bulbs.

Charlotte, Vt. F. H. H.

Sweet Corn. — For the originator of new varieties of vegeta-
bles the production of a good kind of early Sweet Corn offers
a promising opportunity. The Cory is early enough, but it is
too small. Early Narragansett has a fine flavor, but it is later
than its name implies, and all the later varieties have a certain
lack of quality, with the exception of the Black Mexican, which
is, no doubt, among the very best in flavor, although it does
not find a ready mark«?t on account of its color. The Country
Gentleman, introduced last year, is an improved Shoe-peg
Corn, much larger than the type, but it ripens later. For a
main crop no more satisfactory variety has yet been produced
than Stowell's Evergreen, whether for immediate use or for
canning.

Geneva, N. Y.

C. E. Hunn.

Correspondence.

Aquatics in Modern Gardening.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — When the aquatic greenhouse was built at Chatsworth,
about the year 1849, for the sole purpose of growing the Vic-
toria regia, Nymphseas, and other water-plants, it was looked
upon as a new departure in ornamental gardening, and was
visited by horticultural pilgrims from all parts of the country.
No one then thought that the Victoria could be grown in the open
air. But when the convention of the Society of American Florists
was held in Washington last summer, Mr. William R. Smith
showed well-flowered plants of this queen of aquatics in the

198

Garden and Forest.

[Number 271.

fountain-basin of the Botanic Gardens. But while the Vic-
toria reg^a may be available for the embellishment of large
places, or public parks, it will never be used to any great ex-
tent by the owners of small gardens.

Scarcely less striking in appearance is Nelumbium specio-
sum, the so-called Egyptian Lotus, which any onecan grow in the
open air with no other preparation than a water-tight tank.
Although a native of the East Indies, it can be flowered any-
where m the middle or New England states, provided the
roots are kept from freezing in winter. It is immaterial
whether the water isdrawn off the tank or not, on the approach
of winter ; all that is needed is to keep the mud from freezing.
The late L. H. Meyer, of Staten Island, never drew the water
from his tanks, and his Lotuses never failed to grow as soon
as the spring sun warmed the water. This does not mean that
the Lotus will thrive in running water, such as a pond, with a
brook running through it. When the late Thomas Hogg lived
in Japan he sent to Isaac Buchanan several varieties of this
charming plant, which were all lost through being planted in a
running brook that skirted his nursery at Astoria, Long
Island.

About sixteen years ago I received some seeds from Japan.
I sowed them in tepid water, after filing away part of the outer
husk of the seed, which is so'hard that a long time is required
to soften it unless the water is allowed to get at the core.
When the plants were large enough, an oval tank of brick and
cement was made about fifteen feet long by nine feet wide and
three deep. A foot of compost was then spread on the bot-
tom, and the young plants put in, and these same plants have
flowered every year since. The roots are occasionally thinned
out, and the tank has been enlarged repeatedly. The roots
spread so fast that they need to be walled in to prevent their
crowding out other aquatics planted in the same water. Some-
times the water has been drawn off in winter, at other times
not, but rough boards are laid across, and litter or rubbish is
placed upon them, as much to prevent the frost from cracking
the cement, as to protect the roots. The most charming effect
can be made with these plants if advantage can be taken of a
natural depression, such as an old pond or swamp or the foot
of any rocky ledge, not shaded by trees, for it must be borne
in mind that aquatics need all the sunshine they can get at all
times. In some of the lakes near the Washington Monument in
the national capital, the Lotus has been naturalized for some
time, and has taken complete possession of the pockets con-
taining the richest mud, just as it has done in a natural pond
in New Jersey, where it takes care of itself, and bids fair to
crowd out many of the native aquatics.

The best effect I ever produced with these plants was in
making an otherwise objectionable mass of rocks do duty as
an accessory to an aquatic garden. This was accomplished by
uncovering'and laying bare more rocks, which formed a natu-
ral basin. All the fissures were filled up with cement, and a
wall of the same rocks was built on the lower side, without any
marks of the hammer, and finished off with the grass level at
the edge of the basin. A water-pipe was introduced at the
highest point, and when wanted to fill up the basin, to make up
for evaporation or leakage, the water was allowed to trickle
over the natural rocks, and produced a very pleasing effect,
besides furnishing moisture for the various plants in the
pockets prepared for them, where they were introduced to
carry out in the surroundings the tropical effect.

Another very effective use I have made of aquatics was last
summer, in laying out the grounds of Vassar Brothers' Hos-
pital, near Poughkeepsie. Here was a depression that had
formerly been a swamp. This was partially cleared out and a
tank made, about sixty feet long, by twenty-five feet wide, and
kidney-shaped, to conform to the natural slope of the bank in
the rear. The sides were built of rocks blasted out of other
parts of the grounds, and laid in cement, and the bottom con-
creted, as mentioned before. All the water required is furnished
by a spring. This was planted with a variety of the choicest
aquatics about the first week in June. These established them-
selves at once, and were very greatly admired. The Nelum-
biums were planted in the middle, and before the end of the
season they had produced more than five hundred flowers.
The Nymphajas, Lymnocharis, Pontederias, Sagittarias, etc.,
were equally proifuse in blooming.

Where there is not space enough for a tank, or only a few
Nymphffias are wanted, quite a display may be made by saw-
ing kerosene barrels across the middle and sinking thcni
level with the grass in the lawn, or any other place desired,
filling them half full of rich earth, and planting the aquatics
as early as the weather gets warm enough. If the hardy varie-
ties are grown they can be left in the same position all winter;
but if protected from frost in winter by covering with any

kind of rubbish, they will be ready to start growing earlier in
spring and thus prolong the season of flowering. If the ten-
der varieties are wanted, they can be bought at a reasonable
rate from growers who make a specialty of these plants, but
any one having a greenhouse can sow the seeds in shallow
pans in January or February, plunging them in water at a tem-
perature of about seventy degrees. They can have plants
large enough to set out in the tubs or tanks outside, by the
time the weather is warm enough to receive them, which will
be about the end of May.

William Tricker, of Dongan Hills, Staten Island, is now
growing all his aquatics in very shallow tanks, where the water
warms more quickly, and the plants bloom much earlier in the
season than when planted deep. He has a multitude of seed-
lings from fertilized flowers, of both the tender and hardy va-
rieties, coming along. He saves very few of the old plants
over winter, but prefers sowing seeds early in the year, and
having plants large enough to plant in the tanks by bedding-
out time, or earlier, if only the hardy kinds are used.

Many experiments in hybridizing aquatics are now in pro-
gress, both in this country and in Europe, and, beyond doubt,
these plants are destined to play a more important part
in the ornamental gardening of the future than they have done
in the past.

WeEt New Brighton, N. Y. Samuel Henshavj.

Maple-sugar.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest:

Sir, — As the owner of a Maple-sugar orchard in Vermont,
whose products are marketed in the city, I have been greatly
interested in Mr. Wheeler's articles on sugar-making, and hope
to profit by his practical suggestions. But, as a city-dweller
and a consumer of maple sugar and syrup, I wish to defend
the city people of the imputation of complete ignorance which
Mr. Wheeler seems to put upon them. Of course, he is right
in saying that pure maple-sugar is not to be distinguished from
cane-sugar ; and while city people undoubtedly want maple-
sugar that is pure in the sense that it is not adulterated, they
do not want the kind of pure maple-sugar that is white. There
is no reason whatever to buy this when cane-sugar is to be
had at five cents a pound. They like the flavor of the maple,
and they are perfectly right in objecting to too much refine-
ment of the article. This maple flavor may be due, as Mr.
Wheeler says, to impurities in the sap, but they are natural im-
purities, and are to be desired, in proper proportion, in the man-
ufactured article. The sap of nearly every tree, I suppose, has
a certain proportion of sugar, but the sap of each kind of tree
has a flavor of its own. In the case of the maple, this flavor
is good ; it is what has given maple-sugar its value over cane-
sugar.

I have had the experience, as a maker of syrup, of having my
product objected to because it was too light in color. I knew
tliat the syrup was perfectly pure. I could not deny that other
syrup, which I knew was also free from any kind of adultera-
tion, and which was darker than that made on my place, had
more of the maple flavor, and was more delicious to the
palate. I began to wonder whether the expert sugar-makers
up in Vermont are as well advised about the business as they
suppose themselves to be. Some persons make sugar from
the sap of Butternut-trees and impute to it medicinal qualities.
If I believed with them that butternut-sugar was especially good
for the health, sugar with the butternut flavor would be ex-
actly what I should want. And if the people of our cities want
tiie maple flavor, why should they not have it in proper meas-
ure, since it is in the trees .' If sugar is wanted that is sim-
ply sweet, we can get it much cheaper from cane or beets.
Bi>slon. ^__^ J. E. C.

Blue Flowers.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Will you be kind enough to give me the names of some
plants which bear blue flowers ?

Syracuse, N. Y. A, G.

[Flowers of a true blue are somewhat rare, although those
in which red appears to make up a purple are quite abun-
dant. Among our native wild plants every one will recall
among those of the early season the beautiful blue bell-
shaped flowers of the Lungwort, Mertensia Virginica, while
almost at the end of the flowering-season, in lat<e September,
comes the Fringed Gentian, which is a clear blue when
growing in the shade, and rather darker blue' when found

May 3, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

199

in open meadows. Then there are Violets, Bluets, Lupines,
Harebells, Blue-eye 1 Grass, Blue Flag, Viper's Bugloss,
Chicory, Lobelia, and, not to mention more, several of the
Asters, which have more or less of blue in their flowers. If
our correspondent had mentioned the purpose for which the
flowers were desired we could probably give a satisfac-
tory list of garden-plants. The name of Delphinium,
especially the tall D. formosum, naturally occurs first, as it
is one of the stateliest and most beautiful of flowering
plants. The blue form of Delphinium Sinense is a plant
of lower growth, but very beautiful and useful. Salvia
patens is another plant with flowers of a light, clear blue,
and the Autumn Monk's-hood, Aconitum autumnale, is an
admirable late-blooming plant with tall spikes of dark blue
flowers. Among the hardy bulbous plants which flower
in early spring are the Scillas, Chionodoxas and Grape
Hyacinths, as well as the Reticulata group of Irises, which
show different shades of blue and purple. Among the
Aquilegias are the little Alpine Columbine and the Rocky
Mountain Columbine, A. cerulea, and A. glandulosa,
whose sepals are a deep ultramarine blue and the petals
blue and white. The Forget-me-nots (Myosotis) and many
of the Veronicas bear blue flowers, and among trailing
plants with flowers of this color, one of the best is Plumbago
LarpentJE, which flowers all the latter part of the summer
and through the autumn until it is killed by frost. Among
the annuals which can be rait^ed from seed are blue varie-
ties of the Swan River Daisy, the Browallia, Nemophila
and Torenia. — Ed.]

Quercus densiflora.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir, — Supplementary to the editorial article upon the Cali-
fornia Tan-bark Oak in Garden and Forest (vol. v., p. 517),
it might be of interest to quote from a letter received from
Mr. Louis J. Frank, of the Frank Tanning Company, San
Francisco. Mr. Frank, after a full investigation of the subject,
estimates the present consumption of oak-bark in California at
about 25,000 cords per annum, and expresses the opinion that
at this rate " there is enough tan-bark on the Pacific coast to last
for over fifty years." "Tlie most northerly point," says Mr.
Frank, " where the Tan-bark Oak thrives, is a few miles north
of Rogue River, in Curry County, Oregon. This county has
liarely been touched by the axe of the bark-peeler. Del Norte
County, California, has an immense supply; from Humboldt
County but a comparatively small amount has been taken ;
Mendocino and Sonoma Counties have yet large quantities, and
supply the larger portion of the bark which conies to San
Francisco. Marin, Lake and Napa all have tan-bark, and
although great quantities have been taken from them, there is
a large supply left. Santa Clara and San Mateo have been
pretty well cleaned out. Santa Cruz has yet large forests that
have never been touched, and San Benito and Monterey Coun-
ties contain extensive* tracts of good heavy Tan-bark. South
of Monterey Tan-bark Oak is not known to exist in any quan-
tities of commercial value."

Referring to the Australian Wattle-bark, Mr. Frank states
that his firm some years ago imported a considerable consign,
ment, and that tlie leather made from it was firm and of good
weight, but tliat the color, while not so dark as that made from
Hemlock-bark, was not so light as that given by the California
Oak. Two and a half pounds of tlie Wattle-bark were required
to make one pound of leather, this being about double the
strength of the Oak-bark.

Santa Itarbara, Calif.

Frank M. Gallaher.

\

Impotency of Grape Pollen.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Mr. Card's very interesting article in Garden and
Forest, April 5, 1893, p. 153, contains the following statement :
" It has been well known that certain varieties of Raspberries
and Grapes have proved unproductive unless planted near
other sorts, but this has been attributed to a deficiency in the
amount of pollen produced. Closer observations may show
that in some cases it is due to a lack of potency rather than a
lack of quantity."

Personal observations have established the fact that with
some varieties of Grapes unproductiveness is due to lack of
potency of their own pollen, and not to lack of quantity of the

pollen produced. In an article on "Self-Pollination of the
Grape," published in Garden and Forest, vol. v., pp. 451,
452, the writer stated that he had observed eleven hybrids of
Vitis Labrusca and Vitis vinifera in which the pollen was self-
irritant only, and one in which the pollen was self-impotent.
It was also stated that with Vitis Doaniana, as represented by
a specimen transplanted to the vineyard, the pollen Is self-irri-
tant only. In all these instances the vines are unable to pro-
duce fruit when foreign pollen is excluded. It may be well to
add that an abundance of pollen was produced by each of the
varieties mentioned. Therefore, the unfruitfulness could be
attributed neither to lack of pollination nor to lack of quantity
of pollen produced.

An editorial on " Setting of the Flowers of the Vine," in the
Gardeners' Chronicle, 1871, p. 737, states that investigation of
about twenty varieties of V. vinifera disclosed the fact that in
some instances pollination occurred before the pistil was ready
to receive the pollen, that is, before the pistil was recep-
tive, and immediately the conclusion is stated that in such
instances no fruit would set unless the flowers were pollenized
from some other source, a conclusion by no means justified
from the observations recorded in this article. Moreover, the
chances are, at least under vineyard conditions, that the flow-
ers would be pollenized eventually, either from other flowers
of the same cluster or from other clusters.

The same writer also found scanty or altogether defective
formation of pollen, a frequent occurrence in several varieties
of V. vinifera, Dutch Hamburg and Chasselas Musqu^ being
among the number.

The fact is, that those varieties of Grapes which are incapa-
ble of efficient self-fertilization have generally proved unsatis-
factory in American vineyards, and no matter how extensively
advertised or how widely disseminated at the time of their intro-
duction, eventually their cultivation is chiefly confined to gar-
dens or to amateur collections where judicious mingling with
other varieties may secure proper pollination, except when
the weather is very unfavorable during the blossoming season.

Geneva, N. Y., Experiment Station. S. A. Beach.

Recent Publications.

The Wild Flowers of America. By Professor George L.
Goodale. With colored plates by Isaac Sprague. Boston :
Bradlee Whidden.

This is the second issue of this elegant book, which was first
published several years ago. The original plan contemplated
an unlimited publication in a series which should contain as
many as possible of the species of North American plants ;
the work, however, was never continued beyond the first
volume, which contains fifty-one full-page illustrations of wild
flowers, and, fortunately, these have been selected in such a
way as to include many interesting plants in widely separated
parts of the country. The drawings by Mr. Sprague are in the
best style of that artist. They represent the flowers not only
in their natural grace and beauty.but with scientific accuracy as
regards their botanical characters, and the coloring, as a
rule, is admirably reproduced. Professor Goodale, who writes
the text, has been carefulfo make it interesting in the best
way ; that is, by making it instructive. He gives, in plain and
untechnical language, a full description of each flower, and
then makes excursions into various attractive fields of botany
which naturally open before him. Professor Goodale discusses
all these topics out of the fullness of knowledge, so that the
reader follows him witli a certainty of finding something of
real value, and in this he is never disappointed. The printing
of the book is a delight to the eye and makes a worthy setting
for the admirable plates, so that altogether it makes a strong
appeal to every lover of beautiful books, as well as to every
lover of beautiful flowers.

Notes.

A correspondent inquires if it is still too late to set out a
Strawberry-bed in the latitude of Connecticut ? No, not too
late for next year's crop, but, in order to have good strong
plants, every fruit-stem should be clipped off as soon as it ap-
pears. The plants will be weakened it they are allowed to bear
any fruit this summer.

The variety of Phlox subulata which is sold as Atropur-
purea seems to have very distinct garden qualities. Its flowers
open much earlier than those of the ordinary Moss Pink,
and are of a deeper color, while the whole plant has a stronger
growth, and makes a very dense mat of bright green foliage.

200

Garden * and ' Forest.

tNuMBEk a'ji.

This variety has been flowering in the vicinity of New York
for more than a forfniglit.

In the Arnold Arboretum, last week, Prunus Davidiana, an
Apricot-like free of northern China, was covered with its pale
pink flowers. This is the earliest to flower of all the plants of
Its class and one of the hardiest, as the flower-buds have all
escaped injury during the last winter, which was one of the
most destructive of recent years. P. Davidiana merits the
attention in the north of all the lovers of handsome early-flow-
ering trees.

The report of the Committee on Classification made before
the American Chrysanthemum Society last summer has been
published. It is intended to embrace most of the varieties of
Chrysanthemums now grown in the country. It will be wel-
comed by all who wish to keep informed as to the correct
names of new varieties. Wherever it is known, the name of
the disseminator is given as well as that of the raiser of the
plant and the year in which it was introduced to the public.

The liqueur called Maraschino, according to a correspon-
dent of the Revue de rHoriicuUure Beige, is a product of a bit-
ter Cherry, Cerasus aciduus, which is locally called Amarasca
or Marasca. The fruits are carefully freed from their stones
and each separately macerated, together with a certain quan-
tity of the leaves of the tree. When the maceration has lasted
some time, sugar, in the shape of a syrup, is added, and, finally,
spirits of wine. The long and complicated method of manu-
facture includes special processes, of which each manufac-
turer professes alone to know the secret.

At the annual meeting of the Genesee Valley Forestry Asso-
ciation, recently held in Rochester, it was stated that public
forestry meetings had been held during the year in several towns
and addresses were made by members of the Executive Com-
mittee before the Sportsman's Convention and the Farmers'
State Institute. A joint committee of this association and the
Association for the Protection of Fish and Game have now un-
der consideration a practical experiment in forestry in the re-
foresting of the banks of the Genesee and its tributary streams
upon the estate of Mr. Herbert Wadsworth, a member of the
association.

A flower of the so-called Chilian Crocus (Tecophilaea cyano-
crocea) was lately sent to this office from the grounds of Peter
Henderson & Co. It is particularly interesting from the fact
that it has been out in the open ground in a somewhat shel-
tered position for two winters. There seem to be several va-
rieties of this species which are chiefly distinguished by the
color of the flowers. Tiiis one was of the purest blue, fading
into white at the throat. It has narrow Scilla-Iike foliage
about an inch across the perianth, which is Amaryllis-like in
shape. If these plants should prove generally hardy they
would be most interesting additions to spring-flowering
bulbous plants.

Bulletin 50 of the Cornell Experiment Station is devoted to
the Bud-moth (Tmetocera ocellana) which attacks the opening
. leaf and flower-buds of the Apple-tree. Sometimes it is the
most serious Apple-pest of the year, and in 1891 it destroyed
the whole crop on many trees while it was yet in the bud. It
was also destructive to nursery stock and attacked Pear, Plum,
Cherry, Quince and Peach trees, as well as Apples. The con-
clusion is reached that the best way to combat this insect most
profitably and successfully is in the spring, by spraying the
opening I>ud8 with a solution of Paris green of the strength of
one pound to two hundred gallons of water. As fine a spray
as possible and very little of it should be used.

To give some idea of the scale of the experiments in hy-
bridj/ation which are now being carried on by Mr. Luther
Burbank, of Santa Rosa, California, it is stated that he is
growing 600,000 hybrid and cross-bred seedling berry-plants
and more than halt a million hybrid seedling Lilies. One of his
new berries, named Primus, is said to be a cross between the
western Dewberry (Rubus ursinus) and the 5>iberian Rasp-
l>erry (R. cratiegifolius). It is said to ripen its main crop at
the same time with Strawberries, and before ordinary kinds of
Raspberries and Blackberries commence to bloom. Mr. Bur-
bank is already known as the originator of fruits and vegeta-
bles and ornamental |>lants of a high order, and his work will
be watched with great interest.

In the annual report of the Park Commissioners of the city
of Hartford, Mr. .Sherman W. Adams, the president, states
that on the kept lawns of the park. Plantain, Knot-weed and
Crab-grass have been nearly exterminated, but there has been
no attempt to clear the lawns entirely of the Dandelion, whose

appearance is welcomed in spring by many admirers. Nor
has any effort been made to destroy occasional purple patches
made by blossoms of the Self-heal (Brunella vulgaris), which
have escaped the lawn-mower, while occasional plants of
Bluets and Speedwell are not considered defacements. Presi-
dent Adams adds that a large lawn area which contained no
verdure except grass of a uniform tint might become so mo-
notonous as to call for some relief.

The Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station publishes the
results of some original tests to ascertain the most profitable
amount of seed-potatoes to plant, and compilations of similar
experiments from twelve other stations are added. The con-
clusion arrived at is that the Potato-growers of Michigan do
not use enough seed ; that for ordinary distances halt a po-
tato gives a larger crop than any smaller amount, while for
weak-growing varieties, or varieties with small tubers, even a
larger amount would be profitable. Investigation shows that
an uicrease in the size of the cuttings from one eye up to half
a potato produces a marked increase, both in the total yield
and in the marketable yield. The increased yield when a
whole potato is planted, instead of hulf a potato, is not suffi-
cient to cover the cost of the greater amount of seed.

A recent issue of the Annales Agronomiques, as quoted by
the Gardeners' Chronicle, contains a paper from the pen of
Monsieur Gerard on the use of the leaves of various trees for
feeding animals, his conclusions being based on absolute
chemical composition of the leaves and on their digestibility.
Of all the leaves analyzed, those of our Locust, or Robinia
Pseudacacia, were found the most valuable. They are shown
to be rich in digestible food, and Monsieur Gerard recom-
mends plantations of this tree on railway banks, waste lands
and dry places where it may be grown as coppice, A serious
objection to the Robinia as a forage-plant is lound, however,
in the presenceof stout stipular spines, which arm the branches,
except in the case of very young shoots, for the stipules when
they first appear are not at all formidable. The so-called
thornless varieties, which are recommended for this purpose,
are not to be depended on as they often produce thorns and
cannot be raised from seed. On soils so sterile and poor that
manure cannot be used with financial success, trees may be
, grown and their leaves gradually enrich the land in which
they grow, or can be gathered up and used as litter in bedding
animals and so increase and enrich the compost heap. The
Robinia will, of course, be useful in this way, but it is doubtful
it it will ever be very valuable as a fodder-plant, as the spines
on the old shoots will prevent cattle from feeding on it.

Charleston strawberries of excellent qualify are plentiful in
New York markets at twenty and twenty-five cents a quart,
with the choicest fruit selling for fifty cents. Indian River
oranges, at sixty to seventy-five cents a dozen, are almost the
only Florida fruit in the market, although a few Navel oranges
from this state can be had at a dollar and a half a dozen ; Cali-
fornia Navel oranges hold the price of the past month, a dollar
and twenty-five cents a dozen. Grape-fruit, which was practi-
cally unknown here a few years ago, has steadily advanced in
favor, and choice fruit is now held as high as three dollars a
dozen. It seems unfortunate that the' name of pomelo has
not been able to crowd out the awkward one of grape-fruit. A
limited supply of high-class Porto Rico pineapples commands
from sixty cents to a dollar apiece, no excessive price for the
most luscious fruit of this kind ; good West Indian pineapples
sell for twenty to forty cents eacli. The first sapodillas went
quickly last week at fifty cents a dozen. Britteneau pears still
come in prime condition from California, and are worth two
dollars a dozen. Apples are scarce ; choice Northern Spies
bringing seven dollars and a half a barrel. Black Hamburg
grapes, from Phil.idelphia hot-houses, sell at four and five dol-
lars a pound. New Florida and Bermuda potatoes are sold at
the same price, seventy cents a half-peck, or ten dollars a bar-
rel. Florida tomatoes may be had tor fifteen and twenty-five
cents a pound, selected Philadelphia and Long Island hot-
house tomatoes being in demand at forty to seventy-five cents.
Young hot-house carrots, four to a bunch, are fifty cents a
dozen bunches. Seedless English cucumbers, another hot-
house product, mainly from Boston, bring forty cents ; ordi-
nary forced cucumbers bring twenty cents, and the southern-
grown fifteen cents each. Okra, peas, butter-beans and Brus-
sels sprouts are coming in good supply ; also French arti-
chokes from New Orleans. Choice Long Island mushrooms
are one dollar and ten cents a pound, and beautiful Snowball
cauliflower from northern hot-houses is fifty cents a head.
The first asparagus came in from Oyster Bay on Saturday, and
sold quickly at seventy-five cents a bunch.

May 10, 1893.

Garden and Forest.

201

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by

Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

EorrORlAL Articles :— Abandoned Farms and Wasted Forests 201

The Corstorphine Sycamore. (With figure.) 202

Treatment ot Waste Lands in the Low Countries. —II 202

Notes ot Mexican TraveL — III C G. Pringle. 203

Plant Notes :— The Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens),

Pro/essor Thomas C. Porter. 204

Foreign Corrbspondence : — London Letter W. Watson. 204

Cultural Department: — New Types of Fruit Professor L. H. Bailey. 206

Hardy Ferneries E. O. Orpet. 206

The Narcissus Season y. N, Gerard. 207

The Water Garden J. N. G. 207

Pansies T. D. H. 208

Correspondence :— Spring in Virginia Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 208

Spring Coloring M. A. M. 209

Exhibitions : — The Flower Show at Madison Square Garden 209

Notes 210

Illustration ;— Sycamore Maple (Acer Pseudo-platanus), near Edinburgh,

Scotland, Fig. 32 205

Abandoned Farms and Wasted Forests.

THE newspapers and magazines of the country have
given space during a year or two past to so much
discussion of various questions relating to the abandoned
farms of New England and some of the other Atlantic
states, that very little which is new can now be said
of any phase of the subject. A writer in a late number of
the Country Gentleman, however, presents some views
which are worth considering. This correspondent, Mr.
Tom Ford, of Maine, has been examining the general sub-
ject for many years, and four years ago he visited many of
the abandoned farms in New Hampshire and familiarized
himself with all the circumstances by personal investiga-
tion and inquiries of the inhabitants. He was then so
thoroughly convinced that these farms could be profitably
reclaimed that he published a series of articles and inter-
ested real-estate agents in a project to sell them to well-
to-do city residents, to be used by them as places of sum-
mer resort. He showed that a man could pay for a New
Hampshire farm and the repair of its buildings and keep
his family there from June to October every year for the
same money that it would cost to take his family to Old Or-
chard Beach or Bar Harbor for two weeks. Many people
were induced to examine the land, but very few bought
any, because they considered it too lonesome, loo far from
routes of transportation, or for other reasons.

His study of the history of New England agriculture has
led Mr. Ford to the conclusion that the New England
farmer a hundred years ago was not a farmer after all. It is
true that he raised hay, oats, potatoes, corn, beef and pork,
but although he worked all summer to produce these, be-
cause he could do nothing else, he really received no ade-
quate return for his labor and laid up nothing from this
source. His wood-lot was his true source of income. To
this his thoughts and energies were directed and into it he
cut deeper and deeper every year. The logs and bark, the
staves and shingle-stuff, the hoop-poles and the cord-wood

brought him in all the money he had, and the produce of
his farm was sapped to furnish supplies for his oxen and
men. When his forest was cut away, half his income was
gone. As his land was cleared and he had more to culti-
vate, horses were needed to take the place of oxen which
could live on hay and grass and would gain $50 in value
during the year. With the more expensive animals and
machinery there was no corresponding increase in his in-
come, and after making a losing fight for half a life-time the
owners of the farms abandoned them and went out to work
by the day. Old methods of doing farm- work by hand would
not pay ; the farms were too small to warrant the use of
improved machinery ; market-gardening was not possible
where there was no market and the exile was inevitable.

Mr. Ford's solution of the abandoned-farms question is
to let them remain abandoned. This sounds like a cruel
decree of fate, but some of the conditions noted are worth
considering. It is an expensive and often an impracticable
task to bring up to its original productiveness a farm whose
fertility has been exhausted. It is cheaper in such cases
for the owner of such land to turn his back upon his im-
poverished acres and settle on the virgin soil of the west.
And then the tillage of these steep and stony hills is labo-
rious and expensive. Fifty acres of Corn can be raised and
harvested on the smooth prairie as easily as five acres in
some of the hill towns of New York and New England.
The disadvantages of early and late frosts and bleak winds
on these elevated lands, which materially shorten the grow-
ing year, are also to be considered. Altogether, one who
attempts to support himself and rear a family out of the
hungry soil of a rough hill farm in New England is to be
commiserated.

And what is to become of these abandoned lands .' One
way is to leave them to nature herself. As the houses and
barns tumble down the barren fields will grow up with
bushes, and by and by the forests will come in where they
flourished a century ago, and the roots of the trees will
draw up from the depths of the soil the mineral wealth
which will again make the land fertile. A still better way,
even with this view of the case, is to assist nature and
hasten the time when the land will be occupied by profita-
ble timber. In many cases the scrubby growth when left
to itself will require generations before a paying crop of
wood is produced ; but a practical forester would soon have
the hills covered with wood which would be constantly
growing into money.

It may be questioned whether this is the wisest treatment
of most of the abandoned farm-lands in the older states,
but certain it is that it was a mistake originally to cut away
the timber from many of the rugged hills which have been
cleared for plow-land. The crops that are wrung from such
soils usually cost as much as they come to, and if the labor
and expense which their cultivation demanded had been
put upon smoother and more fertile land, the net profit
from agriculture proper in the course of years would have
been greater, while the forests, if properly managed, would
have yielded regular crops and would have continued in
full productiveness, so that both wood-land and plow-land
would have increased in value.

In the complex relations which exist between the forest
and the farm there are many points upon which, with our
present state of knowledge, we cannot speak with confi-
dence. We are not able to measure accurately the effect of
forest-areas upon adjacent cleared land in modifying the
winds of summer or of winter, in mitigating extremes of
heat and cold, in distributing the annual supply of water.
We can only make rough estimates of the effects of forests
upon birds, insects, fungi and other animal and vegetable
growths which may be helpful or harmful to agriculture.
But it certainly is wasteful practice to destroy the forests
on lands which can produce nothing else with profit, and
yet this squandering of our inheritance is going on to-day in
much of the Appalachian region as rapidly as if there was
not an abandoned farm in all the country to sound a warn-
ing.against such improvidence.

202

Garden and Forest.

(Number 272.

The Corstorphine S3-camore.

THE great tree, which is represented in our picture on
p. 205, is one of the most famous in Scotland, and
stands in the old Midlothian village of Corstorphine, near
Edinburgh. It is locally called the Corstorphine Sycamore
or Corstorphine Plane, but is neither a Plane nor, of course,
a true Sycamore. The name Sycamore, rightly belonging
to a Fig-tree (Ficus Sycamorus), is, as the readers of Gar-
den AND Forest have more than once been told, popularly
applied in this country to the Plane-tree, and in England to
the Sycamore Maple, because of a general resemblance which
the leaves of these trees bear to those of the true Sycamore.
As the Corstorphine tree is a Sycamore Maple (Acer Pseudo-
platanus), the fact that it is commonly called a Plane as
well as a Sycamore seems to show that, in Scotland, this
special matter of vernacular nomenclature is even more
confused than elsewhere.

The tree is a remarkable one, not only because of its
great size and the tragic story connected with it, but for
horticultural reasons also. " Its chief characteristic," says
a local writer, " is the very remarkable color of its young
leaves in early spring, as they do not show the tender green-
yellow of other trees of this species, but a rich, glittering
yellow — a tint so striking to the eye as to attract by its
beauty and strangeness from a great distance." Indeed,
this yellow tint must persist with more or less brilliancy
throughout the summer, for in Loudon's Arbore/um Britanni-
cum mention is made, under the heading Acer Pseudo pla-
tanus, of a variety called Flava variegata; this variety is
described as "the yellow variegated Sycamore or Cors-
torphine Plane, with leaves variegated with yellow," and
we are told that "the original tree stands near an old
pigeon-house in the grounds of Sir Thomas Dick Louder,
Bart., in the parish of Corstorphine, near Edinburgh." Thus
we see that the Corstorphine tree has been produced in
English nurseries as a well-marked ornamental- variety.

As much of the history of the parent tree as is known
may be read in a book called A Midlothian Village, written
and illustrated by a local artist, Mr. G. Upton Selway, to
whom we are also indebted for the photograph which is
here reproduced. From the year 1376 until the end of the
seventeenth century the lords of the manor in this locality
were the Forresters of Corstorphine. Of the castle of this
family, says Mr. Selway, not one stone now remains upon
another ; but a pen-and-ink drawing of its ruins, made in
the year 1777, shows that it was much larger than the
usual Scotch manor-house of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. A map of the same date shows that the approach
to it from the east was through an avenue of trees, and the
Corstorphine Plane appears to be the sole survivor of this
avenue. It has sometimes been called the largest tree of
its kind in Scotland, but this, says our authority, is an ex-
aggeration of its size, which, nevertheless, is remarkable.
Near it, as Loudon tells in his Arboretum, stands an ancient
dove-cote. This, says Mr. Selway, "resembles other build-
ings of its class built in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies. It is a fine specimen of a circular dove-cote, with
entrance from the north, built to accommodate one thou-
sand birds, and is, considering its exposed situation, in
very good preservation. These buildings were formerly
considered of great value when much attention was be-
stowed on the housing and breeding of pigeons, they be-
ing held in high esteem as food when the raising of poultry
was attended with greater risk than it is now, owing to
the dangers of those uncertain times."

The tragic story which adds interest to this tree is a well-
verified tale of comparatively recent date. James Baillie,
second Lord Forrester, having taken an active part against
the Commonwealth, his estate suffered at the hands of the
English troops, and Cromwell exacted from him a fine of
/■2,500. His affairs thus became involved and his estates
heavily burdened ; he consoled liimself by a career of drink
and profligacy. The sister of his wife, who had died from
the effects of neglect and abuse, hearing that Lord Forrester

had spoken evil about her, demanded a meeting, which
took place on the night of August 26th, 1679, near the old
dove-cole. Exasperated by his drunken abuse, the woman
murdered Lord Forrester at the foot of the Sycamore. For
this crime, after many escapes and adventures, she was be-
headed in Edinburgh. The story also tells that Lord For-
rester was believed to have buried treasure at the foot of
the tree, and that his ghost kept guard over it.

Treatment of Waste Lands in the Low Countries. — IL

'T'HE great sandy formation wliich covers the largest half of
■'■ the Netherlands passes out of Holland into Hanover, and
stretches entirely across Northern Germany into Russia, the me-
dium level of the whole district being only about fifty feet above
the sea, and nowhere rising above tliree hundred. It is geolog-
ically very ancient, and its surface is marked by foreign rocks,
which lie scattered over its surface, supposed to have been
transported thither by icebergs from Norway and Sweden, in
some previous geological epoch. This formation makes the
principal part of northern Europe one great sandy plain, with
very little landscape beauty, except that which arises from
great green stretches overhung with a vast and ever-changing
sky, which have served as an inspiration to a race of landscape
artists, who have rendered with Dutch fidelity the features of
their country. " Les accidents du pays," says L'Esquirol,
"sont dans le ciel," but these apparently meagre details have
been enough for Hobbema and Riiysdaet and Ciiyp to work
with, in producing their immortal canvases. Alternating
with this sandy district in Holland, as well as in Belgium, are
extensive heath and peat lands, which afford another example
of the way in which persistent industry can overcome obstacles
in husbandry. These peat-beds have been worked for five
hundred years, so that the deposits in many cases have been
entirely exhausted ; but, undismayed, the persistent Dutch
farmers drain the holes by pumping, and put them under cul-
tivation, the basis being clay, whicli is capable of being con-
verted into a good soil. It is not uncommon to find at the
bottom of these excavated basins the remains of old forests ;
but what other people would think of making farms in such
cellars as these and by such tedious processes ? They begin
by trenching the beds, in which the peat is only fit for use
after eight years, the deposit being often more than thirty feet
in thickness, and only capable of removal by very slow degrees.
This peat-cutting, however, is a great branch "of industry in
Holland, for it is the only fuel the country produces, there
being no coal, and but a very limited supply of forest. The
growth of peat is here still in progress, and the same curious
phenomena are still to be observed that were noticed by Pliny
in the time of the Roman occupation. For example, fields
are still found floating upon the water, and rising and falling
with it. The Dutch maintain that the whole town of Dort, a
large and flourishing place, shifted its location during one of
the inundations. During another, a field, on which ten or
twelve cows were feeding, was drifted across the Dollart, a
broad sheet of Water many miles in width, which forms the
boundary between Holland and Hanover, and fastened itself
on the opposite shore in a foreign country, without the loss of
an inhabitant.

The theory which prevails in regard to these peat-beds is
that they have been formed by the growth and gradual destruc-
tion of aquatic plants, growing in shallow pools and lakes,
forming vegetation which originally floated on the surface of
the water and finally attached itself by its roots to the bottom,
extinguishing the sheet of water by transformation. But it is
in the heath lands of Holland that the greatest results have
been achieved by industrious and ingenious exploitation. As
late as 1842 they were considered nearly valueless, so that in
that year the state sold about 60,000 acres at sixteen or seven-
teen cents an acre. These lands, subjugated by a regular,
though varied system of cultivation, have been so successfully
handled, that twelve years after the original sale 20,000 out of
the 60,000 acres were resold for nearly two dollars an acre,
and since then some of them have brought as high a price as
ten or fifteen dollars an acre.

The methods adopted with these waste lands are various.
One is sheep-feeding on such parts of the ground as admit it ;
another is to shave off the sod, pile it in heaps in the sun to
dry, burn it, and dress patches with the ashes or spread them
on the contiguous sandy lands.

But the favorite method of reclaiming both heath and sands
is the planting of forests of Firs and Pines, which is done with the
extraordinary patience that characterizes this indomitable race.

May io, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

203

Though the profit is slow in coming in, it is found, as we find
it here, to pay in the long run. Tlie seedlings, a year old, are
planted at the rate of 13,000 to 14,000 to the acre. They are
first pruned in the seventh year ; afterward every two years,
the trimming paying the expense. At the end of twenty years
they are cut for hop-poles ; at twenty-five years for supports
for galleries in coal and other mines. In fifty years they fur-
nish timber for small buildings, and then the land is finally
cleared off and regular cultivation is begun, the soil being by
that time fit for working. Poor lands treated in this way are
estimated to yield an annual product of four or five dollars a
year per acre during the process.

The ancient method of treating the heath, which was intro-
duced into Holland some two centuries ago, was copied from
the Tartars, who have practiced it from time immemorial on
the plains of Asia. This consists in burning the sod over vast
tracts at once. At times this is done to such an extent that the
air is filled with smoke for hundreds of miles, as in the burn-
ing of our great forests. After this, the ground is merely har-
rowed and sown in buckwheat or other grain, of which the
product is twelve or fifteen bushels to the acre. The land thus
treated can be cultivated for about seven years, yielding for
the first three years a good harvest. Then the crop begins to
fall off, and in three or four years more it dwindles to little or
nothing, and the land is abandoned. After resting for twenty
years, it is found to be in a suitable condition to burn again.
In Asia the Tartars wander back and forth over the immense
steppes of lower Siberia and northern India, moving to an-
other tract when one becomes exhausted. These wandering
races have been known to remote ages, and isolated bands of
them drift into Europe and form a valuable proportion of the
laboring population of Russia. But in the rest of Europe, and
more especially in dimmutive Holland, these larger features
of heath-cultivation are now wanting.

These pictures of struggling husbandry on sterile soils are
by no means without their use. They afford an instructive
lesson to the patient cultivator of stubborn and unproductive
lands, who may learn from them that, however great his
drawbacks, there are other people with greater ones. They
teach, also, that there is no piece of soil so bad that it cannot
by skill and industry be made to produce some kmd of a crop
which will repay its possessor for exercising his intelligence in
its management.

Notes of Mexican Travel. — III.

ON THE TAMPICO BRANCH — CONTINUED.

THE hacienda of Tamasopo is situated on the second bench
above the lowlands bordering the Gulf, at an elevation of
i.oooieet. It is in the zone of greatest rainfall. The winds,
heavily laden with moisture, which arise from the Gulf, are re-
pelled from the heated lowlands, to precipitate on these moun-
tains torrents of rain, as their temperature is lowered by their
ascending into cooler regions of the air. Yet the temperature
of Tamasopo, though a little lower than that of the coast,
is still a tropical heat ; and, from conditions of so great
heat and moisture results a vegetation of great luxuriance.
The forests, composed of numerous species, are thick, the
undergrowth beneath them is dense, and trees and shrubs are
bound together by clambering vines to form an almost im-
penetrable jungle. Each large tree, with huge spreading
branches and leaning trunk, it may be, becomes a garden of
plants. On its rough, mossy surface root Ferns, Orchids,
Bromeliads and Cactuses ; and, lifted thus into the air and
light, they thrive apace. Not epiphytal plants alone may be
seen in such situations, but almost any herb or shrub, even,
which grows in the neighboring soil. Thus, on the branches
of Oaks, and twenty feet above the soil, I have seen in flower
rows of Dahlias, Begonias and other plants.

The most abundant tree of these tropical forests is doubt-
less a Fig, Ficus Segoviae, with smooth, gray bark, and often
of vast size, especially when growing beside streams. Its
leaves are lanceolate, smooth and shining ; and it sheds at
different periods throughout the year profuse crops of fruit,
which is round, and varies from three-fourths of an inch to an
inch and a half in diameter. It is upon the fruit of this and
other Wild Figs that pigs, peccaries and monkeys largely sub-
sist. The most common Oak here is Quercus germana, which
bears acorns two inches long. Dendropanax arboreus, sym-
metrical in form and bearing attractive foliage and fruits, is
one of the most interesting trees here ; and Banara Mexicana is
pretty when covered with white berries. But to enumerate all
the arborescent species of these forests would be tedious, were
it possible ; and I will only mention Xanthoxylum Pringlei,
Watson, and Clethra Pringlei, Watson, as discoveries.

If it were hardly possible to mention all the trees of this re-
gion, what can I say for the shrubs and endless variety of
herbs of Las Canoas and Tamasopo, and of the long caflon
connecting these, the pursuit of which occupied me for many
weeks of two summers ? I am sensible that the species acces-
sible from the railroad, which has opened a way through
mountains and jungles, is far from being exhausted.

From Tamasopo to the station of Rascon the road threads
valleys and runs between wooded hills and a river-bank. The
clear blue water shows through gaps of the thickets covering
the river-banks, and here we first see clumps of a giant Bam-
boo, in each clump five to ten stalks, every stalk four to six
inches thick, a gracefully spreading plume twenty to forty feet
high. Scattered Palm-trees soon appear, and as we near Ras-
con we are running through a forest of Palms, Sitraight, slen-
der shafts, thirty feet high, bearing spreading heads of broad
leaves. Beyond Rascon, as far as Micos, are more Palm-
forests and Bamboos, and rivers and swamps and jungles
alternating with open meadows, which lead back between hills
whose sides are grassy glades and whose summits are covered
with Oaks. Meadows and glades and mountafn-tops — all are
deer-parks ; and the Mexican tiger, the puma, prowls through
the less-frequented wilds of all this region. The few haciendas
being at a distance from the railroad, few people are seen ;
rarely there is seen a hut, a thatch of palm-leaves raised on
posts, the sides being left open, or, at best, being filled in with
wattles of cane-stems.

At Micos we are beside a larger river, the Conception, and
among other mountains. Butting crags, 2,000 feet high, hang
over us on either side. Between these, and above the roaring
river, we pass through the mountain-notch to descend to the
lowest bench of the highlands. As we emerge through the
gateway our eyes turn from the wide wooded plain before us
to look back on the river and see it plunging through a mile of
its course in most beautiful cascades, where twenty white cata-
racts alternate with reaches of still water. To descend to the
river-side and stand amid the spray and roar of some of the
grander falls, to look into the still, limpid pools of green-hued
water, to observe the flood, where greatest force is spent,
making deposits of calcareous tufa, thus building up the rim
of its pools, and from the verge of the falls projecting chutes
to convey the falling torrents further and further out — the
more intimate acquaintance thus gained yields deeper interest.
Wet walls in the spray of the falls were hidden by masses of
Aspidium trifoliatum ; and out of the tufa was growing, mostly
submerged, a strange plant, Erigeron heteromorphus, Rob.,
n. sp. Its long and finely dissected leaves moved in the flow-
ing water like tresses of hair, and its abundance contributed to
the green hue of the water.

Crossing the last bench, mostly covered with small trees and
shrubs, Croton eleagnoides, Watson, n. sp., being the most
numerously represented of these, and, on account of its sil-
very foliage, the most conspicuous, we come to the last
mountain-gap, and pass through it by a tunnel in one of the
canon walls. Now we are on the side of a low mountain, and
are overlooking the lowland plain, which is about fifty miles
wide from the mountains to the coast, and on this side is only
two or three hundred feet above sea-level.

Two or three miles below the last tunnel, where the grade
has nearly reached the plain, we come to the fountain caves
of the Choy River. This spot has been a favorite haunt of
mine ; and not a few have been the new or choice plants
yielded me by its ledges of lime-rock. An iron bridge spans
a chasm in the mountain-wall. Through chambers in the
rock comes the roar of waters far beneath us. We look down
through an opening under the railroad-ties and see a half-
lighted cave and a dark pool occupying its floor. From the
railroad we scramble down a steep path over the rocks, and
enter the principal cave. We creep down its shelving ledges
among Ferns and stand beside the pool. On its farther side,
in the inner wall of the cave, open the dark caverns, from
which this river issues — "caverns measureless to man." We
feel as though we had come upon the river Styx, and are in-
clined to watch the inner portals for the coming of Charon and
his skiff Under a low, broad archway and over a rocky bed
the river tumbles out into the sunlight. We clamber back out
of the cave and get down to the river to find its waters clear
and pure, but of a strange blue color. Other caves of the series
we try to explore, but find them inaccessible, and only suc-
ceed in disturbing their occupants, which circle around us,
screaming hideously. In the openings of the upper chambers,
however, we notice sficks laid by, which indicate that the
natives let each other down frorh above by means of ropes
and secure the young birds to sell. In the limestone forma-
tion of these mountain-ranges such caves are common. There
is a most interesting one with several grand, high-vaulted rooms

204

Garden and Forest.

[Number lya.

just above the last tunnel, and into openings among ledges
streams not rarely disappear and are lost to human knowl-
edge. From the Choy, past the hacienda of Las Palmas to
Tampico, there is little of interest along the road. There are
seen a few natural meadows and a few lagoons ; but only a
few clearings have been made, and we see few people. I was
disappointed to find the forest-growth comparatively small ;
but the cause of this may be found in a lighter rainfall than
occurs above. On the banks of the great rivers, the Panuco
and the Tamesi, there are heavy growths not to be seen from
the train. As the day is closing, Tampico, with its tiled roofs
and white walls, overtopped by Palms, comes in view, and
our journey is ended. ^ , p..,v<r/,

Charlotte. VL ^- ^- i^tftg"-

Plant Notes.
The Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens).

THIS notable Pine, discovered by the elder Michaux in
North Carolina on the mountain from which it gets
its common name, was thought by him so rare as to be in
danger of extinction by the woodman's axe and forest-fires,
but in this opinion the famous explorer was mistaken. We
now know that the territory over which it is spread is far
larger than he had imagined. Not confined to the Carolinas,
it extends much further northward along the Appalachian
ranges, and has been observed in Virginia on the Blue Ridge
near Charlottesville, and on the Massanuttan chain west of
Luray, and in Pennsylvania, on the eastern slopes of the
Blue Mountain at Two Top, close to the Maryland line,
and on the Schuylkill River at Port Carbon, where it still
flourishes, as it did a century ago, in the place referred to in
his Journal (page 104) by Michaux himself, who does not
appear, however, to have then recognized it as his Table
Mountain tree. In the central counties of the state, it is
more abundant and grows on the flanks of the Tussey and
Stone Mountain ranges in the counties of Blair, Huntingdon,
Centre, Mifflin and Union. Here it attracted the attention
of the late Frederick Noll, of Lewisburg, and was described
and published by him as a new species under the name of
Pinus montana.

There are also three other outlying stations worthy of
special notice — one, about midway between Washington
City and Fredericksburg, Virginia, chronicled by Michaux
in his Journal (page 104) ; another at McCall's Ferry, Lan-
caster County, Pennsylvania, just discovered by Mr. A. A.
Heller ; and a third, reported a few years ago by Dr. G. N.
Best, near Rosemont, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. T)ie
existence of this mountain Pine in such limited patches on
the lowlands, distant one or two hundred miles from any of
its kindred, can only be explained by the supposition that a
storm-wind wrestled with some sturdy mountaineers, the
scales of whose cones were just ready toopen, and, whirling
aloft a mass of winged seeds, carried them to these remote
points and dropped them there at a time when the con-
ditions were favorable for their germination and early
growth. That currents of air do perform similar feats is
beyond question. The two-lobed pollen-grains of the long-
leaved southern Pine (P. palustris) have been thus rapidly
transported some four or five hundred miles from South or
North Carolina, in the middle of the month of March, and
deposited in considerable quantities, along with snow, at
sundry places in eastern Pennsylvania, and Dr. Engelmann
has recorded the occurrence of the same thing at St. Louis
and explained it in the same way.

A native of the Atlantic sea-board, and hence at home in
our climate, the Table Mountain Pine thrives wherever it is
planted in the northern states, and certainly deserves more
favor from the landscape-gardener than it has yet received.
Although surpassed in breadth and altitude by other species
of the genus, the sight of it, when fully developed, leaves
upon the mind an impre.ssion of massivene.ss and dura-
bility by reason of the unusual stoutness of its spreading
horizontal limbs. The wood is solid, heavy and rich in
turpentine. But its chief glory lies in its cones, which are
of a goodly size, with very thick, hard, shining scales, tipped
with strong prickles. The largest and finest are produced

on young trees six or seven feet high, or even less. On the
branches of the full-grown trees they are smaller and occur
in clusters of three or four (sometimes seven or eight), and
these clusters are persistent one after another in succession
for a number of years. None of our eastern Pines possess,
at least in the same degree, this habit, which, in connection
with the beauty of the cones, renders it an object of peculiar
attraction in a park or arboretum.

Lafayette College. Easton, Pa. TTlOS. C. Porter.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

THE Ghent Exhibition took place this week and ap-
pears to have been as great a success as on previous
occasions. Although held in Belgium every five years, this
great exhibition of plants is of almost cosmopolitan impor-
tance, and, in England, at any rate, excites as much in-
terest among horticulturists as if it were an English show.
This is, of course, partly due to the fact that Belgium and
England have, for many years, been in the van of horti-
cultural progress, and have been of considerable aid to
each other. The Belgians are gardeners of the first rank,
and the beautiful old town of Ghent contains many nurs-
erymen, some of whom have a famous place in the history
of horticulture, and their establishments are as rich in
interest for botanists as they are for horticulturists.

The Quinquennial at Ghent has, for many years, stood
unrivaled as a plant exhibition. There were I'alms, Cy-
cads. Ferns, Orchids and stove-plants of all kinds. The
Azaleas at Ghent are always exceptionally well grown and
abundantly represented. The enterprise and zeal of the
exhibitors are extraordinary, some of them bringing huge
specimens, tons in weight, to compete for honors merely,
the medal or cup awarded as a prize being of sentimental
value only. It is the same with new and rare plants. In
this division exceptional interest was added this year, ow-
ing to an arrangement between Messrs. Linden, of Brus-
sels, on the one hand, and Messrs. Sander & Co., of St.
Albans, on the other, to try conclusions in the class for six
new plants. It was generally known that this contesi
would be keen, and the event had acquired almost a sport-
ing flavor. Messrs. Sander & Co. won the premier prize
with the following plants, described by me in my last let-
ter : Alsophila atrovirens, Strobilanthes Dyerianus, Dra-
caena Godseffiana, D. Sanderiana, Alocasia Watsoniana
and Ludovia crenifolia. The plants exhibited by Messrs.
Linden were a selection of those shown by them last year
at the Temple Show of the Royal Horticultural Society,
and noted by me in a letter last May. They were Trades-
cantia reginae, T. superba, Stenandrium Lindeni, Haeman-
thus Lindeni, Smilax argyraea and the new Orchid, Eulo-
philla Elizabethae. This last is a plant of extraordinary
interest and beauty. It was named by Mr. Rolfe, at Mon-
sieur Linden's request, in compliment to Carmen Sylva,
the Queen of Roumania, and a fine figure of it was pub-
lished in Lindenia last year, t. 325. It is like a large Eulo-
phia, with white flowers, a yellow lip and rich crimson
purple scapes, the same color being conspicuous on the
back of the flower segments. The plant exhibited at Ghent
this week was called by a competent judge "one of the
most remarkable, if not the most remarkable, in the whole
show." Among the other new plants which won honors,
were the grand new Oreocyclus Iris Lorleti ; Hypolytrum
Schraderianum, a fine stove Cyperus-like plant, recently
noted by me ; Richardia aurata, sent out last year as a hy-
brid between R. haslata and R. albomaculata, and which
has hastate leaves, green, with white spots and creamy
yellow spathes. It has nothing to do with R. EUiottiana,
with which it was stated to be identical, being really an
inferior plant. Nicotiana colossea variegata, with large
white variegated leaves, was awarded a silver medal. An
interesting Gesneriad, from the Kilmanjaro, in east Africa,
was exhibited by Herr Wendland, Director of the Hanover
Botanical Garden. It bears the curious nameof Saintpaulia

May lo, 1893. 1

Garden and Forest.

205

ionantha, and has the habit and appearance of the Pyre-
neean Ramondia. A figure of it is to be published shortly
in Gartenflora. Senecio sagittifolius, the big-leaved, hand-
some Groundsel, lately noted by me as flowering at Kew,
was also exhibited in flower by Herr Wendland.

Azalea Anthony Koster. — This is an exceptionally fine
variety of Ghent Azalea, its flowers large in compact, well-

crosses of hardy Azaleas. There are no shrubs of greater
value in the garden than these. Mr. Anthony Waterer is,
perhaps, the most energetic raiser of new varieties. He
also has numerous crosses between the Ghent Azalea and
A. mollis, some of which are very fine and distinct. The
red-flowered varieties of A. mollis are among the best of
the recent productions of the famous Knap Hill nurseryman.

f"iK' 32 — Sycamore Maple (Acer Pbeudo-platanus}, near Edinburgh, Sc jtlaiul— See paj^e :

formed trusses of a rich orange-yellow color, clear and
bright and beautiful. It is said to be the result of a cross
between A. mollis and A. Sinensis. Some plants of it were
shown this week by Messrs. Lane, of Berkhamstead, and
they won universal admiration, the Royal Horticultural So-
ciety awarding it a first-class certificate. In England every
year is bringing forth new and improved varieties and

Pyrus Japonica, var. cardinalis, received a certificate last
week, specimens of it being exhibited by Mr. A. Waterer.
It is remarkable for the large size and rich cardinal-red
color of its flowers. We have now a considerable number
of varieties of this, one of the very best of the many good
garden-plants which we owe to Japan. A collection of
sorts was shown by Messrs. Veitch, including the type, the

2o6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 272.

white variety (P. Japonica alba), the rich deep crimson,
large-flowered variety known as atropurpurea, and the
rose-red form named rosea. They also exhibited P. Maulei,
which is, perhaps, only a variety of P. Japonica. Thus we
have varieties with red, pink, crimson, white, salmon and
bright cardinal flowers. They are worth growing as a
group in any good garden. I have seen the type used as a
kitchen-garden fence. At Kew it does not flower as freely
as in many places, probably because the soil here is not
the most suitable.

Daffodils. — Kew has shown this year how valuable Daf-
fodils are when planted in large masses for the production of
bold landscape-effects in spring. On the lawns among the
grass, in large beds skirting the principal paths, and as a
carpet to loose shrubberies, they were planted by the thou-
sand last October, and for the past month they have made
a glorious show. Some half a dozen large beds each con-
tained a thousand bulbs, and every bulb bore one or two
flowers of Emperor, the grandest of all the trumpet Daffo-
dils ; there were several equally large beds of Empress, the
rival of Emperor in size and beauty of flower, and beds of
Sir Watkin, Barii conspicua, Burbidgei, Countess of An-
nesley, and other equally large-flowered handsome kinds,
all placed in positions where they tell with fine effect in
the compositions from various points in the garden. A
plantation of Firs, carpeted with Campernella (N. rugulo-
bus), has been a waving sea of rich yellow and dark green.
I consider this Daffodil one of the best of all spring-flow-
ering bulbs either for beds or to cover large areas on the
outskirts of woods, etc. It must be planted thickly, and as
it is plentiful and cheap there is no difficulty in getting it in
quantity. Grass-mounds clothed with thousands of flowers
of Poet's Narcissus waving in the wind are most effective.
This kind of gardening is easy, all that is needed being a
broad method of treatment, massing in conspicuous posi-
tions, autumn planting and the selection of the sorts most
suitable for the purpose. Kew has broken out in a new
and useful direction by this development of spring garden-
ing on bold lines. I have never seen the garden look more
attractive, nor have I seen such crowds of interested visitors
as we have had this spring. Yellow in the garden is
always effective, and specially so in spring. The eleva-
tion of Daffodils from a position of obscurity to one of im-
mense popularity is not, therefore, to be wondered at ; one
rather is surprised that the value of these plants was not
more fully recognized in the garden long ago. It is curious
that the French are amused at our taste for Daffodils, proba-
bly because yellow is not a favorite color with them.

London. W. WaiSOn.

Cultural Department.
New Types of Fruit.

NEW fruits are rarely introduced unless they have some
merit. They may not be of sufficient value to supplant
any old variety, but their introducers, at least, believe that
there is some vacant place for them or that they may create a
new demand. Unfortunately, they often sufferfrom injudicious
praise, and when they do not equal expectations they are too
severely judged, and even their good qualities are not recog-
nized. Professor Bailey has just been publishing an estimate
of four new types of fruits, which have been the cause of
mucii discussion, and in this bulletin of the Cornell Experiment
Station he attempts to give a careful judgment of their quality.
The first of these is the Apricot Plum (PrunusSimonii), which
was described and figured by Carriere in the Revue Horticole
in 1872. The author considers it a distinct species of stone
fruit, and not a hybrid. It has been strongly recommended for
its fruit, and has been planted to some extent. When grown
in California the fruit has sold in New York, Boston and Chi-
cago markets at profitable prices. The sales may have been
caused by the novelty of the fruit or its taking appearance. It
may be that since the plant loves a dry climate the fruit grown
in California has real merit. In New York, however. Profes-
sor Bailey finds the fruit worthless for orchard cultivation ; he
has never tried a specimen that he could call edible, and the
tree is not productive. The fruit is very handsome in shape and
color, and its long-keeping quality commends it. It is pos-

sible that if it could be hybridized with the Peach the offspring
would be hardier than ttie Peach, while having some of the
excellent flavor of that fruit. Prunus Simonii has merits as an
ornamental tree, since its erect Poplar-like habit, early flowers
and glowing fruits make it a conspicuous object.

The Japanese Wine Berry (Rubus phcenicolasius) was first
described by Maximo wicz in 1872. A plant of it was sent to
Kew in 1875 from the Jardin des Plantes, and Sir Joseph D.
Hooker described it as an exceedingly handsome bramble and
said of the fruit that, "though eatable, it was mawkish." It
was early introduced into this countr>- under its proper name
and sold by Ellwanger «& Barry in 188 1. Mr. P. J. Berckmans
says that it was known in Holland for a generation before it
was figured in 1877, and cultivated as a curiosity. Mr. Berck-
mans has known it for nearly fifty years. Professor Georgeson
sent seeds of the plant to this country from wild bushes in
1887, and he described the fruit as of good size, firm and hand-
some, and sweet and delicious when ripe. The stock of these
plants was secured by John Lewis Childs, and it was widely dis-
seminated in 1890 as the Japanese Wine Berry. Professor
Bailey has cultivated it and found the fruit to have little to rec-
ommend it, either in size, appearance or quality, although he
is ready to believe that the species may eventually give us fruit
of edible value. For the present he classes it among orna-
mental plants rather than among valuable fruit plants.

The Crandall Currant, which is a strain of Ribes aureum,
found growing wild in Kansas, has promise as the parent of a
new race of small fruits, although it is as yet too variable in
the quality and productiveness of its fruit to be trustworthy.
Many plants bear fruit little larger than those of the common
Flowering Currant, and out of fifty plants originally received
from its introducer by Professor Bailey less than one-fourth of
the whole number proved profitable. If stock were propa-
gated from the best specimens alone the Crandall Currant
would soon rise in popular estimation. The fruits are large
and handsome, firm, of good culinary quality, and the plant is
thrifty. To some people the flavor is disagreeable, but others
are fond of it, and if the stock were uniform the Crandall, even
now, could be recommended as a good fruit for home con-
sumption. As yet it has been free from attacks of the currant-
worm. The species Ribes aureum, to which the Crandall be-
longs, has long been cultivated for its sweet yellow flowers.

A dwarf form of the June-berry known asSuccess was found
growing in a garden in Kansas in 1873, and put upon the mar-
ket five years later. On the experiment-station grounds at
Ithaca plants set out in 1888 have yielded three good crops.
They are not more than three or four feet high, although thev
have never been headed back, and they grow upon strong soil.
The fruit ripens with early currants, and lasts nearly as long as
the currants do. The berries resemble huckleberries in Haver
and appearance, although they are more juicy and palatable
than huckleberries. The plants are wonderfully productive
and hardy. Professor Bailey endorses the judgment of Pro-
fessor Alwood, of the Virginia Experiment Station, that the
quality of the fruit ranks well up to that of the strawberry, and
he considers that it fills a real need for .a first-class small fruit
which ripens just at the close of the strawberry season. The
drawback to its cultivation is that the birds are attracted irre-
sistibly by the fruit, so that it is necessary to cover the plants
with mosquito netting and tie it on securely in order to save it.
Professor Bailey considers this form of the June-berry specifi-
cally distinct from Amelanchier Canadensis.

Hardy Ferneries.

i!

THERE are many situations in which it is difficult to make
plants or grass thrive, owing to shade from trees or other
causes. In city yards, too, where the surroundings are not
under control, it is necessary to take these into consideration,
and to plant such things as are likely to thrive. I have in mind
a limited space at the back of a city house which was trans-
formed into a most interesting spot by planting Ferns alone.
Besides attention to moisture, these require hardly any laboi
after the planting is completed.

For situations of this kind the numerous Ferns of theeasti:
states should be depended upon mainly, as only the nativt
Ferns are entirely hardy. Others, such as British species and
varieties, can sometimes be used with advantage. These are
distinct, in many ways, from any of our native kinds, the
original type having been changed through the continued rais
ing of seedlings and selection. The varieties of almost all tlu
principal types have become so numerous as to tax the inge
nuity of the raisers to name them. It should be noted, how
ever, that British Ferns are not reliably hardy, and should b'
given a secondary position.

May io, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

207

Many Ferns grow only on rocks, while others are found in
stony soil ; some are sub-aquatic, and, agjain, some favor rich
black vegetable-mold. All Ferns, however, will thrive in
mold, provided other conditions are similar to those in which
they are found wild. The common Polyf)ody (Polypodium
vulgare) is always found growing in tufts on rocks where but
little soil can accumulate. P. incanum is not unlike P. vul-
gare. It is only found in the southern states, though it is hardy
in the east. It also grows in similar positions, and sometimes
on trees where moisture is assured. These two species should
be planted among stones to secure ample drainage, with vers-
little organic matter about their roots. Cheilanihes vestita,
another rare and beautiful Fern, also grows in the clefts of
rocks. This is sometimes called the Lace Fern, owing to its
elegant fronds ; it is perfectly hardy. Camptosorus rhizophyl-
lus, the Walking Fern, grows in similar situations, and is a
most interesting Fern, peculiar to North America. Young
plants are produced at the tips of each frond as they arch over
and touch the soil ; these take root, and the plant is thus propta-
gated. Asplenium Trichomanes, the Maiden-hair Spleenwort,
is a desirable Fern, though not common in cultivation ; its cul-
ture is simple, similar to that of C. rhizophyllus. This is also
the case with Wall Rue (.Asplenium Ruta-muraria), a very
small, but interesting, species often found on old walls and in
clefts of limestone rocks. Old mortar rubbish should be added
to the soil to insure its well-doing. These Ferns, all need
stones or rocks about their roots ; they are of dwarf habit, and
must not be associated with any of the more robust kinds, but
should be planted in nooks by themselves. Though no elabo-
rate arrangement of stones or rocks is necessary, they are a
decided advantage in a femen.-, and furnish a diversity of po-
sitions, and also assist in making a more natural and informal
effect. The well-being of the plants must, of course, not be
sacrificed for the sake of the rocks, and there must be a good
supply of soil to contain moisture for the supp>ort of the plants,
or failure is certain.

Among Ferns that should not be included in stocking a
fernery is Strulhiopteris Germanica. It spreads rapidly and
should be confined where it cannot ramble at will and crowd
out other Ferns. It is commonly known as the Ostrich Fern
and is very handsome and most'valuable for naturalizing.

Some Ferns need a great deal of moisture, such as Wood-
wardia ViiT^inica, W. angustifolia, all theOsmundas. Aspidium
acrostichoides, Dicksonia punctilobula and the Maiden-hair
Fern (Adiantum pedatum). Among kinds that succeed well
in drier positions are Aspidium marginale, A. Goldianum, A.
cristatum, A. spinulosum and its varieties ; also the species
of Phegopteris. such as P. polypodioides, P. hexagonoptera
and P. Dryopteris. The Hartford Fern (Lygodium palmatum)
must not be omitted. Its climbing habit should be encouraged ;
if takes some time to become established and is of a rambling
disposition at the roots. The Botrychiums and Ophioglossum
are very interesting, owing to the bunch-like, fertile portions of
the fronds which have gi ven them the name of flowering Ferns.
There is one beautiful exotic Fern that should be known
by all growers of Fern ; this is a sf>ecies from Japan, As-
plenium Goringianum pictum. It is beautifully variegated
with red, gray and green, and is quite hardy. But few forms
of native Ferns, which vary from the types," are known in gar-
dens. This is due to the lack of observation and interest in
these plants. I found beautifully crested forms of two species
which I was collecting. One plant, Aspidium marginale, was
surrounded with nuinerous smaller ones, all of which were
crested at the end of each division of the frond. If Ferns were
more sought for, and cultivated, we should soon hear of sem-
inal varieties exceeding their parents in beauty.

It would add much to the interest of a fernery if some of
the native Orchids were planted among the Ferns. The con-
ditions would be suitable for all the Cypripediums, Habena-
rias, Orchis spectabilis, Spiranthes, Go'odyeras and Pogfonia.
Indeed, every species of native Orchid could be grown in such
a situation, excepting, of course, the southern Epidendrum
conopseum, which is epiphytal. The soil sliould be comjxjsed
largely of decayed leaf-mold, with loam added. Fertilizers are
unnecessary and would, in some cases, be injurious botli to
Ferns and Orchids. Two things only are necessary, shade
and moisture, eitlier natural or supplied in some artificial way.
Exotic varieties may be added by way of experiment, and it
would be very interesting to the grower and others interested
in Ferns to know which are reliably hardy in the colder sec-
tions of the United States. Most Ferns die down in winter,
and a top-dressing of leaf-mold would be of great benefit as a
protection to the crowns and for nourishment to the roots.
The catalogues of dealers in native plants give sufficient direc-
tions for planting.

South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. OrpeL

The Narcissus Season.

■\XriTH only nine days in April without some rain, we have
* * had at least an opportunity to test the Narcissi as wef-
weather plants. They evidently luxuriate in moist cool air, and
this seems to be an exceptionally favorable season. We had
our first flowers early in the month, and varieties have come
into flower slowly, and in the absence of hot days the blos-
soms have retained their freshness for an unusual time. Ordi-
narily we have a few hot days which hurr\' forward the flower-
ing, and if accompanied by drying winds' the Daffodil season
passes with a rush. Narcissus poeticus has just opened, and
a number of N-arieties are showing their spathes, so that we
shall be favored with these beautiful flowers for quite two
months. All enthusiasm aside. Daffodils are beautiful flowers,
though there is much choice among them — a choice among
great riches. Narcissi seem to have always been great favorites
in England, and owing to the special interest awakened in the
last fifteen years the varieties known have multiplied amaz-
ingly, as the nafive haunts have been intelligently explored for
variations, and many zealous culrivators have devoted their
attention to hybridization. New as well as good old varieties
are still plants of price, showing that the popularity of the
family is unabated. The enormous sales of these flowers re-
ported in the English cities would explain the value at which
bulbs of good varieties are quoted ; in spite of their rapid in-
crease, they evidently have a value as dividend producers.
We are far behind the English in our appreciation of good
Narcissi, as the catalogues of our best dealers onlv offer a lim-
ited selection of varieties, indicating that they are' in a limited
demand. At the ordinary florists' one seldorn sees other than
the commonest, and often flimsiest, kinds, and tliere is evi-
dently room here for some enterprise, which would be well
rewarded._ One cannot go amiss in securing such kinds as
Horsfieldii, Emperor. Maximus, Empress, Countess of Annes-
ley, Ard Righ, Golden Spur, Scoticus, princeps, poeticus. or-
natus, etc.

But let me suggest that too few amateurs grow collections
of Narcissi in all the various sections. They are very inter-
esting to any flower-fancier, and there is such an amount of
material for selection that the interest is likely to extend be-
yond the purse. Barr, of London, or Hartland, of Cork, fur-
nishes well-grown bulbs (which our dealers import to order) in
great variety, and prices ranging from one pennv to five
guineas each, prices which bear no relation to their respective
beauty. It will be the part of prudence and satisfaction to
make the first plunge among the most moderatelv priced
kinds, and buy the dearer as the collection needs addition in
some form or note of color. In the Incomparabilis section it
will be found especially that there are flowers to fill the entire
gamut of color, from pallid white to deepest yellow in various
combinations, and the notes are sometimes quarters, or even
eighths, so closely have the varieties been diflerentiated. For
me the beauty of the Narcissus consists not only in its pleas-
ing forms, but in the softness and purity of color, and in this
many of them are deficient. There are too many catalogued
as pale sulphur, which is the ordinary euphemism for a
washed-out sickly tint, bearing little resemblance to an honest
yellow. Those flowers with medium tones of yellow are the
most satisfactory, the deeper yellow of the Tenby Daffodil
seeming as harsh as the paler ones are weak ; still all these
tints are somewhat varied by cultivation, with fertilization tend-
ing to coarseness. Size is dearly gained if the coloring is
thereby injured, as it often is in the kinds with white perianths
or those with orange-tipped cups.
EBxabeth. N.J. " ^ J. N. Gtrord.

The Water Garden.— While the memory of the late severe
winter is alive, it may be well to note that all the hardv
Nymphaeas survived in my shallow tanks, twenty to twenty-
four inches deep, as they have in milder winters. It seems
unnecessary to provide much depth of water to insure the
safety of these plants. The tanks were covered after freezing
weather had commenced with boards seven-eighths of an inch
thick, which extended over Uie walls, as it is quite as desirable
to protect these as the plants. I found at no time over four
inches of ice formed, and I should be willing to risk any of the
hardy Nymphaeas in my tanks under a pot of water when cov-
ered. One of my tanks was closely covered, and the other
was partly covered by a sash. In the former the fish and frogs
all died, while in the latter they survived. I am not prepared
to say that the difference in the light was the cause of the fa-
tality, but I shall have a sash or two as -p&n of the covering
hereafter. As new tanks are being built at this time, the own-
ers may be warned against using cemented tanks before wash-
ing out the free lime, which is very injurious to plants and

208

Garden and Forest.

[Number 272.

fish. Healthy progress is being made in water gardens, and
their number is constantly increasing. v m /-•

EUiabelh, N.J. /• '^- ^^

Pansies.— No florist's flower has been more improved
during recent years than the Pansy. As with Carnations, Tuber-
ous Begonias and Cannas. the effect of the work of the spe-
cialist is distinctly seen. The introduction of the giant Tri-
mardeau strain, by Mr. Denys Zirngiebel. of Needham, Massa-
chusetts, some eight yearsago, created almost a sensation,
and the popularity of the Pansy as a florist's flower may be
said to date fronj that time. Pansiesare offered for sale in all
the leading cities of the country, from December until June,
and no florist of any standing can afford to be without them.
There are few flowers, especially in winter, which can be used
in the same way, for dishes or shallow vases, and with a little
green intermixed there can be nothing more appropriate for
dinner-table decoration.

For mixed spring bedding the Trimardeau strain is rapidly
displacing the once popular Odiers' International Prize. Ex-
cept for hnes and massing, where the bedding Violas are par-
ticularly effective, these Pansies are rapidly gaining favor in
England. The hardiness of this new type had a thorough test
last winter and came through in splendid condition. Cassier's
strain, a more recent introduction, is scarcely as robust as the
Trimardeaus, but afl'ords a greater variety of colors, with
smooth, rounded form and finer lines. While the shades in
the latter are mostly blue, those of the Cassier's strain are
principally yellowand white, in some respects resembling the
white and yellow ground Pansies so common in England and
Scotland.

Bugnot's, yet another novelty, in constitution and general
characteristics resembles Cassier's, except that the red shades
mostly predominate. This is the most popular Pansy on the
market in Boston. The fine rounded form and distinct mark-
ings of the English and Scotch Pansies, unfortunately, find no
favor here. In the show varieties, having mostly white and
yellow grounds, the markings are sometimes most beautiful,
and so clear and distinct that not a stain is visible on the ground
color.

For winter blooming, seed may be sown any time in August
in the open borders, and in September in a cool greenhouse,
such as one would grow Violets in. I would not advise spring
sowing, except in an emergency. Plants which have been
raised in the autumn and wintered with the protection of light
litter, are much to be preferred for spring blooming.

WeUesley, MaM. ^- ^- H.

Correspondence.

Spring in Virginia.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Taken as a whole, and compared with more inland re-
gions, this shore-country is not beautiful. It is flat, and its
vegetation is less varied and luxuriant. But its greatest lack
is of green fields. I never realized before how largely the
beauty of the spring is due to the verdure of pasture-lands,
meadows or grain-fields. Here no cereals are grown. The
meadows are still dry and yellowish, covered with the remains
of last year's grasses. Soine of the Corn-fields are being
plowed ; others still are unsightly with last year's stalks ; and
all of them, as well as the roadways, are of a doleful grayish
white clay-color, quite disagreeable to an eye accustomed to
the yellower color of New England's soil or the ruddiness of
New Jersey's. Even a beautiful stretch of budding and blos-
soming woodland beyond such a foreground as is made by
one of these fields loses much of its charm ; and to see this
country at its best one should undoubtedly see it when mid-
summer shall have persuaded tall tasseled crops out of the
unpromising-looking soil.

Nevertheless, every region which is largely covered with
woods must have charm ; and here, in addition to wide
stretches of woodland, we find soine spots of peculiar and en-
chanting beauty. Just back of the long wide beaches the
ground is often covered with monotonous groves of Pine.
But in other places small fresh-water lakes lie not far away
from the sea, encircled by forest, and between them and the
beach are roiling expanses of pure white san^ — of sand which
looks exactly like the beach-sand, yet is partly carpeted with
broad gray patches of Hudsonia, and here and there bears a
group of ancient Hollies, all their branches bent sharply
toward the south-west by the prevailing winter winds, and
even flourishing masses of shrubs and creepers, overgrown
with the Yellow Jessamine blossoms. Diversified by these

green oases and sentinel Hollies, and flanked by stretches of
verdurous woods, these shining white miniature hills and val-
leys are extraordinarily picturesque, especially when looking
eastward, one gets, above their billowings, a glimpse of the
sapphire sea.

A little farther inland the roads often run through richer
woodlands, and it is here that the varying, contrasting colors
of spring foliage may best be studied. The prevailing tree is
the Loblolly Pine, whose deep dull green makes an excellent
foil, as background or canopy, to the brighter tones of the de-
ciduous trees. Much could be written about the beauty of the
conspicuous flowering plantswhicharescattered through these
woods — the Dogwoods.with their layers of snowy white,clouding
wide stretches in the open woods as though a little snow-storm
had been arrested in its descent ; the Red Buds, which two
weeks ago spread clouds of deep pink against the clouds of
white ; the wild Crab-apples, which have now replaced the
Red Buds with wreaths and streamers of paler pink ; the Vi-
burnums, sprinkled with white clusters, and the Yellow Jessa-
mines, blossoming lowly on the bosom of the sand down to
the very edge of the beaches, but, when they get a better
chance, slingmg themselves up In bright yellow garlands to the
tops of good-sized trees. But any eye could appreciate the
charms of these. It is the less conspicuous charms of the em-
bracing leafage which are less commonly noted.

The brightest green is supplied to these April woods by the
leaves, now nearly full grown, of the Swainp Maples. These
are green with a vivid yellow greenness impossible to describe,
yet here and there, at the ends of the branches, they shade into
pinkish or russet tones, and the new shoots at the foot of the
trees are sometimes bright bronze, sometimes bright pink, and
sometimes a very bright scarlet. Next in the scale of color
come the starry leaves of the Sweet Gum, which, after the
Loblolly Pine, is our most common tree. As they first unfold,
in little pointed bunches, they make an infinitude of bright
spots on the gray branches, specially noticeable in the small
plants which compose so large a part of the shrub borders of
the road. Bat when they are a little older, so that they clothe
instead of spotting the tree, they are just as bright a green, of
a tone somewhat deeper and a quality more shining than the
Maple-leaves.

Next in abundance come the Oaks. But there are several
kinds of Oaks, and one kind is not like unto the other in glory,
especially at this time of the year. Conspicuously different
are the White Oaks and the Willow Oaks. The former bud,
as every one knows, into little hanging clusters of grayish
pinkish leaves, "squirrels' paws" for size and color and soft-
ness and fingery-ness. Seen close at hand on young plants or
shoots, they are enchantmgly pretty ; and they make the most
conspicuous effect of all when, in a more distant stretch of
woodland, they are borne by large trees, then showing like a
pale gray-green feathery mass against the dark rigidity of the
Pines and the keen emerald greens of the Maples and Sweet
Gums. The Willow Oaks, on the other hand, bud into leaves
of almost needle-like narrowness and sharpness and of a
bronzy hue ; and as these develop they become greener, and,
until a tree filled with half-grown leaves, wear a lively, twink-
ling, light and yet dignified air. On the borders of the ponds,
and even along quite dry road-sides, there stands now and then
a group of Bald Cypresses, their brilliant light green needles,
not as yet more than half an inch long, and in vivid contrast
with the yellowish brown bark. In certain places there are
many Beeches, whose smooth pale gray mottled trunks add
another conspicuous note of color, while their half-grown
leaves are as vividly green as those of the Sweet Gum, but
differ from them in quality as having a less shining surface.
Hickories and Walnuts also increase the variety of the spring-
time pageant. Here and there a small Willow is pale green
as to leaf, bright yellow as to its multitudinous catkins ; Alders
are richly emerald green along the road-side ditches ; and
Roses, although they give no sign of blossoming yet, spread
their delicate leafage dark near the stem, much paler toward
the tips of the branches.

It is in the large-leaved shoots of these trees that varieties of
color are most conspicuous. They fringe the road-ways, or
cover abandoned fields, mingling here with the blossoms of
wild Azalea. Between the scarlet of the Maple shoots, the
soft pinky gray of the White Oak leaves and the vivid stars of
the Sweet Gum, many intermediate tones of color may be
noted ; and the lovely harmony is increased again by the pro-
fuseness with which two vines clamber about. 'These are
Grape-vines and Cat-briers. Neither as yet bears leaves more
than an inch in diameter ; but the Grape-leaves are so exquisitely
shaped and show such marvelous shades of green and gray
and pink, and are so deliciously downy to the eye and touch.

:Ma* io,'i893-]

Garden and Forest.

209

that one wishes they might never grow any bigger. And the
Cat-brier leaves are not merely emerald green, changing at the
dnds of the shoots into brightest bronze. They are absolutely
like emeralds in quality as in tint. They do more than shine —
tliey glow. When, driving late in the afternoon toward the
west, the sunlight filters through them, and it seems as though
the woods had been sprinkled with gems, blazing and scintil-
lating with a gold-green radiance of their own.
New York, N. Y. M. G. Van Retisselaer.

Spring Coloring.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — A note in Garden and Forest, April 26th, on the beauty
of spring foliage, suggests another phase of spring beauty not
often commented on, though it may be widely noticed. Our
autumn foliage is justly celebrated for the brilliance and
variety of its coloring, as is observed in the paragraph referred
to, and the delicacy and variety of color in spring foliage is not
far behind; but the spring color of vegetable-stems will bear
comparison for interest and beauty with either. Taken in com-
bination with the flowers of the various catkin-bearing plants
now in bloom, some of these color-effects are wonderful. In
a rpcent ride by rail down the Merrimac valley this fact was
forcibly brought to my attention. In one place a close-set
thicket of Poplars, in full bloom, made a soft gray cloud in the
landscape, faintly tinted with green from the tree-stems, and
offering besides a hint of pink, probably from the red so con-
spicuous at short range in the anthers at one stage of their
development. Birches set thickly in the pastures made broad
patches of clear reddish brown, and Alders spread a purple
rnantle over the swampy lands. The Maples showed clear
gray stems, shading gradually toward their tips into a red, in
some cases almost as vivid as that of their blossoms, now un-
folding. Willows were of all shades between green-brown and
golden.

Each tree of the orchard and forest has its color, as distinc-
tive to the initiated as its foliage ; but at no other time of the
year does that brilliancy appear which is to be observed now,
especially in a soft, slow rain, when the moisture brings out
vividly the color, not only of the bark, but of every Moss and
Lichen adorning it.

Some of the Willows show marvelous color-effects. One now
in mind has at all seasons a clear golden bark ; but some time
in February, occasionally not until March, a change is appa-
rent, subtle, indefinable, but unmistakable. From being just
golden, and very beautiful, too, it becomes alive and shows to
every onlooker that spring is on the way and sap has started,
though snow covers the ground, and neither robin nor blue-
bird has shown himself.

Manchester, N. H. M. A. M.

Exhibitions.

The New York Flower Show.

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN was rather large for the
Flower Show held there last week. On Friday, when the
table and mantel decorations were in place, and when the fine
weather brought out a large attendance, the garden looked fairly
well filled ; but, as a rule, the exhibition, although it contained
many fine plants, looked meagre in the broad vacant spaces.
There were fewer large decorative plants than usual, chiefly be-
cause exhibitors who are usually depended on for contributions
of this sort had sent away great specimens by the car-load to
Chicago ; and yet the most liberal contributors to the Colum-
bian Exhibition occupied a large portion of the space at the
show. Again, it was too late in the season for many green-
house-plants and too early for outdoor flowers, and this helps
to account for a smaller exhibition than usual.

Of the Ferns, a collection of ten plants, shown by Richard
Brett, gardener to J. B. Colgate, included good specimens
Of Scolopendrium pinnatum and Gymnogramme Martensii.
There were also notable plants of the golden Davallia Moore-
iana, 'and the darker D. Fijiensis major. In a large group
of decorative plants, arranged for effect, for which J. M.
Keller received first prize, some Kentias, a superb Phosnix rupi-
cola and other Palms contrasted well with Pandanus Veitchii
and the darker P. utilis, the only break in the body of green
being the red Holly-like berries of Ardisia crenata and the
flowers of Chrysanthemum frutescens. A perfect plant of
Licuala grandis was shown by Messrs. Siebrecht & Wadley,
and so was a fine specimen of the so-called golden variety of
the Bourbon Palm. A mound of Rhododendrons, near the

entrance, was contributed by W. Bayard Cutting. The plants
were in vigorous health andcovered with well-opened flowers,
and they served an excellent purpose in giving the visitor that
first good impression which goes far to make any flower show
successful.

The Columbian Exposition has made heavy drafts on the
great Orchid collections near this city, so that the display in
this department was much smaller than it has been in former
years. The plants were furnished mainly by Pitcher & Manda
and Siebrecht & Wadley, although there was a small group of
cut flowers brought by Mr. George Savage, gardener to W. S.
Kimball, Esq., of Rochester, which were remarkable for size
and perfection of form and color. Among these were Den-
drobium macrophyllum and D. Findlayanum, one of the best
of the early-blooming sorts ; Maxillaria Sanderiana, one of the
handsomest of the genus ; and the rare Cypripedium Wallisi,
often called the White Caudatum. Here, too, was a spray
of the white Cattleya Skinneri, a fine variety of Cymbidium
Lowii and of Phalsenopsis grandis, Schiller's variety of Laelia
elegans, and the rare little Epldendrum bicornutum. Among
the plants was an admirable specimen of the beautiful African
Ansellia, a Chysis bractescens with its wax-like flowers, and a
remarkable plant of Cypripedium caudatum. The new Cypri-
pedium Greyanum was well grown, and makes an attractive
plant, and near it was the native C. Californicum, which was
figured in the first volume of Garden and Forest. Other
notable plants were a fine specimen of Cattleya Mossiae Wag-
neri, C. Gravesiana and Dendrobium thyrsiflorum. Near these
Orchids were some Anthurium seedlings which had been
raised by Mr. A. P. Meredith, gardener to Colonel Cutting, of
Pittsfield, Massachusetts. They were remarkable for the firm
texture of the spathes and the depth of their coloring, which
was a dark lustrous crimson.

Besides Mr. Cutting's group of Rhododendrons, a great deal
of rich color was furnished by greenhouse Azaleas and Pitcher
& Manda's exquisite group of Azalea mollis. Brighter still
were the large beds of the common garden varieties of Hya-
cinths, Tulips and Narcissus. This part of the exhibition
would have been more instructive if some of the species of
Tulips had been shown, and some of the newer forms of Nar-
cissus, which are so popular in Europe. But none of these
were seen, nor did we observe any of tlie neat little Fritillarias
or the late introductions among Irises. 'One of the most attrac-
tive exhibits was a group of Calceolarias, grown by Mr. Charles
A. Webber, gardener of J. Hood Wright, Esq. These plants
were very compact and vigorous, and covered with flowers
having singular richness of color and delicacy of marking.

Perhaps the most valuable feature of the show, from an edu-
cational point of view, was a collection of hardy plants in
flower. They were contributed by Messrs. Pitcher & Manda and
Siebrecht& Wadley, but the two competing groups were massed
together and surrounded by an edging of variegated Funkia.
In the centre were some tall-flowering shrubs, a white flow-
ered Azalea, a Forsythia and some of the early-flowering Mag-
nolias. About the large white Azalea were some gorgeous
red Paeonies, and the Forsythia was surrounded by tall Irises
and Doronicums, which are the most effective among large
early yellow flowers. After these came flowers of more
humble habit, with low-growing or creeping plants at the
border. The tasteful arrangement included at least a hun-
dred different kinds of the most useful of the spring-flowering
plants, like Primulas and Polyanthus of many colors, Iceland
Poppies, two or three varieties of our native Trilliums, Birds'-
foot Violets, masses of the prostrate yellow Alyssum saxatile
and trailing Phloxes, P. subulata and P. amoena, hardy Candy-
tuft, Rock Cress, the fragrant Daphne Cneorum, Gaillardias,
Globe flowers. Saxifrages, Columbines, Spirseas and Hellebores,
or Lenten Lilies, in variety. AltQgether, it was a most inspiring
suggestion of a May garden, interesting in itself, and doubly so
asshowing what might be accomplished in this direction with
a little time and study and effort.

Besides those already noted, some of the principal prizes
were awarded as follows :

To Pitcher & Manda for Tree Fern, group of flowering
plants. Azalea Iiidica, Orchids, Hyacinths, Tulips and group of
hardy flowering plants ; to Siebrecht & Wadley for Palms,
Cycads, Nepenthes and Cannas ; to J. B. Colgate for Palms,
Crotons and Ferns ; to W. Siebrecht for Lilies and Dutch
bulbs; to Ernst Asm us for several classes of Roses, Tulips
and Carnations ; to Dailledouze Brothers for Carnations and
Mignonette ; to T. J. Slaughter and John Anderson for Roses.
A certificate of merit was awarded to J. Tailby & Sons for the
new yellow Carnation, Henrietta Sargent, and Messrs. Waren-
dorff & Son were successful in the competition for table
decorations.

210

Garden and Forest.

[NUMbfcR «}2.

Notes.

The first shipment of California cherries left Sacramento for
the east on May-day.

A most instructive feature in Mr. Gustave Kobbe's map of
the suburbs of New York is the distinction it marks between
good roads and bad, the former being indicated by red and the
fetter by black lines. It should be very useful to drivers and
bicyclists, and also to pedestrians desirous of studying our
local flora.

The editor of Afeehans' Monthly suggests that in the search
for improved vegetables the Rocky Mountain Thistle should
not be forgotten. Dr. Coues has stated that the young leaves,
which roll up into a head likethat of Lettuce, are used as food by
thelndians, and Mr. Meehan has seen these heads in Colorado as
large as small cabbages. The Artichoke is the flower-head of
a botanical relative of this Thistle, which Dr. Gray named
Cnicus edulis.

The Mav number of the Popular Science Monthly contains
an article by Professor Halsted on " Decay in the Apple-barrel,"
in which it is explained how the fruit is attacked by various
molds and other fungi as well as by bacteria. The article is
illustrated, and shows in a graphic way the progress of the dif-
ferent kinds of rot. The article has its practical side, in which
it is shown how these diseases can be prevented or arrested by
proper storage, and how the attacks of these various kinds of
decay can be warded off by treatment of the fruit while it is on
the tree and of the tree itself.

Writing of his boyhood in a small town in the north-eastern
corner of Ohio, Mr. Howells says, in the last issue of Scribner's
Magazine : " The portable steam saw-mills dropped down on
the borders of the woods have long since eaten their way
through and through them, and devoured every stick of tim-
ber in most places, and drunk up the water-courses that the
woods once kept full ; but at that time half the land was in the
shadow of those mighty Poplars and Hickories, Elms and
Chestnuts, Ashes and Hemlocks ; and tlie meadows that pas-
tured the herds of red cattle were dotted with stumps as thick
as harvest stubble. Now there are not even stumps, the woods
are gone, and the water-courses are torrents in spring and
beds of dry clay in summer."

Last Friday two thousand pupils of the industrial schools of
the city celetjrated Arbor Day in the concert hall of Madi-
son Square Garden. The exercises were arranged by the Kin-
dergarten and Potted-plant Association, of which Mrs. George
J. Gould is president, and included an address by Mr. C. H.
Allen, with some practical directions for the care of potted
plants by Mr. Samuel Henshaw. Through the courtesy of the
managers of the Flower Show, the children visited the. exhi-
bition. A potted plant was presented to each child, for the
successful cultivation of which prizes will be awarded in the
fall. More than a hundred premiums in money are offered
by Mrs. Gould, and Mr. C. B. Weathered has offered a glass-
window conservatory for the best-grown Chrysanthemum.

A bulletin of the Rhode Island Experiment Station, on the
subject of Sea-weed, states that when this is used as a manure
nothing is gained by composting it or allowing it to ferment.
The best practice is to use it in its fresh state, either for plow-
ing in or for the top-dressing of grass-lands, but since it con-
tains seventy to eighty per cent, of water it will not pay to haul
it a long way from the shore. Since it contains a compara-
tively large percentage of nitrogen and potash, it is not a well-
balanced fertilizer, and needs to be supplemented by some
material rich in phosphoric acid. It is preferred to stable-
manure for growing Potatoes, since they are less liable to the
disease known as scab than those grown on barnyard-manure.
Sea-wrack shares with commercial ferdlizers the conspicuous
advantage of being free from seeds of weeds, spores of fungi
and eggs of insects.

On the trial grounds of Peter Henderson & Co. white Roman
Hyacinths were showing color on April 12th, and a few days
later were fully open, the bulbs averaging six spikes each,
and from eight to ten inches long. The colored Roman Hya-
cinths, blue, mauve, soft rose, dark pink and the new yellow,
were about two weeks later in coming into bloom than the
white. The yellow we dd not consider much of an acquisi-
tion, but the blue and rose have good strong color, and are
more attractive than when forced underglass. The white Italian
sorts, known to the trade as "Red-skinned Romans," came into
bloom with the colored varieties ; and the flowers, though
usually pure white when forced, in the open air are slightly suf-
fused with a pleasing rosy flush. A dozen varieties of Polyan-

thus Narcissus were showing buds on April 22d, and Paper
White, with its larger-flowered variety, Grandifiora, Grand
Soliel d'Or, Double Roman, Constantinople, and the so-called
Chinese Sacred Lily were in full bloom on May 2d. Notwith-
standing the marked difference in the bulbs, the flowers of the
last two seemed identical. The Polyanthus Narcissus flowers
were altogether superior to the forced blooms we have seen this
season. It is noteworthy that none of the bulbs mentioned
had any other covering than the snow, although they are
classed as unreliable in this climate.

Not long ago Professor F. A. Waugh wrote to the Kansas
Farmer a statement which seemed to justify the general belief
that white varieties of Grapes are not so hardy as black sorts.
A tabulated record of two-year-old vines at the Oklahoma Ex-
periment Station showed that 15.7 per cent, of the white varie-
ties died, 26.4 of the red varieties, and only 7.2 per cent, of the
black varieties. Professor Waugh did not claim that these
figures were decisive as to the hardiness of Grapes of different
colors, but they seemed to bear in the direction of the popular
belief. In a late number of the Kansas Industrialist, Profes-
sor Mason, after stating that it is a risk to draw an inference
from one season's behavior of any lot of young vines, showed
that some of the white varieties, like the Green Mountain,
were very hardy, and that tlie Delaware, a red Grape, was
grown with success as far north as Minnesota. In order to
show that the question of hardiness can be explained by a
cause wholly independent of the color of the fruit, he classified
vines of 100 varieties which have had a record of about five
years on the grounds of the State College of Kansas, in ac-
cordance with their specific botanical relations, and from these
figures he derives the interesting results that in Kansas fifty-
two varieties out of 100 rank as tender; of these, forty-two have
an infusion of the blood of Vitis vinifera, and six more are
hybrids of V. aestivalis ; in other words, more than eighty-two
per cent, of the tender vines contained blood of V. vinifera and
V. sestivalis, while less than eight per cent, of the tender ones
are descended from parents with no other blood than that of
V. Labrusca and V. riparia.

The Department of Agriculture has lately published a
farmer's bulletin upon the so-called Russian Thistle, or Rus-
sian Cactus, which is really a Saltwort (Salsola Kali, var. Tra-
gus). When young it is an innocent-looking plant, tender and
juicy, but with the dry weather of August it sends out stiff
branches covered with sharp spines, which harden as the
plant increases in age. When the ground becomes frozen the
November winds loosen the small roots, and the plant goes
racing across the country like the western Tumble-weed, to
which it is related, scattering seed as it goes, and stopping
only when the wind falls, for there are few fences or forests to
stop it in the Dakotas. It is always a weed, spreading and
multiplying rapidly, flourishing to the exclusion of everything
else. Its spines are so sharp and strong that it is difficult to
drive a horse through a field where the plants abound, and in
some places it is necessary to wind leathers about the horses'
legs while at work. Dogs of hunters are often injured by these
sharp spines, and threshers cannot get gloves thick enough to
protect their hands when working. It was introduced into
South Dakota some fifteen years ago, probably in a small
quantity of Flax-seed which was then imported from Europe.
"The weeds cover new territory with wonderful rapidity, as they
are carried miles in a single season by the wind. Where a few
plants were first seen four or five years ago, every spot of land
where the sod has been broken is now occupied. Some 30,000
square miles between the Missouri and James rivers, in South
Dakota, are infested, and there are scattered localities in the
states further east where the plant is not yet so abundant as to
cause alarm. In the infested area more than 640,000 acres are
devoted to Wheat, and as the damage from the weed cannot
be less than five bushels an acre, at the minimum price of fifty
cents a bushel, this means a loss to the farmers in the two Da-
kotas of $1,600,000, while the loss to other crops, i.njuries from
spines, and fires caused by the plants leaping over fire-brakes,
will increase the total damage to something more than
$2,000,000 for the year 1892. The suggested remedies are
based on the fact that the weed is an annual with short-lived
seeds, so that if cut at the proper time and prevented from go-
ing to seed for two years it can be exterminated. It is sug-
gested that a Russian Thistle should be placed in each school-
house, so that pupils might become familiar with it, and
that they should be taught to kill it wherever found as they
would kill a rattlesnake. Of course, no more land should be
broken up than can be properly cultivated, and every farmer
should keep down the weeds on his own farm, and insist that
his neighbor should do likewise.

May 17, 1893.1

Garden and Forest.

211

GARDEN AND FOREST,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orvicx : Tribuni Building, Nbw York.

Conducted by

Profestor C* S. Sargbnt.

KNTSRKO AS SECOKD.CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles :— The Care o£ Newly Planted Trees 211

The Production of Timber by our Forests 212

New England Parks : Putnam's Wolf-den, Pomfret, Connecticut. (With

figure.) Mrs. J. H. Robhins. 212

Noteson the Forest Flora of Japan.— XIII. (With figure.) C. S. S. 213

Foreign Correspondence: — Paris Letter H. 214

Cultural Department :— Plant Breeding Fred. W. Card. 216

Spring Flowers E. O. Orpet. 217

The Hardy-Hower Garden J. N. Gerard, iii

Roses ^t^.H. Taplin. 218

Correspondence : — Jhe Re-appearance of Wild Flowers Lora S. La Mance. 219

Recent Publications 219

Notes 219

Illustrations : — Disanthus cercidifolia, Fig. 33 215

Moulh of Putnam's Wolf-den, Pomfret, Connecticut, Fig. 34 217

The Care of Newly Planted Trees.

IN thi? latitude most of the tree-planting for the spring
is now over, and, no doubt, much of it has been im-
properly done, which means that a great amount of
money and labor has been wasted. And yet, even where prop-
erly selected trees have been planted in the most approved
manner, it should never be forgotten that they are not
likely to reach their best estate unless they receiye constant
care hereafter The first season in the life of a transplanted
tree is its most critical period. After this it will be better
able to take care of itself, although there never will be a
time in all its history when it will not be stronger and more
beautiful for intelligent attention to its wants. Prizes are
now offered in some states to those children of the public
schools who plant the greatest number of trees on Arbor
Day. It would be better if such prizes were given to those
who plant the best trees in the best manner, and still better
yet if a prize was offered, to be awaVded some five or ten
years later, to the child who had reared the best tree. The
simple planting of a great number of trees has little educa-
tional value. If they are badly planted the lesson is worse
than useless, but thoughtful and devoted attention given
to a growing tree for half a dozen years would bring an ex-
perimental knowledge of the methods of plant-life and of
the means of circumventing a plant's enemies, which would
be invaluable in all future practice of this sort.

In the first place, newly planted deciduous trees, unless
they are very small, need to be kept in place so that they
cannot sway about in the wind to such a degree that the
roots are loosened and separated from that intimate con-
tact with the soil which is essential to their growth. To
prevent this, a stout stake should generally be driven firmly
in the ground and close to the stem. The tree should be
fastened to this stake with some soft material like strips of
canvas or bast, for cord, wire or other sharp material
would cut the bark. The attachments should be made
from a point two or three feet above the ground up to the
top of the stem, and for this reason, and to prevent the in-

jury of the trunk by rubbing against the end of the
stake, this should be as tall as the tree. Exposure of
the bare wood of a tree brought about by pruning
or by abrasion of the bark is always dangerous. There
are many fungi causing diseases of trees which enter
through the leaves and buds and tender twigs, but the
most common ones are those which attack open wounds
and never grow on healthy bark. Whenever such a raw
surface is made it should at once be covered over with
coal-tar or some such substance to prevent the punk fungi
and others, which cause decay, from getting a lodgment
and carrying death into the trunk.

Again, all the nourishment of the tree must be diluted in
water and carried up through the roots. Moisture is there-
fore essential at the roots, and every means should be taken
to preserve what is in the ground, especially when the
weather becomes dry. All grass and weeds about the
trunk should be kept down, inasmuch as they rob the tree
of the food which belongs to it. Frequent stirring of the
surface is a good practice, for this breaks the continuity of
the capillary tubes which form as the ground hardens,
and the layer of loose soil acts as a mulch to prevent
evaporation from the surface. Mulching itself, with
any kind of litter, is always in older. As the season
advances, the growth of the trees should hi. carefully
watched. If vigorous shoots and bright, abundant leaves
are formed, this shows that the tree has made good
roots, and that these roots are doing their duty. If
there is stunted growth and insufficient foliage this is a
warning that the roots are small and feeble, and that they
probably need moisture. It is sometimes a good plan to shade
the trunks, especially on the south side, and it is often advisa-
ble to wrap them with straw-rope or other material, to
check evaporation. This is especially true of large trees
when the bark looks dry and shows signs of loosening.
In such cases it is advisable to moisten the trunk with
water

As the season wears on it will be found that each species
of tree invites the attack of particular insects, which assail
it in every part. A great amount of knowledge concerning
these pests and their habits has been accumulated during
recent years by patient study, so that we now know how
most of the borers, and girdlers and defoliators do their
work, and we have learned, too, in most cases, how to
repel their attacks. Science has rendered no more impor-
tant aid to horticulture and agriculture during the last few
years than it has in the discovery of insecticides, and the
most effective ways of using them at the proper time and
place. With the teachings of the new literature on that sub-
ject every one who successfully cares for trees must be-
come familiar. The methods of warring against these
various enemies have been given from time to time in
Garden and Forest, as experience has proved their value,
and the bulletins of the experiment stations and of the
Department of Agriculture of the general government fur-
nish all the information necessary on this subject.

But, after all this, something more is needed. Even if a
tree is well fed and kept in health and free from enemies it
still requires the guiding hand of man if it is to assume its
best form. Much useful pruning in the summer-time can
be done by simply rubbing away the leaf-buds and by
pinching off the young shoots with the thumb and finger.
Some branch may start out with an excess of vigor which
threatens to destroy the symmetry of the head, and it
needs checking. Another branch which is not needed
may be chafing against one which cannot be spared, and
the useless one can be removed while it is small without
any check to the vital force of the tree. Nature may re-
place the broken leader of a conifer by two leaders of equal
strength, so that the trunk is divided into two stems of
nearly equal size, and then the tree will have little value
for ornament or timber If one of these is removed at
the outset a straight single trunk will be produced, and
what promises to be a misshapen tree will soon be a good
one.

212

Garden and Forest.

[Number 273.

All this requires attention and study, but it is study
well directed, and study which no one who aims to make
the most of his opportunities can afford to neglect. After
mid-August the stirring of the soil about many trees should
cease, for this may encourage a late sappy growth, which
will not be properly matured when winter sets in. Later
on, the mulch should be examined, and anything which is
liable to harbor field-mice should be removed or exchanged,
and all through the winter the trunks should be guarded
against the teeth of these marauders. As the tree grows,
especially if it is on the street, its trunk should be guarded
against the gnawing of horses and other injuries, and su-
pervision against such dangers should be unremitting
throughout its entire life. Trees which have been planted
in large excavations which were filled with good soil, will
usually make a good growth, but an occasional top-dress-
ing in the autumn over the roots with loam mixed with
well-decomposed manure will never fail to show a good
effect, and in the case of fruit-trees a dressing of some form
of potash and phosphoric acid is indispensable. In forests
the leaves which contain much mineral matter remain on
the surface to decompose to the permanent enrichment of
the land, but where all these are removed some food must
be supplied to take \heir place if the greatest vigor and
beauty are expected. Any one who examines a tree which
stands in deep rich bottom-land, and then compares it with
another of the same kind which has struggled along on a
hungry ridge of gravel, will see a striking difference. What
the planter wants is not something which bears the name
of a tree, but the best of its kind, a specimen thrifty and
strong and displaying all the luxuriance and beauty of
which its kind is capable.

Two or three weeks ago we reviewed a paper by Mr.
Henry Gannett, in which he claims that our forests are
producing timber much faster than we use, it ; that the
woodland is steadily spreading over the farm-land, and
that a wise economy dictates the burning of more wood to
save our coal and the use of more timber in construction
to save our iron ore. Mr. Gannett reached his conclusion
by adding up some more or less untrustworthy estimates
of the wooded area of various parts of the country, which
brought the sum total to considerably more than 700,000,000
acres. He then assumed the annual wood product of an
average acre to be forty cubic feet, and arrived at his
statistics by a simple multiplication.

Unfortunately there are no reliable data to oppose to
anybody's guesses, and so the best that can be done is to
show that Mr. Gannett's guesses are worthless. His paper
came into the hands of Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of
the Division of Forestry, just as he was leaving the
country, and he wrote from the steamer a brief letter to the
Secretary of Agriculture, which has now been published.
In this letter it is stated that Mr. Gannett's estimate of the
forest-area is probably more than two hundred million
acres too large, although in some former papers his es-
timate of the same area was thirty-three and one-
third per cent, higher than it now is. It is shown, also,
that forty cubic feet of wood, that is, such wood as goes
to make up the timber and fuel used in the United States,
is absurdly large for the annual product of an acre. The
fact is, that the conjectures of Mr. Gannett are utterly without
value, except in so far as they excite discussion, and in
this way bring out the truth from other sources.

New England Parks.

PUTNAM'S WOLF-DEN, PO.MFRET, CONNECTICtJT.

AMONG the beautiful and historic places of New England
The site of Old Put's Wolf-den holds a prominent place,
and it is gratifying to learn that $5,000 has recently been appro-
priated by the State Legislature of Connecticut for its purchase.
The spot itself is picturesque in a marked degree, and its res-
cue is timely. Already the fine woods in its neighborhood are
falling before the axe, and only this prompt action will pre-

vent the ruin of one of the most interesting sites in the state ;
for, once cut down, the forests would be slow to start again
upon that craggy hill-side, and the charm of the spot would be
destroyed.

The old town of Pomfret is situated among the hills of
Windham County, in the north-east corner of Connecticut,
where the country is so rolling that the distant villages are
often visible to one another, each perched with its white spire
upon its ovvn higli hill and commanding an extended prospect.
The tine air, the beautiful sites for country-seats on the eleva-
tions, the extended views, make of the village a summer re-
sort whose attractions have long t)een recognized by New
York and Boston and Providence people.

Deep valleys lie between the uplands. One of them is the
valley of the Quinebaug River, which winds its rushing way,
turning the wheels of many a great manufactory, until it
changes its name and merges itself into the Thames at Norwich
and New London, and bears our navies on its broad bosom.
But from the hills of Pomfret only a morning mist reveals the
course of the swift flowing little river which turns the mill-
wheels of the thriving town of Putnam, a borough composed
of pieces from four contiguous towns, and made important
by the railroads which centre there and by the cotton industry
which thrives along the brisk river.

Pomfret itself is without a water view, except for a merry
brook here and there, but there is great beauty in the spacious
landscape viewed from its elevations. It lies about a thousand
feet above the level of the sea, and there is a dry and vigorous
quality in its keen air. The far-off horizons, the undulations
of the surface, the masses of woods, the soft sweeps of
hills crowned with country houses surrounded by smooth
lawns and tasteful groups of trees, and fertile fields stretching
away l>etween the rises, give a fine sense of space and freedom
to the landscape. Until the presence of summer residents estab-
lished a colony upon the hill near the old meeting-house and
great boarding-houses arose, with all the appliances necessary
for the comfort and amusement of hundreds of visitors, there
was no clustered village, but only a long street, turning two
sharp corners toward the centre of the town, which was bor-
dered by widely separated old-fashioned houses, with farms
around and behind them. Outside of this, long, hilly roads
led, as they still do, to other scattered and distant farms, occu-
pied by the inhabitants, to whom they have descended by
inheritance through many generations, one straggling village
melting into another, until it is hard to tell where one ends and
another begins. A solitary country store, in which the post-
office is usually kept, has been from time iinmemorial the sole
mercantile establishment of the community.

Israel Putnam was born in Pomfret, but the house he died
in IS now in the adjoining town of Brooklyn, both houses sit-
uated nine miles or so from Pomfret church. Over these hilly
roads the General came, riding, many a time to see his old
friend, Ebenezer Grosvenor, whose son married his daughter
Eunice, for ten miles was not much of a circumstance in those
vigorous days, and the remote ends of Pomfret were on more
intimate visiting terms with each other than they are at present.
These Grosvenor houses, much improved and enlarged by
succeeding generations of occupants, are still standing on ad-
joining lots near the store, the one in which Eunice Putnam
ended her days being still the property of her granddaughter.

The wolf-den which was the scene of that exploit of young
Putnam so dear to schoolboy hearts, and which was the first
illustrious deed of the gallant youth who was ultimately to be
the senior Major-General of the United States Army, is situated
on the eastern slope of a high and rocky hill overgrown with
ancient Chestnuts which rises in the southern extremity of
Pomfret. The climb to it by one road is long and steep, but
there is a more level approach to it from another direc-
tion. Both approaches lead through sparsely settled regions,
and the entrance to the field is merely a break in the line of
tumbling down stone-fence, where some bars indicate a cart-
path. Leaving his carriage outside, for the ground within is
uncomfortably broken and rocky, the visitor strolls along a
rough wood road till the path narrows and grows steep and
slippery as it descends the sharp incline upon the eastern face
of the hill. Here on every hand are mighty boulders of
strange shapes, many of them pointed like the prows of ships,
with summits overhanging; their base, others tumbled in wild
confusion over the surface of the ground. In autumn,
through the naked branches, you see the blue valley below
and catch a glimpse of the opposite hill beyond if. The sound
of the distant wood-cutter's axe rings through the still air, but
no other murmur of life is audible. The stones are gray and
mossy with age ; the trees are of primitive growth, not of great
girth, for the rocky surface from which they spring affords

May 17, 1893. J

Garden and Forest.

213

small nourishment, and those that lie where they have fallen,
hollow and dead of old age, are no larger. But the wood is of
good height, and not a coppice growth. The trees are almost
all Chestnuts, with rugged moss-grown trunks.

As you look carefully to your footsteps on the rough and
slippery path, you are suddenly aware, upon your left, of a
black cavern among the boulders, large enough to admit the
body of a man. Huge rocks are piled around and above it, shame-
fully disfigured with the names of those who have visited the
spot, but there the little opening shows the scene of the gallant
deed of the young farmer, who alone, torch in hand, explored
its narrow recesses and shot the old she wolf in her lair
^ee p. 217). The wolf-den is said to be not more than thirty-
five or forty feet deep, though it merges intoa narrow winding
passage that, descending sharply, is believed to penetrate into
the heart of the hill. It is a tight squeeze for a man to enter
the cavern, and I have never seen any one penetrate more
than a few feet into its slimy recesses; but it is said to slope
downward at a sharp angle, so that a careful explorer may ad-
vance thence on hands and knees. Ten or twenty feet further
on thfe passage makes a bend and opens into a chamber fifteen
feet or more in diameter, the ceiling not more than four feet
high ; this was the lair of the historic wolf. These propor-
tions are possibly traditional, for I never knew of any one but
a small boy entering, who, dismayed at the report that rat-
tlesnakes were the present denizens of that grewsome abode,
promptly retired without much definite information. It is proba-
ble that the whole opening has settled since Putnam's time, so
that penetrating the cave would now be more difficult than
ever ; but when the authorities are fairly in possession it may
be that some excavation of this subterraneous chamber
will be attempted, and make it possible for youthful visitors
to see for themselves the den where Putnam fired at the glar-
ing eyeballs of the enemy nearly one hundred and seventy-five
years ago. The reverberation of his gun in the cavern deaf-
ened him completely in one ear, and in his later life he became
almost totally deaf.

Very old trees are growing out of the rocks above the cav-
ern, where the harsh and stony soil limits their development,
and all around spring Ferns and Mosses and wild-growing
things that would make the spot charming, but for the hide-
ous disfigurement of the painted names which hopelessly vul-
garize the scene. Thefirstduty of thePark Commissioners who
are appointed will be to prohibit such desecration of the place,
and they will, of course, do their best to efface these evidences
of barbarism. It is proposed to lay out gravel walks and to
remove the underbrush in the enclosure, but it is to be hoped
that the latter process will be performed with great care, for in
a long, undisturbed forest of this kind, any meddling with ex-
isting conditions, other than to remove the dead growth, might
result in serious detriment to the trees. The woodland under-
growtli is necessary to the well-being of old trees, and its re-
moval helps to rob the roots of moisture and admits too much
air and sun upon the unaccustomed trunks. A better path
might well be made, but it will be a pity to interfere with the
picturesque wildness of the place more than is absolutely ne-
cessary. What is of most importance is to purchase as much
of the wild woodland in the neighborhood as the appropria-
tion made by the state will admit of, and to preserve it intact,
that the beauty of the hill, with its historic cavern, may be per-
petually maintained.

Already the fine woods, which have been one of the charms
of Pomfret, are failing to meet the demand for lumber, and the
older inhabitants hear with a pang the echo of the axe telling
of the ruin to come, when their mantle of green is stripped
from these windy hills. It has been with terror that the lovers
of the spot have listened to the approaching axe and feared that
even this historic spot would not be spared. Fortunately, the old
boulders about the den, clothed to their shaggy tops with ver-
dure and overhung with ancient Chestnuts, cannot be
destroyed, and they will be associated forever with that pictur-
esque figure in history, who, from the slaying of the wolf, con-
tinued to be a doer of gallant deeds. Whether leaving his
plow in the field to gallop to the Lexington fight, or sharing
■with Prescott the honors of Bunker Hill battle, or galloping
down the hundred steps of Break-neck Hill, with British bul-
ets flying through his hat, and British soldiers admiring his
plucky ride for life and freedom, Israel Putnam is always a
spirited figure in the historic page, a gallant fighter, a sturdy
patriot, a prompt and decisive actor in every good cause.

His lineal descendants still till the Pomfret soil and preserve
the tradifions of the race with cheerful courage and ready help-
fulness. To them, as to the whole town, it is a cause of
rejoicing that the old wolf-den will be forever guarded from
destructive hands, and made an object of honor to the state and

a perpetual lesson to its children who shall come hither to
learn at the scene of his boyish exploit, the story of the old
patriot general of the Revolution.

Hingham, Mass. M. C. RoobinS.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XIII.

THE Japanese form of the Old World Mountain Ash,
Pyrus aucuparia, is a common tree in Yezo and on
all the high mountain-ranges of Hondo, where it is some-
times twenty or thirty feet in height, and always conspicu-
ous in autumn from the brilliant orange and scarlet colors
of the foliage. This peculiarity will give to this tree a horti-
cultural value, although, except in its mostly glabrous buds,
it does not vary in any marked way from the Mountain
Ash of Europe and northern Asia.

Pyrus sambucifolia, which is much like the American
plant, although described as a small shrub, is said to be
abundant in northern and eastern Yezo and on the Kurile
Islands. I only saw it in the botanic garden at Sapparo,
where Professor Miyabe has established a remarkable col-
lection of Hokkaido plants. The third Japanese Mountain
Ash, Pyrus gracilis, is, I believe, unknown in cultivation ;
it is a particularly well-marked species with woolly buds,
leaves only four or five inches long with oval or oblong
leaflets rounded or acute at the apex, and pale on the lower
surface, orbicular, incisely serrate stipules an inch or more
across, minute flowers in small few-flowered clusters, and
oblong fruit barely an eighth of an inch long. Pyrus gra-
cilis inhabits mountain-forests in KyUshil and in central
Hondo, where, however, I looked for it in vain.

Aria is represented in Japan by two handsome trees, the
first, Pyrus lanata * (I follow Hooker in the Flora of British
India in referring the Japanese plant to the Pyrus lanata of
Don, which grows also on the Himalayas from Cashmere
to Kumaon), is not rare in central Japan, where it is prin-
cipally found at about 5,000 feet elevation above the sea-
level on the lower edge of the great Hemlock-forest. Here
it is a tree thirty or forty feet in height, with a trunk six to
eight inches in diameter, slender light red branchlets
marked with white dots and oblong obtuse winter-buds
covered with pale chestnut-colored imbricated scales. The
leaves are three or four inches long, two or three inches
wide, broadly oblong to ovate-lanceolate, acute at the
apex, slightly lobulate and serrate, dark green and mostly
glabrous on the upper surface, and silver-white and more
or less thickly coated with tomentum on the lower. The
flowers I have not seen, but the fruit is subglobose to ob-
long, one-third of an inch long, bright scarlet and marked
with pale lenticels. The second Japanese species of Aria
is a tree fifty or sixty feet in height, with a trunk covered
with pale smooth bark, and occasionally a foot and a half
in diameter, slender branches, which form a narrow oblong
head, and red branchlets marked by oblong lenticular dots.
The leaves are ovate, acute, often long-pointed at the apex,
rounded or sometimes wedge-shaped at the base, serrate, with
incurved teeth, or often coarsely and doubly serrate above
the middle, thin, or subcoriaceous at maturity, dark green
on the upper surface, pale on the lower, two or three
inches long and one or two inches broad, with thick promi-
nent midribs, straight parallel veins and slender petioles
one or two inches in length. The flowers, which appear
near Sapparo early in June, are borne in loose spreading
long-branched, few-flowered corymbs, and are half an inch
in diameter. The calyx-lobes are ovate, acute, densely
coated on the inner surface with thick white tomentum,
and much shorter than the oblong white petals rounded at
the apex and contracted at the base into short claws more
or less covered with tufts of long white hairs. The sta-
mens are exserted, with filiform filaments enlarged at the
base, and rather longer than the two spreading styles. The
fruit ripens in September, and is oblong or subglobose, the
size of a pea, light red, and conspicuously marked by the

* Pyrus lanata, Don, Pradr. Fl. Nepal, lyi (iSos).— Hooker f.. Ft. Brit. Ind., ii.,37S.
Sorbus Aria, var. Kamaonensis, Maximowicz, M^l. Biol., ix., 173 (1873).
Sorbus lanata, Wenzig, Linnaa, xxxviii., 61 (1874).

214

Garden and Forest.

[Number 273.

scar left by the deciduous calyx. Unfortunately the name
Pyrus alnifolia which has been given to this tree is
not applicable, it having been previously applied to an en-
tirely different plant, Amelanchier alnifolia, by Sprengel in
1825, and as a new name must be found for it, 1 am glad of
the opportunity of associating with this fine tree that of
Professor Kingo Miyabe, whose knowledge of the flora
of Hokkaido is unrivaled. Pyrus Miyabei * is one of the
common trees of the forests of central Yezo, and, according
to Maximowicz, it inhabits the province of Nambu, in
Hondo, and southern Manchuria. So far as 1 know, it has
not been introduced into our gardens, where it may be ex-
pected to flourish.

Of true Apple-trees there is apparently only a single indig-
enous species in Japan, the Pyrus Toringo of Siebold.
This is the tree which is often cultivated in American and
European garderu as Pyrus Malusfloribunda, Pyrus micro-
carpa, Pyrus Parkmani, Pyrus Halleana, Pyrus Sieboldii
and Pyrus Ringo. It is a common and widely distributed
plant in Japan, growing from the sea-level in Yezo to
elevations of several thousand feet in central Hondo,
usually in moist ground in the neighborhood of streams.
Sometimes it is a low bush, but more often a tree fifteen to
thirty feet in height, with a short stout trunk and spreading
branches. The leaves are exceedingly variable, and on
the same plant are often oblong, rounded or acute at the
apex, or broadly ovate or more or less deeply three-lobed.
The fruit, which, like that of the Siberian Pyrus baccata,
loses the calyx before it is fully ripe, resembles a pea in
size and shape, and in color varies from bright scarlet to
yellow. In early spring Pyrus Toringo is one of the most
beautiful of the trees found in our gardens, where it is per-
fectly hardy, and where it covers itself every year with fra-
grant pink or red single or semi-double flowers.

Pyrus Sinensis, the common cultivated Pear-tree of Japan,
although now growing spontaneously in some mountain
regions, is probably a native of northern China and Man-
churia ; and of an indigenous Pear-tree, of which we ob-
tained a supply of seeds in the forests of the Nikko Moun-
tains, I have not yet sufficient information to speak.

CratcCgfus, which, in eastern America, abounds with many
species which are conspicuous features of vegetation in dif-
ferent parts of the country, is only represented in japan by
Crataegus chlorosaca, one of the black-fruited group related
to Crata-gus Douglasii of our Pacific states, which it much
resembles. It is not rare in the neighborhood of Sapparo,
where it grows near streams in low, wet soil, and apparently
does notrange south of Yezo. The flowers are not large, and
as a garden-plant this species has little to recommend it.

The Saxifrage family, which is conspicuous in Japan
with a large number of shrubs, including some which have
become important features in our gardens, has only a sin-
gle Japanese arborescent representative ; this is the now
well-known Hydrangea paniculata, which is one of the
most common northern and mountain plants, and which
occasionally in favorable situations, especially on the hills
of central Yezo, becomes a tree twenty-five to thirty feet
in height, with a short well-formed trunk a few inches in
diameter and branches stout enough for a man to climb
into. From the branches the Ainos make their pipes.

In the Witch-hazel family, Distylium racemosum, an
evergreen tree of the southern islands and of southern
China, with peculiar and exceedingly hard dark-colored,
valuable wood, will require in this country the mild cli-
mate of the extreme southern states and of California. The
Japanese Hamamelis, however, is already an inhabitant
of our gardens, where, unlike the American species which
flowers in the autumn, it produces its orange or wine-col-
ored flowers in March. Hamamelis Japonica is one of the
common forest-shrubs or small trees in its native country.

where specimens occasionally occur thirty or forty feet in
height, with stout straight trunks and broad, shapely heads.
In the autumn the leaves turn bright, clear yellow ; but on
one form which we found on Mount Hakkoda, near
Aomori, with small, thicker, often rounded leaves (Hama-
melis arborescens of Hort. , Veitch), they were conspicuous
from their deep rich vinous red color. This may, perhaps,
prove to be a second Japanese Witch-hazel.

We were fortunate in securing a good supply of ripe
seeds of the little-known Disanthus cercidifolia of Maxi-
mowicz, a curious and interesting member of the Witch-
hazel family, and abundant material, from which Mr. Faxon
has made the drawing which is reproduced on page 215 of
this issue. Disanthus, of which only one species is known,
is a shrub with slender spreading branches, eight or ten
feet high, stout terete red-brown branchlets conspicuously
marked with pale lenticels and obtuse buds covered with
chestnut-brown imbricated scales. The leaves are sub-
orbicular, rounded and minutely mucronate at the apex, or
rarely orbicular-ovate and sharp-pointed, cordate or rarely
truncate at the base, entire, palmately five or seven nerved,
dark blue-green on the upper surface, pale on the lower, thick
and firm or ultimately sub-coriaceous, three or four inches
long and broad, with reticulated veinlets and stout petioles
one or two inches long and thickened at the base. In the
autumn they turn deep vinous red or red and orange. The
flowers appear in October, when the fruit developed from
the flowers of the previous year ripens; they are dark pur-
ple, sessile, base to base, in two-flowered heads on slender-
ridged peduncles produced from scaly buds, and are each
surrounded by three thick ovate, obtuse woolly, closely im-
bricated bracts which form the apparent connective between
the two flowers. The calyx is five-parted, the divisions imbri-
cated in aestivation, ovate, obtuse, latitudinally unequal,
reflexed, and much shorter than the five lanceolate, acute
petals imbricated in aestivation, spreading into a star-
shaped corolla and slightly incurved at the apex. The
stamens are as long as the lobes of the calyx and are in-
serted on its base opposite the petals ; the filaments are
short and broad, as long as the anthers, which are nearly
as broad as long, attached on the back, two-celled, extrorse,
the cells opening longitudinally. The ovary is superior,
ovate, compressed, two-celled, gradually contracted into
two short spreading styles stigmatic at the apex ; the
ovules are numerous in each cell, suspended from its apex,
anatropous. The fruit is a woody ovoid two-celled capsule,
which opens loculicidally, with a thin cartilaginous inner
coat separable from the thick hard outer covering. The seeds,
of which there are a number in each cell, are ovate, acute,
compressed, angled by mutual pressure, with a thick, hard,
dark chestnut-brown lustrous coat, an oblong pale lateral
hilum and thin albumen surrounding the terete embryo,
with a long erect radicle and thick ovate cotyledons.

Disanthus cercidifolia f is not rare in the valley of the
Kisogavi'a on the Nagasendo, in central Hondo, where it
is occasionally found, covering steep hill-sides with thick-
ets of at least a quarter of a mile in extent. In habit and
in the autumn color of its leaves Disanthus is one of the
most beautiful shrubs which I saw in Japan, and if it flour-
ishes in our gardens it should prove one of the best plants
of its class recently introduced into cultivation. C. S. S.

• Pyni» Mlyabel.

CraUegua ainiiolia, Siebold & Zwxai^K.AbMd. Acad. MUneh., 1844, iv, Reed.

Act. Hart. Petrof.,i.,i^',. "

Sorbus alnifolia. .Miquel, Ann. Mut. Lugd. Aj/., I.,249(i863).— Maiimowlcz, Mil.
Bifil., ix.t 173- — Wenzi^, Unneta, xxxfli.. 61,

Aronia alDifoUa, Decaisne. Nev.Arch. Mui , x,, 100 (1871).

Foreign Correspondence.

Paris Letter.

THE establishment and spread of technical instruction
in horticulture is quite a new feature of French edu-
cational life, although it is now advocated by all, and in
many places pretty largely endowed by state or local au-
thorities. The paramount importance of horticulture, as a
wealth-producing industry, was not nearly as generally
recognized as it is now, before the great progress made in
the means of transportation gave rise to a large inland and

t Maximowicz, MH. Biol., vi., 21 (1866).

May 17, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

215

Fig. 33. — DisanthuB cerddifolia. — See page 213.

I. A flowerinp and fruiting branch, natural size. 2. Side view of a flower-cluster, with peduncle and scaly-bud, showing the apparent connective composed of the closely
imbricated bracts, enlarged. 3. Front view of a flower, enlarged. 4. A sepal, enlarged. 5. A petal, enlarged. 6. Front and rear views of a stamen, enlarged.
7. Vertical section of a flower, enlarged. 8. A seed, enlarged. 9. Vertical section of a seed, enlarged.

export traffic in fruit, vegetables and flowers, and before
private and public statistics bore witness to the immense
tonnage and great money value of horticultural produce of
all kinds.
Up to the middle of the present century, and even later.

all horticultural tuition was of the mutual kind. Experi-
enced gardeners, whether in charge of the places of gentle-
men and noblemen, or working independently for profit,
used to take in their employ boys or young men as appren-
tices and teach them the rules of cultivation, pruning and

2l6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 273.

propagating, etc., both by word and example. The
young gardener was promoted to a higher class of work
as soon as he had mastered the first elements of his
profession, till he was pronounced fit for filling a responsi-
ble situation, and to become in his turn the teacher of a new
generation of gardeners. This system still prevails to a
large extent, and it must be candidly admitted that, even
in France, the greatest number of gardeners of the present
day never had any other tuition. Only it is now eligible
for any young man who thirsts after some share of more
scientific and systematic knowledge of the profession to
obtain it at a trifling expense and with very little loss of
time.

Although it is very far from my thoughts to disparage in
any way the practical tuition and experience which must be
always at the bottom of professional education, it cannot
be doubted that a more scientific instruction in all branches
of horticulture is rendered necessary to high-class, and even
to ordinary, gardeners by the discoveries made in all
branches of scientific knowledge connected with horticul-
ture. The recent progress in chemistry, in biology, in the
knowledge of fungus and insect enemies of cultivated plants,
while it very often explains and justifies the traditional
practice of gardeners, has thrown so much light on many
unexplained facts, and offers so many useful remedies to
hitherto hopeless cases, that no reasonable aspirant to gar-
dening excellence can afford to despise the aid of science.

The resources offered to the French student, in order to
obtain some scientific knowledge of horticulture, may be
divided into two distinct classes : i. Organizations where
horticulture comes in as a branch of general education,
whatever its degree. 2. Organizations where horticulture
is the main object, and other branches of knowledge an
accessory.

Establishments where the teaching of horticulture forms
part of the programme are very numerous, as a good many
of the 80,000 primary schools of France are to be reckoned
among them, many schools for girls even giving some sort
of instruction in gardening as well as in housekeeping. Since
1850 the teaching of agriculture and of horticulture has be-
come optional in all the primary schools. Masters who
feel any taste for horticulture, or who consider it as useful
to their own advancement to train their pupils in horticul-
ture are at liberty to do so. Local authorities are generally
in favor of horticultural as well as of agricultural teaching ;
they supply the necessary space for experiment and de-
monstration in the shape of a small garden or field. National
and local societies of horticulture encourage the most suc-
cessful masters by means of liberal awards of medals and
premiums.

In most of the French Departments (which are territo-
rial divisions smaller than the American states, but larger
than the counties, and, to some extent, self-supporting)
there exists a normal school, where the primary school-
teachers are trained. In such schools agricultural and hor-
ticultural teaching was made compulsory by a law enacted
in 1876, six years being granted as an adequate period for
providing the necessary means of instruction. A course of
agricultural and of horticultural training is actually given
in the primary normal school, generally by the depart-
mental professor of agriculture. It is, of course, the right
way to begin the work by training the teacher first. 1 his
course, however, is not everywhere considered as compul-
sory, and often such men only attend it as consider it ad-
visable to acquire some special knowledge of horticulture
in view of their own pleasure or future advancement in
their profession. Agricultural and horticultural teaching
should have become general in primary schools three years
after its establishment in the primary normal schools, but
the measure too often failed on account of deficiency of
money or in consequence of the difficulty of introducing
fresh matter into programmes already crammed.

Last year Mr. Henry L. de Vilmorin, in a paper contrib-
uted to the Revue Pedagogique, showed that this difficulty
might be avoided to a certain extent by selecting texts on

horticultural subjects for reading and writing exercises,
and even by giving arithmetical problems on horticultural
data. He further insisted strongly on the usefulness of
horticultural as distinguished from agricultural teaching in
primary schools ; some practical knowledge of horticul-
ture promising to be of immediate utility to a much
larger class of the pupils than purely agricultural instruc-
tion, the general hints as to gardening operations being to
a much less extent influenced by the variable conditions
of soil and climate. Besides, gardening being in most
cases a mere addition to a man's resources better admits
of limited proficiency than farming where a man, simply
school-taught, would be, in more than nine cases out of
ten, an unmixed failure.

Nearly all public bodies and authorities in France are
decidedly in favor of the extension, both in number and
efficiency, of horticultural teaching, considering that a well-
kept garden is a very important addition to the welfare of
a household, besides encouraging and maintaining do-
mestic habits and exerting a healthy influence by open-air
exercise.

The liberality of state and local authorities is mainly
seen in the encouragement given to professional schools
of horticulture, the number of which is increasing yearly.
They are scientific and practical schools at the same time,
emulating with more or less success the National School of
Horticulture at Versailles, an account of which will be the
object of another letter.

The fact that efficient horticultural schools should be
practical is recognized by every one. It is doubtful if in
any other profession the knowledge of things and of oper-
ations needs more forcible teaching by actual practice
by the sight and handling of plants and tools than
horticulture. Scientific data, apart from the subject of
immediate application, are of little avail, and we cannot
end this communication better than by quoting a pas-
sage of a letter from Professor Huxley on the subject of
agricultural education recently referred to in the Ketv Bul-
letin : "The story of a bean, of a grain of wheat, of a tur-
nip, of a sheep, of a pig or of a cow, properly treated, with
the introduction of the elements of chemistry, physiology
and so on, as they come in, would give all the elementary
science which is needed for the comprehension of the pro-
cesses of agriculture in a form assimilated by the youth-
ful mind, which loathes anything in the shape of long
words and abstract notions, and small blame to it.' „

Paris. ■"■

Cultural Department.

Plant Breeding.

BREEDERS of animals aim to perpetuate qualities which are
most desirable, and to combme those that are best in cer-
tain individuals, or to originate new ones, as well as to develop
the finest strains by improved feeding, care and selection.
Horticulturists are a long way behind in this matter. They
have l)een content, for the most part, to take what they found
growing wild, call it good, then patiently wait for more. If an
attempt was made to produce varieties from seed it has usually
been by sowing tliose from some popular sort which had been
fertilized by the winds or insects, and accept the chance result
as the best tliat could be had. Plant-growers possess the ad-
vantage of being able to distribute and perpetuate the life of
the particular individual indefinitely. Tliis is literally true only
of plants propagated by buds, grafts, layers and the like, yet
with those ordinarily propagated Ijy seeds the seed reproduces
the individual so closely that it is practically the same. Does
it follow that since plant-growers are specially favored in this
respect, they do not command the means of improvement
which animal breeders have employed ? W. O. Focke, the
author of Die Pflangen Mischlinge, who is undoubtedly the
best authority on the subject of crossing and hybridizing.while
acknowledging the need of much more careful observation
and experiment, has, nevertheless, been able to derive from
his study many laws and generalizations concerning their be-
havior. And so far as practical experience goes, it indicates
that seedlings properly bred are much more likely to prove
valuable than those raised indiscriminately.

May 17, 1893. 1

Garden and Forest.

217

The Herstine Raspberry, the Saunders, Ruby and others
were originated by D. W. Herstine, of Branchtown, near Phila-
pelphia.f rom seed of the Allen planted next a row of Philadelphia,
with the expectation that the product would be a cross between
the two. Crossing- may take place undersuch conditions,but there
is nocertainty of it, and the male parentage is at best wholly in
doubt. Yet even such careless methods as these, as in this
particular instance, have been productive of good results.

Another man who rendered most excellent service to Ameri-
can pomology was Dr. W. D. Brinckle, of Philadelphia, in the
moments spared from a busy professional life. He began
with Strawberries cultivated in pots and kept in the windows
of his rooms ; from those his attention was turned to Raspber-
ries and Pears. He naturally worked from the standpoint of
an amateur, and the Raspberry which bears his name is prob-
ably the best known of his productions. His experiments
were confined to the foreign sorts, and seedlings of such
parentage did not prove well adapted to our climate in hardi-
ness and vigor, and yet the Brinckle's Orange up to the present
day stands as the type of excellence in quality which is to be
sought in a Raspberry.

This line of work is coming to be considered a matter of
more and more importance at our experiment stations, but it
is safe to say that it is never likely to receive as much atten-

answer no. In Black Caps it may seem that there is already
improvement enough, yet with a fruit so new in cultivation this
can hardly be true; and the newer introductions and seedlings,
now on trial at the experiment stations, certainly show no indi-
cation of having reached the limit.

In Blackberries we want varieties with the hardiness and pro-
ductiveness of Snyder, but of larger size and better quality.
And who can yet predict the future of the Dewberry, which
has so recently been introduced to gardens ? May it not pos-
sess in itsearliness, large size, or some other points, qualities
which will unite with tliose of the upright Blackberry to pro-
duce a fruit better than either ? The union is not an easy one
to effect by crossing, and the species may be too far separated
to produce offspring of value, yet it has been accomplished,
and only time and continued trials can show what the outcome
may be.

CorneU University. Fred. W. Card.

Spring Flowers.

T N this late spring season the display of the earliest spring
•'■ flowers in the mixed border of hardy plants is still
meagre. Among those which have appeared are some familiar
flowers that peep out early each year and are the advance-

Fig. 34. — Mouth of Putnam's Wolf-den, Pomfret, Connecticut. — See page 213.

tion as it deserves, because in most cases the results are slow,
and we are apt to be engrossed in matters which yield a
quicker return. Yet the possibilities of the field are un-
limited, while the work itself is most fascinating for the lover
of nature.

The advice of Marshall P. Wilder can hardly be repeated too
often : " Plant the most mature and perfect seeds of the most
hardy, vigorous and valuable varieties, and as a shorter pro-
cess, insuring more certain and happy results, cross or hy-
bridize your best fruits."

Suppose we take the genus Rubus and notice some of the
desirable things to be sought for in it. In the Cuthbert we
have the standard red Raspberry for the general and late crop ;
yet its canes are not entirely hardy, its color is a little too dark
to be most attractive in market, and its quality is not the best.
Can we raise from it, as one parent, a seedling which will pos-
sess its good qualities and improve it where deficient .' The
Golden Queen is but its counterpart, with yellow fruit of better
quality, and this might improve in two respects. In Shaffer,
of the Rubus neglectus type, we have probably the most pro-
ductive Raspberry grown, on a vigorous bush, propagated
from tips, with no annoyance from suckers, but the fruit is dull-
colored and unattractive when ripe. Can we get a bright red
berry of good quality on a bush of this character ? I dare not

guard of the season. They are always in bloom with the Cro-
cus, which is a, perhaps, more definite statement than any
dates, considering the difference in seasons and latitudes.

There appear to be, so far as I have noticed, but few hardy
Primulas. The bright, early-flowering P. rosea once promised
to be hardy, and has lived through our winters, but it has
largely died out and is now seldom seen. P. denticulata, which
was planted with P. rosea, has proved to be reliably hardy.
Without any special care or protection, it comes up strong and
flowers annually, along with the pure white form known as
P. denticulata nivalis. The latter variety is snow-white and
has been making an attractive display for some days past. This
Primula likes a moist soil, with shade from midday sun. It
thrives amazingly, making a strong growth after the flowering
period. It is a native of the Himalayas.

A new Fritillaria, tried for the first time this season, is F.
aurea. The figure given in Nicholson's Dictionary of Gar-
dening, under this name, is evidently in error, as the segments
of the flowers are shown recurved, as in F. recurva, while the
flowers of F. aurea are the same shape and size as F. Melea-
gris. The ground color is clear yellow, checked with brown
on the inside of the flowers. It is the prettiest Fritillary I know,
and has proved perfectly hardy here, flowering a month earlier
than F. Meleagris. It is ofdwarferhabit, scarcely exceeding nine

2l8

Garden and Forest.

[Number 273.

inches, though a few tried in the greenhouse were twice the
height of those in the open. The plant is a native of Asia
Minor, and is offered by growers of bulbs in Holland. The
flowers gfTown indoors lasted two weeks, and the colors were
brighter than those in the open ground. Scarcely any two
flowers are alike in the markings or tesserae.

Puschkinia scllloides. the Striped Squill, is somewhat rare,
and is similar to the Scillas. It is always among the earliest
garden-plants to bloom. The segments are white, with a blue
stripe down the centre of each. This pretty spring-flowering
bulb once planted will appear everj- spring, requiring no
special care.

The earliest Daffodils were in bloom here a week ago, and
were the first tiowers from the open garden useful for cutting.
Of the many hundred bulbs in the borders, notwithstanding
the severe winter, there are no breaks in the rows, and it is
certain that in our climate severe cold does not injure them.
Many kinds appeared above the soil last fall before the cold
weather came, and they will flower as if nothing had hap-
pened to them. -c n r\ J. t

Sou* Lancaster, Mass. -C- C. Urpet.

The Hardy-flower Garden.

OFTEN there are surprises in the garden. A few balmy,
sunnv days this week, after the cold and tiresome rains,
seemingly transformed the plants. Everything caught the
effect of the change at once, and, looking around one morn-
ing, it seemed at a glance as if every plant was ready to show
its flowers.

In a hardy garden, planted to secure a succession of flowers,
such a rapid change is apt to come as a shock, and one has to
reflect if he realizes that, after all, everything will not flower at
once, but the flowers of to-day will be followed till the late
year by others as interesting, though, perhaps, by none as
captivating, as those peculiar to the freshness o( late winter
and early spring.

This is the mid-season of the Narcissi and Tulips, and the
beginning of the wealth of Irises, though the latter have been
in some force ever since winter. Of the less well-known
Narcissi, I note that Mrs. J. B. Camni is a beautiful Ajax, or
large trumpet kind, with very light yellow trumpet and creamy
perianths, a drooping flower, very soft in color. Seemingly
very vigorous. John Nelson is an Ajax of very bright clear
yellow, slightly lighter perianth and very distinct and satisfac-
tory. Major Pyrnean seems to me much purer in color than
the Major of the Dutch, and among the collected bulbs are
found some beautiful double kinds with perfect trumpets filled
with bright orange petals. One cannot go amiss on N. pri-
mulinus, although the colors vary somewhat. They have a dis-
tinctive character difficult to describe without a sketch. Of the
Incomparabilis class there are many, to me not specially pleas-
ing. There is only beauty of size, if that be beauty, m Sir
Watkin. Barri Conspicuus is also disappointing, in spite of
its orange-scarlet cup — the perianths are but feebly colored.
C. J. Backhouse is with me much handsomer and clearer in
color. Queen Bess is a smaller flower, with deep yellow
spreading cup. Juno is one of star-like kinds, white cup
and perianth. Of the Leedsi class, Minnie Hume is a gem with
white wide perianth and light yellow spreading cup. Duchess of
Brabrant is not so pure in color, but is pleasing and much
cheaper. The gem of this section is Duchess of Westmin-
ster, which, at half a guinea a bulb, seems ratherdear, though
the Eucharis-shaped flowers are very charming and pure in
color. Nelsonii Major and Pulchellus are distinct and good.
Of the smaller-cupped kinds I like best the Burbidgeii varie-
ties, which are dainty gems, with cups slightly longer than
those of N. jjoeticus.

There is one other Narcissus which must be mentioned, N.
Johnstoni, Queen of Spain, which has a character of its own,
being distinctly saucy. The long yellow trumpet is nearly
cylindrical, and the narrow perianth sections perfectly reflexed
their entire length. Mine is not good ground for the increase
of bulbs, but the Daffodils color very well, and I find them
long-lived with any fair care, though needing attention if flow-
era are wanted. A lot which were planted so late last fall that
they made no progress during the winter came into flower late
with as few losses as if they had been planted earlier, though,
of course, the flowers were scarcely up to form. As might
have been expected, the greatest sufferers were the varieties of
N. poeticus ; this has the shortest resting period of any Daffodil.

The early dwarf Tulips are quite past their best, and though
they have their uses, and some beauty, they are not compara-
ble to the later tall-growing kinds, without which no garden is
complete at this season. With all the beauty of the florist's

Tulips, with their pure colors and well-rounded petals, I have
a fancy for the wild kinds, with their sharp-pointed petals and
less civilized colorings. T. Gregii, now in flower, for instance,
is a species of most dazzling beauty, generally bright vermil-
ion. The leaves, very much like those of a magnified Dog's-
tooth Violet, are themselves very decorative. This species
does not seem, however, certain to flower. I have one special
bulb which has not flowered in five years. T. Orphanidea has
a large burnt-orange flower. T. elegans, a very deep velvety
crimson, and T. Schrenki, which is referred to T. Gesneriana,
is splashed with light crimson on a white ground. This is very
early. Of the other wildlings the very dwarf T. Cilicica, with its
small carmine flowers, is very reliable in flower, and from its
habit well adapted to a rockery.

Many Irises are well in bud, I. aphylla the first of the
dwarfs to show its dark purple flowers. This is one of the
best of the section, and apparently has been the subject of
much attention from the botanists, as, according to Baker, it
has a dozen synonyms — namely, nudicaulis, Bohemica, Hun-
garica, biflora, biflorens, furcata, falcata, Clusiana, Fieberi,
rigida and subbiflora — which, besides being confusing, is a cu^
rious example of the plethora of botanical names found attached
to plants. "Though the plants thus referred to I. aphylla may be
all botanically synonymous, there is evidently a difference
among them as garden-plants, for reliable dealers quote four
or five of them as distinct and at differing prices. In another
way it will be seen that this is an instance where one can
pursue an interesting experiment by collecting and test-
ing the varieties with a certainty at least of dispensing some
surplus.

Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Roses.

'X'HE quality of Tea-roses is now usually somewhat inferior
•*■ as compared with the flowers of a month ago, the buds
opening out before they have attained full size under the in-
creased heat of the sun. There is also great liability to mil-
dew ; the temperature of the houses runs up fast, and the ven-
tilation required to counteract the heat frequently results in a
draught over the plants, with the almost inevitable conse-
quence of an attack of mildew. This evil may be avoided to
a great extent by beginning to air the house quite early in the
morning and giving more ventilation gradually as it may be
required, and by checking the fire at sunrise or soon after.
During some seasons no artificial heat is required in a Rose-
house by this time ; with the thermometer frequently at forty-
five degrees or lower, as during the late spring of this year, a
little fire-heat is necessary to keep the plants in health.

Some late hybrids in pots are useful at this time ; they require
but little heat to bring them on now, and after having been
brought into bud add much to the brightness of a conserva-
tory. Mrs. John Laing, Eugenie Verdier, Prince Camille de
Rohan, Countess of Oxford, Marie Baumann and Ulrich Brun-
ner are excellent sorts for this purpose, and while several of
these are also among the best for early forcing, all can be
depended upon for spring blooming. More liberal treatment
in the matter of top-dressing and the application of liquid
manures may be given now than during the winter, as the
growth of the plants is naturally more rapid, and they thus take
up larger quantifies of moisture and fertilizers. This is especially
true of pot-plants. Tea-roses that have been in bloom during
the winter, and are required for summer flowering, may be
thinned out a litfle to dispose of the weak and worthless growth,
and should then be encouraged to break into new growth by
means of a top-dressing. There should also be syringing on
every bright day with a good pressure of water, care being
taken to get well under the foliage. The red spider gains a
foothold easily under the influence of the hot sun, and is very
difficult to dislodge when once established. A slight shade
on the glass will improve the quality of the flowers consider-
ably during the hot weather, but it is not well to shield them
from the sun entirely. An easy way is to give the glass a thin
sprinkling of naphtha and white-lead with a syringe.

All flowers required for the day should be cut early in the
morning and put into cold water at once ; if kept in water for
twelve hours they will improve greatly in size and color, and
will last much longer than if cut while the sun is high.

Young stock should all have been propagated before this
time, in order to insure strong plants for the coming season ;
cuttings may still be rooted if necessary, but they wul require
to be kept a litfle closer now than earlier in the season, and
must be watched to prevent their damping-off. Young Roses
should not be allowed to become pot-bound, or a stunted
growth will follow ; these plants are gross feeders, and ab-
stract the nourishment from the soil in a short time. Strong

May 17, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

219

and healthy young Roses from three-inch pots, with good
roots, will often do better when planted out than larger
stunted plants from four or five inch pots.

Eel-worms have been troublesome in some localities during
the past winter ; in some instances whole houses of promising
young stock have been ruined ; the only preventive measure
against this insect is the thorough cooking of the soil before it
is placed in the beds, quite a troublesome operation unless
proper apparatus is provided. Some large, trade-growers fol-
low this plan, and have an arrangement of steam-pipes and an
oven, and claim it to be a paying investment for them. An
additional advantage of this baking of the soil is that the seeds
of various weeds are destroyed in the process, so as to do away
with the weeding of beds to a great extent. „ ^ .,■

Holmesburg, Pa. ^^- ■^- Taplltl.

Correspondence.

The Re-appearance of Wild Flowers.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— The fear has sometimes been expressed in your col-
umns that our best native flowers are in danger of extermina-
tion by the close-cropping and grazing of the meadows and
the destruction of the woodlands. I have shared these fears
myself, but of late years my opinion is considerably changed.
The inherent power of nature to re-establish herself from the
smallest possible beginnings, the power most seeds have of
lying dormant for years under unfavorable conditions, only to
spring quickly into growth when the conditions are improved,
and the friendly aid of birds in their visits to inaccessible places
where wild flowers yet linger, all these factors are favorable
to the establishment and increase of wild flowers.

When we built here, something over seven years ago, the
site was chosen for its beauty of location and for its fine grove.
There were no flowers save the festive "Jimpson" and rol-
licksome Dog Fennel, that obligingly hemmed in the old
shoes, battered tin-cans, beef-bones, skulls and other accumu-
lations on this unfenced piece of ground in the suburbs of the
village. Our town is too small to enforce stock laws, and for
nearly forty years hogs had rooted, cattle grazed and horses
tramped over this ground at their will. Our only hope for na-
tive flowers was to bring them to our grounds from the distant
hills.

The first spring after we came to Oak Lawn, one weak little
Violet appeared, together with a few stunted Erythroniums,
possibly a dozen sorry specimens in the whole grove, one small
cluster of the beautiful bulbous flower, Camassia Fraseri, a
starved wild Rose or two, and several sturdy plants of Ipomoea
pandurata. Wild Smilax, Clematis viorna, Passiflora lutea and
Pentstemon laevigatus, var. Digitalis, that no amount of abuse
could kill. It will be noticed that, with the exception of
the Pentstemon, all these last-named are vines, indicating that
our climbing plants have more than an even chance of exist-
ence in the struggle for life over other herbaceous plants. It
was interesting to see how these plants responded to our care.
The weak little Violet grew lustily and scattered its seeds far
and wide ; to-day its progeny is numbered by scores, if not by
hundreds. The same can be said of the Erythroniurn, which,
not content with the woodland, has begun to surprise us on
the lawn, in the paths and in the flower-beds. The pretty nod-
ding flowers appear so very early, and the low, broad, mottled
foliage is so striking, we do not count them usurpers, but
gladly welcome them. The Camassias, with every care, have
increased but slowly, but the clump is now a large one, and the
blossoms, at a distance, appear like a soft blue cloud resting
on the green grass. As for the other plants mentioned, they
increased so rapidly that considerable weeding has to be done
every year to keep them within bounds.

But this is not all. In another year the advance-guard of
Wild Asters began to appear, accompanied by a new Pent-
stemon laevigatus, tlie purple Milk-weed (Asclepias purpures-
cens), and Lobelia leptostachys. Two fine Junipers came up
that year, in just such places as we should have chosen had we
been planting them. They were, doubtless, planted by the
birds, which are never molested in our grove, and which come
in great numbers. Two years later, or four years after our
takmg possession of the grove, there appeared a fine specimen
of the purple Cone-flower (Echinacea angustifolia) in our
shrubbery border. The next year two important additions ap-
peared, a plant each of Dodecatheon Meadia and Sabbatia an-
gularis, both beautiful flowers. A little visitor unluckily pulled
up the Dodecatheon for its pretty blossom. The Sabbatia, m
spite of its tempting pink blooms, was allowed to seed. In
two years' time plants of this species dot a quarter of the grove.

Last year another Sabbatia made its appearance, this time
in the middle of a bed of Tea-roses. It grew wonder-
fully in the loose, rich soil, and dunng the entire midsummer
was a solid sheet of clear, rose-pink blossoms, generally ad-
mired, although not recognized as a wild flower. Last year,
seven years after our.coming, in a low corner of the grove
several plants of Lobelia syphilitica came up, to our surprise.
We begin to think that anything is liable to make its appear-
ance in the most unexpected place, not excepting plants which
we thought entirely exterminated. If an asylum is provided
for our oppressed wild plants they seem certain to find it out,
and to appear of their own accord. , ,. , .,

Pineviiie, Mo. Lora S. La Mance.

Recent Publications.

Celery for Profit. By T. Greiner. W. Atlee Burpee. Phil-
adelphia.

This little handbook, although it contains less than a
hundred pages, tells the amateur planter in the- plainest pos-
sible manner all that he needs to know in order to grow a crop
of Celery in his home-garden, and then how to preserve it
properly through the winter. Perhaps the most interesting
chapter is that devoted to the " new celery culture," which
consists in growing the plants so closely together that they
blanch in their own shade. This is not altogether a new idea ;
it was suggested years ago, but Mr. Greiner shows how it can
be rnade uniformly successful. The two essential conditions
for growing the plants so closely are (i) enough plant-food and
(2) enough water to get this food ready for the roots. Of course,
if a square rod of ground is to grow as much Celery as is gen-
erally grown on four or five rods, the land must contain four
or five times as much available food. There is little danger
of having the ground too rich, and if no better arrangements
are made for irrigation the plants must be watered by hand.
This plan will answer for two or three hundred plants for
home use, but it will be a back-aching contract for some one if
a larger number of plants are cultivated. Still, even in very
considerable fields where Celery is raised for market, Mr.
Greiner shows how easy it is to arrange some scheme of sys-
tematic irrigation.

In the new culture it is advised to set out two or three hun-
dred plants of White Plume Celery, in late May or early June,
on thoroughly fertilized and well-prepared ground, in short
rows ten inches apart, with plants five inches apart in the row.
If there are more than eight rows a central one should be left
vacant to give a pathway through the bed for watering. To
bleach the outside rows each bed is enclosed in boards eight
or twelve inches long, set on edge and held in position by
stakes. The surface should be kept well stirred for a few weeks
after the plants are set out, and in the early season they usually
need no water. They will soon cover the ground and choke
out the weeds, which will be done more surely if a mulch of
fine compost, some inches thick, is placed between the rows
soon after the plants are set out. Unless there are -continual
and heavy rains the ground must be soaked once every five
or ten days. Water should be applied directly to the ground be-
tween the rows, flooding rather than sprinkling. By the first
of August, or even earlier, the crop will be available for use
and three hundred plants will give a good supply for an ordi-
nary family. In July make another bed with a few plants of
White Plume for early use and the main crop of Giant Pascal,
New Rose and other good non-bleaching sorts. Since the
late crop makes its growth during the period of abundant rain-
fall, artificial watering is not always needed, but it will be in
most cases beneficial to soak the ground occasionally, even if
the weather is not dry. For the market-gardener, Mr. Greiner
explains how to cultivate the crops on a large scale, how to
prepare the product for market and how to make the business
profitable, and he gives full directions for fighting the Parsley
worm, the slug, the rust, the blight and other enemies.

Notes.

The largest yield of oranges at Pomona, California, this year,
was from a grove of trees seventeen years old. Six acres
yielded 3,500 boxes. Two trees yielded thirty-five boxes.

A WhiteOak was lately cut near Shenandoah Junction, West
Virginia, which made three logs whose continuous length was
thirty-six feet, the diameter of the largest one at the butt be-
ing seventy inches, while the smallest end of the smallest log
measured forty-two inches across.

We have seen a flower of one of the so-called Yellow Callas
(Richardia aurata), which has just been brought to this office,

220

Garden and Forest.

[Number 273.

and its color seems rather disappointing. It can be hardly
called a vellow, but is rather a pale primrose, with a dark wine-
colored spot at the bottom of the spathe on the inside^ The
spathe is very solid and waxy in texture and the foliage is
s(>otted with white.

Among the large Chestnut-trees whose dimensions we have
lately seen on record is one in Middle Smithfield township,
Pennsylvania, the trunk of which measures nineteen feet m
circumference breast-high. The tree looks perfectly sound
and bears a fine crop of nuts every year.

Just now the bud-scales of the Shell-bark Hickory, which
grow to a considerable size before they fall away, have a deli-
cate color which can scarcely be described in words. The true
leaves are just appearing, but these scales in young and thrifty
trees are sometimes three or four inches long and nearly half
as wide, with a golden tint quite similar to that of some of the
Cypripediums, especially those which contain the blood of
C. insig^e.

Strawberries are just beginning to come from Maryland to
this market, but the abundance of these southern berries has
no effect on the price of choice hot-house berries from New
Jersey, which are still worth a dollar a small cup. New tam-
arinds are selling for twenty cents a pound, and the first limes
in the market, some of them hardly half-grown, are twenty-
five cents a dozen. The orange known as King of Siam, a
beautiful fruit resembling a Tangarine orange in form and
quality, but larger, commands a dollar a dozen. Good hot-
house peaches are seventy-five cents apiece.

Central Texas seems to enjoy the honor of possessing the
most western forest of Pinus Taeda. Forty years aijo the hills
of Bastrop County were covered with this Pine, and the forest
extended to some of the neighboring counties. There was
much lumbering carried on there before the war, and large
fortunes were founded upon its profits, for the Pine-lumber
used at San Antonio and other cities in the south-west part of
the state came from this region. Our correspondent, Mr.
Plank, writes that the hills of the county are everywhere still
covered with Pine-trees, although those large enough for lum-
ber have disappeared long ago. The people have been wise
in allowing the younger ones to remain.

A correspondent of the London Garden speaks highly of
three comparatively new Daffodils now blooming in Kew Gar-
dens. One is Glory of Leyden, with a flower larger even than
that of Empteror, and a pale trumpet of rich and decided shade
which contrasts well with the soft yellow perianth. Besides
this massive flower it has robust foliage and is a free grower.
The second is Madame De Graaf, another kind of vigorous
growth with pale sulphur-colored trumpet and a white peri-
anth. Gloria Mundi is the third, with yellow perianth and a
cup flushed with orange-scarlet. These plants are still expen-
sive, but they are all vigorous, and it is probable that they will
multiply so rapidly that they can soon be found in every col-
lection.

Mr. J. G. Baker writes to the last number of the Gardeners'
Chronicle of some of the new plants which have lately come
from western Asia, from which region the horticultural world
is receiving so many spring-flowering bulbs. The first of these
is a Snowdrop (Galanthus Ikariae) with the bright broad green
leaves of G. Fosteri and the crisp edges of its inner segments,
like G. Elwesii. The next is a new species of Oncocyclus Iris
(I. Bismarckiana), which was introduced two or three years
ago from the Lebanon country, but which Mr. Baker has just
seen in flower. The outer segments are dark brown, with
a yellow groundwork, the inner segments very pale, so that
there is a great contrast in color between the rows. The third
is a new Scilla from the mountains of western Persia which re-
sembles some of the Hyacinths of the sub-genus Bellevallia,
but the segments of the flower are free down to the base.
It is dwarf, with small glaucous leaves and bright purple
flowers tipped with green. The last is a new Fritillaria (F.
Whittalli), which closely resembles the English F. Meleagris.

Writing in the April Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club,
Mr. Arthur Hollick describes the recent discovery, in a creta-
ceous formation at Glen Cove, Long Island, of the leaf of a
hitherto unknown fossil Palm which he has called Serenopsis
Kempii. " The significance of this discovery, from the geo-
logical standpoint,' he says, "need not here receive more
than brief mention. ... It is sufficient to say that the other
fossil leaves associated with it show the geological horizon to
be the equivalent of the Amboy clays of New Jersey and other
middle cretaceous strata in America and Europe, from none of

which have Palms been definitely recorded. The specimen in
question evidently belongs with the tribe Corypheas, and its
nearest living allies are to be looked for in the genera Trithri-
nax, Copernicia, Thrinax or Serensea (Sabal). The imperfect
condition of our specimen does not admit of accurate com-
parison, but there seems to be but little doubt that it is allied
to this group, and as we find associated with it leaves of trees
which demonstrate that they were the ancestors of our living
Liriodendron, Platanus, Sassafras, etc., we are certainly within
the bounds of reason when we infer that we have here one of
the ancestors of our southern Palmetto, as I have indicated in
the generic name. The specific name has been adopted in
honor of Professor James F. Kemp, of Columbia College, to
whom the credit for finding the specimen is due." Two pic-
tures of the leaf accompany Mr. Hbllick's article.

A recent bulletin of the California Experiment Station gives
a chemical analysis of several California fruits in order to show
their richness in the different elements, and also to show which
of the soil ingredients are most drawn upon by an ordinary
crop. In flesh-forming ingredients — that is, in albuminoid
contents — the figs rate first, with little choice between apri-
cots and plums for the second, and prunes and oranges nearly
equal for the third place. Apparently, the nectarine falls short
of the above fruits in these ingredients, but it still ranges
higher than apples and pears, if European data are accepted as
correct regarding the latter fruits. In the analysis of some of
the food constituents of cured fruits — that is, of dried com-
mercial prunes, apricots, grapes and figs — it seems that the
grape contains twenty per cent, more sugar than the apricot or
apple, and twelve per cent, more than the French prune. In
the quantity of mineral matter withdrawn from the soil it is
found that the European estimates cannot be safely used for
California fruit. Grapes take the lead in this particular, but
oranges do not stand in the second place, as they do in Europe.
The fig follows close after the grape, with the orange third,
and the prune, apricot and plum in the fourth place. Among
pitted fruits in California the apricot leads in its demand upon
the soil for nitrogen, and therefore this should be liberally ap-
plied, especially in southern California soils, which are not
rich in their natural supply of this element. Phosphoric acid,
too, is only found in limited quantities in California soils, and
therefore orchards of Prunes, Oraoges and Apricots will re-
quire phosphoric fertilizers among the first. Potash is the
leading ash ingredient, making fully three-fifths of the ash in
the case of prunes and apricots, and one-half oiE the ash in
the orange. California lands, however, are naturally so well
stocked with available potash that the supply will probably be
adequate for many years.

In a recent issue of The Garden, Professor Michael Foster,
whose knowledge of Irises and of their cultivation is unri-
valed, contributes an exhaustive and most interesting paper
upon the Oncocyclus group of the genus, of which the well-
known Mourning Iris (I. Susiana) is the type. The paper is too
long to reproduce entirely, but, as Max Leichtlin and Professor
Foster himself have raised several hybrids from this group,
his views upon their fertility are interesting to cultivators who
may wish to experiment in raising seedlings or hybrids.
" The striking features," he says, "of an Oncocyclus Iris,
the large flower, so out of proportion to the scanty foliage,
the conspicuous coloration, the boldness of the marking, as
seen, for instance, in the intense color of the ' signal ' patch on
the fall, the manner in which the anther is covered over and
hidden by the curved style, all these and other features tell us
very clearly that the flower needs the intervention of some in-
sect to secure fertilization. From the frequent occurrence of
seed-pods on imported rhizomes, I am led to infer that in its
native home an Oncocyclus Iris goes to seed freely ; and fur-
ther, from the condition of imported roots, strengthened by
the behavior of the plants cultivated in this country, I am also
inclined to believe that the life of an individual rhizome is not
a very long one, and that the race is largely continued by seed-
ing. Here in this country plants left to themselves do not seed
freely. But this is due not to the coldness of our climate, but
to the absence of the proper fertilizing insects. Our bees, ac-
customed to more sober flowers, appear frightened at the
strange aspect of an Oncocyclus Iris ; at least I have never, so
far as I remember, seen one of these Irises visited by a bee or
other insect. On the other hand, if the flower be artificially
fertilized, it goes to seed with great readiness. I think I may
say that I am more sure of getting seed from an Oncocyclus
Ins than from almost any of the ordinary bearded Irises. They
cross readily with each other, and hybrids may be without any
great difficulty obtained between them and the ordinary
bearded Irises."

May 24, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

221

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OFnCK : Tribune Building, Nkw York.

Conducted by Profeesor C. S. Sargent.

BNTERRD AS SBCO^^D-CLASS MATTKR AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW VORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles : — The Park Muvemelit in the United States 221

The Removal of Elm- trees from Boston Common 221

The Value of Deciduous Shrubs tor Planting in the Clinateofour

Northern Atlantic States 222

Notes from West Virginia Danske Dandrid^e. 222

Garden Gossip : May Mrs. J. H. Jxobbins. 223

Notes of Mexican Travel. -IV C. G. Pringle. 223

New or Little-known Plants: — Bromelia fastuosa. (With figure.) 224

Foreign Correspondence :— London Letter W. Watson. 225

Cultural Department: — Protection of Plants in Winter J. G. yack. 226

Vegetable Notes C. E. Hunti. 227

Plants in Bloom J. N. Gfrard. 227

Chrysanthemums T. D. H. 228

The Forest: — In the Amador Second-growth Forests. . . Charles Howard Skinn. 228

Correspondence : — The Gardens at Wellesley H, II. Hunnrwell. 228

Plants in Bloom at Passaic, New Jersey J. N. G. 229

Recent Publications .j...... 229

NoTis 230

Illustration : — Bromelia fastuosa. Fig. 35 225

The Park Movement in the United States.

IN most parts of the country cities are becoming alive to
the necessity of providing- adequate parks for pubHc
use. Kansas City, until recently, has been without a square
foot of park-ground, and is now taking measures to sup-
ply this deficiency. Louisville is laying out three large
parks, and Milwaukee is making notable additions to its
system. Portland, Oregon, is considering the same ques-
tion ; Des Moines, Iowa, has obtained several tracts of
land for park purposes ; Omaha is to have a new park on
the south side, and Cheyenne is also to have a new one.
In Pueblo, Colorado, two tracts of i6o acres each have
been given to the city for park purposes. Topeka, Kansas,
is to devote twenty acres of the Fair Grounds to a park,
and is to expend $25,000 in improving it As an auditorium
seating 5,000 persons is to be built, it looks, however, as if the
greater part of the appropriation was to be spent for other
than regular park purposes. Quincy, Illinois, has an active
Boulevard and Park Association which has established two
small pleasure-grounds, and proposes to surround the en-
tire city with a park-way. In Detroit a part of the Cook
farm, between Jefferson Avenue and the river-front, has
been given to the city on condition that for the first three
years $1,000 a year shall be spent for improvement, and
$500 a year for the next fifteen years.

It is remarkable that in the south there is, as yet, but
little interest felt in the establishment of parks, although
provision for pleasant outdoor life and recreation is most
desirable there, where the climate, with the short winters
and the long open-air season, is particularly favorable to
the creation of beautiful recreation-grounds.

In Massachusetts the development of this movement has
been very notable. The Boston suburbs of Everett, Med-
ford and Hyde Park have recently established park com-
missions. Lynn has complemented the sylvan charms of
Lynn woods by obtaining a site for a fine ocean-side ter-
race adjacent to the magnificent beach owned by the
neighboring town of Nahant. Under the agitation of the
metropolitan park question, the sea-side suburbs of Revere
and Winthrop are awakening to a sense of their opportuni-

ties. On the South Shore the Quincy Park Commission has
approved Mr. Charles Eliot's recommendation for a shore
drive completely bordering Quincy Bay and connecting
with Merrymount Park ; the latter to be enlarged, and ap-
proached from the westward by a park-way, utilizing the
course of a stream called Furnace Brook.

This idea of making the water-courses of a community
the basis of park-way or boulevard improvements, as the
cheapest means of solving the problems of surface drain-
age, and at the same time creating pleasant features of the
landscape, was first introduced by Boston and Brookline
in the grand park-way from Jamaica pond to the Charles
River. The city of Newton now proposes to adopt the
idea on an extensive scale by laying out boulevards
wherever possible along the lines of waterway throughout
the city, except in thickly settled neighborhoods, where the
cost of taking would be too great. In the latter event
rights of way for surface-drainage will be acquired.

Waltham has taken Prospect Hill, which in elevation
ranks next to the Blue Hill range among the hills around
Boston, for a public park. Maiden is moving to establish
a number of local pleasure-grounds, chiefly for playground
purposes. Winchester proposes to take the banks of the
Aberjona River to abate a serious nuisance and beautify
the town. Dedham has in view a park along the Charles
River. Salem and Gloucester have recently established
park commissions, and the former city proposes to acquire
the historic "Witch Pasture" and "Gallows Hill." The
neighboring town of Beverly, soon to be a city, contem-
plates acquiring Prospect Hill, a sightly eminence close to
the centre of population and commanding beautiful views
of land and sea.

Ancient Plymouth, where Mr. Nathaniel Morton has
been the leading spirit in the park movement that led to
the establishment of the fine public forest called Morton
Park, with more than five miles of pleasure-drives, has con-
tinued its enlightened policy by laying out and improving,
under the advice of the most competent landscape-archi-
tects, several lesser parks throughout the town.

There is little danger that any of the thrifty cities of the
country will acquire more park-land than will be needed
within a few years by a rapidly growing population. In
every city this desire for breathing-spaces, for playgrounds,
for stretches of grass and the shade of trees should be en-
couraged. There should be no delay about getting land
while it is cheap, and getting enough of it. Of course, it
would not be prudent to develop fully a large park area
before the population demands it. But this does not mean
that a plan for development should be put off until the
pressure for outdoor room is urgent. Planning by piece-
meal is wasteful work, and the best park system for any
city can only be attained when a design for its entire park
area as one consistent scheme is secured. Professional
advice is, therefore, needed at the very outset. It is
needed to direct in the selection of the land, and needed
also to lay down the lines of a general scheme, along
which all construction shall be carried on. This will pre-
vent all costly revision and adjustment. The first work
will then always be foundation work, so that what follows
will fit naturally and easily upon what has been done.
Parks are so essential to the wants of modern city life, and
land is so expensive, that it is a shameful extravagance
when the public grounds of a city are not treated in such a
way that they can serve the very highest use of which
they are capable, and this can only be accomplished by
the careful study of trained artists.

The recent action of the city forester of Boston, in caus-
ing the removal of a number of old Elm-trees from the
Common, has produced a vigorous protest from many
quarters, and the Mayor has ordered that the cutting should
be stopped. Whether the condition of these particular
trees justified their removal we do not pretend to judge. It
is well known that there are too many trees on the Com-
rnon and that some of them have been allowed to fall into

222

Garden and Forest.

[Number 274.

bad condition through neglect and improper treatment.
There is a broader question involved than the condition
of these trees ; and the community which has just saved
its beautiful and historic pleasure-ground from dismember-
ment at the hands of a street-railway corporation by ener-
getic and well-directed efforts and a remarkable display of
public spirit, is naturally unwilling that the venerable trees
which Boston owes to the forethought of Mayor Quincy
should be sacrificed by a public official whose only claim
to the office he fills is the fact that he was once a success-
ful commercial florist. The citizens of Boston properly feel
that if the Common trees must be cut the advice of trained
experts should be sought before the irremedial injury is
done, and that the whole question of the management of
the city's trees is a matter of such importance that it should
be entrusted to more responsible hands than those of the
present city forester.

The life of an old and apparently feeble tree can often
be prolonged for many years and its beauty and usefulness
restored by a system of careful and judicious pruning and
by renewing the soil from which it derives its nourish-
ment ; and the inhabitants of Boston are not unreasonable
in demanding that such remedies should be tried and that
the best advice should be obtained before the unity and
teauty of their shady malls are broken into and the old
trees removed to make room for saplings whose future,
surrounded and overshadowed as they must be by large
trees, is, to say the least, problematical. This is a question
which does not interest Boston alone. In every city there
is need of the services of tree e.xperts to decide important
questions relative to the trees growing in parks and on
public thoroughfares ; and probably there is not a pleasure-
ground in any American city on which the trees are not
suffering from ignorant or timid management, or a park
superintendent really interested in his work who does not
feel the need of the support and advice of a committee of
experts in whom the community would have confidence.
In nine public parks out of ten there are too many trees by
half, but their removal ought not to be undertaken thought-
lessly or in ignorance of all the conditions essential to the
health and longevity of trees.

We have often spoken of the value of deciduous
shrubs for planting in the climate of our northern At-
lantic states, and now while the snowy bracts of the flow-
ering Dogwood are brightening every wood-border, and
the Lilacs are blooming in every village door-yard, we are
specially reminded of the effectiveness of masses of
shrubbery. Shrubs have the advantage of being beau-
tiful all the year round. Many of them bloom in late sum-
mer and autumn, and, in addition to their flowers, have sin-
gular beauty of foliage throughout all the growing season.
Others have showy fruit which persists well into winter, and
even in that leafless season a halo of soft color from the bark
of the small branches envelops them like a mist. But this is
the season of their most abundant bloom, and the sudden
coming of spring this year has brought into flower together
various kinds which are often separated by some weeks in
the time of their blooming. One rarely sees the Forsythia
and the Lilac, the Shad-bush and the Dogwood, the Peach
and the Apple blooming together, as they have done during
the past week ; but what we have in the mass this year we
can have in succession every year, for there is no climate in
the world in which deciduous shrubs thrive and flower bet-
ter. The heat of our summers and our long dry autumns
ripen up the wood, so that these plants come out of the win-
ter with a vigor unknown in climates with more moderate
changes. The very conditions which make it difficult to cul-
tivate broad-leaved evergreens and conifers in this country
are the ones which exactly suit hardy deciduous shrubs.
Again, they are of a size which can be adapted to the most
modest garden, ranging as they do from the form and
stature of small or shrub-like trees to low-growing plants
like the Rhodora, Trailing Arbutus and Daphne Cneorum.
We have often spoken of the beauty of our native Cornels,

Viburnums, Thorns and of some smaller shrubs, but the en-
tire temperate zone can he laid under contribution, for the
shrubs of Asia and Europe flourish here as well as our own.
A mere catalogue of the names of desirable species and va-
rieties would include hundreds, each with a distinct use and
beauty, but careful descriptions of all the most important
ones can be found in the well-indexed volumes of Garden
AND Forest. As a rule, they are easily propagated and
cheaply raised. They increase in beauty every year they
live, and they live for a long time.

Notes from West Virginia.

T AST year I was warned that, perliaps, my Cedrella might
-'— ' be an Ailanthus, and I liave been trying to satisfy my
mind as to its identity by a comparison of its leaves with those
of the Ailantlius. I find that the latter have "obliquely-lanceo-
late leaflets, coarsely toothed at the base, witli a gland on the
lower side at the point of each tooth." The point of the leaf-
lets is entire. The Cedrella, on the contrary, has slight serra-
tions near the tips of the leaflets which the Ailanthus-leaves do
not have, and they are without glands at the base. I quote
from Apgar's description of these trees. Cedrellas are now in
leaf and gjrowing rapidly, but have not yet bloomed at Rose
Brake. They seem perfectly hardy, as they were uninjured by
the very unusual and long-continued cold of the past winter.
The only plant killed outright from thiscause wasa tineChaste
Tree (Vitex agnus-caster). Callicarpa purpurea, which in Eng-
land is treated as a greenhouse shrub, was unhurt, although
unprotected. Deodar and Lebanon Cedars and an Evergreen
Magnolia, which were tied up with straw, have escaped se-
rious injury, while a small Magnolia glauca, var. Thoftipsonii,
was half-killed.

Evergreen Evonymusesand Mahoniashad their foliage badly
scorched, but Ilex opaca and the beautiful Osnianthus illicifo-
lius were unhurt. Abelia rupestris and Zizyphus vulgaris were
covered with dead leaves. The Abelia lost some of its last
year's gjrowth, but is now doing well. The tips of the branches
of the Zizyphus are dead.

Perhaps there is no more beautiful shrub now blooming at
Rose Brake than Berberis aquifolium. The new leaves are
not green, but have coppery shades of brownish red. These
have pushed off all the persistent, but scarcely evergreen,
leaves of last season, which in their scarred and shriveled con-
dition marred the beauty of the plant. The heads of bloom
are bright yellow, the individual floret shaped like those of the
Barberry, but they stand stiffly erect upon the stems instead of
drooping, like the otlier blossoms of their class. No broad-
leaved evergreen is more beautiful at this season.

Lilacs and Wistarias are blooming profusely. A large pur-
ple Persian Lilac stands near a Wistaria, which has climbed
nearly to the top of a tall Locust-tree. The effect of the two-
color tones is discordant in the extreme, and should serve for
a warning to all who use these plants for landscape-effects. In
this instance both the Lilac and the Wistaria have the sanctity
which attaches to great age. They have been in possession of
the soil much longer than we have, and it is hard to decide
which to destroy for the general good.

After four weeks of continued cloudy weather, with super-
abundant rain and cold western gales, we are now, May 12th,
enjoying perfect days, clear skies, warm sun and light refresh-
ing breezes. Phlox divaricata is common in this neighbor-
hood and is very easy to transplant. We take it up in bud or
in full bloom, impartially, with a ball of earth clinging to its
roots, which we are careful not to disturb, and transfer it as
speedily as possible to its new quarters. Treated in this man-
ner it goes on blooming contentedly in our garden and does
not seem to care whether its new home is in sun or shade.

Clumps of Senecio aureus are pretty in the herbaceous bor-
ders. The under-side of some of the young leaves is bright
purple and the flower-heads are golden in the sun. The lyrate-
primatifid cauline leaves and the ovate radical leaves present
an endless diversity of shape and are a beautiful light green.
This plant is native to our woods, but is not very common. It
is valuable in the herbaceous border, as one of the first of the
Compositse to bloom in the spring.

A group of Exochorda grandiflora in full bloom is a beauti-
ful sight. The flowering period of this shrub lasts about a
fortnight in favorable seasons.

Red-buds and Dogwoods, associated together in so many of
our woods and copses, are in their prime and give the strong-
est accent to our landscape at this season.

Rose Br.ike, w. Va. Danske Dandridge.

May 24, 1893. J

Garden and Forest.

223

Garden Gossip. — May.

THE great annual spring transformation scene take^ place
frequently in New England witfi astounding suddenness.
There is a tradition here that by the fifteenth of May vegeta-
tion is always at a certain point, whatever may have been the
laggard habit of the season, so that at times all things have to
hustle. When the British rode over to Concord after the Lex-
ington fight, on the iglh of April, 1775, the grain was waving in
the fields, and the same phenomenon was visible at the same
date in the memorable year 1865, which saw the close of the
Rebellion. Occasionally, since then, as in the year 1882, there
have been similarly early springs, but they are not of ordinary
occurrence, and the Yankee farmer is usually compelled to
wait till May to see the ripple of his growing wheat or rye
under the breeze.

In an average year, when wind and frost keep the soil
chilled, the change from brown fields to green ones, and from
bare boughs to leafy shadow, is often wrought with magical
rapidity. It was the second week in May, this year, when, in a
twinkling, the east wind, which had been blowing for a month,
went out to sea, the storms ceased, the full sun blazed fiercely
in the heavens and coaxed the mercury up into the eighties ;
the wet earth steamed, and twenty-four hours worked like en-
chantment. The Willows literally burst into bloom. One
morning saw them tipped with struggling buds, the next be-
held them ablaze with yellow catkins, about which the bees
boomed loudly. A shower of white blossoms fell upon all
the Cherry-trees, the Forsythias flamed with gold, the Swamp
Maples flushed in the sunlight, and Tuhps and Daffodils made
the garden gay with blossom.

Forth from the cold clod came the points of Day Lilies
and the leaves of the Shooting Star, while the Bee Balm
littered the ground with its fragrant shoots. English Daisies
and Pansies blossomed freely, leaves of Bluebells and Fox-
gloves and Larkspur made a brave show, and seedlings of
Columbine and Hollyhock vied with the precocious weeds for
precedence in the border. In a garden of perennials, therefore,
one does well not to meddle too early with the soil, for in it
are germinating all manner of little plants, which must attain
a certain height before the weeds can be singled out and
treated as they deserve.

A New England spring is so treacherous that the careful
gardener in these parts sets out-of-doors no house-plants until
Decoration Day, for the rural New Englander times his gar-
dening bv the public feasts and fasts. The suburban dweller
rakes his' lawn first for Fast Day, and then plants his Peas ; his
showy gardening is reserved for the 30th of May. He eats his
own strawberries, if he is lucky, on Bunker Hill Day, and his
green peas accompany his Independence salmon on the Fourth
of July. He among us who can cut his own asparagus on the
loth of May achieves true distinction, as does the gardener
who can show a dish of strawberries in perfection by the mid-
dle of June.

These early spring days are as busy as they are pleasant.
When the ground is dry enough the plow is brought to bear,
and the rich brown furrows are turned up to the sun. The
picturesqueness of the process has been revealed to us by
Troyon, who delights in the struggling horses, the active
figures of the plowmen and the splendid color of the fresh
earth. Whoso loves a garden takes pleasure in each stage of
its development, rejoicing even in the stiffness of its early
stages, when he waits for the appearance of the seed in its
straight rows or within its Box-edged borders. At all times its
grassy stretches, its shaded nooks, its clumps of shrubbery,
have their attraction, but never more than in the opening sea-
son, when each day brings a new visitor— a bud, an opening
flower, an unexpected shoot where one had given up hope of
resurrection. It is not so much the extent of a garden that
gives delight as the personal thought given to its arrangement
either for picturesqueness, for use, or for pure gorgeousness,
in which the untrained eye delights. In old gardens one reaps
the fruit of the care and thought of a past generation ; in new
ones we laVjor for a result to come, but not until we put our-
selves into it, whether wisely or unwisely, do we get the best
out of a plaisance.

Those moments one spends in eager labor are not more
valuable than the apparently idle ones, in which the mind
works and plans a future effect. There is ever a period of
Ijrooding before the real idea is born. To imitate, to do by
rule, is easy ; to hire trained skill is possible to the wealthy ; to
reflect is possible to all ; and who shall say that any realized
happiness of completion rivals the dreamy prospect of a charm
to come from the thoughtful study of to-day.
For a garden is never completed, and has always within it-

self that capacity for change and development which alone sat-
isfies the craving of the mind for novelty and exercise. If at
times we grow impatient with its slowness, again we are tried
by the luxuriance of its growth ; and in the necessity for con-
stant supervision we find the secret of its hold upon men's
minds. We readily abandon a completed labor, and that alone
which calls for untiring mental exercise retains its hold upon
our interest.

In May it is a pleasure to transplant, for everything lives.
People are afraid to move things, but they really bear change
much better than the inexperienced fear. I find that if a plant
does not thrive in one locality it is well to remove it to another
for a season till it gets vigor enough to go back to where you
want it. Wild flowers seem to do better if moved when in
blossom, and by a little attention even Poppies, which particu-
larly hate being moved about, can be persuaded to take root
in a new place. Choose the intervals between showers on a
wet day, take them up in clumps with a ball of earth, and most
of them will go on growing without flinching.

While a shrubbery is developing, there are many bare spaces,
and I have a fancy for scattering in those which show from the
window the seeds of Poppies and other gayly colored flowers
which veil in midsummer the raggedness of the surface. Pos-
sibly it is not the best art, but there are moments when the
amateur gardener of limited resources is obliged to compro-
mise with conscience. For my own part, the flaunting blos-
soms seem a pleasant contrast with the dark little evergreens
and struggling shrubs which one day are to be classically cor-
rect in mass and an effective screen, but they are pretty
leisurely in their growth, and the soil is not deep and rich
enough to admit of crowding them closely together, so, with
due attention to the proper colors, I prefer to believe that the
flowers are permissible among them.

Under the parlor-windows, in a sheltered corner, some Tu-
lips have been rejoicing our hearts with their clear rich colors
for weeks. The ground between them and the house is car-
peted with Periwinkle, and the blue blossoms and glossy leaves
compose an agreeable background to their more showy neigh-
bors. It is well to put the early flowers where they can be enjoyed
without stirring out-of-doors to see them, for the searching
winds of April render a visit to the garden often uncomforta-
ble, if it be far removed from the house.

The warm days have tempted forth the leaflets of the Vir-
ginia Creeper, and the Akebia, most satisfactory of climbers,
has arrayed itself in its delicate and becoming leaves, and
already its little chocolate buds are visible. There is a Japanese
refinement about this charming vine, with its well-shaped leaf,
its sad-colored blossom, its gentle fragrance, its persistent
growth ; for, tender as it looks, it flourishes in the most exposed
situations, and without an effort finds its way to the housetop.
Its compatriot, the Japanese Honeysuckle, shows a touch of
green all winter long, where the winds are not too keen, and
its disposition to run over the ground links the house to the
turf in very pleasing fashion. The dwarf Evergreens are look-
ing their prettiest, sending out little tufts of yellow or blue
from every branch and preparing vigorously for that feathery
growth which will soon be so beautiful.

Over the distant woodlands is creeping a soft green cloud,
which begins to hide the gray or reddish outlines of the trees ;
the Oaks and Maples are awakening, and the air is full of the
warbling of arriving birds. White buds show upon the Pear-
trees, and down the meadow all the brown grass is streaked
with green. Against the blue water of its winding stream the
yellow of the Willow-blossoms is apparent, and in moist spots
Ferns are uncurling. No longer we await the May, for with
her lovely smile of promise she is here.

Hingham, Mass.

M. C. Robbins.

Notes of Mexican Travel. — IV.

AROUND TOLUCA.

PLEASANT are my memories of the summer weeks of 1892
spent about Toluca, exploring the flora of the valley prai-
ries, of the mountain-forests and of the summit of the great
volcano. Coming from the region of San Luis Potosi, which
all the season lay dry and dormant under the white glare of a
pitiless sky, away from the view of bare and rugged hills beyond
wide stretches of plain — hills richly colored with tints of gray
and brown and purple, but a region of death to the starving
brutes which ranged over them in a vain quest for food — com-
ing through the fertile valley of the Lerma, with its miles on
miles of corn-fields, coming up onto the high prairies in the
north-western part of the state of Mexico, rolling prairies and
gently sloping glades, covered with a fine, dense pasturage

224

Garden and Forest.

I Number 274.

and bright witli Howers, a truly pastoral region, great herds of
black cattle and flocks of long-legged sheep being herded
there, coniing into the broad valley of Toluca, we settled
down beside the railroad station in the middle of August, and
worked there more or less constantly till the end of October,
when frosts had sered the vegetation of the valley.

The beautiful, extensive and fertile Valley of Toluca is tlie
most elevated valley of much extent in all the republic. Its
altitude is about 8,500 feet, or nearly a thousand feet greater
than that of the Valley of Mexico, from which it is separated
by the Sierra de las Cruces. In its upper, or southern portion,
lie Lake Lerma and its marshes, the source of the River Ler-
ma, fed by mountain brooks, which tumble down from the
range just mentioned, lying on the east and from the great
volcano on the west. At the season of our visit the upper end
of this valley was covered solid with Corn ; and corn-fields
were crowding upon the city of Toluca, blocks ot corn in the
suburbs alternating with blocks of buildings. During the
earlier months of the year wheat occupies the same ground.
In this valley, so elevated, so watered by pure streams and
daily showers, summer heats and droughts are unknown,
there is unfailing verdure and an unfailing harvest. Nearly
every evening during August and September came a thunder-
storm, rolling over the Sierra de las Cruces from the direction
of Popocatapetl ; but the rest of the day was always sunny
and delightful. Before the middle of October, however, the
rains ceased ; and thereafter the entire day was bright and dry
and warm ; and all the days were alike.

The trains of the Mexican National, which left Toluca in
the early morning, afforded us easy facilities for reaching
the prairies and river-valleys to the north of the Sierra de las
Cruces, twenty-five miles away to the east ; and, returning near
the close of day, they picked us up laden with the spoils of the
lields and set us down before the door of our hotel.

The ride by these trains from the beautiful Valley of Toluca,
over the high Sierra de las Cruces and down into the wonder-
ful Valley of Mexico, can hardly be surpassed in interest in
any part of the world. Into the east we speed, as the sun is
mounting above the sierras, over level fields, over the shallow
waters of Lake Lerma, which are half-hidden from view by
reeds, grasses and flowering water-weeds, and are whitened
at times by the tall-stemmed flowers of a Water-lily, Nympluiea
gracilis. Two engines pant and tug to pull our train up the
mountain-heights. While ascending the first steep grade on
a hill-side, we look down on an Indian village which extends
beneath us, on its roofs of tiles or of pine rifts held down by
rocks. We look away over the lake and the fields which sur-
round it, to the great volcano, standing against the west. Soon
we come up to the white-walled hacienda of Jaljalapa, with its
chapel and its flouring-mill, its flat bench of sandy tillage and
its dark pine groves. Then come Ijosky and watery glens,
spanned by bridges, then labyrinthine windings among and
around hills partly planted with the Maguey, partly wooded,
then grades laid above dark caflons and overhung with
dark forests of fir, till finally through a wild, rocky gorge,
beside a noisy stream, we come out upon the Plain of
Salazar, a green mountain meadow spread out broad in
the lap of the summit knobs. Herds are seen feeding
upon this plain. And it is flanked by dense forests of the
Mexican fir, Abies religiosa, with tall trees three feet in diam-
eter, yielding hard and valuable lumber.

Here we are on dark and bloody ground, the field of opera-
tions of brigands, when men traveled in saddle or by coach
between the capital and the cities of Toluca and Morelia. In
the mountain-walls standing around this meadow we have ex-
plored for Ferns, grottoes and deep fastnesses amid the rocks
admirably fitted for retreats for outlaws. But now, since the
railroad has come this way, the carriage-road has reverted to
a trail with water-gullies and broken bridges, along which goes
a stream of Indians on foot, men, women and children, with
their ponies and donkeys, all alike beasts of burden, stooping
under heavy loads. This ground has been stained by war
also. Less than a mile south of the Cumbre, the highest point
of the railroad, a granite monument, standing on a Ijroad
boulder, marks the site of a battle-field, the place where, on
the 30th of October, 1810, the patriot Hidalgo won a victory
over the army of the Spanish Viceroy, and then, when the
capital lay at his mercy, not twenty miles distant, wandered
away to remote cities till overtaken and slain. On that alpine
battle-field I have found new species of plants, and have
drank at the ice-cold springs — there are a hundred of them
issuing from the grassy slopes and hill-sides — which slaked the
thirst of the fightmg hosts on that October day.

At Cumbre siding the extra engine is released, the train-
brakes are examined with care and tested, and then we start

down the long, steep and sinuous grades. The terraced hill-
sides, with Maguey-fields and garden-plats, the villages and the
Indian cabins claim our attention. We glide over glens on the
loftiest and slenderest of iron bridges, and we thread a long
and tortuous cation, passing from bank to bank of a switt
stream hugging sleep hlulTs, till we emerge into the open val-
ley at Rio Honda Station. Villages, plantations and meadows
are passed in swift succession, and we enter the great city.
From tlie summit of one of the foot-hills just passed by us' I
looked off into the east one evening, as the sun was setting,
upon one of the fairest and grandest scenes which the world
can offer. At my feet lay fields covered with luxuriant vege-
tation and dotted with picturesque villages. In the midst of
the valley spread the Mexican capital, with its hundreds of
towers and domes. Beyond the city gleamed the lakes, and
in the far background the vast mountains stood against the
sky, their summits crowned with peaks white with eternal
snows.

Twenty miles to the south-west of Toluca stands the volcano,
or Nevado, of Toluca. This mountain ranks fourth in point of
altitude within the republic, its loftiest pinnacle being about
15,000 feet al)ove the sea. Since it rises by easy slopes and
terminates in a vast bowl of a crater, its figure is a truncated
cone much depressed. The rim of the crater is ragged, show-
ing several prominent peaks. Far-reaching buttresses flank
the mountain on the north-east, south-east and west. Its
southern slope falls away rapidly to the hot lowlands. Its mid-
dle slopes are covered with evergreen forests. Above the
timber-line grassy slopes extend up to the rim of the crater.
On certain mornings, or for two or three days at a time during
the rainy season, these bare slopesappear whitened with snow.
When the daily storms take other directions, and the sun shines
unobstructed by clouds, the snows disappear for a time. So
much had I known of Toluca during three years. At length
the time came to gratify my desire for an intimate acquaint-
ance.

having been informed of the superstitions of the Indians
living about the mountain — that sacrifices to the sun-god were
once made within the crater, and that offerings of food for the
spirits of the dead are carried up the mountain to this day —
and of their jealousy of strangers, perhaps on account of mines
and of the treasure of robbers known to be hidden there, I had
recourse to my official letters, and first armed myself with a
paper from the Governor of tlie state.

Charlotte, Vt. C. G. PrittgU.

New or Little-known Plants.
Bromelia fastuosa.

THIS is a handsome and useful Bromeliad for cultiva-
tion in large stoves. It grows to a large size, form-
ing a rosette of from sixty to one hundred leaves, which are
five feet long, rigid, arching, channeled, armed with stout
hooked marginal spines and colored bright green. Its in-
florescence is an erect terminal panicle about one and a
half feet high, clothed at the base with numerous bright
scarlet leaves a foot long, the upper part crowded with
woolly bracts and flowers, in which the reddish violet-
colored petals are iriost conspicuous. Two large plants flow-
ered in July, last year, in one of the stoves at Kew, when they
were much admired. They afterward fruited, and the ac-
companying picture (page 225) is from a photograph of one
of them made in February, this year. The fruits are about
the size of bantams' eggs, and they are colored bright
lemon-yellow. They are very ornamental, the plant figured
having been attractive all winter, and it is still very
fine.

There are six species of Bromelia, all of them very much
alike in stature and foliage. The one here illustrated was de-
scribed and well figured by Lindleyinhis Collectanea Botanica
in 1821 from a plant flowered in England. It is a native of
Brazil, and is now not uncommon in cultivation. If treated
well it grows very freely, and reproduces itself by means of
basal suckers. It likes a stove temperature, plenty of
moisture and a rich soil.

Bromelia argentina is a new species described by Mr.
Baker in the AVw Bulletin, 1892, p. 193. It is the source of
Caraguatd fibre, well known to travelers and others as an ex-
cellent material for textile purposes, but the plant from which
it was obtained was not known until last year, when speci-

Mav 24, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

225

mens of both plant and fibre were procured for Kevv from
the Argentine Republic. This species resembles B. fastuosa
very closely. Another handsome stove-plant, which is also
ofsome importance on account of the fibre of its leaves, is B.
Penguin, the Penguin of Central America and the West Indies.
It has long been in cultivation at Kew, where it sometimes
flowers, and is as attractive as any of the Bromeliads.

London. W. WhiSOn.

a horse, and about thirty stems, each as thick as a child's
leg, and measuring from five to eight feet in length. This
giant is accommodated in the same house with the Victoria
regia and the Double Cocoanuf, and where the great Amor-
phophallus Titanum flowered in 1889. Should the Orchid
flower in this house it will be a sensational event, for G.
speciosum, although often tried, has only rarely bloomed
in Europe. Even then the display has been disappointing

f'K- 35- — Bromelia f;

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Grammatophyllum speciosum. — Probably the largest speci-
men Orchid ever seen alive in Europe is a huge mass of this
plant, which Messrs. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, have re--
cently presented to Kew. It weighs about a quarter of a
ton and consists of a mass of roots as large as the body of

stuosa. — See page 224.

to those who know what the inflorescence is like in the
Malayan regions. The plant there grows on the trunks of
the Durian and other large trees in moist places, luxuriating
when thus situated so as to reach the water of a river or
creek with its roots. Specimens measuring over forty feet in
circumference have been seen, bearing thirty tall scapes of
flowers. Although the scapes are described in J'eitch's
Manual as being seven feet high, I am assured by Mr. San-
der that they have been seen fifteen feet high. They are

226

Garden and Forest.

[Number 274.

copiously branched and crowded with flowers, each flower
being six inches across, and composed of spreading wavy
segments colored yellow, with large red-purple spots.
Smaller plants of this Orchid have been in cultivation at
Kew for some years.

Stanhopea .\.mesiaxa. — A plant of this new, distinct and
beautiful Orchid in flower was shown last week by Messrs.
Low & Co., who imported it among a batch of S. Lowiana,
which it resembles in the size and form of its flowers, but
differs from in color, being pure white. The plant shown
bore two flowers, each of which measured tive inches across,
the large fleshy hornless labellum suggesting a curiously
formed piece of white porcelain. The leaves of the plant
had petioles nine inches long and blades fifteen inches by
five inches ; the pseudo-bulbs were large, pear-shaped and
brownish green. Stanhopeas are not prime favorites in
this country, otherwise we might say of this new introduc-
tion that it would be certain to find general favor. The
flowers were deliciously fragrant.

Phal.e.sopsis tetr.\spis. — .\lthough introduced into English
gardens from the .\ndaman Islands by !Major General Berke-
ley twelve years ago, and described at that time by Reich-
enbach from a plant flowered by the late Mr. John Day as
" a very free-flowering species, bearing a rich panicle of
ivory-white flowers in the way of P. violacea, delightfully
fragrant," this Phaljenopsis is rarely heard of among
cultivators. There are several plants of it in flower at Kew
now. Each flower is one and a half inches across, with
broad, fleshy, pure white sepals and petals, and a narrow,
hairy labellum blotched with yellow. According to General
Berkeley, this species grows on Mangrove and other trees
in muddy swamps at the extreme end of the creeks, where
the water is fresh and where the plants hang from the
branches a few feet above the water, growing with extraor-
dinary luxuriance. It is a first-rate species of Phalaenopsis
for the garden.

New Hybrid Orchids. — The following were shown in
flower last week, and received certificates : Laelia Latona,
a hybrid between L. purpurata and L. cinnabarina ; Laelio-
Cattleya Ascania, a hybrid between L. xanthina and C.
Trianoe (Veitch) ; Dendrobium Nestor, a hybrid between
D. Parishii and D. superbum (C. Winn). An award of
merit was given to Masdevallia Geleniana, a hybrid raised
by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. four years ago from M. Shuttle-
worthii and M. Wageneri. It is a pretty free-flowering plant
intermediate in character between the two parents. Lycaste
Pcelmani is a pretty species in the way of L. aromatica,
with tall, erect, single-flowered scapes, the flowers being
formed of three long lance-shaped outer segments colored
chocolate-brown, and two involute inner segments colored
citron-yellow, the lip being narrow and fleshy and clothed
with hairs suggesting a caterpillar. It was shown last
week by Messrs. F. Sander & Co.

Veitchs' Ma.vual of Orchidaceous Plants. — Part IX. of
this most valuable scientific work has lately been published.
It contains descriptions and figures of the cultivated spe-
cies of Cymbidium, Zygopetalum, Lycaste, Cycnoches,
Stanhopea, Maxillaria, Trichopilia, Grarnmatophyllum and
a few other allied genera. The descriptive and historical
information is of the same high standard as has character-
ized this work from the first. Its preparation must have
entailed an enormous amount of labor in research, etc.
Lovers of Orchids, both botanical and horticultural, are
fortunate in having such a thorough study of these plants
as they are known under cultivation. This last part con-
tains 190 pages, and is publisjied by the authors, its price
being thirteen shillings and sixpence.

Tuberous Aroids. — There has been an exceptionally in-
teresting display of flowers, and, I am afraid I must also
add, foetid odor from the various species of tropical Amor-
phophallus and allied genera grown at Kew. A collection
of these plants, if ••Itivated so as to get them to flower
simultaneously, v.-ould create a sensation. Remarkable in
form, large in size, attractive in color and powerful in odor,
the inflorescences of Amorphophallus, Godwinia, Zypho-

nium, Arisoema, Sauromatum and several other genera are
unrivaled among Aroids for genuine interest. Besides the
older species, which have flowered freely at Kew this
spring, several new ones have bloomed for the first time.
Among others, Amorphophallus oncophyllus, an Indian spe-
cies with a large trumpet-shaped spathe colored yellow and
red, and an erect club-like white spadix. A new and as yet
unnamed genus introduced from Sierra Leone by Mr. Scott-
Elliott is at the present time a great attraction to visitors.
It has a large, inflated, hood-like spadix of various shades
of green, fantastic-looking and at the same time decidedly
ornamental. Amorphophallus Rex is about to develop its
flowers. It also is a new Indian discovery.

Macaranga Porteana. — This handsome foliage-plant was
introduced a few years ago to Paris from the Philippines,
and has been distributed under the name of Mappa, a genus
now merged in Macaranga. A specimen of the plant is
now in flower in a stove at Kew, where a figure has been
prepared for publication in the Botanical Magazine. The
plant at Kew is four feet high, with numerous ovate peltate
leaf-blades nearly two feet in diameter, on stalks two feet
long ; when young their color is dull purple. The flowers
are small and of no ornament. There is a very handsome
specimen of this plant in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.
Macaranga belongs to Euphorbiaceae and consists of some
eighty species of tropical trees and shrubs.

Rhodomyrtus tome.vtosa is a greenhouse shrub of more
than ordinary interest. I saw it last week in flower in
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons' Nursery at Chelsea, a compact,
elegant little pyramid two feet high, with ovate gray-green
leaves, strongly nerved as in Melastomaceaj, and bearing
on the ends of the branchlets loose clusters of pale mauve
flovi'ers an inch and a half across, with a brush-like bunch
of stamens, characteristic of the Myrtles. Messrs. Veitch
call it by its old name, Myrtus tomentosa. It is an old garden
plant, but is scarcely known now. It is a native of various
parts of India, where it is known as Hill Gooseberry, its
fruit, about the size of cherries, being fleshy, sweet and
aromatic and colored dark purple. It is eaten raw or made
into jam called "Thaonty." This is a plant worth looking
after, both for its decorative value and for its fruit.

London. W. WatSOn.

Cultural Department.
Protection of Plants in Winter.

IN the history of the introduction of exotic plants into culti-
vation a great deal has depended upon experiments, in ad-
dition to a knowledge of the surroundings of the species in
their native homes, in order to find the best conditions for
their development in a new soil and climate. It has taken
many tests and many failures to find the conditions under
which numerous Orchids will develop best in our greenhouses,
and the records of the introduction of hardy plants contain not
a few cases of a similar nature. When the Gingko was first
brought to England it was practically treated as a greenhouse
plant, although now it takes its place with the ordinary forest-
trees.

With many of the new varieties of fruiting-plants origfinated
every year, and varieties of ornamental plants such as Rhodo-
dendrons, especially when the hardiness of the parent or pa-
rents is not well proved, it is necessary to subject them to the
rigors of our cold winters and hot summers to find out what
they will endure. In such a varied collection as that at the
Arnold Arboretum many experiments of this nature have
necessarily to be made, especially for winter protection, and
the results are often interesting. Three or four kinds of pro-
tection are usually employed. Some plants, like Rhododen-
drons, are sheltered from the direct rays of the sun and
sudden changes of temperature, by branches of ever-
greens set up around them ; others of smaller stature are
covered by leaves or straw and branches laid on top ; some,
which are sufficiently pliable, are bent over to the ground,
pegged down and covered with leaves, on the top of which
soil is thrown; others have the soil piled directly on their
branches and stems without an intervening layer of leaves
or straw.

Where the shrubs are pliable and can be bent to the ground,

May 24, 1893.1

Garden and Forest.

227

probably the best protection is a covering of a few leaves with
some soil on top. Direct covering with soil seems more liable
to cause injury to the buds, especially if the uncovering is de-
layed too long in spring. It is important that the soil should
be so ridged up that it will shed all surplus moisture and keep
comparaiively dry. A covering of straw or leaves alone is ex-
tremely likely to afford shelter for mice, which gnaw the plants
and so do them greater injury than would be inflicted by the
cold or exposure. Heaths covered with leaves here have been
almost destroyed by the rodents which found a winter shelter
among them. Where there is any danger from these animals
it is an excellent plan to place a barrel or box, with both ends
out, over the shrub, and then pack the leaves around the
stems. The mice will be kept out, and the open end will give
plenty of light and air to the plant. It may be instructive to
note how these various forms of protection have affected certain
plants. There was more snow last winter than there has been for
several seasons ; the cold was more severe, and occurred at
times when there was comparatively little snow on the ground.

The Franklinia or Gordonia Altamaha (G. pubescens), a
native of Georgia, though In its home a small tree, may be
grown here as a shrub and made to produce some of its beau-
tiful single Camellia-like flowers every autumn. Bent to the
ground and well covered with leaves and soil, it has come out
in perfect condition this spring. Of two plants of the Japanese
Ilex Sieboldi growing side by side, one covered with soil and
the other left uncovered, the exposed plant seems in even bet-
ter condition than the protected one, showing the perfect har-
diness of the species, as there is not a sign ot injury. Cardgana
Chamlagu is perfectly hardy in this latitude. Of two plants
side by side, one exposed all winter and the other covered with
earth, the protected specimen actually seemed to have suffered
from the process, and looked as though it had been somewhat
smothered.

In spite of protection, the Indigoferas are destroyed to the
surface of the ground every winter. The leguminous twiner,
Pueraria Thunbergiana, has not yet shown itself adapted to
our climate, although considerable lengths of the stem
sometimes survive. This is a rampant-growing plant with
soft, supple, spongy, woody stems, and, where perfectly
hardy, will cover very high walls. Even here it makes great
growths in a single summer, but a longer growing season is
required for its full development.

The European Broom (Cytisus Scoparius) and the Gorse
need some kind of protection here, and even when protected
portions of them may be brown and dry in spring. A large
plant of the western Spiraea discolor ariaefolia had half
of its branches and stems exposed and the other side cov-
ered with soil during the past winter. The protected half
is in fine condition, while many of the unprotected branches
are dead, and those which survive will probably produce few, if
any, flowers. The same experiment was tried with a large
plant of the pretty Corylopsis pauciflora, the northern half of
the bush being bent over and covered with soil and the other
half exposed. The result was that the soil-covered branches
bore a great profusion of their early pale yellow flowers, while
only a tew belated blossoms appeared on the other half, and
many of the buds and twigs were dead.

The Diervillas or Weigelas are usually perfectly hardy here
without protection, but they should be in a well-drained
soil or on a slope. Even covering, if in a wet soil, will
not always save them. The common Laurel (Prunus Lauro-
cerasus) of English gardens cannot be considered hardy in
this climate, but a plant of it in the Arboretum has come out
fresh and green every spring for several seasons, owing to the
fact that its branches have been covered with a little mound
of soil in winter. Evergreens of this kind and most other
plants should have the covering removed before warm weather
comes and vigorous growth begins, otherwise the foliage and
smaller branches are liable to suffer. cv /- <v a

Arnold Arboretum. /. G. jack.

Vegetable Notes.

TN every good private garden Okra should have a place. The
^ varieties known as Density and White Velvet are great im-
provements over the old-time southern Okra, and should be
more generally grown. With a little care in the season of
planting, success with this vegetable may be had as far north
as this latitude. A succession sho"uld be provided for, as the
pods soon become too tough for use if allowed to ripen their
seeds. If it is not desirable to make more than one sowing,
the pods may be picked at the proper time, sliced and evap-
orated, when they will keep into the winter, retaining their
flavor almost perfectly. This vegetable is a prime favorite in
the south, where it is more generally known as Gumbo.

Globe Artichoke is a vegetable which is too rarely seen in
our gardens. Few persons who have once tried it would care
to do without it, and almost every one relishes its delicate fla-
vor. It is of easy culture, a quick forced growth of the flower-
head, the part eaten, being the only requirement.

The New Zealand Spinach is a variety which remains ingood
condition for a long time. In favored localities it may be
grown the year round. This variety is not as good in flavor
as the older kinds, but its ability to endure heat and drought,
and the fact that it does not go to seed as quickly as the older
sorts, will make it a prime favorite.

The Sandwich Island Salsify is a new-comer of value. It
grows more evenly, and is not so apt to branch and fork as the
old variety. In my experience it is better for lifting and storing
for winter use, and will remain dormant longer in an ordinary
cellar.

Many varieties of Lettuce have been introduced in the last
few years. Except for forcing, the demand is for a close-
heading Cabbage-lettuce. The Deacon, Onondaga, Boston
Cabbage and others of that strain are preferred, to the Cos or
other non-heading varieties. It is surprising that the Cos Let-
tuce finds so little favor among gardeners ; but this may be
explained by the fact that it is usually grown in the same man-
ner as the other varieties, instead of being blanched as it
should be to obtain its perfection.

Many quick-growing varieties of Radishes are offered by
seedsmen, but of them all the Ne Plus Ultra will, in my
opinion, give the best satisfaction, both for forcing and open
planting. This variety may be forced to good edible size
in three weeks. The foliage is small; in full sunlight, the
root is round and blunt, of a fine attractive color. This variety
originated, I believe, in Iowa several years ago.

Geneva, N. Y. C. E, Huttn.

Plants in Bloom.

""p HIS week the flowering shrubs and trees and the tender
-•■ foliage, which as yet does not hide the brown branches of
the trees, distract attention from the flower-garden. The glory
of nature, fairly awakened, is about us on every side, and it
requires an effort to consider restricted views or details such
as make up the garden. However, this is daily gaining in
color and foliage, though as yet nothing in the way of tender
plants has been added. The Lilies-of-the- Valley are showing their
dainty bells under the trees in contrast to the gold-laced Poly-
anthus. The first Peonies and Columbines are showing color,
and the dwarf Irises are in full flower. A very pleasing acci-
dental effect in the border is a mass of yellow Iris Chamsiris
behind a mat of Rock Cress, with a foil of Rose-bushes at the
rear. This perfectly hardy, bearded Iris is effective in masses ;
it is slightly deeper in color than I. lutescens and of similar
character. The variety Olbiensis has a purple flower, rather
richer than the dwarfer I. pumila, and very similar in effect to I.
aphylla. I. pumila alba also flowers at this time. Another
dwarf species, I. Cengialti, has a distinct character, being
of a bright purple color, with yellow beard. But none of
these are as pretty as our little I. cristata, with its light lilac
flowers.

These are red letter days in the garden, when some perfect
or patiently waited-for flower appears, and one carries away a
pleasant vision to attend him through the routine of the busy
hours. I. Iberica is a flower usually patiently awaited, and is of
quaint and striking beauty. The falls are reticulated like those of
I. Susiana, and have a large dark brown blotch. The standards
vary som-ewhat in color ; in those now open they are nearlv
white, with a pinkish reflection. This seems the easiest On-
cocyclus Iris to establish in the garden, possibly from the fact
that the leaves are hard and not injured in the severest
weather. It precedes I. Susiana in flower and is certainly as
attractive.

Of the small flowers now in bloom, Fritillaria biflora is one
of quiet beauty, with the coloring of a green Cypripedium,
reddish spots and markings on a green base. It has ex-
panded, bell-shaped flowers and is a Californian species. F.
tristis, bell-shaped, produces deep maroon, almost black,
flowers velvety on the inside, with a glaucous sheen outside,
and delicately perfumed. These, with F. aurea and a num-
ber of others, are well worth the attention of growers of choice
small plants, especially if there is a rockery available.

I have stated before that in my garden I have experimented
with some success with a raised border instead of a rockery ;
this furnishes good drainage and keeps the crown of plants
from excessive wet. It is such a handy place to plant things
that it is apt to be very much crowded, but from year to year
it becomes more attractive as the small, slow-growing plants
cover more space, and the mat plants encroach on the path and

228

Garden and Forest.

[Number 274 .

break its formalitv. This border is filled mostly with small
plants, not very showy or producing what are known as ser-
viceable flowers, and I cannot claim that it proves very inter-
esting to the ordinary visitor. Man generally does not seem
to have his perception of beauty in form and color very well

developed. ~ „ ,- j

Ei«ib«lih.N.j. y. N.Gerard.

Chrysanthemums.— Growers of Chrysanthemums hereabout
agree that the first of June is early enough to commence the
propagation of plants for specimen blooms, except in the case
of new or rare varieties. Cuttings rooted early in May and
planted about the middle of June are apt to develop a very
considerable proportion of crown-buds late in July, and expe-
rience has shown that it is better to discard these. A second
crown, or a terminal, will probably not develop into so large a
flower, but it is certain to be of better form and finer in color
and finish. With the trade it is becoming a question whether
it pays to grow inordinately large blooms. Moderately large
flowers can be grown in much less space and time, and they
find a ready market, bringing in better returns for the space
occupied. To propagate Chrysanthemums in summer, it
is essential that the cuttings be soft, and they should be in-
serted without delay. For the first few days the cutting bench
must be kept saturated with water, shaded ; and, if possible,
closed by panes of glass laid across the bench during the day-
time. These should be removed each evening and on dull
days. The cuttings ought never to be allowed to wilt, and if
they are found in this condition in the morning, enough water
should be given at once to freshen them.

WcUesIey, Mass.

T. D. H.

The Forest.

In the Amador Second-growth Forests.

AMADOR COUNTY is one of the most neglected portions of
the Central Sierra region of California. It lies between
Calaveras and El Dorado, and extends from the edge of the
valley eastward to the summit. In outline it is something like
the isthmus of Tehuantepec, irregular, and narrow in the
middle. It is large, thinly populated and very mountainous.
Historically it has been one of the most active of the old
mining counties. Large quartz mines are in operation there,
but the placer mines were long ago exhausted.

A branch railroad extends east from Gait, in Sacramento
County, to lone, in Amador. Stages run to the towns and vil-
lages as far as Volcano, about twenty-five miles further east,
and 3,000 feet above the sea. At the present time (May ist),
and for six or eight weeks longer, Volcano will be the end of
the stage route ; in summer the stages go " to the snow-line."
For the trip to Volcano the last of April is probably the pleas-
antest part of the year, for the roads are not dusty and the
weather is delightful, though the nights are still cold — about
thirty-five degrees at times — so that one needs a heavy over-
coat if traveling late.

When Amador was first settled, Yellow Pines of great size
stood in forests down to the 1,200-foot level, and Sugar Pines
began to mingle with them at about 1,500 feet. A little higher
came the Librocedrus, and then the Douglas Spruce, while the
Pines continued. The Oaks were also very large and fine. All
these earlier trees, except a few Oaks, have been cut down,
and the whole face of the country, except in small scattered
clearings, is covered with second growth and coarse bushes of
no economic value. All the lumber used by the people comes
from forty miles further east. Even there the large trees are
nearly gone, except in almost inaccessible gulches. The sell-
ing price of rough lumber averages $20.00 per thousand in
Jackson, the county-seat, though it is hauled forty miles over
very steep roads. None of the mills are making much money.
Spruce, cedar and pine lumber are rated at about the same
price. The mines use a |^reat deal of heavy timber in shafts,
drifts, tunnels and buildmgs. Teamsters are seen bringing
down logs sixteen feet long and three feet in diameter to the
lumber-yards of the leading mine companies ; such a log is
worth fifteen or sixteen dollars, and hundreds of them may be
seen piled up near the mine-shafts.

In some parts of the country there are gulches that are fairly
dotted with old tunnels, shafts and dumps. Everywhere there
is evidenceof immense energies spentuponminesnowworked
out or abandoned, and millions of feet of lumber have been
buried underground. The undeveloped resources of the re-
gfion are very great, and new ledges are being opened every
year. It is easy to see where the famous forests of central
Amador have gone, and now the forests of the upper ridges

are being used. Although the county is in one of the best por-
tions of the Sierras, its available timber-supply has steadily dc
creased since its settlement. The view of some writers that the
timber-supply of the country is increasing seems most ridicu-
lous here.

A great deal of the lumber cut has been taken from Govern-
ment land. Everybody admits this, but seems to think it hardly
right to prevent it. Every saw-mill owns land, of course, but
somehow all theaccessible Government sections are in second
growth, exactly the same as the sections that have been en-
tered. That tells the story to an unbiased observer.

The second growth is very beautiful, and even over the
larger part of many square miles it is in exactly the con-
dition now that an intelligent forester would like to have it, if
he were to take charge of the district. Twenty thousand acres
of second-growth Pine (P. Ponderosa and P. Lambertiana) are
to be seen fi-om the county road between Clinton and Volcano
(about ten miles), that only need thinning and protecting to
become in due time as valuable as any forest on the Sierras.
There is a great deal more that would repay care, and many
thousand acres which are valueless except for timber, but whicii
could be planted. The settlers start fires to destroy brush and
under-growth, and improve pasture, and every few years
these fires run over large territories, destroying the second-
growth Pines. There are not many sheep and cattle in the
region now, but they come up from the valleys later. The
second-growth Pines average five or six inches in diameter,
with many small trees struggling in the dense under-growth
of the more treeless slopes of chapparal.

The soil is really excellent mountain soil, fit for large tree
growth. The red soil is the best, and will easily support grass,
grain, fruit-trees, Olives and Grape-vines. The sand soil (de-
composed granite) is much poorer, but it grows good Pines,
and should certainly be left in forest. The total area of the
county is 360,000 acres, nearly one-fourth of which is Govern-
mentland. The population is about 12,000. I think thai I am
speaking within bounds when I say that two-thirds of the en-
tire area of the county is better adapted to the growth of forest
than to any other industry.

One of the most instructive and remarkable features of the
region is to be seen in the old orchards, planted in the fifties,
but much neglected for twenty years past. Many trees are
seedlings and of immense vigor and strength. Cherries, Pears,
Plums and Apples are seen in full bloom in April, in flats
along the streams, or near old cabins. Sometimes they stand
by the road-side, or in abandoned clearings. I hope to take
time in the fruiting season to study these and other old and
neglected mountain orchards, whose hardiness and vigor un-
der extremely adverse conditions are most surprising.

The grandest April-blooming tree of the region is Cornus
Nuttallii. A specimen thirty or forty feet high, on Jackson
Creek, illuminated the whole hill-side with its large white
flowers. There are not many of these trees in the region, but
there are a few in every valley. I hope to see this superb
Dogwood planted in more of our lowland shrubberies, where
it is almost unknown.

Berkeley, Calif. Charles Howard Shtnn.

Correspondence.

The Gardens at Wellesley.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Last winter was the most severe one we have experi-
enced at Wellesley for several years. The thermometer
ranged about zero for many days in succession, and at one
time it fell to thirteen degrees below. Such weather is not
favorable for Rhododendrons generally, and it was to be ex-
pected that some of the more tender varieties would suffer
even after they had stood out successfully through three or
four comparatively mild winters. Such plants as J, Mackin-
tosh, J. M. Brooks, F. D. Godman, Mrs. Shuttleworth, J.Walter,
St. Simon, Princess Mary of Cambridge, Kate Waterer, George
Paul and Mrs. John Glutton in some cases have been injured
in the foliage and in the flower-buds. Still these varieties are
great acquisitions, and I have full confidence that with good
cultivation they will become successfully and permanently es-
tablished.

The following varieties have not suffered with me : Lady
Gray Edgerton, C. S. Sargent, Ralph Sanders, Lady Armstrong,
Charles Dickens, Bacchus, Mr. H. Ingersoll, Mrs. Milner, E. S.
Rand, Charles Bagley and Neilsonii. These may be, therefore,
confidently included among perfectly reliable varieties, as they
have been cultivated by me for many years, and have endured
the past winter without the slightest injury. In some cases the

May 24, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

229

foliage of the old hardy varieties has been browned and the
branches have been broken by the heavy weight of the snow,
so that the general appearance of our collection is not so prom-
ising as it is in ordinary seasons. I may add that many flower-
buds are killed here and there, but these will be hardly missed
in the abundance of bloom. With the Queen all the buds are
killed, while the foliage has not suffered.

It affords me great pleasure to be able to make a more satis-
factory report concerning my conifers. They do not seem to
have suffered at all from the severity of the season. I can
hardly imagine anything more healthy and satisfactory than
the whole collection appears to-day. Especially beautiful are
Abies Alcoquiana, A. brachyphyllum and A. Veitchii. Taxus
cuspidata, T. brevifolia and all the Retinosporas seem in per-
fect health. Even a Cryptomeria twelve feet high has not been
injured in the least. ,, ,, ,,

Wellesley. Mass. •"• •"■ Hutinewell.

Plants in Bloom at Passaic, New Jersey.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest:

Sir, — Paeonia Smoutii is an attractive species very close to P.
tenuifolia. It has deeply cut leaves, with segments as broad as
those of the variety Latifolia. The flowers are very dark
carmine, single, and with a large cluster of yellow stamens. It
is well known that the Fennel-leaved Pseonies are not only
the earliest, but among the most attractive, species of the
family. The double-flowered variety has the most finely cut
foliage, some of Mr. Woolson's plants having leaves of almost
thread-like fineness. The Tree Pseonies were just ready to
break into flower, and were in luxuriant health, the cool but
frostless season having been exceptionally favorable to their
growth. Campanula rhomboides is a Bell-flower with dark
blue flowers about an inch long. The leaves are very small
and dark. It has a prostrate habit, and is valuable for its early
blooming The season has also been kind to Saxifraga crassifo-
lia. The plants, with luxuriant, richly colored, leathery leaves and
stems two feet tall, furnished with large clusters of rose-
colored flowers, produced a noble effect. The double Cuckoo-
flower (Cardamine pratensis), also in a moist location, was
very attractive. It blooms freely with double white, slightly
tinted, flowers, rather Stock-like in effect. With it were grow-
ing Mertensia Virginica and Saxifraga Virginiensis, the latter a
beautiful little species with white Chamomile-like flowers ; a
nice plant for a moist spot in a rockery. Epimideum niveum
is also a dainty gem for the rockery, the pure white flowers
and delicate foliage being light and attractive.

Dodecatheon meadea alba is a recently discovered form of
the American Cowslip, and more attractive than the type, the
flowers being pure white and apparently as free in growth as
the common one. Doronicum Harpur Crewe stands nobly
out as the best yellow composite of the season. The narrow-
petaled large flowers, pure golden in color, would be an orna-
ment to any garden at any time.

This nursery is very rich in American plants, most of those
at all attractive being naturalized either in the open or on a
wooded hill-side. Trillium grandiflorum was in great beauty
in the latter location, with surroundings of the hardy Cypripe-
diums, Hepaticas, Erythroniums, Galax, Shortia, Ferns of
various kinds, and many other attractive plants. The low-
growing, prostrate and mat plants are now very attractive.
Daphne Cneorum, the most beautiful of prostrate shrubs
was in sweet blossom, and one wonders that it does not adorn
every door-yard, being a plant easily grown and readily in-
creased. Under the name Genista immaculata is grown here
an attractive prostrate shrub with pink flowers, which seems
to be a desirable plant for locations, say among rocky ledges
or stony banks. It has stiff, straight twiggy stems. Dicentra
eximea is a plant which has never awakened my enthu-
siasm before, but there was a strain here in full flower and
perfect foliage, which was certainly attractive, both in leaf
and flower. The finely cutfoliage of this plant would make
it desirable in any garden even without the flowers.

Among the low-flowering plants I noticed great breadths of
the dwarf Phloxes. The variety Sadie, in masses, is very
striking, though not as white as the Bride, having a slight tint,
giving a satiny effect in the sunlight. There was one especial
variety, darker than P. atropurpurea, whose name I did not learn,
but the color is clearer and purer than this good variety. Iberis
Gihraltarica and I. Garrexiana should be known and grown by
every one, being at this season the best of spreading dwarf
plants with white flowers. The last-named is a little later, but
the former the purer in color — an absolute white. These
hardy Candytufts keep blooming a long time. The Ceras-
tiums also form dense mats of green foliage and are now cov-
ered with pure white flowers, a half to three-fourths of an inch

in width. C. Biebersteinii and C. Boisseri are very similar in
habit, the latter more profuse in flower, the former, however,
not less pleasing. Of the blue-flowered dwarf plants, we find
the best are Veronica cerajoides and V. rupestris, the latter
following in flower and just now making perfect mats of color.
They are perfectly hardy. Auriculas and Primroses and Poly-
anthus are in season, and the Iris species in great force, with
other promising flowers, many of which Mr. Woolson always
has under trial.

New York. G*

Recent Publications.

Art Out-of-doors, or Some Hints on Good Taste in Garden-
ing. By Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. Charles Scribner's
Sons, New York.

Much of the text of this little book is not unfamiliar to our
readers, since it is largely composed of papers which have
already appeared in this journal, but they will be glad to have,
in so convenient and attractive a form, a summary of those
fundamental ideas about good taste in gardening which it is
important to diffuse among the community.

The book does not claim to lay down exact rules for tlie
guidance of the gardener, but the careful reader cannot fail to
find his ideas enlarged by the clear expression of those princi-
ples of the art of gardening which are the result of study and
experience, as well as of natural taste. It is a book to be read
carefully and considered well before one attempts to act upon
its precepts. Thus treated, its worth will be recognized, and
to the learner it will prove a genuine aid in forming his judg-
ment and guiding him in his work.

The author, from wide reading and close association with
the masters of the art she expounds, knows the last word that
has been uttered on it up to this point. What the best land-
scape-architects have taught us in their arrangements, this
little volume teaches us in words of well-chosen simplicity
and directness. The style is always clear and the matter in-
teresting, and each chapter is introduced by a quaint and ap-
propriate extract from some of the literary lovers of gardens,
which gives us a key to the subject which is to follow and puts
the reader in tune for its lesson. The writer shows us that
the fine art of gardening is not confined to parks and extended
pleasure-grounds, but can be practiced in a small area, and
with limited material ; that taste can be exercised in the plant-
ing of one tree or shrub, in the laying-out of a gravel walk, or
the disposition of a flower-bed ; that close thought is needed
even if the simplest effects are to be produced, and that great
results are only the outcome of long deliberation and study.
Emphasis is given to the necessity for employing the skilled
landscape-gardener before a house is built, since his advice is
as valuable upon the position of the dwelling as upon that of
the trees and shrubs and lawns among which it is to stand ;
and above all the author insists that no planting should be
done without a preconceived plan, in which individual plants
shall play a specified part.

Mrs. Van Rensselaer gives hints about the laying-out of
grounds in the approaches and near neighborhood of the
house ; about the proper use and grouping of shrubs with
regard to character, color and size ; about the proper relations
of trees and vines to buildings, and the appropriate materials
for construction, which are all of great value. Her sugges-
tions about balconies and piazzas are fresh and instructive, and
her ideas about flower-beds, though somewhat difficult to carry
out, are all sound and artistic.

There is an interesting chapter on formal gardening, and
some charming ones upon the beauty of trees, in which the
writer permits herself some play of fancy concerning the re-
pose of certain trees as contrasted with the unrest of others,
and shows a tender sense of their individual characteristics, as
well as artistic perception of their values in composition. In
these we get a more personal note than is generally admitted,
the whole tone of the book being rather abstract and authori-
tative as becomes what is really a treatise. In the chapter on
the Love of Nature, this note is again struck with a skill that
makes us wish it could be oftener heard :

"The true lover of Nature loves her as he loves mankind.
He has his favorite corners of the world as he has his friends,
and does not constantly wish to exchange them for others, or
perpetually contrast their attractions with the attractions of
others. If every one admires them his joy in them is increased ;
but if lie is almost alone in his appreciation, this fact is in it-
self the source of a special kind of pleasure and pride. He
seeks for novelty and freshness in Nature as he likes to make
acquaintance with interesting strangers, but comes back as
gladly to the familiar scene as to the familiar face. The tree
which he has watched as it grew from a sapling to fine ma-

230

Garden and Forest.

[Number 274.

turity, delights him even more than a finer tree about which no
memories or hopes are clustered. Wlien he drives through a
beautiful new country his eyes are perpetually charmed ; but
when he drives through the roads around his home his heart is
touched, and his imagination is stirred by the beauty of past
years as well as by the beauty of to-day, and by the hope that
next year's beauty also may belong to him. Each tree is a
friend, each bush has a special message for his special ear.
Each flower is greeted as the child of otlier flowers vvhich he
knew last summer in the same corner of the road-side. He
not only admires what he sees ; he is interested by everything
he sees in a sense that is impossible where things are beheld
for the first time."

There is a good "Word for Books" among these useful
chapters and a wise insistence upon the study of botany as an aid
to the true enjoyment of flowers and an addition to the pleasure
of one's daily walks. A very admirable passage about the ar-
rangement of the grounds at Chicago for the World's Fair pays
a deserved tribute to the genius of Mr. Olmsted ; and the final
chapter, concerning the true position of the landscape-gar-
dener in the artistic world, sets forth the value of this art,
about which people know so little.

As a whole the book is a useful and dignified contribution
to the literature of gardens. It is sound, helpful and well
written ; the different treatises are skillfully grouped, and
fit well together, the whole work evincing study and re-
flection as well as wide experience and knowledge. It is a
book to be recommended to all who care to give intelligent
attention to the art of laying out their own grounds, and it is
one from which even the experienced can learn much con-
cerning the principles that should be recognized by all who
would modify or imitate nature, or seek a more formal adorn-
ment of their grounds. It is a book to which the reader may
often return for reference and advice, and whoever reads it
will wish to add it to the useful list of helpful books on garden-
ing, which the author gives us in an appendix.

Notes.

The shrubberies of Central Park have suffered serious muti-
lation lately at the hands of visitors, who break off branches
when in flower. The Lilacs seem to suffer more than any
other plants, although no flowering shrub is safe. It is said
that much of the injury is done by well-dressed women, who
hide the flowers in their umbrellas and thus carry them out of
the Park without notice. It would seem that depredations of
this sort could not be carried on very long under the eyes of a
well-disciplined police force, but of late years the Park police
have not been noted for their efficiency.

The exhibition gardens at Earl's Court, London, are to be
devoted this year to gardens and forests. These grounds are
a holiday resort of summer crowds, and exhibitions of an in-
structive and interesting character are often prepared for
them. Between May 13th and September 29th there is a
promise of special shows of Orchids, Roses, Carnations, flow-
ering and foliage plants. Gladioli, Dahlias and hardy fruit.
Forestry is to be shown by means of pictures, wood speci-
mens, tools, insects injurious to trees and tree diseases. There
will probably be a course of lectures besides.

Rhodotypuskerrioides has already been bloomingfora week,
and from this time on some flowers can be found on a well-
grown plant every day until autumn frosts. It seems a pity
that such a useful shrub could not have a brief and character-
istic common name. Very few shrubs have foliage of such a
light and cheerful green, and with a single pure white flower
nestling among the leaves at the end of every twig the Rho-
dotypus is just now exceedingly beautiful. It is never covered
with bloom, like some of the Spiraeas, and, indeed, it is more
beautiful as it is, with the flowers scattered among the foliage.
Of course, very few flowers can be found on the plant in tlie
droughts of summer, but they are never entirely absent.

Rhododendron Vaseyi was first discovered in North Caro-
lina fifteen years ago, and it was figured five years ago in this
journal. And yet, although it takes readily to cultivation and
begins to flower when it is hardly more than a foot high, it has
found its way into comparatively few shrub collections of the
country. It has been flowering in this latitude now for more
than a week, while the Pinxter-flower, R. nudiflorum, has
hardly begun to bloom. The clear pink of its corolla, similar
to that of a La France Rose, is quite distinct from the color
of any other Azalea, and the autumn foliage of the plant,
which persists well info November, at first turns to purple,

and later to deep crimson, and is remarkably beautiful and
effective.

The appointment of Dr. Heinrich Mayr to the chair of Pro-
fessor of Forestry in the University of Munich will please many
of his American friends. Dr. Mayr paid two visits to this coun-
try, where he made a study of our trees for the purpose of esti-
mating their probable economic value for introduction into
German forests. He published the results of his observation
in a work entitled The Forests of North America, the first
chapter of which gavea very gloomy, though in the main a cor-
rect, picture of the wanton destruction of our forest-resources
and the danger which threatened them in the future. Dr.
Mayr was for some time Professor of Silviculture in the Uni-
versity of Japan, and when crossing the United States on his
way to that country in the year 1887 he discovered in southern
Arizona the remarkable Pine-tree known as Pinus latifolia.

Oxheart cherries from California, and the black cherry
known as the Virginia, are quite plentiful in the fruit stores at
fifty cents a pound. The first Peen-to peaches, from Florida,
are twenty cents apiece ; the quality of these is poor and the
New Jersey hot-house peaches sell more readily at fifty cents
each. Striped Gem watermelons, from Havana, are well
grown and bring two dollars each. The strawberries now
coming in from Virginia are the best seen here this season, of
good size and bright color. They are worth forty cents a quart.
The last shipments of oranges from Florida were made sev-
eral weeks ago ; those now being offered are seed-fruit and sell
for seventy-five cents a dozen, the same price as that asked for
Catania oranges, a better fruit at this season. The only Navel
oranges to be had now are from California. Messina blood
oranges are sixty cents a dozen, and very large thick-skinned
lemons, from Santo Domingo, bring seventy-five cents to a
dollar a dozen. Winter-berries are abundant at forty cents a
quart.

A correspondent writes a note in approval of the practice in
many parts of France of planting flowers among the vegeta-
bles so that the kitchen-garden becomes a thing of beauty as
well as of use. No one will object to a judicious disposition of
flowering plants among those which are needed for the home
table in such a way that the same cultivation can be applied
to both, so that a bouquet for the decoration of the table can
be gathered when Beans or Peas or Beets are picked for dinner.
It is true, however, that a kitchen-garden may be a very jileas-
ing object to look at without any floral decoration. Indeed, a
good garden cannot help having the beauty of neatne.=s and
order and regularity. A garden cannot be properly worked
with modern seed-drills and wheel-hoes unless the rows are
absolutely straight, the beds level and the path-borders true.
When we add to the beauty of perfect geometric form the
beauty of healthful vegetation luxuriating in rich soil, the ab-
solutely straight lines and square corners will make a strong
appeal to the aesthetic sense without any garniture of plants
which have no edible value.

A correspondent inquires " the name of the Magnolia whose
abundant white flowers appear before tlie plant is in leaf." It
is probably the Yulan Magnolia, M. conspicua, since that is the
commonest white-flowering variety. This is a low-branched,
round-headed tree which attains a height of fifty feet at its
best, but it blooms when much smaller. M. stellata is not so
common. It is a beautiful shrubby species which flowers
earlier even than M. cOnspicua. It is sometimes called M.
Halleana, after its introducer, Dr. Hall. Its flowers are of
the purest white, three inches in diameter, and spreading out
into a star shape when they first open. M. Kobus, an intro-
duction of Mr. Thomas Hogg from Japan, which was sent out
under the name of M. Thurberi, also answers our corre-
spondent's description. It is not probable, however, that he
has seen this, as there are comparatively few plants in the
United States which are large enough to flower. A full de-
scription of this tree will be found on page 64 of this volume.
It may be well to add that of the Magnolias whose flowers ap-
pear before the leaves, M. obovata is a shrubby species with
petals a deep purple on the exterior, and creamy white on the
interior surface. M. Soulangcana is a hybrid between M. con-
spicua and M. obovata. It flowers later than M. conspicua,
and its sepals and petals are streaked with purple. There are ;
several other hybrids of these species with flowers which dif-
fer more or less from M. Soulangeana. M. Lenn6 is also sup-
posed to be a hybrid between M. conspicua and M. obovata.
It is a wide-spreading shrub with deliciously fragrant flowers, ,
three and a half to four inches deep, with colored petal-like
sepals about half the size of the petals, of a dark purple over '
the whole exterior surface and snowy white in the interior.

May 31, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

231

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Officb : Tribunk Building, New York.

Conducted by

Profesaor C. S. Sakgent.

KNTSRKO AS SKCOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N- Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial ARTicfs : — ^The Flower Garden in Spring 231

The Beauty of Apple-trees 231

The New York Flower and Fruit Mission 232

Flower Pictures ^ 232

NolesontheForestFloraof Japan.— XIV. (With figure.) C. S. S. 233

Foreign Correspondence :— London Letter W. IVatsan. 234

Cultural Department:— Fertilizers for Small Fruits E. Williams. 236

Filmy Ferns H\ ff. Tap/m. s^j

Hardy Plants in Flower y. N. Grrard. 237

Cokrespondence :— The Poison Oak ..E.A.y. 238

Cornelian Cherry and Benzoin 7. 238

Nicotiana afiinis 5 M.F, 238

Recent Publications 238

The Columbian Exposition : — The Green Apple Exhibit .Professor L. H. Bailey. 239

Notes 240

Illustration : — Acanthopanajc ricinifolium, in the forests of Yezo, Fig 36 235

The Flower Garden in Spring.

AT the flower show held at Madison Square Garden in
£\^ this city on the first week of May, there was a col-
lection of hardy plants in flower, grouped naturally as in
an outdoor garden. A few expensive rarities could be
found among them, but they were mainly the useful spring-
flowering plants, like Anemones, Primulas and Polyan-
thus, of many colors, our native Trilliums, Epimediums,
Bird's-foot Violets and mats of Moss Pinks, Columbines,
Saxifrages, Spiraeas, Gaillardias, Bellworts, Mertensias, Au-
brietias. Globe flowers, Iceland Poppies, Irises, Doroni-
cums and Lady's-slippers, nearly all of them plants which
cost very little, are most easily grown and can always be
had with little trouble in a May garden. This proved
altogether the most attractive feature of the show. Visitors
admired the cut Roses, the Carnations, the Orchids and the
rich masses of Palms and other tropical plants, but they
lingered long by the hardy garden and discussed its merits
with singular animation.

This interest was not born of association merely, al-
though there were many old-fashioned plants there ; for
people brought up in the city have no early memories of
such flowers in city yards. Nor did the plants attract by a
display of striking color, for all about them were masses of
garden Tulips and Hyacinths, greenhouse Azaleas and
Rhododendrons, which were much more brilliant and fairly
dazzled with their bright colors. The reason for this popu-
lar preference plainly was that the flowers of early spring
have a certain delicacy and grace which are unrivaled and
peculiarly their own. Very brilliant in the autumn is the
foliage of the Maples and Dogwoods, the Tupelos and

ILiquidamber, and most satisfying to the eye which has
feasted all summer long on the luxuriant growth of field
and forest. A shrubbery in late September, bordered with
tall Rudbeckias and Silphiums, Vernonias and Sunflowers,
Jias another kind of beauty which is exactly adapted to the
prevailing tone of the maturing season. But the tender
tints of opening leaves have a diff'erent range of color and
one more beautiful, if possible, although less positive and

I

emphatic ; and the flowers of the season in some subtle
way harmonize with the general color and atmosphere of
the time.

Again, after a long winter, the flowers of spring have, in
addition to their intrinsic beauty, the charm of novelty as
the earth is waking into new life, and they have also the
charm of promise as the forerunners of summer's luxuri-
ance. Certain it is, at all events, that at no other time of
the year are flowers quite as pleasing to the eye or do they
make so strong an appeal to the imagination. Besides
this, many of the readers of this journal leave their homes
for the mountains or the sea as soon as the summer heat
begins, so that April, May and June are really the only
months when home gardens can be enjoyed. We have
again and again urged the planting of deciduous flower-
ing shrubs, the most of which are in bloom at this
season, but why wait for the wealth of flowers from herba-
ceous plants until the summer, when these plants can make
a garden so delightful in spring ? To begin with, we have
an almost endless variety of spring-flowering bulbous
plants. Some persons, it is true, complain that they are
tired of Hyacinths and Tulips ; and when these bulbs are
massed in formal beds they may become wearisome, but
no one ever was tired of a Snowdrop or a Daffodil. No one
ever had too many Squills or Alliums, Snowflakes or Cro-
cuses, Fritillaries, Dog-tooth Violets, Lilies-of-the-valley,
Grape Hyacinths or Ornithogalums when they are naturally
scattered along the border of a wood-walk or among the grass
in the fields or in the unoccupied parts of large grounds.

The keenest delight from horticulture only comes to
those who make a careful study of a few genera or families
of plants, and, in addition to their general love of flowers,
devote themselves to somfe specialty. Such persons can
find ample gratification in the spring garden. There are
enough early Irises alone to keep one collecting and study-
ing for years. Garden Tuhps are beautiful, but there is a
fascination about the different species which no one knows
until he has begun to grow them and to study the beauty
of the wild forms. The varieties of Narcissus are endless,
and so are those of many other genera of spring-flowering
plants. The appeal which these plants make is almost
universal. No garden is so small that it has no room for
them, and no garden is so large that it cannot be enriched
and beautified by their presence. They will give pleasure
to the most careless and afford opportunity for study to
the most thoughtful specialist. No one who has a sing;le
rod of ground will regret devoting a part of it to the culti-
vation of this class of plants, and if a fair display is to be had
next year it is none too early to begin preparing for it
now, for the hardy plants which bloom next year in April
and May must make preparation for it this year, and store
up in bulb or root or bud the material to develop into
beauty next spring.

The abundant flowering of many small Apple-trees, this
spring, reminds usof the pleasant duty of calling our readers'
attention again to the beauty and value of these plants,
which should find a place in every garden in this northern
climate. The number and variety of Apple-trees with beau-
tiful flowers and of good habit is considerable. The earliest
' to bloom are some of the white-flowered varieties of the
Siberian Crab, Pyrus baccata. The young plants are no-
ticeable for their formal pyramidal habit ; this disappears
as they grow to their full size and the mature plants pre-
sent irregular oblong outlines. The flowers are large and
snowy white, or they are often pink, for no tree varies more
in the size and color of its flowers or in the character of the
fruit, which is sometimes exceedingly beautiful, and often
remains on the branches through the winter.

The next species to flower is the Japanese Crab, Pyrus
Toringo, which is often found in gardens under the name
of Pyrus Malus floribunda. This, it seems to us, is the
most beautiful of its race and one of the best ornamental
plants in cultivation. It is particularly beautiful before the
flowers expand, when the bright red flower-buds cover the

232

Garden and Forest.

[Number 275.

branches. The Japanese Crab should be planted in rich
soil and allowed plenty of room in which to spread its
wand-like branches. The portrait of a well-grown speci-
men of this tree was published in this journal some years
ago (vol. ii., p. 523), and gives a better idea of the masses
of flowers it is capable of producing and of its surpassing
loveliness than any words can convey. Improving with
age, the Japanese Crab grows more beautiful every year ;
the severest winters leave it uninjured, and insects and dis-
ease pass it by. The variety with bright pink semi-double
flowers, known as Pyrus Parkmani, is equally beautiful,
although it is a rather less robust plant.

The flowers of thejapanese Crab are followed almost im-
mediately by those of the Chinese Pyrus spectabilis, a bushy
tree of spreading habit, known in our gardens in a double-
flowered form only. This is one of the good old-fashioned
trees our grandfathers planted, and the present generation
knows little aboijt. It is hardy, long-lived, not too large for a
small garden or lawn, and so conspicuous in flower that
the most careless and indifferent passer-by stops to admire
its branches wreathed in pink and white.

This is the season of the year when the owners of gar-
dens should inform themselves about such plants as these ;
and this is the time to order such plants, instead of waiting
until ne.xt spring, when the nurserymen will have disposed
of their best stock. The advice we give to persons who
want a good garden is to make notes of the plants they
see and admire now, and order them at once, prepare the
ground carefully where they are to be planted, and then
plant in the autumn or as early as possible next spring.

The New York Flower and Fruit Mission, which has
been doing a good work for nearly a quarter of a century,
has once more begun its operations for the summer season.
This beautiful charity, which was established in London
before it came to this country, has now distributing
societies in almost all the great cities of the United States,
and from country towns and villages, where there are few
opportunities to dispense flowers, local missions send sup-
plies to the organizations in the cities. It is gratifying to
know that this work is carried on with such general and
hearty co-operation. Individuals, social and church circles,
and some of the women's colleges aid in various depart-
ments of the work, while the express companies carry all
packages free of charge. On the opening day last week
flowers were received here from as faraway as Easton, Penn-
sylvania, and during the season contributions will come
from at least two hundred and fifty towns in adjoining
states. More than half a million bouquets are distributed
by the New York Mission during the five months in
which this work goes on, and as many as eleven thousand
have been sent in one day to hospitals and tenements.
Flowers that keep and carry well are, of course, the most
acceptable, and no flowers are wanted which contributors
would not be willing to send to their own sick friends.
Fragrant flowers are also very desirable, and the mis-
sion never has too many packages of Pinks, Sweet Peas,
Verbenas, Candytuft, or Mignonette. The first day's
consignment to the Mission consisted largely of Lilacs,
which came by the barrel, Apple-blossoms, Pansies and
Marsh Marigolds, flowers which are always welcome. On
Tliursday the flowers arrived in much greater variety, in-
cluding many wild flowers, little Violets, Solomon's
Seal, Crane's-bills, Bluets, Columbines, Buttercups, Saxi-
frages and Pinxter flowers. .\mong garden flowers
Pa,'onies, Lilies-of-the-valley, Tulips and Irises were most
abundant.

All who wish to help in this work shcjuld remember that
it facilitates the distribution if flowers of different kinds are
separated — each kind by itself — in packing. In some gar-
dens special beds are cultivated for the benefit of the Flower
Mission, and young people who have been led to enter
upon this work for the summer will learn a good deal
about the habits and the cultivation of plants, in addition
to rendering a kindly service to many whose days need to

be brightened by help of this kind. There are never more
flowers received than can be used, and those not fresh
enough to be sent to the sick are distributed in the indus-
trial schools of the city. But willing helpers to arrange
the flowers and to carry them are always needed, as the
greatest part of the work comes when many persons are out
of town. Persons who have no flowers to send can find
occupation for a few hours every Monday and Thursday
at the rooms of the society, 104 East Twentieth Street, in this
city, and no doubt the same opportunity to help is offered at
the mission rooms in other cities. Full directions for pack-
ing and shipping will be given on application to any of
the missions.

Flower Pictures.

'T^HE portrayal of flowers is the most frequently attempted
^ of all reproductions. Their simple, l)rilliant forms, their
universal attractiveness, make the task of perpetuating them
apparently easy, and without a knowledge of drawing or any
special sense of color, the amateur makes them his prey in the
effort to render Ills impression of them permanent. But
nothing except the expression of the human face is more
elusive than the loveliness of a flower, compounded as it is of
hue, perfume and suggestiveness, of which elements only two
lie within the artist's grasp, and one of these can only be ren-
dered by the subtlest skill. Thus Mr. Lafarge will hang upon
a Greek maiden's door a wreath of dewy blossoms, and by a
magic touch suggest Hellenic charm ; or he will Hoat upon a
silent pool some queenly Water-lily that awakens memories of
hidden lakes. Behind the exquisitely rendered flower lies the
sentiment of the man, the human interest, without which art
is but paint and canvas.

Years ago there was shown in Boston a picture by Mr. Ab-
bott Graves of a Rose-field in France. It was a great canvas,
in which the level masses of flowers stretched away for acres.
Among them women were at work gathering and binding up
the rich harvest. Baskets heaped with Roses were in their
hands, and in the foreground the bushes bent beneath the
weight of blossoms of every tint and shade. The details have
escaped my memory, but in it lingers the picture as a land-
scape full of sunshine, of sunny sky, of wide and airy expanse,
of wealth of color and busy life. To paint thus is to catch
that spirit which is the essence of true beauty, which leaves out
the irrelevant and fixes only that which is essential to the con-
ception, and in that manner secures eternal truth.

For a fragrant flower is Nature's consummate work. It
lacks nothing of perfection. It appeals to every sense. Within
its modest sphere it combines everything, and appeals to eye
and mind with its gentle beauty, its fleeting grace, its balmy
fjreath. Therefore, to renderit is a task worthy of the greatest ;
nor have the masters ever failed to touch flowers with a rev-
erent hand. The " fair lilies of eternal peace " in the hand of
many an angel of the Annunciation, the tumbling roses of
Rubens and the Venetians, the daisy-besprinkled grass be-
neath the feet of Raphael's soft Madonnas, the clambering
vines of Correggio, all show a touch of sympathy and recogni-
tion of this widespread loveliness.

To the delicate perception of the Japanese, the rendering of
a flower is congenial work. His deft brush, full of flowing
color, renders at a touch the blending shades of the Convol-
vulus and Iris, which he loves to paint, or summarizes the
bewildering splendor of the Chrysanthemum with a touch
guided by an unerring perception of form. The rapidity and
security of his execution keep pace with the swiftly changing
flower, so that even its quick alterafions cannot elude his keen-
ness of vision.

In Mr. Parsons's pictures, shown in Boston and New York,
and already carefully criticised in these colimins, we again get
that sympathetic understanding of the flower which is so rare
in western art ; and with him it is not only the flower itself, but
the flowers as a part of the landscape and an expression of the
taste of a people, that are marked features of his work. The
tenderest minuteness of study of the individual blossom in his
pictures, in no wise detracts from the breadth of his work.
Against the deep blue of distant and majestic Fuji, the yellow
Lily is defined in all its sculpturesque perfection, nor does
either unduly subordinate the other. There is a view of a half-
submerged Rice-field, covered with blue blossoms, which re-
flect the mottled azure of the sky above, that is a perfect illus-
tration of the value of blue in landscape. There is a fine gra-
dation of tint, a nice sense of atmospheric quality, that fill this
jiicture with the essence of out-of-doors, and as a color-scheme
make it, perhaps, the best of the collection. Another picture,

May 31, 1S93.J

Garden and Forest.

233

such as could be found nowhere but in old Japan, represents
a stony hill-side, near Jennenji temple, glowing with Azaleas
of the most brilliant tints. Here the rough boulders seem to
have been fashioned into the semblance of gods, sitting plac-
idly, with their hands upon their knees, amid the wealth of
bloom, and in some cases the flowers seem to be growing in
their stony arms. The little " wet gods " sit scattered about
upon the hill in peaceful conclave, while the pink and crimson
and white blossoms nod about their ears, and the brown twigs
and small green leaves brush their shoulders. Grotesque it
all is, but most child-like and pleasing, a delightful conception
of unknown antiquity.

In many of these pictures the Bamboo plays its picturesque
part, as it does in all the landscape of Japan, where its feathery
foliage and polished jointed stems are a marked and beautiful
feature of the country. Among Mr. Parsons's studies are very
lovely glimpses of parks and forests, where this soft and bril-
liant green is contrasted with exquisite effect with the soft dark
masses of the Pines and Cryptomerias, which are nobly ren-
dered. Other scenes. of misty hill-side and rich purple dis-
tance might have well been found nearer home. But the
Palms and the Bamboos, the quaint gardens, with their stone
lanterns, their dainty pavilions and their clipped bushes, are
distinctively oriental, as are the tiny tea-houses and the way-side
Buddha in the shadow of the rock, and the little dwelling
which the artist occupied, its door-yard ablaze with flowering
shrubs, huge purple Irises growing beside the foot-path.

We might well take a lesson for the planting of the Wistaria
from these trellises, from which the great white blossoms
hang, or these old trees of which the vines have taken posses-
sion and festooned with purple masses. Biit when may we
liope to see such sheets of glowing red Lilies in our grave-
yards, or these pink fields of Polygonum contrasting so deli-
ciously with the blue sky overhead, or such ponds of blue-
leaved Lotus lifting their tall white blossoms serenely to the
heavens ? From flower pictures of other lands we can gain
suggestions for the beautifying of our own grounds in quaint
new fashions that may add to their attractiveness. The artist
may reveal to us the value of a blossom alone or in mass, as
Mr. Parsons shows us the worth of the great single Pseony
against a buildmg, in his picture of the temple-steps at Haso-
dera, or the splendor of the groups of red Azaleas, and the broad
meadows full of purple Iris-blooms. One charming study
of color is to be found in his Chrysanthemum Show, where
the hues of the blossoms are echoed in the robes of the Japa-
nese visitors, whose rich dresses and sashes are of the tints of
the flowers themselves, so that the plants seem to have come
down from their shelves to go walking about in the shaded
light.

The special merit of this beautiful collection of pictures
seems to be that nowhere is the color of the flower insisted
upon at the expense of its character, which is the secret of the
failure of many a flower-picture. Nor is this because Mr. Par-
sons shrinks from color, for, on the contrary, he revels in it ;
but because in his conception the blossom takes its proper
place in the scheme of nature. Emphatic always, but subor-
dinate to the greater landscape in which it plays its true part ;
either as a distinct and vivid foreground, or as a glowing mid-
dle distance, or as an integral part of an extended space in
which it is appropriately prominent, but even here is modified
in aggressiveness by its attendant foliage. Delicate and true
drawing is also an important element in the success of these
works of art, which bring to us on snowy winter days such an
outlook into eternal summer. One of these water-colors might
be set, framed like a window in the side of a room, so that one
might seem to be looking out forever upon the charming
scene, and thus have perpetual enjoyment of floating cloud or
gleaming river or distant hill, with dancing flowers in the fore-
ground to make a garden for us, no matter how sullen the
skies of our winter at the time. For it is the especial mission
of a flower-picture to perpetuate summer for us, to brighten
the cheerless winter glooni with sunshine and glow and hint of
sweetness. Without the icy winds may whistle, but within,
upon our walls, Roses may smile and Azaleas flourish, while
the rich Chrysanthemum shall prolong the glory of autumn.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XIV.

THE Aralia family has no representative in eastern
North America outside of the genus Aralia and only
one woody plant, Aralia spinosa, a small tree of the middle
and southern states. In Japan the family appears in no
less than eight genera. The Ivy of Europe reaches Japan,
where it is rather common in the south, although we did

not meet with it north of the Hakone Mountains and the
region about Fugi-san. Helwingia, a genus with two
species of shrubs, remarkable in this family for the position
of the flowers which are produced on the upper surface of
the midribs of the leaves, is Japanese and Himalayan. In
Japan Helwingia ranges to southern Yezo, where, in the
peninsula south of Volcano Bay, in common with a num-
ber of other plants, it finds its most northern home.

In the flora of Japan, Fatsia is represented by the hand-
some evergreen plant, Fatsia (Aralia) Japonica, now well
known in our conservatories, an inhabitant of the extreme
southern part of the empire, although often cultivated in the
gardens of Tokyo, both in the open ground and in pots ; and
by Fatsia horrida, a low shrub with stout, well-armed stems,
large palmately lobed leaves and bright red fruit, which is
also common on the mountains of the north-west coast
region of North America, from Oregon to Sitka. In Japan
we found it growing under the dense shade of the Hemlock
forests on steep rocky slopes above Lake Umoto, in the
Nikko Mountains, at an elevation of five thousand feet
above the sea-level, and in Yezo. The third member of
the genus. Fatsia papyrifera, from the thick pith of whose
branches the Chinese rice-paper is made, and an inhabitant
of central and southern China and of Formosa, is frequently
seen in Tokyo gardens, as it is in those of the United States
and Europe. In Yezo is found a representative of the Man-
churian and Chinese genus Eleutherococcus, a shrub still
to be introduced into our gardens, and Panax repens, a del-
icate herb with trailing stems and bright red fruit, which
manages to live on mountain-slopes under the dense shade
of Bamboos, while Dendropanax, a tropical genus of trees
and shrubs of the New World, as well as of the Old, reaches
southern Japan with a single shrubby species, Dendropa-
nax Japonicum.

Aralia is more multiplied in species in eastern America,
where six are known, than in Japan, whose flora contains
only two, although a third, the Ginseng (Aralia quinqui-
folia), a native of Manchuria, northern China, and
the United States, has been cultivated for centuries in
Japan for the roots, which the Chinese esteem for medicine
and buy in large quantities, sometimes paying fabulous prices
for them, especially for the wild Manchurian roots which
are considered more valuable than those obtained from
North America or from plants cultivated in Japan, or in
Corea, where Ginseng-cultivation is one of the most im-
portant branches of agriculture. Curiously enough, this
North American and Chinese species was first made known
to the outside world by Koempfer's description of the plants
cultivated in Japan.

Of the indigenous Aralias of Japan, Aralia cordata is an
herb with large pinnate leaves and long compound race-
mose panicles of white flowers, which are followed by
showy black fruit. In habit and general appearance it re-
sembles our North American Spikenard, Aralia racemosa,
but it is a larger and handsomer plant, and well worth a
place in the wild garden. In Japan Aralia cordata is often
cultivated in the neighborhood of houses for the young
shoots which, as well as the roots, are cooked and eaten.
The second Japanese Aralia only differs from our American
Aralia spinosa in its rather broader and more coarsely
serrate leaflets and in the character and amount of pubes-
cence which covers their lower surface. Aralia spinosa,
var. canescens, is a common tree in Yezo and in all the low
mountain-region of northern and central Hondo. It usually
selects rather moist soil, and sometimes, under favorable
conditions, rises to the height of thirty or forty feet and
forms a straight, well-developed trunk. In Hondo large
plants are rare, probably owing to the fact that the forests
on the low and accessible mountain-slopes are frequently
cut off, but the shrubby covering of such hills is almost
always brightened in September by the great compound
clusters of the white flowers of the Aralia which rise above
it. The Japanese form does not appear to be much known
in gardens, although young plants have lately been raised
in the Arnold Arboretum from seed sent a few years ago

234

Garden and Forest.

[Number 275.

by Dr. Mayr from Japan ; and it is the Manchurian variety,
known as Aralia Chinensis, or as Dimorphanthus Manchu-
ricus, that is usually seen in our gardens, from which the
American form, the type of the species, appears to have
pretty nearly disappeared, although the name is common
enough in nurserymen's catalogues.

But of all the Araliacetp of Japan, Acanthopanax is the
most interesting to the student of trees. It is a small genus
of about eight species of trees and shrubs, all members of
tropical Asia, and of China and Japan, where half a dozen
of them have been found. The most important of the
Japanese species are Acanthopanax ricinifolium and Acan-
thopanax sciadophylloides. Of the other species, Acantho-
panax innovans is a small tree, of which I saw young
plants only, on the Nagasendo, without flowers or fruit,
and which is still to be introduced. Acanthopanax acule-
atum, a shrub or small tree, with lustrous three or five parted
leaves, is much planted in Japan in hedges and is hardy
in southern Yezo, where, however, it has been introduced.
Acanthopanax trichodon, of Franchet & Savatier, a doubt-
ful species, which, from the description, must closely re-
semble Acanthopanax aculeatum, we did not see ; but Acan-
thopanax sessililiflorum of Manchuria and northern China,
and an old inhabitant of the Arnold Arboretum, we found
evidently indigenous near Lake Umoto, in the Nikko
Mountains, on the Nagasendo and in Yezo.

Acanthopanax sciadophylloides is still unknown in our
gardens, and we were fortunate in securing an abundant
supply of seeds. It is a handsome, shapely tree sometimes
forty feet in height, with a trunk a foot in diameter covered
with pale smooth bark and short small branches which
form a narrow, oblong, round-topped head and slender
glabrous unarmed branchlets. The leaves are alternate,
and are borne on slender petioles with enlarged clasping
bases, and four to seven inches in length, and are com-
posed of five, or rarely of three, leaflets ; these are oval or
obovate, long-pointed, wedge-shaped at the base, coarsely
serrate with incurved teeth tipped with long slender macros,
membranaceous, dark green on the upper surface, and pale
or sometimes almost white on the lower, quite glabrous at
maturity, five or six inches long and two or three inches
broad, with stout petiolules sometimes an inch in length,
broad pale midribs and about seven pairs of straight pri-
mary veins connected by conspicuous transverse reticulate
veinlets. The flowers appear in early summer on slender
pedicels in few-flowered umbels arranged in terminal pani-
cles five or six inches across, with slender branches, the
lower radiating at right angles to the stem, the upper erect.
According to Franchet & Savatier the flowers are five-
parted with acute calyx-teeth, oblong-obtuse greenish white
petals and two united styles. The fruit, which is the size
of a pea, is dark blue-black, somewhat flattened or angled,
crowded with the remnants of the style, and contains two
cartilaginous, flattened, one-seeded stones. This hand-
some species inhabits the mountain-forests of Nikko, where
it is not common. Later we found it in great abundance
on Mount Hakkoda, in northern Hondo, and in central
Yezo, where it is common in the deciduous forests which
clothe the hill-sides. Here it apparently attains its largest
size, and grows with another species of this genus, Acan-
thopanax ricinifolium, the largest Aralia of Japan. I have
followed the Japanese botanists in referring this tree to the
Panax ricinifolia of Siebold & Zuccarini, although the plant
cultivated in our gardens and in Europe as Acanthopanax
ricinifolium or Aralia Maximowiczii is distinct from the Yezo
tree in the more deeply lobed leaves with much broader
sinuses between the lobes. A single individual similar to
the plant of our gardens I saw growing in the forest near
Fukushima, in central Japan, but, unfortunately, it was
without flowers or fruit And as I was unable to find any
leaves on the Yezo trees with the broad sinuses of this
plant or any intermediate forms, it will not be surpris-
ing if the forests of Japan are found to contain two
species of simple-leaved arborescent Acanthopanax, in
which case it will be necessary to examine Siebold's

specimens to determine which species he called Panax
ricinifolia.

In the forests of Yezo, where it is exceedingly common,
Acanthopanax ricinifolium, as it will be called for the present
at least, is a tree sometimes eighty feet in height, with a
tall straight trunk four or five feet in diameter, covered
with very thick, dark, deeply furrowed bark and immense
limbs which stand out from the trunk at right angles like
those of an old pasture Oak, and thick reddish brown,
mostly erect, branchlets armed with stout, straight orange-
colored prickles with much enlarged bases (see illustration
on page 235 of this issue). The leaves are nearly orbicular,
although rather broader than long, truncate at the base,
divided to a third of their width or less by acute sinuses
into five nearly triangular or ovate, acute, long-pointed
lobes finely serrate with recurved callous-tipped teeth ; they
are five to seven ribbed, seven to ten inches across, dark
green and very lustrous on the upper surface, light green
on the lower surface, which is covered, especially in the
axils of the ribs, with rufous pubescence. The small white
flowers are produced on long slender pedicels in many-
flowered umbels arranged in terminal compound, flat-
topped panicles with long radiating branches, which are
sometimes two feet in diameter ; they appear in August
and September, and are very conspicuous as they rise
above the dark green foliage, giving to this fine tree an
appearance entirely unlike that of any other inhabitant of
northern forests.

Acanthopanax ricinifolium is common in Saghalin and
Yezo, and I saw it occasionally on the mountains of central
Hondo, where, however, it does not grow to the great
size it attains in the forests of Yezo; here it is associated
with Lindens, Magnolias, White Oaks, Birches, Maples,
Cercidiphyllum, Walnuts, Carpinus and Ostrya. The wood
is rather hard, straight-grained, light brown, with a fine
satiny surface. In Yezo it is highly valued, and is used in
considerable quantities in the interior finish of houses, and
for furniture, cases, etc.

Our illustration is made from a photograph taken last
summer on the wooded hill near Sapparo, and represents
a large although by no means an exceptionally large or
remarkable specimen. At the right of the Acanthopanax
two young Magnolias have sent up their trunks in search
for light, and on the left appear a number of stems of the
noble Japanese Grape-vine (Vitis Coignetiae), which have
climbed into its upper branches. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

MouTAN P.EONIES. — Two very large beds on one of the
lawns at Kew were, last year, planted with a collection of
these plants, which had been procured from Japan. They
are now a magnificent picture, the stems about eighteen
inches high, clothed with rich green leaves and each bear-
ing a large beautiful flower of pure satiny white with
golden stamens, or of red or pink or crimson or mauve. The
old dull purplish rose variety, so commonly cultivated, is
poor in comparison with the many new colors now to be
had. A bed of Moutan or Tree Pasonies is worth a place
in the very best of gardens.

DiERviLLAS, or Weigelas, are wreathed with flowers now.
A bed of a variety called Abel Carriere is exceptionally at-
tractive. It forms a mass, a yard high and three yards
through, of arching branches heavily laden with deep rosy
red flowers. Another variety called Lemoinei has deep
red flowers,, rather small, but borne in great profusion.
There are also white large-flowered varieties. These plants
attract much attention at this time of year. A large
bed of the golden-leaved D. Loogsmani aurea has been an
effective mass of bright color on one of the lawns for the
past six weeks. No shrubs are more easily managed, nor
do any pay better for a little cultivation than these Dier-
villas.

May 31, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

235

Fig, 36.— Acanthopanax ricinifolium, in the forests of Yezo.— See page 233.

236

Garden and Forest.

[Number 275.

Persian Lilac— Bushes of varieties of this small-leaved,
compact-growing Lilac have been masses of white or pale
lilac fragrant flowers for the past fortnight. The value of
shrubs of this character is not generally known, in England
at any rate, if one may judge by the amount of attention
they receive from visitors at Kew. They are admirable
plants for the shrubbery, and they may be used with good
effect as isolated specimens on lawns, in small gardens, or
to fill a large bed where space can be afforded.

Rhododendron Vasevi. — This North American Azalea
has flowered most profusely here this year. Among the
many varieties of the popular Ghent Azaleas and the various
Swamp Honeysuckles from North America, which oc-
cupy a large space in the arboretum at Kew, A. Vaseyi
has stood out conspicuously, its compact heads of flowers,
borne on leafless branches, being rosy when they first ex-
pand, changing to white in a day or so, and possessing a
charm that has won for it much attention from the thou-
sands who have this year visited the Azalea garden at Kew.
It is impossible to say too much in admiration of these
plants as grown at Kew. They are planted in beds in an
open space in one of the woods, covering at least half an acre;
every bush is an irregular mass, from three to six feethigh
and through, of soft-colored fragrant flowers. Resting
on the green turf and surrounded by large trees of Beech,
Oak, Lime, etc., with openings here and there to allow of
the Azaleas being seen from a distance, the flowering of this
collection is considered one of the London horticultural
events of the year. The Mollis Azaleas, now called R.
sinensis, are distinct from the Ghent Azaleas in color,
and generally in the size and shape of the flowers. They
are known chiefly as useful pot-plants, but they have
a greater value as hardy shrubs, and now that they
are being improved and multiplied in variety they are
likely to become rivals to the older, better-known Ghent
Azaleas.

SoLANUM cRispLM, which some one has called the Tree-
potato, is a useful, hardy shrub, which grows quickly and.
flowers freely, either as a bush or trained against a wall.
It is an old garden-plant, but, like many such, is not too
well known to be unworthy of a note. Against a wall at
Kew it is crowded with pendent bunches of rich blue flow-
ers. I have also seen it lately as a standard seven feet high,
with long waving shoots wreathed in flowers. In Ireland
it is not uncommon in cottagers' gardens, and at railway
stations it is used for covering the walls of waiting-rooms,
etc. It grows very freely, too freely, in fact, if in rich
soil. We find it a good plan to cut out the thick fleshy shoots
and encourage only the smaller, twiggier branches, as
these flower most freely. It is a native of Chili.

DracjENA Sanderiana. — As the result of some misunder-
standing between Messrs. Linden, of Brussels, and Messrs.
F. Sander & Co.. of St. Albans, the following particulars of
the history of the plant called D. Sanderiana have been
sent by Dr. Engler, of Berlin, to the Gardeners Chronicle
for publication : The plant was found by Mr. J. Braun, who
in 1888 was sent by the German Government to explore the
flora of the German Cameroon boundary in Africa. Braun
found a green-leaved plant which was provisionally named
D. thalioides, and also one with variegated leaves. These
he brought home alive, and they were deposited at the
Berlin Botanical Gardens. Mr. Braun afterward obtained
permission to dispose of a portion of the plants to a Berlin
nurseryman, who afterward sold them to Messrs. F. Sander
& Co. Several of the plants were recently obtained from
the Berlin Botanical Garden by Messrs. Linden, who exhib-
ited them in London last week under the name of D. tha-
lioides variegata. Plants were also shown at the same
time by Messrs. Sander & Co. With regard to the name I
am quite certain that D. Sanderiana is totally distinct from
typical D. thalioides of Morren, figured in the Belgique Horti-
cok, i860, p. 338, and from its variety Aubryana, figured in
the Flore des Serres, t 2522-3, both of these plants being in
cultivation at Kew. It is, of course, impossible to say what
D. Sanderiana is until it flowers, but Mr. Baker agrees with

me that it is either a new species of Dracaena or not a Dra-
ccena at all.

Richardia Lutwvchei. — ^This is described by Mr. N. E.
Brown as a new species, which was distributed a few
months ago under the name of Pride of the Congo, and
was stated to have been imported from the region of Lake
Nyanza. I saw the plant described by Mr. Brown, and to
me it appeared to be nothing more than a form of R. mela-
noleuca, with the spathe a little longer and more convolute
at the base than the Y>^an\.&g\\red\i-\\.\i& Botanical Magazine.
As a garden-plant it will not bear comparison with R. Pent-
landii nor with R. Elliottiana, the size and color of its spathe
being similar to those of R. hastata. I have also lately
seen R. aurata, described as a hybrid between R. hastata
and R. albo-maculata, and said to be identical with R. Pent-
landii. It may be a hybrid, but it is no better as a garden-
plant than either of the species it is said to be from. We
have at Kew plants which came direct from Africa, and
which I have good reasons for believing are R. Pentlandii.

New Plants certificated this week include the following :
Ulmus Wreedii aurea, an erQct fastigiate variety with small
crinkled foliage of a golden hue. It is not unlike what is
grown at Kew as U. campestris, var. fastigiata aurea. Rho-
dodendron Helen Schiffner, a dwarf evergreen variety of
the Ponticum type, with medium-sized pure white flowers
in compact trusses, said to be a good plant for cultivation
in pots. Lielia purpurata Lowiana, a variety with mauve-
colored segments and a broad-lobed amethyst-purple lip.
It is the deepest-colored variety I have seen. Cattleya
Harold, a hybrid between C. Gaskelliana and C. gigas,
raised by Mr. Norman Cookson. The sepals are three
inches long, the petals very broad and wavy and colored
soft mauve-purple, the large lip being deep purple, with
darker veins and a yellow throat. Cypripedium Charles
Rickman is a hybrid between C. bellatulum and a variety
of C. barbatum. It is not unlike the hybrid raised by Sir
Trevor Lawrence from C. bellatulum and C. Lawrenciana,
and named by him C. Lavvrebel.

London.

W. Walson.

Cultural Department.

Fertilizers for Small Fruits.

IN selecting the fertilizers suitable for smallfruits the charac-
ter of the soil must be taken into account as well as the
kind of fruit, so that no formulas of universal application can
be made. The effect of highly nitrogenous manures on Straw-
berries tends to a vigorous growth of foliage, while phosphoric
acid and potash seem to do more toward producing and de-
veloping fruit. For this reason stable-manure is considered
too stimulating, so that stable and yard manure are chiefly
valuable as a mulch for covering the ground and furnishing
humus for the soil. Even when used in this way, they are
objectionable, because they contain so many seeds of weeds
and grasses. I have seen somewhere an analysis of the Straw-
berry, in which the ash is said to contain about forty per cent.
of potasli, sixteen of lime and eleven of phosphoric acid. This
high per cent, of potash justifies the American belief that
wood-ashes and potash-salts are especially valuable as fer-
tilizers for this fruit. They are used largely by the most care-
ful and successful growers, and Strawberry-beds have been
known to last for years with no other fertilizing than an annual
dressing of wood-ashes. A good sample of ground bone
should furnish from three to four per cent, of nitrogen and
twenty to twenty-five per cent, of phosphoric acid. An appli-
cation of 600 to 800 pounds to the acre on good soil ougJit to
furnish enough of these ingredients for the requirements of
the plants. If from 400 pounds to 600 pounds of muriate of
potash, or the equivalent of this in wood-ashes, is added, food
for a splendid crop of fruit will be furnished.

Ground bone has been considered a particularly good food
for the Grape, and experience has proved with me that when
potash-salts are liberally added to this, little else is needed.
That the same is true of the Peach has been proved by many
experiments. It is generally understood that potash gives
quality and sweetness to the fruit, and Mr. Hale, the well-
known grower, of Connecticut, claims that the high color of his
fruit is due to the same source. The greatest success I have
achieved has been with these two fertilizers almost exclusively.

May 31, 1893. 1

Garden and Forest.

237

One advantage of commercial fertilizers is that we can vary
the ingredients in an experimental way — that is, we can try the
effect of different proportions of potash and phosphoric acid
and nitrogen, while it is almost impossible to do this with sta-
ble-manures. No hard and fast rules can be laid down, of
course, but when I find my Strawberries lacking in vigor I give
them some nitrate of soda as a stimulant, and its effect is
plainly seen very soon. This salt should be applied during the
growing season, and preferably in frequent small applications
rather than all at once. Potash, bone, wood-ashes, etc., can be
applied in the fall and winter, as they possess staying qualities,
and will not leach away. In applying substances strong in al-
kalis it is best to keep them away from the foliage. When soil
is deficient in humus the cleanest method of supplying this is
by turning under some green crop, but in vineyards and
among growing plants this is not always practicable. Unless I
use some of the so-called. complete mixed fertilizers, my pot-
ash, bone and nitrate are applied separately, and the mixing is
done in the soil with the cultivator. I have just been making
a large application of potash to some Peach-trees simply be-
cause I feared that the Canada ashes I had used would not suf-
fice to bring on the crop, and I preferred to give the trees too
mucli than to risk any deficiency.

It must I)e remembered that none of these fertilizers will be
of any avail unless there is sufficient moisture to make them
soluble.and available. Last year I planted Potatoes among my
Peach-trees, and I used a Potato fertilizer liberally. I had no
crop of potatoes because it was so dry that the plants could not
lake up the plant-food provided, and so my Potatoes failed and
my Peach-trees showed no benefit. However, I do not con-
sider the application as lost, for it will be in the ground this
vear ready to feed my Peaches.

Montclair.'N.j. E, Williams.

Filmy Ferns.

T^HE various species included under the general heading of
-•■ Filmy Ferns have received but scant attention from culti-
vators of late years, and are rarely seen, either at our exhibi-
tions or among the stock of our growers. This class includes
some of the most exquisite members of the Fern family. They
are of easy cultivation and of moderate growth, and are thus
adapted for small ferneries, such as may be found in many
private establishments. They require abundant moisture and
shade to secure free growth, and a case or frame in the green-
house is necessary, in which tliese conditions may be main-
tained without interfering with the proper ventilation of the
main fernery. The case should be stood on or near to the
ground rather than on a high bench, and generally these Ferns
grow better without bottom-heat, many of the species flour-
ishing in a temperature of fifty to fifty-five degrees.

The potting material sliould be of the most open character,
and consist of coarse peat or pieces of Fern-root, some sphag-
num and pieces of charcoal or broken sandstone, or both, with
plenty of potsherds and broken stone in the bottoms of the
pots or bed. The planting-out system is probably the best,
unless the plants are very small. No sunshine should be per-
mitted to strike these plants, the foliage being too thin and
delicate to stand such exposure, and while some ventiladon
during the night should be given to the case in which they are
grown, it should be kept closed during the day, unless the
weather is quite damp. The practice of syringing or watering
overhead is not to be recommended ; quite enough moisture
will gather on the foliage if the soil is properly wet, and syring-
ing tends to brown the tips of the fronds. Frequent repotting
or replanting should be avoided, for these Ferns are not hun-
gry feeders, and the roots are quite delicate in texture and
easily injured.

A few species of Filmy Ferns are inclined to be arborescent
in habit, though in a very limited degree. The Todeas show
this characteristic, but make only quite short stems, and are of
slow growth. This genus includes some admirable examples
with which to begin a collection of Filmy Ferns. Todea su-
perba is one of the most beautiful Ferns in cultivation, while
T. hymenophylloides and T. Fraserii are also very handsome,
the fronds of the latter being lighter than those of T. superba
and less profusely divided.

The Trichomanes are the largest genus among the Filmy
Ferns, and the Killarney Fern, T. radicans, is the most widely
known species, and also one of the best ; it succeeds in quite
a cool house. This Fern has been found in various forms in
such widely separated portions of the globe as the East In-
dies, the West Indies, South America, Great Britain and other
countries. T. reniforme is one of the most peculiar members
of this family ; it has nearly simple reniform or kidney-shaped
leaves of small size, much veined and of bright green color.

the fertile fronds having a very distinct appearance from the
sori, being exserted around the edge like a fringe. Tricho-
manes trichoideum, T. alatuni and T. augustatum are also
interesting members of this genus and deserving of culti-
vation.

The Hymenophyllums are the next important genus among
these Ferns, and of these H. dcmissum is one of the best, hav-
ings finely divided leaves of dark green color, while H. Tun-
bridgense and H. Wilsoni are also good cool-house sorts, and
H. dilatatum, H. flexuopesom, H. asplenioides, H. ciliatum and
others may readily be added to the list if greater variety is
desired.

Holmesburg, Pa. IV, H. TapHn.

Hardy Plants in Flower.

■pvARWIN TULIPS, which are said to be a strain of Flemish
-'--' origin, were introduced last year by Kreelage. They are
late garden Tulips, self-colored and correct in form, accopl-
ingtothe florists' standard of wide, well-rounded petals and per-
fect cups. They are on stems some two feet tall, like most of
the late varieties. I do not know that the half-dozen named
kinds grown by me are fairly representative of the strain ; but
mine are rather dull-colored and lack lustre and brightness,
two of the most desirable characters in garden Tulips.

Camassia Leichtlini, a form of C. esculenta, is the most at-
tractive garden-plant of the family. It is bold in habit, with
large leaves and robust stems about two feet high, carrying
many star-shaped creamy white flowers, about two inches in
diameter, these blooming in succession from base to tip of
stem. As a decorative plant its drawback is that it is an
evening-bloomer, its flowers opfening in the afternoon.

Zygadenus Fremonti is a Californian liliaceous plant, hardy
here, and with attractive, quiet-colored flowers. These bulbs
start early and strongly, and at this time are furnished with
fleshy^-flowering stems about a foot high. The flowers are
numerous on paniculated racemes, individually about an
inch in diameter, star-shaped, with pointed creamy white
petals, with deep yellow bases. Though the first shoots of
this plant appeared above the ground in early April, they were
not affected by the subsequent frosts. Z. paniculata, also in
flower, is a species smaller in all its parts than Z. Fremonti,
but has the same general characteristics and habits. The
slender stems are about a foot high and bear numerous small
flowers, an inch in diameter, which are creamy white, with
a yellow dot at the base of the narrow petals.

Thalictrum aquilegifolium, the meadow Rue or feathered
Columbine, is a plant of graceful habit ; the white form is
especially enjoyable, though the panicle of fine flowers is
smaller than that of the purple variety. The plants appear
with the Columbines and die down soon after flowering, so
that it is not a thing for borders which are frequently ups^t.
The Maiden-hair Thalictrum (T. adiantifolium) is a beautiful
little plant with fern-like foliage, well worth growing in the
front of the border. Both of these are readily had from seeds.

Saxifraga Aizoon minor has become established, and is gradu-
ally makmg a mat of dainty rosettesamong some stones in a raised
border. These individually are less than an inch in diameter, with
thick spathulate leaves having finely serrated whiteedges. At this
time a flower-stem rises six inches from the centre of the elder
rosettes, with numerous small flowers, white, with dark dots
at the base of the petals. The plant and flower, it will be seen,
are of a dainty order of beauty. The various small Saxifrages
are very interesting, but I find them difficult to establish, and
they do not take kindly to the climate. The larger resetted
kinds, and many of the mossy ones, resent wet, and inconti-
nently decay. Besides this, the sun works havoc among them
if they are not well established before it becomes powerful.
S. Wallacei is one of the most attractive of garden Saxifrages,
with deeply cut foliage and pure white large flowers, but has a
bad habit of hardening its stems with the browning of its
foliage. It would probably do better in a colder climate.

The white Wake-robin (Trillium grandiflorum) is decidedly
the best garden-plant of this genus, with its large pure white
flowers daintily placed on the abundant foliage. It is equally
good in the open border or in the shade. Among the numer-
ous other species, T. recurvatum is quaint and one of the
most attractive. It is happily named ; the buds appear above
the leaves, between which they soon droop and open with a
large flower ; the inner segments are dark rich maroon in
color and reflex tightly over the outer green segments, form-
ingf a triangle. A friend who noted its careful and regular
folding aptly characterized the flower as tailor-made.

With the flowering of the double white Poet's Daffodil the
Narcissus season is about at an end. These uncertain plants
have flowered unusually well this season. Perhaps a very dry

238

Garden and Forest.

[NUMKER 275.

fall and wet spring may have been helpful. There are also a
few Bemardi Narcissi still in good shape. These are natural
hybrids from the Pyrenees, with white perianths and short yel-
low, and sometimes orange-tipped, cups, the latter kind being
especially valued.

Irises are the glory of the gfarden at this time. First in dis-
tinction stands I. Susiana in sober array ; its welcome some-
what enhanced, perhaps, by the uncertainty of its appearance.
Species too numerous to name have gradually appeared. Of
the smaller kinds, I. oxysepala is a beauty with narrow, light
lilac standards, and long-pointed falls of lightest mauve lined
white and yellow. The native I. longipetala is also a dainty
flower, finely veined on the falls, light blue on a white ground,
and with narrow light blue standards. 1. spectabilis (Regel) is
smaller than either of these, with flowers somewhat resem-
bling those of I. oxysepala in coloring and grass-like foliage. But
the mass of color in the garden, in general effect quiet, but
lustrous, is from the large bearded Irises, I. Florentina, I. pallida
and the German hybrids. Noble flowers these all are, and
with some exceptions beautiful, especially in masses. They
are the commonest and cheapest of plants, yet always among
the precious flowers to those who enjoy fine colors and noble
forms. It is said that Irises are quite fugacious and their
beauty is soon passed. This does not seem to me a fatal
objection to a flower if it is beautiful. It is not from flowers
or other objects always with us that we gain the most. The
scheme of nature seems to be a constant change, and one of
the delights of the garden is its daily change, its new color har-
monies and foliage effects. Imagination is a desirable faculty
for the gardener, and if well endowed he will see at all times
the full wealth of his plants, even when they show to others
no potency of beauty, and they are doubly enjoyable if, per-
haps, they bring remembrances of some good friends, or

remind him of other scenes. .^ ,, ^

EiiiaixMh, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Correspondence.

The Poison Oak.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Will you kindly tell me whether the Poison Oak of
California is the same as the Poison Oak, or Poison Ivy, of the
east — Rhus toxicodendron ? The poison of the former appears
to be much more virulent than that of the latter in a case I
have known.

South Hanover, Mass. E- A. jf .

[The Poison Oak of California is known to botanists as
Rhus diversiloba. It is a shrub with slender stems, three to
five feet high, and resembles in general appearance the
eastern Rhus Toxicodendron, or Poison Ivy, from which,
however, it differs in its more acute leaflets, which are
slightly toothed or entire, and in its nearly sessile panicles
of flowers, usually more dense in fruit than those of the
eastern plant. In California the Poison Oak, which grows
also as far north as British Columbia, is exceedingly abun-
dant in all the foot-hill regions, where it often forms thick-
ets of great extent. It is, perhaps, even more virulent, to
some people, at least, than the eastern plant — Ed.]

Cornelian Cherry and Benzoin.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I was recently asked by a gentleman somewhat inter-
ested in trees and shrubs to point out the differences between
the Cornelian Cherry, Cornus mas., and the Spice-bush, Lin-
dera Benzoin. Few gardeners would hesitate an instant, even
in winter-time, in determining plants so different as these, but
people well informed on other subjects are often puzzled by
what seem the easiest questions relating to plants. Both of
these plants become shrubs from six to twelve or more feet
high. Both produce clusters of small yellow flowers in early
spring, although those of the Cornelian Cherry are a little in
advance of the others. Beyond these points of similarity to
the observant eye, the plants have few characters in common.
The Cornus has leaves and buds in opposite pairs, the flower-
buds in winter are conspicuously large and distinct, and from
each one in early spring there are produced several four-
petaled yellow flowers, each blossom borne on a distinct
stalk. The Benzoin, on the other hand, has alternate, in-
stead of opposite leaves, its light yellow flowers in little
clusters are nearly sessile, and every part of the plant
has a spicy, aromatic flavor and odor which is not

present in the Cornus. The Cornus is inclined to be-
come somewhat more of a tree than the Spice-bush, and
being an introduction from Europe, it is only found in
cultivation in this country, while the Benzoin is common
along streams and in moist situations. Although usually
found in moist ground, the Benzoin flourishes in any good
garden-soil. As the essential reproductive organs are com-
monly separate, the staminate, or pollen-bearing, and the
pistillate, or fruit-producing flowers, being on different plants,
it is necessary in selecting individual plants to choose whether
we prefer showiness of blossom or fruit. The fruit-producing
plants have much less numerous and less showy flowers than
the staminate ones. The oval bright scarlet berries in late
summer and autumn are quite showy when abundant, but the
flowers on the leaflets branches in early spring probably at-
tract quite as much attention.

Considering the long time that the Cornelian Cherry has
been cultivated, it is surprising to find it so rare in American
gardens. A shrub of such neat habit, so thoroughly hardy,
such a free and reliable producer of showy flowers in earlv
spring, deserves to be generally known and planted. Its cherrv-
like, cornelian-colored fruit is rarely produced in any quantit\
until after the plants attain considerable age and have been
flowering for many years. The habit of producing so little
fruit in proportion to the abundance of flowers may be of ad-
vantage in enabling the plant to maintain such a showy appear-
ance regularly every spring.

Arnold Arboretum. J .

Nicotiana affinis.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Although Nicotiana affinis is an annual, I find that it
makes a most desirable winter-blooming plant. After its seed
matures and falls young plants spring up, and late last autumn
I took up several of them, and they have bloomed constantly
all winter, and that, too, in a stove-heated room where very
few plants thrive. The foliage of the plant is rather coarse, it
is true, but then it is thrifty, and has the beauty of health, and
seeiiis to be free from insects and diseases. The flowers have
a disagreeable habit of closing up for the greater part of the
day when outside, but when they open in the house, if the
plant is kept out of the sun, they last for some time.

Bowling Green. Ky. S. M. P.

Recent Publications.

Forest Planting: A Treatise on the Care of Timber-lands
and the Restoration of Denuded Woodlands on Plains and
Mountains. By H. Nicholas Jarchow, LL.D. New York ;
Orange Judd Publishing Company.

In the preface to this book Dr. Jarchow states that it is
written to meet the requirements of the state of New York,
and he proceeds at once to lay down the principles of syste-
inatic forestry in Europe, as he understands them. Now, there
are certain natural laws of tree-growth which are the same in
all parts of the world, and there are certain requirements as to
the preservation of natural forests and the reforesting of de-
nuded lands which must be borne in mind by every one who
successfully practices forestry. And, yet, the prevalent idea
that the economical and physical conditions of this country
should make us very cautious about adopting the details of
European methods is rather reinforced than refuted by this
treatise. For example, when Dr. Jarchow states that our for-
ests can be made self-supporting if at regular intervals every
harvested forest-product is sold at public auction, and not, as is
now the practice, left to rot and create dangerous fire-traps, he
plainly does not consider the difference between a country
where every bundle of fagots can be sold and one where it
would be impossible to give them away. One who recognizes
the cost of labor here and the possible value of future forest-
products, and who has besides some knowledge of tree-growth
here, would hardly suggest the building about a nursery for
raising forest-seedlings earth-walls from six to eight feet high,
on the top of which are to be planted Birches, Pines and Alders,
nor would he advise the watering of a young forest carefully
with a rose-sprinkler. One more familiar with the lumbering
operations of the country would hardly state that the price of
timber has sunk far below its real value because of the depre-
dations of timber thieves upon the public property of the state
of New York. Nor would he assert positively that the intro-
duction of systematic forestry into our state forests would soon
and surely yield the state a revenue, or that one who buys wild
land in New York and plants it with forest-trees can safely ex-
pect that in time the net proceeds of his investment will at

May 31, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

239

least equal the amount that would be received if placed in a
savings-bank. These things have certainly not yet been proved
in practice.

Dr. Jarchow's views on economic questions are peculiar.
To illustrate one of his positions he supposes that a private
person owns a mine which costs every year $100,000, while the
output brings $100,000. In this case he says it is plain there
will be no net profit. If, however, the government owned this
mine and paid$loo,ooofor machinery and labor every year, and
received for the output $ 100,000 a year, all that, he holds, would
be clear gain to the state, because all the money paid out
must be considered as a benefit to the state. It is possible to
figure out the profitableness of state forests in this way, but
the average American would hardly accept this method as
accurate. We may add that Dr. Jarchow is not sufficiently
familiar with our forest-trees to make him a trustworthy au-
thority. He should not assert, for example, that the variety of
frees of spontaneous growth in the state of New York is larger
than it is in any other state of the Union. It is true, as he says,
that American forests contain many trees which are not forest-
trees proper, but which are of great value as a soil cover, as
nurses, or for filling in between crops, or to promote the
growth of true forest-trees in some way. Among the trees
which are not " true forest-trees," by which, we apprehend,
he means timber-trees, or trees which have a market value
for some purpose, he mentions the Poplars, Basswood, the
Locust, the Catalpa, the Tulip-tree and others. His statement
that the planting of forest-trees can only succeed in places
where there is no grass and where no grass would ordinarily
grow for some years to come, is altogether erroneous so far
as this country is concerned, and we apprehend it is erroneous
when applied to any country of the same latitude in the north
temperate zone. From all this it will be seen that we do
not consider Dr. Jarchow's book a safe guide in its details, and
yet it would be wrong to say that it has no value. Readers
who have some familiarity with the subject, and who can be
trusted to make the necessary reservations and exceptions,
will find some instruction in the views of a man who has evi-
dently a considerable knowledge of the methods of European
forestry. The reader should know, however, how to translate
some of the terms into English. For example, when Dr. Jar-
chow wishes to say "wind-break" he writes "wood-mantel"
(Waldmantel). What Dr. Schlich calls coppice under stand-
ard. Dr. Jarchow speaks of as " middle forest " (Mittelwald).

The Columbian Exposition.
The Apple Exhibits.

APPLES of the crop of 1892, taken from cold-storage and
exhibited in the Horticultural Building, are displayed by
states and provinces, as follows : Maine, New York, New Jer-
sey, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa,
Colorado, Idaho, Wasliington, Oregon, California, Ontario,
Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island ; and New South
Wales sends ten varieties of the current year's crop. The dis-
plays of apples from the north-western states — Idaho, Oregon,
Washington — are characterized by fruits of enormous size,
high color and remarkable freedom from scab. To an eastern
man, the most interesting variety from these states is the Yel-
low Newtown Pippin, which is the leading apple over a great
territory there, and wliich is twice as large as the same apple
grown in the Hudson River valley. Blue Pearmain, which is
little known in the eastern states, ranks second in general im-
portance in the north-west, and specimens on exhibition here
measure fourteen inches in circumference. The Idaho com-
missioner considers Yellow Newtown Pippin, Blue Pearmain,
White Winter Pearmain, Winesap, Janet, Ben Davis, Wolf
River and Esopus Spitzenburgh the leading winter apples for
that state. He has an exhibition of twenty-three varieties in
the fresh state, and an additional number in liquids. These
are all grown upon the table-lands without irrigation. The
Oregon and most of the Washington apples were grown under
irrigation. There is a conspicuous difference in specimens of
the same variety when grown with and without irrigation. The
irrigated apples are usually larger than the others, higher-col-
ored, better keepers, and have a superior flavor. The Oregon
exhibit of apples is remarkable for its effective arrangement,
the different colors and sizes being alternated and composed
for the purpose of giving a general effect. There are twenty-
six varieties in the exhibit, although the number of plates is
much greater. Washington shows eighteen varieties, which
are much like those from Oregon. The Washington commis-
sioner would select the best winter apples for Washington as
follows ; Yellow Newtown Pippin, Blue Pearmain, Winesap,

Red Cheek Pippin, Janet, Rome Beauty, While Winter Pear-
main, Ben Davis, Swaar, Rhode Island Greening and Vande-
vere, the latter being recommended for very late fall. Apple-
trees are commonly planted one rod apart in Washington; al-
though twenty feet each way is probably the ideal distance
for the eastern part of the state, where the sunlight is intense.
Nearer the coast, where the atmosphere is less bright, two
rods apart is perhaps the better distance. Ten-year-old trees
should bear ten boxes of fifty pounds each, and the fruit should
sell to general buyers for one cent per pound on the average.
From California, plates of Ben Davis, Yellow Newtown Pip-
pin and White Winter Pearmain were shown. Colorado shows
handsome Ben Davis and an apple known in that state as Lim-
ber Twig, although it is, perhaps, not the Limber Twigof the east.

Missouri has one of the most attractive exhibits in the hall,
although the green apples are mostly in storage at this writing.
The Ben Davis is the leading variety in the display. In ali
states east of the Mississippi the apple-scab injury is apparent,
and the apples are smaller and firmer than those from the
west. Illinois shows over twenty sorts, among which the Ben
Davis, Winesap, Jonathan and Janet are conspicuous. The
Iowa and Michigan exhibits are small, owing mostly to the
short crops in those states in 1892. Minnesota shows twenty-
five varieties, many of which are scarcely known outside that
state. The leading winter apple on exhibition is Wealthy. The
most conspicuous Minnesota seedlings are the following :
Malinda, an early winter apple, much like Yellow Bellflower
in shape and color, although more regular, and perhaps some-
what longer than that variety ; Peerless, a Duchess seedling,
and thought by many to be the most promising of the new
Minnesota apples. It is medium to large in size, oblong,
marked like Duchess, although less highly colored ; quality
excellent. Parks' Winter, in color and shape, is much like Fall
Pippin, although considerably smaller. It is usually marked
with one or two russet lines radiating from the stem. Rollin's
Russet is a flat, short-stemmed russet apple with a splashed
green cheek, originating in the south-eastern part of the state.
Ames closely resembles the Black Gilliflower in shape, but is
more distinctly and lightly striped, and is, of course, much
hardier. It is not yet propagated, but is promising on account
of hardiness and productiveness.

Wisconsin has thirty varieties on the tables. Here, as in
Minnesota, Wealthy leads. The Duchess seedlings are con-
spicuous. In Waupaca County alone thirteen Duchess seed-
lings are known, all but one of which are later and better than
the parent. Little-known Wisconsin apples on exhibition are
the following : Crocker, a variety originating in north-eastern
New York. It closely resembles Pewaukee, but is much
hardier and lighter-colored. Pewaukee is not sufificiently
hardy to be profitable in Wisconsin. Rich's Greening lias
much the look of an uncolored Fall Pippin, and is said to be
superior in flavor and keeping qualities to the north-western
Greening. Blaine is a conical apple of size and color of Ben
Davis, with a very long stem. Alden is much like Blaine, but
a better bearer and better in quality. Matthew's Russet has
much the appearance of RoUin s Russet, of Minnesota, but it
is more uniformly russeted. Manning's Russet is a more
conical apple, with a more uniform russet color and a better
keeper. Jenny is evidently one of the Pewaukee family, i)ut
longer. It is very hardy and productive; quality fair. Ben
Davis is not hardy in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Passing to the eastward of Lake Michigan, one comes into
the region where Baldwin is the leading apple. New York
shows the greatest number of varieties of any state or prov-
ince. Upon the opening. May I, no varieties were upon the
tables, and ten days later, when the judges passed upon the
exhibit, loi varieties were still shown. Canada is strongly rep-
resented. Ontario showed 555 plates when the judges passed,
and thirty-eight varieties, nearly all standard kinds. Quebec
showed eighty variefies. Nova Scotia eighty-nine, and Prince
Edward Island twenty. The leading Ontario apples on exhi-
bition are Baldwin, Hubbardston, Mann, Roxbury Russet,
Canada Red, Ben Davis, Cranberry Pippin, Pewaukee, Ribston
Pippin, American Pippin, King, Rhode Island Greening and
Northern Spy. The leading Quebec sorts are Mcintosh Red,
Scott's Winter, Borsdorf, Wolf River, Canada Red, Flushing
Spitzenburgh, Canada Baldwin, Pewaukee, Winter St. Law-
rence, Pomme de Fer, Blue Pearmain, Haas, Bethel and Alex-
ander. Switzer is one of the promising new kinds. Fameuse
is disappearing because of scab. From Prince Edward
Island, Canada Baldwin, Blenheim, Gravenstein, Ribston Pip-
pin and Alexander are the chief varieties shown.

Maine shows a very handsome collection of thirty-five vari-
eties, in which Baldwin, Northern Spy, Fameuse, American
Golden Russet and Hubbardston are conspicuous. New Jersey
has a small unnamed collection in a refrigerator case.

-240

Garden and Forest.

[Num6ek 2^S.

The New South Wales collection is from the current year's
crop. It comprises the foUowine' varieties : Winter Pearmain,
Claygate, Golden Russet, Kentucky Red Streak, Northern Spy,
Pomme de Neige (Fameuse), Five-crowned Pippin, Triomphe
de Luxembourg, New Hawthornden and Brown's Perfection.
These apples average about the size of laji^e New York speci-
mens, but are not pronounced in color. 'The low color is, no
doubt, due to early picking, as the samples were fifty-two days
in transit. The Five-crowned Pippin is very like large speci-
mens of Yellow Newtown Pippin in shape and color, but dif-
fers in the more prominent ridges, five in number, which
crown the fruit Its quality can scarcely be compared with the
Newtowns on exhibition, from the fact that they have undoubt-
edly suffered somewhat in transit.

Taken as a whole, the apple exhibits do not adequately rep-
resent the apple-growing of the country. Most of them were
collected hastily and in restricted portions of the various states,
and some of them were taken wholly from commercial ware-
houses or cellars. Yet it is apparent that even an imperfect
exhibit is a great advertisement to the state. The exhibits
from Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota and Wisconsin,
for instance, have attracted much attention and have already
disabused the minds of thousands of people of disparaging
notions which were held in regard to those states. The Cana-
dian provinces have also attracted much attention. Some of
the states still have apples in storage, and the plates are re-
placed as soon as the specimens become unfit for exhibition ;
yet the apple exhibits are constantly growing less, and they will
soon g^ve place to new fruits.

Chicago, liL L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

Fruit of the Kumquat, Citrus Aurantium, var. Japonica, from
Florida, has been lately sold in this city in limited quantities
under the name of Too-kin-kan, at sixty cents a dozen. This
fruit is oval in shape, and is said to be more rare than the glo-
bose form.

Experiments seem to indicate that the deadly mildew of the
Gooseberry can be kept in check if the plants are sprayed with
a solution of sulphide of potassium of the strength of half an
ounce to a gallon of water. This remedy is worth trying if it
will enable us to have this admirable fruit in perfection here
as it is grown in England.

Green Clover, cut while in blossom and applied early in
June, is an admirable summer mulch for Raspberries and
Blackberries. If enough of it is applied so as to lie four or five
inches deep, and in a row a yard wide along the hills, it will
form a compact mass, retain the moisture in the soil and en-
rich it. It is less liable to contain the seeds of weeds than
coarse manure or straw.

The long period of wet weather this spring has delayed ^fis-
den operations in many parts of the country. At such a time
as this, the value of improved implements, by which planting
and cultivating by horse power can be done rapidly, is readily
seen. An Ohio farmer writes that he remembers the lime
when it took five men and two horses a day to plant ten acres
of Com, but now one man with a machine and check-row at-
tachment can plant from fifteen to eighteen acres in a day.

Ex-Governor Hoyt, of Wyoming, who has been making an
agricultural survey of that state under the direction of the De-
partment of Agriculture, writes that its fifteen million acres of
forest is a possession of incalculable value. The timber-limit
here rises to a height of from 10,000 to 11,000 feet, and in view
of the money value of this supply of timber, and of the yet more
vital importance of these forests to the agriculture of the coun-
try, Governor Hoyt urges immediate action for their preserva-
tion, and adds that it is beyond comprehension that the fullest
possible provision for their protection against fire and pillage
has not already been made by the General Government.

The fruit-stores of this city are now receiving a small supply
of what is known to the trade as the West Indian pomelo. It
is somewhat pear-shaped, larger than what is usually sold as
grape-fruit, and smaller than the shaddock. The flavor is
somewhat inferior, and the fruit is dry, although occasionally
a heavy one can be found which is more juicy. Cherries are
very scarce, although they are now coming from as far north as
North Carolina. The Carolina cherries, however, are inferior to
the Californiari fruit, which still commands seventy-five or
eighty cents a pound. Peen-to peaches are now coming from
Georgia, and so are Huckleberries and gooseberries.

There has just been issued by the Herbarium of Harvard
University a List of the Plants contained in the sixth edition
of Gray's Manual, compiled by John A. Allen. It forms a

clearly printed, small octavo pamphlet of 130 pages, giving the
names and authorities of 3,781 species, including the Hepat-
icae. There is also an appendix, giving about 150 names of
species to be added to those enumerated in Gray's Manual, or
to be substituted for the names there used. The list, which
will be very convenient for collectors, can be obtained at the
Herbarium of Harvard University, the copies bound in paper
costing ten cents and those bound in leatherette twenty-five
cents apiece.

Covering grape-clusters with paper bags has long been prac-
ticed as a preventive of fungous disease, and it has been
claimed that this practice often hastens maturity of different
fruits. Experiments on this point at the Maine State Agricul-
tural College Station last year did not show that the ripening
of the fruit was hastened by bagging. A writer in the Country
Gentleman, who was much annoyed by the depredations of
birds in his vineyard, found that bagging the clusters was the
best means of protecting them from these marauders. Grapes
treated in this way can be left longer on the vines — that is, they
will not be injured by the earliest frost, and, therefore, the sea-
son for the fruit may be prolonged.

Mr. T. Greiner, writing to the Country Gentleman on the
merits of the various forms of the Bush Lima Bean, says that
there is no reason why any one should grow a pole Sieva
when its dwarf form can be as easily produced as any ordinary
bush bean. The pods hang in close clusters and may be
picked by the handful. They are not easily penetrated by
water and the ripe beans will endure many rain-storms without
any injury. This dwarf Sieva is the variety known as Hender-
son's Bush Lima. Kumerle's or Dreer's Bush Lima has a low
spreading habit, with the pods massed close to the ground. It is a
late variety, but in quality excels all others. It is suggested as
an advisable plan to mulch the ground around the plants in
some way so that the beans can be kept off the ground. Bur-
pee's Bush Lima is a genuine acquisition, being fully as early
as the pole Lima and bearing abundantly.

Extravagance in plant fashion and plant buying has not been
confined to the Tulip maniacs of Holland or to the Orchid col-
lectors of England and the United States, as the usually thrifty
and self-contained Japanese may be equally absurd when pos-
sessed with the mania of fashion. There is in Japan a plant
related to and very similar in general appearance to the Oron-
tium of our marshes ; it is the Rhodea Japonica, and naturally
it has pretty bright green leaves, but just now it is the fashion
in Japan to make collections of individuals with leaves variously
variegated, striped or blotched. A green-leaved plant is worth,
perhaps, one cent in Tokyo, but it is said that as much as
$3,000 has been offered and refused for a plant of three or four
leaves which could not be duplicated in their peculiar mark-
ing; and in a recent issueof the Gardeners' Chronicle, Mr. J. H.
Veitch, in his " Travelers' Notes," describes a visit to a grower
of Rhodea in Tokyo. Here he found a number of plants
ranging in price from $50 to $2,000 ; the plant for which $2,000
was asked was twelve inches wide, five inches high, with
eight leaves streaked with white.

The most attractive shrubs in Central Park during the past
week have been the Tartarian Honeysuckles. Perhaps they
appear better when planted singly on a lawn than when they
are massed together, for one of their best features is the grace-
ful outline of mature specimens when they spread out into
superb masses with their branches bending to the grass on all
sides. The flowers of this Honeysuckle, which are borne in
profusion, are white, pink, rose or deep red and delicately
perfumed. The shrub comes into leaf early ; its foliage is lux-
uriant, pure in colorand remains until late in the autumn, and
the red or orange berries are ornamental. Another bush
Honeysuckle is Lonicera Ruprechtiana, which resembles the
Tartarian Honeysuckle in its general characteristics, but has
still more beautiful fruit, which ripens at the end of June, and
for a month the dark red berries, hanging in pairs in such
abundance that all the branches droop under their weight,
make the plant a conspicuously beautiful object. Another
beautiful bush Honeysuckle is Lonicera Morrowi, which also
bears a great quantity of bright berries, which show well
against a background of lighter-colored leaves than those of
the other species. AH the bush Honeysuckles are admirable
shrubs, including several native varieties. Lonicera Fragran-
tissima and L. Standishii, both of which are probably forms of
the same species, the latter being the most hardy, have also
been planted quite freely in Central Park. These belong to
another class, the flowers of both appearing before the leaves.
These flowers are pure white, as fragrant as violets, and in this
latitude a few of them appear as early as February.

June 7, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

241

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OifFiCK : Tribunb Buiu>ing, New York.

Conducted by

ProfeMor C. S. Sarcknt.

SNTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OmCE AT NEW YORK. N. V.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PACK.

Editorial Articl's:— Military Parades in Central Park 241

Thomas Meehan and the Small Parks of Philadelphia 242

Botanical Notes from Texas. — VII E. ^. Plank. 242

Notes ot Mexican Travel.— V , C. G. Pr ingle. 242

Foreign Correspondence :— London Letter W. Watson. 243

New or Littui-known Plants : — Bismarckia nobilis. (With figure.) . W. Watson. 244

Cultural Department :— Spring Protection E. P. Pinvell. 244

Ornamental Currants J. G. Jack. 245

Plants in Flower. J. N. Gerard. 245

The Hardy Plant Garden E. O. Orfet, T. D. H. 246

Correspondence: — Spring Flowers at Short Hills, New Jersey G. 247

The Small Parks of Philadelphia C. B. M. -0,%

Conifers at Dosoris, Long Island C A. Dana. 248

The Columbian ExposmoN ;— Azaleas Professor L. H. Bailey. 249

Notes =49

Illustration :— Bismarckia nobilis, Fig. 37 246

Military Parades in Central Park.

UNTIL last week no serious effort to divert the
meadows of Central Park from their legitimate use
and transform them into parade-grounds for military drill
or display, has been made for the past six years. In the
early history of the park such attacks were made almost
every year, but, with one slight exception, they were
always defeated by the watchfulness of the people. At
last, however, in the spring of 1887, a bill was rushed
through the Legislature at the closing days of the session
which granted to the National Guard the privilege of drill-
ing in Central Park, and practically took away from the
Commissioners the right to exclude them. A storm of in-
dignant protest at once broke forth. Mayor Hewitt wrote
a characteristic letter to General Fitzgerald, who favored
the law, in which, after reminding the General that Van
Cortlandt Park had been placed at the disposal of the
military, he stated in a convincing way the arguments
against what he aptly characterized as a desecration of the
city's garden. On the same day the Mayor and all the
heads of the various departments of the city government
united in a remonstrance, which was sent to Albany, with
the request that Governor Hill would veto the bill. At last
the will of the people was expressed so emphatically through
the press and otherwise that at a meeting of the officers of
the National Guard a resolution was passed to the effect
that it was not advisable to ask the Governor to sign the
bill, so that when the day arrived which had been appointed
for a hearing on the matter not a voice was raised in favor
of the bill, and the Governor withheld his signature.

This signal victory was gained by the active help of
the Mayor and all the Park Commissioners. Last week,
however, it was once more proved that the authorized
guardians of the park may be its most dangerous
enemies. At the request of the Mayor, the Park Board
promptly voted to allow a regiment of soldiers to parade
on the green beside the Mall in Central Park, where they
were to pass in review before the Infanta of Spain, who
was the guest of the city. Of course, no such permission

would have been granted if any time had been allowed for
a public discussion of the matter, but the Commissioners
acted quickly, quietly, and so plainly within their powers,
that the park seemed turned over beyond hope to the mercy
of a mob. The Green, to a casual visitor, has a spacious
look, thanks to the skill of the designers in masking its
boundaries. The visitor who drives by it catches several
different views of it from various points, so that he does
not realize that there are scarcely ten open acres in it alto-
gether. A thousand soldiers would find little more than
room enough to go through their evolutions within its
limits, and even if the hoofs of horses and the march-
ing of rnen did not destroy the greensward, the hundred
thousand people who would gather on a bright day to see
the glittering spectacle would trample the surrounding
shrubbery into desolation, and it would require the slow
growth of years to heal the wounds of a single holiday.
Fortunately, the people have begun to learn that every
one of them has a right to the park, and they know that
from this it follows that no one has a right to it for any
other purpose than that of a park, and their determination
in this matter was expressed at once through the press and
in various other ways so firmly to the advisers of the
city's royal guest, to the Princess herself, it is whispered,
and to the officers of the regiment, that the invitation of
the Park Board was respectfully declined.

Now, it is not strange that our citizen soldiers should con-
sider it a privilege to march across the Green, although
there is little doubt that if they stopped to consider the
matter these defenders of our public property would hesi-
tate before they helped to destroy the noblest work of art
which the city possesses. So long as human nature is what
it is we may expect men to be moved more strongly by
their personal interests and inclinations thaq they are by a
desire for the public welfare, and, therefore, the park will
constantly be attacked by worthy persons who imagine
that some purpose which they have at heart warrants an
exception to the general rule. But no such excuse can be
offered for the action of the Park Board. These men are
charged directly with the care of the park. The one man
in the city who should be the very last to look with any
toleration upon the slightest encroachment upon the peo-
ple's park privileges is the President of the Commission,
who is paid $5,000 a year to stand between it and harm.
But these officials not only failed to protect the charge
entrusted to their keeping, but the very power which was
delegated to them for protecting the park was used to mu-
tilate and mar it. The Park Board is clothed by law with
power to prevent all destructive invasions of the park ; it
is a breach of trust when they use this power to invite
such invasion. The attempt, six years ago, to take away
from them this right to exclude the military was the occa-
sion of a popular uprising that has onl}' been equaled by
the indignation aroused by the proposed speed-road through
the park, and now, in the face of the often expressed will
of the people, and in opposition to the repeated utterance and
action of their predecessors, they make haste to throw down
the safeguards vifhich it is their first duty to preserve and
strengthen. If the Park Commissioners do not know that
military displays are entirely out of character with the pur-
pose of the park, which is to afford quiet and refreshment
to the people, if they do not know that in this especial case
the admission of the military would be utterly destructive
of the beauty of the park, and that it would cost thousands
of dollars and years of time to restore it, they are incompe-
tent. If they did realize the danger from this review,
both in itself and as a precedent for future attacks, they
are worse than incompetent.

It should be added here that one of the Commissioners,
Mr. Paul Dana, opposed the resolution to allow the parade
in the park. He also stated to his colleagues the objec-
tions to this proposed invasion, and predicted its certain
consequences, with such force and clearness, that their
action in the face of this instruction and warning is still
harder to understand or excuse.

242

Garden and Forest.

[Number 276.

IN another column of this issue we publish a letter
jjiving some account of the acquisition by the city of
Philadelphia of several small parks and squares. The
value of these breathing-spaces and playgrounds can
hardly be estimated now, and they will increase in useful-
ness as the city grows. From the brief narrative which
we publish it will be seen that for the possession of these
pleasure-grounds the city is largely indebted to the public
spirit, the foresight and the sagacious business manage-
ment of Mr. Thomas Meehan. Mr. Meehan has all his
life long been an ardent (devotee to botanical science, and
his attainments in this direction are recognized the world
over. As an editor and an author his name is identified
with the horticultural literature of the country. This ser-
vice in his later years in the councils of his adopted city
fitly rounds out a life which has been devoted to the diffu-
sion of knowledge among his fellow-men, and the throng-
ing population of the great city of the future on the banks
of the Delaware who will find health and refreshment in
the parks which he has done so much to establish will
bless his memory for generations to come.

Botanical Notes from Texas. — VII.

THE time of my visit to Austin included the last two weeks
of July, 1892. The city is east of the ninety-eighth me-
ridian and south of the thirtieth parallel. The Colorado River
flows near the city; it can hardly be said to divide it, though
there are a few buildings on the trans-Colorado side. The
river valley, just above the city, is very narrow, the river hav-
ing torn its way through a series of liigh, rocky liills, which
are dignified by the name of mountains. The capitol is a
building of which Texans are justly proud. It is built of
handsome red granite, which Nature manufactured for the
people of the state within its own boundaries. Next to the
national capitol at Washington and the state capitol at Albany,
New York, it is the largest public building in the United States.

The vicinity of Austin presents a fine field of research for
botanical students. It affords the riparian flora of its own lati-
tude, mingled with plants which the river has brought with it
almost from New Mexico, and the more western species that
are to be found on the mountains, while many familiar eastern
plants are here.

One of the handsomest, as well as one of the commonest,
plants of central Texas is Malvaviscus Drumniondii, a mal-
vaceous plant, becoming two or three Jeet tall and bearing
rather large scarlet flowers. The small, reddish, depressed
fruit is edible and pleasant. Our plant is commonly cultivated
over most of this state. It is often so abundant in a wild state
as to be a weed. As May Apple, Spanish Apple, and some-
times as Horse Apple, it will readily be recognized by Texas
readers of Garden and Forest. There are several species of
Ruellia growing in the vicinity of Austin. Of these, R. sire-
pens and R. ciliosa extend northward into Kansas. These
species, especially R. ciliosa, are known everywhere within
their range as wild Petunia. As Ruellia is not nearly related
to Petunia, the name is misleading and should be dropped.
Besides, Ruellia sounds as well as Petunia, it may be pro-
nounced as easily, and tells the truth.

Cyclanthera dissecta, a member of the Cucumber family, is
quite otten to be seen throughout Texas west of the ninety-
seventh meridian. Its dissected leaves and green, obliquely
ovoid, spinose fruit will easily lead to the detection of this
species. It is sometimes seen in cultivation as a covering for
arbors and windows. The species has an extended north and
south range, being found in Guatemala and extending north-
ward in central Kansas, to within a half degree of the fortieth
parallel. As far eastward as Austin, Chilopsis saligna, a hand-
some small tree, is only seen in cultivation. I first saw it along
Nueces River, near Uvalde. From that station it extends far
westward. Its light purple flowers and long terete pods closely
resemble those of Catalpa, to which it is nearly related. It is,
mdeed, little more than a narrow-leaved Catalpa. Grouping
the species by its narrowly lanceolate leaves, some people have
named our plant Flowering Willow. Others, judging from its
flowers as well as from its leaves, call it Willow Catalpa.
Usually a shrub of low stature, it sometimes, especially in
cultivation, becomes quite a tree. I measured an individual
in a yard at Austin that was a foot in diameter and probably
thirty feet tall.

The memory of Ehrete, the celeVjrated botanical artist of the
last century, is well perpetuated by Ehretia elliptica, which far-

ther south is very abundant. It is a common street tree in
Corpus Christi. The species is particularly interesting to
United States botanists as a tree representative of the Borage
tamily. Its thick, \isually entire leaves are very scabrous on
their upper face and oblong-ovate in outline. Its whitish bor-
rage-like flowers are produced in panicles. They are succeeded
by small, yellow, plum-like fruits, which are edible. The
largest trees of the species that I have seen are growing on the
rich bottoms of the Guadalupe River, near Cueno. Some of
them are eighteen inches in diameter and proportionally tall.
The Mexican name ot the species, Anaqua, has been corrupted
by Texans into " Knockaway." It readily adapts itself to dif-
fering conditions of soil, and as a low shrub it often covers the
most sterile knobs. The saying has become proverbial,
" Poor as a Knockaway hill." The species has an extended
western range.

Pielea trifoliata is a small tree common within the territory
covered by these notes. It is known as Hop-tree, from the bit-
terness, and as Wafer Ash, from the form of its fruits. P.
angustifolia, which sometimes bears its congener company,
extends much farther westward. Greater injustice has been
done to plants in their classification than by this separation of
the two as distinct species. With that understanding they
may as well remain as they are. Ailantus glandulosus, a well-
known foreigner, has been extensively introduced into the
southern portion of central United States. It is largely planted
as a street tree in Austin and other Texas cities. The species
is valuable in forestry for its extremely rapid growth, its strong,
durable wood, and for the facility with which it runs wild,
springing up everywhere in unoccupied lands. When at
Nacogdoches I noticed that it had literally taken to the woods.

Kansas City, Kansas. E.N. Plank.

Notes of Mexican Travel. — V.

AROUND TOLUCA— CONTINUED.

'T'HE city of Toluca, white-walled and fair, and verdant and
-'■ shady with parks and avenues of trees, lay in the serene
sunlight, as yet scarce awake from its midday siesta, when we
climbed into a rickety old diligence and turned into the high-
way leading toward the south. Our destination for that even-
ing was Calimaya, a village ten miles out and at the eastern
base of the volcano. Over plain roads, over hill-roads, through
several villages with broken pavements of cobblestones, we
toiled on through the later hours of the afternoon. Clouds
early obscured the sun, and, as we slowly rieared our destina- J
tion, a vast and black thunder-cloud bore down upon us from "
the east. We could hear the rustle of the rain falling upon the
Corn. If was close upon us when the coach came to a stop in
the village. We knew we should find no hotel there, so our
baggage was hastily piled in the portal of an inn for animals,
and my assistant was left to guard it, while I, with my official
paper, hurriedly sought the municipal palace and the president
of the village. It goes without saying to all acquainted with
Mexican courtesy, that I was kindly received by the president i
and his secretary. But those easy-going gentlemen were dis-
mayed at my undertaking to work the mountain during the
rainy season. For three hours of the evening, while a tempest
was raging without, to lend force to theirforebodings and warn-
ings, they rehearsed to me the difficulties and perils, and ad-
vised me, all out of a too tender regard for their guest, to
abandon my attempt and come again in the winter. No room
in their poor little village was good enough to receive us, so
when the rain stopped we were gathered together, with our
effects, in the council-hall, and mattresses were brought and
spread for us on the carpeted floor. At daybreak we made
our escape from our overkind friends. When on the street I
felt thai to retreat would not be doing " like an American," as
the Mexicans say. Confiding my perplexity to a kind old shop-
woman, she found us good quarters in the home of a wealthy
family. Our landlord sent out for the Government forester in
charge of the mountain, and I engaged him to guide and escort
us, with men and pack-animals, on the following day.

In the uncertain light of the breaking day the dusky figures
of our party might have been seen filing up a side street of
Calimaya and entering a lane leading amongunculti vated fields.
Four or five miles of ascending trails in the open country
brought us, when the sun was well up, into a Pine forest. It
was a rather open forest, remarkably free from undershrubs
and grassy. In clearings, more or less complete, near the bor-
ders of the forest, were patches of Potatoes and fields of Bar-
ley. Higher openings were pasture-lands, the short sweet
grass being cropped close ; but cows grazed throughout the
grassy woods, several milk ranches being located on the
mountain-side. In the fringe of the forest, belts of the Mexi-

A

June 7, 1893.)

Garden and Forest.

243

can Alder, Alnus acuminata, were seen. Here this tree g^rew
one to two feet in diameter and twenty-five to forty feet high.
At first the Pine-trees were the Montezuma Pine only ; tjutfar
above there, mingled with this another species of Pine, not
identified by me. As it was not fruiting, specimens were not
secured. Cool, wet ravines were occupied by a narrow belt
of the Mexican Fir, Abies religiosa. With the exception of the
few Alders and Firs mentioned, all the broad expanse of forest
was composed of Pines. In size and in beauty the trees would
compare well with Pinus ponderosa, as seen on the mountains
of New Mexico.

Only a few flowers were seen, those wortliy of mention be-
ing Halenia plantaginea, Griseb., and Stenanthium frigidum,
Kunth. At the uppermost milk-ranch, a cabin covered with
pine-rifts, we halt to buy milk and eat our breakfast. For a
mile from this point to the timber-line the trail is steeper. A
pretty Castilleia, C. scorzonerffifolia, is here met with, and the
white flowers of an undescribed Sabazia, S. subnuda, Rob.
and Sea., are abundant and simulate Daisies. The yellow flow-
ers of Potentilla ranunculoides, Benth., are also conspicuous.
Scarcely are we above the limit of trees ere we begin to meet
with Eryngiimi protaeflorum, Delar., a stout plant two feet
high, with silvery, spiny leaves and a single large blue head of
flowers at its top. A little further up we first see a Thistle of
similar size and habit, the entire plant whitish with floccose
pubescence and the single head as large as an orange. In
bare, gravelly soil are found mats of Senecio Halleri, Klatt, a
dwarf plant with yellow flowers, and we lingerawliile to gather
our complement of fifty specimens. Then next, in similar sit-
uations, appear mats of a dwarf Castilleia, crimson, with its
abundant bloom. Neither are we able to pass this, but collect
freely of it as we climb the steeps. Eventually it proves to be
Castilleia densa, Rob. and Sea., n. sp. The grasses of these
upper slopes are Festuca lividia, and F. ovina, var. Trisetum
Tolucense, Agrostis virescens, Calamagrostis Orizaba;, and a
variety of Deschampsia CEespitosa. It is disappointing to find
not a Sedge. On coldest steeps, just under the summit, Mu-
senium alpinum, Coult. and Rose, forms a dense sod in patches
several feet broad ; Helenia crasiuscula grows sparsely, and
Draba Jorullensis, HBK., more common.

From the limit of trees to the rim of the crater is two miles
or more. Wegain the rim at noon, in one of its lowest gaps
on the north side, and halt among great blocks of rock to
recover breath and to survey the scene. Before us yawns the
vast crater, oval in form, a mile wide by two miles in length
from east to west. As we have happened upon fine weather,
the crater is filled with mellow sunlight and everything is dis-
tinctly visible. In the bottom, some six hundred feet below
us, lie five small lakes of the deepest blue. Among them
rises a hill several hundred feet high, a huge pile of broken
rock. The sides of the crater wvthin are steep gravel slides,
six hundred to one thousand feet high. The color of tlie gravel
varies from lightest gray through brown to purple, according
as it is affected by the character of the overhanging rocks.
The colors run iri lines from top to bottom,, and softly shade
from one to the other. Here and there on the crater's rim rise
rocky knobs or peaks of the same varying hues.

We turn to look in the direction from which we have come.
Far to the north the eye follows a waving line of mountains,
whose summits are covered with green forests. Beyond the
far-reaching valley of Toluca, dotted with towns and spangled
with shining lakes, stretches a similar range, the Sierra de las
Cruces, continued by the Monte Alto. The scene is one of
the utmost grandeur.

While my assistant, with a boy's desire to climb to the
highest pinnacle, sets out with the three strongest men to ex-
plore and measure with aneroid the peaks of the rim, I, intent
on learning what plants grow on the crater's bottom, descend
to the lakes with the others of our party and the animals, by a
steep path in the gravel. In the soft, bare soil on the margins
of the lakes, rosettes of Calandrinia acaulis are common. On
wet bottoms, Alchemilla pinnata, hitherto known only from
South American Andes, forms little patches of the softest and
densest green; a dwarf Umbillifer, Oreomyrrhis Andina, forms
other mats ; and Dissanthelium selerochloides, one of the least
of grasses, shows scattered tufts an inch or two in height. Over
the moist, bare gravel is widely scattered Draba Tolucensis.
In the shelter of rocks, thrown down from beetling ledges, is
Gnaphalium Popocatspecium DC, and a species of Cerastium
quite as tomentose. On the slopes and ridges above the
lakes a Plantain grows in large dense clumps. It is Plantago
linearis. With it is an Erysimum. These few species, besides
the Thistle and Grasses mentioned as seen first on the outer
side, are the only flowering-plants seen by me within the crater.
Even the Mosses and Lichens proved to be few and stunted.

As I gather these in thewarm, serene sunlightamid a silence
that seemed profound, ranging widely in my search, drinking
of each clear cold lake, the taint shout of my comrades reaches
me from time to time, or I see their forms against the sky-
line far and high, as they clamber over almost impassable
ledges, or toil through deep gravel or deeper snows. Half the
afternoon has gone by ere my brave boy, witli only the daunt-
less forester at his heels, scales a peak on the south-western
side and finds it to be the loftiest of all, or four hundred feet
higher than that one on the Toluca side, which is commonly
taken for the highest point of the mountain. Then our party
come together again for lunch by one of the lakes ; we pass
out of the crater by an easier trail and lower gap on its eastern
side, and, winding around the mountain-side, descend into the
shelter of the forest and spread our beds near the cabin where
we took breakfast.

The next day, reversing our course, we collect, on our way
to the crater and while yet under the Pines, Lupinus Mexi-
canus, and those species noted, but passed by before. From
the summit ledges we take Gnaphalium lavandulaceum, a
shrubby species. That second evening, mostly after night-
fall, with heavy loads of plants, we descend to Calimaya, a
thunder-storm, with its mountain-torrents overtaking uson the
way. The following morning sees us marching back to
Toluca.

Twice, at intervals, we repeated this visit to the volcano fol-
lowing up wet ravines and gleaning extensively tnrougn the
forest. "This labor was rewarded with Sabazia humilis, Cav.,
a variety of Gentiana Wrightii, Gray, Pencedanum Tolucense,
Hemsl., Aplopappus stoloniferus, Ribes Jorullense, a black Cur-
rant, ten to twenty feet high, Agrostis fasciculata, Cupressus
Benthami, Spiranthes pauciflora, Eupatorium Saltivarii, Ca-
calia prenanthoides, Eryngium Bonplandii, Hieracium prae-
morsiforme, Cnicus Jorullensis and Piquiera Pringlei, n. sp. Of
course, some plants of common distribution were seen on the
lower slopes. Twice we were again in the crater, each time
in stormy weather. We ate our lunch amid cold gales, whirl-
ing clouds and falling snow. We gleaned for tpore plants with
no success, then gave our time to collecting lichens and
mosses.

As far as I could judge, the volcano of Toluca did not dis-
charge lava, but rather blew out immense quantities of por-
phyritic gravel. This is shown by the character of the gravel
slides within and without the crater and by the deep grave; of
the same character covering the slopes of the mountain and
scattered over the surrounding country.

To the tourist I can recommend, without reserve, a visit of
Toluca. In the city of Toluca it is considered quite the thing
to take your friends there for a pleasure-trip. Ladies ride
through the crater in the saddle. But let the tourist, if he be
not a naturalist, follow the advice of my friends in tlie palace
of Calimaya, and make his visit in February, when the rains
are not on, and when the clouds have not begun to gather.
At that season he will find delight amid those wonderful scenes
and in the clear air and warm sunshine.

Charlotte, Vt. C. G. PrillgU.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Hybrid Gladioli. — Although there are one hundred and
thirty species of Gladiolus, the popular representatives of
the genus in the garden are chiefly of hybrid origin. The
most recent additions are the two hybrid races named
G. Lemoinei and G. Nanceanus, the former the result ot
crossing G. Gandavensis and other forms with G. purpureo-
auratus, the latter being the outcome of crossing G. Le-
moinei with G. Saundersii. These two races are of first-
rate merit. There is also the hybrid race called G. Childsii,
raised from G. Saundersii, and the large-flowered forms of
G. Gandavensis. To these we have now to add two hybrids
raised by Messrs. Dammann & Co., of Naples, who sent
flowers of both to Kew a few days ago. They are called G.
Victorialis and G. Papilio X Gandavensis, the former being
the result of crossing G. communis, a European species,
purple-flowered and very similar to the common G. sege-
tum, with G. cardinalis or G. Colvillei. The hybrid has
leaves an inch broad, slender spikes a foot long bearing
rosy mauve flowers an inch long. The other hybrid, whose
parents are indicated in its name, is a slender plant with
leaves less than an inch broad and loose eight to ten flow-

244

Garden and Forest.

[Number 276.

ered spikes, the flowers being an inch long and colored
mauire-purple. Whatever their potentiality may be I am
afraid the hybrids themselves, as represented by what I
saw of them, are not likely to become very popular in the
garden. I believe that in the recently introduced G. oppo-
sitiflorus the breeders of Gladioli have a valuable plant.
At Kew it is now growing vigorously, and its short, broad,
dark green leaves — their singular arrangement upon the
stem, together with the height to which its stout branching
spike ultimately attains and the handsome character of the
flowers — constitute an altogether new departure in Glad-
ioli. Last winter we tried to cross this species with others,
but the time of year was against success.

DiSA Kewexse. — This is a new hybrid which has been
raised at Kew from D. grandiflora and D. tripetaloides. It
is now in flower and is decidedly pretty- The leaves, scape
and general look of the plant are like those of the hybrid
D. Veitchii, the parents of which are D. grandiflora and
D. racemosa, but the flowers of D. Kewense are smaller, be-
ingoneand one-half inches across. The lateral sepals are one
inch long, ovate, slightly recurved and colored rich rose ; the
posterior sepal is hooded, as in D grandiflora, three-fourths
of an inch in diameter and colored rosy lavender, with red
spots ; the lip is yellow inside, with transverse lines and
spots of crimson. The scape is eighteen inches high and
bears six flowers. The seeds were sown in November,
1891, so that this plant is only eighteen months old. There
are numerous other plants of the same age, but only one
has flowered.

The Weather. — We have at last come to the end of a
long spell of dry, sunny, warm weather such as has not be-
fore been experienced in spring in this country by any
living man. From the first week in March to the third
week in May we have had bright sunshine almost daily,
comparatively little night frost, and, save a shower or two
toward the end of April, no rain. The effect of this weather
has been to make trees and shrubs flower earlier and with
much more profusion than I have ever seen. Herbaceous
plants also have flowered well where it has been possible
to supply them with water, although the dryness of the at-
mosphere and bright light have made their flowers fade
quickly. The reports of the setting of fruit-trees in all
parts of the country are most satisfactory. If the summer
weather proves correspondingly favorable the harvest of
fruit and agricultural produce must be most prolific. Sur-
face-rooting plants have suffered much from drought, but
those whose roots were down deep in the soil have done
exceptionally well. Established conifers have grown won-
derfully, but those transplanted in spring have suffered ter-
ribly. On the other hand, all the trees transplanted last
autumn have shown little or no signs of suffering. Indoors
the plants are very forward and promising, but the drought
and warmth appear to have favored such pests as aphis,
thrips and red-spider so much that it has been difficult to
keep them under. The effect of the drought on the hay
crop is such as is likely to produce a hay famine here.

Lo«'"°- W. Watson.

New or Little-known Plants.

Bismarckia nobilis. *

BISM ARCKI A is a monotypic genus of Palms, very nearly
related to Borassus and Hyphcene. It is a native of
Madagascar, where it was discovered by Hildebrandt, the
German traveler, in 1879, and named by him and Wend-
land in compliment to Prince Bismarck. According to its
discoverer, it grows in groves on the river Beturea, in west
Madagascar, along with the "Sata" (Hyphoene coriacea),
and forms a tree two hundred feet high, with a gigantic
crown of palmate leaves, the stalks of which are streaked
with white. The fruit, which is borne in large, drooping
bunches, is dark brown, plum-like, globose, one and one-
half inches in diameter, with a thin outer shell and a fibrous

' Bol. Zetl., 1881, p. 93.

inner shell, enclosing a' roundish-ribbed seed an inch in
diameter, reticulated like a walnut and ruminated as in the
nutmeg.

Hildebrandt brought home one hundred good seeds of
this Palm and deposited them at the Berlin Botanic Gar-
dens, where, in 1881, seventy seedlings were raised. The
plant represented in the illustration (see p. 246) is one of
these seedlings, which was presented to Kew in 1882, and
which is now a handsome young specimen a yard high and
four feet in diameter. It has fourteen leaves, the largest
with a petiole eighteen inches long, channeled, rounded
below, smooth, finely serrated along the two sharp ridges
and thinly clothed with small tufts of fibrous scales. The
blade is nearly three feet across, rigid, and is divided into
twenty segments, each a foot long, nearly two inches wide,
with a blunt bifid apex. At the base of each split in the
blade is a curled thread-like filament a foot long. The
whole plant is colored bluish green and is a strikingly
handsome Palm.

In habit the Bismarckia resembles Hyphcene Thebaica,
of which there are healthy young examples at Kew, but
the latter has broad hooked spines along the edges of the
petiole. Examples of Hyphoene, Borassus and Bis-
marckia are cultivated in the same house at Kew, and of
the three the Bismarckia is by far the most satisfactory,
growing quicker and looking better at all times than either
of the others.

Hildebrandt visited Madagascar a second time, chiefly
to obtain complete material and pictures of this Palm,
which he declared to be fully worthy to bear the name of
the great German Chancellor, but he caught fever in the
interior and died on the coast.

I believe that of the seventy plants of Bismarckia raised
at Berlin in 1881, very few remain. Messrs. Linden offered
plants of it in 1884 at ^5 each, and Messrs. Makoy & Co.,
of Liege, have plants of it now. It is a Palm of very noble
aspect, even when young. From the description of large
examples of it I should say it will be not unlike the great
Fan Palm of Bermuda, Sabal Blackburniana, of which there
is a noble specimen in the Palm-house at Kew, and which,
by the way, is supposed to be exactly one hundred years
old, having been brought to England by Admiral Bligh in
1 793.
i:x)ndon. W. Walsott.

Cultural Department.
Spring Protection.

■\irE are too apt to rejoice over our fruit prospects in March,
* * for the real danger comes after that. Not zero weather,
but warm weather, is to be dreaded. A cool April usually
precedes a good fruit year, but a warm showery April starts the
buds, and frost comes in the middle of May, which reduces, if
it does not ruin, our crop. Such dangers are over now, but
while the conditions of spring are still in our memory it is a
good time to remind fruit-growers that it is advisable to keep
back the early growth of fruit-trees as long as possible. Snow
is often a good mulch, and when piled up and packed down ' i
along currant-rows or Cherry-trees or Grape-vines or Quince- '
bushes it is always helpful. But, as a rule, it is possible to ob-
tain for our more delicate trees some long litter or coarse
manure, which should be spread about them in the wmter on
the top of the snow. Coal-ashes is admirable for the same
purpose, and Ijeneficial for equalizing the temperature about
the roots of the trees at any season. I use all that I make at
home and all that I can secure from my neighbors, and find
that a bushel or two about a Pear-tree will always prove valua-
ble, perhaps because it prevents sudden changes of tempera-
ture about the roots, and such changes are injurious in sum-
mer as well as in spring.

Another danger to be dreaded is lack of pollination of the
flowers. Twice during six years past we have lost our fruit
crop in central New York after abundant blossoming because
of the cold and chilly rains, which prevented the flying of in-
sects and failed to give the proper conditions for pollination.
A few orchards of low trees in which domestic bees were kept
afforded full crops, but the bees could not get beyond the con-
fines of their home groves. My trees are trees of open growth,
separated by large mtervals ; my nearest neighbor has low-

June 7, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

245

limbed trees, which stand compactly together. I had no ap-
ples, and he had a surplus. I do not advocate close planting
of orchards, but I feel confident that a few hives of bees do
great service besides making honey.

Of course, it is always unwise to uncover Strawberries or
Grapes too early in the season. It is far better to let the mulch
remain at least until the weather is quite beyond any danger
of freezing. In fact, we cover Strawberries, primarily, not
against the cold, but against alternating heat and cold. The
Strawberry-plant is hardy, but a few successive thawings and
freezings will loosen its roots. _ „ „ ,,

Clinton, N. Y. E. P. PoiVell.

Ornamental Currants.

THE Red Currant of our gardens, covered with ripe fruit,
is, perhaps, quite as ornamental as many shrubs
which are cultivated merely for showy effect. But it is
a dwarf plant, seldom carrying its fruit in a conspicuous posi-
tion, and often having it well concealed by abundant foliage.
The Black Currant (Ribes nigrum) of gardens is by no means
a showy or ornamental shrub, and although much grown in
Europe for its edible fruit, it does not find general favor in this
country. When bruised the leaves give out a powerful res-
inous, aromatic odor, relished by some people, but disagree-
able to others. These two species of Currant are the only
ones which are generally cultivated for their fruit.

There are, however, several species of an ornamental char-
acter which are familiar to us through frequent use in gar-
dens. The so-called Tasteless Mountain Currant (Ribes al-
pinum) is said to be cultivated in some parts of Europe for its
fruit, improved forms having both red and black fruits of a
superior flavor. But although the wild type, as grown at the
Arnold Arboretum, bears an abundance of handsome scarlet
fruit, which persists throughout the latter part of summer and
into the early autumn, it is so insipid that even the birds leave
it untouched as long as they can get food of higher flavor.
The species is most interesting on account of the extreme
earliness of the flowers and leaves. The flowers are of a light
yellowish green and are not themselves conspicuous, but with
the light green leaves, which are almost of the same color
when unfolding, they give the plants an early verdurous aspect,
which is approached by few other shrubs at the same season.
What appears to be just the same plant has been received
here under the name of Ribes saxatile. Seedlings sometimes
show variability in the abundance and time of bloom and size
of fruit. It is interesting to note that this, unlike most Cur-
rants, appears to be dioecious, the flowers on one plant pro-
ducing pollen only, those on another bearing the fruit. The
barren plants appear the most vigorous and green in early
spring. A native of northern Europe and Siberia, the hardi-
ness of the species is unquestionable.

As an ornamental plant the Buffalo or Missouri Currant
(Ribes aureum) is probably better and more widely known
than any other ; the showy deep yellow sepals, the crown of
red petals, and pleasant clove-pink fragrance making it a gen-
eral favorite. Some attention has also been paid to its cultiva-
tion for fruit, and as a result we have the Crandall Currant, a
fruit which has not yet gained general popular favor, although
liked by some persons.

An eminent English authority, in a standard work on horti-
culture, has described the fruit as "yellow, seldom black, and
of exquisite flavor"; but, as it is known here, the fruit when
mature is usually purplish black, more rarely yellowish or yel-
lowish only before maturity, and although the flavor is varia-
ble, and sometimes somewhat sprightly, there is usually a
mawkish quality about it which very few persons relish. Yet
there are said to be forms, growing in its native country in the
western part of our continent, that bear fruit which is quite
palatable.

There are several so-called varieties of the Missouri Cur-
rant sold in nurseries, but all have distinctly three-lobed, or
more rarely, and less markedly, five-lobed smooth leaves.
There is no question of the hardiness of this rather tall-grow-
ing Currant.

The more beautiful red-flowering Currant, Ribes san-
guineum, of northern California and of Oregon, without pro-
tection, is not hardy, unless under peculiar conditions. To
insure a crop of bloom its branches should be bent over to the
ground and well covered. The plants left exposed here during
the past winter had almost every bud and branch destroyed.
Although requiring unusual care, this species is well worth
cultivating, as it is the most beautiful of all the Currants
which can be grown in the open air in this latitude.
Its flowers, larger than those of the Buffalo Currant, and in

longer racemes, are of a beautiful rose color when expanded,
the buds and exterior being of a darker red. There are
variations with darker and with lighter colored flowers sold in
some nurseries. The fruit is black, scurfy, hairy, dry and use-
less for any edible purpose ; and the odor of the flowers, while
not unpleasant, has not the peculiar delicate fragrance of the
Buffalo Currant. The leaves are large, leathery, with three
large rounded lobes, or with the addition of two smaller lateral
lobes. When bruised they give off a peculiar, not very power-
ful, aromatic fragrance.

Ribes Gordonianum is another Currant frequently planted
for ornament. This is a hybrid between the two last species
and it is intermediate between them in many respects,
even in hardiness. Its flowers are not yellow, nor yet rosy
red, more nearly resembling faded blooms of R. sanguineum.
In shape they are more like the short-tubed blossoms of R.
sanguineum ; while the habit of the plant, though more strag-
gling, suggests R. aureum. The leaves are intermediate. It
will live without protection in winter, although some of its
branches are always liable to be killed. Although interesting,
it is not so beautiful as R. sanguineum, but its greater hardi-
ness commends it where its parent cannot be grown. Like
many hybrids, this bears no fruit.

A pretty plant at this season of the year is our native Black
Currant (Ribes floridum) bearing a great quantity of light yel-
lowish green flowers. It is not worth introducing into the
ordinary garden as an ornamental plant, but should not be left
out of large plantations. The black fruit of this species is
often large and juicy, and while not generally agreeable to the
taste it would seem to be susceptible of great improvement.

While the Red Currant of our gardens is so liable to have its
foliage regularly destroyed by the imported currant-worm
(Nematus ventricosus) and other insects of the same group,
it is worthy of note that none of the other species of Currant
mentioned here ever seem to be attacked by these almost
universal pests. fv /- rv i.

Arnold Arboretum. /. G. jack.

Plants in Flower.

T RIS GERMANICA, Amas, is an interesting variety, differ-
*■ ing from the type in its much broader and larger petals.
The purple self-colored standards and rich dark purple falls,
with the noble and distinct form, mark it as a fine garden-
plant. It is later in flower than the type.

Iris graminea is peculiarfor its apricot-like fragrance, though
it has a peculiar beauty with its long narrow petals covered,
except at the tips, by the claws. The falls are exquisitely
veined with white on a blue ground, with a yellow marking on
the blade.

Geranium Balkanum is a Crow's-foot, for which we are in-
debted to Herr Leichtlin. The plant is perfectly hardy and the
foliage is fragrant. The flowers, borne on radical stems, ai'e
about an inch in diameter, and are attractive in shape, but dark
magenta in color.

Last week marked the opening of the Rose season with the
flowering of the ever-welcome Rosa rugosa. The Pond Lilies
are also opening at the same time. The Aponogeton has been
in flower for a fortnight, this being usually the first hardy
aquatic plant to show color. Just now, Nymphseapygmea leads
the van of theWater-lilies, closely followed by N. Laydekeri with
numerous flower-buds near the surface, from most of the
hardy kinds. The water-garden is backward this season, ow-
ing to the prevailing low temperature, though it is making
continual progress under the influence of every bright day.
One of the most interesting plants in the tank at present is
Cyperus pungens, which seems to be making special efforts in
the way of increase, putting out new shoots from the bottom
and flowering, while from the base of the leaves on the old
stems numerous small plants appear and grow vigorously
without rooting. One finds, as he grows a water-garden from
year to year, that there are some things appearing from time
to time more interesting to a botanist than the cultivator. A
few weeks ago the tanks suddenly commenced to fill with very
fine thread-like Algae, which threatened to fill everything with
their rapid growth. One day, as suddenly, this ripened up
into clots of the darkest emerald green, mostly floating, and
easily removed. Other troubles come from time to time, as
in other parts of the garden, usually more difficult to diagnose
than with the plants growing in the border. On the whole,
however, once well planted, the water-garden is a source of
small anxiety.

The first of the large Poppies to flower is Blush Queen, a
striking variety of P. Orientale, having the characteristics of
the type in habit of plant and size of flower. In color it is en-
tirely distinct, being a light " old rose," with large dark blotches

246

Garden and Forest.

[Number 276

on the base of the petals. The flowers are very attractive, while
lacking the vivid coloring of the ordinary Poppies.
Elizabeth. N.J. ' J. N. Gerard.

The Hardy Plant Garden.

ALTHOUGH the season is later than usual, it has been alto.
gether favorable to plant-growth in the garden. VVe have
had no late frosts, and frequent rains have brought about a
vigorous growth which promises well for the summerdisplay.
Lilies of all kinds are coming on stronger than ever, and will

is most brilliant in color, darker than the common Oriental
Poppy, but similar to the best forms known as the variety
Bracteatum. P. glaucum has been called the Tulip Poppy,
owing to the peculiar arrangement of the two sets of petals,
one \vithin the other, each forming perfect circles. This Poppy
is an annual, but has a habit of branching from the base unlike
any other species with which I am acquainted, and promises,
in consequence, to flower all the season if not allowed to ex-
haust itself in seeding. I am indebted to Herr Max Leichtlin,
of Baden-Baden, for this and many other valuable garden-
plants, one of which, Lindelofla spectabilis prtecox, noted last

F'R. 37 — Bismarckia nobilis.— See page 244.

keep the grounds brieht with their flowers for the greater
part of the summer. I had fancied there were symptoms of
the Lily disease last season, and anxiously watched for the re-
appearance of the plants this spring, anticipating a weaker
frowth than last year's ; but, forsome cause, the disease is not
ere, and, if we except the rose-bug, there are few insects that
cannot be circumvented in some way.

A most promising plant, although no longer new, is Papaver
glaucum. Seeds were started early in the greenhouse, and the
plants grown on into six-inch pots. They were set out May
loth, and are now covered with buds and flowers. This Poppy

season, is again in vigorous bloom. It is perfectly hardy and
of the true Gentian blue, rare among hardy plants. The best
form of Dicentra eximia, that from Tennessee, is in bloom
with us from April to November. Flowers come with the first
leaves, and continue until severe frosts kill them down. We
use the foliage, which is beautifully cut and lasts well, for ar-
ranging with cut flowers. Seedling-plants bloom well the first
year, and make plants two feet across in one season. This
plant seems to be specifically distinct from that usually sold as
D. eximia. It is not stoloniferous, is a much better garden-
plant, and, unlike all other Dicentras, it is a persistent bloomer.

Jl'NE 7, 1893.1

Garden and Forest.

247

The Parrot Tulips planted three years ago are still as gfood
as when first set out and are very gay at this time. Their
quaint forms and odd colorings make them very attractive.
They seem to do best in a poorBoil in a dry situation and need
only a slight top-dressing in the fall. We plant Nasturtiums
and Petunias between them to make a succession of flowers.
An Azalea-bed is also tilled with Parrot Tulips, and these will
be succeeded by Asters. The various species of Tulips have
been specially good this year. T. elegans, T. Greigii, T. Ges-
neriana and T. cornuta are still in good condition. These
kinds come in later than the ordinary garden Tulips and seem
to last longer.

Cypripedium pubescens and C. parviflorum, planted on the
shady side of a Rhododendron bed, are now in bloom, May
30th, and come stronger every year in such a position, as does
also C. spectabile, the most beautiful of all native species, and
which is excelled by few exotics. This kind will not flower
for another month, but gives great promise. These have all
been planted three years, and the cool moist soil seems to suit
them admirably.

There are a few species of Allium that are decidedly orna-
mental in the flower-garden. Allium Moly is a very old gar-
den-plant and needs no comment, but A. Ostrowskyanum, A.
Karativiense and A. Rosenbachianum are all more remarkable
and worth growing. The latter species is in bloom now and
is a stately plant with broad strap-shaped leaves and a tall spike
of attractive rose-colored flowers. These Alliums are all per-
fectly hardy and can be obtained in the fall from any of the

Dutch grovT-ers. rr r, n ^ 4

South Lancaster, Mass. £■■ <->. Urpet.

THE Pheasant's-eye Narcissus now alone remains with us,
and many of these have been gathered to-day to decorate
the graves of soldiers. Next to N. bicolor Horsefieldi, we con-
sider N. incomparabilis Sir Watkin the best — certainly the
showiest. I must dissent from Mr. Gerard's opinion that it
has nothing more than size to recommend it. It is excellent
in constitution, and is really one of the few Narcissi which
make any headway in this latitude, multiplying without any
special care. A great majority of the rarer imported kinds
bloom the first year and flower less each succeeding year. On
the edge of a large lawn no other Narcissus has been as effec-
tive here as Sir Watkin.

The cool, moist spring of this year has just suited such
spring-flowering bulbous plants as Scilla Sibirica and Chiono-
doxa Lucilli3. By a little fostering care, and withholding the
hoe and weeding, our stock has been increased from seedlings,
which come up freely in the neighborhood of the plants. One
can hardly have too many of these lovely harbingers of spring.
Another welcome spring flower which thrives here is the
Wood-lily (Trillium grandiflorum), very effective when planted
in masses. It succeeds here under a large Hickory, and it is
an admirable subject for shady places. Just now the Moss
Pinks are at their best. The brightest and most desirable of
the varieties is Atropurpurea. It is a dazzling mass of deep
pink on a grassy slope. While the development of such slopes
is desirable, it is easy to disfigure tfiem. One stretch of this
plant is enough here, and several would produce a disagreeable
effect. Wherever broad areas of such bright flowers are used
care should be taken that they do not interfere with the ver-
dant aspect of the scene. Here also is an opportunity to plant
a few clumps of the hardiest Daffodils, and possibly some of
the mossy Saxifrages, as well as a few clumps of Giant Grasses.
Many years ago a few choice native plants were started here
under the shade of an Oak-tree, and they look as natural now
as if they had grown there spontaneously. There are fine
patches of Adiantum pedatum, with Dodecatheona Meadia,
Smilacena racemosa, Trilhums, wild Columbines and Cypri-
pediums. In such places Viola pedata, V. cucularia and
Silene Pennsylvanica are perfectly at home.

Hand-weeding alone should be practiced among hardy
plants, and this work should be entrusted to experienced per-
sons. Seedlings coming up should be allowed to grow when
they do not interfere with the rightful occupants of the space.
This is the only way to increase some species. I was pleased
to note the other day a whole colony of Mertensia Virginica
coming up, and this plant is not by any means easy to raise
in ordinary practice, it is well known that a large number
of seeds lose their vitality if not immediately returned to the
soil, even though they lie there several months, and are frozen
before germinating. I was still further pleased to note several
seedlings of Saxifraga Wallacei, one of the best mossy Saxi-
frages, while the Fire Pink, Iceland Poppy, Alpine Poppy and
Callirhoe involucrata appeared in all sections of the rock-gar-
den. These and many other kinds we are glad to foster, but
others, again, though often desirable in their proper places.

become weeds, and it is only with diflficully they are exter-
minated. We have had to dig out Anemone Pennsylvanica,
and will in all probability be digging it for two or three years.
Campanula rotundifolia seeds itself, as does also C. Carpatica.
It is possible to have too many of these, but it is no trouble to
weed them out. -»,,,,,

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

Correspondence.
Spring Flowers at Short Hills, New Jersey.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Decoration Day week usually finds a wealth of early
summer-flowering plants in bloom in this latitude. At
this time one expects to find the glow of Paeonies and hardy
Poppies contrasting with the quieter Irises and the graceful
Columbines, all with foils of smaller plants lingering from the
earlier season. I found in Pitcher & Manda's plantation on
Decoration Day that the Tree Paeonies were about gone, ex-
cept one very good variety named Koechlini, a pink, with the
color deepening toward the base of the petals. It seems jvortli
while to make a note of good Tree Paeonies, as they are too
often unsatisfactory in color, being either an undecided pink,
or, if darker, showing some shade of magenta. They are glo-
rious shrubs in flower when in clear pure colors, but scarcely
worth good garden space otherwise. There was a large
breadth of Paeony varieties and species here, but only the
double dark crimson, P. officinalis, and its single dark crimson
variety, anemoniflora, in flower at the moment. In a warm
spot the great Oriental Poppies stood out boldly as the most
conspicuous flower of the season. There were several varie-
ties in flower differing in the shades of scarlet, the darkest,
richest-colored and tallest plant being P. Parkmanii, probably
the finest variety in cultivation.

Workmen were extending the stream at the base of the hill
into a pond and planting a bank with Irises, so that a water-
garden will be added to the nursery, and there will be another
object-lesson for visitors to the nursery. Irise,s, principally
German hybrids, were seen in great variety and large numbers.
Names of these vary so much that it is difficult to call atten-
tion to special kinds. Madame Chereau, white, penciled blue,
is a well-known very lovely kind, and hybrids of Iris pallida,
light blue or purple, are beautiful. There was a striking
breadth of the light lemon-colored I. flavescens. Many hardy
Pyrethrums, single and double, were coming forward rapidly.
These beautiful and very satisfactory hardy plants are not
nearly as much grown as their merits deserve. Another old
plant seen here, the double Peach-leaved Bellflower, is a
striking and effective white flower at this season. Columbines,
of course, were in great variety. A large breadth of Aquilegia
alba grandiflora, showing very plainly that the greenish
white Columbines are the least effective in color of any of the
numerous species and varieties.

Other of the larger plants in flower were the Day Lilies
(Hemerocallis) in variety. Azalea mollis and Doronicums.
The various small plants mostly met, such as Cerastiums, Ve-
ronicas, Phloxes, etc., are still in beauty. The pure white Viola
cornuta is very effective for bedding at this time, being very
free in flower and graceful in effect. The most strikinpf new
hardy plant shown was the hybrid Hypericum Moserianum
(patulum X calycinum). This is a French variety with large,
pure golden yellow flowers, about three inches broad. It is a
shrub said to grow three or four feet high, with gracefully
incurving branches. I did not understand that the plant had
been tested here for hardiness, the stock being in one of the
houses, but it is a striking and beautiful St. John's Wort. In
the frames here are always to be found dainty plants. Primulas,
Saxifrages, A ndrosaces, Ray mondias and nice gems for the rock-
ery. One would like to see their effect if planted at the en-
trance to the Palm houses, where evidently the exigencies of
the business have led to the use of a wilderness of coarser-
growing things.

Knowing that the Messrs. Pitcher & Manda shipped last
month some eight car-loads of plants to the Columbian Expo-
sition, where they occupy about twenty thousand square feet
of space, I had rather hoped to find the Palm houses so deci-
mated that the plants could be better seen and enjoyed. It
seems scarcely credible that the Tree Fern forest looks as dense
as before, that the specimen Palms are still crowded, and the
side houses packed apparently closer than ever. It would only
seem to one familiar with the houses that there had been a
slight shifting of stock, with perhaps fewer large pans of Ferns,
etc., than are usually seen. here. There has evidently been
a great influx of the popular species of Palms from seedlings
•o useful sizes for house-decoration, and these with the Rubber-

248

Garden and Forest.

[Number 276.

trees have overflowed to a few hundred outside frarnes,
which seem to be perfect and clieap summer-plant factories.
Besides Palms, there were in the hill-ranjjes many hundred
Azaleas still in perfect tlower, fine specimen Achanias, Calceo-
larias, Tuberous Begonias, Cannas — among these very prom-
ising seedlings — and even a few Chrysanthemums, very rnuch
out of season. In tlie upper ranges a frequent visitor fails to
feel surprised by the constantly increasing wealth of plants.
While one notices the disappearance of special lots there is an
ever-increasing abundance of plants in all stages.

Like all other flowers, those of Orchids vary very much in
beauty, and differing tastes may differ as to their beauty, but
no plantsman could look over the veritable mine of collected
plants, lying in heaps in the side houses, without being bitten
with a desire to grow all he could acquire. One lingers over
the often shriveled plants, handling the unkempt masses,
imagining ever a rarity and longing with impatience to start
the pieces into active life. Speculation this, of course, but are
we not all tinged with the speculative instinct, even in our pleas-
ures ? The flower-grower even must have his excitements. It
seems unnecessary to say that the Cypripedium house is al-
ways bright with flowers ; to name them is to give a leaf from
a catalogue. After these, Cattleya Mossise was represented in
greatest numbers, these being now in season. Especially no-
ticeable were the white variety, and Hardyananum which has
curiously shaded petals. Numerous forms of Odontoglossum,
Chysis, Saccolabium, Vandas, etc., also added to the present
brightness of the houses.

New York. t'-

The Small Parks of Philadelphia.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In 1845 a number of suburban boroughs were all con-
solidated under the title of the "City of Philadelphia," the
whole then comprising about 180 square miles. That act of
consolidation made it mcumbent on the city to provide small

Earks or open spaces for the people similar to those laid out
y William Penn in the city proper. At the time of consolida-
tion there were but Independence, Franklin, Logan, Washing-
ton, Rittenhouse and Centre Squares, the last-named being
the open space now occupied by the new City Hall, and which
was in the middle of the plot set aside for the city by its
founder. This obligation remained a dead letter for some
years until there arose a general demand from intelligent
people that Bartram Garden be preserved to posterity. While
on a visit to Philadelphia in 1880, Professor Sargent found a
liberal-spirited friend willing to expend $15,000 on its purchase,
the garden to be presented to the city and to be retained for-
ever as public property. Mr. Thomas Meehan undertook to
negotiate in the matter, but every effort failed, the executors
of the estate being naturally desirous to get as much money
out of the property as possible. This they thought could be
best (lone by putting the garden upon the market as a desira-
ble piece of real estate. Mr. Meehan felt that such a course
would be no financial advantage to the estate, and as Mr. East-
wick, who owned it, a descendant of John Bartram, had in his
life-time expressed a strong wish to have the garden saved,
Mr. Meehan felt that he would be doing no ill turn to the family
if he forced the executors to sell it to the city for park pur-
poses. About this time Mr. Meehan was strongly urged to
represent his ward in City Councils, a position which he ac-
cepted for the opportunity it gave him to move for the saving
of this historic botanic collection and also to inaugurate a
movement in favor of small parks. One of his first move-
ments as a councilman was to introduce an ordinance to select
unimproved plots over the whole city, a few miles apart, leav-
ing them to grow in value, and then sell outlying portions in
order to pay for the parks. This plan was pronounced illegal
by the city solicitor, the charter of Philadelphia forbidding it
to sell real estate. A plan to raise a loan for purchasing the
plots was also found to be impracticable, the debt of the city
having already reached the limit allowed by law. The only
method left was to put such plots on the plan as were not
likely to be pushed to purchase for a number of years, so that
they could be taken gradually as the annual income of the city
permitted, just as street lines are placed on the public plan.
This prevents subsequent use by the owner for real estate im-
provement, the city paying the value under a subsequent ordi-
nance " to open for public use."

In 1884 the first ordinance under this plan was passed. At
this time a number of progressive men and women, under the
leadership of Mrs. Brinton Coxe and Mrs. Dr. Lundy, formed
the Small Parks Association, and succeeded in enlisting the
leading Philadelphia newspapers to aid the cause. Especial

credit is due to Colonel McClure, of the Times, Mr. Emery
Smith, of the Press, and to ex-Mayor Filler. The movement
rapidly became popular, and plots of ground were placed on
the plan by councils. Indeed, the very popularity of the
movement 'has made it advisable to hold it in check rather
than to urge it forward, since there is an increasing demand to
take these spaces at once and more rapidly than the financial
condition of the city will allow.

Bartram Garden, the first inspiring thought in the move-
ment, was naturally the first park taken. Stenton Park, the
estate of Logan, the secretary of the commonwealth under
Penn, himself a great botanist, as the Order of Loganaceas so
well commemorates, was next placed on the plan, with the
understanding, however, that if not pressed to occupation by
the city it shall be deeded ultimately by the present occupant, a
descendant of Logan. Stouton Park, the estate of the Mac-
Phersons, was next placed on the plan. Then followed Juni-
ata, Frankford, Waterview, Treaty Elm — the spot on which
William Penn made his celebrated treaty with the Indians —
John Dickinson, Wharton, Mifflin, Harrowgate — the site of the
famous Harrowgate Springs — Vernon, Womrath, Ontario,
Pleasant Hill and Stephen E. Fotterall, the last being named
after a captain in the war of 1812 by request of the descendant
from whom the square was purchased, and who threw oft'
$20,000 on condition that the memory of his grandfather should
thus be preserved ; Weccacoe, a small square in the slums,
and then the Starr Garden, which was presented to th'e city by
an association in the hope that it would be enlarged. This has
been accomplished through the condemnation of the half of
the square surrounding this small garden.

Most of these are now not only placed on the plan for small
squares, but several have been taken and paid for and others
are now under condemnation by jury proceedings. Three
placed on the plan two years ago have just been ordered taken
by councils. Two or three of the parks are comparatively
small, notably Weccacoe and the Starr Garden, but being in
the midst of improved property they are intended as entering
wedges and to be enlarged from time to time by tearing down
buildings known as "rookeries." Womrath is the smaller
of the larger blocks, being less than three acres; a few are
from twelve to fifteen. It will be seen that, although all this
work has to be paid for out of annual taxation, not one dollar
being borrowed, the acquirement of parks has been remark-
ably successful. At this time two projects are before the com-
mittee on municipal government, of which Mr. Meehan is a
member, for plotting a park of 300 acres in the south-western
part of the city, the bare thought of which would have been .
thought quixotic ten years ago. Another project now being con-
sidered by the committee is to appropriate thirty acres adjoin-
ing the University of Pennsylvania in trust to that institution
for the purposes of a botanic garden and park.

Next to Bartram Garden, the crowning success of the whole
movement is Vernon Park, a tract of twelve acres in German-
town, the home of Mr. Meehan. Although recently in the
family of the Wisters, it was originally laid out and planned by
Meng, one of the early settlers in Germantown, a wealthy
banker and a lover of rare plants. Under his patronage,
Kin, an early botanical explorer of this country, traveled.
Among other rare trees introduced by him and still standing,
there is a large Magnolia macrophylla, probably the first ever
planted by man.

Philadelphia, Pa. C. B. M.

Conifers at Dosoris, Long Island.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — We have had no hard luck with our conifers in West
Island by reason of the past winter. The Retinosporas have
come through better than usual. Indeed, only the R. squar-
rosa has suffered any injury at all. Tsuga Sieboldii has
maintained its reputation for perfect hardiness. The same can
be said of Pinus excelsa, Picea Morinda and Sciadopitys verti-
cillata. This last is especially useful with us, because it not
only stands the cold, but the north-west wind as well. Our
Cedars are also in good order, only the C. deodara showingany
trace of an unfriendly climate. The Yews, too, and Podocarpus
Japonica are in good condition. In fact, the only coniferous -
plant that has suffered any real injury is an Abies Numidica,
though another plant ot the same species has gone through
unharmed. Even A. grandis has experienced much less
unfriendliness than its usual spring appearance evinces.
Everything in our part of Long Island is fresh and vigorous
with the opening summer and the abundant rains, and nature
was never more beautiful in her verdurous display.
Dosoris. L. I. C. A. Dana.

June 7, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

249

The Columbian Exposition.
Azaleas.

DURING the third and fourth weeks of May, Azaleas have
excited more attention from visitors than any other por-
tions of the floricultural exhibits. The number of varieties
shown, both indoors and in the open, is very large, and the
Hames of color have quite eclipsed the less showy plants.
Azaleas have neverwon wide popularity in America, especially
the Ghent varieties which are adapted to outdoor cultivation.
This scarcity of Azaleas in lawn-planting is commonly at-
tributed to the severity of our climate, and it is true that many
of the imported varieties are not adapted to our circumstances ;
but this very lack of adaptation is, no doubt, due to .the almost
indiscriminate importations of foreign kinds. Among all the
Azaleas now upon exhibition at Jackson Park only one lot is
American-grown. This is from the Parsons' nurseries on
Long Island. If greater attention were given to the propaga-
tion of hardy kinds by our own nurserymen, the time could
not be far distant wlien sufficient varieties for all purposes
should be obtained. If one may judge from the almost unani-
mous surprise and interest which the beds of Ghent Azaleas
have elicited from the thousands of visitors at the World's
Fair, the market for successful varieties could be easily
extended.

The Azalea exhibits fall readily into two categories, the In-
dian or evergreen kinds, and the deciduous or Ghent varieties.
The former are adapted only for cultivation indoors or for tem-
porary bedding out. A good temporary display is now to be
seen upon the wooded island, filling a large bed, in which the
Royal Botanic Garden of Berlin has planted a collection of
alpine plants. This bed is an admirable example of the use to
which the Indian Azaleas can be put in outside beds which are
later to be filled with other plants. It is customary to refer all
these Indian, or house Azaleas, to Azalea Indica, but it is prob-
able that A. amoena sometimes occurs among them. There
are two large competitive exhibits of Indian Azaleas in the
north wing of the Horticultural Building. These are from Otto
Olberg, Dresden, and Ch. Vuylsteke, Loochristi, near Ghent.
The plants are massed in a small space, so that they present:
an almost continuous surface of mixed and almost dazzling
color. The one distinguishing feature of the collections is the
great variety in color, markings, size and texture of the flowers.
The plants are uniformly well grown, although they are not
superior in this respect to specimens which may be seen in any
good American collection. An idea of the great variety of the
display can be had from the fact that Mr. Olberg shows one
hundred and seventy-eight, and Mr. Vuylsteke seventy-eight
named kinds. It is impossible, save on the simple score of
the number of varieties shown, to pronounce upon the relative
merits of these two great collections. Mr. Ludwig Schiller,
who has charge of the German horticultural exhibits, considers
the following to be the most meritorious of Mr. Olberg's varie-
ties : Ernst Papenberg ; Generalpostmeister von Stephan,very
brilliant amaranth-red; Kaiser Wilhelm, double pink; Alba
fimbriata plena, clear double white; AlpenRose, double rose ;
Anna Klein, double white, striped with red ; ApoUon (of Crys-
sen), white, with red stripes ; Baronne de Vriere, white, red-
striped ; Bernhard Andre;e alba, double white ; Bignoniaeflora
plena, double rose ; Ceres, white, rose-striped ; Deutsche
I'erle, large double white; Doctor Wilhelm Neubert, rose;
Kborina plena, double white ; Empereur du Brgsil, double,
delicate rose, with white border; Frau Hermann Seidel, double
white ; Frau Oberbiirgermeister Cassian, white, striped red ;
Helene Thelemann, double rose ; Hermosa, double rose ;
Kronprinzess Victoria, double rose.

Among the varieties shown by Mr. Vuylsteke, I was most
attracted by La Reine des Blancs, a very large single white ;
Etendard de Flandre, single white, penciled with red ; Madame
Paul de Schryven, double bright rose pink; Memoir Louis
van Houtte, double, very large, bright rose ; Comte de Cliam-
bord, blush, dark spotted above; Grossherzog Ludwig von
Hesser, salmon pink, very double ; Bernhard Andre* alba ;
Comtesse de Beaufort, large single, bright pink, blotched
above ; Due de Nassau, bright rose, very large ; Arlequin,
double, pink splashed with deep red and white ; Mrs. Turner,
delicate blush, spotted above, single or semi-double ; Othello,
brick-red, double ; Hermoine, bright pink, double ; Theodor
Reimers, large and double, pink-purple ; Doctor Mezger, very
bright pink-rose, double.

Among the Ghent Azaleas, the largest collection is one of 116
varieties, by the Boskoop Holland Nursery Association, repre-
sented by C. H. Joosten, of New York. This occupies a con-
spicuous position on the island, and as several varieties are
freely duplicated it makes a most remarkable blaze of color.

which is conspicuous from many points beyond the lagoon.
The term Ghent should properly be restricted to those varie-
ties which bloom with the appearance of the leaves. The
varieties which bloom before the leaves appear are not true
Ghent Azaleas, and they remain a shorter time in bloom and
give a narrower range of color than the genuine Ghent varie-
ties. The colors are very striking, however, because of the
absence of leaves. These early varieties are the ones more
properly referred to Azalea mollis. In this account, how-
ever, all the hardy deciduous Azaleas are discussed together.
There are very many excellent varieties in the collection, but
those which strike one most forcil^ly at this writing, the last of
May, are Pallas, light copper-pink, with dull orange above ;
Rosea rotundifolia ; Wilhelm III., copper-yellow, with mark-
ings of red ; Cardoniana, bright salmon-pink ; Nancy Waterer,
orange yellow ; Professor Kostcr, bright dark pink ; Ebenezer
Pycke, rich pink-salmon ; Madame Caroline Legrelles d'Ha-
nis, light pink, with slight tint of salmon ; W. E. Gumbleton,
bright dark yellow ; Comte de Kerchove.

Other collections of Ghent Azaleas in the open ground are
those of Ch. Vuylsteke, Belgium, fifteen varieties ; about a
dozen varieties from J. C. Vaughan, Chicago ; a small collec-
tion from Ellwanger & Barry ; thirteen varieties from Moser,
of Versailles, near the Women's Building, and the American-
grown plants from Parsons, comprising twenty-five varieties.
These last are not yet in flower, but they promise well.

The most unique, and in many respects the most valuable
exhibit, of deciduous Azaleas is a display of seedlings made
by Anthony Waterer, of Knap Hill, near London. These plants
are seedlings of Azalea mollis, A. Sinensis and A. occiden-
talis, and they are remarkable for the great variety and bril-
liancy of color and free habit of growth. It is expected that
these Azaleas will prove hardy in the northern states. Men-
tion must also be made of a good collection of Ghent Azaleas
from Mr. Vuylsteke, which were forced into bloom in the Hor-
ticultural Building early in May. These were very effective.
The varieties which were used for this purpose are Comte de
Gomer, Madaine Caroline Legrelles d'Hanis, Milton, Comte
Papadopli, Freya, Ch. Francois Lupis, Ernest Bach, Hora,
Ai'da, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Phebe, Virgile, Velas-
quez, Praxitele, Byron, W. E. Gumbleton, Norma, Murillo,
Titun, Alphonse Lavall^e, Mr. Desbois, Consul Pgcher, Ribera,
Charles Kekul and Phidias. Good standard Ghents are shown
by Mr. Vuylsteke, both indoors and out, and by Moser, near
the Women's Building.

The Japanese show some interesting Azaleas. The most
striking ones are large and free-growing bushes, three to
four feet high, of dull pink-red, single-flowered Azalea Indica.
These are used along the walks in the Japanese garden in the
Horticultural Building, and again in the Japanese garden on
the island. On the island a white-flowered bushy Azalea is grow-
ing, which is a free-growing form of A. Indica. Very diminutive,
small-leaved and small-flowered Azaleas are freely used in the
garden indoors for borders in muchtheway in which we might
use Box. These Azaleas are said to be A. Indica. Their flowers
are usually single and self-colored. One variety attracts atten-
tion from its very small greenish white flowers. It is called
Mitsusomekuruma. About twenty named kinds of these
diminutive Azaleas are shown. Several varieties of the Ghent
type are also on exhibition. There are two exceedingly curious
forms, in which the corolla is reduced to five separate and
long strap-shaped divisions. In one instance, of the mollis
type, the petals are red and spotted and the stamens are want-
ing. In another, of the Indica type, the petals are dull pink-
red, and the long red filaments are entirely barren of anthers,
giving the flower a strange, spidery look. The Japanese know
the deciduous Azaleas as Tsutsuji, and the Indian type as
Satsuki and Kirishima, the former name denoting a late, and
the latter an early class. , • , „ .,

Chicago, III. L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

Just now the shrub-like Manchurian form of the Tartarian
Maple, sometimes known as Acer Ginnala, is covered with
its small but deliciously fragrant flowers. This is a small
spreading tree, and it is particularly beautiful for the color of
the young leaves at the end of its branches. The leaves also
turn to beautiful colors in the autumn, although they fall
early.

The Snowdrop-tree as the Halesia tetraptera is sometimes
called, has flowered with unusual beauty this year in Central
Park. One of the finest specimens we know stands on the
Peacock Lawn in the Ramble. It breaks into several large
branches only two or three feet above the ground, but below

250

Garden and Forest.

[Number 276.

this point the trunk measures more than six feet in circum-
ference.

In Belgium tliereare two horticultural schools, founded by
the government, one at Ghent, with an average number of forty-
four pupils, and the other at Vilvorde, with almost as many.

The Pennsylvania Legislature, which has just adjourned,
[>assed an act creating a State Forestry Commission, whose
duty it shall be to examine and report upon the condition of
the various water-sheds of the state and to suggest some policy
of general application to the whole state looking toward the
preservation of the forests and the prevention of Hoods and
droughts, which have been particularly destructive and costly
in recent years.

The effort to convert Wheatland, the home of ex-President
Buchanan, into a park for the city of Lancaster, has not been
successful, owing very largely to political feeling, which does
not seem to have died out. Mrs. Harriet Lane Johnson, the
niece of James Buchanan and mistress of the White House
•while he was President, made a very liberal offer to the city
council of Lancaster a year ago, and as Wheatland is on the
outskirts of a rich and growing city many of the citizens were
heartily in favor of the project. The indifference of the coun-
cil men is to be greatly regretted.

Horticultural Hall, in Philadelphia, the home of the Pennsyl-
vania Horticultural Society, and the scene of some of the most
brilliant and instructive flower-shows ever held in this country,
has been burned for the second time. The most valuable pa-
pers of the society were protected in a fire-proof safe, and
although the greater portion of the library was rescued, many
of the books were damaged by water. The Florists' Club,
whose rooms were in the basement of the hall, suffered loss
to the extent of $1,750, againstan insurance of $1,000. Nothing
has been definitely decided yet as to rebuilding the hall, but
from the known energy and liberality of the officers and mem-
bers of the society, it is probable that a larger and more beau-
tiful building will soon be erected on the ruins of the old one.

. During the winter of 1 891-2 crosses were made at the Maine
•Experiment Station between the Ignotum Tomato, a large and
valuable market variety, and the Peach Tomato, which is very
productive of fruit of excellent quality, but small and soft.
Seedlings from this cross produced fruit which was smaller
than that of Ignotum, but yielded much more abundantly.
Among other crosses a true hybrid was secured between the
Lorillard, a well-known variety of moderate productiveness, and
the Currant Tomato, which belongs to a distinct species. The
fruit from this cross is very attractive in appearance, while the
influenceof the Currant is shown in increased productiveness.
Professor Munson believes that crossing between small-
fruited plants of very prolific habit and larger-fruited ones is
altogether a promising way of securing valuable varieties.

Very large pineapples, known as Florida garden pines, are
now bringing one dollar apiece in New York markets, while
the smaller Ripley pineapple, from the same state, not quite
as juicy, but the richest of all in flavor, sells for thirty cents.
Black Tartarian cherries, from California, are sixty cents a
pound, and cherries from the south forty cents. Wild goose
plums, from the south, are twenty cents a dozen ; Florida
peaches are a dollar a dozen ; blackberries and raspberries,
from North Carolina, are twenty-five cents a quart, and
huckleberries of inferior quality, from the same place, are
eighteen cents. The best hot-house tomatoes bring fifty cents
a pound, while tomatoes from Georgia truck-farms are worth
twenty cents a quart. A few oranges, a second crop of sum-
mer fruit, from Florida, are sold at sixty cents a dozen ; water-
melons are coming in good supply from Havana, and they
bring one dollar each ; Muscat grapes, from Newport green-
houses, are two dollars a pound. Large, fully ripened and de-
licious strawberries, from Delaware, have been worth only ten
cents, and a crop of unusual abundance and good quality in
southern New Jersey is now coming in.

Next to the Pearl-bush (Exochorda grandiflora), with its bold
masses of dazzling white flowers, the most interesting shrubs
in Central Park during the past week have been its relatives,
the Spiraeas. The earlier ones, like Spirasa Thunbergii, S. pru-
nifolia, and the more rare S. cana and S. alpina, which have
flowers on very short lateral branches, have all passed their
bloom. S. Cantoniensis, however, more commonly known
among nurserymen as S. Kcevesiana, and some of the others
which produce flowers on longer leafy branches of the current
^ear are still in full beauty. S. Cantoniensis is liable in this
atilude to have the tips of its branches, and sometimes the
older wood, killed in the winter, but both the double-flowered

T.

and single-flowered varieties are exceedingly beautiful. S.
trilobata is a low and spreading shrub, not more than two or
three feet high, and one of the very best to connect the taller
shrubs of a border with the grass. Van Houtte's Spiriua,
which is supposed to be a form or hybrid of S. trilobata, is a
free-growing shrub which attains the height of eight feet or
more and an equal breadth. Its flowers are of the purest
Vifhite, its habit is of the best, and altogether it is one of the
very best of hardy garden-shrubs.

The Japanese Snowball, Viburnum plicatum, is just now in
full bloom, and most people consider it the best of the
Snowballs. It bears an immense number of flowers, and in
the autumn its foliage turns to a rich bronze color, which is
unlike that of any other shrub. At the Meehan Nurseries, in
Germantown, we recently saw a strain of this species which is
called Rotundifolium, in which the flowers are larger than those
of the type and better in every way. They are much used by
florists for cut flowers. Viburnum macroceplialum has such
large cymes of flowers that they resemble those of Hydrangea
Hortensis. The old-fashioned Snowball, Viburnum Opulus
sterilis, however, is the most graceful of all of them, since its
flowers are borne at the extremities of the branches, which
bear down with their weight, giving the whole tree a peculiarly
graceful and fountain-like appearance. Its foliage, however,
is very liable to attacks of aphides, which do much to mar its
summer beauty. The wild form of Viburnum Opulus, the
Cranberry-tree, is less commonly planted than the Snowballs,
but it is an attractive plant, and, in addition to its other good
qualities, it bears highly ornamental fruit which hangs in bright
scarlet upon the naked branches nearly all winter.

The Governor of Pennsylvania has signed the act which pro-
vides for the acquirement by the state of the land embraced in
the camp-ground of the Continental Army at Valley Forge and
the maintenance of this territory as a public park. A recent
survey, made at the request of Mr. Francis M. Brooke, Presi-
dent of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, by engineers
of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, shows that the still
existing entrenchments, constructed in the winter of 1777-78,
are 4,625 feet in length and from three to five feet in height!
There are also two earthen redoubts. These earthworks are
on the brow of a high hill facing the south, the position Ijeing
protected on the east by the Schuylkill River, and toward the
north by the Valley Creek. The land which will be converted
into a state park does not include the house occupied by Wash-
ington as headquarters and the land immediately adjacent,
which were acquired by an association, and restored shortly
after the centennial celebration of tha evacuation of the camp.
It was on this occasion that the late Henry Arniitt Brown de-
livered the oration, which, through the school readers, has
made the story of Valley Forge familiar to the youth of the
country. After fifty years of unsuccessful effort the preserva-
tion of the Valley Forge campground is at last ensured, largely
because of the untiring attention given to the matter by Mr.
Brooke.

A novelty in the way of bulletins has just come to us from
the Vermont Experiment Station. It is printed on stiff boards
furnished with tin guards, to protect the corners, and a loop of
brass wire, by which it can be hung up. The upper half of the
card, which is fourteen inches long by nine inches wide, eon-
tains a photograph which shows graphically the striking differ-
ence between two parts of a Potato-field, one of which had
been sprayed with the Bordeaux mixture, while the other had
been left without spraying. Below this picture is the legend,
in bold type, " Potato blight and rot can be prevented." Then
follows the statement that the sprayed rows of the field illus-
trated yielded 322 bushels of marketable potatoes to the acre,
and the unsprayed rows yielded 102 bushels, showing a gain of
more than 200 bushels to the acre entirely due to spraying.
Instructions for making the Bordeaux mixture are then given,
with the advice to add Paris green for potalo-biigs if it is
needed. Plain directions as to the proper time and manner of
making the applications are then given, and farmers are in-
vited to write for detailed information on any point about which
they are uncertain, and they are advised that diseased leaves
may be sent in a letter, and will be examined free of charge.
One of these card bulletins has been sent to some person at
each post-office in Vermont, with the request that it be hung
up in some conspicuous place, like a store, hotel or the post-
office. Altogether, this seems to be an effective way of adver-
tising the experiment station and its work ; of bringing farmers
and gardeners into actual and practical association with it ; of
familiarizing them with the kind of assistance it is able to ren-
der, and of encouraging them in the habit of making proiiipt
application for such aid when it is needed.

June 14, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

251

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO,

Office : Tribune BtnLDiNG, Nsw York.

Conducted by .#••■• Professor C. S. Sargknt.

BNTBRED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGB.

Editorial Articles: — ^The Coming Forestry Congress 251

Pruning Shrubs 251

The Chinese Wistaria. (With figure.) 252

Our Coniferous Forests Robtrt Douglas, 252

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— XV C. S. S. 253

Foreign Correspondence : — London Letter ff . Watson, 254

Cultural Department: — ^The Wild Garden Robert Cameron, 'i^^

Plants in Flower J. N. Gerard. 257

Barrenworts ...... J. Woodward Manning. 25S

Correspondence ; — From a Garden in Northern California Carl Purdy. 258

New Cypripediums Robert M. Grey. 258

Marica Northiana Curtis A. Perry. 258

Recent Publications 258

The Columbian Exposition: — Rhododendrons Professor L. H. Bailey. 259

Notes 260

Illustration: — A Chinese Wistaria, Fig. 38 256

The Coming Forestry Congress.

TO those persons who have been impressed for years
with the necessity of checking the needless waste of
our forests, the growth of a correct pubHc sentiment in this
direction seems painfully slow. They have seen the great
lumber industry of the country carried on with extrava-
gance beyond precedent, without any regard for the
character of the plants which are to occupy the land
after it has been stripped of its trees. They have seen
our great forests of such valuable timber as black walnut,
white ash, yellow poplar, and, above all, white pine, de-
pleted, until the supply is dangerously small, for the seeds
of these trees if sown this year would hardly produce saw-
logs before the end of the twentieth century. They have
seen fires annually destroying league after league of the
finest timber in the world, killing the young growth
and lessening the value of much that is left standing and
turning the fertile soil, which must be relied upon to make
future forests, into sterile wastes. They have seen great
tracts of Government timber-land fraudulently acquired
and stripped of its trees, with hardly an effort made to check
the robbery, so that, altogether, it is difticult for a thought-
ful man or woman to contemplate the present condition
of our forests without feelings of depression and humilia-
tion.

And yet it must be admitted that some progress has been
made. During the past two years more than thirteen mil-
lion acres of public timber-land have been reserved by
proclamation of the President. Laws looking toward the
saving of the woodlands, and which will prove of greater
or less advantage, have been passed recently in several of
the states. In New Hampshire the axes of the lumbermen
are plied just as vigorously as ever, but the people of that
state and of other states are all beginning to learn some-
thing of the value of the White Mountain forests, not only
for their wood-products, but as an inviting place for sum-
mer refreshment, and this knowledge is growing every
year. In this state a law relating to the Adirondack forest
has been passed which is not altogether satisfactory, and p

commission, whose intelligence and effectiveness have yet
to be proved, has been appointed. It is true that new rail-
roads have penetrated the Adirondacks, and these offer in-
creased facilities for marketing the timber there, but the
owners of the great hotels in the wilderness and people
who are interested in the region as a summer resort are be-
ginning to learn that when the forests go their business is
ended. Besides this, large tracts are reserved for private
use, and it looks as if the time was not very far distant
when the waste of timber in the north woods would receive
some check. Pennsylvania has passed a liberal act which
attempts to unite every interest which touches forestry
production in the state, and it is noteworthy that the bill
passed both houses almost unanimously, while a bill four
years ago, which involved no expense to the state, never
came out of the committee in the House of Representa-
tives to which it was referred.

These are small gains, it is true, but they mark a change
from the utter apathy which seemed to prevail throughout
the country ten years ago. It cannot be said that even
the beginning of a rational forest-policy is anywhere visi-
ble, and, therefore, the necessity for constant discussion
which will lead to popular enlightenment is still pressing.
It still remains true that such a policy cannot be developed
and adopted in advance of enlightened popular opinion,
and, therefore, every effort to disseminate correct views on
this subject ought to be welcomed and encouraged. We
are, therefore, glad to announce that an international con-
ference is to be held in connection with the World's Colum-
bian Exposition, whose purpose it is to set before the peo-
ple the present condition of the forests of this country and
to impress upon them the need of establishing some na-
tional system of forestry. To this end experts in forestry
have been invited to be present, and men who have studied
this subject abroad will state what years of experience have
taught there.

The organization known as the World's Congress Aux-
iliary is recognized by the Government and partially sup-
ported by it. This body will provide a place of meeting
for those interested in forestry ; it will defray the expenses
of the meetings and will publish and distribute its pro-
ceedings. Secretary Morton, ex-Secretary Noble and other
prominent persons have agreed to be present The affairs
of this forestry congress are in charge of a committee which
has been nominated by the American Forestry Association,
and the meetings will be held in one of the large assembly
halls of the Art Palace, situated in Lake Front Park, in the
business part of Chicago, on the i8th and 19th of October.
The co-operation of individuals and societies throughout
the country and the world is desired, and correspondence
and suggestions from all interested persons are invited.
Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Division in Wash-
ington, is president of the committee, and Mr. J. D. W.
French, of 160 State Street, Boston, Massachusetts, is the
vice-president, to whom all applications for documents or
explanatory information should be made.

It seems hardly necessary to repeat what we have so
often stated about pruning shrubs with a view to the pro-
duction of flowers, namely, that those which produce
flowers on the wood made the previous year, among which
the Honeysuckles, Forsythias, early Spiraeas, Lilacs,
Viburnums, Deutzias and Philadelphus are prominent
examples, should receive their severest cutting soon after
the flowering season is over. This stimulates the growth
of new wood which will bear flower-buds for the next
spring. Of course, if these shrubs are cut back in the
autumn or winter, or in early spring before they bloom,
the flower-buds are removed. On the other hand, late-
blooming shrubs, like the panicled Hydrangea, Hibiscus
and Lespedeza, should be cut in hard in early spring so
that they may make a strong growth of wood and buds
for flowers which open in late summer and early autumn.

This is the most elementary of rules, and since we prune

252

Garden and Forest.

[Number 277.

for many other purposes than the increase of flowers,
attention must be given to this work during all the growing
season. Surplus wood and suckers should be thinned out
in summer, as clean-cut wounds will heal more quickly
then than those made in cold winter. Many trees and
shrubs which bleed freely, like the Yellow-wood and
Maples, heal better if pruned when in full leaf. Coarse-
glowing shrubs should always be restrained so that they
do not smother out others of more delicate habit. Shoots
which are making too strong a growth should be stopped
in midsummer by pinching, which will not only preserve
the symmetry of the plant but will encourage the growth
of flower-buds and fruit in full-grown specimens, and
will induce smaller ones to yield flowers and fruit at
an earlier age than if left to themselves. Some trees
which are tender if left unpruned will ripen up their wood
and endure the winter if the tips and branches are pinched
back in summer. This is especially useful in wet seasons
when the branches continue to grow until cold weather.
This pinching will also enable many kinds of trees
and shrubs to ripen their fruit better, so that altogether
this summer work of carefully removing superfluous
interior branches which cross each other and exclude the
light and air from the head of the tree or shrub, the
shortening-in of overstrong branches which mar the
symmetry of the tree, the rubbing away of surplus buds
and pinching back of branches in the summer, are among
the most important of garden operations.

The Chinese Wistaria.

THE Chinese Wistaria was introduced into European
gardens in the early part of this century. Its vigor-
ous constitution, its adaptability to a wide range of climate,
its abundant flowers and graceful habit have made it a
universal favorite. This year it has been especially beau-
tiful in Central Park, where it covers many arbors and shel-
ters. On the top of the great Pergola, near the lawn, which
is nearly two hundred feet in length, the flowers seemed to
be massed in great heaps, and they hung over the edge in
profuse wreaths and garlands for the entire length of the
structure. After the flowering season of the plant is over
its foliage covers these shelters with thick and graceful,
but not too heavy, masses. The Wistaria is also seen to
excellent advantage when it climbs into the open heads of
deciduous trees. This year a Linden in the park, which
was completely, though loosely, draped with the abun-
dant lilac clusters of flowers, looked like a large bou-
quet. The Wistaria is often used for this purpose in Japan,
and several of Mr. Parsons' most interesting studies repre-
sent trees festooned with its flowers. It is very useful also
in forming effective arrangements of color in the autumn.
When climbing over a mass of Staghorn Sumachs or other
trees, whose foliage turns to scarlet or other bright colors,
its green leaves do much by their contrast to increase the
effectiveness of the mass.

When young plants of Wistaria are cut back to a height
of six or eight feet and pruned in for some years, the stem
will stiffen until it is able to stand alone, and the top will
spread out into a broad head, and in this way it becomes
an attractive specimen. When planted in tubs, and trained
to this erect form, the Wistaria, when in flower, makes an
excellent plant for conservatory decoration. The illustra-
tion on page 256 is from a photograph, taken by Mr. Paul
Dana, of a Wistaria trained in this manner, which is grow-
ing at Dosoris. There are some other species and varie-
ties of Wistaria, probably the most promising of which are
the blue and white forms of W. multijuga, which has proved
perfectly hardy as far north as Massachusetts, and bears ra-
cemes of fragrant flowers from two to two and a half feet in
length. W. multijuga, which is probably a native of China,
although its origin is obscure, promises to be a great ad-
dition to our gardens. It flowers nearly two weeks later than
W. Sinensis, and the flowers exhale a delightful fragrance,
in which particular it differs from the other species.

Our Coniferous Forests.

AT the Nurserymen's Convention, held in Chicago last
_/\_ week, Mr. Robert Douglas read a paper, from which
we take the following extracts :

I well remember sailing up the St. Lawrence in May,
1836, when in sight, for the first time, of an indigenous ever-
green forest, saying to myself, " Well, now I can ramble in the
woods to my heart's content ! No gamekeepers here ! No
finger-boards cautioning me to beware of man-traps and
spring-guns !" We reached Quebec May 21st in the midst of
the sprmg fleet, for even at that early day vessels came from
Great Britain — coming in ballast, and going back laden twice
a year with lumber, which was brought from the interior in
rafts to Quebec.

In 1837 I traveled from Quebec to Niagara Falls, and forests
were everywhere in sight. Farmers were girdling the trees
and growing crops among the gaunt dead Pines, which looked
like goblins on a moonlit night.

On my way to Vermont m 1838 I saw fields fenced with
White Pine stumps only a little way east of Troy, New York. .
East of Bennington, Vermont, they were cutting down the tim-
ber and making it into charcoal. On the east side of the Green
Mountains farmers were felling the trees in wind-rows and
burning them. During the spring of 1844 I traveled through
virgin forests in Michigan, and at that time the northern part
of that state was covered with White Pine, and the same was
true of northern Wisconsin, the Michigan peninsula and Min-
nesota, and I never imagined tliat lumber, especially pine lum-
ber, would ever become scarce in this country ; but when I
traveled to the Pacific coast in 1849. and passed through more
torest in the first four miles from the shore of Lake Michigan
than I found all the rest of the way to the base of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, I became convinced then that the time was
not far distant when the country would regret the wholesale
destruction of its noble Pine-forests. In 1868, and many years
since that time, I have traveled in Colorado and other far west-
ern states, and found many magnificent coniferous forests, but
the axe and the fires have destroyed them, and valuable spe-
cies will never grow there again. For several years I have
longed for a sight of such forests as I saw long ago, but was
not gratified until last year, when, in company with my son, I
spent the late summer and fall in the forests of Washington,
Oregon and northern California. We spent day after day for
two weeks around Puget Sound in the immense forests, where
the trees were 100 to 200 feet taller than the tallest trees on the
Adantic slope. Here history is repeating itself, and I was
laughed at for my forebodings, as I had been laughed at on
this side of the mountains a generation ago.

Where will you find your coniferous forests on the five-hun-
dredth anniversary of the discovery of America ? My belief is
that they will stand where the forests liave been cut down and
burned over, for Nature is more provident than man, and will
do the best she can, but the conifers that Nature will produce
in these burned and desolated regions will be neither orna-
mental nor useful. The same fires that sweep away every ves-
tige of trees and seeds of the valuable evergreens open the
persistent cones of the scrub Pines that hang unopened for
fifteen years at least, according to my observation, waiting for,
what is to them, the friendly fire. Tlie Wisconsin Gray Pine
(Pinus Banksiana) is already taking the places of the nobler
Norway and White Pines. P. contorta is covering the burned
lands in Colorado and the burned Pine-lands in the Rocky
Mountain districts, and other species of worthless Pines occu-
pying the burned Pine-lands both in the far west and in the
south. But even these worthless Pines have to fight with other
comparatively worthless trees for a foothold, for the Aspens
and other Poplars, the Birches and like kinds, producing seeds
that are carried long distances by the winds, find the burned
lands in the finest condition for germinating delicate seeds,
and divide the land with the Thistle, which delights in burned
land.

Darwin says the Oaks are driving the Pines to the sands,
but without forest-fires the Oaks would make little headway.
There are Oaks in every Pine-forest that I have explored ; fires
cannot destroy them ; they are gaining ground confinually, as
far as my observation goes. There are other causes operat-
ing against valuable evergreens. Nature has a vast family to
feed, aside from producing seeds to continue the species.
Passenger pigeons, mourning doves and other birds and
squirrels must be fed. The White Pines produced millions of
seedlings when bearing trees were in plenty ; the birds are
taking all the seeds where the trees are scarce.

Then again, evergreen trees with delicate foliage are not
able to compete with the coarser kinds ; they are scorched and

JUNE 14, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

253

killed if the sun reaches the seedlings the first year, and they
damp off if in too deep shade. I noticed this especially in
East Tennessee and in North Carolina, where I had abundant
time and could see the advantage the Old-field Pine had with
its coarse foliage.

While passing through a forest of Pinus Lambertiana, the
large Sugar Pine, 1 noticed that the seedlings and young trees
were remarkably scarce, while seedlings of other species, not
devoured by birds, were creeping in around the edges in vast
numbers. The old trees were bearing, in quantity, huge cones,
ten to fifteen inches long and twelve inches in circumference.
Squirrels, wild pigeons and Clark's crow were feeding on the
seeds. The cones hang from the utmost point of the upper
branches, bending the limb with their weight. The large
squirrels go from branch to branch, cutting off the cones, anil
then gather them together to be broken up at the base of the
trees, and leave, in many instances, a bushel of cut-up cones
at the base of the tree without a single seed that I could find.

In my rambles through the Redwoods I noticed the great
scarcity of seedlings ; indeed, I never found ten seedlings in a
six hours' ramble, except where there had been. new cutting
and filling on a narrow-gauge railway. Examining the seeds
carefully, I found ninety-eight per cent, abortive, but this tree
has an advantage over all other conifers, in throwing up a
circle of young trees around the base of each cut-down tree, and
is therefore better prepared to hold its own than any other con-
ifer with which I am acquainted. When we reached the groups
of Brewer Spruce, Picea Breweriana, the scarcity of seedlings
and small trees was remarkable, but the next morning fully
explained the cause. Squirrels were busily employed cutting
off the cones. Grossbeaks and crossbills were tearing the
cones, and the little snowbirds that are so troublesome on
our evergreen seed-beds were picking up the scattering
seeds. Now, since all of these trees known to exist do not num-
ber over one hundred, in what other way can we account for
the scarcity?

Yes ! on the five-hundredth year of the discovery of this con-
tinent there will be choice evergreens in America, but, like
the buffalo, the elk and the antelope, they will be confined to
public parks and private grounds.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XV.

CORNUS, which is exceedingly common in North
America, where sixteen or seventeen species are
distinguished, is less abundant in Japan than in the other
great natural botanical divisions of the northern hemi-
sphere. In the northern regions of eastern America differ-
ent species of Cornus often form a considerable part of the
shrubby undergrowth which borders the margins of the
forest or lines the banks of streams, lakes and swamps. In
Japan these shrubby species, or their prototypes, do not
exist. High up among the Nikko Mountains, on rocks
under the dense shade of Hemlocks, we saw a few dwarf
sprawling plants of the Siberian and north China Cornus
alba, but did not encounter in any other part of the empire
a shrubby Cornel. High up on these mountains, too, the
ground is carpeted with the Httle Bunch-berry, the Cornus
Canadensis of our own northern woods, which is also com-
mon in some parts of Yezo and on the Kurile Islands,
where a second herbaceous Cornel, with large white floral
scales, Cornus Suecica, is found. This is a common plant,
too, in all the boreal regions of North America from New-
foundland and Labrador to Alaska, and in northern Europe
and continental Asia. Of arborescent Cornels the flora of
Japan possesses only two species, Cornus Kousa and Cor-
nus macrophylla, and neither of these is endemic to the
empire.

Cornus Kousa represents in Japan the Cornus fiorida of
eastern America and the C. Nuttallii of the Pacific states.
From these trees it differs, however, in one particular ; in
our American Flowering Dogwoods, the fruits, which are
gathered into close heads, are individually distinct, while
in the Japan tree and in an Indian species they are united
together into a fleshy strawberry-shaped mass, technically
called a syncarp. Owing to this peculiarity of the fruit,
botanists at one time considered these Asiatic trees ge-
nerically distinct from the American Flowering Dogwoods,
and placed them in the genus Benthamia, which has since
been united with Cornus. In Japan, Cornus Kousa is ap-

parently not common ; certainly it is not such a feature of
the vegetation in any part of the empire which we visited
as Cornus florida is in our middle and southern states. In-
deed, weonly saw it in one place among the Hakone Moun-
tains, and on the road between Nikko and Lake Chuzenji,
where it was a bushy flat-topped tree not more than
eighteen or twenty feet high, with wide-spreading branches.
The leaves are smaller and narrower than those of our
eastern American Flowering Dogwood ; the involucral
scales are acute and creamy white, and the heads of
flowers are borne on longer and much more slender pe-
duncles. Cornus Kousa also inhabits central China ; it
was introduced into our gardens several years ago, and it
now flowers every year in the neighborhood of New York,
where it was first cultivated in the Parsons' Nursery at
Flushing. As an ornamental plant it is certainly inferior
in every way to our native Flowering Dogwood, and in
this country at least it will probably never be much grown
except as a botanical curiosity.

The second arborescent Japanese Cornel, Cornus macro-
phylla, often known by its synonym, Cornus brachypoda,
is also an inhabitant of the Himalayan forests, where it is
common between 4,000 and 8,000 feet above the sea-level,
and of China and Corea. It is one of the most beautiful of
the Cornels, and in size and habit the stateKest and most
imposing member of the genus. In Japan, trees fifty or
sixty feet in height, with stout well-developed trunks more
than a foot in diameter, are not uncommon, and when such
specimens rise above the thick undergrowth of shrubs
which in the mountain-regions of central Japan often cover
the steep slopes which descend to the streams, they are
splendid objects, with their long branches standing at right
angles with the stems, and forming distinct flat tiers of
foliage, for the leaves, like those of our American Cornus
alternifolia, are crowded at the ends of short lateral branch-
lets which grow nearly upright on the older branches, so
that in looking down on one of these trees only the upper
surface of the leaves is seen. These are five to eight inches
long and three or four inches wide, dark green on the upper
surface, but very pale, and sometimes nearly white, on the
lower surface. The flowers and fruit resemble those of
Cornus alternifolia, although they are produced in wider
and more openly branched clusters ; and, like those of this
American species, they are borne on the ends of the
lateral branchlets, and, rising above the foliage, stud the
upper side of the broad whorls of green.

Cornus macrophylla is exceedingly common in all the
mountain-regions of Hondo, where it sometimes ascends
to 4,000 feet above the sea, and in Yezo, where it is scat-
tered through forests of deciduous trees, usually selecting
situations where its roots can obtain an abundant supply of
moisture. This fine tree was introduced into the United
States many years ago through the Parsons' Nursery, but I
believe has never flourished here. In the Arnold Arbore-
tum, where numerous attempts to cultivate it have been
made, it has never lived more than a few years at a time.
Raised from seed produced in the severe climate of Yezo,
Cornus macrophylla may, however, succeed in New Eng-
land, where, if it grows as it does in Japan, it should prove
a good tree to associate with our native plants.

Cornus officinalis, as it was first described from plants
found in Japanese gardens, has usually been considered a
native of that country. But, although it has been cultivated
in Japan for many centuries on account of its supposed
medical virtues, it is probably Corean. It may best be con-
sidered, perhaps, a mere variety of the European ar.d
Asiatic Cornelian Cherry, Cornus Mas, from which the
Corean tree is best distinguished by the tufts of rusty
brown hairs which occupy the axils of the veins on the
lower surface of the leaves. In the botanic garden in
Tokyo, which includes the site of a physic-garden estab-
lished in the early days of the Tokugawa dynasty, there
is a group of trees of Cornus officinalis, which appear to
have attained a great age ; they are bushy plants, perhaps
thirty feet tall, with bent and twisted half-decayed trunks

254

Garden and Forest.

[Number 277.

and contorted branches, which form broad, thick round
heads^ and in October were loaded with the bright, cherry-
like fruit

The Honeysuckle family is represented in Japan by
seven genera and a large number of species, especially of
Viburnum, but none of them can be considered trees, al-
though Diervilla Japonica is occasionally almost arbores-
cent in size and habit The Japan Viburnums are now
all pretty well known in our gardens, with the exception
of Viburnum furcatum, a common northern and mountain
plant, so similar to our American Hobble-bush, Viburnum
lantanoides, that some authors have considered the two
plants identical, and Viburnum Wrightii, a distinct, black-
fruited species of northern Japan, where the American
botanist, Charles Wright, detected it when the Wilkes' Ex-
pedition explored the shores of Volcano Bay. Viburnum
furcatum is distributed through the mountain-regions of the
empire and is one of the commonest species. Sometimes
it grows to the height of fifteen feet ; and it is always con-
spicuous from its great thick reticulate-veined, nearly cir-
cular leaves, which, in the autumn, turn to marvelous
shades of scarlet, or to deep wine color. If this fine plant
takes kindly to cultivation it will prove a real acquisition
to our gardens.

Ericaceae abound in Japan, where we miss, however,
such familar American types as Kalmia, Oxydendrum and
Galusaccia. Vaccinium is numerous in species, but, with
the exception of the red-fruited Vaccinium Japonicum and
the black-fruited Vaccinium ciliatum, they are not very
abundant and are mostly confined to alpine summits,
where the species are found, which, in the extreme north, en-
circle the earth ; and Blueberries nowhere cover the forest-
floor with the dense undergrowth which is common in our
northern woods. The broad-leaved, evergreen, true Rho-
dodendrons are not very common in Japan, where there
are only two species, and, being mostly confined to high
elevations, they nowhere make the conspicuous feature in
the landscape which Rhododendron maximum produces
in the valleys of the southern Alleghany Mountains, or
Rhododendron Catawbiense makes around the summit of
Roan Mountain, in North Carolina and Tennessee. Most of
the Japanese Azaleas produce purplish or brick-colored
flowers. In spite of all that travelers have said of the
splendor of Japanese hill-sides at the time when the Aza-
leas are in bloom, it is doubtful if they compare in beauty
with some Alleghany mountain-slopes when these are
lighted up with the flame-colored flowers of Azalea calen-
dulacea, or with the summit of Roan Mountain during the
last days of June, when one of the greatest flower-shows of
the world is spread there for the admiration of travelers.

Noneof the Japanese Azaleas, excepting, perhaps. Rhodo-
dendron Sinense, the Azalea Mollis of gardens, produce
such beautiful flowers as those of such American species
as Rhododendron (Azalea) viscosum, R. nudicaule, or R.
arborescens. None of the Japanese Rhododendrons can
be considered trees, although one or two of the deciduous-
leaved species grow to the height of twenty or, possibly,
thirty feet

Andromeda Japonica, now common in our gardens, is
properly a tree, for in the temple-park of Nara, where it
grows in profusion, there are specimens at least thirty feet
in height with stout, well-formed trunks six or eight feet
in length. Andromeda campanulata, another arborescent
species, may be expected to become an ornament in our
gardens of much interest and beauty ; and as it grows as
far north as the shores of Volcano Bay in Yezo, and up to
over 5,000 feet in central Hondo, it may flourish in the
climate of New England. Andromeda campanulata is a
slender, bushy tree, sometimes thirty feet in height, with a
smooth, light red trunk, occasionally a foot in diameter and
thick, smooth round branchlets. The leaves are mostly
oval, sharply serrate, firm, dark green above and pale yel-
low-green below, about three inches long and one inch
wide ; they are deciduous, and in the autumn, before fall-
ing, turn clear light yellow. The flowers are campanulate.

pure white, and are borne on slender stalks in many-flow-
ered drooping racemose panicles. By Japanese botanists
it is spoken of as one of the most beautiful flowering trees
in Japan, and we considered ourselves fortunate in securing
a supply of ripe seed, for, so far as I know, this species is
quite new to cultivation. There is but one other Japanese
plant of this family which can pass as a tree ; this is the
handsome Clethra canescens, or, as it is more generally
known in Japan, at least, Clethra barbinervis, a more re-
cent name. It is a beautiful small tree, occasionally
twenty-five or thirty feet in height, with a slender trunk, a
narrow oblong head, long-stalked obovate pointed leaves,
four to six inches in length and very dark green on the
upper surface, and pale on the lower with hoary pubes-
cence, which also covers the branches of the inflorescence
and the outer surface of the calyx of the flowers. These are
white and are produced in slender upright terminal panicled
racemes six to twelve inches long, and open in succession
for several weeks in August and September. In southern
Yezo, Clethra canescens grows nearly down to the sea-
level and along the mountains of the southern islands ; in
central Hondo, where it is a common forest-plant, growing
usually near the borders of streams and lakes, it reaches
an elevation of over 5,000 feet, so that there is reason to
believe that this fine species will thrive in our climate if
plants are raised from seed produced at high elevations,
although up to the present time those which have been
sent to the Arnold Arboretum have never been very satis-
factory.

Clethra canescens grows, not only in Japan, but in
China, Java, the Philippines and Celebes. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

THE Royal Horticultural Society has scored another
success with its exhibition in the gardens of the Inner
Temple, held on Thursday and Friday last A magnificent
display of plants and flowers, beautiful weather, excellent
music, and pleasant lawns for a promenade, resulted in a
great crowd of fashionable people, who must have found
genuine enjoyment in the feast provided for them. The
Orchids, Ferns, stove and greenhouse plants and hardy
plants of all kinds were, on the whole, as well represented
as in previous years. One might almost find fault with the
crowded arrangement of the exhibits, notwithstanding the
four spacious marquees provided. There was certainly
enough material to fill twice the space. This is a common
fault in plant exhibitions, one not easily remedied, perhaps,
but it detracts from the enjoyment of the exhibits when one
sees them crowded and jumbled together. There is a temp-
tation to lift the choice plants out to give them breathing-
room.

The principal exhibitors of Orchids were Sir Trevor Law-
rence, Baron Schroeder and C. J. Lucas, Esq., the trade
being represented by large and rich collections from Messrs.
F. Sander & Co., Hugh Low & Co., Shuttleworth, Charles-
worth & Co., James Cypher, B. S. Williams & Son and
others. There were fewer new or startling plants shown
than in previous years, but the grand specimens in perfect
condition of all the most popular Orchids and many rari-
ties besides, afforded abundant proof of the enormous pop-
ularity of Orchids in England and of the skill to grow them
well. The principal attraction among Orchids was a mar-
velous specimen of Coelogyne Dayana, from Baron Schrce-
der's collection. It stood on a pedestal five feet high and
bore thirty racemes, from two to three feet long, clothed
from base to apex with flowers. There were about fifty
healthy pseudo-bulbs and nearly as many leaves on
the plant, each two feet long and of the darkest, healthiest
green. This fine plant was in a pot fourteen inches in diam-
eter. The same exhibitor sent a beautiful specimen of the
pure white-flowered variety of Sobralia macrantha, called
Kienastiana, and a glorious example of the giant sdotted

June 14, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

255

variety of Odontog-lossum crispum, known as Apiatum,
bearing a spike of twenty flowers. Among the plants from
Messrs. F. Sander & Co. I noted a distinct and handsome
Odontoglossum, called Wattianum, which might easily be
dubbed a natural hybrid between O. luteo-purpureum and
O. Harryanum, the flowers having in form and color a re-
semblance to both those species. It obtained a certificate,
as also did a very pretty pale-colored variety of Miltonia
vexillaria, called Princess May. The hybrid Cattleya Wells-
iana, raised by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. from C. superba
and Laelia elegans, was shown by them in flovt'er. I never
saw Cypripedium Rothschildianum so good as was a speci-
men shown by Sir Trevor Lawrence. This fine, healthy
plant bore two scapes each, with three magnificent flowers
arranged one above the other. Sir Trevor also exhibited
an exceptionally good example of Cochlioda Noezliana,
which, so far, has generally disappointed cultivators by
producing short, few-ffowered racemes. At the Temple
show, however, it bore racemes a foot long with twelve
flowers, each flower one and a half inches across, their
bright cinnabar-red color with blue-tipped column render-
ing them attractive. Cypripedium Volonteanum giganteum,
from Messrs. Low & Co., bore flowers twice as large as the
type and was awarded a certificate. An enormous-flow-
ered variety of Cattleya Mossiae, called Princess May, broad
petaled and rich rosy mauve in color, with a grand lip, was
shown by the same firm. Acropera Charlesworthii is a
new species and may be called a gigantic A. Loddigesii.
It bore aspike a yard long, with forty nodding flowers colored
green, with brown spots and a pure white lip. Schom-
burgkia tibicina, Broughtonia sanguinea, Cyrtopodium An-
dersoni and Grammatophyllum Fenzlianum are some of
the rarer plants which were represented by fine specimens.
The Grammatophyllum is a grand Orchid, its arching spikes
of large yellowish brown-spotted flowers being most effec-
tive. Cattleya Lawrenciana, with over forty flowers, was
a beautiful picture, and there were dozens of huge well-
flowered masses of C. Mossia;, still one of the finest of all
Cattleyas. Laelia purpurata maintained its reputation, both
for floriferousness and variety as well as beauty, three
named varieties obtaining certificates ; there were also
grand examples of the remarkably colored L. tenebrosa.
Oncidium macranthum was represented by magnificent
specimens, chiefly among the exhibits of Messrs. Charles-
worth, Shuttleworth & Co., as also were the Laelias. They
also exhibited a small plant of Cattleya intermedia alba,
for which I heard them ask seventy-five guineas. Cattleya
William Murray, a beautiful hybrid between C. Mendelii
and C. Lawrenciana, was shown by its raiser, Mr. Nor-
man Cookson, and was awarded a first-class certificate.
Brassia Lewisii, a new species, with spikes nine inches long
clothed to the base with elegant flowers, the sepals tail-
like two inches long, colored pale sepia-brown, the petals
small and brown, the lip lemon-yellow, with a few red
spots, was shown by Messrs. Lewis & Co., Southgate.

Leaving the Orchids, the next in interest are the new
plants, of which there were not many that were really
striking among a large number of mediocre interest. An-
thurium crystallinum variegatum, shown by Messrs. Pitcher
& Manda, is a remarkable plant, the leaves being sometimes
wholly creamy white or blotched and veined with that
color on a deep moss-green ground. The yellow looks like
etiolation, those leaves in which there is little or no green
being evidently extremely delicate. It was awarded a first-
class certificate. Nemesia strumosa, the pretty little south
African annual, introduced last year by Messrs. Sutton &
Co., was shown in flower, and was stronger and larger-
flowered than when last exhibited. The plants were sturdy,
a foot high, and the terminal clusters of flowers fully three
inches across.

Sir Trevor Lawrence e^ibited a collection of cut flowers
and leaves of seedling and hybrid Anthuriums. There is
considerable promise in these plants, and they will, I feel
certain, amply repay the breeder who takes them in hand.
Evidently they interbreed freely, some extreme crosses

having already been obtained. The size of the spathes,
their color and the form and color of the spadices are both
varied and attractive. The named varieties exhibited were
Laingii, with a spathe nine inches by six, white, with an-
erect soft pink spadix ; Burfordiense, the spathe of which
was eight inches by five, and colored deep crimson ; Mort-
fontanense, with a large, leathery, bright crimson spathe
and a thick white spadix ; Lindeni, a pink-tinted Roezlii ;
Andreanum sanguineum, Edwardii roseum and Parisiente,
which is a salmon-pink variety of A. Scherzerianum. There
were also several distinct and beautiful unnamed seedlings
originated at Burford Lodge. The same exhibitor sent
Richardia Elliottiana, a yard high, with a spathe five inches
across, and Cyrtanthus Huttoni, a Cape bulb with a stout
scape two feet long, bearing an umbel of eighteen nodding
tubular flowers one and a half inches long, colored rich
orange. Messrs. F. Sander & Co. sent a group of new
plants, including Strobilanthes Dyerianus, Alocasia San-
deriana magnifica, Anthurium albanense, Dipladenia atro-
purpurea, a beautifully flowered specimen, and Aristolochia
gigas Sturtevantii, bearing two fine flowers, which were
alluring enough in appearance, but their odor in the crowded
close tent was vile. The beautiful hybrid Sweet-brier Roses
raised by Lord Penzance were shown by him, and also by
Messrs. Keynes, Williams & Co., of Salisbury. A bank of
Messrs. C. Turner&Co.'s new Rose, Crimson Rambler, was
universally admired ; it is a really wonderful plant even for
a Rose, growing like a Willow and flowering most pro-
fusely. I believe it is to be distributed this year, the lucky
proprietors possessing 13,000 plants, which are nearly all
booked at seven shillings and sixpence each.

Another beautiful new Rose is one which Messrs. Paul&
Son, of Cheshunt, exhibited under the name ofCarmine Pil-
lar ; it has single five-petaled flowers, four inches across,
colored rich carmine, with a paler centre ; the leaves are
large, smooth, dark green, and the plant is almost spineless.

Several exhibitors sent fine examples of the hybrid Cras-
sula jasminea x coccinea, which is dwarf, compact and
very free-flowering ; there were three distinct varieties rep-
resented, rubra, rosea and alba, described by their names.
Celmisia spectabilis was shown in flower by Messrs. J.
Backhouse & Son, York, and Iris Lortetii was sent by Mr.
Van Tubergen, of Haarlem. It is impossible to speak too
admiringly of this beautiful Iris. Mr. Van Tubergen in-
formed me that it is much less difficult to manage than its
near relative, I. Susiana, of which he also showed fine
flowers. The large, elegant, broad, pale gray-lilac falls,
striped and spotted with red-brown, and the soft gray-lilac
color of the standards give the flowers a most refined ap-
pearance. They cannot easily be described. I can only
say that this Iris, if it will do well under ordinary treatment,
is certain eventually to become immensely popular. Cine-
raria maritima, var. aurea, is a prettily variegated plant, a
foot high, well furnished with pinnatifid gray-green leaves,
margined and splashed with creamy yellow. It is likely
to prove a useful plant for summer bedding. Primula Reidii
was shown in exceptional vigor by Mr. G. F. Wilson, and
obtained a first-class certificate. It is one of the prettiest
of all alpine Primulas when grown as Mr. Wilson exhibited
it, a tuft of rich green leaves like those of the common
Primrose, with three scapes nearly a foot high, each bear-
ing six or eight campanulate flowers of the purest white,
nearly an inch across, and very fragrant. Herbaceous
plants were represented by magnificent collections from
the leading growers, notwithstanding the unfavorable
character of the weather we have had for such plants.
Gloxinias, as shown by Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Cannell &
Sons and others, were exceptionally good, while the Tu-
berous Begonias were simply a marvel. I have never seen
any Begonias so fine as the magnificent group staged by
Messrs. Cannell & Sons. Mr. Rivers showed a collection
of Peaches and Nectarines in pots, all bearing fine crops of
ripe fruit

An exhibit of considerable interest was a collection of all
kinds of plant-products, sent by Mr. James H. Veitch from

256

Garden and Forest.

[Number 277.

June 14, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

257

Japan. It included samples of many kinds of wood,
seeds, paper, various articles of clothing, jams, preserves,
and other kinds of food, all named, and, in some cases, the
process of manufacture described.

^London. W. WalSOTl.

A?

Cultural Department.
The Wild Garden.

T this time the wild garden is made beautiful by a large

^ number of early-flowering native plants. The first plant
that attracts attention at the entrance is a large clump of Geum
triflorum, with fine dark green, healthy foliage. Its blossoms
are produced in small umbels composed of three flowers.
The calyx is dark purple and the petals white, purplish red at
the extremities. The flowers never open out and are not showy ;
but this deficiency will be made up in a few more days by the
plumose fruits. On the left of the little path the eye catches a
beautiful combination of colors. A slight rise in the ground
is dotted over with plants of Polemonium reptans and Viola
cucullata alba. The nodding light blue flowers of the Pole-
monium make a pleasing contrast with the little white blos-
soms of the Violet. Further on the neat little Iris cristata is at
its best, a mass of light blue blossoms. A few years ago we
had only a few small plants, but they increased very rapidly,
and now they cover a space twenty feet long by four feet wide.
This Iris thrives best here in a moist, peaty soil and partially
shaded position.

Near the Iris, and in the same damp, peaty soil, is a large
plant of Saxifraga peltata in bloom. The pale pink flowers
are produced on stalks from three to four feet long, and the
lower parts of the reddish stalks are covered with long whitish
conspicuous hairs. Later the peltate leaves, which rise from
a creeping rootstock, will be showy and effective, and will
attain a height of from three to four feet ; the single leaf when
fully developed measures about a foot across. The plant grows
luxuriantly here in a boggy situation. Although it is one of
the largest species of the genus, and one of the most vigorous
growers, yet it is very seldom seen in our gardens. The Rue
Anemone (Anemonella thalictrioides) is quite at home under
a small Sassafras. The little umbels of whitish Anemone-like
flowers are exceedingly pretty and last for some time in bloom.
A few yards away from the Anemonella is a large plant of
Camassia Fraseri, the Wild Hyacinth. Its pale blue racemes
of flowers are most attractive, and although it is not so showy
as Camassia esculenta, it is more hardy and stands the winter
here without protection. Camassia esculenta is also in bloom
and is a showy plant, thriving well in light sandy soil, but is
not quite hardy and needs to be protected with a good cover-
ing of leaves in the winter.

Aquilegia Canadensis has taken possession of a rough, ir-
regular mound made up of large stones, roots of trees.and
earth. It sows its seed in every direction on the mound, and
the sturdy little plants that have come up in every crevice are
loaded down with red and yellow flowers. Although this Col-
umbine has not as large flowers as some other species of Aqui-
legia, they are more plentiful, and it is among the best of the
Columbmes.

On a dry bank fully exposed to the sun Waldsteinia fragra-
rioides is producing its yellow Strawberry-like flowers. In a
slightly shaded place Tiarella cordifolia is throwing up ra-
cemes of white flowers. In low moist soil, under the shade of
some White Pines, and close to someOsmundas, Cypripedium
pubescens is flowering freely. This Cypripedium is one of the
easiest to cultivate. Plants that I collected last year are bloom-
ing just as well as old-established ones.

Near a small pond, and under the shade of some trees,
Houstonia c<jerulea, with its pale blue flowers, is exceedingly
pretty. A large clump of Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris),
with its dark green foliage, seems quite at home in the mud
near the water's edge, and its rich yellow blossoms have been
very effective for some time past.

Anemone Pennsylvanica is not a good border-plant, but there
is no better plant for the wild garden. It requires plenty of
room, as it soon spreads and covers a large piece of ground.
It grows about a foot high, and at this time is very showy with
its immense number of white flowers. It gives good satisfac-
tion here planted on a low mound of good Soil, where it
gets plenty of light.

Thaspium aureum is a plant about two feet high, and its
umbels of deep yellow flowers are very effective when massed
together. It does best in a partially open position, and grows
freely in good rich soil.

Cerastium arvense is a low-growing plant, now a sheet of

sunny flowers, and well adapted for edging. Thermopsis mol-
lis, with bright yellow flowers on stems about three feet high,
makes a splendid border-plant, and is equally good for the
wild garden.

Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium coeruleum), with flowers in
bright blue panicles on stems two feet long, makes a conspic-
uous object now, and so does Amsonia Tabernaemontana, a
plant about four feet high, with light blue flowers, one inch
across, and in large terminal panicles.

On a dry bank the wild Crane's-bill (Geranium maculatum)
is growing beautifully, and its pale purple flowers are very
pretty. Although it is a very common plant, yet there are very
few plants that are more effective when it is seen in a right
position. „ , r'

Botanic Gardens, Cambridge, Mass. Robert CamerOn.

Plants in Flower.

'T'HE Oriental Poppies, at present, with their vivid color, dull
■*• all other flowers in the garden. Noble flowers these, and
with a foil of graceful foliage. Fortunately, their season is
brief. Otherwise they are such effective flowers that they
would fill a popular want for the big and bizarre and the land-
scape, or, at least, our gardens would blaze in fiery monotony.
These are flowers of which one can gain a surfeit in a moder-
ate time. The plants are perfectly hardy and readily grown
from seed, from which they show considerable variation both
in coloring and in markings or blotches. They die down after
flowering, and it is well to plant some strong-growing plant
near them to cover vacant space. In late summer stock is
readily increased by root-cuttings.

The Roses are daily becommg more interesting. I noted
last year in Garden and Forest a so-called Rosa polyantha
remontant as having produced flowers in ninety days from
seed. The plants proved perfectly hardy without protection
last winter, not even the tops being cut down in the least.
They are now strong bushes, two to three feet high, and full of
good foliage and numerous buds, many of w'hich are ex-
panded. The flowers are single and double, and range from
white to deep pink or rose. The most forward plant is now
charming with numerous light rosy single flowers something
over an inch in diameter. As implied by the name, this Rose
gives successive crops during the season, and is well worth
the attention of cultivators who enjoy unconventional flowers.

The Burnet Rose (Rosa pimpinellifolia or R. spinosissima)
is a favorite of mine in or out of flower. It makes neat little
bushes, covered with dainty very dark green leaves, very dis-
tinct and effective at all seasons. At present it is showing its
fragrant cream-colored flowers, which are as handsome as fu-
gacious. I believe this is a very common British plant. Mine
are from seed gathered by a friend on the Tenby sands.

Rosa multiflora is showing its racemes of small flowers
quite in contrast to Mr. Dawson's seedlings. One of these seed-
lings, MukifloraX Miss Hazzard, with pure white single flowers,
seems to me specially lovely, while the one named Dawson is a
charming picture at present, with its clusters of semi-double
pink flowers, the bush on a low fence making a cascade of
dainty color.

Calochortus pulchellus is the strongest-growing and earliest-
flowering of the dozen northern California species which I
have tried. Its abundant clear yellow flowers are of striking
beauty, and among the most attractive flowers now in bloom.
These Mariposa Tulips are, I fear, more familiar to us as cat-
alogue illustrations than as realities in the garden. There
seems to be a general haziness about cultural directions and
their requirements here, and, as far as I can learn, they are
not usually cultivated successfully outside. In a dry border,
under the lee of the house, they were perfectly hardy and
were usually without even a snow-covering last winter. Under
this condition they apparently all lived and are in bud, but
with varying degrees of vigor. The future treatment will be
to allow the border to remam perfectly dry during the balance
of the season. These native bulbs are so handsome that
hints from those who have succeeded in their cultivation for
successive seasons would be very useful.

The Spanish Irises are now in season, and are among the bright-
est of the family and not to be omitted from the smallest collec-
tion. The usual varieties are the light lavender, with orange
blotches on the falls, the self-yellow, I. Lusitanica, and those
with brown markings, I. sordida, and those with white stand-
ards. There is in the garden a form of I. Lusitanica, from Tan-
giers, I believe, which made six inches or more of leaf-growth
last fall, and which, later, was badly cut. It seems a strong
plant, but, like I. Tingitana, is evidently a shy bloomer.

Hardy Gladioli, one of the most interesting flowers at this
moment, is one of Mr. Whittall's finds of last year, a hardy

258

Garden and Forest.

[Number 277.

Gladiolus with pink flowers— purplish pink when first opening.
This flowers on erect spikes at about eighteen inches high and
is a very welcome and attractive gain to the borders. It suc-
ceeds in flower the purplish and blue forms with lax scapes
sent out by Herr Leichtlin as G. Kotschyanus, but, I believe,
determined to be G. Armeniacus.

The larger Water-lilies are now inblooom, after some stirn-
ulus of warm weather. Established plants of N. alba candi-
dissima and N. albida opened their flowers together this morn-
ing. The former variety has long been esteemed as one of
the best white flowering kinds. Watching the latter as it ex-

Fanded from a beautiful cup-shaped bud to its perfect stage,
am confirmed in my opinion, formed last season, that it is
quite the handsomest of hardy white Nymphaeas.
Eiiiabeth. N.J. J- N. Gerard.

Barren worts.

THE Epimediums, or Barrenworts, possess so many points
of merit in foliage and flower, and are so easy of culture,
that it is surprising that they are neglected so generally. The
genus has representatives in Europe, Asia and Africa, with one
doubtful American species. They are all of medium size, sel-
dom exceeding one foot in height, with underground stolons by
means of which broad matted tufts are formed. All of the
species bloom in spring or early summer, the flowers appear-
ing in some cases just m advance of the foliage, and with the
fresh young leaves in others. The foliage of these plants is
interesting and beautiful and varies much in form, color and
texture with the different species. In all of them, however,
the leaf-stalks are stiff and wiry, and in early spring as the
leaves are expanding the general effect of the plants is almost
as graceful as that of the Maidenhair Ferns. The young leaves
are particularly striking in the variety of their color, combining
as they do rich shades of flesh-color, purple and red, with the
light greens. They gradually assume adeepershade of green
with age, although they are often margined with flesh-color
and red throughout the summer.

The flowers are usually star-shaped, the outer petals falling
soon after they open, and the inner ones, which are convex on
the reverse side, spread out horizontally above the outer petal-
spurs, so as to give the effect of a star within a star. Epime-
dium alpinum, a European species, bears from twelve to
twenty flowers of white and crimson in a lax panicle in May,
each panicle borne on a stem nearly a foot long. The
flowers expand with the foliage, and their depth of color is in-
tensified by the contrast in color. E. niveum during the latter
half of May bears dense panicles of pure white flowers, and
its variety, Roseum, is showily tinged with pink. The flowers,
though smaller than those of E. alpinum, are lifted well above
the leaves. E. macrantlium, the earliest to bloom, produces
the largest flowers of all, some of them being an inch across,
with the outer petals a lavender-purple and the inner ones
French pink. The plant in full bloom produces a very re-
markable effect. E. sulphureum blooms later and is at its
best in early June, bearing deep lemon-colored flowers in
dense panicles, which are gracefully overarched by the foli-
age. The Epimediums do not seem to be particular about
soil, but they thrive best in sandy loam and in partial shade,
and they are particularly effective when massed in a rockery.

Reading, Mass. J- Woodward Manning.

Correspondence.
From a Garden in Northern California.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — California has seldom had a more backward spring
than this year, and many garden-plants have done poorly.
Bulbous plants have, however, prospered under the cool
weather and frequent rains, and Hyacinths, Narcissus and
Tulips did wonderfully well, as also the great variety of Cali-
fomian bulbs in my garden. For the native bulbs, with but
few exceptions, a porous, not overstimulating, soil, first-class
drainage, and not too much watering, are essential. I have
had two partial failures this spring, one due direcfly to poor
drainage, the other to attacks of a mildew. Calochortus splen-
dens, from an arid locality, was killed to the ground by the
fungus. Other forms of C. splendens from a cooler climate
were little injured, and C. luteus and C. Weedii from places
close at hand were untouched. In previous years other Calo-
chorti from the arid regions, such as C. Nuttallii and C. macro-
carpus, were attacked. C. venustus, as a rule, is mildew-proof ;
also the Calochorii of the C. pulchellustype (Cyclobothras). As
the fungus clearly comes on the bulbs, it would, I believe, be

a wise precaution to use some wash, such as sulphate of cop-
per, to disinfect them before planting.

For the first time I have been successful with Fritillaria pu-
dica. The soil is a sharp river sand and loam, and the drain-
age is good. My experience has been that no soil euuals a
sharp sandy one for all of the Calochorti like C. pulchellus, C.
albus, C. lilacinus, C. Benthaniii and others. C. amoenus flow-
ered for the second season this year. It is between C. albus
and C. pulchellus, and its satiny dark pink flowers are charm-
ing. Indeed, there is no more exquisite coloring in any Calo-
chortus.

I have long looked upon our native Cypripedium montanuin
as rather hard to grow, but must reverse this opinion. A large
number of clumps, some collected last fall and some a year
ago, have all bloomed freely, and will compare with the best
plants in their native homes. The soil is a rather heavy clay,
with sand and mold mixture, the situation cool and for the
greater part of the day shady.

The popular flower festivals in the southern portion of our
state are held at a time when we could scarcely show a Rose
in this section. The Banksia Roses do finely throughout the
state, and just now are beautiful. These Roses will quickly
clamber over a house. The Noisettes are highly satisfactory
here ; also Mar^chal Neil and Cloth of Gold. The old favorite,
Gloire de Dijon, and the equally good Reine Marie Henrietta
do splendidly, and among the climbers there are many more
of the same class that are hardy and beautiful.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

New Cypripediums.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Of more than 500 plants of the noble Cypripedium
Chamberlainianum which I have seen, the variety Magnificum
is the finest and largest both in foliage and flower. The plant
measures two feet four inches across, and the leaves, which
are faintly tessellated, are three inches broad. The polyflorous
scape is pubescent ; the flowers are borne one at a time, and
each one measures over four inches across the petals. The
dorsal sepal is an inch and a half across, pale green, shading
to primrose-yellow on the margin, with ten dark brown rays,
and pilose on the reverse side. The inferior sepal is pale
green, with bi-own rays. The petals are pale apple-green, with
rows of brown-purple dots, and are twisted in a reverse direc-
tion. The lip is two inches long, crimson, with the infolded
lobes, base and the border of the aperture a pale yellow, the
whole specked with carmine. The staminode is a deep glossy
green. The plant of C. Germinyianum aureum resembles the
type, but the flowers are larger ; the dorsal sepal an umber-
brown, bordered with dull orange, petals vinous-purple on the
superior half, and dull orange on the inferior half, dotted with
red near the base ; the lip a sombre orange, dotted inside
with brown, the staminode yellow.

Orange, N.J. Robert M. Grey.

Marica Northiana.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Apropos of Mr. Gerard's recent valuable notes on the
Iris family, it may be interesting to note that Marica Northiana
has been in flower here for the last two months, and it proves
a good bloomer in a cool greenhouse, without special culture.
Its flowers are fugacious, lasting only a day, but are of exqui-
site beauty and fragrance, and produced in great numbers.
The habit of growth is exceedingly graceful, and it seems a
desirable plant for amateurs to cultivate.

My plant came from the Bermudas, where it was called the
Bermuda Iris, but it was originally introduced into England
from Brazil about 1790. .

Braintree, Mass. CurtlS A. Perry.

Recent Publications.

The Hawks and Owls of the United States in their Rela-
tion to Agriculture. Prepared under the direction of Dr. C.
Hart Merriam, Ornithologist of the United States Department
of Agriculture, by A. K. Fisher, M. D., Assistant Ornithologist.
Washington, 1893. 8vo, 201 pp., 25 colored plates.

The Department of Agriculture has done wisely in present-
ing so attractively in Bulletin No. 3 of the Division of Orni-
thology and Mammalogy the results of Dr. Fisher's studies on
the food of a class of birds usually reckoned as the enemies
of the farmer, but which actual investigation shows to be his
best friends. By careful examination of the contents of the
stomachs of 2,700 specimens of the different hawks and owls
of the country, it is proved beyond a doubt that by far the

June 14, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

259

larger part are positively beneficial, and tiie folly of offering
bounties for their indiscriminate destruction, as has been done
in several states, is conclusively shown. Only six of the
seventy-three species and subspecies found within our terri-
tory can be called positively injurious. Of these, three are so
rare that they need not be considered in their economic rela-
tions, leaving only three, namely, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-
shinned Hawk and Fish Hawk, that can be considered the
enemies of man. The remainder are either wholly beneficial
or mainly so, destroying a vast quantity of harmful mammals
and insects, and only exceptionally committing depredations
on game or poultry. As an instance, the case of the two com-
mon hawks, universally detested by farmers, under the name
of Hen Hawks (Buteo borealis and B. lineatus), may be cited.
An examination of 562 stomachs of the former showed only
fifty-four to contain the remainsof poultry or game birds, and
of 220 stomachs of the latter, only three contained such re-
mains. The great preponderance of food was found in both
cases to be mice, insects and othernoxious animals. It will take
time for the average farmer to understand that his prejudices
must give way before such significant facts as these, but it is
to be hoped that their plain statement in this volume may
have some effect. Certainly the knowledge of them should
have the widest possible circulation.

The illustrations by the Ridgways are excellent, the descrip-
fions in plain, untechnical language, and the accounts of the
habits full and interesting, making the work one of the best
contributions to American ornithology that have recently ap-
peared.

The Columbian Exposition.
Rhododendrons.

RHODODENDRONS have made the most conspicuous dis-
plays on the grounds during the first days of June.
Nothing can be more showy than a mass of Rhododendrons,
and, unlike many other showy plants, they carry an air of mass-
iveness and stability which makes them impressive. They
are the most architectural of the plants which can be made to
endure our northern climate, and it is, therefore, a happy
thought with Mr. Olmsted (hat he should have banked nearly
six hundred of them against the long architectural terraces in
the basin, or the magnificent space which lies between the
Manufactures and Agricultural Buildings, headed by the noble
Administration Building, and constituting what is known as
the Court of Honor. The plants used in these banks com-
prise a long list of varieties, and the sizes and colors are ar-
ranged with bold effect. The masses are four in number, two
lying against the terrace of the Manufactures Building on the
north of the lagoon, and two against the Agricultural Building
on the south. The plants are entered as competitive exhibits,
although they are made to form a part of a landscape picture.
Of the plants in these long masses, Anthony Waterer has con-
tributed 22g ; Moser, of Versailles, sixty-two, and the Belgian
commision 267, making a total of 558 plants, nearly all well
bloomed.

Unfortunately, the other Rhododendrons are widely scattered.
The greater part of the exhibits are thrown into the southern
portion of the island with little reference to landscape-effect, a
large formal plantation extends across the north front of the
Woman's Building, and some of Moser's best specimens have
been Howered under the dome of the Horticultural Building,
where they have attracted great attention. The best effect in
these various plantations, all things considered, is undoubtedly
obtained in the terrace-banks in the basin, although it has
been necessary to screen them from the sun by a temporary
awning. Aside from these plants which Mr. Olmsted has used
for architectural effects, the Rhododendrons are under the
immediate charge of the Horticultural Department.

The Rhododendron exhibits may be roughly grouped under
two classes for the purposes of this account — small or
young plants, and large ones (including standards). The small
plants are shown by the Boskoop (Holland) Nursery Associa-
tion in 102 varieties ; Blaouw &Co., Boskoop, Holland, fifty-six
varieties ; W. Van Kleef & Sons, Boskoop, thirty-four varieties ;
Parsons, Long Island, sixteen varieties ; T. J. Seidel, Dresden,
five new varieties, and a small collection by Ellwanger &
Barry. The plants in these collections range from one to three
feet high, and there is little or no attempt to train them to a
single trunk, although Parsons' plants, which are the only
American-grown Rhododendrons in the entire exhibition, are
somewhat larger. These American plants are not yet in bloom,
and the buds of some of them are destroyed, evidently by the
winter. A conspicuous variety in the Dutch exhibits is the
mauve R. Catawbicnse. This is used to excellent effect in the

Kleef exhibit as a backbone, or centre, of a long and thick
clump.

There are some excellent specimens of standard Rhododen-
drons shown by John Waterer and by Moser, some of the
tallest in the former collection standing eight feet high. Very
strong plants are shown by Anthony Waterer, Knap Hill, in
ninety-three varieties and fifteen seedlings ; by Moser, of Ver-
sailles, in sixty-nine varieties ; Croux & Son, Sceaux, near Paris,
forty-nine varieties ; John Waterer, forty-one varieties ; Pitcher
& Manda, fourteen varieties, and the Belgian Commission,
fifty varieties. The Belgian plants are contributed bv Ch. Vuyl-
steke, Desmet Brothers, Alexis Dallaireand the Horticuhural
School, all of Ghent or its vicinity. It is surprising to note the
liberality with which the European nurserymen have con-
tributed in many ways to the Exposition, and one must admit
that they have given it a decided and unique value by the mag-
nificent shows of Azaleas and Rhododendrons. Some of
Moser's plants are fifty years old and are worth as many dol-
lars, and some of the large plants in the John Waterer colle*-
tion sell in England for seventy-five dollars each. The French
plants, especially those from Moser, are the most perfect in
form of any on exhibition, and the John Waterer plants are the
largest, but, taken all in all, considering hardiness a prime fac-
tor, no collection surpasses that of Anthony Waterer, if, in
fact, it equals it. Without exception, the collections 'of' all
foreign exhibitors are marvels of vigor and profuseness of
bloom, especially when one considers the journey to which
they have been subjected and the fact that all were planted
this spring.

Among so many meritorious varieties, it is impossible to
mention all those which possess special charms. If any one
variety can be said to be better than others the merit mustfall
to Everestianum, a hardy variety with magnificent trusses of
rose-lilac crimped flowers. H. Waterer, who represents his
father, Anthony Waterer, in America, considers the following
to be especially valuable for this country because of their har-
diness : Everestianum, Purpureum Elegans, Album Grandi-
florum. Album Elegans ; Mrs. Shuttleworth, scarlet, light
centre, spotted ; Mrs. Milner, crimson ; Lady Clermont, rose,
deeply blotched ; Sappho, white blotched maroon ; James
Macintosh, rose ; Edward S. Rand, deep scarlet ; Guido, red ;
H. W. Sargent, crimson ; Charles Dickens, dark red ; Charles'
Bagley, cherry red ; Lady Armstrong, pink rose, spotted ; Ket-
tledrum, purplish crimson. Among the novel or little-known
varieties of special merit, Mr. Waterer mentions Memoir,
white ; Martin Hope Sutton, scarlet ; Florence, pink, light
centre ; Sappho ; Edward S. Rand ; Morion, rose, blotched ;
H. W. Sargent; Sylph, pink ; Charles Fisher; Kettledrum!
Mr. Moser, who represents his father at Chicago, considers the
following to be the best varieties, having special reference to
American conditions: Everestianum; Blandyanum, brilliant
red and a profuse bloomer ; Lady Eleanor Cathcart, salmon-
red ; Caractacus, red ; Album Elegans, white ; Princess Mary
of Carribridge, light rose, with darker border ; Catawbiense
Boursault, deep mauve ; Annica Bricogne, clear mauve ;
Catawbiense Alba, white.

Among the varieties which seem to attract most attention
are Blandyanum, Roseum Elegans, Catawbiense, Caractacus,
Helen Waterer, Everestianum, Michael Waterer, Strategist,
Fastuosum flore pleno, Cetewayo, the nearest approach to a
black Rhododendron ; Lady Eleanor Cathcart, Queen, Lord
Wolseley, Frederic Waterer, Princess Mary of Cambridge, Old
Port, Princess Louise, Notabile, Cynthia, Matchless and Helena
Schiffner, an elegant new white by T. J. Seidel. The excellent
specimen plants of Moser and Croux have excited great in-
terest because of their bold position by the Woman's Building,
and the former have the great merit of being distinctly labeled.

Rhododendrons are so much confused by hybridization that
it is impossible to refer many of the prominent kinds to given
species. Those who have been long familiar with the varie-
ties, however, become very expert in judging of the blood
and hardiness by the appearance of the leaves. The hardy
kinds are those in which our native Rhododendron Catawbi-
ense is the chief or only component. These are distinguished
by the leaves, which are broad and obtuse, or, at least, not
conspicuously pointed. Eyereslianum is probably pure Cataw-
biense, and it shows its parentage in the lilac flowers as well
as in the foliage. The variety which the nurserymen sell as
Catawbiense, and which I have mentioned in this letter, has
flowers of a similar shade, and it is supposed to be a straight
development from the species. The greater part of the named
Rhododendrons partake largely of R. Ponticum blood. This
species originally had darker flowers than our native plant, and
the leaves are narrower and more prominently pointed. It is
native to western Asia, and is tender in our northern states.
R. arboreum, a Himalayan species, is supposed to have en-

26o

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBEK 277.

tered into the cultivated varieties. Our native R. maximum
has received some attention from nurserymen, but it lias not
yet entered largely into the named kinds. One of the most in-
teresting displays is a collection of fifty-five large plants in
boxes of R.Californicum about the Washington State Building.
This species has recently been designated as the state flower
by the Legislature of Washington. The plants were received
late in May in rather poor condition, having been three weeks
on the way in a dark car, but they are now rallying and are be-
ginning to bloom. The species occurs locally in Washington,
especially about Seattle and the base of Mount Hood. It forms
dense plantations, four to eight feet, and even fourteen feet, in
height. The flowers vary from pink-white to rose.

Altogether, this is undoubtedly the best display ever held
west of the Alleghanies. Although the Rhododendron is a
captious plant in our climate, it must be remembered that one
of the best species is native here, and that many varieties can
be relied upon with tolerable certainty, even in trying places.

.There seems no reason why American nurserymen should
not originate races which will be perfectly hardy and happy in
our climate. , j, n /.y

Notes.

Young fruit-trees which were properly transplanted last
autumn had fine earth very compactly placed about their
roots, but just now there is danger that this soil may be-
come hardened and crusted, which condition is altogether un-
favorable to growth. It is important, therefore, to keep the
ground about newly set trees not only clean, but thoroughly
pulverized on the surface.

There are many attractive shrubs and small trees in bloom
in Central Park at the present time, including Philadelphuses,
several of the Thorns and Viburnums, but none of them are
moreattractivethanChionanthus Virginica. The delicate snow-
white flowers hang in abundant loose panicles from every
spray, and the long slender petals produce a lace-like effect
whicli makes the common name of Fringe-tree most appro-
priate.

At the Maine Experiment Station a modified form of the
mixture known as " Eau celeste," consisting of two pounds of
copper sulphate, two and a half pounds of carbonate of soda,
one and a half pints of ammonia and thirty gallons of water
proved the most effective means of checking the Apple-scab.
The experiments emphasized the value of spraying early in
the season before the blossoms open and applying the fungi-
cide repeatedly during the summer.

At the annual meeting of the Linnsean Society, recently
held in London, the Linnaean medal was presented to Pro-
fessor Oliver, for many years the curator of the Kew Herba-
rium, a position' from which he has now retired, although
he still continues to render marked service to botany and hor-
ticulture in his ready and valuable assistance to those who
seek the benefit of his vast experience and great knowledge
of the plants of all parts of the world.

One of the largest Redwood-trees ever felled in California, cut
near the Eel River, about ten miles from Scotia, was recently
sent to Chicago, where it will be exhibited. The trunk was
seventy-seven feet in circumference at the base, 417 feet in
length, and at a height of 207 feet it was nine feet in diameter.
The section cut out for exhibition is twelve feet high and sixty-
three feet in circumference. The entire tree contained 400,000
feet of lumber, solid measurement, and cut up into 305,000
feet of merchantable lumber. Only the shell of the section
cut out has been sent to the Columbian Exposition, where it
will be put up in the shape of a room.

\r\ Meehans Monthly, for June, the editor states that out of
100,000 (lowering plants known to botanists, possibly not one-
tenth of the number have any odon The large majority of
plants are, in fact, scentless. In many large genera there are
only one ortwofragrantspecies; for instance, in the Mignonette
family, of fifty known species only the one in our garden has
any odor. Among one hundred species of Violets there are
not a dozen fragrant ones. In other large genera, as for exam-
ple in Begonia, the scentless varieties are as one hundred to
one, and among our wild flowers the sweet-smelling ones are
comparatively rare.

The first number of the Journal of the Kew Guild speaks
of the destruction of the old Chilian Pine, Araucaria imbricata,
which had been failing for several years and which was re-
moved last autumn. In 1792 Archibald Menzies, navy sur-
geon and botanist, was dining with the Viceroy of Chili, when
at dessert some nuts were brought to the table which were

unknown to him. He sowed a few of them in a box of soil ;
they germinated on board ship, and he finally brought five
plants home to Kew, which were the first ever seen in Eng-
land. Of these the old specimen which was destroyed last
year was one, so that when it died it was exactly one hundred
y^ars old.

The usual supply of pineapples from the West Indies is, for
the first time this year, supplemented by the Florida crop, so
that this fruit was never before so abundant in our market.
Although this fact has had the effect of cheapening the price
of strawberries, the latter fruit has held better prices during
the past week, good strawberries selling for fifteen cents a
quart as against ten cents a week ago. There is a limited
supply of Florida canteloupes at thirty-five and forty cents
apiece, and the best peaches from the south, and a few from
California, are held at sixty cents a dozen. Niagara grapes,
from Georgia, are forty-five cents a pound. New California
apples command fifty cents and California apricots twenty-five
cents a dozen.

The editor of the Rural New Yorker is pleased with the con-
duct of the Papaw (Asimina triloba) on his grounds. His
specimen was taken from the woods some twenty years ago.
and grows in wretchedly poor soil and bears an immense crop
of fruit, which he chooses to call the northern banana, every
year. Not a bud of the tree was killed by the cold last winter,
which reached twenty degrees below zero. It was in full
bloom about the 20th of May, with flowers as pretty as those
of an Akebia, and the tree assumes a symmetrical shape, while
the large leaves give it a peculiarly tropical efftct. He adds
that the fruit is liked by many peisvins. Some years ago Mon-
sieur Charles Naudin wrote to tiiis journal that the fruit of
some of the Papaws which he was cultivating was to his
taste delicious, and altogether the best of the wild indigenous
fruits of North America. Unf( rtunately. the iruit contains
niany large seeds, which leave the proportion of edible pulp
too small to make it valuable. But. then, this Papaw has never
been imprc ved by cultivation, and when we remember how our
orchard fruits have been altered by selection and hybridizing
from their original types, it would seem that the effort to im-
prove this fruit was worthy of experiment.

A bulletin has recently been issued by President Mills, of
the Ontario Agricultural College, offering a short summer
course of instruction to the teachers of that province in agri-
culture and the sciences most closely related thereto. Since
farming is the main industry in Ontario, President Mills argues
that it is the duty of the public schools to consider to some
extent that fact, so that the children can be instructed, not only
in the elements of general education, but in some of the prin-
ciples that underlie the successful practice of the industry by
which most of them will have to earn a living. This short
course is provided for the teachers in the belief that they may
be enabled to give valuable instruction in agriculture by plain
lectures to children in conversations on soils, plants and ani-
mals, so simple that the lower classes in a public school may
understand them, so attractive as to interest all, and of such a
character as to benefit the children, whatever their occupation
may be in after life. The course will extend throughout the
month of July. The forenoons will be devoted to lectures,
and the afternoons to botanical and geological excursions in
charge of an officer, together with practical work in laborato-
ries, with observation trips to gardens, fields and experimental
plots.

We have received from Mr. Joseph Meehan, of German-
town, a spray of Coriius Kousa, which is just now in full flower.
This plant, generally known in nurseries as Benthamia Ja-
ponica, blooms every year, and the large white bracts have
more substance than those of our Flowering Dogwood, which
it so much resembles. The bracts are not so purely white as
those of Cornus florida.buttheyappeartwo weeks later than on
our native plant, and after the bright green leaves haveattained
full size. Mr. Meehan also sent a flowering branch of the beauti-
ful Pterostyrax hispidum, a figure of which was published in
Garden and Forest, vol. v., page 389. The tree from which
the spray was taken is now nearly twenty feet high and has borne
flowers for several years. It is a strong-growing tree and of
pleasing outline, and just now it is covered with abundant
white flowers in pendulous racemes. A branch of Styrax
Obassia, which came with the above, had nearly passed out of
flower, but it still showed the racemes of large white flowers,
slandingoutsomewhat horizontally and not drooping, as in the
case of the Pterostyrax. The largest specimen In the Meehan
Nurseries is fifteen feet high, and yet it never flowered until this
year. A smaller one, only eight feet in height, also bloomed
for the first time.

Tune 21, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

261

GARDEN AND FOREST,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY 1!Y

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office ; Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y,

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles : — Expenmeiital Work in the Improvement of Useful Plants . 261

Pennsylvania Forest Commission 262

Cultivation of Bulbs in Texas — .' 262

Hardy Azaleas at Knap Hill The London Garden. 262

Dutch Bulbs in Texas JulieH Keverchon. 262

Notes from West Virginia Danske Dandrid^e. 263

Notes on Mexican Travel. — VI C G. Fringle. 263

New or Little-known Plants : — Syringa pubescens. (With figure.) 264

Azaleo dendrons 264

Cultural Department : — Caraganas or Siberian Pea-trees J. G. Jack. 265

Some California Raisin Grapes Charles Howard Shinn. 265

Notes From Baden-Baden Majt Leichttin. 267

Plants Hardy in Vermont F, H. Hors/ord. 267

Plants in Flower y. N. Gerard. 267

Correspondence: — ^The Wild Garden yohn Chamberlain. 268

The Kumquat Orange in Florida C. A. Bacon. 268

The VIrgilia F. S. 268

New Anthuriums Robert M. Grey. 269

The Columbian Exposition: — Green Vegetables Professor L. H. Bailey. 269

Notes 270

Illustration : — Syringa pubescens in a Massachusetts Garden, Fig. 39 266

Experimental Work in the Improvement of Useful
Plants.

THERE is abundant evidence that the work of the ex-
periment stations is growing more practical every
year. By this we do not mean that it is growing less scien-
tific, for really, unless all study and tests are conducted
in the true scientific spirit, they will have little value. What
we are glad to say is that the knowledge which is gained
at the stations concerning the diseases of plants, the life
and habits of insects, the chemistry of soils, of milk and of
butter, is speedily adapted to practical use in the farms and
gardens of the country, so that spraying compounds and
spraying machinery, the Babcock tester and other appli-
ances for securing approved products in agriculture and
horticulture are becoming just as familiar to cultivators
and dairymen as plows and ordinary implements of hus-
bandry were ten years ago. No doubt, there is much mis-
directed effort in these stations, but, on the whole, they are
developing on hopeful lines, and the people who are profited
by them are coming every day into closer connection with
them and are learning where to turn for satisfactory an-
swers to many of the puzzles and troubles which confront
them in their daily occupation.

What we should like to see is increased attention in some
of the stations to experiments for the improvement of
quality in varieties of useful plants. The breeding of im-
proved plants bears the same relation to horticulture that
the breeding of improved stock does to animal husbandry.
When we remember that all the valuable varieties of orchard
fruits have been produced from comparatively few species
whose fruits were originally scarcely edible, and that exqui-
site flavor, various times of ripening, differences in form,
color and keeping quality and other points of excellence
have all been gained by selection, hybridizing and cross-fer-
tilization, it hardly becomes us to say that the very highest
results have yet been attained. Of course, there has been
much thought and care bestowed on all these matters dur-
ing the long generations which it has taken to develop
these fruits from their primitive forms, and yet there has

been very little systematic study of hybridizing and cross-
breeding.

Any skillful breeder of horses will undertake in a few
generations to furnish an animal of a given size and con-
formation, an animal which is just suited for a given kind
of work. Very few plant-breeders would care to promise
the production of a raspberry of a given firmness or flavor,
or a rose of a given form or color, and yet there must be
certain laws which can be, to some extent, relied upon in
the rearing of different strains of plants just as there are in
the rearing of different strains of animals. In the north-
west there has been very much work in the line of securing
orchard fruits of greater hardiness, and experimenters there
are learning what varieties can be most hopefully used as
parents. We are learning, too, what blood can be trusted
to produce a hardy Grape-vine, but there is much more to
be discovered, and to make these discoveries requires sys-
tematic effort through a long series of years.. It is a work
which does not command immediate pecuniary reward; it
is too slow and too costly and too uncertain. Besides this,
it is a work which requires scientific knowledge and trained
skill of the highest sort, and therefore it cannot be expected
of ordinary cultivators.

What seems to be needed is a new^ class of specialists
who shall devote themselves entirely to this work of plant-
improvement. Desultory and unsystematic experiment
will not answer. The subject must be pursued in a thor-
oughly scientific way. This is why the matter is com-
mended to experiment stations. In these stations there
are horticulturists and botanists and chemists ; why not
have some one to devote his labors exclusively to the
improvement of plants.? This work is tedious and most
uncertain at the beginning. All the processes, from the pol-
lenizing of the flowers to the gathering of the seed, require
the utmost care. Many of the fertilized flowers will fail
to set seed, and then the fruits which contain the coveted
seeds must be carefully watched throughout the season. It
requires another year, sometimes many years, to produce
plants from these, and then the most careful investiga-
tion of their characters must be made. Sometimes the
material produced will be too scanty to work with, and
again it will be so abundant and will open out into so
many directions that a man with anything else on his
hands will despair of exploring them all. No one can have
too large a knowledge of horticultural varieties for this
work ; no one can have too profound a knowledge of
plant-growth ; no one can have too many appliances at his
command to make the work efficient. It certainly is wor-
thy of the highest skill and the closest application, and it
promises to be of sufficient value to justify the attention of
the men who are paid to make experiments for the benefit
of the agriculture and horticulture of the country. Few
private individuals have the means, the time, the appli-
ances and the skill which are necessary to prosecute this
work, and the stations were organized for the express pur-
pose of undertaking research which it is beyond the power
of private individuals to conduct.

These thoughts have been suggested by an account of the
labors of Mr. Luther Burbank in California, who is said to be
testing 600,000 hybrid and cross-bred seedling Raspberry-
plants, more than half a million hybrid seedling Lilies, and to
be making experiments with many other genera on an equally
generous scale. We know nothing, by personal examina-
tion, of the novelties which Mr. Burbank offers of the
Mammoth Japan Chestnut, for instance, which has been
selected from more than 10,000 seedlings, a tree bearing
glossy nuts as large as the Japanese chestnut, and as sweet
as the American chestnut ; or of a Walnut, a hybrid between
Juglans nigra and Juglans Californica, with nuts of the largest
size and in quality much superior to those of either parent.
What we do know is that Mr. Burbank has been experi-
menting in this line for many years, that the Potato which
he originated, and which has gone by his name, has been
a variety of established merit for the past sixteen years,
and that he is known as the originator of several Plums

262

Garden and Forest.

[Number 278.

and other fruits of excellent quality. The extent of his
work only shows how much must be done before one good
variety can be brought forth, and how ardent must be the
zeal which sustains any individual through long years of
labor, expense and uncertainty. It can hardly be ex-
pected that many other persons will enter this lield with so
much enthusiasm and determination and ability, and there-
fore it is that we venture to hope that the experiment
stations will take up this work. They have the continuous
life needed for investigations which must be carried on
through many years. They ought to command the trained
skill. They are unbiased by any commercial considera-
tions and can afford to be absolutely sincere. They have
the Government of the United States and the people of the
United States as supporters and patrons.

We have already alluded to the passage of an act by the
Legislature of Pennsylvania creating a Forest Commission,
whose first duty will be to make a thorough survey of that
state. Inasmuch as the commission is to frame a forestry
bill based on the data secured by the survey, the success
or failure of the act will depend largely on the quality of
the men who are named as members of this commission.
We are glad to know that Governor Pattison has appointed
as botanist of the commission Professor J. T. Rothrock, late of
the University of Pennsylvania, a man whose acquirements
are universally recognized, and Colonel A. Harvey Tyson,
of Reading, as the engineer. The task of framing a bill
which will deal firmly with existing abuses, and yet be
temperate enough to enlist the support of all the various
classes of people who have some interest in the forests, so
that the Legislature can be assured that they are represent-
ing the popular will when they make it a law, is a delicate
one, and it is, therefore, gratifying to know that the move-
ment has been committed to capable hands at the outset.

Ox several occasions we have published articles to show
that the soil and climate of North Carolina were adapted to
the cultivation of Dutch bulbs for market. In the present
number will be found some notes on the behavior of
these bulbs in Texas, from an esteemed correspondent and
a most careful observer. The fact that Hyacinths, which
were cross-bred seedlings from the primitive type, Hya-
cinthus orientalis, became naturalized and showed a
marked improvement over the original plaiits, is certainly
interesting. The superstition that these bulbs can only
be raised in Holland was long ago exploded, and it now
seems probable that the time is not far distant when Amer-
ican gardens can be supplied with home-grown bulbs of
good quality and at reasonable prices.

N'

Hardy Azaleas at Knap Hill.

rO class of hardy shrubs gives the same variety of color as
' the hardy Azalea, and no one has done more to bring the
race to its present perfection than Mr. Waterer, whose nursery
at Knap Hill is fragrant with the spicj odor of the masses of
flowers. The race originated by mtercrossing the North
American species, as A. calendulacea and A. nudiflora with
A. Pontica, and since Mr. Waterer first interested himself in
the shrubs great progress has been made, as may be seen by
the large collection in liis nursery. One may get some idea of
their beauty from guite small plants, but there are many noble
specimens, spreading bushes smothered in bloom and just
displaying the tender green leafage for contrast.

One may ask. What is the special charm of the newer acquisi-
tions? It is difficult to answer the question, except by recom-
mending personal observation, comparing the later varieties
with those of even not many years ago. AH hardy Azaleas are
beautiful, capable of imparting delightful color to the garden,
but all are not of the same high quality as regards the indi-
vidual flowers. A visit to Knap Hill in Azalea time is well
repaid, as such shrubs do not appear to full advantage In pots
at the exhibition. The newer varieties are distinguished by
flowers of great breadth, the upper segments well thrown
back, thus displaying the color, and they compose large, finely
formed trusses, quite different from the Honeysuckle-like

effect of the older kinds. Each year we see distinct and splen-
did advances, and tlie variety Mrs. Anthony Waterer, certifi-
cated at the Temple show of the Royal Horticultural Society
last year, possesses the good qualities of the finest types. We
noticed it in bloom this season, and it is a lovely flower, broad,
robust In expression, of the purest white, except for a suffu-
sion of yellow on the upper petals, and held well up, while the
truss is bold. When in full beauty the shrub is a mass of
white, exhaling a sweet fragrance. The newer seedlings are
of the same light character, and the resplendent tints that tell
well in the landscape each year get more diversified.

Tliese results are attained by hybridizing the best kinds, but
it is slow work, and about four years elapse before the seed-
lings flower, then, perhaps, to be destroyed, as falling short of
the high ideal in the mind's eye of the raiser. The best varie-
ties are marked, and in time layered for the production of
stock. The color most largely represented is yellow, and
Nancy Waterer Is a superb liower, broad and richly colored ;
but one may enumerate many shades of orange, primrose and
yellow that create a gay show of color. In a special place
there are many choice seedlings, and it Is these that augur
well for the future of the hardy Azalea. They are a veritable
surprise, the flowers distinct in color, well shaped, and the
truss of bold size. Those varieties that bear flowers with
blotches on the upper part are very striking, standing well out
from the other less decided types. The Knap Hill collection
is getting rich in scarlets, and some of the more recent acqui-
sitions are superb flowers — glowing crimson of quite a self-
shade, orange-red, and many allied tints. We picked out sev-
eral that, if in the woodland, would appear as a flame of fire
against the tender green leafage — a brilliant mass of color.
Akhough a name is given to some especially choice acquisi-
tion, as Mrs. Anthony Waterer, a wholesale system of giving
names is wisely not followed. The reason is obvious, as it
would mean a mere string of titles, every variety almost being
worth some distinctive mark. The Azaleas are classed simply
as " Knap Hill," a sufficient guarantee of their beauty.

The visitor to Knap Hill in the late days of May or early
June will note the great strides that are being made with the
double Azaleas, not semi-double, but true double flowers.
There are many shades of color, but the double rose and pink
are delightful. The flowers are borne in a handsome head,
and individually of exquisite shape, perfectly double, and ten-
der in color. Such flowers should be in demand for cutting,
and nothing in its way is more enjoyable than the more deli-
cately tinted varieties, white, pink, and so forth, which last well
in water, while they have a sweet, yet not too powerful, fra-
grance. Mr. Waterer is also raising a race of later-flowering
hybrids, and we may in time get Azaleas over a much longer
season than early summer. Many woodland and wild spots
would be made more beautiful by a judicious selection of va-
rieties that provide a splendid series of colors from carmine to
the purest white, orange-scarlet in particular, as brilliant as
anything one can get among hardy shrubs. Where the Rho-
dodendron is at home there also is the Azalea, and the bold
group of plants in the wilderness at Kew shows that they are
not only perfectly hardy, but the flowers remain untouched
by late frosts when they receive reasonable shelter. Protec-
tion from keen winds and some amount of shade are desira-
ble, while if the soil is not peat, that composed of fibry loam
mixed with leaf-mold, or loam alone, will prove sufficient.

The Knap Hill Azaleas are a perfect blaze of color at this
season of the year, and there is also a feast of color in the au-
tumn season, when the foliage turns to many shades of color —
bright red, brown, chocolate and allied shades, sometimes
mixed and sometimes self, but always a pleasure to see. The
dying leaves are as beautiful as the flowers, lighting up the
garden with color in the late days of September and early Oc-
tober.—T/u Loniion Garden.

I

Dutch Bulbs in Texas.

N the cultivation of imported Hyacinths in this state the
general experience of horticulturists is that they give satis-
faction the first year after they are planted, but then dwindle
Into smaller bulbs, and finally disappear. Tulips often do no
better than Hyacinths when the bulbs are planted in sand or
in the heavy, black, waxy soil of the prairies. I have never
tried to grow any bulbs in such soils, the soil on my place
being a rich prairie loam of chocolate color from one to
three feet deep, on a foundation of limestone. The descend-
ants of a fine collection of Hyacinths received direct from Bel-
gium thirty years ago can be seen here to-day. These are
doing splendidly, and produce flowers at least as good as those
of their Dutch ancestors. My experience has been that im-

June 21, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

263

ported bulbs do well the first year ; the second, some disap-
pear, some divide into many smaller bulbs, and others keep
their size ; the third year there is a general improvement, and
after that they may be considered acclimatized. The blue
sorts are always the' hardiest, and the double red the most deli-
cate. Some kinds have invariably done well from the beginning.
Among these may be cited Baron von Thyul, both the blue
and white varieties ; Anna Maria, Goethe, Charles Dickens,
Penelope. The White Roman multiply with wonderful rapidity ;
the red-bulb variety is very hardy, and the flowers stand
almost any cold that may occur in our winter ; they are fre-
quently in bloom in December.

To show how our climate and the soil on my place are suited
to Hyacinths I mention the fact that a long time ago I had a
row of the primitive type of Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)
with racemes of sparse blue flowers, near which were a tew of
the pink variety. They both bore seeds, some of which were
washed into a liedge of Osage-orange a hundred yards distant,
where, to my surprise and gratification, I discovered, several
years afterward, a large number of Hyacinths in bloom, all
showing remarkable improvements over their progenitors. The
scape was taller, the truss more dense, the individual flower of
a better substance and size, the colors ranging from very dark
purple to the palest blue, and from bright red to pinkish white.
Two plants had double (lowers, one pink and the other blush.
It was remarkable that no specimen was like either of the
originators, every one being an improvement.

In cultivating I manure heavily with well-rotted cow-manure,
spade thoroughly, plant the bulbs in October six inches apart
and about six inches deep, and lift the bulbs as soon as they
are dry. I have sometimes left them two years without dis-
turbing them, but I think it is better to lift them every year.
Tulips I have not grown as extensively as Hyacinths, but they
seem to do equally well.

The genus Narcissus seems to be at home in Texas. The
hardiest of all is the large-flowering Jonquil, Narcissus odorus.
This grows freely and invariably bears an immense crop of
flowers that ordinarily appearin February, and which stand well
through any late frost. The true Jonquil (N. Jonquilla) blooms
a little later and is equally satisfactory. Then comes the whole
family of Polyanthus ; unfortunately, these flowers are some-
what tender and are sometimes cut down by late frost, making
it advisable to use cold frames for them. Two years ago I
received a collection of the principal varieties of Narcissus,
and mO't of them have behaved extremely well. Emperor,
Ard Righ, Sir Watkins, Trumpet Major, Giant Princeps, Stella
and several others have bloomed beautifully, and I have no
doubt of their continued success here.

As a rule all the early-blooming varieties give entire satis-
faction here ; the late varieties, as N. poeticus andN. biflorus,
do not bloom as well, and should be planted in the shade. N.
poeticus ornatus is much more desirable than the old type.
What I have said about the cultivation of Hyacinths applies to
the cultivation of Narcissus, with the exception that Narcissus
may be left undisturbed for several years. They multiply very
fast, and have, with me, shown no signs of disease.

The common Snowflake (Leucojum vernum) is doing as
well as the Narcissi, under the same treatment.

The Snowdrop and several bulbous Irises that I have tried
have succeeded only moderately, and Crocuses have proved a
flat failure ; they are likely to bloom the first year, but after
that no more is seen of them. Other bulbous plants, as the
Musk, the Grape and Feather Hyacinths, are perfectly natural-
ized on my place. So also is Scilla nutans. Another plant
that I cannot praise too much is Triteleia uniflora. It gives an
abundance of flowers early in the spring and multiplies so fast
that it is nearly impossible to eradicate it when it is once
planted. As a pot-plant it is unsurpassed ; four or five bulbs
planted in a six-inch pot will give an abundance of flowers
during the winter if it is kept in a warm place. The only defect
of that plant is the garlic odor it emits if it is bruised.

Dallas, Texas. JuHen Reverchoit.

Notes from West Virginia.

THE first Roses to appear here were the Cinnamon Roses
and the Scotch Briers, close after which bloomed Rosa ru-
gosa, which one can hardly praise too highly for its effec-
tiveness as a shrub all the season through. They were not
injured in the least by the severe cold of the winter which cut
down all our tender varieties to the ground. Madame George
Bruant, which has Rugosa blood in it, escaped unharmed, and
it has been covered with large and fragrant blossoms. Late in
May, Elaeagnus umbellatus, which we long mistook for E. lon-
gipes, began to open its small very fragrant flowers, which

were freely borne along the branches. These are cream-white
when they first appear, fading to dull yellow before they fall.
I was very much put out with this shrub because it did not be-
have as E. longipes was said to do in regard to its bearing of
fruit, but, nevertheless, I find it a most interesting plant, and
its fruit, which ripens in October after the frosts and hangs
upon the trees as late as Christmas, is to me delightful.

Pasonies still continue to dazzle our eyes with their bright
colors. I had been told that these plants resented any disturb-
ance of their roots, and that they would not flower the year
they were removed. I am glad to be able to make a denial of
this statement. I prepared a bed to hold a dozen varieties in
April, and bought the plants for it in Washington ; they came
with splendid roots, and they have all flowered well this year.

No one who has a place for a small tree or a large shrub
should be without the White Fringe-tree, which went out of
bloom here a week ago. When in flower it seems to be cov-
ered with a bridal-veil of the airiest texture, so exquisite is the
delicacy of the white blossoms. Other shrubs are coming
into bloom so fast that there is no room for a catalogue of all
the Mock Oranges, Deutzias, Dogwoods, Corchoruses and
Lilacs, but I must say a wordforSyringa villosa, which blooms
after the garden forms of S. vulgaris are all gone. The
odor of its flowers is not pleasant to some persons, and they
would be more striking if the lilac color was not so pale, and
yet this strong-growing shrub, with a thyrsus at the end of
every branchlet, makes a very brave show, and ought to find
its way very generally into gardens. . r^

Rose Brake, w. Va. Daiiske Dandridge.

Notes on Mexican Travel. — VI.

IN MICHOACAN.

'T'O me Michoacan is one of the most interesting and beauti-
-•■ ful of all the Mexican states. It is a region of lovely lakes,
of rich tilled valleys and of heavily timbered mountains. From
the valley of the Lerma, in the heartof thecontinent, itspreads
over the southern Cordilleras and extends down to the Pacific
coast. No tour of Mexico is complete without a trip into
Michoacan by a branch of the Mexican National. Leaving the
main line at Acambaro, on the alluvial banks of the Lerma, we
pass for a dozen miles over undulating hills devoted to graz-
ing. Here and there among the grassy glades are outcrops of
rugged rock covered with shrubby growths. Scattered over
the glades are small trees of Acacia pennatula, with low flat
heads, which in May are yellow with fragrant flowers. More
noticeable than this is a Morning-glory-tree (Ipomoea muri-
cata). It has smooth yellowish bark, and all through the win-
ter months puts out large white flowers.

From these hills we descend into the basin of Lake Cuitzeo,
passing at the foot of the hills a typical hacienda, the grand
residence of the proprietor, with accompanying chapel and
granaries, being surrounded by a village of humble houses,
the homes of the hacienda laborers, each in its little walled-in
garden-plat amid fruits, vegetables and flowers. Cuitzeo is a
saline lake without outlet, and we come to it over broad salt-
marshes, the soil and even the salt-grass partially covering it
being whitened. We observe with curious interest the primi-
tive salt-works here. The soil is leached in V-shaped recepta-
cles, and the brine is evaporated in shallow troughs hewn
from pine-logs, which are placed in the sun and covered on
the approach of rain with rifts of pine. We are told the story
of a ruin near by. Years ago a Frenchman set out to make
salt here by improved methods. He began putting up a large
stone building for his furnaces. The natives worked for him
till it was near completion ; then, fearing that their occupation
would be gone if he was allowed to go on, they murdered him,
and returned to their leaches and troughs. His tall chimney-
shaft of white rock still stands as his monument. Let it, also,
tell how the ignorant peon class of thecountry is a dead-weight
to hinder its progress.

For fifteen miles our course runs along the shore of this
lake, now over salt-marshes, now hugging rocky bluffs. From
whatever point we look out over it, Cuitzeo is a beautiful ex-
panse of blue water, indented by wooded headlands and dotted
by wooded or grassy islands. We pass warm springs on its
shore, broad limpid pools, over which Indian women bend at
their washing, while tawny-skinned children tumble and
splash amon^ the Lily-pads. A mile south of the station of
Querendaro, in a boggy meadow beside the track, are numer-
ous springs so hot that we can see columns of steam arising
from them at midday in August. We can hardly touch a fin-
ger to the water, for they boil up like a pot, coming from
black depths in the soil, and flowing away toward the lake.
On my last visit to these springs I found a steer fallen into one
of them and boiled whole there.

264

Garden and Forest.

[Number .278.

Under ledges on this shore is tlie habitat of the beautiful
nialvaceous shrub, Malvaviscus acerifolius, which I have
noticed in ihe central plaza of Mexico. Its flowers are creamy
white, and are three inches long and wide. Here the plant
grows in large clumps fifteen feet high. The uncleared belt
between the shore and the hills is occupied by Pepper-trees,
Scliinus moUe, venerable Mesquites, and, larger than either of
these, grotesque forms of Ehretia Mexicana, Watson.

The friendly agent at Querendaro told me a curious thing
about Lake Ciiitzeo, that there are but two or three places in
all its extent where its depth exceeds a few feet. We see In-
dian fishermen wading through it at a long distance from shore
and drawing after tliem by a Tine their canoes, into which they
turn from circular nets, six feet broad, shining fishes but two
or three inches long. After being dried entire in the sun and
packed in great sacks of matting, this fish is shipped by the
car-load to the markets of the large cities. Another occupa-
tion of these Indians is the gathering of reeds and flags from the
water, drying them in the sun and weaving mats from them.
These are the mats which, spread on the bare earth or harder
tiles, form the only beds of one-half the Mexican population.

From Lake Cuitzeo, winding over hill-side grades, gliding
through secluded valleys, among corn-fields or by slow
streams, in whose waters huge Cypress-trees stand, passing
an occasional grand hacienda, cool with its wliite walls and
shady colonnades, we come to Morelia, the capital of the state.
Every one is charmed with Morelia. It occupies a command-
ing situation, is a compactly built city and shows many impos-
ing structures and several magnificent parks and gardens. One
garden, founded by a late governor, is filled, not with ex-
otics, but with the most interesting plants native to the stale.
The idea is unique, and perfect success having been attained
in the management of the plants, the garden presents a beau-
tiful appearance and offers a delightful study.

We leave Morelia for Palzcuaro, at the end of the line, soon
entering a volcanic region. We pass two or three stations,
which are shipping-points for the lumber brought down from
neighboring mountains. There is both sawed lumber and
railroad-ties of pine and oak, which have been hewn by In-
dians in the forests. As we near the sharp Pine-clad peaks
standing around Patzcuaro there comes into view on our right
another lake almost as large, and even more charming than
Cuitzeo. Its outline is irregular in the extreme, and island hills
arise from its surface. Fertile cultivated slopes, with numerous
villages upon them, come down to its shores. Beyond the
cleared fields are heavy forests of Oak and Pine reaching to
the mountain-summits which surround it. Lake Patzcuaro
lies nearly 7,000 feet above sea-level, and the mountain-tops
which meet the sky-line beyond it are the continental divide.
On the other side the descent to the hot lands is rapid ; a ride
of forty miles would bring us into Cane-fields, Banana-planta-
tions and Orange-groves. Over this southern rim of the table-
lands the precipitation of rain is excessive. To this fact is due
the fine forest-growths abounding here. Although this lake
has no visible outlet, its waters are fresh. This region has
been inhabited from prehistoric times by the Tarascan tribe of
Indians, whom the Aztecs never conquered. On the waters of
the lake still swarm their log canoes, as they fish or take to
market the product of their toil. They live in villages chiefly,
and are an industrious and thrifty people.

By the lake is a steam saw-mill, to which the logs are
brought in rafts and barges from the farther end, above which
are the more extensive forests. There tlie Montezuma Pine
grows to large size, and Quercus reticulata, the Mexican White
Oak, attains the fullest development ever seen by nie, a trunk
diameter of three feet and k heigfht of eighty. It is the timber
of this species which is most prized as being the most lasting
for railroad-ties and the best adapted to wheelwright work.

The railroad ends by the lake, and Patzcuaro station is the
shipping-point for a broad region lying to the south. Hither
come daily long trains of pack-mules, laden with sugar, rice,
coffee and fruits. The town is situated among hills a mile or
more above the stafion. It is the quaintest and strangest town
as yet seen by me in Mexico. Great Ashes and Willows make
dim its squares. Grass grows between the rough stones which

Eave its streets. Its red-tiled roofs are covered with moss and
chen. Ferns root among the chiseled ornaments of house
and church walls. Rows of weeds stand on the top of the
adobe-walls enclosing garden and court. Its buildings tell of
age and decadence. In its streets there is seldom heard the
sound of a wagon-wheel. The dons ride out in silver-mounted
saddles, with fine trappings. My lady makes her calls on foot,
and goes down to the station in her saddle or her sedan-chair.
The Patzcuaro country is a volcanic region. Its soil shows
the red lava stain. In the top of every hill and mountain we

find one or more craters, deep, sheltered preserves for plants,
wild animals and birds. Just back of the town a tract of lava
beds begins, which reaches fifty mile.s or more to the south, to
the volcano of Jorullo. It is the wildest sort of a district,
and is almost impassable, even on foot, rocky knobs and ridges
alternating with rock-bound hollows and pits in utter confu-
sion. Here is a field worthy of any botanist, where strange
plants lurk in nooks to surprise him, and where old Oaks are
hung with Ferns and Orchids galore.

But how can I attempt to tell of all the plants gathered, or
new species brought to light in the Patzcuaro country on visits
made during three seasons ; or how put in words all the
memories that crowd upon me as I write — memories of de-
lights experienced in those fields through warm, golden au-
tumn days, after the rainy season had passed, and when the
mountain-sides were gay with flowers and dironged with hum-
ming-birds quite down to the end of the year ?

Charlotte, Vt. C. G. Prittgle.

New or Little-known Plants.

Syringa pubescens.

A FIGURE of a flowering branch of Syringa pubescens
appeared in the first volume of this journal (page
415). This is a north China species, with remarkably long-
tubed flowers, and has proved such a valuable plant in our
northern climate that another illustration, showing the habit
of the shrub and its appearance when in bloom, is pub-
lished on page 266 of the present issue.

Few shrubs produce such a mass of flowers as this Chi-
nese Lilac ; the habit of the plant is excellent ; the leaves
are small, of a good color, and are not injured by mildew
or other diseases. It flowers profusely every year ; the
flowers, which are rose-color on first opening, become
nearly white before fading and surpass those of any other
Lilac in the delicacy of their delightful fragrance. Of its
hardiness there can be no question ; and its moderate size,
as Syringa pubescens probably will not grow here more
than six or eight feet high, makes it a good plant for small
gardens. It flowers with the early-flowering varieties of
Syringa vulgaris, immediately after Syringa oblata, which
is another north China species, and the earliest of all Lilacs
to bloom.

Syringa pubescens, which was brought into our gardens
through the Arnold Arboretum, where it was raised from
seed sent from Pekin, is certainly one of the best, if not
the best, hardy shrub introduced into cultivation during
the last twenty years.

Our illustration is from a photograph made by Mr. James
M. Codman, in a garden in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Azaleo-dendrons.

IN a recent issue of the Gardeners' Chronicle there is a fig-
ure of a representative of a new race of hybrids which
are not only exceedingly interesting, but promise to become
valuable garden-plants. They have been produced by cross-
ing Rhododendron (Azalea) Sinensis or mollis and one of
the true broad-leaved evergreen garden Rhododendrons of
Catawbiense blood. To this new race the name of Azaleo-
dendron has been given. Half a dozen of these hybrids,
raised in Belgium by Mr. Van der Meluen, of Ghent, are
now in commerce.

Azaleo-dendron Komte de Kerchove, the variety figured
by our contemporary, is described as " a shrub with the
habit of Azalea mollis, the leaves persistent, or nearly so,
intermediate in texture and form between those of the
parents ; flowers produced with the leaves, palish yellow,
flushed with rose, and arranged in a loose terminal many-
flowered inflorescence. The central portion of the medium
lobe of the corolla, and, to a slight extent, that of the lateral
ones, is marked with numerous densely arranged spots of
a reddish chocolate-color, gradually passing into olive and
pale green." Azalea Sinensis was used as the pollen parent
in producing this race with a number of Rhododendrons,
such as Prince Camille de Rohan and Leopard, and, per-
haps, John Waterer and Bylsianum.

June 21, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

265

The production of hybrids between Azaleas and Rhodo-
dendrons is not new. In 1837, Dean Herbert, in his his-
tory of the Amaryllis family, describes on page 356 a
Rhododendron azaleoides obtained by the accidental fer-
tilization of an Azalea by the pollen of Rhododendron Ponti-
cum. According to our contemporary, a cross raised by
Mr. Smith, a nurseryman of Norbiton, from Rhododendron
Ponticum, fertilized with the pollen of Azalea Sinensis, was
exhibited at Ghent as long ago as 1839. Seedlings of this
cross were once well known in England as the Norbiton
Hybrids, and one of them was figured in Paxtoris Maga-
zine of Botany in 1842. This was an evergreen shrub with
wrinkled leaves and with large clusters of terminal flowers
shaded and spotted with light brown. From time to time
other hybrids have appeared in European gardens raised
by crossing Rhododendrons and Azaleas. Such hybrids,
apart from their ornamental value, which is likely to be
considerable if a race of hardy evergreen yellow-flowered
Rhododendrons can be obtained, are interesting as show-
ing that the view of modern systematic botanists who unite
Azalea and Rhododendron in one genus is the correct one.

Cultural Department.

Caraganas or Siberian Pea-trees.

THIS group of shrubs, belonging to the LeguminosEe or Pea
family, possesses a good deal of interest to every one
who cultivates woody plants. The several species in cul-
tivation are so varied in form and habit that they present very
different aspects, and, to the casual observer, do not always
show their close relationships. Most of those known are per-
fectly hardy in this latitude, and will endure the winters with-
out injury in localities where the cold is much greater. Indeed,
they should be hardy, for they are largely natives of Russia
and Siberia, the hardy species extending southward through
such countries as Turkestan and to the mountains which form
the northern boundaries of India. All have small pinnate
leaves, and the characteristic color of the flowers is yellow, or
in some species more or less reddish. Although some of
them have been long in cultivation in the Old World, they are
comparatively rare in American gardens. All are very easily
propagated by seeds or grafts, and are also sometimes in-
creased by layers or root-cuttings. They will grow in almost
any garden soil and will thrive in many poor sandy tracts.

The largest, most robust, and in many respects the most de-
sirable species is Caragana arborescens. This will bloom well
when only two or three feet high, but with room to develop it
will assume a small tree-like form and attain a height from ten
to twenty feet. Sometimes several of its smooth-barked, red-
dish brown stems grow from the base instead of a single trunk.
There are usually six or seven pair of small, oval or obovate,
mucronate, light green leaflets to each leaf on the strong new
growths, but fewer leaflets on the flowering branches. The
bright yellow Laburnum-like blossoms are produced in abun-
dance on individual short stalks, and in this latitude they
usually begin to open about the middle of May. While they
suggest Laburnum-blossoms, they lack the showiness and
grace of those flowers, which are aggregated on long leafless
racemes. This Caragana, however, is quite out of bloom be-
fore Laburnum-blossoms appear, and as yellow-flowering
shrubs at this season are not common, it has a peculiar value.
Moreover, it will grow in climates and situations too severe
for the Laburnum, which is not sucli a strong and enduring
plant. The small fruits, resembling pea-pods, mature about
the middle of July. Soon afterward, on dry warm days, the
pods open with a sharp audible snap, and the' seeds are often
scattered for many feet around. With slight encouragement
they soon germinate and form young plants the same season.
There is a weeping or pendulous form of this species, which
is odd-looking when grafted on a tall stem.

We have growing in the Arboretum several so-called varie-
ties of C. arborescens, but they are probably forms of another
species known as Caragana Altagana. This is a smaller, more
slender shrub, with more numerous but much smaller leaflets,
usually not over a quarter of an inch in length, and it is fur-
ther characterized by producing its flowers mostly singly from
each group of buds instead of a number of flowers in a sort
of cluster, as in C. arborescens. It is not such a showy, and,
therefore, not such a desirable shrub for general cultivation.
It blossoms later than C. arborescens, however, and has a
value in keeping up the succession of bloom. Among tlie

plants which seem more nearly allied to this are specimens
received under the names of the Sand Caragana, or C. arbo-
rescens arenaria and C. microphylla. '

Caragana frutescens is a distinct species of slender habit, and
having two pair of small obovate wedge-shaped leaflets
crowded at the apex of each short leaf-stalk. Usually one, and
not more than two, flowers are produced from each bud.
They are small, little over half an inch long, of a deep yellow
color, and with the terminal end of the standard resupinate, or
well turned up and backward. As it grows here it does not
appear to be such a profuse bloomer as C. arborescens. It is
a much smaller and more slender plant, with darker green
foliage, which better sets off its blossoms.

Caragana grandiflora seems {o be a distinct species, having
four large dark green leaflets at the tip of each leaf-stalk and
with much larger flowers and stronger habit thanC. frutescens.
If the blossoms were produced in greater abundance it would
be the handsomest of all the species which are hardy here.
So far the solitary pediceled flowers seem somewhat scattered
as they appear in this vicinity.

Caragana Chamlagu, a Chinese species, having large flow-
ers, fully an inch long, of a yellow color, changing to reddish
after full expansion, is an interesting plant, although it has not
proved so vigorous or hardy here as most others. Its leaves
are composed of four large shiny leaflets on spiny-pointed
leaf-stalks. The branches assume a drooping habit as they
grow old.

Another drooping and very slender-branched species is C.
pygmasa, which is someflmes grafted on tall stems of C. arbo-
rescens for the drooping effect. On its own roots it is not
likely to grow more than two or three feet high. Its leaflets
are linear-obovate in shape and crowded in fours at the base
of very short spiny-tipped petioles. The very small foliage
allows full exposure for the bright yellow flowers, which are
of good size ijut not very abundant. It blossoms in the season
of the Laburnum.

It is characteristic of Caraganas that they bear a pairof more
or less developed spiny stipules at the base of each leaf-stalk,
and the tip of each leaf-stalk or rhacis ends in, a sharp spine. In
some species these leaf-stalks fall with the leaflets, but in others
they persist for a year or more longer and give the plants
quite a formidable appearance. They persist on C. frutescens,
but are not conspicuous, and they also remain on C. Cham-
lagu. On C. spinosa, however, they are from an inch to an
inch and a halt long, slender and needle-like, fairly woody and
rigid, and capable of inflicting ugly pricks and deterring small
animals from passing among them. The branches of C.
spinosa are long and numerous, and interwoven they form an
impenetrable low hedge. The plant will grow four or fivefeet
high under cultivation. Its small leaves and buds are covered
with short soft gray pubescence, which gives the whole plant
a hoary or grayish aspect. The flowers are large, yellow
and solitary. While it does not appear to be a profuse bloomer,
the plant is worth cultivating, on account of its curious appear-
ance, in every garden where vegetable oddities are desired ;
and there are many situations where its value as a low hedge
would seem obvious. It is likely to grow on dry or sandy
soils where some other hedge-plants would be a failure.

Arnold Arboretum. J , G, Jack,

Some California Raisin Grapes.

T EADING California growers are experimenting with seed-
-•--' ling Raisin Grapes, and, although they vary greatly, some
seedlings of promise are already beginning to bear. A larger
seedless Grape is desirable and is quite likely to be obtained.
There are now two types of the Muscat Grape grown for
raisins in California. The type preferred in southern Califor-
nia is the true Muscat of Alexandria ; this is the variety
most esteemed for this purpose in Valencia and Smyrna. The
large, firm berry is egg-shaped, smaller at the stem-end, and
when cured and packed this Muscat looks a little smaller than
Muscatels of the same grade. The Muscatel, or Gordo bianco
Grape, while similar in general appearance to the Muscat of
Alexandria, is distinct in habit of growth, style of cluster and
form of fruit. The vine spreads, but more evenly, without
the upright cane so often seen in the Muscat ; the clusters are
more compact and the berry is rounder, being a short oval.
This is more nearly the type of the best raisin grapes of the
Malaga district, and is the favorite raisin grape of the San Joa-
quin valley. A third type of the Muscat class, though not yet
grown to any extent, is the Huasco, of Chili. This is said to
be a seedling of the Muscat of Alexandria, and produces, in
its native country, a very fine and high-priced raisin. As tried
in California it does not maintain its local reputation. Vines
have been sent to distinguished ampelograpliers of Europe,

266

Garden and Forest.

[Number 278.

who are incliaeJ to doubt tlie distinctness of the Huasco, but
all authorities agree respecting the unique excellence of the
Huasco raisin. There is, therefore, a wide field for investiga-
tion here.

The White Malaga makes a raisin of fair quality that ships
better in bulk than the Muscat raisins ; being gathered at one
crop it is preferred by growers in districts subject to early

bears enormous crops. The round and seedless berries are
an amber-yellow when ripe, with perhaps a brownish tinge in
the sun. The yield of grapes has been sixteen tons to the
acre, in suitable localties. The raisin made from this grape is
slightly, but agreeably, acid. It needs long, warm summers
to ripen well.
Another group of seedless grapes, the true Currant Grape

^'X' 39-— Syringa pubescens in a

rains. Still more interesting, because only recently used as a
raisin grape, is the Feher Szagos, a large greenish amber
Sherry-wine grape of Hungary. This notable " White Jack,"
which the name means, has been grown for thirty years or
more in California, but only recently as a raisin grape.

Seedless Sultana represents a very different class from the
preceding varieties. It must be pruned long, and then

Massachusetts^garden. — See page 264.

type, comes, like the Sultana, from the Grecian isles and the
shores of Asia Minor. The Black Currant Grape has small berries,
black and seedless, and a peculiar, rich aroma. The white and
the red varieties, tliough desirable and free bearers, are less
valuable for currants. The black variety has not yet been
planted to any great extent in California, as the proper locality
for it has not yet been discovered.

June 21, 1893. |

Garden and Forest,

267

Thompson's Seedless Grape is one of the most popular of
all the raisin varieties and presents an interesting problem to
the horticulturist. It is not known whether it is a new variety
or not. It appeared in a vineyard near Yuba City, Sutter
County, and was extensively propajjated as a seedling. Upon
investigation, a horticultural committee reported that the par-
ent vine was thought to have come in a shipment received
from EUwanger & Barry, of Rochester, in 1872. The name
given was Lady de Coverly, and the Grape was said to be
of Turkish origin. Messrs. EUwanger & Barry stated, upon
inquiry, that no such Grape was in their catalogue, nor had
been grown by them. I have examined Count di Rovasenda's
great book on Ampelography (1887 edition), also Monsieur
Pulliat's works, and cannot find any such name or synonym,
nor any Grape that corresponds to the Thompson Seedless.
Like the California Zinfandel, and the old Grape of the Spanish
Missions, Thompson's Seedless appears to be unknown in
Europe. Perhaps as our importations of Grapes from Asia
Minor continue we shall find the original of it. Mr. Eisen,
in his book on The Raisin Industry, suggests Damascus as
the probable home of the type.

This grape is perfectly seedless, and very popular for culi-
nary purposes. It is larger than the Seedless Sultana, and the
raisins it produces are of better quality and sweeter. One
pound of raisins is usually made from 3.27 pounds of ripe
grapes. The oval, greenish yellow berries are produced in
enormous clusters that fairly cover the canes. Long pruning
is essential. This variety, now more largely planted than any
other sort, was poor for years under the ordinary short pruning
given to Muscats and Malagas. Mr. J. P. Onstott, of Yuba
City, lately reported the yield of groups of vines of this variety
in his vineyard. In 1888, nine vines averaged eighty-nine
pounds apiece ; the same vines, pruned short, yielded
thirty pounds a piece. Five vines in 1891 produced 516
pounds. Six two-year-old vines, still in nursery-rows, standing
eight feet apart each way, produced an average of forty and a
half pounds apiece. One vine yielded fifty pounds in 1885,
sixty-eight pounds in 1886, seventy pounds in 1887, and 109
pounds in 1888. Then it was pruned short, and the yield of
1889 was only fifteen pounds. The next year, 1890, it was still
suftering, and without bearing wood, and only bore twenty-
four pounds. In 1891, being fully recovered, the crop of this
vine was 147 pounds. It should be noted that all the vines
tested stood in a vineyard, and were eight feet apart each way.

As I have said, this new Grape of unknown parentage pre-
sents many valuable features, and is planted largely both for
raisins and table use. The fact that a change in the method
of pruning caused its good qualities to be recognized, seems
to me worthy of especial note. Practically speaking, the va-
riety was picked up in a long-neglected vineyard, and has be-
come famous under the treatment of an intelligent vigneron.

Berkeley. Cai. CharUs Howard Shinn.

Notes from Baden-Baden.

I RIS TECTORUM, Maxim., and I. tomiolopha, Hance, are
*■ synonyms, but the latter has larger and deeper-colored
flowers. I. Cypriana is a highly developed form of I. pallida ;
its very large sweetly scented flowers are pale sky-blue and
very attractive. I. maridensis, also, is a beautiful species,
much like the former, but having a tinge of purple and being
strongly veined. I. Germanica macrantha, lately introduced
by me, is the largest Iris under cultivation ; harmonious shades
of bright blue and deep violet in its flowers make it a striking
subject. It came from Persia with I. Meda, which has charm-
ing bronzy yellow flowers. I. bosniacae is another splendid
novelty ; it flowers very early, and the large deep sulphur-
colored blooms are very showy.

Incarvillea Delavayi, an introduction of the Museum Garden
at Paris from the Chinese Himalayas, isaplantof great beauty ;
pinnate, stout, deep green leaves, about a foot in height, are
overtopped by a strong stalk with five or six large, Bignonia-
like, deep bright purplish rose flowers. Sobolewskya clavata
is a hardy Crucifer, having small pure white flowers on much-
branched stems about two feet high ; the quantity of flowers,
produced in greatest freedom at once and during four weeks,
gives to this the stamp of a very desirable perennial. Acci-
dentally a white variety of Linaria cymbalaria has appeared, and
looks very pretty and distinct. Monarda discedens is another
novelty, which, though not very showy, will find, nevertheless,
manyadmirers; its bells are pure white. The hardy Tropjeolum
Leichtlinii shows long wreaths of glaucous gray foliage, inter-
spersed with hundreds of large orange-yellow flowers. Verbas-
cum pannosum from south Bulgaria, introduced last year,

stood the severe weather of the past winter and is a very decora-
tive plant. Its thick, very large leaves, covered with a silvery
white tomentum, produce a large spike of sulphur-yellow
flowers. Planted singly on a lawn it is very effective. Among
my latest introductions, Tchichatscheffia isatidea takes fore-
most rank. The plant is a native of Asia Minor and has been
named by Boissier in honor of the celebrated Russian natural-
ist and exploring traveler. From a tuft of hairy spathulate
dark green leaves arises a stalk as thick as a man's finger,
carrying a thyrsus composed of thousands of flowers which is a
foot across. It appears as if a bunch of bright-colored Syringa
flowers had been inarched on a herbaceous plant. It is m
beauty for four weeks and has a vanilla fragrance. It must be
classed as one of the most distinct, remarkable and beautiful
of rock plants.

Baden-Baden. Max LeichtHtl.

Plants hardy in Vermont.

A N ordinary winter in Vermont is sufficiently severe to test
■t*- the hardiness of plants, but the winter of 1892-93 was in
this section of the state exceptionally trying, and any species
that could survive such severe frost may well be considered
perfectly hardy. The heavy snow-storms which usually pre-
cede our coldest weather did not reach this section until the
ground had frozen in many places four feet deep. What in
ordinary winters would be ample protection from frost, was of
little use in these unusual conditions.

I was surprised to see so few of the California bulbs injured.
Lilium Parryi came up in fine condition, and Fritillaria pudica
and F. atropurpurea are both strong and healthy. Indeed, I
never saw finer flowers nor larger and fuller capsules of seed
on F. pudica than this year. F. liliacinaand F. biflora, though
not so strong as the others, are domg well, while close at hand,
with the same treatment, F. lanceolata was killed. Erythro-
nium grandiflorum and E. Smithii have never flowered better.
They have now full capsules of seed such as I have never be-
fore seen on them in this state.

Zygadenus paniculatus and Camassia esculenta have flow-
ered freely. Brodiaea capitata, B. grandiflora and B. ixioides
are budded for bloom ; also B. laxa and B. multiflora. Ipomoea
pandurata and I. Mexicana, two perennial Morning-glories
growing near each other, were covered with three inches of
hay during the winter. I. pandurata came through without
injury, but I. Mexicana was killed. A fine clump of Montbretia
crocosmiaeflora was planted deep and protected with special
care, but was entirely killed. Quite a number of Lilies with
but slight covering appear not to have been injured at all.

Among the first bulbs to flower were Fritillaria pudica and
F. atropurpurea. Both are well worth growing, but the nodding
golden-yellow flower of F. pudica is the prettier. Erythronium
grandiflorum and its variety, Smithii, Adder Tongues, or
Dog's-tooth Violets, from California, are early bloomers. We
have a fine variety of color in the several American species of
Erythroniums, counting in those from the Pacific coast, and
our more common eastern E. Americanum. The white-flow-
ered E. albidum, from the western states, is more difficult to
grow satisfactorily, because of its tendency in cultivation ta
divide up. In a bed of five hundred, set out several years ago,
only a few flowers were ever produced, yet the plants seem to
have increased, and are as strong as ever, except that they do
not bloom. There is a Texas variety known as Coloratum,
which is quite hardy, a free bloomer, and, unlike the typical
plant, not inclined to exhaust itself by offsets. These various
species of American Dog's-tooth Violets deserve more atten-
tion from cultivators. They seem to be fairly hardy and require
little care when planted at the proper time — in August and
September — and they bloom early, at the time when flowers
are most appreciated.

Charlotte, vt. F. H. Horsford.

Plants in Flower.

T N the hot sunny days the Spanish Irises have quickly faded,
•*• but, as usual, the first of the English Irises follow in close
succession, and with another form of beauty will bridge the
season till the Japanese forms show their quaint markings. In
the mean time there are other more or less well-known kinds
now in flower. I. orientalis of Miller, or I. ochroleuca, as gen-
erally known, is one of the most distinct, stately and beautiful
of the genus. The sword-shaped leaves are about an inch
broad and three feet high. The flowers are large, with rather
narrow petals of the purest white, with yellow marking^. This
Iris seems to appreciate a fair supply of moisture at the roots.
An Iris which I grow as I. gigantea belongs to the same group.

268

Garden and Forest.

[Number 278.

and has slaty white flowers, not nearly so effective, while the
habit is the same. I. Monnieri is a fine yellow form of the
same group, which is a good companion to I. ochroleuca. I.
Caroliniana, now in flower, is a favorite for its distinctness. It
has very light purple flowers, veined on the falls with white
and yellow markings and brown stems. The leaves are sword-
shaped and somewhat large. I. cuprea deserves mention for
its quaintly colored dull coppery flowers. I. pseudo-acorus
and several of the Spuria group are also in flower, but call for
no remark.

Mr. Cameron's note on the culture of the beautiful little I.
cristata interested me, as it grows with me under exactly oppo-
site conditions from those noted by him. In a raised dry bor-
der of sandy loam, fully exposed to the sun, it thrives perfectly.
It has been there three seasons, I believe. It is evidently a
plant of an accommodating habit, but with a neighbor of mine
it fails continually in a sandy loam. At the same place, I.
verna, a plant which constantly disappears with me, grows
like a weed.

The Brodiaeas are at present very attractive. B. coccinea,
the quaintest, has dark red tubular flowers, tipped with green,
in clusters. B. laxa is the showiest of the purple kinds, with um-
bels of upright bell-shaped flowers, somewhat Agapanthus-like
in effect. On B. congesta the flowers are borne closely. B. Minor
is a gem ; unlike the other species, which have stems over a
foot long, the plant carries its deep bright star-like purple
flowers only a few inches high. B. lactea has large umbels of
pure white flowers, with green bands. The flowers have short
petals and are somewhat cup-shaped. The first leaves of this
plant are twice the width of the later ones. These bulbs have
wintered without protection in a moist, heavy border without
losses.

There are few prettier hardy plants in foliage and flower
than the Pyrethrums, or the colored Daisies, as they are aptly
termed. The finely-cut foliage looks delicate, but the plants
are perfectly hardy. A packet of seed will usually give one a
good assortment of colors, ranging from the faintest pink to a
bright carmine. Some of them show the disagreeable bluish
red, but these can be discarded. I prefer the single ones about
the size of the Daisy, as most useful for cutting. The Ane-
mone-like double forms ornament the border and are striking
flowers in a way, but are rather formal for bouquets. This
reminds me that Galium aristatum is now in flower. This is
the earliest of the fine mist-like flowers, so indispensable for
floral arrangements. The plant is of a rather weedy habit, but
furnishes a great amount of useful sprays to arrange with
bolder flowers. .^ », ^

Eiixabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Correspondence.
The Wild Garden.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — This is the season for replenishing the wild garden.
Only a few plants can be transplanted safely during the [lower-
ing season, which comes in April or May for most of the desira-
ble species, and after midsummer many of them, especially the
bulbous species, have disappeared for the year. It is very
interesting to gather a large sod or ball of soil with a plant,
for that not orny insures its safe removal, but there is prospect
of securing something else along with it. I have obtained sev-
eral prizes in that way, among them Monarda didyma (Bee
Balm) and Thalictrum Cornuti (Meadow Rue).

Wild plants may be cultivated or not, as a rule, just as one
chooses. They must be looked after, if they have been gath-
ered without previous knowledge of their habits, for some will
turn out to be rampant growers and destroy the others. The
large leaves of the Bloodroot, the running habits of some
Asters and Lysimachias, or the spreading in a mass of Phlox
subulata are examples. Wild plants that have taken to the
woods have not always done so from choice. They are merely
such as will not thrive in sod, or are unable to make headway
against it. Phlox subulata remains in the open, for it forms
its own sod and holds its ground, while Phlox divaricata hardly
forms a sod and is found in open woods. Flowering late in
spring, it cannot endure heavy shade, and is thus restricted to
groves.

I find this delicate Phlox, and also the Monardas, both M.
didyma and the less striking M. fistulosa, far from hardy in the
wild garden. They winter-kill in spite of every care. The
old favorite, Aquilegia Canadensis, or wild Red Honeysuckle,
as it is improperly called, often degenerates in cultivation, and
there are not a few perennial plants of especial desirability that
appear to depend largely on seed for perpetuation. For this

reason it is quite desirable to preserve the natural surround-
ings of wild plants, and these are not shade so much as ab-
sence of sod. If the soil is light, to begin with, all they will
need is a mulch of leaves sufficient to keep down grass. A
spreading tree adds to the desirability of the location, as the
late-flowering sorts can be planted on the south side of the
plot.

There are many pleasant surprises in the gathering of plants
for a wild garden, which should be carried on every year. In
searching for specimens every plant that piques the curiosity
should be taken, if size permits. In my experience, a tuft of
light green leaves developed into Teasels, whose seedling ap-
pearance I had forgotten, and the graceful Thalictrum dioicum
was secured unnoticed. The numerous species of Violets,
from the minute, white, fragrant V. blanda to the stemmed
species, should be gathered entire.

In reading articles that undertake to enumerate plants desir-
ablefora wild garden, one is alwaysdisappointedthatsofeware
mentioned and .so many favorites are left out. It is, therefore,
best to take the rational as well as educational plan of choos-
ing all accessible plants that appear available, whether they
are known or not. The process of becoming acquainted will
be very valuable. We really know little of the possibilities or
limitations of a speciestill we hav€ it under daily observation.
The Trilliums, for instance, multiply rapidly in semi-cultiva-
tion, but the Daisy with me is no longer a rampant weed, as
its flowers are fairly devoured by an insect resembling the
pea bug.
Buffalo, N. Y. John Chamberlain.

The Kumquat Orange in Florida.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I observed in a late number of Garden and Forest
that the so-called Kumquat orange has been sold in New York
under the name of Too-kin-kan. I have had this fruit under
cultivation for about ten years. It came to us from China, by
way of California, and, I think, fruited on my farm among the
first places in this state. I exhibited the fruit and the trees in
fruit, planted in tubs, at theSub-tropical Exposition in Jackson-
ville in 1885 or 1886.

At that time thefruit was known bybutfewpersonsinFlorida,
but, believing it worthy of cultivation, I planted fifty or more
trees. The tree is dwarfish in habit, usually six to eight feet
high, though one tree, budded ten years ago, is ten feet high,
with a spread of ten feet, and bore 8,000 fruits during the sea-
son just past.

All the fruit we have raised has sold readily at home and in
Jacksonville and St. Augustine. The retail price in these
cities has been fifty to seventy-five cents a dozen. We have
trees of the globe-shaped variety, but these have not yet
fruited. The Chinese name which we have received for the
oblong variety is Too-kin-kan, and for the globe-shaped va-
riety Kin-kan. In China the preserved fruit is called Kum-
quat, and this name was commonly given to the fruit after the
preserve was brought to this country and Europe by sea-cap-
tains.

We have preserved the fruit whole and made jelly and mar-
malade of it, with excellent results, and have shipped quite a
number of trees to all parts of the United States, and some to
Canada. The trees in fruit are very beautiful. During last
season one tree produced 800 oranges, and the whole top
could have been enclosed by a two-bushel basket without
crowding the limbs or disturbing the fruit. We use sour
Orange stock for budding, and give the same cultivation that
we give to Orange-trees.

Grmond-on-the-Halifax, Fla. C. A. Bacon.

The Virgilia.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The Yellow-wood, or Virgilia-trees (Cladrastis lutea),
are flowering profusely in this neighborhood this year. Last
year the trees here produced no flowers at all. It would be
interesting to know if the cultivated trees in other parts of the
country have this habit of blooming only on alternate years,
and, if this is their usual habit, whether this is the year for all
parts of the country to flower. Possibly some of your corre-
spondents may be able to throw some light upon this subject.

If any of your readers do not know this delightful tree they
should make its acquaintance. The forests of America do not
contain a more desirable tree for the decoration of a lawn or
garden. Although exclusively a southern tree, and one of the
rarest and most loved of all trees, it is perfectly hardy as far
north as Canada ; it grows rapidly ; it is free of insects, and

June 21, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

269

perfectly clean, with foliage of a charming color, a graceful
habit, beautiful and abundant flowers and bright autumn col-
oring. The liability of its bnanches to break, owing to their
brittleness, is the only weak point of the Virgilia in this cli-
mate. Are there many other trees of wliich so much good
can be spoken, or against which so few charges can be sub-
stantiated ? J^ S

Boston, Mass.

New Anthuriums.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— Anthurium Goldringi is a new hybrid which comes
from' crossing A. Andreanum and A. Scherzerianum. The
leaves are from six to eight inches long and two inches wide
at the base, acutely cordate, with irregular undulated margins.
The spathe is two inches wide by three long, heart-shaped,
flat, with a tail-like apex, and bright scarlet in color. The spa-
dix is straight, erect, pure white, and changes with age to
yellow. The name has been given in compliment to F.
Goldring, of Slingerland, New York. A. HoUandi is another
hybrid which is intermediate between A. grande and A. Fer-
rierense. The cordate leaves are a velvety green, with paler
neuration ; spathe, broad, irregular, and reflexing with age ;
color, deep rose-pink ; spadix, waxy white and erect. It is
named for Rev. Dr. W. J. Holland, Ph.D., of Pittsburgh, Penn-

''^Zi%.J. Roi.r^ M. Grey.

The Columbian Exposition.
Green Vegetables.

FRESH vegetables are very scarce here, but Canada has a
remarkably large and representative exhibit of stored
products. Newvegetables—thosegrownini893— are strangely
missing from the fair. One reason for this is, perhaps, the
comparatively small place and importance attached to vegeta-
bles in the original schedules or system of classification, and
the fact that the southern states, from which the early vegeta-
bles are to be expected, have shown very little interest in the
horticultural displays. Again, there is always a general indif-
ference to the merits of vegetables as exhibitive products. It
is a common and unfortunate opinion that kitchen-garden
plants are proper for late summer or fall exhibitions only,
although no horticultural display is capable of arousing greater
interest than a neat and crisp collection of early vegetables,
beginning with forced tomatoes, lettuce and radishes. The
only attempt which has so far been made at Jackson Park to
show these early vegetables was a. consignment of forty-one
varieties of the choicest Long Island products collected for
George T. Powell, who has charge of the horticultural interests
of New York, by a dealer in New York city. But these were
all lost through unnecessary delays in passing them into the
grounds at Chicago, due to the obstructive rules of the Expo-
sition, or, more properly, of the Bureau of Transportation.
The Exposition has suffered considerably in its displays of
early and perishable products from this cause, but assurances
have now been given that the obstructions will be removed.

While many states are planning to make large displays of
vegetables later in the year, only New York, so far as I can
learn, intends to make any considerable efforts toward a con-
tinuous show of perishable vegetables throughout the season.
A second consignment of vegetables from New York city is
expected soon, and, thereafter, the State Experiment Station at
Geneva will supply. the tables throughout the season. This
station received a special grant from the state legislature for
the purpose of growing these vegetables. At the present
writinf no new vegetables have been shown except a few to-
matoes, from Florida— wliich are now gone— and a very little
green stuff from New York state.

In stored vegetables Canada makes the only noteworthy ex-
hibit. This Canadian show is remarkable because of the great
territory concerned, contributions coming from Assiniboiaand
iVIanitobato Prince Edward Island. These exhibits are made
under the auspices of the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Prince
Edward Island, the Experiment Station and the Department of
Indian Affairs. These vegetables have been kept in cold stor-
age, and include such things as potatoes, beets, carrots and
turnips. The display is really a very large one and is well dis-
posed upon a series of rising shelves in the north end of the
Horticultural Building. Ontario shows 182 plates arid eighty-
six varieties of potatoes, twenty-two varieties of turnips, all the
leading field and table carrots, table beets in variety, sugar
beets, mangels, extra good winter radishes, parsnips and onions.
In all the potatoexhibits the predominance of varieties of more
recent introduction than the Early Rose is noticeable, showing

that the commercial life of varieties of potatoes is not of long
duration. In the opinion of M. C. Swanson, who is in imme-
diate charge of the Canadian vegetable displays, the leading
potatoes in Ontario now are Early Puritan, for early, with the
main crops devoted to Beauty of Hebron, White Elephant,
Late Rose and Empire State. Prince Edward Island shows
but eight varieties of potatoes, sixteen other kinds, which were
shipped for exhibition, having been accidentally lost. Here
the Empire State seems to be the leading variety. This prov-
ince shows of carrots six varieties, of turnips four, of beets
three, with mangels, parsnips and kohl-rabi. Quebec lost
much of its exhibit, but now has five varieties of potatoes,
three of carrots, two of turnips and one of parsnips.

The experiment station displays for Canada fall under four
general heads — the show of the Central Experimental Farm at
Ottawa, and of the branch stations at Nappan, in Nova Scotia ;
Brandon, in Manitoba, and Indian Head, in Assiniboia. The
exhibits from the branch stations — at least from Nappan and
Indian Head — are collected from various farmers as well as
from the experiment farms themselves. The Central Experi-
mental Farm now has on exhibition fourteen named varieties
of potatoes and seventy-six unnamed seedlings, the latter being
unusually promising ; also several varieties of carrots, onions,
beets, mangels and parsnips. From Brandon, Manitoba, there
are twenty-nine sorts of potatoes, with other roots. Very
striking potatoes in this exhibit are two local seedlings — Vil-
lage Blacksmith, a medium-sized, white, very scaly tuber, and
Rock, a very firm white variety. These are judged to be valu-
able potatoes for Manitoba. The displays from the North-
west Territory (Assiniboia) are an astonishment to most ob-
servers. The products are shown in great variety, and they are
usually very large. A tuber of the Man potato on exhibition
weighs four and a quarter pounds. This and other varieties
exhibit the same tendency to large size which is shown in
tubers from Idaho and other parts of our north-west. From
the station at Indian Head alone there are seventy varieties of
potatoes, while no less than ten other villages are well repre-
sented in potatoes and roots. Indian Head has a large collec-
tion of turnips, beets, carrots, with kohl-rabi and other vegeta-
bles. It was a happy and most effective thought on the part of
the Canadians to show these excellent products of its almost
boundless north-western territory.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are represented by collec-
tions made by the Experimental Farm at Nappan. Nova
Scotia has eight varieties of potatoes, three each of turnips,
beets and carrots, with some mangels. New Brunswick is
represented by products obtained from its farmers, in twenty-
one varieties of potatoes, with onions and various roots.

One of the most interesting of the Canadian displays is a col-
lection from the Department of Indian Affairs, showing ten
varieties of potatoes, various carrots, turnips, onions from
seeds, tops and potato-onions, and mangels grown by Indians
in reservations in Ontario. Some of them were grown chiefs.
Six hundred pounds of vegetables were contributed by these
Indians ; and there are also a dozen varieties of apples of their
raising shown in the Ontario fruit-exhibit.

Altogether, the visitor is impressed with the adaptability of
the Canadian provinces to the growing of potatoes and roots,
both for human food and for the support ot animals.

Other vegetables in the Horticultural Building are six varie-
ties of potatoes, and a few of sweet-potatoes from New Jersey,
and some large potatoes from Idaho and Oregon. In the Ag-
ricultural Building, at the opposite side of the park, are a good
collection of twelve kinds of potatoes from Quebec, Burbank
potatoes from Oregon, a small collection of potatoes and roots
from W. O. Bush, of Thurston County, Washington, and a
few things from California. The California products are shown
in greater extent in the California State Building. These Cali-
fornian exhibits comprise a few potatoes, beans, sweet-pota-
toes, enormous mangels, corn in ear, small dried peppers in
cases with glass covers, and various squashes and gourds.
Tlie Hubbard Squashes, from Orange and Los Angeles Coun-
ties, have scarcely a characteristic mark of eastern specimens,
save the color. They are very irregular and knobby in shape, and
weigh from seventy-five to eighty-one pounds. The Lagenaria
gourds are shown in various forms, some of the slender varie-
ties reaching over four feet. Washington has a display in its
state building of potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips and onions,
all remarkable for large size. Palouse Seedling, a local po-
tato, which is thought to have unusual merit, averages about
one and one-fourth pounds to the tuber. West of the moun-
tains. Early Rose is said to be the leading variety in Washing-
ton,; but eastward, some of the best sorts are those now on
exhibition, Dakota Red Palouse Seedling, Snowtlake, Polaris
and White Burbank.

Chicago, III. -i. -n. Bailey.

270

Garden and Forest.

[Number 278.

Notes.

Harper's Mai^aziite for July will contain an illustrated arti-
cle by Mr. Charles A. Piatt on the '• Formal Gardens of Italy."

Mr. E. S. Carman states that, after a full trial, the Palmetto
AsMragus, which is said to be a new variety, is not different
in any respects that he can discover from the old Conover's
Colossal.

Perhaps cut-flowers of the yellow Sweet Sultan have often
been on sale in this city, but we never chanced to see any
until a fortnight ago, when we observed in some florists' win-
dows very well-grown flowers of what seems to be a good
strain of C'entaurea suaveolens. The flowers are large and full,
of clear Dandelion-yellow, with good slifl" stems, and they last a
long time. This is by no means a new flower, but that it is
comparatively rare in cultivation is proved by the admiration
and surprise expressed by many persons whose attention has
been called to them.

The Laburnums have been flowering well this year, and the
long pendulous racemes of yellow flowers even on small plants
welt justify the common name of Golden Chain, which is
given to this tree. Laburnums hardly deserve their reputa-
tion for being tender. They flourish much better, however,
in a dry soil than in a damp situation, where the stems are lia-
ble to be killed in winter. They thrive in partial shade and
on the edge of woods, and they do better on the north side of
a group of other trees where they are not exposed to the rays
of the sun in midwinter. They are short-lived, but so beauti-
ful that they deserve all the extra care required to meet their
wants.

A writer in a late number of the American Florist very truly
says that many Roses that have been discarded as useless be-
cause they tail to grow indoors, are really admirable bedding
plants. VVootton seems to succeed very well out-of-doors,
and, indeed, it can no longer be called a failure as a forcing
Rose. Madame Pernet Ducher, one of last year's introduc-
tions, is a good bedding Rose, with pale yellow buds turning
to pure white as the flower opens. Triomphe de Pernet also
does well, and Marion Dingee is among the best of crimson
bedders. The old Bourbon Hermosa and the Polyantha Clo-
thilde Soupert are among the best for constant outdoor bloom-
ing, and they have the advantage of being hardy. Madame
Elie Lambert, which is classed as a pure Tea, survived the
winter last year out-of-doors near Philadelphia, while hybrids
were dying all about it. This is an excellent bedding Rose,
creamy white or flesh-color, and a very finished flower.

In a bulletin of the Washington Experiment Station, Pro-
fessor Lake states that on examining a quantity of Apple-seed-
lings for grafting, he observed that a large part of them had
twisted and knotted roots, some slightly abnormal, some alto-
gether monstrous. Closer examination showed multitudes of
little excrescences from the size of a pin-head up to that of a
filbert, which were evidendy the workof the woolly aphis. Last
spring, when planting yearling Apple-trees purchased in the
eastern states, the same tell-tale warts were found on several
trees. In the north-west this woolly aphis is a most serious
pest, being an insidious foe that creeps into the orchard and
does its first and most lasting work under cover of earth and
in darkness ; that is, it makes its appearance generally on the
roots of young trees, especially when tliey are in old nursery-
ground. Undoubtedly the pest is disseminated very largely
on the roots of young Apple-trees.

Among the specialties in the fancy fruit markets last week
were greenhouse figs, from New Jersey, of excellent quality
and delicious flavor, which sold at a dollar a dozen. Mammee
apples, from the West Indies, of doubttul satisfaction to a civ-
ilized taste, sold in small quantities to venturesome buyers at
twenty cents apiece. The true plantain, which is quite dis-
tinct from the banana and is only used for cooking, is rarely
found in the New York market. Large fruit of good quality
was offered at fifty to seventy-five cents a dozen. Muskmelons,
from Florida, are as low as fifteen cents apiece, and water-
melons from thirty cents upward. Strawberries are less plenti-
ful than when the southern supply was at its height, the dry
weather in this section, from which the fruit now comes, having
shortened the crop. Choice strawberries of mammoth size
are thirty-five cents a quart ; selected berries eighteen cents,
and average berries ten to fifteen cents. Green corn from the
south is sixty cents a dozen ears.

Varieties and hybrids of Helianthemum vulgare, the true Rock
Rose, have attractive flowers, which range in color from white
through shades of red and yellow. At the Arnold Arboretum

these plants make a low shrubby growth, spreading over the
ground in a dense mat of foliage, on which the flowers are
now appearing. The separate flowers do not last long, but
they keep opening all summer, and Mr. Dawson, the propa-
gator at the Arboretum, thinks a great deal of them. Last
week Ceanothus ovatus was also in bloom, although the com-
moner species, well known as New Jersey Tea, had not begun
to show any flowers. This species is rare in the east, although
it is common in the west and south-west. It is a low shrub,
some two or three feet high, and its compact habit, good
foliage and handsome white flowers, which come after most
of the spring shrubs have flowered, make it very useful,
although it is rarely seen in cultivation. Another rarely culti-
vated plant in flower is Vaccinium stamineum, the Squaw
Huckleberry, a low-branching shrub, which is now covered
with its graceful, campanulate, greenish white flowers.

In a bulletin of the Division of Entomology some experi-
ments in planting Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba) for honey are
given in detail. The experiments were made at the Michigan
Agricultural College, where three acres of Sweet Clover were
sown, which began to bloom on the 8th of July and continued
in flower until the 20th of September. The crop made a rank
growth with abundance of flowers, and yet, while it was in full
bloom and the bees were continually busy on it, with all
other natural sources of nectar absent, no appreciable
amount of honey was gathered, and the hive lost weight. This
is a repetition of former experience, and Mr. Larrabee, in
charge of the work, states that no results have been obtained
with any plants sown or planted for honey that would warrant
a bee-keeper in expending money and labor in this direction.
His advice to keepers is to cease efforts of this sort and turn
their attention more persistently to extending the area of wild
honey-producing plants, and he urges upon them the supe-
riority of Alsike Clover and Japanse Buckwheat as farm crops,
and the Linden as a shade- tree.

In a recent number of the American Agriculturist it is
stated that a large percentage of the garden-seeds now used
in the United States are grown in Santa Clara County, Califor-
nia, where this industry was begun in a small way fifteen years
ago. The climate there is peculiarly favorable tor this work,
as rain seldom falls during the summer months, when seeds
are being harvested and stored. Onion-seeds are raised in
large quantities, four growers in the Santa Clara Valley having
this season planted 1,200 acres. The onions used for produc-
ing seeds are grown from seed the previous year. After having
been harvested in the autumn they are usually left in sacks in
the field until they are set out in January and February. The
soil is low, moist and fertile, and no irrigation is needed, as
there is where onions are raised from seed, since the winter
and spring rains provide sufiHcient moisture for the crop. The
seed is harvested in August. As much as 500 pounds are ob-
tained from an acre, a short crop reaching not more than half
that quantity. According to the supply and demand, sixty
cents, and even a dollar, a pound is obtained. From forty to
sixty sacks of onions, containing nearly a hundred pounds
each, are required to plant an acre.

Bulletin No. 33, from the South Dakota Experiment Station,
is devoted to some plants injurious to stock. It includes a
descripfion of four species of Astragalus, together with Oxy-
tropis Lamberti, all leguminous plants and all classed as Loco-
weeds. The descriptions and plates of these weeds are given
to help stock-raisers in recognizing them, and the methods of
destroying them are also given, together vifith some notes on
the treatment of the diseases which they are supposed to pro-
duce. Besides these Loco-weeds, there is an elaborate note
on the Rattlebox (Crotalaria sagittalis), which is said to cause
the disease among horses known as Crotalism. Since this
last weed grows to a greater or less extent throughout most
of the United States east of the Missouri valley, it is remark-
able that the disease which it is said to engender is confined
to the west. It should be said, however, that the plant is very
abundant in the bottom-lands of the Missouri River, and is
exceedingly common in the hay cut there. In South Dakota,
the Wheat Grasses (Agropyrum species) and the Wild Ryes
(Elymus) are subject to the disease known as ergot, and the
fungus which causes it (Claviceps purpurea) attacks also the Blue
Joint Grass, Reed Canary Grass, Kentucky Blue Grass, Canada
Blue Grass, and of course common cultivated Rye. In other
states. Red Top and Timothy are occasionally affected by it.
Domestic animals fed on plants affected by ergot contract the
disease known as ergotism, and the advice given in the bulle-
tin is to cut the grasses liable to attacks of this fungus early,
for since the ergot is formed late in the summer or in the fall
early cut hay will not be infected.

June 28, 1893.)

Garden and Forest.

271

GARDEN AND FOREST,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conciucted bv Professor C. S. Sargent.

BNTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles: — Forest-legislation in Pennsylvania 271

Horticultural Exhibits at Chicago 271

Mastic 272

Botanical Notes from Texas. —VIII E. N. Plank. 272

Wild Flowers in Market M. L. Dock. 273

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— XVI C. S. S. 273

Nkw or Little-known Plants : — Ostrowskia magniBca. (With figure.)

y. N. Gerard, 274
New Plants from Asia Minor London Garden. 274

Cultural Department: — Chrysanthemums T. D. H. 275

Plants for Consen-atories in Summer..... H\ H. Tailin. 275

Spring Bulbs in 1893. — I IV. E. Endicett. 277

Hardy Flower Garden E, O. Orpet. iti

Vegetable Notes Professor IV. F. Massey. 273

Corrbspondbnce : — Flower Gardens for Children Wilhelmine Seliger. 278

Exhibitions: — The Boston Rose Show C. 278

The Columbian ExposmoN : — Recent Arrivals of Fresh Fruits,

Professor L. H. BaiUy, 279

Notes 279

Illustration: — Ostrowskia magnifica. Fig. 40 276

Forest-legislation in Pennsylvania.

NOT long ago we stated that there were some en-
couraging evidences of an advance in public senti-
ment in regard to the value of our forests, and one of these
evidences was the action of the last Legislature of Pennsyl-
vania in passing the " act relative to a forestry commission,"
which provides for the appointment of a competent engineer
and a botanist practically acquainted with the forest-trees
of the commonwealth, whose duty it shall be to examine
and report upon the condition of the slopes and summits of
the important water-sheds of the state ; to ascertain how
much and what kind of timber remains standing ; to indi-
cate where these various kinds of timber are naturally
reproducing themselves, and to report what measures are
being taken to secure a supply of lumber for the future.
The commission is also to ascertain the extent, character
and location of the wild lands now belonging to the com-
monwealth, with a statement of what portions of such lands
will be suitable for a forest-reserve ; and if the lands belong-
ing to the commonwealth are insufficient for that purpose,
to ascertain what other suitable lands there may be within
the state.

The bill contemplates a report by the commissioners
which shall outline a general forest-policy for the state, and
it differs in this from the action of the state of New York,
which has been directed mainly to the preservation of the
Adirondack forests, and is broader in its provisions than
the New Hampshire law. When it is remembered that
four years ago a bill which involved no expense to the
state was never reported on by the committee to which it
was referred, and that the present one was passed almost
unanimously, and that the Governor signed it at once, it will
be seen that there has been a marked change in the public
sentiment. Of course, it does not follow that the commis-
sion will be able to frame a bill which will meet all the
necessities of the case, or that another Legislature would
be wise enough to pass such a bill even if it were framed.
But since the general enlightenment of the people on this

matter is the fundamental condition of success, this action
in Pennsylvania should give some encouragement to all
persons who are devoting thought and labor to this matter.

Colonel Tyson and Professor Rothrock, who have been
named by the Governor as Commissioners, will set out on
a tour of the state at once, and we have no doubt that they
will make as thorough a survey as the time allowed them
will permit and that they will secure as full an expression
of opinion from the people of the state as possible on such
subjects — for example, as to the means of suppressing fires.
Patient labor on this line cannot fail to be productive of
lasting good to the commonwealth. Pennsylvania, owing
to its size, its situation and its varied surface, ought to
rank among the very first of the lumber-producing states
on the Atlantic slope of the continent, and yet its forests
have been so rapidly diminishing that at the present rate
of destruction the time will soon come when they will not
suffice to meet the home demand for lumber. Black wal-
nut, black cherry and the best hickory are already scarce.
In sections where the charcoal-furnaces of an earlier time
have devoured the primitive woods a condition of things
similar to that which prevails in parts of New Hampshire
and Vermont has arrived, and extensive areas are about
ready for desertion because the trees are gone, the lands
contain no minerals and are too poor for profitable
agriculture— that is, they are unproductive, and so far a
loss to the commonwealth.

The bill was judiciously framed in that it is not limited
in its action to any particular part of the state, but con-
templates a universal forest-policy. We learn that some
members of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association who
have been very active in securing this bill, have had in
mind the establishment of a forest experiment station on a
modest scale, for the purpose of illustrating to small land-
holders in the state the cheapest and best treatment of
their woodlands, so that they may have, at least, a prom-
ise of profit from them. No doubt that such a station, prop-
erly managed, could be made of great educational value.
But all this would require time and thoughtful direction by
capable and experienced men. The forest-problems before
us are not to be solved off-hand. We must still expect de-
lays, disappointments and mistakes ; but these only furnish
an additional reason why we should welcome with grateful
recognition any step in the right direction, and why every
one in Pennsylvania who appreciates the value of the
forests of the state and their relation to the property of
the state, should give sympathy and support to the com-
mission and help its work in every possible way.

The Nurserymen's Convention, held at Chicago a fort-
night ago, passed a resolution requesting the administra-
tion of the World's Fair to repeal the rules which interfered
with the exhibition of fruits, and to enact such regulations
as would enable exhibitors to place perishable fruits upon
their table immediately upon their arrival by the various
express lines. The grievance here complained of arose
from a law which prohibited express wagons from bring-
ing any exhibits into the grounds until after the Ex-
position was closed in the evening, and since the lights
were turned down at that hour and exhibitors found it dif-
ficult to work both night and day the rule worked many
hardships. Perishable products are unfit for exhibition after
they have lain a day in a Chicago warehouse, and a large
collection of fresh vegetables from New York was entirely
lost through delay of this sort, while the same fate befell
small fruits from Illinois.

We learn that this hardship no longer exists, but there
are other reforms needed before the exhibits in the
horticultural department can be studied with satisfaction.
One who wishes to examine these various displays criti-
cally is often disappointed when he finds the name of the
exhibitor wanting, and equally disappointed when he finds
that the plants and other exhibits are not properly labeled.
Few of them, in fact, are labeled so that persons unfamiliar
with the plants can ascertain what they are, and much

272

Garden and Forest.

[Number 279.

M^

of the educational value of the Fair is thus lost. In most of the
horticultural displays there is no official record of the varie-
ties on exhibition, and unless the exhibitorchances to have
made a list for his own convenience the student will be
obliged to decipher a small wooden or paper tag on each
plant or fruit to find out what the collection comprises.
The official catalogue of the horticultural department, too,
is complained of as inaccurate, incomplete and insufficient.
It is to be hoped that shortcomings in this direction will be
corrected as far as possible. Experts in various branches
of horticulture need no assistance in determining varieties,
and yet the information which can be given in good de-
scriptive lists is worth much to them. To the ordinary vis-
itor, however, especially to one who is just beginning to
take an interest in plants, fruits and flowers, the lack of
full and accurate catalogues and distinct labels is most dis-
couraging.

Mastic.

■ ASTIC, as is well known, is the gum which exudes from

■ the stem of a small tree of the family to which our
Sumachs belong — Pistacia Lentiscus. The island of Scio has
for centuries produced nearly the whole of the mastic of com-
merce, and from a manuscript report prepared by the United
States Consul at Smyrna, which has been communicated fo us,
we gather the following information in regard to the cultiva-
tion of the tree and its product :

The temperature of the island of Scio varies from the mini-
mum of thirty-two degrees to a maximum of ninety degrees,
the average being seventy degrees, Fahrenheit, with an aver-
age rainfall of about twenty-six inches. The thermometer
rarely falls below thirty-two degrees, Fahrenheit, and frost is
almost unknown, rarely occurnng more than once in every
forty or fifty years. The trees are only successful and produc-
tive when they are planted on high land, the sides of hills, etc.,
and the plantations have proved profitable in twenty-one of
the sixty-six villages where they have been made. They
thrive in soil naturally rich, experiments with different fer-
tilizers having failed to produce much result, although barn-
yard manure is still extensively used in some parts of the
island.

The trees are propagated in the following manner : Branches
threeor four feet long, and well supplied with buds, are broken
from old trees, and are planted in carefully prepared soil nearly
to the depth of their full length, and then banked up in the
same way that Celery-plants are banked ; the soil is occasion-
ally watered during the first month until a sufficient number
of roots have been developed to support the young plant,
which is allowed fo grow where the branch was put in the
ground, transplanting being considered impossible. The
planting is usually done between the 15th of November and
Christmas. The branches are set ten to twelve feet apart, and,
once rooted, grow rapidly, and soon attain in good soil a height
of twelve to fourteen feet. In poor soil they are stunted, rarely
growing more than six feet high, and are not productive. The
largest yield of the best quality of gum is obtained from trees
grown on hill-sides with southern and eastern exposures.

The crop is gathered between the end of May and the end
of September, the flow of gum being obtained by means of
several incisions made at intervals during the season in the
bark of the main trunk and branches ; these are made length-
wise with small sharp knives, care being taken not to penetrate
beneath the bark.

The gum exudes and trickles down to the ground previously
prepared about the tree by cleaning and beating with heavy
mallets and by covering it with a coat of chalky earth, spread
to furnish a hard surface for the gum to fall on. That part of
the gum that remains attached to the bark is removed by hand.
When rain falls at the time the gum is flowing much of it is
ruined from the primitive method adopted in collecting the
crop. From time to time during the season the gum is swept
up from the bed of chalk, and, after being thoroughly washed,
is picked over by hand to free it from any foreign substance ;
it is then sorted into different qualities and is ready for sale.
The trees continue to be productive until they are twenty or
thirty years old, according to the care they receive and the
character of the soil in which they grow. The annual yield of
a tree varies from one and a half to seven and a half pounds,
according to its size and age, the average being between five
and six pounds.

The aggregate yield of gum from the island amounts to 5,400
cubic hundredweight, produced by 115,000 to 130,000 trees,

although the amount of the crop depends much upon the heat
of the summer. The average cost of production is from four-
teen to twenty cents a pound, and the average market value at
the plantation twenty-eight to forty cents per pound, according
to quality.

According to the Pharmacographia of Fluckiger& Hanbury,
mastic is not now believed to possess any important thera-
peutic virtues, and as a medicine is scarcely used, and in the
making of varnish, for which it was once much employed, less
costly resins are now usually substituted. The best quality is
sent to Turkey and to Trieste, Vienna and Marseilles, and in
small quantities to England. The inferior quality is manufac-
tured in the east into raki and other cordials.

Botanical Notes from Texas. — VIII.

CATALPA BIGNONIOIDES andC. speciosa are largely plant-
ed throughout the same range as Ailantus. While they are
handsome and healthful ornamental trees, yet it is evident that
neither of the Catalpas is well adapted to the wants of for-
estry. Their trunks are too soon lost in the large coarse
branches, as is usual in broad-leaved trees. The differences
in their characters are very slight. It might even be suggested
that a point in science was strained in the elevation of C.
speciosa to specific rank.

Opuntia Engelmanni is probably the commonest Cactus in
Texas. It sometimes covers several square rods of ground,
and it attains a height of three to five feet. The plant itself is
generally known by its Mexican name. Nopal. Its fruit is
tuna. A clergyman who had traveled in Mexico informed me
that a cider was often made there of the expressed juice of
Tunas, which he said was pleasant to the taste. In years of
drought the expanded branches, leaves as they are generally
called, form an important forage for stock. Deer and ante-
lopes by a stroke ot the foot break off the cruel spines from
the branches, which they eat. Ranchmen burn off the spines.
O. leptocaulis, a slender shrubby species, is also very abun-
dant. It sometimes rises to a height of six to eight feet when
it finds rocks, bushes or fences to lean upon. It bears small
pale yellow flowers. The red juicy fruit is small, too. The
species may be easily known by the long white spines. A few
years ago the farmers of southern Kansas were deceived into
buying thousands of cuttings of this plant, wliich were
planted out for hedges. The result was as unsatisfactory as in
the case of the farmers of western New York, who a few years
earlier invested largely in cuttings of White Willow for the
same purpose.

Eastern Apios tuberosa is also here, and as far south as Vic-
toria. If we had nothing better to eat than the small tubers
which it bears we might subsist upon them. The plant is a
smooth handsome climber, and well worthy of cultivation for
its beauty and the strong and pleasant perfume of its dark pur-
ple flowers. Passiflora incarnata, the handsomest of our
native Passion-flowers, is too common to be duly appreciated,
and it is seldom seen in gardens. It abounds almost every-
where, along railroads and in vacant grounds. Its large yel-
low fruit, maypaps, is pleasantly acid and edible.

Juglans rupestris, well characterized by its little fruit, begins
to appear along the Colorado River. Near its eastern limit it
is a mere shrub or a very small tree. Larger individuals grow
along the Rio Grande. It is said to become a large tree in
Mexico, extending westward to California. On low bushes
near the Nueces River I found the small nuts in great abun-
dance, and not larger than Concord grapes.

Helianthus argophylluS is a most remarkable Sunflower ; its
large leaves, resembling in form those of our common spe-
cies, are silver, whitened by a soft, silky tomentuin. I saw the
speciesatHalletsvilleandnearGoliad. H. Maximilianusappears
to be the most abundant Sunflower of central Texas. So far as
known, the first-named species appears to be exclusively Texan.

Leucophyllum Texanum, Cinisa of Mexicans, common in
western Texas, I did not see near Austin, but I was told by
apparently good authority that it was there among the hills.
Its farthest eastern station, as I have observed, was on the low
shelly bluffs of Nueces Bay, near Corpus Christi. That station
is a little west of the ninety-seventh meridian. No native
Texan shrub is more worthy of the general cultivation which
it receives far eastward of its native range. The generic name
of this plant, as well as the Mexican one, alludes to the
whitened appearance of its leaves, produced by the dense
hoary pubescence which covers them. This species attains a
height of four to ten feet. Its handsome flowers are light pur-
ple in color. Farther westward Texas has another Leucophyl-
lum, smaller and with whiter leaves.

Kansas City, Kansas.

E. N. Plank.

June 28, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

273

Wild Flowers in Market.

FROM March until Asters disappear wild flowers may be
found in the Harrisburg markets, but this year in such
quantity and variety as to deserve passing mention. The wet
weather of April and May was almost prohibitory of country
expeditions, but buying one's wild flowers is not an unmixed
pleasure, as gathermg them is, for they look so unhappy in the
tight little bunches, tied with bands of thick gingham. How-
ever, one sometimes finds branches and sprays of the flower-
ing shrubs, but the tight bunches have an advantage in transit
over our not very good roads.

There is one group of market-stalls where very many of our
wild flowers can be found throughout the season, but during
the latter part of May each stall has an individu-^lity, owing to
the different localities from which its products come, and all
are then specially interesting. Most of the Ferns and more
delicate flowers are brought from Fishing Creek Valley, and
one family there has made quite an art of the successful trans-
portation of Ferns. In hundreds of plants of Maidenhair
Ferns one rarely finds a broken stem, and the stall-woman
always shows new customers the " nice dirt" about the roots,
and warns them not to disturb it. This stall is always bowery
and delightful as Anemone and Hepatica, Amelanchier and
Columbine, Red-bud and Dogwood, Wild Crab-apple and
Azalea succeed each other. The ist of June it was a study in
soft tones against a deep border of Maidenhair, bunches
of Smilacina racemosa and S. trifolia, and platters of Bluets.
The next week the Bluets had disappeared, but their place
was filled by masses of Mountain Laurel, Golden Aster, Ascle-
pias quadrifolia and Gillenia trifoliata. Milkweed has an un-
certain place in rural minds, for on two occasions when inquir-
ing from different people whether Asclepias quadrifolia was
not Milkweed, I have received the same reply, "That's not
Milkweed ; that's a wild flower."

Another Fishing Creek stall is presided over by a scornful
soul, who dealt out blossoming plants of Cypripedium acaule
and C. pubescens for a penny a plant to weak-minded towns-
people who liked such trash. " No, she didn't know if they
had a name ; may be they hadn't one. A neighbor woman
called them Indian Tulips, but, for her part, she never bothered
to look at such things. She just sold them for the children
who brought them in from the woods, and once her garden
got growing wouldn't bother with such truck."

Across the aisle a stand was pink and blue with Azaleas and
Lupines from the country back of town — country that looks
monotonously fiat when seen from a height, but really is roll-
ing, and filled with beautiful little streams and dells with all man-
ner of lovely thingfs growing in them. Another stall is gorgeous
through May with Castilleia from a York County meadow.
Inquiry, so far, has failed to discover any place else near by
where the plant grows, so the meadow is gaining quite a repu-
tation. My York County friend confided to me one morning
that "three doctors from town had walked over the hills to see
the meadow, and they certainly were pleased with the sight,
and they gave the flower the same name that I did." "This
tribute touched me deeply, for a town-man ranks infinitely
higher than a town-woman when it comes to expressing an
opinion, but in her heart I know she classed us all as harmless
lunatics.

The only floral path to a true country-woman's heart is lined
with Cacti and paved with flowers that " look like wax." The
more hideous and prickly the Cactus the deeper it appeals.
Beauty of form and coloring, fragrance — all these are as
naught compared with that embodiment of grace and charm.
Old-man Cactus. ., r r^ 7

Harrisburg, Pa. M. L. Dock.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XVI.

ALTHOUGH we have learned to look upon Japan as the
^ home of the Persimmon, which is intimately asso-
ciated with the expression of modern Japanese art, it is
doubtful if either of the species of Diospyros commonly
encountered in that country is really indigenous in the
empire, where they were both probably introduced, with
many other cultivated plants, from China. The more common
and important of the two species is, of course, the Kaki, Dios-
pyros Kaki, which is planted everywhere in the neighbor-
hood of houses, which in the interior of the main island
are often embowered in small groves of this handsome
tree. In shape it resembles a well-grown Apple-tree, with
a straight trunk, spreading branches which droop toward
the extremities and form a compact round head. Trees

thirty or forty feet high are often seen ; and in the autumn,
when they are covered with fruit and the leaves have turned
to the color of old Spanish red leather, they are exceedingly
handsome. Perhaps there is no tree, except the Orange,
which, as a fruit-tree, is as beautiful as the Kaki. In cen-
tral and northern Japan the variety which produces large,
orange-colored, ovate, thick-skmned fruit is the only one
planted, and the cultivation of the red-fruited varieties with
which we have become acquainted in this country is con-
fined to the south. A hundred varieties of Kaki at least
are now recognized and named by Japanese gardeners, but
few of them are important commercially in any part of the
country which we visited, and, except in Kyoto, where
red kakis appeared, the only form I saw exposed for sale was
the orange-colored variety, which, fresh and dried, is con-
sumed in immense quantities by the Japanese, who eat it,
as they do all their fruits, before it is ripe and while it has
the texture and consistency of a paving-stone.

Diospyros Kaki is hardy in Pekin, with a climate similar
to that of New England, and fully as trying to plant-life ;
it fruits in southern Yezo and decorates every garden in the
elevated provinces of central Japan, where the winter cli-
mate is intensely cold. There appears, therefore, to be no
reason why it should not flourish in New England if plants
of a northern race can be obtained ; and, so far as climate
is concerned, the tree, which, in the central mountain dis-
tricts of Hondo, covers itself with fruit year after year, will
certainly succeed in all our Alleghany region from Penn-
sylvania southward. In this country we have considered
the Kaki a tender plant unable to survive outside the
region where the Orange flourishes. This is true of the
southern varieties which have been brought to this coun-
try and which may have originated in a milder climate
than southern Japan, for the Kaki is a pl^nt of wide dis-
tribution, either natural or through cultivation, in south-
eastern Asia. But the northern Kaki, the tree of Pekin and
the gardens of central Japan, has probably not yet been
tried in this country. If it succeeds in the northern and
middle states it will give us a handsome new fruit of good
quality, easily and cheaply raised, of first-rate shipping
quality when fresh and valuable when dried, and an orna-
mental tree of extraordinary interest and beauty.

Diospyros Lotus, which is probably a north China species,
and which is naturalized or indigenous in northwestern India
and naturalized in the countries bordering the Mediterra-
nean, is occasionally cultivated in northern Japan, where,
however, as it does not appear to be more hardy than the
Kaki, it does not seem to be much esteemed. The fruit
is small and of an inferior quality. Diospyros Lotus
may be expected to endure the climate of our northern
states.

In Japan, Styraceae is represented by Symplocos with
half a dozen species, all shrubs rather than trees, by Pter-
ostyrax, which replaces our Halesia, from which the Jap-
anese genus only differs in its terminal paniculate inflores-
cence, five-parted flowers, and small fruit ; and by Styrax
with two species. Neither of the two species of Pterosty-
rax equals in size our Halesia tetraptera, which, under
favorable conditions, becomes a tree eighty to a hundred
feet high on the southern Alleghany mountains, and neither
of them approaches our arborescent Halesias in the beauty
of their flowers, which, although produced in ample clus-
ters, areindividaallysmall. Pterostyraxcorymbosum, which
I believe to be almost exclusively a southern species, I
only saw in the Botanic Garden in Tokyo, where there is a
bushy plant eighteen or twenty feet in height. Pterostyrax
hispidum, which is now beginning to be known in our gar-
dens, where it is hardy from Boston to Philadelphia, is a
bushy tree or shrub which we only saw wild in Japan on
the banks of a stream among the mountains above Fuku-
shima, on the Nagasendo, where we found a single plant
twenty or twenty-five feet in height.

As an ornamental plant the most valuable of this family,
as represented in Japan, is certainly Styrax Obassia, a tree
which grows as far north as Sapporo, in Yezo, and which

274

Garden and Forest;

may therefore be expected to be as hardy as Cercidiphyl-
lum, Syriiiga Japonica, Magnolia Kobus or any of the other
Yezo trees, with which it grows and which flourish here in
New England. Styrax Obassia, as it appears in Yezo and
on the mountains of central Hondo, where it is common
between 3,500 and 4,000 feet above the sea, is a tree twenty
to thirty feet in height, with a slender straight stem, long
and graceful branches well clothed with nearly circular
leaves dark green on the upper surface, pale on the lower,
and often more than six inches across. The white, bell-
shaped flowers, nearly an inch in length, borne in long
drooping racemes, are produced in the greatest profusion
and are very beautful. The second species, Styrax Ja-
ponica, is a common plant in the mountain-forests of
Hondo and in southern Yezo, and is a shryb or occasion-
ally a small tree twenty to thirty feet high. It is now well
known in American and European gardens.

From the Olive family we miss, in Japan, Forestiera, an
exclusively American genus, and Chionanthus, which is
eastern American and Chinese. Fraxinus and Osmanthus
are common to the floras of Japan and eastern America,
and in Japan, Ligustrum and Syringa, both Old World
genera, are represented. In eastern America, Fraxinus ap-
pears in nine or ten species ; in Japan there are probably
not more than two indigenous species, and only Fraxinus
longicuspis is endemic. This is a tree of the Ornus section,
which is rather common in the elevated Hemlock-forests
of Hondo, and ranges northward into Yezo. It is a slender
tree twenty to thirty feet in height, with thin, rigid, ashy
gray branchlets, black buds, and leaves with five-stalked,
ovate acute, finely or coarsely serrate leaflets, which in the
autumn are conspicuous from the deep purple color to
which they change. I do not feel at all sure that this spe-
cies, of which we were unable to obtain seeds, is in culti-
vation, although the name is common in catalogues, as
there is still great confusion with regard to the Asiatic
Ashes found in gardens.

Fraxinus Manchurica, which is also common in Man-
churia, Saghalin and Corea, isanoble tree in Yezo, where it
is exceedingly abundant in low ground near the borders of
swamps and streams, and where it often rises to the height
of a hundred feet and forms tall straight stems three or four
feet in diameter ; its stout orange-colored branchlets, large
black buds, ample leaves, with lanceolate acute, coarsely
serrate leaflets, and great clusters of broad-winged fruit,
well distinguish this species, which is certainly one of the
noblest of all the Ashes and one of the most valuable tim-
ber-trees of eastern Asia. For many years Fraxinus Man-
churica has inhabited the Arnold Arboretum, where it is
hardy and where it promises to grow to a good size. An-
other Ash-tree commonly cultivated along the borders of
Rice-fields near Tokyo is referred by the Japanese botanists
to the Fraxinus pubinervis of Blume. This has every ap-
pearance of being an introduced tree in Japan ; but I was
unable to obtain fruit or any satisfactory information with
regard to it.

Syringa Japonica is rather common in the deciduous for-
ests on the hills of central Yezo, and I saw it occasionally
on the high mountains of Hondo. In its native country,
the Japanese Lilac, when fully grown, -is an unshapely
straggling tree, twenty-five to thirty feet in height, with a
trunk rarely twelve or eighteen inches -in diameter, and
does not display the beauty of foliage or the compact hand-
some habit which we associate with this plant in our New
England gardens, where it is far more beautiful than in its
native forests.

Osmanthus Aquifolium, or, as it is more commonly called
in gardens, Osmanthus ilicifolium, is usually supposed to
be a Japanese tree. I saw it in city gardens, and in greater
perfection in the mountain-region of central Hondo, where
it is often planted near dwellings and by the road-side, and
where it sometimes grows to the height of thirty feet and
makes a trunk a foot or more in diameter and a broad, com-
pact round head, loaded in October with fragrant flowers.
But where I saw it, it had evidently been planted, and if it

\

[NUUBER 279.

is a Japanese '.species, which is doubtful, it is only indige-
nous in the extreme south.

Ligustrum is poorly represented in Japan, and of the
three species found within the borders of the empire only
the evergreen Ligustrum Japonicum of the south becomes
a tree. Of the other species, Ligustrum medium is much
more common than Ligustrum Ibota ; at the north it is
found in moist low forests, but farther south ascends to
high elevations, where, in central Japan, Ligustrum Ibota
is also found.

In the remaining Gamopetalous orders, of trees Japan
possesses only Ehretia acuminata, which inhabits the
Luchu Island-w. and possibly reaches the southern shores
of Kyushu, a small tree, which I saw only in the Botanic
Garden of Tokyo, and the beautiful Clerodendron trichoto-
mum, which in late summer enlivens the banks of streams
with its great masses of tropical foliage and brilliant flow-
ers, and in Yezo often attains to the size and habit of a
small tree. C. ^. 6".

New or Little-known Plant.«:.

Ostrowskia magnifica.

OSTROVVSKIA MAGNIFICA can now hardly be called
a rare plant, although it is not common here in cul-
tivation. For various reasons it does not yet seem to have
been widely disseminated, though no hardy plant intro-
duced in recent years has excited more interest and raised
higher expectations among gardeners. The first offering
of seeds of this plant failed to germinate, and it is only
lately that good strong roots have been generally availa-
ble, so that few have had the opportunity to flower the
plants. The Dutch bulb-growers now offer strong roots,
and stock may be obtained of them at a moderate price.

As will be seen by the illustration (page 276), this is a
most remarkable campanulate flower, being nearly five
inches in diameter, with a depth of nearly four inches.
The color of the flower illustrated was a very light laven-
der or mauve, almost white, with deeper veinings. The
surface of the corolla is somewhat irregular, and re-
flects numerous high lights in a way that adds to its
attractiveness. Altogether it is a remarkably graceful
and handsome flower. It has been compared to a mag-
nified Platycodon, but that well-known flower is very
commonplace in comparison. The leaves are light green,
thin in texture, like those of Lettuce, and are borne in whorls
on stems about three feet high. The juice is milky.

Herr Max Leichtlin, in Garden and Forest, vol. i., p. 406,
states that this plant was flowered at Baden-Baden in 1887,
where it is as hardy as a weed. It prefers a sandy, deeply
worked soil, as it has thick brittle roots some two feet long.
It was first discovered by Dr. A. Regel in eastern Bokhara,
and described in 1884. My plant has passed two winters
safely, and has not appeared above ground until all dan-
gers from spring frosts are over. It is four years old, now
flowering for the first time. As it dies down to the roots
soon after flowering, it should have a position where it is
not likely to be disturbed by careless digging, for though
it is propagated by division of the roots, it is not a plant
which should be disturbed. My plant is in a position
where it receives little moisture in late summer, but I do

not know that this precaution is necessary. . ,. „ ,
Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

New Plants from Asia Minor.

WE quote below extracts from an interesting letter to
the London Garden, by Mr. Edward Whittall, to
whom lovers of flowers, and especially of spring flow ers, are
so much indebted for many introductions of hardy plants.
The extracts give a summary of the results of his work in
collecting last year, with a promise of future labors in the
same direction, which we hope may be as successful as
his former ones :

Among forms of Anemone blandaa fineall blueonefrom the
mountains overlooking the Straits of Samos was a pleasant

June 28, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

275

surprise. I have no doubt its valufe will be established. The
large form of which I spoke in 189! as coming from the envi-
rons of Pergamos has in every way proved its superiority to
that coming from the more southern regions. One of your
correspondents, in describing the various kinds of Chionodoxa,
says that C. Tmolusi, like the not-to-be-found C. Forbesi, is a
stronger and larger form of C. Luciliae. Judging by his erro-
neous description, he cannot possess this variety at all, as it is
dwarf, both in bulb and foliage, more brilliantly colored, and
freer-flowering, but not giving larger blooms than C. Luciliae.
C. Alleni was found by one of my men while hunting for new
Snowdrops for my friend Mr. Allen, and I therefore named it
Alleni in his honor. I would call it a very large C. gigantea,
the foliage and flowers being much more massive than in the
latter variety. I measured some of the blooms and found
them in many cases fully two inches across. Their great
beauty lies not only in their size, but also in the fact that gen-
erally more than three flowers grow on one stem. I have
counted as many as ten. The color is as pretty as that of C.
gigantea, but the variations are greater. The white, pink and
bluish white forms are especially beautiful. As Mr. J. Wood
very justly remarks, the bulbs sent to England are all collected in
an unripe state, and therefore takemorethan one year's cultiva-
tion to recover their normal strength. The bulbs of C. Alleni
are smaller and not reddish, as those of C. gigantea. Another
find was a variety of C. Sardensis, with a smoke-colored eye.
This looks like a cross between Scilla bifolia and Chionodoxa
Sardensis, the flower-scape and the very nimierous blooms on
it making me think at first it was a fine variety of Scilla bifolia,
but on closer examination I perceived my mistake.

Your correspondent infers that C. Luciliae is the typical
Chionodoxa here, and that all the rest are varieties. My opinion,
judging from the position in which the various kinds grow, is
that all are variations of C. Sardensis. This form is to be
found on every mountain-range lying between Sardisand Per-
gamos ; whereas the rest are disposed round the limits of its
abode, on only single ranges, or, as in the case of C. gigantea,
on one lofty elevation alone.

In Fritillarias I am getting more puzzled daily. The number
of varieties and the many variations in those varieties are sur-
prising. In F. Armena, the yellow, red and green forms I have
already spoken of, but last year one of my men brought down
from one of the northern spurs of the Taurus a variety with a
larger bell-shaped flower, which deserves a distinct name.
It often has two flowers on each stem. The color is a rich
purple-brown on the outside and old gold on the inside of
the petals. F. aurea varies from pure bright to dark yellow,
spotted brown. F. acmopetalis does not show variations in
color, but in size. Another variety from the Taurus above the
town of Adalia resembles F. Meleagris, and may possibly prove
to be F. latifolia. The variations in this variety are numerous.
Some plants rise to the height of eighteen inches, with a large
pendent flower, superior in size to any of the Meleagris type I
have grown. Others are dwarf, rarely reaching six inches,
with proportionately small flowers. The color in all is
chequered lilac and white. A specialist in this genus would,
I am sure, find some interest in the many specimens I could
send him.

The variations in Snowdrops I expect will prove interesting
to Mr. Allen, who has kindly undertaken to cultivate and prove
all I send him. When I first laid my observations before your
readers, I thought that Galanthus Elwesi, sometimes lanky,
sometimes rounded, and sometimes short, but Elwesi still,
would be the only variety found in our neighborhood. Since
then, however, from the island of Nicaria comes a form with
green glossy leaves ; from the Taurus above the town of Ce-
sarea one with long, thin, whitish leaves and tiny bulbs, and
from the Davros Dagh one with broad, but short leaves, and
with a globular, but small flower.

In Scillas, the one kindly named Whittalli by Mr. Baker, of
Kew, was found near the town of Elmali, where S. Taurica is
said to grow, and for which, by the bye, I have searched in vain
for the last three years. The white eye and stamens of S.
Whittalli and the large blooms make it an interesting variety
of S. bifolia. Another form of this type from the Sultan Dagh
may worthily be distinguished by the additional title of Ro-
busta on account of its large flower-scape and massive foli-
age.

I hope the season just commencing will be richer in new
finds than any of the past, as I have to a great extent perfected
my system of collecting, and my men, besides, will cover
more ground and will be aided by their greater experience. I
have added to my old hobbies Irises and such alpine plants as
are to be found, and the dried specimens sent to Kew will soon
testify to the activity of my collectors.

Cultural Department.

Chrysanthemums.

■p DOTED cuttings of Chrysanthemums intended to produce
■l^ specimen flowers are now being potted into thumb-pots.
We expect to plant them on the greenhouse-benches during the
first week in July. Here they will bloom in November. We
use about six inches of good rich, and rather heavy, loam from
pasture-land, and plant firmly, eight inches apart each way.
The stakes are put in at the same time, and secured in posi-
tion by wires, an operation more easily performed when the
plants are small. The house should be slightly shaded until
the 1st of September, and abundance of air given at all
times.

For green and black aphis and thrips use a decoction of one
pound of tobacco-leaf and one pound of whale-oil soap, dis-
solved and diluted in twenty gallons of water. Occasionally I
add a fungicide in the form of sulphide of potassium. This is
put on with a fine sprayer, and is very effective. The chinch-
bug, however, is our worst enemy. By means of a proboscis
it extracts the sap or juices from the tips of the leaders. The
effect of this is at first seen by the wilting of the plant, and aft-
erward by abortive buds or " blinding." If this does not hap-
pen later than the ist of September a secondary shoot may
develop, but this is not expected to make so fine a bloom as
the leader. Since they live by extracting the juices of the
plants, there is no remedy which can be applied to the surface
of the leaves ; no poison they can be expected to eat, and, con-
sequently, it is hard to fight them with the regular insecticides.
I noticed last year they were sensitive to disagreeable odors.
Part of a batch sprayed with a foetid compound of whale-oil
soap, sulphide of potassium and extract of tobacco was left
comparatively untouched. The green, wingless, immature in-
sect is more voracious than the mature insect.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

Plants for Conservatories in Summer.

'W'ARIOUS gesneraceous plants are useful in brightening the
* conservatory or greenhouse during the summer months.
Many plants of this class are profuse in blooming and brilliant
in color, besides being quite easy to cultivate.

There is, however, one point in the culfivation of such spe-
cies as the Gesneras, Gloxinias, Tydias, Achimenes, Eucodonias
and others of like character, that is not sufficiently observed, and
that is to give them an abundance of manure in the compost.
The quality of both foliage and flowers is wonderfully im-
proved by liberal treatment in this respect. A rather sandy
loam, in which from one-third to one-half of short, well-rotted
manure is mixed, will usually give more satisfaction to plants
of this class than some of the more elaborate composts fre-
quently recommended for the purpose, always providing that
proper attention is paid to watering. Attention to. shading is
also necessary, the foliage of these plants being quite sus-
ceptible to strong sunshine ; this is especially so if any water
is allowed to remain on the leaves, when disfigurement soon
follows.

The many improved forms of Gloxinia crassifolia take a lead-
ing part in the summer display. Their large and showy flow-
ers include a wide range of shades in color, while the massive
and velvety leaves frequently attain a length of ten or twelve
inches in well-grown specimens. The erect-flowering varie-
ties are naturally among the most showy, but those with droop-
ing bells have also a peculiar charm. It is difficult to make a
selection, but a satisfactory assortment will be found among a
few dozen tubers secured from any large bulb dealer. If the
cultivator prefers to enjoy the entire process of growing these
plants, a small quantity of seed of some good strain should be
secured and sown in pans or boxes of light, fine soil and placed
in a warm and shaded portion of the greenhouse. The seeds
are very minute and should therefore be sown on the surface
of the soil in the same manner as Fern-spores.

The small delicate seedlings require care in watering, and
should be pricked out into small pots as soon as they are large
enough to handle, and afterward shifted on into larger pots as
the growth requires it. Some of these seedlings may flower
during the first year, but the majority will make nice little
tubers for the next season's work. Special varieties should be
increased by means of leaf-cuttings in the same manner as
that practiced with Rex Begonias, and these also become avail-
able stock for the following season.

Among the Gesneras there are also a large number of good
garden varieties that are pretty both in flowers and foliage.
"The flowers are usually produced in a large terminal spike, and

276

Garden and Forest.

[Number 279.

Fijf. 40. — Ostrowskia magnifica. — See page 274.

fre<^uently in very bright colors. These plants flourish under
sitniiar conditions to tiiose required for Gloxinias, and are also
like them easily disfigured in their foliage by water. It is a
safe rule not to syringe these plants at any time.

The Achimenes are also good summer-blooming plants for
the conservatory. They deserve much wider popularity, for,

while extraordinary specimens may require extra care in culti-
vation, good average plants of useful size may be obtained
with but little care. They may be grown in succession by
starting a few of the tubercles at a time, and their period of
usefulness is thus prolonged. It should be remembered that
the Achimenes grow better by placing them in their blooming-

June 28, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

277

pots at once instead of repotting them during the time of
active growth, the roots being quite tender and easily injured
bv repotting. A very good effect may be secured by planting
some of these plants in wire baskets in such a way that the en-
tire basket is ultimately covered by the growth, such speci-
mens becoming extremely showy when in full flower.

The new hybrid Streptocarpi also form pretty little plants
when well grown. These are quite free-blooming, and include
some delicate shades of color, though many of i-he seedlings,
from presumably good European strains, produce flowers in
which the reddish violet shades predominate. But by discard-
ing those of objectionable color and collecting seeds only
from the best and purest colors, the strain may be much im-
proved. A light rich soil and partial shade are among the
requirements for the successful cultivation of Streptocarpus.
In potting them, in common with most other members of the
Gesneraceae, it is best not to press the soil too firmly in the pots,
and the drainage must be kept in good condition.

HolmesburR, Pa. IV. H. Taplin.

Spring Bulbs in 1893. — I.

THE season of spring bulbs may be considered as over
when the late Tulips fade and the Spanish Irises begin to
show color. This year the weather has not been such as to
cause them to appear at their best, in this part of the country
at least, for the season was very late, and this delayed the
opening of the earlier kinds, and then came several very hot
days, which not only brought out early and late together, but
caused them to fade much more quickly than they usually do.
Nevertheless, there is so much beauty in these flowers that
even such untoward weather as we had this spring cannot en-
tirely destroy the pleasure which we expect from our gardens ;
the show was very brilliant, if not of long duration.
«^The first to open with me this year was Erythronium albi-
dum, which came even before the Snowdrops, which gener-
ally lead the van. By the side of the latter, when they first
appear, springs up Calochortus splendens, the hardiest of the
genus with me and the first to start ; it is not yet in bloom,
however, and hardly belongs in the present paper.

The Fritillarias are all very pretty, though many of them are
by no means showy. F. imperialis is well known, and so are
F. Meleagris and its lovely white variety, but all lovers of bulbs
should grow F. pallidiHora, which, when established, is a very
stately plant, growing two feet high, with large glaucous leaves,
and producing often as many as ten large pale yellow flowers
as large as small tulips, springing from the axils of the leaves.
F. tulipsefolia is also very fine ; its flowers are about the size
of those of F. Meleagris, and are deep purple inside and ashy
outside. Chionodoxa gigantea is much more showy than
C. Luciliae ; its color is softer and its flowers much larger.

The species of Tulips are for the most part early-flowering.
They are as showy as the Dutch varieties and more interest-
ing. T. Greigi, in its varieties, is one of the first to open, and is
certainly a magnificent flora. It has not a very wide range of
color ; orange and yellow, with black blotches, are its only
hues, but these are so brilliant that " he who beholds it comes
and comes again." This species does not flourish everywhere,
but I am one of the fortunate ones for whom it does its best.
T. apula is one of the strongest growers of the genus, and is
very showy in bloom. Its bulbs are so large and round and
heavy that they could be picked out from among others in the
dark. A very singular fact is noted every year ; soon after
the flower expands a fungus attacks it about half-way up the
stalk and the flower drops over. The brightness of the blos-
som is so great, however, that it is well worth cultivating.
T. sylvestris, witli its graceful, yellow, violet-scented flowers,
is admired by every one who sees it. This kind is more in-
clined than most to produce " droppers," as they are called ;
that is, the bulb is not to be found where it was planted when
the plant dies down ; it has decayed, and from its remains a
root as large as a goose-quill runs down a few inches, bearing
another bulb at its end. The plant has several synonyms.
T. carinata is a kind which we do not so much admire at first ;
we dislike the green keel which runs from base to tip of the
segments of the flower, but a few days later, as we walk along
the rows and find it still bright and fresh when most of the
others have withered, we modify our former verdict.

Tulipa vitellina is a new kind of great beauty, though its
color is not at all what the name denotes, but a very light yel-
low, almost cream color. The flower-stalk is about twenty
inches high, and the flowers, as far as I can judge from one
year's experience, extraordinarily lasting, for they retained
their beauty fully two weeks in spite of the trying weather. T.
Orphanidea is a very pleasingspecies of color Ijetween orange
and buff. T. cornuta, with its long slender petals, is interest-

ing and quaint, but the king of the Tulips is unquestionably T.
Gesneriana, with its immense crimson blue-based cups. T.
macrospila and T. fulgens are kinds which no one should be
without. Yet, in spite of the beauty and interest of the forty or
fifty species which are obtainable, I doubt that any way of lay-
ing out a dollar will give more pleasure than the purchase of
a hundred mixed late single Tulips of the classes known as
by-blooms and bizarres. To walk up and down before a row
of these, comparing one with another, admiring the almost
infinite diversity of markings, is a pleasure equaled only by
the inspection of seedling Gladioli of your own raising. In
looking this over I find that Tulips have taken up most of the
space ; the great variety of other genera must wait until an-
other occa"?ion.

Canton, Mass. W. E. Endicott.

Hardy Flower Garden.

TDOPPIES, Paeonies, Spiraeas and a host of other less showy
■*■ plants are now flowering profusely, and the garden is at its
best. The season has been most favorable for the growth of
plants, and their vigor this year is in many instances astonish-
ing, some plants having increased so much as to make divi-
sion necessary another season. Vincetoxicum acuminatum,
an Asclepiad commonly called the Mosquito-catcher, is now
very attractive. Its myriad of starry white flowers secrete a
viscid substance that attracts mosquitoes, and these insects are
oftentimes trapped by the flowers. It is a good garden-plant,
lasting in bloom many weeks, and can easily be mcreased by
division. Cuttings can be rooted, but they seldom make buds
below the soil, and usually perish in winter. Pyrethrums,
which deserve more general cultivafion, are most useful for
cutting, and last well. We find the double-named kinds less
vigorous than the seedlings raised from seed of double kinds ;
these in their second season give a quantity of useful flowers
that cannot be overpraised. The plants die out somewhat in
winter, our annual loss being about ten per cent. But self-
sown seedlings are always plenfiful in the borders to make
good these losses. Pyrethrums with us thrive equally well in
wet and dry soil.

Scabiosa Caucasica, one of the choicest border-plants we
have, is coming into flower. Like the Pyrethrums, it has a
tendency to die out in winter. It is not of a biennial nature, as
I supposed, as our plants are now flowering for the third sea-
son. There has been a plentiful supply of seed every year to
make good all losses, and we always have a nice bed of it in
reserve to cut from. The color is a pleasing lavender-blue,
rare in the flowers of hardy plants.

Of many varieties, our earliest Campanula to flower is C.
punctata. This is more beautiful than ever this season, and its
spreading habit produces a dense mat of green, from which
spring many stems covered with white flowers, spotted with
brown inside. It is a choice border-plant, growing about
eighteen inches high, much like C. Van Houttei, and there is
no trace of weediness, as in some of the taller and more robust
kinds of Campanula. I have raised seedlings of C. nobilis,
said to be a synonym of C. punctata, but the former is stronger-
growing, spreads rapidly, and is inclined to be weedy. From
a garden standpoint these are very different plants.

During a recent visit to Mr. H. H. Hunnewell's gardens at
Wellesley, I was surprised to find a fine specimen of Eremu-
rus robustus in bloom. The spike was about six feet high
and had been beautiful for a long time, and I was assured that
no protection had been afforded in winter. This opens up a
new field for hardy-plant lovers, as the plant in question had
been but two years planted. There are several other species
of Eremurus, all beautiful and stately plants, natives of Asia.
These will be a welcome addition to our gardens should they
prove as hardy as E. robustus. I have found these plants to
be very impatient of root-disturbance, and when once planted
they should not be disturbed in any way.

Thalictrums are not very ornamental flowering plants, but
have finely cut foliage in all cases. This is especially true of
T. minus adiantifolium, which is as pretty in leaf as the com-
mon Maidenhair Fern. T. Fendleri, a species from Colorado,
is just now highly ornamental, more so than any other species
with which I am acquainted, though there is a Japanese plant
that resembles it somewhat. T. Fendleri does not grow more
than two feet high and thrives in almost any position.

The Columbines are mostly past, and I am sorry to say that
many of the best species have disappeared entirely, and in
their places we have a nondescript lot of self-sown plants that
defy classification. Aquilegia cixrulea, A. glandulosa, A.
Stuartii, and even A. chrysantha can scarcely be called peren-
nial, at least they are not always so with us.

South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpel.

2/8

Garden and Forest.

[Number 279.

Vegetable Notes.

IN the lath-covered summer greenhouse, lately mentioned,
our late Tomato-plants are now (June 21st) just peeping
above ground. This crop of tomatoes will begin to ripen
here late in September, or if the weather is dry as last fall, not
until October. Our object is to have the plants covered with
the finest of well-grown green fruit at the coming of frost.
This fruit will be better adapted to ripening in the house than
would the late remnants on old exhausted plants. An exper-
iment made last fall satisfied me that here at least we can have
tomatoes easily up to the middle of January with little trouble.
As soon as frost cuts the vines we propose to gather all the
green fruit, wrap each in thick brown paper and pack in crates,
just as the green fruit is wrapped when shipped from Ber-
muda. These crates will be placed in a cool dark place, and
our experience leads us to believe that all will ripen per-
fectly. Some of them, instead of being wrapped, will be placed
between layers of raw cotton or cotton-seed hulls. The object
will be to delay their coloring until about Christmas, and then to
ship some of them to the northern market to see if the practice
cannot be made to pay as a commercial matter. The few we kept
last winter were in better condition at Christmas than Bermuda
tomatoes usually are, and I have no doubt the crop can be
made to pay in the south, where the gathering of the green
fruit can often be delayed until the middle or last of Novem-
ber. It has long been a practice with market-gardeners every-
where to gather all the fruit left on the vines and spread them
under sashes in cold frames to ripen, but we know of little
effort to delay their ripening until a later period. The ripening,
when stored in a cool dark place, is slow, but better than in
frames, where many get shriveled from sun-heat.

Another practice which we believe will prove of good value
in the south, if properly undertaken, is the preservation of
sweet-p>otatoes by drying. Last summer I advised the evap-
oration of sweet-potatoes and their reduction to flour. If
put on the market in packages, with recipes for making the
many delicious preparations which our people here know so
well how to make, the product would prove salable. A
lady in Sampson County, in this state, tried this plan on a small
scale and sent me a package. While the article — which was
simplv dried in a stove — was not so pleasing to the eye as it
would have been if made in a good evaporator, the dainties
made from it were excellent. Made upon a large scale and
put up in neatly lithographed packages and properly adver-
tised, I have no doubt that sweet-potato flour would soon be
as popular as corn-starch. The raw material can be furnished
in any quantity and at very low figures. Sweet-potatoes in the
south at twenty-five cents per bushel will pay better than cot-
ton ; and the evaporating on a large scale would make the
culture available at points where the crop under other condi-
tions could not be marketed at all. Then, too, the yams,
which are so much richer in sugar than the dry potatoes grown
northward, would make in this way a superior product.
Raleigh. N. c. ^- ^- Massey.

Correspondence.

Flower Gardens for Children.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The German cities built from the eighth to the tenth
centur)' were all inclosed with a high stone wall for defense
in those warlike times. The houses facing narrow streets
fronted together in irregular shapes and squares. They were
built in this way to encompass an area of ground which was
divided into suitable parts, according to the size of the houses,
and formed the garden, which occupies so large a place in
German family life. Here relatives and visitors are received
and entertained, and the children learn by constant observa-
tion, without any special lesson, the habits of plants.

The garden of our nearest neighbor. Dr. Steffenhagen, was
divided from ours by a Privet-hedee, which allowed my con-
stant observation of his Carnation-beds. This flower was his
special hobby and study. Every spare moment not taken up
in his arduous school-work in the Latin high school in Par-
chim, Mecklenburg, he spent over his favorites. We shared
his joy over each finely developed flower and mourned with
him when a long-awaited promising bud, larger than the rest,
turned out to be a " Platzer " — a flower with a split calyx. One
spring, by advice of the doctor, my mother designated a bed in
our garden for my sole use. True, it was one of the least pro-
ductive, being close around the stem of a large Pear-tree. But
willing hands and continued care made it one of the brightest
spots for years during my school-life. Seeds and plants of

quick-blooming annuals were provided by our kind neighbor.
Adonis, Anagallis, Clarkia, Morning-glories and Nasturtiums,
Bellis perennis. Snowdrops, Crocus, Primulas and Auriculas
were transferred from my mother's beds. Forget-me-nots and
the purple-spiked Cuckoo Flower were brought from the mea-
dow, and Lilies-of-the-valley from the woods. It was an inter-
esting: combination of native and cultivated plants, although
the wild flowers generally died out for the want of their moist
woodland soiW .The long and slender shoots of the Ligustrum
hedge furnished plenty of material for graceful loops around
the border of the bed.

This little spot of ground gave me the first practical garden-
lessons, and besides the pleasure afforded me then has repaid
me many times over in the enjoyment of this kind of work
ever since. The famed gardens on the terraced banks of the
River Po could not have given me the pleasure and genuine
delight which I received from that first little flower-bed of my
own. I often wonder that parents here in America do not give
a space of ground in the city yard or country garden into the
care of their children. Such a plat furnishes healthful outdoor
exercise and helps to form habits of careful observation and
industry. Besides this, it aflbrds the best kind of botanical
and horticultural knowledge and prepares for a real apprecia-
tion of natural beauty.

Hartford, Conn. Wilhelmitie ScUger.

Exhibitions.
The Boston Rose Show.

'T'HE annual Rose and Strawberry Show of the Massachusetts
•^ Horticultural Society was held in its halls in Boston last
week. The Roses, although certainly better than those which
appeared a year ago in Boston, were inferior in quality to
those which Parkman, Gray and other Massachusetts Rose-
growers used to exhibit ten or fifteen years ago, and Rose-
growing in Massachusetts, if it is to be judged by these exhi-
bitions, is deteriorating rather than advancing.

The largest exhibitor of Roses was the Honorable Joseph S.
Fay, of Woods HoU, who carried off the principal prizes this
year, as he did last, securing the special prize for twenty-four
distinct kinds, three of each variety, and for sixteen distinct
named varieties, three of each variety, as well as the first prize
in the section for twelve varieties. Mr. Fay took also the first,
second and third prizes for the best flowers of three varieties,
and for twenty-four distinct named varieties, one flower of
each. For the special prizes offered by the society, Mr. Na-
thaniel T. Kidder, its President, took the first prize for six
blooms of John Hopper, as he did for Marquise de Castellane
and Madame Gabriel Luizet. For twelve blooms of any other
variety, Mr. Fay was again first with General Jacqueminot,
Mr. Kidder being second; with Magna Charta.

Other large exhibitors of Roses were Dr. C. G. Weld and
John L. Gardner, of Brookline, both securing numerous prizes.
Mr. Fay's Roses were of fair size, although not exceptionally
large, well-colored, with good foliage, but, as a rule, lacked
substance. Among the dark-colored kinds Prosper Langier
was particularly noticeable, as was Jenny Dickson in the pinks.
His most interesting Rose, however, was probably the new
white Margaret Dickson, which is particularly beautiful in the
bud, and which, if it does as well in other localities as it does
at Woods Holl, will bean important addition to the small num-
ber of first-rate light-colored hardy perpefuals. In Mr. Gard-
ner's collection Abel Carrifere was noticeable for its great sub-
stance and perfect form.

Remarkably well-grown and well-flowered Gloxinias were
shown by Dr. C. G. Weld, who received the first prize, and by
Mr. Charles Francis Adams.

John L. Gardner and C. G. Weld exhibited small collections
of well-grown Orchids. Flowers of Cattleya Arnoldiana, from
the greenhouse of Hicks Arnold, Esq., of this city, were shown
in excellent condition and attracted much attention, as did
the new tropical African variegated Dracaena Sanderiana,
which was exhibited by its introducers, Sander & Company, of
St. Albans, England ; this is a plant with three or four stems
about eighteen inches high, clothed to the base with narrow,
acute, thick and leathery, dark green lustrous leaves banded
with light yellow stripes. It is as handsome as a good striped
grass and will probably be useful as a house-plant, as its tough-
ness and tenacity of life must be remarkable, this individual
plant having in the last six weeks been shown in Ghent, Chi-
cago and Boston.

Mr. Thomas C. Thurlow made a remarkable display of dou-
ble-flowered herbaceous Peonies in a hundred named varie-
ties. Such a collection has never been seen before in Boston,
and it should do much to arouse interest in this country in

Jdne'28, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

279

these magnificent hardy plants. It must not be forgotten that
the single-flowered varieties are even more beautiful than the
double ones.

Mrs. P. D. Richards brought her usual interesting and in-
structive collection of native plants in flower, including some
good examples of Cypripedium spectabile, from New York.

Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold Arboretum, exhibited a
number of his new hybrid Roses of the multiflora race, and
also a remarkable hybrid between the Japanese Rosa Wichu-
riana and General Jacqueminot ; this has the prostrate stems
and the small dark green foliage of the Japanese species and
pink fragrant double flowers.

There was an excellent display of Strawberries, the new
Marshall taking the lead of the other varieties and winning the
principal prizes. Other successful kinds were Bubach, Leader
and Jessie. Winter Brothers showed Black Hamburg and
Muscat Alexandria Grapes of extraordinary size, although lack-
ing the finish of the Black Hamburgs staged by Mr. E. S. Con-
verse.

Among vegetables the most interesting exhibit was a large
collection of fourteen varieties of wonderfully grown lettuce,
exhibited by the Honorable Josephs. Fay. It is safe to say that
this collection surpassed any other ever exhibited in Boston,
both in variety and quality. Fine peas, radishes, onions,
beets and other vegetables were also shown. On the whole,
the exhibition was one of the most varied, interesting and
instructive which have been seen in Boston at this season
of the year for a long time.

Boston, Mass. C,

The Columbian Exposition.
Recent Arrivafs of Fresh Fruits.

THE first American fresh fruits to arrive at the Fair were
Peen-to peaches from Florida, received early in May.
These have long since passed away, and there has been no
subsequent attempt to show Florida peaches. In fact, no new
Florida fruits are coming in, save a small collection of pineap-
ples from the Indian River region, owing to the lack of any
appropriation by the Legislature to defray the expenses of an
exhibit. The oranges and cocoanuts placed on exhibition at
the opening of the Fair are still attracting much attention,
however. The second lot of peaches arrived on June 12th
from Kentucky. These were a new variety, the Sneed, sent by
W. J. McPheters, of Clinton. This peach originated in Ten-
nessee, and is said to be a seedling of Family Favorite, which
is a seedling of Chinese Cling. The Sneed is thought to mark
the introduction of a new type of very early peaches, although
it has much the appearance of varieties of the Alexander class.
The habit of the tree is said to be much like that of the Chi-
nese peaches. The third lot of peaches arrived June 13th from
central Arkansas. These were Alexander. Two days later
samples of Governor Garland were received from the same
state. This peach differs from Alexander only in minor
characters, and, like all very early peaches, is white-fleshed
and half-clingstone. On June 18th Missouri sent Governor Gar-
land peaches, and on the 20th unnamed peaches were received
from Villa Ridge, southern Illinois.

The first new American apples appeared June isth from cen-
tral Arkansas. These are the Yellow May, a small light yellow
apple with a streaked blush in the sun, valuable only for culi-
nary purposes.

California had cherries on exhibition from Sacramento
County May 17th. Royal apricots are now on the tables from
Yolo County, whence they began to arrive the middle of June.
Loquats, or the so-called Japan plum, were on exhibition six or
eight weeks ago, but have now disappeared. California has
made no attempt to show the early peaches because of the
great distance they would be obliged to travel. A few figs
were received June 13th from D. Bonelli, Ryonville, Nevada.
These were shipped from Nevada May 28th, and were in poor
condition upon arrival, but they came from an unexpected
source, and attracted attention.

As early as June 7th cherries and gooseberries were shown
from Marion County, southern Illinois. The cherries were
Dyehouse and Early Richmond. At the time the first cherries
were received from southern Illinois some varieties were still
in bloom about Chicago, at the northern end of the same state.
The gooseberries which were shown early in June, and which
are still represented on the tables, were Houghton, Mountain
Seedling, Downing, Champion and Industry. Ripe currants
were received June 13th from southern Illinois, and there are
now (June 21st) white grape-currants from Centralia, and Fay
and Red Dutcli currants from Marion County. In gooseber-

ries, currants, raspberries and blackberries Illinois has had the
only exhibits. Among red raspberries, Turner and Brandy-
wine are represented, having come in from Centralia June
20th. Black raspberries first appeared June 14th. Souhegan,
Winona and Kansas are the varieties so far shown. Early
Harvest blackberries were received June 20th from C. H.
Webster, Centralia.

The first new grapes on exhibition was a lot received the
middle of May from Bruni & Brother, Laredo, Texas. This lot,
with subsequent additions, includes some eighty plates of Zin-
fandel. Sweet Water, Muscat of Alexandria, and Tokay, all of
the European type. There is a new white grape in the lot
which the exhibitors have named Samuels, in honor of the
Chief of the Horticultural Department. It is said to be a hy-
brid between a Vinifera variety procured in California and
some native Texan species. The bunch is large and much
compounded or branched, the grapes of medium size and
very thickly set upon the cluster, with a skin adherent, as in
the true Viniferas. The flavor, in the specimens on exhibi-
tion, is not high.

In strawberries, Sacramento County, California, made the
first show. Berries which were picked May nth were on ex-
hibition in both the California and Horticultural buildings May
17th, and a second consignment was received May 23d. These
were all Triomphe de Gand. There have been no subsequent
displays from California. Illinois was early in the field with
strawberries. The first consignments (Gandy and Riehl's No. 6)
were received from the southern part of the state May isth.
There are now in cases Princeton Chief (a new variety from
F. W. Poscharsky, of Princeton), Bubach and Curtis No. 15.
The latter is a very attractive berry of large size and dark uni-
form color, with a tendency to become coxcombed. New
Jersey first had strawberries on exhibition June 7th, from Wil-
liam H. Elvins, Hammonton, comprising Belmont, Sharpless
and Bubach. The display-has been continued and augmented
since that time, the berries being shipped in refrigerator
cases and kept under refrigeration at the Fair. The New
Jersey show is easily ahead of any other. The varie-
ties which are now attracting much attention irom their
great size are Great American, Sharpless, Parker Earle,
Gandy, and Champions of unusual coxcombed shape. New
York began receiving strawberries from the lower Hud-
son River valley June 13th. The first variety shown was Bu-
bach. On June 21st, the sixth consignment of the season was
unpacked. Two installments have been received from the
Experiment Station at Geneva, comprising several compara-
tively new sorts. The long shipment from New Yorli tests
the carrying qualities of strawberries. Among the best ship-
pers are Sharpless, Middlefield, Gandy, Chair's Favorite and
Beverly. These New York berries are shipped in egg-cases,
each berry occupying a compartment with cotton-packing. In
these cases, even Cumberland and other soft berries arrive in
good condition. When the berries are packed in ordinary
cotton-batting, however, the fibre adheres to the fruit and
makes it look mouldy. But if squares of cotton-wadding,
which has a firm or glazed surface, is used, the berries arrive
in clean and excellent condition. The chief New York berries
now on the shelves are Bubach, Sharpless, Downing, Jessie,
Cumberland, Gandy, Middlefield and Parker Earle. The New
York exhibit also shows fifty-one varieties of Strawberries
growing and bearing in eight-inch pots. A single unnamed
variety of Strawberry from Idaho was placed on exhibition June
i6th. On June 17th, a lot of Clark's Early, a new variety, was
received by the Oregon people in good condition, after having
traveled 2,500 miles without refrigeration. Six days after its
arrival this berry is still firm. It is medium in size, exceed-
ingly solid and tough, reminding one somewhat of the Glen-
dale. The color of both exterior and flesh is very dark dull
red. The berry is not high in quality, but it certainly gives
every promise of being a good shipper. On June 21st the
first strawberries arrived from Michigan, Minnesota and On-
tario. Michigan had Jessie and Warfield from Benton Har-
bor, Minnesota had Crescent, and Ontario showed nineteen
varieties, mostly in poor condition, although Jessie, Beder
Wood, Daisy and Farnsworth stood the journey well.
Chicaso, III. L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

During the past season the Vermont maple-sugar laboratory
weighed for inspection 4,759,762 pounds of maple-sugar, and
the bounty received for it will be about $70,000.

The Fraxinellas are now in bloom, both the type and the
white variety. Large plants of the latter are very attractive
now with the tall spikes of flowers above the leaves. Both

28o

Garden and Forest.

piUMBER 279.

kinds are easily grown, and, once established, they will live
for years with no extra care. They are plants which should
have a more prominent place in the hardy-tlower garden.

Tomatoes are dried for market in Italy. The ripe fruit is
pressed, tlie skins and seeds strained out, tlie juicy pulp is
spread out to dry and atterward broken and ground for
packing.

It is hard to have too many plants of the Yellow Day Lily,
Hemerocallis flava. The lemon-yellow, sweet-scented flowers
are borne on stems two and a half feet high, and they are not
only beautiful in the garden, but are admirable when cut for
filling large vases, where the buds will continue to open in
succession for several days.

A new Snowdrop, Galantlius gracilis, which flowers in Bul-
garia in March, is mentioned by Mr. J. G. Baker, in a late num-
ber of the Gardeners' Chronicle. It is nearly alhed to G. EI-
wesii, being similar in stature and having a large blotch at the
base of the inner segments of the perianth. The apical lobes
are oblong and not crisp at the edges. The plant seems to be
widely distributed throughout Bulgaria.

The Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum) is not often culti-
vated, and yet it is very useful where dense masses of shrub-
bery are needed. A fortnight ago they were in full bloom, and
very effectiveamongothershrubsalongthedrives in the Arnold
Arboretum. They make small trees or tall shrubs eight or
ten feet high, with brown twigs, good foliage and greenish
yellow flowers in erect slender racemes.

The pure white Ascension Lily (Lilium candidum) seems
to have escaped the disease which a few years ago threat-
ened to make its cultivation impossible here. Plants about
New York are flowering abundantly. Few objects in a hardy-
flower garden are more beautiful than a mass of these flowers
with a dark green background or interspersed with tall spikes
of tl>e pure blue Delphinium formosum, which is now at its
best.

We have received from Mr. Joseph Meehan a branch of
Cistus laurifolius, and although the flowers last only for a day,
the form and character of the clear white blossoms were still
distinctly shown in this specimen. The leaves are somewhat
viscid of gummy, and have a pleasant aromatic odor. This is
a verv old plant in European gardens, but it is considered ten-
der here, and it is, therefore, worth noting that the shrub from
which tli'is branch was taken has stood out in the Meehan nur-
series at Germantown for four years, and has never been in-
jured in the least. This beautiful evergreen, therefore, ought
to be classed among the shrubs which are probably hardy in
the latitude of Philadelphia. The flowers are produced freely
in succession for several days.

The Secretary of War has appointed a commission, consisting
of Colonel John P. Nicholson, of Philadelphia, editor of the
American edition of the History of the Civil War in America,
by the Comte de Paris ; Mr. John B. Batchelder, of Massachu-
setts, and General Forney, of the Confederate army, to mark
the Confederate lines at Gettysburg. The Union lines have
been thoroughly designated at the expense of $863,017, the
state of Pennsylvania having contributed a little over the half
of the amount, or $441,000. When the Comte de Paris visited
the tield for the first time two years ago he declared tliat
Europe had no such impressive spectacle as an attraction for
tourists. It is not improbable that the position of the camps
of the different state troops at Valley Forge may eventually be
marked somewhat on the plan pursued at Gettysburg.

A correspondent of The Country Gentleman says that hun-
dreds of acres of Watermelons are grown in south-western
Georgia for the seed alone. These Melons are grown from
seed furnished by northern seedsmen, who take the entire
product of the land planted at a contract price, which varies
from twelve and a half up to twenty-five cents a pound for a
few varieties. Light sandy land is selected, and the seed is
planted six feet apart, with a iiandful of compost in each hill.
When the melons are thoroughly ripe, barrels are taken into
the field and the melons hauled to them in wagons. They are
then split open and all the seeds and some pulp are taken out
by hand and emptied into a barrel, where the mass is left to
ferment until the seeds sink to the bottom. After fermenta-
tion the water is poured off, the seeds washed and dried. The
average yield is about 150 pounds to the acre, which gives a
gross return of only $18.75. The land, however, is too poor
for anything else, and the after crop of Crab Grass hay is worth
nearly as much as the seed.

Deutzia parviflora, which has just gone out 01 bloom, differs

very much in the appearance of its flowers from any of the
other varieties in cultivation. These flowers are not of a
snowy whiteness, like those of D. gracilis, but are creamy
white, prettily arranged in large corymbs, and vary from
over one-third to one-half an inch across. They resemble in
general appearance small Hawthorn-blossoms, and have some-
thing like the Hawthorn's fragrance. D. parviflora is a stout
shrub with upright stems four or five feet high, and the flowers
in early June quite cover the upper portions of the stems. It
seems to us the most beautiful of the threeorfourspeciesnow
cultivated, and it is altogether one ot the hardiest and most
desirable of the shrubs which have come to us in recent years
from Asia. It is a native of northern China and the Amoor
country, and it was sent a few years ago from the St. Petersburg
Garden to the Arnold Arboretum, from which place it has
found its way into many of the large collections of the coun-
try, although it is not as widely known as it should be. The
reproduction of a photograph of a flowering branch of this
shrub was published in the first volume of Garden and
Forest.

Latest advices from Greece show that the downy mildew
has attacked the Currant-plants in Patras, Zante and some of
the other coast districts, and there is reason to fear that much
damage will be done, although Currant-growers in the east
have learned to use the copper compounds for spraying
against mildew. It is probable that in a few years currants
from California will be as common in our markets as other
fruits are now, since the experiments in cultivating this berry
there have proved most encouraging. Fruit dealers are
looking forward confidently to the time when European cur-
rants will be subject to competition with the California prod-
uct, just as European prunes and raisins now are. The prune
crop of Bosnia and Servia is likely to be up to tlie average,
and the crop ot French prunes will be abundant and good.
Encouraging reports come from Spain as to the crop of Valen-
cia raisins, and a careful review ot the situation in the yournal
of Commerce concludes that there is likely to be an abundance
of fruit from all sections of the world, with low prices. Good
mangoes are now arriving from the West Indies and bring one
dollar a dozen. The fancy fruit stores are offering an orange
called the Columbus, from Rodi, Italy, which is superior to any
other Mediterranean fruit. It is the best of summer oranges
and ranks with first-class Florida fruit in winter. These sell at
sixty cents a dozen. Small striped summer apples from Geor-
gia are fifty cents a dozen. Huckleberries are coming in from
Maryland, blackberries from Delaware, and raspberries from
New Jersey.

In reply to an inquiry whether farmers should be advised to
go into Pear-culture, Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry reply in the
Rural New Yorker that in a long experience they do not re-
member a single case where fruit-growing, when conducted
properly, has resulted in failure. The failures which have
occurred can always be traced to some error in care or culti-
vation. An indispensable requisite to Pear-culture is a well-
drained soil and trees set well apart. Dwarf trees should be
separated by at least fifteen feet and standards by twenty-five
feet. Pruning and thinning should be carefully practiced and
no low grade ot fruit offered for sale unless it is so marked.
The finest fruit should always be carefully sorted and the
package marked so that they will be recognized at once as the
highest grade. In this way growers can obtain a reputation
for first-class products. The most profitable Pear is the Anjou.
Clairgeau also commands a high price by its handsome ap-
pearance, although it is of medium quality. Winter Nelis is
profitable for midwinter, because it bears heavily and ripens
about February ist. Mr. T. T. Lyon, of Michigan, in replying
to the same question, holds that it is hardly sate for any one
to embark in Pear-culture, except experimentally, until he
knows well the soil and climate ot the contemplated locality,
and has become thoroughly familiar with approved systems
of management. To a man thus equipped the venture may
be commended as eminently promising. Dr. Hoskins thinks
a man who knows how, and who will do as well as he knows,
and is not too far from a good market, can make Pear-grow-
ing pay as well as growing any other Iruit. He would not
advise any one engaged in farming or dairying or stock-rais-
ing to abandon these occupations for Pear-growing, since one
business is enough for one man.

Mr. A. C. Hammond, who has been Secretary of the Illinois
Horticultural Society for several years, died at his home at
Warsaw, in that state, on the 20th of June. He was widely
known and much esteemed among horticulturists, and his loss
will be deeply felt.

July 5, 1S93.]

Garden and Forest.

, ^ . ■ • - ff

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND -CL.A.SS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles ; — The Preservation of Soil-moisture by Shallow Tillage. . . 281

Bestowal of Degrees by Harvard and Yale 281

The Use of Flowers in Ceremonies Ninfteentk Century. 282

In a Mexican Garden C. G. Pringle. 283

Botanical Notes from Texas. — IX E. N. Plank. 283

Foreign CoRREspoNrENCE: — Horticultural Education in France. — II H. 284

New or Little-known Plants : — Xanthoceras sorbifolia. (With fig;ure.) 284

Cultural Department : — Wild or Single Roses for Cultivation y. G. Jack. 286

The Rock Garden r. D. H. 287

Plants in Bloom y. N. Gerard. 288

The Cultivation of Sweet Corn T. Creiner. 288

Correspondence : — Dutch Bulbs m America ..IV.E. EneiicoU, 288

The Columbian ExposrrioN : — Plants in Bloom Professor L. H. Bailey. 289

Notes 289

Ilh;stration : — Xanthoceras sorbifolia. Fig. 41 285

The Preservation of Soil-moisture by Shallow
Tillage.

IN a recent issue we spoke of the necessity of surface
tillage for checking the waste of soil-water by evap-
oration. Referring to this advice, a correspondent asks
whether the stirring of the soil in hot weather does not
help to hasten the drying-out process rather than retard it.
Some of the most difficult problems in physics are involved
in the movement of water in the soil, and no doubt there
are many things yet to be learned. However, we can ac-
cept some facts as established. Some six or eight years
ago there was a very general discussion by agricultural
writers as to the value of summer tillage, and there were
many experiments conducted in the state stations of New
York, Missouri and elsewhere. From these and from data
already gathered by European experimenters, it came to
be accepted as generally true that ground covered with sod
lost water more rapidly by evaporation than ground from
which all vegetation was removed, and that ground which
was stirred lightly at the surface lost less water than ground
which was simply kept free from vegetation. Of course,
results vary much in different kinds of soil, and there are
many conditions of drainage, porosity, percentage of water
to the soil, etc., to be taken into account, but the theory
that most students accepted was, that water rises readily
by capillary attraction through a compacted soil and it
passes off in vapor when it reaches the surface. On the
other hand, when the surface is stirred so that an inch or
two of soil is loosened the particles are so separated that
capillary attraction does not take place, and this covering
laid as a mulch on the compacted earth below prevents, to
a certain extent, the escape into vapor of the moisture
which arises to the point where the compacted earth had
been broken.

In a recent number of the Pacific Rural Press it is stated
by General Chipman, of Red Blutf, California, that he once
left off cultivating his vineyard at a critical time, having
been advised that since the weather was hot the earth
which he turned up would soon lose its moisture, and that

each cultivation would turn up a new layer to dry out. He
was told that the crust which had formed on top of his land
would check the water from passing off in vapor, but his
vines began to languish as cultivation ceased and he was
compelled to rig up a portable tank and haul water a mile
to assuage their thirst. In his dilemma he wrote to Pro-
fessor Hilgard, who reminded him, in reply, that if a dry
brick was laid on a wet sponge the brick would soon absorb
all the water; if a dry sponge was laid on a wet brick,
however, the sponge would not absorb the water. Profes-
sor Hilgard compared the crust on top of the ground to a
brick on a sponge and suggested that the impacted surface
was rapidly taking up the moisture and letting it off in
vapor, that, therefore, the true course was to keep the
ground tilled on the surface. In General Chipman's lan-
guage, the surface pulverization acted like a woolen blanket
thrown over ice, its non-conductive quality helping it to re-
tain the moisture in the soil where it could be taken up
by the roots.

Of course, weeds must not be left in the ground for they
pump up the moisture night and day. But, besides the
value of surface culture in destroying weeds, successful
fruit-growers find that the practice of pulverizing the sur-
face proves to be useful in preserving moisture. Market-
gardeners assert that light summer showers, in a compara-
tively dry time, are often injurious rather than otherwise, for
the ground at once hardens into a crust and the soil soon
gives out more water to the air than has fallen in the
shower. They, therefore, at once break up this crust and
arrest the evaporation. Of course, deep tillage would not
be advisable, even if it did not break the roots of the grow-
ing crops. All the ground that is turned up loosely or in
clods loses its moisture in the hot air. The true plan is to
stir the soil to a sufficient depth to make a light mulch. In
California vineyards fine slant-toothed harrows are used for
this purpose. Any implement which gives a light and
shallow stirring to the soil is effective.

The importance of this matter will be understood when
it is remembered that in most of our agricultural lands the
evaporation throughout the whole season nearly equals
the rainfall, which directly enters the soil, and that it is
probable that during the growing season of most crops
evaporation largely exceeds the rainfall. Inasmuch as
plants take all their nourishment dissolved in water, it is
necessary for a full crop to husband the soil-moisture with
the greatest care. Hellriegel's well-known experiments
show that it is probable that the water exhaled by an
average Barley crop, together with that evaporated from
soil, is fully equal to all the rain which falls during the
growth of the crop, and that during several of the years
in which the experiments at Dahme were made the rain-
fall was wholly insufficient for the needs of such a crop,
not to speak of the large crops which can be raised in
some favored regions. Many European investigators, in
studying the question, have found that the rain which falls
on their agricultural fields does not suffice to produce large
crops, and for most temperate regions it may be consid-
ered as established that there is not enough of rain-water
for really good crops. In view of these considerations, too
much care can hardly be taken in ordinary seasons to
check the evaporation of soil-water, so that it may be.avail-
able for the use of orchards and vineyards and gardens.

Gardening and horticulture were honored last week
in this country in a manner which we believe is without
a prpf edent. On the same day the two foremost universities
of the country. Harvard and Yale, conferred upon Frederick
Law Olmsted the degree of Doctor of Laws in recognition
of his creative genius as a landscape-gardener, which in all
parts of the country has continuously impressed itself upon
American civilization from the day, forty years ago, when
his conception of the Central Park, in this city, marked a
distinct era in the formation of great urban parks until the
celebration of the four-hundredth anniversary of the dis-
covery of America offered him the opportunity to show, to

282

Garden and Forest.

[Number 280.

the world assembled at Chicago the possibilities of his art
in a work which of its kind has never been equaled in
beauty or convenience. Last year the University at Carn-
bridge bestowed an honorary degree upon an architect, in
whose person art was thus honored ; this year it is a land-
scape-gardener who is distinguished by two venerable seats
of learning. These facts are of the highest significance,
as they show more clearly than anything that has occurred
before the position which art is assuming in this country
and the growing appreciation in which artists are held here.
Harvard further honored herself in placing upon her roll
of honorary Masters of Arts the name of Horatio Hollis
Hunnevvell, in recognition of his attainments in horticul-
ture, which he has practiced with singular success for more
than half a century, and which he has advanced by his own
knowledge and example, and by his generous and enlight-
ened support of every effort which has been undertaken in
his time in this country to increase the knowledge of plants
and the love of cultivating them.

A^

The Use of Flowers in Ceremonies.

N interesting article contributed to the Nineteenth Century,

'- some years ago, by Mr. A. Lambert, gave us a learned
summary of the extended use of flowers for solemn festivals,
with many quotations from classic writers and historians,
showing the high appreciation in which they were held by the
ancients. From the eariiest ages to the present time, among
the most primitive people, as well as the most cultivated,
flowers have been used in all greatceremoniesasanimportant
factor in their splendors. The barbarous Polynesian propi-
tiates with them his cruel god and wreathes his victim for the
sacrifice with their lovely forms, strewing the ground about
his dead with petals and green leaves, while all travelers tell of
the habit of the natives of the Pacific islands of adorning them-
selves with garlands on all important occasions. In India
Bralima is represented as springing from a Lotus-flower, and
the temples are heavy with the perfume of Jessamine and
other fragrant blossoms. The shrines and steps leading to the
temples of the gods are kept strewn by the priests with the
Lotus, daily renewed ; and in an ancient Cinghalese chronicle
it is recorded that the regulations of a certain temple in the
thirteenth century prescribed " every day an offering of one
hundred thousand blossoms, and each day a different kind of
flower." In one part of the Hindoo marriage-rite the officiat-
ing priest binds together the hands of the bride and groom
with a gariand of flowers, which is removed by the maiden's
father during the recital of the holiest verse of the Vedas. At
their burial services the Hindoos use flowers in great profu-
sion, burying their children's bodies decked with them, and
ornamenting the funeral pyre of adults with wreaths and scat-
tered blossoms. Flowers are offered for the ten days succeed-
ing the burning of bodies on a small altar at the door of the
dead man's home, and the final ceremony of all is the journey
to the burial ground of all the near kinsmen of the departed
with vessels filled with flowers and roots. Wherever Bud-
dhism prevails, in China. Japan, Tartary, Thibet and India, and
throughout the eastern archipelago, floral offerings are every-
where met with— at shrines, in temples and on tombs. The
Persian love of flowers is well known, and nowhere is there
more sentiment expressed for the beauty of a rare blossom
than in that romantic land of the Bulbul and the Rose.

Not alone in the land of Brahma, but in Egypt, was the Lotus
sacred to the gods. There, too, the god of day was seen rising
from its cup-like flower, and whenever an Egyptian went to
worship it was with the Lotus-flower in his hand, sacred to his
immortal deities. They made oblations of bouquets of pre-
scribed form of this flower, and also offerings of single blos-
soms of different kinds upon the altars of Ra. In the papyri
in the British Museum are many illustrations representing
these rites, the colors of the flowers still beautifully preserved,
as if painted yesterday. Here we see garlands laid upon the
altars, and the statues wreathed with them in splendid profu-
sion. The Helichrysos was in great request for these wreaths,
both for its unfading character and Its brilliant golden hue. At
the feasts held in honor of the dead the guests were decked
with flowers, and offerings of them were continually made in
the buildings where mummies were kept before they were
entombed. In military triumphs the returning armies were
met at each great town by a procession of priests and leading
citizens, bearing garlands and palm-branches, to welcome
their return.

The wreaths and chaplets worn for ornament among the

Egyptians were not only the favorite Lotus, but also the Chrys-
anthemum, the Anemone, the Convolvulus, Collsebay and
Acacia. Plutarch tells us that when the King of Sparta visited
Egypt he was so pleased with the wreaths of papyrus sent him
by 'the king that he took some of them back with him. At
leasts each guest was presented with a Lotus, which he hold
in his hand 'throughout the meal. Necklaces of flowers were
also furnished, and a garland also worn upon the head, with a
single Lotus bud or flower hanging down in the middle of the
forehead. Flowers adorned the walls and the great jars about
the room, servants constantly renewing the blossoms of the
guests as they faded— a refinement of attention to which we
have not yet attained at our dinners. Again, the bowl was
wreathed with flowers, and a vase of Lotus-blossoms was
placed upon a stand, or was presented to the master of the
house by an attendant.

In our own continent the Aztecs rejoiced in floral decora-
tions, offering them solemnly to their gods in such quantities
that the etTect was shown in the splendid gardens in which
Mexico abounded. Flowers were presented by them on all
ceremonious occasions to those they delighted to honor, to
the king, to ambassadors, to people of rank ; and they had a
Goddess of Flowers, whose feast was annually celebrated by
a flower-crowned and wreathed procession.

If among the Jews flowers were little used in sacrifice, ex-
cept to wreathe the horns of the vicfim, we still note that the
Olive and the Palm were used on solemn occasions in times of
public rejoicing. Thus, Judith crowned herself with Lilies to
do honor to Holofernes.

Among the Greeks and Romans the use of flowers was al-
most universal, and there are countless passages from their
poets where they are forever embalmed in fitting verse. Par-
ticular flowers were dedicated to different deities. The Nar-
cissus was the flower of the mighty goddesses, the Poppy was
sacred to Ceres, the Anemone to Venus, the Lily to Juno, the
Myrtle to Diana. Upon the altars Laurel was burned in the
ea'rllest times, and a chaplet of Violets was a holy offering.
The couch on which the dead lay was strewn with blossoms,
and the grave constantly adorned with wreaths. Even Cara-
calla laid garlands of flowers upon the tomb of Achilles when
he visited it, and Ovid, when an exile, wrote to his wife : " Per-
form the funeral rites for me when I am dead and offer chap-
lets wet with your tears."

Chaplets were worn at meals among both Greeks and Ro-
mans, the Rose being esteemed then, as now, the queen of
flowers. Aristophanes gives us a picture of the tipsy Alci-
biades, staggering about, crowned with ivy and violets, his
head bound with many fillets. So little did wreaths accord
with a sobriety of characterthat at one time the Romans visited
with severe punishment whoever appeared with one in public.
The Roman bridal wreath wasgenerally of Verbena plucked by
the bride ; the bridegroom also was crowned with flowers and
the marriage-bed wreathed with garlands. But the laws of
Rome were strenuous about the unlawful use of garlands, and
a certain banker at the time of the second Punic War was im-
prisoned by order of the Senate for sixteen years for looking
down from the balcony of a house with a wreath of Roses
upon his head. Publius Munatius was put in chains for hav-
ing crowned himself with flowers taken from the statue of
Marsyas, and the tribunes refused to interfere in his behalf.

The Christians continued the custom of the Romans, and
the stately ceremonial of the Latin Church, until this day. Is
always emphasized with floral decorations. Though for a time
Puritan influence banished them from New England churches,
the natural love of these beautiful adornments has resumed
full sway, and no function Is now complete without their per-
fumed presence.

There Is no ceremony at which they are inappropriate. They
come felicitously with congratulations for a birth, they deco-
rate the debutante, and glow In the button-hole of the college
graduate. They crown, with fitting sweetness, the brow of the
bride ; they are present at our altars, our feasts, and at our
triumphs as of yore, and are the last sad tokens of affection
that follow us to our long home, and brighten the sod under
which we lie In our final sleep, thus attending us from the cra-
dle to the tomb with their ever- valued minlstrafions.

Old trees in their living state are the only things that money
cannot command. Rivers leave their beds, run into cities and
traverse mountains for It ; obelisks and arches, palaces and
temples, amphitheatres and pyramids rise up like exhalations
at its bidding ; even the free spirit of man, the only thing
great on earth, crouches and cowers in its presence. It passes
away and vanishes before venerable trees.

_ Walter Savage Landor.

July 5, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

283

In a Mexican Garden.

FOR a few liours of a sunny day in October last I was a guest
in an old garden in a village situated by the base of the
volcano of Toluca, fully 8,500 feet above the sea ; and I found
interest in observing what plants are employed by the Mexicans
to form a flower-garden and how these succeed at so high an
altitude. Light frosts fall in the region, but snows never.
The season of growth extends from June to October, a short
summer ; and the sun during this period is obscured one-
third of the time, while the temperature scarcely mounts
above eighty degrees, Fahrenheit.

The garden was a quinta, that is, a large garden in the sub-
urbs of a town, devoted usually to flowers, fruits and vegeta-
bles, mixed. In the little interior court of their town-house
the ladies of the family who entertained, cared for a similar col-
lection of plants, growing in beds in the soil around the cen-
tral fountain or in great red vases set in a line just under the
colonnade surrounding the court— vases of Hydrangeas,
Tuberoses, Lilies, Irises, Geraniums, Fuchsias, Roses, etc. The
quinta was ampler, an acre or more in extent, and was located
by the threshing-floor and granaries of the hacienda, where it
joined the village. It was enclosed with a high wall of adobes,
more to afford seclusion and security than shelter for the
plants. Hither came the family with their friends, whenever
they wished to leave their close house for a ramble and an
hour in the open air. To serve this use is the design of the
quinta It was laid out with broad walks and borders and was
shaded by a few trees. There was the Australian Gum-tree,
the furor for which of twenty years ago the Mexicans shared,
having been induced to plant it to the exclusion of more
beautiful native trees by a German, who had a nursery m the
capital city. It succeeds here only too well ; there was the
Montezuma Pine, Bentham's Cvpress, Bonpland's Wfllow, of
erect growth and dark green foliage, the Weeping Willow and
the Pepper-tree, with drooping branches quite as graceful as
the last and with finer foliage.

Of shrubs I noted Viburnum Opulus, Datura arborea, a va-
riety with blood-red flowers, the Crape Myrtle, the common
Philadelphus, Cassia bicapsularis, with abundant yellow flowers
long maintained ; there were great clumps of a double-flow-
ered Hibiscus ten feet high, Roses of choicest varieties scat-
tered here and there, with a hedge of them hiding the back
wall and overtopping it ; Fuchsias in variety, six or eight feet
high and woody with age, all blooming throughout most of
the year, and Hydrangeas, favorite flowers with the Mexicans.
Geraniums with double and with single flowers, and Pelargo-
niums in variety stood, shrub-like, two to five feet high. There
were Cactuses' leaning against the walls or climhmg over
them; slender-stemmed species of Cereus and thick flat-
jointed Opuntias, whose flowers are among the most striking,
and whose fruits are edible. The tall grass, Arundo Donax, which
is not uncommon in northern gardens, stood in large old clumps,
and there were patches of Ribbon Grass (Phalaris arundinacea).
Here, too, were large old masses of Agapanthus umbellatus,
Mirabilis multittora, Callas, Cannas, Crinums, Tigridias, Gladi-
oluses and Irises, all ahke thriving in the open soil. Among
pretty native flowers, such as species of Salvia, Cuphea and
Ipomoea, mingled many flowers whose acquaintance I made
in the old-fashioned gardens of my New England home, such
as Larkspurs, Marigolds, Pinks, Chrysanthemums, the Mullein
Pink, the Jerusalem Cherry, the Everlasting Pea, the Bugloss,
Viola odorata, V. tricolor, (Enothera biennis, Euphorbia, La-
thvrus, Saxifraga crassifolia and Vinca major. To meet with
these familiar flowers amid foreign scenes was hke falling in
with old friends abroad. ^ ^ Pringle.

Charlotte, V t. °

Botanical Notes from Texas.— IX.

CITY is a looser term in the newer than in the older portions
of the country. Here a village is seldom seen. Small
towns of one or two thousand inhabitants usually take upon
themselves the burdens as well as the dignities of city govern-
ment. So San Marcos is a little city of about three thousand
persons, lying ihiny miles south-west of Austin. It is a little
south of the thirtieth parallel and near the ninety-eighth meri-
dian. At San Marcos, as at New Braunfels, San Antonio,
Uvalde, Del Rio and other places along the line that separates
the older from the newer Texas, a river flows, fully formed,
from the base of the hills, or mountains, as Texans call them.
San Marcos river, after a short career of its own, joins the
Blanco about two miles from the city. A few miles farther
on their united waters overtake those of the Guadalupe, and
with them flow on to the Gulf of Mexico.

San Marcos is an interesting locality for a botanist to
visit. It is sufficiently far south-west for an abundance of the

plants peculiar to that region, and few places in Texas, so easy
of access, will reveal to a lover of nature more strange plant-'
forms. In a ramble over the bluffs near the source of the river,
I met very commonly Ehretia elliptica, some individuals afoot
in diameter. This is about the northern limit of the species,
though it is found farther eastward. Its fruit at this writing
is nearly grown.

Condalia obovata is here a foot in diameter and thirty feet
tall. Its wood is, according to Sargent, of greater specific grav-
ity than that of any other known North American forest-tree,
except its Florida cogener, C. ferrea. Lippia ligustrina is
abundant. A garden name for the species is Tree Heliotrope.
Mexicans call it Cabradora. Guiacum angustifolium is a
remarkable and handsome small tree, with narrow evergreen
leaves and light purple flowers. The succeeding fruit, which
is obcordate and two-lobed, contains two red seeds as large as
peas. Its roots possess strong smegmatic properties ; they
are largely used by Mexicans in cleansing clothes, and hence its
most common appellation, Soap Brush. It is also known as
Lignum Vitae, and as Guayacan. I have not before seen this
species so far eastward. Morus microphylla is near by, with
its fruit already ripe, and Ampelopsis heptaphylla is just com-
ing into flower. Diospyros Texana is seen in arborescent forms,
and also Xinthoxylum Pterota rarely. Parkinsonia aculeata is
now in the full glory of its spring blooming. Antirrhinum mati-
randioides is common. The shrubby Eupatorium agera-
tioides hangs from the rocks and keeps company with the
shrubby Salvia ballotsefolia. A Croton with a woody stem, be-
coming three or four feet tall, is still more common.

Of southern herbaceous plants there are Cooperia Drum-
mondii. Chaptalia nutans, Lindheimera Texana, Lasquerella
grandiflora, Gonolobus reticulata and Pinaropappus roseus.
The generic name of the last-named is significant of its dirty-
appearing pappus, while its handsome rose-colored flowers in-
dicate the propriety of its specific appellation. Lindheimer's
Castilleia grows in rocky places. Near it is Krameria secundi-
flora, bearing handsome purple flowers. Texans call its rough
fruit Stump Bur. Sedum Torreyi, extending north-eastward
to Missouri, is very common in central Texas.

The handsome Lupinus subcarnosus, which gives character
to the flora of this region in Marchand April, is just fruidng and
losing its beauty. I have found here a form of this species,
smaller in size and of a paler green than the type, bearing pure
white flowers. Vernonia Lindheimeri is here, and Black-
eyed Susan, Rudbeckia bicolor.

One of the handsomest, as wefl as most common, plants of
this region is Gaillardia pulchella. Persons who have only
seen specimens of this species growing singly in the garden,
can form little idea of its beauty as seen here, where it mantles
acres of damp woods and prairies with its large flowers. It is
known, not inappropriately, as Blanket Flower.

Rubus trivialis, the southern Dewberry, abounds every-
where in rocky places. Its pleasant fruit has furnished our
hotel for three weeks with excellent pies and cobblers. Ber-
beris trifoliata, one of the commonest shrubs around San
Marcos, is now loaded to bending with its ripe red berries.
Passiflora incarnata, whose pleasantly acid fruit is called
Maypops in the south, is very abundant, climbing over
rocks and fences.

Many species of trees and plants that are common north and
east thrive well in south-western Texas. The White Elm is
still found in our tour. In rich valleys it is stately and majes-
tic. Box Elder is here handsomer than ever. A southern
climate seems to suit its taste. Its light green leaves contrast
pleasantly with the deeper hue of the Elms and Cottonwoods.
I saw several Cypress-trees along the Blanco that were three
feet in diameter. The so-called Cypress-knees are probably
only abortive attempts of the species to reproduce itself from
its roots. When at Lake Charles, Louisiana, I saw in the lake
knees around small Cypress- trees that bore twigs and leaves.
The suppression of the leaves would not hinder the knees
from continuing to participate in the growth of the parent tree.
Hackberry, in many puzzling forms, if not in several species,
is very abundant throughout all this region. It is more com-
monly planted as a street and lawn tree than any other species.
Viburnum prunifolium. Ilex decidua and Callicarpa Ameri-
cana are not uncommon. Two species of Crataegus, Rhamnus
Carolinianus, and two species of Cornus are often to be seen.
Ampelopsis quinquefolia is more common than its south-
western congener, already mentioned, and all our native spe-
cies of Cissus are abundant. Phytolacca decandra. Poke-weed, is
as common here as in the north. The introduced Horehound is
taking much of the outlying land, and the common Mullein is
abundant in dry sterile places. In Kansas it is already as far
west as the one-hundredth meridian.

San Maix:05.

E. N. Plank.

284

Garden and Forest.

[Number 2S0.

Foreign Correspondence.
Horticultural Education in France.— II.

OF special schools for students in horticulture France
has a good number, many of which are private estab-
lishments, founded and conducted by individual enterprise,
some being local institutions under the care of boards or
charities, while a few, principally the National School of
Horticulture, are kept up by state aid and money.

The National School of Horticulture, established in 1873
by a decree of the National Assembly (the first Legislature
after the war of 1870-71), enjoys the great advantage of
being located at Versailles in the buildings belonging
to the ancient Potager Royal, established under Louis
XIV. by La Quintinie, which was kept up as a public estab-
lishment by every successive Government in France, and
may still be shown as a model fruit and vegetable garden.
The Potager Royal was especially successful at the time
of the Second Empire, under the able management of Mr.
Hardy, who, when there was no longer an imperial house-
hold to be provided for, was left in charge of the establish-
ment, which continued to be supported by public money,
with the difference that the produce was offered for sale,
and the proceeds covered, to a great extent, the cost of
keeping and management Mr. Hardy was the first Director
of the School of Horticulture, and made it what it is, the
very centre of horticultural training in France. Such is
still the state of things, and while the students of the Hor-
ticultural School do all the garden work, they are provided
with an unequaled field of study in great collections of
fruit and other trees, Roses, flowering shrubs, perennial
and other plants.

The severe frosts of the winter of 1879-1880 told terribly
on the old Pear-trees planted by La Quintinie, only about
half a dozen of which were spared. These now show
pyramids of wonderful vigor, without any deficiency in
limb or foliage, and are covered with fruit to the top, which
rises to more than fifty feet. No less than 600 varieties of
Pear-trees are grown at the Potager de Versailles, and ex-
amples of all the known forms of training are to be seen
there, the "pyramide" and "contre-espalier" being in favor
above all other methods.

Students are not inmates of the National School of Hor-
ticulture, but live in the town of Versailles. Many are pro-
vided for by Government or private grants, a good number
are supported by towns or districts, and some by horticul-
tural societies or by private benefactors. The age for ad-
mission is from sixteen to twenty-six. The examination
for admission is not much more difficult than that at the
close of a course of primary education. Forty pupils are
received annually, and the entire course of teaching lasts
three years. But the number of students in the second and
third year is never forty, as many students are too scantily
provided with means to go through the entire course, and
others are called by military service before the last year is
out. The classes are also reduced by the weeding which
takes place at the end of each year, when such young men
as fail to show ability or desire to profit by the training are
dismissed from the school. The school-hours are from
5 A. M. to 7 p. M., with two hours in the middle of the day
for dinner and rest The time is divided between manual
work in the different departments of the garden and study
in the school-rooms ; the proportion changes with the sea-
son, more open-air work being done in summer, and more
class-work in winter.

The course of studies covers botany, geology, miner-
alogy, zoology, entomology, physics, chemistry, meteor-
ology, mathematics, surveying, book-keeping, garden and
glass-house architecture, the cultivation of vegetables,
flowers and fruit both in the open air and under glass, and
of trees and shrubs in nurseries. Every branch of horti-
culture, in fact, is practiced at the Potager de Versailles,
from the production of hot-house plants to the cultivation
of fruit, both in the open and under glass, the production

of early peaches of American varieties being especially
successful and profitable. Open-air and forced vegetables
are disposed of in large quantities, and salading, mush-
rooms and forced melons are among the best-paying
branches of the work. Some melons were sold last spring
for more than thirty francs ($6.00) apiece. The elements
of drawing and of English are also taught. Students are
trained to do some joiner, carpenter and smith work, and
to make all necessary current repairs of tools and buildings.

Good collections of drawings and pictures of the best
varieties of useful plants, casts of fruit, an herbarium and
collections of seeds of all kinds are at hand for the use of
the students. After the complete course of study, and
even when leaving the school after the second year, young
men very readily find good situations, either as gentlemen's
gardeners, directors of town-gardens, or as foremen in com-
mercial establishments.

Igny, not far from Versailles, belongs to an influential
charitable organization known as St Nicholas. One of the
branches of the establishment, which aims at making good
operatives of orphan or destitute boys, is a school of horti-
culture, not so scientific in spirit as the National School,
but as practical in training and provided with a sterner dis-
cipline, the boys living on the premises. About twenty-
five or thirty boys annually enter the horticultural division
and are kept there from two to four years. The total num-
ber of pupils and tutors in the Igny establishment being
above five hundred, most of the produce is consumed in
the establishment That it would bring a good price on
the market is shown by the prizes won at horticultural
shows whenever the school chooses to enter the lists.

Le Val, near Meudon, another charitable institution, en-
dowed by la Duchesse de Galliera, likewise possesses a
horticultural branch. The organization resembles that at
Igny, and the results are equally good. At both places the
Freres des Ecoles chretiennes are entrusted with the
management and teaching, and they are highly successful.

The agricultural school at Antibes, on the Riviera, which
has been in operation for the last two years only, is, prop-
erly speaking, a school for horticulture in southern France.
Considerable attention is given to the cultivation of Olive,
Orange and Fig-trees, and the main field crops grown here
are early vegetables, and flowers for cutting or for the per-
fume factories, for which the Riviera is famous. Sixteen
to twenty boys, aged fifteen to eighteen years, are admitted
yearly and remain for two years, their time being divided
much as at Versailles, with the difference that field and
class-room work are taken on alternate days. The course
of study comprises the same items, with the exception of
the English language. A small chemical laboratory and a
model dairy are attached to the establishment A farm of
about fifty acres is worked by the pupils, half of which is
planted in American vines — proof against the phylloxera
pest. Crops are grown with and without irrigation, to
show the students the good effect and to teach them the
management of running water. Several other schools exist,
which come more or less under one of the three heads of
private, local or national schools. The ease with which
students at any of these schools find situations, either in
trade establishments or in the employ of gentlemen or
townships, is an interesting fact

H.

New or Little-known Plants.

Xanthoceras sorbifolia.

TO Mr. Paul Dana we are indebted for the opportunity
of publishing in this issue (see page 285) the portrait
of a remarkably fine specimen of the rare Xanthoceras
sorbifolia in Mr Dana's collection at Dosoris.

Xanthoceras sorbifolia is a small tree of northern China,
related to the Bladder-nuts and Horse-chestnuts, and inter-
esting as the only representation of the genus to which it
belongs, and which owes its name to the presence between
the petals of curious yellow horn-shaped glands. It is one

July 5, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

285

Fig. 41. — Xanthoceras sorbifolia, at Dosoris, Lonp; Island. — See page 284.

of the most attractive of the hardy plants which our gar-
dens owe to northern China, the region from which many
of the most beautiful trees and shrubs in cultivation have
been brought. It is a leafy, glabrous or puberulous plant

with opposite pinnate leaves eight to twelve inches in
length ; the leaflets are alternate, linear-oblong, acute,
coarsely serrate, dark green and glossy on the upper sur-
face and pale on the lower. The flowers are white, hand-

286

Garden and Forest.

[Number 280.

somely marked with red streaks at the base of the petals,
and are produced in great profusion in lateral racemes
eight or twelve inches long, appearing as the leaves are
unfolding. The fruit, which is a globose or pear-shaped
capsule, not unlike that of some of the smooth-fruited
Horse-chestnuts in general appearance, finally splits into
three valves, and contains a number of globose, nearly
black, shining seeds half an inch in diameter.

Xanthoceras was discovered nearly sixty years ago by
the German botanist Bunge, who accompanied a Rus-
sian mission which traveled overland from St. Petersburg
to Pekin ; it was not, however, introduced into our gardens
until nearly forty years later, when the French missionary
David sent it to the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, where the
original plant may still be seen.

In spite of its hardiness and the beauty of its flowers,
Xanthoceras is still rare in American and European gar-
dens. This is, perhaps, due to the fact that, although it is
hardy against cold, it is evidently fastidious and does not
grow well in all soils and situations. Most of the plants
which have been tried in this country have perished
sooner or later, and it is unusual to find either here or in
Europe so large, vigorous and healthy a specimen as the
one at Dosoris.

From the Abbe David's notes we learn that Xanthoceras
is a tree fifteen to eighteen feet high, and exceedingly rare
in those parts of China and Mongolia which he visited ;
that it is cultivated m the gardens of Pekin, and that the
seeds are eaten by the Chinese.

At our request, Mr. Dana has sent us for the benefit of
our readers the following note upon his method of culti-
vating Xanthoceras, which we hope will now become a
more common object in our gardens :

" I first saw a plant of Xanthoceras at Baden-Baden on
the grounds of Herr Max Leichtlin about the year 1884.
I admired it, and Herr Leichtlin spoke of it as a new plant
of great promise, which he felt sure would be an acquisi-
tion to horticulture. I secured two plants, and have been
cultivating them now for eight or ten years. They are six
feet high, and grow in rich warm loam. They have no
protection whatever, and yet they have never lost a branch
in winter, and they endure our dry summers perfectly.
They are not strong-growing shrubs, but they bear flowers
in great profusion, and are more beautiful when in bloom
than at any other season. They ripen seeds every year,
and I would be glad to furnish some of them to any one
who cares to test the plant."

Cultural Department.

Wild or Single Roses for Cultivation.

ROSE-CULTURE in gardens now almost invariably means
the cultivation of the improved Hybrid Perpetual, Tea and
other Roses which have been brought into existence and de-
veloped by the careful manipulation, propagation and care of
the propagator and cultivator. With few exceptions, the single
Roses or aboriginal types are neglected, even though their
beauty is freely admired and appreciated. The practical pref-
erence for the double Roses is a very natural result of their
size and lasting quality of blossom, often of their enhanced
fragrance, and, especially among the hybrids, of a greater ap-
parent diversity ot color. The great defect of the single Roses
for ornamental purposes is the comparative fragility of the
blossoms, especially the short duration of the petals after ex-
pansion. People usually want flowers they can pick, and
which will endure for some time after picking.

For very small gardens few wild Roses, except, perhaps, the
ubiquitous Sweet-Drier and one or two others, can be afforded ;
but where there is any considerable area or a shrubbery, a se-
lection of single Roses is always desirable. Besides the blos-
som, some beauty is produced later by the fruit, which is often
of bright reddish colors.

For ordinary massing effects, some of our own native wild
Roses are as good as any which could be procured. The
earliest to blossom, and one of the most dwarf, is the northern
Rosa blanda, whose steins are only one or two feet high, and
possess the pleasant character of being without prickles. The

rose-colored flowers are larger than those of most of our spe-
cies, the petals being minutely streaked with white, and open-
ing here about the first week of June. Another dwarf species
is R. nitida, with slender stems densely covered by slender
bristles, and blossoming a week later than R. blanda. The
flowers are of a deeper rose color and the foliage is bright,
shining above, whereas the leaves of R. blanda are of a rather
dull green on the upper surface. Of larger and stronger habit
than either of these, and the commonest Rose on many New
England rocky hill-sides near the sea-shore, is the shiny leaved
R. lucida, which blossoms fully as late as R. nitida, and has a
few strong, hooked prickles instead of numerous bristles.
Along the cool shores north of Boston it is in blossom in July,
and where exposed or on poor soils is often quite dwarf, or
only a lew inches high. It is a good plant for a natural shrub-
bery at a sea-shore place. Tlie tallest in habit and the latest
to bloom among New England species is R.Carolina, common
along road-sides and wood-sides, especially in moist situations.
Its smaller flowers, in this region, will begin to expand about
the second week of July, or when the last blossoms of R. lucida
are fading away. Like R. blanda, the leaves of this are dull,
and not shining above, but the tall stems, commonly five or
six feet high, are armed with a few prickles.

West ot New England and toward the Pacific side of the
continent there are several other species of erect-growing
Roses, which would undoubtedly be well worth planting in
shrubberies. One of the most distinct of these is Rosa Nut-
kana, a very tall-growing thick and strong-stemmed species,
with peculiarly clear light rose-colored flowers, which are iii
their best condition in the regular Rose-blooming season. It
is a much stronger, more rank-growing Rose than any of our
eastern species. Of course, the Michigan, or Prairie Rose
(Rosa setigera), should be included where any number of
kinds of wild Roses are brought together. Its long trailing
habit and immense clusters of very late rose-colored blossoms
distinguish it at once from any other species. It is not very
rare in cultivation, although the total lack of fragrance in the
blossoms is against its popularity. It is a mostprotuse bloomer,
and when in bloom one of the most showy of Roses as re-
gards mass of color.

Among foreign species, Rosa acicularis and R. alpina of
Europe are the earliest of all to blossom here, in advanced
seasons the first buds opening about the third week in May.
In good soils both will grow five or six feet or more in height.
The flowers are similar, large, of the usual rose color ; but,
for picking, those of R. alpina are the most desirable, because
the stems are usually perfectly smooth and free from prickles.
Our old thomlessBoursault Rose, with semi-double flowers, is
traced to R. alpina stock.

The single Burnet, or Scotch Rose (Rosa spinosissima), with
white or light-colored flowers, is among the most attractive.
Given good soil and plenty of light and air, the plants will be-
come neat bushes, from two to four feet high, well clothed
with fine foliage, above which appear an abundance of bloom
early in the season, before the best of ordinary garden Roses
have blossomed. The double or half-double forms are most
commonly seen in cultivation, but these single ones, with
their centre of yellow stamens, are certainly more delicate and
charming. The usual color of the flowers is white or yellow-
ish white, or distinctly yellowish, while some forms are decid-
edly pink. They have received varietal names in some cat-
alogues, and some are probably hybrids. The stems are usually
very prickly.

The double White Rose of old-fashioned gardens is a prod-
uct derived from a very large, pure white-blossomed wild
species of the Old World and known as Rosa alba. Like the
double form, it is an erect-growing bush, with stiff stems, and
with leaflets, usually in fives, glaucous on the upper surface
and somewhat downy beneath. It is worth introducing into a
collection to contrast with the many species which produce
the usual rose-colored bloom. Where space for only one sin-
gle-blossomed Rose can be afforded, we usually expect to see
the place given to the well-known, tall-growing Sweet-brier,
which, brought early by colonists from the Old World, has now
become naturalized in many old fields in the New World.

The Dog Rose (R. canina) is hardly worth planting in a gar-
den when so many better kinds are to be had, but as it is one
of the strongest and stoutest growing species it may be placed
with good effect among general shrubbery or be used as a
background for smaller plants. Its flowers are of a pretty rose-
pink, or sometimes nearly white, color. As European nur-
serymen commonly use R. canina as a stock upon which to
graft the choicer garden Roses, especially when a " tree form "
is wanted, it happens not rarely that the grafts of imported
plants die or are supplanted by the stock, and the expected

July 5, 1893. |

Garden and Forest.

287

blossom results in disappointment and a common Dog Rose.
An oddity among Roses is the Red-leaved Rose(R. rubrifolia),
the pinkish or purplish red foliage of which is to be placed in
the same category as Pissard's Plum, the purple Hazels or
dark-leaved Beeches. It is very hardy, and valuable only for
its foliage, as the dark-colored single Howers are small and not
specially attractive. In good soil it will attain a height of six
or eight feet.

There are three Japanese species of comparatively recent
introduction which are generally considered to be superior to
almost any other single Roses for cultivation, and which are
now becoming well known through persistent advertising.
These are R. rugosa, R. multiflora and R. Wichuraiana. R.
rugosa is very hardy, has handsome, thick, leathery, ever-
green-looking leaves and the largest blossoms of any Single
Rose which can be grown in this climate. The white variety,
or R. rugosa alba, with petals of the purest white color, is cer-
tainly very beautiful. The stems are very prickly, but the spe-
cies possesses so many other desirable qualities that propa-
gators have used it extensively in artificial hybridizing, and
with some promising results. It is not true, as some cata-
logues assert, that it is free from insect attack, although, no
doubt, the thick leaves are not so readily devoured as those of
more tender species. The true R. multiflora, with large clus-
ters or panicles of small white flowers, is rapidly gaining popu-
larity. It is of strong and rapid growth in good soil, and will
readily reach to the top of a post or pillar ten or fifteen, or even
twenty, feet high. It was figured in Garden and Forest, vol.
iii., p. 405, and a picture of a plant in bloom was published in
vol. iv., p. 535.

Rosa Wichuraiana is one of the latest arrivals in our planta-
tions, where it is also one of the last to blossom. It has shining
leaves, the low-trailing habit of a Dewberry or Trailing Black-
berry, with stems fast growing to many feet in length, and
producing clusters of pure white flowers, each averaging nearly
two inches across. The odor of this and of R. multiflora is
more like the Banksian than like the ordinary Roses. A plant
of the single yellow or Copper Rose is always interesting in
bloom, but the usual experience in this climate is that they are
not very enduring or long-lived.

In selecting only half a dozen species for a small garden R.
alpina, for earliness ; R. spinosissima, R. rubiginosa (Sweet-
brier), R. multiflora, the red and white R. rugosa and the
Prairie Rose would probably give most satisfaction. In gen-
eral, shrubberies of any extent, and especially in exposed situa-
fions, our indigenous species should receive first consideration.

Arnold Arboretum. "jf . G. Jack.

The Rock-garden.

A MONO the many lovely and interesting plants now in
■^~*- bloom in the rock-garden, none are more effective than
the well-known Sea Pink, Armeria maritima, of which there
are several varieties, including a white one. The one known as
Laucheana, of a deep rose-color, is the brightest. As rock-
plants the Sea Pinks are most satisfactory, covering the ground
at all times with a carpet of green. I have thought that many
Alpine plants, particularly European species, suffer more from
summer heat than from extreme cold in winter. This is the
case with the Gentianella, Gentiana acaulis. In spite of good
conditions of soil and moisture, our plants gradually grow less.
G. cruciata, growing at a lower altitude, does better. From a
few seeds scattered about three years ago, we have a fine lot
of healthy, blooming plants. The flowers of this handsome
species are bright blue and borne in clusters at the ends of the
flowering stems. Callirhoe involucrata, the Poppy Mallow of
the western states, perpetuates itself quite freely from self-
sown seeds, but it is never obtrusive. This neat trailer carries an
effective display of bright pink flowers from spring until autumn.
Erodium Manescavi, the Giant Heron's Bill, is perfectly hardy
here, although not considered so in England. It bears tufts
of Fern-like foliage and bright rose flowers, and is nearly
always in bloom. Of the many species and varieties of Dian-
thus now in bloom, none are more showy than the new
Cyclops. They appear to be descended from the old D. annu-
latus, and are mostly shades of rose with a deeper centre. The
Maiden's Pink, Dianthus deltoides, comes up everywhere, and
its dense, free-flowering tufts are seldom out of place. D. neg-
lecta, a comparatively rare and beautiful dwarf deep rose-
flowered species, from the Alps, holds its own well. It is
often hard to find just the place for these delicate little species,
but when once established they should not be removed. We
had occasion to move D. subcaulescens, one of the dwarfish-
tufted species in cultivation, and found that its woody main
root extended nearly two feet between the rocks. We find it
very hard to re-establish ; in fact, it is very doubtful if it will

recover the shock of removal. D. dentosus, the AnioorPink,
from south Russia, very much resembles the common Indian
Pink, D. Chinensis, in habit and general character of the flow-
ers. Theydo not vary, however, very much from a lilac-rose
limb shading to a darker centre. D. atrorubeus, a tufted spe-
cies, with heads of small crimson Howers, makes a very inter-
esting addition. D. superbus is a particularly showy and
fragrant species from central Europe and Asia, and the variety
Gardeneri, from Japan, with extra-large fringed flowers, is the
best.

The Alpine Bugle, Ajuga Genevensis, although very hand-
some when in bloom, increases so fast as almost to become a
weed. The flowers are of the deepest blue and borne on axil-
lary cymes inspike-likeform. Nothing makes a more effective
display when in bloom. This also makes a very effective pot-
plant, and has been used, slightly forced, for spring bedding.
The varieties. Alba and Variegata, of A. reptans, are less
showy, but very useful plants for covering spaces under trees.
Heuchera sanguinea is now becoming well known, as it de-
serves to be. Its tufted habit and neat handsome foliage
commend it at all times, while it is more or less in bloom the
whole season. The long graceful spikes of coral-red flowers
are very effectively used in making bouquets. Rock Roses —
hybrids and varieties of several species of Helianthemums —
are very showy just now. These are well established with us,
and several natural varieties and hybrids have come up in the
neighborhood of the original plants. The kinds referred to
here are all Old World species, shrubby, and vary in color from
red, orange, violet, pink and crimson, some being spotted.
There are several sub-shrubby or herbaceous American spe-
cies, all of which are yellow-flowered. Dwarf Phloxes, with
the exception of P. ovata, are all out of bloom. This came
to us from southern Virginia, along witli Silene Virgiiiica, the
Fire Pink. The latter plant is now well established, sowing
itself everywhere, which is verjf fortunate, as being a biennial,
at least with us, it would be in danger of being lost. Gyp-
sophia repens and G. cerastioides, starry, white-flowered tufted
species, are unfortunately not long-lived, owing apparently to
exhaustion during blooming, which occurs during the hot sea-
son. This is rather what may be expected, sin(ie they are both
alpine species, the former from the Alps, and the latter from
the Himalayas. By putting in a few cuttings yearly, and grow-
ing them without blooming the first season, a good stock can
be kept up.

We find the Day-lilies, Hemerocallis Mittendorflfiana and
H. Thunbergii, very graceful and effective plants for the rock-
garden, and never obtrusive ; these clear yellow flowers giv-
ing here and there a touch of color. Oneof the commonest and
best of the bell flowers is Campanula Carpathica. It comes up
everywhere, and never to the extent of becoming a nuisance.
Among seedlings there is considerable variation. The lovely
dwarf Italian Harebell, C. garganica, came through the late se-
vere winter in excellent condition. Just now it is perfectly cov-
ered with light blue flowers. C. rotundifolia, with charming
pendent bells, is a very common wild plant throughout Europe.
Its distinct character makes it a very interesting addition.
While C. macrantha may be more properly classed as a bor-
der-plant, it is not out of place here, standing alone among
tufted plants. Its monstrous bells are nearly, if not quite, as large
as those of the common Canterbury Bell, and droop gracefully.

Geranium sanguineum is more or less in bloom the whole
season. As a rock-plant it is very satisfactory, taking care of
itself and never becoming obtrusive. A large clump of Spirsa
astilboides stands out in pleasing contrast. As a border-plant
it is far superior to the common Astilbe Japonica. Achillea
aurea, with dense heads of deep yellow and tufted Fern-like
foliage, is all that can be wisiied as a rock-plant. Papaver al-
pina, with much cut glaucous foliage and handsome flowers
of varying tints, mostly red, white and rose, sows itself freely,
so also does the yellow-flowered Iceland Poppy (P. nudi-
caule). It is fortunate they do, as, being biennials, they are
short-lived. Saponaria ocymoides behaves here very much as
a biennial, djjing after the blooming season. We shall never
be without it, as seedlings are coming up by thousands.
CEnothera Fraseri, belonging to the suffruticose group of
Evening Primroses, is the only one adapted to growing in the
rock-garden. It grows about one foot high and bears numer-
ous yellow flowers. OJ. Missouriensis is well-established here,
its large, handsome, sulphur-colored flowers being produced
from spring until autumn. The handsomest of all the Milk
Vetches is Astragalus Monspessulanus. It is a low-growing
sub-shrub with pinnate foliage and rosy purple. Pea-like flow-
ers. Lotus corniculatus is another leguminous species with
pretty Pea-like yellow flowers. I note a number of seedlings,
self-sown. Aster alpinus speciosus is a giant form of the com-
mon Alpine Aster, with flowers two inches across on stems

288

Garden and Forest.

[Number 280.

one foot high, of a lovely livender-blue shade. Phyteuma
Charmelli is a lovely campanulaceous plant with compact
heads of deep blue flowers and neat deep green tufted foliage.
The Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea) does not
seem to be more than a biennial with us, and it is necessary to
keep up our stock by raising seedlings every year. Potentilla
tridentata occupies several clefts of rocks, and is admirably
suited for such positions. t- r> u-

Wellesley. Mass. 1. D. Jl.

Plants in Bloom.

AMONG the notes from Lily fanciers there seems to be little
mention of Lilium longiflorum and L. Harrisii except for
forcing, yet these are among the best of the varieties for the gar-
den, for they are the most manageable of all Lilies, and flowers
can be had in constant succession at most, if not all, seasons.
Every one who has a greenhouse, or any facility for forcing
plant's, now grows Easter Lilies, and tries especially to secure
flowers from Christmas till Easter, and their treatment for this
purpose is well understood. They are equally satisfactory at
other seasons, and with only slight extra care in forwarding or
retarding, the flowers may be had at about any date desired.
These bulbs may be considered reasonably hardy in this lati-
tude, by which I mean that there is a fair chance of their living
over wmter with the protection usually given to all Lilies.
L. longiflorum will sometimes thrive in gardens for years and
then die suddenly some winter under special conditions. In
this respect it is like many other plants classed as hardy. It is
better, however, where plants require special treatment, to
grow them under conditions where they may be somewhat
controlled. The Lilies which are now flowering with me were
potted up late last fall and plunged out-of-doors, under a cover-
ing of leaves. They were frozen up most of the winter and made
no progress at the top. They were removed to cool quarters
under glass in February or March and made a start, the forc-
ing being of the mildest. On the approach of moderate weather
they were plunged in the border, where the different plants
have been coming into bloom for several weeks, and the last
of the little lot will flower in July. With a stock of these bulbs
in pots, some of which may be kept in the open without even
this trifling forcing, and retarding early by extra dryness and
later by cool quarters, I do not see why the season cannot be
extended quite into the fall. Some bulbs of the variety For-
niosanum of L. longiflorum, which I potted up late in Feb-
ruary, came into flower in about i lo days with no forcing, and
seem to be of quicker growth than either the type or L. Harrisii.
If that proves to be its constant habit it may be found a good
variety for the earliest forcing.

The' first of the Japanese Irises are now in their glory, their
form and colorings quite distinct from that of other species of
the family. These are thoroughly satisfactory and hardy
plants, and I am glad to see that tiie plantsmen have awakened
to their usefulness, so that they are becoming fairly common.
Lately the plant-agent has been going his rounds with Japa-
nese albums glowing with dazzling pictures of Kaempfer's
Irises in every possible combination of color which a trained
imagination could conceive. The colorings of these Irises are
generally rather sombre, usually in maroons and purples. The
pure white variety, Pearl, seems to me to be the handsomest
of all these varieties, and, in fact, the most charming of white
Irises. The petals have a crape-like texture, slightly veined
with only an obscure dash of yellow, nearly veiled by the
standards. As the rhizomatous Irises, German hybrids, etc.,
have finished flowering, it will be well to separate and replant
those which require moving. This is the best season for that
purpose, as they soon will make a new growth and become
well established before winter if moved in July. If allowed to
make this second growth before moving they do not take hold
well when moved later, and their flowering the next year is
but a feeble one.

One disadvantage of a small garden is that one cannot have
an acre or so of Poppies, the gayest and most blithesome of
flowers. Though forced to content myself with a few plants
here and there from seed scattered in the fall or winter rather
promiscuously, I very much fancy the whole family. The mod-
est little Papaver nudicaule always greets one cheerfully early
in the year, and is a persistent bloomer through the summer
if not neglected. P. orientale quite speaks for itself in season,
and is scarcely over when the beautiful Shirley Poppies show
their modest form. With the daintiest, purest tints, and petals
as light as air, they are true types of the joyous summer. The
TuUp Poppies (P. glaucum) are a welcome addition to the gar-
den. The flowers are selfs of a deep pure scarlet. There are
two large petals which form a perfect circle when extended.

The two inner petals are smaller, and usually form a cup in-
side the outer ones. Black blotches occur only on the smaller
petals.

Alstromeria hajmantha is also a flower of which we have too
few. This variety of the Chilian Lily has outer petals of the
purest baby-pink. The narrower inner ones are lined with
blood-red on a ground of yellow bordered with pink. Most
exquisite flowers these, of the choicest character, and very use-
ful for cutting. The plants seem as hardy as any of the family,
doing well in a warm border. I have always promptly lost
Alstromerias when I coddled them.
Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

The Cultivation of Sweet Corn.

AFTER many years of experiments with varieties of Sweet
Corn, lam still in doubt as to which varieties are the best.
The introduction of the Cory, a few years ago, marked a de-
cided advance in the early sorts. A great many other varie-
ties have since been sent out as superior to the Cory, but I
still plant it almost exclusively for earliest use, although its
quality is not as good as we demand in later kinds. Its earli-
ness and the comparatively large size of the ear have thus far
made it indispensable in my garden. As a medium-sized sort
for home use I have always preferred the Black Mexican to all
others. Its quality is above reproach, but it must be used, to
be at its best, before the kernels begin to color. It is not suit-
able nor profitable for market. For late use I continue to plant
quite largely of Stowell's Evergreen. It is good for home use
as well as for market, and can be made to yield heavily. This
year I have planted most largely the variety sent out by seeds-
men as Mammoth Sweet Corn. I think highly of it, also of
the variety recently introduced as Shoe-peg and Country Gen-
tleman. This latter has a good-sized ear, with kernels that run
deeply into the cob, and is of fine quality.

I find that soil, season, and, perhaps, culture, have consid-
erable influence upon the quality of all varieties. Usually the
sweetest and tenderest corn is grown on sandy soil and in a
warm season, while on heavy clay soils, or"in wet cold sea-
sons, the same variety may be greatly inferior. Good treat-
ment as to manure, and especially in the application of phos-
phatic fertilizers, also seems to improve the quality.

Well-grown sweet corn is usually a salable article, and, con-
sequently, its cultivation promises better financial results than
field corn. I invariably plant in drills, leaving the plants
nearly twice as close together as in the case of ordinary field
varieties. On good soil the sweet varieties stand a little crowd-
ing quite well, and when rather thickly planted have always
given me the most satisfactory returns. Of the earliest sorts,
like Cory, there may be a plant every two or three inches in
the row, the rows two and a half to three feet apart. The me-
dium varieties, like Black Mexican, may stand four or five
inches apart in rows three feet apart, and the later varieties,
like Evergreen and Shoe-peg, six inches apart in rows four feet
apart. To provide for a supply late in the season, Evergreen,
or other varieties of that class, should be planted as late as
July or August, according to latitude.

La Salle. N.Y. T. Gretner.

Correspondence.

Dutch Bulbs in America.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Garden and Forest, and other gardening papers as
well, have published numerous articles upon the possibility of
raising Dutch bulbs for commercial purposes in the United
States, the most desirable part of the Union for the purpose,
in the opinion of many of the wTiters, being North Carolina.
A week or two ago Texas was mentioned as especially fitted
for the purpose.

Why not add Massachusetts to the list, and, indeed, nearly
every "state in the Union, for Dutch bulbs can be raised, no
doubt, in nearly every one .' Massachusetts would appear to
be better adapted to the needs of some bulbs than Texas, for
it appears, by a recent letter, that the Tazetta varieties of Nar-
cissus are frequently injured by late spring frosts in that
state, and that the varieties of N. poeticus do not succeed unless
planted in the shade, neither of which is true in Massachusetts.

As for the Hyacinth, I have experimented with many varie-
ties and have raised from offsets bulbs which gave as fine
spikes as newly imported specimens of the same varieties
bought for the sake of comparison. The Roman Hyacinth in
all its forms and colors — white-skinned and red-skinned, white,
pink, blue and yellow-flowered — succeeds very well with slight

July 5, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

289

protection. My friend, Mr. C. A. Putnam, has raised Hyacinths
from seed to the flowering state, and has obtained good results.
Yet I do not believe that Massachusetts or North Carolina or
Texas will ever give the Dutch growers a moment of uneasi-
ness. We can grow bulbs, but we cannot grow them cheaply
enough to compete with the Dutch. After three years' culti'-
vation I can turn out a Hyacinth-bulb which will give a per-
fectly satisfactory flower-spike, and I can import the same
variety for the sum of six or eight cents ; manifestly my profit
will be small. Narcissus poeticus is offered by some reputa-
ble firms at less than two shillings a hundred. Crocuses at one
shilling a hundred for named kinds, and half a shilling for
mixed varieties. Moreover, if a margin of profit existed, it is
not likely that southern-grown bulbs would be satisfactory.
The Bermudan Easter Lilies appear to be going out of favor.
Lilium candidum, grown in Italy, gives flowers sadly lacking in
substance, and one of the most careful dealers I know tells me
that he declines to handle Tuberose-bulbs from the south. I
believe that failure and loss await those who shall go into the
Dutch bulb business in this country.

Canton, Mass.

W. E. Endicott.

The Columbian Exposition.
Plants in Bloom.

THE last week in June saw a great variety of plants in bloom
at the World's Fair, although there were no masses which
could compare in boldness of effect with the Azaleas and Rho-
dodendrons of a month ago. In the Horticultural Building
the chief bloom is still in the Orchid collection of Pitcher &
Manda, although many of the species are now passing out of
season. Cattleyas, Cypripediums, Oncidiums and a few others
are yet in condition, and Anthuriums are conspicuous. The
great tub specimens of Marguerites, which have been used
with excellent effect to fill vacant places in the plant exhibits in
the building, are still making a show, although far past their
prime. The bold masses of these plants in the early days of
the Exposition produced most striking and happy effects. A
few Cannas and Hydrangeas are in flower in the building, but
the variety of bloom inside is not great. The only prominent
bloom alongside the Horticultural Building is the Pansy col-
lection, which is now in good condition. The Pansies seem
to have fallen short of expectations in size and brilliancy, but
they are, nevertheless, attractive, because of the enormous
number of plants. The thin partitions of grass which separate
the exhibits in the largest beds have grown tall and loose, and
give the beds a weedy and unkempt appearance. A mixed
collection of small plants is coming forward in the borders in
front of the propagating-houses in the rear of the Horticultural
Building. Upon two sides of the Woman's Building the neat
yellow and brown Pea-like flowers of Cytisus (or Genista) An-
dreana were conspicuous until the middle of June. These
plants were exhibited by Croux, of Sceaux, and Moser, of Ver-
sailles, France. The former shows only low plants, but Moser
has an interesting group of standards worked four or five feet
high on Laburnum stocks. This plant deserves greater promi-
nence in America. Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co., of Paris, show
beds of various annuals about the little White Star Line Build-
ing, just north of the Horticultural Building. The plants in
bloom in these beds at the close of June are Pinks, Coreopsis
of two or three kinds. Calendulas, Marigolds, a Gaillardia
called Pictamixta, Snapdragons, Eschscholtzias, Helichrysum
and Chrysanthemum carinatum.

The most interesting and conspicuous floral displays are
upon the island. The Roses are now coming forward in great
quantity and variety, but an account of them must be delayed
for a separate letter. The island ornamentation divides itself
into two general classes — the exhibition plots and the land-
scape features about the shores. The exhibition plots contain
a general line of bulbs and perennials, with a few annuals,
from various American and foreign dealers. Many of the ex-
hibits have no signs or labels to designate the exhibitor, and
very many of the plants are not labeled. This neglect detracts
greatly from the exhibits to one who desires to take more than
a cursory glance at them. The beds are arranged without
reference to landscape-effect, a circumstance which finds ex-
cuse in the large number of exhibits to be placed in a small
area and the lateness with which some of the exhibits ap-
peared ; yet it would seem that more might have been done to
give a continuous artistic expression to the island. The beds
appear to have been cut from the sod in any shape which
pleased the fancy of the exhibitor, and exhibits which might
have been placed close together with good effect are widely
separated. But the displays are so instructive, and interest so
many visitors, that one is tempted to withhold criticism.

The greatest show, since the Rhododendrons, has been
made by Paeonies, which have been shown in large assortment
by Cannel, of England, and also by B. A. Elliott, EUwanger &
Barry, Pitcher & Manda, and in the Japanese Garden. These
collections are so widely scattered that it is difficult to make
comparisons between them. As a whole, the Paeonies have
done fully as well as could have been expected in the hasty
preparation of land which was necessary to the construction
of the island. The black soil with which the island has been
covered is still soft and loose and it dries out quickly. At the
close of June, the Canterbury Bells, which afford a temporary
filling about shrubs and unoccupied borders, are making a
great show. A variety of Stocks has been used for similar pur-
poses, especially in the German section ; and Aquilegias are
pressed into like service.

The most conspicuous herb, aside from the Paeonies and
Canterbury Bells, is Qinothera Youngi, which is used for a dense
borderabouttwolargebedsof RheaBrothers, Norwood, Massa-
chusetts, and also by B. A. Elliott, of Pittsburg. This is a strong
plant, with firm, shiny foliage, growing to a height of twofeetand
bearing a profusion of bright lemon-yellow flowers, which
remain open throughout the day. The largest exhibit of her-
baceous plants is made by Pitcher & Manda, and it has the dis-
tinct merit of being labeled, as a whole, with separate large
labels for nearly every species. Among the prominent flowers
in this exhibit, at the present time, are Pyrethrums in variety,
Gaillardia grandiflora. Coreopsis lanceolata, Papavernudicaule,
Dianthus barbatus, Astilbe Japonica, Tradescantia Virginica,
Tunica Saxifraga and Forget-me-nots. Perennial Phloxes are
coming into bloom in a number of exhibits, the chief ones at
present being Colonel Flaterer and Beauty of Mirande, in El-
liott's beds. Rhea Brothers show a variety of Aquilegias,
Lychnises, Geranium Ibiricum, Geum miniatum and Pentste-
mons and Delphiniums. Kalmia latifolia, from European
growers, has bloomed profusely upon the island, and also
about the Women's Building, and it must have been a revela-
tion to thousands of people who have never seen our Moun-
tain Laurel in its natural haunts.

The second part of the floricultural display upon the island
is that which is used to accentuate the wooded margin of the
lagoons. As seen from the outside, the island is intended to
have a wholly wild and natural appearance, but from the in-
side the borders are designed to look somewhat more trim
and gardenesque. This margin, about sixty feet wide, is in
the hands of the landscape department. It requires the nicest
taste to introduce flowering herbs into a wooded border with-
out overdoing it. The faintest suggestion of color here and
there gives a truer effect than bold and protruding masses, for
it is then properly subordinated to the spirit of the composi-
tion, while it is enough to give a feeling of completeness and
finish. These flowering plants have been introduced into the
borders, against the shrubbery, with most dainty effect, and
one is surprised to see what interest such frugal plantings may
add to a landscape. J. C. Vaughan has contributed a running
exhibit to these borders. Among the plants which give very
pleasing effects are the following familiar species : Pinks, Can-
dytuft, Wallflower (Hesperis), Pyrethrums, Bachelor's Buttons,
Foxgloves, Sweet Williams, Daisies (Bellis), Bleeding Hearts,
Dusty Miller (Lychnis Coronaria), Wild "Thalictrums, Sapo-
naria ocymoides, Geum atrosanguineum. Forget-me-nots,
Corn Poppies, Papaver nudicaule. Pink Yarrow, Anemone
Pennsylvanica, Canterbury-bells, Irises, Perennial Phlox, Ly-
thrum Salicaria, Potentilla fruticosa. Columbines and Lark-
spurs.

Other bloom will follow in succession throughout the sea-
son. Hydrangeas, Lilies and Dahlias will be particularly prom-
inent. Considering the short time in which the exhibits have
been secured and the difficulties attending the work, the col-
lection of flowering plants is very pleasing.
Chicago. III. L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

The Bordeaux mixture has been used with success in exper-
iments by the Department of Agriculture to rid fruit-trees of
lichens which adhere to the bark of the trunk and limbs. The
mixture was applied with a whitewash brush and the lichens
at once turned yellow, and within three weeks were all dead.
Later experiments showed that equally effective results could
be had with the ordinary spraying machine.

Mr. George Nicholson, the curator of the Royal Gardens at
Kew, well known to horticulturists in this country as the au-
thor of the useful Dictionary of Gardening, and the authority
in England on hardy trees and shrubs, arrived in this city last
week. Mr. Nicholson will spend a couple of months in this

290

Garden and Forest.

[Number 280.

country, where he comes to study the collections in the Arnold
Arboretum, and to serve asajud^e in the Horticultural De-
partment of the Columbian Exposition.

We have received from Mr. Joseph Meehan a flowering
branch of Cedrela Sinensis. The tree from which it was taken
stands in the Meehan nurseries at Germantown ; it is twenty-
five feet high, and is now flowering for the first time. The
individual nowers are small, almost pure white, and are borne
in a very large open panicle about two feet long and pendu-
lous. They have no odor, and the tree is, therefore, not ob-
jectionable in this respect, as is the Ailanthus, which it so
much resembles in general appearance.

The Mouse-ear, Hieracium Pilosella, has recently been
found by Miss Mary Hunnewell, of Wellesley. Massachusetts,
naturalized, by the road-side in that town. This is a pretty
little perennial species with spreading tufts of reticulate leaves
and creeping leafy barren shoots, lanceolate entire leaves
tapering at the base, green above and white on the lower sur-
face with short stellate down. The Hower-stem produces a
single head of lemon-colored flowers tinged with red. It is a
common perennial in Europe and Russia from the Mediter-
ranean to the Arctic regions, growing in dry pastures or on
banks and by road-sides. As far as we know it has not been
found before growing spontaneously in this country.

Under the name of Regina alba, says a Viennese horticul-
tural journal, the trusting European public has recently been
offered, from America, the seed of a fodder-grass proclaimed
to produce most astonishing crops. But a careful examination
at the hands of Monsieur Henry L. de Vilmorin, working at
the instance of the Agricultural Society of France, has proved
that the proffered seed does not belong to a mysterious new
plant, but is simply that of Reana luxurians, which European
seedsmen sell at eight francs the kilogramme, while twenty-
five francs is charged for the American commodity. More-
over, the seed is not recommended at any price, for, in France,
at least, Reana luxurians has been found a worthless grass.

The leading article in Harper's Magazine for July is de-
voted to the great Italian gardens, whose formal designs were
the natural outgrowth of the art and architecture of the time
of the Renaissance. The illustrations are from photographs,
which reproduce portions of these gardens as they now ap-
pear, the selections in the main attempting to bring out cer-
tain original features which have survived the neglect of years
and the reconstructions which have come with changing tastes
and fashions. Some of these pictures, as, for example, that of
the Piazza de Siena, in the Villa Borghese, are very attractive,
and all are instructive, as revealing, even in the ruins of these
famous works, the motives which guided their original de-
signers. The article was prepared by Mr. Charles A. Pratt,
who will continue the subject in the next issue of the maga-
zine.

The New York market is now well supplied with domestic
fruit. Astrachan and Early Harvest apples are coming from
Georgia in a fair supply, though not of the best quality. Le
Conte pears are coming from the same state, while Niagara

§ rapes are coming from Florida, and Wild Goose plums from
outh Carolina. The finest peaches now are the Alexanders
and Garlands from California and Hale's Early from North
Carolina. Cherries are abundant and very cheap, the vari-
eties from California being mainly Napoleon IJiggereau,
Centennial and Royal Anne. Wilson blackberries are still
coming from Maryland and Delaware, while good raspberries
come from the Hudson River valley and huckleberries from
New Jersey. Southern watermelons are very abundant and

food, wliile fine muskmelons are scarce, most of the latter
eing shipped from Charleston.

In an interesting note u|)on the Lilac, published in a recent
issue of the Revue Horiicole, it appears that the variety Phi-
lemon, which is probably the handsomest of all the dark-flow-
ered varieties, was raised as long ago as 1840, when it was
found among a lot of seedlings b^ Monsieur Pierre Cochet, of
Coubert, France, who named it for his oldest son. This
variety was first sold in 1846, and at the Universal Exposition of
1855 it received a medal of the first class. The writer in the
Revue Horticole expresses surprise, in which we share, that
this beautiful variety is still so little known. Other varieties
which are commended in this article are Marie leGraye, which
is still the finest white-flowered Lilac ; Lucie Baltet, described
as exceedingly floriferous and as producing short compact
clusters of old rose (vieux rose pass6) colored flowers, and
Clara Cochet, discovered at Suisnes among a lot of seedlings
thirty years ago, althougli only recently placed on the market.

The flowers are described as flesh color, shaded slightly with
pale lilac.

The Tree-planting and Fountain Society of Brooklyn held a
special meeting last week to consider ways and means of pro-
tecting trees in that city against the gnawing of horses and
injuries by neglected guards. Trees in that city are also much
disfigured by having bills posted upon them, churches and
Sunday-schools being conspicuous offenders by advertising
picnics and excursions in this way. There is an ordinance of
the city against pasting or nailing handbills or notices upon
trees in public streets, and there is a law of the state making it
a penal offence to girdle or Injure any fruit, shade or orna-
mental tree which stands on the lands of another or on public
property. A copy of these ordinances has been prepared for
general distribution, and a committee has been appointed to
confer with the city authorities in reference to the prosecution
of all persons who injure or deface trees or shrubs in violation
of law. The formation of street-tree clubs in various parts of
the city was also recommended, whose members are to in-
terest themselves not only In the enforcement of the law, but
in calling the attention of citizens to the importance of exam-
ining the guards about their trees and removing such as are
causing Injury.

In an article in the American Agrtcu/Zurisi entitled "Flower-
seeds to be Sown in July," Mr. C. L. Allen writes that if seeds of
the perennial Delphiniums are now sown and protected from
drying winds by lattice frames or light boughs they will germi-
nate quickly and make plants strong enough to withstand the
winter. Pansy-seed for autumn flowering might now be sown,
although this will also need protection against the sun. If car-
ried over In a frame during winter the plants will be In the
best possible condition for early spring flowering. The seed of
the Oriental Poppy should be sown as soon as they ripen, for
they lose their vitality very quickly. The seedlings are diffi-
cult to transplant, and It Is a good plan, therefore, to sow the
seed where the plants are to remain, preferably among annuals,
where the ground is not densely covered, as they root deeply,
and the shade of the annuals will be rather a help than a hin-
drance to their growth. If Hollyhock-seeds are sown as soon
as they are ripe in deep rich soil the plants will bloom next
year. All the DIanthus family, including hardy Carnations and
PIcotees, can be had in perfection next season if the seed is
sown this month and the seedlings transferred when two
inches high to the places where they are to bloom. Mignonette
from seed now sown will make an admirable growth In the
cool moist weather of September, and will give strong spikes
of flowers in autumn. The seed of the White Rocket Candy-
tuft sown this month also will make flowering plants in Sep-
tember, which will continue to bloom until frost.

A bulletin on the Rape-plant has just been issued by the De-
partment of Agriculture. The need of some fodder-plant to
furnish supplies of pasture after the crop of Indian Corn has
been harvested and before winter sets in, has long been rec-
ognized as a necessity In this country where autumn pastures
often fall. This want has been more severely felt In the case
of sheep than of cattle, and Professor Thomas Shaw, of the
Ontario Agricultural College, thinks that the Rape-plant will
meet this need. Rape, which is a cruciferous plant belong-
ing to the genus Brassica, can hardly be distinguished in the
early stages of its growth from the varieties of Swede Turnip,
although there is a marked difference in the habit of the root-
growth between the two species of plants, the leaves and stems
of Rape being the only portions that furnish food. The variety
of Rape known as the Dwarf Essex has been grown to
a considerable extent in Canada within late years, and
although it has been mostly cultivated In the county of
Wellington, experiments show that It can be had of good
quality in every province of the Dominion. A large per-
centage of the Canadian lambs which are now shipped
to the Buffalo market have been finished on Rape. On
the farm of the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, it
was first Introduced as a hoed crop for the purpose of
destroying various forms of no.xlous weeds. It proved very
valuable for this purpose, since It is sown late in the season,
and the required cultivation Is peculiarly fatal to weeds, but,
besides that. It made very cheap and effective pasturage. It is
thought, moreover, that it will make an excellent soiling crop
in the northern states, and will also serve a good purpose as
green manure. It has remarkable fattening properties, its nu-
tritive ratio being very high, or about as one to three, *'hlle
Red Clover in blossom Is only i to 5.7. An average crop
grown in drills should furnish not less than ten tons an acre,
and when the conditions are favorable It Is quite possible to
produce twenty tons of green fodder to the acre.

July 12, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

291

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE \T NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EorroRlAL Articles :— Art Societies and City Parks 291

The Piiotograph Monopoly at the Columbian Exposition 292

Noleson the Forest Flora of Japan.— XVII. (With Hgure.) C. S. S. 292

A Glorified Park ifrs. J. H. Rabbins. 293

Foreign Correspondence:— London Letter W. Watson. 29^

Cultural Department:— Hardy Bulbous Plants F. H. Horsfn-d. 296

Bulbous Plants for Conservatories W. H. Taplm. 296

The Walepgarden f. N. Gerard. 296

A Test of Fungicides upon Potatoes. tWith illustrations.)

Profeisor L. K. Jones. 297

The Vegetable Garden T. D. H. 298

Correspondence: — Rocknort. Texas .' 7. Reverchon. 298

The Flowering of the Virpilia,

C B. WaldroHy IVm. F. Basseit, y. R. Trumpy, EHwanger (&* Barry, 299

The Columbian Exposition : — Roses Professor L. H, Bailey. 399

Notes 300

Illustrations : — Lindera obtusiloba. Fig. 42 295

Potato-field in Vermont. The plot on the left treated with Bordeaux mix-
ture, the plot -on the right untreated, Fig. 43. Yield of marketable
potatoes trom plot treated with Bordeaux mixfurei Fig. 44. Yield
from untreated plot of the same size. Fig. 45 297

Art Societies and City Parks.

SOME years ago, after it had been proposed to seize a
portion of Central Park as a site for the exhibition build-
ings of a World's Fair, it was suggested that some organ-
ized protection for parks be made in the various cities
of the country. The pressure of growing cities is con-
stantly felt upon every open space within their limits, at-
tacks upon their integrity will be repeated year after year,
and, unless resistance is constant and determined, many
of the parks will share the fate which seems to threaten our
City Hall Park, and will gradually disappear, or will be per-
verted to purposes foreign to the plans of their originators
and destructive of their highest usefulness. Something like an
impromptu organization of the character suggested was
made when Central Park was threatened by the Speedway,
and since that time the same organization made itself useful
when the Seventh Regiment was invited to parade on the
green before the Infanta of Spain. We still hope to see
such an association with a permanent secretary and a staff
prepared to keep strict watch upon our Park Boards, to give
timely warning of coming danger and to give an opportu-
nity for public opinion to find effective expression.

But besides this danger of confiscation, our parks fail of
their highest usefulness by crude designs, bad planting
and inartistic decoration. When public grounds are dis-
figured by garish flower-beds any criticism of the planting
is answered by the rejoinder that this is what the people
like. The fact is that people enjoy everything green and
fresh, flowery and bright. What they do not know is that
there are other things more enjoyable than those set before
them. Just here is the point upon which it is the duty of
some one to instruct them, and the only effective way to
teach this lesson is to furnish the public with examples of
what is best for their study and enjoyment. Of course, the
aspect which our parks wear will depend directly on the
good sense and good taste of the Park Commissioners and
the executives whom they appoint. If these are trained
as they should be they would not content themselves with
gratifying the taste of the public of to-day, but they would

feel it their duty to create a more intelligent public to-mor-
row, a public with more keen and critical taste, and there-
fore more fertile powers of enjoyment. If parks were
made thoroughly artistic in every detail the people would
quickly learn to appreciate them and to look back with sur-
prise upon the time when they enjoyed a barbarous pro-
fusion of ugly forms and heterogeneous colors. Unfortu-
nately, neither park commissioners nor superintendents
can always be trusted to work upon so high a plane, and
here is the point where much might be done by some body
of citizens versed in artistic matters who could stand be-
tween these officials and the general public to help them
when they are in the right, and to check them when they
are in error.

All persons who take an intelligent interest in public
parks will, therefore, find something of promise in the re-
cent establishment in this city of two artistic societies, the
Municipal Art Association and the Sculpture Society. Each
of them consists of artists and of laymen interested in art ;
each is officered chiefly by artists of established repute,
and each has been founded with the avowed purpose of
serving the community and not any special class. The
desire to advance the arts for their own sake was, of
course, prominent in the minds of the organizers of these
societies, but they recognize the truth that this can only be
accomplished by an advance !n the critical and apprecia-
tive powers of the people. They know, too, that progress
in art and in the capacity to enjoy it will both depend
largely upon the successful result of efforts to enhance the
beauty of our public possessions. It is the practical recog-
nition of these fundamental truths which makes the estab-
lishment of these societies a sign of hope. There certainly
is encouragement in the fact that the founders of these so-
cieties declare, not in words only, but by their very act of
organizing, that art is not for the isolated amateur, but for
the whole people ; that the people must understand and
cherish it if it is to prosper ; that it is a thing of municipal
value, of national significance, of general and all-embracing
interest.

The programme of the Municipal Art Association men-
tions public parks among the things which it will strive to
benefit, and certainly these pleasure-grounds deserve such
service, because they are of more interest and importance
to the great bulk of the people in a city like ours than even
the museums or municipal buildings. For one person who
sees the inside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the
pictures and statues which may be placed in our new City
Hall, for one even who will definitely notice the outward
aspect of this or any other good building, there are
hundreds who will look with delight upon the beauties of
Central Park. Moreover, people, when in a park, especially
if they are laboring people, are in just the mood to receive
refreshing and inspiring ideas and to develop their love of
beauty. In the streets and in the public buildings their
minds are filled with business. They may frequent mu-
seums and galleries out of mere curiosity. In a park they
are neither busy nor curious, but in a receptive mood and
eager in their enjoyment to drink in the quiet beauty of the
scene before them.

If, therefore, the Municipal Art Association will consci-
entiously study the words and deeds of the Park Commis-
sioners and officers, taking note of mistakes when made
and explaining them, encouraging every good intention,
supporting them against unintelligent criticism and mis-
taken public demands, and joining heartily with the people
whenever their demands seem warranted by good sense
and artistic fitness, its work is sure to be effective. Unfor-
tunately, what artistic fitness means is as yet less generally
understood with regard to landscape-art than any other
branch of art This fact not only renders the services of
the new association needful, but it implies that the mem-
bers should first of all make sure that they understand it
themselves. We have known painters, sculptors and archi-
tects, professional art critics and passionate lovers of
nature to be as ignorant with regard to the aims and pro-

292

Garden and Forest.

[NUMbER 281.

cesses of landscape-gardening; as the veriest Philistine, and
quite as blind to the good and bad work in this field. The
united judgment of a body like this, however, must cer-
tainly be in the right direction, for whatever, may be the
specialty of each member, he can be addressed on the
broad principles which govern all the arts.

The tield of the Sculpture Society with respect to outdoor
art is narrower, but it is still wide and important. It will
justify its formation if it does no more than direct attention
to our cemeteries until all the people learn that a monu-
ment to the dead, whether costly or cheap, always may
be and should be made a true work of art. It ought to do a
good work in checking the tendency to clutter up the parks
with bad or inappropriate statues and monuments. It should
keep insisting that high merit in a statue does not always
justify its admission to a park ; that such a work ought not
only to be worthy in itself, but worthy as an ornament to
the park and appropriate for the special site selected ; and
that the proper placing of a statue in a park is quite as im-
portant as the intrinsic merit of the work. All this, in a
broad view of the case, means popular education, and pop-
ular education is slow work. It is not wise, therefore, to
look forward to any sudden ushering in of the millennium
of art Nevertheless, when we consider that the members
of these associations are, as a rule, men of recognized taste
and training, as well as men of influence, and that they are
organized for actual work, we have a right to e.xpect that
the public parks of this city, as well as its public buildings
and other outdoor features, will be more beautiful and more
useful for the existence of the Municipal Art Association and
the Sculpture Society in this city.

Many complaints have been made against the concession
system at the Columbian Exposition. Some of the con-
cessions which seriously interfere with the comfort of vis-
itors have been modified, but the photograph monopoly is
unbroken and is likely to remain so, and the grievance is
not alleviated by the fact that the special privilege is held
by the son of one of the high officials in the administration
of the Fair. Every visitor who brings a camera to the
grounds is taxed $2.00 a day, and even then only hand
cameras of sizes not larger than four or five inches are
allowed. It is true that the beneficiaries of this monopoly
have paid for it and have, therefore, given financial aid to
the Exposition ; but a small license fee charged at the
gates and paid directly to the Exposition would undoubt-
edly have yielded more money and have allowed the vis-
itor to obtain much advantage from the Fair which he now
loses. The deplorable side of this (juestion is that perish-
able exhibits are passing away every day and no record is
made of them for future reference. In the Horticultural
Department there are new and curious fruits and flowers,
exhibits showing the influence of climate and cultivation,
examples of the landscape-gardener's skill, all of which are
ephemeral, and they can teach no permanent lesson and
become no part of the general stock of human knowledge
without pictorial illustration. It has. been the boast of
the Exposition that it is to be an educational power, and yet
the only means which can rescue much of it from loss is
sacrificed in the interest of monopoly. One can hire the
official photographer to take pictures for him, but he pays
an exorbitant price, and is then not entitled to the nega-
tive. If the authorities had desired to obliterate many of
the best lessons of the Fair they could have hardly selected
a better method of doing this than by establishing this
photograph embargo.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XVII.

THE traveler landing for the first time at Yokohama is
surprised at the abundance of arborescent Laur-
aceae, which here, with evergreen Oaks and Celtis austra-
lis, make the principal features of the woods which cover
the coast-bluffs and surround the temples. The most
abundant of the Lauraceae in this part of Japan appears

to be the Camphor-tree, Cinnamomum Camphora, one of
the most beautiful of all evergreens, and probably indige-
nous in southern Japan. In that part of the country which
we visited, however, it had every appearance of having
been planted. Even at Atami, on the coast some distance
below Yokohama, a popular winter resort famed for the
mildness of the climate and for the geyser, which attract
many visitors, the Camphor-tree is probably not indige-
nous. Near the town is the grove of Kinomiya, where may
be seen what is popularly supposed to be the largest Cam-
phor-tree in Japan. It is really a double tree, as the original
stem has split open, leaving irregular faces, which have be-
come covered with bark. Between the two parts there is
sufficient space for a small temple. The larger of the two
divisions at five feet from the surface of the ground, and
well above the greatly swollen base, girths thirty-three feet
eight inches, and the smaller twenty-seven feet six and a
half inches. This remarkable tree, which has every appear-
ance of great age, is still vigorous and in good health.
Atami is celebrated for the skill of its workers in wood and
for the production of many small articles made from the
Camphor-tree. The hills along the coast are covered with
groves of Orange-trees, and in the temple-gardens were
many southern trees which we did not see in perfection in
other parts of the empire.

On the coast of this part of Japan, Cinnamomum pedun-
culatum becomes a tree thirty or forty feet in height, and
on the neighboring Ilakone Mountains ascends to eleva-
tions of a couple of thousand feet. It is a handsome tree,
with ample, ovate, acute, lustrous leaves, pale or nearly
white on the lower surface, and long-stalked flowers and
fruit. In the same region two other arborescent Laur-
aceae grow naturally — Litsea glauca and Machilus Thun-
bergii. They are both evergreens and are handsome trees,
especially the Litsea, which bears oval leaves sharply
pointed at both ends, silvery white on the lower surface,
and often six inches long, and near the ends of the branches
abundant clusters of black fruit. These two trees are the
most northern in their range of the Lauraceae of Japan
with persistent foliage, and they may be expected to thrive
in this country where the evergreen Magnolia and the Live
Oak flourish.

The flora of eastern Asia is rich in Linderas, no less than
twenty species having already been found in the Chinese
empire and in Corea, while in North America there are
only two — Lindera Benzoin, the common Spice-bush of
northern swamps, and the southern Lindera melissaelolia.
Japan possesses half a dozen indigenous Linderas, although
none of them are endemic, and in the mountain-regions of
Hondo several species are common, and make notable fea-
tures in the shrubby growth which covers hill-sides and
borders streams and lakes.

The most beautiful, perhaps, of the Japanese species is
Lindera umbellata, a southern plant, found also in central
China, which I only saw in the Botanic Garden at Tokyo,
where it forms a stout bush eight or ten feet high. The
leaves, which appear in the spring with the flowers, are
lanceolate-acute, very gradually narrowed at the base,
rounded at the apex, entire and often six or eight inches in
length ; they are lustrous on the upper surface, pale and
covered on the midribs and veins on the lower surface with
rufous pubescence. The fruit, which is a quarter of an
inch in diameter and brilliant scarlet, is produced in great
quantities in dense axillary clusters on the branches of the
previous year and ripens in August and September. As I
remember it, this seems one of the most beautiful plants
which I saw in Japan. It may be expected to thrive in the
southern states and in southern Europe, but it will probably
not be able to support the cold of the north.

As a garden-plant for this region, Lindera obtusiloba is,
perhaps, the most promising ; and we were fortunate in
securing a sufficiently large quantity of seeds, gathered at
high elevations in central Hondo, to give it a good trial.
Lindera obtusiloba (see figure on page 295 of this issue,
the first which has been published) often becomes a bushy

July 12, iHgy]

Garden and Forest.

293

tree twenty to twenty-five feet in height, with a short stout
trunk, terete brown branchlets and conspicuous winter-
buds covered with imbricated chestnut-brown scales. The
leaves appear with the flowers and are broadly ovate, pal-
mately three-nerved, mostly three-lobed at the apex, three
or four inches long and broad, thick and firm, lustrous
above, pale and often puberulous on the veins below. In
the autumn, before falling, they turn to a beautiful clear
yellow color, and make a handsome contrast with the shin-
ing black fruit, which is borne on hairy stalks in few-fruited
axillary clusters, produced on short spur-like lateral branch-
lets of the previous year. This handsome plant, although
it grows to its largest size in central Hondo at four or five
thousand feet above the sea, does not, so far as we have
observed, range north of the Nikko Mountains, and, there-
fore, does not reach Yezo, where only Lindera sericea is
found. This is a small slender shrubby species, with pre-
cocious flowers, oval, entire, pointed leaves, silky-canescent
at first, and at maturity dark green on the upper and pale
on the lower surface, and small black fruit.

The other species of Lindera, which may possibly prove
hardy in our northern gardens, are Lindera triloba and
Lindera praecox. The first is a common plant in Hondo,
where it does not, however, ascend to the heights reached
by Lindera obtusiloba, which is a more northern and a
hardier plant. Lindera triloba often grows to the height of
twenty feet and produces trunks six inches in diameter,
from which spring numerous slender divergent branchlets
well clothed with leaves. These appear with the flowers
and are elliptical or oblong, wedge-shaped at the base and
divided at the apex into three acute lobes, separated by
deep broad sinuses rounded at the bottom ; they are three-
nerved, membranaceous, and light green above, pale and
covered below on the ribs with rufous pubescence, three or
four inches long, two or three inches broad, and are borne
on slender petioles. The fruit is half an inch in diameter
and is produced in few-fruited umbels on short stout club-
shaped stalks.

Lindera praxo.x, like our American species, flowers before
the leaves appear ; it is a bushy tree fifteen to twenty feet
in height, with stout divergent light brown branches, and
is conspicuous in midsummer from the large size of the
flower-buds, which are already fully grown, and which
probably open during the v^'inter or in earliest spring. The
leaves are ovate, long-pointed, rather thin, dark green
above, pale and often pubescent below, two or three
inches long, with long slender stalks. The fruit, which is
nearly an inch in diameter, is reddish brown and marked
with many small white dots ; the flesh is thin, papery and
very brittle. Lindera prtecox is common in the Hakone
Mountains ; we found it near Agamat-su, on the Naga-
sendo, and Mr. \'eitch collected it on Mount Chokai-zan,
on the north-west coast of Hondo. If it inhabits the Nikko
Mountains we missed it there, and on Hakkoda, near
Aomori, where Lindera sericea was the only species seen.

The other Japanese Lindera, L. glauca, is a southern
black-fruited species with precocious flowers, with the
habit and general appearance of Lindera sericea, from
which it differs in its larger leaves and more rigid branches.

Of Elaeagnus, the only representative of its family in
Japan, we only saw growing naturally Elaeagnus umbel-
lata, a variable plant in the size and shape of its leaves and
fruit, and one of the commonest shrubs in Japan from the
level of the sea to elevations of 5,000 feet. In the moun-
tainous regions and at the north it is often planted near
houses for the sake of its small acid fruit; and in cultiva-
tion not infrequently rises to the size and dignity of a
small tree. Elteagnus umbellata is now well established
in our gardens, where it flowers and fruits as freely as it
does in Japan.

The now well-known Elaeagnus longipes was often seen
in gardens, especially among the mountains and in Yezo,
but we did not notice it growing wild. In old age it some-
times attains the height of twenty or twenty-five feet and
forms a stout straight trunk a foot in diameter. Such a

plant, evidently of great age, may be seen in the Botanic
Garden at Tokyo.

The beautiful Elasagnus pungens, with its long wand-like
stems, now a familiar object in several varieties in the
gardens of southern Europe, was seen in the temple-
grounds at Nara and by the road-side near KyOtO, where it
appeared to be an escape from cultivation rather than an
indigenous plant. Of the other reputed Japanese species
we could hear nothing. C. S. S.

A Glorified Park.

JACKSON PARK will live in the memory of those who have
had the good fortune to see the World's Fair, as a creation
as enchanting as the vision in Coleridge's broken dream. That
all this magical splendor should have been evolved from
a swamp with sparsely wooded shores proves that America
possesses at least one pre-eminent creative imagination, while
the sorrowful knowledge that this realization of an artist's dream
is not a permanent possession, but simply food for memory,
adds intensity to the impression and stimulates tlie mind to
grasp such general effects as will not fade from the recollec-
tion. It is a mistake, therefore, in a week's visit, which is all
that is allowed to most of us, to attempt too much detail ; for
this is really to waste one's opportunity. The outdoor charm
of moving life, of glittering wafer, of stately architecture, of
pleasant gardens, is what one should seek to seize and hold as
an enduring memory, and it is this which is to produce upon
our people the most important effect. To the active and eager
minds of the great west this revelation of beauty means a
bound from the real to the ideal, and no one can estimate the
results which may come to the country in its artistic develop-
ment through the influence which such a scene must exercise
upon young and impressible natures, with the limitless re-
sources of America behind them. The tremendous effect of
the Columbian Exposition is produced, after all, by the sense
of native wealth and strength and boundless power in all direc-
tions which it reveals. First and last, and all the time, there is
present in our minds a certain passionate joy that in these
United States such a thing is possible, and that out of the
strong has come forth such sweetness. That our material re-
sources are immense we knew, but here they are marshaled
in a way which none deemed possible, and subordinated to a
central idea of imposing beauty. There are details which are
not artistically perfect, but he who would cavil at blemishes in
such a panorama must be querulous indeed.

Though our lodging was hard by the gates of the Fair, a
wise friend bade us approach it first by water, for the sake of
the general effect, so turning our backs upon the shining
domes we whirled to the Van Buren Street pier and embarked
upon a little steamer which was to take us in forty minutes
down Lake Michigan to the White City. As we put off upon
the dancing waters, the color of which is superb — a splendid
green mottled with purple, like the Mediterranean Sea — the
long stretch of the city of Chicago formed an imposing pic-
ture. Beautiful in the haze which softened their stiff outlines,
the tall, twenty-storied buildings rose like towers. For fifteen
miles along the lake stretch the buildings of this magical town,
which fifty years ago was but a house in a swamp. This is
the way to gain an idea of the extent and importance of the
Lake City, and it is a fitting introduction to the Fair, whose
roots it feeds with wealth and enterprise and generosity. . One
who sees that city on its great, fresh, inland sea, has an assured
conviction that no eastern town could have afforded such an
opportunity for the Exposition, and that here in the heart of
our country, easily accessible to the boundless west, which
most needs its lessons, should this Fair have been held.

As the spires of Chicago grow small in the distance the
White City's outlines become more distinct, and the level line
of the Peristyle, backed by domes and towers, concentrates our
attention. Very impressive is this array of buildings and col-
umns from the lake, and the moment of our approach is full
of excitement. Here is the true entrance-gate. The longline of
columns surmounted by plumed Indian figures, alternating
with graceful maidens, is imposing, and everything prepares
for the coming effect. It is a great moment. The mind and
heart swell with patriotic pride as might have done those of a
Roman at the sight of the Forum, or an Athenian when he
climbed the steps of the Acropolis. It is our people who have
done this, and we, too, have a right to artistic glory, for here
the New World has achieved classical beauty. The site of
this water court, with the buildings on either hand, the broad
steps leading down into the canal, the dome of the Adminis-
tration Building at the further end, the flitting launches and gon-

294

Garden and Forest.

[Number 281.

dolas, the moving crowd along the stately piers, the imposing
groups of statuary on its borders, the tall columns with their
sculptured trophies of adornment, the beautiful fountain, with
its horses rising from the waves, all veiled in silvery water, is
a vision never to be forgotten, and one of satisfying beauty.

Entering one of the little boats propelled by electricity,
we silently and swiftly made the tour of the whole wonderful
region, stopping at the great while flights of steps that lead up
to each palace, learning their names, wondering at their pro-
portions, rejoicing in the harmonious colorings of their flags
which flutter from myriads of start's. You may think you know
it all beforehand, you have read of it a hundred times, but the
enjoyment is novel and intense, and more than ever does the
enchantment take possession of you. As days go by, and you
grow familiar with the scene, its splendor enhances rather than
palls, familiarity increases the charm, as it does with all truly
beautiful things.

The place to stand at sunset is on a bridge that leads from
the Wooded Island to the Fisheries Building, where, it seems to
me, the most beautiful view of the whole Fair is to be had.
The longest stretch of the canal lies before the eye. On the
left the imposing mass of the Liberal Arts Building makes a
tine perspective ; on the right the flowering shrubs and green
trees of the island form an agreeable mass of color, behind
which rise distant domes and towers. The length of the canal
is broken by bridges that give a Venetian effect to the vista,
and in the background, far away, is seen the obelisk, backed by
a colonnade which forms a fitting finish to the picture, recall-
ing the beautiful canvases of Claude and Canaletto. The yel-
low light plays softly on the white buildings, under the bridges
glide the graceful gondolas, distant bells are softly chiming,
flowers are blooming, the summer throng comes and goes,
idly lingering to gaze. All is light, color, perfume, melody,
the realization of the most fanciful dream of those old mas-
ters. The sense of beauty is so intense, so gratifying, that the
eyes fill with tears, and for a moment the work-a-day woild
vanishes, and we, too, are in Arcadia. And this enchanted
scene seems to belong not to the America of to-day, but to
some far-off hour to come in its millennium.

If all this seems fanciful, it is but the natural outcome of a
scene which of itself is dream-like, and this great sensitive
crowd, learned and humble, ignorant and aspiring, drinks in
all this vision, and comes out from it enlarged, uplifted, with
new knowledge and new aims, and with a memory to broaden
the horizon ot life forever. The first night of our arrival was
that of the Infanta's visit, and fireworks and illuminations drew
a vast throng of spectators to the grounds. Though the whole
Fair is well lighted, the illuminations are all confined to the
court of honor and its adjoining buildings, which are outlined
in fire — the dome of the Administration Building being fur-
thermore surmounted with a row of torch-like lights which
alternate with the electric lamps. Near the surface of the
water runs a line of incandescent lamps, which gleam and are
reflected like jewels, and every now and then the search-light
is thrown upon the different groups of sculpture in a way that
emphasizes their beauty. As it fell on the spirited figure of
Franklin standing in the arched recesses of the Electrical
Building, the bold lines of the composifion were clearly re-
vealed, while the fine figures of animals on their high pedes-
tals along the water seem almost life-like in distinctness. The
spectacle was wonderful. The vast orderly throng of 150,000
swiftly moving peoplefailed to encumber thisspacious pleasure-
ground. There was room for all without crowding.

We had time to notice this while sitting upon the parapet
waiting for a vacant gondola. These boats are not black, as in
Venice now, but painted in various colors, as they were in Co-
lumbus' day. Some of them, with high prows surmounted
by swans' necks and griffins, are reproductions of the state
barges of ancient Venice, and others are of the ordinary size,
gay with colored cushions and awnings. On this gala night the
gondoliers were arrayed in an old-time costume of striped red
and white, the Lion of San Marco emblazoned on their breasts,
and on their heads the curious cap of the fifteenth century. The
night was warm and still, the lights gleamed on gayly clad
forms which stepped in and out of the graceful boats as they
came alongside the broad white steps, where revelers waited
to enjoy their turn. The dome of light burned on, the shining
water plashed in the fountains, and, as our turn came, we
floated beneath the bridges, where the shadows lay cool and
deep. Under the bending Willows of the island were sleeping
flocKS of water-fowl, and among the Iris-leaves a swan lifted
up his long neck from his wing, gazed at us in sleepy wonder,
and then sank again to repose. Up and down we floated by
the vast white palaces, till the torches on the dome flared and
were spent, till line by line the electric lights were extinguished,

and we could stay no longer. " Buona sera, Signori, remem-
ber the gondolier," murmured tlie gentle-tongued Venetian as
he helped us up the snowy steps, and the first magical day of
our sojourn at the White Citv was over.
chicaRo. III. ' M. C. Rohbins.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

EuLOPHiELLA Elisabeth.*;. — This new genus was founded
about a year ago by ISIr. R. A. Rolfe, on a plant which
flowered in the establishment of L'Horticulture Interna-
tionale at Brussels. It had been introduced from Mada-
gascar by Messrs. Linden, at whose request, I believe, it
was named in compliment to Queen Elisabeth of Rou-
mania, known in literary circles as "Carmen Sylva. " It
was exhibited in flower at the recent Ghent Quinquennial
E.xhibition by Messrs. Linden, and was then considered to
be "decidedly one of the most remarkable Orchids, if not
the most remarkable plant, shown." A figure of the plant
was published in Lindenia in May last year, but the source
from whence the plant was obtained was not then divulged,
and until recently Eulophiella was known as a rare beauty
which few were ever likely to possess.

But to the delight of Orchid-growers, Messrs. Sander &
Co. have succeeded in importing a quantity of plants of
the Eulophiella, over a hundred of which were sold by
auction in London a fortnight ago. They were advertised
as follows :

A grand importation, in magnificent order and con-
dition, of this new Madagascar species is now offered for
the first time. It was discovered and collected by Mon-
sieur L. Hamelin, who has previously sent only three
plants to Europe, one of which vv'as exhibited in flower
at the last Ghent International Exhibition, where it cre-
ated among Orchidologists a profound sensation, and
commanded universal admiration. It was by far the love-
liest new Orchid in the whole exhibition. Plants now
offered have been received direct from its discoverer. Mon-
sieur L. Hamelin, who says its flowers resemble Phalse-
nopsis blossoms, and are produced as many as forty on a
single spike ; and he has seen masses with twenty and
more spikes. The flowers last two months in perfection,
April, May and June being its season of flowering. This
new Orchid grows on trees at about forty feet from the
ground, over swampy land, and only one species of tree in
the far interior of Madagascar ; and Mr. Hamelin assures
us that he has collected every plant that he could find
worth collecting.

The plants realized from three to five guineas each.

I am informed that Messrs. F. Sander & Co. have over a
thousand plants of the Eulophiella for sale. It would be
interesting to learn how the plants at Brussels have behaved
imder cultivation ; whether they are as difficult to manage
as some of the Madagascar Orchids ; for instance, Phajus
Humblotii and P. tuberculosus.

In Lindenia the plant is described as terrestrial, but the
collector says it grows only on trees, and judging from the
examples of it now at Kew I should say it is not only
epiphytal, but a lover of plenty of moisture. The rhizome
is as thick as a man's little finger, white, with ring-like
nodes one-third of an inch apart, and numerous fleshy
white roots. The pseudo-bulbs also are white and ringed,
four inches long, one and a half inches wide, covered with
the fibrous remains of the leaf-bases. The longest leaf is
four feet long and two inches wide, thick and leathery ;
the scape is erect, two and a half feet long, and it shows
the scars of forty flowers. Bearing in mind that the flow-
ers are as large as those of Odontoglossum citrosmum,
white inside, with a yellow lip, brown-purple outside, the
same color characterizing the whole of the scape and pedi-
cels, it will be seen that in Plulophiella we have an Orchid
of exceptional beauty and distinctness, and if it only proves
a good garden-plant it will take rank with the very best of
tropical Orchids.

July 12, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

295

Vanda Miss Joachim. — Under this unfortunate name, Mr. Hookeriana and the coloring of V. teres. It is a very lovely
H. N. Ridley, Director of the Botanical Gardens at Singa- plant, and is, I think, a great improvement on both the
pore, describes in the Gardeners' Chronicle a hybrid of parents, beautiful as they are. " This is saying a great deal

Fig. 42. — Lindera obtusiloba. — See page 292.

special interest, from its being the first recorded hybrid
Vanda, and also from its combining the characters of two
very beautiful species — namely, V. teres and V. Hookeriana.
Mr. Ridley says "it^seems to have taken the form of V.

for the hybrid. It was raised by a Miss Joachim, an ama-
teur horticulturist residing in Singapore. The plant is nowr
in the Singapore Botanical Gardens, where it is being
propagated.

296

Garden and Forest.

[Number 281.

DiSA Veitchii. — This hybrid maintains the high opinion

formed of it when it was tirst shown by its raisers, Messrs.

Veitch & Sons. It is easily grown in a cold greenhouse or

frame, and it flowers freely in May or June, the tall spikes

of large rosy flowers lasting a long time— six weeks at least.

Messrs. Backhouse & Sons, of York, exhibited plants of it

in flower last week. They have been raised in the York

nurseries from seeds obtained by crossing D. racemosa and

D. grandiflora. „, „, ,

Lopdon. W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

Hard}- Bulbous Plants.

TRILLIUM STYLOSUM is a very interesting species from
the southern Alleghany Mouniains. In size it is a little
smaller than our T. granditlorum, but witli me the flowers are
far more durable than those of any other species. In a bed of
a thousand bulbs, which had the disadvantage of being set last
spring instead of the previous August or September, which
would have given them time to have become partially estab-
lished, there were flowers for fully six weeks. At first these
flowers were white, or slightly tinged with rose color, but with
age they turned to a darker rose, and after a little time they
were of many shades, varying from nearly white to a deep rich
rose. As it turns to a darker shade, T. grandiflorum always
acquires an aged look, and the petals become shriveled a little
at hrst turning, but the texture of T. stylosum is much firmer,
and the flowers are often fresh in appearance after they become
quite dark. The flower is only a little smaller than that of T.
grandiflorum, and I am inclined to think the durability of its
flowers, with the greater variety of shades, will, when it is bet-
ter known, bring it into great favor. It evidently likes shade,
or, at least, a place where only a sprinkling of sunlight can
reach it. I have never wintered it here, but I have no doubt
of its hardiness. It takes so cheerfully to cultivation, and does
so much better the first season than our Painted Trillium (T.
erythrocarpum), that I am greatly pleased with it.

Zephyranthes stricta, a Mexican species now in flower, is an
odd one. Its flowers, which are white above, and slightly
tinged with rose beneath, are often three inches wide, and only
one or two inches above ground. In fact, some of them rest
on the ground, while many are only half an inch or an inch
above its surface. The seed-capsules, now forming from the
first blooms, are often underground. The leaves, though
short, are much above the flowers. It is a free bloomer, and
the flowers are more durable than in most species. Z. Lind-
leyana and Z. verecunda are taller species, with rose-colored
flowers an inch or more wide. In Z. verecunda the flowers are
only pale rose, but Z. Lindleyana has flowers of a darker and
richer shade. Both are free bloomers in this climate, and do
finely.

Tigridia violacea is the first of many species to flower. It is
a charming little plant, the flowers*lasting only a short time.
In size they vary from one to two inches in width and are of a
violet-purple color. A clay loam suits it better than sand. In
size I should judge it to be about half-way between T. bacci-
fera and T, Van Houtteii. „ ,, ,, , ,

Charlotte, Vt. F. H. Horsford.

Bulbous Plants for Conservatories.

A JUDICIOUS selection of bulbous plants will help greatly
to brighten the conservatory at all seasons, and some of
these plants are among the best for cut flowers. The value of
the various Dutch bulbs needs no further comment now, but
there are many old, but comparatively little-grown, bulbous
plants, especially among the Amaryllidacese, that deserve
much more attention than they now receive. Vallota pur-
purea is one of these, a showy plant, easy to manage, and re-
quiring little heat. It is an evergreen, and, consequently, does
not require the complete drying off necessary to ripen many
bulbs. It should, therefore, be repotted immediately after the
flowering season, which comes in late summer or early
autumn. It is not essential to repot \'allotas every season, for
after these plants become well established in large pots it is
not necessary to disturb them for several years, an occasional
renewal of the surface soil being all that they will then require.
Drainage of the pots should always be free, and a suitable soil
is one of good loam, with some sand and a fair allowance of
thoroughly decayed manure.

There are some showy species of Haemanthus which are
useful for conservatory decoration, and though several of
them have long been in cultivation, yet they are still some-

what unusual in general collections. H. sanguineus, the
Blood-flower, is a handsome plant, a strong grower, with sev-
eral large strap-shaped leaves a foot or more in length, and a
stout spike that is crowned with an almost circular head of
scarlet flowers. These are not large individually, but in the
mass are quite showy, the long projecting stamens giving the
head of flowers a graceful feathery appearance. H. multiflorus
is another good plant of somewhat similar habit to the one
just named, but liaving flowers of a duller hue. These plants
require a complete rest after the growth is fmished, and
flourish in a temperature of about sixty degrees.

Griffinia hyacinthina is another fine bulbous plant, when well
grown. It requires a slightly higher temperature than the
last-named for the best results. It somewhat resembles a
Eucharis when not in flower, but its leaves are narrower. It
is evergreen and throws up spikes of violet flowers, bell-
shaped and of fair size.

Eucharis grandiflora and E. Candida are well known, though
in many places they do not give their full quota of flowers,
because they do not get rest enough. In the cultivation ot
Eucharis it is not essential that they should be dried off to
such a degree that they lose all their foliage, but by giving
them less water and a lower temperature after the growth has
been made for a time, they give a larger crop of flowers, and
repeat the crop at least three times in a year. The two species
noted are decidedly the best of the genus, but in buying E.
grandiflora, the best variety ought to be selected. This has
much longer foliage and of a darker color than that of the in-
ferior sort that is frequently sold as E. grandiflora. E. Can-
dida much resembles E. grandiflora in foliage, but the flowers
are only about one-half as large, though very beautiful and
frequently useful as cut flowers, where the larger species
would be unsuitable.

Some of the Crinums are also good plants for our purpose,
though rather large for a small collection. Among the best
are C. amabile and C. Moorei, both of which can be grown
well in a cool house, and after reaching a proper size they are
almost sure to flower every spring or summer. Lachenalia
pendula and L. orchidioides are among the old-fashioned
plants seldom seen now, but both make very pretty objects
when in flower, while the last also has handsome foliage as
well. Several of the bulbs should be planted in a pot or small
pan, for the plants do not become very large, and thus treated
they make a pleasing variety among small flowering plants.
Cool treatment is best for the Lachenalias, and after flowering
they should be kept cool and dry to ripen the bulbs.

Holmeaburg, Pa. W. H. TapHn.

The Water-garden.

SENECIO JAPONICUS, now in flower, is a perfectly hardy
Groundsel, which requires a deep moist soil. It is a first-
rate plant in a position near the water-garden, where bold
plants with a sub-tropical effect are required. The leaves are
broad and deeply divided into five or six lobes, each lobe be-
ing finely cut. The stems are about five or six feet tall and
surmounted with heads of deep yellow composite flowers about
three inches in diameter, with orange centres, which are at-
tractive. But the plant is more especially useful for its dis-
tinctness. Now that much interest is taken in the planting of
water-margins, effective plants for such positions are corning
into request, and reliably hardy ones, of course, are most suit-
able and satisfactory. There are few places on a large estate
where the landscape-gardener has an opportunity to make as
attractive plantings as those near ornamental water, and there
are no others which, when well done, prove so universally
pleasing. Unfortunately, there seems to be a tendency here,
as elsewhere, in the garden, to produce bizarre effects by high-
colored plants and flowers, which are usually overcrowded.
Playing to the groundlings is by no means confined to the
theatre, apparently. Every piece of ornamental water will re-
quire a careful study and special planting to emphasize its
beauties, for, of course, there will be sometimes extremes from
surroundings of bogs and wet places for Sedges, Grasses and
Flags, to dry rocks, where alpines and drought-loving plants
would prove an attractivefoil to the limpid water. No one who
has seen the brilliant Cardinal-flowers in swampy lands would
say that high-colored flowers are never effective near water,
yet the general tone of water-views should be quiet, with vary-
ing bits of color during the season, the principal effect be-
ing from beauty of form and in the rich coloring of foliage
rather than in its variegation.

Another effective broad-leaved plant is the gigantic Meadow
Sweet, Spiraea Kamschatkiana, which carries large panicles of
white flowers at a height of seven feet. This is rather ragged

July 12, 1893. |

Garden and Forest.

297

after flowering, but may then be cut down. It will soon make
a second growth, liowever, some two feet high. Some of tlie
Flags are often useful, one of the most effective being Iris
Pseudo-acorus, whose yellow flowers are very attractive in late
June. The Kasmpfer Irises are much used in such situations
and are at present in full flower. Earlier in the season Iris
spectabilis will produce a profusion of small light purple flow-
ers for several weeks, and lateron it is more effective than most
Grasses, it having tall narrow foliage. What a wonderful diver-
sity there is among the Grasses, not only in form, but move-
ment ! These movements are curiously diverse and often in-
teresting as the plants sway in the wind.

^'K' 43- — Potato-field in Vermont. The plot on the left treated with Bordeaux mixture
the plot on the right untreated.

In the water-garden the various Nymphaeasare in full vigor,
the hardy varieties being mostly in flower. N.Caroliniananas
been producing flowers of the largest size. It is very distinct
among the pink-tinted Lilies with its numerous long narrow
petals. There is no tender Nymphaea which I more enjoy than
the Australian N. gigantea. My present specimen, for which
I am indebted to your correspondent, Mr. J. BrydOn,
I consider a very notable one. It is a seedling of
this season, and when received last month had
sixteen leaves, some a foot in diameter, and nu-
merous buds. Any one who has had experience
of this species will appreciate the statement that
this plant has had skillful treatment. There is
no plant known to me which will become
dormant more promptly on the slightest pre-
text.

The first flower-stalks of the wonderful Nelumbium specio-
sum are well above the water. There is no question as to the
hardiness of this plant even farther north than this, but there
seems to be some uncertainty as to the conditions of growth
required before the end of the year to enable it to winter safely.
It is generally supposed that it' must make new tubers before
cold weather sets in. It is a rambler, sending out strong sto-
lons, pointed at the ends to pierce soft earth, which advance a
foot or so and put out a bunch of roots, a pair of leaves in suc-
cession, usually a pair of flower-stalks, and later tubers. Other
budsdevelopintostolons,usuallytwo,andsomefimes three, from
each joint, so that a Nelumbium plantation eventually becomes
a mass of tangled underground stems. In my tank several of
these runners escaped over the top of the box in which
the tubers were enclosed and wintered safely in the bot-
tom of the tank where there was no soil to penetrate or
to hold the roots. No tubers formed on these runners, and
I am curious to know from some one's experience, presuming
that there are tubers at the beginning of the ramification, how
extensive a development of runners would be supported by
such tubers. The joints themselves, with the numerous roots,
appear well adapted to make successful cuttings, but that e.x-
periment remains to be tried.

When properly established this plant fs seldom without
flowers, it being one of the most prolific of the family.

Eiiiabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

A Test of Fungicides upon Potatoes.

EXPERIMENTS in checking Potato-blight, Phytophthora
infestans, have been carried on at the Vermont Experi-
ment Station for the past three years. Last summer (1892), in
continuation of this work, a careful comparative test of twelve
of the most promising fungicides was undertaken. The work
was duplicated in different fields and upon several varieties of
potatoes. We believe, therefore, that the results are reliable so
far as the work of a single season can make them. Three ap-
plications of each fungicide were made ; the first on July 30th,
thesecond August 13th, and the third August 25th. From our
tests we rank these twelve fungicides as follows, in-
the order of their effectiveness against Potato-blight :

1. Strong Bordeaux mixture: Six pounds copper
sulphate, four pounds lime and twenty-two gallons
water.

2. Bordeaux mixture and molasses ; Eight pounds
copper sulphate, eight pounds lime, eight pounds
molasses and fifty gallons water.

3. Weak Bordeaux mixture : Five pounds copper
sulphate, five pounds lime and fifty gallons water.

4. Modified Eau Celeste : Four pounds copper sul-
phate, five pounds sal. soda, three pints ammonia
and forty-five gallons water.

5. Copper-soda solution : Eight pounds copper sul-
phate twelve and one-half pounds sal. soda and fifty
gallons of water.

6. Verdigris solution : Five pounds verdigris and
fifty gallons water.

7. Very weak Bordeaux mixture : One pound cop-
per sulphate, one pound lime and thirty gallons
water.

8. Copper carbonate in suspension: One pound
copper carbonate and twenty-five gallons water.

g. Copper and ammonium carbonates : One pound
copper carbonate, two pounds ammonia carbonate
and fifty gallons water.

10. Glue mixture : Ten ounces copper sulphate,
twelve ounces sal. soda, eight ounces liquid glue and
twenty-five gallons water.

11. Copper chloride solution : Three ounces copper
chloride and twenty-two gallons water.

12. Ammoniacal copper carbonate: Five ounces copper
carbonate, three pints ammonia and forty-five gallons water.

Of these twelve the first four alone appear valuable enough
to be recommended to the Potato-grower. Of these four the
strong Bordeaux mixture gave the best results ; the weak mix-
ture is, however, the one we recommend for all applications

Fig. 44. — Yield of marketable Potatoes from plot treated with Bordeaux mixture.

when the disease is not immediately threatening. The mo-
lasses does not seem to add much, if any, to the value of the
mixture, and we do not recommend it. The modified Eau
Celeste is about as expensive as Bordeaux mixture, and did not
give as good results ; we recommend it only when a ready-
prepared, soluble fungicide is especially desired. Of such it
has proved decidedly the best.

The most surprising outcome of our work has been the utter
failure of the ammoniacal copper carbonate solution. We have

used it with good results in orchard
work against Apple and Pear-scab,
and it has an established reputation
for combating Grape diseases. Yet
in our experiments upon Potatoes
for two years, and on several plots
each year, it has proved scarcely
better than nothing. I do not
think this difference in results can
be attributed to any great difference in the effect of this fungi-
cide upon these different species of fungi, providing only that
it could act on all under the same conditions of weather. . Its
failure is, however, easily understood when we observe the
peculiar conditions which are necessary for the development
and spread of the Potato-blight. In Vermont this disease does
not appear until late in the summer ; then it spreads with mar-
velous rapidity, but only during very wet weather. Owing to

Fig. 45. — Yield from untreated
plot of the 8ame size.

298

Garden and Forest.

[Number 281.

this last condition any of the weaker fungicides are either
washed away entirely or are so greatly diluted as to be ineffec-
tive at just the time when their protection is needed. In gen-
eral, the Potato crop is saved or lost during only four or five
days of warm rainy weather, and against this brief, but trying,
attack we need our strongest defense. When we add to its
fungicidal value the further fact that Paris green can be so ad-
vantageously applied with Bordeaux mixture, it leaves this
mixture as the only fungicide tested that can be generally
recommended for Potato-blight. It is, however, to be hoped
that some substance will yet be found — possibly soap, as sug-
gested by the New Yorfc station — the addition of which will
mcrease the adhesiveness of this mixture, and by so doing
make it still more valuable.

Experiment Station, Burlinj^on, Vt. L- R* yoftes,

[With this article Professor Jones sent several cuts which
will be used to illustrate his report when it is published.
One of them shows a single hill from each plot in the field,
selected and photographed on the loth of September as a
fair sample of that plot. The appearance of these plants
furnishes a reliable index of the relative value of these fun-
gicides when applied to Potatoes, and a glance at the illus-
tration shows at once that only four of the plots were in
good condition at this time — that is, the plots treated with
the four fungicides first named in the list above. More
interesting, however, to the general reader are the cuts,
which we give. Fig. 43, page 297, is from a photograph
taken early in September, and shows the difference be-
tween contiguous plots, one of which was treated with the
Bordeaux mixture and the other untreated. Fig. 44 shows
the entire yield of tubers in one plot treated with the mix-
ture, and Fig. 45 shows the yield of a plot of the same size
which was untreated. In the first case the yield would be
more than 350 bushels to the acre, and in the other about
100. From this it seems clear that the much-dreaded rot of
potatoes can be controlled by a proper use of the copper
mixture. — Ed. ]

The Vegetable Garden.

"DEETS should always be had in succession, as they soon
■*-' get woody after reaching maturity. Many growers do not
plant their main crop until the first week in July, the object
being to have the roots good and tender for winter use. It
will hardly do to sow Edmands", Dewing's or any of the larger
varieties as late as the loth, but Dwarf Egyptian sown as late
as the second week in July matured nicely here. The last
sowing of dwarf French Carrots may be made now. Forborne
use these are superior to any of the larger kinds. Being of
small size the rows may be planted closely, while less thinning
is recjuired. They attain a nice size and may be cooked whole,
making a better appearance on the table than larger kinds do
when sliced. Those who like turnips in winter may sow their
Ruta-bagas now, and common globular white and yellow
fleshed varieties two weeks later. Purple-top Milan can be
sown as late as the second week in August and matures nicely.
The yellow-tleshed varieties are the best winter keepers.

Radishes we sow every week the season long, using mostly
French Breakfast and Ne Plus Ultra. So also Lettuce, though
we do not always get it to head as it does in spring-time. AU-
the-year-round and Dutch Butter we find good summer vari-
eties. Toward the end of July we shall sow "Satisfaction," a
variety which has done us very good service for late summer
use. Drought and mildew affect Peas in midsummer, and in
consequence they are a very uncertain crop if sown later than
the first week in June. We, however, sow in succession,
sometimes with very fair results. American Wonder is the
most reliable of any we have grown, and for private use is one
of the best in cultivation ; the rows may be sown as closely as
two feet and need no bushing. We have sown this Pea as late
as th^ loth of August and picked peas unfil the 25th of Octo-
ber. To have Snap>-beans young and tender at all times a row
or two should be sown every two or three weeks, until the
first week in August. We sow as late as the second week,
but do not always get a crop before frost.

The last sowing of Sweet Corn should be in now. Stowell's
Evergreen, for late, is the variety in most general use, but is
being rapidly displaced both for market and private use by
Potter's Excelsior. The ears are medium in size, kernels
small, deep, close, plump and sweet. It is rather late for sow-
ing Cabbages, Brussels Sprouts, Kale and some varieties of
Cauliflower. Plants of these can generally be had of the regu-

lar dealers, and should be set out at once. It is not too late,
however, to sow Erfurt Cauliflowers. Seed may be sown
thinly in rows where the plants are to stand, and thinned out
there rather than in the seed-bed to be transplanted. Those
who have frames at their disposal may sow as late as the first
week in August for heads to be had under glass about Thanks-
giving. Celery, if not already planted, should be put in with-
out delay, and a plentiful supply of water given until well
established.

Success with growing crops depends much on the attention
given to hoeing and weeding. Stirring the soil frequently
helps to keep down weeds, admits light and air, thereby
keeping the soil sweet and in condition to receive the full bene-
fit of summer showers, which is too often lost when the sur-
face of the soil is smooth and sun-baked. Asparagus, epecially
new beds, is better for being staked. Without the protection
afforded where a mass of plants are grown together, as in an
old bed, they are constantly being twisted one way or another
by every change of wind and beaten down by rain-storms.
Staking helps the bed the first year, more the second year, and
brings it in condition for cutting earlier, and stronger. It also
helps the plants to pick off the seeds. The Asparagus-beetle,
where prevalent, can be kept well under control by the regu-
lar Potato-beetle mixture of Paris green and plaster, which
latter is an excellent fertilizer for this crop.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

Correspondence.
Rockport, Te.xas.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The Texas State Horticultural Society had its last an-
nual meeting at Rockport, a town situated on Aransas Bay.
My first impressions of the appearance of the country were not
favorable. Like all the Texas coast-region, the country stretches
away in a uniform level of white sand or thickets of dwarf
shrubs. Everything is stunted, and no trees of any size can be
seen. Such trees as there are all lean toward the north under
the influenceof the ever-present southern breeze, which some-
times swells into a hurricane. The soil by the sea is sand
and shells, and farther inland the sand is more or less mixed
with black loam. The climate is generally very dry.

But, although poor in appearance, the country is in reality a
remarkably promising one for horticulture. The few persons
who have planted Grapes and vegetables have been rewarded
with splendid results. Those sands, so arid in aspect, hide an
ever-present dampness, whether rain falls or not, and on
the coast the presence of phosphate gives to vegetation an
extraordinary stimulus. Thegrapes grow there to perfection ; I
had never before seen such large bunchesand so many together.
Vines, three years old. often carried more than half a bushel
of grapes. Such varieties as Lenoir, Black Morocco, Malaga,
Niagara, Muscatelle and Chaselas were perfectly ripe at the
time of our visit, the 23d of June, and some of the bunches
weighed four pounds and over.

Young orchards of Pear-trees have been planted, and are
growing splendidly. Melons and Tomatoes are doing very
well ; one man told me he had raised 2,300 watermelons on
one acre ! I have seen some Italian onions measuring very
nearly a foot across, and sweet-potatoes of prodigious size.
Oleanders grow everywhere in the gardens without protec-
tion, and reach the height of fifteen feet, forming immense
clumps ; they were a perfect mass of bloom. There is no
doubt that the Orange and Lemon would grow here without
protection. Altogether, those coasts seem to present a great
field for horticultural enterprise and experiment.

All kinds of game are abundant, especially water-fowl, in win-
ter, and the sea teems with a large variety of fish. Rockport
is the head-quarters of the sea-iurlle-industry.

A hasty glance at the botanical wealth of the country revealed
to me, on the coast, among the thickets of Live Oak, Colubrina
Texensis, Ilex Cassine, Schsefferia cuneifolla. Lycium Berlan-
dieri and two or three others not well determined by me. I
noted among those thickets the pretty climber Antirrhinum
maurandloides, the Erythrlna herbacea, with bright red pea-
shaped flowers ; Lantana amara and the wild Fuchsia (Malva-
viscus Drummondii).

In the interior the thickets are mostly formed of the
ever-present Live Oak, the Red Bay (Persea Carolinensis),
and also, though much more sparsely, of a kind of Huckle-
berry, Vaccinium arboreum, I think. Climbing everywhere
can be seen the Centrosema Virginlana, a plant deserving a
place in all gardens, and the prairie is red with Phlox
Drummondii. I also noticed Tigridia buccifera, a very fine

July 12, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

299

bulbous plant, and some ven' large specimens of Yucca glo-
riosa about ten feet high. ., _ ,

Dallas. Texas. J . Reverchon.

The Flowering of the VirgiHa.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In regard to the inquiry of your correspondent, F. S.»,
who asks whether tlie Yellow- wood or Virgilia, Cladrastis lutea,
has the habit of flowering on alternate years in other sections
of the country than Boston, I can only say that there is a fine
specimen of the Yellow-wood, about twenty years old, growing
on the campus of the Michigan Agricultural College, and so
long as I have been acquainted with it it has flowered pro-
fusely every year. Where a lawn-tree of medium size, com-
pact growth and great beauty of flower and foliage is required,
I agree with your correspondent that the Yellow-wood should
certainly find a place.

Agricultural College, Fargo, N. D.

C. B. Waldron.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In reply to the queries of F. S., I can say that my Vir-
gilia-tree, which, by the way, is, with one exception, the only
specimen of this fine tree which I have ever seen in this
vicinity, has flowered very freely this year, but did not flower
last year. It has previously produced flowers, as I remember,
some years, and on others it has not produced them, but I can-
not now recall whether there have been regular annual alter-
nations in these periods of flowering. Your Boston corre-
spondent failed to mention one of the good points of the tree —
namely, that the flowers are delicately and agreeably fragrant.
A few years ago more than one-half of the top of my tree sud-
denly died, with every appearance of a blight similar to that
which is destructive to the Pear-tree. I expected the whole
tree would go next year, but several seasons have passed, and
the remaining branches are, to all appearance, as sound and
healthy as ever, although the beauty of the tree as a specimen

is gone.

Hammonton, N. J.

Win. F. Bassett.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I have never thought to keep a record as to whether
the Virgilia blooms only on alternate years. I know that two
years ago a tree at the Kissena Nursery, some thirty years of
age, flowered very profusely ; last year the .same tree bore
only a few scattering flowers, and this year it shows no flowers
at all. A large tree on the grounds of Mr. S. B. Parsons has no
flowers whatever this year. ^ d -r .

Kissena Nurseries, Flushing, N. V. J.K. Irumpy.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :
Sir, — On our grounds the Virgilia blossoms on alternate

Ellwanger &-» Barry.

vears.

Rorhester, N. Y.

The Columbian Exposition.
Roses.

No other floral display of the Horticultural Department will
be likely to awaken such interest as the Roses have done.
The last days of Jime and the first days of July have seen all
the Rose-plantations in excellent bloom. The chief interest
centres about the Rose-garden in the south-eastern portion of
the island, for not only have the displays there been good,
considering the conditions, but there is something of unusual
suggestiveness in a garden given over bodily to a wealth of
Roses. This Rose-garden comprises a little less than an acre
of land in rectangular shape and surrounded by a chain fence.
It is laid out in the geometric fashion and comprises forty beds,
four of which are filled with Clematis. In design this garden
reminds one of a gigantic hot-air register. It is a matter of
doubt whether this is the best form in which the Rose-garden
could have been cast. From an artistic point of view, some
freer and more natural arrangement of groups or clumps upon
the sward would probably have been Lietter ; but it must be
considered that the plants were received so irregularly that
little definite planning for effects could have been confidently
made, and the plants are also so small that they would have
given little character to any bold system of grouping.

In considering the ornamental plantations, one must remem-
ber that the soil is but a shallow covering of black earth, and
that it is loose and droughty ; and in the Rose-garden there is
no soil which is adapted to Roses. The gardeners also con?-
plain that the intense suns of the American climate burn out

the more delicate Roses as soon as they open. Yet, despite
all this, the intelligent visitor must concede that the Rose-gar-
den is a success. A low trellis bounds thegarden just inside the
fence, and most of its length is covered with the wonderfully
profuse bloom of the Rose, Pride of Washington, furnished
by the Dingee & Conard Company. A small portion of the
trellis was planted to Baltimore Belle, but this has failed to
make any show. Each of the interior beds contains but a sin-
gle exhibit, although an exhibitor may have several beds.
Many of the beds are without labels, either of the exhibit or of
individual plants, and much of the value of the displays is
thereby lost. It is, furthermore, impossible to find official
records of some of the exhibits. The following inventory of
the exhibitors and the numbers of varieties now living in the
Rose-garden, together with date of setting, has been obtained
with great care, and it is the most complete record yet pub-
lished :

1892. F,. Asmus, West Hoboken, New Jersey, 2 varieties, hybrids.

1892. Robert Craig, Philadelphia, 2 varieties.

1892. Alexander Dickson & Sons, Newtownards, Ireland, 20 varieties.

1893. Alexander Dickson & Sons, Newtownards, Ireland, 3 varieties.

1892. California exhibitors, 35 varieties, hybrids.

1893. California exhibitors, 24 varieties, hybrids.
1893. Califurnia exhibitors, 67 varieties, Teas.

. Dingee & Conard Co., West Grove, Pennsylvania, 3 varieties.

1892. Boskoop Nursery Association, 144 varieties, hybrids. A few
of these have died.

1892. M. Jeurgisson, Boskoop, Holland, 60 varieties.

1893. E. G. Hill & Co., Richmond, Indiana, 20 varieties, Teas and

Polyanthas.

1892. Nanz & Neuner, Louisville, Kentucky, 15 varieties, hybrids.

1893. Nanz & Neuner, Louisville, Kentucky, 17 varieties. Teas.
1893. John N. May, New Jersey, 4 varieties, Teas.

1892. Ohio exhibitors, 10 varieties.

1893. Pitcher & Manda, New Jersey, 30 varieties, hybrids.

1893. E. Seyderhelm, Buda Pesth, Austria, about 200 varieties,
standards.

1892. J. C. Vaughan, Chicago, i variety.

1893. German exhibitors, about 500 varieties, hybrids, Teas and

standards.

Aside from these, there are on the island about sixty varie-
ties of standards from W. Van Kleeff & Sons, Boskoop, Hol-
land ; a large lot of standards from the German Department
(included in the above estimate of 500 varieties) ; a lot of Mar-
shall P. Wilder, very fine, from Ellwanger & Barry, and an
attractive little bed of Dawson and Rosa Wichuriana by W. C.
Strong, of Massachusetts. The latter are not yet in flower.
About the Woman's Building, among the French plants, are
collections of Roses : (i) By L. Paillet, Valine deChatenay, near
Paris, about loo varieties, all standards ; (2) by G. Boucher,
Paris, about 200 varieties of standards and many low plants ;
(3) by Levavaseur & Son, Ussy, France, of Rosa rugosa. There
is also a collection of imported standards shown in the New
York exhibit in the rear of the Horticultural Building by Ga-
briel Marc & Co., Woodside, Long Island. Finally, about the
California State Building, there are several Tree Roses, six to
eight feet high and in full bloom, which attract considerable
attention.

In all this abundance of Roses it is impossible to single out
any cine exhibit as better than all others. Yet, so far as nov-
elty and striking merit of varieties are concerned, the exhibit of
Dickson & Sons, Ireland, probably excels. This firm originates
varieties, and it needs no introduction to American rosarians.
Among the striking Roses in this exhibit are Mrs. John Laing
(of which the head-gardener is very proud), Margaret Dickson,
Earl of Dufferin, JVtadame Plantier, Jeannie l5ickson, Mar-
chioness of Dufferin, Blanche Moreau and Celine, the last two
being Moss Roses.

The German exhibit is the largest. It is made up of about
ten different lots, from as many German growers. The entire
German horticultural interests are in the hands of Ludwig
Schiller, who considers the following varieties to be among
the best of those under his charge : Of standards, Marie Bau-
mann, Victor Verdier, Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, Fisher Holmes,
Sappho, Alfred Colombo, Baroness Rothschild ; of low hybrid
Roses, Merveille de Lyon, Pride of Waltham, Captain Christy,
General Jacqueminot, Jean Liabaud, Anna Alexieff, Anne de
Diesbach, Auguste Neumann, Baroness Rothschild, Etienne
Levet, La France, Mrs. John Laing, Souvenir de Paid Neyron ;
of Teas, Mile. Franzisca Kriiger, Madame Honors Defresne,
Reine Nathalie de Serbie, Sunset, Marie Guillot, Grace Darling,
Souvenir de Victor Hugo, Perle des Jardins, Viscountess
Folkstone, Gloire de Dijon, and Kaiserin Augusta Victoria,
the new white Tea. The California Roses are very strong and
free-blooming, and have been among the best show-plants in
the garden. American Beauty and Mignonette have been par-
ticularly good in this collection. Other prominent varieties are

300

Garden and Forest.

[Number 281.

Clothilde Soupert, shown by Vaughan, and Ulrich Briinner,
shown by Craig. The latter is only semi-double, and the bud
is very attractive.

With the exception of tlie plants of Nan/, & Neuner and the
Clothilde Soupert, by Vauglian, all the hardy Roses are budded.
This fact proves that nearly all dealers prefer such stock for
strong growth and quick results ; and if the plants are set
deep enough, so that the bud is three inches below the sur-
face, it is commonly agreed that budded plants are superior to
others for outdoor planting. The standard Roses are a sur-
prise to many Americans. The Rose is budded four or five
leet high upon a straight slender stock, which is stripped en-
tirely of its leaves after the bud begins to grow. In the speci-
men's on exhibition the bud is two seasons old, forming a
compact little bush or bunch on the apparently dry cane.
These plants are set in rows or otherformal fashion, and most
of them are tied to strong green stakes. These tree or stand-
ard Roses are much used in Europe for planting in the cen-
tres of foliage or bulb beds, or for use as supports to Ipomocas
or other climbing plants. Any variety of Rose may be worked
or budded in this manner. In France and Germany, yearling
standard buds sell for twenty-five to fifty cents apiece. Because
of the diflHculty of protecting them in winter they have never
become popular in this country; and it should also be said
that the American taste tends toward more naturalistic
methods of treatment. Mannetti stocks are sometimes used
for these standards, but seedlings of the Rosa canina are
oftenest employed, both in Germany and France.
CbicaRo. IlL L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

A booth was opened on the Fourth of July in the Woman's
Building of the Columbian Exposition, where American
citizens can enjoy the harmless amusement of voting for a
national flower.

Mr. Waldo F. Brown writes to the Ohio Farmer that there
are beds of Asparagus in his neighborhood which have been
planted some fifty years, and are still in vigorous and profita-
ble bearing. The plants are set in rows four feet apart and
stand four feet apart in the row.

Every year we call attention to the Prairie Rose, Rosa seti-
gera, as one of our most beautiful climbing plants, as it is the
only American Rose with climbing stems ; and every year cor-
respondents who read what is said of this Rose write to in-
quire where the plants can be bought, for even yet compara-
tively few nurserymen have them to sell.

V. Lemoine & Fils send us photographs of a plant in
flower of Deutzia parviflora, a species mentioned in a recent
issue of these notes, growing in their nursery at Nancy, and in
a personal letter write that, in their judgment, it is the hand-
somest and most elegant of the cultivated Deutzias, and that
it has proved hardier in Nancy than D. crenata, which was
killed to the level of the ground during the last winter. At
Nancy, D. parviflora is the earliest member of the genus to
flower, and has been found to force easily and successfully.

We have received from Mr. Joseph Meehan.of Germantown,
some branches of Hovenia dulcis, bearing several axillary and
terminal panicles of its small creamy white and very fragrant
flowers. The heart-shaped serrate leaves are alternate, thick
in texture, glossy above, and many of them are from six to
seven inches long and four inches wide. Mr. Meehan writes
that tlie tree from which these sprays were taken is now
twenty-five feet high, and it is flowering for the third succes-
sive year. Hovenia dulcis bloomed in the neighborhood of
Philadelphia as long as ten years ago, but it is by no means
common in cultivation, and it has not yet proved able to en-
dure the winters at the Arnold Arboretum.

One of the most beautiful American shrubs now in (lower is
Stuartia pentagyna ; its large creamy white flowers, three or
four inches across, with scalloped margins resembling those
of some Camellias, to which, mdeed, the Stuartia is related.
Perhaps the slow growth of this plant while it is yoimg has dis-
couraged planters; at all events, it is so rarely found in gar-
dens that it has never received a common English name.
When fully established, however, so that its Ijeauties are de-
veloped, this Stuartia is one of the most pleasing of all hardy
shrubs which flower in summer, and it should be omitted from
no carefully selected collection. It appreciates liberal treatment,
and when set in good loam mixed with peat and enriclied
occasionally with a dressing of old and well-pulverized manure
it will always repay such attention.

Professor Maynard, of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col-
lege, announces by postal-card, that a giant Century Plant in

the greenhouse at Amherst is now in full bloom. It is a spec-
imen of the striped variety of Agave Americana, and it is said
to be probably the largest plant of its kind under glass in
America. This specimen originated at the old Ames home-
stead in Chicopee, Massachusetts, about 1825, and was pre-
sented to Mrs. Hitchcock, tlie wife of President Edward Hitch-
cock, of Amherst College, by Mrs. James T. Ames, in 1838. It
was used as a lawn plant lor about thirty years when it was
given to the college. Since then it has been grown on a moimd
of prepared soil some fifteen feet by fifteen at the base, eight
by eight at the top and five feet high. The liower-stalk is
eighteen feet high, with a panicle containing over 3.000 buds
and flowers, and the whole plant is estimated to weigh about
a ton. The flowers are greenish yellow, two inches long by
one inch broad, with six bright yellow stamens exserted some
two inches beyond the floral envelope.

Professor Massey writes that the North Carolina Experi-
ment Station "now has a grapery planted with the choicest
of the Vinifera varieties of Grapes, such as Black and Golden
Hamburg, Muscats and others. The crop this year is mag-
nificent. The house is entirely a cold grapery, but in this
latitude we are of the opinion that cold-grapery Grapes can be
made to pay, though most northern growers have come to the
conclusion that they are unprofitable on account of the com-
petition of the Calitornia crop. But here a cold grapery can
be allowed to start safely by the first of March and the crop
can be put on the market before the California grapes arrive.
This season is our first full crop, and we will ship the fruit soon
to test the matter. Our grapery was built for a two-fold pur-
pose— the testing of the profit of growing these grapes under
glass and the production of hybrid grapes of a late ripening
character to fill up the gap that always comes here between
the cutting of our early grapes and the ripening of Scupper-
nongs. The grapes commonly grown north ripen here from
early July to late August, and then, until Scuppernongs begin
in late September, we have no grapes. We hope to get a
Grape to fill this gap better than the Herbermont does."

A correspondent of the Country Gentleman, writing from
Norfolk, states that 20,000 barrels of potatoes are now snipped
daily to northern cities from the truck-farms williin twenty
milesof Norfolk, and that they bring from $3.25 to $3. 50 a barrel.
From May ist to July loth the truck-farmers in that section
have received from northern markets about $50,000 a day, or
$3,500,000 in all, for berries, peas, beans, cabbage, cucumbers,
squash, potatoes, etc. Before the first of May a steady, though
smaller, amount of farm-produce was constantly shipped, and,
in fact, shipments never cease entirely for any length of time.
The Irmd cleared of truck-crops at the middle of July is put
info Millet, Cow Peas, Corn, Turnips and Crab-grass Hay,
which cuts from one to one and a half tons an acre. This Grass
is an annual which comes up every year in July and covers the
ground for the rest of the season. Perhaps the money re-
ceived during a year for the crops grown within twenty miles
of Norfolk will exceed the sum of $5,000,000, and yet both the
farmers and merchants of this region complain of hard times.
" If such returns do not make people prosperous, what shall
we say," inquires the writer, " of those sections of the coun-
try in which only one crop a year is raised, and where the re-
turns for this crop are divided between producers and the
' long-haul ' charges of the railroads .''"

The oak-leaved Hydrangea, H. quercifolia, is still in (lower,
and deserves mention as the most showy of our native Hy-
drangeas and one of the best of its genus. On the banks of
streams in Georgia and northern Florida it is sometimes fif-
teen to eighteen feet high, with a habit almost tree-like, al-
though in the latitude ot New York the best plants are rarely
more than six feet high. Its flowers come in large thyrsoid
panicles, with spreading branches which carry a few clusters
of perfect (lowers, and at the extremities a large sterile flower,
dull white at first and turning reddish before it fades. In its
flowering it resembles the Japanese Hydrangea paniculata,
which is too rarely seen, although its variety, Grandiflora, with
enormous panicles of sterile flowers, is now one of the com-
monest shrubs in American gardens. The oak-leaved Hy-
drangea is not hardy much farther north than the latitude of
New York, but where it will flourish it is a good shrub all the
year round, and its deep plum-colored foliage in autumn is sin-
gularly attractive. Another native Hydrangea, H. Radiata,
which is common in the Carolina mountains, is particularly
beautiful for the snow-white down which covers the under sides
of its leaves. It is a perfectly hardy plant and deserves more gen-
eral cultivation. Our most northern species is H. arl)orescens.
It flowers rather earlier than the others, but is altogether less
attractive.

July 19, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

301

GARDEN AND FOREST,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1893..

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articies :— Algonquin Park 301

Questions to be Answered by Candidates ror Gardeners Certificates. 302

Gardening at the World's Fair Mrs. J. H. Robbins. 302

Notes on New Species of Mexican Trees C. G.Pringlt. 303

New or Little-known Plants :— Single-flowered Herbaceous Pseonies. (With

figure.) 304

FoRBicN Correspondence : — London Letter W. Watson. 304

Cultural Department:— Spring Bulbs —II W. E. Endicott. 306

Hardy Primulas J. IVoodivard Manning. 307

Carnations in Summer T, D. H. 307

Strawberries in 1893 E. P. Pcnvell. 307

Peas, Strawberries T. D. H. 308

Correspondence : — The Orange in Northern California Timothy Holmes. 308

Japanese Irises at Short Hills, New Jersey G. 308

The Columbian Exposition :— Citrous Fruits Professor L. H. Bailey. 309

Notes 310

Illustration :— Paeonia albiflora, Fig. 46 _ 305

Algonquin Park.

THE great forests of Canada have for years been suf-
fering as much from fires and from reckless cutting
as have the wooded regions of our own country, and this
fact the thoughtful people of the Dominion have, fortu-
nately, begun to realize. The public desire to interpose
some check to the pitiless attack upon the woods, and to
E ve a portion of what remains in its primeval condition,
took form a few years ago in a project for establishing
in the Province of Ontario a forest-reservation and national
park, and commissioners to make inquiry concerning the
matter were appointed in the spring of 1892. This com-
mission, of which Mr. Alexander Kirkwood was the chair-
man, made a report last March, and the bill prepared at
their suggestion has since then been enacted as a law un-
der the title of "An Act to Establish the Algonquin National
Park of Ontario." Under this act a tract of land in the
northern part of the province, some forty miles long and
thirty-six miles wide, has been set apart "as a public park,
forest-reservation, fish and game preserve, health-resort
and pleasure-ground for the benefit, advantage and enjoy-
ment of the Province of Ontario," and the Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor in council is empowered to add to the park any
adjoining townships or parts of townships in which no
lands have been heretofore granted. Our experience in the
case of the Adirondack forest and elsewhere shows the dif-
ficulty in setting apart any considerable part of the public
domain when it includes scattered areas which have be-
come the property of private individuals. Fortunately,
although some of the timber included in Ontario's new park
had been disposed of, the Crown continued to hold the title
to the land itself, so that no vested interests stood in the
way of securing complete possession. It is fortunate, too,
that under the laws of Ontario the park could be placed
directly under the control of the Department of Crown
Lands, and that the Governor in council was authorized to
make all needed regulations for the maintenance and man-

agement of the park, so that it was not necessary in the be-
ginning to formulate any elaborate code of administration.
The commission, too, seems to have been singularly fortu-
nate in that they were able to secure so large a tract and one
which is shown by the report to be in so many ways suit-
able for the purpose it was to serve.

The site itself is an elevated area, containing but little
soil fit for cultivation, with few high hills, but many suc-
cessive ridges of Laurentian rock alternating with valleys
and marshes. It lies on the summit which divides the
waters flowing toward the Georgian Bay from those -which
flow into the Ottawa River, and rising to a height of 1,300
or 1,400 feet above the sea-level. There is probably not
elsewhere in the Province a tract which, within the same
small space, gives rise to so many important streams, and
the commissioners do well, therefore, to note that one of
the most important functions of the reservation will be that
of maintaining and regulating the water-supply of these
streams. The park itself contains large volumes of water
in lakes, rivers, brooks and ponds, the entire water-surface
covering about 166 square miles, while the area of the land
is 1,300 square miles. Fortunately, the forest-cover of this
region is practically unimpaired, so that it will not be diffi-
cult to preserve in their original condition these elevated
lakes and the streams which run under overarching woods.

The park is a place of singular beauty. The clearing of
land for agricultural use, the cutting away of the timber for
lumber, with the added ravages of fire, have almost effaced
throughout the older settled parts of Ontario, as well as of
the United States, the memory of the beautiful woodland
scenery which once prevailed all over the land ; and while
the preservation of forests in their original state is
advisable for economic reasons, it certainly is also worth
while to preserve somewhere a remnant of country
in its original condition, so that the native and untamed
beauty of forest, lake and river may be enjoyed forever. Some
kinds of trees, once common in Ontario, are becoming
scarce; wild flowers and undershrubs, which diversified the
primeval forests, are now almost forgotten where they once
abounded, and the perpetuation, therefore, of a large district
in its original sylvan conditions will afford a keen pleasure
to the visitor as well as a field of study to the student,
while for all it will preserve pleasing memories of the past.

Game, fur-bearing animals and some kinds of birds,
once abundant throughout Ontario, are becoming scarce.
Not many years ago the moose, the monarch of the Ca-
nadian woods, browsed in the proposed reservation, herds
of red deer grazed in every meadow, the beaver built his
dam on every stream, and the bear, mink, otter and martin
were common. The great game has been pursued with
the same ferocity which has practically exterminated the
buffalo on our own plains. In the spring of 1887 there
were found in the district now set apart as a park for the
Province the carcasses of no less than sixty moose, which
had been killed for their skins alone. Surely it is wise to
fence in one spot in Ontario where these innocent tenants of
forest and stream can be saved from the cruelty and greed
which pursues them to the point of extermination, and
where they can rear their young in safety.

Here, too, as the commission well points out, is a fair
field for experiments in systematic forestry on a limited
scale. Forest fires and the operations of lumbermen have
diminished the quantity of pine still standing, but exten-
sive areas within the park limits are still well stocked with
this valuable wood, and hardwood trees grow in great
abundance in groves or mixed with Pine. Besides White
and Red Pines, Hemlock, Tamarack, Balsam and Cedar,
there is an abundance of Black Birch, with Maple, Beech,
Iron-wood, Ash and Bass-wood. This variety of trees
will furnish opportunities for experiments in every de-
partment of forest-culture.

Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that so large a reserva-
tion will have a growing importance as a sanitarium. Its
height above the sea-level, its succession of hill and
valley, lake and river, its groves of Balsam and Cedar

302

Garden and Forest.

[Number 282.

and Pine, which are supposed to have some specific value
in curing certain diseases, combine to offer great advan-
tages to invalids who are likely to improve under the condi-
tions of an outdoor life in the pure air and at a high altitude.
Altogether, the establishment of Algonquin Park, a
name which perpetuates the memory of the powerful
Indian nation who held sway over this territory cen-
turies ago, seems to mark an important advance in the
development of Ontario. A hundred years hence it will
be cherished as one of the most precious possessions of
the Province. It is to be hoped that these reservations
will be multiplied both in this country and in Canada.
There is small danger that the wants of coming genera-
tions in this respect will be too lavishly provided for.

school connected with the Botanical Garden of St. Louis,
will graduate men who can acquit themselves well when
confronted by fair test questions like those presented by
the Royal Horticultural Society, there need be little fear
that they will fail to find employment and prove an honor
to their calling.

The English horticultural papers have published the
questions to be answered by candidates for gardeners'
certificates, in an examination held under the auspices of
the Royal Horticultural Society. We herewith print the
fourteen questions put to the candidates for the higher
g^de, reminding the reader that only eight of these are to
be answered, and that the candidate can select such as he
pleases :

1 . Explain the mode of formation of the soil.

2. What evils arise from stagnant moisture in the soil ; and
why is access of air necessary to the roots of plants ?

3. In the selection of a site for the formation of a garden,
what are the principal conditions to be observed ? Describe
those of most importance.

4. Describe the usual system of rotation of cropping in the
kitchen garden, and what are the advantages derived there-
from ?

5. Mention a few common weeds which usually grow : (i) on
clay soils ; (2) on sandy soils ; (3) on limestone soils.

6. Explain the ill effects which arise from too deep planting.

7. How may a succession of vegetables be obtained during
every month in the year ?

8. Explain the process of grafting, and state what objects are
served by it.

9. By what circumstances is the work of the leaves impeded ?

10. Why is a combination of various substances in manure
generally preferable to the application of one substance alone ?

11. Describe the method of preparing the ground for Straw-
berries ; the preparation of the runners ; also the best time and
method of plantine.

12. Give some illustrations where fungi, so far from being
injurious, contribute to the welfare of tlie plant on which they
grow.

13. What are the relative advantages of training fruit-trees
on the espalier system, and on walls ?

14. What variations occur in the mode of growth of a
cutting ?

These questions seem to us to have been prepared with care
for the purpose of ascertaining in a broad way the extent
of the candidate's knowledge, and, therefore, they are
much more useful and satisfactory than questions upon out-
of-the-way matters and minute details would be. Puzzling
questions on obscure points in horticulture might reveal
many things which the applicant does not know, but they
will not, in any honest way, show how much he does
know. No doubt, there are good gardeners who would fail
to answer half of these inquiries to the satisfaction of an
examiner, but it is also true that a man whose knowledge
is wide enough to make an intelligent statement on matters
like this will be a better gardener, other things being equal,
than one who has not this breadth of attainment. Of
course, no mere study of books or listening to lectures can
make a practical gardener. The only way to learn the art
of gardening is to practice it in the garden. But when, in
addition to this practice, a gardener, under proper direc-
tion, applies himself so as to understand the reasons for
what he does, he certainly is better equipped than the mere
rule-of-thumb practitioner. The recent letters we have
published about horticultural instruction in France show
that the instruction given in that country is doing much to
improve its horticulture. Whenever any of our agricul-
tural colleges, or other institutions like the horticultural

Gardening at the World's Fair.

T WAS particularly interested in the planting of the northern
■*• end of the wooded island which is under the care of the
Japanese. The three buildings which reproduce the Hooden
palace at different epochs are representative of Japanese con-
struction of three ancient dates. One of the buildings is empty,
and remains closed, the other two are furnished and adorned
witli exquisite specimens of bronze and lacquer, with kake-
monos and vases of Howers, after the fashion of that tasteful
people. No one is allowed to tread the spotless floors, which
are covered with delicate mats of snowy whiteness, and only
upon the opening day, by special invitation of the Japanese
Commissioner, were a few highly-favored individuals allowed
to walk about upon the raised veranda and view the dainty
interiors from near at liand.

Tlie buildings are sliehtly elevated, so that when the sliding
shutters are drawn back one can look within, the floor being
about on a level with his eye.

The exterior of the centre temple is adorned with superb
carving, gayly painted and richly gilded, representing a bird
surrounded with flames. All the wood-work is of that perfec-
tion of material and finish with which those master-workmen de-
light the eye. In one room a bronze incense-burner of beauti-
ful workmanship stands in a niche. There are great pots to
hold imitation Chrysanthemums and other plants, and cabinets
of rare beauty in another apartment. What most pleased me
in the interior of the smaller of the two open buildings was
the snowy walls, slightly decorated with a flight of birds.
The purity and simplicity of the whole design, the few rare
objects of art disposed within this tiny temple, the restraint
and refinement of it all were of so exquisite a delicacy that it
affected one like a strain of rare music.

Near the Hooden, as this collection of buildings is called,
is a house occupied by the Japanese in charge of the grounds,
which is enclosed in an interesting fence made of fine bamboo
lashed to posts by withes. To protect the upper ends from
the weather there is atop thatch composed of twigs in a long
bundle, also bound with withes at intervals, which has a novel
and serviceable foreign look. All about the buildings is a thick
plantation of trees and shrubs, interspersed here and there
with blossoming herbaceous plants, which are most carefully
tended. These extend to the water on either side, and under
the handsome bridge is moored a much decorated Japanese
boat.

In front of the buildings, on the east side of the path which
leads through the grounds, is an arrangement of mounds and
tiny steps, with groupings of flat stones here and there, which
reminds one of pictures of the gardens of Japan. Umbrella-
pines are here planted with other trees and shrubs of that
country, and tiny winding paths lead down to the edge of the
water, which gleams through the shrubbery upon the slopes.
There are none of those attempts at minute gardening, of
which specimens are shown in the Horticultural Building, with
queer little old distorted trees, and miniature bridges and
lamps and imitation tea-houses. Here all is appropriately sub-
ordinated to the grand scheme of which it forms a part, and
the leafy surroundings of the pier of the fine bridge, which
leads to the Fisheries Building, make the bridge itself an agree-
able part of the scheme.

In front of the French Building is a pretty parterre, carefully
tended and full of flowers, which makes a fitting accessory to
the construction itself, which, like everything from France, is
in excellent taste. Unlike the churlish English Building,
which stands stiffly by the lake, with closed doors, and a guard
to keep people away from it, whereas every other national
house throws its doors open cordially to all comers, the French
Building bids us welcome by the open doors of its two pa-
vilions, connected by a semi-circular arcade, and entertains us
with an interesting exhibit of the work of its art schools and by
large water-colors, framed and glazed and hung in the belvi-
dere, of all the finest public buildings of Pans. A fountain
plays in the grassy curve half-enclosed by the building, and
here is a gay French parterre brilliant with blossoms, and
skillfully tended and renewed like the beds in the Champs
Elys^es, so that as one set of flowers fades another takes its
place. 'The pavilions front the lake, from which a cool breeze

July 19, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

303

blows, and the whole effect of the building shaded by trees,
with its cheerful garden, can be admirably viewed from the
esplanade as one strolls along.

The reproduction of an ancient Spanish fort, which
represents Florida at the Fair, is appropriately set about
with Palms and Agaves and Cacti, giving it a local color and
an air of tropical aridity. The exterior windows are mere
slits in the rough-hewn wall, but within it opens upon a court,
where is a quiet little enclosed garden such as one sees in a
Spanish monastery. A similar one is encircled by the walls of
the Convent of La Rabida, and there, too, the cloister is a fa-
vorite walk for its enthusiastic visitors. The interior of the
Florida Building is tapestried with immense dried Palm-
branches, which are woven into numerous fantastic forms,
curious and often interesting. The Palm-trees themselves,
particularly the large ones set without the walls, have not
borne transplantation kindly, and many of them seem to be
dead. The temperature of Chicago, with its sudden changes,
is very hard on Palms and gondoliers and other semi-tropical
products. The Venetians go about on one of its chilly east-
windy days with unpicturesque overcoats and throats muffled
in handkerchiefs, and grumble about a climate which lets its
thermometer down forty degrees in a night, while the Palms,
if they don't quite give up the ghost, do turn brown and hang
in slits, and even the wiry Cactuses have an appearance of de-
pression. July will probably brace up some of these southern
importations and improve their appearance.

About the great Horticultural Building the individual exhib-
its were in so fragmentary a state that the general effect, which
was all that a hasty visitor could get, was far from impressive.
There were some'fine Rhododendrons exhibited, but the gar-
dens in its neighborhood everywhere looked empty and un-
ready, greenhouses were in process of construction, and there
was a good deal more promise than performance visible.

The picturesque dwarf trees of Japan interested me greatly.
One poor old CypreaS, three hundred years old, perished with
the winter, but there were some ancient crooked Maples,
about a foot high, and a Pine-tree with gnarled branches and
massive roots that would have adorned a forest in Lilliput, for
they must have been at least eighteen inches tall. Every leaf
had been carefully trained on the Maple, and the pine-needles
were held imperceptibly in place to produce that fine cushiony
effect that is so highly prized. It seemed like looking at some
venerable monarch of the forest through the reverse end of
an opera-glass, so perfectly did the Lilliputian tree reproduce
all the storm-wrought eccentricities of the great one.

Among other curious objects was the exact model of a Japa-
nese garden, quaintly rendered, with little figures crossing its
toy bridges or lingering by its tiny lake. Here were the hil-
locks, the cascades, the stone lamps, the sheet of water, the
smooth stones, the summer-houses hidden in the clumps of
trees, the flowering shrubs, the groups of Irises by the water's
edge — a complete and fanciful little pleasure-ground within
the circumference of a large centre-table. I found in different
corners in the Fair these miniature renderings of outdoor
scenes very useful in helping to form a mental picture of the
regions they represented. There were some of mining re-
gions in the buildings of the western states ; others showed a
great rancho with all its pastures and stables and fields of
Wheat ; and the British had a model of a famous stud-farm in
their agricultural exhibit, which gave one an excellent idea of
an English farm-house and its surroundings.

I found more fair-sized trees in Jackson Park than I had ex-
pected. There were well-grown Willows in wet nooks, and
the Esquimaux seemed quite in the forest in their shady cor-
ner on the South Pond.

What struck me particularly was the blackness of the tree-
trunks, so that in some instances I thought they were painted
with coal-tar to preserve them from insects, until I discovered
the same peculiarity in Lincoln Park, and in the trees in Chi-
cago. I finally concluded that it must be a combination of
moisture from the lake with the smoke of bituminous coal
which gives them this melancholy hue. In the Japanese plan-
tation the trunks of many of the rarer trees were carefully
wound about with ropes to protect them from the sun, and the
ground about their roots was kept freed from grass and weeds
to stimulate their growth. Everywhere the turf, even where
freshly laid, is of a vivid green, which gives the grounds a
cultivated and finished appearance. The islands, with their
commingled tints of verdure and flowers, their irregular shores
washed by the rippling lagoon, which seems never quiet, but
always broken by little waves, make a charming variation in
the pictvire, resting the eye after its contemplation of the bril-
liant white palaces, and permitting it to alternate the natural
with the architectural spectacle often enough to avoid fatigue.

An imperial vision lingers in the memory, as of a garden of
the poets, soft with shadow, shining with sunshine, splendid
with domes and arches, and long sweeps of windowed walls
and stately columns bounding an enchanted lake. Seated be-
neath these trees, with distant glimpses of white sails behind
a whiter colonnade, while shadows of the leaves fleck the
path, and rosebuds are bursting their sheaths beside you,
the gardens of the Hesperides seem no longer a fable, for their
golden fruit lies within your grasp.

Hingham. Mass. M. C. RobbtttS.

Notes on New Species of Mexican Trees.

BOCCONIA ARBOREA, Watson, discovered in caflons and
about the base of mountains around Lake Chapala, in the
state of Jalisco, is now known to range thence south-east
through the states of Michoacan and Mexico to near Cuerna-
vaca, in the state of Morelos. It forms a tree of moderate
dimensions, with a trunk diameter of one to two feet and a
height of twenty to thirty. It is a tree of singular appearance,
the thick outer bark being light brown, corky and very deeply
furrowed, and the large leaves, which are glaucous under-
neath, being found in clusters at the end of the branches.
Among the leaves grows the drooping panicle of flowers, suc-
ceeded by fruits. "These, with the twigs, show a reddish hue.
The inner bark is an inch thick on the trunk, and is charged
with an orange-red juice.

Sargentia Greggii, Watson, is distributed over the eastern
verge of the plateau from Monterey as far south, at least, as
the latitude of San Luis Potosf, and here through a belt 200
miles in width from east to west. I have before written of its
attractive appearance, when its symmetrical head of dense
foliage is covered in June with abundant panicles of whitish
flowers.

Xanthoxylum Pringlei, Watson, is only known to me in
mountains of the eastern part of the state of San Luis Potosf.
Without doubt, its distribution extends thence northward to
Nuevo Leon and southward toward Mount Orizaba. It attains
a diameter of one foot, and is tall in habit. The bark is cov-
ered scatteringly with stout prickles one-third to half an inch
in height from a stout base. Its fruits, borne in terminal
corymbs, are covered with glands containing an essential oil
which has the odor of camphor.

Bursera Pringlei, Watson, as far as seen by me, is a small
tree on rocky hills of Jalisco. Its foliage bears a close resem-
blance to that of the Pepper-tree ; its bark is smooth and red,
and scales off in thin sheets.

Thoninia acuminata, Watson, is a tree of considerable size
and of irregular habit, occupying the tropical barrancas, or
river cuts, of Jalisco.

Csesalpinia multiflora, Robinson, found on volcanic hills and
mesas of the western part of Michoacan, next to Jalisco, is a
tree of so striking appearance and remarkable beauty that the
author of the species thought it strange that it should so long
have remained unknown. The locality, however, is remote
from former lines of travel. It grows to a foot or more in di-
ameter, and is covered with smooth reddish brown bark. In
May or June, before the leaves are hardly expanded, its head
shows a mass of yellow bloom.

Oreopanax Jaliscana, Watson, is a small tree of the warm
lowlands and barrancas of Jalisco. Its large leaves, nearly a
foot broad and palmately lobed. with its ample panicles of
white flowers, followed by fruits at first white, and finally black,
give it an ornamental appearance.

Gonzalia glabra, Watson, makes known its presence in
mountain caRons of the district about Lake Chapala, to one
who treads them, by the sweet fragrance of its tiny while
flowers, which develop in succession throughout the early
winter months. It is a small tree with smooth, dark green
foliage.

Clethra Pringlei, Watson, with its profuse white flowers
showing for a month in early summer, is the most beautiful
tree seen on the mountain-sides about Tamasopo Cafion, in
eastern San Luis Potosf. From this point its range must be
chiefly southward along the Sierra Madre of the east. It has a
trunk diameter of twelve to eighteen inches and a height of
thirty to fifty feet.

Ehretia Mexicana, Watson, forms a large tree, two to three
feet in diameter, and grows scattered over the rich valleys of
Michoacan, Guanajuato and Jalisco. Its trunk shows the same
fluted appearance as the smaller species of the Rio Grande
region.

Ficus Jaliscana, Watson, by reason of its yellowish bark, its
thick and shining heart-shaped leaves and its strange habit of
growing on the face or verge of cliffs, sending its branching

304

Garden and Forest.

[Number 282.

roots into fissures of the rock and putting forth its limbs so
low as sometimes to leave no part which might be called a
trunk, is one of the most curious of trees. When standing in
the soil, however, it forms a trunk like any tree ; and in rich
soil it makes a huge tree, a shining and beautiful tree. Its
Iruifs are among the smallest of fig^, being only three or four
lines in diameter." Its habitat is the warm barrancas of south-
western Mexico, especially their rocky walls.

Ficus Guadalajarana, Watson, another wild Fig, is less re-
stricted in its Iwbitat than the last-mentioned, for it is common
on the plains about the city whose name it bears, as well as by
the river-side in the great barranca. It attains in this situation
immense proportions ; in drier and open situations it forms
low, widely spreading tops. It is an admirable shade-tree,
with its dense foliage of lanceolate leaves ; and its fruits,
which are nearly an mch in diameter, are of use as food for
pigs and other animals.

Ficus Pringlei, Watson, varies from small to medium size,
and seems to be confined to the sheltered barrancas and warm
lowlands of Jalisco and neighboring states. Its leaves are
ovate, lanceolate and pubescent. Its fruits become half an
inch in diameter, when ripe, and are then soft, sweet and
much sought by birds.

Juglans Mexicana, Watson, the Mexican Black Walnut, is
but a medium-sized tree ; and, as it forms its heads low, it
rarely yields logs of good size or length. Nevertheless, its
lumber is much sought and is highly prized. Its nuts are in-
termediate in size, between those of the common species of
the United States and of those of Arizona or California. Its dis-
tribution is the Sierra Madre of eastern Mexico.

Dasylirion inerme, Watson, is a liliaceous plant, which is
tree-like in size and appearance. From a bulbous base, which
may be six or more feet broad, it tapers upward, at first rapidly.
At a height of five to ten feet it begins to branch ; and the
branches, after dividing again sparingly, end in large tufts of
long, grass-like leaves. In the centre of the leaf-clusters stand
panicles of whitish flowers or fruits two or three feet high. Its
bark is gray and cracked like that of an Oak. Altogether it
presents, standing conspicuous on limestone ledges, a unique
ap[>earance, but is not without beauty. Its range is the lower,
hotter slopes of the eastern edge of the plateau.

As I review this list, the conviction is formed that no part of
the world can offer plants more worthy of a place in gardens
or parks, wherever they can succeed, than are half of the spe-
cies herein mentioned. ^ ^ n. . ,

Charlotte, Vt C. G. PrtttgU.

New or Little-known Plants.

Single flowered Herbaceous Paeonies.

THE growing taste for perennial plants, and the care
which is now taken to improve them, are indi-
cations of a purer taste in horticulture than that which
prevailed when the chief aim and ambition of the fashion-
able gardener was to place the largest number of tender
plants in more or less fantastic array in out-of-door sum-
mer beds. Of late years much attention has been paid,
especially by English florists, to producing new varieties
of herbaceous PcBonies, and collections of single and double
flowered varieties are now often seen in our gardens. To
our taste, the single normal flower of the Peeony is a more
beautiful and interesting object than one of the double
flowers, although many people prefer the latter, which cer-
tainly have the advantage of lasting much longer than
the single flowers. The illustration on page 305 of this
issue, which represents a flower of a very old-fashioned
white-flowered variety of Paeonia albiflora, reduced to
about half of its natural size, shows the form of these flow-
ers, although it hardly conveys an adequate idea of their
beauty, which is much increased by the contrast in color
of the cluster of yellow stamens with the delicate pure
colors of their petals.

Nearly all the late-flowered Pseonies in cultivation are
forms of the Siberian Paeonia albiflora, although the Euro-
pean Paeonia officinalis, which flowers rather early and is
a much less desirable plant, is still sometimes cultivated ;
and it is interesting to note that a so-called single white-
flowered Paeonia officinalis was exhibited by the elder
Thomas Hogg in 1826 in this city before the New York
Horticultural Society.

The varieties of Paeonia albiflora can be distinguished by
the delightful fragrance of the flowers, for those of Pagonia
officinalis have a disagreeable odor ; by the long flower-
stem, often furnished below the flower with a large simple
leaf; and by the color of the leaves, which are darker than
those of other species, and often colored red on the veins
and margins. Single-flowered varieties of Paeonia albi-
flora with pure white, with pink, and with scarlet flowers,
have been obtained by selection, and it is doubtful whether
this plant can be further improved by cultivation, although
florists are adding every year dozens of new names to their
catalogues. Fevv of these names, however, represent any
decided improvement. We have already plants of perfect
habit and foliage, with flowers of ample size and of all
attainable colors, unless a cross can be effected with the
new yellow-flowered Paeony which the Abbd Delavey has
recently brought to light in Yun-nan, and which may give
us a yellow-flowered Paeonia, with flowers as large arid fra-
grant as those of the present cultivated varieties of P. albi-
flora. Such a plant would, indeed, be a real and a very
great acquisition.

No plant is more easily cultivated than these varieties of
Paeonia albiflora; if they are set in good, rich, well-drained
deep soil and are top-dressed every autumn, they will go
on increasing and improving for years, and year after year
will produce larger crops of flowers. They are absolutely
hardy, and so far have been singularly free from the injury
of insects or fungal diseases. All in all, they are as satis-
factory as any herbaceous plant which can be grown in our
gardens, and for decorative purposes the cut flowers have
surprising possibilities, of which no one who has not seen
two or three stems of one of the good varieties properly
arranged in a vase can form any conception. Planted in a
mass in the garden, in well-selected colors, they are mag-
nificent when in flower and unobjectionable at other sea-
sons of the year, although in park and landscape planting
they have no place whatever. They are plants for the gar-
den and for the garden alone.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Kniphofia longicollis. — This is a new species of Kniphofia
which was infroduced from Natal by Herr Max Leichtlin,
and flowered freely with him at Baden-Baden in May. Mr.
Baker, who describes it in the Gardeners' Chronicle, says it
is much dwarfer than K. aloides, with bright green leaves,
much shorter racemes, and very large bright yellow flowers,
without any tinge of red. It is, he says, sure to be a fa-
vorite with cultivators. It may not be generally known
that summer, say, about the middle of June, is the most
favorable time for transplanting and dividing Kniphofias.
Where they thrive there are few more effective plants than
these. At Kew the winters are frequently fatal to most of
the species, but in more favored localities, such as the
southern counties of England, Wales and Ireland, they are
perfectly hardy. I recently saw in the Botanical Garden at
Glasnevin, near Dublin, a large mass of K. caulescens
crowded with tall scapes of lemon-yellow and scarlet
flowers. It was growing in a south border against the
porch of the Orchid-house, and it was a most gorgeous pic-
ture. Mr. Gumbleton has a large collection of the best of
the garden forms, but he informs me that they are not per-
fectly happy in his garden, although it is in the salubrious
climate of Queenstown, Cork. Herr Max Leichtlin is the
high-priest of the genus still, and Herr W. Pfitzer, nursery-
man, of Stuttgart, Germany, makes a specialty of the best
seedlings and hybrids. They prefer a deep rich soil with
plenty of moisture and sunlight The large-leaved K.
Northiae is flowering now in a border outside at Kew,
where it has survived several winters, although much cut
by the severe late frosts of the past winter.

Saintpaulia ionantha. — This is the new alpine Gesneriad
from central Africa which was shown in flower by Herr

TULY 19, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

305

Wendland, of the Hanover Botanical Garden, at the Ghent
Quinquennial, and of which pictures and descriptions have
lately been published in several papers. It is a dwarf
Gloxinia-like plant ; the leaves crowded, fleshy, hairy and
long-stalked ; the flowers on short-branched, erect, crowded

Streptocarpi. — The hybrids and seedlings of this genus
are now very popular in Europe, but there is a danger of
their deteriorating through close breeding. To obviate this,
if possible, some of the best of the seedlings are annually
crossed at Kew with the progenitors, S. Dunnii, S. Rexii

Fig. 46. — A single white-flowered variety of Paeonia albiflora. — See page 304.

racemes, as in Ramondia, and colored deep violet. Herr
Wendland, who grows it as a stove-plant, proposes for it
the name of Usambara Violet, " Usambara Veilchen. " It is
an interesting and attractive little addition to the many
useful Gesneriads already in cultivation.

and S. luteola. Besides these, other species have been
crossed with each other and with the seedlings, such as S.
Wendlandii, S. polyanthos, S. Fanninii and S. Galpini,allof
which are in cultivation at Kew. The species generally
intercross freely, and their progeny is promising, as a rule.

3o6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 282.

There are hundreds of seedlings in flower in the large
house devoted to Cacti, Agaves and other succulents at
Kew, where they are used as an edging to the bed
in the centre ot the house, and make a pretty show all
through the summer. To any amateur interested in cross-
breeding, these Streptocarpi may be recommended as plas-
tic, responsive, improvable material, very easily manipu-
lated and soon showing results.

MiSA AND ALLIED Genera. — Mr. J. G. Baker, keeper
of the Herbarium at Kew, has recently prepared a
Sj'nopsis of the Genera and Species of Musea, which was
pubHshed in the Annals of Botany, vol. vii., and which he
has had reprinted and published as a separate pamphlet of
thirty-three pages. It is of the same excellence as Mr.
Baker's many other works of the same character, and as it
is in English and deals with plants in which horticulturists
are interested it has a special value to readers of Gar-
den AND Forest. The genera treated upon are Heliconia,
Strelitzia, Ravenala and Musa. The first three are charac-
terized by hermaphrodite flowers ; the fourth, Musa, by
unisexual flowers. Heliconias have erect stems, sheathed
by the petioles of the non-distichous leaves ; flowers in
panicles of several umbels in the axils of large bright-col-
ored branch-bracts, the flowers themselves various in color ;
fruit small, usually blue. Twenty-nine species are de-
scribed, all native of tropical America. H. Bihai, intro-
duced into cultivation from the West Indies in 1786 and
many times since under various names, is the commonest
and best-known in gardens. Mr. Baker refers to this spe-
cies the plants known in gardens under the following
names : H. Cariboea, H. aureo-striata, H. triumphans, H.
striata, H. Siemanni. Other species in cultivation here are
H. psittacorum, H. metallica, H. pulverulenta and H. au-
rantiaca. .\11 the Heliconias known to me are handsome
foliage-plants for the stove, and when in flower they pre-
sent a singular and attractive appearance.

Strelitzia contains only four species, all natives of south
Africa. They are all old garden plants in England and
are handsome, both in leaf and flower. They thrive
equally well in a stove or greenhouse, the large species
being as effective as Musas. S. parvifolia is remarkable
for its long slender petiole, like a stout rush bearing a small
oblong blade, the variety juncea having the blade reduced
to a mere flattened tip. This species rarely flowers with
us. S. Regina^ with its varieties, glauca, ovata and fari-
nosa, besides various others under garden names, is a first-
rate garden-plant, as it is only about a yard high and flow-
ers freely every year, the strange-looking orange and blue
flowers lasting for some weeks. S. Augusta and S. Nicolai
are tall species with stout woody stems and large flowers
borne on a thick horizontal branch produced from the base
of the leaves.

Ravenala (Urania) consists of two species. R. Madagas-
cariensis is the well-known Traveler's Tree and one of the
noblest of all plants for large stoves. It is said to attain a
height of a hundred feet in the forests of Madagascar, where
it is called Ravin-ala (forest leaves) and Akondro-ala (forest
banana). There is a specimen of it in the Kew Palm-house
with leaf-blades twelve feet long. The other species, which,
singularly, is a native of Guiana and Para, is smaller, grow-
ing only to a height of thirty feet, with ovate leaf-blades
two feet broad. It is in cultivation at Kew.

The genus Musa, I believe, gave Mr. Baker considerable
trouble. He admits thirty-two species, and divides them
into three sub-genera : (i) Physocaulis, with bottle-shaped
stems ; example, M. Ensete. Seven species are included
here, but only one other besides M. Ensete is in culti-
vation— namely, M. supetba. (2) Eumusa, with cylindri-
cal stems, many flowers to a bract, and ovate acuminate
petals ; example, M. .Sapientum. Fourteen species belong
to this group, the most valuable of all, as it contains all
those species which have edible fruits and that which is
the source of Manilla hemp, M. textilis, the cultivation of
which is limited to the Philippines, from whence about
50,000 tons of the fibre are annually exported to Great

Britain and the United States. The forms of M. Sapientum
are very numerous, some being comparatively worthless
for their fruit, while others are most delicious. We have
Bananas at Kew which, if grown in the tropics and sent to
the European markets, would be prime favorites with epi-
cures, for they are very greatly superior both in size and
flavor to those at present imported. The best are Regia,
known in India as Pissang Radji ; Champa, a large deli-
ciously flavored fruit ; Rubra, or Ram-Kela of the Indians,
larger than Champa, the fruit being sometimes eight inches
long and three inches in diameter, dull red-yellow when
ripe, and as luscious as a peach. There is a fortune in
these three kinds of Banana for the enterprising planter who
grows them in quantity for the European and American
markets. (3) Rhodochlamys, with cylindrical stems, few
flowers to a bract and linear petals ; example, M. rosacea.
The ten species included here are only of value as decora-
tive plants, their fruits being small and usually not fit to
eat. They are" nearly all in cultivation at Kew, and M.
coccinea is not an uncommon stove-plant in England, its
stems being only two or three feet in height, the leaves
less than a yard long, and the inflorescence a conspicuous
erect terminal cluster of bright red boat-shaped bracts en-
closing yellow flowers. M. Sumatrana has elegant green
foliage, with large blotches of claret-brown. M. sanguinea,
M. rosacea and M. Mannii are also attractive when in
flower.

It will be seen from the above that Mr. Baker's latest ad-
dition to systematic botany is a valuable contribution to
the literature of the garden also.

The Index Ktwensis. This work is now rapidly ap-
proaching completion, part I., containing 728 pages quarto,
being just issued. The following communication from Sir
Joseph Hooker, published in the prospectus, explains the
origin, plan and purpose of this important and comprehen-
sive undertaking : " Shortly before his death, Mr. Darwin
informed me of his intention to devote a considerable sum
in aid or furtherance of some work of utility to biological
science, and to provide for its completion should this not
be accomplished during his lifetime. He further informed
me that the difficulties he had experienced in accurately
designating the many plants which he had studied, and
ascertaining their native countries, had suggested to him
the compilation of an index to the names and authorities
of all known flowering plants and their countries, as a work
of supreme importance to students of systematic and geo-
graphical botany, and to horticulturalists, and as a fitting
object of the fulfillment of his intentions. I have only to
add that, at his request, I undertook to direct and super-
vise such a work ; and that it is being carried out at the
Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew, with the aid of the
staff of that establishment." Asa reference-work regard-
ing the nomenclature of plants. Index Kewensis will stand
pre-eminent. Mr. Henry Froude, Oxford University Press
Warehouse, Amen Corner, London, E. C, is the publisher.
London. W. Walson.

Cultural Department.

Spring Bulbs. — II.

THE Narcissus family, the "Golden Host," comes to the
mind of every one when spring bulbs are mentioned.
They are all beautiful, all worthy of bemg grown, and nearly
all can be grown out-of-doors. Of about one hundred and
fifty species and varieties which I have tried, I can think of
only three which I should fear to trust out-of-doors over win-
ter with a light covering (o shade the ground and keep it from
cracking with alternate freezing and thawing. These are the
beautiful white Narcissus Bulbocodium monophyllusof Algeria,
N. pachybulbus, also Algerian, and the true Chinese variety,
now so much recommended for house-culture in pebbles and
water. I emphasize " true," tor many Tazetta varieties are
now sold, unwittingly, no doubt, as Chinese. These three varie-
ties I grow in pots or in a cold-frame, as well as the autumnal
species, N. Serotinus and N. serotinus elegans, which bloom
in October, but are not very desirable. I have never seen

July 19, 1893. |

Garden and Forest.

307

N. Broussonetii, in which the crown is reduced to a mere rudi-
ment.

The Trumpet varieties, from the vast Emperor to theinfini-
tessimal Minimus, are among the sturdiest of the genus, with
the single exception of N. moschatus, which needs a little
warmer spot than other Icinds. I am aware that many find
Pallidas Praecox, and some of the other very light-colored
varieties, somewhat inclined to die during the winter, but such
has not been my experience. It is not worth while to pass
many of these in review, but I will remark that N. obvallaris
is worthy of the fame it enjoys as being one of tlie most pleas-
ing and elegant in shape of the Trumpets. Bicolor, Empress
and J. B. M. Camm are very large and fine, as every one
knows, while the color of the Queen of Spain is remarkable
for depth and richness. Ard Righ is usually the first to flower,
but this year Scoticus preceded it by two or three days. The
Incomparabilis group furnishes many very beautiful forms.
Aurantius is one of my special favorites ; a long row of them,
tossing their hundreds of golden heads in a brisk spring breeze,
is a sight well worth seeing. Sir Watkin is the finest of the set,
with flowers four inches in diameter and of great substance.
It is named in honor of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, the head
of one of the most ancient and distinguished families in Wales,
and I never see it called "The Big Welshman" without think-
ing of Colonel M. P. Wilder's remark, in speaking of certain
new varieties of Strawberries, "Jumbo, Thumper and Big
Bob, I crave your pardon for speaking their vulgar names."

The forms of N. poeticus are well known for the most part,
but the high price of the variety Grandiflorus has doubtless
prevented it from becoming common. " Two feet high, with
blossoms four inches across," the catalogue says, and truly
says, but the flower has not substance in proportion to its ex-
panse, and always has a somewhat wilted look. On the whole,
I advise those who have it not, to keep the half-dollar its pur-
chase would cost. I cannot here even mention the swarms of
hybrid Narcissi, the Barri, Burbidgei, the Leedsi groups ; lean
only say that I have bought very many, and never regretted it
in a single instance.

Alliums and Scillas are also numerous in species and varie-
ties, and many of them are desirable, but before buying Al-
liums it is best to know what you are getting. A. nigrum has
a largs bulb, fine foUage, and a tall flower-stalk bearing an um-
bel of dirty lilac flowers ; it should not be allowed space. I
should say the same of A. Karataviense, whose two broad ovate
leaves are odd and interesting, but whose head of gray flowers
bears a strong resemblance to the ripe head of seed of the
Dandelion. A. Moly is one of the cheapest and best, and in its
English name, "Golden Garlic," is an exact fit. A. Neapolita-
num is well known from being forced for the cut-flower trade.
A. triquetrum has a cluster of white flowers, every petal having
a fine green line. A. Ostrowskyanum is a low-growing species
with bright rosy flowers. A. fragrans is as inconspicuous as a
flower could well be, but of a most delicious fragrance. There
are many other Alliums worthy of cultivation ; some spring-
blooming and some not flowering until early autumn.

The spring Scillas are all good, especially S. cernua and S.
campanulatu and their varieties, pink, red and white ; they all
make a fine show in May. I have never found full-grown
bulbs of these species offered for sale ; they should be about
the size of an average Baldwin apple ; bulbs of that size give
very fine spikes. S. Sibirica is well known ; its blue is un-
equaled except by that of the flowers of Salvia patens ; there is
a pretty variety of it which has a white line down the centre of
each petal.

Canton, Ma8». IV. E. EndtCOtt.

Hardy Primulas.
■pOUR years ago I began to test the hardiness of Primulas
■•■ here, and the results show that many of these flowers, with
choice colors and perfume, can be grown in our gardens at a
time when flowers are scarce. I have found that Primula
Sikkimensis, P. obconica, P. capitata and P. Auricula are en-
firely untrustworthy without unusual protection. P. rosea has
not succeeded well with me, although I believe this is largely
due to the treatment I have given it. Among the sorts that
have done well the Polyanthuses (P. elatior) are the foremost.
Their rich colors include shades from pure white through yel-
low to the darkest red in beautiful combinations as well as in
solid colors. This brilliancy of hue, taken in connection with
their abundant bloom and delicate perfume, establishes their
position m the very front rank of hardy spring flowers. P. vul-
garis and P. veris, in their typical forms, are showy, but their
hybrids with P. officinalis are so easily raised and combine
so many rich tints that it is better to use these than the prim-
itive forms. P. Cashmeriana(ordenticulata) is the earliest of all

with me, and its dense spherical heads of showy lavender
flowers have a particularly rich effect. Primula cortusoides
is quite hardy, and its variety, Sieboldii, is remarkably showy,
while the other rich hybrid forms are all of easiest culture and
give masses of brilliant flowers in May, which are particu-
larly useful for cutting, since they have dense heads on clean
stems and range in color from pure white to an intense red.
P. Japonica and its varieties are hardy, with a slight mulch in
winter, and the flowers are in their prime in early June. The
flowers vary from pure white to purple, and are borne in
whorled spikes, which often attain a height of eighteen inches,
so that they are quite striking.

My soil is a sandy loam, and most of the Primulas are grown
in a rockery on the hill-sides, where they have excellent drain-
age and where they can be watered if necessary. This situa-
tion and treatment may be the secret of the perfect hardiness
of the varieties I have named, but if they will endure under
any treatment the trying extremes of the last four years, the
test would seem to be sufficient to warrant their use by any
one who is at all skillful in growing hardy plants.

Reading, Masj. J- Woodward Manning.

Carnations in Summer.

'T'HERE is a charm in the elegant form and graceful bearing
^ of the Carnation, apart from its delicious fragrance, which
makes it a favorite of every one and at all times. That the
adaptability of its flowers for all kinds of decorations has been
appreciated, is shown by the increasing demand for its beau-
tiful blossoms at all seasons. Selection has made the Amer-
ican Carnation a special type, the result in the main of its
changed conditions of climate. Our winters are too severe
for outdoor culture, yet with sufficient sun-power it is success-
fully grown under glass at that season. Summer-blooming
varieties of the American type, sufficiently floriferous to be
grown for profit, are now being developed, and there is every
probability we shall soon see standard varieties used for sum-
mer bedding.

The Enghsh type of Carnation has failed in every trial here,
undoubtedly owing in the main to marked dissimilarity of
climate, but also, to a considerable extent, to the fact that in
each country varieties suited to a special plan of culture have
been selected. In that country the plants are layered in the
autumn, wintered in a cold frame, and grown in pots the fol-
lowing season, for the next winter's bloom. Here, also, selec-
tion has been in the line of a particular mode of cultivation,
but the plant is different and characteristically American.
Cuttings are struck in January, planted out-of-doors in May,
and are in bloom by the second week in July. I recently had
the pleasure of seeing a splendid collection of Miss Fisher,
white ; Hector, scarlet, and Nobscot, scarlet, in bloom and
loaded with flower-buds, while along with these were another
lot of imported varieties, layered last autumn. They were
months behind and did not look promising.

There are no good rose-colored varieties as yet, but two on
trial look encouraging. These are Ada Byron and Nicholson.
An elegant yellow-flaked variety also promises to be a good
summer bloomer. If neatly staked, as these plants were, they
make a fine appearance, and at the same time the flowers are
kept from injury by heavy showers of rain.

Wellesley, Mass. !• D' H.

Strawberries in 1893.

T T has been an unfavorable year to give Strawberries a com-
■'■ parative test. Dry weather followed imperfect pollination,
and the crop was reduced four-fifths in this section. The
effect on prices was rather to depress, because the quality of
berries was so very inferior and the size was of the smallest.
Of fliirty-five sorts in my trial-beds it was not easy to distin-
guish one from another by flavor, and I shall, therefore, report
only on a few.

Gillispie, a seedling of Haverland, was sent out as an im-
provement on the parent ; but the faults of Haverland are all
repeated in this variety, and the extraordinary cropping ca-
pacity of the parent plant is lost. The berry is soft and not
high-flavored. Thompson's 51 is a long large berry, but I do
not think as well of it as I did last year. It lacks in fine quality.
Thompson's 86 is a beauty, very bright scarlet, large, prolific,
and very late. It is of excellent promise for a late berry.
Thompson's 64 is a rival of Parker Earle and of Enhance in enor-
mous stocks of fruit. I have never seen it quite equaled as a
bearer. But this year the fruit is knobby and hard. I am not
certain how much of this is due to the season.

Enhance is a poor grower, very prolific, and in quality not

3o8

Garden and Forest.

[Number 282.

extra, perhaps not medium. It is not a berry for general cul-
tivation. Edgar Queen is another bad grower, a seedling of
Sharpless, and every way inferior to the parent. It produces
fruit of all shapes and sizes. Standard promises well. It is
one of the latest, and a fine cropper. The color is bright and
handsome ; shape uniform and round. Barton is certainly a
good berrj' both in quality, growth and size, but just how good
the season prevents me from determining. Leader and Bev-
erly look so much alike that I am afraid Mr. Crawford sent me
duplicate plants of one of them, but it may be the season once
more that is at fault. The berries are of a class that dry up
easily, but I think a favorable year would set them both down
as valuable.

Parker Earle is a wonderful cropper, but makes few runners.
It should be grown in hills and kept well irrigated, or it will
fail to perfect half a crop. The fruit is not high-flavored.
Middlefield is an early, handsome, first-rate cropper. It not
only pleases me, but is satisfactory this dry year. Saunders is
a dark berry that holds on over a very long season, so that it
is both early and late. It is a handsome and a good fruit.
Beder Wood is too small, and not needed. For very early I
prefer even Crystal City. Williams has surprised me with
qualities so much better than I anticipated that I can speak
very highly of it. It is a good grower and quite prolific. The
quality is at least above average, and the color, though dark, is
handsome. Yale has not proved with nie to be the equal of
Williams, and is only a moderate grower.

Going over my fields I mark ahead of all others, among the
earlier sorts, Cumberland, a noble old standard, that never
fails ; and Sharpless, which, with fair culture, is my best late
berry. On clay soil it is superb in quality and quantity. Bu-
bach is a third reliable standard, and Mrs. Cleveland a fourth.

I have a seedling that produces large double flowers. The
bearing capacity of this plant is not as good as I wish ; but the
quality surpasses that of all other varieties in my gardens.
Haverland is the most wonderful of all berries, if the season is
exactly right, and the soil is also favorable. But it is inferior
in a drought, while it cannot endure much wet weather.

My experience with strawberries is emphatic that year by
year it is a losing crop, unless there are provisions for irriga-
tion, and unless there is a large quantity of fertilizers used.

CUnton, N. Y. E. P. Powell.

Peas.

AMONG Peas, new or recent, the Chelsea has proved to
be one of the best early wrinkled varieties. It bears
abundantly, and is about a week later than the American
Wonder, which in habit it very much resembles. The pods,
however, are not so large, nor is it so fine a table variety.
Admiral is the heaviest-cropping medium early wrinkled Pea
we have grown. When sown at the same time as the com-
mon early round-seeded varieties, such as Daniel O'Rourke
and Alaska, it succeeds them nicely. The height is five feet,
and its constitution all that can be desired. The Heroine has
not come up to our expectations. It is, without doubt, one of
the best table varieties grown. Although it promises to crop
for a long time, it is not a heavy bearer. Its handsome pods
are of the largest size and well-filled. A dish of therii would
in all probability take the first prize wherever exhibited. Hors-
ford's Market Garden, a splendid mid-season wrinkled variety,
is a very heavy cropper. Growing only two feet high, it needs
very little bushing, and for both private and market use it can
be highly commended. This season we have been successful
in getting good seed of Telephone true to name. This is a
tall, robust, main-crop Pea, slightly earlier than Champion of
England when sown at the same time. It is a genuine marrow
pea of delicious flavor and a fairly heavy cropper, the pods be-
mg very large. It is a favorite with the vegetable- gardener
because he can pick a basket without much exertion, and with
the cook because she can easily and quickly shell enough for
dinner. American Champion, sown alongside Telephone at
the same lime, has proved to be identical in every way. The
English Champion is now a thoroughly acclimatized Pea, and
is our mainstay, and likely to be for many years to come.
Petit Pois, a reintroduction, appears to be an extra fine round-
seeded variety and a very heavy cropper, growing about four
feet tall. It is said to be the variety used extensively in France
for canning. The flavor is excellent if gathered quite young.
It quickly gets old, when it is quite unfit for the table.

Strawberries.— We have tried several methods of growing
Strawberries, and find we are able to raise the heaviest crop of
the best berries in the smallest place on the following plan :
We first establish the runners by transplanting them closely in
nursery-beds. Meantime, we dig a good quantity of well-de-

cayed manure and well-slacked lime into the permanent bed,
making it firm, and if the weather is dry watering it well at
least one day before transplanting. The earlier the plants are
ready for the permanent bed the better. We usually set them
about the 20th of August. Some planted last year the second
week in September did not bear half as many berries as those
set earlier, although the plants grew as well. We set three
plants about six inches apart in a hill, the hills being eighteen
inches apart each way. We plant a new bed every year, which
is better than relying on the old one, but those who wish to
continue a bed longer, can pull out one or two plants in each
hill, according to the vigor of the variety, and leave the others.
The earliest variety with us is Michel's Early ; the best fla-
vored, but not generally the best croppers, are Charles Downing
and Bubach No. 5. For the main crop we rely on Sharpless.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

Correspondence.

The Orange in Northern California.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Like a good many other important discoveries, the fact
that that portion of California lying north of the thirty-eighth
parallel of latitude was favored with a climate friendly to the
growth of the Orange, came to light unexpectedly. In 1857 a
Mr. J. R. Ketchum planted a seed taken from an orange which
he was eating, at Bidwell Bar, in Butte County. The seed
sprang up, and in 1865 the shrub bore a crop of oranges.

The golden globes shining against a back-ground of rich
green foliage, the sheen of the waxy leaves, the refreshing
shade cast by the tree, rendered it valuable as an ornament,
and the fruit from the lone shrub at Bidwell Bar was planted
in back-yards and in odd corners, by walks and on lawns sur-
rounding various dwellings in Butte, Placer and Yuba Coun-
ties. Six oranges, a part of the first crop borne by the tree at
Bidwell Bar, were taken by Judge C. F. Lott, of Oroville. Judge
Lott planted the seeds of these as an experiment, and when
the sprouts were one year old he distributed them among his
neighbors. Twenty of these trees are still living and bearing
abundant fruit. The parent tree at Bidwell Bar has been known
to bear 2,000 oranges in a season, and several of its offspring
have been even more fruitful. From two trees, Mrs. Pence,
living nine miles from Oroville, has gathered 6,000 oranges.
Two trees, owned by Mr. Joseph Gardella, bore 4.005, and
from the same number of trees Dr. McDermott gathered
5,500.

These trees are still standing and receive little attention since
they are planted for ornament, their evergreen leaves, com-
pact habit, rich color of fruit and leaf and beauty and fragrance
of flower making them among the most attractive of trees.

The early maturing of the fruit, however, has inspired hor-
ticulturists to venture upon the cultivation of Orange-groves
for profit, and although that section lies in the same latitude
of central Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, the trees that are now be-
ginning to bear have yielded a large interest upon the invest-
ment of capital and labor.

This so-called "Citrus Belt" extends along the base of the
mountains covering the foot-hills. High up the mountains
and down in the valley the temperature may be so low as to
chill one who is not protected by heavy wraps ; but lying be-
tween the upper and lower strata is a stratum of air so warm
that its temperature is noticed the instant one enters it — a sort
of aerial gulf-stream. Within the borders of this belt are grown
a variety of semi-tropic fruits that, as a rule, are found only in
latitudes several hundred miles further south. This section
of the state is circled about by protecting mountain ranges, the
Coast range on the west, Siskiyou on the north and the Sierras
on the east leaving them in a vast bowl, with an opening in
the southern rim, through which comes the warm breath of
the south.

HambuiKh, Conn. Timothy Holmes.

Japanese Irises at Short Hills, New Jersey.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Last week I found in Pitcher & Manda's Nursery a new
importation of Japanese Irises in flower. There were a num-
ber of superb varieties, and the general collection of fifty or
more kinds represented very completely the different color-
ings and forms of these favorite flowers. Kaempfer's Irises
have long been favorite plants of the Japanese, who have se-
cured a large number of hybrids of much distinctness, con-
sidering the rather limited range of colors. A certain size is
considered an essential to a first-rate flower, and single and

July 19, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

309

double forms seem to he equally esteemed. As to colors, they
may be divided into whites,' blues (of the Violet shades, which
are really purples), blue-purples and red-purples. These colors
appear as selfs, mottled, flaked, laced and reticulated in dif-
ferent combinations, so that the variety of distinct kinds is
rather large. The plants at Pitcher & Manda's were either
numbered or with Japanese names. A very superb double
white bore the euphonious name of Semayanna, which seems
rather more difficult than Alba plena. However, it was of
perfectly pure color, except for a yellow blotch at the throat,
and the broad petals were of the crape-like texture which
makes this the most attractive of white Irises. There was also
a fine single white kind, differing only in the number of falls.
Other whites comprised one stained slightly with violet, and a
perfect beauty laced or marged on the edges of the falls with
light violet. There were others mottled or blotched with
wine-red on a white ground, a double one of this character
being especially attractive. The violet and ir\,digo blues of
these Irises are very quaint, some being self-colored, while
others are finely reticulated, sometimes in white and some-
times in darker color. These sometimes have bright yellow
throats, which seem to accent the main color. There are
other forms of these which may be considered as laced flow-
ers, that is, the two colors of the petals being in broad lines.
The best of the blue-purples seem to be mostly selfs, ranging
in depth to a rich royal purple. A specimen of this here was
Number Four, named Oominata. It is among the reddish
purples that one has to exercise the most discrimination
among Japanse Irises, unless one enjoys solferino. There are
some superb flowers, however, in these shades. One splendid
reticulated flower in this section. Number Ten, was immense
in size and very effective in coloring. Number Fifteen was a
superb double one of same character. The self-colored
maroons are rather sombre flowers, but a collection is not
complete without a few varieties of these. I noticed one of
the light-colored maroons which had standards of a deeper
shade, which seemed a unique combination. Japanese Irises
are easily cultivated, provided they have a fair depth of good
soil and receive fair supplies of moisture, and they are sure
to become more popular plants, as they are not only attrac-
tive, but perfectly hardy and increase rapidly. It was a pleasure
to find such welcome additions to our present kinds in the
United States Nursery.

New York. Li-.

The Columbian Exposition. .
Citrous Fruits.

CITROUS FRUITS have thus far constituted the greatest
attraction, among the fruit exhibits, to the general visiting
public. This is because the fruits have been displayed in
almost reckless profusion and in many bold designs. The
largest single exhibit is made by Los Angeles County, Cali-
fornia, in the south-west curtain of the Horticultural Building.
A monument thirty-live feet high, covered with 13,873 oranges
and some lemons, stands near the north end of the curtain,
the eagle which surmounts it standing in the very peak of the
roof. The base of this monument was at first covered with
the Washington Navel orange, which is the one distinguishing
orange of California ; but as these passed out of season, Medi-
terranean Sweets and others were substituted. At the southern
end of the same room is a large central table or platform,
twenty-four by fifty-two feet square, containing a Los Angeles
exhibit in the central portion, San Bernardino on the north,
and San Diego on the south. The boldest figure upon this
table, which is covered with dark green felt, is the liberty bell,
full size, comprising the central figure of the Los Angeles dis-
play. The entire table is decorated with lines, mounds and
pyramids of fruits in the most attractive manner. Orange
County, California, occupies a narrow table upon the east of
this central platform, and the recently organized Riverside
County has one upon the west. In the California State Build-
ing the display of citrous fruits is duplicated. Here, however,
the seven southern counties make a collective exhibit of
various products under the name of the Southern California
Association. This organization comprises the counties of Los
Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Ventura,
Orange and Riverside. The boldest design in this building is
a huge ball of fruit about eight feet in diameter, upon a base
twelve feet square. It is contributed by the Los Angeles
County people. All these designs are kept sweet and fresh by
new consignments from the storage-houses.

The central and northern citrous coun ies of California are
also represented in the State Building, although none of them,

save Fresno, has attempted to show fresh or plate fruits,
principally because the oranges ripen some three weeks earlier
in the northern counties than in the south, and no attempt was
made to keep them.

At this date, the second week in July, many of the varieties
of oranges which were prominent in the California displays
earlier in the season are gone. In the State Building only
Hart's Tardive (or Hart's Late), Valencia Late and various
seedlings are left. In the Horticultural Building, however,
Washington Navel is still shown in considerable quantity.
The Improved Navel, from A. C. Thompson, the originator,
Duarte, Los Angeles County, makes an attractive show. "This
orange is remarkable for its enormous size and weight, and its
quality is good. Next to the Washington Navel, the St. Michael
and Mediterranean Sweet contend for supremacy, but the St.
Michael appears to be in greater favor. Other prominent va-
rieties are Malta Blood, Australian Navel and Ruby Blood.
Various Tangierines and Mandarins have been on exhibition,
of which the King has been the most prominent of little-known
kinds.

Lemons are shown in profusion by the Californians, espe-
cially by Riverside County, under the charge of G. W. Garcelon,
one of the most successful of the lemon-growers of the Pacific
Slope. Lemon-growing is a very recent industry in America,
but the Californians are now confident that it will meet with
commercial success. The lemons on exhibition are well cured,
and appear to possess all the merits of an ideal fruit. The
leading variety is Eureka, which is an ever-bearing sort. A
tree of this variety, in flower and fruit, stands upon the lawn
in front of the California State Building. Lisbon occupies
second place, and Villa Franca is prominent in the shows.
Apparently the most remarkable, as well as the handsomest,
lemon on exhibition is the Bonnie Brae, shown in the San
Diego displays. It is very long and smooth, with a short tip,
thin skin, and is seedless.

California also shows limes, citrons, pomelos and grape-
fruits. Some idea of the extent of these exhibits can be learned
from the fact that seventy-five car-loads of citrous fruits have
been shipped from the seven southern counties for displays in
the Horticultural and California Buildings. Aside from the
fruits, there is a California Orange-orchard in the north court
of the Horticultural Building, and another in the nursery sec-
tion of the Midway Plaisance.

Florida is the only other American state making a citrous
exhibit. The state made no appropriation for World's Fair
purposes, and the display is made entirely by private enter-
prise. This fact accounts for the small and poor show, which,
under liberal support, might have been very large. It must
also be said that the Florida fruit is earlier than that from the
Pacific, and is now out of season. The Florida section is at the
north end of the north curtain. The varieties of oranges are
Hart's Tardive and Seedlings, all more or less russetted. An
arch of russets spanning the central passage-way, flanked by a
Cocoanut-tree, has been a pleasing object, but is now showing
the effects of the season. Still, the Florida oranges have kept
better than the California ones, notwithstanding their earlier
season, and their quality is unsurpassed. Grape-fruits are
also shown from Florida.

Italy shows lemons and oranges, but the display is not ex-
tensive and the fruits are nearly all wrapped in colored tissue-
papers and covered with tinsel and gaudy pictures and orna-
ments. In most cases, the covers of the boxes only are re-
moved, and the fruits are not exposed to view, or they are
covered with glass. The labels are very few, and the visitor
is unable to form any intelligent conception of the variety or
merit of the exhibit. The oranges represent the familiar
Italian types seen in the markets, being smaller and thinner-
skinned than the California varieties. The lemons, to all ap-
pearances, possess no superiority over the American product.
The exhibit, because of its obscured cpndition, attracts little
attention.

New South Wales shows a large quantity of lemons and
oranges on tables adjoining the Italian exhibit. The lemons
represent Eureka and Lisbon varieties mostly, and they com-
pare tolerably well with the average run of California speci-
mens, although they are less attractive than the better samples
of the domestic product. The oranges are all one variety, the
Parramatta, a small, flat, very sour fruit. This is the first pick-
ing of the Australian fruit, and the exhibitors assert that sub-
sequent arrivals will show better oranges ; but no one expects
that any region will be able to make as meritorious displays as
California has done. New South Wales has made the most
commendable efforts, however, in every department of the
Exposifion, and its shows of pomaceous and citrous fruits
have excited much admiration from the first.

310

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBBR 282.

There seems to bean unwritten law that citrous fruits should
be shown in profusion and in bold designs in order to express
exhibitive merit, while apples and all other fruits should be
arranged on plates in definite numbers. In many respects this
method of displaying citrous fruits is unfortunate. It results in
a mere display, which is largely devoid of educational interest.
One could scarcely learn from the profuse exhibitions of Cal-
ifornia oranges and lemons what are the best varieties, or
what their peculiarities or adaptabilities. The importance of
varieties and methods of treatment is obscured by the merely
decorative features of the display. New South Wales, alone,
shows all its citrous fruits on plates, although California has
plate fruit in small amount on some of_the tables. It is true
that the decorative displays add greatly to the surface attrac-
tions of exposition, but it is doubtful if they are in all ways

the best. r rr D •/

Chicago, UL L. H. BatUy.

Notes.

A correspondent of the Gardener's Chronicle recently re-
commended that, when flowers are to travel in wooden boxes,
the boxes be steeped in water for an hour before they are
packed. If the box is quite dry it will quickly absorb from the
flowers the greater part of their moisture.

Mr. J. J. Thomas replies to a correspondent who asks about
pruning Blackberries, that the growth of this year furnishes
the bearing shoots for the next. Therefore, after the old canes
have ceased growing after the fruiting season they are to be
cut out and removed, except a portion of them which may be
retained to protect the new canes in exposed places, or where
they may be of use in sheltering from snow-storms. When
the old canes are cut before, while they are still growing, a
check will be given to the roots, and hence it is necessary to be
cautious about cutting them away too early.

The cold-storage warehouse at the Columbian Exposition
which burned on the afternoon of July loth, with such terrible
fury and tragic loss of life, contained large quantities of fruits
and wines, as well as meats and dairy products, which were all
a total loss, of course. The exhibits were replenished from
this warehouse from day to day, and the loss of the fruits
especially will be seriously felt. AH the New York winter fruit
which was left, comprising some seventy-five barrels, was in
this building. Some of the foreign exhibitors of wines will
probably be obliged to import stock again to keep the exhibits
full and furnish samples to the judges.

We are glad to announce that Professor Michael Foster has
republished in an extended form the lecture which he deliv-
ered some months ago before the Royal Horticultural Society
on Bulbous Irises. Professor Foster has a wider knowledge
of these Irises, and, indeed, of all other Irises, than any
other man, and every lover of these beautiful plants will
desire to have this publication. It is illustrated with wood-cuts,
has a descriptive list of the species and an artificial key to fa-
cilitate their determination. The price to persons who are not
fellows of the society is five shillings, and it can be had at the
office of the society, 117 Victoria Street, London, S. W.

The Chestnut-trees, which are the latest of our forest-trees
to flower, are now in full bloom and make conspicuous objects
in the landscape. This year the flowers seem unusually
abundant and the dome-like head of a Chestnut-tree, which
has grown in the open ground where it has had a chance to
spread to its full dimensions, is now an object of singular
beauty, as the tassels of white or very light yellow flowers
are seen among its glossy leaves. Some idea of the produc-
tive vigor of the tree can be had when it is considered that
these flowers will be replaced by huge burs filled with ripened
nuts by the time the first frost arrives, and this is hardly two
months and a half away. The first of October usually finds
chestnuts fairly ripe in this latitude.

Very rarely do the fruit-stores of New York show such a
variety as they have done for a week past. Good California figs
have been selling on the sidewalks for five cents each, while
shaddock of the largest size and of good quality, with mangoes
of fair flavor from Cuba, are no longer novelties.' Peaches of
the first quality have been coming m from the south, some of
the very best of them from Mississippi. South Carolina sends
Delaware grapes and Astrakhan apples. Georgia sends Le
Conte and Clapp's Favorite pears, while Bartlett pears from
California, of excellent quality, are offered at fair prices. The
cherry crop from California still holds out, and plums from the
same state were never seen here in such plenty. Of the nu-
merous varieties in market, Abundance, a Japanese plum, and

the Tragedy prune are the most popular. The Abundance is a
beautiful fruit, its yellow skin deeply tinted with carmine, while
the Tragedy, a California seedling, is oblong and purple. Both
are delicious. Raspberries from the Hudson River valley are
still to be had, and so are Wilson and Harvest blackberries
from New Jersey and Delaware. The best huckleberries are
now coming from the Shawangunk Mountains, and Beach
plums, which are beginning to arrive from Maryland and
Delaware, bring from four to six cents a quart.

A correspondent inquires where the Red-flowered Horse-
chestnut, yEsculus rubicunda, originally came from. Its origin
is uncertain, but it is supposed to be a hybrid of yEscuTus
Pavia and the common Horse-chestnut /Esculus Hippocas-
tanum. ^Esculus Pavia is a species of the coast-region of the
southern states, a slender, shrubby plant which often flowers
when it is only a foot or two high, and sometimes grows to ten
or twelve feet high. It produces bright scarlet flowers, and
when in bloom is one of the most beautiful of all the Horse-
chestnuts. J^. rubicunda has the dark green leaves and
spiney fruit of the common Horse-chestnut, and its flowers
have four red petals like those of the southern shrub. In
stature it is intermediate between the two.

On the Fourth of July at Vernon Park, in Philadelphia, the
citizens of that city presented to Mr. Thomas Meehan a hand-
some silver plaque as a testimonial of their appreciation of his
services in establishing small parks in various sections of the
city. The plaque is of solid silver, ninteen inches by twenty-
four in size and framed in carved mahogany, set in a polished
mahogany shadow-box and covered with plate-glass. It is
etched with oxidized shading to represent the original parch-
ment granted to William Penn. In the central part of the
top of the plaque is the following apt quotation from Penn's
letter to his commissioners, dated September 30th, 1681 :
" That it may be a green country town and always whole-
some." We have more than once called attention to the sin-
gular value of Mr. Meehan's work, and we are glad to know
that he is one of the prophets who is not without honor in his
own country. One of the speakers at the presentation called
attention to the extraordinary spectacle of a man elected
and re-elected to the City Council for a decade of years by the
commonconsent,and,infact, by theurgentdesire of the leaders
of all parties and all factions simply because he has pursued
steadily the work for which he was fitted by his own good judg-
ment and training. It is rare, indeed, that any one man is able
to do so much good in a civic position ; rare, too, that he can
command the confidence of his fellow-citizens so generally,
and rarer still that they manifest such a grateful appreciation
of unselfish work.

Last Saturday an exhibition of Sweet Peas was held at
Springfield, Massachusetts, under the auspices- of the Hamp-
den County Horticultural Society. Seventy-five varieties were
shown, and an admirable opportunity was offered for studying
and comparing the different varieties, old and new. We add a
short list of the best and most distinct in the various colors :
Firefly, a new carmine, is the brightest of that color which has
yet been produced. Another new variety, Venus, is of the
rare shade sometimes called chamoise-rose or a light salmon,
suffused with rose color. The Countess of Radnor is a pure
light lavender, and Dorothy Tennanf, a comparatively recent
production, is a true heliotrope color. Lady Penzance, a new
flower, is carmine-rose, tinted with orange ; it is rather darker
than the Orange Prince, and an improvement on that flower in
size and form. The old Captain of the Blues remains the best
of its color; the wings of this flower are a blue, shaded with
purple, the standard is a deep blue, the effect of the whole be-
ing very rich and pure. Senator has a white ground striped
and splashed with deep purple-maroon. No better pink was
exhibited than Mrs. Gladstone, which was brought out three or
four years ago ; this flower is a soft shade of pale pink
throughout, and the flower is unusually large. Primrose
really deserves its name, for it has a decided shade of yellow.
Purple Prince has wings of a purple-maroon, and the standard
of pure purple, and is the best of that general color. Boreat-
ton is the best dark maroon, and being an unusually strong
grower and very floriferous, it will be hard to supplant. The
old variety known as Scarlet Striped continues to be the best of
its class, and so does Butterfly, a white flower edged with lav-
ender-blue. Emily Henderson is undoubtedly the best white,
being superior to Mrs. Sankey in habit and form. Rev. W. T.
Hutchins showed some interesting seedlings, one of them
named Watered Scarlet being white, with a tracery of car-
mine, while another called Watered Purple was variegated in
the same way with purple.

July 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

311

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

- Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducled by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. V.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Editorial Articles :—Sentimentalism and rreefelling 311

Loss by Forest-fires 312

How Foreign Plants came to Europe Professor Kraus. 312

Southern California Wild Fruits 5. B. Parish. 313

Summer in the Pines... Mrs. Mary Treat. 314

New or Little-known Plants:— The Hybrid Multiflora Rose, Dawson. (With

figures.) 3'4

Cultural Department:— Climbing Honeysucliles J. G. Jack. 314

Plants in Flower J. N. Gerard. 315

Midsummer in the Garden E. O. Orpet. 316

The Vegetable Garden T. D. Hatfield. 317

Strawberries T. D. H. ^ij

Correspondence : — The Annual Forest-fires H. B. Ayres. 318

The Mountain Maple : M. G. K. R. 318

War upon Caterpillars M. C. R. 318

The Columbian Exposition :— The Seed Exhibits in the Agricultural Building,

Professor L, H. Bailey, 319

Notes 320

Illustration :— A plant of the Hybrid Multiflora Rose, Dawson, Fig. 47 316

The Hvbiid Multiflora Rose, Dawson, Fig. 48 317

Sentimentalism and Tree-felling.

A WRITER in a late number of the Springfield Republi-
can finds his sensibilities wounded by the tone of Mrs.
Van Rensselaer's book, entitled, Arl Oul-of-doors, and espe-
cially by the advice to cut down trees, given in the chapter
entitled" A Word for the Axe." It is not our purpose to
enter into any defense of the book, which must stand on
its own merits, any farther than to say that we know of no
work where more sound doctrine on the subjects treated is
given in the same space. On several occasions, however,
Garden and Forest has advised the cutting down of trees,
and a good many of them, in pleasure-grounds and else-
where, and have been met with this same protest made by
the writer in the Republican that no true lover of nature
would think of such sacrilege. Now, we have no inclina-
tion to retort upon a critic of this sort that his own love of
nature may be conventional and fictitious. We have no
doubt that this writer, and many other good people who are
distressed whenever they see or hear of the felling of
a tree, love nature most sincerely after a sentimental
fashion. But we believe that many people, whose practices
they condemn, love nature quite as sincerely, and in a
much more robust, and certainly more intelligent, wa.y.

A child who sees a gardener pulling up and throwing
away every other plant in a fiower-border may feel that the
gardener has no love for flowers ; but when he learns a few
weeks later that each plant which remains is larger and
stronger, and bears many more and more beautiful blos-
soms because it has more room, he will understand that
the work of destroying some plants gives new life and
beauty to many others. The same child might feel pain
if he saw a large portion of the half-grown fruit of a Peach-
tree plucked off and thrown away, but the reason for this
apparent destruction will be plain when he learns later by
observation that in actual quantity the fruit that remains
is greater than if no thinning had been done ; while
the individual peaches are altogether superior in size and
form and flavor and color to what they would have been
if the limbs had been crowded beyond their capacity. Just

so the cutting away of a limb, which has in it the same ap-
parent element of cruelty, is often an act of tenderness,
which will restore to a tree its lost vigor or symme-
try. One step farther in the same direction brings us face
to face with the simplest problem in tree-cutting. A group
of trees have been somewhat compactly planted, and it is
plain to the trained eye that the branches of one are begin-
ning to interfere with those of others. If this tree is allowed
to remain, growth will cease on the sides toward those
which it is approaching, and in a similar way the contigu-
ous sides of its neighbors will begin to be dwarfed. None
of the trees will develop into their best form or full size,
for they have not sufficient room, and the plant food fur-
nished by the soil will probably be too scanty. The ob-
truding tree is thrifty and vigorous, however, and the act
of felling it will be stigmatized as vandalism by people
who make a boast of their love of nature. The truth is
that it would be an act of vandalism to leave it standing.
In a few years the excellence and symmetry of the group
would be sacrificed, and the trees would stand as a continual
reproach to their owner for suffering their beauty to be
marred and their lives shortened.

This is a point upon which there ought to be no ques-
tion. When an intelligent lover of trees sees that one or
more are interfering with the beauty and health and strength
of others the offenders should at once be sacrificed for the
general good; and yet there is not a park in the United States
where a competent superintendent dares to cut down half
as many trees as he knows he ought to cut. Cord after
cord of wood has been taken out of Central Park this year,
— drawn away in the night to escape observation, —
and yet ten loads should have been carted out for every
one that has been taken. Judicious thinning would
have prolonged the lives of trees that will now die young ;
it would have saved the beauty of treesi which are now
unsightly and deformed. If ten wood-choppers, under
proper direction, should work every day for a year in Cen-
tral Park there would be more foliage and shade in the
park during the next year than there would be if not an axe
had been lifted against a tree. And yet the park goes on
deteriorating in beauty and decreasing in value, when it
should be growing into new grace with each succeeding
year, simply because ignorant and sentimental people who
think they love nature and love trees make an outcry when-
ever they hear the sound of an axe in the park planta-
tions.

But there are other things beside the health and lon-
gevity of trees to be considered in this matter. Even the
tender-hearted might admit the necessity of such cruel sur-
gery if the loss of a limb would save the life of a tree ; but
when it comes to cutting, away a tree, especially if it is
large and vigorous, because it mars the landscape, this is
denounced as the crime which no one would commit who
approaches nature with due reverence and humility. In a
neighboring city there stood an old orchard on land which
had been taken for park purposes. In order to carry out
the general scheme, the designer felt compelled to remove
the trees, and at once there were public meetings and pro-
tests against such Philistinism. Now, there is no doubt
that a spreading Apple-tree is a beautiful object and that
its sheltering, home-like expression is very pleasing. We
have full sympathy, too, with the feelings of the people
who were brought up near this old orchard and who had
played as children under these trees. No doubt it seemed
to them like desecration to see these trees destroyed,
around which so many recollections clustered. But this
was a park for the whole city. Its designer was preparing
it for future generations, and with the prophetic eye of
taste he saw how much more beautiful and valuable the
whole park scheme would be in fifty years if the ground
were modeled and plantations made according to a well-
studied plan than it would be if the dying Apple-trees had
been allowed to remain.

If a master who designs a work of landscape-art finds a
tree in a position to mar the beauty of his picture, and.

312

Garden and Forest.

[Number 283.

therefore, the usefulness of his work, there is no question
as to his duty in the matter. The cutting down of a tree
which is unnecessary or harmful to a view in such a case
is precisely equivalent to what a landscape-painter does
when he suppresses an actual feature in his picture for the
sake of true artistic effect ; or when he substitutes a dif-
ferent foreground for that which he finds upon the spot,
because it combines more harmoniously with what lies
beyond. The amateur in landscape-gardening sees only
the individual tree, the master sees the tree in its proper
relations to the scene and he preserves or destroys with the
most studied consideration. It is not because he loves
nature less, but because he loves nature with more intelli-
gence and is preparing a picture to give keener delight to
intelligent observers for all future time.

There is no need to protest here that we are not com-
mending reckless tree-cutting. We have never heard such
cutting advocated anywhere, nor do we believe that
cautious and conservative counsel to use the axe is
ever likely to be "subtly harmful to public senti-
ment" We do believe, however, that the sentimental
objections which are often put forward against felling
trees are altogether vicious in principle and destruc-
tive in practice. The notion that a true lover of nature is
one who lets nature alone, is the feeblest of fallacies. The
very moment a man builds a house he interferes with na-
ture ; he comes in conflict with her tremendous forces ; he
cannot relax his vigor for a day or he will be overgrown.
If it is not a tree to be removed, it is a shrub ; if not a
shrub, it is a weed ; and these must be moved not once, but
again and again, if a man would maintain his mastery. It
is not a question of sentiment, but of life and death. The
neglected park becomes a wilderness, the garden runs to
noxious weeds, and the shrubbery is a tangle of briers and
bare stems. We are not wholly insensible to the beauty
of untamed nature. We have advocated forest-reservations
for the value of their wild-wood scenery. But wherever
civilized man steps in to clear the land he must have some
orderly design. He must encourage growth here by drain-
ing and watering, by trenching and feeding ; he must
check growth there by a vigorous use of axe and prun-
ing-hook. He must do this if he raises crops. He
must do the same if he is fashioning a picture about his
home. He must control the development of his picture or
let his land revert to a wilderness.

An esteemed correspondent, whose letter will be found
in another column, gives a vivid picture of the loss which
the people of Minnesota suffer every year from the burn-
ing of their forests. Of course, the conditions are different
in states where the forest lands are entirely in the hands of
private owners, but in many cases the loss is quite as great
and all the people suffer as well as the owners of the land.
Mr. Ayres calls attention to the suggestion made by Gar-
des AND Forest several years ago, that until some thor-
oughly comprehensive system of forest-policy is adopted
by the nation the forests on the public lands should be put
under the control of the United States army for their pro-
tection against fires and trespassers. It would be very
difficult, however, to find a constitutional way of giving
the army officers authority to permit or forbid the setting
of brush-fires on private property. Such authority under
our system rests with the state, and state or county officers
would be the naturally authorized guardians of the prop-
erty of citizens. But just here we are met by the difficulty
that local officers would share with the residents of any
given region the feeling that somehow the woods are not
only common property, but are a sort of a burden and en-
cumbrance upon the land and that anybody has a right to
cut them or fire them.

The only remedy for this state of things is the slow
growth of public intelligence which comes from education
of one sort or another. The reckless burning of the Adi-
rondack woods has been checked because the people there

have begun to realize that it is the woods which bring them
a livelihood. Forest-property will be unsafe everywhere
until it is generally understood that the burning of the
woods impoverishes not the owner only but all his neigh-
bors. We cannot help but feel that the education of an in-
telligent and thrifty community like that which is found in
the state of Minnesota will advance rapidly in this
direction for the next few years, and that the state will
arouse itself to the suppression of this incendiarism. The
time has arrived when it ought to be generally understood
that the men who willingly or carelessly set fire to the
woods are public enemies, who are quite as destructive of
the prosperity of the state as an invading army would be
which laid waste its cultivated fields and burned its villages.

I

How Foreign Plants came to Europe.

N recent numbers of Gartenflora, Professor Kraus writes
instructively with regard to ■• The Peopling of Europe with
Foreign Plants." Up to the middle of our century four dis-
tinct and important periods in this work may be distinguished.

The first dates from the earlier half of the sixteenth century,
when German botanists began systematically to take account
of all the native plants of their country, the Venetian Govern-
ment established a great garden in connection with tiie Uni-
versity of Padua, and similar gardens were quickly formed in
other parts of Europe with the express purpose of collecting,
in a single spot, as many foreign plants as possible. The cat-
alogues of these early gardens have remained, for three hun-
dred years, the chief source of information with regard to
tlie first introduction of exotics on a large scale. The cata-
logue of Gesner, published in 1560, names 1,106 g^arden-
plants, and may be checked by comparison with an accurate
account of the plants grown in the most famous of contempo-
rary establishments — the medico-botanical garden at Nurem-
berg, with which tlie names of Camararius and Jungermann
are associated. The contents of such sixteenth-century gar-
dens, says Professor Kraus, may be understood by studying
to-day the peasant gardens which lie far from cities, or, still
better, the well-tended garden of some old-fashioned rural
apothecary. There, in the secluded country, the horticulture
of earlier centuries is as characteristically preserved as the
fashions in dress of the people.

Just when garden-plants thus began to be systematically
studied, appeared that new material which entitles this to be
called the first great period of plant-introduction, Just then
oriental bulbous plants were brought to Europe in large quan-
tities. A definite date for southern Germany is given in the
record of the first bringing of Tulips to Augsburg, in April,
1559; and with the Tulips came Hyacinths, Narcissi, Ane-
mones, Ranunculuses and more besides. They were brought
in chierty by way of Vienna, but through the agency of Neth-
erlands merchants who had settled there, chief among these
being Clusius ; and it was in Belgium and Holland that the
love for them became most pronounced, rising during the
seventeenth century into the rage of the "Tulip-mania," and
persisting to-day as a serious, sensible and highly productive
commercial tendency. In Germany the garden most fully fur-
nished with these new treasures was that of Von Gemmingen,
Bishop of Eichstadt, and in Paris that of the famous Jean
Robin, which was uncommonly rich in Lilies, Narcissi and
Tulips.

With the opening of the seventeenth century the second
great period of plant-introduction began. Jean Robin's name
is especially connected with this period — with the introduction
of North American (or, as they were universally called at that
time, Canadian) plants. The ancient Locust-tree (Robinia
pseud-acacia), which still stands in the Jardin des Plantes, and
was the first to be grown in Europe, celebrates his name and
deeds ; and in 1635 his garden furnished material for a mag-
nificent work in which forty new American plants were por-
trayed and described — all of them now thrice-familiar species
to the frequenters of European gardens. These American
plants came into Germany, chiefly by way of Basle, where
Bauhin possessed their seeds as early as 1622. But they crept
very slowly northward. The Wild Grapevine, for instance,
known to Robin and Bauhin early in the century, is noted in
the University garden at Leipsic only in 1683, and at Witten-
berg not until 171 1.

Meanwhile Dutch colonists had settled in South Africa, and
the middle of the seventeenth century marks the opening of
the third great period of plant-introduction, when the varied
and beautiful flowering products of this region found their

July 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

313

way to Europe. The first account of them is in the catalogue
of Schuyls, publislied at Leyden in 1668 ; and the Leyden gar-
den was enormously rich for the time in plants of all sorts,
especially a little later, when Boerhave was its director, and it
contained 6,000 different species. The garden at Amsterdam
rivaled it, however, and Professor Kraus asserts that no single
garden has since furnished material for the account of so many
plants as were described by the Amsterdam botanists, the
Commelines, in their great folio works. The introduction of
Cape plants, many of them incapable of supporting a northern
wintern, was a prime factor in the rapid improvement of hot-
houses, while the ease with which they could be produced and
their intrinsic attractiveness caused them to spread through
Europe with great rapidity.

But in the next century a novel artistic movement gave a
great impetus to the importation of another class of plants, and
thus inaugurated the fourtli great period of plant-introduction.
This movement was the change from the old formal, archi-
tectural method of park-making to the free, naturalistic, so-
called landscape-method. Now, in Professor Kraus's words,
the horticulturist's main object was "to embellish his land-
scapes," and for this purpose neither small flowering plants,
nor tropical, alien-looking plants of any kind, could serve him
best. Hardy trees and shrubs were wanted, and for these he
turned to North America again. Europe had become per-
fectly familiar with many of its finest arboreal products — as
with the Locust, the Tulip-tree, the various Sumachs and the
Hemlock. But hundreds of others were now added to the list,
including the White Pine, Spruces, Firs and the Bald Cypress,
the American Oaks, Maples and Poplars, the Occidental Plane,
the red-flowering Horse-chestnut, Nut-trees, Thorns and the
Calycanthus. "Not inaptly," says our author, "are these
American trees distinctively called in Germany 'fine park-
trees'; for in the variety and dignity of their spray, in the form
and arrangement of their leaves, and in the shading of their
normal and their autumnal colors these Americans have not
their equals with us."

Moreover, as these American trees and shrubs were being
lavishly introduced, others of similar value to park-makers
were being brought from Siberia and the newly opened re-
gions of eastern Asia. Siberia sent especially Honeysuckles,
Spiraeas and small-fruited Apples, precious for their vernal
bloom, but even exceeded m this respect by the flowering
splendors of the immigrants from eastern Asia — the Weigelas,
Forsythias and scores of other plants which Europe began to
receive about the middle of the century.

Of course, since this time vast treasures of every sort have
been added to the European horticulturist's lists, not only from
the regions already named, but also from the western coast of
North America, the Australasian islands and the tropics, these
last especially enriching our hot-houses, since the present pas-
sion for exotic Orchids developed. Nevertheless, by the mid-
dle of the century those quarters of the world had been thrown
open whose products were radically to transform the aspect of
European gardens.

It would be difficult to compute with accuracy the total
number of foreign plants now grown in northern Europe,
every year adding, of course, largely to the enormous total.
But to give some idea of what this total now may be we may
quote Professor Kraus's statement that, while some 1,500 flow-
ering plants ar,e believed to be natives of England, Sweet's
Horttts Britannicus names as growing there in 1830 some
32,000 species. This means that even sixty-three years ago.
before the prolific labors of the last two generations of ex-
plorers and importers, more than twenty-two plants had been
introduced by man into England for one with which nature
had there supplied him.

Southern California Wild Fruits.

T7RUIT-GROWING has become the chief industry of south-
•*■ em California, and is of great magnitude. Most of the fruits
of the temperate zone, and some which are almost tropical,
find in one district or another the soil and climate suited to
bring them to the highest perfection. Excellent apples and
cherries are grown in the cooler sections, while in the warmer
oranges and other citrus fruits are produced in the great-
est profusion. Everywhere are great tracts devoted to the
Peach, Apricot and Nectarine, the Plum and the Prune, the
Olive and the Fig. Guavas, pomegranates, loquats and Japa-
nese persimmons are less abundant, only because they are in
less demand, while other rarer fruits are occasionally seen.
The choicest European varieties of grapes are grown in unsur-
passed excellence for the table and for wine and raisins.
Strawberries are to be had during the greater part of the year,

and raspberries, blackberries and currants in their seasons. In
many places the European Walnut, and the Almond are largely
cultivated.

This rich abundance of fruits contrasts strongly with the poor
fruits of woodland and meadow. Here, in southern California,
there are few native trees or vines which produce edible fruit,
and, without exception, their produce is of poor quality, and
generally not eatable. The Crab-apple, the Persimmon, the
Pawpaw, the Mulberry and the Blueberry are not found at all.
The Choke-cherries are represented by a mountain species
(Prunus demissa), whose fruit is, perhaps, but little more
austere than that of its Atlantic relative. The Holly-leaved
Plum (P. ilicifolia) possesses a beautiful glossy foliage and a
compact form that entitles it to a place in ornamental grounds,
but the fruit, although of good size, is mostly stone, and the
tliin pulp is astringent and Havorless. Two or three other spe-
cies of Plums occur, but their fruits are dry, hard and pulpless.

By water-courses the California Grape (Vitis Californica)
abounds, often clambering to the tree-tops. Its berries re-
semble the frost grape of the Atlantic states, but the clusters
are smaller and the quality poorer. Quite as plentiful in simi-
lar situations is the only Blackberry of the region (Rubus ursi-
nus), which bears a scanty crop of small irregular berries.
They ripen by the ist of June, long before cultivated sorts are
ready, a trait which might be of some service to the hybridizer.
The Raspberry, of which there is also a single species (Rubus
leucodermis), is quite rare, and is seldom found at an alfitude
of less than 4,000 feet. It is reported in the books to bear a
red fruit of agreeable flavor, but concerning this I can give no
testimony, never having been able to find any ripe berries,
which appear to be seldom produced. The western Thimble-
berry (R. Nutkanus) grows at about the same altitude, and has
a fruit even more insipid and meagre than other thimble-ber-
ries. Here, too, by the grassy banks of streams, the Mountain
Strawberry (Fragraria Californica) sends out its runners. No
Strawberry is bad, but these are by no means equal either
in productiveness, size or quality to the wild berries of
eastern or Oregon meadows. Still higher in the mountains
grows a June Berry (Amelanchier alnifolia), very beautiful,
but whose dry and hard fruit is not to be compared with
the juicy berries of its Rocky Mountain relative. In
rocky places a Gooseberry (Ribes Menziesii) droops with its
heavy load. The berries are large, but are thickly beset with
long spines, and the enclosed mass of seed is pulpless and
astringent. Currants are commoner, some half-dozen varie-
ties being found in various parts of the region, the berries
of none of which are edible. Only the Elderberry (Sam-
bucus glauca) can sustain a favorable comparison with its con-
geners elsewhere. Oftener a small tree than a bush, it is an-
nually loaded down with great clusters of fruit, rather less
insipid than these berries usually are. They are greatly rel-
ished, at least by birds, and are not despised by boys. These
fruits all belong to northern climates, but a few others may be
mentioned whose affinities lie to the southward. The Desert
Palm (Washingtonia filifera), a species of Yucca (Y. baccata),
an Opuntia (O. Engelmanni), and a Mamillaria (M. phellos-
perma) all produce fruits which are sometimes eaten, but
which are adapted rather to the taste of the Indian than to
more civilized palates.

The woods are even more bare of nut-bearing trees. All the
Hickories are wanting, and so are the Chestnut and Hazelnut,
and even the Beechnut. The Walnut is represented by a
foothill species (Juglans Californica), which here is seldom
more than a large shrub, although elsewhere it attains the
dignity of a goodly tree. The nut is about half the size
of an eastern walnut, and has a very hard and thick shell,
with a proportionately small kernel. The only other nut
is the pifion, or Pine-nut. Although other kinds are some-
times collected, the real pifion is the seed of the one-leafed
Pine (Pinus monophylla), a small tree common in the arid
mountains of the desert. This has a thin shell and a kernel
sweet and rich in oil, although the slight turpentine flavor is
not always relished at first. Of all the wild fruitage of the
country the Pine-nut is the only one that is ever seen in mar-
ket or that has any commercial value. The wholesale price is
about ten cents per pound. These nuts are mostly, if not en-
tirely, collected by Indians, with whom they are an important
article of diet.

Explorers are accustomed to infer the capacity of new coun-
tries for fruit-growing by the abundance and excellence of the
wild fruits they find in them. Guided by this rule there was
little to indicate that southern California would ever become a
land of vineyards and orchards. The cause of its natural defi-
ciency is probably to be found in the dryness of the climate.
Not only is the annual rainfall slight, but the air itself is with-

3H

Garden and Forest.

[Number 283.

out humidity. The artiticial supply of water afforded by irri-
gation changes the condition, so that the sun, enriching in-
stead of desiccating the fruitage of the cultivated trees and
vines, brings it to the highest degree of excellency.

San Bernardino, Cal. S. B. Parish.

Summer in the Pines.

THE Pines are lovely now with great masses of Partridge-
berry, often several yards in extent, starred thickly with
delicate perfumed flowers, and matted so thickly over the
ground that it is difficult to find places for one's feet without
stepping on the pretty blossoms and the scarlet berries which
still cling among the shining evei^reen leaves from last year's
setting. The luxuriant growth of this handsome plant "in its
native wilds is a puzzle and mystery which I cannot penetrate.
Like the Trailing Arbutus and our charming Pyxie, it lan-
guishes amid civilized surroundings. Pyxieand the Arbutus are
out of flower, but their thick masses of foliage are always sug-
gestive and attractive.

Large beds of both the Chiniaphilas here in the woods are
putting to shame my efforts to establish them in the garden,
still I succeed better with these plants than with the other
trailers I have named, but, after all, they do not compare with
those in the Pines, which have much larger umbels of waxy,
fragrant flowers. AH of these little evergreen trailers are
handsome in the Pines the whole year through.

The airy Columbine is scattered among the Partridge-ber-
ries, and gracefully nods its scarlet flowers over the white and
green carpet beneath ; and this, too, is much more delicate
and handsome here than in our gardens. In a damp place is
a great mass of the Lizard's-tail, Saururus cernuus, standing so
thickly that it excludes almost everything else. The small
white flowers are crowded in long, slender, terminal spikes.
These spikes are not stiffly erect, but they nod gracefully un-
der the swaying of the breeze. In striking contrast is Aletris
farinosa, or Star-grass, which stands erect and unbending, with
a naked flower-stem two or three feet high, terminating with a
spike of tubular white flowers, rough on the outside. The
roughness is caused by numerous small mealy points or
prominences, which, with a low magnifying power, assume
quite gigantic proportions. And here is Coreopsis auriculata,
with handsome yellow flowers on long peduncles, and also two
or three species of Rudbeckia, our bright Corn-flowers, light-
ing up the waste places with brilliant yellow rays and purple
cones.

A good many Orchids abound in the Pines. The handsome
Arethusa, with its fragrant rose-colored flower, has passed
away, and so have the pink and white flowers of the Lady's-
slipper, Cypripedium acaule, but there still remain Listera
australis, with a single pair of leaves and a spike of purplish
flowers ; Microstylis ophioglossoides, with only one leaf and
a raceme of small greenish flowers, and Liparis liliifolia, with
two root-leaves which are large compared with the small bulb
that produces them. Between the two leaves arises a small
scape of purple flowers.

The Coral-root, Corallorhiza multiflora, grows in the dry
woods. It has a purple stem, which arises from a cluster of
coral-like roots, without any leaf whatever, and yet it supports
quite a long spike of small, pretty, light-colored flowers, the
lips of which are spotted with crimson. In more damp, rich
soil is the Rattlesnake-plantain, Goodyera pubescens, with its
tuft of white-veined thickish leaves lying snug to the ground,
and from the midst of the little rosette of foliage arises a
flower stalk with numerous small white blossoms. Two or
three species of Ladies'-tresses, Spiranthes, are also in bloom,
some of them with flowers deliciously scented.

Pogonia divaricata is now blooming in wet places, and P.
verticillata as well. P. ophiaglossoides is almost everywhere
in the damp Pines, with its ever-present companion, Calopo-
gon pulchellus. And the charming fringed Orchids are just
coming mto bloom. The white-fringed Habenaria blephari-
glottis is strikingly handsome, with its scape of pure milk-
white fringed flowers. And the yellow-fringed H. ciliaris is
very abundant, the flowers, however, are more orange than
yellow. The pale-yellow H. cristafa is here, too, with smaller
flowers than those of the other two.

Some of the Asclepias, or Milk-weeds, are beautiful now,
especially A. rubra, with umbels of rose-colored flowers, and
A. paupercula, with long slender stems terminating in small
umbels of large bright orange flowers. Both of these species
grow in the wet woods and are more abundant quite near to
the coast. A. tuberosa is almost everywhere in the more dry
Pines. The Meadow-beauty, Rhexia Virginica, is brightening

up all the moist places with its purple flowers, while the Roses
are every wliere^ and such Roses as one never sees farther in-
land. Near the coast they are much more thrifty and far
more handsome than the same species a few miles from the
shore. When the salt spray can reach them the foliage is per-
fect and of the deepest, richest green. May not this give a
hint for the treatment of our Roses at home ?
Vineland, N.J. Mary Treat.

New or Little-known Plants.
The Hybrid Multiflora Rose, Dawson.

ROSA MULTIFLORA was described by Thunberg
more than a hundred years ago, but it was not cul-
tivated in this country until it was raised in the Arnold
Arboretum, from seed sent by Max Leichtlin in 1874. Three
years ago the plant was figured in Garden and Forest, vol.
iii., page 405, and in the accompanying description it was
stated that Mr. Jackson Dawson had obtained hybrids by
using this Japanese species as the seed parent, and pollen
from dark-colored Hybrid Perpetual Roses, and that the
plants obtained by these crosses were hardy, having good
foliage and clusters of highly-scented flowers. The ex-
periments were said to promise a new race of hardy climb-
ing Roses of peculiar beauty and interest. Since then we
have given figures of other hybrids of this class, a partic-
ularly interesting one being a plant in which the variety
Miss Hassard was used as the pollen parent. One of these
hybrids, which has been since named Dawson, after its
producer, is a cross bej:ween Rosa multiflora and General
Jacqueminot, and appears in the illustrations on pages
316 and 317; Figure 47 giving a general view of the plant,
and Figure 48 a portion of it in greater detail. The plant
figured is now five years old, and it covers a trellis some
seven feet high and fourteen feet long. It is as vigorous in
growth as Rosa multiflora, but its foliage is not as soft,
having more of a varnished surface. The spines are inter-
mediate between those of the two parent plants, be-
ing somewhat reddish in color. The flowers, which are
nearly as double as those of General Jacqueminot, appear
in clusters of from ten to as many as forty, and as the dif-
ferent buds on the clusters come into bloom in suc-
cession, the flowering season is continued for a long time.
The color of these roses is a light rose-pink and they fade to
a still lighter color, not turning purple as the flowers of the
pollen parent do. The plant seems perfectly hardy, and
when it attains its full size it will probably cover a space
fully twenty feet square. It promises to be altogether a
desirable addition to our hardy roses.

Cultural Department.

Climbing Honeysuckles.

IT is much to be regretted that the name Honeysuckle has
in many parts of the country come to be used for at least
two distinct classes of hardy woody plants of very different ap-
pearance and general character. In our gardens and fields the
name should be restricted to the genus Lonicera, all of which
have opposite leaves which are often connate, or joined to-
gether at their bases, thus encircling the stem. On the other
hand, the name is often applied to both the wild and cultivated
Azaleas, which, among many other differing cnaracters, always
have alternate leaves. Applied to these the name of Honey-
suckle is confusing and misleading even when used with a
qualifying prefix, as, Swamp Honeysuckle. Azalea, too, is a
name pretty enough to be popular, and it is clearly distinctive.

For planting purposes the true Honeysuckles are divided
into the so-called Bush Honeysucklts and those which climb
by twining stems. There are eight or ten species of the climb-
ing Honeysuckles to be found m cultivation, although not all
are worthy of a place in a small garden.

Probably the oldest and most familiar, and for centuries the
most popular, of them are the Woodbines of English gardens,
also known as Dutch Honeysuckles. The leaves are covered
with a glaucous bloom, the pairs nearest the tip usually being
connate, and the flowers are arranged in clusters or heads at
the tips of branches, the corollas usually purplish or rosy

July 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

315

colored on the outside, and white within, changing to yellow
with age and as they fade. They are most highly prized for
their fragrance, which is more pronounced in the evening than
the day-time. There are two closely allied and very similar
species which differ chiefly in their time of flowering. The
early flowering Dutch Honeysuckle, Lonicera Caprifolium, be-
gins to blossom here about the first week in June, while the
other, known as L. Periclymenum, does not open its earliest
flowers until two or three weeks later. The last species is the
best, and is also the best known. It often continues to pro-
duce occasional clusters of flowers late in the season after the
regular blossoming-time has passed. Both of these species
generally prove hardy enough in this climate, even without
protection, although they will probably do best if the stems are
laid on the ground and covered with a few leaves in winter.
The so-called Etruscan Honeysuckle, L. Etrusca, does not ap-
pear to differ so much from the above species as to make it a
necessity in the garden, and it is less desirable because in this
climate it seems to possess less vigor and hardiness. The
greatest discouragement in the cultivation of these Honey-
suckles in American gardens is caused by aphides, which are
often so abundant as to completelydestroy any sense of beauty
or pleasure which might have been derived from the flowers,
even if the flowers are not themselves distorted or destroyed
almost beyond recognition. The foliage and young growing
shoots are also very greatly injured ; and in order to keep them
clean and free from the pests recourse must be had to emul-
sions of whale-oil soap or kerosene, or other insecticide which
kills by contact.

Largely on account of their liability to injury by aphides,
these European Honeysuckles are rapidly being supplanted by
thejapanese Honeysuckle, Lonicera Japonica,and its varieties,
first introduced into England in the early part of the present
century and more recently into America. It is a native of
China as well as Japan. Its immunity from aphis attacks ap-
pears to be due to the hairy character of its leaves and young
stems, and it also seems to be rarely affected by other insects.
Of the several forms of this species in cultivation, that usually
found in the catalogues of nurserymen under the name of
Halleana or Hallii, is the most desirable, as it will continue
blossoming from June until autumn frosts, whereas the flow-
ering period of the others only lasts for two or three weeks in
early summer. The flowers are powerfully fragrant, slender
tubed, about an inch in length, and of a white color changing
to yellowish as they grow old. Instead of being produced in
head-like terminal clusters they are borne along the lengths of
the growing shoots, a pair of flowers from the axil of each
opposite leaf ; so that, late in the season, well-developed fruits
may be found on the lower part of the shoots, while blossoms
are still opening nearer the tips. This Honeysuckle is suffi-
ciently hardy and vigorous to be a very satisfactory plant in
this latitude and may be trained to pillars, trellises and arbors,
or allowed to ramble over and hide a fence and produce a
pleasing effect, even when not in bloom ; for the foliage is
clean, of a dark green color and not covered with the glaucous
bloom of many species. The leaves also usually persist and
keep a good color until well into the winter.

There is a form of the Japanese Honeysuckle, known under
the name of Lonicera flexuosa, which has reddish stems, dark
green leaves, reddish beneath, and flowers which are pale red
on the outer side and white on the inner. It does not bloom
so long continuously as Hall's variety. Another form which
is very conspicuous, and is often seen, has showy yellow and
green mottled foliage, although it appears to produce com-
paratively few flowers. It is one of the showiest and healthiest-
looking of variegated-leaved climbing woody plants. It is
often found in catalogues under the name of Lonicera brachy-
poda aureo-reticulata ; and Lonicera Japonica is not rarely
obtained under the synonyms of Lonicera brachypoda, Lon-
icera Chinensis and Lonicera confusa. A peculiar character
of the species, especially noflceable in the golden variegated
form, is found in the leaves, a few of the earliest of which, in-
stead of being ovate in outline and with entire margins like
the majority of them, are lobed much after the fashion of the
conventional White Oak leaf.

While the Japanese Honeysuckle is likely to prove the most
popular of all good hardy kinds, we have several hardy Ameri-
can species with a climbing habit, one or two of which are
very handsome when well grown. They are sometimes inju-
riously affected by aphides. The Trumpet Honeysuckle, L.
sempervirens, has the most beautiful blossoms of any of the spe-
cies in cultivation,and toget its flowers in perfection the plant is
sometimes grown in a cool greenhouse. These tubular flow-
ers are without appreciable perfume, but as they are about
two inches long, of a deep red or scarlet color pn the out-

side, and show bright yellow at and within the mouth of the
tube, they produce a very brilliant effect. Forms with the
corollas bright yellow, instead of red, on the outside have been
collected in our woods, and are in cultivation, while another
selected form passes under the name of Fuchsioides. Here it
is deciduous, but farther south it is evergreen.

In Garden and Forest, vol. iii., p. 190, L. flava and L. Sul-
livanti, two other American species, were figured. L. flava
is the most desirable of these. It has small bright orange-yel-
low flowers in close terminal heads, the mouth of the corolla
being wide flaring. The flowers of L. SuUivanti are less inter-
esting, being of a dull light yellow color and having shorter
corollas. Both have very glaucous foliage, and neither show
a disposition to grow very high on their supports.

Lonicera grata is a species which has some affinities with the
old-fashioned Honeysuckles of Europe, but is not superior to
them. It is native south and west of New England, and is also
in cultivation. (v ^ <v 1

Arnold Arboretum. /. G. Jack.

Plants in Flower.

TUFTED PANSIES, despite the prevailing torrid tempera-
ture, are flowering freely, with flowers quite of the nor-
mal size. These are lovely flowers, of pure tints and of very
distinct, pronounced and agreeable fragrance. They are
hybrids between Alpine Violets and various garden Pansies,
and very much, of course, resemble the Pansies, though much
smaller than the ordinary modern large-flowered ones. The
plants, however, are somewhat modified, the stems being
more wiry ; they are also much more compact in habit and
produce many more shoots from the base. As summer
bloomers or bedders they are superior to Pansies, but their
principal charm, aside from the fragrance, is their purity of
color. My collection of these plants has, by various mishaps,
been reduced to a lot of seedlings of Dr. Stuart's Violetta, a
charming flower of quite a new strain and very compact in
growth. They are mostly Violettas, a pure white, with a small
yellow eye without rays ; there are also whites with yellow
blotches on the lower petals, and very attractive light mauve
kinds. These plants are not only easily grown from seed, but
stock can be quickly gotten up from the very numerous base
shoots.

Two Brodiaeas are still in flower. B. grandiflora, with tafl
stems and loose clusters of bell-like flowers, bright purple in
color, and B. minor, a very dwarf plant, which seems to have an
unusually long flowering season, and in effect bears a remark-
able resemblance to Chionodoxa grandiflora, though much
more compact inhabit and much more free in bloom.

Campanula rhomboidalis, which I had from Woolson, is
very much in the way of C. rotundifolia, the Harebell, but has
a better habit. The flowers are the same dainty blue bells,
which have made this plant such a general favorite in the
hardy-plant garden. Campanula Carpatica is a very satisfac-
tory low-growing Harebell, with very numerous, compara-
tively large flowers. There are purple and white varieties of
this species. Campanulate flowers are always favorites, but
numbers of them are rather weedy, and there are none more
effective than the favorite old Canterbury Bells (C. media) and
the Chimney Campanula, C. pyramidalis, though both require
some care to be had in good condition. By the way, it is now
time to sow the seed of these. Other satisfactory campanu-
late flowers of the season are the Platycodons, both purple and
white, and the dwarf variety, Mariesi. These are reliable
hardy, free-flowering and long-stemmed.

The glory of a hardy garden at present should be found in
bold groups of double Hollyhocks, and the best of these are
those with fringed petals, with pure clear colors deepening to-
ward the centre. The more formal rosettes with flat guard-
petals, though dear to the florists, do not seem to me very sat-
isfactory, though they are very pure in color. In a garden
where space can be spared, there are no hardy plants more
effective and striking than well-grown Hollyhocks, with their
noble habit and showy flowers. Curiously enough, a satisfac-
tory display of these plants is very much of a rarity, though
one often sees crowded groups of half-starved and colorless
plants carrying weak, single flowers. These plants are repro-
duced very closely from seed, or from side shoots which are
freely produced at the base later in the season, after the flow-
ering stem has been cut down, as it should be when the plants
go out of flower. Hollyhocks are very apt to disappear if not
given careful attention in the way of removing dead and de-
caying stems, which harbor destructive insects. They also
require a position where they will be fairly dry in winter, stand-
ing water being fatal to them. Given these attentions^ they
may be expected to winter safely in this latitude, but it is the

3i6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 283.

part of prudence and good culture to propogate and replant at
frequent intervals.

Larkspurs are, of course, among the showy flowers of the
season, none of these bein^ more useful, apparently, than
Delphinium Sinense, which is a dwarf-flowering forin with
either light blue, pink or white flowers. Of this species I have
had no personal e.xperience, but at Pitcher & Manda's nursery
it seems to be one of the plants always in flower till early
frosts. From the ordmary hybrid Delphinium we only get
two crops of flowers, and the second only when the plants
are cut down after first flowering.

Heuchera sanguinea is still putting out a few spikes of its
bright flowers. There is little question as to the hardiness of
this plant or that it is one of the choicest of hardy things. Un-
fortunately, it does not seem in every location very reliable as
to flowering. I have at length got one of my clumps shifted
into a position where it flowers freely, but I can see no special
reason why it should do so rather than in other borders where

drying winds in the spring. Seedlings of any good strain
usually flower in June and July of the second year, and give
abundance of desirable flowers for cutting, though few even
of the double ones are up to florists' standard, and there is
usually a fair proportion of single ones which, however, are
not without attractions. It is always somewhat of a problem
to secure good Carnation-flowers in summer, the available
free-flowermg kinds not being hardy, while strong plants are
woody. I know of no more satisfactory treatment than the se-
curing in the fall good strong plants such as the florists have
grown as field-plants from cuttings, and keeping them as dor-
mant as possible during the winter. These if planted out in
the spring will give good crops of flowers during the summer.
The Clove or Border Carnations, so popular in England, pro-
duce very handsome flowers in one crop, but are not very sat-
isfactory here from the fact that they are destroyed by hard
frosts when they have made strong and woody plants. To be
at all successful with them they should be propagated each

Fig. 47— A plant 01 Ihc Hjbrid M

it seemed equally at home. A little change, I suppose, will
often put new life into a plant as well as into the rest of us.

The Cyclops Carnations, introduced last year, prove to be
simply those old crosses between Dianthus plumarius and the
Carnations originally introduced about five or six years ago
from Lyons. The plants are extremely hardy, about their only
valuable feature. We have already enough dull magentas
among hardy flowers, and it seems scarcely worth while to
introduce such rank examples of that color the second time as
a novelty. The Redondo Carnations, introduced last year by
Duer, I have found the best of the free-blooming garden Car-
nations of recent introduction, being quite superior to the Mar-
garet strains in substance, color and fragrance. Some of the
plants wintered safely in the open. There was a great range of
color among them, from whites through the pinks and reds,
and I had a very handsome apricot variety. Seed of these
planted now should give nice plants to winter over outside
and flower next year. That is an experiment which is safe with
even the Remontant Carnations, which are perfectly safe in a
young state if not drowned out and if protected from harsh

uldflora Rose, Djwson. — See pajje 314.

season. This, while not difficult, is somewhat troublesome.
Carnations of the Malmaison type produce grand flowers, but
these are quickly destroyed by dampness, and the plants are
more successfully flowered under protection. Individually the
flowers are the largest and handsomest of Carnations, and they
are well worth space in the choicest collection of plants.
Eiizabeih, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Midsummer in the Garden.

T ARKSPURS are just now very much in evidence, and
■*-' given a wide border with a rich soil that does not dry out,
there are few plants so satisfactory. Our Delphiniums were
all raised from seed and many of them are fine double and
semi-double varieties, equal to the named sorts. These double
kinds last longer on the plants, and when cut, than the others,
and are, therefore, more desirable and just as easy to obtain
from seeds as the more common single Larkspurs'. Another
fine object just now is the Japan Groundsel, Senecio Japon-
icus. This plant is sub-aquatic, but will thrive in any situa-

Jt'LY 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

317

tion other than a dry one. A plant with about twelve flower-
stems and a quantity of the brilliant orange-colored flowers is
just now very striking, the more so as it is too early for the
majority of the Compositae. If this Senecio flowered later
it would be eclipsed by the Sunflowers and Silphiums.
Another name is also attached to the Senecio Japonicus ; it is
the Erythrochsete palmatitida of many Dutch plant lists. Last
summer every flower was carefully allowed to remain on the
plant in the hope of obtaining seeds, but out of the quantity
saved only about one good seed was obtained from each
flower head, and though this was sown at the time of ripen-
ing only one plant came up and that six months after the seed
was sown. It is easily increased by division and is perfectly
hardy.

Morina longifolia is a beautiful garden-plant, seldom seen,
and usually considered tender in northern latitudes, but we
have had it for three years in the garden without the least pro-
tection, and it is now in flower. The plant itself is quite Thistle-

known in gardens and as they are sold to gardeners, but one
thing is fairly certain that A. aurea (or aurantiaca) will be sure
to survive and grow apace without special care if the soil it
grows in can be kept dry in winter. It is a most beautiful sub-
ject for cutting, as it lasts so long and is altogether so different
from most garden-plants. A. pelegrina, the true Inca Lily, is
not hardy, but will well repay pot-culture, especially the white
form. These two kinds only grow about eighteen inches high,
and die down at midsummer. We had a nice lot at one time,
but they all died in the frames in winter when subject to only
a few degrees of frost.

South Lancaster, Mass. ^___^ It. O, Oypct,

The Vegetable Garden.

GREEN and Moss-curled Endive may be sown now and
until the middle of August. Later sowings may be made
in frames. The Bafavian variety can be sown as late as the
first week in September. These curled Endives may be nicely

Fi^. 48. — The Myl)rid MuUitlora Rose, Dawson. — See page 314.

like, but the flowers are arranged in whorls on the stems. The
flowers, on opening, are pure white, but gradually turn to a
deep crimson before they fade. It is a very interesting plant
for a border of really choice things. It is often called Morina
elegans in seed lists and is a native of Nepaul. The herba-
ceous Spiraes are just now very showy ; the dwarf kinds are
past and the tall kinds are at their best. S. ulmaria and the
two variegated silver and golden varieties are good garden-
plants, also the .S. Kamschatica, or gigantea. S. palmata is a
pretty bright rose-color, but the best of them all is our native
S. lobata, or Queen of the Prairies. This is also soft rose-col-
ored and grows about five feet high. It is the best garden
Spiraja we have that has colored flowers, but, strange to say, it
is very seldom seen in gardens, though why not it is hard to
understand.

Alstrcemeria aurea is the only hardy species of those I have
tried, and all the available kinds have been tested, including
A. Peruviensis, A. psittacina, A. pelegrina and its white va-
riety, A. Brasiliensis, A. haemantha and A. Chilensis. There
is a decided uncertainty about Alstrcemeria names as they are

blanched by tieing up the heads. They are excellent for mix"
ing with Lettuce in salads, giving an agreeable Chicory-like
flavor. The leaves are often used for garnishing. The Ba-
tavian variety is used almost exclusively as a winter vegetable,
cooked in the same way as Spinach. They are grown outdoors
until the middle of November and then earthed in frames
very closely together, where they bleach without any further
trouble. The bleached parts are equally as good as Lettuce
for salad, and by many people preferred.

Lettuce, which has run to seed, is not at all unpalatable, when
cooked, to people who are fond of Spinach, Beet-greens and
kindred vegetables. Ground cleared of Snap Beans, or other
early vegetables, will give a good crop of summer Spinach.
The ground should be forked over lightly and sprinkled with
salt at the rale of one pound to one hundred square feet. Seeds
of Cucumbers, to be held over for autumn use, should be
sown in frames now ; and if a few young Tomato-plants, just
setting fruit, can be put where they could have the protection
of a few sashes, fruit could be had from them well into
November.

3i8

Garden and Forest.

[Number 283.

Grape-vines should have been stopped before this time.
Laterals may be pinched in to help the fruit and make firmer
wood for pruning next year.

WeUesley. Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Strawberries.— It is unfortunate that among so many new
varieties of Strawberries introduced yearly, so few prove of
value enough to become generally cultivated. This may be
owing, in a measure, to love of change, for some of the older
varieties, mostly out of cultivation, were as good as any
now grown. Sir Charles Napier, Jucunda, TroUope's Vic-
toria, and Walker's Seedling are now seldom, if ever seen.
Too often Strawberries are allowed to run wild on poor
ground, receiving no fair test. They need good, rich, fresh,
well-tilled ground, and whenever autumn planting is prac-
ticed the runners should be cut off, thus concentratmg all the
energies of the plants into making crowns for next season's
plantmg. Sharpless is our stand-by. Hovey's Seedling, once
a splendid sort, is losing constitution and will have to be
discarded. I hope to replace it by a new pistillate seedling,
Hovey's X Sharpless. Of many new kinds tried last year,
we do not find any of sufficient merit to grow again, except
Michel's Early, and for its earliness alone. Yates and
Crawford proved to be fine-flavored berries, but sadly
lacked productiveness. Beverley is likely to prove a useful
market variety. Eureka is a heavy cropper, but the ber-
ries soon dwindle in size. The Gandy is a heavy cropper, of
splendid constitution, and likely to hold its own on that ac-
count, but lacks the proper flavor. I have also tried several
new and old English and French varieties with poor success.
There is a luscious pine flavor among these unapproachable
by native varieties. Triomphe de Gand will not grow, nor will
Auguste Nicaise, Noble, A. F. Barron, Keen's Seedling, or
Elton Pine. I should be glad to learn of the experience of
others with any of these varieties.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

Correspondence.
The Annual Forest-fires.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The fires are running again. The air is full of smoke.
The following clipping expresses the condition in this region
very well : " We are helpless, except so far as our own hands
and legs can help. After that, we must depend on the spon-
taneous good-will of neighbors."

No one is prevented by any power of Government or fear of
legal punishment from setting a fire in the woods or on the
prairie whenever he may choose. The result is that fully
twenty per cent, of the Pine, Cedar and Tamarack timber ma-
tured in this state, and probably sixty per cent, of the hard-
wood, has been destroyed by fire, while the chance for land
once cut over to reclothe itself with timber is so small that I
think it safe to say that nine-tenths of all land once cut over
has been swept by fire severe enough to destroy the seedlings
and saplings left from the cutting.

The season of the spring fires here begins as soon as the
snow is off, and continues until the leaves are fully out, some-
times until the middle of June. During this time we are to
expect in passing along every line of railroad through a wooded
section a stifling smoke and a blackened country with fires
creeping through brush, rushing over meadows or crackling
and roaring through the timber. As we see so much of this,
and yet hear no complaint, we are apt to think no damage is
being done. Lumbermen bear their losses quietly, and most
of the people living in the woods are too ignorant to under-
stand or too lisdess to care for the loss incurred, not so much
by themselves as by the county and the state.

The settlers coming into the country to take up land and
clear farms form the idea that this fire is Nature's glorious and
beneficent way of subduing the wild character of the forest for
the onward march of civilization. Enthusiasfic, impatient of
obstacles, daring, to them fire running wild is a congenial
spectacle. The pioneer has the spirit of war. He comes as a
conqueror of these woody giants that must be rooted out be-
fore the land can be cultivated and dotted with productive
farms — that is, if the land happens to be adapted to agricul-
ture. It takes a life-time for a poor man to make a clearing.
His children, growing in the meantime, become imbued with
this spirit of war up>on the trees. The first man-like delight of
one of these boys is to take his father's axe and chop down a
tree, and the weird sight of the fires in a clearing often fully
satisfies the longing to see the fireworks described in the coun-

try paper about the loth of July. He also shares with the In-
dian boy the temptation to touch a match to every brush-pile
or bunch of dry grass, and this desire often clings to him
through life.

The neighbors who come and settle near have not the
originality of the first settler and usually follow his example,
though with less intelligence, not knowing so well when fire
will spread, nor realizing what damage will be done. They
slash and burn and are surprised to find that the little fire they
have kindled in their brush-heaps has spread to the Pine-
woods miles away, and is now leaping through the tree-tops,
destroying thousands upon thousands of feet of marketable
timber.

In caring for the forests, prevention of fire is of first impor-
tance. I venture to say that this cannot be done if the matter
is left to the people directly, for local organizations and local
oflHcers are too much under local influence, and the popular
sense of duty on this question is not well enough developed
to be reliable.

The inhabitants of towns and cities, as well as those of the
woods, are concerned in this problem so important to the future
resources of the country, and it is the duty of every citizen to
help in the effort to control these fires. No one, in a region
like this, should be allowed to kindle a fire for even a good
purpose, either in forest or prairie, without notifying his neigh-
bors, and even then he should be compelled to show a per-
mit from some legal authority. Who shall that authority be,
to secure intelligent, disinterested and just action ? In some
places these judges might be, for the present at least, officers
in the army of the United States, as suggested by Garden and
Forest, and each officer should have charge of, say, ten men
to look after an area of not more than 200 square miles. Ele-
vated lookout stations could be established with telephone
connection, and when the smoke of a fire is seen it should be
put out and accounted for.

If officers and soldiers of the regular army or of the state mili-
tia cannot be detailed for this service, some permanent guards
should be provided for our forests, and at times when fires do
not threaten the men could make roads, keeping a strip bare
at intervals as a check to the flames. Or they could patrol
against trespassing, help make maps, or do other duty. Offi-
cers in charge of such work would have opportunities for
studying the forest, its capacities and needs, and their reports
would have a value in deciding what should be the per-
manent forest-policy of the country.

Carlton, Minn. H. B. AyreS.

The Mountain Maple.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I was glad to see in a recent number of your journal a
plea for the more general cultivation of our beaufiful small
nafive Maple, Acer spicatum. I had just been forcibly struck
with its attractiveness, as it grows wild along the edges of the
woodland-roads in this region. Even here it often assumes
an admirably compact and symmetrical shape. Toward the
end of June, when its many racemes of delicate pinkish brown
flowers rise above its drooping leaves it is decidedly the most
ornamental object one meets with, and now that the flowers
have been replaced by clusters of brighter-colored fruit it is
equally charming. Even amid the most gorgeous flowering
shrubs of the garden it would hold its own in beauty, while its
individuality might be even more apparent than in' the forest.
The very fact that its profusely produced flowers are not
brightly colored would assist its usefulness to the gardener,
who often wants, or should want, some delicate, rather dullish
notes to mingle with the greens and the brighter floral notes of
his shrubberies ; or wants a flowering plant of distinct, yet
somewhat modest, aspect for some situation where a gayer
one would be inharmonious. Truly, in habit, in foliage and
in general color-effect few shrubs are more attractive than
Acer spicatum, and none with which we are more familiar in
cultivation can quite fill its place.

Lake Placid. N. Y. M. G. V. R.

War upon Caterpillars.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— A praiseworthy effort has been made this year in Hing-
ham, Massachusetts, to check the spread of the web-caterpu-
lar by a bounty offered by the Agricultural Society to the col-
lector of the largest number of caterpillar belts, in addition to
a dollar a thousand for these nests. Seventy-five children en-
gaged in this enterprise and the result was a total of over sixty-
eight thousand belts gathered by them, which represents the

July 26, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

319

T

destruction of over fifteen millions of caterpillars, between two
and three hundred eggs being usually found in a belt.

This pest had been increasing at such a rate that the wild
Cherry-trees by the road-sides were often encased from top
to bottom in a continuous web, filled with worms, while Ap-
ple-orchards were wholly destroyed. As the worm makes its
appearance at the season when the farmer is most busy, it is
very difficult for him to withdraw his men from other work
long enough to clear the trees of the nests, so that from year
to year they have been more neglected. It was sometimes
found more profitable for farmers to cut down their trees al-
together than to take the trouble to rid them of the insects.
Even the forest-trees, especially the Birch, began to suffer,
and the cultivated Cherry-trees fell a prey to the invaders.

The result of the children's work has been very noticeable.
Though upon the large old trees, where it is difficult to detect
even the webs among the closely interlaced branches, many
nests escaped. The lower branches of trees, and tlie shrub-
beries along the highways, as well as the young Cherry-shoots
in wild pastures, have been so freed from them, and the aspect
of the road-sides showed marked improvement. It has been
. estimated that if all the eggs had hatched and the caterpillars
allowed to mature they would have made a pile measuring
about twelve cords and placed side by side would have cov-
ered an acre and a half of ground. The children of the neigh-
borhood are glad of an opportunity to earn a trifle, and the
ambition to win a few dollars bounty in addition to the regular
fee, spurs them to rivalry in making a large collection. There
were five who gathered over three thousand, and seven who
showed between two and three thousand, while fifteen gathered
over a thousand apiece, showing how energetic they had been
in this novel hunt. vr r j?

Hinghani, Mass. ^* ^* -" •

The Columbian Exposition.

The Seed Exhibits in the Agricultural Building.

HE seed exhibits are divided between the Horticultural
and Agricultural Buildings. In the latter, the field-seeds
are supposed to be shown to the greater or less exclusion of
garden or horticultural seeds. The exhibits of individual firms
are not many, being comprised mainly in about seven entries.
Nearly every state exhibit displays a variety of seeds and grains,
but these are shown as purely agricultural products rather than
as seed-merchants' supplies. The exhibits in the Horticultural
and Agricultural Buildings possess a decided similarity in gen-
eral design, comprising heavy seeds in bags with a glass pane
inserted in the top, small seeds placed in fancy bottles or deep
glass trays, and collections of casts of varieties or types of
vegetables. The embellishments are usually produced by
colored hangers, as banners, chromos and decorations of
grains or grasses. As a whole, there is nothing unusually
novel or striking in them, and they impress the visitor quite as
much with their bulk or arrangement as with any useful facts
which they may be supposed to teach.

Unquesdonably the best seedsman's display, from an educa-
tional standpoint, is that of Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co., of Paris,
in the French section of the Agricultural Building. It is dif-
ferent in character frorn all other seed exhibits in the fact that
it makes no great display of mere bulk, but looks more like a
section in a well-ordered botanical museum. The space de-
voted to this exhibit is something like twenty-five by seventy
feet, enclosed by a wall or partition about ten feet high, lined
with deep red cloth. These walls are hung with panels of
wheat, illustrations of the farms and buildings of the firm,
specimen charts showing the sugar yield of beets, and the
starch yield of potatoes, and other features calculated to fasten
the attention of intelligent visitors. One side or counter of the
apartment is occupied by fourteen glass cases which contain
models or casts of many representative types of vegetables and
strawberries. Disposed at intervals upon the floor are swing-
frames and albums of lithographs of various plants, and the
centre is occupied by a modest table of vegetable and flower
seeds. Everything is labeled with scrupulous neatness and ac-
curacy, and one feels that the exhibit will bear careful study.

Save a small collection of photograps in the alcoves of the
Experiment Stations' exhibits, in the same building, here seems
to be the only attempt at the Fair to show any of the results of
hybridization. The name of Vilmorin has long been connected
with experiments in the crossing of Wheats, and some of the
graphic results are here shown in small sheaves mounted
upon tastefully framed green felt. The casts of which there
are several hundred, represent the average or normal forms
of vegetables rather than unusual or gigantic specimens, and

they are the best models of garden vegetables to be seen in
the Exposition. They are made of a hard composition and
will bear handling. It is evident, in the character of the mod-
els and their arrangements in the cases, that their first value
is a scientfic one in showing the variation of plants and fixing
upon a conventional standard or type for the chief lines of devel-
opment, rather than a mere display of what the firm may have
to sell. The visitor will miss some of the common American
vegetable types from the collection, particularly all forms of
Maize, and of the large fruits which we designate as pump-
kins ; but he will notice others which are comparatively new
to him, as the winter muskmelons, various broad beans, the
long or ridge cucumbers, mammoth blanched asparagus, and
an excellent display of sugar-beets. A couple of the specimen
charts are unique. One comprises six glass tubes about an
inch in diameter and five feet long, containing proportionate
amounts of "sugar in the juice" and refined sugar in the six
leading sugar-beets. The greatest yield of refined sugar is
something over sixty hundred-weight per acre in the French,
while the lowest is only fifty-four hundred-weight in the Gray
top. Between these are, in order, Green-top, Brabant, Vil-
morin's Improved, Klein Wanzleben and Early Red Skin. A
similar method of exhibition shows the starch-yield from ten
varieties of potatoes, the figures running, per acre, as follows :
Giant Blue, 76.7 cwt. ; Imperator, 63.2 ; Giant Nonpareil, 48.6 ;
Reading Giant, 42.6; Juno, 41.9; Aspasia, 37.5 ; American
Wonder, 36.9 ; Red-skinned Flour-ball, 30.4 ; White Elepliant,
28.2 ; Reading Russet, 26.7. Altogether, the exhibit is just
such an one as a teacher of economic botany or horticulture
might be supposed to collect for museum purposes.

This style of exhibit is what one expects if he knows the his-
tory of the firm which has made it. Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co.
is probably the best example of a firm which combines in suc-
cessful proportions the scientific and commercial impulses,
and it is the only seed firm whose opinions upon scientific
questions are accepted by professional botanists. It has been
identified with botany from its inception. The exact founda-
tion of the firm is unknown, but it is certain that in 1745 Pierre
Andrieux was botanist and seedsman to Louis XV., and was in
business on the Quai de la MiSgisserie, in Paris, the s,ame thor-
oughfare upon which the present firm is located. Phillipe
Victoire LevSque de Vilmorin, the youngest son of a noble-
man who was reduced in circumstances through the wars,
came to Paris to seek his fortune, intending to practice medi-
cine. He fell in with the botanist Duchesne, however, and be-
came acquainted with Andrieux, and he gave up medicine for
botany. In 1774 he married the daughter of Andrieux, and
upon the death of the latter, in 1781, the firm became known
as Vilmorin-Andrieux. It acquired a national reputation
under this first Vilmorin, and its influence and business rela-
tions have increased from that day to this. The elder Vilmo-
rin died in 1S04, previous to which time his son, Pierre Phil-
lipe Andr(5, became a partner in the business. This son
established comparative field tests of plants, and he intro-
duced many of the trees and shrubs collected in North America
by his friend,' the eminent botanist Michaux. He established
an arboretum, rich in American Oaks, which, after his death
in 1862, the French Government made the foundation of a
national school of forestry. He retired from business as early
as 1845, and left the house in the hands of his eldest son,
Louis Leveque de Vilmorin. Louis gave much attention to the
subject of heredity in plants, and his writings in this direc-
tion are still well known to scientists. His name is also
identified with the amelioration of the Sugar-beet. He
died in i860, at the age of 44, and his widow assumed a great
part of the management of the business. The house is now
in the hands of the two sons of Louis, Henri L. and Maurice
L. de Vilmorin, the latter of whom is secretary of the French
horticultural division of the Columbian Exposition. A young
son of Henri has lately appeared before the public in the ex-
cellent little book, 77ie Flowers of Paris. The botanical and
horticultural publications of the Vilmorins are numerous and
they form a prominent feature in the exhibit at the Fair.

Other seed exhibitors in the Agricultural Building are Peter
Henderson & Co., Albert Dickinson & Co., of Chicago, Samuel
Wilson, Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania, James Riley, Thomas-
town, Indiana, The Whitney-Noyes Seed Co., and E. W. Conk-
lin & Son, both of Binghamton, New York. These are almost
exclusively field seeds, except that of Henderson, in which are
shown models of the larger or coarser vegetables, as turnips,
squashes, mangels and the like. Henderson & Co. also show
a good line of tree seeds. A novel feature of this display is a
collection of botanical specimens of the grasses and sedges
used by Henderson in his lawn grass mixtures.
Chicago, 111. L. H. Bailey.

320

Garden and Forest.

[Number 283.

Notes.

Professor Wittmack, of the Agricultural Museum of Berlin,
has arrived in Chicago, where he will act as judge in Flori-
culture at the Exposition.

Thinning fruit is necessary if we want to have a product of
the first quality. Wherever a vine or a tree has set too much
there is no danger of beginning to thin out too early, and there
is little danger of removing too much, for very often fully one-
half, or even more, of the original setting should be removed.

Arkansas is now making one of the most attractive displays
in the Horticultural Building, at the World's Fair, in an ex-
hibit of new apples. These fruits are uniformly highly col-
ored, free from blemishes, and of large size. Many of them
are singularly beautiful, especially Early Margaret, Red June,
Black June and Sops of Wine. These come from the country
about Fort Smith.

Among the shrubs of the Pea family which flower in mid-
summer, Cytisus nigricans deserves mention. It has long,
slender, erect racemes of yellow flowers which rise from the
extremities of the branches. The shrub itself is of a neat dwarf
habit, hardly more than two feet high. It has been cultivated
for a hundred years in Europe, of which it is a native, and al-
though it is entirely hardy it is not often seen in our gardens.

Many of the Kolreuteria-trees in this section suffered last
winter from some cause. In many cases large limbs have
failed to put forth any leaves, and they seem to have died back
to the trunk We have just observed one of the trees which
suffered seriously in this way, and the portions of the tree
not thus affected seem perfectly healthy and have produced
flowers in great abundance and the flowers are unusually rich
in color.

Professor Trelease, who is Chairman of the Committee on
Nomenclature of the Society of American Florists, desires to
be informed concerning the misapplication of plant names in
the trade during the past year. Persons who are interested in
securing a stable nomenclature of decorative plants are re-
quested to send him a list of the synonyms which they have
observed, indicating the places where these names were in-
correctly used and the circumstances of the case, if there was
an evident intention to deceive.

The only exhibitors' fruits saved from the burning of the
Cold Storage Building at the World's Fairwere about live bar-
rels of winter apples, belonging to New York, which weredug
from the ruins three or four days after the fire. These apples
were put on exhibition, and they now occupy about 350 plates
on the tables formerly used for the lemon display of Riverside
County, California. They are still in presentable condition,
and include Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, English Russet, Gold-
en Russet and Campfield. California has received oranges
from the Pacitic coast to supply her loss in the fire.

No one would name the New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus Amer-
icanus, in a list of choice shrubs for decorative planting, and
yet just now, while its light and airy spikes of white flowers
are borne abundantly at the end of the leafy shoots, it is by no
means an unattractive plant. It is comparatively dwarf and
from one to three feet high, and it would be a good plant for
the border of large shrubberies. It seems to endure any
amount of drought also, and, therefore, it might be planted to
advantage on dry banks. It is often found in road-side thickets,
which are brightened by its bloom at a season when few other
native shrubs are in flower.

The country banks in California are so pressed for coin that
they refuse to make the customary advances either on wheat
or fruit, and the result is that grain in many places is going to
waste because the ranchmen have not money to pay for har-
vesting ; the case is still worse with growers of fruit, because
there is no market for it in the orchard. The canneries are all
idle since the banks have failed to make the usual advances,
so that only a small part of the fruit crop is being dried by
women and children. It would seem as if capitalists could be
found in California to take advantage of this opportunity to
loan money at remunerative rates for ninetydays,and at the same
time save the crops of many small farmers and fruit-growers.

We recently noticed on the grounds of Mr. Charles A. Dana,
at Dosoris, a very effective border made entirely of a white-
flowered form of Plumbago Capensis. The rich green foliage
and abundant flowers made a very attractive combination. The
plants might easily be lifted and wintered over in a cellar or
under a greenhouse-bench, but Mr. Falconer says that is more
convenient to lift two or three plants for stock and propagate

fresh plants every year. Another fine white-flowering border-
plant at the same place was Browallia Roezli, with flowers
much larger and more abundant than those of B. elata, which
is more commonly planted. B. Roezli is an erect, compact
plant with glossy leaves, and flowers either blue or white with
a yellow tube.

In the July issue of the Botanical Magazine the plant known
in gardens as Eulalia Japonica is properly referred to the genus
Miscanthus, although, unfortunately, the oldest specific name,
Japonicum of Thunberg, is not retained, and the plant is desig-
nated by the much later name of Sinensis. Miscanthus is a
small genus closely related to the Sugar-cane, Saccharuin,
from which it differs in the stem of the raceme, not being ar-
ticulated, and becoming disjointed at the base of the pedicels
of the flowers. In Japan, Miscanthus, or Eulalia, covers im-
mense territories on the low treeless foot-hills of the southern
islands and great moors in Ye/.o. In summer the whole coun-
try seems nodding with the silky white panicles of flowers and
fruit, and in autumn the foliage, which turns fiery red, colors
the landscape.

The dwarf Buckeye, ^sculus parviflora, is now flowering,
and an old established plant is always a striking object. The
lower branches of this shrub extend out in every direction
from the plant, and lying closely to the ground they take root
after a time. In a few years the shrub will cover a circle of
twenty or thirty feet in diameter, and in form it will be almost
a perfect section of a sphere eight or ten feet high at the
centre. Over this mound of foliage thickly rise flower spikes
from fifteen to eighteen inches long. The individual flowers
are creamy white, and as the stamens protrude some inches
beyond the corolla the whole spike has a peculiarly light and
feathery aspect. The spike is covered with open flowers from
the bottom to the top at tlie same time, and fresh flowers are
opening continually throughout its whole length for several
days. These flowers are fragrant and must contain a great
deal of nectar as they are constantly sought for by the bees.
The plant is a native of Highlands of' Georgia and South Caro-
lina, but it is perfectly hardy in New England.

California figs of fair quality are still abundant here on the
street fruit-stands. West India mangoes are ten cents each,
and Alligator pears twenty-five cents. Sugar-loaf and Straw-
berry pineapples from Havana are abundant, and bananas of
good quality are imported in such quantities that they have
sold on the streets for ten cents a dozen. Cherries of unri-
valed appearance and quality are still coming from California
with Hale's Early and Alexander peaches, which are by no
means as good, however, as the southern fruit. Burbank and
Abundance are still the most popular of the California plums,
and are of excellent quality and remarkable beauty. The best
peaches are now coming from Georgia, and bring $2.50 a bas-
ket. Sweet Bough and Astrakhan apples, from the Hudson
River Valley, are selling at $2.00 a barrel. Delaware grapes,
from Georgia, bring ten cents a pound by the basket ; Cham-
pion, three cents a pound, and Moore's Early, from South
Carolina, ten cents a pound. Shawangunk Mountain huckle-
berries are worth twelve cents a quart; good southern musk-
melons bring $2.25 a barrel, while the very best melons, which
come in baskets, bring much higher prices.

The heat and drought, which has prevailed all over England
during the greater part of the present year, are having a ruin-
ous effect on vegetation of all kinds, and there is a complete
failure in the hay crop, vegetables are scarce and poor, and
fruit is suffering. Mr. Pettigrew, gardener of Cardiff Castle, in
South Wales, states in a private letter that the rainfall there in
March was only .35 inches, and in April .25 inches. In May it
was 2.49 inches, but the ground was so hot that it soon evap-
orated. The rainfall in June was .60 inches. Fruit-trees are
covered with the red spider, and the apples are dropping from
the trees by the bushel. The Pear-trees are not so badly in-
fested with the spider as the Apple-trees, but the leaves are
burned black by the sun and crumble into dust with the least
pressure of the hand. The trees trained on the walls have
suffered the most. Peach-trees outside have lost most of their
leaves and there will be no fruit. Some of the trees will prob-
ably be killed outright. Broad Beans and Scarlet Runners are
covered with black aphis and withered up. The leaves of
many large Elms and Hollies on the castle-grounds are with-
ered and brown. Thousands of forest-trees, planted on the
hills last autumn, are dead, and some have died which were
planted three years since and had made six feet of growth.
The vines in the vineyard never looked better. The leaves
are green and the canes are loaded with Grapes ; the bunches
almost as forward now as they are in September in ordinary
years.

August 2, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

32 i

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY^ AUGUST 2, 189J.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editokial Articles :— Selecting Shrubs for Planting 321

Notes on Italian Gardens 322

How to Preserve Cut Flowers Mrs. J. H. Rabbins. 322

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— XVIII. (With figure.) C. S. S. 323

Note on Nomenclature George B. Sudworth. 32+

FoRSlCN Correspondence ; — London Letter IV. Watson. 324

Cultural Department : — Grapes under Glass P. Fisher tV Co. 326

Rose Notes IV. H. Taplm. 327

Chrysanthemums T. D.Hatfield. 328

Microineria rupeslris J. N. Gerard. 328

Pansiesand Forget-me-nots T. D. H. 328

Correspondence :—ArV^or Day J.B.Harrison. 328

Bulbs in the South Professor IV. F.Massey. 329

The Columbian Exposition :— The German Wine Building^

Professor L. H. Bailey. 329

Notes 33°

iLLtreTRATiONs : — Zelkova Keaki, Fig. 49 325

Ulmus campestris in Yezo, Fig. 50 327

Selecting Shrubs for Planting.

WE have recently received a request from one of Our
readers to give a list of fifteen or twenty of the best
shrubs for planting in the latitude of New York. The re-
quest is not an unusual one, and, indeed, we often see in
horticultural papers and nurserymen's catalogues lists of
trees and shrubs made out as standing answers to similar
inquiries. It will be very evident, however, to any one
who gives a little reflection to the subject, that a shrub may
be the best possible one for a given situation and use,
while it would be altogether out of place in another situa-
tion and where another effect was wanted. A shrub may
be desirable for its flowers only ; it may be useful because
it flowers at a particular season of the year; it may make
a superb specimen when planted singly on an open lawn,
with full chance to develop in every direction ; it may be
admirable in groups or for connecting large masses of
shrubbery with the green turf; its particular value may
consist in its ornamental fruit, or the color of its foliage in
the autumn or in early spring. It is evident, therefore, in
order to give any intelligent advice about selecting shrubs,
the purpose for which they are to be used must be dis-
tinctly understood. Besides this, the position in which they
are to stand must be considered. One ought to know
whether the soil in which they are to grow is deep and
rich or thin and hungry ; whether they are meant to cover
a dry bank, or to stand on the border of a lake where the
soil is always damp; whether they are to be exposed to
bleak winds or hot sunshine, or sheltered and shaded.
When a planting plan is once made and the designer has
the undeveloped picture in his mind, it is not difficult to
make a good selection, for the variety of shrubs which we
can command is so great that something can be furnished
to till every situation and every need.

Vi-ry frequently, however, no such thing as a plan is
attempted. The planter buys a collection of such shrubs as
are recommended in some catalogue or by some friend, and
alter he has received them he begins to hunt a place for

them. As he has little idea of the size and form into which
each one will develop, the effect of this jumble is not
likely to be pleasing. Even where no attempt to produce
a consistent picture is made, and the planter only wishes
to make a collection of shrubs for their individual qualities,
it is quite as important that he should know something
about their form and size and their requirements as to soil
and exposure if he is to have satisfactory specimens. The
true way to obtain such a knowledge of shrubs as is needed
for planting is to study them personally. Opportunities
for such study can be had in many large private places and
public parks, at the trial-grounds of the better class of
nurserymen, and in such institutions as the St. Louis
Botanical Gardens and the Arnold Arboretum. It may
be difficult in some sections of the country to find
such easy access to large collections that each shrub can
be seen at the particular season when it is most desirable,
but these special details can be obtained by any one who
is earnest in the matter, by special correspondence, or
reading. There are very few shrubs in cultivation which
have not been very carefully described in some of the vol-
umes of Garden and Forest. Not only is this true of re-
cent introductions, but there is hardly a shrub of standard
merit whose botanical characters have not been given, to-
gether with the qualities which have a garden value. All
such information as planters desire concerning any shrub,
its size, its habit of growth, its time of flowering, the
quality of its fruit and foliage, and the soil in which it
most delights, and the purpose to which it is best adapted
has been carefully set forth.

A general answer like this will hardly satisfy our inquir-
ing correspondent, but it will serve a good purpose if it
prompts him or any one else to set about a systematic
examination of shrubby plants. We have often repeated
that for American gardens there is no class of plants so use-
ful as the deciduous flowering shrubs, and we cannot too
often or too urgently advocate their more extensive use.
They are comparatively inexpensive, and beginners need
not be eager to get possession of what is new and rare, be-
cause, as a rule, old plants are the best. We do not mean
that none of the comparatively recent introductions are
as good as the shrubs which are found in old gardens.
Magnolia stellata, for example, although as yet it is com-
paratively rare, is a plant to grace the smallest place, suit-
able for the yards of city houses or for rock-gardens in the
country, or for any other situation where pure white and
deliciously fragrant flowers are wanted in early spring.
Berberis Thunbergii is another shrub comparatively new
to cultivation, but its showy fruit, brilliant autumn color-
ing, rapid growth, perfect hardiness and compact habit
unite to make it generally desirable. Syringa pubescens,
which was figured on page 266 of the present volume, is
one of the very best of the Lilacs in habit, foliage and in
the delicate fragrance of its flowers. Symplocos panicu-
latus, with its berries of ultramarine blue, should not be
neglected wherever distinct and showy fruit are desired.
Rosa Wichuriana, Corylopsis pauciflora, Deutzia parviflora,
and many other shrubs of comparatively recent introduc-
tion, might be named as desirable for special purposes even
in small collections. All of these we have described and
commended, and many of them we have figured. Among
the older and better-known shrubs, however, plants can be
found to adorn any situation and serve satisfactorily any
decorative purpose. With little care the shrubbery in this
climate will be beautiful from early April, when the flowers
of the little Heath, Erica carnea, are quickly followed by
those of Daphne Mezereum and Cornus mascula, until
October, when the foliage becomes as beautiful as the
flowers of spring and summer ; while some shrubs, like
our native Yellow-root, the Washington Thorn and
Cornus sanguinea, will hold their brilliant colors well
into November. Even in winter the shrubbery is bright-
ened by showy fruit, like that of the Black Alder and
some of the Barberries, while the soft colors of their leafless
twigs lend a charm to the dreary season until the catkins

322

Garden and Forest.

[Number 284.

of the Willows and Hazels proclaim the approach of
another spring.

None of these thoughts are unseasonable, for although it
is not the time to plant shrubs until next spring, preparation
for the planting should not be delayed. If a novice occupies
himself at odd moments henceforward in determining what
he is to plant, and where it is to be planted, much will be
gained if the ground is thoroughly prepared this fall, dug
deep, trenched, if possible, filled in with good loam and
properly drained where needed. When these preliminaries
are accomplished and the ground has been all winter
firmly settling, it can be worked much earlier in the spring
and the planting can be more thoroughly done in that hur-
ried season. This proper preparation will be seen in a
more vigorous growth, more luxuriant foliage, and more
abundant flowers and fruit. In fact, there is no work in the
garden which pays better in the long run than thorough
preparation of the ground at this season for t)ie trees and
shrubs which are to be placed in it the following year.

In the August number of ^ar/>er's Magazine, Mr. Charles
A. Piatt concludes his notes on Italian Gardens, which, by
the way, he asks the reader to consider as a mere supple-
ment to the illustrations. As we stated when the first part
of the article appeared, these pictures reproduce parts of
the gardens in their present condition, the selection having
been made with an attempt to show the strong original
features which have survived the neglect of years and the
reconstructions which have come with changing tastes and
fashions. We cannot help feeling that much of the interest
which invests these pictures and the originals is derived
from the fact that they are, in a measure, ruined, and there-
fore appeal to that reverential sentiment which thoughtful
minds always feel in the presence of works which have
come down to them from the past. It would be hard to
reconstruct a picture of these gardens in their palmiest
days. We can imagine their architectural details, the
statues and fountains, the walls and staircases ; but, apart
from the fact that there were Ilex walks and Cypress
avenues, the particulars of the planting must after all be
largely guessed at. What flowers were in the flower
gardens and how they were arranged we can hardly know.
There is little which is distinctive in the flowers or their
arrangements in the Roman gardens as we know them now.

Mr. Piatt hopes that his pictures will lead to a better un-
derstanding and appreciation of the reasons for the formal
treatment of these gardens, and adds, that " as there is a
great similarity in the character of the landscape in many
parts of our country, the same reasons might lead to a
revival of this method as equally adapted to this country
and to Italy." No doubt formal gardens can be made very
beautiful in places where they are appropriate, but formal
gardening on so extensive a scale as it was known in Italy
at the time of the Renaissance will probably never be
practised in any part of the United States, and, indeed,
there is no reason why it should be. The architectural
details would only be admissible in those parts of the coun-
try which are never visited by heavy frost, and even when
the south can boast of groups of palaces in which wealthy
Americans congregate, this type of garden, which is really
a part of the house — an outdoor extension of apartments
within — would naturally be on a smaller scale than those
of the great Italian villas. Where grounds of park-like ex-
tent are to be treated, no true artist would attempt the
weariBome repetition of rigid lines in these old models.

We have said that the ruins of these Italian gardens now
make an appeal to our sentiment of veneration, and per-
haps it is true that in this way they touch the profounder
part of our nature more deeply than they did in their prime.
A wall of green, with its sides and angles clipped to a
mathematical nicety ; straight lines of foliage which repeat
the architectural ideas of the splendid building with which
they are connected ; beds of flowers in set figures and ap-
propriate colors to harmonize with the well-balanced de-
sign ; all these may be conceived and realized when the

true artist in formal gardening makes his appearance. But,
after all, works of this kind only appeal to the testhetic
sense ; they delight the eye and satisfy the cultivated taste
as a beautiful piece of tapestry or pottery does. It is beauty
for its own sake. It expresses no sentiment and carries no
inner meaning ; it does not address itself to the nobler part
of our nature as simple natural scenery does. Such a creation
as the Arsenal Garden, in Tokyo, and even a Fern-crowned
rock by a mossy streamlet, we naturally speak of as restful
and soothing. No formal flower-bed or clipped tree was
ever restful. The fundamental difference between the two
styles of gardening is that they address different faculties
and sensibilities. The one can excite admiration ; the
other, through the imagination, may stir the profoundest
feelings of the soul.

How to Preserve Cut Flowers.

IN the hot, dry days of summer one often finds the flowers
in vases, although freshly gathered, in a drooping condition,
the result, it may be, of plucking them at the wrong hour, or
of improper attention afterwards. They who would keep
their bouquets bright and vivid throughout the day, should
rise betimes, for there is no freshener like the dew of the
morning, whether for blossom or complexion. Poppies, fleet-
ing and frail, if plucked before the sun has dried the dewdrop
at their hearts, and quickly placed in water, will last sometimes
for two days without falling, and the same is true of other ten-
der garden-flowers. Should the basket of cut flowers show
signs of drooping, dip the bunch head downwards into water
and give it a gentle shake. This is very efficacious in reviving
flowering shrubs brought from a distance, when they become
wilted before reaching home.

The Japanese have made a special study of this branch of
the art ot flower arrangement, and have special rules for dif-
ferent plants. If the Wistaria is to be used in decoration, its
cut stem is burned and then immersed in spirits. The Hy-
drangea and the Lespedeza should also have the cut ends
burnt to charcoal before immersing in water. All flowers
which suck up water with difficulty are improved in vitality by
treating the end of their stems with fire or hot water. Land
plants derive benefit from burning, but water plants require
boiling water.

When the Japanese use the Bamboo in decoration, which is
their frequent custom, they cut it at a very early hour, four in
the morning, and remove the bottom division or knot, leav-
ing the upper division untouched. They then fill the tube with
fifty-eight grains of cloves stewed in hot water and seal up the
bottom. It is then laid horizontally until the liquor enclosed is
cool, after which it is ready for use. When the colored Maple
is employed, the leaves are immersed in water for an hour be-
fore using. The very dark red ones are parficularly hard to
preserve, but the lighter ones are more enduring. The Willow
has its cut stems spliced off and then bound up with a drug
they call senkin, the branch afterwards being left in water over
nijjht.

The Morning Glory, of which the Japanese make great use,
is carefully cut in the evening after the flowers are tightly closed.
The sleeping buds are then gently wrapped in soft paper by
their dextrous fingers, and this is not removed until the fol-
lowing morning, when the arrangement is made. Begonia
Evansiana should be cut in the early morning, the buds re-
moved with a sharp knife, and the whole immersed in water
before arranging. Monochoria vaginalis, when cut, should
have about one inch of the end immersed in hot water until
the color changes, and it must then be dipped deeply in cold
water, after which it is ready. The same treatment is applied
to Senecio Kaempferi.

The Prickly Poppy (Argemone Mexicana) is treated by hav-
ing its stem tightly tied around with soaked paper at a point
five or six inches above the cut end. This end should then be
burnt with a flame, after which the paper is removed, and the
flower is ready to use. The Yellow Water-lily (NupharJa-
ponicum) should be selected from a shallow spot, and cut
during the heat of the day. A liquid composed of cloves
boiled in tea should then be blown into the cut stem, and thus
the vitality of the flower is prolonged. Whether this treat-
ment is also desirable for the White Pond-lily, Mr. Conder,
who is my authority for Japanese practices, does not state, but
it would be worth while to experiment if thereby this lovely
flower could be longer retained in perfection.

The great Japanese Irises, if cut while in bud, will open
freely in water, and last longer than if allowed to open out-of-

August 2, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

323

doors, where the sun promptly wilts their beautiful blossoms
and curls the tender petals almost before they have expanded.
Nasturtiums, too, suffer from being gathered while the sun-
light is hot upon them, but in the early morning, with the dew
still damp upon their leaves, they can be found nestling in the
shadow with half-open heads just in the right condition for our
vases. The fragile Heliotrope plucked at this hour will retain
its freshness, whereas if culled when the sun lies fierce upon
it, it will droop and turn black in the shadiest parlor.

Flowers and plants wilt because water is transpired by
leaves and petals more rapidly than it is taken up through the
stem. On a dry, hot day leaves and flowers often wilt on the
plant. Even when not actually wilted they may contain
barely moisture enough to hold them in shape, and when cut
under these circumstances they wither at once unless they
are put into water instantly, when they will often become
more plump than they were before cutting. The stems of
plants when cut begin immediately to change structure, and
form a callus at the wound, which mterferes with the absorp-
tion of fluids. It is advisable, therefore, to cut the stems off
a second time while under water, so that all the channels
through which water rises may be without any obstruction.
As there are many substances besides water in the juice of
plants, some of these odd Japanese practices may have some
value. At least, they are worth trying. ,-- ^ r> n-

Hingham, Mass. ^f- C. RobbmS.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XVIII.

THE flora of Japan, although it is comparatively rich
in EuphorbiacesB, does not contain any important
trees belonging to this family. One species of Daphni-
phyllum, a Malayan genus with beautiful, lustrous, ever-
green foliage and handsome fruit, and now known in the
gardens of temperate. Europe in the shrubby D. glaucesens,
attains the size of a small tree ; this is D. macropodum,
which we saw not far from Gifu, growing, as it seemed,
naturally. It is interesting to note that one species of this
tropical species, D. humile, grows as far north as Yezo,
where, as well as on the mountains of northern Hondo, it
is a common under-shrub in the forest of deciduous trees.
We obtained a supply of seeds of this handsome plant,
although it is hardly to be expected that it will be able to
survive our northern winters, as it will miss here the con-
tinuous covering of snow under which it is buried in Yezo
during many months of the year.

Of the small genus of Aleurites of eastern tropical Asia
and the Pacific islands, one species reaches southern Japan,
A. cordata, which we only saw in the Botanic Garden at
Tokyo. This little tree has large long-stalked, three-lobed
leaves, inconspicuous flowers in terminal panicles, and
large black drupe-like fruit ; it may be expected to grow in
the southern states, but it will be valued for its botanical
interest, and not for its beauty. And this is true of the
other Japanese tree of the Euphorbia family, Excoecaria Ja-
ponica, which may possibly prove hardy here in New
England, as we found it growing on high elevations on the
Negasendo, near Agamat-su, in central Japan, as well as
on the high Otome-tog, in the Hakone Mountains ; and
Mr. Veitch gathered specimens on Mount Chokai-zan, on
the north-west coast of Hondo. It is a small tree with
thick, firm, dark green leaves which vary from oval or
obovate to obovate-lanceolate, and are sometimes six or
seven inches long, and three-lobed fruit three-quarters of
an inch in diameter.

Of the Nettle or Elm family, Japan possesses some im-
portant trees, although in Elms themselves the flora of
Japan is poor as compared with that of eastern North
America, where there are five well-distinguished species,
while in Japan there are only two ; these are both conti-
nental, reaching in Japan their most eastern home. In
Hondo Elm-trees are not common, and in that island are
no where such features of vegetation as they are in our
New England and middle states and in Europe, and it is
only in mountain-forests between 3,000 and 5,000 feet
above the sea-level that occasional small plants of Ulmus
campestris, with branchlets often conspicuously winged,
appear. In Yezo, however, this tree is much more abun-

dant, growing on the river-plains nearly at the sea-level
and in the forests which cover the low hills, not infre-
quently becoming a prominent feature of the landscape. In
Sapporo, where many fine old specimens were left in the
streets by the American engineers who laid out the town,
individuals seventy or eighty feet tall, with trunks three or
four feet in diameter, may be seen. The broad heads of
graceful pendant branches reminded us of New England,
for this Japanese form of the Old World Elm has much of
the habit of the American White Elm. The portrait of one
of these trees, although not a large one, growing a mile or
two from Sapporo, appears on page 327 of this issue, and
gives a fair idea of the habit of this tree in Yezo.

The second Elm of Japan grows in all the mountain -
woods near Sapporo. The Russian botanists have consid-
ered it a peculiar variety of Ulmus montana, to which the
name laciniata has been given, and which is principally
distinguished by the peculiar shape of the leaves, which
are often six or seven inches long, three or four inches
broad, coarsely serrate and often three-lobed at the wide
apex. It is a small tree, barely more than thirty feet tall,
as we saw it, and very fragrant, like our American Slippery
Elm, which in habit it much resembles. It is from the tough
inner bark of this tree that the Ainos weave the coarse
brown cloth from which their clothes are made. The pro-
cess is a simple one ; the bark is stripped from the trees in
early spring, and is then soaked in water until the bast, or
inner bark, separates from the outer in long strips, which
are twisted by the women into threads and are then ready
for use. This interesting tree is not in cultivation, I be-
lieve, and we reached Yezo too late to obtain its seeds. It
is desirable, however, that it should be brought into our
gardens, not only on account of the curious appearance of
the leaves, but that its development may be watched, for
when it can be compared in a living condition with the
European and Siberian forms of Ulmus montana, it may
prove sufficiently distinct to be regarded as a species.

The Keaki, Zelkova Keaki, a member of this family, is,
perhaps, the largest deciduous-leaved tree of Japan ; it is
its most valuable timber-tree. The Keaki may be described
as a Beech, with the foliage of an Elm. The bark is smooth
and pale, like the bark of a Beech-tree, and the dense, com-
pact round head of slender branchlets resembles the crown
of that tree, while the leaves, which are large, ovate-acute,
coarsely serrate, and roughened on the upper surface, are
like those of the Elm.

Zelkova is a genus with three arborescent species ; one
inhabits Crete, another the Caucasus, and the third Japan.
The flowers are very similar to those of the Elm, and are
unisexual or rarely polygamous, and are produced in early
spring on branchlets of the previous year, the males clus-
tered in the axils of the lower leaves and the females soli-
tary in those of the upper leaves. The fruit is a small
drupe, more or less irregularly oblique in shape and two-
beaked with the remnants of the eccentric style, with a
membraneous or slightly fleshy outer covering and a thin
hard endocarp, or stone, containing a single compressed
concave, horizontal seed, without albumen, the thick em-
bryo filling its cavity.

Zelkova Keaki sometimes grows to the height of a hun-
dred feet and produces a trunk eight to ten feet in diameter.
Such specimens are often found in the gardens surrounding
temples in the large cities, and by village road-sides in the
interior provinces. If any wild Keakis are left in the for-
ests of Japan they must be rare, and I am not sure that we
saw this tree growing naturally, although it is everywhere
one of the most commonly planted deciduous trees. Large
specimens, which we saw on the Nagasendo, near Agam-
at-su,in oneofthe mountain-provincesof centralHondo.and
a very remote region, may have been growing naturally, but
even this is doubtful, for the Nagasendo has been a trav-
eled highway for at least twelve hundred years, and a
thousand years ago was probably more frequented than it
is now. Of the range and habitat of this tree I have,
therefore, no idea whatever.

32 1

Garden and Forest.

[XUMllER 284.

The wood is more esteemed by the Japanese than that of
any of their other trees. It is noted for its toughness, elas-
ticity, and durability, both under water and when exposed
to the air ; it is considered the best building material in
Japan, although it has become so scarce and expensive that
Keaki is not now used for this purpose, except in temples
where the large round, light brown, highly polished columns
which support the roof are always made of this wood. It
is still much used in cabinet-making, turnery, and in the
manufacture of many small articles, which always com-
mand high prices.

Zelkova Keaki is probably the only Japanese tree which
is worth introducing into this country on a large scale as a
timber-tree ; that it will thrive here at least as far north as
southern New England the plants in Dr. Hall's garden in
Warren, Rhode Island, indicate. There are two of these
raised from seed sent home by Dr. Hall in 1862 ; they have
received no special care, the soil in which they were
planted is not exceptionally good, and their growth has
been no doubt checked by overcrowding. They are now,
however, at least fifty feet high, and have produced trunks
a foot in diameter ; they flowered and fruited this year,
and the illustration on page 325 of this issue is made from
specimens sent by Dr. Hall, with the exception of the
large single leaf, which has been drawn from a specimen
gathered in Japan.

The Zelkova, of all Japanese trees, should be better
known in eastern America, where it may, perhaps, become
an imported timber-tree, and produce wood as strong as
our best oak, which it surpasses in compactness, dura-
bility and lightness, for keaki, in comparison with its
strength, is remarkably light.

There is little to be said of the other Japanese trees of
the Elm family. Celtis Sinensis, with its thick coriaceous
leaves and dull red berries, is one of the first trees to greet
the traveler landing in Yokohama, where it is common in
the groves which cover the shore-bluffs, growing with the
Camphor-tree and the evergreen Oaks. It is a southern
species of wide range in south-eastern Asia, which we
cannot hope to grow in this country, except in the south-
em states.

Aphananthe aspera, a Celtis-like tree with ample bright
green leaves and black fruit, ranges as far north as central
Yezo, and may be expected to give interest and variety to
dendrological collections in the United States and Europe,
although to the mere lover of trees with peculiar foliage
or with showy flowers and fruit it will not appear suffi-
ciently distinct from our native Nettle-tree.

Of the Broussonetias or Paper Mulberries, of which two
or three species are included in the flora of Japan, I only
saw specimens in the Botanic Garden at Tokyo. They
are all trees of the south, or more probably introductions
from China. The White Mulberry, Morus alba, however,
is certainly a Japanese species, as it grows as a small tree
in the remote and primeval forests of Ye^o, although the
numerous forms cultivated by the Japanese as food f6r the
silk-worm are usually of Chinese origin. Of the Fig-trees
which appear in the flora of Japan, I saw nothing at all,
with the exception of one or two cultivated shrubby
species. They all belong to the extreme south, and in-
habit regions we did not visit.

C. S. S.

Note on Nomenclature.

SINCE the publication of my notes on Bladhia panicu-
lata{Nutt) (Ardesia Pickeringia, Nutt.) (Garden and
Forest, iv., 239), it has been found that the genus Icacorea
of Aublet, published in 1775, antedates the genus Bladhia
(1784) by nine years. As there is no good reason for not
uniting the two genera, our Florida and West Indian
" Marlberry " should be referred to the older genus ; in
which case Bladhia paniculata becomes Icacorea panicu-
lata.

U. S. Department of Agriculture. George S. Sudworth.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

LiLiiM Alexandr.i;. — A white-flowered Lily was shown
this week at Chiswick by Messrs. Wallace, of Colchester,
under this name, and also by Messrs. J. Veitch&Sons under
the name of Lilium Ukeyuri, a name which it bears in the
catalogue of the Yokohama Gardeners' Association, from
whom, presumably, it was obtained by Messrs. Wallace
and Veitch. It is nearer L. longiflorum than any other spe-
cies, but it also bears some slight resemblance in the form
of the flowers and the color of the stamens to L. auratum.
It is peculiar in having short-stalked, semi-erect flowers,
which open almost as wide as those of L. auratum, and are
pure white. The foliage is similar to that of L. longiflorum.
Evidently the last-named species is a very variable one,
and I see no reason, if the plant called L. longiflorum, var.
chloraster, be included among its forms, why L. Alexandras
should not be looked upon as another, differing only from
the type in its shorter, more expanded flowers and the
brownish color of the anthers. It was awarded a first-class
certificate. All Lily-growers are delighted with L. chloras-
ter as represented now by strong-flowering plants at Kew.

Lilium Lowii. — A plant of this new and very distinct
Lily was shown in flower at Chiswick this week by Messrs.
Low & Co., of Clapton, who introduced it three years ago,
and still hold the stock of it. I noted it in Garden and
Forest, vol. iv., p. 352, as a near ally of L. Nepalense with
smaller leaves and white flowers with a few purple spots.
A figure of it was published in the Botanical Magazine,
t. 7232. It has a globose bulb two inches in diameter with
lanceolate scales. The stem is three to four feet high,
leaves three inches long, linear, flowers in an umbel, cam-
panulate, three inches across, the segments recurved, each
over an inch broad. This species is a native of the Shan
hills, in Upper Burma, where it was collected by General
Collett about the same time that it was sent home by Messrs.
Low & Co.'s collector. It obtained a first-class certificate.
We are indebted to the same region and the same firm for
three other beautiful Indian Lilies, two of which are new
species, namely, L. primulinum and L. sulphureum, the
third, L Nepalense, being new to cultivation, although de-
scribed by D. Don many years ago. There are good rea-
sons for believing that all these Lilies maybe grown out-
of-doors in the warmer parts of England.

Rhododendron Smirnowii and R. Ungernii are two rather
new species, which were described by Trautvetter in Ada
Horli Petropolitani \w 1884 from specimens collected on the
Asiatic side of the Caucasian Mountains, where they grow
wild under the shade of Picea orientalis in company with
R. ponticum, L. Seeds of them were distributed from the
Botanical Garden at St. Petersburg in 1886, some of which
came to Kew, where there are now sturdy little bushes of
both species in the arboretum nursery. They are quite
hardy, evergreen, in the way of R. caucasicum, but re-
markable in having the stems, petioles and under side of
the leaves covered with a thick felt-like tomentum. They
differ from each other as follows : R. Smirnowii has leaves
four inches long, with revolute margins and blunt tips ; the
felt is very pale brown ; the flowers are rose-purple, as
large as those of R. Caucasicum, and the calyx is small,
flat, with five small lobes. This species has lately flow-
ered at Kew. R. Ungernii has leaves six inches long, with
a distinct cusp at the tip, and the tomentum is white. The
calyx has linear erect lobes half an inch long, and the
flowers are white, with a green tinge, and a few spots of
red. This has not yet flowered at Kew. The most striking
characteristic of these two Rhododendrons is the felt-like
covering on the leaves and branches. They are distinct in
appearance from all other hardy Rhododendrons.

Spir(ea Bumalda, var. Anthony Waterer. — One of the
most useful of all the shrubby summer-flowering hardy
Spiroeas here is S. Bumalda, indeed, we have few hardy
shrubs of any kind which surpass this plant, looking at it
in all its excellent points of hardiness, good nature and

August 2, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

325

tzz

J.\

Fig. 49. — Zelkora Keaki. — See page 323.

I. A flowering branch, natural size.

2. A fruiting branch, natural size. 3. A staminate flower, enlarged.

5. Vertical section of a fruit, enlarged. 6. A fruit, enlarged.

4. A pistillate flower, enlar^d.

326

Garden and Forest.

[Number 284.

floriferousness. If any of the forms commonly grown
have a fault it is in the dullness of the color of the flowers.
Mr. A. Waterer, of the Knap Hill Nurseries, has, however,
a variety named as above, which possesses all the good
qualities of the type, plus flowers of a brilliant crimson
color. He declares it to be one of the very finest shrubs
introduced in the last fifty years, and he is an authority
whose opinion commands respect. He exhibited some
flowering branches at Chiswick this week and stated that
he could show flowers of it as good every week from now
till the frost comes. It is, of course, only a sport from the
type. Mr. Waterer has not yet distributed it.

Cattley.\ Rex. — This distinct and beautiful Cattleya is
improving every year in popular estimation, and a stout
inflorescence bearing three large flowers, shown this week
at Chiswick by a Liverpool amateur, Mr. W. C. Clark, will go
a long way towards disposing of the doubts raised in some
quarters that this Orchid is not as good as it was painted.
It is apparently not more diflficult to manage than the ordi-
nary Cattleyas, judging by a plant now flowering at Kew.
Mr. Clark stated that the spike he showed was one of two
borne by the same plant. The pure white of the sepals and
petals, and the richly marked maroon and golden color of
the labellum are charming features of this Cattleya, which
Messrs. Linden, who introduced it a few years ago, de-
scribed as the most beautiful of all their introductions.

Cypripedium Stonei, var. CARNiERTiANUM. — This was shown
in flower at Chiswick by Mr. T. Statter, of Manchester, and
obtained an award of merit. It has larger flowers than the
type, the petals broad, the basal half white, with reddish-
brown spots, the rest colored wholly brown-purple.

Cypripedium Massianum is a new hybrid between C. super-
ciliare and C. Rothschildianum, which was raised by
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., and shown at Chiswick, where it
obtained an award of merit. It has large flowers, the dor-
sal sepal white with reddish line, broad fringed petals col-
ored pale yellowish-green, spotted with brown-red. It is
the first hybrid from C. Rothschildianum.

Renantheramatutina.— Aplant of this, bearing a branched
inflorescence a yard long, was, to me, the most interesting
Orchid shown last week by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. It
was two feet high, with thick linear leaves six inches long,
the scape springing from near the apex, being crowded
with flowers suggestive of long-legged spiders. Each
flower was two inches in diameter, the linear segments
equal and spreading, the lip very small, with a saccate
base, the color of the whole reddish orange, with crimson
blotches becoming almost yellow and red with age. Although
a rare plant in cultivation, it was introduced into England
by Thomas Lobb in 1846. Messrs. Veitch say of it: "Be-
ing less refractory to the cares of the cultivator than R. co-
cinea, and being, too, of more manageable dimensions, it
has proportionally gained in favor." It is a native of Java.

MoMORDiCA cocHiNXHiNENSis. — The tropical Gourds are a
special feature at Kew, where a large collection of them is
cultivated on the spacious roof of the Water-lily house.
This rare species of Momordica is worth growing for its
foliage alone, which is palmately lobed, six inches across
and deep, lustrous green. It is a perennial, and, therefore,
a good plant for clothing pillars, etc., in large houses. The
flower is large and handsome, being four inches in diam-
eter, campanulate, with ovate acute petals, thick and fleshy,
with prominent veins, covered with soft hairs, and colored
straw-yellow, with a large blotch of maroon at the base of
the three inner petals. The flowers are produced singly in
the axils of the leaves and they are very fragrant. The fruit
I have not seen, but it is described as being five inches
long, ovate, fleshy, cucumber-like and colored bright red.
It is common in India and some parts of China.

HippEASTRUM PROCERUM. — This beautiful Brazilian bulb is
now in flower in an intermediate-house at Kew. It is the
Blue Amaryllis of horticulture, and it has also borne the
name of Amaryllis Rayneri (see Botanical Magazine, t. 5883).
Although introduced thirty years ago, and frequently noted
in the gardening papers as one of the most remarkable of

the species of Hippeastrum, it has not yet come to the
front as a garden-plant, probably because its cultural re-
quirements were not understood. At Kew it is planted out
in a raised brick bed in the succulent-house, where it re-
tains its foliage all the year round, although kept dry in
winter. The figure in the Botanical Magazine does not do
the flowers justice, those now open at Kew being nearly as
large as those of Lilium longiflorum, the segments equal,
and colored violet-mauve, with numerous small purple-red
spots. The long-necked bulbs and distichous, falcate,
white-edged leaves give this plant an exceptional place
among the species of this genus.

Lilium testaceum and DouBLE-FtowERED Iceland Poppies
planted together in a large bed on a lawn at Kew have
been a most effective picture during the past month.
Nothing could be finer than these Poppies for positions
where bright, telling colors are desirable, and the creamy
yellow flowers of the Lily overtopping the Poppies go
well with them. Both plants are cheap and easy to
manage. At Kew they occupy a bed which is planted
with Daphne Ponticum for winter effect.

Lilium longiflorum and its two varieties, chloraster and
formosana, are flowering beautifully in large beds at Kew.
L. Henryi is eight feet high, and L. Greyi six feet. Per-
haps the prettiest of all the smaller Lilies is the variety of
L. concolor, called in gardens L. Coridion, which is barely
a foot high, and is crowned with erect bright crimson
flowers at this time of year.

London.

W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

Grapes under Glass.

WE recently received from Peter Fisher & Co., Ellis,
Massachusetts, two photographs illustrating a house
of Black Hamburg Grape-vines. The Vines were in splen-
did health, as shown by the luxuriant foliage, and the
grapes hung in immense clusters of perfect fruit, and alto-
gether the pictures were a delight to the eye. At our re-
quest, Messrs. Fisher & Co. have sent us some notes describ-
ing their treatment of the Vines, which we herewith repro-
duce :

The house is 105 by 20 feet, was planted June 26th, 1890, and
contains seventy Vines and nearly 2,000 bunches of grapes ;
part of the crop is cut. In making the Vine border we use
fresh turf from an old pasture, turned grass-side down, build-
ing it compactly together to a depth of eigliteen inches, and
three to four feet in width along each side of the house. This
when fairly settled will give a depth of fifteen inches, quite
sufficient for successful grape-raising, the border can be
added to as required, and the fresh material will infuse new
vigor into the Vines.

The Vines were planted three feet apart, and trained to a
stake until they reached the glass, and then to a wire or strong
piece of twine to the ridge of the house, and about twenty
inches from the glass. This prevents burning and gives a
free circulation of air. Abundance of moisture was given all
over the house and borders, syringing daily morning and
noon on all bright days. The house was closed up every
evening early enough to hold the night temperature up to sixty
to sixty-five degrees, and the day temperature ninety-five or
one hundred degrees. Under this treatment the Vines made
a strong and rapid growth, and by the last week in .September
the majority had reached the top of the house, when we gradu-
ally increased night ventilation and reduced moisture, later
giving full ventilation day and night.

We give no manure in any form the first year, as it tends to
cause a rank growth, and, as a result, failure in obtaining thor-
oughly ripened wood, which is of the greatest importance to
ensure success the following season.

The Vines were pruned back two feet from the ground
about Christmas, 1890, and the house kept at a temperature of
from forty to forty-five degrees during the winter months. By
March ist, 1891, they had again started into growth, and under
treatment similar to the preceding year had reached the top of
the house by June 26th, one year from date of planting. No
manure was given this season, and they were again pruned at
Christmas. This time the canes were left 8 feet in length. A
wire trellis was then erected all over the house 20 inches from the

AUGIST 2, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

327

glass, with the wires fifteen inches apart. With the temperature
kept the same as in the preceding winter, the Vines com-
menced to grow the last week in February, 1892, and by June
26th (two years from the date of planting) we commenced cut-
ting from a crop of over 700 bunches of very fine grapes,
each Vine bearing from eight to twelve bunches, many of
them three to four and a half pounds in weight.

The first manure was applied early in the spring of 1892 in
the form of a top-dressing of short stable-manure three inches
in depth, with a covering of oak-leaves. The latter retains the
moisture, preventing rapid evaporation, thus saving time and
labor of frequent waterings. If thoroughly done, once a week
or ten days will be often enough throughout the season. Un-
der this mode of treatment the feeding roots will come to the
surface, where the stimulant is found in form of liquid-manure
from the moist top-dressing and waterings. This mulching

that stage, for the majority are sold as fast as they are ripe, and
at the date of writing, July 20th, the crop is fast diminishing.

During the winter and spring months of 1891-92 we grew
Carnations in this grapery under a temperature ranging from
forty to forty-five degrees during the night, and fifty-five to
sixty-five degrees by day, only increasing it as the grapes re-
quired. Last winter Violets and Mignonettes, Stocks and
Spiraeas were the crops grown in succession during winter
and spring.

Ellis, Mass. P. Fisher &" Co.

Rose Notes.

'TTHE busy season of replanting the Roses under glass has

^ again arrived, this annual expenditure of labor having

been made necessary in many localities from the prevalence

of the Snout-beetle, Aramigus FuUerii. This same pest has

Fig. 50. — Ulmus campestris in Vezo. — See page 323.

may be renewed when necessary, but great care must be exer-
cised— a time for it chosen when the house can be kept well
ventilated day and night to let the surplus ammonia escape.
We have known very fair crops to be ruined by closing up the
house during a sudden change of weather just after a fresh
top-dressing.

In pruning last winter the canes were cut about eighteen
inches from the top of the house, and the side shoots pruned
back to two buds, and treated as they were in the season of
1892, only each Vine bears from twenty-five to thirty-two
bunches of grapes to a rod fourteen feet in length, giving in
all a crop of nearly 2,000 bunches.

The first iruit this season was cut June 26th, three yearsfrom
the date of planting. The quality is fine, the berries large, with
a beautiful bloom on those that hang long enough to reach

also encouraged the shallow-bench system for planting Roses,
because it is easier to thoroughly cleanse the house each sea-
son where this method of culture is adopted, than it is where
deep borders are used. A thorough cleaning of the wood-
work and the entire interior of the house should be given be-
fore the Roses are reset, and, if possible, a fumigation with
sulphur should be added, since sulphur fumes are fatal to
many fungous germs as well as insects. The woodwork of the
roof will be improved by a fresh coat of paint, and all neces-
sary glazing should be attended to so that the entire structure
shall be in proper condition for active work. The woodwork
of the benches will be benefited by a heavy coat of whitewash,
which helps to prevent the spread of fungus. The use of slate
for the bottoms of benches in Rose houses has not extended
among large growers to the extent that was once expected,

328

Garden and Forest.

[Number 284.

many of them still continuing the wooden benches as prefer-
able, notwithstanding their temporary character.

An excellent material for the bottom of benches is oak slabs
about one and a half inches thick, such as may be some-
times obtained from a sawmill from the outside cuts on
a log. Such lumber is, of course, in irregular sizes, but this
is no great objection for such a purpose, and a bench will
wear for several years without renewal. The soH for replant-
ing is usually composed of decayed sod from pasture land and
it IS, therefore, a likely abode of the larvae of the June bug, a
dangerous enemy of young Roses, which must be watched
closely and promptly destroyed. It is a wise precaution to
examine all the soil carefully when putting it into the benches.

The young plants should not in any case beset out while dry,
and a good watering should be given them before they are
turned out of the pots, and then a moderate watering should
be added to settle the soil after they are planted. A very slight
shading on the glass over the young plants will encourage
them to start away, but the shading should be only temporary,
or too soft and sappy a growth will follow. All flower-buds
should be removed from the plants until such time as the
flowers are needed in the fall, and neat staking and tying is
essential to the good appearance of the Roses, the galvanized
wire system of support being generally accepted as the best
method.

Perfect cleanliness in the Rose-garden, whether indoors or
out, should always be insisted on, for with care in this respect
much trouble from both insects and fungi may be avoided ;
therefore all weeds, dead leaves and old flowers should be
promptly removed. The method once used by many large
trade-growers of growing certain varieties jn pots for winter
flowering may also serve in some amateur establishments in
which lack of space prevents the use of an entire house for
Rose-growing. This method, formerly used by many large
growers in the vicinity of New York for Cornelia Cook and
some other varieties, consisted in potting on young plants
through the spring and summer until they were finally put
into eight or ten-inch pots, and placed outdoors in the full sun-
shine, though plunged in a bed of ashes to prevent drying out.
These plants made abundant roots and not very great top-
growth, so that when they were brought into the houses as
soon as the nights became cool in the fall, they were in fine
condition to start into strong flowering growth, and under
careful treatment produced buds of remarkable quality.

In some houses space can be spared for one or two good
climbing Roses, and among these few are better than La-
marque and Mar^chal Niel, though both these fine old varie-
ties are croppers, and require a certain season of comparative
rest in order to produce the best results. The climbing sport
from Perle des Jardins is also a handsome grower, though
possibly gives fewer flowers in a year than Mar^chal Niel, but
It has the advantage of a stiff flower-stem. It is useless to try
to grow other Roses beneath a climber, owing to the excessive
shade, and it is therefore necessary to fill such space with some
shade-loving plants instead of the Roses.

Holmesbuix, Pa. IV. H. Taplitt.

Chrysanthemums.

'T'HESE will require considerable attention during the next
•»• two months, and what we do during this time will go
far toward determining whether the plants succeed or fail.
It is customary to discontinue stopping specimen plants by
the first of August. In order, however, to have neat, shapely
specimens, it will be necessary to take out the tips of several
strong shoots in some varieties, which would be sure to out-
grow the rest if left. Frequent syringings, on evenings of
bright days, generally have a beneficial effect in keeping the
surroundings cool. Tobacco water, with whale-oil soap and
white hellebore in mixture, helps to keep down troublesome
insects. Straggling shoots, liable to be broken by wind, should
be supported by a few stakes.

The plants should be fed as soon as we have evidence that
the soil is becoming exhausted, which is generally indicated by a
shortened harder growth. After a trial of many artificial
manures, I find none safer than Clay's Fertilizer. Manures,
such as guano, sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda,
should be used very cautiously, as their strength varies very
much, according to the different compounders. The injurious
effects of their indiscriminate use, even by practical gardeners,
so often occur, that amateurs had better rely on a less dan-
gerous article. Where drainings from a barnyard are not at
the command of the grower, well-pulverized' sheep-manure
can be used; it can be obtained from nearly all seedsmen.
It is an excellent fertilizer, and may be used mixed with equal

bulk of loam as a top-dressing, or at the rate of half a pound
to a gallon of water m liquid form. The best way to do this is
to put the manure in a porous bag, thus keeping the liquid
free and clear.

Plants for specimen blooms are nicely started and will make
rapid growth. What is known as the July bud, but really a
premature crown, is showing now and should be taken out.
In place of this, allow one of the best side-shoots to lead. This,
in time, will, in all probability, produce a second crown early
in August (or later, depending upon the time the first bud
showed), which is the best bud for Domination, Mademoiselle
Lacroix and Rohallion, and almost all early varieties. With the
exception of very early varieties, all buds appearing before
the tenth of August should be taken out. The great majority
of these so treated after the first of August will give only
" terminals," which are really the best and surest buds to take,
especially for commercial purposes.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Micromeria rupestris, now in flower, is a very attractive her-
baceous plant or sub-shrub. Several of the Micromerias are
capital plants for the rockery, but M. rupestris seems to be
the most satisfactory of the family. It is perfectly hardy, and
forms a dense low-growing plant, with numerous prostrate
stems, which at this season are furnished with small leaves in
whorls, having a Mint-like fragrance, and with a flavor identical
with that of Pennyroyal. The numerous small flowers are
white, with lavender spots on the inner side of the petals, and
are borne from the axils of the leaves. When in bloom the
plant, at a casual glance, has a Heath-like effect, as the flowers
are produced for several inches along the stems after they
have turned upward and assumed an erect position. Either
for the rockery or the border of the less formal part of the
garden, it is a distinct and pleasing plant. It is readily propa-
gated from cuttings and from seeds, and continues to bloom
until autumn. Some seeds which I had from H. Corre-
von, of Geneva, gave me flowering plants the first season.
Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Pansies and Forget-me-nots. — Seed of these plants for flow-
ering next spring should be sown now. Choose a rather shady
spot ; make the soil moderately firm ; scatter the seeds on the
surface and rake them in. This is all the covering they need.
Too often they are covered too deeply. Keep well-watered
with a rather fine sprayer. When large enough, transplant
into nursery-beds, about five inches apart each way. Protect
during winter winter with light litter. Where Pine-needles can
be obtained there is nothing better.

Wellesley, Mass. 1. D. U.

Correspondence.
Arbor Day.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — When Arbor Day was instituted the persons who had
to prepare the programme or order of exercises for its observ-
ance in our country-towns hardly knew what material to use.
It was a new thing and they did the best they could, with no
precedents to guide them. Having once been arranged and
adopted, these forms are usually pretty closely followed, and
we have in most cases much music, declamation and oratory,
but very little of anything that can add to the popular interest
or knowledge regarding trees or forests, or their functions and
value. In many cases these subjects do not come in at all,
except, perhaps, by the declamation of Morris' verses, "Wood-
man, spare that tree," or something no more substantial. The
orators often vaunt our national resources, our forests with the
rest, in such a way as to make, distinctly, the impression that
these are inexhaustible, and that no care of them is necessary.
Last year and this, in several states, some of the Arbor Day
speakers have assailed those who are interested in promoting
rational methods of treatment for our forest-resources, de-
nouncing them as "sentimental enthusiasts," and have thus
used the opportunities of the day to oppose the very objects
for which it was instituted.

It would be a most fit and influential means of promoting
the better observance of the day, and of popular education re-
garding important public interests, if we could have some kind
of plain and vital statement of the objects and purposes for
which the day was instituted, and which should be recognized
and understood by those who take part in its observance.
Here in New England we greatly need a kind of "liturgy" or
"ritual" for the day's celebration. We have far too much
oratory and too little practical or intelligent instruction. The

August 2, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

329

oratory and the music crowd out the tree-planting to a great
extent, and most of tlie trees planted receive little care and are
usually dead when the next Arbor Day comes around. When
there is to be a crowd at the celebration the trees should be
planted at some other time. A man can plant a tree so that a
few school-children can see and learn how it should be done,
and so that they can plant one themselves, but no man is apt
to plant a tree properly when two or three hundred people are
watching him in impatience for the introduction of more sen-
sational features of the programme. When we consider the
careful and unhurried manner in which a tree should be
planted, it is obvious that music and oratory are hardly more
appropriate accompaniments for the work than they would be
in that of milking a cow.

Perhaps, as Mr. Morton, our Secretary of Agriculture, is the
foimder of Arbor Day, he could prepare and send out from his
Department an appropriate popular statement which could be
read, either in whole or in part, as a feature of the proceedings
at every celebration of the day. But we should also have
something arranged as a responsive reading, so that the audi-
ence could participate directly, as people are educated in far
greater degree by what they do themselves than by what others
say in addressing them. It might be appropriate to consider
the matter at the forestry meeting at Chicago in October, and
in the mean time any suggestions or discussion by the press
relating to the subject would be distinctly helpful.
Franklin Falls, N. H. 7. £. Harrison.

Bulbs in the South.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Referring to Mr. Endicott's letter (page 288), I would
say that I have now in bloom here, as a means of comparison,
northern-grown bulbs of the Pearl Tuberose. The stalks have
about the same average height, are slightly stouter than the
scapes from North Carolina-grown bulbs, but the flowers are
by no means as numerous or as large as ours. In fact, they
are quite insignificant in comparison. The bulbs of Lilium
candidum, now thoroughly ripe here, are certainly in better
condition to make their autumn leaves, preparatory to winter
forcing, than those brought in in autumn from Europe. A
grower who is intimately acquainted with bulb-culture here
and in Holland assures me that he knows from experience
that land in North Carolina, which can be bought for less than
five dollars per acre, will grow bulbs equal to land in Holland,
which costs $3,000 per acre. With an abundance of cheap
labor and cheap land, and a climate superior to that of Hol-
land, there is no reason why we should not grow bulbs as
cheaply as they are produced there. One of our northern im-
porters had an invoice of 100,000 bulbs of L. candidum from
Europe which were too worthless to sell. He sent them to
North Carolina and grew them one season, and on their return
to New York they were superior to any foreign bulbs ever
seen there. In the neighborhood of the spot where these
Lilies were grown, thousands of acres of forest-lands of the
same sort can be bought for three dollars an acre.

Narcissus Tazetta and N. Polyanthus sometimes get hurt
here in a winter like the last, when they are planted too early
and start into growth in fall. Some we planted last fall were
hurt badly by the cold weather in January. Others planted
late in January grew finely and made superb bulbs. Doubt-
less, some of these bulbs can be grown well in Massachusetts,
but when a more sunny climate enables the grower to pro-
duce better bulbs in a year's less time, Massachusetts will not
be a dangerous competitor. Growers are continually finding
fresh adaptations in various soils and climates for the best pro-
duction of different plants, and whenever any location demon-
strates its superiority for a certain plant, there is where the
cultivation of that plant will eventually be carried on, whether
it be Massachusetts or North Carolina or Texas. The keen
competition among dealers for the best products will soon
build up culture in those places best adapted to any article in
demand.

The capacity of eastern North Carolina for bulb-culture has
already attracted the attention of the Holland growers, and a
wealthy bulb-grower is now expected here to make a personal
examination. If he concludes he can grow the bulbs here at
a greater profit than in Holland or New England, no motives
of patriotism will stand in the way. The Roman Hyacinth
certainly attains a size of bulb and profusion of spikes here
that I have never seen in bulbs from elsewhere, and I have
been handling them for many years. I have cut flowers from
the same bulbs here from middle December until the middle
of March.
Raleigh, N. c. W. F. Massey.

The Columbian Exposition.

The German Wine Building.

CTANDING in the south court of the Horticultural Building
•-^ is a structure covering 2,000 square metres, which is given
over wholly to an exhibit of German wines, but which is un-
observed by the great body of Exposition visitors, yet this little
building is one ot the gems of the Fair. It is built in the form
of a cloister-cellar, and, even with the exhibitive features in-
troduced into its architectural composition, it is still as retired
and quiet in general feeling as the cloisters which it repre-
sents. The interior space is occupied with tables and stands
of wine in bottles, the combined exhibition of 289 growers and
dealers of the German Empire. The arrangement of the bot-
tles is effective because very simple. There is no elfort, as
there is in some other exhibits, to obscure the monotony of
the display by mere decorative or striking designs. One or
two bottles of the different brands made by the various exhib-
itors are shown upon circular racks. There is no wine exhibit
in the Exposition, it is said, which contains so much variety in
actual brands and number of exhibitors as this "Deutsche
Wein Austellung."

To the general public, however, the merit of this unique
building lies in the remarkable panoramas which lie beyond
its eastern and southern walls. Upon these sides the building
is opened between pillars, and some of the most striking of
the German wine regions are thrown upon canvases beyond.
One looks out, as from a porch, upon landscapes of remarka-
ble picturesquen^s, and the effect is greatly heightened by
plantations of Grape-vines in the foreground. These Grape-
vines are the actual plants brought from the neighborhoods
represented on the canvas, and set in earth as they customarily
grow. Of course, the Vines are not living, but they have been
so dexterously clothed with artificial leaves and fruit that they
represent the growing and bearing Vine almost perfectly. As
each of the panoramas represents a distinct wine district, so
the Vines in each foreground show the exact method of train-
ing in those districts ; and the artificial fruits represent the
varieties grown there. 'There are probably no panoramas in
the Exposition which are more perfect in their way than these
in the German Wine Building.

The first panorama, as one enters the building from the
main entrance at the north, is a view of the Rhine from Nie-
derwald. The canvas is twenty-four feet high by thirty-six feet
long, and it represents a radius of eighteen miles. The paint-
ing is by Herwarth and Rummelspacher, Berlin. The canvas
shows the Rhine at the junction of the Nahe, with Bingen and
Rudesheim drawn in detail. At the left is the famous castle
of Rheinstein, and in an island in the river is the Mouse Tower,
both conspicuous objects to all tourists of the Rhine. The
canvas is remarkable for its panoramic features. The vines
which stand in the foreground of this remarkable landscape
stand about three by two feet asunder, and are trained to sin-
gle light stakes some five feet high. Two or three arms arise
from near the root and are tied straight up along the stakes.
The Grape chiefly grown here is the white Riesling. The sec-
ond panorama is the same size as the first and is made by the
same artists. It represents three widely separated regions,
although the landscapes have been selected with reference to
effective combination upon the same canvas. At either side
are views from the Mosel — Trarbach and Traben at the left
and Trier at the right — and between them is the vale of Neu-
stadt an der Haardt. At Trarbach and Traben the vines are
trained to stakes, five or six canes arising from the surface
and disposed in loops upon the stakes, a common method in
European vineyards. At this place the Riesling is the chief
wine-grape. At Neustadt the vines are trained on low trellises
of one or two wires, the system being very like that known in
western New York as the High Renewal. Two main arms or
heads arise from near the surface of the ground, from each of
which two or three canes are carried out upon the wires. At
this point the chief wine-grapes are Riesling, Sylvaner, Trami-
ner and Portugieser. The Fleisch Trauben, which is our
Black Hamburg, is grown, but not for wine.

The third panorama, painted by Von Freudemann, Richter
and Lefensdorf, Berlin, shows the Neckarthal — or Neckar val-
ley— from Esslingen to Cannstadt. This is a part of the Al-
sace-Lorraine region, noted for its mild wines. Here the
vines are grown to three main arms, trained to as many stakes,
which stand about two feet apart, with a space of two and a
half feet between the rows. The arms are bent inward at
the top in hoop fashion. The wine-grapes of this region are
the Riesling, Sylvaner, Limberger and Trollinger. The last is
said to be identical with Black Hamburg, but it is here used

330

Garden and Forest.

[Number 284.

for wine-making. Rappoltsweiler, in Alsace, is the subject of
the next canvas, by the same artists. It is one of the boldest
of the lot, although small, for the great crag and castle of Rap-
poltstein stand in the foreground. In the distance can be seen
Strassburg and the cathedral. Chasselas, Guteder, Riesling,
Ortlieber and Black Burgunder are the wine-grapes of this par-
ticular region. The vines are trained to stakes six or seven
feet high, the arms being three, with the tops recurved in-
ward like a hoop. The fifth and last panorama is a scene in
Baden, at MiiUheim. Here the vines, trained to two or three
arms, are tied nearly straight up to short stakes. At this place
the leading wine varieties are Krachgutedel, Riesling, Sylva-
ner and Black Burgunder. Aside from these striking pano-
ramas, the building contains large fresco maps of the wine
regions of the Rhine and Mosel and of Alsace-Lorraine.

The expenses attending the construction of the building
and exhibit were divided between exhibitors and the German
Government, the latter contributing 25,000 marks. The gene-
ral charge of the German wine interest at the Exposition is in the
hands of Commissioner H. W. Dahlen, a resident of Geisenheim
on the Rhine. The exhibit is one of the most unique and val-
uable upon the Fair grounds, and it is a pity that so few peo-
ple see it. The panoramas may be likened to inclosed porches.
The observer stands in the window and looks outward. The
canvas incloses the far side of the porch, while the planted
vines occupy the floor. The roof, which is obscured by pro-
jecting eaves of vines, is glass, and all the changing shadows
of the sky are reflected upon the canvas, giving it the varying
expressions of life. , ,r r, •,

Chicago, III , L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

Mr. E. S. Carman finds Mott's Excelsior the best of the early
dwarf wrinkled peas, and far ahead of Little Gem and Ameri-
can Wonder. Heroine, as an intermediate and a late pea, he
considers the best for home use. The vines are prolific, the
pods are large, the seeds are large and of choice quality.

The next meeting of the Australasian Association for the
Advancement of Science will be held in Adelaide, South Aus-
tralia, in the week commencing September 25th. The asso-
ciation, which is now five years old, numbers nearly one
thousand members, and the proceedings are of unusual inter-
est. To naturalists this season of the year is especially
attractive in south Australia, when the spring is just merging
into summer, and visitors will find the months of October and
November delightful.

Professor Massey, of the North Carolina Experiment Station,
writes that he can see no reason why the cultivation of vege-
tables under glass should not be profitable in the southern
states at points where quick transportation northward is possi-
ble. If Boston growers can force Cucumbers at a profit by
using double sashes and heavy coal hills, why could not this
be done better still in North Carolina, with cheaper houses
and half the expense for fuel ? If Lettuce is grown at a profit
with fire-heat, and sent from Boston to Washington, why
should not a man in North Carolina grow it at a profit when he
can raise equally good Lettuce in a simple cold frame ?

Last week the tall panicles of Yucca filamentosa were very
beautiful, especially in the light of the moon, when the flowers
of this plant always show at their best. In sunlight the tints of
green and yellow in the flowers detract somewhat from their
appearance, but in the moonlight they are pure white, and
there are few objects in the flower-garden at this season that
are more beautiful than these stately masses of bell-shaped
flowers when relieved against a background of dark green
foliage, and especially of conifers. After the flowers are done
blooming, the stalk, and, indeed, the whole crown of rigid
leaves, from the centre of which it starts, should be cut away,
so that the side-shoots which have started may become strong
enough to bear a flowering-stalk next year.

Very attractive is a lone row of Nasturfiums, whether of the
large variety or the smaller, Tropaeolum Lobbianum. Among
a lot of named varieties in the trial-garden of Peter Henderson
& Co. we noted lately as quite distinct: Prince Bismarck,
which bears profusely, commencing when it is quite a small
plant, flowers of an orange- scarlet ; ASa Gray, flowers cream-
colored, with dark crimson spots ; Lilli Schmidt, light scarlet;
Napoleon III., clear yellow ; Roi de NoirS, dark crimson.
Among the large varieties. King Theodore has a very dark
flower; Hemisphericum is a light straw color; Scheurianum
is cream-colored, with scarlet blotches. The varieties with
dark-colored foliage, like Schultzii, are invariably less vigorous
growers than those with leaves of clear green.

Cherries, from California, seem as beautiful and abundant
as they were two months ago. The varieties, Royal Anne and
Black Republican, are the popular favorites. Congress pears
are coming from the same state and cost a little more than
the Bartletts and Howells. Crawfords and Hale's Early are the
principal varieties of peaches which are now coming from the
Pacific coast. Plums are still abundant and cheap. From the
southern states Le Conte pears are coming of rather lower
than ordinary quality. Peaches from the far southern points
are becoming rare, and those from Maryland and Delaware
are taking their places, and are of fair quality for early varie-
ties. Raspberries are practically out of the market. Astra-
chan and Sweet Bough apples are $1.75 a barrel. Pocono
Mountain huckleberries are twelve cents a quart. Good goose-
berries are worth $2 a bushel. Florida continues to send Del-
aware grapes and some choice Grape-fruit.

A very effective machine for watering lawns and gardens,
where a hose under considerable pressure can be used, is the
one known as Hoyt's Lawn Sprinkler, manufactured at St.
Claire, Minnesota. The nozzle of the hose in this implement
can be set at any angle, and then a small overshot-wheel keeps
slowly revolving, and in this way turns the nozzle around in a
horizontal circle. If the water is directed in a single stream
this will water a space in the form of a ring, and as the machine
can be made to revolve as slowly as need be, this circular strip
can be watered thoroughly at one revolution, or the water can
be applied as many times as needed. The nozzle can then be
lifted so as to water a ring inside of this, and so on in concen-
tric circles until the whole area of the large circle is thoroughly
wet. There is also an arrangement for breaking the water into
spray by which the machine can be set and left for a longtime
to sprinkle the whole area of the circle evenly. Besides doing
good work, it is an interesting little piece of mechanism which
every one will stop to notice when he first sees it.

Mr. W. F. Bassett, of Hammonton, New Jersey, sends us
several plants of Euphorbia Ipecacuanhas to show the great
diversity of form and color in the foliage. Some of the leaves
are of an exceptionally bright crimson, and some deep maroon,
while there are intermediate gradations of every shade between
these colors and plain green, while in form the leaves of the same
plant vary from linear to nearly round. Mr. Bassett writes
tliat the plants vary to a marked degree in habit, and he ob-
serves that those which have large and broad leaves have a
tendency to a rounded and almost hemispherical outline, often
as regular as if they had been repeatedly sheared, while those
with narrow foliage vary more in habit, and often assume
open and irregular forms. The plant is most abundant in
sandy places, where little other vegetation interferes with its
chance to display its individual character, and Mr. Bassett
suggests that some forms of it have decided claims to beauty,
and in certain places it might be used to good effect in land-
scape-work. Its roots are thick and brittle, extending
deeply into the ground. There is little doubt but that it
would grow from pieces of the root just as Euphorbia coroUata
does.

In an enumeration of the valuable new plants which Herr
Spiith is ready to send out from his nurseries at Rixdorf, near
Berlin, we notice descriptions of Crataegus rivularis and C. apii-
folia, and of Ilex decidua, all originally obtained from the
Arnold Arboretum. With regard to Populus Euphralica
Oliv. the writer says: "Examples obtained through the late
Herr Laucher from Turkestan in the year 1881, unfortunately
perished. But through the kindness of General Korolkow,
I am now enabled again to introduce this tree, as remarkable
historically as it is botanically. Turkestan was likewise the
home of this new importation, so we have reason to expect
that it will permanently establish itself in our gardens, for one
specimen of the former importation survived our winters un-
hurt in a sheltered corner of the Horticultural School at Pots-
dam and perished only a few years ago from some unknown
cause. According to recent investigations this Poplar is the
' Arab ' of the Bible, the so-called Willow upon which the ex-
iled children of Israel hung up their harps, and which was
formerly supposed to be Salix Babylonica, our well-known
Weeping Willow. Its interest for the botanist resides in the
surprising differences exhibited by its foliage. One might call
it a Willow-leaved Poplar if he considered only the narrow
gray-green leaves of the young plants. But these show only
one extreme of the marvelously changing series of forms
which reaches at the other extreme, the broad kidney-shape
characteristic of the leaves of Cercis. As regards soil this tree
makes the most modest possible demands. In its home it in-
habits dry sandy steppes, while, according to some observers,
it also delights in the vicinity of water."

August 9, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

331

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO,

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

entered as second-class matter at the post office at new YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST g, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Editorial Articles :— The Design of Central Park 3^i

The Height of Ignominy 332

Botanical Notes from Texas. — X E, N. Plank. 332

Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter W. iVatstm. 333

New or Little-known Plants; — Iris Caroliniana. (With figure.) 334

A New Hybrid Rose. (With figure.) 334

Cultural Department ; — The Best of the New Strawberries L. R, Ta/t. 334

Two Unappreciated Fruits Fred. W. Card, 336

Orchid Notes, W. 336

Garden Notes T.D.H. 337

Grasses J. N. Gerard, 338

Correspondence : — ^The Russian and other Apricots Professor L, H, Bailey, 338

A Twin Tree Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 339

Recent Publications 339

Notes 340

Illustrations: — Iris Caroliniana, Fig. 51 335

A Hybrid of Rosa Wichuraiana, Fig. 52 337

The Design of Central Park,

IN the course of a very good, though necessarily brief,
description of the Central Park in the recently published
Baedeker's Handbook of the United Stales it is stated that
this park differs from most English parks in substituting a
multiplicity of small picturesque scenes for broad expanses
of turf and simple groves of great trees. This is practically
true, but it ought not to be forgotten that the park has the
same pastoral charm of simple natural scenery which is
found in landscapes where the features are broader. When
the site was selected not the slightest attention was given
to its landscape possibilities, and the fact seemed only to
be considered that it was in the centre of the island and
that the ground was so broken and intractable that it would
cost as much to construct streets throughout it on the
established rectangular system as it would to transform it
into a pleasure-ground. South of the reservoir the surface
was so rugged and heterogeneous, traversed as it was
diagonally by ridges of outcropping gneiss, with marshy
hollows between them, that no opportunity for making any
spacious meadow-like expanse was offered. The upper
half of the park could be treated in a somewhat broader
way, as its natural features were larger, its slopes had a
grander sweep and its horizon lines were nobler.

The only landscape effects which could be produced
under these restrictions were such as could be controlled
between the boundaries of a long, narrow rocky terri-
tory with no prominent points commanding extensive
views. No doubt, if the same intelligent study could have
been applied to the selection of a site which was given
later to devising contrivances to remedy its defects, the
park could have been made still more satisfying. Never-
theless, it was the primary effort of the designers to make
as large open spaces as were practicable. Two considera-
ble stretches of greensward were secured in the lower part
at great expense by blasting out protruding rock and filling
the space with earth and mold. As it is, the green con-
tains but sixteen acres, and the ball-ground but ten acres.

although they both seem much larger. The rolling surface
of the green and its obscure borders, where the limits of
the grass are lost in the shady recesses among the trees,
through which glimpses of grassy slopes are seen at inter-
vals beyond, all suggest indefinite distances to the imagina-
tion. All the roads, too, are arranged so as to bring these
spaces into view several times from different points with
varying effect. Of course, there is a greater sense of en-
largement and freedom experienced in the north meadows,
but even here only nineteen acres of open space could pos-
sibly be secured.

These small picturesque scenes, therefore, were not used
because the designers considered them preferable to larger
expanses and simple groves, but because this was the only
possible method of treating the ground. They were so
used, however, as to produce the same effect upon the
imagination as broad pastoral scenes. The small spaces
are distributed through the park in such a way that they
carry forward and emphasize the softness and simplicity
of the meadow scenery. Even in the Ramble, which is
characterized by intricacy and picturesqueness, and where
there are places which have all the mysterious charm of a
natural wildwood, there are many little grassy openings
bordered with trees which repeat the meadows in a small
way and carry the idea of pastoral quiet throughout the
work. Indeed, the great value of Central Park is that it is
a work with unity of design and that it is consistent through-
out, and it still remains the best, as it was the first, exam-
ple of a public pleasure-ground designed to have the rest-
ful charm of simple natural scenery and yet completely
enclosed by a compactly built city.

Of course, in every instance the most is made of green-
sward, and any encroachment upon it by enlarging the
pathways or roadways, that is, by increasing the proportion
of gravel to grass, is in the line of defacement and ruin. In
order to reduce the walks to the narrowest possible limit,
so that these wide stretches of gravel should not weaken
and divide the essential features of the scenery, the roads
have been adjusted so as to withhold from people on foot
any inducement to cross the ground set apart for carriages.
The paths and drives are made to cross at different levels,
so that a visitor on foot can reach any point in the park
without stepping on a carriage-road. Indeed, the system
of arched passage-ways is a distinguishing feature of the
design of Central Park, These archways practically en-
large the verdurous elements of the park, because without
them the roads and paths would need to be much wider ;
and, as it is, the total area of graveled ways for riding, driv-
ing and walking amounts to more than io6 acres.

These considerations alone ought to condemn the project
which has lately been set on foot for making a new car-
riage-entrance in the southern side of the park at the head
of Seventh Avenue, The people who drive to the park in
carriages have ample facilities for entering at the begin-
ning of both the east and the west drives. The new road
proposed would cut through a hill at the outset, where
an excavation of at least ten feet deep would be required, and
before it united with the cross-drives many well-grown
trees and much beautiful shrubbery would be sacrificed, and
it would entirely change the character of the lower portion
of the park. As it is, visitors can step at once from the city
into sylvan scenery and walk through vales which now are
utterly secluded. The path-way which extends entirely
across the southern end of the park would be interrupted
by a constant stream of carriages, so that the principal
walk in that portion of the park would be ruined for
pedestrians. Another essential feature of the park is the
broad tree-shaded promenade on the north side of Fifty-
ninth Street, which extends in an unbroken stretch from
Eighth Avenue to Fifth Avenue, just outside of the park
boundary. This broad walk would entirely lose its char-
acter and value if a carriage-road were laid across it.

In the book mentioned at the beginning of this article it is
stated that the transformation of a tract of swamp and rock
into one of the most beautiful parks in the world is a strik-

332

Garden and Forest.

[Number 285.

iiig monument of American skill and perseverance. It is
more than that, it is a work of genius, and the more it is
studied the more we wonder at the prophetic power of the
designers in providing so far in advance for the wants of
a city, which only existed at that time in imagina-
tion. Whenever any radical change in this design is
proposed, the project should always be examined with
reference to its effect upon the fundamental character of the
work as a whole. It is just as truly a unit in conception as
if it consisted of a single broad meadow.

The Height of Ignominy.

IT was the custom in France, under the old regime, to pun-
ish contumacious noblemen who declined to come to judg-
ment by cutting their signorial forests (hois seigneuriaux) to
within three feet of the ground. This was called "La coupe des
bois a hauteur d'infamie," or " La coupe infamaute," and was
one of the punishments of treason. It was also inflicted as late
as 1665, in the reign of Louis XIV., upon certain men of note
who had incurred the royal displeasure by the contumacy of
declining to appear in court for their political offenses. These
gentlemen, though they were fortunate enough to save their
lives by escaping, did not get rid of fearful punishments by
decree, and were duly sentenced in their absence, some to the
gallows, others to breaking on the wheel, decapitation, whip-
ping with banishment, and banishment alone. As a final mark
of infamy, their chateaux were to be destroyed and their woods
cut k trois pieds de terre. Earlier in the century certain other
nobles, who had dared to repeat the offense of meeting to con-
sider the necessity of the assembling of the States General,
after it had been once forbidden, were condemned to the
same punishment for having fled the country rather than
to abide their fate at home.

In the generally barbarous condition of political government
under the Bourbon rule, it is gratifying to see, that in their
respect for the forest, the lawmakers of that epoch were civil-
ized and already perceived the dignity and importance of the
possession of trees. Even in dire vengeance it was only the
profit of the trees that was taken away from the guilty pos-
sessor, the roots being left to furnish another growth that
should be of value to a succeeding generation. To burn a
forest, as our reckless settlers do, would have seemed to those
prudent Frenchmen, always alive to the material interests of
the country, a woeful waste, and they contented themselves
accordingly with reaping only one harvest, not destroying
future crops completely, allowing thus the soil to retain those
forest-conditions, the value of which is so unwisely ignored
by our wood-cutters.

It might be of advantage to our people, if some equally
pregnant object-lesson couldbe furnished them, to make them
understand the true signification of the "height of ignominy."
What peasant of those cruel days could have failed to be im-

Eressed with the woe that had befallen the lawful lord when
is giant Oaks were despoiled, and only a dreary waste of
stumps was left to show where the great forest had stood, the
pride of its possessors, and an evidence of their generations
of ownership of the property ? To make the felling of a wood
a mark of disgrace was to enhance the value of all trees in
the eyes of the people, to emphasize the importance of the
forest and to point the moral of the worth to every one of this
bountiful gift of Nature. The coppice-growth springing from
the wreck would, for years to come, remind the older villagers
of the great trees that once occupied the ground, and would
serve to impress still more upon the children the sufferings of
the seigneur who had been so sternly dealt with by the king,
in the destruction of the bois under which their fathers and
mothers had played, and of the magnificence of which they
loved to tell. To destroy .those woods was to rob the country-
side, to inflict a vengeance that fell, not only on the lord, but
on the vassal, for whereas certain private spites of his own
might have found a certain satisfaction in the personal suffer-
ings of his master, the peasant could not but be moved by the
doom that took from himself his chance of fuel, sometimes
stealthily gained after a high wind, which strewed the ground
with broken branches, or his occupation as forester or char-
coal-burner in the glades. Thus the king found a signal
method of impressing the consequences of incurring his dis-
pleasure upon all his subjects, rich and poor alike, while
awakening in them a due respect for the forests, to cut which
was so awful a penalty that it followed treason and defiance of
lawful authority.

Botanical Notes from Texas. — X.

■DERBERIS SWASEYl, Buckley, was found, many years
■t-* ago, by the botanist whose name it bears, near Perdinalis
River. Its botanical characters, written by Buckley, were pub-
lished in Young's Botany of Texas. Since that time it has
been rarely, if at all, seen by botanists. While at San Marcos,
I learned, incidentally, that a species of Berberis was growing
in the northern part of Hays County, very unlike B. trifoliata.
A specimen of it, furnished me by a star-route man, led me to
think tliat it was Swasey's plant, and I concluded to visit the
locality and examine the growing plants. The mail man kindly
offered me a pass over the route in his hack, but he assured
me that it would be the roughest ride that I had ever taken,
and that I would have to pass through Purgatory on the way.
But what are fifteen miles of rocky road, and even Purgatory
itself, when a new plant, or an old lost one, is to be found ?

The day chosen for the trip was a pleasant one. Old familiar
plants were often to be seen along the way, and occasionally
a strange and hitherto unknown one presented itself. We
made one halt to leave the mail at Purgatory Post-office,
and one more to regale ourselves with the luscious ripe
dewberries that were abundant by the road-side. The road
was fully as bad as my friend had described it. But Purga-
tory was only a pleasant and fertile valley, among the sterile
hills, covered with fields of growing Corn and Cotton. A small
creek, that waters the valley, bears the same unmeaning
name, which had probably been given to the valley by some
pessimistic early settler, whose dreams of success had never
grown into realities. Just beyond the valley, on the slope of
the mountain, we found one Barberry. Two bushes were
growing in the enclosure of a farmer. He said that they were
natural productions and not planted by him. At the time of
my visit, during later days of April, the plants were bearing
nearly ripe fruit. One of the plants was a low bush, not rising
over three feet. The other one was at least six feet tall. An
individual, growing in the highway, was at least eight feet tall.
The plants, as seen by me, may be described about as follows :

Berberis Swaseyi, Buckley. An evergreen shrub, three to
eight or more feet tall ; leaflets, two to four, usually three
pairs, with a terminal one, basal pair very small, remote and
near the base of the petiole, glaucous and reticulate, sinuate-den-
tate and spiny; fruit in bracted racemes, globose or obconical,
deeply depressed, sunken at the summit, whitish, with a tinge
of red in the sun. Said to be common in the mountain-region
of central Texas, west of the ninety-eighth meridian. The truit
on one of the bushes varied a little in size and form from that
on the others, owing-, perhaps, to growing in the shade and
being less mature. Berries on the lowest plant were like those
on the tallest plant.

It will be seen that this description differs somewhat from
Buckley's, and from Coulter's description of B. Swaseyi. Per-
haps, neither Buckley nor Coulter ever saw growing plants of
the species. Swasey may have seen only a low form of if.
But it can hardly be other than his species. Perdinalis River
is thirty or forty miles north of the station that I have men-
tioned.

New Braunfels is a thriving German town, about thirty miles
north-east of San Antonio. It has a mountain-born river
of its own, though only about a mile long, from its birth-
place at the base of a mountain to where it loses itself in the
Gaudalupe. Comal River is a deep and rapid stream, afford-
ing strong and abundant water-power, which is largely utilized
for milling and manufacturing purposes. New Braunfels will
always be held in pleasant remembrance by botanists, as hav-
ing been, for a long time, the home of Jacob Ferdinand
Lindheimer, one of the most ardent and successful of our
plant-collectors. He was one of the founders of the city, and
found his last resting-place in its cemetery.

Lindheimer was born in the old free city of Frankfort, in
Germany, on the twenty-first day of May, 1801. His family is
ancient and honorable and related to the family of Goethe. He
received a liberal literary education, and practiced gymnastics
under the training of the celebrated Professor Jahn. In 1830
he joined in an uprising of the people against the government.
It being unsuccessful, he thought it prudent to leave the father-
land and come to a country where there is no need of rebel-
lions. His first residence was in St. Louis, where he made the
acquaintance, which developed into a life-long friendship, with
the late Dr. George Engelmann.

He went, in 1834, with a German colony to Mexico, but, not
pleased with the condition of affairs there, he came to Texas, and
joining the Texas republicans he assisted them at the decisive
battle of San Jacinto in making their attempt at independence
a successful one. At the close of the war he settled in Hous-

August 9, 1S93.]

Garden and Forest.

333

ton, where he began the botanical excursions and collections that
have forever linked his name with North American botany.
In 1844 he met Prince Carl Von Braunfels, leader and patron
of the first German colony to Texas, and founder of the city
which bears his name and commemorates his success in in-
troducing German industry and thrift into the young republic.
Lindheimer joined the colony and came to New Braunfels in

1845.

The infant colony flourished greatly. In 1852 Lindheimer
was elected editor of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, the first
established, and now the oldest, German newspaper in the state
of Texas. He resigned his position in 1871, and passed the
remaining years of his life quietly and pleasantly on his little
farm in the outskirts of the city, and near his beloved Guada-
lupe, along whose banks he had so often wandered, and the
plants of whose valley he had studied so carefully and so well.
He died on the second day of December, 1879.

Lindheimer was a brave man, almost an athlete in strength,
yet mild and gentle in his ways, and free and simple in his
habits and mode of living. During the prevalence of the
cholera in 1849 a German family came to New Braunfels, and
two of its members were taken with the disease. In their pov-
erty and distress, Lindheimer settled them on his own lot, and
cared for them with a brother's affection, at the cost, however,
of the lives of two of his own children and his own narrow
escape from death.

Lindheimer left little but what he had added to the world's
stock of knowledge and goodness, and his mortal remains lie
in an unmarked grave in the city cemetery, on the banks
of the Guadalupe. It is a pity that not even a stone marks
his grave. But many species of American plants bear his
name, and the monotypic genus, Lindheimera, will keep his
memory bright in the hearts of those who care to know that
such a man lived and labored for science. It is well that Lind-
heimera Texana grows abundantly around the home of its
discoverer.

The rather rare and local Schrankia platycarpa I first met at
New Braunfels. It may easily be recognized by its flattened
pods. I saw it later at San Antonio. The handsome little Gilia
rigidula grows commonly in rocky places throughout central
Texas. It is much more luxuriant here than farther north.

Sophora secundiflora is very abundant around San Antonio,
readily becoming a handsome small tree. An individual tree
near the river above the springs is at least thirty feet tall, and
nearly a foot in diameter. San Antonians call the species
Laurel. They have even named one of the beautiful suburbs
of their handsome city " Laurel Heights." A form of this spe-
cies is occasionally met with lighter-colored flowers and bright
orange seeds.

Nyctagineus capitatus begins to appear at San Antonio. Its
clusters of large bright scarlet flowers, with long exserted sta-
mens, are very handsome to the eye, but their odor is disgust-
ing. Many eastern species of plants that have ventured as far
soiith-west as San Antonio, do not seem to care to go farther
in that direction. I have not seen Callicarpa Americana,
Sophora affinis, Passittora incarnata and several others west of
the San Antonio valley.

Kansas City, Kansas. E. N. Plank.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
Polygonum Sachalinense. — This plant has lately been
brought into prominent notice by several English journals
which recommend it as a good fodder-plant of exceptional
value in dry seasons in temperate countries. Inquiries
from correspondents interested in fodder-plants have also
reached Kew with regard to this Polygonum. It is a coarse-
growing herbaceous perennial, which we use as a lawn
specimen, and also in the wild garden, where, in the
poorest soil, impoverished, too, by the roots of large trees,
it produces annual succulent shoots eight feet long, clothed
with green ovate leares a foot or so long. The root-stock
spreads rapidly by means of horizontal stems or rhizomes,
which grow very quickly in the manner of some of the
Bamboos. No plant could be more easily grown, and as
every bit of its root-stock will soon grow into a new plant
it is as easily multiplied as the weediest of "knot-grasses."
Should it prove of real value as a fodder-plant, its recom-
mendation to farmers and others cannot be too warmly
endorsed, but in the event of its proving of no economic
value its extensive propagation would be regretted. In a

communication to the Gardeners' Chronicle, by the well-
known French horticulturist, Monsieur Charles Baltet,
whose book, on the art of grafting and budding, is known
to every gardener, this Polygonum is recommended as a
fodder-plant in consequence of experiments made by Mon-
sieur Doumet-Adanson, communicated to the Soci^te Na-
tionale d'Agriculture of France, by Monsieur Duchartre.
The stems are cut when they are three or four feet high,
and again the same year, should they be strong enough,
while well-established stools are said to give three or four
crops a year. An acre is said to yield from ninety-five to
one hundred and ninety tons (per annum.?). Monsieur
Doumet-Adanson says that cattle are extremely fond of it.
The plant is a native of the island ofSaghalin, between Japan
and Siberia, whereit was discovered by Maximo wicz and in-
troduced into Moscow, and from thence into France in 1869
by Monsieur Ed. Andre. Buckwheat, Polygonum Fago-
pyrum, the staple food of the inhabitants of. central Asia,
is also said to be a native of the same part of the world.
I know that pigs will greedily eat the stems of several of
the Polygonums found wild in Britain.

DoRYANTHEs GuiLFOYLEi. — Under this name a plant which
flowered in the Botanical Garden at Melbourne, is figured
and described by Mr. Guilfoyle in The Garden for July 2 2d.
Hitherto we have known only two species of Doryanthes,
D. Palmeri, figured in the Botanical Magazine, t. 6665, from
a plant flowered at Kew in 1882, and D. excelsa, figured in
the Botanical Magazine, t. 1685, and first flowered in Eng-
land eighty years ago. According to Mr. Guilfoyle, how-
ever, two other species have been found ; he says : ' ' There
are now four species of Doryanthes known, namely : D.
excelsa, the well-known Spear Lily of New South Wales,
D. Palmeri, D. Larkini and this new one which has just
been named D. Guilfoylei by the Government Botanist of
Queensland, Mr. F. M. Bailey, F. L. S. . . . D. Palmeri was
hitherto considered to be the most gigantic and showy
Amaryllid discovered in Australia, but it is eclipsed in size
and beauty by this later discovery. The leaves are nine
feet long, over eight inches wide and of a brilliant green.
From the base of the flower-stalk (which is fifteen inches in
circumference) to the apex of the inflorescence is sixteen
feet two inches. Of this seven feet eight inches is a com-
pound spike of rich crimson Amaryllis-like flowers, each
four inches in length. The plant was discovered by a
brother of mine in the Upper Bardekin Ranges, North
Queensland." In my opinion this plant may be described
as a large variety of D. Palmeri. The Doryanthes are ex-
ceedingly handsome foliage-plants, not unlike some of the
the Furcroeas, their long strap-shaped, glossy green elegant
leaves forming a magnificent rosette, which is at least as
ornamental as the finest of the Agaves. They are nearly,
if not quite, as hardy as A. Americana, and would, there-
fore, be of exceptional value in countries where they can be
grown permanently outside. At Kew they are grown in
the Winter Garden. The late Duke of Marlborough had
several grand specimens, which were placed outside on the
lawns at Blenheim in summer. I cannot distinguish D.
excelsa from D. Palmeri when not in flower. The former
has a pole-like flower-stem twenty feet long, bearing a ter-
minal head of red flowers and bracts ; the latter has a stem
about fifteen feet long, the upper five feet being a thyrsoid
panicle of crimson flowers. Both species die after flowering,
and they produce a large number of bulbillae after or along
with the flowers, as in Furcroea.

Calandrinia umbellata is well known in England as a
charming little summer-flowering perennial for the rock-
garden ; it is also treated as an annual, the seeds being
sown in pots or in the border in autumn or in February to
flower in the summer following. This year we have grown
a number of it in pots, and they are now a great attraction
in the small house devoted to alpine plants. Each plant is
in a four-inch pot, and forms a compact little specimen six
inches high and about a foot through, and bears ten or fif-
teen compound umbels of bell-shaped erect flowers half an
inch across, and colored brilliant magenta. No plant could

334

Garden and Forest.

[Number 285.

be more charming. It is a native of Chili. The Californian
white-flowered C. oppositifolia is also an effective little pot-
plant C. discolor and C. grandiflora are among our
choicest summer-flowering annuals.

Primula Poissoni. — This beautiful Chinese Primrose con-
tinues to give satisfaction as a pot-plant for the cool green-
house. It is flowering freely now in several houses at
Kew, its erect spikes with whorls of flowers like P. Ja-
ponica, colored bright magenta or rosy purple, with a yel-
low eye, being particularly pretty and effective when
grouped with such plants as Asparagus plumosus and
Primula floribunda. Out-of-doors P. Poissoni does not
flower freely, and the leaves are disposed to decay, possi-
bly through excessive sun-heat or scalding. Most of the
species of Primula prefer a shaded and moist situation,
particularly those which flower in summer. I never saw
anything more striking in the way of a Primula than a large
bed of P. Sikkimensis on a north-west border under a tall
wall in the Botanical Gardens of Trinity College, Dublin.
The scapes were from two to three feet high, and each one
bore a cluster of from forty to si.xty soft yellow fragrant
flowers. P. Japonica, growing near it, was equally happy.

Caladium venosum. — This is a new species which has
been introduced from Brazil, and described in the Gardeners'
Chronicle by Mr. N. E. Brown. It has leaf-stalks ten inches
long, pale green, with black dots and lines, and leaf-blades
elongate, ovate-deltoid, ten inches long by four inches
wide, with the nerves prominent on the lower surface ;
upper surface dark green, with yellowish green irregular
lines along the nerves and a narrow marginal line of red.
Spathe three inches long, green, with a basal blotch of red,
and a white limb.

Caladium rubescens is a second species from the same
source. It has leaf-stalks six inches long, blackish and
finely striated ; the leaf-blade is ovate-lanceolate, six inches
long and two inches wide, scarcely cordate at the base, the
color deep shining crimson, with a green border. Spathe
three inches long, glaucous green, with a black stripe;
limb two inches long, acuminate, milk-white in color. The
former of these two is not unlike the old C. maculatum or
bicolor, the latter resembling C. Schmidtii. Mr. Brown
says it is a long time since anything so decidedly different
from the ordinary form of Caladium has been introduced,
and recommends them as being "likely to produce by
hybridization a new race of garden Caladiums."

London. W. WatSOn.

New or Little-known Plants.
Iris Caroliniana.

THIS species was discovered by W. A. Manda near
Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1888, and first flow-
ered in cultivation at the Harvard Botanic Garden, when it
was described by the late Sereno Watson.* Closely allied
botanically to Iris versicolor, I. Caroliniana is quite distinct
from a horticultural point of view. Every one in the east-
em states is familiar with the common Flag, I. versicolor,
with its stiff, erect, somewhat glaucous leaves and small light
purple flowers. I. Caroliniana is an entirely different gar-
den-plant— vigorous, but with somewhat shorter sword-
shaped leaves, which are lax, thin, shining green on one

• iris Caroliniana, Watson, Grays Afariuai, 6th ed., 514; Prx. Am. Acad., xiv., 134.
Root-rtock rather stout ; leaves elongated, three feet long by twelve to fifteen lines
broad, thin and lax, bright fi^reen, not elaucoua, or scarcely at all so ; stem slender,
two feet hijfh : peduncles two-flowered ; bracts scarious, exceeding the pedicels ;
ovary eight lines long, bearing a cylindric-campanulate tube six lines lone; petals
distinct at base, the outer three inches long, broadly spreading. with a yellowish green
Haw veined with brown, the elliptical blade lilac, veined with purple and with a vellow
spot reaching to the centre ; inner petals oblong-spatulate, two and a half Inches
long, the btaae lilac and claw yellowish ; anthers as long as filaments : wing of the
stigma continuous with the eroscly toothed lilac crest ; capsule nearly two inches
long, oblong, somewhat triangular, with very rounded angles ; seeds In one row in
each cell, very large (four i>r five lines broad and two lines thick), pale brown.
Resembling in some respects I. versicolor of the northern states, as it has been gen.
erally uoderstood, which doubtless also includes the I. Virginica of Linnaeus as
repreaenled by the original Gronovlan specimen preserved in the herbarium of the
British Museum. That species differs most notably in its erect glaucous and often
much shorter leaves, and its very much smaller seeds in two rows in each cell.
There are also less obvious differences in the coloring and shape of the smaller
flowers. It Taries to a considerable degree, especially in size, but in its main
characters it appears 10 be constant and well defined.

surface, and somewhat glaucous on reverse. The young
foliage is at tirst suffused brown, but this coloring disap-
pears as it matures, except at the base. The flower-stems
are about as long as the leaves, and give a distinction to the
plant as they are colored a dark glistening brown, which
also extends over the long, thin, almond-shaped flower-
buds. The flowers are of a good size and attractive in
shape, as will be seen in the illustration on page 335 of this
issue, from a drawing made by Mr. Faxon of a plant which
flowered this year in the Harvard Botanical Garden. In
color they are light lavender, with a yellow keel. Iris
Caroliniana is a very satisfactory garden-plant, increasing
rapidly and flowering freely.

A New Hybrid Rose.

IN the year 1891 Mr. Jackson Dawson fertilized a flower
of Rosa Wichuraiana with pollen of General Jacquemi-
not, and in December he planted four seeds which resulted
from this cross. The seedlings appeared in January, 1892,
were grown in pots during the summer and wintered in a
cold pit. All bloomed in June of this year, which is rather
remarkable, since few seedling Roses bloom before the
second or third year. These plants differ materially, al-
though they all show to some degree the trailing habit of
the seed parent. One of them has single pale pink flowers,
borne in clusters, and is intermediate in habit between the
two parents. Another one bore double flowers of a pale
flesh color, which did not open well, owing to damp
weather. The third one has a prostrate habit, with rosy
pink flowers borne in clusters of four or five from every
joint of its last year's wood. It received a first-class cer-
tificate from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society at its
Rose Show in June. The fourth plant, of which an illus-
tration will be found on page 337, is not as prostrate in
habit as Rosa Wichuraiana, and its broader leaves have a
glossy surface. The solitary flowers are very double, and
in shape and color resemble those of Souvenir de la Mal-
maison, although they are smaller. The plant continues
in bloom a long time and promises to be very useful.

Cultural Department.

The Best of the New Strawberries.

OUR present list of standard varieties is largely made up of
kinds introduced from five to eight years since, and as
many of these show signs of failing already, it is time to seek
out new sorts to take their places. The necessity is evident
from the fact that, of the varieties in cultivation ten or fifteen
years since, hardly one is now generally grown. During the
past five years originators of new Strawberries have brought
out few that are worthy of being grown, for, although many of
them have proved of value, few of the thousands produced,
or of the hundreds placed on the market, have proved worthy
of general planting. There is a more encouraging look for
some of the recent introductions, however, and for a number
of seedlings that are still in the originators' hands.

The following are the most promising of some eighty new
kinds planted in the spring of 1892. Statements as to the value
of each are based upon comparisons made with nearly one
hundred other varieties, including all of the standard sorts,
grown in adjacent rows under similar treatment. Several varie-
ties, otherwise very promising, were badly injured by leaf-
blight, but, as our experiments have shown, this can be kept
in check by the proper use of Bordeaux mixture.

In most cases a trial of only one season, and that a very
favorable one, has been made. The early varieties deemed
worthy of trial number ten and include such as ripen with
Haverland or earlier.

.\fton (received from C. W. Graham, Afton, New York). —
While the plants are only moderately strong, they set a large
amount of fruit, and gave a satisfactory crop, although the
berries were rather small at the close of the season. The first
fruits were gathered June 19th, and the plants remained in
bearing until July loth, or as late as any sort. Berries of medium
size, roundish conical in form and of a deep crimson color.
The flesh is very dark, of good quality and firm enough for a
local market berry. One of the most producfive of the early
kinds.

August 9, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

335

Clark's Early (W. F. Allen, Salisbury, Maryland).— The enough, its shipping qualities will make_^it 'desirable as a
same in season as Afton, which it resembles in color. It is, market sort. "^

however, rather more rounded in form and has a more up- Fairmount.— First fruit July 19th ; plant very strong and

free from rust. The berries are me-
dium to large ; conical, flattened and
depressed at the tip, often ridged. The
fruit is very dark crimson in color and
the flesh is also quite dark. Quite pro-
ductive, of good quality and fairly firm.

Feight's No. 2 (David Feight, Little
York, Ohio).— Ripens with Crescent
(July 17th). The plants were strong
and free from disease. Berries medi-
um to large in size, round or slightly
depressed at tip, and crimson in color,
with dark flesh. It was very produc-
tive of berries of excellent quality, and
of sufficient firmness to make it valu-
able for shipping.

Leroy (J. H. Haynes, Delphi, Indi-
ana).— The plants were very strong,
but were slightly injured by leaf-blight.
Ripe July 18th ; berries of good size,
conical, slightly flattened and depressed
at the tip ; berry and flesh dark. Plants
quite productive and of good quality,
but not sufficiently firm to make it
valuable as a shipping sort.

Pawnee (Stay man & Black, Leaven-
worth, Kansas). — Ripe with Michel
(June i6th). The plants were quite
strong, but were considerably injured
by rust, which noticeably shortened
the crop. Berries of medium size,
roundish conical, and deep crimson in
color, of the very best quality, but
rather soft. The yield was so cut down
by rust that no idea of its productive-
ness under favorable conditions could
be obtained.

ROSER'S No. I (E. L. Roser, Brittain,
Ohio). — In size, shape and color much
like Pawnee. It was also badly injured
by rust. This, however, did not pre-
vent the development of a satisfac-
tory crop. Of fair quality, but rather
soft.

Smeltzer's Early (Frank Smeltzer,
Van Buren, Arkansas) — Ripens with
Haverland. Plants quite strong, and
entirely free from rust, except at the
very close of the season. Berries
ripened together, and only gave three
or four pickings ; fairly productive, of
good quality, and moderately firm.

Tom Walker (Albaugh Nursery Co.,
Todmor, Ohio). — Plants very strong
and healthy. Berries large, round, or
slightly flattened ; dark crimson. It
was quite productive, and while only of
fair quality, and not sufficiently firm to
make it a shipping berry, its handsome
appearance, combined with its pro-
ductiveness and size, will make it valu-
able for local market purposes.

Weston. — Although not among the
very early sorts, it was ripe June 20th.
Plant very strong and quite free from
leaf-blight. Fruit large, conical, some-
times depressed and furrowed ; color
bright scarlet. One of the most pro-
ductive kinds grown, and firm enoug-h
to make it a good shipper ; quality fair.

Of the medium and late varieties, the
following twelve would head the list :

Beverly (Benjamin M. Smith, Mas-
sachusetts).— The plants were vigorous
and but slightly injured by rust; while
other kinds may have slightly excelled
in. productiveness, its superior quality
Fig. 51.— Iris Caroliniana.— See page 334. places it to the front as a berry for

I, a flowering scape ; s, a fruiting scape : 3, a seed. All natural size. home USe, and itS firmneSS Will make

right fruit-stalk. While rather less productive, it is superior, it a good shipper. The berries were generally slightly coni-
both in quality and firmness. The plants are very healthy, cal, and the larger ones were ridged ; sometimes failing to
and it seems excellent as a family berry, and, if productive ripen at the tip.

336

Garden and Forest.

[Number 285.

Clyde (Stayman & Black). — The most promising as a mar-
ket sort of all the varieties grown. Plants very strong and
quite healthy. Berriesof medium tolargesize, round or slightly
depressed, deep scarlet. \'ery productive and quite firm ;
flavor only fair.

Enhance (Henry Young, Ada, Ohio). — As compared with
Clyde, this stands a good second. Fruit large, generally fur-
rowed, broad, conical, quite firm and of fair quality. Excelled
In productiveness by very few sorts.

Greenville (E. M. Buechley, Greenville, Ohio).— One of the
most productive kinds grown, but hardly good enough in
quality to take high rank as a berry for family use, and rather
soft for shipping to distant markets ; it is, however, very prom-
ising as a home market berry. Plants strong and vigorous ;
free from rust. Fruit large, broad, conical, often furrowed,
or slightly irregular ; color, deep scarlet ; flesh dark.

Hattie Jones (J. H. Haynes, Delphi, Indiana). — In a general
way the report for Greenville would answer for this variety.
The berries are somewhat smaller, darker in color, and of still
lower quality. It is fully as productive as Greenville, but
seems a little subject to rust. Promising as a market berry,
where flavor is not considered.

Huntsman (W. A. Huntsman, Lawson, Missouri). — From a
trial of one year it would be worthy of planting, either as a
family or market sort. Berry very regular and handsome,
round or slightly conical, deep crimson ; quality excellent.
Quite productive.

Leader (received from M. Crawford, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio).
— Originated at Reading, Massachusetts. One of the best sorts
for home use and promising for market. Plants strong, but
slightly injured by rust. Fruit large, conical, larger ones often
irregular. Excellent quality, fairly firm and quite productive.
Fruit-stalk stout and erect.

Leviathan. — Plant vigorous and healthy. Berries large,
round or depressed ; light scarlet. While fairly productive, it
is the least valuable in the list, on account of its being quite
soft and of poor quality.

Lincoln (Slaymaker & Son, Dover, Delaware). — Plants of
medium strength and quite healthy. Fruit resembles Crescent,
but holds out better in size than does that variety.

Standard (G. H. & J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Connec-
ticut).— Plant strong, but with some rust at the close of the
season. Fruit large, round, conical or slightly depressed,
often irregular. Fairly productive of berries of very good
quality, but deficient in firmness. Promising for home use or
local market.

Williams (received from M. Crawford). — A berry of Cana-
dian origin. Plants of medium strength, badly injured by leaf-
blight. Berries large, roundish, often irregular. Quite pro-
ductive and very firm, but of only fair quality. A promising
market sort.

Of the other varieties, Allen's No. i is a very large berry of
excellent quahty and fairly firm. If found, on" further trial, to
be sufficiently productive, it will be valuable for any purpose.
Belt's No. 3, Nim's Seedling, Iowa Beauty, Belle of La Crosse.
Stayman's No. 3, Yankee Doodle, Brunette, Stevens, Beauty
and E. P. Roe are also very promising.

Lansing Micb. L. R. Taft.

Two Unappreciated Fruits.

AMONG our fruits which rank low in popular esteem are
the juneberry and the mulberry, especially the Russian
varieties of mulberry. In fact, they are so lightly esteemed
that their real value is much underestimated. If we ask a re-
port from the birds as to their quality and desirability we get a
very different answer from that given by popular taste and
market demand. Scarcely can a more joyous populace be
found than the robins, sparrows and wrens who inhabit our
gardens in the bounteous days of June. They appropriate
these fruits without fear or molestation. Nobody else cares
for the Russian mulberries at least, and yet even this despised
fruit possesses qualities well worth considering. Its flavor is
called flat and insipid, which is true. But the sprightly cur-
rant ripens at the same time with the mulberry. A mixture of
these fruits — one-third currants and two-thirds mulberries —
made into a tart, or used in any way together, makes a rich
and juicy dessert. If the mulberry ever comes into market as
a commercial fruit if must do so as a cheap product affording a
rich and wholesome food at a low rate, and it is doubtful
whether it can ever prove profitable, yet it possesses one
character which, properly utilized, would go a long way toward
bringing about this end. The berries of most of the Russian
trees drop almost at a touch, a fact quickly noted by those who
pick them or observe the large numbers lying on the ground.

This makes it only necessary to trim the young trees high
enough to admit some umbrella-shaped canvas like the cur-
culio-catchers commonly in use, then a very little batting, on
the same plan as that used in gathering black raspberries for
evaporating, will harvest the ripe fruit. It could then be
looked over on canvas, if necessary, much cheaper and
quicker than it could be picked by hand. Although the birds
take many, they waste more by knocking them off, and there
is no doubt that on areas of considerable size, systematically
picked, this loss would not be so great as at first seems.

The American mulberry is much superior to the Russian
both in the quality of its fruit and attractiveness of the tree. It
is well worthy a place on grounds of any considerable extent
for its ornamental qualities, and if the fruit is desired it can be
protected against the birds by cheap netting of some sort.

In the same direction, too, we may look for the greatest use-
fulness of the juneberry. This fruit, too, is lacking inspright-
liness of flower, but it can be improved in the same way as that
suggested for the mulberry, for it possesses a rich and pleasant
flavor which combines well with theacidity of the currant. Either
combination will serve to make a very satisfactory addition to
the winter supply of canned fruit in any family.

All the species of Amelanchier are pleasing in appearance,
but the dwarf variety, known under the trade-name Success,
and which may be classed botanically as Amelanchier Cana-
densis, var. oblongifolia, is a specially pretty little shrub, which
always looks neat and tidy. In early spring it is covered with
snow-white blossoms before the leaves appear. The fo-
liage is always bright and attractive, and few prettier
fruits of small size are known than those which cover
this little shrub throughout the latter part of June and first
of July, when they ripen in this latitude. Even if not ad-
mired for their beauty, the fruits have a peculiar and pleasant
flavor when eaten fresh from the bush. Why may not this
plant be used in groups where a low-growing shrub is needed ?
Then, if the birds claim too large a share, the whole clump can
be protected with netting for a short time, during the ripening
of the fruit. It is perfectly hardy and healthy and can hardly
fail to give satisfaction. Wherever there are children about
it is sure of a generous appreciation.

Cornell University. Fred. IF. Card.

Orchid Notes.

Habenaria gigantea, var. Sumatrana. — This is a new in-
troduction, presumably from Sumatra, and has been offered
for sale by Messrs. Sander. It is described as having large
white flowers on erect scapes, after the manner of Disa
grandiflora, the labellum being three-lobed, the central one
narrow, the two lateral ones broad, flat, deeply pectinate or
fringed, like the labellum of Brassavola Digbyana. H. gigantea
is a synonym of H. Susannae. It was figured under the former
name in the Botanical Magazine, t. 3374, and as Orchis gigan-
tea in Smith's Exotic Botany, t. 100. It is a native of tropical
Himalaya and other parts of India, as well as China and the
Malay Islands. The tubers are from three to four inches long,
the leaves six inches long, the stem two to four feet high, the
raceme four-flowered, each flower three or four inches across,
white and fragrant.

BULBOPHYLLUM Hamelinii.— This is another of Messrs. San-
der & Co.'s recent introductions. It is a remarkable and dis-
tinct-looking Madagascar plant, with pseudo-bulbs like some
great flat marine shell, and leaves that are in shape, size and
color like those of Oncidium ampliatum majus ; the flower
stem is erect, thick as one's finger, eighteen inches long, and
shows as many as 150 flower-seats. No description of the
flowers was given, as the collector had not seen them. There
is no Bulbophyllum in cultivation anything like this plant, the
pseudo-bulbs being four inches across and pressed flat against
the thick rhizome which evidently clings tightly to the branches
of trees. Whatever the flowers of this plant may turn out to
be, it is certainly worthy of a place in all representative tropical
collections on account of its peculiar pseudo-bulbs.

Oncidium Sanderianum.— This is an introduction from Ven-
ezuela, where it is found growing at a great altitude, and at a
very low temperature. It is said to be a free-flowering species,
producing thickly branched spikes, which are covered with
rosy red blossoms ; in form somewhat reminding one of
Odontoglossum Pescatorei. Several plants of this Oncidium
have lately been sold at auction. It is in the way of O. zebri-
num in habit, but the pseudo-bulbs are more wrinkled and
distinctly egg-shaped. Apparently it is new to cultivation, and
from the collector's description it ought to prove a good
garden-plant.
London. H^, .

August 9, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

337

Garden Notes.

IF we want strong clumps of Violets to bloom well in winter
we must cut off the runners now, and not wait for the
Violet disease to show itself before remedies can be applied.
We hope to ward off a possible attack of disease by the ap-
plication of fungicides now. We have two batches, and one
is given an application of sulphide of potassium at the rate of
half an ounce to a gallon of water, and the other a dusting of
"Grape-dust" in twenty parts of air-slacked lime. If neither
do any good, they will do no harm. Carnations should be
stopped into shapely plants, and mulched if the means to
water are not accessible. Bouvardias.Stevias and Marguerites
will make better plants if cut in, and the latter may be lifted at

the open, and should be allowed to dry out again pretty well
before watering, even though they should wilt somewhat.
Frequent watering on account of wilting does much harm, and
is oftener the cause of loss of leaves than dryness at the roots.
By this treatment I have never had any difficulty in keeping
the foliage good. Stock of all bedding-plants is better for be-
ing taken in August, and it is always a preferable way to taking
up old plants after frost. Cineraria, Calceolaria and Primula
seed ought to be sown, and old bulbs of Cyclamens potted.
There are now many fine French Cannas which bloom well
during winter in the greenhouse. It was customary to dry
these off a little, but experience has shown this to be scarcely
necessary, for the plants grew and bloomed steadily with us
all last winter without a rest. We, however, did not wait until

Fig. 51. — A Hybrid of Rosa Wichui-aiana. — See page 334.

the root if they show a tendency to grow large, an operation
which puts the plants in better condition for lifting. Brompton
Stocks intended for potting up this autumn are also benefited
by the same process ; in fact, it is alrhost impossible to estab-
lish large plants like these unless this is done. Mignonette
and Giant Myosotis for winter cutting should be sown where
they are intended to bloom, and early batches of Roman Hya-
cinths, Freesias and Lilium Harrisii ought to be potted before
the month is out, and put in a cool place to root. It is easier
to retard than force these, and a longer season gives better re-
sults always. Chrysanthemums which have been planted out
should be taken up while the weather is dry, and before they
get very large. If given a thorough soaking after potting, and
stood in a cool place for a day or so, they may be plunged in

frost came, but took oft some strong side-shoots and grew
them along. A good selection of shrubby Begonias may be
made now, small plants being preferable, and potted now will
make neat plants by winter. Bismarcki, incarnata, insignis,
Gilsonii, Paul Bruant, the giant crimson form of Semperflorens,
Carrierei, and Verschaffeltiana are among the best for this
purpose.

Showy border perennials are rapidly passing out of bloom.
Delphinium Sinense, the first to bloom, is still good, and
ought to be better known. Hollyhocks stay with us, and here
and there a plant of Lychnis Chalcedonica hghtens up the bor-
der with its bright scarlet flowers. Campanula Carpathica is
yet in its prime, while C. autumnale is just coming in. The
variety, Pumila Maresii, is probably the best of these Chinese

338

Garden and Forest.

[Number 285.

Bell-flowers. Bold clumps of Bocconia cordata and Cimicifuga
racemosa are very effective as we have them, but they are
weeds, and very bad weeds, too, in a choice border. Later we
shall have Funkia subcordata, var. grandiflora, which luckily
does well here. Anemone Japonica, Aster Novae Angliae,
Kniphofias and a glorious array of perennial Sunflowers will
usher in the autumn. In the mean time we can enjoy a vast
number of choice exotics and annuals. They come inoppor-
tunely, and many are very valuable where a quantity of cut
flowers is required. Among these we have Gladiolus, includ-
ing the elegant G. Saundersii, Dahlias, Salvia splendens, Can-
nas, miniature Sunflowers, Zinnias, Helichrysum, Nasturtium,
Coreojjsis Drummondii, Delphinium consolida. Stocks, Asters,
Sweet Peas, Marigolds, Mourning Bride, yellow and bronze
Toadflax and Californian Forget-me-not. _ „

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

Grasses.

TJ AMBOOS prove to be rather disappointing in my garden,
■^ after three years' trial, as none of the kinds have grown as
vigorously as expected. Those experimented with are B.
aurea, Simonii, viridi glaucesens, Ragamovski, palmata and
Quilioi. These are reliably hardy here without any protection ;
they lose their leaves late in the winter, but the canes are not
usually touched by frost. B. Ragamovski and B. palmata are
broad-leaved dwarf kinds, and show their character better than
the others, which should give me tall canes ; this, however,
they have yet failed to do. It may be possible that they have
not had positions to suit them, the soil being rather tenacious
and not moist, but the fact remains that they do not make
much height, and are not as satisfactory or noticeable as
other large Grasses. As pot-plants they require somewhat
generous treatment, and have a certam decorative value,
though there is a constant browning of leaves and consequent
litter. The selection of large Grasses will depend very much
on the position which they are to occupy.

For a tall, strong-growing, reliably hardy and graceful Grass,
the variety zebrina of Eulalia Japonica will usually be most
satisfactory. Under ordinary culture it makes a large clump
some seven or eight feet tall, with strong stems and gracefully
reflexing leaves barred with lighter green. In the fall they
flower with handsome plumes, very much curled, and are
useful for house-decoration. The green leaves and stems
are also very useful during the season for bold effects in
decoration.

A well-grown clump of Pampas Grass is very handsome as
a detached group, making a fountain of foliage capped with
handsome plumes, but it is not always hardy. The Ravenna
Grass, Erianthus Ravennag, sometimes does duty with the
florists as Pampas Grass. It is a green-leaved, tall-growing
sort, not so graceful as the Gynerium, but it is more hardy.
For a bold effect there is nothing better than Arundo donax,
though it is a coarse plant, and needs the gloss of distance.
This is easily grown to a height of ten or twelve feet. The
leaves are glaucous, and clasp thick stems. The casual observer
generally asks as to the variety of Corn which is being grown.
The variegated variety of Arundo donax is a much dwarfer
plant, only three or four feet high, and much less coarse in
effect. These plants require here a slight protection, a small
mound of coal-ashes over the roots being satisfactory in
preserving them from destructive moisture. I have under
trial a large form of Panicum spectabile, sent to me as the
variety Gigantea. From seeds sown in the early year there
are strong plants flowering in loose panicles at about seven
feet. This is said to be a ten or twelve foot Grass, and, I should
judge that it might reach that height from strong roots. This
is said to be haray and sometimes variegated, though none of
my plants have shown more than a white channel on the mid-
rib. The leaves midway are about two inches wide, wider
than those of the Eulalia, and the plants are distinct from the
other large Grasses. There is also the typical form of
P. spectabile about three feet tall. This is also the height of the
beautiful Eulalia .gracillima univitatta, which, as many of your
correspondents have remarked in your columns, no garden
shoulcl be without. Eulalia Japonica variegata is of the same
height, and the brightest of variegated Grasses ; it is taller
than the Ribbon Grass, Phalaris arundinacea, and much
less spreading at the roots. Of the still shorter Grasses, I
fancy most Elymus glaucus, which has a rich glaucous sheen
extremely effective. Elymus hystrix was sent me as one of the
handsomest Gra.sses in cultivation, but I fail to see any beauty
initsfoliageorheadsofcoarseflowers. Pennisetum loneistylum
isa well-established favorite for its effective heads of bloom.
There is a Grass in the swamp of the lower part of this state

which has a fur-like ball of bloom, which it has always seemed
to me would be effective in cultivation — Pussy Grass, in the ver-
nacular— Apera arundinacea. The Pheasant Grass is a handsome
species, very odd and distinct, the leaves being marked in bright
reds and browns. This did not grow very well for me, probably
from neglect, for I do not think it a delicate plant, though it
had at first glance a look of a plant suffering from some blight
or disease.

There are numerous aquatic and sub-aquatic Grasses and
Sedges — of these latter, the exotics Cy perus Papyrus, C. pungens
and C. alternifolius being the most satisfactory, though tender.
Hydropyrum latifolium (Co-ba of the Chinese) is a perfectly
hardy aquatic grass, with a jointed stem from which spring
several tall leaves. It is something in the way of " Wild Rice,
but a handsomer plant. It has not flowered in the two years
it has been cultivated here. In planting edges of ornamental
water, it will be found most satisfactory to search neighbor-
ing swamps and use the most effecdve native plant. This
course, pursued by Mr. Olmsted, at Chicago, has produced
one of the most effective and satisfactory bits of planting in
the grounds of the Exposition.

In selecting decorative Grasses preference should be given
to those which have a long season of" growth, as those which
flower and mature early are apt to prove unsightly. Scarcely
enough use is made of the noble Grasses in arrangements of
decorative plants. Masses of these, as often seen, have a
rather heavy effect, which a well-considered addition of
Grasses would often relieve.
Eiiiabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Correspondence.
The Russian and other Apricots.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Perhaps there are few new fruits which have been more
indiscriminately praised, and concerning which so little is
known, as the Russian Apricots. Probably the cliief reason
for this indefinite knowledge is the too common feeling that,
at best. Apricots are not suited for growing in the northern
states, and no serious attention is given them, yet, if care in
selection of site is observed and some attention is given to
varieties. Apricot-growing is capable of affording excellent
commercial results even in New York state. There are now
considerable plantations of Apricots in western New York,
the most prominent being the large orchard of E. Smith &
Sons, on Seneca Lake. The Apricot-tree is fully as hardy as
the Peach. It blooms early, and is liable to be caught by late
spring frosts, therefore it is essenfial that the site be one where
vegetation starts late or that the spring temperature is equal-
ized by the presence of a large body of water.

The chief merit attributed to the Russian Apricot is its hardi-
ness, but my own experience, extending over about eight
years, shows that in central Michigan and in New York the
Russian stock is as likely to be injured by climate as the com-
mon and better varieties. At Lansing, Michigan, a lot of
about fifty strong two-year seedlings from Nebraska were
killed, most of them root and branch, while budded trees
alongside stood a year or two longer, yet these budded trees
finally succumbed. All these trees were upon sandy soil.
Here at Ithaca, in central New York, our trees are upon clay,
and they endure the climate perfectly, although our winters
are less severe than at Lansing. I do not know that the charac-
ter of soil makes any difference in the hardiness of these trees.
Breda, Early Golden and other common sorts endure our cli-
mate equally as well as the Russian variety. It has been said
that the Russian Apricot belongs to the species Prunus Si-
birica, but this is a mistake. It is only a race of the common
Apricot, Prunus Armeniaca, yet the Russian Apricots differ
considerably from ours in type, having a darker and rather
narrower leaf; and the fruits, so far as I have seen them, are
inferior. If the Russian Apricots are really hardier than the
common ones they should be widely disseminated upon the
northern borders of our Apricot region ; but where other
Apricots can be grown, these are scarcely worth the land they
occupy.

We have a number of good trees of Russian Apricots, set
in 1888, and at this writing they are carrying bushels of fruit.
The handsome little fruits hang in clusters and ropes on many
of the trees, especially on Budd, Gibb and Alexander. The
catalogues have said that some of these Russians, especially
the Catherine, are almost as early as Strawberries, but none
of ours have ripened before the last week in July, and Alex-
ander and Gibb will not be fit to pick for several days yet.

August 9, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

339

The following field-notes upon Russian Apricots were made
August 3d, from well-grown trees carrying full crops:

Cathf.rine. — Early, fit to ship July 26th, now all soft and
ready to eat from the tree. Fruit small, slightly oblong-glob-
ular, deep rich orange, with a dull red cheek in the sun, rather
dry in flesh and of indifferent quality, even for a Russian, and
possessing three or four woody strings running along the
angles or ventral side of the pit, which remain in the flesh
and greatly detract from its value. Freestone, average fruits
measure three and one-half inches in transverse girth, and two
to three of them weigh an ounce.

BuDD. — About the same as Catherine in season, or possibly
a day later, oblong in shape, light orange in color, with only a
very faint blush, if any. Flesh moderately juicy, with a sweet
peach flavor. Varies from cling to half-cling. Evidently one
of the best in quality of the Russians, but too small for market.
Ripe with Early Golden, or only a day or two ahead of it.

Nicholas. — Some trees ripen with Budd, and others a we«k
or ten days later. Fruit larger and fairer than Budd, oblong
and more or less flattened. Flesh juicy and sweet, the pit
free. There are evidently two kinds of this variety in our
orchard, although the frees were all procured at the same time
from one nurseryman. The later trees bear larger fruits than
the others, with a much larger and looser pit, and have a drier
flesh. Possibly Alexis is mixed with this.

Alexander. — About a week or ten days later than Catherine
and Budd. Fruit small, oblong and flattened, orange-yellow,
with a faint blush cheek, the flesh firm and rather coarse. Pit
larger and loose. This and the late form of Nicholas, men-
tioned above, seem to be the same thing. About the season
of the Breda, with us.

GiBB. — Three or four days later than Catherine and Budd,
and somewhat larger, oblong and flattened. Color a light
lemon or white-yellow, with only a trace of color in the cheek.
Flesh juicy and tender, but lacking in flavor, somewhat acid.
Pit rather large and loose.

These five are the only Russian varieties which we have
fruited. None of them are as good, either in quality or size,
as Royal, Breda, Early Golden and other varieties. The Rus-
sian Almond, sold by Lovett, is an Apricot, although we have
not yet fruited it.

The following notes were made July 27th, in the Smith or-
chard, on Seneca Lake, mentioned above :

Early varieties grown are Harris, Smith's Early, Early Moor-
park and Early Golden. These had all been harvested, with
the exception of a few of the Early Moorpark. One tree, which
was simply called the Russian, still bore a few small, deep
yellow fruits, very poor in quality. The proprietors report
that the other Russians tried by them are of no greater value.
The Harris and Smith's Early are favorites for the early mar-
ket. These two varieties resemble each other very closely,
and it is possible that they are identical. Smith's Early orig-
inated from a tree found growing in the yard of Mr. Smith.
This was after the distribution of the Harris, and as its origin
is not certain it may be identical with that variety. It is, how-
ever, sold and propagated as a distinct variety. The fruit of
these two varieties is large and sells well in the market. Their
flavor is not of the best. In this respect the Early Moorpark
excels. Although it is too small to sell well, still as an apricot
for home use it is unsurpassed.

Among the more important varieties which follow those
named above may be mentioned Jackson, Eureka, Allison,
Royal, Turkish, Saint Ambroise and Roman. These varieties
are medium to large and produce paying crops. The last two
closely resemble each other, so much so that they might be
considered identical. A possible difference might be found in
the extent to which the fruits are flattened. This pecularity is,
perhaps, more marked in the Saint Ambroise, but otherwise
the two varieties are not distinguishable. A still later variety
is the Late Moorpark.

In marketing apricots, the matter of variety is ignored. Fruit
is graded according to size, fairness and form. The crates are
marked "Choice " for the first grade, and the seconds go in
as plain apricots, for canning, preserving, etc. The California
package is the one used for shipping. It consists of one layer
of four boxes, the standard size used for choice fruits. Mr.
Smith's markets are chiefly Rochester and Philadelphia. No
fruit is shipped to New York.
Ithaca, N. V. L. H. Bailey.

A Twin Tree.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — -About a mile from the shore, and two miles to the
southward of the Princess Anne Hotel, at Virginia Beach, near

the high-road to the historical old Princess Anne Court House,
stands a little old church, evidently repaired and re-roofed in
modern days, but clearly of colonial origin, a simple red brick
structure with round-headed windows. "It has no architectural
merit, but is interesting from its antiquity, and effective in
color as it stands relieved against a near background of woods,
with a great tree rising near its southern side, to give it both
dignity and picturesqueness.

Driving along the road early in April, when the leaves were
just beginning to unfold, this tree seemed to have been split
by lightning in its early years, but to have flourished wonder-
fully since. Cleft to within four or five feet of the ground, its
twin trunks thence rose nearly straight to a considerable height,
the branches of one far overtopping those of the other. A lit-
tle later I noticed that the foliage on the lower half of the head,
for the effect was not as of two heads, was developing much
more rapidly, and with a different character and color, than
that on the other, and in a day or two their aspects were so
unlike that the composite character of the tree could no longer
be mistaken.

On closer examination the left-hand trunk, bearing the lower
portion of the foliage, in the more advanced stage of growth
and with the brighter green tint, proved to be the trunk of a
Swamp Maple, while the other revealed itself as a Sweet Gum.
Measurements gave the exact height of the divergence of the
trunk as four feet ten inches. At about one foot from the
ground, above the conspicuous swellings of the roots, the com-
pound trunk girthed thirteen feet ten inches. When fairly
clear of its neighbor the circumference of the Maple is eight
feet seven inches, and that of the Sweet Gum seven feet eight
inches. Judging by the eye, the height of the Maple is fifty or
sixty feet, and the height of the Sweet Gum at least one hun-
dred. The trunk of the Sweet Gum rises perpendicularly,
while that of the Maple inclines a little away from" its twin.

But the most interesting point about this compound tree is
the integrity of the trunk below the point of forking. It is
absolutely symmetrical — as symmetrical as the single trunk of
any of the big normal Sweet Gums which stahd near it ; and
the lines of juncture are no rougher or more broken than the
surfaces of the bark on either side. The character of the bark
of these two trees, when in so mature a stage of development,
is not very unlike in surface or color, and this fact assists the
effect of union. Were they only a little more closely alike it
would be difficult, indeed, to detect where Maple bark begins
and Sweet Gum bark ends. The lines of juncture are not
perpendicular, but, on one side especially, the Maple claims
a conspicuously larger part of the circumference, as though
in their youth it had tried to embrace the foundations of its
neighbor. The great roots show plainly above the surface of
the soil, and those of the Maple run out far among their rivals.

Now that the foliage on both heads is pretty fully devel-
oped, the contrast between the two is not so striking ; but it
is yet clearly apparent ; and when the Maple-leaves were half-
grown and of the most vivid light emerald green, while the
Sweet Gum leaves were much smaller, giving a mistier look
and a less vivid tint to the boughs they clothed, the effect of
the tree, or trees, was very singular and very pretty, despite a
size which entitled them to be called majestic. The largest
Sweet Gum which I measured in the near vicinity girthed
twelve feet six inches at one foot from the ground.
Virginia Beach, Va. M. G. Van Rensselaer.

Recent Publications.

The Fourth Annual Report of the Missouri Botanical Gar-
den shows a gratifying evidence of growth, and, although the
wants of the garden have been fully met and all the wishes of
the founder carried out, the balance-sheet shows a surplus of
more than $17,000. The library contains 11,455 books and
pamphlets, the herbarium 203,000 sheets of specimens, and
these items, valued at .$44,450, bring up the stock account of
the Board to an aggregate of a million and a half of dollars.
Among the donations received during the year was an exten-
sive collection of specimens, manuscripts and illustrations of
the genus Capsicum from Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant, which was
given on the condition that the genus should be studied with
reference to a monograph on the wild and cultivated forms of
the genus. Dr. Sturtevant has also indicated his desire to
make a donation to the garden of his entire botanical library,
which is said to be the most complete and valuable American
collection of pre-Linnasan botanical books. The scholarships
have all been filled, and the young students in the garden are
said to have applied themselves with commendable interest.
The course, which originally extended over six years, has
proved longer than was desirable, and the curriculum has been

340

Garden and Forest.

[Number 285.

modified so that the course is reduced to four years. Of the
scientific papers included in this report the longest one is a
list of plants collected in the Bahamas, Jamaica and Grand
Cayman by A. S. Hitchcock. The total number of species de-
termined amount to nearly 1,000, wliile there remain to be
added the varieties and cultivated plants. The list, with the
index, covers about 140 pages, and includes several plates.
Professor Trelease adds the results of further field studies
upon Yuccas and their pollination, and this paper is illustrated
by several half-tone reproductions from photographs and
wash-drawings.

Notes.

Rudbeckia purpurea is not a common garden-plant in this
country, and it is comparatively rare in cultivation in Europe.
Mr. Watson writes that in Kew, both in the borders and the
rockery, it is one of the stateliest and most effective of the
many noble composites which have been introduced from
America.

We have received from Mr. William Parry, of Parry, New
Jersey, a specimen of a newapple which originated in southern
New Jersey, and called the Starr. It is a large, smooth, green
fruit, not quite ripe when received on the last of July, and
therefore a little too strongly acid, although it would have been
excellent even then for cooking purposes. Mr. Parry states
that the tree begins bearing when it is comparatively young,
and that it bears abundantly. It has not yet been placed upon
the market.

On Saturday of last week the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society gave its gold medal to the Honorable Joseph S. Fay,
of Wood's Holl, for the superior cultivation of specimen plants
of Hydrangea hortensis. Five or six of the plants were ex-
hibited in the Society's hall in Boston, and it is safe to say that
better examples of cultivation, as applied to the Hydrangea,
have never been seen. The plants were faultless, the largest
being about ten feet through and seven feet high, and bearing
some three hundred well-developed heads of flowers ; the
others were only slightly smaller, and all were mounds of
large, healthy and well-colored foliage almost hidden by the
flower-heads.

The variety of Rhus semi-alata, which is generally known
as Osbeck's Sumach, is, at this season, when few other trees
are in flower, a very conspicuous object. The round head is
covered with numerous large terminal panicles of minute
flowers, whose petals are pure white, although the projecting
antlers of clear lemon-yellow give a cream-colored effect to
the panicles, which show well above its very dark green foli-
age. The tree grows very rapidly, and in Japan the foliage
turns to brilliant colors in autumn. In this country, however,
these autumn colors are not nearly so bright as those of our
native species. It is a well-shaped tree, but the absence of
leaves from the inner branches detracts from its appearance
on near inspection, and it has a disagreeable habit of throwing
up root-suckers anywhere within a radius of fifty feet.

In a report submitted to the German Agricultural Society,
Professor Maercher stated that potash-salts when used on
sandy soil had a marked effect on the growth of young Pine-
trees, and he recommended the extensive use of these salts in
forest-culture. Inasmuch as the ashes of wood contain much
potash, it looks reasonable that a supply of this mineral in the
soil would benefit tree-growth. We know, too, that trees attain
large dimensions in situations where the mineral constituents
of wood are abundant. Perhaps, however, before the prac-
tice of hurrying forward young trees by furnishing potash to
their roots is adopted it would be well to ascertain whether this
growth would have any prejudicial effect upon the same trees
at a later period of their development when these mineral
elements could not be obtained in the same abundance, and
whether it would pay to continue this fertilizing process during
the entire life of the tree.

A figure of Crotalaria longirostrata, a Mexican Genista-like
sub-fruficose or herbaceous Mexican plant, is published in
the July issue of The Botanical Magazine from specimens
which flowered last winter at the Royal Gardens at Kew,
to which this plant was introduced through the Depart-
ment of Agriculture of the United States in 1891, from
seed gathered by Dr. Palmer at Colema in January of that
year. In a note published in The Garden in March, Cro-
talaria longirostrata is described as a thoroughly useful
plant for flowering in the winter months, the specimens at

Kew having kept a gay display for over two months in spite
of the fogs. At the end of the long slender branches it bears
clusters of bright yellow pea-shaped flowers more than an
inch long. As this plant is easily propagated by cuttings, and
as it remains in bloom, even under the trying conditions af-
forded by the London climate, for a long time, it may be ex-
pected to become a valuable and popular greenhouse plant.

An obscure disease of cattle, known as the Rickets, has
been prevalent for some time in New South Wales, and an
article in the last number of the Agricultural Gazette, pub-
lished in Sydney, states that it is very probable that the disease
comes from eating the fruit of the so-called Zamia Palm, Mac-
rozamia Miquellii. The nuts of some species of Macrozamia
have, for a long time, formed an important article of food of
the aborigines of that region, and yet they seemed to have
been well aware that in their raw state these nuts were poison-
oug. Analysis of the nuts has been made several times, but
the poison has never been satisfactorily identified. The noxious
principle, whatever it may be, seems to be made inert, or it is
expelled by heat. Cattle do not, as a rule, eat the nuts or other
parts of this plant, but it is stated that when a taste for it is
once acquired the Zamia-eater teaches other cattle in the same
herd the same habit. The chief symptom of the disease is a
loss of proper control over the movements of the hind limbs,
and plfected animals seem never to recover completely. They
are capable, however, of being fattened if placed on good
food, and the flesh of those in good condition appears to be
quite sound.

An Enumeration of the Plants collected by Dr. Thomas Mo-
rong in Paraguay, i88S-go, has recently been published. It
is the work of Dr. Morong and Dr. Britton, assisted by Miss
Anna Murray Vail, and forms a volume of 235 pages. During
Dr. Morong's two years' stay in Paraguay he thoroughly ex-
amined all the region within a hundred miles of Asuncion and
the uninhabited portions of the Gran Chaco wilderness for 400
miles up the little-known Pilcomayo River ; and his collec-
tion, including Mosses, contains very nearly 1,000 species,
representing 106 genera, almost one-tenth of them being new.
All the new species have been carefully described after com-
parisons made in the herbaria of Columbia College and of
Kew, with the assistance of a number of distinguished Euro-
pean botanists. In commenting upon the book the Bulletin
of the Torrey Botanical Club says that it is worthy of record
that "after a voyage of seventy days across the Atlantic, and
after a sojourn of two years, much of it spent in a remote
wilderness inhabited only by roving Indians and wild animals,
with not a mishap or a single day's illness to detract from his
good fortune, the collector circumnavigates the South Amer-
ican continent and returns in perfect health. Of the 12,000 or
more specimens collected not one is lost ; and within three
years from the time of his return the whole collection is col-
lated, enumerated and published."

We have often suggested that an index should be made of
the various reports of the meetings of the agricultural and hor-
ticultural societies of the different states. While there is very
much in these volumes which never should have been printed,
and much that has no permanent value whatever, there is hardly
one of them which does not contain essays that are important.and
that will be of advantage to the student of the history of agricul-
tural and horticultural progress in this country. We are glad,
therefore, to know that an index of this character has already
been made for the agricultural literature of the state of Maine,
and that with this in hand the student need not be compelled
to search through forty volumes to find out what he wants.
This index is a part of an interesting book called The Agricul-
tural Bibliography of the State of Maine, which has been pre-
pared by Samuel L. Boardman as a contribution to the " Agri-
cultural Literature and Statistics Exhibit" of the Columbian
Exposition. From the historical sketch with which the book
opens we learn that Maine was the third state in the Union to
establish a society for the improvement of agriculture, Penn-
sylvania setting the example in 1785, South Carolina following
the same year, Maine organizing her society in 1787, and Mas-
sachusetts in 1792. In the Bibliography we find many names
which will surprise many of our readers as belonging to Maine.
For example, H. D. Thoreau, Dr. A.S. Packard, Dr. E. L. Sturte-
vant, Professor G. L. Goodale, Dr. C. H. Hitchcock and many
more. The biographical sketch of some of the pioneers in
agricultural literature, like the Vaughan Brothers at Hallowell,
Ezekiel Holmes, whose portrait is the frontispiece of the
volume, and many others, are singularly interesting, and the
whole volume does credit to its compiler and to the state of
Maine.

AwensT i6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

341

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND<LASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST i6, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

FAGR.

EDrroKiAL Article :— Horticulture at the World's Fair 341

Ao Observation on Fruit Decays Professor Byron D. Halstfd. 342

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— XIX. (With figure.) C. S. S. 342

FoRSiGN Correspondence : — London Letter ]V. Watson. 344

CuLTURAl. Dhpaktment: — Small Fruits in Indiana J. Troop, 346

Notes on Raspberries A. A, Crozter. 347

The Water-earden J. N. Gerard. 347

Liparis liliifolia Wm. F. Bassett. 347

Vegetable Notes T.D.H. 348

The Forest: — Suggestions from the White Pine Forests of Minnesota,

H. B. Ayres. 348

The Columbian Exposition ; — The Plant-effects in the Horticultural Building.

(With figure.) Professor L. H. Bailey. 349

Notes 3.'>o

Illustrations:— Alnusjaponica, Fig. 53 345

Ground plan showing the arrangement of plants in the Horticultural
Building at the Columbian Exposition, Fig. 54 349

Horticulture at the World's Fair.

THE Horticultural Departinent of the Columbian Ex-
position has completed the first part in its history.
The first-fruits of last year's crop are practically ex-
hausted and the products of the current season are rapidly
taking their places. The outdoor ornamentation has been
largely of early shrubs and perennials, or plants, like Pan-
sies, of last year's sowing, and now the plants of this sea-
son's growth are coming forward rapidly. It is an oppor-
tune time, therefore, to review, in a very general way,
what has thus far been accomplished in the way of horti-
culture at Chicago. All criticism must be made in a spirit
of sympathy, for, besides the insufficient time allowed for
such a stupendous undertaking, an almost endless series
of difficulties beset the managers. The horticulturists of
the country, as a body, were slow to begin the work of
collecting material and of interesting all the communities
concerned Very often the state legislatures failed to make
appropriations until the funds were too late to be of service.
There was not adequate time for arousing a strong public
sentiment, and some states, which are capable of making
excellent e.Khibitions, are practically unrepresented at the
Fair because of lack of funds. Local, society and political
jealousies have too often interfered with the expeditious
securing of funds, and have perverted them to improper
use when once appropriated. All this has given rise to
the one most discouraging feature of the Fair — the fact that
the displays have not been representative of the country
as a whole. In fruits, a few states and provinces, notably
California, New York, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Mis-
souri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maine, and Ontario,
have made creditable displays, but these states do not rep-
resent the pomology of North America ; and as for foreign
countries, only New South Wales and Italy have made any
attempt to show fruits. The most lamentable failure in the
pomological department was the almost entire absence of
exhibits from the southern states in the early months of the
Fair. A few states have done well, but the country as a.

whole has fallen far short of what was to have been ex-
pected of it.

All this is equally true of individual fruits. Visitors cer-
tainly had reason to expect a complete representation of
those important fruits which have been developed within
two generations from our native species. But not only
have the raspberries, blackberries, native gooseberries, and
even strawberries, been sporadic in their representation,
but there has been no definite effort whatever to show our
native plums. Some table should have been devoted, the
season through, to showing these attractive fruits in all
their variety, and from all parts of the country, but an
occasional variety which now and then happens to come
in, is the only thing to remind the visitor that plums grow
wild in America. A vigorous and well-directed corre-
spondence on the part of the Superintendent of Pomology
could have shown these fruits and others in profusion and
perfection. The visitor is now impressed with the feeling
that certain states are capable of making great exhibits ;
but it would have been better if he had been impressed
with the relative importance of the various fruits in our
national economy, and with their peculiarities and varia-
tions. In other words, we believe that the proper basis for
a comprehensive pomological display is fruit, and not
states. Perhaps it would be difficult to interest the public
without appealing to state pride, but it would have been
easy to have secured sufficient overplus of special fruits to
have made supplementary exhibits for the purpose of show-
ing the whole progress and evolution and distribution of
any one species.

The viticultural displays are among the most decorative
in the Horticultural Department ; but, unfortunately, there
is little of genuine horticulture in them. They are made
up almost wholly of wines and brandies, with a flavor of
mineral v.'aters, subjects which belong to manufacture
and mining rather than to horticulture. Perhaps it would be
well to divide grape interests into two parts, as is done by
the Italians and others — viticulture, or grape-growing, and
viniculture, or wine-making. There is certainly little more
reason for including the manufacture of spirits under grape-
culture than to group beer-making with hop-culture. All
this, however, is a fault of the original classification, and it
must be said that, in its way, the viticultural display is one
of the best at the Exposition. Vegetables, save from On-
tario and New York, have not been shown to any extent, and
there is little promise of a representative display later on.

Among ornamental plants there are many very large
and meritorious collections, and here, for the most part,
state lines are dropped, and the exhibits are made by firms.
An exception to this fact is observed in the Horticul-
tural Building, where New York and Pennsylvania appear
to contend for the questionable honor of having filled the
great dome space with an unfortunate jumble of plants.
There are many good individual plants and individual ex-
hibits, but their arrangement is too often utterly bad. The
mound under the dome, which is said to represent a moun-
tain, has been the target of sarcasm from every competent
and unprejudiced critic at the Fair, but the interior arrange-
ment of the island and the disposition of the plants about
the Horticultural Building are not less open to objec-
tion. The broad landscape features of the Exposition are
incomparably good, but such details as fell to the Bureau
of Floriculture are often wrought in the stiff and conven-
tional forms which, unfortunately, are still called landscape-
gardening by a great body of our people.

It is not our purpose to discourage any one who contem-
plates a visit to the Horticultural Department. He will be
amazed and bewildered with the great variety and extent
of the exhibits, and he will wonder how it could have been
consummated within the given time. But the careful vis-
itor must, after all, admit that this wealth of products is
only such as one must expect from a country of great re-
sources, and after he discovers that much of this bewil-
dering variety is nothing more than poor arrangement, he
will come away unsatisfied, if not humiliated. Much of

342

Garden and Forest.

[Number 286.

this can be corrected in the larger and fuller displays which
are now coming- on, but neither from the point of view of
art nor of h <rticulture does the Exposition in every respect
represent American resources. Foreign countries are
well represented in a few lines in unperishable com-
modities, and in many ornamental plants, such as Rho-
dodendrons, Azaleas and Roses, but in fruits and veg-
etables, in any form, pictorial or otherwise, they are con-
spicuously absent It is, therefore, scarcely just to call
this exposition a world's display of horticulture. This was
the opportunity of the century to give to the American peo-
ple a great object-lesson in horticulture which might have
made itself felt from one end of the country to the other.
The managers of the Exposition did not rise to the oppor-
tunity, and, while an attempt has been made to show our re-
sources, the educational effect of the horticultural exhibits
cannot be great or at all commensurate with their cost.

In the bulletin it was recommended to lay the axe at the foot
of the tree, but in the light of more recent observations it may
be that the only action necessary is to remove the branch
which bears the early summer fruit, for in this the decay be-
gins its season's work, and from which it reaches out m all
directions to cause destruction. „ „ ,, . ,

RutRers College. Byrott D. Halsteci.

An Observation on Fruit Decays.

T AST season I made a study of Quince-rots, the results of
•*— ' which were published in Bulletin No 91 of the New Jersey
Experiment Station. In the course of this bulletin it was
stated that "a large Apple-tree stands in the orchard, sur-
rounded on three sides by Quince-trees. The fruit, not the
best, is permitted to drop and accumulate upon the ground in
midsummer, it being an early autumn sort. Tliese fallen ap-
ples were this season badly infested with the Sphasropsis, and
the same was often the case with the fruit upon the tree. It
was a noticeable fact that the Quince-trees that were close to
this tree, some of them almost underit, were the most severely
attacked. While there was no actual transfer of the infection
by artificial means to demonstrate the fact, I am quite willing
to hold the opinion that the Quince-fruit received the germs of
the decay from the apples that were rotting by the bushel only
a few feet away. That the decay should begin at the blossom-
end is not unexpected, for there the spores, and the water
causing them to s^erminate, would naturally lodge. The grow-
ing filaments of the spores would there find an easier entrance
than elsewhere, because of the adhering floral parts. Nearby,
and with branches interlocking, stands a Pear-tree, and the
fruit was quite badly infested with the Sphseropsis. Similar
trees further away from the Apple-tree were less troubled with
the decay, which only strengthens the opinion that all three
kinds of fruit are naturally susceptible to the same infection,
and the germs pass from one to the other through the air or
by means of the various insects that visit the fruits, especially
those with broken surfaces due to partial decay. The inocula-
tions that were made in the laboratory seem confirmed by ob-
servations in the orchard. If the assumption holds, and it
appears to be a sound one, it follows that the Apple-tree is a
source of Sphferopsis infection for the quince and pear. The
Apple bears comparatively worthless fruit, and the Quinces are
the most valuable of all in this instance."

Yesterday (July 17th) a visit was again made to this orchard,
and while no decay »as manifested among the quinces and
pears, a fact was obtained that confirms the view held at the
close of the investigation last season. The Apple-tree is now
loaded with fruit, and, for the most part, it is green and free
from anv rot ; but upon one side is a good-sized limb, a graft
of the Red Astrachan variety, also loaded with fruit, a large
percentage of which is undergoing a decay. Over a hundred
apples could have been gathered from the ground under this
branch that were more or less decayed, matiy of them entirely
rotten. Some of these fruits were brought to the laboratory
and microscopically examined, the Sphseropsis being found
on the specimens as was expected.

It will be seen that by this observation the enemy is traced
back one step further. Last season the source of the quince
and pear infection was tracked to a single tree, the fruit of
which was an early autumn sort. Now, in the middle of July,
the black-rot is confined to one branch of the tree bearing early
summer fruit, where the decay is rampant, and, without
question, is the particular place of exodus of the decay for the
surrounding frees. The trouble is assisted by the shaded po-
sition held by the Astrachan limb, it being a low one, and over-
topped by higher branches of the same and other trees. The
fruit is poor, partly because of the shade and the decay, and it
is left to accumulate upon the moist earth, where the fungus
propagates extensively and develops myriads of spores. There-
fore the conditions favor, naturally, the rapid multiplication of
the enemy which later makes sad inroads upon the quince and
pear fruit of the orchard.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XIX.

IN nut-bearing trees the forests of Japan are poor in com-
parison with those of eastern North America. The
Hickory, if it ever existed in the ante-glacial forests of Asia,
has entirely disappeared from them, and the Walnut family
is now represented in Japan by three genera — Juglans,
Pterocarya and Platycarya ; the last two belong exclu-
sively to the Old World. In Japan, Juglans is represented
by Juglans Sieboldiana, a common forest-tree in Yezo and
in the mountain-regions of the other islands. .\s a timber-
tree it is much less important than either of the two eastern
American Walnuts, as specimens more than fifty feet high
are uncommon ; it is a wide-branched tree, resembling our
Butternut in habit and in the color of its pale furrowed bark,
as it does in the pubescent covering of the young branches,
the lower surface of the leaves and the fruit. The nuts are
arranged in long racemes, and resemble those of the Asiatic,
or, as it is familiarly called in commerce, the English Wal-
nut (Juglans regia), rather than our American walnuts,
which are deeply sculptured into narrow ridges, while the
surface of the Japanese nut is smooth, or sometimes more
or less pitted ; it is pointed at the apex with thickened wing-
like sutures, and is often an inch and a half long and about
an inch broad, although it varies considerably both in size
and shape ; in flavor the kernel resembles that of the Eng-
lish walnut. The walnut is evidently an important article
of food in Japan, as the nuts are exposed for sale in great
quantities in the markets of all the northern towns. Juglans
Sieboldiana is perfectly hardy here in New England, where
it ripens its fruit ; it is hardly worth growing, however, as
an ornamental tree, as the Black Walnut surpasses it in size
and beauty. It will produce fruit in regions of greater
winter cold than the English Walnut can support, and as a
fruit-tree it may find a place in northern orchards, although
the abundance and cheapness of English walnuts seem to
forbid its cultivation as a source of profit.

I am unable to throw any light upon the curious Juglans
cordiformis of Maximowicz, distinguished by its flattened,
long-pointed and more or less heart-shaped nuts. The tree
which produces these peculiar nuts is not recognized by the
Japanese botanists, who consider them an extreme variety of
their common walnut. I looked in vain for nuts of this
form in the markets of Hakodate, where they were first
seen by the Russian naval officer Albrecht ; afterward, how-
ever, I found them offered for sale by the Nurserymen's
Association of Yokohama, and was told that they were col-
lected on the sides of Fugi-san. A plant raised from one
of these heart-shaped nuts has been growing for a number
of years in the Arnold Arboretum, and last year it bore
fruit. In habit and in foliage it is not distinguishable from
plants of the same age of Juglans Sieboldiana. Juglans
regia, although included in most works on the flora of Japan,
does not seem to be a native of the empire ; it is occa-
sionally cultivated in the neighborhood of temples and as
a fruit-tree, but we saw no evidence of its being anywhere
indigenous, and it is probable that it was introduced from
northern China, where one form of this' tree apparently
grows naturally.

Pterocarya, the curious genus with leaves like those of a
Hickory, and long slender spikes of small hard nut-like
fruits surrounded by foliaceous bracts, appears in Japan
with one species ; a second inhabits China, and a third, the
type of the genus, the Caucasus. The Japanese Pterocarya
rhoifolia is a large and important timber-tree. We first met
with it in the lower margin of the Hemlock-forest about
Lake Umoto, in the Nikko Mountains, where it grows to
no great size ; and it was not until we ascended Mount

August i6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

343

Hakkoda, in the extreme northern part of Hondo, that we
saw this fine tree to advantage. On the slopes of this
mountain it is exceedingly common at elevations of from
twenty-five hundred to four thousand feet above the sea,
and, next to the Beech, is the largest deciduous tree of the
region, often rising to a height of eighty feet, and produc-
ing trunks two and a half feet in diameter. It is a broad-
topped tree, with stout branches which spread nearly at
right angles to the stem, and form a dense leafy crown. In
winter the Japanese Pterocarya may be readily recognized
by its orange-colored branchlets, thickly beset with small
light-colored lenticels, and by the stout acute buds, three-
quarters of an inch long, covered with apiculate black
puberulous scales conspicuously marked with clusters of
pale hairs. The leaves are unequally pinnate, eight or ten
inches long and four to six inches broad, with stout hairy
petioles, and six or seven pairs of lateral leaflets, which are
acute, unequally rounded at the base, long-pointed, finely
serrate, yellowish green, and covered on the lower surface
of the midribs with pale or rusty brown pubescence. In
the first days of October, when the fruit was fully ripe and
just ready to drop, the leaves were beginning to turn yel-
low ; a month later, in the forest above Lake Umoto, the
trees were bare of foliage. A specimen of the wood of
Pterocarya rhoifolia, for which I am indebted to the officers
of the Forestry Department at Aomori, is white, soft, very
light and straight-grained, with bands of open ducts mark-
ing the layers of annual growth ; it might be mistaken at
the first glance for a piece of our American white pine.

The other Japanese member of the Walnut family, Platy-
carya strobilacea, we only saw in the Tokyo Botanic Gar-
den, where there is a tree fifteen or twenty feet high, which
last year was covered with the curious cone-like heads of
fruit which distinguish this genus. In the mountain-regions
of Kyushu it is said to become a large and stately tree.
Platycarya is occasionally cultivated in the botanic gardens
of southern Europe, but I am not aware of its growing in
any part of the United States.

Myrica Gale, in a distinct pubescent form, is as com-
mon in low marshy ground in Yezo as it is in the same
latitude in North America, and a second species of Myrica,
akin to our Bayberry, inhabits the sandy coast, although
it does not range far north of the thirty-fifth parallel. This
is the handsome evergreen Myrica rubra, a small shapely
tree, now well known in California gardens and occasion-
ally cultivated in the southern Atlantic states.

In Japan, as in all other temperate northern lands, the
Cupuliferte abound, and the deciduous forests of the north-
ern islands are principally composed of Oaks, Beeches,
Hornbeams, Alders and Birches. The mountain-forests of
Hondo and those of Yezo contain many Birch-trees, which
are also important elements of the forest in all northern
and north eastern Asia. The Old World White Birch, Betula
alba, in at least three of its forms, is common in central
Yezo, and we saw also a number of trees of the typical
form on the plains between Chuzenji and Umoto, in the
Nikko Mountains. The most distinct of the Japanese forms
of Betula alba is that which botanists call var. Tauschii,
and which is distributed from southern Siberia through the
Amour country to Yezo, where it is a slender tree, some-
times eighty feet in height; it is distinguished by its larger
and rather thicker leaves, which are of a deeper and more
lustrous green on the upper surface than those of the other
forms of the White Birch with which it is associated. It is
certainly worth a place in our plantations. The variety
verrucosa, well distinguished by the warts which beset the
young branches, appears to be confined in Japan to Yezo,
where, so far as we were able to observe, it is an exceed-
ingly rare plant.

In the forests of Yezo, too, we saw, for the first time,
Betula Maximowicziana. This is certainly one of the
handsomest trees in Japan, and one of the most distinct and
beautiful of the Birches; and its introduction into our plan-
tations was alone well worth the journey to Japan. In Yezo,
Betula Maximowicziana is a shapely tree, eighty or nineiy

feet in height, with a trunk two or three feet in diameter,
covered with pale smooth orange-colored bark. Toward
the base of old individuals the bark becomes thick and is
ashy gray, separating into long narrow scales. The
branchlets are stout, covered with dark red-brown bark and
marked by many pale lenticels. The leaves, however, are
the most distinct feature of this tree ; in size they are not
equaled by those of any other Birch-tree, and as they flut-
ter on their long slender stalks they offer a spectacle which
can be compared with that which is afforded by our sil-
ver-leaved Linden waving its branches before some Hem-
lock-covered hill of the southern Alleghany Mountains.
The leaves of Betula Maximowicziana are broadly ovate,
cordate at the base, coarsely and doubly serrate, very thin
and membranaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper
surface, pale yellow-green on the lower, four to six inches
long and four or four and a half inches broad. The flowers
and fruit I have not seen. The male catkins in September
are an inch and a half long, very slender, with bracts
rounded and apiculate at the apex. From the seeds, for
which I am indebted to the Forestry officials of Hokkaido,
a large number of seedlings of this fine tree have been
raised in the Arboretum. Specimens collected in the Nikko
Mountains by Meyer indicate that it is an inhabitant of
Hondo, where, however, we did not see if. From Yezo it
ranges northward through Saghalin into Manchuria. The
tough thin bark is used by the Ainos for many domestic pur-
poses.

The most common Birch of the high mountain-forests
of Hondo is Betula Ermani, a handsome species now well
known in European and American collections, into which
it has been introduced through the agency of the St. Peters-
burg Botanic Garden. In Hondo, where it is found scat-
tered through the coniferous forests, it is common at eleva-
tions of from four to six thousand feet above the sea, and
is conspicuous from the white bark of the trunk and the
bright orange-colored bark of the principal branches. From
the different forms of the White Birch this species can be
readily distinguished in the herbarium by the long spath-
ulate middle lobe of the bract of the female flower; in the
forests the color of the bark of the branches well distin-
guishes it.

On the shores of Lake Umoto we found a single indi-
vidual of a black-barked Birch-tree, much like our Amer-
ican Betula lenta, vi'ith the same cherry-like flavor in the
bark of the branchlets. From Betula lenta it differed in its
larger, more obtuse and paler winter buds, in the more
prominent midribs and veins of the leaves covered on their
lower surface with silky pubescence, and in the shorter
cones of fruit, the lateral lobes of the bracts being narrow
and acute, instead of broad and rounded, as in the Amer-
ican species. With considerable hesitation I have referred
this tree to the Betula serra of Siebold & Zuccarini. The
seedling plants which have been raised in the Arboretum
will, perhaps, throw some light upon its true position.
Betula ulmifolia, B. Bhojpattra and B. corylifoha, included
in the flora of Japan, we did not see.

In Japan Alders are more numerous in species, and grow
to a much larger size than in eastern America. Alnus in-
cana, which is only a shrub here, in Japan becomes in
some of its forms a stately tree fifty or sixty feet in height,
forming trunks often two feet in diameter. Trees of this
size of the varieties glauca and hirsuta, the latter well
characterized by the pale pubescence which covers the lower
surface of the leaves, are common in Yezo, where they are
found on low slopes in moist rich ground, but not often
close to the banks of streams, which are usually occupied
by Alnus Japonica. This is the largest and most beautiful
of the Japanese Alders. It is a pyramidal tree, often sixty
to eighty feet tall, well furnished to the ground with
branches clothed with large dark green lustrous leaves.
This species has been confounded with the rare North
American Alnus maritima (see figure 47. o" P- 269 of vol.
iv. of this journal), from which it differs in habit and in
Lhe size and color of the leaves. The fruit of the two spe-

344

Garden and Forest.

[Number 286.

cies is very similar, but the Japanese tree flowers in the
spring, ripening its fruit in the autumn of the same year,
while the American tree flowers in the autumn and does
not perfect its fruit until a year later. The figure of Alnus
Japonica which appears on page 345 of this issue has been
made from a drawnig of a wild specimen gathered in Yezo,
and appears to be the first which has been published.

Alnus Japonica is sometimes found in our collections, and
is generally cultivated under the name of Alnus firma.
It is perfectly hardy in New England, where it grows
rapidly, and promises to become a large and handsome
tree. The true Alnus firma, which is largely planted along
the margins of the Rice-fields near Tokyo to afford sup-
port for ihe poles on which the freshly cut rice is hung to
dry, was not seen growing under what appeared natural
conditions ; but the beautitul mountain-tree, distinguished
by the thick conspicuously veined leaves, which has been
considered a variety of Alnus firma (var. multinervis), we
often saw on the mountains of Hondo, where it grows on
dry rocky soil and reaches elevations of some five thousand
feet above the sea-level. It is a graceful tree,, sometimes
twenty or thirty feet high, with slender spreading branches
and thin flexible branchlets covered with ample, thick,
dark green, acute leaves with from sixteen to twenty-four
pairs of pale conspicuous straight veins. When better
known, this handsome tree will probably prove to be speci-
fically distinct, and a garden-plant of value.

What has been considered a form of Alnus viridis (var.
Sibirica) is a very distinct-looking plant in Japan, with
broadly ovate cordate leaves fully twice as large as those
produced by Alnus viridis in America or Europe. At high
elevations on Mount Hakkoda we found it growing as a
bushy tree from twenty to twenty-five feet tall, and form-
ing a short stout trunk. A review of all the known forms
of Alnus viridis will probably necessitate the separation
of the Japanese plant from it. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

DiPLADENiA ExiMEA. — This Is a ncw species lately intro-
duced by Messrs. bander & Co., of St. Albans, who sent
flowers of it to Kew for determination. It is, I believe,
Brazilian, and, according to Mr. Hemsley, who describes
it in the Gardners' Chronicle, it is nearest to D. acuminata
of the Botanical Magazine, t. 4828. 1 saw the flowers and
can vouch for their exceeding beauty and distinctiveness
from every other species or variety of Dipladenia known
in gardens. It is, of course, a climber, with broad, oval
dark green leaves less than two inches long, and clusters
of flowers, each between two and three inches in diameter
and colored deep rich rose, funnel-shaped, with short broad-
spreading, elegantly curved lobes, narrowed to an acute
point Ttie plants in Mr. Sander's nursery grow very freely,
and altogether I should be disposed to pronounce this
one of the very best of all known Dipladenias. The color
of the flowers is exquisite.

Dipladenia Harrisii. — This is a very handsome stove-
climber, a large specimen of it in the Water-lily house at
Kew bearing several long shoots clothed with racemes of
large yellow AUamanda-like flowers, tinged with red at the
base of the lobes. It was discovered in Trinidad by Mr.
Purdie, who described it as "a fine plant, not surpassed
by any one of its congeners, whether we consider the size
and beauty and fragrance of its flowers of metallic lustre,
or its entire habit" It was named in honor of Lord Harris,
at that time Governor of Trinidad, and was first flowered
by Messrs. Veitch in 1854. The leaves are large, some
being fully a foot long by four inches broad, and the plant
is a sturdy, quick grower, much more amenable to ordi-
nary treatment than the Dipladenias of the amabilis type.
In the Genera Plantarum, D. Harrisii is referred to the
genus Odontadenia. It is a first-rate garden-plant

Bignonia purpurea. — This is one of the most beautiful of
all stove-climbers, but it requires to be understood to be a
success. In the Palm-house at Kew it is trained against
the curvilinear roof, from which, at the present time, its
numerous shoots hang in great profusion, some of them
two yards long and clothed with large clusters of richest
purple-blue flowers, as large as those of B. speciosa, and
even more attractive. The leaves are bifoliate, bright
green, and the flowers are borne in the axils, as many as
a dozen flowers, in some cases, clustering about each pair
of leaves. Until we ceased to prune this plant in winter
it flowered only sparingly, but now that we leave all the
summer-grown shoots we get the effect above described.
Whatever pruning is necessary is done as soon as the flow-
ers are over. This species is not new, but it is so rarely
seen or heard of in cultivation that I venture to recommend
it strongly as a first-rate summer-flowering stove-climber.

Cattleya Rex. — In my last letter I described a three-
flowered scape of this distinct and beautiful Cattleya which
was exhibited at Chiswick. This week I have seen two
more scapes, equally fine, from the collection of Mr. T.
Statler, at Manchester, and now I learn that Messrs.
Sander & Co. have "an importation, guaranteed true,
of this Cattleya, in superb order and condition. Some
of the plants are great masses, with old flower-spikes
equal in size to C. gigas Sanderiana, anS showing nine and
'ten flower-scars on each spike." These plants are to be
sold by auction in Messrs. Protherse & Morris' rooms in
Cheapside, on Friday, August 4th. At the same time this
firm will offer more plants of Eulophiella Elizabethge and
three new Cypripediums named Sargentii, Nicholsonianum
and Massaianum. Orchid fanciers are being exceptionally
well favored by the importations of new kinds this year.

L«LiA MONOPHYLLA. — We havc no more charming little
summer-flowering Orchid than this. At the present time
there are about a dozen examples of it in flower in the cool
Orchid-house at Kew, each bearing from six to a dozen
flowers of elegant butterfly form, and colored vivid orange-
scarlet I have heard of a plant which bore three flowers
on a scape, but all of the plants at Kew have only a
single flower on each scape. The pseudo-bulbs are no
thicker than a knitting-needle, six inches long, each bear-
ing a single narrow leaf three inches long. "The scape is
slender, curved, three inches long, and the flower is be-
tween one and two inches in diameter. The Kew exam-
ples have been in flower a fortnight, and the flowers are
still quite fresh. They are grown in a cool house along
with Masdevallias, and they get a fair supply of water all
the year round. This species was first introduced and
flowered at Kew in 1882, plants having been found by Mr.
Morris in Jamaica on St Andrew's Mountain at an eleva-
tion of about 5,000 feet Mr. Norman Cookson is trying
to cross it with other species of Ltelia.

EucRYPHiA piNNATiFOLiA. — A healthy plant five feet high,
planted as a specimen on a lawn at Kew, has lately flow-
ered freely, no doubt owing to the hot weather experienced
here. It has also flowered exceptionally well this year in
Messrs. Veitchs' nursery at Coombe Wood, a photograph
taken recently showing a plant ten feet high covered with
large white single Rose-like flowers. It appears to be per-
fectly hardy in England, and is certain to become a general
favorite. It was introduced into cultivation by Messrs.
Veitch & Sons about fifteen years ago. According to Sir
Joseph Hooker, it is a very local plant, being confined, so
far as is known, to the Cordillera of Concepcion, in Chili,
where it forms a bushy tree ten feet high, and is called
"Nirrhe." Two years ago a second species, E. Billardieri,
a native of Tasmania, was flowered at Kew, and when de-
scribing it in the Botanical Magazine under t 7200, Sir Jo-
seph Hooker, remarking upon the position of the genus,
says : "The fact is that Eucryphia has no hitherto recog-
nized, undoubted near relatives in the vegetable kingdom,
and having regard to the two most noticeable points in its
history and structure — namely, that it is confined to Chili
and Australia, and that of the three known species two

August i6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

345

Fiff- 53- — Ahius Japonica, — See page 342.

have simple and one pinnate leaves — it may well be re-
garded as the evidence of a vegetation different from that
now existing, which flourished when there was either direct

or interrupted land communication between the temperate
regions of Australia and South America." The third species,
E. Moorei, is a native of New South Wales.

346

Garden and Forest.

[Number 286.

Aerides Sanderianum. — Two of the largest-flowered and
handsomest of all Aerides are this and its near ally, A. Law-
renciae. Broadly speaking, they are only varieties of the
old garden favorite, A. odoratum, but their flowers are
nearly as large again, and their leaves broader than the
ordinary form of that plant At Kew, A. Sanderianum is
represented by a plant a yard high, clothed with healthy
foliage to the base, bearing two flower-scapes, each eigh-
teen inches long and clothed with twenty-five flowers,
which are an inch and a half in diameter, creamy white,
tipped with amethyst, and deliciously fragrant. It is nearly
ten years since Messrs. F. Sander & Co. introduced this
plant in quantity from the Philippine Islands along with A.
Lawrenciae, the first plant of which was purchased at an
auction sale by Sir Trevor Lawrence for 235 guineas. It
differs from A. Sanderiana in having pure white, instead of
creamy white, flowers with amethyst tips.

Platycodon GRANDiFLORUM. — Although an old .garden-
plant, having been introduced in 1782, and figured in the
Bolanical Magasitie nnd&T the name of Campanula grandi-
flora, this is still a somewhat rare plant in cultivation.
Indeed, the pan of it exhibited by Mr. G. Paul this week,
and awarded a first-class certificate by the Royal Horticul-
tural Society, attracte^l more attention from horticulturists
than any plant shown, and was looked upon by many as
an entirely new introduction. Platycodon is monotypic,
but shows considerable variation, some varieties being
only six inches high, while others grow to a height of three
feet. The plant shown by Mr. Paul was dwarf, with soft
green WiUow-like leaves and terminal bell-shaped flowers
nearly three inches across, colored rich deep purple-blue.
It appeared to be the variety introduced by Messrs. Veitch
& Sons from Japan about ten years ago, and distributed
under the varietal name of Mariesii. The worst feature of
the plant is its questionable hardiness ; at any rate, it
perishes at Kew in severe winters. It likes a deep, rich,
well-drained soil ; in very cold weather the protection of a
hand-light is advisable. Grown in pans, as shown by Mr.
Paul, it makes a pretty specimen.

New and certificated plants shown at the last meeting of
the Royal Horticultural Society included the following :
Miltonia vexillaria, van Daisy Haywood, with large, well-
formed pure white flowers, save a small irregular blotch of
yellow on the disc. Laelia crispea superba, a first-rate
variety with pure white flowers, a deep plum-purple lip,
edged with white and very crisp. Cypripedium Edwardii
(Fairrieanum xsuperbiens), a distinct and attractive hybrid,
with elegant curved petals, white and green, profusely
spotted, the dorsal sepal white with purple lines, and the
pouch greenish white tinged with lilac. It was exhibited
by Messrs. Pitcher & Manda. Cattleya Hardyana, Tates'
variety, the richest colored of all the forms of this brilliant
Cattleya.

Strobilanthes Dyerianus was shown in superb condition
by Messrs. Sander & Co. and was universally admired. A
tuberous Begonia, named Mrs. Bourne, remarkable in hav-
ing the outer segments of the flowers large, leaf-like and
colored bright yellow and green, obtained an award. The
variegated Hop (Humulus Japonicus variegatus), with
leaves freely marbled with white, was pleasing and should
find favor as a quick-growing climber for covering veran-
das, etc. Cupressus macrocarpa, var. lutea, from Messrs.
Dickson & Co. , attracted considerable notice, on account
of its yellowish color, combined with erect pyramidal habit
and an appearance quite unlike the type. Mr. A. Waterer
again showed his beautiful variety of Spiraea Bumalda,
which was awarded a first-class certificate. Lantana
Drap d'Or, from Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, is a likely-looking
plant for summer bedding, its height not exceeding six
inches and its form a compact ball, covered with short-
stalked bunches of bright yellow flowers. Didymocarpus
lacunosa, from the same firm, was awarded a botanical
certificate. It is like a Streptocarpus, the color of the flow-
ers being almost gentian blue. Several of Mr. Eckford's
new varieties of Sweet Pea obtained certificates, as also

did several Caladiums from Messrs. J. Laing & Sons.
Caladium Le Nain Rouge, a dwarf variety with bright red
leaves, is a pleasing little pot-plant. „, „,

London. ^ W. WatSOTl.

Cultural Department.

Small Fruits in Indiana.

"■yHE fruit crop of 1892 in Indiana was remarkably short,
-'• principally on account of the excessive rainfall and cold
weather during the tiowenng period. Our small-fruit grow-
ers were, theretore, confidently looking forward to an abun-
dant harvest this year, but have been again disappointed.
Records of the State Weather Service show that the daily mean
temperature for the month of May ranged from 43 5 degrees
to 74 degrees, reaching the latter point only once, and gaining
a mean temperature for the month of only 57.5 degrees This
retarded plant-growth very materially, causing the blossoms
to appear much later than usual. While the amount of rain-
fall during the month was less than normal it was so dis-
tributed during the blossoming period that, when combined
with the low temperature, bees and other insects were pre-
vented from flying, the pollen was kept almost constantly wet,
and consequently the flowers were improperly fertilized.

Ttiis was especially true of Strawberries. Old growers re-
port that this season's crop has been the poorest they have
ever known. In addition to the lack ot fertilization, the dry,
hot weaiher in June caused the fruit to ripen very quickly and
much of it prematurely. It is a difficult matter, therefore, to
compare varieties without doing injustice to some. For exam-
ple, Warfield's No. 2 has been, tor a number of years, one of
our most productive varieties and the best berry for canning,
but this season it failed to come up to the average. Bubach's
No. 5, under good treatment, is one ot the largest and most
profitable varieties, although only a moderate bearer. Haver-
land is another which combines productiveness and size when
well cared for. It always brings good prices, but is better for a
home market on account of its lack of firmness. Edgar Queen
is a comparatively new variety, but it promises to give better
satisfaction than many others which have been highly adver-
tised. Eureka is a late variety, and for that reason was caught
this season by the dry weather in June, which cut it short.
Greenville is an Ohio variety and one that has given us good
crops of fine truit. Park Beauty is one of the earliest and most
productive varieties we have tested. It is about the size of the
Crescent and resembles it in many respects. Shuster'sGem
is another excellent variety, both in vigor of plant, productive-
ness and size and quality ot fruit.

These are all pistillate kinds, and, of course, must be accom-
panied by perfect blossoming sorts. It is more ditBcult to find
a real good staminate variety, but occasionally we find one
which has real merit. Brunette is one of these, a native of
Indiana, a good grower, productive, and of the first quality.
For home consumption, to be used while fresh, I prefer this
berry to any other with which I am acquainted. Jessie is a
good berry when all the conditions are favorable, but it is too
unreliable to be recommended for general cultivation. Katie,
Loudens No. 15, and Louise are all good staminate varieties.
Lovett's Early has proved to be a valuable variety, although
not early enough to warrant the latter half of the name. Par-
ker Earle is a very good late variety, although not superior to
many others. The old Wilson's Albany seems to have run its
course, except in a few localiues. J. M. Smith, of Green Bay,
Wisconsin, has been very successful with it, but plants from
his grounds set out here two years ago have proved a com-
plete failure so far as fruit is concerned.

The Raspberry crop throughout the state is below the
average, owing to a deficiency of rainfall lor the month of
June and first ten days in July. The normal rainfall for June
at this place is 4.80 inches ; that for the past month was only
1.93. This has caused the fruit to dry up badly. Besides this,
the anthracnose has seriously affected the canes in many lo-
calities, and has so reduced the crop. Many growers have not yet
learned to use the Bordeaux mixture against fungal diseases.
Judging from their behavior this season. Progress and Johns-
ton's Sweet would be stricken from the list of Black Caps as
being too small. Conrath's Early is a new variety, and has
done remarkably well. Nemaha continues to be our best late
variety. It is a hardy Gregg. Of the red varieties Cuthbert,
Mohler's No. i, Muskingum and Thompson's Early are the
only ones worthy of mention this season. Child's Japanese
Wineberry proves to be the tenderest thing in the shape of a
Raspberry that we have here. It never bears any fruit unless
well protected during the winter.

August i6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

347

The cultivation of the Blackberry is comparatively new in
this state because in many localities wild berries could be had
for the picking. In many parts of the state, however, commer-
cial Blackberry-growing is coming to be an extensive business.
Agawam, Ancient Briton, Early Harvest, Eldorado, Erie,
Gainor, Minnewaski, Snyder, Stone's Hardy, Taylor and Wal-
lace are all grown, and the Lucretia Dewberry is also grown to
some extent. Early Harvest is too tender, except for the
southern portion of the state.

The cultivation of Currants and Gooseberries has been prac-
tically abandoned in many sections on account of the ravages
of the currant-worm or gooseberry-sawfly. Indeed, it is not
yet generally known that so simple a remedy as hellebore
dusted on the bushes at just the right time will prevent all this
trouble. According to this year's observations, the Fay currant
is of good size, but not prolitic enough to make it profitable.
Moore's Ruby is decidedly the best red currant we have.
Wilder is equal to it in size, but not in productiveness. These
two, with the old Red Dutch, make a good trio. The Crandall
is the best black variety, but it varies so much that it is not
always reliable, and many persons do not like the peculiar fla-
vor. In fact, I do not know why we want a black currant.
Early Orange Gooseberry is the best and most prolific early
variety. Champion is about the size of Downing, and more
productive. Houghton is very productive but small.

Experiment station, Lafayette. Ind. J. TrOOp.

Notes on Raspberries.

'T'HE season, though late, has been a favorable one for fruits
■^ and vegetables of all kinds. The berry season is now
(July 22d) upon us, and the present hot weather following an
early summer, with plenty of rain, is bringing on one variety
after another with unusual rapidity. Nothing is more apt to
be misleading than one season's experience with any variety.
Kinds which are ten days apart one year may ripen almost to-
gether the next. A good year like this serves also to bring out
the merits of the less popular sorts. Marlboro and Rancocas
have done superbly this season ; even Highland Hardy,
though discarded from our state catalogue, gave a fine yield of
early berries.

The new Black Cap, Conrath's Early, has given another good
crop. It originated here, and while not as early as it at first
appeared, being later than either Palmer orSouhegan, it yields
good crops of larger berries than those of either of these two
varieties. This season its heaviest crop came with the first pick-
ing of Gregg.

Ann Arbor, Mich. A. A. CrOSier.

The Water-garden.

XXT'ILLIAM TRICKER sent me, last week, a specimen of the
' * interesting Swedish Water-lily, whose flowering I do not
remember to have seen recorded since Mr. Hovey, of Boston,
grew it successfully some years ago. Of late years it seems
not to have been in cultivation here, and it is the rarest Nym-
phcea in American collections. The Swedish Lily, known
variously as N. alba, var. rosea, N. alba, var. rubra, N. Cas-
pary and N. sphaerocarpa, was discovered in 1856 in a remote
lake in Sweden, Lake Fayer (Fayer tarn). It was named N.
sphaerocarpa by Professor Caspary, and was originally intro-
duced to cultivation by Froebl, of Zurich, in 1877 or 1878, In
the latter year it was offered by an English florist at ^5 a root.
For some reason, while the rhizomes of this plant seem strong
and produce a fair number of buds, it does not appear to be a
vigorous grower under ordinary conditions. My plant, which
I have had two years, has never given me a flower, and at
present is quietly asleep at the bottom of the tank, with no
floating leaves. It started off promptly early in the season, but
soon dropped its floating leaves and went to rest. At Dongan
Hills there has been a more successful result, and the flower
sent me shows that this is a most distinct and beautiful variety.
While it may be botanically allied to N. alba, or a variety of it,
the petals are much narrower and rounded or blunt at the tips.
The color, on first opening, is pale pink, later changing to a
rose-pink quite blue in tone. This color is not a suffusion,
but appears as linings on a white ground. In a good
light the flower is effective and charming, though, like all other
flowers of this color, rather ugly in a dull light. The stamens
deepen to a dark rich orange. If my description is clear, it will
be noticed that we have here one of the parents of N. Laydekeri,
which has the same coloring and the same peculiarity of deep-
ening in color from day to day. Otherwise the characters of
this hybrid are all those of N. pygmaea, except that the size is
intermediate between the two. The petals are broad and

pointed, and the root habit is that of Nymphsea pygmaea,
which does not allow of division, and is usually grown
from seed. The roots of N. Laydekeri have allowed of
no division with me, and I am at a loss to know liow it is prop-
agated except from seed, from which if apparently comes true.
The price has rapidly declined, which seems to indicate that it
increases rapidly, as do most Nymphaeas. In fact, there are
so many species and varieties of these plants, mostly requir-
ing ample space to develop their full beauties, that one has
never sufficient surface-room in the water-garden for many of
them. The end of varieties is not yet, for they hybridize freely,
and one is apt to find his tank or pond full of young seedlings
with unknown possibilities. Many of these are lost, of course,
where ponds are crowded with well-developed leaves of estab-
lished plants, but it only requires slight care to transfer them
to permanent quarters where they may have light and room
to develop. Now that so many kinds are grown we may ex-
pect often to find new natural hybrids. N. Zanzibarensis seems
to increase in ruder conditions than was thought possible.
Two of my friends had young plants this season from seeds
which were exposed in their tanks all winter. It is not aston-
ishing that seeds of tender plants should survive this ordeal,
but it has been the practice to germinate this tropical variety
at a high temperature, and it is noteworthy that such practice
is apparently not essential. However, seedlings of such varie-
ties thus germinated would probably not make sufficient
growth the first season to become useful plants. They may,
however, be grown on and starved for the pf-oduction of
tubers, which can be wintered more easily and safely than flow-
ering plan ts,and which the succeeding season give several strong
growths from each tuber. It is a peculiarity of Nymphaeas
that starvation tends to increase of stock. A starved' rhizome
will produce usually many more buds than a strong-growing
plant. A starved or checked tuberous Nymphaea seems to de-
vote its efforts to the production of tubers. The production of
tubers is not only advantageous for the safe storage of stock,
but it offers the only feasible way to propagate species whose
seedlings, like N. Zanzibarensis, are very variable in color.
Seedlings of this species will often run in shading from light
reddish purple to dark blue-purple, and are most esteemed the
nearer they approach an intense rich color. Given a satisfac-
tory variety, it will be seen that to cause it to form tubers
from which numerous breaks will give young plants, is a cer-
tain means to propagate true stock. N. rubra and N. Devoni-
ensis are also propagated in the same way, but these form
tubers more quickly and naturally than N. Zanzibarensis. N.
flava and N. Mexicana form cone-like tubers, and throw out
many runners, on which are formed clusters of thong-like
tubers, which quickly form new plants. There is not much
vigor in the old tubers of these Nymphaeas, though I have had
them exist in an out-of-door tank through the winter. The
young tubers retain their vitality perfectly, though I should
prefer to store them in warmer quarters.

The care of water-plants at this season consists in keeping
them free from aphides, removing decaying growths and keep-
ing in check the more vigorous and rapidly increasing plants.
Bare water-spaces are more attractive in a water-garden than
such masses or breadths as many of the minor plants rapidly
make if allowed to grow unchecked. Among plants to be
avoided, except in special positions, and never to be used with
Nymphaeas, I should include the dainty floating plants, Azolla
Carolinensis, Salvinia nutans and Trianea Bogotensis. These,
while individually pretty and interesting by their masses, make
a pond untidy and shade the Lily-roots. Limnanthemum
nymphaeoides is a hardy plant, which becomes a troublesome
weed, difficult to exterminate. The cucumber-like yellow
flowers are not attractive enough to recommend it. Eichhornia
ccerulea has much handsomer flowers than the better-known
E. crassipes major, but it grows rapidly and vigorously and will
smother any plant which it overtakes in its straightaway course.
E. crassipes major, while growing as vigorously, is more readily
kept in check. One has to reduce its masses almost daily, but it
is a plant to be grown for its curious habit and abundant flowers.

With few exceptions, the most satisfying minor aquatic
plants are those which are not of wandering habit and do not
occupy much water-surface, which is always valuable. A
water-garden, to be most effective, requires aijiple vacant
water-spaces to serve as a setting to the plants which may or
may not be acquisitions, but certainly will not appear so if
crowded together. , ,, ^

Elizabeth, N. J. £■ N. Gerard.

Liparis liliifolia. — While not characterized by brilliancy of
coloring or striking peculiarity of form, L. liliifolia is by no
means destitute of quiet beauty, and, in common with other

348

Garden and Forest.

[Number 386.

Orchids, its odd-shaped flowers are interesting-, and the whole
plant is attractive in ap>pearance. From solid bulbs of half to
three-quarters of an inch in diameter it sends up two rather
largfe ovate leaves and a loose spike of twenty to forty or more
flowers, growing six to eight inches high. The flowers have
three linear sepals, one of which points backward, looking very
njuch like a spur, the other two, diverging a little, are placed
close under and project in the form of a short point beyond
the lip, which is wedge-obovateand abruptly short-pointed and
half an inch long. Two thread-like petals, about half an inch
long, are turned downward, curving toward each other at the
lower end. The calyx is greenish white, the lip and petals
brown-purple, and the pedicels dark purple. Two years ago
I collected several plants while they were in flower, and last
year several more. They were planted in a fiat as a conve-
nient method of experimenting with their culture. They have
stood in the shade of a building, where they only get about an
hour of sunshine in the middle of the day, and entirely unpro-
tected, except that they were covered by snow for a few weeks
during last winter. They were planted very shallow, so that a
portion of the bulb is exposed above the surface, and they have
not been injured in the least by the severe weather. In its
wild state the Living-blade, which is the common name of this
plant, grows in oioist woodlands, but my experience seems to
show that it will thrive under ordinary care if partial shade is
given to it.

Hammonton, N. J.

Win. F. Basse tt.

Vegetable Notes.— Our last sowing of American Wonder
Peas and Valentine Beans is made by the loth of August. We
shall make another sowing of Lettuce, using Deacon and
black-seeded Ferris Ball. Radishes we continue well into
September, sowing the small hardy red turnip variety. Prickly
Spinach, for fall use, is in by the 7th of August, and about tlie
first of September we shall make another sowing for winter-
ing over. This is sown on ridges so as to shed water, and is
covered with light litter to protect it from frost. Lettuce may
be put into frarqes about the first of September and headed
up with the use of sashes. Wth protection it can be kept well
along into December. A few roots of Parsley for winter
picking should be placed in a corner of a frame, the smallest
roots being planted, as these are most easily established. A
few roots of Watercress are also desirable. It is surprising
how well this plant does in an ordinary frame.

WeUesley, Mass. 1. U. tl.

The Forest.

Suggestions from the White Pine Forests of
Minnesota.

WHILE moving through the woods during a number of
years I have made some study of the great variety of cir-
cumstances under which the White Pine grows, in the hope of
discovering some of its preferences as shown by examples of
its best development under some more or less definite chain
of circumstances. Since some of the notes were taken I have
found that probably all the principles involved are known, but
as they are not known to everyone it may be of use to present
and repeat them. Another object in offering the notes is that
others may find in them some suggestion in determining how
to plant and care for an artificial forest, or to aid them in the
more diflicult task of takingany given piece of woodland and
making the best of it. In making a selection of these notes I
have used those only tliat may distinctly indicate the circum-
stances under whicli White Pine timber develops the best. In
general the history of every forest is a record of disaster and
recovery. A new growth comes in after cutting and fire, and
the old trees are replaced by the young.

(i) In a dense growth all of one species, especially if the soil
be poor or subject to drought, or to floods, much of the tim-
ber is found defective, especially with ring rot. owing probably
to imperfect nourishment of the tree, which is thus unable to
mature the annual growth of wood during unfavorable
seasons.

(2) If the growth is not dense enough to subdue the lateral
branches, the trunks grow short and knotty, with a large pro-
portion of sapwood ; while Pine, started under Poplar and
Birch and kept closely surrounded by growing trees, has a
rapid upward growth free from branches, and forms tall,
straight, clear trunks, with little sapwood.

(3) If a large trunk is to be grown in a short time, it should
be remembered that a tree started among an accompanying
growth that will never reach a great height or will soon be
overtopped by the Pines, but will yet remain densely shading
the trunk to a height of twenty feet, will probably produce a

log sixteen feet long and two feet in diameter at the small end
in sixty years.

(4) The fact that many of the large trees, otherwise sound
and vigorous, are hollow near the butt or throughout the butt
log, indicates that the sapling from three to eight inches in
diameter, which was barely able to exist under the overtop-
ping forest, may upon receiving sufficient light and nourish-
ment become vigorous; and although the defective wood,
formed when the free was unable to mature its wood, cannot
be replaced, it may be covered by sound wood, and the small
hollow left by the decay of this imperfect wood will not seri-
ously affect the value of the tree for lumber.

(5) The best Pine timber is found scattered among hardwood
on fertile, porous, well-watered and well-drained loam, without
much humus, and is from loo to 200 years old and about 125 feet
high. The accompanying "hardwood" is usually younger, and
in Minnesota usually consists of Basswood, Maple, Red Oak
and Yellow Birch.

(6) A good growth of sapling White Pine, some ten to twenty
inches in diameter, is frequently found overtopping and killing
White Birch, Poplar and Balsam Fir, which are then replaced
to some extent by Maple, Basswood, Oak and Yellow Birch.

(7) A dense growth of White Birch or Poplar, ten to thirteen
feet high, is frequently found overtopping young White Pine.

(8) On nearly every tract where mature White Pme-trees are
growing. White Pine-seedlings also are found, and often these
are numerous enough to retimber the tract thoroughly.

(9) The mere cutting of the mature timber does not de-
stroy many of these little seedlings, but many are killed
either by too much exposure to the sun or by too much
shading.

(10) The greatest danger to the seedlings is from the fire
that usually follows the cutting, burning every shrub and small
tree, and frequently killing even the large trees, both conifers
and hardwoods that may have been left from the cutting.

(11) Sometimes a fire has destroyed all except a few large
scattered Pine. In such a case the first growth to spring up is
Poplar, White Birch, Willow and Balsam. Under the shelter
of these saplings young Pines start, to eventually overtop the
less vigorous trees that have nursed them, and thus the tract
will be retimbered with the same species that covered it before.

(12) A growth of timber can be secured at least expens5 by
selecting ground that is already well seeded, then cutting an
overtopping tree here or increasing the shade there, and,
above all, by carefully guarding against fire.

(13) A good protection against fire may be formed by clear-
ing and cultivating under crops of Potatoes, Beans or Corn, a
strip at least four rods wide around the tract. Wagon-roads
also form a good protection, while even trails sometimes
check the progress of a fire, and are useful to make the forest
accessible to watchmen.

(14) Conditions found in one forest are not necessarily found
also in another ; and principles that may apply in Minnesota
may not apply in New York or Pennsylvania, so one cannot
understand one region exactly bv studying another. For ex-
ample, much of the White Pine of Carlton County grows under
very different circumstances from that of Crow Wing County,
and so each tract under consideration needs to be examined ;
the whole ground needs to be studied, carefully mapped and
described before a definite method of treatment can be devised.

It may be well to recapitulate and make more plain the
natural course of development wliicli I think the notes indicate.

Note 5 briefly describes the condition under which the best
White Pine-timber is found, and the following notes are in-
tended to trace the tree back through its most prominent
stages of development to the tiny seedling, and even to show
under what conditions the seeds have been sown. To reverse
this order and begin with the parent trees left alive after a
disastrous fire : The first White Pine-seeds that fall on the bare
ground are not successful, but after a few years, when a pro-
tecting coppice of Poplars, etc., has developed, the Pine may
start under it.

By a more vigorous upward growth the coppice is soon
overtopped, and then serves the Pine as a nurse, subduing
lateral branches, promoting upward growth, protecting against
shaking and evaporation by wind, preserving the snows of
winter until late in spring ; by deposits of leaves keeping frost
out of the ground, and thus permitting the percolation of water
during the winter ; mulching tlie soil and furnishing constant
nutriment not only by the decay of leaves and twigs, but more,
perhaps, by the fertilization through worms, insects and other
small animals.

The Pines outlive several generations of nurses, some of
which are valuable in themselves, and may be utilized with
profit by cutting before the Pine is cut. The inference may be

August i6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

349

rightly drawn that timber can be grown at least expense
by selecting tracts now under favorable conditions, and merely
aiding nature, and avoiding the great expense of much plant-
ing, with continued cultivation and pruning.

Carlton, Minn. H. B. AyreS.

The Columbian Exposition.

The Plant-effects in the Horticultural Building.

'pHE great Horticultural Building comprises a dome area
A troni which extend, in each direction, two parallel curtains
or wings, which connect the dome with two end pavilions.
Between the curtains, on either side of the dome, is a court,
one of which is devoted to the California Orange-orchard,
already mentioned in this correspondence (page 309), and the
other to the German Wine Building (page 329) and Lily-tanks.
The dome and the two front wings or curtains are devoted to
ornamenta' plants, while the rear wings are devoted to fruit
displays. The dome is 187 feet in diameter, and has an inside
altitude of 113 feet, while each of the curtains is 270 by 69 feet
in Hoor area. The sides and roofs of these curtains are of
glass. In fact, these wings are simply gigantic greenhouses
of sufficient height to accommodate tall Palms and Bamboos.
The tloor is covered with cinders. This proves to be a very
poor material for the purpose, being dirty and unpleasant to
walk upon ; its dull color is also objectionable among plants.
In these great greenhouses many thousand plants are ar-
ranged in various fashions, a great number are in pots and
some are bedded out.

There are sixteen distinct exhibits by
different firms and individuals, but
many of the displays are collective.
The accompanying diagram shows the
Hoor-plan of the dome and floricultural
curtains at this time, the shaded por-
tions representing the beds of plants.

:■■■ 3-

The group on the north of the dome, marked 8 in the plan,
is contributed by the state of New York, in which important
exhibitors are the Jay Gould estate, Julius Roehrs and Prospect
Park. The collection is under the charge of James Dean, of Bay
Ridge. Perhaps the most conspicuous plants in the group,
which contains many fine specimens, are Ravenala Madagas-
cariensis or Traveler's Tree, Seaforthia elegans, Pandanus
utilis, Areca lutescens and Arenga Bonnettii, from the estate
of Jay Gould ; Dracaena Knerkiana, from Mrs. E. Beck, and
good specimens of Thrinax elegans, Corypha australis,
Pritchardia macrocarpa, Phcenix Canariensis and P. spinosa ;
also an abundance of Sweet Bay (8 a). As these plants occupy
the north side of the dome, they have been spared the ill
effects of the unscreened glass, and are mostly in good condi-
tion. Pitcher & Manda's collection of Palms on the west side
(9) is excellent in itself, and comprises some rare and costly
species, but it has suffered considerably. Palms in this group
worthy of special mention are a Kentia Forsteriana, twenty-
five feet high, and carrying sixteen good leaves ; Pritchardia
Pacifica, and a variegated Latania Borbonica. About 150 va-
rieties of Palms were originally placed in this collection. The
remaining portion of the dome circle is occupied by Pennsyl-
vania with various Palms of merit, many of which lack good
labels.

The south wing contains many plants and groups of great
merit, and most of the arrangement is good. Pennsylvania
shows a long border (10, 10, 10), which begins with an admira-
ble collection of variegated Caladiums opposite the dome, from
George W. Childs, continues through a variety of plants con-
tributed by Robert Craig, Henry A.
Dreer and others, and ends on the south
with a large collection of Ferns from
-Qb. Jl" * * ' " " 11 Mr- Dreer. The Pennsylvania displays
] are in charge of Robert Craig, and they

are in good condition throughout. The
most decorative or pictodal group in the
building is a collection of stove-plants

Fit;. 54. — Ground-plan showing;
tlie Horticultural Building at

(-. 5...^-..S:. C^MA i..^m,.

The circular space in the centre is oc-
cupied by the artificial mound under
the dome, and the beds about it, num-
bered 8, 9 and 10, are level-floor groups
of Palms and other bold plants. The
most conspicuous feature of the in-
terior of the building is this mound,
and the effect of the plants massed upon
its flanks and summit at once arrests
attention. The framework of the elevation, which was designed
to represent a mountain, is a rough board scaffolding, beneath
which is a crystal cave belonging to a private person, and to
this an admission fee is charged. The cave itself is sufficiently
out of place in a horticultural building, and the exterior of it,
painted red, is but scantily covered by the unhappy plants
which are perched upon it. The elevation in no way
suggests a mountain and cannot fail to leave an unpleasant
impression upon the mind of the visitor. There has been
some attempt to construct rocks at intervals on this structure,
of painted canvas and other material, but the observer is
never deceived as to their character. This pile rises to the
height of seventy feet, and the different steps and platforms
are occupied by a heterogeneous mixture of plants, among
which are boxes of Cannas, a good variety of Palms, and a
crown of Ficuses. In order to cover the bare walls, evergreens
were cut and adjusted to the vacant spaces, and some of these,
dead and brown, are still in place in midsummer. The struc-
ture is full of ugly gaps, many of the plants are dry and sere,
and the whole object is a most unhappy and crest-fallen spec-
tacle. But, wholly aside from the poor condition of the deco-
ration, its design is without purpose and is bad ; it accomplishes
nothing more than a rude filling of the space ; it represents
no mountain vegetation, nor the flora of any land, nor has it
any artistic value. The base of this structure is greatly re-
lieved by excellent collections of Palms, but these are begin-
ning to look yellow and sickly, probably from the too intense
light of the unscreened glass and the great height of the roof.

the arraneement of plants i
the Columbian Exposition.

in the centre of the curtain (9), from
Pitcher & Manda. This group, con-
taining 260 specimens, include Dieffen-
bachias, Alocasias, Marantas and Be-
gonias, audit has a good setting against
the succeeding bed of Tree Ferns and
other large Ferns. A short colonnade
of Tree Ferns, the tallest twenty-seven
feet in height, comprises the centre
of the group, with something over one hundred varieties
making up the details. Opposite the low group of stove-
plants is a general collection of Orchids, Anthuriums, Ne-
penthes and other plants of this class (9), from Pitcher &
Manda. The Orchid display of this firm is the only one
of importance in the building, and includes forty-seven
kinds of Cypripediums, 403 plants of Cattleya Mossiae, 390 of
Cattleya citrina and thirty-four of the new Cattleya Gravesiana.
Something over a thousand plants of Orchids have been shown
in this collection.

Following Pitcher & Manda on the south is the most extensive
and best collection of Begonias with decorative foliage (16),
shown by E. G. Hill & Co. A large collection of Cacti is shown
beyond this by Mrs. Anna B. Nickels, of Laredo, Texas. The ex-
tremity of the curtain is occupied by a general collection of Palms,
stove-plants. Gardenias and others, shown by Massachusetts
(II), Missouri (12, 12), J. C. Vaughan (13), Albert Fuchs, Chicago
(14), and Texas or Galveston (15). Opposite the dome, on the
west (9), is a large collection of Cycads from Pitcher & Manda,
including about thirty varieties. The south curtain presents a
certain continuity and progression of effect which is pleasing,
especially when seen from the gallery of the dome. It rises
gradually from the low group of stove-plants in the fore-
ground to the taller Ferns and Palms in the rear, and the
bright-colored foliage and flowers give it an air of finish which
is charming.

The north curtain is much more heterogeneous in its effects.
It contains, however, a wonderful collection of plants, especially

350

Garden and Forest.

[Number 286.

in the great Tree Ferns and giant Stag-horn Ferns from New
South Wales (2, 2, 2, 2), which extend, like a forest, down the
middle of the building, and the curious dwarfed trees of the
Japanese garden (3). The foreground of this curtain is flanked
by a tasteful group of Palms and other tropical plants sent by
Ontario (4) and under the charge of Mr. Gilchrist. At the
extreme end (i, t) Trinidad interposes a bold group of Palms
and Bamboos. Roses and Azaleas are shown on the west side
by Germany (5) and Belgium (6) ; and Mexico balances Ontario
with a very' remarkable collection of Cacti (7). As seen from
the north gallery of the dome, this wing produces a most
gaudy and bewildering effect because of the individuality of
me groups and the profuse use of banners and pendants by
the New South Wales exhibit. Tlie Japanese gartlen is the
unique feature in the curtains and is worth a detailed de-
scription.

Although there are some details in these plant curtains
which seem to jar with the spirit of the design— especially the
booths and sales-stands — the general effect is good, especially
when it is considered how hastily the collections were pro-
cured and the many difficulties which are met with in carrying
out so great an enterprise. It is to be regretted that there are
not more individual growers and firms concerned in the ex-
hibits, and that the educational features have often been over-
shadowed by attempts at mere decoration. The dome-piece is
the feature open to mostserious criticism, and this is altogether
bad. It is but just to say that the dome is too immense to
allow of wholly satisfactory treatment at a temporary exhibi-
tion, and the fault lies in trying to fill it. The side-curtains, on
the other hand, are of such shape that they give a long per-
sj>ective and readily lend themselves to good effects.

Chicago, IIL

L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

Our correspondent, Mr. Cliarles H. Shinn, has lately been
appointed inspector of the two California Forestry Stations
which are to be reorganized under his direction and which
promise increased usefulness.

Monsieur H. L. de Vilmorin, the head of the house of Vilmo-
rin, Andrieux & Co., of Paris, and one of the most learned and
distinguished horticulturists in 1-^urope, has recently arrived in
this city on his way to Chicago to attend the Horticultural
Congress, at which he is to read a paper upon seed-raising.

Primula imperialis, which was raised and flowered success-
fully at Kew several years ago, ripened plenty of seeds, not one
of which, however, has germinated, and the old plants have
now all died. If any one who obtained plants or seeds of this
species from Kew has succeeded in keeping and multiplying
it the Director would be glad to hear from him.

Hymenocallis calathinum.by no means new, would be much
more widely cultivated if its value as an out-oi-doors summer
flowering plant were better known. The bulbs can be kept
over winter as easily as those of the Gladiolus. In midsummer
the display of its clear white Eucharislike flowers on their tall
scapes is unusually handsome. They are specially useful
as cut flowers in large vases.

Cypripedium Nicholsonianum has been recently sold by the
Messrs. Sander & Co. as a distinct Cypripedium, from the
little-known island of Palawan. In habit it is somewhat inter-
mediate between C. Rothschildianum and C. Sanderianum,
but quite distinct in its blunt-pointed leaves, which are of a
clear shining green with gray tessellations. The plants are
sturdy, and apparently free both in growth and flower. Mr.
Watson writes that it will not be surprising if when they flower
they prove to be identical with the beautiful C. Rothschildi-
anum, or a variety of it.

In the Japanese section in the Forestry Building at Chicago
there is a beautiful exhibit of starch made from the roots of
the Pueraria Thunbergiana, w hicli seems to be an article of
common use throughout Japan. The stems of the vine are
used for binding firewood, and its leaves as food for animals.
P. Thunbergiana, described in Garden and Forest, vol. v.,
p. 574, has been largely distributed in this country as Uolichos
JafKjnicus. It is a rampant grower, and, although it rarely
flowers in the northern part of New England, is useful wher-
ever a vine is needed to cover a trellis rapidly.

Among the species of Gladiolus, seekers after quaint and
curious flowers will find many interesting plants, some of
which are also very handsome. Gladiolus sulphureus, now
in flower, is one of the most striking of tliese. The spike is
closely set, with moderate-size flowers of a pale sulphur-yel-

low, which are tinged with green on first opening. This is a
species from Mount Kilimanjaro, where it was found at a
height of 5,000 feet, and it does not seem to be much m culti-
vation. The G. sulphureus usually offered by the florists is a
variety of G. tristis, a South African species and not nearly so
deeply colored, though a good cool-house plant to flower with
Cape bulbs in the early spring.

The Gardeners' Chronicle, in a recent issue, comments, in
the following words, upon the academic honors lately con-
ferred by Harvard and Yale upon Frederick Law Olmsted
and Horatio HoUis Hunnewell : "Academic recognition of
this character is of far higher value in such cases and much
more appropriate than are the titles given by the state to pol-
iticians as a reward for party services, or to men of business
merely because they have been successful in amassing wealth.
The two American Universities have followed the lead of their
older sisters in England, and it is not long since Trinity Col-
lege, Dublin, conferred the honorary degree of M. A. on a
distinguished gardener, Mr. Burbidge, the author of one of
the most useful books in the gardeners' library. Cultivated
Plants, their Propagation and Improvement."

In the year 1886 a society was organized in Holland to make
plans for the draining of tlie Zuyder Zee. It now officially re-
ports that three-fourths of the soil covered by these 900,000
acres of water is as fertile as surrounding districts, and proposes
a scheme of drainage which will leave 300,000 acres in the cen-
tre as a lake, while the rest will be redeemed at a rate that will
annually render from 12,000 to 15,000 acres habitable. The
cost of the entire work is estimated at $76,000,000. The largest
enterprise of the same sort hitherto carried out has been the
draining of the Haarlem Lake, which, after thirty-nine months
of labor, added 46,000 acres to the solid soil of Holland. When
the Zuyder Zee was formed by an inundation, in the thirteenth
century, sovne 80,000 lives are believed to have been lost, and
this fact gives an idea of the profit which will result from its
redemption.

The only new fruit of importance in market this week are
nectarines, which have been coming from California in such
abundance that they are found on the sidewalk fruit-stands,
where they sell for twenty cents a dozen. The nectarines
which have thus far arrived are small, and do not approach in
quality tlie fruit grown under glass. Crawford and Mountain
Rose peaches have been coming in from Delaware for ten
days past. The best of these peaches sell for two dollars and
fifty cents a basket, a fair quality being offered for a dollar a
basket, and an inferior quality as low as fifty cents. California
peaches continue to arrive, as also California plums and prunes,
among which are theColumbian, Washington andQuackenbos
gages and the Gros prune, five-pound boxes of which sell for
one dollar. Choice Bartlett pears from California continue
plentiful. A supply of this fruit is also being received from
the Hudson River section of New York stale, and sells at one
dollar and a half to a dollar and seventy-five cents a keg at
wholesale, the California fruit bringing a dollar and twenty-five
cents for the same quantity. Muscat Alexander and Hamburg
grapes, from Newport hot-houses, are a dollar and twenty-five
cents a pound.

At the late Convention of Florists in St. Louis, Mr. Patrick
O'Mara read a paper on the saving of labor in floriculture.
One device to facilitate watering has proved most successful
this year, when, on account of the very dry weather, it has
been necessary to water outside grounds almost constantly.
Mr. O'Mara said : "We use city water, metered to us, and have
our grounds piped with hydrants at convenient distances
throughout. Instead of having a man to hold the hose and
distribute the water, we have pieces of hose connected with
a ' Y.' These are inserted at the end of every twenty-five
feet of hose, one arm of the ' Y ' serving to connect the
lengths, while to the other arm is fastened a 'Water Wifcli '
lawn-sprinkler. We use one-inch hose and have force of wa-
fer sufficient to operate five of these sprinklers on one stretch
of hose, so that we can water a surface of 125 feet by twenty-
five, without any labor but the stretching of the hose and
turning on the water. Two hours is found sufficient to water
one spot, and then the hose is moved. In our loo-foot houses,
when first erected, a hydrant was placed at one end, but some
years ago we changed the system and now liave the hydrants
in the centre of the houses, one on each side of the middle
bench. In our 300-foot houses we have the hydrants at inter-
vals of fifty feet, so that the whole place out-of-doors and under
glass is supplied with conveniently located hydrants. The
amount of laljor saved in one year by this method more than
paid the entire expense of the alteration, besides the great sav-
ing in hose, which in itself is a considerable item."

August 23, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

351

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building. New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. SAROEKri 'i** V'

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. V.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articie: — ^The Care of the National Forest-reservations 351

The American Ginseng 352

Economy in Decoration. (With figure.) 352

Horticulture in Belgium Knu Bulletin. 2S^

Cultural Department: — Flowering Shrubs in Mid-August y. G. Jack. 354

Summer Treatment of Carnations C Af. Ward. 356

Notes on Begonias J. N. Gerard. 356

Rudbeckia purpurea John Saul. 357

The Flower-garden y. N. G. 357

Single Pseonies . . T.D.H. 357

Correspondence : — The White Grub in Lawns E. B. A. 357

, Dutch Bulbs in America W. E. Endicott. 357

Periodical Literature 358

The Columbian ExPOsmoN; — The Fruit Curtains Professor L. H. Bailey. 358

Meetings of Societies : — Convention of the Society of American Florists 359

The Horticultural Congress at Chicago 359

Notes 3^0

Illustration : — A bunch of Meadow Flowers, Fig. 55 355

The Care of the National Forest-reservations.

CONGRESS has an important duty to perform in pro-
viding proper machinery for the administration and
protection of the great forest-reservations vi^hich the Pres-
ident of the United States has established in different west-
ern states and territories. These reservations aggregate
several millions of acres ; they are covered with forests
which protect mountain-slopes and insure the continuous
flow of several important streams. They are valuable, too,
in a greater or less degree, as sources of timber-supply, and
it is clear the Government should protect them from the
injuries and possible destruction which threaten all our
western forests.

These great reservations are now reservations only in
name. Proclamations from the President of the United
States prohibit the sale of the land to settlers, but leave
them without adequate protection. The shepherds of Cal-
ifornia still pasture their sheep within the boundaries of
national reservations ; fires are practically unchecked, and
men grow rich by selling timber cut from land dedicated
to public use. Under existing conditions this is inevitable.
Athousand square miles of broken forest-country, crossed by
numerous mountain-ranges, are difficult to guard, especially
when the guards are selected from the very population most
directly interested in the destruction of the forest. In those
rare instances, when the malefactors are brought to justice
they are sure to escape judgment at the hands of jurors
selected from among their friends and neighbors. In all
the western country the value of forest-property is not great
in popular estimation, and the conviction of trespass upon
such property is difficult to obtain. The problem of pro-
tection presents many serious obstacles, but, unless they
can be overcome, it would be better for the Government to
restore these lands to sale and entry than to continue to
hold them as reservations, which, by encouraging theft and
trespass, debauch public morality without effecting the
only purpose for which such reservations are useful. They
must be protected, as far as it is possible to do so, from fire,
the most active agent in forest-destruction ; they must be

guarded from browsing animals, which, for years, have
been sapping the life of some of the noblest forests of the
continent ; and they must be made to furnish the actual
inhabitants of the regions in which they are situated with
regular and abundant supplies of timber and fencing ma-
terial cut under proper restrictions and paid for at fair
prices.

These results can be obtained, difficult as they now ap-
pear, if the reservations can be entirely removed from
politics ; this can probably only be done by transferring
their care from the control of the Secretary of the In-
terior to that of the Secretary of War. At the present time
there is no body or organization of men in the United States
but the army capable of dealing with problems of this mag-
nitude and difficulty ; and as it is the army which must
be called on to furnish protection whenever the danger
becomes imminent, it is only right that the Secretary
of War should determine in what manner and to what
extent this protection should be afforded. The agents
of the Department of the Interior have neither the ability nor
training nor the organization needed for the task ; they are
usually selected from among the inhabitants of regions
adjacent to the property entrusted to their care ; their local
sympathies are with the trespassers, and, even with a sin-
cere desire to perform their duties, their lack of organiza-
tion makes them powerless. Once in the hands of the
Secretary of War, a system of protection would not be
difficult to organize. Well-educated army officers we have
already in abundance, and their commands might be re-
cruited for this special service from among men who are
accustomed to a forest-life, and who, if they were brought
from other parts of the country, would not be influenced
by local sympathies. The effectiveness of. such a corps of
forest-rangers would be, of course, greatly increased if
some primary instruction in forestry could be added to the
curriculum of the Academy at West Point. Fixed ideas upon
the value of forests and upon forest-protection would in-
crease the value of the service. A technical forest-educa-
tion, in the German or French sense, would not be required ;
the time for that has not come yet in the United States.
The existing timber-supply of the country is still so great
that it will not pay now to expend the labor in rearing
forests which in many other lands returns handsome profits
upon the outlay. But the officer who is to protect one of
our national reservations should be able to teach his subor-
dinates why browsing animals injure the forest, why- cer-
tain trees should be cut and why others should be left
standing ; he should know something of the qualities of
the different species of trees in order to be able to protect
advantageously the most valuable at the expense of the
least desirable varieties. Such a knowledge, too, is impor-
tant because it brings with it enthusiasm and real interest
in the work of forest-protection which might otherwise be
looked upon as a meaningless and dreary task.

The value of the army in protecting our forests has
already been demonstrated. For a number of years a
small squad of cavalry has preserved order and protected
property in the Yellowstone National Park ; in California
the army has performed similar service in different reserva-
tions, although the smallness of the available force and
some conflict of authority between the departments has
curtailed its usefulness there. A handful of soldiers
is worth a hundred civilians for such work, for the pres-
ence of the uniform inspires a respect which is felt far
beyond the limits of the region actually patrolled A com-
pany of picked men, well officered and well mounted, would
be sufficient to guard the largest of our reservations from
the inroads of shepherds and unauthorized timber-cutters,
and would be able to diminish the number and ravages of
forest-fires.

The transfer of the reservations from one department of
the Government to another, the addition of some simple
instruction in forestry to the West Point curriculum, and
the enlistment of a special corps of forest-guardians to be
commanded by officers of the army, seem to afford a cheap.

352

Garden and Forest.

[NUMUER 2S7.

quick and practical solution of the problem. The fact that
this scheme might be put into almost immediate operation
is a strong argument in its favor. Speedy action is essen-
tial, for every year witnesses serious encroachment upon
the forests and increases the demoralization of the people
of the western states and territories, in so far as concerns
their appreciation of the rights of the Government to pro-
tect its forest-property.

A better plan, perhaps, can be suggested to accomplish
the purpose. It is a subject which requires the most care-
ful consideration and the fullest possible discussion ; and
the Government, before it can take any action, will require,
and should seek, the advice of the wisest counselors it is
able to command.

From an article upon the American Ginseng, Aralia
quinquefolia, published in the April and May issue of the
Kew Bulletin 0/ Miscellaneous Information, it appears that
the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario has
enacted that "except for the purpose of clearing or bring-
ing land into cultivation, no person shall, between the first
day of January and the lirst day of September in any year,
cut, root up, gather or destroy the plant known by the
name of Ginseng, whenever such plant may be found
growing in a wild or uncultivated state." The penalty for
disobeying this act is not less than five dollars, or more
than twenty dollars, with the costs of prosecution, one-
half the penalty being paid to the prosecutor. Such a law
might wisely be enacted and enforced in all the states of
the Union where the Ginseng-plant abounds, and where
its utter extermination to supply the demands of the large
Chinese trade is imminent.

The Ginseng, which was first made known to Europeans
through plants which Koempfer had found cultivated by
the Japanese, who for centuries have exported the roots to
China, was first discovered in the New World in Canada,
near Montreal, in 1716, by the Jesuit missionary Lafitau,
who two years later published a description of it in Paris.
The French soon engaged in collecting and exporting the
roots to China, this trade giving a considerable impulse to
the commerce of Montreal for a number of years. " At
one time," we learn from Bulletin Ixv. of the Experiment
Station of the Ontario Agricultural College that "great
numbers of Indians were engaged in gathering it about
Montreal and Quebec, and large quantities of it were sent
to China. In 1832 shipments of Ginseng from the United
States amounted to 407,067 pounds, valued at $99,303. In
one county in Wisconsin the trade is reported to have
reached, in 1848, $40,000. Immense quantities have been
exported from Minnesota. At present the chief sources of
the plant in the United States are Ohio, West Virginia and
Minnesota. About the close of the eighteenth century it
was discovered also in Massachusetts, and its exportation
produced large returns."

It is stated in the same bulletin that in 1890 Ginseng rep-
resenting a value of $100,000 was sent from Canada, the
price realized for dried roots being from $3.00 to $3. 50 a
pound. Last year Mr. Stanton discussed in our columns
(vol. v., p. 223) the possibility of cultivating Ginseng, which
seems destined to become an important and profitable farm
crop in some parts of the country, as it has been for cen-
turies in Japan, and in Corea, where the greatest attention
is paid to producing the roots, for which the Chinese de-
mand seems inexhaustible.

Economy in Decoration.

'T'HE illustration on page 355 of a group of Daisies and
■•■ Grasses calls attention to the fact that the ornaments of
our drawing-rooms need not be expensive to be charming,
and that a handful of blossoms gathered by the way-side, if
arranged with skill and taste, may be as artistic as a vase of
priceless orchids.

It is too generally the custom to esteem a flower for its
money value or for its rarity, without reference to its own
merit of hue or form or graceful habit of growth. Although

cultivation achieveswonderful results, we have but to look
about us to realize that Nature, unassisted, constantly achieves
masterpieces of delicacy and beauty, scattering her fine designs
abroad with so reckless a prodigality that we cease to estimate
them at their proper value until the'hand of the artist empha-
sizes their worth and reveals it to our duller vision. This ar-
tistic recognition has made of the Lotus and the Acanthus,
both wild growths, the basis of two splendid architectures. It
has woven the volutes of the Vine into a third, and in the
Gothic age has made every leaf and blossom bear tribute to
the sculptor, and has stiffened the forest aisles into stone. To-
day there lie about us, on every hand, beauties which need
but the seeing eye to incorporate them in novel and perma-
nent forms.

We live in an age of echoes and few dare to leave the well-
known airs to seek new harmonies. When such departures
occur, the results are often grotesque rather than beautiful,
and we relapse again into tlie restraint of precedent, so that
our architecture, our sculpture, our painting as well as our floral
decorations are at best but copies of the vigorous conceptions of
a simpler age, which at least possessed the gift of summariz-
ing. For, after all, the essence of the highest art, as of the
highest living, is wise economy, which, artistically interpreted,
means the expression of high conception by simple means.
Expensive detail may but weaken the massiveness of a result,
as a landscape-garden may be spoiled by its shrubs and flow-
ers, a fine prospect belittled by a confused foreground, a pic-
ture ruined by the spottiness of overwork.

Few people know that large rooms may often be profitably
ornamented with great forest boughs. The exquisite green of
the leaves harmonizes agreeably with any background, while
their delicately cut forms throw charming shadows on wall or
screen. About such ornamentation there is a refinement and
restraint that appeal to the artistic eye, for the leaf is the broad
expression of the flower, and in the serrated curve of the foli-
age of the Beech, in the sharp indentations of that of the Oak and
Maple, in the attenuated grace of the Willow branch are found the
charm of the petal without its color, but with its varying oufline,
its waving edge, its clustered heart. Nor, indeed, can we say that
the leaf lacks variety of hue, since there is from the yellow of
Chestnut and English Walnut and the deep blue of Spruce, a
whole gamut of color to the dark autumnal red of Oak and
Maple ; a gamut on a lower key than that of flowers, but as dis-
tinct and beautiful, and even more restful.

The decorative value of the Ox-eye Daisy, interspersed with
the herbage which naturally surrounds it, is generally acknowl-
edged and appreciated. The golden heart circled by inner
rays gives a peculiar brilliancy to a group of these flowers,
while the formal symmetry of their outline is agreeably con-
trasted with the sweeping curves of Grass leaves and the gray-
green fluflSness of its blossoms. Such an ornament is within
reach of every one, and is as appropriate to a drawing-room
as to an attic-chamber. It may adorn a Japanese vase, or con-
ceal the ugliness of a broken pitcher, and be in itself always
refined and elegant.

There are other ornaments of the fields and highways that
form charming decorations. The blue of the Succory, with its
scraggy stems concealed by the foliage of a neighbor-
ing bush, has a beautiful note of color. The Rudbeckia, with
its golden rays and rich dark red heart, is always effective, and
the Fire Lily, on its slender stem, adapts itself to all sorts of
artistic uses. Most delightful compositions for winter use can
be made of the blossoms of the Golden-rod interspersed with
brown frost-touched leaves and Thistle-balls, while the little
group of leaves which springs from the root of the shorn Mul-
lein, if gathered late, turns white, and produces the effect of a
velvet camellia.

The value of the grays and browns of a field in late autumn
to furnish material for vases is surprising. The Golden-rod
will preserve its color all winter if gathered before the frost
touches it, and a few red berrries of the Black Alder will still
further enliven the bouquet. The frost is an exquisite painter,
and furnishes a scale of grays to delight the heart of the most
sensitive artist. In the spring there are the nodding scarlet
Columbine, the shrinking Wind-flower trembling on its stem,
the burst of blossom on the tree-tips, the red of Maple-bloom,
the golden green of Alder and Willow tassels, the rich yellow
of the Chestnut at a later season. Nature plants a parterre for
man everywhere, so that his home need never lack an orna-
ment if he but have eyes to see and hand to cull the ever-
ready decoration. Even in snow-clad winter, a Fern-like
branch of Hemlock against a white wall is full of delicate
beauty, while a sprig of Holly, or a glossy group of Laurel-
leaves, will bring with it a memory of the green wood in whose
shelter it grew.

August 23, 1S93.]

Garden and Forest.

353

To the true lover of nature the beautiful simplicity of natural
growths appeals with a suggestiveness of reminiscence that is
often wanting in the costlier occupant of the greenhouse or
flower-garden. It is the difference between a curio and a
household relic, one rare and lovely and precious, but the
other endeared by tenderest memories. To the child the de-
light of hunting for the chary wild flower far exceeds any riot
in the well-kept garden, while the boy's nutting expeditions are
much more to his mind than the plucking of fruit in the rich-
est orchard. In after life all that recalls these lost delights is
dear to the man's heart, and has its own intimate and sugges-
tive charm. A lesson in economy comes scarcely amiss in
these troubled days, and since it is luxuries that must go first
when it is a question of giving up something, it is well to know
that the living-rooms need not suffer so long as there are
woods and fields to draw upon for their floral decoration, while
the exchange for tasteful simplicity is really a distinct gain,
contrasted with the wasteful and inordinate' use of flowers
with too lavish and expensive profusion.

Horticulture in Belgium.

WITH the permission of the First Commissioner of Her
Majesty's Works and Public Buildings, the Curator
of the Royal Gardens, Mr. George Nicholson, A. L. S., was
sent to Belgium for the purpose of attending the Thirteenth
International Quinquennial Horticultural Exhibition at
Ghent (April 16-23), ^"^ of visiting the more important
horticultural establishments. The following notes from the
Kew Bulletin give his impressions of the present position of
gardening enterprise in Belgium :

Belgium is a great horticultural country, and Ghent itself
one of the busiest and most important centres of gardening on
the continent. Nurseries, many of them of very considerable
extent, exist by the hundred in its immediate neighborhood.
Owing to various causes, cheap glass, cheap labor, etc., many
plants are grown for trade purposes on an enormous scale and
exported to other European countries at a less price than they
could be grown by the persons who import them. Azaleas are
a case in point. That splendid specimen of Azaleas can be
grown in this country is evident enough to any one familiar
with our great flower-shows, but that beautiful bushy market
plants can be produced in the same time and at the same cost
as those exported from Belgium is, I believe, impossible. The
continental summer allows these to be planted out in beds in
the open air, and causes the wood to be thoroughly ripened
and the buds to set in a way which cannot obtain with us, ex-
cept in exceptionally favorable seasons. On the other hand,
our moister, cooler summers enable English gardeners to sur-
pass theircontinental colleagues with such plants as Nepenthes,
Ferns, Heaths and many hard-wooded plants.

Fashion in horticulture changes in a somewhat arbitrary
way, and no one can escape this conclusion by even reading
the reports of the exhibitions of less than twenty years ago
and those of to-day. Then new plants and collections were
much valued, and nurserymen kept for sale large collections
of stove and greenhouse plants which now are hardly to be
found outside a botanic garden. Even Camellias, which less
than a generation ago were very extensively grown about
Ghent, are now not to be seen in some establishments where
once they were the principal stock in trade; apparently the
difficulty in arranging the cut flowers and the impracticability
of cutting largely from the plants is the cause of the disfavor
into which they have fallen. New plants, too, in the sense of
collections of species, are almost ignored in many places, and,
instead, enormous numfjers of ornamental foliage and flower-
ing plants, belonging sometimes to not more than a score of
species, and often fewer still, are now to be seen.

The International Quinquennial Exhibition is the thirteenth
of the series and the 159th flower-show — organized by La
Soci(?te Royale d' Agriculture et de Botanique of Ghent. The
society was first formed in 1808, and its first exhibition was
held in a room of a small inn in 1809, about one hundred yards
from the site of its present quarters ; a reproduction of this
first exhibifion as regards the room, etc., and as far as possible
the species and varieties of plants, was one of the most inter-
esting features of the quinquennial of 1888.

From 1837, exhibitions were held in a large permanent
building, but in 1878 temporary structures more vast each suc-
ceeding 'quinquennial' were built in the grounds. This year
one structure, admirably built, designed by Monsieur Ed. Py-
naert, covered a space of more than 2,500 square metres ; and
arrangements for heating were made so that, had the weather

proved cold, the plants contained in it would have been per-
fectly safe.

Subsidies from the Belgian Government, the Province, the
town of Ghent and the subscriptions of the members of the
society furnish the large sum of money necessary to carry out
an exhibition on so vast a scale. No entry fees are paid by
exhibitors, and the society makes arrangements with the rail-
way and steamship companies for low freight charges. This
year the entries were more numerous than ever ; some even
were refused for want of space, and some groups of plants,
which otherwise would have been under cover, were placed
for effective masses in the open garden. The jury, consisting
of 184 members, belonging to fifteen nationalties, including
Russia, Brazil and Japan, divided into sections, had to judge
about 660 classes.

The great hall, a glass-roofed structure, with an area of
2,200 square metres, was so arranged as to produce a wonder-
fully fine effect. Large Palms, Tree Ferns, etc., were massed
irregularly round outer walls and at the foot of the double
staircase leading to the upper rooms of the Casino. A main
curving walk went round the building in front of these tall
banks of foliage. Eight masses of dwarfer-growing plants
were arranged in the centre of the hall, with a broad central
walk and shorter ones leading into the main arteries.

The Palms were especially well grown, large specimens in
splendid health, in small tubs and pots. Careful attention to
watering, and especially in the application of liquid manure,
enables the growers to produce beautiful specimens of great
size, which can be moved about with comparative ease. Some
years ago collections of Palms were grown for sale by some of
the principal Belgian nurserymen ; now house after house ot
a single species, or of a very few of those best adapted for
decorative work, are to be met with, and the rarer kinds of less
value from a 'furnishing' point of view have almost entirely
disappeared. Kentia, Phoenix, Cocos and Livistonia are the
genera now most frequently represented in nurseries, but in
the exhibition a number of fine specimens of Washingtonia
and Erythea (imported from the Riviera)', Thrinax, Sabal,
Rhapis, Pritchardia, Seaforthia, etc., were to be seen.

In the centre of the great hall, huge specimen Azaleas were
so thickly covered with flowers as to hide the leaves. Although
in shape the plants were extremely formal, they showed ex-
ceptional skill in cultivation. There must have been consid-
erable trouble taken in 'keeping back' plants which, under
any ordinary conditions in such a season as the present, would
have been quite out of flower before the exhibition opened.
We heard of one exhibitor placing blocks of ice in his Azalea
house in order to keep down the temperature. Careful shad-
ing— in some cases moving plants into dark sheds, etc. — was
also resorted to. Some of the Aroids exhibited were excep-
tionally fine ; a grander lot of Anthurium Scherzerianum than
that exhibited by Monsieur G. Warocqu^ was probably never
before seen ; the specimens were very large, healthy and with
extraordinary large inflorescences. The ornamental-foliage
Aroids were also well represented ; these plants are more
widely grown as stove decorative plants in Belgium and other
continental countries than in Britain. Ferns, with the excep-
tion of Tree Ferns, which were well shown, were not remark-
able ; much better groups, as regards cultivation and variety,
are to be seen at any of the large London shows.

Cycads were good and attracted much attention, but they
were decidedly inferior, for instance, to those in cultivation in
the Palm-house at Kew. Fine plants of Caladiums were ex-
hibited in great variety by Monsieur Louis Van Houtte.

The Norfolk Island Pine, Araucaria excelsa, and a number
of garden varieties of it were exhibited in the most perfect
condition ; in and around Ghent whole series of houses in
many establishments are devoted to the cultivation of this
conifer. It is one of the most popular plants for table and
conservatory decoration.

In the central hall of the rotunda were exhibited two very
wonderful groups of Orchids containing many rare, choice and
valuable varieties of well-known species, and not a few well-
grown plants of rare species, beautifully flowered. The two
exhibitors were Messieurs J. Hye and G. Warocqu^, both Bel-
gian amateurs.

A collection said to contain 228 distinct species, many of
them uncommon, was exhibited by Monsieur Alfred Van
Imschoot ; among them was a Vanilla in fruit.

Both at the exhibition and in many of the nurseries visited
the English visitor could not help being struck by the health
and vigor of Cattleyas, Odontoglossums, Miltonias and other
Orchids. Whether the extreme vigor of the plants conduces
to longevity (many Orchids are short-lived under cultivation)
is a question which many would like to see definitely settled.

354

Garden and Forest.

[Number 287.

As a rule, a much higher temperature is maintained in the
houses than is considered |^ood for the same species under
cultivation in Engh'sli Orchid-houses.

Canvas is not used in Belgium as a shading material, but
thin laths or bamboo strips wired together, and drawn up or
let down by means of rollers, as are the canvas blinds in Eng-
land. As a consequence, during sunlight, the Orchid-leaves
are barred transversely with bands of light and shade, quite
different from the more diffused light caused by canvas. I
cannot but think that this may have something to do with the
success which attends the cultivation of Cattleyas, Odontoglos-
sums, etc., in Belgium.

No thrips or other insect pest infested any of the numerous
sets Of plants seen. On inquiry this was attributed to a layer
of the midribs of tobacco- leaves placed on the hot-water
pipes ; fumigation was not resorted to.

The Hippeastrums shown by Messrs. James Veitch & Sons,
Chelsea, were remarkably fine ; much better than those of any
other exhibitor. The Nepenthes exhibited by Monsieur Alexis
Dalli^re, of Ghent, were much inferior to the plants we are
accustomed to see in English gardens. In spite of the sea-
son— all Hyacinths grown in the open air had long been past —
one room was resplendent with remarkably fine pot Hyacinths
contributed by several Dutch growers.

The new Bertolonias exhibited by Van Houtte attracted
much attention ; it is impossible to describe the delicacy as
well as the brilliancy of their foliage.

Saintpaulia ionantha, a Gesneraceous plant with a rosette
of radical leaves and short scapes, bearing deep violet-blue,
yellow-anthered flowers, was one of the prettiest, as well as
one of the most interesting, new plants exhibited. Seeds of it
were sent home by the German officer in whose honor it has
been named, from the mountains of eastern tropical Africa.
In general aspect the plant resembles Ramondia Pyrenaica.

In British gardens Bromeliads have not yet acquired the
position to which they are entitled as ornamental plants ; many
of them are very handsome, and their strangely marbled
leaves and brilliantly colored inflorescences, which often last
a long time, make them popular on the Continent for decora-
tive purposes. Many thousands of one species alone — beauti-
fully grown plants — were seen in the Royal Gardens at Laeken,
where Mr. Knight uses them with great effect. At the exhibi-
tion were to be seen many fine hybrids ; some of the best were
those shown by Monsieur Duval, of Versailles, under the
names of Vriesea tessellata, splendens, and its varieties, major
and minor. Other very fine Bromeliads were exhibited by the
Botanic Garden at Li^ge, for so many years famous for its col-
lections of this family of plants, by Messieurs Jacob Makoy &
Co. and by Monsieur J. Moens.

Crotons I have seen much better shown in England.

In the large annex beautiful color-effects were produced by
masses of Azalea mollis, Rhododendrons shown in fine variety
by Monsieur Pynaert, Azalea Indica, Clivia miniata varieties,
etc. One of the most successful efforts in the way of plant-cul-
tivation I have ever seen were the Oranges, Citrus Sinensis,
from Monsieur Gulinck and Monsieur Alexis Dalliere ; the
plants were fine bushes and pyramids, two to three feet high,
laden with well-colored fruits.

Kalmia latifolia, dense, compact bushes, covered with
flowers, were exhibited in quantity ; a more elegant pot-plant
could scarcely be imagined than this as grown at Ghent.

The Sweet Bay, Laurus nobilis, is cultivated in some estab-
lishments near Ghent and elsewhere in Belgium by the acre.
They are grown in tubs as round-headed bushes on stems or
as pyramids, and as specimens showing great skill on the part
of the grower, they leave nothing to be desired. During win-
ter the plants must be housed; they require so long a time
to attain a marketable size and so much care to bring them to
8uch a state of perfection that they are much too valuable to
risk outside during the winter.

Choisya ternata was well grown and flowered. Some spe-
cimens had hemispherical heads, on stems two feet high, cov-
ered with blossoms. Cytisus scoparius, var. Andreanus, was
also exhibited, grown in a similar way.

Diervilla (or Weigela), Eva Ratke, is a handsome variety,
with deep red flowers ; it was finely exhibited by Monsieur
Pynaert, and will doubtless be cultivated by all who love hardy
shrubs.

At Laeken, a bronzy yellow Tea Rose, William Morley, is
grown under glass for cutting, and is preferred to Mar^chal
Kiel, as it is not so liable to canker as that variety. Stand-
ard hybrid perpetual Roses and dwarf Moss Roses were
largely grown in pots and well done. In a bed in one of the
large conservatories a fine mass of Strelitzia Reginse was
in flower ; it was planted out ; the temperature in winter

was kept up to fifteen or sixteen degrees centigrade (say sixty
degrees Fahrenheit). Among other striking plants planted
out at Laeken are Clavijas, Bromeliads, Cham;erops staura-
cantha — a remarkably fine specimen — Kentia Lindeni, and
other rare Palnis. Brunfelsias, in fine flower, produced beau-
tiful effects as bushes planted out.

Large plants of Vanda tricolor, etc., grown elsewhere and
brought into the large warm conservatory to flower, were
models of good cultivation. A number of small bushes — not
a foot high, in six-inch pots— of Medinilla magnifica bore as
many as half a dozen fine inflorescences ; these must have
been raised from large cuttings taken from old plants after
growth had been made and bloom-buds more or less formed.
In any case the Medinillas were a triumph of gardening skill.

One of the great features in the spring months at Laeken
is the great extent of corridor connecting the different groups
of houses with the palace and with each other. There are
about 1,200 yards of corridor, and in mid-April it was a blaze
of flower. Tropaeolums, Ivy-leaved and Zonal Pelargoniums,
Abutilon Megapotamicum (A. vexillarium), which was also
used with considerable effect as a basket-plant. Passion Flow-
ers, Heliotropes, Jasmines, the true Acacia riceana, Rhodo-
chiton volubile, Dolichos, Bignonias and other plants being
trained up the side and roofs.

Cultural Department.

Flowering Shrubs in Mid-August.

T N the middle of August shrubby plants seem less interest-
•'■ ing than at almost any other time in the growing season.
The flowering period is past with most of them, and showy
ripe fruits or bright autumn colors of foliage are not yet com-
mon. But a group of shrubs may be formed which will make
a very satisfactory show of bloom at this season of the year.

Besides some of the large-flowered Clematis which may con-
tinue to flower, there are one or two of the tubular-flowered,
half-shrubby species which are highly interesting and satisfac-
tory. Clematis Davidiana is herbaceous, but is very hardy. It
is III its best flowering now, and with it is another plant, re-
ceived from the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, under the name of
C. stans, which has light lavender-blue flowers. This name
may not be the true one, as there is another and different
plant known by the same name. Its blossoms are much paler
in color, or white, and they do not appear until later in the
season. One or two other so-called species of Clematis also
blossom much later. The two species in blossom now have a
sweet and delicate fragrance.

Hypericums, or Saint Johnsworts, are also interesting for
their flowers, although the best blossoms of some kinds are
passed. H. calycinum, H. hircinum, H. multiflorum and H.
prolificum have a good show of flowers, and so have the
smaller-flowered and comparatively newly introduced species,
H. densiflorum and H. galioides. The latter has an abundance
of narrow graceful foliage on slender branches.

The Altheap, or different garden varieties of Hibiscus
Syriacus, are generally beginning to be showy with flowers in
this latitude. The best flowers of the rarer Stuartias are past,
although a few of their blossoms may yet be found. One of
the very last of our com men native shrubljy plants to flower
is the so-called Dwarf Sumach, Rhus copallina, which just now
attracts swarms of insects. The panicles of flowers are of a
greenish yellow color, and not showy, but the bloom gives out
a pleasant sweet fragrance. The larger-growing Japjnese
plant, which is soldin nurseries under the name of R. Osbeckii,
IS showy with bloom at the same time, but the odor of the
blossoms is not so agreeable. The only Spiraeas which con-
tinue to make any kind of a show of bloom are all American.
The Hardback, or Steeple-bush, Spiriea tomentosa, has the
best and latest bloom, while a good many flowering clusters
are also found on the western S. Douglasii, and a few scatter-
ing clusters on S. salicifolia, the latter a native of Europe as
well as of this country. A few belated clusters of flowers also
occur on some of the forms of S. Japonica. The only showy
Raspberry still in bloom is the purple Rubus odoratus, whose
blossoms are becoming scarce. But the yellow, shrubby Po-
tentillafruticosa is still quite conspicuous in its inflorescence.

Our native Rosa Carolina is notyetfully past its natural time of
flowering, and the little Rosa foliolosa is still bearing a few strag-
gling specimens of its pretty white flowers. These two species
are among the latest producers of blossoms in their natural
season, but the Japanese Rosa rugosa, both red and white
forms, commonly bears a few blossoms out of their proper sea-
son. Of course, the now common Hydrangea paniculata

August 23, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

355

grandi flora excels any other species in its genus throughout
the remainder ot the summer and autumn, but there is no
other ornamental species blooming now which meets all our
requirements as to perfect hardiness and in other respects.

The common Ling, or Heath, Calluna vulgaris, is altogether
the most satisfactory and the hardiest. It can be grown in any
peaty soil with a mixture of sand in it, loves plenty of moisture,
though not a surfeit of it, and in our severe winters needs a

FiR. 55— A bunch of Meadow Flowers.— See page 352.

The Sorrel-tree, Oxydendrum arboreum, at this season is a
pretty object, with its long, one-sided, horizontal terminal open
panicles of white flowers. In the same family there are the
Heatlis, several of whicli are now in their most attractive and
beautiful condition.

little protection. Through selection we ^an now have several
desirable forms in our gardens, among them being the dou-
bfe and the white. The Cornish Heath, Erica vagans, also
proves satisfactory here, and this is its best .^o^.^"X!time
The slender Daboecia polifolia also flowers freely at this time.

356

Garden and Forest.

[Number 287.

No garden is complete witliout the sweet Pepper-busli, or
Clethra alnifolia. witli its numerous erect spikes of fragrant
wliite flowers. It is much to be preferred to the more south-
em Clethra acuminata, which also shows its best inflorescence
about mid-August, although both species may continue flow-
ering into September.

The Button-bush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, still flowers
freely, though it is not generally considered an ornamental
plant ; and, among climbing floweringshrubs, there are none
which at this season give such satisfaction as the Trumpet
Creeper, Tecoma radicans, and Hall's Honeysuckle.

Arnold Arboretum. J- G. Jack.

Summer Treatment of Carnations.

IF we plant our Carnations in the open field in rich loamy
soil, and about the same culture as is given garden crops
by first-class market-gardeners, nipping out the flower-shoots
as they break into bud, up to, say, August ist, we may reason-
ably expect to produce good plants for lifting by August 25th.
There is, however, a marked difference between carefully
grown and carelessly grown field-plants. The summer treat-
ment of Carnations really commences with the first pinching
back, which we deem the most important of all, for the condi-
tion in whii;h the plant is left by the first pinching determines
its condition when it comes into flower. With most varieties
our method is to pinch pretty well back at the first pinching,
leaving the leader to grow well up and to show signs of bud-
formation before cuttmg it out. We then cut it out well down,
leaving four to five, and sometimes six to eight, strong base-
shoots, which should start up free from the ground, so as to
enable us to work close around the plant without bruising the
under sides of the branches in weeding and hoeing. These
side branches are again left to grow to nearly the bud-forming
state, and are again cut back, leaving four to eight strong base-
shoots on each branch.

This should be the last pinching back, since by starting our
plants into an even growth now, allowing the new shoots to
break well into growth and commence to elongate, and then
lifting with as little check as possible, we can grow larger,
longer-stemmed and more perfect flowers than when the plant
has been subjected to three or four or more pinchings. We
believe that errors in pinching back lie in both directions, and
that too close pinching, as well as pinching too high up, is not
as satisfactory as the medium-close plan. In some varieties,
where the tendency is to grow too rank and dense at the base,
we find it advantageous to break or cut out the weaker shoots,
leaving the entire strength and growth to five or six of the
strongest. By doing this we gain in size of flowers, strength
and length of stem, and also in earliness of blooming.

In setting plants in the open ground we prefer not to set out
before May ist, and not later than May 25th. On Long Island.
April-set plants, as well as those set out in June, have not
given as good results as those planted in May. Our plants are
set ten inches apart, in rows which are three feet apart, to ad-
mit of horse-cultivation. We commence cultivating as soon
as the plants have struck, and run the cultivator through after
each rain, or in dry spells as soon as weeds start, and the plants
are hoed as often as weeds show or the ground needs stirring.
In hoeing we do not stir the ground more than an inch deep
at first, gradually reducing the depth of hoe-cultivation as the
plants advance in growth. In cultivating with the horse we
use an adjustable Planet, Jr., machine, reducing the width of
the cultivator at each working, so that at the last only eighteen
inches of the centre between the rows is horse-hoed, the re-
mainder being left for the hand-hoe. The entire surface soil,
for half an inch deep, should be kept loose and free from
weeds, but the under soil, especially near the plants, should
remain undisturbed.

The insects that are liable to trouble us in the field are cut
worms, thrips, green fly and red spider. A solution of Paris
green, sprayed on the plants with a knapsack sprayer, twice a
month from the beginning will tend to keep cut worms and

freen fly, and even thrips, from getting an injurious foothold,
he solution recommended is a teaspoonful of Paris green to
a knapsack full of water.

With red spider the case is different, especially in extreme
dry seasons, for this little pest seems as near iron-clad as any
insect we have. Paris green does not seem to affect it. It does
not like whale-oil soap, but thriveseven in the face of that com-
pound. Concentrated lye in a solution will kill it when the spider
18 young, but the old ones don't mind that very much. Con-
stant forcible syringingseems to be the only effectual remedy,
and in cases where the spider has got a firm foothold even
that will fail. Our advice would be, if you have a variety

thoroughly infested with red spider, to carefully gather up all
the plants, transport to a safe distance and burn them up and
syringe the adjoining rows with a solution of whalie-oil soap or
concentrated lye. If you have any spare pipe, lay pipes through
'your Carnation field and connect up to your pumping-
engine or tank and spray your plants very forcibly with a fine
spray.

Now is the time to commence fighting rust, spot or other
fungal diseases. You may use an ounce of sulphide of po-
tassium to ten gallons of water, or two or three ounces of con-
centrated lye or the Bordeaux mixture half-strength, or the
ammoniacal solution of carbonate of copper. A knapsack
sprayer is necessary to properly apply the fungicides, and the
plants should be sprayed at least once a month. During Au-
gust, and up to planting in and ever after, watch for the first
sign of rust and destroy by burning every infected plant. Rust
is like the cholera — you can keep it out by vigilance and
thorough preventive measures, but once the germs are estab-
lished in your stock you will find them very difficult to erad-
icate.

Perhaps some growers will exclaim, "Oh, pshaw ! that is too
much bother and labor to waste on growing Carnations. I get
lots of flowers any way." Well, that is true, if you are grow-
ing for numbers of flowers regardless of size, price received
and quality ; but there are some florists who think their success
is measured by their net cash returns rather than by a large cut
of flowers sold at barely living prices. — C. W. Ward, in Flor-
ists' Exchange.

Notes on Begonias.

BEGONIA SEMPERFLORENS is rapidly coming to the
front again, after some neglect, owingto several new breaks
produced by the French florists. The typical plants are highly
useful, as they have an abundance of bright glossy leaves and
produce attractive flowers in abundance during the greater part
of the year, most freely in summerand in autumn. The plants
are rapidly propagated by cuttings, making it possible to se-
cure a sufficient stock of desired colors for bedding, or they
may be rapidly grown from seeds, which are produced in
great quantities. Plants with white, pink and various shades
of red flowers have long been grown, but the new strains are
departures in the way of modifications of foliage-coloring.
B. semperflorens atropurpurea (B. Vernon) has already been
mentioned as an attractive bedding plant, with bright dark red
flowers and leaves, which, in the open, take on ruddy hues.
B. semperflorens foliis aureis, the golden-leaved Begonia, is ,
the more recent introduction of Messieurs Vilmorin, and is a 1
fitting companion of B. Vernon. The leaves of this variety
are light greenish golden in color, pure and attractive in tone ;
the plants make capital bedders, as the sun does not dull or
burn their leaves. The flowers are a delicate rose-color, with
white centres. A fair proportion come true from seed, but for
effecfive bedding selection would be necessary. For popular
bedding plants they are far ahead of any hybrid tuberous Be-
gonias, being vigorous in growth, subject to no blight ; they are
not scorched in the hottest sun, and in all weathers bear a pro-
fusion of bright flowers. They require no staking, and only
that minimum of care which is so comfortable to the culti-
vator.

In spite of the occasional person who still holds that tuber-
ous Begonias are fine bedding plants, the fact remains that they
do not make any headway in that direction, for the simple rea-
son that the hybrids and the species from which they are de- ■
rived are not adapted to the exigencies of an American sum- 1
mer. They require special care, such as few people are pre-
pared to give to bedding plants, to make them at all successful
in the open, and even then are only a moderate success in
some seasons. The first year that I grew them in any quantity
we had a mild damp summer, and I believe I remarked
after that season that tuberous Begonias were fine bedding
plants, a conclusion which, after further experience, has been
considerably modified. I now grow tuberous Begonias under
glass, with slight shading, and they are kept as cool as pos-
sible. My experience is not different from that of others.
Visiting a well-conducted nursery this spring, I found a large
piece of ground being planted with tuberous Begonias, which
seemed in excellent condition. The plot had a fine southern
exposure, and this experiment seemed intended to produce a
sensation, as a carriage-road ran in front of the bed. The plants
disappeared, however, weeks ago, and the cultivation of tuber-
ous Begonias in the sun has been given up by this firm. An
object-lesson such as this overthrows a great deal of theory.

Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

August 23, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

357

Rudbeckia purpurea— Mr. Watson does not overpraise this
plant when he says, " It is one of the stateliest and most effec-
tive of the many noble composites virhich have been intro-
duced from America." I have grown it for years, and among
a large collection of hardy perennial herbaceous plants I con
sider it one of the finest and most striking. In growth it is
vigorous and free, and it produces a profusion of flowers
which last for a long time. It is not particular as to soil, though
it likes a strong, ricn one, Here is another instance of one of
our most beautiful native perennial plants quite neglected.
Probably the reason why it is cultivated so little in England is
found in the fact that it rarely perfects its seeds there, andean
be increased only by division, and in this way but slowly, un-
like most of our perennials. In this country we have no such
excuse for neglecting it, as it seeds freely. It is fortunate that
attention has been called to the stateliness and beauty of this
plant, which so richly merits a more extended use in our gar-

Washinglon, D. C. J"^" •S'awA

The Flower-garden.— Exceptionally dry weather since spring,
and latterly almost a drought, has left the garden in an unsatis-
factory condition, artificial watering in such a case, unless ac-
companied by careful cultivation, being of but slight service.
Annuals were never in worse condition with me, and the self-
sown hardy annuals are about the only ones which have made
much progress. In the case of hardy annuals the results are
never entirely satisfactory unless the seed is sown in the
fall. Fall sowings will often produce plants which will astonish
those not familar with the results. As an instance, a good
plant of Coreopsis Drummondii will cover a space three feet
in diameter and have stems an inch or more in diameter.
New annuals of any value are rather rare, most of those tried
this season being botanical curiosities. Of those in flower the
most attractive at present is Ipomoea (mina) sanguinea, a
very graceful vine with small deeply cut five-lobed leaves
and tubular flowers with a spreading undivided corolla of a
peculiar dull cinnabar-red. The flowers are numerous and
handsome ; like others of the family, they are fugacious.

Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.G.

Single Paeonies. — The illustrated article in Garden and FOR-
EST, p. 305, on the single White Pseony, calls to mind the fact
that a large percentage of seedlings come single. The seeds
take nearly a year to germinate, and some will come up only
after two years. Some seedlings, now three years old, bloomed
here last spring, and many were fine single varieties. Every
year hundreds of seedlings come up in a large bed of Paeo-
nies here ; and I presume they germinate as freely elsewhere,
but since they are not very conspicuous objects in the borders
they are liable to be hoed up, and, therefore, should be looked
for. Persons fond of single PiBonies might make quite a col-
lection by simply taking care of the seedlings which yearly
come up in the borders. „ _, ,_

Wellesley. Mass. T. D. H.

Correspondence.

The White Grub in Lawns.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— Can you tell me what is the best thing to do with a lawn
of large extent which is infested with the white grub ? Will
plowing it up thoroughly and exposing it through the winter
kill the grubs ? The white grub is so serious an evil m New-
port this year that its destruction has become a question of
great moment. Is the English lawn-seed better than the
American ?

Newport, R. I. E. B. A.

[The white grub, the larva of the May-bug or Dor-bug,
Phyllophaga quercina, is one of our most serious insect
pests ; it is dirty white, with a yellowish orange head, and
when fully grown is sometimes as thick as the little finger
and disgusting in appearance. It is particularly destruc-
tive to Grasses, Strawberries, young nursery stock and
other plants with thin delicate roots. Working under
ground, it is impossible to detect its ravages until their
effects appear in the death of the injured plants. The
larv;e remain three years in the ground, increasing in size
from year to year, and are only large enough in their third
and last season to be really destructive. There are always
more or less of them in cultivated ground, but it is only at
irregular intervals that they appear here in sufficient num-

bers to be seriously destructive. When aseason in which they
abound, like the present one, happens to be exceptionally
dry, the damage they inflict is very great, as the roots of
Grasses and other plants cannot grow in dry soil as rapidly
as the grubs devour them, and the plants are, therefore,
unable to recuperate. If their presence under a lawn can
be detected by the browning of the grass before it is killed,
the sod can be raised, and the grubs, which will be found
within a few inches of the surface, killed ; the sod can then
be reset. The grubs are sometimes killed by pounding the
surface of the sod with heavy wooden mauls, but this is
slow work, and only partially effective. If the grass is
killed there is nothing to do but to- strip off the sod, which
will be found entirely detached from the soil, kill the grubs,
and then re-seed the ground. Exposing the ground during
the winter, as our correspondent suggests, will not be neces-
sary ; the grubs big enough to do serious mischief are in
their last season. This autumn they will descend deep
into the ground out of the reach of frosts and emerge early
in the following spring in the shape of beetles. The only
way to fight them successfully is in this stage of their ex-
istence, and by destroying the beetles prevent the damage
which three years later their offspring would inflict. In the
very early morning the beetles, which are then inert, may
be shaken down from the branches of trees into cloths and
destroyed ; or they can be caught during the night by
suspending a lantern over a tub of water placed in the
neighborhood of trees or shrubbery. The clumsy beetles,
attracted by the light, fly to it, and striking heavily against
the glass of the lantern fall to the water. A little kerosene
oil poured on the surface deprives them of all chance of
escape. In France, where these beetles ((Hantons) are
particularly destructive, various lanterns Have been in-
vented for this purpose, but an ordinary stable lantern
hung over a wash-tub will answer the purpose. The more
brilliant the light, however, the greater the number of bee-
tles it will attract. As the grubs are so abundant this year
in Newport there will be a large number of beetles there
next spring, and an attempt should be made to destroy
them. Concerted effort on the part of the land-owners
ought to reduce the number materially in an isolated
community like that on the island of Rhode Island,
although it will not be possible to destroy them all.

In our climate Kentucky Blue Grass and Rhode Island
Bent Grass make a better lawn than any of the foreign
Grasses. — Ed. J

Dutch Bulbs in America.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I judge by Professor Massey's rejoinder to my remarks
concerning the cultivation of Dutch bulbs in America, that he
did not quite see what I thought stood in the way of the prose-
cution of that business here, for he simply asserts that North
Carolina has a great deal of soil suitable for these bulbs, which
I fully beheve, and that a Dutch grower is going to examine
for himself. I spoke of the probable quality of the flowers
produced by southern-grown bulbs, and in that connection
named southern Tuberoses, Bermudian Lilies and Italian
Lilium candidums. Professor Massey's reply asserts the su-
periority of North Carolina Tuberoses, which I do not deny, as
I have very little knowledge of the plant, but, whether right or
wrong, there is some prejudice in favor of the northern-grown
product ; if it is mistaken it will wear away in time, but at
present it exists.

Professor Massey states that 100,000 undersized Lilium can-
didum bulbs grew to large dimensions in a year in North
Carolina, as they would have done with proper treatment in
almost any state' of the Union, but he fails to meet the point
which I raised about them, inasmuch as he does not say
whether the flowers were of such substance as those we see
in old gardens all through the north. L. candidum is hardly a
■' Dutch " bulb, hut. pa.esing over that point, let me say that it
can be purchased in Italy at eight dollnrs per thousand, and if
the flowers of these bulbs are not inHueuced unfavorably by
the climate, that will be the price which can be obtained for
them, plus the trifling expense of importation. One year more
of cultivation in Italy or America would make them larger, no
doubt, and then the Italian price would be fifty lire (ten dollars)

358

Garden and Forest.

[Number 287.

a thousand. I do not expect or desire to see labor so low-
priced in America that a man will be content to grow these
Lilies several years, from the scale to the full-sized bulb, for
one cent.

As for the greater amount of sunshine in the south, there is
very little difference between North Carolina and Massachu-
setts, but that ditTerence, between the vernal and the autumnal
equinoxes, is in favor of the northern locality. There is enough
of sunshine and heat, too, in any part of the north for the per-
fected growth of Dutch bulbs proper. Hyacinths, Crocuses,
Tulips and Narcissi, all of which have run their yearly
course above ground before July comes in. As for the Dutch
grower, of whom frequent mention has been made in several
papers lately, if he enters upon the business here and con-
tinues in it for a term of years I shall be surprised, but I shall
also be as much pleased as any one at the successful introduc-
tion of a new industry, and will acknowledge my mistake. At
C resent, however, since I agree with Professor Massey that the
usmess will be carried on where it can be done most advan-
tageously, I believe that the Dutch and French growers will
continue business in their own countries, undisturbed by
American competition, and that "failure and loss await those
who shall go into the Dutch bulb business in this country."

Canton. Mass. '^- E. EndicoU.

Periodical Literature.

A recent issue of the Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous In-
formation contains an interesting account of the Chinese white
wax industry, one of the most curious of all human indus-
tries.

The wax insect is bred in certain districts of central China
upon a species of Privet, probably Ligustrum Japonicum ; and
as the Chinese believe that the wax cannot be produced in the
districts where the insect is propagated, and, conversely, that
the reproduction of the insects cannot take place in regions
which are favorable to the production of wax, after the eggs
are hatched they are gathered and carried several hundred
miles into another province, where fhey are deposited on the
branches of an Ash-tree, which is believed to be Fraxinus
Chinensis. Here they are hatched, grow and deposit their
wax, which is collected by cutting off the branches of the Ash-
trees, which are carefully cultivated for the purpose, and then
boiling them. The method is thus described : "The mother
gall being placed upon a suitable tree, the young brood march
out at a good round pace and ascend the branches, the red fe-
males leading the way ; after a period of desultory wandering
they reach the leaves, on which they seem to feed, but the
quantity they consume is imperceptible, and the leaves remain,
to all appearance, uninjured. In about ten days they return to
the thin upper twigs, where, according to the natives, the
males begin to excrete wax, and the females to form the galls
either amid the wax or apart from it. The deposit of wax
gradually increases during a hundred days, from the date
when the galls were attached to the tree ; the twigs are then
almost entirely coated with a layer a third of an inch or less in
thickness. The whole process extends from the middle of
May to the end of August. While still on the tree the deposit
is a kind of dense greasy fluff, and looks very much like sul-
phate of quinine. The twigs, with their coating, are cut into
convenient lengths and put into a pot with a little water. After
the boiling-point is reached the fire is removed, and when
ebullition ceases the poorer quality of wax, with the hard parts
of the insects and otiier impurities, sink to the bottom. The
clear wax is skimmed from the surface and poured into a mold,
where it solidifies into the wax-cakes of commerce." A few
of the galls are, of course, retained in the region where the
eggs are hatched to ensure their reproduction.

The operation of transporting the eggs is a delicate one, as
the interval between the milk and the hatching state is short,
and the young insects are liable to escape ; hence the journey
is made with all possible dispatch. The carriers cannot march
while the sun is high, for the heat would hatch the eggs. The
stages must be made by night, and every one is obliged to
carry a lantern. The whole body of carriers sets out wiihin
the space of a day or two, and as the number is about fifteen
thousand, all hastening by the light of their lanterns oversome
of the wildest passes m the world, each trying to outstrip his
fellow and to get first to the ferry or inn, it is easy to imagine
that this march of insect-carriers is like the headlong flight of
an army.

The export of white wax from the interior provinces has
shown a great decline in recent years, and the industry is
thought to be a decaying one, petroleum replacing in China the
vegetable waxes upon which the Celestials entirely depended

up to recent years. The insect which produces the white wax
is Coccus Pela.

The first account of this remarkable industry was published
as early as 1655 in Martini's Atlas Sinensis. The best account,
perhaps, is that of the Jesuit, P^re Rathones, who in 1880 pub-
lished in Shanghai his Etude sur le Coccus Pela. An interest-
ing account of it, too, will be found in Hosie's Three Years in
Western China.

The Columbian Exposition.

The Fruit Curtains.

LYING in the rear of the plant curtains, which were de-
scribed last week, are the two wings devoted to the pomo-
logical displays. These are much like the plant wings in style,
except that less glass is used in the sides and roofs, and the
floors are laid with boards. Each of them is forty-six feet wide
by 346 feet long. Entering the short passage leading west from
the great dome, one finds the fruit displays extending away
upon either hand. The early displays in these wings were
comprised largely of apples from cold storage, citrous fruits
from California and Florida, and miscellaneous collections of
fruits in preservative liquids. During June and July the ber-
ries became attractive features of the displays of a few states,
especially of Illinois, New York, Wisconsin and New Jersey.
Now, at the middle of August, the new tree fruits of the sea-
son are introducing fresh interests, and many of the tables are
assuming a novel appearance.

The first thing which attracts one's attention upon entering
the south curtain from the north is the interesting remnant of
the New South Wales collection. This has now dwindled to a
few plates of apples and a number of lemons, but these fruits
have been on exhibition many weeks after having made a
journey of nearly two months from Australia. At the left of
this space is the collection of Italian lemons and oranges, in
very much the same condition as when reported upon five
weeks ago. A central table, facing the entrance, is devoted to
fruits from Kentucky, comprising a considerable collection of
autumn pears and apples, peaches, plums and grapes. Cali-
fornia occupies a central table to the left of this and a wall
table still to the west. The plates of citrous fruits have now
largely disappeared from the California collections, and their
places are taken by immense plums, pears, peaches, necta-
rines and grapes. The Susquehanna peach, which seems to
meet with indifferent success in the east, is conspicuous in this
collection. The great monument of California oranges is still
in good condition, although it has lost some of its freshness ;
and the same may be said of the still remarkable citrous dis-
play California makes at the south end of this curtain. Against
the east wall Maine still holds its space, although the exhibit
has now dwindled to a few preserved fruits and jellies. About
half-way down the hall Iowa has a long table heavily loaded
with new and old apples, with a sprinkling of native plums.
Illinois, appropriately, occupies the largest space of any ex-
hibitor in the hall. It shows great quantities of apples, both
old and new, peaches, pears and grapes. They are disposed
on three long tables with mirror-backed shelves, with black-
berries, crabs, plums and some other fruits in a cold-storage
case. Opposite Illinois, Minnesota has one of the best storage-
case displays in the building. Michigan, which has been very
poorly represented, is now beginning to fill its dreary shelves
with a few early peaches and apples, and there is promise of a
representative display later on. New Jersey has a good col-
lection of apples and pears, and Wisconsin has a small and
brilliant display of new apples, with the last of the blackberry
show still on the shelves. The Lubsk Queen, an apple in this
exhibit, is the most remarkable combination of brilliant pink
and white and primrose color of which the eye can conceive.
New York is holding its place as one of the most varied and
carefully made collections of fruits in the building, although
the season's fruits have not yet appeared in great quantity. A
large and interesting remnant of apples from the cold-storage
fire is still on the shelves.

Entering the north curtain from the south one comes first
upon the large collections of the Canadian provinces, which
are just now beginning to feel the effect of the first early ap-
ples and peaches. New Mexico follows with a small lot of
bottled fruits, beyond which is a wretched collection of wax
fruits and vegetables from Louisiana. Montana and South
Dakota show bottled fruits. Arkansas has a long table de-
voted to an excellent display of apples and peaches. Idaho
shows new peaches, apples and plums, but the larger part of
its display, and the entire display of Washington, are yet com-
prised in the bottled products. In the Georgia section, Mr.
A. F. Rice, of Griswoldville, shows a lot of superb grapes, a

August 23, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

359

new variety, seedling of Eunielan, resembling Concord in
color, but very sweet. Missouri shows by far tlie finest lot of
peaches, the chief variety being the now famous Elberta. This
state also displays new ajjples and pears, native plums and
grapes in variety. Colorado, which heretofore has confined
itself almost wholly to bottled and wax fruits, now has fresh
peaches, wild goose plums and a long table of new apples.
Oregon is receiving new grapes, pears, apples and plums. The
great space at the north end of the curtain, occupied by
Florida earlier in the season, is now being rebuilt, and Ne-
braska is spreading a very lar^e and attractive display of
apples, peaches, grapes and native plums ; and Oregon has
secured some of the space for a show of stone-fruits, including
the Early Red nectarine and the Hungarian prune, the latter
showing many double specimens.

It is yet too early to judge of the comparative merits of even
the early displays of new fruits, but it is clear that Illinois,
Oregon, New York, Missouri, Arkansas, Ontario, Iowa, New
Jersey, Nebraska and Wisconsin are to make strong exhibits.
California seems inclined to rest upon its citrous exhibits, and
many states, even in the east, which are capable of making
important shows, have so far made no effort. It is doubtful if
the quality of even the opening displays of new tree-fruits is
beyond criticism, but an interesting autumnal competition
seems to be assured. , ,r r, ■>

Chicago, III. L. H. Bailey.

Meetings of Societies.

Convention of the Society of American Florists.

THE annual meeting of this association at St. Louis was not
so largely attended as some of its predecessors, but it was
unusually interesting and important. According to the report
of Secretary Stewart, the membership last year reached 829, of
which 174 were new accessions, and there is little doubt that
the association will number a thousand strong within a com-
paratively short time. The convention opened with the usual
address of welcome by the Mayor of the city, and President
W. R. Smith, of the Botanical Gardens in Washington, read an
elaborate and instructive address covering a wide range of
topics. In the discussion of the address, the point which ex-
cited most attention was the advice to encourage the produc-
tion of home-grown seeds, bulbs and plants, so as to give to
American industry the two million dollars which are annually
sent abroad for these articles. As a proof of our capacity in
this matter Mr. Smith cited the example of California, which
was already producing large amounts of seeds and bull)s, and
of Long Island, where he had lately seen on one estate ninety
acres of Gladiolus. Indeed, Gladiolus-bulbs had now become
an article of export, instead of being imported, as they were
ten years ago, while the price has been greatly reduced. The
cultivation of Tuberose-bulbs and similar ventures in some of
the southern states, for the home and foreign trade, was also
cited ; and it was urged that Roman Hyacinths, and perhaps
many other bulbs, seeds and plants, could be grown success-
fully for market on this side of the Atlantic.

The papers read on various subjects were of high order.
We have already made quotations from some of them, and
we shall quote from others from time to time such portions
as may be of permanent interest. The first paper was an
admirable one by Mr. C.H.Allen, on Carnations, and as Mr. Allen
is one of the most successful growers in the country, the terse
account of his own experience had singular value. The other
important papers were by Robert Kift, of Philadelphia, on the
"Benefits of Closer Co-operation between Growers and
Dealers as regards Regulating Prices"; one by Mr. J. C.
Watson, of Philadelphia, entitled " How Can We Increase the
Love of Flowers among the People of this Country 1" and
one by Mr. Elmer D. Smith, on " Bench-grown Chrysanthe-
mums for Exhibition Purposes." At the second day's session
Mr. R. F. Tesson, of St. Louis, discussed with great fullness
of detail and ample knowledge "The Science and Facts of
Successful Rose-growing." The essay drew forth much com-
mendation and discussion. In the evening a paper by Mr.
W. G. Bertermann, of Indianapolis, on " Horticultural Ex-
hibitions and How to Make Them Successful," was read, and
this was followed by an essay by Mr. James Gurney, head-
gardener of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, on "Old and
Neglected Plants which are worthy of More General Use in
Outdoor Decoration." The essay was characterized by a
sincere and catholic love of nature, a fact which was alluded
to in the discussion of the paper by Mr. J. C. Vaughan, who
added in the same strain that if florists could acquire a little
more of that love for Apple-blossoms and Arbutus, the love of
simple nature, and could teach it to some of their customers.

it would much benefit the trade, which he sometimes feared
was too strictly commercial. Mr. Robert Craig, of Philadelphia,
read a brief but practical paper on " The Best Means of
Increasing the Love of Flowers," among which means he
gave a prominent place to such societies as the Carnation
Society, which had already done much, and the Chrysanthe-
mum Society and the Rose Society, from which we ought to
hope for much more. The concluding paper on " Labor-
saving Devices," by Mr. Patrick O'Mara, was a resume of the
more important improvements in practice which have been
adopted by the trade within recent years.

The report of the Committee on Nomenclature, of which
Prof^sor Trelease is president, was important. It recom-
mended, as the standard for naming species and varieties of
ornamental plants, Nicholson's Dictionary, and that in cases
where plants had been widely known under a name differ-
ent from that used in the dictionary, the popular but dis-
carded name should be added in parentheses until the public
had become accustomed to the change. With respect to
florists' names, it was advised that the trade should conform
to the rules adopted by the American Pomological Society
for fruits, and the Association of American Agricultural
Colleges for vegetables, and that the society should publish
every year in horticultural papers and elsewhere a list of
synonyms used in the trade during the year; and, finally, the
originators of new plants were urged to employ short, appro-
priate and neat vernacular names instead of misleading, long,
high-sounding or vulgar names, and that the use of Latinized
names should be confined exclusively to species and natural
varieties.

The meeting was honored by the presence of several
foreigners of distinction — among them Mr. George Nicholson,
Curator of Kew Gardens ; Professor Wittmack, of Berlin ; M.
Krelage, of Holland ; M. Lemoine and others.

Mr. J. T. Anthony, of Chicago, was elected president for the
ensuing year, Mr. Robert Kift, of Philadelphia, vice-president,
and Atlantic City, New Jersey, was selected as the place for
the next annual convention.

The Horticultural Congress at Chicago.

n^HAT part of the general scheme of congresses auxiliary to
^ the Columbian Exposition which devoted itself to horti-
culture convened on the morning of Wednesday, August l6th,
in the Memorial Art Palace, in Chicago. The congress was
designed to represent the entire field of American horticulture,
and it was held under the patronage of the four great national
societies — The American Pomological Society, Society of
American Florists, American Seed-trade Association ' and
American Association of Nurserymen. The immediate charge
of the congress fell to a local committee, of which J; C.
Vaughan was chairman. A general session was held upon the
morning of the i6th, and thereafter the business of the con-
gress came before four separate sections representing the re-
spective societies. The general convention attracted an
audience of 150 persons, mostly of men distinguished in
various horticultural professions. It was undoubtedly the
most representative body of American horticulturists which
the country has yet seen. Foreign horticulturists were few iu
number, but among them were Henri L. de Vilmorin, of Paris ;
Professor L. Wittmack, of Berlin, and J. Pedersen-Bjergaard,
of Copenhagen, all of whom took an active part in the con-
ventions. The first session introduced four general topics,,
each of which was the subject of a paper and some discussion.
"Technical Horticultural Education" was introduced by Pro-
fessor Trelease, of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, who was
of the opinion that, save possibly in floriculture, the United
States is not yet ready for technical horticultural schools.
" Improvement and Care of Public Grounds," by WJlliam
McMillan, Superintendent of the Buffalo Parks, introduced the
whole subject of landscape-gardening, and provoked a discus-
sion of the uses of color, in which the florists contended for a
greater recognition of the importance of flower-pieces in land-
scape-design. Charles W. Garfield, of Michigan, spoke upon
the "Relation of Experiment Stations to Commercial Horti-
culture," saying that the stations and the public have not yet
come into perfect and productive sympathy with each other.
"Horticultural Displays at Future World's Fairs" was most
suggestively introduced by Dr. Wittmack. Amid the universal
praise which Americans naturally bestow upon everything
connected with the Fair, it was a refreshment to hear an im-
partial foreigner measure the features of our horticultural dis-
plays. While the distinguished guest, who is sent by the Ger-
man Emperor to report upon the Exposition, is greatly
impressed with the architectural and material splendors of the

360

Garden and Forest.

[Number 287.

Fair, he is disappoinled in finding so little devoted to science
and education in horticulture, such meagre exhibits in garden
vegetables and nursery products, and the entire absence of
seasonal displays of special fruits and other perishable
products which were made a feature of international exhibi-
tions, even so long ago as the Paris Exposition of 1867. He
thinks that floral decorations about the various buildings
should have been prominent, and suggests that in future fairs
the exhibitors' plants be used for such decorative purposes.
He also dislikes the single-judge system of awards. The Fair
has introduced an admirable principle in the erecting of green-
houses for growing and canng for the plants of exhibitors, and
if this feature is enlarged upon in future expositions it will
greatly tend to make them widely cosmopolitan. Each nation
should plant its building in a garden showing the national
characteristics, as the Japanese have done here ; and some
future exposition should attempt to reconstruct some of the
history and evolution of gardening.

Of the leading papers read, it is enough to say at present
that the Seedsmen's session was devoted very largely to a dis-
cussion, led by an admirable paper by Monsieur Vilmorin, of
the principles and methods of the origination of varieties ; the
Florists continued the consideration of the uses of color in
landscape-gardening ; while the Nurserymen and Pomologists
attempted some review of the growth of their respective voca-
tions. None of the sessions were well attended, although the
interest was good and the papers were excellent. Owing to
the many diverting attractions of the Exposition, horticultur-
ists generally did not quickly comprehend the scope and
needs of the congress, and it can scarcely be called a great suc-
cess ; yet the character of the men who were present, and the
papers which were read, make the occasion a very important
one, particularly in view of the fact that this is the first gather-
ing in the country which has attempted to represent every
branch of American horticulture.

Notes.

A correspondent writes Ihat the fruit of a young Pear orchard
near Pine City, Georgia, consisting of three acres, was re-
cently sold on the trees for $475.

At the closing exercises of the Convention of American
Florists a gold watch and chain were presented by the society
to President Smith, and a silver drinking-service to ex-Presi-
dent Jordan.

The Trumpet-creepers, our native Tecoma radicans, which
have been in bloom here for more than a month, and the
Japanese T. gfrandiflora, which will continue to bloom for a
month longer, are to be commended not only for their vigor-
ous growth and bold flowers, but because they invariably at-
tract humming-birds, which are as beautiful as any Hower.
These birds promptly appear at the opening of the first
Tecoma flower, even though they have not been noticed
before in the neighborhood, and, so long as the plant con-
tinues in bloom, there is not an hour of the day when there is
not a bird hovering among the flowers.

In spite of the dry weather we observe that the Hybrid
Noisette Roses, Coquette des Blanches and Coquette des
Alpes, have been blooming when most other varieties show
no signs of a flower. Mr. Ellwanger says that the origin of
this class of Roses is uncertain, but they seem mostly to come
from crosses between the Bourbon and Noisette Roses. The
variefies mentioned, however, are less delicate than Madame
Noman and Eliza Boelle, and they seem to have more of the
hardiness of the Noisette parent. The freedom with which
they bloom late in the season gives them an especial value,
although their white full flowers, sometimes tinged with blush,
make them desirable at any time.

The value of Sophora Japonica as an ornamental tree here
is hardly appreciated. It is the only tree which produces flow-
ers in this climate as late as the middle of August. It is very
hardy, of good habit, free from the attacks of insects and fungal
diseases, and the leaves are of a beautiful dark glossy green.
The yellowish white pea-shaped flowers are produced in great
terminal clusters, and well-established trees flower freely
during two or three weeks. This Sophora is certainly one of
the best of the medium-sized exotic trees which we can plant
in the northern and middle states. Large specimens are not
common in this country, although S. Japonica was one of the
first of the eastern Asiatic trees introduced into European gar-
dens, where it was sent by Thunberg, who found it cultivated
in Japan more than a century ago, and who mistook it for a
Japanese tree.

A private letter from Monsieur Naudin informs us that
Fourcroya Roezlii is flowering in the garden of the Villa
Thuret, at Antibes, for the first time. The plant is thirty-two
years old, with a stem some eight feet high, as thick as a man's
lliigh, and crowned with an enormous tuft of glaucous un-
armed leaves. The flowering kills the plant, absorbing the
juices of the leaves, which, after the development of the enor-
mous flower-cluster, hang inert. The panicle is terminal,
nearly twenty-five feet tall, with numerous spreading branches
which bear more than a thousand white flowers, succeeded by
numerous hanging ovoid fruits the size of a small hen's-egg,
and filled with flat black seeds. It also produces upon the
branches of the panicle thousands of bulblets, in this way pro-
viding for its reproduction. This remarkable Mexican plant is
sometimes known in gardens as Beschorneria Parmentieri ; it
also is sometimes called Roezlia regia, R. bulbifera. Yucca
Parmentieri, Y. Toneliana and Y. argyrophylla.

The first volume of the Dictionnaire Pratique ct Horticulture
et lie Jardinage is completed with the sixteenth part, which
has just reached us, the last entry being "Compost." This, it
will be remembered, is a French edition of Nicholson's useful
Dictionary of Gardening, considerably enlarged by the French
editor. Monsieur Mottet, assisted by some of the principal
botanists and horticulturists of France. Plants which have
been described since the appearance of the original work are
included in this edition, in which, too, the definition of botani-
cal and horticultural terms has been amplified, as have many
of the descriptions of genera and families. The addition
of the names of the authors of genera and species increases
the value of the work, which will be of invaluable assistance
to every student of garden-plants and every intelligent gar-
dener. The French edition is dedicated to Messrs. Vilmorin,
Andrieux & Co., who have rendered the editor invaluable ser-
vice, he tells us, in his serious undertaking.

The useful Biographical Index of British and Irish Botan-
ists, including also many gardeners and others more or less
directly interested in plants, compiled by James Britten and
G. S. Bulger, and first published in the pages of the fournal
of Botany, has now been issued in a handsome volume of a
hundred and eighty-eight pages, by West, Newman & Company,
of London. The following extract will give an idea of the na-
ture of the information to be found in its pages: "Parry,
Charles Christopher (1823-go), b. Admington, Worcestershire,
28 Aug., 1823; d. Davenport, Iowa, 20 Feb., 1890. Went to
America, 1832. M. D. Botanical explorer and collector. On
Mexican Boundary Survey, 1850; in Rocky Mountains, 1861.
Botanist to Agric. Dept., Washington, 1869 71. Chorizaiithe.
1884, 1889, and various hot. papers. Friend of Torrey anil
Gray. Herb, at Davenport Acad. Nat. Sciences. Jacks. 589 ;
R. S. C. iv. 767 ; viii. 565 ; Garden and Forest, iii. 120; Bull.
Torrey Bot. Club, March, 1890; Western Naturalist, June,
1890 (portr.) Parry ella, Torr. & Gray."

The fruit-stores and the side-walk fruit-stands have never
shown so great a variety of beautiful fruits as they now do.
The California plums now principally offered are the Peach
plum (the variety known as Prune pSche in France), a large
brownish red fruit; the German prune, an oval, deep purple
fruit ; the Tragedy prune, a Pacific coast variety which has
been in market ever since June, larger than the German
prune and of a lighter color, and handsomest of all the fruit
sold as the Grosse prune, but the true name of which is
English Pond's Seedling. This is the largest prune in the
market, of a beautiful violet-red, with a delicate bloom. It is
rather coarse in flesh, but sweet. The Yellow Egg plum is
next in size, being large and oval, of a light yellow color and
a thin white bloom. The Columbia is a large plum with very
rich, sweet orange-colored flesh, but is not attractive in
the color of its skin, which is a dull reddish-brown with
fawn-colored dots and copious bloom. The Green Gage
is small and globular, with pale green flesh. It is juicy,
exceedingly rich and of excellent flavor. The choicest of these
plums sell at from twenty-five to thirty-five cents a dozen.
California peaches are scarce, although dealers like to handle
them because they last longer, even after a journey across
the continent, than fruit from New Jersey. Crawford's Early
and Mountain Rose, the best Delaware varieties in market,
bring a dollar and a half a basket when of the first quality.
KiefCer pears are now coming from the southern states, while
the apples which bring the highest price are Gravensteins from
the Hudson River valley. During the week large Japanese
persimmons of a rich yellow color have appeared in abun-
dance and sell readily for ten cents each. They come froir
Florida.

August 30, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

361

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building. New York,

Conducted by . Professor C. S. Sargent,

ENTBREO AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial AR-na es : — The General Desij^ of the Cohimbian Exposition 361

The Slemorial to Sir J. B. Lawes 363

White HucUIelierries Professor IV. G. Farloriu. 363

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— XX. (With figure.) C. S. S. 363

Foreign Correspondence : — Notes on Water-lilies W. Watson. 364

Cultural Department: — Seasonable Notes E. O. Orfiet. 367

Ferns Suitable for House-culture W.Il. TapUn. 367

Tisfridias F. //. Hors/ord. 367

Early-fiowering Gladioli..'. G. 368

Correspondence : — Harvesting and Evaporating Raspberries,

Charles G. Atkins. Fred. W. Card. 368

Two Wild Fruits in North Dakota ; C. B. Waldron. 368

The White Grub in I..awDS Professor John B. Smith. 369

Zelkova Keaki M. 369

The Columbian Exposition :— Japanese Horticulture at the Fair,

Professor L. H. Bailey. 369

Notes 37°

Illustration:— CarpinusCarpinus, Fig. 56 365

The General Design of the Columbian Exposition.

AT the request of the American Institute of Architects
Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted has written a "Report
upon the Landscape Architecture of the Cohimbian Expo-
sition." We have not space for the entire paper, hut it is
so instructive that we feel impelled to present portions of
it to our readers, although much of its original value is
lost by any condensation. When the office of Landscape
Architects to the Exposition was created it was assumed,
in the absence of speciiic instruction, that the duties of that
office were to reconcile the requirements of the problem
which the Directors had before them in respect to buildings
and the means of access to them, with the requirements of
scenery, and of scenery which would be pleasing not be-
' cause of the specific beauty of its detail but because of the
subordination and contribution of these details to the
effective composition of masses as seen in the perspective.
When called to Chicago by the Directory to giv^ counsel
in selecting a site, Messrs. Olmsted & Codmaii were taken
to examine the proposed sites. Inasmuch as the country
immediately about Chicago is flat and mainly treeless with
a tenacious clay soil, and a climate subject to sudden
changes and severe winds, the demands upon the energy
of vegetation is peculiarly trying, so that the selection of a
site was necessarily a choice of difficulties. On this point
the report goes on to say: "Of the seven sites to which
our attention was called there was not one the scenery of
which could recommend it if it had been near Boston, New
York or Philadelphia. A brief review of them, however,
showed that nothing was to be found on any of the four
inland sites that could be weighed against the advantages
in respect to scenery of the lake shore. As to the sites on
the .shore we concluded that, if suitalJle transportation for
goods and passengers could be provided, the northernmost
of the three proposed would be the best. It would require
less outlay to prepare the grounds and establish means of
interior transportation, water-supply and drainage ; the
great marine commerce of Chicago would be passing in
review before it at a suitable distance for spectacular effect;

an arrangement of buildings simpler and grander than
possible elsewhere would be practicable here, and the
buildings would have a much better setting and frame of
foliage provided by standing woods, fairly vigorous and of
sufficient height to serve as a continuous background."

The proper transportation arrangements, however, could
not be made, and therefore the southernmost, or the Jack-
son Park, site was taken against much remonstrance. The
superiority of an inland site known as Washington Park
was thought to be so obvious that a leading member of
the National Commission asserted, after an inspection of the
two sites, that not one vote in ten could be secured for
Jackson Park. After much argument by the landscape-
gardeners, in which little was apparently accomplished, the
result was, as stated in the report, "that the Commission
in the end accepted our advice, not because a majority of
its members understood the ground of it, but because they
could not be led to believe that we should have given such
advice without having, as experts, sound reasons for doing
it. The result was, therefore, due to respect for profes-
sional judgment. . Comparing this experience with some of
my earlier professional life I can but think that it manifests
an advance in civilization."

To ordinary observation, Jackson Park was a forbidding
place. At different periods sand-bars had been formed in
the lake a few hundred feet from the shore and parallel
with it. The landward one of these, gradually rising,
had at length attained an elevation above the surface of
the water, and within this bar a pool or lagoon was
formed. Gradually these lagoons had been filled nearly to
the brim with drifting sand and had become marshes. Thus
nine-tenths of the site — in fact, all of it that had not been
artificially made otherwise — consisted of three ridges of
beach-sand, with intervening swales occupied by boggy
vegetation. Upon the two inner ridges vegetable-mold
had gathered, and scattered groups of Oaks and other trees
had sprung up. The largest of these was only some forty
feet in height, for their growth had been slow in the bleak
situation and water-soaked soil ; they were feeble, and
many of them dilapidated through limbs broken by gales.
A more serious difiiculty was found in the circumstance
that the level of the water in the lake, and, therefore, in
the marshes, fluctuated not only from day to day as the
winds drew it off or backed it up, but its average level
varied from year to year, and persons who had studied
the matter predicted that in 1893 the elevation of the
surface of the lake would be four feet higher thaii
it was at the time when the plan was studied. It will
be readily understood how difficult it was to forecast
landscape-effects in a region of low shores without know-
ing within four feet what the level of the water was to be
which was to wash them. In answering the question why
the least park-like ground within miles of Chicago had been
selected for a park twenty years before, the report states
that it is a common thing with town governments, when
they find bodies of land which are not favorable to the
enterprise of dealers in building-lots, to regard them as
natural reservations for pleasure-grounds, and to label
them accordingly on their maps. The sites for the Central
Park, the, Morningside Park, the Riverside Park, Mount
Morris Park, Tompkins Square and other public grounds
in the city of New York were thus selected, and the same
is true of the site of the Back Bay Park in Boston, Batter-
sea Park in London, and practically of the Tuileries gar-
den in Paris. Sites having thus been obtained, landscape-
gardeners are asked to contTive how pleasure-grounds can
be made of them. " In the millennium it may be hoped
that expert advice vv^ill be asked to select the land with
regard to the specific purpose for which it is to be used,
and when this is the case the making of the park will be
less costly than it is at present."

More than twenty years ago. when the land and water of •
Jackson Park was first acquired, Messrs. Olmsted & Vaux de-
vised a plan for making it available as a pleasure-ground,
together with thesite now known as Washington Park and the

362

Garden and Forest.

[Number 288.

strip of land between them now known as the Midway. The
fundamental idea of this design was to re-open the old
lagoons, to take the material lifted out to form the basis of
higher banks on the old sand-bars, then to move through
the Midway to the inland park, lifting out the matarial
needed to open a channel in which dredges could float,
and so shifting its material on the one side or the
other as to provide varying shores which were afterward
to be covered with soil and vegetation. When Jackson
Park was chosen as the site of the World's Fair, none of
this general landscape-design had been executed, but it
was thought that if the element of water-ways in the
original plan could be carried out, and retaining-walls
built for holding e.xcavated material which was piled upon
the shores, terraces could be formed, and the buildings of
the Fair could be advantageously distributed upon the sur-
rounding ridges. The feasibility of this plan was con-
firmed by counsel with Messrs. Burnham & Root. Where
lagoons with shores of a natural character would be un-
suitable for boats, it was thought best to give them the
character of canals, that is, to make them formal and give
their banks, which would necessarily be walls, an archi-
tectural character in harmony with the buildings. With
these points established, the development of the leading
features of the design followed. First, the great architect-
ural court with its body of water, which should be a digni-
fied and impressive entrance-hall to the Exposition through
which all visitors were to pass ; then the canal extending
northward to the broader waters, giving a water-frontage as
well as a land-frontage to the principal buildings ; and, lastly,
the wooded island, with its natural sylvan aspect and its
shores bordered with plants, which would endure oc-
casional submergence and yet survive the withdrawal of
water from their roots.

Even at this early period the result which has since
been attained was fully anticipated in a general way. The
effect of the boats and water-fowl as incidents of move-
ment and life on the waters, the bridges with their
shadows and reflections, their effect in extending perspec-
spectives and in tying together terraces and buildings,
thus increasing unity of composition — all this was fully
taken into account from the first, even the style of the boats
best adapted to the purpose becoming at once a topic of
study. When the Advisory Board of Architects, with Mr.
Hunt as chairman, met, the landscape-gardeners were
made members of the Board, and the plan came up for
critical review. Many suggestions and counter-sugges-
tions were made, and the balance of advantages weighed,
but the result was at last a cordial approval of the original
plan. This was modified afterward, so far as the abandon-
ment of a proposed outer harbor was concerned, and, in
another particular, modified to its injury. The landscape-
gardeners all thought, and Mr. Codman was particularly
strong in the conviction, that it was an unfortunate circum-
stance that visitors so generally entered the Paris Exposition
at points not adapted to give them a grand impression, or
provide for a convenient point of dispersal. The first step,
therefore, in revising the old park-plan to the requirements
of the Fair was to fix upon a focal point of interest a centre
which should be so placed that conveyance by land and
water, by railway and boats, both within and without,
should conveniently discharge visitors into it and receive
them from it. That it should be a place of general ex-
change, and the source of information and guidance as well
as the point of departures and returns, a spacious court
was provided, the Administration Building was placed in
this court, the buildings likely to be most frequented
opened into it, the intramural railway had its principal
station in it, and the whole interior water-system was
planned with a view to easy connection with it by small
boats. All railways and steamboats were to receive and
discharge passengers through it, and a union station was
provided with this object in view. The failure to carry
out this plan completely has, in Mr. Olmsted's opinion,
cost the Exposition much, and deducted much from its

value. The reason that this part of the scheme failed
seems to be due to a lack of co-operation on the part of
the Illinois Central Railway.

When the general plan was formed space was reserved
for smaller buildings which it was supposed would be
needed, but many such structures which were not then con-
templated were ultimately scattered about between the main
buildings. It was the original intention to leave the wooded
island free from all objects that would prevent it from pre-
senting, in connection with the waters about it, a broad
space characterized by calmness and naturalness, to serve
as a foil to the artificial grandeur and sumptuousncss
of the other parts of the scenery. Perhaps it is fortunate
that no more obtrusive and disquieting introductions than
the temple and garden of the Japanese and the horticul-
tural exhibits were admitted to the island ; nevertheless,
these have injured it for the purpose of the design, and if
they could have been avoided the Exposition would have
made a more agreeable general impression on visitors of
cultivated taste. Many of the smaller structures — pavilions
and buildings, inserted without consulting the landscape-
gardeners — are placed where they intercept vistas and dis-
turb spaces intended to relieve the eye from too constant
demands upon the attention made by the Exposition build-
ings. The effect of these little structures among the larger
ones has been bad. It was the original intention to use on
the grounds much more gardening decoration in various
forms than has been used. Materials were provided for
this purpose, at great expense, largely in the form of plants
propagated and kept through the winter under glass, but
when the time approached for using them the spaces in the
grounds not occupied by the larger buildings and trees,
appeared everywhere too much divided and disturbed by
little features which were intended to be more or less
decorative in their character, and, therefore, after consid-
eration, it was reluctantly concluded that the intended
floral decoration vi^ould add so much disquiet to the already
excessive disquiet of the scenery that they would detract
from the effect of the more massive elements, and had to
be abandoned.

The administration at one time contemplated the intro-
duction of a branch railway by which Illinois Central trains
could be taken from the Midway station up on the main
court through the Fair-ground. To make room for this
road the position assigned to the Horticultural Building had
to be changed, the breadth of the lagoon was reduced and
the outline of the island modified. The railway project
was abandoned, but work had been done which compelled
adherence to the unfortunate revision of the shores. The
cramping of the water at this point has been a considera-
ble loss, and had the advances and recesses of the foliage
masses beside the Horticultural Building been much greater
than they are a more picturesque effect would have been
obtained.

In measuring the work of the landscape-department we
should remember that, among various other considerations,
the resources available in any large capital of Europe were
not at command in Chicago, and the work had to be pushed
rapidly with unknown and untrained men. After all the
operations of grading, draining and top-soiling the land,
the great bulk of the planting operations had to be com-
pleted in one fall and spring, two years being the longest time
at command in any part of the grounds, and yet it was
necessary to avoid the weak and sickly appearance so often
seen in freshly made plantations. Besides this, unknown
conditions of climate had to be met, such as possible rains
and floods and frosts in the planting season ; there was no
certainty as to the behavior of the bottom and banks of
excavations, where there were slips and uprisings of the
sand from subterranean springs ; there were no data to es-
timate the amount of ice which put the life of water-plants
in peril along the shore. Several miles of raw, newly
made shore had to be covered with a graceful and intricate
green drapery of varied lints and pleasing in its shadows
and reflections, and yet no commercial agencies were

August 30, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

363

prepared to furnish the material. The chief reliance was
placed upon Willows of the shrubby sorts, in large
variety, and such herbaceous bog and water-side
plants as Flags, Cat-tails, Rushes, Irises and Pond-
lilies, most of which had to be gathered for the purpose
from localities on the shores of lakes and swamps in Illi-
nois and Wisconsin. In this work 100,000 Willows, sev-
enty-five car-loads of herbaceous plants, 140,000 other
aquatic plants, and nearly 300,000 Ferns and other herba-
ceous plants were used.

Mr. Olmsted's report concludes with a hearty commen-
dation of Mr. Rudolph Ulrich, who has been the chief ex-
ecuti ve in carrying out this work, and to whose discretion the
carrying out of the particulars of the plan was largely due.
He has entered admirably into the spirit of the design,
and the zeal and skill with which he has carried on rapid
work in an emergency can hardly be too highly praised.

Altogether, one cannot read the report without a re-
newed sense of gratitude that, in a critical occasion like
the preparation for this great Exposition, the country
could command the services of artists of the rank of
Messrs. Olmsted & Codman, and that they were selected
to make a design which should comprehend the entire
scheme, and that in the construction so few departures
from the plan were permitted.

Few Americans who take any interest in agricultural
science cross the Atlantic without paying a hurried visit,
at least, to Rothamstcd Farm, some twenty-five miles from
London, where the important experiments of Sir John
Bennet Lawes and his colleague, Dr. John Henry Gilbert,
are in progress. The Rothamsted experiments are of more
than national importance, for Sir John Lawes set out fifty
years ago to investigate some of the most obscure prob-
lems in the nutrition of plants and animals, and in the ex-
haustion and possible recuperation of the soil — problems
on the solution of which successful agriculture must always
depend. To this study he has devoted a long and patient
life, each year adding to the mass of data which are col-
lected with the utmost care by analyzing crops and soils
and soil-water, and by other records made with an accu-
racy and completeness never excelled in the records of
scientific investigation. Problems of this sort require so
much time and forethought for their investigation that
serious attempts at their solution would never have been
undertaken, much less pursued with unfaltering zeal,
except by a man like Sir John Lawes, who combined in
his single person a scientific temper, a broad public spirit,
an enthusiastic love for the work, and an ample fortune to
enable him to carry out his plans. Already these experi-
ments cover half a century, but, not satisfied with this. Sir
John has dedicated to their prosecution his famous labor-
atory, together with the experimental farm, with an en-
dowment of half a million of money, all of which are
handed to some of the most distinguished scientific men
of the age for their future administration. It was fitting,
therefore, that a distinguished gathering, headed by His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, should meet, as
they did recently at Harpenden, to commemorate the
fiftieth anniversary of the Rothamsted experiments, by
dedicating a granite memorial to Sir John Bennet Lawes
and Dr. Gilbert.

Sir John Lawes is greatly interested in American agricul-
ture, and he has been a frequent contributor to the agri-
cultural press of this country. Dr. Gilbert has visited us in
former years and addressed many agricultural and scien-
tific meetings, and we are pleased to learn that he is about
leaving England for Chicago, where he has undertaken to
deliver a course of lectures on scientific agriculture, as
taught by the Rothamsted experiments. As this work at
Rothamsted has been of world-wide service, there is no
man in all the world who takes an intelligent interest in
agriculture or horticulture who will not unite with us in
wishing that the lives of these two benefactors of the race
may be extended through many fruitful years.

White Huckleberries.

IN Garden and Forest (vol. ii., p. 50) I called attention
to the occurrence of white berries of Vaccinium Cana-
dense at Shelburne, New Hampshire. In that case micro-
scopic examination showed that the white color was not
due to the presence of a fungus, but was merely a form of
albinism, as appears also to have been the case in other
instances of white blueberries recorded in America. The
production of white berries in species of Vaccinium in
Europe is not rare, and the reader interested in the subject
will find a list of localities in the paper by Ascherson and
Magnus, "Die weissfriichtige Heidelbeere," inthe Verhandl.
Zool. Bol. Gesell, Vienna, 1891, 679. Inasmuch, however,
as in Germany a peculiar form of white indurated berries
of Vaccinium Myrtillus was shown by Schroeter in 1879 to
be due to the attack of the fungus Sclerotinia baccarum,
and since, in 1888, Woronin described in the Memoirs of
the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg a number of simi-
lar diseases of other Vaccinia, it became a matter of interest
to know whether the same, or similar fungus diseases, did
not also occur in this country where Vaccinia abound, and
have a certain value as articles of food.

Since my notice in Garden and Forest I have watched
not only the wild huckleberries and blueberries, but also
those sold in the markets, in search of the so-called white
berries, and I found two years ago that they were com-
mon and easily recognized when they have once been de-
tected. In the Boston market the huckleberry is especially
affected. The berries are not white throughout, as in the
case of the albino berries, but have circumscribed, often
■sunken, white spots, with usually a pink border. The
spotted berries are at times so abundant as to injure the
appearance of a dish of berries, and it is awkward to be
obliged to pick out and reject the diseased berries, which
are seldom removed in the kitchen. I have also noticed
the spots on the fruit of V. Pennsylvanicum, and occasion-
ally on V. vacillans.

Microscopic examination showed an abundance of the
mycelium of the fungus causing the trouble, but it was
impossible to distinguish the species since the spots are of
the nature of Sclerotia and the perfect ascosporic form of
the fungus does not occur in nature until after the berries
have fallen to the ground, and are not easily recognized or
collected.

Fungi of this genus have, however, a characteristic form
of conidial fruit which develops on the young shoots and
leaves in spring or early summer, and I was very glad on
receiving from Mr. J. G. Jack some shoots of V. vacillans,
collected at the Arnold Arboretum toward the end of last
May, to be able to find a white powdery fungus which
proved to be the conidia of a species of Sclerotinia. They
resembled so closely in their microscopic structure the
conidia of Sclerotinia baccarum, as figured and described
by Woronin, being nearly spherical, with very small dis-
junctors, and growing in no case on the leaves, but always
on one side of the youngest shoots, that, even in the ab-
sence of the ascosporic form, we may consider the fungus
on V. vacillans to be the same as that of V. Myrtillus in
Europe. Whether the spots on V. Pennsylvanicum and
Gaylussacia resinosa are caused by the same species of
fungus needs further inquiry. In Europe species of Sclero-
tinia are recorded on Vaccinium Vitis-Idoea and V. Oxycoc-
cus, both of which are well known in this country under
the names of Mountain Cranberry and small Bog Cran-
berry. But, so far as is yet known, white spots of Sclero-
tinia have not been observed on the berries of either of
those species in this country. ^ q pg^fjf^^

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XX.

OF the Oak family it is in Carpinus only that the forests
of eastern Asia are superior to those of America,
where we have a single species of Hornbeam, a small tree
confined to the eastern side of the continent. Europe pos-

3^4

Garden and Forest.

[Number 2S8.

sesses, also, a single species which extends to the Orient,
where a second species is found. The forests which
cover the Himalayas contain two species ; at least two or
three others are found in the Chinese empire ; and to the
flora of Japan six species are credited. One of the Japa-
nese species, however, Carpinus erosa of Blume, is a doubt-
ful plant; another, the Carpinus Tschnoskii of Maximovvicz,
from the Hakone Mountains and the region of Fugi-san, I
have never seen ; and a third, Carpinus Yedonsis, a small
tree cultivated in gardens in the neighborhood of Tokyo,
is, perhaps, like many of the plants cultivated by the Japa-
nese, a native of central Asia. Three species are certainly
indigenous to the Japanese soil.

Carpinus laxiflora resembles, in the character of the bark,
the size and shape of the leaves, and in the structure of the
flowers, the European and American Hornbeams. It is a
graceful tree, occasionally tifty feet in height, with a trunk
eighteen to twenty inches in diameter, covered with smooth
pale, sometimes almost white, bark, and slender branches.
The leaves are ovate or ovate-elliptical, rounded or subcor-
date at the base, contracted at the apex into long slender
points, and doubly serrate ; they are dark green above, pale
yellow-green below, three to four inches long, an inch to
an inch and a half broad, prominently many-veined, and
in the autumn turn yellow or red and yellow. The fruit is
produced in lax hairy catkins four or five inches long, with
spreading, oblique, prominently veined bracts, which are
obscurely lobed, more or less enfolded at the base around
the fruit, and nearly an inch long. This fine tree is com-
mon in all the mountain-forests of Hondo, where it is most
abundant at elevations between two and three thousand-
feet aboVe the sea ; in Yezo it reaches the southern shores
of Volcano Bay, where, near the town of Mori, it is com-
mon in the Oak forests, and grows to its largest size.

The other Japanese species of Carpinus differ from Car-
pinus laxiflora and from the American and European spe-
cies in their furrowed scaly bark, in the stalked bract of the
male flower, in the closely imbricated bracts of the fruiting
catkins, which look like the fruit of the Hop-vine, and in
the form of these bracts, which are furnished at the base
with a lobe which covers the fruit and is more or less
enclosed by the enfolding of the opposite side of the bract.
On account of these differences these two trees are some-
times referred to the genus Distigocarpus, founded by Sie-
bold and Zuccarini to receive their Distigocarpus Carpinus.

The figure on page 565 of this issue shows flowering and
fruiting branches of this tree, a staminate flower, and a
bract of the fruiting catkin. Botanists now pretty gen-
erally agree that the characters upon which Distigocarpus
was founded are not of suflicient importance to justify its
separation from Carpinus ; and Distigocarpus Carpinus, if
the oldest specific name is used, becomes Carpinus Carpi-
nus. By Blume, who first united Distigocarpus with Car-
pinus, it was called Carpinus Japonica, the name under
which it has appeared in all recent works on the Japanese
flora. It is a tree forty to fifty feet in height, with a trunk
often twelve to eighteen inches in diameter, and wide-
spreading branches which form a broad handsome head.
The branches are slender, terete, coated at first with long
pale hairs, and later are covered with dark red-brown bark
often marked with oblong pale lenticels. The winter-buds
are half an inch long, acute, and covered with many imbri-
cated thin, light brown, papery scales ; with the exception
of those of the outer ranks they are accrescent on the grow-
ing shoots, and at maturity are nearly an inch long, and
hairy on the margins. The leaves are ovate, long-pointed,
slightly and usually obliquely cordate at the base, coarsely
and doubly serrate, thick and firm, dark green on the upper
surface, paler on the lower, three or four inches long and
about an inch and a half wide, with stout midribs and many
straight prominent veins slightly hairy below, and deeply
impressed above. The stipules are linear, acute, scarious,
an inch long, and covered with pale hairs. The male in-
florescence is an inch long, with stalked lanceolate-acute
bracts half an inch long, and more or less ciliate on the

margins. The female inflorescence is two-thirds of an inch
long, and is raised on a slender stem coated, like the bracts
which subtend the ovaries, with thick white tomentum ;
the outer bracts are acute, scarious, a quarter of an inch
long, and early deciduous ; the inner bracts are oblique,
coarsely serrate toward the apex, conspicuously many-
ribbed, and furnished at the base with a minute ovate ser-
rate lobe which covers the ovary. Before the fruit ripens
these inner bracts enlarge until they are two-thirds of an
inch long and one-third of an inch broad, and are closely
imbricated into a cone-like catkin which resembles in shape,
color and texture that of our American Hop Hornbeam ; it
is, however, often two or two and a half inches long. The
nutlet is slightly flattened, with about ten straight promi-
nent ridges extending from one end to the other.

Carpinus Carpinus is common in the Hakone and Nikko
mountains between two and three thousand feet elevation
above the sea ; it apparently does not range very far north
in Hondo or reach the island of Yezo. This interesting and
beautiful tree, wliich is reinarkable among Hornbeams in
the character of the bark and in the female inflorescence,
appears to be perfectly hardy in New England. For a
number of years it has inhabited the Arnold Arboretum,
and during the last two seasons has produced flowers and ,:
fruit here. In its young state it makes a handsome, com- i
pact, pyramidal, bushy and very distinct-looking tree.

But the most beautiful of the Hornbeams of Japan, as it
appears in the forests of Yezo, is Carpinus cordata, which
often attains the height of forty feet, with a stout trunk
sometimes eighteen inches in diameter, covered with
dark, deeply furrrowed scaly bark. The stout branchlets <
are orange color, or, when they are three or four years old,
light brown, and are covered with large oblong pale lenti-
cels. This species is remarkable in the size of its winter
buds, which are fully grown by midsummer, and some-
times nearly an inch long, and are acute, and covered with
light chestnut-brown papery scales. The leaves are thin,
broadly ovate, pointed, deeply cordate, doubly serrate, six
or seven inches long and three or four inches broad ; they •
are light green on both surfaces, although rather lighter-
colored on the lower, with conspicuous yellow midribs and
veins slightly hairy below and impressed above. The cat-
kins of fruit are often five or six inches long and an inch
and a half wide, with broadly ovate, remotely serrate
bracts ; their basal lobe is proportionately much larger than
that of the last species, and is sometimes a third of the
length of the bract, to which it is often united along nearly
its entire length, while in Carpinus Carpinus the lobe is ]
only attached at the base.

This is the only species of central Yezo, where it is one
of the common forest-trees, growing with Oaks, Magnolias,
Ashes, Walnuts, Acanthopanax, Birches, etc. ; it also grows
in Hondo at high elevations, although it is here much less
common than farther north. This fine tree is apparently
still unknown in American and European gardens ; it is
one of the largest of the Hornbeams, and certainly one of
the most distinct and beautiful of them all. As it grows in "s
its native forests with a number of trees which flourish here
in New England, it may be expected to grace our planta-
tions with its stately habit, large leaves and long clusters of
fruit. An abundant supply of the seeds, with those of
Betula Maximowicziana, was the best harvest we secured
in Yezo. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.

Notes on Water-lilies.

TT may be "sending coals to Newcastle" for me to
I write about aquatic ])lants for American readers,
but I am specially interested in Nympha;as and their
relatives of the pond, and when I learn from Mr. Goldring
and others who have been to America, as well as from the
numerous interesting notes in Gardkn and Forest, that
aquatic plants are greatly in favor in the United States, I

August 30, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

365

am tempted to say my say with regard to them. Yesterday
I received a letter from a correspondent at Beaver Falls,
Pa., in which the merits of different Nymphajas are dis-
cussed, and also revealing- exceptional success in the
management of some and failure with others. My friend,
who is an amateur and a new hand at gardening, asks if
cow-manure is good for Nymphseas, some one having said

showed us that the "microbes" in the manure-heap and the
diseased leaves were identical. We thought this conclusive,
and so last year we grew our Victoria in good maiden
loam without manure of any kind. The result was a plant
of average health, but below average size both in leaf and
fiower. Meanwhile other growers used equal portions of
cow-manure and loam for their Victorias and had plants

Fip. 56. — Carpinus Carpinus. — See page 363.

I, A flowerin^^ branch, natural size. 2. A fruiting branch, natural size. 3. A staminate flower, enlai-j^ed. 4. A nutlet with its bract showing the basal lobe, natural size.

5. A nutlet, slij^htly enlarged.

that it was not. It is difficult to prescribe for sick plants,
especially at a distance, and even when furnished with full
details one is apt to ascribe sickness to the wrong cause.
Here is a case in point : Two years ago our Victoria regia
grew sick, and in time the leaves were all full of large
holes caused by a species of spot. Various doctors pre-
scribed for it or diagnosed the disease. The fungologist
declared that the cow-manure was the cause, and in proof

with leaves "as large and solid as billiard-tables." And
so this year we returned to our microbe-infested cow-
manure, half and half as usual, and there is no spot, no
weakness, but a grand plant, as robust and healthy as I
have ever seen. I am certain that cow-manure is an
excellent ingredient for aquatics of all kinds, stimulating
and promoting growth of both leaf and flower. To all
growers of these plants I say do not be afraid of cow-

366

Garden and Forest.

[Number 288.

manure and be careful to use with it good fibrous loam.
For our Nympha?as this year we have added a good
sprinkling of inch-crushed bones, and they have grown
exceptionally well and flowered most profusely. I counted
seventy beautiful open flowers in our Nymphoea-tank a few
days ago at ten o'clock in the morning, the high-noon of
the Nymphaias, as the Lotus section have not then closed
and the stellata section have just opened. Among our
choicest kinds I reckon the white fragrant N. gracilis, a
Mexican species which we obtained last year under the
erroneous name of N. Mexicana. It is a very free-flowering
species, does not occupy too much space, and is distinct
from all other white-flowered Nympha-as, its nearest affinity
in floral character being the white form of N. stellata known
as N. Voalefoka. The delightful little Water-lily known as
N. Laydekeri has found many admirers here. It is said to
be of hybrid origin, but I suspect it is really a Japanese or
Chinese introduction and is a not very distant relation of
N. pygmaja, which is a native of northern China as well
as India. Mr. Sturtevant, of New Jersey, has done much
to promote a love for Nymphajas, and one of his best
works in this direction was the production of N. Sturte-
vantii, a hybrid I believe from N. rubra and N. dentala.
Its large apple-green leaves with short stalks give it quite
a distinctive appearance when not in flower, but when its
enormous blooms are open it surpasses in beauty most
Nymphiras, the soft delicate pink with a creamy-yellow
hue in the base of the broad petals suggesting the colors of
that charming tea-rose, Marie Van Houtte. We have had
this fine American production in cultivation since 1884,
thanks to the generosity of Mr. Sturtevant, and the only
fault I have to find with it is its sterility in regard to seed
and its glowness to multiply itself by means of tubers. Of
course, the sterling Lotus varieties known as N. dentata,
N. rubra, N. Devoniensis, and N. Ortgiesiana are well
represented in our tank. The hybrid N. Kewensis no
longer exists except in effigy, the figure in the Botanical
Magazine, t. 6917, being all that remains of this handsome
rose-red hybrid which died while at rest three years ago.

Coming to the Nympha^a stellata forms, we begin with
the king of them all, N. Zanzibarensis, which first flowered
at Kew about twelve years ago. I remember well the in-
credulity of our late keeper of the herbarium when I told
him one morning that we had a new Nymphaea with rich
purple-blue flowers nine inches across. No Nymphtea better
repays liberal treatment than this, the largest of flower-pots
being too small for it. Planted in a large bed of rich soil,
and allowed room to develop, it will cover almost as much
space as the Victoria, and produce leaves two feet across.
There are poor debilitated forms of it about, and there
are some which are called varieties which are merely
slight variations from the ordinary stellata. I am puzzled
by such names as scutifolia, cyanea, ccerulea and parvi-
flora, all the plants I have seen under these names, and I
have seen and grown a good number from various sources,
being practically identical. I have heard Sir Joseph Hooker
describe the true scutifolia as a very distinct variety with
broad petals, rounded, not pointed, at the tips, and colored
clear blue, but I have never seen it alive. Any one who
examines a large series of specimens of N. stellata such as
that at Kew, which now includes the collection formed by
the late Professor Caspary, the high-priest of the Nymphaea
cult, will feel disposed to question a considerable propor-
tion of the so-called varieties. We have what I consider
four distinct varieties of N. stellata in cultivation at Kew,
and they are N. Zanzibarensis, N. versicolor, a poor thing,
distinct only in having more purple in the flowers than the
type and with a streaky look ; N. albiflora (Voalefoka), and
one that we call the Berlin variety. This came to Kew
from the Berlin Botanical Gardens years ago as N. Zanzi-
barensis. It is remarkable for the length of its flower-
stalks, the flowers standing up as much as a foot above the
surface of the water ; they are larger than ordinary N. stel-
lata, with numeueus acute petals colored pale, almost Cam-

bridge blue, with a cluster of pale yellow stamens. I once
sent flowers of this to Professor Caspary, who said it must
be of hybrid origin, though he would not even guess at its
parentage. I believe it is only a well-marked variety of N.
stellata, and I long ago classed it among the very best of
all Nympha>as ; as to size and attractive color of flower it
adds a very free habit and the valuable character of flow-
ering almost the whcje year round. The forms of N. tube-
rosa and N. odorata are grown in the open air, and they
have all flowered with unusual prodigality this year. But
the enigmatical N. tuberosa, var. flavescens, which Mon-
sieur Marliac, of Garonne-sur-Lot, insists is a hybrid, and
has named N. Marliacea-chromatella, is a charming plant
indoors as well as out. I may say at once that Professor
Olivet, after very careful examination of this Nympha;a,
unhesitatingly decided it to be a variety of N. tuberosa, and
we have since called it by the above name. I think there
is much to be said for this name in preference to the other,
but that is a question which need not have attention here.
I only wish to emphasize the fact that it is a most charm-
ing Water-lily, as beautiful in its way as Mardchal Niel
Rose, very free in flower, and of the sturdiest constitution.
We have it established in our lakes, where it is rapidly be-
coming as indifferent to ducks, geese, snails and cold
weather as our native Water-lily, N. alba. It is ecjually
beautiful in a tropical tank, flowering very freely all the
summer through. The elegant N. flava grows with us, and
blooms only rarely. There are two beautiful Nymphicas
which Monsieur Marliac calls N. Marliacea rubra and N.
Marliacea rosacea, and which are of the same good nature
as N. tuberosa flavescens ; they have large flowers, white,
with a deep rose tinge, that named rubra being the darker
of the two. I saw both these Water-lilies growing and
flowering out-of-doors in the Trinity College Gardens at
Dublin in June last, and Mr. Burbidge was delighted with
them and full of their praises. They were also flowering
in a tank in the open air at Glasnevin.

There is another blue Water-lily, Nymphwa gigantea,
the Australian species, which fills the lagoons there with
large turned-up leaves and correspondingly large elegant
blue flowers, but does not grow to the same size under cul-
tivation here. N. Amazonum, or blanda, a creamy white,
very fragrant-flowered species, from South America, is also
grown here. It is remarkable as an early closing Water-
lily, the flowers opening in the evening and closing soon
after sunrise next morning.

A word in conclusion for N. alba and its beautiful
variety, rosea, once called Caspariana. This is hardy, of
course, and it is exceptional in its refusal to grow in our
tropical tank, although the rose-colored variety of N.
odorata, the Cape Cod Nymphaea, grows and flowers freely
along with the tropical species.

Permit me to make a suggestion to cultivators of
these beautiful plants. We want red, white, pink, yellow,
blue and purple Nymphtcas that will open their flowers in
the morning and remain open for at least the major por-
tion of the day. We also want all these colors in hardy
sorts. It is possible that our desiderata can be obtained
by cross-breeding and selection, and the numerous collec-
tors and cultivators of these plants in America are in the
best possible position to accomplish this. The first thing
to achieve is a cross between the Lotus and stellata spe-
cies. So far as I know, this has never been done. N. stel-
lata and its varieties expand their flowers a little before
noon, and close at night ; N. Lotus and its varieties expand
at dusk, and close before noon. Probably a cross between
the two would remain expanded all day.

Here are two cultural hints which may be useful : i.
Do not dry off your plants if you can keep them moist
through the winter. They will be quite safe if placed un-
der a stage in a greenhouse. 2. Keep the seeds dry in
ordinary packets, and not in water. They will then retain
vitality for several years.

London. W. WatSOtt.

August 30, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

367

Cultural Department.

Seasonable Notes.
'X'HE cool nights already prevalent indicate that we are on
■*• the verge of autumn, the season that, next to spring,
brings with it most anxieties to the cultivator. Our first prep-
aration for fall is to get the Violets under glass as soon
as practicable, and at this time every plant of the winter-
flowering double kind Lady H. Campbell is safely under glass,
either in the frames or in the heated house. The showery
weather, and consequent humid atmosphere, give the exact
conditions favorable to the development of disease, traces of
which are already visible. This removal of the plants enables
us to keep off overhead moisture. I have tried every known
means to circumvent this disease, but have come to the con-
clusion that there is no cure for diseased plants in an advanced
stage, and it is a waste of time and labor to try remedies.
Much can be done, however, to keep healthy stock from be-
coming weak by taking off all the runners at this season.
These should be put in as cuttings in boxes of sandy soil and
kept in cold frames all winter. A moderate freezing will
not hurt them ; ours were frozen for two months last winter.
In the spring they were potted singly in small pots and kept in
frames until planted out in May. In this way a single sash
will hold a thousand runners, and one need not propagate
from stock forced to produce to their utmost all through the
winter months. In fact, the plants we have now have never
known artificial heat. I am also of opinion that partial shade
is of decided benefit to plants during the summer season ; in
infected districts the strain is not so great on the plants, and
their constitution is not weakened so much in consequence
where shade is afforded by trees or other means at midday.

Poinsettias are invaluable decorative plants for winter, and
are particularly seasonable at Christmas. Our plants have
been out-of-doors until now, but will be placed in the Rose-house
at an early date. As soon as the cool nights give the foliage
the least signs of wilting in the morning, just so soon do they
need warmth to maintain the foliage on the plants until the
bracts are developed. Poinsettias struck this season will make
very useful little plants moved into four-inch pots to flower,
but their chief value will be in the second season. If kept dry
after flowering until midsummer and then started outdoors
in frames, there will be several branches to each plant, each
producing a good head. A night temperature of fifty-five
degrees is most suitable to prevent a weak and attenuated
growth. The so-called double Poinsettia is not worth growing.
It is weaker in habit, does not retain the foliage so well, and
the duplicate row of bracts is, in most instances that I have
noticed, purely imaginary. A few plants of the white-flowered
form are desirable wherever the typical plant is cultivated, for
the sake of variety. The white form is equally as robust as
the scarlet, and makes a pleasing contrast.

It has often been a matter of surprise to me that Lavender is
not more generally grown in gardens. A single bush will pro-
duce a quantity of fragrant flowers, which are pleasing whether
fresh or dried. In New England the plant is doubtful as to
hardiness. I have known it to survive a winter, but much
more often to die. We always lift the plants after the first few
frosts have arrested growth, and place them in a cellar, the
roots being covered with soil. In the spring they are taken
out and replanted in rich soil, and three good cuttings of blos-
soms are obtained during the summer. These are laid in an
airy shed to dry slowly, and are then ready for use. Lavandula
vera is the kind grown. It is sometimes known as L. Spica,
and is the kind mostly grown to produce the oil of commerce.
It is also known as English Lavender, although, like the term
English Iris, the plants have in either case no real claim to the
name English, except that at various periods they have been
largely cultivated in England, for they are not indigenous to
that country. The French Lavender has a much broader leaf ;
it is more tomentose, and is, therefore, often known as L. la-
nata. The flowers are equally desirable for use, but for distil-
lation they are of little value as compared with those of L. vera.
Lavender is easily propagated by means of cuttings taken from
a plant placed in a warm greenhouse. Only a very small per-
centage of cuttings from out-of-door plants take roof, as the
wood is too hard. Two-year-old plants ought to produce about
one hundred spikes of bloom, and these should be cut as soon
as the first flowers are open on the spike.

South Lancaster. Mass. ^. O, Orpet,

Ferns Suitable for House-culture.

'T'HE general cultivation of Ferns in a dwelling-house is a
■*■ matter of some difficulty, the chief obstacle being the ex-
cessively dry atmosphere ; this is especially the case when tlie

dwellings are heated by a hot-air furnace, with direct radiation.
There are, however, some species of Ferns that can be suc-
cessfully grown under such conditions, providing proper atten-
tion is given to watering, which is probably the chief essential
to success. An occasional sprinkling overhead, or dipping in
a tub of water, will serve to remove dust from the foliage and
also to promote a healthy growth.

An open soil of rather coarse texture, and not pressed too
firmly in the pots, is needed for all such plants, for Fern-roots
will not readily penetrate hard or clayey soil. A liberal quan-
tity of drainage material should also ^e provided, broken pots,
cinders, sandstone and charcoal being among the best sub-
stances for the purpose. As plants of this class are usually
found in shaded localities, a very bright window is not advisa-
ble for their culture ; but if there is no shaded window availa-
ble, the Ferns may be placed behind the flowering plants for
protection from the sun. It is more satisfactory in selecting
Ferns for the window-garden to secure strong and healthy
plants in three or four inch pots, rather than very small speci-
mens, in the hope of watching them develop into their full
beauty. Young plants of some species are much more deli-
cate and are more easily injured than older and stronger plants.

Among the species adapted for window-culture are some of
the Nephrolepis, or Sword Ferns, N. exaltata being particu-
larly hardy in foliage and free in growth. In a strong specimen
the fronds of this species are frequently three to four feet long,
their color being dark green, and in habit nearly upright, n!
davallioides and its crested form, N. davallioides furcans, are
also admirable, and have tong arching fronds that are even
more graceful and elegant than those of N. exaltata. These
plants are readily increased by division, and may also be used
to advantage on a sheltered rock-work out-of-doors during the
summer. Polystichium angulare proliferum is also an excel-
lent sort for house-culture, making a strong and thrifty growth
under reasonably good care, and seeming to be almost dust-
prooL The proliferous habit of this variety is an interesting
feature, the embryo plants or bulbels being produced near the
base of the fronds. Many of the Maiden-hair Ferns are too
tender for the window-garden unless protected by means of a
case, but some of the species may be grown without special
protection. The original Maiden-hair, Adiantum Capillus-
Veneris, is among the most satisfactory, though I have also
seen A. cuneatum kept in good condition in a window.

The Pteris include several good house-plants, the members
of this genus, with but few exceptions, being of sturdy habit
and easy to cultivate. The various forms of Pteris Cretica are
among the hardiest members of this extensive group, and
are particularly valuable for decorations. P. Cretica magnifica
and P. Cretica albo-lineata are two of the best varieties, the
variegated leaves of the latter being especially attractive, while
the deep green and heavily crested fronds of P. cretica mag-
nifica give a pleasant contrast. P. hastata may also be used to
advantage, providing it is never allowed to become very dry,
for one thorough drying will ruin all its present foliage and
rnuch weaken the succeeding growths. P. tremula and P. semi-
pinnata are also admissible to the window-garden, though of
much larger growth than those already named ; P. tremula has
some resemblance to the common Bracken, though not quite
so coarse, and P. semipinnata has much-divided dark green
fronds of peculiar construction, the pinnje on one side of the
leaflets being so much contracted as to appear to have been
sheared off. AH of the Pteris to which reference has been
made are cool-house subjects, and are, therefore, less likely
to feel the changes iivtemperature to which many dwellings
are subject.

The Cyrtomiums include two good house Ferns, C. falcatum
and C. caryotideum ; both of these are nearly hardy and of
most vigorous growth, the glossy green fronds of C. falcatum
being especially beautiful. One or two of the Selaginellas may
also be included in the list. S. Kraussiana is the most useful
species for carpeting the surface of the soil, while S. Martensii
is easy to grow and very pretty.

Holmesburg, Pa. W, H, Taplitl.

Tigridias.
'T'HE two new varieties of Tigridia which a few of ouj
-•■ dealers are offering, T. grandiflora rosea and T. grandi-
flora liliacea, are both very handsome, with large showy flow-
ers. They have not borne as many flowers as T. pavonia
or the variety alba. I believe they are natural crosses between
the other older varieties, because I have found both of these
among plants of T. conchiflora, and not only good types of
them, but flowers of various shades of red and yellow, so that
occasionally it was hard to tell whether certain plants should be
classed as T. conchiflora or T. pavonia. There were some

368

Garden and Forest.

[Number 288,

that seemed to be intermediate between the yellow and white,
having a creamy shade, so that it would seem as if they might
as well be placed with T. pavonia alba as with T. conchitlora.
But this variation seems to be nearly all in T. conchiflora, with
very little in T. pavonia. T. pavonia alba shows no varieties
of shades. Occasionally a plant of T. pavonia or T. conchiflora
is seen among the plants of the variety alba, but each plant of
the variety alba is like all the rest, seeming not to have become
mixed by the insects as the others have. The bumble-bees
are the most numerous visitors of the Tiger Flower here,
and I believe are aids_ to their fertilization. Occasionally
honey-bees are seen among them, but only a few.

In the new T. granditlora rosea the outer portion of the
Hower has a rosy tinge and the inner lighter variegations are yel-
low, while in the variety liliacea the outer portion of the flower is
reddish purple and the inner variegation is light or nearly
white. In all of the flowers that I have noticed rose and yel-
low go together, and white and reddish purple. I could not
find a flower in which the inner variegation was white and the
outer one rose. I believe that the variety Rosea is a cross
l>etween T. pavonia and T. conchiflora, and the variety called
liliacea is between T. pavonia and the variety alba. Last sum-
mer in an old Mexican garden Mr. Pringle found a rose-flow-
ered variety of T. pavonia which was so distinct from any
other form of T. pavonia which he had seen that he secured a
hundredor more bulbs. The flowers of this variety are not so
variegated in their inner portion as in the variety Rosea above
mentioned, but in what variegation there is, the yellow pre-
dominates.

Tigridia Van Houttii was first discovered by Mr. B. RoezI,
about twenty years ago, in Mexico. A few seeds were sent to
Belgium from which flowering plants were raised, and these
were illustrated in a colored drawing in the Flore des Serves,
of August 2oth, 1875. Last year Mr. Pringle secured an ample
supply of these bulbs from the original locality, where Roe/.l
found this Tigridia, and I believe these are about the only
plants of this species now in cultivation. The plant grows
about ten feet high and bears in long succession fifteen to forty
and perhaps not rarely sixty flowers ; they are erect, open bell-
shaped, lilac and purple, an inch and a half wide. The
flowers are not striking. The lack of red, yellow and white,
which so quickly catch the eye in the varieties of T. pavonia, are
almost entirely lacking in this, and one might pass it in full
flower without notice. Yet, upon examination, the flower is
beautiful ; its delicate markings of lilac and purple of various
shades are so unlike those of all the other Tigridias that it is
the more interesting, and who can tell how useful it may be in
crossing with other species and in increasing the number of
new varieties? Its flowers are more durable than those of most
species and remain open late in the day when others are all
closed.

After all has been said in favor of the other species of
Tigridia, the little T. buccifera, which I believe is the only spe-
cies yet found in the United States, is, in my estimation,
second to none. It is certainly a most charming little plant,
and if it could be had at reasonable prices would be offered
by many dealers. It is very scarce.

Tigridia pulchella is also very distinct from the others. It is
a shyer bloomer than most species, and bears from one to
four or five flowers. The inner portion of its flower is in the
shape of a cup, white, with purple spots, while the three
outer segments are very dark purple, or almost black. The
flowers vary in size from half an inch to an inch and a quarter
or more across in the strongest plants. r- ,, ,t ^ ,

Charioiie, vt. F. H. Horsford.

Early-flowering Gladioli. — So far as I am aware, these are but
little grown in this country. Those which deserve attention
are hybrids of G. ramosus, and about thirty varieties are de-
scribed in the best Dutch catalogues with names. In this cli-
mate they require to be planted in the fall, and covered with
straw and with board frames during the winter. They then
l>egin to bloom in June, and continue through June, July and
August, and even into September. All the varieties show the
three beautiful spots upon the lower petals, which indicate an
ancestry of G. trinoculatus. The scarlet forma do not greatly
differ in tone of color. The habit of the plants is very attrac-
tive. They do not require stakes, but droop gracefully like
plants of Solomon's Seal. The flowers succeed each other
slowly. They are in close double rows, and as many as twelve
have been counted upon a single stem, growing closely to-
gether. Only a few seeds can be obtained without artificial
fertilization. It would seem to be well worth while to attempt
the production of hybrids with some of the finest varieties of
G. Gandavensis. Bulbs of G. Bowiensis, imported from the

New Plant and Bulb Company, at Colchester, England, some
years since, produce flowers which closely resemble those of
the well-known G. Brenchleyensis, but the color is a peculiar
and beautiful softened scarlet, and is very attractive. The
bulb makes five offsets, and no seeds have been ripened so
far here. It may be worth while to note that seeds of G.
Brenchleyensis are now to be had of the Erfurt seedsmen.
They are probably grown in Italy, as they appear also in the
Italian catalogues. I have grown a large number of seedlings,
which, however, will not bloom during the present year.
Seeds of Gazania splendens are now to be had, as is believed,
for the first time. These probably, also, come from Italy.

Newport, R. I, G.

Correspondence.
Harvesting and Evaporating Raspberries.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— On page 336 one of your contributors refers to a method
of gathering black raspberries for evaporating, which appears
to be a sort of jarring, (i) I should like to know just what the
process is, and how extensively it is in use. (2) Are red rasp-
berries evaporated to any considerable extent ? Is there any
objection to them for that purpose ?

East Oriand, Me. Charles G. Atkins.

(i) The harvester referred to is a sort of tray about three
feet square, consisting of a light iron or wood frame cov-
ered with canvas. It is six or eight inches deep at the
lower side, while the upper side is open. This is held
obliquely under the bushes to catch the berries. In one
hand the operator carries a wire hook, with which he draws
the bushes over the tray, while in the other hand he has a
wire loop covered with canvas, and inserted in a handle,
somewhat resembling a lawn-tennis racquet, with which
he knocks off the berries. The plan was first invented by
Mr. Benedict, of Dundee, New York, and is extensively
used among the berry-growers of that region. When har-
vested by this plan the berries are allowed to get quite ripe,
and the field is gone over but twice, or, at most, three
times, during the season. A good man will gather on an
average about ten bushels of berries a day throughout the
season, although where the berries are most abundant many
more can be gathered. Many dried leaves and stems are
knocked off with the berries, but these do no harm, for,
after drying, the fruit is run through a fanning-mill. The
berries are then picked over by hand, so that the fruit really
goes to market in cleaner and better condition than when
picked by hand. The cost is considerably less than hand-
picking, and, above all, it permits this work to be done in
localities remote from markets, or towns of any sort, which
cannot be done when pickers must be depended on to
gather the fruit.

(2) The true red raspberries, like Cuthbert, are rarely
evaporated, for several reasons. They usually yield less
fruit per acre than Black-caps ; they will make only seven
or eight pounds of dried fruit to the bushel ; they change to
a dull, unattractive color in drying ; and there seems to be
no established demand for them at paying prices. They
make an excellent quality of evaporated fruit, however,
and with a special guaranteed market might prove profit-
able. Varieties of the Rubus neglectus type, like the
Shaffer, are better adapted to this purpose, because they
yield large crops, and if picked a little green give more
pounds of dried fruit to the bushel. The fruit is also more
attractive in color and of equally good, though not just the
same, quality. i^ j ^lr f> j

Cornell University. freo.. W. Lard.

Two Wild Fruits in North Dakota.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In the article, "Southern California Wild Fruits," by
S. B. Parish (Garden and Forest, vol. vi., page 313), mention
is made of two wild fruits whose character in soutliern Cali-
fornia differs greatly from that of the same fruits in the north-
ern portions of North Dakota.

The first fruit referred to is one of the Choke Cherries, Pru-
nus demissa, accompanied with the suggestive remark that its

August 30, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

369

fruit is l)ut a little more austere than that of its Atlantic rela-
tive. P. demissa, as found in North Dakota, especially in the
more northern and broken regions, is a small shrub, very
heavily loaded with gfood-sized juicy fruit that does not need
the absence of all things luscious to render it palatable. In-
deed, some of the plants bear fruit that, when fully ripe, en-
tirely lacks the astringent qualities that need no description to
one who has passed his boyhood in the Atlantic region and
has been endowed with boyhood's appetite and curiosity.
The second fruit is a Juneberry, Amelanchier alnifolia, which
Mr. Parish describes as dry and hard and not to be compared
with its juicy Rocky Mountain relative. The plant described
is probably of the same species as the mountain form, but
varies on account of local conditions. The same species
growing here has the same characteristics as when found
growing in the Rocky Mountains. While the fruit lacks the
character and juiciness of Prunus demissa, it has sotne value as
a dessert fruit, exceeding in size, quality and productiveness the
Juneberry of the older states.

Agiicultural College, Fargo, N. D.

C. B. Waldron.

The White Grub in Lawns.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Allow me to add to your careful notes last week on the
white grub, that attempts to destroy these pests under sod with
kerosene were made some years ago on quite a large scale in
Washington, and proved very successful. The kerosene
emulsion was made in the usual way, and was diluted with
twelve parts of water. This was applied liberally to the in-
fested parts of the lawn, and for several days thereafter the
same spots of ground were freely watered in order to carry
the mixture down through the roots of the grass and into con-
tact with the insects. The same experiment has lieen tried in
several other places, and has been successful in all cases, so
far as I have been able to learn. For use on small grass plots
the remedy is quite feasible ; on a large scale it would be alto-
gether too expensive.

I have found a good top-dressing of kainit to be very benefi-
cial to insect-infested lawns, and this can be washed down into
the ground by sprinkling with water just as the kerosene emul-
sion is carried down. r> f- • 7
New Brunswicit, N.J. John B. iitHtth.

Zelkova Keaki.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest : •

Sir, — I was much interested in Professor Sargent's instructive
account of Zelkova Keaki, on page 323, and the accompanying
figure. I regret to say that there is one drawback to the culti-
vation of this fine tree in America at present ; like other mem-
bers of the family to which it belongs, it is subject to attacks
by the Elm-leaf beetle. At least, I observe that many of the
trees in the nurseries here are infested with that insect.

Flushing, N. V. M.

The Columbian Exposition.

Japanese Horticulture at the Fair.

JAPAN makes four general horticultural exhibits at the
Fair — a garden upon the island, a garden in the north wing
of the Horticultural IBuilding, a collection of models, drawings
and pots in the dome gallery of the same building, and a dis-
play of wines in the south or viticultural pavilion. The garden
upon the island" lies beside the Japanese Building. It maybe
divided into two parts, one representing the garden proper,
and the o*'ior showing a collection of nursery stock. To one
who has read much of Japanese gardening and who expects
to see a characteristic miniature landscape with grotesque
trees, this creation is disappointing. The garden is simply a
succession of low, smooth, grass-covered mounds with a few
narrow walks winding about, and a hapless dearth of anything
Japanesque in its planting. There are two obconical Pine-
trees about four feet high, and perhaps twenty-five years old,
but beyond these there is nothing striking among the plants,
although there are good small specimens of Sciadopitys verti-
cillata, Cryptomeria Japonica, and very small varieties of
Azalea Indica. This so-called Japanese garden was planned
by a builder who was concerned in the construction »f the
temple, and the Japanese gardener, Izawa, freely declares that
it in no sense represents Japanese garden-art. The nursery
portion of the island display suffers from too much land.
There seemed to be land to spare upon this end of the island,
and it was turned over to the Japanese, who had asked for

less, and had also brought plants for a smaller area. Never-
theless, the exhibit has intrinsic merit, especially in showing
some forty varieties of the Japanese Maple, Acer polymor-
phum, twenty-five of Tree Pajonies, and about 150 varieties of
Iris Kaempferi. Sterculiaplatanifoha, rarely seen as atemporary
lawn-tree in the north, is also conspicuous. Two Maples,
which are less than head-high and are about fifteen years old,
are grafted with some twenty-five varieties each, and they pre-
sented a most unique combination of color in May and June.

The garden in the Horticultural Building is undoubtedly a
good example of Japanese art. While it is only twenty-two by
140 feet in extent and aims to present landscape-features,
it contains no less than 2,000 distinct plants. It represents
such a garden as may be adjacent to a dwelling-house. A
walk winds through the middle of the area lengthwise, crossing
an arched bridge and pond near its middle. Upon either side
of this central walk are miscellaneous collections of plants, so
thickly planted as to nearly hide the earth. There is no
attempt at greensward; and if the ground shows at all, it is
covered with a rough porous rock (Ohio tuffstein) which soon
assumes a greenish and mossy tint. The spaces between the
higher plants are sometimes covered with low grass-like
plants and dwarf forms of Azalea Indica. The mossy rock
Ijorders all the walks, and upon little mounds of it various
dwarf and contorted trees are set, either in soil in the hollows,
or in blue-lacquered pots. The water area extends fully one-
third the lengtli of the entire space. It originates in a square
stone well near the northern extremity, the water being sup-
plied from a pipe in the bottom. The water bubbles up in
the center of the well, flows over the side and runs in a broad
stream near the outer edge of the garden for a distance of
several feet, when it broadens into an irregular fish-pond
nearly twenty feet wide and as many feet long, dotted with
picturesque islets and pots of Fern, and spanned by the arched
Ijridge already mentioned. This bridge is a unique feature.
Its bed is made of two curved log-sleepers with bark on,
across which is laid a row of smaller logs, the cut ends pre-
senting themselves to the observer. A dense layer of fagots
or twigs is laid upon this corduroy to hold the dirt, which is
now placed on, being held at the edges by a margin of the
mossy stone. The edges of this bridge are thickly planted.
On the rear, blue-green sprays of Juniperus littoralis project
over the water, while in front there are large and small Azaleas,
Ferns, and red-berried Ardisias. Long fern-rhizomes, tied in
withes with moss inside, are bent and twisted into grotesque
figures, which are suspended here and there, and in the moist
atmosphere these have sent up tender fronds. Two immense
stone lanterns of grotesque pattern comprise the architectural
features of the garden.

A rustic box, about five feet long by three feet wide, stand-
ing upon a foundation of stones, shows a miniature landscape-
garden. There are hills and dales, three bridges, five houses,
a dwarf Thuya obtusa and Pinus densiflora, each many years
old, five minature Ardisia-trees, and no less than twenty
other plants in this little space, together with a large and ir-
regular water-basin. This is a plan or model of a Japanese
garden. It is such a plan as the Japanese gardener always "
expects to make before he proceeds to the improvement of
grounds. It serves the purpose of a map.

There are many curious plants in this garden. The chief
interest centres about two twisted trees of Thuya obtusa,
which are three to four feet high, and a hundred years old.
Dwarfed and contorted Pines and Maples, the latter often
bearing many varieties in the same top, are also conspicuous.
Small young Maple-trees, of diverse forms, are used to good
effect in certain bays and angles. Bamboos, Irises, Azaleas
and variegated Aucabas and Elasagnuses give color and spirit
to the whole. This Japanese garden cannot be called beauti-
ful, as Americans understand rural art, but it is curious and
grotesque, and it is one of the best object-lessons in the art of
patient and persevering garden-craft.

The wax or composition models of fruits and vegetables in
the dome of the Horticultural Building are less perfect than
many American casts, but they illustrate some peculiar types,
especially the fingered Oranges and the Bamboo-sprouts.
These sprouts spring from I3amboo-crowns, and they are
boiled and eaten after the manner of asparagus. The normal
sprout is about three inches through at the base and a foot
long, tapering gradually to the tip. The leaves are tightly im-
bricated, the short, green tips spreading slightly, much after
the manner of a close-husked ear of corn. Egg-plant fruits
about half-matured, cucumbers, water-melon, the russet apple-
like Japanese pears, pomegranates, pomelos, vinifera grapes,
apples— some of them showing the work of the codlin-moth —
and a variety of persimmons complete the collection. These

370

Garden and Forest.

[Number 288.

immature Egg-plant fruits are prepared by the Japanese by
boiling, witii sugar, when the flesh breaks down, forming a
popular dish.

There are also dried fig-like persimmons, dried mush-
rooms and chestnuts in the display. Gaudy artificial Howers,
showing cherries, p;eonies and chrysanthemums, wall-charts
and drawings of flowers, and a unique collection of orna-
mental flower-pots in terra cotta and in colors fill out the
tables of this exhibition.

Tlie Japanese wine exhibit is small and is confined to a sin-
gle variety of red wine. The display also shows preserved
truffles in small tin cans. , ,r n •,

Chicago, iiL L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

Mr. Charles Moore, the venerable director of the Botanic'
Garden at Sydney, New South Wales, has recently published
a useful handbook of the flora of that country on the general
plan of the colonial Floras published at the Royal Gardens of
Kew,

At a social meeting of the American Pomological Society,
held in connection with the Congress on Horticulture, August
17th, it was decided to hold the next regular meeting in San
Francisco during the winter of 1894-5, and to ask all American
horticultural societies to join in a grand excursion to the Pacific
coast.

Just now many swamps and wet meadows in this region are
purple with the bloom of the Spiked Loosestrife, Lythruni
Salicaria. The bright color made by masses of this plant at
this season suggests that it could be more abundantly used
in parks and large grounds on the borders of lakes and similar
situations.

The first part of Professor Trimen's Handbook to the Flora
of Ceylon, from Ranunculacese to Anacardiaceas, inclusive,
has appeared. The work follows the line of Hooker's Flora of
British India, the description of plants being in English.
Synonyms are given with references to the literature of the
subject and to the general and local distribution of Ceylon
plants.

The grounds about the Horticultural Building at the World's
Fair are now resplendent with bloom. One of the most at-
tractive features is the old-fashioned garden in the rear of the
building, shown by New York. Although it lacks the careless
and provincial aspect of our grandmothers' gardens, it shows
many of the plants which the older visitors knew as children,
and it excites considerable happy comment.

We have in former years called attention to the value of
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, or, as it is generally called, Lady
Larpent's Plumbago, as a low-growing, hardy plant for this
climate. It has already been blooming for some time, and
it will continue to show its deep blue flowers until frost,
and its autumn foliage turns to rich carmine and crimson.
It should not be neglected in rockeries or in other places where
"semi-prostrate and late-flowering hardy plants are needed.

A writer in the Revue Horticole announces the fact that
Prunus Davidiana has produced fruit this season in the Jardin
des Plantes, in Paris, where this beautiful flowering tree was
introduced in 1865 by the Abb6 David, who found it on the
hills which surround the Imperial palaceofGehol, in Mongolia,
and also in the neighborhood of Pekin. In this country this
tree is one of the earliest of all the Peach tribe to flower. No
plant of its class is hardier or more beautiful, but, although it
Howers freely every spring, it is not known to have produced
fruit here. The fruit is described as small, nearly spherical,
covered with down, and, when fully ripe, of a yellowish color.
The flesh,' which is very thin, is easily separated from the
nearly spherical deeply pitted nut.

We find in the Journal of Horticulture an interesting ac-
count of a Black Hamburg Grape-vine at Silwood Park, Ascot,
which deserves to rank with the often-descri'oed giant vines at
Speddoch, Manresa and Cumberland Lodge. The Silwood
vme occupies a house 128 feet long and twelve feet wide, the
entire roof being covered with rods and lateral stems. Its
main trunk is over six feet high, with a girth of three feet and
two inches, and it forks into two large limbs. The rods on
which the fruiting branches run have a total length of 1,112
feet, and the number of fruit-clusters it now bears is 830, and
they range from half a pound to three pounds in weight,
amounting, at a fair estimate, to nearly 1,100 pounds in all.
The age of the plant is not known with precision, but it is
between 100 and no years old. It is a very vigorous vine still,

with leaves of unusual size and berries also exceptionally
large.

Clematis flammula is still covered with its clusters of while
and fragrant flowers, and it seems to be an almost indispen-
sable plant for late August. Our common wild Clematis, C.
Virginiana, also continues to bloom in almost the same abun-
dance, and, although its Howers are hardly as delicate as those
of C. Hammula, it is perhaps the most interesting of our native
plants in bloom at this time except the Clethra. Its airy fruit-
clusters, with their feathery tails, which appear later, add
much to its value. The purple and fragrant solitary Howers
of C. crispa are still appearing as they have been since
June, though in no great abimdance. They will continue,
however, until ■frost. Besides its long flowering season, this
Clematis is to be commended for the beauty of its variable
foliage. The foliage of Clematis- coccinea is more thin and
open, so that it does not serve a good purpose where a tliick
screen is wanted, but its scarlet flowers are interesting, and,
like those of C. crispa, they are produced throughout the
entire season.

Something more than a year ago we gave some account of
a crimson-flowered Cluster Rose which had been obtained in-
directly from Japan by Messrs. Turner & Sons, of Slough, Eng-
land, and which had been certificated in 1890 by tlie Royal
Horticultural Society under the name of Engineer. In our de-
scription the Rose was said to bloom very freely, its long
sturdy branches being covered with huge bouquets of com-
pact blood-red flowers, and, altogether, it seemed one of the
best of the many forms of Rosa multiHora which are repre-
sented in English gardens. In last week's Gardeners' Chrotiicle
there is a picture of this Rose, which indicates that it is a very
attractive plant. It was shown in the Horticultural Exposition
at Paris as well as in the Temple Show and other English ex-
hibitions, in all of which its merits were recognized, and it was
pronounced the most beautiful hardy Rose of its kind which
has been introduced for many years. The illustration shows
it as a pillar Rose, but it is said to be equally beautiful for bed-
ding when pegged down. We should be pleased to hear of
any experience with it in this country.

Peaches of ordinary quality are abundant and cheap, but
large fruit is somewhat scarce and high. California is sending
Orange Cling peaches, which are very attractive in appear-
ance, but altogether disappointing to the eater. These peaches
do not rot or break down as the eastern peaches do, but their
flesh seems to toughen into a leathery consistency. They last
longer in the inarket here than iruit from orchards fifty miles
away, and their appearance sells them at five cents each on the
fruit-stands. Plums still continue abundant from California,
the principal varieties being Grosse Prunes, Comedy Prunes,
German Prunes, Bradshaw, Columbia and Duane's Purple.
The California grapes now chiefly sold here are White Mus-
cats, White Malagas, Rose of Peru and Chasselas de Fontainc-
bleau, which is otten sold as Sweetwater. Strawberry Pippins,
Nyack Pippins and Orange Pippins are coming from the Hud-
son fruit region in abundance, but the Gravensteins still bring
the highest prices among apples. The buyer can have a se-
lection of Concord, Delaware, Niagara, Ives, Moore's Early,
Champion and Hartford grapes. The best oranges are stdl
those from Rodi, Italy, some 5,000 boxes having arrived last
week, and they sell from $3.50 to $5.00 a box.

Immediately following the Congress on Horticulture at
Chicago a movement was instituted to organize a General Hor-
ticultural Society to promote correspondence, the exchange of
plants, seeds, books and other articles, and the general exten-
sion of fellowship among the horticulturists of the world. The
organization of this body was practically completed at a meet-
ing held in Mr. Samuels' office on August 25th. The scheme
provides for three officers-at-large — president, first vice-presi-
dent and secretary-treasurer. Each country is entitled to a
vice-president and secretary-treasurer. Tlie three general
oHicers, together with the secretary-treasurer of the country in
which the president resides, con.stitute a Committee on By-
laws and also ou Finance, while all the officers constitute an
Executive Committee. The membership of the society con-
sists of horticultural societies, which pay an annual fee of five
dollars, and of individuals, who pay an initial fee of two dol-
lars and a subsequent annual fee of one dollar. Only the three
general officers are yet determined. These are P. J. Berck-
mans; Georgia, President ; Henri L. de Viimorin, Paris, First
Vice-President; George Nicholson, Kew, England, Secretary-
Treasurer. It is expected that one-third of ail moneys col-
lected in each country is to be retained in that country for the
expenses of its own branch of the work, the remainder going
into the hands of the Secretary-Treasurer.

September 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

371

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO,

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y,

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

EorroitiAL Article; — ^Tender Plants in Public Parks 371

The Distribution of some Forest-trees in the Southern States. Dr. C. Mohr. 372

Dwarfing Plants in Japan Henry hawa, 373

Plants on the Pribyloff Islands James M. Macoun. 373

New or Little-known Plants: — Liliumgiganteuni. (With figure.), y. 5rya'(7ff. 373

Cultural Department : — Notes on Russian Fruits T. H. Hoskins, M.D. 374

Grapes in North Carolina Professor IV. F. Massey. 374

Preparatory Work IV. H. Tallin. 375

How to Grow Vigorous Carnations C. H. Allen. 375

Garden Notes y, N. G. yj-j

Cassava tor Bedding Professor W. F. Massey. 377

Correspondence ; — ^The Meehan Nurseries and the Trees of Germantown 5. 377

■ Orchids at North Easton, Massachusetts T. D. Hatfield. 378

Nature's Landscape-gardening in Maine Beatrix jottes, 378

The Columbian Exposition: — The Front Esplanade of the Horticultural

Building Professor L. H. Bailey. 379

Notes 380

Illustration : — Liliuni giganteum in Yarmouthport, Massachusetts, Fig. 57 376

Tender Plants in Public Parks.

AT a session of the late Horticultural Congress in
^_ Chicago, Mr. William MacMillan, Superintendent of
Parks in Buffalo, read an essay on the "Improvement and
Care of Public Grounds," which, if we may judge from an
abstract which we find in The Florists' Exchange, .was a
production of uncommon merit. Of course, in a discus-
sion which covered such a broad field, only statements of
the most comprehensive kind can be made, and it seems
to us that if the paper could be expanded into a small
treatise, where general rules could be illustrated by special
examples, it would have a permanent value. The teach-
ings, so far as we can judge by the extracts, are almost
entirely in harmony with views which we have heretofore
expressed, and if it were our purpose now to enforce any
of them, we could do no better than to quote them ver-
batim in Mr. MacMillan's vigorous language.

What we have to say, however, has been suggested by
the discussion which followed the paper, in which Mr.
Robert Craig, of Philadelphia, one of the most capable and
cultivated florists of the United States, seemed to take some
exception to the tone of the essay. A careful reading of
Mr. Craig's remarks, however, will convince any one that
there is no serious difference of opinion between the speaker
and the commentator. Mr. Craig had a good word for
formal gardening; but the speaker had already said that
where architectural features are used the structural charac-
ter of the place might be emphasized by artificial planting,
and in urban grounds of comparatively small area there
were conditions where planting ought to be based largely
on formal architectural lines. Mr. Craig spoke of the natural
desire for color, and, in some cases, of high color ; but the
essayist had shown his appreciation of the same fact by his
advice to use, even as features of the general landscape,
plants with brilliant autumn colors and bright fruit, and by
advocating besides this the preparation of a distinct section
where a special display of color could be made with flowers
and foliage. Mr. Craig's desire for a profuse use of flowers

had been anticipated by Mr. MacMillan, who had strongly
urged the abundant use of flowering herbs in addition to
trees which flower, and to shrubs which flower still more
abundantly, the only condition being that, where they are
used as aids in the production of broad landscape-effects,
they shall be naturally disposed, and not forced together
in uncongenial companionship. The fact is, that men who
have a genuine appreciation for natural beauty, as is evi-
dently the case with both Mr. MacMillan and Mr. Craig, can
find some place in their scheme of planting for all the
brightness and beauty of the floral kingdom.

Perhaps it will not be denied that inasmuch as dwellers
in cities whose days are confined within walls of stone,
who are compelled always to walk on straight lines and
turn square corners, who never see more than a little patch
of blue overhead, bounded by a sky-line of cornices and
chimneys, need something for their highest refreshment
which is the exact antithesis of these conditions. The
primary purpose in large city parks should, therefore, be
to furnish broad rural scenery, with spacious skies and
irregular tree and shrub borders which emphasize with
their haze and obscurity the idea of distance, and so delight
the visitor with a sense of enlargement and freedom. The
introduction of flowers or color into such a scene is un-
questionably proper where it does not destroy the effect
of the scenery. There is many a place where our wild
flowers could be naturalized with telling effect in parks, for
they would be in perfect harmony with the scene. Very
beautiful and appropriate, too, and beautiful because ap-
propriate, would be the naturalization in the tall grass of
such exotics as the Poet's Narcissus and blue Scilla cam-
panulata, while the effect of shrub borders could often be
heightened if there could be seen against them in their
season the tall spires of F"oxgloves and other flowering
plants.

What Mr. MacMillan contends for is that "garden finery
and fancy foliage" should not be introduced where the
intention is to produce a simple rural scenery, because the
introduction of bedding-plants and the like are altogether
out of harmony with the spirit of the place. They not
only mar it by their intrusion, but with such surroundings
they do not even themselves show to good advantage.
This fitness which enables the different features of any
passage of scenery to combine harmoniously and helpfully
is the cardinal point in planting. Many kinds of flowers
and shrubs may be properly excluded from a landscape,
because these plants, although good in themselves, are
inappropriate and incongruous. Rising rather abruptly
from an arm of one of the lakes in the Central Park there
is a rocky slope which is meant to represent a bit of wild
nature. No one could object to the crimson of Cardinal-
flowers, or the purple of Loosestrife down by the border of
the lake in such a scene, or to the orange glow of a clump
of Asclepias tuberosa higher up, or to many another flower-
ing herb quite as striking in its hue. A clump of Piconies
is no more brilliant than any of these, and yet every one
would feel that it struck a false note, if introduced here,
simply because it is only known as a garden-flower and
we have never seen it growing wild in such a position.
The same would be true of a Lilac-bush on the border, not
because it is objectionable in form or color, but simply
because we know this, too, as a garden-plant only, and it
would be a denial at the point where it stood of what is
meant to be asserted everywhere else in the scene. Mr.
MacMillan would probably be the last man in the world
to expel flowers and color from his landscapes ; what he
objects to is a prominent display of any object or element
or feature which would be out of character with the gen-
eral tone of the landscape.

But while there is abundant room for flowers, for color,
and for formal planting in parks and gardens, there is one
objection to the use of tender bedding-plants in large city
parks to which Mr. MacMillan alluded. Landscape-effects,
which are made with the simplest material, are constantly
growing in interest, as the shrubs and trees develop their

372

Garden and Forest.

'[Number 289.

beauty as individuals or in masses. Bedding-plants which
are carefully propagfated in the greenhouse during the win-
ter and then planted out only to attain their best effect by
midsummer, become a blot on the landscape as soon as
they are bitten by the first frost. Hardy Asters and other
perennials, which take care of themselves, then show
their highest beauty, and they will grow into equal
beauty another year. Trees which exact still less care not
only have special charms to unfold every day of the year,
but they increase in interest and in dignity of expression
as they grow older, and will be much more impressive
when they wear the crown of a hundred years than they
were when they were planted. Trees and shrubs live on,
developing new beauties every year without expense,
while the transitory, summer-day effects produced with
tender bedding-plants are always costly. We recently
heard that the cost of the bedding-plants, with their care, in a
single park in a western city, was $8,000 a year. At the end
of ten years $80,000 will have been spent, and the first
frost of that tenth year will leave nothing to show for all
this money but a blackened mass of decay. If this $80,000
could be expended on the permanent improvement of the
hardy trees, shrubs and herbs of this same park, no one can
doubt that this outlay, intelligently made, would render it
one of the most interesting pleasure-grounds in the world.
Admitting all the value of color and symmetrical patterns
in formal bedding, it is a fact that the usual attempts at
planting of this sort are inartistic ; they rarely show any posi-
tive beauty in their pattern-lines, and they are often offen-
sive by the crude use of colors which are at constant war
with each other. But, apart from this, the use of these plants
is generally a needless extravagance. Where money can
be spent to so much better purpose, it is a waste to lavish
it upon a pattern-bed which can, at best, have only a tran-
sient interest for the uninstructed, and has no more perma-
nent value to the community which is taxed for it than a
picture painted on the sands of a beach at low tide.

We are glad to believe that this view of the case is gain-
ing ground. It is only a few years ago since a distinguished
horticultural writer declared that one of the Soldiers' Homes
in the west was much superior to Central Park because
there were used on the lawns about the building ten times
as many bedding-plants as there were in the entire park.
We are glad that such superintendents as Mr. Parsons, in
this city, and Mr. MacMillan, in Buffalo, are entrusted with
the administration of public grounds. Neither of them, we
fear, can command enough money to properly maintain
and develop the parks under their charge, but what they
do have they use for the permanent improvement of the
people's property.

The Distribution of some Forest-trees in the
Southern States.

WITHIN the comparatively short time that has elapsed
since the rich agricultural lands of the cretaceous plain
in Alabama have passed into the undisputed possession of the
white settlers, the character of the vegetation of this region
has undergone a great change. Of the oldest settlers there are
yet a number living who witnessed the original condition of
the vast undulating plain, its upland covered with open forests
of Oaks and Hickories, or with dense forests of a mixed growth
of deciduous leaved trees and of the sombre Red Cedar. The Red
Cedars formed a conspicuous feature, interrupted by extensive
grassy glades, resembling in the assemblage of their plants
the western prairies, or by immense brakes of the large Cane,
Arundinaria macrosperma, which filled the bottoms of the
streams subject to overflow and the swampy depressions in
the plain. From this growth the section between the Alabama
and Tombigbee Rivers received the name of the Canebrake
region. This cretaceous plain, or so-called central prairie
belt, with its deep black calcareous soil, deemed of inexhaus-
tible fertility, attracted during the earlier parts of the century,
and particularly after the removal of the aboriginal tribes west
of the Mississippi River, a large immigration from the older
slave-holding states. The open prairie-land having been first
subjected to the plowshare, the forest was next encroached
upon. Under a skillful system of drainage the canebrakes dis-

appeared with no less rapidity. After a few decades the wil-
derness was converted into one of the most productive and
wealthy agricultural regions on the continent, upon which the
world was almost solely dependent tor its supplies of cotton.

Of the splendid forests of Oak and Hickory, by which the
deep black soil of the uplands was covered, only small groves
surrounding the premises of the planters now remain stand-
ing. Of the Cedar hummocks, with their valuable timber re-
sources of Red Cedar, White Ash, White Oak, Red Oak and
Hackberries, only isolated tracts are left. These scarcely ex-
ceed a few hundred acres in one body, showing the effects of
reckless devastation. The canebrakes are now reduced to
narrow strips covering the banks of streams subject to frequent
overflow, and to the open or so-called bald prairies with their
thinner soil-covering utterly exhausted or removed by wind and
rain, the bare ledges of limestone-rock being exposed to the
surface. The native plants of the calcareous prairie-soil are
found on waste lands and along the borders of cultivated fields.

The scanty remains of the forests which once covered the
uplands indicate that three kinds of large forest-trees were
formerly abundant. These are now rarely met with, and have
until lately escaped the attention of botanists. They are the
Nutmeg Hickory, Hicoria myristicaeformis ; the Pecan-tree,
Hicoria Pecan, and tlie southern bastard White Oak or southern
Pin Oak, Quercus Durandii, these Hickories being found more
or less associated with this interesting and stately Oak.

The Nutmeg Hickory in Alabama and Mississippi appears
to be confined to the cretaceous belt. According to observa-
tions made last June it is most frequently met with between
the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers in about 32° 30' north
latitude. It attains the size of a stately forest-tree, resembling
in habit of growth the Pig-nut Hickory, with a sturdy trunk
from eighteen to twenty-two inches in diameter. The full-
grown tree is covered with a light gray bark, inclined to
exfoliate in thin narrow strips, similar to that of the Shell-
bark Hickory. The tree is easily recognized by its grace-
ful foliage. The leaflets are smaller than in the allied
species, almost silvery white on the lower surface, chang-
ing during the fall to a pale bronze. The Nutmeg Hickory
produces its fruit in abundance, a thin pericarp, with four
prominent ridges, enclosing the oval nut. In shape, size and
color it resembles a nutmeg, the hard and -thick shell closely
investing the sweet kernel. I was first made aware of the
presence of this tree in the eastern Gulf states by the nuts seen
among the forest-products of the state of Mississippi at the New
Orleans Exposition in 1884. Subsequently some nuts were
found in the hands of children, and the tree was traced to the
vicinity of the banks of the Alabama, in Dallas County, and
later on to the vicinity of Demopolis and Gallion, in the basin
of the Tombigbee River. By its discovery in the eastern Gulf
region the gap has been filled which existed along the line of
its distribution from the Atlantic coast in South Carolina
through Louisiana, west of the Mississippi River, southern
Arkansas and Texas to northern Mexico.

The Pecan-tree, H. Pecan, has, during the early part of this
season, for the first time been noticed as indigenous in Ala-
bama. Old trees have been found near Gallion associated with
the Nutmeg Hickory, and such trees have frequently been left
standing in the clearings of the original forest. At the present
day these remains of tlie original tree-covering of the country
are becoming scarce, being, however, replaced by their vol-
untary offspring scattered about in the plantations. At Fauns-
dale, in Marengo County, there exists under protection a fine
grove of such voluntary trees in every stage of growth, sur-
rounding the few old trees of the original forest which yet
survive. Heretofore this tree was not known outside of the
Mississippi bottom in the lower Mississippi region. The Pecan
was, under similar conditions, observed in the prairie region
of Mississippi at Starkville, as pointed out to me by Professor
Tracey.

Quercus Durandii is rather frequent in the so-called prairie
region of Alabama, where, in the rich calcareous soil, it rivals
the White Oak In dimensions. This truly noble Oak, first dis-
covered by Professor Buckley in this state, reaches its northern
limit in Alabama in the valley of the Mulberry fork of the
Tomf>igbee River, in Blount County. In the Cotton belt it is
known by the name of Pin Oak. Its wood splits easily and
clean, having formerly been used for the pins in the cotton-
gins, and also for the making of spools. This tree, receiving
no recognition by the writers upon American botany for such
a long series of years after its discovery, is now found to have
a wide range in the southern Atlantic forest-region west of the
Appalachian Mountains — extending over the rich calcareous
soils in the south-west from north Alabama to the valley of the
Colorado, in Texas (Buckley), and in that stale ranging from

September 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

373

the lower course of the Guadaloupe River (Victoria, Mohr)
to the upper waters of the Trinity River. A remarkable
fact in the distribution of these three trees is their association
west of the Appalachian Mountains for distances of such wide

Mobile, Ala. C Mohr.

Dwarfing Plants in Japan.

AT a meeting of the nurserymen's section of the Horti-
cultural Congress, recently held at Chicago, Mr.
Henry Izawa, gardener of the Imperial Japanese Com-
mission to the Columbian Exposition, read a paper on
some Japanese nursery practice, from which we make the
following extracts :

The art of dwarfing plants is so little known in other lands
that a short description of its process is not out of place here.
The successful Japanese nurseryman must not only be a good
grower, but he must also be an artist, conversant with the
general arts and customs of his country, which differ very
materially with those of any other country. The Pines may be
considered the most important of all trees in Japan, and great
care is taken in their cultivation and preservation. The most
popular ones are Pinus densiflora, Pinus parviflora and Pinus
Thunbergii. They are generally grown from seed, and great
care is taken to select the choicest quality of seed. In tlie
spring of the second year, when the seedlings are about eight
inches in heiglit, they are staked with Bamboo-canes and tied
with rice straw, the plants being bent in different desirable
shapes. In the next tall they are transplanted to a richer soil
and are well fertilized. In the following spring the plants are
restaked and twisted and tied in fanciful forms. This mode
of treatment is given until the seventh year, when the trees
will have assumed fairly large proportions, the branches being
trained in graceful forms, and the foliage like small clouds of
dense green. The plants are now taken up and placed in pots
one and a half feet in diameter, and are kept well watered
every succeeding year ; great care must be taken to keep new
shoots pinched back. After another three years of this treat-
ment, the trees are virtually dwarfed, there being no visible
growth thereafter.

The dwarfing of Bamboo is another important branch of the
Japanese nursery business. A few weeks after the shoots begin
to grow, and when the trunks measure about three inches in
circumference and five feet in height, the bark is removed,
piece by piece, from the joint. After five weeks, when the
plants get somewhat stout, the stem is bent and tied in. After
three months, when the side-shoots grow strong enough, they
are all cut off five or six inches from the main trunk ; they are
then dug up and potted in sand. Care should be taken not to
use any fertilizer, but plenty of water should be given. Cut
off the large shoots every year, in May or June, and after three
years the twigs and leaves will present admirable yellow and
green tints.

Dwarfed Thuyas are produced by grafting. Let a Thuya
Lobbi seedling grow in fertile soil until it becomes about five
feet in height, then in the middle of spring we cut off all the
branches, leaving the trunk and top branch. With a quarter-
inch chisel a cut is made in the thickest portion of the trunk,
an inch deep, at distances of two or three inch space, so that
the trunk can be bent more easily in the desired direction.
Rice straw is twisted around the trunk, which is bent in many
curious forms and fanciful shapes. In the spring of the second
year of this treatment the plants are potted in rich soil; in
two years more, when the plants have assumed permanent
forms, Thuya obtusa is grafted on the stem of T. Lobbi.

The process of grafting is, in brief, as follows : We give
plenty of fertilizer to the plant of Thuya Lobbi, and, in early
spring, take two-inch shoots of Thuya obtusa, cut the ends
slantwise and insert them in the smaller portions of the Thuya
Lobbi trunk, using one graft to every inch on the trunk. We
then wrap the grafts with rice straw and take them to a shaded,
windless room with the temperature of thirty-five degrees
Fahrenheit. For three weeks the temperature is raised one
or two degrees daily, and by that time a little breeze may be
admitted ; the temperature of the room is kept at sixty degrees
for two weeks, and at seventy degrees for two weeks, and then
leaves will start from the grafted twigs. In the latter part of
spring, when the temperature in and out-of-doors becomes
uniform, the plants can be safely transferred to some shady
position out-of-doors. In the fall, when all the grafts have
taken good hold, all the remaining shoots of Thuya Lobbi are
cut off. Transplant every year in good rich soil ; six years will
be sufficient to produce handsome specimens of dwarfed

Thuyas. All kinds of Conifers are treated in a similar manner.
There is also a great demand for curiosities in mixed grafted
Conifers, that is, six or seven kinds of Conifers on one plant.

Maples form one of the best materials for the artistic fancies
of the Japanese graftsman. Many times a great many different
varieties are grafted on one stem. Seedling Maples are spliced
and tied together when growing. After they have formed a
union the desired shoot is cut off — this is kept up until ten or
twenty varieties are obtained. Maples thus grafted form lovely
features for lawns, their varying hues and types of foliage en-
hancing each other's beauty.

The aesthetic idea shows itself in every line of Japanese in-
dustry, and especially is it the case with our nursery and land-
scape gardeners. The most inexperienced need not fear any
difficulty in our mode of gardening if he but uses his mind and
efforts in the right direction. The skillful artist introduces
into his miniature garden not regular geometrical forms, but
anything odd, irregular and artistic. To us gardening is not
mathematics, but an art ; hills, dales, rivulets, waterfalls,
bridges, etc., vie with each other in presenting their quaintest
forms and fancies and harmonious symmetries. Dwarfed
plants of all descriptions deck the scene here and there in
thousands of peculiarly artistic shapes. We derive lessons
from nature and strive to imitate her as much as is practicable,
although on a smaller scale.

Plants on the Pribyloff Islands.

A MONG the commonest and most conspicuous flowers
■^*- growing on the Pribyloff Islands are Papaver nudicaule
and Aconitum Napellus, var. delphinifolium, Seringe. Though
the Iceland Poppy, Papaver nudicaule, is found in a few lo-
calities on the Aleutian Islands, the Pribyloff Islands may be
taken as its southern limit of abundance in Behring Sea ; on
these islands it is to be seen everywhere. On hill-tops or
slopes with a northern or eastern exposure the plants are low,
and the flowers small, a tuft of them resembling in every re-
spect plants of the same species seen by the writer on high
mountain-tops in British Columbia, and along the shores of
Hudson Bay. It is in upland meadows or among sand-dunes
that this lovely Poppy is to be seen in its glory. There it at-
tains a height of from nine to twelve inches, while many of its
blossoms are two, or even two and a half, inches in diameter.
When growing among grass or other flowers it does not form
tufts, but in favorable situations among sand-dunes clumps
several feet in diameter are common, its lemon-yellow flowers
forming such large masses that they can be readily seen from
vessels half a mile from the shore.

Aconitum Napellus, var. delphinifolium, presents even
greater variation as regards size and general appearance.
In exposed situations the short slender stem is scarcely
longer than the single blossom which crowns it, while among
the Elymus and Calamagrostis of the low grounds it grows to
from two and a half to three feet in height, is sometimes much-
branched, and, altogether, seems quite a different plant. Speci-
mens of this species sometimes differ much more widely from
one another in general appearance than the larger ones do
from A. Kamtschatchense, a nearly related, but quite distinct,
species, which grows with the other in low situations, and is
seldom separated from it by collectors. ^ ., .,

Ottawa, Canada. J ames M. Mucoun.

New or Little-known Plants.

Lilium giganteum.

ALTHOUGH this Lily was introduced to cultivation
more than forty years ago, it is seldom seen, and this
can be accounted for, perhaps, by the fact that it is not
considered reliably hardy. Here in eastern Massachusetts
it has stood the tests of two winters, one of more than or-
dinary severity, with no more protection than that given
to many plants that we consider hardy. This would seem
to prove that in this latitude, at least, it can reasonably be
called a hardy Lily. Clumps of it growing among tall
shrubs have a very bold and imposing effect, and such a
position seems admirably suited to it, since it affords not
only a partial shade, but what is of the first importance,
protection from high winds.

The illustration on page 376 is from a photograph of a
group of these Lilies growing on the estate of Mr. John
Simpkins, Yarmouthport, Massachusetts. The bulbs were
imported from England in the fall of 1890, in two sizes,

374

Garden and Forest.

[Number 289.

flowering bulbs as large as cocoanuts, and smaller ones
about two inches in diameter. They were all potted and
wintered over in a cold frame. On May 9th, 1891, they
were planted out in a prepared bed consisting of peat and
loam in equal parts. The large bulbs proved a complete
failure ; their grip on the ground did not seem sufficiently
strong to enable them to throw up a spike at all charac-
teristic of the species.

Three of the smaller bulbs grew well, but showed no
signs of flowering until this year. They were protected in
winter by a soap-box inverted over each bulb, and over
this eighteen inches of Oak-leaves. As early as the middle
of April growth had begun, and necessitated the removal
of the winter covering ; their development from this time
until they reached a maximum height of ten feet and a
diameter of four inches at the base of the stems was very
rapid, and the plants bore an average of eighteen flowers
each. Although planted by the margin of a swamp,
and only two feet above the water-line, it was found neces-
sary to give the surface-soil frequent waterings, liquid-
manure being used at every watering. This Lily starts
into growth so early in the season that some care must be
exercised in protecting it from late spring frosts, which
would be disastrous to it. An inverted Hour-barrel affords
good nightly protection until the plant attains some height,
when a covering of light cotton cloth can be used.

Lilium giganteum, while a most interesting plant to
watch during its rapid growth, is rather a disappointment
when it finally opens its flowers, for one naturally expects
from such a huge stem a flower of like proportion. Such
is not the case, however, the individual flowers being no
larger than those of the Bermuda Easter Lily. One gets
the impression when looking at the plant that nature had
been so lavish of her energy in building up the stem and
foliage that she had little left for the crowning effort of
flowering. The flowers emit a spicy odor, which is so
strong as to be almost overpowering and not altogether
agreeable to many persons.

Lilium Wallichianum superbum, a near neighbor of L.
giganteum in its native habitat, and withal a very beauti-
ful plant, has proved itself quite hardy here with a slight
protection of Oak-leaves. It spares the planter any anxiety
on the score of spring frosts by starting into growth about
the last of all the Liliums. From two bulbs planted out two
years ago we had this year four growths six feet high with
forty flowers. t t> j

Varmouthport, .Mass. /• t>rya07l.

Cultural Department.

Notes on Russian Fruits.

AFTER working upon them for upward of twenty years,
I realize tliat if I were to continue for another eiiual
length of time it would be still difficult to give decisive con-
clusions regarding the vast variety of tree-fruits which the
good-will of Russian pomologists and the Russian Govern-
ment have favored us with. Here is a country almost as
large as ours, and all of it north of this latitude of forty-five
degrees, north, upon which I am making tests. It is true tliat
southern Russia, though on the same parallel, has a much
warmer climate than northern Vermont. Judging from its
productions, the climate of southern Russia resembles more
that of southern rather than of northern New England.

But the chief collections sent to this country have been
made mainly in central Russia, not far from the parallel of
sixty degrees ; and thermometrical records seem to show a
winter climate in those parts of Russia very closely resem-
bling that of Minnesota and the Dakotas. This is approxi-
mately the region of Russia's Pear and Plum orchards, as well
as of the fine apples ; while farther north only Apples and
Cherries are grown. The difficulties of intercourse between
these great provinces (almost as large as our states) has
tended to make the varieties of tree-fruits quite local in each ;
and this, in a measure, accounts for the large number of
varieties which have been sent to us. There are now under
test in this country scarcely less than four hundred named
varieties of these Russian tree-fruits — perhaps ten times as
many as can be found in any single Russian locality — except
some of the testing orchards of the new experiment stations.

This is an immense amount of material to be thrown into
the hands of American experimenters, east and west ; and
the work of handling it has been chiefly confined to a few in-
terested individuals in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin ; and
eastward in Vermont and Canada, and in the experimental
grounds of some of the State Agricultural Colleges, along our
northern borders.

The first importations of Russian tree-fruits were confined
solely to Apples. It was not until the return of what is known
as the Budd-Gibb expedition, some ten years since, that we
learned anything about the Pears, Plums and Cherries of Rus-
sia. These ten years have certified to us that Russia has all
these in much hardier forms, as regards resistance to the se-
verities of winter climate, than were before known to us. After
fifteen years of experiment, I had fully established the dis-
couraging fact that, with very slight exceptions, we had in
America not a single variety of orchard fruit, aside from
apples, that would endure the winter climate of northern
New England. Ten years' subsequent testing of the Russian
varieties has shown me not one that is not as hardy, along the
Canada line, as the common and popular old sorts are in
eastern Massachusetts. There are, however, no heart cherries
among them ; and the pears, though fairly good, are inferior
in both size and quality to our best native and European kinds.
The plums are very good, but no less subject to damage from
the curculio than the old stock. All the Russian tree-fruits
appear to have much thicker foliage than our old sorts, and
to resist blight and the attacks of other fungal diseases.
They are good growers while young, but come to bearing
soon ; and thereafter, though continuing healthy, are moder-
ate in their growth, and tend toward dwarfishness.

Although their early and free bearing would recommend
these Russian tree-fruits anywhere, and though they furnish
material for crossing that may prove advantageous, I think it
important to avoid possible disappointment by refraining from
any undue estimate of their value. They are a valuable stock
to experiment with, and breed from. They are invaluable
where the older kinds will not endure the climate.

The nomenclature of these numerous varieties of tree-fruits
from Russia is, and I fear for some time must be, somewhat
confused. So many kinds have been imported, and the two
sections, north-western and north-eastern, where they are
likely to be most planted, are so widely separated, and many
distinct sorts have yet so much similarity, that it will take a
long time to assort and apportion the names correctly. The
best authorities on these points are unquestionably Prof. J. L.
Budd, of tlie Iowa Agricultural College, at Ames, Iowa ; and
Mr. John Craig, Horticulturalist of the Canadian Department
of Agriculture, at Ottawa. Under the charge of each of these
are large testing-grounds and orchards. To them the many
private individuals who are planting and testing the numerous
sorts under trial must often refer for identifications ; and the
nurserymen, who are commencing to propagate them, ought
to take the greatest possible pains to avoid the beginnings of
evil in this direction. From my own experience I should
think it easy, in due time, to make select lists for each locality,
that would prevent waste of time and serious disappointment
in distribution. My own plantings are growing vigorously,
though carrying very little fruit this year.

Newport, Vt.

T. H. Ho skins.

Grapes in North Carolina.

IF the other of Munson's seedlings which we have yet to fruit
are as excellent as Munson's Brilliant Grape, which is now
in bearing here, there is little left to be desired in our native
Grapes. I have not learned how this Grape will do in a more
northern climate, and I undertand that some of these seedlings
are rather tender in winter. I have never tasted any native
grape that compares favorably with the Brilliant. One of its
most remarkable characteristics for a native grape is the skin,
which melts away with the pulp, and has no trace of acidity.
The gentleman who grew the grapes I ate to-day, for our own
Munson vines will not fruit until next season, is a painstaking
cultivator, and his grapes are all bagged. As a result of his
careful treatment he is getting fifteen cents per pound for his
fruit in the northern cities, while most of our growers are ut-
terly discouraged by low prices. But he grows only the
choicest kinds, while they have filled their vineyards with
Champion and Ives.

At our station we have a superb crop of Black Hamburgs
and Muscats under glass in a cold grapery. Some of them we
shall ship to test whether cold-grapery grapes can be made to
pay here. I am inclined to believe that they will pay if allowed
to start early and ripen in July. Our vines this year were kept

September 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

375

back as late as possible by being trained along the outer wall.
Cold-grapery grapes can be put on the market from this sec-
tion before the California crop conies in, and if well grown
should bring a good price. We have some four-pound clus-
ters of Black Hamburg, Golden Hamburg and Tokays. These
are superb, being the first full crop of young vines. This
grapery was planted for cross-fertilizing purposes, and we have
Munson's Brilliant planted in it with the best foreign varieties.
A grape with a little more size and as good quality as Brilliant
will leave little to be wished for.

We made an experiment this season with a long trellis of
Concord Grapes. Part of the trellis was boarded up on the west
side, and a coping built which projects twenty inches. This
part of the trellis was not sprayed at all ; the remainder was
carefully sprayed. Both were comparatively free from rot,
while unsprayed grapes on vines near by all rotted. The
protected vines grew more luxuriantly than those on the ex-
posed trellises, and the fruit is of larger size. But while I was
away at our summer Farmers' Institutes the thrips came down
on the sheltered part of the vines, and the damaged foliage has
failed to ripen the fruit. Those in whose charge the vines were
left attributed the injury to the shelter, but I soon saw it was
caused by the enemy I battled with years ago under glass. If
taken in time, the attack could have been prevented. One
thing, however, seems proved, so far as one season can prove
anything, that shelter will keep off the rot as well as spraying
will. This was the result of experiments made by me years
ago in Virginia, and I am of the opinion that shelter can be
provided cheap enough to have it pay to use it. My present
shelter is too costly, being made of inch pine-boards, which,
though cheap here, are much more costly elsewhere. In the
sand-hills about Southern Pines, seventy-five miles south of
Raleigh, the rot has not yet appeared to any extent, and as the
growers there are planting largely of superior sorts of Grapes,
the vineyard interests in that region have a good prospect.
Grapes certainly thrive wonderfully in these sandy soils, and
Southern Pines is rapidly becoming a southern Vineland.

We have all of Munson's seedling Grapes planted, and will
note their progress with a good deal of interest, while growing
some seedlings of our own. The great desideratum here is a
good September Grape to fill the gap between the varieties
grown for the northern market and the Scuppernong season.
RaieiKh, N. c. IV. F. Massty.

A'

Preparatory Work.

T this season of the year there are many preparations that
^ should be attended to in every well-conducted garden.
This is the best time for repairing the greenhouses and con-
servatory, for all but the most delicate species may be removed
temporarily, and a thorough clearance effected. Painting,
glazing, repairing of benches and walks and a thorough exami-
nation of the heating apparatus are among the many items that
will readily suggest themselves.

The renewal of benches is a considerable item in the ex-
pense account of a large establishment, and for general pur-
poses the more permanent construction of iron and slate is
doubtless superior to the common wooden staging. The ques-
tion of first cost, is, however, one of much importance to many
desirous of having a small greenhouse, and where this ques-
tion arises the wooden bench is the general result. The last-
ing qualities of such wood-work maybe much improved by
tlie use of various preparations. A thorough painting with
crude petroleum is an excellent preservative, though for a
time it has the disadvantage of being unpleasantly odorous,
while a coating of Portland cement applied with a brush, or
even a good whitewashing, is also beneficial and will destroy
many insects and much of the fungoid growths so prevalent
in old structures. Neat and well-made walks add much to the
comfort and appearance of a greenhouse, probably the most
satisfactory material for the purpose being cement concrete,
the color of which may be toned by the addition of some color-
ing matter. Such a floor is clean and durable, and can be
constructed by any one familiar with the use of tools. A well-
laid floor of tiies or of fire-brick is more elaborate and costly,
and requires more scrubbing to keep it in good order, while
the cheapest of all may be made from fine coal ashes well
rammed down.

The propagating-bed should be renewed, with either sand or
cocoa-fibre refuse, according to the class of cuttings for which
it is to be used. This will soon come into use for some early
cuttings of Geraniums and for Coleus and other bedding
plants which should be secured before the first frosts check
their growth. These early-rooted Geraniums often prove
useful for conservatory-decoration during the winter and spring,

and the young plants of Coleus, Achryanthus and other plants
of like character are much more satisfactory for producing
cuttings for spring stock than those from old plants lifted in
the fall. Named varieties of Verbenas should also be propa-
gated in the same way. The best method of securing the
cuttings being to shear all the flowers off the stock plants, then
give them a good soaking of water if the weather is dry. In a
few days an abundant young growth will be secured, of just
the quality for satisfactory cuttings. Of course, none but per-
fectly healthy plants should be selected for this purpose, or an
attack of Verbena-rust, so-called, will ensue.

The early bulbs of Lilium Harrisii are now being received,
and if required for the holidays must be potted at once.
Small bulbs are decidedly the best for early forcing, those
measuring from five to seven inches in circumference being
the most suitable size ; these may be potted into five-inch pots.
Chrysanthemums will naturally demand much attention during
the next four months. First-quality flowers require careful
cultivation, disbudding alone taking a great amount of time.
Watering and fertilizing require constant exercise of judgment.
Carnations outdoors will not need any further pinching at pres-
ent, and can be lifted as soon as convenient after September
1st. The question of lifting Carnations while the ground is
dry, I think need cause no anxiety on the part of the cultiva-
tor, the main point being the after-care that the plants receive,
such as frequent syringing and care in ventilation for a few
days after the transplanting, in order to allow the plants to
recover from the shock.

Bouvardias also should soon be lifted, and require the same
kind of treatment after the operation, the outdoor growth
being usually somewhat rank and soft.

Among the bedding plants that should be remembered in
preparatory work for the following season is Begonia Vernon,
one of the semperflorens group, and one that stands exposure
to the full sun very well, its bronzy foliage and bright red
flowers being noticeably pretty. For winter flowering. Be-
gonia incarnata and B. Gloire de Sceaux should not be omitted,
there still being time to prepare useful plants of these varieties
providing they are given reasonably good treatment.

Still another matter of importance at this time is the prepara-
tion of a compost heap for next year. The basis of which
should be thick sods from an old pasture, these being neatly
stacked with a reasonable proportion of good stable-manure
between the layers. This old-fashioned compost is quite satis-
factory for the majority of gardening operations.

Holmesburg, Pa. fV. H. Taplitt.

How to Grow Vigorous Carnations.

AT the late Convention of the Society of American
Florists, Mr. C. H. Allen, of Floral Park, New York,
read an essay on Carnations, from which the following
passages have been selected for their practical value :

In the propagation of the Carnation, selection as a means of
increased vitality is sadly overlooked. When any plant has
been grown for a long series of years under unnatural condi-
tions, as in the case of Carnations from cuttings, instead of
from seeds, there will be a natural tendency toward deteriora-
tion, which will manifest itself in various ways, the more com-
mon being an impoverished vitality. This is attributed to the
too commonly expressed opinion that varieties run out. Va-
rieties do run out, but this is from neglect in a majority of cases.
When the same care is used to perpetuate a variety that was
given by the systematic hybridizer to produce it there will be
no deterioration. When varieties like Silver Spray, Buttercup,
William Scott, Edna Craig and numerous other excellent sorts
are produced it should be the great object to perpetuate them.
To that end the greatest care in selection should be observed,
health being the important consideration. Cuttings should, in
all cases, be taken from plants showing the greatest vigor in
growth, color and substance of foliage and a tendency to free
flowering.

It is the ultimate object of all plant-life to produce seed, and
the plants showing the greatest tendency to bloom show, as a
rule, the greatest amount of vitality, and from such plants
should cuttings be taken. Hence has arisen the general
opinion that cuttings should be taken only from stems bear-
ing flowers. With due respect to disseminators of new varie-
ties, it is our opinion that the tendency of the trade is to make
the most of a variety rather than the best. The effort has not
been to select with a view to developing health and strength,
but to produce as many plants as possible, while they bring a
high price because of their novelty.

376

Garden and Forest.

[Number 289.

The general impression is that the Carnation will not stand
as much manure as the Rose or Chrysanthemum. As an ex-
periment, last September I planted a bench of Lizzie McGowan
in soil, one-half well-rotted cow and horse manure and one-
half decayed sod, the plants being set -one foot apart to allow
free circulation of air. As soon as the roots had taken hold I
began using water enriched with one peck of night-soil and

per hundred ; Christmas week, five dollars per hundred ;
January ist, through Lent, three dollars per hundred ; Easter,
six dollars per hundred. Hereafter I shall disbud and fertilize
all Carnations in my houses more heavily than I did the
McGowans last year. Another experiment : Plants taken from
sand May ist, planted June ist on the bench in a house which
has side and ridge ventilation, and in soil as rich as that used

^'K- 57— Ltllum giganteum, in Yarmoulhport, Massachusetts.— See page 373.

two ounces of nitrate of soda to fifty gallons of water, applying
the same once a week until January isf, twice a week there-
after. Disbudding was attended to thoroughly, one bud being
left to a stem, all others being removed as soon as they appeared.
The results were long, stiff stems, fifteen to twenty inches long,
flowers three inches in diameter; returns from commission
dealer, November isth to December 20th, three dollars

for the Lizzie McGowans last season, are now (August ist)
showing much better color and substance in foliage than plants
of the same sorts rooted April ist and planted outside, the lat-
ter having to stand the severe drought of the past two months.
We have been able to water and care for those inside at httle
expense.
This experiment has been made to settle for ourselves the

September 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

377

question, can Carnations be grown inside during summer to
an advantage? The full result of this test cannot be given until
the plants outside have been compared the coming season with
those which have been housed all summer. From present ap-
pearances I should not hesitate to fill my houses with plants in
June for fiowering the following season.

Garden Notes.

Centrosema grandiflora, introduced this year by A. Blanc,
of Philadelphia, proves to be a quick-growing vine, with very
attractive pea-shaped flower, having large standards, which
approach two inches in diameter. It bears flowers freely,
forming one to three at each joint on short peduncles. The
flowers, however, are only attractive in the morning and close
in a few hours. The Centrosemas are classed with Clitorias
by Lindley and other botanists. The species are mostly South
American, and are not hardy. The one under notice is said to
be perfectly hardy here, and I understand is a native species,
in which case the specific name is more likely to be C. Ma-
riana than C. grandiflora. In any case, it is only claimed as an
attractive, long-known flower not previously introduced to cul-
tivation. It is readily grown from seed, which germinate
quickly in moderate warmth.

Dwarf Dahlias are now beginning to luxuriate in the cool
night. Unless tall-growing plants are desired for some special
effect, the newstrams of dwarf Dahlias are by far the most
satisfactory single-flowered ones for garden purposes. They
form compact spreading plants, only about eighteen inches
high, which require no staking and are covered with buds and
flowers in great profusion. The French strain grown here has
flowers of an infinite variety of colors — whites, yellows, pinks
and reds, in selfs and all possible combinations. Many of
them are blotched and striped. They are propagated readily
from old tubers, or a stock may be had very quickly from
seeds, which are produced only too freely. These it is not ne-
cessary to plant before April. At present some self-sown seed-
lings in the garden are forming buds and will be in flower in
a few days. I do not mean to assert that these plants are
hardy annuals, but under favorable conditions one often finds
in an undisturbed garden wild seedlings from plants which are
unmistakably tender.

Hardy Bulbs. — Now that the Dahlias and Sunflowers are
with us, it is time to prepare for winter and a new spring sea-
son. No time should be lost in securing all the bulbs desired
and in planting them as soon as received. In a warm locality,
where a bulb can make even slight progress during an ordi-
nary winter, early planting is possibly not of so much impor-
tance, but there is little doubt that in colder localities, where
the earth freezes hard and remains so during the season, late
planting has a very detrimental effect on many bulbs. This
may not be seen the first season after planting, for many bulbs
will flower very well without much root-growth on first plant-
ing. These bulbs, however, seldom mature their growth for
the next year, and will often be found diseased, if not killed,
when examined after the ripening of the foliage.

Hardy Herbaceous Plants.— Many of the early-flowering
herbaceous plants may now be divided and replanted. Espe-
cial attention should be given to Pajonies and plants which pos-
sibly have exhausted their soil. The fall rains will soon start
up the hardy Poppies, whose roots may be cut up for increase
of stock. A sowing of Pansies may soon be made, and bare
places sown with seeds of hardy annuals. In fact, in whichever
direction one looks in the garden at this season, he is im-
pressed with the fact that vacation-time is over, and from this
time to December is the most pressing season of the year for
garden work.

Elizabeth, N. J. J. N. G.

Cassava for Bedding. — Those who desire plants for sub-
tropical bedding should try the Cassava. While the plant
may not be of much economic importance north of Flor-
ida, it, nevertheless, forms a conspicuous and handsome
specimen in our hot summers anywhere. Like many others
of the Euphorbiacese, it withstands drought well, but rejoices
in heat and moisture. A friend in Florida sent me a short
piece of stem last spring, which was buried in one of my
flower-borders. To-day the plant is five feet high and as many
broad. Its handsome palmate leaves somewhat suggest Ri-
cinus, but are more beautiful. Each of the seven-parted pal-
mate leaves is supported on an exceedingly long petiole, and
the entire petiole is bright red. These broad divided leaves
and long red petioles, combined with the symmetrical habit of
the plant, make it one of the handsomest objects on my

lawn. Further north it may not develop into such rank luxu-
riance if started in the open ground, but as the pieces of stem
grow readily, it would be easy to start the plants in a green-
house in spring and transfer them to the garden when the
weather is warm. I would advise all who want a really hand-
some plant to add to their bedding of tropical foliage to try
Cassava.
Raleigh, N. c. W. F. Massey.

Correspondence.

The Meehan Nurseries and the Trees of
Germantown.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — A visit to Mr. Meehan's nursery, in Germantown, a
suburb of Philadelphia, will well repay a lover of trees. In no
other establishment are American trees and shrubs raised in
such numbers. Long ago Mr. Meehan recognized two facts —
that the climate of eastern America is particularly suited to de-
ciduous-leaved plants, which grow more satisfactorily here
than in any other country of the world, and that American
plants are the best for America ; so for years he has been busy
in raising American Oaks, Maples, Ashes, Dogwoods, and
scores of other plants which can only be obtained in large
quantities from his nursery. Cornus florida, which is one of
the most beautiful of all hardy flowering trees, is raised by
hundreds of thousands. Trees not often seen in nurseries,
like our Nyssa or Tupelo, the Sassafras, the Persimmon and
the Sycamore, are raised here in numbers, as are all our Mag-
nolias and the Tulip-tree. But the nursery is by no means ex-
clusively devoted to the cultivation of American plants ; many
exotic species are cultivated on a large scale, and it is certainly
within bounds to say that the stock of young plants of the beau-
tiful Japanese Viburnum plicatuni is larger than can be found
in all other American and European nurseries combined.

The Germantown nurseries contain a number of remarkable
and interesting plants. Here is the original plant of the now
well-known weeping Cornus florida, discovered in the woods
near Baltimore, and the original plant of Halesia Meehani, a
chance seedling raised by Mr. Meehan, and figured in Garden
and Forest (see vol. v., p. 535). I noticed, also, a beautiful
small specimen of a very distinct weeping variety of Prunus
serotina and a fastigiate form of Picea Engelmanni, produced
from a graft brought by Mr. Meehan from the timber-line on
Gray's Peak, in Colorado ; this is a compact, dense pyramid
eight feet high, with very glaucous leaves, and, altogether, one
of the most distinct and mteresting conifers of recent intro-
duction.

One of the best plants in the United States or Europe of the
Japanese and northern China Quercus dentata can be sefen
here ; it is fully thirty feet high, with a stout, well-formed trunk
and spreading branches. The hardiness and value here of this
handsome and very distinct tree appear to be demonstrated.
Here, too, is the finest specimen of Cedrela Sinensis I have
seen, a shapely plant nearly thirty feet high, which has flowered
freely this year. A split in the trunk indicates, however, that
it is not destined to grow to a great age, and shows, what has
been noticed before, that Cedrela lacks the hardiness and con-
stitution which make the Ailanthus, from the same region of
northern China, one of the most valuable of all trees. In
general appearance the two trees are not unlike, but the leaves
of Cedrela are without the glands which characterize those of
Ailanthus, and the flowers are produced in long hanging ra-
cemes. Near the Cedrela stands one of the best plants of
Hovenia dulcis which can be seen outside of Japan. It is a
slender tree thirty feet high, with spreading branches and a
flat top, and has flowered profusely this year. There is a large
specimen, too, of Zizyphus vulgaris, the Jujube-tree, covered
with half-grown fruit ; this beautiful tree, a native also of
northern China, appears perfectly hardy in Germantown ; it is
well worth a place on every lawn for the beauty of its lustrous
pinnate leaves. A remarkable plant of Pterostjjrax hispidum
is more than twenty-five feet high, with a tall straight trunk and
wide-spreading branches loaded with its ripening fruit.

The great-leaved Oregon Maple, Acer macrophyllum, ap-
pears in three handsome specimens, twenty to thirty feet high,
covered with its dark green leaves which surpass those of all
other Maples in size. Two large plants of a peculiar and most
distinct weepingform of Ulmus Americana, found nearGalena,
in Illinois, show the value of this variety as an ornamental tree.
It is certainly one of the most distinct and beautiful of all weep-
ing trees, and deserves to be better known and more generally
planted.

378

Garden and Forest.

[Number 289.

Of plants in flower in the nursery nothing was so beautiful
and interesting as Gordonia Altamaha, the rarest of all North
American trees. Discovered long ago in Georgia by the Phila-
delphia botanist, Bartram, it has not been seen growing
naturally for nearly a century, and has only been preserved
through cultivated plants. Mr. Meehan grows it extensively,
fully appreciating its value and the beauty of its large, fragrant,
white flowers, which resemble those of a single-flowered Ca-
mellia, and continue to open for a long time in succession at
midsummer, and of its large lustrous leaves which in autumn
assume the most brilliant scarlet tints. Great masses of this
plant may be seen near Horticultural Hall, in Fairmount
Park, where it appears perfectly at home. It is strange
that it is so rarely found in our gardens. No other sum-
mer-blooming hardy shrub or small tree at all equals it in
beauty.

The' comparatively new Rose, Madame Georges Bruant, I saw
in flower here for the first time ; it is a hybrid, raised at Poitiers
by a nurseryman named Bruant, between the Japanese Rosa
rugosa and the Tea-rose, Sombreuil. It is a vigorous-growing
plant, with clustered, fragrant white flowers and pale glaucous
foliage ; it is very distinct from other hybrids raised from Rosa
rugosa, and as it appears to be a free and constant bloomer it
may be expected to prove a decided acquisition.

Among the Conifers, which are much less grown than de-
ciduous-leaved plants, were two of much interest ; one of
these was a large plant of Retinospora squarrosa, a plant which
deceived such a good botanist as Maximowicz, who considered
it a species, but which here has entirely grown out of its juve-
nile squarrose-leaved form with the exception of two lower
branches, and displays its true character, showing that it is
only a juvenile form of Retinospora pisifera. The second was
a plant of the so-called Retinospora ericoides growing into its
mature form and showing that this plant, which has been
weighed down with a dozen names, is only a juvenile state of
the common Arbor-vita2 (Thuya occidentalis).

A stroll through the well-planted streets of Germantown
shows the lover of trees that it is a town with special attrac-
tions. A hundred years ago, and through the early years of
this century, Philadelphia was a centre of active botanical and
horticultural interest, and the first good collections of frees
made in the United States were made in its suburbs. In all
the old Germantown gardens fine trees abound. Just by the
high architectural fence which encloses the grounds of the
Germantown Cricket Club — the best-housed of all such clubs —
stands the first Virgilia tree, Cladrastis flava, planted in the
United States, and near it grows a plant of Magnolia acuminata,
which, perhaps, is not surpassed in size by any other planted
specimen of this species ; it must be nearly eighty feet high,
with a trunk which girths over ten feet. In spite of its age,
this noble tree is in perfect health and beauty, and worth a
long day's journey to see. Interesting, too, is a tall Pecan
Hiclcory in a neighboring garden, raised from a nut brought
by Thomas Nuttall from Arkansas; and not less interesting
is' the first Magnolia macrophylla planted in this country ;
it stands in Vernon Park, one of those small parks for
which the people of Philadelphia are indebted to the zeal and
industry of Thomas Meehan. This little pleasure-ground is
distinguished by the presence of the most remarkable Papaw
trees (Asimina triloba) it has been my good fortune to see.
They are some forty feet tall, with trunks ten or twelve inches
in diameter and broad pyramidal heads of dark foliage.
As it grows here the Papaw is an ornamental tree of high
value.

Returning from Germantown to Philadelphia by the Wissa-
hickon and Fairmount Park, one cannot help being struck
with the difference in the appearance and condition of the
trees growing on the grounds of individuals in Germantown
and those growing on land belonging to the people of Phila-
delphia. These last are in a dangerous and discreditable con-
dition. Many are dead ; others are filled with dead branches
and in a fair way to destruction ; some are overcrowded, and
others need the protection of neighboring trees ; some
are starving to death, and many are infested with noxious
insects. In this great park of nearly two thousand acres there
are many noble and beautiful frees. They are less abundant,
however, than those which need care and attention, and it is
quite within bounds to say that, at the present time, there is
no other large public park in the United States in which the
trees show greater evidence of indifference, neglect and bad
management. On the other hand. Horticultural Hall, which a
few years ago was in a deplorable condition, is now in excel-
lent order, and filled with well-grown and well-selected plants ;
it would be a credit to any garden.

Pbiladelphia. Pa. S.

Orchids at North Easton, Massachusetts.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Visitors to Langwater Gardens, at North Easton, Mas-
sachusetts, the summer residence of F. L. Ames, Esq., will
always find some rare and beautiful Orchids in bloom, for in
the number and value of its individual specimens this collec-
tion is unrivaled, and many of the plants are unique.

A few Miltonias continue in bloom, and I was particularly
fortunate in seeing the lovely and unique M. vexillaria Amesi-
ana in its full beauty. The flowers are of the largest size, and
conspicuous at the base of the labellum is a large maroon
blotch. They somewhat resemble those of M. superba, but
with deeper radiating lines, and in this respect differing from
all other varieties of this species.

The flowers of the variety Statteriana of Laelia elegans
Turneri are violet-purple, with an intensely deep purple lip.
The variety Littleana is a robust grower, bearing immense
spikes, often with ten flowers. The color of the whole flower
is clear purple, with a rich violet-purple lip, and white, or
nearly white, inner lobes. This, too, is a unique specimen. L.
elegans Tenebrosa is the deepest-colored form of L. elegans
known, the bright purple coloring being carried well back into
the throat.

Cattleya Warscewiczi Roehelliensis, originally known as the
White Gigas here, is the only plant known. It is a magnificent
specimen, in itself worth traveling a great distance to see. C.
Schofieldiana is a form of C. granulosa very rarely seen, and
the specimen here is distinctly elegant, the markings are
striking and the flowers large. The ground-color is a beauti-
ful tawny yellow, the middle lobe is covered with rich ma-
genta-purple papulae. In C. Calummata, a hybrid between C.
Acklandia; and C. intermedia, the coloring and markings par-
take of the former parent, which are chocolate-brown sepals
and petals, barred and striped with yellow. The lip is deep
rose. In form it resembles C. intermedia. Laelio-Cattleya
Nyssa is a new hybrid between Laelia crispa and Cattleya gigas,
and one of the most beautiful in color. It is in the way of L.
Exoniensis, with a deep, rich, reddish purple, fringed lip, and
golden throat.

Sophro-Cattleya Batemaniana is the first bigeneric hybrid,
the result of crossing Sophronites grandiflora with Cattleya
intermedia. The flowers are of a soft, pleasing, warm shade,
and somewhat intermediate in character. A still more re-
markable bigeneric hybrid is between Epidendrum radicans,
a plant growing from three to five feet tall, and Sophronites
grandiflora, growing only as many inches. Epiphronites
Veitchii is a name suggestive of its parentage, and of Messrs.
Veitch as the raisers. In general habit it resembles Epiden-
drum, growing about one foot high. The bright reddish scar-
let coloring of its flowers is of a richness unsurpassed by
any other Orchid. The plants bloom in a very small state,
and remain a long time in perfection.

Cypripedium H. Ballantyne is a hybrid raised by Messrs.
Veitch between the beautiful C. purpuratum and the dainty C.
Fairrieanum, and named in honor of Baron Schroder's gardener,
at the Dell, Egan, Windsor, England. C. nitidissimum is a
chaste and lovely hybrid in the way ofC. grande, and, although
not so stately, it is graceful and distinct. ~ r.

Wellesley, Mass. ■(• -O. Hatfield.

Nature's Landscape-gardening in Maine.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Every lover of nature must have noticed how beautiful
the edge of a wood is in early summer, when the dark branch
of an evergreen throws out the paler green of some deciduous
neighbor. In the clearing and planting which are necessary
on some places every year, should we not try to get like
effects ? In driving along the wooded roads in the district
where the grounds lie which are to be developed, one who
notes which are the handsomest of the native trees can
get ai\ idea as to which ones to plant and how these should be
grouped ; but the appropriate massing of foliage, so as to secure
the best effect from soft harmonies or bold contrasts of color,
requires much studyand critical knowledge. After the varieties
have been decided upon comes the serious question of group-
ing for contrasting color, and the arrangement of those colors
for different seasons of the year and varying lights demands
close observation and study. The White Pine makes an ex-
cellent background for the Red Oak (Q. rubra), which in spring
emphasizes the gray tree bearing its " candles," as the country
children call the new white growth, while in the autumn the
Pine retires to its place as foil for the Oak, which is first gor-
geous in red and fades into brown as it prepares for the win-

September 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

379

ten But no one wants to keep the White Pine always in the
background, for when it is found in ckimps it is easy to grow
tall ferns beneath it, with a carpet of Linnaea, Partridge Berry
and Blueberry, and it provides itself the clean brown needles,
which alone have been enough to endear it to every one. The
Hemlock and White Ash are two more trees which are strik-
ing together in spring or fall, and at the turn of the leaf the
Scarlet Maple seems ablaze near a group of the White and
Black Spruces. Here, on the coast of Maine, the Gray Birch
(B. populifolia) gets nothing but abuse, as few people seem to
remember its brilliant patches of green among the Spruces in
spring-time, and in the early autumn how the shiny, fluttering
leaves glisten in the sunlight. But once the coloring of the
wood-sides is observed the list grows longer, and the stately
Yellow and Paper Birches are noticed in damp places, and the
Pitch Pine, clinging like a limpet to an impossibly steep rock,
looks like a tree on a Japanese fan.

To give an effect of distance on a small place, why could we
not plant a line of dark, thick-foliaged trees on distant points,
then to leave a space, planting a second grove of smaller light-
foliaged trees ? The space will give distance and depth to the
background, while the darker green trees, if placed on the
most distant height, are valuable at sunset, as they alwa);s
seem to keep the last light. If there is to be a large lawn, it is
as well to keep in mind that the creeping shadows made by
trees planted on the the western edge will be very beautiful in
the long summer afternoons.

It will be noticed that only such trees as grow on the coast

of Maine are mentioned, as I am most familiar with that part

of the country. „ ., ■ <-^

Bar Harbor, Me. Beatrix Jones.

The Columbian Exposition.
The Front Esplanade of the Horticultural Building.

THE extreme front of the Horticultural Building is something
over a hundred feet west of the lagoon, opposite the
wooded island. The exterior borders of the lagoons, except
the extreme north-eastern and southern arms, are bounded by
a perpendicular wall some four or five feet high, upon which
is placed a heavy balustrade. This architectural feature serves
the double purpose of blending the lagoon with the formal
environs and of appearing to set the buildings upon a platform
or terrace, thereby increasing their height and importance.
The spaces between this railing and the contiguous buildings
are essentially esplanades, and some of them are very effective.
The central and important portion of the esplanade of the Hor-
ticultural Building is an area about sixty feet wide and extend-
ing the length of the building — 1,000 feet. Upon the east it is
bounded by the broad gravel walk skirting the lagoon, and on
the west by another thoroughfare. The centre-piece of this
esplanade is a Lily-tank with masonry walls, containing forty
species and varieties of water-plants, shown by William
Tricker, of Staten Island. Nymphaeas predominate, of which
the best, at this writing, are Nymphsea Devoniensis superba, a
plant with rich bronze leaves and pink-red flowers ; N. gracilis,
with its starry, sharp-petaled, white flowers standing a foot or
more above the leaves, and N. Zanzibarensis and the varieties
rosea and azurea. The Water-poppy, Limnocharis Humboldtii,
also makes a show with its saucer-like sulphur flowers. Some
good Papyrus-plants break the monotony of the pond.

Upon either side of this Lily-pond are two nearly square
areas of sod, with flower-beds, beyond which, in each direc-
tion, a long parterre stretches away nearly 400 feet. These long
areas, which stretch off both north and south, were simply
quiet, unornamented lawns early in the season, and it was the
hope of the landscape-department that they might be left un-
disturbed in order to enforce the effect of the lagoon terrace
and add a proper dignity to the great building. But land was
needed for parterres, and in June the sod was cut into sev-
enty-nine beds, all but three of which are planted to Can-
nas. This great display of Cannas, extending over a total
length of a thousand feet, is now the most conspicuous fea-
ture of the environs of the Horticultural Building. There is
some chance for criticism in the arrangement, for the many
small beds give a spotty effect. If the same plants had been
massed into a broad central avenue, or even into two narrow
marginal avenues, the effect would have been more contin-
uous and, I think, more impressive. The plants were late in
going into the ground, and the soil is sandy and poor ; yet the
display, as a whole, is very bold at the opening of September,
and it'certainly has great merit. The varieties are not numer-
ous, and for that reason the exhibit is all the better. They
represent the best of the new French or dwarf Cannas, a class

of plants which has been greatly improved in very recent
years, especially in all the best qualities of bloom. In the two
small areas upon either side of the Lily-tank, J. C. Vaughan
shows eighteen beds of Cannas — the central bed in the south
area being the best single bed in the collection at this writing.
The central portion of the bed is occupied by a heavy plant-
ing of Florence Vaughan, which bears a very large yellow
flower, thickly and uniformly spotted with brown. About this
is a band of J. C. Vaughan, a dull red flower and dark
bronze foliage. This is skirted by George W. Childs, a variety
of the Madame Crozy type, but bearing more gold upon the
petals. The cpmpanion bed in the north area has a centre of
the excellent J. D. Cabos, with outer bands of Explorateur
Crambel and Florence Vaughan. Among other varieties
shown by Vaughan are Egandale, a very dark-leaved and dull
red variety of great merit, and Mademoiselle de Crillon, the
nearest approach to a pure yellow Canna upon the grounds.

The chief interest in the Canna exhibits, however, attaches
to the competitive displays of New York and Pennsylvania.
New York occupies most of the south parterre, nearly 400 feet
in length, and Pennsylvania has its twin upon the north. Much
has been said concerning the comparative merits of these ex-
hibits, and the competition is certainly close; yet it is clear
that the New York display is ahead at this time in the vigor of
the plants and condition of bloom. I do not know if this is
due to any difference in soil or to better plants or more care-
ful management. The varieties are essentially the same in
both. F. R. Pierson & Co. supply all the New York plants.
The best single bed in this collection is a large circular mass
of Capitaine P. de Suzzoni, one of Crozy's varieties introduced
to the American trade in 1892. It is a tall and bold grower,
holdingitslong clusters of large yellow, brown spotted, flowers
well above the leaves. The Pennsylvania plants are furnished
by Henry A. Dreer and Robert Craig. Altogether, Madame
Crozy is probably the best Canna in the entire collection, espe-
cially when one considers its long season of bloom and good
constitution. Star of '91, the American variety of this type,
does not appear in the collections, except in a small bed shown
by Vaughan, an indication that it lacks in staying qualities.
The other best Cannas, judging from this collection, are J. D.
Cabos, foliage dark bronze, flowers copper-yellow ; Paul Mar-
quant, pinkish salmon-red, introduced here last year ; Made-
moiselle de Crillon, clear yellow, with a darker throat, but
flowers small ; Capitaine P. de Suzzoni, already described ;
Frangois Crozy, salmon, very faintly bordered with gold ;
Florence Vaughan and Egandale, already described ; Alphonse
Bouvier, dark red, tall grower, introduced in America last year,
and Miss Sarah Hill, a low plant with very dark, almost ma-
roon-red, flowers, also introduced last year. Other prominent
varieties are Count Horace de Choiseul, brilliant red ; Paul
Bruant, light red ; Explorateur Crambel, dull red ; Charles
Henderson, dull red, lowest petal blotched ; Secretary Stewart,
rich red ; Enfant de Rhone, salmon-red ; Duchesse de Monte-
nard, lemon, spotted red ; IBaronne de Renowardy, dull rose-
red, introduced last year by Dreer; Gustave Sennholz, light
red; Secretary Nicholas, dark salmon-red ; Statuaire Fulconis,
red, introduced in this country last year; Edouard Michel,
bright salmon-red ; The Garden, with large bright salmon-red
flowers; Little Gem, much like Star of '91, except thatthe flow-
ers are smaller and a trifle lighter, with more yellow inside.
At the south end of the south parterre Pitcher & Manda show
five choice beds of seedlings, and at the north end of the north
area H. P. Potter, of Wilmington, Delaware, shows a new
American seedling which reminds one of Florence Vaughan,
but it has a smaller flower, which is more densely spotted with
red. Both ends of this north area are introduced by a large
keystone of carpet bedding, and the north end of the New York
display has a shield made of succulents.

At the rear of this central area, lying against the floral cur-
tains upon either side of the dome entrance, are the two spaces
which were devoted to Pansies early in the season. Some
small beds of Pansies still persist upon the inside of the spaces,
but the great central beds are filled with Cannas and Ricinus,
furnished by Pierson. The soil is dry and poor and the plants
are yet small, but they will probably make a great show later
on. Upon either end of both of these areas are two small
beds of Coleus and Solanum integrifolium, and some carpet
beds of Alternantheras, House-leeks and Agaves. Two smaller
areas in front of the end pavilions are filled with a large and
interesting collection of Cacti, furnished by Mr. Blanc for the
Pennsylvania display.

Along the north-east corner of the Horticultural Building is
the display of French Gladioli, shown by Victor Lemoine, of
Nancy, and Forgeot, of Paris. Lemoine, who is known to
Gladiolus fanciers throughout the world, shows over sixty va-

38o

Garden and Forest.

[Number 289.

riefies, about twenty-five plants of each. This corner proves
to be a windy location, and most of Forgeot's plants have suf-
fered from the late storms ; and Lemoine's, which are tied to
cords, have also been injured. Yet both collections passed
the height of their bloom before the inclement weather ap-
peared, and they have attracted much attention. Probably few
people, even among flower-lovers, are aware of the great
variety and beauty of Lemoine's types of Gladioli.
Chicago. I"- ^- ^- Bailey.

Notes.

Arkansas still continues to show a remarkable collection of
apples at the Columbian Exposition. Tlie specimens are very
large, well colored and free from insect and fungous injuries.
They come from the northern part of the state, which cer-
tainly possesses great capabilities in apple-growing,

A beautiful example of wood-carving is exhibited by the
Government of India in the Forestry Building in Chicago.
The king, his courtiers and many other figures are represented
in teakwood, the production being an exact copy of a door in
the Rajah's palace in Mandalay, the capital of Upper Burmah.

A recent number of the Boston Globe states that Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes has made a practice for some years of taking
the girth of the large Elms and other trees which he has seen
in his daily drives. He has, however, only found four trees
with a girth greater than fifteen feet. The tape has usually
been applied at a point about five feet above the soil, the
place selected for measuring, as Dr. Holmes states, being the
smallest circle of the trunk between the swell of the roots and
the swell of the branches.

Monsieur Andr6 describes in a recent issue of the Revue
Horticole a new hybrid Clematis, produced by a French horti-
culturist at Lyons by fertilizing Clematis Pitcheri, of our trans-
Mississippi region, with the pollen of the Texan C. coccinea.
A beautifully executed colored figure displays a flowering
branch of this new hybrid, which has preserved the vigor and
the numerous stems of the strong-growing C. Pitcheri, and tlie
brilliant color of the flowers of C. coccinea. It may be de-
scribed as an early-flowering C. Pitcheri with the scarlet
flowers of C. coccinea.

The California papers are describing a new Plum which
Luther Burbank has temporarily named Perfection and which
he produced by crossing the Japanese Satsuma upon the Kel-
sey. The fruit is almost exactly the shape of an inverted pear,
tliat is, with the stem attached to what corresponds to the blos-
som end of a pear. The amber-colored flesh is juicy and
translucent, with a striking and agreeable flavor, the pit small
and shapely ; the color deepens from a deep uniform cherry-
red to a rich claret as the fruit ripens, and when fully matured
it is still in firm shipping condition.

■ The German department at the World's Fair shows two Can-
nas, in its collection on the wooded island, which appear to
be new to America. One is Germania, a plant of the Madame
Crozy type, with very large, bright light red flowers faintly
margined with gold and having a yellow throat. Kaiser Wil-
helm II. is a taller plant, with flowers of clear red. Both are
shown by VVilliam Pfitzer, of Stuttgart, who has also sent for
exhibition a painting of a new Canna which he calls Konigin
Charlotte. The picture shows an enormous truss of the
Madame Crozy type, but with a broader band of gold and five
very large and well-developed petals.

Mrs. Hinton, who has been a student of Japanese garden-
art for the past six years, has recenfly arrived at Chicago, and
oljserves that the so-called Japanese garden on the wooded
island has noWiiiig Japanese about it. This is the garden which
it was proposed to give to the city of Chicago, along with the
Hooden temple. The garden in the Horticultural Building,
Mrs. Hinton pronounces excellent, except that it should have
had more Matsus, or dwarf Pines. Many such Pines were
sent for the garden, but were ost through the inclement
weather of last winter. A number of fine specimens were
sent from the gardens of the Imperial University at Tokio.

The most noticeable plants at Pitcher & Manda's nursery
last week were especially well-grown and flowered specimens
of Aristolochia elegans and Bougainvillea glabra. These were
planted out in the back border of one of the Chrysanthemum-
iiouses, where they had evidently found agreeable quarters.
Aristolochia elegans is the handsomest flowered member of the
family ; its quaintly mottled flowers, with dark, lustrous, brown
eyes, were borne in the greatest profusion, and would be appre-
ciated in the choicest collection of climbers. Being free from

the usual offensive odor of the family, it is a capital subject
for cutting and choice decorations, the light green clean foliage
adding another charm. Bougainvillea glabra is a common
plant in greenhouses, but it is seldom seen in as good condi-
tion as grown here, where the loosely trained vine was covered
with clusters of the bright rosy bracts as large as those which
hang from the porches of some of the houses in Bermuda.
Neither of these vines had had the rest usually deemed neces-
sary in their cultivation.

In the first volume of Garden and Forest, Mr. Pringle
wrote a note in praise of the Milla biflora as he saw its white
stars spangling the prairie on the high plains of the Mexican
Cordilleras. This note was called to mind last week by the
long stretches of this flower which were blooming, in beds
nearly a quarter of a mile long, on the grounds of Mr. John
Lewis Childs, Floral Park, Long Island. The snow-white and
fragrant flowers, two inches across, with their grassy foliage
and wiry stems, were blooming beautifully out-of-doors, and it
is no wonder that some florists use them abundantly for cut
flowers in summer in the New York market. Near them, in
still greater profusion, were the orange-scarlet and bell-shaped,
squill-like flowers of Bessera elegans. Not so abundant, but
very attractive, were the solitary flowers of the white and the
rosy Zephyranthes, which belong to the Amaryllidae. They
were very bright and effective, and all were particularly striking
at this time just after the cyclone had swept over the ground
and prostrated acres of taller plants, like the new hybrid
Gladioli, for which this place is famous. Most of the Lilies
stood up very well under the storm, and some of the annual
Phloxes and Coreopsis especially looked uncommonly bright.

California plums, in large variety, have been selling for less
than the home-grown fruit, but the supply has been dimin-
ished during the past week, the prevailing prices not paying the
shippers. Varieties not noticed before are Hungarian, Jeffer-
son and Walling, whilean unidentified small green plum of deli-
cious flavorissellingforthirty-fivecentsadozen underthename
of Simoni. Green Gages are coming from the Hudson River dis-
trict, large blue plums from western New York at forty cents for a
twelve-pound basket, and Maryland and Delaware damsons are
six cents a quart. There are but few choice peaches from
Delaware and New Jersey, and these sell for thirty-five cents a
dozen, or two dollars a basket. The main supply consists of
windfalls, and picked fruit in good condition but inferior in
size. California peaches sell at a dollar and twenty-five cents
for a box containing seventy ^peaches, or fifty to sixty cents a
dozen. Clairgeau pears are coming in from California. The
first importations of green ginger-root and of the new crop of
oranges, from Jamaica, are now being offered. New celery
from Michigan lias been in the markets since the middle of
August. The abundance of tropical fruits is shown by the
fact that such fruits as mangoes, alligator pears and Japanese
persimmons have becoine common on the sidewalk stands,
while nectarines sell as low as ten cents a dozen, the best
bringing twenty-five cents a dozen.

In the last catalogue of Ellwanger & Barry the directions
given for cultivating Strawberries may be summarized as fol-
lows : The Strawberry may be successfully grown in any soil
adapted to the growtli of ordinary field or garden crops. The
ground should be thoroughly drained if wet, then trenched
or plowed, at least eighteen inches deep, and properly en-
riched as for any garden crop. For family use, plants may
stand fifteen inches apart each way, and hill-culture is prefera-
ble. To obtain fine, large, high-tlavored fruit, pinch off the
runners as fast as they appear, repeating the operation as often
as may be necessary during the summer and early autumn.
Every runner thus removed produces a new crown, and in the
fall the plants will have formed large bushes or stools, on
which the finest strawberries may be expected the following
season. In the mean time the ground among the plants should
be frequently stirred. Where the winters are severe, with lit-
tle snow for protection, a slight covering of leaves or litter, or
the branches of evergreens, will be of great service. This cov-
ering should not be placed over the plants until after the ground
is frozen, usually from the middle of November till the ist of
December in this locality. Fatal errors are often made by
mulching too heavily and too early. Oare must also be taken
to remove the covering in the spring, just as soon as the plants
begin to grow. Before the fruit begins to ripen, mulch the
ground around the plants with short hay or straw or anything
of that sort. This will keep the fruit clean, prevent the ground
from baking, and lengthen the fruiting season. A bed man-
aged in this way will give two full crops, and should then be
plowed down, a new one in the mean time having been pre-
pared to take its place.

September 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

381

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office ; Tkibune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sakgbnt.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, I

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PACE.

Editorial Articles : — ^The Proper Work of Experiment Stations 381

Mr. George Nicholson's Impressions of America 381

Extracts from Letter by Dr. Wittmack Gartenflora. 382

Late Summer in the Pines Mrs. Mary Treat. 382

Noteson the Forest Flora of Japan.— XXI. (With figures.) C. S. S. 383

Foreign Corrkspondenck : — London Letter W. Watson. 385

Cultural Department :—Crinum Powelli F, W. Moore. 387

Chrysanthemums T, D. H, 388

Seasonable Vegetable Notes W. D. 388

Begonias R. Dale. 388

Correspondence ; — Treatment for a Decaying Ash tree W. T. Sanborn. 388

Rudbeckia purpurea Howard P. Arnold. 389

The Columbian ExposrnoN : — The Nursery Exhibits in the Midway Plaisance,

Professor L. H. Bailey. 389

Notes 390

Illustrations :— Ostrya Japonica, Fig. 58. 384

Quercus dentata, in Yezo, Fig. 59 386

The Proper Work of Experiment Stations.

A FORTNIGHT ago we made allusion to the honors
which the agricultural societies of many lands had
just paid to Sir John Bennet Lawes for his work of half a
century at Rothamsted Farm. The distinguishing charac-
teristic of these experiments has been the persistence with
which the original purpose has been adhered to. Sir John
set out primarily to investigate some of the fundamental
problems relating to the nutrition of plants and animals,
and he realized at the outset that the work of a single year
would count for very little. Every season has peculiarities
of its own, so that the practical reply which the plant and
soil make to the inquiry of the investigator will vary with
the different conditions of frost and sunshine, of rain and
drought. A given test must be repeated year after year,
and applied under the same conditions, so far as possible
before the cumulative results of the work give an unmis-
takable reply to the inquirer. Of course, no repetition of
an experiment can be of any value unless the entire series
has been started in the right direction. This implies that
Sir John began cautiously, and after a wide survey of the
field and a clear comprehension of what would be the out-
come of a century's experiments in a given direction. With
these truths in mind he has never been in a hurry to an-
nounce results with positiveness. Fully realizing the value
of time in these trials, his one work has been to hold on
with steadiness and with perfect accuracy of detail, both in
practice and in making records. It has long been a current
story that to a student who once made some inquiry as to
the probable amount of nitrogen taken from the soil by a
given crop. Sir John replied that he could not answer that
question, inasmuch as he had only been experimenting on
that point for twenty-one years.

Now, our own stations are all comparatively new;. None
of them seems to have laid out a plan for prosecuting any
inquiry for a long series of years. Perhaps the men who
direct them are not all capable of devising broad plans, or they
have so little confidence in the stability of the future man-

agement of their institutions, that they cannot count on
any continuous work in a given line. Many things can be
done for the immediate benefit of agriculture and horticul-
ture without waiting long, but in reading over some of the
bulletins from our stations issued a few years ago one can-
not help but feel that many of them were crude and undi-
gested, to say the least, and at times they have been mis-
leading in their interpretation of the tests they have made.
Some of the more recent ones, too, show a waste of
energy, especially in their devotion to matters which
hardly come within their province. The excuse for the ex-
istence of such stations is that in agriculture and horti-
culture new and improved practice is essential that
these great industries may keep abreast of the progress
which is made in every other branch of human activity.
There is no reason why the Government should help any
one in a matter wherein he can help himself, but the things
to be learned before methods of cultivating the soil can be
materially improved are often of such a nature that they re-
quire experiments by trained observers who are skilled in
scientific methods. This is beyond the power of the ordi-
nary farmer or fruit-grower. Many of the tests require
time, which he cannot afford to spare ; many of them re-
quire expensive apparatus, which he cannot afford to pur-
chase, and which he could not use if he had them ; many
of them demand an outlay of money beyond his means.

These are thejustifying reasons for Government assistance
of this character. It is in reality furnishing an education
which it would be impossible to obtain otherwise. Much
of the work, however, like the testing of different varie-
ties of fruits and vegetables which the stations now un-
dertake, might well be left to individual cultivators.
Several of the stations, for example, this y^ar have grown
from fifty to one hundred different varieties of Strawberries,
and kept careful records of their treatment, of the time of
fruiting, of the quality and abundance of fruit, and then
these records have been published and disseminated at a
considerable expense. It would be unjust to say that all
this work is worthless. It is true, however, that if any of
the new varieties of Strawberries have proved exceptionally
good or bad at any station, that is no proof that the
variety would not have shown opposite results on land
half a mile distant from the experiment grounds, and the
trials give little proof of what the same plant may do
another year anywhere. Those who grow strawberries for
market, and those who grow them simply for home use, and
are interested in such matters, will gladly undertake work
of this sort, and the truth about a new variety of any fruit
will soon be ascertained on the trial-grounds of nursery-
men and others. This will be published in horticultural
papers and at horticultural meetings, and the originators
of really meritorious varieties will be prompt to advertise
their excellence in every way, so that really any new
variety will find its true place within a reasonable period
without any assistance from the stations. Indeed, it may
be questioned whether any good fruit or vegetable has
acquired established popularity through their aid.

Of course, stations may do valuable work in this direc-
tion, but organizations of trained workers can serve a
much higher purpose by devoting themselves to the more
serious scientific facts upon which cultural practice rests.
Such vv^ork has not only a greater intrinsic value, but it is
work which the ordinary farmer or fruit-grower or gar-
dener cannot do for himself. Sir John Bennet Lawes
would hardly have deserved so much gratitude or achieved
such renown if he had devoted half a century to testing
tomatoes or strawberries.

Mr. George Nicholson^ Curator of the Royal Gardens at
Kew, who came to this country to represent Great Britain
among the judges of the Horticultural Department of the
Columbian Exposition, sailed for home a fortnight ago,
after remaining two months in this country. On the eve
of leaving our shores he gave a reporter an account of

382

Garden and Forest.

[Number 290.

some of his impressions of America, which were published
on Sunday last in the New York Tribune and in the papers
of several other cities. Mr. Nicholson's ample knowledge,
his catholic taste and sound judgment give a genuine value
to any of his deliberate utterances on horticultural matters,
and we are, therefore, glad that his views have been so
widely published. We desire especially now, however, to
call attention to a suggestion which he made about three
remarkable trees which stand near each other on what was
once part of the old Parsons' nursery-grounds in Flushing,
Long Island. One of these is a specimen of the Golden
Larch of China, Pseudolarix Kaempferi, which is, probably,
the first ever brought to this country, and is, without doubt,
the largest now standing in America. Another is the cele-
brated Weeping Beech, whose hanging branches touch the
ground in a circle nearly 200 feet in circumference. This
tree was described and figured in the first volume of Gar-
den AND Forest, and it has long been known as one of the
remarkable trees of the country. The third is a Purple
Beech, which is also of magnificent proportions. It is
doubtful whether three such noteworthy trees can be found
standing together anywhere else in America, and Mr.
Nicholson suggests that some provision ought to be made
to keep them from being swept away before "the march
of improvement," and that in some way they should become
public property and be held forever for the enjoyment of
the people of Flushing and of tree-lovers everywhere.

In many states there is no provision for transferring
property to trustees to be held for public use. Massa-
chusetts, however, has laws under which places which are
interesting for their beauty and history can be so preserved,
and, fortunately, a law was passed in this state in 1888
which enables any fifteen citizens, under certain restric-
tions, to secure land for public use independent of muni-
cipal authority. Such corporations can acquire property,
by gift or otherwise, to the amount of half a million dol-
lars, and they are clothed with the power of employing
officers to enforce order in compliance with the rules they
make. Any fifteen citizens of Flushing, therefore, under
this act can organize as a body corporate with the power
of succession to purchase or receive as a gift the land on
which these noble trees stand, and they can hold and pro-
tect them with their surroundings and preserve them for
the delight of present and future generations. We have
nothing to add to this suggestion, as the details can well
be left to the citizens of Flushing, a town whose excep-
tionally well-planted streets indicate a high degree of
public spirit and an intelligent love of trees in general.

It is pleasant to see ourselves as others see us when they
see us with pleased eyes. Therefore, we offer a trans-
lation of some passages from a letter published in a recent
number of Garlenflora, and written on July 19th from
Chicago by Dr. Wittmack, the editor of that journal, and
an eminent horticulturist. The party to which he belonged
went first to Mr. Henry Villard's place at Dobb's Ferry, on
the Hudson. Of course, they were delighted with the Hud-
son, and declared that we do not overpraise it when we
call it our Rhine, and he adds :

For hours we passed by the most beautiful places, which
recalled somewhat those in the suburbs of Hamburg. Although
only here and there did they equal these as regards stretches
of turf and floral adornments, on the other hand they were
often much more extensive and park-like. Indeed, the whole
region resembles a park landscape. Mr. Villard's spacious
grounds, like all the others, lie open to the public, even though
it may come in carriages, a proof of liberality of spirit seldom
found with us at home. The European plant-lover is much
impressed when, for the first time, he finds growing wild the
American trees and shrubs, and even many flowers, which he
has hitherto known only as garden-plants. Here we saw the
many kinds of Oaks, and there various species of Grape-vine
in luxuriant growth, while in the grass grew Coreopsis,
Phlox, etc.

Next we visited Sunnyside, sacred ground ! Although the
Other parks are open to all comers, one must le^ve his carriage

at the gate, and enter on foot the place which was once Wash-
ington Irving's home. His house is a veritable idyll, idyllically
enveloped in ancient Ivy, grown from a sprout given to Irving
by Walter Scott at Abbotsford. The most beautiful views open
from this spot over the Hudson, which is much broader than
the Rhine.

After a rhapsody on Niagara Falls, the writer refers again
to the pleasure of seeing American plants in their native
homes :

Here were the beautiful red-flowered Rubus spectabilis,
Asclepias Cornuti, Grape-vines, Celastrus scandens, Phlox,
etc., luxuriantly growing on the chalk rocks which form the
upper verge of the river-bed. Especially interesting, however,
were the high-stemmed specimens of Thuja occidentalis on
Goat Island, partially torn, or even broken, by the wind, and
exciting the admiration even of those who are not specially
concerned with plants.

Finally we reach the Fair itself. The grounds seem so enor-
mously large that all ordinary conceptions of distance must be
considerably stretched, as, indeed, is everywhere the case in
America. But the main thing is that the exhibition is great as
well as large, and that he makes a mistake who condemns it
as a whole. From the artistic and architectural points of view
it is unsurpassed; no previous exhibition has shown so many
bold and new forms in the buildings, the sculptures, etc. ; and
as regards size, the buildings leave all their predecessors far
behind. The "White City" is, in truth, a wonderful city, and
if one puts out of mind the hurly-burly of the Midway Plai-
sance, one must confess that it contains much that is great,
good and beautiful. The horticultural display no longer de-
serves, as a whole, the criticism which it has called forth.
The much-abused rockery, under the central dome of the
main building, has become completely overgrown, so that one
no longer perceives that it is made of canvas. I had expected
to see something very different, it is true. I thought it would
be a rockery like those we have at home, where only here and
there groups of plants sprout forth, a big rocky hill with paths
for the feet of the visitor. But it is not at all like this. It is
an immense truncated pyramid, entirely covered with creep-
ers and other plants, Musas, Pandanus, Palms, Aroids, etc. ;
and it is not accessible to the public, which may merely inspect
a "crystal grotto" under the rock. It is true that at the foot
of the mount the green boards, which form its support, still
peep forth, and on close inspection one perceives a few rough
boxes on which the Palms are placed ; but in general all that
is visible is green foliage.

Our German display makes a good impression, although at
this particular time it is poor in flowers. It lacks Begonias,
Cannas, and, above all, fall Palms. But other European lands
are no better represented ; indeed, only Belgium is conspicu-
ous with the Azaleas of Monsieur Vuylsteke. The German
open-air plants on the island are usually well placed ; the Aza-
leas and Roses have bloomed well, the lattei still bearing some
flowers ; the Cannas are coming on very irregularly and are
remarkably behindhand ; so, too, the tuberous Begonias, of
which, in general, one sees few at the exhibition. Tlie Stocks
suffer from the heat, which, however, since we have been
here, has been quite bearable. It is to be hoped that more
effective displays will be here for the autumn weeks. It is mel-
ancholy that the proprietors of German nurseries should have
been so wanting in public spirit, especially with regard to co-
niferous trees. From this department, where they might have
made a fine display, they are entirely absent, and are put to
shame by Waterer, of England, and by Moser, of Versailles, the
consignment of tlie latter having been sold immediately to
Kelsey, of New York, and being exhibited under the latter's
name.

The displays in the fruit sections are really grand, and ought
to improve as the weeks go by ; and fruit-growers of Germany
-might learn from Americans how to exhibit fruit in an artistic
manner.

Late Summer in the Pines.

DESPITE the unusual dry summer in the Pines, I see little,
if any, appreciable difference in the abundance and beauty
of the flowers. While our cultivated plants droop and suffer,
the wild ones show no lack of life or lustre, and the varied
hues of leaf and blossom seem as clear and fresh as ever.
The Gentian family is now well represented among the plants
in flower. The lovely Fringed Gentian, the Closed Gentian,
Gentiana Andrewsii, and the Soapwort Gentian, G. Saponaria,
are flowering on every side, and here, too, is the more exclu-
sive G. angustifolia, with its narrow leaves thickly set along

September 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

383

the stem and an open corolla of a deep rich blue. Always ex-
cepting the Fringed Gentian, this is our most handsome spe-
cies. The Sabbatias, too, are still beautiful among' the Sedges
and Grasses in the wet Pines. Both S. stellaris and S. gracilis
are delicate and slender, and while they have a unique charm
here on account of their appropriate setting amid their wild
surroundings, one who studies them here can get many a hint
for their effective use in decorating house-grounds. The
white-flowered S. lanceolata is also here, but with its flat-
topped cyme it is stiff and unattractive compared with its more
graceful relatives. The Mist-flower, Eupatorium (Conoclini-
um) coelestinum, has also a flat-topped inflorescence, but no
one would charge its ageratum-like flowers with being stiff.

Our tall Swamp Lily, which well deserves its name Super-
bum, is now at its best, and its showy flowers towerabove their
humble aompanions in a grand pyramid of orange and scarlet.
It is certainly one of the stateliest of Lilies. The Rose Mallow,
the large flowering Hibiscus Moscheutos, also makes an im-
pressive display of its great pink and white blossoms, which
are larger and quite as showy as the cultivated Hollyhock, and
many of them opening high above our heads. But the plant
is rather coarse, or at least less graceful and delicate than the
lower plants and Grasses around and below it. Still it attracts
the attention of the most careless observer, and it is an impor-
tant feature in many of our swamps and woodland-landscapes.

Both species of Trichostema, or Blue-curls, are here, with
blue flowers and long exsertedslenderstamens prettily curled,
from which peculiarity is derived the botanical as well as the
common name of these plants. The foliage has a pleasant
odor, like most of the other plants of the Mint family. Several
of its relatives are now in flower. Among them is the strong-
scented Horse-mint, Monarda punctata, gay with the highly
colored bracts about its heads of flowers.

The brilliant scarlet of the Cardinal-flower glowing in the dis-
tance always indicates that we are approachinga pond, for it is by
water margins that these plants flourish in the greatest abun-
dance and brightness. None of our wild flowers are more
vivid, and they never appear to better advantage than when
they stand with an expanse of water dotted with white Pond-
lilies on one side, and on the other a border of Sedges and
Grasses and the delicate plants which they shelter. A slender
little relative of the Cardinal is Lobelia spicata,.with small blue
flowers, and weak slender stems upheld by the Grasses. An-
other is L. puberula, with a stouter stem and a spike of large
handsome blue flowers. And here, too, is the marsh Bell-
flower, Campanula aparinoides, with dainty white bells scat-
tered over the weak straggling plant, and holding on to the
tall Grasses with the rough edges of its stems.

Along the border of the pond is Coreopsis rosea, with rose-
colored rays and yellow disk. Some of the flowers are almost
as handsome as the rose-colored Sabbatias. In the shallow
water several forms of Sagittaria mingle with the Pickerel-
weed. The pure white blossoms of the one and the blue of
the other always group with good effect. The curious Eel-
grass, Vallisneria spiralis, is now in flower. The water is so
clear that we can see the staminate buds at the base of the
long grass-like leaves two or three feet below the surface.
Slightly agitating the plants we see the buds break from the
short flower-scape and quickly come to the surface, where
they soon expand to shed their pollen on the pistillate flowers,
which are now raised to the surface on long spirally coiled
stems to meet the loosened staminate flowers which are float-
ing around them. After fertilization the thread-like stems be-
come more closely coiled, so that the seed may ripen under
wafer. Still more curious is the Bladdervvort or Utricularia, of
which there are several species here in the pond. Thickly
scattered over the submerged stems are little bladders or utri-
cles. We can see with the unaided eye untold numbers of
small mosquito-larvEp, and also of the Chironomus caught in
these utricles, never to be released, but to be slowly macerated
and apparently absorbed by the plant. But we need the micro-
scope to reveal the wonderful mechanism and structure of the
utricles and to see how the various victims are caught and
held.
Vineland, N. J. Mary Treat.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXI.

OSTRYA, the Hop Hornbeam, appears in eastern
America with one species, one of the commonest of
the smaller forest-trees of the northern states ; the second
species inhabits southern Europe, Asia Minor and the Cau-
casus ; the genus has no representative in the Himalya
forest-region, and, so far as I know, has not been found

within the borders of the Chinese Empire or in Manchuria.
It appears again in northern Japan, however, where the
Hop Hornbeam is one of the rarest of Yezo trees. Maxi-
mowicz, who found it in the southern part of that island,
considered the Japanese Ostrya a variety of our American
species and called it Ostrya Virginica, var. Japonica.* The
American and the Japanese trees are very similar in botan-
ical characters ; indeed, it is difficult to find characters to
separate satisfactorily the species of this genus which might
all be considered geographical varieties of one. The Japa-
nese and American trees, however, look very differently
in the forest, and there are differences in the bark which
are not easy to express in words. The leaves of the Japa-
nese tree are thinner and the heads of fruit are smaller
than those on the American species (see figure on page
384). Unfortunately, I have not had an opportunity to ex-
amine the flowers of the Japanese tree ; it is not probable,
however, that they would arford a character by which the
species could be distinguished. In the forests of Yezo I
felt no doubt of its specific distinctness ; the meagre and
unsatisfactory material of the herbarium rather shakes than
confirms this opinion. But, all things considered, it is, per-
haps, best to consider the Japanese tree as specifically dis-
tinct. Only after it has been grown here during many
years side by side with the American species will it be
possible to reach any opinion on this subject worthy of
much consideration. If it proves to be distinct it should
bear the name of Ostrya Japonica. In the neighborhood
of Sapparo the Japanese Ostrya is rare ; here in low moist
woods, growing with Oaks, Acanthopanax and Aralia, it
sometimes attains a height of eighty feet and forms a tall
straight trunk eighteen inches in diameter. We saw only
one such tree, in the grounds attached to the headquarters
of the Forest Department of Hokkaido, and only two or
three other individuals ; these were much smaller, perhaps
not more than twenty feet high, and were scattered over
the Sapparo hills. We saw nothing of this tree in southern
Yezo or in northern Hondo, where Tschonoski, Maximo-
wicz's servant and collector, found it in the high mountains
of the province of Nambu.

Although poorer in species and less important in the
number, size and value of individuals than in eastern
America, Quercus furnishes one of the principal elements
of the forests of Japan. The types are all of the Old World,
and there is nothing in Japan which corresponds with our
Red, Black or Scarlet Oaks, or with the Black Jack, the
Willow Oak, the Shingle Oak, the Turkey Oak, the Span-
ish Oak, the Water Oak or the Pin Oak, the Blue Jack, or
with our Chestnut Oaks. In the north and on the high
mountains of Hondo there are four White Oaks, and in the
south a number of species with evergreen foliage of sec-
tions of the genus, which are not represented in the United
States. In the south, too, there are a couple of deciduous-
leaved species with biennial fructification of the Turkey
Oak (Quercus cerris) sort.

The best known of the Japanese Oaks to European and
American planters is Quercus dentata (the Quercus Daimio
of gardens). This tree is remarkable for the great size of
its leaves, which are often a foot long and eight inches
broad, obovate in outline and deeply serrately lobed, and
for the long, loose, narrow, chestnut-brown scales of the
large cup which nearly encloses the small-pointed acorn.
In central Hondo this tree is only found on the high moun-
tains, and it is not at all common, but in the extreme
northern part of the island it appears in great numbers on
dry gravelly slopes, at no great elevation above the sea.
Here, apparently, however, it does not reach the size it
attains farther north, and the finest trees we saw were on
the gravelly plain south of Volcano Bay and in the neigh-
borhood of Sapparo. The illustration on page 386 repre-
sents a group of these trees growing just outside of Sap-
paro and shows their habit at maturity. Although Quercus
dentata grows to the height of at least eighty feet and forms

*iliL Biol., xi., 317.

384

Garden and Forest

[Number 290.

a thick trunk more than three feet in diameter, it is not an
imposing or handsome tree in its maturity and is only
beautiful in youth. Old trees lack symmetry and the ap-

cus Prinus) ; it is valued for tanning leather, but the
wood is considered worthless. Quercus dentata appears to
be the only deciduous-leaved Oak cultivated by the Japa-

Flg. 58. — Ottrya Japonica. — See page 383.

pearance of strength, and are spravirling in habit, without
being picturesque. The bark is rather dark for a White
Oak, and not unlike that of our Rock Chestnut Oak (Quer-

nese, and small trees are common in the gardens of
Tftkyo and other southern cities, where, however, it seems
to languish. A variety (pinnatifida), with deeply divided

September )3, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

385

leaves, is cultivated in the Botanic Garden at Tokyo, and
has, I believe, been introduced into Europe.

In central Yezo two noble White Oaks, Quercus crispula
and Quercus grosseserrata, form a considerable part of the
forest-growth. The Dutch botanist Miquel considered
them forms of one species, but Professor Miyabe, who
has had the best opportunity for studying these trees un-
der the most favorable conditions, believes them to be dis-
tinct in their fruit, although similar in foliage. In Quercus
crispula he finds "the cup deeper, embracing about half the
cylindrical nut, falling off with it when ripe ; while in the
latter, Quercus grosseserrata, the cup is hemispherical, en-
closing about a third of the oblong ovoid nut, which falls
off free when ripe." His view, too, that Quercus grosse-
serrata cannot be specifically distinguished from the Sag-
halin and Manchurian Quercus Mongolica, will probably
be found to be correct. Quercus crispula appears to range
farther south than Quercus grosseserrata, which extends
north to the Kurile Islands, and was not recognized by us
in Hondo ; in the Nikko Mountains, on the road to Lake
Chuzenji, we saw fine forests of Quercus crispula. In cen-
tral Yezo, where the two species grow side by side on the
hills, on low ground, near the banks of streams, Quercus
crispula appears the more common tree. Both have ellip-
tical or obovate-oblong, coarsely and irregularly lobed
leaves, resembling in color and texture those of the com-
mon Oak of Europe. The bark is pale, or sometimes dark,
and scaly ; and both species under favorable conditions
rise to a height of eighty to a hundred feet, and produce
stems three to four feet in diameter. Both are timber-trees
of the first class, and both, should they thrive in this coun-
try, may be expected to add beauty and interest to our
parks and plantations. The smaller, shorter acorn of
Quercus crispula appears to offer the only character for dis-
tinguishing the two trees ; in their port, bark and foliage
they were indistinguishable to my eyes.

The fourth Japanese White Oak, Quercus glandulifera,
ranges in Yezo nearly as far north as Sapparo, although it
is only south of Volcano Bay that it is really abundant.
This, the common Oak of the high mountains of cen-
tral Japan at elevations over three thousand feet, is proba-
bly the most widely distributed species of the empire ; it is
a pretty tree, rarely more than thirty or forty feet high,
although on the hills above Fu-kushima, on the Nagasendo,
we saw specimens nearly twice that height. The leaves
are narrowly obovate or lanceolate-acute, glandular-ser-
rate, pale or nearly white on the lower surface, and from
one to four inches in length. The acorns are small, acute
and enclosed at the base only by the shallow, thin-walled
cups covered with minute appressed scales. Like many
American Oaks, this species varies remarkably in the size
of individuals, and in some parts of the country traversed
by the Nagasendo we found plants only a foot high covered
with acorns. This Oak was sent to the Arnold Arboretum
many years ago from Segrez by Monsieur Lavalle6. It is
perfectly hardy here, and has flowered for years, although
it remains a bush, and makes no attempt to grow into a tree.
Of the other deciduous-leaved Oaks, Quercus serrata, one
.of the rnost widely distributed of the Asiatic species, rang-
ing, as it does, from Japan to the Indian Himalaya, is com-
mon in dry soil near the coast below Yokohama and on
the foot-hills of the mountains of central Hondo. It is a
small tree, twenty to forty feet high, with a slender,
black-barked trunk and beautiful dark green, lustrous, ob-
long, acute leaves, their coarse teeth ending in long slen-
der mucros, and with small acorns enclosed in cups covered
with long, loose, twisted and reflexed scales coated with
soft pale tomentum. In Japan this tree appears to spring
up in waste lands in great numbers ; it is only valued for
the charcoal which is made from it.

Quercus variabilis, a nobler tree of the same general
character, we only saw in the grounds of a temple near
Nakatsu-gawa, on the Nagasendo, where there were speci-
mens fully eighty feet high, with tall straight trunks three
or four feet in diameter, covered with thick, pale, corky

bark, which is sometimes used by the Japanese for the
same purposes that we use the bark of the Cork Oak. The
leaves are oblong-oval, pointed, less coarsely toothed than
those of Quercus serrata, dark green and lustrous above,
and pale, or nearly white, below. From Quercus serrata,
too, it differs in the smaller cups and in their shorter,
thicker scales. A number of plants have been raised in
the Arboretum from the acorns which we picked up under
these trees, and if they are not hardy here in New England
they will certainly thrive in the middle states.

It is impossible to know whether many of the evergreen
Oaks which we saw in Japan were growing naturally or
had been planted. In the gardens and temple grounds of
Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto and other southern cities ever-
green Oaks are the commonest trees, but we did not see
them growing in the forest except near temples. The spe-
cies most frequently seen in Tokyo and Yokohama are
Quercus cuspidata and Quercus glauca ; they afe both large
and beautiful trees, said to be particularly conspicuous in
early spring from the bright red color of their young shoots
and new leaves which at that season make a charming con-
trast with the dark and lustrous green of the older foliage.
They should be introduced into our southern states, where,
probably, all the Japanese evergreen Oaks will flourish.
The wood produced by Quercus cuspidata and Quercus
glauca does not appear to be valued in Japan, but the
acorns of the latter are of considerable commercial im-
portance, and are cooked and eaten by the Japanese.

Quercus acuta, which is also much planted in Tokyo, we
saw growing to the height of more than eighty feet, with
Quercus variabilis, in the temple-grounds at Nakatsu-gawa,
and also near the temple of Higane, near Atami, on the
coast. It is a noble tree, with ovate, acute, long-pointed,
dark green, thick and lustrous leaves. This noble tree has
been introduced into English gardens, with a number of
other evergreen Japanese Oaks, through the efforts of the
Veitches, who obtained it some years ago from their col-
lector, Maries. But the finest Oak-tree, and perhaps the
finest tree which we saw in Japan, was a specimen of
Quercus gilva in the temple-grounds at Nara, where there
are a number of remarkable specimens of this beautiful
species, which is distinguished by its lanceolate-acute
leaves, glandular-serrate only above the middle, bright
green above, and thickly coated below, like the young
branches, with pale, or slightly ferrugineous, tomentum.
The largest of these Nara trees was probably a hundred
feet high, with a trunk covered with pale scaly bark, which,
breast-high from the ground, girthed just over twenty-one
feet ; it rose without a branch, and with little diminution
of diameter, for something like fifty feet, and then sepa-
rated into a number of stout horizontal branches, which
had not grown to a great length, and formed a narrow,
cylindrical, round-topped head.

Of the other Japanese Oaks, Quercus Thalassica, Quercus
Vibrayiana and Quercus glabra, we only saw occasional
plants in gardens. The Quercus lacera of Blume we did
not see at all. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Tecoma Mackenii. — A small plant of this beautiful species
of Tecoma is now in flower at Kew, and, so far as I know,
this is the first time T. Mackenii has flowered in England,
although it has been in cultivation here many years. It is
a native of Caffraria, in south Africa, where it was discov-
ered about thirty years ago by Mr. A. White. Plants of it
were soon afterward sent to Kew by Mr. McKen, curator
of the Botanical Garden at Durban, in Natal, and it was
also widely distributed in the gardens of south Africa,
where it has since become a great favorite. When I visited
Grahamstown in 1887, T. Mackenii was one of the most
strikingly beautiful of the many plants I saw there. The
finest specimen had taken possession of an old trunk of
Ery thrina Caffra and had formed a great sheaf of shoots ten

3^

Garden and Forest.

tNuMBEK 290.

feet through and fifteen feet high. It was not even in an
enclosure, but stood on a piece of waste ground by the
side of the road. I saw it in full flower, and there were
hundreds of very large racemes of trumpet-shaped flowers
quite three inches long and broad, colored bright rosy-lilac,
with a few darker pencilings and a blotch of yellow in the
throat The mass was a glorious picture, such as I had
never seen made by any Bignoniaceous plant We have
tried to get it to bloom at Kew, but, although it grows as
freely as Ivy in a cool, sunny greenhouse, it has never pro-
duced any flowers. Last year some cuttings of it were
struck and treated in the way that has made other species
of Tecoma bloom when small, namely, by restricting
the roots and placing the plants in a sunny position
out-of-doors all summer ; in the autumn the shoots pro-
duce bloom. Of course, these small plants do not form such
enormous racemes as do large specimens. I have no
doubt that in the southern states of North America T.
Mackenii would grow outside and flower as freely as it

say of the order Leguminosese itself, for it grows rapidly,
forms a loose, elegant shrub three to five feet high, clothed
with gray-green pinnate leaves six inches long, and bears
numerous axillary erect racemes a foot or so long, of pea-
like flowers nearly an inch across and colored rosy-purple,
with a yellow blotch on the standard. They have been
aptly compared to the flower-spikes of Swainsonia galegi-
folia. Every leaf axil develops a raceme, and thus there is
a continuous display of flowers from May to September. It
was introduced about ten years ago from the deserts of
southern Mongolia. A figure of it may be seen in Garten-
flora, t 1 122. For sunny position? in light or, indeed, al-
most any kind of soil, this shrub has special value. It ap-
pears to be quite hardy, at any rate the plants at Kew in a
sunny border have not been injured by the severe frosts of
the last few years.

i^scuLUS PARviFLORA, or, as it is better known in our cat-
alogues, Pavia macrostachya, is one of the most ornamental
of all the Horse-chestnut family. I suspect it is common

Fig. 59.— Quercus dentata. In Yeio.— See page 383.

does in south Africa. Flowers of this species were sent to
Kew three years ago by Mr. Hanbury from his garden at
Mentone, on the Riviera. The only figure of the plant of
which I know is a very poor one in the Bullelin of the Tus-
can Horticultural Society for 1887, where it is called T. Rica-
soliana, having been figured from a plant flowered in the
garden of Monsieur Ricasoli, at Casta Bianca, Monte Ar-
gentario, in 1886. This plant was said to have been
raised from seeds sent from Buenos Ayres, and this sug-
gests that it has been introduced as a garden-plant into that
country. It has also been distributed under the name of
T. rosea, Mr. Bull describing it under this name among
his new plants of 1886 as "a remarkably handsome green-
house climber, imported from south Africa, with opposite
pinnate leaves and magnificent racemes three to four feet
in length, of large, showy trumpet-shaped flowers of a
rosy-lilac color." There is a plant at Kew which was sent
from Grahamstown in 1879 underthenameof T. Mackenii.
Hedysaruh multijugum is one of the most ornamental of
the hardy shrubby species of Hedysarum, one might almost

enough and in favor in North America, but it is neither the
one nor the other in England, notwithstanding its good
nature and floriferousness. Specimens eight feet high and
wide have been pictures at Kew for the last six weeks, but
by most visitors they have been looked upon as botanical
rarities only. It has been in cultivation in England
nearly eighty years.

EucRYPHiA piNNATiFOLiA flowercd freely a few weeks ago,
but it appears to dislike bright sunshine and hot dry
weather, the plants at Kew having suffered recently in
spite of copious waterings during the drought I suspect
all of these Chilian shrubs prefer a position where there is
not much bright sunlight and a good deal of moisture.
Such, at any rate, suits the Lapageria, Philensia, Tricuspi-
daria and Berberidopsis corallina. This last is growing
well, and has flowered profusely this year on a wall facing
east Eucryphia Billardieri has lost every leaf through the
scorching heat of the last fortnight It is planted against a
south wall, a position which, from its habitat, Tasmania,
ought not to have been too hot for it

September 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

387

Hydrangea Paniculata. — This plant is valued here chiefly
as a useful pot-shrub, which may be forced into flower in
early spring. It is, at least, equally valuable as a lawn-
shrub, as has been very fully exemplified this year at Kew,
where a large round bed on an open position on a lawn is
filled with plants four feet high, which for nearly two
months now have been clothed with great bunches of daz-
zling white flowers. We are apt to overlook the fitness of
many things for the shrubbery and lawn if we begin by
growing them in pots for the greenhouse, and this Hy-
drangea is an instance, so far, at least, as English horticul-
ture is concerned. There has been no more effective shrub
at Kew this summer than H. paniculata.

[The sterile form of Hydrangea paniculata, known in gar-
dens as Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, has become one of
the most popular and universally used shrubs in the United
States in a surprisingly short time. It probably originated in
Japanese gardens, where it is much less valued than it is
here. The wild forms of Hydrangea paniculata, with only
the outer flowers of the cluster sterile, are less commonly
seen in this country, although-many persons now consider
them more beautiful than the plant with the huge
clusters of sterile flowers. There are two quite distinct
forms. The first flowers in July, and produces smaller
panicles with small ray-flowers, and is, perhaps, a distinct
and undescribed species ; it was sent to the United States
by the late Thomas Hogg. The second is now in flower
with the sterile form, and produces immense, erect, broad
panicles, with few large ray-flowers. The three forms are
all hardy, grow rapidly and flower profusely. The early-
flowered deserves to be much better known in our gardens
than it is at present. — Ed.]

The Royal Botanical Society of Regents Park is in a tot-
tering condition, and is like to fall. Its finances are in a
hopeless state, and its work during the last few years has
been such as is not likely to win much sympathy either
from horticulturists or botanists. The general feeling is
that there is no need for a botanical collection in Regents
Park, when all that can be desired is to be seen and ob-
tained a few miles away at Kew. On the other side, the
assistance the society has tried to render to horticulture by
means of exhibitions has been almost superfluous now that
the Royal Horticultural Society is in vigorous activity
again. It would appear, therefore, that London does not
require such a society as that which has for so long held its
meetings in the enclosure at Regents Park. The sugges-
tion that the Botanical Gardens should be recovered by
Government and added to the park appears to be the best
course. It is scarcely likely that the ;^i8,ooo debt of the
society will be subscribed by a public unable to see
the utility of the work done by the society in recent
years.

The Royal Horticultural Society is this year extending
its operations to the other side of the metropolis, having
arranged for a great exhibition of plants, flowers, fruits and
garden requisites of all kinds in the extensive Agricultural
Hall at Islington. I learn that there is every promise of a
great display, and as the exhibition will be open four days,
from August 29th to September ist, and the neighborhood
is a densely populated one, there is a probability that many
thousands will visit it.

Co-oPERATivE Gardening. — The sixth annual exhibition of
the Co-operative Agri-Horticultural Association was held at
the Crystal Palace last week, and proved a great success.
The object of this association is a most laudable one —
namely, the encouragement of horticulture and agriculture
among the working classes. Three hundred pounds in
prizes is given, and so general is the interest that no less
than 4,077 entries were made, the exhibits covering nearly
three-quarters of a mile of tables in the Palace Hall. In the
workmen's section there were 1,202 entries of vegetables
alone, and 744 of cut flowers, 240 of fruit and 224 of plants
in pots; there were also 129 exhibits staged by women
and children. Such plants as Ferns, Begonias, Balsams,
Fuchsias, Musk and Pelargoniums were largely repre-

sented, and generally they showed considerable cultural
skill. Vegetables, too, were, on the whole, good, and fruit
was in some instances worthy of first-rate gardens. The
success of such an exhibition is in the amount of pleasure
it gives and the interest it inspires among the exhibitors
themselves. The result cannot be other than to promote a
love of plants and flowers and a knowledge of the art of
growing them among those who have greatest need of the
pleasure and profit which good gardening brings.

London. W. WatSOn.

Cultural Department.
Crinum Powelli.

THE Royal Botanical Gardens at Glasnevin, near Dub-
lin, have long been famous for horticultural successes,
and one of these is the splendid collection of Crinums,
forrned by the present curator, Mr. F. W. Moore, and es-
tablished in a south border against a range of plant-houses.
A correspondent, who saw these plants in June, wrote us
at the time in praise of their excellent growth and the ad-
mirable flowers which some of them were already bearing,
and Mr. Moore himself contributed a note on the plants to
the Gardeners' Magazine, whii^h contained so much useful
information that we give it entire. Although Dublin is
nearly thirteen degrees farther north than New York, its
mean annual temperature is a few degrees higher, and its
other climatic conditions are so different from ours that it
is hardly probable that these Crinums would be hardy
here. Farther south they may be expected to flourish, but
they can easily be kept over wmter and make admirable
decorative plants for outdoor use here in suipmer.

During the bright aad sunny weather of June no hardy plants
have attracted more attention in Glasnevin than Crinum
Powelli and Crinum Powelli alba. Fortunately, both these
may be described as hardy plants, for, whether planted in the
open border or in a sheltered warm corner, the severest win-
ters experienced at Glasnevin have not in any degree impaired
their vitality, or permanently injured them. Nothing worse
has happened than a browning of their old leaves; while these
disappear, to be replaced by a crown of fresh and vigorous
foliage in April. Then come the flowers. They first open in
June, and the early frosts of October find some still remain-
ing. The history of Crinum Powelli and its varieties is well
known. For many years Crinum longifolium had been cul-
tivated out-of-doors in British gardens, and had proved to be
quite hardy. In 1863, the late Dr. David Moore obtained seeds
of a Crinum which proved to be a new species, and is now
known as Crinum Moorei {Bot. Mag., plate 61 13). This,
when tested beside C. longifolium in a special border in the
open air, grew freely and flowered, survived the winter, and
though more or less injured by the frosts, it has continued to
thrive where it was first planted more than fifteen years ago.
Mr. C. B. Powell crossed together C. longifolium and C. Moorei ;
the result of this cross gave to our gardens C. Powelli and the
beautiful plant C. Powelli alba.

To fully appreciate the excellence of these plants, one must
see a clump which has been properly planted and left undis-
turbed for some years. Such a clump outside the Orchid-
house at Glasnevin, consisting of six bulbs, has fourteen
flower-scapes, two of which have twenty-three flower-seats,
the tallest of these scapes being three feet six inches high, and
the largest leaf five feet six inches long. Beside this clump
Crinum Powelli alba has a scape with twenty flower-seats. It
must be understood that all these flowers do not open simul-
taneously. Six is the largest number I have counted open at
the same time, but a circle of six waxy beautifully formed
flowers, either deep rose or pure white in color, each flower
measuring six or more inches across, forms a sight not easily
to be forgotten, and makes one feel deeply indebted to the
raiser for adding such a treasure to the list of garden-plants.

To succeed thoroughly in growing Crinums in the open air,
two points need attention — plant deeply, and plant in good wel-
drained soil. Some of the Crinums require to be planted quite
three feet deep, and C. Powelli likes to be at least two feet down —
that is to say, the base of the bulb to be two feet below the sur-
face. Even, if when planting, the bulbs are not two feet long,
plant at that depth, and they will soon not only grow to two
feet, but extend for quite another foot above the surface, and
so planted they here require no protection whatever. Outside

388

Garden and Forest

[Number 290.

the stove a special border has been prepared for Crinums.
The hot-water pipes inside are close to the wall, so that a con-
siderable amount of heat must pass through to theCrinumson
the outside. In this border the following species are planted,
all of which have survived one or more winters, and many of
them flower annually : C. Americanum, southern United
States ; C. amabile, Sumatra ; C. Careyanum, Mauritius ; C.
latifolium, tropical Asia; C. lineare. Cape; C. Moorei, Natal;
C. pratense, India ; C. pedunculatum, Australia ; C. Yemense,
C. variabile. Cape ; also the following supposed hybrids : C.
Melazzi, C. Meldense and C. grandiflorurh Silberi. The first
species to flower each year is C. amabile, some of the scapes
having; fifteen flowers. The last to tlower is C. Moorei. C.
latifolium had a scape five feet high, and leaves eight feet long
and seven inches broad.

Chrysanthemums.

'T'HE interest in Chrysanthemums increases as the season
•*• advances, and the progress and development of the buds
is a study in itself. It is only by noting the condition and de-
velopment of the buds of new varieties that we can tell their
value, and how to treat them the next season. In old varieties
we decide at this time what buds to take and what to discard.
The crown-bud, so called because it terminates the growth at
a certain stage, difters from all other flower-buds from the fact
that it is never subtended by other flower-buds. This latter
condition always occurs in " terminals," so designated because,
terminating the growth, no more buds develop. The crown-
bud is an abortion at best, ,ind would seldom develop if left to
itself. It only does so when three or more buds, which develop
below it (ultimately becoming terminals), are removed. This
is the process of "taking" the crown-bud. Taking termi-
nals merely consists in removing side flower-buds and leav-
ing one only.

Somt varieties show a crown-bud early in May. This is the
case with W. H. Lincoln. All such buds should be discarded.
The August crown-bud is'the best to take in certain varieties
required for exhibition, and of which we know the time re-
quired to de.'elop the buds properly. This is really the only
crown-bud to produce a good exhibition flower in some varie-
ties, notably E. Molyneux. It is not probable, however, that
the process of timing and taking the bud will ever become
popular on this side of the Atlantic. It is too slow and requires
much calculation ; besides, one is always sure of flowers on
terminals. Unless we know how and when to properly take
a crown, a terminal is the best bud, and for commercial
purposes it is certainly the best. A rule among the commer-
cial class of growers, where any attention is paid to the matter,
is to take crown-buds on weak varieties and terminal buds on
stronger-growing varieties I generally take a few of each,
especially in the case of new varieties, and recommend those
who can take time enough to study and follow the matter out
in all its practical bearings, to follow this plan, noting whether
the buds were taken early or late and the results.

What we aim at in specimen plants is to develop as many
growing shoots as possible before the middle of August, regu-
latings them so as to keep the plant well balanced, and tie them
out into a shapely specimen by blooming-time. Too often
plants are allowed to grow naturally, no attention being paid
to outline until a few weeks before exhibition-time. It is im-
possible then to get the neat specimens. Generally, all tlie
shoots on a specimen plant are terminals, and bear a number
of flower-buds in clusters at the tips. I prefer to leave only
one bud, and this treatment is repaid by extra-large flowers.
It is difficult, however, to persuade people to leave but one
bud. I have noticed the tendency in a few varieties, notably
M. J. Delaux, G. Daniels and Amber Gem, to show all qrown-
buds at taking-time. As this occurs well into September, I
always take them ; if these were removed terminals would
come, but it is questionable whether, so late in the season,
these would be as good. I would advise that all crown-buds
appearing on specimen plants in September be taken.

Feeding should continue until all disbudding is done. One
good guide as to whether the material used is beneficial, be-
sides noting its visible effects, is to observe whether new roots
run over the surface of the soil. The absence of these, taken
in connection with a yellowish shade on the leaves, is a sure
indication that the plants are out of health, and instead of in-
creasing the dose or manure on these plants they should be
passed by. If there is room, a light top-dressing of pure loam
would benefit them, and I recommend this treatment generally
for all that are not doing as well as they should. Too much
water and poor drainage are generally chargeable with an un-

healthy condition. It is better in such cases to withhold water,
giving only enough to keep the plants alive, until signs of re-
turning color appear. I have tried this plan with good results.
Plants should be moved in early in September and a little fire-
heat used — just enough to keep out mildew.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

Seasonable Vegetable Notes.

CELERY will need a little finely pulverized earth laid up to it
every week or so from this time. We never earth it up
much at a time, but bank up a little and often. Before bank-
ing all decayed leaves should be removed, and with them a
few of the lower hard leaves. If two or three persons can be
set to work, one should draw in the leaves as closely as possi-
ble, while the others pack the soil firmly about the plants. If
one alone must do the work, the plants should be tied up
ahead. We generally do our last earthing about the first week
in October, and expect to store the celery by the ist of No-
vember.

Onions, excepting the late sown, will now have made their
season's growth, and should be drawn and put in a sunny place
to dry. It is customary where large quantities are grown to
windrow them on the beds ; but, as we grow only a few for
home use, we lay them on old boards or shutters, and cover
them during bad weather. Carefully dried onions keep better.

Every year we sun-dry a quantity of Lima beans. It is a slow
process, but fully worth the trouble. These beans, steeped for
a few hours before cooking, come out for table use as fresh as
in summer-time. We find Henderson's Bush Lima an excel-
lent kind to grow for this purpose. It is early, and gives us a
picking or two before the pole varieties come in, and after that
we use them for drying. Our Strawberries are already planted,
and the last sowing of Prickly Spinach will now be made for
spring use, to be wintered over covered with litter. The time
for sowing Lettuce in frames has now arrived. Tomatoes
planted late in frames have outgrown their limits, and are be-
ing pruned of all but fruit-bearing growth. Frost is liable to
strike us at any time during September, and squashes should
be gathered, so that they may be covered when there is danger
of frost, as also peppers and green tomatoes.

Wateitown, Maine. W. D.

Begonias. — I agree with Mr. Gerard, that tuberous Begonias
in the sun are a failure. Under certain conditions they do very
well, but to the lover of a trim bed they are not a success.
Lately I saw a bed around the trunk of a Beech-tree, well, but
not densely, shaded, since the lowest branches were consid-
erably above the bed. With a good mulching, and plenty of
moisture, a majority of the plants had done well. These plants
flourish on the shady side of a hedge, but they seldom succeed
along the walls of a dwelling. As your correspondent sug-
gested, there are many other Begonias which answer this pur-
pose better. I have in mind a very effective bed at the north-
ern end of a conservatory belonging to Mr. Simpson, of Sax-
onville, Massachusetts, in which Begonias were an important
feature. With these there were growing several Ferns, Adi-
antums, Nephrolepis and Onychiums and some Dracaenas,
Aspidistras and small Palms, altogether making a picturesque
effect. The Begonias most available are Bismarck, Semper-
florens in variety, Insignis, Guttata, Diademata, Rubella, Ricini-
folia and Verschaffeltia.

Hartford, Conn. R. Dale.

Correspondence.

Treatment for a Decaying Ash-tree.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — An Ash-tree here, eight feet in circumference at the
base, growing through a gravel walk and showing no signs of
decay in branches or foliage, is unexpectedly found to be en-
tirely hollow some three feet below, and for about the same
distance above, the ground, the cavity being partially filled
with rotten wood and innumerable yellow ants. The sap-wood
seems fairly sound, except for a honeycombed appearance.
The hole in the tree is where a large root has decayed and
worked upward on the trunk, making a cavity about eighteen
inches square. It is impossible to remove the dead wood and
the live ants by hand, and it is also impossible to treat the in-
side properly if this should be done. The holes in the wood
indicate borers, followed by tree-ants. Can tree-ants be de-
stroyed by smoking, and can sulphur be used with safety?
Would the heat of burning kerosene injure the tree .' Should
the hole in the ground below the tree be filled, and with what 1
Should an attempt be made to exclude dampness and air from

Seftemeer 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

389

the large hole in the tree ? Tlie sound wood in the trunk ap-
pears to be from four to six inches through at the base. Is
this enough to support the tree against strong winds in an ex-
posed position ? ^xr T Q u
Winchester, Mass. ^- T. Sanbom.

[The hole in the tree should be cleared as far as possible
of the dead and decaying wood, the soil being removed
from about the trunk for the purpose, and the surface should
then receive a good coat of coal-tar ; borers, if they are
found to exist, should be killed by probing their holes with
a sharp wire. The edges of the cavity should then be
made smooth and even, and then into the cavity should be
fitted as tightly as possible a piece of oak-plank, on which
should be spread a coat of coal-tar. The soil should then
be put back about the base of the trunk. The coal-tar
should be renewed every year or two to prevent the
wooden covering of the cavity from decaying. A healthy
growth will spread from the margin of the cavity, and
eventually may be expected to cover it. The ants are not
the cause, but the result, of the decay, which will stop when
the air and moisture are excluded from the cavity ; they
can be driven out by fumigating with tobacco-smoke or
with fumes of sulphur.

The tree is, of course, weakened by the internal decay of
the trunk, and is more liable to be broken off by the wind
than a perfectly sound tree would be. It may fall with the
first severe gale, or it may stand for years. The object of
the plank-stopper is to afford a surface for the new growth
from the margins of the cavity to spread over and to ex-
clude moisture from the cavity while the protecting layer
of new wood and bark is growing. — Ed.]

Rudbeckia purpurea.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Rudbeckia purpurea has been highly commended twice
in your columns. Will you kindly inform me if it is a native
of any part of the United States ? I do not find it in any botany.

Boston, Mass. Howard P. Amold.

[Rudbeckia purpurea, or, as it should more properly be
called, Echinacea purpurea, is a native of the United States
from Virginia and Ohio to Illinois and Louisiana. A de-
scription and full synonymy of the plant, with reference to
published figures, will be found in Gray's Synoptical Flora
0/ North America, vol. i., part ii., p. 258. — Ed.]

The Columbian Exposition.

The Nursery Exhibits in the Midway Plaisance.

■^ EAR the east end of the Midway Plaisance, two and a half
■'■^ acres, divided by the street, are devoted to nursery exhibits.
It was originally intended to devote a larger area to this indus-
try, but, owing to delay in preparing it and the disinclination of
nurserymen to make displays so far removed from the main
part of the Fair-grounds, the plan was abandoned this spring,
and the present area was hastily put in order. The soil is
sandy, and none of the stock was set until May, so that the
exhibit is necessarily poor. The fruit-tree nurserymen of
America are wholly unrepresented. In fact, the only really
worthy American effort at nursery display is made by EUwan-
ger & Barry upon the wooded island, and this exhibition is
confined to ornamental plants. Once it was proposed to have
American nurseries in actual operation, from the raising of
the seedlings to the budding and grafting and the handling of
marketable trees ; but the time was too short for accomplish-
ing so much, and the nurserymen were not inclined to respond
quickly. As it is, the nursery-grounds in the Plaisance are
occupied chiefly by California with a citrous orchard and
various specimen plants, by a mixed collection from Mexico,
three exhibits of evergreens by Illinois and Wisconsin nur-
serymen, and displays by five French firms.

California fills about half the entire area. This display makes
little attempt to show nursery stocks or methods. The greater
portion is an orchard of Oranges, Lemons and other citrous
fruits, and is really a mate to the small orchard in the north
court of the Horticultural Building. Many of these trees now
bear nearly full-grown fruits, the product of flowers which ap-

peared before the trees were set in their present quarters.
Mediterranean Sweet Oranges, Villa Franca Lemons and some
others are set fairly well with new fruits from the flowers
which appeared in June. Still the trees have not set fruit to
the extent which the flowers promised, and Mr. Robert Pegg
the chief gardener of the California exhibits, thinks this failure
due to the absence of bees. A Villa Franca Lemon-tree, which
was six months old when set in the Plaisance, is now bearing
fruit upon the subsequent growth. Many interesting single
specimens of various plants are comprised in the collection.
Among the best is a tree of Grevillea robusta, twenty feet high
and six inches in diameter at the base, and some Pepper- trees,
Schinus mollis, both of which are popular street-trees in south-
ern California. The Loquat is also conspicuous, and the sides
are interspersed with Roses, Lantanas and Polygalas, and in-
teresting specimens of Aralia papyrifera. Phoenix dactylifera
and P. Canariensis, Chamserops excelsa and the Umbrella-tree,
Melia Azaderach.

The most conspicuous feature is the display of Mexico, con-
tributed by Gustave Schiebe, of the City of Mexico. This col-
lection arrived very late, and the continued drought has short-
ened its growth. Yet the plants are so novel to northern eyes
that the plot has unusual interest. A mere list of some of the
more conspicuous plants will show the character of the exhibit
and indicate the kind of plants which the Mexicans grow in the
open : Coffee, Sarsaparilla (Smilax), Musas, Begonias, Ficuses,
Macrozamia Mexicana, Clerodendron (Volkameria) fragrans.
Cacti, Rivina humilis, Dioon edule, Anthuriums, Sanchezia
nobilis, Citrus myrtifolia, Cestrum coccineum, Ardisia Mex-
icana, Datura arborea,Senecioelegans, Poinsettiapulcherrima,
Pachira fastuosa, Guava in fruit, Hibiscus Chinensis, Jambosa
(or Eugenia) vulgaris, Cinchona, Bescharneria yuccoides,
Logwood (Haematoxylon Campechianum),Cibotium (or Dick-
sonia) Schiedei and C. nigrum.

At the end of the Mexican section, Martin Klein & Co., of
Detroit, show a few bushes of the "Dwarf Cherry," a plant
which the vender supposes to have come Originally from
Japan, but which is the common wild Prunus pumila of the
northern states. I have long been convinced that this little
Cherry has merit as a fruit-plant, and I am glad that it is being
prominently advertised here ; yet it seems to be urged for
some supposed medicinal value, founded largely upon the
vivid red color of the roots, rather than for its fruit. It is said
that the bush has been planted rather largely, one person in
Michigan having 45,000 plants set in a regular plantation.
Prunus pumila shoulcl not be planted indiscriminately, because
it is a variable plant and many of the forms are utterly worth-
less for fruit. As soon as named varieties appear we may
expect confidence on the part of nurserymen and growers.

A Cranberry-bog in full operation attracts much attention.
It is shown by A. C. Bennett & Son, Appleton, Wisconsin. A
raised border, a foot and a half high, surrounds the little bog,
and a small reservoir for water lies at one side. The water is
conducted from this water-head through a gate, when it runs
through the ditches which surround the four beds of Cranber-
ries. These beds are each about ten feet square, and are
bearing fairly well.

The chief attraction in nursery displays, however, is in the
French section, where displays of fruit-trees and a very few
ornamentals are shown by Pinguet-Guindon, of Tours ; Aus-
seur-Sertier, of Liensaint ; L. Paillet, of Valine de Chatenay,
near Paris ; Honors Defresne et Fils, of Vitry, and Croux et
Fils, of Sceaux. Most of the fruit-stock in these displays is
trained in various fashions to fit it for growing upon walls or
espaliers, or as globe-headed tall trees to stand in the centre
areas of small gardens. The method of training Apples, Pears
and other fruit-trees on wires, much after the manner of train-
ing Grapes, is rarely seen in America, but in the confined
areas of European countries it is common. The fruits which
are obtained from these little trees are large and excellent, and
usually sell for fancy prices. An Apple-tree which is trained
to a one-arm cordon, the arm being eight or ten feet long, may
be expected to mature from six to a dozen fruits. Of the bet-
ter varieties, these fruits sell for one to three francs apiece in
midwinter. This is especially true of Colville Blanc, which is
one of the best varieties and a long keeper. A French gar-
dener informs nie that he sold a basket of these apples, con-
taining twelve fruits, for forty-five francs last February. It is
interesting to note how different the varieties of these French
trees are from our own fruits. Among Apples one notices
the varieties of high quality and difficult culture. There are
Colville Blanc, Colville Rouge, Pigeon de Rouen, Reinetle de
Caux, Reinette du Canada, Reinette de Granville, Reinette
P'ranche, Reinedes Reinettes and Pommed'Apis (Lady Apple).
Among Peaches are Bon Ouvrier, Madeleine deCourson, Alexis

390

Garden and Forest.

[Number 290.

Lepire, Madeleine Rouge, Precoce de Hale (Hale's Early),
Brugnon Violet, Of Pears, prominent kinds are Passe Cras-
sane, Beurr^ Hardy, President d'Estaintos, Reurr^ d'Harden-
pont, Beurr^ Supertin and Doyennt' Blanc. Plums, Apricots,
Cherries, Grapes upon American roots and stocks of the St.
Lucie (Mahaleb) Cherry are also conspicuous. It must he a
matter of chagrin to Americans to know that the only impor-
tant exhibits ot fruit-tree stocks are from France ; and that there
are no exhibits whatever from any source of small-fruit plants.
Chicago. III. " L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

Among the new Cannas there is not one with brighter flow-
ers than the comparatively new Sarah Hill. These flowers
have neither spots nor margins of any other color, but are a
solid crimson. A mass of them in a large vase produces a
glowing effect which can hardly be described.

The wooded island at Jackson Park is now resplendent
with flowers, especially of plants belonging to the Sunflower
tribe, which give such a distinct flavor to the American au-
tumn. They do not suffer in comparison with the stiff-bloom-
ing Hydrangeas, which are also conspicuous now. The island
is very dry and all the plants are suffering seriously, but the
Sunflowers are among those which are injured least.

Quebec is now showing many good specimens of the Mon-
treal market muskmelons at the World's Fair. Some of the
Canadian growers have achieved great success with these
melons. They are round, ribbed and netted, of the Hackensack
type, but are very large for a northern melon. One now upon
the shelves weighs twenty-five pounds two ounces, and another
twenty-four pounds seven ounces, while many others nearly
reach these figures.

Of the melons in the New York market the old Hackensack,
or some improved forms of this variety, still holds the first
place among the green-fleshed varieties. The smaller green-
lleshed varieties are all called Nutmeg in the market, although
they include such good varieties as Netted Gem. In the same
way all the salmon-fleshed .sorts are called Christiana, under
which name the Emerald Gem is often sold, a melon which,
in texture, dissolving quality and delicious flavor, is all that
can be desired.

In a collection of native hardy plants the Liatris, or Blazing
Stars, which bear rosy purple flowers, are now quite effective.
L. scariosa is about the handsomest species, because it has
larger heads and bright reddish scales, although its spike is
not so long as that of L. spicata, which commences to bloom
earlier. L. pychnostachya lias spikessometimes twenty inches
long. One detraction from the value of some of the Liatris is
the fact that their flowering begins at the extremity of the
spike and progresses downward, and, therefore, while the
lower flowers are in full beauty the spike terminates with
fruit or withered flowers.

Professor Selim Lemstrom, of the University of Helsinfors,
Finland, a person well acquainted with the life and products
of Europe, is now traveling in this country for the purpose of
making observations concerning our agricultural products and
science related to rural affairs. The most striking peculiarity
of the daily life of our people, which he has observed, is the
abundance and variety of food which even the poorer classes
enjoy, and especially the great amount and excellence of fruits
which they consume. He declares that in no European coun-
try, not even in Italy, are there such excellent fruits, nor are
they used to such an extent as a daily food. He is impressed
with the fact, however, that the Americans do not cook fruits
in so many appetizing ways as the Europeans do, a circum-
stance which is partly due, no doubt, to the almost uniform
excellence of our fruits for consumption in the natural state.

Among the shrubs which carry their flowers into September
the late-blooming form of the Tamarisk is among the most de-
sirable, and it is altogether better than the forms which, under
a variety of names, but with differences which are inconspicu-
ous to the general observer, bloom in late spring and early
summer. When strong plants of the late-flowering Tamarisk,
which is generally known as T. Indica, are cut back hard in
early spring, they will throw out long, straight wands from six
to eight feet long in a season, and their small pink flowers and
buds among the foliage at the extremity of these pliant
branches give an unusually graceful aspect to the shrub at
this time. Its flowers are only one of its good points, for the
soft foliage of masses of this plant produces a very agreeable
effect all summer long. The Tamarisk has the special merit

of being a good sea-side shrub, as it is a1)lc to endure both salt
spray and strong winds.

The taste for white Lilacs was introduced into Berlin, says a
recent writer in Gartenjlora, by the late Empress Augusla.
To meet the demand which her preference excited, large quan-
tities were imported from Paris just before the Franco-Pru.s-
sian war, while, as the writer remarks with amusement, when
they had been grown near Berlin by his father some years be-
fore, they had found no purchasers, as they were then not "the
fashion." Now white Lilacs are produced in quantities in Ber-
lin during the winter, but the demand can still not be met
without the aid of daily consignments from Paris.

Mr. J. J. Thomas calls timely attention to the fact that many
choice apples are lost because they are picked either too early
or too late. To secure the best fruit of many varieties the trees
should be gone over twice, once when the apples begin to
drop, at which time the most mature can be picked out by
their color and will readily loosen from the stem. Perhaps
half of the apples will strongly adhere, and if the last gather-
ing is then deferred for a fortnight those will keep longer and
be better in quality. The old rule, to pick pears when the
fruit will separate readily from the'stem if lifted half-way up, is
a good one, but pears usually ripen more nearly at the same
time than apples. Early and medium late pears should be
gathered some time before they are ripe, and the choice kinds
should be laid away in dark boxes and they will have a much
finer flavor than if ripened in the open air. Early pears
wrapped in flannel and kept several days will not only im-
prove in flavor, but those which have a slight blush naturally
will redden into real beauty when matured in this way. Such
care is not necessary with late autumn and winter pears, but,
of course, they should be kept in a cool and uniform temper-
ature.

Mr. T. S. Brandegee's interesting paper, in the fourth volume
of Zoe, upon the southern extension of the California flora, has
been issued in pamphlet form. On Mount San Pedro Martir,
situated about one hundred and twenty-five miles south-east
of San Diego, and nearer the Gulf of California than the Pacific
Ocean, which Mr. Brandegee describes as an extensive plateau
rather than a mountain, with an elevation of 7.000 or 8,000 feet,
traversed by numerous rocky ridges which rise 2,000 or 3,000
feet higher, he has found what is undoubtedly the southern
limit of distribution of a number of well-known California
trees. Trees of good size are found over nearly the whole of
this elevated plateau, Pinus Jeff'reyi being the most common.
On the ridges the great California Sugar Pine, Pinus Lamberti-
ana, grows sparingly, and along all the streams the Californian
Libocedrus occurs. The other trees which will probably be
found here in their most southern home are Populus tremu-
loides, Quercus agrifolia, Q. Wislizeni, the last two exclusively
Pacific coast species. Q. chrysolepis and Q. grisea, which are
both common in northern Sonora, where they possibly extend
further south than in Lower California, also grow on this
mountain. In the same region Mr. Brandegee found Juniperus
Californica, Cupressus Guadalupensis, Abies concolor, here
probably at its most southern station, and Pinus Parryana, the
common Nut Pine of the northern part of Lower California.

Among the apples now coming to market here in quantity
the Duchess of Oldenburg brings the best price, selling at whole-
sale for two dollars and seventy-five cents a barrel. A few
Seckel pears are in market, but Bartlett pears from New Jer-
sey, of excellent quality, have been bringing four dollars a
barrel, nearly twice as much as is asked for Seckel pears. The
best native black grapes now offered are Wordens, from the
Hudson River, which are altogether superior to the Concords.
Niagaras are in abundant supply, and of better quality than
any yet seen this season, the earlier ones having been picked
before they were ripe. Peaches have been plentiful and cheap,
although the best fruit from New Jersey is worth from a dol-
lar and twenty-five cents to two dollars a basket ; these are
mostly Mountain Rose and Crawfords. California plums sell
more readily than eastern fruit, and prices have improved
during the past week ; the best bring forty cents a dozen.
Cranberries from Cape Cod are in moderate supply, but as yet
are light in color. The little Lady's-finger bananas, which are
too rarely seen, are now coming in considerable quantity from
Aspinwall, and sell for twenty-five cents a dozen. A so-called
melon pear, from the West Indies, is found on some fruit-
stands, and seems to sell quite readily on account of its rich
golden color. It is a small melon, quite inferior in flavor to
our best varieties. The beautiful Japanese persimmons are
seen everywhere, and are evidently growing in popularity as
they become better known.

September 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

391

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

entered as second-class matter at the post office at new YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

page.

EotTORiAL Articles: — Frederick Lothrop Ames 391

Hardy Herbaceous Plants 391

A New Forap;e Plant 392

Botanical Notes from Texas.— XI S, N. Plank. 392

Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter IV, Watson, 393

New or Little*known Plants : — Hydrangea vestita, var. pubescens. (With

fiRure.) .. 394

CuLTiniAL Department: — ^Timely Hints on Lilies E. O. Orpet. 394

Tuberous Begonias y. N. Gerard. 395

Rock-garden and Border T. D. Hatfield. 395

Some Greenhouse Plants W, H. Taplin. 397

Clematis paniculata T. D. H. 397

Hardy Annuals Samuel Hensliaw. 397

Correspondence : — How to Identify Certain Conifers and Oaks. .4/i^r^S»/yj^Mry. 397

Heating Ponds for Water-lies IV. IV. Lee. 398

The Columbian ExposmON :— Stone-fruits, Brevities Professor L, H. Bailey. 398

Notes .,...■•......,..... 400

Illostratign : — Hydrangea vestita, var. pubescens, Fig. 60 396

Frederick Lothrop Ames.

FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES, one of the founders
and owners of this journal, died suddenly last week
during a journey from his home in Massachusetts to this
city. Mr. Ames was one of the most liberal patrons of
horticulture America has produced, and his collection of
Orchids was a great source of pride to every one interested
in the progress of the art in which he found his principal
pleasure. This great collection, begun many years ago,
has gradually grown and improved until it surpasses all
other collections of these plants in America, and in num-
bers, variety and condition has not a superior. Mr. Ames'
love of nature was real and profound, and his exact and
comprehensive knowledge of the plants in which he was
particularly interested has given him an international repu-
tation among orchidologists. Through his liberality the
Arnold Arboretum, to which he has always given generous
support, and the Botanical Department of Harvard College,
in which he was specially interested, have been able to ex-
tend their usefulness. For nearly thirty years Mr. Ames
was an active member of the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society ; he has long been one of its Vice-Presidents, and as
a member of the Finance Committee has rendered it in-
valuable service.

Outside the world of horticulture this death brings irrepa-
rable loss to many persons and to many important interests.
Institutions of education and of organized benevolence will
miss his wise counsels and open-handed liberality ; many
of the largest business enterprises of the continent will miss
his sound judgment in counsel and his firm hand in con-
trol. Those who were closest to him and knew him best
are bereft of a friend whose sympathy and loyalty never
failed. Frederick Lothrop Ames was one of those rare men
in whom the sense of duty to the public was not dulled by
the possession of great wealth. A keen and abiding sense

of duty, born of the old New England stock of which he
came, was the strongest trait of his character ; it was this
which filled his life with labors of love and at last brought
it to an untimely end. Careful of every trust imposed
upon him, considerate of every man and woman and little
child with whom he was brought into contact, he was a
spendthrift of his own powers and wasted his health and
strength where it seemed to him to be his duty to do so.

The name of Frederick Lothrop Ames has been asso-
ciated with those of a number of Orchids now well known
in our gardens ; these, as long as the annals of botany and
horticulture endure, will preserve sweet and green the
memory of a strong, true and enlightened man.

Hardy Herbaceous Plants.

A CORRESPONDENT writes that for several successive
summers he has planted seven or eight beds of what
are known as bedding-plants (Coleus and the like) on his
lawn, which, of course, he has had to renew each year, and
as he has no space or convenience for raising such plants
he is put to considerable annual expense. He adds, that
having observed in horticultural papers and florists' cata-
logues that hardy herbaceous plants are recommended for
bedding purposes, he therefore desires to be informed as
to the proper varieties to use for this purpose, when
they should be planted and how long they should be
cared for.

To these inquiries it may be said in a general way that hardy
perennial plants cannot fill the place of bedding-plants ; that
is, if one desires a ribbon-line of various colors or a set
geometric parti-colored pattern, Coleus, Alternanthera and
certain other bedding-plants are the best things he can use
for the purpose. Of course, there are a few hardy peren-
nial plants well adapted to this formal use, but there is
nothing better than the well-known bedding-plants which
can be kept by clipping to exactly the same form and show
the same picture all the season through. It is true, also,
that if one wants a bed of constantly blooming red flow-
ers, for example, there is nothing better than the Scarlet
Geranium. When a pattern is once developed by the
growth of these plants, it can be kept unchanged and remain
as constant as the figures on an oil-cloth all through the
summer, until the frost destroys it. There are places . in
connection with the lines of walls and terraces, where such
rigid patterns are not inappropriate. To many people,
however, their very sameness makes them tiresome. In
actual practice gaudy and striking colors are too often se-
lected instead of quiet, neutral tints, and these are often at
discord with each other and with their surroundings. The
beds, when good in themselves, are not infrequently set in
open lawns, where they are never seen to the best advan-
tage, for a stretch of turf with an irregular border is not a
satisfactory framework for them, while on the other hand
the beds break up the turf into bits and destroy that sense
of spaciousness and quiet which is the highest charm of
well-proportioned lawn.

One strong point in favor of hardy plants is that there
are hundreds of them to select from against dozens of ten-
der bedding-plants, and a hardy herbaceous border has the
charm of constant change and renewal. Long before the
Coleus-picture has grown into its perfect form the Snow-
drops and Daffodils and Irises and Violets have been
making the herbaceous border a new creation every day,
while Asters and Sunflowers and scores of delightful plants
will prolong its beauty until late autumn, long after the
frost has made the pattern-bed a desolation. Of course, it
requires skill and knowledge to preserve this continuity of
interest. It requires good taste to arrange the various
plants so that the flowers which are in bloom at any
given time shall group well in form and color. It requires
study and forethought to plant for all the different seasons.
It requires care and labor to remove what is unsightly
when its growth is over, and have its place filled by

392

Garden and Forest.

[Number 291,

something that is in its prime. All this means an intimate
knowledge of plants, and perhaps the highest purpose
which is sen'ed by a herbaceous border is that it keeps
its owner interested and daily invites him to new study, so
that he not only constantly grows in the appreciation
of the special beauties of different plants, but he is insen-
sibly taught to investigate them and their habits, and
the garden becomes a more absorbing attraction as it
calls out more intelligent care. Whatever of recreation
and of comfort can be derived from the growing of plants
for their beauty, can be enjoyed to its fullest extent in a
garden of herbaceous perennial plants and of hardy an-
nuals and biennials vi-hich can be grown among them
without a greenhouse or even without a cold frame.

Of course, a herbaceous border is not the only place in
which hardy perennials can be used with good effect. In
places of considerable size a great variety of them can be
naturalized in different parts of the grounds. Nearly all
spring-flowering bulbs do admirably in grass, and they can
remain there year after year where this is not cut before
the foliage withers. Such plants as the Narcissus poeticus
and the blue Scilla campanulata never look so well as they
do in the tall grass which may be allowed to stand beyond
the close-clipped lawn. Other plants of this class find
their most congenial home in the shrubbery and on the
edges of shrubbery. The tall, strong-growing, autumn-
flowering Compositse, such as Sunflowers, Asters, Golden-
rods, Rudbeckias and Heleniums, are seen at their best
just now in such positions, and in the summer the tall
spires of the Foxglove never look so well as they do on a
shrub-border against a background of foliage. Then,
where there is a water-margin, we can have Irises and Car-
dinal-flowers and Lythrums, while tall Lilies and Galtonias
never grow more luxuriantly or show to such good advan-
tage as they do in beds of Rhododendrons.

But because hardy plants are suitable for the humblest
cottage and appeal in the strongest way to homely popu-
lar taste, it must not be supposed that they offer no field
for the refinements of the specialist. It is easy enough to
grow an Ascension Lily and the other well-known species
which add so much beauty to the garden ; but if the
grower's admiration for this special genus develops into
enthusiasm, he will find that the gathering of a collection
that will satisfy his yearnings, and the investigations of
their secrets, will suffice to occupy the leisure of a lifetime.
The same is true if one would aim to become an expert in
cultivation, or to have assured and authoritative knowl-
edge of the Irises, the Daffodils, the Tulips, the Saxifrages
and even of the hardy Sedums and Sempervivums, and
of many other families of plants.

To give anything like an adequate reply to inquiries
about selecting varieties of hardy plants, the time of plant-
ing them and the methods of cultivating them, would
require a large volume. The readers of Garden and Forest
ought to be well informed as to the care of this class of
plants, as we have hardly published a single number with-
out devoting some attention to them. We have no space
for this branch of the subject here, nor is it the purpose
of this article to oppose the use of formal flower-beds,
which certainly have their place in many small enclosures,
and in connection with architectural surroundings. Much
less is it our intention to discourage the use of tender plants,
for there is no garden of any size which cannot be made
more attractive if a certain proportion offender plants are
grown in it every summer. What we wish to insist upon
now is limply that hardy plants can be had in almost in-
finite number and variety, and that persons who have no
greenhouses, and do not wish to incur the expense of buy-
ing a number offender plants every year, can find among
the hardy ones every desirable quality in color and fra-
grance and form ; that there are no bedding-plants which
equal in beauty the Lilies and Larkspurs, Irises and Daffo-
dils, and many more that any one can obtain ; that there
are hardy plants suitable for every season, every use and
every situation ; that a hardy-plant garden can be made

interesting in this climate from February until December,
while tender bedding-plants can only be used for summer
decoration ; and that many hardy plants continue to in-
crease in vigor and beauty year after year, while tender
bedding-plants necessitate the trouble and expense of an-
nual renewal. We hardly need to add that, while most of
these plants are best adapted to informal planting, no one
can secure any genuine intelligent pleasure from them
when planted haphazard. One value of the hardy garden
is the constant and loving attention it demands. This care
must begin at the very outset in selecting from the mass of
weedy and malodorous kinds only such as have distinct
merit, and the same care must continue throughout all the
work of arranging and cultivating. A good wild garden is
never a carelessly planted garden. The very look of un-
tamed naturalness which it wears is the achievement of
the truest art. In the same way hardy plants which are
best able to take care of themselves in the struggle for life
make constant demands upon the care of the cultivator if
they are to reveal their beauty in all its fullness.

A New Forage-plant.

COME years ago a knot-grass, which was discovered by Maxi-
"^ mowicz on the island of Saghalen, under the name of
Polygonum Sachaliense, was introduced as an ornamental
plant from the Jardin d'Acclimatation at Moscow. It grows
vigorously and has been recommended for use on river-banks
and in other positions where tall and fast-growing peren-
nials are needed. It is rather a handsome plant, with smooth
alternate leaves about an inch and a half long and an inch
wide, with leaf-stalks of cardinal-red. Its inconspicuous flow-
ers produce a good deal of nectar and are much frequented
by bees. This Polygonum lias especial interest just now,
however, as a forage-plant, since it has been recommended in
several of the European journals for that purpose. It is said that
the young plant quickly pushes up fresh shoots in all direc-
tions and will soon occupy an area a yard square. These
shoots when young are edible, and when blanched can be used
as asparagus, although they are not of so high quality. When
they have grown from three to five feet high, ttiese shoots can be
cut and fed to cattle, which seem to relish them very much.
Perhaps tlie second growth of the first year will not be strong
enough for a cutting, but in subsequent years three or four
cuttings can be taken every season. This Polygonum is readily
propagated by division of the rhizomes, which may be planted
in August and September or in early spring. If they are set out
a yard apart the surface of the soil will be covered in a year or
two with an abundance of forage.

Some European experimenters have tried to use another
knot-grass, Polygonum cuspidatum, as a forage-plant in the
same way, and claim that it is also relished by cattle. The
vigor of this plant will not be doubted by any one who has
seen it growing in the Central Park of this city, where it quickly
becomes an aggressive weed. Whether or not it will endure
an excessively dry climate remains to be seen. It seems to
flourish here particularly in moist deep soils, but its stalks
appear altogetiier too tough for succulent forage. However, it
would be worth while to try both these plants where no other
forage-plants will grow, especially since the Saghalen Knot-
weed has the endorsement of such authorities as Monsieur
Edouard Andrg and Monsieur Gusfav Huot. Its yield of
green fodder is said to range from sixty tons to one hundred
and twenty tons per acre, and it might prove a valuable crop
for ensilage. It is in favor of P. Sachaliense that it belongs to
the same family as plants of such economic value as Buck-
wheat and Rhubarb, but after all we hardly think it probable
that it will supersede Indian Corn as a green fodder in the
great Corn-belt of this country.

Botanical Notes from Texas. — XL

AS we go westward on the International and Great Northern
Railroad from the city of San Antonio we soon leave the
alluvial " black lands " behind us, and find that even the bot-
tom-lands of the creeks and rivers are sandy. So much of
the vegetation that we have been accustomed to seeing has
disappeared, and a more south-western flora taken its place.
Ratama is now largely in competition with Huisache and Mez-
quite for occupancy of the richer lowlands, while other spe-
cies of Parkinsonia, Acacia and other genera cover the hills.

September 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

393

Contrary, perhaps, to the general notion in regard to this
portion of Texas, most of the state south of the Southern Pa-
cific Railroad, and west of the meridian of San Antonio, is a
forested region. But it is a forest of shrubs, and of the mean-
est and the wickedest shrubs imaginable — dry-country shrubs,
which have struggled so long and so hard for an existence
amid floods and long-continued droughts and extreme heat,
that they have become literally case-hardened and completely
perverted in their ways. That they may be better protected,
they have armed themselves with prickles and thorns and
have set themselves in a most effectual way against animated
nature. There are thorns terminal and thorns axillary ; thorns
single or clustered, straight or recurved, on stem, leaves, even
on fruit, pointing in all directions, and ready to tear one's
clothes or flesh, as either may be presented to their cruel
points. Mexicans, having exhausted the rest of their vocabu-
lary of epithets, call some of these shrubs " Una del gato "
(Cat-claw). Such thorns will penetrate the leather of gloves
and boots almost as easily as the untanned human skin. A
botanist in this region is specially favored if he escapes with
only bleeding hands. When these shrubs mass themselves,
the thicket is impenetrable for beast or man.

In extenuation of such a condition of perpetual war, these
shrubs plead, and perhaps effectually, the common right and
law of self-defense — unfavorable climatic conditions prevent-
ing their complete development, and causing the starved and
stunted growth which changes their leaves and branchlets
into weapons of defense ; to which may be added the ravages
of herb-eating animals, domestic and feral, which, unless the
shrubs were armed from base to summit, would soon destroy
all of them within their reach. Granting, however, the well-
taken plea of self-defense put in by the shrubs, it is still true
that they do not discriminate between friends and foes.

We stopped for a few days at the pleasant little village of
Pearsall, lying about fifty miles south-west of San Antonio.
The people of Pearsall are very modest in their ways, for,
while their town contains nearly a thousand persons, they still
call it a village. Its location is very nearly on the ninety-ninth
meridian. It is a little south of the twenty-ninth parallel. The
town is built upon a slight eminence of dark brown ferrugi-
neous sand-stone, the disintegration of which forms the
coarse sand of the region about. Such a rock formation gives
a flora very different from that of the region where our latest
Notes left us. There are few places in Texas, so far eastward,
where we could see six or seven species of Acacia, at least
two species of Parkinsonia, and representatives of many other
genera of shrubs and smaller plants. Most of them are Mexi-
can forms.

Galactia heterophylla is common here, as might be sup-
posed from its soil-condition. This is a new station for the
species. Since my visit to Pearsall I have found this plant very
abundant in the vicinity of Beeville, also a hitherto unreported
station for it. The known range of the species may now be
given as extending from Llano County, on the north-eastward,
to the ninety-seventh meridian, and southward to the Rio
Grande, or near it. It still remains, so far as known, an ex-
clusively Texan plant.

At Pearsall we encounter Rhus microphylla, a respectable
and rather handsome Sumach, remarkable in the family for
its very small leaflets, of which the descriptive name is signifi-
cant. They are only about a half-inch long. The main rachis
is winged between the pairs of leaflets. Its red acid fruit has
a turpentine flavor. The species is innocuous. Mexicans call
it Correosa. We may call it Small-leaved Sumach. It ex-
tends far westward. Ephedra antisiphilitica is common here.
It is one of the few native species of the gymnospermous
order Gnetaceae. This shrub has a greenish Rush-like habit,
by which it may easily be distinguished, as well as by its pecu-
liar flowers and fruit. Its coarse, rather rigid, branches are
nearly leafless. Mexicans regard its medicinal properties as of
great value. It is a wonder that Mexicans ever die, as they
have one or more remedies for every disease. While at Pear-
sall a Mexican brought in one of the many plant " rattlesnake
masters." "It is plain to see," the old man said, " that this
plant must be a sure-enough cure for the bite of a rattlesnake.
You see that its leaves are spotted like a rattlesnake, and its
flower is like the open mouth of one, with its fangs raised, and
ready to strike." That is the old doctrine of " signatures " in-
tensified. It shows how little reliance can safely be placed
upon such asserted remedies.

Another celebrated Mexican remedy, used also by Ameri-
cans, in intermittents, and also as an astringent, is an infusion
or a decoction of the bark of Casteta Nicholsoni. This is a
handsome evergreen shrub, usually unarmed, but with the
tips of its branches sometimes spinose ; the narrowly oblong

leaves, whitened on the under surface, with recurved margins.
The small red flowers are succeeded by two to seven or more
rather large, oblong, red drupes, borne on spreading stems.
Usually, when the number of drupes is five or more, one is
borne in the centre of the ring, and raised so as to form a
conical cluster. The intensely bitter principle of the shrub re-
sides in the drupes as well as in the back. From a personal
trial of the drupes, the writer is not surprised that even an
American should refuse to shiver with chills when the penalty
for the act is to drink a strong infusion of the bark or of the
drupes of " Amargoso," as Mexicans call our plant. I saw only
one plant at Pearsall, but it is very common westward, extend-
ing into Mexico. Parthonium lyrata is abundant from about
this meridian westward. It is a much smaller plant than its
congener, P. hysterophorus, from small specimens of which it
may readily be distinguished by its lyrate leaves.

Along the Nueces River and westward grows Jatropha Ber-
landieri, a much smaller plant than J. stimulosa, with glau-
cous laciniate leaves and red flowers. What it lacks in size
above, it largely makes up below, ground in shgpe of a huge
turnip-like root. The plant is commonly known as "Wild
Turnip." "In fact," an old ranchman said to me, "it is a
regular turnip, though it does not look much like one." Hogs
are said to fatten on these turnips when they are abundant.
They are also sometimes roasted and eaten by men, but not
with much success where the experiment is tried on an exten-
sive scale. My informant, who has lived in south-west
Texas forty years, said that the turnips possess powerful
and dangerous cathartic properties. On two occasions
known to him during the war detachments of soldiers who
had encamped on the banks of the Nueces ate so freely of
these turnips, roasted, that they were detained several days in
consequence of their presumption.

There is no running water nearer Pearsall than Frio River,
six or more miles away. The bottoms along the river are
heavily timbered, for this region, with Elm, Oak, Hackberry,
Soapberry, Ash, and an occasional Cottonwood. The Ash
here, as at San Antonio, probably a form of Green Ash, has
some of its fruit three-winged.

Kansas City, Kansas. E. N. Plank.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

ALTHOUGH the enormous Agricultural Hall at Isling-
^ ton is not well adapted to the exhibition of plants,
nothing but praise can be given to the Royal Horticul-
tural Society and to the numerous exhibitors for the display
of flowers, fruits, plants and garden appliances held there
on four days during this week. While Roses, Gladioli and
fruit were the principal exhibits, there were many other
prominent features, as large groups of Ferns, Palms and
other foliage-plants arranged for effect, collections of cut
flowers of herbaceous plants and magnificent collections of
fruit-trees in pots, bearing heavy crops of large, well-
ripened fruits.

Compared with the summer exhibition held in the gar-
dens of the Inner Temple, the number of new and rare
plants shown at Agricultural Hall was exceptionally small.
It vuas not, however, intended that this exhibition should
be anything other than a big object-lesson in English hor-
ticulture for the edification of the enormous population on
the north side of London, which rarely, if ever, has an
opportunity of seeing the displays made in the West End.

Among the new and rare plants I noted the following as
worthy of special mention :

CoRNUs MACROPHVLLA vARiEGATA was shown by Messrs.
J. Veitch & Sons under the name of C. brachypoda varie-
gata, and was awarded a first-class certificate. It was in-
troduced by Maries from Japan about fifteen years ago, and
has proved hardy at the Coombe Wood nursery of Messrs.
Veitch. It is also hardy at Kew. The leaves are ovate-
lanceolate, acuminate at both ends, glaucous green, with
large patches and marginal creamy white variegation. It
is a handsome and apparently easily grown shrub, which
is certain to become a popular garden-plant. The type is
a variable species, and is a native of the Himalaya as of
China and Japan. According to C. B. Clarke, in the Flora
0/ British India, it forms an erect tree, forty feet high, with
horizontal branches, and ovate leaves six inches by three

394

Garden and Forest.

[Number 291.

inches, or even larger. He also states that C. alternifolia
of North America differs very little, if at all, from this.

PiCEA PUNGENS GLAUCA, the Blue Spruce of Colorado, was
represented by a group of beautiful examples about four
feet high, and colored perfectly, from the nursery of Mr. A.
Waterer, who possesses a large stock of this most orna-
mental conifer, which promises to be an exceptionally good
garden-plant. At Kew it grows well, which is saying a
g^eat deal in its favor, the poor gravelly soil and smoke in
winter being unfavorable to Piceas generally.

LiuuM Hexryi. — Although represented only by a plant
four feet high with a few flowers, this species was awarded
a tirst-class certificate. It is in flower still at Kew, some of
the plants being eight feet high, bearing twenty or more
flowers each. A new Lilium in the way of L. longiflorum,
but having narrower and more densely arranged pale green
leaves and hairy filaments, was shown by Messrs. Wallace,
of Colchester. It was suggested that it might prove to be
the L. myriophyllum of Franchet, one of the new Chinese
Lilies about which I wrote a short time ago.

Helianthus RiGiDus, var. Miss Melush, is a beautiful va-
riety of one of the most useful of all Sunflowers, the flowers
being nearly six inches across and of the clearest canary-
yellow color, with a well-formed purple-brown disk. It
obtained a certificate.

China Rose, Duke of York, a new variety shown by
Messrs. W. Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, is a pretty addi-
tion to this charming section of garden Roses. Its flowers
are small, fragrant, well formed, pink flushed with red, and
most attractive. The Tea Roses shown were excellent,
and as they are now becoming very popular in England
for summer-bedding, I noted the names of some of the
most effective. Several large beds, each devoted to one
kind of Tea Rose on the lawns at Kew, have been greatly
admired this summer. They flower constantly, much
more so than the hybrid perpetuals, and they are both
graceful and fragrant, as well as effective in color. Those
noted at the exhibition were Madame Lambard, Viscountess
Folkestone, Homer, Christine de None, Madame Eugene
Verdier, Corinna, Jules Finger, L'Ideal, Laurette Messing and
Marie Van Houtte. Cuttings of these are struck in autumn
and kept growing in a frame till May, when they are
planted out in beds of good soil, where they soon grow
into nice plants, flower profusely all summer and on
until the frost comes. The effect is much better when a
quantity of each kind are used to fill each bed than when
a mixture of sorts is planted.

Clerodendros trichotomum. — This old garden-plant forms
a large shrub or small tree out-of-doors in the south of
England, and flowers freely in autumn. The flowers are
in terminal clusters, white, with purplish calyces. It was
awarded a first-class certificate, presumably because it had
never been awarded one before. It is not as effective
a plant as C. fcetidum, which is also hardy in England, but
dies down to the ground in winter. Both species are Japa-
nese. [Clerodendron trichotomum attains a large size in
Washington, where it is perfectly hardy, and it may live
farther north, as it is a native of Yezo, where the winter
cold is nearly as severe as it is in New England. — Ed.]

Weigela Eva Ratke, shown by Mr. A. Waterer, is a bright
crimson-flowered variety, very free, and, according to Mr.
Waterer, a perpetual bloomer. It is certainly the best of
the dark red varieties, and it appears to flower at a late sea-
son, long after the others are over. A first-class certificate
was awarded to it

Agave Leopoldii II. — This is said to be a hybrid between
A. schidigera and A. filifera, and was raised by Mr. W. B.
Kellock, who showed a plant of it, which was awarded a
first-class certificate. It has rigid ensiform leaves eighteen
inches long and half an inch wide, the margins clothed
with long white ribbon-like filaments. It is very similar to
A. Taylori, which was raised by a Mr. Taylor, of High-
gate, and was distributed by Mr. B. S. Williams in 1874.
There is a good plant of it in the Kew collection. Its parents
were A. geminiflora (Bonapartea juncea) and A. filamen-

tosa, a variety of A. filifera. I am a litttle skeptical in re-
gard to the parentage of A. Leopoldii II., which has much
narrower leaves and is otherwise different from both A. fili-
fera and A. schidigera. It is certainly a beautiful Agave.

New Orchids. — These were few in number and not par-
ticularly striking in character. Habenaria carnea, figured
in Garden and Forest in vol. iv., p. 487, obtained a first-class
certificate, the plant shown by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. be-
ing ten inches high and bearing seven good flowers. Cypri-
pedium Edwardii, a hybrid between C. Faerrianum and C
superbiens, and C. Sander-superbiens, a hybrid between
C. Sanderianum and C. superbiens, both obtained awards,
though it would be difficult to say why, unless for the rea-
son that they are hybrids. v-EridesBallantineanum aureum,
a yellow tinted variety, also obtained a certificate.

ExAciM macranthvm, the beautiful gentinaceous plant
from the Ceylon hills, was shown in fine condition by Sir
Trevor Lawrence and obtained a certificate. Dahlias,
Gladioli, Carnations and a few other plants were awarded
certificates. The Gladioli from Messrs. Kelway, of Lang-
port, and from Messrs. Burrell & Co., of Cambridge, were
excellent. Nothing at the exhibition bore stronger testi-
mony to the skill of the breeder and cultivator than these
really wonderful Gladioli. ,,, .„

London. ry. WaiSOtt.

New or Little-known Plants.

Hydrangea vestita, var. pubescens.

WE have more than once spoken of the value in our
northern gardens of this hardy shrub, and on page
17 of volume iii. a figure of a flowering branch of life-size
was published. In the present issue we have reproduced
a photograph of a plant in Mr. Olmsted's garden in Brook-
line, Massachusetts, made by Mr. F. L. Olmsted, Jr. It
well shows the habit and the free-flowering quality of this
useful plant, which is the most beautiful of all the Hydran-
geas which are absolutely hardy in New England, and the
earliest of all the species to flower in this climate.

Hydrangea vestita, var. pubescens, is a shrub four or five
feet high, with slender branches which form a dense broad
mass six or eight feet in diameter, ample pale green ovate
leaves acute at both ends, and large flat cymes of flowers
five or six inches across. The ray-flowers are numerous,
an inch or more in diameter, and are at first pure white ; in
fading they turn rose-color, and, although they begin to
open toward the end of June, remain quite fresh on the
branches until November.

Hydrangea vestita, var. pubescens, is a native of north-
ern China and Manchuria, and was one of a remarkable
collection of trees and shrubs raised several years ago in
the Arnold Arboretum from seed sent from Pekin by Dr.
Bretschneider, the learned botanist and physician for many
years attached to the Russian Legation in China.

I

Cultural Department.

Timely Hints on Lilies.

T is only too true that in this climate one is never quite
ready for frost, no matter how late it defers its first visit.
In our section it is never safe to leave tender plants out after
September has come round. This season frost visited this
town the first week of the month, though tliis is unusually
early. The bulb season has arrived, and no time should be
lost in obtaining tliose necessary for outdoor planting wliile
there is natural warmth in the soil ; there is nothing gained by
delay, and much is lost, for the sooner the bulbs are planted
the more growth they make before frost comes, and the better
display they are able to make next season. This especially ap-
plies to the Lily family. Lilium speciosum and other Japan
Lilies do not arrive here until after it is too late to plant in the
open ground, hence the advisability of obtaining good Ameri-
can-grown bulbs of such kinds as thrive well in this climate.
L. auratum, L. Harrisii and L. longiflorum are best obtained,
as newly imported bulbs, especially L. auratum, while L. tigri-
num, L. Batemannaj and all the varieties of L. speciosum grow

September 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

395

so well here in the open ground that they are easily kept over
by dealers, and can be supplied in g-ood strong bulbs at this
season. The European Lilies come in at this season from the
Dutch growers, and should be planted without delay, whether
for the planting of new bulbs or the separation of old clumps.
Lilies make considerable roots in the autumn from the base of
the bulbs. These roots go to strengthen the shoot that comes
forth next spring, and the stem, when well started, puts forth
roots to support the flowers, so it is obvious that the more
roots in the fall the better the growth next year.

It has always been my opinion that L. auratum could not be
grown on year after year with its native vigor maintained, and
this had been stated in the columns of Garden and Forest,
when a correspondent sent me bulbs of a variety called L.
auratum macranthum, which he said were perfectly easy to
grow on year after year. This kind is also known as the va-
riety Platyphyllum, owing to its broader leaves more resem-
bling the Speciosum section, as do the bulbs themselves, and
it is a pleasure to be able to state of this variety that it is a
most satisfactory Lily in every respect, especially the flowers
themselves. Importers of Japan bulbs would do well to make
a note of this variety, for I do not know of any place where it
can be procured in this country. Mr. Brydon's great success
with L. giganteum will, no doubt, encourage many to try this
noble Lily, and I would warn all such to be careful and not pay
high prices for bulbs of this species unless they are guaranteed
true. I know of an instance where the commoner L. cordifo-
lium was supplied last season, though the large price paid
ought to have guaranteed the purchaser against any mistake,
whether intentional or not. L. giganteum being a Himalayan
Lily, is best obtained from European dealers. Dutch bulb-
growers catalogue it, but I question if any growers here have
it to sell. It is true that the flowers are of small size in com-
parison to the stature of the plant, but I know of no garden-
plant that has such a distinguished appearance when seen as it
was at Yarmouthport this season.

None the less remarkable were the fine stalks Lilium Walli-
chianum superbum was throwing up, for they surpassed all
others I had seen for vigor, and promised great beauty
later in the season. Mr. Brydon assures us of its hardiness,
and also of the fact of its producing small bulbs in the axils of
the leaves, like L. tigrinum, and he showed us some in boxes
that were flowering when two years old. There is a great
future for this fine Lily, judging from the way it is behaving
in every place where I have seen it, though its height is against
it for pot-culture.

One thing this season has taught us, with considerable em-
phasis, is that Lilies must be sure of moisture at the roots at
all times ; there is no difficulty about this in moist localities,
except during a dry time in summer — just when they need
water most ; hence many failures. As I have tried to explain,
there is no period of the year when the roots of Lilies are in-
active, for as soon as the stalk begins to decay the new roots
begin to push forth from the base of the bulbs to fortify them
for the work of another season. Lily-stalks should never be
pulled out, no matter how well ripened, or water will be con-
ducted direct to the heart of the bulb and trouble will begin
at once.

In planting Lilies, and, in fact, all other bulbs, the manure
used should never come in contact with the bulbs, but they
should be covered first with soil and the manure should be put
on afterward. The older this is the better ; decayed leaf-soil is
the more suitable, if free from fungus, but Lilies like a rich
soil. The old idea was, never to give Lilies manure or man-
ure-water, but this theory must be considered obsolete. One
of the largest growers of L. Harrisii in Bermuda told me that
no farmer there would willingly grow a second crop of Lilies —
it impoverished the soil more than any other crop, a fact which
Lily-growers here should bear in mind.

South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet.

Tuberous Begonias.

"ViriTH cool days and nights these plants are in perfect char-
*" acter, standing up stiffly without the look of languor
which characterizes them in hot days. The hybrid Begonias,
having long since reached and, in fact, passed a desirable limit
of size, the florists have turned their attention in other direc-
tions. One of the most attractive new breaks is that of varie-
gated petals, instead of pure selfs, to which we have been
accustomed. Messrs. Vilmorin introduced this year a new
strain under name of B. oculis alba. The flowers prove very
handsome ; the petals are more or less deeply margined with
color, fading to white at the base or centre of flower. This
strain is well fixed, the coloring coming true from seed. The

plants are of good habit, with erect flowers. From Lemoine
we have the first crosses with B. Baumanni, the species
with scented flowers. B. Excelsior is a cross with B. Veitchii,
the modification being principally in the rich coloring of the
latter variety. The perfume of B. Baumanni does not seem
to be appreciable in my specimen of the cross.

The greatest improvement that could be made in tuberous
Begfonias does not consist in either new form, new colorings
or m modified size. These we have in sufficiently great va-
riety. One desirable trait they almost entirely lack, and until
this is infused into them they will never take a place as entirely
satisfactory plants. No one will gainsay the beauty of a good
strain of these flowers, perfectly pure in color, with soft tints
and a pleasing variation of forms. The plants are easily
grown into nice specimens, and for a show of color in a green-
house they almost vie with the Azaleas. Their bad trait is the
tendency to drop their blooms, sometimes even without care-
less treatment. As cut flowers they are quite useless, except
for shallow-dish arrangements. Flowers of such habit, though
beautiful for conservatory adornment, can never be rated with
those favorites which are more stable and furnish useful sprays
for the house. Gardeners generally are practical men, and as
their services are usually rated by the amount of good flowers
they can furnish for decoration, they are not given, for any
length of time, to cultivate largely the less useful flowers, even
if these are showy. If something of the character of B. Soco-
trana could be infused into the summer-flowering hybrids it
seems as if they would rate among the most valuable of sum-
mer-flowering plants for all purposes.
Elizabeth, N. J. J. N. Gerard.

Rock-garden and Border.

'yHE ROCK-GARDEN, at its best in the spring, has yet many

-•• plants in bloom. The Heliotrope-scented Primula capitata
has been more or less in flower all summer. A year ago
last spring we planted a patch of it on the base of a north-
ern slope. All that the summer's sun reachfed died ; only
those plants quite shielded lived through the winter. In this
way we have been able to estabhsh the lovely Ramondia Pyre-
naica, a plant hard to establish in the more genial climate of
Great Britain. Some twenty-five plants of R. Pyrenaica passed
safely through last winter, and are now firmly established on
the side of a declivity facing north and immediately below a
large rock which entirely shields them from the sun's rays.
Another plant which surprised me this spring, by coming out
in a more thrifty condition than it ever grew in a greenhouse,
is the beautiful silvery leaved Japanese Asplenium Goringea-
num. It is a fact that plants without number are hardy only in
the sense that they will endure an extremely low temperature
better than an extremely high temperature.

Campanula Carpathica is still in bloom, while Heucherasan-
guinea lingers on. Such plants as these are treasures in the
rock-garden, since they are never unsightly. Sedum specta-
bile is just unfolding its pink blossoms. Calceolaria scabiosiae-
folia, a neat little annual, can be very effectively used for cover-
ing an odd bare spot, and so, also, a new dwarf yellow
Toadflax, Linaria Dalmatica. A few of the Cyclops Pinks con-
tinue to flower. These come in nicely for cutting. CEnothera
Missouriensis, with gorgeous yellow flowers, is altogether
out of proportion to the stature of the plant. It is low-grow-
ing, rather trailing, with fleshy roots, and is a very satisfac-
tory plant to grow, not at any time looking shabby. Cut-
tings strike quite easily, and seeds germinate with equal
facility. Ruellia cilioga, a dwarf member of the Acanthaceae,
from Texas, is an excellent plant for covering dry sandy banks
in the full sun. Its delicate lavender-blue flowers are produced
from the axils of the leaves from spring until autumn.

Along the borders a few stray Delphinium-blooms give
here and there a touch of blue, in pleasing contrast with
golden Sunflowers and pink Phloxes. Clematis tubulosa, a
very handsome deciduous sub-shrub from China, should be
better known. The petals being connate, the flowers appear
tubular, and are about an inch long, with recurved limbs ;
they are deep blue, and borne in clusters in the axils of the
leaves. C. tubulosa blooms from midsummer until late au-
tumn. Its handsome, dark, shining foliage and neat habit
make it a desirable plant for lawns along the edge of shrub-
beries. Nearly allied to this is C. Davidiana, with sweet-
scented porcelain-blue flowers.

Among the multitude of autumn-blooming Asters few are
as showy as A. Bessarabicus. The flowers are large, lavender-
blue, with a yellow disk. Being of dwarf stature it is a more
desirable border-plant than our handsome New England Aster,
whose proper place seems to be in the wild garden. A. ptar-

30

Garden and Forest.

[Number 291.

September 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

397

micoides, nearly allied to our pretty little A. ericoides, is
another desirable kind, and sprays of this make up very neatly
in bouquets. Veronica longifolia, var. subsessilis, a late-
blooming Speedwell, deserves to be more generally cultivated.
Its long, handsome spikes are an intense blue, exceeding in
lustre any known variety. Chelone Lyoni, though not really
handsome, is an effective border-plant. It is an ally of the
Pentstemons. The upper limb of the corolla being extended
obliquely over the mouth gives it the appearance of being
closed. The flowers are pink and carried in clusters near the
tops of the stems, which, in moist soils, grow to the height of
four feet. Naturally a plant for moist situations, it is a fit com-
panion for the Cardinal-flower along the margin of a lake or
pond. The handsome Galtonia candicans can be recom-
mended as a thoroughly hardy plant in proper situations.
High and dry in a bed of Ghent Azaleas it has been killed sev-
eral winters, while it has survived in the Rhodendron bed,
which is moist at all times and really wet in winter. It is now
fully six feet tall. It is of easy culture ; seeds sown in spring
germinate as readily as Onion-seeds and bloom the second
year. The lovely Japanese Funkia subcordata is handsome.
Here in Massachusetts it does not start into growth early
enough to be injured by spring frosts, as often happens farther
south. The complaint comes from Virginia that it is likely to
sun-burn in that climate. Their handsome flowers rival in
beauty and fragrance those of the Eucharis. To-day I made
up a most effective basket of these flowers, with a few Grasses
and Maiden-hair Fern. Japanese Anemones are also too rarely
seen. Every year I grow a number of specimen plants for
piazza decoration, and their chaste beauty never fails to draw
forth praise from the true lover of plants. After Sunflowers,
which usually wind up the season gorgeously, we shall pick a
few blooms of Violets, which have never left us since early

spnng.

Wellesley, Mass.

r. D. Hatfield.

Some Greenhouse Plants.

A New Abutilon. — Among the novelties still uncommon
is variegated Abutilon, introduced by a French firm under the
name Souvenir de Bonne. This variety somewhat resembles
A. Thompsonii in habit, though apparently more slender in
growth. The leaves are about the same size, of a dark green
color, with a broad and irregular margin of white. A. Souve-
nir de Bonne flowers quite freely, and if the variegation stands
exposure to the full sunshine, it will doubtless prove a valua-
ble plant for summer bedding and for conservatory decoration.

DraC/ENA Sanderi. — Another novelty of European origin is
being disseminated under the name of Dracaena Sanderi, but
this title is possibly incorrect, for the plant resembles a Cordy-
line rather than a Dracaena. It is of moderate growth, and has
narrow leaves, with a tendency to recurve ; tne color is light
green in the centre of the leaf, with a margin of white. The
plant may be increased readily from cuttings, and, so far as
can be judged from a short acquaintance, it is likely to be a
useful variety for indoor use at least.

SWAINSONA GALEGIFOLIA.— The white-floweVed variety of
this species is a handsome plant, and its flowers, while not
a novelty, are uncommon and not generally known, as ap-
peared when they were used as cut flowers by florists last
winter. The Swainsonas are chiefly Australian plants, and en-
joy greenhouse treatment — that is, a temperature of about fifty
degrees at night. The most satisfactory method of growing
the variety Albiflora is to plant it out in a bed of good light
loam in the conservatory, where it will produce an abundance
of long racemes of pure white pea-shaped blossoms during
the winter and spring. From its semi-scandent habit this
plant requires some support — a strong stake or two, or, bet-
ter still, to be tied to a pillar, if such is available. Cuttings root
readily in spring if made from young wood and kept mod-
erately close for a time.

Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. TapHn.

Clematis paniculata. — The first flowers of this Clematis opened
August 27th, a week later than usual, and the flowers will
be at their best about the 15th of September. It is surprising
that such a magnificent climber should so long have remained
comparatively unknown, forC. paniculata was introduced into
English gardens more than a century ago. In a sunless au-
tumn in England the growth rarely hardens enough to set the
flower-buds in time to open, and it seldom blooms in that
country. For many years plants were in possession of the
Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, under the
name of C. robusta, and of Messrs. Woolson & Co., Passaic,
New Jersey, under the name of C. paniculata, a name which

is now accepted. Nothing-, however, seems to have been done
toward increasing and distributing the plant until Mr. Orpet,
then with Woolson & Co., succeeded in grafting it upon stocks
of C. Virginiana and C. Stans. It is a Japanese plant, and was
naturally supposed to be tender, the precaution being taken
at the Arboretum to protect every winter the vines, which
when exposed were frequently injured. The plants at the
Passaic Nursery were more or less injured every winter, al-
though protected by considerable natural shelter. Seeds sown
in the autumn and wintered over in a frame or cool green-
house, commence to germinate in spring, rather sparsely at
first, but in larger numbers as the season advances. By this
method thousands are raised annually, and, being acclimatized
as seedlings, they are more vigorous, longer-lived, and make
far better plants. Our plants are now six years old, with
a girth of stem at the base of nearly five inches, and each
plant covers over two hundred square feet. With us, however,
their growing area is limited. At the Eastman Cottage, belong-
ing to the Wellesley College, a plant was photographed last
year which covered nearly the whole of one side of a gable
roof and more than four hundred square feet, besides being
trained around the porches on the first story. The myriads of
white star-shaped flowers, an inch or more in diameter, are
produced in such abundance as almost to hide the foliage, and
they have a delicious Hawthorn fragrance. The flowers are
succeeded later by an effective mass of red seeds, surmounted
by a gray pappus.
Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

Hardy Annuals. — Many of these can be treated as biennials
if sown now in a sheltered spot or in any vacant places
along the herbaceous border that may need filling. I always
make a sowing of Alyssum, Eschscholtzia, Calliopsis, Cen-
taurea Cyanus, Mignonette, and many others that are usually
sown in spring. The only drawback to this plan is that they
are apt to be forgotten when the borders are spaded up.
Those I sow in the herbaceous border are <;6vered with a
thin coating of well-rotted manure, as are all the other plants.
This is not disturbed until everything has commenced grow-
ing, when there is no danger of turning them over. The
manure is not raked off, but carefully forked in around the
plants late in spring. Such plants as Petunia, Portulacca,
Larkspur, Poppy, Aquilegia, Candytuft and Dianthus can be
left to take care of themselves, for, if allowed to ripen their
seeds, they will sow themselves and come up the following
summer, when they can be thinned out, and allowed to fill the
same places again. It is not too late to sow some of the hardier
biennials. They will start growing in spring as early as any of
the weeds begin to show, and be much more hardy than if
sown in spring. The same is true of some vegetables. New
Zealand Spinach, for example, rarely vegetates if sown in
spring ; for many years I have sown it at the end of October,
and it always comes up as soon as the soil gets warm the fol-
lowing summer.
West New Brighton. N. V. Samuel Hcnshaw.

Correspondence.
How to Identify Certain Conifers and Oaks.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Will you be good enough to point out the differences
between Chamaecyparis and Thuya, so that they can be recog-
nized by one not an expert botanist ? Are Chamaecyparis
sphaeroidea and Thuya occidentalis found in the same habitat ?
Does the former grow wild in Wisconsin ?

Will you also perform the same service respecting the Black
Oaks, Quercus coccinea, Q. rubra and Q. tinctoria .' How can
they be distinguished from each other ? ^,, ^ ,. ,

Whitewater, wil! Albert Salisbury.

[Chamaecyparis and Thuya resemble each other so closely
in most important botanical characters that by some bot-
anists the two genera are united, although American authors
have generally maintained the two distinct. In Chamaecy-
paris there are only one, or occasionally two, narrow-
winged seeds under each scale of the little cone, while in
Thuya the scales of the larger cone bear two seeds sur-
rounded by broad wings. The stouter branchlets, the
broader bright green leaves and larger cones well distin-
guish Thuya occidentalis from Chamaecyparis sphasroidea,
or, as it is more correctly called, Chamaecyparis thuyoides,
which is of a dark blue-green color and remarkable in its
very slender branchlets. The two species probably rarely

398

Garden and Forest.

[N'JMBER 291.

grow together h\ the same region. The Chamfecyparis is
a more southern tree, ranging from the coast of southern
Maine to Florida and Mississippi, and is never found grow-
ing naturally very far from the Atlantic seaboard, while
Thuya occidentalis is more northern, ranging westward in
the United States to northern Minnesota, and is only found
in the southern states on the high Alleghany Mountains,
which it follows southward from Pennsylvania.

Nothing but long experience in the woods will enable a
person to distinguish the Red Oak, the Scarlet Oak and the
Black Oak at a glance, although when their botanical charac-
ters are known they are not difficult to recognize, especially
the first The bark of the Red Oak is gray or light brown in
color and rather smooth, especially that of the main
branches ; the leaves are thin, usually deeply pinnatifid
with acuminate coarsely-toothed lobes ; when they unfold
they are smooth and lustrous on the upper surface, and
coated on the lower, like the young branchlets, with pale
scurfy pubescence ; very late in the autumn, after severe
frosts, they turn bright red. The fruit is distinct from that
of any of our other Oaks ; the acorn is oblong or ellip-
soidal, often an inch long, and surrounded at the base only
by a broad, shallow, saucer-shaped cup ; once seen it can-
not be mistaken for the fruit of any other American Oak.
The Red Oak is the most northern in its range of all the
Oaks of eastern America.

The Scarlet Oak may be distinguished by its dark, usually
smooth, bark ; by the leaves, which are thin, smooth,
shining and glabrous, even when they first unfold, and
which in the autumn turn to the brightest scarlet, and by
the coarse, usually loose, scales which cover the deep top-
shaped cup. The acorn is less than half the size of that of
the Red Oak, and is narrower and more pointed. The
looseness of the scales of the cup, although often apparent,
is not a very reliable character, and the fruit of the Scarlet
Oak is often difficult to distinguish from that of the Black
Oak, especially as it grows in some of the western states.
This tree can be distinguished from the Scarlet Oak by the
thicker, darker and more deeply furrowed bark, and by ex-
amining the inner bark, which is bright orange color, and
which affords a certain character to distinguish it from our
other Oaks. It is also easily recognized in early spring by
the bright scarlet color of the upper surface of the very
young leaves, which, when they are about a quarter
grown, lose this color and appear grayish white from the
presence of the thick tomentum which covers them ; when
fully grown they are lustrous, and are sometimes almost
entire, or are divided by shallow sinuses into broad lobes,
or often are as deeply divided as those of the Scarlet Oak,
when they are hardly to be distinguished from the leaves
of that tree except by the small clusters of rusty brown
hairs found on the lower surface in the axils of the princi-
pal veins. These tufts of hairs, so far as we have been
able to observe, are always found on the leaves of the
Black Oak, which in their shape are more variable and per-
plexing than those of any other Oaks. In the autumn the
difference between the Black and the Scarlet Oaks is easy to
recognize, as the leaves of the Black Oak turn very late to
a rusty brown color, and assume none of the brilliant tints
of the Scarlet Oak. The Red Oak grows usually in strong,
rich, rather moist soil ; the Scarlet Oak on dry sandy plains
in poor, sterile soil, and the Black Oak generally on equally
sterile, but rather heavier, soil. The three, however,
can often be found growing side by side, and natural hy-
brids between them are probably common. — Ed.]

Heating Ponds for Water-lilies.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Your readers may be interested to learn of the perfect
success of my plan for heating, as described on page 515,
vol. V. My pond is forty-two feet in diameter and four and a
half feet deep in the centre, running to two feet at the edge.
The pipes (galvanized iron) are laid on the bottom in increas-
ing circles like a clock-spring. The circles being twelve, six-
teen, twenty-two, thirty and thirty-eight feet in diameter. One-

inch pipe was used for the first two circles, then three-quar-
ter inch for the next, two and a half-inch for the last, with a
piece of half-inch pipe coming to an overtiow near the
surface, and a valve to control the discharge of condensed
steam. With this valve the temperature of the pond can be
regulated. The supply of steam comes from a large boiler
300 feet distant, and the pipe is laid in a brick conduit under
ground, and loss of heat is lessened by using a good non-con-
ducting material around the pipe. The pipe enters the pond
through a two-inch galvanized pipe, built tightly into the side,
and on the inner end is a brass stuffing-box through which the
steam pipe passes, a short piece of brass pipe being used here
on account of non-corrosion and smoothness. This arrange-
ment allows for expansion and prevents any leakage of water.
I have taken space to describe the manner of piping, for if a
steam-pipe were built in a wall without any opportunity for ex-
pansion the result would be a very bad leak at that point. In
the early days of a Lily-pond it is important to keep the tem-
perature as high as eighty-five degrees, but later, after the
plants begin to flower, a little heat at night and on cold windy
days will suffice. In my pond this year we have Nymphasa
rubra, N. gigantea, N. Sturtevanti, N. Devoniensis, N. den-
tata, N. alba candidissima, N. Zanzibarensis, N. Marliacea
chromatella, N. albida, N. Caroliniana and N. Laydekeri rosea.
All have flowered wonderfully, except N. Sturtevanti, and I
wish some of your readers could tell me how to make it flower
freely. I have had but two blossoms as yet, but they were
noble specimens.

Northampton, Mass. IV. W. Lee.

The Columbian Exposition.

Stone-fruits.

■pEACHES, plums and nectarines comprise the stone-fruits
^ on exhibition at the World's Fair the middle of September.
In peaches, Illinois now leads both in extent and variety. The
peach-growing area of the state comprises its southern half,
and the peaches upon the shelves are largely those which close
the peach season in Michigan and New York. Illinois and
Kentucky are showing varieties of similar type and season.
These Illinois peaches are chiefly Smock, with many speci-
mens of Stevens' Rareripe, Old Mixon, Heath Free, Silver
Medal, Yellow Stump, Late Crawford, Chair's Choice, Texas
Ranger, Heath Cling ; some plates of Elberta still persist.
Many of these are varieties practically unknown in the north-
ern peach areas. Among late peaches from Kentucky are
Sol way. Fox's Seedling, Stump, Ward's Late and White Heath.
Michigan has filled her tables with a good lot of fruit, and that
from the fruit region, in Oceana County, is especially interest-
ing. This northern region, on Septemtier 13th, was showing
Early Michigan, which comes in between Hale and Early
Crawford, a white freestone, of much better quality than Hale.
There is some discussion as to the difference between this and
Lewis, but most growers consider the two to be distinct.
Among other differences the Early Michigan has globose leaf-
glands, while the Lewis has reniform glands. Foster and Early
Crawford are among the peaches from northern Michigan.
From southern Michigan the chief varieties now on exhibition
are Kalamazoo, a magnificent yellow peach coming in just
after Early Crawford, Snow's Orange, Barnard, and there are
still a few late specimens of Mountain Rose. Some seed-
lings from Hale, grown by C. Engle, of Paw Paw, attract atten-
tion from their peculiar mottling, which suggests a nectarine.
They are freestones and are superior to their parent. New
York shows Ackley, a white freestone coming in with
Crawford, Foster and the Brigden or Garfield. Iowa will
show peaches later on, and now has a few interesting plates
of the Bokara peach, which is said to be hardier than the Ben
Davis apple. The fruits are somewhat variable, tending to be
longish, with a distinct point, and are as large as Hale. The
flesh is white and sweet and the pit is free. Missouri has three
late varieties from Oregon County, Picquett's Late, a peach of
the Late Crawford type ; Wilkins, a large white freestone, and
Crimson Beauty, a large late white cling ; Henrietta, the latest
commercial peach of Missouri, is not yet shown. The leading
variety upon the Nebraska tables is Stump. Colorado has
Stump, Old Mixon, Crawford, Lord Palmerston, Family Favor-
ite and others, all remarkable for good size and color. Kan-
sas shows Hoppen Free, a large new white variety, coming in
ahead of Crawford and promising well; Old Mixon, Smock
and a number of promising seedlings. South Dakota has
peaches in the Stale Building, from trees which are laid down
in winter. Canada is showing a good lot of peaches from On-
tario, and the Early Crawford is the leading variety.

September 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

399

The reg^ion of large fruits seems to begin with Idaho, and to
inchule Oregon, Washington and CaHfornia. These states
have not made much attempt to sliow peaches, on account
of the distance, but plates of enormous specimens are on ex-
hibition. Lemon Cling is shown from Idaho. Oregon and
California both show the Orange Cling, which is the largest
and handsomest peach on exhibition. In Oregon this fruit is

t known as Oregon Cling.
California now has an interesting collection of nectarines,
comprising eleven varieties, from the veteran grower, John
Rock, of San Jose. The most attractive of these are Darwin,
Claremont, Golden and Downton. Nectarines have been
shown from other parts of the state for several weeks.
Plums, however, comprise by far the most varied and at-
tractive exhibits of stone-fruits. They stand shipment and keep
well upon the tables, and nearly every state finds varieties
which it can grow. Peaches pass from the shelves quickly,
and a state which has a good collection one day may have
few or none the day following. But the peach displays have been
good, notwithstanding, and especially in view of the extreme
drought. The peach does not appear to be modified greatly
in shape by the different climates, although there is a tendency
for the Pacific fruits to develop a very prominent or even pro-
longed tip. Other fruits from the Pacific slope show this ten-
dency to elongate in a very marked degree. This is true of
the plums. The preponderance of rounded and soft-fleshed
plums is observed in all the collections from the east, and even
as far west as Colorado, but once over the mountains into
Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California, the long and hard
prune-like types appear. The eastern fruits excel in table
qualities, but they lack the size and shipping qualities of those
from the west. In the collections from the eastern states, the
plates from Oceana County, in the Michigan exhibit, are most
interesting. They come from one of the newest and most
promising fruit-regions of the east, and, contrary to general
experience in Plum-culture, they thrive upon gravelly soils.
The Oceana varieties now on display are Quackenbos, Guii,
Pond, Lombard, Smith's Orleans, Yellow Egg, General Hand,
Union Purple, and others of similar type. It is evident, from
a general study of the plum exhibits, that Lombard is more
commonly grown in the east than any other variety. Consid-
ering the poor quality of this plum, this popularity is to be re-
gretted ; and although the tree bears well, the fruit is very lia-
ble to rot.

One of the novel features of the plum exhibit is the large va-
riety of native plums now shown by the states of the Upper
Mississippi basin. As one sees these plums beside varieties
of Prunus domestica grown in the same regions, he is ready
to confess that these natives are destined to play a very large
part in the pomological development of much of our interior
country. Something like fifty varieties have now been shown,
mostly of the Prunus Americana type, although the Miner, or
northern type of Prunus hortulana, is well represented. Iowa
has a large collection, among which the leading varieties are
Waif, Miner, Wyant, Hawkeye, Pottawattamie and Galena. In
the Minnesota section many varieties are shown, all conspicu-
ous for the beauty of their coloring. Here leading sorts are
Forest Garden, Early Sweet, De Soto, Harrison's Peach. South
Dakota has a large and varied collection, among which Barns-
beck, a new seedling Americana, is conspicuous.

The Japanese plums have made some impression upon the
fruit displays, especially the Kelsey, which is now shown In
enormous specimens from California. Ogon and Abundance
were sent from several localities earlier in the season, and a
few other varieties appeared. I should not forget to say that
Prunus Simoni has been sent in from a wide range of coun-
try— from Canada to Oregon. Although this fruit is often very
bitter and acerb, most of the specimens on exhibition have
been nearly free from these qualities, and enormous and
bright-colored samples from Oregon are positively delicious.
I have tested good fruits from Canada, New York, Colorado
and Nebraska, while some samples from Iowa were bitter, dif-
ferences for which I cannot account.

BREVITIES.

Vegetable exhibits continue to be very few. This is a branch
of horticulture which seems to have been neglected on all
sides. The only attempt to grow a garden vegetable upon the
Fairgrounds, so far as we have been able to learn, is a few
vines of the new Japanese Climbing Cucumber, shown in the
German section upon the island. Canada still maintains the
early display of last year's vegetables, and fresh ones are now
coming in freely. Those from the new north-west territories
naturally attract the most attention. New York has had the
most varied and most interesting display throughout the Fair.

It is supplied by the State Experiment Station at Geneva,
which certainly deserves great praise for its continued supplies
of vegetables and fruits. It should be said that a statement
made in this correspondence last June, that New York
state gave the station a specific appropriation to enable it to
make this display, was an error. The appropriation was not
made. When the Fair closes the station will have contributed
about five hundred species and varieties of vegetables to the
state display. Michigan is now making a good show of vege-
tables, and New Jersey still has a remnant of potatoes and
beans.

The best display of bloom now under glass is the Griffin
strain of Tuberous Begonias, shown in the Lord & Burnham
greenhouses, by the New York Florists' Club. The flowers are
uncommonly large and bright, and they comprise a great va-
riety of colors. In the same series of houses is a Rosecompart-
ment, in which are now growing the following new varieties :
Senator McNaughton, exhibited by Robert Craig, a deli-
cate creamy-white sport of Perle des Jardins ; Kaiserin Au-
gusta Victoria and Madame Caroline Testout, by Ernst Asm us ;
and two benches of Mrs. W. C. Whitney, by John N. May.
Another offshoot of the Lord & Burnham houses has an ex-
cellent small collection of Ferns and Orchids from Frederick
Sholes. The main house of the series has a tank in which
various rare Nymphasas and Victoria regia are growing. This
house has an excellent lot of Crotons from the Jay Gould
estate and from William Bayard Cutting. There is also a good
plant each of Aristolochia ornithocephala and A. Sturte-
vantii, the former in abundant bloom. These various collec-
tions are made under the auspices of the New York Florists'
Club.

The third display of cut or seasonal flowers is now showing
by the New York Florists' Club in the Horticultural Building.
The display comprises twelve flats of Lily-of-the-valley from
Ernst Asmus. 'The flats are about sixteen by twenty-four
inches, and each one contains about 150 plants, all in full
bloom. The first flower-show by the club comprised Gladioli,
from C. H. Allen, during the meeting of the Society of Ameri-
can Florists. On New York Day, September 4th, a good col-
lection of Meteor Roses, from F. R. Pierson & Co., was put on
the table. A show of Carnations is booked for October, with
Chrysanthemums for a closing effort. It is hoped, also, that
another Gladiolus display may be secured, although recent
storms have seriously injured the plants in the east.

The kaki, or Japanese persimmon, is now attracting much
attention. Several varieties are shown by Mr. P. J. Berck-
mans, who also has pomegranates and enormous Kieffer
pears. The kakis shown are named Hiyakume, Yiami-Gafa,
Among, Die-Die-Maru, Ko-tsura, Togarii-Gata, Yedo-Ichi,
Myotan, Zengi, Hachega, Masu-Gata, Kerro-kume and
Tsuru-noko. Some of these are now ripe, while the last two
named are still very green, showing that this fruit covers a
long season. The differences in color, shape and size in the
varieties on exhibition indicate that there is sufficient variation
in the fruit to adapt it to many uses and demands.

The most notable plant in flower during the first and
second weeks in September is a magnificent specimen of Fur-
crsea gigantea, better known as Fourcroya, which stands in an
immense vase on the lawn in front of the New York State
Building. The flower-stalk is over thirty feet high, and throws
out a large, light, symmetrical panicle of drooping creamy
flowers. The bottom of the plant is as good as the top, the
long yellow-bordered leaves being numerous and per-
fect and symmetrically disposed. The plant belongs to
Siebrecht & Wadley, and was brought from their Trinidad
nurseries.

September 9th was California Day, and the California people
gave away about six car-loads of fruit. A large platform was
erected in front of the State Building, upon which peaches,
grapes, plums, pears and oranges were piled in profusion, and
were given without stint to the crowds. California has from
the first shown a liberality in her displays at the Fair which
should put many of the older states to shame.

Probably the finest single display of Cannas is that just now
in its prime about the Pennsylvania State Building. A heavy
belt of Madame Crozy, shown by Robert Craig, stands against
the long circular porch ; the plants are very free in bloom and
perfect in form and color. None of the new Cannas seem to
be equal to this variety for all purposes.

Chicago, III. L. H. Bailey.

400

Garden and Forest.

[Number 291.

Notes.

A Date Palm in Laredo, Texas, has on it nearly a bushel of
dates. It is sjiid to be the first instance of Date Palms bearing
fruit in that section.

A hybrid has been procured between Azalea mollis and A.
viscosa which preserves the agreeable fragrance of our native
plant with the bright colors of its Asiatic parent. A new race
of sweet-scented Azaleas would be a desirable addition to
garden-plants.

A beautiful adornment for any room is a great branch cov-
ered with forest-leaves, set in a high vase. Such an orna-
ment is within reach of all country dwellers, even those who
have no gardens of their own. Cut freely and allowed to lie
in water lor a while, and then lightly shaken to remove super-
fluous drops, these branches will make a bower of the hum-
blest summer home, and be a constant pleasure to the eye.

The Experiment Station of the Michigan Agricultural College
has for two or three years conducted experiments to show
the results of growing Potatoes under a mulch, as compared
with the ordinary method of cultivation. The conclusion
seems to be reached that on a small scale in a dry season
mulching may be profitable. The potatoes grown under the
mulch were of excellent quality and almost entirely free from
scab. The unmulched potatoes were badly affected with scab,
and although the yield was heavier, the quality was inferior.

We have received from Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, of Bluffton,
South Carolina, beautiful specimens of a white-fruited form of
Callicarpa Americana, which is quite new to us. The Ameri-
can Callicarpa, which is one of the most beautiful species of
the genus, is probably not hardy in the neighborhood of this
city, but where it can be successfully grown it should find a
place in every shrubbery for the beauty of the light purple ber-
ries which cover its branches in the autumn. Dr. Mellichamp's
white-fruited form will make an excellent companion for it.

According to the North-western Lumberman, a representa'
tive of German manufacturers now attending the World's Fair,
proposes to use cottonwood for matches. Experiments with
this wood have proved satisfactory, and a dealer has under-
taken to supply the German manufacturers with from ten
million to fifteen million feet a year of timber of the first
quality. It is thought that the lumber can be delivered from
vessels at Atlantic ports at $35 a thousand. White pine, which
has been used hitherto has cost $65 a thousand when laid
down in Germany.

The bark of the Linden-tree plays a singularly important
part in the domestic economy of the Russian peasant. It is
made into a sort of matting which is used for bags of all kinds,
the best and heaviest being reserved to contam flour ; and
also into sandals which are so universally worn that some ten
million pairs are required each year. For sandal-making strips
of the bark of saplings are employed, and, as it fakes the
bark of about four saplings to form a single pair, the destruc-
tion wrought by this one industry can easily be imagined.
The young trees are stripped in spring or early summer when
they are full of sap.

It appears from an article in Nature Notes that the tourist in
Switzerland who is anxious to take a piece of Eidelweiss home
with him is often imposed upon by a sham plant, forwhich he
pays a good price, and is, therefore, saved the trouble of col-
lecting or cultivating the real thing. The artificial blossom is
made of the white woolen felted material of which the coats of
the Austrian soldiers are made. When cut into strips this re-
sembles the characteristic upper leaves of the plant, particu-
larly when the color is somewhat mellowed by exposure.
These strips of cloth are carefully cut out and skillfully grafted
on a stock of any weed that comes handy and which has a su-
perficial resemblance to the Eidelweiss in habit. The speci-
men is then pressed and dried, and the pious fraud is complete.

Mr. Thomas Meehan writes that it is a common error to
transplant evergreens later in spring than deciduous trees.
The reason why trees die after transplanting is that the
evaporation from the leaves and branches goes on faster
than the supply can be afforded by the roots, and all trees re-
quire a little time to push out new fibres from their roots
before they can begin to take up moisture in any quantity,
although, no doubt, a little moisture may get through the sur-
faces of the old roots. The reason for pruning newly set trees
is that evaporation thus far is checked, and in the case of ever-
greens more would be gained by playing a hose on the leaves
once or twice a day at the outside than by pouring water
around the roots, when there are no fibres to use it. If the

earth is hammered in very hard and close about the roots the
tree will usually get the moisture it needs without any super-
abundant water.

Nectarines are coming slowly into market, although (here
are many more this year than ever before. A dozen different
varieties are grown in the interior valleys of California, but
the names are never specified, and sometimes more than one
kind comes in the same package, sothatit is difficult to identify
the varieties. The rich flavor of this fruit and its translucent
beauty when dried ought to create a larger demand for it. Choice
Bartletts from up the Hudson sell at four dollars a barrel, and
Seckels bring about as much. The largest and most beautiful
Seckel pears ever seen here are now coming from California.
The flesh of these is fine-grained and juicy, but is hardly as
spicy or aromatic in flavor as the smaller ones grown in the
east. King apples now lead in price, and good Fall Pippins,
York Imperial, Twenty-ounce, Maiden Blush and Gravenstein
sell readily at wholesale for two dollars and seventy-five cents
a barrel. California peaches are now seen at their best, the
choice fruit measuring ten inches around and weighing a half-
pound each. Among the leading varieties are McDevit Cling,
a large golden yellow California seedling which becomes reel
when fully ripe ; Lemon Cling, which originated in South
Carolina, distinct in color, having an even light yellow skin ;
Orange Cling, of the largest size, round, with a distinct suture
and a rich golden color with a red cheek ; and Picquefs Late,
which originated in Georgia, another very large yellow peach.
Selected fruit of Reeves' Favorite peaches, from New Jersey,
are two dollars and a half a basket, although a good quality of
Crawford's Late sells for a dollar a basket. Among California
plums now in market here are Fellenberg, a deep dark purple
with a blue bloom ; Ickworth, a large purple with fawn-col-
ored streaks ; the Hungarian Prune, which is still marketed
under the name of the Grosse Prune ; the Silver Prune, an
Oregon variety said to be a seedling from Coe's Golden Drop,
of large size and superior flavor ; and enormous Kelsey plums,
whose fine flavor and small pits make them desirable. The
Kelseys retail on sidewalk-stands for ten cents each. The rich
and showy Gaerfner grapes, Rogers No. 14, of admirable
quality, retail at twelve cents a pound. New Grape Fruit, re-
ceived from Jamaica last week, is selling for a dollar a dozen.

This has been an unfavorable season for China Asters, but
a collection of some 200 varieties on the Henderson trial-
grounds in Hackensack last week gave a good opportunity
tor examining and comparing some of the more distinct
groups. Very good flowers are those of the Empress class,
which seem to be the same as those described in the French
catalogues as Naine ^talt^e. The plants are broad and compact,
with large very double flowers, which, although dwarfed
by the dry weather, are now two and a half inches in
diameter, slightly quilled in the centre and borne on long
stems. "The white, bright blue and carmine colored varieties
are most desirable. A peculiarity of these plants is that they
branch out very low. The best class for bedding is the dwarf
Chrysanthemum-flowered, which includes all colors. The tall
Chrysanthemum-flowered varieties are later and usually show
a yellow centre, which is objectionable. They are very large
and graceful. The class known as Ball or Jewel are most of
them admirable, and they bear a great number of flowers,
which are densely double like those of an incurved Chrysan-
themum. They come in various colors. The Pompon Crown,
or Cockade, is a desirable class of low-growing, but large-flow-
ered plants with large, tightly compact flowers in pink, indigo,
light blue and crimson, with the quilled centre-florets white.
The Kugel, or Isabel Aster, is Anemone-flowered, with an
outer l)and of imbricated blush-white petals and the centre of
dark wine-color; they arenovelanddistinct. Thedwarf Paeony-
flowered class are of excellent habit, but since they are a more
recent development they have fewer distinct colors than the
large Paiony-flowcred ones. Many of these colors are brilliant,
but some of them are an objectionable muddy red. They have
long stems, which make them valuable for cutting. Out of the
forty varieties of the Victoria class, a really distinct dozen
could be picked out of good clear shades. We noted a dark
scarlet, a light blue, an indigo, a carmine with no magenta
in it, a copper-red, a pure white, a heliotrope, a crimson, a dark
crimson margined with white, and a striped purple, which
were admirable. Of the Comet class, the flowers of which
have something of the wayward and unconventional form of the
Japanese Chrysanthemum, all are good. One, an apple-blos-
som pink, is especially delicate in color, while Vilmorin's
Giant White, with its long stems and abundant flowers, is as
near perfection as has yet been reached by any of these
flowers.

September 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

401

GARDEN AND FOREST,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sasgbnt.

ENTERED AS SECOND<lJ\SS HATTEE AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N, Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

FACE.

EorroRlAL Articles : — l^epislation Against Plant Diseases and Injurious Insects. 401

The Destruction of our Forests 402

American Par!(s : Lincoln Parle, Chicago Mrs, % H. Rabbins. 402

Cave Plants , Saaie F. Price, 403

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXII C 5". ,y. 403

New or Little-known Plants: — Inula grandiflora. (With figure.) 404

Cultural Department: — Apples in Kansas....-*. F. Weltkouse. 404

The Cultivation of Water-lilies Wm. Tricker. 406

Garden Notes y. N. Gerard. 407

Mushrooms as a Side Crop Samuel Henshaw. 407

Mr. Eckford's Sweet Peas IV. tVatstt/t. 408

Correspondence : — Ameiican Coniferous Forests ff. % Elwes. 408

Notes from California Cart Purdy. 408

A Tropical Plant-house T. D, H, 408

The Columbian Exposition; — ^The Fruit Displays, Brevities,

Professor L. H. Bailey. 409

Notes 409

Illustration: — Inula grandiflora. Fig. 61 406

Legislation Against Plant Diseases and Injurious
Insects.

HOW far it is possible to arrest or control the spread of
insects and of fungi injurious to vegetation is a sub-
ject with which every intelligent farmer and fruit-grower is
familiar. It is discouraging for a man who takes energetic
efforts to eradicate from his trees the black-knot or to pro-
tect his vines from mildew and his orchard from the cod-
dling-moth, when his neighbor's vineyard is a breeding
ground for disease germs, and his neighbor's orchard is a nest
of insect pests. A successful effort to repel these enemies can
only be made when an entire community addresses itself
intelligently to concerted work. This may be helped in
municipalities by ordinances. The local government of
towns or counties in urgent cases can help to organize ma-
chinery and furnish immediate funds. But just as one
man is powerless in this struggle unless his neighbor co-
operates, so one municipality is powerless unless adjacent
ones assist Going one step farther, there is no doubt of
the power of the state to legislate for the welfare of its own
citizens, and there are lavi's in New Jersey which aim to
exterminate the Cranberry-scald and other diseases, laws
in Michigan and other states against the Peach-yellows,
laws in New York against the black-knot of the Plum and
Cherry, and laws in almost every state against the careless
dissemination of seeds of noxious weeds like the Canada
Thistle. But a law in New York has no effect in Pennsyl-
vania, and the citizens of New York on the borders of other
states, even if their own laws are enforced, are powerless
to prevent invasion from hot-beds of disease and breeding-
grounds of insects in another state. Commerce knows no
state-lines, and so long as there is freedom of intercourse
there is no help against the admission of contagions or of
insect pests. If these things are to be held in check by
law, therefore, state regulation alone is of no avail, and we
must look for aid to some authority with a more compre-
hensive jurisdiction.

What can Federal legislation accomplish .> The most
complete reply we have seen to this question was made in
a paper read before the Nurserymen's session of the recent
Horticultural Congress in Chicago, by the Hon. Edwin
Willits, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. There is little
to be added to what Mr. Willits said, and what follows is
essentially an epitome of his paper. The Constitution
contains only two clauses under which the power for re-
medial legislation in this direction can be claimed. In
the eighth section of the first article Congress is author-
ized " to provide for the common defense and general wel-
fare of the United States." This clause has received wide
interpretation as the party in power chanced to feel in-
clined, and the question. What is the general welfare .' has
been answered in some remarkable ways. Indeed, so
vague an inquiry might well puzzle law-makers. When the
Colorado beetle first began to travel eastward, was the gen-
eral welfare threatened, and had Congress a right to call
upon the people to contribute money for its abatement, as
they couM be called upon to pay taxes in war for the com-
mon defense .? Would it be right to compel orange-growers
in Florida, whose groves are free from the white scale, to
contribute money for the annihilation of this destructive
insect in California ? In such a case as this, how far can
Congress assume rights which had previously belonged to
states and individuals.' Suppose the best remedy for an
orchard infected with a fatal malady would be to dig it up,
root and branch ; what authority shall exercise this tre-
mendous power of destroying private property for the public
good.' Who shall decide that the disease is contagious?
Who shall condemn the property ? Who shall destroy it ?
There would be little trouble in such a case if the state au-
thorities co-operated with the Federal Government, as they
did in most cases when Congress conferred upon the De-
partment of Agriculture the power to eradicate pleuro-pneu-
monia. Agents of the department seized and slaughtered
animals on private premises when they were adjudged to
have the disease and paid the owner what they pleased.
But, in this way, the disease was stamped out. Congress
has authorized the General Government under this general
welfare clause to investigate the Peach-yellows, Pear-blight
and other forms of vegetable disease, as well as the habits
of various injurious insects, for the purpose of discovering
the best means of eradicating them. But it has never gone
beyond the lines of investigation and the publication of
the knowledge acquired for the general information. It
seems idle to believe that Congress can ever confer upon
a Federal agent the authority to enter upon a man's field
and destroy his trees or their products in order to abate
vegetable diseases or insect enemies.

In the same section of the Constitution we have quoted,
Congress is empowered " to regulate commerce with
foreign nations and among the several states." Now, since
many diseases and pests are transmitted by commerce,
this clause offers some hope. If a disease or an insect
could be quarantined when it is first discovered, a large
percentage of the injuries from them would be avoided.
Congress has a right to say that no commodity shall be
transported from one state to another, if it carries a con-
tagious disease or a pestiferous insect. In pursuance of
this power, Congress can appoint agents to execute the
laws and inflict penalties for their violation. But this does
not prevent transporting a diseased product from one part
of a state to another part of the same state, and only a
small proportion of the commerce of a state crosses its
border. Freight, which crosses a state line, and is, there-
fore, under Federal jurisdiction, is mixed with freight to
be delivered before the line is reached, and the products
are hopelessly mingled. The Department of Agriculture
can now attach all the meats of a slaughter-house, whether
they were intended for local consumption or for foreign,
commerce, and can hold it until every carcass is exam-
ined, without regard to its destination. But, after all, this
has little to do with the subject-matter. A Pear-orchard
afflicted with blight has a fixed home, and cannot be the,-

402

Garden and Forest.

[Number 292.

subject of interstate commerce, although its fruit maj' be,
and cions or nursery stock from it may be. In the same
Avay trees infested with insects are beyond the reach of
Federal authority, although fruit and cions from the same
trees may not be. It seems, therefore, that so far as remedial
law is concerned the state must be the active agent in sup-
pressing disease and insect attacks, and the United States
Government can only act efficiently as it is asked to co-
operate in preventing the spread of danger from state to
state. The Government can only prevent transmission ; the
states must assume the rights and power of extermination
within their respective borders. But who shall decide that
young nursery stock holds, or does not hold, the incipient
germ which will develop into disease.'' California, for ex-
ample, may pass a law prohibiting the importation of any
affected nursery stock. If a nurseryman in this state makes
sale of stock to a customer in California which he claims to
be absolutely free from infection, the California authorities
may prohibit this importation simply because it came from
an infected district, just as states draw a quarantine line,
across which no animal during certain periods can be
brought from designated localities where disease prevails.
Who is to decide whether this stock is justly held or not.''
And if many states set up quarantines of this sort it may
compel an examination of all the nurseries in the land, and
the expense of inspection and examination would soon
become heavy enough to break down of its own weight.

It would seem, then, that direct legislation for the extir-
pation of insect pests and plant diseases must come from
the states, and even then laws will be of little avail unless
there is a wholesome public sentiment behind them and a
high public spirit in individuals which shall reconcile them
to the destruction of infected property. What the General
Government can do, and what the State Government can
do in the same direction, is to give liberal support to the
scientific study of contagious diseases and pestiferous in-
sects and to experimentation as to the best methods of
eradicating them.

It is not exhilarating work to keep on repeating, year
after year, that our forests are vanishing, and that unless
something is done to arrest the destruction, they will quite
disappear over large areas of what should always remain
wooded land. But there is still need of reiterating this un-
pleasant truth, and we, therefore, publish in another column
the view of a careful observer and a scientific man, Mr. H.
J. Elwes, of England, in order to show how the situation
presents itself to the eyes of one who is not an American.
Mr. Elwes is not only an expert observer, but he is familiar
with the forests and forest-conditions both of Europe and
of India. He has studied this question for many years ;
he has visited our country before, and carefully noted what
he saw then, and the letter he now writes is a record of
what he saw in crossing the continent for the fourth time.

There seems to be little likelihood that Congress will be
in any hurry to take action on this subject, and, after all,
the best law would be of little value until there is a
strong and living public sentiment behind it. The people
of the country themselves will one day realize how
closely their highest interests are vi oven in with this ques-
tion, and, when they do, they will find men to make such
laws as they want, and find the power to enforce them.

American Parks.

LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO.

THE same resolute energy in copmg with physical obstacles,
which is shown by Chicago in Jackson Park, lias been
displayed in reclaiming the waste sand-dunes at the north of
the city, and making of tliem the cheerful pleasure-ground
known as Lincoln Park. The thin, poor soil here prevents the
growth of any large trees, and the surface is but slightly varied,
but there is a compensation in the great expanse of lake
front, which gives an imrivaled approach to the park, as well
as the advantage of fresh breezes from the wide expanse of
water.

Lakeside Avenue, which leads to this park, is a spacious
boulevard, bordered on one side by a handsome stone sea-wall
composed of granite concrete, against which the green curling
waves dash into foam, and on the other by dignified dwellings
standing apart, many of them encircled by lawns and trees
and shrubbery. Along this drive the fine equipages of the
city roll in gay procession of an afternoon, leaving behind the
heat and dust of the smoky town. However this air may seem to
the natives, it has to the sea-coast dweller the stimulating effect
of that of a hill-country, and accounts for the fact that a visit to
the World's Fair is not exhausting, but stimulating. Though
Chicago is on the level of the lake, it has a decided elevation
above the level of the Atlantic, since the journey to it is all
the way uphill from the mouth of the St. Lawrence ; and while
the city's smoke makes respiration rather difficult within its
confines, once outside of it the lift of the atmosphere is ap-
parent even in summer weather.

To the poor this easy access by car and steamboat to such a
great draught of freshness as Lincoln Park affords, is of untold
value. They throng hither in great numbers on Sundays and
holidays to look at the animals, of which there is a fine collec-
tion, or to wander under the trees, or along the stone- paved
beach with fishing-rods and picnic baskets.

With great foresight the city of Chicago reserved to itself
before 1850 a large tract of land along the lake, which it laid
out in cemetery lots. In 1864 these were abandoned at
the suggestion of the residents and property-owners of
north Chicago, and in 1865 the land was set apart by an
ordinance for use as a public park, to be called by the name
of the martyred President. An appropriation of $10,000
was made for its improvement, followed by additional sums
in succeeding years. In 1867 all the land owned by the city
north of Fullerton Avenue and east of Lakeview Avenue was
added to Lincoln Park, and in 1869 five commissioners were
appointed for a term of five years, one of whom. General
Joseph Stockton, still holds the position, alter nearly a quarter
of a century's service. From time to time more land was ac-
quired and improved, until now, upon the completion of the
outer drive, from Fullerton Avenue to Diversy Avenue, there
is a total of four hundred acres, with a frontage upon Lake
Michigan of two miles and a quarter. Smaller lakes diversify
its surface, covering over twenty acres of it ; and there are
ten miles of drives and eighteen miles of walks, while a hun-
dred and forty acres of submerged land have been reclaimed,
to be utilized in drives, lawns and boating-course. Some of
the little ponds are planted with Water-lilies and other aquatic
plants, among them the Victoria Regia.

The dunes form slight and pleasing variations of surface,
and there is an elevation in Lakeview section known as
Mount Prospect, which has been carefully treated with land-
scape-effects, a drive leading to its summit, and a winding
bridlepath encircling its base, while two groves of Lindens,
one of White Birch and one of Elm and Ash have been planted
recently in its neighborhood.

As one enters the park from the Lake-shore drive the noble
bronze statue of Lincoln, by Augustus St. Gaudens, bids fitting
welcome to the visitor. No statue that I know has a more dig-
nified approach and surrounding than this. It stands upon a
low pedestal of granite in the centre of an elliptical stone plat-
form sixty by thirty feet in area, partly surrounded by a granite
bench and balustrade, so that it can be viewed from all sides,
the platform being approached on the open side by six broad
low granite steps. Tlie familiar figure, in his habit as he lived,
stands in front of a massive chair, sculptured on the back with
the American eagle ; one hand behind his back, the other
grasping his coat in a natural attitude, and he seems to be ad-
dressing with great thoughtfulness and seriousness a listening
audience. Upon the encircling wall of the platform are
chiseled the solemn words of his last inaugural, " With
malice toward none, with charity toward all," etc. And
so life-like is the figure, so grand the character of the sad
powerful face, that one almost seems to hear the words uttered
by living lips. The trees rise behind the statue, and make a
fine background harmonious with its dusky bronze and the
soft gray of the granite accessories. The whole effect is of
great dignity and impressiveness.

Other bronze statues are one of Schiller, erected by the resi-
dents of Chicago of German descent, a duplicate of the one
standing at Marbach, in Wurtemberg, where he was born ; a
spirited figure of heroic size of La Salle ; one of Linn;eus, a
gift of the -Swedish-American citizens, and an equestrian statue
of Grant, mounted on a pretentious construction like a
fragment of a castle, overlooks the lake. There are sev-
eral fountains, around one of which in an open part of the park
is a pretty French parterre and a garden partly laid out in set

September 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

403

figures and encircled by grass walks, but on the other side of
the drive-way there is a grassy glade bordered with trees and
shrubberies, with a border of exceptionally well-grown old-
fashioned flowers, which is very charming and attractive.

None of the trees in Lincoln Park are of large size, and they
are planted in irregular groves without much attention to gen-
eral picturesque effect. Their trunks, like other trees here-
about, have a peculiar blackness, due, probably, to the smoke
of bituminous coal, which lends to even the modern houses
of the city a dingy and ancient look. Under a former manage-
ment the lower limbs have all been cut away, a mutilation
which greatly annoys the present competent superintendent,
who is endeavoring to remedy the loss as much as possible
by planting shrubs to make a low screen of foliage.

There is a new Palm-house, around which are parterres
brilliantly bedded with flowering plants, and at the proper
season there are gay displays of hardy plants in the her-
baceous borders. Terraces surround the new conserva-
tories, and a broad walk and stairway are designed
to lead visitors from its front entrance down to the
flower-garden, of which there is a good view from the ter-
races. The plants are arranged as far as possible in natural
positions, without benches, fiower-pots or tubs. There is a
fernery within, designed like a rocky dell, with a cascade
tumbling into a pool below, while on the ledges in the faces of
the moss-covered rocks are planted Ferns of various kinds.
The large greenhouses are heated on a new system invented
by the superintendent, Mr. Pettigrew, who is a mechanical en-
gineer of ability, and the plants in these houses testify to his skill
as a gardener. He has been particularly successful in growing
Water-lilies, and the ponds under his charge contain many
single aquatics and many groups which have no superiors.

Two great difficulties have been successfully overcome in
the construction of this park — one, that of providing soil for
the trees and shrubs to grow in, and the other, of protecting
the land from the encroachments of the lake. The park in the
beginning was but a succession of sand-dunes, with a swale or
two intervening, the sand being washed and of the most sterile
description. There was not enough good soil in the swales to
cover the park with more than an inch of loam, and it is a con-
stant effort to provide nourishment enough for the trees and
to keep the grass green during the dry hot season. Every
year, by the tree use of compost, something is added to the
thin surface of soil, but the sandy substratum quickly swallows
up the nutriment and leaves the turf parched and brown.
Constant sprinkling from distributing pipes does what it can
to keep things fresh, and the park is supplied with engines of
great pumping capacity, but in a dry summer the consumption
of water has been known to amount to 1,700,000 gallons in
twenty-four hours.

The inroads of the lake have been resisted by expensive con-
structions. In 1888 a massive sea-wall was completed at an
expense of over $80,000, the wall being made of huge blocks
of concrete, each weighing about ten tons. It extended nearly
3,000 feet, and is ten feet in height. There is also a stone-
paved beach, which forms an effective resistance to the en-
croachments of the lake. Along this beach is a promenade of
granite concrete sixteen feet wide, then a long parapet, and
after that a wide drive- way between it and a turf-covered bank
planted with trees and shrubs.

When the great difficulties of the task are considered, the
beauty of Lincoln Park is surprising, and makes one respect
more than ever the unconquerable zeal of the inen of Chicago,
and honor them for their regard for public comfort. This
determination to have what they want is a marked feature of
the Chicago character. As I first looked at the immense city
lying along the lake, with its towering buildings dwarfing its
spires, I could not help remarking that Chicago needs a hill to
make its picturesque effect complete, to which my companion,
who was acquainted with the town, replied, "You have only
to convince the people of that, and they will make one." After
seeing Lincoln Park one is convinced that the answer was
scarcely an exaggeration.

Hingham, Mass. M. C. Robbtns.

Cave Plants.

SOUTHERN KENTUCKY is a cavernous country. All the
southern counties, especially Warren, are a network of
caves, underground streams, and "sinks" or "sink-holes."
A cellar is rarely excavated that a fissure in the limestone-rock
is not found, and this often widens out into quite a sink, or at
least a crevice, when the water passes from an underground
stream.

A different growth of plants is to be found in the cave en-
trances and large sink-holes from that along the banks of

streams. The White Baneberry I have found only in sink-
holes, its red stems and white berries being a lively contrast to
the deep greens and the shadows at the bottom of the sink.
Pale Jewel-weed (Impatiens pallida) grows to a large size in
the moist depths of these places. The plants are often five
and a half feet high and the trunk as large as one's wrist.
Scrophularia nodosa, Collinsonia Canadensis, orRickweed, are
commonly found here. Of the Ferns, Asplenium angustifo-
lium is frequently seen in deep shade at the bottom of moist
sink-holes. Cjstopteris fragilis is common in the crevices of
moist limestone-rock, while Asplenium ebeneum is in the
rocks nearer the surface. Cliff Brake, Pellaea atropurpurea, is
a well-known feature of cave entrances and sinks, growing on
the limestone cliffs in crevices where no other plant can find
a foothold, and Aspidium acrostichoides,a common Fern every-
where, is generally met with in the woods about the top of the
sink.

Of the three most interesting sink-holes in Warren County,
Kentucky, the largest, near Oakland, is of sufficient size and
interest to give it a place on the county map. It is ninety feet
deep, and the entrance is about forty feet in diameter. This is
called Wolf's Sink, and is a natural wonder well worthy a visit.
Oaks and many other large trees are growing from its depths ;
down the trunk of one of these there is constructed a rude lad-
der, the only way of reaching the bottom, as a perpendicular
wall of limestone extends some thirty feet around the edge.
One tradition in the neighborhood is that this is the ladder
made and used by the Indians, while another, and more prob-
able one, is that they used a Grape-vine in making the descent.
Strange to say, the only Fern found liere is Asplenium angu;--
tifolmm. It grows in the greatest profusion and to an unusual
size, many of the plants measuring four to five feet in height,
and the fertile frond is even taller. The Baneberry gives a
needed touch of color to the shady depths of the sink.

Another very interesting sink is "Cave Mill." A small stream
that rises above ground several yards beyond, flows into the
entrance of this sink and disappears. A mill, has been built
above, and this mars what would otherwise be a very pic-
turesque spot. It has been also called Lost River, as the stream
disappears under the large arched rock of the cave, extends
underground a mile or more, and then reappearsaboveground,
forming a creek that flows into Barren River. Hop-trees (Pte-
lea trifoliata) and Pawpaws, with many larger forest-trees, grow
along the stream near the entrance. Hydrangea arborescens at
the entrance, Pelljea atropurpurea and Asplenium cristata in
the crevices of the rock above. Viper's Bugloss, Echium vul-
gare, and Cup-plant, Silphium perfoliatum, are near the en-
trance. Many spring flowers grow here, among others
Anemone, Silene Virginica, Asarum and Wild Ginger.

The third sink is not as deep as Wolf's Sink, but the en-
trance is about as large in diameter. It is by the side of a road
leading to the river, in a dense grove of trees, and so is in con-
stant shadow. It is rather a gloomy spot, and has gained the
reputation of being haunted among the superstitious negroes
livingnearby. I tried to hiresomehalf-grown negrochildren to
climb down to gather the plants for me, but they refused, saying
there were "haunts " there. There was a rank growth of plants
about the top, and several species of Desmodium, Melothria
pendula and Gerardia among the rocks above the entrance.
Mats of Walking-leaf Fern, Baneberry and Scrophularia grew at
the bottom of the sink. About the entrances of caves in the
sandstone part of the county the most common species of
Ferns are the Lady Fern, Aspidium spinulosum, var. inter-
medium, and A. marginale, Cheilanthes vestita and Asplenium
pinnatifidum are also often found at these places.

Bowling Green, Ky. Sadie F. Price.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXII.

THE Chestnut-tree is widely distributed through the
mountain-forests of Japan, and seems to have re-
ceived some attention as a fruit-tree from the Japanese,
who recognize a number of large-fruited varieties. Very
large chestnuts appear in profusion in the markets of
Aomori, and are said to be produced in the immediate
neighborhood of that northern town. But the largest
chestnuts of Japan, which equal in size the best marrons
of southern Europe, are found in the markets of Kobe and
Osaka. It is these Kobe marrons which are now sent to
San Francisco in considerable quantities. Rein, whose
book on the Industries of Japan contains the fullest and
most exact account of Japanese rural economy which has
yet been written, believed that the chestnut was less

404

Garden and Forest.

[Number 292.

used in Japan as an article of human food than in Europe,
but I have never seen chestnuts offered in such quantities
in the markets of any American or European city as in
those of Tokyo and other Japanese towns. The Chestnut-
trees which we saw had the appearance of growing spon-
taneously ; and we saw nothing like an orchard of these
trees, which, so far as we were able to observe, are not
planted near dwellings or temples or for shade. In Japan
the Chestnut-tree grows as far north in Yezo as we went,
and is scattered through the mountain-forests of Hondo,
where it is most abundant at elevations of about 2, 500 feet
above the ocean, growing on steep slopes in small open
groves or mixed with trees of other kinds. We saw no
evidences that the Chestnut-tree grows in Japan to the no-
ble dimensions it sometimes reaches in Europe and on the
slopes of the southern Alleghany Mountains, and speci-
mens more than thirty feet high, with trunks more than a
foot in diameter, were rare in that part of the country
which we visited. The Japanese Chestnut appears to be
more precocious than the American tree, and saplings ten
or twelve feet high only are often covered with fruit. The
large-fruited northern form from the neighborhood of
Aomori should be brought to this country, as it may be
expected to support a greater degree of cold than the
French or Kobe Marrons, and, therefore, to be available for
cultivation much farther north here. By its introduction it
is possible that marron-growing may become a profitable
industry in states with climates as severe as those of Wis-
consin, Michigan and New England.

As in eastern North America and in Europe, the Beech
in Japan is one of the noblest trees of the forest ; its range
is similar to that of the Horse-chestnut, in the north appear-
ing on the shores of Volcano Bay in Yezo only a few feet
above the level of the ocean, and extending southward
along the mountains of the other islands. It is, perhaps,
the commonest deciduous tree of the mountains of Hondo,
where, between 3,000 and 4,000 feet, or toward the upper
limits of the deciduous forest, it sometimes covers wide
areas, nearly to the exclusion of other trees, or sometimes
grows mixed with Oaks, Chestnuts, and occasional Firs
and Spruces. Trees eighty or ninety feet tall, with trunks
more than three feet in diameter, are not uncommon. The
fact that Beech-wood is little used by the Japanese, and the
comparatively inaccessible situations where it is mostly
found, account, no doubt, for the abundance of this tree in
Japan and the existence of so many large individuals.
This, the Asiatic form of the European Fagus sylvatica, is
hardly to be distinguished from the European tree, which
it resembles in every essential character. The variety Sie-
boldii (the Fagus Sieboldii of Endlicher) I looked for in
vain, and I hazard the opinion that it will turn out to be a
tree of the herbarium and not of the forest

I can throw no light upon the Japanese Willows which
abound at the north in numerous, continental, mostly
shrubby, forms ; they require more careful investigation
than it wa.9 possible to give them during our hurried au-
tumnal visit, when the flowers and fruit had disappeared.
On the streets of Europeanized Tokyo, Willows are now
chiefly planted as shade-trees ; they are the Weeping Wil-
low (Salix Babylonica), an inhabitantof China and a favor-
ite with the Japanese, and Salix erioicarpa of Franchet &
Savatier, a species which we saw growing by river-banks
on the Nagascendo, and which looks too much like Salix
alba to be distinct from that species which might be ex-
pected to reach Japan. But the handsomest Willow we saw
in Japan, and certainly one of the most beautiful of all
Willows, is Salix subfragilis, which appears to be confined
to Japan, where it was discovered in the neighborhood of
Hakodate by Charles Wright. We were first struck by the
beauty of this tree between Nikko and Lake Chuzenji,
where there are a few specimens on the banks of the moun-
tain torrent, which the road follows in ascending the
mountains. It was at Sapparo, however, that this Willow
appeared in its greatest beauty ; here on the banks of
streams Salix subtragilis forms trees at least fifty feet in

height, with short stout trunks three or four feet in diame-
ter, covered with thick, deeply furrowed bark, and stout
branches which spread nearly at right angles, like those of
an old pasture Oak. The leaves are oblong, acute, rounded
at the base and coarsely crenulate-serrate ; they are borne
on stems an inch and a half long and are six or seven inches
long, two or two and a half inches broad, dark green and
lustrous on the upper surface and silvery white on the
lower ; the stipules are foliaceous, obliquely rounded, and
rather more than half an inch across. This Willow ap-
pears to be one of the most desirable trees to introduce into
our collections, and the only Japanese Willow we saw of
real value, from a horticultural point of view.

Populus is poorly represented in Japan ; the two species
which are found in the empire are both of Old World
types, and there is nothing which corresponds to the
Cottonwoods, which in all the central and western regions
of this continent line the river-banks. The Aspen of
Europe appears in one of its forms in Japan (Populus
tremula, var. villosa), looking, however, so distinct from
the Aspen of Europe and continental Asia that it is hard
to believe that it is not specifically distinct ; it is the Popu-
lus Sieboldii of Miquel, the oldest name. This tree is not
rare in southern Yezo, where it grows to the height of
twenty or thirty feet, springing up in considerable num-
bers on dry, gravelly soil. We saw it in the greatest per-
fection on the plains south of Mori, on Volcano Bay, and
less commonly on the mountains near Aomori in Hondo.
Of the second species, the Populus suaveolens of Fisher,
we encountered a few individuals in southern Yezo, where
it is probably near the southern "limit of its range, it being
a northern tree of Saghalin and the Amour country. It is
evidently only a form of the Balsam Poplar, which is found
in all northern regions, where, especially in some parts of
British America, it constitutes by far the largest part of the
forest-growth. In Japan the Balsam Poplar grows to an
immense size, and some individuals which we saw were
certainly eighty and, perhaps, a hundred feet tall, with
long trunks five or six feet in diameter, rising like sentinels
high above the low, mostly second-growth, forests of south-
ern Hokkaido. C. S. S.

New or Little-known Plants.
Inula grandiflora.

THIS handsome and hardy herbaceous plant, although
known to botanists for nearly a century, appears to
be extremely rare in gardens ; it has found its way into
those of the United States through the agency of Herr Max
Leichtlin, who sent seeds to Professor Sargent several years
ago.

Inula grandiflora, in cultivation here, grows to a height
of eighteen to twenty-four inches ; the stout stems are
well clothed with large, thick elliptical-oblong dark green
leaves, and late in June are crowned by solitary flowers
five inches across, with narrow dark orange-colored rays.
The illustration on page 406 of this issue displays the form
and size of the flower ; it is from a photograph made by
Mr. James M. Codman, of Brookline, Massachusetts.

Inula grandiflora is an important addition to our available
early-summer flowering hardy perennials ; it is very hardy.
The habit of the plant, which is bold without being coarse,
is good; the flowers are large and of an unusual color, and
they appear at the season of the year when few yellow-
flowered Compositor are in bloom.

It is a native of the alpine regions of the Caucasus.

Cultural Department.

Apples in Kansas.

THE great Wellhouse Orchard in Kansas, with its hun-
dred and forty thousand Apple-trees, covering more
than twelve hundred acres, has now for some years been a
financial success, thanks to the practical skill of its pro-
prietors. Our readers will be glad to hear some account of

Sei'tember 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

405

the methods employed by this prosperous business con-
cern, and we, therefore, publish the essential parts of the
address delivered before the Horticultural Congress in
Chicago last month by Mr. F. Wellhouse, since it is a
record of actual experience :

Commercial orcharding has only been possible in this
western country within the past twenty years. Previous
to that time a few hundred bushels glutted the local mar-
ket, and with no means of rapid transportation the sale of
large quantities of fruit was out of the question. But now, with
railroad facilities and the reduced cost of transportation, with
but a small belt of the earth where apples can be profitably
grown, it seems as if there is no likelihood that apple-culture
could be overdone, or the price reduced below the cost of pro-
ducton, conceding that supply and demand control prices.

The selection of varieties has much to do with insuring the
financial success of the orchard. Out of several thousand
varieties of Apples there are probably not more than a dozen
that will pay in Kansas. The Missouri Pippin has, so far,
paid us better than any other kind ; it is a strong grower,
comes into bearing early and produces heavy crops. The
fruit is of good size for the first six or eight years, but after
that the trees overbear and the apples are small and scabby ;
the tree is also defective in side-roots and is liable to be blown
over.

Ben Davis will probably yield more first-grade fruit than any
other variety grown by us, and has paid us better for the past
five years than even the Missouri Pippin; the tree is excep-
tionally healthy and bears well. The apples are large, and
fewer of them go into the cull-pile than of any other variety
we grow. About the first thing generally said of the Ben Davis
apple is that its flavor is not pleasing, and yet there are more
of them grown here than any other variety, and the fruit
always sells well. Two years ago a Baltimore firm bought
from us twenty-two car-loads, all Ben Davis apples, although
we urged them to buy part Winesap and Missouri Pippin.
Three years ago our entire crop went east, and the Ben Davis
was preferred, and brought as high a price as any except the
Jonathan.

The Jonathan has paid us fairly well ; the tree is exception-
ally good, and is a fairly good bearer ; the fruit is of extra
quality, and brings twenty-five to fifty cents more a barrel than
any other variety we grow. It has one serious fault ; the fruit
drops from the tree badly, although not to any great extent
with us. The dropping begins about the time the apples should
be picked; and by being careful to gather them in time we
have been able to save the fruit in good condition.

The Winesap has been less profitable than the varieties
already named ; and much of the fruit had to be usedforcider
because of its small size.

Maiden's Blush has proved an excellent variety, but it ripens
at a time when the markets are usually glutted, and has not
paid well. York Imperial and Ganz have been substituted for
for Winesap and Maiden's Blush in our recent planting.

For large commercial orchards we think it best to grow our
own trees from the gratt. The grafting is done in the usual
way. Pieces of roots about two inches long are used, and we
graft into themacionfrom eiglit to twelve inches long. The graft
is thus set deep enough into the ground to root above the
union of the root and cion, and produces a tree on its own
roots, which we consider much better than to have the roots
entirely below the union.

We set our grafts in the nursery in a different way from that
practiced by most nurserymen. The stakes are placed about
ten rods apart in line where it is intended to set the grafts, we
then take the steel runners of a common two-horse corn-
planter, detach the wheels and all gearing, leaving the tongue ;
with a good steady team we drive with the tongue in a line
with the stakes, the driver riding on the runners and pressing
them into the ground. These nmners each cut a crevice of a
uniform depth, and the rows can be run straight enough for
all practical purposes. It the ground is. in good order a lot of
fine earth falls into the crevice after the runners have passed,
through which the grafts can be pushed with ease. Our grafts
are tied in bundles of fifty. Carrying a bundle of these in his
left hand, a boy with his right hand gently presses a graft at a
time info the crevice to the proper depth, and from six to
eight inches apart in the row ; boys soon become expert at this
work. A man follows, stepping with a foot on either side of
the row, thus firmly pressing the earth about the grafts. We
have planted our grafts in this way for over twenty years, and
think it a decided improvement over setting with a trowel.

The grafts set in nursery form require no attention for that
season but to be kept clean, and this must be done with plow

and hoe. When one year old we trim them to a single upright
shoot, and during the second year cultivate and keep the
ground clear from grass and weeds, and shape the top, head-
ing them from one to two feet from the ground. If they have
made a good growth they are ready to set in the orchard when
two years old. We consider any good Wheat or Corn land
suitable for an orchard. Apples grown on sandy land
usually grow faster and mature earlier than those grown
on clay soils, owing to the warmer nature of the sandy soil.
A Philadelphia firm who came here two years ago would not
buy any apples grown on sandy soil, claiming that they ma-
tured too early, and were too ripe when picked to keep well in
cold storage. The best soil, to my mind, is that composed of
about twenty to thirty per cent, of sand and seventy to eighty
per cent, of clay ; this is sufficiently porous for the surplus
water to penetrate, and the clay helps to retain the moisture.

In the preparation of the soil we have found it a good plan
to break raw prairie in May or June, cross-plow in the fall and
again the next spring. If there is time it is best .to grow one
or two crops before the trees are planted. If old ground is
used it should be put in such condition as would be consid-
ered good for any kind of grain. We run a digger under the
trees m the nursery, cutting off the roots at a depth of eight or
ten inches, and ten inches on either side ; this is done early
in the spring. As soon as the ground is in condition we
lay off the space for the orchard by running. light furrows
east and west sixteen feet apart, and north and south thirty-
two feet apart ; running a furrow in line with stakes, we
throw the furrow to the east, then turn and let the left-hand
horse (we use a right-hand plow) walk in the furrow just made
and throw this furrow to the west, leaving a strip from twelve
to sixteen inches wide between the two furrows ; we now turn
and go another round and throw out this strip, running the
plow ten inches deep, or about the depth the digger is run in
the nursery ; this should give a furrow ten inches deep and
from twenty to twenty-five inches wide. We consider these
furrows much better than holes in which to plant trees, and
they are much more rapidly made.

In transplanting the trees from the nursery to the orchard
we run a potato fork into the ground at the side of the free,
lift it out just as we would a hill of potatoes, and set it into the
wagon with all the earth that will stick to the roots. In the
orchard there are two men to each row. One man sets the
tree in place where the east and west furrows cross the north
and south and holds if, while the other man with a shovel
throws fine earth around it. The man holding the tree tramps
the earth firmly around the roofs ; he should always stand on
the north side of the tree while tramping, as he nearly always
leans the tree from him, and we like to have the tree inclined
a little to the south or south-west. As soon as the frees are
set out we throw the furrows shut by going one round with
the plow, and in a week or two when the weeds begin to start
we go another round, setting the plow so it will only fake a few
inches of soil, and run it a litile deeper ; this enables us to
entirely cover the first furrow thrown in, and all the weeds that
may have started ; in a few weeks we repeat, cutting a few
inches more and so on, until by midsummer we have a bed
running the entire length of the row, elevated six or eight
inches above the surrounding land and about eight feet wide.
The space between the rows in a commercial orchard we cul-
tivate in corn. The second year we commence cultivation by
throwing the earth from the trees, and wind up by throwing
it to them again ; we repeat this system of cultivation four or
five years until the trees come into bearing, when we seed
down to clover. For cultivating the trees we use the Sher-
wood steel harness, which has no single-trees to bark the trees.

Among the enemies we have had to contend with are the
round-headed borers. The only safe remedy we have found
is to dig them out. The woodpeckers have assisted us
very much in this work. The flat-headed borer has also
done considerable damage, and has received the same treat-
ment. The twig-borer has given us but little trouble. Rab-
bits worked great mischief for a time. We now use a
small box-trap costing about fifteen cents each. Two of these
to the acre protect our orchards from this troublesome pest.
Mice have girdled many of our trees. We drop six or eight
grains of corn soaked in a solution of arsenic at each tree and
some in their runways. Canker-worms did fearful execution in
our orchards until we secured suitable machinery for spraying ;
it is now easy to clean them out with a weak solution of arse-
nic. The same treatment is applied to tent-caterpillars, fall
web-worms, leaf-rollers and the caterpillar of the handmaid
moth. If there is fruit on the trees we clip off the twigs con-
taining the nests of the fall web-worms and burn them.

One of the most difficult things we have had to contend with

4o6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 292.

in growing an orchard in Kansas was to ^et rid of our eastern
horticultural education in regard to pruning. We were taught
to trim the body of the tree up high enough so that a team
could be driven under the limbs and to thin out the branches
so that the sunlight could easily get into all parts of the top.

In Kansas there is so much sunshine and it is so intense at
times that all parts of the body and limbs of our trees need to
be shaded with foliage, or the bark is sure to be scalded if they
are in feeble condition. It is this abundance of sunshine that
enables us to produce such large crops of fruit of excellent
quality, with a minimum amount of pruning.

We commence pruning our trees at one year old in the nur-
sery and train one upright shoot ; as the season advances we

of Kew. Mr. Watson's experience, however, as detailed in his
letter in Garden and Forest for August 30th, differs in sev-
eral particulars, as would naturally be supposed, from that of
many expert growers in this country. I have found no better
soil for aquatics than that recommended by Mr. Watson, but
I prefer to compost the loam and manure for a season before
it is used, and if cow-manure is not available I have found
well-rotted stable-manure and sheep-manure to answer the
purpose well.

No doubt, plants differ largely under climatic and other influ-
ences, but I am inclined to think that many varieties appear
under different names, and tliat the Nymphpeas need the care-
ful attention of a committee on nomenclature. For example.

FIr. 61— Inula grandiflora. — See page 404.

form the top, commencing at about one foot or a little more
from the ground, and let lateral branches shoot out six or eight
inches apart on all sides of the tree, always keeping a leading
centre shoot. We continue this for four or five years, until
the tree is trained into proper shape ; after that we do but lit-
tle pruning, except to cut off the water-sprouts.

The Cultivation of Water-lilies.

LL Americans who grow plants of this interesting class
^ are glad to hear the experience of others, and especially
of recognized authorities like your correspondent, Mr. Watson,

A^

among the plants described on page 366 is Nymphsea Sturte-
vantii, which differs materially trom the plant known here by
that name. With us, grown out-of-doors in full air and
sunshine, it has foliage of a red-bronze color, sometimes
almost crimson, and its very large flowers are a bright rosy
red. As to the parentage of this grand plant, it is difficult to
conceive that it is the offspring of Nymphaea rubra and N.
dentata, although I will not assert that these are not its
parents. Monsieur Marliac declares that he originated N. Lay-
dekeri rosea in his establishment, but no amount of guessing
will reveal its parentage. I can hardly conceive that N. Mar-
liacea chromatella has any affinity to N. tuberosa, since there
is no resemblance between the root, leaf or flower of the two

Seitember 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

407

plants, if I have the true Chromatella variety. Of its parentage,
however, I cannot make a guess, and Mr. Marliac keeps it a
secret. Too much praise, however, cannot be given to this
superb plant. The valuable varieties which are spoken .of
by Mr. Watson as N. Marliacea rubra and N. Marliacea rosea,
if I can judge from his description, are known here as the
varieties rosea and carnea, respectively. Certainly some-
thing should be done to remedy this confusion.

As to the tropical Nymphreas, they are grown here under
the same conditions as hardy species are, except that they do
not remain out all winter, at least, in this locality, although
seedlings of the Stellata type appear in spring and produce
flowers during the same season. So far as I know, these plants
have never been grown in England, except in heated tanks
under glass. It is impossible to describe tlie fascinating pic-
tures which the Lily-ponds make here at early sunrise, with
the noble flowers and buds of the Nelumbiums towering above
their gigantic foliage. While the superb varieties of N. Lotus
are yet in full splendor, the varieties of N. stellata are bursting
their buds to continue the grand exhibition. The darkest form
of N. stellata, Zanzibarensis, opens its flowers later, and so
does N. Laydekeri, but these also close later, and no variety
with which I am acquainted continues to open so long during
the day as N. gigantea, far the grandest of all the many species
of Nvmphffia, especially of the blue varieties, and it succeeds
admirably here under the same conditions as the Stellata class.
With Nymph;ea flowers of the Lotus varieties openmg during
the nigiif, while the Nelumbiums and the hardy species of
Nymphsea and their hybrids follow close after, we have a con-
tinuous display of flowers in varied shades of rich colors
from dawn until the afternoon. Since the season of Water-
lilies is a long one, it seems to me one of the charms of these
flowers that they do not all remain constantly open day and
night, like Marigolds or Geraniums ; and we appreciate them
more highly, because they unveil their full beauty only at
certain hours. It might be desirable, as Mr. Watson suggests,
to have a hardy blue variety, but on this side of the Atlantic
there seems to be less need than there is in England for such
a plant, since the varieties of N. stellata are of such easy cul-
ture here. Mr. Watson suggests that hybrids between the
Lotus and Stellata type might have expanded flowers all day,
but this is uncertain. I have flowered such hybrids, and many
other crosses, and I have never yet found a plant which pro-
duced flowers that would remain open all day, nor have I
found a hardy one with a blue flower.

My experience in wintering Water-lilies convinces me that
the drying-oft" process is preferable. There is no risk in this
practice, and it requires little space. A large amount of green-
house staging would be necessary, if single specimens of
twenty-five to fifty varieties were kept in tubs and had to be
stowed away ; and llien all the varieties would not survive in a
greenhouse temperature, and since neither varieties nor tem-
perature are specified in Mr. Watson's note, such a point is
calculated to mislead beginners in this country. Again, his
advice to keep the seed dry in ordinary paper packets may be
misleading also, if nothing is said in regard to varieties or tem-
perature. The Stellata varieties will retain their vitality for
three or four years in paper, provided they are kept cool and
dry, but when exposed to the ordinary temperature of a seed-
store or where fire-heat is used to maintain an agreeable tem-
perature in winter, such seed is useless a second year. Some
Nymphsea-seed I have never been able to germinate when
kept dry even for a short time, while seeds of the same variety,
not taken out of the water, or sown as soon as ripe, have ger-
minated very freely. No mention was made of seeds of Vic-
toria regia, but it is generally known, I believe, that the only
safe way to keep them is in water. Even then they are diffi-
cult to preserve, and I presume the difficulty is that the seed
at some time is subjected to a temperature so low as to injure
its vitality. i,r -r ■ u

Weat New Brighton, N, Y. Will. Trickcr.

Garden Notes.

TJYPERICUM MOSERIANUM is among the best of the
^ •'■ newer hardy plants, and its merits seem to have met with
quick appreciation among gardeners. I have before referred
to this hybrid, which was secured a few years ago by Mr.
Moser, of Versailles, and further experience confirms my first
impressions of its beauty and usefulness. It is probably only
herbaceous, but is quick-growing, compact and has very neat
foliage. The flowers are something over two inches in diame-
ter, of a pure tone of yellow. The abundant pistils are tipped
with violet. Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, who have introduced
it here, had a fine show of the plants in one of their houses

lately, and under glass the flowers were especially fine in
color.

Crinum Kirkii, which has lately flowered planted out in the
garden, is not a specially attractive species. Its very large
round bulbs late in the summer produce a crown of leaves,
outside of whicfi strong reddish flower-scapes, an inch in di-
ameter, push out. These support a cluster of about half a
dozen Amaryllis-like flowers, white, with a stripe of dull beet-
red in the centre of the petals. The fragrance is rather pleas-
ing. Crinums are interesting bulbs with very varying charac-
teristics, but most of them are plants for a warmer latitude than
this, and they should be planted out where they can remain
undisturbed and become thoroughly established to do their
best. The suggestion in Garden and Forest that they be
wintered in a cool house and used for garden-decoration, will
scarcely answer in cases of such varieties as C. Americanum,
which has a bulb like a section of a tree-trunk, or C. Powelli,
whose bulbs could not be covered in less depth than a hogs-
head. C. Capense seems to be hardy with me, and I propose
trying some of the other long-bulbed kinds outside in a warm
border at a good depth as the best possible position for them.
Such plants, if well established, would be striking ornaments
to the garden.

Hybrid Montbretias are still in flower, and deserve an an-
nual note, as the flowers are very distinct and particularly
effective. There is a close resemblance among the Lemoine's
varieties, they being mostly fiery shades of red and orange, the
different named varieties bearing these in different propor-
tions variously disposed. One can scarcely go amiss in order-
ing a selection of the named kinds. The corms are not relia-
bly hardy here. They require somewhat generous treatment
while growing and a moist position, where it is also sunny.

There is a pleasant tendency now to make more use of the
perennial Asters, which, well grown, are very attractive at this
season, and a relief from the prevailing yellows. The count-
less thousands of the Daisy-like flowers of the great bushes of
these plants not only enliven the garden, but are useful for
decorations. Good clear shades of purple should be selected.
As for names no plants are more confused, and any list would
be confusing. From Woolson I had a particularly fine white-
flowered kind as A. longifolius, var. Lady Trevylian. This has
abundance of pure white flowers in pleasing addition to the
usual purplish type.

Dwarf Single Dahlias are at present quite the showiest plants
in the garden. The new French strain of dwarf Dahlias are
low stocky plants, which require no stakes, and produce great
quantities of showy flowers of brilliant colors in infinite va-
riety. I have had not only selfs in whites, reds and yellows,
but these colors in a great variety of combinations, petals
spotted, blotched and lined also in quaint effects. It is well to
treat these plants as annuals ; from seed sown in April strong
stock may be secured for summer flowering. ,^ ,, -,

Elizabeth, N. J. J- N. Gerard.

Mushrooms as a Side Crop. — In view of possible low prices
for flowers next winter, Mr. Samuel Henshaw suggests, in the
Florists' Exchange, that owners of commercial greenhouses
would do well to grow Mushrooms as a side crop in order to
tide them over a hard season. He states that Mushrooms
are very steady in price, which is as high to-day as it was
ten years ago, that the demand has never been fully met,
and, indeed, that many large hotels would be glad to make a
contract for a continuous supply during the winter at a fixed
price, if they could feel sure of getting it. Florists have all the
space and the conveniences that are needed for growing Mush-
rooms, and there is no need of building special houses.
Every Rose-grower has abundance of waste room under his
raised benches which is just suited to Mushrooms, if the drip
is kept from soaking through. This space is now often
wasted, and all that is needed is to spread the prepared manure
upon the earth about a foot deep, with boards placed along
the posts which support the benches, to keep the bed from
spreading when it is beaten down. The best covering for such
a bed is green sods turned grass-side down and beaten firm,
but if these cannot be had, fresh soil will do. No extra coal is
needed, for the temperature is about right, although occasion-
ally a little too warm. The potting and packing sheds in large
florists' establishments often contain heating -apparatus to
make the whole comfortable, and there, too, are admirable
places for Mushrooms, and there are always odd nooks and
corners for a catch crop of this kind, since it is immaterial
whether the location is light or dark, when it is not too dry.
Open potting sheds, where the soil is prepared and stowed, are
admirable places for piling and fermenting the manure and
turning it to get rid of the extra heat and rank odor before

4o8

Garden and Forest.

[N'JMBER 292.

making the beds, and now is tlie best time of all the year to
haul and prepare this manure before the cold sets in. There is
time yet to get a crop ready for the heavy winter demand.

Mr. Eckford's Sweet Peas. — It has been a bad year for an-
nuals generally in England, and we are consequently poor in
many Howers which are usually a feature of the herbaceous
border. Sweet Peas have been a failure at Kew and also at
Chiswick. Mr. Eckford, however, exhibited in their season a
beautiful collection of his newer varieties, which fully bore
out his statement that in good soil and with a regular supply
of water Sweet Peas are certain to succeed, however hot the
weather may be. I noted the following varieties as the best
selection, to mytaste, out of some fifty named varieties shown :
Emily Eckford, a most lovely blue, with the faintest shade of
purple ; E.xcelsior, bright cerise, large and well-formed flow-
ers ; Royal Rose, bright flesh-pink, a superb flower, both
in form and color ; Countess of Radnor, pale mauve, shaded
with a darker mauve, a delicate, very attractive, color ; Firefly,
very similar to Excelsior, but richer, almost blood-red ; Venus,
a creamy white, with a blush tinge ; Lady of Penzance, rich
deep rose ; Orange Prince, pale orange, flushed with scarlet.
Mr. Eckford supplies seeds of all these in sealed packets,
and guarantees them to come true.

Kew.

JV. Watson.

Correspondence.

American Coniferous Forests.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Having just returned from a trip to the west, I have
read in your issue of June 14th, page 252, Mr. Robert
Douglas' paper at the Nurserymen's Convention, and
cannot but wonder at the apathy which is shown by the
American people in general on the subject of the destruc-
tion of their forests. I have now crossed the continent by four
different routes, and everywhere it is the same sad story.
Wherever the railroads go the valuable timber is either burned
or wasted, and nobody but a few of the more enlightened
Americans seem to recognize that what Mr. Douglas says is
true. I traveled with a gentleman of great ability, who was
largely interested in lumber in the norih-west, and who said
that the best timber was nearly all gone in Minnesota, but that
it was no use for lumbermen to try to save what was left, as
the railways were burning it down a great deal faster than they
could cut it. He told me that in Colorado there were no for-
ests worth mentioning, and when I went there I found that,
though frorn a European point of view, there were still large
tracts of what we should call very valuable forest, yet fires
were burning in all directions, and probably two-thirds of
the coniferous timber in sight of the railroads was already
destroyed. In the mountains, I learned that, owing to the
exceptionally dry season, water was in places getting- scarce,
and that there was, in some cases, hardly enough in the rivers
to supply the irrigating ditches below. At Leadville, which
was surrounded by forest not many years ago, I was told that
mining timber now had to be hauled fifteen miles. When I went
across the boundary into British Columbia it was much the
same thing, though in the damper valley of the Columbia the
forests are less subject to burning, and notices were posted to
warn passers-by against carelessness.

At Nelson, a new mining town in the Koutenay district, I
rode for many miles through what had been magnificent tim-
ber, all burned, up to an altitude of about four thousand feet,
except on the shady northern slopes. Along the line of the
Canada Pacific, east of Revelstoke, it is the same story, and
though much good timber is still left in places, yet on the east
of the Kicking Horse Pass most of it is burned, and the young
trees which sprang up after the first fires are again burned. I
saw new ties being put in which were not above six inches on
the face in some cases, and would not last more than five or
six years, and quite small logs floating down the rivers in
thousands to supply the saw-mills. I do not suppose that any
one can form a correct judgment of what will be the future of
all this western country, but I believe that a great deal of it
which is habitable now will not be so after another fifty or a
hundred years of such waste.

There is, no doubt, on the Pacific coast enough good timber
to supply all North America for centuries, but what will it cost
when It has to be freighted so far ? And what will become of
the drier parts of the country if irrigation is only possible for
three or four months of the year ? Garden and Forest has
done its best for five years to bring all this home to the inhab-
itants of the United States, but as far as I could judge public

opinion in the west is not more advanced than it was in 1887,
when I was last there, and it will s on be too late to save any-
thing but the most inaccessible forests from destruction.

Last year I went to one of the principal importers of timber
in Gloucester, England, to see if I could get some really first-
class lumber for building Orchid-houses. He told me that
such a quality as they used to have forty years ago could not
now be found. It was not a question of price, as there was not
any. What is imported now is cut from smaller, quicker-
grown trees and will not last. In consequence, pitch-pine is
being used for horticultural buildings.

Andoversford. England. rf. J. Elwes.

Notes from California.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The Californian season continues backward to the last.
Hop-picking commenced in the Russian River fields August
28th, nearly two weeks after the usual time, but the crop is
good. All fruit showed the same tardiness, along with agreat
yield ; owing to the closeness of money, fruit is not bringing
good prices. Much less than the usual quantity has been
canned, as the canners are crippled for working capital.
Prunes are of good quality, and the crop is fair on a greatly
increased bearing acreage.

In the flower-garden I have not had success with some
summer flowers that usually do well. Roses have also been
poor here. On hundreds of good flowering bushes I have had
few first-class roses. The bushes are healthy, but the roses
lack size and fullness. The autumn flowering may possibly
be better. I find nothing to equal the best Cannas for bedding-
plants in California. They grow luxuriantly during our hot
summers if sufficiently watered. It is not necessary to lift the
roots in fall, as they winter with perfect safety in the ground.

I tried a few Tigridias last season, and this year experi-
mented with quite a variety of Mexican bulbs, among them
Tigridias, Bessera and Amaryllis. Nearly all flowered and all
did well ; I shall continue the experiments another season.
The plantings were made about May ist in a soil largely com-
posed of sand. I shall not lift these this fall. The Tigridias
were left in the ground last year and did much better this year
than last. Calochortus Bonplandianus did not do well ; this,
I think, was due to want of proper treatment. These Mexican
bulbs seem to have their season for growing- and their growth
cannot be hurried, even if warmth and moisture are supplied.
Lilies have done well, as, indeed, all bulbous plants. L. Harrisii
seems to lose its early-blooming quality if grown in ordinary
climates a few years. I had a quantity of L. Harrisii and L.
longiflorum from a reliable grower ; these had been grown
out-of-doors in California for several years, and they appeared
to be identical in time of blooming and in every other respect.
I have seen many thrifty specimens of L. Humboldtii, but a
plant from a garden in the mountains here is the best which
has come under my observation. From the bulb planted two
years ago two heavy stalks were produced ; one of these was
injured and blighted, the other grew to a height of eight feet
four inches. Forty-nine blossoms were perfected and about
twenty-five buds blighted. I may add that the Lily is not a
native of this part of California. ^ , „

Ukiah, CaUf. Carl Purdy.

A Tropical Plant-house.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Although a tropical plant- house may more properly be
termed a winter retreat, it has charms in summer lor all true
lovers of plants, notably the effects made by the proper arrange-
ment of choice foliage-plants. The tropical plant-house be-
longing to F. Simpson, Esq.. of Saxonville, Massachusetts, is
at this time gorgeous with handsome and finely colored foliage
plants, which, under the September sun and moist atmos-
phere, are putting on their winter dress. Crotons, Marantas
and Dracaenas are fast gathering their tints, and large Ferns
are hardening their fronds. The lovely white and red veined
Fittonias are spreading sheets of color in spaces set apart for
them under the large Palms, and Selaginellas, green, golden
and lustrous blue, everywhere. Among the many fine speci-
mens I noticed were the graceful Ferns, Microlepia hirta cris-
tata, Adiantum Farleyense, several huge Alsophilas and Dick-
sonias, as well as large plants of Dracaena Knu-rkii, D. Rum-
phii and D. fragrans, with leaves extending to the ground-
level ; as well as many varieties of the beautiful tinted Dra-
caena terminalis. Caladiums are here very appropriately used,
and in a large structure, such as this, with extensive vistas, they
show off to much advantage. C. Cinnabarina is a delicate
creamy white, with light green veins and pink markings. C.

September 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

409

Katzer, fine bright red, marbled with white. C. Duchartrc, tlie
most gorgeous of all, has large rounded foliage with light
green centre and darker edging and red veins. Among flow-
ering plants were some of the new Gesneria and Tydcea hy-
brids, with handsome foliage and fine spike of drooping
orange-colored flowers, beautifully spotted with yellow.

Ixora coccinea and some of its fine varieties are evidently
at home here, and graphically illustrate what these almost
forgotten stove-plants could be made under proper cultiva-
tion. Their immense umbellate corymbs of orange-colored
Bouvardia-like flowers were singularly effective in the setting
of foliage-plants. On the wall of a cool-house near by are
planted some of the best varieties of Rex Begonias. This is
evidently their natural position. In light, spongy rotted moss,
with no other fertilizer, they have made immense specimens,
with leaves in many cases upward of two feet in diameter
and with a lustre rarely seen. This may be accounted for
partly by the fact that although plenty of root-moisture is
available, no moisture is ever allowed on the leaves.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H.

The Columbian Exposition.
The Fruit Displays.

DURING the latter part of September the autumn fruits of
the northern states are shown in great profusion. The
rear wings of the Horticultural Building have never before
looked so well, and the uniform excellence of the exhibits
must silence criticisms of the pomological displays. Many of
the northern states are not represented ; the fault rarely lies
with the fruit-growers, but is rather due to lack of funds,
which, upon one excuse or another, have been diverted from
horticultural interests.

After the display of citrous fruits from California, the Pacific
north-west arrests the attention of visitors. Idaho, Oregon
and Washington have held a prominent place from the first,
although Oregon has exceeded the other two in the amount of
fresh fruit exhibited. The fruits of this entire region are re-
markable for their enormous size and high color, and partic-
ularly for the strange influence of climate which they show.
All apples which, in the east, tend to be oblong in shape, show
this tendency in a more pronounced degree here, and the apex
becomes conspicuously ribbed and the calyx is usually larger.
The varieties of apples which these states show are very largely
familiar in name to eastern pomologists, though they are
strange in appearance. Newtown Pippin, Blue Pearmain,
Chenango and other old eastern apples grow to perfection be-
yond the Rockies.

The great interior region is admirably represented by Illi-
nois, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas and
Colorado. Apples predominate, although pearsand grapes are
shown in variety. This great geographical region is the area of
the comparatively coarser-grained apples of the Ben Davis,
Janet, Rome Beauty and Pippin class, although many fruits of
excellent quality are grown. The displays impress one with the
great size of the specimens, and the prommence of thegreen and
yellow under-colors. While red is prominent, it is of a coarser
type than that seen in the apples of the north-west Mississippi
valley, and, though deep, is rather dull, and is laid on in heavy
splashes. The coloring usually lacks the fiery brilliancy of the
apples of the north-eastern states and the delicate pruinose
tints of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Arkansas has surprised
visitors by the wealth of its apple display, and Kansas and Ne-
braska sustain their accustomed reputation. Canada is now
making attractive additions to its fresh fruits, although still
depending too much upon bottled fruits. The firm, hard, crisp
apples of the Provinces and of Maine are now the best part of
these exhibits.

The newer classes of Russian and other hardy fruits are
shown in good variety by Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and
they are all remarkable for the high and delicate color of the
skin. This is especially true of the apples of Minnesota and
Wisconsin, which are among the handsomest fruit ever seen
in any exhibition. In these states and South Dakota crab-ap-
ples and native plums are particularly conspicuous. The
large display from South Dakota is specially gratifying, and
includes apples, grapes, native and other plums, and toma-
toes. Many of the apples in the collection are unfamiliar to
eastern growers ; among well-known kinds are Ben Davis,
Maiden's Blush, Plumb's Cider and Blue Pearmain. Most of
• these fruits are from the extreme south-eastern portion of the

A study of the fruit displays shows that New York makes the
best exhibition, and the state has held this position throughou'
the Fair. The fruits are not only remarkably well grown, but

are in great variety. Careful attention has been paid to nomen-
clature, arrangement, and to giving such incidental informa-
tion as the intelligent visitor desires to have. The exhibit
shows what is accomplished in one of the oldest states V)y
thorough, and what may be called scientific, cultivation.
There are many individual orchards in other states which
are cultivated according to the best methods, but there is
probably no other region of equal extent in America where
good cultivation and careful attention to all the newest facts
and discoveries are so universal as in New York state. The
exhibits have shown graphically the results of spraying, a prac-
tice now common with all the best growers of the state. High
fertilizing is also apparent in many of the samples, and varie-
ties difficult to grow are shown in perfection. There are on
exhibition remarkably handsome and cleanspecimensbf Cran-
berry Pippin, Jonathan and Fameuse, from Mr. Geo. T. Powell,
of Columbia County, east of the Hudson, and a conspicuous
placard bears this legend : " These varieties are peculiarly lia-
ble to attacks of apple-scab, and are often entirely unsalable.
These have been thoroughly sprayed with Bordeaux mixture
and Paris green. High fertilizing accounts for the brilliant
color of the fruit." The State Experiment Station at Geneva
shows average specimens of the old White Doyenne, or Vir-
galieu, and Seckel pears, both sprayed and unsprayed, and the
differences are remarkable. The exhibit shows that the good
old Virgalieu, which has all but gone out of cultivation on ac-
count of disease, can be grown as good as ever with the use
of the spraying-machine. New York excels in fruits of high
excellence, and many of the famous dessert fruits are shown
nowhere else.

Pears and grapes'are especially conspicuous now. Of the
former there are over one hundred varieties of superior
quality, and about two hundred varieties of grapes. Of apples
there are over 250 varieties. Among the interesting samples
are seventy varieties of apples from St. Lawrence County,
shown by A. F. Clark and John Cline. This is the northern-
most county of the state and is generally thought not to be
adapted to fruit-culture. All the finer kinds of berries, includ-
ing about t,vo hundred varieties of gooseberries, have been
shown in season ; and apricots, peaches, plums and other
fruits have been displayed in perfection. New York differs
from nearly every other state in having made no attempt to
attract attention by mere displays of quantities of fruits or of
unusual or conventional designs. The Michigan fruits, which
now command attention, are very like the New York fruits in
their natural features.

New Jersey is the only state from the Atlantic slope which
makes a general display of autumn fruits.

BREVITIES.

The potato exhibit of New York in the Agricultural Building
at Chicago is said to be the best potato display ever made in
this couniry. More varieties have been shown at other fairs,
as the number in this exhibit will probably not exceed 250 ;
but the display shows different methods of treatment. "The
chief interest lies in the products of different amounts of seed.
Many varieties were planted with one, two and three eyes in a
hill, and an entire hill produced under each method, showing
average yield, is displayed upon the tables. All the series seem
to agree in affording fewer and larger tubers from the single
eyes, and more and smaller ones from the cuttings with three
eyes ; yet the largest gross yield of merchantable productcomes
from the three eyes. In other words, a single eye does not
give sufficient root-surface to set a large crop, and because of
the few tubers, each one grows very large. The reduction of
the number of eyes in a hill, therefore, amounts simply to a
thinning process. The variety which is shown from the
greatest number of counties, and which has given, altogether,
the best yields, is Rural No. 2. There are 525 different ex-
hibits in the entire collection.

A most remarkable collection of fancy Caladiums is now
showing in the annex or propagating-house. These plants
come from Mr. Lizt, of Rio Janeiro, and they probably consti-
tute the most varied and interesting collection yet seen in this
country. They are remarkable for the thinness of their leaves.
Many of these are so transparent that ordinary handwriting
can be read through them. In color they run from almost
white, through many variegations, to a deep red approaching

maroon. ■• „ t)„;].,,

Chicago, III. L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

The little Daphne Cneorum is now blooming almost as
freely as it did in eariy spring, and its clusters of fragrant
lilac flowers are especially pleasing at this season. Some-

4IO

Garden and Forest.

[Number 292.

times if is a troublesome plant to get through the winter, but
if it survives at all, it often gathers strength for a season of
autumn flowering, which makes it worth nursing through the
summer, and yet it is a pity that it is not a little less suscepti-
ble to injury from cold, for it is one of the most desirable of
all dwarf trailing shrubs.

The citizens of Plainfield, New Jersey, and visitors to that
town have just now an admirable opportunity to judge of the
decorative value of Clematis paniculata. The Casino in that
town is beautifully draped and festooned with this rampant
climber, the pillars of the porch being wreathed willi the
fragrant white flowers, which extend to the roof, where, in
great profusion, they lie in relief against the dark shingles.

Mr. E. S. Carman, of ihe Rural New Yorker, thinks that the
Nectar Grape, one of Caywood's introductions, is too little
known. In this latitude it ripens with Moore's Early, which is
about the first week in September. The vine is spoken of as
very hardy and a stronger grower, with great resistant power
against fungi. The quality of the fruit is excellent, and it has
no foxiness. The berries have a firm black skin, with a heavy
bloom. They are larger than those of the Delaware, and cling
well to the stem. Mr. Caywood used to call this Grape the
Black Delaware.

An admirable perennial plant for autumn flowering is Aconi-
tum autumnale, which is now in bloom. Its branched spike
of very dark blue or purple flowers, which continue in bloom
for a long time, rises to a height of three feet, and the deep
color shows particularly well just now if these plants are used
as a background for the white-flowered Japanese Anemone.
This Aconite is also a good companion plant for the lower-
growing Sunflowers, as their colors harmonize well. It is
perfectly hardy, and it has tuberous roots, which are easily
divided. In good seasons it ripens seed here, and if this is
planted at once it will germinate more certainly than imported
seed.

Mr. Louis Spath, of the Rixdorf Nurseries, Berlin, sends us
flowering and fruiting specimens of Berberis Fremontii, an
evergreen species from western Colorado and Utah, where it
sometimes attains a height of eight or ten feet. It is a species
with glaucous pinnate leaves, bright yellow flowers, and bright
orange-red fruit three-quarters of an inch in diameter. So far
as we know, the plants at Rixdorf are the first which have pro-
duced fruit in cultivation ; indeed, the size and color of the
fruit do not appear to have been known before. It was first
described as dark blue, and later by Mr. Watson, from collec-
tions made in southern Utah by Dr. Edward Palmer, as
" greenish " yellow. If this beautiful species thrives in our
gardens, it will be an important addition to the rather short
list of broad-leaved evergreens which can be grown here.

We have just seen a large mass of the white-flowered variety
of Rosa rugosa, and the dark green foliage was starred with a
good many flowers. Indeed, there has been hardly a day, even
through the driest weather of this summer, when these plants
were entirely without bloom. In a few weeks their rich green
foliage will turn to brilliant crimson and orange, and their
abundant fruit is already deeply colored. No doubt, many
useful hybrids will be raised from this species, but it will be
fortunate if any of them possesses as many qualities which go
to make a valuable garden-plant as the parent plant. It is un-
fortunate that many plants have been sold as Rosa rugosa
which are probably hybrids of some inferior Rose. If they are
a variety of this species they are greatly inferior to the type.
Buyers should be careful to know that they get plants of the
t>est strain.

From Monsieur Maurice L. de Vilmorin, of Paris, the Arnold
Arboretum has recenfly received seeds of one hundred spe-
cies of frees and shrubs collected last autumn in Szechuen, a
province of western China, by the French missionaries resi-
dent there. Szechuen is one of the richest temperate regions
in the world in trees and shrubs, and as comparatively few of
them have ever been cultivated in American or European gar-
dens, it is probable that this collection contains some valuable
novelties. Among the seeds are those of a Cercidiphyllum,
a genus heretofore only known in Japan in a single species.
The existence of this same species m western China would not
be remarkable, as if is now known that many Japanese plants
have an extended continental range ; or if may prove to be a
second species of this most interesting genus.

Fire and Water recommends that Willow-wood be used for
floors in this country, as if isin England, because it is of slow, or
not ready, combustion. It contains no resin or essential oil, is

fine-grained and takes a smooth finish, and so is suitable for
inside work and would make good sheathing. It may be saiil
that it is not available here because we have but little Willow.
It is true we have no native varieties of any size, but the Eng-
lish White Willow is naturalized here. It is easily propagated
by cuttings and does not require a wet soil, as many suppose.
There has been a prejudice against its wood, owing to its sup-
posed lack of durability when exposed to the weather, and be-
cause it is soft and was not needed when white pine was abim-
dant. Now, however, as our forests are being rapidly cut off,
and we are looking for something to take their place, the value
of the Willow is worth considering. It is a rapid grower, and
our foresters might well give their attention to it.

The large and handsome Spanish onions, which have been
coming to this city in increasing quantities for the last half-
dozen years, are now cheaper than they have ever been known
here. These vegetables are grown mainly near Valencia, in
Spain, and the first shipments this year, which came by the
way of England, were harvested too early and were therefore
watery. Being liable to quick decay they were hurried upon
the market and sold for low prices. The first direct importa-
tion was also off-grade in quality, and this set the price for the
season very low, so that in many auction sales the price has
barely covered the freight and duty, to say nothing of the com-
missions and cost of packing. The duty of forty cents on a
bushel of fifty-six pounds, together with the freight, commis-
sion and cost abroad, brings the actual value to the importer
about eighty cents a crate laid down, and, therefore, when
prices range from fifty-five cents to $1.00 a crate the trade has
been a disastrous one. Together with what has already ar-
rived and what is expected, the imports this year will amount
to 150,000 crates, or about 87,500 bushels. Attempts to raise
this Spanish Onion in California and other parts of the coun-
try from seed purchased in Spain have generally proved un-
successful, as the vegetables when grown here do not differ
much from the ordinary domestic onion. It seems thataCas-
tilian climate and soil is necessary for the production of this
delightful product. For this reason, and also because these
bulbs do not come into conflict with home vegetables, a strong
effort is now on foot to have the duty decreased to a more rea-
sonable rate.

The supply of peaches continues abundant, choice Morris
Whites and Smocks selling for seventy-five cents a basket,
while good fruit is to be had at fifty cents. Clairgeau and Bosc
pears, if of first quality, bring four dollars and a half a barrel,
and so do choice Bartletts ; but as most of these are coming
from cold-storage houses, the quality is often inferior. Plums
of various kinds from California, including delicious Kelseys
and other Japanese sorts, continue as plentiful as ever. From
this state, only the varieties used for canning and preserving
are seen in this market, and as quality is not important in
this class of plums they are not quoted by name. Plums from
western New York of high flavor, like Reine Claude and
Peters' Yellow Gage, are taken by the Philadelphia market,
where ten-pound baskets bring a dollar each. Mr. E. S. Wil-
lard, of Geneva, reports the plum crop of that section as not
more than twenty per cent, of a full yield. Beautiful Flame
Tokay grapes from California, with Black Malvoise, Purple
Cornichons and White Malagas are selling on sidewalk-stands
almost as cheap as Delawares. The first quinces are appear-
ing, and can be had for a dollar a basket. A few boxes of
Florida oranges, forerunners of the regular crop, and known
as "drops," came in last week. The fruit is small, and sells
at two dollars a box wholesale, while splendid pineapples from
the same state, said to be grown under glass, are in eager de-
mand at fifty cents each wholesale. Red nectarines, of larger
size an(J better quality than the earlier arrivals, are selling at
forty cents a dozen. They come from California, and this stale
is also sending fresh figs, which are quite inferior to the fruit
grown under glass in the east and seen occasionally in the
i^ncy-fruit stores.

The death is announced of the famous rosarian, Jean Bap-
tiste Guillot, of Lyons, in his sixty-sixth year. Monsieur Guillot
was one of the most successful breeders of Roses of our day,
and from his seed-beds sprang such well-known Roses as
Catherine Mermet, Madame de Watteville, Madame Hoste,
Ernest Mefz, Gloire Lyonnaise, La France, Etoile de Lyon,
Horace Verriet and Mademoiselle Eugenie Verdier. Hecame
of a family of Rose-growers, and it was his father who, fifty
years ago, produced the Rose G^ant des Batailles, which in its
time was as great a triumph as that of La France and Catherine
Mermet.

October 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

411

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office ; Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Saxgent.

entered as second-class matter at the FOST office at new YORK. N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Article: — ^The Preservation of Soil-moisture 411

The Benton Harbor Melon Industry Professm' L. H. Bailey. 412

California Railroad-station Gardens Charles H. Skinn. 413

Foreign Correspondence: — Lilies at Kew George NickoUtm, 413

Plant Notes: — Nymphaea tubcrosa. (With figure.) 415

Cultural Department: — Autumn Planting B, O. Orpet. 415

Single Dahlias W. E. Endicott. 415

House-plants J. N. Gerard. 416

Vegetable Notes C. E. H. ^l^

Correspondence : — Dahlias not Blossoming John Chamberlain. 417

Spring Flowers In Autumn J. E. Learned, 417

Hemlock in Minnesota H.B.Ayres. 418

Recent Publications 418

The Columbian Exposition : — Plants around the Lagoons at Jackson Park,

y. G. Jack. 4.9
Brevities Professor L, H. Bailey, 419

Notes 420

Illustration: — Nymphaea tuberosa, Fig. 62 416

The Preservation of Soil-moisture.

IN our issue for July 5th it was stated that the approved
modern practice among farmers and gardeners is to
stir the surface of the soil in order to preserve the soil-
moisture to be used by the roots of the crops. The theory
upon which this practice is based is, that water rises freely
through a well-compacted soil by capillary action, and when
it reaches the surface it passes off into the air in the form
of vapor. When that surface is stirred, the capillary con-
nection with the moist soil below is measurably broken,
and although the layer of soil which has been stirred gives
off its water more rapidly at first because the surface ex-
posed to the air is increased, this layer becomes an effec-
tive mulch when fairly dry, and thus checks the evapora-
tion of the water which rises from below.

Since the publication of this article we have observed in
some agricultural papers that, while the practice is not con-
demned, the theory is disputed. It is argued that if one
wants to dry soil for any purpose he naturally keeps stir-
ring it, and that the more any soil is stirred the more
quickly it dries out. The fact that a certain layer of the
soil is called a mulch does not make any material differ-
ence between that portion and the part that lies under it.
That surface tillage prevents the waste of moisture is said
to be a fallacy which common observation disproves ; for
if a man walks across a piece of plowed ground it is well
known that his foot-prints will remain moist long after the
surface of loose soil around them is dust-dry. Now, this illus-
tration rather corroborates than disproves the theory.
The moisture in the foot-prints plainly comes from water
below the surface. Plainly, too, as soon as the water
reaches the surface it begins to evaporate. The foot-prints
remain damp, therefore, because the water rises there faster
than it passes off in invisible vapor ; that is, the foot-prints
are damp because the soil-water is being more rapidly lost
at that point than in the surrounding field. In some most
interesting experiments made in the Wisconsin Station two
years ago it was shown, among other things, that where a
heavy roller is passed over plowed ground the rolled ground

contains less water than that which is not rolled, the dif-
ference in percentage of moisture being greater when three
or four feet of soil are included in the sample tested than
when a depth of but two feet is examined.

But, as we stated in the article alluded to at the outset,
some of the most difficult problems in physics are involved
in the movements of water in the soil, and we have much
to learn. The first practical question which demands a
decisive answer is. How deeply should the surface be dis-
turbed.? Plainly, the mulch can be too thin ; that is, culti-
vation can be too shallow to produce the best effect. The
consideration of this point is suggested by the Report of
the Wisconsin Experiment Station for 1892, which has just
come to hand. In an experiment there recorded one culti-
vator was set so as to slice off and lay back upon the sur-
face rather less than an inch of earth at each cultivation.
Another one was made to penetrate to a depth of three
inches. The soil experimented on was a well-drained
clayey loam, and at planting-time the water-table was four
feet below the surface, and when the corn was cut it was
from five to six feet below the surface. Corn was planted
in rows three and a half feet apart, and strips three rows
wide were cultivated with the two implements alternately.
On August 27th the result showedconsiderably more water
in the samples of soil taken from the plats which had been
cultivated three inches deep than from those which had
been cultivated less than one inch deep, and a still greater
difference was found in similar samples taken September
1 6th. This seems to prove that while cultivation to the
depth of one inch may do some good, it does not preserve
as much water in the soil as if the field was cultivated to a
depth of three inches. It is possible that for many crops
three inches would be too deep, because of the danger of
excessive root-cutting, and the actual depth to which the
ground should be stirred in any case should vary to meet
different conditions.

What we wish to call attention to particularly, however,
is the fact that the difference of the quantity of moisture
under the two kinds of treatment was greater in the fourth
foot than at any point above it. This shows the important
truth that different ways of cultivating the surface affects
the quantity of water to and beyond the depth of five feet —
that is, throughout the entire depth occupied by the roots
of cultivated crops. In another part of the same report it
is shown that the ground-water oscillates every day appa-
rently in sympathy with the changes of temperature. ' It
had been already .demonstrated at this station that when a
plowed surface is compacted by rolling, the ground warms
more rapidly and more deeply than it does when it is cov-
ered with a mulch like that produced by surface-tillage. It
is also shown that when the soil becomes warm its water-
holding power decreases and the capillary water drops to
a lower level. When the temperature falls the water is
lifted higher, so that even the tile drains on the farms of the
Wisconsin Experiment Station discharge water faster
or slower as the soil warms or cools. In addition to the
fact, then, that by surface-tillage evaporation is dimin-
ished, we have the other important one that this cultiva-
tion keeps the soil below the surface cooler, and in this
way strengthens its capillary power, so that less water
which falls as rain percolates downward out of the reach
of root-action. Besides this, the stronger capillary force
helps the movement of deep soil-water upward and
through longer distances, so that more water in a dry sea-
son becomes available for growing crops.

As to the practical use of experiments of this sort there
can be no question. We have before stated that in most
of our agricultural lands throughout the entire season evap-
oration from any given area is about as great as the rain-
fall, so that it is probable that during the growing season
of most crops evaporation largely exceeds the rainfall. Pro-
fessor King, in the report to which we have just alluded,
states that we rarely have water enough in our soil under
natural conditions to realize even approximate possible re-
turns from our lands. This shows why irrigation, wher-

412

Garden and Forest.

[Number 293.

ever practicable, should be attempted. But where this is
not possible, the proper husbanding of soil-water is a matter
of commanding importance in the practice of agriculture or
horticulture. Inasmuch as no food can be taken by the
roots of a plant until it is dissolved in water, we cannot
study the subject too closely, and before we can adopt a
thoroughly rational basis for different methods of cultiva-
tion, we have much to learn on such points as the amount
of water needed to produce a pound of dry matter in any
crop, the storage capacity of different soils, the laws con-
trolling the movement of ground water, the root systems
of different crops, and the lateral and vertical extent
through which they feed.

R^

The Benton Harbor Melon Industry.

ATHER more than sixty miles north-east of Chicago, upon
"■ the Michigan shore of the lake, lie St. Joseph and Benton
Harbor upon opposite sides of the St. Joseph River. The re-
gion about these towns has long been famous for its fruit. It
is the oldest commercial peach region in Michigan, and one of
the oldest in the west. It was here tliat the yellows appeared
many years ago, and finally destroyed the peach industry.
Then a most diversified horticulture arose, largely devoted
to berries and grapes, and the region is now one of the
most interesting of the horticultural tributaries of Chicago.
During the last twenty years an extensive truck-gardening in-
dustry has been established here. The chief crops, in the order
of their commercial importance, are muskmelons, tomatoes,
early turnips, and asparagus, while potatoes, beans and many
early garden crops are grown extensively.

The most instructive feature of the muskmelon industry
here is the origination of the melon now widely known as the
Osage. I have never seen a better example of the confusing
effects of a cross, and the progressive influence of selection,
than is afforded by the development of this melon under the
hands of Mr. Roland Morrill. In 1872, Mr. Morrill, who was
quite ignorant of farming, began to raise melons, and planted
tlie crop at a venture, upon rented land. The year before, a
neighbor, William Rose, had grown a few melons for market,
and this was the first attempt at growing melons commer-
cially about Benton Harbor. Miller's Cream, a long smooth
variety of good quality, was the melon then cultivated. It
lacked in shipping qualities and some other particulars, and
the few persons who had become interested in the subject
looked for another variety. About this time the seeds of a
melon grown in the country along the Osage River, in Kansas,
were brought to Benton Harbor. This melon was black-green,
with a very thick, sweet, yellow flesh, and had great value, but
it was small and round. A natural cross was made between
the two varieties by Mr. Rose and Mr. Morrill by planting the
two kinds of melons together. From the product Mr. Morrill
carefully selected seed-melons, having in mind an ideal type.
He had no thought at that time of originating a new melon,
but rather of improving upon the old ones. To get earliness
the stock was again crossed with Christiana, a round, netted,
good melon, but having flesh which breaks down, or becomes
soft, in shipping. The new type was desired, above all, to be
solid and durable, to have a thin rind, protected with a mod-
erate netting, and to be egg-shaped, for easy and pleasant
handling, packing and eating. Even now, five years after this
new melon has been introduced under the name of Osage,
Mr. Morrill selects his seed-melons froin every wagon-load
which comes to the packing-shed with a minuteness of inspec-
tion which would astonish any ordinary gardener. If a melon
is too long or is yellow in the channels, it is too near Miller's
Cream ; i? rounded and dark and inclined to be small, it is too
near the original Osage ; if it tends to yellow up in ripening or
is heavily netted, it has too much Christiana in it. Its weight
indicates its solidity and carrying qualities, and a typical Osage
should weigh four pounds. Thus, a pile of melons, which
looks to the visitor to be remarkably uniform, yields a dozen
secrets of parentage and bad blood to the practiced eye, and it
is remarkable how firmly those old crosses have impressed
themselves upon the offspring. All this illustrates the law,
which is so often forgotten, that careful and long-continued
selection is the one potent factor in the amelioration of plants.
Crossing simply starts off new variations, and years of patient
effort may be required to establish any one of them. The
operator must have an exact and unvarying ideal in his mind,
to which he works uniformly year by year. It is not enough
that he selects good products, but he must have the precise

shape, size, color, and other characteristics of an ideal in his
mind continually.

In 1888, Mr. Morrill sold the first seeds of the new melon to
Mr. J. C. Vaughan, who introduced it. It had previously been
called the Osage in the Milwaukee market. It is a delicious
melon, and as I ate it at Benton Harbor 1 thought it the best I
have ever known. Its Hesh is remarkably firm, thick and
sugary, and lacks entirely that soft, fibrous and mushy texture
of the Montreal Market, Hackensack and other popular varie-
ties. The flesh is edible almost to the exterior, and upon tlie
under side it would stand paring down to the thinnest rind.
For a melon of its size and weight, the interior cavity must, of
course, be very small, and this is one of its strong points as a
shipper. These opinions, formed where the Osage is at home,
may need some modifying in other places ; but whether the
difference in melons ot different regions comes from differ-
ences in soil or climate, or management, or in the seed, I can-
not say. Mr. Morrill is sure that some of the Osage melon-
seed stock which has been sold is not true to type.

Melon-growing is now a large industry in this region. The
melon land so far developed all lies north of the St. Joseph
River, back of Benton Harbor. It extends from three to fifteen
miles inland from the lake. The ideal melon land is a strong
gravelly loam, and if it lies somewhat low and flat so much
tlie better, provided it is well drained. During the melon sea-
son just closed about 4,000 boxes and nearly as many baskets
were shipped from the one port every day. The boxes are
supposed to measure one bushel. These are really crates
with three pieces of 12 x 12 inch heading, and are 20 inches
long, the bottom being a solid piece, the sides and tops each
comprising three slats. The material costs five cents a box
"in the fiat," and seventy-five cents a hundred to make up,
and each box consumes half a cent's worth of nails. When
filled, the boxes are supposed to weigh fifty pounds. Osage
and Hackensack melons are packed in these boxes, and from
twelve to sixteen Osage fill a box. The Netted Gem, which is
considerably grown, is shipped in half-bushel Climax baskets.
Although this enormous crop now finds market, usually at
remunerative prices, none of the growers had ever sold all
they grew until Mr. Morrill did so in 1881.

The Osage melon is somewhat more difficult to grow than
Christiana and other sorts, for it requires strong soil or liberal
fertilizing, and the young plants are tender. Mr. Morrill sows
his seed about the 15th of April. Two or three seeds are
planted in a "plant-box," which is a box made of basket ma-
terial, at the basket-factories in Benton Harbor. The box is a
five-inch cube. These are made cheaply and are used only
once, being left upon the ground in the field when the plants
are taken from them, where they decay in a year's time. This
box is partly filled with good compost, which is tamped, and
the space above is then filled with woods-earth, in which the
seeds are planted. These boxes are placed in cold frames,
and when the plants are well established all but one are re-
moved from each box. About the 20th of May the plants are
set in the field, only one plant going in each hill. At this time
the plants should have developed two or three runners to the
length of one to three inches, and the first (staminate) flower
should be about ready to open. The least distance apart at
which the Osage is planted is five by five feet, but Mr. Morrill
produces better melons by giving more room, and he thinks
that seven by seven feet may yet be found to be the ideal dis-
tance. The land should not have been cropped with melons the
previous year, and it is well to plow under a Clover sod for the
melon crop. Mr. Morrill showed me a large field upon which
a very heavy growth of Mam moth Clover is standing, all of which
is to be turned under for the benefit of next year's melon crop.
It is a common practice to apply a shovelful of manure to
each hill, but more permanent and uniform results are ob-
tained when the fertilizer is applied broadcast. The most pop-
ular fertilizer is stable-manure, after which come commercial
fertilizers and home-mixed preparations. Sheep and hog
manure from the Chicago stock-yards is delivered in Benton
Harbor for $1.00 per ton. If the land is in good tilth, it is
necessary to hoe the crop only once or twice ; but the culti-
vator must be run from four to eight times, and after the vines
have covered the ground, the large weeds must be pulled.
The Osage melon begins to ripen the first week in August,
four or five days later than the Early Hackensack. Landreth's
Extra Early Citron Melon, which is now called Early Jewell by
some growers, is three weeks ahead of Osage, but it is inferior
in quality. The melons are ripe when they part freely from
the stem, and the operation of picking consists in pressing off
the stem with the thumb.

The harvesters pick the melons in bushel-baskets and carry
them to the edge of the plantation, or to the various cross-

October 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

413

drives, and empty them into piles, from whicli they are loaded
into wagons. They are then drawn to the packing-house,
where tliey are emptied upon a long table covered with hay
or straw. The packer now selects the melons into two grades,
lieing very careful to use only melons of the highest excellence
and greatest uniformity of shape, size and coloi for the first
grade, which is to go to market as " Guaranteed Pure Osage "
and "Guaranteed Straight Packing." The melons must be
placed so firmly in the crates that they cannot setile and be-
come loose. A good packer is able to tell at sight the quality
of a melon and to judge if it will fit well into a certain place ;
he, therefore, avoids unnecessary handling of the melons and
works rapidly. An expert packer, in the best of the season,
can pack fifty crates an hour, although twenty to twenty-five
crates an hour is considered to be quick packing. The second
quality melons are again graded down to tolerable uniformity
in size and shape, but they are usually sold without the name
of the variety or the grower. As in all other crops, there is
great difference between the grades of the different growers.
This was apparent in running over the boxes as they were piled
in tiers in the boat on their way to Chicago, and it explained
the differences in prices which the various shippers receive.
An acre of Osage should average about two hundred cases of
marketable melons, or about 2,400 to 3,000 melons. For the
last twenty years the average net returns to the grower have
run from sixty-two cents to $1.05 per crate. Mr. Morrill is the
largest grower. This year he has twenty-five acres in melons,
and he has grown as high as sixty acres in one year. He now
saves the choicest of the melons for seed, with which he sup-
plies much of the market. The melons are cut in halves and
the contents scooped out with the hands into large pails or
barrels. Or if the melons are to be sold to local consumers,
one segment of the melon is cut away and the interior is taken
out with a tablespoon. The pulp is allowed to remam in the
barrels only until fermentation begins, at which time it is
floated off and the seeds are washed out. The seeds are then
spread upon a wirescreen out-of-doors to dry; racks are ar-
ranged in the packing or other sheds upon which these screens
can be laid during a storm. About thirty Osage melons yield
a pound of seed. It is often said that these Benton Harbor
growers plant Cucumbers with the general melon-crop in
order to spoil the seeds, so that the public cannot obtain them
freely, but this is an error. There is no evidence that Musk-
melons and Cucumbers ever cross, and although Mr. Morrill
once believed that they did, he is now prepared to abandon
the opinion.

The enemies to melons at Benton Harbor are the striped
beetle and a blight which dries up the leaves. The beetles are
kept away by dusting the plants with lime into which just
enough sulphur has been stirred to give it a yellow tinge. For
the blight no remedy has been found, and Bordeaux mixture
does not appear to check it. It is undoubtedly a bacterial dis-
ease. Upon new lands, near woods, woodchucks are often
serious pests. They eat the runners and bite holes from the
young melons when they reach the size of an egg. The urchin
IS not a serious enemy to melon-growing here, for the acreage
is so great that he cannot compass the entire subject.

Mr. Morrill, who has been the chief means of developing the
trucking interests of Benton Harbor, is yet comparatively
a young man, and he now finds himself well-to-do, and in de-
mand for important work in his town and state. He is largely
interested in fruit, and is the largest, and probably the best,
blackberry grower in Michigan. His Blackberry-plantation
now covers forty-two acres, of which seven acres are in Wil-
son's Early, and thirty-five acres in Early Harvest. Mr. Morrill
is fortunate in having started with no knowledge of the busi-
ness, for he was free from the traditions and conservatisms
which chill the enterprise of many farmers and keep them
from making progress. , ,, n -j

Cornell University. L. H. BatUy.

California Railroad-station Gardens.

A FEW years ago there was hardly a railroad-station garden
•^*- or park in California, except a few in the southern part of
the state, which were partly or wholly maintained by private
enterprise to help the sale of town-lots. Now there are many
worth notice, though the state is so large, and so sparsely set-
tled in parts, that no railroad company, however wealthy, could
immediately establish gardens everywhere. The rule appears
to be that the most progressive communities get the first sta-
tion-parks.

The Southern Pacific Railroad has spent, and is spending^, a
vast sum annually to beautify choice spots around its principal
stations, and it has a wide range of soils and climates to choose

from. At Los Angeles, at the main station, the large grounds
attract much notice. Two fine desert Palms, planted in old
Spanish times, still remain. The lawn is set with a good col-
lection of semi-tropic trees and other plants. Camphors,
Araucarias, Hakeas,Casuarinas,CannasandCaladiums are con-
spicuous. There is a triangular space planted with Yuccas,
Cacti and other Arizonian plants, brought from the desert.
Pomona has a particularly attractive square at the depot, where
Roses bloom all winter. Ontario and many other towns of
southern California, and even newly started villages, are
making the station-grounds interesting, if only by Palms, Gre-
villeas and Magnolias.

Along the ocean, where the problems before the railroad
gardeners are often exceedingly difficult, the abundant use of
succulents, such as the Mesenibryanthemums, and of Bamboos
and Eucalypti is quite general. Where the water-supply is
good, one sees many and magnificent Passifloras, Tacsonias,
Ipomccas and the tropic Hibiscuses. It is a common thing at
this season, September 12th, to see a trellis or fence covered
with the ripe golden fruits of some of the edible Passifloras.
Acres of Bamboos planted closely in shifting sands have been
of great value, if sufficient water can be had to establish their
growth.

In the San Joaquin Valley no railroad-station is more attrac-
tive than that of the one at Merced, a few years ago a barren
waste of several acres. It has been changed with great rapidity
to a mass of shrubbery and stretches of lawn. The so-called
Umbrella-trees, from the southern states — a regular form, I
believe, of the old Pride of China, Melia Azaderach — are be-
coming the characteristic tree of the San Joaquin region, and
no one can overlook their dark, dense, regular appearance.

Some of the most beautiful gardens of the Southern Pacific
Railroad are on the Monterey line from San Francisco, past
San Jos6 to the ancient capital of the state. Alon^ " the penin-
sula," as San Mateo County is often called, there is a more fin-
ished and cultivated aspect about the little railroad-stations
than in any other part of California. San Jose never had the
land for more than a bit of green lawn. Castroville has a very
picturesque large garden wilderness, overgrown and full of
bloom at all seasons, a bower of Roses, Dahlias, Carnations
and nearly everything that could be gathered together in the
district. Every year a few more stations begin to make gar-
dens, and the old ones are kept up and improved. It is cer-
tain that the railroads are spending large sums to beautify
their grounds, and the time will come when one of the special
features of travel in this state will be the horticultural variety
displayed in the thousands of small railroad gardens and parks
scattered along every valley and mountain pass from San
Diego to Siskiyou. _, , ,,,.,,.

Niies, CaliJ. Charles H, Shinn.

Foreign Correspondence.
Lilies at Kew.

THE systematic cultivation of Lilies on a large scale at
Kew is a somewhat recent development of the out-
door gardening in that establishment. Formerly many at-
tempts were made to grow them in specially made beds
in that portion of the gardens devoted to the cultivation of
monocotyledonous plants, but these all failed, and so —
with the exception of a few species which thrive even under
the most depressing conditions — Lilies played little or no
part in ornamental gardening at Kew until within the last
six or eight years. The success which has attended the
new departure, and the wonderfully fine etfects produced
by masses of the showier species and varieties, are so great
that an outline of the methods pursued may be of general
interest.

Soil and Position. — Most of the Lilies at Kew grow well
in peat ; some few refuse to grow in peat, but do well in
loam ; some do equally well in loam and peat. But, gener-
ally speaking, the key-note of success was struck when the
bulbs were planted among low-growing shrubs. Behind
the Palm-house is the so-called "American Garden," con-
taining masses of Ericaceous and other plants in large beds ;
among these are Rhododendrons — low-growing species^
Azaleas, Ledums, Callunas, Ericas, Pieris, Leucolhog,
Daphne, etc. These shrubs serve a double purpose ; they
keep the ground cool about the Lily-roots and shelter the
young growths from the late spring frosts. Every few
years, as the shrubs grow too dense, it is necessary to re-

414

Garden and Forest.

[Number 293.

plant them and space them out properly, so as to give the
Lilies a fair share of light and air. Replanting, by the way,
is better than pruning, as each time replanting takes place
a number of fine shrubs are obtained, which are available
for new plantations. At the same time the Lilies — at any
rate, the great majority of them — pay for being lifted and
replanted, the smaller bulbs being retained and placed in
nursery-beds to grow on. Lilium auratum is one which
prefers being let alone, and, given a well-drained peat bed,
should not, if possible, be disturbed. L. auratum, by the
way, being a taller grower than most of its congeners, we
grow in beds of taller Rhododendrons than those which
tind a place in the "American Garden," and these can,
from time to time, be pruned in so as to allow the Lilies light
and breathing-space. In the beds of Rhododendron —
principally hybrids of R. Ponticum — along the Broad Walk
we have had hundreds of stems of L. auratum six feet high
(many have attained eight feet or more), with fifteen to
twenty, or even more, perfect flowers ; this year, however,
owing to the excessive drought,- few stems have attained
the dimensions or have produced the number of flowers
just mentioned. L. longiflorum does best with us in peat
and must be replanted every second or third year, or there
would be a falling off in the size and number of the flowers ;
the fact is, the bulbs increase so fast that they crowd each
other out and impoverish the ground — the small ones are
planted at once in other beds or are grown on in nursery-
beds for stock. L. speciosum and its numerous varieties
increase so rapidly that they quite exhaust the ground ; re-
planting is necessary every second, or third year at the
outside. Fresh peat should be added and only some of the
large bulbs replaced ; the others may be at once utilized for
forming new plantations.

Raising from Seeds. — The bulbs of some Lilies, after
flowering well for several seasons, disappear apparently
without cause, and the betterand the more freely have they
grown and flowered the more apt are they to disappoint
their possessors. It seems probable that the bulbs of these
kinds are in reality always rather short-lived. An excellent
way to keep up a stock of young, vigorous bulbs is to
make a sowing every year. If treated properly, seedlings
arrive at the flowering stage very quickly. The seeds should
be sown as soon as ripe — if possible, in prepared beds (not in
pots or pans) under glass. A cold frame will do well, but re-
sults are more speedily attained if seeds are sown in a bed
in a slightly heated greenhouse. For instance, seeds of
Lilium longiflorum, var. Formosanum, a beautiful variety
from Formosa, developed rapidly, some seedlings flower-
ing in little more than a year from time of sowing. The
bulbs in that time had attained about the size of small
hazel-nuts ; last year they were planted in the open
ground, and during the past summer have flowered pro-
fusely.

Scales and Bulbils. — The former method of propagation
— when seeds are not to be had — is one which allows the
stock of a given kind to be rapidly increased. A good-sized
bulb will furnish a large number of scales, each of which
may develop into a good bulb in two or three years. The
scales should be planted in silver sand — over-prepared soil
— and kept in a frame or greenhouse until young plants
have developed, when they are better planted out in the
open ground. The third year from scales we have had
L. Hansom five feet high, bearing from nine to twelve flow-
ers on a stem. Bulbils, as of the Tiger-lily (L. tigrinum)
and L. sulphureum, furnish an easy way of propagation ; the
former will flower the second year from the bulbil, all that
is necessary with the Tiger-lily being to sow the bulbils
when ripe in the open ground and leave them to their fate.
A slight covering of Fern-leaves, etc., during winter is,
however, beneficial. With L. sulphureum — owing to its
being much more uncommon — we act differently, planting
the bulbils in pans or beds under glass. The first year
these will get as large as small hazel-nuts — after this they
are better planted outside ; some planted out this spring in
an Azalea bed, fully six inches deep, have grown freely

this past summer, producing numbers of bulbils, which, in
their turn, will be carefully treated as above described.
They will, doubtless, flower well next year.

Lilies which Grow Best in Loam. — The Martagon Lily,
L. Martagon, and its varieties, album and Dalmaticum,
will not grow in peat at Kew, but do well in loam. The
Tiger Lily, L. tigrinum, and its varieties, although they will
thrive in peat, do well in almost any garden-soil. The
Pyrenean, or Yellow Martagon, as it is sometimes called,
requires loam ; if chalky in character so much the better.
L. testaceum and L. candidum like good loamy soil. L.
pardalinum grows very freely in a damp loam ; the third
year we have had it seven feet high, with thirty flowers on
a stem ; when this species is transplanted, unless clumps
are moved with masses of soil attached to their roots, it
is never so fine the succeeding year ; one must wait until it
is thoroughly established before the best results are obtained.
L. Hansoni will grow well even in a hot dry spot. The
Scarlet Martagon, or Scarlet Turk's-cap, L. Chalcedonicum,
and its varieties, like a moist, but well-drained, good strong
loam ; this is not an easy species to manage, but where it
does succeed it is one of the most beautiful of hardy Lilies.
L. croceum, the Orange Lily, does better in loam on a damp
subsoil than in a bed, no matter how well prepared, on a
dry gravelly or sandy subsoil ; it is a beautiful plant, and
by no means common in gardens. L. Davuricum and the
numerous forms of the garden L. umbellatum thrive ad-
mirably in almost any garden-soil ; among dwarf-growing
shrubs, as recommended at the commencement of these
notes, the bulbs increase in size and number to such an
extent that, although planted originally six or eight inches
below the surface, in about three years they will almost
lift themselves out of the ground. The Chinese L. Henryi
grows in both peat and loam ; in peat, two years after
planting, the stems measured five feet in height, and
bore as many as nineteen flowers ; in loam, however,
the second year after planting, the stems had attained a
height of six or seven feet, and some .bore upward of thirty
flowers. L. candidum, as far as Kew is concerned, is one
of the most refractory of Lilies ; imported bulbs flower
well the first season, but afterward, as a rule, fungal dis-
ease attacks stem and leaves, and both dry up and wither
before the flowers open. L. longiflorum will grow well
either in loam or peat, and L. Sovitsianum likes loam with
a clay bottom.

Lilies which do Best in Peat. — First and foremost is the
golden-rayed Lily of Japan, L. auratum, which has already
been mentioned. L. superbum, a noble species, with which,
doubtless, your American readers are familiar in a wild
state, does best in peat with us ; the second and third year
after planting it has reached seven feet in height and up-
ward, bearing from twenty to thirty flowers on a stem.
Some seasons many of the bulbs will remain perfectly dor-
mant, but the following season they will start again. L.
Grayi, from Roan Mountain, does not, as far as my per-
sonal observation and inquiries on the spot go to prove,
ever attain anything like the proportions in a wild statethat
it does at Kew. We have had our bulbs since 1891 ; they
were planted early in that year in a bed of Azalea amoena,
and most of the stems bore but one flower ; the following
year the flowers numbered from two to five on a stem ; the
present season the stems have grown five feet high and
borne from five to twelve flowers each. The little Japa-
nese L. concolor (bright scarlet) and its variety, Coridion
(bright yellow), the second year after planting among
Dwarf Azaleas have grown two feet high and borne from
four to six flowers on a stem. L. speciosum and its varie-
ties like peat, but soon deteriorate unless replanted and the
smaller bulbs removed ; with this species not more than
two years should elapse without replanting. If arranged
in clumps among low shrubs it is easy to move the clumps
a foot or two, and so obtain fresh soil for the hungry roots
to work in. The second year after planting we have
measured L. speciosum, and found the stems to be five
feet high, bearing from twelve to twenty flowers. L. Cana-

October 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

415

dense, L. elegans and its numerous forms, L. Brownii, L. Ja-
ponicum, L. pomponium and L. sulphureum are other
Lilies which, in Kew at least, do best in peat.
London. Gcorge Ntcholsoti.

Plant Notes.
Nympheea tuberosa.

NYMPH^A TUBEROSA has already been figured and
described in Garden and Forest (vol. i., p. 368), but
the accompanying illustration from a photograph will ap-
propriately supplement the botanical sketch.

As has been noted before, this native species bears very
large flowers, only equaled in size among the hardy white
Water-lilies by the southern form of N. odorata, known as
the Rice-field Lily. In form, however, the flowers of these
two species are quite distinct, the latter having more
numerous, narrower and pointed petals. All forms of N.
odorata are apt to have a more or less distinct trace of
pink, especially on the outer row of petals, but no trace of
color has been observed on the flowers of N. tuberosa.
The flowers usually have merely a faint odor ; the leaves
are green on both sides, and are borne usually on strong
petioles. The root-stocks are stronger than those of N.
odorata, and bear numerous spontaneously detaching
tubers, which, while useful in the struggle for existence,
are objectionable in a limited water-space, where this spe-
cies will quickly take complete possession. For this rea-
son, other forms of white Nympha;as are usually favored by
cultivators. The English botanists point to N. tuberosa as
one of the parents of Marliac's N. chromatella, but this
origin is denied by him. While N. chromatella forms very
numerous buds, it does not seem to form the peculiar
spontaneously detaching, and sometimes compound, bulbs
so peculiar to N. tuberosa.

Cultural Department.

Autumn Planting.

A FTER such a protracted dry season it is fair to assume
■^~*- that there will soon be a good deal of wet weather, and
the intending planter has, therefore, no time to lose. Thinning
out old plantings or making new ones should be attended to
at once, and a large majority of herbaceous plants will become
established in their new locations before the ground freezes,
and will start away better in the spring than if planting is left
until that season.

The autumn planting of Roses in the open in New England
is, however, in my opinion, a mistake. Unless the wood of
established Roses is thoroughly matured, especially the late
growth, even these are liable to be killed down to the roots,
as was proved last winter with a lot of year-old plants of
Hybrid Perpetual Roses on their own roots. They were well
protected with straw, but the shoots were vigorous and imma-
ture, and the result was that all died. A similar lot this year
will be lifted and the roots placed in sandy soil in the cellar, to
be replanted in April as soon as the ground can be worked.
About three hundred American-grown Rose-plants were used
in our fall plantings in 1890 and 1891, some on their own roots
and others budded, according to variety. The plants were
earthed up with soil just before frost came, and covered lightly
with straw. In each case one-third of the plants were either
killed or so badly injured that they had to be replaced in the
spring. I have no doubt that others have had the same expe-
rience, but a great deal is still heard about planting Roses in
the fall, as though it were the most approved season for this
work. Believing that orders were filed by the growers in the
order of their receipt and that the best plants would go to the
first purchasers, our orders were placed early, so as to secure
good plants. This plan I should again follow, but on receiving
the plants they should be heeled in, either in a cool cellar or
cold frame. If in a cold frame, the tops should be covered
with dry leaves. In the spring they will come out bright, with
the buds just beginning to swell and the roots m good con-
dition.

As to the value of budded plants, compared with own-root
plants, it has always seemed to me that the best and quickest
results are obtained from budded plants. The wild Brier has

to be looked out for, but shoots from the Brier-root can be
detected at a glance and removed, and as long as these intru-
ders are under the soil they will do no harm. We grow sev-
eral hundred Hybrid Roses for forcing ; all the best are kept
in flats about six Inches deep. Some are on their own roots,
others budded, and others again grafted on the roots of the
Baltimore Belle. Those on their own roots are the weakest,
and the last-named are by far the strongest, making growths
over six feet high. These are now thoroughly ripened by
keeping the soil rather dry when growth Is finished, and In
rainy weather the boxes are stood on edge. The plants treated
in this way are started when the Chrysanthemums have fin-
ished flowering. We get one crop of excellent Roses in March,
and as they are not pruned low down the lower buds start and
give a second fine crop later ; sometimes a scattering of good
blooms is gathered later In the season from the plants treated
in this way. These Roses require considerable care during
the summer as to moisture, but the results are so satisfactory
that we shall grow fewer in pots In the future, and then only
for later crops. The growing of Roses In boxes has much to
recommend it, for few private establishments can spare a
house for hybrid Roses the year round, when there are so
many uses tor a glass structure In summer. To have good
Chrysanthemum-blooms, these also must be grown entirely
under glass. The culture of Violets In frames may also be
counted among the lost arts unless some better means can be
devised for fighting the dread disease than those we now

possess.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Single Dahlias.

E. O. Orpet.

'T'HAT single Dahlias are more graceful than double ones
^ cannot be denied, but grace Is only one quality of a flower,
and there are others in which the double varieties excel to
such a degree that I marvel when I find persons condemning
them altogether. I do not see how any one' can examine
closely a well-grown flower of such double varieties as, for
example, A. D. Lironi or Pre-eminent, without thinking the
couplet wrong which declares —

Whoever thinks a perfect piece to see,

Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.

Almost everybody knows that the doubling of a composite
flower is not the transformation of a part of the floral organs
into petals, but Is the addition of a petal to each of the small
florets of the disk ; so that a double Dahlia Is as complete In
all essential parts as a single one. The single kinds are usually
freer bloomers than the double ones, and the quality of the
flowers seems to be less affected by the weather, yet it should
be remembered that not until the nights grow cool and the
droughts of summer have passed, do Dahlias of any class appear
at their best. A July Dahlia-flower is almost always worthless ;
if It ought to be double it comes semi-double ; if single, one
or two petals will be undeveloped, or they will be curled at the
edges or they will be irregularly set on. It is often said in gar-
dening papers that single Dahlias are best treated as annuals,
that is, raised from seed every year, but with this I do not
agree. I raise scores of them annually, and though I use seed
of the best kinds only, very few of the seedlings yield good
flowers. Poor ones will be showy at a distance, it is true, but
there is no pleasure In seeing them at the farther end of the
garden, knowing that there is not one among them that would
please you if near at hand. It is a very easy matter to raise
any quantity of seedling Dahlias, but It Is not easy to raise a
good one.

A single dahlia should not be too large ; White Queen,
which was long the best white, had this fault ; a diameter of
three Inches is large enough ; its color or colors should be clear
and unmixed ; many of the yellow, pink and white varieties
are not so, but are disfigured by small dots or lines ; its petals
should be broad enough to make a smooth outline, as little
notched as possible.

It is easy to laugh at these requirements, but I am sure that
everybody would acknowledge the superiority of such flowers
as I have described. If they were to see them side by side
with others which lacked these features. Some florists in
England have of late endeavored to Introduce "Single Cactus
Dahlias," having long, narrow, twisted petals. I have not yet
tried them, but I have noticed that though these have been
exhibited at shows they have not, so far, received certificates
of merit.

For general purposes, whether for garden adornment or for
cutting, flowers having only one color are, I think, preferable,
but a few of two or more colors will add Interest. There are,
as far as I have observed, three types of parti-colored flowers :

4i6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 293.

those which have the base of the petals differently colored
from the tip, and shading imperceptibly from one tint to the
other, or else changing abruptly so as to form a ring around
the disk ; those which have the edge of each petal, from base
to tip, of a distinct color from the central portion ; and those
whose petals are marked longitudinally throughout with nar-
row stripes. In all of these types, especially the last two, oc-
casional flowers will be found where one color seems to have
expelled the other. In some seasons the fine Chilwell Beauty
loses the orange centre from its petals, and the flower be-
comes simply crimson ; Theseis, a white flower with longitu-
dinal purple stripes, frequently becomes all white or all pur-
ple ; Gulielma, which, when in full character, is a white flower

are as frequently produced as by other strains, but no more
so. The other makes a less compact plant than the first, but
still not an awkward or rambling one. 1 value it especially for
its remarkably elegant foliage, which is beautifully cut, and
frequently of a bronzy hue. The llowers of this strain are
almost always deep crimson, but a little variation is beginning
to appear.

As the season for lifting Dahlias is approaching, it may be
well to say that the roots ought to be turned stems downward
as soon as the tops are cut off, and kept so until spring ; the
losses of Dahlias during the winter, otherwise than by freezing,
are mostly caused by neglect of this precaution.

Canton, Mass. IV. E. Endicott.

Fig. 62. — Nyrophaea tuberosa. — See page 415.

with buff-edged petals, is most frequently seen without the buff.
The complaint is sometimes heard that single Dahlias are not
suitable for cutting because the petals drop so quickly, but if
cut before the central florets open the flower will last several
days ; indeed, the petals will wither in their place rather than
fall.

There are several strains of single Dahlias differing in their
manner of growth and abundance of flowering ; two of these
are so superior that I use very little seed of any other. One of
them makes a close, thick, round-headed bush, from three to
three and a half feet high, flowers most profusely, and throws
all of its blossoms a foot or so above the top of the plant. The
colors are as varied as the genus can give, and good flowers

House-plants.

A MONG my rather numerous plants there are none which
■^~*- are more thoroughly satisfactory than those which we use
for house-plants in winter. Tried friends these are, in both ac-
ceptations of the phrase. Plants which will continue thrifty
under conditions prevailing in a modern house are not very
numerous, but, happily, one can have a choice of available
plants which are not only handsome in form, but which will
prove satisfactory under adverse conditions. It is some years
since I ceased the struggle to grow soft-wooded flowering
plants in the house, for the first requisite to success with these
is that the temperature and conditions of the house should be

October 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

417

regulated somewhat as to their requirements. Few, if any, of
this class of plants thrive under great changes of temperature
or survive aridity or contamination of atmosphere. It is only
those plants with harder leaves and wood which have a ca-
pacity of endurance in a house heated by a furnace and lighted
by gas. A plant which will not accept cheerfully the usual
morning airing at anything above the freezing-point and pre-
serve its serenity as the temperature marks eighty degrees,
under the influence of heat and lights, is of no use to us for
permanent service. Under such conditions I grow a few well-
known plants, and while, after several years'growth, they have
not the fine appearance of those grown under glass, they are
always in good condition, and amply repay the little care re-
quired by them. Nothing is more restful to the eye and more
decorative in the house than a noble plant of good form and
foliage.

Areca lutescens, one of the most commonly grown Palms,
is one of the handsomest and most useful in the house. Once
secured in a thrifty condition, it makes a regular growth, and
with a fair amount of light will prove superior to very adverse
conditions. My plant, four or five years old, is established in
a glazed jar without drainage, which is not the best environ-
ment for the roots of any plant. Next I fancy Pandanus
Veitchii for its all-round good qualities. It has handsome
foliage and a somewhat compact habit of growth. It does not
grow as rapidly as P. utilis, though this is a very useful plant,
of great hardihood, and if grown carefully, to retain its lower
leaves, very ornamental. It is apt to outgrow available space
very soon, and its serrated leaves are cruel ones to handle in
the necessary cleansings. The Chinese Palm, Rhapis flabelli-
formis, is a species of distinct character, and well adapted to
house-culture. Coryphea australis, in a young state, has
striking characteristics, and has proven a desirable plant.
Phoenix reclinata has rather soft foliage, and seems specially
subject to scale. Livistona Chinensis, while making a hand-
some specimen, is not a plant which will do as well as the
above-mentioned kinds under same conditions and treatment.
Of course, no collection of house-plants would be complete
without India Rubber-plants, the green variety of which will sur-
vive any treatment short of actual desiccation. There is, how-
ever, a choice among the varieties of this plant, that with the
reddish midrib being the best. The variegated Ficus, well
colored, is a handsome plant, which not only resents neglect,
but is a difficult one to cultivate in good specimen condition.
Plunged in full sunlight in the open, with plentiful supplies of
water, it thrives, and the leaves become high-colored. At this
season, however, with change of temperature or some other
cause, the lower leaves are apt to brown on the edges, and in
some cases ripen off without browning. Aside from this an-
nual check, however, it is a serviceable plant for the house.
Aspidistras seem to have sunk into well-merited neglect and
cafg ornaments. They are undoubtedly proof against every
contingency fatal to most plant-life, but are not a joy to the eye.
For a formal effect in low front windows I have tried small
potted plants of Arbor-vitae in tile boxes. These did capitally,
and the green lines of these plants were a grateful sight in win-
ter. The above list might be enlarged, of course, but the ob-
ject of this note is only to mention a few tried plants sure to
prove satisfactory, as a hint to those who have not given this
class of plants a trial. Any of the above-mentioned plants may
be had at a very reasonable price, but it will pay to secure
well-established sturdy plants which have been grown in pots
under glass. An examination of the roots, to see that they are
in order, will not be amiss at the time of purchase. As to cul-
ture, the^ require daily attention in the way of water, being
kept moist, but not wet, at the roots. Once a week they should
be taken to the sink and every leaf thoroughly washed with
water slightly soapy. In the spring the top soil should be
forked out and replaced with good open loam, into which
should be mixed a liberal supply of bone-meal. It is not
usually important that these plants should be much stimu-
lated, as in this case they will outgrow their quarters. If in
porous pots they may be plunged out in the borders for the
summer in a place where they will have a few hours' sun and
be protected from high winds. Plants in glazed fancy pots will
require overhead covering to prevent them becoming water-
logged.

Eigabeih, N. J. J- N- Gerard.

Vegetable Notes.— The variety of Okra known as Velvet is
more valuable than the Density is, since the pods grow to edi-
ble size earlier in the season, and are of more symmetrical
shape. It does not yield " nubbins" toward the close of the
season, as the other variety is apt to do. In point of yield the
varieties are about equal. With me the Dreer or Kumerle

Dwarf Lima has proved both earlier and txiore productive than
Burpee's ; but soils and seasons may reverse the matter.
Either of these Limas is superb, and will undoubtedly grow
in favor. One point, however, must be kept in mind — seed
must be carefully selected from the dwarfesf plants only, as
both varieties show a tendency to revert to the running type
from which they were selected, and if care is hot exercised
plants of dwarf habit will become the exception. One of the
best Cabbages for the home garden is the Winnigstadt, either
for second, early or late. It grows rapidly, and has good
quality and tender texture. Its distinguishing merit is its compact
spiral growth, the leaves overlapping each other so quickly
and firmly that it seems a difficult matter for even the cab-
bage-worm to eat into the heads. On account of this same
compact habit, few leaves need to be removed when the heads
are cut for use. „ „ ,,

Geneva, N. V. C. E. H.

Correspondence.

Dahlias not Blossoming.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — So far as my observation goes, no horticultural journal
has noted the fact that the Dahlia has ceased to be a flower-
ing plant, at least in western New York. If Buffalo is not a
floral centre sufficiently well marked to determine the matter,
certainly Rochester is, and I have lately seen Dahlias in that
city acting exactly as ours do. The plants are thrifty enough,
but if buds form they all blast.

For several years 1 have scarcely had three flowers to the
plant, and often none at all. This year I have some new sorts,
but no flowers. Sometimes the young shoots have the ap-
pearance of having been stung by insects, but often buds turn
black when half-grown, with no appearance of insect interfer-
ence. I find that such plants run heavily to tubers. Often an
ordinary-sized plant will produce as many tubers as can be
found in a good hill of potatoes; whether this is cause or effect
I am unable to say, and have failed to devise a means of find-
ing out. I have had no experience with the new single varie-
ties. Unless they or the experts do something for us the
Dahlia will have to be retired.

Occasionally a notable exception is observed. At the cot-
tage on Goat Island, Niagara Falls, Dahlias grow higher than
one's head and blossom profusely. The soil is a peculiarly
rich black loam. On the other hand, a single plant at a farm-
yard door, with no apparent special advantages, was found so
full of yellow blossoms that it fairly lighted up the landscape.
These two instances are the only ones that have come under
my notice for years of the Dahlia flowering hereabout as of
old. Experienced cultivators of it in this city have been
obliged to discard it. Who will tell us what is the matter ?

Buffalo, N. Y. John Chamberlain.

[We have inquired of Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry as to
the flowering of Dahlias with them, and they reply that for
several years these plants have not flowered to their entire
satisfaction in western New York. They attribute the fail-
ure largely to continued dry weather, and they also think
that growers allow too many stems to proceed from the
same plant. Where the suckers are cut off and the plant
is trimmed to a single stem a good growth and fine flow-
ers are usually secured. They have not noticed that the
plant has received any serious injury from insects or from
fungi. — Ed.]

Spring Flowers in Autumn.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— It seems worth recording that a Horse-chestnut-tree in
Central Park is now, September 2Sth, in flower. The spikes of
bloom are somewhat smaller than those of the spring, and
delicately attenuated in all their parts, very closely after the
manner of the forced flowers of shrubs which florists offer in
advance of the natural season of blossoming. The odor of
these Horse-chestnut flowers, also, is most delicate, resem-
bling that of Lonicera Tartarica.

The tree in question stands just above the bridle-path north
of the new reservoir, close by the little elevated rond-point or
circle of observation for equestrians, from which they may
look over the meadows below. About one-fourth part of the
tree is in flower and young leaf, the remainder being in the
usual condition of this season, save that it has no fruit. A

4i8

Garden and Forest.

[Number 293.

Horse-chestnut next to this one, nearly devoid of leaves, bears
two spikes of bloom.

A friend reports that he saw in the Catskills this morning
three Apple-trees together covered with blossoms.

New York. J. E. Learned.

[The dry weather of the present summer has, without
doubt, hastened the ripening of the wood in many trees, and
they have prepared for winter earlier than usual. The re-
cent rains have encouraged the starting of a new growth,
and this accounts for the fact that the trees are behaving
as if it were spring. It is not unusual for Apple-trees to
blossom in the fall, but we have rarely seen the Horse-
chestnuts behaving as they are doing this year. One of
these trees in the City Hall Park has been bearing flowers
quite abundantly within a fortnight, and we hear similar
reports from various parts of the country. — Ed.]

Hemlock in Minnesota.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— My return to this region recalls the reference made by
Mr. E. J. Hill in your issue of November 12th, 1890, to School-
craft's report of Hemlock along the portage from Fonddu Lac
to the St. Louis River above Knife Falls, and also between the
St. Louis and the head-waters of Kettle River. My work has
taken me over all this ground, and with the verification of that
report in mind, yet I have failed to find any Hemlock in the
region except that on Sec. 10, Trip. 48, Range 16.

Much of the region has been burned over, and some of it is
covered by a growth of Poplar, Populus tremuloides, from
thirty to sixty years old ; but here and there much of the older
growth remains. If Mr. Schoolcraft mentioned the trees cor-
rectly in the order of their abundance he saw a very different
forest from that existing now, although many of the present
trees are a hundred years old. It is to be regretted that he did
not have more favorable weather and that the arrangements
of the party were not more to his liking, that he might have
had more patience with his notes ; also, that he was unable,
or did not record his courses and distances by compass and
pacing, that he might be followed exactly. It is also a matter
of regret that he made the error of reporting Kettle River as
flowing into the Mississippi above the falls of St. Anthony, and
later reported three lakelets on the Mississippi above Itasca,
while one of them is isolated from the stream ; for these mis-
takes make it seem probable that he might make mistakes in
other reports also.

We have, however, a report of Hemlock by Archibald John-
son, C. E., August 27th, 1873 (see field-notes in office of Sur-
veyor-General), " trees six to fourteen inches in diameter on
the line between Sections 2oand 21, Trip. 51, Range 19," that can
be verified to-day. These trees are the farthest north and west
of any I have seen of this species. They do not, how-
ever, differ remarkably from the common Hemlock of Wis-
consin. Sf)ecimens from this locality, collected by Mr. W. B.
Kirkwood in 1890, are preserved in the herbarium of the Ar-
nold Arboretum, and also in that of the Forestry Division of
the United States Department of Agriculture.

It should besaid, perhaps, that along the old portage and
westward, where Mr. Schoolcraft traveled, the lower branches
of Picea alba, growing densely in damp ground, resembles
Hemlock somewhat, and I have often approached within thirty
feet of a shaded Fir, Abies balsamea. before discovering that it
was not a Hemlock.

It can hardly be possible that Mr. Schoolcraft, by Hemlock,
meant Ground Hemlock (Taxus), yet he does not mention this
abundant shrub in his report. ,, „ .

Carlton. Minn. H. B. AyreS.

Recent Publications.

Landscape-gardening in Japan. By Joseph Conder. Kelly
& Walsh, Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore.

1893.

Mr. Conder is an. English architect who has made his home
in Japan, and who has already written a number of books and
papers on various phases of Japanese art, his best-known
book probably being The Flowers of Japan and the Art of
floral Arrangement. The present work endeavors to give
the western world some idea of Japanese methods of garden-
design and decoration, and a short account of the history and
development of landscape-gardening in the Mikado's empire.

Landscape-gardening, as Americans and Europeans under-
stand that term, hardly exists in Japan ; at least, the sort of

landscape-gardening which Mr. Conder tries to explain, and
which he seeks to illustrate by means of a number of rude
drawings of the Japanese school, is not landscape-gardening
in any proper sense of the word, but only children's play at
gardening, which bears as much resemblance to the real
thing — the reproduction of real naturalistic effects in places
and positions where they may be available for the use and
enjoyment of the human race — as a Kakimono bears to a pic-
ture of one of the great masters of Italy or Holland. "The
modern Japanese garden, or rather garden-enclosure, for
there are no modern Japanese gardens or parks in the broad
and true meaning of the term, is a confusion of ceremonial
and symbolic motives which, whatever they may mean to the
Japanese, are unintelligible to western intelligence, which
finds in their pettiness of detail and restlessness of motive
nothing dignified or satisfying to the mind seeking the repose
of a harmonious creation.

Either the Japanese as a people are singularly inappreciative
of the beauties of nature and curiously devoid of the power
of enjoying scenery, or Mr. Conder's statement, that "Japanese
landscape-gardens may be described as a representation of
the natural scenery of the country as it appears to and im-
presses the Japanese themselves in a manner consistent with
the limitation of this art," must be accepted with caution. To
the lover of nature few countries in the world present fairer
scenes of mountain and valley, rushing torrent and placid
wood-embowered lake ; in no other country is the forest more
harmonious in composition, more varied or more beautiful
in its detail. In every direction pictures of exquisite beauty
meet the eye of the traveler; and certainly few people surpass
the Japanese in their apparent love and appreciation of natural
scenery. They possess the power of appreciation just as a
child loves the beauty and fragrance of a flower or delights in
the dash of a waterfall, while they are as helpless as children
to reproduce what they see or admire ; and their efforts at
gardening are like those of children who heap up piles of sand
in imitation of mountains, stick branches of trees in the ground
to imitate forests, and set about little stones because stones
seem to be a necessary part of the play.

In other days there have been landscape-gardeners in Japan ;
but these were in the days when Japan was under the direct
influence of China, and reflected her art. The so-called Arsenal
Garden, of Tokyo, which has been described in this journal, is
certainly one of the greatest artistic creations of its kind,
worthy of any master and of any country or age. Perhaps
there is nowhere now so perfect an example of oriental land-
scape-gardening, for the wars which have swept over China
in the last fifty years have destroyed many of her best monu-
ments and most precious works of art. We naturally expected
to find in a work of this character, supposed to be exhaustive,
a plan and some detailed account of this marvelous creation ;
it is simply mentioned as being among the best-preserved of
the Daimio gardens of the capital. Nor do we find any men-
tion of the grounds which surround the temples and tombs at
Nikko, an omission from abookon Japanese landscape-garden-
ing which is difficult to explain. Wlien it was decided, now nearly
three centuries ago, to bury the remains of the greatest of the
Shoguns on the mountain-side above the little hamlet of
Nikko, a great artist, whatever his name may have been,
selected the sites for the commemorative buildings, to receive
which he leveled the side of the mountain, planned the
approaches, built massive Cyclopean retaining-walls and
broad terraces, and planted that forest of sombre Conifers
which has made the burial-place of leyasu and of lemitsu one
of the most solemn and impressive spots in the world. No
one, whatever his feelings about Japanese architecture or
Japanese art may be, can visit the shrines of Nikko without
being impressed by the fact that he is in the presence of the
work of one of the greatest masters of art who have ever lived,
and to whom Japan owes its greatest monument.

Mr. Conder labors to explain the mysteries and meanings of
the various stones with which the Japanese are so fond of
disfiguring their gardens. We confess that a careful perusal
of the chapter on this subject has not had the result of making
us understand or appreciate their value or importance, and
that this branch of Japanese gardening art is still as much of
an enigma to us as it was before.

Mr. Conder very properly commends the Japanese for their
sobriety in the use of plants in the decoration of their gardens.
They cultivate, as compared with western nations, only the
plants of a few varieties. "It is contrary to their principles,"
Mr. Conder tells us, "to admit into compositions exotic pro-
ductions with the conditions and surroundings of which they
are imperfectly acquainted." But this certainly is only partly
true. The Japanese cultivates in his garden the Pines of the
countrv, the Retinospora, the Iris, the Cherry, the Maple and

October 4, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

419

the Azalea, but nearly all the other plants of a Japanese
garden are exotic and have been brought into Japanese gardens
from China, which long controlled Japan in every phase of its
intellectual life ; and in later years, since Japan has become
semi-Europeanized, the favorite flowers of the fashionable
gardener are the bulbs of Holland and the annuals of German
and French seedsmen.

To our thinking, the best parts of Mr. Conder's book are the
chapters in which he describes and figures stepping-stones,
which in a Japanese garden often take the place of formal
gravel walks, and which might often be introduced into our
gardens with excellent effect and a great saving in the cost of
construction and maintenance ; and of garden enclosures or
fences which the Japanese usually make out of bamboos, and
which are often delightful in their simplicity and neatness ; and
of garden-gates, of which Mr. Conder publishes several in-
teresting and suggestive designs.

There is a chapter on garden vegetation, which appears to
have been compiled from two sources — a florist's catalogue
and a botanical list of Japanese plants. Careful editing at the
hands of some one familiar with the plants which the Japanese
really cultivate in their gardens before the appearance of
another edition of Landscape-gardening in Japan, will very
materially increase the value of this part of the work which, in
spite of what seems to us inadequate treatment of the subject
and many errors of statement, will be read with profit by
students of the garden art and its relation to the artistic and
mental character of this remarkable people, who find perhaps
in their gardens the truest reflection of their own character
and their own limitations.

The Columbian Exposition.
Plants around the Lagoons of Jackson Park.

'T'HE verdurous aspect of the hastily constructed shores of
•*■ the lagoons in Jackson Park are a refreshment to many
eyes which are weary with sight-seeing and satiated with the
architectural splendors of the Fair. In the composition of this
improvised bit of Nature, with its pleasing effect of green
banks reaching to the water's edge, rare exotics have not been
used, but mainly native plants collected in neighboring woods,
fields and swamps. The main object was to secure a massive
green effect with cheap home material. Among the few
foreign trees and shrubs to be detected are the European
White Willow, Ailantus, Privet, Tartarian Honeysuckle,
Deutzia, Mock Orange (Philadelphus), Forsythia, Tamarix,
and very rarely a plant of Hibiscus Syriacus or of Hydrangea
paniculata grandiflora. But such species as the Honeysuckle,
Philadelphus and Hibiscus have made but little growth in their
close proximity to the water, and, among the more vigorous
development of native plants, they presented rather a forlorn
and dusty appearance at the end of August, when these notes
were taken. Much of the herbaceous material which was con-
spicuous earlier in the season has, in the course of its nature,
dwindled away and given place to other and later-developing
things. Where Irises once predominated, Sedges, Reeds,
Grasses and such plants as Sagittaria are now most conspicu-
ous, and serve to connect the water with the shrubbery on the
banks. In a few places where the roots of the shrubs are in
the water the foliage presents a poor appearance, having
largely fallen, as was also the case with the large decom-
pound leaves of Aralia spinosa, which is sparingly planted on
higher ground.

Quick-growing, moisture-enduring plants being the great
desideratum, the most dependence was naturally placedon the
Willows, but one finds it difficult to credit the statement that a
hundred thousand healthy plants of this genus alone were
used. Several species have been employed, and they furnish
a good illustration of what may be accomplished with our na-
tive species, and what different contrasting effects are to be
obtained in a range of species varying from the slender
habit and narrow light green-colored foliage of Salix longifolia
to the broad-leaved, sfiff, dark and shining verdure of S. lu-
cida. The European White Willow has been a little used, and
is at once distinguished from its American congeners by its
usually more robust growth and different aspect.

The American red-branched Cornel, Cornus stolonifera, has
lieen quite commonly planted and generally looks very well ;
tlie native Nine-bark, Physocarpus opulifolius, is freely mixed
in with the other shrubbery ancl seems well adapted to its sur-
roundings. Occasional plants of Symphoricarpus are to be
seen ; here and there the common Elder, Sambucus Cana-
densis, shows its dark fruit, and a small percentage of native
dwarf Sumachs has been included. The foregoing enumera-

tion comprises about all the notable native kinds of shrubs to
be seeu_ around the borders of the lagoons. Wild Roses, na-
tive or introduced, like the Sweet Brier, may also be seen.
Strong young growths of Cottonwood and Balm of Gilead Pop-
lars are very noticeable ; the broad leaves of Catalpas are oc-
casionally seen ; while the Ailantus is conspicuous by fiaving
outstripped the taller shrubs in height, and occasional speci-
mens of Honey Locusts and Silver Maples represent trees of
less vigorous growth, which are here merely introduced to
increase and maintain the verdurous effect desired, and are not
planted as permanent trees. No attempt has been made to
group the shrubbery with regard to the density of color of the
foliage of different species, and no apparent distinction between
simple-leaved and conspicuously pinnate or compound-leaved
kinds has been made in the planting or grouping. In fact, ex-
cept that the taller-growing species are usually in the back-
ground, the massing is of a very mixed character.

In quite a number of places the shrubbery has proved a par-
tial failure, probably owing to excessive moisture, and these
spots furnish an interesting object-lesson in the value in such
places of plants which we are apt to call weeds. A Knotweed,
apparently Polygonum Pennsylvanicum, has come up in large
quantities and overgrown the lower almost leafless shrubs,
presenting a dense compact mass several feet high, and at this
time covered with small oblong spikes of little rose-colored
flowers. Pigweeds, too, both Chenopodium and Amarantus,
have grown taller than their woody-stemmed neighbors, and
the green foliage they contribute would be missed if removed.
An occasional Wild Evening Primrose is to be seen, withstem
and branches stout and shrub-like and gradually opening its
pretty yellow flowers. Wild Verbena, Wild Sunflowers,
Bidens, Coreopsis and Golden-rod have grown up with tlie
shrubs, usually in sparing numbers, but in some cases plenti-
fully, and at the end of August were in blossom, as were also
a few stray examples of Liatris or Blazing-star. In some places
the Wild Balsam-apple, Echinocystis lobata, was in full bloom,
its long, climbing stems being allowed to grow over every-
thing within reach. Besides many Grasses, which have come
up among the shrubbery, little clumps of Maize have been
planted in spots where undesirable gaps occurred.

J. G. Jack.

Arnold Arboretum .

BREVITIES.

Aquatic plants at the World's Fair are shown in four places —
the native species in the lagoon borders, in the large tank in
front of the Horticultural Building (described on page 379), the
small collection shown under the auspices of the New York
Florists' Club in the Lord & Burnham greenhouse (see page
399), and the tank in the south court of the Horticultural Build-
ing. The last is filled by E. D. Sturtevant, of Bordentown, New
Jersey. The four corners of the tank contain clumps of Papy-
rus, and the Wild Rice, Zizania aquatica, is also prominent.
Clumps of Eichornia (or Pontederia)'crassipes and the Water-
poppy are used with good effect. Limnanthemum Indicum
bears good white flowers freely, and is a desirable plant.
Sagittaria Montevidiensis is in bloom, but to most people it
will pass for our common Arrow-leaf. The variegated form
of Scirpus Tabernsemontanus is very effective. The Nymphasas
are especially good, and a mere list of them is useful as an
inventory of available species for small ponds : Nymphasa
Marliacea, with its varieties, chromatella, rosea, carnea and
albida ; N. Sturtevantii, N. rubra, N. dentata, N. Zanzibarensis
and varieties azurea, rosea and superba, N. Devoniensis, N.
pygmasa and variety helveola, N. candidissima, N. gracilis, N.
Breakleyi, var. rosea, N. odorata, van sulphurea.

The Begonias of the Rex section, shown by E. G. Hill &Co.,
at the World's Fair, comprise nearly one hundred varieties,
representing the best of those now in cultivation. Among the
most meritorious kinds are Count Louis Erdody, Inimitable,
Anna Dorner, Minnie Palmer, Madame Leboucq, Bertha
McGregor, and a number of distinct seedlings. The plants
are large and well arranged, making, altogether, one of the
best displays in the Horticultural Building.

The most exact and scientific pomological exhibit in the
Horticultural Building is a collection of grapes shown by T. V.
Munson. Every species of American Vitis is shown by photo-
graphs of the fruit and seeds; by herbarium specimens of
leaves and usually of inflorescence ; by dried twigs, cut to
show the diaphragms at the joints, roots ; by fruits preserved
in liquids ; by sections of old trunks ; and, finally, by young
plants growing in pots. The exhibit comprises a comprehen-
sive study of the genus, to which Mr. Munson has given him-
self for many years. From time to time he has exhibited fresh
grapes, showing the progress he is making in the origination

420

Garden and Forest.

[Number 293.

of varieties, particularly in his crosses with the I'ost Oak Grape
of the south-west, \'itis Lincecuniii. Mr. Munson considers
that the outcome of these unions will afford the best grapes of
the future ; and various experts who have tested the grapes
which he has sent to Chicago are ready to concur in the
opinion. No other single individual is making a stronger im-
pression upon American horticulture.

Chicago. III.

L. H. B.

Notes.

In a personal letter to the editor of this journal from a com-
petent observer in Carlton, Minnesota, it is stated that the stif-
ling smoke from forest fires there obscures the sun at midday
and impedes traffic on the lake just as the densest fogs do.

The Century for October has for its frontispiece an admira-
ble portrait of Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, and the most
interesting article in the number is a sketch by Mrs. Schuyler
Van Rensselaer of the life of this artist, with a critical estimate
of the value of his work and its influence upon landscape-gar-
dening in America.

We have received a schedule of the Fall Chrysanthemum
Show, which is to be held under the auspices of the New York
Florists' Club at the Industrial Building, in this city, from the
6th to the 13th of November. The exhibition will include
Orchids, Roses and other flowers as well as Chrysanthemums,
and a special effort is being made to have a large trade ex-
hibit. Six thousand five hundred dollars are offered as pre-
miums, and as the building affords abundant space, there is no
reason why the exhibition should not equal or excel those
which have hitherto been held in Madison Square Garden.

From a note in the last number of our excellent contempo-
rary, Le Journal des Orchidees, we learn that the family of
the late Louis van Houtte is to retire from the management of
the great horticultural establishment which made the name of
Van Houtte known throughout the world, and did more, per-
haps, in its day than any other to make Ghent one of the greatest
horticultural centres. The elder Van Houtte, beginning
life as a botanical traveler himself, was exceptionally active
and enterprising in introducing new plants, especially from
tropical countries, which he afterward published in the Flore
des Serres, one of the most useful publications of its class,
which, unfortunately, died with its founder.

Miss Alice E. Stevens and Miss Josephine A. Clark, of Wash-
ington, if sufficient encouragement can be obtained, propose
to issue to subscribers two card-catalogue indices, one of bo-
tanical plates with a bibliography, including references not
given in Pritzel's Iconuin Botanicariim Index, and the other
of genera, species and names of plants published since 1885.
The names of American species will be issued first as of more
immediate value to American botanists. The price per thou-
sand cards has been fixed at the moderate sum of $15, and if
ten subscribers are assured early in October it is proposed to
issue a thousand cards of each index by the end of that month.
Miss Clark's address is 941 S. Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.

It is well known that plants are subject to bacterial diseases.
The bacteria which affects the bulbs and leaves of Hyacinths
and the one which causes the fire-blight of the Pear are the
most familiar instances. It is not generally known, however,
that the microbes which produce disease in man can live and
multiply in plants. Many experiments, however, have proved
tliat the' typhoid bacillus and many others will live in different
plants. When the germ which causes anthrax was innocu-
fated into the leaves of the Agapanthus, these bacilli grew into
long threads and produced spores not only at the point of in-
noculation, but within the healthy cells of the soft part of the
leaf. After living for forty-two days in the plant, animals were
innoculated with germs taken from the plant, and they proved
to be as virulent in causing disease as ever. These microbes
which cause disease in man or animals, and which will live
also in plants, so far as has been tested, do not cause any dis-
ease of the plants, and yet the fact that the germs of diphtheria
or small-pox or other diseases may be living and multiplying
in the pmnts about us, perhaps in the plants which we eat,
suggests unpleasant reflections.

In a late number of the American Florist Mr. John N. May
describes his method of destroying the aphis or green fly in
his Rose-houses by using the vapor of tobacco-juice. He has
a small steam boiler of about five-horse power from which an
inch and a quarter pipe runs througli the centre of tlie shed,
with a half-inch pipe branching into each glass-house. These
pipes in the houses a hundred feet long have each two outlets
of half-inch valves or double-threaded air-cocks, on which a
coupling is screwed, to which is attached a piece of steam

hose some two feet long. At tlic end of the hose a piece of
quarter-inch pipe about a foot long is fastened. When the
house needs vaporizing, from one to two quarts of tobacco-
juice are put intoa large tub through a hole in the wooden cover
of which the quarter-inch pipe is thrust until it almost touches
the bottom. With twenty pounds of steam in the boiler the
house can be filled with vapor in twelve or fifteen minutes.
Two good applications will destroy every aphis in the house,
and will not injure the most tender foliage or the most deli-
cate flower. The reason for having two openings in a pipe is
that a large house can be filled so much more quickly than
from a single pipe, and a quick application is much more effi-
cacious than a slow one.

The Gardeners' Chronicle quotes from a paper by Professor
Terrien de Lacouprie, in which he states that the first knowl-
edge of the Quince dates from 700 B. C, when it was intro-
duced from Media into Greece. Soon after there is evidence
of its existence in China. The Greeks attributed various vir-
tues to it, and some authors have considered that the apple
disputed between Here, Aphrodite and Athene was a quince.
By the Hindus and the Mahometans all over the east, the
quince is still hitjhly valued, and in China fruits of a large size
are brought to Pekin from Shantung. The first appearance of
the quince in Chinese literature is, according to the Professor,
in an ode dated about 660 B. C, where it is mentioned as form-
ing a complimentary present. Here it is called Mah-Kua, or
Tree Gourd, a name also given to the Papaw, but which was
introduced many centuries after. The history of the quince is
traced for twelve centuries, and its importation by the South
Sea traders to the emporia of the south coast of Shantung. It
must not, however, be forgotten that quince-like fruits are
native to China- Thus, Pyrus japonica in one or other of its
forms is found, according to Hemsley, both in the north and
south-west of China ; while under the name Pyrus Cathay-
ensis, Hemsley, a species is noted, called the "Chinese
Quince," by Dr. Henry, and found by that botanist in central
China — this is the CydoniaChinensis of Thouin, and is figured
in Bot. Reg., t. 905. Loureiro is said to have confounded this
with the common Quince. The Pyrus Sinensis of Lindley (i)<?/.
Reg., t. 1248) is a different plant.

The heavy frosts give warning that the eastern peach-crop
is nearly harvested, and much of the fruit offered is small and
of inferior quality. This'keeps prices down and very excellent
peaches from New Jersey have been selling for $1.00 a basket.
California fruit is still abundant, and fifty-nine car-loads were
sold in this city last week. The principal peaches received
from that state now are the Sal way, a large cream-yellow free-
stone peach of English origin, with deep yellow flesh ;
George's Late Cling, a large wTiite-fleshcd peach of California
origin, yellow, with bright red stripes and splashes ; and the
Strawberry peach, which originated in New Jersey. These
western peaches were in large supply and sold slowly, but
Bartlett pears were quickly bought at prices double those of
the previous week. Boxes containing sixty-two Hartletts of
large size sold at $2.25 wholesale, and Acmes brought the same
price. California figs of excellent quality are now quite com-
mon and they sell for fancy prices. The first new crop of
stem-cut oranges from Florida were received last week. This
fruit, which is picked entirely green, as it has to be arti-
ficially ripened is tart and lacks the full rich flavor of ma-
ture oranges ripened after Christmas. Five hundred boxes
of them, however, were shipped to Liverpool. Shipments
have been prohibited from many Mediterranean ports
where cholera is epidemic, so that the supply of new-crop
dates, Smyrna figs. Sultana raisins, citron peel, walnuts, fil-
berts, lemons and oranges is cut off from a large section of
that coast. The prospect is that some of these products will be
scarce and dear. Altliough the so-called Japanese persimmons
are seen much more frequently than in former years on the
fruit-stands, buyers generally have not learned their value,
and, therefore, the demand has not kept up with the supply.
Occasionally a box containing a hundred persimmons came to
this marketa few years ago and sold to the fancy fruit-dealers at
six, eight and even nine dollars, but now the same boxes sell
slowly at $1.50 or $2.00. Much of the fruit is over-ripe when
it arrives, and for this reason as well as for the over-supply, it
is left on the dock. A large yellow variety, somewhat conical in
shape, is the one most frequently seen here, while in Philadel-
phia a smaller, round, bright red variety is most common.
There is little doubt but that the Kaki can be cultivated here in
the Atlantic states, since it flourishes in Japan in a climate
quite as rigorous as that of New England. The fruit is des-
tined ultimately to hold a prominent place in our market, as
it is handsome, luscious and healthful.

October d, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

421

GARDEN AND FOREST,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tkibunb Building. New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S, Sargent.

KNTEXBD AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICS AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Article : — The Water-front of Public Parks 421

The Banana Supply of New York M. B. C. 422

Entomological: — Notes on Blister-beetles Professtyr John B. Smith. 423

New OR Little-known Plants : — Ligustrum Ibota. (With figure.) 424

Foreign Correspondence : — Notes from Kew George Nicholson. 424

Cultural Department: — Autumn-flowering Bulbous Plants J. N. G. 426

Winter-flowering Plants W. H. Taphn. 426

Orchid Notes E. O. Orpet. 426

Lawn Notes Wm. Tricker. 427

To Kill Grubs and Seeds in Greenhouse Soil W. N. Rudd. 427

Winter Protection of Raspberries and Blackberries M. A. Thayer. 428

Correspondence : — Lessons of the Drought Lora S. La Mance. 428

Tuberous Begonias E. T. Bouvt*. 428

The New Forage -plant Professor L. H. Pammel 428

Proper Work for Experiment Stations Professor W. F. Massey. 429

The Columbian Exposition : — Cacti Professor L. H. Bailey. 429

Notes 430

Illustration : — A Flowering Branch of Ligustrum Ibota, Fig. 63 425

The Water-front of Public Parks.

UNLIKE most other great capitals, New York sits
directly on the sea-shore, the foremost maritime city
of the world. The city's immediate surroundings are so
intersected by navigable water-courses that if we count
both shores of the Hudson, the Harlem and East Rivers,
together with those of the Sound and the Bay, not
to speak of the banks of the Hackensack and lower
Passaic, along which warehouses will ultimately be built
for the landing of goods for the interior by rail, and
which never need to go into the city except by sample,
there are a hundred miles of coast-line available for
commerce. Although the city has been very slow to make
the best use of the unique advantages offered by this almost
limitless water-front and proximity to the sea, these water
privileges have given New York its rank as the commer-
cial metropolis of the New World, and furnish an unfail-
ing theme for exultation by her orators. Very little, how-
ever, is heard from orators, or others, of the value of all
this surrounding water as an agent in promoting the
healthfulness and cleanliness of the city, and less yet is
said of its value as an element of beauty and an essential
part of the scenery which insures a pleasing outlook, not
only from every part of the shore of Manhattan Island, but
from the office-windows of the lofty buildings down-town,
as well as from the private dwellings on Brooklyn Heights,
Bergen Hill and a hundred other places within half a dozen
miles of the City Hall.

Commerce has the first claim on these hundred miles
of water-front, but no one will dispute that some of
it should be saved for the pleasure and refreshment
of the people. The city has been none too "forward
in securing land for public recreation, but it has been
still more short-sighted in failing to secure water-front-
age for this purpose. Of all the beautiful islands which
lie within sound of the city's roar, not one has been re-
served as a pleasure-ground for the people, although many
of them have been covered with barracks for soldiery,
prisons for criminals, almshouses for paupers, hospitals for
the sick and asylums for the insane. In the annexed dis-

tricts one of the parks, which will be one day devel-
oped, comes fairly down to the waters of the Sound, but
Pelham Bay is fifteen miles in a direct line from the City
Hall. On Manhattan Island, East River Park occupies a
small portion of the bluff that fronts Astoria ; the Battery
has two thousand feet of sea-wall, and Riverside Drive
overlooks the Hudson for a distance of some three miles.

No city in the world can point to a park more beautiful
for situation than Riverside, and although the railroad
which runs along its border is a disfigurement, the broad
strong river, with the wooded heights beyond, and the
magnificent views up and down its course give the work a
character for dignity and stateliness which is quite its own.
It would hardly be supposed that any citizen of New York
could be so lacking in public spirit and civic pride as to be
willing to see this park sacrificed for any consideration,
and yet it has been proposed more than once .by the Dock
Department to build piers and sheds in front of Riverside
Drive, and, thereby, to destroy the whole place as a
pleasure-ground, by substituting for the restful quiet of its
scenery the noise and stench and confusion of dock traffic.
The propriety of such a desecration might be argued if
there were not abundant facilities elsewhere for all the
commerce of this port ; but as the growing city is crowd-
ing upon every foot of ground devoted to public use, in
the same way hungry eyes are fastened upon every inch
of water-front which can be had for nothing. The Dock
Departmenthas just made an effort to confiscate this water-
front, but it was confronted by such a determined oppo-
sition by the people whose rights were to be invaded
that the plans were temporarily withdrawn. No doubt,
another attack will be organized, and another and another,
under some plausible pretext, but for the present the
Riverside-fiont is safe.

The Battery has not been able to repel assaults so suc-
cessfully. On the city side a broad strip of its scanty
twenty acres is blackened and blasted beyond redemption
by the elevated railroad, and even the outlook from the
broad promenade along the sea-wall, which is one of the
most interesting walks in the world, has been disfigured
by the permission of its guardians. One end of it has been
disposed of to Government for a Barge Office. At the
other end an unsightly building has been built on the
park property which not only cuts off the promenade, and
just now is interfering with the development of the grounds
around the aquarium, but obstructs from within the park
the view westward across the river. This building has no
other use than to furnish sleeping-bunks for the crew of the
fire-patrol boat and a lumber-room for some property of the
department. It ought to be swept away without an in-
stant's delay. When the Park Department began to turn
Castle Garden into an aquarium the old dock which had
been used there for excursion-steamers and for the fire-
patrol boat was condemned. It was to be moved, not
only to give a* chance for the sea-wall to swing around
the aquarium to the north, but it was necessary that the
water which was taken for the aquarium should be un vexed
by steamer-wheels. Nevertheless, a part of the dock still
remains and the fire-patrol boat is still fastened there. Still
worse, another dock has been built for these excursion-boats
a few rods to the west of the Barge Office, at the southern
point of the Battery, just where the prospect down the bay
is the most beautiful. Besides this, two public swimming-
baths are set in front of the wall, but since these are very
useful and are there but a few weeks in summer, there is
less reason to complain of their presence. But, altogether,
the portion of the sea-wall which is left with an unob-
structed outlook is small, and it will be smaller yet unless
the men in control are made to feel the force of public
opinion in this matter. There is abundant room for excur-
sion-boats and fire-engines elsewhere, and, indeed, there
seems no reason why the Dock Department itself should
occupy a pier when its business could be equally well done
on the shore. This pier which the Dock Department in-
habits is the only one on the island where no boat ever

422

Garden and Forest.

[Number 294.

comes, unless it is the steam-launch of some city official. If
there is such an urgent need for water-privilege, the first
thing to be done is to set the Dock Department on shore
and give the pier they now occupy to the fire-patrol boat,
to excursion-boats and to commerce.

The Banana Supply of New York.

THIRTY-SIX years ago the steamer North Star brought
to this port 500 bunches of bananas. The New York
market had never before received anything like that quan-
tity at once, and when Messrs. W. & C. Smith, then at
Cedar Street and Broadway, undertook to handle the entire
shipment the venture vvas pronounced a hazardous one, as,
indeed, it proved, for, after the local trade was fully sup-
plied, there was a large overplus, which could only be dis-
posed of by shipping portions to Philadelphia, Boston and
Baltimore. Until thirty years ago the importation of
bananas was confined to the three spring months, and
the number of bunches received a month sometimes
reached a hundred and fifty to three hundred. So little
was the fruit known and appreciated that, as late as 1865,
the market was glutted by as small a supply as twelve
bunches which arrived here in June, when strawberries
were abundant, and the fruit was left on the hands of the
enterprising importers. These early supplies from Aspin-
wall were brought by the officers of the old Atlantic Line
of steamers. Personal pecuniary ventures of this sort by its
employees being prohibited by the company, several of the
men left their employ to engage directly in the business of
importing bananas, and in this way the trade became regu-
larly established in 1863. It was not until 1879 that the
first steamers were chartered as fruit-carriers for the West
Indian trade ; but the business has developed so rapidly
that for the twelve months ending with the ist of last July
not less than one hundred and thirty-three steamers were
engaged in carrying bananas between the West Indies,
Central America, Aspinwall and the United States, and as
many as twenty-eight have discharged here in a week. Sail-
ing vessels are too slow for this traffic, and the trip by steam
from Jamaica requires but five and a half days, and from
Aspinwall a day longer. Three lines of steamers, com-
prising twelve vessels, make regular trips every ten days
between Colon, Puerto Limon, Jamaica and New York, a
hundred and twenty more being chartered by brokers or
run on the owners' account. Norway provides a majority
of the vessels, which range from 400 to 2,000 tons burden,
and the flags of Great Britain, the United States, Spain and
Denmark also appear in the service.

The trade has steadily grown, until in 1892 the receipts
of bananas in this port amounted to 3,715,625 bunches. In
July the highest figures of the current year were reached,
567,067 bunches having come to New York during that
month. The largest New York supplies are now drawn
from Jamaica, 1,055,876 bunches having been received
here from that island during the year. The Cuban ports.
Banes, Sania, Gibara and Cabanico, where the trade has
more recently been established, together sent about 600,000
bunches last year, the remainder of the supply coming
from Aspinwall, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Besides these large importations by New York, nearly
2,000,000 bunches went to Philadelphia last year, and almost
as many more to Boston, while Baltimore, Savannah and
Mobile are also large consumers. New Orleans is, how-
ever, the most important market in the country, the enor-
mous quantity of 4,483,351 bunches having passed into
that city from Central America during last year, three-quar-
ters of a million bunches more than were disposed of in
New York. The water transportation to that port is short,
and the bananas are quickly and cheaply distributed by
special trains throughout the entire Mississippi valley.
So well organized is this service that the fruit is often
cheaper in Chicago than in New York. The total im-
portations into all United .States ports during last year were
12,695,386 bunches, weighing about 325,000 tons.

Notwithstanding the immense supplies of domestic fruits
in our markets during the summer months, the receipts of
bananas in New York are heaviest from May to September.
So far from being regarded as a luxury, they are a staple
article of food and an absolute necessity to many foreign
residents. In the mining regions Italians and other foreign-
ers live largely on this fruit, which is cheaper than bread,
and prices are largely controlled by the demands of this
class of buyers. The general business depression, and the
abundant supply of peaches and other domestic fruits, have
affected the fall banana trade, prices now being nearly fifty
per cent, lower than during last spring, when first-grade
fruit, which can nowbeboughtat wholesale as low as ninety
cents, commanded $1.75 a bunch, averaging one hundred
and twenty-five fruits. Only a few years ago bananas
sold at the fruit-stands for a dollar a dozen. The
same number can now be bought for fifteen to twenty-
five cents, and very often for less than a cent apiece. Since
the nutritive value of the banana is almost equal to that of
the potato, both in starchy and nitrogenous elements, this
makes an exceedingly cheap diet. Singularly enough, the
plantain, which is so closely allied to the banana that the
best botanists do not separate them generically, comes to
this port in such small quantities that it is never sold by
the bunch, but by the single fruit. The entire importation
is made practically by one firm, who sell the fruit to the
Spanish restaurants. About 25,000 plantains are disposed
of here in a year. And yet in the torrid zone the plantain
is regarded as one of the best natural food-products in the
world. It is considered of much greater economic impor-
tance than the banana, and forms almost the entire food
even of those who work on the banana plantations. Un-
like the banana, it is rarely eaten raw, but is either boiled
or roasted, or used to make soup. When ripe, that is when
the skin has turned yellow, the fruit can be cut into slices and
fried, and when baked in this condition it has a distinct
taste of baked apples. When gathered green and dried the
plantain is ground into an excellent meal, of which cus-
tards, puddings and gruel are made, and these are not only
palatable, but very nutritious. Little of this plantain-flour,
which is called platanina, is brought to this port. Prepara-
tions for making banana-flour in a similar way are now
being made on a large scale in Aspinwall and the West
Indies, and this product, known as Harina de Banana, can
now be had in this city.

For the sea-voyage the fruit is packed upright in the hold
of the steamers, usually two bunches deep, a third bunch
being laid flat on top of them. It is of great importance
that the fruit be kept green, so as to carry well on ship-
board and during transportation after landing, and its con-
dition in this respect helps to fix the price. Bananas
ripened on the voyage have little value commercially,
because they are easily crushed in handling, but they are
altogether superior for immediate use to those picked when
less mature and ripened artificially here, and of a flavor
and richness not even suggested by the fruit with which
we are familiar. Some of the best steamers in the service
have recently been fitted out with a new process of venti-
lation. The numerous standing deck-ventilators are done
away with, and by a system of fans a circuit of air through-
out the vessel is maintained, and this is forced through the
engine-room once every three minutes.

The cargoes range from 8,000 to 32,000 bunches. The
fruit sold on deck to local buyers is rapidly carted away
on trucks, while large quantities are loaded in cars resting
on floats by the vessel's side, for shipment to other cities.
The experiment of sales by auction, begun in August, is
said to be meeting with considerable success, although but
a small proportion of the supply is disposed of in this way.
In these sales the bunches are swiftly passed from the hold,
being rated by a "sorter" as number one, two or three as
they are handed over the vessel's side and placed in trucks ;
100 bunches, all of one grade, constitute a truck-load.
Bunches not large enough to be classed as number three, and
such as are overripe, are "docked" or carried off to another

October ir, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

423

part of the dock and sold by the truck-load, an average price
for this grade being at present twenty-five cents a bunch.
A truck of the lower grades of fruit, of which there is more
than of number one, is filled in fifteen to twenty minutes,
and a half-minute only is needed to bid it off. A rise of
two and a half cents a bunch is recognized in the bidding,
and there are fixed rates of cartage. The entire work is
transacted with the greatest dispatch, as many as 4,000
bunches being unloaded m an hour. The buyers, among
whom Italians, Greeks and Hebrews outnumber the Ameri-
can dealer, are ranged along the taffrail of the steamer,
overlooking the trucks as they are loaded, and the general
animation is occasionally heightened by good-natured
shouts or groans on the announcement of a specially good
or bad purchase. Upon delivery to the buyer the bananas
are stored in dry cellars, those intended for early use being
suspended in an air-tight compartment, where they are
ripened by heat from gas-stoves.

As much as ninety-five percent, of the fruit received here
is of the yellow variety ; all the red bananas, which were
formerly held in high favor, being received from Baracoa. A
few of the small "lady-finger" bananas, of singularly deli-
cate and delicious flavor, are occasionally had from Aspin-
wall, and are highly esteemed for table use here as they are
in the tropics, where they are greatly preferred and are
generally used. They do not carry well, and for this
reason are seldom seen here. 1,^ n r>

New York. "I- C. iS.

Entomological.
Notes on Blister-beetles.

ALMOST every season brings with it some unexpected
^ development of insect activity, and often, without any
reason that we can discover, insects which had never be-
fore figured as injurious will suddenly increase to enor-
mous numbers, or take on new habits, and demand active
interference to prevent serious harm. These sudden irrup-
tions are often as short-lived as they are unexpected, and
an insect, after having been injurious one or two years, may
sink back into insignificance, and for years thereafter will
not again be heard of. One factor which we recognize as
favoring the increase of certain species is the weather ;
either the temperature or the relative amount of moisture,
or both. Thus, we have learned by experience, that a dry
season favors the development of the Orthoptera, grass-
hoppers, crickets, locusts, katydids and the like, and where
two or more dry seasons follow in succession, we may
have a destructive increase. Almost as a matter of course,
where any insect increases abnormally, its parasites and
other natural enemies will also increase, either in like or
greater proportion ; but they are unable, except in rare in-
stances, to conquer the host. As a rule, parasitic insects,
and those forms that are predaceous, may be counted
among our friends ; but this rule is subject to some impor-
tant exceptions, and to one of these reference will be made
here.

The seasons of 1891 and 1892, and particularly the latter,
were very favorable to the development of grasshoppers,
and, therefore, it was to be expected that their natural ene-
mies should abound. Among the most effective of these
are certain blister-beetles, members of the family Meloidaj,
which in the early stages feed in the egg-pods of some of
the grasshoppers. In the larva state these insects are dis-
tinctly beneficial, and they destroy a large percentage of
the grasshopper-eggs that are laid. Unfortunately, these
beetles in their adult stage change their habits, and, instead
of feeding upon animal tissue, feed upon vegetation, and,
therefore, must be classed with the injurious forms. While
many species confine themselves to plants of little value to
the agriculturist, others feed upon almost anything that
comes in their way ; or they may even prefer plants that
have an economic value. During the season of 1893 the
Potato was one of the plants that suffered from the attacks
of blister-beetles. In several of the eastern states there

were complaints of injury from them, and generally the
statement was made that they appeared very suddenly, and
in very large numbers. It was usually stated, also, that
poisons had no effect upon them. From some localities
the insects were received with the note that these were ex-
amples of the " old-fashioned Potato-beetle " which was
occasionally injurious before the Colorado-beetle became
known as "the" Potato-beetle.

A brief life-history of these insects may not be without
interest. So far as we know anything of the early stages
of the MeloidtE, they are parasitic, not only upon Orthop-
tera, as already suggested, but also upon Hymenoptera,
and particularly upon certain bees. Those species that be-
came troublesome to potatoes are, I believe, all of them
parasitic upon grasshoppers, or rather upon grasshopper-
egg's. The beetles make their appearance about the time
that their hosts begin to lay eggs, and they themselves de-
posit their ova in likely places in the localities in which the
grasshoppers are most numerous. From these eggs there
emerge in a short time active little creatures known as Tri-
ungulins, which are able to live for some days without
food, and spend their time searching for a grasshopper-egg
pod. When such a one is found, the larva enters it, changes
its character and appearance completely, and from an ac-
tive becomes a sedentary type. It assumes a grub-like
form and continues to feed until the entire ^g^ mass is
consumed, being itself then full-grown. It reaches this con-
dition long before it is time to change to the adult form,
and it then assumes what has been called the coarctate
state. In this condition it rests quietly without feeding, the
outer skin hardened, and remains until just before the time
when the adult usually emerges ; then it again becomes
active, casts this hardened outer coating iii which it has
lived so long, and again becomes an active creature, re-
maining in this form only for a very short time, prior to
changing into a normal pupa. From this point the trans-
formation takes place as is usual in the order; but, as in
the case of some other species that became mature some
time prior to their appearance as adults, the conditions that
lead to their development act upon almost the entire brood
in exactly the same manner, and much the largest percent-
age will emerge at about the same time. This accounts
for their sudden appearance, and in a field where on one
day not a specimen was observable, there may be thou-
sands upon thousands the day following. The beetles are
quite voracious feeders, and usually by the time that farm-
ers have realized their presence they have done a large pro-
portion of damage. Poisons may be applied, and they are
undoubtedly effective, but even the arsenites act slowly
upon this type of insect, and for two or even three days
thereafter they will continue their feeding, thus giving rise
to the belief that the poisons have no effect upon them.
Besides potatoes, beets and beans are favorite food-plants
of the blister-beetles, and for sometimes a week, matters
will look bad for the crop ; then the insects will disappear
almost as suddenly as they arrived, and nothing further
will be seen of them.

We have here one of those curious cases in which it is a
little questionable as to what shall be done. Should these
insects be considered as injurious, or as really beneficial }
That they are an important factor in checking grasshopper
increase there can be no question, and the only one re-
maining is. Does the injury done by the beetles over-
balance the benefit derived from the larvae? In a general
way, and in most cases, we can say positively that it does
not, and that it would be better to suffer the injury done
by the adults for the benefit of the advantage to be derived
from the larvaj. This is especially true in the western
states, where grasshoppers are very much more numerous
and destructive than they are in the east. As the question
is one which may be decided otherwise by the farmer most
concerned, the next point is, What would be the best
method of preventing injury? and here I think that poi-
sons are not generally indicated ; but that collecting in
pans or in umbrellas is very much the better and more cer-

424

Garden and Forest.

[Number 294.

tain process. Late in the afternoon, or, better, early in the
morning, the beetles will be sluggish, and will remain
quietly upon the plants, doing little or no feeding, and this
is the time when it will be easy to collect them. At the
same time, and especially where large fields are to be pro-
tected, the plants should be sprayed with as strong a mix-
ture of Paris green or London purple as the vegetation will
stand, that those specimens which escaped collection and
begin feeding, should be killed, as they surely will be,
within two or three days after they get the dose of poison.
Rutgers College. John B. Smith.

New or Little-known Plants.

Ligustrum Ibota.

PRIVETS, or Ligustrums, although they are mostly
free-growing, hardy and useful j)lants, are not re-
markable for the beauty of their flowers. The exception
is the north China and Japanese Ligustrum Ibota, which
is certainly one of the best exotic shrubs introduced into
our gardens for many years. The long, slender, arching
branches give to it a light and graceful habit in marked
contrast with that of the other species of this genus,
which are usually stiff and rigid in habit. Late in the
month of June, from the end of short lateral branches, the
clusters of white flowers hang in great profusion, giving
to the plants a charming effect of grace and lightness.

Something of the flowering habit of this plant may be
seen in the illustration on page 425 of this issue. It repre-
sents the end of a branch of life size, and, while showing
the profusion of the flowers, it fails to give an idea of the
arching of the branches which are covered with flowers
for many feet of their length. The flowers are followed
by abundant blue-black berries, which remain on the
branches until the beginning of winter, and make the
plant interesting during several of the autumn months.
In this country Ligustrum Ibota promises to grow to a
height of eight or ten feet, although, as it appears in the
mountains of Japan, where it is by no means a common
plant, it rarely rises to half that height.

Like the Japanese Berberis Thunbergii, Ligustrum Ibota
will, perhaps, become as completely naturalized in some
parts of this country as Ligustrum vulgare and Berberis
vulgaris have become naturalized in eastern New England,
for when they are planted in semi-wild situations numer-
ous seedlings spring up and are able to hold their own
against the encroachments of native plants.

This Japanese Ligustrum may be safely used whenever
large, hardy fast-growing shrubs are needed.

Foreign Correspondence.

Notes from Kew.

MINA LOBATA is, at the moment of writing these
notes, and for a long time has been, one of the most
striking of the ornamental annuals in the Royal Gardens.
It is a native of Mexico and was cultivated long ago in
British gardens ; in 1842 it was figured in the Botanical
Register, but soon was completely lost sight of, and was
unknown to the present generation of gardeners until it
was re-introduced by Haage & Schmidt, of Erfurt, about
seven years ago. The flowers appear on forked racemes
projecting from the dense luxuriant foliage, and present
thus, with their bright colors, a striking aspect. The young
buds are bright red, but the color changes through orange-
yellow to yellowish white as the flowers grow older.
Given a hot, sunny season there are few more beautiful
climbers ; as heat enough and sunny weather are not the
exception in the United States, Mina lobata can be confi-
dently recommended for cultivation by gardeners and
plant-lovers in that country — it is only during a phenome-
nally hot season in England that the plant is seen at its
best

Uraria crinila is a striking plant with pinnate leaves, not
unlike those of the Wistaria, and tall dense racemes of
small rose-purple flowers ; seeds of this species sown early
in the present year have produced stocky, handsome plants
with racemes more than a foot in length and about an inch
and a half in thickness. The flowers themselves are small
and last but a short time, but the very numerous rosy-pink
bracts are as attractive, or even more so, before the flowers
open, than the latter are when at their best. The species
occurs in a wild state from Ceylon, the Himalaya, etc., to
China. A figure has been prepared for the Botanical Mag-
azine. The specific name has been given, owing to the
long bristles which clothe the pedicels, sepals, etc. The
plant is of easy cultivation in a light, warm house.

Leptactina Mannii was first discovered by Gustav Mann
in western tropical Africa in 1862, and was figured in
Hooker's Icones Plantariim, tab. 1092. It has, however,
only recently found its way into cultivation, and a plant
received from the Paris Jardin des Plantes is now in fine
flower in one of the stoves at Kew. In habit it resembles
some of the large-leaved Kandias, and, like them, has a
long slender corolla tube ; the large flowers are produced
in clusters at the tips of lateral shoots, are pure white and
have a strong aromatic odor.

For a long time a bank of Amaryllis Belladonna, at the
foot of the Orchid-houses at Kew, has been one of the
glories of the establishment, but its beauty is now passing.
The Belladonna Lily will not thrive — in the neighborhood
of London, at any rate — except near a wall. There is not
sufficient heat to enable it to develop its flowers in the open
border, but planted against a wall about a foot beneath the
surface, and severely left alone, the bulbs increase rapidly,
and the flowers — after the bulbs are fairly established — are
produced in profusion ; the stored-up heat of the brick wall
is sufficient to make all the difference between success and
failure. Amaryllis Belladonna does not take kindly to cul-
tivation in pots.

Gustavia pterocarpa is now flowering in the Palm-
house at Kew ; all the species of the genus are handsome
plants, well worth growing. The present species has
large flowers — about four inches or more across — some-
M'hat like those of a Magnolia in shape ; the petals are white
inside and rose-tinted externally. The inflorescence con-
sists of about ten flowers ; the stalked, leathery leaves
measure from twelve to twenty inches in length and from
four to six inches in width.

Hunnemannia fumariaefolia is a native of Mexico and is
a near relative of the common Eschscholtzia of California.
It is, however, a more stately plant, and one equally beau-
tiful, if not more so. It grows about eighteen inches or
more in height and bears large, handsome clear yellow
flowers with orange-yellow stamens. About fifty years
ago a figure of the species appeared in the Botanical Mag-
azine, but the plant is hardly known in gardens now. It
seems strange that one of the most beautiful hardy annuals
we possess should not be more widely grown.

Aster amellus, var. Bessarabicus, is one of the most showy
of all the Asters ; it grows from twelve to eighteen inches
in height and bears a profusion of purple flower-heads up-
ward of two inches across. Taken all around, for the
rockery, the herbaceous border and flower-garden. Aster
Bessarabicus is the best of all the Starworts. Cuttings
struck in spring, as the shoots appear above ground, make
excellent pot-plants for cool conservatory decoration. A.
acris, a species with denser inflorescences of smaller, paler
mauve flower-heads, formed last year a very striking effect
planted in masses and mixed with the beautiful orange-
yellow Rudbeckia speciosa.

A large bed of our native Linum perenne, after flowering
profusely for a long time in summer, is now again very
attractive. The blue flowers open in such numbers that
the mass produces a wonderful cloud- like effect when seen
from a distance; the plant is perfectly hardy and requires
no special care in cultivation. When too great a crop of
seed develops, and the flowering is thereby interfered with.

October u, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

425

the stems should be cut off and new ones allowed to spring
from the roots.

The beautiful autumn-flowering Crocuses should be more
generally used for planting among grass on edges of lawns,
etc. As they come into flower after the grass has practi-
cally ceased to grow, and, therefore, requires no further
mowing for the year, the graceful blossoms show them-
selves to better advantage on their carpet of green than

Colchicum Sibthorpii and C. speciosum, now in flower,
are, perhaps, the two finest species of the genus ; the for-
mer has large, handsome, rosy-purple, irregularly faintly
tessellated flowers, and the latter varies from clear red-pur-
ple to a crimson-purple. Both have flowers much larger
than C. variegatum and C. autumnale ; the two latter make
excellent subjects for planting for ornament among grass
or in the wild-garden.

Fig. 64. — A Flowering Branch of Ligustrum Ibota. — See page 424.

they do rising out of the bare soil of the ordinary garden-
border. Many species are in fine flower now at Kew ;
C. speciosus (blue, with delicate lines on the segments),
C. zonatus (delicate rose-lilac, with yellow throat), C. nudi-
florus (lilac-purple) and C. cancellatus (white, with yellow
throat) are among the most showy at the period of writing
these notes.

Hedysarum coronarium, the so-called French Honey-
suckle,*is now, and for a long time has been, covered with
its dense racemes of deep red pea-shaped flowers. In deep
soil and in a sunny situation this makes one of our best
hardy perennials and is worth growing even in the most
select collections of herbaceous plants.
London. George Nicholson.

426

Garden and Forest.

[Number 294.

Cultural Department.

Autumn-flowering Bulbous Plants.

STERNBERGIA LUTEA is a plant of the season which
seems to be much neglected, yet the bulbs are easily se-
cured. They increase rapidly, and a clump in flower is as
effective, and not less pleasing, than the Crocus in the spring.
The bulbs start into growth in early September, making about
six inchesof leaf-growth, the flowers appear in late September.
These are something over two inches in diameter, are borne
on six-inch scapes, are of a clear deep yellow and crocus-liUe
in effect. The leaves are persistent during the winter, and
complete their growth in the spring, when the bulbs ripen and
become dormant. It is needless to say that bulbs of this kind
should be protected from the careless spader. The autumn-
flowering hardy bulbs have an unexpectedness in coming into
evidence which we are apt to associate with the flowers of
spring, and some of them are scarcely less pleasing than those
always favorite flowers.

The double white Colchicum appeared last week, the pearl-
white flowers piercing the earth in perfect purity. These Col-
chicums have narrow petals which are of irregular lengths,
and the flowers are very attractive. A strong bulb will pro-
duce a cluster of five or six flowers, furnishing an effective
bouquet, lacking, of course, the foliage which, with all the
family, appears in the spring. The autumn Colchicum has
disappeared, its magenta-colored flowers being only pleasing
in a strong light. A handsome kind, C. speciosum, of an at-
tractive blue color, merits its specific name. C. Parkinsoni,
the spotted Colchicum, has but just disappeared. This well-
known kind has lance-shaped petals, which are reddish purple
and freely spotted. Merendera Bulbocodium (Colchicum
montanum) has very narrow lanceolate petals of bright ma-

fenla, shading to white at the centre. It is an alpine Spanish
ulb, and seems entirely reliable, though not as effective as
some others of the family.

The hardy Cyclamens are delightful plants, with which I
have had only success enough to wish that they were truly
hardy here. After trying about all the species out-of-doors, I
have concluded that a cool house or a warm frame is the place
for them. Sometimes plants have lived through a winter to
disappear the next. Our frequent thaws and changeable cli-
mate prove too much for them. Perhaps, if covered with
snow all winter, they might be long-lived out-of-doors. The
rosettes of the leaves of most kinds would make them charm-
ing plants, but the dainty little flowers add a fresh grace to
render perfect pictures. These " Bleeding Nuns" have mostly
white flowers, tipped with red, but there are pure white varie-
ties of some species. My present limited assortment seems
to be reduced to the autumn-flowering kinds, and they are
just starting up after having been keptdry during the summer.
Some of them, as C. Cilicicum, show flowers as the first sign of
life; others, as C. Africanum, in a more orderly way, make
first a crown of foliage. ~ », .-^

Eliiabeth, N. J. /• '^- *^'

Winter-flowering Plants.

EUPATORIUMS. — Among the desirable small-flowering plants
during the dull winter months for cut flowers and for decorat-
ing the house or the conservatory are several of the Eupato-
riums. E. atrorubeus, more generally known as Hebeclinium,
is one of the most useful, since it flowers very freely in winter
and requires no special care, except to pinch it back occasion-
ally and to give it abundant water. The flowers are red-
dish lilac, and the stems and young leaves are covered with a
reddish pubescence. E. ripariuni is another useful species,
especially for cutting, since it has a much more slender
habit than the first-named and produces white flower-clusters
in great profusion both from ttie tips and axils of the stems.
Cuttings of these plants root very readily, and the young plants
need stopping frequently to induce a shapely growth.

BOUVARDIA jASiMiNOiDES. — This is uot a novelty, but is a
plant with very pretty and quite fragrant flowers. In general
ap{)earance it' reminds one somewhat of Jasminum grandi-
florum, the pure white flowers being produced chiefly from
the tips of the shoots, while the leaves are smoother than those
of most of the garden Bouvardias. I have never seen this spe-
cies propagated by root-cuttings, as is common with many
other Bouvardias, but soft tips root in a short time when placed
in sand in a warm house. The cuttings should never be al-
lowed to wilt.

LiBONiA FLORiBUNDA. — This old favorite is often neglected
now for more showy plants, but when well grown in a five or
six inch pot it makes handsome little specimens, and is seldom

out of bloom. Cuttings of Lib">nia should be rooted in the
spring so as to secure good plants for the next winter, and
should be shifted on rapidly until they can be plunged out-of-
doors in some coal-ashes or similar bed to prevent them dry-
ing out too often. They can remain here until the nights be-
come quite cool. Some shade is beneficial to these plants
while they are outdoors, and this can be managed by covering
them with a lath shade or by placing them on the north side of
a building. Under these circumstances they are likely to
escape attacks of red spiders.

Begonia Gloire de Sceaux is one of the very best of the
Begonias for winter decoration. Its sturdy growth, great
masses of flowers and thtir color of sprightly pink combine to
make it most attractive.

Chinese Primroses and Cyclamens should now be in their
blooming-pots, and may be kept in an outdoor frame for some
time yet unless the weather becomes severe. In places north
of Philadelphia, of course, they should be housed earlier. The
watering of these plants, however, requires some judgment
now, and the foliage should be kept free from moisture at
night by proper ventilation. Green fly is the particular pest of
Cyclamens and Primulas at any time, and this enemy can be
most easily held in check by spreading some tobacco-stems
among the plants. The steins should be chopped into short
lengths for convenience of handling.

Holmesburg, Pa. iV. H. laphn.

Orchid Notes.

WE have just passed through the period of the greatest
scarcity of Orchids in flower, and are now entering upon
the season which brings with it the finest display of the year.
Much has been done in recent years to add to the charms of
Orchid-houses in the autumn months, and we are reminded
of this fact by the opening of the first Cattleya labiata. This
new-old plant has been lavishly praised, perhaps, but when we
consider the time of its flowering, its freedom of growth and
Its free-blooming habit, the commendation can hardly be called
extravagant. We have in all twenty plants, and eighteen of
these are flowering this season, and the other two were weak
to begin with. All were repotted in shallow pans last spring,
and many are producing four flowers from a growth, and one
has five flowers open on one steiu. Next season we may look
for even^ore luxuriant growth. It must be admitted that,
taken collectively, the flowers of C. labiata vera are not of such
uniform excellence as those of other varieties of this species,
such asC. Mendelli, C. Trianee, or even C. Percivalliana. The
two best we have were bought with the collector's description
attached and are good varieties, but the remainder are not re-
markable for individual worth, except for the season at which
they flower. C. labiata likes plenty of light, and it thrives well
when grown in shallow, well-drained pans suspended from the
roof. Another fine Cattleya, now in bloom, is C. Bowringiana.
This belongs to a totally distinct section of the genus, and is by
some considered to be a variety of C. Skinneri, which it cer-
tainly resembles when in flower, but inhabit it is quitedistinct.
This also is of very free growth and is one of the very few
Cattleyas that may be said to improve year after year ; indeed,
ours have grown so freely that they have been repotted every
year. Care is taken to use only the best fern-root when re-
potting Cattleyas, as this will keep sound many years. Very
little sphagnum moss is used with it, just enough to indicate
the condition of the plant as to moisture, and it is then a sim-
ple matter to crack the pot in which the plant is growing and
take off the pieces carefully, having ready a pot of suitable size
in which to place the plant with as little root-disturbance as
possible. In this way Cattleyas receive no check from repot-
ting if it is done just as they are about to start into new growth.
Cattleya Bowringiana is liable to be attacked by thrlps during
the growing season, and a close watch must be kept or the
growth will be irreparably disfigured. In this respect it is sim-
ilar to others of the two-leaved Cattleyas, as C. bicolor, C. am-
ethystoglossa, C. Leopoldii andC. intermedia ; it is also liable
to receive injury from water lodging in the young growths, and
in this respect is singular, so far as I have observed. We keep
all the above-named plants at the warmest end of the house
and sponge them frequently with Fir-tree oil during the grow-
ing season.

European cultivators lay great stress on the desirability of
preventing Cattleyas from starting into a second growth the
same season, and their writings at times are perplexing to
Americangrowers. I fancy the climate here hastens the ma-
turity of the bulbs and increases the tendency to second
growth, but it is also a common occurrence for the plants to
flower from both bulbs at the same time, a fact due in part, I
believe, to the greater amount of"Bunshine here; but whether,

October :i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

427

in allowing this to take place, we are burning tlie candle at
both ends, time alone will tell. One of the best English growers
has just asserted that the average life of a Cattleya there, in
full vigor, is about six years ; after this it taxes the skill of the
best cultivators to keep them in vigor, especially if they have
flowered freely. One thing is fairly certain, that the system
practiced there of keeping Cattleyas dry for a long period to
induce rest, would here cause their deterioration, as the male-
rial we use for potting holds far less moisture than the peat
used almost entirely abroad. This question of premature
growlli has been a source of anxiety to me and also to others,
but on mentioning it recently to one of the largest importers
of Orchids he told me that Cattleya Trianae in Colombia was
found in flower almost every month in the year, and that their
collector had noticed this variety in bloom whenever he had
passed through that region. This in part explains the appar-
ently erratic behavior of newly established plants in our glass
houses. So far as my observation goes, it takes Cattleyas of
the Trianae section about six years to settle down to a normal
season of rest and growth. Perhaps some will call this a sign
of deterioration, but let us be hopeful, at least, until a wider ex-
perience shatters our belief that the American climate is better
suited to Orchid life than that of the Old World, even if tem-
peratures do get beyond our control in summer-time.

South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet.

Lawn Notes.

A WELL-KEPT LAWN is an essential element in a garden of
■^*- any pretensions, but to maintain such a feature in a highly
finished condition requires constant care. In a recent num-
ber of Garden and Forest attention was called to the
white grub and its ravages in greensward. This pest I have
been fighting for many years and have tried the lamp and the
tub of water, with many other remedies, but when I find the
beetles making havoc with the leaves of my medium-sized
purple Beech-trees, 1 take a lantern at night and a pail of water.
A vigorous shake of the trees will dislodge the beetles and
they fall to the ground in great quantities, where they are
picked up and readily drowned in the water. One of the most
effective remedies against the white grub which I have chanced
to find is a natural enemy of the larvae, which is generally
as bad as the disease. Finding some moles on the sod that
was infested with the grub I let them have the right of way for
a time and they soon cleared out the larvag, and with very little
trouble the part of the lawn where the grass had been killed
was renovated and soon showed as good condition as ever.

In this region the killing of the grass is not the only evil
which comes to the lawns from the ravages of the white grub.
The bare patches are bad enough, but they are soon clothed
with Crab Grass, which is as great an eyesore as the stretches
of dead grass. I once tried the experiment of plowing up a
piece of the infested land, exposing the grubs to the weather
and givinga chance for the crows and fowls to pick them, but
this was simply vexation and loss of time. When I sowed
Grass-seed the weather was unfavorable for a good stand, and
I had instead a heavy yield of Crab Grass. After allowing this
to grow until panicles of bloom were shown, which is early in
September, it was cut with a scythe and raked over. When it
reaches its full size a much cleaner cut can be made with a
scythe or mowing-machine than when it is cut at intervals with
the lawn-mower, as is customary. Under these conditions
Crab Grass spreads and roots at each joint so as to form an
impenetrable and wiry mat, where it has to remain an un-
sightly object until it dies naturally, and then the ground is
covered with seed ready to germinate at the proper season.
But if the grass is cut while in blossom and a good top-dress-
ing of rich compost is applied. Grass-seed can be sown
at once and a good stand can be secured before winter. Lawns
that are weedy and patchy and infested with coarse grasses
and perennial weeds ought to be dug up and cleaned out
thoroughly and then seeded down. In top-dressing great care
should be exercised. Stalile or barnyard manure should not
be used until it has been composted for a season or two and
turned often so as to be tlioroughly sterilized, or it will be sure
to introduce Daisies, Docks, Orchard Grass and other coarse
grasses. The question, what material to use for top-dressing,
will be answered in various ways, according to different loca-
tions and materials at cominand. The so-called complete com-
mercial fertilizers, when made by trustworthy firms, are
always good. Wood-ashes, too, are excellent, if they are not
leached, and so is lime in places where the soil needs it. This
last can be used either when slacked or when mixed with com-
post, the latter inode being- preferable, as in a fine dry state it
is difficult to spread and disagreeable to workmen. In every

garden there is an accumulation of rubbish which is greater
or less according to the extent of the grounds, including dead
leaves, grass, branches, superfluous vegetable matter, sweep-
ings, dead plants and soil from greenhouses and potting-
benches. All this rubbish should he collected separately, and
as much of it as will burn should be placed in one pile and
the part that will be composted placed in another pile. This
last should be turned over with fresh slacked lime, and the
former should be burned, and the resulting ashes and soil
should be kept dry. Chicken droppings, with finely screened
coal-ashes or dry soil placed under their roosts, should be gath-
ered, stored in barrels in a dry place, and covered with soil to
prevent the escape of the ammonia. With all these substances
combined a good home-made fertilizer can be made. Care
should be taken that the chicken manure shall not be more
than one-third of the entire compost. If the ashes and soil
are run through a screen to keep out stones and coarse matter
this will make an admirable lawn dressing.

The kinds of Grass-seed recommended on page 357 are
superior to any mixture I have ever found, although I add a
small proportion of white Clover-seed. Where there are trees,
and it is desirable to have a sod under their shade, I usually
make an addition of wood Meadow Grass. I use two parts of
Kentucky Blue Grass to one of Rhode Island Bent Grass, and
add one pound of white Clover-seed to a bushel of Grass-seed,
and use the same amount of wood Meadow Grass as I do Rhode
Island Bent Grass for shaded grounds. However clean the
seed may be. Dandelion, Plantain and coarse weeds and
grasses will appear, and then the laborious process of weeding
is often resorted to. I have found it easier to use sulphuric
acid diluted with twice its bulk of water. As this is a very
acrid substance, great care must be exercised in mixing and
using it. I take a preserving-jar of two-pound size, or larger,
with a wide neck, and securely fasten to it a stout wire with
which to carry it. The acid should be put in the jar first and
the water added afterward. It should never be poured into
the water, nor should the material be mixed in metal or
wooden vessels. To make the application I take a stout stick,
some eighteen inches long, dip it in the diluted acid, and with the
point of the wet stick touch the crown or centre of the plant
only, and then repeat it with the next plant, and so on. Noth-
ing further remains to be done. The plant so treated will in-
variably die, nothing is left to pull out or clear away, but great
care should be taken not to wet anything but the plants to be
destroyed, and not to touch the shoes or clothing. If weeds
are so thick that this treatment is impracticable, the best way
to proceed is to dig the whole thing up, clean out and sow
down afresh.

West New Brighton, N, Y. Wm. Tricktr.

To Kill Grubs and Seeds in Greenhouse Soil.

THE last number of The American Florist states that
Mr. W. N. Rudd, Mount Greenwood, Illinois, never
has any weeds in his greenhouse until after he has used a
mulch or has otherwise fertilized his plants on the benches.
This is because his soil is free from weed-seeds, and it is
also free not only from grubs, but from all other insect
larvae and the germs of fungus. The reason is that all his
soil is treated with live steam before it is used, and the fol-
lowing description of his method is given :

In the frame-yard he has a big box or bin twenty feet long,
six feet wide and four and a half feet deep, well braced. In the
bottom is a run of three five-quarter-inch steam pipes, in the
sides of which three-sixteenth-inch holes are drilled every eigh-
teen inches. The soil is thrown into this bin, and when full it is
covered with hot-bed sash and the steam turned on. About
two hours of this is sufficient to kill all animal or vegetable
life in the soil. It is the general habit to put a few potatoes on
top, and when these are cooked the soil is in condition. One
would imagine that this cooking would make the soil soggy,
but it has no such effect, and, indeed, the soil seems in better
condition afterward than before the steam has been applied ;
and the fine condition of plants growing in soil that has been
so treated proves that the soil has not been injured in the
least.

After the bin has been built, and the expense of it is slight,
the only cost of treating the soil is the two. handlings, one in
and one out of the bin, and in view of the frequency with
which serious loss is caused by grubs and fungi, etc., in the
soil, the precaution is one that no grower should fail to
take.

428

Garden and Forest.

[Number 294.

Winter Protection of Raspberries and Blackberries.

IN northern latitudes winter protection is one of the most
important points to be looked after in the garden and
orchard, and wherever the thermometer falls below zero
small fruits should never remain without some cover. The
higher the cultivation, the more abundant and succulent the
growth, and, therefore, the greater the danger from change
of temperature ; for even when plants are not killed, their
vitality is weakened and the succeeding crop is impaired.
In the last number of the Counlry Gentleman, Mr. M. A.
Thayer, of Wisconsin, gives the following admirable direc-
tions for winter preparation in the cold parts of the Union :

The best winter protection for Blackberries and Raspberries
is to lay the plants down and cover them lightly with earth. All
old canes and weak new growths should be cut out and burned
soon after fruiting, so that nothing is left but strong and
vigorous plants. In laying berry plants down where the rows
run north and south, commence at the north end and remove
the earth from the north side of the hill to about four inches
in depth, then gather the branches closely with a wide fork,
raising it toward the top of the bush and pressing gently to the
north, at the same time placing the foot firmly on the base of
the hill and pressing hard toward the north. If the ground is
compact, or the bushes old, a second man may use a potato-
fork, inserting it deeply close to the south side of the hill and
pressing over, slowly bending the bush by turning the root
until it is tlat on the ground. The bush is then held down with
a wide fork until properly covered. The top of the next hill
should rest near the base of the first and thus make a contin-
uous covering. In the spring the earth can be carefully re-
moved with a fork and the bush slowly raised. In mild win-
ters hardy varieties are protected sufficiently by laying them
down and covering the tips only. Grape-vines, being more
flexible, need not have the earth removed near the root.

Correspondence.
Lessons of the Drought.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The extreme south-western corner of Missouri never
fails to have a longer or shorter "dry spell" each summer.
The little valley in which is my home, walled in as it is by the
Ozark Mountains on every side, is a winter and spring para-
dise ; but when the vertical sun of midsummer beats down
ufKjn us, and the hills to the south and west of us intercept the
breeze and the rain-giving clouds, our valley is like a furnace,
with the thermometer ranging from 100 to 109 degrees in the
shade, and not a drop of ram falling for weeks, or even months
sometimes. Usually the wheat crop is out of the way, and the
corn in the milk, before dry weather sets in, but the drought
is certain to overtake the flower and vegetable gardens while
yet in their prime, and usually burns them up. This explains
the small gardens and the dearth of cultivated flowers in this
section. Our climate is so mild that many half-hardy plants
are entirely hardy here, and flowers can be grown in the open
air ten months in the year, but very few persons take any in-
terest in floriculture. The few old-fashioned plants that are
grown are nearly always spring or early-summer blooming
sorts, for the old residents believe the late summer too dry for
any possible display of flowers.

This opinion we have never accepted, and since our moving
to Oak Lawn, eight years ago, it has been our ambition to se-
cure a continuous display of flowers from the time of the first
Snowdrop of February to the last Pansy of Christmas, and in
this we have succeeded. This season has been the most se-
vere test of ttie eight. From the middle of June until late in
September it has been dry, and hot beyond precedent, the
thermometer even in late September climbing to over 100 de-

frees in the shade. The blades of late-planted Corn have
umed into crisp, brown streamers, and in some places have
fallen from the stalks like bits of burned paper. The river that
in winter and spring is crossed by ferry, is dry in many places.
The dry dust blows out of the scorched meadows, and our
modest water-works have been pumped completely dry.

Yet, besides house-plants, pot-shrubbery and a few speci-
men plants that have been regularly watered, there are still
many plants in bloom in our yard. A walk about the grounds
shows representatives of forty-seven different floral families
now in bloom, together with plants of ten more families grown
for colored foliage or fruit — all these without any watering.

The list of these is too long to give here, but it includes such
sorts of foliage-plants as Eulalia zebrina and variegata, and va-
riegated Honeysuckle and Passion-vine and Coleus ; such
vines as Clematis Jackmanni, Manettia cordifolia, Solanum
jasminoides, Ipomoea, Cyperus and ornamental Gourds ; such
bedding-plants as Carnations, Cannas, Nasturtiums, Verbenas,
Ageratums, Balsams, Roses and Dahlias ; and such herbace-
ous perennials as Heliantlnis multiflorus plenus. Plumbago
Larpentpe, Funkia, Double Hollyhock, etc. Some of these
give rather small and scattering flowers, but the Cannas, Day-
lilies, Verbenas, Roses, Dahlias and others give almost as fine
flowers as in a more favorable season, only in less profusion,
as a rule.

To accomplish this we have kept three things steadily in
view, (i) We have put our ground in perfect condition for
quick and vigorous growth, so that the long plant-roots may
penetrate to the subsoil, where they can always obtain some
moisture ; (2) our choice of planting stock is largely of those
families or species that will stand considerable dry weather
without injury. Of more exacting plants we plant no more
than we have time and water to care for. This shuts us off
from most annuals and many tender bedding-plants, but al-
lows us almost unlimited latitude in shrubbery, bulbous and
herbaceous perennials and succulents, together with many
vines and quite a number of drought-resisting foliage-plants
and annuals ; (3) we husband soil-moisture and plant-strength
in every way, which means that we mulch everything well,
pick off every seed-pod before it has time to form, and give
those plants of which we are most doubtful the advantage of
shelter from the afternoon sun and the worst drying winds.
By this last precaution alone we have had no difficulty in keep-
ing a fine display of Dahlias and Balsams, while these same
plants bedded out on the south lawn in full exposure to the sun
have long since ceased to bloom, and the Balsams have burned
up, root and branch.

We find that closely related varieties of plants often differ
widely in their ability to withstand the drought. Out of nearly
one hundred Roses,"La France, MadarrfeCharles Wood, Wash-
ington, Hermosa and Mignonette alone have bloomed con-
stantly. Mrs. John Laing, Victor Verdier, Countess of Rose-
berry, and several Teas and Polyanthas have given now and
then a stray rose, while all the other sorts refuse to give a
bloom. Canna robusta is nearly burned up ; C. Ehemanni and
C. gladioliflora are rank of foliage, but have ceased to bloom.
Crozy's crimson hybrid is fine in leaf, and tries heroically to
bloom, but each bud is crisped and brown before it is half-devel-
oped. C. Childsii alone is a mass of gay bloom, even more
brilliant than it was three months ago, yet these Cannas were
all planted side by side ! I sometimes think that Horists ought
to plant experimental beds of the leading plants, sheltering
them from rain, and exposing them to sun, until they have
demonstrated which varieties will best endure drought. A re-
liable list of that kind would be a great help to their western
and southern customers. ,. ,.,■,,

Pineville, Mo. Lora i>. La Matice.

Tuberous Begonias.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— I observe that several of your correspondents report
failures in their attempt to grow Tuberous Begonias in the sun.
I have had a bed of these plants this year, and although the
bulbs were small originally and set out too late, and also had
the disadvantage of being moved in August, not to speak of
being whipped by violent gales, they have, nevertheless, been
for a long time bright with flowers, and this, too, in a bed ex-
posed to the full glare of the sun the greater part of everyday.
I am aware of other beds which are equally successful, and
which are not shaded in the slightest degree, and I can hardly
imagine finer flowers than those which are now to be seen in
some of those beds of which I speak. tr -r t>

Hingh-im, Mass. t.. 1 . BOUVe.

The New Forage-plant.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — There never has been a time when the question of
forage-plants did not merit consideration here. Portions of
the west have passed through a drought such as we have not
had for years. There can be no question that certain of our
best forage-plants have suffered seriously and that we shall
have a thm stand next year. In Garden and Forest of Sep-
tember 2oth attention is called to Polygonum Sachalinse,
which has received such high praise in Europe. It is certain
that this plant will prove valuable in many parts of the United

October ii, 1893.]

Garden and Porest.

429

states, especially in the west. This Knotweed is not only per-
fectly hardy in central Iowa, so far as cold is concerned, but it
stands the dry weather remarkably well. We have had no rain
to speak of since the latter part of July, but this plant is as
green at the end of September as it was early in July. The
root-stocks of this plant are sent out deeply in all directions.
The original plant has been in a dry place for many years, but
in all this time it has not once been killed back. It is a re-
markable grower. Early in June many stalks were fourteen
feet in length. It will probably never supersede Indian Corn,
as the editor suggests, but what is needed in the west is a
plant that can be used in August and September, when pas-
tures are nearly always short. If the first and second crop
could be used for the silo the crop in August and September
would be excellent for immediate use. Rape is now used to
some extent, but the Saghalen Knotweed would be easier to
grow, as it does not need replanting every year, as Rape does.

Iowa Agricultural College, Ames. •^. ^- i^HUlViei,

Proper Work for Experiment Stations.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — While I fully agree with you in the editorial in your
issue for September 13th, 1893, that most of the varietal tests
so commonly practiced at the experiment stations are of little
general importance, still the stations were organized to dis-
tribute information among the farmers, and the varietal tests
afe often of local value. But there is, doubtless, a great deal of
wasted time and labor in a great many of thens, and there is
another line of work which in this section has seemed to me
to be of great importance. Long tabulated statements of sci-
entific investigations, while of great value to us who are en-
gaged in similar lines of work, are seldom, if ever, read by
farmers, who want the practical application of the results of
scientific investigation. At our station we have, therefore,
taken up the work of distributing what we call educational bul-
letins. These give the methods of cultivating certain crops,
and embody all the latest results of scientific investigation.
One of this series now about to be issued gives the results of
investigations in vegetable growth as applied to the propaga-
tion, cultivation and pruning of fruit-trees ; the diseases and
msectsthat attack them; what is known of remedies for them ;
and methods of packing, shipping and preserving fruits. Of
course, there are books accessible upon these subjects, but
how many farmers buy them ? We hope the effect of this se-
ries of educational bulletins will be to create a desire to read
more, and hence to buy larger works. This scattering of in-
formation among farmers I esteem one of the most efficient
lines of work in which the stations can engage.

Raleigh, N. C. W^- F- Massey.

The Columbian Exposition.

Cacti.

CACTUS-LIKE plants are well represented at the Fair.
Every visitor is interested in the Giant Cactus, Cereus
giganfeus, which is shown in a dozen good specimens in front
of the Horticultural Building. The tallest one is seventeen and
a half feet high. Some of the specimens are well branched,
and one comprises a clump of two trunks, and another of
three. These Cacti were collected in Arizona by- William
Reed, of Tucson, the expense being paid by the Territorial
Board, and the transportation given by the Southern Pacific
and Santa Fe Railroads.

There are some good Cacti from Arizona in front of the
Territorial Building, which belong to Arizona, Oklahoma and
New Mexico. Among these is one of the collection made by
Mr. Reed, a Cereus giganteus, or Sahura, as the Mexicans call
it, some fifteen feet high, and which has a fasciated or cristate
top some four feet broad. There are also many fine speci-
mens of the Bisnaga or Nigger-head, Echinocactus Wislizeni,
the hooked spines of which are sometimes used by the Mexi-
cans and Indians for fish-hooks. Opuntia fulgida, known as
ChoUa ; O. arborescens, or Tasajo ; O. acanthocarpa, O. fru-
tescens, and the Rat-tail Opuntia, O. Klenia, are represented by
large plants. The Tasajo stands alone, and forms a tree-like
bush about five feet high and as many broad. Other interest-
ing Arizonan plants are Cereus Fendleri, Yucca elata, Agave
Palmeri, A. Mexicana, or Mescal-plant, the Soap-plant and
Fouquiera splendens, or Ocotillo. Arizona also has some
large pot and tub specimens of Phyllocactus and Cereus stand-
ing in front of the propagating-houses in the rear of the Horti-
cultural Building.

The largest exhibitive collection of Cactus-like plants is made
by A. Blanc & Co., under the auspices of the Pennsylvania
State Commission. The collection occupies the two parterres
of the horticultural terrace which lie immediately in front of
the pavilions, each of which is 1 17 feet long and about twenty-
five feet wide. The plants are disposed in irregular raised
beds throughout the sod area. Unfortunately, none of the
plants are labeled, and the educational and technical value of
the exhibit is largely lost. There are various Yuccas, Agaves,
Euphorbias and other stiff or succulent plants in the collec-
tion besides the true Cacti. The plant which Blanc & Co. sell
as Euphorbia candelabra is represented by a specimen which
is grown in perfect tree form, and stands as high as a man.
Some rare or otherwise interesting Cacti in the display are
Echinocactus Le Conlei, six feet high, and thought to be over
150 years old; E. Wislizenii, over five feet high; E. Pfeifferi,
nearly five feet in circumference ; good specimens of E. Grus-
soni ; Pelecyphora pectinata, P. asseliformis and Astrophytum
myriostigma. There are also various cristate and monstrous
forms. Mr. Blanc has a small collection of Cacti With the Penn-
sylvania plants under the dome of the Horticultural Building.

In the south wing of the Horticultural Building Mrs. Anna B.
Nickels, of Laredo, Texas, has a large and excellent exhibit of
Cacti. Two hundred and eighty-seven species were brought
to the Fair, but some of them have been lost because the
building is not adapted to their cultivation. Mrs. Nickels has
been interested in Cacti inost of her life, and for about twenty
years has collected them for sale. Some seventeen years ago
she issued a price-list, which was the first catalogue of Cacti
published in this country. Mrs. Nickels has collected Cacti
over a wide range of country in many journeys, in one season
gathering with her own hands 60,000 specimens within two
months' time. All the plants in her collection at the Fair are
wild specimens, freshly transferred from their native soil, the
purpose being to show the species in their indigenous forms.
There are some remarkably fine specimens of Echinocactus
pilosus, four feet high ; E. cylindracea, E. Grussoni, Cereus
Dumortieri, C. Nickelsii, a species which in its native soil
grows to a heightof thirty feet without a branch ; C. Passacana,
C. pugioniferus and its variety geometrizans, C. Thurberi, Pilo-
cereus Houlettii and P. Hoppenstedti, and Anhalonium pris-
maticum. This exhibit excels in the long or upright Cacti of
the Cereus type, a characteristic mark, apparently, of the Cac-
tus flora of her region.

In contrast to this collection, the display by Mexico, in the
north wing of the Horticultural Building, shows a decided pre-
ponderance of the round or globular Cacti. Here, Echinocactus
Grussoni is displayed in all its glory. It is a beautiful plant,
with its almost perfect globe-form and interlocking armature
of long lemon-yellow spines. About fifty balls of this Cactus
are in the collection, some of them between two and three
feet in diameter. There is one cluster containing eleven plants
of perfect form and color, and measuring, together, some four
feet across. To the Cactus fancier, however, the most inter-
esting species in the exhibit is the very rare Leuchtenbergia
Principis, a monotyptc Mexican Cactus, which is seldom seen
in cultivation. The plants are small and not in bloom, and as
almost none of the specimens in the collecfion are named, they
attract little attention. Other conspicuous Cacti are a good
bush of Cereus pugioniferus, var. geometrizans, a very straight,
slender Cereus Columna-Trajani, over eight feet high ; Astro-
phytum myriostigma, clumps of Echinocactus conglomeratus,
Cereus Posacana, small round specimens of Echinocactus
pilosus, and many small Pelecyphora plants. These Mexican
plants are wild specimens, collected by Gustave Schreibe, of
the City of Mexico.

Adjoining the Mexico exhibit is a small collection of Cacti
and Cactus-like plants from the United States Botanic Gardens
at Washington. Prominent plants here are Fouquiera splen-
dens, Cereus Peruvianus, var. monstrosus, Opuntia glauces-
cens and Euphorbia grandicornis. The Women's World's Fair
Society of San Diego, California, shows an interesting small
collection of Cacti, containing some good bushes of Opuntia.
The Candle-Cactus (Opuntia lurida), Opuntia Ficus Indica, var.
Minor, and a large Tuna Cactus are the most conspicuous plants.

Two of the booths under the dome of the Horticultural
Building offer Cacti for sale. One sells the " Rainbow Cac-
tus," which is a good species of Echinocactus. It is ordinarily
called E. candicans, but it is a question if it is not rather
E. rigidissima. The other booth sells the "Columbian Cac-
tus," which is a small Mamillaria, and for which two colored
plates of an Amorphophallus serve as representations. The
Director-General has been advised of this traffic, but he de-
clines to interfere. r zr o -r

Chicago, 111. ■^- -"• BatUy.

430

Garden and Forest.

[NUVBER 294.

Notes.

The early varieties of Clirysanthenium, lilce those sent out
by Delaux, are later this year than they were last, but they
have been on sale for a few days past at comparatively high
prices, and are now beginning to take a prominent place in
the decoration of the florists' windows.

One good quality of the Altheas is that they keep their
foliage tresh well into autumn, when the leaves of many other
shrubs are dried up or blighted by fungus. Most varieties of
Althea are blooming tliis year with exceptional freedom ; the
hot dry weather of the last summer seems to suit them better
than it does most shrubs.

All persons who are alive to the importance of preserving
our forests should bear in mind the Forestry Convention to be
held at Chicago on the i8th and 19th of tliis month. We have
already spoken at length of the plans and purposes of this
meeting, and need only repeat tliat the men who are to con-
duct it are earnest and sincere as well as competent and prac-
tical. It ought to be fruitful of good results.

A valuable feature of the Missouri fruit-exhibit at the World's
Fair is a collection of peaches, in liquid, to show a commer-
cial list of varieties. "This collection is made by the famous
Olden Fruit Company, of south-west Missouri. Tlie collection,
showing peaches ripening from July ist until October ist,
comprises the following varieties, m order of ripening : Troth,
Mountain Rose, Oldmixon, Elberta, Gold-dust, Crawford, Wil-
kins, Sal way, Bonanza and Henrietta.

The earliest flowers of the La France Rose out-of-doors, in
June, are apt to be disfigured by the browning of the outer
petals, and it can hardly be called a good hot-weather Rose ;
but when the cool days of autumn come there are few that
equal it. Even now, after quite hard frosts, numbers of flow-
ers are opening in this vicinity, and these have few rivals either
in beauty or in fragrance. Another hybrid Tea, the Beauty t)f
Stapleford, is also flowering freely, and, of course, the reliable
old Gloire de Dijon, the hardiest of all Tea Roses, is now
indispensable.

Last week a correspondent called attention to the flowering
of a Horse-chestnut-tree in Central Park. Mr. John DeWoIf,
superintendent of the parks in Brooklyn, writes that these
trees are blooming in some of the parks of that city, while
the Japan Quince, Forsythia and Magnolia conspicua have
been flowering more or less. A Rhododendron with white
flowers, which is one of the first to open in the spring, is
blooming quite generally in Prospect Park, and, in one instance,
as profusely as in spring, although the clusters and individual
flowers are smaller than they are at their regular season.

There have been few heavy frosts in this section this season
so far, and therefore the color of the autumn foliage hereabout
promises to be unusually brilliant. Some trees, like the Hick-
ories, for example, very rarely show their full beauty in this
respect, because the leaves are generally scorched by the cold
before they change into the color they assume when they
ripen naturally. Many of these Hickories, especially the
young ones, are now masses of clear lemon-yellow and pro-
duce an effect in the full sunlight which no words can de-
scribe. Of course, there is a kindling of color in the Red Ma-
ples ; many of the Dogwoods are already in full glow, and the
Virginia Creeper has taken on its deepest crimson. Among
our cultivated exotic shrubs the best among those which show
their color early are the variety Ginnala of the Tartarian Maple
and Spiraea prunifolia.

Many Americans interested in horticulture visit the com-
mercial gardens at Hamburg, from which large quantities of
plants and 'bulbs are annually exported, and which are espe-
cially noted for their Lilies-of-the-va!ley. But probably few
of them have delayed long enough to inspect the examplesof
landscape-gardening which may be seen in the far-extending
suburbs where the rich merchants of the city dwell. An arti-
cle in a late number of GarUnJlora states that Hamburg's
villa-gardens are especially remarkable, both for number and
for beauty. " Masterpieces of design " can be seen, we are
told, in endless succession, in the suburbs of Boseldorf and
Har'vestehude, where private gardens follow each other in a
park-like arrangement. Still more attractive is the effect of
the eastern bank of the Elbe, below the city, where garden
after garden and park after park stretch for miles toward
Blankenese in a panorama which every one should see who
is interested in the art of landscape-gardening. The writer of
these statements may be somewhat partial in his judgment, but
there can be Uttle doubt that the suburbs of Hamburg offer

an exceptionally good field for the student desirous to acquaint
himself with the ideals and processes of the German land-
scape-gardener of to-day.

To one of the early reports of the Wisconsin Experiment
Station Professor Trelease contributed the following interest-
ing note relating to the falling of leaves in autumn: "With
respect to the fall of the leaves, it has been noticed that three
more or less distinct periods are observable. The first, occur-
ring, on an average, a week earlier than the main fall, is
marked by the loss of the leaves of weakly twigs. Tlie second
comprises the main defoliation. The third embraces the pe-
riod during which straggling leaves, mostly on branches which
have been shaded during tlie growing season, successively
disappear ; this period is often limited only by the beginning
of growth the next spring. It is well known that most leaves
fall in consequence of tlie forniution of a distinct joint, usually
at the base of the leaf-stalk. It is interesting to note that in
very many of our trees the weakened twigs also are annually
cast off by a similar process. This is especially observable in
several Willows, which are often spoken of as having ' brittle'
branches, although their wood is tough except where the joints
referred to occur. The Cottonwood and White Elm show the
same peculiarity well, the joints being formed at the com-
mencement of the year's growth, so that the growth of from
one to seven or eight years is often pruned off by a gale in
autumn ; and, as has been said, it is observable on Oaks and
many other trees. There seem to be two reasons for this pro-
vision. The fallen twigs of species which grow in wet places
have been observed to strike root, thus serving as natural cut-
tings for the propagation of the species ; on the other hand, it
is clearly an advantage to the tree to lose weak branches that
would make at best but a poor growth, while shading and
otherwise interfering with the development of the stronger
shoots."

Nearly a dozen car-loads of grapes, averaging five thousand
baskets to a car, are now coming into the city daily from New
York state, except on Tuesdays, there being none shipped on
Sundays. Grapes also constitute a large part of the forty -five
car-loads of fruit which were received from California last
week ; nevertheless, choice grapes are firm at good prices.
Among the later arrivals from California are remarkably fine
Tokay grapes, from the Natoma Vineyards, Black Prince, the
large Purple Damascus, Black Morocco and Emperor. A few
small importations of Almeria grapes have come to this port
by way of England, but the first direct shipment from Spain
was sold on Monday. More than 13,000 barrels brought at auc-
tion an average price thirty per cent, lower than the earliest
importations of last year. The New Jersey peach season is
about closed, the Hudson River district now supplying the
market, and the best quality commands $1.25 a basket. The
Salway peach contmues to come from California, and the same
state is sending Levy's Late, sometimes known as Henrietta,
George's Late and Heath, the Maryland peach which Down-
ing held to be the most delicious of all clingstones. Roman
Beauty apples, from California, and Baldwin apples of high
grade are seen in the fancy fruit-stores, and bring sixty cents
a dozen. Gravensteins are coming from as far north as Nova
Scotia, and the best of these, with the Snow and King apples,
are worth three dollars and fifty cents a barrel wholesale.
Sheldon and Seckel pears from this state are still here in good
quality, and a few Keiffer pears are selling at $4.50 a barrel.
Much of tlie California stock of pears is held here in cold stor-
age, among the varieties received during the week being
Winter Nelis, Duchess, Bosc, P. Barry, Clairgeau, Forella and
Cornice, the last of which brings the highest prices. Pome-
granates from California sell at a dollar and fifty cents for a box
of fifty fruits, and choice Jamaica pomelos are seventy-five
cents to a dollar a dozen. The tuna, or prickly pear, from the
West Indies, is now selling in some of the fancy fruit-stores at
forty cents a dozen, and inexperienced buyers who handle
them carelessly soon find their hands smarting from the al-
most invisible spines whicli occur in tufts on the surface of the
fruit. If these spines are first rubbed off with a cloth and the
skin removed, the deep crimson pulp looks quite tempting.
Travelers tell us that this is an excellent breakfast-table fruit,
with the flavor of watermelon reinforced by that of a straw-
berry. Specimens sold here, however, more closely resemble
in flavor an insipid blackberry. Alligator pears are still seen
occasionally, and they are much relished asa salad by persons
of cosmopolitan tastes. Cliestnuts, which brought twelve dol-
lars a bushel ten days ago, have already begun to decline.
Hickory nuts are only three dollars a bushel and sell slowly at
that, and something like a novelty is the Paradise nut, from
Brazil, which is rarely seen in this market.

October i8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

431

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PACK.

Editorial Articik: — New York's Proposed Speed-road 431

The California Fniit-supply in New York M. B. C. 432

Botanical Notes from Texas. — XII E. N, Plank. 433

The Use of the Generic Name Halesia Professor N. L. Brit/on. 433

The Water-garden at Clifton, New Jersey. (With figure.). ..J.N. Grrard. 434

CuLTimAL Department: — Cauliflower for Winter-forcing 435

Mushrooms E, O. Orpet. 436

Noteworthy Late-flowering Shrubs y. G. Jack. 436

Notes from a Northern Garden F. H. H. 437

Roses IV. H. Taplm. 437

The Vegetaljle-garden T. D. Hatfield. 437

CoKRESPONDENCB : — The Winter Care of Water-lilies IV, T. 438

Mildews as Influenced Ijy Climate and "Wayx^^w... Professor L. H. Pammel. 439

Tecoma MacKenni y. C, Harvey. 439

Recent Publications 439

NOTSS 440

Illustration: — Victoria regia in Clifton, New Jersey, Fig. 64 435

New York's Proposed Speed-road.

CENTRAL PARK is in a real sense a national posses-
sion. When the Legislature of this state passed an
act to condemn a considerable portion of it and turn it into
a dirt-road for fast driving, the whole country sympathized
with that masterful uprising of the people here which in a
week's time compelled the Governor, the Legislatuie and
the city's ofticials to turn squarely about and meekly undo
their own work. The whole country, too, was interested
to know that another place on Manhattan Island had been
secured for a speedway, because it was thought that if this
were constructed the park would be forever relieved from
the danger of invasion from an organized effort by the own-
ers of fast horses. This proposed road extends for two
miles and a half along the western bank of the Harlem
River, most of the land being now in its natural condition,
and, like most of the original surface of the island, a place
of picturesque beauty. The Harlem River at this point has
little commercial importance, and, therefore, when speak-
ing, last week, of the portions of the city's water-front which
had been rescued from commerce and devoted to public
recreation, we did not mention this new drive, for it does not
in any way come in conflict with commerce.

According to the plans which have been adopted, how-
ever, this attractive river-bank will be shut off from every
one who does not and cannot enjoy it in a road-wagon.
Ill other words, the plans which have been adopted by the
Park Department provide for only one sidewalk, and that
is on the western side of the road. On the side next to
the river there will be a low wall, and not even standing-
room for a pedestrian. The only member of the Park
Board who protested against this plan, Mr. Paul Dana,
justly characterized the act to deprive people of their right
to the river-bank as an outrage. The enormity of the act
is heightened by the fact that the road passes through two
parks already established, both of which now front on the
water, so that this much of the shore has already been
secured by the city for purposes of recreation ; but, under
the plans approved, the road will despoil the public of this

privilege, and High Bridge Park and Washington Park will
be practically moved back a hundred and fifty feet from
the river.

As this road is intended for light-wagon driving,
there might be some possible justification for giving the
exclusive use of the place to the people who drive, if a
walk for pedestrians would interfere with their privileges,
but this is ' not the case. There is abundant room for
wheel-way and footpaths, and in many respects, especially
in the opportunity it would give for the planting of trees,
a walk on the river-side of the road could make it more
agreeable than it would be without it. The argument, that
people crossing the road would interfere with the trotters and
imperil their own lives, is self-destructive, because the
great mass of the people who visit the road will come from
the east side of it and will be compelled to cross it under
the present plan at its southern entrance, which will be
the point of greatest congestion, in order to get on the sin-
gle sidewalk which is provided. Of course, it should be
remembered that a walk on two sides would accommodate
twice as many people as a walk on one, and if, as the
trotting men have always argued, there is a great longing
of the populace to look at fast steppers in action, accom-
modation should be provided for them. But there are
hours of the day and seasons of the year when there will
be little trotting there, while all the year through the land
and water view will invite visitors by its picturesque
beauty, and in time, under proper management, this might
become one of the most interesting walks in the city, or,
indeed, in any city of the world. Besides this, the Harlem
River is a favorite boating-place, and persons who land
there should certainly find a place to stand on when they
reach the shore. This boating privilege has always been
spoken of as one of the advantages of Washington Park
and of High Bridge Park, but under the present scheme no
one will be able to reach the park from the river. That
portion of the river which is skirted by the speed-way is
also especially adapted to regattas, and the idea of exclud-
ing people who wish to witness these displays from the
banks of the river is monstrous. But there is no need of
enumerating the objections to this scheme. They are so
obvious that its promoters will, no doubt, be driven to
retreat from an utterly untenable position, and the sooner
they do it the better.

The purpose of this article is to invite attention to the fact
that in this year of grace, 1893, the Park Board of the first
city in the United States have not thought it worth while to
consult with the one man in their department to whom all
matters touching the design of pleasure-grounds are legit-
imately referred. Mr. Calvert Vaux, who was one of the
designers of Central Park, is still in the city's service, and
yet the planning and executing of this work is handed over
to an engineer who cuts his way along the river-bank as
remorselessly as the builders of the West Shore Railroad
have done along the Hudson, and with no more regard for
the defacement of the scenery than was manifested by
them. A Municipal Art Association has been formed in
this city for the purpose of enhancing the beauty of our
public possessions. These artists and laymen believe that
true art is not something to interest an occasional amateur,
but something which should be promoted for the benefit
and enjoyment of the whole people ; that beauty in pub-
lic works has a definite municipal value, always and
everywhere. It will be of little use to build galleries
for pictures and statues, or even to rear dignified public
buildings, while the element of beauty is not consid-
ered as an essential one in our public pleasure-grounds.
There is just as much need of artistic fitness in the design
of a work like the speed-way as there is in that of an art
museum or a city hall. Indeed, there is much more, for
people go to public buildings for business. They may visit
a museum out of curiosity, but they go to a public
pleasure-ground with all business cares thrown aside, and
in that receptive spirit which is ready to delight in the
beauties which nature and art have spread before them.

432

Garden and Forest.

[Number 295.

If there ever was a time when a body like the Municipal
Art Association should endeavor to make its influence felt
it is just now, when the officials entrusted with the admin-
istration of our public pleasure-grounds have shown such
contempt for the counsel of their own chosen adviser in
matters of landscape-art As usual, there is no conflict in
this case between the demands of the highest beauty and
of the greatest usefulness. It is not proposed to injure the
road for driving purposes. The alignment, the grading and
the surface-quality of the speed-way can be made as perfect
as possible, and it is only asked that by judicious planting
of trees, the masking of raw surfaces with appropriate vege-
tation, the protection and development of the natural beau-
ties of a picturesque location, the place may be made at-
tractive to the entire population of the city as well as to the
fortunate owners of fast trotting horses ; and that provision
be made for the enjoyment of this beauty by all classes,
instead of limiting that privilege to a small fraction of the
people. The reasonableness of such a request is evident.
When the people of the city fully appreciate the situation,
they will not allow themselves to be robbed of their rights.

The California Fruit-supply in New York.

CHEAP freights and refrigerator-cars have brought the
Pacific coast so close to the Atlantic that a very con-
siderable portion of the fruit-supply of our eastern cities
is now carried entirely across the continent. The exper-
iment of bringing California fruit to New York was first
tried in 1868, when a venture was made with three car-
loads of winter pears and one of grapes, at a cost of from
one thousand to thirteen hundred dollars a car for freight.
But, evidently, there was little encouragement to continue
this traffic, for nineteen years later, or in 1887, only fifteen
car-loads reached this market. These small supplies were
handled by fancy-fruit dealers at high prices, and Califor-
nia fruit continued to be rare and a luxury until 1889, when
four hundred car-loads were distributed in New Yorlf, about
one dealer in twenty being among the purchasers. In 1890,
when there was a general failure of the eastern fruit-crops,
a great impetus was given to the California trade, and the
business done in New York was nearly doubled. These
fruits have steadily gained in public favor as they have
improved in quality, and since the first cherries arrived this
year, in the middle of May, in spite of poor railroad service
and the largest crop of peaches ever produced on the Dela-
ware peninsula, eight hundred car-loads of fruit from Cali-
fornia have been sold here already this year.

The earliness or lateness of the season on either coast is
of great importance in the competition between eastern
and western fruits, as this year, for example, when a late
season in California delayed the first shipment of cherries,
which arrived here two weeks later than usual, and two
days after the North Carolina fruit — the result of this tardi-
ness being a sluggish start forthe California fruit. In the order
of arrival, apricots came with some of the earliest cherries,
and Clyman plums were here on the 23d of June, the
Cherry and Royal Hative varieties arriving a few days later.
Alexander peaches were only a day behind the plums, the
first Bartlett pears and Alexandra apples coming July nth,
nectarines and grapes also arriving during this month, and
Tokay grapes in August. The season for peaches and
plums is drawing to a close, and grapes and winter pears
constitute the principal receipts, with a few pomegranates
and new figs. Almonds and English walnuts will soon fol-
low, and dried fruits, oranges and lemons round out the
California fruit year in the eastern markets. Orange culti-
vation is successful in a higher latitude in California than
in any other part of the world, and the groves of the state
comprise about 41.000 acres of bearing trees, with half as
many more young trees not yet productive. Six thousand
car-loads of oranges were shipped out of the state last
spring, of which one-third was Riverside Navel fruit,
altogether the best California orange seen here. This fruit

arrives in small lots soon after the first of January, and in
larger quantities during the late spring months, when it
succeeds the last of the Florida crop.

But 401,415 acres out of nearly 156,000 square miles are
planted in fruit in California, and this state seems to have
the ability to supply an almost unlimited demand. While
these western fruits do not generally equal ours in fla-
vor, at least as they reach us here, they are larger, more
beautiful, and have remarkable keeping qualities. Cali-
fornia grapes are an important acquisition, since they are
mainly varieties of the European or Vinifera type, and quite
distinct in texture and flavor. Besides this, they keep in a
fresh condition much longer than the native varieties. The
greatest care is used in picking and in theselection of sound
fruit, and eastern growers have much to learn from western
shippers in the art of packing. Cherries, for instance, in
prime condition and of the brightest color, all of an even
size, are packed in perfectly regular rows, and make a most
attractive appearance in their neat boxes on the fruit-stand.
Pears and peaches are packed with no less care, each fruit
wrapped in tissue-paper, and often placed in separate com-
partments. When the crop of eastern fruit is abundant and
of good quality, all the California fruit that can be got here
sells in competition with it at considerably higher prices,
and, in spite of the long journey, the California grower
generally gets a larger net return than the grower in Dela-
ware and other fruit-producing districts near by.

Except a few car-loads in a season, all the fruit from
California has been sold here by auction since 1887.
The sales are conducted by Messrs. Brown & Seccomb
and Mr. E. L. Goodsell, Porter Brothers Company, the Earl
Fruit Company and the National Fruit Association being
the largest shippers. The local buyers are notified of the sale
by the receiver, who has had telegraphic advices from the
railroad company a day in advance. Cars reaching Jersey
City during the night are at once forwarded to New York
docks on floats, and by 8 o'clock in the morning these are
unloaded. The crates and boxes of fruit are stacked on the
dock, that of each grower by itself, and the boxes opened
for examination. The sale.s are attended by from two to
three hundred buyers, made up of wholesale dealers, com-
mission merchants, brokers acting for principals indifferent
parts of the country, jobbers and small dealers who sell to
peddlers. Catalogues are provided, and preferred lots
noted by the prospective buyers. At 9 o'clock the sale be-
gins in the auction-room, which is on the dock, and the
fruit is bid off in lots of from two to one hundred
packages. It is packed in trucks for delivery as fast
as sold, and early afternoon finds everything clear for
the next day's arrivals. An hour after the sale detailed
telegraphic advice is in California, and the grower
knows on the same day the price brought by his fruit.
The cars are furnished with improved systems of refrigera-
tion during the summer months, each car having a capacity
of from 8,000 to 12,000 pounds of ice ; this is renewed three
or four times in transit by the agents of the shippers, who are
placed at regular stations. A car holds 1,000 to 1,200 half
crates of peaches, plums, apricots or grapes, each weighing
from twenty to twenty-five pounds ; 450 to 500 boxes of pears,
weighing from forty to fifty pounds, or 2,500 packages of
cherries, weighing ten pounds each. The cost of bringing a
car to New York is almost $400, with nearly $200 more
added for ice. The journey is generally made in nine to
eleven days, but owing to the reduction of the force on the
railroads this year, and the interference to traffic by travel
to the Columbian Exposition, the trains have been delayed
from one to three days, to the injury of the fruit and the
discouragementof California growers with respect to future
shipments. Owing to its position, Chicago takes larger
quantities of California fruit than New York. Boston also
receives large direct shipments, while one or more cars of
every train are diverted to such cities as Omaha, St. Louis,
New Orleans, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Pittsburg and Buffalo.

During all this rapid growth of the consumption of Cali-
fornia fruit in eastern cities, the supply from the orchards

October i8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

433

and vineyards of the Atlantic coast has been steadily in-
creasing in volume and improving in quality. Of course,
the growth of population will account to some degree for
the development of this business, but we must infer that
Americans use fruit more generally and more largely every

year.

New York.

M. C. B.

Botanical Notes from Texas. — XII.

OUR ride from Pearsall to Laredo is more to the south than
to the west. It is mainly through a plain region mantled
over with the shrubs already mentioned in these Notes. In
the valleysof the Frio, Leonaand Nueces Rivers a larger growth
is to be seen. In other favored localities Mezquit attains a size
that allows it to be utilized as fuel, and the ringing of axes
swung by Mexicans is heard breaking the monotonous stillness.

Rio Grande del Norte is only great as it is compared with the
streams of the south-west. It is hardly equal to the Arkansas
or to the Red River, yet for thousands of miles it will be, to
some degree, a Nile to the millions of people who will inhabit
its valley and utilize its waters for irrigation.

Laredo is a city of ten or fifteen thousand inhabitants. It is
about midway between Kansas City and the city of Mexico,
whicli cities are about two tliousand miles apart. Laredo is
situated in the valley of the Rio Grande, about* half a degree
south of the twenty-eighth parallel, and about the same dis-
tance west of the ninety-ninth meridian. It is a pleasant city
to be in, the largest city in Texas, and the largest in the United
States that lies so far south, unless it be Key West. The
mean annual temperature of Laredo is said to be higher than
that of any other city in the United States, excepting Fort
Yuma. Just outside of the city limits on the north lies a long
stretch ot level bottom-land, which is now being utilized for
vineyard purposes. The plat is irrigated by water raised by
steam-power from the Rio Grande. Several hundred acres
have already been planted in Grapes. The earliest-planted
vines are now yielding their first fruits. The success of the
enterprise appears to be well established, and Laredo may be-
come renowned for the amount and quality of its grapes and
wine. Last spring a car-load of grapes, raised about twenty-
five miles south of the city, were shipped from Laredo to
Chicago. They reached their destination about the 29th day
of May. Grapes in northern markets in the month of May,
ripened out-of-doors, marks an epoch in the history of Grape-
cullure in the United States.

From the immense fossil oyster deposits at the bottom of
deep ravines and elsewhere near the city, it appears that this
locality was well supplied with that bivalve long ago, when the
wafers of the ocean mingled here with the fresh water of the
Rio Grande, or of some river which was its predecessor.
There are extensive deposits of good coal along the river
above the city. Opposite Laredo, across the Rio Grande, is
Nuevo Laredo, a city of six to eight thousand inhabitants.

The river valley, and the higher ridges which mark its
former banks, add to the general interest of this locality for
botanical studies. The strange Larrea Mexicana is here on the
hills, but is not so common or so large as it becomes farther
north. When Nature set out to paint the leaves of this shrub
she dipped her brush deeper into the yellow than into the blue
pigment, and thus gave the leaves a dirty ochre color, by
which the plant may readily be distinguished. How it came
to have the sooty odor, which gives to it the common name of
Creosole-bush, is not so easily determined. The whole plant
is so resinous that it burns as readily green as dry. Its rather
handsome stnall yellow flowers are succeeded by small hairy
fruits. The Creosote-bush appears to be, in this slate, at least,
confined to the bluffs of the Rio Grande. Very common in
richer soils near the river, and for a hundred miles or more
eastward, is the odd-looking K ' berlinia spinosa. At first sight
it appears to be only a bundle of thorns. On closer study we
see that it is a real shrub, becoming at times a small tree. Its
small leaves drop early. Its very numerous stunted branch-
lets all develop terminal thorns, upon which are borne clus-
ters of numerous small yellowish flowers and the blackish
fruits that succeed them. The simple imaginative piety of
Mexicans has led them to believe that twigs of this shrub
were used to form the crown of thorns w'-ich was placed upon
the brow of the Saviour.

On slopes grows Parkinsonia T la, with trifoliate leaves
and flowers very like those of tne Jerusalem. Thorn. It "iij
more strongly armed than any other of its Tf is congen-
ers. A Korameria, with handsome light purple .lowers and
the characteristic fruit of the genus, is often to be seen, ev n

in the most arid places. Unfortunately, my visit to Laredo was
made at the time when the long-continued drought was at its
height, and so all that was eatable and within their reach had
been taken by the numerous flocks of goats. But, though all
the specimens of the plants that I saw had beenclosely pruned
by them, it was plainly to be seen that one species was K.
ramosissima.

The low-growing Lantana involucrata, with handsome ma-
roon flowers, is common along fences and around brush piles.
Rivinia Isevis, named afterthe German botanist who lived more
than two centuries ago, is a relative of Phytolacca (Poke) and
grows everywhere in southern Texas, in shaded places. Its
spikes of handsome red berries are more attractive than its
purplish flowers.

One of the most conspicuous plant-sights in the south-west
is Agave Americana, the well-known Century-plant of eastern
conservatories. It is a native of the lower Rio Grande region,
extending far south-westward. This most remarkable member
of the IJaffodil family has been almost venerated from the
mistaken belief that it blossomed only once in a century. The
species is monocarpic, but whether it blossoms in ten years
or in twenty, or in more or in less years, depends upon the
degree of prosperity which it has enjoyed. In the south-west
the species is chiefly remarkable for being the original source
of the principal intoxicants of Mexicans, and to some extent that
of their nearer eastern neighbors. The juice of our plant is used
in three conditions as a drink — as it comes uncharged from
the plant, when it is like sweet cider ; the j.uice, when fer-
mented, known as pulque ; and mescal, which is obtained by
distillation trom pulque. Like cider-brandy, mescal, when
new, is a hot liquor, with a rank and peculiar odor. A drink
or two of it will make the commonly staid and silent Mexican
completely wild. When mellowed by age, mescal becomes
milder and more pleasant, and is, perhaps, the most innocent
liquor which people of the Rio Grande valley can procure, ex-
cept their native wine and brandy.

Varilla Texana, a queer south- western composite, is abundant
from about the ninety-ninlh meridian, westward. It is a woody
plant, low-growing, and forming clumps sometimes two feet
across. Its very numerous leaves, which are confined to the
lower part of the stem, are about an inch long, rounded and
succulent. The leafless upper portion of the stem, or the
peduncle, is from six to ten inches long, bearinga solitary rather
small head of rayless yellow flowers.

Forms are constantly changing. But it would be interesting
to know how the species of a genus, and the genera of an
order, have come to differ so widely. We can readily see that
an annual plant, removing to a more arid and hotter country,
would soon learn that a development of wood-tissue in its
roots and stem was almost a necessity to its changed condi-
tion of life. We can understand how Thallophytes, how even
coast forms of inland species, thicken their leaves and stems
under the influence of the salt-laden breezes of ocean. We
would like to know how Varilla came to differentiate so widely
from Helianthus, from Pterocaulon, Perezia, Arctium, and
from Bellis. How the original typical composite itself, with its
wonderful sporting powers, came into existence, from some
antecedent, more general form. By what lapses of time,
changes in conditions of climates and soils, and by what pro-
cess of hybridizing, and crossing and bud variation, it has been
enabled to outstrip all its competitors in the struggle for su-
premacy in tlie vegetable kingdom, and to become by far the
most numerous, progressive and highly specialized family of
plants.

A little way east of Laredo I found what is probably Perezia
nana, though its pappus is tawny. Notwithstanding the
drought at Laredo, one of the most disastrous on record, yet I
found many plants in blossom and literally wasting their fra-
grance on the desert air. Thousands of Chilopsis saligna were
displaying their handsome purple or white flowers on the bluffs
of the river, while its neighbor, Leucophyllum, usually a sum-
mer bloomer, was taking a rest. Flourensia was also in blos-
som, a species of Brickellia, and a little Pectis and two hand-
some species of Hoffmanseggia.

San Marcos.

E. N. Plank.

The Use of the Generic Name Halesia.

STEPHEN HALES (i 677-1 761) was a clergyman of Ted-
dington, England, and a pioneer in observations on
plant physiology. His Statical Essays, the first volume of
which treats of " Vegetable staticks, or an account of some
statickal experiments on the sap of vegetables," was pub-
lished in London in 1827. The work' passed through three

43 ^

Garden and Forest.

[Number 295.

editions, and is one of the most noteworthy philosophical
hooks of the time. It is not strange, then, that his name
was associated with plaiits. Two genera were named in
his honor. The first of these was proposed by Patrick
Browne {Civ. and Nia/. His/. Jamaica, p. 205, pi. 20, f. i.,
•755)- The second was named by John Ellis, and pub-
lished by Linnceus {Syst. .Va/., Ed. X., p. 1044; 1759), and
is the one which stands in recent writings for the beautiful
Silver-bell-trees of south-eastern North America.

Browne's Halesia is based on a West Indian tree now
referred to Guettarda, L., which genus was established by
Linnaeus in 1753 on a Javan species.

It will be seen that the publication of Halesia, Browne,
antedates that of Halesia, Ellis, by four years, and that the
latter is thus a homonyn. According to the principles of
nomenclature adopted by the botanists of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, the later
name cannot stand, whether the earlier one does or does
not, and this being the case, I take advantage of the cir-
cumstances and opportunity to dedicate this beautiful genus
to Dr. Charles Mohr, of Mobile, Alabama, who is more
thoroughly conversant with our southern forests than any
one else of the present day, and who has contributed most
largely to our knowledge of the flora of his adopted state,
under the name Mohria.

The genus, so far as known, is purely North American,
and consists of three species. The Japanese and Chinese
trees of the genus Pterostyrax, Sieb. & Zucc. , were referred
to it by Bentham and Hooker, but the validity of this genus
is maintained by Asa Gray and by Franchet and Savatier,
and an examination of two of the Asiatic species has con-
vinced me that this position is the more satisfactory.

The species will stand as follows :

1. Mohria Carolina (L. )

Halesia Carolina, L., Sysl. Nat., Ed. 10, 1044 (1759).
Halesia tetraptera, L., Sp. PL, Ed. 2, 636 (1762).

2. Mohria diptera (L.)

Halesia diptera, L., Sp. PI., Ed. 2, 636 (1762).

3. Mohria parviflora (Michx.)

Halesia parviflora, Michx., Fl. Bor. Amer.,2, 40 (1803).

Columbia College. New York. ^ /;_ Britlon.

The Water-garden at Clifton, New Jersey.

LAST year Garden and Forest contained an illustration
__j of Mr. S. C. Nash's water-garden at Clifton, New Jersey,
and the accompanying article explained how an unkempt
swamp had been converted into a scene of beauty. This
season the special improvement has been the addition of a
new tank, especially adapted to the cultivation of the Vic-
toria regia, which plant has a special fascination for Mr.
Nash. The old tank, being formed of sheet piling, was not
sufficiently water-tight, and under some conditions the
plants could not be sufficiently controlled.

A new tank was built early this year on one of the l>anks
of the swamp. This tank is about two feet deep, and the
bottom and its sloping inner sides are covered with eight
inches of cement concrete. In suitable places there are
fourdeeper depressions, eight feet square, formed especially
for the Victorias. The tank is irregular in outline, one hun-
dred feet long and fifty feet wide in its greatest dimensions.
Its edges are, for the most part, concealed by plantings of
Sedges, Ferns and broad-leaved ]>lants, growing often
among boulders agreeably disposed.

The plantings were made early this year, and they quickly
became a charming foil to the Nymphaeas. The narrowest
part of the tank is spanned by a neat rustic bridge, which
will ultimately be masked by vines. The whole effect,
with the wonderful leaves and flowers of the Victoria regia,
contrasting with the bright tropical Nymphaeas and various
aquatic plants mirrored in the clear pool 'and bordered by
the careless profusion of attractive sub-aquatics and other
suitable plants, are most picturesque. The glory of the

tanks has been the four specimens of Victoria regia in
vigorous health, one of which is represented in the illus-
tration (p. 435)-

This plant is justly considered one of the most interest-
ing wonders of plant-life. It was first described by the
botanist Schomburgk, who discovered it in British Guiana
in 1838. It was first flowered at Chatsworth in 1849, from
seeds gathered on the Amazon, among whose shallow
affluents the plant seems well distributed. There are two
forms in cultivation, Mr. Rand having found a variety with
whiter flowers and less robust than the type. Besides being
a wonder, the Victoria regia is somewhat of a luxury, as it
is an expensive plant to grow, either under glass or in the
open. It has been flowered successfully south of this in the
open, without artificial heat, but under such conditions suc-
cess is by no means a matter of certainty, except, possibly,
in the lower southern states, as it is an essential condition
of success that the temperature of the water in which the
plants are growing should be kept at a minimum of eighty
degrees. Mr. Nash's tank is furnished with two-inch pipes
connected with a greenhouse heater, occupying a small
house at a lower level. By the aid of the hot-water flow from
this the tank can be maintained at the desired temperature
in all conditions of summer temperature. Seeds of the
Victoria, which are always kept under water and warm, are
sown in a greenhouse in March or April and the plants
transferred to their permanent quarters in May, at which
time their special pits are covered with a glazed frame,
which is maintained till the weather becomes genial in
June. The first leaves which appear lie flat on the water
and remain so till they decay. As the plant gains in vigor
the leaves begin to show at first a mere suggestion of rims,
while the next ones are likely to show a square edge half
an inch or so high. As the plant gains its full maturity,
perfect rims are unfolded six to eight inches high and com-
pletely encircling the leaf. The illustration shows an un-
folding strong leaf about two days above water. This is
an uncanny object, bristling with spines, clearly showing
its prominent ribs, and dark reddish brown in color. The
mature leaf is light green above and has a surprisingly
graceful effect as it floats on the water. It is rather thin in
texture, the strength to uphold a burden of sixty or seventy
pounds being given by a network of numerous girder-like
hollow veins which cover the under surface and extend in
diminished size up the rim, where a touch of red blends
with the green to add to the attractiveness of the leaf. A
tank-like leaf, such as this, would be quickly filled by a
heavy shower if it were as close as it seems, but it is fur-
nished with numerous small ducts, through which the
water escapes from the surface as fast as it falls.

The flowers of the Victoria would seem more of a marvel
were they not so overshadowed in size by the six-foot leaves.
They are usually afoot or more in diameter, with numerous
strap-shaped petals, which are pure white as they open
first in the late afternoon. They close the next morning,
and open again in the afternoon with a rosy hue, which
gradually deepens into purple, with which theirglory departs.
Strong plants show new flowers at intervals of from three
to five days. The seed is freely produced in an ovary
protected on the outside by stiff cruel spines and a cap of
gizzard-like texture. In early September the tank also con-
tained a good specimen of Euryale ferox, which ranks only
second to Victoria regia in size. The large leaves have a
firmer texture, and are profusely veined, but without rims.
All the tropical Nympha-as, of course, grow into fine speci-
mens, in this tank there being large plants of N. Sturle-
vantii and of varieties of N. Zanzibarensis. Even the hardy
•Water-lilies, at the time of my visit, did not seem averse
to a little extra heat, and pieces of N. Laydekeri, N. sul-
furea and N. Mexicana were in fine condition, while Ne-
lumbium speciosum was .showing the thriftiness usual to
it in any position. The main garden was in its usual
flourishing state, the weeds having been quite mastered,
and the aquatic plants making large masses.

Eii^abeih.N.j. J.N.Gerard.

October iS, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

435

Cultural Department.

Cauliflower for Winter-forcino^.

COMPARATIVELY little has been written about forc-
ing vegetables in this country, and since the Cauli-
flower is not grown to any extent under glass, except in
private establishments, this vegetable has been specially
neglected, although it can undoubtedly be forced with
profit. We are glad, therefore, that a late bulletin of the
Cornell Experiment Station gives an account, both of suc-
cess and failure, with this vegetable during three years of
practice. The following are the chief points recorded in
the bulletin :

In the winter of 1890-91 seeds were sown in fiats and the
seedlings transplanted into pots. They had reached a height

two-third span facing the south, sixty feet long by twenty wide.
The house is on a hill-side and it has three benches, the two
lower ones being used for the CauliHower. The one against
the south wall has a board l)ottom underneatli eight inches of
soil and is supplied witii mild bottom-heat from two one-and-
one quarter-inch steam pipes. The central bench, seven feet
wide, has a solid ground bed with no bottom-heat, its eight
inches of soil resting on natural subsoil of hard clay. This soil
is good garden loam, mixed with well-rotted manure in the
proportion of three or four to one. Sand is added to afford
good drainage and to prevent the somewhat pasty mass from
becommgsour. The plants which had bottom-heat did not
succeed. They were later and smaller than those in the middle
bed. and so few good heads were formed that they did not pay
for the labor expended upon them. The seeds of three varie-
ties were sown on August 24th, and having been once trans-
planted were set in the beds on the 4th of October, aboutsixteen

I iK- 65. — Victoria i-egia in Clifton, New Jersey. — See page 431.

of ten inches when they were set in eight-inch pots, which
were placed on the ground in a cool-house where the temper-
ature often went below forty degrees. Although the Cauli-
flower likes a low temperature, the plants soon suffered, evi-
detitly on account of the cold and wet weather. Removal to
an intermediate temperature started growth again and small
heads began to form again before the plants had reached a
proper size. The heads, however, split or " buttoned," being
ruptured by the sudden stiinulus of a new growth after the
plants had been checked.

The next winter plants were kept in a uniform condition of
vigor throughout their lifetime and the attempt was success-
ful, but they were grown in six-inch pots and the plan proved
too expensive. Last winter Cauliflower was grown in a low

inches apart each way. The plants were given water as it was
needed and the ground was frequently stirred. Abundant air
was given from ventilators, even in sharp weather if the sun
was bright, and from sixty to seventy degrees, Fahrenheit, in
the day-time and about fifty at night were considered the
proper temperature, although on bright days the mercury reg-
istered eighty degrees occasionally for a short time and the
night temperature dropped occasionally below forty. The
fresh air and precautions against overwatering seemed to
check a tendency of the plants to damp off, which appeared
when they were set out, and thefew vacancies were filled with
new ones. The aphis was kept in check by tobacco-smoke,
and the cabbage-worms, which were first noticed late in No-
vember, had to be carefully picked off for a couple of weeks.

436

Garden and Forest.

[Number 295.

The boxes of young plants stood out-of-doors during Septem-
ber, and it was probable that the eggs were laid upon the
plants at that time. Heads began to form early in December,
and on the 13th of January, four and a half months from the
seed, the first ones were ready to sell. Tlie Erfurt was earliest,
and as the house was needed for other experiments the plants
were removed on the 20th of January. At this time nearly
three-fourtfis of the crop had matured sufficiently to give mar-
ketable heads, although many of them were small. Like all
forced crops, winter cauliflower should be sold when small,
for products of medium size or smaller will sell for quite as
much as large ones in winter, and the cost of raising them is
less.

Heads four inches across sold in January at the door for
twenty cents each. On the 25th of January a second crop of
early Snowball and Dwarf Erfurt plants was set in the beds
from seed sown on the 21st of October. On the 20th of March
heads were formed on early Snowball, and a week later some
plants had heads three to four inches in diameter, while the
Erfurt plants showed none. The first heads sold on the 29th
of March, five and one-third months from the date of sowing,
a little longer interval than in the case of the first crop, because
the later plants were grown in the dark, short days of midwinter.
The climate of Ithaca, too, is excessively cloudy, and the forc-
ing of plants presents special difficulties there. Owing to dark
weather, and, perhaps, to mismanagement, many of the heads
in the first crop had begun to button or break into irregular
portions, with a tendency to go to seed when the plants were
removed. An attempt was now made to keep them at a uni-
form, but not an exuberant growth, to prevent this trouble.
The crop held well till the first of May, when the experiment
closed and there were many merchantable heads still left.
Ninety per cent, of the plants made good heads, which is a
large proportion for even the best field-culture. They were
allowed to attain a size of six inches, which is larger than the
midwinter crop. It is rarely necessary to bleach the head of
a Snowball cauliflower, although late in April it may be neces-
sary to break a leaf down over the head now and then to pro-
tect it from too hot sun, but generally they will be perfectly
white under glass when full-grown. The plants were grown
under a single-thick, third-quality glass, and the heads were as
sweet and tender as the very best field product. Altogether,
no crop grown under glass at the station, of vegetables or
flowers, was so satisfactory or attracted so much attention as
these crops of cauliflower.

As to varieties, there is little choice between the Erfurt and
Snowball strains. In the most successful crop the Snowball
was earlier, but otherwise it had little, if any, superiority. The
attempt to grow Lettuce between the Cauliflowers was unsuc-
cessful, but the two borders of the beds give good crops of
Chinese mustard, which makes delicious greens in winter.

The sum of the matter seems to be about this : Cauliflowers
can be grown easily as a winter crop if they are kept in vigor-
ous and uniform growth. They need a rich soil, with careful
attention to watering, cultivation and ventilation, and a cool
temperature like that employed for Lettuce. They need no
bottom-heat. They should be set in beds when from six weeks
to three months old, according to the season, and heads will
be fit for market in from four to five months. The heads re-
quire no bleaching, and are ready for sale when from four to
six inches in diameter.

Mushrooms.

THERE are few gardens containing special arrangements
for the culture of Mushrooms, as caves and houses
specially built for this purpose are not often seen. But
places that are suitable for the production of a crop without
any expenditure, except for the material and labor, are quite
common in almost every garden where the greenhouses are
built on the modern plan with benches or stages in the inte-
rior. We have a house wherein are two centre benches of
Chrysanthemums ; the benches are about three feet from the
ground, and under these is the natural soil or gravel floor. By
placing hemlock-boards on edge against the legs of the benches
we have at once as good a Mushroom-bed as can be desired,
and hitherto have not failed of a crop. One cart-load of
manure is available a week, and this is spread out-of-doors
to dry, and is turned over every day once or twice. At night
it is heaped up and shutters are placed over it in case of rain,
and in a week it is dry enough to make into beds indoors. I
like to have it so dry that the hands are not soiled by contact,
and that it does not contain moisture enough to cause it to
stick to the bricks used to make the beds firm. The old-time

plan of mixing loam with the manure is a good one, especially
if a heap of perfectly dry loam is prepared and covered up
during summer. The loam will then act first as an absorbent
of ammonia, and, besides this, as a regulator of the heat of the
newly made beds, for whenever a bed heats violently — say,
over 100 degrees, Fahrenheit — the heat is rarely sustained as
long as desirable to promote a healthy spreading of the myce-
lium, or spawn, through the bed, without which there cannot,
of course, be any success. As soon as it is certain that the
heat will not be violent we plant the spawn and cover with
loam when the heat is on the decline, and if the temperature
of the bed is still decreasing about six inches of hay is put on
as a covering. This brings the heat up again through the
spawn to the surface of the bed. Our first-made beds stand
now at eighty-five degrees, and will not vary more than five
degrees until the crop appears.

After the first crop is gatliered a good soaking of manure-
water is applied — that from the cow-barn is best — and we get a
second and sometimes a third crop from the beds before the
warm days of spring make it too hot a place for success.
It should be stated that the minimum temperature of the house
is fifty degrees, and fire-heat is rarely used until the Chrysan-
themum-buds begin to show color ; after these are past, Violets
are grown in the same benches with hybrid Roses, for spring
flowering, the side tables being occupied with Pinks perma-
nently.

I fear we are too liable to blame the spawn for lack of suc-
cess, for there are many other causes of failure, only to be
found out by careful watching. Scarcely any two growers agree
in the minutia; of their practice, and there certainly seems to
be no royal road to assured success. Each season we
gather a quantity of the very best Mushrooms from a bench
containing Mignonette. We have gathered there already and
shall continue to do so, more or less, all winter. The soil in
the benches is twelve inches deep and is made very rich ; the
material from an old bed is mixed in at the time of putting in
the soil, the last week in July, and manure-water is used just
as soon as the Mignonette is ready to cut. This season we
have spawned a portion of the Mignonette-bed to see how this
will result. The cool, moist bed of soil in which the Mignon-
ette grows seems just suited to the development of the best
Mushrooms, -but it must be remembered that the spawn runs
during the period of warm weather, when the bed is not kept
so moist as it is later, when the Mignonette requires frequent
watering.

South l.ancasler, Mass. E- O. Orpet.

Noteworthy Late-flowering Shrubs.

GOOD late autumn-flowering shrubs, hardy enough to live
out-of-doors in winter, are few and much to be desired in
northern gardens. In fact, those generally known, and which
normally produce their bloom in October, exceed hardly a half-
dozen in number. There are, however, a considerable num-
ber of species which, while they properly blossom much
earlier in the season, persist in producing flowers on new
growths of wood, until finally checked by frosts.

Among the true autumn-flowering woody plants there are
none so common in many parts of our country, and yet gen-
erally so little known and appreciated, as our native Witch-
hazel, Hamamelis Virginiana. Different plants, even in the
same locality, vary greatly in the time of flowering, so that the
little clusters of buds may be found opening and the narrow,
long, pale yellow petals expanding during September and Oc-
tober, and well into the month of November, if the season is
favorable in this latitude. There is considerable variation
among tlip'se plants, in the size and abundance of bloom as
well as in the time of flowering, and some particularly fine or
free-blooming forms might be profitably selected for cultiva-
tion and propagation. The Witch-hazel will grow well in any
ordinary soil and does not require unusual moisture, as is
commonly supposed. It is of a rather straggling habit of
growth, and wliere it abounds naturally it may, therefore, be
enjoyed in its native haunts ; but where it is less common it
is interesting enough to have a corner in the garden. In
autumn the foliage gradually fades from green to a pale yel-
low color.

Alders usually blossom in early spring, but the sea-side
Alder, AInus maritima, is an exception to this rule, as it pro-
duces its slender male catkins in the autumn, or in the latter
part of September, in this latitude. It is a rather rare plant,
and does not possess any particular value for cultivation, ex-
cept for its unusual time of (lowering.

Though by no means what is called a hardy plant, an ex-
ceedingly interesting and beautiful one throughout the

October i8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

437

autumn, is the little southern tree known as the Franklinia,
Gordonia Altamaha, also found in trade catalogues under the
name of Gordonia pubescens. At Philadelphia or Washington
the climate allows this plant to attain to the stature of a small
tree ; but at the Arboretum, after growing in its present posi-
tion for about eight years, it is a several-stemmed shrub eight
or ten feet high. Moreover, it is necessary every autumn here
to bend its stems over, to as near the ground as possible, and
protect them from the rigors of winter with leaves, soil or
other protecting material. After pegging the branches down,
tlie best protection is afforded by putting dry leaves over and
among them, and then covering the whole with soil thrown up
in the form of a little mound, so as to shed the rains. It might
pass the winters without such protection if planted in the shel-
ter of some warm walls. In any case, it is well worth any ex-
tra care bestowed upon it. The large, dark, evergreen-look-
ing foliage is always handsome, but it is the large, globu-
lar or pear-shaped buds and blossoms which are the re-
ward of the painstaking cultivator. These are pure white,
and composed of five broad incurved petals, surrounding and
enclosing a great numberof yellow stamensandanthers. They
never open very widely, like a rose, but at full bloom maintain
a seemingly half-expanded position. The odor is delicate and
sweet and suggestive of tea, and, indeed, this Gordonia, or
Franklinia, is about the nearest American representative we
have of the Tea-plant of the Orient. The blossoms begin to
open in September, and are continuously produced, a few at a
time, until the growing, unripe twigs and buds are destroyed
by frosts.

Although this is a distinctly American plant, having been
found near Fort Harrington, on the Altamaha River, in Georgia,
in the last century, it is not now known anywhere in a wild
state, and the plants in cultivation are the descendants of those
collected by early botanical explorers in the south. It may be
propagated readily by layers or cuttings. In common with the
Witch-hazel, the Franklinia has the unusual habit of not ma-
turing its fruit until the next autumn, whenit isagainin bloom.

Although it is long since Caryopteris Mastacanthus was first
introduced into cultivation, this beautiful little plant is rarely
found in gardens. It is a smooth, branchy little shrub, having
much the habit of a Ceanothus or Callicarpa, to which latter
family it is allied. C. Mastacanthus does not appear to be truly
hardy in this latitude, although it has not been fairly tested out-
of-doors with a proper winter covering. But it blossoms so
late and so profusely, and is altogether so attractive, that it is
well worth the trouble to lift it in autumn and place it in a pit
or cold frame, and to replant it again in the spring. There are
dry, sunny, sheltered spots even about Boston where it might
possibly live and thrive without removal in winter. The flow-
ers, which are individually small, are borne in close corymb or
umbel-like clusters in the axils of the opposite leaves and on
all the branches. Blossoming begins in September, and as the
twigs continue to grow, new flower buds are produced with
each new pair of leaves, until further growth is checked by
cold weather and frosts. The blossoms are of a rich violet or
lavender-blue color, and have a slight aromatic fragrance.
The foliage, green above, is soft, downy and hoary white be-
neath, and when bruised it gives outa very powerful, pungent,
aromatic odor strongly suggestive of some plants of the Mint
family, although this plant is generally classed in the Verbena
family. It may be readily propagated by cuttings.

Jamaica Plain, Mass. 7- G- Jo.ck.

Notes from a Northern Garden.

Zephvranthes concolor, a Mexican species, which flowers
in July, is a shy bloomer here. Out of over a hundred ap-
parently strong, healthy bulbs only two flowered. It is a pity
if this is its general habit, for it is one of the most beautiful
species. The flower is of good size — an inch and a half wide —
of a delicate creamy yellow, shaded with green outside. Its
numerous leaves are a foot or more in length by half an inch
wide, slightly glaucous and nearly erect.

CEnothera Missouriensis, now in flower from seed sown
last May, is an attractive and free-blooming species with light
lemon-yellow flowers, quite conspicuous. The plant is low in
habit, about six inches high, and the flowers, not rarely four or
five inches wide, on stems about six inches in length. It likes
full sunlight, a sandy or gravelly soil and good drainage.

Lepachys columnaris has been in flower for more than a
month from seed sown in May. It is a desirable plant. The
typical species, with plain yellow rays, is pretty enough, but the
variety Pulcherrima is by far the most striking. It grows
about two feethigh.branchingfromthebottom. Thecolumnar
disk is often over an inch in length by half as thick at the base.-

The large droopin^f rays, five in number, are from one to one
and a half inches in length and nearly as wide. The inner
portion of each ray is brown-purple, with a yellow space out-
side. The flowers are very durable and the stems of good
length for cutting. t- u u

Charlotte, Vt. i"- "• ■"•

Roses.

THE outdoor Rose season is now almost at an end, except-
ing in some favored localities where the plants have been
protected from the early frost. Prominent among the varie-
ties that have added to their established reputation is the old
favorite, La France, which is decidedly one of the best sum-
mer Roses we have, either under glass or outdoors. While it
sometimes loses a portion of its wood during severe winters,
even in the latitude of Philadelphia, yet it is usually satisfac-
tory, and I have seen good flowers on La France outdoors
within two weeks (October 9th), and on plants that have been
flowering freely through nearly the whole season.

Marie Guillot is another well-known sort that gives satisfac-
tion in this locality, its firm and full flowers being admirable
for cutting, and it is also a continuous bloomer. Papa Gontier
also does well, making stronggrowth with peculiarly attractive
foliage and very highly colored buds outdoors in the full sun-
shine. But this Rose, having but few petals, is necessarily
best in the bud state, and should be cut early in the morning
before the flowers expand too much.

Hermosa is another general favorite in this locality, for al-
though its blooms are not large, the color is pleasing, and it
probably deserves thedesignation of ever-blooming more than
many other varieties to which it has been applied. That pretty
little Polyantha, Clothilde Soupert, is about the best of its class
at present. It shows much power to withstand drought and
other disadvantages, and can scarcely be found without flow-
ers. 1 have noted this variety during the past summer, both
in this locality and also in the parks and gardens of Chicago
and St. Louis, and while the latter cities are both quite trying
to outdoor Roses, it comes through hardships in better condi-
tion than most otlier varieties, and gives a good effect when
massed in a bed.

Dinsmore is also a good bedding Rose, free in growth and
bearing abundant flowers of very bright color. Marie Van
Houtte should not be omitted in the lisf of outdoor Roses, as
it is one of the finest Teas for this purpose, giving an abun-
dance of good-sized flowers all through the season, the yellow-
ish white of its flowers being pleasantly relieved by the pink
tinting of the outer petals. Perle des Jardins endured a tem-
perature of twelve degrees below zero here last winter, and
though somewhat crippled by the loss of a considerable por-
tion of its wood, it recovered sufficiently to produce a few
fairly good flowers during the summer. It is quite probable,
however, that this variety would be entirely winter-killed afew
degrees further north than this, and it cannot, therefore, be
safely recommended as a hardy Rose.

Among the hybrid Perpetuals, General Jacqueminot con-
tinues a favorite in this locality, being of such an excellent
constitution that a crop of flowers can generally be depended
on, and frequently another, though lighter, crop in the fall.
Paul Meyron is another reliable sort, and though its very large
flowers are not so gracefully formed as those of some other
varieties, yet their color is pleasing, and they add much to the
beauty of the garden. Mrs. John Laing and Mademoiselle
Gabrielle Luizet are as satisfactory for outdoor use in most lo-
calities as they are for indoor forcing, thus proving their gen-
eral value, and Ulrich Brunner and John Hopper arealso first-
class sorts for the garden, the latter being less common than
it merits of late years.

Holmesburg, Pa,

W. H. Taplin.

The Vegetable-garden.

H

■ ARD frost may be expected now, and with it will come the

■ work of cleaning up the vegetable-garden of the plants of
Tomatoes, Beans, Corn and other tender vegetables. Root
crops and vegetables generally of the Brassica family will
stand much longer, often making the best part of their growth
during the cool autumn. Raspberry-canes out of bearing may
be cut away, and enough of this year's canes selected for next
season. Although some varieties, notably the Cuthbert and
almost all the black-fruited sorts, will generally endure the
winter unprotected, they are occasionally injured, and it is
safer to lay them down and give them some protecfion.

Batches of Lettuce and Endive may be stored in frames
where they can be protected with sashes, an abundance of
sunlight and air being given them on every fine day. With

438

Garden and Forest.

[N'jMuer 295.

care these can be kept well through the winter. What is not
wanted until spring may be allowed to freeze, and then be
covered with a few inches of leaves. If brought to the light
and air gradually, and thawed out slowly, they will appear as
fresh as when closed in. Batavian Endive should be packed
quite closely in the frames, so as to bleach well, and it is cus-
tomary to tie up a few heads for early use. Cauliflowers not
yet headed will close in nicely if taken up carefully and stored
in sand in a light pit, and will keep well through the winter.
From a lot of the Autumn Giant variety wecut some fine heads
last February. Brussels Sprouts, Scotch Kale and Cabbages
of all kinds come up fresh and clean if stored in this way,
which is much better than earthing them up out-of-doors. We
keep Celery in the same way, except that the stalks are put in
close rows, care being taken to get all of the roots and to take
off all useless leaves, and a layer of sand is used between each
row for bleaching, and well up to the leaves. Turnips, Car-
rots, Beets, Salsify, Parsnips and Leeks — in fact, all root crops —
are buried in moist sand, where they can be conveniently got
at, and these come out fresh and crisp.

Constant surface cultivation is the ruin of old gardens. Rou-
tine should include the trenching of a part of the garden every
autumn, the whole of it being treated in this way in four or
five years. When practicable, sections of the garden should
be given a rest by sowing and plowing in a crop of Clo-
ver. Worn-out ground may also be renewed with lime and
salt, alternately, and there is no better time than this for put-
ting it on. T r, u ./T !j

Wellcsley, Mass. -' • iJ- Hatfield.

Correspondence.
The Winter Care of Water-lilies.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In your issue of September 27th, Mr. Tricker alludes
to his method of wintering Water-lilies. Perhaps he would
be kind enough to give the details of his practice.

Madison, N.J. /.

[In the first place, one not familiar with the different va-
rieties should carefully identify those in his possession, and
should know whether they are hardy or tender. This can
generally be ascertained by referring to a descriptive cata-
logue of aquatics. At this season the tender varieties call
for our immediate attention. Such plants as are grown in
tubs can readily be taken from the tanks or basins and
placed in a greenhouse ; the largest leaves that cannot be
placed on the surface of the tub may be cut off; the tubs
should be set where they will receive a fair amount of
light, and should be kept filled with water. There should
be no haste in drying off the plants, since the decreasing
light and temperature will allow the plants to rest naturally.
Such varieties as Nymphaea Devoniensis, N. dentata and
others of the Lotus type will form tubers around the old
root as the plant dies off, which should be carefully looked
after and put into pots of sand or moss, and kept moist
and in a moderate temperature. The tubs can be emptied
and stored away. These tubers will keep sound and good
until April, when if planted, covered with water and sub-
jected to a higher temperature, they will make strong plants
to put out again the following June. The case is not the
same with Nymphsea Zanzibarensis or with the Stellata type.
These do not form side tubers as the Lotus varieties do, and
if theplants have grown large and strong, and have flowered
freely during the past summer, the greater will he the risk
and difficulty in keeping them over. Under the same condi-
tions as the Lotus varieties they retain their foliage a much
longer period, provided they have not received a chill or
violent check ; otherwise they will rot. These should be
kept in tubs filled up with water as long as they retain live
green foliage. If new leaves appear you will doubtless
find, as the season advances, that the plants will show
signs of active growth and give assurance that they will
live on and take their places again another summer.
Plants grown in large pots or boxes can more readily be
taken and placed in tubs or half-barrels of water, and kept
under the same condition as above mentioned.

The hardy varieties if planted out will be best left alone,
provided there is sufficient water above the crowns of the

plants, so that frost cannot reach them. Where the native
Nymphttas will grow, other so-called hardy varieties will
survive under the same conditions. In shallow tanks, where
there is danger of the masonry being broken by the frost,
this should be covered with branches, leaves or salt-hay
after cold weather sets in. This is preferable to taking the
tubs out and storing in a cool cellar or other building, for,
keep the plants as cool as we may, it is very difficult to
hold them back in the spring, and by the time the tank is
ready to receive them the plants will have made con-
siderable growth, which is very apt to get cut off, and give
them some check. This will not happen to plants left
out all winter in the tank. Where the winters are not
severe, and not more than twelve to fifteen inches of ice
are formed, it is not necessary to cover tanks all over if they
are more than twelve feet in diameter. Branches of trees
and salt-hay on the rim are sufficient to save the masonry,
which is all that is necessary. Plants grown in tubs, and
not submerged during the summer season, must of neces-
sity be wintered in cellars or other buildings. A good cov-
ering of sphagnum-moss will help to keep the plants in a
uniform condition and retard growth in spring. — W. T.]

Mildews as Influenced by Climate and Variety.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — One of the vital questions connected with Grape-cul-
ture in North America is how to control its diseases. Destruc-
tive fungi prevail everywhere, but some of them are more
abundant on the Atlantic coast than in the north-west. Thus,
black-rot, Laestedia Bidwellii, is much more abundant from
New York to Virginia than it is in the states of Iowa, Minne-
sota and Illinois. In the west we are especially troubled with
downy mildew, Plasmopara viticola, and powdery mildew,
Uncinula necator.

I have carefully watched these diseases since 1889 in central
Iowa, and am prepared to say that climatic coi.ditions bear
a very important relation to these mildews. We had some ex-
ceptional weather during the seasons of 1892 and 1893. The
seasons of 1889, 1890 and 1891 were exceplionally dry. The pre-
cipitation occurred at intervals during the entire summer, but
the rainfall was not abundant. During the present season and
in 1892 we had not only frequent rains, but the precipitation was
large during the months of May, June and part of July. We
had scarcely any rain in August and September. So far as the
mildews are concerned, the month of September may be left
out of account, as the leaves are so far advanced and the
grapes so nearly mature that the fungus can do little injury.

We observed little injury from downy mildew during the
comparatively dry years. In fact, the fungus appeared more
commonly during the month of August. When not abundant
it hastens the maturity of the leaves, as they are very numer-
ous on cultivated forms of Vitis labruscae and V. riparia. The
case, however, is very different in years like the present. The
numerous rains in June and July brought on an abundance of
mildew. So common has it been this year that varieties like the
Concord and Worden, which, as a rule, are not affected se-
verely here, were much injured. This was especially notice-
able in places where the vines were in low grounds. I know
of one vineyard, partly on low ground, and the leaves here
were more badly mildewed than they were on the upland
vines. Looking over a large number of varieties of culti-
vated Grapes on the College-grounds, I find that the follow-
ing varieties have suffered severely from this disease : Jessica,
Carlotta, Beauty, Noah, Missouri Riseling. The leaves had
fallen by the ist of September, and two-thirds of the grapes
were dried and shriveled. As a result none of these grapes
have ripened properly. It is especially worthy of note that at
no time since 1889 have the Rogers hybrids been severely af-
fected with this mildew. I have not seen a leaf affected this
year, when Concord-vines near by were badly diseased. From
my observations I am inclined to believe that, for their great-
est development, the Peronosporeae require considerable
moisture.

With the powdery mildews moisture is not so important. It
is rarely common to find them 011 grape well developed before
August, and the powdery mildews in general are not la such
profusion early in the season as later. We always get them in
abundance for class-work in August. The powdery mildew of
the grape is abundant on the Rogers hybrids, like Agawam
and Salem. On these varieties it develops soinewhat earlier

October i8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

439

than on the Concord and Worden. The cultivated forms of
Vitis riparia are quite free from this mildew. The Worden
and Concord both show it in considerable quantity every year,
but, as a rule, it is not so general over the vineyard.

Iowa Agricultural College, Ames. Z.. H, Pdtnmel.

Tecoma Mackenii.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I note Mr. W. Watson's remarks in a recent number of
Garden and Forest regarding the flowering of Tecoma Mac-
kenii at Kew, and perhaps our experience with this plant in
southern California may not be without interest. It was in-
troduced here about five years ago, but was little known until
recently, and even now it is not common by any means ; with
us it requires a great deal of room, and the hottest and sunniest
position possible, otherwise it appears to be a shy bloomer. I
know it in some gardens where it is slightly shaded by trees,
and yet after three years' growth, with rambling branches fif-
teen feet long, it still fails to flower. Against sidings, or on
the tops of arbors where the refracted heat in summer is al-
most intolerable, it flowers freely enough in midsummer, and
is certainly a beautiful and desirable plant.

Los Angeles, Calif. J , C. Harvey.

Recent Publications.

The Protection of Woodlands Against Dangers Resulting
from Organic and Inorganic Causes. By Hermann Fiirst.
New York : Wm. R. Jenkins.

This book is a translation by Dr. John Nesbit, of the In-
dian Forest Service, of a work written by Dr. Hermann
Furst, director of a Bavarian forest-institute. Its title
shows the scope of the book, which embraces a most
essential part of forestry, and it is well worth the study of
American readers, although, from the nature of things, the
dangers which threaten the forests in this country are many
of them quite different from those which need to be guarded
against in Europe. The book was translated primarily for
the readers in Great Britain ; but, although American forest-
owners are not likely to take the precautions here suggested
against injuries by frost or damage by heat, it is, neverthe-
less, instructive for any one to read how such dangers are
regarded, and how they are met in the countries where
wood is valuable and where forest-property is looked upon
as a permanent investment, and where there has grown up
under these conditions a systematic forest-practice. The
chapter on Forest Weeds, a term made to include herba-
ceous orshrubby plants which may become noxious by over-
topping and interfering with the growth of young trees,
contains much instruction that can be adapted to our own
latitude, and in a general way the elaborate account of the
fungal parasites which grow on or in trees and endanger
their health can be made immediately useful, although the
parasitic plants here differ widely from those in the Old
World. Most interesting is the chapter on animals which
are injurious to forests. It will require some severe school-
ing before our people will take note of the damage inflicted
upon standing timber by small rodents like mice and squir-
rels, or, indeed, by animals of the chase like the deer and
rabbit. But our woods, both public and private, are every
day suffering from domestic animals which are turned out
in them to graze on grass and weeds and the fruits of the
trees. In Europe goats do the most injury, because they
prefer the leaves, buds and young shoots of woody plants
to grass weeds, even when this forage is more abun-
dant. The destruction of the forests in many of the moun-
tains of Tyrol, Switzerland, and Greece is attributable mainly
to the grazing of goats, which has made it impossible to
recover areas once cleared of forests. The destructive
habits of these animals have lately been noted by our corre-
spondent. Dr. Franceschi, who relates in Zoe how they are
destroying the vegetation on Guadeloupe Island, off the
coast of Lower California. Horses rank next to goats in
destructiveness, for, although they prefer to graze on sward
along wood-roads, they are yet fond of the young shoots
of saplings and their leaves, and they can strip these to a
considerable height. Young horses also love to gnaw
bark, while their weight and their iron-shod hoofs increase

their power to damage superficial roots by trampling.
Sheep are ranked third in destructiveness, and cattle,
a though they do less damage comparatively, accom-
plish much harm in the long run, for although they
decidedly prefer soil-grazing, and only attack fibrous
growth when there is a dearth of grass, still they
will browse on leaves and shoots when they are suc-
culent, bend down strong saplings under their chests to
get at the crown and injure trees by rubbing themselves
against them. Besides this, they loosen by their weight
and with their sharp feet the soil on slopes until it is easily
dislodged and washed away, and stamp down the earth
wherever they gather for the night.

The paragraphs relating to the injuries by birds, squirrels,
tree-mice and game will be relished by any one who has a
taste for natural history and is interested in the relation
between plants and animals. Nearly half the book is taken
up with descriptions of injurious insects and the remedies
used against them. Of course, the most destructive forest-
insects in Europe are not those which now give the most
trouble in this country, and yet the general discussion on
the life-history of various classes of insects, and of the
influences which favor their increase, of the improved
rnethods of general prevention and extermination, the
different forms of injury which are inflicted on timber-
crops and the proper way to treat such crops when' dam-
aged, all make instructive reading for forest-owners in any
country. While the book cannot be commended as a prac-
tical treatise in all details for American foresters, it is, never-
theless, a thorough and conscientious work, one that arouses
reflection, and is, therefore, worthy of careful reading by
all who are interested in forest-practice. We' quote a section
on frost-shakes, which is of popular interest and will give
an idea of the quality of the work :

In certain species of trees longitudinal fissures often appear
on the older steins as the effect of hard frost. Beginning near
the ground, these frost-shakes are sometimes only a yard or
two long, but often extend into the crown and penetrate from
the circumference sometimes to the very core of the stem.
Although they do not interfere with the vital energy or growth
of the tree, they decrease the value of the timber and some-
times afford a chance for the entrance of fungus spores into
the stem, which bring on disease. These fissures are caused
by the contraction of the wood which takes place during great
cold, much in the way that timber contracts as water is
withdrawn when it becomes seasoned. During severe cold
not only water in the elementary parts of the wood, but the
water in the cell-walls, freezes and at the same time this is
drawn into the interior of the cells, so that the substance of
the walls is diminished and contracts, the contraction being
greater tangentlally than radially, and greater on the outside
zones with their larger quantities of water than in tiie drier
heart-wood. Whenever this shrinkage exceeds a given limit a
sudden division of the woody tissue takes place in the direc-
tion of the medullary rays, and the formation of this frost-shake
is accompanied by a loud noise.* As soon as the thaw
follows the frost-shake the expansion begins, the fissure closes
and is overgrown by a new annual zone the next summer, but
it is usually opened again during the next winter even by a
moderate degree of cold. If several mild winters pass with-
out causing the fissure to re-open, the stem may assume the
external appearance of being healed and may remain perma-
nently closed. Along the edges of the cleft the formation of
the new annual zone is always somewhat thicker than on the
rest of the stem, and as these two cicatrized edges are close
together they gradually form ridges or frost-scars standing
about a hand-breadth from the normal outline of the stem.

Hardwoods with strongly developed medullary rays, like
Oak, Elm and Sweet Chestnut, are chiefly exposed to the
danger of forming frost-shakes, but they are formed less
frequently in the Beech, in the Willow, the Poplar, the Lime
and Conifers. They are usually found on the east and north-
east side of the stems, as the harder frosts only set in when the
wind comes from that direction. Preventive measures can
hardly be used to mitigate this evil, but the early utilization of
the trees with bad fissures is recommendable in view of their
liability to fungoid disease and consequent depreciation in value.

* A similar noise is heard in tlie Bamboo forests of Burmah, where the wood
splits in the hot months of March and April, on account of shrinkage from lieat,
and the halms burst with a report as loud as that from a pistol.

440

Garden and Forest

[Number 295.

Notes.

One of the best decorative displays of dried plants at the
World's Fair is a large lot of Algae, shown by Miss M. J. West-
fall, of Pacific Grove, California, in the scientific section of the
Woman's Building. Tiie seaweeds have been pressed on
Bristol-board in such shape as to afford striking ornamental
figures, while the value of the specimens for scientific study
still remains. The most novel part of the collection are
delicate brands of veiling fabric upon which the most fragile
colored Algse are permanently impressed, making a unique
material for house-decoration.

Among the earliest Chrysanthemums in market is the va-
rietv Yellow Queen, which is a seedling raised by Mr. I. Fors-
termann, of Newtown, Long Island. Miss Kate Brown, which
is also yellow, seems to be nearly as early. October Beauty
seems too abundant already, while Miss Minnie Wannamaker,
Domination, Gloriosum, Mrs. J. G. Whilldin and Mrs. J. N.
Gerard are among the varieties most often seen. The
Chrysanthemum season has fairly begun, as is testified by the
number of these flowers which are seen in the button-holes of
men on their way down-town to business.

At this season the persons who have taken pains to give the
late-flowering Helianthus Maximilliani an abundance of rich
food are enjoying a fine display of golden yellow flowers.
This plant is perfectly hardy, but it seems to run out if con-
fined to one place too long, and it should be moved to fresh
feedingquarters every few years. It is a rank grower and needs
abundant provender to make strong plants, standing from six
to ten feet high, with their long stems closely set with flowers.
Where tliere is room for large masses of these plants their
effect at this time is one of the most striking which can be pro-
duced in the hardy-plant garden.

Among the bright things noted by visitors in Cenral Park
just now are the New England Asters, which are flowering
abundantly along tlie paths, the Norway Maples wliich have
turned to anunu-suallyclearlemon-yellowcolor, the brightscar-
let of the Sumachs and Virginia Creeper, and the vivid crim-
son of the Japanese Ampelopsis on the rocks in Morningside
Park. The Sugar Maples, Nyssas, Liquidambers and many
other trees, whose foliage is usually bright at this season, are
late in turning this year, and although the colors of our forest-
trees in autumn are never as brilliant near the sea-coast as
they are further inland, our parks for a fortnight to come will
be conspicuously beautiful, especially as the grass is more
thick and green now than it has been at all this year.

A correspondent of the Gardeners' Chronicle gives some
notes on the cultivation of fruits not generally grown, which
will be of interest to American readers. Some two years ago
he obtained plants of the so-called Japanese Wine-berry, Rubus
Phoenicolasius, from Mr. J. L. Childs, of Queens, Long
Island, and these were planted in rich loamy soil. The second
year they gave an abundant crop and were absolutely free
from insects. The berries he finds as large as raspberries,
enclosed in a hairy calyx until nearly mature, and borne in
large clusters. The flavor of the berries is pronounced ex-
ceedingly agreeable and distinct from that of any other fruit
known to the writer, and they proved excellent, whether eaten
raw, cooked, or made into jam. The Dwarf June-berry was
another fruit which he had tried, and, so far as he could judge,
was well worth growing in England.

In some notes on Carnations, prepared by Mr. A. M. Herr
for the last number of the American Florist, after the
advantage of housing these plants as early as possible is ex-
plained, the chief point insisted on is that the greatest care
in syringing and watering should be exercised, now that
the days are shorter, the nights cooler, and the moisture
slower to evaporate. To illustrate the difference in suscepti-
bility to injury from overwatering, Mr. Herr cites Daybreak as
a variety which is attacked by spot very readily if it is watered
a little too much or a little too late in the day. wliile Lizzie
McGowan can be syringed at almost any time without ap-
parent bad effect. Plants which are set too deeply are liable
to attacks by a fungus and will die off to the ground. On the
important matter of ventilation, Mr. Herr states, that wliile it
is advisable to leave houses open where there are newly
planted Carnations, since they have been accustomed to cool
nights out-of-doors, and will start quicker if the temperature is
not raised too suddenly, they are, nevertheless, very suscepti-
ble to direct drafts, so that it is a good practice to tack up mus-
lin over the ventilators, even when they are kept open day
and night.

A Washington correspondent of the F/or/j/j'^'.rcAaw^* notes
that Sweet Peas were sown about the beginning of August in
the garden of the Agricultural Department in a border fully
exposed to the sun. Notwithstanding the heat and drought
the seed germinated well, and the plants have grown robust
and healthy, free from insects and mildew, and were thickly
covered with buds in early October, so that abundant bloom
will be secured if frost is delayed long enough. So far as this
experiment is decisive, it shows that it would not be difficult
to have Sweet Peas at Christmas-time by planting them in a
deep frame in late summer, covering them with sashes as
frost appears, and adding some fire-heat when cold weather
comes. There is so much difficulty in growing other kinds of
Peas for autumn use, and it is so well known that the earlier
Sweet Peas are planted in the spring the better will be their
summer bloom, that we can liardly hope that these plants will
flower freely out-of-doors in autumn, if, indeed, it is desirable
that they should do so. We might become wearied with even
so beautiful a flower as the Sweet Pea if it were common all
the year round.

Grapes continue abundant and in great variety. A good
quality of Concords sell at retail as low as twenty cents for a
ten-pound basket, and Delaware, Niagara and Catawba grapes
cost but little more. Flame Tokays from California are ten
cents a pound, choice lots, such as Humphreys and Ste-
phens, bringing fifteen cents a pound. Almeria grapes are
no less plentiful, and are offered on the sidewalk-stands for
ten to twenty-five cents a pound. According to the Fruit
Trade Journal, 96,700 barrels of this fruit have already reached
this port, or are on the way here, which only lacks 10,000 bar-
rels of the entire importation of last year, and there are yet six
weeks in which these grapes are shipped. Persons who wish
a still more expensive grape can be gratified by buying the hot-
house product, which now brings a dollar to a dollar and
twenty-five cents a pound, and Gros Colrnan, from England,
may be had at a dollar and a half a pound. A small supply of
Rome Beauty, the best apple which has yet come from Cali-
fornia, was quickly taken up by a few dealers, and retailed at
once for sixty cents to a dollar a dozen. The season of Cali-
fornia plums has about ended, but a few Kelseys are still com-
ing, and they are apparently larger, and certainly more attrac-
tive in appearance, than any seen here this season. They
retail for sixty cents a dozen. German prunes, from Roches-
ter, in small supply, bring two dollars for a ten-pound basket.
California nectarines are sixty cents a dozen. The best Florida
pineapples bring sixty cents apiece, forty cents being asked
for choice Havana fruit, inferior qualities selling slowly at poor
prices. The first Florida Navel oranges and selected grape-
fruit are each a dollar a dozen, Japanese persimmons, from
the same state, selling at sixty cents a dozen.

Writing in a recent number of Zoe of the " Native Habits
of Sequoia gigantea," with reference to the failure which
often attends attempts to cultivate this tree, Mr. Gustav Eisen
says: "Sequoia trunks and cones have been dug up out of
many wells on the plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin
valleys, indisputable proof that the tree in former ages ex-
tended to the plains. With the advent of a drier and warmer
climate the trees retreated to the hills, higher in the south,
lower in the north. At last they became isolated groves ;
finally, in some localities, isolated trees. Only in the southern
groves do we find an abundance of young trees ; in some of
the northern groves we search in vain for any seedlings. What
conclusion can we draw from this ? That the Sequoia gigan-
tea delights in rich and wet soil, in sheltered positions, and
that it occurs in groves. The folly of planting this tree in dry,
exposed places, singly or in rows, as is now done everywhere
in this state, as well as in other parts of the United States, and
in Europe, is therefore evident. Lately I passed an avenue of
Sequoias which were all dying out. The cause lay near at hand
— dry soil, no artificial irrigation, no rain for six months, hard
adobe soil, full exposure to winds, the trees planted in rows
or singly. If these trees had been set in groups of a hun-
dred on rich, moist land where irrigation can be resorted to in
the summer, they would have protected themselves and they
would have thrived." All the natural groves which now exist.
Mr. Eisen explains, "are protected from the north winds more
or less, and all face the south and west. All grow where
moisture is abundant, always around springs, creeks, ponds or
meadows, or at least in places where moisture never fails. The
further away from the water, the drier the soil, the smaller
and poorer are the trees. In many instances the largest trees
circle around a beautiful meadow, crowding each other where
space is available, or towering singly where there is only
ground enough for one."

October 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

441

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office ; Tribune Building. New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Article: — Farms and Forests of the Carolina Foot-hills 441

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— XXIII. (With figure.) C. S. S. 44?

The Pines in October Mrs. Mary Treat. 443

Foreign Correspondence ; — Notes from Cornwall Jf. IVatstm. 444

Cultural Department : — Dahlias y, N. Gerard. 445

New and Rare Plants at Baden-Baden Maj: LeichtUn. 446 '

Late Flowers on Woodv Plants J. G. Jack. 446

Notes from the Home Vineyard..... T.Grtiner. 447

Correspondence : — The Common Names of Wild Plants H. T. F. 448

Canada Thistles Robert Douglas. 448

Why Dahlias Fail to Bloom Charles Strachan. 448

The Columbian Exposition ; — The Greenhouse Exhibits, Brevities,

Professor L. H. Bailey, 448

Recent Publications 449

Notes 449

Illustration :— The Avenue of Cryptomerias at Nikko, Japan, Fig. 66 446

Farms and Forests on the Carolina Foot-hills.

A GREAT deal has been written about the changes
which have taken place in southern farms and m the
condition and prospects of southern farmers since the war,
but we have seen no more graphic picture of the foot-hill
country of the Carolinas and the new life on the old plan-
tations than that presented in a recent letter to The Nation,
by Mr. C. Meriwether. With the social changes there
depicted we have little to do, but discussion of the physical
conditions upon which the new society is based is alto-
gether within the field occupied by this journal. The
locality from which this letter was written, and which it de-
scribes, is the broad strip of hilly country which slopes grad-
ually tov/ard the Atlantic and connects the low sandy coast
levels with the Appalachian chain. The plantations in the
neighborhood from which Mr. Meriwether writes averaged
a thousand acres each before the war, and the same shift-
less agriculture which was practiced by the old planters
has been continued ever since. It is not a land of grass
like New England or Kentucky, although there is no doubt
that there are grasses and clovers which would turn the
uplands into good pastures for grazing, and the brook-bot.-
toms into meadows for hay. Cotton is the chief crop here,
and when anything else is raised it is another hoed crop
like corn, or potatoes, and there is never any sod to bind
the soil to the ground. Nothing, therefore, prevents the
rain from washing the light top-soil, with all its fertility,
down the slopes. Every furrow between the rows of cotton
or of corn, which were rarely planted across the line of the
slope, invite fresh seams in the fields every year, and every
rill which hurried to the rivers was laden with booty from
the hills. No attempt was ever made to check the gullying
force of the water which was forever robbing the land, and
as soon as the field was impoverished beyond redemption
it was abandoned, and a part of the forest was cut and
burned over for another one, when the same old process of
facilitating the transportation of its fertility to the bottom-

lands began at once. In some of these old plantations of
a thousand acres there are five hundred acres of gullies,
and few more depressing spectacles can be imagined than
these broad slopes which fifteen years ago produced a
bale of cotton to the acre, now absolutely sterile and "a
mesh of leaping torrents after every rain." Not only are
the declivities barren and bare, but the valleys which they
have enriched are becoming useless for agriculture, for the
channels of the streams are filling up, and as there is no re-
straint upon the gathering waters from the slopes above, the
crops on the bottoms are always threatened with a flood. In
many of these abandoned hill-side fields the Old-Field Pine
is springing up to restore thebalanceof natural forces which
man has rashly destroyed, but a thousand years of rest will
be needed before this denuded hard-pan will be covered
with a soil that will be profitable to cultivate.

Plainly, there is no reason to hope that land which can
be profitably tilled will ever be left forest-clad so long as the
forest brings no money ; but it is equally plain that the
reckless destruction of forests and improvident tillage will
soon turn this country into a desolation. While no accurate
figures can be given, it is true even now, according to Mr.
Meriwether, who writes with the caution of a skilled ob-
server, that the land maintains to-day fewer people than it
did in the times of slavery, and the best judges estimate
that only about three-fifths as many people live on this foot-
hill belt as once lived there. If as much effort had been
intelligently given to protect a portion of the cleared land
from washing as has been spent in cutting down the trees
and burning over new land to take its place, a considerable
part of what is now cleared would have been left as wood-
land, while the plow-land by judicious fertilizing, a careful
rotation of crops and seeding to grass might have steadily
increased in value, so that a quarter of the present cleared
area would have been worth much more than the whole of
it now is. And no man can estimate what the value of
these forests would now be if they had been left standing
and properly cared for. A North Carolina farmer who lived
on a similar slope once said in our hearing that forty years
before he had come into possession of, and moved upon, a
tract of 1,300 acres of forest so dense, that, in his own pic-
turesque language, " you could not shoot a rifle-ball a hun-
dred yards in any direction without striking a tree." He
had worked all these forty years in destroying this timber,
and was almost as poor as when he began, and he added :
"If I had left the wood all standing the Black Walnut and
Yellow Poplar timber now on the tract would be worth
alone as much as all the crops it "has ever produced."

There is much other timber in that country besides Black
Walnut and Poplar. As has been often explained in these
columns, this southern Alleghany deciduous forest is not
only the most beautiful in this country, and the richest in
species, but it is one of the most valuable in the world, and
much of it is certainly worth caring for with a view to an
endless succession of timber crops. The land is rich not
only on the foot-hills, but up to the very crests of the ridges
in many places, and when the timber is stripi)ed from these
steeper slopes the soil will wash away with much greater
rapidity than it has done on the foot-hills, and a few' years
will unfit them for plow-land or productive woodland. It
is clearly the dictate of ordinary prudence that these high
mountain crests should never be stripped of their forest-cov-
ering. The destruction of the forest here is destruction to
the land below. It is clear, too, that wherever the land is
so steep that it is impracticable by ordinary methods to
protect it from gullying, the forest should be left there as
well. It should be remembered that the chief reason for
the luxuriance of this Appalachian forest is that the soil is
good, and, therefore, there is greater temptation to improvi-
dent cutting. The people of that region are poor. They
need all the money they can get. The tem])tation to sac-
rifice the future value of their land for ready cash is strong,
so that just here is one of the fields where the foundation
principles of good forestry practice, and the truth that ir-
reparable loss and disaster must come from careless cut-

442

Garden and Forest

[Number 296.

ting, should be disseminated in every possible way both
by precept and example.

Last year we advocated the establishment of one or two
great forest-reservations in this section where the trees had
escaped the axe of the logger, so that future generations
might see what manner of timber once grew here. Such
reservations would have immediate value as an object-les-
son, and the attention they excited might wake up
the natives to an appreciation of the worth of the inher-
itance they were squandering. Again, if the experi-
ment stations of the states in which these forests are sit-
uated should all take it upon themselves to investigate the
best means of preventing the washing-out of soil by moun-
tain torrents, and to explain to the people the part that
areas of forest-land on the hills play in the protection of
the slopes and plains, they would also teach lessons which
could be utilized in immediate practice. Large tracts of
this timber are passing into the hands of companies and
individual capitalists of the north. Where these are bought
for the timber alone, there will be danger that the rights of
the people on the lower slopes will not be thought of, and
that the wood will be taken for its immediate cash returns,
but those who have bought this for a long investment, and
the companies who have purchased tracts as parks or game-
preserves, will render the state and the country good ser-
vice if they secure expert advice in regard to the forest, if
they show a genuine respect for trees and a desire to save
them, and if they set forth in every possible way the truth
that in a poverty-stricken country like this the waste of the
forest is a criminal extravagance.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXIII.

IN cone-bearing plants Japan is somewhat richer than
eastern America. All of our genera, with the exception
of Taxodium, the Bald Cypress of the southern states, are
represented in the empire, where two endemic genera occur,
Cryptomeria and Sciadopytis, and where Cephalotaxus and,
perhaps, Cupressus have representatives. In cone-bearing
species, too, owing to the greater multiplication of forms of
Abies, Japan is richer than eastern America, where we have
only two indigenous Firs. The genus Pinus, which furnishes
a very considerable part of the forest-growth on the Atlantic
sea-coast, and which is represented here by thirteen spe-
cies, has only five in Japan ; and of these two are small
trees of high altitudes, and one is an alpine shrub. Japan
is richer than eastern America in Spruces, of which we have
only two, in Chama;cyparis and in Juniperus. The two
floras each contain a single Thuya, a Taxus, a Torreya, two
Hemlocks and a Larch. In Japan, Conifers are more planted
for shade and ornament than they are in America, or, per-
haps, in any other country, although, except above 5,000
feet in Hondo, where there are continuous forests of Hem-
lock, they form a small part of the composition of indige-
nous forest-growth ; and forests of Pines, Spruces or Firs,
such striking features in many parts of this country, do not
occur, except, perhaps, in northern Hokkaido, which we
did not visit, and where there are said to be great forests of
Abies Sachalinensis.

The Japanese Arbor-vita-, Thuya Japonica, which is
sometimes found in our plantations under the name of
Thuyopsis Standishii, and which is more like the species of
the north-west coast (Thuya gigantea) than our eastern
Arbor-vitae or Yellow Cedar, appears to be a rare tree in
Japan, and we only saw a few solitary individuals on the
shores of Lake Chuzenji and of Lake Umoto, in the Nikko
Mountains. Here it was a formal pyramidal tree twenty
or thirty feet high, with pale green foliage and bright red
bark.

Thuyopsis dolobrata, which is, perhaps, best considered
a Cupressus rather than a Thuya, is a tree of high altitudes.
In the Nikko Mountains above Lake Umoto it is common
between five and six thousand feet over the sea-level, grow-
ing as an undershrub under the shade of dense Hemlock-

forests, and here, in favorable positions, sometimes finally
rising to the height of forty or fifty feet, with a slender
trunk covered with bright red bark, long, pendulous, grace-
ful lower branches, and a narrow pyramidal top. This
handsome tree finds its northern home on the mountains
which surround the Bay of Aomori, in northern Hondo. It
is a species which evidently requires shade, at least while
young, and even the older plants, where we saw them,
were always surrounded and overtopped by taller trees.
The elevation at which it grows indicates that it should
prove hardy here if properly protected from the sun, espe-
cially during the winter, for in Japan the young plants are
not only shaded by the coniferous forest above them, but
are buried during several months under a continuous cov-
ering of snow. Under proper conditions this tree should
prove one of the best plants to form undergrowth in conif-
erous forests. The wood is considered valuable, and,
owing to its durability, is used in boat and bridge building.
We saw planted trees in the coniferous forests on the moun-
tain-slopes near Nakatsu-gawa, in the valley of the Kioso-
gawa, but no other indication that it is valued as a timber
or ornamental tree by the Japanese, who, according to
Dupont,* have produced a number of varieties, of which
the one with variegated foliage only has reached our
gardens.

Of all the Japanese Conifers the most valuable is the
Hi-no-ki, Chamaecyparis (Retinospora) obtusa. In the
forests, planted on the lower slopes of the mountains in
the interior of Hondo and in some of the temple-groves,
notably in those of Nikko, this fine tree attains a height of
a hundred feet, with a straight trunk without branches for
fifty or sixty feet, and three feet through at the ground. At
elevations between two and three thousand feet above the
sea, usually on northern slopes and in granatic soil, which
it seems to prefer, the Hi-no-ki is largely planted as a tim-
ber-tree ; indeed, only the t'ryptomeria, which seems to be
less particular about soil and exposure, is more planted for
timber in Japan. The tree is sacred among the disciples
of the Shinto faith, and is, therefore, cultivated in the neigh-
borhood of all Shinto temples, which are built exclusively
from Hi-no-ki wood. The palaces of the Mikado in Kyoto
were always made of it, and the roof was covered with long
strips of the bark. It is considered the best wood to lac-
quer ; at festivals food and drink are offered to the gods on
an unlacquered table of this wood, and the victim of hari-
kari received the dagger upon a table of the same material.
It is used for the frames of Buddhist temples and for the in-
terior of the most carefully finished and expensive houses.
The wood is white or straw-color, or sometimes pink, and
in grade, texture and perfume resembles that of the Alaska
Cedar, Chamaecyparis Nootkatensis. Like the wood of that
tree, it has a beautiful lustrous surface, and is straight-
grained, light, strong and tough, and remarkably free from
knots and resin. In America we have no wood of its class
which equals it in value, with the exception of that furnished
by the two species of Chamacyparis of the Pacific coast,
and the Hi-no-ki might be introduced with advantage as
a timber-tree into some parts of the eastern states, where
it might find conditions which would insure its growth.
It has proved perfectly hardy in this country as far north as
Massachusetts, but the sea-level or the dry summers here do
not suit any of the Retinosporas, which give no promise of
long life or great usefulness anywhere on the Atlantic sea-
board. They should be tried, however, on the slopes of
the southern Alleghanies where they could find conditions
not very unlike those in which they flourish in their native
land.

The second species of Chamacyparis, C. pisifera, the
Sawara, is a less valuable tree than the Hi-no-ki, although
the two species are always found growing together in
plantations and in temple-gardens ; indeed, they can only be
distinguished after some practice, unless the cones are
examined, although after a few days among them the

* Les Essences Forestii'res du Japon.

October 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

443

more ragged crown with its looser and more upright
branches of the Sawara stands out clearly to the eye
in contrast with the Hi-no-ki with its rounder top and
more pendulous branchlets. The wood is of a reddish
color, of a rougher grain and less valuable than that of the
Hi-no-ki, although the two trees are planted in about
equal numbers. As it grows here in our gardens, Chamae-
cyparis pisifera is a less ornamental plant than C. obtusa ;
it grows, however, more vigorously and promises to live
longer and obtain a greater size. All the other Retinos-
poras of our gardens are juvenile or monstrous forms of
these two trees. Some of the dwarf forms are much
cultivated in Japan, especially as pot-plants, but they
are not as popular there as I had been led to expect,
and are most often seen in the nursery gardens of the
treaty ports, where they are collected to please the fancy
of foreign purchasers.

The most generally planted timber-tree of Japan is the
Sake, Cryptomeriajaponica, and its wood is more universally
used throughout the empire than that of any other Conifer.
It is one of the common trees of temple-gardens and road-
side plantations, and, when seen at its best, as in the
temple-groves at Nikko or Nara, where it rises to the
height of a hundred or a hundred and twenty-five feet,
with a tall shaft-like stem tapering abruptly from a broad
base, covered with bright cinnamon-red bark and crowned
with a regular conical dark green head, it is a beautiful
and stately tree which has no rival except in the Sequoias
of California. Great planted forests of the Cryptomeria
appear all over Hondo on broken foot-hills and mountain-
slopes up to an elvation of nearly three thousand feet
above the sea, low valleys and good soil being usually
selected for such plantations, as the trees need pro-
tection from high winds. The plantations decrease in size
and luxuriance in northern Hondo, and the cultivation of
the Sake does not appear to be attempted north of Hakkoda-
te where there is a grove of small trees on the slope of the
hill above the town. The wood is coarse-grained, with
thick layers of annual growth, dark reddish heart-wood
and thick pale sap-wood ; it is easily worked, strong and
durable, and is employed in all sorts of construction. The
bark, which is carefully stripped from the trees when
they are cut down, is an important article of commerce
and is used to cover the roofs of houses. A large round
bunch of branchlets covered with their leaves hung over
the door of a shop is the familiar sign of the dealer in sake.

Japan owes much of the beauty of its groves and
gardens to the Cryptomeria. Nowhere is there a more
solemn and impressive group of trees than that which
surrounds the temples and tombs at Nikko, and the long
avenue of this tree, under which the descendants of leyasu
traveled from the capital of the Shoguns to do honor at the
burial-place of the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty, has not
its equal in stately grandeur. This avenue, if the story told
of its origin is true, can teach a useful lesson, and carries
hope to the heart of the planter of trees who will see in
it a monument more lasting than those which men some-
times erect in stone or bronze in the effort to perpetuate
the memory of their greatness. When the body of leyasu
was laid in its ■•last resting-place on the Nikko hills his
successor in the Shogunate called upon the Damios of
the empire to send each a stone or bronze lantern to
decorate the grounds about the mortuary temples. All
complied with the order but one man, who, too poor to
send a lantern, offered instead to plant trees beside the
road, that visitors to the tomb might be protected from the
heat of the sun. The offer was fortunately accepted, and
so well was the work done that the poor man's offering
surpasses in value a thousand-fold those of all his more
fortunate contemporaries.

Something of the beauty of this avenue appears in the
illustration on page 446 of this issue, although, without the
aid of colors, it is impossible to give an idea of the beauty
of the Cryptomeria. The planted avenue extends practically
all the way from Tokyo to Nikko, but it is only when the

road reaches the foot-hills that it passes between rows of
Cryptomerias, the lower part being planted, as is the case
with the other great highways of Japan, with Pine-trees ;
nor, as it has oiten been stated, is this avenue continuous,
for whenever a village occurs or a roadside tea-house,
which are scattered all along the road, there is a break in
the row of trees, and it is only in some particular spots
that a long view of continuous trees is obtained. The
railroad, which follows parallel and close to the avenue
for a considerable distance and then crosses it just before
the Nikko station is reached, is a serious injury to it. The
trees, as will be seen in the illustration, are planted on
high banks made by throwing up the surface-soil
from the roadway ; they are usually planted in double
rows, and often so close together that sometimes two or
three trees have grown together by a process of natural
grafting. Young trees are constantly put in to fill gaps,
and every care apparently is taken to preserve and protect
the plantation. How many of the trees originally planted
when the avenue was first laid out in the beginning of the
seventeenth century are left it is impossible to say, but I sus-
pect that most of those now standing are of much later date.
One of the trees close to the upper end pf the road which
had been injured by fire was cut down during our visit to
Nikko. The stump, breast-high above the ground, meas-
ured four feet inside the bark, and showed only one hun-
dred and five layers of annual growth. Few of the trees
in the avenue were much larger than this, although in the
neighborhood of the temples there are a few which girt
over twenty feet ; these were probably planted when the
grounds were first laid out.

The two, ChamsEcyparis and the Cryptomeria, the most
valuable timber-trees in Japan, are now almost unknown
in a wild state. They may, perhaps, be found growing
naturally on some of the southern mountains which we
did not visit ; wherever we went, however, we saw only trees
that had been planted by man, although some of the plan-
tations had evidently lived through several centuries.

C. S. S.

The Pines in October.

NO frost has touched the Pines, and the old but ever-new
panorama of autumnal color glowing in leaf and flower
is again spread before the eye. The Swamp Maples have donned
their deepest crimson and scarlet, and vie in brilliancy with
the Tupelos, whose spray-like horizontal branches are covered
with small fiery leaves. The Sweet Gum, too, is a grand factor
in this color-scheme. No tree of my acquaintance takes on so
many varied hues. The leaves on some of the trees are a deep
purple, on others a rich chocolate-brown, on others still they
are crimson and scarlet, while some turn yellow, blotched and
marbled with pink, and whatever their color the deep-lobed
fragrant leaves shine as if they were varnished.

The Hickories and Birches supply the main yellow in this
field of color. The sturdy Oaks are slow to lay aside their rich
summer green, and only here and there are the leaves tipped
with crimson and scarlet. The Chestnuts also continue green,
with only now and then a faint tinge of yellow. The aromatic
Sassafras is brilliant in yellow and scarlet, while the Sumach,
and many shrubs in the Heath family have turned a deep
crimson, sliading to purple. Many old trees and stumps are
clothed from base to summit with Ampelopsis in most bril-
liant fints of crimson and scarlet, intermingled with clusters
of dark purple berries.

The Asters and Golden-rods were never more beautiful than
they are this October. The dry, hot summer has kept them
back until the cooler weather of late September and October
came, when all the waste places and woodlands were suddenly
ablaze with gold and azure. Many other flowers are still
blooming freely, among them Rudbeckias and Helianthus,
especially the pretty Helianthus angustifolius, which belongs
exclusively to the Pines. The Golden Asters, Chrysopsis
Mariana and C. falcata, are both here, their disk and ray flow-
ers all bright yellow. Diplopappus linariifolius, with large
showy heads and light purple, rays, mingles abundantly with
Chrysopsis, as does also the Blazing-star, Liatris spicata and L.
graminifolia, which have handsome rose-colored flowers on
long wand-like stems.

In places more marshy are the large Burr Marigold, with

44+

Garden and Forest.

[Number 296.

very showy golden-yellow flowers. The little Orchid, Ladies'-
tres'ses, with its spike of deliciously sweet-scented, pure white
flowers, is quite common in damp places. Two or three
species of Eriocaulon, winch are almost entirely confined to
our wet Pines, are still in blossom on long scapes terminated
with a single head of dullish lead-colored flowers.

Many Grasses and Sedges are now beautiful, as the long,
drooping umbels of Scirpus, Eriophoriim and the Cotton
Grass, with its soft dense white or copper-colored heads.
These Sedges blend beautifully with some of the Grasses and
the seed-vessels of many plants now abumlant in all the Pines.
Vineland,N.J. Mary Treat.

Foreign Correspondence.
Notes from Cornwall.

I HAVE lately spent a fortnight in Devon and Cornwall,
chiefly walking about the moors and along the cliffs
of the north side, where the scenery and air are delightful
and health-giving. The moors are remarkable for the pro-
duction of good mutton and sturdy little ponies, and some
of them, at least, for a display of Heath and Furze. 1 have
never seen anything more beautiful than the moors about
Minehead, where one walks for miles through great
cushion-like masses of purple Heath and dwarf Furze,
both in flower. Ferns have had a bad time of it this year,
and the Devonshire lanes were therefore a disappointment.
The gardens in the south of Cornwall have a special attrac-
tion for horticulturists, many plants thriving out-of-doors
there which in other parts of England must be grown un-
der glass. The following notes were taken during a three-
days' ramble in the neighborhood of Falmouth :

HiM.vLAYAS Rhododendrons are a feature of open-air gar-
dening in south Cornwall. In several gardens near Fal-
mouth, notably that of Mr. Shilson, at Tremough, there is
a large collection, and all the best-known species are rep-
resented by enormous specimens. Another fine collection
is that at Carclew, the residence of Colonel Tremayne,
where, also, very fine examples of rare Conifera: may be
seen. There are also many large specimens of Rhododen-
dron and other tender shrubs and trees in the garden of
Miss Fox at Penjerrick. Falmouth is exceptionally favored in
regard to climate, and, apparently, also in regard to good soil,
for these Himalayan Rhododendrons. I was informed by
Mr. Shilson's gardener that eight degrees of frost is about the
average maximum of cold experienced in the neighbor-
hood of Falmouth, and that heavy mists and rain are
common at all seasons of the year. He said the climate
of this town is remarkable for equability and mildness, in
proof of which exotic plants flourish the year round in the
open air. Mr. Fox, of Grove Hill, obtained the Banksian
medal about thirty years ago for acclimatizing upward
of two hundred foreign plants.

The Rhododendrons at Tremough are nearly all veterans,
having been raised from seeds obtained from Kew soon
after their first introduction by Dr. Hooker, now forty years
ago. They are now almost the sole occupants of very large
shrubberies and spacious beds in various parts of a large
garden, and there are also numerous specimens among the
trees in the woods which partly surround the place. I
measured some of the largest specimens, the dimensions of
which may interest those readers of Garden and Forest who
are able to grow these glorious shrubs out-of-doors in the
southern states : R. arboreum, trees thirty feet high, with
trunks a foot in diameter ; R. niveum, a perfect, spherical
bush twelve feet high ; R. Falconeri, twelve feet high, a
grand specimen with large leathery leaves, a striking ob-
ject at all times, but a magnificent sight when bearing
scores of large trusses of flowers, as it does annually here ;
R. barbatum, ten feet high, and furnished with branches
down to the ground; R. campanulatum (Wallichianum),
abundantly represented by very large bushes ; R. ciliatum,
the largest plant I have ever seen, a bush six feet high and
at least twice as much in diameter ; R. arboreum roseum,
R. Shepherdii, R. cinnamomeum and R. Thomsoni, all
much larger than we are used to see them even under

glass. A hybrid between R. Thomsoni and R. barbatum,
raised in this garden, and named R. Shilsoni, is similar to
the former in leaf and habit, differing only in the size of its
heads, the color of the flowers and the shortness of the
flower-stalks, in which characters it is superior to R.
Thomsoni, which is saying a great deal. R. Aucklandii,
a delicate species as a rule, is in rude health and ten feet
in height. Seedlings are to be seen springing up in those
parts of the garden that escape the hoe. In all the species
there is considerable variety observable in the foliage and
habit of the many representatives. Azalea Indica is as
plentiful and large as the common Cherry Laurel is in
northern gardens, while Camellias occur frequently, and
always in good health. As a rule, perfect flowers are cut
from them for decorations at Christmas. At the time of
my visit, the Belladonna Lily was the glory of the garden.
Among the Rhododendrons, along the carriage-drive,
against the terrace-wall, and even in the kitchen-garden,
the flowers were as thick as Cowslips in an F^nglish
meadow. " We don't think much of the Belladonna
here," said the gardener; "it is too common." In the
same garden a great bed on a large open lawn was filled
with Yucca gloriosa and Y. recurva, about thirty plants
altogether, with rosettes a yard high, and each bearing a
spike another yard high, clothed with white waxy bell-
flowers. They were a real picture, and appealed to us as
a piece of good gardening. Against the entrance, with its
roots half-choking a stream beside which it had been
planted, stands a fine example of Aralia spinosa. It is
thirty feet high and thirty-five feet in the spread of its
branches, its stem nine inches in diameter, and its flowers
and fruit abundant. A few yards further on we saw a cot-
tage almost entirely enveloped in a thick cloud-like mass
of Solanum jasminiflorum, partially hiding the roof, and
even the chimney, with its healthy green leaves and thou-
sands of clusters of white starry flowers. This and the
hardy Fuchsias (F. globosa and F. coccinea chiefly) are
- favorites with the cottagers in Cornwall, where we saw
many beautiful effects made by one or the other, and some-
times by the two combined, as they grew against the cot-
tages by the road-side.

In Colonel Tremayne's garden. Rhododendron arboreum
is even larger than the largest at Tremough, having a stem
four feet in circumference, while R. Hodgsoni is a great
bush fifteen feet through. R. Falconeri is twenty feet high,
and this summer bore ninety-six trusses of flowers. I have
never seen a more charming garden than this at Carclew ;
indeed, I question if there is anything better in Cornwall.
The Coniferte are magnificent : Abeis Smithii, eighty feet
high; Tsuga Albertiana, the same ; Pinus patula, a magnifi-
cent example ; Pseudolarix Kajmpferi, the Golden Larch,
is thirty feet high and would have bSen much higher had
its top not been broken off by a storm a few years ago ; its
trunk is exactly eighteen inches in diameter. Phyllocladus
rhomboidalis, the Celery-topped Pine, is represented by a
handsome specimen fifteen feet high. An interesting fea-
ture of this garden is the Lucotnbe Oak, of which there are
numerous very large trees, ninety or a hundred feet high,
with trunks as straight as Pines and measuring twelve feet
in circumference. The Lucombe Oak (Lucombe was gar-
dener at Carclew) is an accidental hybrid between the
Cork Oak and Turkey Oak. There are also in this garden
a number of hybrids between other Oaks. Of the genus
Pinus there are rare species from Mexico, India and Califor-
nia. Loudon described many plants flourishing at Carclew
as either quite irregular or in a state of growth not to be
seen at other places. Enormous bushes of Leptospermums,
Embothrium coccineum, Azaras, Berberis japonica, var.
Beali, a grand shrub, and Benthamia fragifera, a common
tree covered with its large strawberry-like fruit, are among
the many things I noted. A path bordered by clumps of
Himalayan Rhododendrons, White Azalea indica, Azalea
mollis and Embothrium must be a beautiful picture in May
or June when they are in flower. Among many features
of interest noted in the glass-houses two call for special

October 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

445

mention. First, a collection of seedling' Dipladenias, all
from seeds of D. Brearleyana, and showing wide variation
of color, from pale rose to cerise and purple. They varied
also in the size and form of the flowers, and indicated that
a great deal might be done with Dipladenias, if the seeds
of the garden varieties were sown. The second feature is
Poinciana regia, the Goolmore or Flame-tree of the east,
which I have never seen in bloom in England, but which
is flowered every year atCarclew by keeping it pot-bound
and training its branches against the glass in a sunny stove-
house. Myrtus Ugni is grown as a kitchen-garden plant,
its fruits being made into jam.

At Enys, the well-wooded demesne of the old Cornish
family of that name, there are some interesting and rare
New Zealand trees and shrubs : among others, Fagus Cun-
ninghamii, twenty feet high ; Pittosporums, thirty feet ; sev-
eral species of Eucalyptus, a fine bush of Olearia argo-
phylla, the Musk-tree ; another of Laurelia camphora, while
Lomaria procera, with fronds as large and rigid as a Gamia,
is common and apparently wild in the garden. Photinia
serrulata is thirty feet high and twenty feet in diameter, with
a trunk a foot through. Myosotidium nobile, a rare and
handsome herb from New Zealand, is represented by a
large clump suggesting a good stool of Rhubarb ; the
leaves are crowded on stout stalks, the largest over a foot
in diameter. Desfontanea is a common bush in the garden
and is nearly always in flower. Magnolia I^enniana, a va-
riety of M. conspicua, was in flower, and is a very hand-
some plant, the flowers being large and of a rich claret-red
color. Leptospermum scoparium is a tree there fifteen feet
high, and when in flower it is like a pillar of snow. The
woods are rich in big specimens of Turkey Oak and fine
Silver Firs, some of them 120 feet high, with grand mast-
like trunks. Cupressus macrocarpa, the pride of Cornish
and Devon gardens, is represented at Enys by enormous
trees, one I measured having a trunk three and one-half
feet in diameter. A lake in the lower part of the gar-
den is very picturesque, being surrounded by suitable
Reeds, Ferns, etc., while the banks are covered with a
thick mass of Primula Jappnica. This plant has taken en-
tire possession of the whole of the margin of the lake, and
would, if allowed, soon obliterate the paths, seedlings com-
ing up in dense turf-like masses. In early summer when
this Primrose is in flower it must be very fine.

In the gardens at Menabilly, the seat of Mr. Rashleigh,
there are many rare and fine examples of Coniferse. I saw
there Athrotaxis laxifolia, fifteen feet high ; A. imbricata nine
feet high; Pinus oocarpa, twenty feet high, a broad,
thick-stemmed specimen ; P. parviflora, nine feet high,
said to be the largest example of this rare Pine in the
United Kingdom. P. Montezumse, twenty feet high, and as
wide ; Picea Ajanensis, P. Webbiana, Abies grandis and A.
Pindrow, each in fine, vigorous health and about twenty feet
high, while a beautiful little specimen of A. religiosa is nine
feet high. Retinospora leptoclada is seven feet high. The
genus Podocarpus is also represented by large examples.
It will afford some idea of the suitability of this garden for
Conifers if I give the measurements of a pair of Pinus in-
signis which were planted in 1838 by Mr. Rashleigh; these
are now seventy feet high, with trunks four feet in diameter.

Escallonias are notable sea-side shrubs, and in some
parts of Cornwall, E. macrantha is a common hedge-plant,
and a very fine hedge it makes. The large waving plumes
of the beautiful Bamboo, Thamnocalamus Falconeri, occur
in many places in Mr. Rashleigh's garden, and always with
telling effect. Indeed, these and thousands of bushes of
Hydrangea hortensis, all bearing big bunches of rich blue
flowers, are special features at Menabilly. An avenue
planted with Yuccas, Chamaerops Fortune! and Bamboos
will be very effective in fifteen or twenty years. The true
Dracaena, or Cordyline indivisa, is here represented by
large specimens with stems six feet high, bearing large
heads of leaves six inches wide and three feet long, their
color yellowish green, with brown stripes. The lawns are
full of Daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs, the

woods carpeted with hardy Cyclamens, and everywhere
there are big bushes of Himalayan Rhododendrons. The
Chilian Raphithamnus cyanocarpus, a Myrtle-like bush
twelve feet high, was laden with bright China-blue fruits
when we saw it. Callistemons, Hakeas, Eurybias, Em-
bothrium, Pittosporums, and even Acacias, are all repre-
sented by big bushes. Litsea reticulata is a tree thirty feet
high, and Rhododendron Falconeri a magnificent speci-
men. Abutilon vitifolium album is at home on the lawn,
forming a large shrub and flowering freely in summer.
Where it is happy, this is one of the most beautiful of all
malvaceous plants.

There are so many choice and tender plants in these
Cornish gardens that one wishes to see many of the newer
things tried there. So far as I could understand the condi-
tions, they are favorable to all the plants that can be culti-
vated in the open air in England, and also to a great many
which, even at Kew, have to be grown under glass. Corn-
wall might easily be made a gardener's paradise, and there
are, no doubt, many other places in the world where a lit-
tle gardening enthusiasm, rightly applied, would add mate-
rially to their beauty and interest. „, „, ,

London. W. WutSOtt.

Cultural Department.

Dahlias.

MR. ENDICOTT'S exception to my advice to grow single
Dahlias as annuals seems well taken from his point of
view. He speaks as a Dahlia fancier, and, of course, one who
has a special fancy for a particular flower will only be satis-
fied with the best forms attainable, and these are seldom or
never to be had when dependence is placed on seedlings. To
gain the finest forms of Dahlias, many crosses and careful
selections have been made, with certain points in view. This
is a flower of so sportive a character that a lot of seedlings
would probably show only a small proportion of forms satisfac-
tory to an amateur in Dahlias, and such a grower is quite right
in spurning my advice. However, there are those, like myself,
who only care for the Dahlia as a high-colored, showy flower,
useful in the garden in tlie fall. Such persons are in the ma-
jority, and to these iny advice will be found sound, as applied
to single Dahlias in general, and the dwarf strain of these in
particular. Single Dahlias and Zinnias, which I treat alike,
are the brightest of flowers, and quite indispensable where
showy ones are desired. They are especially valuable, as they
give us a range of colors beyond the yellows with which pur
gardens are usually filled in the later part of the season. My
Iriends, to whom I have distributed some of this strain, have
all been especially pleased with them, which adds to my con-
fidence, as my selections do not always meet with enthusiasm.
I fancy these seedling dwarf Dahlias because they give so little
trouble while growing, and the plants require no staking. The
flowers, with slight exceptions, are very attractive, usually
fair-sized and pure in color. There are fine shades of self-
colored reds from nearly black to pink, and also whites and
yellows. Among them are also the blotched or striped kinds
— panache — on various colored grounds, which are odd, and,
in some cases, attractive. In my small garden it does not pay
me to grow the Cactus Dahlias, which I fancy next to the sin-
gles. They make great bushes which require staking, and are
not very free-flowering. The handsomest of all Dahlias is
D. imperialis, but this is a subject for the greenhouse, as it
flowers late in the year. A well-flowered plant of this variety
is a picture of superb beauty of form. Back of my greenhouse,
my neighbor grows a good collection of named double Dahlias,
and I discuss their points with him, but really do not care for
them nearer by. They make a great mass of handsome colors,
but they are unmistakably lumpy. Still, these are matters of
taste, and, perhaps, fortunately, we are not all pleased with the
same things.

On the whole, there are no more satisfactory flowers grown
than the old favorites, such as Dahlias, Marigolds, Zinnias,
Nasturtiums and other garden-plants familiar to us from child-
hood.

Most of us have associations or recollections connected with
one or more of the common flowers by which they are endeared
to us, and the rarest introductions of new kinds fail to give us
really as much pleasure. Probably, most owners of gardens, if
asked to select the flower which they would grow if confined
to one sort, would name one of these old garden friends.

446

Garden and Forest.

[Number 296.

What could be more gay and more satisfactory, for instance,
than a garden of Nasturtiums? There does not seem to be
any sentiment connected with these, but in every other respect
they seem among the plants with which one would last dis-

nf»ni4e

N. J. J. N. Gerard.

pense.

Eliabeth

New and Rare Plants at Baden-Baden.

TZNIPHOFIA NATALENSIS has been spoken of by a cele-
•"■*■ brated Dutch nurseryman as worthless because of its lax
spike and lack of brilliant color. The plant, however, is ex-
ceedingly variable, and a few may be found in every hundred
which are very beautiful in form as well as in the color of the
flowers. Besides, it seems capable of producing hybrids of a

is charming just now. The color of its flowers is a most deli-
cate lilac.

Among shrubs Crataegus Korolkowi (syn. C. Tartarica maiorV
IS a picture of beauty, the bright crimson fruits, each as lar^e
as a big cob-nut, are arranged in clusters of from six totwenty-
hve, and the trees are laden with these clusters. It is a strikintr
small tree for autumnal decoration.
Baden-Baden. Max Leichtlin.

Late Flowers on Woody Plants.

T^HE second or continued and late flowering of woody plants
^ should not, as a rule, be too much desired for, because it
often leaves the plants ill prepared, on account of the imma-
turity of their wood, to withstand the severe winters which

KiK^ u-..— me Avenue 01 Cryplomerias at Nikko, Japan.— See page 442

Striking new race, the spikes of which become longer and
more loose and show very pleasing color.

Gladiolus oppositiflorus has been flowering freely for some
time past. Apart from its value for (he purpose of the hy-
bridizer, it is a very showy plant, the spikes growing to a height
of tive feet, the flowering portion being from one to two
feet long. The flowers, which vary from white to rose or pur-
ple, more or less pale or deep, are comparatively large, delicate
m structure and arranged in two opposite rows. I have
counted on one spike twenty-one flowers open at once.

Scabiosa Caucasica alba is a first-rate novelty which flowers
very freely, and promises to be of much use for cutting pur-
poses. Salvia Hydrangea is another striking novelty which
1 have been successful in securing from Persia. The flow-
ers are arranged in a thick spike ; they are pink, and each
one IS surrounded by two large bracts of a brilliant deep rose
color. Crocus pulchellus, a variety from the island of Thasos

closely follow in northern latitudes. This, of course, applies
mainly to such plants as normally produce their regular crop
of bloom earlier in the season. The second bloom is pro-
duced on new shoots, and the act of flowering out of season
means that just so many flower-buds are lost to the normal
flowering of the following summer. It is true that some of
these plants are practically continuous in their flowering from
the time the first blossom-buds open until further develop-
ment is checked by cold weather. Such species are, perhaps,
not so likely to feel the effects of winter as those which make
an unnatural, so-called second growth. Young plants in rich
soil are also more likely to produce late flowers than are older
plants which have been long established.

Hall's Japanese Honeysuckle is one of the best examples of
the ever-blooming class, as it shows no cessation and little
diminution in flowering from the time that its first buds open
in June until many of our deciduous trees are leafless in the

October 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

447

autumn. Together with the later flowers ripe black fruits may
also be seen in abundance. This is altogether one of the most
satisfactory of twining Honeysuckles as well as of constant
bloomers. Its strongly and sweetly fragrant flowers are at first
white, but change to a light yellowish color as they grow old.
The plant is quite hardy in the climate of Boston, and the
leaves persist on the stems and maintain a bright evergreen
appearance until well into the winter. It is curious that what
is considered as the type of the species does not show any ten-
dency to blossom at any other than the usual time.

The little Saint Dabeoc's Heath, Daboecia polifolia, is another
plant which, in this climate at least, persists in blossoming in
more or less profusion throughout the summer and autumn.
It is rather too delicate and tender to be recommended for
general cultivation here, but plants in the Arboretum have
stood in the open ground for several years by having a good
covering of leaves and branches in winter. It has slender, low-
spreading stems, scarcely rising over a foot in height, and dark
little evergreen narrow leaves, which, on the lower surface,
are usually of a very pure white color. The flowers of different
forms are white, purple or rose-colored. They are somewhat
barrel-shaped, from a third to half an inch long, and are borne
in ascending, loose terminal racemes, each blossom on a short
separate stalk or pedicel. It is indigenous in south-western
Europe and the Azores, and is also found wild in Mayo and
Connemara, in southern Ireland.

The large flowering St. Johnswort, known as Hypericum cal-
cinum,at first sight seems more like an herbaceous plant than
one which is truly woody, but an examination of the lower
parts of the stems at once shows their ligneous character. This
pretty golden-yellow blossomed plant scarcely rises more than
a foot in height here, and although it never at any season
bears a profusion of flowers, a few scattering specimens may
almost invariably be found from midsummer until frost.
Except yellow Roses, these St. Johnswort flowers are about
the largest of any flowers of that color borne on outdoor woody
plants which are hardy in this latitude. This Hypericum is
not as hardy as could be desired, and unless it has the pro-
tection of a covering, such as dry leaves, in winter, it is liable
to be much winter-killed, and its dark, persistent foliage is de-
stroyed. There are two or three other species of foreign St.
Johnsworts which also continue to bear a few flowers until
frost overtakes them, the most noticeable being Hypericum
mulliflorum and H. hircinum ; and, among native species,
young plants of H. galioides and H. densiflorum bear a few
straggling flowers.

Besides St. Dabeoc's Heath, too, there are one or two others
of the same family which have hardly finished their belated
flowering as yet. Erica Tetralix still bears a good many fresh
heads of its pretty rosy-red flowers, and the uppermost buds
in some spikes of the Cornish Heath, Erica vagans, have not
yet expanded and shown their pinkish white corollas and dark
purplish anthers.

Ciethra tomentosa, which by many botanists is considered as
simply a southern form of our northern and earlier-blooming
C. alnifolia, has hardly passed out of its legitimate flowering
when it is overtaken by trost. Where the sweet C. alnifolia is
grown in gardens, C. tomentosa is worth planting for its suc-
cession and continuance of bloom when the first has long
faded. Among other plants noted in mid-October at the Ar-
boretum as producing late blooms the following may also be
mentioned ; Daphne Cneorum, with a few clusters of flowers,
just as fragrant as those borne in June ; Rosa rugosa and its
pretty white variety, with very large single blossoms on stray
new shoots, and incurring less liability to have their petals
marred by the bites of insects ; Bladder Senna, Colutea arbo-
rescens, and VVeigelas, or Diervillas, bearing good blooms on
young shoots. Among the Spiraeas some of the forms belong-
ing to the group known as S. Japonica or S. callosa still pro-
duce blossoms, a white- flowered form, and the red-flowered
one, known in nurseries as S. Bumalda, showing them most
plentifully.

Unfortunately, none of the Pacific-coast species of Ceano-
thus havmg colored flowers are really hardy in this cli-
mate ; but for the past two seasons roots of the form of C.
azureus, known as Gloire de Versailles, have survived in a
sheltered situation, and throughout the autumn have borne
numerous large handsome panicles of small azure-blue flow-
ers on vigorous new stems. <v /- <v t

Arnold Arboretum. /. G, Jack.

Notes from the Home Vineyard.

A MONG the advantages of an experimental vineyard con-

■^*- sisting of a hundred or more varieties, over the purely

commercial grapery, is the perfect pollen-transfer which this

massing of varieties secures. The reputation which some
varieties have o£ being " shy bearers," or of giving only loose
clusters, is mostly the direct result of a failure in self-pollina-
tion and consequent partial fruit-setting. Whenever a large
number of varieties are crowded together side by side, free
fructification is sure to follow.

Brighton, one of the best varieties for both home use and
market, for example, is usually described as bearing loose
clusters. Ever since it came into bearing in our experimental
vineyard, three years ago, this variety has produced as much
fruit on each vine as Concord or Niagara, and in finer clusters,
being the largest and handsomest among all our varieties ;
some clusters weighed a pound, and few less than half a
pound apiece.

Eldorado, a great favorite with us for its pure flavor and
generally superior quality, bears, under our vineyard condi-
tions, a moderate amount of reasonably fair clusters, which,
however, are none too compact. In its first bearing season,
two years ago, the Eldorado gave as much fruit- as the most
prolific varieties, and in good clusters. Last year it was some-
what of a failure, owing chiefly to rot. This year it has again
borne well, but the vine seems to be more subject to disease
than any of its near neighbors.

The Best Grape. The Concord is the choice of most peo-
ple when there is room for one vine only. I should unhesitat-
ingly select the Green Mountain (Winchell, of EUwanger &
Barry). A vine of this variety may not yield as many pounds
as a Concord or Niagara, but it gives clusters of luscious
fruit at a time when grapes are scarce, and seem to be
most appreciated, as they are worth ten or fifteen cents a
pound, while Concords can be had at one-fifth that price in
their season. Whoever appreciates extra quality, and is will-
ing, as all should be, to incur some slight trouble and expense
for it, may bag part or all of the clusters, not only on the
Green Mountain, but on other good sorts as well, thus
keeping the bunches free from dirt, chemicals,, and especially
from spiders and insects (one of the greatest objections to the
average grape of our markets), all the bloom intact, and the
berries reasonably safe from mildew, rot and frost.

Pruning and Training. — There is no occasion for even the
novice to be afraid of the pruning and training of Grape-vines.
To insure a tidy and attractive appearance, the horizontal-arm
system and a four-wire trellis can be recommended, although
prompt attention is necessary in the tying. When fruit is the
chief or only consideration, a trellis of one or two wires can be
made to answer, and the labor of training reduced to a mini-
mum. The amateur seldom realizes the necessity of severe
pruning. Usually too inuch wood is left, and the vine sets
more fruit than it is able to bring to perfection. Late sour
grapes and often lasting injury to the vitality and enduranceof
the plant are the results. I have often had to cut a large part
of the clusters away when half-grown, and later in the season
have found that far too many had yet been left on for the good
of the crop and the vines. Close pruning will prevent over-
bearing. With the exception of four short arms of new wood,
two for the lower and two for the upper wire, we cut all wood
away clear to the main stem or stems, of which there are usually
two, and then tie the arms as required. This is all the labor of
this kind done in the vineyard until August, when we go
through once more to arrange the new growth about the vines
and clear out the tangles. Tliis is not the most thorough way,
but it has given us an abundance of good fruit at little labor
and expense.

Spraying for Disease — Until the first bearing season of
the vineyard, and during that season, the vines were entirely
free from disease. But after the strain endured by the vines
in bearing a very large crop, diseases seemed to find an easy
hold, and last season probably over one-half of the clusters
were ruined, no preventive measures having been used. The
whole vineyard is now thoroughly and evenly infected with
anthracnose, black-rot and downy mildew. Earlier experience
had shown me that the treatment of the dormant vines in early
spring with strong solutions of sulphate of iron, ordinary green
copperas, is of far greater potency than later treatments with
Bordeaux mixture or any other of the well-tested fungicides,
and that these applications, if persisted in year after year,
will alone suffice to clear out every trace of these vine
diseases. Usually I have made two applications, one while
the vines were perfectly dormant, the other when the buds
were ready to break. An almost saturated solution of the
drug was used and the spray thrown upon the wood, the wires,
the posts and the ground almost to the point of soaking-. This
year only one application was made, four rows of the vmeyard
being left without treatment. Although fungus has not been
general this year, there are slight traces of mildew and rot in

448

Garden and Forest.

[Number 296.

all parts of the vineyard ; but the difference in the spread of
these diseases between the treated and untreated parts was a
subject of comment all during the latter part of the season,
and was truly remarkable. In the treated rows, with the ex-
ception of Delaware and Moyer, which were more seriously
affected by downy mildew on the foliage only, the vines have
retained healthy leaves to the last, and only few plants show
slight touches of rot on the berries. In the untreated rows
only very few moderately healthy vines can be found. The
majority have had much of their fruit spoiled by black rot, and
a number of them have been entirely defoliated by downy
mildew. This is an object-lesson well worth remembering.
The sulphate of iron solution is cheap, easily applied, and if
used with thoroughness, preferably in two applications every
year, will surely give good results in banishing the dreaded
grape diseases. I have no doubt that a similar course of treat-
ment would work well for the various blights of fruit-trees,
especially Apple-scab. We can make short work with the
comparatively few spores which have found lodgment on the
dormant wood, by spraying the comparatively small surface
with solutions far too strong to be used safely on the well-de-
veloped foliage, and on a much greater surface. In short, a
thorough use of strong iron sulphate solutions will enable us
to dispense, perhaps, entirely with Bordeaux mixture and the
various other fungicides. _

La Salle. N. V. T. Grettier.

Correspondence.
The Common Names of Wild Plants.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Knowing that you and your readers are interested in
the common names for wild plants, which vary so greatly in
different parts of our country, I am tempted to note that the
name "Biscuit-leaf," or "Biscuit-plant," which, in an article
called " Nibblingfs and Browsings," in tlie September Atlantic,
Mrs. Bergen gives as familiar in eastern New England for
Smilax rotundifolia, is quite unfamiliar in the eastern part of
Connecticut. There we called it Bread-and-butter Vine as
well as Cat-brier and Bull-brier. Mrs. Bergen says, again,
that the Oxalis and the little Rumex are both "generally
known to children as Sorrel, though in Pennsylvania, I hear,
they call the Oxalis Sour-grass." Sour-grass was our only
name for the little yellow-flowered Oxalis in Connecticut ; only
the Rumex was called Sorrel. Our only name for what Mrs.
Bergen describes as " the keenly biting Smartweed" was Pep-
per-grass, a term she does not cite.

New York. H. T. F.

Canada Thistles.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — A note in your paper on the destruction of weeds
reminds me of a controversy I once had with Canada Thistles.
I had some three acres of neglected land (hat had been turned
to pasture. It had formerly been neglected and used for
burning brush-piles, so that Canada Thistles took possession,
as they always do on burned land, and that after it was
planted with Corn or Potatoes, so that two years ago it was
literally covered with a rank growth of these weeds. As an
experiment I took a clod-crusher, made of two-inch plank,
loaded it with as much stone as the horses could draw and
broke the thistles down flat and then plowed them deeply
under. The plan succeeded perfectly. It seems that their
entire vigor, vitality and substance was then in their tops, as
they were ready for scattering the seeds. They were entirely
destroyed, and a market-gardener raised vegetables on the
land the next season. Not a sign of a Canada Thistle has been
seen on the ground to this day.

Waukrgan, III. Robert Douglas.

Why Dahlias Fail to Bloom.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— Having seen in your issue of October 4th a complaint
that Dahlias had failed to Hower, I venture to report my own
experience. For a few years past I have attempted to get
Dahlias to flower, but all efforts have proved useless. I tried
many varieties, but, as regards flowering, they all proved much
alike.

At first my impression was that they needed a soil somewhat
richer in order to mature their flower-buds, but that produced
no better results, and I then tried the opposite plan, thinking
that, perhaps, I could starve them into bloom. The result was

much the same as in the first experiment, with the exception
that in the rich soil the plants made stronger growth and more
and larger tubers. I then kept close watch to see if they were
preyed upon by some minute insect, and was at last disagree-
ably surprised tofind,busyat work, the same insect, Lyguslineo-
laris, which preys upon the Chrysanthemum. To explain how
it works would only be repeating what has often been told
already, and I fear that nearly all florists are only too well ac-
quainted with this little pest. As in the case of the Chrysan-
themum, I find that the Hower-buds, as well as the leaves, fall
a prey to this insect, and when once stung they never seem to
develop. Sometimes a bud may not be so much affected as to
prevent its opening, but when this is the case the petals on one
side of the flower will be found wanting. There may be other
reasons for the failure of Dahlias to flower satisfactorily, but
this one is more than sufficient to cause great disappointment,
and the only one I have so far been able to detect,
whiiinsviiie, Mass. CharUs Strachan.

The Columbian Exposition.

The Greenhouse Exhibits.

'X*HE greenhouse displays at the World's Fair are disposed,
■•■ for the most part, upon the lawn in the rear of the Horti-
cultural Building, although three of them are inside the build-
ing. The exhibits are not numerous, but they represent the
recent improvements in construction, and they may be taken,
as they stand, to indicate the present stage of our progress
in greenhouse-building. One familiar with the houses of
twenty years ago sees great changes. Large glass, exceed-
ingly light frame-work, the free use of iron in the construction
and the abandonment of the old point-and-putty system of
glazing are the chief innovations ; and one might add, also,
the construction of portable houses. The fears attending the
use of iron for greenhouse construction have now subsided, or
have been overcome. Rafters, only a half-inch thick and three
inches wide, are strong enough to hold a roof thirty feet high,
without a post. Glass is both lapped and butted in the various
houses, although the lapped is more used. Except in some
patent systems of glazing, wooden sash-bars are still used.

The two most comprehensive displays are those of Hitchings
& Co. and Lord & Burnham, immediately back of the Horticul-
tural dome. The former show an admirable fancy Palm-house,
34 X 50 feet, and 30 feet high, which is free from all posts and
troublesome braces. A greenhouse wing, 19 x 35 feet, is at-
tached at the rear. The entire plant, with slate and tile
benches, heated, can be built for $8,500. The construction
of this house is exceedingly light. Lord & Burnham show
a nest of three houses and a connecting work-room. The
largest house, of which the centre is a Lily-tank, is 25 x 50
feet. The greenhouse wing is 20 x 33X feet, and the Rose-
house 18X X 33 feet. This plant complete, heated, can be
built for $6,000. Two other houses are also shown by Lord
& Burnham, one a curvilinear greenhouse, 15 x 30 feet, costing
$900; the other, a portable house 10 x 20, costing$4oo. Hitchings
& Co. also show two sections of a portable iron-frame green-
house in the dome-gallery of the Horticultural Building. A
villa conservatory is shown upon the lawn by Thomas W.
Weathered's Sons, and a portable wood-and-iron frame-house
is shown by the same firm in the south floral curtain of the
Horticultural Building. This latter house is 11 x 27, and can
be built, complete, for $575. The glass is set in light sashes,
which are bolted and screwed to the frame-work. John C.
Moninger, of Chicago, has a small house, 20 x 30 feet, upon
the lawn, to show the use of Cypress lumber in the construc-
tion of a house ; and in this house Mr. J. D. Carmody, of
Evansville, Indiana, displays his sectional boiler for hot water,
and his New Departure ventilating appliance. The Hellemell
system of glazing is shown in a small portable house upon the
lawn, built by Mr. H. B. Hardt, of Chicago. This system,
which is an English patent, and not in use in this country, is a
zinc sash-bar and cap, the cap being screwed down into the
bar in much the same manner as our common wood sash-bar
and cap for butted glass are used. This system allows of
either lapped or butted glass. In the north floral curtain of the
Horticultural Building, A. Edgecumbe, Rendle & Co. show
their two patent systems of glazing, the "Acme" and the
" Paradigm." These systems consist in the use of metal sash-
bars, fitted in such shape that the glass slides into them, and is
held secure without resort to putty. The sash-bars are quite
independent of the structural frame-work of the house. The
system can be used either upon wood or iron frame houses,
and it is particularly adapted to heavy skylights. The Rendle

OCTOBER 25, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

449

Co. also has two iron skeleton houses upon the lawn to show
the method of building iron frames.

The most novel of the various greenhouse exhibits are the
two curious structures made of the Falconnier glass bricks.
These bricks are essentially bottles without an opening, and
blown in such shapes that they fit well into the designs of the
builder. As a rule, the interior hollow is about large enough
to hold a quart of liquid. The bricks are generally flattened,
but the two broad sides are usually raised into a cone-like
shape, in order to present various surfaces to the incident rays
of the sun and to break the force of hail and shocks. The nar-
rower sides are two or three inches wide and are trough-
shaped to hold the cement or mortar with which the bricks are
joined. The bricks are laid by a mason in much the same
manner as ordinary bricks are laid, and the entire arch of the
greenhouse-roof supports itself without posts, rafters or
braces. The roof and sides are, therefore, a continuous
sheet of glass. These bricks have been well tested in parts
of Europe, and they are found to conserve heat one-half, to
render the temperature of the houses uniform and to prevent
all scalding of the plants. Considering the fact that no frame-
work is required, a house can be built of this material about
as cheaply as in the common fashion. Most greenhouse-men
who have seen the two little exhibition-houses at Chicago will,
no doubt, feel that they are too dark for the growing of Roses
and the forcing of vegetables ; but the exhibitors say that for
such houses the bricks are made of clear bright glass, while
these are made of bottle glass. It is the desire of the inventor
to manufacture the bricks in this country. They recommend
them for sky-lights, porch-roofs, photographers' studios, propa-
gating-pits, and the like. These bricks are the invention of
Mr. Falconnier, of Nyon, Switzerland. The prices quoted in
France last year were twenty-four francs per 100, and about
fifty are required for a square metre.

BREVITIES.

Pecans are the subjects of four small, but very interesting,
exhibits in the gallery of the north pavilion of the Horticultural
Building. The Stuart Pecan Company, of Ocean Springs, Mis-
sissippi, in which W. R. Stuart, author of The Pecan, and How
to Grow It, is a leading spirit, shows a collection of varieties
in jars. These varieties are Stuart, Van Deman, Columbia,
Jewett and Beauty. B. M. Young, Morgan City, Louisiana,
shows an interesting series of photographs of trees, fiowers
and nuts, and also specimens of the following varieties :
Pabst, St. Martin, Miller, Vermilion, Frotscher, and many
seedlings. E. E. Risien, San Saba, Texas, shows a number of
large and very fine varieties, which, however, are unnamed.
He also has interesting photographs showing the top-grafting
of large wild trees. The trees are "topped" twenty or thirty
feet high in March, and buds are set the middle of June. The
Swinden Pecan Orchard, of Brownwood, Texas, shows a pic-
ture of its Pecan orchard of 16,000 trees, together with a collec-
tion of nuts and confections, and oiland soap made from them.

Probably the 'most perfect single specimen of tub Fern
shown at the Exposition is a plant of Cibotium Schiedei, in the
collection of Pitcher & Manda. The crown of the plant is ele-
vated to the height of six feet, yet the great leaves sweep the
ground in a circle over twelve feet in diameter.

Zamia latifrons is one of the rare plants now shown at the
World's Fair. Its wide few-toothed pinnee distinguish it from
its congeners. It is shown by the Allegheny City Parks.
Chicago. 111. L. H. Bailey.

Recent Publications.

The Shrubs of North-eastern America. By Charles S.
Newhall. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1893.

This is a companion book to the one entitled The Trees
0/ North-easterti America, by the same author, which was
published two or three years ago, and it is in many respects
a more careful compilation than its predecessor. It aims
to describe all the shrubs, not including the woody vines,
which are found native in Canada, and in the United States
east of the Mississippi River and north of the latitude of
southern Pennsylvania, together with a few foreign shrubs
which have become, to some extent, naturalized in this
country. The principal value of the book is found in the
illustrations, which, although they are rather coarsely done,
are fairly accurate, and will serve a good purpose in help-
ing beginners in botany to identify the various shrubs
which they encounter. These illustrations, which are out-

lines of the forms of leaves, fruit and flowers, are accom-
panied by three keys or guides, which are prepared to
assist the learner in tracing any given specimen to its
proper family. In one of these guides the flowers are used,
in another the leaves, and in the third the fruits. Besides
this, there are brief botanical descriptions of each plant in
which an attempt is made to translate technical language
into the vernacular. Brief notes are added to these de-
scriptions, and these might have been made a most useful
part of the book, but the author does not seem to have that
faculty of clear-seeing which enables trained observers to
select the most important characters of a given plant, or
the interesting facts of its history, or to make the most ap-
propriate suggestions as to its value for various purposes.
Sometimes the statements made in these notes are careless,
they are rarely helpful, and occasionally they are not in the
best taste. It is hardly worth while, for example, in a
manual of this sort, to assure the student that "although the
Red Root is a very common shrub, it was late before the
author learned to know it.

Recreations in Botany. By Caroline A. Creevey. New
York : Harper & Bros.

The title of this book fairly indicates its purpose. It is
one of that rapidly growing class of publications intended
to arouse the interest of readers who are not likely to un-
dertake the serious and systematic study of botany as a
science, but who, it is hoped, may be allured into taking it
up as a pa?time, if it can be treated as an outdoor sport.
The neat volume consists of a sheaf of sketches on various
topics which cover a wide range, all of which are in some
way botanical in their character. The Fertilization of Plants,
The Compositoe, Ferns, Seeds and Fruits, Aquatic Plants,
The Movements of Plants are the titles of half a dozen of the
chapters, none of which occupy as much as a dozen pages,
and the remaining chapters, more than twenty in all, are on
subjects no less disconnected than these, each of them be-
ing a little monograph, which can be read without any
reference to the rest. Of course, the information on each
subject is limited, but what there is of it is fairly accurate,
and, what is better, it is presented in a pleasing way, and
the book will serve a good purpose if it suggests to casual
readers the benefits of more systematic study. As is truly
stated in the introduction, children grow up among natural
objects without paying any heed to them, and anything
that will encourage these young people or their parents to
investigate for themselves the wonders of plant-life is dis-
tinctly useful. It is true, also, that the study of any natural
science can be made pleasant, and the knowledge gained
will be no less useful if it is acquired as a part of the regu-
lar summer recreation. We are inclined to think, however,
that the apprehension of the classified truths of any science
can only be obtained by serious, persistent and systematic
application, and that students who are honest in this mat-
ter will not get on very fast or very far if they depend to
any extent upon such desultory essays. Of course, a
knowledge of botany is only acquired by the study of
plants. And, in our view, the best aids to such studies are
the regular treatises. A good purpose, however, can be
subserved by this little book and others of a similar charac-
ter if they induce those who may read them to settle down
to steady work with some such aids as are afforded by the
text-books which have been prepared by Dr. Gray. The
book is very prettily printed, and the illustrations are really
helpful to an understanding of the text.

Notes.

Flowers of the hybrid Cosmos are selling in great abundance
in the streets of New York and Philadelphia. They now range
in color from pure while to a deep crimson, and as they last a
long time in water, they are a very useful addition to the flow-
ers for cutting at this season.

Last week the agents of the Florida Fruit Exchange in this
city shipped to England 3,600 boxes of Florida oranges, of

450

Garden and Forest.

[Number 296.

good quality, and some of them partly colored. The returns
from earlier shipments show that tlie prices realized were
equal to $2.60 a box here. The fruit carries well, and as there
is now no competition with American apples, since none
have yet been exported, practically the only fruit these oranges
have to contend with in the Liverpool auction-rooms is the
Almeria grape.

According to the Visalia Times, a vineyardist of that part of
California has found that he can fatten a hundred hogs on the
second crop of grapes in his fifty-acre vineyard. The grapes
are not picked for the swine, but the swineare turned in among
them and allowed to pick for themselves, which they do with-
out injuring the vines, and in sixty days they gain an average
of one hundred pounds each. The approved plan is to fence off a
few acres until the swine have picked the grapes in the en-
closure, and then to move the fence to another portion of the
vineyard.

The flowers of the new early Chrysanthemum, Mrs. E. G.
Hill, which is a seedling from Puritan and Mrs. Alpheus Hardy,
were exhibited in good form on the 13th of October by the in-
troducers of the plant, E. G. Hill & Co. The Hower is of the
Japanese incurved type of a delicate pink color, resembling
somewhat that of a La France Rose. A medal and diploma
was awarded to this plant at the World's Fair, the points con-
sidered being earliness, size, form, color and vigor of growth.
The flowers are said to be seven or eight inches in diameter.
They were shown on stems thirty inches long, covered with
good leaves their entire length.

Among trees which assume brilliant autumn coloring the
Oxydendrum of our Alleghany forests should not be forgotten.
The leaves of no other American tree assume a more bril-
liant scarlet color in the autumn. The decorative value
of this plant, nevertheless, appears to be overlooked in
this country, although it has many good qualities. The
habit is good, it is hardy as far north as Massachusetts,
the leaves are large, bright green and lustrous, and the
Andromeda-like flowers are produced in great, fiat, one-sided
terminal panicles at midsummer, when few other trees are in
bloom ; in the autumn the foliage is magnificent. The tree,
which represents a monotypic genus, is exclusively American.

A copy of what is, without doubt, the first publication of Asa
Gray, has recently been sent to us. It is a Catalogue of Indige-
nous Flowering and Filicoid Plants growing within twenty
miles of Bridgewater {Oneida County), New York. It consists
of nine pages, and is dated January ist, 1833 — 'ha' 's, when the
author had just entered his twenty-fourth year. This paper
was published in the forty-second annual report of the Regents
of the University of New York, and is included in Professor
Britton's List of State and Local Floras of the United States
and British America, altliough it is here entered under Onon-
daga County instead of Oneida County. Tliis catalogue was
omitted from the list of Professor Gray's writings, published
soon after his death in the American Journal of Science and
Art, and no reference to it appears in the reprint of a selection
of his scientific papers published in 1889.

No climbing plant, except, perhaps, the Ampelopsis tricuspi-
data or Veitchii, of the same country, compares at this time in
brilliancy of foliage with the Grape-vine of northern Japan,
Vitis Coignetiae, a species closely related botanically and of the
same general appearance as our native V. Labrusca. In the
forests of Yezo, V. Coignetiae climbs into the tops of the tallest
trees, filling them with its enormous leaves, which in autumn
assume the most brilliant hues of scarlet. In this country it
appears to be perfectly hardy, and promises to present in au-
tumn as brilliant a spectacle as it does in its native country. It
is, both in the size of its foliage and autumn coloring, a much
more desirable ornamental plant than any of our American
Grape-vines ; and it can be planted to advantage wherever
sufficient space can be given it to climb among tall trees or to
cover large arbors or other edifices. Tlie fruit, late in the sea-
son, after it has been frozen, is eaten by tlie Japanese, who find
it palatable ; the flavor, however, is not much better tlian that
of our common wild grapes, and it is only as an ornamental
plant, or as a stock on which to graft less vigorous species or
varieties, that V. Coigneti^ will be found in our gardens,
where it seems destined to play an important role.

A few plums from California are still coming, the varieties
of the latest shipments being mainly Coe's Late Red and Ick-
worth, Fellenberg, Gros and Silver prunes. Fresh supplies can-
not be expected much longer, but since the first reached here, on
the 23d of June, the season of this delicious fruit has not been
short. Red damsons from New York state are seventy-five
cents for a ten-pound basket. California peaches have been

received here in considerable quantity during the past week,
among them being Bilyeu's Late October, a variety which, al-
though it has been discarded in southern California and along
the coast, is particularly adapted to the foot-hill region where it
will mature. It is a large greenish white freestone peach, with
a red cheek and light-colored flesh. Crawford's Late peaches,
from western Pennsylvania and New York, bring one dollar
and a quarter a basket. A few California quinces have come,
but these seem to have been picked while green, and although
they are very large, they are misshapen and unattractive.
Clairgeau, Duchess, Lawrence, Vicar of Wakefield and Anjou
pears are the chief ones in the market, and sell at from three to
four dollars a barrel. Some large and beautiful Japanese per-
simmons are herefrom Florida, but the sales are so slow tliat
wholesale dealers refuse to handle them. At the fancy-fruit
stores they sell at from five to ten cents apiece. Bananas are
abundant and cheap, those from Aspinwall and Port Limon
bringing a dollar to a dollar and a quarter a bunch on the
steamers, the more northern-grown fruit selling at twelve
cents a bunch less for the same grade.

The last number of the Pacific Rural Press, which has come
to hand, contains a picture of a La Marque Rose in Santa Clara,
California, which is thirty-two years old and has a trunk forty-
four inches in circumference. In the notice of this plant it is
stated that, although this La Marque is one of the most popu-
lar climbing Roses, it is by no means tlie only one which
reaches great dimensions. The Cloth of Gold attains as great
a size and wonderful perfection of bloom, while superb speci-
mens of Mar^chal Niel, Gloire de Dijon, Rayon d'Or and Wil-
liam Allen Richardson, not to speak of the Banksians and
Cherokees, are found everywhere. Indeed, California seems
to be a land where climbing Roses attain their greatest perfec-
tion. They were among the earliest plants taken to that state.
The Forty-niners cherished and preserved cuttings in their
perilous journey across the plains, and the new plants found
in the warm foot-hill soil just the opportunity for develop-
ment that they needed, and very soon they embowered the
miners' cabins and strayed off among the surrounding trees.
In a land where the tenderest Rose-shoot is safe in December
and January, and where the flowers begin to bloom before the
winter is fairly over, it is little wonder that these plants are
popular, and have become so common that there is hardly any
old place where some fine specimen is not the constant
joy of its owner and the wonder of every tourist. But, besides
these old varieties, those of comparatively recent origin are
largely growing in favor. The Climbing Devoniensis is rival-
ing the La Marque, while the Climbing Niphetos, Climbing
Perle des Jardins, Elie Beauvillain and several others are grow-
ing in favor.

The summer's work of the New York Flowei and Fruit
Mission, which ended last Thursday, has been steadily carried
on two days of each week since the 19th of May. The absence
of heavy frosts contributed to an abundant supply of garden-
flowers to the last, and nearly one hundred and fifty packages
were received on the closing day. Since the first spring dis-
tribution, made up largely of Violets, Buttercups, Saxifrages,
Solomon's-seal, Apple-blossoms, Lilacs, Tulips and Pasonies,
the tables of the Flower Mission have been heaped with wild
and cultivated flowers in their succession, ending now with
Asters, Dahlias, Zinnias, Nasturtiums and Cosmos, while
Mignonette, Geraniums, Ferns and Pansies contributed a
large share of fragrance and brightness throughout the en-
tire season. The primary object from the begiiining, twenty-
two years ago, has been to distribute flowers among the very
sick of the free hospitals. Under the well-organized efforts of
this association, 135 institutions have been visited regularly
during the last five months, and about one hundred and twenty
thousand bouquets have been distributed. Fifty city mission-
aries have carried cut flowers, and latelyslips and potted plants,
into the tenement districts, where window-gardens will be
made up from cuttings sent by gardeners of country places.
Contributors, as a rule, send their best flowers, summer resi-
dents in the Oranges, and as far away as eastern Long Island
and Massachusetts, forwarding regularly. The express com-
panies have repeated their liberality of former years in carry-
ing free all packages addressed to the Mission weighing not
over twenty pounds. Fruits, vegetables, fresh eggs and nuts
come in considerable quantity with the flowers, and there have
been many gifts of home-made jellies and preserves. The
regular work of the society will not be resumed until spring,
but the rooms at 104 East Twentieth Street will be open for a
week beginning 19th December for Christmas gifts of greens
and other materials which will help to brigliten hospital-
wards and the homes of the needy.

November i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

451

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building. New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

BNTBRED AS SECOND-CLASS HATTER AT THE POST OFHCB AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER i, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

KorroRlAL Article: — Lumbering: and Forestry 451

The Botanical Aspect of Pike's Peak Dr. V. Havard, U.S.A. 452

A Naturally Grown Chrysanthemum, Florence Percy. (With figure.)

IV. iVatson. 453

October in a West Virginia Garden Danske Dandrtdge. 453

FoRsiGN Correspondence : — London Letter IV. Watson. 454

New or Little-known Plants :— Orchid Notes W. 455

Cultural Department : — Early Deciduous Shrubs y. G. Jack. 455

Garden Notes y. N. Gerard. 457

Autumn Work E. O. Orpet. 457

Correspondence : — The Best Lilacs A. M. Eaton. 457

The Pinetum at West Chester, Pennsylvania 5. 458

Sulphuric Acid and Water .' L. C. Flanvagan. 459

The Columbian ExposmoN : — Gardening about State and Government Build-
ings Professor L. H. Bailey. 459

Notes 460

Illustration : — Chrysanthemum, Florence Percy — naturally grown. Fig. 67. . . . 456

Lumbering and Forestry.

NO doubt it is true that, in the long run, the interests
of the forester and of the lumberman are identical.
The good people who look on lumbermen as public ene-
mies because they cut down trees, should remember that
the most conservative and scientific forestry has the same
end in view ; that is, the purpose of good forestry is not to
save trees, but to cut them and use every one. The real
case of the people against the lumberman is not that he cuts
down trees to use them, but that he cuts extravagantly and
destroys more than he uses. At the recent covention in
Chicago, Mr. J. E. Defebaugh, editor of The Timberman,
argued that, so long as the present conditions continue, the
destruction of the forest is inevitable, and any policy of
forest-preservation impossible. The argument is, that no
nation can husband its chief resource. The United States
exports wheat because it is possible to raise cheap wheat
from virgin soils by robbing them of their fertility. Wheat
would be no longer one of our principal resources, and we
could not export a bushel, if the western growers were re-
quired to raise their wheat under an advanced system of
husbandry which maintained the strength of the soil by
using fertilizers. So with our forest-products. They are a
leading resource because we can get them cheaply by
wasteful methods. If we were compelled to practice the
refinements of forestry, and keep in view the constant re-
production of the best timber, forest-products would no
longer be cheap and articles of large export. In this view
of the case, so long as timber-cutting and timber-selling are
left to be controlled by ordinary financial considerations,
we can expect no wise and far-sighted forest-policy until
our forest-area is reduced and becomes small in proportion
to our population. The only way to establish any system
of forestry before the original forest is mainly cut away is
to interest the entire people, so that, with due regard to in-
dividual rights, the forest-policy of the country should
some how be under Government control

There is a truth at the bottom of this somewhat discour-

aging view, but, even if it is accepted, we should remember
that after all it is possible for lumbermen, with little expense,
to adopt less wasteful methods, and it is possible, too, for
the law to interfere and check some of our extravagant
methods of cutting before the time is ripe for the state to
take in charge the administration of our forest-property.
Besides this, as Mr. Fernow pointed out at the same meet-
ing, the time has already arrived, or, at least, it cannot be
far distant, when timber-lands will be an inviting invest-
ment for those who wish to keep their forests for permanent
cropping. He does not suggest the planting of forests from
which the first returns are distant from thirty to a hundred
years, although tree-planting by no means ought to be
discouraged on the forestless prairies and in the plains
country. Nor does he advocate the purchase of culled
pieces of woodland from which the valuable timber has
already been cut. But, inasmuch as it is possible, even
now, to buy well-stocked virgin forest-lands which already
contain a full-grown crop, half of which is valuable and
accessible to large markets, for from $5.00 to $10.00 an
acre, the more rational method would be to take this ready-
made crop and apply to it systematic forestry. As the
country has grown richer the rates of interest have de-
clined, and if Government bonds, on account of their safety
and the ease with which the interest is collected, bring less
than four per cent, the compounding of interest on forest-
property, which is safe and increasing in value, may justify
us in making our estimates at a still lower figure. The
investor in such timber-lands can at will draw interest, and
he can anticipate it by taking advantage of favorable mar-
ket conditions, and he can still have an investment capable
of increasing its yield partly by the increased product
under good management, and partlyon account of increased
price for this product. To enforce this view, Mr. Fernow
states that during the last forty years the price of wood has
increased in Germany at the rate of from one and a half to
nearly three per cent, a year. In Prussia the price nearly
doubled from the years 1830 to 1865, while between 1850
to 1 89 1 it rose from three cents to nearly five cents a cubic
foot for wood of all kinds and sizes. And since our virgin
forest-supplies are being consumed at a rate which exceeds
twice the capacity of the existing area to produce it, thrifty
growing timber must surely increase in value. For long
investments, therefore, timber-lands, under good forest-
management, may even now be considered as equally
profitable in the long run to timber-lands which are bought
for the purpose of culling out all that is good and leaving
the forest in a worse condition than it was before.

As for the waste of our ordinary lumbering methods, we
have already said that, perhaps, when lumbermen learn
more about the advantages of forestry, they will try to im-
prove their practice. With regard, however, to the great
sin against forestry — namely, forest-fires, which one would
think affected the lumberman more directly than any one
else — he seems to have a supreme indifference. Another
speaker at this same meeting, Mr. Saley, editor of the
North-western Lumberman, states that in the White Pine ter-
ritory, where fires are most destructive, not only to tim-
ber, but to settlements and human life, he has only known
one operator to burn his debris under supervision, and thus
protect his own property and that of his neighbors. Very
often the operator cares for no protection himself because
he has cut every stick of timber on his own ground, and he
has laid a train which must sooner or later be fired, to the
danger of the timber which stands alongside of his boun-
daries and belongs to his neighbor. Then follows a pas-
sage, which we quote entire :

Here conies the legal aspect of the case, and it is surprising
that the courts have not been asked to give their opinion re-
garding it. In common law, if a man desires to pile, without
protection, combustible material on his lot adjoining the one
on which his neighbor's house stands, he may do so, but he
will be held accountable in case of damage for such losses as
might naturally result from his negligence. If an operator
permits the leavings of a logging job to collect and dry along-
side the timber of another man, there is little question but in

452

Garden and Forest.

[Number 297.

law the operator would be held responsible if the timber was
damaged as the result of a fire originating in these powdery
brush-heaps. Yet, so universally is it held in logging circles
that forest-fires are a natural consequence that never, to my
knowledge, has a suit been brought for damage as a result of
one. If there is the slightest suspicion that sparks from a lo-
comotive or steam-tug set lumber in a yard on fire, litigation is
sure to follow ; but if a man permits his inflammable refuse to
accumulate, and as a result there is a sweeping conflagration
that does more damage than half the lumber-yards in the state
are worth, not even blame attaches to him. The utter disre-
gard of this phase of forestry — the prevention of forest-fires —
IS as deplorable as it is unaccountable. The plea of the operator
is, that it would not be possible to so care for their debris that
the great danger of forest-fires would be materially lessened.
They really mean when they say this that the expense of such
care would be greater than they would like to bear.

The sum of the matter is, as it was well presented by
Mr. Saley, that the lumberman is not in business for the
benefit of future generations. He is not even in business
for a life-time. His thick saws are eating up lumber for
the purpose of getting every dollar out of the woods that is
possible, and as soon as possible, so that he can retire in a
few years when the timber from his woodlands is ex-
hausted. Perhaps law can reduce the waste by fire, but it
is self-interest alone that must for the present be relied
upon to induce him to manage his forest-property as if it
had a value for his children. Scientific forestry will cer-
tainly come when the era of cheap lumber is over, and that
day will arrive all too quickly. Allowing six thousand
feet of timber to the acre, at the present rate of lumber
manufacture an area as large as the state of Massachusetts
is cleaned off every year, and this without including the
wood that is used for fuel, for mining and for railway-
tracks. With a population growing at the rate of a million
a year, the demand for wood will be still more importu-
nate, and the time when trees will be precious is hurry-
ing on more swiftly than the nation realizes. Meanwhile it is
the plain duty of every thoughtful man who has the
highest interests of his country at heart, to set forth these
facts as clearly and as frequently as possible, so that pub-
lic sentiment, instructed to appreciate the close connection
between the forests of the nation and its general health and
prosperity, may insist upon the enactment of conservative
forest-laws for the general good ; so that the owners of
forest-property may come to understand that the time is at
hand when it will be a true economy for them, as well as
for the best interests of the public, to conduct their busi-
ness with an eye to the future value of their property ; and
so that capitalists and corporations will search for timber-
lands as a safe and permanent investment.

The Botanical Aspect of Pike's Peak.

PIKE'S PEAK, since the discovery of gold in the streams
draining its base in 1858, has always been one of the
best-known points of the Rocky Mountains, even to bot-
anists, as the Flora of Colorado testifies. It is one of the
peaks of the Colorado continental divide, with an altitude
of 14,147 feet; north of it, at the same divide, are two
higher summits. Long's Peak, 14,271 feet, a conspicuous
landmark from the plains, and Gray's Peak, 14,341 feet,
further west and invisible from the plains ; south of Pike's
Peak, in the Sangre de Cristo range, is Blanca Peak, 14,463
feet, the highest of the Rockies. It thus appears that these
several peaks differ but little in altitude, and that being all
within the stale of Colorado the character of their vegeta-
tion must be much alike.

The railway carries the traveler from Denver to Manitou,
at the very foot of Pike's Peak, in about three hours, by
way of Colorado Springs. I left Denver on the morning
of July 1 8th ; the season had been unusually dry, even for
this arid climate, and but few flowers were visible from the
cars, besides road-side weeds like Cleome integrifolia and
Argemone platyceras, upon which drought seems power-
less ; the former often grows in large clumps, forming

pretty color masses, and might be utilized in places where
water is scant.

Colorado Springs is a well laid out town on the plains,
near the foot of the mountains, offering to invalids many
attractions of climate and mountain scenery. Miles of its
streets are lined with Cottonwood (Populus monolifera),
planted close, as is too common in the west, and seldom
showing its full, ample proportions ; the absence of all
other shade-trees, more ornamental and useful, evinces a
sad want of public taste and judgment.

Manitou lies nestling in the bottom of a picturesque
basin formed by towering mountains and dominated on
the south by the round and bold summit of Pike's Peak.
Mineral-waters spring from the ground in several places
and enjoy a well-deserved reputation. Hardly any attempt
has been made to introduce exotic trees, and the entire veg-
etation is practically of native growth. The Cottonwood
and Willow-leaved Poplar (Populus angustifolia) are com-
mon, the latter, when allowed plenty of room, becoming a
very neat shade-tree, much superior to the former. High
on the slopes are light green patches of Aspen, seldom ex-
ceeding the size of a small tree. Near the streams are Box
Elder, often of large size ; Dwarf Maple (Acer glabrum).
Black Birch (Betula occidentalis), and the western Choke-
cherry (Prunusdemissa), the latter with large, pretty foliage.
Clematis ligusticifolia twines over walls and fences. Only
one Oak (Quercus undulata, var. Gambelii) was observed,
a very small, crooked tree, forming pretty clumps in the
little town park, the dark, glossy green of the upper side of
the leaves contrasting with the silvery white of the under
side. This Oak extends a short distance up the slopes,
meeting groves of the western Juniper (Juniperus occiden-
talis, var. monosperma). In the near cailons I noticed
Rubus deliciosus R. strigosus, Jamesia Americana and
Physocarpus opulifolia.

A cog-wheel railway runs up to the summit of the peak,
and the ascent is accomplished in a comfortable car quickly
and safely, indeed much too quickly for the botanical col-
lector, the round trip from Manitou being made in four and
a half hours. The altitude of Manitou is 6,629 ^^et, that of
the summit 14,147, a difference of 7,518 feet, which is over-
come by a little less than nine miles of railway, or at the rate
of about 845 feet to the mile. The train stops but three times
on its way up or down, and only the few moments neces-
sary to take in water, while the stay on the summit is about
forty minutes.

Of the Conifers seen at the base of the peak and during
the ascent, the most conspicuous for its silvery-blue foliage
and drooping purplish cones is the Blue Spruce (Picea pun-
gens), which is common on the lower slopes ; likewise fre-
quent here, as everywhere else, are the Yellow Pine (Pinus
ponderosa, var. scopulorum) and the Douglas Fir (Pseu-
dotsuga taxifolia) ; the White Fir (Abies concolor) was also
noticed. The order of distribution of these trees up the
sides of the mountain might prove of interest, but I had no
opportunity to ascertain it. The undergrowth comprises
Aspen, several Willows, one Salix flavescens, reaching up
the ravines of the high slopes, common Juniper, Juniperus
communis, Cercocarpus parvifolius, Potentilla fruticosa and
Spiraea discolor.

Many flowers grew alongside the track, in the damp,
grassy clearings, as well as on the jagged boulders,
and during the slow ascent could be recognized from
the car-windows. The most common and conspicuous
were Epilolium angustifolium. Geranium Fremonti ? Pent-
stemon glaber, Mertensia Sibirica, Aquilegia coerulea,
Aconitum Columbianum, Geum rivale. Campanula rotun-
difolia, Zygadenus elegans, Castilleia miniata. Bouquets
collected in the near vicinity, and offered for sale by boys
at the stopping-places, contained specimens of Calochortus
Gunnisoni, Lilium Philadelphicum and Dodecatheon Mea-
dia ; others, higher up, were made entirely of the very
pretty but too heavily scented Mertensia alpina. Common
wasCnicus eriocephalus, a large, woolly Thistle, strikingly
decorative.

November i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

453

The timber extends to the altitude of about 11,500 feet ;
beyond this upper "timber-line" one sees nothing but bare
slopes reaching up to the rocky top. The vegetation of
these upper slopes is one of the most interesting botanical
features of the ascent. The plants are small and stunted,
hardly anywhere thick enough to form a sod ; the only
viroody one noticed was Potentilla fruticosa, very much
dwarfed. Only one low, cespitose Grass was collected,
Poa Lettermani, of which Mr. L. H. Dewey, who kindly
determined it, writes that " it is a rare specimen, and has
been found only on the high peaks of the Rocky Moun-
tains." The other plants collected in this locality (at the
stopping-place) are Mertensia alpina, also reported from
other very high altitudes ; Allium Nuttallii, with deep rose
flowers; a small yellow Caslilleia (breviflora.?), Silene
acaulis, Saxifraga flagellaris, Geum Rossii and its variety
humile, Sedum Rhodiola, forming purple spots on the
tawny surface, also reported from other high peaks ; Poly-
gonum Bibtorta, and a species of Arenaria.

Other plants described in the Flora 0/ Colorado as having
been collected on Pike's Peak, altitude not mentioned, are
Saxifraga punctata, S. Jamesii, Primula angustifolia, Andro-
sace Chamoejasme, Chionophila Jamesii. It is presumed
that they belong to the upper slopes near or above the
timber-line.

The slopes become more broken and rocky as the train
rises ; the temperature falls, and an overcoat is necessary
long before reaching the top ; this is a comparatively level
surface, a few acres in extent, covered with broken boul-
ders and of most unattractive aspect. Here stands the
signal-station which for many years has crowned the
peak ; it is a low, substantial stone building, able to with-
stand the wind velocity of 120 miles an hour, which is not
unfrequently recorded ; it is connected by telegraph with
the world below. As the traveler steps out of the car his
attention is first called to himself before he proceeds to
gaze on the wonderful panoramic view spread before him ;
this rise of a mile and a half in the upper air within two
hours seriously disturbs the physiological functions ; there
has not been sufficient time for a readjustment to the low-
ered pressure ; one has a faint, dizzy sensation ; the heart
beats quickly, the breathing is somewhat labored, and the
hearing is impaired ; it is necessary to move about slowly,
at least during the first few moments ; invalids liable to
hemorrhage had better not make the ascent.

It is an unpleasant surprise to find the summit of Pike's
Peak so perfectly dry and barren ; not a patch of snow
could be seen at this season. The same remark applies, in
a variable measure, to the other summits of the Rocky
Mountains ; although now and then temporarily whitened
in summer, none are covered with perpetual snow, owing
to the very scant precipitation. Not a trace of vegetation
is visible at the first glance ; nothing but sharp-angled
stones, between which it is not practicable to find a path-
way. After diligent search I was able to find three very
modest plants, all in blossom, none of them credited to
this peak in the Flora 0/ Colorado. The finest is a Pole-
monium, with rather large and pretty blue flowers ; Dr.
Morong, to whom I referred it, thinks it a form of P.
humile. All visitors endeavor to procure specimens of it
as souvenirs, but few succeed. It has also been reported
from Chicago Lakes, altitude i2,coo feet, while another
species, P. confertum, has been collected on Gray's Peak
at the same high altitude. My second plant is Claytonia
megarrhiza, a dwarf, acaulescent form, with the white
flowers mostly under, and not much exceeding, the ro-
sette of fleshy leaves. This has also been reported from
Gray's Peak at an altitude of 14,000 feet. The third plant
is Saxifraga chrysantha in its typical form.

Other plants credited in the Flora 0/ Colorado to the
"summit of Pike's Peak" (the "summit" probably includ-
ing some of the adjoining slopes) are Arenaria verna, van
hirta (probably my doubtful species before mentioned),
Cymopterus alpinus, Erigeron compositus, Artemisia sco-
pulorum, Senecio amplectans, van taraxacoides, Castilleia

pallida, Gentiana frigida, Carex otrata, van ovata. Some
of these have doubtless disappeared from the summit, the
prey of the hundreds of visitors eager to secure any kind of
vegetable growth as remembrances of their trips.

Under the circumstances, considering the stony sterility
of the soil, the constant low temperature, the terrific winter
hurricanes and the long summer drought, it is, perhaps, a
matter of wonder that so many species, so widely separated
in their affinities, have found a foothold on or near this
summit.

Fort Russell, Wyo. V. HoVard, U. S. A.

A Naturally Grown Chrysanthemum,
Florence Percy.

THE illustration of one of our Chrysanthemums on page
456 is an example of what we here like to call an un-
mutilated specimen. At Kew we rather pride ourselves in
setting a good example to growers of these plants, but I am
bound to admit that exhibitors do not yet follow our lead,
preferring to grow tall, one-legged plants for the sakeof big
blooms, or globe-shaped bushes with a single bloom only
on every branch. This method has only one result, the
desired one, of course, which is big, well-formed full
blooms, but the plants, like all painfully trained specimens,
are deprived of nearly all true, natural beauty. There are
not many plants, either indoors or out, that naturally form
handsomer bushes than the Chrysanthemum ; this, I think,
must be admitted by every one with taste, on looking at this
picture of the lovely white-flowered variety, known as
Florence Percy. Of course, a considerable amount of the
gardener's art must be expended on plants grown even in
this style, but the art is cunningly hidden, the stopping,
pinching, staking and disbudding being all performed with
a view to enhancing the natural beauty of the plant, and not
for the purpose of making it something quite unlike a Chrys-
anthemum.

At Kew we grow about three hundred plants yearly for
the decoration of the conservatory and large winter-garden.
The varieties preferred are those which form shapely
bushes and are not too high ; at the same time as great a
range of variation in color, form and size of bloom as
possible is aimed at.

There is much that is charming and interesting to botan-
ists, as well as to the every-day visitor, in the truly won-
derful development of the Chrysanthemum at the hands
of the cultivator and breeden By the way, can any one
help Kew to a living plant of the typical Chrysanthemum,
C. porifolium ? It must be plentiful in China, and probably
also in Japan. It would be a most interesting plant to grow
by the side of the Edwin Molyneauxs, Avalanches and
Florence Percys of the present time. „, „,

October in a West Virginia Garden.

■pEW flowers are now to be seen in the borders, and fewer
•'• still in the shrubberies, but many Roses have renewed
their youth since the heat and drought of summer have given
place to frosty nights and abundant moisture. Hermosa is a
valuable Rose at this season. Safrano, Isabella Sprunt, Adam
and several varieties of the Polyantha class, are blooming with
some profusion, and small plants of Laurette, set in the spring,
are showing one or two flowers each. In spite of some sharp
frosts, Ulrich Brunner is bearing a few rich dark velvet, very
double blossoms that have all the fragrance of June.

In the shrubbery, Vitex Agnus-castus is now blooming for
the first time. This plant has lived out without protection for
several seasons. It was cut down to the ground by the severe
weather last winter, but has made good growth in spite of the
drought, and is four feet in height and adorned with a few
spikes of small purple flowers. The five lanceolate leaflets
are whitened underneath and are now a dull greenish-maroon
on the upper surface. These leaflets are pleasantly aromatic,
and the appearance of the shrub is very attractive, especially
when contrasted with the deep green of some Halesias in the
same group. Its near neighbor, a fine Callicarpa Ameri-
cana, is covered with its small lustrous berries of red-
dish-violet. The Witch-hazel is decked with yellow fringe,

454

Garden and Forest.

[Number 297.

and its exploding seed-vessels have fired their last salute to the
departing season.

The trees tliatare the first to change color, such as the Sour
Gums and Sugar Maples, have already lost their brilliancy.
Many of them lost the greater part of their foliage on the thir-
teenth of this month, when a violentgale uprooted a superb Oak
on the premises, which measured eleven feet in circumference
four feet from the base, and was apparently quite sound and
healthy.

The Sweet-brier, with its abundant scarlet hips and sparse
foliage, still green and fragrant, is one of the most beautiful
objects in the fading shrubbery. Not less brilliant are the
berries of Thumberg's Barberry, which are unusally numer-
ous. The branches, covered with pink and dull red leaflets,
and weighed down with fruit, fairly glow in the bright sun-
shine. Other handsome berries, now at their best, are those
of Cotoneaster Simonsii, which are cherry-red, contrasting
prettily wiih the foliage, which is still a dark green. Spiraeas
are putting on their brilliant autumn colors, but the so-called
golden-leaved variety of Spiraea opulifolia has now lost all
tinee of yellow and is an uniform dull green.

The beautiful Hypericum Mosserianum has been blooming
a second time for a fortnight past, and is still full of buds,
which scarcely find warmth enough to encourage them to
open. TheHowers, which have been already described in Gar-
den AND Forest, are very large, bright and showy, and are
fairly numerous. If is a plant for tlie herbaceous border rather
than the shrubbery proper, and contrasts well with Aster
oblongifolius, which is making its little corner gay with num-
erous bright blue blossoms. Near by the Japanese Anemone
is in bloom, and a few trumpet-shaped blossoms of the pretty
evergreen, Abelia rupestris, fill the air with delicate perfume.
This little shrub is hardy as far north as Philadelphia, and,
perhaps, it would endure a still higher latitude with a little
winter protection. It is quite largely planted in the public
grounds at Washington, and visitors always admire it.

Rose Brake, W. Va. ' Datiskt Dandridge.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

AT the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society,
£\^ Orchids and other indoor plants were numerous, the
best collection coming from L'Horticulture Internationale.
It contained exceptionally good varieties of Cattleya la-
biata (Warocqueana), of C. elegans, one of these called
Lucianii having the deepest and most brilliantly colored
labellum I have ever seen in this species ; and of C. Ack-
landice ; a superb variety of C. maxima, named Leopoldii,
and remarkable for the rich maroon with golden reticula-
tion of its labellum ; a long four-flowered spike of the
tawny-colored C. Alexandrse ; a stout four-flowered scape of
the beautiful and majestic Cypripedium Rothschildianum
and a new hybrid, called Spicero-Lowianum, combining
the characters of the two parents, the first-named predom-
inating in color and form. Cattleya Eldorado, var. Owenii,
which received an award of merit, is an albino with a rich
amethyst blotch and a yellow throat. Cochlioda vulcan-
iucum, var. grandiflorum, was shown with a twelve-flow-
ered scape, the flowers nearly twice as large as in the
type.

Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons sent an improved form of Cypri-
pedium Arethurianum, called superbum ; this owed its
superiority in the depth of color and tinge of rose in the
dorsal sepal, to the fact that it was bred from the Chantini
variety of C. insigne Cattleya chloris ; a hybrid between
C. Bowringiana and C. maxima was awarded a first-class
certificate, and was considered to be one of the handsomest
of the newer hybrids, the flowers being five inches across,
of the color of C. Bowringiana, with the labellum of C.
maxima. A second hybrid Cattleya, named Pheidinse, and
raised from C. maxima and C. intermedia, with a good deal
of the characteristics of the former parent, obtained an
award of merit. From Messrs. F. Sander & Co. came a
group of Orchids, conspicuous among them being some
very fine varieties of Cattleya labiata, the rare Pesca-
torea Klabochorum, Cattleya Kranzlini, a hybrid between
C. elegans prasiata and C. Wagneri, an attractive plant with
sepals and petals, as in C. elegans, rosy-mauve, the lip

wavy and crisp with a yellow throat and maroon blotch ;
Batemannia Burtii, and a group of Phalsenopsis Lowii.
Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son exhibited the rare Pachy-
stoma Thomsonianum, Dendrobium Phala'nopsis and other
species from tropical Australia. Messrs. Hugh Low & Co.
showed Vanda Kimballiana, which we owe to them, and
which is one of the very best of the Vandas when properly
grown, producing spikes nearly two feet long; Stanhopea
Amesiana, a pretty white-flowered species of recent intro-
duction ; Dendrobium Lowii, a rather rare plant now, one
of the nigro-hirsute section and reputedly difficult to grow ;
and Masdevallia muscosa, the sensitive-lipped species.
Major-General Beakeley exhibited a part white-lipped va-
riety of Odontoglossum Uro-Skinneri, and Kewsent a new
hybrid Disa, named Premier, raised from D. Veitchii and
D. tripetaloides, a sturdy plant with a spikeeighteen inches
high, bearing six large, bright rose-crimson flowers. It was
awarded a first-class certificate.

Among the general plants the Kew exhibits ranked first
in interest, four of them receiving first-class certificates.
They were

SoLANUM Wendlandii, of which three enormous bunches
of bloom were shown, and which is admitted to be one of
the very finest stove-climbers in cultivation. At Kew
there is now a plant of it trained against a rafter in a
warm house, and bearing a great number of large heads
of rich blue flowers. It is emphatically a plant for every
stove.

BoMAREA PATACOENSis (confcrta), with stems twenty feet
long, each terminated by a drooping cluster of rich red
flowers quite as large as those of Philesia, and, as there are
thirty or more flowers on a bunch, its beautiful effect can
be imagined. A strong well-established plant continues to
produce flowers all the year round.

Tecoma Smithii. — A hybrid raised in Australia a few years
ago from T. Capensis and T. velutina, the latter a variety of
T. stans. It is a first-rate greenhouse-plant, and would be
a glorious climber for verandas in countries where it could
be grown out-of-doors. At Kew it is grown on the dwarf-
ing system, which results in plants scarcely two feet high,
bearing large terminal heads of the most delightfully at-
tractive yellow flowers. It is a plant for the million.

Ptychoraphis AUGUSTA. — I told your readers of the merits
of this Palm some months ago. It has all the grace and
elegance of Cocos Weddelliana, with the free growth and
good constitution of a common Kentia. It was introduced
to Kew from the Nicobar Islands last year. Other exhibits
from Kew were Clematis Stanleyi, which is a really pleas-
ing plant when planted in a sunny border in rich soil and
treated like Anemone Japonica, its elegant silvery foliage,
numerous rose-purple nodding flowers and ornamental
fruits being effective toward the end of summer. Kniphofia
modesta is a tall species introduced to Kew from Kafraria
a few years ago, and now established in a border. It is
remarkable in being white-flowered, the scapes being three
feet high and the leaves narrow and grass-like. A series of
seedlings of Streptocarpus was also shown. Messrs. Veitch
also showed Streptocarpus and a basket of plants in flower
of the dwarf blue-flowered Caryopteris mastacanthus, which
only just falls short of meriting a place among first-class
hardy shrubs ; it is not quite hardy enough for English gar-
dens, and the blue of its flowers is rather dull in shade.
Anthurium Wambeckianum, a white-spathed hybrid in the
way of A. ebarneum and Hsemanthus Lindeni, a pale form
of the variable H. multiflorus, both shown by L'Horticul-
ture Internationale, were awarded first-class certificates.
Two first-rate winter-flowering Carnations, shown by Mr.
J. Godfrey, Exmouth Nurseries, were awarded certificates ;
they were named Reginald Godfrey, a soft pink full flower,
with crisped petals, good in form, and very fragrant, and
Mary Godfrey, similar in shape to the other, but pure white;
the plants were dwarf, with good grass. Nerine elegans,
var. alba, shown by Mr. T. Ware, Tottenham Nurseries, is
a white variety of the hybrid raised some years ago from
N. flexuosa and N. rosea ; the flowers of the albino are

November i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

455

large, good in form and substance, and snow-white. It ob-
tained a first-class certificate.

A fine variety of Red Oak, Q. coccinea, shown by Mr.
Anthony Waterer under the name of splendens, was
awarded a first-class certificate. It is the same as the
plant shown last year as Knap Hill Oak. Mr. Waterer also
showed flowers of his Spiraea callosa, var. A. Waterer, and
a bunch of branches of Spiraea Thunbergii, the leaves
colored rich orange and scarlet, a beautiful plant in autumn.

LiLiuM Nepalense. — A group of this beautiful Indian Lily
was shown by Messrs. H. Low & Co., with whom it is
proving to be a first-rate garden-plant. It bids fair to be-
come a popular Lily with growers of these plants. It would
be interesting to know how these newer Indian Liliums
would behave under cultivation along with L. longiflorum
in the Florida fields.

Pentstemon antirrhinoides. — This interesting shrubby
species of Pentstemon was introduced to Kew from Cali-
fornia about twenty years ago, and flowered in the open
ground in September. It is not, however, hardy, and con-
sequently it had disappeared from cultivation here until last
Tuesday, when it was shown in flower at the Royal Hor-
ticultural Society meeting by Sir Trevor Lawrence. It may
be well known in American gardens, but in case it is not I
may say it is a much-branched, glabrous, subcinerous
shrub with slender leafy shoots, suggesting those of Myrtle
or Leptospermum, and bearing numerous lemon-yellow
flowers an inch across, short in the tube, with the lower
divisions of the limb incurved. It might prove a good
plant to cross with the popular herbaceous species of the

genus.

X^odoa.

W. Walson.

New or Little-known Plants.

Orchid Notes.

Cypripedium Charlesworthii. — This new species has re-
cently been introduced from the East Indies by Messrs.
Charlesworth, Shuttleworth & Co., of Bradford, by whom a
plant in flower was exhibited at the last meeting of the
Royal Horticultural Society, and obtained a first-class cer-
tificate. It has strap-shaped green leaves, veined on the
under side, and distinct beautiful flowers borne singly on
scapes three inches long. The upper or dorsal sepal is
nearly three inches in diameter, and is white, with rose-
purple veining ; the two lower sepals are greenish white.
The petals are nearly two inches long, straight, smooth-
edged, and colored brownish yellow. The lip resembles
that of C. insigne, and is of a yellowish color, with brown
shading. The staminode is conspicuous, being large, flat
and pure white. Mr. Rolfe is responsible for the name of
this plant.

DiSA Veitchii X TRiPETALOiDES. — This IS a new hybrid
raised at Kew, where it is now flowering for the first time.
As will be seen from its parentage, it combines three dis-
tinct species. D. Veitchii being the result of crossing D.
grandiflora with D. racemosa. As I surmised some time
ago when writing about D. Veitchii, these hybrids are
much easier to cultivate than most Orchids, and they in-
crease as rapidly as Couch-grass. The new hybrid has a
crowded rosette of sturdy green leaves, from the centre of
which springs a scape as thick as a swan's-quill and one
and a half feet high. The flowers are as numerous as on
D. racemosa, nearly two inches across, and colored deep
rose. I can recommend these tufted Disas to any one in
search of promising material to breed from, as it is scarcely
possible to make a mistake in crossing and raising them
from seed.

Cattleya blesensis is a new hybrid between C. Loddi-
gesii and Laelia pumila Dayana. It was shown in flower
last week by Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son, and obtained
an award of merit. It is a healthy-looking, free-growing
plant in the way of C. Loddigesii, and produces three or
four flowers on a scape, each larger than either of the

parents, the sepals and petals being colored rosy mauve,
and the front lobe of the wavy edged labellum maroon-
purple.

Satyrium membranaceum, S. prinxeps and S. eriocarpum
are handsome species of this large genus of south
African terrestrial Orchids, which have been well flowered
in several London collections this year. Satyriums are
structurally interesting as well as being generally pretty
in flower, and if they were only a little less refractory under
ordinary treatment they would soon become general
favorites. _

Kew. Ji.

Cultural Department.

Early Deciduous Shrubs.

THE length of time during which the leaves of trees and
shrubs persist on the plants in the autumn Is a considera-
tion which naturally comes within the province of the land-
scape-gardener. This is especially true where it is designed to
plant foreffectduringa particular month or time in the autumn.
Although there are few plants which, as species, can be stated
to lose their leaves regularly within a limited specified time,
the general tendency is often clearly shown, and can be relied
upon. Different species of the same genus frequently show
great differences in persistence of foliage. Something also de-
pends upon condition and environment, and the same species
may show considerable differences between youth and old age,
and rich and moist or poor and dry soils. Young vigorous
plants in good ground, as a rule, will hold their leaves longer
than more mature plants in soil containing less available plant-
food. Grafting, too, on particular kinds of stock, must have
an effect in hastening or retarding defoliation. The effect of
climate, and the consequent acquired habits of the species in
its native home, are also inherited traits which are carried with
it and long perpetuated in its new surroundings. Therefore we
have plants that originally grew in a more moist climate and
with more extended autumn, which, transplanted here, hold
their leaves for a longer time than our closely related native
species.

After only one or two light frosts within the preceding week,
and after a very dry autumn and some late wind-storms, a
large number of shrubs are found to be practically leafless by
the 20th of October, and a look over the collection furnishes
some instructive points in comparison.

Among twiners, SchizandraChinensis has lost all foliage, and
the native Bittersweet, Celastrus scandens, has lost a large pro-
portion of it, while the Asiatic C. articulata is still fresh and
full. The Virginia Creeper, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, lost all,
or nearly all, its leaves some time ago, after changing to bril-
liant crimson and red colors, but the Japanese A. tricuspidata
(A. Veitchii of gardens) still holds its foliage intact, and dis-
plays the bright hues earlier shown by its American congener.
Leaves of native species of Vitis show the effect of frost, but
more have fallen from V. Labrusca than from others, although
the Asiatic V. Amurensis showed its tendency to earlier ma-
turity by shedding its leaves before any indication of frosty
weather, and the plants are now quite bare.

Leaves of Moonseed, Menispermum, have largely turned
brown or fallen, but some still maintain a fresh and green ap-
pearance ; and, although Actinidias have as yet dropped
no leaves and are mainly fresh and green, they have turned
brown and dry where touched by frost.

Calycanthus shrubs are half bare, the leaves turning to a
yellow-brown before falling ; and few plants of our native
Prickly Ash or Toothache-tree, Zanthoxylum Americanum,
show any foliage remaining on their prickly stems. The
American species of Evonymus are practically without leaves ;
two or three introduced hardy Asiatic species have lost a large
proportion of them after changing to rich autumn colors, but
the common European species, Evonymus Europaeus, andits
various garden forms still retain an almost midsummer
green and fullness. Our little native Rhamnus alnifolius lost
its leaves some time ago, and the European common Buck-
thorn, Rhamnus catharticus, has, in many situations, lost a
large proportion of them. Among the Winterberries, Ilex lae-
vigata and I. monticola are now half bare of foliage, which,
before falling, turns to a pretty light yellow color ; but L ver-
ticillata is still quite green. The Bladdernuts, or species of
Staphylea, are also now half leafless, or in some cases quite so.

The only Sumach which holds its leaves up to this time is
the European Smoke-tree, R. Cotinus, which is still fresh-
looking and has not lost a leaf. The leaves of all the native

456

Garden and Forest.

[Number 297.

species, after changing to their usual brilliant autumn colors,
have now nearly all fallen and left the stems bare, or with only
the main leaf-stalks persisting. Our Poison Sumach, Rhus
Vemix, is the first of all to drop its foliage ; the Poison Ivy,
R. Toxicodendron, holding them for a somewhat longer time.
Of plants of the Pea family, the Amorphas have lost all foli-

shed their leaves. The early fall of the leaves of these, as
well as of many other plants, is often caused by fungous dis-
eases. This is particularly true of the Amelanchiers or June-
berries, which by this time are generally entirely bare. Except
some sub-evergreen kinds, most of the Cotoneasters are also
in poor condition as regards foliage, but the fruit still persists.

Fig. 67.— Chrysanthemuin, Florence Percy— naturally grown.— See page 453.

age, and most of the Siberian Caraganas are bare or nearly
so, although some forms of C. arborescens still hold a good
many leaves in a green condition. The true Lespedeza bicolor
lost Its leaves and dropped its fruit several weeks ago.

Few of the shrubs or small trees of the Plum family bear
good foliage up to this time, and the hardiest are the nrst to

Among Spiraeas, S. sorbifolia was long ago quite leafless,
S. media followed, and on tliis October 20th, S. cana, S. pruni-
folia, S. hypericifolia and S. chamaedryfolia offer little or noth-
ing attractive, so far as foliage is concerned. The Asiatic
Physocarpus Amurensis is nearly leafless, while our native
Nine-bark, Physocarpus opulifolius, is still green. Few kinds

November i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

457

of hardy wild Roses have late persistingfoliage, but our native
Rosa lucida and R. nitida hold most of their leaves with vary-
ing shades of autumn color and of the foreign species, R.
rugosa, R. spinosissima and R. Wichuraiana have scarcely
dropped any as yet and have a full and comparatively fresh
appearance. The pale yellow leav.es of the Witch-hazel have
mostly fallen, only to show the remnants of its flowers more
clearly ; and the true Hazels, or native species of Corylus, are
quite destitute of their summer dress, and the only noticeable
features displayed are the male catkins, ready to open next

■^P"""- <v ^ <V I

Arnold Arboretum. /. tr- faCK.

Garden Notes.

THE lesson we should learn in the garden at this season is
the value of warm spots and sheltered places for late-flow-
ering plants. In this latitude we seldom have more than two
or three killing frosts before the end of October. These are
likely to occur any time after late September. Very often we
lose all our tender plants early in October, after which we have
a long succession of bright days and cool nights, when the
plants would be quite safe, and, of course, doubly enjoyable.
Until November we seldom have weather severe enough to
kill any but the most tender plants when they are on the south
side of a dwelling or other structure. The obvious suggestion
from this is that we sliould early in the season make our plant-
ings so that we may enjoy our favorite flowers as long as possi-
ble. In such locations Nasturtiums are still proudly in flower,
and we ought to have some early Chrysanthemums, Cosmos,
Japanese Anemones and other late-blooming plants. Should
extremely cold weather threaten, these positions offer an ex-
cellent opportunity for temporary overhead protection, which
cannot be given elsewhere without considerable difficulty.

Some good flowers are still holding their place in the open,
and none more steadily than the night-blooming Tobacco
(Nicotiana affinis), which shows a surprising persistency of
bloom under adverse circumstances. Except for the ragged
appearance of its flower-buds in the middle of the day, this
plant is one of the best of hardy annuals. It will rapidly prop-
agate and maintain itself in the border, and the flowers are
decidedly attractive, with somewhat powerful though pleasant
fragrance.

Iris alata, the Scorpion Iris, is one of the most charming
flowers of the season, usually commencing to bloom about
the middle of October. This Iris may be flowered in the bor-
der in this latitude, but requires a warm position, and should
be sheltered by bell-glasses or other protection, to preserve
the purity of the flowers. It belongs to the section of bulbous
Irises which have thick, long, permanent roots, and are rather
awkward subjects for pot-culture unless extra deep pots can
be secured. I have had the best success with them by plant-
ing out in a cool house, where they make better growth than
in pots, with longer and stronger leaves and a longer flower-
tube. The leaves are Leek-like, and appear just before the
flowers. These vary somewhat in coloring, being mostly more
or less deep shades of lilac-blue, though there is a white va-
riety. All the flowers, however they may vary in size or color,
are exquisitely delicate. The falls are generally fringed, with
yellow ridges. The fact that this Iris makes its growth at this
season makes it a difficult one to ripen up and retain in good
condition, and it requires special care and a warm sunny posi-
tion after flowering. The flowers, it may be added, last in
good condition for a number of days, and are very fragrant
with an odor which may be likened to a mixture of violet and
rose. If it is difficult to describe a color, it is doubly difficult
to convey an idea of a perfume. In no direction are our
senses generally less acute and cultivated than in the detection
and discrimination of odors. Few persons could close their
eyes and name correctly a dozen of the commonest flowers
presented to them for name. With unfamiliar flowers the
average observer usually refers the odor to one of half a dozen
flowers. It is curious, in this connection, that the perfumer
also, for his synthetical odors, depends for his bases on some
half dozen odors — rose, cassia, orange, violet, jasmine and
tuberose — with which, in combination with various oils, resins
and animal secretions, he undertakes to reproduce any scent
of the floral kingdom. Knowledge of odors, based on per-
fumers' productions, is very misleading, as the deftest artist is
hampered in his work by an inherent defect of his materials.
These each have a different evaporating point, and to a sensi-
tive nostril each odor produces in succession a series of sepa-
rate and distinct impressions. Perfumes of the highest charac-
ter are retained for some months to blend, but they always
retain this radical defect, and their analysis is usually possible

by a keen observer. The ordinary perfumer is apt to trust as
much to his labels as to the contents of his bottles for his dis-
tinct odors, and the sale of rivers of essence of violet which do
not even resemble violets, and crab-apple-blossoms which are
lilies-of-the-valley, prove how little the public knows of odors.
Elizabeth, N. J. J. N. Gerard.

Autumn Work.

A REALLY sharp frost has brought about a decided change
in the aspect of the garden, and it is now possible to put
things in order for the winter. It is generally acknowledged
that to dig over a border of herbaceous plants, with a view to
benefit them, is an operation requiring decided skill, an accu-
rate knowledge of the location of each plant or bulb and the
manner in which the roots are disposed. This knowledge is
not given to all, even if the time to act upon it were at our
disposal, hence the fork or spade is never used in our border,
except when planting is to be done. Once the border is planted
for a permanent effect, if this be done with forethought, there
remains very little to do beyond thinning out and transplant-
ing occasionally. But borders need replenishing every year
with food for their occupants for the next season, and this can
be supplied at this season better than at any other. The growth
of most plants is now matured, and can be cut down and all
the debris removed, including weeds (and some very good gar-
den-plants attain to this distinction if given an opportunity),
and when all is cleared off a good coating of well-pulverized
manure or leaf-mold may be placed over the whole border.
There need be no fear of smothering the plants ; the rains and
the worms will carry most of it down to the roots, and the dig-
ging-in process may easily be dispensed with, and the plants
will thus be saved from the dangers which a spade, especially
in unskilled hands, always threatens.

The unusually dry fall weather has retarded all planting
operations, and the bulk of this must, with us, remain to be
done in spring, hence other work, and, in fact, all possible
work, should now be pushed to help out in the spring rush.
Where it is intended to plant, the ground can be prepared and
dug deep. I always like to double-dig — that is, twice the depth
of the spade — by keeping a wide open trench where it is in-
tended to plant for a permanent effect, adding the manure as
the work proceeds. This breaks up the subsoil. If this is
poor, however, keep it at the bottom, but enrich it, and the
roots of trees, shrubs and plants will go down and feast there
and be out of the reach of temporary drought.

Vacancies will occur even in well-managed gardens, and,
whether of trees or low-growing plants, it is equally true that
there are each season gaps that require to be filled — and in
these emergencies the nursery-garden, advocated before, is a
very helpful adjunct. I have found that evergreen-trees, when
brought from a distance, do not always take kindly to new sur-
roundings, especially if set out where it is presumed they will
remain, and it is often best to set them where they can be
carefully tended for the first year and allowed to make a
second year's growth in the same position, and then a careful
removal to permanent positions can easily be made with greater
satisfaction to those concerned, who have had an opportunity
to study their habits and requirements as to soil and exposure.
After a tree is finally planted on the lawn its greatest enemy is
the mowing-machine, and it is surprising what an amount of
persuasion it takes to stop the machine just in time to miss
the young growth at the tips of the lower branches, especially
of fine young Conifers. We have been obliged to cut away a
circle of sod underneath the branches, and around each tree,
and put on a neat mulching ; this also is of great benefit to the
tree, it keeps the surface soil open and accessible to every drop
of rain that falls, and while, as in the past season, the sur-
rounding grass has been parched for want of rain, on remov-
ing a little of the mulch the soil under the trees always showed
a damp surface, and not a tree suffered, except where the roots
of Elms intruded. t? n n j. t

South Lancaster, Mass. ^- O. Urpet.

Correspondence.
The Best Lilacs.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I shall be much obliged if you will print in your
columns a list of the best hardy Lilacs. ., ,, ^ .

Providence. R. I. A. M. Eatotl.

[Of the varieties of the common Lilac, Syringa vulgaris,
the best white-flowered variety is Marie Lagrange, and
the best dark-flowered is Philamon, both of which have

458

Garden and Forest.

[Number 297.

been described in the columns of this journal (see vol. i.,
p. 196). Charles X. is one of the best dark Lilacs, and
among newer kinds Louis SpSth is exceedingly promising.
Nurserymen offer a large number of named varieties of Lilac,
but the best colors can be obtained with the four mentioned.
The Lilac season, however, can be greatly prolonged by
the cultivation of several of the other species of the genus.
The earliest of all to flower is the north China Syringa ob-
lata. The flowers of this valuable plant, which are lilac
color, are smaller than those of the best forms of S. vul-
garis ; they are extremely fragrant, however. The leaves,
which are thick and leathery, turn late in the autumn
to the most brilliant shades of crimson. S. pubescens
(see Garden and Forest, vol. i., pp. 222 and 414, and
vol. vi., p. 266) should be in every collection in the
northern states, where it thrives admirably. The flow-
ers are creamy white and pink, with long tubes, and
are borne in small compact clusters, which are produced,
however, in the greatest profusion, and the flowers are de-
lightfully fragrant S. villosa is a stronger-growing and a
more vigorous plant, also from northern China. The flow-
ers are creamy white to light pink, and are borne in large
clusters, appearing after the flowers of the other Lilacs have
disappeared ; they emit a disagreeable odor. S. Chinensis,
which is intermediate in character between the ordinary
Lilac and the Persian Lilac, is one of the best of these
plants ; it flowers rather later than the common Lilac, and
produces immense clusters of purplish red and fragrant
flowers. It is a strong-growing erect shrub, and should
find a place in every garden. For a full account of the spe-
cies of Lilac, and illustrations of the least-known among
them, see Garden and Forest, vol. i., pp. 220, 521. — Ed.]

The Pinetum at West Chester, Pennsylvania.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— Twenty years ago Mr. Josiah Hoopes, known to the
student of trees as the author of an excellent work on Coni-
fers, planted in connection with his nursery in West Chester,
in this state, a pinetum, with the view of testing the hardiness
and adaptability of his favorite plants to the climate of the
middle states. The collection, which was made as complete
as possible, was planted on the top of a hill somewhat pro-
tected by neighboring plantations, and in good, strong, well-
drained soil. No special care has been given to the plants,
and those which remain are standing in a thick sod of grass.
It is safe to assume, therefore, that the species which are still
represented in the collection are suited to our climate ; and as
a report on their condition and appearance may, perhaps,
interest the public, I shall endeavor to give a brief ac-
count of the collection for the benefit of your readers.

Before describing the trees that are left standing, it will be
well to explain that all the species and varieties 01 Cupressus
have disappeared entirely, as have most of the south Euro-
pean, Indian, Mexican and South American species and their
varieties. With a few exceptions, all the Conifers of the Pacific
states of North America have succumbed to our cold winters
or moist summers. Few of the Pines which were planted
twenty years ago are left. The European Pinus sylvestris, P.
Austriaca and P. Laricio are alive, but have passed the
period of their greatest beauty and show signs of premature
decay. Pinus Strobus nivea has grown into a compact and
handsome plant, but the other forms of the White Pine have
disappeared, owing, perhaps, to the attacks of a new enemy,
wliich, Mr. Hoopes informs me, has destroyed many of the
White Pines in West Chester. P. monticola, its western rep-
resentative, has grown into a tall thin specimen some twenty
feet high, showing the thin lanky habit of this tree in cultiva-
tion, which is, however, one of the hardiest of the western
Pines here at the east, although as an ornamental tree it can-
not be compared with the native White Pine. Of the other
White Pines, the Sugar Pine, P. Lambertiana of California,
and P. excelsa of the Himalayas have disappeared, but the
collection still boasts, in perfect health and beauty, one of the
best specimens of P. Peuce of south-eastern Europe which
can t>e found in cultivation — a narrow compact pyramid fif-
teen feet high and clothed with foliage to the ground. P.
densiflora, easily distinguished by the white terminal buds, is
eighteen feet high, wide-branched and covered with cones.
As an ornamental tree it is no better than the Austrian Pine

and is inferior to our native Red Pine (P. resinosa) or
our northern Pitch Pine (P. rigidia), which we looked for in
vain. They appear to have succumbed, as have the fol-
lowing American species : P. palustris, P Sabiniana, P.
flexilis, P. pungens, P. inops and P. tasda, while P. Korai-
ensis, of Corea, and P. Bungeana, of northern China, have
grown into remarkable specimens. The former, which is re-
lated to the Swiss Stone Pine, is represented by two or three
beautiful specimens twenty-five or tlmty feet high, branched
to the ground, and of a deep and most perfect color. This
species appears to succeed wherever it has been planted in the
eastern states ; it is one of the handsomest and most distinct
of Pine-trees, while for small lawns and gardens it has the
advantage of growing to a height of only thirty or forty feet
and of holding on to its lower branches. Unlike our White
Pine, this species does not shed its leaves until the end of the
third or fourth year, so that it is denser and more leafy in ap-
pearance. So far as I have observed, Mr. Hoopes' specimen
of P. Bungeana has not its equal in cultivation. From the
base of the stem several branches turn up and form a dense
broad pyramid of great interest and beauty. It is usually as a
curiosity only that this Pine, which is absolutely hardy in east-
ern America, finds a place in collections, where its stout,
rigid pale green leaves and scaly bark always attract attention ;
but if it is fair to judge of its merits by the West Chester plant,
it should certainly be planted as an ornamental tree.

Several Firs have grown into handsome trees, although it
should be remembered that a Fir twenty years old is at its best
as an ornamental tree, and that with greater age it too often
grows thin in the lower branches and loses much of the per-
fection of form which makes some young Firs beautiful ob-
jects. To the lover of rare trees the most interesting Fir in
the collection is a plant of Abies amabilis, of the Cascade
Mountains of Oregon and Washington. This plant has evi-
dently had a hard time in getting a start in life, but now looks
strong and vigorous and is about six feet high. Although dis-
covered by David Douglas more than sixty years ago, this tree
has remained one of the rarest of all the American Conifers
in cultivation, and it is only within the last few years that east-
ern nurserymen have been able to obtain a supply of seeds.
Mr. Hoopes' plant, small as it is, is perhaps the largest speci-
men in the eastern states. Abies amabilis, as it grows on the
Cascade Mountains, is one of the handsomest of its race, with
crowded leaves, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface
and silvery white on tiie lower, and large dark purple cones.
The arrangement of the leaves, crowded close together on the
upper side of the branches, resembles that of the leaves of A
Nordmanniana, which is in every respect a less beautiful tree.
Two or three handsome specimens of theWhite Firof the Sierras,
the Abies concolor of botanists, and in gardens variously
called A. Lowiana, A. lasiocarpa and A. Parsonsiana, bear
witness to the beauty and hardiness of this noble tree,
which is the only Pacific-coast Fir which is really satisfactory
in the eastern states. A. Nordmanniana, which has grown
taller than any other Fir in the collection, appears to be suffer-
ing from an overproduction of cones, and, moreover, is get-
ting thin near the ground, showing, what I have observed be-
fore, that in our climate it is only in early age that this tree is
really beautiful. A. Pinsapo, the Spanish Fir, which is not
usually considered very hardy or desirable here, is in perfect
condition and great beauty, and so are good specimens of
A. Cephalonica, A. Cilicica, one of the best of all Firs in
our climate, and A. Apollinis. A remarkably slender and
cotnpact pyramidal form of the Fir of Europe, A. pecti-
nata, is one of the most noteworthy plants in the collection.
A. Sibirica already shows the loose habit and feeble lower
branches which appear to disfigure this tree in cultivation by
the time it has grown to be twenty feet high.

Among the Spruces, Picea orientalis takes the lead in beauty
and vigor. This tree, so far as is possible to judge at this time,
is one of the handsomest and most satisfactory of all the ex-
otic Conifers which have been brought into our gardens ; it is
surprising that it has not become more common in this coun-
try. The Colorado Spruces, P. pungens and P. Engelmanni,
are in good condition ; indeed, the hardiness and vigor of these
two trees seeiTi able to resist any sort of climate or soil that can
be found in the northern or middle states, although P. pungens,
or, as it is usually called, the Blue Spruce, has a way of losing
its lower branches, which indicates that its greatest beauty will
disappear before it reaches half its natural size. The "Tide-
water Spruce of the north-west coast, P. Silchensis, is ragged
and unsatisfactory, and appears to suffer from the cold of the
Pennsylvania winters and the long, hot, dry summers. On the
other hand, P. Smithiana, of the Himalayas, is in excellentcon-
dition, and promises to grow into a large and beautiful tree.

November i, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

459

A remarkably fine plant of what is known as Whales' Norway
Spruce, a pendulous-branched sport of the Norway Spruce
which originated many years ago near Boston, will interest
persons who care for trees of monstrous form.

There are no remarkable specimens of Juniperus in the col-
lection, and the Cedars have all gone, although in a neighbor-
ing garden there is a good plant of the Lebanon variety. There
is a healthy little specimen of the western Mountain Hemlock,
Tsuga Pattoniana, a plant too rarely seen in our collections ; but
the Hemlock of the north-west coast, T. Mertensiana, has dis-
appeared. There is a fair, but not a remarkable, specimen of
the Japanese Sciadopitys, and large plants of the Japanese
Retinosporas (Chamascyparis obtusa and C. pisifera), but none
of the juvenile or monstrous forms of these two trees have at-
tained any size or beauty. Of the two types, Mr. Hoopes con-
siders the latter the more rapid-growing and valuable tree. As
an ornamental tree, however, it is certainly less beautiful than
C. obtusa.

The Torreyas, although representatives of the three species
were planted here, have disappeared, as have the Sequoias,
the Libocedrus and the Cryptomeria. The European Yew, in
many forms, holds its own, and so do its North American and
Japanese congeners. The last is a tree to be recommended
to American planters ; it is the hardiest of all the Yews, and
one of the most distinct and valuable of Conifers for the north-
ern states, where no other arborescent Yews will flourish. A
very distinct golden variety of Taxus Canadensis in the collec-
tion I had not seen before.

Enough, perhaps, has been said to show the value of this
pinetum as an object-lesson to planters of coniferous trees,
who will find it one of the best places in America to study
these plants and to learn what to plant and what hot to plant,
which is even more important ; and all American students
and lovers of trees certainly owe Mr. Hoopes a debt of grati-
tude for the means of acquiring much useful knowledge which
he has placed within their reach.

This letter has already reached such a length that I can only
mention the fact that in the grounds surrounding the house
first built by Mr. Hoopes in West Chester is a good collection
of trees planted by him in 1854. Among them are the finest
specimen of Abies nobilis I have seen in the eastern states, a
perfectly healthy plant thirty or thirty-five feet tall; large plants
of Picea orientalis, and remarkable specimens of the Chinese
Magnolia and of Magnolia Fraseri of our southern Alleghany
forests.

Philadelphia, Pa. - ■->•

Sulphuric Acid and Water.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I observe that the writer of Lawn Notes, in a recent
number of your journal, gives the advice, when making a dilu-
fion of sulphuric acid, to place the acid in the jar, and then add
the water. I have been taught differently. If water is poured
on sulphuric acid the first portion of it which strikes the acid
will boil and sputter, and some of the burning acid will be
thrown out of the jar. In diluting the acid pliarmacists are
accustomed to add the acid very gradually to the water, with
constant stirring. Great heat is evolved during the operation,
and if the admixture is not made slowlythe breakingof a glass
vessel might readily result. , _, _,

Somerville, Mass. L. C. I-lannagatl.

The Columbian Exposition.

Gardening about State and Government Buildings.

THERE are four pieces of ornamental gardening at the Fair
which are distinctly unlike any other, and much superior
to them. They are all connected with individual buildings —
one with the State Building of Pennsylvania, another with that
of New York, a third with that of Massachusetts, and a fourth
with the Convent of La Rabida. These four garden pieces are
so unlike each other in effect that they cannot be compared.
They are all singularly well adapted to the general effect of the
buildings which they support. The Pennsylvania Building is
characterized by a freedom and hospitality of style which
seems to demand a warmth of cheer and welcome in the
planting. This color is well supplied by a bank of glowing
Madame Crozy Cannas which stand against the high front of
the sweeping porches. This planting has probably been the
best individual mass of color in the Fair. The most impor-
tant and novel lawn-piece about this building is a large bed of
mixed Crotons, from Mr. George Huster, of Girard College.
Mr. Huster seems to have the credit of introducing these

plants into color-beds, and if the plants are short and stocky,
not exceeding one to three feet in height, and the colors are
well selected, they are capable of very satisfactory use. A few
good individual specimens of Palms and Hibiscus complete
the essential features of this decoration, all of which is in
charge of Mr. Robert Craig. . : ■

What the Pennsylvania Building gains by the profuse use of
color, the New York Building, which is its neighbor, secures
by stove-plants. The architecture is formal and pretentious,
and any mere color-masses or lawn-beds would appear trivial
in the comparison. The foliage-effects are produced by tem-
porary plants massed into theanglesabout the steps and wings,
where they produce the same effects which the banks of Palms
or Bamboos or Pampas-plumes give to the supporting angles of
the terraces about the great buildings, especially in the vicinity
of the Court of Honor. The plants which are used with good
effect against the New York Building include Ficus variegata,
Araucarias, Crotons, Dracaenas, Box, Salix rosmarinifolia, and
various stove-plants. The entrance itself is re-enforced by ex-
cellent large tub specimens of Sweet Bay and various Palms ;
and upon either side the antique fountains and mosaic are
dressed with Papyrus, Aspidistras, Eichornia and Monstera.
About the corridors and porches are many good specimens of
Palms, comprising Areca Verschaffeltii, Seaforthia elegans.
Phoenix rupicola and P. reclinata and KentiaBelmoreana. The
roof parapets are adorned with Sweet Bays in antique vases.
Siebrecht & Wadley have charge of the embellishment of this
building.

Next to the New York Building is the charming, home-like
building of Massachusetts, in the true colonial style, re-en-
forced with its terrace and esplanade. Here, again, is a dis-
tinct type of ornamentation. The terrace-wall at the confines
of the lot rises three or four feet high, and this is Surmoimted
by a fence about four feet tall, and the whole is covered with
a most profuse drapery of the interesting Japanese Hop,
sprinkled with the Scarlet-runner Bean and the Morning Glory.
The esplanade inside this wall is some fifty feet wide, of which
about ten feet upon the outer side is covered with a free bor-
der of shrubbery. In this shrubbery are Dogwoods and
Spirffias in profusion, Lycium Chinense, Solanum jasminoides.
Lilacs, Kerrias, Symphoiicarf)uses, Lonicera Morrowii, with
now and then a sprig of Wormwood or Daphne Cneorum.
Against the building is a mixed border of remarkable interest
and beauty, which contains many of the familiar flowers, with
masses of Sunflowers against the windows. Among the plants
which give this border a home-like and native charm are Mari-
golds and Asters, Balsams, Funkias, Calendulas and Alyssum,
Wild Asters like Aster Novae-Angliae and A. Tradescanti,
Helenium autumnale and Hollyhocks. Excellent plants of the
western Helianthus orgyalis grow against the front porch, and
give it much spirit. Upon the west side of the building a ter-
race about ten feet wide has been brilliant with Paeonies, Cam-
panula Carpatica, "The Pearl" Achillea, Pyrethrum uligino-
sum, Golden Fleece Chrysanthemum, Bouncing Bet, Ragged
Robin, Eupatorium ageratoides, Zinnias, Coreopsis lanceolata,
Eulalias, and the like. The planting was designed by Wood-
ward Manning, and its immediate care is in the hands of Louis
Guerineau, a gardener of long experience.

The ornamentation about the convent — which is made by
the landscape department of the Fair— is designed to repre-
sent the sodless vegetation of a hot and arid region. It abounds
in succulents like Sedums, Portulaccas, Mesenbryanthenaums,
House-leeks and various stiff desert-like plants. Among the
more familiar plants one notices an abundance of Salvia splen-
dens, Bocconia cordata, Single Dahlias, Cinerarias, Petunias,
Ageratum, CEnotheras, Artemisia and various big Solanums.
The variety of vegetation, the superabundance of odd forms,
and the masses of burning color, all enforce the sunny feel-
ing of the place. The pretty court inside the building has a
centre of Phoenixes, with Bananas in the corners, and inter-
mediate plantings of dark-leaved Cannas, Coboeas and Cala-
diums, and window pots and boxes of red Geraniums, English
Ivy and Lantanas.

Other buildings have conspicuous ornamental features. The
great California Building is surrounded by a variety of inter-
esting sub-tropical plants, but they are scattered about the
lawn with the evident purpose of showing them off, rather
than to make any garden-design to support the building. This
nursery includes many goodspecimens of Washingtonia fili-
fera. Phoenix Canariensis, Chamaerops excelsa and C. Nepau-
lensis and various interesting plants like Romneya Coulteri,
Wiegandia, Leucodendron argenteum, Loquat, Erythea edulis
and Tree Roses. The great Date Palm, grown from seed
planted about 1770 by Father Junipera Serra, in the Mission
Valley of San Diego, stands inside the building, rising to a

460

Garden and Forest

. [NUMBKR Hfl,

height of fifU' feet, and a specimen with larger trunk and nearly
as tall, from Santa Barbara, stands in the lawn.

The Louisiana Building, which represents a plantation-
house, has various good plants in the yard, but they exist as
individual specimens only. Here are Roses, Bambusa falcata,
Caladiums, Loquats, Palms, Camphor-tree, Pittosporum To-
bira and a bush of Evonymus Japonica six feet high. The gray
moss, or Tillandsia, hanging from the Catalpa-trees in front of
the house, give a southern feeling to the place. The Missouri
Building was conspicuous during the whole summer and fall
for its excellent bank of Solanum Warsewiczioides which
masked the foundations. The French Building, upon the lake
front, has had some striking effects, especially in gaudy edg-
ings of Cineraria, Alternanthera and Lobelia. Various varie-
gated or otherwise interesting specimen shrubs have been
conspicuous, particularly Ilexes and Evonymuses. Rhodo-
dendrons and Altheas are also used, and there are a lot of
good Phoenixes from Martichon, of Cannes. But the orna-
mentation about the French Pavilion, as about the California
Building, has a much too scattered character to answer the
purposes of landscape effect. , ,, „ .,

Chicago, III. L. H. Bailey.

Notes.

The Chrj^anthemum exhibition of Pitcher & Manda at Short
Hills, New Jersey, is thronged with visitors as we go to press,
and will continue the week through. A neat little pamphlet on
thehistory,classificationandcultivation of the Chrysanthemum
is given to each one, and the blank pages for memoranda op-
posite the names or numbers of new varieties are very conve-
nient for those who wish to make notes of special characters.
A more complete account of this exhibition will be given in
the issue of next week.

A correspondent of the Gardeners' Magazine urges the use
of bones as drainage for Chrysanthemums in the place of
potsherds. His experience is that fresh bones, which, when
buried, beg[in to decay and smell offensive, seem to injure the
plants, the tips of them stopping short and appearing as if
burnt. But when old and dried bones are used, the roots
soon adhere to them and the plants show the advantage of
this treatment by remarkable vigor. It is suggested that
when fresh bones are to be used they should be buried two
months at least before use, so that they can go through the
first stage of decomposition. If they are then taken care of
they will answer much better purpose the following year.

A shingle-roof which had been put on fifty-three years ago
was lately removed from a house in Nashville, Tennessee.
Four kinds of shingles were used indiscriminately — poplar,
oak, chestnut and walnut. The poplar shingles led in sound-
ness, followed in order by the chestnut, walnut and oak. The
chestnut had simply worn away, the walnut had a dry rot on
the under side of the exposed portion, and the oak had rotted.
The shingles were rived and hand-drawn. It is not probable
that a modern sawed shingle of either wood would have lasted
half as long. Besides cutting across the open ducts of the
wood, and affording inlets for moisture, the saw leaves a fuzz
on the surface of the shingle which causes it to dry off more
slowly after a rain.

To Dr. N. M. Glaffelfer we are indebted for a copy of his pa-
per on the venation of Willow-leaves, printed m advance
from the fifth annual report of the Missouri Botanic Garden.
This is an attempt to group twenty-three species of North
American Willow according to the venation of their leaves,
and to find characters by which they can be recognized by this
means. Whether in practice such a scheme will be found of
value, only use can tell. It will have, of course, the disadvan-
tage that different species have sometimes a very similar ar-
rangement of leaf-veins, and that, as Dr. Glatfelter points out,
there is often considerable variation in this respect in the same
species at different seasons of the year. The paper is accom-
panied by a glossary of terms which might in some cases be
advantageously substituted tor the rather loose expressions
usually used in describing the leaves of plants.

Persons interested in the discussions which have appeared
in recent years in botanical journals between the advocates of
the mechanical and physiological theories on the origin and
purpose of Cypress-knees, will find an interesting paper on this
subject in the fourth part of the fifth volume of Studies from
the Biological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University,
from the pen of Dr John P. Lotsy, in which the development
of the knees is explained and well illustrated, without, how-
ever, any theory of their use being established or proposed.
The discovery of a fungus in llie knees, with no trace of myce-

lium except near the top, suggests the idea that it is this fun-
gus which may be the cause of the formation of the knees^
although, of course, this can only be demonstrated by cul-
tural experiments. Unfortunately, Dr. Lotsy's material was
preserved in strong alcohol, so his attempts to germinate the
spores of the fungus were rendered impossible. This paper-
is preliminary to an exhaustive study of the subject.

In a paper on Strawberries, read before the Columbus Hor-
ticultural Society, Professor Lazenby gave the following sumj
mary of the essential points to be kept in mind by cultiva-
tors : (1) The most profitable varieties for the commercial
grower are those not easily influenced by differences of soil
and climate. Those which succeed well on wide areas are
usually better than those which have a more local reputation.
(2) Pistillate varieties, when properly fertilized, are more pro-
ductive than the sorts with perfect flowers. (3) The value of'
a variety for fertilizing pistillate flowers does not depend so
much upon the amount as upon the potency of its pollen.
(4) The flowers of pistillate varieties are less liable to be in-
jured by the frost than the flowers of perfect varieties. (5)
Varieties that are neither very early nor very late in point of'
maturity are the most productive and have the longest fruit-
ing season. (6) As a rule, varieties that have the most vigor-
ous and healthy foliage are the least productive, while those
with a weaker growth of foliage and a greater susceptibility to
leaf-blight are usually the more prolific. (7) Winter protection
may be dispensed with upon well-drained sandy soils, but ap-
pears to be a necessity upon heavier ones. (8) The leaf-blight
may be checked by using the Bordeaux mixture, beginning
just as soon as the leaves appear and continuing the applica-
tion every few weeks throughout the season.

A correspondent of the Journal of Horticulture considers
that wild-flower competitions are among the most satisfactory
of flower shows. In many places in England there are often
fifty entries for a bouquet of wild flowers by children, who are
in this way taught to arrange their flowers tastefully. In such
a competition the work of arrangement should be done by the
children themselves, and they should receive no help from
others. To secure this result a rule is inserted in some sched-
ules stating that the children's bouquets are to be arranged at
the place of exhibition, where each child is allowed a space on.
the table with ample room to work, under the supervision of
a committee. Perhaps this is not the best method of securing
a good display, but in one village eighty little workers were
seen engaged on the morning of a show with a committee-man
in charge sitting at the end of the table. Some of the bunches
came out in very uncouth forms, but many more indicated
clearly that the exhibitors had been practicing for some time,
and this would prove that the object of educating the children
in this direction had been partially attaii ed. In this country
we have noticed very few prizes given for the arrangement of
wild flowers, but wherever there has been a prize for coUec-'
tions with the correct names of the plants which were staged,
the result has always been interesting. Exhibitions of wild
flowers can hardly help exciting a useful educational influence.

Salway peaches, comparing favorably in quality and size
with any California peaches seen here this season, were a part
of the forty-four car-loads of California fruit sold in this city
last week ; the best of these bring seventy-five cents a dozen
at retail, the other kinds from that state now seen here being
Bilyeu, October Blush and October Late. A fewjpeachesfrom
Connecticut and northern New York may still be had, but the
long market season of peaches, which began with the arrival
of the first Peentos from Florida in the middle of May, is about
ended. Grapes make the staple fruit shipments trom Cali-
fornia, while from eastern vineyards above two hundred car-
loads are reaching this city each week. Choice Black Muscat
grapes, from Rhode Island hot-houses, bring a dollara pound,
and selected bunches of Gros Colman, from Long Island, a
dollar and a half. Coe's Late Red plum is the only California
plum now offering, and sells at eighty cents for a five-pound
box. Lawrence pears, from New York state, of extra size,
bring sixty cents a dozen. Jamaica oranges, which are riper
and sweeter than the Florida fruit at this time, find ready sale
at fifty cents a dozen for the largest, Satsuma oranges from
Florida being sixty cents a dozen. California quinces of enor-
mous size are a feature of side-walk fruit-stands, where they
are offered atfrotn fifteen to twenty-five cents apiece. Pome-
granates from Spain are a dollar a dozen, and the first Italian
chestnuts bring twenty cents a pound. Cranberries are accu-
mulating on the hands of the wholesale dealers ; the fruit is
almost without demand, and the large stock will make slow
sales until the advent of cold weather.

November 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

461

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sarghnt.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles: — Humphrey Marshall 461

Photography at the World's Fair 462

The Work ot American Experiment Stations Professor E. W. Hils:ard. 463

The Queen's Cottage, Kew. (With figure.) W. Watson. 463

The Generic Name of the Silver-bell Trees Professor N. L. Britton. 463

New or Little- known Plants: — A New Water-lily .J. N. Gerard, 464

FoRBtGN Correspondence : — London Letter W. Watson. 464

CoLTt;RAL Department : — Raspberries and Blackberries Fred W. Card. 466

Trees for Late Autumn Foliage y. G. fack. 467

Dendrobium Phaljenopsis Schrccderianum L. O. Orpet. 467

Notes from the Harvard Botanic Garden M. Barker. 468

The Kitchen-garden E. O. O. 468

Correspondence : — Japanese Trees in Rhode I sland E. W. Davis. 468

Autumn in a West Virginia Garden Danske Dandridge. 468

Exhibitions: — Chrysanthemums at Short Hills, New Jersey G. 469

Notes 470

Illustration : — The Queen's Cottage, Kew, Fig. 68.. . , 465

Humphrey Marshall.

HUMPHREY MARSHALL was the son of a Pennsyl-
vania farmer who emigrated from Derbyshire, in
England, in the year 1697, and three years later married the
daughter of another English emigrant, James Hunt, a com-
panion of William Penn. He was born in West Bradford,
in the county of Chester, in October, 1722, the eighth of
nine children. After leaving school at the age of twelve
years Humphrey Marshall worked on his father's farm un-
til he was sent to learn the trade of a stone-mason. He
appears to have inherited a large part of the paternal farm,
which he managed before his father's death, in 1767, ami
upon which he continued to live until 1774, when he re-
moved to a tract of land which he had purchased near the
Bradford Meeting-house, in Chester County, and upon
which he built, with his own hands, a substantial stone-
house, in which he continued to live until his death in 1801.
His life was that of an honest, hard-working, successful
farmer, and he would long ago have sunk into the oblivion
in which his friends and neighbors have fallen if he had
not been blessed with a love for nature and the ability to
make this gift useful to the world.

One of Humphrey Marshall's relatives was John Bartram,
an excellent botanist, an intrepid and tireless explorer
and an energetic collector of plants. Bartram was the prin-
cipal American botanist of his day and the friend and cor-
respondent of many of the first botanists of Europe. Near
Philadelphia he planted the first botanical garden estab-
lished in the New World, which, thanks to the zeal of an-
other Philadelphia botanist, Mr. Thomas Meehan, still
bears witness to the success of his labors. It is probable,
as Dr. Darlington, another Pennsylvania botanist, has sug-
gested in his interesting Memorials of Bartram and Marshall,
that the latter's taste for horticulture and botany was
awakened and promoted by a familiar intercourse with
John Bartram and by constant visits to his garden.

Before Marshall left his father's farm he commenced to
collect and plant the trees and shrubs of the neighboring
country; and when he finally established himself near
Bradford Meeting-house, he planted an arboretum which
he enriched with plants gathered during journeys of con-

siderable length in different parts of the country, under-
taken for this purpose and prosecuted with no small danger
and hardship. His principal occupation for many years
appears to have been collecting seeds and plants which,
following the example of his cousin Bartram, he sent to
European botanists, with whom he kept up an active cor-
respondence, and by whom he was greatly respected and
esteemed. His own arboretum was planned and com-
menced in 1773 and twenty years later he began to pre-
pare an account of the forest-trees and shrubs of this coun-
try. This was published in 1785, under the title of the
Arhustum Americanum, the American Grove, or an Alpha-
betical Catalogue of Forest Trees and Shrubs, natives of the
American United States, arranged according to the Linnsean
system, forming a duodecimo volume of nearly two hun-
dred pages, and believed to be the first work ever published
by an American on any branch of botany. Considering
the period in which it was written, the scanty outfit and
imperfect education of the author, it is a remarkable work,
full of common sense, the record of careful observations and
the evidence of much acumen and good judgment. It es-
tablished the author's reputation among his contemporaries
and has preserved his memory among the students of the
literature of American trees.

Marshallton long ago replaced Bradford Meeting-house
on the map of Pennsylvania, and in the midst of that peace-
ful and pleasant village the house built by Humphrey Mar-
shall still testifies to his skill as a stone-mason and the
solidity of his work. It is still embowered by trees planted
by the hands of the father of American dendrology. On
the acre or two of ground which surrounds the house there
may be seen one of the largest and most perfect specimens
of Quercus heterophy 11a that are known to exist ; it was raised
from an acorn brought by Marshall from the original tree
of this species or hybrid discovered by John Bartram in the
neighborhood of his garden on the Schuylkill. Here, too,
is a Cucumber-tree, Magnolia acuminata, with a remarka-
bly thick trunk and unusually stout branches, and, alto-
gether, one of the noblest specimens of this fine tree that
can be seen anywhere. These two trees are probably the
most remarkable of those planted by Humphrey Marshall
now left standing in his arboretum. There are, however,
some large Black Birches left, a tall long-stemmed Celtis of
great size, some Yellow Buckeyes, an European Larch, a
Rhododendron maximum, which has grown into a tree
with a short thick stem, and a very large Ailanthus, which
must have been one of the first specimens planted in
America, and some venerable Box-trees. These are the
principal trees which seem to date from the time of Mar-
shall; among them are several others of smallersize which
have either sprung up spontaneously or have been planted
by Marshall's successors.

The old house and the grounds about it have recently
passed from the Marshall family, which, so far as the direct
descendants of the author of the Arhustum Americanum are
concerned, is believed to have become extinct. The house
is solidly built and is likely to stand for many a long day,
but the trees are, of course, in danger as long as they are
controlled by an individual owner, or are subject to a
change of ownership. There are already indications of
changes about the old place ; and since it has been occu-
pied by the present owner some of the trees have been cut.
The thick undergrowth of shrubs, many of them planted
by Marshall himself, has been cleared away and a general
tidying up has been begun. This is perfectly natural, for
no one wants to live in the midst of a tangled thicket, even
if it is a classical one, but this removal of the protecting
influence of shrubs and smaller plants from about these
venerable trees can do them no good and may cause them
injury. 'Old trees, like old people, do not long survive a
change in their surroundings and conditions of life, and the
less they are disturbed the better.

If there is a name which should be remembered with
gratitude by the lover of American trees it is that of Hum-
phrey Marshall ; or if there is anywhere a spot which should

4^2

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBKR 29S.

be dear to them, it is this little Pennsylvania farm-house,
which was the home of the author of the first American
hook ever written about our trees ; and no trees planted in
America are so worthy of veneration and care as these
which were planted by his hands. Marshallton is the
Mecca which will attract the steps of every student and
lover of our trees, and Humphrey Marshall's house and
arboretum should be preserved for all time in memory of a
pioneer of American science.

In his native state a movement has been successfully
inaugurated which looks to the better care and manage-
ment of its forests ; in no other state of the Union is there
such an energetic and well-directed forestry association, and
no other organization of the kind in this country is doing
such useful work. It might well add to its equipment for
the education of the people the Marshall Aboretum as the
best possible monument to the memory of a leader in the
work they are carrying forward.

The undertaking is certainly not a serious one, and the
cost in proportion to the good that could be accomplished
in this way probably would not be large ; and outside of
Pennsylvania are many men and women who would be
glad to contribute something toward securing a spot of
unusual historical interest and educational significance.
All that is needed is some one to take the initiative, and no
individual or association of individuals is so well organ-
ized for this task as the Pennsylvania Forestry Association.

Now that the Columbian Exposition has been formally
closed, it may be that the privilege of taking photographs
in Jackson Park is no longer confined to the single firm
which has held this monopoly. If this is true, it is to
be hoped that every one who can get into the Fair
Grounds with a camera will now take as many views as
possible of this wonderful creation. The frost hi's, no
doubt, killed the tender vegetation, and the plantations
will all be past their prime. But it will be worth while to
secure pictures of what is left before the bright vision en-
tirely vanishes. It may be, however, that the owners of
this concession still control the matter, and will permit no
one to take a view, even of the ruins of the Fair, without
paying an exorbitant price for the opportunity The admin-
istration of the Fair was generally so admirable that one can
hardly imagine how such an evident mistake as the selling
of this photograph privilege was ever committed. In the
first place, the management could have realized a much
larger amount of money by charging directly a reasonable
sum for the admission of cameras. Photographers from
all parts of the country and from Europe would have taken
views by the ten thousand early in the history of the Fair, and
their distribution would have been the cheapest and best
advertisement which could have been devised to attract
visitors. But, most of all, it was due to the country and to
the world, that not a single feature of this dream of beauty
should be lost. The monopoly has devoted itself largely to
depicting architectural details, bits of cornices and statues,
which are all well enough in their place, but the horticul-
tural features and general views, which give the feeling of
the work in its comprehensiveness and unity, have been
sadly slighted. It is an irreparable loss that, by some short-
sighted policy the gates were shut against photography in
the one spot of all the world when it could have been
most useful in the year 1893. This exclusion did violence
to sound business sense, to patriotic pride, to ordinary
respect for high artistic achievement. A thousand lenses
should always have been re.jdy to catch every changing
phase of the spectacle from every view-point in sunshine
and in shadow as the months passed on. Much of the
transient splendor of the scene would have been inevitably
lost, even with the most determined effort to arrest and hold
it for future study and delight; but the deliberate decree
to limit the possibilities of preserving the pageant in its
varied beauty was a misfortune which will be felt more
and more as the memories of it grow dim.

The Work of American Experiment Stations.

THE occasional expressions of dissatisfaction with the
work of our experiment stations, one of vi-hich ap-
pears editorially in Garden and Forest for September 15th,
deserve careful consideration in justice to the system. The
organization of the American stations is undoubtedly much
better calculated to bring about unity of action and parallel
work than is the case in the German stations, so many of
which depend for their existence upon the good-will of lo-
cal societies or communities, to the demands of which they
must defer. While this condition is one that may seem at
first thought an undesirable handicapping, I believe that
it has been largely instrumental in bringing about the
high usefulness and the esteem in which these stations are
held by the agricultural population. I think, in fact, that
not only is this regard for the local (state) agricultural
populations a legitimate function, but one of the chief con-
ditions and reasons of their existence in this country at this
time. The discussions had in Congress before the enact-
ment of the Hatch bill show clearly that the usefulness of
the stations to the population, and not merely the develop-
ment of agricultural science as such, was the argument that
carried the bill. It is quite natural, then, that failure to ful-
fill these expectations should lead to unfavorable criticism,
which may in the end involve serious danger to the sys-
tem. That, to a great extent, such expectations were, and
are, unreasonable, and incapable of fulfillment under the
circumstances, and within the time-limit of the existence of
the stations, is quite true ; but this furnishes reason for en-
listing the interest of the farmers most actively in behalf of
the station work.

It has been persistently alleged that such a policy would
be unscientific and beneath the dignity of the stations. To
this I demur. We are very far, in this new country, from
being in possession of even any considerable portion of the
facts bearing upon the success or failure of agriculture in
the several portions of our immense domain. Over a very
large portion of this area, the questions that confront the
farmer, and, therefore, the problems that should be solved
for him by the experiment stations, are wholly dissimilar
from those that form the legitimate subject of investigation
in the Old World. The farmers' successes and failures are
largely due to causes entirely different from those to which
corresponding phenomena may reasonably be attributed in
the Old World, where centuries of experience have estab-
lished both general and local rules that have advantage-
ously stood in place of scientific guidance before there was
a science of agriculture. The station workers should, above
all things, make themselves acquainted with the difficulties
actually encountered by farmers, both by inviting their
correspondence, and by personal exploration so far as
means will permit. To do this will disarm criticism, espe-
cially if the problems presented are then taken hold of by
the stations in good faith, and with deference to the facts as
they find them. In my personal experience I have learned
to respect greatly the acumen and good sense with which
farmers, as a rule, observe the facts in their experience ;
and while they frecpiently interpret them wrongly as to
cause and effect, yet this need not confuse the (presumably)
trained observers at the stations. Nor is it true that the
gathering together of these facts and queries is a merely
perfunctory amassing of crude material. It will be found,
on the contrary, a most fruitful source of suggestions for
purely scientfic investigation heretofore neglected, and new
scientific lights are gradually evolved as facts arrange them-
selves in connected and logical order. In this respect, our
station-men enjoy a great privilege as compared with their
European colleagues, if they will only recognize it and
make use of it. There is so much new, fresh matter within
easy grasp, that there is little occasion or excuse for per-
functory trials of newly named varieties of vegetables, or
for emulating the more recondite theoretical researches
which the European stations have both the leisure and the
opportunities for conducting successfully.

November 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

463

The stations situated west of the Mississippi have, as a
rule, fallen into the general policy of work indicated above,
from stress of circumstances — that is, in consequence of the
imperative demands made upon them by the farming
population. Then it has sometimes happened that those
trained only in the ideas of Europe and of our Atlantic
coast, not appreciating the limitations imposed upon them
by the differences of climate and soil, have mistakenly
sought to substitute the practices of the old countries to the
more laborious investigation of the new field before them ;
and, missing the mark, they have drawn upon the station
the condemnation of " practical men "

Such mistakes can hardly be surprising when we consider
the history and conditions of the establishment of the sta-
tions ; and this is the answer I have made to European
workers who animadverted upon the small amount of grain
in the vast volume of our station literature. "Suppose that
thirty-five or forty stations were to-day established in Ger-
many, do you think you could officer them all with expe-
rienced men.'" The answer invariably has been, "As-
suredly not"; generally with the additional remark that it
is hard enough to get well-qualified men for all the stations
now existing. If such is the fact in Germany, there is no
reason for humiliation if we have not been able to officer
all our new stations with men of broad education, and pos-
sessing the varied scientific and technical qualification re-
quired for this work. I think we may consider that we
have done well under these conditions ; and, no doubt,
much of the "padding" objected to in our station reports
would not have been printed but for the legal requirement
that bulletins shall be issued at least once every three
months. While this provision is in some respects a salu-
tary one, yet, in view of the necessary long duration of
most valid experiments in agriculture, it almost necessarily
results in the publication of a good deal of matter which
might as well not have seen the light at all, or, at least,
until it should have been better digested.

There is one point that should be most jealously guarded
by our stations and all those interested in the progress of
agriculture — namely, the occasional attempts at inter-
ference in the staff appointments by political or local
influences having no relation whatever to the legitimate
work before them. Nothing can be more fatal to the suc-
cess of that work, and nothing but stout and determined
resistance to all such interference, based upon "pulls," the
spoils system, or any other consideration than that of fit-
ness, should meet such attempts on the part of station-men.

There can be no doubt, also, that, in order to meet the
large demand for properly qualified men at our stations,
more of special, but still broad, training for such work is
needed on the part of our young men ; for, since agricul-
tural science involves the application of almost every
branch of natural science, from the fundamental mathe-
matical physics to the uttermost confines of biology, the
mere specialist in physics or in biology is of but very lim-
ited usefulness in station-work. The very broadness of
view required in it constitutes one of its chief attractions.

University of California. E. W. Hilgard.

The Queen's Cottage, Kew.

THE Queen's Cottage at Kew stands in the centre of
some forty acres of enclosed land, which is thickly
planted with trees and from which the public are excluded.
It stands on the south-west side of the Royal Gardens, be-
tween them and the Old Deer Park, Richmond, also royal
property. Portions of the cottage-grounds have evidently
been tastefully laid out many years ago and planted with
choice shrubs and trees by some competent landscape-
gardener. Even now, although the trees and shrubs were
until recently left entirely to themselves, the grounds
are full of pretty effects and delightful glimpses such as
please the artist and lover of nature. The wilder part is
crowded with Beech, Chestnut, Oak, Lime and other trees
which, in places, rise straight out of a turf formed entirely

of Bluebells, a glorious picture in the spring-time, while
other parts show, in tangled profusion, masses of Black-
berry bushes. Brake and other Ferns, Daffodils, Ragged
Robin and other dwellers in English woods. A writer in
the Daily News, a few years ago, described these grounds
as "forty acres of waste land at the present time given up
entirely to solitude and rabbits. There is nothing in it but
thickets of trees and the Queen's Cottage, into which no one
ever goes."

Mr. Scheer, an amateur botanist, specially interested in
Cacti, and who resided at Kew, wrote an excellent account
of Kew in 1840, entitled " Kew and its Gardens," in which
he speaks of the cottage and grounds as "an enclosed villa
hid from the common gaze, which is, we believe, the keep-
er's residence, where all the original drawings of Hogarth
are preserved." The public have no difficulty in seeing the
cottage now, as vistas have been cut through the wood
surrounding it, so that the cottage can be seen from the
gardens ; it also is made to combine picturesquely with
the surroundings. The cottage itself is a thatch-roofed,
gabled building, evidently built only as a kind of shelter or
retiring-place, and never intended as a residence. Its front
windows overlook a lawn surrounded by a belt of trees,
with beds of Rhododendrons in the middle. These Rho-
dodendrons are now enormous masses, all R. ponticum,
and the theory is that they were originally the stocks on
which good varieties had been grafted, but the scions have
long ago perished. The birds, including the nightingale,
rabbits, squirrels, beautiful trees and plants of all kinds, all
in an unkempt, semi-wild state, with this picturesque old
cottage set in the midst of the quiet, make a delightful re-
treat which the public would, no doubt, enjoy, but cer-
tainly would destroy if admitted freely. Kew is large
enough, even for the enormous crowds that visit it, and the
cottage and grounds may well be left to "solitude and the
rabbits."

I am unable to find when the cottage was built or the
use it was originally put to. It is, however, supposed to
have been built for Queen Caroline, wife of George III.,
" who resided at Kew during at least three months in every
year, and made besides a stay of three days in every fort-
night at this, his favorite spot." The queen, it appears,
was an ardent gardener. "One of the queen's delights,"
according to VValpole, "was the improvement of her gar-
den, and the king believed she paid for all with her own
money; nor would he ever look at her intended plans, say-
ing'he did not care how she flung away her own rev-
enue.' When she died she was in debt to the king to the
amount of /'20,ooo." „. „, ^

London. W. WaiSOtl.

The Generic Name of the Silver-bell Trees.

IN a note published in the issue of this journal of October
1 8th, 1893 (pp. 433, 434), I called attention to the fact
that the generic name Halesia, Ellis, was antedated by
Halesia, P. Br., and should therefore be rejected. I pro-
posed that it should be replaced by Mohria, in honor of
Dr. Charles Mohr. My attention has since been called to
the long previous publication of a genus Mohria (Swartz,
Syn. FiL, 159, 1806). a South African genus of Ferns, dedi-
cated to D. M. H. INIohr, a distinguished cryptogamist, who
died in 1 808. Thus, in attempting to correct one homonym,
I have inadvertently published another. This is unfortu-
nate, but can easily be corrected. I here suggest for
Halesia, Ellis, the generic name Mohrodendron^Mohria,
Britton (Garden and Forest, vol. vi., p. 434), not Swartz, and
for the species :

1. Mohrodendron Carolinum (L )=Halesia Carolina, L.
^Halesia tetraptera, L.

2. Mohrodendron dipterum (L.')=Halesia diptera, L.

3. Mohrodendron parviflorum (Michx.)=Halesia parvi-
flora, Michx. .r , d„v,„_

Columbia ColleKe, New York. •'»• ■^- OriHOn.

464

Garden and Forest.

[Number 298.

New or Little-known Plants.

A New Water-lily.

FROM Nymphiva dentata, fertilized by the pollen
of N. Sturtevantii, Mr. William Tricker has secured
a new hybrid night-flowering Water-lily, which is dis-
tinct and produces flowers of great beauty. In the
specimen of Nymphaea Trickeri which I have seen
the leaves are eighteen inches in diameter, finely
toothed and a glistening emerald-green above. The
under surface is dark brown and boldly ribbed with nu-
merous prominent veins. The flowers are semi-double,
with three rows of petals, and in form quite identical with
N. Sturtevantii, having even the tendency to plication of
the edges of the petals. It differs, however, not only in
coloring of the leaves, as noted above, but also in the dis-
tinct coloring of the flowers, which may be described either
as a light rose-pink, shading irregularly to white, or as
white, irregularly suffused with pink, the general effect be-
ing a light pink flower with white markings. Under artifi-
cial light it is the most brilliant of all Lilies. The white
markings are then not distinguishable, and it appears as a
most charming glow of light rose-pink of very pure tone.

There are no nobler Nymphaeas than N. rubra, N. Devo-
niensis and N. Sturtevantii, and N. Trickeri, the lightest in
color of the quartette, is apparently an important addition
to the series. The night-blooming Nymphseas are precious
flowers, which should meet with wider appreciation.
Though they open in the evening, they remain open
during the early morning, and in a later stage still longer.
Their flowers are charming under artificial light, and ex-
quisite effects in decoration are possible by their aid. They
will be probably always somewhat rare and uncommon, for,
while the plants offer no ditficulties in cultivation, to be
well grown they require considerable space, and this will
prevent their being grown for commercial purposes. It will
be readily seen that an arrangement of Nymphaeas in a
suitable receptacle is one which is delightful in itself, and
sure to excite attention and give pleasure. Such arrange-
ments are frequent with ordinary day-flowering Nymphaeas,
but these, unfortunately, close in the evening, so that plants
like N. dentata, N. rubra and its hybrids, which are open
when they can be generally most enjoyed, are especially

valuable. r nr /-. j

Elizabeth, N.J. /• A- Gerard.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

OsTEOMELES ANTHYLLiDiFOLiA is an interesting shrub, allied
to Crataegus and Cotoneaster, with flowers and fruits which
clearly show this relationship, but in foliage and habit more
suggestive of a Legume. It is pretty enough to deserve a
place in the garden, and should it prove hardy it will be a use-
ful evergreen, as well as a free-flowering ornamental shrub.
It has been introduced from Yun-nan through the Jardin des
Planles, Paris, from whence a plant was obtained for Kew
two years ago. It flowered freely in February, the flowers
being in clusters, and white like those of Hawthorn, and
the berries reddish. The leaves are two to three inches.
long, pinnate, less than an inch wide, not unlike those of
a Mimosa, but stiffer and clothed with a silky pubescence.
.So far it has only been tried in a cold house, but it may
probably prove hardy. It is included among the novelties
offered this year by Monsieur Lemoine & Son, of Nancy,
who also obtained it from the Jardin des Plantes. In its
distribution this plant is very remarkable, for while it has
been found in China, Japan, the Sandwich. Pitcairn and
several other islands, the other eight species of the genus are
exclusively Andean. A second species, O. glabrata, a native
ofChili.isalsoin cultivation at Kew. A figureof O. anthyllidi-
folia has been prepared for the Botanical Magazine. Accord-
ing to Monsieur Lemoine, the French Horticultural .Society
awarded a first-class certificate to the plant shown in flower

in February by Monsieur Cornu, to whose skill we are in-
debted for the possession of living plants.

Ranunculus Lyallii. — This is the beautiful New Zealand
white-flowered Buttercup, which has tantalized English
horticulturists for the last twenty years at least. Those
who have seen it growing wild on the mountains in New
Zealand, and have cultivated it in the gardens there, are
unable to understand how it can fail to thrive in English
gardens. The receipt of a consignment of plants and also
good seeds of this and two other equally beautiful New
Zealand species, namely, R. Buchanani and R. insignis,
and a conversation about these plants with a New Zealand
collector has whetted our appetites, and we mean to try
again. Roughly described, R. Lyallii is as effective and
beautiful in flower as the white Anemone Japonica, grow-
ing as high, flowering as freely and behavmg in the same
satisfactory manner in New Zealand as that species does
with us. In foliage it is even more effective than the
Anemone, the leaves being peltate, rich deep green, and from
eight to twelve inches in diameter. The roots are tuberous.
Failure with this plant in England is not due to cold, nor do
I think excessive heat in summer hurts it. There is, how-
ever, some condition, some peculiar hitch which we can-
not get over if we attempt to grow the plant out-of-doors.
We have flowered it in pots in a cool Orchid-house at Kew,
but it was weak, and Mr. Moore, of Glasnevin, can grow
it and flower it in a cold frame facing north, the plants be-
ing in pots, stood in shallow pans of water. At Reading,
Mr. Bartholomew has grown it fairly well in an open bor-
der. I wonder if the plant is more likely to succeed with
any of your cultivators? The three species above men-
tioned and a fourth one, R. Godleyanus, are well worth the
experiment. Mr. Mathews, nurseryman at Dunedin, makes
a specialty of New Zealand plants, and the Ranunculi could,
I believe, be procured from him. The beautiful Celmisias
are equally worth attention.

Polygonum polystachyum. — This is a very handsome Knot-
weed from the Himalayas, which is quite hardy in England,
and flowers freely in October. It forms a mass of curved,
zigzag, reddish, herbaceous stems five feet high, furnished
with lanceolate, dark-shining green leaves a foot long, with
short red petioles, each stem terminated by a many-
branched plume-like raceme of white fragrant flowers.
Some of the specimens here are six feet through, and
they have been perfect clouds of flowers for the past three
weeks. This species is like most of the Knot-weeds in its
indifference with regard to soil and moisture, growing well
and flowering freely in the most diverse conditions. At
the same time it pays for good soil and an open sunny po-
sition. It is a perfect plant for a lawn specimen, for which
purpose it, P. Sacchalinense, P. cuspidatum and several
other large-growing species are employed at Kew.

Rose, Crimson Ramhler. — Mr. Turner, of Slough, prom-
ises to distribute this grand Rose next year. He has an
enormous stock of it, not more, however, than is likely to
be necessary to meet the demand for it, no Rose of recent
times having taken the popular fancy as this has. It grows
very rapidly, as freely as the "weediest" forms of R. poly-
antha, and it flowers just as freely. I have already de-
scribed the flowers, large corymbose clusters of loose,
medium-sized, brilliant magenta-red flowers which glow in
the sunlight, and can be seen a mile off. The history of
this Rose is interesting. It was brought from Japan by an
engineer named Smith, who gave or sold it to Mr. Janner,
of Duddington Lodge, Edinburgh, who disposed of it to
Mr. Turner, keeping only a plant, which I am told is quite
a feature on the front of his dwelling-house. It was first
named Engineer, under which name it received a first-class
certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society in July, 1890.
New HviiRiD Tea Roses. — According to Rose-fanciers, the
best of the newer hybrid Tea Roses are Gustave Regis, of
a beautiful canary-yellow color, with a long, elegant, pointed
bud, and a free grower and perpetual bloomer. It was
raised and sent out by Pernet and Ducher in 1890. Caro-
line Testout, from the same raiser, is spoken very highly

November 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

465

a

be

466

Garden and Forest.

[Number 298.

of by the best judges, who describe it as large-flowered,
free-blooming, light salmony pink in color, not unlike La
France, but superior in form and color ; Madame Pernet-
Ducher is a rich yellow flowered variety, charming when
in bud, and a good decorative flower when expanded, the
centre being of a deeper yellow shade ; La Fraicheur is a
large free-flowering variety, long and pointed when in bud,
expanding into a full, well-formed flower of a rich rose
color, with a slight tinge of yellow. This also was raised
by Messrs. Pernet aud Ducher, and sent out in 1891.

Orchid Collecting. — It is reported that Rajah Sir Charles
Brooke, British Representative in Sarawak, Borneo, has is-
sued an order prohibiting the collection of natural-history
specimens in the country under his control As Sarawak
is the home of a number of very choice garden Orchids,
besides many other garden-plants, this order, if allowed to
stand many years, will have the effect of rendering the
plants peculiar to that country rare, and some will proba-
bly disappear entirely from cultivation. If such a law were
to be enforced throughout the tropics of the British Empire
it would cause considerable consternation among Orchid
importers. The authorities at the Cape of Good Hope
found it necessary to forbid the collecting of Disa grandi-
flora on Table Mountain to prevent its complete extermi-
nation by the vandal exporter. Similar protection is, I be-
lieve, given to the Double Cocoanut in the Seychelles, the
value set upon the nuts threatening to lead to its extermi-
nation from the small island of Praslin, where only this
Palm is found wild.

The Botanical Garden at Oxford, the oldest " Physic
Garden " in the United Kingdom, having been founded in
1632, is rich in rare and interesting specimens of hardy
trees and shrubs notwithstanding its limited area, and, in
some respects, untoward conditions. Steps have lately
been taken to bring it in line with more modern institutions
of similar character and purpose, and already several of
the very old plant-houses have been replaced by houses
better adapted to the requirements of indoor plants. These
are a Palm-house, stove, succulent-house and propagating-
house, and houses for aquatics. Ferns and Orchids are
shortly to follow. The five principal university towns of
the Kingdom, namely, Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Dublin, possess botanical gardens of con-
siderable richness and interest.

Mr James H. Veitch, of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea,
has caused considerable excitement in Dunedin, New Zea-
land, according to an antipodean newspaper, as he has col-
lected an enormous number of rare native plants to bring
with him to Chelsea. The plants fill twelve Wardian cases,
each of which when packed weighed half a ton. It is not
surprising to any one here who is acquainted with the
beauty of many New Zealand plants, and especially Ferns,
that Mr. Veitch has decided to try and introduce them into

^^e ^'''''"" W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

Raspberries and Blackberries.

BULLETIN No. 57 of the Horticultural Division of the
Cornell Experiment Station contains some useful
notes on raspberries and blackberries as a farm crop, pre-
pared by Mr. Fred. VV. Card. Many of the points are of
quite as much interest to those who grow these berries for
home use as they are to those who grow them as a market
crop. Some of the most interesting of these we give below :
Black Raspberries. — The fact that a given variety yields a
comparatively dry berry, like tiie Ohio, does not prove that the
crop when evaporated will be the heaviest. Some tests made
by Professor Goff show ttiat the smallest and juiciest berry
sometimes yields the most dried truit. With some of the best
growers the Gregg is supplanting the Ohio, although it is not
so universally hardy as the latter berry. In some tests made
by the Ohio Experiment Station the Gregg yielded the greatest
amount of fooctvalue to a bushel of green fruit of any variety
dried.

CiJLTiVATioN. — Among growers the most popular fertilizer
is stable-manure, wood-ashes rankmg next, and ground bone
and the so-called complete fertilizers next. Thorough cultiva-
tion is becoming more and more to be known as one of the
best means of supplying fertility to crops. Red Clover grown
on land by itself, cut wlien in blossom, and applied along the
rows as a mulch while the centre space between the rows is
kept thoroughly cultivated, has been most successfully em-
ployed. With severe pruning and careful attention this method
has given some phenomenal yields. It is probable that the
general verdict in favor of stable-manure depends on the fact
that this is a material which growers are most likely to have at
hand. It contains usually an excess of nitrogen in proportion
to other ingredients, and it may be with profit supplemented
by potash and phosphoric acid. Spring-planting is always to
be preferred for Black Caps, but if it is desirable to secure the
plants in the fall they can be set in shallow furrows and
mulched well through the wniter, and then set in a permanent
place after the young shoots have made a growth of a few
inches in spring. This ensures the weeding out of poor plants.
The plants should be set in the bottom of a furrow, covered
lightly at first, and gradually filled up until the roots are, at
least, from three to four inches deep.

Pruning — It is a false notion that Black Cap canea ought to
be allowed to produce fruit at once. They should be cut back
hard, for any fruit obtained the first year is at the expense of
the vitality of the plant. Plants which are not cut back nearly
to the ground when they are set do not readily throw up canes
from the root, but are apt to branch out from the old stalk. In
pruning, the young shoots should be nipped back low, when
they reach the desired height ; that is, they should not be
allowed to grow higher and then be cut back. If pinched well,
the plant at once throws out vigorous branches near the
ground and makes a well-balanced bush. When it is allowed
to grow high, and is then cut back, only the weak buds are
left, and only three or four of the upper ones start at all, and
produce a top-heavy plant.

Blackberries. — In the cultivation of this fruit the prefer-
ence is also for low pruning, but some varieties show lack of
uniformity in their manner of bearing fruit. At times most of
it will be found close to the main stalk, and at other times it
will be well out on the laterals. Early Harvest, Early Cluster,
and Lovett's Best behave in this way. It is better to leave such
varieties until the blossom-buds show before pruning in order
to guage the amount of fruit which should be produced.
Wilson's Early sets fruit-buds thickly near the base of the lat-
erals, and should consequently be pruned closely on the side
growths. Early Harvest requires a longer pruning of the
laterals.

Red Raspberries.— Some of the best growers are in doubt
about the propriety of pinching back Red Raspberries, and it
is probable that it is better to do no summer pruning of them
after the first year or two, unless in the case of very strong-
growing kinds. If pinching is done at all the work should be
done early, and the plant should be pinched as soon as it
reaches the height of eighteen inches, so that it will branch
low. If this is neglected until the plant is three or four feet
high it will send out a few weak branches near the top, most
of which will be injured by the winter and it will make an un-
satisfactory bush. The only objection to low branching is the
liability to breaking from the settling of heavy snows, but this
danger is slight.

Hardiness of Immature Canes. — Some growers believe
that canes grown late in the season are hardier than those
which have the whole season to grow in. To test this, early in
July, 1892, all the young canes were cut from part of a row of
Snyder Blackberries, Cuthbert and Shaffer Raspberries. The
canes thrown up after that date were allowed to go unpruned
until the next spring. On examination in spring the Cuth-
bert canes of late growth were found in better condition than
those which grew the whole season. They were further ad-
vanced and more uniformly green. The late-grown canes of
the Shaffer plants also came through in excellent condition.
In the Blackberries, all were badly winter-killed, the late-grown
ones, perhaps, more than the others. These late canes are
smaller, but they produce fine fruit, although the yield is prob-
ably less than on those of longer growth. How their superior
hardiness is to be accounted for is a question. It may be that
since they start late in the season and make a less rapid growth
they make firmer wood, which is really in better condition to
withstand the winter than the more vigorous and succulent
early growth; that is, instead of being less mature, they are
really better matured than the canes which started earlier.
Possibly, however, the early canes become weak, dry and
somewhat lifeless before the approach of winter.

November 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

467

Autumn Fruit. — Some varieties of Raspberries have a
tendency to bear fruit in autumn on wood of the current
season's growtli, and it is sometimes recommended to take
out the old canes in spring in order to induce this habit.
To test tliis theory plants ot Fontenoy, Cuthbert and Shaffer
were mowed off with a scythe in the spring of 1893, before the
young canes started. They then made a vigorous growth, but
not a cluster of fiowers appeared on either the Cuthbert or
Shaffer. A few fine clusters of fruit among the Fontenoy
plants were developed, but this is one ot the European varie-
ties which are characterized by a more or less continuous
fruiting throughout the season. Just as good clusters, and as
many of them, were found where plants were treated in the
ordinary manner. At best, autumn fruiting would only give
a small amount of fresh berries for family use late in the
season, but this trial seems to indicate that late fruiting is not
materially helped by the encouragement of late growth.

Trees for Late Autumn Foliage.

IN planting deciduous trees for shade or for landscape effect,
it may sometimes happen that those which hold their leaves
longest in the autumn are particularly desirable. Some of our
native trees lose their foliage as early as September, while
others will keep it in fairly good condition into the month of
November, unless there are unusually severe frosts. Indi-
vidual trees of the same species sometimes show marked
variation from others in time of defoliation, and peculiar situa-
tions may have an effect. Every careful observer of trees
must have noted that, taken as a whole, in northern planta-
tions a large proportion of the deciduous trees which retain
their foliage longest and in the greenest condition belong to
species which have been at some time introduced from Europe
to our American soil and climate. A good illustration of this
is seen in the difference in habit of the American or White
P^lm and the English Elm, so common in many old New Eng-
land towns. The American Elms lose their leaves and
become quite bare, while the English Elms (Ulmus campes-
tris) are yet dense with foliage, which is still fairly green. The
same difference is to be noted, though in a less marked de-
gree, between the American and some of the European Maples,
and foreign Lindens, or Basswoods, have similar habits. This
is also true of the Beeches, Ashes and Birches. The native
New England Ashes all drop their leaves early, while the
common European species, Fraxinus excelsior, holds them
much longer, and another, Fraxinus potamophila, has a full
and green appearance at the end of October in an autumn like
this, characterized by dry weather and few frosts. All of our
native Birches become leafless, while the Weeping, Purple-
leaved and other forms of the European Betula alba retain a
large proportion of their foliage. In these and in most trees
which have late persisting leaves, those at the top are usually
the first to change color and fall, the lower ones being some-
what protected, remaining fresher and for a little longer
time.

In a comparison of Mulberries, we find that our native Red
Mulberry, Morus rubra, loses its leaves quite early, and side
by side with it the White Mulberry, Morus alba, from the
Orient, retains its foliage in a fresh condition until compara-
tively late in the season. The former, however, is but a small
tree, while the latter will grow quite large and broad-spread-
ing. Although European species of trees, as a rule, hold their
foliage longer than their near American relatives, some of
those brought from Japan or northern Asia are notable for
their early deciduous habit. The Japanese Catalpa K;empferi,
for instance, appears to lose its foliage much earlier than either
of our native species whose leaves turn to a light green be-
fore they fall.

Sophora Japonica is a good tree for late autumn foliage. The
small pinnate leaves and dark shining green leaflets keep a
fresh and clean appearance until quite late. In the same
family, our common Locust and Honey Locust sometimes
hold a good deal of foliage until late October, but it is thin and
poor and never effective. Pterocaryas form another group of
hardy, foreign, pinnate-leaved trees which hold much of their
foliage later than most nearly related groups, but it has not any
particular value or atlractiveness.

Of all trees the Oaks are, on the whole, likely to give most
satisfaction when late foliage is desired ; and here again we
have to admit that some foreign species have a greener and
fresher appearance late in th6 season than our indigenous
kinds, although some of the latter are not to be equaled for
autumn coloring. The English Oak, Quercus Robur, and its
numerous forms or varieties, and the Turkey Oak, O. Cerris,

still have a remarkably fresh and attractive aspect, whereas
most of our native Oaks belonging to the White Oak group
have either lost most of their leaves or they have withered and
changed to brown or dull purple and brown colors.

The foliage of the Chestnut Oak, Q. Prinus,andof the Mossy-
cup Oak, Q. macrocarpa, turned brown and had mostly fallen
at the end of October; that of the Swamp White Oak, Q. bicolor,
has also mostlv dropped after changing to a light yellowisfi
green color. The White Oak, Q. alba, often holds a large por-
tion of its leaves long after they have dried and changed to a
violet, purple or brown. In fact, they not unusually hold these
dry leaves throughout the winter.

Most of the species of the Black Oak group have late-per-
sisting leaves, which, with few exceptions, remain on the trees
longer than the native species of the White Oak group.

The foliage of the Red Oak, Q. rubra, persists long and in
good condition and with some coloring; but the Black and the
Scarlet Oaks are the best known for their richly colored leaves,
which remain on the trees into the month of November. The'
leaves of the former, Q. tinctoria, turn to a brown or russet or
russet-orange color, while those of the latter, Q. coccinea, nor-
mally assume a deep scarlet or orange-scarlet color in the late
autumn. Where rich coloring, combined with late-persisting
qualities of foliage, is desired there is no tree yet known which
can supplant the Scarlet Oak.

The foliage of the Pin Oak, Q. palustris, persists until late,
and shows considerable richness of color, while the symmetri-
cal form of the tree and the graceful droop of its branches
make it desirable in all plantations.

Perhaps few trees can be considered more beautiful than the
Liquidambar for summer and autumn foliage, and the bril-
liancy of its crimson and orange, and often chocolate and
bronze in late October, forms a striking characteristic of the
species.

Every one has noticed how some kinds of Pear, and some
Apples, like the American Baldwin, keep most of their leaves
into late autumn, and the forms of the comriion Bird Cherry,
Prunus avium, also hold their foliage quite late in the season!
and with some interesting changes of color. Prunus avium'
is now sometimes found growing spontaneously in our woods
as a tall tree. The cultivated Apple, Pear and this Cherry are
all natives of Europe, and their persistent foliage is in line with
the tendency shown among the Oaks, Elms and other trees
from the same continent.

Arnold Arboretum. y, G. jfack.

Dendrobium Phala;nopsis Schroederianum.

JI

HE introduction of this fine plant two years ago was an
event in Orchid history, the importance of which, at that
time, was hardly appreciated. Indeed, those who saw the
first plants offered at auction had serious doubts as to the
chances that some of them would ever recover from the effects
of their long voyage from New Guinea. But it is now quite
evident that there is no Dendrobium which rallies and becomes
established so quickly as this one, and it is now apparent that
the second season's growth under cultivation has advanced in
most of the plants beyond any made in its own native wilds.
This fact is the more remarkable as the sub-section Speciosaj,
under which division D. Phalasnopsis is included, is remarka-
ble for the difficulty of keeping the plants in good health.
Hence, this is not only the best of its section, but one of the
finest of all Dendrobiums in cultivation. To the grower no
experience is more absorbing than the arrival of what appears
to be nothing more than a bundle of dried sticks, and watching
to discover what sort of a response this unpromising material
will make to warmth and moisture. The dormant buds start
from points where least expected, but in every case there is a
start, though sometimes it is from the tops of the stems. These
growths made from the tops of the bulbs should be allowed
to mature, and when the time comes for them to start again
they may be taken off a few inches below their union with the
parent stem and potted up in small pots, or, better still,
in shallow perforated pans. I have noticed also that the
plants start better when suspended near the roof glass of
the warmest house. When on the benches they do not thrive
nearly as well, and snails are very partial to the young growths
and roots. Thrips also are troublesome enemies, and must
be got rid of by fumigation or sponging with soapy water as
soon as they put in an appearance.

Dendrobium Phalasnopsis appears to grow mostly on trees,
as most of the imported plants have pieces of bark still at-
tached to the old masses of roots, and for this reason the roots
do not seem to like a mass of material to bury themselves in.
It will be found that the less material used the better, and fre-

468

Garden and Forest.

[Number 298.

quent syringing will be all that is necessary to keep them in
robust health during the growing period, which is the present
time, with a quantity of plants obtained last June, but those
obtained from an importation two years ago have already set-
tled down to growing in the summer, and are flowering now,
and will shortly be at rest.

The decorative value of this plant can hardly be over-
praised. We use the flowers individually for boutonieres, or
they can be used as a spray if desired. They keep in good
condition for at least three weeks if not placed in a cooler tem-
perature than the house they grow in. A reduction of heat
seems to render them liable to spot and decay.

South Lancaster, Mass. E- O. Or pet.

Notes from the Harvard Botanic Garden.

AgatHjEA CCELESTIS. — Blue flowers are proverbially scarce,
and as Agathcea ccelestis yields these in large numbers, it is
well worth cultivation for this reason alone. It is sometimes
called the Blue Marguerite, and the name is apt, for in shape
the flowers bear a strong resemblance to those of the common
Marguerite, or Parisian Daisy. But here the likeness ends, for
the plants are quite distinct in other particulars. The Agathaea
is dwarf and shrubby, seldom more than twelve inches high,
and very neat and compact in growth. The numerous leaves
are small, rough to the touch, and of a deep rich green. The
flowers, proceeding singly from the base of the leaves, are
held erect above the foliage on slender, naked stalks, the outer
florets bright blue, and the disk an intense yellow. Tlie plant
is almost constantly in bloom, out-of-doors in summer and
under glass in winter. Even when its flowers are not wanted
in winter, it still requires gentle greenhouse warmth, since
three or four degrees of frost will kill it. Cuttings from young
branches root readily in spring, and when grown on in small
pots until mild weather, they may be successfully used for
bedding ; and again, if taken up carefully and potted early in
autumn, the same plants will continue to bloom all through
winter and spring in the greenhouse. Although an old Cape
plant, introduced a century and a half ago, this Agathaea is not
so common as it deserves to be in this country. The genus is
nearof kinto Cineraria, and this species was long known as
Cineraria amelloides.

Crotolaria longirostr ATA.— Seeds of this excellent plant
were sent here some two years ago from Mexico by Mr. C. G.
Pringle. I am not aware that it was ever cultivated before,
though long known to botanists. The Crotolarias belong to the
Pea family, and the species hitherto in cultivation have a ragged,
straggling appearance, and although the flowers are undeni-
ably beautiful, the plants can hardly be commended for decora-
tive purposes. C. longirostrata, however, which flowered with
us last winter, and is now again in full bloom, has proved a
valuable exception and takes rank in abundant flower pro-
duction with the Cytisus racemosus. The plant has much of
the ungainly habit of its congeners, but this can be improved
by occasionally pinching back the young branches early in
the growing season. The stems are well furnished with ter-
nate leaves, the largest four inches in length, and the deep
green oV)Ovate leaflets one and a half inches long. The flowers,
closely disposed in long terminal racemes, are about an inch
in diameter, and of a deep orange-yellow, with a pronoimced
streak of red along the centre of the outer surface of the
standard. The plant blooms all through the winter. It is
easily propagated by seeds or cuttings. The seeds should be
sown in spring and placed in heat, while cuttings of the young
wood root freely in spring or summer if kept in a close air
until they show growth. A winter temperature as low as forty
degrees, Fahrenheit, does not injure the plants in any way, and
in summer they thrive when the pots are plunged in the earth
out-of-doors in partial shade during the hottest part of the day.

CambridRp. Mass. M. Barker.

The Kitchen-garden.— Celery, when put away in winter
quarters, should have a place where plenty of air can be given
on all favorable occasions. A celery-pit such as the large
growers use is the most convenient place, and gives the best
results with the least trouble. Celery-rust has troubled us
more this year than usual, especially on the earlier crops, but
another year we shall grow only for first and second early two
sowings of White Plume, with Giant Paschal for storing away.
This last is practically rust-proof, and the White Plume is the
least liable to it of all early and mid-season kinds. Roots of
all kinds — beets, turnips, carrots and salsify — should not be al-
lowed to freeze severely in the open ground. Rather lift then)
a little before winter comes in earnest, and store them in a cel-
lar, where they will keep plump if covered with sand. Ruta

Baga, if the leaves are merely trimmed off and the crowns
left, start away freely if placed in a warm house in winter, and
if the tops are covered with soil to blanch them, they make ex-
cellent vegetables for winter use. All the strong flavor seems
to be lost in the blanching process. The earliest-made Mush-
room-beds are beginning to show now, exactly six weeks from
time of spawning, in a temperature of seventy-two degrees.
We expect to have mushrooms from now on until the early
spring months under the greenhouse benches.

South Lancaster, Mass.

E. O. O.

Correspondence.

Japanese Trees in Rhode Island.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Four years ago there appeared in your columns (vol.
'••• P- 537) an interestmg description of a plantation of Japanese
trees at Warren, in this state, made some twenty years ago by
Dr. George R. Hall, well known to American horticulturists
through his large and early introductions of Japanese plants
into this country. I have recently visited the plantation and
am glad to report that most of the trees described by your cor-
respondent are still alive and in good health, although they are
now so crowded that unless some relief is given them at once
their beauty will be destroyed.

Certainly the most interesting trees of the collection are the
Keakis (Zelkowa Keaki), of which there are seven or eight
specimens, the largest being now more than forty feet tall.
They are all remarkably clean, healthy and attractive trees,
with smooth bark like that of the Beech-tree, and foliage which
is still fresh and only just beginning to turn from briglit green
to light yellow. Like the foliage of many other Japanese de-
ciduous trees, it survives until late in the season, and Dr. Hall
tells me that his trees are sometimes green until nearly the
end of December. It is significant of the adaptability of this
noble tree to our climate that hundreds of self-sown seed-
lings spring up under Dr. Hall's plants and grow rapidly with-
out care. The Keaki is evidently an ornamental tree here of
the first class ; it ought to make an excellent street tree, as it
is inclined to branch high, and if it produces as good timber
here as it is said to in Japan, it may prove of great value in
economic planting. Altogether, it seems the handsomest and
most promising of the newer and little-known exotic trees
which have been brought into the northern states. [A figure
of Zelkowa Keaki was published on page 365 of the present
volume of Garden and Forest. — Ed ]

The largest of the Japanese Conifers in the collection are
three or four plants of Pinus Thunbergii, with their bright red
bark and long-spreading flat branches, which look as if they
might have served as a model for a thousand familiar Japanese
pictures. They are not handsome, but tliey have the true
Japanese feeling as we see it depicted on screens and fans.
The trees are producing seed at Warren, and the plantation is
full of seedling Pines of this species. Abies firma, which is
usually a miserable tree in this country, is exceedingly fine and
covered witli dark green healthy foliage and abundant cones.
Overcrowding, however, has certainly hastened the death of
the lower branches, which are never very long-lived on this
tree.

Picea Ajanensis, P. polita, in several very large, vigorous
and beautifully colored specimens, and Thuyopsis dolobrata
are still very fine. The last is a wonderful specimen, and one
of the best plants in the collection, although none of the Coni-
fers are as interesting as the Japanese Yew, of which there is
a large, broad-branched specimen of great beauty and peculiar
interest, as it seems to prove that in the Japanese species we
have an absolutely hardy Yew for the northern states, where
the English Yew does not flourish. There are many places in
the garden where no other plant can take the place of a Yew,
and when an American has seen English gardens he is never
quite satisfied if he cannot make a Yew-tree grow in his own.
We have always missed a good deal in not being able to grow
Yews successfully, so the fact that the Japanese species is
hardy is a matter for congratulation.

Both the Japanese Retinosporas are at home in Warren,
where they have grown to a height of thirty to thirty-five feet,
and now look as if they would make real timber-trees. Retino-
spora obtusa is, when well grown, certainly an exceptionally
beautiful tree, although, unfortunately, it does not flourish
everywhere in this country ; indeed, except in this plantation,
1 have never seen it in very good condition. It apparently
needs protection while young, and a moist soil and atmosphere.

Dr. Hall's noble plants of Abies Cilicica, probably unsur-
passed in America, are this year covered with cones. This is

November 8, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

469

one of the most beautiful of all the Firs which are hardy here ;
it ought to be more often seen.

The tine plant of Quercus dentata, described by our corre-
spondent four years ago, never recovered after having been
removed to a new position, and is dead. Pueraria Thun-
bergiana and the Japanese form of Viburnum Opulus were still
in bloom on the 30th day of October. In a neglected corner of
the garden is a colony of self-sown plants of Viburnum Sie-
boldii, furnishing another evidence of the power possessed by
some Japanese plants to naturalize themselves in our climate.

Providence, R. 1. E. IV. Davis.

Autumn in a West Virginia Garden.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — During the last week we have gathered blossoms from
twenty varieties of outdoor Roses, and several more are full of
buds. Isabella Sprunt is blooming as profusely as though it
were June, and we have had many Howersfrom such standard
varieties as La France, Hermosa, Bougfere, Homer and Sou-
venir d'un Ami. A few mild days have opened the buds of
Hypericum Moserianum, which is strikingly handsome in one
of the flower-borders. These are bright with Marigolds, Pe-
tunias, Portulacas, Asters and Morning-glories running riot
everywhere. Chrysanthemums are opening, and Dahlias
blooming profusely, so that the garden is still a cheerful
place.

Locust sprouts that were cut down with a scythe have fringed
themselves most fantastically with delicate vine-like sprays
and tendrils and minute foliage, giving them a graceful and
airy appearance, as of some rare product of a horticulturist's
taste and skill. These sprays are very effective in bouquets, and
form an exquisite bordering for vases and baskets of flowers.

Another outdoor pleasure that we are now enjoying is the
harvesting of our crop of Elseagnus-berries from one small
tree or bush of Elaeaa;nus umbellatus. This tree is loaded down
with the pretty speckled berries, which can be picked off in
handfuls, and are pleasant eating when made into a sauce. They
are still acid, but will be sweet and ripe later in November.
They are now in best condition for cooking purposes. This
Elseagnus is a charming and valuable addition to the choicest

^RoseBraki'w. Va. Danske DandHdge.

Exhibitions.
Chrysanthemums at Short Hills, New Jersey.

WHETHER owing to the great popularity of the Chrysan-
themum, or to a constantly increasing appreciation of the
flower-shows now regularly offered by Pitcher & Manda, I
found on Saturday a very host of visitors thronging the paths
and greenhouses at Short Hills. It is fortunate that at this sea-
son the greenhouses are filled with the masses of high-colored
Chrysanthemums, for other flowers would seem dull to visit-
ors who arrive at this station on a bright autumn day and find
every vista glowing with autumnal tints. However, there are
no color masses which can vie with the Chrysanthemum, and
at the United States Nurseries one always finds these flowers
in bewildering profusion. The houses of the hill-range, being
200 feet by 25 feet, make excellent show-places, and three of
these were utilized for the Chrysanthemums, the upper one
containing the specimen and other plants arranged tor effect,
while the two adjacent ones were packed as closely as possi-
ble, mostly with tested seedlings grown to single stems and
specimen flowers.

Tfie show-house was arranged with winding paths leading
among groups of plants irregularly disposed and breaking all
extensive vistas. The effect of this disposition is excellent, as
one is less distracted by overpowering masses of color and can
the better enjoy each good specimen or special composition
of various plants. I cannot but think that our exhibitors do
not yet do the best possible with their wealth of material, per-
haps because of this very wealth. A well-grown specimen
Chrysanthemum-plant of great dimensions and covered with
countless noble flowers is a fitting adornment for a palace, but
it certamly requires a foil of space or foliage if it is to be
tlioroughly enjoyed. To mass these plants ever so artfully
and harmoniously is to detract from their beauty very mate-
rially. Like a good statue, a noble plant should have a niche
where its beauty of form and color could be enjoyed without
disturbing influences. However, there is a limit to green-
house space, and there possibly may be refinements not pos-
sible, especially so early in the season, before the requirements
of the numerousoutside exhibitions have thinned out the plants.

Among fine specimens, especially notable ones were A. G.
Ramsay, a very dark Indian red, and Louis Menand, deep
madder-brown, both valuable as among the best of the darker
varieties. Dr. Julius CuUendrear is a striking flower of the
largest size, perfectly incurved, with pale primrose tints. Some
single specimens of these were especially good. There were
also numerous specimens of the better-known earlier introduc-
tions of the establishment, as Hicks Arnold, Mrs. Alpheus
Hardy, Miss Anna Manda, Mrs. E. D. Adams, Mrs. J. H. Wright
and Mrs. W. L. Kimball. Such is the inherent love of sim-
plicity in civilized man that one variety here has for several
years attracted great admiration at these shows and other ex-
hibitions. It is called the Daisy, and well-grown plants of it
are now covered with simple daisy-like flowers with yellow
centres and white petals. They grow this into fine specimen
plants here, and one always notices that visitors greet it with a
murmur of pleased surprise, even though its individual flow-
ers, from the fanciers' point of view, are of the weed, weedy.
Perhaps the striking distinctness of this flower among the mas-
sive ones accents a specimen so that it stands out more boldly
than the larger kinds as a separate entity.

The configuous houses seemed to contain about as many
plants as last year, when 33,000 new seedlings were producing
flowers; however, the number of varieties had been reduced to
1,200, with numerous specimens of each, all in a high state of
cultivation, though comparatively few of them had yet per-
fected their flowers, and it was yet too soon to do justice to
their merits. The most striking one in a forward state was
No. 1500, named Pitcher & Manda. This is a sensational
flower of great distinctness, and evidently a prize of the first
class. It is a massive reflexed flower of largest size, very full,
crowded with petals of medium width. The general effect is
of pearly white, with a telling vivid chrome-yellow centre. In
some of the flowers this color also showed on the tips of the
petals, outlining the flower with a thin circle of yellow. Mrs.
James B. Crane was a glistening pink flower, very closely in-
curved, and of the largest size. This variety seemed to rep-
resent an advance in the abundance of narrow-ridged petals,
and promises to be the largest of incurved flowers. Other fine
new pinks were named Mrs. S. R. Van Duzer, Adele Merz,
Dorothy Toler, Mrs. Howard Rinek, very hairy.

The most striking general feature of the collection was the
abundance and variety of first-rate yellow flowers, perhaps the
most valuable and satisfactory of all Chrysanthemums. I
should say that there were a score of these, any one of which
would have made a sensation only a few years ago, and there
may be prize-takers among these, but one hesitates to forecast
yellows on a casual scruflny. Some very promising ones were
No. 323, a yellow Harry May ; Mrs. George Morgan, very dark ;
Mrs. Zena Crane, soft pure yellow ; Mrs. Georgiana Bramhall,
fine lemon-yellow, incurved ; No. 222, rich yellow, very deep,
with drooping florets, and Mrs. George M. Pullman, a medium
yellow, incurved. No. 515 was a less regular flower, with
broad golden petals lined terra colta, and twisted and curled in
delightful disorder. White flowers there were in profusion,
many very fine ones, but possibly none which would prove a
distinct advance, judging from present condition, of course.
No. 561 may prove an exception from its earliness, being
already nearly over. The best have been named Mrs. Mar-
shall Crane, Miss Florence Pullman, Mr. H. McK., Twombley
and Dunscomb.

Of the fancy colors there was an especially good terra cotta,
No. 557, from Mrs. Hardy, and No. 485, a shaded rose ; Nos.
131 and 218 were two good incurved pink kinds, the latter hav-
ing glandular hairs. A most distinct flower was Mrs. Florence
P. Lang, having a white flower, shading to light rose-pink, and
having a most peculiar crystal-like glistening effect. The Liv-
ingston is a brownish spotted variety in the way of Leopard.

It is curious that Anemone-flowered Chrysanthemums have
lost their popularity among the growers. It cannot be because
they are lacking in size. There is one here, Mrs. F, Gordon
Dexter, as large as an annual Sunflower. They are certainly
lovely flowers if not grown too formally, and there is a new
importation here from Japan which is worth inspection. Those
who grow Chrysanthemums for their pleasure will find a selec-
tion of these and the less formal kinds most pleasing in a col-
lection, and very useful in a decorative way. They are great
favorites, evidently, with the Japanese.

Of other flowers hybrid Tuberous Begonias were most in
force, there being about 2,000 square feet of plants in fine
flower. Those massed to color were especially effective. The
Orchid-houses contained the usual supply of plants with the
flowers of the season, perhaps the most notable plant being
an especially richly colored Cattleya labiata.

New York. . G.

470

Garden and Forest.

[Number 298.

Notes.

We are pleased to know that Miss Frances Prince is about
to resume her classes in Boston for the study of trees and
ferns. We wish that similar classes under competent guid-
ance could be established in many other cities of the country.

The choice collection of plants once the property of the late
A. J. Drexel. of Philadelphia, is to be disposed of at private
sale. In this collection are included many rare species of
Palms in specimens of moderate size, and a considerable num-
ber of fine specimen Ferns, among which are the noble Glei-
chenias, so often commended at the exhibition of the Pennsyl-
vania Horticultural Society.

The grape yield of the Chautauqua vineyards is estimated
this year at 11,200,000 baskets, or about 3,500 car-loads. Nine
per cent, of the grapes are Concords, and the remainder are
chiefly Worden, Pocklington, Martha, Delaware and Niagara.
As the grapes now command only fourteen cents for a nine-
pound basket, and as nearly three cents of this goes into the
cost of the basket, one cent more for packing and two cents
for picking and carting, the fruit nets less than a cent a pound.
Many growers are putting theirgrapes into cold-storage houses
of their own, in the hope of securing better prices during the
holidays.

The Winter Cherry, Physalis Alkakengi, an old inhabitant of
European gardens, but not very common here, although it has
escaped from cultivation and established itself in some parts
of this country, is rather a cheerful plant in late October. It
has a weedy look in summer while in bloom, and its flowers
have little beauty, but when covered with its pendent inflated
calyces, which surround the globular orange-red fruits, it has
some decorative value at a season when the frosts have left
the garden dull and cheerless. The plants look well in jars
and vases, and in water they keep their color and form for a
long time.

The forestry exhibit from Michigan at the Columbian Expo-
sition showed trunk specimens of sixty-five different species
three feet six inches in length, cut to show the bark, and to
give transverse, radial and tangential views of the grain. Be-
sides this, there were specimens of manufactured woods,
panels, wainscoting and the material known as " excelsior."
There was an exhibit of maple shoe-last blocks, of which the
state ships a million and a half every year. Wooden shoes
were also exhibited, since their manufacture has become an
industry of some magnitude. They are mostly sent to Nor-
wegians in the north-west, while large quantities of basswood
timber are shipped to the same place to be made into shoes.

In a recent address to the ArboriculturalClub of Belgium, its
secretary. Monsieur Emile Rodigan, calls particular attention
to the danger which threatens local fruit-growers in the in-
creasing rivalry of foreigners. He recommends that energetic
action be taken to develop the great natural possibilities of Bel-
gium in this direction, and cites as examples of what may be
accomplished within a short space of time, by vigorous and
concerted action, the success of the colonists of Riverside, in
California, as described in Garden and Forest, and that of
the apple-growers of the north-western part of Canada. With
such success on the one hand in a region requiring artificial
irrigation, and on the other in a region of excessive winter
cold. Monsieur Rodigan concludes that it ought not to be
difficult to make the fertile soil and temperate climate of his
own country yield similarly good results.

The preservation of flowers in their natural shape is not a
new thing, and the owners of Orchids who wish to compare
the flowers of an early-blooming species with those that bloom
late in the season, dry them in a way that preserves, not only
their shape, but the markings and colors fairly well. The
process, as explained in The Orchid Review, is to cut off
the ovary to facilitate drying and place the flower in a box on
a layer of sand half an inch deep, the box being gradually filled
to a depth of at least two inches, so as to prevent shriveling.
The sand must be gently filtered in so as not to disturb the
shape of the flower. The box is then set in a warm and dry
place for a few days, and when the operation is complete the
sand is filtered out again and the flowers are arranged in shal-
low cabinet-drawers. Fleshy flowers, like those of Lycastes,
lose their colors as in ordinary methods of drying, the advan-
tage being that the parts are not broken, as is unavoidable
when they are pressed between sheets of paper,

A few Kelsey plums, probably from cold storage, but of lus-
cious appearance and large size, were sold by retail fruiterers
this week at a dollar a dozen. King apples bring as high as

seventy-five cents a dozen for the choicest, and Snow and
Wine-sap nearly as much. Kumquats candied in sugar are
sold under the misleading name of sweet Japanese limes.
These come in boxes containing about two dozen and a half of
the fruit and sell for thirty-five cents. Handsome Cornice pears
bring a dollar a dozen. Grapes have advanced considerably
in price, five-pound baskets of Niagaras commanding twenty
cents, and Concords are a third higher than a week ago, sell-
ing at thirty cents for a ten pound basket. Cornichon grapes,
from California, are gaining in favor and sell at wholesale at
prices as high as the Flame Tokays. The last shipments of
Almeria grapes from Spain are said to be now on the way here.
These grapes this year, while the crop is rather below the
average, are of a fair quality. The clusters, owing to a dry
season, are not large, but the fruit has good keeping qualities.

It is hardly worth while to continue further the argument to
the possibility of the successful culture of bulbs in North Caro-
lina. If this industry can be made a profitable one the truth
will be discovered in due time. Professor Massey, however,
invites attention to the fact that it might have been said a few
years ago that we could not compete with Italians in raising
Tuberose-bulbs, yet no one buys Italian Tuberoses now, and
bulbs are even exported from this country. The advantage of
growing bulbs of Lilium candidum in North Carolina would be
not only that they would attain a large size, and that they would
be saved from the dangers of an ocean voyage, but that they
would be ripe and dormant before the ist of July, and they
could be in pots, with their resting-leaves formed, before any
Italian bulbs could be here. Roman Hyacinths are now quoted
to the trade at $25.00 a thousand for five and one-eighth inch
bulbs, which is the largest size quoted in ordinary trade-lists.
These plants grow like weeds in North Carolina, and bulbs
eight inches in circumference can be grown as cheaply as those
of the Tuberose.

A recent letter from Europe states that the most striking of
the many Begonias now in flower at Kew, and one of the finest
hybrids ever raised, is President Carnot. It has bamboo-like
shoots from two to three feet high, the upper part clothed with
soft green, slightly spotted leaves, and each shoot bearing a
long pendent cluster of large rose-colored flowers nearly a foot
across. These are all female, and therefore they last several
weeks. This variety and B. coccinea deserve a place in every
garden, and where the temperature will permit them to grow
out-of-doors in summer, they make excellent plants for group-
ing in beds. When not liberally treated, B. President Carnot
is an inferior little Begonia, with few flowers in a raceme ; but
grown in a ten-inch pot, in rich soil, it makes the fine speci«
men described above. B. Haageana is inferior to this plant
alone. It forms a leafy bush and bears enormous clusters of
blush-white flowers. It has metallic-green leaves, with red-
dish nerves and tinged with purple on the under side. The
flowers are carried on long stout stalks, and they are covered
with red hairs on the lower part of the outer segments of the
flowers. B. Scharffiana, which is often sold for the true B.
Haageana, has leaves of olive-green and crimson on the under
side.

According to a recent article in the Youth's Companion, a
group of five small keys lying off the extreme southern point
of Florida is now the principal Pineapple producing district of
the world. Less than seven hundred acres altogether are
here devoted to the cultivation of this fruit, but from this area
4,500,000 pineapples have been shipped to New York in a sin-
gle year. The plant is propagated from suckers or slips, and
10,000 may be planted to the acre, two-thirds of which will bear
fruit, so that if a dollar a dozen could be realized the crop
would be a lucrative one. The most common variety is the
Scarlet or Spanish, the one ordinarily seen in the north, on
account of its good shipping qualities. Next in abundance is
the Sugar-loaf, a sweeter fruit, but more delicate, and, there-
fore, more difficult to handle. Egyptian Queen, a large juicy
fruit, is harder still to transport, and best of all is the Puerto
Rico, a fruit weighing ten pounds, but so mellow that it is
rarely seen more than two hundred miles from the place
where it is grown. A field of Pineapples, raised from slips,
will bear for five years, though after the second year the
yield steadily decreases. A field planted with suckers only
yields for two years. After this the land seems exhausteci,
and its strength must be renewed with fertilizers, and by grow-
ing other crops, while plantations of Pineapples are made in
another field. The fruit which is allowed to ripen in the field
is altogether superior in melting quality, rich flavor and whole-
someness to the hard, sour and indigestible specimens which
must be picked while they are solid and green, so that they
can endure a journey to northern cities.

November 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

471

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building. New York.

Conducted bv Profeaaor C. S. Sargent,

ENTEKED AS SECOND-CLASS HATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YOKX, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGK.

Editorial Articles:— Francis Paikman 471

WliatSliall we Plant-; 471

Botanical Notes from Texas. — XIII £. JV. Plank. 472

Notes on ttie Forest Flora of Japan.— XXIV C. S. S. 473

Plant Notes : — Ttie Chinese Red Bud in America. (With figure.) 474

Foreign Correspondence : — London Letter W. Watson. 474

Cultural Department : — Grapes under Glass IVm. Tricker. 475

Some Work of the Season IV. H. Taphn. 477

F.pidendrum radicans E. O. O. ^-ji

Exhibitions ; — The New York Chrysanthemum Show 478

Chrj'santhemums at^Boston , 478

Chrysanthemums at Philadelphia 470

Notes 479

Illustration : — The Chinese Cercis in Flushing, Long Island, Fig. 69 476

Francis Parkman.

FRANCIS PARK.MAN died last week after a short ill-
ness at his home, on the banks of Jamaica Pond, in
Boston. It doesnot comewithinoiirprovincetospeakof Mr.
Parkman 's great achievements as a man of letters which
have added such lustre to American scholarship; nor is
it our purpose here to repeat the story of the fortitude, endur-
ance and singleness of purpose which enabled him to com-
plete, under the most trying physical limitations, the work
which, as a youth, he laid out for himself, and upon which
he labored heroically during half a century. His life has
made the nation greater ; and its example is a blessing to
every American. His love of nature was one of the strong
characteristics of the man ; he loved to woo her in her un-
tamed solitudes, and to paint in glowing words the beau-
ties of the forests and the streams, which were the great
stages upon which his characters played tlieir parts. It
vitalized his pages and made his descriptions of our Ameri-
can forests of two centuries ago at once the most pic-
turesque and the most accurate which have been written.

Every one who has read one of Mr. Parkman's histories
knows how he loved Nature, but many of our younger
readers, perhaps, will have forgotten that twenty years
ago he was a successful and distinguished horticulturist.
When the historian of the conquerors of the great lakes
and rivers of the continent could no longer follow their foot-
steps in the forest he found solace in the garden, where
he tried to regain his lost health and strength. It is
as a rosarian that Mr. Parkman is best known among
horticulturists. He was one of the first Americans to culti-
vate a collection of Roses upon scientific principles, and his
example has done more, perhaps, than that of any other
man to raise the standard of Rose-growing in America to
its present excellence. The Book of Roses, which he pub-
lished in 1866, and which embodies sound cultural instruc-
tion with an account of the different races of his favorite
flower, is still the best work within the limits of this field
that has been written on the subject.

In 1861, a small collection of plants, purchased from
a nurseryman at Yokohama by Dr. George R. Hall, was

placed in Mr. Parkman's hands to propagate. This was
probably the first collection of plants sent directly to
America from Japan ; in it were several plants now well
known in our gardens, including the double-flowered
Apple, which bears Mr. Parkman's name and which is still
standing in his garden, several Retinosporas, Thuya do-
lobrata. Rhododendron brachycarpum, Andromeda Ja-
ponica, the double-flowered Wistaria, and bulbs of the
familiar Lilium auratum, which Mr. Parkman flowered
before any one else in America or Europe.

To the cultivation of Lilies, which were always favorites
with him, he devoted much attention, trying to improve-
them by cross-breeding ; in this he had at least one con-
spicuous success with Lilium Parkmani, which he raised by
crossing Lilium auratum with Lilium speciosum. A paper
from his pen, published in the Bulletin of the Bussey Insti-
tution of Harvard College, records the results of his experi-
ments in hybridizing Lilies. In the improvement of plants
by cross-breeding, Mr. Parkman was always interested, and
many good varieties of Iris, Delphinium, Paeony and Poppy
were born in his garden. He was one of the first Americans
to grow a collection of herbaceous plants ; and his garden
was always full of interesting shrubs, bulbs and hardy
perennials.

For a short time Mr. Parkman was professor of horticul-
ture in Harvard University, which he served faithfully for
many years as an Overseer and then as a Fellow, and for
two years he was president of the Massachusetts Horticul-
tural Society.

In the development of horticulture in America, Mr.
Parkman's influence has been considerable and always
in the right direction, and of those Americans who have
practiced the gentle art, not one has brought to it a more
sincere love or a keener intelligence.

What Shall we Plant?

WHEN a rnan begins to plant his home-grounds, with
the primary aim of making a consistent picture of
the whole, or, if he is wiser still, and designs his house and
its surroundings together so that they make one insepara-
ble composition, he should select every tree and shrub
and herb, not for its individual decorative qualities, but
for its value in helping to realize and express the ideal
house-scene which he has mentally created. His fences,
his walks and lines of approach, his stretches of grass, the
masses of verdure which connect his house-foundations
with the grounds, are all features of one scene, and they are
all so related to each other that we should not consider the at-
tractiveness of single elements apart from the rest, but should
estimate their value as they help to round out the symme-
try and beauty of the whole. To create a good house-
scene is the work of a real artist, and artists of the first
rank are rare in every profession, more rare, perhaps, in
landscape-gardening than in any other of the arts of design.
But men may plant with pleasure and intelligence even
when they have not this high creative faculty. To secure
a collection of shrubs chosen for striking habit, or profuse
flowering, or because they are curious and rare, or simply
because they are vegetable anomalies, whose merit consists
in blanched orsptHted or highly colored foliage, may not be
an unworthy ambition. And since the collector's regard is
for individual plants, he is not to be criticised if m his ar-
rangement of them his only aim is to show each one to the
best advantage, without any regard to the effect which they
produce when taken together. It issafe to say, however, that
any one fails to get the highest possible enjoyment out of
horticulture unless he recognizes some definite system under
which he selects and arranges his plants. If he is interested
in them simply because they are odd or novel he should
not delude himself with the belief that he loves them for
their beauty. He may obtain keener enjoyment from
vegetable freaks and curiosities than from plants which are
simply beautiful, and if this is so no one has a right to
protest against the indulgence of such a passion. The

472

Garden and Forest.

[Number 299.

people who live next door to him may regret his inclina-
tion, but their case is not so hard as it would be if he chose
to build a house which was eccentric or conspicuously
ugly. A great deal of intelligent and not unprofitable
pleasure can be derived from a garden filled entirely with
rare or abnormal plants, although they would be much less
beautiful than the common plants in ordinary gardens.
But in this case, too, the man who has a paramount love
for oddities should recognize it as such, and he should not
try to persuade himself or his neighbors that his museum
is filled with objects of beauty, or that his treasures have
more value than theirs.

But because a man has a right to plant his grounds as
he pleases, it does not follow that he would not be able to
enjoy himself more if he cultivated a broader taste, and
certainly one who aims to set forth beauty in its purest
form is in so far an educator of all within the circle of his
influence. We are creatures of habit. Few people have a
sense of beauty so keen and true that they are unmoved by
fashion ; few people are free from a desire of imitation
or of rivalry, and it is quite possible that the impulse to
imitate or copy a display of novelties and oddities will be
as strong as the desire to profit by object-lessons of the
purest taste. The man who makes the love of beauty his
aim, in the practice of the arts of horticulture, deserves to
be commended for his public spirit therefor no less than
for his good taste.

But after the decision has been made to feed and develop
the aesthetic sense rather than the desire for curiosity, the
planter still has to limit his activity. No matter how
boundless his wealth or his acres, no one can cover the
whole field of horticultural effort. The commercial florist,
whose business success depends on offering to the public
what is most in demand, cannot be blamed if he grows
every novelty, whether meritorious or not. But it is the
amateur's fault if he fills his grounds with abnormal
plants which are valued solely because they vary from
nature's good intentions, and in this way perpetuate
her freaks and perhaps her diseases. He has no ex-
cuse for allowing charming garden-flowers to be for-
gotten because they are old-fashioned and filling their
place with others which are not as good, simply because
they are new ; nor for cultivating varieties of flowers, con-
spicuous only for enormous size, and neglecting the smaller
ones which have more refinement ; or for discarding a
single flower which may be one of nature's most perfect
essays in the beauty of form, for a double one which may
be only a shapeless mass of petals. Of course, no one can
afford to ignore the wealth of plant beauty which modern
exploration is constantly sending to our gardens on trial,
and no one should discourage the production of hybrids,
for in them we may secure some addition to the vigor and
beauty of well-known species. But the amateur who
learns to distinguish among novelties those which are
really desirable, must be firm, not only to select the good,
but to discard the bad ; and he should constantly bear in
mind that horticulture is not advanced by increasing the
amount of material at its disposal, but by a steady improve-
ment in its quality.

One further limitation ought to be laid down. He has
the most pleasure and success who devotes himself to a few
classes of trees or shrubs or flowers instead of vaguely
spreading his efforts over as large a portion as possible
of the vegetable kingdom. A comprehensive collection of
Roses, a rich pinetum, a full array of Rhododendrons, an
interesting assortment of Daffodils or Irises, or a garden
full of flowering shrubs which will successively decorate it
with changing colors as the months go by — any one of
these is sure to prove more attractive to its owner than
a heterogeneous collection of all kinds of plants, not one
of which is carefully studied or sympathetically under-
stood. Of course, this does not mean that all plants ex-
cept some favorite should be banished even from the small-
est garden. There is time for excursions into other fields
ev6n when attention is devoted mainly to one or two. But

specialization of effort and sympathy is always fruitful of
instruction and delight. It indulges that passion for col-
lecting which is one of man's most curious but lasting
pleasures. It prompts that minute and loving observation
of differences which means a rich development of the sense
of beauty ; and it excites that fostering and affectionate
sentiment which enlarges and sweetens character. Further-
more, in developing his own collection, the humblest ama-
teur, if he sets about it with enthusiasm, can materially
enlarge by his experiments the resources of knowledge and
pleasure for other people ; and this is especially true if,
instead of devoting himself to popular favorites, he chooses
plants which have not received much attention, as, for ex-
ample, some of our native shrubs, the choicer kinds of Iris;
some of our native wild flowers, like our native terrestrial
Orchids.

And, finally, even when the amateur devotes himself to
a beautiful class of plants, there is always room for choice
among varieties. And here it may be difficult for him
to persuade himself that among his beautiful Irises or
Rhododendrons there are some varieties which are defec-
tive in form or impure in color, and he shrinks from
discarding one from the total number which he takes
pride in counting on his list. This is a mistake. No col-
lection of plants made in the interest of beauty is im-
proved by the addition of individuals which are not of the
best type. No class of plants is improved by perpetuating
a variety which has not some new charm to recommend
it. The purification of a collection ought to lie as near an
owner's heart as its enlargement, and if he can show
twenty lovely varieties of one flower, or twenty fine species
of coniferous trees, he has a truer sesthetic instinct than if
he boasts of fifty varieties but shows some flowers which
are poor in color or bad in form, and keeps among his
trees species which have to be coaxed into living instead
of those which seem to rejoice in life. In the case of bo-
tanical collections, or in gardens for scientific use, this rule
would not hold, but amateurs should not forget that it is
beauty alone which gives garden-plants their value. If
this standard is not insisted on, the art of horticulture
may fall into disrepute with persons of keen aesthetic
sensibilities, and take a lower rank than it deserves among
the arts which refine and elevate the human race.

Botanical Notes from Texas.— XIII.

THE face of the country from Laredo to San Diego, about
one hundred miles, does not differ materially in aspect
from the country along the railway from Laredo to San
Antonio, and the forests are composed of nearly the same
kinds of shrubs. The country is more sandy, apparently more
sterile, and shows less signs of civilization. Around the little
village of PeRa, the deep sand is blown and drifted like snow.
It only needs the presence of Arabs and camels to make it
a littoral desert. But a few miles back we had seen an artesian
well of moderate depth, overflowing from a six-inch pipe.
Such wells may prove to be the material salvation of this
region. This part of Texas is mainly a cattle-country. The
occasional wind-mill towers, which the traveler may see from
the car-window, usually mark the location of the ranches.
Vast tracts of land are held by the cattle kings and cattle
queens of Texas, containing from ten thousand to five hun-
dred thousand, and even to a million acres. These ranges are
valuable for stock-raising, because the original cost of the
land was a mere trifle, and the present taxes are merely nomi-
nal. The present drought, of nearly three years' duration, has
caused great loss of live stock throughout this region. I was
told at Alice that during the period of the drought six hundred
car-loads of cattle-bones, gathered from the pastures, had been
shipped from that station. All stock-raising in such a loose
way is destructive to civilization and to the natural wealth of a
country. Every merely pastoral country gradually becomes a
desert. The tendency is always to overstock the range. To
destroy, and then to seek new pastures, is the rule. A region
depastured by cattle, swine, sheep and goats will rapidly
change for the worse, and every plant and tree whose leaves,
fruit or roots any of those animals use for food will sooner or
later disappear.

November 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

473

Of course, the right of these cattle people to hold their vast
estates and to use them in their own way is not questioned.
I have frequently shared the hospitality of cattlemen, and
know that they are intelligent, large-hearted, honorable men,
as are the larger proportion of the cow-boys themselves. But
the time will come when the breaking up of these vast estates
will be for the best interests of all concerned. This means
improved agriculture where it is practicable, and civilization
with all the happy incidents which attend it. It means more
homes, more gardens and orchards, and more fields of cotton
and grain. It does not mean less, but more and better stock,
for any long-continued successful system of agriculture im-
plies abundance of good stock, well cared-for and fattened at
home. This region had much better remain as it is than
to be settled hastily by people who are ignorant of the
country and who have barely sufficient means to bring them
here.

I have seen this section at its worst, for which I am not sorry.
Gradually, but rapidly enough for the best interests of the
country, as means of irrigation are provided from the rivers,
from artesian wells and from the surplus water of rainy sea-
sons held in reservoirs and by dams, this portion of Texas will
become comparatively populous. Here in Duval County sev-
eral thousand bales of cotton are annually raised without irri-
gation. I have seen good fields of that wonderful dry-counlry
plant growing still farther westward. Corn and sorghum are
also raised in this county, and winter gardens are successful.

San Diego is a pleasant and enterprising little village, about
fifty miles west of Corpus Christi. It lies a little south of the
twentieth parallel, and is near the ninety-ninth meridian. A
creek-bed extends through the western part of the village, and
when heavy rains occur it becomes nearly a river. Duval
County is about the eastern limit of our distinctively south-
western Cocculus diversifolius. The specific name of this
species is signLlcant of the careless way the plant has fallen
into of forming its leaves without much regularity as to their
size and form. They are commonly slightly heart-shaped,
obtuse at the summit and abruptly mucronate. Yet, some-
times on the same branch they are oblong or even linear.
The species is a less rampant grower than C. Carolinus, though
it sometimes climbs ten to fifteen feet high. Its small flowers
are yellowish. They are succeeded by small drupes, which
are black, with a bloom when ripe.

South-western Passiflora foetida grows about San Diego. I
have collected it as far eastward as Rockport, climbing over
bushes close to the waters of Aransas Bay. It sometimes
trails. It grows also in Bee County, near Beeville, and along
the Rio Grande as far north as Eagle Pass, and southward to
the equator. It furnishes its flowers and fruit with a three-
parted netted involucre, like our P. incarnata and the newly
discovered P. Palmeri, whose leaves those of our species
closely resemble in form. The whole plant, green fruit and
all, is offensively foetid.

On the right bank of the arroyo, about a mile below the town,
Coursetia axillaris grows. Here it is a low shrub, three to
five feet tall. It is said to rise at times into a tree. This inter-
esting, but little-known, member of the Pea family may readily
be recognized by having the leaflets of the lowest pair rounded
in form, while the leaflets of the other pairs are obovate ; by
its solitary yellow flowers and its deeply lobed Hattish pods.

Kansas City, Kan. E. N. Plank.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXIV.

CEPHALOTAXUS DRUPACEA is the only Japanese
member and the type of a genus of half a dozen species
distributed from Japan, through China to northern India.
It is widely and quite generally scattered through the
mountain-regions of the empire, extending north to central
Yezo, where it appears on the low hills as an undershrub,
only two or three feet highj while on the Hakone Moun-
tains, in Hondo, it occasionally grows into a bushy tree
twenty or twenty-five feet in height. Cephalotaxus drupa-
cea is now a familiar object in our gardens, although it is
not very hardy or satisfactory here in New England, where
it often suffers in winter, missing, no doubt, the thick and
continuous covering of snow which protects it in Yezo.
Like its relative, the Gingko, the same individual does not
produce male and female flowers, and the fruit, like that of
the Gingko, is an almond-like nut enclosed in a fleshy cov-
ering. A resinous oil, used in lamps, is pressed from the ,
seeds, and the wood is occasionally employed in cabinet-
making.

The Gingko, although we are always in the habit of as-
sociating it with Japan, is in reality not a native of that
country, into which it was brought with their religion by the
Buddhist priests. It is still unknown in a wild state, and
it is possible that this genus, which was widely distributed
with many species, through the temperate and colder parts
of the northern hemisphere in tertiary times, has become
exterminated from its native forests, and has only been pre-
served through the agency of the priests of Buddah, who
seem to hold it in particular respect. The hardiness of this
beautiful tree, which thrives under the most trying condi-
tions and in the severest climates, indicates that it orig-
inated in some northern interior region ; and if it is ever
seen growing without cultivation it will be found probably
in some remote district of Mongolia. There are noble,
great, broad-branched specimens in the neighborhood of
the temples in, Tokyo fully a hundred feet high, with tall
massive trunks six or seven feet in diameter. The Gingko
is, perhaps, the most beautiful, as it is certainly the most
interesting tree which is to be seen in Japan ; and in the
autumn, especially when the sunlight flutters through the
bright yellow leaves, these great trees, with their broad
heads of graceful semi-pendulous branches, are magnificent
objects. The fleshy covering of the fruit has a rancid and
most disagreeable flavor, but the kernel of the almond-like
stone is delicate and is esteemed a luxury in both China
and Japan, where it is found in the markets in considera-
ble quantities. The wood, which is light yellow in color,
is soft and brittle, and as the trees grow to a very great age
and are only planted for ornament in Japan and rarely cut
down, it has no economic importance there.

Torreya, or, if the custom which now prevails among
American botanists is followed, Tumion, Rafinesque's
name, which also appears in eastern and western America
and in China, occurs in Japan in its largest and most beau-
tiful representative, Tumion nuciferum, one of the hand-
somest of all coniferous trees. Although nowhere very
common, the Kaya, as this tree is called in Japan, was
seen in all the mountainous regions of central Hondo
which we visited. It often grows as an undershrub in the
forest, or as a small tree twenty or thirty feet tall, but occa-
sionally rises to the dignity of a tree of the first class, as on
the banks of the Kiso-gawa, near Agematsu, we saw speci-
mens fully eighty feet high, with great trunks four or five
feet in diameter. Such trees, with their bright red bark
and compact heads of dark green, almost black lustrous
foliage, possess extraordinary beauty. No other Yew-like
tree which I have seen equals it in massiveness and depth
of color, and the Kaya should be cultivated wherever the
climate permits it to display its beauty. The elevation
above the sea at which it flourishes in Japan indicates that
it will be hardy in the middle states, although we cannot
expect to see it grow to any size in New England. An oil
used in cooking, Kaya-no-abura, is an article of considera-
ble commerce in Japan, and the kernels of the nuts, which
possess an agreeable, slightly resinous flavor, are sold in
great quantities in the markets in the autumn, and are a
favorite article of food. The wood is strong, straight-
grained, light yellow, and valued in building and cabinet-
making.

Taxus, which has two species in eastern America, one
in the north and another, almost the rarest of American
trees, in the south, which is represented in western North
America, and is widely distributed through Europe and
continental Asia, appears in Japan with a noble tree, Taxus
cuspidata, which, to judge by our observations, is confined
to the island of Yezo, where it is not uncommon on the low
hills of the interior. Here it often attains the height of
forty or fifty feet, and forms a trunk two feet in diameter,
covered with bright red bark. The Yew is often employed
by the Japanese to ornament their gardens, and the wood,
which is exceedingly hard, tough and of a bright red color,
is used by the Ainos for their bows, and is valued in cabi-
net-making and for the interior decorations of expensive
houses. This beautiful tree, as is now well known, flour-

474

Garden and Forest.

[Number 299.

fshes in this country, where it has proved itself perfectly
hardy, and where it promises to be really valuable as an
ornamental plant

It is not thought now that Podocarpus, a genus of the
tropical and sub-tropical regions of both hemispheres and of
Tasmania, is indigenous in Japan, although two species
are often cultivated there. The more common is Podocar-
pus macrophylla, a small tree with lanceolate, acute leaves,
and a common hedge-plant in Tokyo gardens, in which it
is also often seen cut into fantastic shapes. It is a much
less beautiful, although a hardier, tree than Podocarpus
Xageia, with its thick, broad, glossy leaves and beautiful
purple trunks, the second species seen in Japan. It is one
of the favorite subjects, especially in a variety in which the
leaves are marked by broad white stripes, for dwarfing and
pot-culture. The real beauty of this tree is only seen, how-
ever, when it has become large and old and the trunk is
covered with its peculiar smooth purple bark. A grove
of these trees on the hill behind the Shinto temples
at Nara is one of the most interesting spots in Japan, and
in solemn dignity and beauty is only surpassed by the
grove of Cryptomerias which surround the mausoleums of
leyasu and lemitsu at Nikko.

Like Cryptomeria, Sciadopitys is monotypic and en-
demic to Japan. It is one of the most curious and interest-
ing of trees, with scale-like leaves in whose axils are pro-
duced the phylloid shoots, which are generally mistaken
for the leaves, and which are arranged near the ends of the
branches like the ribs of an umbrella — a peculiarity to
which this tree owes its familiar English name, the Um-
brella Pine.

Like the Gingko, the Sciadopitys was for a long time only
known from a few individuals cultivated in temple-gardens
and from the grove on the hill in Kiushiu, where
the great monastery town of Koya stands, to which the
Sciadopitys owes its Japanese name, Koya-maki. There is
said to be a remarkable grove of these trees here, which
was once supposed to be the original home of the species,
but Rein and other writers now agree in thinking that they
were originally planted by the monks. Dupont found
what he considered indigenous trees on Chimono and in
the province of Mino. In this province, on the Nagasendo,
below Nakatsu-gawa, we saw young plants of the Koya-
maki in all the road-side gardens, a pretty sure indication
in this remote region that the tree was growing in the
woods not very far off, and here for the next two or three
days we saw it sending up its narrow pyramidal heads
above the Pines and other trees of the forest, growing, as
we thought quite naturally,andleadingus to believe that we
had found the true home of this tree, although in a country
like Japan, which has been densely populated for centuries,
and in which tree-planting has been a recognized industry
for more than a thousand years, it is not easy to determine
whether a forest has been planted by man or not. But
whether these trees had been planted or whether they were
the offspring of trees brought from some other region, or
the indigenous inhabitants of the forest, the Sciadopitys
grows on the mountains of Mino in countless thousands,
often rising with tall straight trunks to the height of nearly
a hundred feet, and remarkable in their narrow, compact,
pyramidal heads of dark and lustrous foliage. The wood,
which is nearly white, strong and straight-grained, is a
regular article of commerce in this part of Japan, and from
Nakatsu-gawa is floated in rafts down the Kiosa-gawa to
Osaka, where it is said to be chiefly consumed. Except in
the neighborhood of Nakatsu-gawa, the Sciadopitys is
not very much cultivated as a garden-plant in Japan ; and
it is not often found in old gardens, except in the immedi-
ate neighborhood of temples, where picturesque old speci-
mens may occasionally be seen occupying a place of
honor within the fence which encloses the principal build-
ings, and carefully protected by low stone railings. 'I'here
is a remarkable specimen with pendulous branches stand-
before one of the mortuary temples in the Shiba Park in
T6ky6. C. S. S.

Plant Notes.

The Chinese Red Bud in America.

OUR American Red Bud, Ccrcis Canadensis, in early
spring, when the leafless branches are covered with
the crowded clusters of purple and red pea-shaped flowers,
is one of the most beautiful objects in the forest, especially
in some parts of the southern states, where these plants are
so abundant that in the flowering season they light up the
whole landscape. The American species, like its European
relative, the Judas-tree, are small trees, but the only Chi-
nese species which has as yet been brought into our gardens
is a shrub. Some idea of its habit and of the size to which
it grows under favorable conditions here, can be obtained
from an examination of the illustration on page 476 of this
issue, which represents a plant in a garden in Flushing, in
this state. It is probably one of the first specimens of
Cercis Chinensis ever raised in America, and it is larger
than any other we have seen.

Only a shrub in size, the Chinese Cercis produces
more beautifully colored flowers than either the Ameri-
can or European species ; it is one of the most dis-
tinct and attractive of early spring-flowering shrubs, and
should, therefore, find a place in every garden where the
climate is not too severe for it. The leaves, too, are a rich
glossy green, so that it is a desirable plant all summer long.
It is perfectly at home in the middle states, and in Fair-
mount Park, in Philadelphia, a number of excellent speci-
mens may be found, but north of this latitude it is not very
reliable, and in eastern Massachusetts it rarely flowers and
is usually killed in severe winters.

Although a native of China, and not of Japan, this plant
is often spoken of here as the Japanese Cercis, owing to the
fact that it was first brought to this country from Japan,
where, like many other Chinese plants, it is often found in
gardens.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Ax IxTERESTiNc; NuRSERv. — I Spent a most enjoyable hour
yesterday in looking through the famous Swanley Nursery
with Mr. Caniiell, whose geniality, energy and genuine
love of his work are, in a way, as remarkable as many of
the flowers he produces. The end of October is not a good
time in the garden, still the Begonias, though nearly over,
are truly wonderful in color, size and what Mr. Cannell
calls perfection of form. The tubers were all being lifted
and placed in houses on cinder bottoms to ripen and dry
before being sorted for export. "I send away about a
hundred thousand yearly," said Mr. Cannell ; " not many
to America now because of the duty on all packages over
eight ounces, although I send plenty of them." I saw the
packing-sheds, and learned something of the skillful man-
ner of packing which enables Mr. Cannell to send plants all
over the world with success. Some cases filled with Straw-
berries, Rhododendrons and other plants were just starting
for New Zealand. The plants were fastened firmly on their
sides in boxes, and the lid was a sheet of stout perforated
zinc with a few battens across to protect it.

The Zonal Pelargoniums were a magnificent show, house
after house filled with thousands of plants in five or six inch
pots, the foliage healthy, the trusses of bloom numerous
and large, while the colors ranged from snow-white to deep
crimson, scarlet, magenta, and, as Mr. Cannell described
it, " very nearly true blue. We mean to get a perfect blue-
flowered one, and see we are getting on ; this is one we
call Blue Peter." It is bluish, or, rather, very deep ma-
genta, dazzling enough, but not a favorite with the ladies.
Mr. Cannell has two-inch hot-water pipes running along
the beds, level with and touching the leaves of the Pelargo-
niums, and hot even on a sunny afternoon. The secret of
success with these plants, Mr. Cannell said, is to grow them
in a dry atmosphere, when they will produce flowers that will

November 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

475

last and be a credit. These hot-water pipes keep the at-
mosphere in the houses buoyant and dry, and this is what
Pelargoniums like In winter. The conditions may be de-
scribed as precisely those of a Cactus-house. It is impos-
sible to make a more brilliant flower-picture in October —
indeed, one might say at any time of year — than this of Pe-
largoniums, as grown by Mr. Cannell, and it will improve
week by week until Christmas. The new semi-double
Raspael Improved, a crimson, with enormous trusses of
flowers, is represented by thousands, and the same is true
of the remarkable red and white New Life, which Mr. Can-
nell expects to become a universal favorite. The tricolor-
leaved Pelargoniums are also largely grown by Mr. Cannell.

" Chrysanthemums are coming on, and will soon require
all the attention we can give them." "Yes, plenty of new
ones, but nothing yet to beat Edward Molyneux, the finest
type of Chrysanthemum in all points." " We send little
Chrysanthemum-plants everywhere, even to China and
Japan." " Emphatically a poor man's plant, for he can
grow it well in his yard, flower it in a shed with the door
open, and keep it in any corner till the summer comes
again." " We have over fourteen hundred named sorts,
and we are even now asked for sorts which we do not
possess." These were Mr. Cannell's remarks as he hurried
us through the houses. Carnations of all kinds, with a
special position for one named Mrs. Cannell, a variety with
the sturdy growth and size of flower of Malmaison, but
colored rich magenta-pink. Mr. Cannell evidently has a
weakness for magenta. A house filled with an endless
variety of Coleus, which Mr. Cannell says find plenty of
admirers, harsh though their colors are considered by
some. Vesuvius is a brilliant red and yellow, large-leaved
variety, which is likely to become a favorite for summer
bedding, and The Shah is a singular dwarf, small-leaved
variety, the lower half of the leaf colored crimson, the
upper half, yellow. We rushed through four acres of
Dahlias to look at some of the new ones admired by Mr.
Cannell, and I set down the names of Maid of Kent, Robert
Cannell, Colose, J. Abrey and Marguerite as varieties of
sufficient distinctness and beauty to please my taste. " All
the neighbors who care to are allowed to come in and help
themselves to Dahlia-flowers," said Mr. Cannell. Of course,
the names of the varieties are legion, and they appear to
be all represented at Swanley, and Mr. Cannell appears to
know the history of every one of them. A house filled with
Cacti, Agaves and other succulent plants was of exceptional
interest — a good collection, well grown and evidently
cared for by Mr. Cannell, who stands alone as a florist
among thousands in his combining a florist's feeling with
a love for Cacti. Herbaceous plants by the acre, most of
them at or going to rest now, but bearing plenty of evi-
dences of their health and sturdiness even now. Over at
Eynsford, in a valley on the estate of Sir William Hart-
Dyke, Mr. Cannell has started another nursery and farm,
which in a few years, under Mr. Cannell's energy, is cer-
tain to become a much more attractive " Home of Flovi'ers "
than that at Swanley. The new nursery is surrounded by
a range of hills, and appears to be well suited for the culti-
vation of all kinds of plants to which chalk is not distasteful.

Chelsea Botanic Garden. — It is rumored that this ancient
" Physic Garden " is to be handed over to the builder, the
Apothecaries' Society having no further need of it as a
teaching-school of botany for young "medicos." The gar-
den is the oldest in the metropolis, and it is famous as the
workshop of Philip Miller, Peliver, Rand and other botan-
ists of the seventeenth century. It covers an area of about
four acres by the side of the Thames, at the end of Cheyne
Walk, Chelsea. The contents of the garden are not of any
special interest, beyond a few old specimen trees, includ-
ing one of the oldest Cedars of Lebanon in Europe. The
land was granted to the Apothecaries' Society by Sir Hans
Sloane in 1722 at a nominal yearly rental on condition that
it be used as a physic garden to enable students to distinT
guish the good and useful plants from the hurtful and "for
the manifestation of the power, wisdom and glory of God."

It has been suggested that in the event of the Apothecaries'
Society desiring to be relieved of the burden of maintaining
such a garden, it might well be kept up as an educutional
instrument for fostering the study of botany, and if prop-
erly managed it could be made of sufficient public utility
as to justify the London County Council in keeping it up
for educational purposes. At Kew, the demand for facili-
ties for the study of systematic botany by the public has
grown to such an extent in recent years that a special gar-
den, known as the " Students' Garden," has been set apart
for the use of bona fide students, who are allowed to collect
specimens and examine them unmolested by the crowds
that visit the garden proper. Should the London County
Council decline to interest itself in the Chelsea Garden, one
might hope that rather than permit this historically inter-
esting and educationally useful place to become obliterated
by the builder, the Government might be induced to in-
terest itself in the maintenance of the garden as a supple-
ment to Kew. This latter establishment is in some degree
an offshoot from the Chelsea Garden, for we read that "in
1759 William .\iton, who had been a pupil of Philip Miller,
at the Physic Garden, Chelsea, was engaged by the
Dowager Princess to establish at Kew a Botanic, or as it
was then called, a Physic Garden." The only objection to
this scheme would be, that owing to the smoke and poison-
polluted atmosphere of Chelsea by the river, it would not be
possible to keep many plants in health there. Indeed, the trees
and other plants there now show evidences of injury from
impure air. Still the fittest might be grown there. We can-
not afford to relinquish town gardens because of the unfa-
vorable conditions consequent upon the growth of the
towns, or it would not be difficult to showthat most of our
most useful gardens, even Kew itself, cannot be maintained
as gfardens many more years ! „, ,„

London. ^ W. WalSOtt.

Cultural Department.

Grapes under Glass.

THERE is a general impression that to grow grapes of the
higliest quality under glass, one must have specially con-
structed and expensive houses with all the latest improve-
ments ; but the fact is, that vines under glass do not have to
contend with such serious dangers as threaten those out-of-
doors, and there is hardly any fruit which can be produced
with greater ease and certainty than hot-house grapes, if the
proper varieties are selected and proper care is exercised. A
chapter from my own experience may be encouraging on this
point.

Four years ago it was my fortune to have a block of modern
greenhouses erected for growing plants and flowers, to replace
old and dilapidated ones which were to be torn down when the
new ones were ready for use. As the work went on it was
difficult to decide what to do on the site of the old houses
which stood on tlie hill-side, with a twelve-inch wall at their
baclc supporting four feet of soil and gravel. Our outdoor
grapes had suffered much from mildew and black-rot, and as
we had no grapes under glass, the thought came to me that
the old greenhouse might be used for Vines. This old house
could not be styled a plant-house, and no one would ever con-
struct such a building for the purpose of growing grapes, but
it was the only available house, and I set to work to make it as
convenient as possible. It was a hip-roof structure, thirty-eight
feet long by twelve wide, facing the south-west. At the ridge
it was eight feet high, front sash three feet high, and being
built when timber was cheap the rafters were five inches by
six in size, had been set three feet and eight inches apart. The
sashes were correspondingly heavy, glazed with seven and
three-eighths by twelve-inch glass, and the shorter sashes in
the rear were glazed with ribbed glass. Of course, so much
timber and thick glass obscured the light and was very dif-
ferent from a modern grapery ; besides, there was a small
house at the south-east end of it which cut off the rays of the
morning sun.

I first made a border inside of the house bv digging out the
soil to a depth of eighteen inches, side walls were built and
a concrete-bottom laid, and four inches of broken brick,
the most available material on hand, was used for drainage.
As no sod was available, a covering of cinders, free from
ashes, was used on top of the brick to prevent the soil

476

Garden and Forest.

[Number 299.

from washing through and keep the drainage open. At the
lower end a piece or ordinary greenhouse heating-pipe was
used as an outlet, built into the wall so as to allow free flow
when copious waterings were given. For this border a good
loam made of sod, previously stacked, was used with a
sprinkling of coarse bone-meal, and the soil was twelve inches
deep after it had settled, exclusive of the drainage.

In April, 1890, I planted five vines of Black Hamburg, two
of Foster's White, one of Gros Morac and one Sweet-water.
Wires were fastened to each rafter with long galvanized eye-
screws with a parallel wire on either side, sixteen inches from
the glass and fourteen inches from the centre of the rafter.
No greater distance from the glass could be given, as other-
wise the door which opened into the house would strike the
wire. The vines were planted under each rafter, and as they

the house until they were planted outdoors in the spring, wlien
the temporary bench was taken down, and the border received
a top-dressing of good loam mixed with well-decomposed cow-
manure. Every vine broke strong and showed two or three
bunches on each lateral, and the strongest ones were allowed
to carry ten or twelve bunches each, according to their
strength, and the laterals were pinched to the third eye be-
yond the bunch. This allowed them to meet those of the next
vine, but not to crowd the foliage, and the sub-laterals were
allowed but one leaf, but each leaf had sufficient space and
light for free development. The vines which had been cut
back soon reached the top of the house again, when they were
pinched, and the laterals were also pinched to prevent crowding,
and the entire roof was covered by the end of June. Liberal
soakings of water were given at intervals after the Chrysanthe-

Ft|i;. 69. — Chinese Cercis In Flushing, I.ong Island. — See page 474.

were started at this time the shoots were rubbed off to a point
where the vines were afterward cut, with no danger of bleed-
ing when the leaves were produced. They made a growth
which was yet short-jointed and solid, and in July they had
reached the top of the house and were sending out laterals.
Being pinched at the top, the laterals also made very strong

frowth. In autumn a temporary bench was made in the mid-
le of the house and a permanent one at the back of it, with
shelving above the bench, and all were filled with a stock of
Chrysanthemums and bedding-plants. The first year the vines
matured some splendid canes, and about the ist of January
were pruned back. The strongest canes were left ten feet long,
the others six, while the laterals were cut close, leaving one
eye. The minimum temperature during the winter was from
forty to forty-five degrees. The Chrysanthemums occupied

mums were cleared out, and diluted liquid-manure from the
stable-cistern was added after the grapes had stoned. They
ripened in the latter part of August, sixteen months from the
time of planting, and about one hundred pounds werecutfrom
the vines this season. Before the grapes were cut the house
was again filled with stock-plants for another season, including
someMusas and the like. The laterals were then cut half-way
back to admit light, and the same course was pursued this
winter as before.

In January, pruning on the short-spur system was done, and
one or two eyes left, according to the condition of the wood,
such new canes as had made laterals being cut to one eye.
During the winter the house was kept at a temperature with a
minimum of forty-five to forty degrees, and in March the vines
at the warmest end of the house had started into growth. As

November 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

477

the temperature increased with the lengthening days and sun-
heat no syringing was done, the moisture necessary for the
plant being sufficient. Disbudding was attended to early, reserv-
ing the strongest, which were allowed to grow until the bunches
could be selected and the laterals pinched back before it was
necessary to tie them loosely to the wires, so as to keep them
from touching the glass. As the grapes increased in size their
weight brought the laterals down to the wires. In this way no
laterals were broken off, as is the case if they are tied down
early, when the young growth is brittle. Bunches were thinned
out early in May, as soon as the berries could be discerned, as
they swell very rapidly at this stage, and when there is much
other garden-work out-of-doors it is well to have this thinning
out of the way when there is opportunity for it.

This is a critical stage in the growth of the crop, and it is
necessary to attend strictly to ventilation and the condition of
the house generally, especially if it is occupied by bedding and
other plants, and the vines must have attention at the expense
of everything else, for if the vines have any set-back now the
crop is certain to be damaged. The bedding-plants are apt to
suffer in a heat in which the vines would revel, and the red
spider is almost sure to appear on plants which ought to be in
a lower temperature and have more ventilation. It the plants
are attacked by the spider, the probability is that the vines will
also be attacked, and this will make trouble. At such times
syringing with clean water must be attended to for suppress-
ing the spider, and the house must be cleared of its temporary
occupants at the earliest possible opportunity. Syringing and
damping must also be judiciously done, and the regime must
be varied to suit the weather, or mildew will appear and is cer-
tain to leave its mark on the vines and the fruit. Bad ventila-
tion and excessive moisture favor the spread of mildew. Air
should be admitted early in the day, especially on bright sunny
mornings when the sun strikes the glass at sunrise, or the
temperature will make a rapid rise. In case the ventilators
are then thrown open a cold current will be admitted, and,
perhaps, a draft, which will cause a chill to the vines, and this
may result in the grapes becoming rusted, or the tips of the
young growth may shrivel as if scorched, and, later on, the
berries may 'split or crack and fall off. Ventilation should
always be given at the ridge, or top of the house, and drafts
of cold air should be carefully guarded against. No bottom
ventilation is necessary, as a rule, but when the grapes are
coloring a free circulation of air is needed, and at this season
of the year it is better to leave some air on all night. After
thinning, grapes swell rapidly, and the borders should have
copious waterings and occasionally liquid-manure.

Last season, after the grapes had stoned and commenced to
color, I had an experience which was new to me. Near the
grapery is an orchard, and the back wall of the grapery and
the buildings adjacent are covered with Ampelopsis Veitchii.
The Ampelopsis as well as the Apple-trees were infested with
a white fly similar to thrips, only larger, and at a later stage
they assumed a brown color. These flies gained an entrance
into the grapery through the ventilators and could not be dis-
lodged. They ate the leaves on the under side, just as thrips
attack plants, only more viciously. The vines had been in per-
fect health and condition, and the new wood had commenced
to ripen, but in spite of my efforts the flies were master of the
situation. The vines were heavily cropped, and although the
fruit was ripe and of good size, the injury to the foliage
affected the color of the grapes. Several of the bunches
weighed three pounds each, and two hundred and fifty pounds
were cut from the vines.

The same course was again pursued last fall, the house filled
with plants, the vines pruned as before, and no scrubbing,
scraping or insecticide of any kind applied. The usual dress-
ing was given to the border, and two of the vines — one Sweet-
water and Gros Morac — not fruiting as well the others, were
cut out. The remaining vines broke strong in March through-
out the entire house, and no bad effects of the insect attack of
last year was noticeable until the season of the previous attack
came round when a few of the flies appeared. I laid tobacco-
stems the whole length of the house and more than half the
breadth of the border. This seemed to be effectual, although
another application was made later, as the stems had to be
kept dry. This time I covered the bench with stems, and no
insects have been seen since. The crop this year averaged
fifty pounds to a vine ; the bunches were of uniform size and
the berries of good size, several measuring four inches in cir-
cumference, and they presented that hammered appearance
and deep bloom so much prized by connoisseurs. Not a sin-
gle shanked berry was seen. I have just finished cutting the.
crop. The laterals are now half-cut, and the wood is in prime
condition, better, if possible, than it was last year. In the place

of the vines cut out another rod has been trained from adja-
cent Black Hamburg vines, the vacancy has already filled and
the new canes will be fruited next year. . ,

Dongan Hills, N. Y. Wtn. Trtcker.

Some Work of the Season.

"DULBS for indoor use should be planted at once, in readi-
■'-' ness for forcing, as a steady succession of plants is re-
quired to furnish a variety of flowers for the dwelling and the
conservatory. Roman and Dutch Hyacinths, Tulips, Nar-
cissi in variety, Freesias, Ixias and Gladiolus Colvillei are
among the most useful, and are all reasonably easy to force.
Tulips, Narcissus and Freesias are more ornamental for con-
servatory decoration when grown in groups in a pan or pot,
from half a dozen to a dozen of the Tulips and Narcissus and
about twenty-five of the Freesias. Bulbs of this character
should be well-rooted before they are brought into the heat.
This can best be secured by placing the pans or pots in a
frame and covering them with three or four inches of ashes
or soil, so as to keep them in a cool and moist condition.

Lily-of-the-valley should also be planted now, in clumps for
pot culture, while the divided pips are the most satisfactory
for cut-flowers ; these may be planted either in pans or in
shallow boxes, as is most convenient. If the roots of the Lily-
of-the-valley are dry and shriveled when received, it is a good
plan to soak them for a few hours before planting, and this
tends to start them more evenly.

Lilium Harrisii, grown for winter flowers, should now have
an abundance of light and heat, a night temperature of seventy
degrees being none too high. It is surprising how much heat
L. Harrisii and L. longiflorum will endure when it is remem-
"bered that they are natives of a temperate clime, and almost
hardy here ; but when hurried to finish an Easter crop of these
Lilies, I have grown them at 85 to 90 degrees at night and 115
to 120 degrees during the day, and still turne4 out good flow-
ers, by subjecting them to a hardening process in a cold-house
after they had started to open. It is, however, much better
practice to begin the operation in time and to grow them on
steadily, rather than subject them to this extremely high-pres-
sure method. Aphis on the Lilies should be promptly erad-
icated by a dipping or syringing of tobacco-water. This
method is more agreeable to use in a conservatory attached to
a dwelling than fumigating them, and is quite as effective.

The various summer bulbs, among which the Caladiums,
Gloxinias, Tuberous Begonias, Achimenes and Tydias are
prominent, have almost all finished their growth by this time,
and may be put into winter quarters. The best method is to
shake them out clean and put them in boxes or pots of dry
sand and store them in a nearly dry place under the stages ;
this operation is to be performed as soon as the foliage diesoflf.

Primroses deserve a place in every conservatory ; P. Ja-
ponica is one that should not be forgotten, its tall spikes of
flowers produced in successive whorls being quite showy and
variable in color, ranging from crimson to almost white. The
Chinese Primroses are well recognized now as house-plants,
and include a great variety of colorings, while the common
English Primrose can also be forced quite readily.

Violets in frames and houses will soon be coming into
flower, and will require free ventilation just as long as the
weather will permit. A night temperature of thirty-eight to
forty degrees generally gives the best results, though some va-
rieties submit to higher temperature without material injury.

Holmesburg. Pa. W. H. Taplttt.

Epidendrum radicans. — This species, the most beautiful of its
section, if not, indeed, of the whole genus, is not considered
easy to flower by some growers, and partly on this account it
is not often seen. There is no difficulty, howrever, about grow-
ing the plant, and it is really one of the easiest and quickest of
Orchids to grow and increase. On the 20th of February, 1891,
a small branch or cutting was obtained, which has developed
into a plant that now has seven growths that are showing
flower-spikes, with many other secondary ones that should
flower another season. Epidendrum radicans is a native of
Guatemala, where it grows among long grass in full exposure
to the sun, so it seemed perfectly rational to place the plant
in the Rose-house at the end, where it would get the full ben-
efit of the sunshine all summer, with frequent syringing in
hot weather. This treatment was evidently agreeable, but
smaller plants should be placed. in a warmer house the first
year, to induce rapid growth, as they should have some size
before being placed in the sun. This species does not form
bulbs as other Epidendrums do, but the slender stems grov/
upward for about four feet, roots being sent out from below

478

Garden and Forest.

[Number 299.

each pair of leaves, which grow downward until they reach the
sphagnum growing on the surface of the pot. The roots then
strike deep into the potting material and hold the plant in
position, so that in appearance it is always striking to the most
uninterested observer. But when the large heads of brilliant
scarlet flowers are produced there are few Orchids that sur-
pass tliis Epidendrum in brilliance of display. It is also
known as E. rhizopharuni. j? n n

South I-ancaster, Ma9s. ■^. C/. C.

Exhibitions.
The New York Chrysanthemum Show.

THE annual Chrysanthemum Show of the New York Florists'
Club was opened Monday, November 6th, in the main hall
of the New York Industrial Building, in Lexington Avenue and
Forty-third Street. This is a mammoth new building lately
erected for exhibition purposes. It liiis on the main floor
ample space, without the lotty roof and great tiers of seats
which always detracted from the flower-shows at the Madison
Square Garden, as their lines were beyond the efforts of the
decorator to hide. Entering the wide portal of the building,
which was marked by a profusion of evergreens, and ascend-
ing a few steps, one entered what at first seemed a fine hall
with high cylindrical glass roof. Within the lines of tliis space
were massed on either side great banUs of Chrysanthemums
with backgrounds of foliage. At either side of the door were
handsome stove-plants, while in the centre space, irregularly
disposed, were beds of Lilies-of-the-valley, two large groups
of Palms, others of Crotons, and single specimens of Tree
Ferns, Palms, etc., with numerous specimen Clirysanthemum-
plants. A closer inspection showed that this hall was only a
central space from which wide side spaces with lower ceilings
extended on either side to the side walls of the building, which
occupies a city block of fair size. As these side spaces were
well lighted, they proved to be capital places on the one side
for cut Chrysantliemum-blooms, on the other for the Orchids,
Carnations and miscellaneous plants, with sufficient room for
all exhibits. No flower-show previously given in New York,
with, perhaps, the exception of that in the Lenox Lyceum three
years ago, has Iteen so well arranged for the enjoyment of vis-
itors, groupings being well done and exhibits being arranged
without confusion. As the Chrysanthemum shows in our
principal cities were all held this year during the same week
the exhibits were all local, and it is a pleasure to say that the
local growers have fully maintained their reputation, and, in
fact, have scored an advance.

For specimen Chrysanthemum-plants the prizes went to
Pitcher & Manda. Mr. William Bayard Cutting was awarded
5150.00 premium for the best group of 300 square feet, and one
of $50.00 for one of 100 square feet of well-flowered plants. J.
Roehrs had, besides others, a prize for twenty-five bush-plants
in six-inch pots. These were dwarf, usually with three good
flowers, and were especially well grown, the flowers preserv-
ing their freshness through the week. Dailledouze Brothers
took the majority of prizes for cut blooms in vases and on
boards, other prize-winners being J. L. Powell, J. N. May,
A. W. Elkstrom and J. Condon. The best vase of twelve
white flowers was J. N. May's Queen, a white incurved flower
of perfect purity. "The Viviand Morel and Ada H. Le Roy were
the prize-taking pink flowers in two competitions, in vases of
twelve, as were Golden Wedding and William H. Lincoln in
yellows. A new crimson imported by J. N. May had the pre-
mium for this color, while Harry May was to the front again as
first of any other color. The sets of six vases with twelve
flowers of each variety in each vase, and twelve vases with six
flowers of each variety in each (Dailledouze winner in the lat-
ter, and J. L. Powell in the former), were better than before
shown here, the blooms being generally very massive, well
colored and finished and uniform. In this section the best
flowers were Niveus, Mrs. Craig Lippincott, Minnie Wana-
maker. Ivory, Maud Dean, Harry Widener, Colonel William B.
Smith, Mrs. Irving Clarke, E. Hitzeroth, Harry May, Marie
Simpson, Roslyn and Good Gracious. The special prize for
the best six flowers of any color was won with Niveus, and
the twenty-five flowers of Golden Wedding which won a special
prize offered by Peter Henderson & Co. were quite up to last
year's standartf. They were exhibited by J. L. Powell.

For flowers shown on boards, Dailledouze Brothers took
first premium for best forty-eight, best twelve, and best twelve
Japanese, J. Condon being first for best twenty-four varieties,
with only lour exhibitors in each section. The best twelve
comprised Golden Gale, Mrs. Senator Hearst, Excellent, Queen,
Mrs. Craig Lippincott, Colonel William B. Smith, Viviand
Morel, Mrs. William Bayard Cutting, Joey Hill, W. G. Newell,

Edward Hatch, Miss Libby Allen. Prizes for Chrysanthemums
shown on stems with foliage were given to Pitcher & Manda,
Peter Henderson & Co. and J. L. Powell. They were shown
in great variety, and generally in well-finished blooms.

A table decoration m white Ivory Chrysanthemums took the
first prize for W. A. Brower & Sons, its competitor in pink be-
ing considered rather too massive and overdone.

Pitcher & Manda made an especially fine display of
Cypripediums and miscellaneous Orchids, for which they
took first premiums. Mr. J. E. Brown, of Bellport, Long
Island, had a fine specimen plant of Cattleya labiata, of rich
color. Lahning & Winnefeld, of Hackensack, New Jersey,
made a display of Cyclamens, well-flowered for the season.
F. Sanders & Son. London, have a silver medal for a new
foliage-plant, Strobilanthus Dyerianus. H. W. Wipperman
gained first prize for a large group of Palms. Mr. J. B. Col-
gate, of Yonkers, showed well-colored groups of Crotons and
handsome Marantas. Mr. J. B. Keller and Pitcher & Manda
divided the honors in a bed of handsome Dracienas. Mr. J. E.
Brown's semicircular bed of foliage-plants was one of the
main attractions, being especially brightened by finely colored
specimens of Alocasia Macrorhiza. From the Oasis Nur-
sery Company were fine flowers of hybrid tuberous Be-
gonias, single and double. Roses were not in great profu-
sion. Meteors were fine. Madame Testout was in better
form than before shown, and Mrs. William Whitney gained a
silver medal for Mr. May. Carnations were well shown in
many handsome specimens, Daybreak, Lizzie McGowan, Edna
Craig, Buttercup and Portia being leading kinds. Further notice
of the exhibition will be given next week.

Chrysanthemums in Boston.

'X'HE Chrysanthemum Show at Boston, last week, was the
■*■ best one ever held by the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, and while improvement was seen in every class, it
was especially strong in specimen plants. What is the reason
that New York exhibitions are always inferior to those of Bos-
ton and Philadelphia in this respect ? We never have seen in
this cily anything like the collections of twelve named plants
in the three prize-winning groups shown by Walter Hunne-
well, N. T. Kidder and Arthur Hunnewell. The general ad-
vance in skill among gardeners was well shown in all these
plants, for although the plants which won first prize were bet-
ter than any before ^rown by Mr. T. D. Hatfield, who for some
years has carried oft the honors as a cultivator, those in the
second group followed hard after his, and those in the
third were close upon the second. They were all marvelous
plants, and some of them showed a finish which is rarely
equaled. Some judges considered the best plant in the liall
to be one of Louis Boehmer, in Mr. Kidder's Collection, but
a specimen of Ivory, in a collection of six shown by Walter
Hunnewell, although not very large, was a remarkably well-
grown, compact and short-jointed plant.

Of course, there were wonders in the way of long-stemmed
cut-flowers, perhaps the best being a vase of Mrs. Jerome
Jones, with remarkable large dark green foliage, showing that
the plants had been hurried forward in a short time. They
were shown by Mr. John Simpkins, and his gardener, James
Brydon, deserves mention, not only for his skill with these
plants, but for the great mass of mixed blooms on long stems
in one of the five large vases of the Society, as well as for the ex-
hibit of flowers of six Japanese varieties, six incurved varieties
and twelve Japanese varieties, each of which won a fiist prize.
Among other cut flowers, vases of Golden Wedding, Niveus,
Joey Hill, Harry May and Harry Balsley, exhibited by E. M.
Wood & Co., of Natick, were all notably good, and so was the
vase of Viviand Morel, which took the Simpkins' cup. C. V.
Whitten took the Hatcli prize for the best yellow Chrysanthe-
mum with William H. Lincoln.

Among the seedlings the first prize for a red one was taken
by Mr. J. H. White for a distinct but unnamed mahogany-col-
ored variety, which was decidedly good. The best of the
whites was considered Mutual Friend, shown by Mann Broth-
ers. T. D. Hatfield showed the best pink, called Peach Blos-
som, which is in the way of V. H. Hallock. Mr. Hatfield also
showed the best yellow in A. H. Fewkes, which is a grand
flower in the style of W. H. Lincoln, but it appeared to be even
better than that standard variety. Another distinct seedling
was shown by James Brydon, named Portia, a very pale pink
of exquisite form ; Pitcher & Manda, the new flower named
after its originators and described last week in these columns,
received a special prize.

Among the miscellaneous exhibits was a fine yellow seed-
ling Canna, similar to Florence Vaughan, and shown by A.H.

NOVEMBBR 15, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

479

Fewkes, while Rea Brothers deserved the first-class certificate
they received for the true Aster granditiorus, one of the most
desirable of hardy Asters, with large dark blue flowers. An
exhibit of skeletonized leaves and seed-vessels from J. F.
Huss, of Lenox, Massachusetts, was remarkably good and
clearly showed the decorative possibilities in material of this
kind. Some admirable Carnations, new and old. were ex-
hibited. The new Ada Byron, shown by Mr. Nicholson, of
Framingham.and Helen Keller, white, splashed with crimson,
shown by John N. May, of Summit, New Jersey, were espe-
cially good.

Besides the persons already named, Joseph H. White, Elijah
A. Wood, E. S. Converse, Mrs. A. O. Wood, Dr. C. G. Weld
and Dr. H. P. Walcott took important prizes for Chrysanthe-
mums. David Allen was awarded for Orchids and Joseph
Tailby for Callas. W. H. Elliott took first prize for a group of
plants arranged for effect. The flowers were bright, almost
glaring, in color, but not so carefully arranged as to harmony
and contrast of color as the exhibit of the Bussey Institute,
which took second prize in this class.

A^

Chrysanthemums at Philadelphia.

S usual, specimen plants were quite the best feature in the
'- exhibition of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, held
in Philadelphia last week, and they maintained in every respect
that high standard of excellence in size, cultivation and finish
which has always characterized plants shown here. For the
collection of ten plants, ten varieties, James Verner, gardener
to the late A. J. Drexel, again received first premium. One of
these plants, Mrs. Irving Clark, was fully six feet in height and
eight feet in diameter, and the other nine were but little infe-
rior in size, being remarkably even in this respect. A speci-
men of Hicks Arnold showed no less than two hundred blooms,
and other varieties in this collection were Robert Bottomley!
. Puritan, W. H. Lincoln, the white Edna Prass, Mrs. J. W. Paul'
Jr., Mrs. A. J. Drexel, Frank Thomson and Black Beauty. In
the same class Emil Leiker secured second premium with
sturdy, well-grown, medium-sized plants, among which Louis
Boehmer, just opening, showed its color to excellent advan-
tage. Mrs. Irving Clark was also in this collection. This highly
popular flower in Pliiladelphia is considered quite indispensa-
ble by growers for cutting, and is of easy cultivation. Culling-
fordi. Domination or Mrs. George Bullock, and Mrs. William
Bowen and Violet Rose, the last two seedlings of W.K.Harris,
were among this ten. Gordon Smirl, gardener to Joseph f!
Sinnott, received third premium in this class for a notably
good exhibit. Henry D. Surnam, gardener to E. W. Clark, won
first premium for a collectionof six new varieties never before
exhibited at the shows of the society. These were all white or
light pink. John McCleary took second premium. A good
pink seedling grown by C. W. Cox, gardener to Clay Kemble,
was declared the best specimen plant, new variety, never be-
fore exhibited at the shows of this society. W. K. Harris'
twenty-five plants, twenty-five varieties, made a bright show
and gained first premium. These included Miss Eva Hoyt
Mrs. Irving Clark. W. H. Lincoln, J. J. Bailey, the best white in
the group, and Advance, a seedling of Mr. Harris", and one of
the best early pinks. The second prize for a similar collection
went to Emil Leiker. Robert Bottomley was declared the best
specimen plant of white, W. H. Lincoln the best plant of yel-
low, and Hicks Arnold won first prize in the competition for
any other color, James Verner and Emil Leiker winning the
highest prizes in these three classes. The best four plants,
four colors, were specimens of Mr. George W. Childs, Roslyn,
L. C. Madeira and Edna Prass. grown by James Verner, and
H. G. Standen won second prize. The best seedling plant,
winner of the society's prize, was a rich creamy white, in-
curved, grown by William Jamison, gardener to R. S. Mason,
and the same grower received the Sugar-loaf prize for the best
seedling never before shown.

A special premium, the Wootton prize, offered by Mrs.
George W. Childs. for three varieties, three different colors,
was awarded James Verner. for plants of George W. Childs,
Kioto and Robert Bottomley, Emil Leiker also taking a pre-
rnium for a like exhibit. The Pembroke prize, for four varie-
ties of the Japanese type, four different colors, was won by
James Verner. Kioto and Robert Bottomley again appearing.
For six naturally-grown plants, six varieties. Gordon Smirl
took first premium. John McCleary showed the best plant,
and twelve cut blooms of Miss Maria Weightman. Sixty
blooms, five varieties, twelve of each kind, were shown by
Hugh Graham and Frederick R. Sykes. who took first and
second premiums. These exhibits were notably good, and
excellent flowers of the new Katharine Leech, Edward Hatch,

Colonel Willianri B. Smith. Harry May, Mrs. Irving Clark T H
Spalding and the very deep red Mrs. Robert C.Ogden were

^?m;= . w^ u^^' P'^",'^ °* y^"«^ ^^'^ Kioto, Miss Maria

Simpson and W. H. Lincoln.

Among the cut flowers, Ferdinand Heck, gardener to

wfrefvV^^^'w°* ^^^^'"^' ^"V^y'vania. made^ senLtion
with fifty-two blooms, one of a kind. Each flower had its
name or seedling number attached to it, a detail which always

h^rf X '^ '?^^'^^l ''i ^" ^'''■"''''' ^"'^ «"^ *oo often neglected
wIhh- largest flower in the hall, a bloom of Golden

Wedding, was in this collection, and Roslyn showed well as
also Harry May, Frank Thomson and Seedling No. 2 a laree
incurved flower of a deep pink color. For twenty-five blooms
rluZ ^.'^'"'J;. Ferdinand Heck again took first premium. To
Go den Wedding first premium was awarded as the best vase

serrrfn^nH ?h"?°*-y^"T' °"^ ^^"^'y- "^^ "" Lincoln taking
^n^^n Ik ""l'^ P'fl^''- '^°'y "^"^ '" ^ ^''""ar competition
among the white flowers, and there were good flowers of
Queen and N.veus shown. A vase of pink flowers, show^ by
tdwin Lonsdale, was awarded first premium, the variety be-
ing Erminelda. very large and a rich pink. Among the most
striking and best cut flowers were vases of fifty pink and fi°ty
yellow, shown by Edwin Lonsdale. The stems of these were
fn^H *^"?',''"'^'^? broad-petaled. luxuriant, riotous-look-
ing Harry Balsley, and especially large flowers of Mrs. Craie
Lippincott made a marvelous display. For white in this class.
Ivory was the best, shown by Joseph Heacock

John N. May took the prize for the best twelve blooms of
any variety not disseminated, with William Simpson The sil-
ver cup offered for best seventy-five cut blooms, twenty-five
varieties, three of a kind, was won by Joseph Heacock excel-
lent varieties being Mrs. Frank Thomson, Mrs. Cra e Lio-
pincott and H. E. Spaulding. Mrs. James W. Paul Ir new
ast year, was seen in many collections and always to advan-
tage For the new seedling Dr. Herbert M. How^. a certificate of
merit was awarded to Henry G. Surnam, gardener to Mr E W
Clark. The flowers are of fine "Elkhorn" form and eood
pink color Mrs. W A. Reed, shown by the same growef re-
ceived a silver medal and is an orange-yellow of the Golden
Ball type. John McCleary, gardener to William Weightman
received special mention for a light pink seedling a£)ut the
color of Daybreak Carnation, with reflexed drooping florets
Ka herine Leech, a new flower of much merit, a good pink and
well formed, shown by Hugh Graham, won a^ certificate of
merit, as did also J. N. May with Seedling No. 333 a laree vel
low of good color and form, with fine foliage. Mrs Hieein-
botham, a very large pink, shown by E. G. Hill & Co. eiined
similar distinction. Bellevue and Mrs. Charles L. Shlroless
were two good white seedlings from Hugh Graham, which re-
ceived special mention. Of the pink seedling Helen I lovce
almost Identical with Viviand Morel, honorable mention was
made One of the best seedlings seen here was Eugene
Dailledouze, from E. G. Hill, winner of the Blanc prize and a
certificate of merit. This variety is a good clear yellow the
n a'5^ ^ regularly mcurved ; the flowers are flat and last
well. Mrs. E. G. Hill, not in competition, received a certificate
of merit ; also Annie Monahan, exhibited by Thomas Monahan
a large incurved dark rose, altogether excellent in size and
form.

In the wide range of varieties noted in the show many of
the older kinds were scarce. There was but one flower each of
Mrs. J. N. Gerard and of Good Gracious, both seen in laree
numbers at the New York Show, and the promising seedlinis
of last year. Miss Sue T. Price and George W. Childs Drexel
were not shown at all. '

In the display of Roses. Pennock Brothers and John Craw-
ford were the prize-winners. The best seedling Carnation
shown. Sweet Briar, is a clear brilliant pink, large and fragrant
and for this Edward Swayne received first premium. Another
new Carnation from Mr. Swayne is the deep pink, Ophelia

The attendance was remarkably large, so that the two floors
of the Armory Building were often uncomfortably crowded
The arrangement, especially of cut flowers in the suites of
rooms on the first floor, was tasteful and convenient and
while the light from the chandeliers was not strong enough to
bnng out the best color-effects in the evening, the flowers kept
in good condition longer than in the old hall, with its many
gaslights, suggesfing the advantage of electric lighting for
flower-shows. '^

Notes.

Berberis Thunbergii is one of the shrubs which hold their
fohage late. The leaves still show their bright autumn color-
mg. and the numerous red berries add to their rich effect

48o

Garden and Forest.

[Number 299.

This Japanese Barberry is beautiful at all seasons, and is one
of the very best shrubs of its class.

No one deplored the unnecessary destruction of our forests
more than Francis Parknian, and the very first issue of this
paper contained a plea from his pen for the preservation of
the forests of the White Mountains.

In nuts, the most prominent display at the World's Fair was a
collection of English walnuts by the Los Nietos and Ranchito
Walnut Growers Association, of Riviera, California. These
nuts were shown in a brilliant glass tower some twenty-five feet
high. George W. Ford, of Santa Anna, California, showed fifteen
varieties of walnuts. The other nut exhibits, aside from
Pecans, were comprised in various miscellaneous collections.

Collections of Asia Minor plants this year include some
probably new bulbous species. Several Snowdrops from dif-
ferent localities promise, by the distinctness of their bulbs, to
give us, if not new species, at least distinct varieties. Onewhich
has been provisionally named Galanthus ochrospeila seems to
be in the wayof G. Elwesii, but largerand fuller than any of that
species before collected. New Fritillaries are also reported,
and a new form of Sternbergia lutea with flowers some five
inches across. A hardy red-flowered Nymphaea has also been
discovered, the advent of which into cultivation will be awaited
with interest.

We observe in several agricultural journals favorable men-
tion of what is called the Improved Dwarf Rocky Mountain
Cherry, which is said to be a spreading bush not more than four
feet high, with fruit ripening a month later than the Morello
varieties, and of fair, but uneven, quality. The bushes are said
to fruit while very young and to bear every year. No doubt,
this is the Cherry which is alluded to in Bulletin No. 38 of the
Cornell Experiment Stafion by Professor Bailey. He describes
the plant, which is wild in Colorado, Utah and Nebraska, as
having the aspect and light color of Prunus cuneata, but with
thick and pointed leaves, which distinguish it from that spe-
cies. Its affinity is with P. pumila, but it entirely lacks the
wand-like and willowy character of that plant, and Professor
Bailey is inclined to regard it as a distinct variety, if not a dis-
tinct species.

The most valuable tree produced in New South Wales is
tliQ so-called Red Cedar, Cedrela australis, which owes its
common name to the sweet smell of its wood. It is much
lighter in weight than mahogany, although it bears consid-
erable resemblance to that wood and is used for the same
purposes, that is, for cabinet-work and furniture in general,
and for the fittings of buildings, where the cost is not too great.
Where it is kept dry it is very durable. Naturally of a pleasing
red, it turns to a deeper and richer color with age, and some
trees have a beautiful grain. In a recent number of the Agri-
cultural Gazette, published at Sydney, interesting particulars
are given in regard to the establishment of forest-preserves of
this timber, and it is gratifying to learn that even in this new
country extensive plantations of young Cedar are being made
every year and are flourishing finely.

Herbaria were a part of the exhibits on the dome gal-
lery of the Horticultural Building. Most of the plants were
mounted upon sheets, secured in swing frames, like pictures,
being covered with glass. A herbarium representing Colo-
rado plants, by Mrs. S. B. Walker, one showing the Oregon
flora, a very large exhibit of Missouri plants by Frank Bush, a
Kentucky display, a private collection by Nettie Palmer, Edison
Park, Illinois, and a series of excellent sketches and water-
colors of the plants of Warren County, Kentucky, by Miss
Sadie F. Price, were all hung in this fashion. Montana had a
large exhibit of plants in portfolios, made by Dr. F. D. Kelsey,
and there was a small portfolio collection from Wisconsin.
A small private collection of Montana plants was shown by
Mrs. Lydia A. Fitch, of Sheridan, Montana, and a very inter-
esting and valuable cabinet display of the fleshy and economic
fungi of New York was made by Dr. C. H. Peck.

The flower-shows held in several cities last week amply
proved by their attendance that there is no falling off of interest
m Chrysanthemums ; and they showed, too, that there is really
little danger that the time will soon come when growers will
cease to find fresh attractions in these flowers. Every year we
have new tints or new combinations of tints and variations in
form, which keep up the interest, and every year growers
learn how to do them better and better. In Chicago the exhi-
bitions came from twenty-one different states, covering an
area from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to New
Orleans. In Philadelphia and Boston the plants were better
than were ever seen before, and the prize-winning group in

Boston had the merit of a harmonious general appearance,
owing to a skillful selection and arrangement of colors. In this
city no former exhibition has ever approached the one just
held in the general excellence of its cut flowers and in the
orderly and systematic arrangement of the exhibits.

In a late number of the American Agriculturist Mr. Joseph
F. James, of the United States Department of Agriculture,
gives an account of some investigations which were originally
undertaken to ascertain the life-history of the organism which
caused Pear-blight. Having ascertained that when insects
were excluded from the Pear-flowers the blight was prevented,
it was manifest that the disease-germs were carried from one
flower to another. This led to the further discovery that
in some varieties of Pears, when insects were excluded, the
blossoms did not set fruit, and further attempts at fertilization
were made with pollen taken from the same flower, from
another flower of the same cluster, from a different flower on
the same branch, from another tree of the same pomological
variety, and from a tree of a different variety. The result was
that when Bartlett pollen, whether from the same flower, a
different flower, a different branch, or a different tree, was
applied to the pistil of Bartlett-flowers no fruit was produced,
but when pollen from a different variety was placed on the
pistil of the Bartlett-flower fruit grew well formed. The va-
rieties Anjou and Winter Nelis were also found to be inca-
pable of self-fertilization, although they produced fruit when
crossed with Bartlett pollen, and the Bartlett fruited when
crossed with their pollen. Mr. Waite, the special agent in
charge of the work, gives tentatively the following general
result of his investigation : (i) Most varieties of cultivated
Pears and Apples require cross-fertilization, that is, the trans-
fer of pollen from a different pomological variety for success-
ful fruitage ; (2) Bees and other insects perform the work
of cross-fertilization ; (3) The weather, at the time of flower-
ing, has an important influence on the visit of bees and in-
sects, and through these upon the setting of fruits. Some va-
rieties of Pears are self-fertile, and these can be planted in
large blocks without other varieties ; but solid blocks of varie-
ties known to be wholly or partially self-sterile should not
be planted without introducing kinds known to be active
fertilizers. Of course, care should be exercised to select trees
for their pollen which blossom at the same time as the self-
sterile varieties.

Grapes, at this season, give the note to the fruit-market, and
while the supply from New York state is not as heavy as dur-
ing recent weeks, it is plentiful, and prices are the same as a
week ago. Selected Delawares are sold at the rate of six cents
a pound, and Concords at three cents, most of the fruit com-
ing now in five-pound baskets. California grapes in some
sections of the city are even more commonly seen than the
native fruit, and a good quality of Flame Tokays and Corni-
chons are as low as eight cents a pound, while Muscats are
six cents ; the choicest fruit of these varieties sell at from
twelve to fifteen cents in the fancy-fruit stores. Malaga grapes
are offered on the street-stands at ten cents a pound, the
largest and best-flavored bringing twenty-five cents in the
stores. Baldwin apples of high quality bring from thirty to
fifty cents a dozen, and King apples the same price. A small
supply of Newtown pippins is eagerly bought up by those
who appreciate the qualities of this apple, and these bring
seventy-five cents to a dollar a dozen. They come from Long
Island and Virginia, and while the southern fruit is larger and
more showy, the dealers here contend that the apples grown
at the north excel in flavor and carry better. But few of these
apples find a market at home, fruit of a mellow quality being
more in favor here. The greater part of the crop is exported
to England, where these pippins are especially esteemed, not
only tor their flavor, but for their crispness, and those of
mediurii and small size are considered the most desirable
for use as dessert. A wide choice of pears is offered, the
large, highly colored Clairgeau being the most attractive, and
the Comice the best-flavored of all. Bosc and Winter Nelis
range from thirty cents to a dollar a dozen, and Seckel pears
from the New England states are forty to seventy-five cents.
New hand-picked figs are thirty cents a pound, and Fard dates
fifteen cents. Mandarin oranges, which are now beginning to
come from Florida fairly ripened, are forty cents a dozen ;
large Navel oranges from the same state are a dollar a
dozen, and pineapples are thirty-five cents apiece. The car-
g;oes of bananas now arriving are light, but the supply on hand
is large, and wholesale prices for this fruit are lower than they
have been for some months. Winter berries are fifteen cents
a pint, and large, firm, dark-colored Cape Cod cranberries at
ten cents a quart sell briskly since cooler weather has set in.

November 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

481

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, Nhw York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Artici es :— The Desolation of Central Tunis : Was it Caused by the

Destruction ot Forests?. 481

Fences. — 1 482

Is the Woodiiecker Useful? iWith fiKures.) Pro/rssor John B. Smith. 483

Nhw or Little-known Plant? ;— Fiaxinus rhyncophylla. (With figure.) C. S. S. 483

Foreign Correspondence : — London Letter IV. H^atstrtt. 484

Cultural Department : — Diseases of Raspberries and Blackberries,

Frfd. Jf. Card. 486

Cactus and Show Dahlias iV. E. Etidicott. 487

Lachenalias R. O. O. 488

Neriiie roseo-crispa J. N. G. 4t8

Cjrbespondence : — The Boston Public Garden A". 488

Chrysanthemums tor Exhibition y, AT Gerard, 488

Exhibitions: — The Chicago Chrysanthemum Show Fanny Copley Stavey. 489

Notes 490

Illustrations: — Fraxinus rhyncophylla. Fig. 70 485

Stem of White Oak sapling, showing work of a woodpecker, Fig. 71 487

The same stem sawed through the centre. Fig. 72 487

The Desolation of Central Tunis : Was it Caused
by the Destruction of Forests?

THAT portion of Tunis which is included between the
two branches of the great south Alg-erian mountain-
range, which cross it from west to east, is a high arid
plateau — a barren and inhospitable country, which affords
meagre pasturage to a few miserable, half-starved flocks.
That this region once supported a large and prosperous
population, the ruins of cities like those of El Djem, the
ancient Thysdrus, the principal city of Byzacene, with its
noble amphitheatre, of Cillium and of Thelepte, with their
populous suburbs, bear abundant witness. In this region,
where hundreds of thousands of human beings once lived
in plenty, now a few hundred shepherds are barely able to
keep themselves from starving. The remarkable change
in the character of this region has been explained by the
nature of the Arabian occupation, which, in destroying the
forests which have been supposed to have covered it at
one time, prepared the way for the erosion of the soil and
produced a radical change of climate. This has been the
accepted view of travelers and historians who have dis-
cussed the physical condition of Tunis. Monsieur Paul
Bourde, in a learned and valuable report upon the culti-
vation of the Olive-tree in Tunis, which has lately ap-
jieared, takes a different view, however, and his conclusions
are not only of great historical interest, but have a direct
bearing upon the future of other warm arid regions like
many parts of the Mediterranean basin, southern Califor-
nia Lower California and northern Mexico. Here are some
of his facts and inferences :

So far as concerns the forestF, the fact appears to have
escaped general attention that Tunis possesses only two trees
of large size— the Cork Oak and the Zeen Oak— and that these
trees, excessively particular as to the composition of the soil
ill which they grow, flourish ni the sands of the norlli, hut do

not grow at all on the limestone mountains of the central and
southern portions of the country. In these are found only
species ot small size, the Evergreen Oak, the Aleppo Pine, the
Thuya and the Phix-nician Juniper, which are rather large
shrubs than trees, rarely growing to a greater height than
twenty feet and rarely producing trunks. Unless we can sup-
pose m ancient times t)ie existence of other species of trees,
since disappeared, it must be acknowledged that there has
never been in the country high, continuous forests. With
regard to water-supply, the irrigation works, still to be seen in
most ruined ciUes, indicate what part they played in the ancient
civilization of the country. At Thelepte, at Cillium and at
Suffetula, for example, the capacity of these canals was calcu-
lated forthe volumes of water which are practically the same
as those which the actual springs yield at present. When
springs have decreased in volume or disappeared it is because
they had become choked up, as has been seen at Gafsa and
at Ferriana, where they have been restored. Water is always
in the ground, and there is every reason to suppose that there
IS no appreciable dilTerence between the quantity of rain which
tell formerly and that which falls to-day over this region.

Monsieur Bourde has reached the conclusion, and his
readers, after they have examined the facts which he has
collected, will be inclined to agree with him, that there has
been no notable change of climate in Tunis since the time
of the Romans. To the proof of direct observations he joins
the testimony of Latin and Arab authors. The description
which Sallust gives of the country between Thula and
Gafsa is as true to-day as when it was written. The country
is, as in the time of Sallust, dry, uninhabited and horrible.
Nevertheless, between the desert traversed by Marius and
the desert of to-day there has existed a period of success-
ful cultivation and of great prosperity. In the eleventh
century. El Hekir saw two hundred flourishitig villages in
the neighborhood of Gafsa. What is the secret of a coun-
try uninhabited in the time of Sallust, covered with cities
and villages at the time of the Arab invasion, and to-day
again uncultivated and uninhabited.? Monsieur Bourde is
the first to answer these questions and has shown that this
country, so barren in appearance, is eminently fit for the
cultivation of fruit-trees of the warm temperate zone — the
Olive, the Grape, the Fig and the Almond. In no other part
of the world does the Olive so flourish or produce such crops.
The soil being very loose, and the surface drying rapidly,
it cannot support herbage, and is not suitable for the cultiva-
tion of annual crops, although the rain-water is stored up in
the subsoil, which is always cool and moist. If cereals
are sown in this soil, four years out of five they will not
find in the upper layer sufficient humidity to insure
their ripening, while trees will send their roots down to
reach the waters of the subsoil and flourish. The
Romans seem to have understood this, and here is the
secret of their colonization of this country — a secret which,
up to this time, the savants, who have studied the matter,
apparently have not hit upon. Monsieur Bourde states the
matter tersely :

The cause of the contrast of extreme prosperity and of ex-
treme misery wliich is found in the history of sucli a country
is not doubtful. It is not necessary, in order to explain it, to
suppose modifications of soil and climate— the truth is simpler.
The country is exceptionally favorable for one kind of culture
and is not at all suited to another. Before the Roman invasion
this cultivation was unknown and the country a desert. The
Romans introduced it toward the end of the first century, and
became rich ; the Arabs destroyed it in the eleventh century,
and the country lias become a desert again. The truth of this
statement is so striking, when the territory itself is examined,
that it is possible to fix approximately in figures the results of
the Roman colonization and the immensity of the catastrophe
which lias destroyed them. In central Tunis there are about
3,200,000 acres suitable for the cultivation of fruit-trees. Aban-
doned to pasturage, this land is worth four francs an acre ;
planted in Olive-trees, it is worth at the very lowest estimate
three hundred and twenty francs an acre. So it would appear
that the Roman colonization had improved the country from a
condition where the land was worth about thirteen millions of
francs to one where it was worth more than a thousand mil-
lion francs, and that the Arab invasion has reduced it again to
its former misery and poverty.

482

Garden and Forest.

[Number 300.

The condition of the country verifies the statement. From
El Djem to L'Oued Rann, in a distance of not more than
fifty miles, may be seen on every side the indications of
the existence of an ancient forest of Olive-trees. Trees
sometimes gathered in little groups, sometimes scattered
one by one, have survived neglect and systematic destruc-
tion. Deprived of all care since the Arab invasion, dis-
figured by the growth of parasites, mutilated by the teeth
of animals, they still live, and in rainy seasons produce
fruit. After eight centuries of neglect, the crop in 1890, a
year of heavy rainfall, was sold for one hundred and seventy
thousand francs. These trees are not wild Olive-trees,
Zeboudj, as the Arabs say, but Zeitoun — that is. Olive-
trees of cultivated varieties ; they belong to plantations
which evidently once formed a continuous forest in this re-
gion. The ruins of the oil-mills show that the Roman
forest must have continued almost indefinitely. The stone
bowls, where the pulp of the olives was removed, the stone
uprights between which the bar of the press was inserted,
and the stone tables upon which the olives were pressed,
all remain to testify the importance of the oil industry of
this region ; and, finding these presses so near together,
Mon.sieur Bourde was impressed with the fact that the cul-
tivation of the Olive was the principal industry of the re-
gion of whose appearance in the time of the Romans it is
easy to form an idea by comparing it with the orchard-
covered Sahel of Soussa as it looks to-day.

The error which has, no doubt, given rise to the myth
that Tunis was formerly a well-wooded country, is due to
the fact that there has long existed a misunderstanding as
to the word forest, as used by Arab historians. When the
first Musselmen arrived in northern Africa they found a
country so green that they called it El Khadra, "The
Green." All the historians of the invasion — Ibn Assam,
Ibn Chabat, En Noueri and El Kairouassi — declare that it
was possible to travel from Tripoli to Tangiers under the
shade of trees through an unbroken line of villages. The
country was covered with a forest at that time, but it was
not a forest of uncultivated trees. Sallust had not seen
these forests ; they had been planted two centuries after his
time by the hand of man ; they were orchards of fruit-trees.
Planted by man, they were destroyed by man also. The
Arab shepherds, who had taken possession of Tunis, de-
stroyed the orchards to procure the pasturage which they
needed for their flocks. This destruction, begun in the
seventh century, was finished in the thirteenth. The docu-
ments brought together by Monsieur Bourde allow us to
follow its progress from century to century. The substitu-
tion of a nomad and pastoral population for a stationary
and fruit-growing population was only effected at the cost
of immense disasters. The conclusion reached by the
author of the report is that to restore the ancient pros-
perity to central Tunis the administration of the protecto-
rate need only do what succeeded so well with the
Romans — plant Olive-trees. Whether this operation can
be made personally profitable to the settlers who under-
take it, will depend, of course, upon the amount of skill
and intelligence they are able to devote to it. The de-
mands for the product of the Olive-tree are fast increasing,
and its cultivation under the most favorable conditions
must always remain profitable.

Monsieur Bourde's report, which has been printed in
pamphlet form by order of the commanding officer of the
French protectorate in Tunis, for free distribution among
all persons interested in the subject, contains also esti-
mates of the profits of Olive-tree plantations and direc-
tions for making them. These, however, will be of little
practical value in America, where all conditions of labor
are entirely different from those which prevail in (he
French colonies in Africa, and it is in its^general conclu-
sion and historical studies that this remarkable paper com-
mends itself to American readers, who will find here, per-
haps, the true solution of the problem of the most profit-
able employment of some thousands of square miles of
their country.

Fences. — I.

THE word fence, in its broad significance as a term for
protecting enclosures in general, whether made of
brick or stone, of wood or metal, or closely set plants, em-
braces a great variety of forms. In most European coun-
tries one or two kinds of fences are almost exclusively
used : in England, for instance, we perpetually see hedges
and red brick walls, in Italy stuccoed and tile-capped walls
of brick or rubble, and in the suburbs of German towns
tall iron railings borne on stone plinths and supported by
stone posts. But, with the exception of the tile-capped
stuccoed wall, almost every foreign form of fence has been
imitated here, while many new types have originated in
consequence of the cheapness of wood and the profusion
of stone in certain sections.

But the variety of expedient at the command of the
American builders has not yet resulted in diversity of
beauty. Indeed, less attention is given to the appearance
of any other surroundings of country homes. Even when
protecting a luxurious surburban villa or a stately country
house, an American fence seldom excites admiration ;
usually its owner is content if it does not actually offend
the eye ; and in many cases it does offend every cultivated
eye.

The first sin in the average American fence is that of
intrinsic ugliness. Nothing could be worse, for instance,
than most of the iron fences in our suburban districts and
villa colonies. This is not because our artisans cannot
produce good work in metal. Their skill has so greatly
improved during recent years that they can now rival the
best products of the old French and German forgers. But
only the very rich can command their highest skill, and
only when special designs are prepared by an architect.
Some of the designs kept in stock by metal-working firms
show improvement ; yet a careful search through many
illustrated catalogues shows only a few excellent fence-
patterns amid many scores — varying from very simple to
very elaborate — which are distinctly bad. Better fence-
patterns would be at the client's service if he were more
apt to know the difference between good and poor. But
too often he wants elaborateness without being willing to
pay for it, and thus accepts an imitation of a wrought-iron
fence coarsely executed in cast-iron. He should realize
that wrought-iron work, unless very simple, must be expen-
sive, and that its effect cannot rightly be reproduced in cast-
iron. On the other hand, if rightly designed, a severely
plain wrought-iron fence, or even a simple one of cast-iron,
need not be offensive, and the dignity and effectiveness of
the plainest line of iron-pickets may be greatly increased if
it is supported by well-built plinths of brick or stone. But
one who does not want to buy showiness at an unduly
small price is prone to fall into the opposite extreme and
think that the cheapest possible fence will be good enough.
The introduction of such economical expedients for fencing
as gas-pipe and corrugated galvanized wire has greatly
injured the beauty of countless suburban gardens and coun-
try places whose other features reveal no similar wish to
make shift with the cheapest thing that the market affords.

In New England, loose stones and surface ledges or
large boulders, which can be cheaply quarried, are so plen-
tiful that stone-walls are more common than fences of any
other kind, the mere need that the soil shall be freed from
these encumbrances often dictating that they shall be built
where no fence at all is really required. The forms they
assume, according to the form of the boulders and the care
of the builders ; but collectively they give a landscape
great picturesqueness and a certain rustic dignity, as we
realize if we compare any typical New England scene with
a stretch of Virginian country, bisected by "snake" fences
of wood. And each type has a beauty of its own appro-
priate to special situations. Even the roughest wall of
small round stones gives all needful protection to pastures
and outlying fields, while it blends better than would a
more architectural wall with the occasional Pine-tree or

November 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

483

Wild Cherry which overhangs it, the frequent clumps of
shrubs which spring- up beside it, the vines which clamber
over it, and the tufts of Golden-rod and Aster which gather
close against its base. And, on the other hand, a well-laid
wall of squared, but unmortared, stones is sutficiently re-
fined and architectural to serve with appropriateness any-
where except in immediate contact with an elaborate house
of stone or brick.

But, unfortunately, many New Englanders, who ought
to have better taste, try to " improve" upon the stone-walls
of their forefathers. Where no mortar is needed, either for
stability or for appropriateness of effect, they often take
pains to use it. Here we see a wall of small round bould-
ers between which great streams of a black pitchy sub-
stance have been poured, and there a wall of irregularly
shaped stones, where unity of color and simplicity of effect
have been destroyed by seams of red mortar. Worse even
than the effects thus produced is the effect of a low wall
crowned by a sort of cheval-de-frise of jagged stones, set
upon end in a bed of mortar as bits of broken bottles are
put upon city walls where cats are numerous. The use-
lessness of such a crest is evident when a wall is so low
that any man or boy can easily leap over it ; and its ugli-
ness can hardly be expressed in words. Another unfortu-
nate innovation is the use of great round cairns of stones
as finishing-posts in the stead of the single great upright
stones which our forefathers chose for this purpose. Such
cairns are very ugly, especially if they are filled in with
earth and planted on top with garden-flowers. Nor are
they fortunate in expression even apart from their intrinsic
ugliness ; for the end of a wall should look as though it
were supported by something stronger than itself, not as
though it had weakly coiled around upon itself. And when
a gate is attached to these unfortunate heaps of stone, of
course their effect is doubly inappropriate, doubly dis-
tressing.

It seems strange that, in sight of the excellent examples
of natural, simple, and, therefore, artistic ways of wall-
building which every New England village affords, such
vulgar vagaries should apparently be growing in favor ;
and stranger still that, not the inexperienced villager, but
the traveled summer resident should most often be respon-
sible for their introduction.

Is the Woodpecker Useful ?

^^0 one who, in his strolls through the woods, at all
seasons of the year, keeps his ears as Well as his eyes
open, the hammering of the Woodpecker is not an unfa-
miliar sound. The rapid succession of sharp blows resem-
bles a drumming rather than a hammering, and if the
sound of this drumming be followed up, one can gener-
ally see, on some dead branch or trunk, the author of the
noise. Some of our woodpeckers are very handsome,
and as they cling to the trunk of a tree, with their
large heads for an instant cocked knowingly on one
side, and then driving the heavy bill deep into the wood,
they make a pretty picture— so pretty, indeed, as to attract
the notice of every taxidermist and collector of birds. In-
deed, some of the handsomest species are to be seen in
almost every group of specimens arranged for artistic effect.
Not only in dead trees does the woodpecker seek his food, but
living trees also, provided they are attacked by insects, are
examined and collected over. The usefulness of the wood-
pecker in destroying insects is an accepted fact among agri-
culturists and others, and the belief is too useful in pre-
serving birds to make it advisable to contradict it. Com-
mon as is the sound, and even the sight of the bird engaged
in its labors, the appearance of the holes made by it is not
so generally known. The woodpecker usually does his
work at a considerable distance from the ground, out of
easy reach of close observation, and the man who cuts
down the tree and chops it into fire-wood pays very little
attention, indeed, to what has happened before his axe
came into use. There are occasional exceptions, however,

and one of these is Mr. J. Turner Brakeley, of Bordentown,

New Jersey, who spends a large ])ortion of the year in the
Pines of southern New Jersey, and for exercise chops his
own fire-wood. I owe to him some extremely fine speci-
mens of woodpecker work. One of these is the illustra-
tion on page 487. The original of the figure is a piece of
white oak, thirteen inches in length and three inches in
diameter, and it will be seen that it contains not less
than four holes made by woodpeckers, probably by one
bird and at one time. Each of the holes is nearly or quite
an inch wide with the grain, and a trifle less across the
grain, narrowing to the bottom of the holes ; each of them
reaches into the very centre of the tree and into an insect
burrow. The appearance of these holes and their propor-
tion to the trunk is very well shown in figure 71, while in
figure 72 the same trunk is seen sawed in two, so as to
show what the woodpeckers are after. The smudged look
of the last illustration comes from a very small amount of
oil dropped on the saw to make it work more easily. The
oil penetrated the wood, and although it can hardly be
seen in the specimen, it ap])ears but too distinctly in the
photograph.

It will be observed that through the centre there is a
burrow made by an insect larva, or, really in that distance
there were three larva;, the middle one of which had made
a channel four inches in length and less than one-eighth of
an inch in diameter. The point at which the woodpecker
reached the burrow is marked in each case by a black
cross, and it will be noticed that in order to reach the
larva occupying the central position, and which had made
the four-inch burrow, he was compelled to make two
attempts ; one of the efforts reaching the burrow below
the point at which the larva was working, so that all
the labor was wasted. The larva for which all this
work was done measured about three-quarters of an inch in
length, with a diameter of, perhaps, one-sixteenth of an
inch, and would scarcely serve to make more than a small
mouthful for even the smallest woodpecker. At the time
these holes were made in the trunk, the tree was still living,
and, apparently, in a fairly flourishing condition, and I
need not tell those who have had any experience in the
matter that white oak is not the easiest wood to penetrate.
It must have taken this bird at least half an hour of per-
sistent work to make each hole, or at least an hour to
secure this one larva, weighing only a few grains. ' It
seems as if it would be almost impossible to gain from such a
larva a fair return in food-value for the energy expended in
getting at it, especially where it is necessary to make two
efforts to obtain one mouthful. In the other burrows the
bird was more successful, and gained the larva at the first
attempt.

This suggests an interesting question : Which has really
done the most injury to the tree, the larva that was mak-
ing a small burrow in the centre, or the woodpecker which
made two enormous holes extending from the outside to
the extreme centre of the tree in order to get him ? There
is no question that the woodpecker destroyed a great
deal more actual plant-tissue than the larva ; there is no
question, either, that he penetrated bark, sap-wood and
heart, and, therefore, reached all the parts of the trunk that
are most essential to the growth of the tree, causing in the
one section which I have pictured here quite a considera-
ble interruption in nourishment. On the other hand, the
larva had confined its activities to the centre of the tree,
had made a little longitudinal burrow only, in the very place
where it would interfere least with growth, and therefore
its injuries seem really trifling as compared with the injury
done by the bird. I do not intend to answer my own
question here, or even to give a definite opinion upon the
subject, but simply call attention to the fact that it is at
least open to argument whether, or not the woodpecker is
in all cases quite so beneficial a bird as he had been ac-
counted. A question that has been often asked me is. How
do these birds know just what trees are infested, and just
where the larvtc are to be found ? To one who has ob-

484

Garden and Forest.

[Number 300.

served the birtls carefully, the answer is not difficult, for he
will have noticed that the bird before beginning work
makes a careful survey of the tree, hopping from place
to place on the trunk, and listening intently. It is
really by the sense of hearing, and by this only, that the
insect larvic are located, and this does not even require a
very well-developed sense of hearing, because insect larva_'
burrowing in wood make a noise quite perceptible to the
human ear at some little distance if the surroundings are
quiet. The bird is, therefore, able to locate a burrowing
larva with very great accuracy, and it is rarely, indeed, that
it becomes necessary to make more than one hole to get

'^RUer.ColIeBe. John B. Smilli.

New or Little-known Plants.

Fraxinus rhyncophylla.

THIS fine Ash-tree, which is a native of northern China
and the adjacent parts of Mongolia, where it was dis-
covered by the Abbe David, is distinguished from other
Ash-trees by its winter buds, which are globose, half an
inch in diameter, with broad scales covered with a coat of
thick rufous tomentum. The outer scales, which are smaller
than the others, do not, as is the case with most Ash-
trees, cover the bud which is enclosed by the second
pair of scales ; and on the terminal bud these outer
scales are narrowed into thickened reflexed tips, which
stand out from it like ears. These great buds, which are
collected at the ends of branches, give these a peculiar
aspect in winter and render it easy at that season to distin-
guish this species from other Ash-trees (see page 485).

Fraxinus rhyncophylla* is a vigorous tree, with stout pale
orange-colored glabrous branchlets, which are marked by
occasional small darker-colored lenticels. The leaves,
which are seven or eight inches long, are composed of five
leaflets ; these are oval or obovate, gradually narrowed at
the apex into short or elongated points, wedge-shaped or
rounded at the base, remotely and obscurely crenulate-
serrate above the middle, thick and firm, dark green and
somewhat lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower,
and glabrous, with the exception of a fringe of pale hairs
along the lower ends of the lower side of the midribs and
on the petiolules. The terminal leaflet is three or four
inches long and an inch and a half to two inches and a
half wide, and is borne on a petiolule nearly an
inch in length ; the lateral leaflets are smaller and
shorter-stalked, tho.se of the lower pair being not more
than half the size of those of the upper pair. The flowers
are produced in rather compact panicles two or three inches
long and broad, and are sometimes sterile by the abortion
of the ovary and sometimes perfect, the two kinds being
mixed together in the same cluster. The keys are narrow,
about an inch and a half long, contracted at the apex,
which is mostly acute or is sometimes rounded or slightly
emarginate.

Ill the Arnold Arboretum Fraxinus' rhyncophylla was
raised from seed sent in 1881 from Pekin by Dr. Bret-
schneider, who speaks of it as a large tree. It is one of
the hardiest and most vigorous Ash-trees in the collection;
it grows rapidly and promises to attain a large size. During
the last ten years the trees have flowered and produced
fertile fruit.

In the United States Fraxinus rhyncophylla will not,

jierhaps, be more valuable as an ornamental tree than some
of our native species, but the trees of China arc still so
imperfectly known that the introduction and successful
cultivation of any of them in arboreta is imjjortant and
interesting, as it is hopeless to try to know trees even
superficially except bv the study of living individuals.

C. S. S.

• Fraxinus rhyncophylla, Hance. Jour. Bot..\\\., 164(1869).— Francliet, /V, /^az-iV/,
i • 203, t. 17 ; Mim. Sac. Sir. Nat. Cherbourg, xxiv . 2:^6.

Fraxinut Chirunsis, var. rhyncophylla, Forbeeft Hemsley, Jour. Linn, Soc., xxvi.,
86(1889).

Hance de»cribe9 the branches as obtusely quadrangular, while ihcy are terete in
our cultfvatrd plants, which do not show any trace of the thick clusters of rufous
hairs which he de8cril>c8 at the end of the branchlets and the insertion of the
leaves and panicles, although such tufts of hiiirs are very conspicuous at the
base of Uie young leaflets 01 ^»'<i^/««f /Wi>«^M«r/i:a. The figure in the Planio'
DavidioMa represents very well our plant, even to the buds, although these are
not described.

From Fraxinut Chintntts of middle China, to which this species has sometimes
been referred as a variety, it differs in the smaller ntiml>cr of leaflets, which in that
species arc narrower and more sharply an<l conspicuously toothed. 'J"he winter
buds I have not seen.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

BuLBOPHYLLUM Ericssoni. — This, which is described by
Dr. F. Kranzlin as "by far the most striking new Orchid
received for a long time past," has lately been introduced
by Messrs. F. Sander i*!: Co. It has long creeping rhizomes,
slender, erect pseudo-bulbs four inches long, each bearing
a leaf "much resembling a medium-sized Stanhopea." The
flower-scape is slender, with the flowers arranged in an
umbel forming a circle, in this instance a large one, each
flower measuring eight inches in diameter. "Imagine a
group of from nine to twelve flowers of a large Chimoeroid
Masdevallia, and you will get an idea of this Bulbophyl-
lum." The dorsal sepal is lanceolate, the lateral sepals
oblong, with long twisted tails; the petals are shorter than
the sepals tailed like them, and the lip is heart-shaped, of a
spongy texture at the disk. The color of the flowers is
yellowish-white, heavily spotted with dark brown, the tip
being red. I have seen dried flowers of this plant, and they
bore all the characters of a large-flowered, handsome
Orchid.

CiRRHOi'ETALUM ORNATissiMUM. — This is a beautiful little
Indian Orchid, second only in size and interest to the new
C. CoUettii, to which it is closely allied. The former was
introduced from Sikkim in 1882, when it was named by
Reichenbach. It first flowered at Kew in 1887, and a pic-
ture of it was published in the Botanical Magazine, t. 7229.
A plant of it was exhibited in flower by Sir Trevor Law-
rence at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society,
who awarded it a first-class certificate. It has four-angled
pseudo-bulbs springing from long creeping rhizomes, a
leathery leaf four to six inches long, and a graceful scape
eight to twelve inches long bearing an umbel of flowers,
each four inches long, including the tails of the broad, cu-
riously twisted sepals, which are yellow, lined with dots of
purple ; the short petals are each tipped with a brush of
red palese ; the labellum is small, tongue-like and colored
purple-black. Cirrhopetalums are finding general favor
with English cultivators, being easy to grow in a stove,
free-flowering and exceptionally interesting in flower-
structure.

Paphinia grandiflora, generally known as P. grandis, is
the largest-flowered and handsomest of a small genus of
Orchids, closely allied to Lycaste ; indeed, it is included in
that genus by Bentham & Hooker. Although introduced
from Brazil and flowered in England ten years ago, this
species has remained rare until recently, when Messrs.
Linden, of Brussels, introduced it in quantity and sent it in
flower to the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society
last week. Its flowers are six inches in diameter, the seg-
ments being ovate-lanceolate and colored yellow, with
blotches and bands of deep brown-purple ; the lip is nar-
row, fleshy and crowned with a tuft of whitish shaggy
hairs. The size of the flower is out of all proportion to the
size of the plant, which is scarcely a foot high and has egg-
shaped pseudo-bulbs, bearing each one or two thin lanceo-
late green leaves. Paphinias are as refractory as Phaloe-
nopsis, and are, therefore, plants only for the patient and
watchful cultivator possessed of a moist house. They re-
quire a decided dry rest after growth.

Cattleya Alexandr.*. — This is undoubtedly a distinct
species of Cattleya, and while some of the forms of it are
dull and unattractive in color, others possess all the quali-'
ties of a first-rate garden Orchid. 1 have lately seen a num-
ber of plants of it in flower in the Brussels establishment of

November 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

485

Messrs. Linden, who introduced and distributed it last year,
when it was described by Mr. Rolfe. Messrs. Linden have
a great many plants of it, and when seeinsj them in quan-
tity one is struck by the peculiar habit of growth and form
and texture of leaf which characterize this species. Another

the rich magenta or rose-purple of the lip, there are good
distinguishing characters. Plenty of water and sunlight
during the growing season are evidently required by this
plant. It is, 1 believe, Brazilian.

Hauexaria carnea. — You published (vol. iv., p. 475) a

FiR. 70. — Fraxinus rhyncophylla — See page 484.

extraordinary character is that of the brittleness of the
pseudo-bulbs, which snap off as clean and easily almost as
carrots. The species is, of course, allied to C. Leopoldii,
but in the length of the flower-spike, two feet or more, and
the wavy segments, their shining yellow-brown color and

photograph of this plant taken from a specimen flowered
at Kew, whither it had been sent the year previous from
Penang, where it is a native. Since then several importa-
tions of it have been sold in London, and it is now a
favorite with Orchid fanciers generally. Its variegated

486

Garden and Forest.

[Number 300.

leaves and erect scape of pale flesh-colored flowers, as
large as those ot Calanthe Veitchii, are very ornamental.
Strong plants produce scapes fifteen inches high, bearing
from six to ten flowers.

Cynorchisgrandiflora. — This is a beautiful little ground
Orchid from Madagascar, which promises to do well under
cultivation. It flowered at Kew last year, and it is now in
flower again, the scape being afoot high, with a flower two
inches across, of a rich crimson color, the lip being large
and flat, curiously lobed. Tropical terrestrial Orchids are,
as a rule, unsatisfactory, but there is some hope that this
new introduction from Madagascar will prove an exception.

RiCHARDiA Rehmanni. — Another new "Calla," this time a
rosy flowered one, is announced by a Dutch nurseryman.
Unless I am much mistaken, this is no other than R.Rehmanni,
described by Engler in 1883, introduced to the Cambridge
Botanical Garden in 1888, and recently sent to Kew from
Natal as "a pink-flowered Arum." It flowered at Cam-
bridge, and Mr. Lynch, the Curator, stated that although he
had received it under the name of R. yEthiopica, var. rosea,
the spathe produced with him had but a very slight tint of
rose. The chief characteristic of R. Rehmanni is its long
lanceolate, not sagittate, leaf-blade, which measures about
a foot in length. The spathe may be described as that of
a small R. .^thiopica, being about four inches long. The
spathes produced in Holland are described as white, tinted
with rose. It is evident, from the fact that this plant has
been sent from south Africa by three different collectors,
all describing it as rose-colored, that there is more color in
it in Africa than it has revealed here so far.

Stapelia gigantea.— This truly wonderful species is now
flowering freely in a stove at Kew, some of the star-shaped
flowers measuring a foot in diameter. While it may be
taken, as a general rule, that Stapelias prefer a dry atmos-
phere with plenty of sunlight and warmth, there are excep-
tions, and S. gigantea is one of them. Until this plant was
placed in a moist stove, along with Palms, Aroids, etc.,
where it got shade in bright weather and plenty of water
at all times, except for a few weeks in midwinter, it never
flowered. There is something fascinating about the flow-
ers of Stapelias, dull though they are in color, as a rule, and
disagreeable, too, in odor, but when these flowers are a
foot across, tawny-red in color, hairy and not too disagree-
able in odor, they are worth a place in every stove collec-
tion. S. gigantea is as interesting in its way as Aristolo-
chia gigas Sturtevantii or Victoria regia.

Begonia Gloire de Lorraine. — This is a hybrid between
B. Socotrana and B. Dregii.the latter a Cape species in the
way of B. Caffra and B. Natalensis, with a tuberous root-
stock, annual stems, bearing soft green leaves and numer-
ous bunches of white flowers. The hybrid was raised by
Monsieur Lemoine, of Nancy, and exhibited in flower at
the Paris Exhibition. It has been flowering at Kew for
some time, and last week a few well-flowered examples of
it were exhibited from the garden of L. de Rothschild, Esq.
It is dwarf, rarely exceeding a foot in height, with numer-
ous short branches, which are literally smothered with
bright rose-pink flowers, which last a long time, a charac-
ter peculiar to B. Socotrana and all its progeny. This is
the seventh distinct hybrid of which B. Socotrana is one of
the parents, and every one of the seven is worth a place in
all good gardens. They flower very freely, usually in late
autumn or winter, and their flowers are always pretty in
color and last a long time.

Kniphofia citrina. — This is a new species described in
the Gardeners' Chronicle this week by Mr. Baker from a
plant flowered by Herr Max Leichtlin, of Baden-Baden, who
introduced it from the mountains north of Grahamstown.
It is chiefly interesting in having pale yellow flowers, in
other respects being not unlike K. Macowani. Herr Max
Leichtlin says it is hardy and flowers in October. I have
lately called the attention of hybridizers and growers of
hardy plants to the varied, plastic and promising material
of the genus Kniphofia. The species cross freely, and the
seedlings are not long ere they flower. Except in the

warmer parts of England, many of them are not absolutely
hardy, but there are many parts of the United States where
Kniphofias would grow like Thistles, and in such places
cross-breeding, with a view to improving the constitution
of the genus generally as well as obtaining more variety of
color, might be undertaken with advantage and ultimate
profit.

Halesia v. Mohria (page 433). — If Mr. Britton's dates are
correct, it is diflicult to understand why he proposes to sub-
stitute his new name Mohria for the old Halesia. The
question is, cannot a name once misapplied be used again .'
To put the matter plainly, I create a new genus, Brittonia,
in compliment to Mr. Britton, but Sir Joseph Hooker points
out that my genus is a bad one and cannot stand. Then
comes Professor Sargent with the desire to name a genus
in compliment to Mr. Britton ; is he to be precluded from
doing so because of my bad attempt? If not, then Halesia
must stand, but if by the principles of nomenclature adopted
by American botanists he cannot, then I am afraid practi-
cal men will say so much the worse for the principles. The
devotees of botany and its laws ought surely to show some
appreciation of and sympathy with the requirements of
horticulture. It is bad enough when a well-established
plant-name has to give way for good reasons, but do please
let there always be very good reasons for the change. I
can assure Mr. Britton that he will have to support his
change of the name Halesia with better arguments than
those given in Garden and Forest. Phonetics do not, of
course, count in these matters, otherwise it might be urged
that as we have already Morai-a (Irid) and Moorea (Orchid),
a third name having exactly the same sound might as well
be avoided. ... „. ,

London. W. WolsOn.

[Most of the working botanists of the United States have
conformed to, and are governed by, the rules of nomen-
clature adopted by the Botanical Club of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, at the meet-
ing held in Rochester, New York, in August, 1892. The
fourth of these rules provides "that the publication of a
generic name or a binomial invalidates the use of the same
name for any subsequently published genus or species
respectively" (see Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xi«., 290). Ac-
cording to this rule, a name once misapplied, provided it
has been published, cannot be used againi Its enforce-
ment necessitates the change of some of the best-estab-
lished and most familiar plant-names, like Halesia, one of
the few North American trees which, up to this time, have
escaped a heavy burden of synonyms. However much the
enforcement of such a rule is to be regretted from certain
points of view, from others it is really advantageous, and, so
far as America is concerned, it now appears inevitable. — Ed.]

T

Cultural Department.
Diseases of Raspberries and Blackberries.

HE red rust is comparatively well understood since tlie De-
partment of Agriculture has investigated it. This rust has
a perennial mycelium which lives over winter in the plant and
develops witli the young canes the following spring. In the sum-
mer of 1892 a single Blackberry-bush was found on the station-
grounds affected with the disease. On June 23d all the canes
were cut close to the ground, and new ones, apparently healthy,
sprang up. This spring, however, at the usual season, tlie
leaves and twigs were covered with the well-known orange-
red color, sliowing that the fungus had been continuing its
growth all the time within the tissues of the plant, and was ready
to develop its spores at the proper time. This one fact in the
life-history of the fungus being known, it is easy to see that a
plant once attacked is doomed, and that the only remedy is to
dig it up and burn it. Spraying may prevent the germination
of some of the spores which it scatters abroad, but it is far
cheaper to begin at the source and prevent their production in
the first place by rooting out and burning every diseased plant
the moment it is discovered. It may be necessary to look after
the Wild Raspberry, Blackberry and Dewberry plants in the
vicinity, for, if they are numerous and badly affected, the dis-

November 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

487

ease may spread from them faster than from any other
source.

The Anthracnose, Glaeosporium venetum, is another serious
disease. The liyphae of this fungus do not extend from tlieold
to the new canes, as in the red rust, and if all the portions
could be cut away this would be an effective remedy. The
attacks of the fungus, however, are so indiscriminate and gen-
eral that in most cases the remedy is impracticable. It is hard
to counteract it by spraying because of the difficulty in pro-
tecting all portions of the cane with a coating of the material.
Probably the Bordeaux mixture will be found effective if the
spraying is begun with young plantations and the treatment
continued throughout the year.

Another disease, which is probably more common than is
generally known, manifests itself by large knotty swellings of
tlie roots. Affected plants lose their vigor and productiveness,
and with our present knowledge we can only say that it will be
prudent to avoid setting out plants which show any such
swollen roots. The cause of these swellings is yet a mystery.

Cornell University. Fred. W. Card.

Cactus and Show Dahlias.

■pOR a full century the florists of Europe, working upon the
•*■ single species of Dahlia brought within their reach in 1789,
labored in its improvement, having, apparently, a single ideal
toward which they strove. The result, as shown in the double
Dahlia of to-day, lias crowned their persistence with a rich re-
ward, for, as far as perfection of form and beauty of coloring
go, the best show Dahlias are worthy of the high admiration
tliey nearly always excite. I admire the single varieties greatly,
but there is one kind of beauty m the single and another in the
show Dahlias, and the two types are so unlike that comparison
between them is out of place.

During the development of the show and fancy classes as we
have them now, all change that was not in the line desired was
regarded with disfavor, and many flowers, very beautiful in
themselves, were thrown away because they made no advance
toward the florists' ideal. This rejection would, no doubt, have
been persisted in unceasingly had it not been for the introduc-
tion, about twenty-five years ago, of a variety so novel and

Fig. 71.— Stp

i:ker. — See page 483.

Juarez. Some of its admirers saw in its long, pointed and
twisted petals a resemblance to the flowers of a Cactus, and
from that time flowers of this shape have been called Cac-

beautiful that it at once found favor with all Hower-lovers, and
became the starting-point of a new race. This was Dahlia
Juarezi, named in honor of the President of Mexico, Benito

Fig. 72. — The yLiKie stem sawed through the centre.— See page 483.

tus Dahlias. After one flower, not shaped according to the
florists' rules, was acknowledged to be worthy of cultivation,
others were introduced instead of being thrown away as for-
merly. For some years all these additions were included in
the Cactus class, but so numerous did they become as to sug-
gest that the carefully perfected blooms of the show and fancy
types would be lost among the multitudes of new Howers
whose only recommendation was their irregularity.

For the last five or six years, however, the National Dahlia
Society of England has offered prizes for Cactus as well as for
the other classes of Dahlias, and specified from year to year
what varieties were eligible for the competition. This action
has purged the lists of many undesirable kinds and stimulated
the production of true Cactus forms having the characteristic
form of Juarezi. Cactus Dahlias are produced, from year to
year, as numerously as those of any other class, and the prices
are fully as high. Half a guinea per plant is the conventional
price for the year of introduction, and one Cactus form was
offered this year at fifteen shillings.

No more beautiful variety than Juarezi has yet been pro-
duced, but it has the two faults of being very late and shy
blooming and of producing its flowers low, among the foliage ;
both of these faults still appear, as far as I have observed, in
all kinds of the true Cactus form, but in a much lessened de-
gree. Honoria, one of the oldest in this class, is still one of
the best ; indeed, I consider it the very best of its color, which
is pale yellow. The newer Robert Maher is of less pleasing
shape and a shyer bloomer, though somewhat stronger and
more decided in color. Mrs. Hawkins, another old variety, is
excellent at times, and again is not at all satisfactory ; when
the pink which tinges its yellow ground is too deep, as often
happens, the result is a blending into a dirty light purple, such
as yellow Gladioli frequently show. Of crimsons of various
shades there are many, some of them remarkably fine, and it
seems to me that the deeper the shade the better the form. It
is not necessary to give a long list of them, but the purchaser
of Kynerith, Robert Cannell or Duke of Clarence will prob-
ably be pleased with his bargain. Of buff flowers of various
shades there are several ; Cannell's Favorite, which ought to
be one of the very best of them, is, with me, not full enough
to rank as such. Pure white flowers of the Cactus class are
wholly wanting, unless Mrs. Peard shall prove to be of the
right shape. Of this I have some doubt, however, for I re-

488

Garden and Forest.

[Number 300.

member that Henry Patrick and Harry Freeman were intro-
duced with flourish of trumpets, yet proved to be, the first a
white show Dahlia of very poor shape, such as were common
forty years ago, and the other, though a very good decorative
kind, entirely without the long twisted petals and loose ar-
rangement which make the true Cactus forms as distinct and
attractive as the Japanese Chrysanthemums.

Of the so-called decorative kinds, little need be said ; for
the most part they ought to be allowed to die out, yet a few of
them are really excellent. Lord Lyndhurst, a variety I have
had for many years, stands highest in my esteem. It is the
only kind, I believe, which gives first-class flowers in July.
Their color reminds me of George Herbert's " rose, whose
hue, angry and brave, bids the rash gazer wipe his eye," yet
there is nothing harsh or crude in its rich, glowing scarlet.
Next to this I should place Zulu, a very free-blooming kind,
whose flowers are almost black, with here and there a gleam
of lighter crimson. Harry Freeman, the white already men-
tioned, is well worthy of cultivation, and so is Mrs. G. Reid, a
light pink or rose variety, with curiously serrated petals.

Canton. Mass. l^- E- Endicott.

Lachenalias. — As the flowering season of these pretty Cape
bulbs comes round each year, it is always a matter of surprise
that the Lachenalias are so little known and cultivated. For
the window-garden, or, indeed, for any purpose where other
bulbs are grown in pots, these are in every way satisfactory,
the more so that they can be grown year after year and in-
crease rapidly with ordinary care. The kinds that are best
known in gardens are those of the larger-growing species ;
many of the smaller-growing kinds are, it is true, more curious
than beautiful, but it is a mistake to apply this phrase to the
whole genus, as is done in one work on Bulbs recently issued.
L. pendula is with us the largest and earliest to bloom, and is
now, with cool treatment, in full bloom. The scapes of flow-
ers resemble the Roman Hyacinth somewhat, but the flowers
are bright red, yellow and green-tipped ; the foliage of L. pen-
dula is broad and green, while in L. tricolor it is distinctly
spotted with round black spots, as is also L. Nelsoni. This
last is the brightest-colored of all, the flowers being of the
clearest golden-yellow, with scarlet margins. Lachenalias
need a long period of rest after flowering, and as soon as the
foliage dies down we shake them out of the soil and sort the
bulbs in sizes and store them away in dry sand until August.
The largest are then potted in six-inch pots or eight-inch pans,
and the smaller ones are put in boxes to grow on to the flow-
ering size. All are then placed in cold-frames until cold
weather comes, when they are brought into the cool green-
house. The treatment usually given to Freesias will suit the
Lachenalias admirably, both being natives of south Africa. It
is not too late to procure bulbs now for later spring blooming.

Soulh LancJster, Mass. E. O. O.

Nerine roseo-crispa. — This is a cross between N. undulataand
N. flexuosa, and a real.gem. The Nerines are bulbous plants
from the Cape, flowering in autumn or winter, and this one has
small bulbs an inch in diameter, with narrow strap-shaped
leaves of soft texture. The flowers are borne in umbels on a
six-mch scape. Individually they have narrow reflexed petals,
are about an inch in diameter and of a beautiful soft rosy tint.
They are very dainty in form, and retain their beauty un-
dimmed for about a fortnight.

Biiabeth, N. J. J. N. G.

Correspondence.

The Boston Public Garden.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Last winter visitors to the Public Garden in Boston found
it decorated with the tops of Pine, Hemlock and Cedar trees,
cut in the country and stuck into the ground, where they were
allowed to remain until they were nearly bare of leaves. Dur-
ing the past summer a number of beds in the Garden have
been filled with half-hardy evergreen plants and tropical plants
mixed together. The tropical plants have now been taken out
of these beds and replaced with Hemlock-boughs and branches
of Oaks more or less covered with scarlet leaves, which at the
end of a few days have, of course, turned brown and are be-
ginning to fall. This, on the whole, seems to be the most
feeble and childish manifestation which the Ijedding system
has yet developed ; and in Boston it has not even the merit of
being well done, as it is in Chicago and some other western
cities. And yet, if one may judge from the expressions of
admiration which constantly appear in the Boston papers

about the beauty of the Public Garden, it is fair to suppose that
Bostonians esteem this as the most artistic thing in ornamen-
tal gardening which has ever been achieved ; and year after
year they go on cheerfully paying for this dime-museum
chromo-show two or three times what it would cost to maintain
a really beautiful garden.

Boston. /v.

[Anything that is a sham is bad art, and the attempt to
produce effects in a garden with the tops or branches of
trees stuck in the ground is a sham. This new style of
decoration, however, is only another expression of the
methods already adopted for the adornment of the Public
Garden in Boston, in which it is not unusual to see thou-
sands of plants like Hyacinths and Roses, previously forced
into bloom in frames or greenhouses, plunged in the beds
where at best they can only remain in perfection for a few
days and where their beauty is often spoilt at the end of a
few hours. This is sham gardeninjj and bad art ; and,
moreover, it is wasteful and extravagant. Large sums of
money are expended every year by the city of Boston in
providing material of this sort and in housing the tender
plants which are used profusely in the Garden ; and it is
only a few months ago that the Mayor approved an appro-
priation of $100,000, to be expended in building new city
greenhouses to supply bedding plants for the decoration of
this Garden and the different city squares.

Bedding, that is the massing in summer of large numbers
offender plants, can be]iroperly used in most large public
gardens, and without it many gardens would lack a useful
and attractive feature ; but such a use of tender plants
should be limited to certain appropriate parts of a garden ;
and if a large sum of money is expended every year in
Boston for this sort of decoration, it should at least be as
good of its kind as it is possible to make it. Whether the
best results in bedding have been obtained in Boston, any
Bostonian who has visited this summer Washington or Lin-
coln Parks, in Chicago, can judge.

It is a question, moreover, whether a garden is wisely
managed in which a great sum of money is expended every
year in producing effects which disappear with the first
frost, while the trees are neglected, the lawns are full of
weeds, and the walks remain out of repair, as is the case
with the Public Garden in Boston. Nor does it seem wise
or the part of an economical policy, that Bos: on, which
does not hesitate to expend $100,000 for new greenhouses,
besides thousands of dollars every year in planting and
tending its flower-beds, should allow the trees in that Gar-
den and on the Common to fall into a condition which
gives every thoughtful and intelligent person interested in
the beauty of the city ground for serious anxiety. — Ed.]

Chrysanthemums for Exhibition.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — While the Chrysanthemum shows are closing, it is
well to review the season and make account of any new or old
flowers or new features which have appeared in special promi-
nence. Xhe larger shows through the country seem to have
been of quite uniform excellence, with a tendency toward bel-
ter-finished flowers, and, perhaps, fewer good specimen plants.
This is a tendency which is a natural result of the entrance of
the cut-flower grower into the field within the last four or five
years. The earlier Chrysanthemum exhibits were made en-
tirely by plant-dealers and professional gardeners with the help
of an occasional amateur. Since the advent of the cut-flower
grower, with his series of plants of one variety, grown on the
high-pressure, one-bloom system, from which to cut, tiic old
class of exhibitors, if they appear at all, arc quite secondary
in the race for cups. The evidence of an unlimited supply of
a few kinds only was to be noted in the competitions where
large numbers of varieties were shown together, as, for exam-
ple, in the classes for forty-eight blooms of different varieties,
and even in the twenty-four-bloom classes, it was always evi-
dent that there had been a struggle to fill out the quota. A
full set of well-finished flowers in perfect character was the
rare exception. With such a wealth of varieties in cultivation,
this poverty of representation calls for comment.

The large vase competitions for flowers of one variety, inau-

November 22, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

489

gurated three years ago in Madison Square Garden, seem to
have spread to all parts of the country, and, no doubt, are one
of the most satisfactory features of our exhibitions under
present conditions. They are attractive to the general public,
while they present the best chances for competition among the
principal growers, as they require at most only a dozen varie-
ties, and these in masses of from six to twenty-four, quantities
in which there are many to compete. It seems almost incredi-
ble even to one perfectly familiar with the vigorous growing
capacity of the Chrysanthemum that such flowers as are ex-
hibited in such abundance should be worked out of June cut-
tings. The flowers in the large vases at the New York Show
this year were noticeably a better average than before exhib-
ited— good foliage, sturdy stems, and well-colored and firm
well-finished flowers. Here, and in other cities, as pictures
show, one could criticise only the depth of flower, the point
which demonstrates the best skill of the grower. That we do not
get flowers of the greatest possible depth is probably owing to
the quick system of culture which now obtains.

As usual in New York of late, the single blooms in variety
were divided between the boards and the jars. It is difficult to
see the utility or beauty of the latter devices, as the resthetic
side is a minor consideration in exhibiting cut flowers of Chrys-
anthemum, except when massed for decoration, as in large
vases. If the reader will examine a specimen exhibition bloom,
even with a long stem and perfect foliage, he must conclude that,
however perfect it may be as a work of nature and art, it is of no
special use by itself. Add two more and you have a fine dec-
oration, which is made a superb one witti half a dozen or a
dozen of the same variety. Now, while it is all proper when
one asks a premium for a new variety, to compel him to show
stems and foliage, I do not see why the same conditions should
be annexed to a show of blooms of varieties of which every
one knows the habit. It is no great trick to grow good foliage
under glass, and it is often done only too well, even to rank-
ness. It seems to me that when blooms are to be exhibited
for prizes, the exhibitor should be allowed to show them as
they will show best for points, and this is on boards. Of course,
these are judged only for the quality of the flower, which is the
material question. I have seen scales of points for judging
Chrysanthemums where a foliage counted as much as depth,
and this does not seem a premium on skill. Some varieties do
best on crown-buds. What chance would perfect blooms of
these have under the foliage test ?

Furthermore, as a mere matter of taste, I decline to admit
that a lot of short-stemmed sample flowers, wobbling in
glasses, has any advantage in beauty over specimens well set
on boards. It will be said, perhaps, that we exhibit Roses
Carnations, etc., with their own foliage, and why not Chrysan-
themums ? The only difference is that we do not exhibit the
former as single flowers, and even should we so show Roses,
the preponderance of flower over foliage is not so very great
as to render the latter insignificant in comparison as is the
case with the Chrysanthemum. Perhaps soineonemay say that
these artificial conditions give a quite incorrect impression of
the Chrysanthemum as a flower and a flowering plant. Well,
I do not know where any one could gain a more incorrect
idea of the Chrysanthemum than at a Chrysanthemum
show. The whole thing is out of perspective, one-sided and
mostly artificial. This must be so from the nature of the case,
as only the flowers grown in glass houses enter into competi-
tion, and within this valuable space only special kinds are grown
and shown, leaving hundreds of beautiful forms quite unrepre-
sented and unknown. This is one defect of a Chrysanthemum
show which it is scarcely possible to remedy, and will always
detract from its educational value. Those who have grown
the Chrysanthemum in many varieties under less luxurious
treatment know that this wonderful plant has phases missed
altogether by those who know it only under artificial conditions.

Much as the shows and competitions are enjoyed, none of
the flowers please me so much as those which are still
swaying on their own stems in the crisp November air in shel-
tered places. In the open they have a free and joyous air all in
character with their development as children of the autumn.

Elizabeth, N. J. J- ^- Gerard.

T

Exhibitions.
The Chicago Chrysanthemum Show.
HE World's Fair Chrysanthemum Show was held in the

new Art Building on the lake-front, four large rooms and
two corridors being used for the exhibits, while the entrance hall
was decorated with the plants grown by the World's Fair De-
partment of Floriculture. Divided up in this way, the magni-

tude of the show could not be realized, and the flowers were
less impressive than if they had been massed in one large
room. But it is the best and the biggest flower-show yet held
in the west, and the general opinion is that it compares favor-
ably in point of size and of the quality of cut flowers with the
eastern exhibitions. It is weak in specimen plants, only very
ordinary ones being shown.

As shown here. The Queen takes first rank among the white
varieties, exhibited for tlie first time in 1892, taking more pre-
miums than any other Chrysanthemum, but Niveus shows up
well, and W. G. Newett is even better than last year. In pinks,
W. N. Rudd is as good as it was last year, and so is Princess.
President Smith, sliown by Sievers, of California, in 1892, and
by Peter Henderson & Co. in 1893, under the name ot Good
Gracious, proves a fine exhibition bloom, but is not spoken of
highly as a commercial flower. Dr. John H. Taylor is better
than m 1892. Judge Hoitt, which marked a great improve-
ment in the Anemone section, is shown in excellent lorm.

Ot the yellow varieties, Mrs. Craig Lippincott leads, and
Golden Wedding, although reported as weak in many loca-
tions, has sustained its high standard of last year. The crimson
Joey Hill is immense in size and of good form. Among bronze
varieties, Redondo leads, and Robert Mclnnes is almost as
good. Among the European varieties of 1892, L'Enfantdes
Deux Mondes, a cream-white flower of the Mrs. Hardy type,
and Charles Davis both attract much attention, and Robert
Owen is excellent.

The interest culminated in " Medal Day," when the seedlings
were shown — all the premiums awarded on November 7th
being Columbian medals and diplomas, except the sweepstake
prize of one hundred dollars tor the " best seedling not yet
disseminated." This was won by Challenge, grown by E. G.
Hill, Richmond, Indiana, a chrome-yellow flower of enormous
depth and fullness— a compact mass of incurved petals. It is
said to keep indefinitely, and seems to have' all the requisites
ot the .standard commercial Chrysanthemum. A special award
was given in the same class to a white variety from J. H.
Sievers, of Calitornia. The specimens sent had been cut at least
SIX days when put on exhibition, but the variety seems to have
great merit, being a perfect ball of curling, cream-white petals,
and when Iresh it must be as beautiful as it is unusual. Eugene
Dailledouze, also grown by Mr. Hill, took the premium for the
best yellow, and Major Bonnaftbn, grown by F. Dorner&Sons
Lafayette, Indiana, received a special award in the same class'
Eugene Dailledouze is a rich golden-yellow flower, the outside
and inside of its broad, deeply hollowed, sharply incurved
petals being of the same vivid and beautiful golden hue. It
has kept as well as any flower on tlie tables, and is said to be
as handsome when fully open as in its earlier stage, there be-
ing ample fullness to keep the centre good during'the life of
the flower. Major Bonnaffon is nearly globular in shape, sim-
ilar to Challenge, but ot finer, texture, and not quite so firm and
full, a lovely straw-color, with more finish in form and purity
of color than either of the other two yellow prize-winners.
Mane Louise, grown by A. Witterstaeder, Sedansville Ohio
took the premium for the best white ; Mrs. Potter Palmer, an
open incurved variety of pleasing shade, from F. S. Waltz
Cincinnati, Ohio, for the best pink ; Brigand, entered by
Thomas Spaulding, Orange, New Jersey, for the best crimson •
and an unnamed variety, grown by Vaughan, Chicago, for the
best bronze. Inter-Ocean, an exquisite faint pink flower of
pearly texture ot the Viviand Morel type, grown by Hill, took
the premium for the best of "any other color," and a special
award was given in the same class to Pitcher & Manda. a
flower of unusual shape and remarkable coloring, grown by
the firm whose name it bears. In shape and size it is like a
medium-sized double annual Sunflower, but of finer texture,
and it is evenly shaded, from straw-color in the centre to white
at the border. It is a great novelty and attracted much atten-
tion, but has weak stems. A medal was awarded to Charles
Davis, the European variety sometimes spoken of as the
Golden Viviand Morel, as being of special merit.

Four other seedlings, all grown by Mr. Hill, that are highly
spoken of, are Mrs. H. W. Higginbotham, a broad-petaled, open
incurved pink flower, nine inches in diameter, said to be very
desirable, but past its prime when the show opened. Louise
D. Black, which is distinct inform, being almost a perfect ball,
but of a dull color, somewhat on the order of Autumn Glow ;
Abraham Lincoln, a well-built Chrysanthemum of distinct and
unusual type, and in color cream-white, suffused with lemon,
its marked characteristic being; the odd shape of its florets,
each one being almost a fac-simile in size andshapeof aSalvia-
blossom ; and Bronze Giant, a very deep bronze incurved
globular flower, said to be of great promise.
Chicago, III. Fanny Copley Seavey.

490

Garden and Forest.

[Number 300.

Notes.

Three of the largest Japanese Maples in the country are now
standing in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. They are said to be
among the first of these frees sent here by the late Thomas
Hogg, and are now, perhaps, thirty-five feet high, with a corre-
sponding trunk circumference. Although they are beginning to
be crowded they are fine frees, and at this season of the year they
are especially beautiful, because their foliage is just taking on
its best color wheaall our native trees are already stripped of
their leaves. This late retention of foliage is a peculiarity of
east Asian plants, and it should be taken advantage of when
planting for autumn effect. None of our native Scarlet Maples
was ever brighter than these Japanese Maples are now in the
last half of November, when the Scarlet Maples have been
bare of their foliage for nearly a month.

Professor Beckwith, of the Delaware Experiment Station,
writes in the Rural New Yorker, that the three dwarf Lima
Beans — Henderson's, Burpee's and Thorburn's — planted
alongside of each other, have all once more proved valuable
acQuisitions. Henderson's proved the most productive, but
yielded the smallest beans, and the large beans are preferred
by most persons. There seemed little difference in quality,
however. The pods in Henderson's Lima do not fill out much,
even when they are of full size, so that one is apt to allow
them to get too old before beginning to use them. Burpee's
Early Black Lima will probably not be generally liked on ac-
count of its color and the small size of the beans, but, like the
Black Mexican Sweet Corn, its superior quality renders it de-
sirable. Its vines do not grow as rank as some other kinds,
but they bear an enormous crop.

Mr. George Stanton, of Summit Station, New York, who has
been experimenting for some time with the cultivation of Gin-
seng, writes that he has lately taken up the roots from three
small beds, each sixteen feet long by three feet wide, one of
which had been planted five years ago, and two others four
years ago, with small roots taken from the woods. After re-
serving, for replanting, 833 roots, which weighed together more
than twenty pounds, all of them larger than any of those
originally planted, he had remaining fifty-two pounds and
fourteen ounces of clean-washed roots, which will make,
when dried, about seventeen pounds, worth from $3 00 to $3.50
per pound. Meanwhile, Mr. Stanton has been selling seed
from his plants to the amount of about $40. If operations of
this kind could be carried forward on a large scale it looks as if
tiie Ginseng industry had in it the promise of a good profit.

A German horticultural journal is responsible for this story
about a bridal bouquet. A certain school-teacher in the town
of Konitz had ordered a bouquet for his wedding-day, stipu-
lating that it should not cost more than four marks (one dollar),
but not designating what kind of- flowers should be selected.
It was in the autumn, when hot-house flowers were few and
dear, so the florist composed it of white dahlias ; but the bride
and i»er family declaring that these flowers were unfit for the
purpose, the school-teacher returned the bouquet to its
maker and refused to pay for it. The florist then sued him,
but the [josition of the schoolmaster was sustained in court, in
accordance with the testimony of experts in matters of taste
whom he had called in and who echoed the opinion of the
bride. A similar result followed upon an appeal to a higher
court, despite the testimony of experts now summoned by the
florist, and the florist was ordered to pay the costs of the suit,
amounting to three hundred marks.

Professor Troup writes that the Russian varieties of orchard
fruits which have been tried during the last ten years in In-
diana have proved successful in point of hardiness. The trees
are nearly all good growers, and many of them are uncom-
monly good producers and they begin to yield while very
young. The apples, however, are nearly all summer and
autumn variedes, none of them having proved late-winter
keepers. Those which are described as " late-winter " in Iowa
ripen in Indiana in August. When crossed with our native
varieties, however, they may prove of value. The Pear-trees
seem very healthy, and none of them show a tendency to
blight, but they have not been in bearing long enough to war-
rant positive judgment upon them. The variety Known as
Sapieganka produces small but very handsome pears, which,
if picked at the proper time and ripened up, are of very good
quality. The Russian cherries so far tested have not proved
in any way superior to the old kinds in cultivation.

A late number of the Gardeners' Magazine contains a good
picture of Zenobia (or, as it is usually known in American col-

lections, Andromeda) speciosa, var. pulverulenta. Mr. Nich-
olson, who writes the note accompanying the portrait in the
paper referred to, regrets that a plant which was so highly
prized in English gardens during the early part of the century
has been, along with many other equally interesting and beau-
tiful shrubs, strangely neglected during recent years. It can
hardly be more rare in English gardens than in those of
America, although it is quite hardy as far north as New Eng-
land, in spite of the fact that its natural home is along the bor-
ders of the ponds in the coast-country from Florida to North
Carolina. The species is a low shrub never more than three
or four feet high, and it has bright shining leaves, while the
variety is rather smaller and, perhaps, a more beautiful plant,
with bluish gray or nearly white leaves and a dense glaucous
bloom. The flowers on both plants are of pure white, and are
borne on long racemed fascicles on the naked branches of the
preceding year. They are bell-shaped and rather larger than
those of Lily-of-the-valley. The plant will thrive in any loamy
soil where it is not too dry, but it does well in peaty soil. As
it forces well it is remarkable that we so rarely see flowering
specimens in pots at our early spring exhibitions.

Receipts of Delaware grapes are now ended and the season
for Concords is drawing to a close, most of the shipments com-
ing in trays and used by our foreign population for wine for
home use. Catawbas continue to come by car-loads as late as
February, when they are received in smaller quantities by ex-
press until spring. Black Ferreras, which are said to make a
wine having good keeping qualities, are sold as low as four
and five cents a pound after their costly journey from the Pa-
cific. Other varieties of California grapes, included in twenty-
five car-loads, sold in this city last week, are Muscats, Flame
Tokays and Cornichons, the latter masquerading on the street-
stands sometimes under the name of Black Malagas, and
sometimes as New Cornish grapes. Some high-grade Almeria
grapes of choicest quality, known as the Hilaro Rubi Rubi
brand, were sold on their arrival last week at double the prices
brought by any Spanish grapes this season, but this fruit prom-
ises to be both cheap and abundant for some time to come.
The imports are largely in excess of those of last year, and
one cargo of nearly 24,000 barrels, the largest ever exported
from Almeria, reached New York this week. A few boxes of
Coe's Late Red plums came direct from California last week,
most of this fruit seen here now being from cold storage, as are
also some George's Late and Salway peaches, for which there
is but little call. Pomegranates, from Spain and from California,
are fifty to sixty cents a dozen. Navel oranges, from Florida,
bring the same low price, because of their unripe condition,
and Tangerines are forty to sixty cents a dozen.

The Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of
Illinois issued a bulletin last summer giving the details of a
forest-tree plantation which was begun in the spring of 1871.
About thirteen acres were planted, some of the ground being
marshy, and some of the higher portions so poor that farm
crops were no longer remunerative. The selection of varieties
does not seem to have been the best, and, perhaps, with
the experience gained, another plantation might be more in-
telligently cared for. Some of the trees, as, for example, the
European Larch, on high ground, the Norway Spruce, the
Sugar Maple, the White Maple and a few other trees, look
well. The conclusions arrived at are that it is impossible for
tree-plantations to be made profitable as farm-crops on land
which is fit for wheat and corn. It is idle to talk of growing
wood for fuel, except for home use on the farm, when bitu-
minous coal can be had at present prices. In Illinois, lands
which are well-timbered sell for a smaller price per acre than
lands of the same quality that have been cleared, or than prai-
rie lands of the same productiveness; that is, the value of the
timber is less than thecost of clearing the land and bringing it
under cultivation. The bulletin states, however, that the value
of natural forests gives little information as to the worth of
artificial plantations, which, if judiciously managed, may con-
sist entirely of high-priced and useful material. There is one
constant reason for uneasiness about this experiment, as there
must be about every forest-tree plantation, that is, the real and
imminent danger from fire. The areas which bear coniferous
trees are liable to be burned over during any dry time, and in
autumn, after the fall of the leaves, the part devoted to deciduous
trees is quite unsafe. A burning wad from a gun, or the neg-
ligent use of fire by a tramp, may start a conflagration which
will destroy in a few hours the products of years. There seems
no hope for forest-planters except to take the risk of fire, and
this risk may be classed among the items of obstacles and
expenses.

November 29, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

491

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office: Tribune Building, New York,

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

entered as second-class hatter at the post office at new YORK, N. Y,

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articlks: — The New Jersey Highlands ^91

The Popularity of (he Chrysanthemum ^gi

Slow-maturing Fruits of Trees and Shrubs • y. G. Jack. 492

Oregon Autumn Notes Francis Ertusi Uoyd. Aa-\

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— XXV. (With figure.) C S. S. 493

Cultural Department : — Does Mulching Retard the Ripening of Fruits?.. ..7?*. 495

The European Eryngiums H. Correvon, 496

Winter Care of Hardv Plants , y. N. Gerard. 497

Luculia gratissima, Oncidium ornithorhynchum E. O. O, 4gj

Liatris grammifolia Ww. F, Basseit. 497

Pacific Coast Irises Carl Purdy. 497

The Dandelion as a Salad-plant IVm. Tricker. 497

Correspondence; — Chrysanthemums at the Exhibitions y. N. Gerard. 498

Notes from Northern California Carl Purdy. 498

Mid-November in a Michigan Garden H. A. Fortuine, M. D. 498

Chrysanthemums in Vases IVm. J. Stnuarl. 499

Recent Publications

Notes.

499

500

Illustration : — A view in the Forest of Hemlock (Tsuga diversifolia) in the

Niltko Mountains, Japan, Fig. 73 495

The New Jersey Highlands.

THE annual report of the State Geologist of New Jersey,
which has just been published, contains an interest-
ing chapter on "Natural Parks and Forest-reservations."
The action of the Massachusetts Legislature, in creating a
Park Commission to consider the advisabiUty of providing
open spaces in the vicinity of the towns near Boston, sug-
gests an examination of the natural features of the northern •
part of the state of New Jersey, which lies so close to a
dense population, and from which large cities like Newark,
Paterson, JerseyCity and Orange secure their water-supply.
Inasmuch as one of the primary uses of a geological sur-
vey of a state is to discover and set forth its natural advan-
tages, this subject is quite a legitimate one. Attractive
scenery, well-watered and health-giving places of residence
and resort are certainly natural resources which have a
value quite as real as that of a bed of ore or of marl or a
quarry of marble. These physical features are part of the
wealth of the state, and, as Professor Smock explains, the
development of these resources is one of the eminently
practical benefits which ought to come from official
studies and surveys.

The northern part of New Jersey is traversed from north-
east to south-west by the ranges of the Appalachian sys-
tem which are nearest the sea. On the extreme north-
western border of the state are the Blue, or Shawangunk,
Mountains, through which the Delaware breaks at the
Water Gap. This range forms one boundary of the beau-
tiful Kittatinny Valley, which opens into the Delaware in
one direction and the Hudson in the other, embracing most
of the counties of Warren and Sussex, a region of fertile
farm-land of singular pastoral beauty. The New Jersey
Highlands, so-called, which bound this valley on the south
and east, area broad belt of mountain- land, extending across
the state and consisting of many comparatively short par-
allel ridges, which rise to a height of a thousand or fifteen
hundred feet. The valleys of these Highlands are gemmed
with beautiful lakes, the slopes of the mountains are cov-
ered with luxuriant tree-growth, and the scenery has that
varied beauty which is always found in a country of lakes

and forests, sparkling streams and rugged hills. The
mountains have not been blackened and blasted by fire,
and although most of the original wood has been cut away,
there is healthy timber growing everywhere, except on the
crests of the rockiest ridges. The lakes and streams are
well stocked with fish and the woods with game, so that
altogether there are many portions of the Highlands which
seem peculiarly adapted to use as public parks or as state
forests.

But the peculiar value of this region lies in its accessi-
bility. A circle of less than thirty miles, with its centre at
Newark, would take in its entire chain of lakes and nearly
all of the most beautiful of its mountain scenery. The very
heart of the Highlands is less than forty miles from the
New York City Hall. It is difficult to imagine that so
much wild wood scenery, such a stretch of untamed coun-
try, and so many forest-bordered mountain-lakes still re-
main in much of their primitive beauty so near to great
masses of population. It can hardly be hoped that these
woods will much longer resist the demand for lumber and
fuel, or that this region can much longer remain unpopu-
lated ; and, therefore, the recommendation to preserve
some of its more remarkable natural features, and hold
them under some associated or public supervision, is a
timely one. The reservation of large forest and mountain
areas in remote parts of the country is certainly commend-
able, but it would seem that this mountain-belt of New Jer-
sey, where there are so many tracts which are available for
use as public pleasure-grounds, and near enough to afford
ready resort for the great population which clusters around
New York Bay, ought not to be overlooked, and that some
effort should be made to preserve a part of these Highland
ranges for the pleasure and health of the people. Professor
Smock calls attention to the fact that the recently estab-
lished Algonquin Park, in Ontario, occupies a territory
which, in its topographic and geologic features, resembles
the New Jersey Highlands closely, and a section of them
would well serve the purpose for which this park in the
northern wilderness has been reserved; and that purpose,
as set forth in the language of the act creating the reserva-
tion, is " to be a public park, forest-reservation, fish and
game preserve, health-resort and pleasure-ground for the
benefit, advantage and enjoyment of the Province of
Ontario."

Almost every year some one steps forward to assert that
the Chrysanthemum has passed the zenith of its popularity,
and that it will soon take its place among the flowers which
were once fashionable, but which are now, like the Camellia,
for example, almost entirely neglected. But the exhibitions
of which we have lately given an account, and many
others which we have not had space to mention, have this
year been unusually well attended ; the flowers have been
better than ever before in richness of color and refinement
of form, and the limit of possible improvement seems as
distant as ever. The fact is that the flower possesses in it-
self such positive merits that its position is assured beyond
any cavil It lends itself so well to various kinds of deco-
ration that it cannot be displaced by any other plant in
cultivation ; it is grown with comparative ease, flowers
profusely, and lasts well under conditions which are usually
injurious to plant-life. But, most of all, it comes at a time of
year when rivals are few, lasting through a long period, and
fills completely a season when flowers are few, which
without it would be dreary enough.

The plants grown to a single stem and carrying a single
flower are in themselves unattractive, but a dozen or two
of these flowers in a large vase make a decoration of the
most imposing kind, and since prizes have been given for
this class the exhibitions have had a new interest. It seems
strange that the Anemone-flowered varieties are so little
used to produce effects of this sort, and perhaps the next
sensation will be in this direction. We have seen nothing
more beautiful this year than a group of these flowers on
long stems. They are not at all inferior to the other kinds in

492

Garden and Forest

[Number 301.

richness of coloring and in variety of form, and they cannot
much longer remain in the background. The tightly
incurved varieties are evidently no longer esteejned as
they once were. Skillful growers who wish to show what
can be done by patient care will continue to present occa-
sional e.xamples of their skill in this direction, for it requires
the highest art to grow one of these deep flowers to per-
fection. But it is plain that modern taste approves of
Japanese sorts with more flowing lines and a somewhat
wayward deviation from regular mathematical curves.

The trained plants, which show on a perfectly symmetrical
bush a hundred or so flowers all at their best on a given day,
certainly show the gardener's art at its best, and the plants
exhibited this year at Boston and Philadelphia have never
been excelled. No one can help admiring them, although
they are in a certain degree as artificial as possible, and
they must always be rarities. Quite as interesting to most
people were the small plants naturally grown shown in the
New York show in five-inch pots, each one with about a
score of lilooms. These plants set a pattern to the ordinary
grower which is not at all discouraging, and, perhaps, the
amateur can get the most pleasure out of his Chrysanthe-
mums by growing them in rather larger pots, out-of-doors,
and sheltered somewhat from the wind, where they will
become sturdy and have a solidity and substance which no
plant which is tenderly nurtured under glass ever pos-
sessed. These plants may be carried through early frosts,
protected by a light cloth cover, and up to Thanksgiving
can be set on terraces and piazzas out-of-doors, where their
bright colors and bold carriage show to the best advantage
in the frosty air under which all other vegetation has with-
ered. It ought not to be forgotten that many varieties
whose flowers, when grown to enormous proportions on a
single stem, do not quite satisfy the taste, produce a singu-
larly good effect when grown in this way. Mrs. L. C. Ma-
deria offers, perhaps, the most perfect type of a solid glob-
ular flower, and it is always seen at a disadvantage among
the more graceful Japanese kinds. But when grown on
small plants, and the little golden balls are not more than
an inch or an inch and a half in diameter, they have a
beauty of their own which is quite distinct. The same is
true of many oddities like Cashmere, with its thread-like
florets. Among seedlings a large proportion of single-
flowered varieties are always found, and these are gen-
erally discarded. Some of the single flowers, however,
have a rare attractiveness in form and color. The plants
are usually strong, and a well-flowered specimen of such a
variety as Daisy, for example, always commands admira-
tion. In fact, there is almost an endless field for study
in this wonderful plant, and although new varieties are
produced so rapidly that no one can keep a record of
them, it would seem that there is hardly one which has not
something to commend it, or which cannot be made useful
by some method of cultivation.

Slow-maturing Fruits of Trees and Shrubs.

THE generally accepted idea of inflorescence and fruc-
tification seems to be that flowers are produced in
spring and summer, with mature fruits and seeds following
before winter sets in. Observing persons, however, although
not botanists, must have noted deviations from the com-
mon rule of annual fructification in some of our native
woody plants which do not mature their fruits in the same
season in which the blossoms are produced. Where it is
indigenous, perhaps one of the best-known examples of
this kind is the Witch-hazel, Hamamelis Virginiana, whose
conspicuous yellow flowers and simultaneously maturing
woody fruits must attract attention. After flowering in the
autumn the fruit-producing portion of the blossom prac-
tically makes no further growth, but remains dormant
until the following spring, and then develops rapidly,
maturing at the next flowering in the autumn.

It is less generally known that the beautiful late-flower-
ing Franklinia, Gordonia Altamaha, has a similar habit.

The plant at the Arboretum, which always requires protec-
tion in winter, matured some woody fruit capsules for the
first time, so far as observed, when the plant was in bloom
in October, these fruits resulting from last year's flowers.
No good seeds were found, however, and the embryo of
this plant is still unknown. The time of its fructification
was noted by Bartram in his Travels (1792), page 465,
where he says : "After my return from the Creek Nation I
employed myself during the spring and fore part of sum-
mer in revisiting the several districts in Georgia and the
east borders of Florida, where 1 had noted the most curious
subjects, collecting them togetlier and shipping them off
to England. In the course of these excursions and re-
searches I had the opportunity of observing the new flow-
ering shrub, resembling the Gordonia, in perfect bloom, as
well as bearing ripe fruit"

The Gordonia to which he likened this shrub was the
earlier-known Loblolly Bay, Gordonia Lasianthus of the
south. A third plant, having the habit of blooming in the
autumn and maturing its fruit in the following autumn, is
the Sea-side Alder, Alnus maritima. The pretty staminate
catkins elongate and shed their pollen in September, the
little-fertilized, cone-like fruits developing very slightly be-
fore frost, and only fully maturing in the following autumn.

The fact that all Oaks do not ripen their acorns in one
season is more generally known, and yet many intelligent
persons hear the statement with surprise. All the native
While Oaks do mature fruit in the same season in which
the blossoms are produced ; but the Red Oak, Scarlet,
Black, Pin, Shingle and other Oaks belonging to the Black
Oak section, having bristle-points to the lobes of the leaves,
do not fully develop their acorns until the autumn of the
second year after blossoming, the floweiing of Oaks being
in May or early June. At the end of the first summer's
growth the little fruits appear to have made scarcely any
advancement, and much resemble very short spurs or
branches with a thickened tip, and do not bear much like-
ness to acorns. A cross-section of the fruit at this time
also fails to show any clear separation between the seed
and seed-coverings and cup. In the following spring there
is rapid development and distinction of parts. As a rule,
these Black Oaks blossom rather earlier in the season than
the White Oaks and the trees grow faster, and that they
should require twice as long to bring their fruits to maturity
seems a rather strange rule of Nature.

The true Pines form another group of trees whose fruit
remains on the plants at least through two summers and
one winter before the seed is ripe. In some species the
cones do not make much growth during the first summer;
in others they grow to nearly one-half of their ultimate
size. One or two or more foreign or other species not
hardy in this climate, are said to require three seasons of
growth before the cones arrive at maturity. The ultimate
size of the cones of the species makes no difference as to
the length of time required for maturation. This is well
shown by the giant Sequoias of California, whose small
roundish cones are reported as not being ripe until the sec-
ond season.

With the exception of the Junipers, the plants or genera
mentioned include the only American ligneous species
known to be biennial-fruited, or which do not ripen fruit
before winter from blossoms of the season.

The various species of Junipers show within this genus
wide differences of time re(juired before the fruit arrives at
perfect maturity, and a consultation of authors who have
referred to this point is likely to cause confusion, because
of apparently contradictory statements. Dr. George Engel-
mann, in classifying the American species of the section
Sabina, states that they are biennial-fruited. Other authors
have followed this statement or have called them annual-
fruited. We have three species of Juniperus east of the
Mississippi River in North America, and an examination of
them shows that each requires a different length of time
before the little berry-like fruits, or galhuli, are fully mature.

The common Red Cedar, or Savin, Juniperus Virginiana,

November 29, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

493

one of the most widely distributed of North American trees,
is found to be annual-fruited. In New England it flowers
about the latter part of April, and the little blue berry-like
fruits are fully ripened in October. They remain on the
plants throughout the winter, or until eaten by birds, which
find them an important article of food when the ground is
covered with snow.

The so-called Trailing Savin, Juniperus Sabina, var. pro-
cumbens, is naturally a rather uncommon plant in the east,
but farther west it becomes more abundant. Numerous
fruiting specimens, kindly furnished by Robert Douglas &
Son, Waukegan, Illinois, show that this species requires
two summers of growth before the fruit is ripened.

The third eastern American species is the low-growing
common Juniper, Juniperus communis, so abundant in
many neglected pastures and on rocky hill-sides, and well
known as a native of Europe and Asia, as well as north-
ern America. A careful examination of fruiting plants of
this species will show that the fruits are not ripe at the end
of the second year after flowering, and that they must have
a third summer to bring them to full maturity. This spe-
cies blossoms about a month later than the Red Cedar, the
flowers appearing singly in the upper axils of the leaves
on shoots of the previous season's growth. As in the case
of the Black Oaks, very little development is manifest dur-
ing the first summer, and in the autumn the young fruits
are not much larger than they were at flowering time. It
is during the second season that nearly all the growth
takes place, and the little galbuli will be found to have en-
larged considerably before the regular blossoming time
returns. In the second autumn they are nearly full-grown,
but still green. During the third summer complete devel-
opment is accomplished, and by the end of August or early
September we find the so-called berries soft, sweet and
ripe. A fruiting branch of this species, with its ripe blue
or purple fruit and green fruit in two stages of develop-
ment, forms an interesting study. In this case we are
enabled to tell more than two years in advance whether
there is likely to be a crop of fruit ; and the Black Oaks and
Pines show clearly in summer the probabilities for a har-
vest of seed in the autumn of the next year, t n T h

Arnold Arboretum. J- ^- J<iCK.

O'

Oregon Autumn Notes.

>NE who is accustomed to the changes of seasons in the
east is disappointed when looking for the beautiful tints of
autumn in the foliage of the trees of western Oregon. Instead
of the bright reds and yellows which paint with splendor the
mountain-slopes of a New England landscape, our deciduous
trees present a monotony of dull yellows and browns, which is
at first unsatisfying. The trees whicli give the character to the
landscape on tlie low lands are chieHy the Garry Oak, Quercus
Garryana ; tlie Ortgon Ash, Fraxinus Oregana, and the Big-
leaf Maple, Acer macrophyllum, of the deciduous kind ; and of
the cone-bearers, the White Fir, Abies grandis, with the Doug-
las Spruce, Pseudotsuga taxifolia, on higher situations. When
seen from a little distance the yellows of the Ash and Maple
and the brown of the Oak are beautifully contrasted with the
dark green of the White Fir, and their brighter coloring and
bold outlines set them out in strong relief from a dark green
background of Douglas Spruce, softened by a blue haze.

But our autumn landscapes are not entirely without bright
colors, for here and there the eyes are greeted by a cluster of
the brilliant crimson and scarlet leaves of the Vine Maple,
Acer circinatuiTi, which grows plentifully as underbrush both
in the bottom-lands and on the hill-sides. The graceful habit
of the dark green procumbent or ascending stems, and the pe-
culiar set of the leaves, give this small tree a striking appear-
ance, and it would make a valuable addition to eastern gar-
dens if it can be successfully cultivated there. The season is
now rapidly advancing, and the fallen leaves of the Big-leaf
Maple, which is much used as a shade-tree, are strewn plenti-
fully over the ground. Nor is the name Big-leaf a misnorner.
One now on my table measures in total length nearly thirty
inches, the petiole being half as long, and its breadth nineteen
and a quarter inches. The largest leaves are found on young
sprouts after a severe pruning. At higher elevations, and in
the denser shade of Spruce and Cedar, Thuya gigantea, the
leaves of the Vine Maple are still a vivid green, while those of

the Arrow-wood, Spiraea discolor, var. ariaefolia, and of the
Hazel, Corylus rostrata, var. Californica, are rapidly fading
and falling. The Dogwood, Cornus Nuttallii, too, is losing its
foliage, but bears in its place a rich harvest of bright red ber-
ries, which are eagerly sought by the birds. Here and there,
in open spots, grows the cosmopolitan Brake, Pteris aquillna,
to a height of six feet, throwing into the air a shower of spores
and sporangia at every step.

In the gardens the Roses are in full bloom, and will continue
into late November. Since the advent of the autumn rains the
grass has flourished, and the lawns are showing a lusty green.
Altogether, the autumn here has charms of its own which are
well worth grateful recognition.

Forest Grove, Oregon. Francis Ernest Lloyd.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXV.

IN Japan, Junipers are much less common than they are
in eastern America, and although five or six species are
included in the Floras of the empire, the genus does not
make an important element of the landscape, and one
misses the dark spires which Juniperus Virginiana sends
up so frequently in many parts of eastern America. Ju-
niperus Chinensis appears to grow to a larger size than the
other Japanese species, although we only saw it in one re-
gion growing, as it appeared, without cultivation. This was
on the high volcanic ridge which dominates the Chikuma,
one of the streams which flow from Asama-yama, in cen-
tral Japan. Over this elevated and inhospitable region oc-
casional Junipers are scattered, the largest attaining a height
of thirty or forty feet, their wind-swept heads and straggling
branches covered with gray-green foliage, adding to the
dreariness of the scene. Before the Buddhist temple of
Zenkogi, in Nagano, the principal city in this part of Japan,
two venerable Junipers show to what a size plants of this
species can grow, and how picturesque they can become.
These trees are seventy or eighty feet high ; their hollow
trunks, which are rather more than six feet in diameter,
support narrow heads of twisted and contorted branches
clothed with scanty foliage, and indicate that centuries may
well have passed since the roots of these marvelous trees
first penetrated this sacred soil. On the rocky cliffs and
grassy slopes of the coast, fully exposed to the spray of the
ocean, a prostrate form of Juniperus Chinensis forms, with
its long creeping stems, dense mats, often of considerable
size. It is said to be a feature of the littoral vegetation of
Japan, but we only saw a few plants in Yezo, between Mof-
roran and the Aino village of Horobetsu, where they re-
ceive the unbroken sweep of the Pacific. On the sandy
dunes of the Bay of Hakodate, opposite that city, another
littoral Juniper was found by the American botanist Charles
Wright, and later by Maximowicz. This is the Juniperus
conferta of Parlatue (Juniperus littoralis of Maximowicz), a
species distinguished by its stout crowded leaves and large
globose fruit. We saw it on Hakodate Bay at the end of
September, and Mr. Veitch collected it earlier near Hanjo,
on the west coast of Hondo, but we were too early to ob-
tain ripe fruit of this species or of the prostrate form of
Juniperus Chinensis. The only other Juniper we saw in
Japan, Juniperus rigida, is a small tree sometimes twenty
feet high, but more often a low spreading bush. It is com-
mon in the barrens near Gifu, and appears to be generally
distributed at low elevations in central Japan, although it
only grows on dry, sterile, gravelly soil. This is the Juni-
per which is most commonly cultivated by the Japanese,
and is not infrequently an inhabitant of temple-gardens.
Its long, slender, rigid leaves and small fruit, tipped with a
minute mucro, serve to distinguish it from Juniperus conferta.
Of the true Pines of Japan two species are valuable tim-
ber-trees ; these are Pinus densiflora and Pinus Thun-
bergii ; both bear an important part in the decoration of
Japanese gardens, and one at least has had its influence in
all expressions of the artistic temperament of the people.
All the Pine-woods of Japan, except those found on the up-
per slopes of some of the high mountains of central Hondo,
have evidently been planted. Such planted woods are
often seen covering sandy plains near the coast, and the

494

Garden and Forest.

[Number 301.

principal highways of the empire are shaded by avenues of
these Pines, except where Cryptomerias replace them when
mountains are crossed. Of the two species the Black Pine,
Pinus Thunbergii, appears to be the most commonly culti-
vated, and grows to the larger size. Of its distribution and
appearance growing naturally I was able to get no idea, as
all the plants I saw had evidently been planted by man. It
is of this species that the plantations of the coast are mostly
formed, although the two species are generally found mixed
together in all plantations ; and it is this species which is
usually selected by the Japanese gardener when he wants
to make the branches of a Pine-tree cover an arbor or hang
suspended over the sides of a moated wall. It is this spe-
cies which is found in every garden and which is most re-
vered by the Japanese. Pinus Thunbergii is one of the
most picturesque of Pines, with a broad head of stout, con-
torted, somewhat pendulous branches, often growing to
the height of eighty feet, and producing trunks three feet
through. Its dark, deeply furrowed bark, darker-colored
and thicker leaves and white buds serve to distinguish it
from the Red Pme, Pinus densiflora, which is a tree of high
elevations, and which, although planted in large planta-
tions and by the sides of highways, does not appear
to be such a favorite in gardens as the Black Pine.
The Red Pine we saw growing wild high up on Mount
Koma-ga-take, in central Hondo, and on the Nikko
Mountains, where, at about three thousand feet over the
sea-level, it is not rare. It is a more slender tree than the
Black Pine, with thinner, lighter green leaves. The bark
on the upper part of the trunk and on the main branches
is light red, separating in thin scales, so that a forest of
these trees presents a bright and cheerful appearance.
Several varieties of the two species recognized by Japanese
gardeners are described by Mayr, who also found what he
thought was a hybrid between them.* The wood of the
two species is very similar, and, apparently, is not dis-
tinguished in Japanese lumber-yards. It is coarse-grained,
resinous and moderately strong, and is used in great
quantities in all sorts of coarse construction, and as fuel,
the rapid growth of the trees on soil too poor to produce
more valuable crops to advantage rendering it exceedingly
cheap. These two Pines have long inhabited our gardens,
where they are hardy and grow with great rapidity, some
of the oldest plants of the Red Pine here already begin-
ning to show the picturesque habit which in their native
country is the charm of these trees.

The other Pines of Japan belong to the group in which
the species produce their leaves in clusters of lives. The
largest and the most widely distributed is Pinus parvifiora,
a beautiful small tree of high mountain-forests, through
which, at elevations above five thousand feet over the sea-
level, it is found scattered, either singly or in small groves,
sometimes growing to a height of sixty or seventy feet,
although it is usually much smaller. In those parts of
Japan which we visited, it was most common and grew to
the largest size on the slopes of Mount Hakkoda, in north-
ern Hondo, where its dark pyramidal heads of slender
spreading branches, rising above the forests of Oaks and
Beeches, break the sky-line, just as its relative, our eastern
White Pine, raises its noble head high above the Oak for-
ests of New England. The wood of Pinus parvifiora is soft,
straight-grained, light-colored and of considerable value,
but so difficult to obtain that it is little known or used by
the Japanese. This beautiful Pine flourishes in our gardens,
where it appears to be perfectly at home and where it
grows rapidly and every year covers itself with cones.

In southern Yezo, a second species of the same group,
Pinus pentaphylla, has been distinguished by Mayr. This
is an exceedingly rare tree, found in a few isolated situa-
tions and distinguished from Pinus parvifiora by its longer
cones and stouter leaves. We only saw a cultivated tree at
the hot-springs of Kakumi, near the shore of Volcano Bay,
being prevented by bad weather from reaching a small grove

* Die Abletlneen dcs japanischen Refchcs.

ofthese trees growing on the mountains in the neighborhood.
This Pine has not been introduced into our gardens, where
it may be expected to flourish.

The fifth Japanese Pine is interesting from the fact that
it is the only Japanese Conifer which grows naturally in
North America. It is the Pinus pumila of Regel, a species
so similar to the Stone Pine of Europe that by many au-
thors it has been considered a variety of that tree. We
only saw it on the summit of Mount Hakkoda, where it
forms, at six thousand feet above the sea-level, impenetra-
ble thickets a few feet in height and hundreds of acres in
extent ; it occurs on the summits of some of the high moun-
tains of Yezo, ranges north through Saghalin and eastern
Manchuria to Kamtschatka, and by the Kurile Islands
reaches those of the Alaska coast.

Of Spruces, there appear to be four species in Japan,
where, except, perhaps, in some parts of Yezo, they are
exceedingly rare. The first, Picea polita, we only saw in
two or three individuals in the Nikko Mountains, on the hills
below Lake Chuzenji. The trees were small, much torn
and stunted by the wind, and of such a miserable appear-
ance that it was difficult to realize that the young trees in per-
fect health and beauty which decorate our gardens belongto
the same species. For the second Spruce of the mountain-
forests of central Hondo, to which it appears to be con-
fined, Mayr proposes the name of Picea bicolor, this specific
name having, he finds, been first used by Maximowicz for
this tree. This is the beautiful Spruce with blue-green
leaves, silvery white on the under surface, which is usually
cultivated under the name of Picea Alcockiana, and which
is easily distinguished in the spring by the bright red color
of the young shoots.

It is not my purpose to discuss here the synonymy of the
Japanese Firs and Spruces, upon which such a mass of
names have been heaped in almost hopeless confusion,
that only a critical examination of all the specimens which
have been studied by European botanists can make it pos-
sible to reach any useful conclusions on the subject, and I
shall only speak of the trees as I saw them growing in the
forests of Japan. . Picea bicolor, of which we only saw
three or four specimens, is evidently a rare and local tree,
found only at high elevations, scattered through the Oak
and Beech forests, and, like Picea polita, presenting in its
home a wretched and forlorn appearance. The leaves are
nearly equally four-sided,'and the cones are four to six
inches long, with narrow, pointed, more or less laciniate
scales. These two species, so far as I was able to observe,
are the only Spruces which grow on the island of Hondo,
the other species finding in Yezo their most southern home.
They are Picea Ajanensis, a tree with smaller cones than the
last, and short, broad, flat leaves, dark green above and
pale on the lower surface. This is the common Spruce of
Yezo, occurring on the hills near Sapporo, which is the only
place where I saw it, in isolated individuals scattered
through the forests of deciduous trees. According to
Mayr, this tree forms in the western part of the island con-
siderable forests on low swampy ground, not much raised
above the level of the ocean. This appears to be the com-
mon Spruce of Saghalin and of the Manchurian coast.

The fourth species, Picea Glenhi, discovered by F.
Schmidt in Saghalin, has been found in a few situations in
southern Yezo. This tree, which is still to be introduced
into our gardens, we did not see growing. In many charac-
ters it resembles the Siberian Picea obovata, and in the
herbarium it is not easy to find characters by which it can
be satisfactorily separated from that species. Like the
White Spruce group of North America, in which species
appear to pass one into another by gradual transitions,
the Spruces of north-eastern Asia are difficult to distinguish
with the material found in herbaria, and it will only be
possible to study them satisfactorily when all the various
forms have been planted side by side in some arboretum
and allowed to grow to maturity.

Of the Hemlocks found in Japan, one is northern and
the other southern ; both are common at high elevations.

N0VEMBER729, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

495

and one at least forms extensive forests. The great forest,
which covers the Nikko Mountains at an altitude of more
than five thousand feet above the ocean, is composed
almost entirely of the northern Hemlock, Tsuga diver-
sifolia, which is distinguished by its bright red bark and
by its small leaves and cones. This Hemlock forest,
which is the only forest in Hondo which seems to have
been left practically undisturbed by man, is the most beau-
tiful which we saw in Japan. The trees grow to a great
size, and while they stand close together are less crowded
than the trees in an American Hemlock forest under which
no other plants can grow, and light enough reaches the
forest floor to permit the growth of Ferns, Mosses and
many flowering under-shrubs which clothe the rocky
slopes up which this forest stretches. One of the most
beautiful spots which we saw in Japan is the walk cut
through this forest which follows along the shores of Lake

our native species, which it surpasses in its more graceful
habit, and in its broader and darker-colored leaves.

a s. s.

Cultural Department.

Does Mulching Retard the Ripening of Fruits ?

TT has often been recommended to cover the ground about
■*■ Peach-trees with a heavy mulch in winter for the purpose
of delaying the blossoms which might otherwise be caught by
early frosts. The theory seems to have been that if the ground
is kept cool and the roots dormant no nutriment will be fur-
nished for tlie development of flowers and early leaves. It is
a well-known fact, however, that when the branch of a Rose-
bush or an Apple-tree is let into a warm room through the
window the buds will start in a few days, even though the
ground outside is frozen hard and the temperature is down to
zero. This would seerti to prove that the starting of any tree

P'K- 73— a view in the Forest of Hemlock (Tsuga diversifolia) In the Nikko Mountains, Japan. — See page 493.

Umoto, and we are fortunate in being able to reproduce
here a photograph of this spot, for which we are in-
debted to Professor Mayr, of Munich, who, during an
official residence of several years in Japan, explored
the forests of all parts of the empire more thoroughly
than any other foreigner. We found Tsuga diversifolia in
scattered groups on the rocky cliffs of Mount Hakkoda, in
the extreme north of Hondo, the most northern station
which has been recorded for this tree, which is still to be
introduced into our gardens ; but, south of Nikko, it was
replaced by the second species, Tsuga Tsuga, which we
saw in great beauty on Koma-ga-take, where, however, it
does not form a continuous forest, but is scattered in
groves of considerable extent among deciduous trees and
Pin us densiflora. It is this southern species which is cul-
tivated in our gardens, where it appears to be as hardy as

depends upon the temperature of the air about the buds rather
than of the ground about the roots, and, indeed, it is well
known that trees store up in their branches every year material
which is to be Used for the growth of the new buds in early
spring, just as starchy matters are stored up in bulbs one year
for the production of flowers in the next. An illustration of
this fact is often given by cutting twigs from early-flowering
shrubs or trees in the winter and placing them in vases of
water, when they will often flower if kept at the proper tem-
perature. Nevertheless, the discovery of any method of de-
laying the flowering season would be of value by preventing
the danger from late spring frosts, which kill the fruit-blos-
soms, and by enabling commercial fruit-growers to market
their products when there is less competition than usual, and
as the chief competition in the middle states comes from the
south, the delay of a fortnight in ripening a crop might mean
a considerable addition to its price.
With these facts in view, the Experiment Station at Cornell

496

Garden and Forest.

[Number 301.

University made several tests in mulching, under the direction
of Professor Bailey, last winter. The winter was very severe,
and after the ground had been frozen deeply and well-settled
snow lay a foot deep in the open fields, coarse manure and
litter was placed about Apples, Raspberries, Currants, Grapes
and other fruit-plants. Half a wagon-load was placed about
each tree, and the snow was covered thickly for a distance of
more than three feet in every direction. Small fruits were
mulched heavily to the middle of the rows, or three and a half
feet in each direction. A heavy wagon-load of mulch was
used on about ten feet of the row. On the last of March,
although the frost had left the field ten days before, the earth
under the mulch was still solidly frozen, and there were from
six to eight inches of snow remaining, and yet on the 13th of
April, while there was still frost and snow under the Goose-
berry mulches, the treated and untreated plants seemed to be
starting al)Solutely together, and this, too, when the buds on
the lower part of the bushes under the mulch were entirely
dormant. These mulched plants maintained their forward-
ness and produced leaves, flowers and fruit at the same time
with the contiguous plants which were not treated at all, and
the same thing was true of Crandall Currants, Juneberries,
Roses, Grapes and all the orchard trees. The Blackberries, Rasp-
berries and Victoria Currants seemed to be a day or two later
in starting, but they soon caught up, and there was no differ-
ence in the season of bloom or of maturing the fruit.

With Strawberries the case was different. They were mulched
in the spring, after the ground had been thawed out and
the plants were entirely covered to the depth of three
inches. A month and a half later the mulch was removed,
when the untreated plants were in full leaf and about ready to
bloom. The plants under mulch were then just breaking into
leaf and the growth was weak and bleached, although they were
endeavoring to push through the covering to the light and air.
After the mulch was forked away from the plants they grad-
ually assumed a normal color and bloomed on the first of
June, or from ten days to two weeks later than the others. The
fruiting was delayed about a week, although the plants never
recovered entirely and the yield was somewhat lighter. Of
course, the difference in the behaviorof Strawberry-plants was
owing to the fact that the entire tops were covered, and not the
roots only. But it is evident that it fruit is retarded in this way
the mulching must be done cautiously, for if sufficient cover-
ing is applied to delay the vegetation very long the young
growth is apt to be injured. Nevertheless, thiscan sometimes
be practiced with good effect, and in this bulletin the experi-
ence of nearly a score of well-known fruit-growers is given,
nearly all of whom have been able to retard or prolong the
strawberry season for from two days to two weeks by mulching.

The most successful practice seems to have been that of
Mr. R. M. Kellogg, of Ionia, Michigan. He selects a situation
on a northern slope, chooses a late variety, and does not mulch
until midwinter when the ground is frozen deeply. Then be-
tween the rows he places a heavy coat of coarse manure and
treads it down compactly, taking care, however, not to let it
lie directly on the plants. Immediately over the plants he puts
a rather thin layer of chaff and over this a coat of clean straw,
which may be six or eight inches deep. This is allowed to
remain until the fruit of the other plants is almost matured,
when enough of the straw is raked off to see the plants and
give them opportunity to push up through. Sometimes growth
will have been started and the foliage may be bleached, but
no injury has ever resulted. Mr. Kellogg has often found the
ground frozen hard when unmulched plants were in full
bloom. In this way he has raised some of his largest crops,
and his latest pickings have been more than two weeks
after the varieties so treated were all gone.
New Vorit. F.

O'

The European Eryngiums.

>UR European Sea Hollies are quite different in habit from
your American kinds, whose linear leaves and robust
stalks, bearing more or less small white flower-heads, give
them an appearance altogether distinct from ours. They be-
long to the family of Umbelliferae ; all are perennials, with
coriaceous, toothed, cut or lobed leaves and bluish bracted
flowers closely sessile in dense heads, the heads being sur-
rounded with an involucre more or less deeply and finely cut,
and becoming generally blue before, during and after the
flowering time. These involucres are the most conspicuous
part of the plant, and many people mistake them for the
flower-f)etal8, just as they do in the case of the Edelweiss. The
stems of the upper part of the plants generally become blue,
like the involucre, at the same time, and are among the hand-

somest objects in all the plant world. They are generally
scariose, so that they can be preserved for the winter like the
everlasting flowers, and are of great use for winter and mar-
ket bouquets. In the Jardin Alpin d'Acclimatation, in Geneva,
we now cultivate fourteen different kinds of hardy Eryngiums,
all belonging to the " Blue Thistle " group, so called on ac-
count of the color and of the spiny character of the plants.

Eryngium alpinum is a very rare species found on chains of
the Alps in Switzerland, Savoy and Tyrol. It is a neat and cu-
rious plant, two or three feet high, with heart-shaped leaves,
not cut at all, and borne on long petioles. It bears one to
three heads of flowers and a marvelously cut involucre, very
finely incised and of the deepest blue. The upper leaves and
the superior part of the stems are of the same color, and hold
that curious bluish tint when cut and preserved for the win-
ter. The flower-heads are large, and the involucre measures
more than four inches in diameter. The flowers appear from
June till August. A good deep soil and a partially shaded
situation suit it best. It is reproduced only from seed. It is
one of the best of alpine plants either for the herbaceous bor-
der or for the rockery. It has been said that E. alpinum grows
upon the Rocky Mountains, but neither in Bossier's herbarium,
De Candolle's nor Delenert's, nor yet in Asa Gray's books do I
find any mention of this fact. Until some American reader
corrects me, I shall assume that this plant is not itself
American.

In the Pyrenees the genus Eryngium is represented by
quite another species, E. Bourgati. The plant is hardly a foot
high, has very deeply incisedanddivided, rough andspinescent
leaves of a bluish or whitish green, and very strongly nerved.
The flower-heads are not so large as those of E. alpinum, and
are whitish ; the involucre is of quite another character, and
formed of spinescent, narrow and very hard leaflets, bearing a
thorn at their summit, and becoming pale blue at flowering
time, which is June till August. It endures well the hottest sun.

The highest summits of Sierra Nevada and Morena, in
Spain, give us another very interesting Eryngium, called E.
glaciale. It grows upon barren summits between 7,000 and
9.000 feet in altitude, and is very rare in gardens. It has a
dwarf habit, not more than eight inches high, and bears from
one to three flower-heads, surrounded with an involucre of
the same character as that of E. Bourgati. The leaves have
long petioles, are whitish nerved, spiny and deeply cut. Its
flowering season is June and July, and it needs a rockery with
a sunny aspect. The stems and involucre become bluish from
May to the end of July. It can be increased only from seed.

The chains of the Apennines and of the southern Alps, in
Tyrol and Croatia, give us the fine E. amethystinum. Its
leaves, with whitish nerves, are very deeply cut, long and
linear-lanceolate. The flower-heads, borne oh stems two feet
long, are surrounded by an involucre with five to six leaflets,
which are spinescent, linear-lanceolate and of a deep ame-
thystine-blue. The flower-heads are not so large as those of
the preceding species, but they are very numerous and form
a corymb. The stems, involucre and leaves in the sun>mer-
time are all quite blue.

If we go into Turkey over the Balkans, or into Greece, we
find the interesting E. Creticum. The growth of this plant is
quite distinct, as the stems at half their height suddenly divide
into many branches, so as to form an umbrella-shaped top.
The branches are of the deepest blue, and the very numerous
little heads are set in spiny blue involucres. This plant needs
full sun and dry sandy soil. In the Caucasian mountain-
meadows we find the elegant E. giganteum, which is some-
what analogous to E. alpinum, but differs from it in its leaves,
which are more ovate and elongated, and in the involucre,
which is not cut, but toothed only, spinescent and of a very
hard and leathery texture.

In the Taurus and Libanus ranges we find E. falcatum with
ovate, entire, radical and often trilobate leaves and a stem
three and a half feet high, bearing numberless small heads of
flowers with spinescent little involucres, which are blue from
June to September. It grows freely in any sunny place. E. ple-
num grows in Siberia and the Ural Mountains, and differs from
E. falcatum by having its radical leaves cordate, with long
petioles, and never trilobate, and having also the bracts of the
involucre narrower and longer. In Asia Minor there are three
important Eryngiums— E. Olivierianum, a tall-growing spe-
cies with very hard leathery involucres ; E. coeruleum, which
extends to the alpine heights of the Himalayas, and E. multi-
fidum, nearly allied to E. amethystinum. There are three
other European kinds which are worth cultivating, although
their stems do not turn blue. These are E. maritimum, a
glaucous species, growing by the sea-shore ; E. spino-alba, of
the Cevennes Mountains, and K. vulgare.

November 29, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

497

All these Eryngiums are interesting and well worthy of cul-
tivation. They grow so easily from seed that it would be very
easy to introduce them into America, where they would cer-
tainly prove valuable, since they endure the hardest winters as
well as the hottest and driest summers. They all are very
easy of cultivation here in our garden at Geneva.

Geneva, Switzerland. H. CorrevOn.

Winter Care of Hardy Plants.

TLJ ARDY hybrid Primulas and occasional Daisies are now
■'■ l about the only flowers to be found in the garden, these
sturdy plants giving flowers in all but the hardest weather. It
is now the season when the hardy plantsman, having housed
his doubtful plants, must decide as to what protection, if any,
shall be given to the main collection. Owing to the multi-
plicity of plants and the varying tastes of cultivators it is im-
possible m a short article to speak except in a general way on
this subject, and these general remarks must, of course, be
subject to modification according to climate and special ex-
posures. Here, near the sea, we have a most erratic climate,
often an open season, except for a few weeks during the win-
ter, and again, for variety, nature covers us with snow for
months ; not often, however. After some experience and
many experiments I protect neither herbaceous plants or
bulbs except in very exceptional cases. If there is any doubt
about a hardy plant being well-established, it is well to mulch
it as a precaution, though it does not seem to me even desira-
ble to protect those plants having soft evergreen leaves, ex-
cept by working under the foliage some small sharp stones or
in some cases well-rotted manure. While a thin layer of fibre
or fine manure on a bulb-bed will protect the flowers in the
spring from being splashed with mud, yet a protective mulch
is only necessary for most hardy bulbs when they have been
planted too late to make proper progress before winter opens.
In such cases a warm coating is a necessity in this climate.
Most Lilies, also, are better for a warm mulch, being often in-
jured by excessive freezing. There are other bulbs, as Calo-
chorti, which, while hardy, are injured by excessive moisture,
and these may be protected by a sash or boards to shed water.
The great enemies of hardy plants are moisture, long-continued
freezing and frequent freezing and thawing, to which may he
added, in case of Carnations, the harsh drying winds of the early
year ; a slight covering of evergreen boughs will be efYicient over
the latter plants. Lath shadings, or shade of picket-fences,
will obviate much of the trouble from shifty weather. It is
often the custom to cover beds in the fall wiih rich manure,
hut it would seem that the best time to feed plants is when
they are growing and need it. The plants which give me the
most anxiety are those which are planted on a sunny border
which is protected by the house also. Such plants as make
early growth here require a protection of Oak or other hard
leaves, otherwise the constant freezing and thawing creates
havoc. An occasional plant like Arundo donax, which is not
invariably hardy, but which is difficult to move, may have a
covering of unsifted ashes with advantage, as these, when
frozen, throw off moisture most perfectly. Hollyhocks are
among the commonly grown plants the most difficult to
winter. These are often victims of neglect, however, the old
stems rot and make lodging-place for water, which quickly
ruins the plants. They should be gone over in the fall and old
dead wood cut out and ground opened around the clumps for
drainage. Then they will usually winter perfectly. Small
plants with hardy foliage, like some Androsaces and some of
the Saxifrages, suffer from moisture, and in such cases a pane
of glass fastened over the plants with wires will protect them
perfectly. In short, a collection of hardy plants requires, not
only in culture, but in protection, to be studied individually.
Elizabeth, N. J. J- N. Gerard.

Luculia gratissima. — The Luculias are among the good old
plants of sterling merit which have been neglected for newer
introductions. They are too rarely seen, but those who pos-
sess good plants would be sorry to part with them, for they
bear a sure crop of beautiful fragrant flowers every year about
Christmas. Two years ago some well-grown branches were
exhibited in Boston, and much surprise was expressed because
a plant of such merit was so little known. The flower-heads
are large, not unlike those of Hydrangea, pink in color, and
very fragrant. An intermediate house is the proper place
for L. gratissima, as it likes plenty of sun ; indeed, ours has
been in the Rose-house all summer, and now every branch is
terminated by a cluster of flower-buds. The Luculias do not
need a large root-run, thotigh I have seen them grow and
flower splendidly planted out, in which case their situation

must be carefully selected. Careful attention is necessary as
to watering, for the roots are exceedingly fine and hair-like,
and will not endure drought. After the flowering season is
past the plants will require pruning to keep them in good
shape, especially after the plants attain some size. The
scarcity of the plant is in a measure due to the difTiculty of
multiplying it. Seeds are hard to obtain, and seedlings re-
quire years to flower ; while cuttings are difficult to root, but
flower the first year. Cuttings should be taken from well-
ripened shoots and closely cared for in a propagating-case. A
sharp watch should be kept so that insects do not infest the
cuttings before they are rooted, red spider being especially fatal
to success. The Luculia belongs to the Cinchona, or Quinine-
bark, family, and the name itself is the Nepalese name of the
tree Latinized.

Oncidium ornithorhynchum.— Mexican Orchids for the most
part take very kindly to cultivation here in the United States,
and this Oncidium is one of the most tractable. It appears to
thrive equally well in the cool-house or in a warmer one, and
our success with a plant originally presented induced the pur-
chase of twelve others, more especially because of their agree-
able spicy, but quite undefinable fragrance. The original plant
was obtained two years ago in a four-inch pot, and owing to the
way the plant has of making two growths each year from the
last-made bulb, it is now in a nine-inch pan and a fountain of
charming pink flowers ; the spikes are much branched, many
of them two feet long and the foliage of a rich green. There
is a white form of this Oncidium, at present extremely rare in
cultivation, but very beautiful. O. ornithorynchum is an easy
plant to grow and appears to need no resting period, as the
young growths start before the flowers have faded each year,
and the bulbs increase in size until they become as large as
hens' eggs, and these produce two the next season. Repotting
is done directly after the plants have past flowering, that is,
during the fall months. We have had plaats in bloom now
for three months, and the small sprays are very useful for
boutonnieres because of their airy grace and fragrance. The
specific name of this Oncidium has reference to the peculiar
appendage to the anthers, which seem to resemble a bird's
beak.

South Lancaster, Mass. E, O. O.

Liatris grammifolia.— This plant has an important variety, the
variation seeming to be the result of growing near the sea-
shore. The ordinary form is quite common here, and is one
of our finest native plants, flowering with the Asters and later
Golden-rods, after most plants have gone out of bloom. But
Liatris grammifolia, van dubia, which I have recently found
in considerable numbers in Cape May County along the sand-
hills of the coast, is a great improvement on the type. It is a
stronger plant, with extremely leafy stems, more florets in each
head, and the heads set very closely together, so that not in-
frequently the top of the spike is enlarged into something like
a cockscomb shape. Both the species and the variety are
greatly improved by cultivation and by pinching or stopping
once when six or eight inches high. The plants then grow
quite bushy, instead of throwing up a single stem, as they gen-
erally do in their wild state. I could hardly name a plant
which makes a finer display during a considerable portion of
September and October than this Liatris when grown in a
mass. Occasionally a pure white variety is found, but quite
rarely, and I have not yet succeeded in reproducing it from
seed.

Hammonton, N.J. JVm. F. Bassett.

Pacific Coast Irises. — Oregon collectors are offering Iris ma-
crosiphon, and describe it as having a cream-colored flower.
It is common on the coast-range of northern California and
north Oregon, and here it is generally a lilac-purple. I have
seen detached clumps which were pure white. In the range
east of Ukiah it freauently varies to cream color, and in one
locality, within a half mile, it runs from purple through bronze-
purple to rich bronze and to cream color. Like all the Pacific
coast species, the masses are dense, with root-stocks hard and
rather slender. It prefers a gravelly soil in open woods. I have
naturalized Iris Douglasiana with success in my Fern-beds,
where it shows well with its yellow purple-lined flowers. It
runs through the eastern edge of the Redwood belt. I. Hart-
wegii is a somewhat similar species with yellow flowers,
found in the open woods of the Sierra, and flourishing in the
peculiar dry, red, granulated soil.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

The Dandelion as a Salad-plant. — This plant affords one of the
earliest and most healthful of spring greens, and as soon as the

498

Garden and Forest.

[Number 301.

snow disappears in all suburban regions great numbers of peo-
ple are seen wandering over vacant lots and by road-sides
watching for the first signs of its growth. It is usually not dif-
ficult to get a basketful, for the Dandelion is the most per-
sistent of weeds. Although rarely cultivated in this country, it
is extensively grown in England, and particularly in France,
where varieties have been improved by selection. These im-
proved kinds are grown just as Carrots and Salsify and other
roots, and being perfectly hardy, they can be always trusted to
produce a crop of spring greens, but they can be blanched if it
IS preferred. It is most esteemed, however, as a salad-plant,
and good varieties of it resemble the finest sorts of Endive.
If the roots are dug in the fall and stored in a cool place they
can be as easily forced in the winter-time as Sea-kale. The
roots should be set some three inches apart in pots or boxes,
with the crowns just above the soil. After a good soaking of
water is given to settle the soil around the roots, they should
be placed in a Mushroom-house or in a cellar where the tem-
jjerature is kept at about sixty. In the absence of such a con-
venience, pots may be set under the bench of a greenhouse or
any other warm position, with the crowns covered by inverted
pots to exclude the light. By successive plantings a conve-
nient supply can be had during the winter and spnng.
DoDsan Hilifc N. Y. I^m. Tricker.

Correspondence.

Chrysanthemums at the Exhibitions.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — As a practical matter it would be well if more encour-
agement were given at the shows to plants which, for lack of
a better term, may be called naturally grown. By these I mean
plants grown from spring cuttings and worked along into, say,
eight-inch pots and cut back only once, perhaps, in the case of
tall-growing kinds. Such plants, well-cared for, will break
freely, and m the fall, being properly disbudded, will give from
twelve to twenty-four good flowers, as large as necessary or
desirable, and, if the gardener exercises some restraint on him-
self, will bloom in a pleasing way at varying heights, and not
appeal to two senses by their resemblance to a glowing mush-
room. Such plants have an educational value in a show as
they are examples of what a private grower generally finds
most useful — a plant occupying a minimum of space and giv-
ing a maximum of results. Anything which will lead more
people into the cultivation of flowers is of the first importance
at exhibifions.

For my own use, while a believer in quite thorough disbud-
ding of Chrysanthemums, I prefer not to disbud a large plant
uniformly, thinking that one which carries an assortment of
flowers produced by disbudding to one, two and three flowers
on various stems, is the most pleasing and also most useful.
Mr. Roehrs had a collection of nicely grown little plants at the
New York show, which were in six-inch pots and fairly well
furnished with flowers. These, however, were only an ap-
proach to my ideal. In a pot one size larger one could secure
many times the result and effect. As we have had a warm
season this year, the flowers have shown the advantage of hav-
ing escaped the usual amount of fire-heat by being firmer and
more lasting. It is the unfortunate feature of this fine, hardy
plant that it flowers at a season when some fire-heat is neces-
sary for its protection, if it is to be grown to mammoth size.
Nothing puts these flowers out of character so soon as heat,
while glass seems to have a surprisingly slight effect in im-
proving their color.

To one who examined critically a great many white flowers
at the recent show nothing was more surprising than the
scarcity of a pure white color among them as seen m daylight.
Almost all the whites showed a trace of pink, green or some
degrading color. In respect to purity the Queen was the pre-
mier flower shown here. One hesitates to speak about the
new Chrysanthemums and offer an opinion as to what gains
have been made in recent years. There are a great many
flowers certificated, and one cannot judge harshly the owner
who thinks a plant at a dollar a vast improvement on one at
ten cents. Beauty of form is a matter of opinion, and we will
put that aside. In color we have gained some good dark
crimsons in shades not previously had in such flowers as
George W. Childs and Emily Ladenburg. In yellows we have a
larger number, but no better shades than old Thunberg or
Golden Dragon ; we have more whites, but no purer tones. The
old Bouquet Fait was a pink hard to excel, but we have larger
flowers now. When it comes to size, the ancients were no-
where, apparently , but really no one knows how large many of the
old varieties could be grown. They have never had a chance.

There have been at least four thousand varieties of Chrysan-
themums put into cultivation in the last fifteen years, though
many of them have had small distribution. When we remem-
ber how few persons have been growing these large blooms,
and how small the number of varieties experimented with, it
is plain that all the facts about the various kinds are by no
means understood.

It will not be disputed that we are making gradual and
steady gains in good forms, mostly in American seedlings,
with occasional Japanese importations, and a still rarer Euro-
pean one. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that the mania for
new things has led to such a rapid discarding of good and well-
proved old varieties, many of which do not seem to survive
even in florists' catalogues. I presume, however, that num-
bers of these still remain as established favorites in quiet gar-
dens, where the pulsation of the flower-show never beats. I hope,
also, that in these quiet places there are many of those quaint,
dainty forms — freaks, if you will — which help to distinguish (he
Chrysanthemum as one of the most remarkable plants for
variation of form, coloring and general effectiveness. There
does not seem a possibility that it will ever occupy a less
prominent place in the affections of flower-lovers. It is unique
and invaluable in that it flowers at a time when other flowers
are scarce, and blooms at that dull season so abundantly as to
fill the wildest desires for flowers and color. _, ,, _ ,

Eiiiabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard.

Notes from Northern California. >

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Early November brought some sharp frosts to cut
down tender plants like Cannas, but the fall bloom of our
Roses has been uncommonly good and they are still bloom-
ing freely. One is reminded every season that each Rose has
its likes and dislikes, and the favorite now may disappoint us
next year. I admire Madame de Watteville, but from several
strong bushes I have not had a really good specimen flower
this year. Puritan I have thrown away after a long trial, and
Waban refuses to be a success here. Madame Hoste is admi-
rable and stands the heat wonderfully well, as did the Vis-
countess of Folkestone. Paul Neyron never blooms freely,
but it can always be counted on to produce a few fine flowers,
and the new Rainbow has taken a high rank. The two most
satisfactory Roses this summer with me have been a large
plant of Cloth of Gold, and another of William Allan Rich-
ardson, trained on trellises. Their early bloom was perfect,
and there has hardly been a day since when fine Roses could
not have been picked from both of them. On this 9th of No-
vember the Cloth of Gold has perfect flowers of the largest
size. From late sowings of Sweet Peas we are still getting
fine flowers. Anemone Japonica is our most beautiful and
useful white flower at this season, and what a splendid flower
it is for shady places. Pansies which have lived through the
summer heat are now flowering freely. Those from seed
sown in late summer will give a good account of themselves
all through the winter.

I have been reading with interest the discussions in your
columns as to the feasibility of growing Dutch Bulbs for mar-
ket in the southern states. I am one of the dreamers who
believe that it will be done here in the near future in Califor-
nia. Narcissi could be grown even now cheap enough to com-
pete with imported bulbs, and there is every reason to sup-
pose that the quality would be superior. My experiments lead
me to believe that the drawback to success is not that of soil,
or climate or expensive labor, but a lack of skill, which we
shall acquire in time. Californian horticulturists have accom-
plished so much In the short history of this state that we may
be pardoned for our readiness to attack any new problem.
Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

Mid-November in a Michigan Garden.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest:

Sir, — We hardly expect to find much in our garden at this
season, but on the morning of the 14th we gathered some
Sweet Alyssum, some Pansies and some Mignonette, which
made a nosegay whose fragrance could not have have been
excelled at any time of the season. But, although flowers are
rare, and although, as I notice in my daily rides, the woods
have lost their glory, our shrub borders are still making beau-
tiful pictures with their rich and ever-changing colors. A
mass of Spiraea Thunbergii now shows marvelous harmonies
in brown, red and yellow, with subtle changes as the sunshine
filters through the fine leaves. Near by, Berberis Thunbergii
is a mass of glowing scarlet which lightens up the whole bor-

November 29, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

499

der. Spirjea prunifolia is still beautiful in its lower tones, al-
though it was at its best three weeks ago. The variegated
Philadelphus gives at this date the best foil to these colors,
and its golden color still glows as if nothing had happened to
it. I ought not to neglect in this enumeration the fresh green
color in the herbaceous border, where the Ascension Lilies,
some clumps of Aquilegia and Cranesbill and one of Wood
Anemone are still bright, and freshest of all a mass of native
Ferns, whose fair color and delicate forms were never more

attractive than now. tr ^ r , •

Overisei, Mich. H. A. Fortuttte.

Chrysanthemums in Vases for Competition.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— Allow me to correct Mr. Gerard in one point. Inhisinter-
estingarticle on Chrysanthemums for competition, hestates that
the scheme of showing large vases of one variety on long stems
was inaugurated three years ago at Madison Square Garden,
and has suice spread to all parts of the country. I wish to say
that this method of exhibiting prevailed in Boston several
years before any Chrysanthemum-show was ever held at Madi-
son Square Garden. The exhibitors at the autumn flower-
shows of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society are entitled
to whatever credit there is for discarding the plan of exhibit-
ing Chrysanthemums on flat boards and introducing the use
of tall vases and long-stemmed blooms.

Boston. Mass. ^»'- 7- Stewart.

Recent Publications.

A History of Hingham, Massachusetts. Published by the
Town : 1893.

The ancient town of Hingham, in Massachusetts, one
of the oldest in the commonwealth, as it dates from
1633, has recently published its history in four handsome
volumes, liberal appropriations having been voted from
time to time by the citizens during the last ten years for
this purpose. A list of the native and naturalized plants
found growing within the limits of the town, prepared by
Mr. Thomas T. Bouve, will be found in the first volume.
Mr. Bouve has further enriched this volume with important
chapters upon the geology and mineralogy of the town,
and with another on the animals of Hingham, while his
son, Mr. Edward T. Bouv6, has written a chapter devoted
to Hingham Trees and Shrubs.

The flora of Hingham shows what would seem a curious
absence of several northern plants common on the north
shore of Massachusetts Bay, a few miles distant, were it
not remembered that the north shore is influenced by cold
ocean currents flowing between it and the Gulf Stream,
which reduce the temperature, and in providing favorable
conditions for boreal species restrict the spread northward
of southern species. Some of these are able to maintain
themselves in Hingham, situated south of a sheltered land-
locked bay and in the path of the prevailing south-west
summer winds blowing from the Gulf Stream directly
across the heated sands of Cape Cod.

The nomenclature and arrangement of the last edition
of Gray's Ma7iual of the Botany of the Northern United States
is adopted, and no attempt to supply the reader with the
synonymy of the different species is made, as the author
has, no doubt, decided that all questions of the names of
plants, except as they appear in the standard work
on the subject, would be out of place in a popular
book of this character. In the list, which is confined
to flowering plants and to vescular cryptogams, are
included plants of ninety-five families, and to each family
Mr. Bouv<5 has appended some useful notes upon the prop-
erties, uses and distribution of its members, which add
materially to the value and practical use of his chapter,
especially as in these introductory notes he tells of the prin-
cipal plants of each family which are cultivated in the fields
and gardens of the town. Just north of the borders of Hing-
ham the Holly, Ilex opaca, finds its most northern home ;
and here, too, and on the not distant southern slopes of the
Blue Hills, the highest land in eastern Massachusetts, the

Rock Chestnut Oak, Quercus Prinus, finds the eastern lim-
its of its range ; but it is surely through error that the nar-
row-leaved Chestnut Oak, which Mr. Bouve, following
Engelmann, calls Quercus Muhlenbergii, is admitted here.
Unless we are misinformed, this beautiful tree, one of the
most distinct of our Oaks, has not wandered further east
from its home in the middle and western states than the
western bank of the Hudson River, where, nearNewburgh,
in this state, it may be occasionally encountered. Of Cra-
taegus, only C. coccinea is admitted, although we should
have expected to find, in Hingham, Crataegus mollis, which
is, perhaps, the commonest Thorn in eastern Massachu-
setts, where it sometimes grows to a large size, and where
in early autumn it is conspicuous with its large apple-like
scarlet fruit. Mr. Bouv6's statement, that "the leaves of
Rhododendron and Kalmia contain a narcotic principle
which sometimes renders them poisonous," must be ac-
cepted with caution, at least, so far as our species are con-
cerned, which, apparently, do not deserve the bad reputa-
tion which was early fastened upon them, although some
of the Indian Rhododendrons undoubtedly are injurious to
animals browsing upon their leaves ; and honey made
from the flowers of others, and from some Azaleas, possess
narcotic or poisonous properties. Occasional slips of the
proof-reader in using Roman type for italics make some
introduced plants appear to be native to the town. It is
interesting to learn that the red-berried Elder, which is one
of the commonest plants in northern New England, is only
known in Hingham in a single indigenous individual, and
that the Rose Mallow, Hibiscus Moscheutos, although it is
common enough a few miles away on the banks of the
Charles River at Dedham, and with Lythrum Salicaria,
another plant only found in Hingham in a single locality,
tills the swampy inlets of the eastern bank of the Hudson
between Newburgh Bay and Albany and the great mead-
ows back of Jersey City.

All our readers will join in Mr. Bouv^'s plea for the pres-
ervation of the rare plants of Hingham, and, indeed, of every
other town, from one end of the land to the other. His caution
in not printing the exact localities where the different spe-
cies are to be found will check the greed of amateur collec-
tors and so-called botanists, who pounce upon and erad-
icate any plant which they are told is exceptionally rare
or interesting. And to those who know the beauty of a
New England road-side and the capacity of a New England
road-master to turn this beauty into a howling wilderness
of desolation, Mr. Bouvd's appeal for relief from his sense-
less tyranny will be as balm to the weary spirit ; and we
cannot do our readers a greater favor than to reproduce it
in full, for it treats of an abuse which it is perfectly possible
to avoid if one or two energetic persons in a town will take
up the matter of preserving the beauty of its roads and
insist that ignorant workmen shall not be allowed to
destroy it :

It is not only for the preservation of fhe exceedingly rare
plants of the town that the writer would plead. Quite as earnestly
would he urge that the transcendent beauty which is often
presented along the sides of the roads, especially of those bor-
dered by forest-growths, may be allowed to display itself and
gladden the eyes and heart of the wayfarer. Yearly many of
these roads are adorned with flowers of varied hue, charming
to every beholder. In the spring the modest Violet, the del-
icate Anemone and the showy Buttercup open their petals to
the light. As the summer's sun ' starts full perfection through
the swelling year' the Wild Rose, the Eglantine, the Elder and
and many other species display their loveliness and exhale
their fragrance. Then follows autumn, and everywhere there
start up to beautify our highways the many Asters and Golden-
rods, and it is just when these expand in gorgeous loveliness,
outrivaling all that man can produce by the most consummate
art, that the destroyer comes and sweeps them away in a day.

We have only been able to glance at the other chapters
in this work, but if they are as interesting and valuable as
those devoted to botany, the town has reason to be proud
of the ability of its citizens to maintain its good name and
ancient fame.

500

Garden and Forest.

[Number 301.

Notes.

Mr. John Weathers, whose notes on Orchids have from time
to time appeared in Garden and Forest, has made a large
collection of drawings of new and interesting plants during his
connection, first with Kew, and now with the Royal Horticul-
tural Society. These drawings, with others, Mr. Weathers now
proposes to pubhsh imder the title of The Floral Sketch-book.
The book will be published monthly, and each number will
contain five figures of plants, with full descriptions and his-
torical and cultural notes. The first number will be ready in
January next The price will be one shilling.

Japanese persimmons, from Florida, make altogether the
brightest show among seasonable fruits, and this delicious
dessert and breakfast fruit is now in perfect condition. The
final receipts of California grapes are expected at the end of
this week. Among the varieties in recent arrivals are Black
Morocco, a large, fleshy, black berry of rather inferior quality,
but a showy market fruit, which stands shipment well, and the
oblong yellowish-green Verdel, lacking in sweetness, but use-
ful as a late table grape. The first California Navel oranges
are now being put on the market in that state, but this fruit
will hardly reach eastern cities until toward the close of the
season for Florida oranges. Hot-house tomatoes are already
coming in from neighboring greenhouses and bring sixty-five
cents a pound.

Mr. A. M. Herr, an authority on the cultivation of Carna-
tions, gives it as his opinion, in a recent number of the Ameri-
can Florist, that the growing of Carnations for flowers and for
propagation should be two distinct processes. When the same
plants are used for both purposes there will be loss on one
side or the other. Beyond question, the flowers can be in-
creased in quality by very high culture, and it is equally true
that this same culture is prejudicial to the health of the plant,
and if such plants are used for propagation they will in a few
generations become feeble and liable to fall a prey to disease.
On the other hand, if plants are grown for the production of
strong cuttings, tlie flowers must suffer in quality, and they
cannot be above a medium grade. But even in the trade the
best pays the best in the long run, and the comparative loss in
the qualify of the flowers wUl be more than compensated by
clear gains in quality from better plants next year.

A correspondent writes to the Florists' Exchange that the
best varieties of Odontoglossum crispum have been found, so
far, in a comparatively small range between the fourth and
fifth degrees of northern latitude on the western slope of the
eastern Cordilleras, and at an elevation of 6,000 to 7,000 feet.
The plants grow higher up the mountains, and farther north
and south, but when found at an elevation of 9,000 feet they
are smaller, with more decidedly pear-shaped bulbs, which
shrivel a great deal when they are dried off. At the elevation
of 9.000 feet the temperature sometimes falls to forty-two de-
grees, Fahrenheit, while at 6,000 the thermometer never regis-
ters less than fifty-five degrees. O. crispum is fond of light
and air, and, therefore, does not grow in the dense woods, but
on the edges of openings, where it can receive sunlight and
enjoy the breezes. This is why it seems to follow the little
streams and gullies in the mountains which, apparently, split
the forests open. It grows on the thick limbs and crotches of
large trees, such as the Chinonas and Melastomas, and the
trees uf)on which these Orchids are found are cut down with-
out mercy, and the plants are torn off and shipped away.

The Florida lemon season, which commenced early in Sep-
tember, is about ended. Only a small portion of the crop,
estimated variously at from 25,000 to 50,000 boxes, came to this
city. The percentage of handsome Florida oranges has been
small, the bulk being rusty or "horny," and prices have been
unsatisfactory to the growers. The average freight on a box
of lemons from Florida to New York is fifty cents, while from
Sicily the cost for transportation is but thirty-two cents, with
dutv amounting to as much more. The railroad chargesfrom
California on a similar packag;e are eighty-seven and a half
cents, but the crop in California is small, and as yet only speci-
men lemons have been seen here. Nearly three million boxes
of lemons came into the United States from Mediterranean
ports during last year. The lemon season with local dealers
begins November ist, when the first new Sicily lemons are
due, and continues the year through. While the over-impor-
tation of Mediterranean lemons last year has left a large sup-
ply of old stock on hand, there are just now no good lemons
to be had here. During November of last year 120,000 boxes
of new-crop Sicily lemons were sold in New York, but none

have yet reached this port this season. The first cargo of
Messina lemons is, however, expected daily, and another
steamer, carrying above 20,000 boxes of the same high grade,
is due this week. The crop of Florida oranges this season is
the heaviest known, a conservative estimate being 4,500,000
boxes, while it is believed by other authorities that 5,000,000
boxes will go out of that state. The weather in Florida during
the summer was highly favorable for the development of the
fruit, and many youn^ groves are coming into bearing for the
first time. The fruit is ripening earlier than it has for several
years past, and is reaching this city in heavy quantities, but
prices are very low, due to decay caused by recent rains. Last
week there arrived, besides large quantities of the fruit bound
for other points, about 60,000 boxes, while the week previous
42,000 boxes were thrown on this market. The heaviest re-
ceivers are the Florida Fruit Exchange, who sell the product
of above 8,000 growers at auction. An average price of re-
cent sales is $1.60, and this nets the grower but sixty-five cents a
box on the tree, the return heretofore having been about a
dollar a box. Since the middle of September 25,000 boxes of
Florida oranges have been sent to England by the Exchange,
with generally satisfactory results.

An interesting bulletin has been prepared by Mark Vernon
Slingerland, and published by the Entomological Division of
the Cornell Experiment Station, on the Four-lined Leaf-bug
(Poecilocapsus lineatus). Unlike many of our worst pests, this is
a native American species, and was described nearly a hundred
years ago. It has been brought to attention within the past
year or so by its attacks on Currant and Gooseberry bushes,
which, after the insects had finished them, looked as though
a fire had swept through them, and had left the topmost
leaves brown and dead. The death of these leaves so early
in the season as the middle of June entirely stops the new
growth of the bushes, and although the fruiting portions of the
plants are injured little for the current season, the check given
for the next year must seriously affect their future bearing ca-
pacity. What we wish to speak of, however, now is the inter-
esting fact that Dr. Fitch put it on record as early as 1858 that
this insect was seriously injuring Dahlias. Mr. Chatfield, an
Albany florist, then stated that upon his plants the first flower-
bud which appeared was attacked by the leaf-bug and punc-
tured so that it withered. The two or three stalks which then
came forth from the base of this one were destroyed in the
same manner. Other stalks put forth from the base of these
shared the same fate. The result was an enormously broad
mass of leaves and stalks which grew from one root, without
a single flower resulting from the multitude of buds which
had been developed. In 1864, Mr. Heffron, of Utica, told Dr.
Fitch that these bugs had so infested his Dahlias that only
three or four imperfect flowers were produced, and that in the
neighboring gardens that year the insects had destroyed the
flowers on all the Dahlias. Mr. Slingerland says that these
facts may give the reason for the failure of the Dahlia to flower
in western New York, as noted by Mr. Chamberlain in a letter
to Garden and Forest for October 4th, and corroborated by
Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester. The evidence
offered by Dr. Fitch seems to show that these effects are very
similar to those produced on Dahlias by the attacks of this
insect. Of course, there is need of more observation on this
point. If growers will watch their Dahlias closely next year
they can determine whether or not this widespread loss of
flowers is due to the punctures of the insect. The four-lined
leaf-bug attacks a large number of plants cultivated for food,
medicine and ornament, as well as many weeds, and as the in-
sects feed on the juices of the leaves or buds the arsenical
applications seem of little avail. It has no biting jaws for mas-
ticating its food, but a beak, through which it sucks its food,
and this delicately pointed sucker passes through the poison
even when it thickly coats the leaf, while the insect does not
imbibe any portion of it, but feeds safely on the inner tissues.
A strong kerosene emulsion is the cheapest and most effec-
tive insecticide for all these sucking insects. If had better be
applied on the nymphs as soon as they appear in May, for it
will not be so effective on the adults. Inasmuch as the eggs
are deposited on the tips of new-grown shrubs, the pruning
and burning of these fips on which the eggs are laid is also a
practicable means of fighting the pest. This pruning can be
done at any time between August ist and the first of the fol-
lowing May. Another good plan of attack against the adults,
especially on herbaceous plants, will be to capture them
by jarring them into a dish partly filled with kerosene water.
On shrubs like Currants and Gooseberries the nymphs should
be captured this way in May. The bulletin is helpfully illus-
trated and gives a complete summary of all that is known of
this pest.

December 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

50»

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICB AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE,

Editorial Articles : — Landscape-gardening at the Columbian Fair. 501

Fences. — IE 502

Notes on some of the Texas Trees y. Reverchon. 503

Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter W, Watson. 503

Plant Notes :— Pueraria Thunbergiana. (With figure.) 504

Cultural Department: — Greenhouse Worlt E. O. Orpet. 506

Flowers for Cutting in Winter W. H. TapUn. 506

Cypi-ipedium insigne E. O. OrpH. y^

Late Ornam*>ntal F^ruits y.G.Jack. 507

Primula Forbesii, Ostrowskia magnifica y, N. Gerard, 508

Correspondence : — The Rust of Mountain Ash B. y. 508

The Chrysanthemum Shows .' T. D. H, 508

Farms aiid Forests on the Carolina Foot-hills Professor W. F. Massey. 509

Recent Publications 5og

Notes 510

Illustration : — Pueraria Thunbergiana, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Fig. 74,. 506

Landscape-gardening at the Columbian Fair.

IN a late number of The Engineering Magazine the editor
of the department devoted to architecture, in some final
criticisms on the design of the Columbian Exposition, says ;

While the landscape-gardening is unquestionably very fine
to look at and adds immensely to the appearance of the build-
ings, it is totally unsuited for practical purposes. Everywhere
there was walking, walking, walking ; short cuts were impossi-
ble, because you were invariably shut off by a lagoon or a lake.
People who do not know what landscape-gardening is, must,
after the Fair, think it something very dreadful, based on the
idea, if possible, of makingpeoplego twice the distance to reach
a certain point when they might only go half by going another
way. Itis very beautiful, weadmit, butvery horrible to thesight-
seer. An architect does not make a design irrespective of the uses
to which his building is to be put ; that must determine its ulti-
mate form. By neglecting this elementary idea in the laying
out of the Columbian Exposition the art of landscape-garden-
ing has been degraded in the public estimation, and from a
noble art for a noble purpose has shown itself incapable of
realizing the fundamental elements of all work of practical
utility.

Now, it is true that the test of any vi^ork is its utility, and
if the design of the Exposition failed in this critical point
some one is reprehensible. Mr. Burnham's report as Direc-
tor of Works, which was published more than a year ago,
and Mr. Olmsted's report to the American Institute of
Architects, have been very generally read and commented
upon. From these and other accessible documents it is a
matter of public knowledge that Messrs. Olmsted & Co.
were officially employed before the architects or any other
artists were called in, and when consulted as to a site they
recommended one north of the city, along the lake shore,
where it would have required a smaller outlay to prepare
the ground and means of interior transportation, where a
simpler arrangement of the buildings could have been made,
and where they would have had a more agreeable setting
in foliage, already provided by standing woods. The Com-
mittee of the Directory, however, found that the railroad
companies concerned would not subscribe a sufficient

amount to provide adequate transportation between the
city and the Fair grounds. Thereupon, Jackson Park was
taken as the only available place left on the lake-front, and
Jackson Park was only to be had on condition that after
the exposition it should be returned to the Park Commis-
sion in as good condition for their purpose as it was when
taken from them.

Twenty years before, this site had been reserved as a
park, and was probably one of the most forbidding spots
in the United States. Messrs. Olmsted & Vaux, who were
not consulted in selecting this site, were afterward called
in to devise a plan to make it available for a public
pleasure-ground. Part of their design was to begin at
the lake and re-open certain old lagoons, taking the
excavated material lifted out of their bottoms to form
undulating banks, and these were afterward to be cov-
ered with soil and masses of vegetation. • This scheme
had not been carried out to the full in accordance
with the intention of the designers, but a good deal
of work had been done. The excavation for the
lagoons, and for what afterward became the main
basin in the Court of Honor, had already been made,
and the wooded island and other prominent features
already existed. It will be seen, therefore, that the
problem was very different from the one which the critic
above quoted assumes that the landscape-gardeners had
before them. The lagoons of which he complains, with
the other general features of the park, were not only there,
but they had to be maintained without any serious modifi-
cation. Now that the Fair is over, we can judge whether
the interruptions to direct communication between the
buildings caused by the lagoons had any adequate com-
pensation. Did the added beauty which these waters gave
the scenery, and the restful, convenient and delightful
mode of transportation to different parts of the grounds
which they furnished by means of sixty boats — not to men-
tion the fifteen bridges — did these outweigh the disadvan-
tage caused by these separating water channels.? This is
a question upon which intelligent men might differ,
although the single dissenting voice we have yet heard
is that of the critic above quoted, and the practi-
cally unanimous verdict of the cultivated public has
been that the compensation was complete. There was
nothing in the whole Exposition by which visitors were
more fascinated, or which they remember with more
vivid pleasure, than the use of the boats and the enjoy-
ment of the general panorama which the boats and the
shore-walk opened. A large proportion of those to whom
we have put the question have said that the enjoyment of
the scenes near and distant, the foregrounds and perspec-
tives which were made available by the boats and the
walks along the shore, exceeded every other pleasure en-
joyed at the Fair.

Should we ever have another exposition we shall, no
doubt, construct it on a smaller base. We shall set higher
standards, which will exclude, perhaps, one-third of all
that was exhibited in Chicago, and in this way we shall
lessen the space occupied and the amount of ground and
floor to be walked over. We shall have fewer and larger
buildings, with restaurants and refreshment-stands within
them, instead of multiplying small ones outside. This will
obviously be more economical, and the general result will
be grander and more convenient. This, it may be well to
repeat, could have been accomplished on the site preferred
by Messrs. Olmsted & Co. ; but, taking Jackson Park as it
was, experience has proved that the designers skillfully
overcame the disadvantages growing out of the devious
courses of the walks as compelled by the lagoon features,
and that the losses were more than met by the gains in
other respects. Our own judgment is that, besides the in-
comparable addition to the beauty of the scene which
these interior waters furnished, they afforded facilities for
carriage from building to l)uilding which it would have
been hard to excel on any other plan.

We have seen no evidence that "the art of landscape-

502

Garden and Forest.

[Number 302.

gardening has been degraded in public esteem by the
laying out of the Columbian Exposition," and the critic
who makes the assertion has plainly formed his own
opinion on incorrect assumptions. But inasmuch as he
invites attention to the superiority of architecture over
the art of landscape-design, as if there were some con-
flict between them, or at least some difference in their
aims and motives, it may as well be said here that
not only the possibility, but the inestimable value, of
single-minded co-operation between these two arts was
exemplitied at the Exposition as it never was before. Not
only architects and landscape-gardeners, but all men, are
prone to suspicion and jealousy, especially when they
divide off into classes and professions, but the artists of
the Fair were sufficiently broad-minded to rise above this
tendency. If there were any such errors in the general
design as this critic charges, the representative architects
had ample opportunity to correct them. It was Mr. Root
who grouped into one drawing what had been previously
sketched in a detached way by Mr. Olmsted and Mr. Cod-
man ; and during all the time of the development of the
design there was the most cordial and spontaneous inter-
communication between all these artists. Neither Mr. Hunt
nor Mr. Burnham discovered that there was anything in the
design which was to degrade art in public esteem. In the
preliminary stage they fully accepted the leading motives of
the landscape-gardeners, who, on their part, were eager for
suggestions looking to the improvement of the design, and so
far as the public is aware there is not one which the architects
maturely advised which was not incorporated in the plan.
In short, there was not a shadow of suspicion or antago-
nism between the two arts, and the Exposition ought to be
the seal of a permanent alliance between them. The effi-
cient co-operation of these allied professions is one of the
most happy results of the Exposition. It is greatly to the
credit of both, and of excellent promise for the future of all
art in this country.

Fences. — II.

WE spoke recently of iron and stone fences as they
are commonly seen in American country towns. It
would be impossible to enumerate all the different types of
wooden enclosures employed in various parts of the coun-
try, but one or two may be named as of special impor-
tance. One of the most simply sensible is the old-fash-
ioned paling with narrow pointed uprights set somewhat
closely together. Such a fence is unpretentious, yet not
rustic in character, and is therefore appropriate, for exam-
ple, around a farm-house lawn or garden, or along the
street-line of a village. Where liltle protection is needed
it can be kept so low as to be unobtrusive, and where a
high fence is required it will not look forbiddingly solid.
More grace may be given it by the simple device of grad-
uating the palings in height so that their tops will form
symmetrical curves, highest where they are attached to the
post, lowest in the centre of the spaces between the posts ;
and then if a few vines are allowed to clamber up the pal-
ings a pretty and refined effect is produced. Another good
expedient is to build a wall of stone or brick, two or three
feet in height, and crown it with a low, light paling ; and
this form of fence is especially sensible when the ground
within it lies a little above the street level, so that the
courses of stone or brick form a retaining-wall.

In old New England towns we often see wooden fences
of a somewhat less simple character, made with strong
moulded copings and posts and a moulded top-rail sup-
ported by slender bars, square or diamond-shaped in sec-
tion. Good designs for fences of this sort could be easily
carried out by village workmen ; and they might advan-
tageously replace the plain paling around houses of the
better type or unpretentious villas. Of course, they also
afford a good support for vines, although their more archi-
tectural character renders this drapery less essential.

A pretty type of fence, which is distinctively American,

has lately grown in favor. This is the so-called " rustic "
fence, built in open-work panels, with the branches of trees
from which the bark has not been removed. Straight pieces
are taken, of course, for the posts and the main horizontal
bars; but the panels are then filled with more or less fan-
ciful designs, in forming which the natural forkings of trees
can be utilized. Such a fence is most interesting when
each panel shows a different design; but in attempting this
variety pains must be taken to give all the panels a similar
degree of solidity. If one is built with thick branches or a
very close pattern, and another with slighter branches or a
more open pattern, the fence will have both an unstable
and an inharmonious look. Therefore, unless the builder
has a certain amount of artistic instinct, it is safest for him
not to try for much variety and to resist the temptation to
use natural forkings ; it is safest to confine himself to one
or two rather formal patterns which can be easily built
with straight pieces of wood.

Red Cedar is the most effective wood to use for fences of
this kind, especially where a fanciful variety of forms is
desired, its odd forkings and twistings and the shreddiness
of its bark accentuating rusticity of effect. But the White
Cedar likewise offers good material of a similar kind ;
Pines furnish surfaces of fine color and a pleasing rough-
ness, which, moreover, look better than Cedar-bark after a
few years' exposure ; the smooth gray limbs of the Beech
are attractive in another way ; and the white bark of the
Canoe Birch, and especially the shining gray or golden
bark of the Yellow Birch, have a charm peculiar to them-
selves. The character of the wood should, however, al-
ways be considered in determining the panel-forms of a
rustic fence, the smooth surface and almost architectural
regularity of the branches of the Beech, for instance, pre-
scribing more formal patterns than the shreddy surface and
contorted shapes of Red Cedar branches.

Fences of this description are rustic in expression as well
as in name, and look best, therefore, in pronouncedly rural
situations. They are appropriate for the vicinity of those
small houses, built in part or altogether of logs or unbarked
slabs, which are nowso common in our mountain districts,
and even for more ambitious summer cottages, while, of
course, they may fittingly protect the outlying portions of
even a large estate, giving way to something more archi-
tectural near the buildings. The serious objection to the
rustic fence is, that unless framed and joined in the most
workman-like manner, the pieces will draw apart under our
trying weather, and the whole structure will soon be ricketty.

Where stone cannot easily be had, a beautiful wall may
be built of brick, as no one needs to be told who knows
the rural districts of England. But the high English brick
wall is out of character in an American landscape, whether
this means a closely built street of villas or a succession of
larger country places. The Flnglishman loves privacy,
seclusion, above all else, and seems not to enjoy anything
he owns unless it is pretty well protected from the eyes of
others. But the more sociable, less sensitively shy Ameri-
can likes to have his neigld)ors see his lawns and gardens,
and likes to see theirs ; and if by chance one individual
feels differently and surrounds himself with a seven-foot
wall, it strikes a distinctly discordant note amid its sur-
roundings. On the other hand, the recent tendency, shown
in many New England towns, to do away with fences alto-
gether and let lawn and garden blend unprotected with the
grass-bordered street, cannot be commended from the
point of view of good taste. We may not need really to
protect our private domains ; we may not wish to shut out
others from the enjoyment of their beauty ; but we should
want them to look like private domains, not like bits of
common-land ; to look as though they were cared for by
some particular hand ; as though they were adjuncts to a
home. High palings and, still more, high solid walls would
greatly injure the beauty and peculiar expressiveness of a
pretty American village ; but low walls, palings or hedges,
if well built and neatly kept, make the village much more
charming than entire openness.

December 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

503

The merits and demerits of hedges, and the best plants
to use for them in various parts of our country, are ques-
tions which have often been discussed in Garden and For-
est. Therefore little need be said about them here, except
to note the fact that, while they are the most beautiful of
all fences where solidity is desired, they are the most diffi-
cult to create, and much the most difficult to keep in order.
He who builds a fence of stone or wood does the work
quickly and need anticipate little trouble with it for years
to come. But he who plants a hedge must wait long for
it to attain the desired height, carefully coaxing it mean-
while into proper shape ; and when a good result has been
obtained, he must yearly take pains to keep it in proper
condition and always dread that individual plants may die
out, leaving gaps which, again, it will take years of growth
to fill. Our climate is less favorable to hedges than the
moister, more equable English climate ; and there is as
much to dread from the suddenly hot sun of early spring
and the drought of midsummer as from the excessive cold
of winter. Except in sheltered situations, therefore, it is a
risky experiment to try to raise a tall hedge. But low ones
are more easily managed, and accidental gaps in them are
more easily repaired. Of course, evergreen plants are much
more desirable for this purpose than those which shed their
leaves the first autumn ; but, as a finish to a retaining-
wall, even a thick little leafless hedge does not present a
bad appearance in winter.

Notes on some of the Texas Trees.

.^scuLus ARGUTA is generally a shrub three to five feet
high, but sometimes a small tree twenty feet high, with a
thick trunk and a dense head. The leaves have five to
seven, and sometimes eight, leaflets ; the flowers are in
dense and erect racemes, covering sometimes the whole
bush ; they are of a pale yellow color, appearing in April,
at the same time as the leaves. The fruits, covered with
short prickles, are of a russet color, and the leaves fall early
in the season. The shrub is often really beautiful as seen
growing in the woods on limestone bluffs. Its popidar
name here is Buckeye. [This is usually considered a form
of the Ohio Buckeye, /Esculus glabra. — Ed.]

Sapindus marginatus is a tree sixty or seventy-five feet
high, as found in the rich bottom-lands, but generally of
much smaller dimensions in less favorable situations. The
flowers, which are small and white, are borne in large
compound racemes, terminating the boughs. They appear
in June, and are succeeded by large berries of a transparent
yellow when ripe, and remaining sometimes a whole year.
The leaves turn to bright yellow in autumn. The wood is
yellow also, but it never has been used to any extent, eco-
nomically. This tree has a fine appearance, as the flowers
and fruits are quite ornamental. It is very rarely seen in
cultivation, and is known all throughout Texas as the Wild
China-tree.

Rhus copallina, var. lanceolata, seems to be quite dif-
ferent from the type, and may prove a distinct species ; it
is generally a shrub five or ten feet high, but frequently
reaches the height of twenty-five feet, with a trunk six
inches in diameter. The leaflets are elongated, the flowers
of a pale yellow color in July and August, and afford a
good pasture for bees at a time when flowers are scarce.
It grows abundantly on all the bluffs and prairies of lime-
stone formation. The true Rhus copallina here is a small
shrub, reaching hardly a height of eight feet at most, with
a body of one or two inches through. The leaflets are
ovate ; the flowers are in smaller thyrses and appear in
June, and the plant occurs only in the sandy regions. The
ripening foliage turns to a bright scarlet, so that the tops
of the bluffs where this Sumach grows in dense masses
fairly flame in autumn.

SoPHORA affinis is an elegant small tree, twenty or twenty-
five feet high, with a trunk six to eight inches thick,
though it does not generally reach these dimensions. I
have seen specimens with a trunk not exceeding two inches

in diameter reaching the height of thirty or forty feet, by
taking for support neighboring trees, such as a Red Cedar
or Oak. The leaves, with numerous leaflets, are a very
dark green and persevere late in the season. The flow-
ers resemble those of Robinia Pseudacacia, and are dis-
posed in simple pendulous racemes, to which succeed long
black and moniliform pods that are quite as ornamental as
the flowers and remain on the tree more than a year. Al-
though that tree has many points to recommend it for dec-
orative purposes, it is not in cultivation in Texas, and if it
has a common name I have never heard of it.

Prosopis juliflora, the well-known Mesquit-tree that grows
all over the prairie region of Texas, where in many local-
ities it affords the inhabitants their only fuel, is generally
small and scrubby, although it may grow to the height of
thirty feet, with a trunk two or three feet thick. The black-
ish wood is compact and nearly incapable of decay. It
makes excellent charcoal, and is used for. posts, though
invariably crooked. The principal streets of San Antonio
have been paved with blocks of Mesquit-wood, and a good
road-way it makes. Generally, twice a year the Mesquit
bears a heavy crop of beans, full of saccharine matter and
very nutritious. They are relished by horses, cattle, sheep
and swine alike, and in many instances they constitute the
only attainable food in dry seasons. The tree endures any
amount of dry weather, and it never fails to bring its crop.
I have never seen it in cultivation, although its pendulous
compound leaves and racemes of yellow flowers are quite
elegant. It would not be a good shade-tree.

BuMELiA lanuginosa is a thorny bush in dry upland, and
in rich bottom-land a tree forty feet high, with a short trunk.
As an ornamental it has nothing in particular to recommend
it ; but its dense yellow wood, with pecqliar marking, is
likely to prove of great value to the cabinet-maker. It is
here known as Shittim.
Dallas, Tex. /. Revcrchon.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Chrysanthemums. — There are more exhibitions of Chrys-
anthemums than ever in England this year. ' Our horticul-
tural journals are entirely taken up with reports of the
shows, and cultural and other information about the plants.
Every park and public garden of any pretensions ho-ld a
special exhibition of Chrysanthemums ; even Kew taking
a leading part by providing a show of plants, grown on the
"natural system," and it is evident from the crowds of
visitors who throng the houses where the Chrysanthemums
are, discussing the points, the colors, the decorative value
and the extraordinary variety in the form and size of the
flowers, that such exhibitions have considerable value in
affording pleasure, if nothing else. A prominent nursery-
man remarked to me a few days ago that the Chrysanthe-
mum is the poor man's plant, by which, no doubt, he
meant that the Chrysanthemum is the plant which, above
all others, every one can grow with ease and be certain of
a certain amount of floral display, however poor the treat-
ment be. This universal interest in Chrysanthemums finds
expression in the numerous exhibitions held, and in the
crowds which visit them. The National Chrysanthemum
Society, whose exhibition took place this week in the Royal
Aquarium, Westminster, has had its hands full in prevent-
ing the crush of spectators from wrecking the exhibits.
Some of my friends who went to see the exhibition came
away without having obtained more than a bird's-eye view
from the gallery, not daring to venture among the crowds
that surrounded every exhibit on the floor below. "At
least equal to any Chrysanthemum exhibition ever held in
England" was the general verdict with regard to this last
one, and after the favorable season we have had, together
with the value of the prizes competed for, this is only what
might have been expected. The bad features which spoil
such exhibitions were prominent enough this year; I al- .

504

Garden and Forest.

[Number 302.

lude to the trained sugar-loaf specimens, the tall mop-like
plants in the groups, the "trussed" cut-blooms, some of
which, I learn, took as much as half a day to dress — that
is, to curl and place the florets in position, so that the
tlower should pass muster with the masters of the art.
When flowers require this amount of dressing for exhibition,
one is inclined to quarrel with those who tolerate it. How-
ever, these objections notwithstanding, the Aquarium this
year contained some wonderfully good collections of cut
blooms. The Japanese varieties ranked a long way first,
both in number and in attractiveness. The first prize col-
lection of forty-eight distinct varieties was a superb one,
and as it contained the cream of the Japanese sorts shown
this year I give the names : J. S. Dibben, Etoile de Lyon,
E. Molyneux, Stanstead White, Mrs. E. W. Clarke, Thomas
Hewitt, Van Der Heede, Thomas Sel wood, Vi viand Morel,
W. H. Woodcock, Mrs. Adams, R. C. Kingston, Colonel
W. B. Smith, Julius Roehrs, W. H. Lincoln, Duke of York,
Violet Rose, Sunflower, Potter Palmer, Miss D. Shea, Seed-
ling, G. C. Schwabe, Florence Davis, W. W. Coles, Madame
J. Laing, Mrs. F. Jameson, C. W. Wheeler, Mademoiselle
Marie Hoste, W. Tricker, Miss M. Scott, Puritan, Charles
Davis, Miss Anna Hartzhorn, Beaute Toulousaine, E G. Hill,
W. Falconer, Charles Shrimpton, Mrs. Alpheus Hardy,
Rafello Marshaletta, Mademoiselle Th^rese Rey, Robert
Owen, Louis Boehmer, Beauty of Exmouth, Vice-President
Calvat, Autumn Tints, Gloire du Rocher, J. Shrimpton and
Charles Blick. The exhibitor was W. H. Fowler, Esq., J. P.,
who was equally successful as an exhibitor last year. In-
curved varieties were exceptionally good in form and color,
but, if anything, they were a little smaller in size than
usual. The first prize for thirty-six varieties in this class
was won by F. A. Bevan, Esq., the following being a list
of his collection : Lord Alcester, Prince Alfred, Princess of
Wales, Alfred Salter, Lord Wolseley, Mr. R. King, M. Ba-
haunt, Queen of England, Violet Tomlin, John Lambert,
Alfred Lyne, Empress of India, R. Cannell. Mrs. Coleman,
John Salter, Miss Haegas, Princess of Teck, Ami Hoste,
Jeanne d'Arc, Lady Dorothy, Golden Empress of India,
Hero of Stoke Newington, John Doughty, Barbara, Mr.
N. Davis, Cherub, Lord Eversley, Charles Gibson, Mrs.
Heale, Princess Beatrice, Nil Desperandum, Empress Eu-
genie, Mrs. Halliburton, Refulgens, White Venus and
Madame Darrier.

The Anemone-flowered varieties, certainly the most won-
derful from a morphological point of view of all the won-
derful freaks of the Chrysanthemum, were represented by
some superb collections. Some of these flowers, if given
to a botanist unacquainted with them, would probably puz-
zle him. The first prize collection was exhibited by E. C.
Jukes, Esq., and was generally considered to be the finest
lot of Anemone-flowered varieties ever exhibited. The
sorts were : Fabian de Maderanaz, Lady Margaret, Mrs.
Judge Benedict, Monsieur Pankouche, Sabine, Minnie Chate,
Ernest Caille, Nelson, George Hawkins, Cabrol, Made-
moiselle Nathalie Brun, Grand Alveole, Ratapoil, Madame ,
Lawton, Fleure de Marie, Delaware, Le Deuil, Gladys,
Spaulding, Jeanne Marty, Annie Lowe, Madame Berthe
Pigny, Rodolphe Ragioniere, Empress and Marie Loglaise.

The "hybrid" classes, such as Japanese-incurved, Japa-
nese-Anemone, Anemone-Pompon and Large-flowered Re-
flexed, were also well represented. The Pompon varieties
have ceased to find many admirers among growers of
Chrysanthemums, and, although several good collections
were shown, they attracted little attention. The finest
flower shown, in my opinion, the most striking and most
attractive, was Edwin Molyneux, in which opinion I have
the support of Mr. Cannell, who declares that it has no
equal among large-flowered sorts. Not only are the flow-
ers of first-rate merit, but the plant is sturdy in habit, has
handsome leaves and flowers freely, while it lasts several
weeks in perfection. Grown on the " natural " system, it
makes a most picturesque specimen. There are several
examples of it in this character at Kew, plants a yard high,
with leaves down to the soil, and bearing a dozen or so

fine flowers. I am afraid many of the favorite exhibition
kinds are not nearly so good in this respect. There were
several collections of "naturally trained" plants shown, a
prize having been offered for such plants, each to bear
not less than twelve flowers. They were, of course, not
really naturally grown, as pinching, disbudding, staking,
etc., had been done in moderation ; still the plants looked
less unsightly than the "gingham "-shaped standards or
the spruce pyramids with their flowers wired into position
like buttons on a cushion. Verily, the Chrysanthemum is
a long-suffering plant ; it may be twisted, contorted, cribbed,
cabined and confined to almost any extent, and, after it all,
will flower as good-naturedlyasif left to its own happy way.
The varieties to which first-class certificates were awarded
were the following : G. W. Childs, although not before cer-
tificated, this is now a well-known Japanese variety. It is
of American origin, and has crimson flowers. Golden
Wedding, Japanese, of American origin ; flowers large,
soft golden-yellow. Rose Wynne, a large-flowered Japa-
nese variety, colored soft rose. Elsie Neville, a single-
flowered Japanese variety with long fluted florets colored
crimson, the disk yellow. Mrs. C. J. Salter, a compact
Anemone-flowered variety, colored golden-buff, with a
rose tinge. W. W. Astor, a large Japanese Anemone-flow-
ered variety, the long ray florets colored soft rose, the disk
florets long, colored rosy yellow. John Bunyan, also a
Japanese Anemone-flowered variety, colored soft yellow.

London. W. WatSOtt.

Plant Notes.

Pueraria Thunbergiana.

PUERARIA THUNBERGIANA, a native of central and
southern Japan and central China, is a woody climber,
and the only representative of its genus. It bears large
three-parted leaves with very long petioles, and broadly
obovate, pointed, dark green leaflets, short compact ra-
cemes of fragant, violet-colored, pea-shaped flowers, and
brown hairy pods. In some parts of Japan this handsome
plant is exceedingly common ; it does not grow, however,
farther north than the centre of the main island, and ap-
pears to be confined to elevations of about 1,800 to 2,500
feet above the sea-level ; and is nowhere more abundant
than among the Hakone Mountains, beloved of tourists,
who often get their first impressions of Japanese scenery
and vegetation among the hills and lakes of this charming
and accessible region. Here Pueraria is so abundant that
in August the air is perfumed with the delicate fragrance of
its flowers as it hangs \\\\.\\ its long stems swaying backward
and forward on the face of some Fern-covered precipice,
dripping with the spray of the water-fall, or sends them to
incredible distances, climbing through bushes or into the
tops of low trees.

In Japan, the Kudzu, for so this plant is called, has some
economic value ; the thick and fleshy roots furnish a
starchy meal, which is used as food ; cloth is made from
the inner bark or bast of the young shoots, which is re-
moved by boiling and macerating in water ; and the dried
stems and leaves furnish a considerable part of the hay
cured by the Japanese. It is probably as an ornamental
plant only that Pueraria will be used in this country. As
such it has considerable value here, even in climates suffi-
ciently severe to destroy its shoots annually. We remem-
ber no other vine-like plant which grows so rapidly, or one
that can cover so large a space in a single season. It is
well suited to conceal unsightly objects, to train over
verandas, or to plant among shrubs and trees when it is
desirable to form thickets ; and rocky banks or grassy
slopes may be clothed with it. Where it is not killed back
in winter, the beauty and fragrance of its abundant mid-
summer flowers add to the value of this plant.

Pueraria Thunbergiana was sent to the United States many
years ago by Thomas Hogg, and it has been distributed by
nurserymen under the name of Dolichos Japonicus. The

December 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest

505

f'jg* 74- — Pueraria Thunbergiana, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, — See page 504.

plant illustrated on this page is in the Meehan nurseries
at Germantown, Pennsylvania, where it climbs over an
old Cedar-tree. It was propagated from one of the plants
brought to the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia by the

Japanese, who used them where they wanted a rapid
growth of foliage. At first this plant died back to the
ground every year, but a few woody stems now survive
the winter and flowering branches grow from these.

5o6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 302.

Cultural Department.

Greenhouse Work.

AFTER the Chrysanthemums are past, a reorganization of
the greenhouses is generally necessary ; the space lately
taken up by those plants is now vacant and available for the
regular winter occupants. Our whole stock of old plants of
Chrysanthemums is taken out of the beds and pot's and
planted in cold-frames for the winter. Last winter these were
frozen for two months, but we never had better cuttings than
we had this spring ; they appear to like the complete rest. In
planting care should be taken to leave a good space between
the rows, as some kinds are apt to throw out underground
shoots, and the varieties may become mixed when the time
comes to take cuttings. For late cuttings for bench-planting
in June these stock plants will bear topping in April ; this will
give another crop in May, the second or third week. It is
preferable to keep the scarce varieties in a cool greenhouse,
so that they can be propagated during early spring. Now that
the one-bloom system is so much in favor, the carrying over
of considerable stock is absolutely necessary to enable one to
take such a large quantity of cuttings at a given period.

All tender plants that have been in frames should now be
removed to the greenhouse and placed in winter quarters —
Azaleas, Ericas, Primulas, Cinerarias, Freesias, Cyclamen,
Calceolarias, Lachenalias, and all such plants that are liable to
injury from cold, such as we may experience any time now.
For fumigating plants that are liable to aphides during winter
we have for some time used the tobacco-leaf instead of the
stems or mid-rib. The leaf is a damaged grade that costs
from eight to twelve cents a pound, and is the cheapest fumi-
gating material we have found yet, inasmuch as a very small
amount of this tobacco is sufficient to kill the insects, a smaller
volume of smoke is required since it is so much more pun-
gent, and in our experience of over two years with this mate-
rial not a plant has suffered from scorching, an occurrence
quite common when so much smoke was needed to kill. A
slight periodical smoking, say, once in ten days, is far more
effectual than waiting until the insects are very abundant.
During the winter months the conditions are very favorable
to the increase of green fly, and these give place in suinmerto
the black fly, which is much harder to kill by fumigation, but
is very susceptible to a weak solution of Fir-tree oil.

During the past year or two the Carnation rust has been
pretty well disseminated throughout the country ; indeed, it is
very hard to secure a good stock of Carnations free from dis-
ease. We bought the rust two years ago with a new variety,
and our experience is by no means unique. The easiest way
to check it that we have tried is spraying with Fir-tree oil,
using the mixture warm and of the same strength recom-
mended for mildew. This same solution has proved an effec-
tual cure for one of the worst cases of mildew on Roses I have
ever had to deal with.

Where a number of Rubber-plants are used for decoration,
there are always some that have lost their lower leaves and
look dilapidated ; these should be topped now and the por-
tions of the stem having foliage can be cut into lengths and
propagated, and at least two-thirds will root if put in at this
time. It is a good plan to place the newly made cuttings in
dry sand for a few hours, when the milky sap will coagulate
and seal over the cut and aid considerably in root-formation.
It will be found also that the more abject the old plant the
better the cuttings taken from it will root. Strong, unripened
wood of Rubber-plants rarely root freely ; cuttings taken a year
ago are now most serviceable plants, about two feet high ;
after rooting the young plants need liberal treatment, as they
are gross feeders.

Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) are now developing
their bracts, and need abundant liquid nourishment to develop
them to perfection and to enable them to retain their foliage.
The Poinsettia is a very valuable plant for Christmas decora-
tions, and repays any care bestowed on it. When used in
a cut state they should be cut three days before they are
wanted, and the stems immersed their whole length in a tank
or bath. Enough water will be absorbed in this time to make
them keep fresh through any ordinary period, and the same
treatment will apply to E. Jacquinaeflora equally well.

The garden varieties of /\'"aryllis are now becoming very
popular, and will be even more so as their merits are better
understood. This is a good time to oljtain seeds of a good
strain and sow them in a gentle warmth. .Seedlings will flower
two years fron) now if treated liberally and grown on without
check. After the flowering period is reached an annual rest
will be necessary at this time. The pots should be placed in
a temperature of about fifty degrees, and kept moderately dry

until growth commences in spring, when they will need pot-
ting in new soil, the old exhausted soil being shaken out. A
packet of Amaryllis-seed, costing one dollar, will give about
fifty plants. 1 have found that imported bulbs take as long to
establish them as is needed to raise and flower seedlings, and
the quality of the latter is far superior. c n n j. t

SouUi Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Or pet.

Flowers for Cutting in Winter.

EVEN a small conservatory, when skillfully managed, has
great capabilities for giving a supply of cut flowers in win-
ter, and its usefulness can be much extended by using in con-
nection with it a slightly warmed or protected pit or frame,
where a reserve stock of cool-house plants can be stored until
needed. Among such plants may be named Azaleas, both of
the Indian and Ghent varieties ; Gardenias, Genistas and Aca-
cias, all of which can be safely kept in a temperature of forty
to forty-five degrees until needed for flowering.

In a very small house it is better not to experiment to any
extent with Roses, as only moderate success can be hoped for
with most varieties when grown among a miscellaneous col-
lection of plants. If, however, one end of the house or a sec-
tion of a bench can be spared, a careful grower ought to grow
Roses fairly well.

Carnations may be grown outdoors to advantage during the
summer, and when lifted and potted in the fall can be stored
for a time in the pit or frame. In this way a regular supply of
these useful flowers can be assured. Bouvardias should be
treated in the same way for the summer, but after being lifted
they require a higher temperature, and, therefore, had better J
not be placed in the frame. If kept warm and treated to a lit- ^
tie stimulating food occasionally, the plants will soon become
root-bound, when they will flower freely all winter long.
Stevia serratifolia and Eupatorium riparium both give useful
flowers for mingling with other and more showy kinds, and
both are very easily managed. All they need is plenty of light
and water. Many of the Begonias are indispensable, B. Saun-
dersii, B. manicata, B. nitida, B. semperflorens, B. incarnata
and B. Gloire de Sceaux being among the most satisfactory.
These are all practically ever-blooming sorts, and can be
grown by any one.

The double white Chinese Primrose is an excellent plant for
cutting, but the Primroses do not like to have their leaves wet 1
often, and an error on the dry side is easier to remedy than
overwatering. A few plants of Cyclamen Persicum will pro-
duce a great number of flowers, which stand well when cut.
Dutch bulbs are a great help to the cut-flower supply, and
should be brought on as required. Freesias, Roman Hya-
cinths, Daffodils and Tulips are the most useful, and all of
them should be well-rooted before being brought into heat.
Crassula lactea is a succulent which produces only one crop of
flowers in the season, but that crop is an abundant one, and
the large clusters of flowers are very pretty. The plant should
have full sunshine, but should be watered sparingly during
the winter. Every cutting, or leaf, even, will be sure to root
and form a plant if laid on a bed of partly dry sand in a warm
house.

As the plants are brought in from the pit the Azaleas and
Genistas will be found the easiest to force, while the Gardenias
will take a little longer. Of the Acacias, A. Riceana is proba-
bly the earliest to bloom, and is a particularly pretty one.

Holmesburg, Pa. ^. H. Taplin.

Cypripedium insigne.

IT is now about seventy-five years since the introduction of
this fine old plant, one of the first tropical Cypripediums to
be cultivated, and preceded only by C. venustum, which it has
long surpassed, in the estimation of cultivators, even in the
original form, while numerous superior varieties have been
found among importations of what is called the Montanum
type. It is from this recently introduced section that the beau-
tiful yellow form called Sanderse was obtained, and which is
now a much-prized plant in the very best collections.

On their arrival imported plants of C. insigne are of rather
unpromising appearance, but heat and moisture speedily
transform them into growing plants full of life and energy,
and which are altogether more thrifty than portions taken
from an old-established plant that has been long in cultivation.
Plants imported from India two years ago are now vigorous,
and flowering for the first time in six-incn pots, many having
three flowers each. A veryniarked feature in this new strain
is the width of the white margin in the upper sepal, and the
spots are often large and distinctly superior to the old forms
so common in gardens. A comparison of Philbrick's variety

December 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

507

of C. insigne and the newer ones shows that many of these are
equal to that fine sort, if not superior, while all are desirable if
only for their variety, for all are dissimilar.

The varietal name Montanum suggests that the plants were
of alpine origin, but this is true also of the older C. insigne, and
hence the treatment of one applies equally well to the other.

It is sometimes noted that C. insigne is easier to grow than
to flower well. This is the result of too much heat during win-
ter, and a cool house, where frost is just excluded, will grow
this plant and flower it far better than a warm house that ex-
cites the plants into making an early growth in spring, and a
second growth in late summer, when it ought to be preparing
to flower. During summer the plants will thrive well out of-
doors in a cool shady place, and should be taken in during
September. Grown in this way, the full benefit of the night
dews is had, but the pots should be stood on a bed of coal-
ashes to prevefit the ingress of worms.

Another point worthy of note is that this is one of the few
Orchids that will thrive equally well in a compost of loam or
the orthodox fern-root and sphagnum mixture. In eithercase,
perfect drainage must be assured, as the plants should not be
disturbed but once in two years unless they get into bad
health, which seldom happens. Cypripediums are all alike in
one respect — they never should be allowed to become dry at
the roots. There are no storage vessels in the way of pseudo-
bulbs for the plants to fall back on, as with most of the other
genera, and slight neglect in watering shows at once in the
loss of foliage, and no little time is required for the recovery
of the plants after they have received a check of this kind. As
a window-plant there' is a future for C. insigne when it be-
comes more generally known, as the flowers last three months
in good condition, and this during the most dreary months of
the year, commencing with November. r- n n j, t

South Lancaster, Mass. -^' ^' UTpet,

Late Ornamental Fruits.

IF the necessary ground in the garden can be spared, or if
the circumstances of residence make it particularly desira-
ble to have the shrubberies attractive in very late autumn, a
most interesting feature may be produced for the Thanksgiv-
ing season by planting a group of shrubs with bright-colored,
showy and persisting fruits. Many of the conspicuous-fruited
species are not notable for any particular beauty of flower, so
that in making such a collection it is necessary to do so at
some sacrifice of summer bloom.

In some species which show beauty of fruit after the leaves
have fallen the flowers are small and greenish, and while in
others the coloring may be more attractive, in some the blos-
soms are too minute to be showy ; and, altogether, there are
few which are valuable both for the beauty of their flowers and
the brightness of their fruit in late autumn. Most of the shrubs
which are desirable for the effectiveness of their fruits in late
autumn have these fruits of a red or scarlet color, or a color
approaching these. Presumably this color is one most at-
tractive to birds and other animals upon which most fleshy
fruits are dependent for dissemination.

The Winterberries, or species of Ilex belonging to the Holly
family, are among the best-known and most valued of red-
fruited species for late autumn adornment. The native Ilex
verticillata and I. laevigata are especially valuable, the former
usually fruiting more profusely than the other, and a clearyel-
low-fruited form is also occasionally found. In size and color
the fruit does not differ much from that of the true American
Holly, I. opaca, but, while the bright red fruit of the latter is
partly hidden by the persistent evergreen leaves, the Winter-
berries lose all their foliage comparatively early in the autumn.
Other American species of the genus also have attractive fruit.
I. Sieboldi, from Japan, is a perfectly hardy species of much
promise, and although its fruits are small, they are very abun-
dant and not clustered, but thickly scattered among the
branches.

The species of Spindle-tree, or Evonymus, are also widely
known, but, except the common European species, E. Euro-
p;eus, most of them drop a large proportion of their purplish
crimson pods and enclosed scarlet arils before the 1st of De-
cember. One or two Japanese species still hold enough to
make them noticeable. The open pods of E. Europ;eus have
faded considerably, but the fleshy arils or ■' seeds " are still as
bright as when first exposed.

The Bittersweet, Celastrus scandens, which is closely allied
to the Evonymus, is indispensable as a showy fruited plant.
After the first frosts, and when all leaves have fallen, the rich
orange-colored pods open and display the scarlet interior..
The color keeps bright for a long time, and unless the fruits

are devoured by anittials the valves of the pods are the first to
fall away as the winter advances. As this plant is a twiner, it
will not thrive well unless given a pole or stake for support,
or is allowed to climb among the branches of some tall shrub
or small tree. The fruit is produced in large clusters, in this
respect differing very markedly from the Japanese C. articu-
lata, which is now found in a good many gardens, and which
bears its smaller fruit much more scattered over the branches,
but quite abundantly. While the interior arils of this species
are also scarlet, theoutersides of the pods are of a lightorange
color at this season. The Matrimony-vines, especially Lycium
Chinense, claim attention by their bright scarlet fleshy berries.

The Barberries are noted for their bright red or reddish
fruit, but at the end of November, and after numerous severe
freezings, the berries of the common Barberry, Berberis vul-
garis, of Europe, have lost much of their lustre and plump-
ness. The native B. Canadensis of the Alleghany Mountain
region has smaller fruit, but it is still bright red and and fresh
and full-looking. It is not so attractive, however, as the Japa-
nese B. Thunbergii, which has been so often referred to in
these pages, and which keeps its berries fresh-looking until
spring.

Grewia parviflora, a plant classed in the Linden family,
gives promise of value for showy fruit, although it does not
yet appear to be very hardy in this climate. It was introduced
into the Arboretum from northern China about 1882. The
flowers are not showy, but are produced during a considera-
ble time, and the fruits, which are about the size of peas,
are laterally flattened, f^rm, smooth and shining and of a
brownish orange color. They have, so far, been produced
very sparingly here, so that the plant cannot be recommended
for planting in this climate, but in a milder region it may
prove of some value as an ornamental-fruited shrub.

The high Cranberry Bush, Viburnum Opulus, is well known.
It still retains its large cranberry-like fruit, but after having
been frozen several times it has become somewhat shriveled,
and the color is of a duller red than it was earlier in the sea-
son. The fruit of the Flowering Dogwood, Co'rnus florida, is
rarely allowed to remain on the plants so late in the season
because certain species of birds are very fond of it when fully
ripe. But, if not disturbed, much of the fruit would remain on
the trees throughout November and keep plump and fresh
and retain its characteristic brilliant red color.

Some of the single or wild Roses are bright with reddish
fruits at this season. Rosa Carolina and R. lucida are
among the best of these. R. multiflora has innumerable
firm fruits of a bronze-olive color at this season ; those of R.
repens are dull red, and of Rosa spinosissima a dark maroon.
On many Roses the fruits or "hips" have dried and turned
brown or black, but on some, like the Dog Rose, a large por-
tion still appear fresh, though of a dull red color.

Few of the Hawthorns are noted for effective display at the
beginning of winter, but the Washington Thorn, Crataegus
cordata, keeps its fruit in a clear, lustrous, attractive condition,
and as the species grows into a small tree it stands above
most other plants noted for this quality. The Cockspur Thorn,
C. Crus-galli, holds large, dull red-colored fruits. Crataegus
Pyracantha, of Europe, is also well worth growing, although
not perfectly hardy in this latitude. When only a few feet high
it bears fruit abundantly of a bright scarlet color, which keeps
fresh and bright all winter. The Cotoneasters are not well
known, perhaps, because they offer little showiness of bloom.
But several of them have noticeable fruit just now. That
of C. acuminata is plump and of a dull purplish-red
color ; the fruits of C. vulgaris are dull black, while those of
the little evergreen, C. inycrophylla, are of pure red, but lus-
treless. If not previously eaten by birds the bright red fruits
of the European Rowan-tree and our native Mountain Ashes
are not be overlooked, while the little Pyrus arbutifolia firmly
holds its dark or purplish-red fruit in good condition. Some
of the flowering Crab-apples retain their little apples in great
abundance, but they usually become dull-colored after several
freezings and thawings.

Climbing Honeysuckles, like Lonicera SuUivanti and L. flava,
sometimes keep good color in their fruits.

One of the best of hardy shrubs at this season is the Coral-
berry or Indian Currant, Symphoricarpos vulgaris, which reg-
ularly has its branches thickly covered with small purplish-red
or magenta colored berries. It is a slender shrub, quite effec-
tive when planted in masses, as it has been in the parks about
Boston.

In striking contrast with these dark fruits are those of the
well-known Snowberry, Symphoricarpos racemosus, which
before the snow falls appear of the purest white. If grown in
partial shade or out of the full rays of the autumn sunshine,

5o8

Garden and Forest.

[Number 302.

these berries keep their freshness and color for a lone time.
This may be considered the only good white-fruited plant at
this season. Others, like the western Symphoricarpos occi-
dentalis and the Poison Sumachs, have whitish fruit, but it is
dull white and not attractive. The Bayberry, or Candleberry,
Myrica cerifera, is not particularly showy, but its persistent
blue-gray fruit is clear and attractive.

Among black-fruited plants the common Privet, Ligustrum
vulgare, is the best, as its shining clusters keep fresh for a
long time. A yellow-fruited form is occasionally seen. The
fruit of the Asiatic L. Ibota is black, but with a persistent rich
bluish bloom. The white blossom of Rhodotypus kerrioides
is followed by three or four erect shining black or chestnut-
brown akenes, which persist throughout the winter. Vibur-
num acerifolium sometimes holds its clusters of black drupes
in a fresh and shining condition until quite late ; but, although
the fruit of the Sheepberry or Sweet Viburnum, V. Lentago,
persists, it becomes somewhat shriveled and loses its lustre,
and this is also true of V. cassinoides.

Hardy shrubby plants with pappus-bearing fruits are rare in
this latitude, but the Groundsel-tree, Baccharis halimifolia,
thrives, and the pistillate plants are covered with the gray
pappus in the late autumn. <^ r r* h

Arnold Arboretum. /• "'• /"■C-

Primula Forbesii.— This is a new species sent to Paris by
Abbe Delavay from the province of Yunnan. China. It was
this year introduced to general cultivation by Messrs. Vilmorin.
Seed sown early in the year auickly made flowering plants,
among which no differences either of foliage or flowers have
appeared. The leaves are dark green, somewhat hairy, ellip-
tical and toothed. The flower-scapes are radical, slender, and
bear at varying heights three or four rows each of six or eight
flowers, which are individually small, about a third of an inch
in diameter. These are blush rose, with yellow eyes. The
plant is very prolific of flowers, and the introducers report that
the original plants have been quite continuously in flower for
several years. This species, while distinct and attractive, has
a rather delicate and quiet order of beauty, and will not prove
so general a favorite as either P. obconica or P. floribunda.
It is probably not a hardy species.

OstTowskia magnifica seems to be giving trouble to many
growers, and a friend has reported several failures with this
interesting plant. I, therefore, uncovered the root the other
day to examine its condition. As it was firm and strong buds
were showing, it is evident that the position and conditions
have suited the plant, and it may be helpful to add to my note
in Garden and Forest of June 28th, 1893. It is planted in a
raised south border, protected by the house, and is in sandy
loam. As it is next to a collection of Oncocyclus Irises, and
ripened even before some of these, being also an Asiatic
plant, it struck me that the same treatment might suit it. There-
fore, as soon as the stems disappeared I have, for two seasons,
placed a frame of glass over it and kept it as dry as pos-
sible till late in August. The border is so protected that
it receives very little rain at any time, and it has been very
dry during the summere. Since the plant has flowered and
made constant progress in strength, it is probable that my
tentative culture is the proper one. ~ ., ^

EUiabeth, N.J. jf . N. Gerard.

Correspondence.
The Rust of Mountain Ash.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — I enclose you a few leaves of the Mountain Ash, which,
as you will see, have long excrescences on the under sides.
The trees hereabout seem in good health up to September,
when they begin to be affected, and the trees become un-
sightly. The general health of the trees does not seem to be
injured, for they start off as vigorously as usual the next spring.
Will you be kind enough to inform me whether this is the
work of an insect, and, if so, what remedies can be used
against it ?

Bar Harbor, Me. B. J.

[It is not unusual in the autumn to find the leaflets of the
Mountain Ash more or less blotched with red upon the
upper surface, while long protuberances opposite to these
extend from the under side. This gall-like appearance
naturally suggests the work of some insect ; but the mal-
formation is due to a fungus belonging to the group of the
true rusts. It is an instance of a fungus which exists in
more than one state during its life-history. In one form it

infests the common Juniper or Red Cedar, where it forms
small galls upon the leaves and branches, much smaller
than those caused by another species which produces the
large Cedar-apples, so called. This fungus is known as
Gymnosporangium globosum, Farl. ; and the form found
upon the Mountain Ash is called the Roestelia state, above
briefly described. It also infests various species of the
Hawthorn, and also the common Apple. In this latter it is
often noticed that the Roestelia state of two species ot
Gymnosporangium are closely associated. We may also
have upon the same small branch of the Red Cedar two
species of Gymnosporangium — namely, G. globosum, Farl,
and G. macropus, Lk. — and upon the Apple the Roestelia
forms of these same two species.

The important practical point is that this rust of the
Mountain Ash grows in one of its stages upon the Cedar,
and, therefore, it is probable that the presence of Cedar-
trees in the vicinity of the Mountain. Ash is necessary for
the development of the Roestelia form. If it were worth
while to try to conquer this rusf it might be advisable to
destroy Cedar trees that are growing in the vicinity of the
Mountain Ash-trees, but, perhaps, the Red Cedars will be
considered worth more than the others. — B. D. H.^

The Chrysanthemum Shows.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Besides the exhibitions this year in the large cities,
there were many successful Chrysanthemum shows in smaller
towns. The one held in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, compared
favorably with those in the great cities, and was ahead of them
from an artistic point of view. A pleasing feature of this ex-
hibition was a children's show. In the spring a thousand plants
had been given by a leading florist to the school-children and
prizes were offered to those who exhibited the best plants in
the autumn. There is a town of 10,000 inhabitants in this
vicinity, and two or three gardeners have agreed to furnish a
committee of school. teachers one thousand plants. The duty
of the teachers will be to get out a schedule card containing a
few instructions as to the best methods of cultivating the plants
and the most effective ways of exhibiting them. The teachers
will endeavor also to solicit the patronage of prominent towns-
people, and they have every hope of success. This plan, with
modificatio'ns to suit different localities, could be adopted in
many towns of similar size with little expense and great
benefit to the community. No doubt, florists and gardeners
would be glad to furnish these plants from motives of public
spirit, and yet they ought to remember that the cultivation of
an interest and love for plants and flowers among the rising
generation is the surest guarantee of their own success in the
future.

Judging. — Where judges are all florists it is naturally sup-
posed that they will estimate the value of a flower from the
florist's standpoint, and a flower as large as a dinner-plate,
with the leaves close up to the blooms, will invariably get the
prize. There ought to be a chance, however, for the hardy
little Pompons, the graceful Anemone-flowered ones and the
neatest of the Chinese incurved ; while, as regards foliage, it
ought to be borne in mind that many varieties produce their
best blooms only on crown-buds, blooms on a terminal bud
being altogether out of character. By the very nature of a
crown-bud there is little probability of any foliage nearer than
six inches from the bloom, and often not within twelve inches.
Certainly these facts ought to be taken into consideration when
judging. Mr. Gerard's suggestion in behalf of the old-fash-
ioned board-exhibits has considerable weight in the case of
these crown-t)ud flowers. I certainly should not have flowers
shown exclusively on boards, but such displays can always be
made very interesting features of a show, and they would
enable us better than any other way to judge the merits of a
single bloom. Still, the boards ought to be arranged differ-
ently, for there is no need having the blooms lie entirely flat.
It was customary years ago to lay some fine green moss over
the board, which gives it a velvety appearance quite pleasing
to the eye and affords a little refreshing moisture, besides be-
ing a more congenial rest for the blooms than dry, stiff white
paper.

Specimen Plants. — Many failures to raise good specimen
plants come from the practice of selecting varieties which
take the lead In the production of specimen blooms instead of
from plants which make good specimens themselves. The

December 6, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

509

qualities required in a plant for a specimen are a low bushy
habit, good foliage which holds on well, and full blooms of
lasting quality and decided color. I add a list of well-tested
varieties for specimen plants. Crimson: Mrs. Shrimpton,
William Seward, Cullingfordii, G. W. Childs. Red : Tupelo,
John Laing, Robert Mclnnes. White: Parthenia, Joseph H.
White, Ivory, W. G. Newitt, White Gem. Pink : Enchantress,
Louis Boehmer, Duchess of Connaught, Eda Pras. Needles.
Yellow : Wm. H. Lincoln, Gloriana, Miles A. Wheeler, Mrs.
Bishop, Golden Ball, A. H. Fewkes. President Hyde. Blush-
white : Mrs. Joseph Rossiter, Wm. Falconer, Etoile de Lyon,
G. Daniels. Orange: Hicks Arnold, Walter Hunnewell, Col.
W. B. Smith, Mrs. W. G. Baker. Straw-yellow : Fascination.
Crimson incurved: C. B. Whitnall. t r, u

Wellesley, Mass. -'• L)- -n.

Recent Publications.

American Big-Game Hunting. Edited by Theodore
Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell. Newr York : Forest
and Stream Publishing Company.

This book is a series of sketches written by members of
the Boone and Crockett Club, the objects of which organ-
ization, as set forth in its constitution, are : (i) To promote
manly sport with the rifle ; (2) to promote travel and ex-
ploration in the wild and unknown, or but partially known,
portions of the country ; (3) to work for the preservation
of the large game of this country, and, so far as possible, to
further legislation for that purpose and assist in enforcing
the existing laws; (4) to promote inquiry into and to re-
cord observations on the habits and natural history of the
various wild animals ; (5) to bring about among the mem-
bers an interchange of opinions and ideas on hunting,
travel, exploration, various kinds of rifles, the haunts of
game animals, etc. While the club devotes itself primarily
to sport and the protection of game, nevertheless, in a trip
after wilderness-game, the hunter is often obliged to trav-
erse regions which are imperfectly known, so that not a
little original exploration has been accomplished. Many
sketchy surveys made in this way have appeared in various
periodicals and in Government reports, but the present
volume is devoted almost exclusively to the hunting of big
game and questions of game preservation, as the follow-
ing attractive list of subjects will show : A Buffalo Story,
by George S. Anderson ; The White Goat and His Country,
by Owen Wister ; A Day with the Elk, by Winthrop Chan-
ler ; Old Times in the Black Hills, by Roger D. Williams ;
Big Game in the Rockies, by Archibald Rogers ; Coursing
the Prongbuck, by Theodore Roosevelt ; In Buffalo Days,
by George Bird Grinnell ; Nights with the Grizzlies, by W.
D. Pickett ; Yellowstone Park, by Arnold Hague ; A Moun-
tain Fraud, by Dean Sage ; Blacktails in the Bad Lands, by
Bronson Rumsey ; Photographing Wild Game, by \V. D.
Devereux. These articles are accompanied by many en-
gravings and half-tone pictures, which really illustrate the
text, although some of them are not examples of the best art.
No one who has ever enjoyed wild life, even for a short vaca-
tion season, can listen to the bare recital of topics like
these without having his pulse quickened. They bring
reminiscences of rough riding on the plains, of mountain
trails and forest camps, of alpine meadows populous with
elk, of inaccessible rocks on which the white goat stands
sentinel, of mountain streams which come foaming down
from everlasting snow, of broad landscapes whose un-
speakable beauty has never been marred by man, of long
days full of rapture and nights as full of rest.

Particularly within the scope of this journal, however,
come the chapter on Yellowstone Park, and another on our
forest-reservations. More than twenty years ago, while
the Yellowstone region was still almost entirely unknown.
Dr. F. V. Hayden foresaw that it would soon be despoiled
unless its curiosities could be preserved in their natural
condition by Government protection, and he therefore
urged the enactment of a law establishing this park; and
the report of the Public Lands Committee recommending
the passage of the act, after pointing out the worthlessness
of the region for agriculture or for settlement, closes with

these words : " The withdrawal of this park, therefore,
from sale or settlement takes nothing from the value of the
public domain and is no pecuniary loss to the Government,
but will be regarded by the entire civilized world as a step
of progress and an honor to Congress and the nation."
This great reservation of something more than 3,300 square
miles, and at an elevation of 8,000 feet above the sea, was
therefore dedicated and set apart as a pleasure-ground for
the benefit and enjoyment of the people. It was an act
with far-reaching consequences, not only because it saved
this great stretch of mountain, valley and plateau, with its
open park-like grass-lands and leagues of unbroken timber ;
it not only protected the streams which take their rise in
this elevated region, and left a home where the elk, moose,
antelope, mountain sheep, buffalo and other big game could
find in its great diversity of physical features all that they
require for a shelter and food, with seclusion for rearing
their young ; but it did much more in that itestablished a
precedent which made it easier at a later day to set apart
other forest-reservations in Arizona, California, Colorado,
New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Alaska —
more than 20,000 square miles in all. The members of the
Boone and Crockett Club assert positively that in these great
reservations can be found every species of large game
known in the United States, and the proper protection of
them would mean the perpetuating in full supply all these
indigenous mammals. With proper care, therefore, no
American species of large game need ever become abso-
lutely extinct, provided only legislation is secured for
properly policing these preserves. Still more important, in
our view, is the climatic and economic value of these vast
reservations, which are destined to play an important part
in our national forest-policy when we have .developed and
adopted one. We firmly believe that many more thou-
sands of square miles of forest must ultimately pass under
Government control. Meanwhile it is well to remember
that the forests already reserved lie absolutely unpro-
tected. Though devoted to public use, they invite spolia-
tion. Timber-thieves may fell their trees, and skin-hunters
may kill their game, without any fear of retribution. Some
of them are patroled by Federal troops, but there is no
statute under which a trespasser can be punished. Every
one sees the absurdity of setting apart a reservation and
then leaving it without guard or government, and Congress
ought at once to provide machinery for administrating this
great property. We heartily concur with the statement of
the editors of this book that " the timber and the game in
the reservations ought to be made the absolute property of
the Government, and it should be constituted a punishable
offence to appropriate such property. The game and the
timber on a reservation should be regarded as Government
property just as the mules and cord wood are at an army
post. If it is a crime to take the latter, it should be a crime
to plunder a forest-reservation."

Poems of Nature. By William Cullen Bryant. Illus-
trated by Paul de Longprd New York : D. Appleton & Co.

This is a collection of some forty of the best-known of
Mr. Bryant's poems, each one of which is illustrated with
reproductions of one or more wash-drawings by Mr. de
Longpre, and many of these last are singularly effective.
The landscape sketches are all appropriate and show a
trained hand and an affectionate love for nature in various
moods, while the details, especially of foliage and birds, are
worked out with great skill. The book is admirably printed
on thick paper, and it is altogether a beautiful reminder
that the holiday season is approaching.

Notes.

Professor Trelease sends out his fifth annual announcement
concerning garden pupils for the Missouri Botanical Garden.
An examination of the circular shows that the course which
originally covered six years has been reduced to four years.

5IO

Garden and Forest.

[Number 302.

The same amount of manual work is required, and the effort
will be made to give as much tlieoretical instruction as possi-
ble in the various subjects prescribed, the aim being, pri-
marily, to make practical gardeners rather than botanists or
scientific specialists.

From Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry we have received a box of
the magnificent Anjou pears, for which this firm is famous,
and which grow to perfection in Rochester. No less an au-
thority than the late Marshall P. Wilder used to call the Anjou
the best all-round market pear in existence.

Expyeriments in grafting the Chrysanthemum on stocks of
Anthemis frutescens have been highly successful in Europe
again this year. A specimen of the variety Val d'Andorre, ex-
hibited at Brussels on the 12th of November, measured nine
feet in diameter and bore 783 flowers. Other grafted varieties
did not make such large bushes, but bore numerous flowers
of great size and of unusually deep colors. Why do not some
of our American experts try their hand at this work for next
year's exhibitions ?

Among various plans for ripening the green tomatoes which
are usually found on the plants when frost kills them, we note
the advice in the Florists' Exchange, to spade up a piece of
ground which is protected on the north side, then pull up the
plants with the fruits, spread them over the newly spaded
ground and cover them with straw, leaves, corn-stalks or any-
ftjing which is most convenient, to keep them warm at night.
The lieaf of the earth will ripen the fruits perfectly. The fruit
does not wilt, and the flavor will be as good as if it ripened in
the sun.

Pleading for an increased number of public playgrounds for
city children, Lord Meathsays, in a recent number of i\ie. Nine-
teenth Century, " London alone has, since the formation of the
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in 1882, increased her
open spaces by 157, containing 4,998 acres, while the entire
number of public parks and gardens within easy reach of the
inhabitants of the metropolis is 271, containing 17,876 acres,
which include 6,380 acres acauired and maintained by the
Corporation of the City of London. We may roughly say that
the cities and towns of the United Kingdom, including the
metropolis, possess some 500 open spaces over 40.000 acres in
extent."

A correspondent of the Gardeners' Chronicle states that
fungus-hunters have never known such a general failure of
the crop as there had been in the English woodlands this year.
Epping Forest was scoured in September for hours without
finding twenty different species of Agarics, while the number
of individuals of each species was equally small. In favorable
years from eighty to one hundred species would have been
recorded in the same period of time, and yet in many locali-
ties there has been a remarkable profusion of common mush-
rooms. Tons have been offered for sale at nominal prices,
and in London they have ruled lower than ever before, where
they have actually sold at twopence a pound.

The foreign horticultural papers speak with some admira-
tion of the American Chrysanthemums which have been
shown at the autumn exhibitions in Great Britain. In the
term American, however, they not only include seed-
lings raised in this country, but importations which have
reached Europe by way of America. One writer, speaking of
the competition between the Chrysanthemums raised in
France and those raised in America, states that the best of the
new introductions have come from this side of the Atlantic,
and, with the exception of the new flowers sent out by M.
Ernest Calvaf, the genuine novelties of American growers far
surpass those of all other French growers put together.

Mr. Arthur P. Hayne, writing to The Pacific Rural Press,
states that while investigating the fungi which cause various
kinds of rot in the grapes of California, he found one which
may prove a |;enuine advantage. This is Botrytis cinera,
which is essential to the production of the very best Chateau
Yquem SaOterne as well as the Rhine wines of Johannisberg.
Grapes which are covered with this mold, and are seemingly
rotten, are sold for as much as $1,000 a ton. The fungus is
not altogether a blessing, for when it attacks black or red
grapes it robs them of their color and destroys the tannin
which is necessary to make clarets. Besides this, it concen-
trates tlie sugar until it becomes impossible to make a dry
wine. It is only on white grapes that it is beneficial, and it
must be carefully studied and experimented with in California
before its true character there can be discovered. In wet cold
years it may develop before the grape is ripe, and cause it to

rot before it matures, or it may develop to such an extent on
the stem as to cause the loss of the entire bunch. But when
it appears late on a white variety it merely decomposes the
skin of the berry, allowing the oxygen of the air to act slowly
on the juice and produce certain complex acids which are es-
sential to those peculiar flavors found only in the best vint-
ages of the white-wine region in Europe.

As many as eight steamer-loads of bananas came into this
port during last week, and this large supply has had the
effect of making the wholesale price at auction as low as
twenty cents a bunch, while smaller bunches, known as
"docks," have sold for the nominal price of ten cents. The
California fruit season here is now ended, the last car-loads
consistingof Cornichon, Emperor and Flame Tokay grapes ;
choice lots of the latter during the past few days brought as
high as seventeen cents a pound by the crate. About nine
hundred car-loads of California fruit have been sold in this
city during the past six months. Prices are said to have aver-
aged fully $300 less a car than last year, a result brought about
by injury to the fruit through slow railroad service, as well as
by the abundant supply and the prevailing hard times. Catawba
and Concord grapes are still plentiful at twenty cents for
a five-pound basket, and Niagaras sell at the same price,
with Isabellas a trifle cheaper. Florida oranges of fair quality
and size range from twenty to forty cents a dozen, and the
best Navel fruit is a dollar a dozen. Mandarins are offered at
fifty cents a dozen, while Tangerines are ten cents higher for
selected fruit, and smaller sizes sell at eighteen cents a dozen on
the street-stands. Two large cargoes of Sicily lemons have
been put on the market within a week, and sales of the coarser
Malaga fruit have consequently declined. Some select Majori
lemons are selling at the usual high prices which this choice
gradeof fruit readily brings. Dainty littleLady apples are thirty
cents a dozen. A large variety of the English filbert, known as the
Kent cob-nut, is now sold in the husk at seventy-five cents a
pound. These improved nuts are comparatively rare in this
market, and in former seasons they have commanded as much
as a dollar and a half a pound.

In desert vegetation leaves are modified to economize a
scanty water-supply, while in tropical forests, where there are
daily thunder-sliowers and where the sun's rays can scarcely
penetrate the thick foliage, the retention of nioisture on the
leaf would interfere with transpiration, and transpiration is
connected with the rise of water in the stem to supply food to
tlie assimilating organs. Mr. E. Stahl has been making a study
of leaf-forms in relation to the rainfall, chiefly in the Botanic
Gardens of Buitenzorg, and he states that while a great leaf-
surface partly provides for this function there are distinct
methods l)y which plants are helped to dispose as speedily as
possible of their superabundant water-supply. One of these
is the adoption of the sleeping position by leaves, such as
those of the Sensitive Plant, so that when the horizontal leaves
bend upward the rain-drops run off by the base of the leaf.
Most frequently, however, excessive moisture is drained off
by long points to the leaves. These points occur on the lobes
of divided leaves, but are most remarkable on long ovate
leaves, such as those of Ficus religiosa. In some plants the
prolonged midrib has the form of a wide channel, but gen-
erally it is that of a tapering and narrow point, slightly curved
at the end. As the water trickles down the inclined narrow
points it passes from the upper to the under surface before
dropping from the leaf, and the bent tip accelerates this action.
Stahl tested this theory by experiments and found that the
leaves of Justicia picta, which he carefully rounded, retained
moisture for an hour, wliile those with the dropping points
left on were dry in twenty minutes or less. This rapid removal
of water from the leaf lightens its weight, helps transpiration
and cleanses the surface. In verification of this we are re-
minded that after a shower the pointed leaves of tlie Ash,
Willow, etc., have had the dust quite washed off, while rounded
leaves like those of the Oak are still dirty. In China and Japan,
where there is great heat and humidity, these long points to
the leaves are a striking feature in the vegetation, wliile plants
native to the drier regions, along the shore or up in the moun-
tains, have rounded or crenate leaves. In the eastern United
States, where great heat alternates with heavy thunder-showers,
these sharp-pointed leaves are more abundant than in central
Europe, where the summer is drier and colder, and even
within the limits of the same genus the American species have
longer-pointed leaves than their European relatives, and not
only on trees, but on smaller herbs generally, those with long
tapering pointed leaves grow by preference in the shady woods
or along the banks of rivers.

December 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

511

GARDEN AND FOREST,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargbnt.

ENTERED AS SHCOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORJC, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Editorial Articles: — The National Government and the National Forests .... 511

Distriljution of Seed by the Department of Agriculture 512

Fences. — III 512

Botanical Notes from Texas.— XIV E. N. Plank. 513

Nkw or Little-known Plants: — Chrysanthemum, Pitcher & Manda. (With

figure.) .'. 514

Foreign Correspondence : — London Letter W. Watson, 514

ClJLTURAL Department: — Sub-Irrigation Professor IV. R. Lazenby. 516

A Neglected Vegetable T. Greiner. 516

Late-flowering Chrvsanlhemums Sarah A. HilU T. D. Hatfield. 517

Protecting Plants in Winter F. H. Horsford. 518

Correspondence ; — Halesia vs. Mohria vel Mohrodendron,

John H. Redfield, Professor N. L. Brition. 518

Farms and Forests on the Carolina Foot-hills Professor W. F. Massey. 518

Orchids tor Market-flowers S, 519

Notes 520

Illustration : — Chrysanthemum, Pitcher & Manda, Fig. 75 515

The National Government and the National Forests.

IN his annual message the President of the United States
commends to the attention of Congress the statements
relating to forestry which are contained in the report of the
Secretary of the Interior, and he adds that "the time has
come when efficient measures should be taken for the
preservation of our forests from indiscriminate and remedi-
less destruction." The President might have said that this
time actually arrived many years ago; and we should have
been pleased if he had considered the subject of sufficient
importance to warrant more than a perfunctory notice.
Turning to the report of Secretary Smith, we find that he
recommends legislation which may "lay the foundation
for a wise and comprehensive forestry system to be applied
to the timber on the public land and to the forest- reserva-
tions," and he ventures the opinion that "the creation of a
forestry commission, in connection with the Land Office,
looking toward the education and use in this work of men
thoroughly suited for it, is already needed. " We agree with
the Secretary as to the urgent necessity of a commission of
forest-experts, although we are hardly sure that we fully
comprehend precisely what functions it is to fulfill in Mr.
Smith's scheme of forest-administration.

Five years ago Garden and Forest proposed, in outline, a
policy which was: ( i) To withhold from sale and entry
forest-lands on the national domain until a thorough ex-
amination had been made to show what timber tracts
could be put upon the market without injury to the coun-
try's highest interests. Meantime, in order to protect the
forest, it was advised (2) that the guardianship and defense
of the nation's forests should be entrusted to the army of
the nation until a sufficient number of adequately trained
and equipped foresters could be provided for the adminis-
tration of a permanent forest-policy. In connection with
this we urged (3) the appointment by the President of a
commission to examine into the condition of the forests in
all their relations to agriculture, public health and water-

supply, so that an intelligent determination could be
reached as to what portions of the forest on the public
domain should be preserved forever, and in what manner
the remainder should be disposed of. We still believe that
a scheme like this was practicable and desirable. It re-
ceived the approval of the American Forestry Association,
at its meeting in Philadelphia, as a wise preparation for
systematic and permanent forest-management. But Con-
gress never made any pretense of considering it, much less
of taking action on it, and never during all these years has
made one honest effort to protect and perpetuate the
forest- supplies and forest-influences which are so es-
sential to the common weal. Meanwhile, mile after mile
of timber-lands have passed into the control of lumber-
men, whose sole interest is to remove the timber as
rapidly and cheaply as possible. Timber-thieves have
been cutting on the public domain, and no determined
effort has been made to restrain them. Fires have dev-
astated hundreds of thousands of acres and private herds
have grazed on public lands and destroyed the under-
growth of hundreds of thousands more. And yet noth-
ing in the way of law, and very little in the way of an
increased enlightenment of public sentiment, exists to-day
to prevent these ravages from continuing indefinitely. To
say that there has been no advance in public knovv'ledge
on this subject would hardly be true, for, as the forest-area
narrows, the apprehensions of a coming timber-famine
grow, and men become thoughtful. Something, too, has
been done in the way of setting apart forest-reservations in
accordance with a paragraph which was adroitly or luckily
slipped in at the end of a bill where it did not properly be-
long. Certain it is, that neither the President nor his Secre-
tary need have any apprehension of being considered
alarmists when they assert that legislation is needed, and
needed at once.

In another part of his report. Secretary Smith, in writing
of the national parks and reservations, invites attention to
a state of affairs which will surprise those persons who
have been flattering themselves that these reservations
were under the protection of the army. It seems that dur-
ing the summer many complaints were made to the De-
partment that stockmen had been driving sheep into the
reserves, destroying the herbage and setting fire to the
trees. The Commissioner of the General Land Office also
invited the attention of the Department to the necessity of
protecting these reserves, and urged that portions of the army
be detailed to look after them until Congress could make
suitable provision. Accordingly, the attention of the Sec-
retary of War was directed to the facts, and he was re-
quested to send a sufficient number of troops to protect the
reservations. This request, however, was declined, be-
cause the Judge Advocate General of the Army had decided
that the employment of troops in such cases and under the
circumstances described would be unlawful. The reser-
vations, therefore, remain, with the same protection
which is extended to other unreserved public lands, and no
more. When the attention of the Judge Advocate General
was invited to the fact that officers had been already de-
tailed to protect certain national parks and forest-reserva-
tions, he replied that such detail was clearly an oversight
on the part of the War Department at that time, and he
added that " there is no express authorization by the con-
stitution or by act of Congress for the troops to be used for
the purpose of executing the laws relating to these reser-
vations, and it is therefore unlawful to do so." It will be
seen, therefore, that even the imperfect policing which it
had been supposed a handful of cavalry could give to an
area as large as some of our states, is no longer to be hoped
for.

Here certainly is need of immediate action. Congress
should not delay an hour the passage of an act to author-
ize and direct the Secretary of War to make necessary
details of troops to protect the national parks and reserva-
tions which have been established under an act of Con-
gress, or which may hereafter be set apart as public forest-

512

Garden and Forest.

[Number 303.

reservations by the President of the United States. These
reservations are the property of the people, and they have
a right to demand that the army shall be used to defend
this property from trespassers or intruders who destroy
the woods or kill the game or in any way mar the beauty
or impair the value of what has been dedicated to their use
and enjoyment forever.

The issues which now absorb public attention, and which
this Congress must meet, are grave and urgent, it is true ;
but the wisest possible action of our representatives in
regard to the tariff or the currency or taxation or our re-
lations with foreign powers, or to all of them combined,
would not do as much to advance public prosperity as
would the adoption of some measure laying broad and
deep foundations for a stable and efficient forest-policy.

The present method of distributing seed by the De-
partment of Agriculture is vigorously attacked by Secre-
tary Morton, and his arguments are reproduced at length
in the President's Message, who devotes considerably
more space to this subject than he does to that of
forestry. The story of this abuse is an old one, but al-
though every one knows that the whole business is waste-
ful and fraudulent, the practice has been kept up long after
any man of sense has presumed to justify it. More than
half a century ago the Commissioner of Patents conceived
the idea of distributing some improved varieties of seed
among farmers, which he did at his own expense. After-
ward a small appropriation was made to help on this
praiseworthy object. From this small beginning the prac-
tice has swelled year after year until last year more than
$135,000 were expended in buying seeds, bulbs and cut-
tings, most of them of ordinary kinds, and distributing them,
gratis, among the people. From an analysis of what is dis-
tributed, Secretary Morton estimates that enough cabbage
has been sent out to plant 19,200 acres, a sufficient quan-
tity of beans to plant 4,000 acres, of sweet corn to plant
7,800 acres, and so on, with beets, cucumbers and water-
melons in like profusion, until a total of more than nine
million of packages is summed up, or enough flower and
vegetable seeds to plant 89,596 acres of land, and all this
in a single year. All those who receive these seeds are
instructed to report results upon them ; but, of course, no
one makes any report whatever, so that it is evident that
in popular estimation this dissemination is considered alto-
gether a gratuity. The Secretary might have pursued his
investigations still further and found some interesting data
as to the quality of the seeds purchased and the prices paid
for them, but perhaps the disclosures made are enough for
one year. The Secretary wisely declares that the system
ought to be abolished, or, at least, that no seeds except those
of new varieties should be distributed, and these should be
sent to the experiment stations where their value could be
tested.

Fences.— III.

INTRINSIC ugliness, as we have said in former articles,
is the first sin one notes in considering American fences
collectively. But the sin of inappropriateness is just as
apparent Sometimes we see a pretentious stone-wall,
with heavy, ornate gate-posts, encircling small grounds
and a wooden cottage ; and no matter how fine in itself the
fence then may be, it distresses any one who appreciates
the prime artistic virtue of fitness. Still more often a cheap
or shabby fence surrounds beautifully kept grounds and a
costly house, injuring harmony of effect, and seeming to
prove that the owner spent more lavishly at first than he
could afford and ran out of funds before his fence was
reached. Again, a hedge has been planted without proper
consideration of the exposure or of the character of the soil,
and wears a foriorn expression which the intelligent ob-
server will know to have been inevitable ; or a high fence
stands where a low one would have been in better taste,

or a very low one where thronging men or animals de-
mand something higher for the satisfaction of the eye at
least.

No fence can be good which is not suitable ; and none
can be suitable which has not been designed with proper
respect for its relation to the character of the buildings it
accompanies ; to the practical requirements of protection ;
to the general aspect of the road or street, and to the nature
of the district as rich in one building material or another.
A gilt-tipped wrought-iron fence of the most artistic design
would not look well around a cottage set on a rocky New
F.ngland bluff or on the edge of an Adirondack lake, nor a
rustic cedar fence in a dignified suburban street of villas.
A brick wall, which would be eminently appropriate in a
region devoid of stone, would not be as well suited to a
place in the stony Berkshire hills. A wall of cut stone, or
even of white marble, has the right expression near the
quarries of these hills, while, if transported to the New Jer-
sey shore, it would seem an inartistic bit of ostentation. In
certain cases an owner may well sacrifice a justifiable pref-
erence for some type of fence if it would conflict disagree-
ably with his neighbors' fences, thus injuring the general
aspect of the street. And then, when considerations of fit-
ness have determined what material shall be used for the
fence, its height, its solidity and its degree of elaboration
should be determined in the same manner, with careful
regard to the size and expression of the house, the extent
of the grounds, and the nature of the highways.

Finally, there is a third sin to be noted as too frequently
characteristic of our fences. The effect of the good ones
is too often injured, and the effect of the poor ones ren-
dered still worse by inexcusable neglect and untidiness.
An intelligent observer of agricultural regions accepts their
fences as a pretty fair indication of the general temper and
habits of the population. The ragged sod-walls of the Irish
peasant, compared with the neat hedges of the English
peasant, tell a plain tale with regard to differing social and
economic conditions lasting through many centuries.
Every traveler through New England knows that here a
well built and kept stone-wall or neat wooden paling
means thrift, prosperity and a corresponding degree of
contentment and refinement, while a tumbling wall or
broken paling means a worn-out farm, boys gone off to the
city, poverty, shiftlessness, and the death of hope. No-
where, in ante-bellum days, could the difference between
the north and the south be more clearly read than in the
unlikeness of the neat fences of a Massachusetts village to
the ragged unkemptness of those in a Georgian village —
the self-respecting prosperous working-man had built the
former, the negro or the "poor white" the latter.

Of course, the significance of such signs as these may be
overestimated, especially in comparing a newly settled dis-
trict with one which has been long inhabited. It would be
foolish to expect such fences as should encircle a small New
England farm to be repeated around the great new farms of
the west, and foolish to look in a region poor in both stone
and wood for the same solidity in fencing that is natural in
a tree-covered, rocky land. Moreover, all America is new
as compared, for example, with England, and in few parts
of it can we expect an English neatness of wall and hedge.
Foreigners undoubtedly do us injustice if they gauge our
general love for order, frugality and niceness in matters of
details by our fences alone. Nevertheless, even from, our
own point of view, and making all due allowance' for
national newness and special local conditions, our fences
are not, as regards mere neatness, half as good as they
ought to be. This is true even with regard to rural districts
and small villages. But it is painfully true with regard to
those suburban districts and summer colonies which are
inhabited by well-to-do people, and often by the wealthiest
people of America. There is nothing more surprising at
Newport, for example, than the average poverty and unti-
diness of the fences as compared with the co.sthness of the
houses and the almost excessive neatness with which their
grounds are kept. Many of the fences around the finest

December 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

513

houses are ugly ; many more are inappropriate, few among
those built of the more perishable materials are kept in per-
fect repair, anrl their outer borders are seldom tended prop-
erly. On an open country-road a property-owner may be
excused if he keeps his wall in good repair and its inner
borders rightly planted or cleaned, while he lets stones and
weeds and heaps of dirt accumulate outside. But, on a
street or avenue like those of Newport, perfect neatness is as
imperatively required outside a fence as within it. Uncer-
tain or divided responsibility is often responsible forneglect
in this particular — the property-owner thinks that it is the
town's business to keep the street-borders neat, the town
otificials think that it is his business, or are neglectful of
their duties. But it is hard to understand how any per-
son able to own a fine house and grounds in a place like
Newport can be content to do no more than he must in the
care of the high-road ; for a ragged, unkempt bit of high-
road adjoining his wall is not only ugly in itself and a pub-
lic disgrace, but specially injurious to the effect of his wall
and his property as seen beyond it.

Unimproved pieces of property in Newport and similar
places are often encircled, even when they lie on the most
frequented streets, by mere rough fences of rails or boards.
It need hardly be said that this is inexcusable. A property-
owner who thinks only of his own pocket — who protects
his land against marauders in the cheapest way he can, nut
caring whether or no his fence injures the erfect of neigh-
boring places, hurts the general perspective of the street,
and is an eyesore to every passer-by — such a property-
owner has no real love of beauty, and is a bad citizen
besides.

Need we explain that to keep fences neat and in good
order should not always mean to keep them primly clean
and free from all fringing and climbing plants ? Appropri-
ateness is synonymous with good sense and good taste in
this as in every point. The degree of neatness, required
on a suburban avenue is greater than that required on a
modest village street, much greater than that required along
a rural higway. Rut, however freely and variously Nature
may be allowed to drape and buttress a fence, the fence it-
self should be kept in good repair. Gaping brick-work,
tottering stones, broken palings, fallen rails or swaying
posts can never' be pleasing to the eye, except, of course,
where man's work has patently gone to ruin and been
abandoned to Nature, who can turn confessed decay into
picturesqueness. A broken Tence, with the aid of which
Nature has created a luxuriant hedge-row, or a fallen stone-
wall over which she has woven a garment of wild Roses,
Grape-vines and Smilax, is a charming thing to see ; but
only where the soil itself has been abandoned to her free
devices — never amid the surroundings of an inhabited
house or encircling fields still cultivated to supply the wants
of man. Here, also, Nature may sometimes be allowed a
pretty free hand ; but man's supremacy should still be
manifest ; and this supremacy does not manifest itself fa-
vorably if signs of neglect and decay are apparent in any
piece of his handiwork.

Botanical Notes from Texas. — XIV.

'T'HEcityof Corpus Christ! stands near the north-west cor-
■*• ner of a hay of tlie same name, whicli is an inlet of the
Gulf of Mexico. The Texas coast here turns to the south and
liolds the waters of the Gulf from extending much farther
westward ; in fact, the mouth of the Rio Grande River is a
little east of Corpus Christi. The city is old, though it does
not contain over five or six thousand inhabitants. It was the
base of General Taylor's military operations during the Mex-
ican War, and the earthworks thrown up by his troops, just
east of the city, are still plainly to be seen.

A portion of the city is built upon the beach and not much
above its level, and occasionally tliis part of the town has been
invaded by immense tidal waves. The plateau upon whicli
most of the city is built is thirty or forty feet above the bay
and commands a view of the entire bay and of the reefs or
islands which separate it from the Gulf. Corpus Christi and

Laredo are on nearly the same parallel, and the ninety-seventh
meridian is just by the city.

The Nueces River brings down the waters collected by the
Blanco, Guadalupe, San Antonio, Medina, Frio and Leona
Rivers, and forms a large marsh and bay of its own, uniting
with the waters of Corpus Chiisti Bay a little east of the city.

Among the coast plants GZnoihera is well represented here,
as along most of the Texas coast, by the prostrate, handsome,
strong-growing CK. Drummondii. Its thickened leaves are
whitened by a dense pubescence. Just as night closes in, its
handsome large yellow flowers open and lie like stars upon
the sand, where not a blossom was to be seen a few minutes
before. The visitor who rises early will also see them in his
morninff walk, but tliey are not so handsome then as they are
at nightfall.

There are two or three species of Salicornia on the salt-
marshes here. S. herbacea is a common Inhabitant of most
of our entire ocean shore. It is also occasionally found in
salt-marshes of the interior. Its rounded su.cculent stems,
already salted, are often pickled in vinegar and eaten as a salad
or relish. Formerly, if not now, it grew in abundance on the
salt-marshes around Syracuse, New York, and was collected
and sold from house to house under the name of Samphire.
Though an Old World species, it was not the Samphire of
Shakespeare : " Half-way down hangs one that gathers Sam-
phire, dreadful trade !" — a reference to Crithmum maritimum,
an umbelliferous plant.

A remarkable plant of the Gulf beaches is Lycium Carolini-
anum, found commonly creeping in damp sands. It has
rounded fleshy leaves, purplish flowers and bright red berries.
The fruit is edible, and is gathered and eaten uncooked, or is
used by coast people for pies, tarts and jellies. In one museum
of Texas productions I saw a jar of it, labeled "Texas Cran-
berries." Statice Limonium, handsome in appearance, and
useful as a remedial agent, is very abundant on the sally soils,
painting the otherwise naked sand a lilac hue. Borrichia fru-
tescens is common along the entire coast. ' Bearing it com-
pany here, though hardly recognizable, dressed in more
numerous, thickened leaves, is Aplopappus rubiginosus, or
a form of it. Even the handsome genus Gaillardia has set out
to make a maritime species of its own out of a form of G. pul-
chella, and has already thickened its leaves, changed the color
of its rays, and otherwise disguised its appearance.

In addition to the numerous genera of plants whose species
are always found on the shores of bodies of salt-water or in the
vicinity of salt-springs and salt-marshes, and which every-
where reveal the character of the soil in which they grow,
most large genera whose species usually grow inland have
also developed species which have located near the sea, and
have become changed by their surroundings, until in their
general structure and appearance they closely resemble their
neighl^ors which naturally belong to the coast. It is interest-
ing to study how a genus of many species has sent them out
to represent the type in so many modifications of size, form
and mode of living. They may be found large and small, tall
and short, smooth and hairy, armed and unarmed, handsome
and plain, erect and prostrate, aromatic and iistid, fragrant and
odorless, climbing or creeping, with leaves of all forms, flow-
ers of all hues, and fruits and seeds of all sizes, forms and fla-
vors consistent with its own idea of life. The thick-leaved
Cissus incisa was doubtless born and bred near salt-water, but
through long periods of time it has learned to adapt itself to
somewhat different conditions, though even now it seems to
be better pleased when living on the coast.

The commonly cultivated Tamarix Gallica shows its origin
at once as it approaches the sea. A slight shrub in northern
gardens, hardly able to stand alone, it becomes along the coast
a tree with a short spongy trunk sometimes two feet in diame-
ter. It is often planted in coast cities as a street-tree. Here it
is oftener seen in yards, with its long lithe branches, trained
over bowers or merely sustained by poles, forming dense
shades. It is generally known as Coast Cedar or Salt Cedar.

I concluded my botanical studies at Corpus Christi by taking
a long stroll down the beach of the bay, returning upon the
bluffs: Rarely on the sand I met the more southern crucifer,
a Synthiplis which is slowly extending up the bay. Near by a
Cakile was growing, probably C. maritima. It was the only 'in-
dividual of that species which I have seen along the Texas
coast. At least three species of Atriplex are common on the
salt-marshes. In drier and less saline places the commork
coast plant Sesuvium portulacastrum makes itself at home.
There are nearly erect as well as trailing forms of it. Its rose-
colored calycine leaves add beauty as well as variety to the
coast flora. Curly Mezquit, the well-known Buffalo-grass of
the plains, grows within reach of tide- water.

514

Garden and Forest.

[Number 303

On the slight bluffs of "washes" and elsewhere the dainty
growing and handsome climbing Antirrhinum maurandioides
grows The whole plant is attractive, and especially its light
blue Snapdragon- flowers. It is often cultivated. Clematis
Drummondii also does well in the salt air. Tlie little Xan-
thoxylum Pterota and I-eucophyllum Texanuin come to the
coast and mingle with Rubus trivialis and Cissus incisa.

Tropical Ipomira fislulosa has rarely obtained a foothold in
the salt-sands. Two or three other species of Ipomoea are
saline plants. I. sinuata, bearing handsome white waxy flow-
ers, with a purplish centre, ventures to the coast in its range.
Its flowers expand foronly two or three hours during the mid-
dle of the day, and it is therefore known as "Noon-flower."
Low-growing Eustoma silenifolium is often seen here, and
rarely Malvaviscus Drummondii grows five to six feet tall
when salt-water may lave its roots.

On the highlands two shrubby species of Asterare common —
A. Palmeri and A. spinosus. The shrubby Salvia ballotseflora
is very common in rocky places. It is strongly scented with
the peculiar odor of the officinal species.

Acacia feliceria reaches the coast in its range southward. In
its growth it is the humblest of our Acacias. It has a more
extended northern range than any other species of the genus.
Cuscuta exaltata grows luxuriantly within reach of high tide.

Kansas City. Kansas. -£". •A'. Plank.

New or Little-known Plants.

Chrysanthemum, Pitcher & Manda.

THE new Chrysanthemum illustrated on page 515, and
which would be classed among the refiexed Japanese
varieties, has attracted much attention at the principal ex-
hibitions this year, and has received a number of prizes and
certificates. It was originated by Messrs. Pitcher& Manda,
of the United States Nurseries, Short Hills, New Jersey.
The seed-parent was D. S. Brown, a variety with lemon-
yellow flowers, which show the centre to some extent,
and the pollen-parent is unknown. Seed was sown in
the spring of 1892, and it flowered last autumn. This
is, therefore, the second year that it has been grown, and
it has proved to be of sturdy habit and excellent foliage,
while the flowers are quite distinct in form and unique in
color. As shown this year it was not a deep flower, but a
very solid one, of large diameter. The head is composed
of a great number of tubular corollas, of which the outer five
or six rows, grooved toward the end, are a creamy white,
sometimes showing a lint of yellow just at the edges. The
most striking feature of the flower is the suffusion of the
inner corollas with a deep chrome-yellow, which, in contrast
with the cream-white rays surrounding them, is very taking.
A correspondent, who saw this flower in Boston, wrote :
" It seems a pity that a starry flower, with a golden heart
and silver rays, which might well be named Planet, or
Aldebaran, or Sirius, should be doomed to wear such a
prosaic title as Pitcher & Manda." The name has the one
merit of commemorating its originators, and it has been
the fashion for a long time to name Roses, Carnations,
Chrysanthemums and other flowers after men and women.
This is the first instance, to our knowledge, however, in
which the name of a firm has been utilized in this way.
Perhaps other firms will see the advantage of such a nomen-
clature, and another year we may have the variety " Hoopes
Brothers & Thomas," or "The Andorra Nursery Company,
Limited." This is not a matter of vital importance, and
new varieties are increasing so rapidly that names are only
useful for purposes of identification, and yet we think the
flower is sufficiently distinct and individual to deserve a
characteristic name. «

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Rosa gigantea. — It is now five years since this Rose was
introduced into cultivation from Burma, where it had been
discovered by Major General Collett, who sent seeds of it
to Kew and elsewhere. It has very thick stems, reddish
spines, and bears large single white flowers, five inches in

diameter. It grows very freely in a cold-house at Kew,
and it stood out-of-doors without protection for two years,
but succumbed to the severe frost of last winter. No doubt,
the plants grown under glass will flower when old enough,
Roses raised from seeds being, as a rule, slow to flower.
Meanwhile, the following information respecting it, from a
correspondent in Burma, will be read with interest by all who
possess this Rose : "Rosa gigantea grows in profusion imme-
diately opposite the window I am now writing at, and for a
hundred yards or more away. The boles of some of the
plants are as thick as a man's thigh. It is a creeper and
does not flower until it gets over or beyond the tree it
climbs. These specimens are on large evergreen trees, and
their roots are in limestone and vegetable mold, through
which run innuinerable springs of pure water. The boles
of the Roses never get the sun, and they are always in the
neighborhood of spring water, which their roots, no doubt,
find. The whole of a large group of trees on the southern
and western side is covered up to fifty or eighty feet in
height with the Roses, and when in full bloom they look
like a sheet of white, and the air all round is most beauti-
fully scented. It is certainly a glorious sight. The ground
all round is strewed with the seeds of the Rose in July."

Freylinia cestroides is a shrub about which I knew
nothing until this week, when a friend sent some flovvering
branches of it from Cannes, on the Riviera, where he says
it forms a handsome bush and flowers freely in October.
The branches are erect and clothed with opposite linear-
lanceolate, smooth, green leaves, four or five inches long,
and bearing long, erect, crowded terminal racemes of
creamy yellow tubular flowers, not unlike those of Ces-
trum aurantiacum. Freylinia is a genus of three or four
species, all natives of the Cape of Good Hope. It is a near
ally of Scrophularia and Ixianthes, the latter also a native
of the Cape, and a handsome-flowered shrub, which has
lately been introduced to Kew. Phygalius is another near
relation to Freylinia. F. cestroides is apparently the hand-
somest as a garden-plant. Possibl)' it is in cultivation
under one or other of its synonyms, which are F. opposeti-
folia, Buddleia glaberrima, Capraria lanceolata and C. sali-
cifolia. It is a shrub worth looking after.

Flora of South Arabia. — Mr. Theodore Bent, the well-
known archaeologist and traveler, having arranged an ex-
pedition to Hadramant, in south Arabia, the Director of
Kew has obtained permission for a plant-collector to ac-
company him in the interests of Kew. Hadramant is one
of the four ancient kingdoms of southern Arabia which
formerly supplied the world with its more important luxu-
ries. It is practically unknown, but is reported to be rich
in ruins and inscriptions. Frankincense, the product of
Boswellia Carteri, is obtained almost exclusively from this
part of Arabia. There are good reasons for believing that
the flora of that part of Arabia is exceptionally interesting,
both botanically and horticulturally. The small island of
Socotra, off the coast of south Arabia, proved a rich mine
both to botanists and horticulturists when visited by Pro-
fessor Bayley Balfour thirteen years ago. Mr. Bent's party
starts next week, and will be away about six months.

Orchid Culture. — Monsieur Lucien Linden announces a
book on Orchids, written by himself, in which he publishes
the details of the cultural methods adopted in the establish-
ment at Brussels over which he presides, and where
Orchids generally are cultivated with exceptional success.
The book will contain about 800 pages, and treats upon
the classification and distribution of Orchids, in addition to
their history in gardens and other matters of interest con-
nected with this popular family of plants. Monsieur Lin-
den and his father have had so much experience in the
collecting, establishing and distributing of all kinds of
Orchids, and have introduced so many of those species
which are most popular in gardens, that this book cannot
fail to interest growers and admirers of Orchids. It is
promised for January, 1894, the price being twenty-five
francs. An English edition is, I believe, in contemplation.

December 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

515

Cattleya Brownii. — This is a new species, which Mr. Rolfe
has named for Messrs. F. Sander & Co., who inchided
about a score of recently imported plants of it in a late
auction sale. A full description of it will be published in
the Kew Bulletin. It is said to be a strong, free grower,
with pseudo-bulbs about two feet high, terminated by a
pair of large, oblong, coriaceous leaves, and a raceme of
five and more flowers, which measure from three and a
half to four inches in diameter. _ The sepals and petals are

and ordinary cool treatment will suit it. The flowers are
large and bold, and remind one of the beautiful O. lamelli-
gerum or macranthum, combining the colors of those
species. The petals are of a dusky red-crimson, with
golden margins, and they resemble somewhat those of O.
Kramerianum. The sepals are of the same color as the
petals, but quite one-colored. A most distinctive feature
in this new species is that the sepals stand boldly upright,
as in O. Kramerianum ; the spikes are stiff, and the flowers,

Fig. 75. — New Chrysanthemum, Pitcher & Mauda. — See page 514.

bright rose-purple, in some of the forms spotted with darker
purple. The petals are a little broader than the sepals, and
elegantly undulated. The lip is three-lobed, the color
ranging from light blush pink to light rose-purple, with
darker veins on the rounded front lobe.

O.NcmiuM Sanderiaxlm.— ^Plants of this new Oncidium
have been offered for sale, and, judging from the descrip-
tion published by the vendors, it ought to be a first-rate
garden Orchid. It is said to come from the Cattleya Rex
country, but is found growing at a much higher elevation,

vi'hich are individually four inches in diameter, are borne
in abundance. A great recommendation of this plant is its
adaptability to the cool greenhouse, which will suit it ad-
mirably, and it will grow and flower with .freedom under
such conditions.

AciDANTHERA (EQUiNocTiALis. — This plant is now flowering
in a warm house at Kew. It was introduced from the
Sugar-loaf Mountain in Sierra Leone, by Mr. Scott Elliott,
early this year (see Garden and Forest, page 133), corms of
it having been collected for him by Captain Donovan at an

5i6

Garden and Forest.

[Number 303.

elevation of 3,000 feet. The Kew plants are four feet high,
Gladiolus-like, with leaves one and a half inch wide and
twenty inches long. The flowers are nodding in a loose
spike and are half as large again as those of A. bicolor ;
they are three inches wide, the segments regular and pure
snow-white, with a broad band of crimson at the base of
each segment ; the tube of the flower is curved and six
inches long. So far, this plant has thriven best in a warm
house. It is a good garden-plant and interesting botani-
cally.

Loodoo.

W. Walson.

Cultural Department.

Sub-Irrigation.

ONE of the difficulties in agricultural and horti-
cultural practice is the removal of surplus mois-
ture from the soil at one time, and the supply of mois-
ture in another, since a proper distribution of water in
the soil is a prime element in the successful growth of
crops. Different plans for supplying water to the roots
of plants have been devised by what is known as sub-irri-
gation, and we present the statement of a method that was
employed by Professor Lazenby, in the Horticultural De-
partment of the Ohio State University, where water was
applied to the soil of the forcing-house and hot-bed under
the surface, and a system of irrigation and drainage was
arranged for the out-of-door garden. The main features of
the plan, as described in Agricultural Science, are the fol-
lowing :

For Vegetable Forcing -houses. —Water-tight benclies
were constructed for the houses by using hardwood flooring
of Georgia pine and pouring white-lead into the grooves. On
the side benches, which are four feet wide, two lines of three-
inch drain-tile were laid, extending their whole length of one
hundred feet. In the middle bench, seven feet wide, three or
four lines of tile were used, and the ends were laid in cement,
which extended partly up the sides of the joints. If the joints
had been left wholly open, wafer would run out of them too
freely at first, and would not be carried to the farther end of
the hne as quickly as was desired. When the sides of the
joints are cemented the water passes through the whole
length of tile before much runs out, and then it escapes from
all the joints alike and is distributed evenly. Instead of drain-
tile, sewer-pipe was used in one of the side benches, and one
and a half-inch iron pipe with quarter-inch holes every two
feet on the lower side was also used. In each house a
small space was reserved for surface-watering as acheck upon
the results. Thecrops grown were Radishes, Lettuce, Toma-
toes, Parsley and Cucumbers, and in spite of the predictions
of many that it was "always necessary to sprinkle foliage in
greenhouse plants," and that " the air would be so dry that
the plants would wither," the growth and health of the crops
were remarkable. By careful weighing and actual market re-
turns it was found that the Radishes averaged more tlian fifty
per cent, better, and the difference in earliness and quality was
as marked as the difference in quantity. With surface-water-
ing especially, when the weather was cold, there was a rank
top growth and small development of root. When pulled for
market the tops would often weigh more than the roots, and
many plants with unusually large tops would have small,
tougti, spindling roots. With under-surface watering the tops
were comparatively small and the roots larger, almost double
the weight of the former, and well developed in every part.
The effect on Lettuce was equally evident, as the yield was
twenty-five per cent, greater," and the lettuce-rot, which was
quite bad where surface-watering was practiced, was held in
check. The effect on Cucumbers was not less beneficial, but
the results were less marked on Tomatoes and Parsley, al-
though the advantages were discernible. On the average it
was found necessary to run water into the tiles only once a
week, a great reduction of labor. The proper amount to use
is easily determined by the appearance of the plants or the
condition of the soil, and there is little danger of overwater-
ing, for the tiles act to a certain extent as drains, and by allow-
ing free access of air the soil does not become sour. The re-
sults obtained for three successive years demonstrated that
for the vegetable forcing-house under-surface watering is a
success, beine economical of water, economical of time and
labor, and a check to fungous diseases. It keeps the soil in

the best condition by preventing surface-hardening and water-
soaking, and is the best method of securing an even distribu-
tion of moisture to the roots of growing plants.

For Seed-beds and Seedlings.— In the hot, dry weather of
late summer and early autumn it is hard to secure an even
germination of fine vegetables- seeds by surface- watering on
account of the rapid evaporation. Besides this, great injury is
often done by washing out some seeds and burying others too
deeply. The method of watering here is by placing two water-
tight benches or shallow tanks, one near the pofting-room.and
another under one of the soil-benches, and into these an inch
or so of water is turned. Seeds are then sown in Hats with
perforated bottoms, and containing about two inches of fine
black muck. The flat is then placed in the watering-bench, and
as soon as the soil is saturated they are set on a frame above
the bench, and when occasion requires are watered in the
same way. During the very hottest and driest weather one
watering sufficed for three days, and would ordinarily answer
for five or six. By the plan of sprinkling the surface once or
twice a day it would have been almost impossible to keep the
soil equally moist throughout and prevent the surface from
washing and baking; besides this, the seeds would have been
disturbed, and the young seedlings more or less injured by
damping off. It seems clear that under-surface watering is
the way to supply moisture evenly and economically to ger-
minating seeds and late plants for the greenhouse or hot-betl.

CoMBi.VED Drainage and Irrigation in the Garden.— In
early spring, and often at other times, the soil is too wet, and
it is as often too dry in summer and autumn. An attempt was
made to modify this irregularity of supply and keep the soil-
moisture under control upon a level spot in the vegetable-gar-
den, which was divided into five plots, each twenty-five feet
by forty. Through these plots lines of three-inch tile were laid
on an exact level, with the ends embedded in cement. They
were eight inches deep, and the rows two and a half inches
apart. At one end of each line an upright tile was placed, into
which water could be turned, and at the other end of the line
the tile continued beyond the plants, and acted as an outlet
when the tiles were used as a drain. A valve was set at the
beginning of this outlet, so that when desired water could be
held in the tile — that is, when the soil was too wet the valve
was open, and the tiles acted as a drain ; when it became too
dry, water was turned into the tiles, the valves were closed,
and the tiles acted as a reservoir, from which the water could
pass into the soil. In the early spring, some early Beets
planted here matured while moisture was still abundant, and
showed little difference in yield between the tiled and the un-
tiled plots. For Onions and String Beans, which matured later,
the water was turned into the tiles at five different times. The
Onions increased over fifty per cent., the Beans were more
than doubled in weight, while thequality was greatly improved
and the season lengthened. The soil in the tiled plots was dry,
and in a fit condition to work several days in spring before the
adjacent untiled plots, so that the experiment, so far, seems to
prove that this method has all the advantages of under-surface
watering in the greenhouse.

A Neglected Vegetable.

■VX^ITH the exception of a row or two of plants grown from
* » purchased Onion sets for use in the green state, or of a
few stalks of the Egyptian-tree or WinterOnion, or of a clump
or two of "Cfiives" in some out-of-the-way corner, the genus
Allium is seldom worthily represented in the home-garden.
The majority of amateurs claim that at present average prices
dry onions can be bought at much less cost during autumn
or winter than they can be produced, except by a skilled mar-
ket-grower on a large scale. Under some circumstances this
may be true. The chief reason, however, for this neglect of
one of our most important vegetables is that amateurs look
upon it almost disdainfully as a sort of outlaw without the re-
finement or delicacy which is looked for in the inhabitants of
the home-garden. This is a great injustice, especially since
the introduction, in 1888, of the Prizetaker, the best of all
Onions now in cultivation in America. It resembles the im-
ported Spanish Onion in color and shape, equals it in mildness
of flavor, and bulbs are easily grown to weigh from one to two
pounds each. I have seen specimens weighing five and six
pounds. In short, if the home-grower proceeds in the right
way he will find as much satisfaction and advantage in grow-
ing a bed of Onions as he can desire from the production of
any other vegetable, and a bed of well-grown Prizetaker Onions
is an exhibit of which any gardener may well be proud. In
the market the Prizetaker has not yet attained the position of a
successful rival of the Si)anish Onion, but the home-grower

December 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

5''

will find it for all practical purposes the equal of that special
favorite.

In order to get the full measure of pleasure and profit out
of the Prizetaker, it should have an early start and the rich,
well-prepared soil usually found in the home-garden, and the
beds should be made rather compact by rolling, tramping or
otherwise. Often the soil of the home-garden is too mellow
and loose for best results in Onion-growing. The plants may
be started in a box eighteen inches by nine, such as come to
grocers containing canned meats, being large enough for all
the plants needed for an average home-garden supply. Suc-
cess is almost insured if one has strong plants ready for putting
in open ground by the time when onion-growers usually sow
their seed, that is, as early in spring as soil and season will
permit. It takes from eight to ten weeks to grow the plants
to the desired size, which is from one-eighth to three-sixteenths
of an inch in diameter near the surface of the soil. I prefer
clear river sand to ordinary soils in which to grow the plants.
The box, about five inches deep, is filled up to within an inch
of the top, and the seed contained in a ten-cent paper, say one-
eighth of an ounce or rather more, is scattered evenly over the
well-watered surface, and a half-inch or so of clear sand is then
sifted over it. The box may be put into a warm kitchen win-
dow, an early hot-bed, or on a greenhouse bench, and the
plants cared for in the usual manner. Even if soil is used in
the boxes, I would at least put an inch of sand on top, as the
plants and their roots turn out much nicer in sand than in
even the best of soil ; but clear sand will need some extra ap-
plications of plant-foods. I usually water the plants from time
to time with the soap-suds from the wash-house, or with liquid-
manure, or else sprinkle a trifle of nitrate of soda, potash and
bone-superphosphate over each box. As I want to have my
plants ready for setting in open ground about the middle of
April, I usually sow the seed by the middle of February, or
shortly after. There is little difficulty in raising the plants. A
box of thedimensions given has room for at least five hundred
fine plants, which, set in rows one foot apart and three inches
apart in the row, should give not less than three hundred
pounds or upward of five bushels of splendid bulbs. The
commercial grower might raise from eight hundred to one
thousand plants in one of the boxes, but for the home-garden
I would prefer the smaller number. It is very desirable to set
large plants as they seem to make larger onions in the end.

Every amateur whom 1 can induce to make the suggested
trial with the Prizetaker will thank me, I am sure, for having
called his attention to the "new culture" of an ennobled "pa-
riah of the home-garden."

La SMe, N. V. 7. Greiner.

Late-flowering Chrysanthemums.

■\17HEN the Chrysanthemum shows are set down for the
• ' earlier part of November, the intending exhibitor, as he
examines the slowly expanding buds, often feels that he has
too many late varieties in his collection ; but when the last
third of the month rolls around he remarks on the great
scarcity of really fine sorts at his disposal ; the number of late
varieties is very limited and confined, with hardly an excep-
tion, to white and yellow in colors.

Mrs. W. K. Harris, eagerly welcomed some five years ago
as a good late yellow, has been reluctantly discarded on ac-
count of its faulty constitution ; Dr. Covert, a very bright
golden-yellow, full and incurving, divides honors with Eva
Hoyte, another magnificent yellow Japanese ; neither of these
is of difficult management, though they require careful culti-
vation ; they will never be found in superabundance, because
of their rather slow production of root-suckers for propaga-
tion. Another superior late yellow is the great prize-taker of
the year, Challenge, an immense sphere of golden color, which
by December ist has become a pointed ball, if this description
may be allowed. All of these late yellows are possessed of
great keeping qualities, and by care in cutting and placing in
a dry cellar their floral sunshine may be enjoyed along with
the Christmas dinner.

Besides these three fine yellows, there are three good white
varieties — the old Christmas Eve, of only medium size, but
graceful in growth and form ; Potter Palmer, which is really
an enlarged and improved L. Canning, very valuable, and not
so well known as it should be, and the queenly Flora Hill,
which is never to be forgotten when once seen in statuesque
perfection. It has been said that this variety is difficult to
grow, but any one who will study its requirements and win
success with it, will find himself amply repaid for his trouble,
and it is really only a case of knowing how.

Superior late red Chrysanthemums are Mrs. Andrew Car-

negie, a gorgeous flower when well grown, but now seldom
seen, and O. P. Bassett, a king among crimsons, but a failure
except in the hands of an expert.

Probably one reason why there are so few good late varie-
ties is that growers have not had patience to wait tor the
bloom of the last straggling seedlings, in their eagerness to
clear and reset their beds. And then, too, raisers of seedlings
have learned that a new variety must have the endorsement
of competent judges before the grower of to-day will accept
it, and these rear-guards of the floral procession are loo late
for the shows, and thus lose value in the estimate of their
propagators. Now that we have a National Chrysanthemum
Society, it should be practicable to have these late varieties
passed upon by the officers of the society and brought to recog-
nition if they are worthy of it. A few pre-eminently good late
varieties, covering a wider range of colors, and, especially of
free growth, would be a valuable acquisition alike to amateurs
and commercial growers.

Regarding red varieties, it is a noticeable peculiarity that,
with the exception of CuUingfordi, George W. Childs and
O. P. Bassett, nearly all, except the semi-double ones, turn
their dull sides outward and jealously hide their crimson
velvet from view, and the only way to compel tliis class to
show their true colors is to grow them in bush form ; this
great variance in the form of the flower, as seen in contrasting
the single-stem bloom with that of the spray, is one of the
most interesting facts to be noted in Chrysanthemum culture.
Good red varieties are not yet crowding each other for room.

Richmond, Ind. Sarah A. Hill.

■VXTHY good late Chrysanthemums are scarce is probably
** owing to the prevalent plan of holding exhibitions at
about the same time — that is, in mid-season. In selecting and
raising new varieties many fine kinds are discarded on ac-
count of their lateness, seeing that they do not develop in time
to be passed upon by the various committees. Some plan
ought to be devised by the National Chrysanthemum Society
of America for recognizing both very early and very late
varieties.

I have recently visited many of the leading growers in the
vicinity of Boston with a view of learning what is grown for
late blooms. I find no specially late kinds are selected, ex-
cept in one instance, dependence being entirely upon late-
struck cuttings of ordinary varieties and some even of early
kinds. Those most commonly grown were CuUingfordi, Mrs.
Irving Clarke, Minnie Wanamaker, Moonlight, Mr. H. Can-
nell, Harry Widener, Mrs. Kimball and W. H. Lincoln.

Really late varieties are White Cap, a very dwarf kind, with
folded ribbon-like petals, making a compact ball. This is a
very neat grower, and makes a good specimen. Gold-finder,
very much like the preceding, except that it is yellow instead
of white. Olga, pink, and always too late for the exhibitions.
The blooms are rather flat and incurved, but the color is good.
Mrs. Humphreys, a white, rather small, ideal bloom, with
straight flat petals, slightly incurved and very compact. It
also makes a good specimen plant. Wanlass, a new incurved
pink Japanese, which has never been sufficiently developed to
exhibit. It is a rather tall, but very even, grower, and will
probably be one of the very best late varieties for large cut
blooms.

Eiderdown, another new variety which, also, has not been
in condition to exhibit at the regular shows. It has been aptly
stylec/ a white Kiota, very much resembling this lovely varietv
in all out color. C. B. Whitnal, a very handsome incurved
crimson. It forms a very large and perfectly incurved bloom,
and is particularly valuable on account of its color, which is
scarce at any season. Mrs. Robert Craig, another white va-
riety, which is not as well known as it should be. It is a lovely
incurved white of medium size, and may be kept until very
late. Mrs. F. L. Ames, better, as this season has proved, than
its originator claimed for it. Its late blooms are remarkably
good. It is an orange-yellow incurved Japanese, of great depth
and good constitution. May's White Gem and Mrs. W. G.
Newitt, these have both proved late with me. A very hand-
some plant of each was left out of the exhibitions on account
of lateness. The latter is a particularly handsome variety,
not only as a specimen plant, but for single blooms.

At one place I visited Emily Dorner, bronze incurved, S. C.
Burpee, bronze reflexed, and Eda Praes, flesh pink, were late,
and considered very valuable, particularly on account of their
lovely colors. Syringa, pink, and its white sport, Moly Bawn,
are also both quite late, and although very beautiful are con-
sidered undesirable from a commercial point of view on ac-
count of its difficulty in packing them. The same also must
be said of Mrs. Isaac Price, yellow and very late, much like

5i8

Garden and Forest.

[N'JMBER 303.

Golden Dragon, but difficult to ship, because the petals inter-
lock badly. Ethel, white, and Mrs. H. J. Jones, yellow, are
desirable'older varieties. -i^ r. rr ^^ ,j

WdJ«ley. Mms. T. D. Hatfield.

Protecting Plants in Winter.

MOST hardy plants that suffer in winter are injured by the
warmer open weather. Alpines that are accustomed to
the severest cold are often winter-killed in cultivation. This
comes not from the severe cold, but from alternate freezing
and thawing. Hardy herbaceous plants not fully established
are liable to be injured in the same way. When these are
planted in autumn a protection is quite necessary. Snow is
as good a covering as can be desired if it could only be re-
lied upon ; but it seldom stays all winter. For herbaceous
plants set out in autumn I find a light covering of swale-hay
quite satisfactory. It does not smother the plants. They are
frozen under it, which is good for them, and when a few days
of mild thawing weather comes it seldom reaches or injures
them. Thawing in the shade or dark and thawing in the light
are quite different in their results upon plant-life. The latter
is much more injurious, but when plants are well covered they
are not seemingly injured if the thawing reaches them.

When more protection than this is needed, as is the case
with the California bulbs, three inches of leaves under the
swale-hay is used. The hay is heavy, and holds the leaves in
place. Leaves alone will not stay, and the hay is better than
brush to hold them in place. For the most tender plants,
where all frost is to be excluded, a layer of leaves eight or ten
inches thick is needed under the hay. A six-inch layer would
suffice in most winters, but sometimes, if the leaves become
wet and packed together, very severe weather will penetrate
them. There is occasionally a plant that will not bear cover-
ing at all. I never succeeded in wintering Houstonia coerulea
under any covering but snow. ^ ,, ,,.

Cbarioiif, vu F. H. Horsford.

Correspondence.

Halesia vs. Mohria vel Mohrodendron.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — The change proposed by Dr. Britton for the name ap-
plied to the Silver-bell-tree for 130 years past (see p. 463) is based
on the dictum propounded by the Botanical Club of the Ameri-
can Association for the Ad vancement of Science, at its Rochester
meeting in 18^2. To compensate for the infinite mischief and
confusion which obedience to that rule will entail, there should
be corresponding benefits, not yet visible, and before it can be
accepted its validity should be beyond doubt.

Without entering into the question whence that club derived
its authority to legislate, I make the point that a retrospective
edict like that under discussion was clearly beyond its power,
ultra vires. Had the club recommended that names hereafter
proposed, and then set aside as synonyms, should not be re-
vived for any other purpose, the recommendation would have
been worthy of consideration ; perhaps of adoption. But the
retrosj)ective legislation attempted is clearly ex post facto.

Take the case brought up by Dr. Brilton. Paul Browne
having used the name Halesia for a Jamaica plant which
proved to belong to the genus Gueftarda, L., it became a syno-
nym, a dropped name. When Ellis proposed to take it up
for our Silver-bell-tree, did he violate any canon .' Surely not,
for none existed. When Linnseus adopted the name in 1759,
did he fthe father of binomial nomenclature) become a
law-breaker? When successively all the writers on North
American botany, Walter, Marshall, Michaux, Pursh, Nuttall,
Torrey, Darlington, Chapman, Gray and others, continued to
use the name, did they also sin ? Why should they not have
used it? And why should we not continue to use a name
which has had undisputed possession for more than a century,
surely long enough to plead a statute of limitation ? And what
is it that is now inflicting upon us "a heavy burden of syno-
nyms hitherto escaped"? Simply an unwise canon without
any validity.

Phiuddphia. Pa. John H. Redfield.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — As you have favored me with an opportunitv of read-
ing Mr. Redfield's note, I venture a few remarks on the prin-
ciple which he disapproves.

Mr. Redfield appears to think that because certain prac-
tices have been in vogue for a considerable number of years
no_ improvement upon them is possible — a proposition
which, m science at least, seems directly antagonistic to all

progress. In the advance of knowledge all views and methods
must cliange, and those which were sufficient for people of
fifty years ago are by no means sufficient for those of to-day,
while those maintained to-day will, perhaps, be found unsatis-
factory to the scientists of the next century. Science can only
advance by the proposal and trial of new principles and hy-
potheses.

The rejection of revertible plant-names by the botanists of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at
the meeting at Rochester in 1892, was unanimously agreed
upon as one of the necessary steps to he taken to secure an
approximately stable system of nomenclature, and the posi-
tion tlien taken was not called in question at the Madison
meeting of last August. It is, therefore, safe to say that a great
majority of North American botanists liaveseen the necessity
for such a rule. It is, indeed, regarded by many as of equal or
even perhaps greater importance than the rule of priority of
publication.

To illustrate the working of the rule, let us take the case
under discussion. The Linn.xan genus Guettarda is based on
a tree of the East Indies. Subsequently P. Browne proposed
Halesia as the name of a tree growing in Jamaica. Specimens
of the East Indian and West Indian trees are then compared
by some one and they are found to resemble each other, and
some one concludes that they are the same genus. So far, so
good ; but suppose another person makes the comparison and
concludes that they are not the same genus. Then Halesia P.
Browne comes to the front again as a generic name, and if
Halesia has been applied, as in this case, to another group of
plants, that must be abandoned. Now, this very thing has
happened over and over again, owing to the impossibility of
two authors arriving at exactly the same conclusions regarding ■
the limitation of genera, and what is true of genera is even
more conclusively illustrated in species.

The number of published plant-names is immensely greater
now than it was fifty, or even ten, years ago, and from present
indications it is likely to be greatly increased in the future.
The conditions of the present are then by no means those of
the past, and they demand different treatment. No one has
accused the older authors of law-breaking. We can only
regret that they could not in their time see the necessity of
views which are now apparent. The legislation of the botan-
ists of the American Association has not been effected for the
past, but for the present and the future.

Columbia College, N. Y. A'. L. Brittott.

Farms and Forests on the Carolina Foot-hills.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — In North Carolina cotton is not the chief crop in the
Piedmont country, and it does not come within the region so
badly gashed by torrents as that described by Mr. Meriwether
and referred to in your article on page 441. It is a universal
rule here to lay off rows for planting on horizontal lines as
much as possible, so as to prevent gullying, and contour
ditches and terraced embankments are common all over this
section of the state. In this region, too, much Clover and
Grass is grown. Not so much as there should be, however,
for the whole of the Piedmont belt of North Carolina, from
the mountains down to tlie borders of the coast-plain, can be
made an admirable grass country.

I wish to confess, however, that the wasteful methods of
timber destruction on the steep mountain-sides here are still
in progress. In many parts of our mountain section these
slopes are as fertile, if not more so, tlian most of the valley
land, and this fact is an additional danger to the great forests
which are too remote to make the timber available for the
market. There are scores of mountains here, known as
"Balds," which are high, prairie-like summits, from 4,000 to
6.000 feet above sea -level, and have always been treeless, and
yet on these grassy mountain-crowns one can push down a
walking-stick itS full lenglii in the mellow loam.

The pasturing of cattle on these wooded mountains is an-
other evil which is almost as destructive as the axe. In these
high mountain-forests small leguminous plants added to the
native Grasses make pasture valuable, but in the spring and
early summer cattle browse on the tender buds of the under-
growth, and the renewal of many sorts of trees is thus pre-
vented. Riding down along Valley River to its junction with
the Hiwassee, in Cherokee County, I have been struck with
the fertility of these lowlands and the enormous quantities of
hay stacked in the fields, and yet no cattle can be seen except
an occasional milch-cow. All the stock is herded on the high
mountains, and never comes down until the fall, when it
is fed for the southern market. There is no lack of grass

December 13, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

519

here, and it should be a stockman's paradise, but the great
herds of cattle are browsing all the year in the mountain-
forest and doing infinite damage. If they were kept out of the
woods in spring until the Wild Peas and Desmodiums had
started into strong growth they would do less harm, since they
would prefer this fodder to browsing on the bushes, and yet
herds of cattle can never trample through a forest month after
month without injurmg it. Massev

Raleigh, N. C. . ^- ^- '^^'^'^'J'-

Orchids for Market-flowers.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, A few days ago I paid a visit to the Orchid nurseries of

Mr. Ignatius Forsterman, at Newtown, Long Island, and
found the place a most interesting one, notwithstanding the
fact that it contains few specimen plants and comparatively
few varieties. Mr. Forsterman's business is primarily that
of an importer of Orchids, and he is the first man in this
country, at least, to import Orchids in quantity to supply flor-
ists who grow them for the cut-flower market, and restricting
his importations to those varieties which are most profitable
for cut-flower purposes. The cultivation of Orchids for cut
flowers is comparatively new. Half a dozen years ago, it is
true, an Orchid-flower was sold now and then, and occasional
sprays of these flowers from private collections were not un-
known at sumptuous entertainments ; but there was nothing
like a regular demand, and, therefore, nothing like a regular sup-
ply of them, and at least five hundred Orchid-flowers are sold
to-day where one was sold half a dozen years ago. Mr. Forster-
man's prosperous establishment is a proof that the business
has already reached considerable proportions. Its rapid growth
is due largely to the efforts of Mr. Charles Thorley. one of the
leading florists of this city. Long before he could sell a single
Orchid-flower he was in the habit of decorating his windows
with them, and he occasionally pressed one on his best cus-
tomers even when he lost money by it. He was always push-
ing them forward with the purpose of introducing them as
market-flowers. His success in this particular has been
marked, so that now he very often sells from five hundred to
one thousand for a single wedding or ball, and sometimes
even more. This means that there must be a regular supply,
especially for this city, which is the chief market. In the neigh-
Ijorhood of New York, among the florists who grow them
largely for market are Julius Roehrs, of Carlton Hill, New
Jersey • Pitcher & Manda, who, in addition to their nursery
business, sell many Orchid-blooms ; W. H. De Forest, Sum-
mit. New Jersey; J. N. Keller, Bay Ridge, New York ; F.
Schuchardt, Newtown, Long Island ; Siebrecht& Wadley, New
Rochelle, and Mr. Forsterman himself, who keeps a large
number of flowering plants, and who announces to the trade
that he holds himself always in readiness to supply a hundred
flowers on a telegraphic order. Outside of New York, the
principal growers are Edwin Lonsdale, of Philadelphia, J. 'T.
Anthony, of Chicago, and Benjamin Grey, of Boston. A fair
estimate of the amount paid to retail dealers for Orchid-flow
ers this winter in New York would be about $25,000.

The plants most largely imported by Mr. Forsterman are
Cattleyas. These are not expensive ; they can be grown easily ;
people have learned to know what they are ; they show well
by artificial light and a supply is always obtainable. Cattleya
Trianae begins to bloom in late November and lasts well
through the winter , C. Mossiae comes on in April and May ;
C. Gaskelliana in June and July, and then in September and
October C. labiata autumnalis is in season. There is some-
thing of a gap between the last flowers of Cattleya Trianas and
the first of C. Mossiae, and Mr. Forsterman is now hurrying
forward C. Gaskelliana for Easter, and, owing to its peculiar
way of flowering, he has no doubt that he can have it flower in
time. He imports very few plantsof C. Percivaliana, because,
in this country, this species comes in with C. Trianae, and
therefore seems to be superfluous. The flowers of Cattleyas
retail at from seventy-five cents to $1.00 each.

Next in order, according to the number sold, come theCypn-
pediums, principally C. insigne, although many plants of C.
Villosum and C. Lawrencianum are used, while occasionally
the flowers of some expensive hybrids are seen in market.
Cypripediums are largely used in making wreaths and baskets
and for table-decorations. C. insigne is especially valuable,
since its rich, but rather undecided, colors harmonize with
almost every other tint. Besides this, it is a very sturdy plant,
and does well outside in the summer under canvas. P'lalae-
nopses are used to some extent for the market, especially P.
amabilis, and in smaller quantities P. Schillenana and P. Stu-
artiana. P. grandiflora would be an excellent plant for market,
as it has a fine white flower, and the demand for white Orchids

is insatiable, but it is difficult to grow, more so even than the
other Phalaenopses, which, unless special care is taken, will
often dwindle away. Dendrobium formosum giganteum, an-
other white Hower, is also in demand, for, although it is not
so graceful as the Phalajnopses, it keeps better. Dendrobium
Wardianum and D. nobile are grown to a considerable extent,
but their flowers are not usually cut, and the plants themselves,
when in bloom, are rented to florists, who place them in their
windows to make them attractive.

The flowers of Oncidium varicosum and O. figrinum always
sell well, as they are very graceful and rich in coloring. They
are not long-lived, however ; they make such strong spikes
that the effort seems to exhaust them. On account of the
beauty of its long, arching spike, thickly set with large flowers,
ranging from pure white to cream-white and various mark-
ings, Odontoglossum crispum would probably be classed as
the most desirable of all Orchids for market purposes, but it is
an expensive plant, it is hard to grow, and it is quite uncertain.
The failure ot the bulbs to ripen perfectly, too much heat in
summer, or many other chances, will blast the hopes of its
grower. This about completes the list of the Orchids now in
use. Mr. Forsterman is of the opinion that several others will
be profitably grown in the future, and yet it would be a risk to
recommend any one now to use them in quantity until further
experience is gained. Dendrobium Phalaenopsis probably is
to be one of the useful plants in the future, as it is easy to
grow ; its flowers are of an acceptable color, its spike is long
and graceful, and it lasts well. It is not yet sufficiently abun-
dant, however, to be sold in any quantity for cut flowers.

Mr. Forsterman has seven large houses, each 100 to 150 feet
long, and most of these are well stocked out of the 40,000
plants which he has imported within the last two years to sell
in quantity. No bench-space is lost, for, with the exception of
the Cypripediums, they all hang in six-inch pots above other
plants which will thrive in this parfial shade. In a house full
of Cattleya Mossiae which was potted in September nearly
every plant is now showing flower-sheaths and strong roots.
Near the peak of this cool-house were two or three rows of C.
Trianas, which were being transferred to a warmer house as
they advanced, in order to flower them, and when the flower-
ing season is over they are brought back. Below these plants
are benches of Kentias and some hardy Ferns, which seemed
in luxuriant health. Mr. Forsterman had tried some of the
colored Dracaenas, but they did not succeed here. In the
warmer house under the Orchids were many fine plants of
Ardisia crenulata full of fruit ; some bright Anthuriums, with
Adiantum Farleyense growing like a weed ; Cocos Weddelli-
ana, and some Selaginella. Here many plants of C. Trian»
were in flower, some of them striking varieties, the flower of
one being almost pure white. The chance of finding choice
varieties in such large importations is very considerable, and
these largely increase the chances of profit.

In another house, where pots of Cattleya Gaskelliana and
Vanda coerulea were hanging on the north side, there were
some fine stocky Azaleas, already beginning to flower for
Christmas, and another still, with Dendrobiums and Cattleya
Mossiae on the north side, was full of Lilies, Carnations and
Marguerites. In a low narrow house a thousand pots of Cypri-
pedium insigne were seen, each containing three growths, and
from these Mr. Forsterman expected many improved varie-
ties. His importations of these Cypripediums last year
amounted to 12,000. In the same house I noted a large num-
ber of Cymbidium eburneum and C. Mastersi, which looks as
if Mr. Forsterman considered these likely to be profitable
market-plants.

I observed many other interesfing points in connection with
the cultivation of Genistas, Aspidistras and other plants, but,
after all, the Orchids were the object of chief interest.

The business only started four years ago with a very mod-
erate capital, and that it is so plainly successful is one of the
striking facts in the current history of commercial floriculture.
Mr. Forsterman is himself a collector of long experience,
having spent half a dozen years in the East, traveling through
Burma, Assam, Siam, Borneo, Java, Sumatra and the Philip-
pine Islands. He afterward represented a large English firm
in this country for several years, so that he is not only thor-
oughly acquainted with the habits of the plants, but with the
needs of this market. In addition to their beauty and grace,
as well as their striking difference from the majority of flowers
that are grown for sale. Orchid-flowers have the advantage of
being very durable after they are cut, so that, when the time
they last is considered, they are not really much more expen-
sive than othqr first-class flowers, and Mr. Forsterman has po
doubt that the business will continue to expand in the future
as rapidly as it has done in the past.

New York. O,

520

Garden and Forest.

[Number 303.

Notes.

Monsieur Georfje Mantin, who is said to be one of the most
successful cultivators of Orchids in Europe, his colleclion at
Ohvet, in France, being particularly rich in the terrestrial spe-
cies of temperate regions, is about to publish a Dictionnaire
Giniral des Orchidies, in which he proposes to include all the
species now known, with their synonyms and geograpliical
distribution, together with brief cultural notes.

An Ohio correspondent of Insect Life writes that he has
made some successful experiments in tighting the rose-
chafer with carbolic acid. He used one gallon of crude acid
to one hundred gallons of water, and sprayed fruit-trees and
Grape-vines where the rose-bugs were troublesome. At the
time of the application the Grapes were in flower, but neither
the fruit nor foliage of vines or trees was injured, while the
crop of grapes and cherries was saved. Professor Riley sug-
gests that further experiments be made in this direction, as the
rose-bug is one of the most persistent and irrepressible of in-
sect pests.

A California paper mentions as a peculiarity of the Orange
Cling Peach, a variety which has been quite abundant in this
citv during the past season, that the trees form a second crop
with almost unfailing regularity. While the first peaches are
coloring, blossoms appear, and in due time a second crop
forms and ripens. The fruit of this second crop is of good
color, grain and flavor, but it is always misshapen, and looks
quite unlike a peach. It never has a pit, but in its place is a dark
centre, which is no harder than the pulp of the fruit. These
peaches, though often set very thick on the trees, are always
small, rarely exceeding a boy's marble in size.

Probably the most unique exhibit in the nursery area at the Co-
lumbian Exposition was one made by the Orange J udd Farmer,
contrasting the common weedy fence-row and a modern well-
kept one. The unkempt row showed a typical worm or rail-
fence, with the corners filled with 125 different kinds of weedy
growths, and in front was a small area with named clumps of
the various farm weeds. This fence-row was a most picturesque
alTair and had a certain undesigned artistic value wholly aside
from its direct economic purpose. The model fence-row
showed sections of wire and board fence, with a closely mown
strip of sod beneath, which projected only a foot beyond the
fence upon either side.

About sixty car-loads of New York state .grapes were re-
ceived here over the various railroads during last week. These
are mostly Catawbas, but there are still some Concords, and
also a few Delawares, now quite out of season, which have
been successfully held in cold storage in the vineyard districts.
A single car-load of California grapes, direct from the western
coast, was sold on Monday morning, a week after the last Cali-
fornia fruit was supposed to have arrived. Flame Tokay, Cor-
nichon, Verdel, Ferrera, Morocco and Muscat grapes made
up 985 half-crates. The fruit was in good condition, and
brought as much as $3.65 a half-crate at wholesale on the dock,
or about eighteen cents a pound. As California grapes keep in
cold storage from three to six weeks, and considerable quan-
tities are being held in this city, we may expect to have sup-
plies of this fruit well into the winter.

It is now three hundred years since .Sir Walter Raleigh lived
in Ireland, but, according to Sir John Pope Henncsy, many
traces of his residence there can still be seen. The richly per-
fumed yellow wall-flowers that he brought to Ireland from the
Azores, and the Affane Cherry are still found where he first
planted them, by the Blackwater. Some Cedars he brought to
Cork are to this day growing at a place called Tivoli. The four
venerable Yew-trees, whose branches have grown and inter-
mingled into a sort of summer-house thatch, are pointed out
as having sheltered Raleigh when he first smoked tobacco in
his Youghal garden. In that garden he also planted Tobacco.
A few steps further on, where the town-wall of the thirteenth
century bounds the garden of the warden's house, is the
famous spot where the first Irish Potato was planted by him.
In that garden he gave the tubers to the ancestor of the present
Lord Southwell, by whom they were spread throughout the
province of Munster.

Messrs. Siebrecht & Wadley are now selling flowers of the
new Rose which they have named Bella Siebrecht, and
which is attracting much attention by its beauty and
fragrance. The color is deep rose-pink, the foliage is good,
and it is said to be a free bloomer. The cut flowers keep well,
and these, with La France and Meteor, bring, «t retail, four
dollars a dozen, and Madame Cusin and Catherine Mermet
from two to three dollars a dozen. Choice American Beauty

roses sell at nine to twelve dollars a dozen. Chrysanthemums
are now quite passed out of market, and violets are the most
popular of all cut flowers. Cut flowers of the popular Cypri-
pedium insigne and C. Spicereanum sell for fifty cents
each,and of Cattleya Percivaliana and C. Trianji; at fifty cents
to a dollar apiece. Among the Laelias seen in the retail stores
areL. aufumnalisand L. anceps and varieties. Sprays of Onci-
dium varicosum and O. tigrinum are one to two dollars each.
A popular plant this season is the Otaheite Orange, well-fruited
specimens of which command from four to six dollars.

The Agricultural Gcfsette, of New South Wales, has an in-
teresting article on Grevillea robusta, small plants of which are
now largely used for the winter decoration of conservatories,
as well as in sub-tropical groups on lawns in summer, where
its Fern-like foliage is quite effective. Under the name of the
Silky Oak it is highly prized as a timber-tree, not only in Aus-
tralia, of which it is a native, but in Ceylon and other tropical
countries, where it has been introduced. It grows to a height
of about eighty feet, with a trunk diameter of two and a half
to three feet, and it increases with almost as great rapidity as
the various kinds of Eucalyptus. The timber is pale, ranging
from cream to a flesh color, but it darkens with age, and has a
beautiful mottled grain characteristic of most of the wood of
the Proteacea;. It is elastic, durable, splits readily, and is used
largely for staves of wine-casks. When in bloom the tree pre-
sents a beautiful spectacle, with its orange-colored blossoms
well set off by the light feathery foliage. The flowers abound
in nectar, and it is an excellent bee-plant. It is being largely
planted in Algeria, and in Jamaica a seedling has grown in
seven years to a height of forty feet, with a girth of more than
three feet one foot from the ground, and has flowered abun-
dantly.

In the announcement of the annual meeting of the Amer-
ican Forestry Association, which is to be held in Washington
on the isth of December, among the grounds for encourage-
ment, it is noted, that the President of the Association is now
the Secretary of Agriculture ; thatoneof its former secretaries is
in charge of the public timber-lands at the General Land Office;
that the chairman of the Public Lands Committee in the House
of Representatives is fully persuaded of the necessity of a new
forest-legislation in the direction proposed by the Association ;
and that the lumber-trade journals are recognizing the fact that
the interests of the lumbermen are identical with those of the
public. With the notice of the meeting is enclosed an appeal
by Mr. Fernow to the members of the Association to urge upon
their representatives in Congress the passage of the bill intro-
duced by Mr. McRae, of Arkansas, and already reported favor-
ably upon by the Committee on Public Lands. This is the bill
which was approved by Secretary Smith in his report to
the President, and it secures protection for the forest-reser-
vations, which now comprise nearly eighteen millions of acres,
by the employment of the army, which has already done effec-
tive work in the Yellowstone Park and the Yosem'ite Reserva-
tion. It also empowers the Secretary of the Interior to make
such rules and establish such a service as will ensure the ob-
jects of such reservations, namely, to regulate theiroccupancy,
to utilize the timber of commercial value, and to preserve the
forest-cover from destruction. It also empowers the Secretary
to have cut and to sell timber on non-reserved lands under the
same regulations which are made for the forest-reservations,
provided that it shall be first shown that such cutting will not
be injurious to the public interests, and the proceeds from
such sales are to form a special fund to be expended in the
care and management of the reservations. This bill does not
satisfy the ultimate requirements of a well-organized forest
department, but it gives a legal status to and ensures the per-
manence of the principle of forest-reservations, and it sub-
stitutes a regulated use of public timber for the present system
of allowing the public domain to be plundered without hin-
drance.

The English papers announce the death, in his sixty-seventh
year, of Mr. John Waterer, of Bagshot. Mr. Waterer was a
member of a family which for generations has been conspicu-
ous in English horticulture, chiefly for their successful culti-
vation of Rhododendrons, Azaleas and other peat-loving
plants. Mr. John Waterer followed in the lines of the family
tradition; and in his nursery, which was one of the best-man-
aged in England, some of the most showy and beautiful-flow-
ered hybrid Rhododendrons in cultivation have originated,
although, unfortunately, some of the most attractive of these
are not hardy in our climite. A collection of his plants on the
wooded island in Jackson Park, Chicago, attracted much atten-
tion last spring.

December 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

521

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Office : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND<LASS MATTER AT THE POST OPFICB AT NEW YORK. N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articies : — Our ExperimeTit Stations and their Work 521

Plants Recently Discovered in Northern China 522

Composition in Landscape- art H. A. Caparn. 522

American Parks : Mount Royal, Montreal Mrs. y. H.' Kobbins. 523

Notes on some Texas Trees y. Reverchon. 524

Notes on the Forest Flora ofjapan.— XXVI. (With figure.) C. S. S. 524

Cultural Department : — Plums for the Cold North T. S. Hoskins, M.D. 526

Small Greenhouses y. N. Gerard, 526

Laelia furfuracea W. W. 527

Oncidium Gravesianum, The Orchid-weevil E. O. Orpet. 5-27

Cosmos hybridus lym. S. Clark. 528

Correspondence : — Climbini; Roses in California H. G. Prati. 528

Elseacnus hortensis in Dakota L. C. Corbett. 528

The Catalpa in Kansas George W. Jincher. 528

MernNGs OF Societies : — Annual Meeting of the American Forestry Association. 529

Recent Publications 529

Notes ^ 530

Illustration : — Larix Dahunca, var. Japonica, on Iturup, one of the Kurile

Islands, Fig. 76 525

Our Experiment Stations and their Work.

WE have just received from the office of Experiment
Stations, at Washington, Bulletin No. 15, entitled
"The Handbook of Experiment-station Work," which was
prepared as a part of the exhibit of the office for the World's
Columbian Exposition. The bulletin, which contains more
than four hundred closely printed pages, is a popular digest
of the publications of the agricultural experiment stations
of the United States since their foundation. The topics are
arranged alphabetically, and while the book does not pre-
tend to be in any sense an encyclopaedia of agriculture,
still the number of its titles, the care which has been used
in summarizing the original investigations and the useful
compilations of the station bulletins make it a very conve-
nient and valuable work of reference. One cannot exam-
ine the book without feeling a respect for the stations and
their work, and being confirmed in the assurance that these
institutions are destined to exert a potent and wholesome
influence upon the agriculture and horticulture of the
country.

The book makes clear, however, that in some ways there
has been considerable misdirected effort on the part of the
stations. When we are referred, for example, to more than
a hundred bulletins in various states, which give compara-
tive tests of different kinds of Strawberries, and reflect how
much time and labor all this cultivating and comparingand
recording and publishing has cost, it seems pretty clear that
no adequate scientific or practical return can be hoped for
from such an outlay. If the record of all the work in test-
ing varieties of Strawberries by the stations were blotted
out, the loss to the science and practice of horticulture
would be comparatively trifling. What we have before in-
sisted upon, is that the skilled workers in the stations can
devote their time and energies to more fruitful fields of
labor, and especially to work which ordinary farmers and
fruit-growers cannot do for themselves. There are lines of
inquiry which require a consistent scheme extending over

a series of years, and such work the farmer has no time or
ability to carry on. Much research of this kind requires
apparatus which ordinary tillers of the soil cannot afford to
buy and which they could not use to any purpose if they
owned them, and much of it demands a knowledge of sci-
entific methods which the average farmer and gardener do
not pretend to possess. A great deal of the station work
which would be stigmatized by cavilers as theoretical or
technical, as if purely scientific investigations excluded
what was useful, is in reality work of the most serious prac-
tical value. The directors and officers of the stations
know this as well as any one else, and when they spend
their time in testing a hundred and fifty varieties of Straw-
berries in order to ascertain which one is a day the earliest
in a given place, or yields the biggest and reddest berries,
they may delude a few people with the idea that they are
doing eminently practical work, but they must know that
work of genuine practical value comprehends the investi-
gation of some fundamental scientific principle.

Upon the whole, however, when it is considered that the
stations are new, and that at the passage of the Hatch bill,
half a dozen years ago, there was hardly a score of men in
the country who had sufficient experience to carry on with
any efficiency the work of the stations, when we remember,
too, the constant pressure upon them for some immediate
and tangible results, the wonder is that so little effort has
been wasted. There are now fifty-four of these stations,
and the total nuinber of persons engaged in them is about
five hundred, and the sum they received last year from the
state and national governments was more than a million
dollars. The inquiry is pertinent, therefore, whether the
economic results of these stations justify such an outlay.
This is an inquiry to which Professor Frear replies in a
recent number of Agricultural Science. While it is impos-
sible to say just how many dollars and cents have been
added to the wealth of the country by the direct researches
of the stations. Professor Frear shows that in the utiliza-
tion of by-products in our crops of cotton and grain, in the
saving of what was once wasted in feeding unbalanced
rations to domestic animals, in collecting more com-
pletely the butter fats in milk, in checking the damage
from insect ravages and fungous diseases which, together,
have amounted to more than $500,000,000 a year, in all
these and other direct ways the amount of money already
saved by the aid of investigations undertaken by the experi-
ment stations, has greatly exceeded all they have cost.
And this estimate entirely ignores a most important branch
of station work, the trade-control, which, to a certain ex-
tent, gives the farmer a guarantee that the fertilizers which
he buys are honest, the seed clean, and the food of his
cattle unadulterated, while at the same time it assures the
consumer that the milk, the butter and other farm-prod-
ucts which he buys are of standard value.

But, in addition to all this, the education of the farmer,
the fruit-grower and the horticulturist by correspondence
with the stations and by their publications has been of
great value, and has prepared them for much more
efficient work. In addition to letters and bulletins from
the station, the farmers in many states have the benefit of
institutes, conducted largely by station officers, and this
brings the two classes into familiar personal contact, which
stimulates inquiry on the one hand and accustoms those
who feel they need assistance to make application for it at
the proper source. Perhaps the inspiration which this con-
tact with the stations has given to farmers and gardeners,
the spirit of inquiry which it stimulates among them, the
expansion of their mental horizon and the habit it en-
courages of looking for broad principles upon which to base
their practice, are, after all, the most important benefits
which the stations have yet conferred upon the country.
When it once becomes a doctrine universally accepted
as true, that science is the only sure foundation for the
successful practice of agriculture and horticulture, an inesti-
mable advantage will have been gained. When it has
become a part of farm practice and farm life to trust ta

522

Garden and Forest.

[Number 304.

science rather than to luck or guess-work, and to turn for
information and support to men of exact knowledge, instead
of relying upon superstition, tradition or prejudice, a new
era in the history of agriculture and horticulture will be
inaugurated. In spite of some failings and weaknesses,
our expermient stations seem to be hastening the time
when that day shall dawn.

In the latest numbers of NoUe de Plantis Asialicis, ex-
tracted from the twelfth and thirteenth volumes of the Acts
of the St. Petersburg Garden that have reached us, Dr.
Batalin describes a number of plants recently discovered
in northern China and adjacent regions which promise to
be acquisitions to our gardens, and remind us that very
important results from a horticultural, as well as from a
botanical, point of view may be expected to follow the
visit to northern and western China and eastern Mongolia
of a well-trained collector with a sufficient knowledge of
the Chinese plants now in our gardens to save him the
labor and expense of sending home plants already known.
Every traveler with botanical tastes who has visited China
in recent years has reaped a rich harvest of undescribed
plants, and among them have been a number of much hor-
ticultural promise. But while many collections of their
plants have been made during the last ten years within the
borders of the Celestial Empire, very few new Chinese
plants have found their way into our gardens.

How rich a field China is for the enterprising horticul-
tural collector the mere mention of a few of Dr. Batalin's
new species, mostly gathered by the Russian traveler,
Potanin, will show. They include new varieties of the
Almond and the Peach ; a new Prunus of the section Ce-
rasus ; a new Bird Cherry, distinguished from the Japanese
and Saghalin Prunus Ssiori by its biglandular petioles ; a
green-flowered Parnassia, first gathered by Przewalski in
Kansu ; five new Honeysuckles ; a new Incarvillea ; anew
Spirjca or Physocarpus ; two new species of Pyrus ; a sec-
ond species of the curious Rodgersia of Japan, for which
the name ./Esculifolia is proposed, on account of the three-
lobed leaves, which chiefly distinguish it from the first spe-
cies ; anew Deutzia, andanewrepresentative of Helwingea,
a genus which bears its flowers and fruits on the midribs of
the leaves ; a Phytolacca, related to our familiar Poke-
weed ; two new species of Pterocarya, western Asiatic
and Caucasian trees of the Walnut family ; a new Birch,
and a new Hazel.

These are only a part of the plants recently picked up by
Russian travelers, with whom, it must be remembered, botany
was only an incidental occupation entirely subordinate to
the principal objects of their journeys. The nature and
character of the undescribed plants they have, however,
been able to make known, as well as the more important
collections of Dr. Henry in central China, and of the Abbe
Delavay in Yun-nan, show how much may be ex-
pected from a well-tried collector able to devote his en-
tire time and energies to collecting plants and seeds in the
northern and western provinces of the empire, which are
the only parts of the world not yet carefully explored,
where new plants which may be expected to prove hardy in
our gardens are likely to be found in considerable numbers.

Composition in Landscape-art.

THE modern or naturalistic style of landscape-garden-
ing may be defined to be the forming of artificial ■
scenes on principles learned from natural ones. The
question of extent alone is usually sufficient to render im-
practicable the reproduction of a landscape perhaps con-
taining miles of forest and plain which, however pleasing
in the mass, may be found in detail to have its attractive
objects too few and far between ; thus, an acre of woodland
with one picturesque clump of Fern is plainly not worth
imitation on a private estate, where land has to be treated
economically. Yet, although the copying of the natural

prospect is not feasible, it is there that the principles of our
art are based, whether they are applied to the smallest city
lot or the largest park, and it is there that we must go for
instruction either from its beauties or imperfections. It is
there only that the aspects of Nature, whose essence is
change, can be studied ; tliere only can we watch the effect
of the shifting lights on wood and meadow, the nameless
charm of water at rest or in motion, the mysteries of re-
cesses between massed trees from different points of vision,
and the appearance of them all under different skies and
seasons. But the selection from these different parts, and
their composition into a new and consistent whole, can be
learned in an easier school.

A work of art of any kind is the result of combining cer-
tain primary forms into a whole which would be incom-
plete with one more or less of them. To a certain extent
these forms may be put together by the help of rules,
though the point is soon reached where nothing is of any
use but the instinctive perception of what is needed, gained
by long thought and comparison. Perhaps in none of the
arts is this point reached sooner than in landscape-garden-
ing, in which circumstances are so various and the mate-
rials complete compositions in themselves, so that its un-
written laws would seem to require proportionately deeper
consideration. But there has been another class of students
of Nature's forms and phases, though they combine them
differently, and with such different results, that at first the
work of the two may seem to have little in common. The
artist of the brush usually selects for his subject a scene
which, apart from its extent, is most unsuited for reproduc-
tion by the artist of the spade and transit, whose work must
have its utilitarian aspect as apparent as its a;sthetic ; its
lawns and plantations must be easily and obviously acces-
sible, and must display new beauties from every point of
view, not from one only. His trees must be generally
sound and shapely, and his roads solid and smooth, and
the control of man must be everywhere felt without being
obtruded. Such picturesque objects (in the painter's eye)
as a road full of ruts or a decaying tree are not merely out
of place ; they are incongruous and unbeautiful. Yet, in
spite of these and other diversities, the analogy between
the two arts is pronounced, and of the highest use to the
landscape-gardener who has the results of the work of
generations ready for his instruction if he will only bestow
patience and consideration on them.

The man who has painted a good landscape has only
done so after years of patient labor and perpetual consid-
eration of the proportion and balance of parts of all the ma-
terials he works with, and his instinct as to shape, size and
position of the various objects he has introduced is so sure
that the changing of one of them would probably result in
the deterioration of the whole. Each has reasons for its
place, size and form, reasons which, may be, would come
under no formula, but are, nevertheless, entirely potent.
A hand placed over some seemingly unimportant feature
will often overbalance the whole and teach more of subor-
dination of parts than pages of explanation. Careful study
of the foliage tints in half a dozen good pictures will be a
better lesson in planting for effect than the conning of all
the catalogues of striking novelties ever published ; it
would be valuable did it only teach the mistake of plant-
ing trees in proximity for the sake of the contrast of their
tints — a mistake too common in these days of perpetual
new introductions of high colored and variegated trees and
shrubs. All these points, patiently and conscientiously
considered, will develop in the outdoor artist the feeling of
due proportion of parts in his own composition ; and he
will come to have as sure a perception of fitness in their
size, form and relative position as the painter, since his
work is founded on principles closely related and no less
artistic.

An even more important use of the study of pictures is
the light thrown on the placing of individual and conspic-
uous objects. In the natural landscape these are not often
important ; in the painter's they are usually the main fea-

December 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

523

tures of the design, and are inserted for similar purposes
and regulated by similar laws of composition to those of
the gardener. Here the green or leafless tree, the tumble-
down building or group of cattle is replaced by a speci-
men tree, flower-bed or building serving in both picture
and pleasure-ground the same purposes : to measure dis-
tances, to set off by their strong lights and shadows the
tints of the subordinate parts softened into breadth and in-
definiteness by aerial perspective ; to give force to the
foreground and tenderness to the mystery and recession to
the distance. They are all important in the work of both
painter and gardener, and the hand of a novice in either
art is constantly shown by the presence of too many of
them, until the sense of repose conveyed by a good com-
position of any kind vanishes in the contemplation of un-
meaning repetitions of handsome Conifers or groups of
sub-tropical plants placed as though the planter's conscience
could never be at rest so long as a stretch of turf of any
size lay open ; or sometimes from a desire to get in as
many varieties of trees and shrubs as possible — a sentiment
arising from a genuine love of them, but which too often pro-
duces results disastrous both to the parts and to the whole.
This kind of work is usually produced when the mind of
the designer is in the experimental stage, and when he
strives to introduce into his composition the element of
completeness which he feels to be wanting by filling in a
number of details which are not subordinate, but in their
nature constructive, and therefore not to be used but as
primary and integral parts of the whole plan. In no art
more than in landscape-gardening is the sense of repose so
necessary to good composition. To this nothing will con-
tribute but the conception of the whole, essentially com-
plete from the first. Each addition must be made with
restraint and without uncertainty of purpose, or it will de-
stroy the unity it is intended to create, and so fatally injure
the realizing of a consistent and complete design.

It is this art of composition which eludes rules that is
most necessary to the forming of an outdoor artist, who, if
he would do original and artistic work, must have some of
that instinct that will enable him to read the ideas of cre-
ators in their works and understand their language when
they try to explain them. tt a ^

Piltsbur't;, Pa. /?. A. CapUm.

American Parks.

.MOUNT ROYAL. MONTREAL.

ONE hears Montreal so often compared slightingly with
Quebec, that I was agreeably surprised by its variety and
beauty, by its terraced streets, rising one above another, its
thronged port filled with vessels Irom every land, its hand-
some buildings and fine open squares gay with flowers, like
the old French town it is. But, above all, was I unprepared
for the beauty of the wooded mountain rising directly behind
the town, with cleanly defined slopes such as befit a mountain,
and its splendid crown of forest.

It is not a lofty peak, being, 1 believe, not more than five or
six hundred feet high, but as it rises almost directly from the
level of the River St. Lawrence, it gets the advantage of its
full height, and is very imposing, indeed, and looks at a little
distance so wild and inaccessible, that it was with surprise that
I discovered that it was really a planted and cultivated park,
and that there was a comfortable drive-way to its summit, of
which travelers were expected to avail tliemselves. There-
fore, after carefully exploring in the early morning the French
and English quarters of the venerable town, and listening to a
mass in the beautiful old church of Notre Dame, while its
magnificent bell tolled a requiem for a departed soul, we>
wound our way in a carriage up the gently graded slope,
scarcely prepared for what was in store for us.

In the first place, the size and height of the trees was a sur-
prise. Early June is spring in Montreal, and our driver told
us that there were no leaves at all the last week in May, so
that the verdure we beheld on June i6th had all the freshness
of new birth upon it. Knowing, then, that many of the trees
were tlie result of cultivation, I was astonished at the great
variety to be found here. The Basswood-trees, especially,
were most vigorous in growth, and the Maples had shot up to

a great height. The Cork Elm, which abounds in Toronto
was frequent here, with its brown wing-like excrescences, re-
sembling blossoms, on every twig. Oaks were to be seen in
plenty, and fine Hemlocks, and Pines, and Spruces, while in
the less densely wooded spaces were flowering shrubs, such
as the Tartarian Honeysuckle, the Hawthorn and the Deutzia,
growing as freely as if they were wild, in the shelter of the sur-
rounding forest.

From the road by which we ascended, which was here and
there accompanied or intersected by bridle and foot paths,
there was no outlook, only a dense wall of green. After a
long time we came to an open space, where there is a broad
expanse of sloping meadow, used in winter for a toboggan
slide, but this was also enclosed by trees. Not far from this is
a large two-story building, surrounded by gardens and nurse-
ries, which is the dwelling of the superintendent of the grounds.
Tliis dwelling, which is substantial and coinfortable in its ap-
pearance, is not concealed from the drive- way, and seems con-
sequently rather incongruous in the park. Indeed, what strikes
one particularly is such an absence of studied effect, that only
the exotic shrubs suggest that the whole scene is not the work
of Nature alone.

Finally the road issues upon the summit of the mountain,
where is a wide level plateau, half-surrounded by Pines, and a
large rustic pavilion with benches, from which the unrivaled
prospect bursts suddenly upon the sight. The descent is so
abrupt that the tops of trees make a foreground, behind which
the gigantic panorama stretches away. There lies the valley
of the St. Lawrence, with the majestic river flowing around its
islands, the opposite horizon bounded by the beautiful sweep
of the Laurentian mountains, with their blue peaks firmly out-
lined against the soft haze of a summer sky. In extraordi-
narily clear weather the peaks of the White Mountains and the
Adirondacks are said to be visible from this elevation, but light
clouds hid them from our view during our stay.

At our feet lay the old French city, its harbor crowded with
masts, its ancient spires rising from its groups of venerable
houses. Steamships bound for Britain smoked in the harbor ;
others almost as large, used for the service of the Great Lakes,
were lying at the piers. One took in at a glance the great com-
mercial activity of this city, which, though so far from the
Atlantic, is really the greatCanadian seaport, and five hundred
miles nearer Liverpool than is New York.

A more imposing view it would be hard to find, combining
at once the beauty of broad and fertile plain with the pic-
turesque slopes of mountains and the stately sweep of a noble
river by its bordering towns. Some of the peaks rose isolated
and distinct, one beside the other ; others rolled away in grace-
ful lines of undulation. Masses ot trees and meadows of vivid
green announced the fat deep soil that nourished them, and
the whole scene bespoke opulence and comfort, and had a
touch of imperial power, which made one feel that annexation
would not prove quite so simple a job as some enthusiasts
would represent it to be. England will not lightly part with
this fine jewel of her crown one may be sure. Apparently,
the Montreal people are satisfied with this view at the end of a
long and rather monotonous drive up the steep mountain-
side, but in the design originally furnished to the Commis-
sioners by Mr. Olmsted, provision was made for outlooks at
intervals upon the surrounding scene, so that the mind could
be gradually prepared for the fine spectacle to be ultimately
revealed. But, either irom a lack of money, or of befitting
sense of the requirements of a park, the most well-considered
features of that scheme of his have been neglected, and the
great opportunity wasted.

The Mount Royal property was purchased in 1874, and at
that time Mr. Olmsted drew a plan which was designed to
utilize all the fine natural advantages of the situation, while
supplementing them with a new and vigorous growth of trees.
In 1887 he published a little work showing that his design had
not been followed in many respects, naturally to the disadvan-
tage of the groimds, on account of the difficulty of shaping
public opinion to a proper recognition of the artistic capabili-
ties of the spot, so that the views of the Commissioners were
frequently overruled by the City Council.

It has been impossible to obtain any reports of what has or
has not been done by the Park Commission, so I only know
that the original map provided for an extent of 550 acres, part
of which was to be set off for reservoirs and streets. The
property of Sir Hugh Allan, now occupied by his family, is, I
understand, ultimately to be incorporated In the park, from
which it is at present separated by walls. On this side of the
mountain is a rocky precipice (the Crags), which, according to
the original design, was to have formed an effective feature,
but they are not noticeable from the carriage-drive, being con-

]2{

Garden and Forest.

[Number 304.

cealed from it now by trees and undergrowth. Possibly they
can be better viewed on foot.

At the time Mr. Olmsted's little book was published the trees
had not made a great growth, but their present luxuriance is
very striking, and they form the chief variety in the approach
to the great scene visible from the summit. From that sum-
mit one descends on the opposite side of the mountain, pass-
ing the reservoir and the Allan and Redpath properties, and
issuing into the streets of the city. At a distance the mountain
is disfigured by the perpendicular cut of a steep railway which
leads to the top, and is an ugly feature in the landscape.

A citv so grandly endowed by Nature with such a pleasure-
ground as this is truly to be envied, and it is to be hoped that
nothing will be neglected in its future management to enhance
its picturesque advantages.

Hingham, Mass.

Af. C. Robbins.

Notes on some Texas Trees.

Fraxisis Americana, van Texensis, a small tree with hard,
fine-grained wood of great value for flooring, but generally
is too small for use, except as fuel, which is rated as first-
class. Some trees reach the height of fifty feet, with body
two or three feet through, but generally they are much
smaller. They grow on limestone bluffs and are never
found growing naturally along the water-courses. The pop-
ular name of the tree here is the Mountain Ash.

Ui-Mfs CRASSiFOLiA grows in all situations and soils, ex-
cept pure sand. In the low and swampy lands of the
Trinity bottom, this Elm and the Celtis occidentalis
form the four-fifths of the timber. It grows there in dense
clumps to a height of twenty to forty feet, and along the foot-
hills and other favored places some specimens are found
eighty feet high, with a diameter of three or four feet. Under
such favorable conditions the tree is generally straight and
symmetrical, with branches spreading at right angles. On
dry uplands and in rocky localities it is a small tree, with
a thick trunk and broad head. The leaves are very small,
but densely set on the boughs and of a dark green color,
turning to a bright yellow late in the fall. The flowers are
very small and appear in August and September, followed
by abundant seeds that are ripe three or four weeks later.
Though comparatively rare in cultivation here, this species
must be recommended as one of the best shade-trees of this
country. Among its commendable qualities are its adapt-
abilty to all kinds of soils and situations, its freedom from
diseases and attacks of insects. I do not remember ever
to have seen on it any of the lice which infest the White Elm.
The wood is of a reddish color, and splits easily. Before
the advent of railroads it was used for fencing, either as
rails or boards, and was quoted only as second quality.
This species is known here as Red Elm and Cedar Elm.

Maclura auraxtiaca attains at its best development the
height of forty or fifty feet, with a trunk three feet thick.
The leaves are broad, dark green, turning bright yellow in
the fall. It is dioecious, and the fruits, as large as the largest
oranges, and of a pale green color, give to it a verystriking
and picturesque appearance. Thisisone of the most valua-
ble trees of Texas. The wood that is yellow is practically
incorruptible, and for that reason is extensively used for
posts, wheels and spokes, and it makes an excellent paving
material. The town of Dallas has its principal streets paved
with blocks of this wood, and it has proved a great success.
The bark has been used for tanning purposes. The Ma-
clura makes' a good shade-tree, though the big fruits are
sometimes in the way, but its main use is as a hedge-plant.
It requires severe pruning in order to keep it in bounds.
The fruit is eaten by horses and cattle. This tree, known
as Osage-orange and Bois d'Arc, grows in the rich bottom-
lands along the water-courses of the eastern part of the
state ; but it is only moderately abundant, and it is to be
feared that large specimens will soon become quite scarce.

QuERct's Dl'kandi, an Oak that ac<iuires in Alabama quite
large dimensions, is a rather dwarf species in Texas. The
I>iggest tree I ever saw was about twenty-five feet high and
one foot in diameter, but such are of a very rare occurrence.
For the most part it is a straggling shrub, a few feet high.

forming large clumps or extensive thickets on rocky bluffs
of western Texas. Its priijcipal merit is its heavy crop of
small acorns that it hardly fails to produce every year.
The tree, when isolated, is not devoid of beauty, and its
dense foliage, persisting late in the season, may recom-
mend it as a shade-tree. It is called the Pin Oak.

Dallas, Tex. f. Reverchott.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXVI.

OF the Firs of Japan we saw only four species, and one
of these, Abies firma, only as a cultivated plant. This
is the largest and the most beautiful of the Japanese Firs,
often growing in cultivation to the height of one hundred
and twenty feet, and producing clean tall stems four or
six feet in diameter. Writers on Japanese forests speak
of Abies firma as common south of latitude forty, north, in
the upper belt of deciduous trees, but we never saw it ex-
cept in parks and temple-gardens, or in the immediate
neighborhood of houses. It is this species which is chiefly
called Momi by the Japanese, although the name is applied
generally to all Firs, and it is this tree which in Hondo
supplies the fir-wood of commerce. This is soft, straight-
grained and easily worked, and hardly distinguishable from
the wood of the European Fir ; it is used for building pur-
poses and cheap packing-cases, but is not greatly valued.
Although this species has usually proved a disappointment
as an ornamental tree in this country and in Europe, it is
certainly, as it grows in Japan, one of the most beautiful of
all Firs, distinguished by the nobility of its port and by its
bright green and very lustrous long rigid leaves, which
are sometimes sharply pointed, and sometimes divided at
the apex. It probably needs a warmer and moister climate
than that of the northern United States in which to develop
all its beauties ; further south it should, however, make a
fine tree.

The Fir of which we savtr the most in Japan is the Abies
homolepis of Siebold and Zuccarini. This is the plant
which is now often cultivated in our gardens under the
name of Abies brachyphylla, a more recent name. It is
the common Fir of central Japan, and abounds in the Nikko
Mountains between 4,000 and 5,000 feet elevation above
the sea, although it does not form continuous forests, but
is scattered singly, or in small groups, through the Birch
and Oak woods which cover the ground just below the
Hemlock belt. It is a massive, although not a very tall,
tree, apparently never growing to a greater height than
eighty or ninety feet ; and in old age it is easily distin-
guished from all other Firs by its broad round head, the
branches near the tops of the trees growing longer than
those lower down on the stems. This peculiarity is seen
even on young plants in our gardens, on which the lower
branches, which soon stop growing, are shaded by the
longer ones produced above them. The pale bark, the long
crowded leaves, dark green above and silvery white below,
and the large purple cones make this a handsome tree.
In cultivation here it is very hardy, and grows with re-
markable rapidity. The inaccessibility of the places where
Abies homolepis grows in Japan precludes the general use
of the wood, although we found it employed in the little
alpine village of Umoto for building material.

The chief object of our visit to Mount Hakkoda, in north-
ern Hondo, was to find Abies Mariesii, which the botanical
collector, whose name this tree bears, discovered there sev-
eral years before. It is common on this mountain at about
5,000 feet above the sea level, scattered among deciduous
trees, and, so far as we observed, it is the only Fir of north-
ern Hondo. As we saw it, Abies Mariesii forms a compact
pyramid about forty or fifty feet high, with crowded
branches covered with short dark foliage, pale below, and
producing in great abundance large dark purple cones. It
is a handsome, but in no wise a striking or remarkable,
tree, which in all probability will flourish in severe cli-
mates. It is only known on the high mountains of north-
ern Hondo and in one place on the shores of southern

December 20, i!i93.]

Garden and Forest.

525

Yezo, where it was discovered during the summer of 1892
by Mr. Tokubuchi.

On the hills of central Yezo, Abies Sachalinensis is not
rare, and in the northern part of the island and on Saghalin
this tine tree is said to form extensive forests. It is a tall
pyramidal tree with pale bark, long slender dark green
leaves, and white buds, which make it possible to distin-
guish it readily from the other Japanese Firs. A curious
form has been noticed by Professor !\Iiyabe, growing near

ently it has only a local consumption. The young plants
of Abies Sachalinensis in our gardens are perfectly hardy
and grow more rapidly than those of any other species of
Fir-tree.

Abies Veitchii, discovered many years ago on the slopes
of Mount Fugi-san, we looked for everywhere, and al-
though it is said to grow among the Nikko Mountains, we saw
nothing of it there or elsewhere. From Abies homolepis,
which this species most resembles, it may be distinguished by

Fig. 76. — Larix Dal.urica, var. Japonic.!, on Iturup, one of the Kutile Islands. — See page 524.

Sapporo, with red bark, dark red wood and red cone bracts;
it grows with the common form and is probably merely a
seedling variety, although Professor Miyabe considers it
specifically distinct and proposes to call it Abies Akatodo.
We were fortunate in securing a supply of seeds of the
white and of the red bark varieties, and the seedlings, per-
haps, will show whether they should be considered distinct.
Abies Sachalinensis produces wood of fair quality, which is
used in Sapporo in building and for packing-cases; appar-

its short and more crowded leaves, its more slender pubes-
cent shoots and smaller cones. This tree is an old inhabitant
of our gardens, having been sent many years ago by Mr.
Thomas Hogg to the Flushing Nurseries, where it was
cultivated under the unpublished name of Abies Japonica
long before it was known in Europe. Of Dr. Mayr's Abies
umbellata, a species probably too near Abies homolepis,
we saw nothing at all.
The forests of Hondo contain at least one Larch, Larix

526

Garden and Forest.

[Number 304.

leptolepis. It is a fine tree, seventy or eighty feet tall,
with pale green foliage and massive trunks covered with
reddish bark, and in habit not unlike the European species.
The Japanese Larch is not rare at elevations of from 5,000
to 6,000 feet in the central part of the island, although we
saw it nowhere growing in continuous forests, but always
scattered in small groves, mixed with other deciduous trees.
Larix leptolepis was introduced into American gardens
many years ago ; it grows in this country vi'ith great
rapidity, and the oldest trees here have for many years pro-
duced abundant crops of seed. The wood, like that of
other Larch-trees, is hard, heavy and strong. The trees,
however, are so difficult to reach that it is little used in
Japan, except for the timbers of mountain mines.

Maximowicz describes a variety of this species, var.
Murrayana (Larix Japonica, Murray), which grows as a
low shrub near the timber-line of Fugi-san ; and my com-
panion, Mr. Codman, made a special trip late in the
autumn for the purpose of securing specimens and seeds
of this plant. In this he was successful, but his specimens
gathered from plants only a few feet high, growing at an
elevation of 8,500 feet above the sea-level, only differ from
those of the common arborescent form in the smaller size
of the cones and in the shorter leaves.

A variety of Larix Dahurica, a species widely distributed
through Siberia, northern China, Manchuria, Kamtschatka
and Saghalin, reaches the extreme northern part of Yezo
and the Kurile Islands. This form has been called var.
Japonica by Maximowicz, and by Mayr Larix Kurilensis.
We were not fortunate enough to see this tree in its native
forests, but some idea of its appearance as it grows in the
island of Iturup can be obtained from the illustration on
page 525 of this issue, which is produced from a photo-
graph for which I am indebted to Dr. Mayr, who visited the
Kurile Islands during his residence in Japan.

The other arborescent plants of Japan, Cycas revoluta, a
favorite garden-plant, especially in the south, where it
often grows to a great size, and Trachycarpus (or Chamse-
rops) excelsa, naturalized in some parts of the south, ap-
pear to have been introduced from the Loochu or other
southern islands, or from Formosa or southern China.

C. S. S.

Cultural Department.
Plums for the Cold North.

■\7ERY few of the Plums of west European origin or descent
* will endure the extreme winter's cold of our northern bor-
der and Canada. In sheltered gardens of the city of Montreal
Plums are successfully grown, and quite a number of good
varieties, some of which have a place in our pomological
treatises, were originated there. On tlie island of Orleans, be-
low Quebec, large quantities of small blue and white plums of
the European species are grown quite abundantly, and are
seen in their season in market along the St. Lawrence. But all
these varieties, even tlie hardiest, fail in the hill country to the
south of the St. Lawrence, which marks the water-shed be-
tween the St. Lawrence and the Connecticut valley.

About many farm-houses on both sides of the international
boundary are to be seen trees and thickets of the wild red and
yellow Plums of our woodlands. They rarely appear in the
thick woods, and are most commonly found along the streams.
Where the country has been partially opened they are noticed
to some extent along the edges of the forests, and even by the
road-sides. Still it may be said that they are not abundant ;
and it was only after a good deal of searching that I have been
able to find them absolutely wild. Such as I have found,
though the trees were very productive and the fruit of fair size,
were of a most austere flavor, with thin flesh over the seed,
yet here and there specimens of better quality are found, and
most farm-houses have a few such trees about them. As a
rule, these have a strong tendency to throw up shoots from
tfie root, so that, unless carefully pruned and trimmed out. the
stems are crowded, and the fruit is much smaller and not so
good as where single trees are planted at uniform distances
and properly pruned. A few of these wildlings have been
found that deserve to be propagated, not only for culinary use,
but for eating from the tree; and these, when given garden-

culture, often surprise one, both by their profuse bearing and
good quality. It is evident that by care in growing seedlings,
and selection over a series of years, a great improvement
might be obtained, but farmers generally pay little attention to
such matters. They are rarely much interested in things re-
quiring care and continued attention, still they are not all so ;
and with pains a considerable number of pretty good varieties
may be picked up among thenj, and as these all have the
merit of hardiness against cold, they have a decided value, as
the fruit sells readily in the village stores.

Of late we have been receiving from the north-western states
a considerable number of selected varieties ot the wild Plums
of that section, which seem to take kindly to our soil and cli-
mate, but as yet they appear to lack productiveness. I think
that it may be said that all these native Plums do best in a
moistersoil than they are likely to find in cultivated gardens.
They also need to be grown in groups of different varieties in
order to a more successful pollination.

Among the recognized varieties of the old European species
of Plums I have never found any that would endure the win-
ters of north-eastern Vermont except two seedlings— one native,
which I found on a farmer's garden on Lake Memphremagog,
and another, originating in Aroostook County, Maine, and
known as Mooer's Arctic. The origin of the first cannot be
traced ; but Mooer's Arctic is stated by the originator to have
been grown from a seed of a blue plum ot medium size
bought at a street-stand in Boston. It seems to me pretty cer-
tain that this must have been the Lombard, which is the only
variety so sold to any great extent ; it is reproduced, though
of reduced size, in this new variety.

The two varieties above referred to are much alike in size
and quality; but the Arctic, a much earlier and a more pro-
fuse bearer. In quality it is much like its parent, and has
proved profitable as a market variety. Indeed, Mooer's Arc-
tic has the fault of overbearing, to the extent of so weakening
the vitality of the tree as to cause it to be winter-killed by a
temperature which would not injure it when not fruiting so
heavily.

It has been lately found that any early-bearing variety of
Plums can be grown successfully, even if not hardy in our
climate, simply by bending down the trees in the fall and cov-
ering them with earth. This can be more easily done with
dwarfish kinds ; and in the province of New Brunswick large
quantities of the Arctic are so produced, to be shipped to city
markets. The trees are pruned flat, or "fan fashion," so that
the branches may lie close to the ground and require little
co.ering ; or, in fact, none, when set upon the south side of a
tight fence, which causes the snow to drift deeply over them.
While by these methods we are relieved, in the cold north,
from an entire destitution in regard to Plums, I am satisfied
that a more satisfactory resource will be found in the large
variety of Russian Plums, which have been imported, mainly,
through Professor Budd, of the Iowa Agricultural College. I
have a young orchard of some dozen or more varieties of these
Russian Plums, which show themselves to be quite indepen-
dent of our severe winter climate. They grow vigorously, and
are beginning to produce fruit which seems to be not inferior
to an equal numberof our older and well-known varieties. They
have all the variety of size, color and quality that marks our
older sorts, imported from England, France and Germany, or
their American seedlings. For all these Russian fruits — Ap-
ples, Pears, Plums and Cherries — we need time to discover
their peculiarities and study their needs. But they do not as
yet appear to be greatly dilTerent, except in resisting power
against low temperatures, from those we already have. The
most marked trait noticeable, as yet, is their thrifty growth
and a disposition to early and abundant fruitage.

Orleans Co., Vt. T. H. HoskillS.

Small Greenhouses.

'M'OW that the frosts of December have made the outdoor
■'■^ garden mostly a study in sepias, consolation is found in
the genial temperature of the greenhouse, and I wish to make
a plea to Mower fanciers and owners of small places to have
one of these, no matter how unpretentious. While there is
now not one greenhouse to a thousand gardens, this impor-
tant adjunct would often be added if it were generally known
that a small house is not an expensive structure, and that the
maintenance is a trifle quite within the means of limited
purses. Modest things are the most that many of us can com-
pass in this world, and to wait for ideal things is simply to be
ever without them. Granting that a greenhouse is desired, the
most practical plan is to go ahead and build one, taking heed
it shall not be a burden either in the first cost, or so extensive

December 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

527

as to require much labor for daily care. It is well to locate
the greenhouse near the dwelling, as it can there be better en-
joyed. If the heater can be placed in the cellar it will be a
great advantage, both in saving space, in keeping dust away
from the plants, and for convenience of attention to the fire. A
greenliouse is a space enclosed by low walls with a slop-
ing glass-roof, in which there must be arrangements for
ventilation. The walls are best and most cheaply made
of a double thickness of boards with a lining of building-
paper. These walls should be nailed to upright posts at
the corners and to others at distances of three or four
feet. A drip-board should be nailed on the top of each
side wall at the same slope as the proposed roof, and on its
lower edge a narrow projecting strip must be nailed to serve
for a gutter. A two by six inch board will make a good ridge
for a small house, and may be adjusted at the proper height
and in the centre or at one side, as it is intended to make a
span or three-quarter span roofed house. If the house is to
be covered with garden-sash it will be necessary only to fasten
a narrow strip, say, three-quarters by two inches, at every three
feet ; but for a glazed greenhouse, sash-bars are mortised in
the ridge and drip-board at proper distances to receive the
glass. Cross-bars will be necessary to meet lower bars of ven-
tilating sashes. The ends of the house are finished with sash-
bars, in which the glasses should be fastened and butted,
rather than lapped. This class of house may be built by any
handy man used to carpenter's tools, and will cost for materials
in a house ten by fifteen feet about $75.00. It will be found
preferable to have side lights on the side walls, and these sash
will add a little to the cost. It is advisable to have the inside
ot the house and all joints covered with white-lead in oil, but
for the outside I prefer emerald-green in a private garden.
This color wears well, and the house is not such a staring ob-
ject in the garden. It is difficult to see why a greenhouse
should be painted the usual white, for, at its best, it is simply
a necessary garden cover, which should be made as incon-
spicuous as possible. The heater and pipes for a ten by fifteen
foot house, if well bought, should cost about $50.00. A prop-
erly made base-burner will require attention only twice daily,
and should keep the house at sixty degrees in this climate on
half a ton of coal a month, or even less if the fire has more at-
tention. To sum up, then, for a capital expenditure of, say,
$200.00 or less, and a yearly expenditure of $15 00 to $2000, a
greenhouse may be had which will give profitable returns of
tiowers and plants at all seasons, and be a source of endless
pleasure. The workconnected with such a house is not beyond
the strength of the daintiest of the tender sex, if only some one
can be found to care for the ashes and to wash the pots. The
daily routine is mostly an inspection and proper watering of
each plant, and to one who knows his plants and enjoys them
this routine is a daily recurring pleasure, and not a task.
Elizabeth, N. J. J. N. Gerard.

Laslia furfuracea.

'TPHIS is one of the handsomest of the Mexican Laelias which
■'■ flower in autumn and winter. It is not unlike L. autum-
nalis ; indeed, the one sometimes passes for the other. At
the same time, the difference between what may be termed
the types of the two species is sufficient to satisfy horticultu-
rists. L. autumnalis has longer pseudo-bulbs, larger flowers,
with petals and sepals sub-equal and narrowed to a very de-
cided acumination. In L. furfuracea the pseudo-bulbs are ovate,
and so similar to those of L. majalisas to be mistaken for it ; the
leaves are about six inches long by an inch in width, thick and
leathery, usually in pairs. The scape is from eighteen inches
to two feet in length, and it bears from six to ten flowers in a
cluster near the end. There is a figure of L. furfuracea in the
Botanical Magazine, t. 3810 (1840), showing two scapes, each
bearing one flower only, but specimens in the herbarium show
more, and there are plants in flower in the gardens now with
from six to ten flowers on a scape. Each flower is three inches
across, the color varying from rich rose-purple to almost lav-
ender-rose. The petals are nearly twice as wide as the sepals,
and nearly rounded at the apex ; the three-lobed lip has the
two nearly white lateral lobes folded over the column ; and
the front lobe is oblong, reflexed, bright purple, with a yellow
three-ridged crest, and some purple lines at the base. The
odor of the flowers is peculiar, not agreeable as in L. autum-
nalis, but suggestive of rhubarb.

Laelia furfuracea is widely distributed in Mexico, whence it
was introdued about fifty years ago ; it had, however, been
found by Count Karwinsky about the year 1832 in the neigh-
borhood of Oaxaca at an elevation o£ nearly 8,000 feet. It has.
since been imported in quantity many times, but had become

a rare Orchid in English collections until this year, when it
was imported in quantity and sold as L. niajalis. There is
some variation in the color and size of the flowers produced
by the plants of this last importation, and it has in conse-
quence been suggested that they are of natural hybrid origin,
some of the plants having been offered at an auction sale in
London recently under the name of L. Marriottiana. It is, of
course, possible that these plants are of a superior type to
that hitherto grown as L. furfuracea ; certainly the plants at Kew
have flowered better than that species has hitherto. But, after
careful comparison with herbarium specimens and drawings
ot Lindley's L. furfuracea, no difference could be found to jus-
tify a distinctive name for it. The supposition that these plants
are natural hybrids invites attention to the fact that there are
already two Laelias suspiciously like L. furfuracea, which
Reichenbach named and described as natural hybrids, namely,
L. Eyermaniana, named in 1888 from a plant flowered by San-
der and suggested to be the offspring of L. majalis and L. au-
tumnalis ; the second, being that called L. Gouldiana, also flow-
ered in 1888. This is supposed to be a natural hybrid between
L. autumnalis and some other.

• Lselia furfuracea should be grown on blocks, or in baskets
suspended in an airy, sunny position in a cool house. We
have treated it as we do L majalis, which flowers here, when
started in the Cattleya-house, in spring, and hung on a tree
outside in the sun during summer and autumn. They like
plenty of water while growing, and a good baking after the
growth is finished.

London. W. IV.

Oncidium Gravesianum. — This plant is one of the latest addi-
tions to the already long list of Oncidiums known to cultiva-
tors, many of which, however, have proved very short-lived
under artificial conditions ; this species, however, appears to
have no weakness of this sort, and increases every year. It is
a native of Pernambuco and was discovered and imported
with Cattleya labiata by Sander & Co. There is a figure of
O. Gravesianum in the Gardeners' Chronicle, IVtay 21, 1892, but
it does not do justice to the variety in bloom with us, being
much more star-like in oufline and suggesting that the flowers
were poor ones borne on newly imported plants. Our plants,
when received, were thick masses of copper-colored bulbs,
just as they had been torn from the branches of trees in Brazil,
and these are now flowering from the second season's growth
made in this country. There is a very strong resemblance in
the flowers to those of O. crispum, and a variety of this now
in bloom is almost identical in color with O. Gravesianum.
The resemblance ends with the flowers, the growth being very
distinct. The whole flower is a rich dark bronze, the inner
half of the lip being bright yellow ; there are over twenty flow-
ers on each of the three panicles borne on the plant, and they
appear to last a long time in good condition. O. Gravesianum
thrives well at the cool end of the Cattleya-house, where a
temperature of fifty degrees at night during winter seems to
suit it, and prevents the tendency to premature growth, which
is apparently a habit of this species when cultivated.

Messrs. Linden's collectors state that in the district where
the Cattleya labiata was rediscovered no rain had fallen for
ten years, the plants being wholly dependent upon the heavy
dews for their supply of moisture, and this bit of circumstan-
tial evidence gives us a clue to the treatment of our acquisi-
tions from this region, which all bear, more or less, the
appearance of having been exposed to a fierce sun, and a
thorough ripening process, such as a scanty supply of water
would naturally bring about.

The Orchid-weevil. — When writing recently of Dendrobium
Phalaenopsis I quite omitted to speak of the danger to cultivators
of introducing that dread pest the orchid-weevil, which has
left unmistakable evidence of its ravages on most of the plants
as they \yere imported. The fact is, I had not found any of the
insects since the plants came six months ago ; but the other
day there were two plants whose bulbs were discolored and
felt soft to the touch. A dissection disclosed several of the
grubs in each bulb. While there is, perhaps, no reason for
alarm when one is forearmed, it would be disastrous if, through
oversight, this pest should gain a footing in the Orchid-houses
throughout the country. There is no known remedy except
to cut off the affected bulbs and burn them. This is harsh
treatment, but it must be rigorously followed up if we would
keep our plants in health. I believe' it is easier to detect the
insect in the bulbs of a Dendrobium than in those of a Cat-
tleya, as they are slender, and a Cavity is more evident to the
touch, hence we need have no fear of being able to control
these invaders in the case of this Dendrobium.

South Lancaster, Mass. £. O. Or pet.

528

Garden and Forest.

[Number 304.

Cosmos hybridus.— My general practice has been to sow the
seed of this plant about the middle of April in the greenhouse,
and as soon as the seedlings are ready to handle comfortably
I pot them into three-inch pots and half-plunge them in an out-
side frame, protecting them from the frost. I believe, however,
that the best wav for an amateur is to sow the seed from the
1st to the 15th of May, according to latitude, in the open bor-
der, or, perhaps, in a frame, and when the seedlings are from
six to eight inches high to transplant them where they are to
flower. After they have grown, say, a foot high, the points
should be pinched off in order to encourage a stocky habit.
After they have made another foot of growth they should be
pinched again, and this should be continued until the end of
July, when they ought to be, at least, two feet high and about
the'same in diameter. After this they can be allowed to grow. I
formerly root-pruned my plants by running a spade down on
two sides of the plant, starting about eight inches away from
the collar, and slanting the spade toward it, but this made no
perceptible difference in the time of flowering, and I now be-
lieve that the only way to induce these plants to Hower before
the regular season is to plant them in boxes, as is done some-
times with Chrysanthemums. This would certainly ripen the
wood earlier, and probably bring them into Hower a week or
ten davs ahead of time. If grown in boxes or large pots they
could be taken inside, and they would keep on flowering until
the plants were cut to the root. The tendency of Cosmos to
grow tall, makes it liable to be blown about and broken by the
wind unless it is carefully staked, and I therefore advise to
plant it against fences, out-houses, or in some similar situation,
where it is much easier to care for. When planted along with
low-growing plants. Cosmos is apt to overrun them, so that,
besides itself, there is little left to be seen in the bed by the ist
of August, but this tying back to the fence gives lower plants
a chance.

WaahiDi^un. D. C.

IVm. S. Clark.

Correspondence.

Climbing Roses in California.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — Among more than fifty varieties of climbing Roses
under cultivation in my garden, thebest is thecrimson climber
Reine Olga de Wurtemburg, a hybrid Tea. This Rose is but
little known, and another sort of less merit has been masquer-
ading under its name. As a grower it is excelled by few, if
any, sending up great strong shoots covered with heavy foli-
age, each leaf-stem bearing five leaflets. It climbs ten or fif-
teen feet in a season. It is free from disease, and is not sub-
ject to the attacks of insects. The flowers are fine in bud and
semi-double when open, and often measure nearly six inches
across when fully expanded. The color is brilliant crimson,
which, though it fades with age, keeps brilliant still, and a
bush in full bloom on a house or trellis actually blazes with
color as far as it can be seen. It begins to bloom in February
in Fruitvale, and does not cease until September. The bright
buds are favorites with florists, especially in early spring.

Reine Marie Henriette, another of the hybrid Tea class, has
even a more beautiful flower than the closely related Olga de
Wurtemburg. The petals are very long and heavy and curve
slightly inward, giving a flower of beautiful form. The buds
are also very desirable and are freely produced, but the prin-
cipal crop comes about a month later in the spring. The plant
is, however, rarely free from buds and flowers. It is a good,
strong grower under favorable conditions, but does not like
exposure to winds or sudden changes of temperature, and the
hot sunshine will burn and ruin the flowers. Both these Roses
have a delightful odor, that of Marie Henriette being of a de-
cidedly fruity character.

Among the climbers with yellow flowers, the old Mar^chal
Niel may still be said to head the list, though the climbing
Perle des Jardins follows closely. When young,- Mar^chal
Niel g^ows with vigor and blooms with profusion, giving a
constant succession. In a few years, however, canker is apt
to set in just at the surface of the soil, and the plant soon dies.
This may, in a measure at least, be prevented by working the
plant on some strong-growing and kindly stock like Banksia,
Double Cherokee or Baltimore Belle. This Rose loves the
protection of a glass-house kept cool and well aired in summer,
and not too warm in winter ; it is then rarely without flowers.
Much is expected from the climbing Perle des Jardins. It is
healthy and forces well. If, like the parent sort, it flowers in
profusion. It will displace Marfchal Niel entirely as a commer-
cial Rose.

Chromatella, or Cloth of Gold, as it is more generally known,

is not less beautiful than Perle des Jardins. The petals are
longer, but there are not so many, and the color is not so deep.
It is a shy bloomer, even in spring. LikeMar^chal Niel, it does
better grafted on one of the Banksias than when left on its own
roots. It is difficult to propagate, and will always be scarce.

Claire Carnot is a beautiful Rose; the color is creamy white,
set aglow with shades of orange and crimson, and it blooms
with tolerable freedom. Tlie best pink climber up to this time
is Elie Beauvilain. It is a fine clean grower, and a profuse and
constant bloomer. The flowers are very double and perfect ;
the color is pink, with a slight coppery tinge. Climbing Devo-
niensis is the prettiest white climber in the collection, and is a
good grower, but Lamarque is a better and more constant
bloomer, and is usually grown in preference. A more useful
Rose than either of these is Madame Alfred Carrifere. It is
especially good for cutting, as it lasts well.

We grow three varieties of Banksias — two yellow and one
white. They have no thorns; grow strong and high, and are
evergreen, though not everblooming. For a couple of months
in the spring they are such a mass of flowers that but little
foliage can be seen. The branches then resemble those of a
Cherry-tree in full bloom, the flowers coming in clusters. Of
one variety of yellow Banksias the flowers are the size of a half-
dollar, and of the other the size of a quarter-dollar. Those of
the white sort are in size midway between the two yellows, but
the white has a grateful violet fragrance which the yellow va-
rieties are deficient in.

San Francisco, Calif. fi. G. Pratt.

Elasagnus hortensis in Dakota.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — One of the most gratifying features of tree-planting in
South Dakota is the marked adaptation of Elseagnus hortensis
to the soil and climate of the state. Although a native of the
orient, it flourishes without protection where the thermometer
not unfrequently registers thirty degrees below zero, and
where the annual rain-fall does not exceed twenty-two inches.
Specimens of this shrub planted on the grounds of the Agri-
cultural College at Brookings in 1888 have attained a height
of twelve feet, and for two years have matured their fruit.

The leaves do not start very early in the spring, but when
once developed they give the plant a bright and cheerful aspect
by their silvery whiteness. The flowers, which are borne in
small pendulous clusters, are rather inconspicuous, but be-
cause of their great number and pleasant odor they render the
plant attractive. The fruit is persistent, often remaining upon
the branches throughout the entire winter, and after the leaves
have fallen, which does not occur until severe freezing, they
form an ornamental feature.

In October, 1892, some seeds of Elaeagnus hortensis were
planted about an inch deep in a cold frame and afterward cov-
ered with nearlv six inches of coarse mulch ; this was removed
the following May. The young plants came up quickly and
made a good stand, and as long as the moisture was abundant
the growth was rapid, but as the season advanced and dry
weather set in, the growth was retarded, so that the young
plants did not attain a height to exceed ten inches. The expe-
rience of the past season in growing the plants from seed,
while not highly successful, is, on the whole, encouraging.
During last autumn we planted the product of the few trees we
have, with the hope that, if the seed shall germinate as well
as last season, we shall be able to increase its growth by irri-
gation. The drought does not seriously interfere with the
growth of the tree after it has become once established, and
tfiis is a point greatly in its favor.

There is no doubt that this shrub is suitable for lawn-plant-
ing, and in addition it has features that would make it an ex-
cellent wind-break for small fruits, since it has the useful char-
acteristic of retaining its lower branches, thus proving a good
snow-catch. In this treeless section small fruits suffer quite
as much from lack of snow covering as from any other cause,
and any plant that has the power of breaking the force of the
wind and causing it to deposit its burden of snow must find
favor for use as a shelter. This use, together with its hardi-
ness, rapid growth and ornamental character, should com-
mend it to planters in the north-west.

Broolfin^s, South Dakota.

L. C. Corbett.

The Catalpa in Kansas.

To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — A few days ago I saw a writing-desk made from the
wood of a tree of Catalpa speciosa that was just ten years old
from seed. The tree was transplanted twice when quite
young ; was planted on prairie-soil, with a fair amount of cul-

December 20, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

529

tivation, but plenty of room to make the best possible growth,
and it made a log ten inches in diameter at the butt when cut.
Tlie tree was cut early in the spring of 1893, and was sent to
the World's Fair, where it was set up in the Kansas Building,
after which it was taken to one of the large railroad-shops in
Chicago, cut up and made into the writuig-desk. The wood
is beautiful ; in fact, it is excelled by few other kinds ; it is light
in weight and color, takes the finest polish, and willendurefor
years either in the ground or exposed to the weather.

Thousands of these Catalpas have been planted in Kansas,
but only a few have averaged a growth of an inch in diameter
a year. Ten years ago we were told to plant Catalpas four feet
apart each way, cultivate for three or four years, and in from
eight to ten years every tree would make a post. Then we were
to remove three-fourths of the grove, leaving the remainder for
eight or ten years more. Now, that advice has not proved
good, at least for small plantations. Trees, when planted four
feet apart each way, will not make posts in ten years. The
better way would seem to be to plant the trees in rows twelve
to fifteen feet apart, and five to six feet apart in the row. Then
crop the ground between the rows with Corn for at least three
years ; after that time three or four crops of Potatoes could be
raised. The ground for both Corn and Potatoes should be cul-
tivated thoroughly, for nothing makes a tree grow like good
cultivation. It may be argued that if the trees are planted so
far apart they will not grow straight and tall, and will have
more top than trunk ; but any one can grow Catalpa-trees
almost perfectly straight, even though they be not planted
very close. With proper care for tea years a grove of 250
Catalpas per acre would, at fifteen years from seed, average
one foot in thickness at the butt, and ten to twelve feet to the
first limb, with a stem almost as straight as an arrow. Such a
grove need not cost very much money, but would be a bless-
ing to tlie boy or girl whose father started and cared for them
until a money value could be realized. ^ ,,,. ^,

Topeka. Kans. George W. Ttncher.

[No doubt, cultivation improves trees, but whether it
would pay to cultivate in the way our correspondent
recommends a hundred or a thousand acres planted with
forest-trees is another question. Long straight trunks are
always desirable in timber trees, and we should like to
have the experience of Mr. Tincher, or any one else who
has trained Catalpas into an upright habit of growth in
any other way than the natural one of close planting,
with an explanation of the precise process of growing
Catalpas with tall, straight trunks when they are set twelve
feet apart, and an estimate of its cost an acre. — Ed.]

Meetings of Societies.
Annual Meeting of the American Forestry Association.

THE twelfth annual meetingof the American Forestry Asso-
ciation opened on Friday, December 15th, in the Agricul-
tural Department Building,' at Washington, with Assistant
Secretary Willets in the chair. At the business session Secretary
Morton was re-elected President ; Dr. H. M.Fisher, Treasurer ;
B. E. Fernow, Chairman of Executive Committee, and J. D.
W. French, Secretary pro tern. It was resolved, in view of the
amount of money on hand, to secure as soon as possible the
services of a paid permanent Secretary, and the Executive
Committee was empowered to make the selection. A resolution
was adopted favoring the McRae bill, which authorizes mili-
tary protection for the forest-reservations, and provides for the
sale of timber on Government land. It was also resolved to print
the papers read at the Forestry meeting at Chicago. Colonel W.
F. Fox, Forest Warden of New York, and a delegation from the
Forest Commission of thatstate, invited the association to hold
a meeting at Albany this winter during the session of the Legis-
lature, and the invitation was accepted. The meeting is in-
tended to be educational in its character, and it is proposed to
have a careful discussion of questions relating to the best
forest-policy for New York, at which members of the Legisla-
ture will be invited to assist, and it is hoped that, by concerted
action, some more efficient laws for forest-preservafion can be
passed.

On Friday evening Mr. Fernow delivered an illustrated lec-
ture, entitled "The Battle of the Forest," at a joint meeting of
the association with the National Geographical Society, in
which he gave a rapid sketch of the development of trees
from the lowest forms of vegetation, and showed how the
forest, by its various powers of aggression and defense, had
gradually throughout geologic time gained possession of a

considerable portion of the earth's surface. He also showed
how in the various changes of the surface and climate of the
earth certain species had been exterminated, and how some of
Ihem had retreated before the advancing ice and again occu-
pied their old homes after the ice had retired. Another form
of the forest-battle is the struggle for supremacy between dif-
ferent species of trees after they had overcome opposition
from without, and many illustrations were given to show how
some varieties, like the Torreyea, for instance, had become re-
stricted to a very limited habitat, while others had spread from
ocean to ocean, and how each varying condition of moisture
and dryness, of altitude and latitude is taken advantage of by
particular trees, which by some power of adaptation can suc-
ceed in crowding out their less fortunate competitors. What
we call the virgin forest, then, is nothing more than the result
of a struggle which has extended over thousands of years, in
which the forest has not only conquered its way over untoward
conditions, but after long internal warfare the stronger trees
have assumed their position of supremacy over; their fellows.
Finally, the forest found its most inveterate enemy in man,
who has taken sides against it throughout all historic time in
the struggle to occupy the soil for agricultural purposes, and
to use the wood for his necessities. Besides this, he has reck-
lessly destroyed what he did not need, and has made no
preparation for a future supply. The lantern pictures which
illustrated this part of the lecture showed in a very striking
way the desolation which wasteful cutting had made in the
Adirondacksand other parts of the United States, while other
slides showed the desolating effects of the axe in the French
Alps, and the expensiveandlaboriouscharacterof theworkthat
is now going on there to restore these mountains, as far as
may be, to their original condifion. It would be a fortunate
tiling for the country if the latter portion of this lecture, with
its accompanying pictures, could be delivered in every town
of the country as an aid in educating the public as to the
necessity of good forest-laws, and their energetic enforcement.
On Saturday the Public Lands Committee of the House of
Representatives gave a hearing to a delegation from the so-
ciety. Secretary Morton presented the resolutions of the
society endorsing the McRae bill, and Mr. Bowers, the Assist-
ant Commissioner of the General Land Office, urged its
passage, as did Colonel Fox, Mr. Fernow and others. The
bill is already on the calendar, and the committee directed
Mr. McRae to call it up on Monday.

Recent Publications.

American Woods. Exhibited by Actual Specimens.
Romeyn B. Hough, Lowville, N. Y.

This is Part III. of a work whose earlier numbers have
been noticed in former volumes of Garden and Forest.
We remind our readers once more that these specimens
are very thin slices of wood, cut in three directions, that
is, transversely, radially, and tangentially, so as to show
the grain both of the hearJ;-wood and the sap-wood. These
sections are beautifully mounted, and when held so that the
light will shine through them they give a very complete
idea of the structure of the wood and its appearance when
worked. A pamphlet comes with the specimens which
contains a good deal of descriptive matter concerning the
trees, besides three keys which are used as an aid in iden-
tifying the species which are represented in the first three
parts of the book. One of these keys is based mainly on
the flowers, another on the leaves, and a third on the fruit.
We repeat what we have said before, that this collection
ought to be in every public school and library in the coun-
try. It may be added that Mr. Hough, whose address is
Lowville, New York, also has specimens of these woods
mounted for use in stereopticons in; slides of standard size,
which show a circular field two and three-quarter inches
in diameter, and besides this he has most of the species
prepared for the microscope, each slide containing the
three sections and labeled with both the scientific and
common names.

Each one of these parts contains the woods of twenty-five
trees. Part III. contains, in addition to the regular wood
specimens, sections of a burl of the Black Ash, as well as
the wood of that tree. The sections are not all taken from
native American trees. This last part contains the wood
of the Lombardy Poplar, English Cherry and the common

530

Garden and Forest.

[Number 304.

Pear, all of which have, to a certain extent, become nat-
uralized. Parts IV. and V. of the series will be out in time
for the holidays, the latter being composed entirely of
woods found in Florida.

Notes.

Mr. Elwood Alley writes us from Gran, Missouri, of a Sassa-
fras-tree growing near that town, which, at five feet above the
surface of the ground, has a trunk circumference of fourteen
feet six inches.

A section of the Sequoia-trunk, thirty feet long, which was one
of the attractions of the Columbian Fair, is to be set up perma-
nently on the grounds of the Department of Agriculture in
Washington. It is proposed to divide it into two rooms, one
above the other, and to place in tliem a collection of pictures
and other objects relating to forestry.

Tlie California Fruit Grower calls upon the quarantine
officers of that state to watch the importations of^ fruit and
plants from the Hawaiian Islands, m order to prevent the in-
troduction of a destructive leaf-eating beetle which has within
a few years reached those islands from Japan. The beetles
feed on the leaves of almost all fruit-trees, and they could
easily make the voyage to California

A correspondent makes some inquiry as to the prospects of
the profitable culture of Filberts in Canada. We have never
known any experiments with these plants in our north-eastern
states which have been continuously successful. If any of
our readers have succeeded in growing these nuts in any
quantity, we should be glad to hear something of the methods
of culture employed, the varieties planted, and any other in-
formation on the subject.

One of the handsomest trees in the Botanic Gardens of
Washington is a European Hornbeam, which was planted by
Mr. Sinith, the superintendent, about twenty-five years ago. It
is very symmetrical in shape, and its branches spread out over
a circle fifty feet in diameter. It has a stout trunk which breaks
into numerous large limbs some four feet above the ground,
although a distinct central stem continues much higher. The
trunk measures six feet in circumference at its smallest point.

A writer in the Scientific American, describing the manu-
facture of desiccated cocoanut, states that the husked nuts come
to this country in burlap bags containing about a hundred each,
and are sold from the vessel at thirty to sixty dollars a
tliousand. In the preparation of the nut it is first set on end
and struck with a hammer, and the shell and kernel cracked at
the same time. The outer shell is then removed and the nut
passed along to the peelers, who remove the dark skin. An
exi>ert can shell as many as 3,000 nuts in a day, and a first-class
hand can peel as many as 1 ,800. The kernels are then put through
a grating machine having a capacity of 7,000 nuts a day. About
seventy pounds of grated material are placed in each ot a series
of heated galvanized pans resting on steam pipes, and from
eight to thirty pounds of granulated sugar are added to each
pan. After drying twelve hours, tha material is passed through
a sieve and packed in boxes and barrels.

The variety of Asparagus plumosus known as Nanus is not
as strong as the type, but its foliage is a richer green, and it
has the merit of throwing out its fern-like branches to the
ground, while the stronger plant is often bare for several feet
al>ove the roots. There is nothing to take the place of the
Ijranches of this Asparagus to mingle with cut Howers, and
they can be used over and over again since they will keep for
two or three weeks in water. A mass of this dwarf variety is
very beautiful by itself, as a glance through one of the green-
houses of Mr. W. S. Clark, in Washington, District of Colum-
bia, will convince any visitor. Here is a house containing
considerably over 2,000 plants trained to wires and running up
eight or ten feet to the roof, with every plant feathered to the
ground. As one looks through the plants the long structure
seems filled with a mist of tender green, so delicate is the color
and so fine the lines of the soft and slender growth.

The latest number of the /fwra/AVo/ Kor/t^r contains a fig-
ure of a new Grape which is a seedling from Moore's Early,
raised by Mr. George W. Campbell, of Delaware, Ohio, and
named by him Campbell's Early. Perfectly colored and ap-
parently ripeclusters were exhibited at the Ohio State Fair on
the 27th of August. The vines were not sprayed and the ber-
ries were not bagged until they began to color, and yet there
was no attack of rot The berry is black, with a thin hut very
tenacious skin, larger and firmer than the Concord orWorden,
having smaller seeds, and sweet to the centre ; that is, there is

no acidity in the pulp about the seed 'as there is in the Con-
cord. It is mild, but richly flavored and has no foxiness. In-
deed, in several ways this seems to be a better grape than the
Concord, while it is much earlier. The point which remains
to be decided is whether it will succeed elsewliere as well as
it does in Ohio. One important advantage which the Concord
possesses over other Grapes is the wide range of country over
which it will thrive.

The thirty-third part of the English edition, the last to reach
us, oi Lindenia, the Messrs. Lindens' sumptuous Iconography
of Orchids, contains plates of Zygopetalum grandiflorum, a
native of south Mexico and Central America, and perhaps
better known by its older name of Batemannia grandiflora in
collections where, however, it is not very often seen ; of the
Peruvian Lycaste cinnabarina, a plant with magnificent flow-
ers, conspicuous for the large lip of a deep apricot color,
which makes a beautiful contrast with the pale green sepals
and petals ; of Cattleya velutina, with its dark orange color,
spotted petals and purple-veined lip ; and of a variety of the
well-known Vanda tricolor, to which the varietal name of
Hove;e is given in honor of Madame Van den Hove. Lindenia
is one of the books which are indispensable to every serious
student of Orchids, and will naturally find a place in all bo-
tanical and horticultural libraries ; the beauty of the illustra-
tions and their fidelity to nature commend it to all lovers of
hindsome books.

Mr. F. Franceschi, who, it will be remembered, has written
about the trees of Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Lower
California, in the columns of Garden and Forest, writing
more recently on the same subject in Zee, says: "The in-
crease in the number of wild goats has gone on these last years
unchecked by the few thousands which may have been killed
by the poachers who visit the island from time to time. The
result is vividly shown by the fact that in all my ramblings
over the island I was able to find but one single shrub, Ceano-
thus crassifolius, alive in any of the places accessible to goats.
Endowed as these are with proverbial climbing ability, the
more so when pressed by hunger, the few plants that have
escaped destruction are those growing on the perpendicular
basaltic cliffs, accessible only to winged creatures, and old
trees with bark too hard and woody to offer any food." By far
the most abundant of all the shrubs still living on the island is
Perityle incana, and it is the most likely to survive under the
unfavorable circumstances, as it seems quite at home on the
more precipitous cliffs, and young plants and seedlings are
abundant in the crevices of the rocks. More lender plants
likewise find a chance to survive in possessing cliff-climbing
powers superior to those of the goats, as is the case with Con-
volvulus macrostegius, which, although highly relished l)y
goats, is still keeping its hold on the most perpendicular cliffs,
where its drooping green masses form a striking contrast to
the silvery foliage of Perityle Palmeri.

A light crop of apples in this country and the prevailing dull-
ness of trade have affected the exports of this fruit, and but
97,152 barrels have been shipped to England from the United
States and Canada to December i6th, whereas for the corre-
sponding period of last year the exports amounted to 838,567
barrels. "The supply of Newtown pippins is larger than usual,
and as fewer of these favorite export apples are being sent to
England they are proportionately cheaper in this market than
other choice apples, and are sold as low as $6 a barrel, the best
selected fruit being $10. Showy Spitzenbergs are thirty to sixty
cents a dozen, and good Florida oranges now cost less than
choice apples. Common grades of grape fruit, as well as Tat •

ferine and Mandarin oranges, can be had for almost any price,
tem-cut dates from Malta, of excellent quality, are thirty-five
cents a pound. Spanish pomegranates and Japanese persim-
mons can be had at five to ten cents each, and Coe's Late Red
plums, from California, have only disappeared from fruit-
stands within a week past. White Muscat grapes, the leading
table variety of California, are in exceptionally good condition,
being thoroughly matured and altogether better than any seen
here earlier in the season. A six-pound box costs seventy-five
cents to a dollar. Flame Tokay grapes bring as high as thirty
cents a pound, Almerias from fifteen to thirty cents, and Gros
Colman, from English hot-houses, are two dollars a pound.
Winter Nelis pears cost fifty cents to a dollar a dozen, accord-
ing to size, and Eastern Beurre are a dollar, the largest Co-
mice bringing a dollar and a half a dozen. Lychee nuts, from
China, are variously sold at twenty cents a quart aiul forty
cents a pound. Beautiful hot-house tomatoes ot large size and
extra quality are now coming from Grimsby, Canada, each
tomato wrapped in paper bearing the name ot the grower.
These bring fifty cents a pound.

December 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

531

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Offich : Tribune Building, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICH AT NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1893.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Editorial Articles : — The Key-note in Landscape-gardening 531

Street-trees 232

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan.— XXVII C. S. S. 532

Foreign Correspondknck ; — London Letter IV, JVatson. 533

New or Little-known Plants: — Washingtonia filifera. (With figure.) 535

Cultural Department :— Dropsy of Violets George F. Atkinson. 536

Early Cauliflower E. O. Orpet. 536

Winter-flowering Greenhouse Plants T. D. Hatfield. 536

Asparagus retrofractus arboreus, Stevia odorata, Iris stylosa, The Laelias,

y. N. Gerard. 537

Correspondence :— Japanese Morning-glories C. S. Plumb. 537

Roses in Washington s. 538

Recent Publications 53g

Notes 540

Illustration : — Wasbingtonia filifera in a California Garden, Fig. 77 535

The Key-note in Landscape-gardening.

THE first essential of success in arranging grounds is
the abihty to recognize the characteristic and salient
features of a place so as to work in harmony with them
instead of coming into conflict with nature. To this end
the individual quality of the surroundings of any place
ought to be carefully studied before a tree is planted, a
structure is erected or a path is laid. Few places, even
when comparatively small, are so dull or monotonous that
they are without a single feature which is worth empha-
sizing, and toward which, as a centre, the artist's thought
is constantly directed. This may be a distant prospect, or
it may be a craggy ledge, a strip of woodland, a noble tree,
or only a pleasing sweep of surface. When this command-
ing feature is selected all the other elements in a consistent
scheme of landscape gardening are made subordinate and
accessory to it. Of course, this central idea must be dis-
tinctive to be interesting, and in carrying it out, if it is to
remain distinctive, we must not follow precedent too
closely. Men too often plant certain trees in a certain
way because other people have set them so, and in this
way they are apt to make their estates humdrum and
monotonous from lack of individuality. True, if a place is
simply one of a hundred similar ones, like a regulation
house and lot in a suburban town, there is little to do with
such a featureless subject besides some formal planting,
whose lines will be determined mainly by the size and
position of the house ; and such arrangements, when
guided by good taste, can, at least, be made interesting.

In a region, however, of open farm-land, or in a wood-
land opening, or near the sea, the proper way is to study
natural effects and subtly to conform all artifices to the
suggestions of nature in the neighborhood. A great mass
of rock, instead of being concealed by trees and shrubbery,
should be made the most of in the outlook, and its lines of
rugged strength should not be softened away, or its pro-
portions belittled by any pettiness in its surroundings. If-
the approach to a dwelling is through a native forest-

growth, this naturalness should not be marred by the in-
troduction of species which do not belong to that region.
There are enough native under-shrubs which are de-
sirable in themselves, and which will be doubly so in
such a place, where they help to emphasize the absence
of artificiality.

In any scene it is plainly a mistake to introduce plants
which, however beautiful in themselves, contradict the
leading idea. Instead of this, we should carry out the
central thought in every possible way. If we have a
natural ledge of rocks we can encourage native ferns to
grow in its crevices, wild vines to trail over its face,
and native shrubs and grasses to grow at its base, and
thus emphasize its natural aspect and make an artistic
picture at the same time. Where the surroundings of the
ledge are rough it may be the best practice to clear away
only the inhospitable thickets of Brambles and allow
Nature herself to weave a tracery of vines upon the rocks,
and encourage wild flowers to blossom among them. In
planting our native trees in a natural landscape we should
use them in such positions as they usually affect, not only
because a Willow will be healthy near the water while a
Chestnut will thrive on a gravelly hill, but because we are
accustomed to see these trees in such places. Stretches of
green turf always enhance the effect of trees, but where
our object is to preserve as far as possible the wild beauty
of an individual spot and bring out the idea of remoteness,
the borders should be broken by capes and bays of foliage,
and outstanding single trees, and masses of shrubbery in-
formally disposed. If the key-note here is solitude, retire-
ment, the idea of escape from the frequented and a release
from convention, nothing like formality or rectilinear
primness should be permitted. This attempt to imitate the
quiet of an unsettled neighborhood the English delight in
producing in their great parks, through which one may
drive for miles before reaching the castle with a refreshing
sense of seclusion and unmolested nature. It is this idea
which adds the final charm to the great Beeches, with their
wide-stretched arms, and the Oaks which have remained
undisturbed for centuries. They add significance and
force to the idea of quiet permanence in an unvexed
domain,

Where a place is so fortunate as to possess an attractive
prospect from an elevation, everything in the foreground
should be subordinated to this broad picture, and nothing
should be placed so as to distract the attention. Strong
forms of an occasional tree in the foreground may, by their
sharp contrast with the dim and shimmering lines beyond,
add depth and mystery to the distance, but there should
be nothing trivial, nothing to prevent the eye from leaping
straightway to the interesting point beyond, and, above
all, nothing in the nature of clutter or trifling ornament
near at hand. Where there is no important outlook, good
landscape-effects can be compassed wherever there is room
enough by availing one's self of slight undulations of the sur-
face, increasing the height of the elevations and the depth of
the depressions by planting, by adroitly managed shadows,
and paths which vanish mysteriously behind a thicket.
Where there is neither space nor view, a garden of rare
and choice plants can be made the centre of interest, and,
if these are not within the means of the proprietor, less
costly flowers arranged with taste and skill may bring
never-failing delight.

But, whatever the arrangement, there must always be
some key-note, as in a painted canvas some high light
contrasted with deep shadow, which will turn even a little
garden into a picture. What is needed for this is the same
kind of thought which a painter gives when he sits down
before his canvas. No artist selects a subject without
due consideration. There must be something in it — a
tone, a shadow, a broad light — which makes the homeliest
object artistic. The mental picture which the gardener
frames it may take years to completely develop, but, so
long as he keeps in mind this central note upon which the
whole scheme is keyed, he can always work upon this

532

Garden and Forest.

[Number 305.

motif, and add such details from year to year as the grow-
ing picture itself suggests new combinations. Time spent
in such study is time most delightfully spent, for ideas can
be sought in every walk through the grassy path of a
woodland ; every neglected roadside contains its lesson ;
every river-bank along which he may drift affords a hint
for new combinations, and the whole world becomes a
sketch-book full of designs by the greatest of artists, which
he may adopt and adapt without charge of plagiarism.
Nature is bountiful in prospects, bountiful in material for
making them. Supreme as she is, man is her ruler, and,
without him, her highest charm lacks significance, since
his is the eye to see, and, therefore, it is his right to subject
her to his fancy, and he seldom has more delightful em-
ployment than in producing harmony between her munifi-
cence and his own artistic needs.

A BROAD avenue, several miles long, has just been
graded through the most attractive residence sec-
tion of Jersey City, and it is understood that the author-
ities are about to advertise for proposals to plant it with
trees by contract This is the ordinary process when tree-
planting is done in almost every city of the country,
and where the grade, as in this case, is often several
feet below the surface of the ground, it is very plain
that the hard-pan in which the trees must be set con-
tains no food for their nourishment, and is not in a proper
mechanical condition to receive the roots. It is often the
case, too, that a street is built on an embankment filled in
at the bottom with large stones, leaving air-spaces between
them, above which is a layer of rubbish and then a layer
of earth. Of course, no tree can be planted in such a
position with any hope of health or longevity. There is
no need to repeat here what has been so often said, that
money which is expended in planting street-trees is worse
than wasted unless the entire work is done with intelligence
and skill. No sickly tree can be beautiful or useful,
and trees which are not properly selected and prop-
erly planted in ground prepared by men who know
how to perform every operation, are sure, in time, to
offend the eye and depress the mind of every be-
holder. In sterile hard-pan an excavation twelve feet
across and three feet deep, and filled with good loam,
makes a fairly safe place to plant a tree in, provided enough
loam is used, and it is allowed to remain at least one
winter to settle and become firm before the tree is planted.
Kven then only a few kinds have any prospect of living
when their leaves are exposed to a city's smoke and dust,
and their roots are kept dry by excessive drainage. When
the proper varieties are selected, nursery-grown trees with
abundant roots, straight stems and heads pruned for the
special purpose, should invariably be used.

Handsome trees will never be found in our cities until the
work is placed in the hands of responsible and competent
officers from the very beginning, whose duty it is not only
to select the trees and plant them, but to supervise all
pruning. Pruning is needed for the best development of
any tree, but where uniform shape is desirable, where the
natural low-branching form of many species is quite out of
place, and where limited root-room often demands a corre-
sponding reduction in the size of the top, as is the case with
street-trees, careful pruning is an absolute necessity if even
moderate success is to be attained. No tree is safe, however,
when attacked by an axe or saw in ignorant hands. Un-
skillful pruning will not only destroy the beauty of a tree,
but will leave raw wounds to invite attacks of fungi which
bring disease and death. Even in the city of Washington,
which contains more good trees than any city of the Union,
it has been almost impossible to find expert pruners, and
many rows of trees have suffered from improper cutting.
Some trees, like the American Elm, resent the removal of
any large branches, and, therefore, one of the characteris-
tics of a good street-tree is that it will endure pruning well.
This is one of the good qualities of the Oriental Plane-tree,

and rows of these trees in Washington, which have been
properly pruned once or twice, are a delight to the eye.
Even the White Maple, which has many qualities that are
not desirable, serves an admirable purpose when it has
been properly cut in, as has been done in certain streets of
the Capital.

One important factor in the maintenance pf the street-
trees in Washington is the nursery in which some eight
acres of the varieties generally planted in the city are mak-
ing a thrifty growth. Here young trees are properly pruned
and trained and prepared for removal by transplanting, so
that symmetrical specimens of uniform size are always to
be had when they are needed. This is an improvement on
the practice of paying contractors for pulling trees out of a
swamp, or even of buying surplus nursery stock that has
been left to take care of itself. The first step, however, to
insist upon for the reform of street-planting in our cities
is that the work from beginning to end should be placed
in the charge of experts who know trees, who know how
to plant them and how to care for them afterward.

Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXVII.

IN few other countries are the forests of greater impor-
tance to the prosperity of the nation than they are in
Japan. The formation of the islands, with their high cen-
tral mountain-ranges and short, precipitous, swift-flowing
rivers, make floods particularly prevalent and danger-
ous, and the necessity of preserving the forest-covering of
the upper mountain-slopes proportionately great ; and no
other race, with the single exception, perhaps, of the people
of the United States, is such a consumer of forest-products
as the Japanese, all their houses and most of their articles
of domestic use being entirely made of wood. The traveler,
therefore, watches with some interest, as bearing upon the
future of Japan, the condition and prospects of her forests.
According to the most reliable statistics available, those
compiled by Rein, and based in part, at least, upon the re-
port of the Japanese Forestry Exhibit at Edinburgh in 1834,
thirty-seven per cent, of the three southern islands — that is,
of the whole empire, with the exception of the practically
unsettled island of Yezo — is desert or unproductive land.
Twenty-three per cent, is occupied by the mountain-
forests, eighteen per cent, by the cultivated forests, while
rather less than twenty per cent, is devoted to agriculture,
the remainder being taken up by buildings, roads, etc.
The cultivated forests, in which it is presumed that
the areas surrounding the temples are included, which,
although covered with splendid groves of trees, are unpro-
ductive, except so far as they are made to furnish material
for repairing or rebuilding the temples, are well stocked
with coniferous trees — Retinosporas, Cryptomerias and
Pines — and furnish all the building-material used in the
empire. It is said that the Japanese have been making
these plantations for twelve hundred years ; and if this is
true, they began planting trees for timber before any other
people with whose agriculture we are acquainted. Scien-
tific methods might, perhaps, make these plantations, which
are mostly the property of individuals, rather more produc-
tive, but any great increase of forest-supplies can only fol-
low the better management of the mountain-forests or the
replanting of desert-lands. The mountain-forests may be
roughly divided into two belts, the upper composed princi-
pally of Hemlocks, and extending about five thousand feet
over the sea-level to the timber-line, and the lower stretch-
ing between two and five thousand feet elevation, and com-
posed of Beeches, Oaks, Maples, Birches, Pines and a few
Firs and Spruces. The upper belt, owing to its inaccessi-
bility and the bad condition of the mountain-roads, is
practically untouched, except where mining operations
have created a local demand for timber. Scientific man-
agement and good roads would make this upper conif-
erous forest yield quantities of valuable material. The
deciduous belt below it, which ought to be the most pro-
ductive part of the Japanese forest, is, wherever we entered

December 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest,

533

it, in a deplorable condition, and although it is Govern-
ment property, and Japan has supplied herself with a Forest
Department, we saw no evidence that it is seriously oc-
cupying itself with the care of this part of its domain.
There appear to be no rules about cutting the trees in this
belt, which is invaded by bands of wood-choppers who
cut without system any trees that appear large enough to
answer their purpose ; and the only mature trees it con-
tains are those growing in inaccessible positions, or of
sorts which are not considered valuable. No attention is
paid to reproducing the valuable species, with the result,
of course, that such species being the most cut have be-
come the least common. Reproduction is chiefly by
coppice-growth which is cut at irregular intervals ; and the
Japanese deciduous forests display all the bad effects of
an indiscriminate and long-continued system of jardinage.
The application of the block system would in time, of
course, increase the output of these forests and supply
large quantities of valuable timber where only fuel or small
sticks are now produced.

Still better results might be expected from covering some
parts of the desert land with forests. These so-called
deserts consist of sandy sea-shore plains and dunes, often
capable of producing a moderate growth of Pine ; the
alpine summits of mountains, their larva-covered slopes,
bare mountain ridges from which the forests, have been
artificially removed, and the Hara. This is the rolling
foot-hill region about the base of the high mountains or
below the mountain-forest belt, and must form a very
large part of the thirty-seven per cent, of desert ; it is
covered with a mat of coarse bunch grass (Eulalia) and
with many other perennial plants. Here the Japanese
cut the fodder for their animals and cure their hay for
winter use. Every spring the whole Hara is burnt over
to destroy the dried vegetation of the previous year and
start a new growth of grass. That fires have made
these footrhills treeless by the destruction of all seedling
trees as fast as they appear seems to be shown in the fact
that where ravines or other depressions occur among the
hills, which the fire cannot easily reach, the}' are covered
with a vigorous growth of trees of many species. It is not
easy to find in existing conditions of Japanese life any
cause for the original destruction of the foot-hill forests, but
once destroyed it is easy to see why they have not been
able to grow again. Much of the Hara region is suited in
soil and elevation to produce Retinosporas and Cryptome-
rias, the most valuable of the Japanese timber-trees, and
its conversion from unproductive prairie, for not _ one per
cent, of the Hara is used for hay, into forest would add
enormously to the wood product of the empire.

Japan is well situated geographically to supply a vast
number of people living in foreign countries with timber;
its soil and climate are pre-eminently suited to produce
forests. It could easily send, if it had it to spare, conif-
erous timber to China, where the demand for building ma-
terial is practically inexhaustible, to the Strait Settlements
and Australia ; and oak-staves for wine casks to California,
which is now supplied from the fast vanishing forests of
the Missisippi Valley.

From the changed conditions which have followed the
hasty and often ill-considered introduction of European
methods into Japan grave economic questions are rising.
The cessation of civil wars which followed the abolition of
the Shogunate and the deposition of the Dyamos, and the
introduction of western medical practices, have caused a
great increase of population in the last twenty years, and
the question of food-supply is becoming a vital one to
Japan. The limit to the production of rice, the one great
staple, has been practically reached, and all efforts to induce
the superfluous population of the southern islands to col-
onize Yezo have utterly failed, in spite of the great sums
of money spent by the general government during the last
twenty-five years to encourage its settlement. A few thou-
sand coolies leave home annually to work in other countries,
but this movement is comparatively small, and many of

these emigrants return to their homes at the end of a few
years. Starvation threatens Japan unless it can import
food from other countries, and this it will only be able to
do by increasing its exports. There is still room to increase
the product of tea if the demand in this country for low
grades of Japanese tea justifies it, but the ground fit to grow
Mulberry-trees advantageously is practically all taken up,
and the silk-product cannot therefore be very materially
increased. Curios, of course, can be made in unlimited
quantities, but the demand for them in the United States
and Europe is more likely to decrease than to increase;
and wood is really the only product upon which Japan can
depend to greatly increase the volume of her exports. The
care of her existing forests and the planting of her waste
lands would give employment to thousands of coolies, and
in time would add imjiortant sums to the national ex-
chequer.

The forests of Yezo are still intact, except where here
and there a struggling settlement has broken into the forest-
blanket which covers this noble island. Here are great
stores of oak and ash of the best quality, of cercidiphyl-
lum, walnut, fir, acanthopanax, cherry and birch— a
store-house of forest wealth, which, if properly managed,
could be drawn upon for all time, and which, if the timber
is not needed in Japan, may become, when the trans-
Asiatic railroad is finished, an important factor in the de-
velopment of southern Siberia and some of the treeless
countries of central Asia. C. S. S.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Xanthorrh.'ea quadrangulata. — One of the most interest-
ing plants in flower at the present time at Kew is a speci-
men of this, one of the Black Boys, or Grass-gum-trees, of
Australia. It has a charred trunk, five feet high and nine
inches in diameter, bearing a crown of elegant Rush-like
leaves a yard long, from the centre of which rises an erect
stout spike, not unlike a Bullrush (Typha), but with a green,
instead of brown, head of flowers. Smaller plants of it
are more elegant and ornamental than the narrowest-
leaved Cordylines, and they grow freely here under ordi-
nary greenhouse treatment. There is a figure of X. quad-
rangulata in the Botanical Magazine, t. 6075 ('874), where
Sir Joseph Hooker states that " the Grass-gum-trees are
among the most remarkable vegetable features of that
country of wonderful vegetable forms, Australia. . . .
About fifteen species have been discovered, of which
X. hastilis, of New South Wales, is the best known, from
the uses of its long flower-spikes, which attain twenty feet
in height, as spear-shafts, and for the rich red-brown as-
tringent resin which forms between the densely compacted
bases of the leaves, and which has been used as a substi-
tute for gum-kino. It is often called the Black Boy, and a
native boy with a tuft of grass on his head, placed among
a group of them, is, from a little distance, with difficulty
distinguished from the surrounding trunks. Another spe-
cies, X. pecoris (=X. Preissii), of west Australia, forms a
staple fodder for cattle during a good part of the year."
There was a considerable quantity of red transparent resin
on the stems of X. quadrangulata when they arrived at
Kew last year. There are good examples of X. hastilis,
X. Preissii, X. australis and X. gracilis in cultivation at Kew.

Hardy Bamboos. — The growth made by these plants at
Kew this year has been astonishing, and the healthy green
of their elegant foliage is a novel feature among hardy
plants in November. It is true that we have not had more
than six degrees of frost here so far, and this amount of
cold has not appreciably affected any of the Bamboos.
Altogether there are about forty distinct sorts of Bamboos
in the outdoor collection at Kew. These, with very few
exceptions, are all Japanese, the exceptions being Arundi-
naria falcata, A. Khasyama and Thamnocalamus Falconeri,
all from the mountains of northern India, and Arundinaria

534

Garden and Forest.

[Number 305.

macrosperma, from North America. Nothing at Kew lately
has attracted more attention from earnest horticulturists
than this collection of hardy Bamboos. They are certain
to become universal favorites, especially in the warmer
parts of this country, where even the tenderest, T. Fal-
coneri, is perfectly hardy. The chief difficulty at present
is the names, which are in much confusion, owing partly
to carelessness or something worse on the part of dealers, but
chiefly to the difficulty of distinguishing many of them
until they flower. Mr. W. J. Bean, of the Kew Arboretum,
has prepared an excellent paper on the Kew collection,
which he read a few days ago before the Kew Society, and
which, when published, will help to elucidate matters re-
lating to the nomenclature, cultivation and usefulness of
hardy Bamboos.

Arundin'aria m.\crosperma and a. tecta. — Will some one
who knows tell us something about these two Bamboos,
which are said to be common in some parts of the United
States, but which are scarcely known in English gardens ?
There is a small tuft of A. macrosperma at Kew, and this
is probably the only representative of North American
Bamboos in this country. Information respecting the
character, behavior under cultivation and hardiness of your
native Bamboos, and also the sources whence plants can
be obtained, will be appreciated by all who are interested
in Bamboos here.

GuKviNA AvELLANA, the Chilian Nut, is a plant that horti-
culturists in the southern United States are likely to be
interested in. It has been in cultivation in England since
1878, when Mr. W. Ball introduced and distributed it. In 1884
a figure of it was published in the Gardeners' Chronicle,
prepared from a plant grown in the open air in Cornwall,
and a few days ago a correspondent sent a specimen of it
to Kew, which had been taken from the plant then figured.
It forms a handsome evergreen bush or small tree, with
pinnate or bipinnate leaves, glossy, with rust-colored hairs
on the leaf-stalks and stems, the general appearance of the
plant being that of the tropical genus Rhopala, as repre-
sented in our stoves. In Gay's Flora Chilensis it is said to
be common in south Chili, where its nuts, known as Avel-
lans, are much esteemed. They are also collected and sent
to Peru and other places in South America. The flowers,
which are borne in axillary racemes, are half an inch wide,
white or rose colored, and the drupe-like fruits, which hang
for a very longtime, are at first green, changing to violet
or black when ripe. The nuts are said to resemble Fil-
berts, Corylus Avellana, hence the name .\vellans, and to
be of very good flavor, with slightly astringent properties.
In Chili this plant forms a tree thirty feet high.

Guevina is a monotypic genus of Proteaceae and is closely
related to Rhopala. It is found wild only in Chili. I have
seen it cultivated in gardens hereunder the name of Quad-
ria heterophylla. If not already introduced into Florida,
California and other warm portions of the United States, it
is worth the experiment. If not of any value as a fruit-
tree, it has considerable claims as an ornamental tree for
the garden, its large rich green, glossy, evergreen leaves
being decidedly handsome.

Crocosmia aurea. — Perhaps American cultivators of this
plant know of the improved varieties now grown in Eng-
land. The type is well known as a useful plant for the
border or for cultivation in pots, growing and flowering
freely under ordinary treatment, and in gardens where the
winter temperature is not too severe becoming almost a
weed if planted in a sunny border. There are, however,
at least two varieties which are immensely superior to it,
the one called Maculata having flowers fully three inches
across, with broad overlapping segments of deep orange-
yellow color, blotched at the base with dark brown ; the
other is known as Imperialis, and I now learn that this
was raised by Herr Max Leichtlin at Baden-Baden, where
it was first distributed under the name of Macrantha in
1888. This has flowers even larger than those of Macu-
lata, and like it in substance and color, differing only in the

absence of spots. Both varieties grow to a height of three
feet, and flower freely and continuously all the summer. A
third variety, grown at Kew as Imperialis, is evidently dis-
tinct from the true plant of that name, the flowers, although
as large, having narrower segments, colored clear yellow.
This might be well called Citrina. It is quite as tall as the
other two and as free-flowering. There are no plants of
the Tritonia section of Iridaceae more useful for producing
brilliant colors out-of-doors in summer than these Crocos-
mias. Of course, the hybrids between C. aurea and Tri-
tonia (Montbretia) Pottsii, obtained by Monsieur Lemoine,
have a similar value as border-plants.

A Cactus Society. — Mr. Henry Cannell is making exer-
tions to promote an interest in Cacti among English horti-
culturists, and, with a view to showing how much has been
done, he proposes to get up an exhibition, if possible, un-
der the auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society, in
August next, and, if possible, form a Cactus Society. Mr.
Cannell is the only English nurseryman, so far as 1 know,
who possesses a collection of Cacti and other succulents.
It is somewhat remarkable that in this country, where hor-
ticultural taste is both comprehensive and diversified, there
is so little interest shown in Cactaceous plants. They are
not wanting in floral beauty, and for structural and other
peculiarities they have no equal among the families of
plants which find favor in gardens. I believe there are hun-
dreds of horticulturists who would grow these plants if they
knew them better. I hope they meet with higher appre-
ciation in America.

Cyfripedium Southgatense superbv.m is a new hybrid of
more than ordinary merit. It is from C. bellatulum, crossed
with C. Harrisianum, and it combines in a pleasing man-
ner the characteristics of both, the plant being dwarf, with
sturdy leaves and large flowers on short scapes ; the dor-
sal sepal is broad, flat, with brown longitudinal stripes on
a dull crimson ground; the petals are of the same color,
but spotted instead of striped, and the pouch is crimson,
becoming paler toward the apex. The plant was exhibited
a fortnight ago by Mr. T. Statter and obtained a first-class
certificate.

CYPRn'EDiu.M MiNos. — This is another new Veitchian hy-
brid, the result of crossing C. Spicerianum with C. Fairie-
anum. It has the drooping petals characteristic of the last-
named species, a large white dorsal sepal marked with
red-purple at the base, and a pouch shaped like that of C.
Spicerianum and colored dull yellow, shaded with brown.
It obtained an award of merit this week.

Cypru'kdrm Fairieanum X Lawkencianum, is a new hy-
brid between the two species denoted by the name. It
was shown in flower a fortnight ago by Mr. T. Statter, of
Manchester, and was awarded a certificate by the Royal
Horticultural Society. The flowers are as large as those
of an ordinary C. Lawrencianum ; the dorsal sepal is green
below, white above, lined and veined with claret-purple ;
the petals are drooping, green, with purple lines and spots,
and tufts of hairs on the wavy margins ; the lip is dull pur-
ple tinged with green. It is worthy of note that every
hybrid of which C. Fairieanum is one of the parents has
attractive characters. C. I'airieanum is perhaps the rarest
of all species in cultivation. It was introduced in 1857
from Assam, and has never been found wild since. Mean-
while, the breeders of hybrids have made much use of it,
but, so far as I know, only as a male parent, and we have
no hybrid of which C. Fairieanum is the mother. It would
pay to fertilize this species with its own pollen and raise a
batch of seedlings of it

L«LIA anceps var. Amesiana. — This beautiful variety of
one of the best of all Cattleyoid Orchids was shown last
week by Mr. Statter, and was awarded a first-class certifi-
cate. It is not a new plant, as some of the papers have
inferred, having been described by Messrs. F. Sander &Co.
in 1888 from a plant flowered in their collection. It has
white sepals and petals, tinged at the tips with violet ; the
sepals are nearly as broad as in the variety Dawsoni, and

December 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

535

the lip is rich violet-crimson in front, tinged with yellow
inside.

L^lio-Cattleya Statteriana. — A new hybrid between
Loelia Perrini and Cattleya labiata was shown under this
name a fortnight ago by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, and was
awarded a first-class certificate. It has large handsome
flowers with pale rose-purple sepals and petals, the latter
broad and flat, and a lip colored rich maroon, with a white
throat. It is distinct, and apparently a free grower.

London. W. WalS0?1.

Pines and Birches of Maine and the Appalachian Rhodo-
dendrons and Azaleas, the great Cacti of Arizona and the
Desert Palms seem as far remote from each other in char-
acter as if they were inhabitants of different hemispheres ;
and yet they all come within our flora and must find a
place in every garden in which the attempt is made to dis-
play the chief types of the vegetation of the United States.
Washingtonia filifera is a member of a small group of
Palms scattered over the desert region of the extreme
south-west part of the United States and the adjacent por-

Fig. 77.— Washingtonia filifera in a California Garden.

New or Little-known Plants.

Washingtonia filifera.

THE garden scene which appears in our illustra-
tion on this page, and in which a young plant of
the noble Palm of the Colorado desert, Washingtonia fili-
fera, is the principal figure, conveys more clearly than could
be expressed in words an idea of the vastness of the territory
embraced within the limits of the United States, the variety
and richness of its vegetation and the possibilities of diverse
and distinct styles of gardening which it presents. The

tions of Mexico. The species are not represented by many
individuals, and the isolated groups of venerable trees
seem to indicate that they are the last survivors of a race
which has been gradually disappearing under the hardships
and dangers of an existence in the desert. Fortunately,
however, these Desert Palms show an unusual power of
adapting themselves to new conditions of life, and, trans-
planted into the gardens of California and of the countries
which surround the Mediterranean, they grow with a vigor
and assume a beauty which they never display in the rocky
and sun-baked valleys which are their homes. It is probable,

536

Garden and Forest

[Number 305.

therefore, that this species will not disappear, and that the
Palms which the Jesuit missionaries saw as they trav-
eled from the City of Mexico to the region which they called
Upper California, and cultivated about their mission houses,
will continue to embellish the gardens of California, of
Provence, Algeria and Egypt long centuries after the origi-
nal stock has disappeared forever from the desert of the
south-west

Cultural Department.

Dropsy of Violets.

ANEW trouble of Violets has come to nie for determina-
tion from plants grown in forcing-houses in the vicinity
of Spring Valley, New York. The trouble is due to a dropsical
swelling of the parenchyma of the leaves at definite points
situated upon the smaller anastomosing veinlets. It usually
occurs on the under side of the leaf, but sometimes the
swelling occurs also on the upper side. Rarely does it occur
on the lai^er veins. The swellings appear as small warts of a
variable size, which can usually be determined as such with
the unaided eye. At the same time the leaf changes from its
normal color, and frequently becomes bluish or purplish, this
color extending over quite large areas. This color may not be
present in all cases, but was so in all the specimens which
came to my hand. Parts of the leaf also become yellowish.
Transsections of the leaf show that these swellings do not con-
sist of a hypertrophied tissue in the usual sense of that term,
for there is no increase of the number of cells. The wart
is entirely due to an elongation of the cells concerned. At
length, some of the elongated cells become ruptured because
their thin walls can no longer stand the strain. This permits
the rapid drying of the cells of the wart, and in turn also aids
the desiccation of the adjacent tissues. This gradual desicca-
tion of pans of the leaf, together with the partial loss of the
physiological functions of this member, finally results in the
death of the entire leaf, which then withers and falls. One
owner lost all his plants in two houses by this trouble, or,
more properly speaking, all of his plants in two houses lost
their leaves.

Dropsical diseases of plants have only recently attracted at-
tention in America, the first notice being by the writer, who
made quite an extended study of the trouble developed on
Tomato-plants in the forcing-house. The result of tliis study
was published in Bulletin No. 53, Cornell University Experi-
ment Station ((Edema 0/ the Tomato), May, 1893. It was found
that the trouble was induced by the excess of root absorption
over transpiration. By this unequal operation of these two
laws of plant physiology the succulent tissues of the plant be-
come charged with more water than the plant can take care of
either l)y growth or transpiration, or by both processes to-
gether. The result is that certain of the cells become stretched,
their walls becoming thinner thereby, until they are no longer
strong enough to hold the form of the cell intact, when it rup-
tures. Certain conditions of the forcing-house, as well as the
season of the year when such houses are most frequently
brought into requisition, favor the lack of harmony between
these two processes in the plant. The temperature of the soil
is likely to be very near that of the air, or, at least, not far below
it, so that root-activity is almost constant. The confined air of
the forcing-house, the obstructed light, and especially the short
days in winter, compared with the long days of the summer
season, greatly lessen transpiration. Tlie injury can probably
be prevented, or at least lessened, t>y selecting well-lighted
parts of the house for the plants, by preventing an excess of
water in the soil, and by obtaining a temperature of the air
considerably higher than that of the soil.

Cornell University. George F. Atkinson.

Early Cauliflower.

■pARLV vegetables are always appreciated, and there is
•*-* little difficulty in having Cauliflower as early as the first
week in April without elaborate preparation or appliances.
The delicate flavor of Cauliflower at this time of the year is not
equaled at any other season, excepting, perhaps, late in au-
tumn. During hot weather the flavor is usually strong, so that
it is advisable to make an effort to have this vegetable when at its
best. There are many strains of Cauliflower now that are all
equally good when obtained from reliable seedsmen, but pref-
erence should t>e given to the dwarf-growing kinds for early
crops, as they take up less space and produce nice heads to
each plant, with not more t]ian five per cent, of failure to head

up. The first sowing should be made in the greenhouse on the
first ot January, and as soon as the seeds are germinating they
must be placed close up to the glass in a house kept at about fifty
degrees at night. By the last of the month these will be ready
to pot up singly in two-inch pots, and a second pinch of seed
should then be sowed; in three weeks the earliest will be
ready to put in four-inch pots, and the last sown ready to pot
off, and by the tenth of March the largest may be put into six-
inch pols, as their growth is very rapid at this season. About
this time we begin to get the cold frames empty, to fill again
as hot-beds ; many of the Violets may be spared, and other
winter occupants, such as bulbous plants and Roses, will all
have been taken into the greenhouse, so tliat considerable
space is available. The hot-beds are generally finished and
ready for planting by the 20th of March, and a warm day is
chosen to move the Caulillower from the greenhouse to the
frames, and they are taken out of the pots and planted. A good
watering with tepid water is given at the time, as drought at
any period is liable to make tliem head up prematurely. In
preparing the hot-beds, two feet of fermenting material is suf-
ficient ; halt of this is com posed of leaves that have been placed
round the cold-frames in winter, so that one load of manure
goes a long way, and the lieat being less violent it consequently
lasts longer when the leaves are mixed in.

Aboit six or eight inches of loam is used to plant in, and if
the material of a spent Mushroom-bed is available there is
nothing better than this for mixing with the loam, lor it not
only lightens up the soil and makes it porous, but very often
another crop of Mushrooms will appear in a few weeks after
planting in Cauliflower, the fermenting material giving the
spawn a stimulus that will start it again into activity. The
second and third sowings of Cauliflower are potted and treated
like the first, except that they are planted in frames out of
four-inch pots, the principal point being to take care that the
young plants never receive a check, from want of room or
water. Later sowings are made at intervals of three weeks,
for the home table demands not so much a large supply
as a regular one until the outdoor crops begin to ma-
ture. These later sowings are planted in the open ground
and protected, if cold nights prevail, as they sometimes do,
even late in May, in this section.

It is pretty well known, but will bear repetifion, that the
Cauliflower will repay any extra attention, and is one of the
few vegetables that quickly respond to watering with fertil-
izers even in the open ground. This was evident last autumn,
when a large patch of the plants were at a standstill owing to
dry weather, and it was extremely doubtful whether they
would head before frost came. Nevertheless a good soaking
of weak manure- water brought them along rapidly, and
scarcely one failed, as the later ones were taken up and the
roots laid in a trench with the heads close together, and at
night straw was thrown over them to protect them from frost.
For earliest sowings we use Early Dwarf Erfurt pot-grown
seed ; for the later sowings. Snowball, Danish and Krouk's
Perfection are good varieties.

South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet.

Winter-flowering Greenhouse Plants.

A MONO the many good winter-blooming plants few make
•^~*- so effective a display as Reinwardtia tefragyna and R. tri-
gyna, shrubby members of the Flax family from the East In-
dies, and for a long time known under the generic title of
Linum. The flowers are widely campanulate, yellow, and
appear in December. They are particularly valuable on ac-
count of the scarcity of these colors at tliis season. Propaga-
tion is from seeds or cuttings, and young plants are planted
out for the summer and lifted in the autumn.

Few winter-blooming Cape bulbs are so useful as the Lach-
enalias. As their culture is easy, and their multiplication
comparatively rapid, it is a wonder they are not more gen-
erally grown. The kinds most common are varieties, or hy-
brid forms, of L. tricolor. The (lowers of L. Nelsoni are golden
yellow, campanulate, pendulous, arranged in long racemes,
and last a long time in perfection. Their cultivation consists
in starting the bulbs, five in a six-inch pot, in October, and
growing them in a cool-house, with plenty of light. They
need an abundance of water, but the drainage must be good.
After the blooming season, good light, air and water must still
be afforded the plants. These conditions should be continued
until the leaves commence to turn yellow and show signs of
the approach of the resting period, when they may have less
and le.ss water, until finally dried off, when they should be put
Sway in a cool dry place until the following October. In shak-
ing the bulbs out, preparatory to repotting, it will be found

December 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

537

they have increased four to five fold, many of the new
bulbs being large enough to bloom during the current season.
The smaller ones can be planted rather strictly in boxes, the
majority of them making very fair bulbs in one season.

Primula Forbesii is a recent addition to the few winter-
blooming species, and comes from the Celestial Empire. The
plant forms a somewhat dense tuft of oblong, coarsely crenate
foliage, more or less ccvered with silky hairs, from which are
thrown up numerous slender scapes,bearing each several whorls
of delicate rose-colored flowers, quite fragrant, and about half
an inch in diameter, with a yellow centre. It is a continuous
bloomer, having been in flower here since last July, and may
be increased either by seeds or division. P. floribunda, from
the Himalayas, is another tufted, winter-flowering species
which is not as well known as it should be. The numerous
dense whorls of small yellow flowers are produced in such
abundance as to be quite effective, especially at this season
of the year. It may be easily raised, either by seeds or
division.

Streptosolon Jamesoni is a handsome greenhouse ever-
green, with orange-colored flowers, borne in loose panicles at
the ends of the branches. It is more or less in bloom during
the entire winter. In shape the flowers reseinble a small
Petunia-bloom, to which family it belongs. The cultivation is
quite easy. Cuttings taken in spring should be grown oncontm-
uously in pots, and these form nice specimens by autumn.
This plan is preferable to planting out, for, as they grow enor-
mously large, it is difficult to take them up and establish them
in pots. Plants held over two years may be trained into neat
standards, and when in bloom the branches hang in a perfect
umbrella form.

Christmas Roses, Helleborus niger, force nicely for decora-
tion at this season. It is customary to import roots, as their
successful culture here has proved difficult. Intending im-
porters should bear in mind that if these are received later than
November they are apt to have commenced growth in the hold
of the vessel, and this renders them useless as decorative plants
for the first season.

We find Brompton Stocks verv serviceable for winter-
blooming pot-plants. They are preferable to the East Lothian,
which, being hardier, do not force so well. Another advan-
tage is, they generally bloom on the leading shoot early in
summer, and if the flowers are of the desired color the shoot
is cut out and the plant, which afterward makes good bushy
growth, is marked for lifting later on.

Abutilon Eclipse is one of the best additions to this very or-
namental fainily of greenhouse evergreens during recent years.
It is of dwarf bushy habit, with handsomely variegated foliage.
The flowers are comparatively large, deep orange-yellow, pen-
dulous, and borne in great profusion during the whole season.
It is evidently a hybrid form of A. megapotamicum,andisalso
a very handsome bedding-plant. Among the few Ericas which
can be grown with any degree of success in this country are E.
melanthera and E. Caffra. These make neat bushy specimens
and bear small flowers in great profusion, the former with
short open corollas and black protruding anthers, the latter
with white globular flowers. They are of very easy culture,
and do well planted outdoors in summer.

Libonia Penrhoensis has proved to be one of the most use-
ful small decorative plants we have grown. Cuttings strike
very readily in spring, and may be planted out for summer.
Wnen lifted in the autumn they are about one foot in diame-
ter, and perfectly hemispherical. With an abundance of neat,
shining, dark foliage, th'ey are effective at any time, but par-
ticularly when clothed with a profusion o! orange-colored
flowers.

Begonias, as usual, occupy a prominent place, and none
have given us so much satisfaction as B. Bismarcki. This isa
very robust shrubby variety, doing equally well out-of-doors
in the full sun in summer-time. It is a perpetual bloomer,
bearing large panicles of lovely rose-colored flowers. B. go-
gaensis, a rhizomatous species from Sumatra, with handsome
foliage and delicate panicles of white. These and the many
varieties of B. semperflorens make a very useful list.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Asparagus retrofractus arboreus. — This is a distinct form of
this useful plant, and its habit of growth is unique and quite
dissimilar to the ordinary forms of greenhouse Asparagus. As
implied by the varietal name, it is tree-like in habit. The firm,
ivory stems are upright and much branched, with many ram-
ifications, and are well furnished with numerous puffs of bright
green foliage, which is light-colored in the young stage. My
plant has shown no tendency to climb, but simply forms these
beautiful light masses of foliage which are very useful for

bouquets— in many cases more useful than pieces of the flat
A. plumosus. I have not yet tested this plant for its keeping qual-
ities when cut. Asparagus has of recent years taken a fore-
most place among greenhouse foliage-plants for its ornamen-
tal growth and for sprays for cutting, which arrange well with
cut flowers, and are the most lasting of any foliage for this
purpose. The best and hardest grown Fern has, when cut, a
very limited life in comparison with Asparagus. For nice
decorations, A. plumosus seems to have put the popular Smilax
quite in a secondary place, its lengths of lace-like leaves being
extremely graceful and delicate. A. tenuissimus is more cloud-
like in effect and lighter in color. These plants are indispen-
sable in the smallest collections of plants, and the new variety,"
to which attention is called, is evidently again.

Stevia odorata.— This is the name of a recent introduction,
which does not seem an improvement on the ordinary Stevia
(S. serrata) of the greenhouse. The strongly fragrant white
flowers are double, and produced very freely in flat, rather
close, corymbs. It can be readily grown frbm seed, but
greenhouse space can be more profitably used for the single
Stevia, whose light sprays are so useful at this season either
alone or in compositions with other flowers.

Iris stylosa.— The beautiful flowers of this plant are now
nestling in the grass-like foliage. The type of this Iris is pur-
ple, but there is also an albino form. This species is hardy,
but it is not a satisfactory plant unless grown under cover, as it
does not seem to flower under adverse conditions, as do some
of the bulbous Irises. Some of these are already making
growth, and will early in the year expand their flowers at the
first opportunity of moderate weather. In my trials of I. sty-
losa in the open I have found it to simply remain dormant
during the winter and to have its foliage badly cut, but not
otherwise injured. The particular plant, now the first of the
varieties to flower, wintered out last year safely during a
specially hard season.

The Laelias.— The experts do not seem to write much about
these Orchids, presumably because they are rather common
things and do their own growing, or, in other words, are so lit-
tle trouble as to be quite uninteresting. As with my moderate
cultural skill, these plants flower successfully at their proper
season, I am led to call attention to them as satisfactory plants
of easiest cultivation, while they may be obtained at a very low
price. L. autumnalis Ariioldiana has just furnished me with
strong spikes of large flowers, red, shading to white, with an
agreeable vanilla-like fragrance. L. albida, the little white-
flowered form, is just coming into flower, and is a thrifty kind
always, making numerous new pseudo-bulbs and consequent
spikes of flowers. These are both lasting flowers, and a plant
in a living-room, if well attended to as to moisture, will re-
main in good form for a long time. There is no disguisingthe
fact that one's friends express more gratification at a gift of a
few Orchid-flowers than of any other kind one can offer, and the
plants seem to them a never-failing source of interest, though
the ordinary visitor has very shadowy ideas as to what an
Orchid really is. The cultivation of at least a few Orchids
should be undertaken even in the smallest house, as they in-
evitably interest the grower's friends and visitors as well as
himself. Even the commonest kinds, which can be bought
very cheaply, are quite as pretty as some of the most expen-
sive, and these are really rare in the sense of not being plenti-
ful as other flowers, and are still practically unknown to the
general public.

Elizabeth. N.J. J. -V. Gerard.

Correspondence.

Japanese Morning-glories.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir, — During the past two years a Japanese student at the
University here has been cultivatiig on the college farm some
Morning-glories from seed sent to him from Japan. These
plants have interested all who see them. They are more vig-
orous growers than our common Morning-glory, and have
larger stems and leaves. Both leaves and stem are quite
hairy, and the former were usually palmately three-cleft.
Often the leaves were nearly as large as those of the Moon-
flower. The seed-pods are usually three-celled, with two seeds
in a cell. What makes the plants particularly interesfing is
the variety of color in the flowers, The range of shades and
markings is most striking, varying from the blossom of solid
color to one of three or four colors. The delicacy of coloring
also notably surpasses that of the American species. I give
brief descriptions of a few of the most distinct flowers, (i) A

538

Garden and Forest.

[Number 305.

delicate pale-blue corolla, with a pink centre, diameter about
three inches. (2) Corolla, white, with the faintest blue tint,
like some forms of white iron-stone china, and covered with
deep blue spots as large or larger than a pin-head ; diameter
of tlower about two and a half inches. (3) Corolla, deep pur-
ple, with a lighter purple shading on the margin of each petal,
witli pink centre, the line of demarkafion between the two
purple colors being most distinct ; diameter about two and a
halt inches. (4) Corolla, light purple, with pink centre ; diam-
eter about three inches. (5) A very large light blue flower,
edged with an incurved line of white, the white line having a
depth of about one-fourth of an inch at its widest point. (6)
Color, a peculiar shade of brilliant red, quite unlike any other
shade of Morning-glory that I have ever seen ; diameter two
and a half inches.

These Japanese Morning-glories are in every particular as
vigorous as the common one, though they perhaps do not
flower quite so freely, and make a charming variety when
clambering over a trellis. ^ c- n,

Purdue University, Lafayette. Ind. C. S. I lumb.

[The Morning-glory is one of the eight plants whose
flowers the Japanese chiefly value, the others being the
Apricot (Mume), the Cherry, the Wistaria, the Paeony, the
Iris, the Lotus and the Chrysanthemum. The species most
generally cultivated is Ipomoea triloba, a native of China,
which blooms in Tokyo at midsummer. The plants are
g^own in small pots, and neatly trained around bamboo
stakes about three feet long, three or four flowers only be-
ing produced on a plant at one time. In all the little nur-
sery-gardens in the suburbs of Tokyo and of the other
large cities collections of the plants are grown and offered
for sale, thousands being disposed of every year in Tokyo
alone. Amateurs, too, devote a good deal of attention to the
cultivation of these plants, and pay large prices for certain
fashionable forms with peculiarly marked or abnormally
formed flowers, in which the Japanese delight, although to
less carefully educated eyes they may appear simple abom-
inations. The city of Osaka is said to contain the best private
collections. We have seen a Japanese book in which hun-
dreds of named varieties are described and illustrated by
colored drawings. At Iriya, in Shitaya, a suburb of Tokyo,
every summer the gardeners make a display of Morning-
glories, which they use as they do Chrysanthemums in the
autumn in decorating with growing plants life-size human
figures placed on revolving stages. Every morning thou-
sands of persons visit this exhibition, which is, perhaps, the
most curious midsummer spectacle that can be seen in the
capital, but, as the flowers close soon after sunrise, a person
living at one of the foreign hotels has to be up by 2 a.m. in
order to reach the gardens in time to see them at their best,
so that comparatively few foreigners, unless they happen
to be enthusiastic horticulturists, ever visit it. — Ed.]

Roses in Washington.
To the Editor of Garden and Forest :

Sir,— Perhaps the largest establishment in the country where
Roses are grown for cut flowers is that of Messrs. C. Strauss &
Co., situated on the Blademburg Road, two and a half miles
from the Capitol in Washington. Here are forty-four hoiises,
ranging from iij to 320 feet long, making altogether more
than five acres under glass. While the principal business here
is the sale of cut roses, a large trade in plants, especially in
Rose-plants, is done in the spring, and there are thirty-two
acres of land connected with the houses in which Gladiolus,
Tuberose, Cosmos, Roses and other flowers are grown for sale
during the summer. The demands of the home market alone
do not suffice to keep a business like this running at high
pressure, and, as a matter of fact, flowers are shipped to
wholesale dealers in all parts of the country. Not many are
sent to the vicinity of New York, Philadelphia or Boston, which
are themselves large centres of supply, but to Cincinnati, St.
Louis, Chicago and St. Paul, in the west, as far as to Maine, in
the north, and to Charleston, Savannah, St. Augustine and
nearly all the cities of the south large shipments are constantly
made, mostly of roses ; but there is room enough for a matter of
50,000 Carnation-plants here, and the benches on which they
are planted are fringed with Pansies and other plants. Two
thousand Sweet Peas are preparing to bloom, and in different
houses there are Palms, Ferns, Dracaenas, Pandanus Veitchii

and Rubber-plants in sufficient quantity to stock a considera-
ble business in this line alone.

At a recent visit to Washington I was conducted through
the establishment by Mr. Hugh A. Kane, one of the firm, and
found acre after acre of plantsall in the vigor of perfect health,
and with the added beauty which always comes from perfect
cleanliness and careful arrangement. Of the Roses grown for
cut flowers the so-called white form of La France takes the
lead in number of plants, there being some 20,000 of these
now in the beds. . The flower, as is well known, is not white,
although lighter than the La France, but it has the same silvery
sheen and the same fragrance, and for all purposes it seems
better than the type. It is a stronger grower, yields better and
the flowers last longer. In the autumn chrysanthemums seem
to have the preference over all other flowers, so that roses
are in light demand at that season ; on the other hand. May,
and even June, are excellent months for rose-sales, and there-
fore the plants are set out later than they are in some places,
but just in time to have their first heavy crop about Christmas,
although they are now yielding well. They were put in the
house about the ist of July, and have been blossoming since
October, and will continue to bloom on till August. The
method of cultivafion pursued here does not differ substan-
tially from that generally practiced elsewhere, although in the
selection of varieties no Hybrid Perpetuals are grown. Ex-
periments, however, are always in progress for the purpose of
testing new plants and new processes. In one long house,
where the centre stage had been removed for repairs, a solid
bed of Kaiserin Augusta Victoria had been planted on the
ground. For half the length of the house two-year old plants,
which had been lifted from the benchatthecloseof the cutting
season in August, were planted in soil without any bottom-
heat, while in the other half young plants, which were started
late in May, were planted in the same way, except that steam-
pipes were running through the drainage. Flowers of im-
mense size were growing on strong stems, and vigorous shoots
were starting up from the ground among the old plants. In
the other half of the bed the young plants were making a
wonderful growth, and seemed altogether superior to some
other plants of the same age on a side bed which were not
treated in this way. Altogether, this planting on the ground
with bottom-heat looked like an improvement on' the old
methods. Of course, experiments are constantly msde with
new Roses, and something like a hundred varieties have been
imported during this year, and are now under trial. The
great bulk of the sales, however, are from half a dozen kinds,
the leading variety being the white La France, followed in
order by Catherine Mermet, Perle des Jardins, the Bride,
which will probably be superseded entirely by Kaiserin Au-
gusta Victoria, American Beauty, American Belle and Sou-
venir de Wootton.

In examining the construction of the houses, it is'. note-
worthy that the newer ones are all built with roofs high' above
the stages, and instead of having the plants close to the
glass, abundant light is secured by using a very clear qualil_
of glass twenty-fourincheswideand double-thick. Asa matter
of course, all the improved appliances forgiving a freecircula-
tion of air are in use here. In one place I noted five houses,
each 112 feet long and 18 feet wide, standing alongside of each
other, with no walls between them, so that they altogether
made practically a single apartment. The benches, which'
were here filled with Carnations, stood something like five feet
above theground, although, of course, theslatted walk between
them was raised to a convenient height.for working in them.
This gave a great body of air below the benches as well as
above the plants, so that the house never cools off rapidly
when the temperature drops suddenly. In fact, steam had
been turned on in only a few of the pipes in every other
house so far this season. Certainly Carnations never looked
better than they did in this cluster of houses. The white varie-
ties grown here chiefly are Lizzie McGowan and Mrs. Fisher;
Grace Wilder is the preferred pink, while Lady Emma and
Portia are the principal scarlet kinds. Considerable quantities
are growing on trial of Daybreak, Edna Craig, Grace Battles,
Thomas Cartlidge, Nancy Hanks, Ruth Cleveland and the very
dark Anna Webb.

To furnish warmth for this great space there are two batte-
ries near each other, one consisting of eight No. 8 Furnian
Ijoilers, and the other of four forty-section Exeter boilers.
These are so connected and adjusted that anyone of them can
be run alone, or any two or three or four of them together, so
that as many of them as are needed, and any particul; r
ones that are desired, can be used as required. The return
pipes from all the houses come and empty the condensed
steam into one delivery pipe connected directly with the

December 27, 1893.]

Garden and Forest.

539

boilers, although some of these houses are at least five hundreil
feet away. No one can make even a casual inspection of this
establishment without being impressed with the simplicity,
effectiveness and economy in production with uniformity and
excellence of product, which are secured by thorough organ-
ization and system in the conduct of a business of this magni-
tude.

New York. .J.

Recent Publications.

Letters 0/ Asa Gray. Edited by Jane Loring Gray. Two
volumes. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York.
1893.

These volumes shovvr much of the life and character of
an interesting and most distinguished American of strong
personality and very considerable achievement, and inci-
dentally contain a large amount of information w^ith regard
to the personal traits of the principal botanists of the past
generation, with whom the author of these letters main-
tained a long and active correspondence. The letters
themselves, to which a short autobiographical sketch is
added, are allowed to tell the story of Dr. Gray's life, the
editor wisely restricting her labors to supplementing them
with such explanatory notes and brief paragraphs as were
necessary to make the narrative clear.

Asa Gray was born on November i8th, 18 lo, in Sauquoit,
a hamlet in Oneida County, in this state. His father was
a farmer, great-grandson of John Gray, who emigrated
with a colony of Presbyterians from Londonderry, in Ire-
land, t'' Boston, Massachusetts, in 1718, and established
himself in Worcester, in that state. Moses Wiley Gray,
the grandson of John Gray and the grandfather of the
future botanist, moved to Oneida County in 1794, settling
in Sauquoit. His son, Moses Gray, married, in 1809, Roxana
Howard, of a Massachusetts family, and shortly after the
birth of his eldest son, Asa, moved to Paris Furnace, where
he established a small tannery. Here Asa Gray, when only
four years old, performed his first labor, which consisted in
riding round the ring the horse which turned the bark-mill,
and here he received his first schooling in the district school,
where he early attracted attention for his proficiency in
spelling, for which he won a number of medals. The
brightness of the boy and his fondness for books induced
his %ther to send him to the Clinton Grammar School,
where he learned the rudiments of Latin and Greek, and
the . to the Fairfield Academy, in Herkimer County, which
he entered at the age of fifteen. It was intended that he
should go to college, but instead he began, in 1826, the
study of medicine in Fairfield Academy, and was fortunate
in securing the friendship of Professor James Hadley, who
became his earliest scientific adviser. Two years later saw
the dawn of his interest in botany and his first collection of
plants made during his drives about the country with his
principal. Dr. Trowbridge, of Bridgeport, whom he assisted
during that part of the year when the medical school was
not in session. About this time, at the suggestion of Pro-
fessor Hadley, Dr. Gray opened a correspondence with
Dr. Lewis C. Peck, of Albany, who was then the principal
botanist of northern New York, and not much later he sent
some rare plants to Dr. John Torrey. This was the first
step in an intimacy which made Gray, whose first taste had
been for geology, a botanist, and which lasted, without in-
terruption, until the death of the elder of the two friends.

We have dwelt at some length upon the early life and
training of Asa Gray because in view of his scanty oppor-
tunities his future achievements and distinction are remark-
able. The great naturalists of his generation with whom
we most often associate the name of Asa Gray, Darwin,
the second Candolle, the younger Hooker, Bentham and
Agassi'/., were either the sons of great naturalists, carefully
trained from boyhood to become themselves naturalists, or
of men of education and culture, who were able to offer
their sons the best opportunites for the development of
their different tastes. That the son of a hard-working New
York farmer, with no evidence of intellectual inheritance

could by sheer force of hard work raise himself to the po-
sition he achieved, argues great powers and furnishes a
striking and conspicuous proof of the value of our Ameri-
can form of social organization for the growth of intellec-
tual character. It is possible that a poor farmer's boy with
no friends or means, except those which he was able to
conquer for himself, might have risen in some other coun-
try than the United States to the postion and influence held
by Asa Gray at the time of his death, but it is hardly possible.

In the bright and active young botanist of Oneida
County Dr. Torrey found the assistant he needed for the
preparation of the Flora of North America, and the two men
were soon associated in this work which was to occupy the
attention of the younger more or less continuously until the
last year of his life. The necessities of the work made it
desirable that one of the two scientific partners should visit
the collections and libraries of Europe, and so in Novem-
ber, 1838, Gray sailed from New York for Liverpool. This
journey, which will be found fully described in these vol-
umes in a series of letters written in the form of a journal
to the members of Dr. Torrey 's family, was, perhaps, the
most momentous event in Dr. Gray's life in the influence
it exerted on his scientific impulses. T he friends that he
made at this time. Sir William Hooker, from whom more
than from any one else he seems to have derived scientific
inspiration, Bentham, the Candolles, Martins, Decaisne, and
the younger Hooker, who of them all now alone survives, were
of the greatest assistance to him through life and added
much to his happiness and success.

Space will not permit us to trace, step by step, the career
of this remarakable man as displayed in his intimate cor-
respondence with these and other friends, and all we can
do is to call attention to the fact that these letters contain
the best possible record of a useful and distinguished life,
and contain also a vast amount of information about
botany and the botanists of the century not to be found in
any other book with which we are acquainted. They show
the man, too, as well as the botanist, and we confess that
to us the most delightful part of the whole book are the
letters to Darwin, written during the War of the Rebellion,
in which the Cambridge botanist, bristling with patriotism,
berates the author of The Origin of Species on the hostility
of England to the northern cause.

But, interesting as they are from a number of points of
view, to those who knew the writer these letters fail to
display all the wonderful astuteness of the writer's mind,
his great enthusiasm, his genial and kindly wit and that
buoyancy of spirits which made him one of the most de-
lightful companions. Nor do we, in reading them, obtain
a just idea of the helpfulness of the man, for the desire to
help others was one of his strongest traits, and he was fond
of showing it in a thousand ways, by criticism sometimes
caustic, when rebuke was clearly the greatest kindness,
by kind advice or direct assistance when assistance meant
a loss to the giver of priceless time.

These letters relate the life of a happy, prosperous and
useful man, which lacked only the completion of its great
task to have been eminently successful. No man certainly
ever worked harder or gave himself more cheerfully to labor.
But, like other men of facile expression and great ambi-
tions, he was too often led away from the main purpose of
his life in efforts to excel in many directions. Perhaps Asa
Gray lived too soon to have written an exhaustive Flora of
North America, the work which occupied him at different
times for fully half a century ; but, looking at the two volumes
of that half-finished book, we cannot but regret that other la-
bors were allowed to interfere with the completion of a work
for which he was specially fitted by aptitude, attainment
and rare good judgment. The work so well begun still
remains where he left it, nor in our time is it likely to be
completed. The life of Asa Gray teaches us that with in-
dustry, application and enthusiasm a young man in this
country can rise to the highest position and to the greatest
distinction ; and it teaches us another lesson not less val-
uable, that whatever a man's ability may be, great pieces

540

Garden and Forest.

[Number 305.

of work, like the one which Dr. Gray laid out for himself
in early manhood, are only accomplished by men who have
the power to concentrate themselves and to avoid the pit-
falls which ambition, society or the desire to help others
open in their path.

To these handsome volumes Mrs. Gray has joined three
portraits of her husband, one showing the thoughtful and
studious young man of thirty-one, the second taken thirty
years ago when he was at the very height of his powers —
a strong face, with remarkably intelligent eyes and the
head of a great naturalist, the third in old age with the
astute kindly smile and full gray beard^the Asa Gray that
those of his associates now living best remember. There
are views, too, of the botanist at his study-table, of
his house in Cambridge as it appeared when he first occu-
pied it in 1842, and of the garden over which he so long
presided, with its range of buildings in which are deposited
the priceless herbarium and library gathered by the greatest
systematist and the most distinguished man of science
America has produced.

Notes.

The first weekly journal devoted to horticulture which was
ever published in France has been started under the title of
Le Petit Jardin, under the directorship of Monsieur H. Mar-
tinet. It is rather remarkable that so important an industry as
horticulture in France has had no weekly paper in its interest,
while about a dozen weekly journals in England, devoted ex-
clusively to horticulture, all seem to be in a flourishing
condition.

A neat little pamphlet, consisting of reprints of two papers
by Professor Herbert Osborn, one entitled " Fruit and Forest-
tree Insects," and the other, "Some Iowa Farm Insects," has
just come to hand. Within its sixty-seven closely printed and
well-illustrated pages will be found very clear accounts of
the life-histories of the insects which are most annoying to
fruit-growers, farmers and gardeners, together with the most
approved means of fighting them, so that really the pamphlet
is a valuable handbook for every cultivator, not only in Iowa,
but elsewhere in the country. Good popular literature of this
sort is becoming so abundant that the time ought soon to ar-
rive when the losses to agriculture and horticulture from de-
structive insects throughout the country will be materially
lessened.

The December number of tlje Orchid Review concludes the
first volume of that interesting publication. This new monthly
has adhered strictly to the purpose announced in its first num-
ber, and the volume makes a complete and accurate record of
what has been accomplished during the year in the way of tlie
discovery and introduction of new Orchids and the production
of others by hybridization, with good descriptions and figures
of many of them, besides notes on interesting collections and
cultural directions by experienced writers. The most valuable
feature of Volume I. is, perhaps, the series of articles which
have brought down the history of Orchid hybridization to the
beginning of the year 1893. Nearly four hundred distinct
hybrids have been traced and recorded here, and they belong
to all the principal genera in cultivation. The December num-
ber of the Review contains a striking colored plate of the new
Cypripedium Charlesworthii, the introduction of which has been
probably the most interesting event of the year in the Orchid
world. The plate shows a flower with a dorsal sepal of deep
rose-purple, somewhat marbled toward the apex. The stami-
node is another very distinct feature, being ivory-white. Its
nearest ally seems to be a Cypripedium Spicerianum, and it is
likely to become quite as popular as that plant, although the
two are very different in many respects. It will not only be
valuable for decoration, but it ought to be a prize for the hy-
bridist, since it has a color which has always been sought after,
and when crossed with other richly colored forms the influ-
ence of this bright sepal will almost certainly be seen in the
moatstriking features of its offspring.

The vegetable market is hardly less well supplied in variety
now than during the summer season, and very frequently
the same kind of vegetables fresh from southern fields, from
northern hot-houses and held back in cold-storage from north-
em gardens, are found in market at the same time. .During
Christmas week Brussels sprouts, from Florida, sold for
twenty cents a quart ; egg-plants, from the same state, were

twenty-five cents each, string beans twenty cents, and tomatoes
forty cents a quart. Northern tomatoes, grown under glass,
sold for fifty cents a pound, and hot-house asparagus, furnished
upon order to dealers in choice vegetables, was two dollars a
bunch. Havana okra brought fifty cents a hundred, and large
peppers from Cuba a dollar a dozen. Southern cucumbers
were five cents, and those from Boston hot-houses fifteen cents
each. Jerusalem artichokes sold for fifteen cents a quart, and
new beets and peas could be had at reasonable prices. Chicory,
from New Orleans, was sixty cents a dozen. New lettuce, raised
under glass, and sold at seventy-five cents a dozen heads, was
not more fresh and crisp-looking than that which had been
held in cold-storage for two months. Philadelphia mushrooms
were a dollar a pound, and New Jersey sweet-potatoes sixty
cents a peck. The supply of fruits is almost as varied. Sev-
eral kinds of California grapes are still plentiful and cheap, and
live-pound baskets of Concord and Catawba grapes bring only
fifteen cents. Large pineapples cost but twenty-five cents,
and Coe's Late Red plums, still in good condition, are olTered
at a dollar for five pounds. Strawberries are yet a luxury, none
having come in from the south, and they command any price,
from two to three dollars, tor a tiny basket holding a dozen
berries. ^

The venture of unusually large shipments of Christmas-trees
in a season of exceptionally hard times was disastrous to not a
few of the thirty large dealers who cut and send trees to this
city from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, the Berk-
skire Hills, and some regions in the Adirondacks. While the
wholesale price of a bundle of trees last year was a dollar to a
dollar and twenty-five cents, the best prices this season were
only a quarter of that amount, and many wagon-loads were
disposed of at fifty cents to a dollar a load. Thousands of trees
remained unsold and had to be carted away at considerable
expense to the dealers, some of whom lost a thousand dollars
in cash outlay. The work of cutting begins in October, and
trees in open lots are selected as more stocky and symmetrical
than those in woodlands. These are then sized, the branches
closely wrapped with twine to economize space, and tied in bun-
dles of from one to eight trees, according to size. During the
last week of November and the first week in December they
are shipped, and as many as one hundred and forty car-loads,
say four hundred thousand trees, were offered at wholesale in
New York and near-by cities during the fortnight before
Christmas. The Balsam Fir is the most popular tree here, its
leaves persisting longer than those of the Black Spruce, which '
is the tree most frequently seen in the Philadelphia and New-
ark markets. Hemlock, owing to the flexible and drooping
quality of its branchlets, is not salable as a Christmas-tree, but
large quantities of the twigs are used in the manufacture of
so-called " fancy green," comprising stars, wreaths and other,
designs. Besides Hemlock, tlie leaves of Holly, Boxwood and
Kalmia, Ground Pine and other Club-Mosses, mosses from
tree-trunks, the fruits of Juniper, Black Alder, Bitter-sweet and
Holly, which are unusually scarce this year, dried grasses and
various so-called everlastings, are made into "rope" and set
figures. Most of this manufactured green continues to come
from Monmouth County, although the Lycopodium and raw
material generally has been brought, since its extermination
in that part of New Jersey, from New England and the Adiron-
dacks. This year roping was sold as low as a dollar a hun-
dred yards at wholesale, although when made of Kalmia-leaves
it was much more expensive. Stars could be bought for a
dollar a dozen on the steamer which brings these supplies
daily from Keyport, New Jersey, and wreaths and triangles were
forty and fifty cents a dozen. It is a noteworthy fact that the
small pieces, as wreaths, sold better than they did last year,
which seems to show an increase in the amount of cheaper
decoration, while the roping, which is only used in churches
and other large places, sold, as the trees did, at ruinous
prices.

Mr. E. D. Dodwell, noted as the leading English authority on
Carnations, has lately died at Oxford at the age of seventy-five
years. For nearly half a century he devoted himself to the
cultivation and improvement of Carnations, and especially of
Picotees. He helped to organize Carnation societies in various
parts of England, and for the last twenty-two years the exhibi-
tions of the Carnation and Picotee Union have been held in his
garden at Oxford. His work on theCarnation and Picotee was
first published in 1886, and has reached several editions, the
last of which was revised about two years ago. It is the stand-
ard work on the subject, and since Mr. Dodwell possessed
considerable literary skill and a vigorous style, it is agreea-
ble reading as well as a useful work.

mH:sixa ompr. dec 6 i960

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