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(HS
GARDEN AND FOREST
A JOURNAL OF
HORTICULTURE, LANDSCAPE ART-~ AND FORESTRY
Conducted by
CHARLES 5S. SARGENT
Director of the Arnold Arboretum, Professor of Arboriculture in Harvard College, etc.
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I. FEBRUARY TO DECEMBER, 1888
a
nga tt Westen
Eisna ReUT
“i uu
ION AL wmoz
Na >
New York : ee
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
1888
Copyright, 1888, by THE GARDEN AND Forest PUBLISHING Co.
All rights reserved.
_ The asterisk () denotes that the sub-
ject is illustrated.
Abies amabilis.. Sic}
‘Apollinis. . 120
Cephalonica.. ore + 120
—— Cilicica............. a 120)
Nordmanniana 120
pectinata.....
Pinsapo.
subalpina. 58
Webbiana. = 120)
Abutilon Sinense 120
Acacia constricta.. 524
decurrens. 35
pubescens.. . 82
Acalypha triumphans.. + 479
Acanthopanax spinosum 248
Acer dasycarpum. .....
Ginnala
Japonicum
pictum. 312
= leetum.. 312
Colchicum rubrum. 312
polymorphum. 53
a Reta IG UTM have eats ats
Achras Bahamensis.
Sapota ..
Acidanthera bicolo
Actinidia polygama.
volubilis.
Actiniopteris radiata
Adansonia Gregorii.
Adelaide, botanical garden in.
Adelges abieticolens..........-
ANAS nasddoaoaesn saeOke 100
Adiantum cuneatum. 404, 522, 523
decorum.
Far! leyense..
—— Edgeworth
——- gracilis.
—— gracillimum..
COttiisl
pedatum
Reginz...
Victoriz .
— Weigandii.
pWalllgamsie sre ue ont
‘Adinotinus Sinensis.....5...-.-5 -. 120
Adirondack forests, the. +49, 73 87
Adolphia infesta........ mic aa
fErides puindvevulnery, um 428
Rohannianum . as 2an4O8
Williamsi..... wse+ 208
fEsculus rubicunda = 220
turbinata..... + 49r
ZEthionema coridifolium. 237
Afghanistan, new plants from. 6
Agave Elemeetiana.....
Agricultural literature
Ailanthus
Akebia quinete
Alder, Black .
+379, 239, 385, 500
Soa nua per bs
.182, 261, 453
Alfalfa....... 407
Algze on animals.. + 99
Alhambra, Gardens of the. mss
Allium cceruleum.....
MOLY eieeislenm ee 5
Neapolitanum <
Pedemontanum
SU WiOLOW Is sien eiidacepeen a ales e277
Alnus rubra.... 59
serrulata. 404
Aloe Hilderbrandti =: (60)
Alonzoa Warscewiczi 473
Alpenia officinarum.. + 22
Alyssum gemonense.. + 261
Amar yllis aulicaieesc c 68
Contessa Marianna Cambri ay
AID) SV sefesteteleleleiavciciei=,q syec-efe amie syeis=%=
reticulata . .
Amaryllises.......
Amasonia calycina.
Amelanchier alnifolia
Asiatica..
oligocarpa’
vulgaris ...
American fruits in France.
Amorpha canescens.....
Amorphophallus virosus. .
INDEX TO VOLUME IT.
Andromeda floribunda......... IIS, 154 Ache UW ecceehaaoMn awards <0 resem: 50
Japonica ie... See 20 Asphodelus acaul 299
ROU SUIT AS re estate c's trois tele a ray, 261 Aspidium acr ostichoides 353
Mariana . ee 454 aculeatum...... + 353
polifolia . 179 Boottii.. 353
speciosa,...... 248 cristatuin + 342
Androsemum hircinum — Filix-mas 352
Anemone Japonica.... fragrans... 352
nemorosa.. Goldianum 352
— Pulsatiila... - TEONGHIMS!. ene sialon 353
PAMIMMCU LOL ESt aon erctare etreise ise marginale .....
Anglomania in parl i munitum .. 353
Angrzecum, new variety of Nevadense. 342
Caudatiuimasscteans sem Noveboracense
spinulosum
thelypteri
Asplenium angustifolium
ebeneum .......
~ ——— Filix-foemina .
— Ruta-muraria
densum..
distichum .
eburneum.
falcatum....
[eon esse
Sanderianum .
Scottianum . thelypteroides
Anguloa Clowesii Trichomanes .
—— eburnea... viride...
intermedia. Aster alpinus
Amellus
concolor
Ibericus. .
Novee Anglize
spectabilis: ..<.\4 7.5
Townshendii ......
Asters, China
native, as g garden plants.
—- Ruckeri...
uniflora..... “s
Anisacanthus insignis
Annuals for cut flowers. :
—— fora succession of flowers... 180
Anthurium Andreanum ............ 245
Chamberlaini. .
Desmetianum..
Scherzerianum. Atlanta; Darlrat e-.7s-22% seccneee ee
Antirrhinum Nuttallianum.......... 347 forestry congress at
Amts, desttuction Of..2.0..53 . 443 Attar of roses
Aubretia deltoides
Appeal for pretty plants, an.
Auricula, the...
Apples, autumn..
early... ey! Autumn effect, planting or.
Japanese range FIG WETS teeta 210.0010
summer. 485 work : among trees.
winter 4oo Axe, do not spare ‘the
Apricots, varieties Of..-..0s++ss0-+. 165 Azalea altaclerensis.
Aquilegia Canadensis. 114, 150, 199 - Indicageas wc
chrysantha.... ercee| occidentalis
ccerulea. a ea viscosa.
—— formosa... si TIA Azaleas, forcing
glandulosa +++ 199 Ghent .
longissima*. . eR Clorped ut
vulgari is. sane 114
Aquilegias, hybri i Baccharis angustifolia .. ......-.-. 52
Aralia Cashimerica. glutinosa
hispida.... alimifolia
—— Maximowiczii..
Baden-Baden, novelties at
Bahia confertiflora. -
Balcony flower-
Balsam, the ..
Banana, a hardy...
Banded hickory borer, the.
Banks and slopes, treatment o
Ha pentet LOG Barbarea .
54 Bary, Anton de
.. 44 Bartonia tenella
1375 Basket culture, terns for
329 Bauhinia uniflora
Cunninghami glauca.
Arauja grayeolens,
Arbor day arene oe
Arbutus petiolaris..
with ansplanting the
‘tr ‘ailing ....
Xalapensis ae
Arctostaphylos tomentosa.
Aristolochia elegans.
Wesilandi. . 21370 Beans, string. ... 484
Armeria vulgaris... se 27t Beech, a weeping * 32
Arnebia cornuta....... rie Steet 6 Beetles . 172
GHIMOIGESiamateeme nace . 189 Befaria glauca 496
Arnold Arboretum, entrance io nei, Begonia geran 371
notes from the.117, 120, E53; Lubbersii.. 108
165, oie 189, 200, 212, 225, 236, 239, 248, octopetala.. .. = 509
260, 272, 285, 296, 309, 332, 344, 356, 440, semperforens ¢ gigantea. 492
453, Ae Socotrana 5 485
Arrow-head ...... eeisaZAg Begonias, half- gel 71 92
Arrow-arum,. see 243 WHALGY-... 5-8 41
Arsenical poisons. in the = 59) , new race of hybr 41
- on Elm trees.... 151 ,new tuberous..... 256
Artemisia filifolia.. miS2d! Benthamia Japonica ..... 234
Artichoke, Globe 127, 533 Benzine for destroying grubs 516
Artificial water*.. Berberis Canadensis 36
Chinensis..
Artistic aspect of trees.218, 230, 242, 373,
493- concinna .
Asarum Canadense.............. 177, ———Cretica...... ........-
macranthum.... n emarginata.........+2 36
Asclepias atrosanguinea..... Fendleri
ASH thes caters ce +106, 142, 466, 500 =§——— Fremont
Ash, the Green.. . 215 neryosa.
Asimina triloba. - 514 Sinensi
Reeds) —— Thunber
Asparagus. ...
—— trifoliolata...
plumosus. SemAcone sea Supoe Ek}
Berberis umbellata .............000. 236
- vulgaris . 89, 236, 416, 440
Bertolonia marmorata. fee 08
Betula papyrifera.... 59
Bidens chrysanthemoides . - 435
Bigelovia pulchella.... 52.
Bignonia Tweedieana. 148
Biota Sieboldi....... : 36
Birch, the 59
Birds and strawberries ceeeal T70
Blackberries 105, 494, 519
Bladderwort teas 243
Blood-root, the
Blueberry, the.
Blue-flag, the.
Blunders concerning plants
Bollea Wendlandiana ....
Borer, work of a....
= ME
Bossier.
Boston public ou
harbor, tree planting on.
Botanic garden for-N. Y. City,
Botany, ‘Study of, by horticultur 62
Botrychium Virginianum...... 354
Bowman’s root........ 225
Brasenia peltata. 243
Brickellia laciniata. 524
Bridge at Leathertor, England *. 52
in the Thiergarten, Berlin 327
Brodizea Bridgesii 125
Howellii.. 120
uniflora. ar
IBF OOM ssp saan se 213
Brussels sprout oe : 513
Buck-everthesredscsigss5nc<s 425s eanean
Stic leat esemens kee RAseetc ce ers 297, 524
Buffalo, project for public park i 457
Buitenzor g, water lilies in the gar-
GM AUS wactecsGhich sce base Ga aie Se 241
Bulbs, Dutch seas
hints about.
spring-flower
Burr Oak
Button-bush
Buzzard’s Bay, plants of..........- 327
Cc.
Cabbage-leaf, malformation of*...
Cadrania trilobas::.2 0.256
Ceesalpina Japon
Calandrinia oppo
Calanthes.....
Calceo ee
California, Christmas flora of.
forestry, 361, 369, 380, 392, 404, 420
PACU ABH aeees han tenes + 395
Souther n, useful plants of. + 414
State
Board of Horticulture.. 262
theeS: Obes. ssh ves esse .
woods inautumn .
Californian sand-ridge, a
Callicarpa Americana....7...-...++
purpurea.....
Calluna vulgari
Galschorue
Caltha palustris.
Calcyanthus floridus
glaucus
: leevigat
Calypso borea
Camassia Cusickii
Camellia Sasanqua.
Campanula Carpathic
medium..
Pojunditeli
turbinata..
Camptosorus rhi
Canadian forest presery
Canker-worm
Canna Indic
Cannas, notes on
Canterbury Bells
Caragana pygmeea
spinosa
Carnations.........
1V
Carpenteria Californica........... 292
Carya porcina..... rs
tomentosa,........+.+++- 190, 500
Caryopteris mastacanthus......-... 20
Caryota sobolifera......... 108
Cassandra calyculata 154
Cassia epee ump eEele ++ 275
Wislizeni.... Hai
Castilloa elastica. #20)5aG
Catalpa_ bignonioides. 466, 500
Keempferi... = 500
speciosa.....
Catasetum Bungerotl
Cat-tails...... aad
Cattleya Ames
Bowringiana
chrysotoxa..
Dowiana..
—- Exoniensis .
Gaskelliana.
— Gigas*..........
granulosa asperata
Harrisii ..
hybrida picta
labiata.....
Massaiana
Mendelii
Mossiz..
Percival’s
porphyrites.
Rothschildiana
Sanderiana ...
Schofieldiana..
Schreederiana
-—— Skinneri.........
speciosissima
ageneri..ss
Walkeriana ...
ween tee, S47)
Ceanothus....... -7, 248, 374
Cedar, the -Redeiss dssccescsasssve se 314
the Yellow. poe, an
Wbesis Neseae« 444
224, 204, 484, 513
Celastrus scandens
Welenyisessress
Celtis occidentalis.........00.20s0+8 465
var. reticulata......... 106
Cemeteries..... erie ee 76, 109, 147, 182
Ceéntauridigms's cs sa+s see
Centennial of the Fuchsia.
Central Park, Minneapolis.*.
N. Y., meadows in
historic trees and
Bhrubs LOL sec caeewcves ve paveae meee. TAM
proposed speed-roadin 37
—_ CREGB TE a era aa trerorepeis G48 230
— view in*, ee eo
work in. 120
Cephelis tomentosa.... «+ 527
Cephalanthus occidentalis......290, 310
Cerasus Capronia.......... 178
seudo-cerasus.. 178
feboldi... 35 s<5 178
Watererii.. 178
Ceratothica triloba 48
Cercis Canadensis. . 220
Chinensis..... 220
siliquastrum..... 220
Cercocarpus parvifolius 524
Cereus grandiflorus.. 163
Cheenactis tenuifolia.... 347
Chameecyparis obtusa. 33
Chamezerops excelsa.. 231
FObuStass. oss. ve 231
Charlecote Hall, court-yard of *.... 171
Charles River at Wellesley*........ 422
Gherolktes ROsé/.cqscesa0s
Cherry plum.....
Chestnut, Spanish .
GChestnutss...is.065
Chimaphila maculata.
umbellata.... .
China Asters..... te cecear
Chinese horticulture in N.
Chiogenes hispidula...... 57
Chionanthus Virginica 291
Chion cinctus *:....0s%5.55 148
Chion odoxa Luciliz...
Chionophila Jamesii*. - 79
Chironia peduncularis
Choisya ternata.......
Chokeberry ..
iGhoro-Gi, cacce,
Christmas green
in the Pines. a 518
Chrysanthemum Ex tion, Boston, 467
Germantown «...<005.0<2450
New Worl: 0.rse<csnss)47e
Philadelphia... . Eater ly A
Chrysanthemum, Baron d’Ayéne
C. Jules Barigny.
— Lilian M. Bird*...
Mrs. Alpheus Har F << 5
Chrysanthemums, new variety of*.5, 168
notes on, 33, 81, 264, 378, 402, 445
467, 472, 473, 484, 492, 511, 516, 523
a garden of * F
Chrysosplenium macrophyllum
Chysis Chelsonii... ised
Cinchona Calisaya
Cinerarias, new varieties
Cinnamon-fern...
Cinque-foil..... 285
Cissus Japonica, 357
FLING Sc eat Ries oag or S90 vous ‘ 484
City Hall Park, N. Y., attack on.... 134
Claytonia Caroliniana .............. 177
Virginiana ,..000...00000 177, 221
Index.
Clematis coccinea....... ..
Clematis crispa .
Dayidiana
Flammula.
graveolens
integrifolia
orientalis
Pieroti.
— Pitcheri
verticillar
Virginiar
Cleome pungens.
Clerodendron Thompsona
207, 371, 440
Clethra acuminata....... 144.933
alnifoha. + 290, 291
Climate of Minr ioe 2S
on the Pr.
Clintonia borea
Clib-mossiec...s 519
Cobcea scandens .. + 473
Cocoanuts in Florida. 22
Ccelogyne corrugata.. 344
Cristatayaess se 124
Dayana : 271
—— _ gramminigolia.... 300
—— Massangeana.. 60
—— pandurata.. . 284
anderiana . 340
speciosa. ... + 344
Coffee, Liberian... . 526
Colchicum autumnale 499
speciosum....... 499
Cold climates, fruits for. ++ 498
Colubrina Texensis..... + 524
Coluinbines .
I14
Cone-eating insects : 100
Coniferous tree seeds, longevity of. 250
Conifers, propagation of......... 47, 436
cultivation of..... : vad Od
Conoclinium ccelestinum, 362
Conservatories, heating of. 407
Convolvulus tenuissimus 407
Corchorus, thes. s:.325 199
Cordyline indivisa
Corema Conradi ...
Coreopsis coronata. 473
lanceolata. 362
rosea... . 362
tinctoria. 473
Cornus asperifolia 273
florida...... 440
—— mascula.... 12
—— officinalis. 129
—— paniculata . 249
—— sanguinea = 404
sericea.... - 260
stonolifera + 249
Corydalis solida... 153
Corylopsis pauciflora 165
Corypha umbraculifera, .
Corythuca arcuata..... + 459
Cosmos bipinnatus
>
NX
w
hybridusii.c2:5. 474
Cotoneaster denticulata ee ret.
Cottonwoods, the*. 57, 105, 254
Court-yard, Charlecote Hall*....... 171
Cowania Mexicana ...... 24
Cowslip, Virginia.. 177
Crab-apple, the Amer 212
Cranberries ... 519
Crassula lactea.. 108
Cratzegus coccinea. 249
cordata ... 465
Douglasi 201
Lelandi. - 496
Nigracces. . 201
pinnatifida. 237
—— purpurea...
—— sanguinea. .
subyillosa .
tomentosa,
Cress, upland.....
Crinum giganteum * 320
Zeylanicum 452
Crocosma aurea.... 503
Crocus Haussknechtii... 408
\Grocused.veses es 496
Cryptogramme acrostichoides .
Cucumber, white ,
Curculio, the.
Currant, Black.
cultivation of.
Fay’s prolific
Missouri.....
Red Fruited.
Cuscuta glomerata .
tenuiflora ....
Cut flowers and growing plants,
, annuals for.....
green-house clim
Cut-worms..
Cycas reyoluta
Cydonia Japonica. -
Cymbidium Hookerianum
Mastersi album... .
Cyperorchis elegans .
Cypress, Bald ..
shingles
Southern ..
Cypripedium acaule.
bellatulum, 198, 208,
Californicum
caudatum..
Dayanum..
—— Elliottianum..
TASCICUIALIMN 5s benacts obs
1,
244, 25
Cypripedium Godefroyz.......208, 211
insigne........ 5 -467, 479, 511
— Lawrenceanum .,....-...---- 211
Leeanum maculatum.
— Marshallianum . 485
—— montanum.... 138
Morgani 340
—— Mossiz 2Ir
—— _ niveum. 211
—— Parishii... ems 248
parvifle F ah 200, 235
pubescens.......+ 138, 151, 188, 235
Rothschildianum ....
Sanderianum..
Schroderee
spectabile .
——- Spicerianum
DONEly.g 7b es
Cyrtanthus lutescen
Mackeni
Cyrtopodium Sain
Cystopteris bulbifer
fragilis ....
Cytisus albus
biflorus
Canariensis .
—— capitatus ..
— nigricans...
—— purpureus
—— scoparius ......
Db
Dabeecia polifolia..........-
Daffodils ..
Dahlia, norther
imperialis ...
Dahlias, notes on ..
Daisies, Michzelmas
Daphne alpina....
Cneorum
Genkwa ...
Meézerelimss) si. =
Daphniphyllum glauce
Daremma Catalpee .....
Date tréescti ss arct civ.cuys Seen es 231
Davallia tenuifolia. 404, 523
Dayillia aculeata s..cc.eteneeaaee ss 503
Deciduous forest tre mseed.. 23
Decumaria Sinens a 126)
Delphinium viride* . 149
Zalilircae vase 6
Dendrobium Bensoni 268
chrysotoxum . 248
— clavatum ..........
— crassinode superbum
Dalhousieanum.,...
Dearet.cci4.% 230
—— Huttonii...... 209
macrophyllum . 479
Wardianum a5
Deutzia parviflora * 363
Dicentra Cucullar’ 177
eximigiec..« = 177
Dichorisandra pubesce 204
Dicksonia pilosiuscula «354
Dicraurus leptocladus. 524
Diervilla sessilifolia. 273
trihdyyeee ates 273
Diospyros Virginian 514
Dipladenia Boliviens 32
Diplothemium camp 231
Disa graminifolia... 388
+ +208, 520
208, 407, 520
Disease of certain Japanese shrubs,a 4o
of nursery stock...... 7 194
Do not spare the axe . 433
DWodder <2. 252754 495
Dodge City, forestry station at ..... 158
Doetooth Violets caess ans 2cewe 316
(DOs WOOd' seeks hermes 63, 243, 249
Domain, forests of national... :
- grandiflora .
racemosa
97
Domestication of wild fruits. 195
Doorways of villas » 135
Doronicum Caucasi 150
Douglasia levigata..... +204, 228
Draczena australis. Heliggz
Drives and walks . 193
Drosera longifolia. + 243
Dryocetes affaber. + 101
Dunes, planting the . fs eat S57,
Dyeing howersiceescrsscts chauneeee I4
KE
Easter flowers in New York........ 86
Eburia quadrigeminata .. e
Echinocactus Haselberg
Eichornia eal!
Elzeagnus longipes* .
Elder, box.. oy re
common...
— Mexican .. 4
scarlet-berried .
Elm, Japanese
IM Si wraticaos +
Elm trees, ar:
EMPuS26 si sicesccatwsss
English flower gardens
Enkianthus Himalaicus
Ephedra pedunculata ..
{iEULGay gees nies teetts
Epidendrum atropurpu
evectum 200
macrochilum . 2 267
medusze 4 =. 67
—- O’Brienianum ............+.- 209
Epidendrum radicans.
Epigoea repens.......
Eremurus Olgze
Erica cornea...
tetralix.
Erigeron speci P
Eriobotrya Japonica...
Eriostemon intermedium.
Eryngiums, varieties of...
Erythronium grandiflorum
Hendersoni* ......
Eschscholtzia Californica.
Eucalyptus calophylla..
globulus
uinigera.
Viminalis......
Eucharis Amazonica
Eulalia Japonica...
Euonymus alatus..
atropurpureus.
Europzeus
European forests 274, 430, 454
Euryale ferox. ..s.us ajacstatategateiten G12
Evergreens, effect of winter on..... 115
Exhibitions. .4, 60, 96, 113, 156, 215, 228,
252, 264, 278, 288, 300, 336, 372, 383, 395
431, 455» 455 467, 478, 479, 484, 495, 50r,
504
Experiment stations, work for...... 289
horticulture in. ...... 181
- 212, 453
+ 273) 453
se eeeee 453
Eysenhardtia spinosa....... «+ 524
FE.
Fagus sylvatica......... ses sooo: 468
Farmers and forestry ..-...... 229, 310
Felling trees.......... 325, 397, 433
Fendlera rupicola......... 2.05 Sele se 290)
Fertilized flowers, protection for
artificially*..... = vat ae/eferetoietatel= ste 93.30)
Ferns, cultivation of.. 317, 330, 340, 352,
394, 425
for basket cultureseosteeecce 2307
for cutting..
for the window garden.
new varieties.........
notes on..
Ficus aurea *
elastica.
—— Ti-Koua
Vogelii..
Fir, the Balsam. .
the Douglas.
the Silver...
the Spanish........
Fishkill, Washington oak at
Flora of the Florida Keys....
Floral noveltiesic csi ssssrece sae 270, 283
Floriculture inthe United States.... 2
Florida, central, palms in.....
= 214, 223
++ 504
fruit growing in... 77
horticulture in... 39
oranges ...... 519
Florida Keys, flora of. + 279
- lime-tree in.. Band 22
Florists, Society of American, zor, 313,
" 320
and nurserymen,responsibili-
ties Off sessions B + 337;.430
Florists’ arrangements, taste in..... 409
Flourensia cornua....... dae agaetgrare (524.
Flowers and fruit pictures at the
Academy of Design.............. 107
Flower beds, formal... +. 169
border, a well-arrange: +230.
—— boxes, balcony .............. 158
—— garden, the .-.......224, 390, 4o2
—— gardens, English ....
— mission, the New Yor!
show at Philadelphia.
at Boston..... aisisiaretaleteien 50)
at Orange, NewJersey, 456
Flowers, annuals for a succession of, 186
AULUMD... ceccecss coe
— dyeing........... 14
Easter, in New Yorl aideaaL 19
inJapan*......... 350
in WINTER. Vis cesses spmsenieen OS
protection for artificially fer-
tilized ®. .cceem esteem cueaeeteceeenso0)
sermon of the....
Foliage with cut flowers.
Fontainebleau, forest of......... .. 95
Foreign plants and American
SCENELY +. + 4.0.0 os10.9 50 naeiee elec = 200,410,
Forest lands, leasing of .... 123, 146
law in Russia............357) 492
for Italy, a new. ...... 417
laws.... --26, 357, 417
management, European ..... 454
of Fontainebleau.........
+ 95
planting in New England .. 393
eS in) Virginiaseecescessie1 500)
preserves in Canada. + 219
— bill concerning........ 73
school at Nancv....... 60
tree plantation of the Univ
sity of Illinois...... niaraeateerete teen
tree planting on the prair
trees for California ........
trees of the Far North-west.. 58
vegetation of northern Mexi-
€O.70, 105, 117, 141, 226, 238, 420, 441, 524
Forestiera phillyreoides........
Forestry, an American school 0
Association, Pennsylvania... 154
and farmers... -2s.sese+.220; 310
,
|
|
|
%s
. Index. Vv
Forestry commissions,..... . 385 Hi J Lime tree, Crimean ..0:icscesseeses 17
Congress at Atlanta .. 515 Habenaria blephariglottis. : Jack-pine plains... ; in Florida........-+... 422
European state + 345 ciliaris Jamesia Americana. Limnanthemum lacunosum... 205
in California...361, 369, 380, 392 cristata 7 nympheeoides. 295
405, 422 Hackberry, the. Linden, the oo 312
station at Dodge City. . Hace ate) Hzemanthus Katharin -—— American and uropean.230, 254
Forests, Adirondack, in danger.49, 73, 87 Hakea laurina...... templ Lindera Benzoin 154
and civilization... Halesia tetraptera Japanese Iris serait 527
and rainfall... 489 Hamamelis mollis. Jasmine, white Bornean Lippia ly 524
care of. ... . 122 Haplocarpa Leichtlini. . ope Jeffersonia diphylla ... Wrightii. 524
future of American... 2 Hardwood forests of the south, the. Jubzea spectabilis..... . Liquidambar wood... 110
hardwood, of the South. 3 Harpalium rigidum... Judas tree.... Lisbon, park in 36
Lissochilus gig
Live Oak *
Livistonia horrid 7
Locust, the common,
the Honey.
Lomaria Spicant
in Pennsylvania. Masia Hawkweed .
=—OLMMUTO POs ine eitinls « =/e/ai cjcia/dieiais Hawthorn..
of Europe as seen by an Hay, salt
American lumberman -274 Hazel, Constantinople.
——— of New Jersey. = 59 Heating of conservatories
of the United State + 207 Hedges, notes on....
Juglans Jamaic
Menchanics,
——- rupestris
Juniper, dwarf..
Juniperus oceidentalis
pachyphleee
of the White Mountains. .2, 7°, 493 Helianthus angustifoliu tetragona. Lonchocarpus cy ay
of Tunis «2... 20... seeee Be Maximiliar —— Virginiana. Lonicera Alberti. 226
of Vancouver's Island. . =» 46 Heliconia Choconian Ke albiflora... 524
on the national domain. 97 Helleborus niger... ie cileata....... 165
Forget-me-nots... steeeeees Heloniopsis Japoni Keempferia unda.... 275 coerulea . :* 165
Forsythias. ............ Hemlocks .-....-. ceaeno. tas 5 5 Kalmia latifolia...... F 442 fragrantissima. . . 154
Fothergilla alnifolia.. +++ 189 Hemp-weed. 5 Kansas forest trees identified... 12 —— Japonica......... 243
Fouquieria splendens.. se 52 Hepatica, the. . Kennedya Marryattze 405 Maximowicaii 226
France, American fruits in......... 482, Herbaceous plants in frames Kew Arboretum, the. 136 ~~ oblongifolia 237
Fraxinella.... ..-... . in parks, Kingston, R. I, street in neeanes 208 Periclymenum . 273
Fraxinus Americana . fragrant, for edg er Kitchen garden, the.. + QT, 103, 342 —— Ruprechtiana 201
cuspidata........ for seasonings <cs<ceeece<se= 268 Kniphophia ae't dae, 380; 404 — Standishi......... ~ 54
pistacieefolia..... ss++++106 Hleterosporum ornithogalli......... 264 ire tere bipinnata. . -.. 376 buffa acutangula.......... 83
viridis ..... Heuchera sanguinea....115, 152, 291, 371 paniculata...... - 376 yehnis ..... O4
Freesias... Hibbertia dentata. : Lycium Chir 53
Frin e tree seeeeree ees Hibiscus lasiocar pus a 5 pallidum
Fritillaria imperiali Syriacus POPU are Wik Marko Ue Cert 146, 516 Lycopodium...... ‘ : 519
meleagris.. Hickor Lacharme, proposed monument to. 75 complanatum......0..++++++: 505
Mogeridgei... Hickory borer, the band Leeliaalbida....... 6 dendroideum
pallidiflora. Hieracium aurantiacum. . - anceps. Lyyodium palmatum
Saas .- 3 Hippeastrum aulicum autumnalis .. scandens ......
Hale a cles eisieeisisesicees 25' Hippophe rhamnoide i
Fruit and flower pictures. ee 107 Hally. P callistogloss uu
and vegetables under ‘glass + 518 Holothrix Lindleana Crispe weotnoe lees - 306 Macaranga Porteana. 168
Fruit garden, the. Honeysuckle. .154, 165, 201, elegans.. . Machaonia Pringlei 524
favorites... HLonmo ltt, (HOUSEIM™ ese. aisissiereinisvees 314 —— Eyermanni Mackya bella........ 176
Fruit growing in he West seeee Horse chestnut in Scotland......... 528 —— flammea.. Macrotomia Benthami. 209
in the West Indies Horticultural exhibitions (see Exhi- Gouldiana. Magnolia conspicua. i veenne 252
irrigation for. . bitions). monophylla.. foley el CR oer deat wats 597
trees, hardy. FASHIONS Ersascrare sists ce aye ate ereceveseci 49 IRB ti B isa sy =crs ——- glauca 52
on highways. Horticulture and the experiment Perrini. grandiflora. eae 6
Fr uits, domestication of wild. stations ..... Ro useoneseen 181 purpurata.. hypoleuca*.... eee 312
American in France... Chinese, inN.Y...... a sans ABS Victoria... —— Norbertiana ............-..4. 16
for market and home use..or, al handbook of, wanted - 65 Lake-flower..... —— Soulangeans + 516
for cold climates.........-... 498 in Florida......-..+4« 39 Landolphia owar a dasiater eine 520, stellata tiie er! 32, 516
improvement of North Howea Belmoreana........ + 407 Landscape-gardening, 2, chy 27, 38, peas Thompsoniana* ... - 268
American. . 5I4 Huckleberries, cultivation of . - 183 63, 75,70, 87, 94, 112, 130, 142, 335, 480, 481 Magnolias, notes on. 33
thinning of. . 197 Hudsonia.. bibliogr: Brophy (one o4 propagation of a5
Fuchsia, centennial of the. 23 Huernia as'-era. Lantanas 5 ‘ 222 TOS. Mahernia verticillata... °
Fungus diseases of insects. . +159 Hyacinths for forcing Lapa ik 456 Maiden-hair fern ..
Hyacinthus cory mbosu Larch. n Massachusetts. rr Malacothrix obtusa
Hybridization, device for aiding. MUTOPEAN 0.17 a were + 500 Manettia | bicolor
Gaillardias ..... - 473 Hydrangea ar 2 the common. 59 Maner
Galax aphylla. 5 - 507 hortensis .... Larch forest with undergrowth aigatets o4 Manure
Garden, a California... + 308 paniculata. Larix leptole eles Dace 1454 Maple, the Ash-leaved...
a French.. 289 —— quercifolia . Larkspur... : . E =. 283 the Japanese..
a tropical *. 222 radiata .. Larrea Mexicana....... a= 524 the Norway
the Boston Public... - 345 rosea Lastrea montana 305 the Sugar....
in Shanghai, a..... 160 Hymenocall Latania Borbonica = 324 the Svcamor
notes from an amateurs. + 450 Palme Latinized names of gar 492 the White.. rere a)
of chrysanthemums, a*. - 522 Hymenoclea monogyra SAUCE) cote cteinereseie-s' 189 DMaVISGlIS: ii parcabee Vassar aredescey 473
plants, Latinized names of... 490 Hypericum calycinum . mountain... - 442 Masdevallia Chestertoni
Gardenia‘Fortuneijess).ccls~ secs: 485 patulum....... Lawn, how to make 3 gibberosa
Gardener’ s art and Alexander Pope. 207 MOLES Olresteatatei sisi 22, 299, 475 —— Harryana
Gardeners’ Monthly, discontinu- 54 ions for making a —— ignea..
ANGE tne seiner te sferatatmleret esters atsfe 4 E macrura E
Gardening, future of American. .... 13 Tlex glabra ...... eer plant == Mooreandsc+seeeecesiseciverecs
Gardens of the Alhambra. . levigata.. Leather-leaf 54 pulvinari
Garrya Wrightii -—— macrocarp Leathertor, England, ‘bridge at 52 tovarensis ......
Gaultheria. opaca ... Leatherwood achusetts Horticultural
verticillata. Leaves
Illiciurn verum.
Genista tinctoria
Gentiana Saponaria.
of last
60, 228, 300, 3
European Larch in.....
Gentians. . Illinois, forest-tree plantation of the Maurandia B mea
Geraniums, notes 0 Ap : University asda Leiophyllum buxitolium. Maxillaria fuscata. .
Germantown, exhibition at 456 Impatiens Hookeri Leland Stanford, Jr., Meadow beauty... Tce oA
Gethsemane, Garden of, olive tree in 284 — Incarvillea Olgz.. plan of *. Meadows, the, in Central Park, New
Geum coccineum plenum.. . i a Leptosyne m VOrKSie pesca
Gillenia trifoliata...... Lespedeza bicolor. 5 Meconopsis Walli
Ginger, wild 4 Leucoium <estivum. 63 Merendera Caucasica. 3
Ginkgo bilob =ae102, 1733 174, 22 Insects, cone-eating Leucophyllam minu 24 Mesembryanthemum Brownii 60
Gladioli, notes on, 139, 336, 348, 363, 375 fungus diseases of Leucothoé racemosa. 54 Mesospinidium vulcanicum . 414
444, 450, 474 Ipecacuanha Ligustrum arurens¢ 60 can orange Hower. 219
Gladiolus, Oberprésident von ae Ipomea Hard neei Californicum. Mexico, notes from a n< uinralist in.. 386
Merreizne. Briggsii..... Aeneas forest vegetation of northern,
winter Horstfallize..... ovalifolium 70, 105, 117, 41, 226, 238, 429, 441,
Gleichenias .. ternata...... —— vulgare Microlepsis hirta cristate
Gloxinia gesnerioides. panicula Lilacs, notes on.. Mikania scandens
Golden club Iris Alberti..... Lilies, cultivation of Mildew on ros
rod.. bracteata* - notes on.... Milla biflora ......
Miltonia Phalzenoy
Mimosa dysocarpa
Lilium auratum.
cristata... ,
Brownii. ..
Germanica .
Gooseberries. .
Gordonia pubescens..
Grammatophyllum speciosum —— Kempferi. —— candidum . Pringlei...
Grapenthegwildye ee eileescniiesalntelsns 524 Korolkowi. —— elegans.. prolifica.
Grape-vines, American, in Europe.. rrr — Krelargii —— excelsum. Mimusops Sieber
how to prune 461 — leevigata* Grayi Minneapolis, Minn.,
Grapes for home use. . 34, 56 pabularia Hansoni. Minnehaha, Falls of
under glass.. 21 pumila . — Henry.. Minnesota, climate of
GrayseAsae cc cvseses tte Be reticulata longiflorum . Mist-flower.....
bibliography Ofisteee es 452 Nepale nse Mite, the red, on
Hooker’s opinion of... 26 Parkmani. on trees...
Greenbrier.......... 044+. +249) 465 519 Party. cs. Mitella diphylla.,......
Green-house in summer, the - 175 Irises, notes on. punctatum Mitre-wort. .
purpuratum .... 0 3 Mobile, Spring
JECIOSUM...... aa eelae of. eee
Szovitzianun, Momordica ¢
tenuifolium.. Monohammus confu
tigrinum flore p Montbretias ...
Wallichianum Morning Glory, n
Lily, Guernsey ...... F Mortonia scabrella.
SAPAN esigntsectseees Morus microphylla.....
Iron-wood..
Irrigation in the West
HOTU. caislersiers
Italy, new forest law of.
Grevillea Thelemanniana. ...
Grewia parviflora..........
Groundsel-tree ....... Itea Virginica ..
Guinea-hen flower, the.. Ivy, poison...
Gymnogramma Pearcei robusta .... 303 — Ixiolirion Tartaricum .-
Schizophyllamaemete~ethetestelg4 Onna en LXOTANID Uffily teci\sivjecteniaie/e%[ee.sie ae satac4O0
vl
Mulching shrubbery beds.......... 33
Musa proboscidea........
Mushrooms, cultivation of.
Mustard, green.
Myosotis dissitiflora | splenden
Myrica cerifera
tage 318, 407
Gales, = 154
Myrtle, the San . 182
the Wax......... + +280, 494
N
Names of plants......-:sssee00+ 323, 490
Nancy, forest school at eg (00
Nantucket, a glimpse of. - 447
Narcissus monophyllus. 510
Broussoneti + 395
olyanthu + 44, 141
seudo-Narcissus.. eeto7 Rags
Natural beauty and the landscape
BATOene? saci res
Nepenthes Dicksoniana. .
Nephrodium rufescens tripinnati-
MES ee shots tcnsas ee
Rodigasianum.
Tuerckheimii...-.
Nephrolepsis davallioides furcans.. 523
Sxaltata nce os ists
Nerine Fothergilli...
Mansellii.......
Nerium Oleander...
Neviusia Alabamensis ..
New England, forest planting i in.
+ 393
New Jersey, forests of.........00+4- 59
Newport. ; .470, 482
New York ‘abotanic garden for, 517
Nikko, Temple INF, sib tsssecssaceea + 434
Nine-Bark....... :
Nogal tree.....
Nomenclatur e, bo 3. 490
North American fruits, improvement
Ciewse edie rises aie 54
North-west, forest tre : 58
Novelties at Baden-Baden . a 233
Floral. 270, 283
Nurserymen, “Association of Ameri-
can.
and florists,
Darren
Nursery stock,
Nymphzea*
ae
mpla . a
vebialla
dentata ..
Devoniensis
Kewensis.
— Liebergi
—— Lotus...
Luteum 2
odorata . 263
pygmezea 241
So 242
242
speciosa. 242
tuberosa* 368
—- Zanzibaren 242
Nyssa sylvatica. .. 444
@
Oal the Chesinittssnoscsscapeceas ¢ 511
THEE ceeyele dks sicigteea and 136, 254
Men ec hs spseaveg ete 136, 254
the Scarlet
the Shingle...
the Washington
the White
the Willo
Oaks inthe Kew A
European.
for Californi:
in Kent...
Odontoglossum c
grande...
—— Halli .
Harryanum. 163, 316,
—— Insleayi..
Karwinsk
nebulosum .
Rossi
IROGZIE 6 sea desacs F
Schreederianum, 2.55... +00 520
——-~ Uro Skinneri 168
WANS es teas
Oil of Sassafras eae 458
Oil-tree of China and bey bd oah i
Olea Europe : A
Olearia Haast
Olive tree*..
Oncidium Janceriens
Jonesianum ..
Lanceanum.
Leiizei..
——— Mantieri...
macranthum «
ornithorhynchum.
——— Papilio majus
pulvinatum.
Onoclea sensibili
struthiopte
Ongems yramida
tellulatum. .
Gene Club, the..
Onychium Japonicum..
Opi ioglossum v ulgatum.
bunts Rafinesquii.
Orange-flower
trees
Index. &
Oranges, Florida....... ee + 519
Orchard, arsenical poison - 9
Orchid houses...... + 319
Orchids in New York - 475
Orchis, fringed. .... 290
Oreodoxa oleracea + 503
repia... 232
Ornithogalum Aer 3:
nutans ....... . 189
Orobus vernus +153
Orontium aquaticum. . --36, 310
Osmunda cinnamomea, 243, 354
Claytoniana... 70354
regalis...... ae ae
Ostrowskia magnifica. .
Ostryopsis Davidiana
Oxalis Acetosella.
violacea.....
Oxera pulchella..-.
Oxybaphus Californica. 2
Oxydendrum arboreum ..,.....3
Peeonia albiflora...... anes
anomala
aretina
—— Proteri
ee Brownii 271
y 270
Abe 270
—— Imo 270
humilis. 271
mollis . 270
officinalis . 270
peregrina 270
Russi... 2270
tenuifolia . 270
triternata.. 270
Wittmanniana 271
Palicourea nicotianzefolia 2255)
Palm, the Manacle. 503
the Talipot..... 223
Palms, cultivation of. 373
~ for house, decoration . 29
in Central Florida 231
Panax sessiliflorum. ... + 356
Pancic, Dr., death of. ase 335
Pancratium speciosum ......... 452, 475
Pansies ...... bese baa 5
Papaver bracteatum .
nudicaule
orientale
Rheeas .....
Papaw, the wild..
Paper pulp from pine and pruce,. 291
red cedar 479
Paphinia cristata. . 343
Paris, squares of.. +. 207
horticultural exhibition...... 215
Park, Central. 3% 37, ee 144, 230
n Atlanta sees 36
—— in Lisbon.. : 36
—— in Minneapolis*. .. 374
—— in Wilmington, Del. v4. 12
—— City Hall, ‘attack on. += 134
— commission at Roches . 482
novel project fora publi ay
Prospect, Brooklyn. .217, 262, 3 33.
Yellowstone, enlargement of. ne
forests of
see eee eee 12
Park-making, Anglomania in Gi
Parks and squares ot U. 5S. cities... 412
for Philadelphia...... tae W44
herbaceous pe in. 301
use and abuse of . 121
Parnassia Faberi...... 527
Parrotia Persica... 464
PArslEVec es 44eete 50 484
Parthenium incanum, 52.
Passiflora Kewensis 292
MiICrsibieis = 407
— racemos
Roddiana
violacea..
Paulownia Impe ialis
Pea, the sugar.........
Pear, Belle Picarde...
Pierre Tourasse.
balsam.......
Peach yellows, the
the be Conte..... ara
Peach blight .....
Peat muck ..
Pecan nuts,
Pellaea atropurpurea
gracilis
+ 243
Pe naeaivante K orestry Association, 154,
: 491
LOVGSIS as paAvis Lew saaeiere ee 25
Horticultural Society, exhibi-
tion of... + 395
Pentapera sicula. . «+ 407
Pentstemon barbatus 36 210)
rotundifolius - +407, 472, 496
Pepper-root, the. . -- 188
Pépper-trees thes daw. escet seeawenss 118
Perennials, hardy. 54, 176, 462
Periploca Graeca eis alee 2Q7,
Periwinkle, the. = 107
Persimmon, the. P 491, 514
Petalostemon decumben kos
Phajus callosus F eaeeee 485
tuberculosus
Wallichii
Phalsenopses, cultivation of .
Phalzenopsis Esmeralda...........- 367
Phalzenopsis F. L, Ames.....
gloriosa......
arriettis -
intermedia Porte
—— John Seden....
Kimballiana .
Loy
Mari
— Miltonia.
Parishi... .
Sanderiana
Schilleriana.
speciosa Imperatrice
Sumatrana ........
Phegopteris calcarea
dryopteris..
hexagonoptera
olypodioides.
Philadelphia flower show.
—— parks for..
Philadelphus Coulte
coronarius.....
— var, Satsuma, '
microphyllus .... . 248
Schrenkii .
speciosus . 49
Phlox adsurgens Pee Soe 5 66
amcena,
—~— divaricata....
Drummondii
nana*
reptans.
Stellari
subulata .
Plipenix, 352% 5%
Phoenix Canariensi
rupicola...
vestris. A
Phormium Hookeri
Photinia villosa*...
Physocarpus Amurens
Pldzzas: iss
Picea Ajanensis
Pictures, flower
fibre matting =
forest, a New Je
—— the Norway..
the Scotch ... §
Pines, among the, in April.
in May
in June.
in July
in Au
in Oc é
in November. .
Christmas in the..
Pink-root, Demerara. .
Pinus albicaulis
Arizoni
Ban
Canariens
cembroides
Chihuahuana
contorta ...
insignis.....
Laricio...
macrophyll
maritima .
Murrayana.
occidentalis
palustri
PANEA re csieses
ponderosa... :
the weeping
Pyrenaiea: asses,
LL
resinosa.. 65
rigida.. 154
Sabiniana. 348
strobiformis.
Torreyana. 444
Pinweed....... - 495
Pitcairnia Jaliscana*. 105
Palmeri *....
Tuerckheimei..
Pitcher plant....... ei
Pithecoctenium Buccinatorium..
Pithecolobium Saman....- -
Pixies Tie sss ca viess ae
Plagianthus Lyalli. .
jains, rainfall on the.
Plan tor a small homes
Planchon, Professor J. E, death of. 99
Plans for small places. .
Plantation for winter, a 7
Planting for autumn effect.....
NOTES sos eisisieis.se
the dunes. on
Plants, bedding, for spring.
dispersion of
and cut flow
hardy, for f
staking of.
useful, of Southern
why we do not buy growing.
Platycaria strobiacea.....
Platycodon grandiflorum
Plum and the curculio, the
Plum, the Beach.........
the Sierra ....65 nesses
ml
Plums for the west...... waaae cis eas 8
our native.. o.
Satsuma..
Plumus fragrans
Poa tenuifolia...
Poisonous plans.
Poke, the..
Polomintha incana
Polyanthuses. .
Polygala lutea.
Polygonatum multiflorum. «
Polypodium Californicum
vulgare....
Pomology, needs of American.....
Pope, Alexander, and subs garden-
eMScArt, .tu65 sure tee sesewcssece
Poplar, the Lombardy...
white... Ata os
Poppies, notes on.
Populus Fremontii, var. Wislizeni*
Steiniana ee sceceese
tréemuloides «occa.
Postage on seeds, plants, etc..
Potato disease.........
Potentilla fruticosa.
tridentata...
Prairies, forest tree pla
climate of the......
Pretty plants, an appeal for....
Primula capitata...... BS
cortusoides.....
double Chinese.
geranifoha .
obconica
officinali
—-- rosea..
vulgari
Prince’s pine.
Privet.
Propagatio
Prosopis juliflora*.....
Prospect Park, Brookly
Prune, the German..
Pruning shrubs..
rape vines
{reessecis
Prunus Americana...
avium..
capuli
cerasifera
Cerasus..... oe
——- Chameecerasus.
Davyidiana
—— divaricata.
domestica
humilis..
ilicifolia.....
insititia.....
Jacquemontii.
Japonica sass.) «
Maacki
—— Maritima.
Miqueliana*
Pseudo-cerasus .
PumMile; pees
ranunculiflora. .
serotina..oeen
subcordata .
tomentosa ....
Pseudophcenix Sargenti*..
Pseudotsuga Douglasii
Psychotria _ jasminiflor
Pteris aquilina..
argyzea.
¢ laphamensis.. =
—- Cretica.....
serrulata.
tremula
Pterocarya fraxinifolia.
Pyrus arbutifolia.......
Aria .....
coronaria.
— fennica....
na 210313023)
floribunda
Maulei...
—— prunifolia..
sambucifolia.
— Sinensis .
——— spectabilis*... : 32,
Quercus acuta...
Buergeri.
eriicn
coccinea,
conferta...
Pesala
Daimyo
dentata.
—— Emoryi
tulva. 44
Georgiana 405
glandulifera 137
STISeAs cst ane 142, 238, 441
hypoleuca.... - 44
Tex. a5. - 136
imbricaria.. + 136
lobata... 5) 300
oblongifolia* + 142
palustris ... F130)
Pannonica. See)
pedunculata.........102, 136, 137
SndednorncbhoAgnooe es Rose, the Japanese.
Vicomtesse de Wautier.
Rose beetle, whitewash for.
ONIN Se raiereeterete
Roses, a list of.
Quercus Phellos Mises ola 6204), 447; (454
—— porcina.
standpoint 321
—— from the growe
how to prepare a bed for.
sessiliflora. .
actors on
new varieties of.
notes on..8, 342,
weeecae siaialeim ia 452,
Quesnela ay oer
, how to grow..
Be stocks.
’ 315,
E .108, 2044 479 513p
Royal Botanic Society,
Ruapellia grata ..
Rainfall on the Great Plains.62, x60,
Rubber-plant .
do forests influence ?..
Randia Pringlei.......
Ranunculus, the .
Raspberry canes, removing.
Renanthera Storei...
IRES TN eapneuneeeeS
Retinisporas, the.
Rhamnus alnifolius .
Californicus.
Rudbeckia | bicolor
Rhapis flabelliformis
Rhexia Virginica.....
Rhodochiton volubile....
Rhododendron arborescens*
argenteum
brachycar; pum*
calendulaceum .
Catawbiense ....
Collethianum..
Dauricum sempervirens.
ferrugineum ...
multicolor Curtisi
Primrose....
Rural improyement societies
Russian forest laws
Sabal dealbata..........
longipedunculata,
umbraculifera
Sabbatia chloroides..
Saccolabium cceleste. .
Sagittaria....
Salix balsamifera.
-— candida...
chloroph lla.
Fieestam. oe
Rhododendrons, hardy.
aon sagevas
— ie licoides
taxifolia......
Salpiglossis sinuata .
Salvia coccinea. .
Rhus aromatica
copallina ..
glabra..... ob
—— microphylla.
prunelloides
scapaformi
_ Sambucus ponedencis)
——typhina........
Ribes alpinum . Sand Myrtle ...
aureum......
— Cynosbati...
floridum.....
Gordonianum.
Lobbii......
malvaceum..
Missouriensis... .
multiflorum
prostratum ..
rotundifolium.
rubrum......
sanguineum.
saxatile....
Seen Berkeleyi.
Hartmanni ....
Sarrocenia Williamsi
Sassafras, oil of....
Satin-flower..
Satsuma Plum...
Satyrium princeps .. a
Saxifrage, new varieties of.
Seis peltata
and foreign
-.266, 18
Schizandra Chinensis .
Schizocodon uniflorus.
Schizzea pusilla ...
Schizophragma hyc rangeoi es
Schizostylis coccinea... .
Schomburgkia tibicin
Schvol grounds, improv ement “of...
of forestry, an American.
Scilla Hispanica..
Scolopendrium vulgare .
Scuticaria Keyseriana.
triflorus’s << .j-.
Uva-crispa
Ripen the wood...
Roadside beauty....
Rochester park commission.
Rock-garden in spring, the, x
+449, 490
3
I
notes from the....
sees 799, 271
Rocky mountain
Romneya Coulteri
Rondeletia gratissima.
Rosa alba stiayeolens :
Beggeriana.
Sea-buckthorn....
Seeds, dispersion of
longevity of coniferous tree.
growing deciduous trees fr om 23
Selaginella cuspidata cr spa: e
Sempervivum, varieties of..
Senecio cruenta . =
elceagnifolia .
Ghiesbreghtii .
‘Salignus ........
randiflora..
amtschatica ..
—— leevigata*.
minutifolia®
nitida...,..
Serpent Mound P Park, the .
Service-berry ...
Shade: -trees, injur ies to
hai, a garden in.
herdia ar: gentea.... 0
Short Hills Orchid and Chry noni
mum Show..
Shortia galacifolia
rubiginosa.
20, 358
spinossissima....
Rose, American Beauty
Bardon Job
Comte Henri Rignon.
Comtesse de Frigneuse.
Gloire de Polyantha...
Hermosa’ <<...»
eee 479
++ 500
Eee5O7,
Shrub propagation.
Shrubs, hardy......
har dy, for forcing..
Japanese, diseases ‘of
pruning of...
DIleneSmastetsa cere
Simmondsia Californica
Slopes and banks, treatment of*.
Smuilacinia bifolia
stellata.....
Smilax glauca......
Pseudo-China....
Mme. Hoste
— Niphetos...
Papa Gontier.
Perle des Jardins
Princess Beatrice
thesBrideveesises
the Cherokee*
ese veces 00 234,370
Index.
3.4%
- 249 Squash bug, the
to6 = Stachys tuberifera
256 Stagger-bush
236 Staphylea Bumalda.
+ 250 Sundew. ae :
Swanley pat icultural co
Booger 148 Sweet Bri
Tennessee flowers
Tennis-lawn, making a.
‘Terrace and veranda.
Tetranychus telarit
Smilax rotundifolia +249, 465, 519
Snowberry jelly..
Snow-drop treé.....
Snowdrops........
Snowflake, Summer...
Snowstorm, effect of
Soaps, vegetable ..
Soapwort Gentian,
9 Sobralia leucoxanth
429 DO] Sites sate sagee are 5
7513 Solidago clliptica..
Thermopsis fabacea ..
Thiergarten, Berlin, br
Thomomys umbrinus ‘
Thun yereia affini
Thunia alba. 5
Sonora hil side, a*
Sophora Japonica...
Sorbus domestica .
ETS Sour-wood
Spathoglottis aurea
Kimballiana :
Thuvopets bored is.
Tiarella cordifolia
‘Tigridia Pringlei* .
‘Tilia dasystyla .
Seon fosso
Spheralcea Emoryi.
Spice-bush
Spigeha anthelmia
Spinach, Chinese
r, influence of und
preservation of..
Timber-borer, work of a
Todea barbara .
Spindle-trees ..
Top. area es for trees
Spireea apie
Torenia Fournieri ..
‘Toxicophleea spectab
‘Transplanting...... Reid Re Sete e ket
Tree-guards, wire netting for
Cantoniensis..
chemeedryfolia
corymbosa .
Satie lette
grandiflora .
—— hypericifolia.
Japonica...
on Boston Harbor.
- in California...
s and shrubs for a
Sy
x
WU HO DW O AWN
autumn work among .
for planting in America...
——— Jhunbere
Cu Qk
in Central Parl
in Washington...
injuries to shade ..
newly transplanted .
SS era F
nH
°
Ease wood eer for .
Sprekelia formossissima..
Spring beauty..
Sprouts, Brussels...
Spruce, the Black
thewDouGlas--.mieccnaais
the Norway, 64, 106, 143, 166, IOr,
215, 227, 230, 311
°
UNWHAWDHE NE
rejuy enescence of old
sentimental objections to fell.
MUHA
Trevesia palmata..-
Teichopilis g
Trichosma suavis...
Trientalis Americana
‘Trillium grandiflorum .
Tritonia aurea
Tropzeolum Lobbianum
‘Tropical garden,
Truffles, cultivation of..
Tubercles on leguminous root:
Tulipa acuminata :
Biebersteiniana,
—— Clusiana.....
elegans.......
erythrocarpum. .
grandiflorum
245 Star-flower
458 Statice superba,.
41 Stenocorus putator
Bee yf: Stephanandra flexuosa.
-+ 120 Stephanotis floribunda.
. 89 Sternbergia lutea...
177 Stocks, double. .
Strawberries..
OQ cou
ein D coud Qco
AN AAoONILW
HnphEE DDH
3. Strawberry, proliferou
07 Street of Kingston, R. I
3
3
Oo
—— Kalpakows
— Rautmannian
treesies.v: Ober ae
Strelitzia augusta.......
Streptosolon Jamesonii
5 Stropholirion Californicum.
3 Stuartia pentagyna.
Pseudo-camellia.
Styrax Amer
neni solis
undulatifoli
Tulip trees... «<<.
Tunis, fores
Turnip, white. .
Tussock- moth.
Suburbs in March, the
Sumach. we nees
Typha angus ve 2
Nati ronaG wee etna. te wires
Pees bush
Swiss forest laws.....
Symplocos Pani:
Syringa Amurensis. .
Ulex Europzeus
Ulmus campestr:
— Emodi..
Undergrowth, iniluence of, on tim-
Uiisnadia spe
United State
Urena tenax......
Ursinia pulchra
Utricularia inflata
rotundifolia...
montana.-.
rhyterophyllz
Uvularia grandiflora. .
garis .
Suburban ots; plan for.
Vaccinium corymbosum....e+.-+>
macrocarpum...
Vallota purpurea........--
Vancouver Island, forests of
Vancouveria hexandra.
Vandas....60, 248, 452, 4
Vanilla flower and its fertilization.
Tabebuia longi nes Sedans
Tagetes lucida.
Tasconia Parritee. - :
Taste in florists’ arrangement
Taxodium distichum..
Tecoma Stans.....
Temple in Japan, a
ili
a
Vanquelinia corymbosa.
Vegetable garden, the, 2 246,
feecss 524
258, 283, 305,
319, 335+ 306, 377, 350, 438, 400, 513
growth on Ca aa: acurious. 99
Ara
Vegetables, new.
in frames
under glass .
Verbenas, red mite on..
Viburnum aceriftolium.
cassinoid
cotinifolium. .
dentatum..
dilatatum.
Lantana..
Lentago....
macrocephalum.
TUULCUTIN. Ges ys.s5 0
opulus..
plicatum..
prunifolium. .
pubescens
Victoria Regia *
Villas and their doorw ays.
Vincitoxicum acuminatum
Vines, hardiness of
Vineyard, notes froma NewJerse y.2
Viola Canadensis.........
Mt
a
nN
Acidanthera bicolor.
Alameda of Chihuahua,
Amelanchier alnifolia ...
oligucarpa. ..
Aquilegia lonygissima. c
Arizona Garden, Monterey, view in. 403
Arnold Arboretum, entrance to
Artificial water
Artifically ferti
tection of
Beech, a weeping
Berberis. Fendleri
Fremonti.
Berlin, bridge in the Thie
Bridge at Leather tor, England .. 53
in the Thiergarten, Berlin 320
Brodizea Bridgesii........... 120
Buffalo Park, views in prop. 457
‘design MAPiOl. esol 5 tre 403
Bulbs, hardy, blooming in the
STASSitsciceee
Cabbage-leaf, malformed. .....296, 392
Gamassia Cusickil...-... ve. a00s 174
Cattleya Gigas, white flowered .....
Central Park, New York, view in. 30
‘meadowsit
Minneapolis, view in.. 379
Charlecote Hall, court-yard of.....
Charles River at Wellesley, the.
Cherokee Rose, the...........-
Chihuahua, the Alameda of
Chinese ctab- apple, double flow-
ered.. :
Narcissus, in water
Chionophila Jamesii ....... ai
Chrysanthemum, Lilian B. Bird... Papi
Mrs. Alpheus Hardy O45
hairiof i s2%-. = 6
eens a arden of + 523
»Cone-worms.. »' 101
Country road, a. 42
Court-yard of Charlecote Hall...... 173
Crab-apple, Chinese, double flow-
ered.
Cypripedium annals nicum
fasciculatum..
Index.
Viola cucullata..c3c:0sss.0% 150, 163, 494
pedata... + 150, 210
pubescens. woes. 188
Viroilia tec sce. vi 03, 398, 454
Vitex incisa.
see 350
Vitis Arizor ae
winireine:
Vochysia Guate malens
Vriesea Wittmackiana.
We
Waldsteinia fragoides...... Raina . 188
Walks and drives......-..--see06- + 193
Walnut, the Black
Washington, trees in
Washington Oak at Fishkill, th
Washington Square, New York. .
Washingtonia filifera......... 31
Sbusta.. I
Water, urtificial®. 8
Water lilies ..... 368
shield .. 243
Wayside beauty 42
WieedSiecc-eans adaaassoeereceres 271
Wellesley, the Charles River at..
West Indian fruit growing ..
White Mountains, forests of the,2, 70, 493
Why we do not buy growing plants. 121
oes 422
Wild-flowers, exhibition of......... 278
some ene 3t
Willow, the Bla 106
Willows, two interes z
Wilmington, Del., par ie in. aA
Wind-breals, rules for planting.... 46
Window gardening....243, 383, 410, 474
Winter, plantation for....... Sree}:)
flowersin...:..isees é
Wintergreen......
Wistaria Sinensis
Wolffia microscopica.
Woad-wax
Wood picture,
sorrel ..
in autumn, aC
Woodland tragedy, a
Woodlands, care of.
Woodsia glabell
hyperbor
Ilvensis
obtusa....
Woodwardia angustifolia.
& U2 G2 U2 U2
UAH
Rann
Ie Sr 1k
Delphinium viride
Deutzia parviflora. .
Kg
Eleeacnus longipes.....
Entrance to the Arnold Arb
Erythronium Hendersoni
EF
Fig tree, the wild, of Florida........ 128
Flower-border, a ‘well arranged.. ... 137
G
Garden, a tropical. ............s.008 223
of chr ysanthemums, a. oie:
Ginkeo treer thes ss-seueoreeewn is os os 175
Grapevines, methods of pruning... 461
Gray, Asa (supplement to No. 2).
Hi
Hardy bulbs Bene in the grass. 306
Heliconia Choconiana.. 6
Hibiscus lasiocarpus.
Hickory borer, the......... rar
Homestead, plan fora Sisley yekEDn TLS
House at Lfonmoku, Japan ......-+. 319
Hymenocallis humilis woes TIG
Palmeri..: 5.1% Setbeetas ae eseee 139
3-6
Uarssbra cheater cacliimseewene e343 es ang
Japanese, a bed of
leevigata, flower of .
MUL Sire ge ieee Sikes
Japanese apple, double flowered... 152
flower vender's basket, a
— lris, a bed of..
templesis.sscessens
Sie strat 439
K
Kingston, R. I., main street of..... . 209
L
Leland Stanford, Jr., University,
lan of the.... PROPER aii oct 508
Lilium Grayi. 7 29)
Live Oak, the ... - 475
Lycium pallidum ........0....s45 23.342
ATIONS.
Wai
Magnolia hypoleuca. ..... ss.+...- 305
Thompsoniana ..... E 269
Main street, Kingston, R. I - 209
Malformed cabbage- leaf... a 392
Meadows in Central Park, N. Y., 125
Mesquit forest in Arizona, a. ec 116,
Monterey, view ina garden of, + 403
N
Narcissus, Chinese, in water .....- 44
New Jersey pine-forest, a
Nikko, Japan, entrance to temples
Nymphvea tuberosa...
root stock of.
Oals the Lives swe tiacnsee
the Washington, at
ishkill..
Olive tree in the Garden of Geth-
Semaue sere sighs see aaen bs netaltiaelee 20d
Paris square, plan of a......
Park, meadows in Central
Minneapolis.... ....
Pentstemon rotundifolius
Philadelphus Coulteri..
Phlox adsurgens....
nana .
Stellaria...
Photinia villosa
Pine-forest, a New Jersey..
Pinus ponderosa pendula
Pitcairnia Jaliscana.....
Palmeri .
Plan for a small
of a Paris Square
Protection of artificially fertilized
HOWeENS 5: aisles ble tees s Salen aes 20
Pruning grape vines, methods of
methods of......
Prunus Miqueliana .
Padus
pendula ...
Pseudophcenix Sargen
POUL VOD essa ere eeee om
Woodwardia Virginica.........-0++ 341
Work of a timber-borer..
x
Xerophyllum asphodeloides .,..... 182
Y
VellOw-root; vcaaiseenic seein craic 154, 464
wood, the* -93, 398, 454
Yellowstone. .Park..ccssesec cece ols 75, 129
Yucca filifera*#
Treculiana
Z
Zanthorhiza apiifolia............ 154, 464
Zephyranthes candida
Carinata: seseres'
Zinc labels....
Zinnia liniaris. ats
Zizyphus lycioides... “52
Zygopetalum citrinum. 271
brachypetalum . ~ 348
Seden i. cseedecenieeecanes ee eeor
Quercus oblongifolia..,............. 140
R
Red mite, the..... Amecoconeobontiod: <2)
Rhododendron arborescens. 401
WasS6yiteucedeereaas + 377
brachycarpum + 293
Rosa minutifolia.... + 102
Nuthkana............-6. ++ 449
Ss
Sack for protecting artificially fer-
tilized flowers.......-.- Gdn cosnaaoe skh)
‘‘Sandyside,” »Yarmouth, Victoria
tank at. . ‘ = 308
Santa Rita oothills, the,
140
Shortia galacifolia..... + 509
Slopes, good and bad. = 326
Sonora hillside, a... . 187
Spircea pubescens AE
trilobata . - 452
Syringa pblatas Be aie2 x
pubescens 415
VillOsawsnicbysecers ces cerns eats 2x
T
Temples, Japanese............. -89,
TT Reheat bridge in the. 2 a
Tigridia Pringlei. jack steecceeese es 389
Tropical garden, a... access a 223
wv
Victoria tank at ‘ Sandyside,” Yar-
BOL hy NENoBenordouscas copapoteocba se
WY
Washington Oak at Fishkill, the.....510
Water lilies at Buitenzorg........... 245
Wild flowers for exhibition......... 279
Wodenethe, Pinus ponderosa at.... 391
WY
Yucca filifera.....
Treculiana..
FEBRUARY 29, 1888.
GARDEN AND FOREST.
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[LIMITED.]
OrFice: TRIBUNE Buitpinc, New York.
Gonductedaby-= -secriee\s vie) es 00, 5 - Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 209, 1888.
ABE. Ob CONGENTS:
EprroriaL ARTICLES :—Asa Gray.
Pine in Borepes:
The Forests of the White Mountains
Landscape Gardening.—A Definition,
Floriculture in the United States. .
How to Make a Lawn............
Metter from London... cc2.e0cesee sos
A New Departure in Chrysanthemums.
New Plants from Afghanistan .......
Tris Tenuis, with figure......-
Hardy Shrubs for Forcing...
PLANtHNOLES teretnieretas sc cicie’s's =
WireiNetting:for Tree (Guards... 0.006 ccc..0.
Artificial Water, with Illustration
Some New Roses.......--.....005
Two Fernsand Their Treatment.
Timely Hints about Bulbs
ENTOMOLOGY :
Arsenical Poisons in the Orchard
THE Forest:
The White Pine in Europe
: PAGE
The Gardener’s Monthly. The White
4
-francts Parkman.
igler Van Rensselaer.
whale sislste stations Peter Henderson.
-Trofessor W. ¥. Beal.
W. Goldring.
«--- A. A. Fewhes,
-- Max Leichtlin,
-. Sereno Watson.
-LZdwin Lonsdale.
cows F. Goldring.
+» John Thorpe.
MOYNAKRAUAWNHNN
ww
seleleisiesisiats(c.=2[c(s.6 Professor A. S. Packard. 9
aia 7 <0
Book REVIEwsS:
Grayzs/Elements)of Botanys. sci:csme-.cesc0s.s 0s Professor 2
IRAMISASTHOLES tyLLEESiasmels ere oelsictetelcle) cia aiecaiew cid ayneie Prone é ve Cae =
Pusiic Works :—The Falls of Minnehaha—A Park for Wilmington
Frower Marxkets:—New York—Philadelphia—Boston....
Ce ee re ry 12
Asa Gray.
fer whole civilized world is mourning the death of
Asa Gray with a depth of feeling and appreciation
perhaps never accorded before to a scholar and man of
science.
To the editors of this Journal the loss at the very out-
set of their labors is serious indeed. They lose a wise and
sympathetic adviser of great experience and mature judg-
ment to whom they could always have turned with entire
freedom and in perfect confidence ; and they lose a contribu-
tor whose vast stores of knowledge and graceful pen might,
it was reasonable to hope, have long enriched their col-
umns.
The career of Asa Gray is interesting from many points
of view. It is the story of the life of a man born in humble
circumstances, without the advantages of early education
without inherited genius—for there is no trace in his yeo-
man ancestry of any germ of intellectual greatness—who
succeeded in gaining through native intelligence, industry
and force of character, a position in the very front rank of the
scientific men of his age. Among the naturalists who, since
Linneus, have devoted their lives to the description and
classification of plants, four or five stand out prominently
in the character and importance of their work. In this
_little group Asa Gray has fairly won for himself a lasting
position. But he was something more than a mere syste-
matist. He showed himself capable of drawing broad
philosophical conclusions from the dry facts he collected
and elaborated with such untiring industry and zeal. This
power of comprehensive generalization he showed in his
paper upon the ‘‘Characters of Certain New Species of Plants
Collected in Japan” by Charles Wright, published nearly
thirty years ago. Here he first pointed out the extraordinary
similarity between the Floras of Eastern North America
and Japan, and then explained the peculiar distribution of
plants through the northern hemisphere by tracing their
Garden and Forest. I
direct descent through geological eras from ancestors
which flourished in the arctic regions down to the latest
tertiary period. This paper was Professor Gray’s most
remarkable and interesting contribution to science. It
at once raised him to high rank among philosophical
naturalists and drew the attention of the whole scientific
world to the Cambridge botanist.
Asa Gray did not devote himself to abstract science
alone; he wrote as successfully for the student as for
the professional naturalist. His long list of educational
works have no equals in accuracy and in beauty and
compactness of expression. ‘They have had a remarkable
influence upon the study of botany in this country during
the half century which has elapsed since the first of the
series appeared.
Botany, moreover, did not satisfy that wonderful intellect,
which hard work only stimulated but did not weary, and
one of Asa Gray’s chief claims to distinction is the promi-
nent and commanding position he took in the great intel-
lectual and scientific struggle of modern times, in which,
almost alone and single handed he bore in America the
brunt of the disbelief in the Darwinian theory shared by
most ot the leading naturalists of the time.
But the crowning labor of Asa Gray’s life was the
preparation of a descriptive work upon the plants of North
America. This great undertaking occupied his attention
and much of his time during the last forty years of his life.
Less fortunate than his greatest botanical contemporary,
George Bentham, who turned from the last page of
corrected proof of his work upon the genera of plants to
the bed from which he was never to rise again, Asa Gray’s
great work is left unfinished. The two volumes of the
“‘Synoptical Flora of North America” will keep his
memory green, however, as long as the human race is
interested in the study of plants.
But his botanical writings and his scientific fame are not
the most valuable legacy which Asa Gray has left to the
American people. More precious to us is the example of
his life in this age of grasping materialism. It is a life that
teaches how industry and unselfish devotion to learning
can attain to the highest distinction and the most enduring
fame. Great as were his intellectual gifts, Asa Gray was
greatest in the simplicity of his character and in the beauty
of his pure and stainless life.
It is with genuine regret that we read the announcement
of the discontinuance of the Gardener's Monthly. It is like
reading of the death of an old friend. Ever since we have
been interested in the cultivation of flowers we have
looked to the Monthly for inspiration and advice, and its
pages have rarely been turned without finding the assist-
ance we stood in need of. But, fortunately, the Gardener's
Monthly, and its modest and accomplished editor, Mr.
Thomas Meehan, were one and the same thing. It is Mr.
Meehan’s long editorial experience, high character, great
learning and varied practical knowledge, which made the
Gardener's Monthly what it was. These, we are happy to
know, are not to be lost to us, as Mr. Meehan will, in a some-
what different field and with new associates, continue to
delight and instruct the horticultural public.
Americans who visit Europe cannot fail to remark that
in the parks and pleasure grounds of the Continent no
coniferous tree is more graceful when young or more dig-
nified at maturity than our White Pine. The notes of Dr.
Mayr, of the Bavarian Forest Academy, in another column, °
testify that it holds a position of equal importance as a forest
tree for economic planting. It thrives from Northern Ger-
many to Lombardy, corresponding with a range of climate
in this country from New England to Northern Georgia. It
needs bright sunshine, however, and perhaps it is for lack of
this that so few good specimens are seen in England. It was
among the first of our trees to be introduced there, but it
has been universally pronounced an indifferent grower.
2 Garden and Forest.
The Forests of the White Mountains.
EW HAMPSHIRE is not a peculiarly wealthy State,
a but it has some resources scarcely equaled by
those of any of its sisters. . The White Mountains, though
worth little to the farmer, are a piece of real estate which
yields a sure and abundant income by attracting tourists
and their money ; and this revenue is certain to increase,
unless blind mismanagement interposes. The White
Mountains are at present unique objects of attraction ;
but they may easily be spoiled, and the yearly tide of
tourists will thus be turned towards other points of inter-
est whose owners have had more sense and foresight.
These mountains owe three-fourths of their charms
to the primeval forest that still covers them. Speculators
have their eyes on it, and if they are permitted to work
their will the State will find a most productive piece of
property sadly fallen in value. Ifthe mountains are robbed
of their forests they will become like some parts of the
Pyrenees, which, though much higher, are without interest,
because they have been stripped bare.
The forests of the White Mountains have a considerable
commercial value, and this value need not be sacrificed.
When lumber speculators get possession of forests they
generally cut down all the trees and strip the land at
once, with an eye to immediate profit, The more con-
servative, and, in the end, the more profitable manage-
ment, consists in selecting and cutting out the valuable
timber when it has matured, leaving the younger growth
for future use. This process is not very harmful to the
landscape. It is practiced extensively in Maine, where the
art of managing forests with a view to profit is better un-
derstood than elsewhere in this country. <A fair amount
of good timber may thus be drawn from the White Moun-
tains, without impairing their value as the permanent
source of a vastly greater income from the attraction they
will offer to an increasing influx of tourists. At the same
time the streams flowing from them, and especially the
Pemigewasset, a main source of the Merrimac, will be
saved from the alternate droughts and freshets to which
all streams are exposed that take their rise in mountains
denuded of forests. The subject is one of the last im-
portance to the mill owners along these rivers.
EF. Parkman.
Landscape Gardening.—A Definition.
OME of the Fine Arts appeal to the ear, others to the
eye. Thelatterare the Arts of Design, and they are
usually named as three—Architecture, Sculpture and Paint-
ing. A man who practices one of these in any of its
branches is an artist ; other men who work with forms and
colors are atthe best but artisans. Thisis the popular belief.
But in fact there is a fourth art which has aright to be
rated with the others, which is as fine as the finest, and
which demands as much of its professors in the way of
creative power and executive skill as the most difficult.
This is the art whose purpose it is to create beautiful com-
positions upon the surface of the ground.
The mere statement of its purpose is sufficient to estab-
lish its rank. It is the effort to produce organic beauty—
to compose a beautiful whole with a number of related
parts—which makes a man an artist; neither the produc-
tion of a merely useful organism nor of a single beauti-
ful detail suffices. A clearly told story or a single beau-
tiful word is not a work of art—only a story told in beauti-
fully connected words. A solidly and conveniently built
house, if it is nothing more, is not a work of architecture,
nor is an isolated stone, however lovely in shape and sur-
face. A delightful tint, a graceful line, does not make a
picture; and though the painter may reproduce ugly
models he must put some kind of beauty into the reproduc-
tion if it is to be esteemed above any other manufactured
article—if not beauty of form, then beauty of color or of
meaning or at least of execution. Similarly, when a man
[FEBRUARY 29, 1888.
disposes the surface of the soil with an eye to crops alone
he is an agriculturist; when he grows plants for their
beauty as isolated objects he is a horticulturist; but when
he disposes ground and plants together to produce
organic beauty of effect, he is an artist with the best.
Yet though all the fine arts are thus akin in general pur-
pose they differ each from each in many ways. And in
the radical differences which exist between the landscape-
gardener’s and all the others we find some reasons why
its affinity with them is so commonly ignored. One dif-
ference is that it uses the same materials as nature herself.
In what is called ‘‘ natural” gardening it uses them to pro-
duce effects which under fortunate conditions nature might ,
produce without man’s aid. Then, the better the result,
the less likely it is to be recognized as an artificial—artis-
tic—result.
the more likely we are to forget that he has been at work.
In ‘‘ formal” gardening, on the other hand, nature’s materi-
als are disposed and treated in frankly unnatural ways;
and then—as amore or less intelligent love for natural
beauty is very common to-day, and an intelligent eye for
art is rare—the artist’s work is apt to be resented as an im-
pertinence, denied its right to its name, called a mere
contorting and disfiguring of his materials.
Again, the landscape-gardener’s art differs from all others
in the unstable character of its productions. When sur-
faces are modeled and plants arranged, nature and the
artist must work a long time together before the true result
appears; and when once it has revealeditself, day to day
attention will be forever needed to preserve it from the de-
forming effects of time. It is easy to see how often ne-
glect or interference must work havoc with the best inten-
tions, how often the passage of years must travesty or
destroy the best results, how rare must be the cases in
which a work of landscape art really does justice to its
creator.
Stil another thing which affects popular recognition of
the art as such is our lack of clearly understood terms by
which to speak of it and of those who practice it. ‘‘ Gar-
dens” once meant pleasure-grounds of every kind and
‘‘ovardener” then had an adequately artistic sound. But as
the significance of the one term has been gradually spe-
cialized, so the other has gradually come to denote a mere
grower of plants. ‘‘ Landscape gardener” was a title first
used by the artists of the eighteenth century to mark the
new tendency which they represented—the search for
“natural” as opposed to ‘‘formal” beauty; and it seemed
to them to need an apology as savoring, perhaps, of
grandiloquence or conceit. But as taste declined in Eng-
land it was assumed by men who had not the slightest
right, judged either by their aims or by their results, to be
considered artists ; and to-day it is fallen into such dises-
teem that it is often replaced by ‘‘landscape architect.”
This title has French usage to support it and is in many
respects a good one. But its correlative—‘‘landscape
architecture ”’—is unsatisfactory; and so, on the other
hand, is “landscape artist,” though ‘‘landscape art” is an
excellent generic term. Perhaps the best we can do is to
keep to ‘‘landscape gardener,” and try to remember that it
ought always to mean an artist and an artist only.
Mf. G. van Rensselaer,
Floriculture in the United States.
T the beginning of the present century, it is not prob-
able that there were 100 flcrists in the United
States, and their combined green-house structures could
not have exceeded 50,000 square feet of glass. There
are now more than 10,000 florists distributed through every
State and Territory in the Union and estimating 5,000
square feet of glass to each, the total area would be
50,000,000 feet, or about 1,000 acres of green-houses. The
value of the bare structures, with heating apparatus, at
60 cents per square foot would be $30,000,000, while the
stock of plants grown in them would not be less than
The more perfectly the artist attains his aim, -
FEBRUARY 29, 1888.]
twice that sum. The presentrate of srowth in the business
is about 25% per annum, which proves that it is keeping
well abreast of our most flourishing industries.
The business, too, is conducted by a better class of men.
No longer than thirty years ago it was rare to find any other
than a foreigner engaged in commercial floriculture. These
men had usually been private gardeners, who were mostly
uneducated, and without business habits. But to-day, the
men of this calling compare favorably in intelligence and
business capacity with any mercantile class.
Floriculture has attained such importance that it has
taken its place as a regular branch of study in some of our
- agricultural colleges. Of late years, too, scores of young
men in all parts of the county have been apprenticing
themselves to the large establishments near the cities, and
already some of these have achieved a high standing ; for
the training so received by a lad from sixteen to twenty,
better fits him for the business here than ten years of
European experience, because much of what is learned
there would prove worse than useless here. The English
or German florist has here to contend with unfamiliar con-
ditions of climate and a manner of doing business that is
novel to him. Again he has been trained to more delib-
erate methods of working, and when I told the story a few
years ago of a workman who had potted 10,000 cuttings in
two inch pots in ten consecutive hours, it was stigmatized
in nearly every horticultural magazine in Europe as a
piece of American bragging. Asa matter of fact this same
workman two years later, potted 11,500 plants in ten hours,
and since then several other workmen have potted plants
at the rate of a thousand per hour all day long.
Old world conservatism is slow to adopt improvements.
The practice of heating by low pressure steam will save in
labor, coal and construction one-fifth of the expense by old
methods, and nearly all the large green-house establish-
ments in this country, whether private or commercial, have
been for some years furnished with the best apparatus.
But when visiting London, Edinburgh and Paris in 1885,
I neither saw nor heard of a single case where steam had
been used for green-house heating. The stress of compe-
tition here has developed enterprise, encouraged invention
and driven us to rapid and prudent practice, so that while
labor costs at least twice as much as it does in Europe, our
prices both at wholesale and retail, are lower. And yet I
am not aware that American florists complain that their
profits compare unfavorably with those of their brethren
over the sea.
Commercial floriculture includes two distinct branches,
one for the production of flowers and the other for the pro-
duction of plants. During the past twenty years the growth
in the flower department of the business has outstripped
the growth of the plant department. The increase in the
sale of Rosebuds in winter is especially noteworthy. Atthe
present time it is safe to say that one-third of the entire
glass structures in the United States are used for this pur-
pose; many large growers having from two to three
acres in houses devoted to Roses alone, such erections cost-
ing from $50,000 to $100,000 each, according to the style
in which they are built.
More cut flowers are used for decoration in the United
States than in any other country, and it is probable that
there are more flowers sold in New York than in London
with a population four times as great. In London and
Paris, however, nearly every door-yard and window of
city and suburb show the householder’s love for plants,
while with us, particularly in the vicinity of New York
(Philadelphia and Boston are better), the use of living
plants for home decoration is far less general.
There are fashions in flowers, and they continually
change. Thirty years ago thousands of Camellia flowers
were retailed in the holiday season for $1 each, while Rose-
buds would not bring a dime. Now, many of the fancy
Roses sell at $1 each, while Camellia flowers go begging
at ten cents. The Chrysanthemum is now rivaling the
Rose, as well it may, and no doubt every decade will see
Garden and Forest. 3
the rise and fall of some floral favorite. But beneath these
flitting fancies is the substantial and unchanging love of
flowers that seems to be an original instinct in man, and
one that grows in strength with growing refinement.
Fashion may now and again condemn one flower or
another, but the fashion of neglecting flowers altogether
will never prevail, and we may safely look forward in the
expectation of an ever increasing interest and demand,
steady improvement in methods of cultivation, and to new
and attractive developments in form, color and fragrance.
Peter Henderson,
How to Make a Lawn.
66
SMOOTH, closely shaven surface of grass is by far
the most essential element of beauty on the grounds
ofa suburban home.” This is the language of Mr. F. J. Scott,
and it is equally true of other than suburban grounds. A
good lawn then is worth working for, and if it have a substantial
foundation, it will endure for generations, and improve with
age.
“We take it for granted that the drainage is thorough, for no
one would build a dwelling on water soaked land. No labor
should be spared in making the soil deep, rich and
fine in the full import of the words, as this is the stock from
which future dividends of joy and satisfaction are to be drawn.
Before grading, one should read that chapter of Downing’s
on “ The Beauty in Ground.” This will warn against terrac-
ing or leveling the whole surface, and insurea contour with
“oentle curves and undulations,” which is essential to the best
effects.
If the novice has read much of the conflicting advice in
books and catalogues, he is probably ina state of bewilderment
as to the kind of seed to sow. And when that point is
settled it is really a difficult task to secure pure and living seeds
of just such species as one orders. Rarely does either seller
or buyer know the grasses called for, especially the finer and
rarer sorts ; and more rarely still does either knaw their seeds.
The only safe way is to have the seeds tested by an expert.
Mr. J. B. Olcott, in a racy article in the ‘‘Report of the
Connecticut Board of Agriculture for 1886,” says, ‘Fifteen
years ago nice people were often sowing timothy, red top and
clover for door-yards, and failing wretchedly with lawn-mak-
ing, while seedsmen and gardeners even disputed the identity
of our June grass and Kentucky blue-grass.”
We have passed beyond that stage of ignorance, however ;
and to the question what shall we sow, Mr. Olcott replies :
“ Rhode Island bent and Kentucky blue-grass are their foolish
trade names, for they belong no more to Kentucky or Rhode
Island than to other Northern States. Two sorts of fine
Agrostis are honestly sold under the trade name of Rhode
Island bent, and, as trade goes, we may consider ourselves
lucky if we get even the coarser one. The finest—a little the
finest—Agrostis canina—is a rather rare, valuable, and elegant
grass, which should be much better known by grass farmers,
as well as gardeners, than itis. These are both good lawn as
well as pasture grasses.” The grass usually sold as Rhode
Island bent is Agrostis vulgaris, the smaller red top of the
East and of Europe. This makesan excellent lawn. Agrostis
canina has a short, slender, projecting awn from one of the
glumes; Agrostis vulgaris lacks this projecting awn. In
neither case have we in mind what Michigan and New York
people call red top. This is a tall, coarse native grass often
quite abundant on low lands, botanically Agrostis alba.
Sow small red top or Rhode Island bent, and June grass
(Kentucky blue grass, if you prefer that name), Poa pratensis.
If in the chaff, sow in any proportion you fancy, and in any
quantity up to four bushels per acre. If evenly sown, less will
answer, but the thickerit is sown the sooner the ground will
be covered with fine green grass. We can add nothing else
that will improve this mixture, and either alone is about as
good as both. A little white clover or sweet vernal grass or
sheep’s fescue may be added, if you fancy them, but they will
not improve the appearance of the lawn. Roll the ground
after seeding. Sow the seeds in September or in March or
April, and under no circumstance yield to the advice to sow a
little oats or rye to ‘protect the young grass.” Instead of
pep tectine: they will rob the slender grasses of what they most
need,
Now wait alittle. Do not be discouraged if some ugly weeds
get the start of the numerous green hairs which slowly follow.
As soon as there is any thing to be cut, of weeds or grass, mow
closely, and mow often, so that nothing need be raked from the
ground. As Olcott puts it, ‘‘ Leave one crop where it belongs
4 | Garden and Forest.
for home consumption. The rains will wash the soluble
substance of the wilted grass into the earth to feed the growing
roots.” During succeeding summers as the years roll on, the
lawn should be perpetually enriched by the leaching of the
short leaves as they are often mown. Neither leave a
very short growth nor a very heavy growth for winter.
Experience alone must guide the owner. If cut too closely,
some of it may be killed or start too late in spring; if
left too high during winter, the dead long grass will be hard
to cut in spring and leave the stubble unsightly. After passing
through one winter the annual weeds will have perished and
leave the grass to take the lead. Perennial weeds should
be faithfully dug out or destroyed in some way.
Every year, add a top dressing of some commercial
fertilizer ora little finely pulverized compost whch may be
brushed in. Noone will disfigure his front yard with coarse
manure spread on the lawn for five months of the year.
If well made, a lawn will be a perpetual delight as long as
the proprietor lives, but if the soil is thin and poor, or if the
coarser grasses and clovers are sown instead of those named,
he will be much perplexed, and will very likely try some expen-
sive experiments, and at last plow up, properly fit the landand
begin over again. This will make the cost and annoyance
much greater than at first, because the trees and shrubs have
already filled many portions of the soil. A small piece, well
made and well kept, will give more satisfaction than a larger
plot of inferior turf. W. ¥. Beal.
Horticultural Exhibitions in London.
Ata late meeting of the floral committee of the Royal Horti-
cultural Society at South Kensington among many novelties
was a group of seedling bulbous Calanthes from the garden of
Sir Trevor Lawrence, who has devoted much attention to
these plants and has raised: some interesting hybrids. About
twenty kinds were shown, ranging in color from pure white to
deep crimson. The only one selected for a first-class certi-
ficate was C. sanguinaria, with flowers similar in size and shape
to those of C. Veitchii, but of an intensely deep crimson. It is
the finest yet raised, surpassing C. Seden7, hitherto unequaled
for richness of color. The pick of all these seedlings would
be C. sanguinaria, C. Veitchit splendens, C. lactea, C. nivea,
and C. porphyrea. The adjectives well describe the different
tints of each, and they will be universally popular when once
they find their way into commerce.
Cypripedium Leeanum maculatum, also shown by Sir Trevor
Lawrence, is a novelty of sterling merit. The original C. Lee-
anum, which is across between C. SAicerianum and C. insigne
Mautlei, is very handsome, but this variety eclipses it, the dorsal
sepal of the flower being quite two and one-half inches broad,
almost entirely white, heavily and copiously spotted with pur-
ple. It surpassesalso C. Leeanum superbum, which commands
such high prices. I saw a small plant sold at auction lately for
fifteen guineas and the nursery price is much higher.
Lelia anceps Schreedere is the latest addition to the now
very numerous list of varieties of the popular Z. anceps. This
new form, to which the committee with one accord gave a first
class certificate, surpasses in my opinion all the colored
varieties, with the possible exception of the true old Barkeri.
The flowers are of the average size and ordinary form. The
sepals are rose pink, the broad sepals very light, almost white
in fact, while the labellum is of the deepest and richest velvety
crimson imaginable. The golden tipped crest is a veritable
beauty spot, and the pale petals act like a foil to show off the
splendor of the lip.
Two new Ferns of much promise received first class certi-
ficates. One named Preris Claphamensis is a chance seedling
and was found growing among a lot of other sporelings in
the garden of a Londonamateur. As it partakes of the charac-
ters of both P. ¢remula and P. serrulata, old and well known
ferns, it is Supposed to bea natural cross between these. The
new plant is of tufted growth, with a dense mass of fronds about
six inches long, elegantly cut and gracefully recurved on all
sides of the pot. Itis looked upon by specialists as just the
sort of plant that will take in the market. The other certi-
ficated fern, Adiantum Regine, isa good deal like A. Victorie
and is supposed to bea sport from it. But 4. Regine, while it
has broad pinne of a rich emerald green like A. Victorie, has
fronds from nine to twelve inches long, giving it a lighter and
more elegant appearance. I don’t know that the Victoria
Maidenhair is grown in America yet, but lam sure those who
do floral decorating will welcome itas well as the newer A. Regi-
n@. A third Maidenhair of a similar character is 4. rhodo-
phyllum and these form a trio that will become the standard
[FEBRUARY 29, 1888.
kinds for decorating. The young fronds of all three are of a
beautiful coppery red tint, the contrast of which with the emer-
ald green of the mature fronds is quite charming. They are
warm green-house ferns and of easy culture, and are supposed
to be hybrid forms of the old A. scutum.
Nerine Mansellii, anew variety of the Guernsey Lily, was one
of the loveliest flowers at the show. From the common
Guernsey Lily it differs only in color of the flowers. These
have crimpled-edged petals of clear rose tints ; and the umbel
of flowers is fully six inches across, borne on a stalk eighteen
inches high. These Guernsey Lilies have of recent years come
into prominence in English gardens since so many beautiful
varieties have been raised, and as they flower from September
onward to Christmas they are found to be indispensable for
the green-house, and indoor decoration. The old WV. Fother-
gillit major, with vivid scarlet-crimson flowers and crystall-
ine cells in the petals which sparkle in the sunlight like myriads
of tiny rubies, remains a favorite among amateurs. Baron
Schroeder, who has the finest collection in Europe, grows this
one only in quantity. An entire house is filled with them, and
when hundreds of spikes are in bloom at once, the display is
singularly brilliant.
A New Vegetable, a Japanese plant called Choro-Gi, be-
longing to the Sage family, was exhibited. Its botanical name
is Stachys tuberifera and it was introduced first to Europe by
the Vilmorins of Paris under the name of Crosnes du Fa-
pon. The edible part of the plant is the tubers, which are pro-
duced in abundance on the tips of the wiry fibrous roots.
These are one and a half inches long, pointed at both ends,
and have prominent raised rings. When washed they are as
white as celery and when eaten raw taste somewhat like Jeru-
salem artichokes, but when cooked are quite soft and possess
the distinct flavor of boiled chestnuts.. A dish of these tubers
when cooked look like a mass of large caterpillars, but the Com-
mittee pronounced them excellent, and no doubt this vegetable
will now receive attention from some of our enterprising seeds-
men and may become a fashionable vegetable because new
and unlike any common kind. The tubers were shown now
for the first time in this country by Sir Henry Thompson, the
eminent surgeon. The plant is herbaceous, dying down an-
nually leaving the tubers, which multiply very rapidly. They
can be dug at any time of the year, which is an advantage.
The plant is perfectly hardy here and would no doubt be so in
the United States, as it remains underground in winter. [A
figure of this plant with the tubers appeared in the Gardener's
Chronicle, January 7th, 1888.—Ep.]|
Phalznopsis F. L. Ames, a hybrid moth orchid, the result of
intercrossing P. grandifiora of Lindley with P. iztermedia Por-
det (itself a natural hybrid between the little P. vosea and P. ama-
bilis), was shown at a later exhibition. The new hybrid is very
beautiful. Ithasthesame purplish green leaves as P. amaéilis,
but much narrower. The flower spikes are produced in the
same way as those of P. grandiflora, and the flowers in form
and size resemble those of that species, but the coloring of the
labellum is more like that of its other parent. The sepals
and petals are pure white, the latter being broadest at the lips.
The labellum resembles that of P. ztermedia, being three-
lobed, the lateral lobes are erect, magenta purple in color and
freckled. The middle or triangular lobe is of the same color
as the lateral lobes, but pencilled with longitudinal lines of
crimson, flushed with orange, and with the terminal cirrhi of
aclear magenta. The column is pink, and the crest is adorned
with rosy speckles. The Floral Committee unanimously
awarded a first-class certificate of merit to the plant.
A New Lelia named Z. Gou/diana has had an eventful his-
tory. The representative of Messrs. Sander, of St. Albans,
the great orchid importers, while traveling in America saw it
blooming in New York, in the collection of Messrs. Siebrecht &
Wadley, and noting its distinctness and beauty bought the stock
of it. The same week another new Lelia flowered in England
and was sent up to one of the London auction rooms for sale.
As it so answered the description of the American novelty
which Messrs. Sander had just secured it was bought for the
St. Albans collection, and now it turns out that the English
novelty and the American novelty are one and the same thing,
and a comparison of dates shows that they flowered on the
same day, although in different hemispheres. As, however, it
was first discovered in the United States, it is intended to call it
an American orchid, and that is why Mr. Jay Gould has his name
attached toit. In bulband leaf the noveltyclosely resembles Z.
albida, and in flower both Z. anceps and L. autumnalis. The
flowers are as large as those of an average form of L. anceps,
the sepals are rather narrow, the petals as broad as those ot Z.
FEBRUARY 29, 1888. ] Garden and Forest. c
Fig. 1—Chrysanthemum—Mrs. Alpheus Hardy.
anceps Dawsoni, and both petals and sepals are of a deep rose A New Departure in Chrysanthemums.
pink, intensified at the tips as if the color had collected there 1
and was dripping out. The tip is in form between that of Z. HE Chrysanthemum of which the fi pele giv pire a S08! ane,
. . oO > i Ss
anceps and L. autumnalis and has the prominent ridges of resentation is one of a collection of some thirty varietic
the latter, while the color isa rich purple crimson. The black ately sent from Japan to the lady for whom it has been named
Mrs. Alpheus Hardy of Boston, by a young Japanese once
viscid pubescence, always seen on the ovary of Z. autumnalis, erie,
is present on that of Z. Gowldiana. The plants Isaw in the or- protégé of hers, but now returned as ‘a teac sok ( i an vi
chid nursery at St. Albans lately, bore several spikes, some Country. As may be seen, it is quite distinct from any va
known in this country or Europe, and the Japanese botani
Miyabe, who saw it at Caml Brides: pronounces it a radical d
parture from any with which he is acquainted.
The photograph from which the engraving was made
petals had begun t to fall back from the
pet uliarities of the \
n, lone and broa
Upon the back o
having three or four flowers. Those who have seen it are
puzzled about its origin, some considering it a hybrid be-
tween ZL. anceps and L. autumnalis, others consider it a distinct
species and to the latter opinion Tam inclined. Whatever its
origin may be, it is certain we have a charming addition to
midwinter flowering orchids,
aken just as che
tre; Eons to good sovantace the i
W, Goldring. The flower is of pure white, with the fit
} yetals strongly incurved at the extremities,
London, February rst,
6 Garden and Forest.
outer surface of this incurved portion will be found, in the
form of quite prominent hairs, the peculiarity which makes
this variety unique.
These hairs upon close examination
are found to be a glandular outgrowth
of the epidermis of the petals, multi-
cellular in structure and with a minute
drop of a yellow resinous substance at
the tip. The cells at first conform to
the wavy character of those of the epi-
dermis, but gradually become pris-
matic with straight walls, as shown in
the engraving of one of the hairs,
which was made from a drawing fur-
nished by Miss Grace Cooley, of the — 4--
Department of Botany at Wellesley
College, who made a microscopic in-
vestigation of them.
This is one of those surprises that
occasionally make their appearance
from Japan. Possibly it is a chance
seedling ; but since one or two other specimens in the collec-
tion are striking in form, and others are distinguished for depth
and purity of color, it is more probable that the best of them
have been developed by careful selection.
This Chrysanthemum was exhibited at the Boston Chrysan-
themum Show last December by Edwin Fewkes & Son of
Newton Highlands, Mass. A. HT, Fewkes,
Fig. 2.—Hair from Petal of
Chrysanthemum,
much enlarged.
a—resin drop, 6—epidermis
of petal with wavy cells.
New Plants from Afghanistan.
Arnebia cornuta.—This is a charming novelty, an annual,
native of Afghanistan. The little seedling with lancet-like hairy,
dark green leaves, becomes presently a widely branching
plant two feet in diameter and one and one-half feet high.
Each branch and branchlet is terminated by a lengthening
raceme of flowers. These are in form somewhat like those
of an autumnal Phlox, of a beautiful deep golden yellow color,
adorned and brightened up by five velvety black blotches.
These blotches soon become coffee brown and lose more and
more their color, until after three days they have entirely dis-
appeared. During several months the plant is very showy,
the fading flowers being constantly replaced by fresh expand-
ing ones. Sown in April in the open border, it needs no care
but to be thinned out and kept free from weeds. It must,
however, have some soil which does not contain fresh
manure,
Delphinium Zalil—This, also, is a native of Afghanistan, but
its character, whether a biennial or perennial, is not yet ascer-
tained. The Afghans call it Zalil and the plant or root is used
for dyeing purposes. Some years ago we only knew blue,
white and purple larkspurs, and then California added two
species with scarlet flowers. The above is of a beautiful sul-
phur yellow, and, all in all, itis a plant of remarkable beauty.
From a rosette of much and deeply divided leaves, rises a
branched flower stem to about two feet; each branch and
branchlet ending in a beautiful spike of flowers each of about
an inch across and the whole spike showing all its flowers open
at once. Itis likely to become a first rate standard plant of
our gardens. To have it in flower the very first year it must
be sown very early, say in January, in seed pans, and _trans-
planted later, when it will flower from the end of May until
the end of July. Moreover, it can be sown during spring
and summer in the open air to flower the following year. It
is quite hardy here. Max Leichtlin,
Baden-Baden.
Iris tenuis.*
HIS pretty delicate species of Iris, Fig. 3, isa native of the Cas-
cade Mountains of Northern Oregon. Its long branching
rootstocks are scarcely more than a line in thickness, sending
up sterile leafy shoots and slenderstems about a foot high.
The leavesare thin and pale green, rather taller than the stems,
sword-shaped and half an inch broad or more. The leaves of
the stem are bract-like and distant, the upper one or two sub-
tending slender peduncles. The spathes are short, very thin
*I. tenuis, Watson, Proc. Aimer. Acad., xvii. 380. Rootstock elongated, very
slender (a line thick); leaves thin, ensiform, about equaling the stems, four to
eight lines broad; stems scarcely a foot high, 2=3-flow cred, with two or three
bract-like leaves two or three inches long; lateral peduncles very slender, as long
as the bracts ; spathes scarious, an inch long ; pedicels solitary, very short; flow-
ers small, white marked with yellow and purple; tube two or three lines long ;
segments oblong-spatulate, the sepals spreading, one and one-half inches long,
the petals shorter and emarginate; anthers as long as the filaments; styles with
narrow entire crests; capsule oblong-ovate, obtuse, nine lines long
[FEBRUARY 29, 1888.
and scarious, and enclose the bases of their rather small soli-
tary flowers, which are “white, lightly striped and blotched
with yellow and purple.” The sepals and petals are oblong-
spatulate, from a short tube, the sepals spreading, the shorter
petals erect and notched.
The peculiar habitat of this species doubtless accounts in
good measure for its slender habit and mode of growth. Mr.
L. F. Henderson, of Portland, Oregon, who discovered it in
1881, near a branch of the Clackamas River called Eagle Creek,
about thirty miles from Portland, reports it as growing in the
fir forests in broad mats, its very long rootstocks running
along near the surface of the ground, just covered by moss or
partly decayed fir-needles, with a light addition of soil. This
also would indicate the need of special care and treatment in
its cultivation. In May, 1884, Mr. Henderson took great pains
to procure roots for the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, which
were received in good order, but which did not survive the
next winter. If taken up, however, later in the season or very
early in the spring, itis probable that with due attention to
soil and shade there would be little trouble in cultivating it
successfully. The accompanying figure is from a drawing by
Mr. C. E, Faxon. Sereno Watson.
Hardy Shrubs for Forcing.
GHRUBS for forcing should consist of early blooming kinds
only. ‘he plants should be stocky, young and healthy,
well-budded and well-ripened, and in order to have first-class
stock they should be grown expressly for forcing. For cut
flower purposes only, we can lift large plants of Lilacs, Snow-
balls, Deutzias, Mock oranges and the like with all the ball of
roots we can get to them and plant at once in forcing-houses.
But this should not be done before New Year's. We should
prepare for smaller plants some months ahead of forcing time,
say in the preceding April or August, by lifting them and plant-
ing in small pots, tubs or boxes as can conveniently contain
their roots, and we should encourage them to root well before
winter sets in. Keep them out of doors and plunged till after
the leaves drop off; then either mulch them where they are or
bring them into a pit, shed or cool cellar, where there shall be
no fear of their getting dry, or of having the roots fastened in
by frost. Introduce them into the green-house in succession ;
into a cool green-house at first for a few weeks, then as they
begin to start, into a warmer one. From the time they are
brought into the green-house till the flowers begin to open
give a sprinkling overhead twice a day with tepid water. When
they have done blooming, if worth keeping over for another
time, remove them to a cool house and thus gradually harden
them off, then plant them out in the garden in May, and give
them two years’ rest.
Shrubs to be forced for their cut flowers only should con-
sist of such kinds as have flowers that look well and keep
well after being cut. Among these are Deu¢sia gracilis, com-
mon Lilacs of various colors, Staphyllea Colchica, SpireaCanton-
ensis (Reevesii) single and double,the Guelder Rose, the Japanese
Snowball and Azalea mollis. To these may be added some of
the lovely double-flowering and Chinese apples, whose snowy
or crimson-tinted buds and leafy twigs are very pretty. The
several double-flowered forms of Prusus ¢triloba are also desir-
able, but a healthy stock is hard to get. Andromeda floribunda
and A. Fafponica set their flower buds the previous summer
for the next year’s flowers, and are, therefore, like the Laures-
tinus, easily forced into bloom after New Year's. Hardy and
half-hardy Rhododendrons with very little forcing may be had
in bloom from March.
In addition to the above, for conservatory decoration we
may introduce all manner of hardy shrubs. Double flowering
peach and cherry trees are easily forced and showy while they
last. Clumps of Pyrus arbutifolia can easily be had in bloom
in March, when their abundance of deep green leaves is an
additional charm to their profusion of hawthorn-like flowers.
The Chinese Xanthoceras is extremely copious and showy,
but of brief duration and ill-fitted for cutting. Bushes of yel-
low Broom and double-flowering golden Furze can easily be
had after January. Yasminum nudiflorum may be hed in
bloom from November till April, and Forsythia from January.
They look well when trained up to pillars. The early-flower-
ing Clematises may be used to capital advantage in the same
way, from February onward. Although the Mahonias flower
well, their foliage at blooming time is not always comely.
Out-of-doors the American Red-bud makes a handsomer tree
than does the Japanese one; but the latter is preferable for
gereen-house work, as the flowers are bright and the smallest
plants bloom. The Chinese Wistaria blooms as well in the
-
FEBRUARY 29, 1888.]
green-house as it does outside;
indeed, if we introduce some
branches of an out-door plant
into the green-house, we can
have it in bloom two months
ahead of the balance of the vine
still left out-of-doors. Here-
about we grow Wistarias as
standards, and they bloom mag-
nificently. Whata sight a big
standard wistaria in the green-
house in February would be!
Among other shrubs may be
mentioned Shadbush, African
Tamarix, Daphne of sorts and
Exochorda. We have also a
good many barely hardy plants
that may be wintered well ina
cellar or cold pit, and forced
into bloom in early spring.
Among these are Japanese
Privet, Pittosporum, Raphio-
lepis, Hydrangeas and the like.
And for conservatory decora-
tion we can also use with excel-
lentadvantage some of our fine-
leaved shrubs, for instance our
lovely Japanese Maples and
variegated Box Elder.
Glen Cove, N.Y. Wm. Falconer.
Plant Notes.
A Half-hardy Begonia.—_When
botanizing last September upon
the Cordilleras of North Mexico
some two hundred miles south
of the United States Boundary,
I found growing in black mould
of shaded ledges—even in the
thin humus of mossy rocks—at
an elevation of 7,000 to 8,000
feet, a plant of striking beauty,
which Mr. Sereno Watson iden-
tifies as Begonia gracilis, HBK.,
var. Martiana, A. DC. From
a small tuberous root it sends
up to a height of one to two
feet a single crimson- tinted
stem, which terminates in a
long raceme of scarlet flowers,
large for the genus and long
enduring. The plant is still
further embellished by clusters
of scarlet gemmee in the axils of
its leaves. Mr. Watson writes :
“Tt was in cultivation fifty years
and more ago, but has probably
been long ago lost. It appears
to be the most northern species
of the genus, and should be the
most hardy.” Certainly the
earth freezes and snows fall in
the high region, where it is at
home.
Northern Limit of the Dahlia —
In the same district, and at the
same elevation, I met with a
purple flowered variety of
Dahlia coccinea, Cav. It was
growing in patches under oaks
and pines in thin dry soil of
summits of hills. In such ex-
posed situations the roots must
be subjected to some frost, as
much certainly as under a light
covering of leaves in a northern
garden.. The Dahlia has not
before been reported, as I be-
lieve, from a latitude nearly so _
high. C. G. Pringle.
Ceanothus is a North Ameri-
can genus, represented in the Eastern States ky New Jersey
Tea, and Red Root (C. Americanus and C. ovatus), and in the
Garden and Forest.
Fig. 3.—Tris tenuis.—See page 6.
7
West and South-west by some
thirty additional species. Sev-
eral of these Pacific Coast
species are quite handsome
and well worthy of cultivation
where they will thrive. Some
of the more interesting of them
are figured in different volumes
of the Botanical Magazine, from
plants grown at Kew, and I
believe that the genus is held
in considerable repute by
French gardeners.
In a collection of plants
made in Southern Oregon, last
spring, by Mr. Thomas Howell,
several specimens of Ceanothus
occur which are pretty clearly
hybrids between C. cuncatits
and C. prostratus, two com-
mon species of the region.
Some have the spreading habit
ot the latter, their flowers
are of the bright blue color
characteristic of that species,
aud borne on slender blue
pedicels, in an umbel-like clus-
ter. But while many of their
leaves have the abrupt three-
toothed apex of C. prostratis,
all gradations can be found
from this form to the spatulate,
toothless leaves of C. cuneatus.
Otherspecimens have the more
rigid habit of the latter species,
and their flowers are white or
nearly so, on shorter pale pedi-
cels, in usually smaller and
denser clusters. On these
plants the leaves are common-
ly those of C. cuneatius, but they
pass into the truncated and
toothed form proper to C. fros-
tratus.
According to Focke (Pflans-
cnmischlinge, 1881, p. 99), the
French cross one or more of
the blue-flowered Pacific Coast
species on the hardier New
Jersey Tea, a practice that may
perhaps be worthy of trial by
American gardeners. Haveany
of the readers of GARDEN AND
FOREST ever met with spon-
taneous hybrids ?
- W Trelease.
Wire Netting for Tree Guards.
—On some of the street trees
of Washington heavy galvan-
ized wire netting is used to pro-
tect the bark from injury by
horses. Itis the same material
that is used for enclosing poul-
try yards. It comes in strips
five or six feet wide, and may
be cut to any length required
by the size of the tree. The
edges are held in place by
bending together the cut ends
ot the wires, and the whole is
sustained by staples over the
heavy wires at the top and
bottom. This guard appears
to be an effective protection
and is less unsightly than any
other of which I know, in fact
it can hardly be distinguished
at the distance of a few rods.
It is certainly an improvement
on the plan of white-washing
the trunks, which has been extensively practiced here since
the old guards were removed.
A, A. Crozier.
8 Garden and Forest.
Artificial Water
NE of the most difficult parts of a landscape gardener's
7 work is the treatment of what our grandfathers called
“pieces of water” in scenes where a purely natural effect
is desired. The task is especially hard when the stream, pond
or lake has been artificially formed; for then Nature's pro-
cesses must be simulated not only in the planting but in the
shaping of the shores. Our illustration partially reveals a suc-
cesstul effort of this sort—a pond on a country-seat near Boston.
It was formed by excavating a piece of swamp and damming
a small stream which flowed through it. In the distance
towards the right the land lies low by the water and gradually
rises as it recedes. Opposite us it forms little woode dy promon-
tories with grassy stretches between. Where we stand it is
higher, and beyond the limits of the picture to the left it forms
[FEBRUARY 29, 1888.
suited to their place and in harmony with each other; and all
the contours of the shore are gently modulated and softly con-
nected with the water by luxuriant growths of water plants.
The witness of the eye alone would ‘persuade us that Nature
unassisted had achieved the whole result. But beauty of so
suave and perfect a sort as this is never a natural product.
Nature’s beauty is wilder if only because it includes traces
of mutation and decay which here are carefully effaced. Na-
ture suggests the ideal beauty, and the artist realizes it by faith-
fully working out her suggestions. °
Some New Roses.
HE following list comprises most of the newer Roses that
have been on trial to any extent in and about Philadelphia
during the present winter :
A Piece of Artificial Water.
a high, steep bank rising to the lawn, on the further side of
which stands the house. The base of these elevated banks
and the promontories opposite are planted with thick masses
of rhododendrons, which flourish superbly in the moist, peaty
soil, protected, as the -y are, from drying winds by the trees and
high ground. ar the low meadow along stretch of shore is
occupied by thickets of hardy azaleas. Beautiful at all seasons,
the pond is ‘most beautiful in June , When the rhododendrons are
ablaze with crimson and purple and white, and when the yel-
low of the azalea-beds—discreetly separated from the rho-
dodendrons by a great clump of low-growing willows—finds
delicate continuation in the buttercups which fringe the
daisied meadow. The litted banks then afford particularly
fortunate points of view; for as we look down upon the rho-
dodendrons, we see the opposite shore and the water with its
rich reflected colors as over the edge a a splendid frame, No
accent of artificiality disturbs the eye despite the unwonted
profusion of bloom and variety of eoltr All the plants are
Puritan (H. T.) is one of Mr. Henry Bennett's seedlings, and
perhaps excites more interest than any other. it is a
cross between Mabel Morrison and Devoniensis, creamy
white in color and a perpetual bloomer. _ Its flowers have not
opened satisfactorily this winter. The general opinion seems
to be that it requires more heat than is “needed for other forc-
ing varieties. Further trial will be required to establish its merit.
Meteor (H. T., Bennett.)—Some cultivators will not agree
with me in classing this among hybrid Teas. In its manner of
growth it resembles some Tea Roses, but its coloring and
scanty production of buds in winter are indications that there is
Hybrid Remontant blood in it. It retains its crimson color
after being cut longer than any Rose we have, and rarely shows
a tendency to become purple with age, as other varieties of
this color are apt to do. | For summer blooming under glass
it will prove satisfactory. In winter its coloring is a rich
velvety crimson, but as the sun gets stronger it assumes a
more lively shade,
FEBRUARY 29, 1888.]
Mrs, John Laing (H. R., Bennett,) is a seedling from Fran-
cois Michelon, which itsomewhat resembles in habit of growth
and color of flower. It is a free bloomer out-of-doors in sum-
mer and forces readily in winter. Blooms of it have been
offered for sale in the stores here since the first week in De-
cember. It is a soft shade of pink in color, with a delicate lilac
tint. It promises to become a general favorite, as in addition
to the qualities referred to, it is a free autumnal bloomer
outside. For forcing it will be tried extensively next winter.
Princess Beatrice (T., Bennett,) was distributed for the first
time in this country last autumn, but has so far been a disap-
pointment in this city. But some lots arrived from Europe
too late and misfortunes befell others, so that the trial can
hardly be counted decisive, and we should not hastily condemn
it. Some have admired it for its resemblance, in form of
flower, to a Madame Cuisin, but its color is not just what we
need. In shade it somewhat resembles Sunset, but is not so
effective. It may, however, improve under cultivation, as
some other Roses have done; so far as I know it has not been
tried out-of-doors.
Papa Gontier (H. B., Nabonnaud.)—This, though not properly
a new rose, is on trial for the first time in this city. It has
become a great favorite with growers, retailers and purchasers.
In habit it is robust and free blooming, and in coloring, though
similar to Bon Silene, is much deeper or darker. Thereseems
to be a doubt in some quarters as to whether it blooms as
freely as Bon Silene; personally, I think there is not much
difference between the two. Gontier is a good Rose for out-
door planting. Edwin Lonsdale.
Two Ferns and their Treatment.
Adiantum Farleyense.—This beautiful Maidenhair is supposed
to be a subfertile, plumose form of A. Zenerum, which much
resembles it, especially ina young state. For decorative pur-
poses it is almost unrivaled, whether used in pots or for trim-
ming baskets of flowers or bouquets. It prefers a warm,
moist house and delightsin abundant water. We findit does best
when potted firmly in a compost of two parts loam to one of
peat, and witha good sprinkling ofsiftedcoalashes. Inthiscom-
post it grows very strong, the fronds attaining a deeper green
and lasting longer than when grown in peat. When the pots
are filled with roots give weak liquid manure occasionally.
This fern is propagated by dividing the roots and potting in
small pots, which should be placed in the warmest house,
where they soon make fine plants. Where it is grown
expressly for cut fronds the best plan is to plant it out ona
bench in about six inches of soil, taking care to give it plenty of
water and heat, and it will grow like a weed.
Actiniopteris radiata—A charming little fern standing in a
genus by itself. In form it resembles a miniature fan palm,
growing about six inches in height. Itis generally distributed
throughout the East Indies. In cultivation it is generally
looked upon as poor grower, but with us it grows as freely as
any fern we have. We grow a lot to mix in with Orchids, as
they do not crowd at all. We pot ina compost of equal parts
loam and peat with a few ashes to keep it open, and grow in
the warmest house, giving at all times abundance of water
both at root and overhead. It grows very freely from spores,
and will make good specimens in less thana year. It is an
excellent Fern for small baskets. fF. Goldring.
Timely Hints About Bulbs.
SPRING flowering bulbs in-doors, such as the Dutch Hya-
cinths, Tulips and the many varieties of Narcissus, should
now be coming rapidly into bloom. Some care is required to
get well developed specimens. When first brought in from
cold frames or wherever they have been stored to make roots,
do not expose them either to direct sunlight or excessive heat.
_ A temperature of not more than fifty-five degrees at night
is warm enough for the first ten days, and afterwards, if they
show signs of vigorous growth and are required for any par-
ticular occasion, they may be kept ten degrees warmer. It is
more important that they be not exposed to too much light
than to too much heat.
Half the short stemmed Tulips, dumpy Hyacinths and blind
Narcissus we see in the green-houses and windows of amateurs
are the result of excessive light when first brought into warm
quarters. Where it is not possible to shade bulbs without in-
terfering with other plants a simple and effective plan is to
make funnels of paper large enough to stand inside each pot
and six inches high. These may be left on the pots night and
day from the time the plants are brought in until the flower
spike has grown above the foliage ; indeed, some of. the very
finest Hyacinths cannot be had in perfection without some
Garden and Forest. 9
such treatment. Bulbous plants should never suffer for water
when growing rapidly, yet on the other hand, they are easily
ruined if allowed to become sodden.
When in flower a rather dry and cool temperature will
preserve them the longest.
Of bulbs which flower in the summer and fall, Gloxinias and
tuberous rooted Begonias are great favorites and easily man-
aged. For early summer a few of each should be started at
once—using sandy, friable soil. Six-inch pots, well drained, are
large enough for the very largest bulbs, while for smaller
even three-inch pots will answer. In a green-house there is
no difficulty in finding just the place to start them. It must be
snug, rather shady and not too warm. They can be well cared
for, however, in a hot-bed or even a window, but some
experience is necessary to make a success.
Lilies, in pots, whether Z. candidum or L. longifiorum that
are desired to be in flower by Easter, should now receive every
attention—their condition should be that the flower buds can
be easily felt in the leaf heads. A temperature of fifty-five to
sixty-five at night should be maintained, giving abundance of
air on bright sunny days to keep them stocky. Green fly is
very troublesome at this stage, and nothing is more certain to
destroy this pest than to dip the plants in tobacco water which,
to be effective, should be the color of strong tea. Occasional
waterings of weak liquid manure will be of considerable help
if the pots are full of roots. F. Thorpe.
Entomology.
. Arsenical Poisons in the Orchard.
AS is well known, about fifty per cent. of the possible apple
crop in the Western States is sacrificed each year to the
codling moth, except in sections where orchardists combine
to apply bands of straw around the trunks. But as is equally
well known this is rathera troublesome remedy. Atallevents,
in Illinois, Professor Forbes, in a bulletin lately issued
from the office of the State Entomologist of Illinois, claims
that the farmers of that State suffer an annual loss from the
attacks of this single kind of insect of some two and three-
quarters millions of dollars.
As the results of two years’ experiments in spraying the
trees with a solution of Paris green, only once or twice in
early spring, before the young apples had drooped upon their
stems, there was a saving of about seventy-five per cent. of
the apples.
The Paris green mixture consisted of three-fourths of an
ounce of the powder by weight, of a strength to contain 15.4
per cent. of metallic arsenic, simply stirred up in two and a
half gallons of water. The tree was thoroughly sprayed with
a hand force-pump, and with the deflector spray and solid jet-
hose nozzle, manufactured in Lowell, Mass. The fluid was
thrown in a fine mist-like spray, applied until the leaves began
to drip.
The trees were sprayed in May and early in June while the
apples were still very small. It seems to be of little use to
employ this remedy later in the season, when later broods of
the moth appear, since the poison takes effect only in case it
reaches the surface of the apple between the lobes of the
calyx, and it canonly reach this place when the apple is very
small and stands upright on its stem. It should be added that
spraying ‘after the apples have begun to hang downward is
unquestionably dangerous,” since even heavy winds and
violent rains are not sufficient to remove the poison from the
fruit at this season. .
At the New York Experimental Station last year a certain
number of trees were sprayed three times with Paris green
with the result that sixty-nine per cent. of the apples were
saved.
It also seems that last year about half the damage that might
have been done by the Plum weevil or curculio was prevented
by the use of Paris green, which should be sprayed on the
trees both early in the season, while the fruit is small, as well
as later.
The cost of this Paris green application, when made on a
large scale, with suitable apparatus, only once or twice a year,
must, says Mr. Forbes, fall below an average of ten cents a tree.
The use of solutions of Paris green or of London purple in
water, applied by spraying machines such as were invented
and described in the reports of the national Department ol!
Agriculture by the U. S. Entomologist and his assistants, have
effected a revolution in remedies against orchard and forest
insects. We expect to see them, in careful hands, tried with
equal success in shrubberies, lawns and flower gardens.
A. S. Packard.
IO Garden and Forest.
The Forest:
The White Pine in Europe.
HE White Pine was among the very first American
trees which came to Europe, being planted in the
year 1705 by Lord Weymouth on his grounds in Chelsea.
From that date, the tree has been cultivated in Europe
under the name of Weymouth Pine ; in some mountain
districts of northern Bavaria, where it has become a real
forest tree, it is called Strobe, after the Latin name Pinus
s/robus. After general cultivation as an ornamental tree
in parks this Pine began to be used in the forests on account
of its hardiness and rapid growth, and it is now not only
scattered through most of the forests of Europe, but covers
in Germany alone an area of some 300 acres in a dense,
pure forest. Some of these are groves 120 years old, and
they yield a large proportion of the seed demanded by the
increasing cultivation of the tree in Europe
The White Pine has proved so valuable as a forest tree
thatithas partly overcome the prejudices which every foreign
tree has to fight against. The tree is perfectly hardy, is
not injured by long and severe freezing in winter, nor by
untimely frosts in spring or autumn, which sometimes do
great harm to native trees,in Europe. On account of the
softness of the leaves and the bark, it is much damaged by
the nibbling of deer, but it heals quickly and throws up a
new leader.
The young plant can endure being partly shaded by
other trees far better than any other Pine tree, and even
seems to enjoy being closely surrounded, a quality that
makes it valuable for filling up in young forests where
the native trees, on account of their slow growth, could
not be brought up at all.
The White Pine is not so easily broken by heavy snow-
fall as the Scotch Pine, on account of the greater elasticity
of its wood. The great abundance of soft needles falling
from it every year better fits it for improving a worn-out
soil than any European Pine, therefore the tree has been
tried with success as a nurse for the ground in forest plan-
tations of Oak, when the latter begin to be thinned out by
nature, and grass is growing underneath them.
And finally, all observations agree that the White Pine is a
faster growing tree than any native Conifer in Europe,
except, perhaps, the Larch. The exact facts about that
point, taken from investigations on good soil in various
parts of Germany, are as follows:
Annual Growth Dur-
Years. Heigh’ ing Last Decade.
The White Pine at 20 reaches 7.5 meters. 37 centimeters
oe 30 ce 12.5 ee 50 oe
wo. ot! 18.5 re 60 of
be 50 ce 22.5 6c 40 6c
ce 60 ce 26.5 ee 40 oe
ce oO ce 28. “e 20 ce
ce f ce 5 ee I oe
30 30.0 5
ce go oe 32.0 Ly 4 20 ce
For comparison I add here the average growth on good
soil, of the Scotch Pine, one of the most valuable and
widely distributed timber trees of Europe.
Annual Growth During
Years. Height. ast Deeade:
The Scotch Pine at 20 reaches 7.3 meters. 36.5 centimeters
ys BOP) EE seatite Or iy os 43.0 i
f 40 s 15.7 Ee 41.0 a
“cc 50 ee 19.4 (3 Sire) ce
s¢ 6G, “Say s2eer ry 27.0 ee
us 70 eS 24.0 es 22.0 Ms
ee Boll Go? s20;00 we 17.0 Wa
ms go ae 27.5 a 15.0 i
es 160. #* e2Big tt 10.0 of
te 120 af 30.0 ha 735 .
That is, the White Pine is ahead of its relative during its
entire life and attains at 80 years a height which the
Scotch Pine only reaches in 120 years. It appears then
[FEBRUARY 29, 1888.
that the whole volume of wood formed within a certain
period by an acre of White Pine forest is greater than that
yielded by a forest of Scotch Pine within thesame period.
As far as reliable researches show, a forest of White Pine
when seventy years old gives an annual increment of 3
cords of wood per acre. On the same area a forest of
Scotch Pine increases every year by 2.4 cords on the best
soil, 2 cords on medium soil, and 1.5 cords on poor soil.
But notwithstanding the splendid qualities which distin-
guish the White Pine as a forest tree its wood has never been
looked upon with favor in Europe. Many of those who are
cultivating the White Pine for business seem to expect that
they will raise a heavy and durable wood. These are the
qualities prized in their own timber trees, and they seem to
think that the White Pine must be so highly prized at home for
the same qualities, when in fact it is the lightness and soft-
ness of the wood which are considered in America. It would
seem also that some European planters believe that a Pine
tree exists which will yield more and at the same time
heavier wood than any other tree on the same area. Itis
a general rule that the amount of woody substance annually
formed on the same soil does not vary in any great degree
with the different kinds of trees. For instance, if we have
good soil we may raise 2,200 Ibs. per acre of woody sub-
stance every year, from almost any kind of timber tree. If
we plant a tree forming a wood of low specific gravity, we
get a large volume of wood, and this is the case with the
White Pine. If we plant on the same ground an Oak tree,
we will get small volume of wood, but the weight of the
woody substance will be the same, that is, 2,200 pounds
of absolutely dried wood per acre.
It is remarkable that there is hardly any difference in the
specific gravity of the wood of the White Pine grown in
Europe and inits native country. I collected in Central Wis-
consin wood-sections of a tall tree and compared the
specific gravity with the wood of a full-grown tree of
White Pine from a Bavarian forest. The average specific
gravity of the Bavarian tree was 38.3. The average
specific gravity of the American tree was 38.9. In
both trees the specific gravity slightly increased from the
base to the top. Professor Sargent gives 38 as the result
of his numerous and careful investigations.
I was much surprised that the thickness of the sap-wood
varied much in favor of the Bavarian tree.
The sap-wood measured in thickness :
Of the Bavarian tree. Of the American tree.
At the base 2.7 centimeters g centimeters.
In the middle 4 ee 6
Within the crown .3 of 4 ee
Iam inclined to believe that on account of the generally
drier climate of America a greater amount of water, and,
therefore, of water-conducting sap-wood, is necessary to
keep the balance between the evaporation and transporta-
tion of the water. The wood of the White Pine is certainly
better fitted for many purposes than any tree with which
nature has provided Europe, and yet one can _ hardly
expect it to easily overcome fixed habits and prejudices.
It will devolve upon the more intelligent proprietors of
wood-land in Europe to begin with the plantation of the
White Pine on a large scale. No Conifer in Europe can be
cultivated with so little care and risk as the White Pine ;
the frost does not injure the young plant, and the numerous
insects invading the European trees during their whole
life-time inflict but little harm. Subterranean parasites are
thinning out the plantations to some extent, but in no
dangerous way. H, Mayr.
Tokio, Japan.
Abies amabilis.--Professor John Macoun detected this species
during the past summer upon many of the mountains of Van-
couver’s Island where with 7suga Patfoniana it is common
above 3,000 feet over the sea level. The northern distribution
of this species as well as some other British Columbia trees
is stilla matter of conjecture. It has not been noticed north
of the Fraser River, but it is not improbable that Adzes
amabvilis will be found to extend far to the north along some
of the mountain ranges of the north-west coast.
FEBRUARY 29, 1888.]
European Larch in Massachusetts.
N 1876 the Trustees of the Massachusetts Society for the
Promotion of Agriculture offered a premium for the
best plantations of not less than five acres of European
Larch. ‘The conditions of the competition were that not less
than 2,700 trees should be planted to the acre, and that
only poor, worn-out land, or that unfit for agricultural pur-
poses, be used in these plantations.
The prize was to be awarded at the end of ten years.
The committee appointed to award the prize were C.
'§. Sargent and John Lowell. The ten years having ex-
pired, this Committee lately made the following report :
Mr. James Lawrence, of Groton, and Mr. J. D. W. French,
of North Andover, made plantations during the spring of 1877
in competition for this prize. Mr, Lawrence, however, at the
end of one year withdrew from the contest, and Mr. French is
the only competitor. Your Committee have visited his planta-
tion at different times during the past ten years, and have now
made their final inspection. The plantation occupies a steep
slope facing the south and covered with a thin coating of grav-
elly loam largely mixed towards the bottom of the hill with
light sand. This field in 1877 was a fair sample of much of
the hillside pasture land of the eastern part of the State. It had
been early cleared, no doubt, of trees, and the light surface soil
practically exhausted by cultivation. It was then used as a
pasture, producing nothing but the scantiest growth of native
Grasses and Sedges with a few stunted Pitch Pines. Land of
this character has no value for tillage, and has practically little
value for pasturage. Upon five acres of this land Mr. French
planted fifteen thousand European Larch. The trees were
one foot high, and were set in the sod four feet apart each
way, except along the boundary of the field, where the planta-
tion was made somewhat thicker. The cost of the plantation,
as furnished by Mr. French, has been as follows:
15,000 Larch (imported), . $108 50
Fencing, ; : : 20 81
Surveying, : 6 00
Labor, é x 104 69
Total, . $240 00
This, with compound interest at five per cent. for ten years,
makes the entire cost to date of the plantation of five acres,
$390.90.
The Trees for several years grew slowly and not very satis-
factorily. Several lost their leaders, and in various parts of
the plantation small blocks failed entirely. The trees, how-
ever, have greatly improved during the last four years, and
the entire surface of the ground is now, with one or two insig-
nificant exceptions, sufficiently covered. There appear to be
from 10,000 to 12,000 larch trees now growing on the five
acres. The largest tree measured is 25 feet high, with a
trunk 26 inches in circumference at the ground. There are
several specimens of this size at least, and it is believed that
all the trees, including many which have not yet commenced
to grow rapidly or which have been overcrowded and stunted
by their more vigorous neighbors, will average 12 feet in
height, with trunks Io to 12 inches in circumference at the
ground. Many individuals have increased over four feet in
height during the present year. It is interesting to note as an
indication of what Massachusetts soil of poor quality is capa-
ble of producing, that various native trees have appeared
spontaneously in the plantation since animals were excluded
from this field. Among these are White Pines 6 to 8 feet high,
Pitch Pines 14 feet high, a White Oak 15 feet high and a Gray
Birch 17 feet high. The Trustees offered this prize in the be-
lief that it would cause a plantation to be made capable of de-
monstrating that unproductive lands in this State could be
cheaply covered with trees, and the result of Mr. French’s
experiment seems to be conclusive in this respect. It has
shown that the European Larch can be grown rapidly and
cheaply in this climate upon very poor soil, but it seems to us
to have failed to show that this tree has advantages for gen-
eral economic pianting ir this State which are not possessed
in an equal degree by some of our native trees. Land which
will produce a crop of Larch will produce in the same time at
least a crop of white pine. There can be no comparison in
the value of these two trees in Massachusetts. The White
Pine is more easily transplanted than the Larch, it grows with
equal and perhaps greater rapidity, and it produces material
for which there is an assured and increasing demand. The
White Pine, moreover, has so far escaped serious attacks of
insects and dangerous fungoid diseases which now threaten to
Garden and Forest. II
exterminate in different parts of Europe extensive plantations
of Larch.
Your Committee find that Mr. French has complied with all
the requirements of the competition; they recommend that
the premium of one thousand dollars be paid to him.
Answers to Correspondents.
When the woods are cut clean in Southern New Hampshire
White Pine comes in very, very thickly. Is it best to thin out
the growth or allow the trees to crowd and shade the feebler
ones slowly to death ? We DEL.
It is better to thin such over-crowded seedlings early, if
serviceable timber is wanted in the shortest time. The state-
ment that close growth is needed to produce long, clean tim-
ber, needs some limitation. No plant can develop satisfac-
torily without sufficient light, air and feeding room. When
trees are too thickly crowded the vigor of every one is impaired,
and the process of establishing supremacy of individuals is
prolonged, to the detriment even of those which are ultimately
victorious. The length is drawn out disproportionately to
the diameter, and all the trees remain weak.
Experience has proved that plantations where space is given
for proper growth in their earlier years, yield more and better
wood than do Nature’s dense sowings. Two records are
added in confirmation of this statement, and many others
could be given:
1. A pine plantation of twelve acres was made, one half by
sowing, the other half by planting at proper distances. In
twenty-four years the first section had yielded, including the
material obtained in thinnings, 1,998 cubic feet, and the latter,
3,495 cubic feet of wood. The thinnings had been made,
when appearing necessary, at ten, fifteen and eighteen years
in the planted section, yielding altogether ten and three-quar-
ter cords of round firewood and seven cords of brush ; and at
eight, ten and twenty years in the sowed section, witha yield
of only three and one-fifth cords of round firewood at the
last thinning and seven and four-fifths cords of brush wood.
2. A spruce growth seeded after thirty-three years was still
so dense as to be impenetrable, with scarcely any increase,
and the trees were covered with lichens. It was then thinned
out when thirty-five, and again when forty-two years old. The
appearance greatly improved, and the accretion in seven years
after thinning showed I60 per cent. increase, or more than
26 per cent. every year.
The density of growth which will give the best results in all
directions depends upon the kind of timber and soil condi-
tions. —B. E, Fernow,.
Washington, D.C.
Book Reviews.
Gray’s Elements of Botany.
IFTY-ONE years ago, Asa Gray, then only twenty-six
years of age, published a treatise on botany adapted to
the use of schools and colleges. It was entitled ‘The Ele-
ments of Botany.” Its method of arrangement was so ad-
mirably adapted to its purpose, and the treatment of all the
subjects so mature and thorough, that the work served asa
model for a large work which soon followed,—the well-known
Botanical Text-book, and the same general plan has_ been fol-
lowed in all the editions of the latter treatise. About twenty-
five years after the appearance of the Elements, Dr. Gray pre-
pared a more elementary work for the use of schools, since
the Text-book had become rather too advanced and exhaus-
tive for convenient use. This work was the ‘ Lessons in Bot-
any,” a book which has been a great aid throughout the coun-
try, in introducing students to a knowledge of the principles of
thescience. Without referring to other educational works
prepared by Dr. Gray, such as ‘‘ How Plants Grow,” etc., it suf-
fices now to say that for two or three years, he had been con-
vinced that there was need of a hand-book, different in essen-
tial particulars from any of its predecessors. When we re-
member that all of these had been very successful from an
educational point of view, as well as from the more exacting
one of the publishers, we can understand how strong must
have been the motive which impelled the venerable but still
active botanist to give a portion of his fast-flying time to the
preparation of another elementary work. In answer to re-
monstrances from those who believed that the remnant of his
days should be wholly given to the completion of the ‘‘ Synop-
tical Flora,” he was wont to say pleasantly, ‘Oh, I give only my
evenings to the ‘Elements.’” And, so, after a day’s work, in
which he had utilized every available moment of sunlight, he
12 Garden and Forest.
would turn with the fresh alertness which has ever character-
ized every motion and every thought, to the preparation of
what he called fondly, his ‘“‘legacy’”’ to young botanists. That
precious legacy we have now before us.
In form it is much like the Lessons, but more compact and
yet much morecomprehensive. Its conciseness of expression
is a study in itself. To give it the highest praise, it may be
said to be French in its clearness and terseness. Not a word
is wasted: hence, the author has been able to touch lightly
and still with firmness every important line in this sketch of
the principles of botany. This work, in the words of its au-
thor, ‘‘is intended to ground beginners in Structural Botany
“and the principles of vegetable life, mainly as concerns Flow-
“ering or Phanerogamous plants, with which botanical in-
“struction should always begin; also to be acompanion and
“interpreter to the Manuals and Floras by which the student
“threads his flowery way to a clear knowledge of the sur-
“rounding vegetable creation. Such a book, like a grammar,
“must needs abound in technical words, which thus arrayed
“may seem formidable ; nevertheless, if rightly apprehended,
“this treatise should teach that the study of botany is not the
“learning of names and terms, but the acquisition of knowl-
“edge and ideas. No effort should be made to commit tech-
“nical terms to memory. Any term used in describing a
“plant or explaining its structure can be looked up when it is
“wanted, and that should suffice. On the other hand, plans
“of structure, types, adaptations, and modifications, once un-
“derstood, are not readily forgotten ; and they give meaning
“and interest to the technical terms used in explaining them.”
The specific directions given for collecting plants, for pre-
paring herbarium specimens, and for investigating the struc-
ture of plants make this treatise of great use to those who are
obliged to study without a teacher. The very extensive glos-
sary makes the work of value not only to this class of students,
but to those, as well, whose pursuits are directed in our
schools. The work fills, in short, the very place which Dr.
Gray designed it should. G. L. Goodale.
The Kansas Forest Trees Identified by Leaves and Fruit, by W.
A. Kellerman, Ph.D., and Mrs. W. A. Kellerman (Manhattan,
Kansas). This octavo pamphlet of only a dozen pages con-
tains a convenient artificial key for the rapid determination of
seventy-five species of trees. By the use of obvious char-
acters the authors have made the work of identification com-
paratively easy in nearly every instance, and even in the few
doubtful cases, the student will not be allowed to go far astray.
The httle hand-book ought to be found of use even beyond the
limits of the State for which it was designed. G,.LZ. Goodale,
Public Works.
The Falls of Minnehaha.—A tract of fifty acres, beautifully
located on the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Minne-
haha, has been acquired by the City of St. Paul, and land will
most probably be secured fora drive of several miles along
the river. The bank here is more than too feet high, often
precipitous, clothed with a rich growth of primeval forest,
shrubbery and vines. It is hoped that Minneapolis may secure
the land immediately opposite, including the Falls of Minne-
haha and the valley of the stream to the greatriver. In this
event a great park could be made between the two cities, easily
reached from the best part of both, with the Mississippi flow-
ing through it and the Falls as one of its features. This, in
connection with the park so beautifully situated on Lake
Como, three miles from St. Paul, and the neat parks of Minne-
apolis and its superbly kept system of lake shore drives,
would soon be an object worthy of the civic pride of these en-
terprising and friendly rivals.
A Park for Wilmington, Del.—After many delays and defeats
the people of this city have secured a tract of more than 100
acres, mostly of fine rocky woodland, with the classic Brandy-
wine flowing through it, and all within the city limits, together
with twosmaller tracts, onea high wooded slope, the other lying
on tide water, and both convenient to those parts of the city
inhabited by workingmen and their families. A topographi-
cal survey of these park lands is now in progress as prepara-
tion for a general plan of improvement. Of the “ Brandywine
Glen” Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted once wrote: ‘It is a pas-
sage of natural scenery which, to a larger city, would be of
rare value—so rare and desirable that in a number of cities
several million dollars have been willingly spent to obtain re-
sults of which the best that can be said is, that they somewhat
distantly approach, in character and expression, such scenery
as the people of Wilmington have provided for them without
expense,”
[FEBRUARY 29, 1888.
Flower Market.
Retail Prices in the Flower Market.
New York, February 23d.
There is a glut of flowers, particularly of tea roses of an indifferent
quality. Bon Silene buds cost from 75 cts. to $1 a dozen, Perle des
Jardins, Niphetos, Souvenir d’un Ami, and Papa Gontiers bring $1.50
a dozen, C,. Mermets are very fine and from 30 to 35 cts. each. Not
more than one in three La France roses is perfect; they bring from
25 cts. to 50 cts. each, Mde. Cuisin and Duke of Connaught are
25 cts. each, Bennets 20 cts. each and Brides 25 cts. each. American
Beauties are $1 to $1.50 each, according to the location where they are
sold. Puritans cost 75 cts. each, and Jacqueminots 50 cts. Magna
Chartas are the most popular of the hybrid roses at present. They,
ae de Diesbach and Mad. Gabriel Luizet bring from $1 to $1.50
each.
Mignonette is very plentiful, well grown and of the spiral variety; it
brings 75 cts. a dozen spikes retail, very large spikes bring as high as
15 cts. each. Hyacinths, Lilies-of-the-Valley and Tulips bring $1 a
dozen. Lilacs cost 25 cts. for a spray of one or two tassels. Violets are
abundant, mostly of the Marie Louise variety, and bring $2 a hundred.
Fancy long stem red Carnations cost 75 cts.a dozen; short stem Car-
nations are 50 cts. a dozen ; the dyed Carnations, named ‘‘ Emerald,”
are in brisk demand and sell for 15 cts. each. Daffodils are $1 a
dozen ; those dyed bring 20 cts. each. Finely grown Forget-me-not
brought in small quantity to retail dealers sells for 10 cts. a spray.
sc Lilies bring $2 and $3 a dozen, and Longiflorum Lilies $4 a
ozen.
PHILADELPHIA, February 23d.
Heavy demands for flowers dropped off short on Ash Wednesday,
and decreased each day until Saturday, when the regular orders for
loose flowers caused the trade to pick up again. The demand for
Orchids is steadily growing ; a fair quantity is used at balls and parties,
but nothing in comparison to Roses, Violets and Lily-of-the-Valley.
Violets have been in greater demand, so far, than for several years.
Large quantities of Pulips have been used recently for table
decorations, especially the pink varieties, the favorite color for dinners
and lunches. The American Beauty Rose, when cut with long stems,
and really first class in every other respect, has been in great demand,
at the best prices. Md. Gabrielle Luizet is scarce, the local growers
not having commenced to cut in quantity ; it is frequently asked for.
Carnation plateaus in solid colors have been used freely. Lilacs are
considered choice and have been in good demand. Retail prices
rule as follows : Orchids, from 25 cts. to $1 each ; La France, Mermet,
Bride and Bennet Roses, $3 per dozen ; Jacques, $4 to $5 ; American
Beauty, $4 to $9; Puritan, $4; Anna de Diesbach, $5 to $7.50; Papa
Gontier, Sunset, Perle des Jardins and Mad. Cuisin, $1.50; Bon Silene,
$1.00; Niphetos, $1 to $1.50. Lily-of-the-Valley, and Roman Hyacinths,
bring $1 per dozen ; Mignonette, 50 cts., and: Freesia the same per
dozen ; Heliotrope, Pansies, Carnations, and Forget-me-nots, 35 cts.
per dozen. Violets bring from $1 to $1.50 per hundred; Lilium
Harrisii, $3.00 per dozen; Callas $2 per dozen, and Lilacs $2 per bunch
of about eight sprays. Daffodils sell briskly at from $1 to $1.50 per
dozen.
Boston,. February 23d.
The season of Lent is always looked forward to by the florists with
anxiety, for the rest from receptions, assemblies and balls cuts off one
of the chief outlets for the choicest flowers: a few warm days are
sufficient to overstock the market, and prices take a fall. Buyers are
learning, however, that at no period of the yearcan cut flowers be had
in such perfection and variety as during February and March, and
although not much required for party occasions they are bought for other
purposes in increasing quantities every year, so that the advent of Lent
does not now produce utter stagnation in the flower trade. In Roses
there is at present a large assortment offered. From the modest Bon
Silene, and its new competitor, Papa Gontier, up to the magnificent
American Beauty and Hybrid Perpetuals, may be found every gradation
of color, size and fragrance. Retail prices vary from 75 cts. per
dozen for Bon Silenes and $1.50 to $2 for Perles, Niphetos, etc., up to
$3 and $4 for the best Mermets, Niels and La France ; Hybrids and
Jacques of best quality bring from $6 to $9 per dozen. In bulbous
flowers a large variety is shown. Lily-of-the-Valley sells for $1.50
per dozen sprays ; Narcissus of various kinds, Hyacinths and Tulips
for $1 per dozen; Violets, 50 cts. per bunch; Pansies, Mignonette,
Heliotrope, Forget-me-not and Calendulas, 50 cts. per doz. Long
stemmed Carnations are to be had in great variety at 75 cts. per dozen;
Callas 25 cts. each, and Smilax 50 cts. a string. At this season Smilax
is at its best, being its time of flowering, and the flowers are
deliciously fragrant.
Publishers’ Note.
A photogravure of Mr. A. St.Gaudens’s bronze medallion of
the late Professor Asa Gray will be published as a supplement
to the second number of GARDEN AND FOREST.
MARcH 7, 1888.
GARDEN: AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKI.Y BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[ LIMITED.]}
Orrice: Trinune Buritpinc, 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 7, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
EpirortaL ArticLes :—The Future of American Gardening. The American
Thorn. “Painting the Lily.”.... 6. se... 5 cess eee ee eee tee teen eens 13
Landscape Gardening, II.
Professor Anton de Bary.
Winter in Mobile......
London Letter.
Entrance to the
Shrub Propagation........ cer
Note on our Native Irises........
Lilium Grayi (with illustration)...
American Thorns as Or nAmental ‘Plan Suman hemise Professor L. H. Batley. 19
BlanteNOtes eee erie me my-teleieu siete eters(oisys o(dt=iemto rs C. G. Pringle; Max Leichtlin 20
The Red Mite on Verbenas (with illustration)....Pr ofessor A. S. Packard. 20
..-Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 14
aio eene aes Professor W. G. Farlow, 15
els tye arviethiaciscas Dr. Karl Mohr. 16
...W. Goldring, 16
ustration).
Hoopes. 18
-Seveno Watson. 18
Bm ERR Sereno Watson 19
Cultural Notes........ Bee eiagis epost siciciee /aferes 2r
Grapes under Glass. . 4 y 7 21
BIT Cea Willeee nists peescinieminja eas srefesoayn.nieie se Sereieisieiaia settic seis 7 ‘alconer. 22
THE Forest:
Morest Pureces tons CalifOLMIA we. n< secees eélcsaisis cictsie were as ee LW. Hilgard.
Growing Deciduous Forest Tre
Answers to OrreSPONAGUIS, a cisscmisesistcielei =
Recent Pusuications :—Gleanings in Old Garden L;
Shade and Ornamental Trees Suitable for Cult
New: — Drees of Reading; Mass. .cc..20.0s5%-
22
-. Robert Douglas. 23
ofessor B. BE. Fernow. 23
rature—Flora Peoriana—
ation in Queens County,
Pusiic Worxs :—Tree Planting on Boston Harbor........ ss. eeeesneceeeeeeees 24
Frower Marxet:—New York—Philadelphia—Boston,.........-seeeee ee eee ee 24
ILLUSTRATIONS :
Asa Gray, Photogravure Supplement.
Entrance:to the Arnold Arboretum... .....eseeesses ce sceenseasecnseresces 17
Lilium Grayi IQ
AT ePIVCOMIVULte Nets cenaiate sates atziststiats mainte sie/a\cic'e stole a t.ciaiajurdcs Sip Siw aia[aints ajcisisinieikishy,6 20
The Future of American Gardening.
T is not surprising that few examples of the gardener’s art
inits highest development should be met with in Amer-
ica, especially in the more recently settled portions of the
country. Even where the designing and planting of a
garden are good, the element of time is needed to produce
that ripeness and repose which are so satisfying to the
contemplative mind. This mellow maturity which yet
gives no hint of deterioration and Gecay only comes
with years of care. A new country, or one of shifting
population not only lacks the interest which accompanies
long continued human association, but nature itself is not
subdued into that tranquil and home-like aspect which is
worn only where generation has succeeded generation,
each impelled by a strong local attachment to its birth-
place to conserve and develop its native beauties with
affection and intelligence.
And yet the American people are inferior to none in
general and genuine appreciation of natural beauty, and
no country in the world is endowed with nobler landscape
features, a more hospitable climate, or a greater richness
and variety of vegetation than ourown. Nowhere are
flowers more universally cultivated or grown with greater
skill. In no other country has the business of the florist
been so developed and improved. Nowhere else have
the various forms of so-called ‘‘decorative gardening”
been so profusely practiced. Much of this might perhaps
fall under the condemnation of severe taste, but some ex-
cuse for it is found in the fact that we have been con-
stantly struggling against wild nature, and something
trim and prim, Braate and artificial, is demanded, as a sign
that nature has been subjugated. It is noteworthy that
those who have been brought up on the pioneer line of
civilization. admire, when they come to the older States, a
formal flower bed more than they do the best examples of
planting in the natural style, and this is perhaps because the
latter is more suggestive of the untamed forces with which
Garden and Forest. is
they always have been forced to fight. But whatever
may be the cause of this devotion to formal flower
gardening, the fact remains that the plants themselves are
cultivated with singular knowledge and success,
On the other hand, in love of trees and skill in their cul-
tivation, we are far behind the English and Italians. In
street planting, especially in our larger towns, we have
much to learn from the French, the Germans and other
continental nations, while in the skillful use of hardy
shrubs and herbaceous plants we are far excelled by other
nations. Great progress, however, has been made in this
country of late years in the cultivation of orchids and
various classes of green-house plants, and of these Amer-
ica now possesses collections hardly surpassed anywhere.
And finally, in the highest branch of gardening, the crea-
tion of landscape pictures, for which the growing of trees
and shrubs and flowers and vines is but mixing the colors
on the palette, we have still much to learn from older
countries. And yet, that American ability for work of
this kind is not excelled, is shown by some of the fine old
places on the Hudson, planted early in the century,
largely with native trees, which would kindle admira-
tion anywhere. Our older parks, too, like those of New
York and Brooklyn, are consistent and impressive works
of art, and in spite of much neglect and mismanage-
ment, are noble monuments of their designers’ taste and
skill.
And thereare signs of awakening here in artistic garden-
ing. This is seen in the many instances where men of
wealth are preparing spacious pleasure grounds about
their houses, and in the growing desire among those of
more modest means to beautify their home surroundings.
Above all is this tendency manifested in the more frequent
inquiry for aid from landscape gardeners and in the
number of young men who are turning toward this pro-
fession as one which has in it the hope of emolument and
distinction.
The future of gardening in America, then, is bright with
promise. Our country offers to the landscape gardener
wonderful advantages in its endless variety of scenery,
the unrivaled richness of its Flora, and such diversity of
soil and climate that somewhere within its borders every
extra-tropical plant will grow. The imagination can con-
ceive of nothing more lovely and refreshing than a spring
garden in New England when vegetation bursts suddenly
forth from the restraints of the long winter; nothing more
glorious than the color that flames through New England
woodlands when trees and shrubs and humbler plants are
preparing for their season of rest. And what a field for the
artist is offered in the warm rich valleys of the southern
Alleghenies, the home of the most beautiful deciduous
forest of the world! And as trees and shrubs which
have developed under the same sky, blend in softer and
more perfect harmonies of form and color than do those
brought .together from different climates and continents,
here ‘where ‘the American forest culminates in its greatest
beauty and richness of composition, the artist capable of
using all this wealth of vegetation will find his greatest
opportunity. And here, too, he can collect, if Nature has
not supplied him with sufficient material for his pictures,
the plants of all the temperate zones—the evergreens of
China and Japan, the Rhododendrons of the Himala yas,
the trees of Europe and the Conifers from the highlands of
Mexico. Another ideal garden could be made on our
north-west coast, where plants which luxuriate in the moist
regions of the temperate zone would be at home ; while in
southern California could be gathered the trees of the
Mexican plateau, of the Mediterranean basin, of Australia,
and of all the dry countries of the world, and here gardens
might be made surpassing in richness and variety of
interest even those of the Riviera.
With such advantages we may reasonably look forward
to a time when this. country will bea land of gardens.
What is now needed is that the gathering interest in plant-
ing should be properly directed and developed. The basis of
14 Garden and Forest.
good gardening is the love of nature. To nature the
gardener who would be something more than a mere cul-
tivator of plants must turn for inspiration. From the study
of nature alone can be learned composition, harmony and
fitness in arrangement, and without these the gardener
can never hope for success in the creation of a landscape.
To the notes on some American Thorns in another
column; it may be well to add that Michigan Thorns
give but a faint idea of the value of the different American
species of this genus as ornamental plants. The real home
of the American Thorn is in the region south of the Red
River—that is, in western Louisiana and eastern Texas.
Here can be found growing a larger number of species
of this genus than in any other part of the world; and
here many of our species reach their greatest individual
development. Here only can be found the blue fruited
C. brachyacaniha, bordering the low, wet prairies of
western Louisiana—one of the largest of the genus, and
beautiful in habit, foliage, flowers and fruit. Here, too,
the white-barked C. arborescens, the largest of the genus,
the graceful and delicate C. apifoha and C. estivalis, all
reach a development unknown in other parts of the coun-
try. The last is one of the most ornamental of the Ameri-
can Thorns, Its large flowers appear in February,-and
these are succeeded three months later by large, very fra-
grant, scarlet fruit, which is gathered and sold in great
quantities in some of the markets of the South, where it,
is used for making a conserve. This species probably
produces the most valuable fruit of any of the genus;
although it must not be forgotten that one of the Thorns
of the South Atlantic States (C. flava, var. pubescens) yields
a fruit highly esteemed in the preparation of jellies, which
when well made can hardly be distinguished from the true
Guavajelly. In the Eastern States, C. Crus-ga/l, all things
considered, is the most valuable of our Thorns as an or-
namental tree. Its habit, profuse bloom, bright, shining
foliage, brilliant autumnal coloring and large, red fruit,
untouched by any animal, and hanging upon the trees
until February, make this one of the most desirable of all
small ornamental trees for American lawns. This, too, is
one of the few American trees which seems to thrive in all
European climates. A beautiful species of the very largest
size, too, is C. Douglasu of our north-west coast and
northern California, with foliage resembling that of C
Crus-galli, but with black fruit, ripening in August. This
tree flourishes at the East, flowering and ripening its fruit
freely in Massachusetts. We shall have occasion to return
to the American Thorns in future numbers.
“To gild refined gold and paint the Lily, to throw a per-
fume on the Violet”—these are ancient synonyms for lack
of judgment and lack of taste, for ‘‘ wasteful and ridiculous
excess.” Yet even their century-long citation has not pro-
tected us from a sight of the actual follies they hold up to
scorn. So far as we know, an effort has not recently been
made to improve the Violet’s odor, but we almost expect
to hear of such an effort, for the Lily is being painted with
much ingenuity and perseverance. Carnations with bright
green borders, Daffodils likewise edged with green, Lilies-
of-the-Valley dyed a pale red and Callas tipped with pink—
these are some of the ‘‘ novelties” which greet us in many
florists’ windows. If they were shown merely as curios-
ities, merely as examples of what can be done in defiance
of nature’s intentions, the case would be bad enough. But
as our readers may have seen in the flower-market report
in our last issue, dyed Carnations are in ‘‘ brisk” com-
mercial demand at fifteen cents each and dyed Daffodils at
twenty cents !
We have no wish to fall back upon theoretic preach-
ments in protesting against the lack of taste which this fact
implies. There is no reason why we should not attempt
to modify the original color of flowers, and this is con-
stantly done by skillful hybridizing, cross-breeding and
[Marci 7, 1888.
culture. But in such cases we work in accord with natural
laws, and the result may be beautiful, and certainly it is
not monstrous. But a single glance at a dyed blossom
will suffice to prove the artistic brutality of the new pro-
cess. The ‘‘Emerald” is the trade name for the dyed
Carnation, it might better have been the “Arsenic”; the
combination of the same arsenical tint with the yellow
of the Daffodil is excruciating to the eye ; the pink-edged
Calla is almost loathsome in effect; and all explain them-
selves at once as having undergone artificial manipula-
tion. We believe the process by which some of them are
produced is analogous to that by means of which the hu-
man skin may be tattooed, and the result appeals to the
same grade of taste. We might as soon have expected
to see a lady with a blue anchoron her wrist as with an
*«Emerald ” Carnation in her buttonhole.
Landscape Gardening.—II.
Bie produce beautiful compositions is the aim of every
artist, and the special aim of the landscape gardener
is to produce them by arranging the surface of the ground
and the plants it bears. It is interesting and instructive to
note the points of concord and of contrast which mark his
task when it is compared with that of other artists.
He stands with the sculptor and the painter, in contrast
to the architect and musician, in that he takes his inspira-
tions directly from nature— works after the schemes and
from the models which she supplies. But in some respects
he stands quite alone. The painter works with actual
colors but merely with illusions of form. The sculptor
creates forms but uses colors, if at all, in unnaturalistic
and subordinate ways. The landscape gardener depends
upon color and form in equal measure and can never dis-
pense with the one or the other.
Moreovei, he takes from nature not only his models
but his materials and his methods. His colors are those
of her own palette, his clays and marbles are her rocks
and soils, and his technical processes are the same which
she employs. He does not show her possibilities of
beauty asin a mirror of his own inventing. He helps her
in her actual efforts to realize them—works in and for and
with her. :
This fact limits and hampers him in certain ways; but
under fortunate conditions it helps him to achieve what
no other artist can—perfection. “The sculptor or the
painter,” writes a recent critic, “observes defects in the
single model ; he notices in many models scattered excel-
lences. . To correct those defects, to reunite
those excellences, becomes his aim. He cannot rival
nature by producing anything exactly like her work but he
can create something which shall show what nature strives
after. The mind of man comprehends her effort
and though the skill of man cannot compete with her in
the production of particulars, man is able by art to antici-
pate her desires and to exhibit an image of what she was
intending.” But the landscape gardener is nature’s rival,
does create things exactly like her own, can compete
with her in perfect workmanship—for does not she herself
work with him while he is reuniting her scattered excel-
lences of idea and obliterating her defects? What he can-
not do she does for him, from the building of mountains
and the spreading of seas to the perfecting of those “ par-
ticulars”” which turn the keenest chisel and blunt the sub-
tilest brush—to the curling of a fern-frond and the veining
of a rose. Of course she will not everywhere do every-
thing. If part of her work is in completing man’s, part is in
preparing for it, and he must respect the frame which she
furnishes for his picture, the general scheme which she
prescribes. He cannot ask her to build him mountains ina
plain, to change a hill-side rivulet to a river, or to make
tropical trees grow under a northern sky. But he can
always persuade her to produce beauty of some sort if
he is wise enough to know for what sort he should ask.
This, of course, is theoretic speaking. Theoretically,
Marcu 7, 1888.]
there is no spot on earth an artist could not make beau-
tiful. But some problems would need a life of antedi-
luvian length and dollars as plentiful as the sands of the
sea. Practically the landscape gardener—like all. other
men, and more perhaps than most other artists—is lim-
ited by questions of time and money. And he is also
limited by his partnership with nature as regards not
only the sort but the degree of beauty to which he can
atfain. Nature may suggest the same sort in two places,
but if she prepares lavishly for it in the one case and
parsimoniously in the other, the best skill in the world
may not be able to make good all her denials and equal-
ize its successes. Yet the landscape gardener can always
have what no other artist ever gets—perfection in details ;
and his general effects, as well as his details, have the
great advantage of being concrete and alive. A great
advantage indeed—for it means many beautiful results
in every piece of work instead of merely one, and per-
petual variation in each of the many. His aim is in
general the same as that of the landscape painter, who
knows that the most potent factors in landscape beauty
are light and atmosphere, and who is himself most po-
tent as he simulates them best. But no things in the
world—not even the color and texture of the human skin
—are so difficult to simulate, so impossible really to repro-
duce in paint. To the landscape gardener’s pictures na-
ture freely supplies them, everywhere and always, and not
merely in the one phase for which the painter strives,
but in a thousand—changing them with each day of the
year and with each hour of the day. And with the pass-
ing days and seasons she changes also his terrestrial
effects, so that no part of his work is ever twice the
same although, if rightly wrought, it is always beautiful.
Thus it gives chance and promise for perpetual renewal of
the highest kind. of pleasure. Our judgments are per-
sistent but our moods continually vary, and we may
expect more days of perfect satisfaction from the variable
than from the changeless work of art. If we admire a pic-
ture we admire it always, but while it may suit us to-day
to the inmost fibre of the soul, to-morrow it may leave
us cold. Ofcourse there are drawbacks as well as bene-
fits in variability —possibilities of perfect satisfaction are
richer in the living landscape, but when realized we can-
not keep them for an hour while we are sure of our
painting within its narrow range. It will depend upon
our temperament which excellence we prefer: limited cer-
tainty or uncertain infinitude. But the question does not
involve beauty itself —it only involves that finest effect
of beauty which means perfect momentary accord be-
tween the spirit of the observer and the spirit of the work
of art. As regards intrinsic perfection, the best results of
the landscape gardener surpass the best painted land-
scapes by as wide an interval and for the same great
reasons as Pygmalion’s Galatea surpassed all the other
statues which he may have made.
MM. G. Van Rensselaer.
Professor Anton de Bary.
EINRICH Anton de Bary, who was bornat Frankfort-on-the-
Main, Jan. 26th, 1831, and died at Strasburg, Jan. 19th,
1888, was a striking example of a scientific man who, while
pursuing science for its own sake, proved also a benefactor to
those engaged in the practical work of horticulture and agri-
culture in consequence of his brilliant discoveries in vegetable
pathology. His botanical career began immediately after he
left the university where he had devoted himself to the study
of medicine, and, although at the time of his death he had not
passed the period of middle age, few have exerted so
marked an influence in shaping the course of the botany of the
present day. Fora short time he was the assistant of Professor
Hugo von Mohlat Tubingen and an instructor in botany. In 1855
he was called to Freiburg in Brisgau as Assistant Professor of
Botany and Director of the Botanical Garden, where he remained
until 1867, when he accepted a professorship at Halle. Shortly
after the close of the Franco-German war, in 1872, he was ap-
pointed professor in the reorganized University of Strasburg, a
Garden and Forest. Is
position which he held until his death, although he had tempt-
ing calls to Vienna, Berlin and Leipsic. In ‘the summer of
1887 he was attacked by what proved afterwards to be a tumor
of the jaw, and, although he submitted to an operation in the
hope of relief, he succumbed to the disease after several
months of suffering.
The botanical works of Professor De Bary relate principally to
the structure and development of cryptogams, but he was also
the author of a number of papers on histological subjects, and
his ‘‘Comparative Anatomy of the Vegetative Organs of
Phanerogams and Ferns,” published in 1877 and since trans-
lated into English, is the best general work on the subject in
existence. At one time he was interested in the study of algae
and publishedimportant papers on Conjugatee@,on Ovdogoniun
and Bolbochete, and on the marine species, Acefabularia Medi-
terranea, Weshould also mention his important work on
Apogamy in Ferns, in which he gave a detailed account of the
manner in which the sexual reproduction in ferns may be re-
placed by a non-sexual growth, with remarks on apogamy in
other groups. '
But his most important work and that which is of most in-
terest to our readers was on the development of Fungi, espe-
cially those which produce disease in plants. One of his earliest
publications, in 1853, was“ Investigations on the Rust-fungi,”
especially those which cause diseases of grain and other
useful plants. This work was a careful study of a number of
species then supposed to belong to Uredine@, rusts, and Usti-
fagine@, smuts. At that date De Bary adhered to the views of
older writers, and considered that therust stage, or Uredo, was
not connected with the final, or teleutosporic forms, like Puc-
cinta, It was not until the publication of Tulasne’s paper in
1854 that botanists recognized that the red rust, the Uredo,
was only a stage of the black rust. Ina remarkable paper pub-
lished in 1863, ‘‘ Researches on the Developmentof some Para-
sitic Fungi,” De Bary showed by an examination of Uvromyces
appendiculatus, the Bean-rust, that not only were there two
stages, the Uredo or red rust, and the teleutosporic, or black
rust, but that a third stage, the /Ecidium, or cluster-cup, is
found in Fungiof the rustfamily. In 1865 in his “‘ New Obser-
vations on Uredinee’ and ina supplement published the fol-
lowing year he gave an account of his experiments in which
he showed that the cluster-cup growing on the Barberry is a
stage of the Puccinia, or blight, found on different grains and
grasses. These conclusions, warmly supported by some and
opposed by others, may be considered the starting point of one
of the most fascinating, and, from a practical point of view,
most important fields of botanical study, the metamorphoses
of Uredinee. Scarcely less important than the paper lastmen-
tioned is that on ctdium Adbietinum, in 1879, where a very
minute account is given of the different stages of the rust on
Abies excelsa and Rhododendron ferruginenum.
The researches of De Bary on the Potato rotare well known.
The Fungus which causes the rot was first described in 1845 by
Madame Libert,a Belgian botanist. De Bary, in 1860, de-
scribed the method of the germination of the conidial spores
and the production of zoospores—an important discovery,
practically as wellas theoretically. In his ‘‘ Researches,” pub-
lished in 1863, to which we have already referred, he included
an account of the rots, Peronosporee, which isa model of thor-
oughness and clearness. Besides these, he published in 1861
a paper on the “Present Epidemic Disease of Potatoes,” a
popular, well written sketch, and in 1876, ‘‘ Researches into the
Nature of the Potato Fungus,” in which he embodied the
results of investigations made at the request of the Royal
Agricultural Society of Great Britain, in which there is not
much added to our knowledge of the subject.
We can only refer briefly to De Bary’s other mycological
writings, which appeal rather to the specialist than the general
reader. Hecontributed much to our knowledge of the JZyxo-
mycetes,a group whose position is still doubtful, some regard-
ing them as animals and others as plants, and he published
numerous valuable papers on Safrolegnie@, Ascomycetes, and
other orders of Fungi. We owe to him the best summary of
what is at present known about Fungi. His ‘‘ Comparative
Morphology and Biology of Fungi, Mycetozoa and Bacteria,”
issued in 1884, and recently translated into English, is an ad-
mirable treatise on a subject which attracts more and more
students every year. Nor should we forget his ‘Lectures on
Bacteria,” of which asecond edition has been issued, although
the first only appeared in 1885. These lectures present, in
a most attractive and readable form, the present state of bac-
teriological science.
De Bary was an excellent teacher, as well as an original
investigator. In the lecture room he was not seen to such
advantage as when in his laboratory among a small number
16 Garden and Forest.
of earnest students. His delivery was not marked by any
rhetorical elegance, but his lectures were crammed with facts,
and his remarks were always to the point and full of sugges-
tions. His laboratory was a resort of special students from
both sides of the Atlantic, and the list of younger professors
who now point with pride to the fact that they were once his
pupils, is a very large one. Earnestness and thoroughness
characterized his work both as a teacher and an investigator,
and his geniality and sprightliness made him a great favorite
with all who knew him. W. G, Farlow.
Winter in Mobile.
je ordinary years the waves of low temperature from the
north are felt to some extent through the coast regions of
the Gulf States. Heralded by anorthern blast which clears the
sky, come a few clear frosty days, or occasionally a slight fall
of evanescent snow; then plant life takes a brief rest, and the
landscape, for a space, assumes a wintry look. Usually the
departure of the last Rose of summer, which lingers till mid-
December in our gardens, is followed by a rest in vegetation,
which awakes again under the breath of spring in late Janu-
ary. This year, however, the mean daily temperature of De-
cember was 50°and we had but two slight frosts. The an-
nual garden weeds, like Qenothera humifusa, Chickweed, Pep-
pergrass, and intruders like Veronica peregrinaand Lamium am-
plexicaule, kept up luxurious growth all winter long, and the
low Speargrass (Poa annua) covered waste places with its
sward of lively green, without any interruption. Several of
our late autumnal plants, like some species of Chrysopsis and
Aster, under cover of the woods, were found blooming long
after New Year’s. The Japanese plum, Lriobotrya Faponica,
began to bloom in early November, and continued to unfold
its panicles of fragrant white flowers until the close of the
year, mingling their perfume with that of the flowers of the
Sweet Olive (Olea fragrans). Violets, Candytuft, Sweet
Alyssum and Daisies bloomed abundantly, as did the Sweet
Olive and all varieties of the Camellia. Among the forest
trees, the White Cedar was in full bloom on the first day of
December, and the leaves of deciduous trees were still vivid
with their autumnal tints. Festoons of different species of
Smilax, loaded with berry clusters of gleaming scarlet or purple
black, were clambering over the broad leaved evergreens,
giving to the midwinter woodlands a tropical beauty, in the
presence of which it was hard to realize that ournorthern States
were swept by blizzards. In fact, itseemed that autumn joined
hands with spring, the year passing almost imperceptibly
from one to the other.
The January weather was still more remarkable, showing
the mean temperature to be only 54°. Before the end of its
second week, Vzburnum protensum, one of our hardiest exotic
shrubs, taking the lead among the harbingers of spring, was
followed promptly by an early Honeysuckle, with its fragrant
pale rose flowers, while Narcissus and Hyacinths were
adorning our flower beds. Later in the month the thermometer
fell to 20°, and the mean temperature for five days was
46°. But the slight injury caused to vegetation quickly
vanished with the sunny days that followed and plant lite
proceeded without a check until the present time.
In January, too, the Japan Quince blazed with scarlet bloom
and the Forsythia hung out its golden bells, and in the last
week of the month our southern Bluets, Houstonia patens,
were smiling in the pastures and pine barrens. In the forests,
the Cypress, the Red Cedar and the Swamp Maple were in full
bloom, as was the A/der along the banks of the streams, while
climbing over the bushes the loveliest of our wild vines,
the Yellow Jessamine, had begun to unfold its flowers.
Mobile, February r5th. Karl Mohr.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
Lelia albida, a lovely littke Mexican Orchid, with its ivory
white and fragrant flowers, is one of the best of all winter
flowering Orchids, and especially valuable because it can
always be relied on for Christmas bloom. A single spike is
beautiful, but imagine a mass of it three feet across, carrying
no fewer than 4oo flowers! Such is the sight I enjoyed the
other day in Sander’s Orchid nursery. There were two masses
of almost equal size growing on flat rafts, and suspended over
a water tank, surrounded by great blocks of artificial rock, in
a large intermediate Orchid-house. The two plants have to-
gether over 800 Howers, a charming mass of delicate white and
pink, for the lips of all the flowers are rose-tinted. The fra-
[Marcu 7, 1888.
grance, too, of such a quantity of bloom was delicious, and
pervaded the whole house. Both masses were in the same
state as when imported, and are supposed to be the largest
ever brought to England alive. This Lelia is not only one of
the prettiest of winter Orchids, but is one of the easiest to
grow, merely requiring to be placed on wood blocks or in bas-
kets, in what we call here a cool house, one in which the sum-
mer temperature ranges from 6c° to 70°, and not falling below
45° on winter nights. .
A new Angrecum, which proves to be one of the prettiest
ever introduced, was lately exhibited here for the first time by
the Messrs. Sander, under the name of A. Sanderianum, and
won the highest certificate of merit. It is small in growth,
having a few long, thick leaves of deep green, and about two
inches wide. The flower spike is about a foot long of a soft
fawn color and thickly beset with flowers. These are about
an inch across, with snow-white sepals and petals, and slen-
der white spurs some three inches in length. The flowers be-
ing so numerous, and of such purity, and the spikes so grace-
ful, the effect of the flowering plants is charming. I saw the
same plant in the St. Albans Orchid nursery by the hundred,
every one being in bloom, with two and three spikes on each.
It is therefore very floriferous, and is considered one of the
easiest to manage. The thicket of white flower spikes, all
gracefully drooping from suspended plants, was one of the
most pleasing sights I have seen among Orchids.
Percivai’s Cattleya, one of the newer varieties ot the poly-
morphous C. /adzata, heralded the flower season of this genus
Those who confine their collection of Orchids to the most
select must include this one, as it is not only the earliest
flowering of all, but one of the most beautiful. When
introduced a few years ago it was said to be autumn
flowering, but it has not proved to be so here, although
I am told that in America it flowers some weeks before
it opens here.
Cattleya was the chief feature, hundreds of plants be-
ing in bloom, exhibiting a great variation of color, some being
many shades darker than others. It is what one would call a
medium-sized Cattleya. The sepals and petals are a deep rose
pink, and the lip is invariably adorned with an intensely deep
blotch of maroon crimson, which looks like velvet. It is a very
free flowering kind, and with us is not at all difficult to grow
well.
The Snowy Masdevallia tovarensis and the fiery-looking JZ
ignea are two invaluable winter Orchids, both being in bloom
now. I have recently seen a plant of the white carrying sixty
flowers in twos and threes on each spike,and another of JZ
ignea whose flowers are orange scarlet, lined with crimson,
with forty flowers, evidence of how these gems of the South
American Andes flourish in England. I suspect that Ameri-
can Orchid-growers have some difficultyin growing these cool
mountain Orchids on account of your hot and dry summers,
but in any place where they succeed the two I have named
here should be grown in gardens as largely as their owner’s
accommodation and pocket can afford.
A beautiful green-house climber named Orera pulchella, from
New Caledonia, and entirely new to European gardens, was
shown here recently for the first time by Sir George Macleay.
The plant is nearly allied to Clerodendyon and in habit of
growth resembles the cimbing species of that genus. It has
long, slender branches, with deep green shining leaves, like
those of Stephanotis. The flowers are large, tubular and
wide-mouthed, pure white and with two protruding stamens.
They are borne in large, dense clusters, a score or more to-
gether from the leaf axils. It is extremely floriferous, as a
flower cluster is borne from alinost every leaf point. Itis
looked upon as a most valuable addition to green-house
plants, more particularly as it flowers habitually in the depth
of winter, when most appreciated. It will become a popular
climber, and the gardener who grew the specimen
exhibited, assures me that it is easily cultivated. He
grows it in an airy green-house trained to a ratter of the
root. It was brought froma garden in Algiers. The genus
Oxera has been hitherto unknown to English gardens, and
till recently botanists knew but one species, but now they
number ten. This climber is, unquestionably, one of the
most remarkable plants exhibited of late years.
Kennedya Marryatte (A. prostrata, var. major, D. C.), an
Australian climbing plant of the Pea family, has been for some
time the glory of one of the green-houses in Kew Gardens,
and yet it is to be found in few private gardens, though it is
such an old plant andso beautiful. I should be glad to hear that
it was more generally appreciated in America, No other green-
At Sander’s nursery about holidays this
oe
ee ee Se
E
LE:
MARCH 7, 1888.]
house climber can compare with it in midwinter, and the fact
that it requires little or no cultural attention, if once well
planted in an ordinary green-house, enhances its value. At
Kew itis planted out in free soil beneath the side stage; the
main stem is trained up the rafter on one side of the span
roofed house and down the one on the opposite side. The
shoots, varying from two to six feet long, are thickly wreathed
with bright scarlet flowers, like miniature lobster claws in
shape, among the pale green trifoliate leaves, and the whole
forms an exquisite floral curtain across the house. It should
not be planted out until it gets a good size, as it wants all the
light possible when small in order to get strong. When well
rooted and about five or six feet hig h plant it ‘out ina green-
house thatis well ventilated and has a minimum Winter temp-
erature of about 4o°F. [I imagine that your hotsummers would
suit the plant well and soripen the wood that its winter bloom
would be abundant. Besides flowering for several weeks in
succession in midwinter, it flowers in spring and summer ; in
fact, it might be almost called a perpetual bloomer.
The Crimean Lime (77//a petiolar?s) promises to become one
of our most ornamental deciduous trees. Though not new
Garden and Forest. 17
quite distinct from the Hungarian linden, as Sir Joseph
Hooker pointed out several years ago (Bofanical Alagazine,
t. 6737.) It is-one of the most promising ornamental
deciduous trees ever introduced into this country. Fine
specimens may be seen in the Central Park in this city.—
Ep;)
Rhododendron primrose is the finest yellow flowered variety
that has yet been obtained among the Javanese or Green-
house Rhododendrons which the Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea,
have for years been occupied in improving by hybridizing.
This variety, Primrose, is the result of intercrossing a small,
pale yellow flowered species named 2. feysmannia with a
hybrid variety with large well formed flowers of a yellowish
pink tint, called Maiden’s Blush, raised several years ago.
The new hybrid had flowers over one and one-half inches
across, with broad, overlapping petals, making a handsome
symmetrical flower. The color isa clear yellow, with nota
tre ice of the pink tinge of its male parent. It is considered a
‘reat stride in advance in the production of a yellow flowered
race of green-house Rhododendrons. W: Goldring.
Entrance to the Arnold Arboretum.
here, in a nurseryman’s sense, it is but little known and rarely
planted, though the other silver-leaved Lime, the Hungarian
lime (7° argented), is acommon stock plant. For many years
the Crimean Lime has been known in English nurseries under
the erroneous name of 7: Americana pendula, but its true
name is now being adopted. It is an extremely fine tree and
different from the other Limes. Its leaves are large, heart
shaped, of a deep green above and silvery white heneath.
The slender twigs are pendulous, and as the leaf stalks are
long and slender, , the whole tree is of a gracefully weeping
habit, of rounded outline and moder ately dense. Perhaps the
finest specimen in the country exists in Mr. Maurice Young
nursery at Milford in Surrey. This tree is about sixty feet in
height, has a huge head fifty or sixty feet through, and has a
diameter of stem of about two feet t, and yet it exhibits all the
elegance of growth of a young tree. It must be a fast growing
Lime, as this large tree has certainly been planted since
1838, when Loudon compiled his Arboretum. At that time it
was considered to be a varicty only of 7. argentea and though
cultivated at Odessa, was not yet introduced into England. .
S
(The Crimean lime is also generally known in the
United States as Tita argentea pendula, although specifically
Arnold
O coniferous tree excels the Hemlock Spruce when young
in grace of outline, softness of spray or brightness of
Entrance to the Arboretum.
color. As it grows older it becomes a tree of stately propor-
tions, with drooping branches thickly furnished with dark
leaves. When massed in northern woods or in the high
mountains further south it invests the forest with the charm
of a mystery peculiarly its own. North of the drift line,
wherever astream of water has furrowed out a deep gorge,
the Hemlock often takes possession of the aire making:
dark glens that are always attractive features in the landscape.
By a fortunate chance one of these banks with its original
growth unimpared still remains within the limits of the city ot
Boston and is included in the Arnold Arboretum, This steep
hillside is shown in the illustration above. From the road-
way which swings around to the right it is separated by a
ravine through which flows a small stream and its dark mass
of foliage and noble sky-line give a dignity to the entrance
which is hardly excelled by that of any park in the world.
Besides its effectiveness from an artistic point of view, this
representative example of one of our most interesting forms
of forest scenery is well placed at the vestibule of the sys-
18
tematic plantations in which are to be gr ouped specimens of
every species, and well-marked variety of the trees that can be
made to flourish here from all the cooler regions of the globe.
Shrub ‘Propagation.
HE old adage, ‘‘ What is one man’s meat is another man’s
poison,” seems especially applicable to the reproduction
of hardy shrubbery. Not only each genus, but often each spe-
cies, and in a few cases cach variety, requires a separate
method of propagation. For instance, the ordinary Snowball,
Viburnum opulus sterilis,is of the very easiest manipulation,
and strikes like a weed, and yet its Japanese relative, lV. plica-
Zum, is quite ee to handle. Most Spiraeas are easily
propagated by cuttings, and yet the nearly allied Zvochorda is
exactly the reverse. “All the Hydrangeas root readily excepting
H. guercifolia, which is stubborn in this respect. The ordi-
nary Quince emits roots with almost any degree of moisture,
but cuttings of the Japan Quince refuse to “do so under the
most advantageous circumstances.
Most common shrubs, as Weigelas, Spiraeas, Hydrange
Lilacs, Deutzias, Tamarisks, Vv ‘iburnums, etc., are ~best
propagated by soft-wood cuttings in midsummer, care being
taken to secure the wood as soon as it begins to harden, This
is the critical period, and on its observance de pends success
or failure. Cuttings 3 to 4 inches long, with two or three cur-
tailed leaves at the summit and without any regard to a bud
at the base, should be placed in shallow boxes filled with
firmly pounded sand. A perfectly close, warm atmosphere,
with an abundance of moisture and shade, will cause roots to
form in a short time, when they may be gradually inured to the
outside air. They will keep in the ‘boxes until the succeeding
spring if protected in cold frames.
The Japanese Snowball, V7burnum plicatum, from the pecu-
liar nature of its wood, requires a long time to root, and
should never be hurried nor deluged with water. The newly
rooted plants must be potted singly as soon as possible, and
permitted to remain in the house until autumn, when they, too,
may be wintered in cold frames. Soft-wood cuttings taken
from forced plants in winter root more quickly than those
grown in the open air, but the young plants must remain in
pots for a year. The weaker short- jointed side shoots always
make the best cuttings, and will grow just as rapidly after root-
ing as those struck from vigorous leading branches.
Any shrub having underground stoloniferous branches,
which are, of course, supplied with buds, should be increased
by root cuttings, especially where other cuttings are difficult to
strike. The Japan Quince, Oak-leaved Hydrangea, Sfir@a
opulifolia, Philadelphus, Rubus and Rhus are examples of
this class.
Our stock of most hardy shrubs is most cheaply increased
by hardwood cuttings, where an abundance of wood is obtain-
able, when the weather is not too dry. These may be cut
into lengths of eight or nine inches from last year’s growth,
tied into bundles, and either buried at once in the open eround,
or preserved in boxes of sand or moss during freezing weather.
At the earliest possible moment in spring, they should be put
into rows, in a well prepared piece of ground, and be well
tramped about the base. Exochorda grandifiora, Caly-
canthus floridus, Avsculus parviflora (Dw art Horse- chestnut),
noe Europeus, Spir@a ha Berberts, Mahonia,
Hypericum, and some others, seed freely, and thus afford an
easy and rapid mode of propagation. Seeds sown thinly in
the spring in shallow trames, and covered lightly with br ush,
will as a rule germinate quickly, and form nice little plants in
two or three yea
Divisions of large clumps is mainly practiced on plants
difficult to propagate by cuttings, as C/e¢hra, tea, etc., or
where an old specimen has to be removed, and two or three
smaller plants are deemed preferable. Nothing is gained by
planting so-called extra-sized shrubs. In the time usually re-
quired for such to recover from the removal, young thrifty
plants equal them in size, and surpass them in vigor. The
long tough stems of most old plants are averse to forming
new branches, even when cut severely back, which is not the
case with robust young stock,
Layering is gener rally a tedious process, and may not always
be recommended when a large supply of shrubs is needed.
Time is money to the nurseryman, and a few young plants
gained by bending down the branches of some old specimen,
are really of little moment. Still there are exceptions to the
rule. By setting out several old clumps of J/agnolia obovata,
burple-leaved Berberry, or Purple-leaved Hazel, the number
of shoots increase with the age of the parent, and readily form
roots after being nicked and covered firmly with suitable
earth at the base.
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 7, 1888.
Grafting shrubs is restricted to the skilled gardener, and is
worse than useless in the hands of a novice. Although easily
performed in Europe, owing to certain climatic influences,
with us it requires great care and attention. Rhododendrons
and Azaleas are necessarily increased in this way. To obtain
a supply of the newer and attractive varieties of Althaa, some
of our cultivators resort to ordinary whip-grafting. In two
years’ time, if not injured by the winter, the plants will be of
fine size, and suitable tor the market.
Foreign gardeners obtain a supply of the newer and rarer
varieties of Lilacs, and some other shrubs, by grafting on
small seedlings and covering them with a bell- glass, but in
this country it is seldom practiced, owing to the amount of
care necessary to make it a success. F. Hoopes.
Note on our Native Irises.
ANY old world Irises have long been and still are favorites
in cultivation, but our own native species have received
little attention from horticulturists, and most of them are im-
perfectly known even to professed botanists. As they are
among the handsomest of our wild flowers they deserve the
attention and study of cultivators and botanists alike. Of the
genus /zs there are over a hundred known species, of which
we have at least eighteen. These are equally divided between
the region east otf the great plains and that w est of the Rocky
Mountains. They may be grouped as follows
A.—Eastern and arctic species.
@. Dwarf; the only American species, excepting Z. hexagona,
which have either crest or beard.
I. LACUSTRIS ; shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan,
I. cristara ; of the Alleghany Mountains.
I. VERNA; Wooded hills and pine barrens, from Kentucky
and Virginia to Alabama and North Carolina.
&. The “£ t&ripetala group, having the inner petals very
short.
I. VRIPETALA ; pine-barren swamps of the southern Atlantic
coast.
I. HOOKERI; on the lower Saint Lawrence River.
lL. serosa ; a Siberian species found in Alaska.
ce. The # versicolor group.
I. PRISMATICA (/. ltretnica); the slender
species found mainly near the Atlantic coast.
I. HEXAGONA ; a tall crested species of the swamps along
the southern Atlantic coast.
I. CUPREA ; with dull yellow or brownish flowers, in swamps
of the inner districts from Southern Illinois southward.
I, VERSICOLOR ; the common broader-leavyed northern spe-
cies, from Minnesota to the Atlantic and southward. This
species is at present made to include all the forms that cannot
be placed in the preceding. Among those forms (often tall
and large-flowered) which occur in the Southern States, from
Virginia westward and southward, there are some which are
certainly distinct from the common Northern form, and per-
haps from each other. A comparison of living specimens is
necessary, however, to a determination of their “distinctive dif-
ferences.
B. Western species (not readily grouped by characters).
I. MISSOURIENSIS ; the only species of the interior, ranging
trom the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra Nevada, and from
the British boundary to Arizona and Colorado.
I. TENAX and I, TENUIS; a slender species of Oregon and
Washington Territory.
I. MACROSIPHON, I. DOUGLASIANA, and I. BRACTEATA; of the
Coast Ranges of Northern California and Southern Oregon;
otten low and slender, the flowers in the first two having a
long narrow tube.
I. HARTWEG1; a low narrow-leaved species of the Northern
Sierra Nevada.
I. LONGIPETALA; a stout several-flowered species of the coast
from San Francisco to Monterey
Few of these Western species have been studied from the
living*plants and they cannot yet be said to be well known, for
in dried and pressed specimens not only the delicate colors
but many of the other characteristics of the flowers are lost
beyond recovery. But Irises are generally of easy cultivation,
adapting themselves readily to a diversity of trec atment, and it
is much to be hoped that our enterprising florists and lovers
of flowers will try their skill upon these our native beauties.
They can thus have the satisfaction not only of working a new
field which promises rich floral rewards, but also of. giving
essential aid to the botanist in determining more accurately
the characters and limits of the different species. It may be
added that Prot. Michel Foster, of Oxford, England, is making
narrow-leaved
e
fe eS ge ee ee ee ee Se
‘
|
;
f
Marci 7, 1888.]
Fig. 4.
Lilium Grayi.
a special study of the genus, and for that purpose is endeavor-
ing to obtain roots or seeds of all our forms from which to
grow the plants in his own garden. Roots from any part of
the country, and especially from the South and West, will be
very acceptable and thankfully acknowledged, whether sent
to him, or to the Botanic Garden, at Cambridge, Mass.
Sereno Watson.
Lilium Grayi.*
PON the trip which Dr. Asa Gray made to the Alleghany
Mountains in 1840 he collected upon Roan Mt., in North
Carolina, a single specimen of a lily which was considered by
him to bea form of the common Lilium Canadense, and as
Garden and Forest. 19
such it was preserved in his herbar-
ium at Cambridge. During the last
ten years the same form has again
been found upon the same mountain,
though not abundantly, and it has also
been cultivated in the Cambridge
Botanic Garden. Though evidently
related not distantly to Z. Canadense,
yet it differs from it so decidedly that
it has been deemed deserving of
specific rank and has been honored
with the name of its discoverer. Its
more striking characteristics appear
plainly in the accompanying figure.
As contrasted with Z. Canadense, the
flowers are smaller, less pendulous,
and broader at base; the petals are
broader in proportion, less tapering
at the top, and not at all recurved;
and the leaves are perfectly smooth,
and usually broader and less narrowly
pointed. In ZL. Canadense they are
rough upon the edge and usually also
upon the veins beneath, and some-
times over the whole lower surface.
In this respect that species differs also
from L. superbum. The flowers are
dark colored, of a deep reddish
orange, uniformly dotted within with
rather small purple spots. In its
native locality it blooms in June. The
bulbs are like those of Z. Canadense
and Ly superbum, renewed trom year
to year upon a perennial rootstock,
and respond as kindly to a similar
culture. The species has been found
upon the Peaks of Otter in Virginia
and probably occurs in many other
places in the southern Alleghanies.
ese
*L. Gravi, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad., xiv. 256.
Leaves in whorls of 4 to 8, lanceolate, acute or
slightly acuminate, not at all scabrous; flowers
often solitary, ascending or somewhat nodding,
broadly funnelform, two inches long or less, the
petals oblanceolate, abruptly acute, not recurved,
deep reddish orange, spotted within.
American Thorns as Orna-
mental Plants.
HERE is a general impression
that the native Thorns are valu-
able as ornamental plants, and yet
they are rarely seen in private
grounds unless they grow. there
naturally. There are two reasons for
this neglect: the difficulty of trans-
planting and growing them, and the
perplexing variations of the wild
plants.
There is little difficulty in growing
the Thorns from seeds it the seeds
are stratified in sand as soon as ripe,
and if the operator is willing to wait
a couple of years for the appearing of
the seedlings. When young, the plants
are removed readily, but success is
rare in removing large specimens
which have never been transplanted.
The perplexing variations in the
Thorns are among their most attract-
ive features and render their cultivation all the more
desirable. These variations have reference to size, color,
shape, and season of fruits, to habit of growth and occasion-
ally to leaf character. In certain species which occur in
Michigan, notably in Crategus punctata, the fruit is so incon-
stant that it cannot be relied upon for specific characters.
Even yellow-fruited forms occur, In some individuals the
fruit is nearly as large as a small Siberian crab, and is borne
near the centre of the top, hanging in attractive maroon balls
from the horizontal spray. In other specimens it is scarcely
larger than a pea, and is borne much nearer the ends of the
branches, which, in this case, are usually more upright than in
the former variation. In short, so inconstant are the Thorn
fruits, that the observing traveler in these parts is constantly
20
attracted and bewildered by them. Many, if not most of these
variations, are not reproduced by seeds. In order to perpetu-
ate them the grower should graft from them.
Good ornamental-truited plants are not abundant. We find
that the large-fruited Thorns drop their fruits early. This is
due in part to the weight of the fruit and in part to the ravages
of the codling moth and the plum curculio. The fruits of the
best forms of the scarlet Thorn (C. coccinea) are especially
liable to drop. We shall spray our plants with Paris-green
water next spring. Of the Michigan kinds, the pear- -fruited
Thorn (C. tomentosa, ) holds its fruits best. Up to Christmas
all these ruby colored fruits remained erect, long after every
other sort had fallen. The fruits are small, resembling a
small rose-hip, and contain so little flesh that the worms “do
not trouble them. They are borne in clusters. Hereabouts
the branches of this Thorn are nearly bare of leaves where the
clustered fruit is borne, so that the autumn aspect of the plant
is singularly attractive.
Thorns are attractive in fruit, in habit, in foliage and in
flowers. Upon this classification I should place our Michigan
Thorns, five sorts, as follows, in ee of preferenc es
For Fruit: C. tomentosa var. pyrifolia, C. punctata (C.
tomentosa var. punctata), C. coccinea, C. Crus-galli, C. sub-
villosa (C. tomentosa var. mollis ).
For HasBit: C. punctata, C. coccinea, C. subvillosa, C. Crus-
galli, C. tomentosa var. pyrifolia.
FOR FOLIAGE: C. Criuts- alli, C. coccinea, C.
tomentosa var. pyrifolia, C. punctata.
FOR FLOWERS: C. coccinea, C. Crus-galli,
tomentosa, var. pyrifolia, C. subvillosa.
Michigan Avricultural College.
subvillosa, C.
C. punctata, C.
Ew ae Bailey.
Plant Notes.
Milla biflora, Cav., in its Home.—By an occasional glance at
horticultural journals, whenever returned to civilization, | have
been gratified to learn that this plant, which I have admired in
the w ilds of North Mexico, is being brought into general culti-
vation. JI had for two years seen it sc attered over the grassy
plains and foothills and even on the broader mountain sum-
mits about Chihuahua—the plant on the richer plains growing
toa height of two feet and bearing half a dozen flowers, in the
thinner, dryer soil of the mountain top less than a foot high
with but a single flower—but, not until I reached the high
plains about the continental divide and near the Cordilleras,
did I find it in abundance. Here on broad swells were miles
of prairie bespangled with its Rye stars crowding upon a
yellow-flowered Phlox and a purple Pentstemon. From a bulb
one-half to three-fourths inch in diameter, planted two to four
inches deep, it sends up a stem one to two feet high, bearing
one to five flowers. Under good culture the size of the bulbs
must rival those of some classes of Gladiolus, and a much
taller stem must bear an umbel of a dozen flowers, whose size
is proportionately increased. The fact that its flowers possess
much endurance, and succeed one another in the umbel dur-
ing many days, in the way of Agapanthus, must add merit to
the plant. It should prove hardy, with a light covering of
leaves, in American gardens, and would doubtless thrive
best if thus wintered in the soil. The plant propagates itself
by seed only.
Calochortus flavus, Shult. f—Associated with dfilla biflora
in the drier situations we find this, another liliaceous plant of
much beauty, as yet little known in gardens. On a branching
stem a toot high it bears two to four, or more, nodding flowers,
one to two inches broad, of rich crimson and gold and furred
within. In a Northern garden the plant has shown even in
one year much increase in its size and in the number of its
flowers, C. G. Pringle.
Caryopteris Mastacanthus, Sc elties of
late years this beautiful shrub, Hecedticed 4 “into Bande by
Veitch & Sons, deserves special notice. A native of China,
its hardiness was doubted at first, but it has done very well
in a dry, sunny position; as well at Baden-Baden as in Eng-
land. It is a much-branched shrub of a sturdy appearance
much hke a Ceanothus. Along the branches and branchlets,
wherever there is a leaf, a little bunch of small starry flowers
is produced, assuming an umbellate form and decorating the
whole shrub with deep blue. It flowers here about the mid-
dle of October, when flowering shrubs are quite as rare as blue
flowers. Planted against a low wall and left to grow at will,
all passers-by are struck with its beauty,
Baden-Baden,
Max Letchtlin.
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 7, 1888. _
(This plant was discovered by Fortune in Southern
China, and is well described in De Candolle’s Prodromus,
xi. 625. It is a native also of Japan, where it is said to
grow on the borders of old fields and on the summits of
mountains. It is from Japan that the Messrs. Veitch intro-
duced it into cultivation, and there is a prospect, therefore,
that it will prove hardy in the United States. A good figure
of Caryvopleris mastacanthus appeared in the Gardener's
Chronicle, xxi. n. ser., 149. It belongs to the Verbena fami-
ly.—Ep.)
The Red Mite on Verbenas.
HE two packages of Verbena sent by Mr. Peter Henderson
to the office of GARDEN AND FOREST, one containing
young, healthy plants, and the other those which have been
dwarfed and ‘crumpled by the attacks of the mite, illustrate
well the work of this pest. We could not find any full-grown
specimens, but only the very small young, which were of a
pale yellowish color.
The red mite, erroneously by some called the red spider, is
one of the few mites which spina web. When we examine
the mouth parts it will be seen how w ell adapted it is for cut-
ting into and sticking close to leaves; its jaws, like those of
seed-tic ks, form a spiny beak, with the points directed back-
wards; with this beak it can anchor itself in the soft parts of
the under side of leaves, while with the forceps-like feelers it
can eat its way into the leaf, or grasp surrounding hairs or pro-
jecting parts of the leaf and steady itself while sucking the sap
of the plant. Its presence may be detected by the slight web,
the blighted, pale patches on the leaf, and sometimes, as in
the e xaiples before us, by the striking alteration in the leaves
and the dwarfed appearance of the Plant.
A general pest of Plants, both
in the hot-house and in the garden,
when it varies much in color, most
of them when fully grown being
greenish to rust-red, sometimes
quite dark, the creature propagates
rapidly, and abounds most in hot,
dry seasons, moisture being un-
favorable to its growth.
As to remedies, it should be
borne in mind that all mites are
very susceptible to sulphur, hence
as a preventive measure laying
flour of sulphur upon the pipes
in the hot-house has been recom-
mended. It would also be well to
underspray the leaves of infected
plants with such a solution of
sulphur as would cause the pow-
der to remain on the leaves. Spray-
ing machines are the most efficient
means of rapidly and evenly diffus-
ing insecticides of all sorts, though
we have not heard of their use in
the hot-house. Finely powdered tobacco, or even Paris green
or London purple in solution, the latter carefully applied with
the sprayer to plants not in flower, would be worth trial.
Nearly all mites, like all insects, breathe through minute
openings in the sides of the body, hence any oily, or greasy
substance which, spreading over the body, will form a film
over the air-holes, will kill the creature ; it is soon asphyxiated
or drowned. For this reason greasy or oily substances are the
most powerful and sure insecticides. Oily emulsions, even
cotton-seed, or any other vegetable oils, could easily be used
in hot- houses ; kerosene emulsions should be used with care,
and only after’ experiments, so as not to injure the plant itself,
since mineral oils are most destructive to plant-life. Perhaps
underspraying with whale-oil soap or sulphur in solution is
the readiest and most available remedy, but it would be worth
while to experiment with the Paris green or London purple so-
lutions, also kerosene emulsions, which have proved so suc-
cessful out-of-doors; always bearing in mind that frequent
showerings with soap-suds or water alone, by which the leaves
are kept wet, tends to prevent undue increase of the pest. Mr.
Henderson thinks he has discovered a complete remedy for
this pest in the use of manure water. The increased vigor of
the plant under this treatment seems to-enable it to-outgrow
the ravages made by the mite.
Red Mite (Tetranychus tetarius ).
“Insects
9
From Saunders’
Injuricus to Fruits.
AS: Packard.
Marcu 7, 1888. ]
Cultural Notes.
Primula Obconica.—This is a comparatively new Primrose,
a native of China, and one of the sweetest and loveliest, and
so far as I know, the most free and continuous blooming
of the genus.
It was discovered in the neighborhood of Ichuny, Central
China, by Maries, collector for Veitch, of London, and first
bloomed in cultivation in the Veitch nurseries in September,
1880. In the Botanical Magazine (tab, 8582), 1881, it is figured
and described under the name of Primula poculiformis. In
The Garden, September 6th, 1884, there is an excellent colored
plate of it prepared from an English garden-grown plant.
Soon after its début into English gardens it found its way to
America, and so well has it behaved that it has become a fixed
favorite wherever grown. Indeed, so favorable an impression
has it made that one florist near Boston has made a specialty
of it for cut flowers, and the Boston seedsmen this year offer
it as their most important novelty.
We have it here and are exceptionally well pleased with it.
We treat it as a cool green-house pot plant, and find that it is
of the easiest possible culture, free growing and continuous
blooming, and may be treated as an annual or perennial.
Veitch speaks of it as “ flowering continuously and profusely
from spring to autumn,” and recommends it ‘during the
summer months for the open border.”” Some plants procured
two years ago have been in bloom continuously ever since
then and have more flowers now than they have had at
any time previous. I sowed some seed last spring, it germin-
ated in about two weeks, and the seedlings have grown and
flourished. They began blooming in August and have been
in full bloom ever since. :
The foliage much resembles that of P. cor¢usotdes, a Siberian
species grown in our gardens asa hardy perennial, but is not
deciduous. The flowers are white to pale mauve-purple,
showy and sweetly fragrant, and are borne in loose umbels on
tall scapes that rise well up above the foliage; and in thrifty
plants the umbels have an inclination to break off into whorls
after the fashion of the infloresence of P. ¥apfonica. The
blossoms last well as cut flowers, and the plants make excel-
lent house or window plants. During the summer months
our plants set seeds freely and without any artificial assistance,
but since winter began no seeds have set except where
artificial assistance has been given. WF,
Leptosyne Maritima.—A perennial composite with succulent
stems and much divided fleshy leaves, and large showy bright
yellow flowers produced singly at the ends of long slender
stalks, The plant is indigenous to ‘‘Sea beach at San Diego,
and on the islands.”
J have grown this plant for a good many years, out-of-doors
in summer and in the green-house in winter. Although it is
a perennial it is treated as an annual, it begins to bloom
when about four months old, and so long as it continues in
good healthy condition, so long it will continue in bloom.
Planted out-of-doors in summer it grows and blooms
prettily, but here it does not bear as fine flowers as it does in
the green-house in winter. Our plants arein six-inch pots, in
asunny green-house, with a night temperature of about fifty de-
grees, and they now have been in full bloom for more than three
months. This Leptosyne loves sunshine and will not thrive in
the shade ; and it very much dislikes a close, moist atmosphere
or an over-wetted soil.
The blossoms are well adapted for cut flowers and last in
‘good condition for several days after they have been cut; but
as they are apt to partially close up at night this weighs
heavily against them.
L. Stillmani and L. Douglasit are both Californian annuals,
pretty enough in their way, but small and short-lived, and
without anything of the bold, showy character of L. AZaritima.
Li
Carnations.—James Y. Murkland is the brightest scarlet we
have, but the flowers are not full and solid enough or the
plants sufficiently abundant or enduring to justify its use as a
main crop. Portiais our stand-by for scarlet. It is early, con-
tinuous, a great cropper and the flowers do not burst. Among
scarlets, E. S. Hill gives superb promise. The plants are
vigorous and the flowers unusually large. Marshal P. Wilder
has very large flowers, but they are short-stemmed and the
calyx bursts. My best white is Hinzy’s. Started early and not
pinched after June it begins to bloom in September and lasts
in good condition till February. Peerless, Snowdon and De-
graw do not do well here. Neither do Buttercup nor Astoria
among yellows. Lydia, yellow striped with pink, is the best of
its class. Columbia, after the same fashion, but with narrower
Garden and Forest. 21
stripes, is an abundant bloomer, but the flowers are not very
firm. La Purite, carmine, is a capital grower, and it blooms
freely too, but the flowers burst a good deal. Charles Hender-
son, tall and very copious, has carmine fringed flowers, rather
small, but of capital form. Kaiser William has violet purple
flowers of good form and striking in color, but many ladies
object to the shade. Petunia is a slender grower, but it bears
a good crop of rose purple and white full double, though often
ragged, flowers, which are much esteemed byladies. Crimson
King used to be our mainstay in its class, but it is beginning to
fail. Black Knight still hoids good. It is of slender growth.
It blooms sparingly in fall and early winter, but as January ad-
vances it waxes in strength. Gibbonsii is the largest and finest
of all our crimsons, but it is a late-blooming one-cup variety.
May Queen, bright rose, is a lovely, perfect flower, and unlike
most varieties of its class, the color of whose flowers soon
fades, its flowers retain their bright color for several days after
they have been cut. While Grace Wilder is a very pretty car-
nation and of a desirable shade of blush, the color soon fades.
This variety is often rather refractory. WF,
Brodica (Triteleia) Uniflora.—This charming Liliaceous plant
we grow in pots for decoration of the conservatory. For this
purpose it is very valuable, especially at this dull season of the
year, besides being very pretty. It flowers in great abund-
ance (as many as fifty flowers may often be had in five-inch
pots) and will lasta long time in perfection. We give them
the usual treatment of this class of Bulbs, viz. : good rich soil
in well drained pots, liberal watering while growing, gradually
drying off for the summer months and repotting in the fall.
There are two or three varieties of this species, one a pure
white. It was introduced from Buenos Ayres in 1836.
Crs
Grapes Under Glass.
UR early vinery contains, mostly, Black Hamburgh ; our
medium, Muscat of Alexandria; and our late, Lady
Downes, which IJ think is the best of all late grapes. Lady
Downes, Black Alicante, Gros Colman and other late sorts will
succeed pretty well when grown in the Muscat house, but I
much prefer growing them ina house by themselves. I have
Alnwick Seedling growing in the same house, and alongside
of, Lady Downes. It sets as freely as does a Black Hamburgh
and produces large blue-black berries and bunches of three
to seven Ibs. each in weight, but the grapes do not keep long
after they areripe. Indeed, I have, every year, to begin cutting
them before I have cut halfofour Muscats. Exceptfor exhibition
purposes I do not regard it favorably, but it will make a good
enough stock on which to inarch more serviceable sorts.
Black Alicante like Lady Downes always hangs on the vines
plump and fresh till New Year's. Pearson’s Golden Queen is
a good-looking grape, but of little merit except for exhibition.
After having given it a fair trial, both as an early anda late
grape, I have concluded to discard it.
Atter the fruit isripe in the Muscat house I bring Dendrodbz-
um Wardianum and others of its class into it to ripen their
flowering pseudo-bulbs. I also use the earliest vineries for
Chrysanthemums in the fall, but I never bring these in before
all the grapes are cut, and remove them before we begin to
give our vines theirannualcleaning. Onno account dol ever
allow any plants to be keptinor brought into the Lady Downes
house, as the extra moisture they would induce would be det-
rimental to the keeping qualities of the grapes, which we wish
to have in plump and good condition as late as possible—usu-
ally till January. I never permit any bedding or miscellaneous
green-house plants, apart from those mentioned above, to be
kept in any of the graperies under any circumstances, so as to
avoid all possible chance of the introduction of mealy bugs
or other insect vermin. ;
Of recent years we have discontinued the use of the syringe
in our vineries except in the case of our earliest house, and in
that we discontinue syringing as soon as the grapes begin to
color. After the fruit is cut from it, however, we give the
vines a few heavy drenchings of a solution of whale oil soap
and tepid water—about two ounces of the soap to the common
wooden pailful of water, and applied about sunset.
On account of the small amount of fire heat we use to help
ripen the fruit and wood, we are not troubled with red spider,
We use tobacco stems as a preventive against thrips, plac-
ing them on the border between the bottom ventilators and
the front row of pipes, and in this way use at one time a bar-
rel of stems to every sixty feet in length of house. We renew
the tobacco stems three times during the summer, and each
time have them fresh from the cigar factories. ;
David Allan.
22
The Lawn.
OW is the time to attend to the lawns. If they have been
top-dressed with manure or compost over winter, on
some fine dry day when it is not frozen, go over the lawn with
wooden-toothed rakes and spread the dressing equally over
the ground. Then repeat the operation and rake off all sticks,
stones and other rough things that may have been in the
dressing, but do not rake off any of the manure except where
it may be so heavy as to threaten interference with the mower
insummer. If this is done now, there will be no fear of the
grass bleaching under the manure where it has fallen in
lumps, but if delayed till the grass begins to get green it will
bleach, then sun-scald and look patchy.
Lawns that have not been top-dressed should also be raked
over with close-toothed wooden or iron rakes, so as to clear off
the loose dead grass and other dédris that would interfere with
the mower. In raking the lawns be very particular along the
borders of roads and pathways, where small stones may have
been thrown up on the turf.
If the dead grass is long or shaggy burn it off. This may be
heresy in the eyes of theorists, but experience has proved it to
-be good practice. The burning does not injure the crowns of
the 3 grass in the least degree nor destroy a particle of the nu-
triment on the surface of. “the ground, but it effectually gets rid
of the dried grass, which, if not removed, would clog ihe mow-
ers and weaken the young shoots in coming up.
If the surface of the lawn has any depressions fill them up
with loam. These may be the foot- prints of men or animals
made when the ground was soft. And some morning when
the lawn is wet and soft go over it with a heavy roller to
make the sod smooth and even; but never use horses in the
roller when the lawn is in this ‘condition, as their feet would
leave deep impressions in the ground, With two men anda
hand iron roller all the grass in the narrow places, as between
the trees and shrubs, can be reached, and in the open spaces
eight men to a large iron roller do capital work.
Many spots in the lawns will need patching.
or rocks, in former years, have been dug out, the earth may
have sunk so as to form a hollow; fill up such places with
loam, andresod. And where little hillock s occur on the lawns,
shave them down and replace the aed.
Sometimes weeds kill out the grass. The most destructive
of these pests are Yarrow, Mouse-ear Chickweed and Sorrel,
They kill out broad patches, and can only be overcome by
being dug under or cut out, and again resowing or sodding
the ground to grass. Crabgrass is almost invulnerable. So
long as we e keep our lawns ‘smoothly shaven we cannot sub-
due it, for in September and October it spreads its wiry stems
along ‘flat on the ground and perfects and scatters its seed for
the next season’s work. The only way to get rid of it is to
pasture the land or so encourage the lawn grasses to grow
that they shall choke it out.
Where the lawn is mossy, as in the neighborhood of trees,
orrather bare of grass caused by impoverished land or drought,
remove the moss with a sharp long-toothed iron rake and
loosen the surface of the ground ; then topdress thinly with
rich earth, and sow some red topseed on it, rake it in and roll
firmly.
Where it is needful to do repairing, as for example, to mend
the borders along the roadsides, to cover places caused by re-
cent tree removals, to turf over beds, mend banks about the
house, and the like, always use sod in preference to grass seed.
Where much sod-laying has to be done a sod-cutting machine
should be used, but in small places where the sods are cut
with a spade never let two or more men work for the same
piece of ground, as no two men cut sods alike. With the
ground properly prepared and leveled, and the sods all equal
in thickness, length and width, in laying them it is an easy
matter to make a neat piece of work. All sodding and seed-
ing should be done as early in spring as possible, in order
that the grass may be well up and have a good hold upon the
ground before the warm dry weather sets in.
William Falconer.
Where trees
DO NOT HURRY to uncover the Roses, Strawberries and
other plants that you have protected over winter. A few
bright, warm days in Marchis no indication that the winter has
completely retired; the frosty, searing winds of March are more
injurious to plants than is the zero weather of January.
GARDEN LABELS.—The frost will have thrown many small
labels out of the earth and we will now find them lying on the
surface of the ground. If this is neglected the wind will blow
them about. Stick them into the ground where you find them
lying.
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 7, 1888.
The Forest.
Forest Trees for California.
GLANCE at the forest map of California, given in
Vol. g of the Report of the Tenth Census, shows
that there are in the State but two compact bodies of tim-
ber; that of Pines and Firs covering the higher western
slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and the Redwood beltstretching
along the western portion of the Coast Range, from the bay
of Monterey to the Oregon line. The lower foothills of the
Sierra, and the plateaus and northern slopes and cafions of
the Coast Ranges, bear a scattered growth of timber; but
neither the quantity nor the quality entitles it to be counted
on for more than a scanty supply of firewood, after the
needs of the first settlers have been met. The great valley,
and the adjacent slopes on either side, are practically tree-
less, except along the courses of the streams, and on the
exceptional area formed by the delta of the Kaweah River,
in Tulare County, which is covered with quite a compact
growth of the White Oak (Quercus lobafa). A scattered
growth of the same Oak prevails in most of the Coast Range
valleys, outside of the Redwood belt; on the rolling lands
near the coast, itis intermingled with the California Live Oak
(Q. agrifolia) and the Black or Sonoma Oak (Q. Aelloggi).
Along the Sierra foothills it mingles with the Blue Oak
(Q. Douglas’); higher up it disappears and the Blue Oak
with the two mountain Live Oaks (Q. Wishkcent and Chry-
solepis) and the Foothill or Digger Pine (P. Sabiniana) pre-
vail. These, with occasional groups or individuals of the
beautiful Madrone (properly Madrono—drbutus Men-
stesw), afew Firs on the higher levels, and in the cafions
the large-leaved Maple (dcer macrophylum), the Box Elder,
the large Alder (A/nus oblongifolia), and last but not least
the Laurel (OUmbeliulirta Californica), constitute the com-
mon tree growth of Central California that, outside of the
timber belts first mentioned, might be expected to serve the
common uses of the deciduous forest trees of the Atlantic
slope. To these are added, in the northern portion of the
State, a part of the Conifers of Western Oregon ; while in
Southern California, a number of trees*mentioned above
are wanting, or but feebly represented, and ihe mountains
as well as the valleys are as a rule scantily timbered, and
largely quite bare of trees.
Iven were these trees mentioned as well adapted to the
uses of every day life as those of Eastern deciduous forests,
their relatively scanty occurrence within that portion of the
State best adapted to dense settlement would render the
maintenance of the timber supply. a question of .the most
pressing importance. But as a matter of fact the wood of
most of the native non-Coniferous trees, and especially
that of the lowland Oaks, subserves but indifferently any
purpose save that of fuel. Not only have the trees as a
rule a very low trunk, beginning to branch from seven to
fifteen feet above ground, and often losing the leader;
but even the ‘‘clear” wood is mostly so brittle and its
grain so uncertain that to split it into rails, clapboards or
staves is out of the question. When a tree is broken off by
the wind, instead of the long, elastic splinters projecting
from both ends, we find rough, jagged prea almost square
across. Of the California Live “Oak, the wood-choppers
sometimes state with mild exaggeration that it splits cross-
wise about as readily as lengthwise. The W hite Oak is
a little better, and like the Blue Oak is sometimes used for
fence posts; but even in this dry climate they show little
durability as such. Only the mountain Oaks can to a cer-
tain degree subserve the ordinary purposes of hardwoods ;
and no Californian tree, save perhaps these, could be suc-
cessfully worked into axe helves, hoe handles, or other
agricultural implements of any durability. The Maple,
Ash and Laurel are to some extent used for furniture and
inside finish, but not where strength of material is required.
Practically all the hard woods used in California must be
imported, and at present come from the Eastern States; a
small part, for cabinet and decorative work, from Mexico.
a eee,
;
.
*
FN ee,
first severe frost.
Marcu 7, 1888.]
It is thus natural that when trees have to be planted, the
preference should be given to such as are likely to supply
this great need, and it is equally natural that the first
thought should turn toward the familiar Eastern forest trees
that serve these purposes so well. ‘Thus the seeds of the
Hickories, and of the White and other Eastern Oaks, soon
found their way into private grounds and nurseries for
trial. It may be broadly said that the outcome of these
experiments (repeated since on the experimental grounds
of the University of California) has been eminently unsatis-
factory. The young trees not only refuse utterly to avail
themselves of the longer growing season for more rapid
development, but show a perverse disposition to branch
out low and form bushes withouta definite trunk; and when
pruned up with a view to forming a single strong trunk,
will sometimes return to first principles by sending up
shoots from below. I doubt whether there exists at this
time in the State, a specimen of an Eastern Oak or Hickory
that would not have been better developed almost any-
where east of the Mississippi River, at the same age.
Not all the deciduous forest trees of the Atlantic States,
however, behave in this way. Thus the Cork Elm, the
Linden, several Maples, the White-wood (Liriodendron)
and some others, develop normally, and some of them
somewhat more rapidly than in their native clime. But
none of these can properly fill the gap left by the Oaks and
Hickories ; and hence, substitutes for these have been
sought in other climates, notably in Australia, whose
rapid-growing Eucalypis and Acacias have already acquired
a wide distribution *%: California. Oddly enough, some
trees from diametrically opposite climates seem also to
adapt themselves to that of California, and most promising
among these, at the present time, is the European or
“English” Oak (Q. Robur, var, pedunculaa).
LE. W. Higard
«Growing Deciduous Forest Trees from Seeds.
WE sow all of our tree seeds in Spring, and as the following
rules are based on our own experience, they all apply to
spring sowing.
WHITE ASH seeds ripen in early October, and fall after the
They should be mixed with moist sand,
and not allowed to become dry before sowing. This same
treatment should be followed with all the native Ash family
with one exception, viz., the Green Ash, which hangs on
longer and will germinate if sown dry; all others will remain
dormant until the next season, if sown dry.
HarD MapLe seed ripen early in October, and require the
same treatment as the White Ash.
SorrT MAPLE seeds ripen in spring immediately before, or
about the time, that Apple trees begin to blossom. They
should be sown within a few days after gathering.
ELM seeds ripen in spring, and they require the same treat-
ment as those of the Soft Maple.
BLACK WALNUTS, and all nuts with a pulpy covering, may be
spread in thin layers, say six inches deep, and covered with
sods and litter to prevent dying during the winter, in which
‘case the pulpy covering will be easily disposed of in spring.
- Other Wutsand Acorns, together with seeds of the 7udip
tree and Basswood, are safer treated as recommended for Ash
and Hard Maple seeds.
CATALPA and AILANTHUS seeds are kept dry during winter
and sown rather late in spring.
BiRcH and ALDER seeds are kept dry, and sown dry early in
spring.
Locust seeds and those of all that family are kept dry
through winter and soaked in hot water immediately before
sowing.
All seeds with a fleshy covering, such as Apple, Cherry,
Mountain Ash, Cucumber tree, Buffalo Berry, Red Cedar and
Holly, are washed free from the pulp, mixed with sand and
sown inspring. We makean exception generally with the Red
Cedar and the Holly, as they never germinate evenly in the
spring, therefore we bury them in a rot-heap during two
winters and one summer, and sow the following spring.
POPLAR and WILLOW seeds are very fine and delicate, and re
quire skill, close attention, and continual moisture during the
early part of the season. Therefore it is cheaper and surer to
raise them from cuttings than from seeds.
Garden and Forest.
23
All seeds mixed with sand must be placed so that water will
not stand around them. Frost will not injure them, unless in
a position where they will freeze dry. A cool shed where
they are protected from sun and wind, will be a proper place.
Robert Douglas.
Answers to Correspondents.
Cutting down Chestnut seedling trees from sixteen to twenty
inches in diameter, I find them rotten at the heart. What is
the cause, and how may I know when the decay begins ?
oe)
The disease known as heart-rot, and under other names,
which produces a decay in the centre or heart of trees, mostly
older trees, is caused by various fungi, which attack the tree
either from the root or above ground, While the precise
progress of the diseasc is not yet fully understood, there seems
no doubt, that other causes predispose the tree for the attack
of the fungus ; a dying or dead root, or the stump of a broken
branch give usually entrance to the mycelium of the fungus.
Unfortunately, neither the beginning nor the progress of the
deterioration, which is the consequence of the fungus growth,
is readily observed, since the tree, attacked only in the old,
inactive wood, shows no outward sign of interior disease in its
general appearance, and the fungus may do its destructive
work for years without fruiting, by which alone it makes its
existence apparent externally. Whenever a fungus (fruiting)
appears on the stem, especially on the scar or stump of a
broken branch, or near the foot of the tree, it is usually the
sien of a heart-rotten tree. This disease is often the conse-
quence of injudicious pruning of older trees, and should induce
a more careful use of the pruning knife; shallow soil with
hard-pan subsoil, especially if subject to overflow, is also con-
ducive to this disease and necessitates earlier utilization of the
timber to avoid loss. Ds re ewe
Sharon, Conn.
Recent Publications.
Gleanings in Old Garden. Literature, by W. Carew Hazlitt.
New York: George J. Coombes, 1887. Reprinted from the
English Edition.
This book on Old English Gardens is a charming new
volume—one of that charming series called 7e Book Lover's
Library, which is issued in England, but also in New York, by
Mr. George J. Coombes.
It is a small volume, writtenin a bright and unpedantic style,
yet the amount of curious information it contains is immense.
Early herbals and physic gardens, kitchen, window and cot-
tage gardens, and orchards are described, together with meth-
ods of bee-keeping and wine-keeping. The herbs and vege-
tables, the flowers and trees which the Englishman of former
generations loved, are named. Bacon as a gardener has a
chapter to himself. The way in which Bacon and Shakespeare
spoke of the Strawberry forms the text for a delighttul little es-
say. Elizabethan gardening, the French and Dutch schools,
Evelyn and his “Sylva,” Walpole and the gardeners of the
eighteenth century—all these are successively discussed by the
aid of numberless citations from rare and quaint publications;
and, in short, nothing which relates to the craft of gardening
or the love of flowers and plants in the olden time has been
overlooked by this industrious yet lively author. The wide ex-
tent of his acquaintance with the by-paths of literature is
proved on every page, and a valluable bibliography of English
works on gardening published between 1603 and 1800 brings
his volume to a close. As an appendix he adds, moreover,
a reprint of Gibson’s ‘Account of the Gardens in and round
London,” which was written in 1691.
It should be explained that Mr. Hazlitt’s book contains small
reference to gardening as an art in the wider sense—to what
we call to-day Landscape Gardening. Individual plants and
the methods of cultivating them are his concern, and the old
books which would be most useful to the landscape gardener
have no place in his lists. But within its own field his book
seems complete, and it should find a place on the shelves of
every horticulturist who has a soul for the history and litera-
ture of his favorite recreation and an eye fora pretty volume.
Flora Peoriana. The Vegetation in the Climate of Middle
Illinois, by Frederick Brendel ; pp. 1-89 ; Peoria, 1887.
We cannot do more than call attention to this interesting
paper, the result of thirty-five years’ study of the vegetation of
a small area of about thirty-five square miles, by an excellent
botanist and observer of nature, who explains in his preface
that ‘it is intended to show how local floras should be treated
to be useful to phytogeography ; how notice should be taken
of soil and climate to understand the vegetation of a certain
24
floral district.” The hope that the author expresses that this
publication will lead to similar studies in other parts of the
country will be shared by all students of geographical botany.
Shade and Ornamental Trees Suttable for Cultivation in
Queens Co., N. Y., by William Falconer. Reprinted from the
Annual Report of the Queens County Agricultural Society,
1887 ; pp. 21.
This is not, as might have been expected from the title, a
mere list of trees hardy on Long Island, but a carefully pre-
pared essay on ornamental and street planting, with suggestions
of the best trees to be used in different situations and for
different purposes and with many sensible cultural direc-
tions which planters will find useful. It is pleasant to note
that Mr. Falconer is a firm believer in the ornamental value of
our native trees.
Trees of Reading, Mass.
ing, 1888.
Mr. Gilson has had the happy idea of photographing and
collecting historical information and valuable statistics in
regard to the most remarkable trees growing near his home,
and the still happier idea of allowing the public to share in the
results of these studies. Part I. of this work now published
contains beautiful heliotype portraits of five trees with
accompanying letter-press. The Sassafras No. 2, with a trunk
girth at the ground of toft. 3in., will probably prove to be the
finest specimen in the Northern States, and No. 4, the “Nehemiah
Bancroft Elm,” is as noble a specimen of the American
Elm as is often seen. Very fine, too, are a second Elm and
a wide-branching White Oak. The cultivated cut leaved weep-
ing European Birch, which completes this first series, seems
out of place in this company, and such a work might more
wisely be devoted to native trees. Of these there are still many
noble specimens left in different parts of New England, and
Mr. Gilson will confer a real benefit upon all tree lovers if he
will extend the field of his studies to other parts of the
country,
Part I.; by F. H. Gilson; Read-
Public Works.
Tree Planting on Boston Harbor.—An interesting report has
lately been made by Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted to the Com-
missioners of the Boston Department of Parks on the subject
of planting the islands and headlands of the Harbor. The
shores and islands are characterized by great variety of form,
and they are picturesquely disposed, making intricate straits
and vistas opening towards the ocean. One drawback to
the attractions of the Harbor is the bleak aspect of the bluffs
and islands, and it is plain that if they were wooded or clothed
with foliage or verdure of any kind the scenery would be
much more agreeable. On even the most exposed and rocky
of these islands stumps remain to prove that they were once
tree-clad, but since they have been cleared, a second growth
has been prevented by pasturing animals. Deprived of forest
protection the land has been losing fertility, as it has been
exposed to the winds and salt spray, and the Harbor is
every year being despoiled more and more of its original
beauty. It is thought that if trees of the species which for-
merly flourished here were planted with suitable undergrowth
they might help each other to endure the hardships of the
place. In a very few years these young plantations would
give a pleasing softness to the elements of the scenery which
do not contribute to its picturesque ruggedness. When the
plantations have attained a full-grown forest character the
broad masses of foliage will lift the skylines of shores and
islands, add to their variety of tint, and deepen their shadows.
Of course such trees as are usually planted in lawns, parks and
cemeteries could not be used successfully, but Mr. Robert
Douglas, who has had a wide experience in planting trees
under trying conditions, and who has studied the Massachu-
setts coast plantations made by Mr. Joseph S. Fay and others,
has faith in the project and offers to take a contract to carry it
out. Mr. Douglas will engage to plant the entire area,
some 400 acres in extent; to care for the trees until they are
well established, in thrifty condition and shading the ground
completely, so that they will need no further cultivation. Pay-
mentis to be made in installments, the lastone, sixteen per cent.
of the whole amount, due only when 800,000 trees are certified
by qualified agents appointed by the Park Department to have
been found on the ground well rooted and thrifty. By the
terms of such a contract the young trees would have the care
of one of the most successful planters in the country during
the most critical period of their history, and the risk to the city
would be reduced to its lowest terms. It is thought that $5,000
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 7, 1888.
a year, for six years, to be used at the discretion of the Park
Depariment, would be sufficient to insure a substantial success,
Flower Market.
New York, Alarch 2d, 1888.
There is a decline in the price of flowers, excepting in a few sorts
which appear unusually well grown. Weigela is the novelty of the
week, it having been forced by a New Jersey plantsman. It sells for
25 cts. along spike, and is highly esteemed by decorators. Hybrid
Roses are plentiful, but their average quality is not satisfactory. ‘The
choicest are sold for$r each. Baroness Rothschild and Mabel Morrison
have appeared, Selected American Beauties are also$1. The favorite
Gloire de Dijon Rose arrives in limited quantity and sells for so cts. a
flower. Puritan Roses sell for 50 and 75 cts., and La France from 25
to 50 cts., according to quality. Perle des Jardins, Niphetos and Sou-
venir d’un Ami are down to $1.25 a dozen, and Brides bring 20 and
25 cts. a flower. Maréchal Niel Roses are to be had for from 25 to
50 cts., the latter priced ones including a bud. Acacia has never been
so plentiful and low-priced. It brings one-third less than it did last
season. A good-sized branch may be had for $1, and 25 cts. will buy
what is termed ‘a spray.”” Carnations are selling for 50 cts. a dozen,
excepting such varieties as Grace Wilder, Buttercup, Dawn and Harri-
son, which, when long-stemmed, sell for 75 cts. a dozen. Spikes of
Mignonette, very large and beautiful, bring 35 cts. each, and smaller
spikes cost from 10 to 25 cts. Callas are 30 cts. each, and Longiflorum
Lilies from 40 to Socts. Le/iwm Candidum has just appeared, and sells
for $2.50 and $3.50 a dozen. Asingle stalk with two flowers and a bud
sells for 50 cts. Violets cost from 75 cts. to $2.a hundred. The latter
is the fancy price for those fresh-picked and brought in at certain
hours daily. French Marguerites are of two qualities, those small,
with fragile stems, which cost 25 cts. a dozen, and those cf twice the
size, on firm long stems, which bring 50 cts, a dozen. Double Tulips
are in more active demand than other varieties. Tulips remain as
last quoted, as do other flowers not mentioned above. Asparagus
plumosus is used more freely than ever before because in greater sup-
ply. A. ¢enuisstmus has somewhat given way to the former variety
in popularity. For yard lengths 4. plmosus costs $1, and A. tenuisst-
muts from 60 to 70 cts. Smilax brings 40 cts. a string. The cut flower
trade has been active since the second we2k in Lent, Jewish weddings,
dinners and luncheons having kept busivess stirring. Orchids are in
steady request for table decoration. They do not fluctuate in price.
They are to be ordered from all the first-class florists, but a variety is
only kept on hand by those who have growing collections. Prices
range from 50 cts, to $1 a flower, ye for sprays from $2 to $5.
PHILADELPHIA, AZarch 2d.
The demand for flowers the past week has been fair, for the
Lenten season. Jacqueminot Roses are more plentiful, prices ranging
from $3 to $5 per doz. Mrs. John Laing is becoming more abundant,
selling at the same price as Jacqueminots. Anna de Diesbach and
Magna Charta may be had in limited quantities at from $4 to $6 per
doz., but these darker shades of pink are not so popular in this city as
the more delicate tints, like those of Madame Gabriel Luizet or Mrs.
John Laing. American Beauty is preferred, when the darker colored
sorts are required. Asparagus ¢enwissimus is not popular here. This
is difficult to understand, because it is so delicate and lasts solong for
room decoration. For festooning about mirrors few plants are more
effective. Gardenias may be had in limited quantities at 25c. each.
Marguerites and English Daisies are in fair demand at 25c. per doz.
Perles have been overdone this season. Sunsets are more popular.
Boston, Alarch 2d.
The weather has been wintry during the week and while it continues
cold there will be little change in the prices of cut flowers. Some
varieties of Roses, especially La France and Catherine Mermet, have
been really scarce, an unusual feature of the market at this season.
Violets are abundant and consequently cheap. Pansies are also be-
coming more plenty and the quality was never better. Long stem-
med Carnations have seldom been seen here in such perfection and
variety as at the present time. They are gaining rapidly in popularity,
for buyers are beginning to appreciate them and are learning that there
are few varieties of flowers which will keep so long in a warm room.
Its own foilage is of course the best setting for the Carnation. Daf-
fodils, Tulips and Lilies-of-the-Valley are still offered in large quan-
tities. Great vases of Callas and Lifium Harrisit make a grand dis-
play inall the florists’ windows and are a reminder that Easter will
soon be upon us. Spireea and Deutzia, which are always grown largely
for Easter, are also beginning to come in in moderate quantities. The
best Jacqueminots and Hybrids can be had now at from $4 to $6 per
doz. La France, Catherine Mermets and Marechal Niels at $3. Perles
des Jardins and Niphetos at $1.50 and the small Teas at 75c. per doz.
Hyacinths and Tulips cost 75§c., and Lily-of-the-Valley and Trumpet
Narcissus $1 per doz. For finest long-stemmed Carnations 75c. per
doz. is asked, while Pansies, Mignonette, Calendulas, etc., can be had
at 50c. per doz, Callas bring 1§c. to 25c. and Harris’s Lilies 35c. each.
A fine box of choice Orchids with a slight sprinkling of Maiden-hair
Ferns, Asparagus and a few dainty sprays of Heath, makes a superb
gift and costs from $25.00 to $50.00.
Marcu 14, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[LImITED.]
Orrice: Tribune Buitpinc, 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 14, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
EpiroriaAv Arric.es :—The Future of our Forests. Hardy Rhododendrons. Sir
Joseph Hooker Tribute to Asa Gray.......+ SMOSH GATT AO MOD ONGT 25
“Laws alone Cannot Save our Forests.......--.++ sseeeeees ¥.B. Harrison. 2
Landscape Gardening, IIT... Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 2
The Suburbs in March...... Tas Geen tay Charles Eliot. 2
GalitarmianGhristmassMOld us jieceeensstren sees cions C. L. Anderson, M.D, 2%
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter..-..-..-.+...s0 eee William Goldring. 28
Palms for House Decoration...........-+-
A View in Central Park (with illustration)
Robert Cratg. 29
aie siaicieis ai siataigiy aie ei diwce 30
Piant Notes :—Lilium Parryi. A New Morning Glory. Some Hardy Wild
Flowers.. Phajus tuberculosus. New Vegetables...........- ere 30
Aquilegia longissima (with figure).......0.+eeeeeeee es ax
A Weeping Beech (with illustration) 32
Curturat Notes :—Chrysanthemums. Asparagus plumosu Chamecyperis-
sus obtusa. Magnolias. Covering Bulbs...... i 33
Streptosolen Jamesonii.
. Grapes for Home Use E. Williants. 34
Tue Forest :—The Hardwood Forests of the South Karl Mohr. 34
PANG A GLAICLECULIEM Si cmieiettetle xuincleine ofrin ain.bin ein ste sles <,0(01> nis)nie) eCe'vipisinleisi e's 5 4
Recent Pusiications :—Manuel de !’Acclimateur. A Manual of Orchidaceous
Plantsmbland buchtaen GONITCTEN cisco ees 26 cetivcecin's see 35
RRECENT PLANT PORTRAITS « ¢c0esesccseaercesseeres
PUBLIC WORKS: —A Park fOr LiSDOM sesesseceriveeseverecns tees seteeresscassenes 36
Mulching Shrubbery Beds.... .. Wi, Falconer. 33
Flower Market:—New York—Philadelphia—Boston... 36
TELUSTRATIONS—A Wiews In Central Parle. crceccrcee vecsisis erence cases vsanenes 30
meets longissima, drawn by C,H, Faxon. .ecccccesecesssccesscenseues 31
INEVCED INGE BEECH nsieetsicisisieh aie sieie's'e veinewie VAG dieid'siob. msiepielecnie dials Palserciseecce cs 32
The Future of Our Forests.
HE forests of the United States play an important part
in the economy of the nation. Their annual pro-
duct far exceeds in value any of our great staple crops of
the field. The gold and silver mined in the country is
insignificant in value compared with the money value of
the forest crop. It is difficult to picture the commercial
and agricultural ruin which would follow any general dis-
turbance of the productive capacity of our forests. No other
country could supply us with the material we should thus
lose, and we should lose, too, something more important
even than the material they yield. Forests are often much
more than storehouses of growing timber. They are essen-
tial in some parts of the country to insure the integrity of
- mountain slopes and the preservation of important rivers ;
and the destruction of mountain forests is invariably fol-
lowed sooner or later by serious physical calamities.
The forests of this country are rich, varied and extensive.
They still contain vast stores of many valuable timbers.
In some of the most important forests serious inroads, to be
sure, have already been made, and the practical extermina-
tion, from a commercial point of view, of some of our most
valuable timber trees, now seems inevitable. Much of our
country nevertheless is perfectly suited in soil and climate
to rapid and vigorous tree-growth. The forests which once
extended in an unbroken sweep from the Atlantic to be-
yond the Mississippi and which still cover the great
mountain ranges facing the Pacific, clearly show the ca-
pacity of this country to produce forests unequaled in value
by those of other parts of the world. It is only in the in-
terior portions of the continent, insufficiently supplied with
moisture, where the forests are scanty or altogether
wanting, that their reproduction and extension offer any seri-
ous difficulties. Everywhere outside the dry belt, forests
Garden and Forest.
25
can be grown and extended with ease and rapidity if the
simplest laws of nature are observed. And there is land
enough in the United States suitable in every respect for
forest growth, but utterly unfit for agricultural use, to sup-
ply with forest products any possible population this coun-
try can contain.
But in spite of these natural advantages, in spite of the
variety and value of our forests, all thoughtful persons
familiar with their present condition and the dangers
which threaten them under existing social conditions, must
be filled with apprehension at the almost inevitable de-
struction of their productive capacity.
Americans are still surprisingly ignorant in regard to
their forests andthe simplest laws which should govern their
management. This indifference is astonishing. We cut
recklessly and often needlessly; and often fail to cut
when cutting is essential. Fires are allowed to run un-
checked year after year through the forest or to sweep over
land upon which new forests would naturally appear.
Cattle and other domestic animals range at will through
the woods, injuring trees and exterminating seedlings. Our
civilization and our foresight as shown in the care of our
forests, is the civilization and the thrift of France two cen-
turies ago. In no other civilized nation of the world are
forests so recklessly managed.
Americans are impatient of any restraint or interfer-
ence in the management of their property. And yet unless
American land-owners, like the land-owners of nearly every
other civilized people—Great Britain now being the only
important exception—are willing to submit to laws, regu-
lating under proper official control the cutting of their
forests and the use of their land for agriculture or forest,
according to its quality, we must not expectto keep up our
forest supplies. These supplies are still enormous, but no
forests, whatever their extent or richness, are inexhaustible.
As one of the wisest observers of all social problems and
one familiar, too, with the requirements of the forest has
pointed out in another column of this issue, the condition of
public sentiment required to make a proper management
of our forests possible, will develop slowly. Americans as a
nation need instruction in the laws which govern forest
growth and forest management. This lesson they will not
learn readily or quickly, and it is probable that they will
not learn it thoroughly until compelled to by dire necessity.
Hardy Rhododendrons.
HE cultivation of hardy Rhododendrons, especially
varieties of the race which English gardeners have
produced by crossing the American Rhododendron Ca/aw-
biense with different Himalayan species with highly colored
flowers, like R. arboreum, has greatly increased in this
country of late years. Many Americans, probably, first
learned the beauty and value of these plants for orna-
mental gardening at the Centennial Exhibition in Phila-
delphia, where an English nurseryman displayed under
canvas a large and well arranged collection of the best
varieties. That we know so much about these plants here,
and have learned which can and which cannot be success-
fully grown in the United States, is very largely due, how-
ever, to the experiments in Rhododendron culture long
carried on by Mr. Hunniwell in his beautiful gardens at
Wellesley, in Massachusetts.
The cultivation of these Rhododendrons is very simple.
They thrive best in deep peaty soil, and when placed so
as to escape the stimulating influence of the warm sun of
early spring. Impatient of drought, Rhododendrons in this
country give the best results when planted in situations
which never become thoroughly dry in summer, like the
borders of ponds or swamps, or in which they can be
freely and frequently watered ; and in order that they
may bloom well they should not be placed under the
immediate shade of overhanging trees. No plants are
20
more easily transplanted. The cultivation of Rhododen-
drons, however, must always be restricted in the United
States to a comparatively small area. A limestone soil is
fatal to them. All attempts to introduce them west of the
Hudson River have failed, therefore, and even along its
eastern bank they have never grown satisfactorily. North of
Massachusetts the winters are too cold, while south of
Pennsylvania they cannot support the hot, dry summers of
the seaboard region. ‘They will probably succeed any-
where in Pennsylvania east of the mountains; but some day
it will be found that they can be more successfully grown
in the mountains of Virginia and the Carolinas, where
summer droughts and excessive cold are unknown, than
in other parts of the country. Here is the true home in
America of broad leaved evergreens, and here sooner or
later will be seen a garden of these hybrid Rhodedendrons,
only surpassed in splendor by that natural garden where
the native Rhododendrons spread in countless thousands
over the upper slopes of the noble Roan Mountain.
The question is often asked, Which varieties of these
hybrids are hardy? The following list embraces the
best of those which have for many years proved perfectly
hardy in the climate of eastern New England: Everestia-
num—with rosy lilac flowers—one of the oldest and
freest blooming of the whole race, unequaled in habit
and beauty of foliage ; Lady Armstrong, pale rose;
Charles Dickens, dark scarlet; Album elegans and Album
grandiflorum, pale blush; Charles Bagley, bright red;
Delicatissimum, later in flowering than many of the others
—the flowers blush, tinged with pink towards the margin of
the petals ; King of the Purples, a free blooming variety ot
good habit, with rather dark purple flowers ; H. W. Sargent,
a very late bloomer with large trusses of crimson flowers,
but rather defective in habit; Roseum elegans, an old and
long tried variety of excellent habit; Purpureum grandi-
florum; Mrs. Milner, crimson; Alexander Dancer, the
flowers fine and large, rose, with a light centre, but the
habit of the plant not good; Hannibal, a late blooming
variety with rose-colored flowers.
There are other varieties no doubt which are hardy
in Pennsylvania, or on Long Island where a great deal
of attention has been given to the cultivation of these
plants.
Sir Joseph Hooker, of all his contemporaries, can speak
with the greatest authority of the position of Asa Gray, in
the hierarchy of botanists. The friendship of these two
men, the one English the other American, extended over
a period of fifty years. The sympathy which existed
between them was never broken, and to no one else did
the American botanist write so constantly or so freely.
The following extract, therefore, from a sketch of our
associate's life, by his English friend, printed in a recent
number of Watwre, is of peculiar interest :
“When the history of the progress of botany during the
nineteenth century shal! be written, two names will hold high
positions—those of Professor Augustin Pyrame De Candolle
and of Professor Asa Gray. In many respects the careers of
these men were very similar, though they were neither fellow-
countrymen nor were they contemporaries, for the one sank
to his rest in the Old World as the other rose to eminence in
the New. They were great teachers in great schools, prolific
writers, and authors of the best elementary works on botany
of their day. Each devoted half a century of unremitting la-
bors to the investigation and description of the plants of conti-
nental areas, and they founded herbaria and libraries, each in
his own country, which have become permanent and quasi-
national institutions. Nor were they unlike in personal quali-
ties, for they were social and genial men, as active in aiding
others as they were indefatigable in their own researches ; and
both were admirable correspondents. Lastly, there is much
in their lives and works that recalls the career of Linnzus, of
whom they were worthy disciples, in the comprehensiveness
of their labors, the excellence of their methods, their judicious
conception of the limits of genera and species, the terseness
and accuracy of their descriptions, and the clearness of their
scientific language.”
Garden and Forest.
[MarcH 14, 1888.
Laws Alone Cannot Save Our Forests.
HE greatest obstacle in the way of a rational and
practical treatment of the subjects and interests con-
nected with Forestry in this country is the lack of thought
among our people. There are reasons for this want of
thought, and it is well to understand the facts of the exist-
ine condition of things. Most Americans are busy in
making a living, and their energies are entirely applied
and absorbed in business pursuits, so that they have no
force or energy which remains unemployed, or which can
be spared from the occupations which already engage their
powers. There are many other persons who have not
been taught or trained to think on any subject. They
have no ability to represent to themselves, by the picture-
making power of the imagination, any subject which has
the least complexity, or any scheme of facts and of their
relations to each other. They cannot consider such a sub-
ject, cannot compare or classify facts, or draw inferences
from them, This want of the power of thought is one of
the chief hindrances to our advancement in civilization.
The only constituency to which we can at first directly
appeal in the effort for an intelligent treatment of Forestry
subjects, is the class of men and women who have some
power of thought, and whose personal force is not already
wholly employed in affairs. They have some ability to
direct their faculties to new topics, and have enough pub-
lic spirit, or regard for the general welfare, to incline them
to give attention to whatever can be shown to have vital
relations to the interests of the community or of the nation.
In order to reach this class of persons there must be a
clear, vital, coherent, systematic and continuous presenta-
tion of the facts and essential relations of the subject in
hand, with such variety of illustration, application and re-
currence to the original central object and purpose as shall.
produce in the minds of readers a vivid and abiding im-
pression and conviction of the true nature and importance
of the doctrines which are to be inculcated, and of the
practical objects which such teaching is intended to pro-
mote or secure. A vital, intelligent, comprehensive and
iterant treatment of the subject of Forestry, and of the in-
terests connected with it, is greatly needed.
Such treatment as this topic has hitherto received in this
country has been mostly fragmentary, incoherent and
vague. As it is usually handled the whole matter is too
much ‘‘in the air.” There is a good deal of hammering
upon the importance of the general subject, without suf-
ficient observation and comparison of concrete facts and
conditions here in America. The study of European
methods and results in Forestry by competent men is, of
course, highly valuable, but it is not enough. It is not
even the most important thing for us. Nothing can be
very useful to us which is not based upon careful study of
the facts and conditions which are peculiar to this country.
We should have in time a system of American Forestry—
we must have it, indeed, if we are to avoid serious disas-
ters to our national interests and civilization. We cannot
import and adopt ready-made European systems or meth-
ods. The Forestry of this country must be the product of
erowth which has, as yet, scarcely begun. It will be de-
veloped by continued and widespread observation, and by
constant comparison of the results of practice. It is neces-
sary to remind ourselves that no useful system of Forest
management can be originated or created by legislative
enactment. There must be considerable special knowl-
edge, and considerable national good sense regarding the
needs of this country, behind Forestry laws, or they will
be not only useless but mischievous.
The work required to effect any considerable actual ad-
vance in Forestry in this country must be long and diffi-
cult. Such objects can be attained only by the development
of such intelligence, thought and sentiment, in a considera-
ble proportion of our population, as shall secure a sensible
and practical treatment, in individual and collective action,
of the whole matter of the relations of Forests and Trees to
Marcu 14, 1888.]
_that he gets the chance to be an artist.
human life and welfare. Whatever tends to a better un-
derstanding or appreciation of the value of Trees in their
economic, sanitary or eesthetic uses and influences, will
help toward the attainment of these objects.
J. B. Harrison.
Landscape Gardening.—III.
S | ‘HE landscape gardener, we have seen, has a great
advantage over other artists in that Nature is his
helper as well as his teacher. His work is the same in
substance as her own, which means that it includes in
equal measure the charms of color and of form, of atmo-
sphere and of light. It is alive, and so there lie within it
possibilities of infinite variation with their sequence of
ever new delights for eye and mind. And it may be as
perfect in execution as in general effect, for Nature will
give all those finishing touches which are impossible to
the hand of man.
But does not this partnership with Nature deprive the
artist of that most essential of all opportunities—the
chance for self-expression? Art, after all, is not imitation
but creation ; and creation implies the exercise of the indi-
vidual will, the revelation of the personal thought. Some-
times the artist begins within himself, sets his own ideal
and finds his own conception, taking from Nature only his
brute materials. The architect takes stones from her and
the musician takes sounds ; but she suggests no houses or
cathedrals, no symphonies or chorals—scarcely so much
as a shelter for the human body, scarcely more than hints
of melodies and harmonies. At other times nature furnishes
ideals and patterns but not the methods by which they
must be transmuted into different materials. She shows
us what the beauty of woman ought to be, but we must
find out for ourselves how to paint it on flat canvas,
how to reproduce its vitality and charm in colorless marble.
Not in the one case more than in the other—not in the arts
of representation more than in those of construction—can
the artist copy. He must always interpret. ‘lo interpret
means that he must invent; to invent means that he must
use his mind ; and, in truth, it is simply in using his mind
The less the
beauty of his work depends upon mere imitative efforts, the
more it depends upon qualities for which he is himself re-
sponsible—upon expression—the higher may be its rank as
a work of art; and the more personal is the quality of its ex-
pression—the more unlike it is to the expression which other
men have put into their works—the higher is his rank as
an artist. Now it will be the expression of emotion, told
through human forms and faces in moods of supreme in-
tensity, moral, intellectual or physical. Now it will be the
expression of a feeling for certain peculiar moods and
effects of inanimate nature, or of a delight in some par-
ticular combination of colors or some especial kind of form;
and again, the expression of a craftsman’s pleasure in the
mere problem: How can this richness of brocade, this
sheen of marble, this softness of hair or cheek, be most per-
fectly translated into paint’ It matters not what a man
shows us as having been present in his heart while his brush
was at work ;—so long as he shows us something that
was there, he is an artist. If he could make a literal, im-
personal copy from nature it would not be worth the form
it imitates. The only valueit could have would be his-
torical, not artistic—would be a permanent record of the
perishable model. To make his work worth while as art,
the artist must even the balance by putting himself into
the scale.
If the landscape gardener were indeed denied the chance
to do this he would merely be a more or less skillful
artisan. But he is not deniedit. In fact he cannot escape
ifhe would from the necessity to use or abuse his oppor-
tunities for self-expression. It is no truer to say of him
than of the painter or the sculptor that he copies nature
Though they simply work after her and he works in and
with her, his aim is the same as theirs—to re-unite her
Garden and Forest. 27
scattered excellences. Theoretically he could copy her in
a very wide sense of the word; but practically he can
copy litthe more than her minor details and her exquisite
finish of execution. Composition of one sort or another is
the chief thing in art, and the landscape gardener’s compo-
sitions are and must be his own. T hrough them he may
express his own ideals, and through them he may reveal him-
self either as having or as not having clear ideals, either as
knowing or as not knowing how t they. may be realized. Ifhe
is Nature's pupil he is also her master. ‘‘ Nature,” writes
Aristotle, “has the will but not the power to realize per-
fection.” Turn the phrase the other way and it is just as
true: ‘‘She has the power but not the will.” In either
reading it means that the man can aid and supplement
Nature’s work. He can bend her will in mee ways to
his though he must have learned from her how to do it.
He cannot achieve anything to which her power is un-
equal, but he can liberate, assist and direct that power. He
could even remove her mountains if the result were worth
the effort; and he can blot them out of his landscape by
the simplest of devices—by a clump of trees and shrubs
which she will grow for him as cheerfully as though they
were to hide some deformity of his own creation. He
cannot make great rivers; but he can make lakes from
rivulets and cause water to dominate in a view where she
had meant green grass to rule. And he can even teach her
to perfect details of decoration for whose beauty scarcely
a hint is found in her unassisted work. All ‘‘florist’s
roses,” for example, are not productions to be proud of ;
but there are some in which, sterile though they be, Nature
herself may grudge man’s skill its part.
MM. G. van Re nsselaer.
The Suburbs in March.
hs the suburban districts of our Northern cities this is the
most dreary season_of the year. The snow is gone or re-
mains only in patches, the grass is dead and colorless, the
houses in their forsaken inclosures seem to shiver—all is
dishevelment and nakedness fora whole month at least. In
the close-built city there is no such unhappy state of things.
In the open country even March has its beauty. What is the
cause of the repulsiveness of the half-way region at this sea-
son and what is the remedy ?
Plainly we cannot throw the blame upon the severity or fickle-
ness of our Northern climate, for how then could the country-side
have any beauty about itat this time 2? The cause lies rather with
ourselves, who have built streets and houses through the fields
and woodlands, have in this way destroyed the original beauty
otf the land, and : ive as yet done little or nothing to win back
what we may of In these fields and pastures grew a great
variety of trees, ee and herbs, many of which attained
their perfection ‘only in summer, while others were especially
striking in winter. Of the former our public and _ private
grounds hold far too few—our sins of Omission are surpris
ine—but of the latter almost none. Where can be seen plant-
ed about homes the richly-colored Red Cedat or prostrate
Juniper, or Mountain Laurel, or Bayberry with its clustered
gray fruits, or red-twigged Wild Roses, or yet redder Cornels,
or golden-barked Willows? How seldom appear White
Birches or any of the American Firs and Spruces! Where do
any ot the trailing evergreens cover the ground at the edges ot
shrubberies? Where are the houses which have bushes
crowded about their bays and corners, as the wild bushes
crowd the field walls, till they seem to be fairly grown to the
eround? Where is any suggestion of those thickets of
mingled twigs and evergreen which so adorn the pastures even
in March? Speaking generally, we have reduced our bits ot
eround to mere planes of shaven grass, from which the house
walls rise stiffand unclothed. We expend thousands of dol-
lars upon the shell of our abode, and indefinite sums upon its
interior appointments and decorations; but outside we gen-
erally leave it all bare and unbeautiful, and spend only for the
Qi audy brightness of Geraniums in summer. No wonder
Mz urch is ugly in the suburbs !
The remedy, then, is the planting of appropriate and nu-
merous shrubs and small trees. Beware of the ‘choice speci-
mens,” many of which will need to be protected by boards or
straw during five months of the year, and avoid the common
mistake of “clothing the ground with single plants. This, at
28
any rate, is not the way to make March door-yards less bleak.
Rather may we spend the same money in planting mixed and
somewhat crowded thickets, here of high and there of dwart
bushes, along the fences and close about the house. Toclothe
the nakedness of the ground and of the fences and_ buildings
should be our aim. Large trees, such as our suburbs are
sometimes full of, cannot do this, neither can scattered speci-
mens of smaller sorts, neither can sparse, stalky shrubberies ;
we must set our bushes thickly, so as to hide the dirt beneath
them, and we must either carry the grass under them as far
as possible or else cover the bare earth with trailing plants.
This done, our yards and grounds will appear well furnished
and sheltered, and no coming March will ever chill us as this
present month has done. Moreover, when summer comes,
we shall find we have exchanged our Geraniums for banks of
foliage set with a succession of flowers which are much more
interesting and will bloom season after season. Where house-
lots are small and it is desired to spend a comparatively small
amount on each, the neighbors could form clubs and secure
plants at wholesale rates; but under any circumstances the
cost of such planting is by no means so great as to excuse us
from attempting it.
Boston, March, 1888. Charles Eliot.
California Christmas Flora.
FTER twenty successive winters on the northern shore of
Monterey Bay, Cal., 1 may claim the privilege of saying
something about our Christmas flora.
The winter season of this region is not so clearly defined as
in more northern latitudes, The leaves of our deciduous trees
forget to loosen and fall, and almost imagine themselves
evergreen. And indeed some of them have carried their
imaginings So far as to retain, ofttimes, the old leaves until the
new ones are fully grown.
At Christmas time, however, Nature has called a halt. Some
of the spring buds that were caught in the dry season, which
begins about the middle of June, “have expanded with our fall
showers and have bloomed regardless of the season, so that
at the close of the year there is “often a protusion of many kinds
of flowers—wild as well as cultivated. They are the arrear-
ages of the past season, and not the beginning of the coming
year.
Some years ago the editor of a horticultural journal request-
ed me to make a list of wild flowers in bloom on January Ist.
1 found about forty species. Since that time I have noticed
that a majority of our native plants are liable to bloom at that
season ; first, from delayed buds on account of the dry sea-
son, and second, from premature spring buds forced out by
the warm early rains and the mildness of the season. This is fre-
quently noticed in Pear and Apple trees—they being strangers
to our climate, seem to lose their reckoning and ‘send forth
flowers out of the proper season—although such a phenome-
non occurs at times in more northern regions and away from
the sea coast.
So many, then, of our plants, both native and introduced,
may be found blooming at Christmas-time, that a list would be
very long. In fact, there are but few which might not be found
in bloom in favorable years and localities.
Consequently we have at Christmas, and later,
Raspberries and sometimes other small berries. Grapes grow
and ripen untilthattime ; Tomatoes likewise. Most of the table-
vegetables are young and tender even throughout the entire
winter. Some ‘tropical trees, and those brought from south of
the equator, take on an active growth. And even early in
January some of our indigenous “plants send forth their flow-
ers, especially those in warm, sheltered places, such as the
Willows, Alders and Hazel. One Willow (Sa/ix Jlavescens) is
quite a surprise in” January, when the trees, bearing staminate
flowers, are usually out in full glow, like beautiful yellowish-
white clouds, on the brushy mountain sides. A Lily (Scodzopus
Bigelovit) to be found in bloom must be sought in January ;
and me iny times have I wondered where and when the flower
might be found, until I discovered it thus early in the season
and before its beautifully spotted leaves were fairly expanded.
The growth of our marine flora is similar to that of our land
plants at Christmas-time. If storms have not raged severely
we find many nice specimens of young plants in vigorous life
and maturing fruit. And the ‘‘moss-gatherer” is often well
repaid by the collections made at this season. The tempera-
ture of the sea is not much below that of summer; and but
for the storms, vegetable life in our bay would continue almost
uninterruptedly all the year.
A little further along and the accounts for the past year
Strawberries,
Garden and Forest.
[MarcH 14, 1888,
are all balanced, and new leaves are opened for the new
year. This change takes place at February Ist. That is our
true beginning of spring. As the days grow longer the heat of
the sun is stored in the fields and mountain sides, to be ra-
diated during the clear nights, and the growth of vegetation
advances slowly but surely t to its culmination in May and June,
The opening of spring flowers, however, is not as rapid as in
the Northern States. With our cool nights and not very warm
days, they come forth coyly, until quite sure that the earth has
passed the tossings of Taurus and the stings of Scorpio. Then
in May the lingering, bashful, yet beautiful flowers that slept
over the Christmas- time, gladden the hearts of all lovers of
these, the most lovely of Nature’s gifts.
Santa Cruz, Cal. C. L. Anderson, M.D.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
Our flower markets make just now a beautiful display with
forced flowering bulbs especially. Every market-garden around
London is a flower show in itself, I went through one of the
largest yesterday. I was astonished at the brilliant scene.
One house a hundred yards long was filled with nothing but
Tulips, mostly single sorts, the favorites being scarlet, yellow-
edged, Duc Van Thol, also the white, rose and yellow Van Thol.
‘These make up the bulk, and of double sorts which are not
popular in the market, the leading varieties in this nursery
were the Tournesols, scarlet and yellow. To give some idea
of the Tulip trade alone | may mention that one grower
forces nearly 200,000 bulbs. They are packed in shallow
boxes as closely as they can be laid and covered with light soil.
When the buds are ready to burst the bulbs are either. potted
four or five together, with terns, orthe flowers are cutand sent
to market. Another house was filled with Lilies-of-the-Valley
also in flat boxes, the finest German crowns being preferred to
English, as they throw longer spikes. The beststrain of the
flower in the market is the Victoria, which is controlled by a
growerin the Thames Valley, where this particular sort grows to
a great size. The spike is longer, the bells larger and the foliage
more robust than in the common kind. Throughout the
winter till Lilies-of-the-Valley flower outside, a lucrative trade
is done in London with these flowers, which are far excellence
the favorite for button-hole bouquets. In this same nursery I
remarked the great abundance of the old white Azalea, repre-
sented by old plants that had done duty for-years and had been
hacked every year to the bare stem. Of course the plants
were unsightly, but they were part of the working capital of
the concern and yielded abundant and profitable blooms.
Yourfamous Lilium Harrisii, or,asitiscommonly called here,
the Bermuda Lily or Easter Lily, is becoming very popular
among the market people. They cannot, however, get
enough of it at their price. A ship load of bulbs could easily
find sale about our London market- gardens. I saw a grower
the other day who makes a specialty of L. longifiorum, of
which ZL. Harrisii is, of course, only a more floriferous and
dwarfer variety, and of Calla LEthiopica (Nile Lily we call it),
expressly for Covent Garden market on Easter eve, Aprilist. He
grows thousands of each and this represents much capital. His
aim is to get them in flower on March 31st to the day. Hedoes
not want to be made an April-fool, so ie has to watch the ba-
rometer. Last week was Italian weather—sunny and warm—
and he had to put the temperature down ; this week is Labra-
dor weather, with frost and snow ; he must put it up again or
his blooms will not open when wanted. His struggles with
our climate are rather comical to the looker-on, but the matter
is a serious one to him from a business point of view.
The Orchid men are just now sharply watching their flowers,
especially those on imported plants that have not yet bloomed
in this country. They anxiously await the opening of every
spike, for often a plant bought for a crown at auction, bya
peculiar arrangement of its flower spots or a deepening of its
color beyond the ordinary, will bring £50. Some time ago
it was said that Orchids were declining in popular favor, but
the contrary is the case. New buyers may be seen at the auc-
tions, men who never grew any ‘plant in their green- -houses
rarer than a Scarlet Pelargonium, and they are turning out
everything to give place to the popular favorites. This ex-
plains how such enormous Orchid establishments as those of
Veitch, Sander, Bull, and Williams are kept going. Butnotonly
are the growers paying increased attention to Orchids, but
botanists are influenced by the fashion (I was going to say
craze). At Kew one of the assistants at the Royal Herbarium
has been detailed specially for the work, which, however, is
ROM A BRONZE MEDALLION BYA.ST GAUDENS
N AND F Vanow 7TH
EN AN RE V
PLEMENT
ieee
MARCH 14, 1888. ]
chiefly that of correcting and checking the nomenclature, and
tripping up the veteran German protessor, Dr. Reichenbach,
who fora generation past has held the monopoly of naming
Orchids. One of our Orchid specialists attached to the St. Al-
bans establishment has been taking notes in the Orchid collec-
tions about New York and has printed them in the Gardener's
Chronicle, the result being that our growers here do not now
think that Americans are such infants in Orchid culture as
was fancied. Some of your collections there described
would, I imagine, take equal rank with the best in England.
The Royal Horticultural Society held its periodical meeting
of committees on the 14th inst. This will be nearly the last it
will hold in the aristocratic quarter of South Kensington, The
annual meeting held on that day decided that the society
should vacate South Kensington as too costly to maintain, and
amore modest home has been found tor its offices, library,
etc., further eastward. A stranger who could have seen the last
meeting would hardly have thought the society in a mori-
bund condition, The crowds of horticulturists constituting
the committees, the profusion of flowers, choice and ordinary,
and the plentiful collection of late apples, all tended to show
how active horticulture is in this great centre, and that it is not
for lack of interest or sympathy that the national society
is not the largest and most influential in Europe.
The advent of spring was indicated on this occasion by the
large gathering of spring flowers—Chinese Primulas, Cinerarias,
Cyclamens, Camellias, forced Narcissus, and, of course, Orchids.
The Orchids new and rare, choice and common, were plentiful.
One of the most remarkable was a new hybrid Dendrobium
(D. Chrysodiscus),a cross between another hybrid, D. dinsworthi
and D, Findleyanum. The distinct features of each parent are
plainly seen in the progeny, especially in the large jointed
stems, and the shape of the flower, which is as large as those of
D, Findleyanum, with sepals and petals white, tipped with rose,
and the shallow lip adorned witha broad blotch of yellow and
ruddy crimson. Another Dendrobium certificated is consid-
ered among the most remarkable of new orchids. It is called
D. nobile Cooksoni, being a variety of that old species. The
flowers are like those of the type in size and form, except that
the two lateral or side petals are shaped and colored like the
lip, each having a heavy blotch of the richest maroon-crimson .
bordered with white. It represents what botanists call an in-
stance of “ trilabellia,” or thrice-lipped flowers. In other re-
spects it does not differ trom our old favorite.
A certificate was well bestowed upon an extraordinarily fine
Lycaste Skinnert, named Jneperator, trom Sander of St. Albans.
The flower is very large, the sepals broad and thick, faintly
tinted with pink, the petals of a glowing crimson, and the lip of
an intensely deep ruby-crimson, variegated with pure white.
In contrast with this, the same exhibitor showed an exception-
ally fine form of the white Lycaste Shkinneri.
London, Feb. 25th. Wm. Goldring,
Palms for House Decoration.
“pas species belonging to the natural order Pa/m@ consti-
tute a truly royal class of plants, justly entitled to Linnzus’
designation, ‘* Princes of the Vegetable Kingdom.” They com-
prise various types of beauty; some of the stronger growing
kinds (as Latania Borbonica) being of bold and striking outlines,
the embodiment of sturdy grace; others having the lightnessand
elegance of the finer varieties of Ferns, as Cocos Weddelliana,
Geonoma gracilis, and the like. The latter varieties are of
-miniature growth, and from their graceful and delicate forms
are specially useful for table decoration, and form objects of
the greatest beauty when standing alone on pedestals or small
tables. The stronger growing and taller kinds may be used
to advantage standing on the floors of rooms and in the hall-
ways, or grouped in front of mirrors or windows. The in-
creasing use of Palms and other pot plants for decorative
purposes in this country is an evidence of the growing taste
of our people. Beauty of form is of a higher type than beauty
of color, and the graceful outlines of a tastefully arranged
group of Palms give a higher satisfaction than the immense
banks of cut flowers we sometimes see. Cut flowers, used with
judgment, are always welcome, but they should not be
crushed together, so that the individual forms are lost, and
the only effect is a mass of color. There are now over eleven
hundred recorded species of Palms. I shall name only a
few of those best adapted for house decoration. .
Latania Borbonica, a Fan Palm, is more largely used than
any other, as it grows easily andis a plant of dignified expression.
Areca lutescens is one of the most graceful, tall growing species
Garden and Forest.
=)
with bright, glossy green foliage and rich golden yellow stems;
it is now grown in very large quantities. Areca Verscheffeltit
is not so often seen as the last named, but it is very distinct
and showy, with dark, shining green foliage with a dark band
through the centre of each leaf. ;
Kentia Canterburyana, the Umbrella Palm, in its native
country attains a height of thirty-five feet, but is slow of growth
under cultivation in green-houses, requiring seven or eight
years to reach a height of five feet. It is valuable as a house
plant on account of its tough and enduring qualities. There
are several varieties, of which A. australis and K. Foster-
tana are the best known, All are handsome, and capable of
sustaining, without injury, as much neglect as any Palm in
cultivation. Phenix rupicola isa plant of exquisite grace, the
finest of its genus. Phenix sylvestris, the Wild Date, is of
coarser growth than P. rupico/a, but valuable for its distinct
character and enduring qualities. Raphis flabelliformis is a
plant of erect growth, having the stems covered with coarse
fibre; a grand Palm for house culture, enduring either heat
or cold and much neglect without injury. It is very distinct
and handsome. Rafhis humilis resembles the last, but is
more delicately graceful; one of the very finest Palms in
cultivation,
Ptycosperma Alexandra, the Australian Feather Palm, is a
quick, robust grower, inexpensive and useful. Although a
native of the tropics, it will grow well ina temperature as low
as 50°. Seaforthia elegans somewhat resembles this species; it
is tall and graceful. Plants ten feet high and upwards are most
effective, as they do not show to the best advantage when
smaller. Cocos Weddelliana is the most elegant of the smaller
Palms, with finely divided foliage, recurved with exquisite
grace. Small plants are unexcelled for dinner table decoration.
Geonoma gracilis is very similar to C. Weddelliana, with
somewhat coarser foliage, but of the same graceful habit. It
should not be grown in the house for more than a few days,
as it requires an atmosphere more moist than can be given it
outside of the hot-house. Prichardia grandis is dwart and of
slow growth, a native of the South Sea Islands, with leaves
about two feet long and three feet broad. Itis rare and beautiful.
Maximilliana regia is not very plentiful yet, but is destined
to grow in favor, being quite distinct and striking in appear-
ance. It is of easy culture and one of the hardiest and thrifti-
est Palms under neglect. Ovreodoxia regia, the Royal Palm, is a
native of the West Indies and tropical America and a prime
favorite., Tall, slender and stately, it is most effective when
used in a group of lower growing species.
All the above, except Phenix rupicola, Seaforthia elegans,
Cocos Weddelliana, Geonoma gractlis, Prithardia grandis and
Oreodoxia regia may be successtully grown in the house all
winter if the following rules are observed: Pot them firmly in
soil composed of equal parts of loam, sand and fibrous peat,
with a small proportion (say, one-twentieth part of the whole
mass) of charcoal. Use pots as small as possible; nothing in-
jures Palms more than over-potting. Drain well and water
freely as often as the soil gets dry. Palms are often ‘injured
by insufficient watering. The surface may be kept wet while
the lower roots suffer from drought. The leaves should be
thoroughly sponged with water of the temperature of 60° or
70° twice a week, and to keep away insects the water, every
two or three weeks, should contain Fir tree oil in the propor-
tion of half a gill to two quarts of water. This is, without
doubt, the best insecticide at present known for keeping Palms
clean and healthy. Robt. Craig.
Philadelphia.
“In the park I make it a point to use only native or thoroughly
acclimated trees and shrubs, and avoid entirely all foreign de-
corative plants. For nature beautified must still preserve the
character of the country and climate in which the park is sit-
uated, so that its beauty may seem to have grown spontane-
ously, and without betraying the pains which have been spent
upon it. We have growing wild in Germany an abundance
of blooming shrubs, which can be used in a variety of ways,
but if we find a Damask Rose or a Chinese Lilac, or a group
of such things, planted in the midst of wildness, the result is a
painful feeling of incongruity ; unless, indeed, they be set
apart and fenced off, as for instance in a hedged garden near
a cottage.” —Piihkler-Mushkau, 1834.
“The simple and uncombined landscape—if wrought out
with due attention to the ideal beauty of the features it in-
cludes—will always be most beautiful in its appeal to the heart.”
; Fokn Ruskin.
30 Garden and Forest.
A View in Central Park.
HE view on this page is taken from a point in the Ramble
in the Central Park of this city, looking southward, and in-
cluding a portion of the Terrace. Of course, it is much more
than a picture of the Terrace, but it clearly shows how much
this bit of architecture adds to the composition. The distant
horizon line of trees has an attractiveness of its own. Nearer
by are the upper Terrace lines contrasting with the masses
of foliage above them. Below these are the open arches with
deeper shadows, then the lower lines of the Terrace, the lake
shore and the passage of water separating more distinctly the
extreme distance trom the middle distance. All these, with the
lines of the shrubbery about the little lawn, mark the succes-
sive planes of the composition and help to bring out the grada-
tions of light and shadow. In the Park the observer would
enjoy in addition the ever varying tints of the sky which
would also be reflected in the water, while he could look up
to and into the leafy.tramework in the foreground forever
without exhausting its interest. The illustration is a good ex-
[Marci 14, 18838.
Plant Notes.
Lilium Parryi, and its Habitat——This fine Lily appears to
have won its way in the ten years of its garden career to
a high rank among cultivated species. The pure lemon
yellow of its flowers, an unusual shade among Lilies, and
their peculiar form, as well as their fragrance, combine to
make it a unique species. Its range is from the springy banks
and swampy cafions of the San Bernardino Mountains of
southern Calitornia, where Dr. Parry discovered it in 1876
southward towards Lower California, eastward to the higher
mountains of southern Arizona and thence southward, Iam
confident, along the western slopes of the Sierra Madre of So-
nora. In these arid regions it is only by mountain brooks and
springs that it can find the water its roots require, and shelter
from scalding sunshine. So its habitat is the narrow sandy or
peaty alluviums of these brooks, or their mossy margins, or
even the ledges, over which they glide, where its bulbs are
scarcely hidden from view amidst tufts of moss. Seeing
it always in such wet situations I gained the impression
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ample of what can be accomplished by framing in a distant
object with foliage, so as to make a complete and consistent
picture, and there is no reason why such planting as it shows
should be confined to public parks. Many a lawn could be
made the foreground of a picture quite as attractive, and it
could be graded and planted so as to emphasize the interest
and increase the pictorial effect of some important object,
natural or artificial, and trees could be disposed about it so
as to concentrate the attention which would otherwise be
distracted by surrounding objects.
“One beautiful way in which flowers can be used, e
cially those distinguished for the brightness and clearne
their coloring or for their tall stalks, is to plant them in moss and
among wild vegetation alone the edge of a brook or some
other piece of water. The reflections in the water and the
play of their movements thus doubled clothes with a new
charm this scene which is altogether natural." —Hirschfeld's
“ Theorie der Gartenkunst,” Leipzig, 1777. :
that it would need wet soil. But northern brooks would be
too cold, and with our frequent rains ordinary soil suffices for
it, since I have flowered it from Dr. Parry’s seed in my garden.
In its native haunts, crowded upon by other plants, especially
beset by grasses and shrubs, its stature is from one to three
feet and the number of its flowers one to six, In cultivation I
have seen these figures nearly doubled.
A New Morning Glory, /Aomea Pringlei, Gray, collected in
1886 on cool, grassy hillsides near Chihuahua, and distributed
among my Plante Mexicane of that year, was admired by Dr.
Asa Gray even in dried specimens, and by him recommended
for cultivation. The species is perennial from a thick root,
with an annual stem, erect, diffusely branched, two or three
feet high and broad, with inconspicuous leaves and flowers of
the largest for the genus, three inches broad, purplish blue,
with a metallic lustre, and in their throat lighter blue or nearly
white. The plant is common over the hills and high plains
between Chihuahua and the Sierra Madre. As seen by the
traveler in those lone regions, profusely covered with bloom
throughout the morning, it isa bright and pleasing object.
C. G. Pringle.
Marcu 14, 1888.]
Some Hardy Wild Flowers.—One cold day in February I went
to see how my plants of that tough little Orchid, Goodyera
pubescens, were standing the weather, and found the leaves
protruding from a crust of snow and ice, as fresh as in June.
One can hardly understand how such a velvety, delicate look-
ing plant can be so hardy, Although it grows in thick shade,
this Rattlesnake Plantain will thrive in a sunny window ofa
warm winter room. Such a one I knew, and when the fire
went out one bitter night it was smiling freshly in the morning,
although every other plant in the collection had perished. Why
has such a pretty thing as Erigeron bellidifolium been neg-
lected by cultivators? I accidentally discovered that it im-
proves under domestication. A bunch of it was left by chance
in a field, where it was hoed and fertilized in the same way as
[
Fig. 6.—Aquilegia 2
the farm crop. It grew luxuriantly and blossomed profusely.
I think it quite as beautiful as any of our Asters, which it some-
what resembles. It has the advantage, too, of blossoming
in early spring, while most of the Asters are late bloomers.
Another wild plant which is not afraid of cultivation is Hozs-
tonia purpurea. While not as attractive as its little sister, 1.
serpyllifolia, or, perhaps, as your more northern Bluets (/7.
cerulea) it is a striking plant, erect, branching and often
more than a foot high, blossoming freely, and found naturally
in high and dry soil. Our Mountain Harebell, too (Campanula
divaricata) makes a neat addition to our list of hardy peren-
nials. I think I may add Sor¢ia to the list, although it has not
been thoroughly tested in cultivation. I have little doubt,
however, that it will succeed, and it can now be had in abun-
dance, after hiding away so successfully for a hundred years,
for it has been found growing by the acre on the very spot,
Garden and Forest. oI
perhaps, where Michaux makes record of it in his journal of
that trying December visit to these mountains. I can hardly
hope much from the pretty little Galax aphylla, known here
as Colt's-foot, and carpeting the woods in every direction. It
seems to resent all artificial nurture and apparently dies of
homesickness when transplanted from its wild surroundings.
Macon Co., N. C, fee Fe. Boynton.
Phajus tuberculosus.—This exquisite and rare Orchid is now in
flower at Kenwood, probably for the first time in America. It
is undoubtedly the most beautiful of the whole genus. It was
introduced from Madagascar in 1881, and a few plants flowered
in England, but for a long time I have heard nothing of it. Our
plants were bought in 1882, and were gradually dwindling away
untila yearago, when we thought
of trying them in the hottest cor-
ner of the Phalaenopsis house
near the expansion tank, where
the temperature in winter is
never below 70°. We kept them
very wet, and syringed over-
head at least twice a day. Under
this treatment the plants have
done wonders, making larger
bulbs than those imported, and
the strong healthy foliage shows
no speck of ravages from insects,
hitherto the greatest enemy of
this plant. The choice of potting
material seems to be a minor
consideration, as one of the plants
in bloom is potted in peat, while
another is on a block of wood
covered with sphagnum and
stands upright in a pot surfaced
with moss; in both cases the
rooting is all that can be desired.
The habit of the plant is some-
what climbing, producing a slen-
der rhizome, much thickened
at the end to form a bulb, from
the tip and sides of which pro-
ceed plicate leaves about a foot
long. The flower spikes are up-
right, 6 to 8 inches long, bearing
3 to 6 snow-white flowers, the
greatest attraction of which lies
in the indescribably beautiful lip.
Kenwood, N. Y. Tis Goldring,
New Vegetables.—The roots of
the Cassava are shown by a large
number of exhibitors at the Sub-
tropical Exposition at Jackson-
ville, Fla. This would indicate
a rather general, if not a large
cultivation. Those who had used
it pronounced it a grateful vege-
table, the rootsimply pleasantand
cooked as a custard. The variety
seemed to be Manihot Azpzr.
Sechium edule, the ‘Chocho,”
cultivated in tropical America
and the West Indies for the sake
of its fruit, was also on exhibition
and for sale. The seed germi-
nates within the fruit, and the
sprouting fruits have therefore
appearance. The unripe fruit is eaten boiled
This plant has given rise to many varieties,
E. Lewis Sturtevant.
a curious
as a vegetable.
differing quite largely.
Aquilegia longissima.*
Of the long-spurred Columbines which are peculiar to the
central mountain ranges of this continent the species
here figured, fig. 6, page 31, is the most remarkable. The
Aguilegia ceriulea, with blue and white flowers, and the yellow-
flowered A. chrysantha of the Rocky Mountains and other in-
terior ranges, are now well-known in gardens, both in their
Tall, some-
sepals
*A, LoncissimA, Gray in herl
what pubescent with silky hair
lanceolate, broadly spreading, an inch long or more, the spatulate petals a little
shorter; spur with a narrow orifice, four inches long or more.
Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 317-
leaves green above, glaucous beneath;
Oo
Ny
Garden and Forest.
[MarcH 14, 1888.
Fig, 7.—A Weeping Beech,
native forms and in the hybrids which are readily obtained
from them. A. dongissima is a still more southern species,
found in the mountains bordering the Rio Grande in western
Texas and those of the north-eastern provinces of Mexico. It
is, indeed, probably the most southern species of the genus,
inasmuch as the Guatemala habitat ascribed to A. Shinnert
is very doubtful. 4. S&i/nneri was cultivated in European
gardens tosome extent about forty years ago and was believed
to have originated from seeds collected in Guatemala by Mr.
G. U. Skinner. It has, however, been recently discovered at
home in the mountains of Chihuahua, both by Dr. Edward
Palmer and by Mr. C. G. Pringle, and the probabilities are that
the seeds were sent from there, instead of from Guatemala, by
Mr. John Potts who had charge of the Mint at Chihuahua in
1842. It is known that he and his brother made collections in
that region and sent plants to England at about that time.
A. longissima is distinguished from the allied species not only
by the greater length of the spur, but by its more contracted
orifice and by the narrower petals. The flower opens upward,
spreading widely, and is pale yellow or straw color, or some-
times nearly white or tinged with red. The plant has been
raised from seed in the Cambridge Botanic Garden. It proves
to be more tender than our common species, as was to be ex-
pected, but there should be no difficulty in cultivating it
throughout the Southern States. ;
In view of the recognized adaptation of flowers and insects to
each other for mutual benefit, it is an interesting question what
long-tongued moths have developed side by side with this
long-spurred flower, and how far the plant is really dependent
upon such insects for fertilization. Ba he
A Weeping Beech.
The so-called weeping trees, or trees with distinctly pendu-
lous branches, are not of the first importance in general land-
scape work, Their peculiarities of form are so striking that
when planted with other trees they invite attention to them-
selves, instead of helping to increase the effectiveness of the
group. A Weeping Willow ona wood border is the first thing
to arrest the eye, and it seems to break the masses of foliage
and belittle their effect instead of giving continuity and
strength to their outlines. As individual specimens, however,
these trees may become objects of great beauty and attractive-
ness. The Weeping Beech, a variety of the European Beech,
is distinguished among them by an eccentric vigor which is
seen in the sturdy upward and outward growth of some of
the larger branches, a vigor which is in marked contrast
with the pensile habit of the smaller branches. These trees
vary greatly in form ; some being tall and slender, others low
and broad, and others still, assuming the most picturesque
shapes. The tree in the illustration stands in the grounds of
Mr. Samuel C. Jackson, in Flushing, Long Island, and in what
was originally a part of the old Parsons nursery. It is forty-four
years old, and its vigor is proved by its healthful appearance as
well as by the dimensions it has already attained. It is about
sixty feet high and the circumference of the circle where the
hanging branches meet the ground is 180 fect. The trunk is 6
feet in circumference three feet from the ground, and a man
standing by it is perfectly concealed from those without the
circle by the thick curtain of foliage that hangs about him on
every side.
MARCH 14, 1888.]
Cultural Notes.
Chrysanthemums.—Those who would have good. Chrysan-
themums next fall must now pay attention to their stock. No
puny plants will ever give good flowers, neither will plants
which have been excessively “propagated, Strong cuttings put
in now and grown along without becoming: pot- -bound or
starved, will make nearly as fine plants and flowers as those
propagated earlier. Plants now in small pots should be re-
moved into pots two sizes larger and subjected to fire-heat
only sufficient to keep out the frost. Use at all times soil that
will permit water to pass freely through it. All newly-potted
plants, from the cutting benches, should be car efully shaded
from the sun for a few days, until new root action is estab-
lished. If it is the intention to grow very large flowers the
plants should be topped as soon as they reach the height of
trom 6 to 8 inches, selecting the three strongest shoots to y form
the base of supply. If specimen plants are required, four
shoots at least should be allowed to grow and each one
should be tied down to a position nearly horizontal. These
same shoots will require stopping again as soon as they have
6 to 8 leaves formed. ~ If the soil is rich no additional fertilizer
will be required until the summer is advanced. Purchasers
would do well to obtain plants that have been grown cold and
are not pot-bound. Plants should be shipped by express.
Fohn Thorpe.
Asparagus plumosus.—Propagated by division, this plant is of
less value to florists than Smilax. But propagated from cut-
tings, it makes bushy plants from six to twelve inches high,
which are hardly equaled in beauty or usefulness for deco-
ration, 4. plumosus grown in this way is superior to 4,
fenuissimus, Which resembles it very much, but is too thick.
A. plumosus nanus must be propagated by seed, which is not
easily obtainable. While every side shoot of 4. fenuisstmus,
cut with a bit of the main shoot, will root easily, A. plumosus
refuses to do so. It makes roots only when a bud starts into
growth in soil or sand, and this is the whole secret. A young
shoot firs tgrows nearly to its full length before the side- Shoots
are developed, and those on the top develop first. There-
fore, cut the whole shoot as soon as the upper side shoots and
all those which have started about the same time with them
have reached their full development—which is indicated by
the darker green color—and lay the whole shoots about half
an inch deep in sand in the propagating house, taking care
not to bury any side shoots. After six or eight weeks most of
the dormant eyes will grow and form one plant each. Let
them stand undisturbed until three or four little shoots have
made their appearance, when they should be potted in very
sandy soil. When these plants are about six inches high they
are excellent material for further propagation, and a large
stock can easily be obtained in a short time, each shoot y ield-
ing from one to five young plants, A. plumosus and A. plu-
mosus nanus are prettiest when young and before they change
into their climbing habit. But the dwart species seems to pro-
duce all its side shoots at the same time, the lower part of the
stem remaining bare even with quite old plants. I succeeded
once by cutting the end of a shoot away and laying the whole
shoot in sand without separating it from the old plant, but the
result was not entirely successful. C. Briner.
Oe Hanae gemaiee obtusa is one of the most beautiful and
graceful of the Japanese Conifers. We have some old plants
that had fallen into a dila apidated condition, and some years
ago we cut them in hard and planted them by the side of a
well enriched border in dry sandy land. They have recovered
splendidly and now are vigorous, bushy specimens. Others in
a similar condition were also cut in and removed to a
well-sheltered spot in a thinly-planted piece of woodland, and
where the ground is moist and good. The result has been
fully as satisfactory as in the previous case.
Magnolias.—We had a group of choice Magnolias, including
M. Thurberi and M. stellata, in dry sandy land, and where the
subsoil was deep sand, but they appeared to be very unhappy.
The surface soil in the bed was good enough ; indeed, it was
good hazel loam introduced for their benefit. A few years ago
we removed the Magnolias, some to our nursery ground,
where the land is deep, dark and moderately moist, and some
toa sheltered place on the lawn, and in which the soil is ex-
cellent. In both cases their recovery is very marked. We
also have large isolated specimens of the Yulan Magnolia,
some in poor, some in good soil, and in vigor of plant and pro-
fusion of bloom the balance is greatly i in favor of those grow-
ing in the good soil. WF.
Garden and Forest. e2
Covering Bulbs.—If Crocuses, Snowdrops, Winter Aconites,
Siberian Squills and other early flowering bulbs planted last
fall were covered over with a mulching of tree leaves or rank
litter in order to protect them from frost, they are now trying
to thrust their whitened leaves and flowers up througl’ the
covering. If we remove the mulching we expose the
weakened shoots to the piercing winds and in this way
render worse what before was bad enough. These bulbs
need no winter mulching, neither do Tulips, Hyacinths,
Crown Imperials nor the host of other early flowering bulbous
plants we set outin our gardens, except it may bea “mule hing
of rotted leaves or rotted manure, which is meant toremain on
the ground permanently, and is applied more with the view of
preventing the bulbs from being heaved out of the earth by
frost than as a protection against frost. It is when these plants
are appearing above ground that they need protection most,
but the ordinary way ‘of treating them, is to strip them just at
this time.
Streptosolen Jamesonii.
HIS is one of the best and most easily cultivated winter-
blooming green-house plants we have. It is a native ot
South America, and was introduced to cuitivation some torty
years ago but soon disappeared from our gardens and was
not seen again till a few years ago, when it was reintroduced.
It is now quite generally distr ibuted,
It is a small-leaved, evergreen,
shrubby vine, of vigorous growth.
flame-colored, and disposed in drooping, terminal, cymose
panicles ; every branch is tipped with a bunch of flowers. Its
flowering period is from January to April, according to condi-
tions under which it is grown, but usually it is in its finest con-
dition in February. A few scattering flowers may be produced
all summer long, but never a full crop nor handsome panicles.
It ripens” seed freely, but the best way of propagating it is
from cuttings of the young wood; these cuttings strike as
readily as do those of fleliotropes or other soft-wooded plants,
and if struck in spring and grown on in summer make fine
blooming plants 4 to 6 feet high by the next winter. I raise a
fresh lot of plants in this way every year, and keep over some
of the old plants till they are two or three years old, but not
more, as they grow too big for our green- houses.
I grow them in pots “during the summer months, and
plunge them out-of-doors. Were they planted out the plants
would grow so rank and root so much that they could not
be lifted safely in autumn. They are gross teeders. In potting
them I use good loam, with about one-fourth part in bull ot
rotted manure, and atter the plants are brought in-doors |
mulch them with rich farm-yard manure.
We winter our plants in the Carnation-house, where they are
grouped together ina mass. The right temperature is about
50°. They ‘get and enjoy full sunlight,
Although gorgeous plants tor conservatory decoration, the
cut flowers must be used in masses to be effective. In warm
rooms they do not last very well. WAP.
[This fine plant, a native of New Grenada, was figured in
the Bofanical Magazine, 7. 4605, many years ago as Brow-
alha, a genus from which it c chiefly differs in hal it of growth.
It is also figured by Miers, the founder of the genus S/rep-
/osolen (Lllustr ahons, ¢. 55).—Eb. |
slender shrub, or rather
Its flowers are orange or
Mulching Shrubbery Beds.
S soon as the snow is all gone and the weather is not
frosty we go into the w oods, rake up and cart homea
large quantity of tree leaves for m ulching shrubbery, and more
especially our Azalea bed. The leaves are then beginning to
soften and decay, and if at all moist, we can pack.at Teast twice
as many into a load as we could in fall. Why was this not done
last fall? For two reasons: Hardy trees and shrubs have no
need whatever of any mulching over winter, and it may be so
much work lost, but this is not all; for in the second place, it
may be the cause of much mischief by affording a lodgment
for field mice, which are the most destructive rodents we have
to contend with. They are especially destructive to coniferous
and rosaceous trees and shrubs by gnawing away the bark
around the stem at the ground leve 1? in this way they have
killed many of our Pines and Spruces. But | have never
known them to attack evergreen Rhododendrons, even where
these shrubs have been heavily mulched with dry leaves over
winter,
The earlier we mulch our Azaleas now, If de-
the better.
34
layed much longer the flower buds will become so prominent
that the least rub against them will break them off. Put on
the leaves six or eight inches deep all over the bed, and scat-
ter a little fern, sea thatch, sedge or salt hay over the leaves
to keep them from being blown about. Although this may
seem to be a heavy mulching, it is none too much, and by
next October it will rot down and not be an inch deep.
Summer mulching is far more important than winter mulch-
ing. By it we are enabled to grow with fair success shallow-
rooting plants and many evergreens that without it could
hardly survive our hot, dry weather. Mulch heavily if at all,
for this is the only way to accomplish the desired result.
We use leaves only on large beds, and where we can sprin-
kle a little thatch over them ; for small beds and individual
specimens we use rough manure or thatch or salt hay alone.
But in mulching trees and shrubs judgment must be used.
There is no use in describing a circle 6 or 10 feet wide around
the trunk of a big tree, removing the sod therefrom and mulch-
ing the ground, because the feeding roots have gone beyond
that circle, and hence are not under the influence of the
mulching. The way to reach them is to top-dress the ground
in fall with manure and rake it off level in spring. Some
writers argue that if we keep the surface of the ground well
stirred by means of the hoe or cultivator in summer this
answers every purpose and is better than mulching. That is
well enough so far as nursery stock is concerned, But in per-
manent pla intings, for instance in the case of isolated trees and
shrubs, and shrubbery beds, loosening the surface of the
ground should be avoided and mulching adopted.
| have no patience with the people who call out about the
unsi¢htliness of mulching. Mulching is repugnant only to
the uneducated eye. The person who understands and ap-
preciates the benetit to the plants to be derived from this care
regards its presence with special favor. But, of course, it
must be neatly applied and kept.
The mulching of trees and shrubs in summer is more ex-
tensively prac ticed in this garden, than, so far as | know, in
any other in the country, and we are, year after year, becom-
ing more alive to its beneficial effects. William Falconer.
Glen Cove, N. Y.
Grapes for Home Use.
[= response to the inquiry of your correspondent in North-
ern New Jersey as to the best half-dozen varieties of grapes
to plant for family use to the extent of about twenty vines, I
name the following and add some reasons why I recommend
them.
Moore's Early—two vines—the earliest good black Grape we
have. The berries are large; vines hz wdy, healthy, and pro-
ductive. The Cottage would prove its best substitute.
Lady—two vines—the earliest good white Grape; very sweet
and generally liked. The vine i “hardy and healthy, but not as
vigorous as many others. The berries are of 2ood size ;
clusters small, and its season short because of its liability to
crack on approaching maturity ; but Lname it because an early
grape of this color is desirable.
Worden—tour vines—the best early black Grape ; the clus-
ters and berries are large, and the vine is vigorous, healthy,
hardy and productive. The above are all of Concord parent.
age, and like it tender-skinned, cracking easily when ripe,
3righton—tour vines—the best e arly red grape we have, all
things considered. The clusters are large and handsome,
berries medium, vine vigorous and productive.
Delaware—two vines—amone Grapes what the Seckel and
Dana's Hovey are among pears. The small clusters of small
red berries ripen early. The vine though healthy and hardy is
not a strong grower and does not always find a congenial soil.
It is worthy of special care till it gets established and its quality
atones tor its lack of size.
Wilder—tour vines—a large
quality. The clusters are larg
and productive.
Niagara—two vines—the largest and finest white Grape yet
tested. Berries and c lusters are large and handsome; quality
fully as good as Mr. Downing s said better
and the vine is very visereus and productive,
empire State—two vines—a white grape of excellent quality,
better in this respect than the Niagara, but not so large or
attractive in cluster or berry, The v ine is fairly vigorous and
productive.
This list is of course for a special locality,
, late black Grape of excellent
and handsome ; vine vigorous
but most of
the vines named flourish over a wide area. Brighton,
Wilder and Niagara have a little foreign blood in their
veins, and are therefore more liable to mildew and rot
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 14, 1888.
than the others which are pure natives, but in seasons
favorable to the development of the rot fungus all are suscep-
tible to its attack unless it be Delaware. From the above list
your inguirer should be able to choose six kinds, if he wishes
to confine himself to that number, but he can plant them all
with little risk of failure. They all thrive with me on lower
ground and nearer the seaboard, and theretore ina less tavora-
ble locality. [do not name the Concord because the season is
covered effectually without it. Moore’s Early is equally good
and two to three weeks earlier, and this is followed by Worden,
which is better than either. The season of the Concord is
with Wilder and Niagara. E. Williams.
Montclair, N. J.
The Forest.
The Hardwood Forests of the South.
HE time seems rapidly approaching when the lower
Southern States will furnish the greater part of the lum-
ber shipped from the Atlantic forest region to foreign and
home markets, and will take the lead in the various industries
which depend for their material upon the products of the
forests. From sixty to seventy-five per cent of the area of the
several States of the lower South are covered with forests
which have been but litthe encroached upon by the axe. Well
timbered countries without the Tropics have at all times been
foremost in progressive and varied agriculture and industries.
The history of the Old and New World gives ample Suppor to
this statement.
With the exhaustion of the forests of White Pine and the de-
nudation of the country north of the Ohio, from the Atlantic
border to the Mississippi, where stood a wealth of timber
once deemed inexhaustible by men still living, the lumber
interests of the country east of the Mississippi are steadily
gravitating southwards, and manufacturing enterprises con-
nected with them are seeking the same field. In some in-
vestigations made for the Census office in 1880 the writer
found the lumbering operations of the great coast Pine belt
confined almost solely to the larger streams and to a strip two
or three miles on either side of a few railroad lines trav ersing
the forests. A few tram-roads and nats were bringing lum-
ber from remoter parts. But now tram-roads equipped with
steam power are penetrating the depths of this forest belt in
every direction with astonishing rapidity and are stripping hun-
dreds of square miles of their merchantable timber, and thou-
sands of acres of primeval timber lands are made available by
new railroad lines intersecting the forests and helping the trans-
port of their products to the seaboards and the inland markets of
the Middle States. The stroke of the axe is now heard from
the basin of one river to that of the other where but a short
while ago the forest solitude remained unbroken. The ship-
ment of timber and naval stores from the Pine forests of the
lower South have doubled in the last seven years, and industrial
enterprises based on timber resources have increased many
foldin almost every one of the Southern States. Factories of car-
riages and wagons, agricultural implements, furniture, cooper-
age and hollow ware, and large establishments tor building rail-
road cars have sprung up with the increase of towns and cities
in the mineral districts. The development of the mines of coal
and iron has occasioned a great increase of the consumption
of timber and fuel. The causes which within a life-time have
depleted the timber wealth of many of the Northern States
are, at this moment, at work in the South with an activity out-
stripping that of any former period.
South-western Kentucky, western Tennessee, western
North and South Carolina, Arkansas, and the northern half of
the Gulf States to the Brazos River, must at present be con-
sidered as the great depositories of the timber wealth of the
hardwood forest. It is from these Southern forests that the con-
stantly increasing needs of the country are to be met. Ex-
perience has proved that timber of southern growth is not
surpassed in its essential qualities by that of higher latitudes.
In their fullest dimensions and their greatest variety, the most
valuable hardwood trees are found in the alluvial bottomlands
of the larger rivers toward their lower courses, in the valleys of
a higher ‘level, beyond the light silicious soils of the tertiary
formation, in the woods cov ering the lower flanks of bordering
elevations and in the narrower defiles of the mountains. The
most extensive body of hardwood forests exists in the delta of
the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers in the State of Mississippi,
covering four millions of acres, of which one-fifth are in cultiva-
tion, and in the alluvial land of the Mississippi and St. Francis
Rivers in Arkansas, extending over two millions of acres with
scarcely ten per cent. of cleared land. The individual trees
MARCH 14, 1888.]
here attain dimensions rarely reached by the same specie
elsewhere, and in wealth of valuable timber trees these forests
are not excelled.
Amongst the trees of the highest value and greatest abund-
ance the Swamp Chestnut or Basket Oak (Quercus Michau.vii)
takes the first place. Often a dozen trees measuring two and
one half feet in diameter and furnishing clear cuts from forty
to fifty feet in length have been counted on a single acre. In
quality the wood of this tree is in no way inferior to white oak,
and is especially fit forall purposes to which the latter is applied,
affording immense resources to the industries depending upon
this Oak for their chief material. The Sweet Gum (Liguidamber
styracifolia) is as frequent here and at its greatest perfection. — It
is only under these lower latitudes that the timber of this tree
attains the qualities which give it economic importance. The
wood, of a pleasing reddish brown tint, easily worked, of a fine
grain and capable of a high polish, has lately begun to attract
the attention of manufacturers of furniture and of the joiner for
the interior finish of the best dwellings. Millions upon millions
of feet of these valuable timbers are found in these forests,
enough to supply the largest demand for many years. Of some-
what less value, the Spanish Oak (Quercus falcata), the Willow
Oak (Q. phellos), the Swamp White Oak (Q. (vrata), are to be
named, the latter hardly inferior in quality to white oak. To
these the Swamp Maple, Water Elm (U/mus elata), Honey
Locust, Cottonwood, Pecan, Sassafras and Persimmon, are to
be added, the two last reaching dimensions that entitle them
to rank among useful timber trees. Most of the hardwood
trees peculiar to the lower South, such as Magnolia, Red Bay
(Persea Caroliniensis), White Bay (Magnolia glauca), Sourwood
(Oaxydendron arboreum), and others of lower rank in size, finding
at present but little appreciation, will, with better knowledge of
their quality, add a variety of useful material for miners’ pur-
poses, for the mechanical arts and for decorative joinery.
Difficult of access and remote from active industries, these
hardwood forests, still but slightly encroached upon, may be re-
garded as the chief source of supply for the country’s needs for
many years to come. Their disappearance is, however, a mat-
ter of comparatively short time. Covering lands of greatest
fertility, adapted to the cultivation of the chief staple products
of this region, their reclamation for agricultural purposes, when
protected against the overflowing waters of the Mis ppi, is
inevitable. The negro population, resisting the malarious in-
fluences of lowland clearings, and tempted by good wages
and an abundance of food, will be drawn to them to furnish
the labor. The movement has already set in during the last
few years, and must increase as the colored man comes in
competition with the labor of the increasing white population
which is taking possession of the healthy upland districts.
With the growing demand for agricultural land following the
slow but swelling influence of immigration, the hardwood
forests of the valleys of the higher water-level and their ter-
races and the flanks of the bordering region are equally
doomed. Though of less extent as resources of our hard-
woods, these forests are of great importance, harboring a still
greater variety than the alluvial forests. Preferring the warm
and light soil in these districts, the Tulip tree, the White Oak,
the White Ash, the Black Cherry, the Black Walnut, are found,
in addition to the trees growing in the damp bottom lands, and
to these could be added many others of smaller size and less
value, as the Beech, Basswood, Butternut, Mulberry, Red Elm,
Ironwood, Dogwood and Cucumber tree. The impending
denudation of these valleys and of the elevations about them in-
volves the greatest danger consequent upon the destruction of
the forests by altering climatic conditions and affecting injuri-
ously the stages of the rivers throughout the different seasons
of the year.
The hardwood forests of the more or less broken uplands in
connection with farms have in great measure lost the character
of the high forest. Deprived of their larger timber, opened to the
tramping and browsing of cattle and the visitations of fire, the
remainder of the tree-growth presents an unpromising appear-
ance, and in many localities, the second growth is supplanted
by Coniferous trees. Immense damage has been done by
clearing the steeper and more broken lands and the ranges of
hills. Deprived of its productive crust, the bare subsoil of
these hill lands, torn into deep ravines, presents a repulsive
sight suggestive of barrenness and neglect. Raging torrents
after every rain rush unchecked down the declivities, eating
deeply into them, carrying the soil down the valleys, obstruct-
ing the beds of the rivers and their estuaries.
The timber growth of these upland forests consists of many
species of Oaks, as the Black Oak (Quercus tinctoria), Post Oak
(Q. obtusiloba), Spanish Oak, Red Oak, flourishing in a dry,
light soil, the Tanbark Oak (Q. frinos), Chinquapin Oak (Q.
Garden and Forest. 325
prinoides), and Scarlet Oak (Q. coccinea), found principally on
the rocky regions of the mountains. The Mockernut, Pignutand
Bitternut Hickories, with the Chestnut and Tulip trees of in-
ferior size, make up a large part of the tree growth. On the
table-lands of the coal measures in Alabama, forests of this
nature almost in their primeval condition extended over seven
thousand square miles. These forests, fifteen vears aco
scarcely invaded by the small clearings, have, since the begin-
ning of the new industrial era, become of great importance
owing to the wealth of coal and iron buried beneath them, fur-
nishing the required supplies of timber and fuel. These forest
lands are now much in demand by immigrants, who, by persever-
ance and industry, make the soil, once considered too poor for
cultivation, bring forth profitable field and orchard crops
which find aready market in the growing centres of mining in
dustry which have lately sprung up as by magic in this region.
If they are not protected against the destructive influences
bearing upon them with increasing intensity as the settlement
and development of the country progress, and if the needed
care is not extended to the younger growth, the deterioration
of these_immense forests is destined to proceed surely and
steadily to the same destruction to which the forests of the
more densely populated districts are doomed. Karl Mohr,
Acacia decurrens.—Considerable attention is now being given
in France to this Australian tree as a possible source of a sup-
ply of tanning material. It thrives everywhere on the shores
of the Mediterranean Basin and flourishes in the most arid
soils. Mons. Levallois, in a report recently presented to the
National Agricultural Society of France, states that a sample of
the bark grown at Antibes yielded 31 per cent. of tannin, while
recent experiments show that a given amount of the bark was
sufficient to cure two-thirds of its weight of leather, while a
given quantity of Oak bark would cure but one-fifth of its
weight of leather. If further experiments, made on a large
scale, confirm the value of the bark, Acacia decurrens will
prove a valuable tree for southern California and our dry
south-western region, where good tanning material is scarce,
Indeed the only tree of our Pacific forests which produces
really good tan bark is Quercus densiflora, of northern Cali-
fornia, now becoming rare from excessive cutting.
Recent Publications.
Manuel de 0 Acclimateur ou Choix de Plantes Recommandées
pour CAgriculture, UIndustrie et la Médecine, par Charles
Naudin. Paris, 1887; pp. 565.
This is a French translation, much enlarged and improved,
of Baron Von Miiller’s well known “Select Extra-Tropical
Plants,” and is published under the auspices of the National
Acclimatization Society of France. By far the larger portion
of the work is devoted to a descriptive catalogue of extra-
tropical, warm-country plants, valuable to man either from an
economic or ornamental point of view, and, therefore, worthy
of his attention. This is prefaced by a most interesting study of
the general subject of the naturalization and the acclimatization
of plants. This last the author describes as ‘the introduction
and successful cultivation of plants valuable to man ;” natural-
ization being the spontaneous spread of foreign plants ina
country.» As a general rule it is only weeds which become
naturalized, but two exceptionsare given; the Orange which has
reverted to the wild typesin Florida, and the Mango which now
forms a considerable part of the forest growth in the Island o1
Jamaica. With these might have been included the so-called
Japanese Clover (Lesfedeza striata, Hook. & Arn.), a valuable
forage plant now widely naturalized in some parts of the South,
and the common Barberry, now as much at home in eastern
New England as in any part of Europe.
A few errors and a few omissions will be detected in the
catalogue of plants, but these could hardly have been avoided,
although in a second edition it is to be hoped that more of the
interesting plants of our south-western boundary may find a
place, suchas the lovely Chilopsisand Cordia Boissicri, one of the
most showy flowering of North American trees, and considered
by the Mexicans of great medicinal value. And in such awork,
too, the different species of Acacia and Parkinsonia, the
Olmeya and the Fouguiera of Texas and Arizona, cannot be pro-
perly omitted.
The Manuel de U Acclimateur is one of the most important
contributions to recent horticultural literature, and its value is
all the greater from the fact that the authorhas cultivated many
of the plants he describes, especially the Eucalyptus (a
genus to which he has devoted many years of study), in the
36
gardens of the Villa Thuret in southern France, where he has
brought together the richest collection of dry-country plants
which now exists. It will be specially serviceable to horti-
culturists in our Gulf States and in California, where there is still
so much to be done in the way of introducing valuable plants.
A Manual of Orchidaceous Plants Cultivated under Glass
in Great Britain, prepared and published by James Veitch
& Sons of the Royal Exotic Nurseries, London.
Two parts of this work, copiously illustrated, have now
appeared. They give good promise of an important and valu-
able contribution to the already voluminous literature of
Orchids, especially in their “cultural notes”, which no one can
so well supply as can the Veitches out of the long ai ets
of three generations of successful Orchid growers. Part I.
devoted to Odontoglossum ; Part IT. to Cattleya and ae
with Leliopsis, Tetramicra, Schomburghkia and Sophronitis.
Capital colored maps show the geographical distribution of
these genera. The fact that the two parts are paged separately
and that the figures are not numbered, will make it difficult to
refer to this book in other publications.
Handbich der Coniferen Benennung, by L. Beissner, lnspec-
tor of the Botanic Garden of Bonn. Ludwig Maller, Erfurt.
This is a list of all Coniters, hardy or halt. hardy, in Germany,
and is the result of the conference of a Congress of German
horticulturists which met at Dresden last summer under the
Presidency of the Baron St. Paul, for the purpose of settling
the proper nomenclature of cultivated Conifers. This could
not have been a very easy task, but the Congress and its
Secretary have prepared a catalogue which, with its full
synonyms, its very complete lists of named cultivated forms
andits full index, will be found a serviceable aid to the students
and cultivators of Conifers. It may be noted that 7AZu7opsis and
Chamecyparis are retained as genera and not merged with
Thuya, and that with less reason Bioda is also separated from
that genus. /MVellingfonia is retained as a genus tor Sequoia
gigantea. We should hardly have expected to have found
Wellingtonia turning up again at this late day outside of Great
Britain, where horticultural patriotism, or whatever it may be,
insists on ignoring the older Seguwoia for our “ Big tree” in
spite of all the efforts of botanists. Zaxus Floridana, Funt-
perus Californica (except as a synonym of another species),
Pinus Cubensis, P. glabra, P. clausa and P. Chihuahuana, of
the United States F lora, do not appear in the catalogue.
raits.
Horticulture Belge,
Recent Plant Port
Agalea Indica, Leon Pynaert, Revue de
February.
Oxrybaphus Californica (Mirabilis Californica, Gray), Garten
Flora, ¢. 1266.
Orontium aguaticum, Revue Horticole.,
FPlatycaria strobiacea, Revue Horticole.,
Phalenopsis, ¥. L.
18th.
Oxera pulchella, Gardener's Chronicle, February 18th; a
semi-scandent shrub from New Caledonia, producing im-
mense clusters of pure white flowers. It is closely allied to
Clerodendron.
Biota (Thuja) Steboldi, Gardener’ § Chronicle, February 18th.
“A torm of the common Chinese Arbor- vite, in which the
young form of leaf is preserved to adult age, the ordinary
form of leaf not being produced, and the w hole plant forming
a compact barrel or flamed-shaped bush of great symmetry
and beauty.
February 16th.
February 16th.
Ames, Gardener's Chronicle, February
Public Works.
Enlargement of the Park of Atlanta, Georgia.—IF'rom the Report
of the Park Commission of Atlanta it appears that an effort is
being made to enlarge the principal Park of that city by secur-
ing some fifty acres of land north of its present boundary,
The Park now contains but one hundred acres and is mani-
festly too small for the growing city. An interesting feature
aM the report is a classified list of the indigenous plants of the
Park, prepared by Mr. A. Sidney Rauschenberg.
A Park for Lisbon.—The first prize of 12,000 francs, offered
by the City Council of Lisbon for the best plan for a City Park,
has just been awarded to Mons. P. Lasseau of Paris. A
second and a third prize of 7,500 and 5,000 francs respectively
have been given in the same competition to Mons. G. Du-
chesne and Mons. Eugéne Deny, also of Paris.
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 14, 1888.
Flower Market.
New York, dlarch oth, 1888. :
The supply of cut flowers is heavy, but the general stock is poor.
Prices continue to decline with all flowers excepting Orchids. Cy-
pripediums are in more request than other Orchids, because they
combine handsomely with green arrangements, Mignonette being
much used for this purpose. Cypripedium Lawrencianum costs from
75 cts. to $1.00 a flower; Cattleya spectosissima and C. superba bring
from 50 to 75 cts. a flower. C. Crtrina and C. Percevaliana cost the
same, C.7Zyriana sells for 75 cts. and $1.00a flower, and Lycasle Skinnert
brings 40, 50 and 75 cts. a flower. Vandas range from 25 to 35 cts. a
flower, with from 4 to 10 blossoms ona spray. Odontoglossum cris-
pum costs from 20 to 35 cts. a flower, and there are from 5 to 20 on
aspray. Asparagus plunosus brings from $1.00 to $1.50 a string, and
A. tenulssimus 75 cts. to $1.00 a string of 3 and 4 feet in length. Ferns
cost from 10 to 50 cts. a frond, Adiantum Far Zeyense being the most ex-
pensive. Short stemmed hybrid Roses are selling for $2 -00 a dozen,
Onlyselected Baroness Rothschild and Mabel Morrisons are held at $1.00
each. Other excellent hybrids bring 75 cts. The best Jacqueminot roses
are sold for $3.00 a dozen and La France for $2.00 and $3.00 a dozen.
Puritans cost 50 cts. and American Beauties 75 cts. each. Papa Gon-
tiers run very poor; those selected are sold for $r.00 and $1.50 a
dozen, and the ordinary ones are thrown in with Bon Silenes and dis-
posed of for 75 cts. a dozen. Verles, Niphetos and Souvenirs d’un Ami
bring $1.50 a dozen, and Catherine Mermets $2.00. Bennetts cost the
same. Dutch Hyacinths sell for 15 and 25 cts. a truss; Roman Hya-
cinths, Lily-of- the- valley, Tulips and Narcissus Fae 75 cts. a dozen.
Specially fine specimens of Tulips and Narcissus Trumpet Major
bring $1.00 a dozen. Lilac costs from 25 to 50 cts. aspray. Helio-
trope is socts. a dozen sprays. Pansies are 25 cts. a dozen, and Vio-
lets $1.50 a hundred. Acacia costs from §0 cts. to $1.00 a spray.
Mignonotte from 50 cts. to $1.00 a dozen spikes, and Carnations 50 cts.
a dozen for all varieties. Lilium Harrisii brings 35 cts. a bloom
or $4.00 a dozen. Callas cost $3.00 a dozen. Plants of Spireea Japon-
ica appear, but no cut bloom is sold as yet.
PHILADELPHIA, Alarch oth.
Delicate tinted and sweet scented flowers are most in demand just
how. There have been some elaborate dinner table decorations,
where the very choicest flowers have been used during the past week.
Orchids and the rarest Roses only are used on these occasions. Boxes
of fragrant flowers are frequently sent to friends at this season— more
so than at any other. A few morning weddings have taken place dur-
ing Lent, —a somewhat unusual occurrence for this city. White flowers
were used almost exclusively. On one occasion the corsage bouquets
were made of Puritan Roses, as was the centre piece, which was a pla-
teau four feet long. Freesias, Roman Hyacinths, and Lilies-of-the-
Valley were also abundantly used. Some large and choice Amaryl-
lises are sold at $1 each. Single and double Daffodils are called for in
about equal quantities. The double Von Sion makes the most show,
but the single varieties are selected by connoisseurs. Lidia Harrisiz,
or as it is called generally the Bermuda Lily, has been in good demand
at socts. cach. The chaste and delicate Cyclamens, both as plants and
flowers, are popular, and seem destined in the near future to take a
prominent place in the floral world. Pink Tulips are more used than
any other shade. More Lilacs would be used if they could be had, but
they are scarce, Plants in bloom, such as Azaleas, and what are known
as Spring flowers, sell readily. A limited quantity of white Moss Roses
are obtainable at $1 per spray carrying one half-developed bud and
several others which have not yet shown color. A few Gloxinias are
offered for sale, but they are not in very great demand because they
are so easily broken or soiled
Boston, Afarch oth.
The windows of the flower stores are marvels of beauty just now.
The display of Roses is especially fine, for at no time of the year are
they offered in greater variety or perfection. The various popular
hybrid Roses are seen in large quantities, Jacqueminots of course
leading, with the beautiful satiny pink Madame Gabriel Luizets close-
ly following, fully as effective in color and almost as popular. Gloire
de Parisand Magna Chartaare also abundant, but the chief value of
these two varieties lies in their easy-forcing - qualities, which make it
possible to obtain them much earlier in the season than other hybrids.
The later kinds are more desirable when they do come. The new
Puritan is offered in limited quantities, and when the blooms come
perfect, this white Rose is a valuable addition to the list of large flower-
ing varieties. | An occasional specimen of that shy beauty, Her Ma-
jesty, is to be seen. The color is exquisite, and the flower is of enorm-
ous size, but alas! it is odorless. Maréchal Niels are becoming scarce
again and the only yellow Rose to be hadin any quantity is Perle des
Jardins. This and Catherine Mermet hold their price quite steadily,
while La France and American Beauty have a downward tendency.
Catherine Mermets and Jacqueminots sell at $2.50 to $3.00 per doz.
Hybrids bring from $3.00 to $5.00 per doz., according to variety and
quality. Other Roses are worth from $1.00 to $2.00 per dozen. Lilies-
of-the-Valley and Tulips sell for $1.00 per doz. Daffodils are held at
the same price, but they are getting scarce and cannot always be ob-
tained. Violets and Pansies are worth so cts. per bunch. Long
Stemmed Carnations, Mignonette, Forget-me-not and Heliotrope bring
50 cts. per dozen. Callas are not as plentiful as they were a week
ago and are in demand at $3.00 per dozen.
Marcu 21, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[ LImITeEp.]
OrricE: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.
onductedt Dye wi seGeee fe see Gow . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH a1, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
: PAGE.
EpiroriaL Arricies :—Needs of American Pomology.—The Proposed Speed-
road: in: Central! Park.—Ghent ‘Azaleas.. eis ecelecde san ccctenctaceves 37
Landscape Gardening, IV........++-.ss00+ Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 38
Horticulture in Plorida.:..ssescsecsseosecssesdnesssosesecend A. H. Curtiss. 39
A Disease of Certain Japan Bohr Sires eecasa Professor Wolcott Gibbs. 40
ForfIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—The Kew maioveturl teessecesse+ Geo. Nicholson. 40
PloralNotes from London. ..2.....'0iedsss:eesce san see William Goldring. 41
Pranr Notes :—Hardy Begonias.—Grevillea Thelemanniana.—Allium Nea-
politanum.—Or nithogalum Arabicum.—Akebia quinata.—Strelitzia
TIALS Llp clatayalsintalete osim'njojateie’s(wielnrai eisai <e:sin eiaiinsieicia'e/4 misw'vimurn oalvieinieie s¥\ase'e + 41
Wayside Beauty (with illustr secon
Iris bracteata (with illustration). .
Sweet Peas......eseeeecececes
» Sereno Watson 43
. A. A, Fewhkes. 43
Polyanthus Narcissus....-..s0000+seersceet see Ste eiieee tae yai te
envials for Cut BlOWers. s¢<-isis-sscs+ssseisescsescenvecee Wm. Falconer 45
Hepatica and Blood-root..... Professor W. W. Bailey. 45
Vhe Propagation of Magnolias........0.-.eecseeees sees Fackson Dawson. 45
Rules for Planting Wind-breaks........2.-0... 0065 Professor L. H. Bailey. 46
THE Forest :
The Forests of Vancouver Island..............- Professor Fohn Macoun. 46
Propagation of Conifers from Seeds in the Open Air..... Robert Douglas. 47
Recent Pusrications :—Reyiew of Forest Administration in British India for
the year 1885-6 48
Recenr PLANT Portraits 48
PeriopicaL Lirerature :—Art Amateur.—Cassell’s Family Magazine.—Long-
man’s Magazine.—McMillan’s Magazine.........----. 48
MOWER MIUARICE Tcrciactectareie's[aiaaivisivs jaie.aieleltieisivieiy pitvici= sie « sineieisisivisie esis vest @ o(sis/cuise'e 6 48
Illustrations :—A Country Road.. eetua dessie'gs = ielels Ga'alaiv a's 2
risibracteatalsmereie cies cic lalain, 2 Sree
Chinese Narcissus Grown in Water...... ween tcc cere n ees eaesecenes 44
Needs of American Pomology.
1. Statistics should be gathered to determine the relative
profitableness of fruit-growing in different localities. It is
now demonstrated that most parts of the country are
adapted to fruit-growing of some kind. For home use and
local markets, the cultivation of fruits of all kinds should be
encouraged over as wide an area as possible. But there
are some fruits whose productiveness varies greatly in
different sections, and nothing is gained to the country or
the individual by encouraging their cultivation on a large
scale in unfavorable situations.
To obtain more definite information than we now have
regarding the best situations for the various fruits, statistics
of the yield in different parts of the country fora series of
years are needed. These statistics might be thrown in
graphic form upon a map, showing at a glance the areas
over which a given fruit, say the peach, yields a fair crop
every year, other areas in which there has been a good crop
on an average once in three or five years, and still others in
which the trees rarely reach a bearing age. Something
of this kind could be done by horticultural societies. Let
statistics be taken at a few typical points, such as at
South Haven, in Michigan, representing the ‘‘ fruit belt,’
and Jackson or Ann Arbor, representing the interior of the
State. Similar points for comparison might be chosen in
Pennsylvania, Delaware and other States. Information so
collected would help to show to what extent the fruits are
grown in the locations to which they are best adapted.
It is time for an advance in the matter of classifying
varieties. The labors of Warder and the Downings need to
be enlarged and extended. A reliable manual for the
identification of fruits is greatly needed. Some promising
systematic work on the cultural varieties of fruits and vege-
tables has been done, but before satisfactory progress can
be made in this direction there must be good herbarium
collections of such plants. Cultural varieties are almost
unknown in the herbariums of botanists, but collections of
Garden and Forest.
37
such varieties are a necessity for their proper study. The
distinctions between cultural varieties are so much less than
those between the natural species and varieties, that for their
proper study, it will more often be necessary to refer to the
living plants ; but the varieties which require to be studied
together cannot always be obtained at one time in the
living state, nor can they be maintained in the growing
condition at the proper stage long enough for that purpose.
3. The systematic improvement of fruits needs more
attention. The more promising methods of obtaining
better varieties are:
(a.) Selecting the best from among the varieties acci-
dentally produced. In this way nearly all our varieties in
cultivation have been obtained. A sharp eye, quick judg-
ment and a taste for trying new sorts are what is needed
for this purpose.
(6.) Planting seeds of the best known varieties. Most
of these are of short standing ; many are of the nature of
sports ; but the tendency of like to produce like exists to
some degree in all of them and renders it probable that the
best varieties of the future will come from the best of those
we have.
(c.) Better cultivation and changes of soil and climate.
Favorable conditions are an important factor in the pro-
duction of improved varieties. The finest fruits, as a rule,
have arisen in the localities best adapted to their growth.
Unfavorable conditions may, however, be useful for testing
varieties before they are brought into general cultivation,
and a long continued breeding up in a given locality
may be necessary in order to produce varieties able to
withstand extreme conditions, as of cold or drought.
(d.) The improvement of our wild fruits. These, by
reason of the long period of their development in the
country, are likely ‘to be best adapted to its climate. Our
cultivated raspberries and blackberries indicate what may
be done in a short time with native species.
(e.) The importation of promising foreign fruits. Most
of our cultivated plants are importations. This is not
because our native resources of this kind are meagre,
but mainly because there has been a longer time abroad
in which to develop improved varieties. Further importa-
tion of foreign fruits is especially needed, of kinds not
native to this country, and from regions having similar
climatic conditions,
The Proposed Speed-road in Central Park.
ERTAIN gentlemen of this city who own fast horses
have been aiming for years to get possession of a
portion of Central Park and convert it into a road, broad,
straight and level, whereon their trotters may be speeded,
without any annoyance from vulgar animals or their
drivers. Some attempts at public meetings have been
made in order to invest the project with the dignity of a
popular movement ; but these have all proved melancholy
failures. Nevertheless a bill has been prepared, and is now
before the proper legislative committee in Albany, to au-
thorize the construction of such a road, one hundred feet
wide, and to compel the people to pay for the work of de-
solating their pleasure ; eround. The gentlemen who have
tried to organize these meetings for the spoliation of the
Park and who are throwing the weight of their influence in
favor of this bill are described as “* opulent citizens.” It
does not follow that a citizen is public-spirited because he
is opulent, but, as a matter of fact, some of the abettors of
this scheme have a certain civic pride and can generally be
counted on for the unselfish support of any measure look-
ing towards the city’s welfare. It would not be surprising
that a man whose loftiest ambition is to be known as the
owner and driver of the fleetest trotting horse in the world
should be willing to turn the grassy stretches of the Park
into a bladeless desert to furnish a track for the exercise
and display of this noble animal. The pity of it is that
one intelligent and fair-minded man can be found who
does not understand that the condemnation of any portion
36
of the Park to such a use would mean its utter ruin; or
who, if he does comprehend this, entertains the belief that
the plain people who would be permitted to sit on a bench
by the road-side and see him drive by, would, in this way,
drink in a delight which would more than counterbalance
any loss or pain, caused by a destruction of the pastoral
beauty of the Park.
Now, the only reason which justifies the setting apart of
so large anarea for a park in the heart of a city like New
York is, that on ground less spacious, it would be im-
possible to secure any broad, reposeful examples of rural
scenery. As it is, the limits of Central Park are all too
scanty. The triumph of its designers’ skill lies in the fact
that a narrow strip of land, broken and folded into ridges
of rock, has been turned into a series of tree-bordered
meadows, each one giving glimpses of what promise to
be still fairer and more quiet fields beyond. It is this
pastoral scenery, and its restful, healing influence upon
the minds of those who are worn and wearied with the
strained and artificial conditions of city life, which gives
the Park its value. This is the fundamental purpose of the
Park ; and the roads and paths and bridges are only of
value as they help the visitor to obtain the refreshment
offered by its quiet prospects.
The gentlemen who are able to possess fast horses, do
not stand in need of this refreshment as much as some of
their less favored fellows. Their winters are passed in the
sunshine of the South and their summers in villas at Lenox
or cottages by the sea. But to the poor and the children
of the poor the Park offers the only glimpse of greensward
that greets their eyes from one year’s end to the other. It
seems a cruelty to destroy these pictures of peace that a
wise forethought has prepared for them simply to enable a
few “opulent citizens” to enjoy their chosen pastime for a
few weeks in the Spring and Autumn. And this is espe-
cially true, because the Park and its scenery add nothing to
the enjoyment of these horsemen, who find in the driving
itself its own exceeding great reward. Some of these gen-
tlemen have famous picture galleries, and all right-minded
persons would sympathize with their horror and distress
if some vandal hand should cut out a strip from the border
of one of their favorite landscapes. But the living picture
is just as truly a work of art as the painted one, and the
cutting away of this broad stretch of verdure and substitut- °
ing for it something entirely incongruous with its motive
and purpose would be an outrage quite as brutal.
It is discouraging that elementary principles like these
need to be stated now after the Park itself has been for
thirty years pleading its own excuse for being. But there
are men who do not hesitate, when their minds are filled
with the clamors ofa controlling passion, to argue in favor
of some encroachment upon the Park that ‘‘it was made
to use and not to look at.” The notion at the bottom of
this is, that the only legitimate use to which land in a city
can be put is to be built upon or trampled over, or in some
way “improved” or occupied. Even a Park Commissioner
who had a scheme to fill up one of the fairest vales of Cen-
tral Park with cheap carpentry once justified his purpose
by calling the spot “a piece of unimproved land.” So long
as it is not recognized asa principle of action that beauty
may be in itself of the highest use ; so long as it is not un-
derstood, that from the most practical, common sense
view, the primary ‘‘ use” of a pleasure ground like Central
Park is “to be looked at,” just so long every urban park
in the country is threatened with destruction.
There is no need therefore to state here the special ob-
jections to this speed-road. There are difficulties in law
to be urged by those who have the right to enter the Park
and cross this track. There are enormous difficulties
in the way of its construction. There are difficulties which
would destroy its value as a track for fast driving even if
it could be built. But these special objections might not
hold against the next threat of invasion ; and one encroach-
ment will certainly be followed by another, for there are a
hundred classes of people—each with a claim upon the
Garden and Forest.
[MARCH 21, 1888.
city’s pleasure ground as valid as that of the fast drivers—
and every one will feel encouraged to pre-empt a quarter
section here or there for the special business or pleasure in ~
which its members are chiefly interested.
What is needed most is intelligent opinion as to the pri-
mary uses and purposes of well-planned and planted parks.
Their value as breathing spaces, as aids to purify the air,
as places for exercise, 1s constantly and properly urged ;
but it is only when their higher function, their healthful
influence upon the mind, is universally appreciated, that
the foundation is laid for the strongest resistance against
attacks upon their integrity.
Ghent Azaleas.
HENT Azaleas, as they are generally known in hor-
ticultural literature, are a race of garden hybrids
produced in the first place by crossing Azalea Pontica with
different American species, especially A. calendulacea, A.
viscosa and A. nudiflora, and then improved by selecting
the best varieties raised from the seed of these hybrids.
They are, perhaps, when in flower, the most beautiful of
all our hardy shrubs. They are equally beautiful when
massed in great beds or when grown singly. Their bril-
liant, deliciously fragrant flowers range in color from crim-
son and pink, through orange and yellow to almost white.
No plants bloom more freely and few last longer in
bloom. These Azaleas flourish in good garden soil, but
like the evergreen Rhododendrons, they cannot bear lime,
and the region where they can be grown in the United
States therefore is not very large. Although the plants
are all perfectly hardy, the blossom buds of some varie-
ties are killed in severe winters and some grow less vig-
orously than others.
The following varieties, selected for a large collection,
are hardy, vigorous and free blooming, their flower buds
never suffering in the most severe winters : Henry Waterer,
Belle Merville, Heureuse Surprise, Madame Baumann,
Fama, Gloria Mundi, Astreans, Grand Monarque, Pallas,
Beauté Celeste, Prince Henri de Pays Bas.
Hardly inferior in beauty to any of the varieties of
this garden race is our native Asalea calendulacea, and
one of the great sights of this continent for the lover of
flowers is the slopes of the Southern Allegheny Moun-
tains when they are blazing in June with the great flame-
colored masses of this splendid plant. :
But these hybrid Azaleas can, perhaps, be still further
improved, or their blooming period, at least, greatly ex-
tended, by mingling with them the blood of Azalea arbo-
rescens, a very late-blooming, hardy species, with white, fra-
erant flowers, from the Carolina Mountains, and of the
Californian A. occrdentalis, another late blooming species.
Their further improvement offers an inviting field of ex-
periment.
These plants are spoken of here as Azaleas ; in reality
they are all Rhododendrons, for Azalea only differs from
Rhododendron in its deciduous leaves, a view now accept-
ed by botanists, but, in speaking of them from a cultural
point of view, much confusion will be saved by retaining
Azalea, the name by which they are universally known in
gardens.
Landscape Gardening.—IV.
T has been said that though the landscape gardener
works with Nature’s own materials and processes, he
does not lack those opportunities for self-expression, which
alone make art a possibility. His task is to produce beau-
tiful compositions—beautiful pictures. Nature supplies him
with his factors—always gives him vitality, light, atmos-
phere, beautiful colors and charming details, and often
lovely or imposing forms in the configuration of the soil ;
and she will see to the perfect finishing of his design. But
his design is the main thing and must be of his own con-
ceiving.
MARCH 21, 1888.]
-It is easy to see that this is true when it is a question of
formal, ‘‘architectural” design in gardening. But it is
just as true when it is a question of the most ‘‘natural”
landscape work. Nature seldom shows the artist a large
composition which he can wish to reproduce; and if by
chance she does, it is impossible for him to reproduce it.
Practical difficulties hedge him narrowly in, and appropri-
ateness—which in every art is a prime consideration—
controls his efforts more imperiously than those of most
other artists.
If the painter finds a natural scene which, without al-
teration, would please him upon canvas, he can paint it as
he finds it and take his picture where he will. If Nature
will not help, she will not hinder him, nor will appropriate-
ness forbid his savage, or his arctic, or his tropical land-
scape to hang upon a wall in Paris or New York. But the
gardener cannot reproduce such a landscape if he would,
and appropriateness would forbid him if he could. He
cannot even reproduce a scene nearer home, the appropri-
ateness of which, in general effect and in details of vege-
tation, might be entire. His aim is never purely ideal ;
he can never think simply of beauty or even of appropri-
ateness in the abstract. He may practice with abstract
problems on paper, but with each piece of his actual work
imaginative than this.
Nature says to him: Here in this spot I have drawn a
rough outline, which it is for you to make into a picture.
In many other spots I have shown you scattered beauties
of a thousand kinds. It is for you to decide which of them
you can bring into that picture, and for you to discover
how they may be fused into a whole ‘‘ which shall look as
beautiful, as right, as though I had created it myself.”
Thus we see that appropriateness must be the touch-
stone as regards not only general effects, but particular
features. The memory may be stored with endless beau-
ties that Nature has revealed—with innumerable ‘‘bits” of
composition, with pregnant ideas for foregrounds, back-
grounds, middle distances and ‘‘effects” of every sort, and
with exhaustless materials in the way of trees and shrubs
and flowers. But not one can be used without bringing
the mind to bear upon the questions: Will it, theoretically,
be appropriate in this part of the world? Can I, theoreti-
cally, introduce it into a creation of this special sort? And
will practical, local considerations permit me to introduce
it, if 1 find it theoretically appropriate? Indeed, the true
process of landscape creation is more synthetical, more
The true artist will not go about
with a store of rea dy-made features and effects in ‘his mind
and strive to fit them into the composition of the moment
as best he may. He will conceive his general idea in
deference to the local prescriptions of Nature ; develop his
general scheme as artistic fitness may seem to counsel ;
discover the special features and details which are needed
to perfect it (considering which Nature will permit among
those that he might desire); and then, half unconsciously
perhaps, search for memories of natural results which may
teach him how to achieve his own. In educating himself
he will have tried less to remember in a definite way those
-particular results of Nature which he may have seen than
to understand how Nature goes to work to produce beauti-
ful results—to permeate himself with her spirit, to compre-
hend her aims, to learn what she means by variety in
unity, by harmonious contrasts, by appropriateness of
feature and detail, by beauty of line and color, by distinct-
ness of expression—in a word, by composition. He will
have tried to train his memory of general rather than his
memory of particular truths, and chiefly to purify his taste
and to stimulate his imagination ;—for he will have known
that, while in some ways he is Nature's favorite pupil, in
other ways she treats him more parsimoniously than He
rest. She gives him a superabundance of models by tl
study of which he may make himself an artist ; but Oey
as an artist he is actually at work she will never give him
one which, part by part, can guide him in his effort. When
we read of painters we marvel most not at the modern
‘‘realist” working inch by inch from the living form, but at
Garden and Forest.
39
Michael Angelo on his lonely scaffold, filling his Sistine
ceiling with forms as true as Nature’s, and far more power-
ful and superb—no guides at hand but his memory of the
very different forms he had studied from the life and his
own creative thought. Yet something very like this is
what the landscape gardener must do every time he takes
a piece of work in hand. Certainly not each of his tasks is
as difficult as a Sistine ceiling, but each, whether small or
large, whether hard or easy, must be approached in the
same way that this ceiling was approached. Is his work
not, therefore, pre-eminently artistic work? Does it not
give him full chance to express himself since it calls so im-
peratively at every step for the exercise of the imagination,
and since the best memory in the world can only give him
general, and not special, counsels?
iM. G. Van Rensselaer.
Horticulture in Florida.
HE cold wave which swept over Florida in January, 1886,
marked the beginning of a new epoch in her develop-
ment. Before that time orange culture had been made to
advertise the State so extensively that it had come to be re-
garded as the all-important industry, and thousands even of
her inhabitants looked upon itas the only one that could be
carried on with profit here. Therefore this killing frost was
regarded as an unmitigated disaster. True, the groves within
the orange belt proper were not seriously damaged, but a
cloud was cast on the title of the orange to public confi-
dence, and the result has been that for “the past two years
Florida has suffered partial eclipse. But there are strong in-
dications that the obscuration will not last much longer.
The orange fever will hardly be revived and it is far from
desirable that it should be. While it continued we suffered
all the evils of a one-crop system. Besides, it diverted im-
migration from that large portion of the State where oranges
cannot be grown with profit, but where people can more read-
ily make a living by mixed agriculture. The great freeze,
therefore, did some good in checking rash investment and
reckless planting and “turning people’s attention to more sub-
stantial branches of rural industry.
Besides the orange no fruits had obtained much favor in
Florida before 1886, except a few ofastillless hardy nature. For
a few years the Lemon had been planted largely in southern
Florida and the fruit was shipped in considerable quantity.
Being less perishable, it promised soon to rival the orange in
public favor. The Lime succeeded finely in the same region,
as did the Grape fruit, Citron and Shaddock, but they were
but little grown except for ornament and home use.
In the orange belt the Guava Cae pomiferunt in varieties,
and toa less extent P. Cattleianum) had come to be regarded
as a standard fruit, and deservedly so, for there is scarcely
another that can be put to a greater variety of uses, or
used more months in the year. In 1885 it was plentiful in the
Jacksonville market, but it could hardly be shipped fresh out
of the State. These with Bananas (planted mainly for orna-
ment), Figs, improved native Plums (Prunus angustifolia), the
Scuppernong Grape, and more rarely some inferior Peaches
and Pears, the Japan Persimmon, the Loquat (Eviobotrya) the
Mulberry, Pomegranate, and a few varieties of improved
Grapes, comprised the minor fruits of the Citrus belt.
The Cocoanut and Pineapple, formerly confined to the
southern keys, were coming into notice as fruits adapted to
the latitude of Lake Okeechobee, and the latter fruit had suc-
ceeded well on the eastern.ceast as far north as Cape Canaveral.
The Mango (Mangifera Indica) and Avocado Pear (Persea
gratissima) had fruited bountitully as far north as Tampa.
These and other sub- tropical fruits were planted still further
north, and there was a growing disposition to put them to the
severest test ina climate subject to a lower range of temper-
ature than they could by nature endure.
Such was the situation when the memorable cold wave
swept over us, driving the mercury down to a lower mark by
four degrees than had been known since 1835. To make
matters worse this cold wave was of twice the usual duration,
which is two days. All Citrus fruits that had not been
gathered, except in the southernmost counties and on the
Indian River, were frozen. The Orange groves which had
been the pride of Florida, were stripped of their foliage and
remained bear and dreary during the remainder of the winter.
Weak trees were seriously damaged, as were Lemon and Lime
trees, while Guavas and the w hole list of sub- -tropical fruits
were killed to the ground.
40
Native trees of sub-tropical species, such as the Black Man-
grove (Avicennia nitida) and the Rubber Tree (Ficus aurea),
some of them fifty years old, were killed, proving the excep-
tional severity of the weather. North of latitude 30° on the At-
lantic side of the peninsula, and 29° on the Gulf side, neglected
and unprotected Orange groves were badly damaged, while
some even on the northern border of the State were scarcely
injured, except by loss of foliage, which began to put out again
in March.
This event, occurring at the beginning of the tourist season,
and when southern California had just become accessible to
tourists, proved disastrous to Florida in its immediate effects ;
yet looking toward the ultimate welfare of the State, it must
result beneficially. The Orange has shown itself to be much
hardier than was supposed. Attention has been turned from
sub-tropical fruits, and in seeking for substitutes many hardy
fruits have been brought into notice, which will add greatly to
the people’s comforts “and sources of income. Faith in the
one-crop system has given place to desire for greater variety.
The people have been led to inquire and experiment, and by
this means have come to know thatthe orange belt, as well as
the cotton belt of the State, is adapted to a great variety of
profitable and attractive industries. That some progress has
been made in the way of fruit-growing will be shown in an-
other letter. sn $3
Jacksonville, Fla. AL, Curtiss.
A Disease of Certain Japanese Shrubs.
APANESE shrubs form, as every horticulturalist knows,
conspicuous ornaments of modern gardens, and are in
many cases to be regarded as indispensable. All that concerns
them is, therefore, of interest, and details of the experience
even of a single amateur may not be without interest. In my
own garden at Newport, R. I., the exposure is towards the east,
and the distance from the sea-beach about one-eighth of a
mile. The soil is light, but fairly good, with underlying clay.
The prevailing wind during the greater part of the year is from
the south-west. The average winter temperature is higher
than 20° F. Lower temperatures are not very frequent, but
temperatures as low as o°, or even lower, do occur, though
not for more than one or two days at a time, and not more
frequently than once or twice in the course of a winter. The
spring is always very cold and late—a fact which was noted by
Bishop Berkeley during his residence on the island in 1728-34.
For a number of years “I have observed that spring arrives at
Cambridge, Mass., nearly a fortnight earlier than at this place.
Warm days in April are very often followed by very cold
nights. The cool and delightful summer is followed by a long,
very cool autumn, not favorable to the perfect ripening of
bulbs.
I have for some years cultivated Japanese and Chinese
shrubs with an especial predilection, and have noted the
following curious fact in regard to a number belonging to dit-
ferent natural orders: Some time in July or August ‘the tips
of the new shoots begin to look sickly, then wither, turn brown
and finally die down to the root, leaving a number of other
branches in a healthy condition. This I have observed in
Rosa rugosa, Cercis Faponica, Acer polymorphum and varieties,
Lxochorda grandifiora and Staphylea Bumalda, 1 have not
been able to detect the presence of any insect, and have found
no remedy, except the heroic one of cutting out all affected
branches. _ As a rule the root remains sound and sends up new
shoots during the ensuing spring. Ewochorda grandiflora has
suffered most and for several successive seasons. The disease
showed itself for the first time in the summer of 1886 in an old
and very large group of Rosa rugosa, and again during the
past summer in some much younger plants. Cerczs Faponica
is not hardy here, but is killed to the ground every spring, The
new shoots invariably begin to die down in July. Viburnum
plicatum is not affected, and | have not observed the disease
in Ampelopsis Veitchii or in Cercidiphyllum Faponicum,
Rhodotypus Kerrioides, Hydrangea paniculata grandifiora,
Actinidia polygama, Akebia quinata or in Eleagnus longipes,
which last summer bore a prodigious crop of an agreeable
acid fruit. I have already stated that on this island very warm
days in April are often followed by very cold nights. Two
years since beautiful hedges of Lonicera Halleana were killed,
root and branch, by alternate heat and cold in April, while
Lonicera Faponica and Lonicera brachypoda aureo-reticulata
also suffered severely, although in a less degree. It may prove
that the disease which I have observed is also due to alter-
nations of heat and cold, and perhaps that it is analogous to the
frozen sap-blight which ‘affects the pear.
Newport, R. 1. Wolcott Gibbs.
Garden and Forest.
[MaRcH 21, 1888.
Foreign Correspondence.
The Kew Arboretum.
HE living collection of trees and shrubs in the open
air at Kew is by far the most extensive of any in
Europe. It is intended in these notes to give an account
of the most remarkable specimens of this famous arbore- —
tum, but it seems first of all desirable to give a sketch of
its history, so that some idea can be formed of the way in
which, from a small beginning, Kew has attained its
present importance. About the middle of the seventeenth
century Kew—and this short, familiar name I shall use to
designate the Botanic Gardens and Arboretum—belonged
to a gentleman named R. Bennett, whose daughter and
heiress married Lord Capel, who died Lord Deputy of Ire-
land in 1696. Lord Capel in reality was the first to begin
the formation of a botanical collection by importing rare
trees and shrubs from France. It was not, however, until
a long lease of Kew had been obtained from the Capel
family by the Prince of Wales that much was done in alter-
ing and laying out the grounds. The mother of George
IL , Augusta, the Princess Dowager of Wales, some years
after the death of her husband, resided at Kew, and decided
to make a botanic garden. In this work, which she took
great pleasure in personally superintending, she received
much assistance from the Earl of Bute, a liberal patron of
men of genius, both in literature and in the arts, but proba-
bly the most unpopular English minister of modern times.
It may be worth mentioning here that Lord Bute’s favorite
study was botany, and that he published a quarto work in
nine volumes, entitled ‘‘ Botanical Tables,”
it is said cost him £10,000 ;
printed.
In 1759 William Aiton, a pupil of the celebrated Philip
Miller, the friend and contemporary of Linnzeus, was
placed in charge’of the gardens. Aiton laid out and
planted as an Arboretum, according to the Linnzean sys-
tem, a piece of ground about five acres in extent. Many
of the finest foreign trees were contributed in 1763 from
his garden at Whitton by Archibald, Duke of Argyle, sur-
named by Horace Walpole, the Tree-monger. The follow-
ing testimonial to the ability and character of this nobleman
is given by Peter Collinson (the friend and contemporary
of Linneeus), a famous old gardener, who was the first to
introduce to cultivation in Britain, through his friends Bar-
tram, Catesby, and others, a host of North American trees,
shrubs and plants: ‘‘The Duke of Argyle, on the 15th of
‘April, 1761, died as he sat in his chair, my honored friend
‘‘and great patron of all planters, aged 79, a very hearty
“man of that age. In the year 1723-4 he took in a part of
‘* Hounslow Heath, to add to a little farm, and began plant-
“ing by raising all sorts of trees and shrubs from seeds from
‘four northern colonies and all other parts of the world ; he
‘had the largest collection in England, and happily lived to
“see to whata a Surprising maturity they had arrived in thirty-
‘*seven or thirty-eight years. Great was his benevolence,
‘‘for he gave to every one to encourage planting, and raised
‘plants on purpose to oblige the curious at this seat of his,
‘called Whitton. He had afine collection of rare birds and
‘beasts ; he was a great chemist, natural philosopher, me-
‘*chanic, astronomer and mathematician. He was a won-
‘‘derfully amiable man, plain in his dress, without pride or
‘‘vain ostentation ; his hbrary was scarcely to be equaled.
‘He was 41 years old when he began to sow seeds for his
‘‘plantations.” Several of the trees presented to Kew by the
Duke of Argyle are still flourishing in their original posi-
tions, and a detailed account of some of them will be given
by and by.
It would be a waste of time to give minute details re-
specting Kew and its fortunes between the periods men-
tioned above and 1841, although there is not the slightest
intention to underrate the services of the second Aiton, nor
of his able colleague, Mr. John Smith, A.L.S., who is still
hale and hearty, and takes a lively interest in all matters
a whim which -
only twelve copies were
MARCH 21, 1888.] i
horticultural.* The next step of most importance was the
appointment of Sir W. J. Hooker in 1841. The greater por-
tion of what is now the Aboretum was then called the
Pleasure Grounds, and was simply nothing more or less
than a game preserve. The new Director lost no time in
calling the attention of the government to the cramped ac-
commodation for the hardy ligneous collections, and urged
the formation of a National Arboretum. A plan was drawn
out by Nesfield, one of the foremost landscape gardeners
of his time, and the lines laid down by him have in a
broad sense been followed. When Her Majesty relin-
quished the grounds in 1840 the ‘‘ Board of Green Cloth”
ceased to control the destinies of Kew, and it was placed un-
der H. M. Commissioners of Woods and Forests. In 1843 per-
mission was granted to utilize a piece of ground measur-
ing forty-eight acres as a pinetum ; of this plot the noble
palm house may now be said to form the centre. A con-
siderable number of fine Conifers still exist of those planted
at that time. Not until 1850 were the Pleasure Grounds—
more than 178 acres in extent—diverted from their use as
a game preserve and devoted to their present purpose.
For some time before the appointment of Sir W. J. Hooker,
Kew had languished for want of efficient support, but ever
since that event the establishment has progressed by leaps
and bounds. After the death of Sir W. J. Hooker, his son,
Sir J. D. Hooker, reigned in his stead, and no one in the
scientific world is unaware of the services rendered to hor-
ticulture and botany by the late director. The appoint-
ment of Mr. W. T. Thistleton Dyer to his present post is a
comparatively recent occurrence, but the works carried out
by him sufficiently prove that the establishment will de-
velop still further and will maintain its position at the head
of the botanic gardens of the world.
/
Kew, February, 1888. George Nicholson.
Floral Notes from London.
A new race of hybrid Begonias has been originated by the
Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, which promises to become of con-
siderable value for winter flowering, The foundation of this
race is the new Begonia Socotrana, which was discovered and
introduced a few years ago by Professor Balfour when explor-
ing the little known island of Socotra in the Gulf of Aden.
This species is distinct from other cultivated Begonias, having
shield shaped or round leaves, and flowers of symmetrical out-
line about one and one-half inches across and of a bright rose-
pink. It flowers naturally in winter, and so it occurred to the
Messrs. Veitch that a good result could be obtained by inter-
crossing the Socotra Begonia with some high colored varieties
of the South American species, especially with those having
distinctly tuberous roots and which bloom insummer. The first
attempt resulted in the production of a pretty variety showing
intermediate characters between the parents. It had more
rounded leaves than its parent, B. zzsignis, while its flowers,
though smaller than those of B. Socotrana, were more highly
colored. It was named Autumn Rose because it began to
flower in autumn and continued nearly throughout the winter.
The next cross of B. Socofrana was with a tuberous variety,
and the pretty hybrid named John Heal resulted. It is a dwarf
compact plant, producing flowers very freely, and continuing
in bloom through the winter. The flowers are of a bright
cherry-crimson. A third variety is named Adonis, which has
much larger flowers than the preceding two, more regular in
form and ofa pleasing rose-pink. The most recent hybrid is
called Winter Gem, across between B. Socotrana and a highly
colored tuberous variety. It has large, bold leaves, almost as
round as those of the Socotra Begonia, and large flowers of good
shape of a bright rosy-crimson borne well above the foliage.
Messrs. Veitch have a large number of seedlings yet to flower,
and judging by the rate of advancement in the few hitherto
produced, some good things may be expected.
The White Bornean Jasmine is one of the loveliest and
most fragrant plants one can grow for a continuous supply
of cut bloom during winter. At least, it is so here, and, no
doubt, the plant would behave as well in America. It is rather
a new plant, introduced by Messrs. Veitch a few years ago
* Since the above letter was written the veteran ex-curator of the
Royal Botanic Gardens has passed away at the age of ninety years.
—ED.
Garden and Forest.
AI
from Borneo. It has a tendency to climb, its shoots being
slender and rambling. It flowers abundantly; every twig bears
a cluster of blossoms. It delights ina warm and moist house,
and if ina light position will produce a continuous crop of
bloom for several weeks.
The Double Chinese Primula, Eva Fish, is not a new variety,
having been put in commerce years ago by Messrs. Hender-
son, but rarely, if ever, has it been seen in such perfection as
at an exhibition of the Royal Horticultural Society at a late win-
ter meeting, when it was honored with a certificate. It is dis-
tinct from all the others in point of color, which is a sort of
plum-purple. The flowers are very large, perfectly double,
being, in fact, like compact rosettes, and are borne in great
trusses, rising well above the luxuriant foliage. There is no
other double Primula of a similar color to compare with this
one, and it. will probably become even more popular than
heretofore. Each flower of the double Primula makes a neat
buttonhole bouquet and they are much used for this purpose.
Wm. Goldring.
Plant Notes.
Hardy Begonias._-Mr. Pringle’s note concerning the re-dis-
covery of Begonia gracilis in Northern Mexico, reminds me to
ask why the old hardy Begonia Evansiana (discolor) is so
much neglected. I once had a bed of these plants in northern
Maryland, which occupied the same spot for eight or ten
years. The bulbs were occasionally lifted and reset, as they
became too thick in the bed, but had little other attention,
being treated as a little group in the shade of trees in an out-
of-the-way place. The plants came through a temperature of
18° below zero in 1880, without any covering. My practice was
to plantearly Tulipsamong them, in the fall, to makea bit of early
color, and by the time the Begonia leaves appeared above ground
the Tulips were ready to be lifted. In autumn the bed was a
mass of rosy bloom, until frost cut the flowers down. I have
never seen it planted elsewhere, and it is now hardly known
except in old green-houses, where it sometimes becomes
almost a weed from the dropping of the bulblets from the axils
of the leaves. It is far more reliable as a bedder than any
Begonia I ever used.
Crozet, Va. W. F. Massey.
Grevillea Thelemanniana.—This elegant little Proteaceous
plant is one of the prettiest of the genus, and a native of
Australia. It attains a height of three to five feet, and has
slender, drooping branches, terminated by pendulous racemes
of bright red flowers tipped with yellow, their beauty being en-
hanced by the delicate pinnate leaves. Although a scarce
plant it is a comparatively easy one to grow, and will do well in
company with Azaleas. It should be potted in a compost of
equal parts of peat and loam with a good sprinkling of sand;
care shouldbe taken not to giveittoo much pot-room, During
the winter months—which is the time the flowers generally ap-
pear—the plants should be kept comparatively moist at the root,
but the atmosphere of the house should be dry, anda tempera-
ture from 45° to 55° maintained. The Profeace@ are not so
popular as they should be, probably on account of the extra
attention the plants require during the hot days of summer,
when neglect of watering may result in their death. A good
plan in summer is to plunge the pots to their level, out of
doors where water is handy. This species is easily increased
by cuttings of half-matured shoots inserted in sand in a cool
house. Ff. Goldring.
Allium Neapolitanum is the prettiest white flowering species
of the genus, a native of southern Europe, barely hardy here,
but well fitted for pot culture. We had it in capital bloom in
February in a cool green-house. The bulbs are roundish, very
smalland silvery gray, the foliage is flat and moderately broad,
and the flowers quite pretty, white and loosely arranged in full
umbels terminating a scape some fifteen inches long. The
plants set and ripen seed freely and bysowing this seeda fresh
stock of the plants can be readily secured.
Ornithogalum Arabicum.—Dry bulbs of this plant potted last
October and then grown along ina cool green-house are nowin
bloom. The flowers are large, white with black centres, showy
and in flat-headed racemes terminating scapes, some eighteen
to twenty-four inches long. The foliage is long, flatand slender,
but I cut it into about half its length and in this way secure a
tidy form. This species and O. lacteum, from South Africa, are
the best for pot culture, and both are easily grown. WF.
42
Akebia quinata.—In Philadelphia we can grow, with a little
protection, many of the southern vines, such as the Carolina
Jasmine, Berchemta volubilis, Bignonia capreolata and Decumaria
barbara, a privilege denied to many but a few degrees north of
us. But after all we could hardly spare the us ful and pretty
Akebia quinata. Its trifoliate leaves, though apparently so
tender, when young, are sturdy enough for any weather, and
the plant itself defies our most severe winters. Its rapid
growth, and its early plum-colored flowers with their delicious
fragrance make it altogether desirable. When planted where
thick, yet not dense, shade is required, no vine is more effec-
tive. It rarely produces fruit here, yet on several occasions
specimens of the fruit have been exhibited at our Horticultural
Society. One of the best ways to propagate the Akebia is to
take half-ripened wood in midsummer, cut into lengths of
from one to two eyes each, and insert them in pans of
sand and water. Foseph Meehan.
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 21, 1888.
bright purple. The flowers are so placed as to resemble a fly-
ing bird, and justify the popular name of ‘Bird of Paradise
Plant.” W. A. Manda,
Wayside Beauty.
N these days there is no lack of advice to plant trees by every
roadside, and Village Improvement Societies are furnish-
ing good examples of neatly kept highways. But many of our
country roads are already bordered with trees and shrubs and
climbing vines of Nature’s own planting, and it is quite as im-
portant to preserve the wild beauty of this spontaneous growth
as it is to provide for the more formal and stately rows of Elms
and Maples which are planted on Arbor days. The illustration
below gives a glimpse of a New England by-road which,
fortunately, has escaped the axe and brush-hook of the enter-
prising ae -master. Many officials in charge of our highways
A Country Road.
Strelitzia augusta—Most gardeners are familiar with the
Strelitzia Regine, generally cultivated and flowered in our
green-houses, but the plant named above is rarely seen and
still more rarely in flower. It does not bloom until it is from
fifteen to twenty-five years of age, but afterwards it keeps push-
ing up its curious spathes of flowers which last long in per-
fection. Aside from the showy flowers which are produced
nearly the whole year round, its stately form and large leaves
make it conspicuous. Those only can enjoy its possession,
however, who have large green-houses, for the plant grows
from 15 to 20 or more feet in he ight. Its culture is simple. It
flourishes best if planted out in the green-house in a good, rich
compost of loam, sand and leaf- mould, and in this way it will
take an unlimited amount of water. It can be grown from
seed as well as from offshoots which are produced from the
base of the plant. It is related to the Banana which it resem-
bles in appearance and structure. The stem is marked with
irregular rings where the leaves have separated. The leaves
are “large, oblong- lanceolate and slightly arching. The stout
scape branches out into three or four spathes resembling
small canoes, from which the flowers are produced in succes-
sion. The three nearly equal sepals are eight inches long and
pure white, while the two halbert-shaped pe tals are smaller and
appreciate the value of trees when planted in straight rows
and at equal distances, but a group of Cockspur Thorn, or
Sassafras, or Black Haw, or a thicket of Sumach, or Hazel-nut,
is too often looked upon as a disfigurement and a proof that
the overseer is neglecting his duty to keep the roadside neat
and clean. Miles on miles of wayside beauty are sacrificed
every year to this mania for “ trimming up,” but the trees and
shrubs spring up again to clothe the desert made by man. In
smooth and level regions a strip of greensward bordering the
wheel-way and running under the open fences into adjoining
fields is always pleasing, and it cannot be too neatly kept. But
in all hilly and stony regions east of the Alleghanies, no love-
lier road-border can be conceived of than the native trees and
shrubs which flourish wherever they are left to themselves,
Every one recalls some narrow lane or by-way, with fern-em-
broidered thickets on either hand, where the June Berry and
Wild Plum and Witch-Hazel blossom above the Roses and
Honeysuckles and Red-root; where the Wild Grape covers
the nakedness of the stone walls and the Bitter-sweet swings
from the branches of the trees overhead ; where wild flowers
can be found in bloom any day between April and November;
where the brown thrush sings and the rabbit makes her home.
Indeed, it would be difficult to name a spot where there is
MARCH 21, 1888.]
Fig. 8.—Iris bracteata,
Garden and Forest. 43
more of natural beauty and melody and fragrance than a coun-
try roadside against which the hand of improvement has not
been lifted.
Iris bracteata.*
MONG the peculiar species of the genus /ys which are
found upon the Pacific slope of North America, the one
here tigured is one of the more notable and interesting. From
near the extremity of its slender rootstock it sends up a flower-
ing stem which is covered by loose sheathing and overlapping
bracts, purplish, and scarcely differing from the bracts which
subtend the flowers. The flowers are usually large, either
nearly pure yellow or the recurved sepals (or ‘‘falls,” as they
are sometimes called), veined with bluish purple. The tube
of the flower is very short and funnel-shaped, and the sepals,
as in all Western species, are without beard orcrest. The
petals are narrow and erect, and the narrow styles are much
prolonged beyond the anthers, The leaves that arise from the
rootstock are solitary, at first sheathed at base by several thin,
equitant bracts which appear to soon dry and wither. The
leat itself is linear and taller than the stem, thick and leathery,
and persistent to the second or third year.- When dry, the
margins become revolute as a consequence of a dissimilarity
in the two surfaces. The ordinary equitant leaf of //s is as if
it were folded longitudinally upon itself, so that the two sur-
faces are identical in character. Here, while one side is
smooth, close and bright green, as usual, the other is lighter
colored, with a very thin cuticle crowded with stomata, mak-
ing it, of course, much more hygrometric.
This species was found by Mr. Thomas Howell, of Arthur,
Oregon, in 1884, in the mountains of Josephine County, very
near the southern boundary of that State, flowering in the lat-
ter part of April and in May. In 1887 he again visited the
locality and secured roots, from which it is hoped that the
plant may be introduced into cultivation, In its characters it
is most nearly allied to 7 Douglasiana, which is common in
the Coast Ranges of California from Del Norte to Alameda
County. That species is much more leafy, and the usually
pale lilac flowers have a much longer and narrower perianth-
tube. The accompanying figure is from a drawing by Mr. C.
E, Faxon. SW,
Sweet Peas.
UT of thirty-one named varieties of Sweet Peas, planted
for trial last year, I found but nineteen really distinct
kinds. Cardinal was practically identical with Invincible Scar-
let; so was Princess Louise, with The Queen; Queen of the
Isles, with Invincible Red Striped ; Violet Queen and Grand
Blue, with Light Blue and Purple; Purple Striped, with Black
and White ; Captain Clark and Lotty Eckford, with Blue Edged.
Princess Beatrice is one of the most beautiful, with large,
clear rose-pink flowers. Miss Ethel and Isa Ecktord are nearly
identical with it, but somewhat inferior, Adonis is similar,
but darker, a deep carmine-pink. The Queen has a standard
ot deep rose, tinged with purple, and darker wings—a finely-
formed flower, a trifle dull in color. Vesuvius is quite distinct,
with standard of rosy-crimson, lighter at the edges, spotted and
veined toward the centre with darker color, and wings of rosy
purple, spotted like the standard.
Of scarlets, Invincible Carmine is the best, being an improve
ment on Invincible Scarlet, with broad standards, the rich color
deepened in the wings and heavily shading the keel. Duchess
of Edinburgh is similar, but with standard of lighter color and
a white keel. Scarlet Striped has a white ground shaded and
striped with scarlet, while Invincible Red Striped has scarlet
ground, striped and blotched with white.
No pink and white variety is as good as Painted Lady, though
Crown Princess of Prussia is beautiful, but of lighter color.
Captain Clark has a white standard shaded with rose and
veined with dark lines, and white wings tinged with rose and
edged with purple. Fairy Queen is nearly pure white, with a
few delicate, crimson veins in the centre of the standard. But-
terfly is white, faintly edged and shaded with blue.
Among the blues, Bronze Prince is an improvement on In-
digo King, having better formed standards, the purplish crim-
son distinctly tinged with bronze. Violet Queen shows a
¥*]I. BRACTEATA, Watson, Proc. Amer, Acad., XxX.375. Rootstock slender; leaves
solitary, rigid, much exceeding the stem (one or two feet long by half an inch
broad or less), striate, one side green and the other glaucous, revolute on drying ;
stem angled, covered with imbricated sheathing bracts two to four inches long;
bracts of the spathe approximate, thin-foliaceous, two or three inches long, two-
flowered; perianth-tube short, funnel-form ; sepals oblong-oblanceolate, two or
three inches long, recurved, yellow, usually veined with bluish purple ; petals
erect, oblanceolate, somewhat shorter; anthers longer than the filaments; styles
long-crested ; capsules exserted, ovate-oblong, an inch long.
44. Garden
and Forest.
[MARCH 21, 1888,
Fig. 9.—Chinese Narcissus grown in water.
reddish violet tinge in the wings, and Imperial Blue shows
more blue than others of this class. Princess of Wales and
Purple Striped are the best of the dark-striped varieties, the
one blue and white and the other purplish crimson and
white.
The most useful of all for cut flowers is the old Pure White.
Unfortunately it is a rather poor grower, and therefore the an-
nouncement last year that an improved variety of Pure White
had been shown at an English exhibition was gratifying to all
who take a special interest in these beautiful and fragrant flow-
ers. Other new varieties at English exhibitions, spoken of as
distinct and promising, are Primrose, Mauve Queen, Splendor
and Apple Blossom, whose names give some indication of their
color. : A, H. Fewkes.
“It cannot be too often repeated that care should be taken
not to willfully destroy the native features of the scene. Many
gardeners assume that before beginning their plantings they
must dig up everything that Nature has made to grow; whereas
experience proves that they would accomplish their end much
sooner and better if they should try to second Nature by mak-
ing slight changes here and careful additions there.”
From C. C. L. Hirschfeld’s Theorie der Gartenkunst, Leipzig,
1777. j
Polyanthus Narcissus.
HE ancient Chinese custom of growing the Polyanthus Nar-
cissus in water to bloom at the advent of their New Year
was brought to San Francisco by emigrants from the Celestial
Empire more than a quarter of a century ago. The fashion has
now reached the east, and it is not very uncommon to see this
plant growing in this way in the houses of Boston and its sub-
urbs. The cultivation of the Narcissus in water is very simple.
The bulb is placed in a shallow bowl or deep plate, about six
weeks before it is wanted in flower, and, according to the
Chinese habit, is surrounded with small bright-colored stones
probably to prevent it from tipping in the plate; this is filled
with water and should be placed in the dark until root-growth
is made. When the roots appear the plant should be placed
in a sunny window and will require no further care beyond a
daily addition of fresh water.
The variety of Narcissus brought by the Chinese to this
country and from here introduced into England, is known as
the Grand Emperor. The Chinese bulbs are exceedingly vigor-
ous. They are nearly double the size of those of other varie-
ties of this species of Narcissus, and when grown in water some-
times throw up leaves and flower-stems three feet in height.
The Chinese Narcissus is an interesting and attractive house
plant. Our illustration above is from a photograph of a plant
grown near Boston.
Marcu 21, 1888.]
Annuals for Cut Flowers.
NNUALS suitable for cut flowers are also the most suitable
for garden decoration. They should be ready growers
and free bloomers, and have bright, showy or fragrant flow-
ers, with stiff stems, and they should last well when cut. And
we should grow enough to enable us to have large clusters of
a kind rather than a few blooms only of each. While Gaillar-
dias and French Marigolds bloom all summer long, Asters and
Mignonette last but a few weeks, and Poppies not many days.
To have annuals, therefore, in good condition all summer long,
we must make two or more sowings of many kinds. I make
repeated sowings of Asters, Mignonette, Phlox, Candytuft and
the like, not only to succeed themselves, but also to succeed
Hollyhocks, Canterbury Bells, Veronicas and other plants that
bloom before midsummer, and are then cut over. And as
“many of the spring-sown annuals, Zinnias and African Mari-
golds, for instance, become disheveled betore they have quite
finished blooming, I never hesitate to clear them away and re-
place with fresh plants. This necessitates keeping up a re-
serve stock, which I always do, and in this way have as fine
Zinnias, Eldorado Marigolds, Scabious, Salvias and some
other annuals, until frost overtakes them, in October, as in July.
In order to have good flowers we must grow them in good.
ground.
We have a great variety of uses for cut flowers. Cannas,
African Marigolds, miniature Sunflowers, large Poppies and
Zinnias appear to good advantage in large bunches in roomy
halls, and if cut with long leafy stems so much the better. For
parlor and dining-room tables and brackets we should use the
most beautiful flowers, and such as are pleasantly, but not
strongly, fragrant. A mixture of many kinds of flowers to-
gether in one vase should be avoided.
In addition to the annuals that are most desirable for cut
flowers we have a large assortment well fitted for garden
decoration, and from which, too, we may cull many a bouquet;
for instance, Sweet Alyssum, Schizanthus, Clarkia, Browallia,
Mimulus, Godetia, Corntlowers and the like.
The following are all worth sowing for cut flowers :
China Asters.—Truttaut’s lnproved Pzeonia Perfection, Vic-
toria, Crown and Reid’s Quilled are capital. By sowing in
March, the end of April and the first of June we can have
Asters from July till October. Crimson, rose and white are the
most desirable.
Candytuft.—Rose and white are the most desirable colors.
Sweet-scented, Spiral and Dwarf Hybrid White are the best
summer varieties ; and Gidradtarica is preferred for wintering
over in frames.
Cannas.—lf sown in March in the green-house, and planted
out in May, these should bloom in September.
Single Dahlias,—These grow readily from seed and seed-
lings tour to five months old bloom freely.
Drummond Phlox.—The grandiflora section is best.
now or in April and again early in June.
Gaillardias.—The annuals, as G. gzcfa, and its double variety,
Lorenzia and G. amblyodon, bloom abundantly from June till
October, but with age the plants get sprawly, hence the ne-
cessity of a successional sowing in May. The perennial G.
aristata and its grandifiora and maxima torms also bloom
well as annuals.
Larkspur.—Although showy, the annuals are not good
enough for cut flowers, but some of the perennial species,
notably Delphinium grandiflorum, bright and beautiful, are
very free flowering when treated as annuals.
_ Marigolds,—Of the English, Meteor is good in early sum-
mer and fall; and of African, the Eldorado strain is unsur-
passed. Among French Marigolds the double striped are
best, still many prefer the brown or mahogany color.
Mignonette.—Miles’ Spiral is one of the best. Sow early and
in good ground.
Nasturtiums.—These are desirable on account of their
brightness and lasting qualities. Lobb’s varieties are better
than either the common tall or dwarf annuals.
Pansies.—The Trimardeau gives us the largest flowers. Sow
in June for fall flowers, and in August for spring use.
Petunias.—Bunches of double Petunias are quite pretty, and
last well. They grow freely from seed, and bloom when
about three months old, but we cannot reasonably expect
more than twenty-five per cent. to come double.
Poppies, especially the double sorts, last in good condition
for two or three days when cut before they are fully open.
Sow broadcast about the end of March or first of April.
Scarlet Salvia.—This can be treated as an annual sown in
February in-doors and in May out-doors. The flowers last
_ only for a day or two.
Sow
Garden and Forest. =
45
Scabious.—The large-flowered section and the very dark
plum-purple and white varieties are best,and they bloom all
summer long.
Stocks.—The large-flowered ten-week Stocks, scarlet and
white, are the best, and it is better to make repeated sowings
than to depend upon the Intermediate Stocks for a supply in
fall.
Sweet Peas.—Sow in rich soil just as soon as the frost is out
of the ground. The first sowings are always good; sometimes
the successional sowings will not bloom at all.
Sunflowers.—The ‘New Miniature” (which is Helianthus
cucumerifolius pure and simple) is best. The flowers are
small, bright golden yellow, with dark centres, and have none
of the coarse appearance peculiar to the ordinary Sunflowers
seen in gardens.
Verbenas.—The Mammoth strain is best. Sow early, say in
February or March, and plant out in May in rich, moist
ground, Verbenas will not thrive in hot, dry, poor land.
Vincas.—The pure white variety, and the white, with red eye,
are best. Sow early and plant out in late May in a warm,
sunny exposure.
Zinnias.—The new one, grandiflora plenissima, gives the
largest flowers, but the dwarf, double white, yellow and scarlet
give the most satisfactory results. Never buy mixed seed, as
it not only contains much poor stuff, but many “ washy ” colors,
Wm, Falconer.
Hepatica and Blood-root.
MONG the flowers which vie with each other in being the
first to welcome April, the Trailing Arbutus is, at the
East, as early as any. Even now, however, in early March,
the blue-eyed Hepatica is opening in our garden, to which we
transplanted it from the woods. It always succeeds in cultiva-
tion; but to see it in its beauty one must go to the forest. No
flower has a more decided personality—whether its face is
seen peeping from among the dead leaves, trom the base of
some rock, or the brow of some mossy boulder. There are
those who maintain that it has no odor. But really it exhales
a faint, but exquisite, fragrance.
The Hepatica is a near relative of the Wood Anemone. In-
deed botanists now call it Anemone Hepatica. Like its delicate
cousin, itis apetalous. Below the calyx, at a greater or less
distance in particular individuals, is a whorl of three ovate and
soft, silky bracts. Beginners in botany mistake these, and
naturally, for the calyx. The sepals are quite indefinite in
number, as are the stamens and pistils. Its three-lobed, glossy
green leaves add much toits charm,and theirshape suggested
the name of Liverwort.
Another early April flower, equally easy to transplant and to
cultivate, is the pretty Blood-root (Sanguinaria Canadensis). It
belongs to the Poppy family, and its pure white and very de-
ciduous flowers come up entolded bya leaf. Later on, this leat
expands to a great size, and is itself highly ornamental. One
has to be up with the lark to catch its two tugacious sepals.
The Hepatica loves rocky, wooded hillsides, while the Blood-
root seeks the banks of streams. Yet both will thrive under
wholly different surroundings in a city garden. This leads
me to say that many of our wild plants can be cultivated, and
with proper care they will increase in size and beauty. Among
the spring flowers we have tried are Bluets (Houstonta carulea),
the yellow Violet (Viola pubescens), the wild Columbine (Agz-
legia Canadensis), the Indian Turnip (Arisema tryphillum),
and the Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra Cucullaria). All these,
and many more, deserve a place in the flower garden.
Providence Rall: Win. Whitman Bailey.
The Propagation of Magnolias.
HEN the Magnolias are to be propagated by seed it
should be separated from the pod as soon as ripe,
macerated in water for a week or more, and then, after a
thorough washing in clean water, it should be sown, while still
moist, in pots or boxes filled with light, sandy and well-drained
soil. These should be kept ina cool house until January, when
they may have a temperature of 50° at night and 10° or 15
higher during the day. If the soilis kept moist, but not wet, the
seed will usually germinate in five or six weeks, when the young
plants can be removed to small pots or boxes. If shifted on
from small pots to larger ones during the summer, and grown
in a close, moist atmosphere, many of them will be established
and fit to graft by autumn. If not sown in the green-house,
the seed, after being cleaned, should be put in boxes with
sand in alternate layers and placed in a frame or cellar where
46
it will not freeze, until about the first of May in this latitude,
when, as soon as the ground becomes warm, it may be
sown out-of-doors. If the seed is not washed clean as soon as
possible after gathering, it quickly becomes rancid, and will
not germinate readily; but when thoroughly cleaned and mixed
with damp sand it will keep for a long time. Ihave sown the
seed without washing, and the pulp in rotting soured the soil
and a fungus appeared in it, so that the plants had to be moved
into fresh soil to save them.
When the Magnolias are propagated by grafting, the stocks
should be well established in pots the year before and plunged
in a frame or other sheltered place and cared for during the
summer. When cold weather approaches, the pots should be
removed, before they freeze, to a pit or frame where they can
be protected until used. They can be gratted successfully
trom the middle of January to the middle of March either by
side or cleft-gratting under double frames—that is, under a
box frame in the green-house. They prefer a slight bottom
heat to start the roots into working condition. The frame
should be kept close for a few days, or weeks, during bright
weather, but air may be given when the house is closed and
on cloudy days. A slight syringing once or twice a day in
bright weather will be beneficial. It is usually from three to
five weeks before grafts can be considered established, although
in from seven to ten days an estimate can be made of what
percentage has ‘‘taken.” Magnolias can also be grafted from
half ripened wood from July to September, and they can be
budded during August or September. They are usually
grafted on stock of AZ. acuminata and AZ, Umbrella; some pre-
terring the latter because of its abundant fibrous roots and the
ease with which it can be transplanted. I prefer, however, JZ.
acuminata, because the other species suckers, and unless
great care is taken these shoots will kill out the graft in the
young stock.
Magnolias can also be increased by layering; in fact, until
within a few years this was the favorite method of propagation,
and tew gardeners knew how to graft them. Layering is a-
simple operation, and can be performed in spring or summer.
A small trench is dug a little way from the plant, and into this
branches are bent down and held firmly with hooked pegs.
The ends are then turned up, the young branches are tongued
under an eye and the trench is filled up with good loam.
In hot, dry weather, water should be given occasionally. If
layered early some of them will root the first season, although
many of the Magnolias will not root until the second year. As
soon as rooting takes place, the branch should be separated
from the old plant, pruned into shape and transplanted into
g soil in the nursery.
eae ae es : Fackson Dawson.
Rules for Planting Wind-breaks.
ae influence of the wind-break is local and almost entirely.
mechanical. It prevents the fierce sweep of winds over
the surface of the ground, and therefore tends to diminish
evaporation from the soil and from plants, especially in cold
weather, and to lessen the mechanical injury to trees and
bush-fruits. It is apparent to all good observers, however,
that wind-breaks are sometimes injurious. Therefore there
must be certain rules to govern their planting. The most im-
portant of these rules, for Michigan especially, may be briefly
stated :
1. Zhe wind-break should not obstruct atmospheric drainage.
Cold air is heavier than warm air, and it therefore settles into
the lower areas. Elevated areas are consequently warmer
than low ones in still weather. Inasmuch as these high
lands are more wind-swept than others, it has become a com-
mon impression that the wind itself isin some manner a pro-
tection to fruit plantations, whereas the protection really comes
trom atmospheric drainage. The wind-break upon most of
the elevated areas, therefore, should be open enough to allow
of the free drainage of air. In such localities a tight wall of
evergreens is apt to be positively injurious. Deciduous trees,
with perhaps a sparse admixture of evergreens, make the
better wind-breaks for such places. It should be borne in
mind that the object is not to stopthe wind, but rather to break
its force, to checkit. Breakwaters are often made of a network
of naked spiles rather than a solid wall.
In many interior localities a dense wind-break on the north
and west excites an early growth in tender fruits, thereby
increasing danger from late spring frosts. Hence: i:
2. The wind-break should never be dense enough to force the
buds on fruit trees, in those localities which are subject
to late spring frosts. It is evident, therefore, that Spruces
Garden and Forest.
and other evergreens should be planted sparingly in such
places, and that deciduous trees, which do not come early into
leaf, should be chosen.
One of the most disastrous effects of winds in the orchard,
and especially in small fruit plantations, is the sweeping of the
surface of the ground, causing excessive evaporation, carrying
off the snow and thereby exposing the roots and crowns of the
plants to danger. Therefore :
3. As arule,in localities where atmospheric drainage will
not be seriously checked, the wind-break should have a compar-
atively dense bottom, formed by undergrowth or low-branching
trees.
All crops closely adjoining the wind-break suffer from lack
of moisture and food supply, and many small plants, as bush-
fruits and nursery stock, are broken by the accumulating
snow. Hence:
4. Sofar as practicable, the wind-break should be planted at a
distance of six rods or more from the fruit plantation.
In our severe climate only the most hardy and vigorous
trees should be planted ; or, in other words :
5. Native trees and shrubs are preferable for wind-breaks.
Of exotic trees, only the Norway Spruce and Apple are desir-
ble for wind-breaks in Michigan. L. H. Bailey.
The Forest.
The Forests of Vancouver Island.
ANCOUVER ISLAND is situated between the parallels
of 48° and 51° N. lat. and between 123° and 128° W.,
long. It is about 240 miles in length and from 40 to
70 in breadth and contains about 14,000 square miles.
With the exception of the southern part anda few settle-
ments at Nanaimo and Comox, the whole island is still
covered by heavy forest.
Through the centre of the island runs a ridge of moun-
tainous country of varying width, which, commencing
with Donaid Peak at Metchosin, runs north-westerly, and,
constantly increasing in altitude, culminates in Mount
Arrowsmith, about 100 miles from Victoria. This moun-
tain is 5,976 feet high, but to the north numerous peaks
rise much higher, ranging from 6,000 to-8,000 feet in
height. Lying between the mountain .chains, or at the
base of the single mountains, are numerous lakes of clear
water, which are frequently united by connecting streams
and discharged into the sea by rivers of no great size.
It will thus be seen that but a small portion of the sur-
face of the island is level; indeed, it is for the most part so
elevated that it must be called mountainous rather than
hilly. Owing to the position of the island, in regard to the
Pacific, the low grounds seem to have just as damp an
atmosphere as the more elevated parts, and a wet, cloudy
winter is succeeded by a cloudless, though not atmos-
pherically dry, summer. These conditions will account
tor the remarkable growth of timber on the island and the
appearance of certain trees north of their expected range.
The forest ought, therefore, to be composed chiefly of
mountain species, and this is the fact, as the hardwood
trees of the low or coast districts are of little account in
the general distribution.
The Oak (Quercus Garzyana) occupies more superficial
area than all the other deciduous trees together. It is
abundant in all the district around Victoria, seldom grow-
ing tall and straight like the eastern Oaks, but appearing
more like the ‘trees in English parks. Usually the large
trees grow singly amongst the rocks, and their gnarled
trunks and wide spreading limbs appear out of place in
America. » North of Victoria it becomes scarce and at last
ceases to grow at Comox, 140 miles to the north.
Two other trees claim particular notice. These are the
Madrona (Arbu/us Menzies) and the Flowering Dogwood
(Cornus Nutlalli.) ‘The former, with its large laurel-like
evergreen leaves and reddish bark, would claim attention
anywhere, but to find it a stately forest tree north of the
49th parallel is a remarkable fact. On all the islands in
the Gulf of Georgia, and on all the exposed points of
[MarcH 21, 1888. 4
eS ee TE ee ee ee ee re
3
{
f
See HY Oy fey Cee fe NP Ne
PE LR aT ee TN NY TPE Lee ee
early spring,
MARCH 21, 1888.]
the east coast, it is quite common; but on the gravel which
occurs between the coast and the base of the mountains,
it is frequent, and even on the west coast as far north as
Alberni. Nowhere on the island does the Dog Wood
come to greater perfection than around Nanaimo, and
here, in the middle of May, the borders of the woods
are white with the broad involucres of the cymes of
inconspicuous flowers. Trees forty feet high are not
uncommon, with trunks from six to twelve inches in
diameter.
By far the finest deciduous leaved tree on the island is
the Broad Leaved Maple (Acer macrophyllum). In the
before the leaves are fully developed, it pro-
duces racemes of light yellow flowers over six inches
~long, which are pendant and add much to the beauty of
are three small trees.
in company with Kalmia and Ledum,
the tree, as they hang between the young leaves and
give the whole tree a superb appearance. Later in the
season the broad leaves cover up the fruit and one is
almost tempted to believe that he looks upon a denizen
of the tropics. Bordering ponds and lakelets, and form-
ing thickets so dense that they are almost impenetrable,
These are the Wild Crab (Pirus
rivudarts), Wild Cherry (Prunus mols) and ‘‘ Barberry”
(Rhamnus Purshiana). The latter, named ‘‘Barberry”
by the settlers, is used medicinally and is widely distrib-
uted, being found far to the north.
Poplars, Alders and Willows are of frequent occurrence,
but in no place do they become so abundant as to mon-
opolize much surface. Small groves of Balsam Poplar
(Populus trichocarpa) are found in low spots by the mouths
of rivers, and the trees attain a large size and are tall and
straight, but none of the other species, except one species
of Alder (Admus rubra), can be considered of value.
The various species of Conifers constitute the true for-
ests of Vancouver Island, and to these we will now turn
our attention. They divide themselves almost insensi-
bly into two groups—one of the coast or lower levels
and the other of the mountains — but some species pass
from the plain to the mountain, while others are re-
stricted to the coast or to the mountain summit.
The coast species, which are never found on _ the
mountains, are Ades grandis and Picea Mensziesit, to-
gether with the Yew (Zavus brevifolia) and the Red Cedar
(Juniperus Virginiana). Owing to the peculiar distribution
of the last species, it has been mistaken for the more
southern Juniperus occidentalis, but all doubt regarding
it has been removed the past summer. On the shores of
Cameron and Horne lakes, near the centre of the island,
fine trees line the shore and overhang the water, but
they are never seen in the forest. The Yew is not un-
common in many places near Victoria, but it is sparingly
distributed and seldom a marked feature of the forest
growths.
The Fir (Aves grandis) is a noble tree and is a most
striking object in the river valleys near the coast on both
sides ofthe island. In company with the Sitka Spruce it
forms many beautiful groves in the low country between
Nanaimo and Comox. Beyond the latter point the Spruce
becomes a more characteristic feature and even rivals the
stately Douglas Fir itself Around Alberni and in the
valleys of the Somas River and the lakes connected with
it these trees attain very great dimensions and often tower
up 200 feet, with a beautiful pyramidal head of short,
light green branches.
Pinus contorta is either represented by tree forms or has
a most peculiar habit. At one time it is found clinging
to the rocks close to the sea, at another growing in a bog
and at Qualicum
it forms a strip of forest nearly five miles wide that inter-
venes between the sea and the base of the mountains.
Here the soil is chiefly gravel, and the tree looks very
much like its cousin of the Rocky Mountains, Praus JMur-
rayana, and certainly grows under the same conditions,
except that of altitude.
Ottawa, Canada.
y John Macoun.
Garden and Forest.
47
Propagation of Conifers from Seeds in the
Open Air.
{jhe about thirty-five years ago no one had succeeded
in growing Conifers from seed in America, exc
glass. Consequently our American nurseries were stocked with
imported seedlings of the foreign kinds and with native seed-
lings collected in “the forests.
T had seen large quantities grown in the full sunlight in the
North of England as easily as Carrots and with no shelter, and
therefore began by investing $70 in seeds of the common Eu-
ropean kinds and in several hundredw eight of seeds of the na-
tive kinds collected for me in the Green Mountains. I sow ed
them on four acres ; they germinated finely, and were a beau-
tiful sight. I had about a week of unalloyed pleasure, except
for an hour now and then consumed in wondering where
a market could be found for such a large amount of stock.
This problem, however, was soon solved. A bright day,
a gathering thunder-shower, a heavy rain and the sud den
reappearance of the scorching sun at about 2 P. M.! I went to
examine my seedlings, and found them all down flat, damped
off or scorched off, except a part of those latest in starting
that were just breaking ground. I immediately sent for 4,000
feet of lumber, and this, with the help of an adjoining rail fence,
was soon worked up into a shelter; but at the end of the sca-
son not one seedling was left.
I should gladly have given up and made no further experi-
ments, but 6 had announced that success was coming, and it
was too late to retreat. So I took to the woods and studied
the surroundings of the seedlings in the forests. It was plain
that Nature had a decided advantage over me, as it cost her
nothing for seeds, and she apparently did not raise more than
one or two trees from a million of them. Finally, after the
next winter was nearly over, and I had secured a large stock ot
seed for spring sowing, I bethought me of several hundred
gunny bags that had lain for years “uncle aimed in a steamboat
warehouse, Securing them, we sowed our seed in four-feet
beds, stretched the gunny bags tightly on the frames one foot
from the ground, and succeeded in raising a fair crop, as the
bags let the rain through evenly.
It was soon evident that the more open the sacking was, the
ess the plants damped off, showing ae they required more sun-
ight. We then built frames of Tath, leaving spaces between.
Exper iments were made to ascertain the degree of sunlight
most favorable to the seedlings, and it was Found that we suc-
ceeded. best when one-inch spaces were left between the
aths, with the frames they rested on six inches pie: We fol-
owed this lath-shading for several years, until we found it
almost impossible to get the quantity of lath we needed, as at
the lumber mills they were only prepared to sell a certain pro-
portion of lath with a cargo of lumber.
Finally, over twenty years ago, we adopted our present
mode of shading with posts, poles and brush. Not that we
considered it cheaper or better than the lath screens, but the
material can be more readily obtained. Rows of posts seven
feet high are set ten feet apart and cight feet distant in the
rows. “Fence-boards six or eight inches wide and sixteen feet
long are nailed upon these at the top. Slender poles are laid
across, and on these are placed branches of trees with the
leaves onthem. The bedsare four feet wide and are laid out so
that the row of posts runs up the middle of each alternate bed.
If the soil is tenacious we throw it up in ridges the previous
fall. The beds are raked very fine, the seeds sown dry in
spring, broadcast, and raked in—the fine seeds lightly, the larger
seeds more deeply. We cannot protect the seeds from birds
with the brush shade as conveniently as with lath screens, but
must cover them with brush or straw, or they will be scratched
out,
The seeds are sown thickly, the European Larch more
thickly than the others, as the imperfect seeds cannot be sepa-
rated, for they are merchantable when one-third to one-half
are “blind” seeds. From the time the seedlings appear above
ground until they begin their second growth, they are liable to
“damp off” during murky weather, in which case the screens
must be taken off; but great care must be taken to have them
replaced without ‘loss of time when the sun appears. We
formerly used dry sand, sprinkled over the beds, to check the
damping off, but could perceive little or no benefit from it.
“Rich soil encourages damping off.” The beds must be
thoroughly hand-weeded during the summer. Late in autumn
the beds should be covered with forest leaves, with a light
covering of straw or brush to prevent their being blown off.
Larches" are usually thinned out of the beds at one year old;
other Conifers at two years old. Robert Douglas.
48 Garden and Forest.
Recent Publications.
Review of Forest Administration in British India for the
year 188 5-86, by B. Ribbentrop, Acting Inspector-General, Indian
Forest Department. Simla, 1887. Report of the eee Depar t-
ment, Madras Presidency, for the year 1885-86, by Lt.-Col. I.
Cambeld Walker. Madras, 1887.
These two Reports have only just reached us. They con-
tain the record of the work done in the Indian forests, with its
financial results, for the period which they cover. The Indian
Forest Department is less than a quarter of a century old.
Its organization by Dr. Brandis in the face of serious native
opposition, great natural difficulties, and without, at the start,
a properly trained staff of assistants, is one of the greatest ad-
ministrative triumphs of recent times.
The Indian forests, previous to the establishment of the
Forest Department, yielded nothing to the Government. In the
years covered by these Reports the net profit derived from
working them systematically was over three and one-halt
million “dollars, the operating expenses amounting to sixty-
three per cent. of the gross revenue, The net receipts of the
Department have increased steadily for a number of years ;
and they will, it seems pretty safe to predict, continue to
increase as long as it is administered in the same able
manner,
The history of forest administration in India might be
studied with advantage by the Secretary of the Interior and
members of Congress » of the United States. The forests which
grow upon our national domain produce no income. The
land upon which they stand is sold sometimes at a mere nom-
inal price, and while the Government is waiting for customers
the forests themselves are robbed of their best timber, burned,
pastured, devastated and destroyed.
Recent Plant Portraits.
Botanical Magasine, January, Phormium Hookeri, ¢. 6973; a
third species of the New Zealand Flax; discovered several
years ago on the Waitangi River “growing pendulous from
almost perpendicular rocks, in great abundance”; and now
cultivated in southern England, where it flowers and ripens its
seed very freely. -
Ceratothica triloba, ¢. 6974; a tall pubescent herb with the
habit of a Foxglove, native of Natal and closely allied to the
common cultivated Indian Sesamum Indicum, L.
Thunbergia affinis, ¢t. 6975; a tall shrub, a native of Zanzibar,
with hz andsome dark blue flow ers, similar, although far more
beautiful, than those of the old 7° erecta.
Prunus Facquemontii, t. 6976; a dwarf, compact, hardy
shrub, with delicate pink flowers ; common in the north-
western Himalayas and extending into Thibet and Afghanistan.
Masdevallia Chestertoni, t.6977; a rather small flowered, and,
horticulturally, not very attractive species of this immense
genus; a native of New Grenada.
Periodical Literature.
HE Art Amateur for January, 1888, contains a pleasant and
ggestive paper on Japanese modes of arranging cut
flowers, leaves and branches. The matter is one which the
Japanese only have considered from an artistic point of view,
but which certainly ought to be so considered by all who pro-
fess to care for flowers or for beauty in the abstract. There-
fore this article is welcome, although it gives but a hint of the
great stress which the educational “systems of Japan lay upon
the art of floral arrangement, and explains, with the aid of il-
lustrations, only one or two of the effects they consider de-
sirable, and one or two of the skillful and ingenious devices in
which the student is instructed. 7
Cassell's Family Magazine will print during the year a series
of popular articles treating of the garden and the work to be
done in it during each successive “month. “The Garden in
January” and ‘ The Garden in February” have already ap-
peared ; and while they naturally have a greater practical value
tor the English than for the American reader, they are by no
means devoid of interest even for the latter.
Longman s Magazine tor Febr uary, 1888, contains a brightly
written chapter on ‘Orchids, by Frederick Boyle, a man of
letters by profession, but an enthusiastic, and, from his own
account, a successful horticulturist in his leisure hours. It is
accompanied by none of the charming illustrations which
have been given with articles on the same subject in more
[Marcu 21, 1888.
than one of our own popular magazines, and its’purpose is not,
like theirs, descriptive. Its purpose is simply to prove to those
who are already well aware of the beauty of Orchids, that it is
by no means so difficuult a task as amateurs generally sup-
pose, to grow many species to perfection by the aid of the sim-
plest arrangements and with the expenditure of very little time
or pains.
In McMillan's Waeies for January, 1888, Forestry is dis-
cussed by Mr. George Cadell, formerly connected with the In-
dian Forestry Department. Some time ago the House of
Commons for the third time appointed a Commission to in-
quire ‘‘Whether by the establishment of a forest school, or
otherwise, our waste lands could be made more remunera-
tive.” At the time when Mr. Cadell wrote, this Commission
had reported to Parliament, but no action had yet been taken
on its report. Meanwhile he discusses the condition of the
Crown forests in England, briefly explains the management of
those in India, refers to the great benefits which France and
Switzerland have received from a judicious system of control,
and points out as a subject for national mortification that both
at the Cape andin Cyprus, England has been obliged to depend
upon the services of foreign experts in Forestry.
Flower Market.
March 16th, 1888.
The quality of cut flowers is much better this week than last, not-
withstanding a large quantity has been held on snow-bound trains.
Hybrid Roses are very handsome, but have declined somewhat, those
selected of favorite sorts bringing only 60 to 75 cts. each. There was
no demand for flowers during the storm of the early week, but trade
has been picking up since and is brisk to-day. There is an over sup-
ply of La France Roses, the very choicest bringing but $2.50 a dozen.
The finest Puritans sell for 50 cts. Ulrich Briinner sells rapidly at 75
cts. a flower. Popular varieties of Tea Roses, such as Papa Gontier,
bring $1.00 a dozen. Selected buds of Bride or Cornelia Cook cost
$3.00 a dozen. ‘Tulips, Lilies-of-the-Valley and Roman Hyacinths are
75 cts. adozen. Dutch Hyacinths are in large variety and in lively
demand at 15 cts. aspike; Mignonette from 50 cts. to $1.50 a dozen
spikes ; Carnations from 35 cts. to 50 cts. a dozen, the latter price
being for favorite kinds, such as Buttercup and Grace Wilder. Violets
continue firm at $1.00 a hundred for the average quality and $1.50
for those of extra beauty and fragrance. Smilax costs 30 cts. a yard.
New York,
PHILADELPHIA, AZarch 16th.
The severe snow storm prevented growers from‘shipping flowers to
the city in the early part of the week. It also interfered with the
demand and prices have varied little since last quotations. The most
notable Rose now in market is Madame Gabriel Luizet. Finer flowers of
this variety were never before seen here ; they are selling from 75 cts.
to $1.50each. Mrs. John Laing is also cut in quantity ; the latter is
the newer, but it can never displace Madame Luizet, excepting, per-
haps, for very early work. Puritans are improving in quality, and
are in fair demand ; it is nota first-class Rose to ship long distances;
some of the growers bring it to the city in deep boxes of moss, Hii
which the stems are thrust; this holds them steady and upright and in-
sures safe arrival. Heath is in fair demand at 15 cts. per spray. The
kind offered is a variety of Erica caffra alba, and is grown near Boston.
It is rarely used alone, but is added to boxes of choice flowers, or is
arranged with Orchids.
Boston, March rbth.
There is little change in the cut-flower market. Hybrid Roses and
Jacqueminots are ifanything more abundantand of still better quality.
Both yellow and white Roses are scarce and they are eagerly taken as
fast as brought to the city by the growers. Tulips, Lilies-of-the-
Valley, and other bulbous flowers are still plentiful. Roman Hyacinths
are scarce, but in their stead there is an abundance of the Italian
variety, which, although slightly pinkish in color, has the advantage of
bearing a larger and stronger flower spike than does the Roman. The
supply of Carnations is diminishing, and prices will undoubtedly
advance considerably before Easter. A few White Lilies are seen, but
they are mostly short stemmed and are of little use excepting for
funeral designs. Harris’s Lilies and Callas are worth $3.00 per dozen.
Most people in buying Callas now require a few of the leaves with the
flowers, which add much to their appearance. Hybrid Roses of extra
quality bring from $6 to $9 per dozen. Jacqueminots, Mermets anda fair
quality of hybrids are $3.00 ; Perles, Niphetos and Bon Silene, $1 per
dozen; Lilies-of- the-Valley, Tulips and Narcissus of various kinds aver-
age about #1. oo per dozen. French Marguerites, Mignonette, Forget-me-
nots, Carnations and Heliotrope sell for about 50 cts. per dozen sprays;
Pansies and Violets 50 cts, per bunch. Among Orchids the most attrac-
tive now in season are the Odontoglossums., Nothing more beautiful
for a bridal wreath or coronet than a spray of O. Alexandre.
Perfect sprays are worth from $2.00 to $3.00 each.
*
:
i
2
;
4
~)
Marcu 28, 1888. ]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[LImITED.]
Orrice: TrisunE Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by . . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
ESDAY, MARCH 28, 1888.
NEW YORK, WEDN
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
EpiroriaL_ ARTICLES:—The Adirondack Forests in Danger.—Horticultural
HashiOns Hard yiShrubSs==— NOLES san <1 es ipieisi= cinioie ele enisivie ne ea /cio> = scm as 49
Landscape Gardening, V... Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 51
Bridge at Leathertor, England (with Illustration), .............e esses eeees 52
PATtersthe-Greatio NOW. StOEM scares scis.¢ asin sigjcse cs.cen) wisleee ec Dr. C. C. Abbott. 52
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—The Kew Arboretum, II..Geo. Nicholson, A. L. S. 53
Wicca Treculiana( with Tlustration) scsi ess. sc.0-cdenseenibsaecaines on GOS: Se 54
Currurac NoreEs :—Hardy Herbaceous Perennials from Seed.. William Falconer. 54
the CultivationoL Tiles secs os esis tiie scieccescemvaciesys CL. Allen. 55
Eriostemon intermedium.—Boronia megastigma.—Milla biflora in
our Gardens.—Lilium Grayi—Forcing Azaleas.—Cytisus Canari-
ensis.—Grapes for Home Use..............5
The Retinisporas... - Fosiah Hoopes. 57
Snowberry Jelly .... rope. D. P. Penhallow. 57
CorrEsPoNnDENCE :—Landscape Gardening, a Definition... Professor L. H. Bailey. 58
. WeraAXING] Derctetctiste oeteveinle slate: weraletale aiatciais/s z sis'v'sielslats"sisis'sisi saz slaiwe. ps ¢c.s/s'a/eis $.c 58
. Professor Geo. M. Dawson. 58
Tur Forest :—Forest Trees of the Far North-west.
Mheyorests of New Jersey. :<c.scs<ee scents oe
! » 59
The Forest School of Nancy........ -. 60
IRECENTFPLANT? PORTRAITS <\s00.ccceeedice secs 60
Massachusetts Horticultural Society 60
Flower Market :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston...........c.ccccecceeesves 60
ItLustRaTiIons :—Bridge at Leathertor, England.... ye
Mir cam nccit ic lidumee hd crt O sialelotatersieleiaria1cla i stalalsja\aiayeicicieie eleva. cieinieleca'eit cieiscsie's ¢ 55
The Adirondack Forests in Danger.
HE preservation of the Adirondack forests is a mat-
ter of national importance. Their destruction will
work injury far beyond the limits of the State of New York.
One of the principal commercial rivers of the world de-
pends upon these forests for its existence ; their value as
a health resort for people from all parts of the United States
is incalculable. Their preservation, therefore, is a matter
which concerns the whole country.
Never have these forests been threatened with such dan-
gers as now menace them from every side. Railroads
are being built or are about to be built into the wilderness
in every direction. The promoters of the Schenectady and
Ogdensburg Railroad Company propose to builda line this
summer directly through the heart ot the Adirondacks, to
serve as a feeder for the Canadian Pacific and bring that
road into direct connection with New York and Boston.
The Chateaugay Railroad Company is extending its line
_into the forest. Last year it had reached the shores of
Loon Lake ; now it has been carried to Saranac Lake. Its
last station is only eight miles from Lake Placid and with-
in six miles of Paul Smith's, upon St. Regis Lake. Adi-
rondack Lodge, one of the wildest and most picturesque
spots in the whole region, is now but fifteen miles distant
from-the railroad. The Northern Adirondack Railroad has
penetrated through the forest almost as far south as Paul
Smith’s. Another road runs from Carthage, in Jefferson
County, into the forest region. It has recently been carried
to Jayville, in St. Lawrence County, and a further exten-
sion is proposed.
The building of railroads through a forest in this country
meansits extermination. This is particularly true of the Adi-
tondack forest. Its escape from extermination in the past
is due to the single fact that the hard woods of which it is
principally composed could not be got to market from lack
of transportation. If transportation is furnished it is mere-
Garden and Forest.
49
ly a question of time when every tree will be consumed in
the saw-mill, the paper factory and the charcoal furnace.
Railroads will increase, too, the number of fires in the for-
est and thus hasten its extermination.
There is but one way to save what now remains of the
Adirondack forests. The enactment.of a law which shall
prohibit the location of any railroad under any circum-
stances upon the State lands which are widely scattered
through the entire region will prevent its ruin. No other
measure less sweeping in its restrictions can accomplish
this. There is a Board of Forest Commissioners in this
State. It is the duty of these Commissioners to devise
measures for the protection of the State forests and to see
that these laws are put into execution. It is their duty to
enlighten the people of the State upon the condition of the
State forests and the dangers which threaten them. It
is their duty under the law to provide instruction for the
people of New York in all matters relating to forests and
forestry, and to arouse them to the importance of a full
comprehension of these subjects.
Have these Commissioners performed these duties ?
Have they introduced any bill looking to restraining the
building of railroads through the forests ?
Have they even tried to rouse the attention of the public
to this matter ?
Do the reports which they publish from time to time, at
no small expense to the people of this State, contain any
valuable or accurate information in regard to the forests or
to methods of forest preservation ?
The only activity displayed by the Commission, so far
as the public is informed, is manifested in their attempt to
secure from the present Legislature the passage of a bill
authorizing them to lease to “individuals or clubs for
pleasure resorts or camping purposes,” portions of the
public domain for periods not exceeding five years’
duration. ‘This authority shouldnot be given to the Com-
mission. It would open the door to corruption and would
threaten the forests with new dangers. Thousands of
acres of Adirondack forests have already perished at the
hands of hunters and camping parties. Their carelessness
in setting fires and their recklessness in barking and de-
stroying trees, are only too well known. It will be im-
possible to protect the State forests if the Commissioners
are allowed this privilege.
The actual condition of the Adirondack forests and the
doings of the Forest Commissioners during the three years
they have held office need investigation. The public can-
not afford indifference in this matter. Too much is at
stake. The commercial and sanatory interests involved in
the protection of these forests are too great to allow them
to remain the prey of designing politicians and speculators.
A few years ago the concerted action of the press of this
State roused public attention to the importance of preserv-
ing the Adirondack forests and the rivers which flow from
them, and made the passage of forest laws and the appoint-
ment of a Forest Commission possible. The laws were
rendered inadequate, and the people were cheated by
politicians and speculators, who secured the appointment
of an improper Commission. The result has been disas-
trous, and never in the history of the State has the danger
to the forests been so real and imminent as it is to-day.
The public must be enlightened and aroused to active in-
terest in the matter; and the concerted and energetic
action of the press of the whole country can alone accom-
plish this.
Horticultural Fashions.
N the last fifty years there have been a number of horti-
| cultural fashions of longer or shorter duration. Just
now the cultivation of Orchids chiefly occupies the horti-
cultural world. Such fashions, while they have, perhaps,
an unfortunate influence upon the gardening profession,
are often otherwise beneficial. This was the case with the
craze for Conifers which prevailed in England forty or fifty
50
years ago. It had the effect of driving out of cultivation a
host of deciduous trees and shrubs of which gardeners who
were learning their profession at that period never acquired
any knowledge; but, on the other hand, it stimulated
botanical exploration and vastly increased our knowledge
of one of the most important and valuable families of
plants. Had it not been the fashion to plant Conifers in
England, it is probable that the Floras of the Californian
Sierras, of the Andes, of the mountains of Mexico and
Japan, of India and the Caucasus, would not be as well
known as they are to-day. Other horticultural fashions have
not been as productive of good. The fashion, for example, of
massing together large numbers ofa few varieties of tropical
or semi-tropical flowering or bright-foliaged plants, knownas
the ‘‘ bedding-out system,” has little to recommend it from
the point of view of the increase of human knowledge.
And certainly no horticultural invention has done so much
to limit the intelligence and practical skill of gardeners.
Not much better has been the extravagant fashion of filling
green-houses with what are known as fine-foliaged plants—
inhabitants of tropical swamps. These plants rarely have
conspicuous flowers, and their only interest is found in the
curious shapes and markings of their leaves. They
have not the graceful habit of many Palms ; they cannot
bear the temperature of ordinary conservatories and living-
rooms, and can only be enjoyed in the reeking atmosphere
of close, damp stoves. But no plants are more easily cul-
tivated, and it is not surprising that they are favorites with
gardeners trained in the “ bedding-out” school—of which the
taste for them is the natural outcome—and that they have
driven out a multitude of beautiful flowering plants which
it taxed the best gardening skill to bring to perfection.
The fashion for cultivating Orchids is notnew. A few
species were introduced into English gardens in the second
half of the last century, and Orchids have been cultivated
in the United States during the past seventy years. The
taste for them shows no sign of fli agging, but, on the con-
trary, has steadily increased, both in this country and in
Europe, during the last half-century, and has never been
so strong or so general as it is to-day. In the United States
especially great progress has been made in the cultivation
of these plants in recent years. They now form the prin-
cipal attraction at many of our flower-shows, and two or
three American collections rank with the finest in the
world ; and while as a nation we are ‘not yet quite as crazy
about Orchids as the English, the crowds which surrounded
the tables at an exhibition of Orchids recently held in this
city, and the high prices which these flowers bring in our
markets, pretty clearly indicate the effect of fashion in
horticulture.
The Orchid fashion has certainly much more to recom-
mend it than many fashions of a similar kind. The love
for cultivating these plants has done as much as any one
single agency to make known the vegetation of the tropical
parts of the world ; their flowers, as Darwin taught us, are
among the most wonderful of all the creations of Nature in
their adaptation of means to ends; and many of them pos-
sess wonderful beauty of color and form. It is a question
whether the most beautiful Orchid flower ever produced
can equal the beauty and grace of the Poet’s Narcissus,
which was a favorite garden flower centuries before the first
Orchid was cultivated and which will be a favorite centuries
after three-quarters of the Orchids which collectors now
hold. so dear will be found only in their native haunts or
in ancient volumes of the Bo/anical Aagasine. Yet among
the mass of Orchids now cultivated because they are new,
orrare, or expensive, or odd, are many of very great
peauty, and these will continue to be cultivated as long as
the taste for horticulture lives, And the cultivation of such
Orchids will increase in this country as they become better
known and as people appreciate how easily they may be
grown. ‘The belief is still general here that Orchids are
difficult to cultivate and can be made to flourish only in
great heat. On thecontrary, few plants are more easily grown
ifattention is given to afew of their simple requirements, and
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 28, 1888,
many of the finest varieties will thrive only in the low
temperature of a cool green-house. Indeed, many Orchids
will grow, asan English writer recently said of Phalenopsis,
“with the calm complacency of the cabbage.” There is,
too, a fascination in cultivating these plants which increases
with experience. But it must not be forgotten that any
fashion, however solid the merits upon which it is founded,
may easily be carried too far, and that there is great danger
that this growing love of Orchids may lead to the neglect
of other and equally interesting and beautiful plants. A one-
sided development is as dangerous in horticulture as in
other human pursuits.
Hardy Shrubs.
HE true value of hardy deciduous shrubs is not yet
appreciated in this country. The climate of the
Eastern and Northern States is peculiarly suited to develop,
in the highest degree, the beauty of many flowering shrubs
and trees. Our intensely hot summers, long, dry autumns,
and cold winters ripen the flowering-wood and give re-
sults which are quite unknown in countries where the
changes of temperature are less marked.
The development of American gardening has suffered
greatly during the last fifty years from attempts to imitate
English gardens in their composition. In our efforts to
cultivate the Conifers and broad-leaved evergreens which
thrive in England, we have overlooked the fact that our
climate is not suited, save in exceptional instances, to
bring out their beauty, and that it is a climate particularly
adapted to deciduous plants. Thoughtful students of the
relations between cultivated plants and climate now begin
to realize that if we are ever to have in America a dis-
tinctive school of gardening, it must be based upon a com-
prehensive use of hardy deciduous shrubs.
These have other qualifications, in addition to their
abundant flowers, to commend them to more general use.
They are easily and cheaply raised. They are long-lived
and increase in beauty from year to year. Their size
adapts them to the small gardens which must always be
more common than large onesin thiscountry. Many de-
ciduous shrubs and small trees also have the charm of
brilliant autumnal foliage and conspicuous persistent
fruits. The variety of such plants which can be made to
flourish in our Eastern and Northern gardens is enor-
mous. Few persons yet realize what a shrub-garden in
Eastern America might be made. In such a gar den could
be gathered the shrubs of Europe and their innumerable
varieties, the result of centuries of careful selection and
cultivation—for European shrubs flourish here although
European trees do not; and those of northern China and
Japan, countries rich in plants of this description, which
have already given us some of the most beautiful orna-
ments of our gardens—the Forsythias, Deutzias and Wei-
gelas, the Flowering Quince, the Crabs and the finest of
the Spireeas.
Such foreign shrubs—when shrubs are used at all—now
beautify our ‘eardens, and American species, although not
less eet and better suited to our climate, are ‘almost
entirely neglected. The Flora of North America is rich in
shrubs and shrub-like trees the more general cultivation of
which cannot be too strongly urged. So numerous are
they and so varied in character and beauty, that gardens
planted with them alone—without any admixture of ex-
otic material—might be made interesting and charming at
every season of the year. What small trees excel the little
known or appreciated American Thorns, beautiful alike in
their spring flowers and their autumnal foliage and fruit, or
the Shadbush and the Judas Tree when they enliven in
early spring the borders of the leafless forest—the one
with white bloom, the other with glowing pink? No
tree is more striking than the Flowering Dogwood when
its broad white bracts expand, or more splendid in its au-
tumn color. And these would be followed by the Fringe
Tree, by the Rattlebox with its branches covered in early
-
>
MARCH 28, 1888.]
summer with myriads of drooping white bells, and by the
Sour-wood with pendulous racemes of Lily-of-the-Valley-
like flowers and with scarlet leaves in autumn.
And withthese and many other native flowering trees,
might be grouped an almost endless variety of shrubs
blooming in succession from earliest spring to late summer,
and brilliant with autumn tints or conspicuous fruit ;—the
delicate Rhodora which tinges our northern swamps with
pink in early spring ; the gorgeous orange-colored Azalea
which flames on the slopes of many southern mountains ;
the deliciously fragrant Calycanthus and Clethra ; a host
of Dogwoods and Viburnums, beautiful in flower and
fruit ; Blueberries of many varieties, modest in flower but
hardly equalled in grace of habit and richness of October
hues ; the Sumachs and the Black Alder which in winter en-
livens northern swamps with its scarlet fruit. And in such
a garden a collection of native Roses would not be the least
attractive feature. We have here merely indicated some
of the rich material within reach of American gardeners.
But the subject will be elaborated in future issues of this
~ Journal, and some of the most valuable and some of the
least known American shrubs will be figured and de-
scribed.
We are glad to publish the letter on landscape gardening
which will be found upon another page, for the subject is
one about which it is desirable to create discussion. The
statement in the first paragraph, that landscape gardening
as a fine art means something very different from the mere
cultivation of ornamental plants and the designing of iso-
lated minor decorative features, is undeniable. But we can-
not agree with our correspondent when he thinks it needful
to give the name of “ landscape horticulture,” or any narrow-
ly distinctive name, to ‘‘the industrial art which shapes the
ground, plants the trees, makes the walks and drives.”
The actual manual work of doing such things is, of course,
artisans’ work—work similar to that which masons and
carpenters do for the architect. But to know how such
things should be done seems to us an integral part of the
equipment of the landscape gardener as an artist. Knowl-
edge of this kind will not make him an artist. But he
cannot be a good artist without it any more than an archi-
tect can be a good artist without a knowledge of building
construction ; and, on the other hand, it cannot itself be
put to good service unless guided and inspired by artistic
impulses, any more than a knowledge of building con-
struction can. These two arts—landscape gardening and
architecture—are like one another and unlike the other
arts by reason of the fact that they can never be mani-
festations of the aesthetic instinct in a pure form. Practical
considerations must always mingle with and largely limit
and control zsthetic considerations when their works are
in question. In the preliminary stages of education the
acquirement of practical knowledge and the development
of esthetic feeling may seem distinct and different aims.
But they should always be fostered together as far as possi-
_ble; and to divorce them in theoretical expositions of the
art of landscape gardening, in its practice, or even in its
nomenclature, would be a grave mistake.
Nothing indicates so clearly the rapidly increasing
scarcity of the more valuable woods produced by our for-
ests as the gradual substitution for them in the markets of
the country of woods which up to a short time ago were
considered useless.
The wood of the Cottonwood (Populus monilifera) a few
years ago had no commercial value whatever in the United
States, and was used for fuel only on the plains, where
nothing better could be obtained. Improved and stronger
machinery, however, has made it possible to saw this
wood into lumber in spite of its tough, difficult grain, and
there is now a large demand for Cottonwood lumber
throughout the West as a substitute for white pine and
yellow poplar (Zirzodendron) for light packing-cases of all
Garden and Forest.
51
kinds, immense quantities being manufactured at St. Louis
and other places. ‘The wood is found to possess the merits
of cheapness and of greater lightness than white pine, and
it is absolutely free from all odor or taste, valuable quali-
ties in a case where articles of food are to be packed. It is
also used for lining refrigerator-cars, and to some extent in
the manufacture of cheap furniture.
The Cottonwoods, of which there are several species in
the West and South-west, all produce wood very similar in
quality, and are among the largest, most common and
widely distributed trees along all the rivers west of the Al-
leghany Mountains. They grow with great rapidity, propa-
gate themselves freely by their light seeds, and are more
easily raised from cuttings than almost any other trees.
The Cottonwood thrives also in the dry climate of the
western plains and prairies better than almost any other
tree. There is every prospect, therefore, that our supplies
of Cottonwood lumber will not soon become exhausted.
A recent issue of the Bos/on Fournal contains the state-
ment that City Forester Doogue of that town had been ex-
perimenting witha preparation invented by him for the de-
struction of Canker-worms, with such success as to deter-
mine him to putit to general use on the city Elms. His meth-
od is to bore ahole, about three inches deep and an inch and
one-half in diameter, in the trunk of the tree, and to insert
a mysterious powder, the composition of which is known
only to himself. The hole is then plugged up and made
perfectly tight with wax. Boring and plugging trees with
nostrums is an old and futile remedy ; and it seems almost
incomprehensible that a man occupying so responsible a
position could be guilty of such quackery. The old way
of using oil-troughs to stop the ascent of Canker-worms,
if systematically carried out, is effectual in destroying them;
and they might easily be exterminated if communities would
combine in the use of such appliances.
Landscape Gardening.—V.
HERE is still one point which must be noticed as
affecting the question how much the landscape
artist owes to nature, how much to himself and his fellow-
men. When we speak of ‘‘natural scenes” we are apt to
mean, illogically, all those which have not been modified
by the conscious action of art as art. We recognize a park
landscape as non-natural ; but those rural landscapes in
cultivated countries from which the designer of a park gets
his best inspirations—these, too, are non-natural. ‘‘If in
the idea of a natural state,” says an old English writer,
‘*we include ground and wood and water, no spot in this
island can be said to be in a state of nature. . Wher-
ever cultivation has set its foot—wherever the plow and
spade have laid fallow the soil—nature is become extinct.”
Extinct, of course, is too strong a wordif we take it in its
full significance. But it is not too strong if we understand
it as referring to those things which are most important to
the landscape gardener:—the compositions, the broad gen-
eral pictures, of nature, have become extinct in all thickly
settled countries. ‘The effects we see may not be artistic
effects—may not have resulted from a conscious effort after
beauty ; but they are none the less artificial effects. They
do not show us what nature wants to do or can do—only
what man and nature have chanced to do together. When
English artists became dissatisfied with the formal, archi-
tectural gardening of the seventeenth century, they fondly
imagined that they were learning from nature how to pro-
duce those effects of rural freedom, of idyllic repose, of
seemingly unstudied beauty, grace and charm, which were
their new desire. But, in reality, they were learning from
the face of a country which for centuries had been care-
fully moulded, tended and put to use byman. In some of
its parts, of course, the effects of man’s presence were
comparatively inconspicuous. But of most parts it could
be said that for ages not a stream or tree or blade of grass
had. existed except in answer to his efforts, or, at least, in
52
consequence of his permission ; and it was these parts and
not the wilder ones which gave mostassistance to the artist.
An instinctive love for beauty had doubtless often tried to
express itself in the neighborhood of dwellings, absent
though the idea of art had been from the mind of their in-
habitants ; nature herself is so good an artist that even in
her bondage she had worked admirably and with more
suavity and gentleness than in her free estate; and the
mere utilitarian treatment of the land had also accidentally
given rise to happily suggestive features. Take, for exam-
ple, the lawn, which is so essential a feature of almost every
artistic design in landscape. It is not true to say, as often
has been said, that nature never suggestsalawn. But it is
true to say that she did not suggest it to those English
gardeners who developed it so beautifully. They must
have been inspired by the artificially formed meadow-lands
and glades of the England of their time.
But all the semi-natural, semi-artificial beauty of England
would not have taught them how to make beautiful parks
and gardens had they not been taught as well by their own
imagination. Whatthey wanted to create were landscapes
which should charm from all points of view and should
bear close as well as distant examination ; and, moreover,
landscapes which might fitly surround the habitations of
man and accommodate his very various needs and pleas-
ures. Such landscapes we can no more expect to find in
nature—even in cultivated, semi-artificial nature—than
landscapes painted upon canvas. That is, while we can
imagine a natural spot which would be an appropriate set-
ting for a hunter’s lodge or a hermit’s cell, we can imagine
none which would appropriately encircle a palace, a man-
sion, or even a modest home for a man with civilized
habits and tastes. Every step in civilization is a step away
from that wild estate which alone is really nature ; and the
further away we get from it, the more imagination is
needed to bring the elements of existence which nature
still supplies into harmony with those which man has
developed. The simplest house in the most rustic situation
needs, at least, that a path shall be cut to its door; and
to do so much as cut a path in the most pleasing possible
way needs a certain amount of imagination, of art. How
much more, then, is imagination needed in such a task as
the laying-out of a great estate where subordinate buildings
are to be grouped around the chief one, and all are to be
accommodated to the main unalterable natural features of
the scene, where a hundred minor natural. features are to
be harmoniously disposed, where convenient courses for
feet and wheels are to be provided in every direction,
where gardens and orchards are to be supplied, where
water is to be made at once useful and ornamental, and
where every plant, whether great or small, must be beauti-
ful at least in the sense of helping the beauty of the general
effect? The stronger the desire to make so artificial an
aggregate of features look as though nature might have
designed it, the more intimate must be the artist's sympathy
with the aims and processes of nature and the keener his
eye for the special opportunities of the site; but also the
stronger must be his imaginative power, the firmer his
grasp of the principles and processes of his art.
M. G. van Rensselaer.
Bridge at Leathertor, England.
Es very ancient bridge spans one of the small streams on
Dartmoor, in the south-west of England. Its construc-
tion is sufficiently explained by the picture—two land-piers and
one stream-pier are connected by long spanning-stones which
carry parapets made up of large irregular blocks. It is hardly
necessary to point out the degree to which this bridge com-
bines picturesque beauty with durability, or to explain the fit-
ness of such bridges for rural situations in our own country.
In the immediate vicinity of a very dignified house so rude
and unarchitectural a bridge would perhaps be out of place ;
and the same is true of those portions of an urban park where
formality rules or where architectural works of importance are
in view. But in the sequestered, naturally treated portions of
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 28, 1888.
parks, a bridge of this sort would be entirely appropriate; and
carrying a road or footway near a country horne of modest
character or in a village suburb it would be a most charming
feature. Naturally we have no wish to suggest that this bridge
need be copied either in its special form or in the size and dis-
position of its stones, although in both these respects it would
be an excellent model. It is illustrated merely to show how
very simply a stone bridge may be built, and how incompara-
bly better in effect it is than the ugly constructions of iron or
the rough assemblages of planks with which in this country
we are so familiar. Weather-beaten boulders as old as those
in this bridge at Leathertor, and as appropriate for bridge-
building, lie by every New England stream, and it would need
no high degree of skill to put them to service. But we seem
to have thought the bare, straight lines of iron more beautiful
than the infinité variety of form and surface and color of our
moss-grown stones. It is full time we changed our minds.
After the Great Snow Storm.
I GATHERED pink and white blossoms of the Spring Beauty
on the roth of the present month, and on the 12th they
were under the drifting snow of what will pass into history
as the great storm of March, 1888.
The wild weather of that day gave me no little concerm with
regard to the old trees near my house. As a consequence, I
twice faced the storm at its height and took brief notes as to
the action of the wind upon them. I was curious, too, to
know which species was suffering most from loss of branches
ar \ general mutilation. The snapping and crashing heard
above the wind’s roaring suggested universal destruction.
Judging from past wind-storms, I looked for the leveling of the
fourteen Pines near the house, or at least that the trunks alone
would remain standing; but these unaccountably escaped all
serious injury and are still the same sorry-looking irregularities
they have been for the last twenty years.
It is nota little strange that the long rows of White Pines
planted by Joseph Bonaparte in his park near Bordentown, N.J.,
more than sixty years ago, have escaped serious breakage
from wind, encrusting snow and ice-encased twigs—the three
causes that have, separately and combinedly, effected the un-
crowning and disfiguring of the Pines athome, which are no
more exposed and scarcely three miles away. Do not
these trees generally require planting in clusters, so as to
be self-protecting, or to be intimately associated with other
trees? A lone Pine is very pretty and poetical, but hereabouts
it is as uncertain as the average white man. /
But to return to the forestin the storm, Ofa hundred or more
large trees, Oaks, Chestnuts, Birches, Gums, Liquidambars,
Persimmons, Catalpas, Beeches and Sassafras, occupying some
three acres of southward sloping hillside, but one, a large
Chestnut, was uprooted, and this was lifted bodily from the
ground and carried several feet from where it had stood.
The others were twisted; branches were interlocked, and
several so shaken and wormed about that the closely wrapping
Poison Ivy was detached, an occurrence I should never have
dreamed could have taken place. Where branches were broken,
they were, asarule, detached from the trunk of the tree as
though seized at their extremities and twisted off. Although
the wind remained in one direction, it evidently became a
whirlwind among the tree-tops, as shown by the direction of
the tall of several large limbs. One large branch of an enor-
mous Beech was broken off, but still holds by long cables of
twisted strips of bark, as though the storm had repented and
tried to repair the damage by tying it on again.
Of the several species of trees T have mentioned, no two are
of like toughness in the texture of their wood, and in this
storm the weaker and more brittle kinds did not suffer as
much as the tough old Oaks. Nor were the detached branches
worm-eaten and so abnormally weak. I was confronted with
contradictions whichever way I turned. Associate these with
wind having a velocity of fifty-four miles an hour and air
full of sand-like snow, and realize how easily one could become
bewildered.
In the more exposed upland fields not a tree suffered, the
big Sassafras, sixty-two feet in height, not losing even a twig.
Stranger still, the scattered Beeches and White Oaks that have
retained their withered leaves all winter, hold them still. In
short, the home woods suffered very little, and what damage
there is occurred where I least expected to find it. Where the
exposure was greatest, there every tree successfully weathered
one of the severest storms on record. The shrubbery, seed-
ling Oaks and Beeches, puny Cedars and trim little Junipers
were bent to the ground and remained prostrate for three or
four days. The snow has now melted and all are again erect;
4
4
Marcit 28, 1888.]
but when I bentsome of them to-day, as flatly as did the snow
and wind, they cracked and were destroyed. Was it that the
gradual pressure of the snow prevented the disaster that my
more sudden bending caused?
While I rejoiced at Phe iving my woodland still intact, there
was one aggravating feature about it all. I anticipated a har-
vest of dead limbs tor my andirons; but they too withstood the
tempest. To- day they looked down at me with a tantalizing
“no you don’t” expression that robbed me of half the pleasure
of seeing Black Alder laden with its crimson berries resting
upon a dazzling drift of unstained snow.
Near Trenton, New Jersey.
Chas. C. Abbott.
Foreign Correspondence
Arboretum—lI1.
EFORE giving details of some of the most important col-
lections and of the most remarkable specimens here, it
may beas well to say a few words regarding the general aspect
and position of the Kew establishment.
The Kew
Garden and Forest. Be
stands the Kew Observatory—we pass through the collections
of Cypresses, Yews and their allies, until we reach the Pines and
Firs, which are arranged at the he ad and along the southern
side of a noble expanse of ornamental water WHEN! e the sup-
plies for garden purposes are pumped by engines at some dis-
tance away in the wood. Just across the T ee at
is Syon House, a place rich in historic:
to the left is the Isleworth entrance, and on the left
river a short distance up thestream, is the pretty ¢
worth. Following the course of the Thames we go through a
very rich collection of Oaks; behind this strip and between it
and the wood is a dell in which Rhododendrons luxuriate
After the Oaks come the Elms, and the extremely numerous
and very varied forms of our native species are particularly
puzzling, The Oaks and Elms practically occupy a consider-
able tract of ground, the whole length of the river frontage of
the Arboretum ; here and there, however, are groups of Coni-
fers to block out the sight of the Brentford docks on the oppo-
site bank of the stream. Not far from here Edmund Ironsic les
defeated the Danes in 1016, and more than six centuries later
Prince Rupert gained a victory over the Parliamentary
this point
il association
troops.
“dif
iy ies
iy Cea
iil,
Bridge at Leathertor, England, page 52.
The village of Kewis situated on the right bank of the Thames
about six miles from Hyde Park Corner, and was a royal resi-
dence as far back as the reign of Henry VIII. The chief entrance
to the Gardens (there are five public entrances altogether) is
upon Kew Green, one of the most delightful of the tree-sha-
dowed stretches of sward which form such a pleasant feature
of many of the villages in the neighborhood of London. About
three hundred yards i ina w esterly direction from the large and
handsome wrought-iron gates stands the Dutch House, or, as
it is now always ‘called, Kew Palace, a homely structure of red
brick, said to have been erected in the time of James I. by Sir
Hugh Portman, a Dutch merchant knighted by Queen Eliza-
beth. Here it was that Queen Charlotte died. The palace is just
outside aes garden boundaries and is the property of Her Ma-
jesty Queen” Victoria. Turning to the left, ata right angle, the
main walk—one of the most ‘trequente d of the Kew prome-
nades—leads towards the ornamental water in front of the great
Palm House: From the Palm House there is a magnificent
avenue of Deodars, terminated—at the Richmond limit of the
Arboretum—by the Pagoda, one of the remaining fantastic
creations of the first Queen Caroline. Leaving the Richmond
entrance to the left and skirting the Old Deer Park—in which
A good proportion of the Arboretum (which covers an are:
of over 178 acres) is occupied by noble stretches of Oak anal
Beech woods, with here and there fine specimens of Spanish
Chestnut, Horsechestnut and other large trees. Under these
grow countless thousands of Wild Hyacinths, or, as they are
commonly called in mé ny parts of this country, Blue-bells
(Scilla nutans). When in flower in May and June the mag-
nificent masses of color attract large numbers of. artists
Visitors, too, from central and eastern Europe, whether
botanically inclined or not, are struck with the sight.
The Botanic Garden proper is about 70 acres in extentand is
famous for its beautifully ke pt lawns, flower-beds, and single
specimens and groups of miscellaneous dec neue and ever-
green trees and shrubs arranged for landscape effects—not
planted in botanical sequence.
The Arboretum is frequently called the Wilderness, and
under this name it is mentioned in “Shandon Bells” by
William Black, who makes the hero, Fitzgerald, and his aos
friend, John Ross, ‘“ go splashing through the mud to Kew, to
see Ww hi it the wilderne ss part of ‘the ( sardens (a favorite ~ vunt
of theirs and but little known to the public) was like in driving
rain, or in feathery snow, orin clear hard frost, when the red
34
berries shone among the green.” The red berries mentioned
by the novelist are those of the English Holly (ex Aguifolium),
of which there are many very fine trees. This Holly, which is
made to play so important a part in some of Dickens’ tales
and in English ‘Christmas’ literature generally, has brighter
red berries and dark green very glossy leaves, and altogether,
as an ornamental shrub or tree, is much more attractive than
the American Holly (/ex_opaca.)
Royal Gardens, Kew. George Nicholson, A. L. S., Curator.
Yucca Lreculiana.
HE illustration of this fine tree (Fig. 10 on opposite page),
the Spanish Bayonet” or ‘Spanish Dagger,” of western
Texas, is from a photograph of a plant grown in the city of
Austin, where, as in other towns of w estern Texas, it is quite
commonly cultivated and forms the most conspicuous garden
ornament. Dr. Engelman’s very complete description ‘of this
species renders it unnecessary to say anything of its botanical
characters. The Spanish Bayonet becomes, under favorable
conditions, a tree sometimes thirty feet in height, with a
slender trunk and wide-spreading branches.* It is common
through south-eastern Texas, and extends south across the
plains of northern Mexico, where it is associated with Vueca
filifera, as far south as Saltillo and Parras. It forms on the
Texas coast near the mouth of the Rio Grande, just back
of the sand dunes, straggling, stunted forests ; and further
inland low, impenetrable hickets.
Yueca Trecul/iana was introduced into Europe by the French
traveler Trécul, whose name it commemorates. According to
Naudin it is very hardy in the south of France, where it flowers
freely. Ci2Sese
Cultural Notes.
Hardy Herbaceous Perennials from Seed.
[GROM the time the winter Aconites, Snowdrops and Cro-
cuses appear in earliest spring till the bold Tritomas are
cut down by hard frost in November, we have among hardy
herbaceous perennials an uninterr upted display of flowers.
But in order to have them so that we can best enjoy them we
must have masses of the finer sorts rather than a single plant
of each. Individuals are lost in a landscape ; there we want
broad colonies of a kind. In the decoration of our gardens
one Phlox or one Tulip is of no avail; we want a clump or
mass of each. For cut flowers one Iris or one Coreopsis
would not help us much; we must have several.
How best to increase our stock of plants and variety of kinds
must therefore concern us. Helianthus, Plumbago Larpente,
Veronica, Phlox and many others may be readily i increased by
division, but Aguilegia, Delphinium and Pentstemon should be
multiplied by seed. True species usually come true from
seed, but garden varieties should, in order to keep them true,
be perpetuated by division or cuttings. The seeds of some
perennials, Fraxinella, for instance, are slow and uncertain to
germinate; those of others, the Virginian Spiderwort, for ex-
ample, come up with the persistence of weeds.
In growing herbaceous plants from seed, the amateur
should begin with such sorts as are easily grown, for most
perennials are more difficult to raise than are annuals, and
need not only care before the seeds germinate, but consider-
able attention after the seedlings appear. He should also
limit his list to suit his garden needs. If his desire is to fur-
nish a small rockery, then choose £rinus alpinus, Erysimum
rupestre, Dianthus alpinus and the like ; if for edgings in his
garden, then grow Armeria, Globularia, Chrysanthemum
Tchihatchewii and ev ergreen Candytuft; if tor showy flowers,
try Oriental Poppies, perennial Lar kspurs and Kcempfer's Irises.
‘In re using perennials from seed we can begin atany time: as
soon as the seed is r ipe and before winter sets in; in the green-
house in winter or hot-bed in earlyspring; orin acold-frame or
out-of-doors in late spring. What perennials I raise from seed
and do not sow in fall I try to sow and get off my hands before
I begin to sow annuals in spring. Be careful not to sow slow-
germinating seeds in warm quarters, as a hot-house or hot-
bed, else the chances are that the seeds will rot; but seeds
that were sown in boxes in fall and wintered in a cold frame,
*Vucca Treculiana, Carriére, Rev. 1861, 7. 1869, ~. 06,
Hort. 1858, p. 580; SOS;
f 82.
s38 canaliculata, Hook, Bot. Alag. ¢. 5207 (1860)—Baker, Gard. Chronicle, 1870, p.
828: Four. Linn. oa 1227. p 226.—Engelm., Trans. St. Louis Acad. tit., gI—
London Garden, xtt., p. 328, ¢. 9 ¢.—Sargent, Forest Trees N. America, vol. 7
Census U.S., p. 278. “Hemsley, Bot. Am. Cent. tii., 377.
¥. longifolia, Engilm. in Sched.—Buckley, Proc. Phil. Acad. xiv. Pp 8 (1862),
Zx., roth
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 28, 1888.
may be introduced to the green-house in spring with quicken-
ing effect.
For convenience sake I treat many perennials as annuals;
they germinate and grow readily, and bear a full cup of flow-
ers and seeds the first year. Among these are Abronia, Age-
ratum, Dahlia ene flowered), Delphinium erandiflorum,
Eschscholtzia Californica, oe Lindheimert, Leptosyne ma-
ritima, Lophospermum scandens, Mirabilis Falapa, Salvia
Splendens and S. farinosa. Ot course some of these, as
Dahlia and Lophospermum, are not hardy, but, treated as an-
nuals, it matters not whether they are hardy or tender.
If sown early many perennials will bloom freely the first
year. These include Anemone coronaria, Anchusa, Cedronella
cana, Conoclinium, Delphinium, Echinacea, Gatllardia, Incar-
villea Olge, Lychnis, Malva, Platycodon, Pyrethrum, Salvia
pratensis, Stdalcea, and Stachys coccinea. Now, while Coreop-
sis lanceolata it sown early in spring will bloom here towards
fall, lam informed that in Vermont it will not bloom at all the
first year from seed. And the same is true of many other
perennials,
There are many kinds of perennials that I have never known
to bloom the first year from seed. These include Aguilegia,
Anthericum, Arabis alpina, Asclepias tuberosa, Astrantia,
Baptisia, Betonica, Bocconia, Buthalmum, Callirhoé, Chieranthus
alpinus, Erysimum rupestre, Globularia, Lathyrus latifolius,
Tris, Lilium, Genothera Missouriensis, Orobus vernus, Statice
latifolia, Tritoma and Veronica longifolia.
Perennials that bloom in spring, for instance Crocus, Scilla
Stbirica, Trillium and Sanguinaria (all of these self-sow them-
selves abundantly), seldom bloom the first year from seed ; but
we have an exception in the case of Anemone coronaria, On
the other hand, perennials that bloom in fall, if sown early
often bloom the same year—for instance, Hollyhocks, Flyacin-
thus candicans, and Montbrietia crocosmieflora (not quite
hardy).
Many perennials, when once established, self-sow themselves
abundantly, Among these are Delphinium, Coreopsis, Gaura
Lindheimeri, Salvia farinacea, Dianthus and Digitalis. Of
these, Foxgloves make good perennials with me in sandy
land, but in clay soil | have never found them to be satisfactory
other than as biennials. Sweet Williams often live over as
perennial, butin all cases I have had the best success with them
as biennials. And the same is true of Lychuis grandifiora, L.
Sulgens, L, Senno, and the many varieties of ZL. Haageana.
While many of the commoner Pentstemons, as P. ovatus, P.
diffusus and LP. pulchellus, self-sow themselves with great free-
dom, the finer species, as P. Eatont, P. Palmeri and SP Coéea,
have never, under my care, produced any self-sown plants.
But at Woolson’s, at Passaic, I have seen numbers of self-sown
plants of P. gx andiflor ws. While P. diffusus, P. ovatus. and P.
levigatus make pretty good perennials, I always have had
most success with the other species when they were treated as
gs eee The seed should be sown as soon as ripe.
Many perennials germinate as readily as doannuals. Among
these are Anthemis, Aguilegia, Ar abis, Armeria, Chrysanthe-
mum, Conoclinium, Delphinium, Dianthus, Digitalis, Lupator-
ium, Gypsophila, [beris, Iris, Lobelia, Lychnis, Malva, Pentste-
mon, Primula, Sedum, Sempervivum, Thalictrum, Thymus, Tri-
toma, Viola and many others. But all the species of these
genera do not germinate with equal facility—for instance, while
Pentstemon ovatus comes up thickly and in about nine days,
P. cobea never comes up a full crop nor regularly. And the
freshness of the seed has a great deal to do with its germina-
tion. I have never succeeded in raising plants of Dicfamnus,
Primula Faponica or P. rosea from seed ayear old. Seeds of
leguminous plants, especially of Zher mopsis and Baptisia,
even if the seed is fresh, germinate very irregularly. I have
had a fair crop come up w vithin a month after sowing, and the
balance of the seed lie in the ground for a year and then grow.
While Lilium tenutfolium and L. pulchellum will come upa
full crop within a fortnight from sowing time, I have found
that Z. auratum and L. superbum take several months before
they germinate. Seeds of Clematis graveolens and C. tubulosa
germinate readily in a few weeks, but the hybrids so common
in our gardens take months.
All hardy perennials, except such as we treatas annuals, had
better be sown in late summer or fall ; in fact, as soon as the
seed is ripe. By this means, in the case of seeds that ripen
early and germinate readily, as Aguilegia, Aubrietia, Alyssum
saxatile, and the like, we can have fine strong stock before
winter sets in, and which will bloom nicely next year. In fact,
in the case of mostall, except some Lilies, Clematises, Ponies,
Hellebores, Globe Flowers, and Siberian Corydalis, which ifsown
as soon as ripe do not germinate till the next spring, and Gen-
tians and Composites that bloom late, we may reasonably
Marcu 28, 1888.]
Garden and Forest.
?
‘i fe We
Li Nlaaeat eas
Wave es dayitiQ
wl \ eWeuilieiam i ANI
3 ali ili Vay
WH itt rays se gate HANA CY
Na an 2 ste aed wai hen ay ai i Mh one
MMe a AMY garuett haa Nay he { \ 2
wptlliie — allay , <a Pad Hi i PHA E A
ye i le, ii it Ha a |
“mente SU es atten args PN Egat
ade ABN RIdg ily MAO aro At thy AMI i) MY ‘
Yun eng cult EHNA sae A te ts
Fig. ro.—Yucca Treculiana.
expect to get strong stock to keep over in beds or cold-frames.
I make fwo sowings, one as soon as the seeds are ripe as
stated above and anotherin November. This last sowing in-
cludes Aster, Adonis, Aconitum, Asperula, Astragalus, Baptisia,
Clematis, Dicentra, Epimedium, Euphorbia corollata, Gentiana,
Gillenia, Heleborus, Hepatica, Lilium, Iris, Mertensia, Monarda,
Orobus, Phlox, Polygonum, Paonia, Trollius, Uvularia and
Viola. These are sown in flats (shallow boxes) filled with
sandy soil, and a thin layer of moss is laid over the surface to
prevent undue drying. The boxes are then placed in a cold
frame, there to remain over winter. Very few of the kinds
will germinate before spring, but most all will come up the
following April or May, when the moss should be removed
from about the seedlings, and they attended to in the way of
light, ventilation, water and transplanting. W. Falconer.
The Cultivation of Lilies.
COLLECTION of rare Lilies is seldom seen in our gardens,
= and yet no other class of plants is more greatly desired
oras often tried.
Experience with Lilies has convinced me that nearly every
variety can be successfully grown with as little trouble as any
other plant of equal merit, and that failure is in the main
due to overestimating their hardiness. It is the general
opinion of those having authority to speak for the Lily, that,
with but few exceptions, the species are perfectly hardy.
This opinion finds encouragement in the ‘Cultural Instruc-
tions ” of nearly every catalogue, and the trustful planter who
does not take the proper precaution loses his bulbs. Nearly
all the species are natives either of cold or temperate climates,
56 Garden and Forest.
and therefore it is assumed that all can endure the rigor of
our winters. But the fact is that few of the species are truly
hardy in this climate except those indigenous to the soil.
While it is true that some of the specics are found in the
coldest part of the habitable globe, growing most luxuriantly,
it is equally true that the same species cannot endure our
winters without protection. Few climates are so trying as our
own to those bulbous-rooted plants, which are usually con-
sidered hardy and left in the open border during the winter.
This is particularly true of the coast climate, from Massa-
chusetts to Virginia, where there is frequently forty degrees of
frost, and not a particle of snow on the ground for protection.
Here the earth is frozen to a great depth one week, and thaws
out the next. These frequent changes from water to ice and
back again cause the earth to contract and expand to such a
degree as to tear the bulbs in pieces. I have seen large plant-
ings destroyed in this manner,
But to be more specific. The beautiful L2/¢um fenutfolium
is a native of Siberia, where it is largely cultivated as an article
of food. Of course it can endure a Siberian winter, but a Long
Island winter kills it. Why? Because in its original home the
first indication of winter is a snow-storm which covers the
ground so thickly that frost rarely, if ever, penetrates it ; while
here the unprotected earth is frozen far below the Lily bulbs
over and over again between November and April. The
same is true of the Lédéum AZartagon, the bulbs of which are
much valued by the Cossacks as a vegetable. With them it
is perfectly hardy ; in our warmer clime it will rarely survive
more thana single winter without protection, but with that pre-
caution it grows with more vigor here than in its native
home.
The White Turk’s Cap Lily (Z. AZartagon alba), in the northern
parts of New York, in the Eastern States and in Lower Canada
thrives with all the vigor of a native plant. So common is
itin one locality in St. Lawrence County, N.Y., that a friend
sent the writer some flowers for name, saying it was a
common wild Lily, but she could not find it desc ribed in
Gray's ‘‘ Botany.” Here we can only grow it in a cold-frame ;
because it misses the blanket of snow that
covers it in
Germany, its native home, and in our own more northern
latitudes.
In Vermont, where the ground is nearly always covered
with snow during winter, all kinds of Lilies grow to the
greatest perfection. We have seen finer bulbs of the Z. azra-
tum, L. Brownti, L. chalcedonicum, L. Martagon, and other
species, grown in that State without the slightest artificial pro-
tection, than we have ever known produced in any other
country.
There are many other plants protected by snow in a similar
manner. We notice on the Alps, at an elevation that permits
of but four months of spring, summer and autumn, that the
wild Primrose grows in the greatest profusion and luxuriance,
It is there constantly covered with snow during their long
periods of freezing weather. In the valleys below, ‘where there
is no snow and but little frost, the same plant will not live
through the winter unless carefully protected.
All that Lilies require for their perfect development and
rapid increase is protection against frost, and this is a simple
and inexpensive operation. The best and most natural cover-
ing is about six inches in depth of newly fallen leaves, kept in
place bya few boughs or pieces of board. Salt or marsh
hay will afford excellent protection; corn-stalks answer a good
purpose; in short, whatever material is the most convenient
is the best to use, if it will only protect the bulbs against a tem-
perature that changes repeatedly from one side of the frost
line to the other. C.t. Allen:
Eriostemon intermedium.—This is a South Australian shrub
with rigid branches, small, shining, dark, pungent, evergreen
leaves, "and white flowers tinged with pink. These are e axillary
and borne in profusion along the primary and secondary
branches. £rdostemon belongs to the same family as the
Orange, which it resembles in the size and shape of its flowers.
This is one of those beautiful, old-fashioned hard-wood plants
which should be more often seen in our collections. Itis very
easily cultivated and should be potted in turfy peat mixed with
sand, It requires careful drainage and the protection in
winter of a cool green-house. In this climate it should, in
summer, be plunged out of doors, in partial shade. It flowers
in March. A figure of Erzostemon intermedium, which is con-
sidered by Bentham in his Flora of Australia as simply a form
of £. myoporoides, was published in the Botanical Magazine, ¢.
4439-
[Marci 28, 1883.
Boronia megastigma is another Australian shrub of the Rue
family, which is too rarely seen in our collections, It is chiefly
valuable for its deliciously fragrant flowers, a small spray of
which will scent a whole room. _B. megastigma is a slender,
delicate shrub, sometimes two feet high, with erect branches
and spreading opposite branchlets. The flowers are very freely
produced trom the axils of the sparse, linear leaves towards
the ends of the branches. They are solitary, drooping, about
half an inch in diameter and sub-globose ; dark red-brown on
the outside and clear yellow w ithin. This plant, which is now
quite commonly cultivated in some London nurseries on ac-
count of the fragrance of its flowers, requires cool green-house
treatment and should be potted and grown like a Cape Heath.
It flowers in March and April. A figure ot B. megastigna Was
published in the Sotanical Magazine, ¢. 6046. GS Sa
Milla biflora in our Gardens.—Mr., Pringle’s interesting note, p.
20, reminds me that four years ago a large consignment of
Milla biflora, Bessera elegans, and some other bulbs, from
Mexico, were disposed of at auction in New York at ridiculously
low prices. Most of these bulbs were purchased by Long
Island growers, and have, since then, been grown by some of
our florists for cut-flowers in summer, for the New York
market. The bulbs are planted out in rows in spring, and cul-
tivated by horse power as we do Tuberoses and Gladioli;
in the fall they are lifted and treated like Gladioli or Ti-
gridias. While out-of-doors in summer they grow well ‘and
bloom beautifully, seldom bearing fewer than two, oftener
seven or nine flowers on a scape. ~The flowers are white and
showy, and were picked every day for market. When left un-
picked. they set and ripen seed treely. Seeds germinate easily.
Lilium Grayi.—I found this rare Lily, figured p. 19, perfectly
hardy at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and as amendable to cul-
tivation as were ZL. Canadense or L. superbum. Referrin
to my note books I find: 1882, July 2d—Z. Grayi in ful
bloom ; Z. Canadense not yet in bloom, but its flowers are
ready to open: . ‘1983; July, 2d—Z. Gray? in full bloom; Z.
Canadense also in tull bloom.” The two species were growing
near each other in the garden. Their general contour, toa
casual observer, is very much alike. The most striking differ-
ence is in the flowers ; while those of Z. Canadense are always
nodding and the petals reflexed, those of Z. Grayz are never
quite pendulous nor widely open, nor are the petals at all
reflexed. The flowers of Z. Gray? are of a darker red color
than are those of the ordinary red LZ. Canadense, and the inner
surface of the petals is more thickly spotted with dark purple
spots.
Forcing Azaleas.—In order to have Azaleas to bloom early get
them to make their growth early. It is not well to take plants
that are in bud and bring them into brisk heat in order to
bring them into bloom ; better bring them into heat after they
have finished blooming and get them to make their growth
early, and in this way advance ther time to bloom.
Cytisus Canariensis.— As soon as it has done blooming cut it
back enough to give the plants a shapely, stocky form ; then
givethema thorough washing in warm water (ata temperature
of 125° Fah.) to rid them of red spider, to which they are very
subject, and a fortnight after repeat the washing. Do not
repot them till they have started into fresh growth. Itdoes not
pay to keep over old plants; raise a few fresh ones from cut-
tings every year. Cuttings of the young wood strike freely.
The plants are in their prettiest condition when they are two to
three years old. WF.
Grapes for Home Use.—I cordially agree with Mr. Williams”
notes on a choice of varieties. The kinds he has named have
thrived well on my grounds and have yielded good fruit. The
shores of the Hudson are better adapted to the growth of the
vine than the greater part of New Jersey, and we can cultivate
successfully some of the more delicate and fastidious sorts.
The Iona appears to me to be the most delicious of all the
Grapes and is well wortha trial. The Agawam and the Lind-
ley have proved with me good growers and abundant bearers.
The fruit is superior in quality, but the clusters are rarely com-
pact and handsome. This defect is of minor consequence in
the home garden, where flavor is of the first consideration.
On warm, well-drained slopes I can ripen the Isabella and
Catawba, and I should be sorry to be without these old and
superb varieties. We need late as well as early Grapes. The
Bacchus is known almost exclusively as a wine Grape, but
about the middle of October it becomes a fine table sort. I
have about 112 varieties growing on trial, and hope to be able
hereafter to offer some more definite and practical notes.
Ee a R0e:
,
:
se tae ll
MARCH 28, 1888.]
‘The Retinisporas.
“|p ises generic title of Retinispora for a peculiar group of
Japanese Conifers, is quite expressive, as it relates to
its main distinctive feature, z. é., ‘‘retine,” resine, and ‘‘ spore,”
seed, in allusion to the numerous little resinous vescicles
found dotted over the surface of the seed-covering.
Since this genus was established by Siebold and Zuccarini,
these resin-dots have been detected in other members of the
Cupressinee, notably in Cupressus Lawsoniana, andas the other
characters were unimportant, Retinispora, consequently, can
not longer stand. Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, in his admirable
paper on the ‘Conifers of Japan,”* read before the Linnean
Society of London, has very justly reduced the former genera
Retinispora, Biota, Chamecyparis and Thuiopsis, to sections
of the old genus. Thuya, and after a careful examination I am
ready to concur in his classification.
The object of this paper is to review briefly the most valu-
able Conifers which have been popularly cultivated under the
heading of Refinispora, but in the interest of correct nomen-
clature it has been deemed advisable to adopt Dr. Masters’ ar-
rangement.
Perhaps the most satisfactory species for all purposes, is
Thuya pisifera (R. pisifera), a medium-sized tree found in
various localities throughout Japan, especially in the mountain
districts. This Conifer has proved entirely hardy in the Middle
States, growing rapidly when fully established, and forming
graceful and attractive specimens with little care. The follow-
ing have been reduced to varieties of the above species, and
although differing widely in general appearance, the organs
of fructification in every instance point conclusively to their
origin.
Var. plumosa (R. plumosa) is one of the most valuable
forms of this group. The young branchlets have been com-
pared to ostrich plumes, on account of their graceful habit
and feathery growth. It forms a compact, small specimen,
with numerous small, pointed, bright-green leaves, and in
rich, light soil soon forms a conspicuous object on the lawn,
The variegated sport from this variety is one of the most dis-
tinct and best Conifers of its class for planting in the mixed Coni-
fer border, and its rich, golden tints, especially in early summer,
brighten up a mass of dark foliage with remarkable effect.
There is another attractive sport from this variety that has
been introduced into our collections under the name of 2.
plumosa argentea. It differs from the above in having numer-
ous little pure white dots scattered over the foliage in an in-
teresting manner. It has the merit of not scorching as so
many variegated plants do, and although not remarkably dis-
tinct, it is nevertheless entitled to notice.
Var. sguarrosa (R. sguarrosa) of Veitch, for there are two
distinct forms of this variety under the same name, is perhaps
next in importance as a small evergeen tree. Although it is
claimed by some writers to be a form of 7. obtusa, the fruit is
identical with 7. fzsifera. An accidental sport from a speci-
men growing in the Lawsons’ nurseries, at Edinburgh,
afforded additional evidence of its pisiferoid character. Itisa
remarkably elegant, dense-growing Conifer, with peculiar
silvery foliage, and is rarely injured by the severity of our
winters after reaching the age of eight or ten years. To pre-
serve a fine conical outline, specimens should be sheared
annually for a few years after planting. The other form,
_ which is known in some collections as R. sguwarrosa of Siebold,
is not so hardy as the above, and is undoubtedly nothing more
than 7. pistfera or T. obtusa in an abnormal state. It is rarely
satisfactory excepting when very young.
Var. filifera (R. filifera) is a peculiar form with the same
whip-like branches and branchlets that characterize the pendu-
lous variety of the Chinese Arbor vite; indeed it has been
surmised that this variety may be another form of Thuya
orientalis. Itis, however, much more elegant than the latter,
being entirely devoid of stiffness, and in time develops into a
large’ evergreen shrub with the outer surface completely
covered with a mass of slender, drooping, bright-green shoots.
It is quite hardy, and desirable even in the smallest collection.
Var. aurea CR. pisifera aurea) is a distinct and showy form
that originated in an English nursery a few years since. The
foliage, both old and new, is plentifully marked with a bright
golden-yellow tint, which, in partial shade, is retained throuch-
out the summer months. In some localities it becomes dis-
colored when exposed to the full rays of the sun. It is very
distinct when placed among other forms.
T. obtusa (R. obtusa) is a hardy, valuable tree for this
country, although inferior as an ornamental specimen to the
preceding species. On the Island of Nipon, in Japan, it
* Journal Linn. Soc., xviii. 473.
Garden and Forest.
yh
attains a very large size, and forms extensive forests, the
timber being in great demand. Its general aspect is open, and
on this account it will not prove so popular as many of our
own Conifers. This defect, however, may be remedied in a
great measure by a systematic annual pruning in the tree’s
younger years, to increase the number of its branches. It is
readily distinguished from 7. pisifera, but more especially in
the size of its strobiles, which are from seven-eighths of an
inch to one inch in diameter, while those of the latter are only
three-eighths of an inch in diameter. The varieties of the
two species are also very distinct., As is the case with most
Conifers of long cultivation 7: odfusa lias many curious mor-
phological forms. Some of these are very attractive and
deserving of general cultivation, but others are unworthy of
dissemination. :
Var. lycopodioides (KR. lycopodioides) is the most distinct of
all of these recognized varieties, and with generous culture in
proper soil it is exceedingly pleasing. The foliage is of the
darkest shade of green, and is remarkable in its arrangement,
frequently imparting to the numerous short branchlets an
appearance of dark-green coral. The habit of the plant is
rather dwarf, dense, and irregular in outline, at least for
several years after planting, and its constitution is hardy and
reliable. In fact, it may be classed as one of the best of this
Braue for general cultivation.
Var. filicoides (Rk. filicoides), the elegant fern-like variety of
this group, is entirely satisfactory when in its young state, ‘but
we have no knowledge of its behavior’ at maturity, or even
at eight or ten years of age. Its cones although smaller than
those of its parent show the specific relationship. Many of the
small branchlets are flattened out in a peculiar manner which
has been likened to the fronds of a fern. The color is
especially pleasing, being of a bright-green tint, with the usual
glaucous lines on the under side. It appears to withstand
the severity of our variable winters as well as its congeners,
and in congenial soil quickly develops into a charming ever-
green shrub. Judging by. its manner of growth, howe ver,
it may not become so dense as some, but its other pleasing
characters may recompense the owner for the loss of this.
Var. nana (R. obtusa mana), and Var. pygmaa (RK. obtusa
PYgMEe: a), are choice little dwarfs, best suited for the outer
edge of clumps and mixed borders. Of the two, the latter is
much the smaller plant, with spreading habit and attaining
only the height of one foot. They are “both hi: irdy and well
adapted to our climate.
The variegated forms of this group of Conifers are very
numerous, but as they are not especially interesting to the
American planter they are omitted from this list. Others again
differ from the species in being more slender in growth or
dense in habit, etc. There is here a broad field for experiment
and research, and Japanese gardeners have not been idle
in hunting them up. Their collection of these pretty little
oddities is almost beyond number. Many of them, however,
are of no possible use for gardening effect, and their culture
here would be a mere waste of time and money
West Chester, Pa. Fostah Hoopes.
S
Snowberry Jelly.
Y attention was recently called to an interesting use of the
Creeping Snowberry (Chiogenes his pidula, Torr. and Gr. )
which may prove of sufficient novelty to warrant calling atten-
tion to it. A friend forwarded a small pot of jelly, w ith the re-
quest that information be given as to the material of which it
was composed.
A superficial examination showed the jelly to be of the color
of amber, and about the consistency of Guava jelly. This Isub-
sequently learned to be due to an. accident, owing to which
very considerable consolidation had followed. The normal
consistence is that of ordinary Currant jelly. The upper por-
tion of the mass was quite clear, while at the bottom were
numerous small seeds and much pulpy matter, giving a very
peculiar character to the preparation, without, however, ,destroy-
ing its value. Upon submitting it to the taste, the f flavor was
found to be distinctly that of Gaultheri. za, although I have since
been somewhat surprised to learn that so distinctive a flavor
had not been recognized by several persons. Upon boiling
out the pulpy deposit, it was found to consist of the berries
constituting the material employed. Many of these were quite
whole, so that their true nature was determined without much
difficulty, and as we later learned that the berries in the fresh
state were perfectly white, it was easy to refer them to the
common Creeping Snowberry. }
It appears that in Newfoundland, whence the jelly was ob-
tained, it is a common practice with many families to prepare
this exceedingly delicate preserve, but the scarcity of the berries,
53
to collect one quart of which an entire day is required, renders
it a luxury, and to obtain more than a small quantity is difficult.
The comestible qualities of these berries are well know n,
and are referred to by Purvancher, * Baies d’un blane pura ala
maturité, trés sucrées, comestibles.’
The same author further remarks that ‘‘ Les feuilles et les
fruits ont une saveur analogue a la Gaulthéria ou a |’écorce
du Bouleau-Merissier. On en fait des infusions d’un gout
fort agréable, dont onuse eng uise de thé dans certains endroits
de nos Campagnes.”* It is also of interest to note that the local
name of this alah i .e., in Newfoundland, is Capillaire.
The use of the berries of Chiogenes as a source of jelly,
suggests that the fruit of its near relative, Gaultheria, which is
ce rtainly more abundant, might be utilized i in asimilar manner
with equally good results.
McGill University; Montreal, March 17th, 1888.
D. P. Penhallow,
orrespondence.
“Landscape Gardening—A Definition.”
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—The thoughtful article under the above caption in the
first number of GARDEN AND ForeEsr is needed to correct a
current misconception concerning the sphere of the landscape
gardener. Mere ingenious design, skillful arrangements of bed-
ding rete! and conspicuous eccentricities, are frequently mis-
taken for IAROSCEDES p gardening, Many self-styled landscape
eardeners are » responsible for this absurd error. They hide and
destroy the very art which they profess to cultivate. Flower
beds, fountains, and other objects which should be mere
accessories, are made the leading features in many parks. To
these objects the people point as examples of landscape gar-
dening! With the same reason one might calla handsome
dormer-window a complete example of architecture !
As Fine Art is a conception of the mind, it follows that,
order to render it material, tangible, we must employ some me-
chanical or industrial art. "The architect depends upon the car-
pe nter and mason for the labor of construction. So landscape
gardening, the Fine Art, depends upon the industrial art which
shapes the ground, plants the trees, makes the walks and
drives. This industrial art is no doubt a legitimate branch of
horticulture. It is the sphere of the artisan. To call this
artisan an artist, alandscape gardener, is like calling the amanu-
ensis who writes the conceptions of Longfellow a poet. In
my own teaching I have given this industrial art the name
Landscape Horticulture, for such it is. N early all our pro-
fessed treatises upon landscape gardening do little more than
designate the most important rules and operations of land-
scape horticulture. This is the case largely of necessity, for it
is a difficult matter to give adequate instruction in a Fine Art.
It does not deal in formulas. But horticulture allows of closer
rules, and for convenience of treatment I divide it into four
broad divisions: Pomology, Olericulture or Vegetable Gar-
dening, Floriculture, Landscape Horticulture
Michigan Agricultural College. L. H. Bailey.
Fraxinella.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Now when garden-lovers are beginning to think about plants
for the coming season, and when so many new ones are being
brought to their notice through your columns, may I say a
word in behalf of an old flower which ought to be more often
seen ?
Fraxinella (Dictamnus Fraxinella), a native of Southern
Europe and some parts of Asia, has been cultivated for fully
three centuries in England and was esteemed by our grand-
mothers with the best of those flowers which we call ‘“old-
fashioned.” To-day it seems almost forgotten. I have chanced
to see it only once—in a garden near Boston—and although I
have spoken of it to many persons, I have met none, except
the owners of this garden, to whom it was familiar.
It belongs to the Rue Farnity, and isa perennial herb with an
almost woody base and very graceful foliage—the pinnate leaves
with many serrate leaflets, Tike those of “the Ash on a smaller
scale, having given rise toitscommon name. The flowers are
rather large and bornein along terminalracemeinsummer. In
one—the prettiest—variety, they arew hite; in the other, Gray, in
the ‘‘Schooland Field Book of Botany,” de ‘scribes them as “pale
purple with reddish veins,” but I should call them dull pink
with reddish veins. Their irregular shape—unique i inthe Rue
Family—their size and ar rangement, suggest in some degree
the Larkspur, but Fraxinella is more delicate and gracetul. Its
chief distinction lies, however, in its odor. Gray calls this odor
* Flore Canadienne, 363.
Garden and Forest.
[Marcu 28, 1888,
“strong and aromatic,” and it is this and more—very strong,
very a aromatic, very sweet, and quite unlike the scent of any
of our common garden- blossoms. There isa hint of vanilla
about it, anda certain richness and penetrating quality which
betray its southern origin. Yet, although rich, it is not heavy,
but as fresh as the smell of lavender. Fraxinella is also an ob-
ject of interest from the fact that the volatile oil generated by
its flowers is so strong that on warm, still, summer evenings a
lighted match held a toot above them will cause a flame to
burst forth.
Philip Miller, in his ‘Gardener's Dictionary,” published in
1724, says of Fraxinella: ‘‘These plants continuing a long
time in Beauty, are very great Ornaments to a a Garden ; and
their being very hardy, requiring but little Culture, renders
them worthy of a Place in every good Garden.” Pequot.
New London, Conn.
[Dictamnus Fraxinella ought not tobe uncommon in Amer-
ican gardens. It deserves a ‘place i in every collection, however
select, ot hardy herbaceous plants. It is easily propagated by
seed or division, and will flourish in any garden soil:—Ep.]
The Forest.
Forest Trees of the Far North-west.
HESE notes refer to an area which includes the extreme
western part of British Columbia, with adjacent portions |
of the North-west Territory, as well as partof the ‘Coast strip”
or southern part of Alaska, The area is embraced inageneral
way by 56° 30’ and 63° north latitude, the 128th and 138th de-
grees of west longitude. Through this almost unknown por-
tion of the continent a geographical and geological reconnois-
sance was carried last summer by the writer, on behalf of the
Geological Survey of Canada.
The. region in question is drained by the Stikive and other
rivers which flow through the coast ranges to the Pacific, by
the Liard, a main tributary of the Mackenzie, and by sev eral
branches of the Yukon. These large rivers form routes of tra-
vel through the country, but the several drainage basins do
not constitute regions of diverse Floras. The great division
from this point of view, is found between the humid climate
of the coast and the relatively dry and extreme climate of the
interior; the first constituting the continuation of the botanical
region of the British Columbian coast, the second that of the
interior of the same province. The considerable altitude of
the interior also has its influence on the vegetation, The
average ‘‘ base level” or valley level of the interior is about
2,500 feet. Difference of latitude shows a com paratively small
effect, in consequence of the fact that the country as a whole
becomes lower northward. The region may, generally speak-
ing, be described as mountainous, though there are as well
large tracts of low lands and the river valleys are generally
quite wide.
The chief facts to be recorded with respect to the distribu-
tion of trees are those bearing on the northern limits of the
well known western forms, the number of species represented
so far north being quite restricted. In the interior region,
which may be treated asa whole, the Douglas Fir, Engelmann’ Ss
Spruce, the Hemlock (7suga Mertensiana; and the red Cedar
(Thuya gigantea), allcommon and characteristic trees a few
degrees to the south, are nowhere found. The White and the
Black Spruce (Picea alba and P. nigra), Balsam Fir (Abies sud- . —
alpina), Aspen (Populus tremuloides) and Cottonwood (Populus
trichocarpa probably with P. dalsamifera) occur in suitable lo-
calities over the whole region east of the Coast Mountains, the
two first-mentioned trees constituting probably half the entire
forest-covering of the country.
The White Spruce, along therivers and in low ground, forms;
fine well grown groves in which many trees attain a diameter
of two feet, to the most northern point reached, and affords
timber of fair quality. Itis found with Adzes subalpina at the
upward limit of forest growth on the inland mountains, about
4,200 feet. The Black Spruce has scarcely received mention
in previous notes on the distribution of trees in British Colum-
bia, but is now known to be abundant locally on high plateaus
about the region of the upper Fraser, and in the country here
described is common in swampy places and along shaded
river-banks with a northern exposure. It attains a considera-
ble height,. but is never large enough to afford good lumber.
Abies subalpina was found wherever the upper limit of trees
on the mountains was approached, but was not observed near
the rivers, except on Bennett Lake, near the head of the Lewes,
in latitude 60°, where itis very abundant. The Aspen is es-
pecially characteristic of second-growth woods and dry open
grassy hillsides, of which there are many along the Pelly
and Lewes branches of the Yukon. The Cottonwood here
Sie
he
te
sa ss faye
Si ees 2s 2) = eS
sess
Marcu 28, 1888.]
represented is, in so far as the specimens brought back can be
determined, Populus trichocarpa, but there is little doubt that
the Balsam Poplar also occurs. Trees six feet in diameter
were seen on the Stikive River, but further inland they were
very rarely found to reach a diameter of three feet.
Greater interest, from a botanical point of view, attaches to
_ the trees of which the ranges are more restricted. The Black
,
Pine (Pinus Murrayana),so common in the interior to the south,
is also pretty widely distributed in this northern country. It is
found in abundance on the Stikive immediately to the east of
the coast mountains and thence inland. It was observed on
the Dease and Upper Liard, and from the mouth of the Dease
(according to specimens sent back by Mr. R. G. McConnell),
down the Liard to Devil’s Portage, some miles east of the
range which appears to represent the northern continuation of
the Rocky Mountains proper. . Further east, the Banksian Pine
becomes characteristic of the great valley of the Mackenzie,
which is here entered; but this tree does not extend to the
west of the Rocky Mountains, on the head-waters of the Liard.
Pinus Murrayana reaches nearly to Finlayson Lake, its most
northern source, but does not occur on the Upper Pelly, in
descending which it was first met with in longitude 133° 30’.
From this point, down the Pelly and up the whole length of
the Lewes, it is moderately abundant. .On theauthority of Mr.
W. Hz. Dalls the northern limit of this tree has been given as
atthe confluence of the Pelly and Lewes (lat. 62° 49’), but as it
there shows no sign of having reached its extreme _ point, it
may probably be found some distance further northward in
the Yukon Valley, though not as far as the mouth of the Por-
cupine, in latitude 66° 33’.
The known range of the common Larch (Larix Americana)
has by the observations of the past summer been definitely
carried to the west of the Rocky Mountains. It extends west-
ward on the Dease River to a point twenty-two miles above
the mouth of that stream, and along the upper Liard and
Frances Rivers spreads northward nearly to Finlayson Lake,
reaching latitude 61° 35’. Between these limits it is abundant
and characteristic of cold, swampy ground. It was looked for all
along the Pelly, but not found either on this or the Lewes
branch of the Yukon. It appears probable, however, that this
tree will eventually be proved to characterize the sub-arctic
country, further to the north, from the Mackenzie Valley
nearly to the shores of Behring Sea, as Dall, in his well known
work on Alaska, mentions the occurrence of a Larch on the
lower Yukon (as L. microcarpa? and L. Davurica?), which
can scarcely be any other than this species. Larix Lyaliii,
which about the 4oth and 51st parallels in the Rocky Mountains
is the most characteristic tree at the timber-line, was not found
in the region now in question and would therefore appear to
- bea relatively southern mountain species.
The Birch (Setula papyrifera) was first seen to the east of
the coast mountains in the Stikive Valley and occurs sporadi-
cally along the river-valleys throughout the interior. It is
quite abundant on Frances Lake, near the head of the Liard,
but was not observed on the upper Pelly east of the 131Ist
meridian.
Funiperus Virginiana was observed as a small tree, with
trunks six inches in diameter, at Telegraph Creek on the Sti-
kive in the dry country in the lee of the coast mountains, but
was not elsewhere found in an arboreal form. The Alder (pro-
bably Alnus rubra) and one or more species of Willow become
small trees along some of the rivers of the interior, the Alder
being noted as specially abundant and large on the Pelly above
‘the mouth of the Lewes.
As already noted, the timber-line was found to be at about
4,200 feet on the mountains of the interior near the watershed
between the Liard and Pelly (lat. 61° 30’). At a similar dis-
tance from the Pacific coast, in the corresponding range of
the Cordillera in iatitude 51°, this line is at an altitude of about
7,000 feet, showing a descent to the north of 2,800feet in ten and
a half degrees of latitude, or about 280 feet for each degree,
It is generally stated that the influence of the warm waters
of the Pacific ‘Gulf stream,” reaching the northern part of the
west coastand flowing southward along it, is suchas to produce
a nearly identical climate and Flora from the Strait of Fuca far to
thenorth. While this is true in a general way, it is a mistake to
suppose that no effect is produced by increasing latitude.
most marked change of climate, as indicated by the arboreal
vegetation, nearly coincides with Dixon Entrance and the 54th
parallel. North of this the forest is usually inferior in growth
and the quantity of marketable timber is much smaller. The
Red Cedar (Thuya gigantea) is not found in any abundance,
north of the latitude of the mouth of the Stikive, and though
closely looked for along the coast in the vicinity of Lynn Canal,
no single specimen of it was detected there.
Garden and Forest.
The,
59
The YellowCedar(Chamecyparis Nuktaensis) scarcely reaches
Sitka, and is not anywhere found among the inner islands near
the entrance of Lynn Canal. The Alder (Adnus rubra) forms
groves along the shores at least as far north as latitude 59°.
The western Crab-apple (Pyrvs rivularis) occurs here and there
as far north as Lynn Canal. The Broad-leaved Maple (Acer
macrophyllum) may reach latitude 55° as stated by Prof. Sar-
gentin his Census report, but was not observed by me, and
must be rare. North of the Prince of Wales Archipelago,
eight-tenths of the entire forest of the coast region appears to
consist of the single tree Menzie’s Spruce (Picea Sitchensis).
Pinus contorta was noted at the head of Lynn Canal and
elsewhere along the coast. Here also, in the valley of the
stream on the west side of the Chilkoot or Perrier Pass, by
which the coast mountains are crossed, 7suga Pattoniania
grows to a fair size and forms entire groves. It was found as
well within a few hundred feet of the summit of the pass atan
altitude exceeding 3,000 feet, in a prostrate form, but still fre-
quently bearing cones. Adzes amadilis (?) was also noted in
the valley of the west slope of the pass and occurs along Lynn
Canal and other parts of the coast. Unfortunately no cones of
this tree were found.
Iam indebted to Prof. J. Macoun and Prof. C. S. Sargent for
the determination of most of the specimens of trees collected.
George M. Dawson.
The Forests of New Jersey.
ROFESSOR Geo. H. Cooke, Director of the State Geologi-
cal Survey of New Jersey, states in a recent report that
the total area of woodland in that State amounts to 2,069,805
acres, or 41.5 per cent. of the total area of the State. “The
growing of Chestnut timber for railroad ties on the untillable
lands of northern New Jersey is recommended, as there is
always a demand for them by the numerous railroads crossing
the State in every direction. Chestnut stump-land sells for
from $1.00 to $5.00 per acre,a growth of thirty years at from
$10.00 to $30.00 an acre; of fifty years from $25.00 to $50.00
anacre. But in many cases good growths, accessible to mar-
kets, have sold at figures three to four-fold greater. The value
of the timber depends much on the soiland the location. The
time required to grow ties and telegraph poles will average
about thirty years. In the northern part of the State the
Chestnut grows naturally, and brings the quickest and best
returns, although Oak is more valuable when grown. It has
been demonstrated that Locust timber can be grown with
profit on the 250,000 acres of waste land on the cretaceous
formation. It is possible to raise on good land a crop worth
$3,000 per acre in thirty years, and returns at the rate of $2,000
are not uncommon. The growing of White Cedar timber is
generally recognized as profitable. The value of stump-land
is from $5.00 to $10.00 ; of twenty years’ growth of timber from
$5.00 to $50.00; of thirty-five years from $15.00 to $200.00; and
ot fifty years growth from $75.co to $400.00. Of course, loca-
tion and size have much to do with the price. A swamp of
seventy years’ growth recently sold for $800.00 per acre.
The Pitch Pine (Pimus rigida) in the southern and central
parts of the State attains a size suitable for firewood in about
fifteen or twenty years. Itis commonly estimated that it will
produce as many cords per acre as it has been years in grow-
ing. The present value of Pine wood per acre standing aver-
ages about $1.00. When the timber becomes larger, its value
per cord increases, and it finds a market for lumber and lath,
for piling and other purposes. The following figures are from
estimates of men familiar with the Pine forests, and the wide
range is due to difference in accessibility and the producing
power of the land. Pine stump-land ranges from $0.10 to $5.00
per acre. Of course, this does not include the figures from
localities where the land has a value of from $10.00 to $25.00
per acre for cultivation. The value of thirty years’ growth of
timber is from $5.00 to $25.00; of fifty years’ from $10.00 to
$100.00. Taking figures pertaining to the average of the bet-
ter two-thirds of Pine land as a guide, the present conditions
would give about the following results :
Cost of stump land, per 1oo acres, $250.00
Taxes on average value, 30 years, 448.00
Policing and protection, 30 years, 120,00
Interest, at 6 per cent., 450.00
Total expenditure, . 5 a : $1,268.00
Value of 30 years’ growth, for 100 acres, : : 2,500.00
Value of stump land, : > : F ‘ . 250.00
Total value, . A . : . $2,750.00
BLotitaae : : ; : F n : : 1,482.00
60
The interest on annually paid expenses is supposed to be
offset by increase in value of stump land.
It is not to be supposed that proper protection and attention
will not greatly increase the above profit. These figures rep-
resent the present values, depreciated by the results of neg-
lect, and the uncertainty and loss caused by fires.
MONSIEUR Viette, the French Minister of Agriculture, by a
recent decree has reduced the Forest School at Nancy toa
subordinate branch of the National Agricultural Institute, an
arrangement which not only destroys all independence in the
management of the school, but compels its pupils to pass an
examination in the theory and practice of agriculture—an un-
necessary waste of time, it is claimed.
This radical and apparently unwise measure calls forth a
loud protest from all the friends of the forest administration in
France, who see in it a serious blow to the efficiency both of
the school and the management of the forests. This famous
school was established by the French Government in 1827. In
it have been trained the officers who have made French for-
ests and French forestry what they are, and here have been
educated a large part of the Englishmen who have so ably
seconded Dr. Brandis and his successors in their Indian forest
administration. Any official interference that will impair the
value of the Nancy school is a misfortune which must be felt
far beyond the limits of France,
Recent Plant Portraits.
Botanical Magazine, February.
Amorphophallus virosus, t. 6978 ; a native of Siam.
Celogyne Massangeana, ¢. 6979; a native of Assam and
closely allied to the Bornean C. asfirata, which it resembles
in its large showy flowers borne in drooping racemes a foot
long.
Salvia scapaformis, t. 6980 ; anative of Formosa, with rather
small, clear blue flowers.
Aloe Hilderbrandtii, ¢. 6981 ; a native of east tropical Africa.
Oncidium Fonesianum, ¢. 6982; a native of Paraguay and
considered by Sir Joseph Hooker “ by far the handsomest
species of the small group to whichit belongs and of which the
type may be considered to be the long-known OQ. Cedolleta otf
the Spanish Main.”
March.
Vanda Sanderiana, ¢. 6983; a free flowering, showy species
from the Philippine Islands. :
Primula geranifolia, ¢. 6984; a neat species with small
purple flowers, perfectly hardy at Kew.
Mesembryanthemum Brownti, t. 6985.
fleloniopsis Faponica, ¢. 6986; a dwarf, hardy, liliaceous
plant, a native of Japan and Corea, with the habit of a large-
flowered Sc7//a, and drooping, racemose, deep pink flowers.
Onosma pyramidalis, ¢t. 6987; a native of the western Him-
alayas, ‘ta very handsome plant, conspicuous for the bright
scarlet of the flowers, which turn of a mauve-purple as they
wither ;” not hardy at Kew.
Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
THE Spring Exhibition of this Society was held at Boston last
week and was most successful in the abundance and qual-
ity of the bulbous plants and flowers displayed, owing to the
medals and special prizes offered to promote the cultivation of
this class of plants. In form and color these flowers distinctly
excelled the exhibits of former years. Cut blooms of Roses of
all classes made another striking feature, and with them were a
few well grown plants in bloom of the beautiful but scentless
‘Her Majesty.” Orchids were not so numerously shown as at
some former exhibitions, although there were Some notable
specimens in the collection. A fine Dendrobium nobtle, exhib-
ited by Norton Brothers, showed more than 800 flowers. An
Appleton medal was awarded to this vigorous plant. C. M.
Atkinson, gardener of Mr. J. M. Gardner, contributed a Cat
tleya intermedia with forty flowers, and W. A. Manda sent a
Dendrochilum glumaceum with as many spikes. A few exam-
ples of the late and rare Odontoglossum Pescatoria came from
the collection of Mr. H. H. Hunniwell, as did a striking plant of
Gloneria jasminiflora. The Heaths and Azaleas were especially
good. Complaint was made of insufficient room for the proper
display of contributions, but the plants and flowers were
oy arranged, so far as the accommodations would
permit.
Garden and Forest.
. is one of the most beautiful varieties.
[Marcu 28, 1888,
Flower Market.
New York, Alarch 25d.
The dullness in trade, and glut of cut flowers early this week, is
almost unprecedented in the experience of Metropolitan florists.
American Beauty Roses have been sold at 6 cts. each wholesale, and
retailed for 25 cts. Jacqueminots were sold for 2 cts. wholesale. This,
of course, was not for selected stock. Syringa, Mountain Laurel and
Heath, growing in pots, are brought in for Easter novelties. _Rhodo-
dendrons, Azaleas and Genesta of great beauty also appear. Plants of
Mountain Laurel cost $3; Heath, from $2.50 to $5; Genesta, $2.50, and
Rhododendrons, noticeably Cunningham’s White, are $4. Beauty of
Waltham Roses have been added to the galaxy of hybrids ; they are
$5 adozen. Fine La France Roses sell for that price, but this Rose
daily declines in favor. Puritans have improved, and are very large
and perfect. They cost 50 and 75 cts. each. Jacqueminots, selected,
bring from $1 to $3 adozen. Hybrids sell from $3 to $5 a dozen, ac-
cording to quality. Gardenias are in good demand at 25 cts. each.
Narcissus poeticus is $2a dozen. Dutch Hyacinths cost from $1.25 to
$1.50a dozen. Lilacs are $1.25 and $1.50 a bunch of the best stock.
Neapolitan Violets are plentiful, and cost from 75 cts. to $1a hundred. ~
Marie Louise and White Violets sell for from $1 to $1.50 a hundred.
Mignonette costs from $1.20 to $1.50a dozen spikes. Smilax is 4oand
50 cts. a string. Asparagus plumosus is $1 a string, and A, ¢enuissi-
mus 75 cts. a string. There are few or no orders for designs for Easter
offerings or memorial tokens for the altar. Boxes of cut bloom are
preferred for gifts, and expressive arrangements of plants and flowers
on the altar 27 memoriam will be the rule,
PHILADELPHIA, March 23d.
From one part of the city comes the report that the past two weeks
has been the dullest known for many years. Happily this does not
represent the state of the trade in general. The demand for flowers,
though not excessive, has been satisfactory. Some very large, fine
and highly-colored Magna Charta Roses are to be seen in the florists’
windows ; also a few exquisitely formed and tinted Captain Christys.
It is surprising there are not more of the latter grown, for it certainly
A seedling Rose of European
origin is on trial in this city, which promises to be widely known if it
can be grown generally as well as a specimen flower which was ex-
hibited here a few daysago. Itis said to be a true Tea; but if the
flower itself were seen without foliage no one would suspect a drop of
Tea blood in it except perhaps from its color. It is rather a difficult
tint to describe, reminding one—without an opportunity for close
comparison—of Bourbon Queen. In form it is almost perfect, being
cup-shaped, similar to Baroness Rothschild, opening regularly and
full to the centre. It is very large, and altogether a remarkable Tea
Rose. Tulips are in demand at $1 per dozen, as also are Lilies-of-the-
Valley, and Daffodils at same price. Extra fine Mignonette sells at $3
per dozen. This comes from Summit, N. J. Primula obconica is ot-
fered in limited quantities at 75 cts. per dozen. This is quite new
here as a cut flower. Smilax has become scarce.
other cities will have to be obtained for Easter. Orchids are grown in
very limited quantities in this city. The stock carried by the leading
florists is obtained from New York and Boston. Of Roses, Md.
Gabriel Luizet sells from $6 to $9 per dozen; Captain Christy and
Magna Charta, $4 to $6 per dozen; Mrs. John Laing, $4 per dozen.
Heath, per dozen sprays, $3. Jacqueminots are good, and sell from
$3 to $5 per dozen. American Beauties are improving in quality, and
are not displaced by the hybrid Remontants, as was predicted would
be the case at this season of the year. They sell at from $3 to $6 per
dozen. Longer stems are being cut of the Beauty‘than can be cut
with the Remontants. Fine Puritans are better than the best Mer-
veille de Lyons just now. Spring flowers generally are very popular.
A few bunches of Trailing Arbutus were noticed in some stores. It is
a great favorite in this city.
Boston, March 23d.
The severe storm had a demoralizing effect on the cut flower trade
here and the florists here have found it a rather dull time ever since.
Prices have not changed much since last report, some varieties being
quoted at a slight reduction. By the time this report appears it is pro-
bable that Easter prices will be more acceptable than those of the pre-
sent moment. Lilies of various kinds will be fairly abundant and
quality will be of the best. Harris’s Lilies and ‘* Longiflorums” will cost
from $5.00 to $6.00 per dozen on long stems, Ascension Lilies (Z. cazdi-
dum), from $2.00 to $3.00 per dozen. The price of Lilies-of-the-Val-
ley, Tulips, Narcissus and similar flowers will increase but little, from
$1.00 to $1.50per dozen being the price now asked in advance.
las have been blooming very heavily and the prospect is not encour-
aging for a large supply. Florists are now asking $6.00 per doz. for
Easter delivery. In roses there will be a magnificent supply. Some
of the best growers of Jacqueminots and other hybrids have timed their
houses to bring the height of the crop in at Easter, and there will be
no lack of good material for Rose fanciers to selectfrom. Those who
are regardless of expense will find fancy varieties as high as $10.00 to
$12.00 per dozen while more modest customers can get Bon Silene,
Safrano, Niphetos and other fragrant and pretty kinds for $1.00 to
$1.50 per dozen. Large Ferns, Massive Palm foliage, Laurel, Smilax
and other greens will be used largely for decorative purposes. The
usual supply of Marguerites, Mignonette, Carnations, Forget-me-nots,
Pansies, Violets, etc., for mixing with assortments of cut flowers, will
be offered in abundance.
CalSa
Cee’ ear ae
for, ee
A supply from ||
APRIL 4, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[LIMITED.]
OrrFice: TripuNE Burtpinc, New York.
Gonductedi bya vers sits) ys) i eos Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
EpiroriaL_ ARTICLES :—Trees for Planting in America.—Rainfall on the Great
Plains.—The Study of Botany by Horticulturists.—The Pink-flowered
TD) OS WOO Cs esiacass oie eictefuicieieieeisiie's <'9/inie's ale ais-a's'p'sfo's ais''sis sinreia'sieisleisia iis caieipiaje 61
Weandscape Gardening, Viscccss- csc vcseecaud Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 63
Anglomania in Park Making.......... Charles Eliot. 64
Conifers and their Cultivation......... s.se++Charles A. Dana. 64
Wanted—A Hand-book of Horticultur Professor Wolcott Gibbs. 65
Phlox adsurgens (with illustration)............0-s.020 eeeee Sereno Watson. 66
NOt NiaavINOSa With INUSUAOM) ca cs sree acces atomielisle asi aeeisiete 5 5:0 GaSe Ss, 107
CutturaL Notes :—Epidendrum (Nanodes) Medusze—Ccelogyne cristata alba
(hololeuca)—Sarcochilus (Thrixspermum) Berkeleyii—Bertolonia mar-
morata—Rondeletia (Rogieria) gratissima—A maryllis Aulica—Phala-
nopsis Sanderiana—Calanthes—Phalenopsis Harriettis—Freesias—
Hydrangea. rosea— Chinese Primrose... «20 emer sicis ocesaeisececs vas soe 67
BIO BeOS see atteirs acre tes iorenreicecyeraisioei=: see's 49 §o%0 The Rev. Edward P. Roe. 69
Foliage With Cut Flowers...............-.++++.-..Professor W. W. Tracy. 69
CorRRESPONDENCE :—Boronia megastigma—White Pine in Massachusetts....... 70
Tue Forest :—The Forest Vegetation of Northern Mexico, I.....C. G. Pringle. 70
SI CeMOne ston tel 1s aerege raters wie eictetsla|etelstets cte,-iois ots Semaine a eeielo oaosiewe eisicks © 71
PATIGW.CESHIO GCOLLESPONGENtSs, sox.caine te cicjeisee crs aas'ss iain iaiese sive se eis sci, eSaccceee ss 71
Recent Pusrications :—A Catalogue of Niagara Plants..........-ceeseeeeeuee 72
Tue Frower Market :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston..............-.0.00-5 72
IGUSTRA TIONS En lOxtAUSUreeNs; Pa Pe crated as. cis cists visteks as srateie'sisies 3.48.5 efeielera 66
: IBN OUNIAWHIOSay PIPE I2ise a paceetedecnsaneeette’ Gcicueiedenstacceemeig es . 67
Trees for Planting in America.
ANG this season of the year many persons who desire to
beautify the surroundings of their homes by plant-
ing, seek instruction with regard to the trees best adapted
for their purpose. Instruction upon this subject, especial-
ly in a country like the United States, of such varied climatic
and social conditions, is difficult to give; sources of infor-
mation are neither numerous nor very available. Planters
are too often obliged to rely upon the advice of dealers and
plant-peddlers in the selection of their trees. Such advice
is often based upon imperfect knowledge, and nurserymen
too frequently recommend the rarest and most high-
priced trees or those most easily and therefore cheaply
raised in nurseries, without regard to their fitness to the sit-
-uation for which they are intended. People who would
gladly plant trees become discouraged by the difficulty of
learning what varieties they can use to the best advantage,
or by the failures and disappointments which invariably
_ follow errors of selection.
There is, however, one safe rule in the choice of trees
which all persons who are unfamiliar with the subject can
safely follow. This rule is to plant only such varieties
as they see growing and thriving naturally in the
neighborhood of their homes. No teacher in such matters
is so wise and so unprejudiced as the forest. The Elms
and Maples taken from the adjacent swamps and hillsides,
—many of them now more than a century and a half old—
which grace the streets of some of the older towns or adorn
the early homesteads of New England, and the Magnolias,
Live Oaks and Water Oaks seen in the cities and plantations
of the South, abundantly testify to the truth of this fact.
These are the only really successful examples in America
of tree-planting as tested by time. In England, too, it is
the native Oaks and Elms and Beeches which give to the
land its distinctive aspect, and to its homes their greatest
dignity and beauty.
Garden and Forest. 61
Fortunately, we are abundantly supplied with American
trees. In the South, the great evergreen Magnolia, unsur-
passed in beauty, the Live Oak, the Water Oak—one of
the best of American street trees—the Laurel Oak, the
Pecan, the Bays, and many other beautiful native trees, are
available to the planter. And it is fortunate that he has
been obliged to make use of this material by the fact that
few foreign trees of large size will thrive in that climate.
In the Pacific Coast States, on the other hand, the condi-
tions which govern planting are different. There are com-
paratively few native trees and these are confined chiefly to
the mountains and the uninhabited portions of the country.
The few which grow in the valleys are not in all cases or-
namental, and are often difficult to cultivate. There are,
however, exceptions. Some of the noble California Oaks
surpass in stately beauty any exotic trees which are likely
to flourish in that peculiar climate, and serious attempts to
cultivate them should be made. And two California Coni-
fers—the Monterey Cypress and the Monterey Pine (Pinus
insigmis)—are already widely and successfully grown from
Vancouvers Island to San Diego. Fortunately they
are both beautiful representatives of their class. Yet
California will doubtless always be obliged to depend
somewhat upon other parts of the world for her materials
for ornamental planting. The trees of the Eastern States
do not flourish there, and it is not probable that those of
either Europe or Eastern Asia will ever gain much foothold
on California soil. It is to Australia and other dry coun-
tries that California planters must look in the future, as they
have in the past with such apparent success in the case of
the Eucalyptus and of various Acacias.
The settlers of the dry interior region of the continent
have not yet found any tree as valuable as the native Cot-
tonwood which fringes the river-banks of all that territory,
to protect their farms and orchards and to supply them with
fuel.
It is, however, in the Eastern and Middle States that the
greatest interest in ornamental planting has been felt, and
that the greatest mistakes, arising from ignorance with
regard to the true beauty and value of our native trees,
have been made. It is in this part of the country that for-
eign trees have been most generally introduced and culti-
vated, to the serious injury of parks and homesteads. It
is not easy to estimate the amount of this injury, or of the
widespread discouragement which must be felt as trees
carefully nurtured for a generation show themselves in-
capable of reaching maturity in our climate. We should
have escaped much disappointment if, thirty years ago,
our parks and gardens had been planted with native trees
instead of the Spruces, Oaks, Ashes, Maples, Pines and
other trees of Europe. These trees have been and still are
largely planted in this country. They grow rapidly fora
few years and are more easily raised in nurseries than
many American trees, and are therefore favorites with
dealers; but it is now evidentethat their general introduc-
tion was based upon very insufficient knowledge and that
their cultivation here has proved a failure.
There are, of course, exceptions. The English Elm has
grown successfully in New England for a century; the
White Willow is now as much at home in Eastern America
as in Europe, and the Norway Maple almost equals here in
beauty and vigor some of its American congeners. But,
in general, planters in the Eastern and Middle States can do
better than depend upon the forests of Europe for their
trees. There are not less than a hundred and thirty na-
tive trees found in this region, or among the Alleghany
Mountains where elevation produces a climate similar to
that of more northern regions. ;
The Silva of no other part of the world is more rich in trees
of ornamental value. Its Magnolias, Oaks, Hickories,
Walnuts, Maples, Elms and Ashes, its Tupelo, its stately
Tulip Tree, its great Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel,
its Birches and Lindens, its Coffee Tree, Sour-wood and
Sassafras, its Beech — the loveliest of our deciduous trees
in winter, and in early spring when its leaf-buds are bursting
62
—its Chestnut, Yellow-wood and Wild Cherry, its Catalpas,
its Persimmon and Silver-bell Tree, its Flowering Dog-
wood and Fringe Tree, its Liquidambar, Hackberry and
Sumachs—among these is surely material enough to sat-
isfy the planter of deciduous trees, however great may be
his love of variety. And among coniferous trees there
is none more picturesque in youth or more stately in
maturity than our northern White Pine, none more grace-
ful and dignified than our Hemlock.
Eastern Asia has given us the Ailanthus, the Pawlonia,
the Flowering Apples, the Yulan Magnolias, the Gingko and
the Mulberry, which are already perfectly at home here; and
the similarity in climate and vegetation between that part of
the world and our own, leads us to believe that many other
Asiatic trees will permanently thrive with us. In addition to
those mentioned, many young Japanese trees—especially
Conifers—now help to beautify ourgardens. But it must not
be forgotten that we know no more about the behavior of
these trees, as they approach maturity here, than we did of
the Norway Spruce, the Scotch Pine and the English Oak
when they were supposed to be the most valuable orna-
mental trees for planting in this country. And this is true
also of the Rocky Mountain Conifers, now so largely
planted at the East, and of all the exotic trees which have
been introduced into California. Therefore, planters who
are wise will confine themselves to native trees until ar-
boreta and other experimental stations can definitely
teach us which foreign trees can be safely admitted into
American plantations.
Rainfall on the Great Plains.
HE future of the Great Plains, as the vast elevated re-
gion between the 98th parallel of latitude and the
eastern base of the Rocky Mountains is generally called,
is a matter of much importance to the American people.
The question whether this region is to remain always a
quasi-desert, the barren feeding-ground of a few half-
starved cattle, or is to become the home of a large and
prosperous agricultural population, involves serious politi-
cal and commercial interests.
The rainfall is light and very unequally distributed.
Moisture is insufficient to insure the growth of trees except
along ihe immediate banks of the infrequent streams.
Agriculture is precarious. The scarcity of rain is due to
the remoteness of the region from any great body of
water. It is effectually cut off from the Pacific by numer-
ous lofty mountain ranges, and its only water supply comes
from clouds charged with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico
—moisture which they have pretty thoroughly lost before
they reach the interior of the continent. Here are condi-
tions which no action of man can influence. It is, how-
ever, the apparent belief of many persons—especially
those more or less directly interested in the develop-
ment and prosperity of the States and Territories in
question—that the rainfall has materially increased since
the advent of white settlers, and that this change is
due to the trees which they have planted and to the
breaking of the soil. That is to say, it is believed that
small and for the most part widely scattered groves
and belts of young trees—for the largest single plantation
of trees in all the West does not exceed 650 acres in
extent—and the ploughing up of a little land here and
there, have been sufficient in a quarter of a century to
alter continental climatic conditions.
The fact that several men of political and commercial
position have recently undertaken to discuss the general
question of the settlement of the Plains, has brought it
again to public notice. It is an undoubted fact that in the
past few years settlers have obtained a foothold consid-
erably nearer to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains
than it was once supposed that crops could be raised with-
out artificial irrigation. Mr. Henry Gannett of the United
States Geological Survey in an authoritative article printed
Garden and Forest.
[Arrin 4, 1888.
in a recent issue of Science, shows, however, pretty con-
clusively that it is not an increase of rainfall that has modi-
fied agricultural conditions on the Great Plains, even if any
such modification has really taken place. He has ex-
amined the rainfall records kept at twenty-six stations in
Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and Dakota, for
periods ranging fromsix yearsto twenty-eight; the longest
being that kept at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The stations
are widely scattered from east to west in both the settled
and the unsettled portions of this region. Mr. Gannett di-
vides the results of these observations into two equal terms
of years and adds the yearly rainfalls of each term sepa-
rately. If settlement has increased the rainfall, the record
for the years embraced in his second term should show the
fact. The aggregate rainfall at all the stations during the
period when the records were kept was in the first term of
years 4,408 inches, and in the second term 4,468 inches,
showing that there had been an apparent increase of 60
inches in the total rainfall, at all the stations, in a total of
310 years ; or that o.4 of an inch more rain fell in each
year of the second than in each year of the first term—an
increase which could not have made any perceptible dif-
ference in the agriculture of the region.
There is, however, no doubt, as Mr. Gannett suggests,
that cultivation adds to the value of the rainfall. The sur-
face of the Plains is naturally bare, compact, and but
slightly protected by a covering of grasses.
freely from such a surface and a large portion of the rain-
fall finds its way into the streams without permeating the
soil. When the ground is broken up by the plough much
more moisture is retained. The quantity thus retained in-
creases from year to year, and the sub-soil becomes in time
a reservoir from which the surface-soil draws moisture in
times of drought. This is probably the true explanation of
the fact that crops have matured on the Plains with a sum-
mer rainfall of only ten inches. But it must not be forgot-
ten that the settlement of the Plains has been attended with
great expense and with terrible suffering and loss of life ;
that in a region of such scanty and precarious rainfall
any decrease in the amount during a single year must be
attended with serious losses ; that three or foursucceeding
years of drought must mean utter ruin to the farmer ; and
that the records long kept in other parts of the country
show that such small variations are sure to occur with fre-
quency.
The Study of Botany by Horticulturists.
N three occasions after the late Professor Gray had
given up the duties of college instruction, he was
induced by the members of a Summer Course in Botany
to deliver a few informal lectures. One of these, which
can never be forgotten by the class in attendance, began
in these words :
“You know the old and homely adage that ‘one-half of
‘‘the world does not know how the other half lives.’ I
‘‘may say that far more than one-half, even of intelligent
‘‘people, do not know how they live themselves; they
‘‘have only the dimmest and most vague notion of those
‘arrangements in Nature, based on the vegetable creation,
‘upon which their very living depends. And even if
‘‘aware, in a general way, that plants nourish and support
‘all animals, they do not know how it is done, nor have
‘they the least idea of the beautiful harmonies that
‘run through all plants, connecting one with another
‘‘into a system, a symmetrical whole, a vegetable king-
‘dome,
Happily this censure is becoming less deserved than
when these words were uttered. In our community there
is an increasing interest in plants and in the laws which
govern their growth and development. Much of this in-
terest is due to the attractive manner in which Dr. Gray’s
educational works have placed before the American public
the general principles of vegetable structure and life. And
it is encouraging to observe that this interest appears to be
+70 Gia
Water flows _
ICS Te I
APRIL 4, 1888.]
gaining ground not only among those who have abundant
leisure for the examination of plants, but also among that
large class to whom plants and flowers mean a livelihood.
These latter having the requisite skill to turn their floral
treasures to good account may sometimes plead their lack
of time as an excuse for neglecting the study of the prin-
ciples which underlie their practice. And, furthermore, it
seems a formidable task to turn over the dry leaves of a
text-book, when one has been working with fresh flowers
all day, or has been planning picturesque landscapes with
shrubs and trees and water.
In some countries a thorough study of the elements of
_ botany is an essential part of the apprenticeship of an ac-
complished gardener, and such knowledge saves its pos-
sessor from many an error of judgment. Such acquisition
is by no means so formidable a task as would at first
appear, since a host of interesting and instructive elemen-
tary works is now easily accessible.
For one without a teacher, the task is not wholly free
from difficulties, but none of these difficulties need be dis-
heartening. A plain course designed to place any intel-
ligent young person in possession of the more important
facts. and essential principles of elementary botany,
might well begin with a thorough study of some such
- workas that noticedin our first number (Gray’s ‘‘ Elements
of Botany”), and with the ‘‘Field and Forest Botany,” by the
same author. Let each point be illustrated from the living
plants at hand, and let the main design of the two books
be carried out fully—namely, to understand the plan of
eacn flower, and to learn its relations to others. The mere
ascertaining of the name of a plant in a convenient hand-
book is an easy matter, but if the easy work is well done, it
brings out clearly many important features which might
otherwise be overlooked. The study of the two books just
mentioned ought to be supplemented by the collection and
drying of such wild and cultivated plants as fall in one’s
way, making capital material for further study in the
winter. In the ‘“‘ Elements,” Professor Gray has given full
directions for collecting and studying such specimens.
In the second season, the work should be somewhat
wider in its range. Withthe ‘‘Elements” still asa guide, or
sort of grammar, the student will begin to collect plants as
before, but he will need some more comprehensive treatise,
like the ‘‘Manual of Botany,” for the determination of the
wild plants collected; and now may be undertaken also
the perusal of some volume like Bessey’s “ Botany,” which
will give much information regarding other plants than
those which bear flowers. And, if possible, the student
should now attempt to examine the minute structure or
microscopic anatomy of the plants with which he deals.
Either the ‘‘ Manual of Plant Dissection,” by Arthur, Barnes
and Coulter, or the “ Practical Botany,” by Bower and Vines,
will serve this purpose fully. The former is rather better
for most of our American students, whose time is limited.
Within tne last year we have become acquainted with one
young man who undertook a course similar in some
_respects to that here indicated, and the course had been
‘successfully prosecuted under considerable difficulties. To
that young man, the plants of his trade mean more than
they have ever done before. Can it be thought that his
skill in managing plants will be any the less for what he
has learned regarding their life and peculiarities of struc-
ture?
For collateral reading while one is pursuing such a
practical course as is here indicated, the following works
are recommended: Le Maout and Decaisne’s ‘‘System of
Botany,” ‘“‘The Treasury of Botany;” works of travel, like
Wallace’s ‘‘Tropical Nature,” Hooker's ‘‘ Himalaya,” Ball’s
“Marocco,” Bate’s ‘‘Naturalist on the Amazon,” and the like.
And, also, the charming and ever instructive works of
Darwin, such as ‘‘The Power of Movement in Plants,”
“The Fertilization of Orchids,” etc. From the wealth of
interesting botanical reading, now brought within the reach
of most horticulturists by means of the public libraries,
it is easy to select trustworthy teachings, from which
Garden and Forest.
63
those who get their living from plants may know in the
fullest sense how the plants themselves live.
In horticulture—as, we are told, was the case in all
other departments of human activity even so early as the
time of the wise king of Israel—the novelties of to-day are
apt to be merely the forgotten novelties of the past.
A flowering Dogwood with pink bracts is now much
talked of by nurserymen as something entirely new. But
old Mark Catesby, a century and a half ago, found ‘one of
these Dogwood trees with flowers of a rose-color ; ” and
the tree having ‘luckily been blown down and many of
its branches taking root,” he was able ‘‘to transplant this
variety into a garden.” This garden was in Virginia where
Catesby lived for a time, and a colored plate showing the
pink-flowered Dogwood appeared in his work on the
natural history of Virginia, Carolina and Florida, which
was published in 1731 after his return to England.
Landscape Gardening—VI.
N my preceding chapters I tried to explain the points of
likeness and unlikeness that exist between landscape
gardening and the pursuits to which we more usually give
the name of Fine Arts. The explanation has been not only
brief but fragmentary ; but it will have fulfilled my purpose
if it has shown with any degree of clearness that landscape
gardening too should be called a Fine Art.
It remains now to ask, When and where do we need to
exercise this art? The answer must be, Whenever and
wherever we touch the surface of the ground and the
plants it bears with any wish to produce an organized re-
sult that shall be agreeable to the eye. We must not be
misled by the over-precision of our accustomed terms into
thinking that art is needed only for the production of broad
landscape effects. It is needed whenever we do more than
merely grow plants for the sake of their beauty as isolated
individuals. It matters not whether we wish to arrange a
great park or a small city square, a large estate or a modest
door-yard—we must go about the work in an artistic spirit
if we want a good result. Two trees and six shrubs and
a scrap of lawn and a dozen flowering plants may form
either a beautiful little picture or a huddled little mass of
greenery and colors. If it is the first, it will give us the
truly aesthetic satisfaction we get from a good landscape
painting—indeed, it will give us more than this, for the
painted picture never varies, while the living one will reveal
new beauties day by day with the changing seasons, hour
by hour with the shifting shadows. If it is the second, it
will please us only by the beauty of certain scattered de-
tails; and even these details will be intrinsically less
delightful than had they formed part of an agreeable
general effect. A good composition has been defined by
Ruskin as one in which every detail helps the general
beauty of effect ; but it may also be defined, conversely, as
one in which the general arrangement brings out the high-
est beauty of each detail.
The most cursory examination of any American town or
summer colony of villas will show how deficient we are in
artistic feeling when we deal with natural objects. The
surroundings of our homes have improved by no means as
rapidly as the homes themselves. Even in these we are
far enough from having reached a general average of ex-
cellence. But we are on the right road, I think, towards
its attainment, We have learned certain architectural
truths, and we respect them theoretically, even though we
may often err in their application. We do not expect to
build a good house without an architect to help us ; we do
not expect him to begin without having a clear idea of the
kind of house we want—of the special site it must occupy,
the special needs it must fulfil, the special tastes it must
meet; we are not content if he designs it by throwing to-
gether a number of pretty features without regard to shhar-
mony of effect; nor do we buy our furniture bit by bit as
04
passing whims dictate, and pile it casually about in our
various rooms. At least there are not so many of us who
do these things to-day as there were ten years ago; and all
of us are well aware that they ought not to be done,
Yet they are just the things which almost every-one does
outside his home. If he has “no taste for nature” him-
self, he puts his grounds into the hands of a gardener with-
out inquiring whether he has any qualifications beyond a
knowledge of how to make plants flourish. And if he has
such a taste himself, it means, in a vast majority of cases,
a mere love for being out-of-doors, for planting things, and
for watching them grow. At the most, it is apt to mean
no more than a taste for nature’s individual productions—
a love for trees, an interest in shrubs, a passion for flowers,
orall these three together. The cases are very rare in which
it means a taste at all analogous to what we understand
by a taste for art; that is, an appreciation of organized
beauty—of the beauty of contrasting yet harmonious lines
and colors and masses of light and shade, of intelligent de-
sign, of details subordinated to a coherent general effect.
Yet it is only such an appreciation as this which means a
real taste for nature’s beauty and which can make the sur-
roundings of our homes really beautiful.
Of course, in this, as in every art, the ‘‘collector” has
not only a right to exist, but an important réle to play ; but
his is not the proper rdle to play when the adornment of
one’s home is the chief desire. When this is our desire, it
is of far less importance what we have than how we have
it. The quality of our plants is far more important than
their quantity—and by quality is implied not rarity, nor
even perfection of development, so much as fitness to the
special places they hold in whatever general scheme may
have been adopted. Composition, grouping, is the first
great essential, even in a yard so small that shrubs must
take the place of trees. M G. van Rensselaer.
Anglomania in Park Making.
Witkin the area of the United States we have many types
of scenery and many climates, but in designing the sur-
roundings of dwellings, in working upon the landscape, we
too often take no account of these facts. On the rocky coast
of Maine each summer sees money worse than wasted in en-
deavoring to make Newport lawns on ground which naturally
bears countless lichen-covered rocks, dwarf Pines and Spruces,
and thickets of Sweet-fern, Bayberry and Wild Rose. The
owners of this particular type of country spend thousands
in destroying its natural beauty, with the intention of attaining
to a foreign beauty, which, in point of fact, is unattainable in
anything like pertection by reason of the shallow soil and
frequent droughts.
I know too many of these unhappy ‘lawns.” Ledges too
large to be buried or blasted protrude here and there. They
are bare and bleached now, though they were once half smoth-
ered in all manner of mixed shrubbery; the grass is brown
and poor wherever the underlying rock is near the surface,—
all is ugliness where once was only beauty.
Moreover, if the lawn were perfect and “ truly English,” how
would it harmonize with the Pitch-Pines and Scrub-Birches and
dwarf Junipers which clothe the lands around? No. The
English park, with its great trees and velvet turf, is supremely
beautiful in England, where it is simply the natural scenery
perfected ; but save in those favored parts of North America
where the natural conditions are approximately those of the
Old Country, the beauty of it cannot be had and should not be
attempted.
To be sure, the countries of the continent of Europe all have
their so-called English parks, but the best of these possess
little or none of the real English character and charm. The
really beautiful parks of Europe are those which have a char-
acter of their own, derived from their own conditions of cli-
mate andscene. The parks of Paulovsk, near St. Petersburg,
of Muskau, in Silesia, of the Villa Thuret, on the Cape of
Antibes in the Mediterranean, are none of them English, ex-
cept as England was the mother of the natural as distinguished
from the architectural in gardening. The Thuret park, if I
may cite an illustration of my meaning, is a wonderland of
crowded vegetation, of ways deep, shaded by rich and count-
less evergreens, of steep open slopes aglow with bright Ane-
mones. Between high masses of Eucalyptus and Acacia are
Garden and Forest. -
[APRIL 4, 1888.
had glimpses of the sea and of the purple foothills and the
gleaming snowpeaks of the Maritime Alps. In the thickets
are Laurels, Pittosporums, Gardenias, etc., from the ends of
the earth ; but Ilex, Phillyrea and Oleander are natives of the
country, and Myrtle and Pistacia are the common shrubs of
the sea-shore, so that the foreigners are only additions to an
original wealth of evergreens. The garden also has its Palms
of many species, with Cycads, Yuccas, Aloes and the like; but
the Agaves are common hedge plants of the country, and
strange Euphorbias grow everywhere about; moreover, the
more monstrous of these creatures are given a space apart
from the main garden, so that they may not disturb the quiet
of the scene. M. Thuret saved the Olives and the Ilexes of
the original hillside. He did not try to imitate the gardening
of another and different country or climate, but simply worked
to enhance the beauty natural to the region of his choice.
At the other end of Europe all this is equally true of Pau-
lovsk. Here, at the edge of the wet and dismal plain on
which St. Petersburg is built, is a stretch of upland naturally
almost featureless, but which, thanks to a careful helping of
nature, is now the most interesting and beautiful bit of scenery
the neighborhood of the Tsar’s capital can show. A consid-
erable brook, in falling from the plateau to the plain, has worn
in the gravel of the country a crooked and steep-sided valley,
and this, the only natural advantage of the park-site, with its
banks darkly wooded and the stream shining out now and
then in the bottom, is the chief beauty of the completed park.
The dead level of the plateau itself is broken up into irregu-
lar strips and spaces given to water, meadow, shrubland or
woodland,—a pleasing intricacy. The grass is only roughly
cut, the edges of the waterways are unkempt, the woods are
often carelessly beset with Cornus, Caragana or Siberian Spireea.
In the woods are only hardy and appropriate trees—Oaks, Al-
ders, Poplars, Pines and the like,—few trees are handsome
enough to stand alone, but there are Spruces, pushing up
through Scarlet Oaks, and White Birches set off against dark
Firs and Prostrate Junipers spreading about Birch-clumps, and
no end to the variety of similar thoroughly native and appro-
priate beauties. Here is no futile striving after the loveliness
of England or any other foreign land; no attempting the
beauty of a mountain country or a rocky country or a warm
country or any other country than just this country which lies
about St. Petersburg; here also is no planting of incon-
gruous specimens and no out-of-place flower-bedding.
The park of Muskau teaches the same lesson, and under
conditions closely resembling those of our Middle States. In-
deed, American trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants are very
numerous in this noble park; the Tulip-tree, Magnolia, Wild
Cherry, Witch Hazel, Withe-rod, Bush Honeysuckle, Golden
Rods and Asters are harmonized with native plants on every
hand. It would be next to impossible to find an American
park in which these things have been planted as freely.
Our country has her Russias, her Silesias, her Rivieras ; and
many types of scenery which are all her own besides. Are
we to attempt to bring all to the English smoothness? Rather
let us try to perfect each type in its own place.
Boston.
Charles Eliot.
Conifers and their Cultivation.
| eh is a point of theory that it is not safe to manure the land
in which Conifers are planted, so that there will be any
danger of bringing the fertilizer into direct contact with the
roots; at the same time, I can affirm from the experience of
many years, that every variety of this great and beautiful class
of trees will prosper in a rich soil better than ina poor one,
and in a soil that is moderately moist better than in one that is
naturally arid. Yet it is true that when both coniferous and
deciduous trees are planted in a very poor and dry soil the
Conifers will be likely to do rather better than the others.
Most gardeners and cultivators of Conifers cherish the old
English superstition that the great thing about a coniferous
tree is its leader, the top shoot, which points directly upward
and leads in the growth of the tree. If by any accident this
shoot is broken off, they regard the plant as ruined ; and if by
accident, instead of one leader, there come to be two, the
situation, in the opinion of these cultivators, is monstrous and
without remedy. But, after many years’ constant study and
cultivation of Conifers of every kind—American, European,
Asiatic—I am prepared to maintain that this superstition
is even more absurd than the general run of such cranky
creations of the human mind. There is no description of
tree which stands the use of the pruning-knife better than
the Conifer; and there is no part of a Conifer which
TO re ct ee Og ee) eR ae
Se a
APRIL 4, 1888.]
can more safely be cut off and thrown away than the leader.
In fact, in the production of a perfectly symmetrical coni-
ferous tree the first principle is the repeated extirpation of
the leader. By removing it you throw the strength of the tree
into the lower branches, and cause them to grow full, vigor-
ous and beautiful. You need have no fear about the upward
development of the plant. Nature will always provide a leader
for it; and if you cut it off to-day, a new shoot will be there to
-take its place to-morrow. Some of the most beautiful Coni-
fers that I have seen in the famous collections of England have
been those whose leaders, notwithstanding all the care of the
gardeners, have been broken off by storms, and whose gen-
eral symmetry and vigor have been promoted in consequence.
My practice in the treatment of these plants is to apply the
pruning-knife constantly, though, of course, with judgment,
and especially to keep down the leader.
Nothing is more necessary, however, than that the drainage
of the spot where a Conifer is planted should be complete and
unobstructed. A marshy spot, a stiff clay soil, or an impene-
trable hard-pan near the surface, are all to be sedulously
avoided. Every traveler who was in England thirty years ago
will remember with delight the beautiful Douglas Firs near
the nursery of Mr. James Veitch at Combe Wood. But a
few years later they began to decline, and when I looked for
them in 1886 they were gone. A dense hard-pan a few feet
below the surface had done the business.
If my advice were asked respecting the sorts of Conifers
which, for purposes of beauty and decoration, it is most ad-
vantageous to cultivate, the reply would be very much influ-
enced by the facts of soil, climate, moisture and shelter from
strong winds in the place designed for planting. No Conifers
should be set out where they are subject to violent gales. They
require shelter more than most kinds of deciduous trees. Our
American White Pine especially illustrates the truth of this pro-
position, and so do the Canadian Hemlock and the Hemlocks
of the Western coast (7suga Mertensiana and JT, Pattoniana).
The beautiful Japanese Hemlock (7. Szeboldiana) seems to
stand the wind much better than either of its relatives. The
Scotch Pine I am not able to praise in any respect except for
its occasional transitory beauty, but the Austrian Pine, on the
other hand, may be planted with confidence in its future form,
_ color and duration, and especially in its power of resisting the
~ wind; and on Long Island Ihave found it very useful as an
outer shelter to protect more delicate kinds of plants against
the gales. But this isa question of locality. At Castle Kennedy,
in south-western Scotland—the most charming and enviable
country-seat in the United Kingdom—they use for this purpose
the exquisite and tender Pinus insignis of Southern California,
which cannot be grown at all in our climate.
Next to the White Pine, the Canadian Hemlock and our com-
mon Juniper ( fuiperus Virginiana), 1 have found the Red Pine
(P. resinosa), the White Spruce (Picea alba), the Rocky Mountain
tree formerly described as Menzies Spruce (P. pungens), and that
beautiful Fir of the Rocky Mountains (Adzes concolor), the most
useful. With our Balsam Fir I have never been able to do
much, because it needs more moisture than can be found any-
where except ‘in a mountain elevation. Pizus rigida and
P. inops I cultivate as a matter of interest, but without looking
to them for any remarkable effects of beauty. The admirable
long-leaved Pines of California and of the South are alike
unavailable.
When we pass from the Conifers of our own hemisphere to
those of Europe and Asia our resources are immensely en-
larged. Among the most beautiful of these acquisitions the
_Retinosporas are to be classed as of the very first value. Simi-
lar to the Thuyas, they are more varied, more graceful and
more lasting. Ina soil of moderate moisture and in a year of
reasonable rainfall, their growth and their color are lovely be-
yond description. Of the other Japanese Conifers Adzes
brachyphylla and the Picea polita seem to me the most valua-
ble, while Adzes firma should by all means be avoided on
account of its irregular and shabby growth and its constant
suffering from unfavorable weather both in winter and sum-
mer. A. folita is of exceedingly slow growth, but it stands
every sort of climate, and when it is in perfect condition its
color is delightful. 2. Orientalis is also a treasure.
The Japanese Yew (Zaxus cuspidata) is beautiful and hardy
even ina severe climate, but its slow growth removes it from
the category of plants for general and popular planting. The
Cryptomerias are graceful and beautiful trees, and they grow
rapidly, but they are not tough enough for our climate.
C. elegans does not last out the winter, but C. Fafonica will
live with us, and I have seenit7o feet tallon highland. Yetthe
frosts play the mischief with the lower branches, and it is no
longer the fascinating plant whose charms bewilder every be-
Garden and Forest.
65
holder. The Glypéostrobus. Sinensis is much more available.
Grafted on our ordinary southern Cypress (Zaxodium dis-
tichum) it gains a height of 4o feet, and its slender, conical
head and long, drooping foliage make it a most agreeable
object. 7
[have had very fairluck with Yews and Cedars. With a very
slight protection in the winter the Deodar flourishes in all its
graceful beauty ; but the Lebanon and the Atlantic are both of
much slower growth and less graceful habit. The Atlantic,
which comes from the mountains of Morocco, is much more
hardy than the Cedar of Lebanon, though the latitude of the
two regions is about equal.
Finally I have one piece of advice for the young planter,
whether his purpose be esthetic beauty or material profit ; and
thatis, never to planta Norway Spruce. One of the great misfor-
tunes that have happened to the gardens and pleasure-grounds
of our Northern States, is the introduction of this ugly and use-
less tree, which is never beautiful except in its old age; and
even this beauty is so rare an accident that it forms an excep-
tion which no one can count upon beforehand.
Dosoris, March rsth. C. A. Dana.
*
Wanted—A Hand-book of Horticulture.
HE number of manuals of horticulture in the English
language is certainly very large, and yet it is not saying
too much to assert that a really satisfactory work has yet to be
written. An amateur wishing tor useful information upon any
point has usually to consult two, three or even more works
before he can find all that he desires to know. The want of
thoroughness in English works is familiar to all who use them,
and by English works we do not mean only those which are pub-
lishedin England. Fortunately there is an excellent French work
—the well known ‘Fleurs de Pleine Terre” of Vilmorin-Andrieux
—which comes very near to the ideal treatise and is to be found
in every good horticultural library. The third edition of this
work was published without date upon the title page, but we
believe about the year 1880. In 1884 a supplement appeared
containing valuable additions, but still, as regards complete-
ness, the work leaves something to be wished. What is in it is
usually admirable and always to be depended upon, but the
work is somewhat behind the times. The arrangement is
alphabetical, the figures excellent, and the descriptions, as a
rule, sufficient. In addition, however, to figures and descrip-
tions, the work contains a rare amount of information upon
horticultural topics generally most useful, and hard to find
elsewhere. Thus, among other things very fully treated, we
have a special list of seeds which may be planted in Septem-
ber; a selection of annuals and biennials; a selection of
hardy plants ; a selection of bulbous plants ; a selection of
plants for borders; a list of plants proper for carpet beds ; a
selection of climbers; a selection of fragrant plants, with a
supplementary list of plants with fragrant stems and leaves ; a
selection of plants with ornamental fruits; a choice of plants
with ornamental leaves in great variety and detail; a selection
of hardy Ferns ; a selection of aquatic plants, including several
subdivisions, as, for instance, floating plants, submerged
plants, half emergent plants, etc.; plants for rockeries ; a list
of plants growing in the shade; a selection of picturesque
plants for lawns, and another of green-house plants which can
be used for the open ground in summer; a list of plants
for bouquets ; a calendar of the seasons at which different
plants flower ; details of the arrangement of gardens, etc., etc.
The recent edition of Robinson’s ‘‘ English Garden” contains
much valuable matter, and is deservedly a favorite in this
country, but it is often very deficient in details and is not
brought down to the date of its publication. German works
on horticulture are very numerous, and it is hard to say which
is the best, but here also the want of minute and careful
detail is often keenly felt.
It seems worth while to consider what ought to be required
in a good manual. In the first place, the alphabetical arrange-
ment is certainly the most convenient. Now—given a particu-
lar plant—what the amateur and the educated florist wishes to
know is, 1st.—the natural family, genus and species to which
it belongs; its English or common name if it has one ; the Latin
name and its synonyms; 2d.—the character of the plant,
whether perennial, biennial or annual, whether hardy, half-
hardy or tender; 3d.—the exact description of the plant itself,
with an estimate—not the salesman’s estimate—of its precise
horticultural value under appropriate conditions ; 4th.—the
country in which it, or the species of which itisa variety, is
found growing naturally, and especially the natural conditions
of its healthy growth as regards soil, climate, exposure, dryness
66
or moisture, sunshine or shade; 5th.—the details of its suc-
cessful culture, with the experience of prominent horticul-
turists, given with thoroughness and critical knowledge; 6th.—
any peculiarities which the plant may exhibit, bearing upon
its reproduction, upon the probability of obtaining varieties
from it by seed or by hybridization, with suggestions for trial ;
and 7th.—the advantages and disadvantages which the plant
offers to the amateur of limited means and limited knowledge.
Allamateurs know that in the annual catalogues of florists
the merits of a plant are always very strongly and not always
very truthfully stated, while its demerits are passed over in
silence. Yet these last may be and often are of much greater
importance. Let us have the whole truth about every plant,
and have it in detail. One bulb about which nothing is said
but that it yields a brilliant flower, does yield such a flower,
lasting for an hour ortwo only. Another much lauded plant
requires such an amount of care and attention—such coddling
and nursing—as to make its culture, to say the least, very un-
desirable for most lovers of plants. A third blooms so late in
the season, that in cool climates—upon the sea shore, for in-
stance—it never yields a flower, or blooms only to be cut down
by an untimely frost. Another requires a heavy covering of
leaves in the autumn, to be removed ata certain time in the
spring and with certain precautions. Now, what the amateur
has to complain of is thatno one work gives all that he wishes
to know before purchasing a particular shrub, bulb or package
of seeds, so that he can at once tell whether it is advisable to
attempt the culture of what seems in the salesman’s descrip-
tion so attractive. During the last twenty years a great deal of
valuable experience has been gained in regard to the culture
of plants in the open ground, and a large number of new plants
has been introduced. The volumes of the Gardener's Chron-
ticle, Garden, Gartenflora, Revue Horticole, and other periodi-
cals, contain an ample supply of material at least for the purely
practical part of acomplete manual of horticulture. Some old
books—Mrs. Loudin’s quarto volume on bulbs, for instance—
are not yet out of date, and contain some very valuable infor-
mation not to be found in more recent works or not with the
same amount of detail. Why should we not have a work on
plants for the open ground, which should be made up of a
series of brief but complete and thorough monographs giving
all that is known abouteach plant? Plants which require to be
wintered in cold-frames or green-houses should of course be
included, but green-house plants proper, vegetables and fruits,
should be omitted, because all these require special treatises.
We should still have a large and probably somewhat expensive
work, but one which would replace a library of other treatises
—but the names of the best plants and best varieties need be
given and only the best authorities cited. Ornamental shrubs
could be admitted into sucha work, butnot trees, properly speak-
ing. Forthese there should be a special treatise written upon
the same plan. Such a manual as is here proposed might be
the work of a number of writers, each taking a particular class
ot plants—a committee, for instance, of some prominent hor-
ticultural society. Properly divided among various co-laborers,
the work could be finished in a comparatively short time.
Figures are not absolutely necessary, though often convenient
and sometimes very desirable, but they would greatly increase
the expense of the work if numerous. It is possible that a
good translation of Vilmorin’s work, with the permission of
the author, might serve as the basis of a new and greatly en-
larged treatise. We want the experience of all the leading
amateurs as well as of the professional gardeners, and we want
a work which shall bea complete manual written in the highest
scientific spirit, to be improved, added to, corrected and con-
densed as new editions may be demanded.
Newport, R,I.
Wolcott Gibbs.
Phlox adsurgens.*
\ 1 OST of the eastern species of P#/o.x have long been favor-
ites in the gardens both of this country and of Europe.
The ease with which they are cultivated, the abundance and
long continuance of their flowers, and the variety of their
coloring will account sufficiently for this. The tall perennial
species, with compact inflorescence, and in numerous varie-
ties, the annual Drummond's Phlox, with its looser, profuse
bloom of manifold colors, and the evergreen Moss Pink, cov-
ering the soil in early spring with a carpet of flowers, are all
equally well known. On the other hand, the species of the
*P. ADSURGENS, Torr. in herb.; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad., viii. 256. Glabrous, with
the slender peduncles and calyx glandular-pubescent; stems about a span hich,
ascending trom a procumbent base ; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute ; Co-
rolla-tube more than twice the length of the short calyx, the segments of the rose-
colored limb obovate and entire ; style elongated.
Garden and Forest.
[Aprit 4, 1888.
Fig. 11.—Phlox adsurgens.
western part of the continent are totally unknown as orna-
ments of the garden. Most of them differ in habit from their
eastern relatives, some being dwarf perennials, forming com-
pact evergreen cushions, which in earliest spring are a mass of
color, and the rest loosely tufted plants, with an open, rather
few-flowered inflorescence. On the whole they do not promise
to prove so valuable to the florist as are the eastern species,
but skillful treatment may develop strains that will repay the
trouble of trial. P. ava, which in the wild state varies greatly
in color, P. adsurgens, and some of the cespitose species, are
certainly not without merit.
Nearly all have narrow, or linear, or small and awl-shaped
leaves, the only one with broader leaves, like most of the east-
ern species, being the one of which a figure is here given.
This, P. adsurgens, is a rare species of the Cascade Mountains
APRIL 4, 1888.]
of Oregon, where it was first collected by Professor Alphonso
Wood in 1866, It has since been found by Mr. Cusick and Mr.
Howell, and also by Mr. V. Rattan in the mountains of north-
western California, in Humboldt County, growing on high
ridges in the Fir forests. Its characteristics are well shown in
the figure, —, its slender, ascending stems, ovate leaves, open,
graceful inflorescence and long-tubed corollas. The flowers
are rose-colored, appearing in July and August. SW.
Garden and Forest.
67
lateral branches of the year. Rarely more than a single fruit
matures from each corymb of flowers; it is oval or Siovate
hardly exceeding one-third of an inch in length, long pedun-
culate, and bright scarlet in color. The autumn color of the
leaves isa brilliant scarlet. ;
Photinia villosa is a valuable addition to the free flowering
and perfectly hardy shrubs which can be grown in the northern
States. It was sent many years ago to the Arnold Arboretum
Fig. 12 —Photinia villosa.
Photinia villosa.*
THs is a widely distributed and very variable Japanese
a deciduous shrub which, according to Maximowicz, some-
times attains in its native country a height of 15 feet. Pho-
tinia villosa (fig. 12), as it appears in cultivation in this
country, is a vigorous shrub of neat habit, 4 to 6 feet in height,
with broadly obovate rather coriaceous, sharply serrate, dark-
green leaves 1% to 2 inches long with prominent mid-ribs
and primary veins, their under side, as well as the young
shoots, petioles, peduncles and calyx, covered with a dense
white pubescence. The corymbs of white flowers, which
appear about the middle of June, are terminal on the short
*Photinia villosa, DC. Prodr. 7i. 63 1.—Mig. Prot. 229.—Fran. & Savat. Enum. Pl.
Fap.7. 142; ii. 351.—Maxim. Bult. Acad. St. Petersburg, ix, 170.
P. levis, DC. Lic.
Crategus levis and C. villosa, Thbg., Fl. Yap. 204.
Stranvaisia digyna, Sieb. & Zucc. Fl. ¥ap., Fam. Nat. 2. 29.
P. serrulata, Sieb. & Zucc. 2. c. (not DC.)
Pourthiea villosa, Decn. Nouv. Arch. du Mus. x, TL7.
by the Messrs. Parsons, of Flushing, under the name_ of
“ Amelanchier sp. from Japan.” Gasiey
Cultural Notes.
Epidendrum (Nanodes) Meduse.—This is a somewhat rare
and most singular looking Orchid, producing tufted, pendant
stems about a foot long, with very fleshy grayish leaves ar-
ranged in pairs on each side. The flowers (usually 2-3)
spring from the axils of the last pair, are flat and fleshy,
sepals and petals are purple with a green base. The lip Is
large and spreading, deep maroon, transparent, and deeply
fringed. Itis a native of the mountainous regions of South
America, consequently requires to be kept very cool. We
succeed here admirably ina uniform temperature of 55° to 60°,
with abundance ‘of water, and if this is given overhead the
thrips will not trouble it. Until quite recently this plant was
very rare and large house grown plants are still the exception.
68 Garden and Forest.
Ceelogyne cristata alba (hololeuca).—This rare albino is now
in flower with us (a plant with seven spikes). It differs from
the type simply in the absence of the yellow of the lip, thus
rendering it the only instance, I believe, of an entirely pure
white Orchid. Though very rare at present, it is like the type
—such a free grower that it cannot fail to be plentiful betore
long.
Sarcochilus (Thrixspermum) Berkeleyii—This charming little
rarity belongs to the caulescent section of Orchids and in
general appearance is not unlike a miniature rides, The
drooping spikes, which are about eight inches long, are thickly
set with white flowers with but a dash of amethyst on the lip.
The curious sac-like appendage, from which the genus takes
its name, renders the flower very remarkable. This species
grows well with us among the Phalenopsis, in a basket filled
with crocks and sphagnum moss.
Bertolonia marmorata.—This is a charming little ornamental
leaved plant belonging to the Melastoma family and is valu-
able for mixing with Ferns in the green-houses. The leaves are
5 to 8 inches long and half as broad, of a bright green beauti-
fully streaked with pure white, whilé the under surface is of a
rich purple. It luxuriates in a warm, moist atmosphere in a
shady corner. A compost of loam, peat and leaf mould with
a good sprinkling of sand in well drained pots suits it. When
they lose their bottom leaves the plants should be taken out
and repotted into small pots, sinking the stem as low as possi-
ble, so that the new leaves will cover the pot. Keep the plants
comparatively dry until they get nicely rooted, after which they
should never be allowed to become dry, It was introduced
from Brazil in 1858.
Rondeletia (Rogieria) gratissima.—This Mexican shrub bears
corymbose cymes of pinkish fragrant flowers. We find that it
blooms during nine months of the year, and. grows best in a
cool green- house temperature, and ina mixture of two parts
loam to one of peat. To encourage growth we plant it out in
the open ground during the summer “months.
Amaryllis Aulica.—A few large plants of this good old species
are in bloom with us now while others are being retarded in
the cold house. Most of the bulbs are bearing” two spikes
each and some of the pots contain 15 to 20 bulbs. This
species is evergreen, and need not be repotted more than
once in 3 to 4 years, but may be fed with liquid manure during
active growth.
Phalenopsis Sanderiana.—Some plants of this grand species
now in bloom here show a great variation both in the flower and
in the leaf, scarcely two of them being alike. The most attrac-
tive kind has the flowers suffused with a delicate rose, which is
much darker on the upper section of the flower. This kind is
almost invariably found to have leaves marbled as in P. Schil-
Zeriana, while the pale varieties possess the green leaves of P.
amabilis, Among the best of the paler kinds is that called P.
marmorata, in which the lateral sepals are much spotted with
purple. The lip also is beautifully stained and spotted with
the same color. It has been suggested that this species is a
natural hybrid between P. Schilleriana and P. amabilis, and
the great inconstancy in the color of the flowers and leaves
tends to strengthen this theory. Some of the plants when out
of flower cannot be distinguished from P. Schil/eriana,and others
from those of P. amabilis. P. Sanderiana was introduced in
1883 from the East Indian Islands. It grows well with us ina
warm, airy house, potted in cylinders or baskets which are
nearly filled up with broken crocks, and with a thin layer of
sandy peat on the top. Abundance of water should be given
at root and overhead during the growing season. W hen at
rest water should be given freely at root, but the atmosphere
should be moderately dry. During this period a minimum
temperature of 60°, with a rise of Io to 20° according to the
weather, will suit them.
Calanthes which have finished flowering should be kept
dry, in a temperature of about 60°, until the new growths
begin to emit roots, when they should be shaken out of the
pots, the old roots nearly all trimmed off, and re epotted in fresh
soil, which may consist of two parts fibrous peat, one of
loam and one of half-rotted leaves. Water should be given
very sparingly until the plants are nicely rooted, after which
they need plenty of water and strong heat, with an occasional
syringe overhead. After the plants are pot-bound, weak liquid
manure may be given them nearly every day.
Phalenopsis Harriettis—This is one of the latest additions
to this lovely genus, and was produced by the intercrossing of
P. amabilis with P. violacea. It is the most handsome and
striking of the whole genus. The habit of the plant, size and
form of flowers form an intermediate character, but the spike
is that of P. violacea, but more slender. The flowers are
greenish-white, suffused and dotted with rich, rosy purple,
which becomes more intense and is in bars near the base of
sepals and petals. The lip is of a rich, velvety purple, with
yellow at base. This is the second time only that this species
es flowered, and with the increased strength of the plant,
there has been a wonderful improvement in size and color of
the flowers. This we have also found to be the case with the
artificial hybrid P. zz¢ermedia, which is now far superior to any
imported natural ones,
Kenwood, N.Y. tI Goldring.
Freesias.—These are the best of all our winter-blooming
bulbs; they are of the easiest possible cultivation, bloom
abundantly, and the flowers are fragrant and beautiful and
have a refined appearance, without any of the coarseness
peculiar to the “Dutch” bulbs. The best of all is / refracta
alba;
with hy brids between these species... ‘ Dutch” bulbs if forced
this year are almost worthless for further use ; Freesias on the
contrary improve and multiply year after year. Growers for
market plant the bulbs thickly on benches, in about four
inches deep of soil; private growers raise them in pots. By
having them in pots we can have them in bloom in successional
groups for some three months in winter. Any good rich soil—
turfy loam and rotted manure—suits them very well. A dozen
bulbs in an eight-inch pot will give capital flowers. Pot in
August or Septe mber, and keep them cool but away from frost,
and let them come along slowly.
bloom by introducing the most’ advanced plants into warm
quarters. After they “have done blooming keep them growing
as long as the foliage keeps fresh and er een; when it begins to
fade dry off the plants andkeep them dry till potting time next
August. The finest Freesias I ever had were grown for two
years in the same pots and without repotting. And _ this
year in order to have as good next year, when the plants were
coming into bloom I repotted them into larger pots, taking
care not to break the ball of roots ; this did not interfere with
their blooming at all. They are also easily raised from seed.
A few of the plants raised from seed sown this spring may
bloom next winter, but the majority of them will not bloom
till fhe following year.
Hydrangea rosea.—This isa comparatively recent introduction
from Japan, and in flower and foliage distinct from the older
Hydrangeas of our gardens. Itis equally available for outside
and inside work, and with a mulching in winter will live out-of-
doors; if the bushes are killed down to the snow line, the
shoots from the bottom will grow up in quantity and bloom
insummer. This is not always the case with the common
Hydrangea, for north of New York, if it be killed to: the
ground in winter, the young shoots from the bottom, although
they grow large and’ vigorous enough, seldom bloom well,
often not at all, Hydrange a rosea blooms some two to three
weeks earlier than does the variety known as Thomas Hogg,
and this is more marked when it is forced than when grown
out-of-doors. Cuttings of the young wood strike with the
greatest freedom. Although the proper color of the flowers is
a pretty rose, they often assume a bluish tinge.
Chinese Primroses.—Sow at once if you wish for good plants
for Christmas; plants for Easter may be sown in summer,
Mixed seed as a rule is unsatisfactory; far better pay a little
more and get exactly such colors as you Want ; the poor varieties
require just as much room and care as do the fine varieties.
Alba magnifica, white ; Meteor, bright red ; Chelsea Rose, pale
rose ; and Chelsea Blue, are most excellent varieties. There
is a good deal of emphasis laid on fern-leaved varieties, but
their flowers are no better than those of the rounder-leaved
sorts; indeed there is not a pronounced difference between
them. Chinese Primroses should be kept in active growth,
moderately moist and slightly shaded all the time, and as cool
as possible during the summer months. As the single
varieties can be grown so easily from seed it is not worth
while to save over any of them for another year. But as the
double flowered sorts are uncertain from seed we should keep
them over and propagate them from cuttings in the same way
as is commonly done with the old Double White. WF.
[AprIL 4, 1888.
F. Leichtlint is also. common in cultivation, together
We can force them into.
ee ae a eae ae eee a
2 yey,
- APRIL 4, 1888.]
Trial Beds.
HIS is the season of catalogues. Every year they become
more sumptuous and alluring with their long lists of
novelties. Some are already illustrated horticultural magazines,
and if the evolution continues we shall eventually have moroc-
co-bound annuals distributed through the mails. The catalogue
of to-day is a tribute to the growing taste for horticulture. The
shrewd, experienced money-maker from the soil knows how
to discount these large and much-embroidered promises of a
renewed Garden of Eden. He turns straightway to the old
standard, established sorts, and invests in these alone. His
calculating eye is fixed on a crop that will pay beyond the sha-
dow of a doubt. He is right, and so may you and I be right if
we take a different course. That crop pays best which yields
what we value most. There is a solid satisfaction in a fair re-
turn in dollars and cents from our land, and itis well to aim at
this. The farming which makes milk cost as much as cham-
pagne, the vegetable garden which suggests to the natives only
the color of the bank-notes expended, tend to confirm in many
minds the idea that the methods of their grandfathers were the
safest and wisest. But lavish, ignorant expenditure is a very
different thing from a continuous course of experiments which
need cost but comparatively little. For our own sakes, and
especially for the sake of our children, we wouldseek to banish
the hum-drum element from rural life. In no other pursuit
have we such opportunity to do this as in horticulture. Let
me give at once practical illustrations of whatI mean. Here
is a plot of ground. You can putitallin a crop which an ignor-
ant laborer can take care of. You can also put the soil in fine
order this spring, select from a catalogue a dozen or more ot
the most promising varieties of peas, say; plant them allatthe
same time and under the same conditions, the dwarf kinds by
themselves, close together, those requiring the support of brush
farther and farther apart, until you come to the unrivaled old
Champion of England. Now you havea play-ground as well
asa pea-patch for yourself and all the family. You will soon
need a little recording note-book with a page allotted to every
carefully labeled kind. The children will be glad to go with
you often to see which sort first pushes through the soil and
then to watch the race on through blossoming to maturity and
the table. The entire family will discuss the comparative flavor
and merits of the varieties, all kept on the gzz vive over that
pea-patch for several weeks. Bright-eyed boys will be almost
as willing to work init as to go fishing. Thecarefu record kept
from first to last will reveal which kinds are earnest, which the
most productive and profitable to raise, and which the best
flavored. May not such acrop be worth far more than one
stolidly raised and stolidly soldor eaten? The outlay need be
small indeed, but the return is that which makes life—zest and
enjoyment.
Take another inexpensive yet more extended method ot
amusement and experiment. Select a strip of ground as long
as you please and about fourteen feet wide. Enrich it well with
manure from the cow-stable, if possible, but any fertilizer will
answer, so that it be not too fresh and liable to ferment. Mix
the fertilizer evenly to the depth of eighteen inches, and then
set out as many varieties of strawberry plants as you can afford
space for. Let the rows be two feet apart across the bed, and
the plants one foot apart in the rows. By this course you will
have a dozen plants of a kind in every short row. Label care-
fully, and begin your written record. Now you have a trial bed
that will last three years at least. In May, the April-set plants
will begin to blossom. Pick off the blows as fast as they ap-
pear. The small amount of fruit produced the first season is
of no value, but a great injury to the young plants. Letting
them bear is like working a colt. In June the young plants
will begin to throw out runners and the tendency will increase
till fall. Nature’s law of propagation is working; but it is fruit,
not plants, that you wish. Therefore cut off every runneras it
appears—an easy task for children. Force every plant you set
out to grow as large as it will on its original root. If plants die,
merely permit sufficient runners to grow to fill their places.
Since the plants are allowed neither to blossom, bear nor pro-
duce runners, there is only one thing they can do, and that is,
to grow into great bushy stools and develop fruit buds for the
ensuing year. By fall you may find that a peck measure will
scarcely cover a plant. Of course the hoe should be kept busy
throughout the season. But little hand-weeding will be re-
quired, because the plants have not been allowed to run and
mat together. Clean, frequent culture is absolutely essential to
the best results. Assoonas the ground begins to freeze in the
autumn cover the plants well, but not deeply, with light stable
manure, leaves, litter of any kind not full of noxious seeds.
Uncover after the alternate freezing and thawing of spring is
Garden and Forest.
69
over, rake off the litter as soon as the ground is dry enough to
work, then fork the soil lightly between the plants and return
the litter asa mulch, adding enough more to cover the ground
evenly. When I say, fork the ground lightly as soon as it
is dry enough to work in early spring, I mean just what
Isay. I do not say, let a stupid or careless workman half dig
the plants out when loosening the soil, nor do I suggest that
this work can be done justas well late in spring after the piants
begin toblossom. Many authorities declare the ground about
bearing plants should not be disturbed in spring till after the
crop has been produced. I have always found cultivation ad-
vantageous if performed when and in the way I have indicated,
but not otherwise. If space permitted, I think I could support
my opinion with good reasons. After this very early cultiva-
tion the plants are ready to bear. The mulch around them
should be sufficient to keep the ground moist and the fruit
clean.
Soon comes the exciting period, when the berries change from
green to white and then begin to blush in the June sunshine.
Careful notes should have been made all along as to the com-
parative vigor of varieties, hardiness, time of blossoming,
character of blossoms, etc. Now the record should be full
indeed as to size, productiveness, firmness of the berries, and,
above all, as to flavor.
The differences in fully matured and ripened strawberries
would astonish those who have always purchased their supplies
in the market.
A strawberry bed, treated as I have described, is ‘a thing of
beauty” and would be ‘a joy forever,” if it could last. It
does last three times as long as the ordinary matted bed of two
or three varieties, and the fruit averages three times the size.
We have had Crystal City strawberries in May, and Memphis
Late and Triomphe de Gand berries after the 4th of July.
What a delight to visit the trial bed every day—see each va-
riety developing after its own organic law! The entire family
becomes a tasting committee, and the children learn from deh-
cious experience the infinite opportunities afforded by horticul-
ture to gratify higher tastes than those of the palate. The
beautiful fruit, large and perfectly developed by high culture,
pleases the eye as well ; the variety in form and flavor, the dif-
ferent aspects of plants and foliage, suggest that similar tests
may be applied to other fruits, to the whole range of flowers,
vegetables and ornamental shrubbery. In brief, the reason
becomes apparent why man was first put in a garden, for
therein are found the varied interests which continue to our
latest age as fresh and undying as Nature herself. In our large
cities are multitudes of pallid, dissipated youth who might
have been kept in breezy country homesif the stolid, plodding
element had been eliminated. Those crops often pay best
which nourish mind as wellas body.
Cornwall-on-Hudson.
Edward P. Roe.
Foliage With Cut Flowers.
A careful study of the place and manner of growth and
of the tone and character of the foliage of any plant will
suggest the most effective arrangement for the cut flowers of
that plant. To illustrate, the Gladiolus is always an aggressive
and striking flower no matter how delicate it may be in shade.
Its function seems to be to enliven by its bold display of color.
Its foliage 1s a dull but strong green andislinearinform. Fol-
lowing this suggestion, we find it appears to best advantage
when its spikes are arranged in a tall vase with a liberal use of
the long leaves and stems of the various giant Grasses or Sor-
ghums or even of Indian Corn. The forage plant called
“Tiosinte” is particularly good for this purpose.
The common white garden Lily throws its cluster of dazzling
white flowers well into the air, supported by an almost leafless
stem, and we never have been able to arrange effectively any
foliage with this flower. The white is so intense and yet so
delicate that it needs no aid and is injured rather than helped
by-any other color. The only flower we have ever seen ef-
‘fectively arrayed with this is the Agapanthus. Its flowers are in
their way as delicately beautiful as those of the Lily and blend
well with them.
Nothing will bring out the beauty of blue Larkspurs like
well matured Carrot leaves, and acomparison will show that in
color and expression they are much like the natural foliage of
the plant. In the same way clusters of wild or seedling Pear
leaves form the most effective setting for the brighter colored
Roses.
To extend these illustrations a little further, arrange a basket
of Concord Grapes with Delaware foliage and one of Delaware
with Concord foliage, and then another plate of each with its
own leaves, and observe the more pleasing effect of the latter.
72
I have found a vase made as follows admirably adapted for
the natural arrangement of such flowers as Gladiolus, and, in
fact, for all strong growing kinds. Take a smooth and pertect
length of common 6or8 in, stoneware sewer-pipe, paint it a
pleasant neutral tint; have fitted into the smaller end a tin can
some 8 inches deep and supported by a flange projecting over
the top. Have a tinsmith make two circles of wire fitting
easily into the can and have these circles filled with cross wires
so as to make a net work of about an inchmesh. Solder to
these circles—and in such a way that one of the circles is held
about two inches from the bottom of the can and the other
just below the top—two stout wires bent like the bail ofa pail,
and of such length that when the circles are in place the arch
of the wires will be some 6 inches above the can and cross
each other at right angles. The two circles and the upper
wires will enable one to place a spike of Gladiolus or a spear
of grass or any long stemmed plant so that it will retain just
the place in the arrangement that may be desired, while by
means of the wire handles the whole arrangement can be lifted
out of the can to remove the water when necessary.
Detroit, Mich. Will. W. Tracy.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I was glad to see, in arecent number of your paper, that
you had called attention to Boronia megastigma. The delicious
fragrance of its flowers certainly entitles it to more general culti-
vation in our green-houses. But there is another plant, equally
fragrant, which one seldom meets with nowadays—not nearly
so often as thirty yearsago. This is Mahernia verticillata, a
half-shrubby or woody perennial, introduced from the Cape of
Good Hope about 1820. In habit it is not so attractive as Boro-
mia, growing ina rather straggling way. But its flowers are
prettier—small, bright yellow bells, profusely produced and
as sweet as Lilies-of-the-Valley ; and it is also a much freer
and more rapid grower and one of the easiest of all plants to
propagate. In a cool green-house it will bloom throughout
the winter and spring, and it is one of the very best of house-
slants. I should think it would bean excellent plant for florists
to grow for winter sale in pots—in flower for room-decoration—
as it remains so long in blossom and its delicious odor will per-
meate a whole apartment. Jfahernia may also be had to flower
out-doors in summer, and when I was young it was commonly
grown in vases and hanging-baskets, a purpose for which its
habit renders it peculiarly suitable.
Elizabeth, N. J. W. FE.
[Our correspondent does not say too much in favor of this
plant. It is not rare in old green-house collections in this coun-
pre and a writer in a recent issue of the Gardener's Chronicle,
of London, lamenting that it has ‘long been lost to English
gardens,” states that good plants can be purchased in this city
tor 30 cents a piece.—ED. ]
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—What Mr. Parkman said in No. 1 of GARDEN AND FOREST
of the White Mountain forests as capable—with proper treatment
—of furnishing a steady supply of timber, and of the serious
injury to the business of summer resorts and to manufac-
turers if speculators should cut off these forests, is applicable
to many other parts of New England. In Berkshire County,
Mass., White Pine comes up readily and makes a strong growth,
but is not cared for so as to make straight, first-class timber.
In this town about a million feet of lumber are cut every
year, and at least half of this is white pine. It is, however,
only fit for box-boards and on the stump is worth some $4.00
per 1,000. Meantime the population is steadily decreasing,
deserted farm houses staring one in the face on every road.
There is not enough profitable occupation for even the few who
are left, and the most enterprising young men seek business
elsewhere. Here and there, however, one seesa grove of thick-
standing, tall and straight pine trees, proving that good and
high-priced lumber (and much more of it per acre) can be
grown whenever it is protected and a little pains taken to se-
cure a thick stand. It would prove an instructive object-
lesson if some one would take and sow Pine on one of these
farms in with whatever hoop-pole stuff will thrive best. The
first crop of poles should be cut close to the ground so as to
promote sprouting (7écepage, as the French call it), and continu-
ous harvests of them should be taken off the ground until the
Pine begins to shade and crowd the hard wood. After that
thinning will beall that is required, and the material yielded by it
will pay for labor, interest and taxes. When the feasibility of
Garden and Forest.
[APRIL 4, 1888.
this is once demonstrated, there will no doubt be plenty of
imitators, and the tide of population now ebbing so sadly will
flow back toward these noble hills.
Otis, Mass. S. W. Powell,
The Forest.
The Forest Vegetation of Northern Mexico.—l.
dl ewe tourist, who, fresh from a ride through the densely
wooded swamps of Arkansas or Louisiana, or from the
Pine-covered heights of New Mexico, enters Old Mexico at
Paso del Norte, and mounts by night from the valley of the
Rio Grande to the central tablelands, where in a journey of a
thousand miles towards the capital he sees apparently but
naked plains and bare and serrated mountains (notice in Span-
ish the same word, szevra, for a mountain range as for a saw),
would doubtless be surprised at my choice of a theme for
these articles. Nevertheless I have something to say of for-
ests and forest trees in that same region, but more concerning
the forests covering the Cordilleras, which lie from one hun-
dred to two hundred miles west of the central railroad.
The tablelands of central Mexico, mostly covered by the
States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas and San
Luis Potosi, are plains, lying at an elevation of 4,000 to 7,000
feet, interrupted at intervals of ten to twenty miles by broken
ranges of mountains, whose summits are 2,000 to 3,000 feet
above the surrounding plains, or 6,000 to 9,000 feet above sea
level, and whose trend is south-east and north-west. In the
State of Chihuahua these mountain-bearing plains ascend from
the Valley of the Rio Grande on the north-east, less than 4,000
feet elevation,—in the State of Durango from the Laguna
country on the east, a region of lakes which are river sinks,
and less than 4,000 feet altitude—and culminate in the conti-
nental divide lying within but near the western bounds of
these two States. Where the divide is a gently swelling plain,
as immediately north of Cusihuiriachic, its altitude is about
7,000 feet; whenever it rises to a mountain crest it attains an
elevation of 8,000 to Io,000 feet. It is doubtful whether along
all the mountain line that stretches southward from the United
States boundary a greater elevation than 10,000 feet is to be
found, until we come to the snow peaks which look down
upon the valley and city of Mexico.
To the west of this divide, parallel with it, but not always
contiguous to it—for in some places the Pacific Slope begins _
with a broad, gently falling plain—lies the Cordilleras region
of north Mexico, a belt seventy-five to one hundred and fifty
miles wide, closely packed, forest-covered mountains; cut
through everywhere by torrents in swift descent to the low-
lands of Sonora and Sinaloa—torrents which have formed a
labyrinth of gulches, cafions and barrancas, the terror of the
traveler—rising higher towards the west only in the seeming,
because there the valleys are deeper; in the upper or eastern
portion of the belt narrow, habitable valleys at rare intervals
only, but more frequent and broader valleys, as we descend
towards the 7rerra Caliente, showing villages, grain fields and
Orange orchards. On the cool, evergreen heights of this west-
ern verge of the plateau is condensed the moisture borne in-
land by the winds of the Pacific. Soa good measure of rain
and snow usually falls here during winter; while from July
till August thunderstorms are of daily occurrence. The
storms of winter being almost wholly lost among these moun-
tains, the interior, however, is left comparatively rainless from
October to August; for, so slow is the eastward progress of
the summer rains, preparing their course step by step over suc-
cessive mountain chains and heated plains, that it may be as
late as August ere they descend to the valley of the Conchos,
and meet in its vicinity the rains from the Gulf of Mexico, also
retarded in their inland‘march by the similar barrier presented
by the Sierra Madre of eastern Coahuila and San Luis Potosi.
But it is not due to dearth of water alone that the interior
plateau remains comparatively bare of forest growths. The
explorer everywhere observes in that region a paucity of soil,
because, chiefly, it has never had the benefit of glacial action
to grind down the rugged mountains and strew the resulting
earth over the land in deep and fertile drift formations. More-
over, the action of frost to disintegrate rocks, and bring down
the toppling crags, is there exceedingly slow, since water to
aid in its operations is generally withheld in winter. So the
mountains do not possess sufficient depth of soil to carry
through eight to ten months of drought the water supply neces-
sary to the life of a forest. By May, in fact, whoever travels
them incurs risk of perishing by thirst from inability to find a
living brook or spring. Therefore the trees of all the interior
ranges are thinly scattered and of stunted growth.
In the.
APRIL 4, 1888.]
extreme drought of last April I saw them putting forth new
leaves but feebly and shedding their flowers without ability to
set fruit. Only in the cafions, where they may be somewhat
protected from the fierce heats by overhanging cliffs, and
where deposits of soil may lie, can they attain full size, or can
the species with broad, thin leaves exist.
Not less are the plains unfavorable to tree growth. In a
former age of the world they were covered with inland seas.
Some of these broke through their mountain dykes and emp-
tied themselves into the Gulfs of Mexico and California ; the
others have nearly dried up under the sub-tropic sun. Except
in their lower basins, there was deposited on their gravelly
bottoms but a comparatively thin layer of fine earth; andasa
peculiar feature of common occurrence, before this thin de-
posit was laid, the gravel was cemented together by an aqueous
deposit of lime washed down from neighboring hills. The dry
slopes and mesas resulting from this now bear of ligneous
vegetation only a few peculiar shrubs, which may be described
hereafter. C. G. Pringle,
The Forests of Tunis.
HE following interesting account of the forests of Tunis,
recently issued from the British Foreign Office as a Consular
Report, is reprinted from the Gardener's Chronicle of London.
“The forests of Tunis, which cover an appreciable part of
the surface of the country, were, until the French occupation,
subject to no supervision, and suffered from the want of that
supervision. In 1883 the French, alive to the importance of
preserving what remained of these forests, whichare the prop-
erty of the State, placed them under the management of a
separate department, which has explored their extent and
demonstrated that they are an important element of national
wealth.
“ The explorations have resulted in the division of the forests
into two main groups; one consisting of the Cork tree and
deciduous Oak, locally known as ‘Zen,’ covering the north-
western angle of Tunis, where it abuts on the Algerian frontier
and the sea, and separated from the rest of Tunis by the river
Mejerdah. These trees grow in a stratum of sandstone, which
again reposes on the upper chalk, and they completely disap-
pear where the latter stratum crops to the surface. They cover
an area of about 360,000 acres, on 330,000 of which flourishes the
Cork tree, and on 30,000 the ‘Zen,’ Itisfound that the former
invariably grows on the southern slopes of this mountainous
region; and, on the northern slopes and in the hollows of val-
leys, the latter.
“South of the River Mejerdah both these trees disappear, and
give place to the Pine and a species of evergreen Oak.
They are scattered in groups over various mountainous regions
of no great elevation, all comprised in the northern half of the
Regency, where alone the rainfall is sufficient to sustain their
growth. It is calculated that these several forest groups cover
a surface about equal to that covered by the Cork trees and
‘Zen,’ viz., 360,000 acres.
“ These latter groups are in a more neglected state than the
former. For the most part they are nearer toimportant towns
than the Cork forests, and from time immemorial have sup-
plied those towns with fuel. The bark of the Pine is also used
for tanning and coloring hides and skins; and as no control is
exercised over the cutting down of the trees, or stripping them
of their bark, and goats are allowed to roam everywhere, the
forests are rapidly deteriorating. No legislation has as yet
been adopted for putting a stop to this waste, and though the
~Department of Woods and Forests proposes that the chiefs of
the contiguous villages and tribes should be held responsible
for the depredations, the Government has not yet ventured on
this high-handed measure.
“Tt is to the Cork forests that the attention of the new admin-
istration has been mainly directed. They are situated ina
country with a very sparse population, dwelling in huts formed
of the branches of trees. Their number is estimated at 18,000
souls, or only one individual to 30 acres. It was open to the
French administration to adopt one of the three following
systems in dealing with the woods and forests, viz., their sale,
their concession for fixed periods, or their management by the
State. The last was chosen as the system best adapted for
_ their preservation and extension, particularly as it was held to
be of paramount importance to favor the increase of rainfall
in the country, the quantity of which is supposed to be inti-
mately connected with the extent of the forests. That they
were more extensive in the time of the Romans, and that
they conduced to augment the annual rainfall, may be inferred
from the discovery of numerous aqueducts among hills which
are now absolutely denuded of trees and destitute of springs.
Garden and Forest. 71
“Much has been done during recent years in improving the
condition of these Cork forests. Roads have been cut through
them, and at stated intervals spacious alleys have been frayed
to serve as a means for arresting the march of the fires which
frequently ravage them. Above all, much progress has been
made in barking the Cork trees, an operation which consists in
stripping the rough bark off the trunks of the trees to the
height of 5 or 6 feet from the ground. This virgin bark is
without value, and only ten years after the trees have been
robbed of it, is the inner bark available for commercial pur-
poses, the trees giving a crop of Cork every ten years. To
meet the expenses incurred in these operations there were
available the sums accruing from the sale of the trees already
felled, and of the bark of the ‘Zen’ for tanning. Little has
been done towards working the less valuable forests to the
south of that river. An experiment has been made in planting
with trees a small tract of mountain land near Hammam-el-
Enf, some ten miles to the east of the town of Tunis. The
operation consists in digging holes at short distances, and in
dropping in each a few seeds of the Pine tree. Several hun-
dred acres have thus been planted with tolerable success, at an
expense of £4 Ios. an acre.
“The worst enemies of the forests are goats. Some French
colonists have taken steps to exclude these animais from their
estates, and the result has been that shrubs, which never
attained the height of more than two or three feet, have in
founor five years assumed the dimensions of trees. This is
particularly apparent in the large domain of Enfida, where a
Thuya, which covers much of that region, from a dwarf shrub
has now, within the space of six years, attained a height of
twenty to twenty-five feet. The French railway company,
which owns the line running from Tunis to the Algerian fron-
tier, has succeeded in planting a considerable number of the
Eucalyptus resinifera (the Red Gum tree), and Acacia cyan-
ophylla, It is estimated that 300,000 trees have been planted
along the line of railway.
“The cost of planting an acre with the Eucalyptus amounts to
£20, about 1,600 trees going to the acre of nursery ground.
After planting out, it is probable that at the end of twenty
years 600 trees will have survived, worth 8s. apiece. :
“The bark of the Acacia cyanophylia is rich in tannin, and
valuable for the tanner. In the whole of southern Tunis there
exists but a single forest, formed of a species of Acacia. It is
situated about twenty-five miles inland from Ifax, and covers
an area five miles long by a little over a mile in width. This
forest, which was formerly much more extensive, is protected
from the northerly winds by high land, and the trees grow in
clumps in depressions of alluvial soil. Though they only
attain a height of ten feet, the trunks furnish planks eight or
ten inches wide, of an exceedingly hard grain, and capable of
taking a fine polish,”
Answers to Correspondents.
“Why is it not the best forest policy to cut out the mature
wood from a primeval forest and let the rest grow ?”’
: Ay eG
If the questioner had asked: Is it proper forest policy to
utilize the timber for which there is a market and to provideat
the same time for a new growth ? he would have exactly stated
the very end and aim of forestry, and we would have assented
without qualification. But whether the best method to attain
this end, especially the latter part, is presented in the prescrip-
tion contained in the above question, must depend on a spe-
cial diagnosis. The method of taking only whatis called ‘ the
mature orripe wood ” (who knows what that is ?) or, as it may be
called, the ‘method of selection,” is at least an attempt at for-
est management, and the beginning of order and system, and
where, as with us, forestry is as yet undeveloped, this method is
decidedly betterfor the future of the forest, than indiscriminate
slashing and clearing. It is, however, not the best, and in
many cases a bad method of forest management, unless prac-
ticed with great circumspection. Its advantages lie in the
preservation ofa protective forest cover, and in the continuance
of a natural forest in an advanced stage of development, the
value of which must increase with the necessarily decreasing
supplies of mature timber. But this depends somewhat on what
“the rest”? is. We can conceive of a natural growth, in which
“the rest” is composed largely of inferior or undesirable
growth, when it would be better poiicy to cut out the inferior
growth first, work for a reseeding from the old growth, and
then remove the old timber gradually, to have resulting a
desirable young growth. When “the rest” consists of well-
grown shade-enduring timber, like the Spruce in the forests of
72
Maine, where, after the removal of the old timber, the remain-
ing growth has sufficient vitality to be benefited by the increased
light influence, this method may be even recommended, at
least for some time to come.
But, looking further into the future, this policy will ultimately
not prove the best, as it is bound, by and during the frequent
removals of older growth, to damage the young growth, which
at the same time gets but little chance for development under
the continued shade of the older growth, and gradually the
valuable forest ‘ runs out.”
It is, however, possible to conceive of this method of selec-
tion under given circumstances and when skilfully manipulated
with regard to the needs of an aftergrowth as good forest
policy, and on the mountain slopes, where the preservation of
a forest cover rather than the production of the most valuable
timber is the object, it is decidedly the best policy.
BE. Fernow.
Recent Publications.
A Catalogue of Niagara Plants, by David F. Day.
To the Report of the Commissioners of the State Reserva-
tion at Niagara, recently presented to the Legislature of this
State, Mr. David F. Day, of Buffalo, has joined a catalogue of
the plants found growing spontaneously upon the Reservation
and inits immediate vicinity. In a very interesting introduction
to this carefully prepared work it appears that it is based upon
observations made in the neighborhood of the Falls during a
period of twenty years. Probably, therefore, the catalogue is
nearly complete, although Mr. Day modestly, states that he
may have overlooked a few species of Grasses, Sedges and
other difficult plants. In the prosecution of his task the author
has consulted, as far as possible, the observations made in this
neighborhood by other botanists. The references to the
botany of Niagara Falls, especially by the earlier explorers, are
few. It is possible that Peter Kalm, the pupil and correspond-
ent of Linnzeus, may have left some record of his observations
made at Niagara in 1750, although no mention can be found of
their publication, either in the Swedish original or in transla-
tions. If Kalm’s journal still exists its publication would be a
welcome addition to the literature of American botany. It is
probable that he discovered the Hypericum and the. Lobelia
which bear his name near Table Rock. There is no evidence
that either Michaux or his son ever visited Niagara, und itis
certain that Pursh came no nearer to it thanthe site of Elmira.
Nuttall, who botanized near the Falls before 1818, mentions but
one plant found by him there—U¢ricularia cornuta. Torrey
was probably familiar with this region, although in his ‘ Flora
of the State of New York,” published in 1843, he mentions as
peculiar to Niagara, but wholly upon other authority, only 15
out of the 1,511 plants which he describes. The labors of later
botanists, however, have been more useful to Mr. Day in the
preparation of his catalogue. The journals of Judge Clinton,
prepared while he was engaged in studying the botany of Buf-
falo and its vicinity, proved of the greatest value, as did the
“Flore Canadienne” of the Abbé Purvancher and Macoun’s
“Catalogue of Canadian Plants.”
The Flora of Goat Island shows few plants that are uncom-
mon>in western New York. Still, the island is rich in the
number of its species. Perhaps no tract of its size in that vici-
nity can exhibit so large a number. Its vernal beauty is attrib-
utable not merely to this variety of plants, but also to the great
abundance in which they are produced. It is probable, more-
over, that the island formerly contained other species which
are now extinct, such as several Orchids and Lilies. The Hare-
bell has disappeared within a comparatively short time, and
the Grass-of-Parnassus is fast going—the result of reckless
flower-picking. The same fate awaits the Blood-root, the
Dutchman’s Breeches, the Wake-Robin and other charming
wild flowers, unless the Commissioners succeed in putting a
stop to this wholesale spoliation. They should endeavor, too,
to restore those plants which have been exterminated from the
island—an undertaking neither difficult nor expensive,
The value of this catalogue is increased by the references it
contains to many rare and interesting plants found near the
Reservation, although not within its borders. Of the 908
species of plants named in the catalogue 757 are native and 151
are foreign.
The Revie ves Deux Mondes—March Ist, 1888—contains
an article on ‘The Composition of Forests”—by the dis-
tinguished paleontologist the Marquis of Saporta, which sets
forth how the present constitution of the forests of various parts
of Europe is explained by the changes of climate which have
taken place in successive geologic periods, and is illustrated
by the tossil record.
Garden and Forest.
APRIL 4, 1888.
Flower Market.
New York, March joth.
Trade has been fairly good this week to supply numerous Church
orders for Holy Thursday and considerable elaborate funeral work.
The long period of dark weather will interfere with Easter bloom to a
certain extent. Asis usual at this time, white flowers are being held
back for use on Sunday. As far as possible florists are resolved not
to alter prices for Easter. There is a gorgeous display in the floral
shops of plants, but it will not be as large as that of last year. Prom-
inent dealers make grand exhibitions of Orchids, arranged in banks,
where choice varieties of Vandas, Epidendrums, Cattleyas, Oncidiums
and Cypripediums are offered for sale by the plant or spray.
Selected Hybrid Roses have risen to $1 each. A limited nuinber of
Her Majesty Rose are brought in, and bring $1.50 each. Tea and
Hybrid Tea Roses remain as quoted last week. Plants of Lzdium Har-
visit cost from $1 to $2, and single flowers from 35 to 50 cts. each, ac-
cording to the location. Plants of Calla with one flower and bud bring
$1. Cut Callas cost 25 and 30 cts., White Ascension Lilies are 15 cts.
each. A few Gladiolus (Shakespear) are offered and sell from 50 to 75
cts. a spike. Lily-of-the-Valley of the best growth costs $1 a dozen; in-
ferior flowers bring 75 cts. a dozen. Spire@a Faponica costs $1a dozen
spikes. Plants of the same of medium size cost $1. French Mar-
guerites are 35 cts. a dozen flowers, or $3 for 100. Large plants well
flecked with bloom sell for $2.50. Boxes of cut flowers for gifts are
more in demand than designs. Novelties for these boxes are Stephan-
otisand Orange Flowers. These sell for 50 cts. a spray. Spikes of
Vanda Suavis tricolor sell for from $3 to $5. There are from six to
eight flowers on them. An Azalea (Artevelde) six feet high brought
$10 ; a plant of Genesta seven feet high $20. Hydrangeas are exqui-
sitely tinted and sell for from $2 to $5 a plant. French Marguerite
Flowers are of an unusually large size.
PHILADELPHIA, March oth.
Owing to the approach of Easter, flowers are plentiful, Carnations
amongst staple articles being the most scarce, Grace Wilder, a deli-
cate pink, is still the favorite, and with more sunlight and heat is im-
proving in quality. Buttercup, yellow, with redstripes, comes next in
favor. Whites will be most in demand at Easter. Swayne and Lam-
born are amongst the best new sorts. “Hinzie’s White is also good ;
it brings from 35 to 50 cts. per dozen, Tulips are frequently delivered
at the stores growing in shallow boxes; they make a gorgeous display.
Cottage Maid, rosy pink, shaded with white Duchess de Parma,
bronze-red, edged with yellow, Kaiser’s Kroon, similar in color, but
lighter, and the red and yellow more clearly defined, are all favorites,
as are also the yellows, Chrysolora and Yellow Prince. Whites and
solid reds are in demand too. They sell at from 75 cts. to $1.25 per
dozen. Violets are not so good in quality as they were ; some of the
single ones are poor, and sell at from $1 to $1.50 per 100, according to
the quality and variety. Single varieties, when good in quality, are
favorites here. Asparagus tenuissimus will be more used for Easter
decorations than formerly. This is brought about through the scarcity
of Smilax; it sells at from 50 to 75 cts. perstring. 4. plumosus is not
atall plentiful. It is preferred to A. tenwissimus when obtainable at the
higher price. Roses—Magna Charta, Captain Christy, Madame Lui-
zet, Baroness Rothschild, Mrs. John Laing and Jacqueminots, amongst
Hybrid Remontants—are plentiful, and sell at from $3 to $8 per dozen,
according to location, variety and quality. Puritans, with the advanc-
ing season, continue to improve. Catherine Mermets are not a good
color, Bennetts are fine when fresh, but their disagreeable tendency
to become blue with age renders them less valuable than they were
early in the season, especially since Jacqueminots have become so
abundant.
Boston, March 3oth.
The flower stores are gorgeous with Easter plants and flowers. The
use of plants in churches has become almost as general as the use of
cut flowers. For this purpose are offered a variety of showy, flower-
ing plants, among which the Harrisii and ‘* Longiflorum Lilies must
be given first place. Fine pots of these bring from $2.00 to $5.00 each,
according to the number of blooms. Quite as showy as the Lilies,
and more durable, are the Hydrangeas. The variety most generally
seen is that known as Z/. Ofaksa. Plants are offered in all sizes, from
$1.50 to $5.00 each. Spireeas and Cinerarias are also to be had in
profusion, and are worth from $1.00 to $1.50 per pot. Cut Lilies and
Callas bring $6.00 per dozen. The old-fashioned White Lilies bring
from $2.00 to $3.00 per dozen flowers on stalks. Cool weather has
been favorable for the Rose crop. The quality of Roses to be had for
Faster in this market has never been better. Magnificent Hybrids
are offered at $12.00 per dozen. The best Mermets, La France and
Jacqueminots bring from $4.00to $6.00 per dozen. Lilies-of-the-Valley,
Tulips and Daffodils continue at $1.00 per dozen. Carnations have
advanced in price, and good, long-stemmed fancy varieties bring $1.00
per dozen readily. Immense quantities of Violets and Pansies are
always used for Easter; $1.50 per hundred is the price quoted. Smi-
lax is very scarce at 50 cts. per yard. The new climbing Asparagus,
which is more beautiful and lasis longer than Smilax, is largely used
as a substitute.
3
:
_ APRIL 11, 1888.]
© ARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[LImITED.]
Orrice: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.
Gonducted by. 6. 3 e 6 as . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1888.
iDABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGE,
EpirorraL ArticLtes!—Arbor Day.—A Dangerous Measure,—Street Trees.
eI O LES ts clesatscers Stinnveiatiyie'=)
Landscape Gardening, VII..
Which is the Better Way ”.
Cemeteries
A Disease of Certain Japanese Shrubs
Fruit Growing in Florida . A. AH. Curtiss. 77
New or Litrite Known Prants: Yucca filifera (w ith “tw o illustrations)...C SS. 78
Chivnophila Jamesii (with illustration)................08 6S Sereno Watson. 79
«Ars. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 75
B.S. Olmstead. 76
- ¥ C Olmsted. 76
.. Wm. Falconer. 77
— Cutrurat DeparTMENT :—Pruning Shrubs. . Berets eee oO,
The Cultivation of Lilies.......... C. LL. Allen. 8
SECO NET RNOUOUCHOLGNS. 5500s cnseecacaevancasesces Seaaees s ire ‘Falconer. 81
Chrysanthemum Notes—Acacia pube —Hardy Rhododendrons.. 81
Tue Forest :—Tree Planting in California. Uegiisiane sistema aioe shee Robert Dereies, 82
KEGRRESRONDEN CE sn cletetaiicieiajaisisinsininio bien aes Wasba\oaieclarele casa San cisisle ofa 4 sober ee 83
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Arbor Day.
HIS festival, which originated about a dozen years
ago in Nebraska, seems already to have won an
established place among American holidays, and some
thirty of the States will “observe the custom this spring.
‘The very existence of such a celebration is proof of an
awakened interest in tree planting ; and that it has been
made to a certain degree a public-school holiday is en-
—couraging, because this indicates the direction in which
such exercises may be made to have a genuine value.
Roadside tree planting is not forestry, nor can it in any
way serve the purpose of forest planting or of forest pro-
tection. It may be worth while, too, to suggest to some
enthusiasts that planting rows of trees by every roadside is ©
not commendable, and that planting the wrong kind of
trees in any position, or planting suitable kinds badly, in-
variably means disappointment and loss. The failure of
many plantations along the railroads of some western
States, owing to improper selection and worse care, has
wrought injury far beyond the mere loss to the companies.
It has discouraged others and engendered a belief that all
attempts in this direction are hopeless. Nor will the at-
tractive exercises of Arbor Day serve any effective purpose
unless the trees are intelligently selected and planted.
_ Distorted and sickly growth or early death of the trees will
follow to the disheartenment of all who planted them so
joyously and hopefully.
As a people, Americans are not over sentimental.
But this sudden awakening to the peril that threatens our
forests, may lead to the error of esteeming it something
like a crime to lift up an axe against any tree. Mr. Glad.
_ stone has said that the greatest “obstacle to a sound forest
policy in Great Britain was the superstition that invested
trees with a certain sacredness, so that felling one was
looked upon as sacrilege. We occasionally observe the same
feeling manifested here by worthy people who, in their
“new-born zeal, are led to speak of all lumbermen as ene-
mies of the humanrace. Of course there can be no sys-
em of forestry without tree-cutting, and the protest, to
Garden and Forest.
73
have any value, should be made against wasteful cutting
or the stripping of mountains, where the trees serve ah igher
purpose as a protection to the water courses than they can
when made into lumber. It often happens, too, that to
secure the highest landscape beauty, trees that are im-
properly ple laced need to be se hay and every one who
has had charge of public parks has been rebuked tor
vandalism when it was necessary to sacrifice a
a group of trees.
Now, the antidote to any extravagance of this sort is a
knowledge of trees and their uses ; and the hopeful feature
in this Arbor Day celebration is that which makes it
essentially a school holiday and connects it with the
educational system of the State. It will serve no worthy
purpose when the Governor of a great State, as a part of the
solemnities, plants White Pines to struggle with the smoke
and dust of a city square. But if it can be made an object
lesson to the young, as the crowning ceremony of a course
of instruction on trees and their needs and uses, it may
become an educating influence of serious value. Beyond
question, the children of our public schools are entitled
to some elementary teaching in regard to the abundant
tree growth all about them. It is a scandal that they
Should grow up in ignorance of the very names of the
trees they see every day, and that they should know
nothing of their uses or of the laws that control their
ee Ability to give instruction in this direction
should be required as part of the equipment of every
teacher. And if, in addition to the instruction received,
the children are led to plant trees with some holiday
ceremony, they will be likely to watch their growth
with a personal interest and note what helps or hinders
it. The beautiful custom of planting memorial trees is one
against which even the man who delights to style himself
“practical,” can offer no objection ; and if a child is in-
duced to give closer observation to a tree because it is
called by his name, the gain is substantial ; for the cultiva-
tion of habits of observation and comparison is of itself an
education.
Arbor Day will exert a beneficent influence if it does any-
thing to hasten the time when even the children can give
an intelligent reason for choosing a particular tree for a
given place or purpose, and when they know how to plant
it properly, and to give it the care 1t needs thereafter.
tree or
A Dangerous Measure.
BILL authorizing the Forest Commissioners of this
State to lease portions of the forest preserve, not ex-
ceeding five acres in extent, and for periods not exceeding
five years in length, has already passed the Assembly and
awaits the action of the Senate. This bill emanates
from the Commissioners, whose duty it is to protect
and preserve the State forests, and they recommend and
urge its passage. It is a measure fraught with danger
to the Adirondack forests, and it ought to be defeated.
The history of this bill, and the reasons which have in-
duced the Commissioners to recommend this remarkable
policy, are, as we understand them, briefly these: A large
number of persons have, at different times, entered upon
the State domain, within what is now the forest preserve,
and, without legal authority, have built for themselves
summer homes on the land thus occupied. Many of the
most beautiful islands in Lake George, and some of the
most desirable sites on, the Adirondack lakes, are now held
in thisway by squatters. Among them are men of wealth,
and men of social and political influence. These facts make
the position of the Commissioners a delicate and difficult
one. If they allow the squatters to remain, they lay them-
selves open to serious charges of malfeasance in the exe-
cution of a public trust; if they take steps to have them
removed from the State lands they create personal hostility
against themselves. They hope, however, by obtaining
authority to lease portions of the forest, to legalize this
unlawful occupation of State lands, and at the same time
74
to put themselves in a position to be able to supply eligible
building lots for summer homes at low rates.
This should not be allowed. The bill is too general and
sweeping in its provisions. It gives too much power to the
Commission, and throws too much temptation in their
path. The policy of forest management, which its
passage would inaugurate, is, we are convinced, a danger-
ous one. The only reason that justifies the State of New
York in holding lands in the Adirondack region, is that the
forests which grow upon them may be properly protected
and preserved. These forests have an important and con-
trolling influence upon the prosperity of the whole State. If
they are to be parceled off into five-acre building lots
it will be impossible to carry out any scheme of
forest management. Settlers, even when they are rich,
and possess social and political influence, are a constant
menace to the forest. They increase the danger of fire;
they stamp out or clear up the undergrowth, even when
they do not destroy or injure the trees, and they are, when
they become numerous, a powerful incentive to railroad
building.
If a wealthy citizen of this town should ask the privilege
of building a summer-home for himself in the Central Park,
the proposition would be considered monstrous. The
proposition to use the Adirondack forest-park in a
similar manner only differs in degree; it is equally mon-
strous, and might become far more dangerous. There are
now comparatively few settlers in the Adirondack forests,
but the number is increasing every year, and if the author-
ity to lease land is given to the Commissioners, sooner or
later every lake will be lined with settlements and every
available site in the forest will have a cottage on it. All
the wild and rural charm of the woods will be destroyed,
their usefulness as a great popular sanitarium will come
to an end, and it will be merely a question of time,
when the State forests must be destroyed, or lose their
essential value.
There is still territory enough in the Adirondack woods,
outside of the State preserve, for a large population, and
no hardship will be inflicted in shutting up the public
lands from settlement, except in the case of persons who
have made expensive improvements on land to which they
never hada title, and which now they should be compelled
to vacate.
The Commission has doubtless been led to advocate
this measure through ignorance of the dangers which its
adoption would entail in the end upon the forests. It is
not to be believed that they have done so in full knowledge
of whata forest really is, and of the requirements of even the
crudest system of forest preservation. They have now, how-
ever, an opportunity toshow their zealand publicspirit. The
Adirondack forests are about to be cut up and seriously
injured by the building of numerous railroads. The forests,
or at least those portions of them which belong to the
State, can still be saved from this new danger by a vigor-
ous effort to secure restraining legislation. It is the duty
of the Commission to make this effort; its members will
find themselves supported in it by public applause and the
assistance of the people of this State.
Street Trees.
N no branch of rural economy, perhaps, are Americans
so far behind the people of almost every country of
Europe, asin the selection, planting and care of street and
road-side trees ; and this is particularly true in the case of
the plantations made in most of our larger cities and their
suburbs.
Two mistakes are almost invariably made in undertak-
ings of this character in the United States; the work is
done too cheaply, and the trees are badly selected with
reference to future effect. Saplings dug from the
woods with mutilated roots and branches, are planted in
shallow soil, and are then left to strugele unaided against
the enemies which beset urban and suburban trees—
Garden and Forest.
[APRIL 11, 1888.
drought and dust and starvation, gnawing horses and
ravaging insects. In the case, for example, of a great pub-
lic improvement now in progress near one of the principal
cities of the United States—an improvement which is de-
pendent entirely upon a growth of stately shade-trees for
its value and to which its promoters are fond of alluding
as “an American Champs £lysées’—it has been seriously
proposed to plant trees dragged from a neighboring swamp
in strips of earth four feet wide and only one foot deep,
resting on a bed of porous gravel. It is needless to say
that trees planted in this way could never do more than
drag out a brief and miserable existence.
There is no poorer economy than trying to plant street
trees cheaply. Unless the work can be done well it had
better not be doneatall. The ground should be thoroughly
prepared, and well-selected nursery-grown trees, carefully
pruned for the purpose, should alone be used. The Ameri-
can habit of taking saplings from the woods, cutting off all
their branches and half their stem, and then using them as
street-trees, cannot be toostrongly condemned. The result
of such treatment is this. A fork is formed by two or
more horizontal branches pushing up from the top of the
cut stem. Water gathers and stands in this fork, and grad-
ually carries decay down into the trunk of the tree, de-
stroying it long before it reaches maturity.
Street trees not only should be carefully selected and
thoroughly planted, but if anything like a satisfactory result
is expected, should be protected from gnawing animals,
and judiciously pruned as often as pruning is necessary to
keep them in proper shape. The mistake of too close
planting is almost invariably made in this country, and
trees planted thickly for immediate effect are rarely thinned
in time to prevent their injury by overcrowding.
In the matter of selection we make as many mistakes,
and almost as serious ones, as in our methods of planting. —
It is a well established rule, based upon common sense,
that trees of one variety only should be planted on one
continuous street or avenue. The reason is obvious. If
trees of different varieties are used, that uniformity essen-
tial in urban planting to the production of harmony of ef-
fect will be lost. Trees of different varieties grow different- _
ly. Some grow more rapidly than others; some come —
into leaf and some lose their foliage earlier than others ;
some, as they approach maturity, assume a stately, and
others a graceful aspect; and variety which may make
a country road-side beautiful, is entirely out of place —
in connection with the formal lines of city buildings. This |
rule is rarely observed in the United States. Trees of one
variety are rarely planted here in continuous lines. The —
pendulous American Elm alternates with the rigid-branched _
Sugar Maple, or a heavy Horse-Chestnut is seen between |
two sprawling Silver Maples.
Such combinations of trees are incongruous when planted
and age only makes them worse. Roads here and there ©
in New England planted exclusively with the Sugar |
Maple or with the Elm, or in some of the far Southern —
States with the Water Oak, serve to show how much more ©
beautiful and effective a street plantation can be made by |
using one variety of tree, than by any possible combina- —
tion of different varieties. Or, to cross the Atlantic for ex- —
amples, the continuous avenues of Planes, of Lindens and |
of Horse-Chestnuts in Northern Europe, of Sophoras in |
Italy and of Ailanthus in Paris, clearly teach the same les- —
son. e
Pa
ba
Now is the time when plant-orders from all quarters and —
from all sorts of people are pouring in upon nurserymen. —
Many of these lists display an ignorance of the first prin- _
ciples of good planting which distresses the expert nursery- _
man, and the lack of assurance that the plants of even the |
better lists will be arranged to advantage often troubles his —
mind still more. For he knows that trees and shrubs, how- |
ever well chosen, may yet be so unadvisedly planted as to —
produce no harmonious effect; that they may easily be-
placed so as never to really satisfy the hopes of their planter,
APRIL 11, 1888.]
and never be any credit to their grower, the nurseryman.
The owner of a suburban lot or of acountry-seat reads the
descriptions in a catalogue and writes an order, perhaps for
séveral hundred dollars’ worth of plants. Some day the stock
arrives, and the owner and his gardener, or perhaps a ‘‘ land-
scape gardener” from the nursery, proceed forthwith to plant-
ing. The result may be seen in the suburbs of every city and
in many country estates. Everywhere are nursery novelties
indiscriminately scattered among native wood and shrub-
bery, or dotted as single specimens all over the lawns.
Even as specimens the plants are seldom arranged with
good effect. The whole method of procedure is wrong.
The fault is not the gardener’s, for the most accomplished
artist could render small service, if he were called on only
after the plants had been delivered on the ground.
The designing of plantations, large or small, calls for the
best skill of the real landscape gardener. They should be
made to harmonize with the existing natural features of the
ground; they should not destroy, but should, if possible,
emphasize its natural character. Even for suburban lots,
their proper planning requires much knowledge of the
nature of plants, much imagination, and much careful
preliminary study upon paper. — It is safe to say that the
nurseryman who secures many orders from professionat
landscape gardeners, or who persuades his customers to
make or get planting-plans in advance, will possess a more
comfortable mind and conscience, and will find himself
far better advertised by his plants, than his rivals.
Senator Vest’s bill providing, among other things, for une
extension of the boundaries of Yellowstone Park towards
the south and east, is one which should be promptly
passed. The enlargement will include the western slope of
the Absaroka Range, with the timber land at the sources
of the mountain streams flowing into the park, as well as
those which flow eastward into the Big Horn. This pro-
posed addition to the park is so rugged in surface that it
can never be subdued to agricultural use, and from its geo-
logical formation it is safe to pronounce it utterly barren of
mineral wealth. But as a part of this great natural reservoir
where waters are stored to find their way to both oceans, the
forest here is of incalculable value. Not only will these
coniferous woods restrain the melting snows of winter, but
here, unlike most of the Rocky Mountain region, aresummer
rains to be husbanded as well. Many of thestreams which
receive part of their supply from this region can be used for
purposes of irrigation, and upon this will depend the suc-
cess or failure of agriculture for thousands of square miles.
This is only one of many areas along the Rocky Mountains
which should be set apart as forest-land forever, but from
its connection with the Park it isa promising place to begin.
Buiere should be little difficulty in passing Senator Vest’s
ill.
‘
It does not seem as though taste in the arrangement of
flowers was at a very high level in this country, when we
read the following paragraph, descriptive of a construction
‘that was exhibited in a Western city not long ago: “ Upon
an easel of Cat-tails a velvet plaque rested. The latter was
decorated with a cluster of Roses, and at one side, resting
upon a branch of Holly, was a little owl made of Violets
and natural enough looking to fly away. Beneath was a
nest full of eggs.” But reading it quoted with approval
unter the heading, ‘‘Another Pretty Thing,” in a late num-
ber of a prominent English horticultural journal, we are
-somewhat consoled by the thought that if our taste is bad,
it is no worse than that of the rest of the world.
It is proposed by French horticulturalists to erect a mon-
ument over the grave of Lacharme, the famous cultivator
of Roses. The Viennese Jlusirirfe Garten Zeitung suggests
that lovers of Roses in other countries should contribute
towards the monument, and names M. Bernaix, 63 Cours
Lafayette, at Villeurbanne-Lyon, in France, as the person
to whom remittances may be made.
Garden and Forest.
1
Landscape Gardening.—VII.
homes of the better class are isolated in their own
grounds, we must confess that they do not prove us as far
advanced in the art of gardening as we are in certain other
arts. Few villa-lots in any neighborhood show that the
first requisite of a good effect has been considered—com-
position. Little regard is usually paid to the harmonious
arrangement of contrasting forms, and still less, I may now
add, to the harmonious arrangement of contrasting colors.
I do not propose to discuss the intrinsic excellence of
that popular kind of gardening which is known as “‘ bed-
ding out,” as ‘‘ribbon” or ‘pattern gardening.” There
are many who would almost invariably prefer to it some
more natural disposition of bright-flowered or bright-leaved
plants—something more like nature’s own floral arrange-
ments or like those of our grandmothers’ days. But, given
the fact that solid, bright-hued pattern beds may be intrin-
sically beautiful, how often do we see them used in a way
which suggests the desire to make them part and parcel of
a beautiful general scheme, and how often is that nice feel-
ing for color which we are so fond of exercising inside our
homes displayed in choosing and assorting the plants which
compose them? The beds we most often see are ugly in
shape, garish in their contrasts of tint, and disposed with-
out due regard to anything around them, A man who
would not for worlds hang a chromo on his carefully tinted
parlor wall, contentedly puts chromos in Coleus and Gera-
nium in the middle ofa lawn the strong green tone of which
throws their gaudiness into high relief.
If, now, we look atour larger country-seats and parks we
find more palpable evidence of good taste. Wehave some
admirable landscape gardeners in America, and, naturally,
they are more often asked to manage large problems than
small ones. But as yet they are not asked nearly often
enough; and even when asked their counsels are not al-
ways respected. They may be allowed to lay out the
grounds as they wish, but when once their backs are turned,
how quick is the owner to retouch—and spoil—their work!
How seldom does he ask himself what it was that his land-
scape gardener really wanted to do—what was the general
effect he wanted to produce,—and then address himself to
developing and preserving it! How seldom do wesee any
place, great or small, of which we can say, There is every-
thing here that the eye desires—there is nothing that it
could wish away! How surprised would almost any pro-
prietor be, did we venture to criticise the view from his
window upon the same principles that we should apply to
a painting on his walls ; and yet, unless it will stand such
criticism, it is not what he has wished to make it.
Of course, only an experienced and capable artist can
arrange any extensive gardening scheme with success.
And even the smallest scheme is likely to be more success-
fully planned and more rapidly perfected under an artist’s
eye. Yet even if his help is unattainable there is no reason
why we should resignedly fall back upon haphazard ways
of working. Any man can try to work in an artistic spirit,
even if he cannot rival an artist’s skill in execution. That
is to say, no result made up of various elements—even if
those elements be the very fewest in number—can be good
which is not good as a whole; to make it good as a whole
we must begin by having a clear idea of what sort of a
whole we want ; and to begin with such an idea is to work
in an artistic spirit, no matter how well or poorly we suc-
ceed in giving it beautiful expression. The scheme is the
main point—the scheme and the will to stick to it and not
be tempted by the beauty of individual things into frittering
away or confusing its effect.
Is it needful to say that working in this spirit we should
not only work to better eventual effect, but with greater
pleasure at the moment? To have some appropriate and
charming little picture in our minds which we want to
realize; to dispose our ground, and to choose and place
our plants, with the requirements of this picture before us—
lie as I have said, we look at any American town where
76
this is to get the highest degree of pleasure from our plant-
ing. Nor can it be objected that when the picture is once
arranged, then our work and pleasure are over, unless it
can be perpetually tampered with and disarranged. To
the artist the mutability of nature is often a heavy cross,
since he knows that when his result is considered finished
he must leave it to others who will permit it (even if they
do not aid it) to transform itself into something very differ-
ent. But to the proprietor or gardener who is trying on a
modest scale to emulate the artist, this very mutability in-
sures the permanence of his pleasure. Day by day and
year by year he can watch the development of his picture,
guard against Nature’s disfiguring retouches, welcome her
happy accidents, and carefully correct and retouch his re-
sult himself while preserving its general integrity. And
this work will surely be pleasant, for to the scientific satis-
faction of the cultivator will. be added that purest of all
delights—the consciousness of being a creator in the field
of art. AT. G. van Rensselaer.
Which is the Better Way?
NE difference between landscape painting and land-
scape gardening is that the trees and shrubs in the
picture of the painter do not grow, while those in the gar-
dener’s picture do grow. Hence the former is free to show
his group fully grown at once, while the latter must wait
for years until his little specimens attain the desired size,
Two methods of planting are practiced. One attempts
to produce present effect ; the other aims at ultimate results.
Planting material is usually small. This is especially the
case where novelties are used. Hencea design of planting,
no matter how carefully studied for future effect, may give
meagre results at first—the grounds will appear not fully
furnished, and the impatience of the owner. will compel
the landscape gardener to plant greater quantities than one
educated to foresee future effects would deem advisable.
On the other hand, if the design is made to produce im-
mediate results, the growth of the planting will in time
cause a surfeit, and finally the grounds will appear to beas
much overplanted as they would at first seem to be unfin-
ished on the other plan, and with this difference, the over-
planted grounds will not improve, but the surfeit will in-
crease. Individual specimens will encroach upon and
destroy each other. Here the ‘survival of the fittest ”—
that is, the fittest for beauty and interest—will not always
occur. The more delicate, and, oftentimes, the more beau-
tiful, will be crowded out by the coarser growing kinds. As
a reply to this objection, how many times have I heard it
said, ‘‘Oh, well, we will ‘ thin out’ as the specimens grow.”
But the trouble is, the owners of overplanted ground do not
‘‘thin out,” but everything is left to grow together “until
the harvest,” and that harvest generally is a rooting out of
alland a more judicious planting made to take the place of
the old. Sometimes it happens that the harvest is deferred
until the harvester appears in the person of anew owner.
Ihave in mind a case of overplanting which I was called
upon to remedy some ten or twelve yearsago. The former
owner had died, and the property came into the hands of
anew proprietor, who, soon after the purchase, sent for help.
He said that he felt there was something the matter with the
grounds, but he did not know exactly what. I suggested
suffocation, ‘That's it,” he replied; ‘‘see if you can get
rid of it.” And thereupon some four hundred trees and
shrubs came out at once. In one or two instances it was
absolutely necessary to remove more than would have been
advisable had more judicious methods of planting prevailed
at first. Masses of evergreens entirely filled up spaces
where glades and vistas ought to have appeared. These
would have been secured if two or three trees onlyshad
been originally planted, and even now the removal of a
part of these masses would leave the needed opening ; but
the trees were so thickly grown together, that taking out a
part would have exposed dead branches all up the sides
of the trees left standing, and therefore the removal of
every one was necessary,
Garden and Forest.
Te
[APRIL £1, 1888.
From what has been said it appears that both methods
of planting have their faults. That by which present effects
are secured eventually produces a surfeit, which will not
improveas time goes on. The design made to secure future
results, at first gives an appearance of bareness, which
gradually disappears as the design comes to full develop-
ment.
In my reference to overplanted grounds, I have stated
facts as they ordinarily occur. ‘here are exceptions.
Grounds can be and are planted so as to give pleasing re-
sults at first, and then are so carefully watched, and so
promptly relieved of any undue crowding, that all continues
satisfactory. Nevertheless, a long experience has con-
vinced me that with a carefully studied design the most
satisfactory results will follow when only those trees and
shrubs are used which are intended toremain. The reason
isobvious. In the firstcase the intention of the design be-
comes indefinite and wavering, as individual members of
the overcrowded planting are removed, one after another,
to make room for those which are to remain ; in the second
case, the result is definite, because the intention of the de-
sign continues the same. There is nochange or fluctuation
of purpose. The trees and shrubs when planted were
given room for full development, andso to take upon them-
selves all the beauty and gracefulness of form with which
nature has endowed them,
There is one way of securing both present and future
effects, and that is the planting of large trees; but this is
costly, somewhat doubtful in its results, and it can be of
but limited use. B.S. Olmstead.
[There are cultural advantages in planting trees and
shrubs so closely that they will protect each other when
small, and if the plants that are to remain were designated
in the original plan and those used for supplementary
purposes could be removed at the proper time, close plant-
ing would be the best practice. But few men have the
strength and persistence of purpose to root out thrifty trees
and shrubs as they begin to crowd, especially those which
they have planted themselves. Besides this, frequent
changessof owners help to defeat the best intentions in this.
matter. Therefore it is safer, as a.rule, to plant only such
trees and shrubs as are meant to have a permanent place
ina design. It should be added that ‘‘ novelties” should
never be used to produce effects which require time for
their development. Who knows how strange plants will
thrive ina soil and climate to which they are not accus-
tomed ?—Ep. }
:
4
:
a
Cemeteries.
CEMETERY is a space set apart from all other uses for
the particular purpose of burying the dead and
of erecting memorials to them. Its purpose, being so dis-
tinctive, should not be confused with that of any sort of
public pleasure-ground.
This may seem too obvious to need pointing out, but the —
fact appears to be that almost every important cemetery
becomes noted in a way which shows clearly that its real —
purpose has become confused with that of displaying —
what,can be accomplished by certain decorative arts.
Such a display is out of place and in bad taste. Obviously
the rule should be that nothing which is decorative, rare,
curious, historical or amusing should be allowed in a
cemetery for its own sake, but only as it may aid the true ©
purposes of a burial-ground. ‘Too often, the aim appears
to be to afford gratification to those who come to the
cemetery in the same frame of mind in which they might _
be expected to go toa fine public garden; that is, on the ©
alert to admire ‘‘ Nature’s bright productions,” ‘‘triumphs
of horticultural art,” and things “rare and curious.” They
try to ignore the graves as unfortunate and inharmonious
objects, but gaze with pride, if they are natives, or with —
envy if they are from another town, at the largest and |
most costly monuments, just as they would at a new |
court-house or triumphal arch. They are attracted as
by ashow. The cast-iron fences and most of the other |
APRIL it, 1888.]
usual accessories, are sufficiently well adapted to aid in the
pleasurable impression which the big, showy monuments
and the ribbon-gardening make upon this class of visitors.
The custom of making a display of pretty flower-beds is
questionable. A cemetery should be built, planned and
maintained with sole regard to its prime purpose, and
every respect should be shown for the feelings and senti-
ments of mourners and those who visit the place in a
serious and contemplative frame of mind. Not that there
should be a prevailing aspect of gloom and sadness, or
anything approaching desolation and dreariness ; but cer-
tainly any appearance of gaity and festivity, and all bright,
lively, ephemeral decoration such as might be appropriate
_ to certain kinds of pleasure-gardens, should be carefully
avoided.
The best that planting can do for a cemetery is to give
an appearance of unity to a necessarily more or less
heterogeneous collection of individual monuments ; to give
as much sense of seclusion to all parts of the grounds as
possible ; to isolate each monument from its neighbors ;
and-to form a background and frame to each important
monument. A certain kind of decorative planting is ad-
missible, on the same principle that picture frames may
be decorated. That is, it should be in keeping with and
subordinate to the greater work of art which calls it into
existence, but it should be used very moderately and with
careful discrimination, else it had far better be omitted.
Simplicity is the safest rule to follow in most instances.
J.C. Olmsted.
Brookline, Mass.
A Disease of Certain Japanese Shrubs.
N regard to Professor Gibbs’ very interesting communica-
tion, p. 40, I would say that I have noted this disease fora
good many years. We callit the Japanese ‘“die-back.” The
cause thereof I know not, but I have observed that it is
aggravated when the plants are grown under unfavorable con-
ditions. As arule, Japanese trees and shrubs dislike drought
in summer or winter, hot sunshine at any time, and exposure
to searing windsin winter. I have found that Japanese Maples
grown in good loamy, moist ground, well sheltered, and faintly
shaded in summer, are very little affected by the “ die- back,”
but when grown in exposed situations and dryish sandy land,
they are very subject to it.
Cercis Faponica with us has the tips of its shoots killed back
a little every winter, but otherwise it behaves very well.
Exochorda grandifiora does not seem affected. Staphylea
Colchica sutfers in this way. Viburnum plicatum does not
show this disease in our garden, but I know of it in New Jer-
sey, where it is not only affected by this disease, but the ends
of the shoots get killed back nearly every year as if it were not
hardy enough. Cercidiphyllum is hardy and healthy with us ;
so, too, is Eleagnus longipes. Ampelopsis tricuspidata gets
killed back a good deal in winter, but seems to enjoy immu-
nity from the summer ‘“die-back.”
But we have other than Japanese shrubs that are affected
with summer ‘‘die-back.” Take, for instance, our native
Hydrangea qguercifolia ; it is as bad, or worse, in this respect,
than a ‘Japanese Maple. And what can be worse in this way
than Rhus Cotinus? Even of old and apparently most
healthy specimens, half the bush will sometimes die back to
the ground in summer, and unaccountably. Deciduous Aza-
leas likewise die back a deal in summer, but in their case
especially I am certain the disease is greatly aggravated by un-
favorable conditions of cultivation. Win, Falconer,
Fruit Growing in Florida. ‘
[RAKING up the subject of fruit culture in Florida at the
point marked by the ‘‘semi-centennial freeze” of 1886, it
may be said that the Orange, Lemon and other Citrus fruits
have held their own, and that the crop of fruit next winter is
likely to be four times as large as that which was nipped
by the memorable frost.
Before the frost some little interest had been aroused in cer-
tain other fruits that had recently been introduced, and during
the following year their merits were discussed with eager
interest, for public confidence in the Orange had, in fact, been
seriously shaken, and the importance of diversification was
generally conceded.
The most noted of these new fruits were those odd Chinese
Peaches, the Honey and Peen-to, the former with a beak-like
Garden and Forest.
a
point, and the latter drawn in at both ends like a certain style
of pin-cushion. The Le Conte and Keiffer Pears were also
much talked of, and likewise the Japan Persimmon. On these
the Florida nurserymen bestowe d much attention in 1886, and
still more in the following year, the demand for such stock in-
creasing enormously. There are nearly 1oo nurseries named
and advertised in Florida, yet the population of the State,
including negroes, is only about 400,000. Large orders for
young Orange trees were received from Cz lifornia last winter,
and tens of thousands were shipped to that State.
In 1886 one of the Japan Piums, which came from California
nurseries under the name of Kelsey's Plum, was fruited in
Florida from a bud of the previous year. It proved to be
remarkably vigorous and precocious, bearing fruit of large
size (over two inches in diameter), of fine flavor, with small
pits, not subject to curculio—in short, a marvelously fine Plum,
in all respects. During the same year some seedlings—jx
haps hybrids—of the Chinese Peaches were brought to notice
and nurserymen have made a specialty of them. They are
superior to the originals, and the tendency to variation indi-
cates that, by selection, still better varieties may be obtained in
the future.
Of the Pears mentioned, the Le Conte has grown steadily in
favor. Inthe country around Tallahassee it was a source of
considerable revenue last year, and plans are on foot for estab-
lishing an exchange for handling this year’s crop. As to the
Japan Persimmon, the only question is in regard to its quali-
ties as a marketab le fruit. It is hardy, he valthy, and precocious
in bearing, but, like the Loquat, its status is not fully deter-
mined. Both of these trees, as to foliage and fruit, are verv
ornamental, and are great acquisitions to the orchard, if only
for home use. The same may be said of the Guava, which is
scarcely less valuable to the people of the southern half of
Florida than is the apple in more northern States
The Grape is another fruit that has acquired prominence
since the freeze of 1886. European grape-growers have estab-
lished extensiv e vineyards in certain localities and have found
some varieties to do remarkably well. Professor E. Dubois
makes a epecieny of wine-grapes. He is enthusiastic in
praise of the Cynthiana and Norton’s Virginia, two seedlings
of Vitis estivalis. :
The Fig, Pomegranate, Mulberry and Olive have long been
cultivated in Florida, and deserve more attention than they
receive. The Fig grows almost spontaneously. The variety
so extensively imported succeeds finely, and, with proper
appliances for drying, it ought to be grown profitably for
market. In the northern counties considerable attention has
been bestowed on the Pecan and the English Walnut, and
many plantations of them are growing. The Almonds and
foreign Chestnuts. may also be § grown tor home use,
To: summarize, the present aspect of fruit-culture in pe
may be stated as follows: On the southern coast Pineapple
are grown for market in large quantity, and large plz aeiore
of Cocoanuts have been started. Many other West Indian
fruits are grown there for home use. Throughout the south-
ern half of the peninsula the Pineapple and Banana fruit we ll,
and the latter is grown for ornament throughout the State.
The Mango, Avocado Pear, Sugar Apple, Sapodilla, and
some other sub-tropical fruits, succeed well as far se as
Tampa Bay, and Guavas nearly to the northern border, but a
cold wave like that of 1886 will cut them down. All the fruits
previously mentioned do well, except in the southernmost
counties.
The fruits shipped out of the State rate in importance about
as follows: Oranges, Pineapples, Strawberries, Pears, Peaches,
Grapes and Persimmons. The Apricot, Quince and Apple are
occasionally met with. The latter promises to succeed best
grafted on the Pear. Of Plums, numerous varieties are in cul-
tivation, the Wild Goose and Marianna being the best native
varieties, and Kelsey's the best of the Japanese, with numerous
others yet to be introduced. Of Peaches, the Peen-to and its
seed dlings succeed well in sandy lands, and some varieties of
the Persian strain where there is clay sub soil.
Taking a brief retrospect, it is evident that horticulture in
Florida has made greater advances within the last two years
than during any four years in her previous history. Hundreds
of thousands of deciduous fruit-trees and vines have been
planted. New varieties have been tested. More attention has
been given to the science of horticulture. A reform in the
system of selling and shipping Oranges and other fruits is in
progress. Improved transportation and appliances for retrig-
eration are being provided. Fruit-growing is steadily increas-
ing in importance, and in most portions of the State if will long
continue to be the favorite industr y. A. FY, Curtiss.
Jacksonville, Fla,
78 Garden and Forest.
New or Little Known Plants.
Yucca filifera.
HIS, the ‘‘ Palma” of the Mexicans of Nuevo Leon,
and the largest of the known species of Yucca, is
certainly one of the most remarkable and interesting trees
of North America. It was first discovered about 1840, near
Saltillo in north-eastern Mexico, by Dr. J. Gregg, author of
the well known ‘‘Commerce of the Prairies.” It was next
seen in December, 1852, between Parras and Saltillo, by
Dr. George Thurber and a party of the United States Boundary
Commission, and is referred to, but without characters or
description, in Dr. Torrey’s ‘‘ Botany of the Boundary.” A
figure of the tree, however, appeared in Mr. Bartlett s ‘¢Per-
sonal Narratives” of the Boundary Surveys, vol. ii., p. 491.
[APRIL 11, 1888,
by whom plants were raised and distributed. One of these
flowered in 1876, in the garden of the Baron Prailly, near
Hyeéres, and was figured and described by Chabaud in the
Revue Hortcole, under the not very fortunate name of
Fucca filifera*, by which this tree must now be known,
Yucca filifera is a wide-branching tree often 50 feet in
height. The short trunk, 15-20 feet high in fully grown
specimens, and not rarely five feet in diameter above the
somewhat swollen base, is covered with dark brown scaly
bark. ‘The leaves, persistent upon the stout branches for
many years, are thin, smooth, narrowly oblanceolate,
18-20 inches long, with fibrous edges, the threads white,
or sometimes reddish-brown. The pendulous panicles
appearin April and May ; they are 4-6 feet long and 18-20
inches wide. ‘The flowers are small, 2-3 inches wide,
the ovate, or lance-ovate, narrow segments rarely exceed-
Fig. 13.—Yucca filifera
This figure very well shows its habit except that the great
panicles of flowers are represented upright on the summit
of the branches as in other species of Yucca, an error due,
no doubt, to the fact that the trees, being at that season of
the year out of flower, the artist was obliged to draw upon
his imagination so far as the inflorescence was concerned.
This mistake led Dr. Engelmann, with only the very in-
sufficient material brought home by Gregg and Thurber at
his command, and after him Mr. Baker in England, to con-
sider the plant a southern variety of J. baccata, from
which, however, it differs in its much thinner and
smoother leaves, smaller flowers, shorter and less fleshy
fruit, and pendulous inflorescence. Some time previous to
1860, the collector Roezl rediscovered the tree, and sent
seeds to the nurseries of Huber & Co., of Hyéres, in France,
ing aninch in length. The baccate pendulous fruit, often
constricted on the side towards the stem, is 2-24 inches
long, with seed often exceeding a line in thickness.
Fucca filifera is a conspicuous object on the arid plains
which rise from the Rio Grande to the foothills of the
Sierra Madre. The great panicles of white flowers can be
seen for miles in the clear atmosphere of that region, and
look like gleaming waterfalls pouring out from the ends of
the branches. It first appears about 50 miles south of the
Rio Grande, where, with the beautiful white-flowered
Cordia Boissiert in the depression of the plain, it forms an
open picturesque forest which extends almost to the valley
~*Vucca filifera, Chabaud, Rev. Hort., 1876, p. 432, f.971.—Carriére, Rev Hort., 1879,
p. 262,
¥. baccata, var. australis, Engelm,
Four. Linn. Soc, xviti, 229.
Trans. St. Louis Acad. iit. 45.—Baker,
APRIL II, 1888.]
Garden and
Fig. 14.—Yucca filifera,
of Monterey. The Palma is common in the plains between
Saltillo and Parras; it was seen by Dr. Parry as far
south as San Louis Potosi, and it will be found, no
doubt, to extend widely over the high dry plains of
north-eastern Mexico.
This tree is often cultivated by the Mexicans at both
Monterey and Saltillo, the young plants being used to
form high impenetrable hedges about houses and stock-
yards; and flowering plants, from Roezl’s introduction, are
not rare in the gardens of Southern France, Algeria and
northern Italy. It is hardy, according to Naudin*, wher-
ever the Orange will thrive. Our illustrations (Ge. 13;
p. 78, fig. 14, p. 79) are from photographs taken near
Monterey by Mr. J. M. Codman. C2SeS:
*Manuel del’ Acclimateur, p- 558.
Chionophila Jamesii.*
N 1821 Dr. Edwin James accompanied as naturalist the
government party which, under Capt. Long, ascended
the South Platte, skirted the eastern base of the Rocky
Mountains as far southward as Colorado Springs, and thence
returned east by way of the Arkansas. From Colorado
Springs Dr. James made the first ascent of what is now
known as Pike’s Peak, and there gathered the first collection
that had ever been made of the alpine plants of western
America. Among them was asingle specimen of the plant
*C. Jamesut, Benth. in DC. Prodr. x. 351. A dwarf alpine perennial, glabrous or
nearly so, with thickish entire oblong-lanceolate Pe Cian leaves; stems scape-like,
bearing one or two pairs of narrowly linear leaves and a close secund imbricately
bracted spike; calyx broadly funnelform, with five short blunt teeth; corolla
cream-color, tubular, half an inch long, with short bilabiate limb and bearded in
the throat ; sterile filament glabrous,
SO
which is here figured. This, with others, was referred to
Dr. Torrey for determination, but unfortunately it became
mixed with specimens of Penésiemon James and so was
overlooked, and eventually found its way to the herbarium
at Kew. Here, twenty-five years later, it was detected by
Mr. Bentham while he was preparing the Scrophulariacee
for DeCandolle’s Prodromus, its peculiarities were recog-
nized, and it was describedasa new genus. Fifteen years
later still, in 1861, Dr. C. C. Parry ascended the cluster of
now well-known peaks which were named by ne Torrey,
Gray and Engelmann, and upon the summit of Gray’s Peak
he rediscovered James's plant. Since that time it has been
found in the same region by several collectors, but it yet
remains the sole pc ieents aid of the genus.
As shown by the figure, the leaves are mostly in a basal
cluster, with one or two pairs of linear ones upon the low
scape-likestems. The cream-colored flowers are in one-sided
bracted spikes, the two-lipped corollas bearded in the throat
and not greatly exceeding the calyx. Thegenus is closely
related to Pen/sfemon, from which it is distinguished chiefly
by the tubular and short-toothed calyx and | by the spicate
arrangement of the flowers. This rae nite of our highest
snow-clad peaks cannot be said to be remarkable for its
beauty, but asa rarity and as the ae one of its kind it
deserves a place in every collection of Alpine plants.
ao W;
Cultural Department.
Pruning Shrubs.
O the repeated inquiry as to the best time and method
of pruning deciduous shrubs, it may be aie ber
that no single rule can be laid down that will apply to all
cases. Shr ubs, like trees, are pruned for different purposes,
and what is good practice in one case may be ruinous in
another. <A tree for the Jawn requires different treatment
from a street tree, and the rule for pruning an apple tree to
induce an abundant yield of the best fruit would not apply
to another tree where timber or fuel was desired. In
the same way the pruning of a shrub may be good or bad
according to the object chiefly desired. ‘What is the best
practice when the production of flowers is the main con-
sideration may be far from good practice when the sym-
metry or grace of the shrub itself is the leading purpose.
There is little doubt as to what is the worst method of
pruning, and that is, shearing off the shrubs of a border,
at a uniform height, as squarely asa hedge is trimmed, and
cutting back single specimens with absolute evenness all
around till the plant assumes the shape ofan egg or a per-
feet sphere. The only parallel to atrocities of this kind is
seen in the work of professional tree-butchers who go
about the streets of towns and cities amputating all the
branches of the street trees and leaving nothing but forked
posts. And yet in many cemeteries and private g grounds in
city suburbs shrubs are mutilated in exactly this fashion by
men Ligier to be professional gardeners. Of course
all the beauty and grace of the plants are destroyed.
And how about the flowers? A large percentage of
flowering shrubs bloom in the spring, and most of these
form their blossom-buds on the small branches that were
made the year before. In each bud is a flower safely pro-
tected from the winter weather and ready to open with
the warmth of the coming year. These are the branches
lopped off by the shears in autumn or early spring, and
with them are sacrificed the buds and promised flowers.
If the pruning is delayed after the shrubs have bloomed
they will make an effort to repair the loss by throwing out
new shoots, which will ripen and bear abundant flowers
the next year. In the case of shrubs like the Althea, the
Great Panicled Hydrangea, and some species of the Tam-
arisk, which bloom in the fall on wood grown the same
year, a hard cutting back between late autumn and early
spring “will destroy no flower buds, but will-encourage a
strong growth of flowering wood for the next autumn.
Garden and Forest.
[APRIL 11, 1888.
Fig. 15.—Chionophila Jamesii.
But shrubs, as arule, are in flower but a short time com-
paratively, and it is rarely advisable to adopt a treatment
which has in view this brief season only. Even in winter
a mass of shrubbery has a beauty of its own. Every thicket
is enveloped with a nimbus of delicate tints, violet, rose,
soft gray and faint olive, which comes from the combined
colors of the twigs. This is true not only of those shrubs
which have bright colored bark like the crimson of some
Dogwoods and the yellow of the Willows. Many others
whose single shoots show no striking color on close inspec-
tion are surrounded by this halo when they are massed so
that the faint tints of each twig are all gathered and fused
together. At allevents, amass of this kind is more beauti-
ful than a row of Altheeas cut back to bare poles. And in
the season of foliage a severely pruned shrub is deprived
of that flowing grace of outline which.is one of its principal
charms.
For general purposes, therefore, shruhs should never be
cut back so far as to impair their vigor; nor should they
be pruned so as to destroy their ioe outlines. They
-should rather have the weak shoots thinned out and be cut
back cautiously so as to develop their best form.
Shrubs like Thunberg’s Spiraza, which bloom early on
wood of the previous year, should not be pruned in autumn
or early spring where it is desired to secure abundant flow-
ers, but immediately after the blooming season.
Shrubs that bloom late on wood of the current year
should be pruned after the leaves fallin autumn or in early
spring before they start. S.A.
“year.
APRIL It, 1838.]
The Cultivation of Lilies.
HAT soils do Lilies require, or in what kind do they best
succeed ? are questions often asked; anda fitting answer
is, that it makes but little difference. The character of the soil
is of less importance than its condition. I have planted Lilies
in soils varying from the heaviest clay to the lightest sand,
and have had perfect success in all. My preference is a light
loam, moderately moist and rich, and in partial shade. If that
is not at command, I plant in such as I have, with full confi-
dence that a soil which will yield a good crop of garden vegeta-
bles will produce Lilies.
It is a mistake to suppose that each plant needs a soil with
certain specific characters for its perfect development. It is
safe to say of Lilies, at least, that all the species will thrive in
the same soil. Make a heavy soil rich and provide good
drainage, and you will get an abundance of Lilies. Makea
light soil rich and keep it moist by a liberal mulch, and the
result will be the same.
A common cause of failure in Lily-culture is planting in wet
situations. Too much water around the bulbs in winter is
about as injurious as too many degrees of frost. While the
Lily prefers a moist and cool situation, it will not thrive where
the soil is covered with water during winter.
There are many gardens noted for productiveness which
cannot be planted until long after neighboring ones because
of too much moisture; such are not suited to the Lily.
The remedy in such a case is a raised bed, which may be pre-
pared by marking out a bed of a required size and digging the
earth deep. Then on the surface place stones, of about the
size used for paving, some ten inches apart each way. Fill
the spaces between the stones with soil level with the tops.
Upon this place the bulbs, and between them put smaller
stones; then cover the bulbs to the depth of six inches with
good rich soil. The bulbs should not be placed nearer than
one foot from the edge of the bed, which edge should be nicely
sodded and kept neatly trimmed during summer. |. Upon the
approach of frost, mulch a little more heavily than if the bulbs
were planted in the ordinary border.
With these precautions, nearly all Lilies can be grown in
the greatest perfection.
For the perfect development of the flower, a few other pre-
cautions are necessary. The first is to cover the bed during
summer with some neat mulch, in order to keep the ground
cool and moist; this is not only necessary for the full develop-
ment of the flower, but for the growth of the bulb, and the
flowers the coming season will be numerous and strong just
in proportion to the size and strength of the bulb formed this
For mulching, some low-growing annuals should be
used, such as Verbenas, dwarf Petunias, or any other that
fancy may suggest. This applies only to Lilies in a raised bed;
when they are planted in the shrubbery-border, an excellent
place for them, this precaution is not necessary.
The second precaution is, to have the Lily-bed partially
shaded, to protect the plants from the mid-day sun, This may
be done by a light lattice-coVering, say three or four feet above
the plant; or by arranging a frame with a light canvas covering,
to be used only in excessively hot weather. This will not only
prolong the season of flowering, but the flowers will be larger,
the colors and markings better defined, and the whole plant
stronger and more healthy. Of course, good flowers can be
produced without these precautions, but better ones can be
produced with them.
When to plant is an important consideration. It is well
known that the best time to remove plants, and particularly
bulbs, is during their period of rest. The Lily has but a short
season of rest; it is constantly doing something in the way of
development, but its energies are only employed in one direc-
tion at one time. The growth of stem and flower consumes
the bulb, which, in its turn, is built up by the action of leaf and
stem. Itis better to transplant as soon as possible after the
bulb has perfected its growth. If taken up at this time the
bulbs can be packed away in leaf-mold until spring, if neces- .
sary. -It is far better to take up, separate the bulbs and plant out
the same day. Bulbs should remain dry but for a very short
period. In importing new varieties and for purposes of sale,
it becomes necessary to keep them dry longer than they
should be. Every day they are exposed to the air materially
weakens them, and often beyond their power of recuperation.
No wonder growers get discouraged in their efforts to exhibit
a Lily-bed, when they buy bulbs that have been in dry sawdust,
or exposed to the dry atmosphere of the seed-room, from Octo-
ber until May. Such bulbs will not recover their strength, if
ever, until long after the hopes of the buyer have been blasted,
and he has bestowed his blighted affections on some other plant.
Garden and Forest. Qy
When Lilies have become established frequent removals are
not desirable; they should remain undisturbed as long as they
flower well. It is well to remove the small bulbs that form at
the base of the stem in early spring, and transfer them to the
reserve ground to complete their growth and be ready for
future use, CL. Allen.
Seedling Rhododendrons.
THINK we ought to encourage the raising and planting of
seedling Rhododendrons more than we do. By raising
them from seeds saved from the hardiest varieties already in
cultivation we may reasonably expect a majority of the seed-
lings to prove hardy. And I have no doubt in point of vigor
and health the seedlings have the advantage over the grafted
plants. But in the production of flowers I am inclined to think
that the grafted plants will bear more than will the seedlings,
because, being less vigorous, they are more branchy in propor-
tion to their size, and every little shoot among Rhododendrons
should carry a bunch of flowers.
Four years ago last fall we planted a hundred seedlings in
one bed. They were then some 20 to 24 inches high, and well
set with buds. In spring they bloomed as if nothing had hap-
pened, and have ever since grown and flowered most satisfac-
torily ; and all are still alive and in excellent health. Now, the
most striking feature about these seedlings istheir vigor. They
have outgrown a lot of grafted plants that occupy the same
bed with them and which are considerably older than the seed-
lings, and there is more suppleness in their wood and fresh-
ness in their foliage than the grafted specimens show. The
flowers of all are beautiful—indeed, many of them are as good
as those of some of our named sorts. But while these seed-
lings, so far, have proved hardy here, in less favored localities,
no doubt, all of them would not provehardy. Butsurely we can
raise seedlings that will prove hardy generally trom Ever-
estianum, Album elegans, Abraham Lincoln, and other hardy
kinds.
We mulch this seedling bed with oak-tree leaves ; throw
them in loosely among the bushes in fall, and about 12 to 18
inches thick, and leave them there winter and summer. The
frost never penetrates through this mulching ; nevertheless, al-
though the soil about the roots never freezes, and the tops may
shiver and droop in zero weather, I never have known the
plants to be injuriously affected by these apparently inconsist-
ent conditions. W. Falconer.
[The disadvantages of planting seedling rather than
named, tried varieties of Rhododendrons, are that more or
less of the seedlings prove too tender for our climate, and
that many of them produce inferior flowers. For most
people, especially for those who only need a few plants,
the named varieties will be found the most satisfactory.
Layered, and not grafted, plants should be used whenever
they can be obtained. They. grow better, and are not
troubled with the suckers, which spring up from the stock
of grafted plants.—Ep. |
Chrysanthemum Notes.—Chrysanthemumsfrom this time will
be much better without any fire-heat. There is no better
place for them than a cold-frame sunk a foot below the ground
level. They should not be set close together—a space of at
least an inch between each pot should be allowed. It is not
that the plants themselves would crowd each other when
closely packed, but each pot will be found to have the roots
strong and vigorous around the outside of each ball of earth,
They should be covered every night with something more
than ordinary glass sash, for at least a month to come, and I
know of nothing better than the cloth made by the United
States Waterproof Fibre Company. I have frames made to fit
sashes six by three feet, covered with the cloth and put on
every night, and it is astonishing how much frost they keep out.
All plants as they become well rooted should be repotted before
becoming pot-bound. The black aphis should be kept well in
check. I use, first, wherever practicable, fumigation with
tobacco, once every week; then I dust the plants over head
with pure tobacco dust. I have found plants injured when
using tobacco snuff. Finally I syringe with tobacco-water,
made strong enough to have the appearance ot black coffee.
The white mildew must be fought with sulphur. I mix equal
parts of sulphur and very fine flue-dust from hard coal. With
this I thoroughly sprinkle the plant above and below and leave
the dust on for a couple of days. If at any time itis not possible
to repot plants when they become pot-bound, give an occa-
sional watering of liquid manure to keep up the food supply.
Do not neglect to keep plants staked as they grow.
Fohn Thorpe.
82
Acacia pubescens.—This plant was introduced into cultiva-
tion a century ago by Sir Joseph Banks, but no one has ever
tired of the beauty of a fine specimen when in bloom. Com-
ing from the extra-tropical regions of Southern Australia, it
can be kept in a cool house where the temperature does not
fall below 40°, and it requires the simplest treatment. It
comes into bloom in February and continues to flower from
four to six weeks. Although the flowers when cut wither in a
few hours, a well grown specimen in bloom is_ singularly
beautiful. I lately saw one that had grown up with a single
stem and then spread out into the form of a tree some ten
feet high, with broad top and drooping branches. Every twig
was thickly hung with pendulous racemes of canary yellow
flowers, which showed at their best against the delicate foliage,
and made a sight to be remembered long, S.A,
Hardy Rhododendrons.—Let me add to the list of hardy Rho-
dodendrons given in GARDEN AND FoREST of March 14th the
names of the following, which come through the winters of
this latitude in pertect safety :
Chancellor, dark purplish crimson; Cyanum, bluish white;
Gloriosum, creamy white ; Michael Waterer, crimson spotted;
Minnie, bluish white; Perspicuum, clear white ; Pictum, clear
white, spotted ; Queen, cream, edged with pink, and Oculatum,
light pink. : Foseph Meehan.
Germantown, Pa.
The Forest.
Tree Planting in California.
HE following is part of an address delivered before
the American Horticultural Society at its late meet-
ing, at Riverside, California, by Mr. Robert Douglas :
The Legislature of the State of California has granted an
appropriation tor the establishment of experimental stations
for testing fruit, ornamental and forest trees. And its citizens
generally seem to be awake to the necessity of planting forest
trees.
This experimental work cannot be commenced too soon, for
while individual enterprise has been employed in thoroughly
experimenting with every kind of fruit to an extent which is
simply wonderful, the nob\e indigenous trees of the State have
been sadly neglected. luleed, with the exception of a few
stately specimens in the Capitol grounds at Sacramento, we
rarely find a specimen except the Monterey Cyprus (Cupressus
macrocarpa) and Monterey Pine ‘Pinus insignis) planted every-
where, while specimens of Seguwota gigantea, S. sempervi-
rens, Cupressus Lawsoniana, C. Goveniana, Thuya gigantea,
Libocedrus decurrens, Pseudotsuga Douglasii, Picea Sitchensis,
Abies concolor, and other noble Silver Firs and Pines are rarely
met with.
Forestry is a subject of great importance to this State, and
the time will soon arrive when it cannot longer be neglected.
The conditions here differ so materially from those of the
Atlantic slope that our experience there will not avail us to
any great extent here. Forestry here must be confined mainly
to desert and hilly lands that cannot be irrigated.
A transient visitor from the East, looking from the window
of a sleeping-car, would see a very discouraging prospect. The
desert is certainly not promising to him, and the hills look little
better. The word, desert, is not well understood. Many agri-
culturists and horticulturists in Kansas and Nebraska claim that
they have brought their land from a desert to rich fertile land
within two or three decades. They tell you that their States
are a part of the ‘‘Great American Desert,” and refer you to a
school-geography to prove what they say, but they do notseem
to notice the fact that in this same school-book there are wood-
cuts of Indians chasing immense herds of buffaloes, wading
through very tall grass.
When the emigration of 1849 went through the Territory of
which Kansas and Nebraska is now a part—and that was before
there was a white settler in the territory—the land lying between
the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains was called the
Plains. The desert of the ‘‘ Forty-niners” lay between the sink
of the Humboldt and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. And many
years before that time the Santa Fé traders crossed the Plains
from Leavenworth to Santa Fé,
The settlers in Kansas and Nebraska claim that they can
grow cultivated crops where they could not be grown twenty-
five years ago. This is undoubtedly true and can be readily
accounted for.
Before the whites settled west of the Missouri River the land
Garden and Forest.
[APRIL 11, 1888.
through central Kansas and Nebraska was covered with Buf-
falo Grass, which kept the rains from penetrating the ground
almost as effectually as would a shingle roof. I have thrust
my cane into the groundafew minutes after it has been flooded
with rain, and found it as dry as dust twoinches from the sur-
face. The rain ran off in torrents into the ravines and ‘‘draws”
without having a perceptible effect except on the surface. You
might see the plains covered with water, looking like a lake
with many islands, and within two hours from that time scarcely
a sign that there had been any rain at all. Since that time mil-
lions of acres have been plowed in Kansas and Nebraska, and,
aside from this, 147,0o00acres have been planted with forest trees
in Kansas, besides a large number planted last year; anda great
many more have been planted in Nebraska than in Kansas.
Now, when we consider that an inch of rain is equal to one
hundred tons of water per acre, and multiply the millions of
acres of plowed land by the number of inches or hundreds of
tons that have been absorbed in the plowing, which formerly
ran off, we can see that the settlers have materially changed
the condition of the plains.
While your desert lands look very unpromising to the tourist,
even when compared with the plains, the close observer will
see many things, aside from climate, in your favor.
Any one studying these deserts carefully will see that, lying
neglected, they must be gradually growing drier and drier.
This is plainly to be seen. We see that where deep lakes once
overflowed no waterstandsnow. Where monstrous trees once
grew, as shown in the petrified forests, only pigmies in com-
parison grow now. We see that the channels of the streams
are gradually being cut deeper, which, of course, drains the
country more rapidly.
Although I have not had the opportunities for studying tree-
growth on this side of the continent that I have had on the
other side, I have yet seen some very encouraging signs. I
have seen changes recently in parts of the country I went
overin 1849 that are well worth notingand give great promise,
even on what were then desert lands pure and simple. On the
other hand, I have carefully observed, especially in one or two
cases, that among millions of trees covering miles on the side
of a desert, I could not find a single tree less than fifty or
seventy-five years old, although these trees are covered with
seeds and there are no indications of a fire ever having visited
them. This is proof, to my mind, that the climate is drier, as
seeds cannot germinate now where they produced seedlings
less than a century ago.
Any one who has studied these desert lands, even when on
a flying trip, will see enough to convince him that if irrigation
could be secured there would be very little désert land in this
State. I firmly believe that on any desert land where Sage
Brush and other shrubs are growing even sparsely, forest trees
will grow if the land is cleared and well plowed, which is a
very cheap and simple affair compared either with clearing
grub-land, timber-land, or breaking prairie in the Eastern
States.
The forest trees must be planted during the rainy season,
and cultivated at least during the succeeding season. It is sur-
prising to see how the land in this State endures drought when
compared with similar land on the other side of the continent.
I have seen our gravelly land in Ilinois withoutapparent mois-
ture at three feet in depth after a drought of only six weeks. I
have noticed men digging only two feet deep for telephone
poles in this State and the moisture was perceptible, although
there had been no rain for nearly six months.
This is not a solitary case, butitis usual, as I have frequently
noticed in new railroad-cuts. In the East a hard-pan lies at a
certain depth from the surface, through which the moisture
cannot be brought up by capillary attraction. In this State the
soil generally is loose and porous down to the bed-rock, how-
ever deep that may be, consequently all the deciduous fruits
may be grown without irrigation, but they must be thoroughly
cultivated to get the best results.
All through the San Gabriel Valley, and in other parts of the
State that I have visited, the indigenous trees thrive best on the
north sides of the hills—indeed, the hills are generally destitute
of tree-growth on their southern sides, bearing only shrubs,
perennial and annual plants, and a scanty growth at that. Yet
I have seen Eucalyptus growing, when planted, on the very
summits of some of these hills, and on their southern slopes.
In very many of these hills the soil is rich enough for tree-
growth, even to the very summit—indeed, I do not remember
an exception, unless in cases where the rock protruded.
Itbecomes me to touch the subject of irrigation with modesty,
for I received a severe rebuke for the first opinion I ventured
to express. A gentleman was irrigating a fine Araucaria; he
had the earth scraped away from the collar of the tree, forming
eee ss
APRIL 11, 1888. ] ~
a basin about three feet in diameter and six inches deep; he
was flooding this with cold water in the heat of the day, and
threw the water with such force from the hose that the crown
of the roots was laid bare. I told him I thought he ought not
to disturb the surface so near the trunk of the tree, as the feed-
ing roots lay at some distance. He replied that the Mexicans
had irrigated for a hundred years, and he guessed they knew
more about it than a new-comer. I pocketed the affront, and
asked him how long he had lived in the State; he said, over
two years. Then I wondered he had not called me a “ tender-
foot.” :
No doubt a great deal has been learned from the Mexicans,
yet I think our people can soon make improvements on what
they learn from them. The more I observe and study this
desert question, the more Ibecome convinced that progress will
be made in this direction much more rapidly than the most
sanguine can imagine. Scientific men may attempt to prove
_to you that according to natural laws the thing is impossible.
Less than fifty years ago they said, and wrote, that valu-
able trees could not be grown on the Illinois prairies, until many
enerations of Willows and Poplars were grown to fit the land
for the more valuable kinds ; and at that time it was the general
belief of prairie farmers, that trees and the “tame grasses”
would never succeed on prairie lands. Now we know, and
have long known, that our prairies grow every kind of tree
and grass that will bear the severity of our climate.
You will make much more rapid advances than we made in
the Mississippi valley. Our setilers came in covered wagons,
yours come on express-trains; you have improved labor-
saving machinery, which was not then invented ; and last, but
not least, you have a stable currency, and are not left to the
mercy of wild-cat banks.
Reservoirs will be built to husband the waters that are now
running down the rivers into the ocean, artesian wells will be
used in many places, thousands of acres of forests will be
planted that will not grow as rapidly as if irrigated, but after
they are planted and cultivated, the earth will absorb a great
quantity of water that formerly ran off. The trees’ will
shade the ground, which will gain in both moisture and fertility,
as they will draw nutriment from an immense depth while
our forests draw their nutriment from nearer the surface.
The eastern farmer and horticulturist has at best only seven
or eight months in the year, and from this must provide
enough to support his family, and secure fuel and feed for his
stock; aside from this his land is decreasing in fertility, or kept
fertile at great expense and labor, while yours will, for a long
time, be increasing in fertility, if kept well cultivated and
worked deep.
It will require more experience than any of us have had, to
decide which will be the most suitable trees for forest planting.
. Many of the most profitable for Eastern planting would not
succeed well here. The soft foliage of the White Pine and
Larch would unfit them for this climate, and the tendency to
run their roots near the surface of the ground would be to their
disadvantage. For desert planting, trees must be used that
can be grown cheaply from seeds, so as to come within the
means of the newsettlers. This would seem to be a necessity. I
would place the Eucalyptus globulus at the head, as I have
seen it growing in what would seem almost impossible
places. It would make fuel cheaper than any other tree that
could be grown on like lands.
The common locust, Robinia Pseudacacia, | have seen grow-
ing well in western Kansas and Nebraska, New Mexico, Col-
orado, Utah, Nevada, and at several places in this State, in every
case makinga good growth without irrigation ; and in all these
cases I have failed to find traces of the borer, so fatal to this
tree in the Eastern States. Would space admit I might name
other trees I should deem promising. These two, how-
ever, would furnish fuel and durable posts for the new settler,
are grown very cheaply from the seed, and transplant well.
For general forest planting there are two valuable trees that
stand out in bold relief. In this case there can be no mistake,
for nature has succeeded in growing them almost everywhere
between the eastern bases of the Rocky Mountains and the
Pacific coast, and man has used them more generally than any
other trees over the whole western half of the continent. These
are the Yellow Pine, Pius ponderosa, and the Douglas Spruce,
Pseudotsuga Douglasti, The former ranges all through the
mountains from British Columbia down into Mexico, through
Arizona and New Mexico to western Texas, growing on dry
mountain-sides through Colorado and Montana. It forms
over nimety percent. of all the timber in the Black Hills of
Dakota, reaches further out on the plains than any other tree
in Colorado, and is the only Pacific coast tree that runs
east into Nebraska.
Garden and Forest.
$3
Next to the Douglas Spruce it is the most generally dis-
tributed and valuable tree of the Pacific forests. ‘The Douglas
Spruce ranges through British Columbia, Oregon, Washington
Territory, all through the Sierra Nevada, the San Bernardino
Mountains, Arizona, New Mexico and on high dry ridges in
Colorado, through the Uinta and Wasatch Mountains and in
Wyoming and Montana. It is called Yellow or Red Fir by
lumbermen, is the most generally distributed, and said to be
the most valuable timber tree on the Pacific coast.
This tree grows on high dry ridges in Colorado, Arizona and
Montana, which proves it to be, like the Pine, a suitable tree
for planting on dry lands. Like the Pine, it isa rapid grower
and reaches the largest size. These two trees furnish nearly
all the merchantable lumber, except redwood, from the coast
to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains.
The Seguoia sempervirens, Redwood, is a valuable tree, but
only adapted to certain localities. It has a very circumscribed
range, only reaching from about the northern line of the State
to the southern boundary of Monterey County, and in a nar-
row belt along the coast. But experiments may prove that this
valuable tree will succeed far from its present locality. I
noticed a fine specimen in Pasadena, eight years planted and
over twenty feethigh. Pizus ¢usignis, although its timber is of
no great value, may benamedas having a very limited range—
only found in a sandy spot at a single point on the coast; yet
we see it growing well wherever planted. We may hope from
this fact that other trees of limited range and more value may
have their limits extended under cultivation.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—A few years since I met with, in its wild state, a white-
flowering specimen (is it a variety?) of Phlox divaricata,
which was transferred to my wild garden, where it now flour-
ishes. I have been surprised at the remarkable beauty of the
plant. As is well known, this species, at least in its wild state,
is of a loosely spreading habit, and rather chary of its stems
and leaves, whereas the plant referred to forms a luxuriant and
well-rounded head, being generous in stems, leaves and
branches. The foliage, too, it may be remarked, is of a dis-
tinctly lighter shade of green, readily distinguishing it from the
usual form. From the middle or latter partof April until after
the middle of May it is covered with a snow-white bloom,
making it altogether a plant of striking appearance. Asneither
Gray nor Wood, in their popular Botanies, make mention of
a white variety, and having seen no reference anywhere
to white-flowering specimens, I am desirous of knowing
whether they are of rare occurrence ; and if not, why has so
little attention been given by cultivators to so ornamental a
ante
plant? '
Fairview, W. Va., March 2oth, 1888. W. E. Hill.
[The white form of this flower is not unknown in culti-
vation. It is contained in Woolson’s Catalogue this year.
Mr. Woolson writes that it has proved unsatisfactory with
him on account of its straggling growth. Mr. F. D. Hatfield,
of Wellesley, Massachusetts, considers it a good plant for
rock-work or the front of a border. Of course single plants
make little show, andit should be grown in masses. From
our correspondent’s description it is not impossible that
he has chanced upon a variety of this Phlox which has
special merits. —Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I was glad to see the recent article in your paper about
Sweet Peas. There are no flowers I love better and none
which have given me more trouble; and I venture to ask,
therefore, whether you will not now kindly give a little advice
with regard to the best methods of planting and treating them
Mea eee the world. Dilstianié.
[Any fairly good garden soil will give an abundant yield
of these flowers if the seed is only planted early enough.
This means just as soon as the ground can be worked in
spring, a period which comes some weeks earlier in Vir-
ginia than in New York. No injury will come from frosts
oreyen ice. Then plant deeply and plant thinly. Have the
soil worked to the depth of eighteen inches or two feet, and
drop the Peas in a furrow five or six inches deep. Cover
at first with about three inches of soil, and, as the plants
crow, draw earth up to them until the bed is level. The
roots of Peas like a cool place to grow in. Then, if
84
every flower is cut every day, and no seed allowed to form,
the.same plants, with good tall brush to run over, will pro-
duce flowers until frost. There will be no need of another
sowing for succession.—Ep. |
Recent Publications.
Winter» From the Fournal of Henry D. Thoreau, edited
by H. G. O. Blake. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1888.
Thoreau left behind him at his death a very voluminous
journal in which he had noted down from day to day the sights
which had met his eyes in the woods and fields of Concord, and
the thoughts which they excited in his mind. On one page of
this journal he said that it might be well to write ‘‘a book of
the seasons ;” but as he never accomplished this task it was
wisely thought that another hand should compile such a volume
{rom the notes which he had jotted down, perhaps in half-con-
scious preparation for it. Several years ago “ Early Spring in
Massachusetts: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau,” was
accordingly issued by Mr. H.G. O. Blake; “Summer” followed
in 1884, and just now we have been given ‘“ Winter” im a sim-
ilar form.
More delightful books than these it would be hard for the
lover of nature to find. Thoreau was not merely one of the
keenestand most patient, but one of the most poetic of observ-
ers ; his poetic instincts were of that philosophizing kind which
bring the inmost soul and needs of man into perpetual relation
with external things; and his style is almost unsurpassed for
clearness, simplicity, individuality and charm. Whatever he
saw, he saw with the soul as well as with the eyes ; and he saw
everything—from the broadest or most fleeting landscape effects
to the most tender beauties of the humblest insect, animal or
flower. His feeling for beauty was as intense as his delight in
the facts of animal and vegetable existence. If he never speaks
like a scientific botanist, he always speaks like an accurate ob-
server, yetalways, as has been said, likea poet, too. And when
he paints for us what he sees, it is in words which sound like
the thoughts of an artist translated from paint into language,
with askill of which he almostalone, among writers of English,
has found the secret. There is no artifice, and not even any
conscious art, in his manner of writing. What we have in
these books are simply notes jotted downatthe moment, often
out-of-doors, and always for his own eye only. Yet take such
a passage as this, for example, and try to match it from the
pages of any other writer: ‘‘ Each little blue curl calyx ’”’—he is
speaking of a little aster sheathed in ice—‘has aspherical but-
ton, like those over a little boy’s jacket, little sprigs of them ;
and the pennyroyal has still smaller spheres more regularly
arranged about its stem, chandelier-wise, and still smells
through the ice. The finest grasses support the most wonder-
ful burdens of ice and most bunched on their minute threads.
These weeds are spread and arched over into the snow again,
countless little arches a few inches high, each cased in ice,
which you break with a tinkling crash at each step. The
scarlet fruit of the cockspur lichen, seen glowing through the
more opaque whitish or snowy crust of the stump, is, on close
inspection, the richest sight of all, for the scarlet is increased
and multiplied by reflection through the bubbles and hemi-
spherical surfaces of the crust, as if it covered some vermil-
ion grain thickly strewn. The brown cup lichens stand in their
midst. The whole rouch bark, too, is encased.” This fora
microscopic picture ; and this for a broad landscape effect:
‘A beautiful, clear, not very cold day. The shadows on the
snow are indigo blue. The pines look very dark. The white-
oak leaves area cinnamon color, the black and red oak leaves
a reddish-brown or leather color. A partridge rises from the
alders and skims across the river at its widest part, just before
me;afine sight. How glorious the perfect stillness and peace
of the winter landscape.” To quote from the more human,
more philosophical parts of this volume—parts which recall
the writings of Emerson in a way which does but accent their
own individuality—would be out of place just here. But inter-
mingled as these are with his manifold, exquisite pictures of
plant life and of landscape beauty, they do much to make up
the charm of Thoreau’s most charming book.
In the Popular Science Monthly for April will be found-a
chapter on “ The Earliest Plants,” extracted from Sir William
Dawson's recently published ‘Geological History of Plants,” and
further back in the thirty-second volume of the monthly—of
which the April number forms the concluding pages—is a dis-
cursive article by Grant Allen on ‘‘ American Cinquefoils,”’ and
one on “Our Forestry Problem” by Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of
the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture,
Garden and- Forest.
[ApRIL 11, 1888,
Retail Flower Markets.
NEw York, April 6th.
The trade in plants and cut flowers’was very large at Easter. Prices
heldata reasonable figure, only selected Hybrid Roses and ‘‘ Longiflor-
um”’ Lilies being somewhat higher, and these only in certain localities,
This week there is a glut of cut flowers, and prices are low. The
choicest specimens of Hybrid Roses with stems half a yard long,
sell for 75 cts. each. Madame Gabriel Luizet Roses are inferior in
quality and cost $6 and $7 a dozen. Prime Puritans bring $9 a
dozen. Extra fine La France Roses sell for 40 cts. each, and those
not so large for $2 and $4 a dozen. Ulrich Briinner is exception-
ally handsome and costs $6 a dozen. Selected Jacqueminots are
$6 a dozen, but the majority sell for half that price. The best Cath-
erine Mermets bring $2 a dozen, and Brides can be had for the same
money. Perles des Jardins of excellent quality cost $1 a dozen, as
do selected Niphetos. Mignonette is abundant, a bunch of a dozen
spikes costing 50 cts. The Giant variety brings 15 cts. a spike.
Lilac holds firm at 50 cts. a spray of two tassels. Violets are of
good quality, the Marie Louise bringing $1.50 a 100 and the single’
Russian 75 cts. Gardenias cost 25 cts. each. Marctssus Poeticus is
$1 a dozen. Daffodils, Lilies of-the-Valley and Tulips bring from
75 cts. to $1 a dozen. Lédrwin longiflorwm is much preferred to ZL.
Harristi, and brings 40 and 50 cts. a flower where the latter are sold
for 30 and 35 cts. Callas bring 25 cts. each. Cyclamen plants averag-
ing twelve flowers are offered for 75 cts. A number of Easter wed-
dings in prospect will keep up a demand for specimen blooming
plants and choice cut flowers, Lilies-of-the-Valley in particular. This,
with La France Roses, is ordered extensively for ornamental curtains.
The steamer trade is just opening, and this will also help to make
business brisk.
PHILADELPHIA, Afri/ 6th.
Flowers and flowering plants were in greater demand than usual at
Faster. Lilium Harrisi and L. longiflorum were in fine condition,
averaging more flowers to the plant than have been seen here be-
fore, at prices ranging from 30 cts. to50 cts. each. None of the leading
florists had trouble in disposing of their stock at the highest figures.
Fydrangea Otaksa and Thomas Hogg were very plentiful; the latter
variety, which is a white one, seemed to sell the most readily. Plants
growing in 6 and 8-inch pots, with from four to eight well-developed
heads, sold at from $1 to $5 each. Hybrid Remontant Roses in pots
would have been more plentiful but for the dull weather in the early
part of the preceding week. Most of them were growing in 6-inch
pots and sold at from $1 to $1.50 each. Fine Azalea plants, half
standards, sold at from $2 to $10 each, and very large ones were in
demand at as high as $20 for special occasions. The customers at this
great floral festival have very little choice, as the demand is so great
that they must take what they can get. Six-inch pots full of Daffodil
Van Thol were plentiful and in demand at from 50 cts. to $1 each.
Gardenia florida (Cape Jessamine) as a pot plant was a novelty here.
Thatis to say, it was scarce and had not been seen on these occasions
for some years past. The price varied from $5 to $7.50 each. Most of
them were growing in eight-inch pots and were from three to four
feet high. Hybrids were from $4 to $6 per dozen, excepting some
special sorts like Madame Gabriel Luizet, which reached the highest
figure at $7.50 per dozen. Jacqyueminots were in as great demand as
usual at from $3 to $5 per dozen. There is a falling off in the demand
for designs. Churches were profusely decorated, but without novel
features. There is very little leisure for a study of novelties in deco-
rations at this busy season. Some few Genistas in pots, both large
and small, proved useful for decorating and sold readily. Tulips,
Lilies-of-the-Valley, Daffodils, Freesias and all varieties of Roses,
were abundant, and sold at very good, though not exorbitant, prices.
Boston, April 6th.
Easter Sunday and the two preceding days were perfect spring
days, and in the bright weather the flower trade was unusually brisk.
Never before were so many flowers sold in Boston for Easter. There
was no scarcity, however, and prices were therefore reasonable. The
White Lily was the single exception, being in short supply, and late
comers were obliged to accept substitutes. After the Easter rush
there has followed a lull, but many fashionable weddings and other
social occasions are in prospect, and all signs point to a large con-
sumption of flowers this Spring. Roses are still abundant and of
superb quality. Jacqueminots and Hybrids of enormous size, and
with stems two feet or more in length, are to be seen in all the
fashionable florists’ windows. These bring from $4 to $8 per dozen.
The longest stemmed flowers always bring the highest price. Mer-
mets, Marechal Neils, Bennetts and Perles are abundant, and are
offered as low as $1 to $1.50 per dozen. There area few Lillies at
about one-half of the Easter prices. Smilax is very scarce, and
the little that is offered is poor in quality. Long-stemmed Carna-
ions are 50 cts. to 75 cts. per dozen. Violets and Pansies, $1.50 per
hundred. For mixed collections of cut flowers there is a_ great
variety of bright and fragrant blooms, such as Lilies-of-the-Valley,
Tulips, Daffodils, Mignonette, Forget-me-not, Heather, Heliotrope,
Marguerites, etc., with fine Maiden Hair Ferns and Asparagus for
green. A bunch of ‘* Pussy Willow” laid on a box of selected flow-
ers gives a pretty finish.
¥
3
APRIL 18, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[vmirep.)
OrFice: TRIBUNE Bui_pinc, New York,
Conductedubyac. ae... t6 deny isk oe . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE,
Epiroriac_ ArticLes :—Tree-planting.—An American School of Forestry.—
Easter Flowers in New York.—Note..........000..008 sears ijseisi eel 85
Meandscape GardeninoraS:a ProresSlON «ww ase ove vie eee vie elteltie'evisaesces 87
A Temple in Japan (with illustration)..... .. 88
Spring ime NTODILeH sisaeselsieca's,o.0 ans eisistersie + sees. Dr, Karl Mohr. 88
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter..........--eeeeeeeee Wm, Goldring. 88
New or Litre Known Ptants :—Cypripedium fasciculatum (with illustra-
EL OOLL) ete tetene pete te etal afar sve wisps tata siniugsie otarerwrelciulanisie'« clarsienalninkals severe Sereno Watson. 90
Aquilegia longissima..... ire ctalniecalaieteye siaieieisls's ve’aisie .. Wm. Falconer. gt
CutturaL DEPARTMENT :—Small Fruits for Home Use ...2£. Williams. 9t
pues heit Chem Gard Sisters cretelersatnebialn's)seiniersta clstceerata)e elaine gia’ s s dcnin Wis Gale's cies 5. wre gr
Transplanting —Begonia gracilis, var. Martiana.—Hardy Shrubs for
orcing-—Consider the LilieS.—Peoniesiece... secsect acs scsoceceases 92
sphewellow-wood (withdllustration) ie. .s. cesses cer cceeccenccce ie en Seoee 152
Tue Forest :—Influence of Undergrowth on the Increase of Timber.B. £, Fernow. 93
Winderplantin sya larchpPOrests coeur wrens cloacrsisieess sereiicin oie wince S.01n,9 0:5 witisies aie O4
CorrEsronpDENCcE :—A List of Books on Landscape Gardening. .
- Charles Eliot. 94
Periodical Literature aad
95
NOES: eisinivie. as aisnienisinis oaeine oasis « 96
The Philadelphia Flower Show. 96
Rerait Frower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston............-...-5 096
Intusrrations :—A Temple in Japan.......-... soe BQ
Cypripedium fasciculatum, Fi go
PRE WicllOWeWOOU, PIP. TAs -cpsisceloeisinacstectecascnsecst bra sdevenseaness g2
Tree-planting.
HE operation of planting trees requires deliberation
andcare. Itshould be done thoroughly or not done
at all, Economy in tree planting means the proper prepara-
tion of the ground to be planted, and the use of well selected
and well grown trees. The insufficient preparation of the
soil and the use of badly-grown and badly-rooted plants
is extravagant and wasteful, because such a course must in-
variably fail to produce satisfactory results. William Cobbet,
who more than sixty years ago wrote what still remains the
best book on planting which exists in the English language,
exclaims, in speaking of the necessity of a thorough pre-
paration of the soil, ‘‘ How many millions have been /irown
away in planting! How many thousands of plantations
have, at the end of twenty or fifty years, made a beggarly
exhibition ; and how many of them have wholly failed !
Yet, no truth is more evident to my mind than this: that
no plantation ever failed, except from the manifest error of
the proprietor. It is worse than useless to plant, unless
you do the whole thing well ; because, instead of creating a
source of profit and of pleasure, you create a source of
loss and mortification.”
Trees may be planted in this latitude in spring or in
autumn ; in more northern parts of the country they can
be safely planted only in spring. Whether they are planted
in spring or in autumn the ground should be prepared in
advance. This should be done for spring planting the year
before. This will give time to the soil to settleand become
pulverized, and it will enable the planter to consider care-
fully what trees he will plant and just where he wants to
set them. These are questions which should not be left
unsettled until the short planting season arrives. The com-
position of an ornamental plantation—that is, the proper
grouping together of different varieties of trees in a har-
monious arrangement—requires much consideration and
study. Satisfactory results will never be obtained if the
atrangement ofa plantation is left until the trees arrive on
Garden and Forest.
35
the ground. The proper preparation of the soil is the
foundation of good planting. The best results will be at-
tained by trenching by hand the area to be planted to a
depth of two feet. The ground in this way is thoroughly
broken up and loosened and the roots of the trees
can extend freely in all directions. Care must be taken in
trenching to keep all the surface soil on top andnot to mix
it with the subsoil. Hand trenching is aslow and expensive
operation, and few people will undertake it on a large
scale in this country. When the ground is not trenched a
hole must be dug for each tree. The larger and deeper they
are made, the better the trees will grow. Holes twenty feet
across and three feet deep are not too large, if large, long-
lived and healthy trees are expected. It is impossible to
provide too much healthy nourishment fora tree. Small
and shallow holes mean small, stunted and short-lived
trees. All holes for spring planting should be dug during
the previous autumn. As soon as dug the loam should be
put back in the holes, and if the land is gravelly or rocky
the poor soil should be replaced by loam or peat carefully
mixed through it. Peat furnishes valuable food to trees, and
almost all varieties enjoy a liberal supply of it. The soil
will be thoroughly settled in the holes by spring and all
ready for planting, and the small, shallow hole actually
necessary to receive the roots can be made then easily
and quickly in the prepared soil.
It is always better to plant small trees than large ones.
They are more easily and cheaply moved, recover sooner
and grow more rapidly. A transplanted tree two or three
feet high will soon overtake and surpassa much larger one,
and will grow into a more vigorous and beautiful speci-
men. A vast amount of money and a great deal of time is
wasted every year in trying to transplant large trees.
It is not essential in digging up trees to preserve a
large ball of earth about the roots. A very heavy mass of
earth often breaks the tender roots, and is, therefore, a
danger rather than an advantage to the tree. It is essen-
tial, however, to preserve as many of the small feeding
roots as possible, and care must be taken in digging a tree
not to unnecessarily break or mutilate them. All broken
roots should be carefully cut away with a sharp knife be-
fore the tree is replanted. Care must be taken not to ex-
pose the roots to the drying influence of the sun and wind.
They should be covered as soon as the tree is dug with a
piece of cloth or matting, or they may be dipped in wet
mud until they become thoroughly coated. The secret of
successful transplanting is to have the soil brought into
close and immediate contact with the roots. It is better,
therefore, to plant in dry, and not in wet, rainy weather.
The coating of mud not only protects the roots from dry-
ing, but helps the earth thrown about them to adhere more
closely. Two men are required to plant a tree. The hole
should be twice the width of the mass of roots, and the bot-
tom should be worked fine with a spade. One man should
then hold the tree erect, with its roots carefully spread out
in all directions in the hole, while the second man should
break the soil taken from the hole, so as to make it as fine
as possible, and then let it fall from the spade down upon the
roots, while the first man should lift the tree gently up and
down that the fine earth may penetrate and fill all cavities
about the roots. When the hole is nearly filled in this way
the earth should be pressed down with the foot, beginning
at the outside of the hole and working in towards the stem
of the tree. The hole may then be filled and the soil
rammed down solid. ‘Tall trees should be carefully and
securely staked as soon as planted. The operation is then
finished. It is not uncommon to see water poured into the
hole while it is being filled up. This practice does harm
rather than good, as it washes the fine soil away from close
contact with the roots.
Some planters recommend transplanting coniferous trees
during the month of August, but this plan has little to
recommend it; and it is certainly safer to move them in
the spring. Many people believe, too, that they can only
be safely moved late or after they have begun their annual
36
growth. This is a mistake. Conifers can be safely trans-
planted just as soon as the soil is dry and friable. They
can, however, be moved later than deciduous trees, as they
begin to grow later.
These are the general rules for successful tree-planting.
Certain families or species sometimes require special treat-
ment. Magnolias should be moved late, and after their
roots are in active operation, which is shown by the un-
folding of the leaf buds. Walnuts and Hickories, as they
have strong, deep tap-roots, should, if they are to grow
into fine trees, be planted when very small. Seedlings
two or three years old, when finally transplanted, make
the best trees. All the Oaks make better trees when per-
manently planted young. ‘This is true of all the White
Oaks. Some of the Black Oaks, however, especially the
Red Oak and the Water Oak, can be safely transplanted, if
they have been properly grown in nurseries, when they
are ten or twelve feet high. Shallow see trees, like
the Maples, Lindens and Elms, may be moved, with proper
precautions, after they have reached a considerable size
and age. Small specimens, even of these trees, move bet-
ter, however, and in the end give better results and more
satisfaction.
The man who plants one good tree thoroughly well, and
then takes care of it after it is planted, does more for him-
self and the community in which he lives, than the man
who sets a hundred, badly selected and badly planted, or
who neglects his trees after he has planted them.
An American School of Forestry.
N article on another page of this paper gives an ex-
ample of the close measurements and calculation
that are made by expert foresters in countries where every
bundle of faggots is taken into account in estimates of for-
est production. Under such conditions the theory and
practice of forestry are brought to a mathematical basis,
and the business of the forester not only embraces the art
of growing trees and forests, and of utilizing and disposing
of wood products, but it necessitates accurate financial cal-
culation, so that the largest possible production may be
made with the smallest outlay. The accomplished forester
in Germany must be a financier as well as a mathema-
tician, for, practically, he has the handling of large capital
invested in wood production. And since the margins are
narrow, the time over which the operations extend long
and the factors which enter into the calculation variable
and uncertain, there must be frequent measurement and
constant adjustment and readjustment of the elements of
the problem.
It is plain that America offers no field for those refine-
ments of forest practice. So long as there are vast areas
where wood can be had for the chop ping there will be no
call for experts to estimate ena the exact amount of
increase on a given area of woodland in a year or in a de-
cade. This does not imply that no system of forestry is
possible in the United States, but that for the present, at
least, it must. be a different system. What is known as
“intensive farming” would be folly on a western prairie,
but agriculture is profitable there, nevertheless, when con-
ducted in a cruder way, or on the only system practicable
under the circumstances. The time may come, as a closer
husbanding of natural resources is demanded on what are
now cheap lands, when oy rood of farm land will be-
come as productive as a garden spot. In like manner the
time may come when the same care will be given to the
details of forest ee here that is devoted to them
in Germany to-day, and until some progress is made in
that direction there is no encouragement here for a young
man to study forestry. This is one calling for which no
opportunity or opening presents itself in the United States.
Nowhere in the whole country is there assured employ-
ment for a single trained forester.
Garden and Forest.
[ApriL 18, 1888.
Of course no skilled foresters will appear until there is a
demand for their services, and there is but one source from
which that demand is likely to come for some time, at least.
In spite of the unchecked spoliation of our public timber
lands, the Government still owns vast forest tracts,
situated largely at the sources of our most important rivers.
It is true that our national forest policy, so far as any set-
tled policy exists, seems to have been framed for the en-
couragement of fraud and depredation. But it must be
assumed that an awakened and instructed public sentiment .
will soon force Congress to make some honest effort for the
preservation of the public forests. With the effort will
come the need cf guards and inspectors, whose duties at
first will be to protect the timber from fire and thieves and
devastating animals. Even an unskilled patrol, if free
from political favoritism, and efficiently organized, would
save for the country every year many times its cost. But
it would soon be evident that for a reasonably successful
forest administration, the service, and especially its higher
executive positions, would need officers with a special
training.
For this purpose, ifthe highest efficiency were desired, an
American school of forestry would alone suffice. There are
laws of plant growth and principles of forest management
which hold good the world over. But even from a cultural
point of view the American forester would need to be
learned in American forest-botany and familiar with the
modifications of general practice which our climatic pecu-
liarities necessitate. Besides this, he should be familiar
with our business usages and our habits of thought in
political matters. Years must elapse before a corps of
teachers can be gathered and students graduated. And why —
should such a school attract students, so long as years of
thorough training give no assurance of employment?
In a paper read before the Massachusetts State Board of
Agriculture last winter it was suggested by Mr. John —
Robinson that a United States School of Forestry should be
organized and conducted on precisely the same principles
as the United States Military Academy. Students should
receive an allowance from Government just as the Ca-
dets at West Point do. The course should be thorough,
extending over a period of from five to eight years, and a
permanent appointment in the Forest Service, with oppor-
tunity for promotion, should be given to each graduate. In
no other way, so far as we know, can young men of intel-
ligence andambition be induced to devote: themselves to
the study of forestry as a profession. An assured and hon-
orable position for life ought to prove an adequate attrac- |
tion. And in no way can the Government be as certain
of a Forest Service of a guaranteed quality and with a_
proper esprit de corps as when it educates its own officials
and has the power to prescribe examinations for a commis-
sion as rigid as those at West Point.
Easter Flowers in New York.
FEW years ago our churches were decorated at
Easter with great numbers of ‘made pieces’—
crosses chiefly—often of very large size ;
such pieces are
of palms, and with quantities of Sm lax and other vines.
The fact certainly shows an improvement in taste ;
friends.
The sale was apparently large this year, but the flowers
and plants themselves were by no means so good as in
The florists explain this fact, how-_
some former seasons.
ever, byreference to the early date upon which the festival
fell and the dark skies which have ruled for the past few.
The best things to be seen were, perhaps, the
weeks.
Lilies, which appeared in great quantities and in several
and their display |
in the shops on Saturdays attracted crowds of gazers. Now —
scarcely ever ordered. The churches are
decorated with growing flowers set against a background —
and’ ita
is also pleasant to note that Easter flowers are no longer
sent to the churches only, but are very common as gifts to”
ApRIL 18, 1888.]
varieties—the finest being the tall, white Japan Lily. The
florists’ habit of removing the anthers from Lilies as soon as
the buds open does indeed preserve the purity of the petals;
but this gain is somewhat dearly purchased by the lack of
their yellow accents when the flower unfolds. Next to the
Lilies should be named the Canary Broom, which was
grown—and very well grown—in much larger quantities
than ever before. Acacias were also for sale, but not in
large number. In two or three shops there was a com-
parative novelty in the shape of great sprays of purple Bour-
gainvillea. The European Bladder-Nut—a shrub with white
flowers—had also not been so often seen in previous years.
Lilacs were poor—nor are they ever so good in this coun-
try at this season as in Paris, where they areso admirably
and profusely forced. Hydrangeas, on the other hand, were
excellent and seemed to contest with Lilies the first place in
popular favor. Azaleas were very poor—usually both small
and badly grown. Spiraeas and Deutzias were fairly good.
In one shop at least there were a number of Mahernias, not
very attractive to look at, but of delicious odor. Orchids,
both cut and growing, were conspicuous, and some cases
very good. Daffodils could be had in quantities—not of the
first quality—but no other variety of Narcissus. Lilies-of-
the-Valley and Mignonette were abundant and excellent,
Carnations abundant but not fine, and Roses by no means
up to the standard of former years. Smilax was every-
where in quantities and excellent in quality.
Dangers threaten the Adirondack forests from every di-
rection, On the 20th of March Mr. Hadley introduced into
the Assembly, and, by the unanimous consent of that body,
passed to a third reading, a bill authorizing the Commis-
sioners of the Land Office to release and convey to Charles
W. Durant, Jr., a tract of land on Racquette Lake one hun-
dred and sixty acres in extent. This piece of land contains
some of the most beautiful building sites in all the North
Woods, and has a large market value. Mr. Durant entered
and took possession of the land, and, without right or title
to it, erected permanent, and, probably, expensive im-
provements, “‘in contemplation of purchase,” the bill ex-
plains. Mr. Hadley’s bill should be defeated, and Mr.
Durant and every other person unlawfully occupying State
forest-lands should be compelled to vacate them forthwith.
The tract of land which Mr. Durant seeks to obtain by this
piece of special legislation is situated within the forest-pre-
serve. The forest-preserve was created and is maintained
to protect the rivers and regulate the sinitary conditions of
_ this State, and not to supply homes to.wealthy citizens who
may take a fancy to pass a few weeks in the woods during
the summer months. We have already pointed out in an
earlier issue the dangers that menace the forests through
the probable enactment of a law giving the Forest Com-
mission authority to lease parts of the preserve for build-
ing purposes. The fact that a bill authorizing the sale of
a part of the forest to Mr. Durant can be hurried to a third
reading in the Assembly without exciting public attention
and alarm, shows how great the danger of giving such re-
markable and unusual powers to the Commissioners really
is. Every one who takes a lease of a piece of land in the
forest and makes improvements on it, and then becomes
dissatisfied with the terms of his lease, or is unable to re-
new it, or takes a fancy to own the land upon which he
has built, will go to the Legislature to get authority to buy.
And in nine cases out of ten the application, if it is backed
with sufficient money, or political influence, or social
standing, will succeed.
The Forest Commissioners are opposed, it is reported,
to the passage of the Durant bill, although it is not ap-
parent that they have taken any very active steps to defeat
it or to warn the public of this new danger to the forests.
Indeed, the favorite measure of the Commissioners, author-
izing the lease of State lands for a term of years and with
privilege of renewal, practically empowers them to do for
a thousand squatters what this bill does for one.
Garden and Forest.
Landscape Gardening as a Profession.
UCH has been written of late with regard to the
opening for young men of ability and taste in
landscape gardening. While it is true that the need exists
for men of artistic taste and skill in this profession, it is
not so clear that there is sufficient encouragement for such
men to enter it. The greatest need is for the education of
public taste in garden matters, so that the demand for men
of trained hand and a correct knowledge of beautiful forms
and combinations of flower, shrub and tree may be created.
So long as the public are satisfied with parks constructed
by engineers, and with terraces and embankments like
those of railways or fortifications, and are content to have
their private grounds filled with meaningless ‘‘ sarpentine ”
walks, by some Irish laborer; so long as the denizens of
our cities give annual employment to a crowd of peripa-
tetic tree-butchers in lopping off the heads of beautiful
trees, just so long will men of taste avoid a profession in
which they would starve, while the ignorant pretender and
the mathematical park-maker waxed fat. In one of our
large Atlantic cities, a recently founded public institution
stands at the junction of two wide avenues with ample
grounds and grand old trees. The grounds were beautiful
and natural before the erection of the institution, but it was
thought necessary to ‘‘improve” them. And the improver
went to work with transit and level, spade, pick and
shovel, and he terraced the place on all its public sides
with banks one above the other in diminishing perspec-
tive, building stone walls around trees from which he dug
the earth, until now quite a respectable fort appears, and
the passer-by involuntarily looks for the barbette guns
on top. And yet the public think it beautiful, and the news-
paper men praise the ingenuity in saving the trees. In all
our wide and wealthy land the men of true skill in land-
scape art who meet with encouragement in their profes-
sion, can be almost counted on the fingers of one hand, while
railroad engineers, architects and hod-carriers are the land-
scape gardeners for the masses. Political favoritism also
operates largely against true landscape art. No matter how
correctly some public ground may be designed by its pro-
jector, the mutations of politics surely bring in some
pig-headed fellows, who either prevent the design being
completed, or let some ignoramus spoil it. One has only
to go to the public grounds in Washington to see plenty of
such examples. The work of A. J. Downing is being
allowed to grow into a jungle because no one has had
backbone enough to cutaway trees which Downing planted
as “nurse” trees, while his design was growing. And in
the grounds of the Agricultural Department, well laid out
originally, and planted as an arboretum, a straight avenue
of asphalt has been cut through the original design, and
bordered by two lines of wretched Ginkgo trees, looking like
foreign tramps in rags and tatters on dress-parade. So long
as public taste demands that every little spot of greenery
must have all the repose driven out of it by obtrusive beds
of Coleus and Geraniums, and the construction of carpet-
beds is considered the highest style of garden art, it will
be hard to get young men of education and taste to enter
into competition with the crowd which suffices for the
public demand. Of course, there are exceptions to all
this, for we have some good landscape gardeners, and
some men who are employing them, but I fear that the
few who do really good work can easily do all the good
work called for. Horricora.
[‘* Horticola” is certainly justified in feeling discontented
and even indignant with the present condition in our
country of public taste in regard to landscape gardening.
It is only too true that natural beauty is often, desecrated
and existent works of landscape art destroyed by ignorant
remodeling, and that the engineer on the one hand or the
laborer on the other, is often intrusted with work which
demands an artist’s eye and touch. We believe, how-
ever, that there has recently been an awakening of
intelligent public interest in the subject. The fact seems
88 Garden and Forest.
proved by many other signs as well as by those recently
published articles in popular periodicals, referred to by
“ Horticola,” which have stated our need for more profes-
sors of the art. The laws of supply and demand are not
always easily followed in their working. It is hard to be
sure whether ‘‘Horticola” is right in believing that so
much gardening work in America is bad because we do
not appreciate good work, or whether we are right in be-
lieving that it is bad largely because enough men cannot
be found to do it well. Yet some evidence of the correct-
ness of our belief would appear, we think, if the three or four
most prominent landscape gardeners of the country were
questioned with regard to their experience during the last
ten years; we think they would unite in saying that they
are much more busy to-day than they were ten years ago,
and that their clients show a more intelligent interest in
their labors. We think also that they would recommend
their profession as a good one for young men to enter,
who are willing to study it thoroughly and are possessed
of the energy and enthusiasm necessary to win success in
a career which demands practical common-sense united to
artistic feeling ; for, even though the demand for the ser-
vices of such men is not nearly so great at this moment as
it ought to be, yet by the time a student now commencing
his education is ready to begin independent practice, it
certainly will be much greater. Of this we feel sure, not
only from indices found in the most recent history of
the art of landscape gardening itself, but from the records
of the development, during the past two decades, of Ameri-
can art in other directions and particularly in the direction
of architecture.—Eb. |
A Temple in Japan.
A love of the Japanese for nature and their skill in horti-
culture are well known. But the high level of their attain-
ments in the art of landscape gardening is, perhaps, less
generally understood. From the witness of many travelers
it seems to be indisputable that no other people has ever
approached this art in so artistic a spirit, has so well known
how to improve without disturbing the beauties of nature, or
has so persistently and universally put such knowledge to
use. Formal gardening effects are never desired in Japan
—a fact which might be anticipated by any one who has
studied Japanese art in any of its branches, since its very
essence is a dislike for formality and symmetry, a love for the
utmost variety in detail which can consist with unity of general
effect. Japanese art in landscape gardening is pre-eminently
the art which conceals art. Every foot of the ground in the
more closely populated districts has been carefully tended
and treated for many generations, yet there are few spots in
which the traveler can decide how much is due to nature’s
work, how much to man's. Trees and shrubs and flowers,
water, and even rocks are sedulously tended with an eye to
the production of the highest possible degree of beauty, yet
always in such a way that beauty shall seem to have come of
itself. Even in the immediate neighborhood of Japanese
buildings the same ideal is preserved, and as the architec-
ture, compared with that of occidental countries, is of an un-
ambitious kind, and as the material used for it is wood, the
effect is always what we would call a rural, a picturesque
effect.
The illustration of a Japanese temple herewith given may
serve to give an idea of Japanese architecture in combination
with landscape. The temple is placed so that those who visit
it have an unobstructed view of the sea and of the beautiful
line which the shore makes towards the right, while the pre-
cincts themselves are agreeably shaded by large trees, be-
neath which grass and flowering plants grow in natural
profusion. It is needless to point out how picturesque, yet
harmonious and graceful, are the forms of the trees—forms
not more beautiful in themselves than appropriate as making
a delicate frame for the distant stretch of sea. As has been
said, itis impossible in Japan to tell in how far any beauty is
due to nature, in how far to man, But we may safely con-
clude that the forms of these trees are not altogether natural
—that they have been watched and directed year by year until
the most desirable effect was produced and then carefully pre-
served in that effect. We may even feel sure that the round-
headed tree in the far distance would not stand where it does
[APRIL 18, 1888.
had it not been felt that its presence was fortunate as accent-
ing the projection of the shore. Color always aids form in
producing beauty in Japan. The temple here is painted red
and has a roof of yellow thatch, and these tones, in contrast
with the dark green of the surrounding trees and the brilliant
blue of the sea, must give the spot extraordinary beauty.
Such a picture as this is well worth careful study by those
who are meaning to build on the pine-grown coasts of New
England. Scenes, the natural beauty of which is closely akin
to the beauty of this temple-site, are very frequent there, and
the utmost effort should be made by architects and owners, to
preserve their charm, to build in such a way that the work of
architecture will complete instead of hurting it.
Spring in Mobile.
T was no later than the middle of February when the red
and purple of Verbenas, Drummond's Phlox and Pansies
brightened the beds where white Alyssums, Candytufts and
Narcissus had already been blooming. Of woody plants the
Chinese Cunninghamia, the purple Magnolia, the Laurestinus
and the Mahonias were blooming early in the month, follow-
ed soon by the Mock Orange and Red-bud from more north-
ern woods, and the Chicasa Plum, whose true home is proba-
bly two degrees further north and on the western bank of the
Mississippi.
Towards the last days of the month the Loblolly Pine, the
Liquidambar, the Hornbean, and the Sweet-leaf (Symplocos
tinctorta), one of the prettiest amongst the small evergreen
trees of the South, were in bloom. The flowering of the Witch-
hazel at this season is worthy of note. Clusters of apetalous,
staminate flowers make their appearance in the axils of the
leaf buds while still in their winter sleep. Not a single perfect
flower was observed, which cover the branches late in the fall
with their strap-shaped petals.
In the garden, the Banksian and Marechal Niel heralded the
season of Roses by blooming in the first week of March. The
dwarf Almond, and the interesting Texan Buckeye (Ungnadia
speciosa), were by the 12th covered with flowers, while the
Hybrid Rhododendrons in many varieties displayed their
resplendent shades of purple and red. Azaleas, Rhododen-
drons and Kalmias were blooming in the forests by the middle
of the month, and the swamps were brightened by the flowers
ot Wax Myrtle, of Andromeda and of the Parsley Haw.
Not toname a score of beautiful herbaceous plants and
small trees blooming in the Pine-openings, I cannot pass by the
southern Sloe (Prunus umbellata), This is one of our most
striking trees, and its value for the adornment of park and
lawn is not appreciated. At its full growth the trunk is from
8 to ro inches in diameter, and the tree attains a height of over
twenty feet. The massive limbs spread horizontally at a
distance varying from 3 to 6 feet above the ground, producing
numerous erectly spreading branches, which divide into a mass
of densely crowded spiny branchlets, forming a dome-shaped
head often over twenty-five feet through. In its season this is
covered with snow-white flowers, which are succeeded by
dense green foliage. The fruit is of the size of a cherry,
deep purplish-blue in color, and used for making an excellent
conserve.
Almost all of the ament bearing trees found in this section
are now blooming. The Beech, the Cottonwoods, the Black
Willow, the Swamp Ash and all the Oaks of the upland and low-
land, are unfolding their foliage, while on our porches the
Wistaria and Trumpet Honeysuckle are loaded with flowers.
March 26th, 1888, Karl Mohr.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
ON March 43th the Royal Horticultural society met for the
last time in its old home, so long identified with the his-
tory of English Horticulture, and the occasion brought to-
gether a large gathering and an interesting exhibition, |
~ Among the new things exhibited but tew were officially ap-
proved. The most important plant to receive a first-class
certificate was a newly introduced Bladderwort (U¢ricularia
rhyterophylla), which will prove valuable for a stove or Orchid-
house. In growth it resembles the white U. montana and the
mauve-tinted U. Endresii, the leaves being long and narrow,
but the flower spike is taller and more erect. The flowers, in
shape so much like an Orchid as to deceive many persons, have
ES en
APRIL 18, 1888.]
two petals, the broad one resembling a lip about an inch wide.
The color is a bright purple, intensified by the rich blotch of
orange yellow on the lip. It is a plant of singular beauty, and
those who love Orchids must admire this Bladderwort. For-
tunately it requires the same treatment as many Orchids, being
best grown in a suspended basket in an intermediate house.
It is a native of tropical South America, Sir Trevor Lawrence
showed the specimen.
A new single white Violet, called The Bride, exhibited by
James Veitch & Sons, also won a certificate. It flowers pro-
fusely, small plants showing masses of pure white and fra-
grant bloom. The large and abundant foliage indicates a
plant of strong growth and of good promise for market pur-
poses.
A modest little Rock-Saxifrage, with cushions of primrose
yellow flowers, won the third certificate. It was named S.
fredericit-Augusti, but it may prove identical with or a form of
Garden and Forest.
89
Among a group of plants from Veitch’s nursery were three
indispensable kinds for the green-house in March. One was the
Rhododendron Early Gem, a hybrid from the early flowering
R, Dauricum, but very much superior in every way. The plants
shown were only about a foot high, but were smothered with
bloom, each flower being two inches across and of a rich violet
purple. It has been known here for some years and is popular
among gardeners, as it requires but little or no forcing, and a
group of a dozen plants makes a fine effect. :
Another early shrub was Azalea altaclerensis, an old variety
raised at Highclere, the Earl of Carnarvon’s estate in Berkshire,
famous for the Rhododendrons and other hybrids raised a
generation ago. This Azalea is similar to the well-known 4.
Pontica. The flowers are large, of a bright clear yellow borne
in large clusters, and rendered most effective. by the tender
green of the new foliage. The third isthe new Boronia hetero-
phyla, a native of Australia, one of the so-called New Hol-
A Temple in Japan
S. luteo-purpurea. It is a charming little plant for an open
rock garden, as it flowers profusely in defiance of frosts and
snow, and so does S. Burseriana, which was shown beau-
tifully by the same exhibitors, Paul & Son, of Cheshunt.
Among other exhibits not certificated there was the new Rose,
Lady Alice, a paler flowered sort than Lady Mary Fitzwilliam,
one of Bennett's seedlings, from which it is a sport. The
flowers are more globular, and the tint is a delicate blush, just
a shade away from white. It is extremely floriferous; so
much so, indeed, that, like its relative, it does not make growth
enough for the nurserymen. Mr. Paul tells me that the plants
he showed, a dozen in number, all with several fine flowers,
were from a lot taken into a slightly heated house in Decem-
ber, where, for the past six weeks, they have been supplying
cut blooms. A miniature Rose, called Red Pet, also new, was
also exhibited from Cheshunt. The flowers are small, but
abundant, and the color, a rosy crimson, is bright. Being very
dwarf, it is well adapted for pots in the green-house in spring.
land plants. The plant most nearly resembling it is B. e/azior,
but this novelty is finer in every respect. The growth is slen-
der, yet bushy ; the flowers, like tiny bells, are of a brilliant
carmine-crimson and hang on the erect branches so thickly as
to obscure the narrow leaves. I consider it one of the finest
green-house plants introduced for many years. If hard-wooded
green-house plants find much favor in the United States, this
should be remembered as one worth having.
Among the Orchids the most remarkable were the following:
Phajus tuberculosus superbus, a truly superb variety, having
larger flowers than those of the species and with broader and
whiter sepals and amore richly colored lip. The new Angrecum
Sanderianum was shown to perfection by Sir Trevor Lawrence,
the plant having four spikes nearly a foot long of snow-white
flowers, showing how wonderfully free it is in flowering. But
the finest Orchid in the show was Cyrtopodium Saintlegerianum,
which much resembles the old plant named by Lindley CG
punctatum, It bears a huge branched panicle of flowers, each
go
one and a half inches across, with yellow sepals and petals,
heavily barred with brownish red and a lip of the same color
but of a richer tint. It is extremely showy, and, I am told, is
not a difficult plant to manage in an intermediate house. It
was introduced from Brazil a few years ago by Horsman & Co.
through a collector named St. Leger. There were numbers of
other Orchids shown, including, of course, many new hybrid
Cypripediums, fornovelties in Lady’s Slipper Orchids come now-
adays as frequently as new Pelargoniums former-
ly did. Some of them might well be classed as
Orchid rubbish, but quite worthy of notice was a
specimen of Dendrobium Wardianum, fully four
feet high by two and a half feet across, with each
stout stem completely wreathed with bloom.
Every Orchid grower knows that such a specimen
requires a deal of skill to grow it, anda cultural
commendation was justly accorded to the ex-
hibitor. Wm. Goldring.
New or Little Known Plants.
Cypripedium fasciculatum.*
E have had occasion already to refer to the
difference which often exists between
the eastern and western representatives of the
same genus. In Cypripedium we have another
instance of the same kind, and one which tends
to illustrate also how in some measure the
flora of northern Europe and Asia and that of
eastern North America including Mexico are
more nearly related to each other than either is
to the flora of California and the Pacific coast.
All are familiar with ourcommon eastern Lady’s
Slippers, which have for the most part leafy
stems bearing one or two or rarely three flowers
with a conspicuous and usually large white or
purplish or bright yellow lip. None of these
range as far west as the Rocky Mountains, in
which, as in the broad interior region beyond,
within the limits of the United States no
species of the genus is found. The several
Mexican species are of the same general char-
acter, with large flowers, as are also those of
the temperate region of Europe and Asia.
On the Pacific coast there are four species,
one of which is here figured. This, it will be
noticed, is peculiar in its single pair of cauline
leaves, and in its very small greenish flowers,
which are usually several in number and some-
what clustered at the top of the stem. In its
foliage it resembles the subarctic C. gullatum
of Alaska and northeastern Siberia, which, how-
ever, has but a single and a rather larger flower.
C. fasciculatum is found in the Cascade Moun-
tains of Washington Territory and southward
in the mountains to Lassen’s Peak in California.
Its lip is less than half an inch long, and the
sepals and petals are not greatly longer. C.
Californicum, of which a figure will be given in
a future number, has a leafy stem with small
flowers solitary in the axils of several of the
upper leaves, and the greenish yellow sepals
shorter than the lip. The remaining species,
C. montanum, comes nearer to its eastern rela-
tives in its long brownish sepals and petals, but
the lip is small and the flowers are peculiar in
being very fragrant. S. W.
Aquilegia longissima.
| Pee ae to the illustration and description of this Colum-
bine, p. 31, let me say a word about it asa garden plant:
It “ was found first by Dr. Palmer in August, 1880, in the Cara-
*C. FascicuLatum, Kell.; Watson. Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 380. Low
toa footin height), the stem villous-pubescent and bearing a pair of ovate or
broadly elliptical leaves; flowers one to four, approximate, shorter than the
bracts; sepals and petals greenish, lanceolate, acuminate, six to ten lines
long, the lower sepals united; lip depressed-ovate, ;
ish-yellow with a brown-purple margin,
(from 3 inches
four or five lines long, green-
Garden and Forest. .
[Aprin 18, 1888,
col Mountains, 21 miles southeast of Monclova, in the State
of Coahiula.”
Dr. Palmer secured herbarium specimens and seeds for the
Botanic Garden, Harvard College. The seeds were given to
me, and from them in the spring of 1881 I raised a few good
plants; some of these were distributed among our corre-
During the first year the
In the spring of 1882,
spondents at home and in Europe.
plants were grown in a cold-frame.
Fig. 16.—Cypripedium fasciculatum,
leaving two plants in the frame, I set out the others in the rock-
ery. All of them bloomed the following summer, coming into
bloom about the end of July and continuing in flower till the
end of September. A few were sent to correspondents, the
others were wintered where they had been growing all sum-
mer ; those in the rockery, having, in common with the other
plants, a light mulching of tree leaves and sedge. In the fol-
lowing spring (1883) they were all alive and as healthy and
fresh as A. chrysantha or any other species, and grew and
APRIL 18, 1888. |
flowered the next summer in about the same style as they did
the previous year.
It isa desirable garden plant because it is the latest bloom-
ing of all the known species, coming in when A. chrysantha,
the next latest, is still in good flower, and continuingin blossom
long after that species has ceased to bloom. It is less robust
and less profuse than A. chrysantha, and its flowers are of a
paler yellow shade and less showy. But itslong slender spurs
have a weird appearance and hang about the flower branches
like strings of yellow Dodder. The spurs on the cultivated
plants were from 3 to 6 inches in length and averaged about
4% inches ; indeed, they gave the impression that it was on
account of their weight that the flowers ‘looked up”’ so much.
None of the cultivated plants were ever known to produce any
seed.
Since coming here I have been very anxious to obtain a
plant of this strange Columbine, and with this end in view
have sent to Cambridge, and also to all the correspondents
to whom I had sent plants, and in all cases have been inform-
ed that the plants have died. It is now entirely lost to cultiva-
tion. But although in its native habitats ‘‘ the known localities
are not readily accessible,”’ I hope we shall soon again have
the pleasure of seeing it in our gardens.
In June, 1886, Dr. Asa Gray told me he had, two years be-
fore, given plants of it to Mrs. Pickering, of Harvard College
Observatory, and that they had grown and flowered remarka-
bly well with her. Mrs. Pickering is an enthusiastic and most
successful grower of garden flowers and has a very select
collection. I at once wrote to her, and she replied that her
plants had died the previous winter. In a subsequent letter
she gives me more particulars: ‘I tried one plant in the cold-
frame, and transplanted the other in spring and fall. The one
in the frame died first. The other was left out one winter and
disappeared. The transplanted one did well for twosummers,
giving eight or ten flowers later than the other Columbines.
The roots were so very long it was difficult to transplant it, but
it did not seem to suffer materially in consequence. I liked
the plant. The flowers were very showy in individual vases.
But it was not as beautiful as 4. chrysantha, the next in size,
and which is to me the most beautiful of all the Columbines.
I was sorry to fail with this Columbine, as I have never failed
with Columbines before.”
I feel assured that the plant is not very hardy, and should
we get it again, it must be wintered in a frame. But if a
perennial supply of seed be not obtained I fear we cannot
keep it long after we do get it, for Columbines are not long-
lived perennials, and propagation by means, of division will
be uncertain.
Glen Cove, Long Island. Wm. Falconer.
Cultural Department.
Small Fruits for Home Use.
Paes Strawberry that will prove equally good on all soils, and
under all conditions, has not yet been produced, and
probably never will be. The same is true of other fruits, which
accounts for the conflicting opinions as to the merits of the vari-
ous kinds. If earliness, profuse bearing and acidity are desir-
able, the wants of the grower would be supplied by Crescent,
May King and Manchester. If he requires quality with earli-
ness, Cumberland would be better. If quality is more im-
portant than earliness, Downing, Prince, Belmont or Bidwell
would answer. If size and beauty are wanted, Jewell will
furnish these, and a good quality as well, and so will Jersey
Queen, with a higher degree of acidity and flavor. If extra
size, and sweetness without high flavor, are more desirable
than heavy cropping, they can be found in Sharpless or Davis;
and so the list might be varied ad ¢nfinitum. Numbers of new
varieties are constantly being produced and tested, but time
is required to determine their relative merits for general
planting. Those named are the leading kinds of established
reputation, and from them all reasonable requirements for
home use can be fully met.
It is not advisable for the inexperienced to confine his plant-
ing to one or two sorts, a half dozen would cover the season
better, and if one or more should fail from want of congenial
soil or other cause, the others would be more likely to supply
the deficiency. :
As the Strawberry supply draws to a close the Black Cap
Raspberry begins, the Souhegan being among the earliest and
best. Possibly the new Carman may prove a formidable com-
petitor—it certainly will if it maintains the promise it made in
its original home. The Gregg is the largest of the Black Caps
so far tried, as well as the latest. It is less juicy and more
Garden and Forest. . gl
solid than the others named and the canes are not quite as
hardy; otherwise Black Caps do not vary materially, and all
are so seedy that they are often refused by persons of delicate
organization, or perhaps disorganization is a better name for
this weakness of digestion. The Shaffer is a dull purplish-red
berry, of the Cap variety, of immense size, of fair quality
and especially valuable for canning. It is the strongest
grower of all and very productive. The Caroline, a salmon-
yellow hybrid of the Cap and Antwerp, is a gem for family use.
It is as early as Souhegan, and its delicate texture, fine flavor,
immense productiveness and thorough hardiness make it a
great favorite. The new Golden Queen may prove its equal,
but it is difficult to imagine how it can be any better.
Of the red varieties the Early Prolific has always given me
satisfaction for good size, earliness and productiveness ; its
quality is not of the best, but all earlier varieties are either too
small, unproductive or inferior in quality. The Cuthbert is
the most popular of the red varieties for home use; it is large,
prolific and of good quality, of vigorous growth and suckers
abundantly. The destruction of the superfluous plants in all
of the red varieties is essential to the most satisfactory results.
The Marlboro’ and Montclair, though not so well known or
widely disseminated, are quite as good for family use on soils
adapted to their growth, being as large and sweeter in flavor.
Here also adaptability to soil and freedom from disease must
be considered. The various fungus-diseases attacking red
Raspberries have not attracted the attention of mycologists to
the extent they deserve, and we know little about them save
their destructiveness,
Plants on rich soil and mulched ina dry time, are, I think,
less liable to attacks of these fungi than those under opposite
conditions. No two persons would agree on the same list of
Raspberries, although the foregoing are the best of the most
popular kinds for family use. The exacting amateur will
demand the foreign sorts, which are not hardy in this climate
without protection. E. Williams.
Montclair, N. J.
The Kitchen Garden.
ERE, on Long Island, about the middle of April, we are
sowing and planting all the hardy vegetables and _pre-
paring our ground for the tenderer crops. I endeavor to have
all empty ground cleared, manured and dug in fall to lessen
the spring work. Crops do better than in land freshly ma-
nured in spring. It is not necessary to fork over light orsandy
land, that lies high and dry, in spring. The surface should be
raked smooth with a wooden rake, and then lined off for sow-
ing seed or setting out plants. But heavy land, or even light
land that has lain under water during winter, should be forked
over. Never puta plow, spade or fork into heavy land till it
is-dry and mellow. I begin working our high, sandy land
about the end of March, and our deep, level garden soil about
the second week in April; but we have a springy piece of
ground, which, although thrown up in ridges over winter, is
not fit for the spade till the end of May.
The kitchen gardens on private grounds are generally laid
out and cut up into squares in such a fashion as to render the
use of the plow in them impracticable ; indeed, old-country
gardeners, as a rule, have a prejudice against the plow in the
kitchen garden. But no spade or fork can prepare and_pul-
verize soil for crops as well as can the plow and harrow. True,
by hand power we can crop our gardens closer than by horse
power, but the saving in labor and time is immense. While it
would be well to have a garden where Chives, Parsley,
Radishes, herbs for seasoning, and such miscellaneous little
things of which we need only a small quantity at a time, could
be grown, we should try to have our heavy crops, as Corn, Po-
tatoes, Cauliflower, Tomatoes, Beans, Peas and the like, in an
open area, where we could use horse power. ;
And in preparing ground a common digging fork does far
better work than the spade, and with less effort, and for level-
ing and smoothing ground a wooden toothed rake is better
than an iron one.
It is only the vegetable garden, but try for an air of neatness
about it. See that the beds are square and the drills straight.
Do not use up open ground for Spinach, Lettuces, Radishes or
other crops that can be slipped in between larger ones. Do
not have a lot of unused ground at any time ; put in some-
thing, if only Lettuces, Cabbages or Beans, to feed to the ani-
mals. After Spinach, Beans, Peas, Beets or anything else
becomes too old for culinary purposes, clear them away at
once. Do not put in more of a crop at a time than you will
need ; it is useless labor and expense. And especially look to
this in spring; it is not a large quantity of any one thing we
92
should put in, but rather a small quantity repeated in succes
sional sowings. This is true of Peas, Beans, Corn, Beets, Tur-
nips, Spinac h, Lettuces, Radishes and some others. But of
Onions, Poté 1toes, Artic es Asparagus, Parsley and others
that readily suggest themselves, we should now get ina full
crop.
Transplanting.—Contrary to advic ic 4 usually given, transplant-
ing garden plants should always be done in clear, pleasant
weather. It is a great mistake to select a rainy day for this
important work. “Plants should not be taken up, either for
transplanting into the garden or for potting for the window
garden, when the ground is wet. It is better to do this
work whe nthe soil is reasonably dry, so that it will drop en-
tirely from the roots without injury to them. When the soil is
wet and heavy much of itis sure to drop from the plant in
Garden and Forest.
[APRIL 18, 1888.
rain are in too great haste to get through, to do their work
well. Cu:
Begonia gracilis, var. Martiana.—Mr. Pringle’s note (page 7)
upon the native habitat of this favorite old green-house plant is
highly interesting, for the information he gives of its being
found so far north cee accounts for the fact that it can be
grown here, in England, in cool houses, where the artificial
heat is just enough to keep frost out. Not long since lsawa
raised brick bed in an orchard-house, with no ‘heating pipes,
quite over-run with the scaly tubers of this beautiful plant,
which in bloom in a large mass had a charming effect. Mr.
Sereno Watson may be interested in knowing that it has by no
means gone out of cultivation here, but that it is one of the
most cherishe d of green-house Begonias. In the Royal Hor-
ticultural Society's g garden at Chiswick, it was a few years ago
SENET ETI,
. 17.—The
taking up, and with the soil will go the delicate feeding roots,
that will remain uninjured if the change is made when the soil
is dry. Transplant in a clear, warm day, make a hole suffi-
ciently large to hold the roots without crowding, fill with
water, put in the plant, fill the hole with earth, which will im-
mediately become soft mud, press this firmly around the
plant, and cover the surface with perfectly dry, fine earth,
and the plant will never flag or droop, no matter how sunny
or warm the day may be. The writer has practiced this plan
for years and has never lost a plant, not even the most deli-
cate subject.
It may be urged that this is not practicable in large fields
where Cabbage or Tomato plants are to be set. But the best
way is always the most practical, and it is much cheaper to
devote a day to putting out plants and have them all live and
thrive, than to put them out in half the time and have a large
portion die and the remainder linger along only half alive. It
should be considered, too, that men who work out in the
Yellow wood.
grown to great perfection asa pot plant. Another variety of
B. gracilis, named diverstfolia, is also in cultivation at Kew
and elsewhere.
Hardy Shrubs for Forcing.--To Mr. Falconer’s
(page 6), suitable for forcing into early flower,
list of shrubs
I should like to
add a tew, knowing that they are among the finest. The new
Prunus Pissardit, or purple-leaved Plum, is the loveliest shrub
imaginable when forced into early bloom, indeed it is
naturally so precocious that it requires little or no artificial
heat to bring out the flowers. Some bushes of it, four or five
feet high, in “the green-house at Kew, are mantled with white
blossoms so_ profuse be s the newly unfolded foliage is
obscured. The flowers are about an inch acrossand have pink
centres, while the new foliage. which at maturity is of a rich
ruddy purple, is only slightly tinged witha vinous hueat flower
time. This Plum may be lifted in autumn and potted for forc-
ing, and takenintoa slightly warmed green-house in February.
Another first rate plant to force is Maule’s Quince (Pyrus
Apri. 18, 1888.]
Mautlet), which has flowers like the common Japan Quince, but
more orange in color—some call it orange red or orange scarlet.
Small bushes of it, which are always very twiggy and spreading,
have every shoot wreathed with bloom, which, in contrast to
the pale green foliage, is admirable. This, too, requires very
little forcing, but more than the purple-leaved Plum, because it
naturally flowers later in the season, Waterer’s Cherry (Prunus
Pseudo-Cerasus Watereri) is matchless in its way when forced
into bloom in March. The flowers are double and white, with
just a suggestion of pink. A good plant of this in a conserva-
tory or room lasts in bloom a long time, and in my opinion is
very difficult to excel. Forsythia suspensa, and /. Fortune,
also force well, the plants hang like clouds of yellow bloom, if
not unduly forced. The third week in March, onward, is not
too early for them. W. G.
Consider the Lilies.—As soon as the weather will permit, and
the ground becomes dry, examine Lilies plantedin the fall, and
where the frost has disturbed them make the soil firm by
treading itdown. All Liliesshould be mulched in the fall, but
if this was neglected it should be done at once. No better
mulch can be used than equal parts of leaves and haltf-rotted
chopped manure. It should be at least four inches deep. Such
Lilies as LZ. auratum, L. Wallacet,L. Leichtlini, all forms of
L. speciosum, and the species which flower after July, can be
planted now with success, if it is done at once, and the bulbs
are strong and plump. The top of the bulb should be three
inches below the surface when the work is finished. | Strong
or green manure should not be used, rather plant with none ;
but if a compound of well-rotted manure and leaves can be
had, use a spadeful for each bulb and mix it thoroughly with
the soil. Plant firmly and mulch.
Peonies will be greatly benefited by a few forkfuls of
manure placed around each plant. These gorgeous and
easily cultivated flowers are fast growing in favor, Blooming
as they do immediately after the first hint of summer weather,
they should, in thei: season, hold as high a place in popular
estimation as does the Chrysanthemum later in the year.
ToT.
The Yellow-wood.
UR illustration on page 92 represents a specimen of
the Yellow-wood which grows in a garden near
Boston. This tree is about forty years planted, and is
thirty-five feet high, with a spread of branches of nearly
sixty feet. Botanists know the Yellow-wood as Cladrastis
tincioria. The generic name Cladrasiés is of rather obscure
derivation, but the specific name relates to the wood,
which yields a clear yellow dye. Originally this-tree was
erroneously referred to the genus Jirgila as V. lutea, and
by that name it is still best known, and more often spoken
of by cultivators than as Cladrasts, the name Virgilia being
now often used as an English word in speaking of this
tree. The Yellow-wood is one of the rarest trees in the
North American forests. It grows only in a few isolated
localities from middle Kentucky and Tennessee to the ex-
treme south-western portions of North Carolina; and is
found on rich hill-sides and on steep rocky river-blufts. It
was discovered by the elder Michaux, the French botanist,
during one of his last journeys into the territory west of
the Alleghanies, and was introduced into Europe late in the
last century. Few trees are more beautiful at all seasons
of the year; and few adapt themselves more rapidly to
varied conditions of soil and climate, or are more thorough-
ly satisfactory in cultivation. The trunk of the Yellow-
wood often divides near the base, or throws out large low
branches, and while this habit renders it particularly beau-
tiful as a lawn or ornamental tree, as our illustration shows,
it increases the danger of old specimens splitting in the
fork or losing their branches. This often occurs owing to
their brittleness ; and this is the only drawback to this tree
in cultivation which has yet appeared. It is very hardy as
far north as New England and grows rapidly in all soils
and situations; although, like other deciduous trees, it
needs deep, rich soil to bring out its greatest beauties. No
insects prey upon its dark green, graceful foliage; its beau-
tiful, long, pendulous racemes of pure white fragrant flowers
appear in June when most other trees have passed their
blooming period ; and the clear yellow tints of the autumn
Garden and Forest.
Ses
foliage contrast pleasantly with the scarlets of Oaks and
Maples. The Yellow-wood is a beautiful object in winter.
The perfectly smooth, light-gray bark of its trunk and the
delicacy ofits branchlets recall the American Beech, which
alone among our native trees excels it in these characters.
The wood of this tree has considerable value in addition
‘to its value as a dye-wood, and if it could be obtained in
sufficient quantities would find many uses. It is heavy
and very hard, strong, close grained and susceptible of a
good polish. Its color when first cut is bright, clear yellow,
changing with exposure to light brown. At one time it
was prized in Kentucky and Tennessee for gunstocks.
A second species of the genus Cladrastis is known (C.
Amurensis), a small tree from Manchuria, with smooth
brown bark and short spikes of small inconspicuous flow-
ers. This tree is perfectly hardy in New England, where it
flowers and ripens its fruit very freely. It is, however, in-
ferior in every way to our American species as an orna-
mental tree, and is hardly worth cultivating except asa
curiosity. Cos ws
The Forest.
Influence of Undergrowth on the Increase of
Timber.
HILE we are talking of forestry as if it consisted simply
in the planting of trees, or in preventing the lumber-
man from cutting wastefully, or in protecting the woods from
fire, we are apt to overlook another much more positive and
practicable object of forestry, which consists in making the
most of our remaining natural growth, or in improving the
young forest that nature provides after the virgin timber has
been removed. In the Northwestern States especially there
isa large area of second growth which is much inferior to
what it might be, in kinds of timber, quality and fitness of
crop. Here is where forestry should first be applied to fill out
bare spots, to improve the crop, to make it grow more readily,
to favor superior kinds, and so on. The whole theory of thin-
ning should be carefully studied by holders of such forest
property, for a dollar spent now in this direction may return
manifold and earlier, than if nature is allowed to go on in her
bungling ways.
While, theoretically, a tree with the full enjoyment of light
would produce more leaves and therefore more wood than
the one that is narrowed in by neighbors, on the other hand,
the densely shaded soil offers more favorable conditions of
growth than the open, bare or sodded ground. To balance
these two factors of growth so as to produce an optimum is
one object of forest management. The beneficial influence
which undergrowth exerts upon the physical conditions of the
forest soil, especially in preventing undue drying out by sur-
face evaporation, is so well recognized, that the establishment
of such undergrowth forms often an important part of forest
management, for the beneficial influence upon the soil is
naturally reflected in the prosperity of the principal growth.
The writer has seen a number of oaks some eighty years
old which were left standing on a clearing to grow on for the
next rotation, sickening and dying at the top. As soon as
the young growth of hard wood underneath had covered up
the foot of these oaks, they revived, recovered fully, and grew
vigorously. Observance of these effects, of light on the crown
and shade at the foot, has given rise to a management, by
which, either a well grown forest is thinned out, leaving a cer-
tain number of trees to produce more quickly heavy sizes
under the increased light influence and underplanting these
for the purpose of preserving good soil conditions ; or else, a
naturally thinstand of trees may be so undergrown, in order to
improve the production of the principal growth.
Such stands are not unfrequently found in Germany, where
the villagers have tried to combine pasturage with tree-growth,
mostly oak, by which the latter usually got the worst of it; the
trees after a certain time showing no appreciable increase.
The numerical result of this management may be seen from
the following actual measurements.
In 1856 a stand of oaks then 130 years old, under which pas-
turage had been practiced, was thinned out and undergrown
with beech, and last winter, thirty years after the operation,
it was cut with the following results per acre : :
a. Principal growth: 45 oaks, of 68 feet average height,
yielding 3,320 cubic feet of solid wood, of which 2,082 cubic
feet or 64 per cent. were over 6 inches in diameter, fit for
94 Garden and Forest.
lumber or ties; the balance represents 13% cords of firewood,
of which 45 per cent. was split wood. In addition 11 cords of
inferior brush wood were utilized.
6. The undergrowth of course yielded only firewood, alto-
gether at the rate of 14 cords per acre, of which only 20 per
cent. was a better class of wood. The total yield of wood per
acre was, therefore, 4,765 cubic feet.
Measurements of average trees were then made at the
height of 1 meter, 3 meters, 5 meters and 6 meters with regard
to accretion, and the average increase in the area of the trans-
verse cut expressed in per cent. was found as follows :
During During
2nd Ist Ist 2nd 3rd
Decade Before Undergrowing. Decade After Undergrowing.
1.02 eae) 1.82 1.78 1.58
The mass accretion expressed in per cent. moved as fol-
lows:
0.98 1.00 1.82 1.44 153
Now as the total cross section area—that is, the sum of the
cross section areas of the forty-five oaks upon an acre—was
found to be in the average 380 square feet, the absolute in-
crease of this area in square teet during each decade was as
follows:
3.88 4.22 6.92 6.76 6.00
Similarly of the 3,320 cubic feet of wood found at the time
of cutting, the following masses in cubic feet are to be credited
to each decade :
32.54 33.20 60.42 47.81 50.8
That is to say, as a consequence of the undergrowing there
was visible a decided increase of wood production —2.70 square
feet in cross section area and 27.22 cubic feet in mass; but
this increased production was kept up during thirty years, so
that the third decade furnished still 1.78 square feet and 17.6
cubic feet more than the decade before the undergrowing.
B. £. Fernow.
Professor H. M. Ward gives in Nature the following
account of an experiment conducted by Professor Hartig :
“ There is a plantation of Larches at Freising, near Minich,
with young Beeches growing under the shade of the Larches.
The latter are seventy years old, and are excellent trees in
every way. About twenty years ago these Larches were
deteriorating seriously, and were subsequently under-
planted with Beech as foresters say—v. e., Beech plants were
introduced under the shade of the Larches. The recovery of
the latter is remarkable, and dates from the period when the
under-planting was made.
“The explanation is based on the observation that the fallen
beech-leaves keep the soil covered, and protect it from being
warmed too early in the spring by the heat of the sun’s rays.
This delays the spring growth of the Larches: their cambium
is not awakened into renewed activity until three weeks ora
month later than was previously the case, and hence they are
not severely tried by the spring frosts, and the cambium is
vigorously and continuously active from the first.
“But this is not all. The timber is much improved: the
annual rings contain a smaller proportion of soft, light spring
wood, and more of the desirable summer and autumn wood
consisting otf closely-packed, thick-walled elements. The
explanation of this is that the spring growth is delayed until
the weather and soil are warmer, and the young leaves in full
activity; whence the cambium is better nourished from the
first, and forms better tracheides throughout its whole active
period,”
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST,
Sir: Isend you a short list of books and papers which influ-
enced, or recorded, the beginnings of the modern art of land-
scape gardening.
The list is headed by Bacon's familiar Essay, in which some
directions for the making of a wild garden are given ; but long
before Bacon there were plain signs of the coming of the day
of naturalistic gardening. The poetry of Dante (1321) is full of
sympathetic feeling for the beauty of the natural world—for mea-
dows, woods, streams and flowers, even for the sea and the dis-
tant mountains. Petrarch, Boccaccio, Ariosto and Tasso betray
no such fresh feeling for Nature as does their great predecessor.
Yet in Tasso’s “ Jerusalem Delivered” (1595) is the following
remarkable description of a garden scene:
“Everything that could be desired in gardens was pre-
sented to their eyes in one landscape, and yet without con-
tradiction or contusion—flowers, fruits, water, sunny hills,
[ApriL 18, 1888.
descending woods, retreats into cornersand grottoes—and what
put the last loveliness upon the scene was that the art which
did it was nowhere discernible. You might have supposed
(so exquisitely was the wild and the cultivated united) that all
had somehow happened, not been contrived. It seemed to be
the art of Nature herself, as though in a fit of playfulness she
had imitated her imitator.”—(Leigh Hunt's translation.)
But it was in England that the love of Nature took firmest
root. Chaucer (1400) and Spenser (1599) sang of the things of
nature with a very fresh delight; and Milton, in the fourth
book of ‘ Paradise Lost,” imagined a garden which was an
Eden indeed.
England also raised up Shakespeare, whose love embraced
the
2 : A F . . * daffodils
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty;”’
and Cowley, whose delight was that characteristic one for an -
Englishman, ‘‘asmall house and a large garden” ; and, later,
Thomson, Cowper, Gray, and Wordsworth.
Meanwhile the art of landscape painting had been growing
up. Titian, its founder, composed the first landscapes upon
canvas in the days when Tasso was imagining the garden of
Armida; Claude Lorraine, Salvator Rosa and Poussin were
contemporaries of John Milton. :
Well might Wordsworth write (1805) to Sir George Beau-
mont: ‘ Painters and poets have had the credit of being reck-
oned the fathers of English gardening” ; and he adds, “they
will also have, hereafter, the better praise of being fathers of
a better taste.”
“Bacon was the prophet, Milton the herald, of modern gar-
dening ; and Addison, Pope and Kent the champions of true
taste”—thus the Rev. William Mason in 1772, when the sort of
landscape-beauty long imagined by the poets was beginning
to be realized in the English parks. Addison and Pope, each,
in his few acres, practiced what he preached—Addison at Bilton
near Rugby, Pope at’Twickenham near London. Bridgeman;
a professional gardener of the period, is said to have been
converted by Pope’s paper in the Guardian, and thenceforth
to have abandoned the clipping of trees ; while Kent, a painter,
gave up his art to become the first landscape gardener.
The first complete treatise on the new art was Whateley’s
still indispensable ‘‘ Observations,” published in 1770, and im-
mediately translated into French and German. A few years
later appeared Girardin’s excellent French work, and Hirsch-
feld’s six volumes printed in German and French. Later came
Gilpin’s delightful accounts of his English ‘tours, which had
great influence in waking the popular interest in natural scen-
ery, and Knight's and Price’s vigorous attacks on the smooth
monotony which characterized the landscape work of Brown
and his iniitators.
Shenstone, Whateley, Girardin, Walpole, Knight, Price and
Laborde, all worked out their ideas on their own estates ; and
it is interesting to know that Rousseau, the contemporary of
Gray, who yet was the first modern Continental author to write
feelingly of natural scenery, was a frequent guest of Girardin’s
at his Ermenonville.
To close the list we have the writings of a few of the first
landscape gardeners themselves—Repton and Loudon for En-
gland, Viart and Thouin for France, Sckell and Ptickler-Mus-
kau for Germany.
Mr. Editor, | hope to see printed in GARDEN AND FOREST
numerous extracts chosen from these books. Iam sure you
can do us Americans no better service than thus to advance
“the better praise” of the founders of the art and their prin-
ciples. I am, sir, yours respectfully,
Boston, rst March, 1888. Charles Eliot.
A List of Books on Landscape Gardening.
1625. FRANcis Bacon, Lord Verulam.—‘‘On Gardens,’ one of his
««Essayes or Counsels Civill and Morall.”’
1712. JosEPH AppIsoN, essayist, Secretary of State.—‘*On the Causes ©
of the Pleasures of the Imagination arising from the works of
Nature, and their superiority over those of Art.” In Zhe
Spectator, No. 414.— ‘A Description of a Garden in the
Natural Style.”? In Zhe Spectator, No. 477.
1713. ALEXANDER Pope, poet and essayist.—On Verdant Sculpture.
In The Guardian, No. 173. :
1731 .—‘* An Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard,
Earl of Burlington.”” London, fol.
1764. WILLIAM SHENSTONE, poe’ and essayist. — ‘* Unconnected
Thoughts on Gardening.’ In his collected works. Lon-
don, 8vo.
Aprit 18, 1888.]
GEorGE Mason, ‘‘aclassical scholar and critic.” —‘* An Essay on
Design in Gardening.’ London, 8vo.—An enlarged edition,
1795. London, 8vo.
Tuomas WHATELY, Secretary to the Earl of Suffolk.—‘* Obser-
vations on Modern Gardening, illustrated by Descriptions.”
London, 8vo.
Rev. WILLIAM Mason, poet, Canon of York.—‘* The English
Garden: A Poem in four books.’’ London, 4to.—A new
edition, 1785. London, 8vo.
Cu. Car. L. HirscHFELD, ‘‘counselor to his Danish Majesty,
Professor of the Fine Arts at Kiel.”—‘* Ammerkungen iiber
Landhaiiser und Gartenkunst.’’ Leipsig, 12mo.
CLAUDE HENRI WATELET, Receiver-General of Finance, Mem-
ber of the Academy of Sciences.—‘‘ Essai sur les Jardins.’’
Paris: 8vo.
Sir WILLIAM CHAMBERS, F.R.S., architect.—‘‘ Dissertations on
Oriental Gardening.’? London, 4to.
J. M. More, architecte.—‘‘ Théorie des Jardins, ou l’Art des
Jardins de la Nature.”’ Paris.
L. R. Girarpiy, Vicomte d’Ermenonville.—‘‘ La Composition
des Paysages sur le terrain, etc.’’ Geneva: 8vo.
Cu. Cai. L. HirscHFELD.—‘‘ Theorie der Gartenkunst.’’
sig: 6 vols., 4to.
Horace WALPOLE, Earl of Orford.—‘‘ On Modern Gardening.
In his ‘* Anecdotes of Painting.”
DaNIEL Mattuus.—An Introduction to a Translation of Gi-
rardin’s ‘‘Essay on Landscape.’’ London, 8vo.
1783-1809. Rev. WiLLiamM GiILpin, M.A.—‘‘ Observations relative
chiefly to Picturesque Beauty’’ in many parts of Great
Britain. London, 8 vols., 8vo.
1768.
1770.
1772.
1773:
1774.
1774.
1776.
1777-
1777- Leip-
1780.
”
1783.
1785. WILLIAM MARSHALL, estate agent.—‘‘ Planting and Rural Or-
nament.’? London, 8vo.—A second edition in 2 vols., 1796.
London, 8vo.
1791. Rev. WILLIAM GILPpiIn.—‘‘ Remarks on Forest Scenery, etc.”’
London, 2 vols., 8vo.
1792. .—‘*Three Essays: On Picturesque Beauty, On
: Picturesque Travel, On Sketching Landscape, etc.’”? Lon-
5 don, 8vo.
1794. RICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT, ‘‘a gentleman of great classical
attainments.’’—‘‘ The Landscape: A didactic poem.’’ Lon-
don, 4to.
1794. SiR UVEDALE PRICE, ‘‘a gentleman and scholar of great taste,
who has greatly improved and beautified his own estate.’’—
«© An Essay on the Picturesque, etc.’’ London, 8vo.
1794. HumpHrey Repton, landscape gardener.—‘‘ Letter to Uvedale
Price, Esq., on Landscape Gardening.” London, 4to.
1795. -—‘ Sketches and Hints on Landscape Garden-
ing, etc.’’ London, fol.
1803. .—‘‘ Observations on the Theory and Practice of
: Landscape Gardening, etc.’’? London, 4to.
1803. JOHN CLAupius Toupon, landscape gardener.—‘‘ Observations
on laying out the Public Squares of London.’”’ In Zhe Lite-
vary Fournal,
1804. .—‘* Observations on the Theory and Practice of
Landscape Gardening, etc.” Edinburgh: 8vo.
1806. .—‘‘A Treatise on forming, improving and man-
e aging Country Residences.’’ London, 2 vols., 4to.
1808. ALEXANDRE Louts JosepH, Comte de Laborde.—** Descriptions
des Nouveaux Jardins de la France.” Paris: folio.
1812. JoHN CLaupIus Loupon.—‘ Hints on the Formation of Gar-
dens and Pleasure Grounds.’’ London, 4to.
1818, F, L. von SCKELL, landschafts-girtner.—‘‘ Beitrage sur bilden-
den Gartenkunst.’’ Munich: 8vo,
1819, GABRIEL THOUIN, architecte-paysagiste.—‘‘ Plans raisonnés de
toutes les Espéces de Jardins.” Paris: folio.
1819. ViaRT, architecte-paysagiste.—‘‘ Le Jardiniste Moderne,
ete: | Paris) 12mo;
1822. JoHN CLaupius Loupon.—‘‘An Encyclopaedia of Gardening,
etc.” London, 8vo.
1832. Ws. S. Gi_piIn.— Practical hints on Landscape Gardening.”
1834. FUrst HERMANN LupwiGc HEINRICH VON PUCKLER-Muskau.—
‘«* Andeutungen tiber Landschafts-gartnerei.” Stuttgart : folio.
Periodical Literature.
HE first Lime Tree on the great avenue called Unter den
i Linden, in Berlin, was planted in 1680, the first house
having been built three years before. The story of this first
planting and of those which have since been made is told by
Herr Rodenberg in the Deutsche Rundschau for November,
1887; and in subsequent numbers of the magazine he has out-
lined the history of the famous street which has witnessed so
many striking political and social scenes.
Garden and Forest.
4
95
The title of an article by Lord Fortescue in the March num-
ber of the Mineteenth Century will doubtless attract the eye of
many who are interested in the development of a love for
flowers among the poor. But upon examination “ Poor Men's
Gardens" proves to be simply a treatise upon the question,
much discussed of late in England, of the advisability of let-
ting to members of the laboring classes “allotments” of
ground at a distance from their homes, by the cultivation of
which they may add to the food supply of their families,
The great and ancient Forest of Fontainebleau has been
made famous all over the world by the genius of the band of
landscape painters who, in the last generation, devoted their
lives to depicting its venerable Oaks, its heathy glades, its
melancholy pools and its huge groups of moss-grown rocks,
All who know and admire the pictures of Rousseau, and Diaz
and Dupré, and of a host of later comers who have followed
in their traces—and the number must be legion in America—
will be interested to read an account of the Forest of Fon-
tainebleau written by Mr. J. Penderel-Brodhurst and published
in recent numbers of the A/agazine of Art. And even to those
whom no artistic magnet has attracted to this forest, these ar-
ticles will be attractive ; for by describing the scenes of hum-
ble life which, winter and summer, are busily enacted beneath
the Oaks of Fontainebleau, the difference between what is
meant in Europe by a forest and what is meant by one in
America, is vividly set forth.
In Chambers’ Fournal for February will be found a brightly
written, yet instructive article called ‘‘ Early Blossoms.” ~The
chief flowers of which the author speaks are Snowdrops and
Crocuses, giving us at some length the history of their intro-
duction into European gardens, speaking especially of the spe-
cies of Crocus which furnishes the saffron of commerce, and
describing the singular vicissitudes of public favor and dis-
favor which this substance has undergone.
The Popular Science Monthly for April contains an attractive
and instructive chapter on ‘Californian Dry Winter Flowers,”
by Professor Byron D. Halsted. It gives an account of
observations made in the vicinities of Los Angelos and Santa
Barbara in the winter of 1886-'87, when the rainy season was
unusually late, and the plants which were in bloom had
received no rain for nearly ten months. In view of this fact,
it is surprising to read the long list of such plants—-plants
“which grow without irrigation, and blossom from the dust’’—
and to note how many of them belong to genera whose
eastern representatives flourish only under very different con-
ditions. Excluding the garden flowers of which, if he will but
supply a little water, the Californian may have “‘ the whole list
in mid-winter,” Professor Halsted pronounces the most attrac-
tive flowers he found to be those of the phlox-like Gz/éa
Californica. ‘‘ This shrub is two or three feet high, and grows
upon dry hill-sides. The leaves are thickly set and villous,
while the stems are terminated by clusters of rose or lilac-
colored flowers an inch or more across the limb. The fra-
grance is indescribably rich when not too profuse.”’ This plant
is locally called the ‘‘ Mountain Pink,” and next to it in attrac-
tiveness, the author ranks the Hosackia glabra, of the order
Leguminose, a shrub with long decumbent stems and yellow
and brown flowers.
The most interesting article for lovers of nature in the
recently completed eighty-third volume of the Revue des Deux
Mondes is Monsieur Th. Bentzon’s ‘‘Le Naturalisme aux
Etats-Unis,” the exact bearing of which is more clearly defined
by the sub-title “La Bibliotheque du Plein Air.” Monsieur
Bentzon—who, by the way, is alady, writing under an assumed
name, with a special predilection for American literature—
reviews in this article, at considerable length and with high
praise, the volumes contained in Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin &
Co.’s ‘“‘Out-door Library ""—the works of Thoreau and John
Burroughs, Lowell's ‘My Garden Acquaintance,” and Miss
Jewett’s ‘‘ White Heron,” and speaks incidentally of the
Journals of Agassiz and his wife, and of poems and stories by
many other hands. The genesis of this out-door literature is
traced, no doubt with much reason, largely to the combined
influence of Agassiz’s teachings and of Emerson’s‘‘Nature,” and
its development is looked upon as the effect, less of the wish
for scientific knowledge than of the desire, on the one hand,
to give literary outlet to the “animal spirits” of a young and
vigorous race, and, on the other, of the Emersonian wish
to trace the relationship between the soul of man and the soul
of nature. We ourselves hardly realize, perhaps, how strongly
the love for nature is expressing itself in our current literature.
It is doubly pleasant, therefore, to find the fact recognized
96
abroad, where the American people is too often believed to be
wholly given over to money-making industries, and as entirely
devoid of the contemplative as of the poetic gift. There is one
author, however, whom one regrets to find missing from M.
Bentzon’s list—Miss Murfree (Charles Egbert Craddock),
whose pictures of nature in the mountains of the south-west
deserve to be ranked with our best out-door poems in prose.
An article on ‘‘ An Old-Fashioned Garden” by Mrs. A. M.
Crompton in Harper's Young People for March 27th, is of just
the sort which should frequently be written for youthful read-
ers. Not often will any one be able to realize just ‘The gar-
den of my dreams’ as this author describes it—for it is de-
scribed as one “‘ which must be at least a hundred years old,”
and in which, though successive owners may have worked
many alterations, at least ‘the trees and turf must have the
beauty of age.” Buta garden where beauty means growing
things in naturaldevelopmentand not an assemblage of statues
and fountains and stiff showy pattern beds, where ‘“ old-fash-
ioned” sweet-scented flowers bloom in abundance and birds
delight to gather, where vines and creeping plants are trained
with ‘an art that conceals art,” where fruit-trees, shade-trees,
shrubs and annuals all have their place and purpose, and
where winter may seem almost as beautiful as summer—such
a garden as this very many more people might have than is
to-day the case. And it is difficult to believe that a strong de-
sire for it will not be inspired by this charming little article,
Notes.
Plants bearing exclusively what purport to be four-leaved
Clovers—or, as the Germans call them, “luck Clovers ’—are
sold just now in pots in the flower markets of Germany. They
are said, however, not to be true Clovers (7+éfolium), but cer-
tain species of Oxalis, which regularly produce leaves with
four leaflets—O. occulenta, O. Deppei, or O. tetraphylla.
Herr Max Leichtlin has commissioned Paul Tintenis
to travel for him in Armenia in order to collect bulbs and
seeds for cultivation in the famous Leichtlin gardens at Baden.
An herbarium will also be collected, illustrative of the Flora of
Armenia.
A great Fruit Exhibition will be held in Vienna during the
coming autumn, with the object not only of displaying the
pomological products of Austria, but of increasing, among
cultivators and the public, a knowledge of the newest meth-
ods of cultivating, preserving and utilizing fruits.
The Royal Society of Agriculture and Botany will hold its
twelfth annual international exhibition during the latter part
of this month.
A Horticultural Congress will be held in Paris in May, in
conjunction with the annual flower show of the National Hor-
ticultural Society.
The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Horticul-
Tals. Society ‘“Hortensia” will be celebrated in Munich in
uly.
The Philadelphia Flower Show.
"THE Spring Exhibition at Philadelphia last week fully sus-
tained, in the quality of the collection, the high reputation
won by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society during its long
and successful career. The number of plants and flowers dis-
played was smaller than usual, but this relieved the managers
from any temptation to crowd them, and the arrangement
throughout was admirable. The centre piece, with a cone of
Asparagus tenuissimus rising from a bank of rich flowers and
foliage to the high ceiling, was tastefully conceived, and no
single feature of it was more pleasing than the immense
Fuchsia, six feet high, with its wealth of bloom. Itwasa gen-
eral remark that exhibitors could in no way do more to render
flower shows attractive than by displaying finely-developed
specimens of plants that are well known and “common.” For
some reason Orchids have not been cultivated as largely in
the neighborhood of Philadelphia as they have been in other
parts of the country. The fine display of these plants was
therefore a surprise. The group of fifty plants from the col-
lection of Mr. W. S. Kimball, of Rochester, New York, was
especially noteworthy, every plant being well grown and in
fine flower. Good collections were also shown by Siebrecht
& Wadley, of New York, and Charles Dissel, of Philadel-
phia. Of course the spring flowering bulbs were abundantly
displayed, and the hall was bright with Rhododendrons and
Azaleas. But Roses, next to the Orchids, attracted the most
attention. The flowers of Mrs. John Laing were unusually fine,
and this variety did not suffer by comparison with Madame
Garden and Forest.
[ApriL 18, 1888.
Gabriel Luizet as they were seen together. No better Brides
were ever exhibited, and Niphetos was almost as good. A
cluster of General Jacqueminots from Boston were admired
for their unusual size and the luxuriance of their foliage. Be-
sides the old favorites, a prize was awarded to a Tea Rose
called, provisionally, The Gem. No one was able to tell
whether it was an old variety, revived by chance, or a sport.
But its size, form and solidity give it great value. It is nota
pure white, but has a pleasing suggestion of the faintest cream
color, and the growers present agreed that it was a Rose of
the greatest promise.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, April 73th.
The stock of cut flowers is very heavy } so heavy indeed that only
the choicest blossoms bring anything like a satisfactory price. Trade
is good on the chief thoroughfares, but is generally dull on East-side
avenues. A few large weddings have brought orders for handsome
designs for gifts, but the average demand is for flowers not selected.
Paul Neyron and Baroness Rothschild Roses are particularly hand-
some. They bring 75 cts. each. Other hybrids of good quality cost
5octs. Some very large La France Roses bring 60cts. each. Catherine
Meimets are poor, and Brides are showing considerable color on the
outer petals. There is a glut of Callas and Harris’s Lilies ; the former
are offered for 15 and 20cts., and the latter for 25 and 30 cts. Lilac
from New Jersey is very well grown and holds its price at 50 cts. a
spray. Poet's Narcissus is scarce, and costs 50 cts. a dozen. Hya-
cinths, Tulips and Lilies-of-the-Valley cost from 60 to 75 cts. a dozen,
according to quality. Very choice Lilies-of-the-Valley selected for
bridal bunches, are sold for $1 a dozen. Daffodils cost from 60 to 75
cts. adozen. White Carnations are scarce, but those of other colors
are plentiful and 50cts. a dozen. Short-stemmed Carnations are sold
for 30cts. adozen. Small Mignonette costs 25 cts. a dozen spikes.
The large Spiral brings 10 cts., and the Giant holds at 15 cts. a spike.
Forget-me-not of excellent quality appears, and costs 50 cts. a dozen
sprays. Some Heliotrope of great beauty is in market, bringing 25
cts. a bunch. Other flowers, if of good quality, remain as last quoted.
There is no price set upon the indifferent stock which gluts the market.
It may be bought for any sum offered.
PHILADELPHIA, April 13th.
Roses are quite plentiful now, and the Hybrids are generally very
fine. Magna Charta and Baroness Rothschilds are selling freely at
from $4 to $6 per dozen. Mrs. John Laing is improving very much in
quality, as also is Puritan and American Beauty. Amongst the Tea
varieties, Madame Cuisin was in remarkable demand this week ; one of
the leading florists had difficulty in getting sufticient stock to fill
his orders. It isa beautiful Rose, and not the least of its good quali-
ties is the length of time it keeps in good condition. With brighter
sunshine it becomes higherin color. Lilacs are still scarce, and much
called for; very little is forced for cut blooms in the vicinity
of this city. The beautiful single Daffodil is becoming more abun-
dant, many coming from the warmer counties of New Jersey and
Delaware. Some varieties of Carnations are improving in quality,
notably Grace Wilder, a great favorite here. The delicate pink color-
ing is more decided than it is in the dark days of winter. It sells
readily at from so cts. to 75 cts. per dozen. Buttercup is also very
good, and in demand, selling at from 35 cts. to 50 cts. per dozen.
Wedding breakfasts are growing in favor, Flowers are used on such,
occasions in great abundance.
Boston, April 23th.
On Monday last one of the leading dry goods firms created a sensa-
tion in the flower market by buying up all the Violets that could be
obtained for that day and presenting them to their customers. The stock
of Violets lasted only till noon, however, and the merchants were then
obliged to fall back on Roses as a substitute, and the market was
completely cleaned for once. A general adoption of this plan
would not be unacceptable to the flower growers and flower
dealers at present, for there is an overstock of flowers in almost every
variety. Roses are particularly abundant yet, in spite of the low
prices. Specially fine specimens of any popular variety still com-
mand customers at high figures. Some remarkable Jacqueminots
bring $4 to $5 per dozen, and at the same time those of ordinary
quality can be bought as low as $1.50 per dozen, and a still lower
grade is eagerly bought from the street boys at ‘‘ three for a quarter.”
Catherine Mermets, Perles, Bennetts and Brides are all of first quality,
and well worth the low price—about $1.50 per dozen—asked for them.
There is an abundance of Lilies-of-the-Valley, Tulips and Poet’s Nar-
cissus at $1 per dozen. The yellow varieties of Narcissus are about
gone for this season. Violets are 50cts. per bunch and long-stemmed
Carnations 50 cts. per dozen. White Lilies are still abundant in the
market and they are used largely in the making up of funeral designs.
Heath has disappeared completely, and but few Orchids are seen.
Smilax continues very scarce and brings 50 cts. per yard readily.
Some superb Hydrangea plants are to be seen in the florists’ windows.
These, with Canary Broom, ‘‘Longiflorum” Lilies and Cinerarias, are
very popular as window plants this season. The Amaryllis is also
growing in favor, and deservedly so, for it is easily grown and
makes a striking display.
APRIL 25, 1888.]
GARDEN AND’ FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[LImITED.]
OrFice: Tripune Buitpinc, 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 25, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE,
EprroriaL ArticLes:—The Forests on the National Domain.—Flowers in
Winter.—A Plantation for Winter.—Note.......... sami a O7
A Curious Vegetable Growth on Animals -Professor WG. Farlow. 99
Last Year’s Leaves......-....--..- e Dr. Chas. C. Abbott. 99
How the Mangrove forms Islands.........0sseee+esesserees A. H. Curtiss.
c 100
Certain Cone-eating Insects (with illust .. Professor A. S. Packard. 100
ForREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—The Kew Arboretum, III........... Geo, Nicholson. 10x
New or Littte Known P rants :—Rosa minutifolia (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 102
Curturat Department :—A Selection of Lilies............. sheeds e0 CL, Allen. 103
SUC SURGE ETI OLE S pret cetera ete Ora eis mjc\nininvelemicinimiaipieeeteiateie te imteis aise eiasevasd (etmietey= 103
Fruit Garden Favorites.... .- Charles A. Green. 104
Peat Muck for Trees or Lawns.—Transplanting the Arbutus.—Petalos-
Pe TUL O Teele GttoTl LETTS eee rete ue tate otete etait etetel= ister. < fe chais) ate Viesnvs ona ceclopmajns eyeias 105
Tue Forest:—The Forest Vegetation of Northern Mexico, Il. (with illustra-
RIO EL) eisteresiavarciatatcteei= cisieeicea 6 sce cise 4 carete alee bts .ése arose jecatereleie-s C. G. Pringle. 105
Notes on the Norway Pine. Spo ororocerod Hi. B. Ayres. 106
(GORRESPONDENGE cajcais mains cisiaiels neavninie cin swing evisieieia’s ‘ae. iccaive 5 cheese: s/s aacais ayer sra aie 106
Flower and Fruit Pictures at the Academy of Design,
Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 107
Rerait Flower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston
ILLusTRATIONS :—Single Pierced Cone, Fig. 18
Mass of Infested Cones, Fig. 19........-
Spruce Cone Worm, Fig. 20............-
Moth of Spruce Cone Worm, Fig. 21..
Rosa minutifol’a, Fig. 22...........00
The Alameda uf Chihuahua
The Forests on the National Domain.
HE forest-covered public domain of the United States
is now, with some exceptions in the Gulf States,
confined to those portions of the country west of the rooth
meridian. ‘These forests, where they come within the di-
rect and immediate influence of the Pacific Ocean, are un-
surpassed in the quantity and value of the material which
they contain ; in all other parts of Western America insuf-
ficient moisture has made them thin and stunted. Such as
they are, however, the forests of the interior regions of the
continent play an important and controlling part in the
development of all that vast region, and influence the wel-
fare of communities which now perhaps never give a
thought to their existence. For, although often scattered,
thin and stunted, they regulate the great rivers of the
continent and so have an important bearing on the
material welfare of a very considerable part of the Ameri-
can people. China within the last year has shown us
only too plainly what a great river, deprived of the pro-
r
tecting influence of the forest at its source, can accomplish
in death and desolation ; and what has happened in China,
will some day happen in America, if the forests which now
guard the mountain slopes above the head-waters of the
Columbia and the Missouri are sacrificed through the greed
or the indifference ofour people.
A large population is directly dependent, too, upon these
western forests, for the water they store for irrigation, with-
out which no agriculture is possible in nearly all that region,
and for the lumber and fire-wood they yield.
They are forests, too, such is the want of moisture in all the
interior of the continent, which have a hard struggle for exist-
ence; the resinous character of the trees and the dryness
of the soil make fires exceptionally dangerous and destruc-
tive ; and these conditions render the restoration of a forest
once destroyed practically an impossibility. We mention
these familiar facts to show the necessity of applying
Garden and Forest.
97
to these forests the most careful methods of protection and
administration which can be devised, both because they are
in themselves of very great value, and because peculiar cli-
matic and topographical conditions make it a much more
difficult matter to protect and extend them than those in
more favored parts of the country. They can never be
secure in private hands ; they may be preserved and even
extended if the general government can be made to realize,
what all other civilized nations now realize, that forests are
essential to the public welfare, and that they can be safely
managed for the good of all only by government adminis-
tration. Individuals are not, and never can be, safe guar-
dians of a forest upon which a community depends ; and
perhaps the most important question which at this time
waits the action of Congress is such a settlement of the
future of the public forests as will prevent individuals
from securing title to any portion of them, or from un-
lawfully entering or devastating them. Other public ques-
tions can wait a few weeks or a few months without
any very serious or at least fatal results, but when
a forest of Fir or of Redwood on the Pacific Coast is swept
away, there is destroyed what it will require five centuries
to restore; and twice that time will not be enough to cover
with trees again the slopes of Colorado or Nevada moun-
tains devastated by fire. And yet while Congress year
after year refuses to consider seriously the question of
forest protection on the public domain, thousands of acres
of these forests are destroyed every year by fires which
might have been prevented, or by trespassers who might
have been caught and punished.
Two bills relating to the public forests now await the
action of Congress. House bill No. 7901 has already
been favorably reported upon by the Committee on Public
Lands. The provisions of this bill contain many danger-
ous elements, and cannot effect the protection of the
forests. It provides that the fee of certain lands shall re-
main vested in the Government, but that the timber may be
sold from these lands without restriction, and it provides
no administrative machinery for the protection of the
forests from fire, always their greatest danger. The use of
the military, except perhaps at the very outset, and before
proper officers can be trained as forest guardians for
such regions as it may be deemed expedient to retain in
forest, is hardly a practicable measure, or one which is
likely to result in any practical good. The public interest
demands that this bill should be defeated.
House bill No. 6045 was prepared under the auspices
of the American Forestry Congress, and has the endorse-
ment of many persons most actively and intelligently in-
terested in preserving the forests of this country. It
provides that permanent forest preserves shall be estab-
lished under a forest officer and proper subordinates.
They are to embrace lands better suited for forest growth
than for any other purpose, especially lands situated at
the head-waters of important streams ; and they are to be
kept in permanent forest and to be carefully guarded from
spoliation and destruction. Timber, however, may be sold
when it is clearly advantageous to do so, but only under
the direction of a government officer, and with a proper
regard to the future development of the forest. Unauthor-
ized cutting, and other injury to the preserved forests are to
be made criminally punishable. Forest guardians, and
methods for their appointment, are provided for, and the
not excessive appropriation of half a million dollars to carry
out the provisions of the bill is asked for. This bill has
much to commend it, and it would be fortunate for the
American people if their feeling and intelligence were
sufficiently aroused upon this subject to compel politicians
to stop and consider a measure of such vital national im-
portance in the year of a Presidential election. In this bill,
however, no provision is made for the proper training
and education of forest officers, and yet forest administra-
tion, however wisely the laws upon which it rests may
have been drawn, must depend for ultimate success upon
the intelligence and enthusiasm of the officers who direct it.
98
Mr. John Robinson, as has already been explained in an
earlier issue of this paper, has very wisely suggested that
we must first have a forest school in this country modeled
on the plan of the Military Academy, before we can hope
to have forest officers thoroughly trained in all the difficult
technicalities of forest management, or an efficient forest
administration. The men will appear, no doubt, to man-
age the forests, when the Government decides to protect
them, and they will manage them badly at first, and then
in time very well, but no general forest policy is complete or
adequate to accomplish the ends in view without some pro-
visions for training forest officers, any more than a law to
establish a standing army could be complete without pro-
visions for training its officers.
It is true that many investigations are yet to be made upon
the position, the extent and the character of our western
forests before enough is known about them to locate properly
forest reserves, or to organize an effective system of forest
administration ; but some beginning must be made. If
this measure fails it might be well if all friends of the forest
would unite in an effort to secure from Congress the
withdrawal of the whole forest-covered public domain
from sale and entry, with adequate temporary measures for
its strict protection, and the appointment of some com-
petent body, selected for example from the National Acad-
emy of Sciences, to study the whole question in all its com-
plex bearings and to recommend some comprehensive
scheme of forest administration. There could be no op-
position to such a bill except on the part of those who
prey on the public forests. Such a measure might
diminish at once many of the dangers which now threaten
to exterminate the western forests, and it would cause
the subject to be studied and discussed in a manner which
would compel Congress eventually to establish a perma-
nent forest administration in this country. But whatever
method is adopted one thing is clear, that unless Congress
does something and does it quickly, there will be very
little forest left in western North America, and the future
of all that part of the Continent will be irretrievably ruined.
Flowers in Winter.
HE skill of American gardeners in growing flowers
for winter cutting, and the lavishness of the Ameri-
can public in buying them, strike every visitor to our
large towns. In no other country are flowers—espe-
cially Roses—forced in such perfection or profusion, and
in none are they used in such quantities, not only on all
social occasions, but for the daily adornment of the draw-
ing-room and dining-room.
It is hard to say whether our passion for cut flowers
reveals a love for nature or simply a love for beauty in
general, But it certainly is not, as some would have us
believe, a mere fashionable craze, with no more respectable
foundation than extravagance and the desire for display.
Fashion's freaks do not last for generations, and grow
stronger and stronger in their influence year by year. But
our love for cut flowers in winter has thus lasted and grown.
A few years ago fashion certainly played a large ‘part in
determining the uses to which we put such flowers. No
lady was content to appear in a piace of public amuse-
ment without an immense bunch of flowers in her belt, and
few were content to take their afternoon stroll unless simi-
larly adorned. The request that no flowers may be sent
which even now often follows a funeral announcement in
the papers—though not so often now as a few years since
—is an unmistakable sign that a custom which, when
not carried to excess, is among the most beautiful and
touching of modern times, had been carried to excess—
had become a fashion that was felt as a tax upon the
friendship of the giver and a burden upon the conscience
of the recipient. Andso strong for a while was the feel-
ing that a lady could not go to an opera or a ball without
bearing costly tokens of the regard of her friends, that
Garden and Forest.
[ApRIL 25, 1888.
young men of moderate means were almost driven out of
social life and the florist’s bill came to rival the tailor's as a
synonym for one of the worst terrors of city existence.
But all these things have changed of late; and in the
change we may read signs of our growth in a real love for
flowers, as well as in good taste and refinement of feeling.
For the florist’s trade has certainly not suffered in conse-
quence of the fact that we use flowers less for the purposes
of a display than in years gone by. If we do not buy so
many flowers to give away in a semi-obligatory manner,
we buy more for ourselves ; and if we do not carry them
about so much in public, we care more to have them with
us in ourrooms. Many of us can remember when a lady
often placed her baskets of flowers in her front window,
between the curtains and the glass—sacrificing her own
enjoyment so that every one else might know of her good
fortune. Such vulgarities no longer offend the sight, but
behind the curtains there are more flowers and lovelier
ones than there ever were before.
The increase .in the variety of flowers which we now
force for winter use, and the simple character of many of
them, also prove our advance in the right direction.
Thirty years ago the Camellia ruled almost alone in our
drawing-rooms. Then Roses began to come into favor,
but they were as inferior to those of to-day in quality as
they were in variety. It is scarcely twenty years since
the most beautiful and fragrant of the other flowers we
now demand were introduced into the winter trade—the
Hyacinths and Lilies-of-the-Valley, the Daffodils and Nar-
cissus and Tulips, which may now be bought any day in
the winter for a few pence at any street corner, bringing
into humble homes the loveliness which in former years
yas a luxury for the rich alone. The first bouquet of
Lilies-of-the-Valley which was seen in a New York ball-
room—some twenty years ago—was the talk of the
town for days, and the florist who had grown the few
sprays which composed it, and the young man who had
bespoken them long in advance of their blooming, were
looked upon as marvels of inventiveness and enterprise.
These blossoms and their fellows had before that time
been considered ‘‘common garden flowers,” unworthy of
a place in a florist’s window or a lady’s hand when winter
made their acquisition difficult. But one experience of
their charm among the time-honored favorites of the
drawing-room, gained a place for them in popular affec-
tion, which has enlarged itself year by year. More recently
other ‘common garden flowers” have likewise come to
rank as winter favorites—Lilacs, for example, and the
Mignonette, Forget-me-nots and Chrysanthemums; and
we believe that even the growing fancy for Orchids—a
fancy inspired as often by the fact that they are rare and
singular, as by the fact that they are beautiful—will not
drive into even temporary retreat the simpler, cheaper
flowers, which prove that our love for natural beauty —
is a healthy and a steadily developing sentiment.
A Plantation for Winter.
HE value of some deciduous shrubs with regard to
their winter beauty is hardly appreciated. We
think much of the flowers and foliage of our shrubs, little
of the brightness and persistency of their fruit, or of the
color which their twigs retain when their leaves have fall-
en. Yet the number of such plants which are decorative
throughout the whole or a part of the winter is considera-
ble. The finest and most beautiful is the Cockspur Thorn,
a small and graceful tree which can be used as the centre
of a winter group. Its large dark-red fruit is borne in great
profusion, and remains conspicuous in the winter land-
scape until the days of early spring. Among smaller plants
the common Barberry is the most valuable for winter
planting. Its habit is graceful and its drooping racemes
of fruit are brilliant objects throughout the entire winter.
Less pleasing in habit but with fruit equally persistent and
even brighter in color is Thunberg’s Japanese Barberry.
APRIL 25, 1888.]
The common Privet, one of the hardiest and most easily
cultivated of plants, carries in this climate its bright black
fruit well into April. Several of our native Roses also re-
tain their showy red haws until spring, especially the tall-
growing Carolina Rose, and, among dwarfer species, Rosa
humilis, R. blanda and R. nitida, The conspicuous fruit of
our native Bitter-sweet—orange-colored and red—remains
upon the plant all through the winter season, and its free
habit of growth will add a welcome touch of variety to the
group of shrubs among which it may be planted. The
Japanese Rhodoty pus is another winter fruit-plant, although
its greatest beauty consists in its pure white flowers and
neat foliage. And to this lst of shrubs which do not lose
their fruit until the days when fresh foliage is ready to re-
place them, may be added many others which retain theirs
-for at least a portion of the winter. The different Spindle-
trees are striking objects in late autumn and early winter ;
but although their brilliant crimson fruit is persistent
through winter, it becomes dull and inconspicuous by the
end of the year. Few plants are more beautiful in autumn
than the Highbush Cranberry (Iburnum Opulus) with its
load of orange-scarlet fruit, but the birds devour this so
greedily that little is left at Christmas-time. Every one
knows the beauty of the Black Alder as it blazes through
our northern swamps during the autumn months, and al-
though a native of swamps ‘it grows freely in any garden
soil. Ifplanted for the sake of its fruit care should be
taken to secure plants of both sexes. Its scarlet fruit gen-
erally disappears by Christmas, but in his account, recent-
ly printed in these columns, of the effects of the great
spring storm in New Jersey, Dr. Abbott speaks of seeing the
Black Alder loaded with its fruit resting upon the dazzling
drifts of March snow. The Snowberries, white and red-
fruited, are beautiful in autumn, but they also lose their
beauty later in the year.
And the winter shrubbery can be enriched by many
plants conspicuous by reason of their bark. Scarlet-twigged
Dogwoods, Golden-barked Willows, the Kerria with its
shining yellow branchlets and many others may be group-
ed with fruit-bearing plants to produce an effect of striking
and of lasting charm. All these plants are beautiful in
spring and summer as well as in winter, and some of them
are among the most desirable shrubs for summer-planting
that we have. Therefore it need not be thought that in
planting for winter beauty we should. detract from our
pleasure at other seasons of the year. All we need to do
is, while planting for summer, to think a little of winter
too, A little thought will enable us without any sacrifice
in other directions to produce delicate combinations of
form and color upon which the eye will rest with satisfac-
ticn throughout the long weeks of snow and cold. It is
ignorance or indifference rather than necessity that has led
us to rely so entirely upon dusky evergreen foliage in our
efforts after winter beauty.
_ The death is announced of Jules Emile Planchon, the
distinguished Professor of Botany at Montpellier, at the
age of 65. Although a systematic botanist by training,
Planchon’s predilections were for horticultural and economic
botany ; and of late years he has devoted himself specially
to the study of the Grape-vine, and of its greatest enemy,
the Phylloxera. He was sent to this country by the French
Government in 1873, to prosecute these investigations ;
and on his return to Montpellier he made an interesting
and valuable report upon the subject. His last important
publication isa monograph of the Grape-vines and the
other plants of the Ampelopsis Family, in which some
new North American genera and several new North Ameri-
can species are proposed. This, the latest contribution to
the botanical literature of the Grape, occupies the second
half of the fifth volume of DeCandolle’s Continuation of his
Prodromus, for which Planchon had written a monograph
of the Elms, Hackberries and other genera of the Nettle
Family.
Garden and Forest.
99
A Curious Vegetable Growth on Animals.
T is a well known fact that in certain diseases of the skin
and hair which occur in man and mammals there are
found fungi of rather a low grade of organization which by
many of the medical profession are considered to be the
cause of the diseases. In many of the lower animals, also,
parasitic fungi are found, so that the discovery of a new
fungus growing on animals would cause little surprise.
But the case is different in respect to algae, lower plants
which, unlike fungi, have green coloring matter in their
cells. In afew animals which are low down in the scale
of existence green algze are occasionally found, but, in such
cases, the algae are not usually considered to be parasites
in the ordinary sense. The algee and animals are -assum-
ed rather to be living eS ere in what is called a state of
commensalism—that i is, “the’al gee furnish in some way food
for the animals while the latter provide food for the alge.
A curious case in which aleee seem to live as parasites
on animals has recently been studied by Mme. A. Weber
van Bosse. It is a fact known to zoologists for some years
that the hairs of some of the oie of sloths have a green-
ish color. It had been suspected and partly demonstrated
that the green color was due to some plant growth. The
researches of Mme. Weber van Bosse show conclusively
that such is the case, and she describes minutely and figures
the species found in the hairs of Bradypus and Choloepus.
The alge described belong to two genera—Z7richophilus,
in which the cells are grass-green and give out zoospores
like many small alge ‘found in salt and fresh water and
also on trunks and trees in wet places; and Cyvanoderma,
in which the cells are violet colored like some plants of the
Nostoc family. The home of the sloths is the damp, shady
forests of the tropics, and there we might expect such alge
to grow on animals of a sluggish habit, especially if they
live among the damp foliage of the branches, as is the case
with the sloths. But we should hardly expect that those
animals confined in the zoological gardens of Europe would
have their hairs covered by the same alge. Such, how-
ever, appears to be the fact.
W. G. Farlow.
Last Year’s Leaves,
S I walked yesterday along a wooded hillside, over
tree-margined fields, and skirted a swamp too wet,
as yet, to thread, I noticed many a tree with last year’s
leaves still on it. Except one Tupelo, which usually drops
its foliage earlier than our other forest trees, these leaf-
bearers were all Oaks or Beeches. Thoreau speaks of
the White Oaks about Concord retaining their leave as
a rule, and others deny that this is true, or more than
an occasional occurrence.
The conclusions derived from my own memoranda, cov-
ering many years, and of my ramble of yesterday ne
ularly, are that not only the White Oak, but several other
species, do retain their leaves, or a considerable Saag ss
of them, until early in May of the next year. Take any
Oak grove in this neighborhood, and I think it will be
found, if the trees are not too crowded for healthy growth,
that fully three-fourths of them retain from one-tenth
to one-half of their leaves. But when we come to
consider single trees, this habit of leaf retention will be
found one of many curious features. For instance, I know
of many single trees, both Oaks and Beeches, that have a
single limb that will retain its foli liage the winter through,
while the other branches are bare from November to May.
Again, a tree that stands upon the edge of a wood will hold
its leaves on the open, light and airy side, and drop those
that grew upon the shaded limbs. Does the greater vigor
of the foliage upon the sunny side explain this ?
In one of my upland fields there stands a thrifty Scarlet
Oak, that is noticeable for the beauty and density of its
foliage. In October the deep green becomes a rich ma-
roon, and later, a lighter aaa brighter red, and not until
100
nearly New Year's has the ruddy tinting given way to
brown. Even then the tree remains a prominent object,
and is, indeed, even for an Oak, one among a thousand.
For the past fourteen years this tree has never failed to
retain nearly all its leaves, although in that time there has
been every variety of summer and winter that even the
powers in charge of our capricious climate could invent.
On examination of the Oaks near by, it has seemed to
me that they all have a tendency to retain their leaves, and
the measure of success in each case is due principally to
the exposure of the tree and its general vigor. Here I may
be wholly at sea, and only too glad to be informed cor-
rectly, if in error.
What I have said of Oaks applies equally to the Beech.
Given shelter from the north-west winds and average vigor,
and many a leaf will cling to its parent stem, until the
swelling leaf buds of the new year shall crowd it from its
place.
While yet the drifts of the late great snow storm still
lingered, it was a pleasant feature of the landscape to see
the sapling Beeches still bearing aloft their last year’s
leaves, dimly glittering like wrinkled fragments of old
gold, and filling the air with a bell-like tinkle, soothing
and soft as the twitter of a bird.
I offer itas a hint to the landscape gardener, to bring
about by selection, if it can be done, a fully established
habit of leaf retention; not making evergreen Oaks, but
winter-long, bright brown Oaks; for such now lessen, to a
marked degree, the dreariness of many a winter outlook.
Again, when leaf retaining Oaks are mingled with Ever-
greens, there is an added charm to the scene. Think fora
moment of such a cluster as this: A background of Cedar,
scattered Oaks with dark brown leaves, a Beech with
golden foliage, and crimson-fruited Black Alder mingled
through itall. This may be readily brought about, for Isaw
it yesterday, where Nature had, without | man’s aid or inter-
ference, made thus beautiful the corner of a a lone neglected
field. Charles C. Abbott.
Near Trenton, New Jersey, April sth, 1888.
How the Mangrove Forms Islands.
MONG the agencies that have helped to build up the
peninsula of Florida may be numbered certain trees
which are fitted by nature to grow on lands that are more
or less under water and that are too unsubstantial to sup-
port other forms of vegetation. Like the coral builders,
they work so slowly that in a single century no great
change is accomplished, but in thousands of centuries the
changes wrought are very great. .The most important of
these tree-workers are the Mangrove and the Cypress. The
former grows on shores and shoals that are overflowed
generally by salt tide-water; the latter in localities that are
overflowed at times by fresh water. Both have similar
obstacles to overcome and they accomplish by this very
different means.
The Red Mangrove (Rhizophora Mangle) covers hun-
dreds of square miles of the southern shores of Florida, the
principal areas occupied by it being the shoals lying be-
tween the keys and the mainland—which are composed of
calcareous sediment—and the low southern and western
borders of the Everglades. In these localities and on tide-
washed islands as far north as latitude 29°, it forms a
dense thicket of vivid green, rising uniformly from high-
water-level, unchanged by seasons, unaffected by hurri-
canes, insidiously encroaching on the domain of waters
and helping build what in future ages will be dry land,
Far in the interior, even on the northern border of the State,
are found beds of calcareous sedimentary rock which may
once have supported just such thickets of Mangrove.
In places on the mainland shores the Mangrove attains
to tree-like dimensions, forming a tall trunk sometimes two
feet in diameter. Like the Cypress, the Mangrove is
provided with strong buttresses at the base, but these differ
from those of the Cypress in being of the style called by
Garden and Forest.
[AprRIL 25, 1888.
architects ‘‘ flying” buttresses. Starting from the trunk a
yard or two from its base, they descend in graceful curves,
sending off branches, from which other branches proceed,
all descending in similar curves to the muddy ground, over
which the tides spread twice a day. ‘These basal branches
serve the double purpose of props and feeders. From the
upper branches, aérial roots descend till they reach the
water at high tide. Sometimes a tree may be seen entirely
dead except as to one branch, which is kept green by
sucking up water through an aérial root perhaps twenty
feet long.
Another special provision for its environment is seen in
the seed of the Mangrove. This, before falling from the
branch, develops into a miniature trunk from six to twelve
inches long. ‘The basal end being the heaviest, it is most
likely to strike the muddy surface first and to stick there in
an erect position. The rootlets and seed-leaves being
ready to push forth, the young plant makes a rapid growth
and soon becomes well rooted and propped in its rather
insecure position.
As the Mangrove usually grows, rising scarcely ten feet
from the water and spreading laterally, the main stem is
of littleimportance. Innumerable roots descend from and
support the leafy branches, repeatedly forking in their de-
scent and forming a sort of basket work below high-water-
level. Floating objects become lodged in these natural
weirs, shell-fish and other marine creatures multiply in them,
and the submerged stems give support to sea-weeds and
hydroids. In some localities the roots become encased
with oyster-shells, and this, probably, is the origin of many
of the oyster- bars that obstruct some of the lagoons or
so-called rivers of southern Florida.
The Mangrove thickets in the course of time build up a
foundation for other species. Of these none have a pecu-
liar habit of growth, except the Black Mangrove (Azicennia
nitida). This tree is remarkable as to foliage, fruit, wood,
bark and roots. The surface-roots send upward innumera-
ble short feeders, black, lithe and rising about a span above
the surface. This function, evidently, is to draw nutriment
from the water at high tide, and, like the knees of the Cy-
press, they add to the surface accumulations, which, from
age to age, add to the elevation of the land. In this re-
spect, however, neither of these trees equals the Red Man-
eTove.
~ The wood of the Red Mangrove sinks in waterand is not
attacked by marine worms. Hence, fallen branches and
trunks remain where they fall, while material that floats in
with the tide is detained by the network of basal branches.
It is altogether probable that the thousands of tree-covered
“islands” in the Everglades and Big Cypress were once
Mangrove thickets and that the present Mangrove islands
will in time be added to the mainland. As soon as they
are elevated above the overflow of the tides, the Mangroves
will give place to species that require only brackish soil,
which, in turn, will be replaced by fresh water or inland
forms of vegetation.
Jacksonyille, Fla.
A, H, Curtiss.
Certain Cone-Eating Insects.
HE cases here mentioned are the only ones known to ._
us where the cones of Spruce and Pines have been
attacked by insects. It is well known that the Spruce bud
louse (Ade/ges abieticolens) deforms the terminal shoots of
the Spruce, producing large swellings, which would be
readily mistaken for the cones of the same tree. Another
species of bud louse (Ade/ges abiefis Linn.), which appears
to be the same as the European insect of that name, we
observed several years since (August, 1881), in considerable
numbers, on the Norway Spruces on the grounds of the
Peabody Academy of Sciences at Salem. <A species of cat-
erpillar (Prnipests reniculella Grote), was observed August
24th, in considerable numbers, on a young Spruce ten to
twenty feet in height at Merepoint, on Casco Bay, Maine.
The cones on the terminal shoot, as well as the lateral
APRIL 25, 1888.]
upper branches, which, when healthy and unaffected, were
purplish green and about one and one-quarter inches long,
were, for the most part, mined by a rather large Phycid
caterpillar. The worm was of the usual shape and color,
especially resembling a Phycid caterpillar not uncommon
in certain seasons on the twigs of the Pitch Pine, on which
it produces large unsightly masses of castings within
which the worms hide.
The Spruce cone worm is usually con-
fined to the young cones, into which it
bores and mines in different directions,
eating galleries passing partly around the
interior, separating the scales from the
axis of the cones (Fig. 18). After mining
one cone the caterpillar passes into an
adjoining one, spinning a rude silken
passage connecting the two cones. Some-
times a bunch of three or four cones are
tied together with silken strands ; while
the castings or excrement thrown out of
the holes form a large, conspicuous light
mass, sometimes half as large as one’s fist, out of which
the tips of the cones are seen to project (Fig. 19). Besides
these unsightly masses of castings, the presence of the
caterpillars causes an
exudation of pitch,
which clings in large
drops or tears to the
outside of the adjacent
more or less healthy
cones. Where much
affected the young
cones turn brown and
sere,
The same worms
had also attacked the
terminal branches and
twigs of the same tree,
eating off the leaves
and leaving a mass of
excrement on one side
of the twig, within
which they hadspun a
silken gallery in which
the worm lived.
On removing the
bunches of diseased
cones to Providence,
one caterpillar trans-
formed in a warm
chamber into a moth,
which appeared the
end of October; its
metamorphosis was
probably accelerated by the unusually warm autumnal
weather then prevailing. All the others had, by the 1st
of November, spun within the mass of castings a loose,
thin, but firm, oval cocoon, about half an inch 1 ong and
a quarter inch wide, but the larvee had not
yet begun to change to chrysalids. Whether
ina state of nature they winter over in the
larval state within their cocoons, or, as is
more likely, change to pupz in the autumn,
appearing as moths by the end of spring,
remains to be seen.
I only found one tree next to my house
thus affected by this worm. In 1887 the
tree was 1ot so seriously affected, though
its general appearance had not much im-
proved. Itis probable that in a dense Spruce
growth the trees would be less exposed to
the attacks of what may prove a_ serious
enemy of shade Spruces. The obvious remedy
is, to burn the affected cones and mass of
castings late in summer.
Fig. 18.—Single
Pierced Cone.
Fig. 19—Mass of Infested Cones.
Fig. 20.
Cone-
(enlarged).
Garden and Forest.
1ol
been taken from our fourth
report on insects injurious to forest and shade trees, in
Bulletin No. 13 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Division of Entomology, to which we are indebted for
The foregoing account has
the accompanying illustrations, drawn by the artist of
the Division, Miss L. Sullivan.
Another cone-eating insect is a bark beetle, Dryocates
affaber. We have found this beetle in great abundance
mining the bark of the Spruce, near the timber line on
Gray’s Peak, Colorado; it occurs, however, throughout
the northern States. Mr. W. H. Harrington, of Ottawa,
Canada, sent us, in December last, a specimen of this
beetle (Fig. 21), which he doubtfully referred to this species,
and which we find is identical with our Colorado examples
He has given us the following account of its habits: ‘‘The
cones of the Pitch Pine were found to be, during the past
frequently inhabited by this bark borer,
both beetle and larva,
Their attacks were readily
noticed by the small aborted
cones. The terminal shoots
of the branches seemed
also sometimes infested by
the same beetle. It seems
larger than a beetle which
season (1887),
Fig. 21.—Moth of Spruce Cone-worm
an Wanneeedy : I found a few years ago
boring into the terminal
shoots of the White Pine, and which you
D. affaber.”
determined as
S. Packard.
Foreign Correspondence.
Arbor
EFORE entering into a detailed account of the more
important genera in the Kew Arboretum, it may be
well to give a few particulars about some of the finer speci-
mens, and a note or two concerning the history s others.
A fine Persimmon (Diospyros Virginiana) near the Tem-
dle of the Sun is one of the original denizens of the Old
Arboretum, and was presented with many other rare and
curious trees by the Duke of Argyle to George III ; it isa
yandsome plant—apparently as happy as in its native
rabitat—and measures upwards of 60 feet in height, the
trunk girthing 5 ft. 4 in. at a yard from the ground; the
read has a spread of about 30 feet.
A conspicuous object at the present time (March) is a
fine specimen of the Constantinople Hazel (Coryvlus Colurna)
aden with catkins ; it has a spreading head 44 feet across,
is 35 feet in height, and the stem measures 4 ft. 3 in. in
girth at three feet from the ground. According to Loudon
this species was introduced to Britain in 1665 ; “the follow-
ing memorandum from ‘‘ Hortus Collinsonianus” is worth
reproducing. ‘* The Turkey Nut, in the Mill Hill Garden,
is very remarkable from all others, for the husk rises high,
and branches out every way, and covers the nut. This is
a remarkable acquisition, for the Captain that brought
them from Turkey, eating them in a drinking room, one of
them dropped into the crack of a rotten window board,
where it took root; my gardening friend Mr. Bennett,
coming there and seeing it, transplanted it to his garden,
from whence our tree was a layer, and brought here anno
1756.”
The history of the first introduced plants of the Chili
Pine (Araucaria tmbricafa) is as follows. Towards the
very ae of the eighteenth century the officers of the Van-
couver Expedition were at a dinner given in their honor
by the Viceroy of Chili. Menzies, the surgeon and natur-
alist attached to the Survey, noticing that part of the
sert consisted of nuts which were new to him, obtained a
few which he planted in a box of earth on board his ship.
Several germinated and five plants were safely deposited
at Kew. These were grown under glass for many years,
and the old Kew plant—perhaps the only survivor—even
after being planted in its present position, was protected
The Kew etium.—I1T.
des-
102 Garden and Forest.
by a wooden structure for many successive winters. Far
more handsome specimens are to be met with than this—
which dates from 1796—but its historical associations
make it worthy of mention. It measures 34 feet in height
and has a spreading round head quite similar in outline to
those sketched in their native forests by Miss North; the
stem is 3 feet 10 in. in girth at three feet from the ground.
The large Sophora Japonica near the newly constructed
rockery for hardy Ferns is not only one of the original oc-
cupants of Aiton’s Arboretum, but it is one of the three or
four plants first introduced into Britain. It flowers pro-
fusely every year, but never seeds; although perfectly
hardy our summers are not hot enough for pods to be de-
veloped. (In northern France do the same remarks apply.
During a continental trip last August I saw no pods until I
had got well into the southern districts beyond the Loire.)
The Kew plant is about 50 feet in height, with a stem 13 ft.
6 in. in girth; it divides into numerous massive branches
at about the height of a man and some of these are bound
together by strong iron chains—the head has a spread of
[ApRIL 25, 1888.
when young. Possessing these advantages, it is not sur-
prising to find that itis now being largely planted in many
places.
Ginkgo biloba, the tree formerly only known in gardens
as Salishurta adiantfolia, or the Maidenhair tree, is perfectly
hardy at Kew and grows freely. Our largest specimen is
upwards of 56 feet in height, with a head 42 feet in diame-
ter, and a trunk 9g feet in girth at a yard from the ground.
Formerly this specimen was trained against a wall like a
fruit tree, but the building being removed the tree was left,
and the side branches cut away. This tree, too, like many
others which flourish well at Kew, does not flower, al-
though itis on record that when enjoying the shelter of the
wall it did produce male catkins.
The largest of the Turkey Oaks (Quercus Cerrzs) in the
Kew Arboretum, is one growing near the Temple of the
Sun. This was also presented by the Duke of Argyle. It is
a noble specimen 85 feet in height, the spreading head
being 96 feet through, andthe trunk 15 feet 6 inchesin circum-
ference a yard above the ground. As a timber tree, in
Fig, 22.—Rosa minutifolia,
about 75 feet. Some other specimens at Kew are almost
equally fine, and one, planted in a wood, where it had
been prevented from developing too much laterally, has a
fine clear stem of thirty or forty feet.
Not far from the Sophora just described is probably the
finest Hop Hornbeam in the British Isles. This is not the
Hop Hornbeam or Iron-wood of the north-eastern United
States, but its European representative (Os/rva carpinifolia),
and, in my opinion, a more ornamental species than the
American plant. It is 50 feet in height, with a trunk 9%
feet in girth and a spreading head of upwards of 70 feet
wide. ‘This, although it is annually laden with its curious
hop-like catkins, does not ripen seed at Kew.
The Corsican Pine (Pinus Zaricio) near the Grand En-
trance is a remarkably. fine example of the species, and,
moreover, has an interesting history. After peace had been
proclaimed in 1815, it was brought to England by the
botanist Salisbury. It was then a small plant, about six
inches high, in a pot; the measurements now are : height 90
feet (several feet have been broken off the top by snow
storms during the last dozen years) ; spread, 60 feet ; girth
of trunk at 4 feet from the ground, 9g feet. P. Laricio is a
valuable timber tree, a fast grower, and stands the rough
sea breezes well, besides being almost proof against game
Britain at any rate, this species is not of much value, but
the South African forest authorities are planting it largely.
The great importance of growing belts of Oak in the South
African forests is that they are trees which hy their dense
shade keep down the grass, the burning of which does so
much damage to the forests every winter. The Turkey
Oak being better adapted to the climate of South Africa
than the common Oak (Quercus pedunculaia), its extended
propagation is, according to the Conservator of Forests
stationed at King Williamstown, of the first importance.
Royal Gardens, Kew. Geo. Nicholson.
New or Little Known Plants.
Rosa minutifolia.*
UR wild Roses have an ill reputation among bota-~
nists for the uncertainty which often attends the
determination of their species. But there are some, fortu-
nately, about which there can be no doubt, and we have
*R, minutirouia, Engelm, in Bull. Torr. Club, ix. 97. Of dense growth, 2to4
feet high, pubescent, with numerous scattered terete straight or slightly curved
spines; leaves small, with narrow stipules, the leaflets 5, round to lanceolate, 1to5
lines long, incised-dentate ; flowers an inch broad or less, pie or white, solitary
on short tomentose peduncles terminating very short branchlets ; receptacle glo-
bose, densely setose-hispid, the calyx-segments cleft, persistent; styles distinct.
Pe ee et ee
oe ee ee a
a ee
APRIL 25, 1888.]
here given the figure of one which carries its distinctive
characteristics obtrusively to the front, and cannot be mis-
taken. Not only is there no other American Rose like it,
but it stands alone in the genus, forming M. Crepin’s sec-
tion, ALinutifohe. Its compact habit, its very small and
deeply toothed leaflets, and its small, solitary flowers al-
most sessile upon the short branchlets, together make it a
very distinct species.
As might be expected, this Rose belongs to the flora of
the Pacitic coast. It has been found only on the peninsula
of Lower California, near All Saints (Todos Santos) Bay,
about 40 miles south of San Diego, where it was discov-
ered in 1882, forming low, dense thickets upon the dry
hillsides bordering the shore. It is a much-branched, com-
pact shrub, armed with numerous stout, straight spines,
the small leaves often fascicled, and with numerous pink
or white flowers along the branches. The globular base
of the calyx is covered densely with short bristles. Evi-
dently the flower in its wild state cannot be commended as
well suited to the florist’s needs, but from its habit of
growth the plant may well prove a decided ornament to
the lawn and garden in our more southern States, where it
would doubtless be hardy. S. W.
Cultural Department.
A Selection of Liles.
HE selection of varieties is an individual work to be settled
by the grower in accordance with his personal taste and
the amount of space and money he has at command.
For a garden of moderate size the twelve species and varie-
ties named below would well represent the whole family and
furnish continued bloom from June until September.
Liliune auratum, the golden-banded Lily of Japan, is one eager- |
ly sought, because of its large, showy flowers. Asa garden flower
it has few equals, if magnificent display is the object sought,
Asa cut flower for house decoration it is the least desir able of
any of the family. It is too large to arrange with others, with a
due regard for harmony of form and color, and the fragrance
it exhales is truly sickening. Of this species there are many
garden varieties, differing only i in the markings. In some the
golden band gives place “to one of bright crimson, which for a
day is showy, but the crimson soon fades into a dirty brown
and the beauty of the flower vanishes. None of these varieties
equal the original type. This is usually considered a difficult
subject to manage. Choose the smallest bulbs, those that are
heavy and firm, plant deeply, say eight inches, in the driest
part of the border, in partial shade, and the bulbs will last a
number of years.
L. elegans issoldin many forms under the name of ZL. Umbel-
Zatum, and its varieties, atrosanguineum, fulgens, etc. Orange
is the predominating color, with various shades ; afeware deep
crimson and quite showy; some are a clear citron in color;
some are self-colored, others deeply spotted. Alice Lee a
variety of recent introduction, is decidedly the best of its class.
The flower is perfect inform, with petals broad, full and grace-
fully curved. Its color is a clear, lemon- yellow, deepening
towards the centre of the flower to a rich golden yellow. The
class is valuable, because of earliness, hardiness, and profusion
of bloom. A large clump makes a magnificent display. The
flowers are generally too coarse for table or parlor decoration.
L. Brownit, which is also known as L. Yaponicum, a native
of China, is remarkable for its long trumpet-shaped flowers,
ivory-white inside, and dark purple” on the outside. This is
usually regarded a tender Lily, andis not much grown because
of its liability toperish. This opinion is aoe erroneous. |
know a clump of more than a hundred bulbs, all of which have
come from six bulbs planted some ten years ago in a raised
bed, which has not since been disturbed. Many of the bulbs
furnish eight flowers each, and the display is such as only this
stateliest of flowers can make.
L. candidum, the old and well-known white Lily of our gar-
dens, is the one we could least afford to lose. For graceful
habit, stainless purity, and delightful fragrance it has no peer.
It is fitted for any place, and forall occasions where cut flowers
are desirable. Itis about the only flower we do notlike to cut,
and that because it is too noble and pure to meddle with.
This bulb should be removed in August, and not be suffered
to remain long outof ground; itcommences its autumn growth
the last of August, and upon this growth its next year’s s bloom
Garden and Forest.
103
depends. A blight has visited the Lily, in many parts of this
country, the cause of which no one has been able to discover,
neither has there been found for it a remedy,
L. excelsum, or testaceum of many catalogues, is another
noble Lily closely allied to the Z. candidun, and resembling it A
habit of growth. Its flowers are drooping, with retlexed petal
of a delicate nankeen color, with the minor petals covered w ith
darker warty spots. Its fragrance is delicate and pleasing.
L. speciosum, or, as itis more commonly known, Z. Jaznc:-
folium, is the most useful of all the Lilies. In point of beauty
it ranks next to ZL. candidum, and is far more useful when
cut. Of this species we should not be content with less than
four varieties. Var. prwcox isastrong grower, producing when
well established twelve to fitteen very large, pure white flowers
ona single stem, with regular and muc h reflexed petals often
clasping the stem; in the centre of the flower the petals are
studded with delicate little projections, like crystal points.
Var. purpuratum has the same general habit, but isataller and
stronger plant, with dark rose-crimson flower whose petals, at
the base, are seemingly rugged with eke and garnets, while
the edges are bordered with white. Var. puscfatum differs in
habit of growth but little from those already noticed, its flowers
being pure white, delicately studded with light rose-colored
spots. Var. voseum, or rubrum, is the mostcommonand best
known of all the varieties. Much confusion existsin regard to
its variety name. Some dealers call it voseum, others rubrum,
many send it out under both names; the resultis, if you buy one
you have both, if you buy both you have but one, which one
it matters but little. Its Color is between that of Z. punctatum
and L. purpuratum. There are nearly fifty varieties of this
species catalogued ; the four described are fairly representative,
and tora general display no more are required, while fora
good collection neither could well be omitted.
L. longiflorum, the trumpet-shaped Lily, is conspicuous
among Easter flowers, as it is well adapted for forcing. The
popular Bermuda Lily belongs to this species. It thrives well in
the open border, but it is folly to plant it unless thoroughly
protected against frost.
L. tenuifolium is the earliest of all Lilies to bloom in the open
border and one of the most remarkable, because of its brilliant
scarlet flowers, borne in terminal clusters on very slender
stems, which are beautifully clothed with grass-like foliage.
L. tigrinum flore pleno, although one of the much despised
Tiger Lilies, i is, when well grown, a noble and beautiful plant.
I have hada single plant grow more than five feet high, with a
diameter of more than three feet, bearing in a single season
more than sixty flowers, and continuing in bloom fully six
weeks. The flowers are orange-scarlet and very double.
Finally, let me say, that in making a selection one cannot
well go wrong, for there is not a species or variety that is
unw orthy ofa “place in the garden. You will succeed if you
deserve success, and you will be sure to increase the number
of varieties annually. You will also observe that your invest-
ment has been relatively small, as plants that are steadily and
rapidly increasing in number, though they may cost one dollar
each when you begin, are, in the end, much cheaper than those
that require to be Temoved every year, like all the popular bed-
ding plants. Col. -Allen:
Kitchen-garden Notes.
ASPARAGUS.—For private use, plant in rows 3 to 4 ft. apart,
18 to 24 inches asunder in the row, and the top of the crowns
5 inches below the surface of the ground, which we do not
raise into ridges atall. Me wketmen plant 2 to 4 inches deeper,
and in spring plow the earth from between upon the top of
the rows in order to get white shoots. By sowing some
seed in spring, we can “keep up a supply of plants for new
plantations or for filling up gaps in, old ones.
BEANS.—In light, s sandy land sow snap beans about the 17th
on 2oth of April, but it is not safe to sow them before the 24th.
Valentine is the best of green-podded varieties; it does not
rust or spot; Golden Wax is the best of the yellow-fleshed kinds.
BEETS.—Sow Egyptian or Eclipse in rows a foot apart.
CABBAGE.—As soon as young plants of early Wakefield
are well hardened off, plant them out in rows 2 ft. apart.
CARROTS.—Sow a little Early Horn, Scarlet Stump-rooted
and Danvers—the first a foot apart, the others 15 or 18 inches.
CAULIFLOWER.—Treat like Cabbage, only be more careful in
having the plants well hardened off and the ground warm
and rich; indeed, if the plants can be well taken care of, and the
out-door conditions are not quite favorable, delay planting
till about the 20th. Early Snowball is best.
CELERY.—Sow some Golden Heart and White Plume in a
cold-frame. I do not sow the main crop till the last week in
April, but this will be too late for less favored localities.
104
CUCUMBERS.—Sow Tailby's or Nichol’s on sods or in pots in
a hot-bed and piant out in May.
EGG PLANTS AND PEPPERS.—Keep them growing in pots in
hot-beds, snug and warm and well covered up at night. They
are very tender. There is nothing better than New York Im-
proved Egg Plant or Ruby King Pepper.
LETTUCES.—Those sown last week in March in hot-beds are
now fit for transplanting. Set them out among other crops, say
between Cabbage and Cauliflower plants or between rows of
Peas. Sow again, this time out-of-doors, for succession.
Salamander and White Summer Cabbage are good torsummer
use. Every kind of Lettuce will fail in hot weather.
Ontons.—For seed Onions select well-fnanured rich ground.
After it has been well pulverized, tread or roll it to make it
firm, then draw drills an inch deep and 15 to 18 inches apart ;
sow, cover and tread or roll. I prefer Yellow Danvers, South-
port White Glove and Wethersfield Red. Or for early use
plant sets, and the larger they are, the earlier they will be fit
to use.
PARSNIPS.—Sow a little seed now and the main crop about
three weeks later. Use deeply-worked rich soil, and have the
rows 20 or 24 inches apart. Get the Student or Long Smooth.
Garden and Forest.
[APRIL 25, 1888.
TURNIPS.—Make a small sowing once a fortnight. 1 much
like the Strap-leaved sorts, also Purple-top White Globe. Early
sowings are much troubled by worms in the ‘ bulb.”
HeErRBS.—Have some Mint, Thyme and Tarragon growing
permanently ; and from seed every spring raise some Chervil,
Savory and Sweet Basil.
Fruit Garden Favorites.
MONG the old Strawberries none please me so well as the
Downing. There are more highly flavored varieties, and
those more beautiful, but there is something in the quality of
the Downing that leads me each season to the spot where it
grows. Under good culture it is large and productive, but in
some localities it is subject to leaf blight, so called, caused by
a fungus growth.
Next to the Downing tor the amateur I would place Mt. Ver-
non. It is attractive in flavor, productive and vigorous, but
too soft for market. This, like many others, has been over-
looked by many, in the crowd of new varieties that have been
offered, yet it has friends everywhere, and wiil be planted more
The Alameda of Chihuahua.
PARSLEY.—Sow a row of Double Moss Curled at once in good
ground. Old roots are persistently running to seed. Raise a
fresh supply every year. For wintering in frames sow again
about midsummer ; this sowing will not ‘ bolt” till nextspring.
PEAS.—Sow nothing but wrinkled marrow Peas. Alpha
sown now will give peas fit for use about the toth of June;
McLean’s Advancer, about the 15th or 25th, and Stratagem
about the 20th, Owing to season and conditions of cultivation
these dates may var Sow all these varieties on the same
day and with successions of Stratagem or Champion of Eng-
land every ten da Champion is the best Pea grown—but it
is too tall.
RADISH.—Sow a small row once a week ; they are fit for use
four weeks after sowing. French Breakfast asa Turnip Radish,
and Wood’s and Chartier’s as long Radishes, are good.
RHUBARB.—A barrel set over the stools will draw up the
leaf stalks long and tender. Cut out flower stems as soon as
noticed.
SPINACH.—Use Viroflay or Long Standing, make a small
sowing once in tendays. Use Spinachas a catch crop between
Cauliflower, Parsnip rows, or wherever else there is room.
TOMATOES.—Keep them growing vigorously in pots in frames.
Give them plenty head and root room,
Populus Fremontii, Var.—(See page 10s.)
and more each season by those who appreciate a good Straw-
berry. Triomphe de Gand and Jersey Queen are both superior
in quality to either Downing or Mt. Vernon, but usually will
not yield halfas much fruit, and in many localities are exceed-
ingly fickle. Indeed, the Durand strain of Strawberries, to
which Jersey Queen belongs, has proved uncertain with me as
arule, and also with many others. Parry and Jewell, of the
same strain, while among the best of the family, are variable,
the Jewell far more so than Parry, the latter proving to be a
valuable early variety in many localities. It varies greatly in
quality, however, in the same row the same day, a peculiarity
which I have not noticed in any other variety. Among the
newer varieties Jessie excels in quality united with productive-
ness, and Bubach in size, beauty and vigor.
It is a disputed question whether Strawberry beds should be
cultivated during the spring, or bearing season, but weeds
must be subdued, and shallow hoeing early in the season does
no harm. Where the winter mulch is left between the rows
it has a tendency to cause later ripening and increases
the danger from frost, but otherwise the mulch is benefi-
cial. If the soil is not fertile enough commercial fertilizers
may beapplied by hand, if care be taken not to permit them
to touch the foliage. They should be mixed with the soil at
APRIL 25, 1888.]
once with the hoe. The Strawberry is a good feeder, and
wood ashes, nitrate of soda, common phosphates or almost
any fertilizer will be acceptable. The proper time to apply,
however, is before planting, and I would select yard manure
if I could have my choice. The earliest berries will be found
on the sunny side of dry knolls, or adjoining tight board fences,
or timber belts that afford protection. A cold-frame with glass
overa portion of the bed will cause those thus covered to
ripen before their less favored sisters.
It is not easy to explain why Raspberry and Blackberry
plantations deteriorate when the dead canes are not removed,
but such is the fact. Possibly the dead wood absorbs too much
moisture from the roots. I often renew an old plantation by
mowing off both dead and living canes close to the earth while
the soil is frozen, hoeing and fertilizing afterward. As the
plants attain age they throw up too many canes, thus causing
the small berries found on old plantations. We often thin
out the bearing canes on old plantations one-half. These fruits,
and in fact most fruits, abhor an undrained soil. Wet land
is the principal source of failure with the Raspberry and Black-
berry. It is the cause of winter killing and feeble growth.
La&t season many Raspberries turned brown and withered be-
fore ripening, lessening the cropone-third. The severe freez-
ing of the previous winter enfeebled the plants. On high, dry
lands less loss of this character was observed.
Patrick Barry used to say that the quality of a Black Rasp-
berry was hardly worth considering, but I think he would not
say so now, for the varieties differ greatly in quality. Mam-
moth Cluster is among the best, and Gregg is most deficient in
quality. Red Raspberries differ in quality as much as apples.
There are few who enjoy the better varieties, as they are not
hardy, but they can be easily protected. Franconia possesses
many of the good qualities of the better class of red, and
Brinckles’ Orange of the yellow. In Blackberries the old Law-
ton and Kittatinny have not been excelled in size and quality,
but it must be remembered that they are seldom permitted to
ripen fully. If eaten as soon as they color they suggest sips of
vinegar or lemon juice, but a week later they soften and are
sweet.as wild honey.
Rochester, N. Y. Charles A. Green.
Peat Muck for Trees or Lawns.—The cleanings of ponds, or
peat-muck dug out of the swamps, if carted into a heap on dry
ground and left there for one or two winters to freeze and pul-
verize, is then in capital condition to mix with soil for treesand
shrubs. Indeed, it is the best thing we can add to the soil for
this purpose. It has an excellent effect on nearly every kind of
loamy, gravelly or sandy soils. Its free use on clayey lands
renders them more open and congenial to tree and other plant
roots, and less liable tobakeand crackinsummer. On gravelly
and sandy land it has an ameliorating and fertilizing influence ;
besides, it enables the land to hold manure better than it did
before the muck had been used. Jarvis Field—the base-ball
grounds at Harvard College—was leveled, graded and laid
down fresh to grass some years ago. The landis very sandy ;
indeed, so sandy, that, unassisted by clay, loam or muck, agood
stand of grass could not be produced and retained on it. As
any quantity of muck could be had conveniently, it was freely
used, anda good sward secured. The idea is sometimes en-
tertained that about as much muck as manure will be suffi-
cient. But in preparing holes for trees, one-fourth the bulk of
the soil of muck will be little enough. On sandy land for grass,
a layer three to six inches deepallover, and this well plowedand
harrowed into the ground, but still kept near the surface, will
~ be none too much. But muck alone will not retain a vigorous
sod; surface-dressings of manure should also be used. Lawns,
in making which muck has been freely used, should be well
rolled early every spring, else the frost will leave their surface
puckered and uneven. W. F.
Transplanting the Arbutus.—The trailing Arbutus is so rarely
seen in cultivation that there is some color for the prevalent
opinion that itis difficult to transplant. If there is a serious dis-
turbance of the root the plant nearly always dies, but I have
transplanted it many times with perfect success. The work has
always been done in early spring, just after the flowering is
over. A trowel or spade is run down well around the plant,
so thata good ball of earth comes with it. Sturdy, small,
bushy plants are the best. Of course a shady place should be
selected for it. I once set a plant among some rocks in a hol-
low, shaded by trees; another time at the foot of a small
hillock facing north, in both of which situations it flourished
and flowered. About Philadelphia the east bank of the Wis-
sahickon is a favorite spot for this plant, but the city is spread-
Garden and Forest.
105
ing over the Wissahickon hills and is closing in upon its hiding
place. This means that the Trailing Arbutus, and many
another wild beauty,will soon be lost tous. Yoseph Meehan.
Petalostemon decumbens is one of the good hardy herbaceous
plants that bloom in May. Its flowers are borne in dense
spikes of rose throughout thesummer. Itis one of the lezumes,
and very distinct, rare and beautiful. It is most suitable for
the alpine garden. An established plant will cover nearly a
square yard; and as it dies back every fall to an unbranched
woody rootstock, from which all decumbent flowering stems
arise, it remains much of the same size and condition for
years, and can never become a nuisance like some other
pretty plants, by becoming too obtrusive. It reaches a height
of six or eight inches. T. D. Hatfield.
The Forest.
The Forest Vegetation of Northern Mexico.—lI.
Populus Fremont’, var. Wislizent, Walson Cottonwood.*—
Though the impression was purposely conveyed in the
preceding article thatthe high plains of North Mexico are
destitute of arborescent vegetation, a few unimportant ex-
ceptions must be mentioned. Conspicuous among these
is this Cottonwood, which rears high its rounded head of
abundant bright green foliage, in striking contrast through-
out most of the year with the gray and brown tints of the
surrounding landscape. ‘This tree is not abundant, be-
cause water is not abundant; for it is a sure index of the
presence of living water either on the surface of the soil or
not far below it. It grows scatteringly along streams or
clustered about springs. Its centre of distribution is on
the Rio Grande, and it follows this river northward to its
upper waters in south Colorado and the tributaries of this
river from whatever direction into their narrower mountain
cafions, Westward it ranges along the boundary quite to
the Pacific, and southward extensively through the valleys
of Mexico, and there often carried by man considerably
beyond its indigenous limits.
Cheering to the traveler over heated and dusty hills and
plains is the sight of its shining leafage with promise of
refreshing shade and water. The Mexicans seem to regard
this tree with sentiments similar to those cherished by the
Orientals for the Palm or the New Englander for the Maple.
They plant it by the water, convenient to which they have
built their dwellings, and set it along their irrigating ditches.
No visitor to Mexico but has noticed and admired that pe-
culiar feature of Mexican cities, the avenue of grand old
Poplars, double-lined on each side it may be, kept alive
and flourishing, if on high ground, by streams of water
conducted along the rows.. The Spanish name for the Cot-
tonwood—for any species of Poplar, in fact—is Adimo,
that for this avenue A/ameda, a noun having the form of
the perfect participle—that is to say, the Poplared place.
Perhaps it is owing to this sentiment as much as to his
proverbial inertia, that the Mexican so generally withholds
his axe from his A/amos. I have never seen the tree sys-
tematically pollarded for firewood in Mexico, as is the
practice of Americans in southern California. Seldom is it
robbed of its branches, unless they are wanted for plant-
ing. In this matter, as in so many others, the Mexican
shows his lack of enterprise. His scanty supply of fuel is
mostly gleaned amongst Scrub Oaks of mountain sides or
the paltry shrubbery of mesas, and brought by pack trains
of donkeys through ten or twenty weary miles, when much
of it might be grown on stumps along the waste borders of
the valley stream or in its torrent-swept gravel.
Nevertheless, when necessity compels, the Aamo, yield-
ing in many places almost the only procurable timber of
much size, serves, as I have seen, for the few purposes be-
sides fuel required by these simple people—for beams of
inferior quality to support the earth covering of the poorer
dwellings, mere mud hovels, for crotched posts of bough-
covered porches and sheds attached to these, for the huge
bars and bar posts and the stockade of corrals for cattle,
* See illustration, page 104.
106
and even in the construction of the wheels, frame and pole
(each six or eight inches thick) of the cumbersome carts of
the country
Associated with the Cottonwood, one sometimes meets
with a few scattered specimens of Safx migra, the Black
Willow, in size and aspect, as well as in_ species,
identical with the common Willow of the United States.
Its tough, strong and easily worked wood is used by the
Mexicans for making saddle-trees.
Salix irrorata, a Willow which, among the mountains
of Colorado, grows but six or eight feet high, sometimes
in Chihuahua follows the streams from mountain canons
down to the plains, and makes in alluvial soil a small
thee.
Sahx taxtfoha, here, as in Southern Arizona, at home
along the gravelly alluviums of streams, makes a small
tree with a single straight trunk.
Fraxinus pistacitefolia, the Mexican Ash, often comes
out of the mountains in the same way, and in fer-
tile, well-watered valleys makes a large and beautiful tree,
two to three feet in diameter and fifty or sixty feet in height.
Therefore it is often planted along with the Cottonwood in
towns and about the haciendas of the rich. The quality of
its timber, however, is far inferior to that of the northern
White Ash.
Sambucus Mexicana, the Mexican Elder, sparsely scat-
tered through bottom-lands, attains a diameter of
nearly a foot and a height of fifteen to twenty. With its
rotund head of dense, deep-green foliage, its white flowers
and its edible fruit, it Often gains a place about Mexican
houses.
Juglans rupestris, the Black Walnut of the South-
west, frequently leaves mountain canons, even following
down arroyos dry throughout most of the year. Its average
diameter in such situations is twelve to eighteen inches
and height twenty to thirty feet. With its low, wide-
spreading branches, covered with smooth, light-gray bark,
it resembles, when not in leaf, the fig-tree. Its nuts, less
than an inch in diameter, when freed from their rind, are
too meagre to be much prized even in a country where
there are no nut-bearing trees except Oaks and Pines.
Celtis occidentalis, var. reticulata, the Hackberry in
similar situations, a small tree about a foot in diameter
at best, is the only remaining arborescent species of the
high northern plains worthy of mention.
CAG. Pringle
Notes on the Norway Pine.
ale pine is at home in Minnesota. The young trees have
the sturdy appearance of the Scotch and Austrian pines,
and would they not with equal care prove more beautiful : ?
Cold does not warp the leaves, while the White Pine and the
White Cedar have a pinched and frozen appearance with a tem-
perature of 4o° F.
The groves of mature trees of Norway Pine form a green
root supported by bronze pillars; light, open, and breezy; in
marked contrast with the dark and br ushy White Pine woods.
The Norway cannot rival the queenliness of the mature
White Pine, however. Norway pine is the hardiest and most
productive timber produced on the sandy and gravelly ridges
and knolls of northern Minnesota. Three measurements of
Red Pines are as follows :
Diameter in inches Feet of lum-
Age. three feet from ber, board
the ground. measure.
No. tosses | 38 YER - "
eee ee ae a
“
No. 3 1a zs a 580
* Injured by fire during fifteenth year.
t Near foot of hill, fifty feet from other Norway trees.
¢ Average tree.
“Jack Pine” (Pinus Banksiana) is the natural nurse of Nor-
way pine timber in this region, Hi, B. Ayres.
©
Garden and Forest.
[ApriL 25, 1888.
Correspondence
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
I am glad to see thatan experienced and learned planter like
Mr. Dana condemns insuch unmistakable language the Norway
Spruce. No tree (for no other foreign tree has ever been so
generally planted) has ever so injured the appearance of our
plantations. But it is surprising that Mr. Dana, with all his
observation and experience, should find any praise for the
Austrian Pine. This is certainly one of the poorest trees ever
introduced into this country. It is only necessary to see the
specimens which were planted in the Central Park, in this city,
twenty-five or thirty years ago, to be convinced of this. They
vie with the Norway Spruces and Scotch Pines in their shabby
and disreputable appearance. These three are the most un-
satisfactory trees which have ever been planted in America.
The fact that they are very hardy, and grow very fast during a
few years, only makes theirsubsequent want of vigor the more
disappointing. The Austrian Pine pushes out vigorously
when it is young, but even in its best days itappears lumpy and
heavy. Asit gets older it grows thinnerand thinner, borersattack
the trunk, and branches die and fall off, Even in the mountains of
southern Austria, where the species flourishes, it is never a
large or picturesque tree, and no wise man will ever plant it
with the expectation of its lasting more than a few years. Our
native Red or Norway Pine is the best substitute for either the
Scotch or the Austrian Pine ; just as our native White Spruce
is the best substitute for the Norway Spruce. The Red Pine is
a graceful tree of agreeable color and rapid growth; it is very
hardy and will flourish on poor soil.
Why does not Mr. Dana mention the Douglas Fir, which
now promises to become one of the most valuable of all
our ornamental Conifers? It has proved itself to be an ex-
ceedingly valuable and attractive tree in England, where there
are specimens more than one hundred feet high. It has been
cultivated in this part of the United States for a quarter of a
century, or since its discovery in Colorado, and there is not one
of the new Conifers which now promises so much,
Among the foreign trees which Mr. Dana extols is Adzes
brachyphyla. The color of this plant isa beautiful dark green,
and it grows upward with great vigor, but its strength is in the
top. The lower branches are weak (and this is true of the
nearly related A. Vettchii) and become overshadowed by
those above. The result will be that plants of this species by
the time they are twenty or twenty-five years old will be bare
at the bottom as a specimen of Adzes firma, the most un-
sightly of Conifers in this climate. But there are other Jap-
ge Conifers of the greatest merit and much promise which
I should like to add to Mr, Dana’s list. At the head of these I
place Picea Ajanensis, which in most collections is cultivated
under the erroneously applied name of P. Alcockiana, another
and much less desir atic species of northern Japan, closely
related to, if not identical with, the Siberian P. obovata. Picea
Ajanensis is perhaps the handsomest Spruce which can be
grown in this climate, for, unfortunately, we cannot have in
perfection the lovely and graceful Himalayan Spruce, P.
Smithiana. Another Japanese Conifer of great beauty and
promise is Thuya Faponica, improperly called in most gardens
Thuyopsis Standishit. Pinus parviflora is a small and grace-
ful White Pine which should find a place in every collection. It
is perfectly hardy ; and so too is the Corean Pine, P. Koraiensis,
one of the most desirable and attractive of the five-leaved Pines.
It is neveralarge tree, butisa very beautiful one, and is better in
color even than our native White Pine,and much denser in ap-
pearance, as it retains the leaves on the branches during three or
tour seasons instead of for a single year. The other Japanese
Pines, P. Thunbergii and P. densiflora, are very hardy, but they
have no ornamental value. There are several other Conifers
which should promise well in this climate, such as Piaus Mur-
rayana and P. monticola, from the mountains of western
America ; Pinus Peucheand Picea Omorika from south-eastern
Europe; Adzes Davidiana, from northern China, which will
probably turn out to be a second species of Aee¢leria, and sev-
eral others. I hope Mr. Dana will give your readers his expe-
rience with these and other plants in his large and interesting
collection, Strobus.
New York City, April 8th.
[We are glad of an opportunity to publish the experi-
ences of planters with new trees. They should all be
planted here and carefully tested. The introduction of one
first rate tree will repay a thousand failures. It must be
borne in mind, however, that we really know very little
yet about Japanese and many other exotic Conifers, and still
Lae)
APRIL 25, 1888.]
very little about those from Colorado—much less than we
did about the Norway Spruce, when it was thought to be
the best Conifer that could be planted in America. The
time may come when we shall learn that they are all un-
reliable. It takes a long time to test the adaptability of a
tree to a peculiar climate, and such experiments should be
carried on in public establishments, where time and the
chances of failure are not important elements, or by indi-
viduals who are willing to devote their time and money to
such experiments for the sake of the experiments them-
selves. It is to such planters that we owe in this country
-most of our knowledge of foreign trees. Those persons
who cannot afford to make experiments or run risks with
their plantations should plant only such trees as have been
thoroughly tested and are known to flourish in this
country. —Eb. }
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST: +
Sir.—In the inhospitable climate of New England, the firstsight
of the fragile flowers of the Hepatica with its delicate hues,
opening in some sheltered spot, before the Winter has fairly
gone, always brings a thrill of delight.
Bigelow, in his ‘‘Florula Bostoniensis,” thus gracefully speaks
of the Hepatica: ‘This delicate little plant is one of the ear-
liest visitors in spring, flowering in sunny spots before the
snow has lett the ground. The flowers appear on hairy scapes
before the leaves. Petals oblong obtuse, purple, sometimes
white.” It is, however, more especially as an indication of the
comparative earliness of different springs that I wished to speak
of this flower, having recorded its first appearance in the same
locality and mostly on the same plants, for the past twenty-six
springs.
The following are the dates in the several years :
April 26th, 1863. March 3oth, 1876.
‘« 2ath, 1864. us Lith, wo77
fe 2d, 1865. fs roth, 1878.
“15th, 1866. April 5th, 1879.
at 7th, 1867. March 2d, 1880.
“roth, 1868. April 3d, 1881.
« —rrth, 1869. March Sth, 1882.
“toth, 1870. April 1st, 1883.
March toth, 1871. «13th, 1884.
April 12th, 1872. “15th, 1885.
Se Otlo7 35 March 18th, 1886.
May 3d, 1874. i 21st, 1887.
April rrth, 1875. a 23d, 1888.
Chestnut Hill, Mass. D.D. Slade.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Will some reader of GARDEN AND FOREST tell me if a
Savin would grow under the shade of a Horse-Chestnut whose
lowest branches are ten feet from the ground. The grass is
poisoned by the drip. Blue Laurel or Periwinkle does well under
similar circumstances. If Savin is unsuitable what can be
planted? Could Honeysuckle or Jackman Clematis ?
Providence, March 2gth. luy oe.
[Undoubtedly the best plant to grow under the dense
shade of a Horse-Chestnut tree is the Periwinkle, which
thrives in such situations and makes an attractive appear-
ance throughout the year. If this plant is used the space
under the tree to be covered should be carefully forked
over and enriched with well rotted stable-manure, and if a
dressing of fresh soil can be added it will greatly improve
the bed. Strong, well rooted plants only should be set
twelve to eighteen inches apart. They should be freely
watered during the first season, as the roots of the Horse-
Chestnut will absorb a great deal of moisture and so make
the surface soil dry. Dwarf Junipers or “Savins” would
suffer from drought and shade and give little satisfaction
in such a situation, and so would Honeysuckle or Clematis.
The Rose of Sharon, or Aaron’s Beard (Hypericum calyct-
num), adwarf and very beautiful, almost evergreen shrub
from south-eastern Europe, is very generally used in En-
gland to clothe the ground under the shade of trees. It is
admirably suited for this purpose, but in New England,
except, perhaps, in the extreme southern part, it would
require a slight protection in winter. We shall be glad to
Garden and Forest.
107
hear of the experience of our readers with this plant, which
is not sufficiently known or appreciated in this country.—
Ep. |
To the Editor GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—It is well known that the old Azalea Jidica alba is per-
fectly hardy as far north as New York City, and also that Azalea
amena and its relatives are hardy. But who knows that other
varieties of the showy Indian Azaleas are not hardy? These
plants have always been high priced, and growers have not ex-
perimented with them much in the open air. There is here an
opportunity for some of the new experiment stations to doa
good turn for landscape gardeners by making tests of the hardi-
ness of all these showy plants. Iam inclined to think that there
are many hard-wood green-house shrubs that can be grown in
the open air further north than we now imagine. Trees of
Citrus trifoliata, which I planted in northern Maryland eight
years ago, bore fruit last year, as stated by a correspondent of
the American Farmer. These trees the first year they were
planted went through a cold wave, in which the mercury fell to
18° below zero, without the loss of atwig. The fruit of this
Citrus is about the size of agreen Walnut with the hull on, with
thick skin and is bitter to the taste. It is good, however, for mar-
malade. The trees, with their golden fruit, are highly orna-
mental, and when leafless they are still attractive from the
bright green color of the bark. This Orange is a valuable plant
for hedges on account of its dwarf and dense growth and ter-
rible thorns. When the seed becomes more plentiful it will no
doubt take the place of all other hedge plants where itis hardy.
Here also is work for experiment stations in raising hybrids of
a more or less hardy nature by crossing this hardy Japanese
species with the varieties that bear luscious fruit in Florida. It
is not impossible that in this way the Orange belt might be
moved much north of its present limit. P
W. F. Massey.
Miller School, Va.
[Experiments in testing the hardiness of trees and shrubs
are made continuously in this country in both public and
private establishments, and one of the duties of GarDEN
AND Forest is to record and make known the results of such
experiments as soon as they appear conclusive. The
trouble with the Indian Azalea as an out-door plant, even
very much further south than this latitude, is, that while it
may be sufficiently hardy to withstand the cold of ordinary
winters, it has not the reserve strength of constitution to
enable it to survive the exceptionally cold waves which
pass over this country every few years. South of Virginia
the Indian Azalea is one of the most beautiful shrubs which
can be grown, as March and April visitors to Mr. Drayton's
charming gardens near Charleston can testify ; and it is
surprising that this plant is not more often seen in our
Southern cities. North of Virginia the Indian Azalea
should only be planted as an experiment, and with the
expectation that unusually cold weather will kill it outright,
or at least cut it down to the ground. Crus ¢rifolia/a is
hardy here; at least a plant has grown and flowered freely
in a sheltered spot in the Central Park for many years.
This little Orange, however, must be grown more exten-
sively before its perfect hardiness at the North is demon-
strated.—Ep. |
Flower and Fruit Pictures at the Academy of
Design.
fies flower and fruit paintings which may now be seen at
the Academy of Design cannot, as a whole, be included
among the pictures which give the exhibition its character as
the best that has yet been held. They are not very numerous,
and a diligent search reveals scarcely half-a-dozen which
can be called even tolerably good. The best American
painters of flowers are not represented—neither Mr, LaFarge
nor Mr. Alden Weir, both of whom paint flowers beauti-
fully in the most poetic way, and neither Miss Greatorex nor
Mr. Carlsen, both of whom are singularly successful in treat-
ing them from the decorative point of view. Several ambitious
attempts at a decorative treatment of showy flowers may be
found. But Mrs. Dillonis not up to her usual level in either
her “ Roses ” or her ‘Chrysanthemums "—both being painted
in a soft, cottony fashion. Mr.C. C. Coleman, too, is hardly up
to his average in his picture of purple Magnolias in a purple
108
jar (ugly enough to have been Rosamond’s in Miss Edge-
worth’s famous story), relieved against a purple velvet hang-
ing—his flowers are painted with little tenderness or charm,
and his colorscheme is sombre and unattractive. And as for
Mr. John F. Weir's large picture of Peonies, it quite deserves
that an action for libel be brought against it.
Little variety is shown in the choice of subjects. Roses and
Chrysanthemums preponderate—the best being Mr. Ramsey's
pink and yellow Roses on a pink cloth, and Mr. Binford Mc-
Closkey’s yellow and white Chrysanthemums against a dark
red background, But neither of these pictures is remarkable,
and not much can be said in praise of any of the Hollyhocks,
Pansies or Geraniums, which include almost all the other
flower paintings. The best of them are very prosaic in effect,
and if prose in painting is ever to be condemned as such, it
must surely be in the case of pictures of flowers—unless, of
course, they are intended to have a merely documentary,
scientific value, in which case the higher canons of art cannot
be applied to them. The very essence of a flower that is worth
painting at all is that it has poetic quality of some kind—either
of the bold, brilliant and emphatic kind which touches senti-
ment on its more sensuous side, or of the idyllic, subtile kind
which touches it in its tenderest and most delicate fibres.
There is music in the blare of trumpets as well as in the tones
ofa violin; andso there is pictorial poetry in Chrysanthemums
and Peonies as well as in the Wild Rose and the Narcissus.
And whoever paints either the one or the other without trans-
lating and accentuating this sentiment, fails in the essentials of
his task, however correctly he may seem to have drawn and
colored, however gracefully he may have grouped his flowers.
From this point of view there seemed to me only one really
good piece of flower painting in this exhibition—Miss Conkey’s
simple little picture of pink Chinese Primroses in a broken
basket has much more true sentiment in it, more truth to the
charm of its subject, more tenderness and poetry than any of
the others.
The fruit pictures, among which I beg leave to include two
or three excellent pictures of Onions, are much better as a rule
than the flowers. Mr. W. J. McCloskey has done excellent
technical work in his little painting of Tangerine Oranges
wrapped in white papers; Mr. Conely’s “Pan of Apples” is very
good; and Mr. Harry Eaton’s “ Fruit”—Oranges and black
Grapes on a white cloth—is admirable. There is very clever
handling in it, and there is also the great desideratum—a touch
of true pictorial sentiment.
If it seems to be difficult to paint flowers well, and especially
Roses, what must it be to carve them in marble? Yet even
this task is not beyond the power ofa good artist. The Roses
which the lady holds in her hand whom Mr. St. Gaudens has
portrayed in a marble low-relief, are absolutely perfect in their
truth to the grace, the delicacy and the poetry of the flower.
M. G. van Rensselaer.
Recent Plant Portraits.
ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM GOUVILLEANUM, “Revie Horticole,
March 16th.
PRUNUS CAPULI, Revue Horticole, March 16th. The plant here
figured appears to be Prunus serotina, which is sometimes
seen in French nurseries under the name of P. Capuli, a
Mexican and South American tree for which the oldest pub-
lished name is P. salictfolia.
CRASSULA LACTEA, Gardener's Chronicle, March toth.,
BEGONIA LUBBERSH, Gardener's Chronicle, March toth.
PHALANOPSIS, John Seden, Gardener's Chronicle, March 17th.
A hybrid raised in the establishment of the Messrs. Veitch from
P.amabilis of Blume, crossed with the pollen of P. Laddeman-
niana, The flower is described as ‘‘ three inches in diamater,
ivory white, densely and uniformly spotted all over both
sepals and petals with small dots of a beautiful light purple,
the lip suffused with light rosy purple.”
CARYOTA SOBOLIFERA, Gardener's Chronicle, March 17th.
HYACINTHUS CORYMBOSUS, Bulletino dela R Societa Toscana dt
Orticultura, February. A dwarf purple-flowered Cape species.
PEAR; PIERRE TOURASSE, Ludletino dela R. Societa Toscana adi
Orticultura, February.
TEA ROSE; MADEMOISELLE FRANCISCA KRUGER, Yournal
des Roses, March. :
GLADIOLUS OBERPROSIDENT VON SEYDERRETZ; Gartenflora,
March. A semi-double and not very attractive variety.
BEGONIA LUBBERSH, Revie de 1’ Horticulture Belge, March. A
showy Brazilian species with pale flowers and beautifully
marked foliage,
ODONTOGLOSSUM INSLEAYI, var.
? Horticulture Belge, March.
LEOPARDINUM, Revie de
Garden and Forest.
[ApRIL 25, 1888.
VANILLA FLOWER AND ITS FERTILIZATION, Dudletin, Royal
Gardens, Kew, March.
URENA TENAX, Silletin, Royal Gardens, Kew; March. A
valuable fibre plant from Natal.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, April 20th.
Trade is generally good throughout the city. It is brisk in Broad-
way shops that catch the cream of it, as a rule. The supply of cut
flowers is very full, yet really choice flowers are scarce. Only per-
fectly grown Roses, that have not been injured after having been cut,
will satisfy the patrons of florists in first-class localities ; but selected
hybrids bring 75 cts. The average run of them are sold for 50 cts.
Puritan Roses cost go cts. Very large La France—and there are some
grand specimens brought in from Hudson River localities—are offered
for 50 cts. each. There are quantities of indifferently grown ones ar-
riving, which bring $3 a dozen. Catherine Mermets have improved in
quality ; they sell for $2 and’$3 a dozen. Bride Roses are 20 cts. each,
and Perles des Jardins, Souvenir d’un Ami, Papa Gontier and Niphetos
cost $1 a dozen. There are a limited number of Papa Gontiers arriv-
ing, which are very large and handsomely colored, that bring $2 a
dozen, Mde. Cusins costs $1.25 a dozen and William Francis Bennetts
are $1.50. There isa glut of Le/izm longiflorum, the best of which are
sold for $3 a dozen. These flowers were disposed of for $5 a hundred
early in the week, at wholesale. Callas cost 25 cts. each. The aver-
age Lilies-of-the- Valley of indifferent quality bring 75 cts. a dozen, and
the best bring $1. Tulips, Daffodils, Roman Ifyacinths and Poct’s
Narcissus cost 75 cts. a dozen. Cutspikes of Dutch Hyacinths sell for
$1.50 a dozen. Daisies are 25 cts. a dozen, and Meteor Marigold is
50 cts. a dozen. Mignonette is very handsome, and brings from 50cts.
to $1 a dozen. Both white and purple Lilacs are of excellent quality,
and are in good demand at $2 a bunch. Violets are opening their eyes,
and becoming poor, They bring from 75 cts. to $1.50adozen. Orchids
are so scarce that the shops show none. Gardenias bring $3 a dozen.
Smilax is 4o cts. a string, and Asparagus tenuissimus is 50 cts. a yard.
PHILADELPHIA, April 20th.
There has been no serious break in the flower market, no glut, since
the heavy Easter traffic,owing to the numerous dinners, receptions, wed-
dings and other festal gatherings in society. Good flowers are plenti-
ful, excepting Lilies-of-the-Valley. The price of these, however, re-
mains at $1 per dozen. ‘Tulips are steady at the same quotation.
Owing to the great numbers of the single Trumpet Daffodil which are
now blooming freely in the open air, the price has dropped to 50 cts.
per dozen; Van Sion, the double variety, which can only be obtained
in quantity from green-houses, holds to the price of $1 per dozen.
Plants in full flower of varieties of Primula vulgaris are becoming
more plentiful. The strain in cultivation here is now so mixed by
cross fertilization, that it is difficult to distinguish the Polyanthus of our
youth from the English Primrose, or, rather, we have Polyanthuses
with flowers of the English Primrose. They are very showy and
beautiful. One of the most effective uses to which they can be put is,
when growing in two-and-one-half or three-inch pots, to arrange them
as growing plants in plateaus for dinner-table or other decorations.
Yorget-me-not is used in the same way. Jacqueminot Roses sell at
$3 per dozen. American Beauty, Mrs. John Laing, Baroness Roths-
child, and its white variety, Merveille de Lyons, sell at from $4 to $5 per
dozen. French Marguerites sell at 25 cts. per dozen; Carnations 35 cts. ;
Astible 50 cts. per dozen sprays. Smilax remains scarce. Asparagus
tenuissimus is plentiful and very fine. Ata recent dinner an effective
centre piece was a flat, circular basket, five feet in diameter, filled with
Callas, from which yellow Tulips arose,
Boston, April 2oth.
The cut flower market continues in an unsettled condition, the re-
sult principally of over production. The past winter has been unfa-
vorable to heavy cropping, this being especially true regarding Roses,
and now the plants seem to be bent on making up for lost time. So
flowers are too plenty and prices unusually low. But this condition is
not caused by a reduced demand, for it is very evident from the num-
ber of buyers, and the enormous quantities of flowers handled, that
flowers are not in the least losing their hold on our people. Corsage
bouquets of Roses and spring flowers are very generally worn on the
street, and have become almost an essential part of a lady’s theatre
costume. Such varieties as the Poet’s Narcissus, Mignonette, Forget-
me-not and Violets are extremely popular for this purpose. There
seems to be a very general dislike of strong-scented flowers. Dutch
Hyacinths, which are now abundant, are almost unsalable, for no
other reason, apparently, than their heavy odor. Though offered in
almost every color of the rainbow, and dazzlingly brilliant in. mixed
collections, these good qualities seem to count for nothing. Violets
are getting quite small, as they always do on the approach of warm
weather, but they are not abundant, and sell readily for 75 cts. per
bunch. Roses remain as at last report, with a downward tendency in
prices. Carnations, like Violets, are seen reduced in size, and they
are abundant and cheap. Lilies of all kinds are offered in large quan-
tities at low figures. They make more show in large decorations than
anything else that can be obtained at present for the same price.
Bulbous flowers of all kinds are plenty. In general, the prices and
quantities of flowers offered are such that, for the present, at least, no
one need be without them,
‘
May 2, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
[LimITED.]
Orrice: TRipuNE Buitpinc, 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 2, 1888.
. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Eprroriat ArticLes :—American Cemeteries.—Plans for Small Places.—Cut
Flowers and) Growing Planis.—Notes. ..........ccecceccsavetecsennes 109
Plan forra Small Homestead (with two illustrations). ./red’k Law Olmsted. 111
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter..........+....05 William Goldring. 113
New or Litrte Known Prants :—Hymenocallis humilis (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 114
CurturaAL Department :—Hybrid Aquilegias........... sss. 0e Josiah Hoopes. 114
Rhus cotinoides.—Heuchera sanguinea. yos stis dissitiflora splen-
‘dens.—Sempervivums.—* Dutch” Bulbs.—Spring Flowers.—Cutting
Asparagus.—Andromeda floribunda.—Pansies........seeeeeeseeeeeee 114
Efectotthe Winteron) EverereenS eons vinc-c0scsceccca es William Falconer. 115
Notes: rom the Arnold. Arboretum .2- ces: secsce cence s.cccce a fe Ge feck, 117
Tue Forrest:—The Forest Vegetation of Northern Mexico, III....C. G. Pringle. 117
Resin in the American White Pine Dr, H, Mayr. 117
(CORRESPONDENCE vaceeiiscec eas ens seierie ee 118
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
PeriopicaL LITERATURE
11g
EON Tam OLEAN OR TRA UES ceiste nately ame isvaiea cisiarsjoaiais sialalci. “sl $$:23(0e Pace sis sini ie's sie: 120
IPO BMIGRVVORKS 2G Mtral | Eerie ayn sietoiate asia cists eats sere ia ble bisieiniaiereis 6.0.94 Wisiav'ejaisla a eveseray 120
Retait Frower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston................-. 120
ItLustrations :—Plan for a Small Home - ir and 113
Hymenocallis humilis, Fig. 23.
eas
A Mesquit Forest in Arizona..
116
American Cemeteries.
HERE is nothing in this country to which foreign
writers give more praise than to our cemeteries.
The student of social customs sees in them one of the
chief proofs we give of genuine sentiment on the one hand
and wise sanitary foresight on the other ; and the student
of art and nature sees in them our most characteristic
and best achievements in the art of landscape gardening.
Their size, their park-like arrangement, their remoteness
from the local centres of population, and the care and
neatness with which they are kept, are held up to foreign
communities as points in which they would do well to
imitate us. Certainly, as contrasted with the formal,
walled-in, crowded, dreary, sun-baked or weed-grown
cemeteries seen in most foreign lands, ours deserve
much praise. But they are not what they ought to be.
Excellent in intention, they are too often bad in execution.
No expenditure of money, pains or skill is wanting, but in
directing this expenditure we too often make grievous
errors.
The cause of these errors, as one of our contributors has
recently pointed out, is that we do not abide by the gen-
eral idea with which the place was set aside for this special
service. The characteristic feature of American cemeteries
is that they are rural, no matter how large may be the
communities for which they serve. But this characteristic
we do our best to conceal or destroy. Nature is asked to
take our dead in charge, and then we doa thousand things
to ruin the repose, the sanctity and beauty which she is
ready to provide. Too many and too prominent roads
and walks are made, giving the cemetery’the aspect of a
place for pleasure promenades rather than for the retire-
ment of those whose dead it holds. We take pains to
make ample allowance of space to each purchaser of
ground, partly that for his sake the graves shall not be too
closely crowded and partly that they shall not destroy the
unity and repose of the landscape. And then we often nul-
Garden and Forest.
109
lify our efforts by enclosing the lots with heavy railings
and‘by building huge and showy monuments. We think
we want a natural landscape, and then we plant the ceme-
tery—not the private lots alone, but the parts which have
been preserved intact for the sake of landscape beauty—
with tropical plants, formal beds of gaudy flowers, and rib-
bon-patterns, borders, and endless puerile devices, wrought
with bright-foliaged plants, which only support our cli-
mate a few weeks or months and then disappear, leaving
dreary nakedness behind. In short, we lose sight of the main
purpose for which the cemetery was designed, fail to keep
any general idea or scheme in mind, and instead of a rural
burial-ground produce something which is a meaningless,
unnatural and essentially vulgar compound of a cemetery,
a park, a horticultural exhibition and a collection of works
of architecture and sculpture. And this we do by means
of a vast waste of pains and money. No one who has
not inquired into such matters can imagine what it costs
to plant out year by year the exotics which are supposed
to adorn our cemeteries, and to winter them from one year
to another. Few realize the degree to which cemetery
companies now compete with one another in this direc-
tion, bidding for public patronage by means of costly hor-
ticultural establishments and verbose advertisements of
their horticultural resources and achievements. All this is
wrong—wrong from the point of view of good sense, from
the point of view of true sentiment, and from the point of
view of art. The true ideal for the making of an American
cemetery, whether large or small, is this : That spot should
be selected of which the natural charms are greatest in
direction of peacefulness and the harmony which means
variety in unity. Its features should be as carefully pre-
served as possible in laying out the walks and drives,
which should not be more numerous than actually required
for purposes of burial and of visiting the graves. Such
planting as is needful should be done in a way to com-
plete the existing beauty, and accentuate, not disturb, the
natural character of the spot. Costly exotics should not
be introduced, no showy flower-beds allowed, no formal
arrangements of planting of any kind permitted. They
are out of keeping alike with the kind of beauty that is
desired and with the spirit in which a cemetery is properly
visited. Owners of lots should not be allowed to surround
them with railings. They are palpably useless; they are
glaringly injurious to unity and repose of effect; they
serve merely to display proprietorship, and nothing can
be in worse taste than such a display in such a place.
Owners should be encouraged, too, to make their monu-
ments not only as artistic, but as simple and unobtrusive
as possible. Only a great man, one to whose grave
future generations are likely to make pilgrimages, Is en-
titled to have his resting place conspicuously marked ;
and even he does not need that it should be thus marked.
Something which will indicate where a body lies and
whose body it is, while disturbing as little as possible the
unity and peacefulness of the scene—this is what a grave-
stone should be. It is needless to say that color as well as
form should be considered with this fact inmind. Granite
is the best possible, our favorite white marble the worst
possible, material for cemetery monuments; and a flat
slab is preferable to a vertical shaft or stone. If large
boulders chance to be strewn over the ground nothing is
more appropriate for monuments, a simple inscription
being cut upon a space made smooth for the purpose,
while the rest of the moss-grown or vine-covered surface re-
mains in its natural condition. Owners should be restrained
in their desire to plant showy flowers about the graves
should be taught that it is not justifiable for them to
indulge their personal wishes in this way if they conflict
with the greatest good of the greatest number as pro-
vided for in the peaceful unity of aspect that the ceme-
tery as a whole should have. And finally, while the cem-
etery should be carefully kept and tended, there must be
no evident straining after excessive finish as the most
desirable of all qualities in all portions of the grounds.
Plans for Small Places.
ORE than once the request has come to us to publish a
plan fora small suburban building lot, and to this the
natural reply has been: ‘‘What lot?” Such plans cannot be
furnished like ready-made clothing, in assorted sizes and
warranted to fit any piece of land. Even from a cultural
point of view no list of plants for a given place can be re-
commended unless its soil, aspect, drainage and other
physical conditions are known and considered. And of
course the territory lying about and beyond the lot, together
with the relation of these surroundings to the lot itself, sug-
gests problems of prime importance. What disagreeable or
incongruous objects are to be planted out of sight? What
outlook is to be preserved and made more pleasing by a
proper treatment of the foreground? What are the tastes
and necessities of the family which is to occupy and use
the house and grounds? These and a hundred other
questions must be met with specific answers in every given
instance.
It does not follow from this that all general plans, of
which so many have been published, are useless. The
best of them have been made with a view to solve some
special difficulties. They contain helpful suggestions and
illustrate principles which are of wide application. But
after all, no plan, however perfectly it may be adapted to
one location, can be repeated with the same success in
another. The attempt to reproduce effects in landscape
work that have been agreeable elsewhere is invarably dis-
appointing. To follow a fashion in gardening is rather
more displeasing than to copy second-hand ideas in any
other art. And even ifit were not desirable in every case
to produce something original, characteristic and appro-
priate, all efforts at imitation must prove but parodies, be-
cause growing plants develop into infinite variety. No
two trees or shrubs—still less two groups of trees or shrubs
—can be exact duplicates. The same selection and ar-
rangement of plants at opposite ends of a village street
will make pictures totally unlike in spite of the most
painstaking effort to nurse them into a uniform effect.
When, therefore, we requested Mr. Olmsted to prepare a
plan for an unpretentious homestead, we expected him to
choose a lot with a character of its own and explain how
he would adjust it to the wants and tastes of a particular
household. The value of this study is not alone that it
shows how difficulty can be converted into opportunity,
and a strong-featured piece of ground on an abrupt hillside
with cramped and irregular boundaries can be turned into
a desirable building lot. Ina broader way it is useful as
illustrating the class of problems that present themselves
whenever thorough work of this kind is contemplated, and
as illustrating, too, how these problems are solved by a
trained and conscientious artist.
Cut Flowers and Growing Plants.
N Mr. Peter Henderson’s article on ‘Floriculture in
America,” published in the first number of this journal,
he spoke of the great love of Americans for cut flowers,
and contrasted it with the love of the residents of foreign
cities for growing plants. The difference which he notes,
and which he illustrates by instructive figures, must
strike every keen observer of national habits and tastes.
There is nothing in London or Paris to rival the display of
cut flowers in our florists’ shops in winter. But, on the
other hand, we have nothing which even approaches in
magnitude or beauty the spectacle afforded at every
season of the year by the plant markets of Paris. The
surroundings of the Church of the Madeleine, on certain
days of the week in spring and summer, offer one of the
traditional sights which every tourist feels bound to
see when he first visits Paris ; and even stay-at-homes are
familiar with the brilliancy of the scene, for there is none
which has more often attracted the brush of the painter.
French artists of the moment are especially fond of paint-
Garden and Forest.
[May 2, 1888.
ing the streets of Paris, and if their gift lies in the direction
of brilliant color, where could they turn for a better subject
than to these crowded pavements, where gaily dressed
ladies and children and white-capped nurses thread the
rows of gorgeous blossoming plants, to bear away, now
a huge yellow Chrysanthemum, or a tall red Rose-tree,
and now atiny pot, bought for a couple of cents, of Forget-
me-nots or Pansies? And in every one of our home
exhibitions of art, especially in those devoted to water-
color painting, the individual plants of the French flower-
market are brought beneath our eyes, each enveloped in
one of those great cones of stiff white paper without which
no self-respecting Parisian plant would be seen in public.
But where shall one go in New York to find such scenes?
In Germany, although such. gorgeous out-door displays
of plants as we find in Paris are less common, there are
always plenty of market-booths in the public squares
where blooming plants may be bought in great variety ;
and in winter very beautiful specimens may be had from
every florist. In the latter weeks of winter Azaleas are the
favorites, and during all the preceding weeks Crocuses
and Hyacinths, Lilies-of-the-Valley and Cyclamens, as
well as Roses, are grown and sold in vast quantities.
The custom of sending flowers as gifts to friends is very
popular in Germany, although it has, of course, never
been carried to such extravagant lengths as with us. But
even more often than cut flowers, flowering plants are
used for the purpose—either a single fine specimen, solitary
in its pot, or a group of flowers of the same kind, or a
pretty arrangement of contrasting kinds grown in round,
wide, shallow, inexpensive baskets of bark. Such a basket
filled, for example, with Hyacinths of different colors, or
with a variety of Tulips, or with a pure white mass of
Lilies-ofthe-Valley, is more beautiful than any bunch
of these flowers; and it will last much longer even in
the atmosphere of a hot, dry living-room. Not the most
splendid bunch of Roses is more lovely than a fine Azalea
in full flower ; andif the plant is purchased in bud and left
to flower in its new owner's possession, she will be sure of
several weeks’ instead of several hours’ enjoyment.
We have no wish to find fault with the love of cut
flowers, which is so distinctively an American character-
istic. Yet we think our almost exclusive preference for
them instead of for flowering plants is a misfortune, es-
pecially to persons of modest means, who, by a different ex-
penditure of their money, might buy more lasting pleasures.
The wood of the Liquidambar has now become an article
of considerable commercial importance in this country. As
long as black walnut and cherry were abundant and cheap
it was considered worthless by the manufacturers of furni-
ture, but now more than three million feet are annually
used by them in this city alone. Blocks of this wood have
been employed for several years in paving the streets of —
some western cities, and in the South liquidambar shingles
have long been common. ‘This wood is nearly as heavy
as black walnut, but not as strong; it is tough and close-
grained and can be made to take a beautiful satiny polish.
Its color is bright brown tinged with red. This wood,
however, shrinks and splits badly in seasoning and this is
its great defect. But it has now been found that if the
wood, as soon as it comes from the saw, can be steamed
for fifteen or twenty hours, according to the thickness of
the boards, and then carefully kiln-dried, it will not warp
or twist. This is a discovery of great importance and is
likely to have a considerable influence upon the lumber |
‘The Liquidambar is a large, and
It fre-m
quently reaches a height of a hundred feet with a trunk —
It flourishes in the low and
supply of the country.
in some parts of the country a very common tree.
diameter of over six feet.
often inundated river-swamps of the South and West,
where, mixed with the Cottonwood and the Big Tupelo, it _
covers vast areas which can never be brought under culti- |
vation from lack of sufficient drainage and willalwaysremain ©
May 2, 1888.]
in forest. These river-swamps, too, will always be pro-
tected from fire by the moisture of the soil. Our store of
liguidambar, therefore, will not be very soon extermi-
nated probably, and, if cut judiciously, will supply the
demand of furniture manufacturers for a long time to
come.
Few people, probably, realize the extent of the planta-
tions of American Grape-vines which have been made in
Europe since the discovery that they have sufficient
vigor to survive the attacks of the Phylloxera, and there-
fore make the best stocks upon which to work the different
wine-grapes in regions affected by this pest. From a re-
cent issue of the Revue Horticole it appears that in the year
1881 about 22,000 acres were plantedin France with Ameri-
can Grapes, while in 1887 not less than 416,000 acres were
planted, the total acreage for these seven years amounting
to 1,200,000 acres. These figures give an idea of the im-
mense damage the Phylloxera has inflicted upon French
agriculture.
Plan for a Small Homestead.
Conditions and Requirements.—The site is upon the south
face of a bluff, the surface of which is so steep that the rectan-
gular street system of the city, to the east and south, had not
been extended overit. The diagonal streets, 47and JV, have
been lately introduced and building lots laid off on them, as
shown in Figure 1, The triangular space between Z and A/
Streets is a public property containing the graves of some of
the first settlers of the region. Its northern and western parts
are rocky and partly covered by a growth of native Thorns
and Junipers, east of which there are Willows and other planted
trees. At 4 there is a meeting-house and parsonage. Arabic
figures show elevations above city datum.
The lot to be improved is that marked ZY. The usual con-
veniences of a suburban cottage home are required, and it is
desired that it should be made more than usually easy and
convenient for members of the household, one of whom isa
chronic invalid, to sit much and be cheerfully occupied in out-
. of-door air and sunlight. A small fruit and vegetable garden
is wanted and a stable for a single horse and a cow, with car-
riage room and lodgings for a man. Water for the house,
garden and stable is to be supplied by pipes. There is a sewer
in (7 Street.
The problem is to meet the requirements thus stated so snugly
that the labor of one man will be sufficient, under ordinary
circumstances, to keep the place in good order and _ provide
such gratification of taste as with good gardening manage-
ment the circumstances will allow.
The north-west corner of the lot is 21 feet higher than the
south-east corner, the slope being steeper in the upper and
lower parts than in the middle. There is a small outcrop of a
ledge of limestone about 30 feet from the south end, and the
ground near it is rugged and somewhat gullied. JZ Street,
which has a rapid descent to the eastward, opposite the lot, was
brought to its grade by an excavation on the north side and by
banking out on its south side the bank being supported by a
FIGURE 1.
Garden and Forest.
Ill
retaining wall. The excavation has left a raw bank two to five
feet high on the street face of the lot.
Looking from the middle part of the lot over the roof of the
parsonage a glimpse is had of a river, beyond which, in low
bottom land, there is a body of timber, chiefly Cottonwood,
over which, miles away, low, pastured hills appear in pleasing
undulations. :
The narrower frontage of lot ZY, its irregular outlines, its
steepness, its crumpled surface, the raw, caving bank of its
street face and its apparent rockiness and barrenness, had made
it slower of sale than any other on the hill streets, and it was,
accordingly, bought at so low a price by its present owner that
he is not unwilling to pay liberally for improvements that will
give him such accommodations upon it as he calls for. From
the adjoining lots and those higher up the hill to the north the
view which has been referred to, over the roof of the parson-
age, is liable to be curtained off by trees to grow, or houses to
be built, on the south side of them. Either this liability has
been overlooked or the view has been considered of little value
by those who have bought them. ‘‘ Most people,” says the
owner of lot ZX, ‘find theirlove of Nature most gratified when
they have a trim lawn and a display of flowers and delicacies
of vegetation uponit in front of their houses. I find Nature
touches me most when I see it in a large way; in a way that
gives me a sense of its infinitude. I like to see a natural
horizon against the sky, and I think that the advantage we shall
have here in that respect will fully compensate us for the want
of a fine lawn-like front, provided the place can be made rea-
sonably convenient.” Fortunately his wife is essentially like-
minded. ‘‘I am a Western woman,” she says, ‘and would
not like to live in a place that I could not see out of without
looking into the windows of my neighbors.”
Controlling Landscape Considerations.—The only valuable
landscape resource of the property lies in the distant view east-
ward from it. Looking at this from the house place, it can
evidently be improved by placing in its foreground a body ot
vigorous, dark foliage, in contrast with which the light gray and
yellowish greens of the woods of the river bottom will appear
of a more delicate and tender quality, and the grassy hills be-
yond more mysteriously indistinct, far away, unsubstantial
and dreamy. Such a foreground can be formed within the
limits of lot ZY, and, strictly speaking, the forming of it will be
the only landscape improvement that can be made on the
place. It is, however, to be considered, that when the middle
of the lot is occupied by a house but small and detached spaces
will remain to be furnished with verdure orfoliage, and that any-
thing to be put upon these spaces will come under direct and
close scrutiny. Hence nothing should be planted in them that
during a severe drought or an intense winter or in any other
probable contingency is likely to become more than momen-
tarily shabby. Further, it is to be considered, that when the
eye Is withdrawn from a scene the charm of which hes in its
extent and the softness and indefiniteness, through distance, of
its detail, the natural beauty in which the most pleasure is
likely to be taken will be of a somewhat complementary or
antithetical character. But to secure such beauty it is not
necessary to provide a series of objects the interest of which
will lie in features and details to be seen separately, and which
would be most enjoyed if each was placed on a separate pedes-
tal, with others near it of contrasting qualities of detail, each on
its own separate pedestal. It may be accomplished by so bring-
ing together materials of varied graceful forms and pleasing
tints that they willintimately mingle, and this with such intricate
play of light and shade, that, though the whole body of them
is under close observation, the eye is not drawn to dwell upon,
nor the mind to be occupied, with details. Inasmall place much
cut up, as this must be, a comparative subordination, even to
obscurity, of details, occurring as thus proposed, and not as an
effect of distance, is much more conducive to a quiescent and
cheerfully musing state of mind than the presentation of ob-
jects of specific admiration.
Anatomical Plan.—The important common rooms of the
family and the best chambers are to be on the southern side of
the house, in order that the view over the river, the south-
western breeze and the western twilight, may be enjoyed trom
their windows. (See figure 2.) It follows thatthe kitchen and
the main entrance door to the house are to be on its north and
east sides. Were it not for excessive steepness, the best ap-
proach to the house would be ona nearly straight course be-
tween its east side and the nearest point on J/Street—/. e., the
south-east corner of the lot; this partly because it would be
least costly and most convenient, and partly because it would
make the smallest disturbance of the space immediately before
the more important windows of the house. But to get an ap-
proach of the least practicable steepness the place will be entered
I12
at the highest point on A7Street—z. ¢., the south-west corner;
then a quick turn will be taken to the right, in order to avoid
the ledge, then, after passing the ledge, another to the left. On
this course a grade of one in twelve anda half can be had.
(The grade on the shortest course would be one in seven.)
Opposite the entrance to the house there is to be a nearly
level space where carriages can rest.
The caving bank made by the cut for grade of J7 Street re-
quires a retaining wall four.feet high along the front ot the lot.
This will allow a low ridge, nearly Jevel along the top, to be
formed between the wheelway and the street, making the
wheelway safer and a less relatively important circumstance to
the eye.
Even in the part of the lot chosen, as being the least steep,
for the house, a suitable plateau for it to stand upon can only
be obtained by anembankment on the south and an excavation
on the north. The embankment is to be kept from sliding
down hill by a wall ten feet in front of the wall of the house.
This retaining wall is to be built of stained and crannied, re-
fuse blocks of limestone which have been formerly thrown
out from the surface in opening quarries on the back of the
bluff. They are to be laid without mortar and with a spread-
ing base andirregular batter. Where the ledge can be exposed
they will rest upon it, and the undressed rock will form a part
ot the face of the wall. A railing two anda halt feet highis to be
carried on the top of the retaining wall, and the space (4) be-
tween this and the wall of the house will be an open terrace
upon which will open half-glazed French windows on the south
of the library, parlor and dining-room, At ¢ (figure 2) there is
to bea little room for plants in winter, the sashes of which are
to be removed in summer, when the space is to be shaded bya
sliding awning. At da roof covers a space large enough fora
tea table or work table, witha circle of chairs about it, out of the
house proper, forming a garden room. This roof is to be sus-
tained by slender columns and lattice-work, and lattice-work
is to be carried over it and the whole to be overgrown with
vines (Honeysuckle on one side, Wistaria on the other, the two
mingling above). The space ¢e is reserved for a tiny pleasure
garden, to be entered from the house and to be considered much
as if, in summer, it were a part of it carpeted with turf and em-
bellished with foliage and fowers. At/thereis to be a retired
seat for reading and intimate conversation, and east of this an
entrance to the service gardens, to be described later. The
laundry yard, 2, and the kitchen yard, 7, are to be screened by
high lattices covered by Virginia Creeper. The court yard,7/, is
to be smoothly paved with asphalt blocks or fire brick, which
it will be easy to thoroughly hose and swab every day. In
one corner of it is a brick ash house, 4; in another a gang-
way to the cellar and a chute for coal, 7; in another a dog
house, #. The stable and carriage house are entered from
the court yard, but hay will be taken into the loft from a
wagon standing in the passage to the back lane. At x is the
stable yard. |
Landscape Gardening.—The soil to be stripped from the sites
of the house, terrace, stable, road and walks, will be sufficient,
when added to that on the ground elsewhere, to give full two
feet of soil wherever needed for turf or planting.
Trenches, nowhere less than two feet deep, are to be made
on each side of the approach road south of the terrace and to be
filled with highly enriched soil, the surface of whichis to slope
upward with a slight concavity as it recedes from the approach.
The base of the wall is to merge irregularly into this slope.
The space between the terrace and the street is so divided by
the approach, and, in the main, is so steep and dry, that no
part of it can be well kept in turf, nor can trees be planted in
it, because they would soon grow to obstruct the southward
view from the house and terrace. The steep dry ground and
the rock and rough wall otf this space are to be veiled with
vines rooting in the trenches. The best vine for the purpose
is the common old clear green Japan Honeysuckle (Lozicera
flalliana). In this sheltered situation it will be verdant most, if
not all, of the winter, and blooming, not too flauntingly, all of
the summer. It can be trained not only over the rough slop-
ing wall of the terrace, but also over the railing above it, and
here be kept closely trimmed, so as to appear almost hedge-
like. Also itmay be trained up the columns of the shelter and
along its roof; the odor from its bloom will be pleasing on
the terrace, and will be perceptible, not oppressively, at the
windows of the second story. Other vegetation is to be intro-
duced sparingly to mingle with it, the wild Rose and Clematis
of the neighborhood; the Akebia vine, double flowering
Brambles, and, in crevices of the wall, Rhus aromatica, dwarf
Brambles, Cotoneaster microphylla, Indian Fig, Aster, and
Golden Rod, but none of these in conspicuous bodies, for the
space is not too large to be occupied predominatingly by a
Garden and Forest.
[May 2, 1888.
mass of foliage of a nearly uniform character, Near the south-
west corner of the pleasure garden, Forsy¢hia suspensa is to
fall over the wall, and, also, as a drapery in the extreme corner
(because the odor to those near the bloom of it is not pleasant),
Matrimony vine (Lycium vulgare). Upon the walls of the
house east of the terrace, Japanese Ivy (Ampelopsis Veitchiz) is
to be grown, and before it a bush of the fiery Thorn (Crategus
Pyracantha). For the ground on the street side of the ap-
proach, ~f, smooth-leaved shrub evergreens would be chosen
were they likely to thrive. But both the limestone soil and
the situation is unfavorable to them. Next, a dark compact
mass of round-headed Conifers would best serve the purpose
of a foreground to the distant view, but there are none that
can be depended on to thrive long in the situation that could
be kept within the required bounds except by giving them a
stubbed and clumsy form by the use of the knife. The best
available material for a strong, low mass, with such deep sha-
dows on the side toward the terrace as it is desirable to secure,
and which is most sure to thrive permanently in the rather dry
and hot situation, will be found in the more horizontally branch-
ing of the Thorn trees (Crategus), which grow naturally in sev-
eral varieties on other parts of the hill. Their heads may be
’ easily kept'ow enough, especially in the case of the Cockspur (C.
Crus-galii), to leave the view open from the terrace without
taking lumpy forms. But as athicket of these spreading thorn
bushes, fifty feet long, so near the eye, might be a little stiff
and monotonous, a few shrubs are to be blended with them,
some of which will send straggling sprays above the mass and
others give delicacy, grace and liveliness, both of color and tex-
ture, to its face. Common Privet, red-twigged Dogwood, com-
mon and purple Barberry, Dezfsia scabra, Spice-bush and
Snowberry may be used for the purpose. American Elms have
already been planted on the lot adjoining on the east. The
Wahoo Elm (U/mus alata) and the Nettle tree (Celtis occiden-
Zalis) are to be planted in the space between the approach and
the boundary. They will grow broodingly over the road, not
too high, and mass homogeneously with the larger growing
Elms beyond. Near the stable two Pecans (Carya olivefor-
mis) are to be planted. The three trees last named all grow
in the neighboring country and are particularly neat and free
from insect pests. A loose hedge of common Privet having
the effect of a natural thicket is to grow along the boundary.
No other shrub grows as well here under trees,
As the pleasure garden isto be very small, to be closely asso-
ciated with the best rooms, and to be not only looked at but used,
it must be so prepared that no excessive labor will be needed
(as in watering, mowing, Sweeping and rolling), to keep it in
superlatively neat, fresh and inviting condition. No large trees
are to be grown upon or near it by which it would be oversha-
dowed and its moisture and fertility drawn upon to the injury
of the finer plantings. It must be easy of use by ladies when
they are shod and dressed for the house and not for the street.
Its surface is to be studiously modeled with undulations such
as might be formed where a strong stream is turned aside
abruptly into a deep and narrow passage with considerable
descent. It will be hollowing near the house and the walk,
and will curl and swell, like heavy canvas slightly lifted by the
wind, in the outer parts. Wherever it is to be leit in turf the
undulations are to beso gentle that close mowing, rolling and
sweeping will be easily practicable. The upperand outer parts
are to be occupied by bushy foliage compassing about all the
turf; high growing shrubs next the fences and walls ; lower
shrubs before them; trailers and low herbaceous plants be-
fore all. But there must be exceptions enough to this order
to avoid formality, a few choice plants of each class standing
out singly. The bushes are to be planted thickly, not simply
to obtain a good early effect, but because they will grow better
and with a more suitable character in tolerably close compan-
ionship. As the good sense of thelady whois to be mistress of
this garden ranges more widely than is common beyond in-
door matters of taste, it may be hoped that due thinnings
will be made from year to year and that the usual mutilation of
bushes under the name of pruning will be prevented.
The following little trees and bushes may be used for the
higher range: The common, trustworthy sorts of Lilac, Bush-
honeysuckle, Mock-orange, Forsythia, Weigelia, the Buffalo-
berry (Shepardia), common Barberry, the Cornelian Cherry and
the red twigged Dogwood. In the second tier, Missouri Cur-
rant, Clethra, Calycanthus, Jersey Tea, Japanese Quince, Japa-
nese Mahonia, Spireeas, and the Mezereon Daphne.
In the third tier, Deuwtz’a gracilis, Oregon Grape, flowering
Almond (white and red), Spir@a Thunbergii and S. faponica,
Waxberry, Daphne Cneorum, small-leaved Cotoneaster, and
the Goatsbeard Spireea. The Virginia Creeper is to be planted
against the walls of the house, Chinese Wistarias near the
May 2, 1888.]
garden room. Oleanders, Rhododendrons, Figs, Azaleas
and Bamboos, grown in tubs, are to be set upon the terrace
in summer. They are to be kept in a cold pit during the
winter.
The service garden (vg, Fig. 2) will have a slope of one to
five inclining to the south. It is intended only for such sup-
plies to the house as cannot always be obtained in the public
market in the fresh condition desirable, and is divided as fol-
lows:
gt. Roses and other plants to provide cut flowers and foliage
for interior house decoration ;
g 2. Small fruits ;
3. Radishes, salad plants, Asparagus, Peas, etc.;
g 4. Mint, Parsley, Sage, and other flavoring and garnishing
plants for the kitchen ,
g 5. Cold-frame, wintering-pit, hot-beds, compost-bin, ma-
nure-tank, garden-shed and tool-closet.
Brookuine, Mass., 14th April, 1888, Fred’k Law Olmsted.
Garden and Forest.
1B ee
forces well even earlier than the present date, and I im-
agine that it would be invaluable fot market florists. It is
one of the Rosa polyantha hybrids of which Ma Parqueritte
and Anna Maria Montravel are other beautiful examples.
Among other noteworthy flowers were. the new Ciner-
arias, shown by Mr. James, who for several years past
has made the improvement of this flower the study of his
life. He has changed starry flowers into perfectly circular
flowers with overlapping florets, besides impressing into
his “‘strain” new self-tints, and combinations of tints, in
zones and stripes. Some critics hold that the improved
Cineraria has lost the elegance and beauty of the old-
fashioned Cinerariain the severely symmetrical flower. But
the balance of opinion among florists is in their favor, and
this strain of seeds always commands the highest prices,
which is a fair test of popular favor. The very finest
varieties are named, and, of
course, are propagated from cut-
tings, though in some cases the
x
ZERN
ci.
gO TK
me
ste
10
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
With the equinox our spring flower shows begin, the most
important being that of the aristocratic Royal Botanic Society,
Regents Park, on the 21st of March. This conservative
body never dreams of innovation, never tolerates a change
in the prize schedule, so that the masses of Hyacinths and
Tulips, Azaleas and Cyclamens, repeat themselves at each
spring exhibition. - Nevertheless, hither throng crowds ot
the éte of London society. Forced Roses made an interest-
ing feature, and none of the sorts shown seemed to win so
many admirers as the new Lady Alice, which was even
finer here than at South Kensington, and the judges awarded
it a certificate of merit. The pretty little Mignonette Rose,
with clusters of button-like rosettes of pale pink, was a
much admired flower. It is extremely floriferous and
FIGUR Ee.
sorts are perpetuated true from
seed. There was a large gather-
ing of these flowers on exhibition
and of the three sorts certificated
the finest was a pure white with
purple centre, named Maria.
Another, named Irene, had the
colors purplish violet, carmine
and white arranged in zones, and
a third, named Favorite, rich car-
mine and white. If one could
place one of these plants beside
the original Cineraria cruenta of
| the Canary Islands, from which
ee
this garden race has descended,
he could better appreciate the
enormous strides that have been
made in the improvement of the
flower. The pure C. cruenéa, from
seed gathered in the Canaries, is
in bloom just now in Kew Gar-
dens, and the contrast of the flor-
ist’s strain with it is remarkable.
One would think that a special
feature would be made of forced
shrubs at these early spring shows,
but with the exception of a fine
mass of forced white Lilac from a
market florist, the old Dewtsia gra-
cits, andafew specimensof Labur-
num, and other shrubs, there was
nothing remarkable in this way.
The forced Lilacs were the ad-
SCALE miration of every one, the plants
20 being so fineand thickly hung with
30 40 50 - 2 :
ae large dense clusters of pure white
bloom. They came from Mr.
Dorst, of Richmond, one of the
market florists whose success in
forcing Lilac is now well known. He's, in fact, one of the
few florists who have proved that Lilacs can be forced profit-
ably. Ever since October last he has sent almost daily
supplies to Covent Garden. His flowers always look
fresher than the imported bloom from France, and conse-
quently fetch a higher price. The best variety he uses
is Charles X., which in the ordinary flower season is pur-
ple, but when forced in the dark is pure white. Enormous
quantities of Lilac plants are grown by this florist, and all
are subjected to preparatory treatment in pots a year or so
before wanted for forcing, so as to get them well rooted and
with strong, well ripened wood. The bushes are pruned
severely, leaving only the strongest growths, and then are
gradually introduced into heat in batches, from October
onwards. The forced supply lasts till past Faster, when
it is in much demand. W. Goldring.
London, March 22d, 1888,
114
New or Little Known Plants.
Hymenocallis humilis.*
HE so-called Pancratiums of the United States are
represented in our illustration for this number. The
true Pancratiums, however, areall natives of the Old World,
and are characterized by having the tube of the flower
considerably dilated upward, and therefore funnelform, The
crown which unites the filaments is also usually lobed, and
the cells of the fruit are several-seeded. The American
species all belong to the genus Hymenocallis, which has the
tube narrowly cylindiical and only two ovules in each cell
of the ovary. ‘They are found in marshes and on river
banks in the southern Atlantic and Gulf States, mostly near
the coast, though one species, which is supposed to be the
same as the #. ro/a/a of the coast, is found in Tennessee
and Kentucky.
The figure here given shows one of two species which
were discovered in Florida by Dr. Edward Palmer in 1874.
fH. humilis is a low and slender species, the smallest of the
genus. The bulb appears to be attached to a rather thick
rootstock, and sends up a few short narrow leaves and a
short scape which bears a single flower. The linear seg-
ments are greenish, as are also the anthers, while the
broadly funnelform truncate crown is white.. The plant
was found on the banks of the Indian River in flower earl
in March, but it has not been again collected. Dr. Palmer
speaks of itas common in the grassy meadows near the
river, a free bloomer, and very showy, and the most at-
tractive plant found by him in that region. SW.
Cultural Department.
Hybrid Aquilegias.
OSSIBLY no genus of plants more readily admits of a
JE perfect hybridization between the different species
than the Aquilegia. For this reason it is almost impossible
to preserve the seedlings pure should the parent plant have
grown near any other species. Even when separated,
the pollen will be distributed. through insect agency,
and the new generation in almost every case will possess
marked characters, differing from the species. Taking ad-
vantage of this peculiarity, hybridizers have produced
some curious and beautiful strains, and the only diff-
culty in the way of its permanent usefulness is the trait
alluded to, that of so easily departing from any fixed type.
About twenty-five years ago Dr. C.C. Parry, then engaged
in studying the Flora of Colorado, happened upon A.
cerulea, Torr., and with the herbarium specimen sent the
writer was a small packet of seeds which were carefully
grown, and the plants served as the female parents in a
remarkable series of experiments in hybridization with
several other species. One of the most instructive and
valuable crosses was from the pollen of the white form of
A, vulgaris; the result being flowers identical in form with
A, cerulea, but pure snow-white in color.
In addition, as if to demonstrate the extent of its possi-
bilities, two of the seedlings yielded perfectly double
white blooms of the size and form of A. cawrulea, even
retaining the peculiar long curved spurs of that species.
In the collection of seedlings were flowers of almost
every imaginable tint, but all showing, in a marked degree,
the influence of the caerulea type. Subsequent efforts in
the same direction with other species gave some inter-
esting results, but none were more valuable than the
above, unless we except a little bed of seedlings where
the male parent was also our eastern species, A. Canadensis.
The progeny in this case almost universally exhibited
blooms showing various shades of red, but retaining all
the other characters of the mother plant.
*H. numinis, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad., xiv. 301. Bulb half an inch thick or more,
upona rootstock, covered by the broad sheathing bases of the leaves, which are
four to six inches long by about two lines broad ; scape scarcely equaling the
leaves, one-flowered ; segments of the spathe narrowly linear; flowers greenish,
the tube fifteen lines long and shorter than the linear segments of the perianth ;
crown short, not narrowed at base, truncate between the erect filaments, which are
athirdshorter than the perianth and style; anthers greenish; ovary oblong, be-
coming aninch long in fruit.
Garden and Forest.
[May 2, 1888.
Fig. 23.—Hymenocallis humilis.
A few showy hybrids were produced by crossing A.
formosa and A. chrysantha with A. cerulea, but the result
did not prove so satisfactory as the foregoing, the colors
being undecided, and the form, as a rule, greatly inferior
to the parents. The development and fixing of new
forms in flowers, as practiced on the numerous seeds
farms in Europe, fully demonstrate, that by a systematic
course of selection for a series of years, almost any pe-
culiarity of color or form may be perpetuated from seeds
and made to retain its idiosyncrasies thereafter. Whether
this has been attempted with Aquilegia hybrids I do
not know, although the numerous and very distinct col-
ors of A, vulgaris will come true to name almost invari-
ably. Division of the root was attempted and for several
years the finest of these forms were retained, but finally
all passed out of existence. Josiah Hoopes.
Rhus cotinoides.—Three years ago a small plant of this rare
species was set in our nursery, where the ground is good and
the situation well sheltered. It has grown vigorously, and
made a single stemmed, well branched specimen, eight feet
high. But it has been protected with barrels in winter. Last
winter we gathered and tied the branches together and toa
May 2, 1888.]
long stake, and over these set three barrels, bottomless and
headless, one on top of the other, and kept in place by being
lashed between three long stout stakes. When uncovered,
about the Ist of April, the branches were living to the tips,
and nowhere does the tree show the least sign of injury from
the winter. It has now been transplanted to a permanent
position, as an isolated specimen, on the lawn, and conse-
quently was cut in severely. Ithas not yet blossomed with
us. But its handsome fohage and the bright red tinge of its
leaf stalks and venation render it a desirable plant, even with-
out flowers.
“Ttis in Alabama a small, wide branching tree, nine to ten
metres in height, with a trunk sometimes 0.30 metre in diame-
ter; on limestone benches from 700 to goo feet elevation, in
dense forests of Oak, Ash, Maple, etc.; local and very rare; not
rediscovered in Arkansas or the Indian territory, in Alabama
nearly exterminated.”
Ourspecimen has been grown inan open sunny. exposure and
has not shown the least injury from full sunshine. © 1 /.
Heuchera sanguinea—This new and handsome introduction
from Mexico is likely to become the most popular of the
enus as at present known. All Heucheras have elegant
Roliaee. HT, pubescens is generally grown for this reason alone.
Last fall, with a view to increase our stock of A. sanguinea,
which was limited to one small plant, all the crowns were cut
off close to the rootstock. Placed in sand in a cool pit they
rooted easily. We thus obtained a dozen plants which have
bloomed persistently nearly all winter. We have also a
number ot seedlings, and, if we are fortunate enough to save
them, in the course of time clumps in sufficient quantity can
be obtained for forcing, like Astible Faponica, for winter
blooming. The plants are in 4-inch pots, and have been
grown ina night temperature of 40° to 45°. The flower stems
are wiry, and self-supporting, blooming from 3 to 5 inches of
their length, in a one-sided racemose cyme of red, tubular
flowers of considerable substance, which have the excellent
quality of being handsome in bud, and of lasting two or three
weeks in a cool house. T. D. Hatfield.
Myosotis dissitiflora splendens is a variety of a very beautiful
perennial Forget-me-not with flowers fully double the size of
the common species (JZ. palustris), They are pink or shaded
with pink when first open, but soen change into a beautiful
clear blue. This plant is not quite hardy, but is well worth the
protection of acold-frame in winter. If seed is sown in June or
July, the young plants will be strong enough by autumn to
come through the winter safely, and can be transplanted into
the open border, where they will bloom profusely during the
month of May. Plants taken from the frame in February
or March, and introduced into moderate heat, bloom freely in
afew weeks, anda pan of this plant in flower is one of the
most beautiful objects imaginable. This plant was sent to this
country several years ago by Herr Leichtlin. roe
Sempervivums.—These form pretty and appropriate patches
and mats about the stones in the rockery. They like an open
and comparatively sunless situation, as on the northern
slopes, but very much dislike to be shaded overhead by trees,
shrubs or other plants. Most of the species are quite hardy.
Sempervivum globiferum, S. montanum, S. tomentosum, S.
triste, S, calcareum, S. soboliferum, S. arenarium, and some of
the varieties of S. fectorum, are as good as any. The prettiest,
perhaps, is the white cobweb S. fomentosum , S. triste is dark
crimson, and S. calcareum—otten, but erroneously, called S.
Californicum—is a little tender. None of the Cape of Good
Hope species are hardy. Now is a good time to transplant
them; use the small or middle-sized heads only, as the large
ones will bloom ina month or two, then die off and leave the
place ragged.
“Dutch” Bulbs, such as Hyacinths, Tulips and Narcissus, that
have been forced, should be stored close together in some
lightly shaded place out-of-doors and kept watered so long as
the leaves remain green. When the leaves die off stop water-
ing altogether, shake out and gather the bulbs, keeping each
‘kind by itself, and keep them in-doors till next August or Sep-
tember, when they may be planted thickly in rows in the gar-
den. Next spring they may yield a few flowers, but of poor
quality. The Tulips, after a few years, may recover their
original strength, but the Hyacinths will only produce sec-
ond-rate spikes at best. They are of no use whetever for
forcing a second time.
Lilium candidum, if forced this year, should be planted out
or thrown away, as to force the same bulb again next year would
Garden and Forest.
wis
be labor lost. But Z. dongifiorum and its varieties may be
grown along and forced year atter year and do well every sea-
son. Keep them well watered and in vigorous growth as long
as the leaves stay green, then dry them off and keep them per-
fectly dry, but sull in the earth in the pots, till next fall,
when re-pot them, keeping the large bulbs in pots by them-
selves, and the small ones in pots by themselves, and care-
fully preserve every little bulblet found along the joints
of the underground stems. In the Harrzsii form most all
these little bulbs, even in three or four inch pots, will bloom
next spring.
Spring Flowers.—Many of our earliest flowering plants grow
well in shady places. They start into growth early and bloom
before the trees begin to shade them. Their growth is rapid,
and before midsummer they have completed their season's
work and gone to rest. Among these are Anemones, Violets,
Twin-leaf, Bloodroot, Winter Aconite, Trilliums, Rue Ane-
mones, Spring Orobus, Pulmonaria, Lungwort, and many
bulbous plants. At the same time we must bear in mind that
Moss Pink, Rock Cress, Aubretia, evergreen Candytuft, and
a good many others, it grown in shady places, will dwindle
and die out after awhile. A safe rule to observe is, grow the
short-lived deciduous kinds in shady places, and the ever-
greens mostly in sunny exposures.
Cutting Asparagus.—It is the practice of most gardeners
to cut the large shoots of Asparagus only and leave the weaker
ones to grow for the purpose of making strong roots and
therefore strong shoots next year. A better custom is that
adopted by Long Island gardeners, who cut everything clean
every day. When the plants are all allowed to grow after the
cutting season is over the strong plants assert themselves,
overshadow the weaker ones and set the buds for next year’s
crop. This gives a larger percentage of strong buds every
year. S.
Andromeda floribunda is now in good bloom. While it suc-
ceeds well in moist ground and on the north side of a wooded
belt, it seems to dislike any open, sunny exposure or dry
ground. dA. Faponica is far more accommodating, but as it
flowers so early, it is of little use in the North as a flowering
shrub,
Pansies.—If these are to be kept in good bloom fora long
time, they should be watered copiously and kept moderately
thin by pulling out the poorest plants. After the middle of
May a lath shading placed over, but a few feet above the beds,
will help them: considerably. The Bugnot, Cassier «nd Im-
proved Trimardeau strains are as fine as any. WF,
Effect of the Winter on Evergreens.
(ES past winter was not unusually severe. During the
summer we had abundant rain, and the ground was well
soaked before frost set in; trees and shrubs made capital
growth and the wood ripened up well. There was fine open
working weather till the middle of December, and about the
end of the month some rough cold weather. January began
with wind and rain, but after New Year’s, -and till the
middle of the month, there was fine, butsomewhat cool weather;
on the 16th there were 19° of frost, and from that time till the
end of March we have had the most trying weather—cold, wet,
stormy, changeable, icy—that I have any record of or remem-
ber. But while we had zero weather two or three nights, only
once did the temperature fall as low as 3° below zero, Atsome
one time during each of the four preceding winters the tem-
perature has fallen to 6° below zero, but never for more than
one night ata time, and usually only once, never more than
twice the same season. But our trees suffer a good deal from
ice storms. There is often a drizzling rain, and 6° to 10°
of frost at the same time; this coats the trees completely with
ice, and the branches break under the load. If a bright or
warm day succeeds this icing, trees escape pretty well, but
shouldit freeze harder, anda brisk north-west wind setin, a good
deal of damage is done by the branches lashing against each
other and breaking. Every succeeding year it becomes more
and more apparent that in order to have the many beautiful
trees and shrubs that will thrive in our climate, in perfection,
we must afford them shelter. Wherever the trees have been
well sheltered, there all that we would expect to be hardy have
wintered well, but wherever there is insufficient shelter,
there even hardy trees have suffered. It is not the intensity
of the cold so much as the biting winds that injure trees and
shrubs
Pinus mitis has a yellow, unhappy look, but otherwise
116
the Pines are all right so far as the effects of winter are con-
cerned,
Among Firs, Adzes grandis has, as usué a) got scorched a
little; in fact, too much to allow this to be re earde dasa reliable
One of the Oregon Douglas Ws irs in a more ex-
s browned a very
s here.
posed place than the others has its leaves
little, but not enough to hurt its wood in the least. Others
of the Oregon form are not injured in the least. And the
Colorado Mountain form, planted in bleak exposures enough,
bear no mark of injury whatever. Nordman’s, Cilician, Ce-
phalonian, Veitch’s, Spanish, and other Firs are uninjured.
No injury is observable among the ee s. The more we
know of the Colorado Blue S spruce the be tter it appears ; its
hardihood and capacity to resist severe winter winds seem to
be greater than those of our White Spruce. Among Hemlock
Spruces, the Japanese 7suga Sze boldiana, so far as we have
tried it—and there are fine i irge specimens here—is a hardier
and more manageable tree than the common American species,
spe C ie
Garden and Forest.
[May 2, 1888.
more shelter, itis unscathed. Two good sized plants of Osman-
thus tllicifolius formerly grown in tubs, wintered in a shed,
and plunged outside in summer, were left out to die last fall.
Not only have they survived the winter, but they never looked
better than they do now, although close to them the wind
scorched a Lawson's Cypress
Scotch Broom is hurt a little. Se Furze where
covered with a lath shading and cedar branches is quite safe,
but all the tips of the shoots thi itprotruded beyond the protect-
ing material, were killed. The hardy Orange tree (Limonta
trifoliata), of which there is a small ple int here, was wintered
under a box filled with dry oak-leaves. It see ms all right, but
I think it would have been better to hav e omitted the leav es,
as they gathered damp about it. Phillyrea Vilmoreana undera
box covering has wintered perfectly; Daphutphyllum glauce-
scens, covered in the same way, has also ke pt well, but ‘Jost its
upper leaves, and a large plz ant of Veronica Traversit undera
box has been killed. Berderis Faponica under a lath shading
A Mesquit Forest in Arizona.
All the Retinosporas have wintered well, but the March
blizzard spread them a good deal; A. Arsifera and its varieties
suffered most. The Golden Arbor Vitz (Thuya orientalis var.)
suffered in the same way. TZhutopsis nis ata, in a moist,
sheltered and partially shaded place, bright and green
and healthy as it can be. Lawson’s Cypress, in sheltered
ground, is as healthy as any Arbor Vite, but wherever its
head rose high enough to catch the wind, it was burned.
The Sitka Cypre (Chamecyparis Nutkaensis) has wintered
well. This plant often behaves strangely here; sometimes
one or several plants will die off unaccountably, while others
growingalong side of, or among them, willnot betray any sign of
weakne whatever. Seguoia gigantea and Cryptomeria Fa-
ponica have wintered well. All the Arbor Vites and Junipers
are unscathed, so too are the Yews. Muslin is used to
protect the Dovaston Yews, but in one instance where
no protection whatever was used the plant is just as sound
as those protected. A muslin protection is used around
Deodars, Podocarpus, Cephalotaxus, Cunninghamia, and Pho-
tinia serrudata, and they all have wintered perfectly—all
except the Deodars, a few of the points of whose branches
were hurt by rubbing against the cloth. On high, dry ground,
where the wind had a sweep at it, the American Holly was
browned a little; a few yards off, where a larger plant had
is as
has wintered well. 2B. Darwinit has been killed to the ground, &.
stenophylla, where protected by a board cove ring has survived,
and where unprotected it has died. Olearia Haastii, mulched
with leaves and under a lath screen, has been killed to the
ground. Spanish Laurel, covered over with barrels (one above
the other), has wintered fairly well—that is, the wood Is all living,
but the plants will lose a good many of their leaves.
Evergreen Rhododendrons neve er wintered better, and they are
well set with flower buds, and promise a good crop of flowers.
And besides the large-growing Rhododendrons, such dwarf
evergreen ones as KR. ferruginium, ovatum, my tifolium and
VW ABTA. have wintered well, although A. ferrugintun has
suffered somewhat. Rhododendron punctatum lives v ery well
with us. _dza/ea amenais as perfect as it can be. Andromeda
Faponica is hardy enough, but as it blooms so early is not of
much use as a flowering shrub in this climate. It is not the
severity of winter, but the warm sunshine, dry atmosphere
and drought of summer, that make Andromeda floribunda, in
perfection, so great a stranger in these gardens. WF.
Glen Cove. —
“ The great secret of good landscape gardening consists in
the accurate preservation of the character of every scene,
whether the character be originally there or created in it.”"—
Uvedale Price,‘ Essay on the Picturesque,” London, 1796.
May 2, 1888.]
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
HE Arnold Arboretum is a Museum of woody plants,—a
great garden in which are being introduced, studied and
arranged hardy trees and shrubs from all parts of the world ;
and which is to be equipped with a dendrological museum, a
herbarium and a library.
The establishment is not old, but its nurseries already con-
tain a very large collection of plants ; and its influence, gained
through the publications of its officers, and by its distribution
of new or little known plants, is already considerable; and there
is hardly an important collection of plants, in the United States
or in Europe, which has not been enriched by contributions
from the Arnold Arboretum. Its local influence is very con-
siderable, and the gardens and grounds in and about Boston
give abundant proof of the interest awakened in arboriculture
and of the practical advantage which a community can derive
from a public establishment of this character.
The final planting of the type-collection of trees in the Arbo-
retum has been considerably delayed by extensive and ela-
borate road-making, although the typical species of the most
important genera, like the Pines, Larches, Spruces, Firs, Chest-
nuts, Oaks, Walnuts, Hickories, Beeches, Birches, Elms, Ashes,
etc., are now permanently arranged and planted. The collec.
tion of hardy shrubs is extensive and important, containing
about twelve hundred species and well marked varieties,
among which there are very few garden hybrids or varieties.
This collection is ar ranged in thirty-seven ‘parallel beds each
ten feet wide and two hundred and tw enty-five feet long. The
genera are arranged in the order adopted by Bentham and
Hooker in their “ Genera Plantarum,” and the species are ar-
ranged geographically so faras it is practicable to do so, first the
North American, then the European, and then the Asiatic plants.
The collection is particularly rich in North American shrubs,
many of which have been here first introduced into cultivation,
and it contains many Chinese and Japanese plants, which, if
from northern latitudes, generally do well here. Many genera
are well represented ; of. Rosa, for example, there are about
sixty species and many natural varieties, of Berderis thirty spe-
cies or more, with some varieties, and of many others a_ pro-
portionally large number of species.
The proper determination and labelling of the plants in the
collection is a serious and difficult labor. Large numbers of
plants are sent to the Arboretum every year from other
botanical establishments or nurseries. Many of these plants
are incorrectly named, and very often the same species or
variety comes from half a dozen different places under as
manynames. Alladditionsas soon as they bloom are verified
or determined, and specimens prepared for the herbarium.
After their identity has been settled, duplicates are removed ;
and the collection as it now stands is fairly well classified.
Numerous additions, however, are still to be made.
It is proposed to publish in GARDEN AND Forest, from week
to week during the coming season, notes concerningsuch new,
little known, or specially desirable plants in the collections of
the Arboretum as may appear worthy of record.
Arnold Arboretum. FG. Fack.
The Forest.
The Forest Vegetation of Northern Mexico.—III.
Prosopis juliflora, DC., Mesquit.—No tree carrying
through the entire summer so much foliage has greater
power to endure arid conditions than “the Mesquit.
(See illustration, p. 116.) Its leaflets, though numerous,
are small, and are: wrapped in a thick and close
epidermis, which prevents rapid loss of their mois-
ture. Hence it is to be found on the most arid tracts
of sand and driest mesas of the plateau region. It is
strictly a denizen of plains and valleys, never being seen
amongst the growths of hills and mountains. Whilst in
the rich and deep soil of the bottoms of valleys of less
elevation, as those of Sonora notably, it grows to the
stature of a large tree of great value, and forms the heaviest
forests of such districts, in the drier situations mentioned,
in order to adapt itself to the conditions of its environment,
it takes the form of a shrub, widely branching beneath the
soil, and rising from two to ten feet only above it. If
standing amongst drifting sands, these gather in hillocks
amidst such broad clumps of bushes, and | heap themselves
Garden and Forest.
117
higher year by year, as the branches push upward for light
and air, until the amount of wood which forms under-
ground in thickened branches and roots is surprisingly
large. A similar accumulation of wood in the roots takes
place when the Mesquit stands in the more stable soil of
mesas and grassy plains, and its branches are occasionally
cut away for firewood. It is the gathering of these sub-
terranean stores of fuel that has given rise to the saying
that in these regions men have to dig for their wood.
Within the State of Chihuahua it is in a few valleys only,
and there growing scattered, that the Mesquit deserves
the name of small tree. On the deeper bottom-lands of
the Laguna country, through which runs the boundary be-
tween the States of Coahuila and Durango, it attains a
trunk diameter of eight or ten inches, forms dense growths,
and is exclusively cut for railroad ties. In the fertile val-
leys and more humid climate to the south and east of the
State of Zacatetas it is a common tree, and is encouraged
to. grow in grain fields even, where its falling pods, inshape
and size resembling those of the white field Bean, pulpy,
sweet and nutritious, are harvested with care as food for
man and beast. On account ofits fruit the Mesquit pos-
sesses great value in the more desert districts. The pods
begin to mature before the midsummer rains start the
grass, and the half-famished herds are attracted to the
bushes by the rich morsels they offer.
Growing with the shrubby Mesquit of the plains and
valleys, itself armed at the nodes of its twi igs with straight,
sharp thorns an inch or more in length, are several other
ligneous species of low stature nearly all abundantly fur-
nished with thorns or hooked spines, so that passage
through such growths either on foot or in the saddle is dif-
ficult and vexatious. Of. most frequent occurrence, per-
haps, certainly one of the most hateful, is Ce/és palhda, Torr.,
which grows in broad clumps six to ten feet high, and
forms, with its numerous and dense, often intricately tan-
gled branches, impenetrable thickets. Hardly more dread-
ful than this or less common is AZimosa biuncifera, Benth.,
standing three to six feet high in widely branching clumps,
and laying hold of one passing it with a hundred sharp and
strong hooks. Acacia Gregg, Gray, the Cat’s-claw Mes-
quit, here less common than the last, and but a shrub, is
a similar annoyance. So, too, Acacia Rameriana, Schlecht,
Microrhamnus ertcoides, Gray, one to six feet high, and
Condalia spathulata, Gray, vat., six or eight feet, have ex-
ceedingly small leaves, and bear a thorn at the end of
every branchlet, while Aeberhinia spinosa, Zucc., is entirely
leafless, and its branches are nothing but an aggregation of
large thorns. In dry and sandy soil this plant grows buta
foot or two high and spreads over broad patches; in val-
leys of the plateau it is commonly an erect bush; and on
the low plains of Sonora I have seen it reaching a stature
of fifteen or twenty feet, with a trunk diz rmeter of six to
eight inches. A Cactus, Opuntia arborescens, Engelm.,
on the plains five to ten feet high, but seen by Wislizenus
in the Laguna country thirty or forty, its surface covered
with myriads of needle-like spines and minute barbed
points, presents, however, a climax of horrors to him who
falls into its widespread arms. Amidst this chaparral the
traveler acquires an instinctive dread of contact with any
bush; and, if in the saddle, finds that his horse disobeys
the rein that would guide him near one. C. G. Pringle.
Wood from the American White Pine, taken from old trees,
is held by some authorities to be very durable because it is filled
with resin. But this theory seems baseless. The heart-wood
of a tree which I examined in Wisconsin contained 6.96
per cent. of solid resin in 100 parts, by weight, of absolutely
dried wood substance. A Bavarian tree examined for com-
parison contained 6.66 per cent. The hot weather of America
during the summer season may account for the small dif-
ference:
It is a well known fact that the wood of trees with very little
resin, like the different species of Funiperus, Scie, Cupressus
and Taxodium, is hardly surpassed in durability by that of any
Pine-tree, which contains the highest amount of resin.
°
118
Comparing the White Pine with other European anda few
American Conifers, I find the following results in regard to
specific gravity and resinosity of the wood:
Specific Per cent. of re-
Gravity sin in 100 parts
(Water = (by weight of
100.) dry wood. )
(1.) Long-leaved pine (Pinus palustris),
sent to Europe as pitch-pine - - 78 1.1
(2.) Larch, grown in Tyrol and known
as the best and most durable of all
European Conifers - - - - 62 2.8
(3.) Wood of the same tree grown in the
milder climate of the plains - - 55 4.8
(4.) Common European pine (Pinus sylves-
tris), 113 years old - - . - 48 5.
(5.) Common European pine (Pinus sylves-
tris), 235 years old - - - - 47 4.9
(6.) Red pine (Pinus resinosa), grown in
Minnesota - - - - - 41 6.
(7.) European spruce (Picea excelsa), - 4i 1.6
(8.) as fir (Adzes fectinata), - - 39 ¢:
(g9.) White pine (grown in America), 130
years old - - - - - - 39 7G
(10.) White pine (grown in Bavaria), 80
years old - - - - - - 38 6.7
If we arrange the different trees according to the amount of
resin found in their heart-wood we have the following order:
(1.) Pinus palustris (as representing
the section with 3 needles in one sheath).
=)
(2) . Strobus - <= --= 6 AE rary
(3.) “ sylvestrisand resinosa -2 « “4 fe
(4.) The Larch (representing the genus Larix).
(5.) ‘* Spruce th 40 © Picea):
(6) Fir “ Abtes).
There cannot be the slightest doubt that the wood of the
European Larch is far more durable than that of the European
Pine and of the White Pine ; still the amount of resin is hardly
halfas great in a Larch asin a Pine; even the wood of European
Spruce is superior in durability to that of the White Pine.
From this fact we are bound to say that the specific gravity or
the substances that give to the heart-wood its color, are more
important factors in determining the durability of a coniferous
wood than the amount of resin. I think that the order of
resinosity, viz.: Pinus, Larix, Picea, Abies, holds good not
only for the European, but also for the American representa-
tives of these genera. Hf, Mayr,
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
I have been consulted recently by one of our largest dealers
in flowers for an inflammation of the skin of the hands and
face. The appearances which these parts presented indicated
a dermatitis venenata of an eczematous type, and the patient
expressed the opinion also that the inflammation had been
caused by contact with some ‘ poisonous” plant in his shop.
He stated, moreover, that some of his assistants were affected
inasimilar way. The trouble manifested itself in all of them
for the first time within a few weeks, and in his own case there
had been three distinct recurrences of it within that period.
His impression was that it had begun about the time that he
had been handling large quantities of Acacia pubescens and
Primula obconica, and he suspected one of these plants to be
the cause of the inflammation.
I visited the shop, and found one of the salesmen presenting
a similar disorder of the face and hands. The former was
red, somewhat swollen, and irritable, and the latter exhibited
a papular eruption. Another salesman stated that his face had
been irritated, but it presented slight visible changes. There
were several other empfoyees in the establishment, whose
skins were unaffected. I was told by some of them that it
was a well-known trick in green-houses to shake a plant of
Acacia pubescens over a green workman to excite an itching of
the skin. Primula obconica was the only plant sold for the first
time this season, and large quantities of this had been han-
dled. I made a list of the plants which were then, or had
been during the preceding month, for sale in the shop. They
were:
Acacia pubescens, Calceolaria.
Amaryllis, two varieties. Calendula.
Anemone, Roman (4. hor- Calla.
tensis). Camellia.
Azaleas. Cinereria.
Bouvardia, Coreopsis,
Garden and Forest.
[May 2, 1888.
Cyclamen.
Cypripedum insigne,
g flarristt,
ie Valley.
Marguerite (Chrysanthe-
mum frutescens).
Cytisus. Mignonette.
Daisy (Bel/is). Narcissus.
Erica. Nasturtium.
Ferns. Pansy.
Foliage plants. Pink.
Freesia. Polyanthus.
Galax (leaves). Primulas.
Hyacinths. Roses.
Hydiangeas. Smilax.
Jonquils. Spirea Faponica,
Lilium longifiorum. Tulips.
“ candidum. Violets.
“ Harristi. Wall Flowers.
In my work on ‘Dermatitis Venenata,” recently published,
I give a list of eighty-six genera of plants, one or more spe-
cies of which have been known, on good authority, to produce
some degree of inflammation of the skin by contact, but in the
collection above named there was but one species which finds
a place in my list, viz., Zrop@olum majus, or Garden Nastur-
tium. This I have known, in a few instances, to give rise to a
severe inflammation of the skin of persons handling it, al-
though it is ordinarily innocuous. It had been always handled,
however, by all the persons affected in this instance with im-
punity. The only other plants above named, wl.ich are closely
allied to species known to be ‘‘ poisonous,” are the Anemone,
Cypripedium and Marguerite. Several of the Anemones,
especially 4. zemorosa, A. patens, and A. hortensis, possess irrita-
tive properties, and are even capable of vesicating the skin, but I
have no knowledge of such action on the part of that in ques-
tion. I know, on the authority of the late Professor Babcock,
a distinguished botanist of Chicago, that our native Cypripe-
dium pubescens is capable of producing as severe inflammation
of the skin as Rhus Toxicodendron. The French Daisy, or
Marguerite, is also, so far as I know, innocent, but its relation-
ship to Leucanthemum vulgare and Maruta cotula, our White-
weeds, makes it a possible object of suspicion.
There can be no doubt, in my opinion, that the cutaneous
affection in these cases was of an artificial character, and that
the exciting cause is to be sought among the plants recently
handled in this extensive establishment. If it be some one of
these lately introduced into cultivation and the public market,
it is important that it should be discovered. It was suggested
as a possible explanation by the proprietor, my patient, that
some of the fertilizers used about low-growing plants, as
Violets, etc., might have accumulated upon the leaves, and
thus be transferred to the hands in making up bunches for
pe or that some of the mildews upon the foliage might,
perhaps, be irritating when handled. Ustilago hypodites,
parasitic upon Arundo dona: r, is a frequent cause “of cutaneous
inflammation among the w orkers in this Reed in France, but I
am acquainted with no other fungus with such properties.
As it seems probable that the offender in this case is some
new plant, I wrote to Professor Goodale asking him if he had
known the suspected Acacia or Primula to cause such irrita-
tion. He replies:
“Our gardeners say that they have not experienced any
trouble from A. pubescens or P. obconica, but that there is a
plant, as yet undetected, which has lately given them a good
deal of irritation.”
It is with the hope that some cultivator of, or dealer in,
flowers may be able to throw light upon the matter, that I send
this communication to GARDEN AND FOREST,
Harvard Medical School, Boston. Fames C. White.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—You will, perhaps, be interested to hear that by far the
most beautiful of the southern California shade trees is the
Pepper tree. Its graceful form, delicate foliage, feathery sprays
of white blossoms, and long pendant clusters of red berries, all
present in profusion at every season of the year, make a most
effective feature in nearly all the streets and parks of Los
Angeles. Its growth is phenomenally rapid and attains
great height and breadth,
The shade, though not dense, is exceedingly pleasant, not
only by reason of the lovely arabesque of tracery reflected
upon the hot yellow soil, but also by the pungently resinous
odor which it exhales, and which is at once refreshing, stimu-
lating and soothing to the lungs. Nature seems to have pro-
vided in great abundance this ' “healing balm,” as the antidote
for the irritating effect of the finely powdered, almost impal-
pable adobe dust thatinfests the air of California for the greater
Se ee ee any ene
Se a ee
wa
Pe OP ae re
pe Aa
es Beek
Eee ope ey en ee ee
May 2, 1888.]
portion of the year. The Pepper tree makes no litter of cast-
off leaves, entertains no insects on trunk, branch or leaf, and
its light foliage, being in constant motion, shakes off the least
particle of dust; while all its neighbors are thickly coated with
soil, its shining, sweeetly scented boughs are always glossy
green.
“Tt grows readily from the seed, and shapes itself perfectly
without the aid of the pruning hook. Be
[The so-called Pepper tree (Schinus Molle) is a beautiful
small tree, a native of Chili and some parts of Brazil, and is
related to ourSumachs. Itis now very generally planted in
Australia, southern Europe and other warm, dry regions of the
world.—ED. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I learn from your journal that in the ‘Handbuch der
Coniferen Benennung,” [Vellingtonia is retained as a genus
for Segwota. I once asked Professor Gray if, when he was in
England, he called Seguoia Wellingtonia? ‘‘No,” he replied,
very earnestly. ‘It is too bad that a name prompted by nar-
row national feeling should be allowed to supersede an older
botanical name.” Is it too late to accomplish anything in this
matter by remonstrance?
Cambridge, Mass.
[European botanists, of course, speak of our Big Tree as
Sequoia, but the name Wel/ingionia is now so universally
adopted and is clung to with such tenacity, especially in
Great Britain, by all nurserymen and other cultivators, that
nothing short of a miracle will ever cause it to be discarded
in favor of Seguova.—FEp. |
Katherine Parsons.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Your pleasant note concerning the Dog-wood with
rose-colored flowers which Mark Catesby had growing in his
Virginia garden a century and a half ago, reminds me of a tree
in ‘‘Bear Camp,” which has red flowers. Let me add that I
have foundin what is known as Big Gum Bottom, a new station
for Rhododendron Vaseyt. Hundreds of thousands of plants are
scattered over an area of at least a square mile. They are of
all sizes and are loaded with flower buds. FE. Boynton.
Macon Co., N. C., April roth.
Recent Publications.
Versatlles et les Trianons, par Paul Bosq. lustré.
Henri Laurens. (Aibliothégue d'Histoire et d'Art.)
French writers have a peculiar gift for picturesque and vivid
description, as well as for recounting the facts of history with a
touch so light that the record reads like a romance. Versailles
and the life which there was led during the most brilliant epoch
in the annals of France, offered a congenial theme toa pen of
the truly Gallic sort. Monsieur Bosq has proved himself the
owner of sucha pen, and, moreover, has gracefully interwoven
with his own words copious extracts from famous writers of
earlier generations. The result is a book small in size and
sparkling in tone, which, nevertheless, contains a large amount
of information, and gives us a better idea of the former aspect
of Versailles and of the scenes which have passed there than
we could obtain by much laborious searching in a multitude
of more serious-seeming volumes.
The readers of this Journal, it may be supposed, will take an
especial interest in the descriptions of the great park of Ver-
sailles—the most famous park of modern times—and of the
smaller ones which surround the Great and the Little Trianon.
These descriptions are, of course, untechnical, but they are
clearand interesting, and take us briefly through the history of
the great works of which they speak. One fact which will sur-
prise many readers is that the great parlin front of the palace
of Versailles was not the creation of Le Nétre, with whose name
itis soinseparably connected, but was laid out by Lemercier
and planted by Boyceau during the reign of Louis XIII., and
merely enlarged and remodeled by Le Notre when Louis XIV.
made Versailles his principal residence. The first task which
this monarch undertook was the remodeling of the park, and
from 1664 to 1669 he occupied himself with little else. It is
impossible here to repeat the account which M. Bosq gives of
the work accomplished in these years; but one or two facts
may be cited to give an idea of its magnitude. Nothing was
left of the original design of the park except a few of the prin-
cipal lines. Its borders had been extended until an English
visitor could speak of it as a ‘province in itself.” Ninety-five
sculptors were employed to people it with statues. It had
Paris,
Garden and Forest.
119
fourteen hundred jets of water distributed among many foun-
tains of immense size and lavish sculptured decoration. Trees
of the largest growth had been brought in incredible numbers
from various parts of Europe. Thousands of Orange trees
stood in pots of costliest porcelain. The great Canal was 5.134
feet in length and 380 in breadth, and ended in a piece of
water 608 teet square. Groves, trellises, ‘green parlors,”
labyrinths, and wide, formally outlined stretches of turf suc-
ceeded one another in bewildering variety and on the most
colossal scale. And when the great fountains played ‘ the
whole world came to gaze.” Nor when the park was finished
was the work upon it done, for it was continually altered, part
by part, until three almost entire reconstructions could be
counted during the lifetime of Louis XIV. Under Louis XV.
new and equally great changes were made, but during his
later years this king abandoned the great palace and park for
the Trianon ; under Louis XVI. it fellinto deplorable neglect,
and the Revolution ruined it. Napoleon did much to restore
the park, however, and between the years 1860 and 1881 it was
replanted, part by part.
The palace called the Great Trianon was built, to please
Madame de Montespan, upon the site of a village of that name
which was.razed to make room for it. Louis XIV. pulled it
down and reconstructed it, and in his later years gave much
attention to its magnificent gardens and took especial pleasure
in nocturnal promenades in gondolas onitscanal. Louis XV.,
taken with a sudden passing fancy for gardening, made it the
scene of many agriculturaland horticultural experiments ; and
his gardener, Claude Richard, did real service to the world by
first growing in the gardens of the Great Trianon many plants
which are now common all over Europe. It was he, says M.
Bosq, who first cultivated what the French call “fAlantes de la
terre de bruyére” and the English ‘‘ American plants '’—Azaleas,
Rhododendrons, Andromedas, and other peat-loving plants.
In 1759 Louis XV. added to his horticultural establishment a
botanical garden, and placed it under the charge of Bernard
de Jussieu, who pleased his master by asking nothing of him,
“not even re-imbursement for his outlays.”
With the Petit Trianon the name of Marie Antoinette is in-
separably connected ; and it isa name which will be long re-
membered by historians of the landscape gardener’s art, for in
her time the first ‘‘ English garden” in France was laid out in
this lovely spot. It is still one of the finest examples of this
school of gardening in Europe, and—a fact which M. Bosq does
not note—it is of especial interest to American visitors. The
elder Michaux, one of the earliest systematic explorers of the
Flora of America, traveled under commission from Louis XVI.,
and the plants he sent home as valuable novelties were culti-
vated in the “ English garden” of the queen. Her gay existence
in this garden was soon cut short in blood and fire by the Revo-
lution, but many fine specimens of American trees still bear
witness to Michaux’s energy and to the fact that the most pleas-
ure-loving monarchs may produce lasting beneficial results
while striving merely to gratify their own passing tastes and
fancies.
Periodical Literature.
HE February number of Petermann's Mitthetlungen con-
tains an interesting article by Dr. von Lendenfeld upon
“ The Influence of Deforesting upon the Rainfall of Australia.”
The author confesses that his investigations have not been
carried on long enough or over a wide enough area to warrant
him in claiming scientific value for his conclusions. Yet he
seems to think himself justified in believing that opposite ef-
fects follow in Europe and in Australia upon the cutting off of
forests. In Europe the struggle for lite between different
kinds of vegetation means a struggle for light ; in Australia it
means a struggle for moisture. Thetrees of Australia, having
adapted themselves to the exigencies of a dry climate, send
forth their roots very widely and deeply, and so wholly absorb
all the moisture which exists that no grass will grow beneath
them. Nor do they, like European trees, give back by evap-
oration a large part of what they take—as is conspicuously
shown in the case of the Eucalyptus, which perpetually turns
the edges of its leaves towards the sun and closes its pores
during the hottest part of the day. If, says Dr. von Lenden-
feld, the forests of central Europe were all destroyed, the an-
nual rainfall would be diminished by one-quarter and vegeta-
tion in general would suffer proportionately. From this opin-
ion many scientific observers will dissent. But whether Dr.
von Lendenfeld is right or wrong in holding it, does not affect
his assertion with regard to Australia—the assertion that when
forests are cut there, the immediate effect is a rapid increase in
the minor forms of vegetation. The roots of the trees, re-
120
maining in the soil, form littke canals through which water
penetraies the hard ground, and grass springs up and flourishes
so that certain tracts in New South Wales can now support ten
times as many sheep as before their trees were cut.
No less than 341 species, varieties and hybrids are included
in the list of Cypripediums published in a recent issue of Le
Moniteur a’ Horticulture, and now issued as a separate publica-
tion. The parentage of hybrids is given and species with
annual leaves are distinguished.
Recent Plant Portraits.
Gardener's Chronicle, March 24th.
UTRICULARIA LONGIFOLIA (showing a
ation).
HOLOTHRIX LINDLEANA
Hooker's /cones Plantarum.
SATYRIUM PRINCEPS, ¢ 1729; a handsome species from
Port Elizabeth, with showy carmine flowers.
TABEBUIA LONGIPES, ¢. 1738.
ADINOTINUS SINENSIS, ¢. 1740; the representative of a new
genus of the Honeysuckle Family, with digitate foliage of
a Horse-Chestnut and the flowers of aGuelder Rose. It isfrom
central China and should be hardy and an interesting addition
to garden shrubs.
DECUMARIA SINENSIS, #4. 1741; is also a native of central
China and should make a handsome hardy garden creeper, with
its obovate leaves and heads of fragrant white flowers. Much
interest is attached to the plant as a second representative of
a genus known heretofore only in our Southern States.
HAMAMELIS MOLLIS, 4 1742; a new Witch-hazel from central
China.
CHRYSOSPLENIUM MACROPHYLLUM, ¢. 1744.
ABUTILON SINENSE, ¢. 1750; a native of south-west China; a
shrub or low tree, with beautiful yellow flowers.
Botanical Magazine, April.
NYMPH&A KEWENSIS, 7. 6988; a very handsome hybrid raised
in the Royal Garden in 1885 by impregnating the white flow-
ered NV, Lotus with the pollen of V. Devoniensis, itself a hybrid.
The flowers are described as nine inches in diameter and as
remaining open for several hours after noon.
Bropi£A HOWELLI, ¢Z. 6989; a pretty white flowered species
discovered a few years ago in Washington Territory by the
colhector whose name it bears.
MASDEVALLIA GIBBEROSA, Z 6990; a curious
from New Grenada; of no horticultural value.
CANTLEYA LUTEA, 7. 6991.
ABIES NORDMANNIANA, 4 6992; “A. Nordmanniana he-
longs to a group of five closely Allied European and west
Asiatic Silver Firs, the limits of which are not yet well
defined. Of these the type is A. pectinata, the common
Silver Fir, which extends from the centre of France
eastward to middle Russia, and reappears in Macedonia and
Greece, extending to Anatolia in the extreme east of Asia
Minor, and according to Ledabour, also in the Caucasian
districts of Imperetia and Ossatia. A. Afol/inis, with its varie-
ties Panachaica and Regine Amalia, is confined to the moun-
tains of Greece and Macedonia. A. Cephalonica is more
restricted still, being found only in the small island whose
name it bears. Both of these last are considered as forms of
A, pectinata by Heldreich, the most competent authority, by
far,on Greek botany. A, Cilicica i is the most Southern species,
being confined to the Taurus and Anti-Taurus Mountains in
ancient Cilicica, and to the Lebanon ; it is the only Levantine
‘species, and differs remarkably from ‘the above, and from the
following, in the retrorsely hooked angles of the scales.
Lastly, there is 4. Nordmanniana, to w hich the geographical
limits assigned by Boissier are all the mountains towards the
east and south-e: ist shores of the Black Sea, including the
south-western spurs of the Caucasus. The nearest
case of prolifer-
little species
ally of all these species is the Afghan and Himalayan 4. Wed-
diana, which approaches 4. Nordmanniana more nearly than
any of the more western species.
“A, Nordmanniana is a noble forest tree, attaining 150 feet in
height, with a trunk six feet in diameter; it inhabits elevations
of 2,000 feet and upwards, growing with species of Corylus,
Carpinius, Cornus, Philadelphus and other European trees.
Op Hooker,
Public Works.
Central Park, New York.—A section of the park along its
Fitth Avenue boundary, and between 102d and ttoth streets,
originally a part of Mount St. Vincent Convent grounds, has
remained undeveloped because the city did not get possession
Garden and Forest.
[May 2, 1888.
of it at the outset. The whole district was set apart for office
and nursery purposes, and the Spore ie! attached to the
convent was allowed to stand until the buildings burned down.
For twenty years the ground has been devoted. to the experi-
mental growth of plants, and a number of comparatively rare
and tender trees and shrubs have been collected here in a
somewhat sheltered position. The Park Board has determined
to begin the permanent improvement of this area, on the
recommendation of Mr, Vaux, the Landscape Architect of the
Department, and Superintendent Parsons. The collection of
plants that have already succeeded will be extended, and other
choice trees and shrubs which will thrive in this protected
amphitheatre will be added. It is fortunate for the city, and
for all who appreciate thoroughly good landscape work, that
Mr. Vaux is again in a position of authority in all matters which
touch the design of the park.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, April 27¢h.
The trade in flowers is very good, especially with Broadway florists.
The supply is short and the average quality poor. Paul Neyron con-
tinues to hold the lead among hybrid Roses. Baroness Rothschild |
follows next, and then comes American Beauty. The finest of these
Roses bring 75 cts. each, and the second grade cost 4o and 50 cts.
Puritans are in good demand, but are scarce. They are steady at 50
cts. each. La France, Catherine Mermet and The Bride sell for $2a
dozen, Catherine Mermets are poor in colorand very ragged. There
are not enough first-rate Jacqueminots to meet the request. They
cost $2.50 and $3 a dozen. Tulips of first quality, Daffodils and
Lilies-of-the-Valley bring $1 a dozen. Lilacs are $1 a bunch. The
white variety is strong and full. Scarlet Carnations are abundant and
well grown. They cost from 35 to 50cts. adozen. Grace Wilder and
Buttercups are inferior, and may be bought for 25 cts. a dozen. Both
Lilium longifiorum and Callas bring $3 adozen, ‘Violets are small and
unsatisfactory at prices unchanged. Smilax is very scarce, and in de-
mand at 50 cts. a yard. Asparagus tenuissimus costs 50 and 75 cts. a
yard. The filling of window-boxes and jardinieres for court-yards
makes busy days for gardeners. Pansies, Forget-me-nots, Daisies
and Lobelias are favorite flowers for window-boxes. Vines are more
used in their arrangement this spring.
PHILADELPHIA, April 27th.
Unusually cold weather has kept up a steady demand for all kinds of
flowers of first quality, and it has also held flowers in good condition
later than in ordinary seasons, Some notable weddings and dinners
have helped to hold up prices by the profusion with which the finest
flowers were used for decoration. These facts account for the firm-
ness of the market, which has ranged during the week at the prices
last quoted. Trailing Arbutus is very plentiful, and sells at ro cts. to
25 cts.a bunch. This diversity of prices is not due to a difference of
quality in the stock, but to the different locations where sales are
made. On Tuesday an amateur in Rose culture bought all the fine
Roses that were on’ sale and added them to his own collection for a
private exhibition. His own Roses are grown in a house more than
1co feet long, specially constructed, and with every recent appli-
ance for the most successful cultivation of Roses. Another market in-
cident of the week was a single order for more than 1,000 heads of the
beautiful pale blue Forget-me-not. This favorite is now at its best,
the flowers being cut from plants that have been kept in cold- frames
all winter. With warmer weather and brighter sunshine it will be-
come seedy.
Boston, April 27th.
The supply of Roses has materially decreased during the past week,
and there is now a fair demand for all good stock that is offered. One
of the most popular of the new Roses, Ulrich Briiner, is seen occasion-
ally, and it sells well. In color it is remarkably bright. Jacqueminots
and Hybrids are quite scarce, good blooms of the latter selling for $6
to $8 per dozen, The best Jacqueminots bring $4 per dozen. “Carna-
tions are rather small, the usual result of warmer and brighter
weather. They cost about 50 cts. a dozen. Violets are scarce at
$1.50 to $2 a hundred, and Pansies plenty at $1 a hundred. Among
the prettiest flowers seen here at this time of the year are the Prim-
roses. These come in all shades of lemon, chrome yellow, bronze
Fs brown. They are beautifully marked and edged, and some of
the lighter colored ones are deliciously fragrant. A small bunch
costs 50cts. There is stillan abundance of Lilies-of-the-Valley and
Tulips, with a fair stock of Daffodils and Poet’s Narcissus. One dollar
a dozen is the standard price for these until they bloom out-of-doors. |
Lilies of all varieties are also abundant at moderate prices. Among —
the novelties are some white Asters which an out-of-town grower has |
succeeded in forcing, and a few single Sunflowers. Really good Smi-
lax cannot be obtained at any price. Asparagus, which would make
such an admirable substitute for Smilax, seems to win favor but
slowly, andthe only green used in large quantities is Ferns, the hardy
native kinds being used for edges and background of all baskets and
designs, and Maiden-hair Ferns for general finish and effect.
May 9g, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
‘PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFicE: TriBUNE BuiLtpinc, New York.
iConductedby, sss & a ws . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE,
EpiroriaL ARTICLES :—The Use and Abuse of Public Pleasure Grounds.—Why
We Do Not Buy Growing Plants.—To the Owners of Woodlands.—
Leasing the State Forest Lands ..........-....
How the Bald Cypress Converts Lakes into Forests
Appr ilunjthe;Pine Barrens. awe ciedsey sacaess ccaisissiese
The Meadows in Central Park (with illustration)...
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter..........-..-.++ William Goldring. 124
New or Lirrte Known Prants :—Brodizea Bridgesii (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 12
CutturaL DeparTMENT:—Calceolarias...... ........eeeeeee William Falconer. 12!
The Rock-Garden in Spring
Fruits for Market and tor Home Use
Dealers A. A. Curtiss, 123
..-Mrs. Mary Treat. 12
Tux Forest:—The Forests of the Yellowstone National Park..../rank Tweedy. 12!
(CORRESPONDENCE tame eieia aie tale s) sie cts elas stale oiataraianip wlateeneis{alete wicca ls(elelejae eieleN.c.8Sy-ta(eiassin's
REcENT PUBLICATIONS
Rerait Flower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston..... 132
IttustrRaTions :—The Meadows in Central Park............ 200000 6) 12
Brodiza Dridgesii, fig. 24............ os 126
piheawildihis: Dreejof Mloridas. sso. s.0 sine eae asic cine cies vinass sin bsis 128
The Use and Abuse of Public Pleasure Grounds.
HE daily papers of this city have recently mentioned
the fact that a speculator has applied to the Park
Board for permission to erect in the parks ‘“ kiosks” to con-
tain machines ‘‘that will weigh visitors for one cent and
drinking water machines that when a cent is dropped in
them will deliver a glass of ice water to the thirsty.” It is
hardly needful to inquire whether the Board intends to give
ear to this enterprising person—we think we can count
with assurance upon the fact that it will make short work
with his proposal. But the mere fact that such proposals can
still be made in any hopeful spirit, that there are still in-
dividuals who think they can exploit our public pleasure
grounds in the interests of their own pockets, calls for a
word of condemnation. Of course all proposals of this
sort are made solely in the hope of personal profit. It
would be ridiculous to suppose that they were intended to
meet any genuine public need. The public, indeed, has a
tight to ask that it shall be able to drink when thirsty ; but
if there is any park or portion of a park where this demand
is not already met, it should be met by the erection of
drinking fountains of proper architectural character, and no
fee, however small, should be charged for their use. And
although many idlers would doubtless drop their pennies
in a weighing machine should they come across it in some
corner of a park, the impulse which would prompt thereto
is certainly not one which has a right to respectful consid-
eration. Even if there were no other reason to object to
the erection of unnecessary structures, however small, in
our parks, reason enough would be found in the obligation
to impress upon the less thoughtful part of the public for
what purposes parks are created and in what spirit they
should be enjoyed. They are not places of amusement in
the sense that they should contain facilities for exciting cu-
Tiosity, for spending money, or for idling away an hour in
the pursuit of such gratifications as a country fair ground
affords. They are places in which to seek fresh air and
sunshine, healthful exercise or needed rest, and that re-
Garden and Forest.
I21
freshment of mind and body and that gratification of the
sense for beauty which the contemplation of Nature affords.
They are, indeed, places for recreation, but in the primi-
tive sense of the word, not in the sense which is most
commonly accepted to-day—places for the re-creation of
the physical and thespiritual man. It is important that this
lesson should be impressed upon the people, and there is
no way of impressing it so potent as rigorously to exclude
from our parks all features which tend to lead their thoughts
and wishes in a wrong direction. When a park is large
enough, places should, of course, be set apart for the sports
and healthful out-door amusements of children and young
people ; buildings should be supplied in which food and
drink may be had; temporary shelters should be erected
in inconspicuous spots; and musical performances may
very well be given from time to time—they draw the peo-
ple into the park, gratify an intellectual craving, and assist
the happy influence of Nature herself. But’ more should
not be done in these directions than can be done without
injuring the character of a large park as a scene of natural
beauty and a place especially devoted to the enjoyment of
this beauty ; and nothing whatever should be done in the
way of gratifying the instincts of those lounging adults who
seek ina park the same sort of gratification that they seek
in the street or the fair-ground. To erect in the Central
Park weighing machines of any kind or drinking fountains
which work by a trick, would be to run as distinctly counter
to the true purposes for which it was created as to build the
road for fast driving, of which there has recently been so
much said. The actual injury done would, of course, not
be a thousandth part as great, but the spiritin which it was
done would be essentially the same. And what is true of
the Central Park is just as true of all parks, no maiter how
small they may be or what may be the character of the
population which chiefly frequents them. <A weighing
machine ought no more to be allowed in Tompkins Square
than in the centre of the Mall.
But if the exclusion of these and all other possible de-
vices for filling the pockets of speculators and diverting the
attention of the public from the beauties of Nature, is to be
recommended for the sake of the growth of the public in
intelligence and appreciative power, it is just as strongly
to be recommended for the sake of the beauty of our parks
intrinsically considered. So many things are absolutely
needed in them which disturb their repose and injure their
beauty, and it is so hard to obtain these in as inoffensive a
form, even, as they might be made to wear, that it is ex-
asperating indeed to think of the possibility of their num-
ber being increased by wholly useless, worthless, profitless
additions. It is hard to get even a needed drinking foun-
tain, seat or shelter so constructed and so placed that it
shall not appear a blot upon the scene. How, then, shall
any one dare propose to put the hideous cast iron ‘‘ kiosks”
of the private speculator in a public pleasure ground,
where, if allowed at all, they certainly would be put
in the most conspicuous places possible—in the places
where they would do the greatest possible amount of in-
jury alike to the mood and spirit of the public and to thg_
beauty of the park itself?
Why We Do Not Buy Growing Plants.
E spoke recently of the difference between Amer-
ican dwellers in cities and those of European lands
in the matter of using growing plants for the adornment of
the home. As was then said, we cannot help regretting,
not that so much is spent here for cut flowers, but that so
little is spent for more lasting forms of beauty. There is
more than one fact to be noted, however, in explanation of
our seeming indifference to growing plants.
We do not mean the fact that such plants are not so freely
and attractively offered for sale in our cities as they are
abroad ; if there were to be a demand for them a supply
would no doubt be forthcoming. We mean, in the first
place, the difference in certain customs of domestic life
22
. . °
which exist between ourselves and the French and
Germans. In France and Germany women of the
middle class go daily to the markets themselves, and
women of the upper class send their cooks or housemaids ;
and neither the mistress nor the bonne is ashamed to be
seen carrying home her big market-basket and her white-
papered plant. But with us the master of the house does
the marketing on his way to business ; or orders are given
in writing ; or, if the mistress makes marketing a part of
her daily shopping-task, she is neither in the dress nor the
mood to carry home even the smallest flower-pot. More-
over, while abroad the commussionaire stands waiting on
every street-corner to take home for a few cents any-
thing one wants to send, such transportation is much more
difficult to get in American cities, and is much more expen-
sive even if it can be obtained. Undoubtedly it is largely
for these reasons that, while cut flowers are bought in such
quantities on our streets by persons of moderate means,
growing plants are seldom purchased by them.
But, it may be said, plants are sold abroad not only in the
markets, but from house to house. In London, for example,
the wagon of the flower-vender is as familiar a sight as is the
wagon of the fruit-seller with us ; from him flowering plants
may be almost if not quite as cheaply purchased as from
_the market-man ; and the result appears not only inside
the London house, but outside. Every balcony in the long,
dingy perspective of a London street is ablaze in spring and
summer with Roses and Petunias, with Calceolarias and
Geraniums; and the visitor thinks with dissatisfaction of
the contrast presented by our own streets at the same
season, when a few hotels and club-houses show laudable
attempts to enliven the prospect with greenery and flowers,
but when private houses are almost altogether devoid of
such adornment.
Here again, however, the customs of domestic life ex-
plain the contrast, at least to some extent. The wealthy
Englishman goes to town just when the wealthy American
is going to the country; and he wants to make his home at-
tractive just when the American is drawing down his blinds,
boarding up his front-door, and doing his best to give the
city the aspect of a plague-stricken, abandoned place. And
although, naturally, the majority of people pass almost all
the weeks of the year in town, whether the wealthy neigh-
bor is at home or away, just as naturally he follows this
neighbor's example. It is ‘‘the season” for all New
Yorkers when it is the season for the rich to be
at home; and they care most to make their homes beautiful
in winter just as the middle-class Londoner cares most to
make his beautiful in summer. No doubt a good deal of
enthusiastic amateur gardening goes on for private gratifi-
cation in the American city back-yard in summer; but to
adorn the front of his home from public-spizited motives
would seem to an American a futile act when there was
no one in town to be gratified by it. This feeling, we
allow, is natural. But, like many natural feelings, it is mis-
taken and unfortunate. The time when ‘‘nobody” is in
town is just the time when the multitudinous individuals
who are in town are in the mood to enjoy every bit of
greenness, every hint and suggestion of natural beauty,
which may present itself. Such individuals should then be
especially bent up6n doing their best to gratify each other.
And the richer folk who are out of town, living in their own
eardens and among great Nature’s greater gardens by the
seashore or upon the hills—it is surely the time when these
should think a little of what they can do for human beings
less favored than themselves. Few city homes are left
without a care-taker insummer, and few are unvisited from
time to time by the master himself. It would cost very
little to fill the lower window-sills of such houses with boxes
of vines and flowering plants, and it would take very little
trouble to keep them fresh and brilliant all summer. And
ifevery absent householder spent this little, how great would
be the increase of pleasure for the multitudes of weary
spirits to whom a week’s outing must represent a sum-
mer vacation! The little money spent in this way would
Garden and Forest.
[May 9, 1888.
be but a small mite spent on true charity as set against the
great sums which the giver annually expends upon his own
and his family’s pleasure. And if anyone doubts whether
a really beautiful result can be accomplished with window-
boxes filled with simple hardy plants, there are fortunately
one or two New York houses to which he may look to con-
vict him of error. Let him look, for instance, this coming
summer, at the great house on the south-west corner of
Madison Avenue and Thirty-eighth Street—closed and
barred like its neighbors, but beautiful, and we may truly
say, charitable, with wreathing vines and flowers—and, if
it is what it has been in former seasons, he will be willing
to make a considerable detour in his walks down-town
for the delight of daily passing it.
To the Owners of Woodlands.
HE Pennsylvania Forestry Association is doing good
and valuable work in teaching the people of that
State to take care of their forests. ores Leaves, the organ
of the Association, is full of information about forests,
trees and tree-culture, and with more frequent and regular
publication would be a model of its kind.
The clear and forcible recommendations which this As-
sociation makes in one of its recent circulars are applicable
to every owner of a forest or of a piece of woodland ;
and we are glad of the opportunity to reproduce them
for the benefit of our readers. The Association ‘‘ wants
every farmer, every owner of woodland, to know—
“That his wood-lot contains a valuable crop, which it
will pay him, not only to cut down and slaughter, but to
manage and utilize judiciously ;
‘“That it is possible to utilize the old trees in such a man-
ner that a new, valuable crop is produced instead of the in-
ferior crop, which now so often takes the place of the virgin
forest after indiscriminate cutting ;
“That as an intelligent manager and husbandman, he
would do better to see to a natural reproduction of his wood-
lot, to cut with regard to the spontaneous young growth,
rather than to clear indiscriminately ;
‘‘That the time has come when forest .destruction must
give way to forest management; for timber is becoming
more valuable every year, as it grows scarcer in the coun-
try at large ;
““That in the woodlands in proper proportion lie, to a
large extent, the conditions of a favorable climate and
successful agriculture ;
“That upon forest growth depend healthfulness and
equableness of climate ;
‘«That the forest breaks the force and tempers the fury of
the northern, and cools and moistens the breath of the
southern wind ;
‘“That by its own cooler and moister atmosphere in
summer and warmer atmosphere in winter, it tends to
equalize temperature and humidity over the intervening
fields ;
‘“‘That while the open, treeless, heated prairie prevents
the fall of rain, allowing moisture-laden clouds to pass over
it undrained, we must thank our forest-clad hills and moun-
tains for our more frequent, more gentle, more useful
showers ; and, above all,
‘“That the forest cover of the mountains preserves the
even water flow in our springs, brooks and rivers, while
its destruction, or even deterioration, increases the danger
of floods, washes off the fertile soil, and then brings down
unfertile soil into fertile valleys, lowers the water level,
and, in general, throws out of balance the favorable con-
ditions for agriculture ;
‘‘That while we advocate the cutting and using of the
wood crop as we need it, we must not any longer, as we
have done, squander and waste it; we must not clear where
clearing produces danger to the surrounding country.”
May 9, 1888.]
Leasing State Forest Lands.
HE bill empowering two of the Adirondack Commis-
sioners to lease five-acre tracts of the State forest
lands for terms of five years has been amended in the
Senate to make the consent of the entire Board necessary
for the confirmation of any lease. Thisis better, or rather
it is less objectionable than the original bill; but if it is
dangerous for the State to grant these unusual powers to
two men, it certainly is neither safe nor wise to grant them
to three men. No private individual has any claims upon
the lands set apart by special enactment for public use.
A refusal to give one the use of five acres for five years,
or of a hundred acres for a hundred years, does not conflict
with any of his rights as a citizen. A lease of any amount
of this State Forest for any length of time to any person
for his private use, is clearly a special privilege. If such
privilege is granted to one man, another can claim it with
equal force. The law will be an advertisement to every
one to come and take possession of the spot that suits
his particular fancy, until the people of the State will be
warned off as trespassers from the most attractive por-
tions of their own land. If the price is made low it will
all be ‘“‘located” in a few months. Ifa high price is de-
manded, just complaint will be made that the rich are
favored as against their less prosperous neighbors.
The bill is vicious in its essence and its evils are not
mitigated by any check or restraint upon what are its
most dangerous tendencies. No restrictions against im-
proper exercise of this power are provided, but the com-
missioners are invested with absolute powers in convey-
ing away the State’s right in its own lands. These officials
are enabled, under this act, to lease and renew leases of
tracts situated anywhere, to whomsoever they may elect,
and upon whatever conditions they may prescribe. They
are not required even to make the terms of such leases
public. In short, they are released from all the restraints
that experience has proved necessary for the safe adminis-
tration of public trusts, so that the dangerous principle of
permitting the alienation from the State of its control
over its own lands is made still more dangerous in prac-
tice, by a neglect to prescribe the limitations and to set
up the safeguards which ordinary prudence dictates in all
cases where unusual powers are delegated to an agent.
One of the Commissioners has lately declared that he
does not favor the principle of leasing, but that he wishes
the right to grant leases to the two hundred persons who
already have actual possession of portions of the State
Forest in the North Woods and elsewhere. ‘That is, he
asks for the law to relieve himself of the trouble of decid-
ing the question forced upon him by the presence of these
squatters. The Commissioners shrink from the task of
ejecting these worthy people, and they ask to be allowed
therefore to confirm them in the possession of the land they
have occupied because it suited them. But if they shrink
from dealing with the hundreds now occupying the State
Forest, they surely will be unable to stand before the
thousands who will be demanding the same privilege under
the new law. It is argued that the scheme can be tried a
few years andif it proves unsatisfactory it can then be repeal-
ed. Butif a Commission feels inadequate to treat with
a few men who have possessed themselves of State land
without authority, how can it hope to meet with proper
spirit an army of lessees who hold the lands on a tenure
legally granted by the Commission itself? Clearly such a
law would add to the embarrassment of the Commission,
not to speak of the increased labor it would entail and the
temptations it would offer. It is a bad measure from every
point of view and it should never become a law.
How the Bald Cypress Converts Lakes into Forests.
HE natural processes by which the earth we inhabit
is torn down or built up are extremely interesting
subjects of study. The comparative facilities for natural
drainage determine more surely than any other agency
Garden and Forest.
123
what the future condition of any territory will be. In
hilly and mountainous countries the depressions would
gain by surface wash what the elevations lose, but for
the innumerable water courses that are continually carry-
ing that wash to the sea. Where, however, the surface is
nearly level and the water courses have but slight fall, the
depressions receive nearly the entire wash occasioned by
rainfall and the principal accession from the growth and
decay of vegetation.
Of countries that are growing through the last named
agencies no better example could be found than is
furnished by the Florida peninsula. Its surface, with
slight exceptions, is either level or gently undulating. The
waters of Florida are clear, containing no earthy matter,
and they have so slight a fall that the ocean tides affect them
in places a hundred miles inland. A large portion of the
rainfall, probably more than half, never reaches the running
streams, but escapes by evaporation, or by percolation, to
underground channels. In rainy seasons much of the
country is overflowed, and in dry seasons the lakes be-
come very shallow and the ponds dry.
A country in which there are such alternating condi-
tions, is eminently suited to the growth of rank and diver-
sified vegetation, both herbaceous and arborescent. In
the hummocks and in the low pine woods, which are
seldom visited by fire, the growth of vegetation continues
almost the year round. Wheresuch growth has progressed
unchecked on uplands, the best lands for immediate culti-
vation are found, while the lowlands are still more valua-
ble, if they can be drained. In the ponds a deposit of
muck is being formed, which, when sufficiently elevated,
will feed a different class of plants, from those that have
contributed to its formation.
When we come to study this leveling process that is
going on in the lowland of the South, and in Florida in
particular, we are led to the conclusion that no agency
has so much to do with it as the peculiar habit of growth
of the Bald Cypress (Zaxodium distichum), ‘This tree is
peculiarly adapted to the unstable soil found in ponds and
alluvial river bottoms. It has a massive base, few and
short branches and scanty foliage. Thus the centre of
gravity is near the ground, and this, with the peculiar
root growth, renders the uprooting of the tree by wind
practically impossible.
The Cypress has a very broad base, which tapers rapidly
into the main trunk. This is a characteristic of other trees
found in like situations, notably the Tupelo (Nyssa uniflora),
the Swamp Gum (Nyssa aquatica), the Swamp Ash
(Fraxinus platycarpa), and the Swamp Privet (/orestera
acuminata). The Cypress is provided with additional
means of maintaining its equilibrium. Where the situation
favors a large growth (the Cypress sometimes measures
ten feet in diameter as many feet from the ground), thin
buttresses spread out from the base in all directions. This
feature lends to a great Cypress swamp an almost labyrin-
thine appearance, especially in dry seasons, when the
bases of the trees are left bare. The Cypress has also a
system of strong surface roots, by the interlocking of
which neighboring trees give each other support.
The surface roots of the Cypress have the peculiar habit
of giving out excrescences, which rise several feet from the
surface, in the form of domes, turrets and arches, or in
wrapping other objects with a vine-like growth. These
excrescences—commonly called knees—are hollow and of
spongy texture, and their growth hastens the time when
the localities they now occupy will become too elevated
to suit such forms of vegetation.
In the shallow lakes and ponds that abound in the low
Pine woods of the South the Cypress does most effectual
work as a land builder. Germinating on a miry margin
or shoal spot, in a season of low water, the young tree be-
comes established, sends out its raft of roots to support its
spindling top, and as it grows pushes upward knees, which
serve to detain floating substances and to give support to
such objects as are in condition for growth. In a dry
124
season—which may last fora year or more—a rank growth
of sub-aquatic plants springs up. This dies down in the
fall and the leaves and dead twigs of the Cypress are
added to the matted herbage, which each spring offers
better support for a succeeding growth.
This process of vegetation progressing around a shallow
lake finally converts it into a winter or dry-weather pond.
During heavy falls of rain soil is washed in from the sur-
rounding slopes. As fast as spots become unfitted for
water-loving plants other species take their place. If
surrounded by Pine woods seeds of lowland Pines begin
to spring up nearer and nearer the centre of the pond,
and the long leaved Pines make a heavy deposit on the
surface each year. If neara hummock, the Bays, Mag-
nolias, Oaks, etc., may take possession. Thus by con-
tinual wearing down and building up, through such natu-
ral agencies, there is a constant approach to uniformity of
surface. A marked change must take place during a
century ; a still greater change during a thousand years.
This process is continually going on, and the Bald Cypress
has played an important part in fitting the low country of
the South for man’s use. A. H. Curtiss.
April in the Pine Barrens.
HE low Pine-barrens of southern New Jersey are al-
ways interesting, and even at this early season
there is an awakened activity in plant life that can hardly
be appreciated by those dwelling a few miles to the north.
By way of compensation for its lack of bold, picturesque
scenery, Nature has clothed these wild levels with a charm
distinctively their own, and a journey of two or three miles
from home will bring me to chosen spots where such a
wealth of floral treasures awaits me as can scarcely be
found in any other locality of the United States.
Among our earliest treasures is the little trailing ever-
green, Pyxidanthera barbulata, which often begins to open
its white and rose colored flowers as early as March, while
the Trailing Arbutus blooms here a month earlier than in
New England. These two lovely plants frequently run to-
gether, so that it is difficult to separate them.
The Partridge-berry and the aromatic Wintergreen, with
their bright red berries and evergreen leaves, also help to
cover the ground and make charming masses that we
covet for our gardens. But I have never succeeded in
making them feel at home and happy under cultivation—
which, after all, should be a matter of small regret, for they
never would appear as well with civilized surroundings as
they do in these lowly and lonely places.
The small shrub Cessandra calyculafa we find in bloom
near the Pyxieand the Arbutus. Anda few steps beyond in
the Cedar swamp, the stately Helonias bullafa is throwing
up its spikes of purplish flowers by the side of the Golden
Club, while the Wind-flower is clustered thickly around an
old decaying stump. Whata rare gardener has been at work
here! The stump itself is decorated all over with scarlet-
cupped Lichens, while its decayed heart nourishes a thrifty
clump of Blueberry, with pink buds just ready to burst into
leaf, while beneath my feet is the lance-leaved White Violet
with a delicate perfume not bestowed on our other species.
The aroma of these low woodlands in spring is delicious.
The fragrance of the swaying Pines overhead, intermingled
with the spicy breath of the Wax Myrtle and Sweet Fern,
already waving its plumy catkins, together with odors of
Sassafras and the more subtle fragrance of other shrubs,
all combine to make a perfume that can only be produced
in Nature's laboratory.
The deciduous trees are still leafless, and comparatively
few of our plants are in bloom, yet there is an atmosphere
of delicate color all about—on every twig and swelling
bud, and on the lowly growth that carpets the earth. The
Barrens will be almost vivid with bright flowers by and by,
but the place will hardly be more attractive than at this
spring opening with its freshness, its modest beauty and its
promise. ;
Vineland, April zoth. Mary Treat.
Garden and Forest.
[May 9g, 1888.
The Meadows in Central Park.
CENERY of apurely pastoral character is no doubt the
S most valuable element of a park within the limits of
a great city like New York, for no stronger contrast to the
constrained and artificial conditions of urban life can be
imagined than meadow-like stretches of greensward which
are not fenced in by rigid boundaries, but fade away in
obscure and shadowy distance. Broad, open landscapes,
with spacious skies, and the sense of enlargement and free-
dom which they bring, offer the most pleasing of contrasts”
to the hard confinement of city streets with their skyline of
roofs and chimneys ; the tranquillizing influence of soft,
smooth, grassy surfaces is an unfailing refreshment from the
wear and weariness, the strain and pressure of city life, with
its strenuous effort and consuming ambition. The de-
signers of Central Park plainly endeavored to embody, as
much as possible within their limitations, and in a dignified
way, without resorting to affectations or deceptions, the
quiet, pastoral idea. Within the narrow area of the park
the broadest scope of open meadow that could be secured
was considerably less than thirty acres. But the bordering
woods were so disposed as to leave the boundaries un-
certain and mysterious, and the turf was made to flow into.
sunny alcoves and about promontories of foliage, until it
was lost in hazy shadows which suggested indefinite extent
of the same restful scenery. The view on page 125 is taken
from a point overlooking the west meadow. The glimpse
of distant turf seen under the branches of the group of trees
in the centre, the opening in the wood border on the left,
the skyline of trees in the distance, all suggest to the imagi-
nation a limitless extent of similar rural conditions. No
object meets the eye of the observer to indicate that there
is anything beyond but green pastures and tree-flecked
meadows. It may be added incidentally that the illustra-
tion shows an example of exceptionally good grouping
and thinning after the manner recommended by Mr.
Olmsted in another column of this paper.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
AST Tuesday the Royal Horticultural Society held its
first meeting in its new quarters, and the occasion
was interesting beyond expectation. The exhibition build-
ing is a stately structure, and the hall, which is of ample
size, was crowded with a wonderful display. Apart from
the Dutch bulbs, which by this time have become rather
monotonous, noteworthy exhibits were the groups of
Cyclamens, each plant carrying from sixty to eighty flowers;
masses of the neat little Polyantha Roses, mentioned in a
former letter ; some remarkable new Tea Roses of Mr.
Bennett's raising, particularly the variety called Princess of
Wales, white suffused with yellow, and Lady Mary Fitz-
william, a delicate pink. Of the numerous Orchids a plant
of the famous white Celogyne cris/a’a was conspicuous for
size and beauty. It measured two feet across and bore
numerous long clusters of spotless flowers. This is still
one of the rare and choice Orchids, and no doubt this. indi-
vidual plant would bring at auction from 100 to 150
guineas any day.
Among the new plants, certificates were awarded to the
following :
Spathoglottis Kimbaliana, named in compliment to one
of your Orchid amateurs, was unquestionably the most
important plant exhibited, being so very beautiful and
so very distinct from all known Orchids. Its flowers
may be compared with those of Phalenopsis grandiflora
in size and form, but are of a pure canary yellow; in
fact, some thought it was a yellow Phalaenopsis. The
flower is three inches in diameter, with broad sepals and
petals, and its lip is adorned with a heavy blotch of rich
reddish brown. The bulb is egg-shaped, and from this
;
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May 9, 1888.]
proceeds the plaited or furrowed leaves about two feet
long. The flower stems are from two feet to three feet
high, surmounted by dense clusters of flowers, which
expand in succession, two or three being open at one
time. It was imported by Sander & Co., St. Albans, last
year, and the description given at the sale of its rare
beauty is more than confirmed by this plant, which is the
first that has been seen.
Phalenopsts John Seden, a new hybrid between P.
grandifiora and P. Luddemanniana, was shown for the
first time by its raisers, Messrs. Veitch & Sons. This, too,
is a beauty, its flowers being different from those of any
other Phalenopsis. They are as large as those of P.
grandifiora ; the petals and sepals being pure white, co-
piously spotted and freckled with rosy purple, with violet
and yellow on the lip. The vigorous growth of Ludde-
mann’s species is transmitted to the progeny, which is
% Vita
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Garden and Forest.
25
nette was the best pink variety of this class, but ‘the
present novelty eclipses it far and away in color, being
several shades darker and brighter, and the flowers are
produced in larger clusters. The Polyantha Roses have
been neglected, but they will. fast rise in favor now that
varieties are produced with rich delicate colors.
The White Lilac, Marie Lemoine, is one of the best varie-
ties of Syringa vulgaris 1 know. The flowers shown
were, of course, forced, the clusters were very large and
dense, and the flowers of unusual size and snow white.
It was certificated chiefly on account of its great value
for forcing into early bloom, but, no doubt, it would be
equally fine in the open shrubbery. The best White
Lilacs we have besides this are grandiflora alba and
Marie Legraye, but I think Marie Lemoine is finer than
these even. Wilham Goldring.
London, March 31st.
_—_—_——~
a Br .
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|
i
MAL
The Meadows in Central Park.
fortunate. It is as pretty as the other new hybrid, F.
L. Ames, and certainly is more remarkable, and if it pos-
sesses the free flowering character of Luddemanniana, it
will make a valuable plant.
— Dendrobium crasstnode superbum won the unanimous
approbation of the committee on account .of the large
size’ and. glowing color of the flowers which thickly
wreathed every stem. At first sight one would think it
identical with Barber’s variety, but the flowers are decid-
edly larger, and the bright rose-purple color, instead of
being confined to the tips of the sepals and petals, runs
half way down, and is in beautiful contrast with the
whiteness of the other parts and the golden-blotched la-
bellum, This makes the third variety of D. crassinode
that has been named, the others being Barberianum and
album, the latter having white petals.
_ Gloire de Polyantha Rose. —The charming little Poly-
antha Roses are now becoming better known and more
popular, and this new sort, raised by Guillot of Lyons,
and shown by Paul of Cheshunt, is, perhaps, the best yet
produced. Until this sort came out one called Migno-
New or Little Known Plants.
Brodiza Bridgesu.*
HIS is a characteristic representative of a large group
of umbelliferous liliaceous plants peculiar to western
North and South America, and especially abundant in
California. They differ from Adium, a genus which is
found in all northern temperate regions, and is also very
abundant in the western United States, in the absence of
alliaceous odor, in springing from a solid corm instead of
a coated bulb, in the less spathaceous character of the
bracts which subtend the umbel, and in the character of
the ovary. The flowers vary greatly in color and form,
being often quite handsome, and are usually jointed upon
the pedicels. The most prominent genus of this group Is
Brodiwa, which includes some 20 or 25 Californian species
and a number of very little known South American ones.
*B. Bripcesu, Watson, Proc, Am. Acad. xiv. 237. Scape a foot high or more,
from a small bulb; pedicels ro to 20, elongated ; yerianth blue, 12 to 15 lines long,
funnelform, the narrow tube exceeding the lobes; stamens 6, in one row on the
throat, the short and nearly equal filaments dilated downward ; anthers linear;
capsule ovate, much shorter than the stipe.
120
These are variously divided into 3 or 4 sections,
to which twice as many generic names have been
given by different authorities, based mainly upon
the form of the flower and upon differences in the
stamens, three of which are sometimes reduced
to broad scales, while the filaments are often
winged.
The present species belongs to the section 777-
litera or Seubertia, characterized by having six
stamens with naked filaments and anthers sus-
pended by the middle, and the tube of the flower
narrowed downward. Itis one of the most showy
species of the genus, the numerous large flowers
being of a bright sky-blue color. Its home is in
central California among the foothills of the Sierra
Nevada. Most Californian bulbs of this sort need
peculiar treatment, and are apt to give poor satis-
faction in eastern gardens. Some of our florists
who have had experience in their culture should
tell us what methods have been found to give the
best results. S. W.
Cultural Department.
Calceolarias.
PROM March till May the spotted or herbaceous
Calceolarias are at their best in the green-house,
and they make a magnificent display. Indeed, when
massed together no flowers of the season equal them
in brilliancy and profusion. By continued selection
in recent years larger, more perfectly formed, more
brilliantly colored and distinctly spotted flowers have
been produced, and the habit of the plants has be-
come so dense and stocky that flower stems now
stand erect, unsupported by any stakes.
This year we have the International strain only, and
among a hundred plants now in full bloom, in one of
our green-houses, there is not so much as one stick
or other support of any kind among them, but they
all stand bolt upright by the sturdy vigor of their
own limbs. :
The main points to observe in growing Calceolarias
are these: Do not sow the seed before the middle of
June; throughout their early life keep them as cool
as possible ; shade from sunshine during their whole
existence, but at the same time give them as much
light as possible; don’t allow them to get frozen;
never let them get dry at the root; don’t crowd them;
keep them rigidly free from aphides, and when they
are in bloom do not allow water in any way, even as
“dew” from an over-moist atmosphere, to touch the
flowers.
Sow the seed about the 21st of June, in a seed-pan
filled two-thirds deep with drainage and then to the
top with fine sandy soil. Put the seed-pan in a north-
facing cold-frame, with sashes on to ward off rain,
and ventilate to keep it cool, and shaded to prevent
the earth in the pans getting dry too quickly. The
seed, although very small, has great vitality, and
generally most of it germinates in a fortnight. We
soon prick off the seedlings into other pans, thence
into two-and-one-halt-inch pots, and afterwards repot
them as their size and vigor demand, till they are
in six or seven-inch pots, the sizes in which they bloom.
For soil use rich, porous, turfy loam rubbed (not sifted) fine,
and some dry, old manure, also some leaf soil and sharp
sand, and in all cases have the pots well drained. And although
the soil should be moderately firm, particularly avoid such
solid potting as would be necessary for Roses or Carnations.
Throughout their whole existence Calceolarias must be co-
piously supplied with water at the root; and after they are in
their flowering pots and well-rooted, weak manure water may
be given them frequently. Butas their foliage is so succulent
and closely bunched together, carefully avoid wetting the leaves,
else they are apt to rot off at the neck.
We keep the plants outside in the cold-frame till November,
when they are brought indoors to a cool green-house and set
on stages quite near the glass. While a slight frost will not
hurt them, it is better not to run the risk of any freezing what-
ever. Throughout the winter we keep the green-house as
cool as is possible with safety, never letting it fall under 35° nor
Garden and Forest.
[May g, 1888.
Fig. 24.—Brodiaea Bridgesii.
rise above 50°. In favorable weather we ventilate freely and
at the same time use a little fire heat to dispel damp.
If sown early and grown along vigorously Calceolarias may
be had in bloom in January, and if sown in September their
flowering period can be retarded till June, but after the warm
weather of summer sets in it is a difficult matter to keep them in
good condition. They are at their best in April.
They are more liable to be attacked by the green fly than
are any other plants in cultivation, and in order to protect
them from aphides we must use tobacco vapor and smoke
unsparingly, and not so much as a cure as a_ preventive.
While the young plants are in the cold-frames, tobacco stems
should be placed underand among the pots; and in the green-
house tobacco stems should always be laid on the hot-water
pipes under the benches. The constant vapor from these
wetted stems, and thorough smoking at intervals, are the
best defense against insect attacks.
Calceolaria flowers do not last long after being cut, but fora
.
.
Pe ge
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a ee ee Te PN ee
May og, 1888. ]
day or two they are very good ; and as they are very easily in-
jured by crushing they must be packed and carried carefully.
But the plants in bloom can be used with admirable effect in
room decorations,
Glen Cove. William Falconer.
The Rock-Garden in Spring.
tris Korolkow?, a comparatively recent introduction from
Turkestan, is one of the earliest plants in flower in a New
England rock- garden. It isa dwarf, bulbous and very hardy
species a span high with narrow leaves and rich purple
flowers, brightly marked on the falls with large, clear yellow
blotches. With it, and a little earlier, bloom /r?s reticulata and
its variety Krelar gti, charming little Caucasian plants, also with
purple yellow blotched flowers. These appear with the
Crocuses and Siberian Squills in the middle of April, and
nearly a fortnight later than the earliest Snowdrops. Single
Hepaticas have passed when these Irises are in bloom, but
some of the double flowered varieties are later and last a long
time in flower. Some of these have very dark blue, and others
pink or clear white flowers. Few of the earlier flowering rock-
plants are more beautiful. The Spring Snowflake (Leuc olune
vernum) is one of the great attractions in the rock-garden at
this time. It isa dwarf species from central Europe, hardly
more than six inches high, with large, drooping, bell-shaped,
fragrant flowers, an inch and a half. across, when expanded,
and marked with a conspicuous spot of green and yellow at
the tip of each segment. This is one of the most charming of
all the plants of its class. Not less attractive and equally hardy
is Chionodoxa Lucilig—one of the handsomest and most in-
teresting of recent additions to the perfectly hardy spring
flowering bulbs. — Chionodoxa is formed from two Greek
words meaning snow and glory, and refers to the fact that this
plant flowers amid the melting snows of its mountain home.
It isa native of Asia Minor and Crete, and was discovered by
the Swiss botanist Boissier on the western Tmolus, above
Bozdath, at an elevation of 7,000 over the sea level. The
leaves are three to six inches long at the flowering period,
strap shaped and surmounted by a slender raceme of three to
six or sometimes even twenty intensely blue flowers shading
to white in the centre. These are fully an inch across when
expanded. Chionodoxa Lucilig can be as easily grown and as
readily increased as a Siberian Squillor any other spring flower-
ing bulb. A few days later Adonis vernalis, one of the best and
hardiest of dwarf plants, opens its splendid yellow flowers,
and these in turn are followed by many others, which make the
rockery the most interesting spot in a garden in April and
early May. These plants are all perfectly, hardy, they flourish
and increase and improve year after year among the rocks or
in any garden border, and year after year the ~ unfolding of
their flowers is a new surprise anda new delight which old
acquaintance never dulls. C.
Fruits for Market and for Home Use.
CORRESPONDENT, after alluding to some notes of mine
on fruits for home use, inquires if such fruits are not
good enough for the market? This is a novel way of putting
the question, and the reply might be that they are often too
good. We raise home fruits to eat and market fruits to sell.
Very plainly the latter must reach the market in salable condi-
_ tion, and they must help by their eppeAleee to sell them-
~ selves. For home use, flavor is the highest consideration,
For market, it is less important than appearance, and to havea
good appearance in the market a fruit must be firm enough to
endure carrying. Again, a market fruit must be productive if
the grower is to make a living, From this it may be seen that
while a man who makes a business of fruit-growing sends to
the market every day what he would never think of ‘putting on
his own table, it does not follow that he is dishonest or wicked.
He is simply driven to this by the necessities of his calling and
the demands of his customers.
The Cumberland Strawberry has size, beauty, earliness and
quality, all valuable features in a market berry, but no one
would think of growing it for that purpose, simply because
it is too tender to stand transportation. The Manchester,
Downing, May King, Jewell and many others are only fitted for
near niarkets, for the reason that they ripen soon after color-
ing. The Sharpless, Atlantic and Davis are good market varie-
ties, not only on account of their size, beauty, etc., but for their
firmness and ability to stand long-distance carriage. Other
varieties, like the Wilson, Crescent and Jersey Queen, color
in advance of maturity, and are ripe in Bp Deatance while they
Garden and Forest.
are yet solid. They bear transportation for long distances, and
ripen on the way to market. It is this quality “that has given
the Wilson such a reputation, but no one would think of grow-
ing it for family use, except those who consider one Straw-
berry as good as another when smothered in sugar.
The Caroline, Orange, Clarke and such tender-fleshed Rasp-
berries are utterly unfit for market on account of their delicacy.
Such fruits will only bear transportation from the garden to the
table. It is only the firmer sorts of red R¢ ispberries that will
answer at all as market varieties, and a wet spell at the ripen-
ing season plays havoc with the best of these. Firmness is
the redee ‘ming quality of the Black Caps. This fits them for
long carriage, “and being good keepers, they are admirable tor
market purposes.
To illustrate the value of appearance one only need place a
Dana’s Hovey or Seckel Pear on sale beside a Clairgeau or
Kieffer. Ninety-nine buyers would select the big, handsome
fruit before the knowing hundredth man would taste the lus-
cious little ones. And so the whole list might be canvassed,
In Grapes, for example, the early and good-looking Champion
always brings good prices, but it is only fit to sell.
On the other hand, it must be admitted that market-
growers do wrong in sending certain varieties of Grapes
as soon as they color, but long before they are really ripe.
The Ives is one of the kinds that wears a color of ripeness long
before it is fit to eat. The objection to the Grape is not that it
is of poor quality. It is really a good Grape when ripe, but
growers take advantage of its appearance to palm off an un-
ripe, and therefore unwholesome, fruit upon the unsuspecting
buyer. Here isa plain case tor interference by City Boards of
Health. If growers will send them, and dealers will sell them,
the law should step in to protect the people from danger.
Tons of these Grapes are sold in this city every year. They
not only threaten the health of consumers, but they injure the
business of every honest grower. E. Williams.
Globe Artichokes.—Although these are common vegetables
in most good gardens in _Europe, they are not in general
cultivation here. There a growing demand for them, how-
ever, not only for fashions sake, but many people are very
fond of them. Our first Artichokes are cut about the 20th or
25th of June; they are abundant through July and August, and
in moderate supply till the middle of October, As a change or
extra dish, they are desirable at all times, but more especially
after mildew destroys Peas—about the middle of July—and
until Lima Beans come in about the first of August. Our
plantation is in rows some 6 feet by 4 feet apart. The plants
are not quite hardy, and in Nov ember they are cut over close
to the ground a and the tops removed. After the first sharp
frost a large armful of dry forest leaves is placed over each
plant, a little thatch is scattered over the leaves to keep them
in place. Early in April this covering is removed, and between
the 20th and 3oth of April all the livi ing plants begin to grow.
Plants required for the June and July crop should not be inter-
fered with; but if a few old plants are lifted, and each cut into
two or more parts with a sharp spade, and these divisions are
planted separately, they will yield fine heads in August and
September. It is also well to break up and replant the Arti-
chokes every second year, as it keeps them in vigorous condi-
tion. Wealso raise a few plants from seed every year. Sown
in the green-house in February or March, and grown on vig-
orously i in hot-beds till the middle of May, and then plante od
out, they yield fine heads in September and October. But if
sown late, or the summer is unusually cold, they will not
bloom at all the first year. The seeds retain their vitality for
many years. In spring, after the plantation is made up, ma-
nure and fork the ground between the plants, and, if need be,
intercrop with early Spinach or Lettuces. Towards the end
of June the plants will have grown so much that they will meet
each other and destroy any. crop that may then be between
them. Summer care consists in kee ping them clean and cut-
ting off every head just as soon as it is large enough to use.
This has a tendency to prolong the crop. Sometimes the
young shoots of Artichokes are bleached, being treated like
Cardoons, and used as a substitute for these, but this dish
meets with little favor. Large Green is the variety adver-
tised by most seedsmen. But we get a good many varieties
from seed, some good and some poor, so that the best must
be selected and perpetuated by division. Those that have the
thickest and fleshiest scales are the most desirable
Rhododendron Countess of Haddington.—A good specimen oi
this fine plant was recently exhibited at the Massachusetts Hor-
ticultural Society by Mrs. F. B. Hayes, of Lexington. It is one
of the first of the long series of hybrid Rhododendrons which
128
have been raised by crossing Asiatic species. Its parents were
R. ciliatum and R. Dalhousig., The latter isa straggling shrubs
six or eight feet high, growing upon trunks of trees, with im-
mense white tubular flowers, in open terminal umbellate heads,
which, with the straggling habit, this hybrid inherits. The
flowers, of which there are rarely more than two or three in
each umbel, are two and a half to three and a half inches long,
white, tinged with pink, and in shape not unlike those of
Lilium longifiorum. This Rhododendron, which to persons
who only know our native species hardly seems to be a Rho-
dodendron at all, is an excellent cool green-house plant, which
can be had in bloom at any time from March to May. It re-
quires the same treatment as the Indian Azaleas, and _ its
blooming period may be retarded in the same manner. The
not very good habit and its slow growthare the only drawbacks
to this plant, which should be more often seen than it is in
American collections. So:
Garden and Forest.
[May 9, 1888.
nearly a quarter of an acre of ground with its numerous
distinct trunks and wide spreading top, and is an object of
much interest to all visitiors to this remote corner of the
Florida peninsula.
The Florida Wild Fig, like many other species of this
genus, is parasitic. Its seed germinates upon the trunks or
branches of other trees, where they are dropped by birds,
The roots of the Fig, as it grows, gradually extend down
and around the trunk of its host, which sooner or later
inevitably perishes in their vigorous embrace, and in time
reach the earth, grow together, and form the first and
principal trunk ofthe tree. Aérial roots are constantly devel-
oped from the branches, and after becoming fixed in the
soil, grow into trunks, which often exceed the original stem
in size; and this tree, like many ofits kindred, the Banyans
The Wild Fig Tree of Florida.
Plant Notes.
The Wild Fig Tree of Florida.
UR illustration on this page represents, it is safe to say,
one of the most remarkable individual trees which
can be found within the limits of the United States. Itis a
specimen of the wild Florida Fig (27cus aurea), which
grows in what is locally known as the “hunting ground,”
a rich, wooded hummock on the shores of Bay Biscayne,
about ten miles west of the mouth of the Miami River, in
>
the extreme southern part of Florida. This tree covers
of the East, thus gradually extends itself over a large area.
Two species of Fig are found growing spontaneously in
the semi-tropical portions of Florida. Of these, “cus aurea is
the most common and by far the handsomest. It grows on
many of the keys from Key West to Cape Florida, and extends
up the east coast to the Indian River region, but it has not
been detected on any part of the west coast. There are
specimens of this species in the Kew Herbarium, from the
island of New Providence (Brace 356), and it is probably
to be found on the other Bahama Islands.
The Florida Fig isa large evergreen, or sub-evergreen tree,
with a trunk sometimes three to four feet in diameter, with
May 9, 1888.]
light gray, very smooth bark, and coriaceous yellow-green
leaves, three to four inches long and two inches broad.
They are pointed at both ends, and are borne on stout
petioles, which, as well as the prominent mid-ribs, are
somewhat lighter colored than the rest of the leaf. The
fruit is small and nearly round, about one-third of an inch
in diameter, and sessile in the axils of the leaves, It is
yellow as it approaches maturity, a character which prob-
ably led Nuttall to apply the name awrea to this species,
but when perfectly ripe turns bright red.
The noble tree which stands in front of the United States
barracks at Key West, and which all visitors to the island
are taken to see, belongs to this species.
Ficus aurea was quite generally introduced into cultivation
a few years ago, through the agency of the Arnold Arbor-
etum. Itis easily raised from seed, and at the north makes
a hardy conservatory or house plant, although inferior for
this purpose to the common Rubber-plant (Z7cus elasiica).
Our picture is from a photograph made by Mr. James M.
Codman, to whom the readers of this journal are indebted
for many of its most interesting illustrations. GOS. Ss:
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
HE earliest shrub in flower in the collection, with the ex-
ception of a few Willows and Alders, is Erica carnea. It
was in full bloom by the 14th of April; and the season here
this year is ten or twelve days later than the average. This is
a dwarf species which inhabits the lower hills of the European
mountain ranges from Switzerland to the Balkans. It rarely
exceeds six inches in height, although in some localities it
grows erect and much taller (£. Mediterranea), The flowers
are bright, clear red, a quarter of an inch long, drooping, axil-
lary and arranged in leafy racemes, terminal or just below the
ends of the branches. This is one of the hardiest and most
satisfactory of all the Heaths in this climate ; and is indispensa-
ble in a rockery. It flourishes in a compost of peat mixed with
a liberal amount of sand; and blooms not only earlier in the
spring than other species, but again very late in the autumn.
In a milder climate it continues in flower nearly all winter. A
slight protection of pine branches thrown over it in winter
protects it here from the scorching sun of February and
March. A variety with white flowers is generally known in
gardens as E, herbacea.
A few days later Daphne Mezereum was in bloom. This is
a widely distributed shrub, common over nearly the whole of
Europe and Russian Asia and extending to the Arctic regions.
For centuries it has been a favorite garden plant in Europe,
but is now too rarely seen in this country. It is an erect
glabrous shrub, one to three feet high, with rigid, erect
branches, each terminated with a tuft of narrow deciduous
leaves. The flowers appear before the leaves, in numerous
crowded clusters of two or three, along the shoots of the pre-
ceding year, and are succeeded by large red, handsome berries.
This is a very hardy and pertectly satisfactory little shrub, which
thrives in any good garden-soil. There is a variety with white
flowers, and another which blooms in the autumn. The bark
of the Mezereum has medical properties, and is collected in
eure quantities in some parts of Germany. It is now princi-
pally employed as an ingredient in the compound decoction
ot Sarsaparilla.
Cornus officinalis is in full bloom at the end of the third
week of April. This is a Japanese species which, according to
Siebold, reaches a height of to to 12 feet, and is greatly valued
by the Japanese as an ornamental plant and for the medicinal
qualities of its bark. An admirable colored plate (4. 50) of this
plant is published in Siebold & Zuccarini’s ‘ /lora F¥aponica.”
It very closely resembles the well known Cornelean Cherry
(Cornus mascula), as Siebold himself points out, and it is prob-
ably merely anextreme geographical form of that species. It
has the same small yellow precocious flowers produced in
simple umbels from the axils of the leaves on the shoots of the
previous year, and the same cuspidate-acuminate — entire
leaves, which, however, in the Japanese plant have tufts of
thick rusty hairs in the axils of the primary veins. The fruit,
as described by Siebold, seems identical with that of the Corne-
lean Cherry. Cornus officinalis is a very hardy, fast growing
shrub, chiefly valuable for its very early showy inflorescence.
Cornus mascula is also in bloom, its leafless branches
wreathed in yellow. But this is such a well known plant that
nothing need be said about it except that it is not appreciated
Garden and Forest.
129
or planted half often enough in this country, and that the
varieties with variegated leaves—great favorites with many
nurserymen—do not bear our hot sun well and are not worth
planting here. Forms now exist in French collections which
vary from the type very considerably in the shape and color
of the fruit. The most striking and interesting of these is one
with clear, bright yellow drupes. :
Andromeda Faponica, an evergreen species, the Japanese
representative of our Alleghany 4. floribunda, is in flower, or
rather it would have been in flower several weeks ago had not
the cold, asit does every year, destroyed nearly all its beauti-
ful racemes of pure white bell-shaped flowers. This Japanese
Andromeda is a perfectly hardy plant, hardier here even than
its American congener, but it blooms too early and is not
worth cultivating at the north as a flowering plant. At the
south it might be expected to open its flowers in February and
to become a most useful and attractive garden ornament.
Corema Conradi, which is now well established in the Arbore-
tum, is also in flower. This is one of the rarest of North Amer-
ican shrubs, being found only in a few isolated stations on
the coast of New Jersey, Long Island, New England, and in
Newfoundland. It is a diffusely branched, spreading little
shrub only a few inches high with scattered or nearly whorled
heath-like leaves and minute apetalous flowers in small terminal
heads. Its interest is botanical rather than horticultural, al-
though the male plant is handsome when in flower with its
tufted purple filaments and brown anthers. This plant is
rather impatient of cultivation, but it can be grown in sandy
peat in full exposure to the sun and once established it spreads
rapidly. Plants, however, when they are taken upon the sea-
shore must be thoroughly rooted in pots in a frame or cool
green-house before being planted in the border. It is hope-
less to try to transplant it in any other way.
The Leatherwood (Dirca palustris) of our far northern
woods, will interest the botanist rather than the gardener ac-
customed only to plants with showy and conspicuous flowers.
It is one of the earliest shrubs to bloom and one of the easiest
to cultivate. Its small yellow flowers in dense heads appear
some time before the leaves.
The Forest.
The Forests of the Yellowstone National Park.
TANDING upon one of the high peaks in the north-
western part of the Yellowstone National Park, the
observer looks out upon an almost unbroken, undulating,
dark green forest, stretching away to the eastward and south-
ward. This timbered area, comprising the central and
southern portions of the Park, is a high, rolling, volcanic
plateau, with an average altitude of about 8,000 feet, except
in the extreme south, where an altitude of 10,000 feet is
reached. On the north-west it is flanked by the Gallatin
Range, mainly sedimentary, and along the whole eastern
border by the rugged volcanic peaks of the Absaraka or
Yellowstone Range, both reaching altitudes of 11,000 feet.
The continental divide crosses the Park and is generally
broad, ill defined and heavily timbered throughout, with an
altitude varying from 8,000 to 10,000 feet.
The mountain slopes over the region, where not too
precipitous and rocky, are generally well clothed with
timber up to 9,000 feet. Above this the country becomes
more open, grassy parks mingled with groves of trees,
until the timber line is reached, which may be roughly
estimated at 9,600 feet on the peaks and somewhat higher
on the elevated plateaus. The altitude of the Park, with
its topographic features, make it one of the storm centres of
the northern Rocky Mountains. It is one of our greatest
natural reservoirs, including within its limits the head
waters of the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Madison and Snake
Rivers. The Park lies in the Rocky Mountain belt
of coniferous forests, geographically termed the Interior
Pacific, and which, trending north-westward, unites in
Washington Territory with that of the Pacific coast, form-
ing a broad belt which still farther north in British America
merges into the north-west extension of the Atlantic forest.
The common and most widespread tree of the Park is
the Black Pine (Pinus Murrayana). It is the only tree
forming extensive forests, to the exclusion of other species.
It reaches its greatest development on the drier plateaus,
130
between 7,000 and 8,000 feet; here forming at least ninety
per cent. of the forest. It is not generally over two feet
in diameter, with a height of 60 to 100 feet, and is found
from the lowest altitudes up to 9,500 feet; over the lower
and drier areas with the Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga Doug-
Zasiz), and in higher and more moist situations—with more
or less Spruce and Fir. The young forests of Black Pine are
composed of slender, extremely straight trees, growing so
close together as to be almost impenetrable, and are
known as Lodge Pole Pines, having been so used by
the Indians. Probably sixty-five per cent. of the forest area
is composed of the Black Pine.
The Rocky Mountain White Pine (Pinus flexilis) is a
common tree over the dry gravelly ridges, from 7,500 feet
upward, especially above 8,000 feet, although occurring
frequently at much lower elevations.
Pinus albicaulis, another White Pine, is found associated
with P. fexiis, but ranges higher, being found scattered
or in bunches on rocky ‘exposed ridges and summits at the
upper limit of tree growth, but has been observed as low
as 7,509 feet. The region of the Park is probably the most
eastern and southern habitat of thisspecies. It is abundant
on the higher mountains of Park, Gallatin and Madison
Counties, Montana, immediately north and north-west of the
Park. To an ordinary observer it closely resembles
P. flexilis in general habit and has here been confounded
with it. The whiteness of the bark, which is a character-
istic farther north and north-west, is hardly noticeable here,
but the brown-purple young cones which fall to pieces
at maturity, at once distinguish it from P. feaddis, the young
cones of which are green and have persistent scales.
These two species form about 10 per cent. of the forest
area. The Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa) might be -ex-
pected on some of the lower, drier areas, as it occurs
in the Black Hills on the east, and on the west in Idaho
and Montana, but it has not been observed.
The Douglas or Red Fir is found up to 9,000 feet, gen-
erally scattered over the drier grass ridges and slopes.
It here does not compare in size with “the magnificent
specimens of the Pacific coast, although some trees
observed had a diameter of five feet, but generally were
stunted and unsound,
The Balsam (Abies subalpina) ranks next to the Black
Pine in numbers and distribution. It is found throughout
the Park in cool, moist situations, at low elevations on the
northern slopes, and especially common on wet sub-
alpine slopes and plateaus about the timber line, forming
groves inthe Park-like openings. On moist plateaus, above
8,000 feet, and the slopes and bottoms of deep cafions,
are forests of this species and of Engelmann’s Spruce,
these two trees forming at least twenty-five per cent. of
the forest area of the Park.
The Engelmann’s Spruce is generally associated with
the Balsam Fir. It is the finest tree of the Park, although
not comparing in size with the specimens found in the
extensive forests of this species, which occur further south
in the central Rocky Mountain region. Still farther north it
becomes rare and of small size. The White Spruce, which
occurs in the Black Hills of Dakota and in Northern Mon-
tana, reaching its greatest development in the Flathead
Region, probably does not occur within the Park. Some
of the cones of Pwea Engelmanni show a transition into
those of P. a/ba. This fact is suggestive, occurring, as it
does, in a region between that of that greatest develop-
ment of P. Lngelmannt on the south and P. alba on the
north; although in north-west Montana, where both spe-
cies occur, Professor Sargent has observed the same fact,
but they are found “at different elevations, in different
soils and never mingle.”
The Red Cedar is occasionally seen along the lower,
drier va wtb Juniperus communis, var. alpina, occurs
on rocky slopes and more fr equently about the hot spring
areas. On moist slopes and along streams of the lower
grass areas are often found groves of the Aspen
(Populus iremuloides). Occasionally a Cottonwood (Popu-
Garden and Forest.
[May 9, 1888.
lus angushfola) will be met with in the same situations.
The bog and stream thickets are composed of some of
the following shrubs: Belua glandulosa, Salix desertorum,
var, Wolft; Sax glauca, Alnus incana, var. virescens.
Of other species may be mentioned: Sakx longifolia,
Betula occidentalis, Alnus viridis, Prunus demissa, Pyrus
sambucrfolia, Amelanchier alnifolia, Ceanothus velutinus, Rham-
nus alnifola, Acer glabrum.
There are some areas of considerable extent through-
out the Park which are not forest covered, and at lower
elevations covered with a luxuriant growth of grass and
more or less of Sage Brush. These comprise, perhaps,
220 of the 3,350 square miles of the Park. Add to this
about 80 square miles for all minor areas, small parks,
meadows, and regions above timber line, and 180 for
lakes and ponds, we have a total of 480 square miles, or
about fourteen per cent. of the area of the Park. We
can, therefore, safely say that about eighty-six per cent.
of it is forest covered. frank Tweedy.
United States Geological Society.
Correspondence.
“Which is the Better Way?”
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Ina recent contribution to your columns under the above
heading the opinion is expressed that in a work of landscape
gardening the best results will be secured when no trees are
planted but such as it is essential to its design should attain
mature character. The large parks of New York and Breoklyn
present the strongest possible argument for this position, and
no man can realize better than I do the danger of proceeding
otherwise than as thus recommended.
Yet it may be questioned whether a passage may not here
and there be found in these grounds, in which a moderate
amount of thinning of densely planted groups has from time to
time been secured, in which more refreshmentis offered to town-
worn men than could have been otherwise provided. And
perhaps a few words of caution to young landscape gardeners
not to follow the precept too literally may serve a good
purpose.
If a client asks me how the very best results are to be
obtained with liberal outlay on a given piece of ground, I may
say nothing to him of nurse trees, such as are to be removed
as a matter of course when their purpose has been served. I
may begin my answer by reminding him that though we com-
monly speak as if trees of the same name were of identically
the same nature, they do, in fact, vary one from another as they
grow up, in form, color, habit, character, constitution and in the
possession of vital force, quite as much as human beings of the
same surname. There isa natural proclivity with some toa
quiet, regular life, with others to comparative eccentricity;
with some to robust, with others to delicate habits ; with some
to yield to enemies, with others to fight hard with them ; with
some to early decay, with others to “long and vigorous lives.
Hence, aside from the cultural advantages for young trees of
close planting, ‘the very best results” are likely to be attained
by planting two, three or four times as many trees of those of
a common name, that are to have part in a group,as it is
thought will ultimately be desirable to remain init. In this
case thinning is to be made afterwards by selecting from time
to time that one of the number to be taken out that appears
likely to contribute least to the value of the group (regarding
the group, of course, as an element of a designed more
comprehensive composition). Growing in this way the single
tree that may be left after many years will not beassymmetricala
“specimen” as might have resulted. from the planting of one
tree only of the name, but the chances are that it will bea much
more desirable tree for the place in which it stands. It will be
larger, stronger, more tr atty representative. It will have a
shape more like that of a tree that has triumphed in a contest
of natural selection, and a shape better expressive of its in-
corporation with other trees similarly grown in the group in
which it was originally designed that the individuality of all its
trees should at last be merged.
And the young landscape gardener should not overlook the
fact that if there is a liability to the miscarriage of a design in
such cases through neglect of thinning, it cannot be reckoned
with certainty that a miscarriage will always be avoided by —
planting no tree of any kind except where a tree of that kind -—
can with advantage stand permanently.
May 9, 1888.]
Ten years after a place has been planted on the latter princi-
ple no two out of a hundred of its trees may yet have begun
to grow into grouping connection one with another. None
will, at best, be more than promising “specimens.” All will
not be that, for, through ice storms, cyclonic gusts, strokes of
lightning, borers, climbing boys, runaway wagons, lingering
diseases or the development of a cramped or a straggling
habit of growth, some will be unpromising. The place will
not have upon it a hundredth part of the whole body of
foliage which, with a continued flourishing condition of all
its trees, is to be eventually expected, for after ten years the
bulk of foliage carried by most of our trees increases annually,
for many years, ata very rapidly advancing rate. Ina single
year the leafage of a tree, under favorable circumstances, may
double. If there have been disturbing circumstances in the
landscape beyond the bounds of the property, such as may be
_ caused by a rural cemetery or a fantastic villa with flaunting
flower beds and iron fountains and statuary, they will not yet
have been ‘planted out.” Under these circumstances it is
not improbable that those living on the place will have become
impatient of its public, unfurnished and hobbledehoy char-
acter, and to get the better of it will fill in supplementary
plantings, which will be quite as unfavorable to the realization
of the design of the primary planting as the neglect of proper
thinnings of a dense planting would have been.
To appreciate the lability of such a result one should have
in mind what great blank spaces must be left between sapling
trees if it is intended to give them room for anything like their
possible full development. Two continuously flourishing
Elms will eventually cross branches if planted a hundred feet
apart. I have paced the shadow of one of a group of Oaks at
noon-day which was a hundred and forty feet across.
As a liability to the miscarriage of a design in one way or
the other can by no means be fully guarded against, the con-’
clusion seems reasonable that a landscape artist no more than
any other should be asked to school himself to have only
standards in view that he can be sure will be appreciated and
sustained by his clients and the successors of his clients. Per-
-haps the better ‘‘moral” is that in planting, as in all other
operations of landscape gardening, what is the best way of
proceeding is a question of time, place and circumstance.
There should be no stereotyped work.
The subject cannot be dismissed without’ another word of
caution.
In contending with the superstition that prevents the due
thinning of plantations, I have found that the impression had
sometimes been left on the minds of the inexperienced that
under no circumstances is it good practice to plant trees so that
_when full grown their branches are at any point likely to meet
and interlock. Every one who goes to Nature for instruction
knows how she laughs at such a precept. As an example,
consider a very common case in any region of old farms,
where trees are seen that have grown from seedlings within a
space of perhaps twenty feet on each side of a former fence.
In a distance of fifty yards measured along the fence line
_ there will be numbers of large trees, the trunks of which do
not stand on an average more than ten feet apart. Their
roots and branches spreading outwardly from the central line,
these trees have had, on the whole, no serious lack of air,
light or food, and their heads have grown into an unbroken
body which could have been made more beautiful, if by any
course of treatment, most assuredly not either by sparser
planting or more trenchant thinning.
As to shrubs, no one can have failed to notice the value in
landscape of low bodies of foliage of much denser growth than
it is customary to have in view in any pleasure plantations.
There will have been seen, for instance, in England, neglected
hedges, chiefly of Hawthorn, that, a hundred years or more
after planting, have spread into masses several yards in
breadth. I have come upon such close about London as well
as in remote rural districts, and I have never seen anything in
park or garden more beautiful. In our South-western States
there are to be seen similar, but broader, and, if possible, yet
more admirable bodies of Cherokee Roses, witha sprinkling of
other things, that the smallest bird could not make his way
through; on our northern Atlantic coast broad patches of
Bayberry, with stems considerably more than a hundred
to the square yard; on the high Sierras acres of the Golden
Chestnut equally dense; on the top of a North Carolina
‘mountain, half a mile square, of Catawba Rhododendron
rowing so closely that the ground beneath it is as bare as
ait it had just been plowed, harrowed and rolled. No one
seeing it can be disposed to ask if it would not be better
worth seeing if it had been planted more scatteringly or
-been thinned out as often as branches came to interlock
or to be bent upward,
Garden and Forest
131
There are many situations where trees would shut off a
prospect, in which plantations of the character thus indicated
would make a much better, overlookable foreground than
shrubs standing in small groups and singly upon a body of
turf kept by a lawn-mower. .
Brookline, 15th April, 1888. F. L. Olmsted.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I believe in American trees for American planting, as a
rule. ButourApples, Apricots, Peaches, Pears, and most of our
Plums, have come from other continents. And there is a nut
tree which I have seen growing on the mountain sides and
plateaus of the continent of Europe, as well as in Corsica and
Sardinia, which furnishes an important article of subsistence
to millions of people. I refer to the so-called Spanish Chest-
nut. The nut is ground into flour and made into bread, and
the Hon. S. S. Cox, in his recent ‘Search for Winter Sun-
beams,” declares that the mountaineers of Corsica prepare
their Chestnuts for the table in twenty different ways. Our
native Chestnut flourishes from New England to Georgia, but
its best nuts are comparatively little things. Why can we not
grow the Spanish Chestnut as well as we have grown French
Pears? On Washington Heights, Manhattan Island, I have
picked half a peck of these nuts that had dropped from a tree
twenty years after the seed was planted, and these nuts were
as good as imported ones in every way. Farther North the
summers may be too short to ripen the nuts before frost, but
from the latitude of New York southward we might hope for
a crop as certain as from our own trees. On soils where our
native Chestnut flourishes an orchard of Spanish Chestnuts
would be in bearing fifteen years from seed, and the crop
would be much more valuable than the wheat crop, and would
increase in value for many years. In California the so-called
English Walnut, the Almond, and the Olive, have been intro-
duced with profit. Would it not be worth while to try this
European Chestnut on our own coast ?
East Orange, N. J. GB. W,
[The cultivation of the Chestnut is an important and
profitable industry in most of the countries of Souther
Europe, and for centuries the improvement of the fruit,
through careful selection, has been going on. The wild
forms of the Old World Chestnut produce fruit no larger
than our American Chestnuts, although selection and cul-
tivation has now developed varieties three or four times
as large.
This fact suggests the possibility of increasing by selec-
tion and cultivation the size of the fruit of the American
Chestnut, which greatly excels all European varieties in
sweetness and flavor, a possibility which should attract
the attention of American horticulturists, who, in the im-
provement of our Chestnut, have an opportunity to increase
the agricultural resources and the food supply of the
Atlantic States. The Spanish Chestnut has hardly been
sufficiently tested yet in any part of this country to justify
its general introduction as an orchard tree. It is not
very hardy at the North and often suffers in severe win-
ters; in Virginia and in the more Southern Atlantic States,
however, it should succeed as well as in Northern Italy ;
and this tree should certainly be more generally tested
there than it has been heretofore. The Japanese form of
the Chestnut promises to become a valuable addition to
our ornamental, and, possibly, to our orchard trees. It
is hardier than the European varieties, and although the
fruit is smaller, it is sweeter and better flavored. The
best varieties of the Spanish Chestnut can only be propa-
gated by grafting, as seedlings are apt to revert to the
wild form. We shall be glad to learn of ‘the experience
of our readers in the Middle and Southern States with
this tree. —Ep. ]
Recent Publications.
The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening » A Practical and
Scientific Encyclopedia of Horticulture for Gardeners and
Botanists. Edited by George Nicholson. London ; and in
New York by Orange Judd & Co., 1887-88.
Three volumes of this work have now appeared, and the
fourth and last may be expected in a few weeks. The earliest,
and still the most famous, Dictionary of Gardening, is that
written by Phillip Miller. It was published in London in 1731,
132
and ran through eight editions. _No book about plants
contains quainter expression or sounder instruction and advice.
George Don published in London in 1831, ‘‘ A General System
of Gardening and Botany,” as a new edition of Miller’s Dic-
tionary, but this isa book for botanists rather than for gardeners.
Johnson's ‘Gardener's Dictionary” followed this in England,
some years later, and for along time maintained a standard
position in horticultural literature. But the great improve-
ments that have been made in horticultural methods, and the
vast numbers of new plants which gardeners are called upon to
cultivate in these days, make a new general treatise upon
gardening and garden plants in the English language a neces-
sity. The work which is now before us fully supplies the need,
and surpasses all its predecessors in completeness, conveni-
ence of arrangement, and in the number of its illustrations.
The arrangement is alphabetical, and it contains the Latin
names of all the genera of plants found in English gardens,
with a short generic description, and under each genus, in
smaller type, all its species in cultivation, arranged alphabeti-
cally, each, also, with a short description, an asterisk marking
those species which are especially good or distinct. English
names, of whicha great number are given, and Latin synonyms,
are referred to the Latin name of the plants to which they belong.
Much space is given to florists’ flowers and horticultural va-
rieties, some important genera, like the Rose or the Chrysanthe-
mum, occupying many pages, with detailed illustrated descrip-
tions of all the best varieties. Insects injurious to garden
plants are figured and described ; and very carefully illustrated
articles are devoted to all horticultural operations, like graft-
ing, budding and pruning. An article upon the Cucumber
contains descriptions, not only of all the best varieties, but
descriptions and plans of the most approved glass-houses in
which to grow them. <A dozen pages are devoted to the Pear,
and its best varieties, and the insects which are injurious to it,
and other English fruits and vegetables, are treated in the
same exhaustive manner. Most useful is the information
found in this book relating to the derivation of the generic
names of plants—information rarely given in works on botany,
and not always easy to obtain,
Any plant, no doubt, can be cultivated successfully, if study
and patience enough is given to its care, but some plants are
so impatient of confinement, and some are so difficult to man-
age, that they have little value to the ordinary gardener. Ama-
teurs want to know the defects and drawbacks in a plantin culti-
vation as well as its good qualities. They always hear enough
about the latter before they buy, but very little about the former.
And it is in books of this character that such information
would naturally be looked for ; but while it contains excellent
suggestions for the cultivation of an immense number of
plants, little or nothing is said in these volumes about the
drawbacks to any particular species or variety, an omission
which those amateurs who are at the mercy of glowing
nursery-catalogue descriptions, will probably often have
occasion to regret.
Mr. Nicholson has been assisted by Mr. J. Garrett, who has
prepared those portions of the work relating to fruit and vege-
table culture, florists’ flowers and general gardening work ; by
his associate at Kew, Mr. W. Watson, and by Professor Trail,
who has written the articles on fungi, insects, and the diseases
of plants. He and his associates deserve the thanks and
should receive the congratulations of the horticultural world.
They have produced a work which is indispensable to all
persons whose studies, business or pleasure bring them in
contact with garden plants.
Notes on the Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum), by N.S.
Shaler. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zodélogy.
Vol. XVI., No. 1. ’
The functions performed by the peculiar woody growths or
“knees” which spring from the roots of our southern Cypress
have never been very clearly understood, but Professor Shaler
has now collected a series of facts which seem to substantiate
his theory that they are in some way connected with the
process of aération of the sap. The facts are these: The
knees are not developed when the trees grow on high ground.
(This is still more apparent in Mexico, where the same species,
probably, or a second and very closely allied species, grows
only on dry ground at a considerable distance above the water-
level of the streams.) They are always developed when the
roots are permanently covered with water. The ‘ knees” rise
above the permanent water-level and vary in height with that
level. Finally the trees die, when from any accidental cause
the water rises above the tops of the ‘“‘knees.” These facts
~eertainly most “incontestably show that there is some neces-
sary connection between them and the functions of the roots
when the latter are permanently submerged,”
Garden and Forest.
[May 9, 1888.
There has always been some doubt how the seed of the
Taxodium, falling in deep water, could germinate, and yet
young trees are often found in the Cypress swamps, which
never become dry, growing in several feet of water. Professor
Shaler is inclined to believe that such trees are not seedlings,
but that they have sprung from branches, blown down from
neighboring trees, which have taken root.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, May 5th.
Business throughout the city is quiet, funeral designs and steamer
baskets being all that keep it alive. The introduction of fruit into
floral designs for steamer gifts interferes with the florists’ revenue.
Flowers have improved in quality during the week, those from
bulbous plants especially being much finer as their quantity has de-
clined. The novelty in first-class shops is Moss Roses. They cost
50 cts. a spray of one half-opened bud and one green bud. Catherine
Mermet Roses are prime, and cost $2 a dozen, as do the Bride, La
France and Madame Cusin. General Jacqueminots are superb in
color, and of good texture ; they bring from $2 to $4.a dozen. There
are but few Papa Gontiers arriving ; these cost the same as Bon
Silenes—$r a dozen. Perles des Jardins and Niphetos are $1.50a
dozen. ‘The latter are of such size and beauty that they are almost as
much sought as the Bride. Puritan Roses are finer than they have
been at all this season; they sell for 50 cts. each or $5 a dozen.
American Beauties bring from $5 to $8a dozen. Baroness Rothschild
and Mabel Morrisons run small, but are exquisite in form and color;
selected blooms may be bought for $8 a dozen. Paul Neyrons do not
arrive in as good form as last week, and Ulrich Brinner shows signs
of holdingits petals loosely. The average price for all Hybrids may be
set down as $5 a dozen for second choice and $8 for selected stock.
Lilac is choice at $1.50 a bunch ; Mignonette is 50 cts. a bunch of
twenty-five sprays. Marguerites are 20cts., Carnations 35 cts., and
Forget-me-nots are 25 cts. a dozen; Heliotrope is 50 cts. a bunch,
Callas 20 cts. each, Gardenias 25 cts. each. ‘Trailing Arbutus of
delightful color and fragrance appears from Long Island andis 50 cts. a
bunch, Violets grow poorer and scarcer; they are from 75 cts. to
$1.25 a bunch. Meadow Cowslips (Ca/tha palustris) from New Jersey
marshes are sold in quantities on the chief thoroughfares for 5 cts. a
bunch, Daffodils, Lily-of-the-Valley and Tulips cost from 75 cts. to
$1 a dozen. Smilax is somewhat more plentiful as the demand re-
laxes; it remains as last quoted, as does Asparagus teniisstmus.
PHILADELPHIA, May 5th.
Owing to the extremely warm weather, flowers were abundant
everywhere early in the week. The only scarcity was of white Car-
nations and Lilac. It is between seasons for the last. Frequently it
is in bloom here out-of-doors at this date. Last year a supply was
obtained from Washington between the times when the stock for forc-
ing was exhausted and that out-of-doors had not commenced to bloom.
The warm weather also had a tendency.to clieck the demand for
flowers, but the returning coolness has braced up the market consid-
erably. May usually brings a break in prices here, but this year very
few flowers are blooming in the open air. Next week we may with
confidence expect to report lower prices for nearly every class of
flowers. Some of the dwarf Cannas are destined to be used for cut
flower purposes hereafter. They are easily forced, and will adda new
feature to floral decorations. Some of the spotted varieties are ex-
tremely showy, and flowering, as they do, when only two and a half
to three feet high, they will not occupy much space in comparison with
the older varieties. Smilax is becoming more plentiful and better in
quality.
Boston, May sth.
Mayflowers everywhere. The always welcome Arbutus is now in
the height of its season, and its popularity. The flower stores give it
the cold shoulder, but there is no scarcity on the street corners and it
forms for the time being the universal corsage bouquet, while the
violet quietly drops to the rear and will soon disappear for the season.
There are still some violets to be had, but they are small and pinched
looking. A few of the true English Violet are offered. These are
only seen in the spring. The stems are too short, but the rich dark
blue color and unequaled fragrance make them popular in spite of
the short stems. These sell for 50 cts.a small bunch. The flower shops
are filled now with grand specimens of Hydrangea Otaksa. Plants
three feet high and three feet across sell from $8.00 to $12.00, With
a little care their beauty will last from one to two months in an or-
dinary dwelling-house. Neat plants of moderate size bearing several
heads of flowers, cost from $3.00 to $5.00 each. But few first-class
Roses are seen, and they bring winter prices. The best Hybrids, such
as Baroness Rothschild, Puritan and Mabel Morrison, are worth from
$6.00 to $8.00 per dozen blooms, and American Beauty, when first-class,
sells with them. Catherine Mermet, Marshall Niel and La France are
worth from $2.50 to $4.00, according to quality. Lily-of-the-Valley is
in better demand and the quality offered is uniformly good. Price,
$1.00 per dozen sprays. There are still many forced Tulips and Nar-
cissus in the market, but a few more warm days will bring the out-
door crop in. Till then the price of these is 75 cts. to $1.co per dozen.
Harris’s Lilies on long stems are abundant and are sold as low as $1.50
per dozen. Mignonette has become astandard flower. Sprays of the
large varieties sell readily for $1.00 per dozen, Among the novelties
offered are some fine blooms of double Ranunculus.
May 16, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO,
OrricE: TrisunE BuiLpinc, 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 16, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE,
EpirorrAL_ ARTICLES :—The Improvement of School Grounds.—Villas and their
Doorways.—The Attack on City Hall Park.—Notes...........-2sse05+ 133
Tubercles on Leguminous Roots.....+--.+.+-+0++ Professor W.G. Farlow. 135
Obituary, Dr. Pancic Dr. C. Bolle. 135
A Well-arranged Flower Border (with illustration).
Extract’ from Letter to Beaumont... <cicie ceases ;
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—The Kew Arboretum. IV........ George Nicholson. 136
London Letter William Goldring. 138
New or Litrte Known Pants :—Hymenocallis Palmeri (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 138
136
.W. Wordsworth. 136
Prant Notes:—Rocky Mountain Cypripediums..............-.. Sereno Watson. 138
Merendera Caucasica, yar, Ruthenica—A Hybrid Poplar, Populus Stein-
LEXI ears ers aM teeterevote ete erala ela) = erate a's (s'ole (alsin s)ais)* nia njsiein'evalele)s'e ae, ce afalexeieie,e) s)aleie oe 138
CuLTuRAL DEPARTMENT:—The Gladiolus........6...seseeeeseeeeees CL. Allen. 139
Picea Ajanensis, Fischer—Psychotria jasminiflora—Rhododendron Dau-
rium sempervirens—Tulipa Kesselringii—Primula rosea—Primula
cortusoides—The Bloodroot—Streptosolen Jamesoni—Aquilegia lon-
gissima—Parry’s Lily—Narcissus in Water .....-...---+eeseeeeeeeee 140
Tue Forest :—The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico. IV. (with illustration),
C. G. Pringle. 141
CORRESPONDENCE «eee eeeeeeeseeee
RECENT PUBLICATIONS. .
IPUBLIG WORKS. veces sees
ReraiL Flower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston............2..05
ILLUSTRATIONS :—A Well-arranged Flower Border..........2seseeeeseeeeeeereee
Hymenocallis Palmeri, Fig. 25........-0-+sess eee
Santa Ritas Foot-hills with Quercus oblongifolia
The Improvement of School Grounds.
HE ordinary surroundings of an American public
school-house are not attractive. Rarely are they
shaded or turfed; more rarely is any attempt made to make
the dusty ground of the traditional school-yard, or its
trampled and muddy surface, even neat and pleasant to the
eye. A good deal of money is generally expended in sur-
rounding the school-lot with an imposing and generally hid-
eous and inappropriate fence, and then the external decora-
tion of the building is considered complete.
The discussion which this condition of things has given
rise to in the columns of some of our contemporaries are
suggestive of what may be:accomplished in rural improve-
ments of this character, and should bring about a much
_ needed reform in the treatment of school-grounds throughout
the country. Aseries of illustrations, showing a number
of small country school-houses before and after the im-
provement of the grounds, which appeared in a recent
issue of Popular Gardening, should be in the hands ot
every country school-board and every country school-
teacher in the United States. Few people realize what
a change in the appearance of a building the expendi-
ture of a few dollars in planting trees and shrubs about
it, and in improving the lines of its approach, can make.
This these illustrations admirably show. Such simple
improvements can be made to exert something more
than an esthetic and civilizing influence upon a body ot
school-children. They can be made to play a direct
and important part in their practical instruction. The
people of this country are singularly ignorant about trees,
their real characters, their mode and manner of growth,
their uses, and their names even. How many intelligent
and well-educated men or women are there in this
country who can distinguish the different Maples which
they see in their daily walks, or know by sight the dif-
_ ferent Hickories, or Oaks, or Pines? Many persons who
consider themselves accomplished botanists, know Ferns,
and even Grasses, perhaps, or Mosses, or some of the
Garden and Forest.
133
other lower plants, much better than they know the trees
which surround them. Appreciation comes with knowl-
edge, and until our people learn about our trees—their
value, their qualities and uses, the history of their lives,
their distribution and relationship to the trees of the rest
of the world—they will neither really appreciate nor value
them, or learn to care for and protect them. If there is
ever in the United States a stable, successful and popu-
lar system of forest control and forest management, ap-
plicable alike to the forests of the State and to the hum-
ble wood-lot of the smallest farmer, it will rest upon a
basis of knowledge of trees and their importance to the
community, commenced in the primary schools.
If our cities and villages are ever properly adorned
with well selected trees, well planted and well protected,
this will be brought about through an appreciation of
trees born of seed planted in country school-houses.
The smallest school-grounds in the humblest community
can be made to contribute to the knowledge and the
subsequent love of trees. There is no school-lot so
small that a place cannot be found in it for one or two
trees or shrubs; and with a little care and judgment in
selection, most country school-yards might contain rep-
resentatives of the important trees and shrubs, and some
of the lesser plants, peculiar to their immediate vicinity.
Native trees should be selected for this purpose, not only
because they are the best for the purpose, but because
a child should first learn about the trees which he meets
in his every-day life, and therefore most readily impressed
upon his memory. School-yard trees should be correctly
and conspicuously labeled with the English and the bo-
tanical names, in order that the name may become asso-
ciated with the tree in the child’s mind; and every teacher
should be able to give some simple instruction, not only
in regard to the characters and uses of the trees which
surround the school-house, but of other trees as well.
Lessons of this simple character —object lessons in
Nature—learned without an effort in early childhood, are
never forgotten, and, sooner or later, bear good fruit and
open the way to many delightful and lasting pleasures
which most Americans are now deprived of through lack
of proper early training.
School grounds in cities and large towns where land is
expensive and the number of scholars large, are rarely
suitable for this purpose, but the parks and squares of
such cities, if properly used by teachers, can be made of
much greater educational value than they are at present.
Classes can always be taken into public grounds and
the nature of the trees and plants which they contain ex-
plained.
That teachers and pupils alike may get the greatest
advantage from the opportunities which most of our
cities offer for object teaching of this nature, the trees and
other important plants in public grounds should be cor-
rectly and legibly named. The whole community, and
not the children and their teachers alone, derive a benefit
and much real pleasure from this practice.
The trees on the Common and Public Garden in Boston
have been very generally and successfully labeled ; and
the same thing has been attempted on a smaller scale in
the Central Park in this city and in the Capitol grounds in
Washington.
It might be extended with advantage to all the public
grounds in the country.
Villas and Their Doorways.
\ \ 7 HEN the building of a detached suburban house is
contemplated—whether it be a simple cottage or
a more ambitious villa—the first point to be decided is, of
course, the position of the house as regards distance from
the street. Cases are rare in which the configuration of
the ground determines this question ; most often it depends
merely upon the size of the lot and the taste of the owner.
In former days the house was usually placed quite near the
134
street, such lawns and gardens as it might have lying in
the rear—as we see, for instance, in the most dignified
streets of Salem and of countless smaller New England
towns. To-day the more usual custom is to set the house
well back from the street, leaving room in front for a lawn
with trees and shrubs, and in the rear for a flower or fruit
garden, and often a stable. Such an arrangement, con-
sistently followed, is certainly the best as regards the gen-
eral aspect of the street, giving it width and dignity anda
pleasing combination of natural with architectural features.
And it is probably best, too, as regards the comfort and
pleasure of the average owner; for while it removes his
windows from the immediate neighborhood of the street, it
permits him still to take a contemplative part in the life of
the street over a foreground green and pleasant to the eye;
and this privilege is more valued by the average American
than, for example, by the average Englishman, while he
has not the Englishman’s feeling that to enjoy his own pri-
vate share of Nature’s beauty he must carefully seclude it
from the eyes of others.
We may accept this arrangement, then, as the typical one
for an American villa, and pass to the consideration of a
question which deals with a matter almost as important
as the position of the house itself. This is the question,
Where should the main doorway of the house be placed?
And it is so important because upon the answer to it will
depend not only the plan of the house itself, but, to a great
degree, the plan and effect of the grounds as well. From
the architect's point of view it may almost always seem in-
contestably best to put the entrance in the front of the house,
for, especially in small andsimple buildings, he must depend
upon it as one of the chief features in his design. Yet
even at the sacrifice of a certain portion of architectural
effect it may often be betterto place it in a less conspicuous
position.
A gravel or asphalt walk, intrinsically considered, is not
a pleasing feature. It is simply a useful feature which
should not be introduced unless necessity compels, and
should always be kept as inconspicuous as convenience
will allow. Whether it be straight or sinuous its action is
the same—it cuts up the ground into two parts; and too
much thought and skill cannot be expended in lessening
the injury to unity and breadth of effect which this fact
implies. If the space available for a lawn between the
house and the street is narrow, it is all the greater pity to
cut it up with lines of gravel; and if it is wide, then it is
still a pity to sacrifice the chance for beautiful gardening
effects which it affords. Place the main doorway in the
front of the house, and a path must, of course, give direct
access to the street; and if horses are kept, the impulse will
be to make the path a driveway, although the broader the
line of gravel, the more serious, of course, is the injury to
the lawn. It can hardly be disputed that unless grounds
are so extensive as to merit the name of a country-place
rather than of villa-grounds, a driveway should never be
allowed to pass through them on the side towards the
street. Whether the outlook is inward from the street or
outward from the windows, it will injure the effect more
seriously than any other feature that is likely to be desired.
When horses are kept and a stable stands in the rear of
the house, it is decidedly desirable, therefore, that the main
doorway should be placed in the side of the house. ‘Then
all the drive required will be a single stretch, entering the
grounds near their outermost angle and passing the door
on the way to the stable. It need hardly be pointed out
how much less offensive is such a drive than the one we
often see even in very small grounds—cutting through
their whole extent on the street side and then encircling
the house to reach the stable, and often having an addi-
tional curve and an additional gateway to allow of enter-
ing and leaving the grounds without going into the stable-
yard to turn.
If there is no stable, but the necessity of having a direct
carriage-approach is nevertheless felt, the same arrange-
ment commends itself, of course, for the same reasons. But
Garden and Forest.
larger portion of it to ruin,
[May 16, 1888.
in such a case the necessity in question is much more apt
to be fanciful than real. A short walk to the carriage is
seldom uncomfortable, even to the feet, except in winter ;
and a narrow board walk temporarily laid down over the
asphalt or gravel will cheaply do away with the greater
part of the inconvenience that winter brings. Unless he
keeps horses in a stable on the place, or unless there is an
invalid in the family whose comfort must be the first con-
sideration, an owner who cares at all for the beauty of
his grounds will sacrifice his carriage-approach without
a pang.
Yet even if it is sacrificed there are still good reasons why
the entrance should perhaps not be in the front of the house.
If it is there, we repeat, a walk is still required, and the
narrowest will still be a disfigurement to the lawn—and the
smaller the lawn, the greater the disfigurement. Thespace
to be traversed from door to street will not be perceptibly
lengthened by placing the door in the side of the house.
No injury to the plan of the interior need result from the
fact—for even if the door admits not to an old-fashioned
narrow entry, but to a hall which is used as a living-room,
a little ingenuity will suffice to make some of the windows
of this hall command the front prospect. Again, unless the
grounds are of much more than average breadth, the front
of a villa is the best place for loggias or piazzas for the use
of the family in summer; and such features are better
adapted to their purpose when disconnected from the en-
trance and protected from the immediate access of visitors,
while by carefully planting near the street-line and the
piazza, and carefully designing the piazza itself, it will
often be possible to secure a due degree of privacy as re-
gards passers in the street.
We do not say that there may not often be good reasons
for choosing the front instead of the side of a villa as the
place for the main doorway when a carriage-approach
thereto is not required, or that architectural effect intrinsic-
ally considered has not always a right to much attention.
What we have wished to point out is that with small
grounds the side of the house is decidedly the better place
for the door when a carriage-approach must be combined
with it, and that in all cases it will be well to consider its
position carefully before the architect bégins his design.
The Attack on City Hall Park.
The project to erect a huge Municipal Building in City
Hall Park has been temporarily arrested by the interference
of the State Legislature. Even if the new building would
have any architectural merit, which is an improbable
supposition, it would appear that any scheme to over-
shadow and belittle the old City Hall, which has a
beauty of its own, not to speak of its age and associations,
would find little favor. But apart from this, the project,
which is by no means dead, is here spoken of as another
illustration of the danger that constantly menaces parks,
and every other open space, in our rapidly growing
cities
As land becomes expensive every foot not covered with
brick and mortar seems wasted, and the pressure to en-
croach upon it, and ‘‘improve” it in some way, is almost
irresistible. Herein New York, which has asmaller acreage
of public ground in proportion to its size and population
than any other considerable city in the civilized world, it
might be supposed that a few rods of greensward and a
cluster of trees would be appreciated and protected. But |
what was St. John’s Park a few years ago hasbeen covered ©
up by ahuge freight station. The Battery, beautiful for —
situation, anda priceless blessing to the thronging popula- _
tion about it, has been invaded by a railroad, which never —
rests from its effort to extend its tracks and condemn a still —
From the City Hall Square —
itself a section has been already taken for Mr. Tweed’s
Court House and another for the Post Office, and now
comes the present threat to absorb the greater fraction of
what remains,
May 16, 1888.]
Some of the very men who are active in this project to
obliterate City Hall Park, secured but a year ago the pass-
age of an act to authorize the expenditure ofa million dollars
a year to construct new parks in the thickly peopled wards
of the city. But if ever these new parks transform a tene-
ment house district into an inviting neighborhood, they, in
turn, must begin the same struggle for life which the older
ones have been making for so many years, and with so
little hope. No urban park is safe until public sentiment
is educated up to a controlling belief that breathing space
in a city is quite as essential to the mental, moral and
physical health of its people as building space, and that
the very best use to which a certain portion of its territory
can be put, is to cover it with greensward and keep buildings
off of ite
The Revue Horticole calls attention to the value of the oil
yielded by the seed of the ‘‘ Oil tree” of China and Japan,
Aleurites cordata, or perhaps more correctly £%@occa cordata,
This tree resembles in habit and in foliage the common
Fig tree. The fruit is a capsule the size of an Orange,
formed of several cells, each containing a large thick-
shelled seed. These seeds contain an active purgative
principle, and are not edible. They contain, however,
forty percent. of their weight of a clear, colorless, limpid
oil, possessing remarkable siccative properties. This oil
is used largely in China and Japan in the manufacture of
lacquers, in making water-proof cloths, and in painting
buildings and for lights. An Oil tree five or six years old
may be expected, it appears, to produce an average
annual crop of from 300 to 400 pounds of seed. It thrives
on dry, sandy, rocky soil, and has been found to succeed in
some parts of southern France, where, and in Algiers, its
more general cultivation is now urged. Experiments with
this tree should be made in California, and as it is found
in the northern Island of Nippon, it may be expected to be
hardy in many parts of the United States.
The principal flowers, especially the different varieties
of Roses, in some of the florists’ windows in Boston, are
now conspicuously labeled. This adds much interest to
these displays, and gives them a real educational value.
It is a habit which might be adopted with advantage in
other’ cities.
Tubercles on Leguminous Roots.
T is generally believed that leguminous crops tend to
increase the nitrogenous matters in the soil. It is
also known that tubercles, often as large as peas and
sometimes larger, are frequently formed on the roots of
-Beans, Peas, Clover and many other Leguminose, and
the question has been asked whether there is any relation
between the formation of the tubercles and the increased
amount of nitrogen in the soil. Although the tubercles
were observed long ago by Malpighi, it was not until the
researches of Woronin, published in 1866, that any definite
account of their structure was given. Woronin found in
the cells of the Lupin-tubercles small bodies which he
thought were bacteria, or something like them, and he re-
garded the tubercles as diseased structures. The views of
Woronin were accepted at the time, but recently the sub-
ject has been studied by a number of botanists, and the re-
sults published have been so at variance with one another,
that one is still perplexed to decide whether the tubercles are
really theresult of disease caused by some parasitic growth
or whether they are normal developments of the roots.
Without speaking in detail of the many articles on the
subject which have appeared within the last five years,
it may be said that hardly a year ago a well known writer,
in reviewing recent observations on the nature of the tuber-
cles, stated that we could now consider it proved that the
bodies which Woronin supposed to be bacteria are in fact not
bacteria, but bacteroids or bodies of a nitrogenous charac-
Garden and Forest.
135
ter which serve as reservoirs of the surplus nitrogenous
material stored up by the plant. Hence, regarding the
tubercles as normally produced organs loaded with albu-
minoids, it would be easy to understand how a soil might
be enriched, as far as its nitrogenous composition is con-
cerned, by the growth of leguminous crops.
Unfortunately, however, the question, which a yearago
was supposed to be so satisfactorily settled, is now once
more brought into the list of disputed questions. — Prof.
H. Marshall Ward, in a paper on the tubercular swellings
on the roots of Vicza Faba, gives a clear and accurate ac-
count of the tubercles which he thinks are morbid growths
and not normal reservoirs. Besides the bodies resembling
bacteria, there are hyphee or threads of a somewhat pecu-
liar structure found passing through the cells in the interior
of the tubercles, and it is his opinion that they enter the
tubercles through the root-hairs on the surface. Although
it is not certain how the bacteria-like bodies are formed,
Prof. Ward is inclined to regard them as more like some
of the yeast plants than bacteria and it may be that they
are produced by budding from the tips of the hyphae. At
any rate, several facts indicate that the tubercles are not nor-
mal structures, put are produced by contagion due to germs
or spores in the soil. Plants grown carefully in soils
which have been heated so that all germs have been
killed do not produce tubercles nor do plants grown in
chemically pure fluids. Tubercles may be produced on
plants grown in water-cultures by placing pieces of old
tubercles on the young roots. The subject is a difficult one
tostudy. Admitting that the origin of the bacteria-like bodies
still requires investigation, it can safely be said that the
tubercles are not normal structures. The peculiar threads
or hyphee can be seen by any observer, and, as they pass
through from one cell to another, it is far more likely that
they are parasites than that they are the cell contents
modified in some way. It may be, as some have sup-
posed, that the bacteria-like bodies have no connection
with the hyphe. That question seems to us still open,
although the parasitic origin of the tubercles seems estab-
lished. W. G. £arlow.
We learn with great regret of the death of the Councillor
of State, Dr. Pancic, at Belgrade, in Servia, at over seventy
years of age. This distinguished scholar, who was widely
esteemed, and was especially beloved for the charm of his
personal qualities, devoted his life to botanical and zodlogi-
cal investigations in his native country, and achieved most
noteworthy results in these lines of study. His was the
enviable lot of being able to combine patriotism with
science and to develop his activity on wholly unexplored
ground. His name is connected with the botanical open-
ing of Servia, and will always be associated in the most
honorable manner with the history of that country. Among
the trees which he discovered it suffices to mention Picea
Omorika, avery beautifuland characteristic species of Spruce.
To the last years of his life belongs a most interesting dis-
covery in dendrology—that of the Cherry-Laurel (Prunus
Lauro-Cerasus),—for which Pancic first fixed a European
habitat in the Servian Balkans, thereby determining for
this shrub, which until then had been known only in Asia
Minor, a much wider geographical range.
Botanical literature owes to Dr. Pancic a number of
works, the subject of which is mainly the Flora of his na-
tive land, but which deal also, in part, with that of Bul-
garia and Montenegro. Dr. Pancic lived in the most
favorable circumstances. The natural science of a whole
country seemed to a great extent to be embodied in him
alone. He was King Milan’s teacher, and enjoyed to the
end of his life the entire confidence of this prince, as well
as in equal degree the respect and admiration of his fellow-
countrymen. He took a special interest in directing the
Botanical Garden at Belgrade, which was founded buta short
time ago, and is now under the practical control of a most
competent young sp *cialist, Garden-Inspector Bornmueller.
Berlin. C. Bolle.
136
A Well-arranged Flower Border.
HE illustration we publish on page 137 shows another portion
of the artificially formed pond, on a country place near Bos-
ton, which was pictured and described in the first number of
GARDEN AND Forest. The point to which we would now call
particular attention is the flower border in the foreground,
which extends much further to the spectator’s left than the
photographer was able to follow it, skirting the edge of the
pond for a considerable distance.
In the earlier weeks of June this border offers a splendid
sight and fills the air with a delicious fragrance ; for then the
hardy Azaleas, with which it is chiefly planted, are in bloom,
showing many tints of orange, yellow, pink and white, which
contrast and blend with each other in a way that might well
tempt an artist’s brush.* Yet this is not the only season when
this border is beautiful and fragrant; for it has been planted
so that a succession of flowers follow one another throughout
the entire summer. Among. the Azaleas hundreds of bulbs
have been planted, which bloom in spring when the foliage of
the Azaleas is still thin and delicate enough to permit their
lowlier loveliness to appear; and the border of the pond is
fringed with the great peltate California Saxifrage, the tall
flower-spikes of which—two feet in height—appear in very
early spring before the big, broad leaves expand. Then, rising
well above the Azaleas, are groups of Lilies, pleasing to the eye
in their slim, though flowerless, grace, even in the earlier
weeks of summer, and ready to bring forth their flowers when
the Azaleas have done blooming. The tall spikes which are
conspicuous in the immediate foreground belong to the finest
of our native Lilies—the Turk’s Cap Lily (Lil/um superbum),
The dark clump further in the distance is a clump of the Z.
umbellatum of Japan ; and the Japanese ZL. Jancifolium, with its
spotted blossoms, is also represented, as well as the white
Japanese and the common Tiger Lily. Nor are these all
the plants which mingle in this border. When the Azaleas are
in bloom blue and yellow Irises are also in bloom along the
water's edge; in August the delicate blossoms of the Sabbatia
appear profusely ; and in autumn days there is the Cardinal
Flower and the Galtonia, with its tall spikes of white, bell-
shaped, Hyacinth-like blossoms.
It is needless, we believe, to explain the superiority of plant-
ing of this sort to that most commonly seen. What is
most often seen is a border filled with one kind of flower
alone, or if with a succession of flowers, one that involves con-
tinual transplantings and rearrangements. But here, by a wise
choice of materials, the border is enabled to take care of itself
from one end of summer-to the other. Here there is no
need to dig up the bulbs when they have flowered, under
penalty of a dreary display of withering leaves; they may
be left to mature in peace against another season, the decay
of their leaves being hidden by the luxuriance of the other
plants. It is the same with the Lilies; and as none of the
plants selected require protection in winter, the border renews
its beauty summer after summer, and week by week during
each summer, with but little care from man.
A word may be added with regard to the meadow that forms
the distance in our picture. Its clumps of trees have been
carefully arranged, but the grass is left to grow long, and,
filled with Buttercups and Daisies, makes a soft and harmo-
nious background for the brilliant border as we approach it,
and_ is in happy contrast with the carefully kept lawns on the
other side of the pond near the house.
‘Laying out grounds, as it is called, may beconsidered as a
liberal art, in some sort like poetry and painting; andits object,
like that of all the liberal arts, is, or ought to be, to move the
affections under the control of good sense; that is, of the best
and wisest. Speaking with more precision, it is zo assist
Nature in moving the affections, and gurely, as I have said,
the affections of those who have the deepest perception of the
beauty of Nature, who have the most valuable feelings—that
is, the most permanent, the most independent, the most en-
nobling, connected with Nature and human life. No liberal
art aims merely at the gratification of an individual or a class;
the painter or poet is degraded in proportion as he does so;
the true servants of the Arts pay homage to the human kind
as impersonated in unwarped and enlightened minds. If this
be so when we are merely putting together words or colors,
how much more ought the feeling to prevail when we are in
the midst of the realities of things; of the beauty and harmony,
of the joy and happiness of living creatures; of men and
*An article in GARDEN AND Forest, March atst, 1888, speaks of the most valuable
varieties of hardy Azaleas and of their needs in cultivation.
Garden and Forest.
[May 16, 1888.
children, of birds and beasts, of hills and streams, and trees
and flowers; with the changes of night and day, evening and
morning, summer and winter; and all their unwearied actions
and energies, as benign in the spirit that animates them, as
they are beautiful and grand in that form and clothing which
is given to them for the delight of our senses.”
Wordsworth.—Letter to Beaumont.
Foreign Correspondence.
The Kew Arboretum.—IV.
HE genus Quvercus is represented in the Kew Arbore-
tum by upwards of two hundred species and named
varieties. The common British Oak (Q. pedunculata) heads
the list as far as variability is concerned, with about forty-
five forms ; of the other segregate of the Linnean Q. Robur
( Q. sesstflora) we have about a dozen. In a wild state
the latter is much the rarer of the two, both in Britain, and,
apparently, on the continent of Europe as well. Judging
from the evidence afforded by trees found deep down in
peat bogs, etc., in various widely separated localities, Q.
sessilifora was at one time a much more common tree; at
present, circumstances seem to point conclusively to the
fact that the species is in reality dying out. I use the word
species advisedly, for the general aspect of the typical
plant is so different from that of Q. pedunculata, that the
two may be readily recognized, when growing together,
even at a distance. Besides for arboricultural purposes,
and to avoid too cumbrous a nomenclature, it is better to
treat the two.as distinct. :
There are some half a hundred American Oaks—many,
of course, forms which have originated under cultivation
—and among them twenty-two of the species enumerated
by Professor Sargent in his Catalogue of the Forest Trees of
North America. Upwards of thirty hail from Asia and
about seventy from Europe and North Africa. The last
number of course includes the two British Oaks and their
forms mentioned at the beginning of this article.
Remarkably fine examples of the Scarlet Oak (Q. cocc7nea),
the Red Oak (Q. rubra) and the Willow Oak (@. Phedlos)
exist in different parts of the Arboretum, but in common
with all the other American biennial-fruited Oaks, few bear
acorns, although the trees grow luxuriantly and are perfect-
ly hardy. Of the Willow Oak I have never seen flowers
produced at Kew ; the other two whose names are above
given flower annually but rarely ripen fruits; the foliage,
however, as well as that of the Pin Oak (Q. palus/ris), the
Yellow-barked Oak (Q. “ncforia), the Shingle or Laurel
Oak (Q. tmbricaria), assumes generally a brilliant color before
the fall, and so enables non-traveled tree-lovers to form
some idea of the brilliant effects described so enthusiasti-
cally by writers familiar with the forests of the United
States. The whole group of the White Oaks is unsatisfac-
tory at Kew, and.so far as I have been able to ascertain
from personal inspection, on the continent of Europe as
well. Some conditions necessary for the trees are evident-
ly lacking, for all present a stunted, unhappy aspect.
The Evergreen or Holm Oak (Q. ev), of Southern Europe,
thrives well and attains a large size ; during some winters
huge branches are broken off by the weight of snow. The
Live Oak (Q. wrens) does not at present exist in the Kew
Arboretum, and plants so named, in other English estab-
lishments which I have had an opportunity of seeing, are
merely forms of the very variable Q. Z/ex. Probably, how-’
ever, the Virginian Live Oak may be growing in the South-
west of England. One of the most handsome of the
European Oaks is Q. conferfa, or, as it is usually called in
gardens and nurseries, Q. Pannonica, This is a native of
Servia, Croatia, Transylvania, etc., and in Kotschy’s magnifi-
cent work, ‘‘ Die Lichen Europa’s und des Orients,” he tells
us that its timber is very durable, woodwork of it found in
the Transylvanian mines which have not been worked
since Roman times presenting the appearance, notwith-
standing its great age, of newly-felled timber. In a
———
May 16, 1888.]
young state at any rate, the growth of Q. con/ferfa is more
rapid than that of our indigenous species.
For several years a specimen of the curious shrubby
oak (Q. reticulata) from Southern Arizona and Mexico, with-
stood, in a somewhat sheltered spot it is true, the rigors
_of our English climate, but having braved the hard winter
of 1879-80, it gave up the struggle to exist during the equal-
ly trying one of 1880-81. None of the characteristic Him-
alayan Oaks are hardy at Kew and some of the Japanese
ones do not succeed. Several, however, from the latter
country, do well and are perfectly hardy. @Q. acu/a—a
handsome, very variable species with thick evergreen
leaves—perhaps better known under the name of Q. Buer-
gert, comes under the latter category. On the other hand,
Garden and Forest. 137
almost entirely shed as the young ones are bursting their
buds—forms of the Turkey Oak (0. sited lo wonderfully
well at Kew. The Lucombe and Fulham Oaks are two of
the best of these; practically they may be regarded as
identical, for the differences between themare very slight.
In his © Arbore‘um et Fruticeltum Britannicum” Loudon s says:
“The age and origin of the Fulham Oak are unknown;
but Mr. Smithers, an old man who has been employed in
the Fulham nursery from his youth, and who remembers
the tree above forty-five years, says that it always went by
the name of the Fulham Oak, and that he understood it to
have been raised there from seed. We have examined the
tree at its collar, and down to its main roots, several feet
under ground ; and, from the uniform texture, and thick
A Well-arranged
Q. dentafa of Thunberg (Q. Daimyo of gardens) is apt to
suffer severely during an exceptionally hard winter; this
species is, however, well wortha place in any collection of
ornamental trees on account of its noble leaves—one I
measured some four years ago, in the Isleworth Arboretum
of Messrs. Charles Lee & Son being no less than eighteen
inches in length, with a width, at the broadest part, “of ten
inches. @Q. dentata is also especially interesting by reason
of its being one of the food plants of a Chinese silkworm, a
long account of which is contained in the ‘“Commercial Re-
ports from Her Majesty’s Consuls in China and Japan, 1865.”
The evergreen, or rathersub-evergreen—for the old leaves,
although remaining on the tree throughout the winter, are
Flower Border,
corky character of the bark, we feel satisfied that it is not
a grafted tree.” A few years ago, however, before Messrs.
Osborne’s nursery was broken up, I saw this same tree,
and shoots of Quercus pedunculatfa were springing from
the trunk, proving that the specimen was a grafted one
and that in spite of his careful examination Loudon was
deceived. Another Oak, figured and described by Dr.
Masters in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, series ii., vol. Xiv. Pp.
715, under the name of Q. glandulifera of Blume, is, [have
little doubt, a curious hybrid of which the Turkey Oak is
one of the parents. At any rate, it is not the typical
Japanese plant described originally under the name of (Q.
glandulifera by Blume. George Nicholson.
133
London Letter.
AMELLIAS are backward this season, but among those
now in full beauty at Veitch’s nurseries none can eclipse
the variety C. M. Hovey, for which, I believe, we are indebted
to one of your Boston nurserymen. The perfect form of the
flower, its charming, soft, rosy carmine color and large size
make it one of the most admired of Camellias, and of its color
itis peerless. Camellias are not so popular here as they were
formerly, because they have been supplanted by Roses since
the early forcing of these flowers has become so well under-
stood. People like the exquisite, if somewhat stiff and artifi-
cial, form of double Camellias, and are delighted with their
soft colors, but lacking perfume, they can never rival the Rose.
In Paul's nurseries at Waltham Cross, where, of course, the
Rose reigns supreme, there is one of the finest collections of
Camellias in this country, A lofty and spacious house Ioo feet
long is devoted entirely to the huge specimens which make at
this season a magnificent display. On going through the
house the other day I jotted down a few of the sorts which to
me were most conspicuous and the most beautiful. Of whites
none was superior to old Double White. More of this old sort
are grown and more sold than of any other, it being indis-
pensable in every green-house. Another good white is Ninfa
Egeria, more floriferous than Alba plena, and not so large, but
quite as double. Innocenza fimbriata and Alba elegantissima
are likewise very fine white. The more brilliant colors (crim-
sons and reds) are best represented by Imbricata Mathotiana,
Manara, Benneyi Coquettina and Auguste Delfosse. The lovely
pinks and delicate rose tints are favorites with every one, and
I singled out Marchioness of Exeter, L’Avenir, Principessa Aldo-
brandini and Lady Hume’s Blush as the finest then in bloom.
There were numbers of sorts with striped and flaked petals ;
but as I am not an admirer of such bizarre flowers, I did not
stop to take theirnames. The foregoing sorts named are un-
doubtedly the pick in their respective colors out of a collection
numbering some hundreds of sorts: Ihave no doubt but that
the Camellia with you is as much appreciated as here, and
certainly there is no finer evergreen shrub for planting out in
a green-house for cutting from.
Orchids are here becoming so popular that some amateurs
have begun to make specialties of certain genera of the family.
The Cypripediums are for the moment the popular favorites,
and many growers keep scarcely any other kind, and devote
several large houses exclusively tothem, Now that its hybrids
have become so numerous, an amateur may spend a small
fortune in acquiring a full collection of this genus alone.
The quaint form of the flowers of all the Lady’s Slipper Orchids,
their subtle, though quiet coloring, together with their ever-
green foliage, which is often very handsomely marked, com-
bine to render them highly popular. I have seen advance
proofs of a new illustrated work on the genus Cypripedium,
which will be issued shortly by M. Godetfroy-Lebeuf, of Argen-
teuil, France. The colored plates are splendid examples of
the chromo-lithographer’'s art, and the letter-press is written by
Mr. N. E. Brown, of the Royal Herbarium, Kew, who has made
a special study of the genus. The text will be rendered in
Latin, French and English, so that altogether it will be the
finest monograph of Cypripedium that has yet been issued.
During the last ten years wonderful strides have been made in
hybridizing Orchids, and especially Cypripediums, which seem
to lend themselves to the process with exceptional facility ; but
while there are numbers of really magnificent hybrids, it must
also be mentioned that many of them are worthless as orna-
mental plants, and in not a few instances they are ugly.
The wondertul new C. Rothschildianum, which Messrs. Sander
have quite recently imported, is making a great stir. It is
described as eclipsing the handsome C. S¢omez, but as I have
not yet seen it I shall reserve my opinion,
London, April sth. Wm. Goldring.
New or Little Known Plants.
Hymenocallis Palmeri.
HIS second species of Hymenocallis from Florida was
found by Dr. Palmer in the neighborhood of Bis-
cayan Bay in the extreme southern part of the State. In
its general character it is much like the H. hums already
*H. Patmert, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad., xiv.301. Bulb small, narrowly oblong, with
thick roots ; leaves with shortsheaths, a footlong by three lines wide Or less ; scape
nearly as high, one-flowered, the segments cf the spathe very narrow ; perianth
white, the tube about equaling the segments, which are three and one-half or four
inches long by a line wide; crown fifteen lines deep, acuminately lobed between
the erect filaments ; anthers greenish ; ovary oblong-oyate.
Garden and Forest.
[May 16, 1888.
figured, but is taller and larger flowered. The bulb is
smaller, with thick roots, and the leaves and slender scape
are nearly a foot high. The tube and the very narrow
segments of the perianth of the solitary white flower are
each three or four inches long, and the border of the deep .
funnelform crown is acuminately lobed between the
filaments. It was found growing in sandy soil in low
grassy bottoms near the beach, blooming in May.
The marshes and river banks of Florida doubtless yet hold
many novelties to repay the search of the observant ex-
plorer of the plant life of that State. These species of
Hymenocallis, the Nymphea flava and the Zephyranthes
Treatig are specimens of what may still be expected. The
Orchids also, the Palms, and the Tillandsias of the forests:
are by no means well known, and it may be said with
truth that while exploration there may be attended with its
ditficulties, there is probably no part of our country that
gives better promise of reward in the way of new and
interesting species. o.-W,
Plant Notes.
Rocky Mountain Cypripediums.
NDER Cypripedium fasciculatum, in a late number,
the general statement was made that ‘‘none of
these [the eastern species] range as far west as the Rocky
Mountains, . . . within the limits of the United
States.” This was intended to express our present knowl-
edge of the range of the species. In British America the
species with a small yellow sac, C. parviflorum, extends
through the Saskatchewan region to Manitoba and into the
mountains. It may possibly enter north-western Mon-
tana and have been confounded with the western C. mon-
fanum, the only very obvious difference between the spe-
cies being the color of the lip, which cannot always be
determined in dried specimens. That region, drained by
Clark’s Fork, is the extreme eastern limit of the Pacific
flora, and C. monfanum is found there. But C. parviflorum
has not certainly been found in the mountains south of the
boundary, so far as know. The larger flowered yellow
species, C. pubescens, is known to occur:in north-eastern
Colorado, in the valley of the Platte, at least, and probably
within the mountains, and this much of exception should
have been made to the above statement.
It appears now that a still more decided exception must
be made, as a note has just been received from Mr. W. F.
Flint, of Winchester, N. H., giving an interesting account
of his having found in 1878 a Cypripedium, which he took
to be C. parviflorum, in the Uncompahgre valley in south-
western Colorado. This is upon the western side of the
Continental Divide, as the waters of the Uncompahgre find
their way into the Colorado River. These Cypripediums
were growing in considerable numbers upon the river bank
about a quarter of a mile north of the Los Pinos Agency
buildings. | Unfortunately, no specimens were preserved,
and as the valley is now occupied by white settlers, this
particular locality for the plant may be destroyed. But it
must occur elsewhere in that region, and it is hoped that
specimens will yet come to hand for its more definite de-
termination. AYIA
Merendera Caucasica, var. Ruthenica—This is one of our
newer and most beautiful spring-flowering bulbs, and deserves
to be largely grown. It is a native of Transylvania, very hardy
and comes very early into flower, blooming, according to cli-
mate, from the middle of February to the end of March. The
flowers which appear a little before the Squill-like, narrow
foliage are of the size of a large Crocus and of a brilliant rosy-
crimson-purple color, somewhat like our Meadow-saffron, but
deeper and brighter. Good bulbs produce from 4 to 6 flowers,
and when grown in clumps or patches on rock-work or in a
sunny border they make a charming sight about this tiresome
time of year.
Baden-Baden, April x. Max Leichttin.
May 16, 1888,]
Fig. 25—Hymenocallis Palmeri.
A Hybrid Poplar—Populus Steiniana—Mr. Bornmiiler, the
Inspector of the Botanic Garden at Belgrade, figures and de-
scribes in the last number of the Gartenfiora a Poplar found by
him on the western coast of the Black Sea, near Varna. The
young branches are described as hoary when young, after-
wards glabrous; buds hoary, petiole compressed; leaves hoary
beneath when young, subsequently glabrous, deltoideo-tri-
angular, acuminate, lobed, toothed. The flowers and fruit are
not known. The tree is named in honor of Mr. Stein, of the
Botanic Garden, Breslau.—Gardener’s Chronicle.
Garden and Forest.
139
Cultural Department.
The Gladiolus.
EW plants are so easily managed and none
; will give greater satisfaction in propor-
tion to time, labor and money expended,
than the Gladiolus. It dislikes a stiff, clayey
soil, but will thrive in almost any other; its
preference being for one of a moist, sandy
nature, or light loam. For the best results,
both in flowers or bulbs, fresh soil—that is,
sod ground, with the turf nicely turned
under to decay—is most desirable. This
should have, after plowing, a surface dress-
ing of well-rotted manure, well harrowed in.
In light soil the bulbs should be planted four
or five inches deep; in heavy loam two
inches of covering will be sufficient.
Successive plantings on the same ground
should be avoided, and the locality of the
bed should be changed so as not to return
to the same spot for at least three years. It
is the better plan to make the ground very
rich for a desired crop this year and plant
Gladiolus on it the next. This plan cannot
be well carried out in small gardens, but
practice should conform to it as nearly as
possible. ¥
The time for planting is the first considera-
tion in Gladiolus culture and its
importance is almost wholly
overlooked. In spring-time we
= rush into gardening with the first
S favorable weather and try to do
all our planting at once, but a
succession of flowers is what the
amateur should aim at. This
applies to all plants in the flower
garden, but with more force to the Gladiolus
than to almost any other, because the
flowers that one bulb will produce are so
quickly gone that a succession can only be
kept up by repeated plantings. The spring
fever in gardening creates a desire to have
everything at the earliest possible moment,
whether seasonable or not, and early plant-
ing of the Gladiolus brings the flowers in
\ the very hot, dry weather of our mid-sum-
\ mer, when in its natural habitat it flowers in
\ the rainyseason. For perfect flowersa moist
atmosphere is necessary; to that end the
bulbs should be planted trom the first to the
middle of July, and they wiil then come into flower about
the first of October, when the days are cool and the
evening air moist. Any given variety coming into
flower at that time will give spikes of blooms much
larger and stronger and the colors will be far better than
if the same are produced in mid-summer. A_ suc-
cession of bloom may be kept up from July until frost
by planting every two weeks, commencing as soon as
the ground is in a suitable condition to work:
Selection is a matter of taste. As a rule we should
grow such as increase moderately fast and are con-
spicuous for positive colors, well defined markings, and
for jong well formed spikes. Having secured such a
stock, it may be increased to any extent by growing the
small bulbs or bulblets that form at the base of the new
bulb. These are produced in greater or less quantities
on different varieties. Some will average a hundred
per year, others scarcely any. The light colors have
less vitality, as a rule, than the dark ones, and con-
sequently do not rapidly reproduce. This will in a
great measure account tor the marked difference in
the prices of the named sorts; it will also account
for the rapid increase of the more common varieties and
the sudden disappearance of those greatly prized. Choice
varieties are usually short lived, and the only way to keep
up the stock is by bulblets, while the more common ones
will rapidly increase by division. Old bulbs of some of our
best named varieties will not produce good flowers, if, indeed,
they produce any; this is particularly the case with Shake-
speare andOphir. They invariably give their finest spikes the
second or third year from bulblets. Consequently the bulblets
of all favorite sorts should be saved and planted each spring,
140
at least in sufficient quantities to furnish the desired number
of flowering bulbs. Should it be necessary to throw away any
through fear of over production, always discard the oldest
stock.
The question is frequently asked, ‘‘ Do the varieties sport or
return to the original type, or do the white and yellow forms
put on the scarlet?” To all such queries the answer must be
an emphatic “No.” ‘But-then,” continues the querist, ‘how
is it that flowers are now all red? The first year or two of
my growing them my collection was the best I could obtain,
now r they are not worth planting.” The reason is simple; none
but those with the strongest vitality have increased, the others
have died.
The bulblets may be sown in early spring in any convenient
out-of-the-way place in the garden, if the soil and situation is
good, such as would yield a good crop of potatoes; they will,
with proper attention, make bulbs that will flower the second
season. The first season they will require but little room.
Make the drills the same as for beet seed, and about two inches
deep ;
r, as they do much better than if sown thinly.
sow the bulblets so thickly that they will touch each
othe No further
Garden and Forest.
[May 16, 1888.
Picea Ajanensis, Fischer.—This very beautiful Spruce-fir,
which has been introduced into our collections under the name
of P. Alcockiana, Carr, (Abies Alcoguiana, Veitch), thus con-
founding it with another species, is perhaps second only in orna-
mental value to the Rocky Mountain P. pungens, Engelm.
Nearly all of the specimens of so-called P. Alcockiana now in
cultivation inthe United States, are really this species, which
may easily be detected byits pale yellowish tinted bark, flattish,
very glaucous leaves, twisted at the base on the side branches,
and small, or sometimes large, oblong cones with undulated
deeply notched scales. Itis reported to be a much smaller tree
than P. Alcockiana, generally growing from 25 to $0 feet high,
while the latter attains the height of from go to 120 feet.
P. Alcockiana is closely related to P. obovata, and P. Ajanen-
sis is so nearly allied to P. Aenziesii of our north-west coast,
as to be almost indistinguishable from it in its botanical char-
acters. Indeed, the late Dr. Engelmann considered at one
time, that it was a mere form of the latter, but subsequent
study enabled him to pronounce it specifically distinct ; and
Dr. Masters has recorded that it differs from the American
species ‘‘in its flatter, less deeply keeled, and blunter leaves.’
Santa Ritas Foot-hills, with Quercus oblongifolia.—See page 142
work will be necessary, than to keep the ground clean and
loose, until it is time to store the bulbs, in the autumn.
There are few pleasures in rdening equal to that which
comes from raising Gladiolus from se sed. The certainty of
getting some Seca ar fine varieties cannot be questioned ;
and it is equally certain that there will be some quite the
reverse. Upon the whole, when the seed is saved from the
best flowers, there will be many new combinations of form
and color, and but few plants that need be discarded. The pre-
vailing opinion that it is difficult to raise new and choice
varieties from seed is erroneous.
Itisno more trouble to raise Gladiolus from seed than to
raise the most common vegetable. With the simplest garden
culture there is an almost absolute cer tainty ot success, if care
in the selection of seed has been exercised. Prepare your bed
in spring as for any hardy annual; the soil should be made
fine and comps aratively rich ; sow the seed in drills, at a con-
venient distance apart to be worked with a hoe ; cover to the
depth of one inch; keep the soil light and clean; take up the
bulbs after the first frost; store during the winter in a dry
cellar or room, free from frost, but not war m; plant the bulbs
again in the spring following, and the ne xt summer very many
of them will flower ‘+r. Asarule, the more choice flowers will be
found among the latest to bloom, Cub, Allen.
In growth, it is rather slow at first in comparison with other
species, but after having become fully established its develop-
ment is rapid and satisfactory. It cannot perhaps be calleda
very graceful tree, as the arrangement of the branches is
somewhat stiff and formal, but the picturesqueness of its habit
is much enhanced by the decidedly unique commingling of
the dark shining green and silver of its foliage. This pecul-
iarity is noticeable at all times, as the rigidity of the leaves dis-
plays the charming glaucousness so characteristic of this
species, even when in a state of rest. When standing ina
group of other Conifers, especially those with dark tinted fol-
iage, the contrast is exceedingly striking and rich. Its hardi-
ness in the Northern States, even when ‘small, is unquestioned,
and although it requires a deep rich alluvial soilto accelerate
growth and develop its beauty, it will succeed in almost any
situation where other Spruces Will thrive. Fosiah Hoopes.
Psychotria jasminiflora, or, as it is more commonly known in
gardens, Gloneria jasminifiora, is a beautiful Brazilian shrub,
with handsome evergreen foliage and pure white, fragrant,
tubular flowers, produced in terminal corymbose panicles. It
was discovered by Libon in the province of St. Catharine, in
southern Brazil, as long ago as 1860, and is very well fizured
in the Botanical Magazine, 7.6454. Itis nota difficult plant to
May 16, 1888.]
cultivate, and thrives and flowers freely during February and
March in a warm green-house or stove, if potted in a compost
of fibrous peat, leaf mould and silversand, and grownon rapidly
in summer in heat and abundant moisture. Like many other
beautiful winter blooming stove-plants, it is too rarely seen in
American collections.. A fine specimen was shown by Mr.
Hunnewell at the recent exhibition of the Massachusetts Hor-
ticultural Society.
Rhododendron Dauricum sempervirens is the earliest of all
the Rhododendrons in flower. It is an erect, very hardy shrub,
with small evergreen leaves and rose-colored flowers, single,
or in twos and threes, on the end of the branches. In ordinary
seasons it flowers in New England early in April, often before
the snow has disappeared. AY
Tulipa Kesselringii was the earliest of the Tulips in flower in
the New England rock-garden, where it was blooming freely
during the last days of April. This is a dwarf and very hardy
species, discovered a few years ago in Turkestan by Dr. Albert
Regel, and distributed from the St. Petersburg Garden. The
leaves are glaucous, lance-strap shaped, about six inches long,
and crowded at the base of the stem. The flower-stem is
short, four to eight inches long, and bears a bright, clear yellow
flower, one and one-half to two inches long, the outer seg-
ments at first slightly flushed with red and green on the back.
It isa very handsome and desirable species, recalling in habit
and inthe color of the flowers the Greek Tulip (7: Orphanidea),
although belonging to a quite distinct group of the genus.
Tulipa Kesselringti appears in some garden catalogues as
T. Hoeltzert, It will thrive in any good, well-drained garden
soil.
Primula rosea, protected in a cold-frame, is in full bloom on
the 1st of May. This is one of the loveliest of all the Prim-
roses, and deserves a place in every garden where spring
flowers are cultivated. Itis a dwarf, compact Alpine plant,
with tufted leaves, only a few inches high, and intensely
brilliant colored rosy-pink flowers, nearly an inch across and
with a conspicuous yellow eye. The stout, low flower stems
are four to ten flowered. Primula rosea is a native of the
snowy. ravines of the western: Himalayas, Kashmir and
Afghanistan, where it is found at an elevation of ten to twelve
thousand feet above the sea. Its hardiness has not yet been
established here, but it is well worth the protection of a frame
in winter, from which it can be transplanted in April to ower
in the rock-garden or in the open border. It would not be
easy to find among early flowering hardy plants a more strik-
ing and beautiful object than a mass of this Primrose.
Primula cortusoides,:in its Japanese form known as _ var.
amena, and sometimes as var. Stebo/diz, is pertectly hardy
here, and although not yet in flower, is now pushing up its
crown of leaves vigorously. It is a handsome plant with ovate,
cordate, dark green leaves, with many lobed margins, tall,
slender scapes, and mauve or lilac colored flowers. It is often
cultivated and much prized by the Japanese.
The Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis), a native of our
northern woods and an excellent rock-plant in cultivation, is
also in bloom now. The pure white, star-shaped, handsome,
solitary flowers appear before the leaves, which are large,
rounded and palmately lobed, and make an attractive and con-
spicuous mass of green throughout the summer.
Boston, May rst. G
Streptosolen Jamesoni.—This plant deservesall that “‘ W. F.”
Says about it (page 33), but the fault that gardeners find with it
here is its somewhat straggling habit of growth. But perhaps
we grow it here in too high a temperature. A cooler treat-
ment would probably induce a more compact growth. Ihave
never seen it so fine as when Cannell of Swanley showed it a
few years ago for the first time. Though an old plant with
several of those who were at the show, the profusely flowered
specimens, brilliant like balls of fire, took many by surprise. I
think “W. F.’s” treatment in plunging out-of-doors in sum-
mer is the secret of success.
Aquilegia longissima, the new Columbine that Mr. Sereno
Watson describes at page 31, may be a fine plant, but from the
description I imagine that it is too much like the common
yellow. chrysantha, A. Skinneriis no good out-of-doors with
us here, beautiful though it be. A. Canadensis is the best red
Columbine for borders, but it is a trouble to keep it pure.
So readily does it hybridize with A. chrysanthaand our common
A, vulgaris, that if seedlings are raised and they come up self-
sown everywhere they are sure to be hybrids if the three kinds
grow within reasonable distance of each other. You probably
Garden and Forest:
141
have the race of beautiful hybrid Columbines that Mr. Doug-
las, one of our most noted gardeners, raised a few years ago.
He said he intercrossed A. caerulea, A. chrysantha, A. Canaden-
sis and others, the result being a charming race of varieties
with large, long-spurred flowers of every shade of tint possible
to find in Aquilegias. They have now found their way into
most good gardens, and being hardy and giving no trouble to
grow well, they are favorites.
Parry’s Lily.—That note from Mr. Pringle concerning the
habitat of L7@éum Parry is most valuable, as it gives us just the
information we wanted as regards the conditions best suited
to this lovely Lily under culture. Hitherto it has been con-
sidered rather a delicate kind, but during the last two or three
seasons some growers have apparently hit upon the treatment
the plant likes, and the finest specimens I saw of it last sum-
mer were growing ina damp spot in peaty soil, in such a place
as Mr. Pringle says it grows wild. Like Z. Canadense, L. par-
dalinum and other of your native Lilies, I think that ZL. Parry?
needs moist treatment and partial shade such as that afforded
by a thin wood.
Narcissus in Water.—The beautiful illustration given on
page 44, showing a Narcissus Polyanthus in water, is a revela-
tion to most. people in England. The majority of those to
whom I showed the picture were. unaware that Narcissus
Polyanthus could be grown so finely in water, and no doubt
the experiment will be tried before long by not a few.
It is by bringing these somewhat out-of-the-way methods of
flower-culture into notice by good illustrations that the best
interests of progressive gardening are served.
W. Goldring.
The. Forest.
The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico.—IV.
O come now to the dry mountain ranges which rise
at intervals from the plains to an elevation of 6,000
to 8,o00 feet, between the Sierra Madre, which is the
eastern verge of the plateau, far more favored as respects
rain-fall, and comparatively rich in the number of its arbor-
escent species, and the other Sierra Madre, or Cordilleras,
of the western verge, we find Pinus Chihuahuana, Engelm.,
pre-eminent in valueamong theirsparse and stunted growths.
In that fringe of the forests of the Cordilleras, which spreads
out for a few miles upon the plains at their eastern base, I
have seen this species developed into a noble tree, three
feet or more in diameter, and sixty or seventy feet in height;
but on these mountains its diameter is commonly less
than twelve or fifteen inches, and its height less than forty
feet. Of slow growth here, and showing more or less of
dead branches or their stumps, with its sooty bark and its
burden of old persisting cones, its aspect is unthrifty and
melancholy.
To the building of Chihuahua, and other towns and
villages, and the scattered homes of rich and poor through-
out that region, this Pine must have contributed largely.
The small amount of wood used in the construction of a
Mexican house is astonishing to an American; yet none but
cliff dwellings are possible without a little wood. The
walls are composed entirely of earth and stone, and the
floor may be of earth or tiles; but for the few doors and
windows a little sawed lumber must be had; and, to sup-
port the heavy covering of earth, straight and strong tim-
bers about eight inches in diameter (vegas) are indispen-
sable, though they must be brought on the backs of mules
and donkeys from mountains 50 or 100 miles dis-
tant. Just such timbers, straight, strong, and light for
transportation, when disbarked and seasoned, this Pine
supplies ; and there is hardly a mountain crest or slope to
which the feon and his donkey could climb, that has not
been searched to procure the vast number required. For the
other lumber needed the trunks of the larger specimens in
cafions have been sawed in the mountains with whipsaws.
Juniperus occidentalis, Hook., var, conjugens, Engelm.,
Juniper, is a common species of these ranges, and ranks
next to the last in importance among their non-deciduous
species. With a diameter of eight or ten inches in its
142
best development on the broader summits or in cafions, it
supplies timbers for supports in mines, which well resist
decay.
By far the most abundant trees, however, are Oaks,
represented by two species, Quercus HLmoryt, Torr., and
Quercus grisea, Leibm., both evergreen, the former pre-
dominating about the base and in the lower cafions, the
latter on the drier slopes and summits. Growing where
they find more room and light than moisture, they branch
low and form broad heads, and make very meagre annual
growths. Old age overtakes them by the time they have
reached a diameter of twelve or sixteen inches, and the
axeman usually finds them hollow and defective. Their
wood is brittle, knotty and contorted, of little value except
as fuel, of which it supplies by far the larger part used in
the country. Cutinto short lengths, and split if large, it is
bound by ropes to the backs of donkeys, a good wheel-
barrow load on either side, and thus carried from mountain
heights and steeps to ox-carts at the base, or more often
quite to the distant town.
Quercus oblongifolia, Torr., a species similar in character
and quality to Q. grisea, is, so far as I have explored, com-
paratively scarce. (See illustration, page 140.) I suspect
its range is mainly on the Pacific slope, with its centre
of distribution in southern Arizona or Sonora; while Q.
grisea is of most extensive distribution—from southern
Colorado southward as far, certainly, as the State of
Michoacan.
Quercus undulata, Torr., var. breviloba, Engelm., also re-
sembling Q. grisea, seems to be a smaller tree than that, to
be less common, and to grow on lower hills.
Quercus undulata, Torr., var. pungens, Engelm., is but a
shrub forming thickets in cafions.
The ash, Fraxinus cuspidata, Torr., usually considered a
frutescent species, I have seen in deep canons attaining
arborescent dimensions—a diameter of six or eight inches
and height of twenty feet. On account of its large pani-
cles of white flowers and their exquisite, pervading fra-
grance, it is worthy of being brought into cultivation
wherever practicable.
A few other arborescent species occur on those ranges
visited by me, but as they are stragglers merely from
other districts this is not the place to describe them.
C. G. Pringle.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Let me add to your lists of Rhododendrons the names of
the varieties that have proved hardy on Long Island. Album,
Album elegans, Album grandiflorum, Bicolor, Blandum, Carac-
tacus, Charles Bagley, Charles Dickens, Ccelestinum, Candidis-
simum, Everestianum, Gloriosum (Parsons), Grandiflorum,
Glennyanum, H. W. Sargent, Lady Armstrong, Lee's Pallida,
Mrs. Milner, Perspicuum, Purpureum elegans, Purpureum
grandiflorum, Speciosum, Roseum elegans, Roseum superbum.
The following are American seedlings: Abraham Lincoln,
Aurora, Bertie Parsons, Dr. Torrey, Flushing, General Grant,
Henry Probasco, Maximum superbum, Purpureum crispum,
Roseum luteum.
There are others, like Blandyanum, which do well only when
protected from the north and west wind, and others which are
still on trial. The American seedlings are exceptionally
hardy ; it would be useless to speculate upon the cause.
It is difficult to understand why certain varieties should be
hardy in Boston and not here and why the converse also pre-
vails, unless one knows the environment, and the shelter, not
of covering, but of adjacent plantations. Then too the man-
ner of growing has much to do with it. Those grown in peat
except in wet places have not the vigor which will endure
cold. Mulching may modify the injury, but in the dry weather
of American summers peat is very injurious. Our own gar-
den soil is light loam and during thirty years we have found this
the best. After full trial we have avoided peat as we would nox-
lous insects.
While thus asserting that good free garden soil is the best
adapted to the Rhododendron, and while always striving to
give our plantations open exposure, I readily admit that on the
borders of ponds or in heavy adhesive clay, peat or sand ma
Garden and Forest.
[May 16, 1888.
be useful. I would not, however, place them in such positions
while I recollect that the native habitat of the Rhododendron is
less in valleys than on the sides of hills and mountains.
Your remark that a limestone soil is injurious is doubtless
true, but that should never bean obstacle to their culture when
leaf mould or other good material is easily obtained.
The sorts we mention doubtless owe their immunity to the
fact of their being grafted plants as well as being grown with-
out peat. Propagation by layers is still practiced in Europe,
where old methods are persistently adhered to, but if we ex-
amine carefully the cause of the weakness of the layer will be
manifest. A layer is put in the ground, slowly forms a callus,
then slowly throws out its feeble rootlets, and, after long and
severe efforts, makes a root ball which will go in a tumbler.
In grafting, a scion is put upon a vigorous stock of R. Ponticum
and then grows into vigorous life with a far better root-support
than the best R. Catawéiense can give and which will filla half
peck measure before the layer root will fill the tumbler.
Layers also sprout in several branches from the ground and
may be useful for thickets. In grafted plants the whole
strength springs into one central shoot. One advantage of
grafting them is that we may use the more vigorous root and
open bark of R. Ponticum asastock. A stock of R. Cataw-
biense or R. Maximum would be outgrown by the scion,
The weaker the constitution of a variety, the more difficult
t is to make it thrive on its own roots ; it requires the support
of a stronger stock. Even strong varieties are improved by
being grafted. This is illustrated by General Grant, which ori-
ginally had very small trusses, while plants grafted from it
have good sized ones.
Properly prepared, the stock of A. Ponticum rarely suckers
with us. If it did we should not be deterred from grafting
any more than the grower of Pear trees is deterred from graft-
ing or budding because Pear stocks will sucker,
The preceding remarks apply also to the Ghent Azalea.
Twenty-five years ago we had Azalea coccinea from layers and
cuttings. In that time they have never grown over 1% foot
high and always flowered poorly, while the plants grafted from
them made in five or six years more than the same height of
healthy wood.
In 1873 we received from Belgium 3,000 Azaleas in 300 varie-
ties; the grafted plants alone proved good ; the layered plants
were worthless and dwindled away. The same experience
and rule applies to Magnolias, Camellias and Chinese Azaleas.
Many years ago and after repeated experiments we came to
the conclusion that for this country layering was the worst
mode of propagation that could be adopted. Subsequent ex-
perience after grafting over 200,000 Rhododendrons and
proportionate quantities of other plants dias thoroughly con-
firmed us and we now rarely use layering for any plant.
Flushing, N. Y. Sam'l B. Parsons.
| We have never seen Rhododendrons successfully grown
on a limestone soil, but have known of many failures
where the utmost care was exercised and every expedient
to overcome its deleterious effects tried. That peat is
injurious in a Rhododendron bed is contrary to general
experience.—Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I was glad to see the article in your issue of April 18th
calling attention to the success of the Japanese in landscape
gardening. The subject is of extreme interest to all who care
for art in connection with gardening, and I trust that some day
you will be able to treat it more extensively and accurately
than has yet been done by any European writer. Meanwhile
perhaps the following extract from a German book—Rein-
hold’s “Fapan und die Fapanesen”—may be welcomed by
your readers.
“T do not know any other nation which has such a love for
nature and its beauties as the Japanese. Scarcely a house is
to be seen without a garden, in the laying out and keeping up
of which no pains are spared. But as in most cases the space
for gardens is very limited in the cities, the Japanese take
great delight in miniature creations which, however, are very
different from those one finds in China. The Chinaman’s
taste runs to the unnatural. His plastic representations are not
copies, but caricatures of nature, and to our ideas are most re-
pulsive. ‘He lavishes time, money and labor on such con-
structions and finds satisfaction in having created something
that harmonizes as little as possible with nature. His dwarf
trees, artificial rocks and miniature landscapes therefore at-
tract our attention to be sure, but not because they are beauti-
ful—merely because they are curious, A criterion of their
May 16, 1888.]
zsthetic value appears in the fact that we never have the de-
sire to copy or possess them, or even to gaze upon them for
any length of time. Quite the contrary is the case with
Japanese productions of this kind. Here we see the same
dwarf trees, the same imitative groups of rocks, the same
grottoes, lakes and landscapes ; but even at first sight we are
captivated by the fact that we find nature in them all. Weare
especially surprised by the completeness of the copy. We see
that such things could be produced only by the most refined
and subtile taste. Not only is nature imitated with painstal-
ing fidelity to her smallest details, but in these artificial crea-
tions even her more romantic beauties are portrayed. As in
their painting the Japanese labor under the same disadvantage
as the Chinese in ignoring the rules of perspective, it aston-
ishes us all the more to see that in their gardens every law of
this science is obeyed and that we are unable to discover even
the smallest transgression. Occasionally a garden of this sort
will scarcely occupy an area of more than thirty or forty square
feet, but in itself it is a finished whole which not only satisfies
but delights the eye and heart by its faultless beauty. For-
getting thatit isa product of art, weare transported to a Lillipu-
tian world such as our childish fancy loved to seek in fairy-
tales.
“In consequence of its mountainous surface Japan is very
rich in the beauties of nature, and the variety of its flora in-
creases them inno small degree. The hedges and bushes are
brilliant with Camellias and Azaleas ; tree-like Rhododendrons
cover the hill-sides ; the feathery leaves of the Bamboo wave
in the wind alongside of the wide-spreading branches of the
sacred Fir-tree; and by the dark Japanese Palms (Rhazpzis,
Chamerops, Cycas) glow the red leaves of the Maple or the
rich greens of the Waxtree(?). Wherever there is a beautiful
view we may count with certainty upon finding a convent, a
temple or a tea-house. They prove, however, that a
Japanese resorts to miniature creations only when he is
obliged to forego nature herself. Wherever she surrounds him
he can enjoy her without constraint. There he neither imitates
her features nor strives to force them into other shapes, but
is quite satisfied with her natural aspect. Therefore we never
find artificial gardens or parks where nature has created their
like.”
It need only be added, as was remarked in your article
already referred to, that although when nature is beautiful the
Japanese does not resort to artificial arrangements of any
kind, he nevertheless always tries to develop nature’s inten-
tions to the full, to remove all discordant details, and to height-
en by gentle care the native character of the spot. So beauti-
fully and unobtrusively is this done, that the eye of the tourist
may well be deceived into thinking that man has done noth-
ing, where in fact he is daily doing much, BG. 1G.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Can you inform me why it is that horses and cattle can
eat with impunity the shoots and leaves of the ‘‘ Poison Ivy"?
It is a well known fact that they are particularly fond of this
plant.
Tiverton, R. I. Naneguacut,
{It is not at all uncommon for animals to eat with im-
punity some vegetable poisons which are fatal to man, as
there are some animal poisons fatal to cattle and not in-
jurious toman. No instance is recorded of the poisonous
action of Rius upon the lower animals, at least among Mam-
malia. Dr. Bigelow refers to an account of bees being
killed by swarming upon &. venena/a, and it is stated that
insects never attack the Japanese Varnish-tree. References
to this immunity of the lower animals will be found in
Professor James C. White's recent publication upon the ac-
tion of external irritants upon the skin. What is more
strange is the complete immunity of many individuals of
mankind from the action of all the poisonous species of
Rhus, who can chew the plants and rub them upon the
skin without the slightest irritative effect, whilst the mere
passage along a road bordered by the plants is_ suffi-
cient to provoke a severe inflammation of the skin in
others. —Ep. |
-To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Allow me to take exception to Mr. Dana’s wholesale
condemnation of the Norway Spruce, in his pleasant letter on
Conifers. It is indeed a somewhat stiff and prudish tree, and
has been doubtless over-planted in the way of making decorative
Garden and Forest.
143
green tufts about too many homesteads. But in fullness of
age, when it shows a great array of fleecy, pendent branchlets,
and of tawny cones, it has a majesty of its own. Moreover,
scarce one of our native Conifers, when mature, keeps such
vigor in its lower limbs; thus insuring, for single planting, a
pyramidal piling up from the very turf of a tower of evergreen
Our black and white Spruces, our Balsams, our Pines (the
Scotch Pine even more noticeably), are apt to show a béggarly
array of lower limbs, and to put all their forces into the tops,
when they come to fruiting age. Again, the Norway Spruce
takes the shears very kindly for hedge purposes, or for screens;
its dwarf varieties are particularly amenable to the moulding
clips of any gardener or householder who may have topiary
whims to indulge. But most of all is this old favorite to be
commended, I think, for its hardiness—its sturdiness—and its
every-day farm utilities. It will bear rough handling ; is easy
of removal; it stands drought; it makes the quickest and best of
wind shelters ; its insect depredators are of the fewest ; it does
not break down under press of ice or snow, as the White Pine
and Hemlock are somewhat prone to do.
Donald G. Mitchell.
[The trouble is that the Norway Spruce in
rarely if ever reaches ‘‘fullness of age”
condition.— Ep. ]
Edgewood, Conn,
this country
in a healthy
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Protessor Penhallow’s notes on the Snowberry and its
relationship and resemblance in flavor to the Gaultheria re-
minds me to say that Ihave known the berries of Gaultheria
used in the same way as a conserve. In the southern coun-
ties of the Maryland and Delaware peninsula the Gaultheria is
very abundant in the black, swampy spots called ‘‘savannahs,”’
and the berries are largely sold under their Indian name,
“Yopon.” .
ae Va. W. F. Massey.
Recent Publications.
( F. HOLDER'S Living Lights, A Popular Account of Phos-
+ phorescent Animals and Vegetables (Chas. Scribner's Sons,
New York), is chiefly taken up with an account of the animals
in which light-producing phenomena have been observed,
such phenomena being more frequent and more conspicuous
in the animal than in the vegetable world. But two chapters
are devoted to luminous fungi and to plants and flowers which,
at least under certain conditions, have been seen to emit light.
As long ago as 1762 the daughter of Linnaeus observed, dur-
ing a twilight hour, a “ lightning-like phosphorescence” about
the flowers of the Nasturtium, and stated also that when she
approached the flowers of the White Dictamnus with a light
“they appeared to ignite, without, however, injury to them.”
Many scientific men at that time threw doubt or ridicule upon
her statements, but they have since been confirme -d by hundreds
of observers, and, asa correspondent of GARDEN AND FOREST
recently set forth, the inflammable nature of the emanations
from Dictamnus Fraxinellais well known to-day. Not only the
Nasturtium, but the Poppy, the Sunflower, the Garden Mari-
gold, the Orange Lily (Z. du/biferum) and the French and
African Marigolds (Zagetes patula and 7. erecta) have been
seen to emit flashes which have ‘the exact appearance ot
summer lightning in miniature,” and are probably, in fact,
electrical in their nature. The nature of the phosphorescence
so frequently observed in decaying wood and also in many
fungous growths produced in caves and mines has never,
according to Mr. Holden, been accurately determined. But
the flame which is emitted when Dicfamnus is brought into
contact with a light, has nothing electrical and nothing inex-
plicable about it. Dr. Hahn wrote in 1857 that he “held a
lighted match close to an open flower [of the White Dictam-
nus], but without result; in bringing, however, the match close
to some other blossoms, it approached a nearly faded one, and
suddenly was seen a reddish, crackling, strongly shooting
flame, which left a powerful aromatic smell, and did not injure
the peduncle. Since then I have repeated the experiment dur-
ing several seasons; and even during cold, wet summers it al-
ways succeeded, this clearly proving that itis not influenced by
the state of the weather. In doing so,I observed the following
results which fully explain the phenomenon. On the pedicels
and peduncles are a number of minute reddish-brown glands,
secreting etheric oil. These glands are but little developed
when the flowers begin to open, and they are fully grown
shortly after the blossoms begin to fade, shriveling up when
the fruit begins to form. For this reason the experiment can
succeed only at a limited period when the flowers are fading.
144
The radius is uninjured, being too green to take fire, and be-
cause the flame runs along almost as quick as lightning, be-
coming extinguished at the top, and diffusing a powerful
incense-like smell.” At the close of a hot, dry day the oil is,
of course, drawn from these glands in larger quantities than at
other times, and then we may count upon the possibility of
igniting itin the atmosphere, even though the match be held
at some distance above the plant.
Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information. Royal Gardens, Kew.
No. 15. March, 1888, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, Two-
pence a Number.
The object of this useful publication is to bring within reach
of every one interested in plants, in a cheap and accessible
form, the mass of valuable information which is always accu-
mulating in the Kew establishment.
The last number contains an article on Forsteronia Rubber,
the product of /orsteronia gracilis of British Guiana, ‘‘a large
twining plant, the stem of which trails on the floor of the forest,
snake-like, and the head spreads over the tops of the highest
trees above.” The good quality of the samples of rubber
yielded by this plant indicates that it would be a promising
commercial undertaking to collect it if the plant is found in
sufficient quantities. Another article is on Patchouli, a well-
known Eastern scent distilled from the leaves of Pagastemon
Patchouli, and familiar as the odor connected with India
shawls. The Patchouli plant is a native of the East Indian
Islands, where the leaves form a considerable article of com-
merce. The present number contains also articles on west
African Indigo plants ; on the Vanilla, and the advantages of
undertaking its extensive cultivation in the West Indies and
other tropical countries where this Orchid is not indigenous.
Directions for its cultivation and minute instructions for arti-
ficial fertilization of the flowers (illustrated), an operation which
will always be necessary in countries where the peculiar insect
which deposits the pollen upon the stigma of the Vanilla flower
is not found, add to the value of thisarticle. There are articles
on Streblus paper, made in Siam from the bark of S¢redlus
asper,a tree widely distributed through India, Ceylon and trop-
ical Asia, and closely related to the well-known Paper Mul-
berry; and on Usera Fibre, the product of a Natal plant
(Usera tenax), and, finally, on various samples of tea grown
in Jamaica, in Madagascar, and in Natal, where experiments
in tea-growing on a considerable scale are now being made.
Public Works.
Historic trees and shrubs for Central Park.—More than twenty
years ago Mr. James Hogg began to plant in his grounds: at
Eighty-fourth Street and the East River the novelties which
his brother Thomas Hogg was then sending from Japan. At
one time there were collected here more than 300 species
and varieties of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, mostly
from Japan and China. Most of these were the first specimens
of their kind to reach this country and many of them were re-
ceived here some time before their introduction into Europe.
Some years ago Mr. Hogg disposed of the place, and the trees
and shrubs have been somewhat neglected, and yet the collection
has continued to bea most interesting one. But the time has
come when the space must be covered with buildings and
through the efforts of Mr. Hogg the trees and shrubs were pre-
sented to the New York Park Department and most of them
have been carefully removed to the north-eastern part of Cen-
tral Park, where extensive improvements are in progress.
Among the trees are fifteen varieties of the Japanese Maple
which are specially interesting as first importations.
The first Magnolia hypoleuca was too large tor removal and
efforts will be made to protect it where it stands. A Japanese
Styrax of extraordinary size and a remarkable Tree Peony with
large single purple flowers are among the other treasures,
Small Parks for Philadelphia.—A noteworthy meeting was
held on Wednesday evening of last week at Association Hall,
Philadelphia, under the auspices of the City Parks Association,
to aid the movement in favor of creating at once seven small
parks in various parts of the city, and ultimately to increase
this number to a score at least. Ex-Governor Hoyt presided,
and Mr. Herbert Welsh, as Secretary, read a strong memorial,
which is to be presented to the Councils. Stirring addresses
were made by President Smith, of the Common Council;
Charles Emory Smith, of Zhe Press >; Col. A. K. McClure, of
The Times; Professor Rothrock, Rev. Dr. M. Connell, Drs.
White and Ashhurst, so that all the phases of the question—
political, economic, sanitary, social, scientific and moral—
Garden and Forest.
(May 16, 1888,
were presented with unusual ability. The objects of the new
Association commend themselves to the sympathy and active
support of all public-spirited men and women. ‘
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, May s2th,
The supply of cut flowers is very heavy and the quality is generally
poor, particularly that of Hybrid Roses. Paul Neyrons sell at from
40 to 75 cts., and Baroness Rothschilds from 35 to 75 cts. each.
only in fashionable localities that 75 cts. is charged for a selected Hy-
brid Rose, On Broadway and Fifth Avenue florists struggle to keep
up prices to a reasonable figure, but on side streets good flowers may
be bought for nearly half price. The average run of General Jacque-
minot Roses may be had for 15 cts. each, but selected ones cost
4octs. American Beauties range from 20 to 50cts. They are not as
much in favor as General Jacqueminots. Puritans cost from 35 to
4o cts. Moss Roses sell for 50 cts. a spray on Broadway and for 25 cts.
a spray on Sixth Avenue. Bride and Catherine Mermet Roses cost
$2a dozen. La France brings from $2 to $4a dozen. Papa Gontier
and Souvenir d’Un Ami cost $1 a dozen.
Niphetos the same, and Bon Silenes from 60 to 75 cts. a dozen, while
Mde. Cuisins bring $1.25 a dozen. Tulips are becoming scarce. They
are from out-of-door beds, and the majority of them are spotted—the
effects of the blizzard. They cost 75 cts. a dozen, the same as good
Lilies-of-the-Valley. Roman Hyacinths have disappeared. Pansies
are 25 cts. a dozen, and are extremely handsome. Southern Lilacs
are selling for 15 and 20 cts. aspray. Carnations cost 35 cts. a dozen,
excepting the Buttercup variety, which brings 50 cts. There are a
few Dutch Hyacinths to be had for $1 a dozen. Gtadioluses are 25 cts.
aspike. Daffodils cost 75 cts. a dozen, fine Forget-me-nots are 35 cts.
a dozen, and Mignonette ranges from 35 to 75 cts. adozen. There is
considerable of the white variety in market, but it does not sell as
readily as othersorts, Callas bring $2, and blooms of Litium longiflorum
$2.50. a dozen. Sweet Alyssum and Auricula are appearing in floral
shops. Small clusters of each cost ro cts. Violets are from 75 cts. to
$1 a hundred, and poor. Smilax is 40 cts. a string, or from 25 to 30cts.
ayard, Asparagus tenuissimus brings 75 cts, a string,
PHILADELPHIA, Jay rath. :
“Spring flowers,’’ which are called for very frequently-—more so,
perhaps, than anything else, excepting, perhaps, Roses—are nearly
all cut from cold-frames or out-of-doors now. Their season will soon
be past. The prices-keep up surprisingly. Choice Tulips bring $1 a
dozen readily; these are varieties which are too expensive for forcing.
The rarer kinds of Trumpet Narcissus, such as Horsefield’s, Empress,
and occasionally a few flowers of ‘*Grandis,”’ are eagerly bought at
$1 adozen. They are very beautiful. Tea Roses are not of as good
quality as they were ten days or two weeks ago, nor are Jacqueminots
and other Hybrid Remontants. American Beauty is the best Rose
now offered, and it appears to be the favorite, bringing the highest price
—$5 per dozen. Baroness Rothschild, Magna Charta, Paul Neyron,
Mde. Gabriel Luizet and Mrs. John Laing sell at from $3 to $5 a
dozen. Jacqueminots, $1.50 to $3.00 ; Mermets, Brides and La France,
2; Perles, Sunsets, Niphetos and Madame Cuisin, $1 to $1.50. This
last variety is very fine just now, being an exception to the general
rule, asit improves with the advancing season, brighter sunshine and
warmer weather. Papa Gontiers sell at $1; Bon Silenes, 75 cts.;
Lilies-of-the-Valley, 75 cts. to $1; Carnations, 35 cts. ; Pansies, Mar-
guerites, Forget-me-Nots and Heliotropes, 25 cts. a dozen ; Mignonette
from 25 cts. to 75 cts. Many conservative Philadelphians do not take
kindly to Asparagus, preferring Smilax, while others are becoming
tired of the older kind of green for large decorations. A new
vine, differing in appearance from either of those named, which
could be grown satisfactorily and cheaply, and that would stand well
in heated rooms, would be an acquisition at this time. Something
of the kind indicated is on trial at Baltimore, which will be watched
with great interest.
Boston, May r2th.
There is little change in the cut flower market. Trade in this line is
quiet just now, owing possibly to the charms of out-door flowers and
shrubbery which the pleasant weather has brought suddenly forward.
The auction sales of bedding plants have commenced in earnest, and
many people are devoting their attention to the beautifying of their
out-door surroundings. Still there is no great over-stock of good
flowers in the market, as the crop is light at present on everything,
and those who buy the best Roses find that they must pay full prices.
There are but few Hybrids now, and the price remains at about $6
per doz., for selected blooms. Jacqueminots are more abundant and
of extra quality; they sell for $4 per doz. Smilax is still scarce at 50
cts. a string and demand is light. Violets are poor in quality; these
and Pansies bring $1 per hundred; the latter are of extra quality, in
fact there is no doubt that Boston takes the lead in Pansy flowers.
Pansies and Mignonette have received increased attention for two
or three years past and in their greatly improved quality are becom-
ing deservedly popular. Long stemmed Carnations are 50 cts. a
dozen for the ordinary kinds. Grace Wilder and Buttercup Carna-
tions always command higher prices than any other ; selected blooms
of these varieties are worth $1 per doz, Callas and Lilies are in good
- supply at $2 per dozen.
It is
Perles des Jardin and’
May 23, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrick: TripuNnE Burtpinc, New Yorx.
Conducted by . . . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Eprrorrat Articies :—Rural Improvement Societies.—Labels. a Sea eats 145
Roadside Beauty..........+sssee eee e cree cent ees an has. W. Garfield. 147
EoLeED worl ypesiOL GeEMmetelies sr siciucisisis ic <ivleisiniais'bye sisicle<mveia ia 4 Olmsted. 147
ForREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :-— London MeL CGT eae stacereps prele bala ise William Goldring. 148
The Banded Hickory Borer (illustrated).. ...Professor Herbert Osborn. 148
New or LirrLe Known Piants :—Delphinium viride (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 149
CurturaL DEPARTMENT :—How to Prepare a Bed for Roses...... Fohn N. May. 149
Eland yi plants Ome O1Gin 2 vests (are vies £3 sfeicie'ste)sio als «| s arstegisip ate sista IW. A. Manda, 150
Forsythias—Campanulas—Magnolia stellata—Arsenical Poisons on Elm
‘rees—A Group of Trees or Shrubs (a suggestion)...
Prant Notes :—Japanese Apples (with illustration).........--
Heuchera sanguinea in Mexico—Vegetable Soaps.
The Rock-Gardenin § Ra latinas toe ee ee 6
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum
Tue Forest :—The Pennsylyania Forestry Association
HE ORR ESPON DEN GHemes sen isieelsreit caine vies cls a 7.5 sinisieeg aol elaeisiowie’s tenis cisisiety <'sia\s o'n.alase 155
Hictures of Japan: a. .cces - Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselacr. 156
BihesBoston: Flower ShOWssess.¢500s.csesaucle tres te saciraacctes mie gaeeige: . 1250
Retait Frower Markers :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston. 156
It-tusTRATIONS :—The Hickory Borer, three figures.......scesereecscreceeencees T4Q
Delphinium PECL Nk 20) mms eel ee teyeeree Meette cleis eo iceie's w b.= #'819-5 188 Fn oiel> 150
The Double Flowered “Japanes eee des 152
Rural Improvement Societies.
T is now some twenty years since the first village Im-
provement Societies were organized and the history
of many of them justifies every reasonable hope in which
they were founded. Some were established for a single
purpose —as, for example, the laying down ofsidewalks or
the planting of a public square—and when this end was
well accomplished they were formally disbanded. Others
entered upon a wider field of usefulness and thereis still no
abatement of their beneficent activity. Under their in-
fluence public spirit has been stimulated and public taste
has been cultivated ; the health of country communities
has been guarded by more wholesome surroundings and
country life has been made more satisfying and attractive.
Need enough there was and still remains for such organ-
izations, for it is not alone in city sewers and crowded
tenements that the seeds of disease are festering. Heaps
of offense reek in country hamlets and by rural. road-
sides ; poisoned water pours into country wells and fever-
laden gases are generated in village cellars. We can-
not hope that much natural beauty will survive under
the trampling of a great city’s population, but there is no
justification for the neglect by rural communities of the
natural beauty which appeals to them on every hand,
still less can excuse be found for the wanton disfigure-
ment of the native graces of the country by those who
_should be most concerned in conserving and developing
them. The associations which have adhered with intelli-
gence and zeal to the purposes for which they were con-
stituted have accomplished even more than the most hope-
ful could have anticipated, for their work is seen not only
in beautified road-sides, in more general cleanliness and
health and in largely increased land values, but in a grow-
ing local pride as well, in a more alert intellectual acti-
vity and in a more elevated social life.
But there have been failures, too, or at least apparent
failures, and these were foredoomed in any community
where but comparatively few were interested. A small
band of enthusiastic and well-instructed people can ac-
complish much when they have won the help of their
Garden and Forest.
145
neighbors, but work of this kind cannot prosper until
there is a general co-operation. The effort to overcome
inertia and opposition is too costly and wearisome for any
but the most courageous and patient. It may be incor-
rect to characterize the efforts at reform under these de-
pressing conditions as failures, for genuine earnestness in a
good cause is never altogether w« asted. Butin too many in-
stances the zeal of the few has been only superficial, or what
is quite as bad, it has been se iceds and just here
lies the fundamental reason for the most signal failures.
It requires no special skill to keep streets and yards
clean and road borders tidy, but it is an art to build a good
road, and unless the construction of a highway is p lanned
and supervised by a trained enginecr it will probably be
impassable when the frost is leaving the ground the next
spring. Amateur sanitarians make wild work when de-
vising a system of drainage for a town, as an outbreak of
fever ‘is too likely to demonstrate. Amateur tree- planters who
place White Pines in heavy, undrained lowlands, and set half
hardy andshortlived exotics on bleak and barren knolls, will
have a discouraging e experie nce when their cherished trees
sicken and die. If the service of an expert is needed for the
preparation of a creditable design for the improvement of
private grounds, how much more is special training
demanded when an entire town is to be treated witha
view to the development of its landscape possibilities! It
cannot be expected that the private dwellings of a village
will all be remodeled into beauty and harmony under
the directions of a competent architect, but the advice
of such an artist would be invaluable not only in
designing the: public buildings, but in giving caution and
counsel even down to such details as the vi llage fences,
the tree guards and the town pump.
All this means that while the love of order, the good
taste and the intelligence of many communities w ill suffice to
make a genuine improvement in village homes and their
surroundings, the full measure of the ‘possible usefulness
of those associations can only be attained when they are
directed by counsel of training and experience,
It is true that skillful masters in every esate of
the work to be undertaken are not always available and
it would not be wise for every community to postpone
action until their services were secured. But it is pru-
dent in every case where enterprises of this nature are
contemplated to move with deliberation and to make a
careful study of the entire field before actual work begins.
Much can be learned from the experience of other socie-
ties. Some of them publish admirable lists of trees for
planting. The officers of those that have been most suc-
cessful in this direction will gladly explain their methods
of planting, and subsequent care of the trees, which is of
equal importance. The annual reports of the most pros-
perous are full of information and suggestion on many
important matters, including the best methods of raising
funds and of enlisting the co-operation of the town au-
thorities. We learn from one of the interesting letters we
have been receiving from the Secretaries of various so-
cieties, that a mov ement has been started to form a New
England Association of Village Improvement Societies.
The discussions at an annual convention of delegates
from all the local organizations throughout the Eastern
States could not fail to be helpful.
With all these opportunities for instruction, it may be
hoped that new associations will be able to avoid cer-
tain errors into which the pioneers in this movement were
naturally led. And yet the counsel of a trained land-
scape gardener would be invaluable in every large en-
terprise, even when the most is made of all the means of
instruction that have been named. To the objection that
such counsel is expensive, the general reply may be made
that the best is always the cheapest. And more specifi-
cally it may be said that when any considerable outlay is
to be made, much more and much better work will be ac-
complished when a fair percentage of money expended is
paid for the best advice that can be obte uined.
146
Labels.
THOROUGHLY satisfactory label for a plant has
a not been invented ; and yet a good label is one of
the most important elements of a good garden. It should
be indestructible, cheap and unobtrusive, and it should be
made of a material upon which ordinary writing will be
durable and legible. The labor involved in naming and
in preserving the names ofa large collection of plants is so
great that experiments are constantly made with different
materials, in the hope that something may be found that
may answer all the requirements of a good label, at once
cheap and durable. The results of many such experiments
have been presented in a most interesting and in-
structive paper, lately read before the Massachusetts Horti-
cultural Society by Mr. Robert T. Jackson, of Boston.
Metal labels are more durable than wooden ones ; and
zinc, Mr. Jackson finds, is the metal most commonly used,
as itis cheap and reasonably durable. Bright, fresh zinc,
first cleaned for the purpose with very weak muriatic acid,
may be written on with an aqueous solution of chloride of
platinum or chloride of copper. These solutions can now
be purchased from dealers in seeds and garden supplies ;
and a quill pen is the best thing to use for writing with
them. Labels thus prepared need no further attention.
Zinc slightly roughened by oxidation, which is easily pro-
duced by leaving it for a few weeks in a damp place, may
also be written on with a soft lead pencil, The writing
soon becomes indelibly fixed on the zinc, and is as perma-
nent as if the chemical ink had been used. Labels pre-
pared in this way are known to havé been legible ten years
after they were written, and are, Mr. Jackson con-
siders, about the most satisfactory to use out-of-doors.
Iron, or tinned iron, painted a neutral tint and lettered,
is also used sometimes for labeling large trees, but copper,
chemically one of the most stable metals, would no doubt
make a better label, the names being written on it with a
white or light-colored paint. On smaller copper labels,
names, as Mr. Jackson suggests, ‘‘could be very easily
and rapidly marked by an etching process as follows:
Heat a sheet of copper, rub over with etcher’s wax, and
when cool, write the names with a steel point, laying bare
the copper on the lines of the writing, expose to nitric acid
and water—equal parts—for a few minutes, clean off the
wax with turpentine, and cut up the copper into suitable-
sized labels.” Pure tin—not the tinned iron usually
known as tin—is recommended for labels to be used in a
warm green-house temperature, where other metals are
subject to extreme corrosion. Names or numbers can be
easily stamped with common steel dies into any of these
metals, and stamped labels are more permanent than
written ones. And even when it is desirable to write the
name on a metal label, a supplementary number corre-
sponding to a number in a written record of the collection
adds immensely to its value. A narrow strip of lead
stamped with a name or with a number and wound about
the stem of a plant is used in many European establish-
ments, and makes a permanent label, although it has to be
taken off the plant to be read. Different styles of pottery
labels have been tried, but they break easily, and the care-
less blow of a spade will finish the best of them. White
porcelain labels, with the letters burned in, and set in iron
frames, are neat and indestructible, and perhaps the best
which have yet been devised. They are far too expensive,
however, for general use. Mr. Jackson calls attention to a
white composition label, in use in the Botanic Garden at
Geneva, which can be written on with a pencil or with in-
delible ink, but this would probably prove almost as brit-
tle and easily broken as pottery.
Wood is more generally used, however, in this country,
for labels, and probably always will be. Well-selected
white pine labels, soaked in linseed oil, will last for a
number of years, and white pine is probably the cheapest
wood of its durability which can be obtained for this
purpose. California redwood is very durable, and not
Garden and Forest.
[May 23, 1888,
now very expensive. It holds paint well, and makes an
admirable label, and so do the wood of the Southern
Cypress and the Catalpa. The last, however, is not com-
monly found in the market. Locust makes a very strong
and durable label, but it is expensive and its surface is
coarse for lettering. Labels made of pine, or of other not
very durable woods, when used in the ground should have
the lower portion carefully coated with tar. A pine stake
so prepared, and then painted with two coats of good paint
before being lettered, will last for eight or ten years. It is
a rule, which, so far as possible, should never be deviated
from, that the label should be securely attached to the
plant itself. It is easy to do this in the case of trees and
shrubs, but with annual, bulbous and herbaceous perennial
plants the label must be placed in the ground near the
plant. There is always danger that such labels may be
lost or misplaced. The record, therefore, in regard to such
plants, is much more difficult to preserve than in the case
of trees and shrubs. A metal label with the name anda
number plainly stamped into it, and securely attached to
a branch with a piece of good strong copper wire is the
best record which has been devised, and such a label
should be placed on trees and shrubs whenever it is im-
portant or desirable to keep a record of their history, even
when they are labeled in a more conspicuous manner for
the benefit of the public. It must be borne in mind, how-
ever, that labels attached to branches or the stems of small
trees should be examined every year, and the wire loos-
ened whenever the growth of the plant causes it to bind
the bark. Many plants are ruined from neglect to attend
to this precaution. ‘This is the great danger, and the only
drawback to labels fastened in this manner.
The best label for a large tree, when it is desirable to in-
struct the public by this means, is a piece of cold rolled
copper, twelve inches long by eight wide. The upper
edge should be bent nearly at right angles with the face of
the label, to make a narrow hood in order to protect the
letters from rain and moisture running down the trunk.
The Latin and English names of the tree, and its native
country, should be printed in some light neutral tint, and
the label should be tacked on the trunk with stout copper
tacks, at the height of the humaneye.
Trees with trunks too small to carry a label of this de-
scription, shrubs, and perennial and annual plants, can be
labeled with stout stakes prepared in the manner already
explained, and driven into the ground deep enough to re-
sist the heaving influence of the frost. A neater label for
such plants, although more expensive, can be made by
suspending a small oblong metal or wooden label with
copper wire to a slender galvanized iron rod, bent at one
end into an eye. The rods should be not less than three-
sixteenths of an inch thick, and from eighteen to twenty-
four inches long, in order to enable them to havea firm
hold on the ground, and to carry the label well up in front
oftheplant. Such labels, although more expensive, have this
great advantage over stake-labels that the writing upon them
can be made horizontal to the eye, and therefore much more
easily read. They are, moreover, more durable—indeed
such labels if carefully made are practically indestructible,
and they are Jess objectionably conspicuous. They should
supplement, however, in the case of small trees and shrubs,
the small metal label attached to a branch. :
The Senate of New York acted wisely and in accordance
with the most enlightened sentiment of the State when it
defeated the bill authorizing the Forest Commission to lease
the public lands under their charge to private individuals.
Not to repeat the objections to this measure which have
already been presented in these columns, it may be said
that the building of many houses and other permanent |
structures which was invited and encouraged by this bill
would go far to rob the North Woods of that wildness which
is one of their principal attractions. <A fringe of painted |
villas and fences about an Adirondack lake would certainly
add nothing to its charm,
May 23, 1888.]
Roadside Beauty.
HEN this part of the country was first settled a rail
fence, half a mile long, was built on the line be-
tween two neighbors. This was renewed by pieces and
remained the barrier between the two farms for thirty-
five years. ‘These men were not representatives of the
highest type of snug, thrifty farmers. They were tree
slayers and bared their acres of everything that stood in
the way of the plow or mowing machine. But along this
line fence they stored the stumps and stone and other rub-
bish that impeded their work, and bushes and young trees
soon sprang up. The row of wild growth became a
grand place for Raspberries and Blackberries when I was
a lad, and the regular harvest of Hazel Nuts came from the
same thicket. It was a famous place, too, for rabbits and
squirrels, partridges and quails to hide in.
But a new set of landholders came in to revolu-
tionize the neighborhood. A few tree lovers set-
tled here and my father was one. He bought the
farm on one side of the line hedge and another pro-
gressive farmer bought the adjoining one. A highway
was laid out on this half mile of line; the two thrifty
farmers cleared out the old fence, burned up and hauled
away the rubbish, and with pruning implements weeded
_ out the useless and carefully saved the most promising
trees in the greatest possible variety, the different Oaks,
the wild Black Cherry, and the Elms predominating. They
were left in groups, no effort being made to save trees at
regular intervals. These trees grew rapidly, and a fine
road-bed was made on either side. It is, to-day, the most
beautiful half mile of road in all our county, the pride of
every one who loves a tree or appreciates natural beauty.
But the race of vandals is not extinct. Land became
valuable and was bought up by speculators who were
anxious to cut the acres into small lots and get rich. They
wanted to ‘‘improve” the neighborhood and “make it
attractive.” They sought to widen the highway for a
mile and a half, including this half mile, and make it intoa
“boulevard,” with a wide road-bed in the centre, a side-
walk on the borders, and rows of trees on either margin,
“the way they do in Chicago.” I objected mildly, upon
the general plea of ‘‘no cause.” They pressed harder and
extolled the beauty and grandeur of a generous boulevard,
with every undulation taken out of it, and a grand Ameri-
can Elm on either side once in sixty feet. They pictured
the noble residences that would be erected on its borders
and the delight with which they would grub out that un-
sightly, irregular, obstructive row of trees, and have no
break in the road-way from end to end. I became impa-
tient, wanting none of their improvements, caring little for
a view of fine residences on forty-foot lots, with an own-
ership of two-thirds of a dead Elm tree planted in front.
Of course I was set down as lacking in public spirit and
obstructing intelligent progress.
Surely it is not true progress to lay out every suburban
highway on some Metropolitan model and take all the
individuality out of a neighborhood. Refined taste does
not commend the obliteration of all native and natural
beauty, to make room for some formal scheme of an en-
- gineer’s devising.
We cannot have trees, shrubs and vines on the business
streets of a city, and get any satisfaction out of them, but
on our highways, in the suburbs, there is no reason why
these untamed graces may not only be preserved and
protected, but rendered more attractive by delicate atten-
tion. This may be small work for a landscape gardener,
but itis good work for some kind of an artist, who not
only appreciates Nature, but is willing to adopt some of
_ her methods in rendering beautiful the surroundings of
homes that have not the advantage of park-like grounds
or magnificent distances.
Many of the most attractive highways in our State owe
_ their beauty to the shiftlessness of the pioneers, who al-
lowed a mass of bushes to grow up in the corners of the
Garden and Forest. |
147
old worm fences undisturbed for a generation; afterward
to be utilized by their more thrifty successors in the embel-
lishment of the roadsides. No plantations formed by man
are equal in beauty to these irregular masses of trees that
are of Nature's planting.
Occasionally I note an example of the workings of some
man’s mathematical mind, who has tried to clear out one
of these rows, leaving a tree once in so many feet, and
thus ruining the effect for all time. No one can pass
along a highway fringed with one of these wild borders
without a feeling of gratitude to those easy-going settlers
who allowed Nature to do what she could to compensate
for man’s wholesale destruction of forest beauty, which
was a necessary sacrifice, perhaps, to advancing civiliza-
tion.
We need not be sentimentalists of the kind that refuse
to destroy a tree that has passed its usefulness, or that
stands as an obstruction in a cultivated field, but we
should have a wholesome respect for Nature’s attempts to
beautify the waste places of the earth, and especially for
the way-side shrubbery, which gives attractiveness to the
roads we all travel and ought to enjoy.
Chas. W. Garfield.
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Two Types of Cemeteries.
Sa matter of design, burial places are of two distinct
types of character—the architectural or formal, and
the rural or picturesque.
The Campos Santos of most Latin countries are instances,
though often deplorably poor ones, of the formal type.
Most of the larger cemeteries of this country are instances
of the rural type.
It must not be thought, because we are most accustom-
ed to the rural cemetery, that it isthe only good kind, and
that the formally designed place of burial is foreign, anti-
quated, puerile, and in every way undesirable. The truth
is that each type has merits of its own. Both should be
had in mind when it is proposed to create a new cemetery,
and all the special conditions of the case should be well
considered and the decision as to which to adopt should
be made according to the balance of advantages.
Cemeteries of the formal type may well be adopted in
districts where the soil is too poor, the climate too hot and
dry, or too cold and bleak, for the successful growing of
trees, shrubs and turf; or where the available area is very
limited in proportion to the number of burials to be ex-
pected ; or, what comes to much the same thing, where
the land is excessively costly ; or where the tastes, habits,
knowledge and skill of the people strongly incline them to
work out more artistic results in architecture than in land-
scape gardening. The architectural or formal style lends
itself to the multiplication of large and costly monuments
as well as small and modest memorials, each with some
individuality, but forming part of a comprehensive design,
the scope of which may range from a geometrical, garden-
like court, toa great building of the most monumental and
dignified character, or froma city block to a great wood
with formal alleys and vistas running through it. The
principle admits of uniting the highest achievements of
architects, sculptors, painters, and other artists, with the
most skillful gardening: and the most choice trees and
shrubs, into one rich, harmonious and Satisfactory whole.
As, however, the fashion of making cemeteries in what
is intended to be the rural style has become firmly estab-
lished in this country, through the existence in parts of it
of favorable conditions, a few suggestions as to that style
will be of more practical interest than a further discussion
of what may be accomplished in the formal style. As one
of the results of the increased thought which has, of late
years, been given to the high arts and to those of architec-
ture, interior decoration and furnishing, a sentiment has be-
gun to spread among us of dissatisfaction with the ap-
pearance of many of our noted rural cemeteries.
148
If one were to ask, more in particular, the occasions for
this dissatisfaction, the complaints would probably be
made that the monuments, though costly and made in a suf-
ficiently workmanlike manner, are so generally common-
place and devoid of originality and imagination; that the
habitual use of white stone amidst green verdure forms too
violent and too frequent contrasts ; that the incongruities
between the monuments are intensified by their being
crowded together while but little attempt is made to screen
one from another; that the monuments, their decorations,
and their architectural and gardening accessories are so
often entirely inappropriate to the purpose in view; and
that the necessary and unnecessary artificial objects are
multiplied to such an extent as to completely dominate and
sometimes even obliterate the natural elements which can
alone give any excuse for the use of the term rural as ap-
plied to a cemetery.
There is sufficient ground for these complaints to en-
force the reflection that whatever is built by man can be
designed and executed with due regard to artistic as well
as to mechanical principles. There are canons of good
taste which should be as well known to landscape garden-
ers as to architects and other artists, and these, if intelligent-
ly applied to rural cemeteries, even though by men whose
artistic ability is not the very highest, would secure far
better results than those to which we are now accustomed.
JF. C. Olmsted.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HERE was a fair crop of new and rare plants exhib-
ited at the Royal Horticultural Society’s meeting
yesterday and thirteen certificates of the first class were
awarded, ‘The finest plant at the meeting happened to be
an old green-house climber Bignonia Tweedieana, first intro-
duced to Europe from Buenos Ayres fifty yearsago. Butit
has never been shown in such perfection before, otherwise
it would have been awarded a certificate, as it was bya
unanimous committee on this occasion. Like most other
Bignonias, it is a shrubby climber, having long slender
shoots, which (as the specimens showed) become wreathed
with a profusion of large showy flowers of a rich warm
yellow. They are fully three inches across and remind
one ofan Allamanda, but is afar more graceful and pleasing
plant. It has been commonly grown in England as a
stove climber, but now it appears that it wants a green-
house temperature in order to flower well. In any case it
well repays any amount of attention, if it can be made to
bloom freely, as these specimens from Pendell Court.
Another plant of importance was a variegated leaved
form of the common Cordydine tndivisa; erroneously called
Dracena indivisa. It has asymmetrical tuft of long, narrow
leaves, which, in this novelty, are broadly marked with a
whitish yellow band on each margin, giving the planta
pretty effect. A new single Rose, a variety of R. poly-
antha and named grandiflora, was certificated because of
the profusion of the large white flowers and buds, together
with the luxuriant foliage of the plants exhibited, which,
of course, had been forced. Those who like single
Roses will like this one. It was shown by Paul, of Ches-
hunt.
A pretty little crested, fronded Selaginella named .S. cus-
pidala crispa was next certificated. This is only a few inches
high and the fronds are like a feathery moss of a cheerful
green. It came from B, 8, Williams, who makes a specialty
of new Ferns and Selaginellas. He showed also a rare
Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum Athiopicum elatum), a tall
growing and extremely elegant plant, but as the committee
were doubtful about its difference from similar kinds of
Maidenhair Fern, it was passed.
The white variety of Jr7s s/ylosa, which has been placed
before the committee at two previous meetings this year,
was at length honored with a certificate. The albino is
Garden and Forest.
[May 23, 1888.
precisely similar to-the typical 7 sf/y/osa, excepting the
absence of color and the fact that its flower season ex-
tends over several weeks is, in itself, a great merit in a
plant from Algeria that flowers naturally out of doors in
our climate.
Among the numerous Amaryllises shown there were few
that conformed with the high standard that has been
agreed upon among Amaryllis fanciers. The flowers must
not only be large, but must show an advance in the direc-
tion of perfect form, while the color must be distinct and
good. The finest of the five certificated was called Con-
queror, which has flowers quite eight inches across, with
broad and nearly equal petals of a glowing scarlet, with
greenish white centre. The variety Finette is very lovely,
as its large and finely formed flowers are pure white, save
afew pencilings and splashes of crimson on the sepals.
Rodney has flowers of a vivid scarlet, not so fine in size
or form as Conqueror, while one called Miss Roberts has
white flowers exquisitely netted and veined with heavy
lines of deep crimson. The above were all certificated
from the group shown by Veitch & Sons. <A very fine
variety was certificated from B. S. Williams. It is named
Emperor Frederick and is remarkable for the very large
flowers, not so open as those shown by Veitch, but its
rich scarlet color makes it an exceedingly fine variety.
Two new Tree Carnations from ‘Turner, of Slough,
were thoroughly worthy of the certificates awarded to
them. They were Purple King, with large rosette-like
flowers, three inches across, of a rich plum purple, and
Mrs. Grenfell, best described as a magnified form of the
popular Miss Joliffe, as its large flowers have the same
pleasing, delicate, salmon pink color. Both will be in-
valuable sorts for winter and early spring flowers. From
a number of named sorts of Cineraria, all of very dwarf,
dense and compact habit shown by James, the com-
mittee selected for a certificate one called Maria,
which has enormous flowers of pure white with purple
centres. Some object to certificating Cinerarias because
the sorts do not come true from seed, but the same may
be said of most other florists’ flowers. James’ best
named sorts are propagated by cuttings.
Wm. Goldring.
The Banded Hickory Borer.
HIS insect is common, I think, wherever Hickory
grows, but it has received comparatively little at-
tention from entomologists. It appears to work more par-
ticularly on timber that has been cut, and frequently wood
that has lain for a year or two after being felled has been
found so full of galleries, that its value, even for firewood,
is greatly lessened, while it is rendered entirely worthless
for manufacturing purposes of any kind.
In Figures 26 and 27 are shown, reduced one-half, cross
and longitudinal sections of a hickory stick, picked out of
cord wood from a great number fully as badly eaten.
From these sticks were secured a number of the grubs and
pupe, and later, in May, the adult beetles issued, so that its
life history can be pretty fully stated. The eggs (Figure 28,
aand b) were obtained from the bodies of adult females,
as many as ninety-three being found in the body of a
single one. Judging from the fact that cord wood and
felled timber are so badly infested by the borers, while
standing wood appears to be but slightly attacked, it seems
that adult insects must select cut timber in which to de-
posit their eggs.
The young grubs commence channeling the wood at
once, but it is not known certainly how long it requires to
attain full growth. The cord wood mentioned above as
furnishing the adult beetles, had probably not been cut for
more than two or three years at the most, and we can
safely assume that the eggs in this case were laid after the
wood was cut, which would limit their life to two or three
years. On the other hand, instances are recorded where
the adult beetles have issued from furniture, carriages,
th aN et
o
-MAy 23, 1888.]
etc., some time after their manufacture. This would indi-
cate a much greater longevity, though the instances are
probably exceptional. When full grown the grub is yel-
low and has the appearance
shown in Figure 28 atc. Itis Wie { A
provided with three pairs of al as
very minute legs, scarcely e
distinguishable without a
lens. At this time it may be
found in a burrow in the hard
wood, but which has been
carried to the surface or at
least to the bark. The burrow
isan ellipse in across section
as shown in Figure 26,andin
some cases reaches half an inch in its longer diameter, but
may extend for three or four imches, running with the
grain of the wood. The oe from this stage to the
chrysalis stage (Figure 28) takes place in the latter part of
winter or in spring, occasional ones being found as early
as the first of January. The gallery in w hich the change
Fig. 26.—Cross section of Hickory stici
showing galleries of Chion cenctus.
Diameter, x 's
(From nature, by H. OS GEE
es
Fig. 27.—Longitudinal section of Hickory stick showing galleries of Chion cinctus.
Diameter x 3g. (From nature, by H. "Osborn. )
takes place is loosely filled with chips, before and behind
the chrysalis, so that it is partially protected, w hile. no dith-
cult boring is left for the adult to perform.
The adult beetles (Figure 28, e, male; # antenne of
female), for the specimens I reared, issued quite uniformly
during the last two weeks of May. These are grayish-
brown in color, an inch or more in length, and have
commonly a yellowish oblique band on each wing cover.
This band, however, is often wanting. ‘The front part of
the body is cylindrical with a sharp spine at each side,
and there are two spines at the end of each wing. The
antennee of the males are more than twice the length of
the body, while those of the female are only about the
Fig. 28.—Chion cinctus.—Drury. a, eggs, natural size, 4, enlarged; c, larva, full
grown; d, pupa, side view; e, adult male: /, antenna of female.
(From nature, by H, Osborn.)
length of the body. It is evident that any measures
designed to protect the timber must be adapted to the time
and method of egg deposition, since it is utterly useless to
attempt the destruction of the grubs after they have become
established in their burrows. Growing timber is so slightly
affected, that its protection is not necessary ; but timber
intended for manufacturing purposes, and even for firewood,
unless used the first year after felling, must be protected
Garden and Forest.
149
to avoid injury. Timber cut in the fall or early winter,
and becoming thoroughly dried before the beetles appear
in the following summer, will not be so badly attacked,
which very likely accounts for the superstition concerning
the proper time of the moon in which to cut timber. It is
often asserted, also, that if the bark be peeled off no
damage will be done. This, although wanting accurate
experiment, seems to be well founded. ‘Timber intended
for use in the factory, if valuable enough to warrant the
expense, could be protected by housing it before the latter
part of May, care being taken that windows or other
openings in the shed or building, large enough to admit
beetles, be protected by means of wire screens.
FHlerberi Osborn.
New or Little Known Plants.
Delphinium viride.*
HIS Larkspur (Fig. 29, page 150) of the mountains of
Chihuahua is a novelty in its combination of colors.
We have Larkspurs blue and Larkspurs white, also pink
and scarlet, and even occasionally yellow; but here we
have the sepals and the long, stout ce of a decidedly
yellowish green, while the short petals in the centre are
deep purple. The species is probably a biennial or a
winter annual, with a rather stout root, and is about two
feet high. It was found during the last season by Mr.
Pringle. on gravelly bluffs along streams at the eastern
base of the Sierra Madre. Seeds were secured, and it is
hoped that it may be successfully grown. oi We
Cultural Department.
How to Prepare a Bed for
HE amateur can grow Roses equal in quality to the fine
specimens w hich are seen on exhibition tables s; but todo
this there must be no misstep in the cultivation from the very
beginning. And at the very beginning must be met the ques-
tions, “Where shall we plant and how shall we prepare the
soil ?’
The bed should be somewhere in a fairly open place, where
the plants can have at least.6 or 7 hours of sunshine from
April till November. If the shadow of a house or fence falls
on the bed three or four hours a day the result will not be
fatal, but sunshine all day is to be preferred. Again, the bed
must be away from trees; not only from under their shade
and drip, but so far away that their roots do not rob the bed of
its moisture and fertility. Finally, never plant Roses in an old
bed or border where Roses have been growing before per-
haps for years. If no other place is availab le, all the old soil
to the depth of two feet should be dug out and carted away
and the bed filled in with good fresh soil. This point is of
vital importance.
Any, good loamy soil, when properly fertilized, will grow
Roses. By good loamy soil I mean soil ranging between what
gardeners call light sandy loam and heavy clay loam. But
where the soil approaches the first limit—thatis, where it is bs a
light, sandy texture, it will be materially helped if some clay
or heavy loam is mixed with it. On the other hand, a he AVY
clay loam will be rendered more porous and better if some
sand is thoroughly forked through it.
Of course the bed can be shaped to suit the fancy, but beds
star-shaped, or with any other intricate outline, suc h as we see
made for Coleus and Geranium, are not to be commended.
Roses.
The Roses look better, and can be better cared for, 1n a circu-
lar bed or square block. For a dozen plants a round bed
need be no more than four feet six inches in di te r. Nine
plants can be placed at equal distances in a circle about 8 or 9
inches from the border, and the remaining three can be placed
within this circle at equal distances from each other and from
the outer row. A bed eight feet eight inches in diameter will
accommodate three dozen plants if they are arranged in three
circular rows fifteen inches apart, with seventeen plants in the
outer row, twelve in the next, six in the next and one in the
centre: ;
=D, viripE, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad, xxiii. 268. Glaucous and mostly glabrous,
2 feet high; leaves pedately cleft, the segments acutely lobed, the upper leaves
more deeply and narrowly divided; flowers rather few, on long pedicels; calyx
pubescent, yellowish greens, the sepals 6 lines and the stout spur ro lines long;
petals purple, 3 3 lines long ; capsule s pubescent.
150
When the beds are cut on the turf the border should be
marked sharply, and a strip of sod cut out clean with a spade.
The soil should be then taken off to the depth of Io or 12
inches and laid on the outside of the bed. The subsoil should
next be covered to the depth of three or four inches with well
rotted stable manure, which should be forked in and mixed
thoroughly to the depth of another foot. The top soil can then
be thrown back, covered with another good coat of manure
and carefully forked over. In case the subsoil should be
found light or gravelly, it should all be carted away. The bot-
tom should then be dug up loosely, and the top soil originally
removed should be thrown in and manured as above. The
bed should then be filled up with soil from an old pasture,
using enough to raise the centre of the bed some three inches
above the level of the margin. This should then be manured
and forked. This will give a bed of fresh, healthy, active soil,
and without this it is impossible to grow the finest Roses. It
should be added that thorough drainage is another essential,
for Roses will no more thrive in a water-soaked soil than in an
unmanured bed of sand or gravel. This work is to lay the
foundation of a bed that is to last for years, and it pays to do it
well. Indeed, it is time and money wasted to do it in any
other way. All subsequent fertilizing is to be applied to the
surface. The bottom must be made once for all.
What Roses to plant in such a bed, and how to plant them,
Pe he THeSiubieerGt ate memariele:
ee ubject of another article Sohn N. May.
Hardy Plants for Forcing.
ete first spring flower in our woods gives unusual pleasure,
but it is quite as pleasing to see those vernal favorites
among our green-house plants. Delicate and unassuming as
they are, they will attract more attention than more showy ex-
otics. These latter everyone expects to see, but the sight of a
wild Columbine any time after Christmas always brings an ex-
clamation of delight. Many of these hardy plants force readily
in a cool green-house, and generally remain longer in beauty
than when they flower at their normal season. Strong speci-
mens should be selected to be potted in not too large pots in
September or October, and plunged in a cold-frame with such
plants as Violets. From the first of January, by which time
they will be well rooted, they may be brought into the green-
house, where they will flower withina period of from three to six
weeks. After the flowering is over, and the ground open, they
should be planted out again, and, if possible, new stock used
tor the next winter, to give them time to get well established be-
fore they are again used. It must be remembered that the
majority of such plants do not require higher temperature
than 50° by artificial heat, as the sun in reality does more to-
wards the torcing than the heat. A liberal supply of fresh air
should be maintained to prevent damping off, and to keep
away the green-fly, which is apt to infest them in closed
houses.
Doronicum Caucasicum is well titted for forcing, and needs
but three or four weeks to expand its blooms, which are of
deep yellow and over two inches in diameter. This makes an
excellent pot plant for decoration, and the long-stemmed
flower could be used for cutting. Itisanative of the Caucasus.
Similar to this is D. Austriacum and D. macrophyllum. Care
should be taken that the plant is not kept too wet, as it decays
easily.
Trillium grandifiorum, a beautiful native plant, succeeds
well when torced, and the flowers last a long time in perfec-
tion. It requires about four weeks to bring it into flower.
Cultivated roots should be used instead of collected ones, and
if well cared for atter the flowering season it might be used
for two or three successive winters with good results. This is
very useful for cutting and decoration.
Aquilegia Canadensis, our graceful wild Columbine, forces
in three or four weeks, and is useful for decoration, but does not
last long enough to be used for cut flowers.
Campanula persicifolia and its white variety are two good
plants to force. They produce long spikes of either blue or
white bell-shaped flowers and last long in perfection. It is
native of Europe and requires five to six weeks to bring it into
flower.
Geum coccineum plenum, a beautiful plant which is only
hardy on high and well drained grounds, makes a fine pot
plant, and three to five weeks of green-house culture will in-
duce it to push torth long stems of bright red, semi-double
flowers, that are very striking.
tris Germanica in varieties, and many others of the genus,
are first rate plants for forcing. They take three to five weeks,
and are very ornamental with their large and beautifully
colored flowers. :
Garden and Forest.
[May 23, 18388.
Caltha palustris isa very bright and striking plant, on ac-
count of its large yellow flowers. This requires two or three
weeks of forcing, and being rather common in our marshes it
might be easily procured. Phlox amaena make neat cushions
of pink flowers in three or four weeks after it has been taken
into the green-house.
Fig, 29.—Delphinium viride.
Viola pedataand Viola cucullata are very pretty when forced,
and require only a few good bright days to flower them under
the glass. :
Smilacina stellata is very useful not alone as a flowering
plant but for the sake of the delicate green foliage, and is very
effective in finishing vases or other larger decorations.
May 23, 1888.]
The hardy and native Cypripediums are excellent plants for
forcing. C acaule and C. pubescens require only three or four
weeks of artificial heat, while the showy C spectabile takes
from five to six weeks. The Hel/eborous niger isa very useful
and ornamental plant. when kept in a green-house for about
three weeks, but the heat must be moderate, otherwise they
turn green instead of white. There are many others like some
of the Saxifrages which could be named, but the above will
suffice for illustration. W. A, Manda.
[The number of plants which can be forced to bloom
unseasonably with the aid of a little artificial heat is almost
endless. It is a question, however, whether we do not
lose more than we gain in thus changing the blooming pe-
riod of hardy plants. The feeling of freshness and delight
which spring brings, with its bursting flower-buds, issome-
what dulled if we have been looking at these same spring
flowers under glass during ihe winter. Each flower has
its appropriate season, and is best enjoyed at that season,
Daffodils gave far more pleasure in April, and June Roses
in June, before they became common winter flowers,
Flowers out of season, like vegetables out of season, satiate
the taste, without affording the real gratification which a
flower or a vegetable gives in its proper season.
The Japanese, who, as a nation, are certainly more fond
of flowers than any other people, never force them. They
are Satisfied with their flowers as they appear in the course
of nature, and make annual festivals and holidays to go
out and enjoy the blooming period of the Plum, the Iris or
the Chrysanthemum.
There are tender plants enough which can be grown un-
der glass without dissipating the. pleasures of the garden and
the forest; and a return to.a more general use of such plants
is certainly desirable. —Lp. ]
©
Forsythias.—Gardeners recognize three species, namely, F.
Fortunel, fF. suspensa and F. viridissima. Mr. A.S. Fuller says
-he has obtained all three from seeds of /. susfensa, Butina
garden sense they are decidedly distinct. The brightest and
best is & Fortunet, F. suspersais like a trailing form of &. For-
tunei,and J. viridissima in wood, foliage and habit, and in color
of flowers is, to the gardener, distinct from either of the others.
Allare in'their most showy condition about the first of May,
and this is the time to note their own condition as shrubs and
their position in the garden. They should never be scattered
haphazard about a place like yellow patches in a ‘‘crazy quilt;
nor should they be buried in thickets of other shrubs, nor
planted beside a doorway, or alongside a much frequented path,
or anywhere else where their presence shall havea glaring
and obtrusive appearance. A little way off, as individual speci-
mens, or grouped by themselves, they have a pleasing effect.
But let them be in the vicinity of other shrubs or trees, and
rising from the turf.
In their wildest and most neglected state they often appear
in their least obtrusive and most effective condition, because
of their open, slender, graceful form—a shower of gold from
their topmost twig to the ground. But in well kept gardens,
as we have to regulate the growth of Forsythias and most
other shrubs, we cannot allow them unrestricted growth. In
many pretentious gardens, public and _ private, we often find
Forsythias, as wellas Priv et, Japan Quince, Deutzias, and the
like, clipped into close, round-headed forms. Such “ well-
trimmed shrubs” are hideous.
An old Forsythia in a neglected yard, with its golden wands
vising and curving and drooping to the turf in fluent grace—
surely this is more beautiful than a leafless lump that harmon-
izes with nothing in Nature. While we studiously avoid the
clipped monstrosity, we must curtail the freedom of the wild
plant if we would have a handsome shrub and profusion of
bloom. And now, after the plants have done blooming, is the
time to begin. Shorten back the young (last year’s) wood to
within a few joints of its base, and cut out gnarled, scraggy
and weakly old wood ; prevent overcrowding “of either old or
young wood, and if the shrubs have been neglected so that
the old stems have grown up high, leaving the bottom naked,
do not hesitate to cut them hard back. The points to be ob-
served are: maintain a good supply of young wood from the
ground up, and have the bushes open enough to admit light
and air sufficient to well ripen the shoots before next fi all, and
in this way secure an abundance of flower buds for the spring's
display, and work for medium-sized hard wood, rather than
Garden and Forest.
iy
stout, sappy growths, and do not cut out the little twigs. Never
prune Forsythic is from June till they have done Dlooming,
except to thin out overcrowding shoots
WF.
Campanulas.—In overhauling and top-dressing our rock-
garden a few days ago I was. astonished with the extreme
hardiness and accommodating character of the Bell-flowers.
These sow themselves freely, coming up in crevices and on
ledges everywhere. C Carpathica “produces some well-de-
fined varieties and some fine hybrids. C. ¢urdinata is one
of the most distinct and best. “The flowers are purple, and
comparatively large, but the chief varietal distinction, and one
always relied upon, lies in its being uniflorous. This variety
comes fairly true from seed. C pelviformis,: also very
handsome, was sent out by Messrs. Froebel, of Zurich, as C
turbinata pelvifor mS, having been “selected. from a batch of
the variety C. turbinata, This variety seldom comes true from
seed, andneeds to be propagated by division, which is easy. The
variety Hendersoni is a distinct hybrid, never producing fertile
seed—at least by its own pollen; what it would doit cross-pol-
lenized by C. Carpathica I do not know, but it would be inter-
esting to try. The plant’s habit is stout, growing I foot high,
having much-branched flower stems, the flowers being simi-
lar in shé ipe and color to those of Var. turdbinata, but much
larger; altogether a handsome and somewhat rare plant. C
Car pathic aturbinata X pullais noteworthy on account of being
ahybrid between two very distinct spec C. pullais the pret-
tiest of all the dwart varieties, having wiry underground stolons
and uniflorous flower stems with pendulous, truly campanulate
flowers of dark purple. The hybrid retains the character of C
pulla (even to the extent of bearing pendulous flowers) in all
but the shape of the flowers, which resemble those of Var.
turbinata, except being a little smaller. C. rotundifolia, the
“Harebell” and Bluebell,” grows about one foot high, pro-
ducing graceful panicles of small, truly campanulate flowers.
hee Os flatfelid.
Magnoiia stellata——A fine specimen of this beautiful Japan-
ese shrub, which flowered profusely a couple of weeks ago in
a yard on Fifth avenue, near the Central Park, attr icted the
admiration of the public. Magnolia stellata, which is also
known as JZ Halleana, was introduced a few years ago by the
Messrs. Parsons from Japan, where it is a favorite garden or-
nament. It isa native of the forests which cover the slopes of
Mount Fusi Yama, where it is said to become a small tree.
Like AZ conspicua and JZ, obovata, M. stellata belongs to the
section of the genus in which the flowers appear before the
leaves. They are white, deliciously fragrant, three inches in
diameter, the sepals silky -hairy ‘externally, oblong-obtuse,
much shorter than the narrow linear oblong petals, which are
at first spreading, giving to the flower w hen expanded the ap-
pearance of a pure w hite star. Later they become quite re-
flexed. The obovate leaves, borne on short petioles, are nar-
rowly obovate, two to five inches long. JZ stellata requires
the Same soil and cultivation as JZ cons picua and the other
Yulan Magnolias. It begins to flower freely when only a foot
or two high; and is an important and interesting addition to
our pertectly hardy early flowering shrubs. Ss.
Arsenical Poisons on Elm Trees.—The first brood of larvee of
the Elm-leaf beetle will appear in June. Timely applications of
Paris green or London purple in water sprayed over and
among the foliage of the trees will destroy this pest. But the
spray “will leave some poison on the grass. The poisoned
trees need not be ina pasture lot nor ‘around the dwelli ing-
house to be a source of danger. If there is the least possib se
chance of horses, cows, sheep or other animals grazing about
them, or of children playing there, the greatest caution should
be observed in using arsenites.
A Group of Trees or Shrubs—A Suggestion.—Why not take Red
Maple, Red Bud, Spice-bush, Shepherdia, Fragrant Sumac,
Cornelian Cherry, Leatherwood, Japanese Cory lopsis, and other
trees and shrubs of somewhat similar character, which bloom
before the leaves appear, and group them near each other in
some park, or large wooded estate. Hazels and other plants
bearing conspicuous catkins might also be admitted, but
Magnolias, Forsythias, Japan Quinces, and plants with showy
and discordant flowers excluded. As they differ so much
in some other ways, much discrimination will be needed in
using them. I have never seen such a group, but havea
strong inclination to form one. Les
152
Plant Notes.
Japanese Apples
F the many species and forms of the Apple cultivated
for the sake of their flowers, none is more beautiful
than the plant introduced from Japan by Von Siebold, and
known in gardens as Pyrus floribunda or P. Malus flori-
bunda (Fi. des Serres xv., 4 158.—Revue Horticole, 1866, p.
312 with 4) Maxiinowics has referred this plant to the
Chinese 2. spectabilis, but the deciduous calyx and very
small persistent fruit seem to point rather to a derivation
from the Siberian, Manchurian and north China P.
baccata.
It isa vigorous shrub or small tree, very common in
_ Japanese gardens, with long, straggling branches, forming
a head sometimes tw enty feet through, ‘The bark is dark
Garden and Forest.
[May 23, 1888.
Francis Parkman’s garden in Jamaica Plain, where this
Apple, now a stout bushy tree, perhaps eighteen feet in
height, still flourishes. The same variety was afterwards
sent to the Messrs. Parsons, of Flushing, by Dr. G. R.
Hall, an American physician long a resident in Japan ; and
it now appears in trade catalogues, both as Pyrus Parkmant
and P. Halleana. It onl y ‘differs, however, from Von
Sicbold’s plant in its semi-double, darker colored flowers ;
in the deeper color of the young leaves and peduncles, and
in its smaller fruit.
No shrub or shrubby tree surpasses these Japanese
Apples in marvelous abundance and beauty of bloom,
which is most attractive, perhaps, just before the pink or
red flower-buds expand and display the lighter colors of
the interior of the flowers. It is astonishing that they are
not better known and more often planted. They are
beautiful as single specimens and still more beautiful
Fig. 30.—The Double Flowered Japanese Apple.
brown, or nearly black, smooth and shining. The leaves
are oval, rather coriaceous, dark green above, lighter and
somewhat pubescent on the under side. The numerous
large flowers appear with the leaves; they are borne on
slender peduncles three or fourinches long, and completely
cover the branches. The petals are oval-elliptical,
longly unguiculate, rose on the outside, nearly white
within, The abundant fruit from which the calyx falls
before maturity, leaving a minute eye, is hardly larger
than a pea; it is round or sometimes oval, dull yellow
or red in color, and decays and then dries upon the
branches before separating from the peduncles which
remain attached to the branches until the following spring.
Our illustration above represents a flowering branch
of a form or variety of this Apple from a plant which
was sent to this country by Mr. F. Gordon Dexter,
of Boston, about twenty-five years ago, with the first
bulbs of Lilium auratum and the first plants of the golden
Retinospora and of Thwopsis dolobraia which ever came
to the United States. These plants found a home in Mr.
when grouped in great masses. They flower profusely
when very small, grow rapidly znd continue to improve
for years, They thrive in all soils, and neither intense cold,
great heat nor drought atfectthem. No foreign ornamental
tree introduced into this country adapts itself more readily
to its peculiar climatic conditions.
As Mr. Dawson has shown in some remarkable seedlings
which he has raised atthe Arnold Arboretum, the Japanese
Apple, like the rest of the family, varies considerably from
seed, and can be still furtherimproved by careful selection
—afact of which enterprising nurserymen should not be
slow to take advantage. GSS
Heuchera sanguinea in Mexico.—Accustomed during several
years to meet with this plant on the mountains of Arizona
and Mexico, and always admiring its mottled leaves and
striking flowers, I feel grateful to Mr. Hatfield for reeommend-
ing it for cultivation, and am prompted to tell of a visit made
last September to the station (or, at least, the vicinity) of its
original discovery, whence Wislizenus in 1846 brought dried
specimens to Dr. Engelmann, who praised it as “beautiful
May 23, 1888.]
and delicate, and certainly the most ornamental species of the
enus.”
The station is on La Bufa Mountain, overlooking the mining
town of Cusihuiriachic. Here, hanging from fissures of cliffs
of porphyry facing northward, or planted on their narrow
shelves, 1,500 feet above the din of the town and the smoke
of its smelters, an abundance of strong plants was seen, their
rosettes of leaves beautifully marked with white and purple in
the strong light of the place, and their flower scapes—bright
scarlet when fr esh, but maturing or drying crimson—like light
plumes tossing in the mountain breezes. From the nature of
its habitat—cool ledges, either wet or dry, and even the rich
humus at their base—this plant would be expected to thrive
in rockeries; and that it will prove hardy in most climates
may be inferred from the fact that along the northern limit of
its distribution it is exposed to many degrees of frost.
8 Com , Diet, puncke, C. G. Pringle.
Vegetable Soaps.—In widely separated countries there are
plants, in some cases herbs, and in others trees, which the
natives use as a Substitute for soap in washing. Whoever has
had his linen washed in northern Mexico will bear witness to
the efficacy of the root called axmo/e in cleansing the linen,
but his shirts will come back minus buttons, not so much
caused by the detersive power of the arvmole, as by the primi-
tive washing machine used by the Mexican laundress, who
selects a large flatstone upon the margin of a stream, upon
which the fabric is laid, and beaten vigorously with another
flatstone. The armoZe root is the root of a species of Phalan-
gium, one of the Lily family, and dried and made into little
parcels, is sold in every small town. The soap-wort, Safo-
narta officinalis, common in this country, is known as ‘“ Bounc-
ing Bet.” This was used in Europe in washing as a substitute
for soap, and in hard waters was preferred to it. The number
of plants that may be used asa substitute for soap is quite
large; the most important of which is the soap-bark tree of
Chili, where it is called “ Quillai,” or ‘‘Cullai.” The native
name has been taken for the botanical name of the tree, which
is Quillaja Saponaria. The genus Quillaja belongs to the Rose
family, and five species are known, all South American; three
are Chilian, one Peruvian, and one Brazilian, the most import-
ant being the (Ok Saponaria of Chili, as its bark is largely used
in its own country, and forms a considerable article of export.
This is a large tree fifty to sixty feet high, with evergreen
leaves, and usually small white flowers. Its bark, which is
rough without, internally consists of light colored layers, which
contain an abundance of saponine, which they readily impart
to water, causing it to lather in a similar manner to soap. The
bark is in general use in Chili on washing day, and is exported
to other countries. Itis to be found in our city drug stores,
where itis in demand by those who wish to use it for cleansing
silk materials. It is said to remove grease and other spots
and to impart a remarkable lustre to woolen goods, and is
used as a wash for cleansing the hair.—American Agricul-
turist.
The Rock-Garden Spring.
fritillaria pudica, although one of the first of the Rocky
Mountain plants known to botanists, is very rarely seen in
cultivation. It was discovered in the mountains at the head
waters of the Missouri, in what is now the Territory of Mon-
tana, by Lewis and Clark, in their memorable journey across
the continent early in the century, and was described and very
well figured by Pursh in his North American Flora. It is a low,
leafy pl: int, six to nine inches high, with alternate linear,
glaucous leaves, and clear, bright. yellow, pendulous, bell-
shaped flowers, nearly an inchacross. They are solitary, or
sometimes produced in pairs. This plant does not always
take kindly to cultivation, but it can be grown in a warm,
sunny rockery, if the bulbs are planted deep. in the ground,
and careful drainage is provided for them. It is well worth all
the trouble it takes to cultivate it, as it is one of the most deli-
cately beautiful of all the Fritillarias, as all those who have had
the good fortune to see great masses of this modest flower
blooming far above the timber line, amidst the melting snows
of the Rocky Mountains, can testify,
Orobus vernus is one of the hardiest and in every way most
satisfactory of the early flowering herbaceous plants. It is a
native of central and southern ‘Europe and belongs to the
Veitch Family. It grows about one foot high and formsa
compact, bushy mass of foliage, which at this ‘time is covered
with handsome, nodding flowers. These are produced. in
great abundance on axillary peduncles, and when they first
open are purple and blue in color, veined with red, later turn-
ing blue. The leaves are composed of two or three pairs of
Garden and Forest.
153
This handsome
250 years, but itis
ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, shining leaflets.
Pea has been an inhabitant of gardens for 2
not now very often seen in this country. It is entirely hardy
and grows in any garden soil. It can be increased by divis-
ion of the roots, or by seed, which is abundantly produced
every year.
The Pasque Flower (Anemone Pulsatilla) is also in bloom.
It is a handsome species of northern Europe and Russian
Asia, long cultivated for its large, solitary, violet-purple
flowers, very silky on the outside of the sepals. The carpels
are long and feathery, like those of the Clematis. This plant
succeeds best in well drained and dry situations, and naturally
prefers a limestone soil. It forms, when well grown, hand-
some masses of delicate, finely divided foliage; and flowers
freely. A beautiful and interesting form of the common wild
Wind-flower (Anemone nemorosa), with perfectly double flowers,
which was discovered in Connecticut a few years ago, is also
flowering here. It is a plant of considerable value, lasting
much longer in bloom than the common form,
Two very familiar northern wild flowers of the Lily Family,
the Wake Robin (7rillium grandifiorum) and the Bellwort
(Uvularia grandifiora), should finda place in every spring
garden. 77yillium grandiforum is a low perennial herb, with
a simple naked stem, bearing at the summit a whorl of three
rhomboid-obovate leav es and. a single large, spreading white
flower, two or three inches across, ‘and turning rose color in
fading. Trillium grandifiorum likes a deep, rich soil, and pre-
fers the shade of neighboring trees to the open sunny border, as
its home isin northern woods. It may be increased by seed,
although it is easier to obtain plants from the woods, which
require, however, two or three years to become thoroughly
established and to show their greatest beauty. Ovularia
grandiflora has drooping, yellow, bell-shaped, Lily-like flow-
ers, single or in pairs, at the summit of a slender, leafy stem,
one to two feet high. It may be increased by Ps ds and,
like the 7y7z//ium, “enjoys the shade of trees and a deep, ric h
soil. Few tis possess a more graceful, delicate beauty, or
better repay the trouble of moving from the woods to the
garden.
Corydalis solida, or, as it is often known in gardens, Cory-
dalis bulbosa, is the earliest of the genus in flower. It isa
pretty little herb a span high, witha ‘tuberous root-stock and
long-stalked biternate glaucous leaves, and rather large
purple flowers in short terminal racemes. It thrives in dense
shade, and:is now springing up in all directions from self-
sown seed. Itisa perfectly hardy plant which may be expected
to become thoroughly naturalized in this country. It is a
native of central Europe.
More difficult to establish, and much more delicate and
beautiful, is its near relative, the Dutchman's Breeches (D¢cev-
tra Cucullaria) of our western woods, now blooming here. It
is a dwarf plant with grain-like tubers, which send up finely
cut, graceful, glaucous” leaves, and a slender scape, bearing
four to eight pretty white flowers tipped with yellow. The
generic name Dicentra, formed from two Greek words signi-
fying twice and spur, refers to the two- spurred, heart- shaped
corolla of these plants. Dicentra Cucullaria when first taken
from the woods should be potted or boxed in rich sandy loam,
and kept close in a frame or cool green-house until new roots
are formed, It should then be wintered in a cold-frame and
not planted out until spring, which operation should be per-
formed without disturbing the soil surrounding the delicate
roots. Once established in a rich soil and ina shady situation, it
will require no further attention.
It is often supposed that the common English Primrose
(Primula vulgaris) is not hardy in this country, Here it suc-
ceeds admirably on a dry, grassy bank, which is partially
shaded in summer, but which now, when the plants are in
bloom, before the neighboring trees have expanded their
leaves, isin the full sun ight. The only secret of success here
with this charming plant is high, well drained soil, the use of
good, strong, well established “plants, grown in frames for the
purpose, and a slight protection of dry leaves left in autumn
where they fall from the trees. It well repays this slight
trouble.
Boston, May 6th. ; C.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
HE earliest of all the great collection of Prams in flower
is P. Davidiana, a shrubby Peach from Mongolia, where
it was discovered by the Abbé David, who found it also cover-
ing the hills in the neighborhood of Gehol (the summer
residence of the Emperor), and near Pekin. The specimensin
the Arboretum were raised from seed sent by Dr. Bret-
schneider, long a member of the Russian Legation at Pekin,
154
to whom the Arboretum owes many interesting plants.
Prunus Davidiana isashrub three to six feet in height, or,
in cultivation, according to Franchet (‘Plante Davidiane,” p.
103), a robust tree fifteen to twenty feet high. The bark of the
branches and stem resembles that of a Nectarine, and without
the fruit the most experienced Peach grower would hardly
guess the true character of this plant. It has considerable
ornamental value. The white, or sometimes pink flowers, are
produced in great profusion, and the flower buds are much
hardier than those of other Peaches. This suggests the pos-
sibility that this plant might be used in creating a new race of
flowering Peaches able to bear the cold of the Northern States.
The fruit, however, of Prunus Davidiana has no value. Itis
small, downy, nearly spherical, less than an inch in diameter,
grayish white, turning yellow at maturity. The flesh is very
thin, separating easily from the stone, even before the fruit is
ripe, and is dry and tasteless, lacking almost entirely the odor
of the Peach. It wrinkles on the branch before maturity, and
soon decays. Prunus Davidiana is interesting as the repre-
sentative of what seems a type intermediate between the
Peach and the Almond. A few days later Prunus ‘tomen-
zosaisin bloom, This is a shrubby Cherry, forming a dense,
compact and handsome bush three or four feethigh. Itis a na-
tive of northern China, whence, probably long ago, it was intro-
duced into Japan, where Von Siebold met with it occasionally in
gardens ; andadmirably figured it in his “Flora Faponica,” ¢.22.
This species can be distinguished from the other members of
the genus Prunus by the thick longtomentum which covers the
entire under side of the leaves. The flowers which quite
cover the long vergate stems are sessile or short stalked.
They are white, tinged with pink, and about the size of those
of the common Cherry tree. They open when the young
silky leaves are about one-third grown ; and the association of
the handsome abundant flowers and delicate young foliage is
particularly attractive. The handsome fruit ripens in July; it
is round or nearly oval, almost transparent, deep scarlet in
color, and has a pleasant but rather insipid flavor. Prunus
zomentosa is perfectly hardy; and its neat habit, handsome
foliage, early flowers and showy fruit, entitle it to more
general use along the margins of shrubberies or in the borders
of small gardens.
Lonicera Standishii and L. fragrantissima are in bloom,
These are probably forms of the same species. The branches
of the former are scabrous, however, and the leaves are decid-
uous, while in ZL. fragrantissima they are almost evergreen.
Both plants produce large, nearly white, deliciously fragrant
flowers before the appearance of the new leaves. They are
tall, stout, twiggy shrubs, with flexuous pale yellow-brown
branches, and oblong acuminate leaves, three to five inches
long. They are both doubtless of Chinese origin, although
L. frag: rantissima is a common garden plant in Japan. ZL.
Standishii is by far the hardier of the two here, and this fact
and its deciduous leaves point toa more northern origin. It
was introduced into England by Fortune, the Chinese traveler,
who found ita common garden plant at Shanghai. Neither
of these plants are very hardy here, but splendid specimens of
Fortune’s plant are a conspicuous feature in the shrubberies
of the Central Park in New York during the last days of April.
A dwarf variety of the common Leather-leaf (Cassandra
calyculata), sent to the Arboretum by the Messrs. Veitch, is in
bloom fully ten days earlier than the American plant. Itisa
compact and handsome shrub, eight or ten inches high, and
well worth a place in any garden border, And this is true of
Myrica Gale, which, although a denizen of the borders of
ponds and deep, cold, submerged northern swamps, is per-
fectly at home here on a dry, gravelly and exposed ridge,
where it has been flowering profusely during the past week.
The Sweet Gale isa handsome and very fragrant deciduous
shrub, three to five feet high, with pale wedge-lanceolate
leaves, appearing later than the flowers, which are produced
in stout, dense, chestnut-brown catkins from the upper axils
of the branches. It is a native of the northern Atlantic States
of northern Europe and of Siberia.
Salix chlorophylla,a low spreading bush, a few inches high,
from the Alpine summits of the White Mountains of New
Hampshire and from British America, takes kindly to cultiva-
tion, and has been in flower for a fortnight. It will make a
useful plant for the margins of shrubberies, where a bright,
pleasant green is desired rather than conspicuous flowers.
Two other North American shrubs, now in bloom, can be
used with great advantage for the same purpose. They are
the shrub Yellow Root (Zanthorhiza apiifolia),a member of the
Crowfoot Family, and the fragrant Sumach (Rhus aromatica).
The Zanthorhiza inhabits the shady banks of streams in the
Allegheny Mountains. It is a low and very hardy shrub, with
Garden and Forest.
[May 23, 1888.
erect stems twelve to eighteen inches high. The flowers are
small, polygamous, brownish purple, and arranged in short,
compound drooping racemes, which appear with or just before
the pinnate leaves from large terminal buds. The plant
spreads rapidly by the development of stems from the stout
roots, which, as well as the bark, are intensely yellow
and very bitter. Itis a free-growing plant in cultivation and
an excellent dwarf under-shrub, easily increased from seed
or by division. The Fragrant Sumach is one of the best plants,
if not the very best, to connect, in this climate, a mass of larger
shrubs, with the turf ofalawn. Itis low and spreading and
feathers out over the grass in pleasant, irregular masses of
pale green, and is never obtrusive with flowers too conspicu-
ous for such situations, or with inharmoniously colored foliage.
The minute yellow polygamo-dicecious flowers, in clustered cat-
kin-like spikes, precede the leaves, which are tritoliate, pubescent
when young, thicker and almost coriaceous at maturity, the
leaflets unequally cut toothed, the middle one wedge-
shaped at the base. They are fragrant when crushed. hus
aromatica is a native of the northern and north-western States,
where it inhabits dry, rocky hillsides. It flourishes in any
garden soil, and can be easily propagated by layers, or from
seed, which is very sparingly produced and not easy to obtain.
The leaves in autumn are brilliantly colored in orange and
scarlet. This plant is too littke known and appreciated in
gardens.
The leafless branches of the Spice-bush (Lindera Benzoin)
are covered with dense compound clusters of bright yellow
flowers. This is a tall and pungently fragrant shrub, which is
easily cultivated, and recalls, at a little distance, the European
Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mascula). Its early flowers
brighten low, damp woods and pond sides through the North-
ern States.
Andromeda floribunda, one of the hardiest of the broad-
leaved evergreens peculiar to the Allegheny Mountains, is
loaded with racemes of pure white, handsome flowers. It is
a desirable plant, which forms in cultivation a dense, leaty
shrub, four or five feet high, and which will grow in_nearly all
soils and exposures. A slight covering in winter of ever-
green boughs protects it from burning, and is of general ad-
vantage to the plant, and this is true, in this climate, of nearly
all broad-leaved evergreens,
The Mayflower or Trailing Arbutus (Zpig@a repens) is now
well established in the Arboretum, and is in full flower—almost
ten days later, however, than in the woods at Plymouth, where
it abounds. It is a prostrate, trailing and scarcely woody
plant, with evergreen, rounded, reticulated-leaves and deli-
ciously fragrant, rose colored flowers in small axillary clusters.
Itis the best known and most popular wild flower of New
England, and efforts to cultivate it are often made. The May-
flower, however, is extremely impatient of confinement and
can be naturalized in new localities only with the greatest care.
Young plants (it is useless to try to transplant old plants)
should be taken up late in September or in October, and care-
fully potted or planted in shallow boxes, in a compost of sandy
peat, and then kept in a close atmosphere in a green-house or
frame until new roots are formed. The plants can then be
wintered in a cold pit, but should not be planted out until the
second spring, by which time they will be strong and vigorous
and able to take care of themselves. They will do best if
planted on the north side of a hill in a compost of rather light
sandy soil mixed with leaf mould. When once it has a firm
hold of the soil, the #fzgwa will spread rapidly, and will
repay the labor necessary to establish it. Fe
May 7th.
SWE ROrest:
The Pennsylvania Forestry Association,
: ‘HE annual meeting of this active society was held in
Philadelphia on the evening of May 3d, with
Burnett Landreth in the chair. The first address was by
Dr. N. H. Egleston, of the Department of Agriculture, on
the esthetics of tree culture. Mr. J. B. Harrison was the
next speaker, and after a cordial allusion to the poetic
beauty of the address which had preceded his own, he
said, in substance:
“ Our chief interest in forestry is, of course, in the preserva-
tion and reproduction of trees for the most common uses, and
we have to deal with large masses of forest in their relation to
the water supply of vast areas of country, and with forestry in
detail, in the case of woodlands in the hands of individual citi-
zens. It is encouraging to see so many people drawn together
woe ee rm
ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee
May 23, 1888.]
by interest in this subject. T recall the years of lonely effort in
this field, when the only forestry meetings were held when two
or three pioneers met to compare notes of their observations,
and consult regarding plans for arousing public attention to
the rapid destruction of the forests in every part of our coun-
try. There has been considerable discussion of forestry sub-
jects within the last few years, but the practical results achieved,
in the preservation of our forests, are, thus far, very slight.
“The Adirondack mountain region in northern New York is
by far—or it was a few years ago—the most important body of
forest lands in the eastern portion of our country. But these
magnificent woods have now been for several years in process
of rapid extinction. There was a well equipped Forest Com-
mission in New York a few years ago, the most competent, in-
deed, that has yet been appointed in any State of our country,
and this Commission made a thorough examination of the
condition of every part of the great North Woods, and report-
ed a plan which, if it had been adopted by the State, and ad-
ministered in good faith, would have stopped the progress of
ruin and desolation, insured the preservation of most of what
at that time remained of the original Adirondack forests. But
there was sufficient ignorance, indifference, apathy and other
unfavorable influences, even in New York, to defeat this care-
fully matured plan. Vested interests and partisan political
considerations, working together in defense of existing meth-
ods of mismanagement, were too strong to be overcome by
the friends of the forests, and the process of destruction has
gone on with little check until now. I know of but two or
three men who have any just idea of the extent and thorough-
ness of the ruin which has been wrought in northern New
York, But lumbermen who have known the Hudson River
-for forty years say that the summer flow of that stream has
diminished one-fourth or one-third during that time. The
railroad people are completing arrangements for the destruc-
tion of most of the woods which now remain in that region,
and efforts are being made to obtain legislation which
will permit the leasing of tracts of State fores lands to
rich men from the towns. It would be hard to devise a more
unreasonable or mischievous measure. It ought to be
promptly condemned by the people of the Empire State.
“The destruction of the woods goes on in nearly every part
of our country in much the same way. I have observed the
work of the tree-slaughterers in the turpentine forests of
our southern Atlantic States, and have watched the work of
railroads and lumbermen, and of forest fires, in the great
mountain forest regions of the West. I have studied the mag-
nificent forests along Puget Sound and in the Cascade Range
through Washington Territory and Oregon. The forest masses
in every part of our country are being rapidly and inevitably
destroyed. As they perish the water-supply for the great
river systems of the country is diminishing, and vast territo-
ries are exposed to the evils of destructive floods and ex-
haustive drought.
“The question of methods for the preservation of our great
forests is one of exceeding difficulty, and the chief obstacles
are psychological—that is, they are found, not in any feature
or circumstance of the condition of the forests themselves, but
in the habits and qualities of mind, thought and character of
the American people. Asa nation we are much disposed to
an excessive reliance upon legislation as a means for the at-
tainment of nearly all objects which we regard as desirable.
The fact is that it is comparatively easy to obtain almost any
imaginable legislation. But law alone, in relation to any sub-
ject so complex as the preservation of our forests, is of very
slight value. No act of Congress, or of a State Legislature, can
have much effect in changing the habitual course of thought,
feeling and action in the mass of the people of our country.
But precisely such a change is indispensable, if our forests are
‘to be preserved.
“The truth is that nothing short of an advance in civilization
on the part of the American people would be sufficient to stop
the process of forest destruction which is now everywhere go-
ing on. The wisest forest laws would inevitably be adminis-
tered very ineffectively at first. Many mistakes would be
made, and if we have to depend chiefly upon the effect of
legislation for the preservation of our forests, it is most proba-
ble that by the time we have learned how to take care of our
forests efficiently we shall have none remaining to take care of.
To prepare us for the wise care of the varied and widely re-
lated interests which depend upon our forests we need im-
portant and radical changes in the thought and spirit and
character of our people. While the popular feeling about
wealth, about dric-a-brac, about the objects of life remains
what it is, the destruction of our forests, and of all that depends
upon them, is likely to proceed unchecked.
Garden and Forest.
155
“T tallked with a farmer in south-western Iowa last summer
who has cut off thousands of Black Walnut trees from ten to
fifteen inches in diameter, during the last thirty-five years, and
sold them for cord-wood. I showed him price-lists for black
walnut lumber and veneers from New York dealers, and easily
convinced him that if he had let his walnut timber stand till
now it alone would be worth far more than his whole farm is
now worth, He said he had no doubt it was true. Then he
added, ‘But it is too much trouble to think of anything so far
ahead.’ That is the key to many things in our national
character.
“Tn our thought of the supreme value of legislation for for-
est preservation and reproduction we are beginning at the
wrong end of the business, and are putting that first which
should be last. A long course of education of the people re-
garding the facts of the subject will be necessary before ade-
quate legislation can be devised or efficiently applied. What
we chiefly need now is an era of teaching and instruction re-
garding the subject—teaching that shall be intelligent and
intelligible, comprehensive, coherent, systematic, iterant and
authoritative, because based upon competent knowledge. The
greatest step in advance ever taken in this country in connec-
tion with forestry subjects has been made this year, in the
establishment, in New York, of a journal devoted to the dis-
cussion of forestry in all its aspects, and to the dissemination
of knowledge in relation to this subject.
“Europe, and every other part of the old world, can give us
all needed lessons of warning ; can show us the tragical con-
sequences of man’s want of wisdom, care and foresight in his
treatment of the forests in every land. But even for these les-
sons we do not need to cross the ocean. We already have
created small deserts in various parts of our own country,
where the area of desolation and of cureless ruin grows larger
every year. JI remember places where the dritting sand is
steadily swallowing more and more of the once fertile slopes
where a century ago the White Pine grew four feet in diameter.
“T do not think, however, that Europe can give us much
help as to methods of forest care or management. The psy-
chological conditions are so very different here, that we shall
have to learn our own lessons by our own observation and
study and experience. Our social and political conditions are
essentially different from those of any European nation. So
are the relations of capital to the mass of the people. I have
no doubt that in time we shall evolve American methods of
forest management. The best means to that very desirable
end must be vigorous, free, intelligent and persistent dis-
cussion.”
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Any one acquainted with the southern side of Long
Island will readily recall the vast stretches of low land fringing
the borders of the various bays for which that part of the
coast is noted. Its only use, apparently, is to furnish a little
salt hay ; but it has often occurred to me that there might be
some tree which would grow in such situations, and be worth
planting there. Has anything ever been tried in these dreary
wastes, and with what success? If not, what would you
recommend for trial? It goes without saying that if only
some arborescent growths could flourish in such spots where
the soil must be saturated with water more or less saline, the
land would in time become very valuable.
I believe there have been some interesting and successful
experiments in improving low sandy wastes along the coasts
of New England and New Jersey, but I never heard of any at-
tempts to reclaim the marshy borders of our great salt-water
bays. Very truly yours, ne
New York, May st, 1888. Bi Low
[No tree hardy in the Northern States will grow in
saline soil or in situations where its roots reach salt water.
The salt-marshes, which are so common along the north
Atlantic Coast, are really valuable for the hay they pro-
duce. This crop in some parts of New England is esti-
mated to yield six dollars a year net per acre; and marsh
land finds a ready market at $100 an acre. Such land is
too valuable, therefore, to plant with trees even if trees
could be made to grow on it. The low, rolling, sandy
hills so common at some points on the south shore of
Long Island might be planted to advantage with Pitch
Pine (P. rigida) in the same manner that similar land on
Cape Cod has been covered with this tree.—Ep.
156
Pictures of Japan.
AX interesting collection of pictures of scenes in Japan was
recently exhibited in the Reichard gallery on Fifth Ave-
nue. The painter, Mr. Theodore Wores, is a young Califor-
nian, who, after completing his studies at Munich, passed three
years in Japan and is now established in a New York studio.
Some of his pictures represented street-life in the Island-em-
pire or works of architecture, but many dealt with themes of
exceptional attraction to lovers of flowers and students of gar-
dening art. In one, for example, we saw a long avenue of
pink- blossoming Plum- trees, with a couple of young girls ex-
amining the strips of paper, inscribed with impromptu verses,
which, in accordance with a pretty national custom, are fre-
quently hung on these favorite trees when they are in flower
and the people go in thousands to enjoy them. The wide
road, which for the moment wore the aspect of a great flowery
arbor, had an open space in the centre wide enough for the
passage of the small vehicles of the country and then on either
side a line of oval stones sufficiently raised to give comforta-
ble footing in wet weather. Another canvas showed two
young girls i in a jinriksha, bringing home great branches of
the double- _ ‘ring pink Cherry, and on more than one we
saw large trees of this species in full bloom, in front of tea-
house or te ole: Another showed the balcony of a tea-house
overhanging a pond in which floated great golden carp, and
overhung itself by an immense Wistaria-vine, with clusters of
flowers, such as are not uncommon in Japan, fully three feet
in length. Another had as the foreground a ‘Japanese room,
the widely open side of which gave an enchanting glimpse of
a garden with miniature streams and bridges, and. infront ofa
small building, a large tree with smooth li¢ht. colored bark and
coral-colored blossoms, called in Japan “Sarosse-souberi—the
Indian Crape Myrtle (Lager stroemia Indica). A glimpse
of a garden at Nikko, with a tiny cascade overhung by
a Wee eping Willow, was also interesting; but the most
attractive of all the pictures to a lover of artistic floral
arrangements was the one called “A Lotus Pond.” The
pond formed part, apparently, of a large park, and was itself a
rectangular basin, perhaps sixty or seventy feet in diameter,
filled by a thick, tall growth of pink Lotus. It was enclosed by
a well-built stone wall crowned with a simple yet dignified
stone balustrade. Large rectangular posts finished w ith ball-
like ornaments and w idely spaced, were the chief supports of
a plain rectangular rail, while the many lesser intermediate
supports were diamond- shaped on plan and set anglewise to
the road. Where the water of the pond flowed off in a little
stream the road was carried over an arched bridge of graceful
low curve, and the balustrade here became a solid paneled
parapet, sparsely ornamented with carving. Nothing better
could be found for imitation in this country than this balus-
trade and bridge, and many lessons in the Sel Sect hy wooden
railings might also be gathered from Mr. Wores S pictures,
When used in connection with much foliage they ; appear to
be generally painted of a soft pale green, lighter than the
green of the foliage but harmonious with it, having nothing of
that crude, acid tinge which our own green pigments so often
show. And in all cases the uprights were plain and far
apart, and less conspicuous in effect than the three or four
horizontal members. The contrary is usually the case
in our own wooden fences, but a comparison of their
trivial, fragile appearance with the simple solidity of these
Japanese fences would convince any eye that we should do
well to change our practice.
It was interesting to note in one of Mr. Wores'’s street-scenes
how the artistic instincts of the Japanese display themselves
even in the humblest and simplest articles of utility. The
chief figure in the scene was an itinerant flower-vendor, and
his wares were carried, not in baskets, but in two great open
cages of bamboo, to the uprights and cross pieces of which
were attached hollow sections of bamboo, some large and
some quite small, in which the flowers were placed “always
in bunches of a single sort. The whole arrangement was
light, portable i altogether practical, yet as pleasing to the
eye as though beauty had been the sole end in view.
M. G. van Rensselaer,
The Boston Flower Show.
The May exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural So-
ciety held on the 12th inst. w a far richer than was expected,
not only in plants competing for prizes, but in the variety and
excellence of other contributions. Among the most noticea-
ble plants was a magnificent pyramidal specimen of the Indian
Azalea decora nearly eight feet high from Mr, J. L. Gardener, for
Garden and Forest.
[May 23, 1888.
which he was awarded a silver medal. Denys Zirngiebel ex-
hibited several dishes of the best strain of Pansies ever shown
in this country. The flowers were more than three inches in
diameter, of good form and substance, and the colors cannot
be described. Some were a genuine red, while others had al-
most all eee colors blended together. The committee
justly awarded a silver medal for those beauties. Good plants
of Calceolarias were shown by Thomas Clark and W. Spencer,
and in the first collection was a plant with two-lipped flowers
which seems quite desirable. Some fine Pelargoniums were
sent by W. Martin, gardener of N. T. Kidder, ea and some by
J. H. White, who also showed some good Gloxinias. Mr. W.
Spencer exhibited well grown plants of Cattleya Skinnert,
Cattleya Mossie and Anguloa Clovesti, while Mr. Martin staged
a fine plant of Dendrobium thyrsifiorum with eight spikes,
Cypripedium Lawrenceanum and C. barbatum. Mrs. P. D.
Richards showed a very instructive collection of named native
plants. The display of cut flowers was very attractive.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, May rgth.
There are complaints of dullness of trade throughout the city.
Flowers are plentiful, but the average quality of them is not satisfac.
tory. Hybrid Roses are short-stemmedas a tule. American Beauty,
Magna Charta and Baroness Rothschild are the Roses arriving in the
finest condition, Ulrich Briinner is also very handsome. Long-
stemmed flowers of the above varieties bring 75 cts. each. General
Jacqueminots are small and scarce. The “best cost $3 a dozen.
Countess of Pembroke and La France sell for $2.50a dozen. Madame
Cuisin, Bride and Catherine Mermets cost $2 a dozen. Moss Rosebuds
are esteemed the choicest of the Rose stock. These are $5 a dozen.
era Roses are $4 and $6a dozen. Perles, Niphetos and Souvenir
@’Un Amiare $1.50 a dozen. Papa Gontiers and Bon Silenes are’75 cts.
adozen. Carnations are 50cts. a dozen. Southern Lilacs have dis-
appeared, and this flower is scarce; although a few come from
New Jersey. Violets are virtually out of market. Pansies are very
handsome, and 25 cts. a dozen. Dutch Hyacinths are $2 a dozen, but
are inslow demand. Tulips are 50and 75 cts. a dozen. Daffodils do
not drop below 75 cts. a dozen, and Lite of-the-Valley are disposed
of easily at $1 a dozen if well grown. Mignonette is 25 and 50 cts. a
dozen. The large spiral sorts have disappeared. Narcissus poeticus
costs 5 75 cts. a dozen, and Gardenias are $3. Callas bring $3 a dozen,
and Gladioluses the same. Orchids are much used for dinner decora-
tions. Cattleyas are the favorite variety, They cost 50 cts, a flower.
PHILADELPHIA, AZay rgth.
The only novelties worthy of mention that have appeared this
week are single Dahlias and Gladioluses. Single Dahlias are admirable
for cut-flower purposes ; they sell at $3 a dozen. Gardenias are more
plentiful, and sell at $2.50 per dozen. Roses in general are not-so
good in quality, Catherine Mermets, Brides, Bennetts and La France
sell at $2.a dozen. Perles and Sunsets from $1 to $1.50. Niphetos
and Papa Gontier, $1; Bon Silene, 75 cts.; Madame Cuisin, $1.50;
Madame Gabriel ieee 93 to $4. These retain their delicate coloring,
but are falling off in size. Baroness Rothschilds are $3. Jacque-
minots, $1.50 to $2.50. American Beauty rules higher in price than
any other Rose now offered—quotations are from $ 3 to $5, choice
flowers selling readily at the latter figure. Tulips range from 50 cts.
to $1—the fine late varieties selling at the highest price. Carnations
and Mignonettes 35 cts., and Pansies, 25 cts. a dozen. Lilacs sell on
the street corners as low as 10 cts. a bunch of ten sprays. Apple
and Cherry blossoms are occasionally offered at ro cts. a bunch.
The Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum cuneatum) sells at 35 cts. a dozen
fronds. It is used largely in plateaus, with the living plants plunged
in Moss; in this way they remain fresh for along time. Gladiolus
in limited quantities sells at 25 cts. a spike.
Boston, Jay roth.
The week of rainy weather, so beneficial to all out-door vegetation,
has had an opposite effect on hot-house productions, particularly
Roses. The Roses coming to the market at present show plainly the
influence of the damp, dark weather, Catherine Mermets are decid-
edly off color. The same is true of Bon Silene and La France.
Jacqueminots are scarce and Hybrids generally almost unobtainable.
Roses of the small Tea classes sell for 75 cts. per dozen. Fancy Teas,
$1.50 to $2.00, and Jacqueminots at $4.00 to $5.00 a dozen. Car nations
are -more abundant and of better quality ; 50 cts. a dozen is the
ruling price for long stemmed blooms. Lilies-of-the- -Valley, Tulips
and Narcissus grown 1 out-of- doors, are beginning to comein. They
bring from 50 cts. to 75 cts. a dozen.
supply at $1.00 a dozen, while $2.00 is asked for Z. longiflorum.
There is an abundance of white Stocks in market at present.
quality is of the best, and although somewhat coarse, yet their de-
licious fragrance makes them aw elcome addition to assorted boxes of |
It is fortunate that spring flowers are popular, as there —
cut flowers.
are but few very choice varieties offered. Marguerites, Pansies,
Mignonette, Heliotrope, and such small flowers are abundant and v ery)
é heap. Maidenhair Ferns are now of best quality. Smilax still rather
scarce,
mM
#
‘Ascension ‘Lilies are stillin good —
Theil
Te
May 30, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: Tripune Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by... . . « « © « « « . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 1888.
TABLE OF GCONTENTS:
PAGE.
Eprroriat ArticLtes :—An Important Literature.—Balcony Flower Boxes.—
IN) asegaccedunbee pon: (OO On SO pe ene RE aurora onrrorecr ie veer 157
Glimatetofrtheubraitles ase m cere srsla:a + riv.sizian sr ais\ays5 o15im Professor F$. L. Budd. 158
Fungus Diseases of Insects....... aa .--trofessor W. G. Farlow. 159
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter............002005 William Goldring. 159
PAM Gar Genes MArig AL areicis,| « slelctetsse.s,2.s-0:¢ 2:01 blsieiongcd. av elciaia sists lbis'aceia.e bis FE. L. 160
New or LitrLeE Known Piants :—Heliconia Choconiana (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 161
CuntTuRAL DEPARTMENT :—A List of RoseS......ececsccessccaccess Fohn N. May. 161
PolyanthusesS.......+..-+-e+seeeee eee é Wiliam Falconer. 16x
Viola cucullata—Tulipa Kaufmanniana—Cereus grandiflorus—Rose Prin-
cess Beatrice—Odontoglossum Harryanum......-...esseeeeseeeesees 163
Gav 03
PUN SPOCK Garg elt IMsOPHIN Pie stare wate sists a4 8 aise wines minuie.e sp Ssieisle Suse cst G
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum...............0-.00 4
Tue Forest :—A New Jersey Pine Forest (with illustration)..
SORRESPONDEN GE cisielatetnisicieinis/ainicisia efewsisieis pretsisia =/5 slajatnes
ReEcENT PusiicaTions
PERT ODIGA TaMIGTEECRA TIES 8H mieten ninie'n stave bfara:steiase’sig.o slats sinjatesieie 2’ eisis(siais’=' /e(bincc,cix'p vineiaa es be
IN OTe Sietetete orca eevee cialaaers sisialchsiSeciwinia:pa\ejslatlcisieeie < artiate's
Rerait Flower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston...........-
Intustrations :—Heliconia Choconiana, Fig. 31........seeeeeee eee eeee ; - 162
AUN ew) erseyi ii ne One Stra sate cavrersjnsissclats y eerestcesslngatarn s)he (aresde fhe SoCo 164
An Important Literature.
HE admirable report of the Connecticut State Board
of Agriculture for last year, which has just been re-
ceived at this office, calls to mind the rapidity with which
literature of this sort is accumulating. Many of these
volumes contain papers of permanent value, prepared by
experts in various lines of investigation, in all depart-
ments of practical agriculture, horticulture and forestry,
and in thesciences related to them. Besides these, many of
the states publish reports of horticultural societies, of ex-
periment stations, of forestry meetings and of official en-
tomologists and botanists. To these official documents
issued by the state must be added the publications of viticul-
tural associations and of a national association of horticul-
turists, one of nurserymen, another of florists, and another
of seedsmen, not to mention the reports of the venerable
American Pomological Society. In Wisconsin, where
a thoroughly organized and competently conducted
system of farmers’ institutes is held every year, the cream
of the discussions, covering the entire range of rural eco-
_nomy, is gathered into an interesting volume and issued
at public expense. Every year the number of these pub-
lications increases, and they keep pace in quality with the
advancing intelligence of their readers on all the subjects
treated. Most of them are published in large editions,
which are distributed gratuitously, so that almost any one
who may desire to do so can collect a good-sized library on
practical horticulture and agriculture at a trifling cost.
Of course the various papers in these publications are of
unequal value, and the secretaries do not always edit them
as carefully as they would if the books were sold on their
merits. This means that much chaff is included with the
wheat, and at times the reader grows weary, and wishes
that the winnowing had been done for him. Very plainly
the value of these official documents could be increased
and their expense diminished if their contents were more
carefully selected. This evil increases as the volumes
multiply, and unless some heroic reform is soon begun, the
articles of real value will be buried at last under such a
Garden and Forest.
157
mass of inferior matter that they will be practically lost.
And this difficulty is increased by a lack of proper indexing.
The compilers are not paid adequately for the work of careful
editing and complete indexing, so that the student finds what
he most wants only by laborious searching or by lucky
accidents. :
The increase of experiment stations under the law creat-
ing one in every state, and the fact that periodical bulletins
are required from all of them under the statute, will swell
the volume of this literature until it literally burdens the
mails, inasmuch as it enjoys the rare privilege of being
carried without postage. Perhaps the first freshet ot
these bulletins will have small value. Very little work of
genuine worth can reasonably be expected of an experiment
station before there has been time and adequate prepara-
tion for experiments. It may be added that little instruc-
tion can be looked for from these institutions unless they
are officered and manned by skilled observers, trained to
habitual accuracy. Indeed, it is not improbable that crude
teachings, advanced with the presumption and assurance
that always accompany superficial work, may in occasional
instances do more harm than good. It is too evident that
until there are in this country more men of scientific train-
ing who are available for work of this kind, the stations
will be inefficiently conducted. It must be assumed, on
the other hand, that the work, andasa consequence the pub-
lications of these stations, willrise in value until they con-
tain each year a body of doctrine that cannot be neglected
by students or by practical tillers of the soil. The obvious
suggestion is that at some office of central authority these
current reports should be collected, collated and classified.
A periodical statementin condensed form of the conclusions
reached at the various stations, if it were accurate and au-
thoritative, could not fail of being useful. For popular
reading it should be translated as far as possible into sim-
ple language and should be unencumbered with technical
details ; it should be edited and annotated in such a way
that ordinary readers could distinguish and separate what
had been actually proved from what was only probable or
still in controversy, and the practical bearing of the scien-
tific investigations recorded should be plainly set forth.
At a meeting of representatives of the various agricultural
colleges and experiment stations held last October, the
necessity of some co-ordination of effort among these in-
stitutions appeared so evident, that a committee was ap-
pointed to consider this among other subjects ; but so far
as we are advised, no plan for editing the bulletins has been
perfected.
The national Department of Agriculture is the natural
place where a compilation of this kind should be prepared
in connection with the work of its own divisions of chem-
istry, entomology, pomology, botany, forestry, and myco-
logy. The Commissioner himself should be a man of
recognized scientific attainment, or at least he should
have such a known appreciation of the value of special
training that he would be selected without question as the
proper person to organize this bureau for gathering up the
scattered and incomplete work of the state stations, for
systematizing and unifying it, and for publishing its results
in a coherent form. Unfortunately the men who have
filled this office could not always be trusted to supervise a
labor of this sort; but perhaps the influences which have
impelled Congress to create the stations may avail to secure
hereafter the selection of a chief who will be accepted by
all as equal to every duty imposed uponhim. Meanwhile the
horticultural, agricultural and other reports are multiplying,
and they already contain many papers that students would
like to read if they only knew where to find them. Would
it be a work unworthy of the Department to have made a
full, topical index of all these reports uptodate? It would
seem that the stores of experience locked up in these vol-
umes was worth enough to justify the trouble of providing
akey. Such an index could not fail of being helpful to every
one engaged in special research in any direction and in any
portion of the field of agriculture, horticulture or forestry,
158
Balcony Flower Boxes.
LARGE number of the dwelling-houses in our smaller
towns stand far enough apa art from one another and
far enough back from the street to be encircled by small
lawns, by trees and shrubs and flowers. If their owners
do not always make the best possible use of the opportu-
nities thus afforded them, still there are few cases in which
some desire for beauty is not manifest ; and the general
aspect of streets composed of such houses is apt, at least,
to be verdant and cheerful. But in every town which de-
serves the name—which is too large to be called a village—
we find other streets where the houses stand so close to-
gether and so near the street, that, except as they may have
yards lying in the rear, no space for gardening remains.
The aspect of such streets as these is too commonly dreary
and dull in the extreme. The architectural interest, or, at
least, dignity, which the streets of a city may have is want-
ing ; and, although a row of Maples may shade the side-
walk, there is nothing to show that the householder has any
love for natural beauty or any wish to enliven the prospect
for himself and his neighbors. Yet this householder is
most often of the class which cannot seek beauty and re-
freshment by prolonged summer vacations in really rural
spots. Winter and summer his home must be here, and it
seems a double pity, therefore, that there should be so little
to mark to his eyes the difference between the seasons.
Surely something might be done to enliven such streets a
little, -and to give their occupants a small taste of the
pleasure which their wealthier neighbors get from their
lawns and shrubberies and flower beds.
The only available resource is the cultivation of plants in
boxes. But simple and humble though it sounds, it is a
resource in which lie possibilities of great improvement for
such streets as we have in mind, and of much enjoyment
for their dwellers. A few years ago a lady who had
lived long in Germany, where the growing of plants in
window- boxes is a widespread national custom, found her-
self established for the summer in the central house of a
row of small, ugly wooden houses in a little town near
New York. The front stoop descended to the sidewalk,
and between the parlor windows and the front railing
there was room for nothing more than a narrow balcony
and an exiguous strip of grass. But before the summer
was over this naked, unattractive house-front was _ blos-
soming like a bower. A few Roses had been planted
in the narrow strip of grass, a few creepers beside the
stoop; from the roof of the porch hung a great basket of
trailing plants, and along the top of the ‘balcony balustrade
ran wide boxes filled with veritable little thickets of foliage
and flowers. The cost had been almost nothing ; the labor
bestowed had been little indeed; but the result was
charming, and the succeeding season bore good results.
Not only had many neighbors followed the example
thus set, but here’ and there all through the town
could be seen attempts at imitation. Balconies were en-
circled with flowery boxes, window-sills were filled with
them, and even the railings of long piazzas bore them too.
Boxes suitable for such purposes can be made at the
most trifling expense of pine-wood, painted to correspond
with the house. If the su pport on which they stand is
narrow, additional space may be gained by flaring their
sides. Holes for drainage should be pierced in their sides
near the bottom, and they should have a layer of potsherds
or small stones beneath the rich garden-earth with which
they are filled. If the space exceeds five or six feet in
length, it is better to use a succession of boxes instead of
one long one, as then they may be more easily emptied
and removed at the coming of winter, to be kept in a dry
place until again required. Plant towards the front of
the box such trailers and creepers as will grow to five or
six feet, but not more, in length—German Ivy, for exam-
ple, Tradescantia, Cypress-vine, and, among them plants
of Lobelia, Mahernia and the pretty little Convolvulus
which seedsmen call C. minor. And behind these, which
Garden and Forest.
[May 30, 1888.
after a very few weeks will form a deep curtain of waving
green across the front of the balcony, plant what you will
so long as it will not grow to too great a height nor form
too solid a mass of color. What you want is not a mass
of vivid Coleus nor of pink and red Geraniums, but a mass
of green, with here and there a Geranium or Verbena, or a
crimson Coleus and sparks and accents of all bright hues.
Not only are the effects thus produced more beautiful, but
the danger from thievish boys is less than when a mass
of easily picked large flowers attracts their fingers.
Many of the most desirable plants for this purpose can
be grown from seed, and the others can be very cheaply
bought in pots. The care they require will not extend be-
yond a gradual thinning out as growth progresses, a little
attention to the direction of the trailing shoots, a constant
removal of faded flowers, and a daily watering—all of
which can be done at odd moments, and with none of the
fatigue that attends stooping over garden-beds. For this
last reason the cultivation of such tiny box-gardens should
be especially attractive to invalids and elderly persons,
while the beauty they may be made to yield will be doubly
valued for being constantly under the eye of those whom |
household cares keep much within walls.
An appropriation for the establishment and mainten-
ance of a Forestry Station at Dodge City, on the Arkansas
River, in the extreme south-western part of Kansas, was
made by the last Legislature of that State. Mr. George V.
Bartlett, of Ohio, has been appointed director of the Sta-
tion. Fifty acres of iis previously prepared by a
season's Cultivation, has already been planted with the
seeds of a great variety of trees, and large numbers of
forest and fruit trees have been planted. The results of
such experiments, if properly conducted, made in a region
where the annual rainfall is insufficient to secure a nat-
ural growth of trees, cannot fail to be interesting and valu-
able. If trees can be made to flourish permanently at
Dodge City, without the aid of irrigation, the important
facts will be demonstrated that cultivation can be depended
on to take, to a certain extent, the place of rain, and
that trees, if properly cared for, can be induced to grow
in regions which are naturally treeless, owing to natural
conditions unfavorable to tree growth. On the other hand,
if the trees planted at Dodge City are unable to support
the aridity of the Plains, these experiments should go far
to prove that a large part of the naturally treeless region
in the interior of this Continent must, even under favor-
able conditions of cultivation, remain forever treeless.
Mr. Bartlett has a problem to solve of great public im-
portance, and the results of his experiments will be
watched with interest.
Climate of the Prairies.
Na paper read before the American Pomological So-
ciety at Grand Rapids, Michigan, on ‘‘Hard Prob-
lems in Pomology,” I said: “ Year after year since 1856-7
our lists of fruits, shrubs and trees for general culture have
been revised by the active horticultural societies of the
Prairie-States, yet to-day the northern half of Iowa and II-
linois, and the southern half of Minnesota and Wisconsin,
can show more dead or crippled trees and shrubs than has
been known in the world’s history at any one time.”
The real causes of this general wreck of trees and shrubs
listed as ‘‘ hardy” east of the lakes do not seem to be well
understood. The common impression at the east seems
to be that our orchard troubles are caused by winters far
more severe than are known in any part of New York.
In reality our mid-continental extremes of heat and
moisture of air during summer and autumn have most to
do with the health and longevity of our igneous plants.
When our first settlers built their cabins on the borders of
our isolated groves and river timber-belts, they could not
fail to notice “the absence of the Mosses, the Laurels, the
Rhododendrons, the Conifers, and the plants generally of
AS eo Fae,
iat
eee
May 30, 1888.]
more humid and equable climates, and they soon learned
that our extremes of moisture and temperature presented
new problems in plant and tree culture.
As early as 1856-7 the stories of dead and dying trees
were told over a large part of the west, but a careful
comparison of notes will show that many varieties of the
orchard-fruits, and of ornamental trees and shrubs, which
endured perfectly the extremes of rainfall and of atmos-
pheric changes in the early days, are now placed in the
tender list. The reasons for this apparent increase of cli-
matic rigors of which our early settlers complained is
beyond all doubt due to changes wrought by man.
As stated by Bryant in his work on Forest Trees, the
primitive prairies were covered with so dense a growth of
grass, that on the lower levels it could be tied over the
head of a man sitting on horseback, while sloughs,
marshes and drainage-centres were clogged, and the pri-
mitive timber of the streams presented real forest condi-
tions. The whole country was in condition to hold the
June rains and give them off gradually to the summer air.
At that time we were subiect to variations of rainfall
ranging from 74% inches in 1851, to 23% inches in 1854,
but the prevailing westerly winds of such dry seasons as
that of 1854 were never known to “ fire” the blades of corn,
to curl and burn the leaves of fruit trees, or to prevent the
deposit of copious dews at night, as they passed over a
vast stretch of clothed plain that modified the intensity of
their heat, and left a part of the moisture they contained.
Since that time man has wrought changes in the whole
aspect of the country.
A section large enough to make several such kingdoms
as are found in western Europe has been turned with the
plow, the surfaces of sloughs and marshes have been
bared by clearing away the timber and hardened by
drainage. During the droughts of 1886 and 1887, our
prevailing winds from the west and south-west during
the growing season have passed over a relatively dry,
heated plain which has drank up their moisture with
avidity and raised their temperature to a degree not known
thirty years ago.
Possibly these climatic. evils, as Bryant says, may be
‘mitigated and perhaps wholly removed by planting a
due proportion of the country to forest trees,” but in the
meantime we cannot wonder that we cannot grow some
of the field crops and many of the varieties and species of
trees and shrubs that thrived with us thirty years ago.
Yet eastern readers must not get the impression that we
have an approach to desert conditions. The extreme sea-
sons we speak of, with light rainfall, extreme heat and
aridity of air, followed by cold dry winters, that are so
fatal to the larger part of the orchard fruits, ornamental
trees and shrubs grown at the east, visit us at rare inter-
vals and do not materially affect our agricultural interests
when the general results of periods of from five to ten
years are considered.
And even these extreme years permit almost perfect suc-
-cess in growing the small fruits, the grapes, our native
plums, and such orchard-fruits as can endure the extremes
of heat, aridity, and temperature of our summer and winter
climate, as well as our native forest trees.
We succeed with the small fruits, the grape and the
plum because they are native to our soil and climate. We
fail to grow successfully the small fruits, grapes, apples,
pears, cherries, forest trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, etc.,
of western Europe, and their seedlings originated in the
States east of us, for the reason that in leaf, bark, and char-
acter of cell structure of wood they do not meet our cli-
matic requirements.
But all this does not prove that in due time we shall not
conquer the situation by the introduction of the orchard
fruits of climates similar to our own.
We have already a great number of varieties that stand
every extreme as well as our Box Elder. If with farther
trial they do not come up to our standard of excellence in
quality, we can rapidly change them by crossing and
Garden and Forest.
159
by selection. We may not materially modify our climate,
but we can and shall adapt plants and trees to it as has
been done in similar climates of the old world. At another
time I will attempt to give some of the peculiarities of
leaf, bud, bark and wood, of the ligneous plants that bid
defiance to prairie-winds and weather. J. L. Budd.
Fungus Diseases of Insects.
le the subject of injuries done by insects to plants of
various kinds is of interest to horticulturists, it is, as
a matter of course, interesting to know about the fungus
parasites which destroy the insects themselves. Every
one has noticed the white fungus which attacks and kills
large numbers of house-flies in the summer and autumn.
A good deal has been written on this fungus in a popular
way, and its specific name, Lypusa musce, is probably
not unfamiliar to many of our readers. The species be-
longs to the order Lntomophthoree, which has been but
little studied in this country, and an admirable monograph
on the subject, by Mr. Roland Thaxter, published in the
Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, con-
tains a great many facts of interest even to those who are
not in the strict sense botanists.
Only three species of Empusa had been known hitherto
in the United States: Lmpusa Musce, which kills house-
flies ; Z. Gry/i, which causes epidemics in grasshoppers ;
and £. spherosperma, on the clover-leaf weevil. Mr.
Thaxter describes 26 species of Limpusa in the United
States, 15 of which are new to science, and, so far as yet
known, peculiar to this country, and 8 which occur in
Europe, but not before recognized here. The insects at-
tacked were species of several orders, flies, gnats and
other Diptera being most frequently, and Neuroptera
(dragon-flies) the least frequently affected. Besides the
species of Lmpusa, Mr. Thaxter gives descriptions of a re-
lated form previously known on the seventeen-year locust,
and a curious form on the excrement of frogs, not before
found in this country.
The Lypuse have two forms of reproductive bodies,
some found on the surface of the insects attacked and
others in their internal organs. The nature of the latter
has not been very well understood, but the facts stated by
Mr. Thaxter form an important supplement to what has
previously been written on this point, and it is now plain
that this group of insectivorous fungi should be classed not
with the white moulds which produce disease in fishes, such
as the salmon mould, but rather with the common moulds
which flourish on various articles of food in all houses.
The discovery of so large a number of fungi of the genus
Empusa which attack a surprisingly large number of spe-
cies of insects, and the accurate knowledge of their habits
and mode of reproduction, recently obtained, would lead
us to believe that, at no very distant day, it may perhaps
be possible to check the increase of some injurious insects
by artificial propagation of the Lypusa which prey upon
them, and, under suitable conditions, destroy them.
W. G. Farlow.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HE most valuable Orchid which received a certifi-
cate at an April meeting of the Royal Horticul-
tural Society, was a variety of Odontoglossum crispum,
from Mr. Charlesworth, an importer at Bradford. It has
very large and finely shaped flowers, the petals and se-
pals exquisitely crisped and almost wholly covered with
bright reddish brown blotches. It is the finest variety
that has been exhibited this year, and will take equal
rank with Veitchianum, Sanderianume and others. It is
known as Charlesworth’s variety. An Orchid somewhat
similar to the striking Odonfoglossum Rossii, var. F. L.
Ames, already described, is O. Humeanum. It is sup-
posed to be a natural hybrid between O. cordafum and
160 Garden and Forest.
O, Rossii, and was considered worthy of a certificate, inas-
much as it is pretty and distinct from other varieties. It
does not differ much in growth from the typical O. Rossi,
but the form of the flowers and their color is different, the
lateral sepals being a pale lemon yellow, with reddish
brown blotches at the base, the other sepals coffee-
brown, the lip pale yellow, crest yellow, and column
purple It is a good deal like one called O. aspersum,
and, in fact, may prove identical with it. Though not
a new Orchid, Angraecum arcuaium received a certificate,
apparently because of its rarity. It cannot be called a
first-rate Orchid, many alae: of Angrecum being much
more showy. Its flowers are white, borne in short spikes
and sweetly scented. It is quite a specialist’s plant, and
certainly did not merit a certificate in comparison with
the others shown. The greatest novelty among Cat-
tleyas that has been seen this year is a form of C. 7riane
named Cour/auldiana, It is a good deal in the way of
Backhouse’s variety, but more remarkable. The flowers
are above the average size and of good form. ‘The sepals
and petals are pale - pink, heavily ‘barred with the richest
carmine crimson down the centre of each petal; but the
bars are made up of freckles and spots, and not of one
heavy dash, as in Backhouse’s variety. The lip, too, is
very rich in color, so that altogether it is a remarkably
showy Orchid. It cropped up out of an importation and
was first exhibited by Mr. Courtauld (an Orchid grower in
Essex) at the great international show at Ghent. Orchid
spe just now are not as plentiful as they have been,
The chief demand is for new Cypripediums and every nurs-
eryman is searching for them. I lately saw a handsome
new hybrid in Sanders’ nursery named C. Lemornierit, which
may be best described as bearing resemblance to C. ca-
turum, also a hybrid of the Sedenz type. But C. Lemoinierit
is a much finer plant, more vigorous in growth, with
larger flowers and more richly colored, the tints being of
a bright reddish pink. This, too, was exhibited in Ghent,
and was the admiration of the Continental Orchidists, who
are also infected with the Cypripedium mania.
London, April 22d. Wm. Goldring.
A Garden in Shanghai.
ion this place it is an easy task to transform a flat, dreary-
looking piece of ground into a flourishing garden filled
with a great variety of flowering shrubs. The country for
miles around has been made by ‘the silting up of the Yangtzse
River. About three hundred years ago the sea washed against
the walled city of Quinsan, which is now thirty miles inland from
here, rising from the plain like a miniature mountain, topped
by its picturesque pagoda and left faraway from any intercourse
with foreign civilization. The alluvial plain for one hundred
and fifty miles about Shanghai formed from the siltings from
the Yangtzse River gives strong nourishment to allshr ‘tubs and
other plants; the dampness and great heat act as a forcing-
house, and they grow as if by magic,
Before beginning to planta garden the land must be raised
several feet by making ar tificial ponds, the excavated earth sery-
ing as anexcellent fer tilizer, and around the ponds there is room
forlandscape gardeningin miniature. Ata short distance outin
the country good grass “sods (of a species of Poa) are found, and
these, well laidin Novem ver, will givea beautifullawn the follow-
ing summer, if rolled and cut once a week, always leaving the
cuttings, which serve the two-fold purpose of protecting the
roots from the sun and of enriching the ground. Special care
must be taken to keep out the Bamboo Grass and Clover,
both of which grow rapidly and soon kill out the grass ; but
the expense of | “doing this is moderate, as small coolies are to
be had for fifty or one hundred cash a day, the equivalent of
five or ten cents,
The approach to our garden is through a pretty lane
bordered on either side by Ligustrum lucidum, real Privet,
which makes with its deep. green leaves a good hedge, if con-
stantly clipped, ‘otherwise it grows into small trees from fifteen
to eighteen feet high, w hich when in flower fill the air with a
heavy, sickening odor. The entrance is through an archway
made by two old Willows s, whose lopped branches serve as a
trellis-work about which a Wistaria winds itself with a
python-like embrace, and every spring sheds a lilac-colored
veil over these skeleton trees, Such is the profusion
[May 30, 1888,
of the flowers, that in time the weight of the creeper will break
down the tree.
Near by are Locusts from seeds sent more than twenty ~
years ago from the United States. They have flourished well.
In spring the trees are bent with the graceful clusters of white
flowers.
Stiff Yuccas growing in clusters from ae same stem; fan-
shaped Palms (Chamerops humilis); Bananas, not strong
enough to bear the hard frosts without a straw covering; Can-
nas, which make themselves comfortably warm underground
and spring up fresh every year—all these, with a background
of Pittosporum Tobira and Mex cornuta or Chinese Holly,
with its horn-shaped leaves, give a variety of green coloring
most restful to the eye during the blazing heat of summer.
The so-called Rose of Sharon (Hyfericum calycinum) grows
in profusion, covered with golden blossoms, and close at hand
are several varieties of Gardenia, loading the air with strong
perfume from their pure white flowers. English Ivy,
Japanese Honeysuckle, Clematis (commonly called Passion-
flower), Bignonia Stnensis, and several Roses, among them the
Banksia, introduced into England from China many years ago,
the Gloire de Dijon and Yellow Tea, are among the hardy
creepers, but the lovely Moon-plant, a kind of “exaggerated
Convolvulus, with its perfect white disk-shaped flowers, droopsat
the earliest frost. Its seeds must be sown in March, and the
seedlings kept under glass until June, for it belongs to the
tropics. On first flowering, the long, spiral buds untold as the
sun goes down, closing “before sun-rise and ending their
ephemeral existence ; later on, as the days become shorter and
cooler, the flowers keep open during the morning.
Skirting the lawn are fine Fir trees, and the Cypress, always
graceful, whether in the russet coloring of winter or when the
soft spring air is calling forth its young, light green tips. The
Tallow tree (S¢7llingia sebifera) colors its heart- shaped leaves
with bright tints in autumn, and these, with the golden tones
of the Salishuria adiantifolta, or Ginkgo tree, give a slight
suggestion of New England October scenery. However, this
home-dream vanishes as the eye falls on a cluster of feathery
Bamboos, on the Fragrant Olive the Kwei-hua of the Chinese,
and on the Eviobotrya Faponica or Loquat, with wool-covered
flowers, made lovely only when the branches are bending with
clusters of yellow fruit. These shrubs are over-topped by the
Melia Azedarach, a good-sized tree, commonly called the
Pride of India, which has fine heliotrope- colored blossoms in
clusters. Below this is the Magnolia grandifiora. Much more
stately and far prouder it looks with its glossy dark leaves
and rich, large, creamy flowers.
On one side of the pond is a tangled copse filled with Privet
(Nandina domestica), Rose of Sharon, Pittosporum, Palms and
Bamboos, of which last there are sixty-three chief varieties in
China. They are more valuable to her than her mines, and
yield, next to rice and silk, the largest revenue.
There is no month i in the year when some shrub may not be
found in flower; for, although the range of the thermometer
is great, reaching the high “nineties in July and August, and
falling to twenty- two and lower, often giving twelve degrees
of frost, Fahrenheit, for several days ata time, still the cold is
soon tempered by the force of the sun, which has been known
to produce sunstroke in February ; a rare occurrence, how-
ever. During the early winter months, large feathery branches:
of the Heavenly Bamboo, with brilliant bunches of scarlet ber-
ries drooping from the slender stems, are hawked about the
streets. These are followed by Cherry and Almond blossoms.
The Edgeworthia or Yellow Daphne decks its stiff, bare, brown
stalks with soft yellow flowers before the frost has gone, and
as the spring comes forward the J/agnolias burst into bloom.
Photina serrulata, with its young red leaf-buds unfolding
from amid the old, dark, evergreen leaves, gives the effect, ata
distance, of a flowering shrub, Daphne odora, brought here
from the hills at Ningpo many miles to the south, flourishes
well, but must be protected from the scorching summer sun,
as well as from the strong north-west winds. This is easily
done by planting it ona bank which faces east and amid taller
shrubs and trees. The flowers of the Peach, of the great
Magnolia, of Althcea, and of the Albizzia, with fluffy pink blos-
soms, follow. in quick succession ; and before these have
faded Gardenias and the Fragrant Olive are in bloom. After
which winter is approaching, “and again the Mandina domestica
is to be seen.
Tulips, Hyacinths, Sweet Peas, Mignonette, Pansies, Salvias,
Hollyhocks, Sunflowers, Zinnias, Canter bury Bells, Nastur-
tiums, Phlox—in fact, all garden flowers from the United
States and Europe—have been introduced ; many, however,
must be treated in rather a reverse method from that usually
employed on the other side of the planet.
Ses
May 30, 1888.]
Tulip and Hyacinth bulbs should be planted in October, and
not left in the ground later than June, otherwise the rain and
heat will rot them. Sweet Peas thrive best in large tubs, the
seeds sown in September for spring flowering. The seeds
of Canterbury Bells sown in the spring make a few leaves
during the first summer; afterwards they may be transplanted
in the autumn, and the following spring they are in perfection.
Mignonette does better in pots, although it will flower for a
short time in the open before the damp heat comes.
The glaring red Salvia is well suited to endure the summer
heat. This, planted out in the spring, comes to its greatest
beauty in October, notwithstanding it had been in flower
throughout the summer.
Each year new flowers are to be found in the different gar-
dens; but the great question is, what will best stand the mid-
summer heat on this alluvial plain?
My experience shows that different varieties of Japanese
Lilies are more satisfactory, and are grown with less
trouble than other flowers during the damp heat of June,
July, August and September, giving a succession of flowers
during these months.
Shanghai, February, 1888. Fe ZL:
New or Little Known Plants.
Heliconia Choconiana.*
N discussing a proposed trip to Guatemala in the spring
of 1885 I was told of wild Bananas and wild Pine-
apples as growing in the forests of that region, and I was
curious to learn what they might in reality be. The true
Pineapple is indeed found there growing by the roadsides
and in fence-corners, where the discarded crowns of de-
voured pines have taken root, and do their poor best to
bear fruit again. But the so-called wild Pineapple I
found to be the Bromeha Pinguin, which is planted for
hedges and bears an edible berry. The ‘‘ Bananas” were
all species of Hefconia, of which I saw a considerable
number growing on river banks, and in other damp places.
Some were chiefly notable for their conspicuous inflores-
cence, formed of large brightly-colored bracts in close
double ranks and enclosing the clustered flowers. Others
were taller, with very large leaves and a decidedly
Banana-like habit, but their resemblance to the Banana
goes no farther and the fruit is never eatable.
Several of these were common on the banks of the Cho-
con River, but that which pleased me most was one with
numerous smaller, bright green, and glossy leaves, which
I discovered in a deluge of rain, and of which I afterwards
secured the roots. This has recently bloomed in Cam-
bridge, and appears to be a previously unknown species.
The top of a stem and a single leaf of the natural size are
here figured. (See page 162.) The clustered stems grow
to a height of three or four feet, and are covered with the
sheathing petioles of the apparently sessile leaves. The
inflorescence is nearly sessile at the summit, declined, and
consists of about half a dozen large, scarlet bracts, each
enclosing a fascicle of long, pale yellow flowers. The
segments of the triangular perianth are mostly coherent,
only one of the sepals separating sufficiently to set free the
anthers and the style. The fruit is about the size of a pea,
roundish and truncate, three-celled and three-seeded, but
indehiscent. ae We
Cultural Department.
A List of Roses.
OR those who care to cultivate but a few Rosesand are not
oan familiar with the many varieties now offered, the list below
is given as embracing the best of the several types in com-
merce to-day. Of course there are many more varieties of
almost equal merit which could be added to this list, but the
difference between many of them is so slight that only an ex-
* Hexiconra Cuocontana, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad., xxiii. 284. Glabrous through-
out, the stems sheathed with numerous leaves ; blades of the leaves sessile on the
sheaths, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, six to ten inches long by two wide, acu-
minate, shining; inflorescence deflexed, shortly pedunculate ; spathes scarlet,
lanceolate, two inches long, the lower empty and leafy tipped ; flowers yellowish,
equalling the spathes, the lower sepal free, the lateral connate with the petals ;
sterile stamen short, ovate, abruptly acuminate.
Garden and Forest.
161
pert could distinguish them when blooming together, Those
enumerated below are all distinct representative Roses. All
are fragrant and all are more or less continuous bloomers, for
while among those classified here as hardy the Hybrid Per-
petuals are not strictly speaking continuous bloomers, yet
with liberal treatment, as described in the last issue, they will
reward the owner with some fine flowers at intervals all sum-
mer. Those described as tender—including types of Tea,
China and Bourbon Roses—will, if caretully attended to, give
flowers the whole summer from June till late October in the
latitude of New York, and in all sections south of that line.
In more northern parts of the country the season is somewhat
shorter.
Do not be induced to try small plants if you want them to
bloom in the open air the first season. For this purpose only
good fair-sized plants can be depended upon. Many lovers of
Roses have been discouraged because this precaution was
neglected. It is a waste of money to buy cheap, small plants.
By the time such plants have fairly started to grow October, and
frosty weather overtake them, and a very few flowers of poor
quality is the only reward for a summer's work and waiting.
Procurestrong plants and on their own roots if possible. Budded
plants often throw up suckers from below, and the inex-
perienced are in many cases not able to detect the difference
between the two until the finer kind is weakened and ruined
by the more robust growth from the stock.
The following are hardy:
WHITE.—Coquette des Blanches, Columbia (new).
PALE SHADED PINK.—La France, Madlle. Eugéne Verdier,
Queen of Queens.
CLEAR PINK.—Madame Gabriel Luizet, Mrs. John Laing.
Rose CoLor.—Anna de Diesbach, John Hopper. ¥
BRIGHT RED.—General Jacqueminot, Ulrich Briinner.
DEEP VELVETY RED.—La Roserie, Jean Liabaud.
Of tender varieties, the following stand our trying summers
remarkably well and give as much satisfaction as any I have
tried.
WHITE OR FLESH COLOR.—Madame Joseph Schwartz, Marie
Guillot, Malmaison.
YELLOW.—Coquette de Lyon, Etoile de Lyon.
PINK, OF VaRIOUS SHADES.—Marquis de Vivens, Grace
Darling, Edmund de Biazant, Duchess de Brabant (improved).
RED OF DIFFERENT SHADES.—Meteor, Queen of Bedders,
sSc etc fexen ¢ ae
Queens seer as Ageripina, Pierre Guillot. eohn No Bay.
Polyanthuses.
HESE are variously colored florist’s flowers that bloom in
loose umbelled heads, and with flowers of all shades of
white, yellow, rose, purple, maroon and crimson. While
they can be grown successfully as hardy border-plants by
protecting them with a light covering of evergreen branches
or forest leaves in winter, it is only when treated in winter
as cold-frame plants that they can be reasonably expected to
flower in profusion and perfection from March till the end
of May. They are useful as cut flowers in the same way as
Pansies or Forget-me-nots, and they always appear more
attractive when their own leaves are used as the green accom-
panying them. .
They are true perennials, and in order to perpetuate special
varieties we must treat them as perennials and increase them
by division. A common way of treating them is to lift, divide
and replant in some cool, moist spot out-of-doors as soon as
they have done blooming, leaving them there till next fall,
when they can again be lifted and replanted in cold-trames.
But this is bad practice in one particular. I always have had
the best success with Polyanthuses when divided in fali, and
not in early summer.
Still, we now get such splendid varieties from seed, and so
easily, except in the case of uncommonly choice sorts, that it is
hardly worth while to bother with them as perennials, and itis
better to treat them as annuals. Seeds sown now, or any time
before August, should give capital plants for blooming next
spring.
There are two distinct kinds of Polyanthuses—namely, the
gold-laced, and the large-flowered, showy varieties. The gold-
laced are beautiful flowers, with dark, velvety brown, maroon
or crimson blossoms, whose petals are richly bordered with a
distinct golden edging. The large-flowered varieties are the
most robust, profuse, showy and useful, and include all the
shades of white, yellow, rose-purple and crimson found in the
race, and from a packet of choicest mixed seed we may get
some of each sort. But as mixed seed does not give the best
quality of flowers, it is better to buy the colors separately, say
162
a packet of white, one of yellow, one of dark crimson and one
of spotted. This gives us a fine assortment, and among hun-
dreds of plants, especially of the dark-colored ones, barely two
are alike. Never buy inferior seeds, no matter how cheap
they may be. If your object is to have fine flowers pay a good
price for seed, and get the very best obtainable. The care in
sowing, growing, wintering and blooming poor Polyanthuses
Garden and Forest.
el)
[May 30, 1888,
lath shading. But it is better to delay planting into trames’*
until August, as the crowns are apt to grow too large to admit
of blooming them at the regular distance—nine inches apart.
And it is only as a matter of practical convenience that they
are sown in spring; it is better to sow in June, and from the
time the seedlings come up till winter sets in to keep them in
active growth, They make just as good blooming plants for
Fig. 31.—Heliconia Choconiana.
is just as great as that required with the very choicest strain.
Sow Polyanthuses in boxes in a warm green-house in March
or April; when they are up nicely prick them off into other
flats, and about the end of April remove these to a cold-frame.
After spring planting is over, say early in June, replant them
into other boxes, and summer these ina cool, somewhat shady,
place, or transplant at once into a cold-frame, and shade with
next spring as do earlier sown seed, and. they escape red
spider, the inveterate enemy of old plants in summer.
Polyanthuses love a rich, friable, loamy soil, witha free supply
of rotted cow manure, and during their whole life they should
be liberally watered... During the winter months protect them
in the frames with sashes and a little straw shaken over the
glass. It is better to have the ground frozen about an inch
May 30, 1888.]
deep before covering at all, then aim to keep it frozen till
February or March. So long as the ground is frozen we need
not uncover or ventilate in winter.
Apart from blooming them in frames, we can use them ef-
fectively in out-door gardens. As soon as the frost is out of
the ground lift the plants from the frames and plant them out
in beds, borders or elsewhere in the garden in the same way
as Crown Anemones, Forget-me-nots, Daisies and Pansies, and
they grow and bloom beautifuily. In this way they are
extensively used in the Boston gardens.
William Falconer.
Viola cucullata——We all admire the common blue Violets,
so vigorous and abundant in bloom in moist meadows and
rich woods in April and May, but it should be more generally
known that they are excellent garden plants. They live and
thrive in garden borders year after year, and that too in open
~sunny places, quite unlike the situations in which we usually
find the wild plants. And like most other wild plants that
enjoy a place in the garden, where they bloom more abundantly
and form larger plants than in the meadow or wood. Besides
the many shades of blue we find in this Violet, we have torms
with pure white flowers and others variegated with white,
and the two last are the favorites in gardens. In the woods
and meadows hereabout, and between here and Oyster Bay,
the variegated varieties are found in the greatest abundance,
and the markings differ in almost every plant, indeed among
these wild plants are more beautifully variegated forms than
are ever seen in cultivation.. Among the wild plants, too, are
a great variety of cut-leaved forms, but these, for garden
purposes, are less desirable than are the simple leaved ones.
We have these Violets in full bloom now in our garden
borders, and they are lovely companions of Siberian Colum-
bine, Moss Pink, Virginia Lungwort, Golden Alyssum (4.
saxatile), Siberian Corydalis (C. zodzlis) and other beautiful
seasonable flowers. If amateurs will now go into the meadows
and dig up some clumps of these Violets, plant them in their
gardens, and give them abundance of water fora month to
come, they will soon be established and take care of them-
selves, and next spring repay this kindness with a profusion
of blossoms.. In digging up wild plants dig deep, and secure
as many roots as possible ; the mat of sod around the neck
of the plants is only grass roots, the Violet roots go deeper
than these. . Never let them wilt between digging and
planting. W. £F.
Tulipa Kaufmanniana is another of the fine Tulips discov-
ered by Dr. Albert Regel in central Asia. It is a native of the
mountains which rise above the valley of the river Tschirtschik
and has lately been introduced into cultivation through the St.
Petersburg Garden. It is allied to 7. Gesneriana, and like that
species is variable in the color of the flower, which ranges
from different shades of red and yellow to white. In the form
which Dr. Regel considers the type and has named a/do-
variegata, the segments of the flower area bright rosy carmine
on the outside, delicately streaked with white on their interior
face, the claw brightly flushed with orange yellow within and
less conspicuously marked with the same color on the outside,
this marking on the outside of the outer series being reduced
toa pale straw colored blotch. The leaves are oblong-lanceo-
late, five or six inches long by an inch broad, smooth and glau-
cous. The stem is about one foot high, and bears a single
flower, an inch and a half to two inches long. It springs from
asmall ovoid bulb an inch in diameter, with brown mem-
branous tunics slightly pubescent on the inside. Zzlipa
Kaufmanniana, var. albo-variegata, is a handsome and very
hardy and desirable garden plant, flowering among the very
earliest of the Tulips. It demands no special cultivation or
care, and increases rapidly. G
Boston,
Cereus grandiflorus—We have a large plant of this grand
_species growing in a rose-house, where it blooms lavishly
every year, usually in May. In the event of bright warm
weather the flowers open about sundown, but in the case of
dull weather it is generally dark before they expand. Accord-
ing to the weather and the condition of the buds we can tell,
a day or two ahead, the night when the flowers will open,
and acting on this, can in the forenoon cut off the buds, which
if left uncut would bloom that night, and send them to our
friends. These buds will open and exhale their delicious fra-
grance nearly as well as they would if they had been left on
the plant. The flower buds before they open have no fra-
grance; after opening, while they are somewhat fragrant all
the time, their powerful odor is so intermittent—that is, it
comes in puffs, as it were. £.
Garden and Forest.
163
Rose Princess Beatrice.—I consider this new Tea Rose among
the most charming of all Roses, and finer blooms could not be
grown in the height of summer than those now seen here.
The form of the flower is exquisite, the petals broad and of
thick substance, and recurved in the same pleasing way as in
LaFrance. The color of outer petals is pale primrose, which
towards the centre deepens into a warm apricot. The scent is
strong and the foliage broad, of a luxuriant deep green, which
contrasts with the ruddy-tinged twigs and leaf stalks. It is
evidently first-rate for forcing into early bloom. I call it new
because it is not much grown yet, though Mr. Bennett, who
raised it, obtained a first-class certificate for it from the R. H.S.
in June, 1885.
Odontoglossum Harryanum.—There is quite a flutter among
the orchidists about London in regard to this new Orchid since
it has been rumored that some extraordinary varieties have
been flowered, and others are likely to crop up. Mr.
Harry Veitch has in flower a wonderful variety received from
one of his correspondents. It measured nearly four inches
from top of dorsal sepal to tip of labellum. The broad petals
and sepals were of a peculiar shade of olive green and bronze,
while the broad labellum was pure white, adorned with blotches
and pencilings of a bright carmine. It is a long time since I
saw an Orchid that captivated me by its beauty so much as this
flower, and I know no other Orchid to compare with it.
W. G.
The Rock Garden in Spring.
HE handsomest flower in the Rock Garden this week is
the Turkestan 7udipa Greig, one of the most showy of
all the Tulips. It is a dwarf species, bearing four glaucous-
green leaves, of which the two lower are oblong-acute, five or
six inches long by two anda half wide, the two upper narrowly
lanceolate. They are conspicuously marked on the upper
side with numerous oblong and linear bright chestnut-brown
blotches, and are undulated on the margins. The stout,
downy flower-stem is rarely more than two or three inches
high. It bears a single campanulate flower, three to four
inches deep, the segments spreading abruptly above the mid-
dle when fully expanded. The upper portion of the segments
are bright crimson within, the lower third occupied by a large
black blotch, surrounded by a distinct yellow border. This
splendid plant, although apparently perfectly hardy, is a failure
here in cultivation. Imported bulbs flower finely the first year
after planting, but then gradually diminish and finally disap-
pear. It is possible that they might give better results if they
‘were lifted and replanted every year. Much more satisfactory,
although a less showy plant, is Zudifa Oculis-solis, a native of
Southern Europe, and for centuries known in gardens. It has
three: or four light glaucous leaves, a rather tall flower-stem
and very handsome campanulate flowers, with acute, deep-
scarlet-colored segments, two to three inches long, and, like
those of 7. Greig?, conspicuously marked on the inner side
with a large black blotch surrounded with a yellow margin.
This is one of the most beautiful of the perfectly hardy Tulips
which can be grown here.
Several Fritillarias are now in flower. The Guinea-hen
flower (F. Meleagris), a widely distributed European plant from
Great Britain and Norway to the Caucasus, with large, pendu-
lous, bell-shaped solitary flowers, checkered with dark purple,
and borne on slender leafy stems a foot high, is an excellent
and very hardy plant here, although now too rarely seen ex-
cept in very old-fashioned gardens. It is a useful plant, too,
for naturalizing along wood-walks and in other wild parts of
the garden. There is a variety with dull-white flowers.
A handsome and very distinct hardy species is #7 7tillaria pal-
lidiflora, introduced a few years ago from southern Siberia.
It has large pale yellow, nodding, campanulate flowers con-
spicuously marked on the inside of the segments with small
purple spots, and numerous glaucous-blue, lanceolate leaves.
It is a vigorous and valuable plant, eight to ten inches high,
and is now blooming in the same spot where it has stood un-
disturbed during the last five or six years. Every one who has
ever been in a garden knows the stately old Crown Imperial
(Fritillaria imperialis), with its whorl of red-brown, drooping
flowers at the top of the tall leafy stems. It is a native of Per-
sia, and has been cultivated in gardens during nearly three
centuries. There is a variety (var. Zwfea), however, with clear
yellow flowers which is rarely seen, in this country at least, al-
though far more beautiful than the old-fashioned variety. It
deserves more attention than it has received here.
The Summer Snowflake (Leucoium @estivum) is in bloom.
It is a very hardy bulbous plant, a native of central and
164
has OY
wl
3,
IR
Garden and Forest.
[May 30, 1888.
A New Jersey Pine Forest.—See Page 166.
southern Europe, and one of the handsomest and most satis-
factory plants of its class in the rockery. It has dark green,
linear, obtuse leaves, one to two feet long, and tallslender scapes,
bearing at the summita cluster of four to eight pure white,
nodding, bell-shaped flowers, nearly one inch long, the tips of
the segments marked on both sides with a green blotch. The
Summer Snowflake will thrive in ordinary garden soil. The
deep blue and the white flowered varieties of the Grape
Hyacinth (Muscari botryoides) are in bloom. They are hardy
little bulbous plants, from central Europe, with very short,
dense racemes of small, nodding, bell-shaped flowers, and
linear, erect, glaucous leaves. They are well suited for the
wilder parts of the rockery, and for naturalizing along the mar-
gins of woods and wood-walks.
Several native plants now in bloom are worth mention as in-
teresting inhabitants of the rock-garden. The Moss Pink
(Phlox subulata),a conspicuous feature in early spring on
rocky hills in some parts of New Jersey, is common and well
known in gardens; but Phlox reptans is seen more rarely. It
is a dwarf species, with long and prostrate, creeping, runner-
like stems, sending up low flower-stems, six to eight inches
high, bearing a few-flowered cyme of handsome reddish
May 30, 1888.]
purple, long-tubed flowers, nearly an inch across. It is a native
of damp woods along the Alleghany Mountains from Pennsyl-
vania to Kentucky and Georgia. It isa hardy and desirable
plant in cultivation, flourishing alike in shade and in full ex-
posure to the sun, forming a dense, carpet-like mat. It is
a good plant to use in covering the ground among shrubs in
the rock garden, and is very easily increased by division.
The Twin-leat (feffersonia diphylla) isa perennial, glabrous
herb of the Barberry family. It sends up in early spring long,
petioled leaves, divided into two half-ovate leaflets and naked
one-flowered scapes. The handsome flowers are white, about
an inch across, and are composed of four deciduous sepals,
eight oblong, flat sepals, eight stamens, a two-lobed stigma,
and an ovoid, pointed ovary. The pear-shaped pod opens
horizontally near the middle, the upper part making a sort of
lid. The Twin-leaf is an inhabitant of rich woods from
western New York to Wisconsin and southward. It is attrac-
tive in foliage as well as in flower, and will flourish in any
garden border. It is easily increased from seed, and by the
division of the matted, fibrous roots. The genus Fef-
fersonia, of which a second species occurs in Manchuria, was
named by Dr. Barton in honor of Thomas Jefferson.
The Mitre-wort (A@itella diphylla) is a common inhabitant
_ of northern and western woods, where it is found in upland
situations in deep rich soil. A mass of this graceful little
plant is a pretty object in the shadiest part of the rock garden,
where it throws up its tall, slender racemes of small, white
flowers, before the leaves on the over-hanging trees appear.
It has hairy, acute, heart-shaped, lobed and toothed, pale
yellow-green leaves. The slender scape bears near the middle
a single pair of small, opposite, sessile, acute leaves—a charac-
ter from: which the specific name of this species is derived.
The Purple Trillium is a less showy and less attractive plant
than Zrillium grandiforum, reterred to in the last issue, but
it is worth a place in the shaded rockery for the peculiar
deep, dark, dull-purple color of the large flowers. It isa very
common plant in rich woods, especially at the north.
The Canadian Violet (Viola Canadensis) deserves a place in
every garden. It is a beautiful plant, with leafy stems, one or
sometimes even two feet high and with white flowers tinged
with violet. It is common in northern weods and on the
Alleghany Mountains, and takes kindly to cultivation, spring-
ing up from self-sown seed in the shade and in the most
sunny and exposed parts of the garden.
Boston, May 13th. (Gy
Notes From the Arnold Arboretum.
Ribes saxatile is the earliest of the Currants in flower. It
was the first shrub in the Arboretum to unfold its leaves. A
native of Siberia and long known to botanists, it is not often
found in gardens. &. savati/e isa very distinct, hardy, free-
blooming shrub, two or three feet high, with erect branches
covered with scaly reddish bark, and leaves, when the plant is
in flower, of a delicate pale yellow-green color. The small
yellow flowers are produced in short erect racemes. The
fruit is small, spherical, bright red, acid and hardly edible.
Ribes alpinum, a red-fruited Currant common in the elevated
deciduous forests of northern and central Europe, and of Rus-
sian Asia, where 1t sometimes forms a dense undergrowth,
blooms here a few days later. It is a dwarf unarmed shrub,
two to three feet high, with broadly ovate, serrate, lobed leaves
and erect glandular-pubescent racemes of small flowers and
large, handsome scarlet insipid fruit. This plant from a horti-
cultural point of view possesses little interest except in the
fact that it is one of the few hardy shrubs that will flourish
under trees in acomparatively dense shade.
Two species of Azées from our northern woods are also in
flower—X, rotundifolium, with smooth or sometimes downy,
round, heart-shaped, lobed leaves, slender peduncles, each bear-
ing 1 to 3 small greenish flowers, and small unarmed fruit
of agreeable flavor. The second species is the Fetid Currant
(2. prostratum), with long, prostrate, unarmed stems trailing
over the ground, deeply heart-shaped, lobed, doubly serrate
leaves, and small greenish flowers borne in slender erect
racemes. The pale red fruit is glandular bristly. The habit
of this plant would give it a considerable garden value, in spite
of the disagreeable odor it emits when bruised, were it not for
the fact that when removed from its home in cold damp woods
to more exposed and sunny situations, its leaves become dis-
figured by a fungus early in the season and often drop by mid-
summer.
Ribes aureum, the Buffalo or Missouri Currant, of which
several garden forms of no special interest are now cultivated,
Garden and Forest.
165
is/in flower. Itisa tall, glabrous, unarmed and very hardy
shrub, 6 to 8 feet high, common from western Missouri to Ore-
gon, with three-lobed leaves and bright golden-yellow flowers
in many-flowered racemes. The yellow fruit, which turns
brown or nearly black when fully ripe, has a pleasant but
rather insipid flavor. This is one of the hardiest and most
easily grown of all shrubs ; it will thrive in poor, sterile soil
and under the shade of trees; situations where it is often dif-
ficult to make shrubs flourish. But the handsomest species
of the collection and perhaps the handsomiest of the genus is
Ribes sanguineum, a native of Oregon and northern California,
where it is common on the rocky banks of streams. Like
nearly all the woody plants from that region itis not thoroughly
hardy in New England, and must be carefully covered to pro-
tect the flowering wood. It is an unarmed shrub 4 to 8 feet
high, with heart-shaped, five-lobed, serrate leaves and long
drooping racemes of deep rose-colored flowers in the axils
of large red bracts. The fruit is sub-globose, glandular,
hirsute and unedible. Several varieties of some horticultural
interest have originated in gardens, of which the most distinct
are the var. atrorudens, with smooth, deeper colored flowers,
and the var. malvaceum (Rk. malvaceum), with leaves hispid
above, covered below with white tomentum.
Two Bush Honeysuckles (Xy/osteon) of our North Atlantic
Flora, Lonicera cileata and L. cerulea, are flowering. The
former is a delicate and pretty shrub, which inhabits rocky
woods from Massachusetts to Wisconsin and far north-
ward. It sometimes attains a height of 5 feet, with erect
or straggling branches, oblong-ovate leaves on slender
petioles and rather large greenish-yellow flowers, produced in
pairs on long single, axillary peduncles, The berries are red.
L. cerulea is a dwarfer plant rarely exceeding two feet in
height; itis foundin bogs from Rhode Island. to Wisconsin
and northward. It has oval leaves, pubescent when young, pale
yellow flowers on short peduncles, their ovules later united
into a single large, handsome, blue fruit. The two species
take kindly to cultivation and are not particular about soil or
exposure. They are interesting additions. to any collection of
shrubs,
Ostryopsis Davidiana is blooming in the Arboretum for the
first time. Itis the only representative of a genus of the
Cupulifere, closely allied to the Hazels; indeed some au-
thors have included it in that genus, from which it is distin-
guished by its female inflorescence. This is a small ament,
terminal upon the branches of the year, composed of ovate,
leafy, two-flowered bracts, each flower enclosed ina leaty,
coriaceous, lobed involucel, split on the ventral side, and ina
tubular membranaceous exterior involucre toothed at the sum-
mit and analogous to the leafy covering of the hazel nut. The
fruit, borne in clusters of six or eight at the extremities of the
branches, is dry and indehiscent, and is enveloped in the per-
sistent, striated, pubescent involucre. The nut is conical, ob-
tuse at the summit, about half an inch long and crowned
with the persistent stigmas. The male flowers, which are
similar to those of the Hazel, are produced from the wood
of the previous year. O. Davidiana is a graceful and perfectly
hardy shrub, two or three feet high, with alternate, ovate-cord-
ate, sub-acuminate leaves, pubescent on the under side. It isa
native of Mongolia, where it was discovered by the Abbé
David, and of the mountains in the neighborhood of Pekin. It
grows freely in any garden soiland requires no special culti-
vation or care. A beautiful figure (4 3) was included by M.
Lavallée in his “drdoretum Segrestanum,”
Corylopsis pauciflora, now in bloom, is a native of Japan and
a member of the Witch-hazel family. It is a dwarf deciduous
shrub two or three feet high, with short pendulous racemes of
yellow flowers, which appear before the leaves in the axils of
large sheathing bracts, and which in structure resemble those
of the Witch-hazel. This is a very compact, handsome
plant of real ornamental value, which should be seen more
often in gardens.
Two hardy Apricots are in bloom—a wild form of Prunus
Armeniaca, the original of the cultivated Apricot, found by
Dr. Bretschneider on the mountains near Pekin, and common
in northern China and Mongolia—a handsome erect shrub
three or four feet high, of which there are two specimens in
the Arboretum, one with pale pink, the other with nearly pure
white flowers, which precede the rounded, sub-cordate, ab-
ruptly acuminate, serrate leaves, andsmall yellow or red, thin-
fleshed, edible fruit. The second is the Siberian Apricot,
which botanists now consider a geographical variety of the
last. Itisa taller plant, sometimes 20 feet in height, witha
much lighter colored bark, and stouter branches, which are
covered with pure white or pale pink flowers, preceding the
ovate-acuminate leaves borne on eglandular petals, and small,
166
It is acommon Siberian tree, extending
through northern China to Manchuria. It is very hardy here
and exceedingly ornamental when in bloom. Another Prunus
from the mountains near Pekin is now in flower in the Arbo-
retum tor the first time. Dr. Bretschneider considered this the
wild single-flowered form of the well known flowering Al-
mond (Prunus [Amygdalopsis| triloba), so common in gardens
and one of the most beautiful of all early spring flowering
shrubs. The Pekin plant produces in great profusion large
pink solitary single flowers on its naked branches ; and apart
from its great botanical interest is a handsome and very hardy
shrub, well worth cultivation. Its habit, its bark and foliage
appear identical with the double-flowered plant.
Prunus Simonii, which Maximowicz, in his monograph of the
species of the genus Prunus of Eastern Asia, considers the
wild type of the Nectarine (Prunus Persica nectarina) is in
flower. It is a dwarf tree, with erect branches covered, as well
as the stem, with light gray warty bark. The leaves are oval,
elliptical, denticulate and borne on short petioles ; theyare pre-
ceded by small white flowers, with oval, unguiculate petals and
pubescent ovaries. The fruit has the grooved stone of a
Peach and the smooth skin of a Plum. It is a handsome brick
red, depressed-globular, and with a depression in the upper
and 'ower sides. The flesh, which adheres to the stone, is
yellow, rather juicy, although austere. It is not large, hardly
exceeding an inch or an inch and a half in diameter, but doubt-
less might be greatly improved by cultivation. Pruzus Si-
monit is a native of China, where, as wellas in Japan, it is often
found in gardens. Here it forms a small and perfectly hardy
tree, with a strict pyramidal habit. Its resemblance to the cul-
tivated Nectarine is interesting, and might be taken advantage
of by pomologists to establish a new race of hardy Nectarines
capable of supporting the extremes of our northern climate.
May rath. oi
The Forest.
A New Jersey Pine Forest.
scarcely edible fruit.
HE illustration upon page 164 represents a pure forest
of Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida) in Ocean County, New
Jersey. It is situated about twelve miles from the sea
coast, and forms a part of the extensive and interesting
domain which surrounds the Laurel House at Lakewood,
to the proprietors of which establishment it belongs.
This forest is interesting from several points of view.
It is extremely picturesque and beautiful. It occupies
ground which only fifty years ago was employed for
farming purposes ; and it is one of few forests composed
of a single species of tree which can be seen in the
Northern States, where a number of different trees are
usually associated together in forest growth. The Pines
in this Lakewood forest have an average height of fifty feet;
and their trunks an average diameter of ten inches. They
stand so close together that grasses and undershrubs can-
not survive in their dense unbroken shade. The forest
floor is deeply carpeted with moss, however, and alto-
gether this forest reminds one more of one of the planted
Pine forests of northern Europe than anything we remem-
ber to have seen before in the United States. The rapid
and vigorous growth of this young forest upon poor and
comparatively worthless lands shows, moreover—and this
is its chief interest—the way such lands along the
Atlantic seaboard, north of Virginia, can be used to the
best advantage. And finally it illustrates the possibility of
protecting, by means of a little trouble and foresight, such
forests from burning up in the fires which annually rage,
unchecked, over great tracts in the New Jersey coast
region,
The Pitch Pine springs up spontaneously on the sandy
soil which adjoins the coast from Massachusetts Bay to
the capes of Virginia. Land which has once been tilled
and then abandoned again to nature, in all this region is
soon covered with a dense an. almost impenetrable mass
of young Pitch Pines, which if fire is kept away from them
soon grow into a valuable forest. If the young Pines do
not appear spontaneously the seed can be sown, at a very
trifling expense, and with entire assurance of an abundant
crop. The seed of no other Pine, of no other tree, indeed,
Garden and Forest.
[May 30, 1888,
sown in the open ground, germinates with such certainty,
as the farmers in some of the towns on Cape Cod have
shown; and there is no other tree which can be grown so
cheaply on these barren, sandy soils, or give better results
in so short a time. And could the people of New Jersey
be induced to follow the example of the owners of the
Lakewood forests, and protect and encourage the young
Pines which are struggling to obtain possession of much
of the lower part of the State, its wealth and prosperity
might be very considerably augmented.
The Pitch Pine is not one of the most valuable Pine
trees of the United States. Its wood is coarse grained,
full of resin, and not very strong. It is in every way in-
ferior to the wood of the southern Long-leafed Pine, which it
resembles in structure and general appearance, but which
it will never replace as long as the southern Pine forests
continue to yield as freely as they do at present. But the
time will come, perhaps, when New Jersey pitch pine
will play an important réle in supplying the people of the
United States with timber. The southern pine cannot last
forever, under the existing management of these forests,
and the species which is everywhere replacing it, the Old
Field or Loblolly Pine (?. Zwda), is inferior to the northern
Pitch Pine in the quality of the timber it produces. Before
southern pine was brought to this market the pitch pine of
New Jersey was the only available material in many parts
of the State for timbers and flooring; and there are still
houses in some counties where floors and floor-timbers are
known to have been in constant use for more than a
century. But it is for firewood and for charcoal that the
pitch pine is most valuable ; and the nearness and acces-
sibility of these New Jersey Pine forests to great centres of
population give them special importance as sources of
fuel supply, which no other forests of this character in the
country possess. Much land within three or four hours
by rail of this city and of Philadelphia, now utterly unpro-
ductive and rapidly deteriorating through the fires which
sweep over it every year, can be made highly productive
and profitable by means of the Pitch Pine. People who
own land of this character will see much to interest and |
instruct them in these Lakewood forests, and in those in
the town of Orleans, on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts.
CSS.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—May I be allowed to saya word in defense of the Norway
Spruce, which lately seems to have had the axe laid at its roots
rather unmercifully ? :
It is quite easy to understand how it originally found foot-
hold among us, because while young its habits and color ap-
peared to be good, its native climate corresponded fairly well
with our own, it could be imported at trifling cost, and was,
for quite a long time, a well recognized favorite in landscape
effect. To-day we see all over the older settled portions of the
country a great many forlorn, weary looking trees that it would
be a kindness to remove altogether. They are denounced as
failures, and certainly we share the general opinion in asking
for their extirpation. . But we must emphatically resist the
seemingly general verdict that the Norway Spruce is worthless
for our planting purposes. On the contrary, there is not to-day
one single evergreen that, under proper conditions, offers
more inducements to the landscape gardener. Let me state
these conditions briefly and you may judge for yourselves.
It is desired to establish a low evergreen hedge, of uniform
color, dense habit, inexpensive and reasonably hardy. These
are the essentials in a good hedge of this description, and for
these good qualities, the Norway Spruce still compels your
respectful attention. The Hemlock (75uga Canadensis) is hand-
somer, but it will not stand the hardships of our foreign friend.
The Rocky Mountain Spruce (Picea pungens) is stiffer and pro-
bably more hardy, but not unitorm in color. Even our White
Spruce (cea alba) is off color as compared with the Norway,
though as a grown tree it is far superior.
Please bear in mind that our hedge is to be well planted
in good soil, well trimmed each year, and never suffered in
any way to deteriorate, so far as skillful maintenance can pre-
May 30, 1888.]
vent it. Under these conditions the Norway Spruce is ready
to disarm criticism and challenge admiration.
Again, the Austrian and Scotch Pines are both excellent
trees for a first establishment of wind-break in exposed situ-
ations, and any wholesale condemnation of them shows only
a lack of knowledge as to their best possibilities. On the other
hand, while the Douglas Fir appears in every way a most
promising tree for our Eastern climate, it is proving a little too
much on the part of ‘“Strobus” when he calls attention to its
remarkably handsome record in England. I this record
proves anything it certainly goes to show that it is better
adapted to the English climate than to ours, as we very rarely
find the same tree doing equally well in England and New
England.
In closing, let me state frankly that American trees are, for
general use, far more valuable than foreign ones, but we
should be very sorry to give up our acquaintance with many old
favorites from across the water, especially as we are just begin-
ning to find out exactly what their real value is likely to be to
us here in the future.
Boston, Mass.
F. H. Bowditch.
[The Norway Spruce is unquestionably one of the
very best Conifers which can be used in the Northern
States to make a hedge. It grows rapidly, is very uniform
in color, as our correspondent points out, and bears the
shears well. The White Pine, too, makes an excellent
and very hardy hedge; and with a little care in selec-
tion, plants of the White and of the Colorado Spruces could
be found of uniform color. The last has probably never
been tried as a hedge-plant. Its hardiness, rigidity, pleas-
ing color and pungent foliage seem to adapt it admira-
bly for this purpose. It would not be surprising if the
Douglas Fir should succeed equally well in England and
in New England, although it is perfectly true that the same
tree rarely does equally well in western Europe and eas-
tern North America. Few trees flourish under such widely
different climatic conditions as the Douglas Fir. It grows
onthe North-west Coast in a mild climate, where the an-
nual rain-fall is between sixty and seventy inches, and on
the dry eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of Col-
orado and New Mexico, where the cold is intense and the
rain-fall is often less than twenty inches. The plants
which grace the plantations of Great Britain are of
Oregon and Californian origin. Those which now pro-
mise so well in our North Atlantic States are all from seed
collected in Colorado.—Ep. }
Recent Publications.
Report upon the Forests of Honduras.
London, 1887.
This is the last of a series of reports upon the forests of the
British possessions in Tropical America, including those
of Jamaica, of St. Vincent, of Grenada and Carriacou and of
St. Lucia, made by Mr. Hooper, a trained officer of the Indian
Forest Department detailed for this duty.
British Honduras owes its existence as a Colony to the
value of its forests, and for two centuries the cutting and ex-
portation first of logwood and then of mahogany has practi-
cally been the only occupation and the sole source of reve-
nue of its people. The best logwood was used up years ago,
and it no longer pays to export it; and the mahogany trade
does not appear to be in a very flourishing condition. The
large trees near the streams have been cut, and none remain
except in remote and often almost inaccessible parts of the
Colony. The government is now, however, fully roused to
the importance of protecting the mahogany in the forests and
has adopted stringent regulations controlling the cutting of
these trees upon the public domain. Mr. Hooper recom-
mends the organization of a forest establishment and the ap-
pointment of forest inspectors to regulate the cutting of Ma-
hogany trees, the location of forest roads and the planting and
care of valuable timber and rubber trees ; and in view of the
importance of the timber industry of the Colony his recom-
mendations certainly should be adopted.
_ The forests of British Honduras, so far as their composition
1s concerned, can be grouped in two distinct divisions—the
Pine forests of the coast and of the “Broken Ridges” of the
By E. D. M. Hooper.
Garden and Forest.
167
interior and the low-land hard-wood forests which cover the
rest of the Colony. The tree which occupies almost ex-
clusively the dry gravelly soil of the broken ridges is the Pinus
Cubensis, a species which finds the northern limits of its dis-
tribution in South Carolina, and is common on our Gulf Coast
east of the Mississippi. It is a very valuable timber tree ; and
it is not impossible that these Pine forests of Central America
may become a considerable factor in the lumber supply of the
world. The most important of them occupies “the Pine
Ridge South of the Cayo stretching away south to an unknown
distance and westward into Guatemala. Its area cannot even
be guessed. And generally Pine forests may be said to oc-
cupy such land in the Colony as is raised above the general
level of the country.” Of the character of these Pine forests
Mr. Hooper says: ‘Except in the narrow valleys, the forest
of Pinus Cubensis may be considered a fine one. I counted
IoI trees in a fairly average acre. The growth is tall and
straight, but it is slow, a cut tree showing 60 rings in a radius
of 6.6 inches at four feet from the ground, and at this point the
bark was 1% inches thick. A tree of 15 inches in diameter
measured 75 feet in length to the branching and had a total
length of 114 feet, while a tree 1o inchesin diameter was 67 feet
in length.” The timber was found to be of excellent quality and
hardly inferior to that of our Southern Pine, which it much re-
sembles. The second division of the Honduras forests, that
covering the general level of the country where the soil is
deep and rich, is far more valuable and extensive. It consists
of hard-wood trees. ‘This forest,” says Mr. Hooper, ‘is diffi-
cult to describe.” It is a majestic admixture of graceful trees
of towering height with an undergrowth of all sizes—from
small seedlings to large poles. The soil, which is of the
richest loam, is carpeted with a thick growth of small palms,
club-mosses and ferns, emerging from which is a small tree
growth forming so thick an intermediate stage between the
ground and the summits of the majestic trees that the latter
can be recognized only from their bark displayed on a level
with the beholder. Over the smaller trunks are festooned
long garlands of Vanilla and other root Orchids, while para-
sites, with the most fragrant masses of flower, are clustered
on every branch, interspersed with clumps of Bromelias and
similar growths. The intermediate growth is composed in
great measure of the Cohune palm (4¢/alea) and from its
presence in quantity the type of forest takes its name. Its
distribution is affected by the near presence of running water,
for it often monopolizes the banks of rivers and is not so gen-
erally represented further away. It is found vegetating in
clumps, small and large together—trees having as yet no
stalk healthily growing associated with parent stems over
which are masses of thick woody creepers, and were it not
for the compactness of the growth giving material support,
numbers of trees would be brought down by the weight of
these climbers. The tree itself grows solidly even when in
the open, it seems but little affected by wind and in this re-
spect resembles Pine trees in being elastic. The tall tree
growth which. towers over the general forest includes Ma-
hogany, hitherto the most important tree in Honduras, its ex-
port having been at all times the staple trade of the Colony.
It is found in some less accessible parts in a state of natural
distribution—that is to say, trees of all sizes and age in_ proxi-
mity to one another. Unfortunately this is seldom seen in the
parts of the country which are within reach of the cutter. In
other places where it has been, it is found no longer, the
species being cut out and even seedlings are not present.
Finally, in parts we see the young Mahogany, which is as yet
in comparative infancy and has not pushed its head through
the canopy of the older untouched trees ; but should the de-
mand for the undersized wood continue it is certain that, with
the multiplicity of small mahogany merchants with little or
no capital, this will also disappear and the Cohune forest with-
in easy reach of streams will be without Mahogany. Apart
from its appearance on Cohune ridge, I would add_ that the
distribution of this species is general except on Pine ridge
and the poorer broken ridges and Logwood swamps. Else-
where itis common, whether in hills or in valleys, on rocky
soils or deep loams.” Mahogany is not the only valuable
timber which these forests contain. Mr. Hooper in an
appendix to his instructive report enumerates no less than 50
others of commercial importance, which when better known in
Europe will greatly increase the revenue of the Colony. The
fact that only 15 of these have been determined botanically
during all the years that Honduras has been occupied by
Europeans, shows the difficulty which attends the study of
trees in the high, dense forests of Tropical America, and
the field for investigation these forests offer to the ambitious
and energetic botanical explorer.
168 Garden and Forest.
Periodical Literature.
Writing of the “Spring Flowers of California” in the April
number of the Overland Monthly, Mr. Charles Howard Shinn
excites the envy of Eastern readers, February in California,
he says, corresponds to the ‘“changeful, sweet and coquet-
tish” April of-the English poets, and April in California means
‘‘the first radiancy of the full Rose garden, the farewell of the
scarlet Quince and the purple Lilacs.””. And among the wild
flowers it means a profusion of blossoms, many of them iden-
tical in name with ourown early summer species, but different
in form and often much more brilliant, which contrasts very
strongly with the humble efforts that the Eastern States make
in this month to adorn themselves. No one, writes Mr. Shinn,
who sees California for the first time now, can imagine how
much more beautiful it was in the days of the pioneers, before
“herds of cattle and bands of sheep trampled the soil and de-
stroyed Nature’s great wild garden,” now ‘seas of flowers”
have been exterminated, ‘leagues of wild Oats, Mustard fields
in which, when in bloom, men on horseback could lose them-
selves, wild Lilies bedded in mass extending for rods. :
Wild flowers that forty years ago spread in broad carpets from
mountain to mountain across great valleys have retreated to
bits of rock and ravine, to sunny hill-pastures and warm Oak-
openings not yet needed for vineyard and orchard.” Yet, we
repeat, his account of what still remains suggests delights
which may well make us envious.
Recent Plant Portraits.
ODONTOGLOSSUM URO-SKINNERI, Le Moniteur da’ Horticulture,
February.
EUCALYPTUS UINIGERA, Gardener's Chronicle, April 14th;
from a tree grown in Scotland and now more than sixty feet
in height. This is believed to be the hardiest of the genus. It
is a native of the Tasmanian Mountains ; and “may become,”
says Baron Von Mueller, ‘of sanitary importance to colder
countries in malarial regions, the foliage being much imbued
with antiseptic oil.” This species attains a height of 150 feet,
with a trunk circumference of eighteen.
ANTHURIUM CHAMBERLAINI, Gardener's Chronicle, April
14th; ‘‘one of the noblest species in a genus already rich in
superb species, and handsome alike in foliage and in flower.”
It is supposed to be a native of Venezuela; and it has im-
mense cordate leaves, three feet long and two feet wide, and
“thick boat-shaped spathes about eight to nine inches long
and four wide .. of a pale, dull puce color externally,
shining and rich deep crimson colored internally, bordered by
a very narrow line of ivory-white, edged in turn by a narrow
margin of yellow.” The red-purple spadix is raised on an
ivory-white stalk.
PEAR, BELLE PICARDE, Revue Horticole, April ist.
MACARANGA PORTEANA, Revue Horticole, April 16th. A strik-
ing looking Euphorbiaceous tree, with bold, very large, orna-
mental foliage, introduced into the A/useum d'Histoire Natur-
elle, trom the Philippine Islands by the French botanical
traveler, Marius Porte, to whom gardens are indebted also for
Phalenopsis Schilleriana, Phalenopsis Luddemanniana, Cycas
Riuminiana and many other interesting plants.
PHENIX CANARIENSIS, Revue Horticole, April 16th. A hardy
and very graceful Palm, now very generally cultivated in the
gardens of southern Europe. It is one of the best house
plants, and may be expected to thrive inany part of the United
States where the Orange is hardy.
Notes.
The interest now felt in American horticulture, and in some
of our large collections of plants, especially of Orchids, in
England, is shown by the fact that the supplement of a recent
issue of the Gardener's Chronicle, of London, is devoted to a
view of Mr, W.S. Kimball’s collection of flowering plants of
Cypripedium insigne, which contained, when this picture was
made, notless than two thousand blooms, and must have pre-
sented a marvelous spectacle,
The entire stock of the remarkable white Chrysanthemum,
Mrs. Alpheus Hardy—widely known by the striking illustra-
tion in the first number of this journal—has been purchased
by W. A. Manda, of Cambridge, Mass. The price paid was
$1,500, the largest amount ever given for a Chrysanthemum,
at least in this country. The flower was exhibited for the first
time at the Chrysanthemum Show in Boston last December,
[May 30, 1888.
Mr. Thomas H. Douglas, a son of Mr. Robert Douglas, of
Ilinois, has beenappointed by the Board of Forestry of Cali-
fornia, Head Forester of that State. Mr. Douglas has already
established extensive nurseries and trial grounds at Chico,
Santa Monica and Hesperia. A map of the State showing the
extent and character of the timber in the different counties is
being prepared, and active operations looking to the arrest
and punishment of persons setting forest fires, or illegally
cutting timber, have been inaugurated.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, May 25th.
There is a fair supply of flowers, with few really choice Roses.
There is small demand for elaborate designs, the orders for Decoration
Day being mostly for plants for embellishing statues, and wreaths for
graves. Branches of blossoming shrubs are mixed with Roses in the
large baskets made up for farewell tokens sent to steamers. Annade- -
Diesbach Roses are the choicest of Hybrids this week, and after these,
Baroness Rothschild. Selected flowers with long stems cost from
$7.50 to $9 adozen. The former price is charged for the average lot
of Hybrids. American Beauty sells for $6 a dozen. Puritan Roses that
are perfect are scarce and cost $4 and $5 a dozen. General Jacque.
mints continue poor, and those grown in-doors are still declining; they
cost from $2.50 to $4 a dozen. Moss Roses bring $4 a dozen. La
France Roses are abundant, and generally of good quality; they cost
$3 adozen. Brides and Catherine Mermets cost $2 a dozen. Perles,
Niphetos and Souvenir d’Un Ami cost from 75 cts. to $1 a dozen;
Bon Silene from 50 cts. to 75 cts. a dozen. <A few lingering Tulips
of late flowering kinds are to be had for $1 a dozen. Lilies-of-the-Val-
ley are 75 cts. a dozen; Callas, $2.50 a dozen; Poet’s Narcissus from
50 cts, to 75 cts. a dozen, and Gardenias, $3 a dozen. Lilacs are very
plentiful and inexpensive, a large bunch being sold for 5 cts, on the
streets and in the city markets. A few Field Daisies appear from the
south, bring 25 cts. a dozen. The yellow Paris Daisy costs 50 cts. a
dozen; fine Mignonette brings 50 cts. a dozen; it is small but well
tinted. A few Pceonies have appeared, which sell at fancy prices.
Carnations are scarce, but handsome; they cost 25 and 50 cts. a dozen,
the latter price being for Buttercup and Grace Wilder.
PHILADELPHIA, AZay 25th.
Cooler weather has again made flowers scarce, but it has also
toned up the quality and the demand has been greater. These con-
ditions have caused a trade which is brisk for the month of May.
Many out-door flowers have passed their prime, and this has caused
Roses to be more in demand, although no material change in prices
has taken place since last quotations. Amongst wild flowers Butter-
cups and the native Violets are extensively used, especially for per-
sonal adornment, and Columbines are occasionally used for the same
purpose. ‘Tree Paonies are being cut in limited quantities, and sell
at $3 per dozen. They are decidedly coarse, but are useful in heavy
decorations, and in the florists’ windows they make an attractive dis-
play. Lily-of-the-Valley is still good, being cut out-of-doors; the
foliage is thick and leathery in texture, and a dark rich green in color;
very little is sold for less than $1 a dozen. The beautiful Moss Rose
with pink flowers is offered in limited numbers at from 25 cts. to 50
cts. a spray. The wonder is why more of these exquisite flowers are
not to be had, for they are eagerly bought at the prices named. The
difference in price is due to the different number of buds on the sprays.
Single Dahlias still hold firm at $3 a dozen, and Gladiolus is steady at
the same price. Smilax, Asparagus and Adiantum are plentiful and
fine in quality. ks :
Boston, Afay 25th.
Bright weather has brought flowers in abundance and of better
quality. The improvement is especially noticeable in Roses. Fine
Jacqueminots and Madame Gabriel Luizets are in market, and are
worth $4 a dozen. Mermet, La France, Bride and Perle all sell for
about $2 a dozen. There is a fair supply of Papa Gontier coming in,
and selling readily at $1.50 per dozen. Carnations are unchanged
since last week. Violets have disappeared completely. Pansies are
growing smaller. The only Lilies-of-the-Valley obtainable are grown
out-of-doors. Narcissus will last but a few days longer, and Tulips are
in their prime. White Stocks and Spire@a Faponica are worth $I a
dozen spikes. They are abundant, but probably not equal to the de-
mand for Decoration Day. As this occasion approaches it becomes
more and more evident that, owing to the backward season and the
scarcity of out-door flowers, there will be a short supply in general,
and prices will advance considerably. Among the brightest blossoms
in the florists’ windows are the Scarlet Nasturtiums, now quite abun-
dant. They are sold in small bunches at 50 cts. a bunch. Cape Jes-
samines from the South have been sent here in small quantities this
spring, but they do not seem to meet with the same favor with which
they are regarded in other parts of the country. Hydrangea plants
are very handsome just now, and there is a large trade in them.
There will be an unusually large number of fashionable weddings
next month. Some of the leading florists have already many orders
in advance, and the prospects of the cut flower trade for the imme-
diate future are good,
JuNE 6, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: Tripune Buitpinc, 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 6, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Eprroriat ArtiIcLEs :—The Rainfall on the Plains.—Formal Flower Beds.—
BINIiC) Restores ere tnseru ei flere eset epee bates score vare.c\ersiaimieresarasalajeie \Scalucele aistelpia’e ei. cle o'e:aualera a 169
Terrace and Veranda—Back and Front..........2.-+-+++++ F. L. Olmsted. 170
The Court-yard of Charlecote Hall (with illustration) ............-.....-- 17
EnTomo.ocicaL :—The Work of a Timber Borer........Professor A. S. Packard. 172
New or LitrLte Known Priants :—Camassia Cusickii (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 172
Piant Notes :—The Ginkgo Tree (with illustration)......... 2+ se. eeseeseeeeee ee 173
Old Lombardy Poplar at the Trianon.—Sugar Maple
PACH MIG a MVOLU DI Sere mciteiartescisisiste cin “cine aerate Geinrn se 174
CurruraL DEPARTMENT :—The Green-house....... 175
Hardiness Of PerentialSies oan- .-1nn tess nseiesms.cmusceine tes T. D. Hatfield. 176
Forget-me-nots.—Onosma stellulatum, var. Tauricium.—Mackya bella.—
ragrant Herbs for Edging Plants.—Strawberries and Birds,—Cut-
worms..-- 176
PN eeROck=Gandemsn Spline tresses peitewines niet @eessicinfiiasses poe Sorcee C177
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum. F. 178
Bes OREST s— LTCC NOLES os ciseeeocchwwsccoe scenes ssecevcceecses Robert Douglas. 179
(CORRESEONDENGE oats o(sisialajelels slats ole siaiainis)siecis,d)ala\sie ainislood.oi0jeselaciele 69s sis slebysedecies 179
Buonpane 180
Rerart Flower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston........-.--++s00 180
ILusTRaTIons :—The Court-yard of Charlecote Hall...........ceeeeeeeeneeerees 173
Ga massa uSicleit pel prop 2 aatarste aicaeretay ce kta a nik oe Savsinitlals wr einle aio bia-Vine nie p.eicre 174
MINS GIN TOLLS, FIO 39s jess eeesene eedesras secacsdminctsess ce peeseccees 175
The Rainfall on the Plains.
EVERAL weeks ago, in discussing the question of
water supply on the Great Plains, it was stated in
these columns that no data could be found to justify the
belief that any increase of rainfall had followed the move-
ment of emigration towards the Rocky Mountains. On the
contrary, the calculations made by Mr. Gannett seemed to
establish the fact that there had been no such increase.
This is opposed to the statement often made that the sim-
ple planting of scattered groves of trees in Kansas and Ne-
braska has materially changed the climate in this regard,
so that with more abundant rain, crops can now be
raised beyond what was the western limit of profitable
agriculture several years ago. It was added that if there
has been any modification in the agricultural condition of
the Plains which enables farmers to reap paying harvests
where it was once thought that crops could be produced
only by the aid of irrigation, this change could be ac-
counted for on other grounds than that of an increased
supply of water in the form of rain. It should be remem-
bered that crops are often raised with profit on lands
where the rainfall during the entire year, even if it could all
be utilized, is not sufficient to insure a maximum yield.
And in temperate climates it rarely happens that the rain
which falls during the growing period of a crop is suf-
ficient for its support. The water stored in the ground
during the remainder of the year must be drawn upon to
supply the enormous amounts given off by evaporation
from the surface and by transpiration from the leaves of the
plants. In estimating the value of any land for agricul-
tural purposes, it is therefore necessary to take into ac-
count its capacity for absorbing and holding moisture as
well as the amount of rain-water which annually falls upon
it. And it is not improbable that the breaking up of the
surface of the Plains has enabled the soil to receive. and
retain a considerable amount of the rainfall which would
have flowed off into the streams from the hard, smooth
face of the unplowed land,
Garden and Forest.
169
These problems cannot be accurately solved until trust-
worthy data have been collected by years of patient inves-
tigation. Nevertheless the prevalent belief of intelligent
men in these western regions is of great value as an indi-
cation of the truth. If it were their united opinion that the
rainfall had increased, it would justify the supposition that
there was some climatic change in this direction, although
the extent and amount of such change would remain a
most uncertain quantity.
This view of the case gives special interest to a chapter
in the last quarterly report of the Kansas State Board of
Agriculture which has just been received. Among the
papers read at the annual meeting ofthe Board was one by
the Secretary, in which the “improved condition of the
water-supply in the State” was mentioned as one of the
promising indications of a prosperous future for its agri-
culture. These improved conditions, the Secretary said,
did not come from an increased rainfall, but probably
from the loosening by tillage of the almost impervious
crust of the prairie, and the consequent detention of the
water which had formerly flowed off swiftly into the
streams. A general discussion followed the reading of
this paper, in which men from all portions of the State took
part, and so far as the report shows, no one claimed that
there had been the slightest increase in the rainfall. One
member of the Board expressed the belief that “the State
had been seriously injured by spreading abroad the impres-
sion that a wonderful climatic change was going on
whereby the dry prairies were to be made to blossom as
the Rose,” and many others declared that long and careful
observation had convinced them that no more rain fell
now than when the prairies were trampled by immense
herds of buffaloes. The opinion, however, was very
general that the condition of the soil, as regards moisture,
had been improved by cultivation, that there was more
dew, that springs had appeared in places where none ex-
isted in earlier days, and that after heavy rains the streams
did not rise as rapidly, nor to as great a height as formerly.
It was suggested in the discussion that Kansas farmers
had learned to overcome, in a measure, adverse climatic
conditions, by deeper and more thorough tillage and better
cultivation. This may help to account for paying crops
beyond the ninety-eighth meridian, and may modify the
opinion that successful agriculture there is due alone to the
increased storage of water in the soil. However that may
be, the alert farmers of the frontier are wise in basing
their hopes of success on something more substantial than
the opinion that trees will call down more abundant
rains upon their fields. That forests exert an important
influence in conserving the moisture in the soil is an
established fact, and the planting of trees where they
will grow in the west, may, in time, render important
service to agriculture. But the coming of this time will
not be hastened by claiming advantages from forest
planting which cannot be justified by any recorded ex-
perience or by scientific argument.
Formal Flower Beds.
O question affecting the art of gardening is more fre-
quently discussed than the question whether the
formal flower bed is a thing to praise or to condemn, a
thing which gratifies a cultivated taste or one which merely
panders to the taste that delights in vivid chromos and in
pinchbeck personal adornments.
About a hundred and thirty years ago the formal, ‘‘arch-
itectural style” of gardening — which had ruled in Europe
for many centuries, and had found its most conspicuous
expression at Versailles—was superseded by the ‘‘ natural
style,” the style for which the distinctive name of land-
scape gardening was soon invented. Then for a long
time the use of formal flower beds was almost as entirely
abandoned as the use of clipped trees and straight-lined
terraces. Even in small gardens given up entirely to the
170
cultivation of flowers (like the gardens of our grandmoth--
ers’ days), although the paths might be straight and for-
mally edged with Box, the plants themselves were not
formally arranged—were not massed according to colors,
nor clipped into uniform shapes, nor relieved against broad
stretches of turf. It is only within comparatively recent
years that there has been a return to the genuine pattern-
bed, and its complement, the ribbon-border. An explana-
tion of the revival of a taste for such beds and borders has
often been found in that fancy for bright-flowered Gerani-
ums which was so strong some twenty years ago that in
England, at least, it amounted to a veritable horticultural
craze, and in the general introduction a little later of the
Coleus and other colored-leaved plants. But it is a mistake
to attribute to a love for such plants the revival of a love
for pattern-beds and borders. The converse statement
would be nearer the truth; it might better be said that
they became popular because public taste demanded just
such plants for a particular purpose.
This purpose, if its results be carefully examined, proves
to have been identical with the desire to increase the
beauty of home-grounds in such a way that the small-
est expenditure of thought and pains might produce the
quickest and most conspicuous results. An immediate
effect and a showy effect—these were the things desired in
our gardens ; and it was perceived that the most seductive
recipe for securing them was to mass such plants as
Coleus and Geraniums in large bodies so that their vivid-
ness of leaf and flower should be brought into strong
relief by an expanse of closely cut turf. ‘This desire was
not in itself a very laudable one; and it would be easy to
show that the recipe upon which it seized was not so
satisfactory, even apart from eesthetic questions, as it ap-
peared to superficial eyes. It would be easy to show that
the practice of ‘‘ bedding out” is; in the long run, the cost-
liest which can be adopted for the adornment of a garden,
whether large or small. But we are concerned just now
simply with the artistic value of the formal pattern-bed.
Is it a beautiful thing, or is it an ugly thing?
As thus put—in a general, abstract way—the question
cannot be categorically answered. What must be said is
that, like almost everything else in the world, a formal
flower bed is beautiful or ugly according to whether it is
in the right place or in the wrong place. Itis never an
isolated object. It is always an object which the eye
embraces in a single glance with many others. And ac-
cording as it agrees or disagrees with its surroundings,
according as it helps or hurts the general impression
which all together make, it is beautiful or ugly.
Let us see now what its characteristics are, in order
that we may understand where it may be used to good
effect, and where it can be used only to bad effect. They
are easily defined characteristics: Conspicuous formality
—that is, symmetry and rigidity—of outline and surface,
and conspicuous brilliancy of color. And they are char-
acteristics which, when thus set forth in words, them-
selves explain their right employment. When rigid, sym-
metrical lines of other sorts enter into a scene, and when
a large spot of vivid color does not strike too loud a note
in the general effect, then the pattern-bed is in place.
Under other conditions it is out of place.
Unfortunately this is to say that, as we most often see
it used, it is decidedly out of place—decidedly injurious
to the scene which it is supposed to ornament, and,
therefore, ugly in itself. We most often see it used to
ornament the lawn in a place which has been laid out
according to a natural, unsymmetrical scheme. No po-
sition could be worse for a formally outlined flower bed
than one in which all the surrounding lines—alike of
gravel walk, of free-growing shrub and of untrimmed
tree—are varied, unsymmetrical and natural in effect.
And no position could be worse for a mass of brilliant
colors than an isolated position in the centre of a stretch
of shaven turf. It ruins that air of unity, repose and
breadth which is the one end and aim when a lawn is
Garden and Forest.
[June 6, 1888.
created, while the wide carpet of green throws its own
colors into such undue relief that it looks like a crude
and gaudy picture hung on a strongly tinted wall.
In short, there must be something in the vicinity of
a formal flower bed to suggest what it suggests itself,
if the effect is io be a pleasing one. In the immediate
neighborhood of a work of architecture a pattern-bed
may be the most beautiful because the most appropriate
object which could be introduced; or, if intersecting walks
or roads Jeave a formally outlined space of small extent
between them, formal planting may there be the best.
In small urban parks, again, if discreetly introduced, it
is harmonious, both as agreeing with the symmetry of
street architecture and as filling a space palpably too re-
stricted to be properly utilized by a more natural arrange-
ment of plants. It is impossible in a single article to dis-
cuss the subject thoroughly. But enough has been said
for the moment if we have shown the true point of view
from which it should be approached.
The rapid introduction into general cultivation in this
country of the purple-leaved Plum, known in gardens as
Prunus Prssardi, to which attention is called in the notes
from the Arnold Arboretum printed on another page of
this issue, well illustrates the existing fancy in this coun-
try for garden novelties, and especially for plants with
abnormally colored foliage or habit of growth. It is less
than ten years since this plant was sent to Europe from
Persia, and yet the owners of a large proportion of the
pretentious villas in the United States now point to it with
pride as one of the chief treasures of their gardens.
Glowing descriptions in nursery catalogues, and gorgeous
chromos in the hands of tree agents, for which style of illus-
tration, the deep purple leaves of this plant are particularly
adapted, have quickly spread it far and near. And this
tree is neither very handsome nor very desirable, and it
is certainly, as an ornamental plant, inferior in every
way to the Myrobalan Plum, of which it is probably only
a purple-leaved form. But no one ever plants the green
tree, which is now practically unknown in this country,
and which probably could not be found in any American
nursery, while thousands of the purple-leaved variety are —
planted every year.
Back and Front.
HE following queries suggested by the ‘‘ Plan fora
Small Suburban Homestead,” in the issue of GARDEN
AND Forrest for May 2d, have been referred to me.
“On the south side, where, in a typical American house,
there would be a shady veranda, instead of it there is what is
called a terrace—an uncovered platform—upon which the
sun must fall and be reflected with burning heat and blind-
ing light into the adjoining rooms. The house has no front
door. To enter itfrom the street, visitors must go round by the
back yard, close by the stable. What can be said for such
arrangements except that they are striking from their ori-
ginality or their foreign character? If a speaker chose to
turn his back upon his audience he would offend a sense of
propriety. Is there no question of propriety about the front
and back of a house ?”
I reply with pleasure to these inquiries.
A well-shaded apartment having been provided, outside
the walls, at the south-west corner of the house, much better
adapted for the seating of a family circle than an ordinary
veranda, the platform called a terrace will serve desirable
purposes that a veranda in the same situation would not.
The family rooms giving upon it can be opened to sun-
shine, as it is best that all rooms should be occasionally,
summer and winter. The sun can be excluded from them
when it is better that it should be (leaving the air free
course through the windows), by adjustabie awnings. In-
teresting forms of decorative sub-tropical vegetation can be
fittingly set upon such a terrace in immediate connection
with the principal family rooms, as they could not be in the
Terrace and Veranda
P
>
June 6, 1888.]
shade of a veranda. There are several months in the
year when the terrace could be occupied for one or two
hours of most days as a work-room for ladies or as an air-
ing place for an infant or a convalescent, when it would
be imprudent to sit in the shade out-of-doors, or to walk
on damp turf.
As to a common sense of propriety and respectability in
matters of the front and back of houses, let us consider
how what may pass for such a sense has probably origi-
nated.
A feudal chief wishing to lodge a body of his vassals at
aparticular point, before unsettled, of his domain, would
provide rows of huts set closely together on each side of
a common passage or street. They would have the char-
acteristics of such huts as are to beseen now by the score,
for example, at Paso del Norte on our southern frontier; a
single room for a family, a door on the street side, a door
on the other side, no windows, a little corral into which
goats, swine and fowls are driven through the hut at night-
fall.
As civilization advanced the manorial lords would find
it to their profit to extend these villages, build larger dwell-
ings, and, after a long interval, give them a little window
on each side of the street door. Later, the roof would be
pitched steeper and a sleeping-loft added. Then, on the
street side, the walls would be built higher so that there
could be upper rooms, also with windows, the roof still
carried down to the first story on the opposite side.
At this stage of the evolution certain landlords might come
to regard certain of their villages as a part of their lordly
array ; to conduct guests through their streets and to take
pride in their cottages as they would be seen from the
streets. It follows that new cottages would be built a
little set off from the street and would be given astreet door-
yard; their street walls would be whitewashed and tenants
would be encouraged to decorate the street yards with
flowering plants and to line the ways from the street to the
street doors with rows of box or shells or white stones.
The other side of the house would still preserve the ori-
ginal hovel character; would have no windows, and the
door would open upon a dunghill and rough shelters for
the increasing personal wealth of the tenant in goats, pigs,
donkeys, geese and fowls.
It can hardly be necessary to pursue the process of de-
velopment nearer to “the typical American house.”
Why is it that we so often see the family rooms of a
house in the country on the least valuable part of the site
of a homestead ; the kitchen, wash room, drying yard and
out-houses on the best part of it? Why is it that if one
asks at a Seaside Hotel, where he can see the ocean, he
is told to go out back of the stable? The answer is that
it is because of a lingering superstition—a spurious semi-
religious sentiment—which had its origin when one side of
most houses—the side facing a public road—was the hu-
man side, the other the side of pigs and goats and geese,
filth, darkness and concealment.
The front, ¢he back, are terms no more applicable to a
well designed house in America than anywhere else.
Our Capitol and our White House have two fronts. Our
beloved house at Mt. Vernon has two fronts. The old
Hosack house at Hyde Park on the Hudson, the finest
country-seat in its natural elements in America, has four
fronts, as have most palaces and many other monumental
buildings, as those of our Interior and Post Office Depart-
ments. (But this is a plan hardly ever to be recommend-
ed except where there is to be a spacious interior court, as
in many French and Spanish country houses.)
Generally with us a country house, and often a suburban
house, will best have three fronts. Except as regard for
winter shelter or summer breeze may overrule, one of these
will be on the side looking from which there is the most
pleasing natural scenery, and here will be the more im-
portant family rooms (as at Mt. Vernon and at the White
House). If the outlook from them has a fine distant back-
ground (as at Mt. Vernon and the White House), then the
Garden and Forest.
171
nearer premises should be treated partly with a purpose to
provide a place of common, quiet, domestic occupation, to
be used in connection with the parlor or library, and partly
with the aim of fitting the landscape with a foreground nicely
conforming to, and helping the effect of, the middledistance
and the background. It is desirable for neither of these
purposes that there should beasweep of gravel on that side
of the house upon which horses may be driven or be kept
standing, nor that there should be a public entrance to the
house there. Usually a lawn, framed andsparingly furnish-
ed with masses of shrubbery that will not grow so high as
to hide the distant view, will be best. But if the natural
surface of the ground is rapidly declining from the house,
especially if it is in the form of a broken and one-sided de-
clivity, having a dislocating effect in connection with the
distant view, then a level platform before the house, its
further edge having a parapet, balustrade or hedge, will be
desirable, both in order to give an effect of security and
quiet to the immediate border of the house, and to make a
strong foreground line by which the distance will be soft-
ened and refined.
Another side of the house will be its garden front, chosen
because (of the three remaining sides) it offers the best
conditions for a garden, properly so called. Another will
be the entrance front, the treatment of which will be large
in scale and less fine than either of the others. But here,
if possible, there should be umbrageous trees. There will
remain that part of the house containing the kitchen and
laundry, from which will extend yards and sheds and
spaces where wagons can stand and turn when bringing
supplies or taking off wastes. Beyond them, perhaps, a
carriage-house, stable and smaller out-houses. This
should be the side on which the outlook is of the least
value, and on which the natural circumstances favor con-
venient but not conspicuous lines of approach.
When such a complete arrangement, as has been thus sug-
gested, is impracticable, the same general principles may be
adopted as far as circumstances admit. It rarely occurs
in any interesting place that the principal entrance can be
best made on the more attractive side of a house. It often
occurs, as in the finest places at Newport and Long Branch,
that the best location for the stables, stable yard and laun-
dry yard is on the street side of the house, and thatthe ap-
proach to its principal entrance passes near these, bringing
them, exteriorly, under close view.
Brookline, May 18th, 1888,
FF. L. Olmsted
The Court-yard of Charlecote Hall.
A has been said on a previous page, the beauty of a
formal flower bed depends upon the question
whether it is in the right place or in the wrong place. It
may be more beautiful, because more appropriate, than
any other horticultural decoration; and it may be more
ugly because more conspicuously inappropriate than any
other. Our own home-grounds, both large and small,
offer numberless instances of its improper use. Examples
of its proper use are not so easy to find in America; and
even in Europe we more often deplore than welcome its
presence. When the natural or landscape style of garden-
ing came into favor, the reaction in taste carried artists
and owners alike into an excess of hatred for all formal
gardening arrangements. Many old gardens of the
architectural pattern were ruthlessly destroyed, although
they were appropriate and beautiful because closely con-
nected with works of architectural art. And the formal
beds of modern times are, as a rule, not much better em-
ployed in Europe than in America. But here and there in
all parts of Europe, and even in England, where the love
for natural arrangements long ruled more strongly than
elsewhere, old gardens of architectural design, or portions
of such gardens, may still be found. The illustration
given on page 173 is a good example of gardening
of this character, and gains a double interest from its con-
nection with the name of the greatest of English poets.
i72
Charlecote Hall stands some three miles from Stratford-
on-Avon, and was in Shakespeare's time, as it stillis to-day,
the seat of the Lucy family ; and it was in Charlecote
Park that, as the familiar legend tells us, the young poet
played the poacher’s part. The hall, as it stands to-day,
scarcely changed as regards its exterior, was built in the
first year of Queen Elizabeth's reign—in 1558, six years be-
fore Shakespeare's birth. As we see it to-day, therefore,
he must have seen it; and not only the Hall itself, but the
gate-way and court-yard which our illustration shows, for
these form an integral part of the plan of the building it-
self. Our point of view is from a spot immediately in
front of the Hall, the projecting wings of which are joined
by the terrace walls on either hand. Thus house and walls
and gate-way completely encircle the court-yard, and the
architectural design of the little garden it encloses was
dictated by good taste. Imagine this small space arranged
in the natural style of gardening, and we perceive at
once that the planting itself would be ineffective, and that
the effect of the architecture would be grievously impaired.
Beyond the walls the naturally growing trees give an ac-
cent of variety, and pleasantly suggest the beauties of that
wilder nature which the word park implies. But within
the walls the formal beds are properly placed, and even
if vivid in color they cannot be too emphatic in effect.
for they are not set in immediate relief against a carpet of
bright green, but are surrounded by borders of gravel
the neutral tones of which, together with those of the archi-
tectural elements, must subdue the brightest floral notes
into a general harmony.
Entomological.
The Work of a Timber Borer.
S is well known, the borers of some of our shade
trees, as well as the grub or larva of the Monoham-
mus of the White Pine, occur in lumber, and, on very rare
occasions, live on for many years, either as larve or bee-
tles, probably the latter, in lumber which has been made
into tables, chests of drawers or other articles of household
furniture; the beetle for a long time afterwards giving out
ghostly squeaks, finally emerging from its tunnel in the
well-worn and familiar bureau or table, as the case may
be. The latest occurrence recorded in print is noticed by
Mr. J. McNeil, who states in the American Naturalist for
December, 1886, that two specimens of a longicorn beetle
(Lburia quadrigeminafa) must have lived in an ash door-sill
for a period which ‘‘ would make these insects not less than
nineteen, and probably twenty or more years old.” A
somewhat similar case happened at Salem, Mass., as we
have been informed by A. C. Goodell, Esq., who took a
“sawyer” beetle (AZonohammus confusor) from a bureau
that had been in his house for fifteen years, and was new
when bought.
Apropos of such cases of extraordinary longevity in
boring insects whose life ordinarily spans but two, possi-
bly three, years, and which occur in articles of furniture,
the Messrs. Goddard Brothers, of Providence, R. I., have
called our attention to the damage done to a case of cotton
cloth at their Lonsdale Mills, and have kindly presented
the three larvee found, together with a damaged bale of
cotton cloth, to the Museum of Brown University.
The box containing the goods was of pine, and per-
forated by at least three or four grubs, seventeen pieces
being worm-eaten, one of which we have examined. The
worms were thoughtful enough to gnaw through the folds,
so as to thoroughly riddle almost every thickness of the
cloth; the perforations in one case being about three inches
long and half an inch wide on the outside, and contracting
for two inches within to a size corresponding to that of
the body of the grub. Not having seen the box, I quote
from a letter to the Messrs. Goddard from Mr. J. Johnston,
of Lonsdale, who took some pains to examine the box and
Garden and Forest.
[JuNE 6, 1888,
to identify the worms as larve of a beetle. ‘‘The hole they
make is in shape a very elongated oval, and is, I think, in
every case about the size of the grub itself. It is unfortu-
nate that we did not see the case as it was seen in Phila-
delphia. The bottom, where most havoc was wrought on
the cloth, was mended with a strip of hard pine; possibly
the original board was so badly damaged that it would not
have been safe to return the goods in it as it was. On ex-
amining the shooks in the box-shop, I find a large propor-
tion of them eaten by this embryo beetle. I ought to say
that not a single grub can be found in the shooks; those I
send were taken from live wood.”
We are informed that this is the only case of the kind
which has occurred out of about 250,000 boxes sent out
from the mill. How long the larvee may have lived in the
lumber is, of course, difficult to say.
The larvee, one of which was still alive, were about
three-quarters of an inch in length, and on comparing them
with the halfgrown larvee of Monohammus confusor of
nearly the same size they were found to differ as follows:
the clypeus and labrum are wider, the edge of the protho-
racic segment is more hairy ; the body is wider behind the
thoracic segments, and more rounded and wider at the
end. Without doubt these larve differ generically from
Monohammus, but in the present state of our knowledge,
it is impossible to refer them to their proper genus and
species.
We may here remark that the larve of A/fonohammus
confusor live two years before transforming into beetles, as
we have been able to prove, having been fortunate enough |
to detect a female in the act of laying its eggs, and the
year following to cut its half-grown grubs out of the
same tree.
It is probable that the cases of extraordinary longevity
on record are due to the fact that through some cause the
insect as a beetle has been prevented from leaving the tun-
nel made while a grub. Its larval state may not be pro-
longed, but when insects are prevented from mating and
laying their eggs, they live on in single blessedness through
an unusual number of seasons. ‘There is thus, apparently,
a premium awarded by Nature upon celibacy, the reward
being length of years. A, S, Packard.
New or Little Known Plants.
Camassia Cusicki.*
HE only American genus representative of the large
liliaceous tribe which includes the Hyacinth, the ~
Blue Bell or Grape Hyacinth, the Squill, and the Star of
Bethlehem, is the genus Camassia. So near to Scz/a is this
genus that it is often included under it, and we so find it
in Gray’s Manual. The characters which separate the two
are the leafy stem, the stouter habit, and larger flowers,
and the nervation of the petals, which in Scilla have
always a single midnerve, while in Camassia there are
from three to nine nerves, showing most plainly after
the flowers are dried.
The first known species was discovered by Captains
Lewis and Clark in September, 1805, upon their expedi-
tion across the continent. After a difficult: passage across
the Bitter Root Mountains, by what isnow known as the
Lolo trail, during which they had found little grass for their
animals or game for their own sustenance, they came out
on the tenth day upon an open meadow and to an In-
dian village, where they were hospitably received. The
Indians “set before them a small piece of buffalo-meat,
some dried salmon, berries, and several kinds of roots.
Among these last is one which is round and much like
an onion in appearance and sweet to the taste. It is
~#C, Cusickn, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad, xxii. 479. _ Bulbs clustered, large; leaves
glaucous, subundulate, numerous, the larger two feet long by one and one-half
inches wide ; stem leafy, two or three feet high; pedicels end linear subscarious
bracts about an inch long; flowers regular, pale blue, the narrow petals crisped
near the base, 3-5 neryed, persistently spreading, an inch long; capsule oblong,
transyersely veined,
JuNE 6, 1888.]
called quamash, and is eaten either in its natural state,
or boiled into a kind of soup, or made into a cake which
is then called pasheco. After our long abstinence this
was a sumptuous treat.” Seventy-five years afterward I
crossed the same trail, still as wild, rugged and inhospit-
able as the earlier voyagers had found it, and came out
into the same little prairie. The Indian village had van-
ished, but heaps of recently gathered Camass roots showed
that the Indians still frequented the place, while marks of a
mowing machine upon the grass were equally sure evidence
of the near neighborhood of some white settler. Lewis
and Clark in their narrative make frequent mention after-
ward of ‘‘quamash flats,” and upon their return took
back with them the specimens upon which Pursh founded
the species Plalangium Quamash. This name Lindley
subsequently changed to Camass?z esculenta, the Camassit
being a Latinized form of the Indian name guamash or
camass.
Garden and Forest.
173
nerves. Itis described as growing on mountain slopes,
instead of in meadows, and the bulb is nauseous, pun-
gent and inedible. The figure on page 174 has been
drawn by Mr. Faxon from a specimen that has recently
flowered at Cambridge. S. W.
Plant Notes.
The Ginkgo Tree.
HE Ginkgo tree, as it is generally seen in this country,
especially in the Northern States, where the climate
is perhaps too severe for its full development, has rigid
branches, and a stiff and not particularly attractive habit of
growth, which make it difficult to use this tree satis-
factorily in connection with other trees of less formal out-
line. As it approaches maturity, however, under favorable
conditions, the Ginkgo, as our illustration on page 175,
The Court-yard of Charlecote Hall.—See page 171.
In 1810 Nuttall collected what he believed to be the
same species ‘‘near the confluence of Huron River and
Lake Erie,” and afterward near St. Louis and on the
banks of the Ohio. This eastern form, which ranges south-
ward into Texas, was separated by Dr. Torrey and is
known as C. Frasert. The original Camass is abundant
in many low meadows from Idaho to the Pacific, and
has been an important article of food to the native inhab-
itants. On the lower Columbia, a third species, C
Leichilinz, is found, which has an equally nutritious root,
_and still a fourth species has been recently discovered
in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, by Mr. W. C. Cusick,
of which a figure is here given.
This is the stoutest and most vigorous grower of all
the species, with a large bulb, numerous broad glaucous
and somewhat undulate leaves, and a flowering stem
two or three feet high. The flowers are of a delicate
very pale blue, the petals spreading regularly, crinkled at
the narrow base, and with three, or rarely five, faint
representing the noble specimen in the famous gardens of
the Villa Carlotta, on the shores of the Lake of Como,
shows, is a really beautiful and graceful tree, which will
hardly be recognized by persons who have only seen it In
a comparatively young state in parks and gardens in the
Northern States. Most of the specimens in the United
States still require time, probably, in which to develop their
real beauty, but that they can in time attain the same
graceful habit of growth, if not the same dimensions, as
the tree we figure, the fine specimen planted in the first
years of the century by Dr. Hosack, on the banks of the
Hudson, at Hyde Park, amply testifies.
The Ginkgo, apart from its beauty, is a tree of very great
interest, owing to the peculiarities of its botanical characters.
It is one of the family of Conifers, but unlike the mem-
bers of that family with which we are most familiar in
this country, its leaves are deciduous, broad and_ fan-
shaped, and instead of a cone, the fruit is a fleshy drupe,
containing a large stone resembling that of an Apricot, and
174
with a delicate edible kernel, although the fleshy portion of
the fruit has a most disagreeable rancid flavor. The male
and female flowers are produced on separate trees, so that
it is necessary to plant specimens of the two sexes in
order to insure a crop of fruit, which is not produced until
the trees have attained a considerable size. The Ginkgo is
supposed to be anative of some part of northern China,
where it is frequently cultivated in
the neighborhood of temples and pala-
ces, but it is nowhere known ina wild
state. It has been cultivated in Japan,
where it is believed to have been intro-
duced, from time immemorial, and
where it is valued for its beauty as well
as for its nuts, which are highly es-
ieemed by the Japanese.
This tree was introduced into Europe
about 130 years ago, and it must be
nearly a century since it was first sent
to America. The peculiar shape of the
leaves has gained for it ihe name of the
Maidenhair tree, from their supposed
resemblance to the fronds ofthe Maiden-
hair Fern. It is a large tree, producing
valuable timber, sometimes attaining
in Japan a height of nearly 100 feet,
with a trunk three or four feet in diam-
eter. The Ginkgo, to which the name
Salisburia is sometimes improperly
given, is very hardy as far north, at
least, as New England, although a
milder climate seems necessary to
develop its greatest beauty. Consider-
able attention has lately been given
to the Ginkgo in Europe, as a subject
for street and road-side planting, and
thousands of these trees have been
planted during the last few years along
the highways near some of the French
and Italian towns of the Riviera. Its
hardiness and its habit of growth seem
to fit it admirably for this purpose.
Old Lombardy Poplar at the Trianon.—In
the charming park of the Trianon where
Louis XIV. was wont to retire for a time—
when he was tired of the splendors of
Versailles—stand the remains of a fine old
Lombardy Poplar which was planted by
Marie Antoinette. The top of the tree
was blown off by a storm in 1880, but the
trunk is yet full of life, and has a cir-
cumference of seventeen feet six inches,
four feet from the ground.
Sugar Maple.—A diligent search through
the park at the Trianon for trees, original
specimens introduced into France by
Michaux, was -not successful: Since
Michaux’s time there have been revolu-
tions and changes of Government, and
the authorities do not seem able to point
to many trees which can be said, with
certainty, to date back to Michaux himself.
One, however, a goodly sized Sugar
Maple, is probably an original tree, and
it was, by no means, in thoroughly good
order, as the Mistletoe had taken com-
plete possession of it. The branches
were weighted down with this parasite,
although the year before large quantities
had been carefully cut out.
Ginkgo biloba.—A fine pair of these trees—perhaps better
known under the name of Salisburia adiantifolia—stand in the
State nurseries at Trianon. They are a male and female, and
the latter was laden with fruits at the time of my visit last
autumn, The larger of the two had a trunk which measured
more than two and a half métres in circumference. It seems
strange that so handsome a tree has not been planted more
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 6, 1888.
generally along avenues in France. <A gentleman now resid-
ing on the Riviera, familiar with the Salisburia as a street tree
in Shanghai and other Chinese towns, has, at his own expense,
planted avenues of itin some of the small Italian towns near the
French frontier. If these succeed, and there seems no reason
to doubt it, the Ginkgo will probably become. popular through-
out southern France.
Fig. 32.—Camassia Cusickii.—See page 172.
Actinidia volubilis—Has any one grown this shrub in the
United States for the sake of its fruits? A fine specimen,
trained to a stake, at the Chateau de Segrez, was, last autumn,
laden with round fruits, green in color and about the size ofa
large hazel nut. The taste was decidedly agreeable, the flavor
not unlike that of some kinds of gooseberry. Probably the
best and most complete collection of hardy ligneous plants,
CP ey a ee Oe ee, ay eee a
mila
et
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pe eee ae
JuNE 6, 1888.]
not only in France, but on the Continent of Europe, exists at
Segrez; it represents many years of care and study, and cannot
fail to impress the visitor with the value of the labors of the
late M. Alphonse Lavallée. It is earnestly to be hoped that the
present representative of the family will follow up the work
carried on with so much enthusiasm by his father.
George Nicholson.
Garden and Forest.
aie:
In most green-houses such vines as Passion-Flowers, Ste-
phanotis, Allamanda, Quisqualis, Lapageria and the like are
trained to wires running along the rafters or lengthwise across
the ratters.. Unfasten these now and give them a thorough
cleaning before tying them up again. To remove the coating
of black dirt often found on the old leaves of vines, keep the
leaves wet by sprinkling them with water for some hours
Cultural Department.
The Green-house.
(GREEN HOUSES have now been emptied of summer gar-
den plants, and many winter-blooming plants have been
turned out-of-doors for the summer to complete their growth
and ripen their wood. This gives an opportunity to clean thor-
oughly green-houses and the plants remaining in them, and
to rearrange and display them to the best advantage.
Wash the dark stains off the sash-bars and rafters and scrub
the dirt and green conferve off the plates, sills, stages and
walls inside. Glass partitions and doors are apt to become
dingy, and they should be well cleaned. If the houses are old,
and there is any appearance of mealy bug about the plants,
paint the wood-work inside with turpentine or kerosene, and
stop all nail-holes and cracks with putty or rubber cement.
Fig. 33 —The Ginkgo Tree.—See page 173.
before washing. This softens the scurf, and it can be washed
off with comparative ease.
The in-door decoration of the green-house in summer de-
pends upon the kinds of plants grown, the purpose for which
they are required, and the room and other conveniencesat hand.
Green-houses in summer are not in all cases genial homes for
plants ; they are apt to become too hot, hence gardeners _pro-
vide out-door summer quarters for all the pot plants which are
benefited by such treatment. But if the summer decoration
of the green-house is desired there are among fine-leaved
plants Palms, Anthuriums, Caladiums, Dracaenas, Crotons,
Marantas, Begonias, Ferns, Mosses and many others. See that
all are perfectly clean and in good condition at the root; that
they are neither over-potted nor under-potted ; that the drain-
age is perfect, and that they are soarranged that each plant
has abundance of room, and that all are arranged effectively
and tastefully. Among flowering plants there are Gloxinias,
176 Garden and Forest.
Achimenes, Gesneras, Begonias, Anthuriums, Clerodendrons,
Dipladenias, Crinums and “Crassulas. To these can be added
a host of Orchids. If it really is desirable to maintain a
gay conservatory all summer long, it will be necessary to
keep up a supply and succession of ‘flowering plants in sum-
mer as we do in winter. Hydrangeas, Plumbago, Cocks-
combs, Brugmansia, Clianthus, Justicias, Erythrina, Japan
Lilies, Crape “Myrtle and plants of their kind are used for this
purpose, and they often are supplemented by the commoner
annuals. But there is a peculiar cheapness about this sort of
decoration. Plants that thrive better out-of-doors than in the
green-house in summer assume a very unhappy aspect when
in conservatory service during that period.
Hardiness of Perennials.
HE question:—What is the test of hardiness? recurs
every spring. Too often we conclude that a plant is not
hardy because it does not survive the winter, under certain
conditions. But a wider experience proves that a plant’s
ability to endure winter cold depends as much upon summer
heat as upon winter climate. The conditions of a plant under
cultivation, differ widely from those of the same plant in its
natural habitat. Observation seems to show that perennials are
more common in woods, or shady places, and moist meadows ;
whereas annuals mostly grow in dry and exposed situations.
May we not inter from this, that exhaustion during the hot sea-
son by excessive blooming and seed producing, as in the case
of Aubrietias and Sweet Williams, tends to make annuals rather
than perennials of them,and lessens theirability to endure winter
cold? For this reason, we can never hope, perhaps, to practice
spring bedding in this country with the success attained in
England. Some of the most successful gardeners in America
have pronounced it uncertain. Jam referring more especial-
ly, though not exclusively, to plants suitable for the rock-gar-
den. In forming a rock-garden an eastern or south- eastern
slope is certainly preferable, but culture will, I think, be attend-
ed with greater success if some shade can be secured, such
as is given by large trees at some distance away, so as not to
have their roots penetrating the soil in which the plants are
grow Nn.
Apart from the question of reduced vitality, through exces-
sive heat in exposed situations during summer, the ability to
endure winter is not measured by counting the degrees on
the thermometer. It depends upon other conditions than the
mere amount of cold. Equable conditions are required. Any
plan by which we can exclude sun-light and admit air, and so
prevent alternate freezing and thawing, will help, I am sur-
prised to find Narcissus hardy here when I had given them up
further south. Chionodoxa Lucillie and Scilla Siberica grow
and bloom beautifully when protected bya littlelitter. Py imula
denticulata and Soldanella alpina, both requiring protection in
England, are strong and healthy after the winter. JZyosotis
dissitifiora and Digitalis grandiflora, as well as the common
Foxglove, are a surprise to me this spring, knowing that they
grow w ild i in the woods in England, and being biennials which
retain their foli iage naturally, I felt sure they could not survive.
Prevention of exhaustion by partial shade in summer, anda
plan, such as a light covering of litter, in winter, to prevent
alternate freezing and thawing, are among the most import-
ant considerations in the successful culture of hardy peren-
nials.
Wellesley, Mass.
T. D. Hatfield.
Forget-me-nots.—From March till June Forget-me-nots,
grown in cold frames like Pansies and Polyanthuses, attain
full perfection. If needed for cut flowers only they may re-
main to bloom in the frames, but if required for out-door gar-
den decoration in spring, about the end of March or first of
April we can lift them with good balls of earth and transplant
in some warm, well- sheltered spot. The finer forms of For-
get-me-nots have not proved hardy here. No doubt the com-
mon marsh Forget-me-not (AZyosotis palustris) of Europe, also
some of the stronger forms of JZ alpfestris, can be naturalized
in moist, somewhat shady places in the Northern States, but I
have never had any of the varieties of JZ. dissitifiora or M.
Azorica live over winter as unprotected hardy plants.
Although the Forget-me-nots are all perennials, it is only as
annuals that they can be treated successfully with us. True,
we may raise a young stock from cuttings or division, but
from seed is by far the easiest way. It is a mistake to sow
the seeds in spring ; spring-sown plants grow large and leafy
during summer and many of them die off in fall. Better sow
the seeds in July. This will give nice sized plants for winter-
grandifiora.
[JUNE 6, 1888.
ing over in frames for next spring’s blooming. Indeed, the
self-sown seedlings that come up so numerously in the beds
where the old plants have bloomed, make capital stock to
winter over for spring work. Forget-me-nots like good soil
and are impatient of drought at any time.
We have white as well as blue flowered varieties of all the
common species, and rose-colored forms of some, but a blue
Forget-me-not, like a Violet, is more desirable than one of
any other color. For cut flowers JZ dissitifora is preferable,
and both the blue and white varieties are good. Another
one that gives great satisfaction is JZ alpfestris robusta
It is a little later in coming into bloom than
M. dissitifora, but after it does come in it is cut in preference
to any other. We have also the new JZ alpestris Victoria,
now in bloom and very beautiful. The plants are dwarf, very
compact in habit, and copious in bloom, but while they
make admirable specimens eitherin the frame or spring-gar-
den, their flower branches are not long and ample enough for
cut flowers. W.F.
Onosma stellulatum, var. Tauricium.—This is a neat alpine
plant of the Borage family, happily named by Mr. Burbidge the
“Golden Drop.” It has a semi-shrubby, ‘trailing habit, and
hairy, gray-green, lanceolate, evergreen foliage. "The flowers
are arranged in graceful, arching cymes, ‘6-10 long, bear-
ing graceful, lemon-colored, deliciously-scented flowers,
in succession along more than half their length. It is
perfectly hardy in the United States, having been ‘thoroughly
tested. It has never, to my know ledge, produced seed, but
cuttings taken in spring from plants housed during winter,
just after commencing new growth, and witha heel of old
wood, which last is absolutely “essential, strike easily in a tem-
perature of 50°. The foliage must not be kept damp, so an
ordinary glass cutting box will not do so well as the open bench.
Young plants planted out in spring make handsome specimens
by fall, and if taken up and potted in 6-inch pots will bloom
beautifully during the late winter months—February and
March. This Onosma is both rare and beautiful. It ought not
to be rare in this country, for it is propagated far more easily
here than in England, w here it is much admired, and always
sells at a comparatively high price, solely on account of the
difficulty in its propagation. IE VON IEE
Mackya bella—Fine racemes of the handsome flowers of this
plant, which botanists now consider a species of Asystasta, were
shown at a recent exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, from the gardens of Mrs. F. B. Hayes, at Lexington.
It is a native of Natal, and has not been in cultivation \ very
long, having been introduced into English gardens in 1869 by
its discoverer, Mr. J. Sanderson. It is a tall, slender. shrub,
with virgate branches, producing terminal racemes of pale
lilac, campanulate flowers, the throat of the corolla delicately
penciled with purple veins. Itis a member of the Acanthus
family. Jackya bella is a free growing green-house plant, but
it requires special treatment to induce it to flower freely. It
should be encouraged to grow vigorously in summer, during
which period it requires an abundance of water. During the
winter months water should be withheld, and the plant, which
loses its leaves, allowed a period of entire rest. Thus treated
it will flower profusely along the ends of all thoroughly ripened
shoots. Mackya is one of those plants which repays the care
necessary to induce it to flower freely, and should be more
generally grown than it is in this country at present. S.
Fragrant Herbs for Edging Plants.—Fragrant herbs, as
Thyme, Marjorum and Savory, are the delight of many an old
country garden, and as they grow so neatly and are so easily
raised from seed, there is no reason why we cannot have them
here, and in abundance. As edgings to little beds or borders
of mixed plants they are neat and appropriate. Both the
broad leaved and lemon Thyme are perfectly hardy; Savory
and Marjorum seldom live over winter, but they quickly make
good plants from seed sown in spring. All the variegated
leaved varieties of Thyme are also hardy enough, but ‘must
be increased by division or cuttings, as they do not perpetu-
ate their variegationfrom seed. To these add Lavender, and
if desirable its flowers can be cut off. Two other fragrant
plants of stocky habit, and well fitted for edgings, are Calamintha
alpina and Thymus patavinus,; both are easily obtained from
seed.
Strawberries and Birds.—Cat-birds and robins are more de-
structive to the crop just as the berries are beginning to turn
than later on when the full crop is ripe. The best way to
circumvent the birds in a small home-garden is to erect
a temporary frame around and over the bed, and spread
over it a fine-meshed seine or fish net, Instead of a
)
.
:
JunE 6, 1888.]
seine, mosquito netting can be used, but the seine is very
much better, as itis no impediment to wind or air, and with it
there is no fear of the berries musting, by being kept too close,
moist or warm. Get stakes about eight feet long, place
them around and across the beds and about ten feet apart,
and drive them about eighteen inches deep into the ground.
Then take factory-cut bass-wood strips (each sixteen or more
feet long and costing one to one and a half cents) and tack
them against the posts on the border of the bed, and from post
to post over the top. Then spread the netting over thisframe.
Sometimes, instead of the bass-wood strips, marlin can be
used overthe top. This givesa canopy six anda half feet high,
leaving perfect freedom for picking the berries. The frame
costs very little and the same stakes can be used for the same
purpose for many years.
se
Cut-Worms.—From now till the end of June cut-worms are
most destructive and they always are worse in sandy than in
stiff clay land. They are especially fond of young beets, cu-
cumbers and melons, but almost any tender young vegetable
attracts them. No practicable means of poisoning, trapping
or destroying them in any other way than by hand picking has,
so far as I know, been discovered. Examine young crops in
the morning, and whenever you observe that some of the
plants have recently been cut, remove a little of the soil from
about the plants and probably the depredator will be found.
The Rock-Garden in Spring.
@N= of the most interesting plants flowering in the rock-
garden this week is a form of the Dogtooth Violet from
the mountains of Oregon and Washington Territory (Zrythro-
nium grandiflorum, var. albiflorum). It sends up from long,
narrow corms, broad leaves, conspicuously blotched with
purple, and tall, slender racemes of two to six nodding, lily-
like, long-pediceled flowers, which, when fully expanded, are
nearly three inches across. The segments are pale yellow,
dashed with orange towards the base, with darker orange
spots on the interior face. The hardiness of this exceedingly
beautiful plant has not been fully established here, but if it is
planted in an open, well drained situation it will probably
flourish.
Several handsome Tulips are now in flower. The most
showy of these, perhaps, is Zz/ifja elegans, a form which is
known in gardens only, and which Mr. Baker considers a
hybrid between 7. acuminata and T. suaveolens. It produces
large and handsome bright red flowers, three to three anda
half inches long. The base of the segments are beautifully
marked on the interior witha yellow eye. They are nearly
uniform in shape and are narrowed gradually to a very acute
point. Thisisa very hardy plant which will flourish and in-
crease in any good garden soil. Very satisfactory here, too,
is Tulipa sylvestris, the European Wood Tulip, a common
plant from Norway to the Caucasus. Its handsome, clear
yellow, fragrant flowers, one to two inches long, somewhat
nodding before they are fully expanded, are borne on tall
flexuous scapes. The leaves, of which there are generally
three below the middle of the flower stem, are glaucous,
smooth and channeled, and often more than a foot long.
Less showy than many of the higher colored Tulips, this is an
exceedingly graceful and pretty plant. Itis perfectly hardy,
and blooms freely year after year, requiring no special care or
cultivation. A much rarer plant, is the pretty little 7i/ipa
—undulatifolia, which Mr. Elwes discovered a few years ago on
the Bozdagh range of mountains near Smyrna. It is a dwarf
plant which is here not over three or fourinches high. The
leaves are glaucous, the lowest six inches long and one inch
wide, the others much narrower, concave on the face with
undulate margins. The handsome campanulate flower is
bright crimson-red on the inside and dull greenish red without.
The segments, which are handsomely marked on the inside,
with a large black blotch, surrounded with a bright yellow
border, are all gradually narrowed into a long acute point.
This is a hardy species here, but it does not grow with any
great vigor, and shows no inclination to increase. Another of
the fine new central Asia Tulips (7: Kalpakowshyana) does
admirably here. It is a native of Turkestan, where it was dis-
covered by Dr. Albert Regel, who introduced it into the St.
Petersburg Garden. Here the color of the flower is a bright
cherry red, with a dull blackish eye, and black filaments and
anthers, but it is described as a variable species, sometimes
producing yellow flowers flamed with red on the exterior of
the outer segments, and sometimes pure yellow flowers with a
dark eye and yellow anthers and filaments. This species here
Garden and Forest.
177
attains the height of a foot, and produces flowers nearly two
inches long. It is very hardy and is gradually increasing.
The Painted Trillium (7. exythrocarpum) is a far less showy
plant than 7: grandifiorum, but it is a pretty and attractive
species well worth a place in the rock-garden, where it seems
to flourish, although its horne is in the cold, wet woods of
northern New England and far northward. The flower is
erect with oval-lanceolate, pointed, widely spreading petals,
which are pure white, painted at the base with purple stripes.
It flourishes in a partially shaded exposure, and requires the
same soil and treatment necessary for the other species of
the genus.
Persons who value only plants with showy flowers will
hardly care to cultivate any of the species of Asarum or
Wild Ginger—low herbs, with kidney-shaped or heart-shaped
leaves, which completely hide the inconspicuous flowers,
not unlike, in general structure, those of the well-known
Pipe-Vine (Aristolochia Sipho). Asarum Canadense, a com-
mon plant in northern woods, is now in flower, and well fills
a shaded pocket in the rockery witha mass of handsome
membranaceous kidney-shaped and softly pubescent leaves,
which look bright and fresh throughout the summer.
The Virginia Cowslip (ertensia Virginica), an old and well
known inhabitant of gardens, is handsome in the rockery or
in the mixed border. It isa smooth, very pale, erect plant, one
or two feet high, with obovate leaves, and rich, purple-blue,
trumpet-shaped, nodding flowers in short raceme-like clusters.
This Mertensia needs no special care or cultivation, and
thrives in all exposures, and in any rich loam. It can be in-
creased by division of the roots, or by seed, which should be
sown as soon as ripe.
Dicentra eximia, one of the plants to which the name
Dutchman’s Breeches is commonly applied, is in flower
several days later than the more delicate D. Cucullaria. It has
bright green, three-lobed, deeply cut, handsome foliage and
rather tall scapes, with compound clustered racemes of droop-
ing red or flesh-colored flowers, nearly an inch long, with the
crest of the two inner petals of the heart-shaped corolla pro-
jecting above the outer petals. This is a coarser leaved plant
than the other American species of this genus, and is much
more rare, being confined to a few localities in western New
York and to the Alleghany Mountains of Virginia. It takes
readily to cultivation, however, and has now covered a con-
siderable piece of ground in a rather exposed part of the
rockery. It can be easily increased by the division of the sub-
terranean scaly shoots.
Few of our northern wild flowers possess a greater charm
than the graceful and delicate little plants popularly known as
Spring Beauty, two tuberous rooted species of the genus
Claytonia. C. Virginiana, the more southern ot the two species,
and easily distinguished from C. Caroliniana by its long linear-
lanceolate leaves (those of C. Caroliniana are spathulate-
oblong, and only one to two inches long), is now thoroughly
established here, and is blooming freely in one of the driest,
and in summer most deeply shaded parts of the rockery.
The pretty, rose-colored flowers in loose racemes close in the
evening, but continue to open during several days.
Anemone ranunculoides is a tuberous rooted European
species with deeply parted Jeaves and involucre, and with the
general habit and stature of our common wild Wood
Anemone, but with rather coarser foliage and clear bright
yellow, instead of white or rose colored, flowers. It is an ex-
ceedingly pretty little plant, widely distributed, and not infre-
quently cultivated in Europe, but rarely seen in this country.
Among the few perennial plants of California which find
themseives thoroughly at home in eastern gardens, the hand-
somest, perhaps, is the great peltate Saxifrage (.S. peltaéa), which
inhabits the beds of rapid mountain streams in the northern
Sierra Nevada. This plant, which is one of the largest of the
entire genus, sends up in early spring, before the appearance
of the leaves, from thick, creeping root-stalks, tipped with broad
green stipular leaf-sheaths with membranous pink margins,
elandularscapes one or two feet high, bearing dense, branched
cymes of handsome, large, pale pink flowers. The leaves
which appear later are peltate, round, twelve to eighteen
inches across, and are borne on stout, glandular petioles,
sometimes two feet high. This fine plant requires, In order
to develop all its beauty, a rather moist situation near a brook
or along the borders of a pond. Here it will spread rapidly, and
soon makes a great mass of foliage, which retains its beauty
throughout the summer. It is now in full bloom. ;
The great interest which has been felt in England of late
years in the cultivation of the Narcissus has given rise to
several fine seedling forms of the Daffodil (Varcissus
Pseudo-Narcissus) which command high prices as novelties,
178
None of these, however, equal the two old varieties,
N. Emperor and N. Empress, raised many years ago by
Wilham Backhouse, of Walsingham, by crossing JV. Pseudo-
Narcissus with its variety with white perianth-segments, JV.
bicolor. Narcissus Emperor has immense, clear yellow
flowers, while those of N. Empress resemble those of J.
bicolor, although much larger and finer. They are stately
and splendid plants, with immense deep-cupped flowers and
broad, glaucous leaves, and it is not easy to imagine any pro-
duct of the soil more beautiful than a great mass of these
plants in flower. And yet how very seldom are the finest
varieties of Narcissus seen in American gardens, and how few
Americans know and appreciate their beauty !
Boston, May oth.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
HE beautiful Cherry Plum or Myrobalan is now blooming
profusely. It is the Cerzsetfe of the French and the
Kirschplaume of Germany. It is‘asmall tree here, hardly ex-
ceeding ten feet in height, with upright, unarmed, glabrous
branches, the shoots of the previous year covered with chest-
nut or yellow-brown bark. The large white flowers appear
simultaneously with, or just before, the unfolding of the leaves.
They are one-half to three-quarters of an inch across, with lan-
ceolate, glandular, reflexed calyx lobes and ovate-oblong, orbicu-
lar petals, and are borne on long, slender, glabrous peduncles,
The leaves are ovate-acute, serrate, an(lsometimes slightly pu-
bescent on the under side when young. The fruit is small,
half an inch in diameter, depressed globular, scarlet, or on
one tree in the collection bright, clear yellow, and of rather
pleasant flavor. The Myrobalan Plum is an exceedingly hardy
plant of no small ornamental value, which is very consider-
ably heightened by the fact that, unlike most Plum trees, its
flowers and leaves appear at the same time. This tree has
long been known in cultivation. Its affinities and its native
country even have never, however, been satisfactorily deter-
mined. The earlier European botanists, down to the time of
Duhamel, supposed that it had been brought from America,
but it has no connection with any American plant. Linnzus
considered it a variety of the Common Plum (P. domestica),
from which its glabrous peduncles, globose fruit and earlier
flowers distinguish it. Loudon refers it also to P. domestica,
which he considers to be a cultivated form of the Bullace
Plum (P. zzsititia), trom which he considered the Myrobalan
to be ‘‘the first remove.’”’ Koch, an excellent authority in
questions relating to the origin of cultivated fruit trees, con-
sidered it a torm of P. cerasifera, to which he united
the Caucasian P. divaricafa—a view which finds some con-
firmation in the reflexed calyx lobes of our plant, and in the
fact that its flowers are simultaneous with or precede the
leaves by a day or two at most. And lastly, Sir Joseph
Hooker, while he adopts Koch’s name of P. cerasifera, Con-
siders “that both P. cerasifera and P. domestica are cultivated
states of P. znsititia,” separating, apparently, the former from
the Caucasian species. The flowering branch in his figure
(Botanical Magazine, ¢. 5934), derived from the gardens of the
Royal Horticultural Society, with precocious flowers, densely
fascicled on short lateral branches, a character not given, as he
himself points out, in any of the published descriptions of the
Myrobalan Plum, can hardly belong to this plant.. The Myro-
balan Plum, unless Koch's views as to its Caucasian origin are
adopted, although cultivated for centuries, is nowhere known
ina wildstate. APlum, raised from seed brought from Turk-
estan and sent to the Arboretum by Max Leichtlin, is identical
with the plants of European origin, but whether the Turkestan
seed was derived from wild or from cultivated trees is not
known.
Prunus Pissardi, a purple-leaved Plum, which of late years
has become very common in gardens in this country, is now
in bloom, and cannot be distinguished, except in the color of
the foliage, calyx, peduncle and fruit, from the Myrobalan
Plum. The habit, flowers, fruit and foliage here are otherwise
identical in these two plants. Prunus Pissardi bears the name
of the French gardener of the Shah of Persia, Pissard, who
sent it to Europe about 1880. It is said to have originated in
the City of Tauris, not far from Teheran, where it is valued for
the color of its foliage and for its handsome, blood-red fruit.
The double-flowered form of Prunus Pseudo-Cerasus is in
bloom. It is a very handsome and hardy Japanese Cherry,
resembling some of the double-flowered varieties of the com-
mon Cherry, from which, however, it may be readily distin-
guished by the solitary forked peduncles conspicuously bracted
at the base and below the forks, and by the emarginate petals.
This double-flowered Cherry is one of the most common and
most highly valued garden plants in Japan, where many varie-
G
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 6, 1888,
ties are known with flowers varying from nearly pure white to
pale pink, and with a greater and a smaller number of petals.
The single-flowered type of the species, which is pretty gen-
erally distributed throughout Japan, and is found also in Man-
churia, has not flowered yet in the Arboretum. The double-
flowered variety was introduced into Europe from Japan in
1864 by Robert Fortune, and has since been described and
figured under various names, of which the oldest is Cerasus
Pseudo-Cerasus rosea-plena, It is also known as Cerasus
Steboldi (Revue Horticole, 1866, p. 371), Cerasus Capronia fi.
roseo-pleno (£1. des Serres xxi., p. 141, t. 2238), and very com-
monly in nurseries as Cerasus Watererii. The best figure will
be found in Lavallées ‘ /cones,” ¢. xxxvi. In this country the
Japanese Double Cherry is a small tree, rarely exceeding ten
or twelve feet in height, with the general habit and appearance
of asmall Cherry tree. It is very hardy, but does not display
much vigor of growth nor flower as freely as the common
double Cherry. The deep pink flower-buds and the much
paler pink flowers are, however, exceedingly attractive. The
branching solitary peduncles sometimes appear clustered,
owing to the closeness of the buds upon the ends of stout lat-
eral spurs from the wood of the preceding year; and the effect
of the flowers is heightened by their contrast with the hand-
some bronze-colored young leaves, which are ovate-lanceolate,
abruptly acuminate, sharply serrate, six or eight inches long,
pubescent when young, but later quite glabrous, the large,
conspicuous, three-lobed, pinnatifid, glandular stipules nearly
as long as the conspicuously biglandular petioles. The black
fruit is described as being the size and shape of a pea.
Prunus Americana, the common wild yeilow or red Plum of
northern woods and an inhabitant of most gardens in northern
New England and Canada, should be mentioned here as an
early flowering ornamental plant of very considerable value.
It is a small shrubby tree, rarely exceeding twenty-five or
thirty feet in height, with thorny, rigid branches, which are
now entirely covered with umbel-like clusters of small white
flowers with conspicuous scarlet calyx-lobes. Of two forms in
the Arboretum, one derived from northern Vermont flowers
more thana week earlier than Western plants, upon which the
leaves are nearly half grown when the flowers open. The
fruit of this species is roundish-oval, yellow, orange or red,
and has a pleasant flavor, although the skin is tough and sour.
The wild Plum is exceedingly hardy; it grows rapidly and
thrives in all soils and exposures; and when well grown
makes, at this season of the year, an exceedingly attractive |
and beautiful appearance.
It is perhaps of interest to note that in the very large col-
lection of Spirzeas, S. Thunbergii, one of the most beautiful
of the genus, is also the earliest in flower by several days.
It is a native of Japan, where it is very common throughout
the islands, in elevated valleys and on rocky hillsides in
the mountainous districts. This is one of the few plants
which is attractive from early spring to very late in the
autumn. Noshrub produces a greater profusion of handsome
flowers year after year; its habit is at once compact and grace-
ful, and the delicate willow-like foliage of a peculiarly bright
and cheerful color throughout the summer, in autumn, long
after nearly every other deciduous shrub has lost its leaves,
turns first to a deep bronze, and then to a brilliant orange and
scarlet color. It is well worth planting for the beauty alone of
its autumnal colors. And this is true as well of another
Spiraea, which is also a favorite in Japanese gardens, although
originally a native of northern China—the double-flowered
form of S. prunifolia, which is more often seen perhaps in
American gardens than any species of the genus. It is a very
hardy plant, which spreads rapidly, soon making a large,
dense clump of rigid, upright stems. It is one of the least
beautiful of the Spirzeas, however, in habit, and the small, very
double white flowers are not handsome, but the colors which the
foliage takes on in autumn are splendid in the depth and rich-
ness of their scarlet tints. ;
species is wanting in the Arboretum collection, The ends of
the branches of both these Spirzeas are sometimes killed back
here a few inches in severe winters, Otherwise the plants are
perfectly hardy, and never fail to flower profusely. |
Ribes Gordonianum is in flower. It isa hybrid, raised many
years ago in England, between Ribes aureum and R. San-
guineum, and is a handsome and very hardy plant, with the
habit and showy racemes of RX. sanguineun, but the flowers are
lighter colored. It is by far the handsomest of the Currants —
which are perfectly hardy here. Among many American spe-_
cies of this genus now in flower, R. Cynosbati, the wild Goose- —
berry of our northern woods, may be mentioned as a plant
worth introduction into ornamental shrubberies. Itisa com- |
pact shrub, which attains, under favorable conditions, a height
The single-flowered type of this —
ha Pex
_ June 6, 1888.]
of three or four feet, with dark green, round, heart-shaped,
three to five lobed leaves, and slender two to three flowered
peduncles. The berry is large, armed, like a burr, with long
prickles or rarely nearly smooth. The wild Gooseberry thrives
in all soils and exposures.
Botanists are familiar with Andromeda polifolia, but it is too
rarely seen in gardens, although, like many other plants which
are only found growing in their natural state in cold, deep
peat bogs, where they are often almost entirely submerged in
water, this beautiful evergreen takes kindly to cultivation and
flourishes and flowers in a garden border as freely as in its na-
tive swamps. In cultivation Andromeda polifolia makes a
handsome, compact mass of foliage two or three feet across,
and ten or twelve inches high. The leaves are about an inch
long, oblong-lanceolate, dark green above, white on the under
side, with the edges conspicuously rolled back. The pale
pink or flesh-colored, bell-shaped flowers are produced on
long pedicles in short terminal racemes or clusters, and con-
tinue to appear during several weeks. Andromeda polifolia is
widely distributed in North America from Pennsylvania far
northward ; it is found on the North-west Coast, in northern
Asia, in northern and on the high mountain ranges of central
Europe. Te
The Forest.
Tree Notes.
FTER passing through the intense heat and continu-
ous drought of last summer and the extreme cold of
the past winter, many important observations can be made
as to its effect on trees in different localities, and as is
usual after such severe seasons, the statements will be
conflicting, and many cases reported that neither science
nor practical experience can account for. In localities
where there were seasonable fall rains, trees will be
found to have suffered less than where they went into the
winter without sufficient moisture at the roots; further
than this I have no opinion to offer, for in my experi-
ence, each severe winter has had a different effect from
the previous ones.
As I spent the past summer and winter on the Pacific
Slope I have not had an opportunity to examine the
damage done here, but I took a deep interest in the ef-
fects produced there, where it was unusually cold for a
few days, even to forming ice in some spots in the San
Gabriel valley.
Tender herbaceous plants and Palms were injured in
some places—the latter very slightly—while they escaped
unhurt in others. The varying effect upon exotic trees
was noticeable. In one part of the valley I saw the Rub-
ber tree four or five years transplanted and having made a
2% to 3 feet annual growth, cut back or injured for nearly
3 feet, while in®other places a mile or two distant I saw the
same tree over 30 feet high, not even injured in the ter-
minal bud.
Two reasons might be given, either of which would
account for this difference. The younger tree, irrigated
and growing very rapidly, would not be in as good
condition to withstand a slight freeze as the more
mature tree with a more gradual and better ripened
growth. The older tree stood nearer the mountain, con-
sequently the cold north wind could not reach it as it did
the tree further off in the valley.
The people in California said they had not experienced
such a cold wave for fifteen years; this I could believe,
as they had nature for an endorser. Trees always tell the
truth and they told it very plainly.
The effect of a hard winter in the desert and on the
mountains where nature had full sway was still more in-
teresting. Even among the Sages, Greasewoods, and the
numerous shrubs and plants on the desert I could see
many that showed the effects of an unusually hard winter
for that climate, but as we climbed the mountains the
effects were most plainly visible.
The shrubs and plants which had crept up the side of
the mountain from the edge of the Desert grew smaller
and more shrubby at every step. The western Juniper
Garden and Forest. .
179
and one of the evergreen Oaks, particularly arrested my
attention. They had grown on year after year, making a
very short growth each year, and holding their leaves, but
last winter cut off many years’ growth, the foliage still
hanging on red and lifeless.
As we ascend the mountain higher and higher one plant
after another drops out, until at last we find only the irre-
pressible Yellow Pine, Pius ponderosa, standing majestic-
ally alone, tall, noble shafts, now in masses, again in groups,
and then a single tree, with short grass nearly covering the
ground in the open spaces. For many miles east and
west of Flagstaff, Arizona, these trees form an immense
park, and although one species, present so many forms on
hill, crag, plain and valley, that the forest does not strike
one as being monotonous,
As we gradually descend we find now and then a few
diminutive deciduous Oaks, Poplars and wild Roses. The
valleys, plains and open spaces intersecting this immense
forest are covered with a short species of bunch grass
nearly covering the ground, giving them somewhat the ap-
pearance of a well kept lawn, as there are no shrubs and
few young trees intermixed. The trees stand much further
apart than in eastern forests, and as they are entirely free
from branches for nearly two-thirds of their whole height,
the view extends far in among the tall straight trunks, and
is much to be admired, the light cinnamon colored bark
having a pleasing effect.
Sheep, cattle and horses are feeding on the grass, and the
saw mills are devouring the timber. These forests are
already doomed. Few seedlings are springing up to take
the place of the older trees, and these will not be able to
stand alone and bear the severity of the hot sun and parch-
ing desert winds. These forests have stood till now in
spite of all the hardships they have had to encounter, but
dollars and cents are too much for them! there is money
in them, so they must go!
We call the Indians savages! Yet they have more fore-
thought in this case than the white men. They have
roamed among these forests from time immemorial, and
they have made their mark on the Yellow Pine, for we
see that when food is scarce in the early summer, they
take strips of bark from the large trees, and eat the mucil-
aginous part of the immature sap wood, but they never
take the strip wide enough to kill the tree, going from one
tree to another and not peeling over one-quarter of the cir-
cumference of the trunk, so that the tree receives little or
no damage.
Robert Douglas.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—As the season approaches in which the bloom of the
Ailanthus distresses persons in its vicinity, ] am impelled to
offer some information with regard to this tree.
It is usually spoken of as a valuable tree for planting, de-
spite the disagreeable odor of its blossoms. — Its rapid growth
and beautiful foliage make it a favorite with many, and
comparatively few are acquainted with its deleterious influence.
I am told by a citizen of Boonsboro, Md., that at one time
there were many victims to consumption in that place. Phy-
sicians were puzzled to account for its prevalence in what was
formerly a healthy mountain town. One doctor called the
attention of the fraternity to the fact that the cases were in one
particular section of the town, and it was discovered that the
trees in that end were principally Ailanthus. The fact came
out by inquiry that in each case, where there was not heredi-
tary tendency, the patient had first an annual attack of a
strange sickness in June, which lasted but a few weeks. The
stomach would be disturbed and a peculiar sore throat was
one of the symptoms of the temporary sickness, After a few
years the throat became chronically sensitive, but was always
worse in June, and, eventually, consumption setin.
The particular time in June when this disease prevailed was
during the blooming of the Ailanthus. I have been told that
legislation was secured in Ohio to prevent the planting of this
noxious tree. In myown town there have been marked cases
of sickness resulting from propinquity of this tree,
180
Last summer several families in different parts of town were
obliged to call in a physician to treat a sore throat that ‘‘ went
through the family.” Several were in bed for more than a
week, suffering with nausea, extremely sensitive throat, ina-
bility to take any food, inability to sleep at night, a desire to
have the air filtered to prevent inhalation of poisonous parti-
cles. In each case an Ailanthus was in blossom in the neigh-
borhood.
The Hay-Fever Association might obtain interesting sta-
tistics if a thorough investigation would be made. Several
persons visiting in town were attacked with acute hay fever
symptoms, lasting three weeks; but after the bloom was over
these symptoms gradually disappeared, These persons had
never before been troubled with such affections, nor had they
ever before been in the vicinity of an Ailanthus in full bloom.
A remarkably healthy child was one of the victims, and.
she did not regain her usual health until the following October.
A hay fever patient for many years had a three weeks’ sick-
ness in June, and could not account for the distressing sore
throat, influenza and constant nausea. Finally it was observed
by friends that this came on during the blooming of the
Ailanthus. At length hay fever set in, and it was found the
latter disease was but an aggravated form of the June attack.
Is it not time that such facts should be published and
communities be protected from health-destroying influences ?
C. V. Tice.
[What we believe to be an entirely unfounded belief in
the injurious properties of the Ailanthus tree has taken
possession of communities in this country at different
times and in different places. The flowers of the male tree
have an exceedingly disagreeable odor to many persons,
and as they produce large quantities of pollen, people
liable to attacks of hay-fever would be affected by it,in the
same way that the pollen produced by any other plant in
equal quantities or by dust would affect them. We have
never seen any well substantiated statement of persons
supposed to be affected by the Ailanthus obtaining relief by
the destruction of the trees; and it seems not improbable
that the particular cases to which our correspondent calls
attention have been the result of malaria or improper
drainage or impure drinking water—a belief sustained, in
part at least, by the fact that the Ailanthus is one of the
most commonly planted, and most highly esteemed trees
in Paris and other European cities, while its bad reputation,
so far as we can learn, is confined to this country. As itis
only the flowers of the male plant which are disagreeable,
all risk, real or fancied, in planting this tree can be obviated
by selecting the female plants only. The influence of the
Ailanthus upon persons with catarrhal tendencies is a
matter of much general interest, and we shall be glad to
find room for a statement of well authenticated cases where
this tree has been the cause of sickness. —Ep. ]
Hagerstown, Md,
Notes.
Mr. T. S. Brandegee has lately explored Santa Crux, a small
island off the California coast possessing an interesting vege-
tation which differs in some of its features in a remarkable
manner from that of the adjacent coast, and which was first
made known a year or two ago by a paper published in the
Proceedings of the San Francisco Academy of Sciences, by
Mr. Edward L. Greene. The object of Mr. Brandegee’s visit
to the island was to procure wood specimens of its peculiar
trees for the Jesup collection of North American woods in the
American Museum of Natural History in this city. This Mr.
Brandegee has accomplished, having secured fine specimens
of an oak, Quercus tomentella, not known within the limits of the
United States, except on this Island; of Lyonothamnus asplen-
ifolius, a very beautiful small tree attaining a height of forty
feet, a representative of a small genus of the Saxifrage family
peculiar to this little group of islands, of which a second spe-
cies, a tall shrub, is known. This plant is interesting as the
only arborescent member in North America of a family,
which is very widely and generally represented in our flora
by humbler plants. The silva of Santa Cruz Island contains
also a very handsome arborescent Ceanothus (C. arborescens),
which has not been found elsewhere. Rhamnius tnsularis,
and a peculiar form of the mainland Prunus tlicifolia, are also
interesting trees peculiar to this island. Mr. Brandegee’s visit
has, he believes, added nearly two hundred species to its flora.
» Garden and Forest.
[JuNE 6, 1888-
Mr.C. G. Pringle, some of whose interesting sketches of Mexi-
can vegetation have already appeared in this journal, has now
started for another long botanical journey in northern Mexico.
He will proceed by rail to Lerdo, a town on the Mexican Cen-
tral Railroad, about three hundred miles from the city of
Chihuahua, and then travel by wagon through the Lagoona
country practically over the route followed by Wislizinus half
a century ago, to Saltillo, Monterey and Matamoras, where he
will collect wood specimens of some of the trees peculiar to
the valley of the lower Rio Grande, for the Jesup collection.
Mr. Pringle then hopes to explore some parts of the Sierra
Madre of Nuevo Leon, a region still very slightly known bo-
tanically, and then later return to Chihuahua and the region
which he visited last year in time to collect the flowers which
only appear after the rains of midsummer.
Retail Flower Markets.
NEw York, Fue rst.
The large sales of small plants for Decoration Day were made at —
wholesale rates. The supply of flowers continues abundant and prices
arelow. Baroness Rothschild and Anna de Diesbach Roses are the finest —
of the hybrids. Selected ones cost 40 and 50 cts. The average run
cost 25 cts. American Beauties cost the same. Gen. Jacqueminots ~
are large and have improved during the week in length of stems. —
They are $2 a dozen. Bennetts and Madame Cuisins are $1.50 a dozen.
Brides and Catherine Mermets are unsatisfactory in quality. They —
are 15 cts. each. Perles, Niphetos and Souvenir d’un Ami cost $la _
dozen. Papa Gontiers are of good size and color and they sell for 75
cts. adozen. Bon Silenes are 50cts. a dozen. The demand for speci- —
men Hydrangeas has been fair throughout the week. Plants have
sold from $1.50 to $5. Pink Peonies are plentiful. They bring from
15 to 25 cts. each. Lilac costs 50 cts.a bunch. Mignonette is from 4o _
to 60 cts. a dozen. Carnation costs 35 cts. a dozen and Pansies 25 cts.
The yellow Paris Daisies bring 50 cts. a dozen. They are plentiful —
and popular. Daisies are 25 cts. a dozen. Violets are small and —
bring 75 cts.a dozen. _Lily-of-the-Valley is out-of-door grown, but
large and handsome. It is 50 cts. adozen. Smilaxis 30cts.a yard.
Asparagus costs from 75 cts. to $1. In most of the baskets made up —
for souvenirs, shrub blossoms are clustered in one side, while Roses _
fill the other. Sweet Pea blossoms arrive in small quantities and bring _
fancy prices. :
PHILADELPHIA, Free rst.
The demand for all choice flowers was very heavy until the middle.
of this week, owing, in a great measure, to the festivities connected
with the visit of Mrs. Cleveland. Pansies, the favorite flower of the —
President’s wife, were in especial demand. ‘As a matter of course
all varieties of flowers were in request on Decoration Day. Flowers
are generally very plentiful now, excepting White Carnations, which
still remain quite scarce. Thousands of the wild Daisy are brought
into town, and florists report large sales every day. Roses are fall-
ing off incolor and size, American Beauty being the best now on sale,
and fine ones sell for$5 per dozen, Meteor is the bestcrimson Rose now; |
it is brighter in color than Jacqueminot, as seen at this season of the —
year, and it retains its bright color longer than any other in the same —
class; as a Rose forsummer blooming under glass it is destined to —
rank very high. Gardenias are becoming more popular as a flower for
evening wear. Avery few Sweet Peas are offered af $1.50 per dozen. _
These dainty flowers are deservedly increasing in favor each year. —
Corn-flowers are also offered at 50 cts. per dozen; these vary in color
from pure white to purple, pink, blue and yellow. Some Forget-me-
nots may yet be had, but it is only by careful growing that it is pre- ~
sentable at this late season. General prices remain about as they —
were a week ago, with a fair demand and pienty of flowers, ‘
Boston, une rst.
As predicted last week, the stock of cut flowers in this market for
Decoration Day ran short, and prices were correspondingly high.
Roses of the commoner kinds and Carnations were more than double
the usual prices. Fancy Roses did not feel the pressure so much.
There is no Lily-of-the-Valley in the market excepting the small out-
door variety. Red and bright colored flowers in general are scarce, _
and bring high prices in the wholesale markets, "Phere has been an
abundance of double white Stocks and Spiraea; also a fair supply of —
white Lilies, all of which were very useful for Decoration Day pur-
poses. One grower here forced a lot of Canterbury Bells, which me
with a ready sale, there being no other blue flower obtainable. Its
beautiful color and graceful form make it a welcome addition to the
small list of really effective flowers available for basket work at this —
season of the year. Prices of staple varieties by the dozen are as fol- _
lows: Hybrids, $6; Jacqueminots, $3 ; Mermets, Perles and Sunsets, —
42; Niphetos and Bon Silenes, $1; Carnations, 50 cts.;_ Lilies, $2)3
Lily-of-the-Valley, 50 cts.; Stocks and Spireea, $1; Pansies, 25 cts.
Mignonette and Heliotrope, 35 cts. Smilax is of better quality, and ©
worth 50 cts. a string of four to five feet in length. But few corsage —
bouquets of florists’ flowers are worn on the street at present, Apple |
Blossoms, Wild Violets, Anemones and the like having the preference —
while they last. 4
June 13, 1888.]
GARDEN- AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrrFice: Tripune Buitpinc, New Yorr.
Conducted by . . Professor C. S$. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Eprroriat Articies :—Horticulture and the Experiment Stations.—Note....... 181
The Pine Barrens in May Mrs. Mary: Treat. 182
Suggestions for the Improvement of Cemete sees F% C. Olmsted. 182
‘MhesCultivation of Muckleberries: . vcs scenes. > - Jackson Dawson. 183
New or Litrte Known Pants :—Amelanchier alnifolia........ Sereno Watson. 185
Prant Norss :—Selaginella Pringlei, Baker............ scseseeees C. G. Pringle. 185
Gastaliatieberel...cziaq hasaeches 36
PAPSONOFa PEL Sid Gre ae sinicctes sane ewnes sit mere cele iace. ave carer
CurturaL DEPARTMENT :—Annuals for a Succession of Flowers
The Plum and the Curculio.—Orchid Notes.—Staking Plant
The Rock-Garden in Spring ...........-
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum
Tue Forest :—Forest Trecs for California............Prefessor E. W. Hilgard. 190
IS ORRESEONDE NCH eisetieticinea ser cic staiaGisiciien sieitirinrem’es sisaes Sinise snug see Sse Qt
Recent Puprications :—The Botanical Works of the late George Engelmann... r91
BIN CGS eevee steers tete sete tate cr =icranctosevara's ofelea/ahuynve sa. 'e 0 sie nein clmeiaie,elesd Quelk. wresa:e ¢peicteaie, dynamics 192
Retait Flower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston.........---....-. 192
IELUSTRATIONS :—Amelanchier alnifolia, Fig.34...<.-1-sesesssteecsececserss ses 185
PRS orora HINISIGCS coahvnceeeccs ves dauiceeesewdarsecniosvcnlesceesssesere 187
Horticulture and the Experiment Stations.
MONG the appropriations made by Congress for the
current year is the item of $685,000 for Agricultural
Experiment Stations. By the terms of the act establishing a
«station in every state, this sum is to be added annually by
the Federal Government to the appropriations made by the
several states for the same purpose. This hberal endow-
ment ought to mark an era in the country’s agricultural
progress. We havea right to expect important additions
to our knowledge from the labors of the large number of
educated men who will be selected for the express pur-
pose of investigating problems connected with the soil and
with plant growth. Horticulturists, no less than others
who till the soil, are looking towards the new institutions
with mingled curiosity and hope, for they have the same
need of instruction and an equal right with farmers to ex-
pect that their special wants will be considered. Every
intelligent gardener and fruit grower is conscious that he
is confronted on every hand by problems which he can-
not solve, and that his success is menaced by enemies
whose attacks he feels powerless to repel. If he knew
how to mitigate, in a greater degree, the effects of drought,
how to feed his crops more cheaply, how to wage
a more hopeful war against the insects and plant dis-
eases which beset him in increasing numbers every year,
and how to select varieties that are best adapted to his
conditions, his labors would command a more satisfactory
reward. The experiment stations were created to answer
questions of this kind, and if careful investigation will
avail in solving them, horticulture should reap material
advantage from the money, time, labor and study ex-
pended.
There is no reason why the claims of horticulture
should be slighted at any station; indeed, there are spe-
cial reasons why they should receive marked attention.
The products of the orchard and the garden are not inferior
in importance to those of the field, and they are quite as
indispensable to the general health and comfort. The
operations of horticulture are more concentrated than
those of other departments in the broader field of agricul-
ture, so that practical cultural questions come home with
greater force to the gardener and fruit grower than to the
Garden and Forest.
181
farmer. Land devoted to horticultural use almost invari-
ably bears a heavier burden of taxation than that devoted
to ordinary farming. Itrequires a greater comparative outlay
for labor, for fertilizers and for seed. The injuries to or-
chard and garden by bad seasons, and by destructive in-
sects and diseases, are more disastrous than those from
which the farm suffers, because the crops have a higher
money value.
It is gratifying to note that these facts seem to be rec-
ognized by the stations, for in the majority of those that
have been organized thus far, a horticulturist has been
added to the staff of experimenters. The prospect would
oe more encouraging if the officers selected for this duty
were men of wider experience. The natural excuse for
appointing untrained men to these important positions is,
that the supply of such men is not equal to the demand ;
that it is impossible to find in the country a sufficient num-
ber of skilled horticulturists to take charge of the work in
so many stations. But the fact remains that no honest
effort has been made to discover men of the requisite
ability in this direction or at least no sufficient inducement
has been offered to make the position a desirable one. In
most cases inadequate salaries are offered for this branch of
station work, which means that the Boards of Control con-
sider horticulture of subordinate importance and are will-
ing to take inferior men, with the prospect of inferior work.
It is worth noting that in one of the stations, at least, a
florist has been appointed, and it may be added that there
is no good reason why an industry of such magnitude as
commercial floriculture should not be represented in this
work. And when we consider how much attention is paid
to the cultivation of flowers and plants for ornament
throughout the country, this certainly would seem an ap-
propriate field for investigation and popular instruction.
It may be well to warn gardeners and fruit growers not
to expect too much from the young stations. To the novice,
the making of experiments may seem an easy task, but
experience proves that few things are more difficult than
the gathering of accurate and helpful information in this
way. The highest skill is demanded in every operation,
and with this must be united close observation and a
faculty for gathering in every related fact for purposes of
generalization. The experimenter must not only have un-
swerving intellectual honesty, but trained ability to weigh
evidence and a cool judgment that is never swayed by a
preconceived hypothesis. And yet he must be adventur-
ous in constructing theories, for mere machine-like accu-
racy in weighing and measuring can never take the
place of the creative genius which originates hypotheses.
A great discovery in science was once well characterized
as an “inspired guess.” But it is only the mind well
equipped by study and in perfect command of all its re-
sources that invents a sound theory so easily and natu-
rally that ‘it seems to be only a lucky guess. With so
many raw recruits just entering the experimental field, it
will be fortunate, indeed, if costly mistakes are not made.
For a time, at least, it may require greater wisdom on the
part of the practical cultivator to separate the true from the
false in the bulletins borne on every mail than was exer-
cised originally in preparing them. But a beginning
must be made, and while we need not be over-hopeful of
immediate results, itis safe to anticipate signal advantage to
horticulture and agriculture from the stations, when their
work is thoroughly organized and systematized. Capable
Directors and their assistants will become more useful
with larger experience. Under the searching criticisms of
the press incompetent men will be weeded out and the
work will at last fall into the hands of those who will pro-
secute it with wisdom, devotion and enthusiasm. It may
require years of patient waiting before the new stations
become as helpful here as they have proved in Europe, but
some of the older ones already justify every reasonable
hope of their founders. In future numbers we hope to
indicate some of the more promising lines of investigation
which should be pursued in the interests of horticulture.
182
CCORDING to the English papers an extraordinary
A piece of tree planting has been undertaken in Wales.
On the side of Moel Rhiwen mountain a loyal enthu-
siast, Mr. Assheton Smith, is inscribing in letters formed
with trees, and each six hundred feet in length by twenty-
five feet in width, the words ‘‘ Jubilee, 1887.” The first
trees were planted with much ceremony on the Queen’s
jubilee day ; 630,000 trees will be needed to complete the
giant inscription, and two hundred men are constantly
employed upon the work. It is not pleasant to think what
an amount of good planting might have been accomplished
if a different direction had been given to the expenditure of
all this energy and money, which now will go merely to
disfigure a whole country-side with a colossal monument
to wastefulness and bad taste. And, what is worse, so
liable is a modern nation to be led astray by any conspicu-
ous novelty, Mr. Smith may find many admirers, and, per-
haps, an imitator or two—a supposition justified in the fact
that no English journal which we have seen has uttered a
protest against his scheme.
No planting as bad as this has yet been done in America,
and it is doubtful, perhaps, whether anything quite so bad
in disfiguring nature has ever been deliberately attempted
before anywhere.
Tree-planted letters, however, are not a novelty. In
the hunting-park at Moritzburg, near Dresden, there may
still be seen the initials of a certain seventeenth-century
prince done in evergreen trees, clipped in such a way that
their height increases from the base to the top of the letters,
which are seen, therefore, as though laid on an inclined
plane. But these letters are only some thirty feet in length
and are hidden away ina corner of the park. When this
device was made, formal planting, the clipping of trees
and puerile gardening tricks of many sorts were in uni-
versal use; and, placed as it was, it had at least the merit
of being unobtrusive. It has remained for the nineteenth
century, which prides itself upon a truer love for the
genuine beauties of nature, to disfigure a whole mountain-
side and a lovely landscape with a gigantic inscription
which can be read for miles.
The Pine Barrens in May.
T is the last of May, and very late in the Pines. The
broad-leaved Laurel (Aalmia lattzfoha) is only just be-
ginning to unfold its many-flowered corymbs of rose-
colored and white blossoms, making the waste places gay
and brilliant. And its small relative, the Sheep Laurel, is
opening its deep crimson-colored flowers. In some
places it has taken possession of the ground to the al-
most entire exclusion of other plants.
The Stagger Bush (Andromeda Marianna) is in full bloom.
Although not as showy as the Laurel, yet its large clusters
of pure white, waxy-looking bells make it very attractive.
Another shrub of this genus, 4. “gus/rina, is also in flower,
as well as its near congener, Leuco‘hoé racemosa, with long
one-sided racemes of white flowers.
The Sand Myrtle (Levophylum buxifohum), a little ever-
green shrub, with umbel-like clusters of flowers, is charm-
ing. The small petals are pure white, but the ten exserted
purple-pink stamens give it considerable color, while the
dark, shining leaves make an effective background for the
flowers. In the more moist places Sea Virginica is
abundant, and covered with racemes of small white flow-
ers. But the crowning beauty among these wild shrubs
is the Fringe-tree (Chionanthus Virginica), which here and
there are so white with their graceful, drooping panicles
of flowers that at a little distance they look like snow-
banks.
The heavy odor of the Swamp Magnolia proclaims its
presence on every side, and those who like the fragrance
are fortunate, as the flowers are very beautiful amid the
deep setting of the shining leaves. The Swamp Maple,
Garden and Forest.
[June 13, 1888.
growing alongside, is also pretty and effective with its
long, swaying pedicels and winged scarlet fruit.
The Holly (Z/ex opaca) is shedding its winter leaves, and
sending out new ones, which have not yet taken on the
glossy green that characterizes them later in the season.
The bright red berries are still scattered over some of the
trees, while the new shoots are full of clustered flowers,
giving promise of abundant berries for next Christmas time.
Its relative, the Ink-berry (Z glabra), is also in bloom,
while retaining its thick evergreen leaves and black ber-
ries. And another shrub of this genus, the Black Alder (Z
verficillata), is likewise holding its bunches of scarlet berries
while being crowned with new leaves and flowers.
In the distance I see great clumps of Mistletoe, and on
anear approach I find this, too, covered with flowers amidits
white berries. The flowers are greenish yellow, nearly the
color ofthe thick, persistent leaves. The Sweet Gum trees,
on which ithas made its home, have a forlorn, prematurely
old look, as if they did not enjoy the burden imposed upon
them. The Shad-bush (Amelanchier Canadensis, var. ob-
longifolia), together with most of the Blueberries, arenearly
out of bloom, and forming fruit for a plenteous harvest.
Many of the herbaceous plants are now in the first flush
of beauty. Among the most notable is Xerophyllum
as phodeloides, which sends up froma thick tuft of evergreen,
grass-like leaves, from one to eight or ten flower stems,
surmounted at the top with a compact raceme of beautiful
white flowers. The Pitcher-plant is also unfolding its
singular deep purple flowers, and its strange, pitcher-shaped
leaves have withstood the frost of winter, and are still fresh
and bright.
The Pine Barrens also nourish some lovely Orchids.
The delicate Are/husa bulbosa is now in bloom, and the low
Moccasin flower (Cypripedium acaule), and these will be
succeeded by other species until frost comes in the fall.
And here, too, I find the pretty little Star-flower (Z7zentalis
Americana), with its pure white stars standing above the
whorl of pretty leaves. It is called a northern plant,
whose habitat is cold damp woods, but here it is fresh and
vigorous, with stems bearing three and sometimes four
flowers. Theslender Blue Flag (/77s Virginica), with leaves
no wider than some of the grasses and sedges that surround
it, is just beginning to open its fine, delicately formed
flowers. And the little heath-like Hudsoma tomentosa is
thick in the more sandy places—scarcely allowing room
to step—and is coveredall over with bright yellow flowers,
that are too pretty to crush with the foot. And here is the
Cucumber-root (JZedeola Virginica), the stem clothed with
white wool, and bearing two whorls of leaves, and
just beneath the upper one small recurved purple
flowers.
Most of the plants herein mentioned can be easily culti-
vated. Ihave a nook in my garden devoted to them, where
they are growing finely. One side of the bed is bordered with
Nerophyllum, which blooms freely. One plant has eight
flower stems, others four and five, making a beautiful
display. The Pitcher-plant also does well in an artificial
swamp—five flowers on one plant. This, and other bog
plants, are more beautiful here than in the wild swamps,
as they never suffer from drought as they often do in the
shallow bogs—the home of their birth. Mary Treat.
May 30th.
Suggestions for the Improvement of Cemeteries.
E shall be able, perhaps, to realize more quickly
and clearly the direction in which to seek for im-
provement in cemeteries by following a more practical
and out-of-doors method of investigation than by consult-
ing an art-library. Let us, then, consider the simplest
possible example and see what suggestions it may offer
for our guidance in more complex and more extensive
cases. :
Some of us, perhaps, may rememberto have seen a
cluster of many family graves in an uncultivated nook
:
;
4
4
‘
June 13, 1888.]
or dell of an old farm, where some of the less commer-
cially valuable, but equally beautiful, original timber trees
have been allowed to grow undisturbed, till their very
size makes the few brown-stone grave-slabs seem mod-
est and nestling to the ground, and where, the cattle
having been kept out, the wood violet and other shy
wild plants add their delicate charms, while they also
mark the peaceful seclusion of the spot. Such simple
and yet dignified rural furnishings are in harmony with
the purpose to which the place is dedicated and to the
feelings of the sympathetic visitor to it, and leave the
imagination free to conjure up, if it will, romantic vis-
ions of the past. In such a spot the thought might easily
occur to one that here was indeed a restful place in which
to have laid away the mortal remains of a few of those
weary human beings whose life struggle it was to subdue
nature to their own aims, and who yet finally succumbed
to her and whose remains became a part of her.
How much more appropriate to their lives are such
“graves, with such surroundings, than they would have
been in some great cemetery, where their modest little
grave-stones would have been put to shame by scores
of big, staringly white Egyptian obelisks, broken topped
Greek columns, Roman urns, weeping Italian angels,
Renaissance canopies, Gothic spires, and all the other
kinds of showy monuments, and where all restfulness
and seclusion are annihilated by rows upon rows and
scattering swarms of factory-made, white marble grave-
stones, all set up on edge so as to be as conspicuous
as possible and looking as if they would be heaved
out of plumb by every frost. Such stones have, in fact,
the very unmonumental quality of being in a state of
unstable equilibrium. And as if all these white monu-
ments and grave-stones were not enough to frighten
Nature into submission, innumerable fences are added,
mostly of the sort which may be described as the ‘“‘this-
is-the-most-show-you-can-get-for-your-money ” cast iron
fence. And, as iron rusts into a color which is some-
what harmonious with nature, such a catastrophy is care-
fully avoided by painting all iron work a gloomy black,
or vivid white, or by gilding it, like a cresting over a
chromo tea store. The managers of cemeteries seem to
be proud of these private fights with Nature, and do all
they can to aid and abet them with their ribbon garden-
ing and by planting all the most artificial looking speci-
mens of ‘‘nature’s bright productions” that skillful nurs-
erymen can induce to grow. They have no limiting
rules as to showiness, but are only too glad to sell lots
to those who will spend most in making a show that will
advertise the cemetery.
The few who feel dissatisfied with this state of things
should organize new associations for forming and main-
taining truly rural cemeteries. They should have other
and higher ideals in their minds, and should limit them-
selves and their successors by strict rules adapted to
secure the desired result—so far as rules can do so. If
they allow monuments at all, they should use the same
care and discrimination that a ‘‘hanging committee” do
in limiting and arranging the works of art that necessity
compels them to place so cruelly close together in a gal-
lery. But they ought to go further than this; they should
encourage, if not require, burials to be made with no
monuments at all at the graves beyond the merest end
of a dark colored stone that will serve to permanently
mark the spot and to carve a family name upon. All
other necessary information in regard to persons buried
in the cemetery can be given on slabs in a memorial
wall at the entrance, or by written records. They can
provide halls, galleries, or loggias in which to place bas-
reliefs and other sculptures of suitable character and size,
and thus avoid all mounments scattered promiscuously
through the grounds. As for planting, it should be done
_ according to a comprehensive scheme, and the choice of
plants had, probably, best be limited to such as are native
in the region; not that this is essential, but in order not
Garden and Forest.
183
to leave too much to the discretion of zealous, but indis-
creet persons, who are constantly making their selections
for planting upon the supposition that what is good under
some circumstances must be good always. They should
establish a rule limiting fences to those that are necessary,
and requiring these to be in conformity with some gen-
eral scheme devised with due regard to harmony with “and
strict subordination to nature. There should be a like
subordination to nature in all other necessary artificial
constructions, such as retaining walls, bridges, roads,
walks, gutters, steps, guide posts, vault fronts, and so on.
They should avoid formality and artificiality in all things
and at all times, for they should remember that they
have set out to make a rural cemetery and not an archi-
tectural one. J. C. Olmsted.
Brookline, Mass. os
The Cultivation of Huckleberries.
Gaylussacia and Vaccinium, genera belonging to the
Huckleberry tribe of the £7icaciez or Heath Family, com-
prise a hundred or more species found in various regions,
but chiefly in America, where they are known as Huckle-
berries, Blueberries and Cranberries. Owing to their great
abundance, few attempts have been made to improve any
of them except the Cranberry. The time will come, how-
ever, when every small-fruit garden will have its improved
varieties of Blueberry or Huckleberry, as well as its Strawberries
and Raspberries. No good collection of these plants, so far as I
know, exists in any of the European gardens, and, apart from
the collection started at the Arnold Arboretum, I know of none
in America. Indeed, so difficult has the cultiv ation of these
plants been considered, that any record of success in the at-
tempt has usually been doubted.
The growing of Huckleberries and Blueberries from seed
requires close attention, and can hardly be carried on success-
fully without a green- house or frame. The best soil to use
for them is sand and loam in equal parts, care being taken that
the sand is free from clay or iron.
Shallow earthen pans are better for the seed than boxes, as
there is less danger from fungus, but after the first transplant-
ing boxes may be used.
‘As soon as the fruit is received it should be macerated in
water for several days, So as to separate it from the pulp, and
then washed clean. If early in the season, seeds of the early
varieties may be sown at once, and will come up in a few
weeks, but as the plants will make little growth, they will need
careful handling to keep them over the first winter, It is better
to wash out the seed and mix with fine moist s sand, and keep
in a cool pit or frame until the days begin to lengthen, say
about the middle of January. Then prepare the seed pans or
pots and insure free drainage by using sphagnum or coarse
siftings of peat. Firm the soil well and § givea gentle watering
with a fine hose. When the soil has setiled, scatter the seeds
thickly and evenly over the surface and give the lightest pos-
sible covering. Then add a layer of fine sp shagnum, syringe
lightly, and set the pans ina te mperature of 60° to 65°. ~ After
sowing, if the seed is not allowed to become dry, it will usually
come up in from five to six weeks, although I have known it to
lie in the ground a year and then germinate. The pans should
be examined now and then, and as soon as the seed shows
signs of germination the coarsest of the moss should be re-
moved, When the plants have made the first rough leaf they
should be pricked off thickly in shallow boxes and fresh soil
prepared and drained as for the seed. They should be
syringed every day and kept growing in a high temperature
and moist atmosphere. As soon as they have covered the
ground they should be again transplanted. After the third
pricking out, if everything has been carefully attended to, they
will be. growing strongly and will need more air and less
moisture, to harden them off gradually. The frequent trans-
planting in fresh soil each time keeps the plants from damping
off and encourages good root-growth. About the 1st of Sep-
tember they can be removed ~to a cold-frame or pit in some
sheltered situation, where they should have plenty of air every
pleasant day, but should be covered at night to keep them
from frost as long as possible, so that they may become
ripened before going into their winter quarters. “As winter
sets in they should be covered with moss and shutters, and
will only need airing once or twice a month for a few hours to
guard against fungus, which will start even in a cold-frame if
kept long without air. About the first of May they can be
planted in prepared beds of peaty soil or a light sandy ‘soil of
good depth. If dry weather sets in they w ill re quire a good
184
syringing toward evening, as the plants are not deeply rooted yet,
and delicate rootlets are soon destroyed if alawed to dry.
After the middle of August the syringing may be discontinued,
so that the plants may ripen well. When freezing weather comes
the beds should be mulched with Pine needles, Oak leaves, or
other similar material, to keep the plants from heaving.
After the second year they are transplanted to the nursery and
need only ordinary care. When finally removed they will
be found to transplant with the greatest of ease, and no per-
ceptible loss.
The Huckleberries and Blueberries can also be propagated
from cuttings of the underground stems or stolons which are
found on many varieties. These can be taken up in the
autumn, cut in lengths of two or three inches, planted in
boxes of sandy peat or loam, and kept in a cool pit or house
away from severe frost until about the 1st of February. They
then require a gentle heat and moisture until they start.
When they have made a good growth they should be hardened
off and treated as other hard wood plants, but, like other mem-
bers of the Heath Family, they cannot endure saturation while
growing under artificial treatment.
These plants can also be grown by layers, by bending down
the branches and tonguing, as with other hard wood } plants.
A good moist mulch “of moss around the young layers will
accelerate the rooting. Ihave not as yet propagated them
from cuttings or gre .fting, but I see no reason why this should
not be done with cuttings of the young wood, just as other
Ericaceous plants are propagated.
I should advise those not having green-house facilities to
select healthy young plants from an open pasture if possible,
not more than afoot high. Much larger ones can be trans-
planted, but greater care is needed for. success. Take them
up early in September and plant them firmly and thickly in a
well prepared bed, which should have a good share of sand
and peat with the loam. Protect well with a heavy mulch,
and during the first summer keep them well watered when the
weather is dry. Ifthe ground is kept well stirred and clean,
by the second spring they will havean abundance of fine roots,
when they can be transplanted where they are to remain with
the greatest ease and safety. Ihave handled thousands of
them in this way with perfect success. My reason for trans-
planting early in September is that new roots are then formed
before winter sets in, and if well mulched, as stated above,
they are ready for a strong start in the spring. While t they
will do well in any good soi ercharged with manure,
I find they give more satisfaction if a few inches of peat or leaf
mold is spaded in with the soil. On poor light lands a top
dressing of well decomposed cow-manure would be benefi-
cial. Strong, 1 rank manure should be avoided, as most plants
of this family resent its use.
The followi Hy are a few of the best known North American
species: The Black Huckleberry (Gaylussacia resinosa) is a
shrub from two to three feet high, with dull, reddish yellow
flowers and sweet, crisp, globular berries of a shiny black color.
The fruit is firmer than that of other species, which makes it of
more value as a market berry. Butitis much more difficult to
startand is not so easily transplanted as the Blueberry. Of seve-
ral marked varieties, one has very sweet, pear-shaped berries,
with blue-black bloom; the common name of ‘Sugar Plums”
has been giventothem. Another variety has glaucous leaves,
and berries covered with a glaucous bloom. A third has large
bluish berries, with rich flavor, and a fourth has white berries,
which are much more delicate to the taste and bring in
market more than double the price of the common varieties.
Large areas of Huckleberries now grow wild, and yet the
crop is diminishing each year, and it would. be prudent to Pres
pare tor future supplies. Superior varieties could be origin-
ated, and they might be made as profitable, no doubt, as other
small fruits. Ne aturally, the Huckleberry is found in open
woods and dry rocky hills from Canada to Georgia.
The Dangleberry or Tangleberry (G. fr ondosa) i is easily dis-
tinguished from the common Huckleberry by its large pale
green leaves, which are glaucous benéath, and its loose
drooping racemes of flowers often from two to three inches
long. When neither in bloom or in leaf, it can be distinguished
by the reddish yellow wood of the new growth, and the ashy
gray bark, often peeling from the old wood. The fruit is large
and has a blue bloom. It ripens much later than the former
species and is more acid in flavor. It is not common in east-
ern Massachusetts, except along the seashore. I have never
found it more than three or four miles from the coast. It is a
much stronger growing shrub than G. resézosa and of a more
open, branching habit, “often being found more than four feet
high, Farther south it comes to eres iter perfection and is con-
sidered superior in flavor to other varieties, It is native from
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 13, 1888,
Massachusetts to Florida. It grows much more readily in
cultivation than G, res/nosa and might be improved like the
other species by selection or hybridization.
The Bush Huckleberry (G. dumosa) is a small shrub not
more than two feet high and not ascommon in eastern Massa-
chusetts as the otherspecies. I have usually found it in sphag-
num bogs with Andromedas and Cassandras. The leaves are
narrow and shining above. The flowers are in short racemes
and bracted. The berries are of a good size and shiny black,
not abundant and rather insipid, but not unpleasant to the ©
taste. Plants transplanted into a deep moist soil at the
Arboretum only two years planted are doing fairly well.
The Deerberry, or Squaw Huckleberry (Vaccinium stamin-
zum), is a neat bush two or three feet in height, with slender
green branches which afterward turn brown. The foliage is
often two inches long and one wide. The racemes of flowers
are conspicuous on account of the long yellow anthers project-
ing beyond the spreading corolla, which is pure white. Few of
our hardy Ericaceous plants are more beautiful in bloom, and
it is well worth a place in every garden if only for cut flowers,
which appear like fairy bells. The berries are greenish white
or dull red and can hardly be called edible. The fruit from
North Carolina is much larger than that grown in Massachu-
setts. Its range is from Massachusetts to Florida.
The High Bush Blueberry (V. corymbosum) forms hand-
some clumps of shrubbery from four to ten feet high in deep
swamps and moist woods, but seldom reaches more than four
feet in open. pastures. The young branches are usually yel-
lowish. green, turning to a ‘light gray when old or much ex-
posed, while the bark on old stems becomes rough and peels off |
in shreds. The leaves are narrow, mostly egg-shaped, often
purple at the time of flowering, but afterwards becoming much }
broader and coarse veined. The flowers are large, white, bell-
shaped, and borne on the extremity of the branches of the pre-
vious year’s growth. They appear in May and early June, ~
and the fruit is ripe from August to late in September. The ~
latter is variable in shape, size, flavor and color. Of many _
C.
4
well marked varieties, one has large black fruit of a pleas-
ant acid which seems exactly the flavor to add to a bowl
of new milk. Another, a large blue one, has a delicate sugary
flavor. I chanced upon a bush in East Foxboro last summer
which was twelve feet high, loaded with berries of a beautiful
blue, rich, juicy, and half an inch in diameter, while some were
even larger. In this swamp ten or twelve good forms of fruit
might have been found, and by careful se lection and hybridiza- —
tion there is no reason why the High Bush Blueberry should not»
become an excellent and abundant fr uit, as it is more easily
cultivated than any of the others. An acquaintance in Cam-
bridge planted a few, some years ago, and now he has all the
fruit he needs during the season, while during the rest of the
year nothing can exceed the beauty of the shrubs. A dwarf
form of I’, corymbosum which rarely grows more than eighteen
inches high has large fine abundant fruit of a bluish black
color.
The Low Blueberry (I~ vacz//ans) is a shrub from one to
three feet high with a yellowish green stem and glaucous
leaves, usually growing on high rocky ground andat the edge
of woods. It bears an abundance of large sweet berries which
are chiefly covered with a blue bloom, though I have found
black varieties. The fr uit and flowers are formed at the ex-
tremities of the last year’s growth, which is from one to four
inches long without leaves, so that a large part of the plant
seems leafless. The ends of the Hanceee are covered with
fruit, however, which can be stripped off by the handful. As
it is very prolific, the flowers of this species in May look
much richer and more abundant than in any of the others.
The fruit is ripe from late July to September. This plant is
well worth cultivation as an ornamental shrub, and for its valu-
able fruit. Isawa white variety of it some years ago in Plym-
outh, Massachusetts. 3
The Low Blueberry (V. Pennsylvanicum) is a low growing
shrub seldom exceeding a foot in height with narrow shining
leaves and white flowers in early spring. This is found in im-
mense beds in Pine woods and rocky, shady places, often cov-
ering great areas of rock when there is not more than an inch
of soil, with a carpet of rich soft green which in May and June _
iscovered with white and pale “pink blossoms and in July |
loaded with its delicately flavored fruit. This is the first Blue-
berry to ripen in New England, and the early crop brings such
prices that the children earn many a dollar by picking it, besides —
the fun of going a-berrying. These berries are somewhat
easily bruised, but if carefully handled can be carried along
distance. There are several recognized varieties of this spe-
cies. One is black fruited, flat at the end and much finer
than the species. This might be made profitable as well as —
soil.
“in leaf, fruit and flower.
JuNE 13, 1888.]
ornamental, as it will grow under the drip and shade of trees,
and on the poorest soils.
The Canadian Blueberry (V. Canadensis) is a dwarf shrub
with light green wood seldom exceeding a foot in height, and
resembling V. Fennsylvanicum, but with broader and more
downy leaves. The fruit is blue-black and ripens later than
the common Blueberry. It is not common in the State of
Massachusetts, but through Vermont and parts of the British
Provinces it is more plentiful and is sent in large quantities to
Boston markets after the home supply is exhausted.
V. uliginosum is alow spreading shrub with glaucous foliage
and blue berries which are edible but not abundant. It is a
native of the high New Hampshire Mountains and northward.
It is also found in northern Europe and northern Asia. It is
growing well at the Arboretum.
V. cespitosum is a minute alpine variety not more than one
or two inches high.
The Cowberry, or Mountain Cranberry (V7. Vit/s-/dea), is of
neat habit, resembling miniature Box, but of a darker and more
glossy green. The woody branches springing from under-
round shoots or stolons soon make a solid mass of rich green
oliage not more than four or six inches high. The flowers
are of arosypink, and the berry dark red and acid. They
make, with sugar, a rich jelly or sauce for meats or desserts.
The plant is found only
in one or two localities
in Massachusetts, but is
more common on high
mountains of New
Hampshire, and in the
Province of New Bruns-
wick it covers immense
tracts and in the markets
of St. Johns I have seen
the berries for sale by
the barrel. It is also a
native of the high
mountains of northern
Europe, where the fruit
is used for jellies. It
does fairly well in culti-
vation in a peaty moist
The Common _ Cran-
berry (V. macrocarpon)
is found in large beds
on low grounds in al-
most every part of New
England. It is a prost-
rate evergreen creeping
along the earth or moss
by fine roots. The
flower stems are thrown
up on slender branches,
and are pale red, later
becoming variegated.
The fruit, usually bright
red, is sometimes black.
It varies much in size,
shape and color, is round, pear-shaped or egg-shaped.
Many varieties have been selected by the cultivators, some
of which are nearly an inch in diameter. The growing
of Cranberries has become in many parts of the country a great
industry. Hundreds of acres of Cranberry bogs are now in pre-
paration at an expense of from $100 to $300 an acre, Even
at that pricethe bogs yield a good profit, often in the third year,
as many as five hundred bushels being sometimes gathered
from an acre of well prepared land.
The Small Cranberry (V/. Oxycoccus) is a much smaller plant
It is usually found in cold bogs.
The fruit is used for the same purposes as the other Cranber-
ries, but is seldom gathered when V’. macrocarpon can be had.
It does fairly well in cultivation, but except for botanical pur-
poses it has little interest.
The Erect Cranberry (VY. erythrocarpon) is a tall shrub,
with reddish nodding flowers, and large black, very juicy insipid
fruit. It comes from the mountains of North Carolina, and
south. This shrub is scarcely hardy in the Arboretum. We
have also V. Myrtillus, V. Arctostaphylos and V. ligustrifolia.
Other varieties that we have not yet tried may prove of in-
terest, such as Gaylussacia brachycera, a very rare, dwarf,
evergreen species from the mountains of Pennsylvania and
Virginia ; Vaccinium hirsutum, asmall plant from the moun-
tains of North Carolina, with neat foliage and dark colored
fruit, and several others.
Arnold Arboretum. Fackson Dawson.
Garden and Forest.
Fig. 34.—Amelanchier alnifolia
185
New or Little Known Plants.
Amelanchier alnifolia.*
OUBTLESS hundreds have seen and admired the bloom
of our eastern Shadbush among the bursting foliage of
the spring woods to one who has seen and tasted its fruit.
For some unexplained reason the flowers of this species, at
least in certain sections ot the country, are rarely fertile, and in
my boyhood the Juneberry, as the fruit of the Shadbush was
called, was like a myth to me until a young tree well laden
with ripe berries was brought home by a neighbor asa curiosity.
The peculiar flavor of the fruit as then experienced lingers yet
in memory. With the western representative of the genus, A.
alnifolia, the case is different. It fruits abundantly, and in the
region from the Rocky Mountains westward, where the supply
ot berries and fruits is limited to a few Raspberries, Buffalo-
berries, Haws, scarcely edible Currants and the Wild Cherry
(of all which the last is really the only one deserving mention),
the abundance and excellence of this fruit goes far in its sea-
son to make up the deficiency. ;
In a note which I find in the Gray Herbarium, written many
years ago by the missionary, Rev. Mr. Spalding, it is stated
that hundreds of bushels of these berries were dried every
year for food by the In-
dians of the Clear Water
region in Idaho.
This shrub, which is
here figured, grows to
a height of 6 or 8 feet,
with an erect somewhat
tree-like habit and dark
green foliage. The
leaves are rather thick
and vary much in form,
but are generally
rounded or_ broadly
elliptical, mostly very
obtuse, or truncate, or
even retuse, and coarse-
ly toothed usually only
near the summit. The
flowers are usually large
and showy, in_ short
racemes, and the dark
purple fruit is 3 or 4
lines in diameter, with
few seeds. It is found
in the mountains
throughout the West, at
wide extremes of alti-
tude, from British
America to California,
Utah and Colorado, and
from the Pacific to the
Rocky Mountains, Min-
nesota, and Lake Win-
nipeg. S. W.
Plant Notes.
Selaginella Pringlei, Baker.
HIS new rosulate Selaginella (Nos. 271 and 886 of
Pl, Mex., wrongly referred to S. cuspidasa, Spring.)
is abundant with S. /ep/ophylla in gravelly soil of dry cal-
careous bluffs and ledges of the barer mountain ranges of
Chihuahua. It is as mucha ‘resurrection plant” as is its
associate, which, indigenous along our south-western
border, has been often described and is well known. As the
atmosphere and soil become dry, these plants take the
form of a ball by the curling inward over their centre of
their frond-like stems. Then the cafion sides present an
unsightly and desolate appearance as though strewn with
dead rubbish ; but an evening shower suffices to transform
them into lovely banks, thickly spread with the green
mats of these plants, circular in outline and of exquisite
design. The new species is very distinct from its well-
known congener, being of a lighter green, and having softer
* A. atntrotta, Nutt. in Journ. Philad, Acad., vii. 22. Glabrous or often more or
less pubescent; leaves broadly elliptical or rounded, obtuse at both ends or rarely
acute, often somewhat cordate, coarsely toothed usually only toward the summit;
racemes short and rather dense ; petals an inch long or less, narrowly oblong ; fruit
purple.
186
stems and spinulose leaves. For the embellishment of
rock-work in regions where they would not be exposed
io severe frost (though they might in colder countries be
pulled up and laid away for the winter on a dry shelf),
these radiate-stemmed Selaginellas may be made of great
service. C. G. Pringle.
No true Water Lily (Vymph@a) was known to the flora
of Pacific North America until June of last year, when Mr.
John B. Lieberg discovered in a pond in northern Idaho
a very pretty and distinct species that Mr. Thomas Mor-
ong, in the May issue of the Bofanical Gasete, describes
under the name of Caséaha (the name which some bota-
nists are anxious to see adopted in place of Nyvmphea)
Lieberg?. It is a diminutive plant with white odorless
flowers about an inch anda half in diameter when fully
expanded. Mr. Morong points out the resemblance of
the Idaho plant to Nyvmphea pvgmea, a native of Siberia,
China and Japan. The extension of this genus into west-
ern America is a fact of no little interest from the point of
view of geographical botany.
A Sonora Hillside.
HE illustration on page 187 will give our readers a
pretty accurate idea of the general appearance of
much of the desert country in southern Arizona and the
adjacent parts of north-western Mexico. It represents one
of the low, granite foot-hills of the Sonora Mountains near
the head of the Gulf of California.. This is one of the most
barren and inhospitable regions of the North American
Continent. For fifty miles inland from the Gulf, sandy
plains, which near the coast are shifting sand-dunes, alter-
nate with numerous chains of low mountains trending with
the coast—vast piles of volcanic rock, sprinkled over with
a little fine soil. These desert mountains are absolutely
treeless except in occasional canons, where a little soil,
washed down from the slopes above, has enabled the Mes-
quit and the Ironwood (O/neva) to obtain a foothold, and
to drag out a miserable existence. The base of these for-
bidding mountains, and the lower hills and broad, gently
swelling mesas which support them, are covered with more
soil than the higher slopes, and produce a striking and ex-
tremely interesting Cactus vegetation. Mr. Pringle, almost
at the peril of his life, and only with great suffering to his
animals from scarcity of water and absence of forage,
made a careful botanical survey of this region during the
summer of 1884, and our illustration of a Sonora Hill is
from one of a series of photographs which he was able to
make during this journey. ‘The tall, grotesquely branch-
ing cylindrical plant scattered over the hill is the Suwzarrow
of the Mexicans (Cereus giganteus), the tallest of the Cactus
family, often exceeding a height of sixty feet, with a
diameter near the ground of two feet. The handsome
white flowers appear only at. the very top of the tall
shaft, and quite encircle the summit. The skeleton con-
sists of a number of stout perpendicular ribs, only
slightly attached together, and composed of hard, solid
and durable wood, upon which time and exposure seem to
make very little impression. They may be found scat-
tered about on the desert, where the plants have died or
been cut by Indians in order to secure the edible fruit.
The fleshy covering soon disappears by decay, but the
skeletons remain hard and sound. They afford the best
material produced in this region for the rafters of huts or
for small posts, and the Mexicans gather them in large
quantities from the desert for these purposes. Thestiff, rigid
clumps among the Suwarrow on the hillside are plants of an-
other large Cactus, widely branching at the ground from a
single crown—Cereus Thurberi—one of the interesting dis-
coveries of Dr. George Thurber, who, as botanist attached
to the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey Expe-
dition, first explored what is now the extreme southern
portion of Arizona, and parts of Sonora. Although closely
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 13, 1888.
allied to C. giyganteus, C. Thurber? is a much smaller plant,
the clustered stems rarely rising to a greater height than
fifteen feet. The flowers, like those of C. g7ganteus, are
greenish white, but the tube is narrower and more elon-
gated,and they appear, not at the summit of the stem, but
in a circle about one foot below it; and the fruit, like the
ribs of the stem, are thickly beset with clusters of black
spines. It was found also by Mr. Schott in Sonora, shortly
after its discovery, but from that time (1851) was not seen
again in a wild state by any botanist until Mr. Pringle visited
this part of Mexico in 1884. Cereus Thurbert was at one
time in cultivation from seed brought home by Dr. Thurber,
and it may still be found, perhaps, in some of the European
collections. There seems to be no record, however, of its
flowering in cultivation. The large Cactus with tall, cylin-
drical stems in the lower left-hand corner of the picture is
another Cereus (C. Scho/ii), a plant which, from a widely
branching or stoloniferous base, throws up numerous
stems, ten to fifteen feet high, and six inches in diame-
ter. They are five to seven angled, armed in the sterile
part of the plant with short, and on the fertile upper
branches with long, pendulous spines, which form a red-
dish gray beard, in which the flesh-colored flowers and
oval, purple fruit are hidden. There are scattered over the
hillside, too, numerous dwarf specimens of a leguminous
plant, Parkinsonia microphylla, which, under more favora-
ble climatic conditions, sometimes attains the habit and
the height of a small tree, and of Bursera microphylla, both
plants able to put forth and maintain their minute leaves
during a few weeks under the burning Mexican sun, which
here so heats the rocks in summer that the human hand
cannot bear contact with them. The large bush in the
lower right hand corner is a small plant of the so-called
Green-barked Acacia, the Palo Verde of the Mexicans, one
of the most conspicuous plants of the desert, and, next to
the Mesquit, the most familiar, perhaps, to travelers in
the whole Boundary region from Texas to California.
The Palo Verde sometimes becomes a tree of considerable .
size; and it is always a most striking and conspicuous ob-
ject owing to the perfectly smooth, light, bright-green bark
which covers its stem and branches. It remains through-
out the long, dry and heated season perfectly leafless, but
with the midsummer rains puts out tiny leaves, and soon
becomes brilliant with a profusion of handsome, bright yel-
low, pea-like flowers. Gens aes
Cultural Department.
Annuals for a Succession of Flowers.
ARDENS should now be bright and gay; every empty
spot should have been filled and planting should have
been finished. But there will soon come a time when
many gaps will occur, and it concerns us now to prepare
material with which to fill them. Many annuals are of brief
duration. Among these are Nemophila, Collinsias, Virginian
Stocks, Clarkia, Lupins, Poppies, Hawkweed and Ten-week
Stocks. After a few months many annuals—for instance,
Drummond Phlox, Gaillardias, Zinnias, Mignonette, and many
more—lose their trim shapes, and it is best to clear them away
and recover the ground with fresh plants. When Hollyhocks,
Larkspurs, Foxgloves, Canterbury Bells and Sweet Williams ~
have done blooming and are rooted out orcutaway, something
is needed to occupy the space they filled.
To keep the garden filled, sow at once a fresh set of annuals,
and keep them ready to fill up empty spaces as they occur.
African Marigolds (the Eldorado strain) are capital for filling
into places recently occupied by other plants, and they will keep.
in bloom till frost destroys them. ‘The cucumber-leaved Sun-
flower (Helianthus cucumertfolius) and Cosmos bipinnatus may
also be used in the same way. The latter, however, should be
grown and starved in pots till its flower buds are set before it
is planted out. Raise some fresh dwarf French Marigolds and
Petunias to plant in dry ground, as these thrive in such places
where many other annuals would perish. Snapdragons in
bloom now if cut back would bloom again in the fall, but not
in such perfection as young plants raised now from seed.
China Asters from seed sown now will bloom in September
Raa eee yee
os
a
ey
4
;
|
q
JUNE 13, 1888.]
and October. Zinnias raised now give fine flowers from
August onward. Coreopsis coronata and C. Drummondii. are
bright and beautiful yellow-flowered Composites, and should
be used liberally for late flowers. About the end of July mil-
dew usually injures spring-sown Druinmond Phlox, and good
young stock should be provided to replace the old. Put in
now a sowing of annual Candytuft and another a month
hence. Seeds of Gatllardia picta, and its variety Lorensiana,
sown now will take the place of early spring stock. Corn
Flower raised now will bloom freely before the summer is
over, So will Balsams, annual Chrysanthemumsand Mignonette.
The dwarf Nasturtiums are very good in their way, but Lobb’s
varieties continue in good blooming condition longer than any
of the annual sorts. Potato beetles are apt to attack Micotiana
afinis, and destroy its beauty before the summer is over, It
is well to raise a lot of young plants now, for itis one of the
most generous and fragrant of night-blooming plants. In fact,
any annual that will bloom within three months from sow-
ing, may be raised from seed sown by mid-June for service
in the fall.
Garden and Forest.
187
dling growth. And if they cannot be set out permanently as
soon as they are large enough for transplanting they should
be pricked off into other temporary beds, to keep them stocky
and cause them to root. well and to be in better condition for
planting. WF,
The Plum and the Curculio.—The plum is generally consid-
ered one of the most delicious of the stone fruits, and many
persons prefer it to any other product of our orchards. It cer-
tainly would be found oftener in home fruit-gardens but for the
fact that the curculio has been so destructive. Occasionally,
fine fruit is raised in small quantities, with no other. precaution
than keeping poultry in the yard with the trees. It has long
been known, too, that the curculio coud be conquered by
suddenly jarring the trees every morning, when the insect,
inactive and unable to fly, drops into a sheet and is destroyed.
This, however, is a tedious process, and a simpler remedy
has long been desired. This seems to have been found in the
application of arsenical poisons ina spray, by means of a force-
pump with a nozzle which throws the poisoned water over the
A Sonora Hillside.—See page 186.
At this time of year it may be well to sow these annuals in a
small plot of ground specially reserved for them, in soil which
should be moderately moist and very mellow. From this
seed bed the seedlings may be transplanted as required.
Should warm, dry weather set in, seeds are likely to lie dorm-
ant in the ground till after the next soaking rain, but in the
case of these succession-crop annuals we cannot afford this
inactivity, and they should be kept watered, and, if need be,
slightly shaded until after they germinate. In preparing the
ground for fine seeds to be sown in summer, in the event of
warm, dry weather, it is well to give the ground a thorough
soaking with water the day betore it is dug, mellowed and
sown, rather than to prepare the ground while itis dry, and sow
the seeds and water afterwards.
_ Seeds sown in rows are easier cared for than those sown
broadcast, and give a better chance for using a small hoe
between them. Seedlings should not be allowed to grow
up thickly in the rows, butshould be thinned to prevent spin-
tree ina fine mist. The process was described in the first
number of this journal, and it only needs to be added that it
is not yet too late to save the fruit, as the insect is just begin-
ning to work on the young plums. Of the forms of arsenic
used, London Purple seems preferable to Paris Green, being
cheaper and less liable to injure the foliage of the tree. It is
also in a finer powder, and therefore more easily kept in sus-
pension in the water. Three-fourths of a pound to eighty or
one hundred gallons of water is considered a good proportion.
The greatest caution should be used with poisons of this kind.
The hands of the operator should be protected, and neither
horses nor men should be allowed to breathe the vapor.
Grazing animals should be kept out of the orchard for some
time. Ifaheavy rainfall, soon after the application, should
wash off the poison, a second application may be made, All
who have tried this method unite in saying that no danger can
come from eating the ripe fruit, as the small amount of poison
lodged upon it is dissipated before it matures.
188
In a paper read before the Illinois State Horticultural Society
last winter, Mr. D. B. Wier held that the curculio prefers to
deposit its eggs in the fruit of the native plums. He therefore
advocates the planting of native varieties among the trees of
foreign origin. His claim is that the insects will not only pass
by the latter trees for the former, but that a large percentage
of the eggs deposited in the native fruit will fail to develop, so
that the increase of the pest will be held in check. Another old
remedy is dusting the trees with air-slaked lime. It is reported
in the bulletin of the Ohio Experiment Station for May, that
orchards treated in this way in Michigan have yielded abun-
dant fruit. The lime is applied by means of a flat paddle from
a barrel in a wagon which is driven along the rows of trees on
the side towards the wind. The lime can also be mixed with
water and applied in a spray. This last method has been
practiced near Boston with remarkable success. eye /e
Orchid Notes.— Cattleya Skinnerti alba,a lovely variety, bear-
ing snow-white flowers with just a few purple stripes in the
throat, is a native of Costa Rica, and to be well-grown needs
more heat than is usually accorded the type. It delights in abun-
dance of water, both overhead and at the root, during the grow-
ing season, and requires a long season of rest, in a cool, dry
house. One plant now in bloom here is bearing 25 flowers on
two spikes, and they willlasta month in perfection, forming the
chief attraction of the Cattleya House. Cattleya Wageneri is
a very rare and chaste var. of C. JZossig, bearing pure white
flowers, with a dash of lemon at the base of the large open
lip. A superb form is now in bloom with us, the flowers
being fully 9 inches across and of good substance, This
plant is doing unusually well in a basket filled entirely with
sphagnum moss, a capital potting material for most Orchids
when care is taken that it does not become saturated with
water. A thorough soaking about once a week is often
sufficient. Jfi/tonia (Odontoglossum) vexillaria will soon be
at its best, and may now be seen in abundant varieties.
Among the choice of these may be noted var. rudel/a, with
flowers of deep rose; var. Zeucoglossa, pale rose, with a large
pure white lip; var. A//ana, with large rose-colored flow-
ers, dotted and striped with dark purple ; var. swferda, a deep
colored form, the base of the lip being white, with radiating
crimson lines. This Orchid is probably the most beautiful of
the Miltonias or of the Odontoglossums, to which genus it was
formerly referred. Unfortunately it is seldom seen in good
condition in this country. In many instances the cause of
this is too little water, as may easily be seen by their starved
and thrips-eaten condition.
Thrips has always been the pest of this species and will be
sure to appear whenever the watering is neglected. The
plants should be watered at least once a day and always
from overhead. During the hot summer days or when. the
firing is heavy in winter it may be necessary to syringe the
foliage a few times. Under this treatment thrip never attack
the plants here. In respect to heat we try to keepa temperature
of 60°—65° the whole year round. We use peat and moss in
equal parts for potting, particular attention being paid to drain-
age. Under theabove treatment these Orchids grow like weeds,
producing 3 to 4 spikes of flowers from a bulb and increasing
the number of leads and size of bulbs every year.
Kenwood, N. Y. F, Goldring.
Staking Plants.—Hollyhocks, Dahlias, perennial Larkspurs,
Bottonias, Sunflowers and many other tall-growing, top-
heavy.plants, will need staking. Never wait till the plants grow
large and are blown over or broken down, but stake them be-
fore they need support. Once the stakes are set, it is an easy
matter to tie up the plants occasionally, and in this way to pre-
serve their good form. Use neat stakes, but strong ones, and
firmly set. A large Dahlia, heavy with rain, will require a
strong support in a high wind. Chestnut, locust and red
cedar stakes worked at the saw-mill in suitable lengths, and
from one to two inches square, and with the sharp corners
planed off, can be used for tall, heavy plants like Dahlias and
Sunflowers and foryoung trees. Good stakes can also be made
from the refuse yellow pine which can be procured at many
saw-mills. Such heavy and stiff stakes are not best for tall
Lilies like ZL. auratum, L. superbum and others, which grow
from five to nine feet high, but long, strong, elastic stakes are
preferable. These sway a little in the wind with the plant, and
at the same time are perfectly secure, and for this purpose
there is nothing better than Red or White Cedar saplings such
as are used for bean-poles, slender and neatly dressed. Almost
any stake does for smaller plants, although the cane stakes so
much used by florists are not of much value in the flower gar-
den; they rot off in the ground too quickly. But whatever
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 13, 1888.
is used should be neat, and firmly set, and, if the plants
are in rows, accurately in line. The plants should grow higher
than the stakes, and they should be so tied as to hide
them, and at the same time not to appear as if crushed or in
an unnatural position. WF.
The Rock-Garden in Spring.
af ate are still conspicuous among the plants flowering
this week in the New England rock-garden. _The most
beautiful of them is the Lady Tulip of gardens, Tudifa Clu-
siana oe known as 7) precox and T. rubro-alba),a common
plant from Portugal to Persia, and one of the most clearly
marked and least variable of all the Tulips. It has linear,
acuminate, channeled, glaucous leaves, aslender flexuous stem,
twelve or eighteen inches high, and a delicate white flower two
inches long, the narrow segments marked on the inside witha
handsome purple spot, the three outer flushed externally, except
along the edges, with bright red. The anthers and filaments
are dark purple or nearly black. The flowers of Tulipa
acuminata, or, as it is often known in gardens, 7: cornuta, are
always striking and interesting. They are sometimes scarlet
and sometimes yellow, and these colors are sometimes
blended. The segments are very long, and all are narrowed
gradually into a long, narrow, horn-like point. This is a
very old inhabitant of gardens, and a very distinct type,
but its native country is not known. It is very hardy
here, and one of the most easily cultivated of all the Tulips.
Tulipa reflexa is also in bloom. This is another Tulip
which is only known in gardens, and which, as Mr, Baker has
suggested, is probably a hybrid between 7. acuminata and T.
Gesneriana. It has handsonie bright yellow flowers, two and
a half to three inches long, the segments narrowed gradually
to an acute point and sharply reflexed above the middle when
the flower is fully expanded. Among our native Violets
worthy of a place in the garden is Viola pubescens, the
common yellow Violet of northern woods, with broadly
heart-shaped, downy leaves, and rather small bright yellow
flowers, which continue to appear during several weeks. It
takes kindly to cultivation, thriving in the shade, and is
springing up everywhere in the rockery from self-sown seed.
The Pepper-root (Dentaria diphylla), another inhabitant of
northern woods, probably is not seen very often in gardens,
where, however, it can well fill some shady nook or pocket in.
the rockery. It has large compound leaves, with three rhom-
bic-ovate, coarsely cut leaflets and short racemes of rather
large white flowers. | The long, fleshy, toothed root-stock pe-
culiar to the plants of this genus of the Mustard Family (Cra-
cifer@) have a pleasant pungent flavor, to which they owe
their common English name. Another pretty shade-loving
native plant now in flower is Waldsteinia fragoides, a low
perennial herb, with leaves divided into three cut-toothed
lobes, and small bright yellow flowers, in size and shape not
unlike those of the Strawberry, but produced upon many-
flowered scapes rising above the foliage.
.Gardeners hardly realize or appreciate the beauty of our
North American Lady Slippers (Cypripedium), and yet among
them are plants as showy and far more delicate and beautiful
than any of the tropical species in which the horticultural
world is just now so deeply interested. All the species of the
Eastern States are perfectly hardy and can be grown as easily
as any of the more delicate of our wild plants. They will
thrive, with the exception of C. acauw/e, which requires drier
soil and a more sunny exposure, along the margins of Rhodo-
dendron beds in peaty loam, or in the shady and least dry
parts of the rock-garden. They are easily transplanted and
make excellent pot-plants, if needed for the decoration of con-
servatories or living-rooms. The only one of these interesting
plants blooming here now is the larger of the two yellow flow-
ered species, C. pubescens. It has stems two feet high, pubes-
cent like the broadly-oval,-acute leaves, and handsome flowers,
_with a pale yellow gibbous lip, and long, linear, twisted petals.
It is the common bog species north and west, and is found
also on the Alleghany Mountains.
Varieties of (rts pumila, with bright-blue and with yellow
flowers, are now in bloom. It is a dwarf European species,
three or four inches high, with large solitary flowers, well
suited to the rock-garden, and an excellent subject for a dwarf
edging to the herbaceous border. The dwarf Iris is very hardy,
and spreads rapidly, soon making broad, densemats. Not less
beautiful is the crested dwarf Iris of the southern Alleghany
Mountains (/r?s cristata), a low plant, with leaves only three or
four inches long, and very handsome, light blue flowers, with
a long, slender tube much longer than the short-clawed divis-
ions of the perianth, of which those of the outer series are
*
q
JuNE 13, 1888.]
beautifully crested. This is a hardy plant, spreading rapidly by
creeping root-stocks, and admirably suited for the border of
wood-walks and other rough parts of a garden, where it can
more than hold its own against weeds and grasses.
Arnebia echinoides is one of the most showy of the hardy
perennials now in flower. It is a native of Armenia and a
member of the Borage Family, nearly allied to Lithospermum.
The stems, which grow from six to twelve inches high, are
terminated by large, one-sided, solitary spikes of handsome,
primrose-colored flowers, marked at first with purple spots
in the sinuses between the lobes of the corolla, but which
entirely disappear at the end of a few days. The sessile, al-
ternate leaves are ciliated on the margins like the stems.
Arnebia echinoides may be increased from cuttings made
from the stems and from the roots, and it is easily raised from
seed,
Aubretia deltoides is one of the prettiest of hardy, spring-
blooming rock-plants. It is an evergreen trailer, with terminal
few-flowered racemes and small rhomboidal leaves, which
just now is covered with sheets of handsome, pale purple,
four-petaled flowers, half an inch across. It requires
deep soil and rather an open exposure, where it can
spread through the crevices between the rocks and send its
trailing stems over their surface. It can be easily increased
by cuttings and from seed, which, if sown as soon as ripe,
will make strong flowering plants by autumn.
Scilla Hispanica, or, as it is generally known in gardens,
Scilla campanulata, is the latest of the genus here in flower,
blooming with the Poet's Narcissus, the two being excellent
plants to associate together in beds or wild wood-borders.
The flowers are deep blue, bell-shaped, half an inch deep, race-
mose, and spreading nearly at right angles from the slender six
to twelve flowered scape, which is eight to twelve inches high,
and springs from a rosette of linear strap-shaped leaves.
There are varieties with white and with flesh-colored flowers.
It thrives in dry and in comparatively wet soil ; and it is one of
the best of the hardy bulbs which can be naturalized here in
grass along the borders of woods and wood-walks.
Ornithogalum nutans, the Satin Flower of some old New
England gardens, is such an old-fashioned flower that few
people nowadays know it. And yet it is a beautiful and a
very hardy plant, which has been growing in this garden for
over forty years ; and during all these years its modest flowers
have given fresh and ever increasing delight. It isa bulbous
plant of the Lily family, a native of southern and central
Europe, with four or six strap-shaped, flaccid leaves, and aloose
raceme of five or six large, nodding, bell-shaped flowers.
-Theyare an inch long, with broad, petaloid filaments; the seg-
ments of the perianth are white, broadly flushed with pale green
on the outside, smooth and shining like satin, and less spreading
thanin otherspecies of this genus, The Satin Flower flourishes
in all soils, in the full exposure to the sun and under the dense
shade of overhanging trees and bushes.
Among Pzonies the earliest in bloom is one of the single-
flowered forms of P. ¢enzifolia, with rather broader leaf seg-
ments than are found in the typical plant. The single-flowered
variety of this handsome south Russian plant is much less
often seen in gardens than that with double flowers, although it
iscertainly far handsomer and more attractive; and this is true
of all Peonies, whether herbaceous or shrubby, that the single
are handsomer than the double flowers, although double-
flowered varieties are almost invariably grown in American
gardens. P. ¢enutfolia produces solitary, dark crimson, cup-
shaped flowers, surrounded by the crowded, reduced upper
_leaves, terminal upon stems twelve to eighteen inches high; the
leaves, of which there are ten or twelve upon each plant, are
cut into narrow, one-nerved, confluent segments, which vary
in width from one-twelfth to one-fourth of an inch in different
varieties. P. zenuifolia is a perfectly hardy plant of the very
easiest cultivation,
Boston, May esth. @
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
AP HE number of plants in flower in the Arboretum this
week is not large. Among the Barberries, one of the
earliest in bloom is the form of Berberis vulgaris from north-
ern China and Manchuria—the var. Amurensis, or Berberis
Amurensis of some authors. Of the many forms of the com-
mon Barberry now cultivated this is one of the most distinct,
interesting and valuable from a garden point of view. The
leaves are much larger than those of the common Barberry
and the stems are stouter and more rigid, although the Chinese
plant will not attain probably its height and dimensions.
Indeed, Maximowicz, in his “ Flora Amurensis,” describes it
Garden and Forest.
189
asa low shrub, rarely more than three feet high, a stature
which the Arboretum plants have already surpassed. The
flowers are somewhat larger than those of the common Bar-
berry, possessing their delicious fragrance, and appear here
fully two weeks earlier. This is one of the most desirable
of the perfectly hardy deciduous shrubs of comparatively recent
introduction. It is a free-growing plant which can be readily
increased by cuttings or division, or from seed, which has not
been produced yet on the plants in this collection,
Every lover of nature in America, and nearly every gardener,
knows the Great Laurel, or, as the people who inhabit the
southern Alleghany Mountains, where it grows with a_per-
fection and beauty unknown elsewhere, call it, the “Ivy,” but
the little northern Swamp Laurel, Aadmia glauca, is less
known. It is, nevertheless, when in flower one of the hand-
somest of the small shrubs of North America, where it is
found from the Pennsylvania Mountains far northward, always
in cold peat-bogs. Aalmia glauca rarely exceeds a foot in
height; it has a loose straggling habit, narrow sessile, oblong,
revolute leaves, white glaucous on the lower side, and ter-
minal, tew-flowered, smooth corymbs of large and very showy
lilac-purple flowers. It is not an easy plant to establish in
cultivation, although when once established and left to grow
without any effort being made to improve its habit by pruning
(which seems fatal to it) it will flower freely year after year.
Great care is needed in taking up young plants for cultivation,
which should be thoroughly rooted in pots or boxes before
they are planted in the garden, Aalmia glauca is now well
established in the Arboretum, where it has flowered for several
years.
Much more easily cultivated is the beautiful Rhodora, which
botanists now refer to the genus Rhododendron, as Kh. Rhodora.
The Rhodora which is one of the best known and best loved
wild flowers of New England, can be easily transferred to the
garden from the cold northern swamps, which at this season
of the year are tinged with its handsome rosy flowers. Itisa
low deciduous shrub, two or three feet high, with oblong
leaves, downy on the lower side, and appearing later than the
umbel-like terminal clusters of flowers. It requires a deep
peaty soil, in which it will soon spread, and make large clumps.
Fothergilla alnifolia is too rarely seen in gardens. Itisa
low and very hardy shrub belonging to the Witch-hazel family,
with showy terminal, catkin-like spikes of small flowers, with
numerous long, projecting white stamens. They are the only
conspicuous part of the flower. It has no petals and a small
bell-shaped calyx. ‘The oval or obovate leaves, smooth, or
pubescent on the lower side, appear later than the flowers.
The Fothergilla, although not found growing naturally any-
where north of Virginia, is perfectly hardy here.
Clematis ( Atragene) verticillaris, a rare plant confined to the
mountainous or far northern part of the country from northern
and western New England and Virginia to Wisconsin, is the
earliest of the genus in flower here. It is a woody climber
with stems six or eight feet:long, trifoliate leaves, and large,
handsome blue or purple spreading flowers, two or three
inches across, which in the mountains appear sometimes with
the melting snows. This plant requires ordinary garden soil,
and no special cultivation.
The earliest of the brambles in flower is also an American
plant—Rudus triflorus, the dwarf wild Raspberry of northern
swamps and woods, with annual herbaccous stems six to
twelve inches high, handsome ovate-lanceolate, doubly-serrate
leaves, pointed at both ends, and one to three flowered clusters
of white flowers followed by small inedible fruit. It is an ex-
ceedingly pretty little species, which, when established, makes
a neat Compact mass of foliage, well worth a place on the
borders of the shrubbery.
Ribes multiflorum is a Hungarian species rarely seen in gar-
dens. It isa handsome shrub at this season of the year, with
numerous upright and spreading branches three or four feet
high, long-petioled, three or four lobed leaves, which are dark
green and glabrous above, lighter green and very pubescent on
the lower side; and long, dense, pendulous racemes of green
flowers. The fruit is red and about the size of a pea. The
plant, although more interesting than showy, might well be
cultivated more frequently. A beautiful figure of it (7% 31) will
be found in Lavallée's ‘ /cones.”
Ribes Uva-crispa is a smooth-fruited plant which botanists
consider one of the wild forms of the common Gooseberry.
It is a low shrub with rigid branches two or three feet high,
densely armed with stiff yellow prickles, small, orbicular, pal-
mately divided leaves, hairy on both sides, and with green
flowers, hanging singly or in pairs from little tufts of green
leaves. The berry is small and yellowish. It is found in
hedges and open woods of central and southern Europe and
190
western Asia, and has been cultivated for centuries for its
fruit. A plant of the America Red Currant (ises rubrum) is a
beautiful object in flower. Itis not considered distinct from
the garden Currant of Europe, although the veins of the leaves
are white beneath, which led Michaux to apply to the Ameri-
can plant the name a/dinervum, and the yellow-green flowers
are larger and more conspicuous than those of the European
Currant. The stems are straggling or reclined and three to five
feet long. The wild Red Currant is an inhabitant of cold bogs
and woods from northern New Hampshire and far northw ard.
Ribes floridum, the wild Black Currant of our northern woods,
is in bloom also, and resembles the Black Currant of gardens.
Itis a shrub three to five feet high, with heart-shaped, lobed,
resinously dotted leaves, drooping racemes of large and hand-
some greenish or white flowers, and black berries with the
smell and flavor of those of the garden plant. These two wild
American Currants probably will not be often found in those
gardens where plants of merely botanical interest are not cul-
tivated.
The Corchorus (Kerria Faponica), with its bright yellow and
very double flowers, is almost invariably found in old country
gardens in the Northern States, but this plant in its natural
state with single flowers, each with five petals and numerous
stamens, is still rare. It is, how evel, a far handsomer and
more desirable plant. The Kerria is a shrub five or six feet
high, with slender, virgate, flexuous stems, and ovate-lanceo-
late, longly acuminate, doubly serrate, deciduous leaves,
rounded or subcordate at the base, and solitary flowers ter-
minal on short lateral branches (in the single form wide
spreading, an inch anda half across) and appearing with the
Jeaves. The fruit has probably never been produced in this
country, and according to Von Siebold it rarely ripens in Japan,
where the plant is everywhere cuitivated, and now widely dis-
tributed in a semi-wild state. It is found in the mountainous
regions of central China, and like the Ginkgo and several other
plants, for many years known to Europeans from Japan only,
itis probably a native of that country. In central China the
fruit is reported to be ‘yellow and good to eat like a Rasp-
berry,” the Chinese name indicating that it produces an edible
berry. The single and the double flowered forms are beauti-
fully figured in Siebold and Zuccarini's “ Flora Faponica,” t. 98.
Daphne Genkwa is another Chinese plant long cultivated in
Japan, and first made known by Von Siebold, w ho found it in
Japanese g gardens and described and figured it in the “ Flora
Faponica,” “4.75. The Genkwa is a hz indsome and intere sting
shrub with spreading tortuous branches covered at this season
of the year with sessile lateral fascicles of two to seven hand-
some, tubular, lilac-blue, precocious flowers about an inch lone,
the tube, like the ovary, densely coated on the outside with
silky hairs and quite smooth within. The leaves, which
appear sometimes later than the flowers, are opposite, mem-
branaceous, short petioled, about an inch long and quite entire.
The Genkwa is very generally cultivated in Japan, both on ac-
count of the beauty of its flowers as an ornamental plant, and
for the lowers and bark, which are believed to possess valuable
medicinal properties and are frequently used and highly es-
teemed by the Japanese. Daphne Genkwa is not very hardy
here, and like nearly all the other species of the genus in the
collec tion, requires in winter a slight protection ‘of ev ergreen
branches.
Daphne Cneorum, a trailing evergreen shrub of central and
southern Europe, with tough, wiry stems, smooth, lanceolate,
glabrous leaves, and ter minal clustérs of bright pink, deliciously
fragrant flowers,is now in bloom. Itisa free blooming plant,
but not v ery hardy nor satisfactory in this climate. Sometimes
it grows well for a number of years, forming wide, handsome
mats, and then, in a winter apparently not more severe than
those which have preceded, it dies, or is seriously injured. In
some exposures and situations it appears to do best when un-
protected in winter, in others a covering of evergreen branches
appears beneficial. It is well worth all the care and attention
necessary to secure its free growth and abundant flowers.
Two Spiraeas in addition to the two mentioned in the last
issue of these notes are now in bloom, Sfrr@a media and S. hy-
pericifolia. The former is a tall, erect shrub with round
branches, flowering after the leaves have attained their full
size. They are elliptical, acute and obtuse, entire or some-
times deeply serrate at the end, three or four ribbed, smooth
above, hairy on the lower side and on the margins. The
handsome, many flowered corymbs terminal on lateral, leaty
branches of the year are produced in great profusion, fora
distance of two or more feet along the ends of the main
branches. SAir@a media, which is often confounded in gardens
with S. chemedryfolia, which has square branches and smaller
and more generally serrate leaves, is one of the best of the
Garden and Forest.
[June 13, 1888.
early flowering Spirzeas here, of its section. It is very hardy,
grows s rapidly 1 in all soils and it can be transplanted with the
greatest ease. Itis found in Hungary and southern Russia,
and through Siberia to Kamschatka and Mongolia. Spirea
hypericifolia, known sometimes in gardens as Italian May,
or St. Peter’s Wreath, is a tall shrub with long, slender,
flexuous, round branches, small, wedge-oblong leaves, entire
or slightly crenate or lobed at the end, and small white or
cream-colored flowers in nearly sessile lateral umbels, terminal
on very short leafy branches. A ae species, ‘of which
several forms are distinguished, is found from western |
Europe through Siberia to Moneete. i
May e2sth. Te ;
The Forest.
Forest Trees for
California. ’
N the second number of Garprn anv Forrst I mentioned
the ‘English ” Oak (Q. Robur pedunculafa) as a prom-
ising timber tree for California. The facts thus far gathered
concerning this rather unexpected adaptation are these: —
The acorns of this Oak (from a tree in New England) ~
were first planted on the experimental grounds of the
University in 1879, with a number of species of eastern
Oaks, which were increased in succeeding years. All of —
these, however, were found to be of exceedingly slow
growth, showing little or no inclination to utilize the -
long growing season of California. After two years’
erowth none of the American Oaks had attained a greater
height than eighteen inches, the average being from eight
to ten only. Of the European Oak seedlings, none
measured less than twenty inches, and a number were
three feet in height, with strong branches. Attention
having thus been called to the possible importance of
this tree for California, several importations of acorns
were made subsequently, and these, with seedlings a
year old, were distributed for trial to numerous locali-
ties in the State.
Unfortunately, but few of these seem to have found |
favorable conditions for their prosperity, from causes suf |
ficiently apparent from the experience had upon the |
University grounds themselves. It was found, first, that
the acorns were extremely attractive to all sorts of dep-
redators, including blue jays, rats, gophers (Zhomomys
umbrinus) and eround squirrels (Sper mophilus fossor), and —
that, therefore, but a small percentage of the acorns sent —
out ever germinated. ‘Those that did germinate, how- _
ever, were reported to be growing thriftily and rapidly.
How long they continued to do so, will have depended
largely upon the protection afforded them from cattle, —
which seem to be as fond of the foliage as the other
animals mentioned are of the acorns; moreover, the
ground squirrel and gopher delight in gnawing the roots
and trunks as well. But few of the trees escaped muti-
lation from one or the other cause, and even the one |
which is the best representative of the stock grown by |
the University experiment station, now beginning its
seventh year, lost fully one season’s growth, being weak-
ened by removal and having been bitten off by ahorse. It
thus shows properly the result of five years’ growth only, It
is now sixteen feet hich, with a trunk six inches in diameter —
a foot from the ground, and separating at three feet into
face branches, forms a spreading top, fourteen feet across. —
The tree has now sect an abundant crop of acorns, and a ~
seat is made around it, the occupants of which will
be fully shaded during the warm hours of the day. a
A Black Oak (Q. “inctor ta) of the same age and grown i
without any interruption, is a bush scarcely six feet@)
high and having as yet no aspirations to become a tree. —
lis erowth is about the best among the eastern Oaks. :
Two species of Hickory (Carya porcina and C. fomeniosa), a
also contemporaries, have as yet hardly risen above four
feet, and, like many eastern trees, show their aversion —
to the climate by sending up suckers from the base as —
soon as the shoots of the previous year have made a
growth of a few feet.
June 13, 1888.]
This enormous difference in favor of the European
Oak seems partly, at least, due to its peculiar root
habit. A seedling a year old, appearing above ground
with a stem the size of a goose quill at the base and
six to eight inches high, will show a straight tap root
three to four feet long and one-third of an inch thick
near the crown. It thus quickly reaches a depth in the
soil where moisture is found during the whole of the rain-
less summers of California; and hence, doubtless, its
vigorous growth during the entire long growing-season,
the leaves remaining active from after March to the end
of October. The latest leaves, however, belong almost
entirely to the second growth, which pushes out very
vigorously toward the end of June, and frequently reaches
a length of four feet before the end of the season.
But all this is very much changed when the tap root
has been seriously shortened, or destroyed in transplant-
ing. The European Oak then assumes the habit of
root, as well as of stem, exhibited here by the eastern
Oaks, and its growth becomes equally slow. Some two-
years-old seedlings, transplanted from the nursery
to the brow of a dry hill above the University, show
this to perfection. The tap roots having, of necessity,
been badly mutilated, fibrous roots branch out from the
stump, but have thus far, in two years, been unable to
reach the moist depths of the very rich soil. They have
not only no second growth, but no tendency even to
form a definite trunk; the branches tend to spread out
low, and between them, crops of suckers rise from
the base of the stem at the time when the standard trees
begin their second branch growth. These weakly shoots
form the next year’s branches, while the larger ones
frequently die back. This curious habit, resulting in
‘the formation of low, scraggly bushes, instead of
stately trees, is just what is shown here by the Oaks of
the Mississippi Valley when left to themselves; and the
unlooked for resistance of the European Oak to the
severe drought of the California summer, as well as its
surprisingly rapid development, thus seems to find a sim-
ple explanation in the peculiar habit of its root to push
down into the moist soil the very firstseason. It would be
interesting to know whether in its native country, or
in the region of summer rains in the United States, it ex-
hibits a similar tendency.
Thus, while this Oak promises excellent results as a
timber tree, not only for California, but, doubtless, @
fortiort, for Oregon, its propagation evidently requires
considerable care. The acorns must either be planted
where the trees are to stand, or transplanting must be done
while the seedlings are quite young, and with great care
not to mutilate the tap root. Both acorns and seedlings
must be fully protected against animal depredations,
especially against the rodent family, and later, as saplings,
against ranging cattle and horses.
But if, as may reasonably be hoped, these precautions
will insure to the Pacific coast a supply of hard-wood
timber that will do away with the heavy cost now in-
volved in the importation of this necessary material, the
labor will be amply repaid. It may be objected that with
such rapid growth, the timber may not possess the same
qualities as in its native climate. But when it is consid-
ered that the more rapid growth is accomplished in
a proportionately longer space of growing time, this ap-
prehension loses much of its force; and it is not at all
probable that the English Oak, with a habit so widely
different from that of the native Oaks of California, should
produce a wood of a quality so inferior as theirs.
University of California, May, 1888. EL W. flilgard.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Is there not some way of inducing the guardians of the
Central Park to remove the hundreds—indeed thousands—of
dying Norway Spruces which so seriously deface its beauty ?
There is scarcely a point of view in the whole park from which
Garden and Forest.
191
some of these trees may not beseen in a very advanced stage
of hopeless decay and ugliness. Just at this season, when
everything else is clothing itself with fresh green, their mourn-
ful, miserable forms are especially distressing; but there is no
season when they are not eyesores in themselves and wit-
nesses to want of attention or want of judgment on the part of
the Park authorities. Of course the cutting of trees which are
sickly beyond hope of recuperation sometimes involves the
necessity of replanting, but with regard to most of these
Spruces this would not be the case. Let any one follow the
East Drive, for example, and note those which are the most
obtrusive in their decay. He will find, if he has any eye for
the grouping of trees and the effect of landscape arrange-
ments, that in a great majority of cases their presence would
be undesirable even if their condition were better. Nature
seems by chance to have recognized this fact, for in one or
two places in the park where the presence of-Spruces is really
desirable, they have flourished well. On the West Drive, for
example, near the well-known group of Weeping Beeches,
stand several Norways in fine condition, and admirably placed
as regards the general effect of the scene.
I know, of course, that difficulties attend the cutting of trees
in public places. Fetish-worship, as directed to trees, seems
notyet to have become extinct in the minds of the ignorant ;
and whenever an axe is laid to a trunk in the Park there is
almost sure to bea letter in some daily paper from some cranky
lounger calling attention to the reckless injury to public prop-
erty which is being worked. Bysuch persons a park seems to
be regarded simply as an expanse of ground in which to grow
trees— not an expanse in which they should be grown in the
right places and grown well. But the Norway Spruces of the
Central Park are now so far advanced in decay that even the
self-appointed apostle of ignorance in tree-preservation could
hardly raise his voice in their favor. And whether he should
protest or not, intelligent public opinion would certainly sus-
tain the Park authorities should they enter upon a campaign
of almost wholesale cutting. It would be a relief to intelligent
eyes to be rid of these distressing objects, and an even greater
relief to note the increased chance for development which
their removal would afford to their healthy neighbors, and the
increased beauty of the wayside groups or little dells which
they are now crowding and deforming.
New York, May ist. Philodendron.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—In regard to the hardiness of the Spanish Chestnut, of
which you ask the experience of your readers, I would say
that it is somewhat tender here, but hardly more so than the
English Walnut. Both are tender when young, losing the ex-
treme ends of their branches in winter.. As they get stronger
year by year, this loss does not occur, and, in time, they be-
come large, fruitful trees. Of both the Spanish Chestnut and
the English Walnut there are many very large trees about
Philadelphia, bearing fruit freely every season.
Foseph Meehan.
Germantown.
Recent Publications.
The Botanical Works of the late George Engelmann, Collected
for Henry Shaw, Esq., and edited by William Trelease and Asa
Gray. Pp. 548. Cambridge, 1887.
Mr. Henry Shaw, of St. Louis, the founder of the Botanical
Garden of that city, which bears his name, has certainly reared
a more appropriate memorial to his old friend and fellow-
townsman, in causing this volume to be made, than any statue
of bronze or of marble could have been.
Dr. Engelmann’s botanical writings cover a period of about
fifty years ; they relate chiefly to the plants of North America,
generally to the most difficult families and genera, tor which Dr.
Engelmann had a special predilection ; and often to plants of
the highest horticultural importance and interest, such as the
Oaks, Pines, Firs, Grapes, Agaves, Cactuses and Yuccas, In
these and in other families he was long the leading authority,
and his writings mustalways be referred to. They were widely
scattered through government reports, the proceedings of
learned societies, and the columns of periodicals, and quite in-
accessible to the general student, who will now welcome this
handsome and substantial addition to botanical literature. The
different papers are grouped by subjects underfourteen chap-
ters. .
No. 1. Contains Engelmann’s inaugural thesis De Antholyst
Prodromus,a remarkable morphological paper which attracted
the attention and won the approval of Goethe.
No. 2. Contains the sketch of the Botany of Dr. A. Wislizenus's
expedition into northern Mexico.
192
No. 3. The various papers on the Dodders (Cascutinee), a
family which Engelmann studied for many years, and finally
elaborated in a classical memoir. :
No. 4. Contains all the papers, fourteen in number, on the
Cactacee, These embrace, perhaps, Engelmann’s most impor-
tant botanical work. Many of these were first published by the
UnitedStates Government, and were beautifully and elaborately
illustrated. These and the other illustrations, joined to Engel-
mann’s previous publications, all appear in this reprint and add
greatly to its value.
No. 5. Contains the papers on Juncus.
No, 6. Contains all the papers on Yucca, Agave and similar
plants, which, like the Cactuses, botanists are generally willing
to pass by, because theyare so difficult to manage in herbaria,
but which Engelmann loved and studied through years of pa-
tient and painstaking research.
No. 7. Contains all the papers on Conifers, which no one
knew so well or studied so faithfully.
No. 8. Contains the papers on Oaks, and the best informa-
tion which yet exists in regard to the botanical characters and
relationship of the North American species of these most diffi-
cult plants.
Nos. 9, 10 and 11, Contain all that Engelmann wrote about
the American Grape Vines, on the Euphorbiacee and on Isoetis.
In No, 12 are collected the shorter miscellaneous papers; in
No. 13 are various lists and collected descriptions of plants,
and in No. 14 areseveral general notes upon features of vege-
tation in different parts of the United States.
The editors of this volume have wisely abstained from mak-
ing any changes in the text as the author left it or from adding
expli unatory notes, when recent investigations might naturally
have lead him to change his views Their task, how ever, has
not been a light one, as many of the papers were published
under conditions unfavorable for proof-reading, and others
were never revised by the author. Anexcellent portrait of Dr.
Engelmann, from a photograph taken during the last ten years
of his life, increases the value and adds to the interest of this
memorial.
Professor Trelease is prepared to furnish a few copies of
this book in sheets, which will be delivered to the Express
Companies at St. Louis, at cost price, twelve dollars,
Notes.
The California Florist is the title of a new illustrated month-
ly published at Santa Barbara and San Francisco and devoted
to the interests of floriculture on the Pacific Coast. Judging
from the first number the new enterprise seems to be in capa-
ble and energetic hands, and deserves success.
Atan auction saleof alot of imported Orchids recently heid
in Boston, a healthy plant ot Cvfr ipedium Fairrieanum with two
new breaks brought $240. At the same sale a plant of the
well known hybr id, Cattleya Exontensis, raised many years ago
by crossing C. AZossig and Lelia purpurata, was sold for $105.
Other plants brought prices proportionally high.
In a paper from the Botanical Institute of the University of
Pavia, Dr. Fridiano Cavara describes a number of new fungi
which infest grape-vines in Italy, and, in referring to American
species, he expresses the opinion that the Greencria Juliginea
of Messrs. Scribner and V iala, which was considered by them
the type of a new genus, is in reality a form of Coniathyrium
Diplodie lla, and he states that the same form was previously
known in Italy.
Small flat Peaches, grown in Florida, have been on sate in
our markets for several days, under the name of ‘ Japanese
Peaches.” It is the fruit of the “Flat Peach of China,” which
Decaisne believed to be a species (Praais platycarpa), but
which later botanists now consider merely one of the many
forms of the common Peach cultivated: by the Chinese. The
Flat Peach is a large and vigorous tree, with long, slender
branches, nearly evergreen foliage, pale pink flowers and
small fruit, two anda half to three “inche ‘s wide, so flattened on
the upper and lower sides that it is rarely more than one inch
deep, with a deep five-angled eye at the top. The stone is
round, two-thirds of an inch in diameter, flattened like the
fruit, and slightly wrinkled. The flesh, which adheres slightly
to the stone, is juicy and of excellent flav or, although the skin
is thick and rather tough. The flower-buds of this tree are
generally killed at the north, but it is evident from the earliness
and excellence of the fruit in this market, that its more general
cultivation in the south may be made profitable.
The auction sales of plants in this city show no decline in
activity as the spring season closes. They are held every
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 13, 1888.
Tuesday and Friday, and on more than one occasion as many
as 50,000 plants have been disposed of. The stock in the
main is small though well-grown, and was formerly bought
by the trade, but lately, a and “especially this year, many private
buyers resort to the warerooms of Young & Eliot for bedding
plants and the like. The prices this year have hardly ex-
ceeded two-thirds of the wholesale trade prices—but growers
do not complain, because when plants are sold in large lots
at a cent each, buyers take an increased supply. The sales
are not confined, however, to cheap stock. Fine specimen
plants are often sent here. At one auction not long ago,
where many well-grown Palms were sold, a good specimen of
Phantx rupicola “brought $94, and experts pronounced it
worth $150. The total amount received at that particular sale
was between $4,000 and $5,000.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, Fune Sth.
Cut flowers are inferior in quality, as a rule, and there is less
variety in the shops. Mignonette remains of good size. Peonies are
large, and well grown, and sell for from 16 to 20 cts. each. La
France Roses are very ‘fair and cost $2.50a dozen. Catherine Mermets
and Brides are not large but are otherwise excellent; they bring
$2 a dozen. Niphetos and Perles des Jardins cost $I. 50 a dozen.
General Jacqueminots are unsatisfactory, although stems are longer
than a week since. American Beauties and Paul Neyrons are the
finest. All selected Hybrids sell for $5 a dozen, or 50 cts. each.
Puritans cost 40 cts. Moss Rosebuds are unusually pretty and mossy,
bringing $4 adozen, Yellow Daisies are 4octs., and white Marguerites,
which are really field Daisies, bring from 15 to 25 cis. a dozen. The
blue Cornflowers are highly esteemed and always in demand; they
cost 15 cts. a bunch of from 15 to 25, Water Lilies from New Jersey
ponds are in market at 25 cts. a bunch of 3. Carnations are much
improved in quality and command 50 cts. a dozen. Snowballs are
in brisk demand. Cattleyas bring from 50 cts. to $1 a flower. Many
bedding-plants are seen in flor ists’ stores. These are well cultivated
and make a brilliant blaze in w indows, doorways and on plant-stands.
Business has been brisk among florists generally this week with orders
for out-of-town entertainments and for city weddings.
PHILADELPHIA, Fune Sth.
The quality of flowers, especially Roses, has fallen off decidedly
this week. The notable exceptions are Meteor and Madame Cuisin,
both of which can be relied upon to give good flowers during the hot
summer months. A few Roses are being cut out-of-doors from shel-
tered positions in favored localities near the city. The Jacqueminots
from under glass are by no means good.
$2 a dozen, the same as Mermets and La France, while The Bride,
Perle and Sunset are from $1 to $1.50. Bennett and 'Gontier are steady
at $1.50. Niphetos, $1. Bon Silene and Safrano, 75 cts. Hybrids, $3.
American Beauty averages better in quality than the Hybrid Remon-
tants in general, and brings from $3 to $4.a dozen. Carnations, Helio-
trope and Mignonette are 25 cts. per dozen. Lily-of-the-Valley, $1.
Pansies, 10 cts. Smilax from 4oto 50cts. a string. Asparagus tenuis-
simus from 50 to 75 cts. astring. Adiantum cuncatum, 25 cts. per dozen
fronds. Sweet Peas, 50 to 75 cts. a dozen. Cornflowers, blue, white,
pink and purple, are 25 cts. a dozen, while the yellow Cornflower is
35 cts. adozen. Field Daisies are 25 cts., and Dahlias, double and
single, $I to $1.50 a dozen. The Miniature Sunflower (Helianthus cu-
cumertfolius) i is offered in limited quantities at 50 cts, a dozen, This is
a beautiful and useful annual.
Boston, June Sth.
There is an abundance of flowers here now; in fact, an overstock,
particularly of Roses. Prices are low, and the ‘street corners are well
supplied with peddlers, who dispose of an enormous quantity of
flowers at seasons when the supply is heavy. These dealers are not
in favor with the store florists, who have often tried, but as yet with-
out success, to have these street sales prohibited. Whether they injure
the store trade or not, they certainly dispose of many flowers to peo-
ple who would not otherwise buy, and they render a valuable service
to the growers by using up their second quality and surplus stock.
Those customers who wé ‘ant the be sst, properly packed, and delivered
at their homes, must always go to the regular stores, and, everything
considered, these probably get their flowers cheapest in the long run.
The main stock of Roses coming in now consists of Teas and the com-
moner fancy Roses. With the exception of American Beauty and
Jacqueminot, there are few large Roses. Jacqueminots are not as
good as they have been. The hot weather brings small and thin
blooms. Out-door Roses do not show color as yet. _Long-stemmed
Carnations are quite plenty, and so are Stocks, Heliotrope and
Mignonette. Good Lily-of-the-Valley is very scarce, and brings win-
ter prices. Other bulbous flowers are out of market entirely. A good
many Ghent and ‘‘Mollis’? Azaleas are brought in now, and are
very useful and effective in large decorations. Prices by the dozen
range as follows: Tea Roses, 50 cts.; Mermets, Perles, Sunsets, Ni-
phetos and Brides, $1 to $2, accor ding to quality ; Jacqueminots, $3,
gas ete
They sell at from $1.50 to |
aia ee a a a i
Ot ee eae ee
Pe ee ee ee
See eS eee ct
‘
FA ee tan
paneer aos
and American Beauties, $4; Lilies- Re the-Valley, $1; Heliotrope and - i
Mignonette, 50 cts. Smilax, 50 cts. a string. Maidenhair Ferns,
socts.a dozen. The florists are all very busy, and appear to have a
satisfactory spring trade.
JuNE 20, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY LY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFiceE: TrRinunE Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by . . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDN
SDAY, JUNE 20, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
: PAGE.
Eviroriat Artictes:—The Association of American Nurserymen.—Walks
AN MD TLV GSe=—IN O Le ctatacrcistsie ss satals pb od Somasctaisle cies’ LV ab.a So, viel s\esainvo/steis)ely.s’syn.e\a 193
The Cultivation of Truffles .... a . G. Farlow. 1094
The Domestication of Wild Fruits., Se tremitinanne faistestafernatlarsteye’. (9) |G OY fO5
New or Litrre Known Prants :—Pitcairnia Jaliscana (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 195
SV PULDSCUUTT MD Slat UIT eaters reraiea<tise steele iclaceac cesate vey statelaqan ade Recwrs's4 Ballas 190
Piant Nores :—Prunus pendula (with illustration) 196
BS VSL) OMT UL Eod Siereralshaehaletsceleleicc ¢ efor ey sic tare cistewacs sivletele aroukeyersisie sian § 3 CS. S. 296
GurTURALU DEPARTMENT -—Thinning Fritits....2......062seeseecs > E. Williams. 197
Lantanas—Newly Transplanted Trees—Why Vines Winter-kill.......... 195
INGIESHLNO MEL GUR OCI GanO eljcmnns.-lcosina/ccurcres peg seit ktoke au cicraje alets.cese C. 199
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum - F. 200
Tue Forest :—Forest Tree Planting on the Prairies............. Robert Douglas. 202
CorrESPONDENCE :—Northern Range of the Western Service-berry,
George M. Dawson. 202
Rie GEN DERUBLI CATIONS ive oie rsitrcibiateeis)slaisiase'> 4 s:0/0.013'=ys aetz-tvwleinne s e(elalatovaieleloieeis eaicesisaisis ee 203
Recent PLANT Portraits
INONES: cle ts'eisisis.cssiers v0
Rerait Flower Mark :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston...........-....25 204
ILLUSTRATIONS :—Pitcairnia Jaliscana, Fig. 35.0 ..0..ccssesccceccecsccenscseeescs 197
Prunus pendula, Fig. 36.......:..-.0..
Prunus Miqueliana (2), Fig. 37
The Association of American Nurserymen.
HE nurserymen of the world have played such an
important part in the general advancement of horti-
culture, that all planters and lovers of plants have some-
thing akin to a personal interest in their prosperity. That
our parks and gardens have been enriched with such a
variety of beautiful plants from all quarters of the globe is
largely due not only to the business enterprise of nursery-
men, but also to their intelligence and skill, and, we may
add, to their enthusiastic, selfdenying and too often
unappreciated devotion to the cause of horticulture. We
are sometimes inclined to criticise the glowing descriptions
and highly colored pictures of novelties in the trade cata-
logues, but, on the other hand, these same catalogues
must take rank among the most effective means of dis-
seminating information of practical value concerning trees
and shrubs and fruits and flowers. It is to the trial
grounds of the great nurseries, more than to any other
place, that planters have been obliged to turn for object
lessons in cultivation and for instruction as to the hardiness,
the beauty and the distinctive characteristics of trees and
plants for the forest, the orchard and the garden. This
~ means not only that nurserymen must be depended on for
the material used in landscape gardening, forestry and fruit
growing, but that a good share of our knowledge of these
subjects has been derived from their studies and labors.
All persons, therefore, who take any interest in gardens
or forests cannot but hope that the annual meeting of the
Nurserymen’s Association, to be held this week at Detroit,
will prove successful in point of attendance and in the
value of its deliberations. A large proportion of the sub-
jects considefed will be distinctively of a business char-
acter, but even these may benefit every tree-buyer. It
was concerted action at a former meeting which effected
the just reduction of freight rates for nursery stock,
which is a direct advantage to every planter. Much re-
mains to be done towards insuring such stock in trans-
port against disastrous delays and exposure and towards
holding railroad and express companies responsible for
safe and speedy delivery, and this subject will, no doubt,
Garden and Forest.
193
command the attention of the meeting. But perhaps the
greatest benefit derived from these gatherings is found in
the interchange of personal experience among the mem-
bers. Very often papers of real and permanent value are
read and published in the reports of the association.
But the discussions which follow the reading of these
papers are generally of more importance still, having a
freshness of suggestion and a directness of aim which
are never so manifest elsewhere as in the flashes which
come from the contact of alert minds in friendly argu-
ment. Fortunately, there are no secrets in American
nursery practice and no attempt at concealment interferes
with the mutual improvement which comes from this
reciprocity of ideas, and in this way the garnered experi-
ence of individuals in every part of the country becomes
the common property of all.
Conventions of nurserymen and florists would be well
worth attending for this single purpose, even if they were
not made attractive by pleasant social features, by oppor-
tunities for enlarging acquaintance, by offering a timely
period of recreation after the busy season has passed. No
doubt they will prove more useful still in many direc-
tions as they become more thoroughly organized. They
might render good service to horticulture by a systematic
effort to secure uniform and correct nomenclature of trees
and shrubs. It would be directly in the line of their labors
to devise some plan for the better classification of cultural
varieties of the different fruits and some comprehensive
system for describing and identifying them. They might
collect data from various stations in the country as to
what fruit and ornamental trees are reliable in different
sections and what ones are likely to fail. Indeed, there are
fields without number towards which they can direct united
effort, and so many skilled cultivators scattered over so
wide a territory and working for a single purpose could
hardly fail to accomplish results of lasting importance to
horticulture or pomology.
Walks and Drives.
HE walks and drives play an important part in deter-
mining the effect produced by villa-grounds and coun-
try places. Whether composed of gravel, asphalt or simply
of earth, they form wide lines, distinct from their surround-
ings in color and texture, drawn through lawns and shrub-
beries. As such they are conspicuous features; they are
features, however, which have no real beauty in them-
selves, and, therefore, they should be used with care and
discretion.
It is desirable to limit them as much as possible—to make
them neither more numerous, nor wider, nor longer than
necessary. Too often we see in small places a walk
almost wide enough for a drive, and a drive almost wide
enough for a park-way ; a drive where a walk would have
served every purpose, or walks which serve no purpose at
all. It is no infrequent thing to find, instead of a fine
stretch of lawn, an assemblage of winding paths, leading
nowhere except back to the houses again, with small
scraps of turf between them. Unity of effect is ruined by
such an arrangement and no practical end is served. If
for any reason the borders of the lawn are often visited, the
turf itself may be walked on, for, unless exactly the same
track is perpetually followed, a great deal of walking will
not injure it. And if it is objected that the circling paths
give access to the flower-beds with which they are bor-
dered, the answer must be that the flower-beds are as much
out of place upon a lawn as the paths themselves. Of
course in a flower garden it is different. There the beds
and the walks leading to them are the main concern, and
whatever grass exists may rightly be subordinated to them.
But if it is desired that turf shall preponderate in the effect,
then the less it is cut up and disturbed the better. There
is nothing more beautiful in itself, and nothing which
gives so marked an expression of size, unity and restful-
ness to a place as a wide sweep of lawn. In the majority
of cases it is better worth striving for than anything else ;
194 Garden and Forest.
and it should be jealously preserved from the presence of
any accessories except those which may serve to enhance
its proper character and increase its apparent size. It may
be surrounded with trees and shrubs, and, if it is of con-
siderable size, a few isolated specimens may be brought
forward from such bordering plantations. Butalawn must
be very large to admit of any other decoration.
In his suggestive article in our issue of June 6th, Mr. Olm-
sted pointed out the mistake which is so often made in de-
manding that the best rooms ofthe house shall be on the en-
trancefront. Onegreatreason why they should not be, is that
they should have the best outlook, that either a drive or a
walk must give access to the entrance front, and that
no matter how simply treated it may be, it cannot fail
to detract from the reposeful character of the outlook.
Nevertheless we often find that even when the lawn
front of a house is not the entrance front, a walk is car-
ried past the lawn entrance or by the piazza or the win-
dows facing the lawn. A greater mistake could not be
made than this. The smallest stretch of gravel or naked
earth brought thus into the immediate foreground disturbs
the effect from the house of the green expanse—injures its
restfulness and decreases its apparent size. And looking
towards the house the injury is as great as when we
look out from it. Nothing is more pleasing to the eye
than the foundations of a house springing from the green
turf, clothed with vines and broken with low-growing
shrubs. Then that most charming of all effects is se-
cured—the effect of intimate union between the soil and
the building it bears—between Nature’s work and man’s
work. But the smallest line of gravel will ruin this effect
if it runs parallel with the walls of the house. And the
lawn itself will look infinitely more beautiful if there is
no walk running away from the house and cutting it in
two, There can rarely be a need for such a walk when
the lawn front and the entrance front are not the same.
Even if a flight of steps leads down to the lawn from porch
or piazza, no path is necessary unless there is a strong
temptation for feet to follow one another in a given di-
rection. If this is the case, however, a gravel walk is, of
course, preferable to a trodden track, which gives an air of
neglect to a place. But such a walk should be as short as
possible, and it should not be bordered with flower-beds.
When a place is quite small it is best to make all drives
and paths straight if possible. The drive, if there is one,
should not approach the street front of the house, and
should be carried to the entrance elsewhere in as direct a
line as convenience will permit. Or if entrance front and
street front are the same let there be no drive, let the gate
be opposite the door, and let the path run in a direct line
between them. Of course, if there are irregularities in the
surface of the ground they should determine the course of
paths ; but such cases are comparatively rare, and in all
others there are many reasons why the straight line should
be preferred. Every foot of grass is doubly valuable in
very small grounds, and a straight path absorbs fewer feet
than a sinuous one; it is difficult to give a graceful form to
a sinuous line unless it is of considerable length ; when the
house walls and the street line lie near together their
straightness seems to prescribe that, in the interest of har-
mony, the connecting line between them shall be straight
as well; and the straight line is more simple in effect, and
simplicity is the greatest of virtues in the arrangement of
small grounds.
We learn from the Praiwre Farmer that the farmers of
Iowa have suffered considerable loss from a disease of
their nursery stock of Apples, Plums, Rose and other
plants. The disease shows itself in the formation of ex-
crescences on the roots which are popularly called ‘‘can-
cers.” ‘The origin of the troubleis obscure, some attributing
it to insects and others to fungi. There is probably no
good reason for thinking that the trouble is due to insects,
and, as far as fungi are concerned, Professor T. J. Burrill,
who has examined diseased roots from Iowa, states that,
[JUNE 20, 1888.
although there is a considerable growth of the mould-like
filaments of some fungus and swarms of bacteria on and
in the exterior cells of the old bark, no one can say from
this evidence that either of these causes the trouble, and
he infers that, if the cause is a fungus, it comes rather
from the soil than directly from a diseased plant to the
healthy one. .
The Cultivation of Truffles.
HERE are two things, truffles and terrapins, which no
one dares to dislike, for, even if they are not exactly
to our taste, they are always expensive, and we are, of
course, willing to make martyrs of ourselves by pre-
tending to like delicacies which only the favored few can
afford to set before us. But there are a good many
genuine admirers of truffles in America as well as in
France, and they will be interested in two recent books on
the cultivation of truffles—*‘ Afanueldu Trufficulteur,” by A.
de Bosredon, and “ Za Truffe,” by Dr. C. de Ferry de la Bel-
lone. Of the two, the last-named is the better from a
scientific point of view. M. Bosredon, whose style has a
touch of Daudet about it, begins with an account of an
interview with an aged rustic, Pére Chenier. The sen-
tentious Pere Chenier wags his head gravely and enun-
ciates the fundamental law of truffle culture: ‘‘ Semesz
des glands, vous récolleres des truffes.”
The discovery of the law that, if one sows acorns, he
will gather truffles, a discovery which has enriched many
owners of barren land in some parts of France, was made
by accident about eighty years ago. ‘The growth of the
truffle has always had an air of mystery about it. When
one wants a crop of beans he sows beans. But the case
of the truffle may be compared roughly to what would
happen if one should get a crop of beans by planting
bean-poles. The éxplanation of this anomaly is well
stated in ‘‘ Za Truffe.” Every one knows that truffles grow
underground, and are hunted, if one may use the expres-
sion, by pigs and dogs whose scent is acute. At first, they
were not even supposed to be plants at all, but later
they were believed to arise from the punctures of roots
by insects, still later, to be morbid conditions of the
roots themselves, and now they are known to be fungi
which are probably parasitic on roots of different trees,
especially Oaks.
Unfortunately, Pére Chenier’s law applies only to re-
gions where truffles occur naturally, and there, by sow-
ing acorns of trees growing in truffle-bearing regions,
there can be produced in a few years, seven to ten,
crops of truffles which continue so long as the trees are
in good condition. Fortunately for the French, the best
soil is a thin, calcareous one not of much value for other
crops. Dr. Ferry gives a chart showing the localities
where truffles can be grown in France, and practically
they are cultivated nowhere else.
comes from Champagne, so all truffles come from Peri-
gord—at least, the labels say so. There is a_ consider-
able number of species of true truffles which belong to
the Zuberacee, a sub-order of Ascomycefes, not to men-
tion the false truffles which belong to the Gasferon.ycefes
or puff-ball family, and a pretty full account of them is
given in ‘‘ La Truffe,” together with some figures which,
of course, are not to be compared with the superb
plates in Tulasne’s classic ‘‘ Hung? Hypogat.”
Commercial truffles have not yet been found in the
United States, although a few species of the truffle family
have occasionally been found by botanist§ in the East-
ern and Southern States. California seems to be much
richer in Zuberacee, and Dr. H. W. Harkness has detected
a considerable number of species in that State. Apart from
their rarity, the American species, so far as known, can-
not compete in flavor with the French, and it is hardly
likely that truffle culture will soon be undertaken in the
United States.
Dr. De Ferry’s book is full of interesting details. We
As all champagne —
JUNE 20, 1888.]
have heard of fat pigs, learned pigs and precocious pigs,
but it was left to his sympathetic pen to portray the
well-bred, conscientious, pains-taking pig, the pig whose
superior education alone makes him worth from sixty
to seventy dollars. This comparison of the mental, and,
if one dares to say so, the moral qualities of pigs and dogs,
would delight any comparative psychologist. It is also
interesting to read of the tricks of truffle poachers and the
intricacies of the laws for their punishment. Nothing
seems wanting, except, perhaps, some notice of the lives
of the distinguished gas/ranomes whose talents were un-
selfishly devoted to the preparation and digestion of truf-
fles. Even artis made to contribute to the value of the
book, the frontispiece being a reproduction of M. Paul
Vayson’s Truffle Hunter, exhibited in the Salon of 1886,
W. G. Farlow.
The Domestication of Wild Fruits.
HERE are two reasons why we should attempt the im-
provement of our more promising wild fruits. First,
there is a prospect that they may become valuable addi-
tions to our orchards or gardens; and second, the culture
of these fruits offers a favorable opportunity to study the
influence of changed conditions upon the characters and
properties of these plants.
Regarding the first of these propositions we are not justi-
fied in assuming that all the fruits not now in cultivation
are incapable of improvement. To argue that they must
have been tried and found wanting in prehistoric times,
because history gives no record of their cultivation, would
be quite unwarrantable. Neither are we justified in as-
suming that because no attempt has been made to improve
_ them, success is sure to follow systematic efforts. Our
knowledge is hardly sufficient to prophesy what may be
the outcome in submitting any given wild fruit to the
experiment of systematic and prolonged cultivation.
To the scientific horticulturist the second proposition
offers a more hopeful field of labor than the first. Whether
_ the attempt to domesticate a wild fruit proves suc-
cessful or not, from an economic point of view, it can
hardly fail to add to our knowledge. The origin of our cul-
tivated fruits, and especially the degree of their present ex-
cellence that may be ascribed to man’s aid, is, to a consid-
erable extent, involved in obscurity. The submitting of a
hitherto untested wild fruit to cultivation, and the systematic
study of the changes that result from such treatment, may
throw light upon the historical development of our present
cultivated fruits, and what is of still greater importance, it
_ may furnish valuable hints for their further improvement.
The Juneberry (Amelanchier Canadensis), in some of its
varieties, possesses qualities that commend it for experi-
_ ments in domestication. It belongs to the Rose Family,
_ and is thus botanically related to the best fruits of tem-
_ perate climates. The plant is hardy, prolific, and exhibits
_ remarkable variation. The fruit in its best natural state is
of fair quality, attractive in appearance, sufficiently large
‘to admit of convenient gathering, firm enough to bear car-
riage ; and it keeps fora considerable time after being picked.
In stature the species varies from a low shrub to a tree thirty
to forty feet in height, and forms, grouped within the same
botanical variety, sometimes exhibit nearly as much
variation in height. The fruit is often very small, dry and
seedy, and utterly worthless for any economic use; but in
certain varieties it attains a diameter of fully half an inch,
is sweet, fairly-juicy, and delicately flavored.
‘Thus far, the finest fruit has been found on a form which
is said to have come from the Rocky Mountains, and
which is the only one I have attempted to cultivate. It ap-
_ pears to have been first brought to public notice by Dr.
_ Hall, of Davenport, Iowa, who grew it and advertised the
plant for sale about ten years ago. Mr. Benjamin G.
Smith, of Cambridge, introduced it into Massachusetts, and
_teceived a silver medal from the Massachusetts Horti-
cultural Society for it. Through the courtesy of Mr. Smith
Garden and Forest.
195
a few plants of this variety were sent to the New York Agri-
cultural Experiment Station in the year 1882.
These plants, which were well rooted layers, were set
out in a moderately fertile clay loam, and have since re-
ceived the same culture that is given to Raspberries.
They have now grown into rather straggling shrubs about
four feet high, though Mr. Smith states that on his grounds
plants set some years earlier have attained the height of
six feet. The shrub appears perfectly hardy in the climate
of Geneva. It varies considerably in productiveness in
different seasons, but during the past three years has
borne at least a fair crop. The fruit, a miniature pome,
varies in size from a fourth to a full half inch in diameter,
and in its external appearance bears a striking resem-
blance to that of the Huckleberry, being deep purple in
color, and having, like that fruit, a persistent and pro-
truding calyx. The flesh is white, or slightly pinkish, and
has a peculiar delicate, faintly aromatic flavor that is not in
the least unpleasant, although lacking in intensity. With
sugar and cream, the flavor is perceptibly heightened, and
some persons who have tasted it in this way callit delicious.
The seeds are small, soft, and though inclosed in carpels,
are little noticeable in eating the fruit.
It should be saidthat this plantis not without its enemies.
A fungus, Res/elia penrcillaia, attacks the foliage and fruit in
some localities, though I have not seen it at Geneva.
The curculio infests the fruit to some extent, and the
English sparrow takes his share, but all these obstacles
have not prevented good crops from our trial-grounds.
The most promising field for improvement in this fruit
doubtless lies in the growing of seedlings, and in the
crossing of varying forms. I have made sufficient experi-
ments to demonstrate that the seedlings may be very readi-
ly grown ; and I have a considerable number now on trial,
though none of them have fruited as yet. I hope to secure
plants of other varieties, and from distinct local-
ities, in order to try the effects of cross-fertilization. One
reason why I have been especially interested in this fruit is
that it offers an opportunity to test a hypothesis. I have
been struck by a coincidence that in almost all our
fruits and vegetables, a pale flesh is accompanied by a
mild flavor, while a dark-colored flesh is accompanied by
a rich flavor,* and in fruits that contain much acid, the
acid almost always increases with the depth of color in the
flesh. The fruit of the only form of the Amelanchier with
which Iam well acquainted has a white, or very nearly
white, flesh, and while the flavor is, as has been stated,
quite delicate, it is too little marked to render the fruit
generally popular. If by growing seedlings, or by cross-
fertilization, we can secure varieties that have a darker-
colored flesh, I should expect that they would have a
more pronounced flavor, and might then rank among our
delicious fruits. It is in this direction that I am chiefly
working. :
Geneva, N. Y. EE. iS. Goff.
New or Little Known Plants.
Pitcairnia Jaliscana.t
HE order Bromeliacee is scarcely represented within
the limits of the United States aside from the few
species of Zi/andsia which are found in Florida, and the
Spanish Moss (7! wsneowdes) which drapes the trees so
abundantly in the swamps and river bottoms of the South
from the Dismal Swamp in Virginia to Texas and Mexico.
In the extreme western borders of Texas a single species
of Hechtia has been found as an outlyer of the Mexican
flora, and in southern Florida a West Indian species of
* A paper giving a large amount of data bearing upon this subject was con-
tributed by the writer to the Ayerican Naturalist, for 1884, pp. 1203-1210.
+ Pitcarrnta JALIScCANA, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad., xxii. 456. Acaulescent:
basal bracts spinosely margined, and with attenuate, barbed Ee ao pro-
duced leaves furfuraceous beneath, entire, linear, a foot long or more, by three
or four lines broad; flowering stem glabrous, with numerous bracts ; floral bracts
mostly colored, dilated, much longer than the erect pedicels; petals. scarlet,
linear, nearly two inches long, twice longer than the acuminate colored sepals ;
stamens and style slightly exserted.
196
Cafopsis; and these are all, The genera with more showy
flowers than these, such especially as Bi/bergia and Pil-
cairnia, are more strictly tropical in their character. Pi
cairnia is, next to Tillandsia, the largest genus of the order,
and its seventy-five species are found mainly in the region
lying east of the Andes from Brazil to Mexico, while none
occur outside of the tropics. On account of their highly
ornamental flowers a very large proportion of them have
‘been in cultivation in the gardens of Europe, but they are
rarities in our own hot-houses.
We have figured for this week (page 197) one of two
species of Pr/cairrnia which were discovered by Dr. Edward
Palmer in 1886, near Guadalajara in Mexico, the most north-
ern locality on the continent for any member of the
genus. The striking colors of the flowers and bracts
cannot be shown, but most of the other characters are
well represented. The short outer bract-like leaves that
cover the swollen base of the stem are prolonged, as in
many other species, into slender appendages which are
very sharply barbed. The plant is otherwise unarmed.
The few proper leaves are long and linear, and are cov-
ered on the under side with a white, scurfy pubescence.
The floral bracts are mostly of a deep rose color, and the
flowers themselves are bright scarlet. Heat and drought
are the delight of these plants, or at least they are capable
of enduring and thriving under an extreme of both. The
present species was found growing in the crevices of rocks
in deep, hot ravines, and would probably need, like the
rest of the genus, the heat of a stove for its successful
cultivation. in W,
Cypripedium bellatulum is the name given by Professor
Reichenbach to a new species which is closely allied to C.
Godefroye, and which might fitly be described as a giant
form of that fine species. The flowers are described by
Messrs. Hugh Low & Co. as nearly four inches across, and
many of the leaves are ten inches long, and more than
one-fourth as wide, and marked as finely as those of Pha-
lenopsis Schilleriana, while their under surface is purplish
red throughout, or marbled with deep red. The flowers
are of perfect shape and profusely spotted.
Plant Notes.
Prunus pendula.
HE tree which is figured on page 198 of this issue is
one of the loveliest in flower, and the most pleas-
ing and graceful in habit of all the plants which have
been transferred from the gardens of Japan to those of
this country. It is the Prunus pendula* of Maximowicz;
a species first described by Von Siebold in his “ Synopszs
Plantarum Gconimicarum universt regni Faponicr,” a work
which, unfortunately, I have been unable to find in this
country. M. Franchet has kindly examined, however, the
copy of this rare book in the Paris Museum, and informs
me that Von Siebold in his description of the plant retained
the Japanese name //osakura, that is pendulous, for this
species, so that Maximowicz, instead of adopting Von Sie-
bold’s specific name, translated it into Latin, changing his
Cerasus [losakura into Prunus pendula, Were the laws of
botanical nomenclature rigidly adhered to, it should be
known as Prunus Lfosakura, a change which, under all the
circumstances of the case, it is certainly not desirable to
make, at least for garden purposes.
Prunus pendula, as now seen in gardens, has probably
been somewhat changed by long cultivation from the wild
type; indeed, specimens of what is evidently the same plant
collected in the forests in the central part of Nipon vary
very considerably from it in the length and breadth of
the calyx-tube and in the much smaller corolla. Here
it is a small tree twelve to fifteen feet high, with wide-
spreading, flexible, pendulous branches, those on the lower
~ *Prunus pendula, M aximow icz, Bull. Acad., St. Petersburg, xi. 690.
“Cerasus Itosakura,”’ Siebold, "PL. (Econ., 360.
P. subhirtella, Miquel, Prol. 23, in part; —Franchetand Savatier, Ext. Pl, Fap. 1,118,
Cerasus pendula rosea, Siebold, Catal., 531,—Floral Magazine, x. t. 536.
Sou isi Kaido, Ito zakoura, Savatier, Kwa- -102, 72, Arby 1, ¢. 3.
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 20, 1888.
part of the stem horizontal, with pendulous ends, the upper
widely arching from the trunk. ‘The bark resembles that
of the common Cherry tree, although light brown in color.
‘The flowers, which precede the leaves, are produced from
scaly, lateral budsin two to four flowered fascicles. They
are borne on long, slender, pubescent pedicels, which are
destitute of bracts. The tubular calyx and incised calyx-
lobes are densely pubescent and dark red in color. The
petals are half an inch long, ovate or obcordate, pale rose
colored, and more than twice as long as the stamens. The
ovary is slightly, and the style is densely, covered with
long, nearly white, hairs. The leaves are three or three
and a half inches long, slightly hairy, when young, on the
under side, twelve to fifteen ribbed, ovate and longly acu-
minate, sharply glandular-serrate, with two conspicuous
glands near the base of the blade. The’stipules are linear,
glandular, and, like the short petioles and young shoots,
pubescent. ‘The fruit is black, the size and shape of a pea.
A second species of Prunus (Fig. 37), very similar
in general appearance to Prunus pendula, is confounded
with it in gardens here.
the same long, pendulous branches, but the bark is darker,
and hardly to be distinguished from that of the common
Cherry tree. The flowers are corymbose on short leafy
branches, and the pedicels are conspicuously bracted at
the base, and, as well as the shorter and paler calyx tube,
are covered with a few scattered hairs. The petals are
more narrowly ovate than those of the last species, entire
and rarely truncate, much paler pink or nearly white in
color. The ovary is quite smooth, but the style is densely
coated with hairs. The leaves which appear shortly after
the opening of the flowers are broader, thinner and more
deeply and irregularly cut on their margins and are only
6-8 ribbed. They are pubescent on the under side, as well
as the petioles and young shoots, and have two conspicu-
ous orange-colored glands at the base of the blade. Their
larger stipules are three-lobed and glandular. The corym-
bose inflorescence of this plant, the forked stipules and
the texture and color of the young leaves point to some
form of Prunus Pseudo-Cerasus, but the style is con-
spicuously hairy, and I therefore very doubtfully refer it
to Maximowicz’s Prunus Afiqueliana,* authentic specimens
of which, however, I have not been able to examine.
.The two species are cultivated in nurseries under the
name of Cerasus Sreboldi pendula flore roseo, and flore carneo.
Under the name of Cerasus Herinquiana M. Lavallée
described and figured in his /cones, 4 xxv., a plant which
seems identical with the second of these two Cherries.
These plants were sent to the Arnold Arboretum sev-
eral years ago from one of the Dutch nurseries. Both
species flower here every year and are exceedingly hardy,
requiring no special care or cultivation. They can be in-
creased by grafting upon the common Cherry. The grafts
should be inserted close to the ground in order to secure
the peculiar habit and full beauty of these trees. When
grafted as standards, as is often the case in nurseries, they _
are then less graceful and lose much of their peculiar
habit of growth.
Our illustration is from a fine specimen on the estate
of Arthur Blake, Esq., in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Ge OS 5S5
The finest varieties of the common Lilac (Syringa wiul-
garts) in the large collections in the neighborhood of Bos-
ton are Philamon and Marie Lagrange. The former has
large, broad, compact panicles of dark purple-red flowers,
nearly half an inch across the limb when expanded. This
has the deepest and richest colored flowers of all the Lilacs.
Marie Lagrange has very large pure white flowers in im-
mense panicles. Both varieties are of European origin ;
and they grow rapidly and vigorously, and soon make |
OES Sh
Maximowicz, Bull. Acad., St. Petersburg, x 692.
fine specimens.
* Prunus Miqueliana ?
P. incisa, Miquel, Prod. 25 (not Thunberg).
Cerasus Heringuiana, Lavallée, Jcones, t. xxXxv.
Cerasus pendula rosca, Hort. in part.
It has the same general habit and - |
JUNE 20, 1888.]
Cultural Department.
Thinning Fruits.
HE systematic thinning out of fruit has hardly received the
attention it deserves, either at the hands of commercial
The former class particularly argue
growers or of amateurs,
LN
\
i
Fig. 35.—Pitcairnia Jaliscana.
that in the case of large trees it is often impossible, and that
even when it can be done, the time and labor expended bring
no corresponding profit. I am inclined to think, however,
that when it is intelligently practiced the thinning of fruit al-
most always pays, and often pays large returns. In favorable
Garden and Forest.
197
seasons some varieties of fruits set far more than the trees
can fully develop and mature. In such cases natural or arti-
ficial thinning must be resorted to, to secure satisfactory results.
The army of curculios, codiin moths, birds and fungi assist in
this matter with great energy, but generally with little discrim-
ination. And yet without their aid, it must be confessed that
the fruit grower would often find thinning an imperative duty.
It half the crop of Apples, Pears or Peaches on a
tree were removed, those remaining would fre-
quently aggregate as much in bulk as the whole
would if allowed to remain, and would probably
yield as much money, to say nothing of the dim-
inished labor of handling. Again, well grown fruit
meets a readier sale. Such Pears as the Seckel,
which grow in clusters, can be thinned with de-
cided benefit, and perhaps it is the small varieties
generally that pay the best for thinning, as increase
of size is more readily appreciated in the smaller
kinds. Apples and Pears which incline to cluster,
even in twos, are generally more defective, by
reason of insect depredation, than those borne
singly. The Beurré Bosc is one of the latter kind
and not prone to overbear, and if attacked by
insects, it is generally in the calyx. The Bartlett,
when well set, is in pairs and triplets, and the point
of contact is generally the seat of insect operation.
The early thinning of these clusters to single speci-
mens, therefore, gives fairer and larger fruitfor the
trouble. On the other hand, Marie Louise has
never borne for me a fine flavored specimen ex-
cept ona light crop; with a full crop, even when
severely. thinned, they attain cooking qualities
only, which is even more than I can say of the
Mount Vernon. Indeed, it is yet an unsolved
problem with me whether the lightest kind of a
crop of the latter would give me specimens of
tolerable table quality. Clairgeaus are very prone
to overbear here and thinning is an absolute
necessity if their quality is to be brought above
mediocrity. ;
Peaches can be fairly thinned by pruning the
trees, which is the most feasible method. But
when this is neglected and the trees are full set, the
removal of half to two-thirds of the fruit, after the
natural dropping is over, will be found beneficial,
not only enhancing the size, quality and value of
those remaining, but saving the tree from breaking
down. With Peaches it is size that tells, and the
larger the Peach, the greater the proportion of flesh
to stone. A friend in California writes that the
Peach trees there did not contain more than one-
third as many as lay on the ground after the
Chinamen had completed the work of thinning.
With Chinese labor here, or his rate of wages,
this question of profit in our large Peach areas,
with their enormous products, would still be a
debatable one, and whether our markets would
stand a sufficient advance in prices to compensate
tor the increased expense, is, to say the least,
problematical.
Thinning Strawberries is sometimes practiced
to secure extraordinary berries for exhibition, but
the only practical way to improve the quality of the
crop is to thinthe plants. If allowed to runin thick
matted rows they generally become too crowded
for the best results, and many plants must, of neces-
sity, become weak and unfruitful. No better
evidence of this fact can be adduced than to com-
pare the crop on plants grown in hills with the
same number of plants in thick matted rows.
The hill system means extra labor, it is true, but
the improved quality of the crop will go far to
compensate for it. :
Pruning is also the best method of thinning and
improving the quality of the Grape crop. With
judiciously pruned vines to start with, the after
thinning is simple and easy. All that is required is
to rub off the superfluous buds and shoots. A vine
producing twenty-five pounds of fruit in clusters
of half a pound and upwards, would bring more
money than one producing the same number of pounds in
clusters of one-quarter of a pound each, give more satis-
faction to the grower for home consumption, and save labor
and time in gathering.
The sum of the matter is, that in most cases, larger, more
198 Garden and Forest.
beautiful and finer fruit can generally be raised when a very
considerable portion of the sets are removed. Apples or
Peaches when crowded closely along a limb are no more
able to attain full development than Beets or Cabbages when
set too closely ina row. It will generally pay to reduce the
number of sets in some way. The exceptions in the case of
Pears, mentioned above, simply prove that some varieties will
not respond to this treatment in some places. These facts the
fruit grower must learn by experience. The commercial
grower raises fruit for the profit. He must study his market to
know how far his gain from increased quality will warrant the
increased expense of thinning. The amateur, who prides
\
4
[JUNE 20, 1888,
fortunate that they have so generally gone out of fashion.
When grown as standards to the height of two or three feet
they make plants of striking beauty. They are all rapid grow-
ers, and need a liberal supply of water when making wood and
flowers. A correspondent of the Gardener's Chronicle makes
the following selection of varieties from a large collection at
the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick.
One of the freest and strongest grown is named Ver
Luisante, orange-red with orange centre, deepening in color
with age; the young flowers open orange, and deepen in
color as they mature. This would make a good exhibition
specimen when well grown. Le Styx has very fine,
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ben alee
Fig. 36.—Prunus pendula
himself on fine specimens for exhibition, or for his table, does
not stop to consider the financial side of the question. He
simply takes the necessary steps to secure what he wants.
His labor in this direction is often really a pastime, and if he
does not reap his reward, in his satisfaction from day to day,
he is pretty certain to do so when his crop matures. Those
who have not studied and experimented in this field will be
surprised to find that in many cases the very finest fruit is
produced only after thinning has been carried on to an extent
that would seem to the novice most extravagant.
Montclair, N. J. L. Williams,
Lantanas.—These are properly classed among green-house
plants, but they make admirable bedding plants, and it is un-
rich, deep orange-red flowers, produced in large and bold
trusses; it isa very free grower also, Mons. Boucharlat has
fine and showy pale orange flowers; the individual blossoms
are large, and they are produced in very fine trusses that are
bright and striking; itis a remarkably good grower also, be-
ing strong and robust. La Patriote is a very pretty variety; the
flowers open pale golden-orange, changing to pink, and witha
rosy-pink centre; a fine and distinct variety. Venusta is
salmon-colored with orange centre; very fine in the pip and
truss ; distinct, and very good. Clio opens gold, and gradu-
ally changes to lovely rosy-purple; fine pip and_ truss,
and a good, free grower. Triomphe du Commire is of a
pale lilac-pink color, deepening in color with age; fine pip
and truss, and it can safely be marked very good. Grisette
one
JUNE 20, 1888.]
is lilac and mauve, tinted with rose; the flowers open pale
lemon, and change to the above; it is a good grower and
very free. Rosa Mundi, rosy-purple, is very pretty indeed.
Souvenir d’un Ami opens gold; the flowers then become
orange-salmon, and finally the salmon deepens to rosy-purple;
very fine pip and truss, and good habit. Comtesse de Beneval
opens yellow, and changes to pale rosy-pink; it is a very pretty
and free variety. Meteore opens cream, and changes to pink
and pale rosy-lilac; it is a pretty and pleasing variety.
Coming now to what may be termed the yellow-flowered
varieties, probably the best is Reveille, deep yellow in color,
very fine and free. Pluie d’Or is pale golden-yellow, flowers
and trusses alike small. Figaro, bronzy-yellow, is very free of
bloom also. Bijou, orange and gold, is of dwarf habit, very
free, and makes an excellent pot plant. Grappe d'Or is of a
fine hue of gold, very dwarf in growth, and exceedingly free.
Californie is of a distinct pale yellow color, good close habit,
and very free indeed. :
One of the best whites is Innocence; it opens pale lemon or
Fig. 37.—Prunus
primrose, then changes to white; of good habit and very free.
Bouquet Blanc is yellow, changing to white. Lastly comes
Le Lis, which opens pale yellow, and changes to pure white ;
good habit and very free. Perhaps, taking all things into ac-
count, this is the best white grown.
The best dozen varieties, selected from the Chiswick trial,
will be found in Ver Luisante, Le Styx, Mons. Boucuarlat, La
Patriote, Venusta, Clio, Triomphe du Commire, Comtesse
de Beneval, Reveille, Bijou, Innocence and Le Lis.
Newly Transplanted Trees. —Young trees that were trans-
planted this spring generally look well, because of abundant
rains, but it should be remembered that dry weather may
come and with it comes danger. A vigorous growth of new
shoots is proof that healthy new roots have formed, and that
they are furnishing all the moisture needed to supply the
leaves. But where there is little new growth, or none at all, it
may be inferred that the root growth is small and unable to
supply the tree with sufficient moisture. In such cases it is
good practice to wrap the trunks, or shade them on the south
Garden and Forest.
199
side, and this will be especially beneficial if the bark shows
signs of loosening or peeling Off. Sprinkling the tree occa-
sionally will help to check too rapid evaporation: to the same
end the surface of the ground should be stirred and mulched,
but the branches should not be cut back to diminish the leaf
surface. . S.A,
Why Vines Winter-Kill.—The hardiness of vines is eenerally
based on the ability to pass through the winter safely, but the
ability to do so is dependent on theircondition in the fall when
they go into winter quarters. In my vineyard are numbers of
vines of Roger's Hybrids, such as Wilder, Lindley, Merrimac k,
besides Niagara, Brighton and Pocklington, that appeared when
pruned in December to be thoroughly ripened: and: matured
so far as we could judge. Many of these this spring are win-
ter-killed, even to the root in some cases. This con-
dition is unquestionably due to mildew. These vines that
were mildewed most are injured most, while other vines of the
same varieties that escaped this scourge are budding to the re-
Miqueliana (?)
motest extremities. Winter hardiness is dependentonsummer
3 Haar é Spee
hardiness, and the latter is of most importance.— Orchard and
Garden.
Notes from the Rock Garden.
HE handsomest flower in the Rock Garden this week is
the Siberian Columbine (Aqgzzilegia glandulosa), the ear-
liest of the genus to flower here, with the exception of the na-
tive 4. Canadensis. Itisa dwarf species growing eight or ten
inches high, the flower stems each with one to three flowers,
which have bright blue sepals fully an inch anda half long,
pure white petals, and short and very stout, In¢ urved spurs.
The Siberian Columbine is perfectly hardy, but it is a plant of
rather delicate constitution, or rather it is short-lived, and in
order to obtain the best results it should be treated as a bien-
nial and not depended on to flower more than once. If the seed
is sown very early in the spring (itis better to sow it in heat
during winter), the plants will be strong enough to transplant
200
early the first season into nursery rows, and then they can be
transplanted again in the autumn into the rockery or herhba-
ceous border, where they will bloom the next spring. Few
plants better repay this trouble.
Thermopsis fabacea is a hardy Siberian perennial Pea, with
pale foliage, and tall, erect racemes of large, clear-yellow flow-
ers, which is just now in all its beauty. It spreads rapidly
from underground shoots and is almost too rampant in its
growth for the rockery, and is better suited to a large herba-
ceous border, where, if left undisturbed, it will soon spread
over a considerable area.
Tiarella cordifolia, known as the false Mitre-wort from its
resemblance to its near relative the AZZel/a, is now a beautiful
object in the shady parts of the rockery, where it is well estab-
lished and thoroughly at home. It isa member of the Saxi-
frage Family, with heart-shaped, hairy leaves sharply lobed
and toothed, and a solitary, slender, leafless scape a foot high,
bearing a simple raceme of small, pure white flowers. The
False Mitre-wort is found in cold, northern woods and on the
Alleghany Mountains.
The small, yellow Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum)
isin flower. It is a pretty species, much smaller in all its
parts than C. pubescens mentioned last week in these notes,
rarely growing more than a foot high. It has a bright yellow
lip flattened above and darker brown sepals and petals. The
flowers are fragrant. It is a not infrequent inhabitant of
northern bogs and wet woods.
Clintonia borealis is a stemless, perennial plant of the Lily
Family, which recalls to the lovers of nature the name of De
Witt Clinton. It is now in flower in a shady corner of the
rock garden. The flowers are greenish yellow, half an inch
long, with reflexed segments, and are produced in a few-flow-
ered umbel, upon a low, slender, naked scape sheathed at the
base by the stalks of the large, oblong leaves. The blue,
oblong berries which ripen in August are very ornamental.
This pretty plantinhabits northern woods, and is found also in
those which cover the Alleghany Mountains; it is easily trans-
planted into the garden, when, if in ashady position and deep,
rich soil are provided, it soon becomes thoroughly established.
Ixiolirion Tartaricum, var. brachyantherum, is a variety of
the well known J. Zartaricum,a native of central Asia, and a
member of the Amaryllis Family. It is a very hardy bulbous
plant of easy culture, with narrow, grass-like leaves, trumpet-
shaped, deep blue flowers, with reflexed segments, two inches
in diameter when expanded, and borne in a loose terminal
umbel, upon a scape twelve or eighteen inches high,
The latest Tulip in bloom is the dwarf 7) Biebersteiniana,
grown in some foreign nurseries as 7) Persica. Itis a native
of southern Russia, the Caucasus and Persia, extending as far
vast as Turkestan. The flowers are an inch and a half deep,
bright clear yellow, with acute segments, the three oute ones
being somewhat broader than the others and flushed with pale
green on the outside. The yellow starnens are bearded at the
base. The scape rarely exceeds six inches in height, bearing
below the middle two or three narrow, pale, glaucous, chan-
neled leaves. This is a very attractive little plant which should
find a place in every collection of hardy bulbs.
Smilacinia bifolia, or, as it is sometimes called, the Wild
Lily-of-the-Valley, isa common northern plant with creeping
root-stalks, often forming wide carpets, especially on rather
dry knolls occupied by the White Pine and by the Oaks. It is
a dwarf plant, three or four inches high, with two or rarely
three heart-shaped clasping leaves, and short, single racemes
of small, pure white flowers. It is easily cultivated and admir-
able for carpeting the shady parts of a rock garden, or to
plant under shrubs and other taller growing plants.
Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum multifiorum) once was often
found in American gardens, where at this season of the year it
was a conspicuous and beautiful object. Now this handsome
plant is so rarely seen here that it seems entirely unknown to
people of this generation. Solomon's Seal has stout stems
two feet or more in height, inclined to one side, alternate,
ovate leaves, with pendulous, tubular, white flowers tipped
with green, in axillary clusters. It is a bold and striking plant,
well adapted for naturalization along the borders of shrub-
beries or wood-walks, where, if planted in deep rich soil,
it soon makes broad clump Polygonatum multifiorum is
widely distributed through central Europe and Russian Asia.
Few persons realize the beauty of ourcommon wild Maiden-
hair Fern (Adiantium pedatum) in cultivation, or know what
a useful plant it is for a shaded rock garden, where it soon
spreads and throws up a profusion of its graceful fronds. It
bears exposure to the sun, too, and is an excellent pot plant
for the summer decoration of rooms or piazzas,
Boston, May 30th. Cc.
Garden and Forest.
[JuNE 20, 1888,
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
Prunus Facguemontit is flowering here for the second year.
Itis a common plant in the drier regions of the north-west
Himalaya from the province of Garwhal northward into Thibet
and westward to Afghanistan, and is found at elevations vary-
ing from 6,000 to 12,000 feet. Prunus Facguemontit is a shrub,
which in the native country is said to attain a height of from
six to ten feet, with long, slender, unarmed, divaricate
branches, covered with pale gray bark. The leaves are
two to two and one-half inches long, ovate or ovate-lanceo-
late, acute, sharply serrate, pubescent when young, on the
mid-rib and primary veins, short petioled and destitute of
glands. The flowers appear just before the leaves; they are
solitary or often in pairs; very short pediceled, and quite
cover the branches for several feet of their length. The tubu-
lar cylindrical calyx is about a quarter of an inch long,
smooth, glabrous and striated, and twice the length of the
acute lobes, which are hairy on the inside. The overlapping
petals are bright pink, nearly circular, and abouta quarter of an
inch across. The ovoid ovary is quite glabrous, and is con-
tracted into a long, narrow style. Prunus Facguwemontit has
not produced fruit here yet; it is described as ‘ globose, as large
as the finger nail, red, juicy; stone nearly globose, a quarter
to one-third of an inch in diameter, quite smooth.” There is
every prospect that this exceedingly interesting little Cherry
will prove perfectly hardy in this climate, and that it will be-
come a garden ornament of very considerable value. Dr,
Aitchison, of the late Afghan Boundary Commission, who de-
tected this plant in the Kuram valley and first introduced it into
cultivation, in speaking of itsays: ‘‘When the fruit is ripe
and the plant is covered with it, which is usually the case, it
forms a very pretty object in the landscape. It would be
worth cultivating for ornamental purposes.’”*
The Dwarf Cherry of northern China (Prunus humilis) is in
bloom. Itisa low, delicate shrub, scarcely exceeding two
feet in height, with virgate branches densely covered with
pubescence during their first year, small, elliptical or obovate
doubly serrate leaves, which are pubescent when young and
small, pink or nearly white flowers, solitary or two or three
together, and followed by small, edible, acidulous red fruit,
rarely exceeding a third of an inchin diameter. Itis a pretty
little species, but less hardy and less valuable from a garden
pointof view than the closely allied Prunus Faponica, with
which it has often been confounded, but which may be
distinguished from it by its glabrous branches, ovate-lanceo-
late, long pointed, simply serrate, reticulate-veined leaves,
and by its rather larger, deeper colored flowers. The double-
flowered, white and rose-colored varieties of Prunus Fapon-
ica ave not surpassed in beauty by any of the dwarf shrubs
in the collection now in bloom; they are very hardy and
are often seen in gardens. As these varieties of Prunus
Japonica appear in garden catalogues under a variety of
names, it may be an assistance to cultivators to add that to
this species belong the plants grown under the names of
Prunus glandulosa, Thunb.; P. Sinensis, Pers.; P. Chinensis,
Blume, and Amygdalus pumila, Sims. Prunus Faponicais a
native of Manchuria and northern China as well as of Japan,
where it is generally cultivated both in its single and
double forms.
Prunus maritima, the Beach Plum, is a handsome plant
when in flower, and one which is too seldom seen in gardens.
It is a common coast-plant, from Maine to Virginia, often
covering sandy dunes adjacent to sea-beaches. It is a low
compact shrub, rarely more than three or four feet high,
which is now covered with small white flowers, which in the
late summer are followed by a profusion of handsome globu-
lar purple or scarlet fruit, which is collected in large quantities
at some points on the New England coast and sold in the mar-
kets for preserving. This plant, although only found growing
naturally in light sandy gravel, flourishes and flowers profusely
when transferred to the garden. The little Wild Cherry (Pra-
nus pumila) of the northern United States blooms here a few
days earlier than the Beach Plum. The common eastern
form is a low shrub, rarely reaching a height of two feet ; but
western plants sent to the Arboretum from the shores of Lake
Michigan, near Chicago, have tall virgate, erect branches, six
to eight feet high. This variety flowers nearly ten days later
than the eastern plants, and reproduces itselffrom seed. The
small white flowers, two or three together, are produced in
the greatest profusion. The fruit is hardly larger than a pea,
bright red and destitute of flavor. The Dwarf Wild Cherry is
found on dry, rocky or gravelly banks or hill-sides, and is an
excellent subject for planting in waste places, or for an
* Four. Linn, Soc. xviii. 51.
June 20, 1888.]
undergrowth among other shrubs, or trees.
and easily cultivated.
The Ground Cherry (Prunus Chamecerasus), with its small,
glossy, coriaceous leaves, and small, abundant white flowers
covering at this season of the year the long, slender branches, is
a familiar object in many old-fashioned gardens in the United
States, where it is generally seen grafted on a tall stem of the
common Cherry tree, and forming a small and rather formal
weeping tree. It is moreattractive, perhaps, when grown nat-
urally and on its own roots. It then becomes a graceful, low-
branching bush, two or three feet high, gradually spreading
over a considerable space. The Ground Cherry remains in
bloom for a long time, and is perfectly hardy. A native of
central and northern Europe and Russian Asia, it has been
cultivated in gardens during more than three centuries.
Prunus avium, the European Bird Cherry, the JZerister of
the French, is in flower ten or twelve days later than the com-
mon Cherry tree (P. Cerasus). Itisahandsome small tree, with
ascending branches, coarsely toothed, soft leaves appearing
with the large flowers, which are produced two or three together
in sessile umbels, from lateral, scaly, leafless buds, and oval or
ovate, dark red or black fruit. It is the origin of the Black Maz-
zard, the Black Heart and other garden cherries. A variety
with double flowers, known since the days of Tournefort,
should find a place in every collection of ornamental trees.
The pure white, semi-double flowers are produced like those
of the species with the leaves; they are composed of
about 4o petals, thirty stamens and of anabnormally developed
green abortive pistil. This isa smaller tree than the species,
although equally hardy. It is sometimes known as Prunus
ranunculifiora and as P. avium multiplex.
Some of the early flowering Hawthorns are in bloom. Of
these the earliest and the handsomest is Crategus subvillosa,
a form, perhaps, of the exceedingly polymorphous C. coccinea,
but, for garden purposesat least, sufficiently distinct to be con-
sidered aspecies. It is the largest of the Thorns growing
spontaneously in the northern States, and one of the largest
and most widely distributed of the American species, being
found from eastern Massachusetts to Missouri and through the
south-western States to the Sierra Madre Mountains of north-
eastern Mexico. It is more common and better characterized
west of the Mississippi River than in the eastern States, attain-
ing, like several other species of this genus, its greatest size and
beauty in the country adjacent to the Red River. Crategus
subvillosa is a round-headed tree, twenty to thirty feet high,
with a stout short trunk, covered with light gray, scaly
bark, rigid, smooth branches armed with long, stout, chest-
nut-brown spines. The leaves and broad foliaceous sti-
pules are larger than on any other American Thorn; they are
thin, glandular, especially on the petioles, roundish-ovate, cor-
date, wedge-shaped or truncate at the base, incised, and very
sharply serrate, scabrous above, the lower surface, as well as
the young branches, peduncles and calyx, densely tomentose.
The flowers, in broad, flat corymbs, are produced in profusion;
they are an inch or more across when expanded, pure white,
the disk often bright scarlet. This species is, perhaps, more
beautiful in the late summer than at this season of the year.
Then it is loaded with large, bright, scarlet fruit, which is often
more than an inch in diamater, and whichis covered with a con-
spicuous bloom, The fruit of this species is the largest and
by far the most showy produced by any of the Thorns which
are hardy here. Unfortunately, it falls as soon as ripe, and
long before the foliage takes on its brilliant autumn coloring.
Crategus subvillosa requires deep, rich soil in which to de-
~ velop its greatest beauty. No other Thorn is more hardy
here, or grows more rapidly into a handsome, shapely tree.
Crategus Douglasii is also in flower. This is the Thorn of the
north-west coast, where, in the neighborhood of streams, it
sometimes attains a height of thirty or forty feet. It is a hand-
some, round-headed tree here, worthy of a place in any collec-
tion, and interesting, too, in the fact that it is one of the very
few ligneous plants peculiar to the coast region of Oregon and
Washington Territory that is perfectly hardy in New England.
It has stout, rigid branches, armed with short, stout, russet-
brown spines, ovate, cuneate, coriaceous leaves one or two
inches long, and small corymbs of white flowers a quarter to
a third of an inch across, followed by small, black, edible fruit,
which ripens here in Augustand soon drops.
Among foreign Thorns, Crategus sanguinea and C. nigra
are in bloom, The former is a widely distributed species
through Siberia, Mongolia, northern China and Manchuria,
It is well characterized by its broad, glandular stipules, shin-
Ing, chestnut-brown, unarmed branches, smooth, purplish
young shoots, and by the dark green, broadly-ovate leaves,
wedge-shaped at the base, cut-toothed, and quite glabrous,
It is very hardy,
Garden and Forest.
201
except in its axils of the primary veins. The flowers are
white with purple stamens, two-thirds of an inch across when
expanded, and followed during the summer by small, purple,
or sometimes red fruit. This isa very hardy species, which
becomes here a small tree, ten or fifteen feet high, well worth
cultivating for its early flowers and handsome dark green
foliage. Itis the Crategus purpurea of Loudon’s Arboretum,
ii. 822; and is well figured in Pallas’ ‘‘ flora Rossica,” ¢. 11.
Crategus nigra, a native of Hungary, is here a hardy and
fast growing tree. It has pale green leaves, sinuately lobed,
sharply serrate, broadly wedge-shaped or truncate at the base,
and covered on the under side, like the young shoots,
petioles, peduncles and calyx, with a thick white tomentum,
The rather large creamy white flowers are followed by hand-
some black fruit, which hangs upon the branches until the
late autumn.
The Tartarean Honeysuckle needs only to be mentioned
here, that attention may be directed to the fact that it is one of
the very hardiest of all shrubs, which might be more often
grown than it is at present, in the extreme northern parts of
this country. There are many fine varieties in the Arboretum
collection with flowers ranging in color from pure white
through pink and rose to red. The handsomest,are from St.
Petersburg, where a great deal of attention has, in late years,
been given to the improvement of this shrub. Loxicera
Ruprechtiana isa very hardy bush Honeysuckle, a native of
Manchuria, which here forms a handsome, erect shrub, six or
eight feet high by as much through, and which in its native
country, according to Maximowicz, its discoverer, is sometimes
a small tree 20 feet in height. It has ashy-gray branches, pale,
ovate, blunt or acuminate, entire leaves, an inch oran inch and
a half long, with prominent reticulate veins, slightly downy on
the under side. The flowers, which have no perfume, are
produced in great profusion. They are white at first, but
soon turn light yellow or straw color, long peduncled, the
slender tube of the corolla an eighth of an inch long and
scarcely half the length of. the narrow divisions of the limb.
The beauty of the fruit of this species excels that of any Honey
suckle in the collection. It is a third of an inch in diameter,
bright scarlet and almost transparent, remaining a long time
on the branches. Lonicera Ruprechtiana is one of the most
desirable of the perfectly hardy shrubs of recent introduction,
and is well worth cultivating for the beauty of the fruit alone.
The Wayfaring-tree (Viburnum Lantana) is the earliest Vi-
burnum in flower in the collection, although the Moosewood
(V. lantanoides), afar handsomer plant, but the most diffi-
cult, perhaps, of all the American shrubs to establish in the
garden, has been blooming in the cold, damp woods of the
north for nearly two weeks. Viburnum Lantana is a stout,
tall, much-branched shrub, very common through central and
southern Europe, and pertectly hardy in this climate. It
bears ovate, sharply serrate leaves, three or four inches long,
cordate at the base, soft and velvety on the upper side, densely
covered, as well as the young shoots, with white, mealy down.
The small, white flowers in dense cymes, two or three inches
across, are followed by handsome, purple-black, oblong fruit.
Two exotic species of Amelanchier are in bloom several
days after the native species have shed their petals, A. vulgaris
and A. Asiatica. The former is a dwarf shrub or more rarely
a small tree, with roundish-oval leaves downy on the lower
side, long petals and blue-black edible fruit. It is a native
of the mountainous regions of central Europe. A. Asiatice
isasmall, graceful tree here, with long, slender branches
with smooth, gray bark, ovate-elliptical, acute leaves densely
covered, when young, with white wool, and compound ra-
cemes of handsome, pure white flowers. The fruit has not
yet been produced here. This very hardy and desirable plant
was found by Von Siebold in Japan, where it is very com-
monly cultivated in gardens and in the neighborhood of Tem-
ples, although probably a native of northern or central
China. It is well figured in the “/lora Faponica,” t. 42.
Staphylea trifolia, the eastern-American representative of
the Bladder-nuts, is in flower. The drooping, raceme-like
clusters of white, bell-shaped flowers are very pretty ; but as an
ornamental shrub for the garden it is in every way inferior to
S. pinnata, a native of southern Europe, with bolder foliage,
and larger clusters of pure white, fragrant flowers. This is one
of the handsomest of the European shrubs which can be cul-
tivated here successfully ; and it should find a place in every
garden. It is recommended asa good subject for forcing in
winter. The Japanese S. Bumalda is very hardy, but the foliage
is small and the flowers are much less conspicuous than those
of the eastern American or of the European species, and it
will not be often cultivated except asa curiosity. The very
handsome and exceedingly rare species of northern California
202
(S. Bolander?) has not yet been introduced into cultivation ;
and the S. £yzed71s not in this collection.
The earliest Elaagnus in flower is the Japanese £. longtpes,
a handsome shrub, six or eight feet high, with pale green, oval
punctate leaves, s stellate pubescent on the upper side and
covered on the silvery under side, when young, as are the
new shoots, peduncles and corolla, with small ferrugineous
scales. The orange-colored flowers are pe teers with a
long, slender tube “and spreading limb, half an inch in diame-
ter when expanded. The handsome, transparent, orange-col-
ored, punctate fruit has an agreeable sub-acid flavor. This is
a very hardy, free-growing plant well worth cultivation.
None of the evergreen Barberries (Mahonia) are very hardy
in this climate, and they can only be grown when c arefully pro-
tected in winter. The hardiest is B. xervosa, now flowering
here for the first time. Itisa dwarf evergreen shrub, with a
smooth stem only a few inches high, producing from a termi-
nal bud pinnate leaves one or two feet long the numerous
acuminate leaflets palmately nerved, and elongated racemes of
handsome yellow flowers. The oblong, blue fruit is a a quarter
to a third of an inch in diameter, Serderis nervosa is a native
of the north-west coast. ;
May 30th. T
The Forest.
Forest Tree Planting on the Prairies.
MONG the various methods of planting trees on the
prairies, two have been recommended as more
expeditious than digging holes for the roots and covering
with the spade. One is to mark off the ground both ways
as for a corn crop, and at the intersection of the lines to
strike the spade down vertically, and then push the handle
forward and backward, leaving a slit in the ground. Into
this the tree is then inserted, the earth is pressed with the
foot and the tree is planted. This method may do for in-
serting cuttings, or such trees as will readily root from the
stems, but the roots will be cramped into an unnatural
position, and aside from this, as the ground dries it will
shrink, allowing the air to penetrate and destroy the
crowded roots. I have examined many plantations made
in this way, and never saw one—except in the case of
Poplars—where there were not more dead trees than living
ones at the end of the season.
Another method often recommended, is to mark the
ground one way and plow furrows the opposite way, and
then place a tree in the furrow at every cross mark, and
plow the earth back over the roots, This is also an ob-
jectionable method, for it is not possible to plant all the
trees at the proper depth, nor to tighten the roots properly.
And even if that is attempted it will occupy more time
than it would require to plant them with the spade. I
never saw a plantation treated in this way that did not
show many failures, and an unevenness in the growth of
the trees, aside from being more troublesome to cultivate
than if properly planted. All that is claimed in favor of
either of these methods is that it is more expeditious than
planting with the spade.
I will now describe fully, the method which long ex-
perience has convinced me is not only the best, but, all
things considered, the most expeditious way, and the only
way in which a great number of inexperienced workmen
can be handled to advantage.
As many land owners who are not farmers plant forests
on the prairies, I will commence with the prairie in its
natural condition. It is very important that the prairie sod
should be ‘‘broken” at the proper time, otherwise the
planting will be delayed at least one year, and even then
will not be in as good condition as if broken at the proper
time.
Break the prairie in June or at the time the grass is in the
most thrifty condition. Break quite shallow, not deeper
than two, or, at most, three inches, as the greater the suc-
culent growth and the shallower the breaking, the more
surely will the sod be killed during the summer. Late in
August and during September of the same year, turn the
sod over lengthwise of the furrow, and deep enough to
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 20, 1888,
bury the sod and leave two or three inches of earth over
the entire surface. Ifit is not to be planted in the autumn
leave the ground in this condition until the following
spring, When the harrow and roller will put the land in ex- —
cellent condition for planting. If planted in the fall run
the harrow and roller after the plowing is finished, mark
off the ground both ways for planting, strip the leaves
from off the young trees, if frost has not already done so,
then gauge the tree digger so as to cut the roots to the
length required—six to eight inches, according to the
depth and quality of the land—and commence planting.
The workmen are divided off into companies of three
each, or two men and one boy, the two men with spades,
the boy with a bundle of trees—the trees having previously
been tied in bundles of 100 each. The two men with
spades plant on adjoining rows, the tree holder walking
between them. The planter strikes his spade vertically
into the ground on the running line close up to the cross
mark, raises-a spadeful of earth, the boy inserts the tree,
the earth is replaced, the planter places his foot close up
to the stem of the tree, bearing on it his full weight—and
passes on to the next mark. This tightening of the tree is
very essential, and must be insisted on. The boy is kept
quite busy attending two planters, but after a little ex-
perience he will learn to bring each tree out of his bundle
with a quick circular motion that will spread out the roots
-when placed in the ground, about as evenly as they could
be placed with the hand.
By this method the trees are planted in a straight line,
and all at the proper depth, the roots are spread and
the earth packed firmly over them. Two men and one
boy will plant 4,500 trees in a ten-hour day, being two
and one-half trees planted per minute for every man and
boy employed, and the land will be left perfectly smooth
and level for cultivating, making this not cnly the best,
but the most expeditious way to plant forest trees on the
prairie. Robert Douglas.
Correspondence.
Northern Range of the Western Service-berry.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST: ,
Sir.—According to Sir John Richardson, the Service-berry
(Amelanchier alnifolia), which was figured and described in
your last issue, produces fruit in the Mackenzie Valley as far
to the northward as lat. 65°. It appears to require not only a
considerable amount of summer heat, but also a climate not
very humid, and though present on Vancouver Island and
found by me in 1878 in the Queen Charlotte Islands, probably
attains its northern limit on the west coast at the last named
places, as it is there of rare occurrence and depauperated in
appearance.
The examination of the basins of the Stikine and Liard
rivers and the head-waters of the Yukon, carried out last
summer, afford some information on the occurrence of this
species in the region between the west coast and the Mac.
kenzie Valley. The Amelanchier was found in abundance,
though asa small sbrub only, near Glenora and Telegraph
Creek (lat. 58°), in the Stikine Valley, to the east of the Coast
Mountains, where the climate is dry and contrasts very re-
markably with that of the seaward side of the same range. It
was here in full flower about the 20th of May. It was “again
seen in the autumn on Tagish Lake, near the head-w aters of
the Lewes Branch of the Yukon, a few miles north of the sixtieth
parallel and at a height of 2,150 feet above the sea. This
locality holds a position similar to the last with respect to the
Coast Mountains, and itappears probable that the Amelanchier
may occur throughout the intervening country in favorable
situations, though evidently near its limit on Tagish Lake,
where the fruitseemed scarcely likely to ripen.
The Amelanchier was again found, farther inland, in the
dry eastern lee of the Cassiar Mountains, growing on gravelly
terraces along the Dease River (lat 59° 10’, long. 129 °). A-line
drawn to the “northward of the various localities above men-
tioned will, I believe, define with near approximation to ac-
curacy the north-western range of the Amelanchier, which is
not mentioned in Rothrock’s list of Alaskan plants nor in that
of Dall.
From facts observed in several districts in British Columbia,
-cuta circle in the turf a few inches wider than the lower
June 20, 1888.]
as well as in the Peace River country on the eastern slope of
the Rocky Mountains, I believe that the degree and length of
summer heat requisite for the development of this species
closely corresponds with that necessary for the growth of
wheat, and its distribution thus appears to possess a peculiar
interest, regarded as a criterion of summer heat in places
where cultivation has not yet been attempted. It may be
mentioned that wheat has been successfully grown at Tele-
graph Creek on the Stikine and that barley is habitually culti-
vated there.
Ottawa, Canada.
George M. Dawson.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—When trees are planted ina lawn shall the grass be
permitted to grow directly around the trees, or shall a circular
space be left around them ?
Shall trees be trimmed when they are first planted, and if so,
in what manner? Willit be necessary or advisable to trim
them the second year ? CA
Providence, R. I., May roth.
[Trees, especially when first planted, will grow more
rapidly if the ground about them is kept free from grass
and weeds by frequent cultivation. A top dressing of
well rotted manure spread over the dug space about the
tree in the autumn, once in every two or three years, and
forked into the ground the following spring, is an assist-
ance to all deciduous trees. In the case of low-branching
Conifers, like Firs, Spruces, and some Pines, standing in
grass where the lawn-mower is used, it is a good plan to
branches of the tree. A tree protected in this way cannot
be reached by the lawn-mower, even in the hands of the
most careless workman, and its lower branches will be
saved from mutilation.
Itis anot uncommon practice to prune trees severely at the
time they are transplanted. All the branches anda consider-
able part of the stem are cut away sometimes, especially
in the country, and nothing but a bare pole planted. Trees
mutilated in this manner often live, and sometimes eventu-
ally grow into fine specimens. ‘The object of leaves is to
elaborate sap, and the more leaves a plant carries, the
more vigorously it will grow. It is a mistake, therefore,
and an injury to the tree, to reduce its leaf surface just at
the time when it needs all its vitality to overcome the
serious shock which transplanting gives it. If a trans-
planted tree needs pruning to improve its form or to
remove a dangerous fork in the main stem, or from any
time of planting.
other cause, itis much better to wait for a year or two, until
it gets a good hold of the ground, rather than to prune it at the
The subject of tree pruning in its
various aspects will be discussed in the columns of this
journal, and it is only possible at this time to say, gener-
ally, in answer to the inquiry of our correspondent, that
the objects to be attained in pruning an ornamental tree
are to so form the head that all the branches may be ex-
posed to the light, to stimulate the growth of feeble and
check the too rampant growth of vigorous branches, and
to prevent the forking of the main trunk too near the
ground, and so preserve it from splitting. The one rule
which should be followed always in pruning a tree, is,
that when a branch is to be cut off, it should be cut close
_ to the trunk, so that no stub is left to decay and carry
rot into the heart of the tree, and that when a branch is
shortened, it should be cut back, for the same reason, to a
lateral branch or bud. If this rule is followed a well
established tree cannot be injured and often can be greatly
improved by pruning.—Ep. |
_ To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Can you kindly advise me what to plant to make a
hedge against a fence about four and a half feet high which is
shaded, but notat all densely, by a few tall Cherry and Ailanthus
trees, and which faces the north-east? Would Red Cedar do
in such a situation? I should prefer an evergreen hedge, but
do not like the Spruce for this purpose. ; E
New Brunswick, N. J. V.
[The Red Cedar, the Hemlock, the Arbor-vite and the
White Pine can all be used to make a hedge in New Jer-
Garden and Forest.
203
sey. All these trees grow rapidly and bear cutting. De-
ciduous shrubs, however, as a rule, make better hedges in
this country than Conifers, as they can better support the
unnatural conditions to which hedge-plants must be sub-
jected if they are to be kept to formal lines. The common
Privet is one of the hardiest and most easily raised plants
which can be used for a hedge. The Barberry makes a
beautiful hedge, and so do Lilacs, Syringas, Tartarian
Honeysuckles and other hardy garden shrubs. A hedge is
a formal thing, which is beautiful only when it is uniform
and regular and perfect; a hedge in which there are gaps
or in which some plants are feeble and sickly is not an at-
tractive object, and had better be cleared away and a new
one planted, as it is almost impossible to repair an old
hedge by inserting new plants. This is the reason why
it is important to use only very hardy and carefully se-
lected plants in making a hedge. It would be impossible,
probably, to make a really good hedge under the condi-
tions given by our correspondent. The overhanging trees
will inevitably stunt the growth of the plants under them ;
and the hedge will present, therefore, a broken and unsat-
isfactory appearance, which cannot fail to be disappointing.
An irregularly planted border of hardy shrubs in front of a
fence is always better than a stiff, clipped hedge; and
when, as in this case, the fence is overshadowed by large
trees, an informal plantation is the only one which can be
safely used. The common Barberry and some of our
native Viburnums and Dogwoods will be found excellent
plants to use in this way.—Ep. | e
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST? :
Sir.—In passing from woods to prairie here in Minnesota,
some points in difference of climate are forced on our notice.
About November 2oth, 1886, a foot of snow fell in the woods
north of Minneapolis, while on the prairie, fifty miles west,
the ground was not well covered.
On April rst, 1887, in the woods, near Aitken, sleds were
running with fair sleighing, and crossing the lakes with heavy
teams asin winter; while on the prairie, near Fergus Falls,
the seeders were going.
On April 23d, 1888, the dense Tamarack swamps of the Itasca
basin held two feet of snow ; while on the clearings, 100 yds.
away, and onall the ground well exposed to sun and south
wind, the ground was bare. H, B. Ayres.
Recent Publications.
Pen and Pencil in Asia Minor ; or notes from the Levant. By
William Cochran. New York, Scribner and Welford.
This book, written by an Englishman who is a member of
various British Agricultural Societies, is a combination of lively
notes of travel with the serious and exhaustive discussion
of an industry which the author has long been recommending
to the notice of British colonists. Incidentally he gives in-
teresting information with regard to the agricultural and fruit-
growing possibilities of Asia Minor, especially as concerns the
success which German colonists have had in raising the
vine in the neighborhood of Smyrna. But his main object is
to point out the possibilities and explain the processes of silk-
culture as practiced in the Levant. :
A long residence in China some twenty years ago convinced
Mr. Cochran that the cultivation of the Tea-plant and of the
Silk-worm might profitably be introduced in certain parts of
Queen Victoria’s dominions; and on his return to England he
preached this belief so vigorously in the press and elsewhere,
that, largely asa result of his words, Tea-farming was taken
up ona great scale in Ceylon and in India. But the general
adoption of sericulture in the east has been longer deterred,
owing to the diseases which, for many years, had been raging
among the silk-worms in China and which threatened the suc-
cess of fresh enterprises of the sort. A few years ago, however,
M. Pasteur devoted himself to examining these maladies and to
providing a cure ; and his lessons having been put in practice
in the Levant, Mr. Cochran spent a season there for the pur-
pose of studying the results. These, as seen In the large es-
tablishment near Smyrna of Mr. Griffitt—who although an
English citizen, has for many years been the consul of the
United States—proved to be entirely satisfactory. In his pre-
sent book Mr. Cochran exhibits this fact in a clear way, and
gives full accounts, carefully illustrated, of the whole process
204
of sericulture as it passed step by step under his eyes. One
chapter is devoted to the Mulberry and other trees the leaves
of which have been used or experimented with as food for the
silk-worm. The White Mulberry—Jforus alba—always the
favorite Silk-worm food in the east, is pronounced to be the
best tree for this purpose, although the success in Louisiana
with the Osage-orange is recognized ; and the manner in
which it is prope agated and grow n are fully explained.
The ingenious way in which Mr. ‘Cochran has sandwiched in
his instructive chapters among those which record the merely
picturesque incidents and sights of his voyage will undoubted-
ly attract to his book a multitude of readers who would not
have cared for a mere technical treatise on sericulture. But
simply as a treatise of this sort it well deserves attention from
all those who, in various parts of the United States, have re-
cently engaged in the silk-producing industry.
Recent Plant Portraits.
AMARYLLIS CONTESSA MARIANNA CAMBRAY Dianvy, Billetino
de la R. Societa di Orticultura, April; a variety with rather
dingy red flowers streaked with ‘white.
TEA ROSE, VICONTESSE DE WAUTIER, Fournal des Roses,
April; a handsome pink and very double variety raised by
Alexandre Bernaix at Villeurbonne, near Lyons, an offspring
of Madame de Tartas, fecundated by the pollen of Azna
Olivier.
DICHORISANDRA PUBESCENS, var. zov. Talmiensis, Revue de
’’Forticulture Belge, April; a handsome blue-flowered va-
riety, the leaves striped with white, which appeared sponta-
neously in 1885 in the soil of a case of plants imported by the
Botanic Garden of Brussels from Brazil.
CORDYLINE INDIVISA, var. DONCETIANA, L’//lustration Hor-
ticole, March 15th; a variegated variety of Belgian origin, the
edges of the leaves marked with yellow.
TASCONIA PAaRRITA, L’//lustration Horticole, March 15th. A
handsome stove climber from Brazil with large orange
flowers.
PRIMULA SINENSIS, var. EDWARD MOorRREN, L’///ustration
Florticole, March 15th; a variety with pale blue flowers; a
novelty in Chinese Primroses,
ADANSONIA GREGORI, Gardener's Chronicle, April 28th;
the Australian Baobab ; one of the largest trees known.
DOUGLASIA LAVIGATA, Gardener's Chronicle, April 28th; a
pretty little alpine plant of the Primrose family, from the
mountains of north-western America. This genus commemo-
rates the botanical labors of David Douglas, a Scotch botanical
traveler, who discovered and introduced into cultivation some
of the most important trees of Western America.
PHALANOPSIS SCHILLERIANA, Gardener's Chronicle, April
28th. ‘From an illustration from a photograph of plants in
the collection of Fred. Scholes, Esq., of Brooklyn, who has
been called the Partington of America, a compliment that is
richly deserved, as our engraving undeniably proves. The
two plants here depicted are fair represent itive examples (one
being 3 feet in height), and only three years since were small
pieces. Mr, Scholes is very liberal in the use of cows Manure
in liquid form when his plants are making active growth.
That he has practically demonstrated the efficac y of his treat-
ment is proved by the luxuriance both in foliage and flowers
of his Pha/enopsis, one plant in his collection having no less
than fourteen leaves from 8 to 15 inches long, and of remarka-
blesubstance. The plant carried three large branching spikes,
and when in flower would be a marvel of beauty.”
Notes.
Maple sugar was made this year in considerable quantities
in California from the sap of the Broad-leaved Maple (Acer ma-
crophyllun). The sugar is said to be of excellent flavor.
The annual meeting of the Society of American Florists in
this city next August was to have been held in Tammany Hall.
The burning of that building has somewhat embarrassed the
local committee, but they have now secured the Fifth Avenue
Theatre for that purpose. -
Utricularia montana.—A splendid example of this showy
plant is now flowering in the Orchid Houses occupied by Mr.
I. Forstermann, of 50 Storm Ave., Jersey City. The plant
mentioned has 26 stout spikes, on which are produced 100
large pure white blossoms of fine substance. This Bladderwort
is sometimes classed with the Orchid family, to which genus
it has no affinity. Its cultural requirements, however, are
very similar, and it is invariably found in Orchid collections,
where it thrives vigorously in a warm and very moist situation.
Garden and Forest.
a Sim eal
[TUNE 20, 1888,
On the first of June Apples from New Zealand were on sale
in San Francisco, According to so good an authority as the
Pacific Rural Press, the fruit was not only shapely and hand- ,
somely colored, but firm and weli-flavored. Apples from Vic-
toria, are sold in the London market at from 2d. to 6d.
each, and as the freight charges from the orchard to the seller
are about 13(d. a pound, this leaves a good margin for profit
to the grower in the Southern Hemisphere.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, Yune 15th.
The supply of flowers this week has only been fair, but it has been
sufficient to meet the demand. The decorations of halls and theatres
for Commencement exercises have consisted of a few groups of fol-
jage plants; Graduates’ favors have been large loose bunches of flow-
ers, more often than basket designs. Flowers from shrubs seem to
grow in demand every year ¢ and have never brought as high a price
as they now do. Syringa sells for $1.00 a bunch of 18 large sprays,
Weigela for 50 and 75 cts. a bunch. Snowballsare highly esteemed and
cost “$I. oo a bunch. Hybrid Roses are smaller, but are of good quality,
excepting Baroness Rothschild, which averages poor. All Hybrids
cost 40 to 50 cts. each, the latter price holding for those selected.
They are $5.00 a dozen. Moss Roses cost 25 cts. aspray. Clusters of
these with a few spikes of Mignonette are in demand for dinner favors.
Genl. Jacqueminot Roses are small, but of rich colors, and bring $1.50
a dozen. Brides, Catherine Mermets, Niphetos and Perles are also $1.50
adozen. Fine La France Roses cost $2.00 a dozen. There are some
handsome Orchids (Cattleyas) arriving which cost $1.00 a flower. Pea
blossoms are among the choice flowers added to bouquets and designs
to give the last finish. They cost 50 cts. for a cluster of 18, Carna-
tions cost 35 and gocts.a dozen. Peeoniesrange from Io to 25 cts.
each, The pink variety is in the largestrequest. Heliotrope is 5octs.
a bunch. Mignonette is poor and from 25to50cts.a bunch. Field
Daisies are very handsome and 15 cts. a dozen, and wild Buttercups
cost 15 cts. a dozen. Gladioluses bring from 20 to 25 cts. a spike.
Callas are scarce and 25 cts. each. Pansies cost 25 cts. a dozen. Lily-
of-the-Valley is again coming in from green-houses.
PHILADELPHIA, Fune 15th.
Roses everywhere, and as a result there is a temporary glut in the
market. Itis only in Roses, however, that the over-supply is notice-
able. Many other flowers are scarce, as for example, good Carna-
tions, especially the white varieties. The crimson, scarlet and other
colored varieties are fair in quality, and cost 25 cts. a dozen. Sweet
Peas are more plentiful, and sell readily at from 25 to 50 cts. a dozen.
Lily-of-the-Valley holds its own at $1 a dozen. Mignonette and _
Heliotrope costs 25 cts. Hybrid Roses cost from $2 to $4.a dozen, ac-
cording to quality and variety. Amongst out-door Roses there isa
greater variety to select from than in the list of forcing sorts. Jean k
Liabaud and Louis Van Houtte are two favorites; the formerisavel- _
vety dark crimson, the latter is somewhat brighter and of very fine
form, The dark Roses have not met with much favor in the winter _
for the past two seasons. American Beauty is still asked for, and sells 4
at from $3 to $4a dozen. Mermets, Bennetts and Brides ‘are from $1
to $2a dozen. Perles and Sunsets, 75 cts. to $1.50. Bon Silenes and
Gontiers are getting thin, and bring 50 cts. a dozen. Water Lilies are
75 cts. per dozen. Field Daisies are plentiful, and sell at 25 cts. a
dozen. Single Dahlias, $1 to $1.50 a dozen. Cornflowers, 25 cts. a
dozen. There is a steady demand for any choice good flower.
Indeed, June is a better month for the flower trade than May, for new ,
things like Sweet Peas, Miniature Sunflowers and the yellow Corn-
flowers keep coming into bloom, and are always salable. oH
a.
The cut flower market has been heavily overstocked during the _
past week. Belated crops, intended for Decoration Day, but delayed
by cold weather, have been coming in from every direction, and the |
wholesale dealers have been loaded down with surplus stock.
Roses in all varieties, excepting the choice hybrids, are very abun-
dant. Of choice hybrids there are none. Carnations are also very —
plenty in all the standard varieties, such as Anna Webb, Grace ~
Wilder, Buttercup, Hinze’s White, E. G. Hill and Allagatiere. There
is still a small supply of Lily-of-the-Valley obtainable from Canada.
After this is exhausted the green-house crop will begin to come in _
again, at increased prices, and will be in market as a regular supple ;
allsummer. The roots from which this is produced are kept overfrom —
last season in ice-houses, and are thus held in a dormant condition
until required. White Gilliflowers are abundant, and of best quality,
very large and double. The choicer varieties of out-door flowers, —
such as Rhododendrons, Pzeonies, Ghent Azaleas and Clematises, are —
used extensively in large baskets and decorations, and they help to —
make the florists’ windows bright and attractive. Of Orchids a few —
Odontoglossums and Cattleyas (mainly C. A/ossi@) are in market. The |
demand for Lilies of all kinds is brisk, but very few are offered. Tea |
Roses bring 50 cts., but fancy sorts command from $1 to $2. Jacque- |
minots of rather inferior quality are held at $3, and Hybrids are scarce —
at $6. Carnations and Calendulas are 50 cts. a dozen. Stocks and
Spireea, 75 cts. Maidenhair Fern, 50 cts. Smilax, 50 cts. a string. |
Lilies-of-the-Valley cost $1 a dozen, and will probably cost twice as F
much in a few days. Rhododendrons are $5 a dozen; Ascension
Lilies, $2; Harris’ Lilies, $4, and a few Callas can be had for $3.
Boston, Fune 15th. 4
“3
~ June 27, 1888.]
FGARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY LY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO,
Orrick: TripuneE Burtpinc, New York.
Conducted! by fi.-si ls). Se se 8 . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE
27, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
_ EpirortaL ArticLes :—Hardy Fruit Trees.—The Sermon of the Flowers....... 205,
SOMCCEEYNEIUMS: « ceiels gsiaws ai vices cist nes Foln M, Coulter. 206
wEreesiand Shrubs fora Trying Climate. ......2 0.0.50. s0cees-6 FL. Budd. 206
Alexander Pope.and the Gardener’s Art....40rs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer.
A Well Planted Village Street (with illustgation).
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Notes on New Orchids. .......-.+.+++ WV. Goldring. 208
New or Litrte Known Piants :—Pitcairnia Palmeri (with illustration),
Sereno Watson, 209
RUAN TPNOTES (11S; MOLOIKOWLs asec nrecasceececr ise Teinte wees Max Leichtlin. 209
Calypso borealis.—Pentstemon barbatus—Variations in Viola pedata.... 209
GULTURAL- DEPARTMENT !—POppieS «......sescecessesseccseees William Falconer. 210
Bedding Plants for Spring—Primula officinalis—Spring Beauty........... 210
Oxcuip Notes :—Orchids in Bloom—Cattleva Sanderiana......... 06.6020. ce ee 2i1
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.......... Saat on
Tue Forest :—Dispersion of Seeds and Plants.......... Senet) tiie sibel on 213
CORRESPONDENCEs. +++ se eee e eee pret fateists ate egehes aie tenieayeieert ye 214
A RIODIGAT RU ISRA TUE eiu/atess/e(a3s m/s. s/t" nie s/s, a lel 0.0) ci01s, #lehe)an,0 hi ste a/syainvi<'e.aiaig)n(oa eia(ais 5
Notes from the Paris Horticultural Exhibition. .......0:.s0cceeeececesoes
BONUS Marya eelsrelerstarctet fs o aicieiate siccriacue.cisieinis sists eta steed Sato aicietace
Frower Markers :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston
ItLusrrations :—Main Street, Kingston, Rhode Island. .
teat miaweral in Shy ihr go Sots srieietale)eierels a shsieisis/(ecaicisl<'s\simelcjuicieisis) ive bls onanaon 211
Hardy Fruit Trees.
N a recent number of the Gardeners’ Chronicle, Mr. F.
W. Burbidge advocates the introduction of fruits that
are hardy in climates like that of the Volga region, where
Apples, Cherries and Plums have been grown for a thou-
sand years. He does not claim that these fruits would
necessarily flourish in the moister climate of England, but
lie argues that if crossed with choice varieties of more
tender constitution a new race might be hoped for which
would have the fine flavor of one parent and the
more vigorous habit of the other. The fruit growers in our
north-western Staies have been experimenting in this direc-
tion with trees from the great central plain of Europe,
where the conditions of climate more nearly resemble their
own than do those of western Europe. But aside from this,
there is ample encouragement for testing the fruit trees of
other countries in the success which has followed the cul-
tivation of the Japanese Persimmon and the Peen-to Peach,
for example, in our southern States. Noone can predict
what advantage might be derived from crossing these
with native species or garden varieties that are in cultiva-
tion here. Our best Raspberries and Grapes have been
bred up from native species or by a mixture of native blood
with that of introduced kinds.
The whole subject of improving fruit trees in hardiness
by going back to the wild stock, or to forms that have
become established by centuries-of cultivation, is one that
should engage the attention of our experiment stations.
The fact that long years of work and study are required
before any results are reached is all the more reason for
beginning as soonas possible. As to the need of collect-
ing and studying wild plants, Mr. Burbidge says :
In fruit growing, as in gardening generally, there is no
standing still. We must either improve or we shall go back,
and the best way to improve our native fruits will be to cross-
breed with new blood in the shape of hardier kinds, from
widely separated habitats and different soils. The Asiatic
Grapevine did not succeed in America, but by inter-breeding
it with native species a race of Grapes better suited to the cli-
Garden and Forest.
205
mate has been obtained, and even the French vineyard culti-
vators have been glad to procure these American varieties to
repair the ravages of the phylloxera during recent years.
One of the very best undertakings for our Royal Horticul-
tural Society to undertake just now would be this task of col-
lecting the wild species and cultivated variations of our hardy
fruits, other than those now grown in England. It has always
seemed to me, and doubtless to others also, a sad waste of
time and capital to grow at Chiswick the ordinary kinds of
Apples, Plums, Pears, Cherries, Grapes, etc., which are now
to be seen in most nurseries and private gardens. The true
work and business of a horticulture society is not with the old
but with the new, and to be worthy of enlightened support the
very fringe of progress must be litted for us as it was lifted for
our predecessors in the days of Lindley and Knight, Fortune,
Douglas, Hartweg, and many others one need not name.
In conclusion, I venture to differ altogether from those who
say that the days of collecting wild plants is passed or played
out, and that the hybridizers can now carry on the work, and
supply the collector’s'place to greater advantage. This view
is the subtlest of all errors, viz., half a truth. There is room
for the collector now as in the past, for the cultivator always,
but the hybridist cannot with safety kick down a ladder on
which he stands. The hybridizer may give us a few ephe-
meral forms of Orchids, Arads, Amaryllids, or florists’ flowers,
but what can he hope to do with our hardy fruits, vegetables,
and erain-yielding grasses, when their wild prototypes are as
yet unintroduced to our gardens? Looking broadly at the
question, there is as much room for collectors now—more, in
fact—than at any other time. The world of hardy flowers, now
so popular, is practically untouched, and as I have said of the
hardy fruits of northern Asia, we know practically nothing
more than the late Karl Koch has told us in his books.
I believe the appointment by the Royal Horticultural Society
of a really good collector, would be one of the most profitable
investments the Society could make at the present time. Gar-
dening is changing its ground now as it ever has done, and
people generally are opening their eyes to the fact that the
glass-house culture of a few stove plants or Orchids is a very
small part of a great question, Gardening is creeping out
into the fields, and every day the demand is greater for the
best fruits, vegetables and flowers, that will grow in the open
air,
The Sermon of the Flowers.
F there are sermons in stones, there are more and
clearer ones in the living works of nature. Just at
this time of the year, for example, there is a lesson to be
learned from the flowers which it would be well for us all
to lay to heart and consistently put in practice. This is
the lesson of free, persistent and painstaking giving.
Few persons are so parsimonious with the preducts of
their gardens that they neglect to share them with their
friends when chance suggests or some special occasion
prompts. But, even to their friends, few give as per-
sistently or as freely as they might. Oneis far too apt to
think before giving whether his flowers are “good enough,”
and whether the recipient will ‘‘care about them.” Such
thoughts are as judicious as they are natural when the
recipient is equally fortunate with the giver in the matter
of gardens and hot-houses; but itis seldom realized how
out of place they are when the friend in question can
merely look at flowers over some one else’s fence in sum-
mer and in winter must buy little bunches at big prices
from a florist. Winter or summer even the refuse flowers
of a rich man’s garden would be gladly welcomed by
more of his friends than he ventures to believe.
But it is not only to friends that nature bids us give—it is
to the stranger, the wayfarer, the beggar. Here again it
is too often doubted whether the gift would be really val-
ued. Outin the country, where nature herself gives even
to the poorest, perhaps it would not be. But in the city
flowers afe welcomed by every class as no other gift
would be. Men may not always care for them, although
almost always they do; but there will be found no excep-
tions among women and little children. Let a lady offer
the flowers from her belt to the tired shop-girl behind the
counter and she will carry about with her afterwards a
memory of brightened eyes and smiling lips which will
more than repay her for the sacrifice. Let her walk with
206
a bunch in her hands through one of the crowded streets
in a poor quarter of the town—every child will clamor for
a share of it, every forlorn and weary woman will eye it
eagerly. Or let her take it to a hospital and see what
pleasure a single blossom will give to a suffering soul.
Nature’s beautiful belief is indeed the right one—the cases
are so rare that they need not be taken into account
when a flower is not welcomed, no matter how humble
it may be and no matter how devoid of sentiment the
eye may seem to be which looks upon it. This is the
right belief, and it would be well if we should try to
express it as consistently and persistently as nature does.
As consistently and persistently, and, be it repeated, in
as painstaking a way. Not merely when she is coaxed
and flattered and things are made easy for her does nature
give her flowers, but always and everywhere, under the
most difficult conditions, with the loveliest patience and
the most touching care and pains. ‘This, to us of human-
kind, is the greatest hindrance to giving ; we do not mind
parting with our treasures, but we do mind taking the
trouble to dispose of them so that they will benefit others.
We should be glad enough if our surplus could go by it-
self to tenement-house and hospital, but we are too busy
or too careless to send it there. We would rather give
money, for money can be more easily given. But money
will not take the place of flowers, either in themselves or
in that accompanying gift which makes half the excellence
of their giving. He who gives flowers gives a bit of sen-
timent and sympathy too, and this is valued by the poor
and suffering more than all beside. The very child who
takes your blossom in the street takes it with a different
smile from the one that greets your penny, for he knows
or fancies it is given with a different thought.
In some of our large cities flower-missions have been
established with headquarters where flowers may be sent
and whence they will be distributed to those who need
them most; and such missions ought to exist in every
town, however small. But if they do not exist, a little
trouble may well be taken to supply their place by indi-
vidual effort. And we can all at least give freely as the
chance may offer—to the child who brings home a parcel
or peeps through the garden fence, to the workman plod-
ding at nig htfall past our garden to his own dreary home,
to the s shop-girl, to the poor needlewoman around the
corner, to any one and every one whose steps cross our
own. The giftcannot be too small to be worth gi iving—
the human being can hardly be too callous to appreciate
it or pass it on to some one else who will.
Some Eryngiums.
UR Eryngiums have the reputation of being a hard
genus, but since Mr. Rose and the writer Have be-
gun to study them in our work upon the North American
Umbelliferee, we discover that the difficulty is not to be
laid to the species themselves, but to the great confusion
in naming them. Perhaps this is not to be wondered at,
when one remembers the scatiered condition of our litera-
ture regarding them. In the absence of the sharp
contrasts which are brought out in a presentation of the
species all together, collectors may well have become
confused, and their errors have naturally become perpet-
uated. No genus of Umbellifers seems to have its species
more sharply defined than “Axyngium, and a few remarks
about some southern and much confused forms may be
helpful to botanists. In Plante Lindheimeriane Dr. Gray
first unravels a bad tangle of synonymy, and clearly de-
fines certain species w hich had before been perplexing,
and which have been equally confused since. On com-
mon £. Virginianum was first referred by Linnzeus to his
EL. aquaticum as a variety, but was distinguished as a
species and set up under its present name by Lamarck.
Michaux then gave to the American forms of Linnzeus’ 2.
aguaticum the name of L. yuccefolium, and referred to L.
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 27, 1888,
aquaticum another plant which Elliott afterward described
as £. Virginianum, but which was not the plant of Lamarck
bearing that name. In //. Lindh., 209, therefore, Dr.
Gray, recognizing the establishment of 2. yvucce/olum,
Michx., and £. Virginianum, Lam., gave to Michaux’s £.
aguaticum and Elliotts £. Virginianum the name £. preal-
dum, and also separated from £. JVirginianum another
species which had been confused with it, and called it &.
Ravenellt. As might be expected, £. Virginianum, E.
prealtum and E. Ravenell’ have been confused ever since.
EL. Virginianum, Lam., isa slender plant, from one to
three feet high, with lanceolate leaves, the lower on very
long fistulous petioles, bracts as long as the head, bract-
lets with three spiny cusps (the middle one largest) and
prominent, acuminate-cuspidate calyx-lobes, equalling or
exceeding the bractlets. The species occurs along the
margins of ponds and streams from New Jersey to Florida,
and thence to Texas. Mr. Canby sends forms from Del-
aware, with bracts longer than the heads, but in every
other respect they conform to this species.
LY. prealtum, Gray, is a very stout plant, from four to six
feet high, with radical leaves narrowly oblong (not unlike
those of a Rumex), often two feet or more long, including
the long petioles, bracts two or three times longer than the
head, bractlets as in the last and longer than the calyx-
lobes. It is found in tide swamps from North Carolina to
Georgia. The so-called £4. prealfum of Florida is another
species.
£.. Ravenellit, Gray, is slender, from one to three feet high,
with linear, elongated, nearly terete (conduplicate) leaves,
the lower ones twelve to eighteen inches long, bracts as
long as the heads, bractlets with three strong and equal
spiny cusps, short, mucronate calyx-lobes, and long,
rigid styles. | Formerly credited only to the wet Pine-bar-
rens of South Carolina, with Ravenel as collector, it is
now found to grow near Apalachicola, Florida, collected
by Dr Chapman. These Florida specimens Dr. Chapman
took to be L. Tirginianum, and it was from these, of course
more or less modified by published descriptions, that he
drew the characters of the £. Virginianum of his Manual.
Crawfordsville, Ind. John M., Coulter.
Trees and Shrubs for a Trying Climate.
HE word ‘‘hardy” as commonly used is a relative
term. With the prairie settlers of the north-west it
means ability to endure the summer and winter extremes
noted briefly in the article ‘‘Our Prairie Climate,” in the
issue of GarpEN AND Forest for May 30th. Some of the
essential characteristics of a truly ‘‘Iron-clad” plant here,
are these :
(1) The foliage must be as perfect as that of the Duchess
Apple, the Gakovska Pear, of Populus Dolleana, Rosa rugosa
or of our native trees and shrubs that do well under cultiva-
tion on dry upland prairie. Critical observation under the
microscope shows such leaves to be provided with extra
rows of palisade cells, anda thick epidermis more or less
protected by pubescence.
(2) The trees and plants with foliage adapted to great
extremes of atmospheric heat and moisture are also protect-
ed by special structure of the outer bark, and all the parts
of the flower are stronger; firmer and thicker, than those of
plants developed in more equable climates. We may add
that even the fruit of the true ‘‘Iron-clad” is protected by
a thick epidermis and by more or less pubescence.
(3) The ‘‘Iron-clad”” must be as fixed in its habit of
growth asa Currant bush or a Hickory. The tree or shrub
which can be lured into late growth by our warm, and
often wet, autumns, will certainly be injured by our first _
norther.
(4) Our occasional warm south winds of winter and
early spring will stimulate the tree or shrub from a climate
dissimilar to ours into a feeble movement of sap, to be,
perhaps, choked within twenty-four hours by zero weather.
Our truly hardy tree must hibernate as perfectly as the
P
June 27, 1888.]
Duchess Apple, and I am glad to state that we have
many trees and shrubs that are still better organized in
this respect.
(5) The tree or shrub that defies our winter extremes,
of from thirty to thirty-five degrees below zero, must have
its new wood—even in the intercellular spaces—so perfect-
ly stored with starch as to be incapable of being ruptured
by freezing. A careful examination of the points of
growth of the Silken-leaf Apple and of Bullock’s Pippin
will exhibit an unexpected difference in cell structure to
the amateur in such work.
This too brief outline of the essentials of our hardy
tree will naturally give the impression that our list of de-
sirable trees and shrubs for the west must be short. But
thanks to arich natural flora, and direct and indirect in-
troductions from old world climates of plants, not unlike
our own, we already have a large and varied list to select
from.
Some of the varieties and species which seem worthy
of trial over large areas of our country will be noticed
briefly in another communication.
Ames, Iowa.
J. L. Budd.
Alexander Pope and the Gardener’s Art.
N most men’s minds the name of Alexander Pope is a
synonym for artificiality in art. There is, of course,
a further kind of artificiality than Pope’s—the kind which
is not art at all. But among genuine artists in verse, he
stands as the representative of formality, selfconscious-
ness, rule and measure, of high polish, studied grace and
well-balanced, rigorously calculated charm; as the very
antithesis of all that is meant by the words natural, spon-
taneous, free and fresh. Narrowly considered as a poet
for his manner of speech, the verdict is a true one. But
there was more to Pope than this poetry, and there is
-more even in his poetry than its form. And it is a dis-
appointment to find that so acute a critic, and so sym-
pathetic a student of the eighteenth century, as Mr. Austin
Dobson, fails to make these facts as clear as they ought
to be made in his article on the poet, recently published
in Scribner's Magazine.
It is but fair to say, however, that Mr. Dobson is not
alone in his failure. So far as I have read, no biogra-
pher of Pope has recognized the service which he ren-
dered the world in a branch of art which was not his
own. None of them has explained that to this poet, whom
we call the apostle of formality, England is more indebted,
perhaps, than to any other single man, for the develop-
men of the “natural style” of gardening. Historians of
the gardener’s art have been more clear-sighted, but the
attitude of his professed biographers is typified by that
of Dyce, who says, ‘‘Though his writings exhibit inci-
dental glimpses of rural nature, he appears to have had
no passionate sense of her beauties; he had more pleas-
ure in describing those external objects which are arti-
ficial than those which are natural . . . In his
Windsor Forest, which gave him an opportunity of pre-
senting to us distinct and peculiar landscapes, his descrip-
tions of scenery are general and without individuality.”
This is one of those verdicts which are true in the letter,
but false in the impression they give. It is true that Pope's
Windsor Forest shows us no such rural pictures as a
modern writer would paint, is peopled with nymphs and
dryads, and breathes in general the pseudo-classic spirit
of the age; and it is likewise true, as Mr. Dobson says,
that it “is cold and conventional to the modern reader.”
But had Pope really ‘‘looked at nature with the unpurged
eyes of his generation ”—-Mr. Dobson’s words again—he
would hardly have written of Windsor Forest at all, and
his poem would certainly have lacked those occasional
breaths of freshness and that underlying strain of sincere
feeling for nature’s sincerest self, which even to the modern
reader (if he can read a little deeply) redeem its coldness
and artificiality of form. So, too, while it is true that
Garden and Forest.
207
Pope can ‘have had no ‘‘passionate” feeling for rural
nature, we must remember that his life, except in its
very early years, was passed in the cockneydom of
Queen Anne’s reign—in London itself, or beside the
villa~-ed Thames; and that it was a marked peculiarity
then and there to have any feeling for rural nature at all.
Again, it is true that, as a rule, he describes artificial,
not natural, scenes; but artificial is a word of wide signifi-
cance, and to accept it in this connection in its most
pronounced significance, is wholly to misconceive of Pope.
The scenes which he loved best were artificial, in the
sense of having been created or altered by art. But they
were not artificial in the sense of being formal. And this
fact marks him off distinctly from the mass of his con-
temporaries—gives him a place in history as the apostle
of a new art whose tastes and ideals were far ahead of
those of his generation. If we study the little plan of
his famous garden at Twickenham (published with Mr.
Dobson's article), we see that, although some parts are
formally designed, there are others in which a natural
looking arrangement has been made; and all the descrip-
tions of the place which have come down to us make
clear its unlikeness in this respect to the typical garden
of the time. Moreover, Pope's titles to honor, as an ad-
vocate of natural gardening, do not rest solely on his
Twickenham experiment, or on the sentiments implied in
his Windsor Forest. A paper on Verdant Sculpture, which
he published early in life in the Guardian, is known to
have worked a revolution in English practice—to have
scotched, if not instantly killed, the practice of clipping
trees into formal shapes. Kent, at first a painter, and
then the earliest of English landscape gardeners—in the
true sense of the word—was deeply influenced by Pope;
and the famous Epistle to the Earl of Burlington, Ox she
Use of Riches, might serve to-day as a text-book of aphor-
isms for the landscape gardener’s instruction. It seems
strange that Mr. Dobson did not dwell upon the passages
in this poem which refer to the gardener’s art— they
would have served him for the establishing of so pretty an
antithesis between Pope the formal poet and Pope the
advocate of informality in another art. Might one not
expect that Versailles would be his ideal, and the long
drawn aisle of verdure, the square walled pool, and the
marble terrace his synonyms for beauty out-of-doors?
No; what he says is:
To plant, to build, whatever you intend,
To rear the column, or the arch to bend,
To swell the terrace, or to sink the grot,
In all, let Nature never be forgot. 5
He gains all points who pleasingly confounds,
Surprises, varies and conceals the bounds.
Consult the genius of the place in all ;
That helps the waters or to rise or fall ;
Or helps th’ ambitious hill the heavens to scale,
Or scoops in circling theatres the vale ;
Calls in the country, catches opening glades ;
Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades ;
Now breaks, or now directs, th’ intending lines;
Paints as you plant and as you work designs.
Still follow sense, of every art the soul ;
Parts answering parts shall slide into a whole,
Spontaneous beauties all around advance,
Start e’en from difficulty, strike from chance.
And when he desires to say what should vo¢ be done,
these are his words:
His gardens next your admiration call ;
On every side you look, behold, the wall!
No pleasing intricacies intervene,
No artful wildness to perplex the scene ;
Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother,
And half the platform just reflects the other.
Thus did Pope preach of gardening, and thus, according
to his lights and opportunities, he tried to practice It.
When Mr. Dobson, in the charming poem which follows
the prose article, says of him, that “his Nature” was ‘‘a
Parterre,” the words are used in a metaphorical sense, as
illustrative of his literary style; but even thus, it hurts us a
208
little toread them. Itseemsa lapse from perfect justice
—or, should I say, from perfect taste?—to speak of par-
terres, even metaphorical, verbal parterres, in connection
with the man who did so much to free gardening from the
fetters of formality, to ‘‘call in the country,” and vary
‘«shade from shade.”
IT would not be understood as implying that Pope fought
quite alone his crusade against formality in gardening.
A hundred years before his time Bacon preached the vir-
tues of a more sympathetic treatment of nature, and
Milton sang the charms of a great natural garden. And
in his own generation, Addison fought valiantly at his
side. But it’ was only in the century of Addison and
Pope that words bore fruit in actual deeds; and it is
doubtful whether any single influence was as potent as
Pope’s in the matter. Ifwe cannot quote the last line of
his i2dsor Forest,
First in these fields I sung the sylvan strains,
and make it apply with literal truth to gardening in
England, we can say, at ea that he sang the sylvan
strain more conv incingly than had any one before him,
A date or two in conclusion may be of interest. Addi-
son's Description of a Garden in the Natural Style was
published in 1712, Pope’s Verdant Sculpfure in 1713, and
his Lpistle to Lord Burlington in 1731, while the first
professional treatise on the natural style of gardening—
Whateley’s—did not appear until 1770.
Mf, G. van Rensselaer.
A Well Planted Village Street.
T is not always that a village street makes a pleasing
picture, but the impulse of any artist who might
chance for the first time to face the leafy vista from which
our illustration (page 209) is taken would be to make a
sketch of it. And yet the elements of this picture are of
the simplest and most natural character. We can con-
ceive of a street which would be attractive on account of
the well planted and well kept lawns on either side, with
road borders straight and trim. But here the lawns form
no feature of importance, and the problem of how much
space shall be devoted to wheelway and foot-path is left
to settle itself in the most practical and natural way, as
the feet and wheels themselves may dictate. The paths
are therefore laid just where they are most convenient,
and certainly the flowing curves which mark the bound-
ary between grass and gravel are more beautiful than any
straight line could be, while they do not demand the fre-
quent labor of cutting the sod and raking over the road-
way, which ie necessary when a formal border is
neatly kept. The Dandelions in the grass bear witness
that the sieereysttian is not used to destroy all the wild
flowers, and these in their season add to the natural and
rural charm of thestreet. The brightness of a bit of sky
seen beneath the overarching limbs ‘of trees which frame it
in always adds a tone of cheerfulness to such a vista, and
the sunshine which here sifts through the foliage on either
hand forbids any thought of gloominess i in the dw ellings
which a too dense shade invariably suggests. Altogether,
this street picture has a balance and harmony “which
would not probably characterize one composed of various
border plantations made in accordance with the individual
tastes of different land-owners, and it is, therefore, pleas-
antly suggestive of a community of interest in the street
and its ‘beauty—a suggestion emphasized by the public
well which stands for neighborliness and sociability.
It would not be wise nor practicable for any other town
or village to imitate this example in detail. But no serious
offense. against the canons of good taste can be com-
mitted where a village street is so planted that it makes a
complete picture—a ‘picture as peaceful and natural as the
one here presented, and with such unity of motive that
no contradictions or incongruities are apparent.
Garden and Forest.
by
[JUNE 27, 1888, ~
Foreign Correspondence.
Notes on New Orchids.
_ OME beautiful novelties in Orchids have been shown |
during the past week or two at the Royal Horticul- |
tural Society’s exhibitions. One has excited unusual in- —
terest, being a new Cypripedium, a genus which is now so ~
fashionable. It is a very near relative of the now well- |
known C. Godefroyve, which was introduced a few years |
ago from Cochin China, and is called C. bedlatulum.* It
appears to be a free bloomer, as the plants exhibited on
Tuesday last had several spikes, although they had not
been out of the packing-case many days. Messrs. Low,
the well-known Orchid importers at Clifton, are the in-
troducers, and it is thought that they have made a hit in
importing the plant in such health. All orchidists know
and admire C. Gode/roye,and the new plant being somuch —
superior, it will, without doubt, prove popular. ;
Disa racemosa (D. secunda) was also shown for the |
first time on Tuesday. It is not a new plant to botan- |
ists, having been discovered many years ago in south |
Africa, but this is the first time it has flowered in culti- —
vation. In growth and foliage it can hardly be distin-_
guished from Lisa grandifiora—the Flower of the Gods— ~
but in flower it is very different. It has erect spikes
rising about eighteen inches high, and on the upper parts
of these are loosely arranged the flowers, each being —
about two inches across; in shape resembling those of |
D. grandifora, but in color of a deep rose-pink, or, as —
some describe it, rosy-crimson, a color pleasing to every —
one and not common among Orchids.. The plant is as —
easily grown as D. grandifora, requiring an atmosphere ~
cool and moist and partial shade. Some fine plants of it —
are now in flower in the Royal Gardens, Kew, the
plants having been collected in south Africa by the —
assistant curator, Mr. Watson, when traveling in that
region. No doubt the enterprising collectors of America —
will soon have it, as it is already in the trade.
A grand new Cattleya, a variety of C. Mendelli, was the |
admiration of all who visited the Exhibition of the Royal —
Horticultural Society in the Temple Gardens. This Cat-
tleya was called Rothschildiana, in compliment to the —
great patron of Orchids. It is impossible to describe |
the distinguishing points of the flower, but it is one of the —
largest flowered forms of C. Mendel I have ever seen, with
broader sepals and a very ample lip with a lobe almost
circular. The color, however, was its greatest charm, —
being so soft and delicate, the sepals being of one tint, the |
lip of another, and exquisitely frilled and margined with |
the deepest tint of all. It came from the St. Albans’ Orchid _
nursery,
A very remarkable Orchid shown also at the Temple —
exhibition was Zissochilus giganieus. Like other species
of Lissochilus, it is terrestrial, has long, broad, plicate |
foliage, and a flower stem towering six or eight feet in —
height, carrying numbers of large and curiously shaped |
flowers of a rosy-pink color, It is a singularly noble |
Orchid, but hardly one that everybody would care to cul- *
tivate, as such a giant takes up too much room. It was— |
in the superb collection shown by Sir Trevor Lawrence. y
In that from Baron Schroeder, who owns one of the richest
Orchid collections in Europe, were also some very choice
things. I single out afew that struck me as worthy of
note, and none more so than the snow-white rides Wil- —
hams, which some say is the albino of , Fielding? the ie
Fox-brush Orchid. Though not absolutely new, it is so |
rare that most orchidists, even old, experienced men, had~
never seen it. A new Scuficaria called Keyseriana, after sd
the Lord Mayor of London, who visited the exhibition, —
came from Messrs. Sander & Co. It has affinity with a. A
Steel, but its flowers are larger, more heavily and —
richly blotched and barred, and, altogether, it is a finer |
flower. i
*A brief description of this Orchid was given in a late number of this journal.—Ep.
June 27, 1888.]
The first Hybrid Epidendrum that is known to have
been raised and flowered under cultivation was shown by
Messrs. Veitch last Tuesday. It is named 4. O'Brienranum,
after the well-known orchidist, Mr. James O’Brien. This
is a cross between the orange-scarlet flowered Z. radicans
(also known as LZ. rhizophorum) and the pink LZ. eveclum.
The hybrid shows the features of both parents in its
flowers, both in form and color, the latter being of a
kind of magenta-purple, just the tint, in fact, you would
get by mixing vermilion-orange and crimson-lake on a
palette. This cross, though not remarkable from the
standpoint of beauty, is looked upon as important, as it
may lead to really valuable results in the large genus
Epidendrum. Two other hybrids were shown by Messrs.
Veitch, one of which was said to be a cross between
Anguloa Rucker? and A. Clowes. The flowers of the hy-
brid are like those of A. eburnea, being white, copiously
freckled with pale red. One would have thought that the
yellow of one and the blood-red of the other flower
would have produced a cross quite different from the one
Garden and Forest.
209
species, this plant (See Fig. 38, page 211), when grown,
has no produced leaves, the stem leaves being all short,
and the lowermost tipped with long, rigid, thread-like ap-
pendages which are cruelly barbed. The flower-bracts
are not conspicuous, but the flowers, which are com-
paratively large, are of a light red color, and droop grace-
fully upon the slender pedicels. ay.
Plant Notes.
Iris Korolkowi.
HIS is a beautiful new Iris, original in form and out-
_ line, showy and strange in colors. It was discov-
ered and imported from Turkestan some twelve years
ago and is one of the hardiest of its race. The flowers
appear in May, and with the type and one variety, the
ground color of falls and standards is a peculiar grayish-
white, beautifully netted with olive and coffee-brown
streaks ; in some other varieties the ground color has a
at
Main Street, Kingston, Rhode Island.—See page 208.
shown, which was named A. infermedia. Another hybrid
Orchid was a cross between Dendrobium Dalhousteanum
and D. Hutfoni. Here again the result is disappointing,
though one could trace the feature of both parents in the
flowers of the new comer, which is oppressed with the un-
pronounceable name of D. porphyrogastrum. It is obvi-
ously premature to speak of the merits of hybrid Orchids
the first season of flowering.
London, May 24th. W. Goldring.
New or Little Known Plants.
Pitcairnia Palmeri.*
HIS is one of the smallest species of the genus, and
was discovered with the one previously figured, by
Dr. E. Palmer, growing abundantly in the crevices of rocks
.in the mountains of Jalisco, Mexico. Unlike the former
*P. Patmert, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad., xxii. 456. Acaulescent, somewhat
furfuraceous throughout, the basal bracts ending in barbed, filiforin appendages ;
leaves of sterile shoots very narrowly linear, entire, sparsely villous; those of the
flowering stem bract-like and very narrowly attenuate; floral bracts, narrow,
shorter than the reflexed pedicels; petals, light red, 14s inches long, three times
longer than the narrow, acuminate sepals; stamens and style included.
flush of purple and in one variety it is deep purple; the
netting of all these is simply deeper in color. — It takes to
any soil, but prefers a loamy one. It enjoys a long, hard
winter and a bright spring. Max Leichtin,
Baden-Baden.
Calypso borealis.—The flowering season of this little Orchid
is just over, and those who have had the pleasure of seeing
it inits native habitat may consider themselves fortunate. The
peculiar shape of its flower, the variety of delicate colors—
pink, purple and white—and the single dark green leaf, make
ita favorite among lovers of wild flowers, but to fully ap-
preciate it, one must gather it in itsnatural home. It usually
grows in dark cedar swamps among the largest and oldest
Arbor Vite trees. Like Aplectrum hyemale and Tipularia
discolor, it sends up its leaf and Hower-bud in autumn, and in
spring it is ready to start into growth as soon as th
frost disappear. Its height is usually three to five inches
flowering it dies down to the bulb and remains in this
until late in autumn. The bulb is quite small and the leat
inconspicuous, that it is difficult to find the plant except when
in flower. Coming so early in the season and being such a
rare species, itis seen by only a few. In some
northern Vermont it is much more abundant than in the mid-
snow and
After
portions of
210 Garden and Forest.
dle parts, and is quite rare, if it grows at all, in the southern
part of the state. For this reason I am inclined to believe
that in eastern Canada, where the Ardor Vite attains a much
larger growth, itis quite common. It grows very abundantly
in portions of Oregon and Washington Territory.
fF. Hl. Horsford.
Pentstemon barbatus, Nutt., var. Wizlizeni, Gray.—‘‘ Next in
beauty comes the bright-fowered Pemtstemon coccineus,” con-
tinues Engelmann in his report on the collection of Wisli-
zenus; yet he could only judge of its beauty from dried speci-
mens, with colors more or less changed or dimmed in drying,
or frorn the accounts of his friend. Seen growing in its native
haunts—near streams of wooded ravines of the Cordilleras—
with slender, straight stems two or three feet high, clean, glau-
cous green leaves, and flowers in color between scarlet and
crimson, scattered on filiform pedicels, it is, indeed, a graceful
and lovely plant. In recent years Dr. Gray has referred it to
Pentstemon barbatus of Nuttall, and given it a varietal name to
commemorate its adventurous discoverer. C. G. Pringle.
Variations in Viola pedata—There is a hillside near German-
town famous for its great abundance of this beautiful flower.
When a thousand plants are in full flower, as they were, a few
weeks ago, a more charming sight could hardly be desired.
While wandering among them [ came upon four plants with
flowers white snow, a single plant with a distinct, dark eye,
several with very light blue flowers, and others of a color
almost identical with that of Houstonia caerulea.
Joseph Meehan.
Cultural Department.
Poppies.
UST now Oriental Poppies are in full bloom here and a
brilliant display they make. Last year they were in their
finest condition between May 26th and June 5th, but this sea-
son they, together with most other garden plants, are a week
to ten days later in blooming. These Oriental Poppies are
hardy, herbaceous perennials of the easiest possible cultiva-
don, and long-lived, and they spread and multiply considera-
bly from underground shoots. They are grown here in a
mass several yards square on a warm, dry, sandy bank, where
the ground, although naturally poor, is well enriched by
surface manuring; the roots can penetrate as deep as they are
inclined in the open soil—often four feet or more. Here they
flourish and bloom most plentifully. But where the ground
is better and the position more sheltered by neighboring
shrubs, the Poppies are finer and less apt to be scorched by
warm sunshine. When the plants have done blooming they
are cut over and Eschscholtsia Californica is sown among
them; thissoon covers the ground and blooms through Sep-
tember and October.
The European Corn Poppy (Papaver Rhe@as) is easily natu-
ralized on sandy banks and in bulb beds. Here they grow at
will and sow themselves. The Hyacinths, Narcissus and
Tulips come up and blossom in April and May, and _ before
they are out of bloom the Corn Poppies have covered the
ground and begin blooming about the end of May. After
their lowering season is over they are cleared away,as they
are only annual, the bulbs are lifted, the ground forked over,
and the bed planted at once with French Marigolds, Zinnias,
Gaillardias, Vincas, Pelargoniums, or some other sun-loving
plants. These are removed in October and bulbs are then
set out for spring flowering, Seeds enough have fallen from
the Poppies upon the ground for next year's crop, and they
come up all over the surface like a thick crop of weeds.
Of the large double-flowered annual Poppies known as
Ranunculus-flowered and Peonia-flowered, we have. a bed
sixteen yards by twelve yards on a warm slope. The seeds
were sown early in April, broadcast, raked in and rolled, anda
sprinkling of Eschscholtsia seed was also sown at thesame time
along the outer edge of the bed. The Eschscholtzia is now in
bloom but the Poppies will not flower till the first of July, when
they always make a gorgeous blaze. But they do not last
long—hardly three weeks. When they are done blooming the
ground is cleared and forked and Marigolds or Zinnias are
planted for autumn blooming. It is not worth while to wait
for these Poppies to sow their own seed, as it costs but a trifle
and it is better to clear off the plants before they ripen seed
than to delay the next crop.
Such beautiful Poppies as Peacock, Danebrog and Mephisto
can be raised from seeds grown in the green-house in
March, and they should be grown along in pots till the first
of May and then planted out in the garden. Treated in
[JUNE 27, 1888,
this way, the Peacock Poppies are now in bloom; the others
are not. But these may be sown out-of-doors in spring in the
same way as the Pwonia-flowered Poppy, or they may be
sown in the fall like Corn Poppies. In both cases they will
grow and bloom well. ;
In a cold-frame the beautiful Alpine Poppies (P. xudicaule)
have bloomed since April. They are hardy perennials, but
the best practice is to treat them as annuals or biennials. They
are of dwarf habit, and some are white, others bright yellow,
and others orange; and when growing near each other the
yellow and orange varieties mix together, and we often get
yellow blossoms that are striped with orange and orange blos-
soms striped with yellow. These are lovely and appropriate
plants for the rock-garden and they should be grown where
water will not lodge about them, or hot south-west sunshine
strike them in summer. If you grow them in the rockery. let
them naturalize themselves there ; this they will soon do, as they
scatter their seeds and seedlings come up all about them.
Some young plants, raised from seed sown in the green-house
last February, and planted out early in May, are now in
bloom. William Falconer.
Glen Cove, N. Y.
Bedding Plants for Spring.—The expensive fashion of ‘“bed-.
ding out” is gradually losing favor, especially in England. It
survives here perhaps because the number of plants available
for summer bedding in this country is considerable, and suc-
cess is comparatively easy. With spring bedding this is not so.
The English system has been generally followed, but the diffi-
culty here is in using the variety of plants used there. Wall-
flowers, Aubrietias and Safonaria Calabrica cannot be used at
all. Hybrid Oxlips wilt, and rapidly fade after the first
spell of warm, bright weather. Aradis albida and Myosotis
sylvatica quickly run to seed, and J/yosotis dissttiflora, which
isa perennial and not an annual, and by far the better kind,
is later in flower here because it must make new flower-
ing shoots; those formed the previous fall, and which should
flower early the next spring, being invariably lalled back to the
rootstock during winter. Perhaps seed sown or cuttings
taken in August and wintered over in a frame would give
early flowers; but I have never seen this tried, Sz/ene pen-
aula compacta does well if sown in July or August and kept
over ina protected frame; it comes in well, and is charm-
ing when planted as a groundwork for yellow Tulips. Asa
groundwork for scarlet Tulips nothing is more beautiful than
a bed of Pansies, especially since the great improvement in
the French varieties of these plants. They have also the ad-
vantage of being easily and cheaply raised.
In addition to the above named, many early flowering
American plants are useful for spring bedding. It will possi-
bly be regarded as an expensive innovation to suggest a bed
of Trillium grandifiorum, But the expense would not be
greater than the cost of many pieces of summer bedding,
while the beauty would be infinitely greater. Why not havea
bed of Viola fedata, even though the plant is common in
some localities? The Dog-tooth Violet would make a hand-
some spring bed, and could be as easily followed by summer
bedding as Tulips, though the same could not be urged in
favor of the Trillium. The beautitul varieties of Moss Pinks
(Phlox subulata) have proved admirable spring bedding plants.
The varieties best adapted to this purpose are Nivalis, white;
Atropurpurea, purple; Vivid, bright rose; and Model, light
rose. It takes considerable time to work up a stock of these,
and in order to keep their foliage green they should be
protected in winter. T. D. Hatfeld.
Wellesley, Mass.
Primula officinalis.—Several patches of the English Cowslip
are now in full bloom on a north hillside. These were plant-
ed six years ago and have had no protection whatever other
than snow. The soil is avery poor clay loam, Our winters
are very severe, the thermometer often registering more
than 20° below zero. On the same hillside, though in: better
soil, are some clumps of Scz//a nutans (Bluebells), also of 5S.
campanulata in var. These have proved to be perfectly
hardy and make quite an addition to our early summer flow-
ers. We grow a large number of these Scillas in pots for house
decoration, and now that we are sure of their being hardy, shall
plant out all our surplus corms. JWarcissus Polyanthus is
hardy here, although they do not flower well, but . oezicis,
both double and single, bloom freely, and I have never seen
better or larger flowers of the double variety, than those now
on the hillside and which have come up through the sod.
Jonquils are equally hardy and flower freely. “£7ythronium
grandifiorum albiflorum (vide p. 177) is hardy here, having
withstood several severe winters, and flowers annually. A
small bed of /ris xiphioides has wintered well without the
is
_ June 27, 1888.]
_ Spring Beauty appears above
isin bloom and full growth about the 2oth of the same month
least protection. If this should prove hardy it will be a grand
acquisition.
Kenwood, N. Y., June 6th. F. Goldring.
Spring Beauty.—This pretty little flower (Clay fonda Virginiana),
mentioned on page 177, grows abundantly in some parts of the
woods near here. The largest group occurs near the edge of
a swamp ina thick wood of Beech, Chestnut, and other trees.
The hollow of the swamp is filled with Symplocarpus fetidus,
Fig. 38.—Pitcairnia Palmeri-—See page 209.
Veratrum viride, and the like, and the moist sides with broad
stretches of Dog’s-tooth Violet and Spring Beauty. In the wet-
tish ground the tubers lie on orat the surface and are merely
_ covered with a layer of fallen forest leaves; further up on the
_ dry ground the tubers are buried in the earth from half an
_ inch to threeinches deep. From each tuber—according to its
3 size—one shoot or a bundle of shoots—each containing a pair
of opposite leaves and raceme of flowers—is produced. This
ground about the first of May,
Garden and Forest.
.and begins to: fade about the first of June.
211
? g By the middle
of June they have withered and disappeared, and without a
close search their presence would be unnoticed. They come
up, bloom and complete their growth while the woods are
moderately open—that is, before the leaves have come upon
the trees. In Central Park this plant is naturalized in the grass
under the trees ona moist bank. As a garden plant it is of
the easiest cultivation and in the rockery it survives year after
year. The wild tubers can be gathered and planted in the
garden ora stock of plants may be obtained from seed.
Glen Cove, N. Y. WF.
Orchid Notes.
Orchids in Bloom.—The collection of De Witt S. Smith, Esq.,
of Lee, Massachusetts, comprises many choice specimens of
this genus now in bloom. Conspicuous among them is a
group of Cypripediums in splendid health, their broad, stout,
green foliage, and large, well-formed blossoms, indicating in-
telligent treatment. The Cypripedium house is a span roof
structure, having a centre stage forty feet long by eight feet
wide, with side stages of the same length. Amongst the most
notable in bloom isa very distinct variety of C. Lawrenceanume,
the purple lines on the broad dorsal sepals being intermixed
with numerous small, dark purple spots. The petals stand
boldly outwards, the pouch being very narrow. A magnificent
example of C. Dayanum named Smith’s variety showed a flower
twice the size of the common C. Dayanum.
L Another remark-
able variety observed is a form of C. Godefroye, with broad,
round petals, the ground color of which is pure white and the
markings of the darkest purple. The foliage of this variety is
clear green on the under side, while in the ordinary form it is
of a dark chocolate color. C. xiveum is represented by more
than twenty plants in bloom, the stout spikes being unusually
tall, and, in many instances, twin-flowered, forming a delight-
ful contrast with its handsome mottled foliage. Mr. Norman,
the gardener here, places the plants of the latter species,
shortly before blooming, into a littke more heat, to enable the
spikes to attain a greater length, that the blossoms may be
seen to a better advantage. Specimens of C. grande, C. cilio-
flare, C. Domintt, C. Warnert, C. hirsutisstmum, are in
superb condition, together with a very fine variety of C. darda-
tum, the centre of the flower being of a blackish purple and
the petals tipped with light chocolate. C. vernixtum, C. Dau-
thiert, C. Hookere, C. concolor Regnieri, specimens ot
C. Morgane, C. cardinale, are growing rapidly here, with a
dozen plants of C. Spicerianium with fully fifty growths each.
The Cattleyas are very showy, the flowers being unusually
large and high colored. A plant of C Afossi@ bore nine flowers
on three spikes of extraordinary size, each measuring fully ten
inches across, with petals four and one-half inches wide, lip
three and one-half inches broad, and of a beautiful bright rose
color. Large specimens of C. Afendelii, C. Lawrenceana,
C. Skinneri, and a well-flowered plant of Oxcidium Fonesia-
aunt, with a branching spike, formed the most attractive group
in the Cattleya house. A fine group of Dendrobium Dearet
was also in flower, its pure white blossoms having remained
nearly three months in bloom, Several examples of Vanda
suavis were looking in excellent health, together with a quan-
tity in bloom of the Butterfly Orchid, Ozctdizm sage .
Cattleya Sanderiana.—A magnificent variety of this fine
Orchid is in bloom, with a four-flowered spike. ~The petals
measure nine and one-half inches across and are a uniform
deep rose. The lip, which is three inches across, is a
beautiful magenta purple, which is brightened by the bold,
yellow eye-like blotches characteristic of this species. This
Cattleya is one of the earliest to start into growth, and grows
very rapidly, flowering within two months from starting. It
requires heat and a liberal supply of water until the bulbs are
thoroughly matured, after which it should be taken out of the
growing house and rested in a cool airy place; otherwise it
will start a second growth which will weaken the plant. This
is asomewhat new Cattleya, native of Colombia; but this
species as well as C. Jinferialis, are only geographical forms
of C. Gigas, or, more properly, C. Warscewtczit.
Chysis Chelsonii.—This handsome Orchid is now bearing two
spikes of 28 flowers. It is ahybrid between C. /evés and C
Limminghet, in growth resembling the former, but like the
majority of artificial hybrids, it is much stronger than either of
its parents, and a very free grower. It isan Orchid that objects
to have its roots confined ina pot and should be allowed to
ramble at will. It must be kept well supplied with water,
and when forming its bulbs weak liquid manure may be given
nearly every day. It requires strong heat to form large bulbs,
212
and though it should be kept comparatively dry when at
rest, a warm house in winter suits it best.
Lelia flammea is a showy and rare hybrid raised from Z.
cinnabarina and L. Pilchert, itself a hybrid. It somewhat re-
sembles the former in growth, and the flowers are much in
the way of LZ. harpophylla. Our plants are growing freely
with the usual Cattleya treatment,
Kenwood, N. Y., June 8th. fF. Goldring.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
TiEAERANT flowered Maples are not common; for this
peculiarity, and for the great beauty of its brilliant autumn
foliage, the variety of the well known Tartarian Maple which is
found in the valley of the Amoor River in Manchuria, is well
worth general cultivation. It is the Acer Ginnala, or, as M.
Maximowicz now considers it, the Acer Tartaricumvar.Ginnala
—a small, bushy tree, attaining here a height of 15 to 29 feet,
with bright green, smooth and shining, ovate, serrate leaves,
incisely trilobed, the terminal lobe longly acuminate. The
yellow, long pediceled, small flowers are deliciously fragrant ;
they are produced in rather loose erect axillary racemes. The
Manchurian plant differs from the typical Acer Tartaricum in
its thinner and less coriaceous, narrower and more deeply lobed
leaves, in which the middle lobe is much longer and narrower.
The Manchurian Maple is a perfectly hardy, fast growing
plant, whose autumn foliage rivals the Sugar Maple in the
splendor of its orange and scarlet tints. It is very easily raised
from seed, which has been produced here in great abundance
for several years.
The English Hawthorn is not a very satisfactory tree in this
climate, where the summer sun is too hot for it, score hing the
leaves, which are preyed upon, too, by several specie es of fungus;
so that it is not unusual to see plants almost entirely destitute of
foliage by the end of August. The beauty and the abundance
of the flowers, however, “must compensate to a certain extent
for this drawback to the English Hawthorn here, and of the in-
numerable varieties known in European nurseries, none is
more vigorous or more satisfactory than a double-flowered
scarlet t variety, which originated in England not many years
ago, and which is known as Paul's Double Scarlet Thorn, The
rather small clusters of bright scarlet flowers are produced in
the greatest profusion.
The American Crab Apple, Pyrus coronaria, is less frequently
seen in gardens than the Japanese and Siberian apples. It is,
however, an ornamental tree of very considerable value and
beauty, and it has the great merit of coming into flower ten or
twelve days after all the other apples have shed their petals.
The American Crab Apple is a small bushy tree, twenty or
thirty feet high, pretty generally distributed through the
Appalachian forests from Ontario’ to Alabarna, although not
extending into New England and eastern New York. “Tt has
serrate or lobed, ovate, somewhat cordate leaves, and broad
cymes of pale pink or rose colored flowers, which are nearly
two inchesacross. The orange fruit, flushed with bright scarlet
when fully ripe, is an inch or an inch anda half in diameter; it
hangs on long slender stalks, and lilke the flowers is delicious-
ly fracr ant ; it is sometimes used for preserving. This tree
loaded with fruit in the autumn is hardly less ornamental than
at this season of the year.
The earliest of the Spindle-trees (Zuonymus) to bloom is an
east Asian species, £. a/atus, a widely distributed Japanese
and Manchurian plant, re paaricalsle for the wide, ens wings
ofits branches. Itis now covered with small yellow-green
flowers in loose, generally three-Howered cymes. The fruit
is much less conspicuous than that of many other species of
this genus, and its greatest merit is the beauty of the peculiar
rose color of its autumn foliage, quite unlike that assumed by
any American plant, or by any other Japanese plant in the col-
lection. The peculiar corky formation of the branches, which
is hardly developed at all upon one variety here, is also interest-
ing. Varieties differ very considerably, in the time of flowering,
and in the number of the flowers in their cymes, Euonymus
alatus is very hardy here, soon developing into a_ hi andsome
compact specimen four or five feet high. It is figured by
Regel in his ‘ Flora Ussuriensis,” t. 7. The prostrate form of
the Strawberry Bush (Zuonymus Americanus, var. obovatius), is
in bloom before the other American species. This is a useful
subject for the borders of shrubberies and for other positions
where it is desirable to connect the turf with higher plants, or
to plantas undergrowth under trees. It is seldom used in
gardens, however, although by no means a rare plant in much
of the regions south of New York and east of the screen ielae
River, It has long trailing branches which root freely, thin,
dull, dark green, ‘obovate leaves, erect flower-stems one or
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 27, 1888.
two feet high, small greenish purple flowers and rather con-
spicuous warty crimson fruit with a scarlet aril.
Rhamaus alnifolius is another dwarf American shrub which,
although possessing very considerable merit as an ornamental
plant, in its compact habit and handsome foliage, is rarely
foundin gardens. Itis a native of northern swamps, but takes
readily to cultivation, soon forming dense, wide-spreading
clusters of erect stems, a foot and a half or two feet high,
clothed with pale yellow-green, ovate, acute, sharply serrate
leaves, with prominent veins. The small yellow flowers and
the black fruit are not conspicuous, It is now in flower.
Pyrius (Aronia) arbutifolia, the Chokeberry, is now in flower,
and is exceedingly ornamental both in foliage and in flower,
There are two distinct forms of this plant, the var. erythro-
carpa, with narrow leaves, very woolly on the lower side, as
well as the cyme, and purple-red or scarlet fruit, which re-
mains upon the branches late into the winter; and the var.
melanocarpa, Which is nearly smooth and produces black fruit.
Pyrus arbutifolia is a common shrub throughout the eastern
part of the Continent from Newfoundland to Louisiana, with.
slender branching stems two to ten feet high, cov ered with
grayish-brown bark. The leaves are an inch or. more long,
lance-oblong, oval or obovate, tapering at the base, sharply ser-
rate, pale and often downy on the under side when young,
dark green and shining above, the mid-rib glandular along the
upper side. The handsome white flowers, often tinged with
purple, and with conspicuous purple or brown anthers, are
produced in compound downy corymbs; they are nearly an
inch across when expanded. Those in the red-fruited variety,
which is most common in the South, are cousiderably smaller
and appear here fully a week later. The fruit is a five-celled
pome, the size of a blueberry, rather dry, but sweetish to the
taste. The common northern smooth forms, with purple or
black fruit, vary considerably in the shape of the leaves and in
the size and color of the flowers. Some of these forms are ex-
ceedingly ornamental when in flower, and the variability which
this plant displays naturally, makes it not improbable that, as an
ornamental plant, it might be greatly improved through culti-
vation and selection. Tam not aware that its improvement
has ever been undertaken systematically; the field is certainly
not without promise. Some of the large flowered forms are
often found in American nurseries, grafted as standards on
tall stems of the Mountain Ash; it is, however, a tar hand-
somer plant if allowed to grow naturally on its own roots,
when it forms a tall, upright, and rather compact shrub, which
is beautiful from spring to autumn.
Of the two species of udsonia which are found in the North-
ern States, the earliest, H. exicotdes, is now in bloom. Itis a
bushy, heath-like, dw arf shrub, rarely exceeding six or eight.
inches in height, covered with slender, awl-shaped, greenish
leaves, and preducing numerous small, fugacious, showy
yellow flowers along the upper part of the branches. | This is
a very common plant along the sea coast of the New England
and Middle States, where it often covers broad stretches of
dry, sandy, barren soil, making a conspicuous and beautiful
appearance when in flower, and later in the season masses of
agreeable gray-green foliage. The Hudsonias are not easy
plants to establish in cultivation, but once established they
grow and spread, especially if they can be slightly protected in
winter, They are excellent dwart rock-garden shrubs, or they
can be used as a cz irpet about taller growing plants.
Neviusia Alabamensis is one of the rarest of North Ameri-
can shrubs, being known only in one locality—the cliffs of the
Black Warrior River, in the town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The rarity of this plant, the peculiar structure of its flowers,
and its relationship, which Professor Gray pointed out long
ago, to the eastern Asian genera, Kervia and Rhodotypos, are
sufficient to make its cultivation interesting. The clusters of
flowers, moreover, with their long white stamvens, a are very beau-
tiful, and make this plant a most desirable addition to any gar-
den. The Neviusia is a shrub four or five feet high, with
erect or spreading branches, short-petioled, membranaceous,
ovate, doubly-serrate leaves and solitary or fascicled flowers,
which are borne on long, slender peduncles from the extremi-
ties of short lateral branches. They have foliaceous calyx-lobes,
no petals, and several rows of long stamens, which make the
flowers conspicuous and showy. The Neviusia is pertectly
hardy here, and may be propagated by cuttings as readily as
any of the Spireeas. Itis figured in the sixth volume of the new
series of the Proceedings. of the American Academy of Arts
and Sctences, in which will be found a detailed account of this
plant and its botanical affinities, from the pen of Professor Gray.
Pyrus fennica, a native of the mountainous parts of central
Europe, and by some botanists considered a natural hybrid be-
tween P, intermedia and P. Aucuparia, although reproducing its
‘JUNE 27, 1888.]
characters from seed, isinbloom. It has been described under
many names, of which the most common of those still in use
are Sorbus hybrida, Azarolus pinnatifida, Sorbus fennica,
Pyrus pinnatifida and P. sorbifolia, itis sometimes known in
nurseries as Sorbus guercifolia, It is a small tree, with smooth
yellow-brown bark and erect branches, which attains, under
favorable conditions, a height of forty or fifty feet. The leaves
are four to six inches long, deeply pinnately cut or almost pin-
nate at the base, the under side as well as the peduncles and
young shoots densely hoary-tomentose. The flowers are
creamy white, half an inch across, and borne in wide branch-
ing corymbs. The pome is small, rarely more than half an
inch in diameter, and dull scarlet in color. Pyrus fennica is a
plant of very considerable ornamental value; it is very hardy,
and grows rapidly, and thus far has not been attacked here by
insects ; although, like the Mountain Ash, it will doubtless suf-
fer from borers. Specimens differ considerably in the size,
and especially in the cutting of the leaves.
Among the White Service trees (Pyrus Aria) in the Arbore-
tum by far the handsomest is one received several years ago
from the Arboretum Segrezianum, under the name of Pyrius
Decatsneana, a variety probably of the common P. Aria,
which, however, does not seem to have been described, and
which does not differ from the species except in its broader,
brighter green leaves. It has broadly ovate, doubly serrate
leaves, dark green and shining above, covered on the lower
side, as well as the petioles and peduncles, with a dense white
tomentum. The White Beam tree and its numerous varieties
are rarely seen in American gardens. Many of them are very
hardy, however, and possess, as ornamental trees, valuable
properties. They are natives of northern and central Europe,
the Himalaya and some parts of central Asia. The White
Beam is a low, round-headed tree, sometimes twenty to
thirty feet in height, and sometimes, especially in northern
Europe, alow bush. It formsa compact mass of bright green
foHage, with which the white covering of the under sides of
the leaves, when the wind stirs them, makes a pleasant con-
trast. It is handsome when covered with its scarlet fruit; and
in winter, too, when its smooth branches and large green buds
are exposed. The rather smail creamy white flowers pro-
duced in branching corymbs are not very showy. The White
Beam may be raised from seed; the fine varieties, however,
can only be perpetuated by grafting, the Mountain Ash being
often used as the stock. Like the Mountain Ash, this tree is
liable to be attacked by borers.
Symplocos paniculatus is a hardy ornamental Japanese
shrub now in flower. It has attained a height of four or five
feet. The branches are stout, erect and covered with light
brown slightly scaly bark. The young shoots are hairy pubes-
cent. The leaves are dark green, ovate acute or sometimes
slightly obovate, one or two inches long, minutely serrate,
conspicuously reticulate-veined, scabrous on the upper side,
softly pubescent below, especially along the mid-rib and _pri-
mary veins. The small white flowers, less than half an inch
across when expanded, are produced in short, loose panicles,
one or two inches long, terminal upon short lateral leafy
branches, which appear in great profusion along the
principal stems. The fruitis blue, the size of a pea. The in-
troduction of this very beautiful and interesting addition to our
list of hardy shrubs is due to the Messrs. Parsons, of Flushing,
who sent it to the Arboretum several years ago.
Among climbing plants none are hardier and few are more
vigorous here than Schizandra (Maximowiczia) Chinensis, a
member of the Magnolia Family, anda native of Manchuria,
northern China and Japan, where it is often seen in the forests
climbing over trees to a height of twenty or thirty feet. The
long flexuous branches are covered with red warty bark. The
leaves are two or three inches long, obovate or obovate-ellip-
tical, sharply acuminate, serrate, and slightly pubescent on the
under side along the principal veins. The flowers are pro-
duced in few flowered axillary fascicles which are completely
hidden by the leaves. They are long peduncled, drooping,
three-quarters of an inch in diameter, pale rose-colored and
deliciously fragrant, and are followed by scarlet baccate fruits,
an inch in diameter, and which remain a long time upon the
plant. This is a very hardy and fast growing vine, which
might be cultivated much more frequently than it is in this
country.
Cytisus biflorus, a native of Hungary, is a very hardy shrub
here, two to three feet high, with rigid, stout branches, and one
of the showiest species of the whole genus, which can be
grown in this climate without protection. It has oblong
bright yellow parallelly paired flowers an inch and a quarter
long, and longer than the small ternate silky leaves. Cydtsis
Durpurews, a native of the central European mountain ranges,
Garden and Forest.
212
is a very hardy and desirable dwarf shrub in this climate. It
has procumbent, twiggy stems, solitary axillary, handsome pur-
ple flowers, and small, smooth leaves with oblong leaflets. It
is sometimes grafted as a standard upon tall stems of the La-
burnum, but in this climate it is more successful when grown
upon its own roots. ‘
The common Broom of Europe (Cytisus scoparius), a tall
shrub, five to ten feet high, with small trifoliate leaves and
handsome, solitary, axillary yellow. flowers, produced in the
greatest profusion during several weeks, is unfortunately not
quite hardy, but with a slight covering in winter blooms pro-
fusely. This is one of the best known and most beautiful of
European shrubs. Cytsus albus, the beautiful white Spanish
Broom, requires also some protection here in winter. It has
tall flexuous branches, just now covered with racemed fascicles
of pure white flowers, and small silky trifoliate leaves. Like the
last, it is well worth the trouble of the slight winter protection
necessary to insure its profuse flowers.
The double-flowered form of Wistarta Chinensis, in which
the stamens are all developed into petals, is rarely seen in
flower here. It is one of the plants sent to this country
from Japan by Mr. F. Gordon Dexter twenty-five years ago,
and afterwards propagated and distributed by Mr. Francis
Parkman. Itis now in flower probably for the second or
third time only in the neighborhood of Boston. The flowers
have little beauty in themselves, and as the plant is such a
very shy bloomer, its cultivation cannot be recommended.
Tune 8th. ifs
The Forest.
Dispersion of Seeds and Plants.
OME time ago Mr. D. Morris, in a contribution to
Nature, cited numerous instances in which birds
had taken an active part in the distribution of seeds and
plants. Birds, it is true, from their greater adaptability to
rapid and extensive locomotion, are more concerned in
this work than other animals, but they are, by no means,
alone in scattering seeds. In Nature for March 15th Mr.
Morris contributes further notes upon this subject, from
which we quote:
“It may seem strange, at first Sight, to assert that cattle have
been the means of distributing the seeds of certain plants from
one country to another, but a statement is made by Griesbach*
respecting Pithecolobium Saman (N.O. Leguminose), a large
tree native of Tropical America, now naturalized in Jamaica,
that the ‘seeds were formerly brought over from the continent
[of America] by cattle.’ This statement has been carefully
examined and it is fully borne out by facts. Formerly, Jamaica,
like Trinidad at present,was dependent for cattle on Venezuela.
The food of the animals during their voyage consisted, amongst
other things, of the pulpy legumes of Pithecolobium Saman. The
seeds being very hard were uninjured by the process of mastica-
tion and digestion, and they were dejected by the animals in the
pastures, where they germinated and grew up into large trees.
In this instance the seeds were carried across the sea a dis-
tance of about a thousand miles, and there is no doubt that the
cattle were directly concerned in their introduction. Indeed,
without them the seeds, even if accidentally introduced
amongst the fodder, would not have been placed under such
circumstances as would have enabled them to give rise to
plants. In the first place, by being passed through the animals
the seeds were softened and the period of germination has-
tened. Inthe second place, being embedded in the droppings
of the animals the seeds had a suitable medium to protect and
promote germination; and this medium enabled the young
plants to withstand the season of drought which is incidental
to almost every tropical country. In this instance we have
cattle not only the means of introducing the seeds of a valua-
ble tree, but also involuntarily instrumental in establishing
the tree ina new country, and providing shelter, shade and
food for their progeny. Those acquainted with the guango
or rain tree, as this Pithecolobium is locally called, will fully
realize its value as a shade and food tree for cattle, and they
will also appreciate the singular concourse of circumstances
by means of which such a tree was introduced to a new country
by the very animals which required it most. ;
“Tt is possible there may be some one whowill doubt the
possibility of seeds retaining the power of germination after
undergoing the processes of mastication and digestion, and
especially in the special case of ruminating animals. There
*«Flora, British West India Islands,” p. 225.
214
is, however, very clear evidence on the subject. It is a com-
mon occurrence in India to utilize the services of goats to
hasten the germination of the seeds of the common Acacia
arabica, known as the Babul. This tree belongs to the same
natural order as the /ithecolobium, and grows in the poorest
and driest soils of India. The Babul seeds will not germinate
readily in the hot weather, and it is the regular habit, in order
to save a season, fora person desirous of a crop of seedlings
to make a bargain with a herdsman or a neighbor who pos-
sessesa flock of goats to quarter them for some days ina small
inclosure in which they are fed on Babul leaves and pods.
The droppings of the animals contain a certain number of
seeds which are uninjured, and these now readily germinate,
and give rise to plants the same season, Iam informed by
Dr. Watt that in India ‘several other plants are treated in the
same way.’ The seeds of the several species of cultivated
Guava are hard and do not easily germinate. These, how-
ever, are said to germinate more freely and readily w hen they
are picked up in night soil.
“While on this subject I would mention that when at St.
Helena in 1883 I expressed some surprise that no attempt was
made to utilize ‘urban’ manure in the neighborhood of
Jamestown, when the land was so impoverished and yielded
such poor crops. Iwas met by the fact that if such manure
was largely used the land would become over-run with plants
of the Prickly Pear, Opuntia Ficus-indica, the fruit of which
is largely consume d by the inhabitants. There is little doubt
that the seeds of this plant, like those of the Guava, and I sus-
pect also species of Passiflora, which are sw allowed whole,
are capable of germination after they have passed through the
human body. Another instance occurs to me where the use
of manure has been the means of distributing an undesirable
plant on cultivated lands. In many tropical countries a grass
known as Para, Mauritius, or Scotch Grass, and sometimes as
Water Grass (Panicum barbinode), has been introduced from
Brazil, and highly esteemed for its rapid growth and nourish-
ing properties, It grows well in moist situations on the banks
of stre ams, and even in soils so swampy as to be suitable for
nothing else. In such situations it spreads rapidly and yields
abundant food forcattleand horses. Nothing, however, could
be worse ae this grass for cultivated areas, where the land is
required to be kept free from weeds, and where crops of
Sugar-cane, Coffee, Tea and Cacao are raised. It has been
found that where animals are fed on this grass the joints, even
after passing through the animals, have been known to grow.
Hence the manure, if freshly us d, has been the means ‘of es-
tablishing the plant over wide areas.”
Mr. Morris then cites the Cardoon and common Stork’s-
bill (Zrodium cicufarium) as plants which have spread over
wide acres in South America through the instrumentality
of cattle. In the latter instance the seeds become at-
tached to the legs and bodies of the animals by means of
their bearded carpels, and in this way they are carried over
wide areas.
He then continues :
“Tn the Island of Jamaica we have a remarkable instance of
the naturalization and wide distribution of an introduced plant
in the case of the Indian Mango. In an official report, pub-
lished in 1885, I stated that to the Mango, possibly more than
any tree in the island, is due the re foresting of the denuded
areas in the lower hills; and as in consequence of the changes
taking place in the climate members of the indigenous flora
are unable to maintain their ground, it is fortunate the island
possesses, in a vigorous and hardy exotic like the Mango, the
means of counteracting the baneful effects of deforestation.
It specially affects land “thrown out of cultivation, and the sides
of roads and streams where its seeds are cast aside by man
and animals. It practically reclothes the hills and lower
slopes with forest, and it enables the land to recuperate its
powers under its abundant shade-giving foliage.* It is strange
that in Ceylon, which is so much nearer the ‘home of the spe-
cies, the Mango does not spread by self-sown seedlings. We
cannot say why such anomalies exist. They do exist, how-
ever, and offer problems which can only be solved by a closer
study of the conditions of plant life, and the interdepend-
ence of plants and animals acting and reacting one upon the
other.
“The Orange tree was introduced to Jamaica more than a
hundred years ago. It is now found practically wild over the
settled parts of the island, and the fruit is exported to the value
of nearly £50,000 per annum. Up to quite recently very few
* Annual 1] Reéport, Public Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica, for the Year 1884,
Pe 45-
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 27, 1888.
trees were planted. Nearly the whole were sown by the
agency of frugivorous birds, who carried the seeds from place
to place and ‘dropped them in native gardens, Coffee planta-
tions, Sugar estates and Grass lands. In such localities the
Orange trees grew and flourished, and now a demand has
arisen for the fruit in the United States an important industry
has been established, the active agents in which have been
birds. The agency of birds in the distribution of the seeds of
plants is too large a subject to be discussed at length here. A
valuable contribution of facts in this direction has lately been
made by Dr. Guppy in his important work on the Solomon
Islands. As the most recent addition to our knowledge of
what takes place in oceanic islands at the present time, it de-
serves careful attention. It will suffice only to quote one or
two sentences: ‘ Whilst through the agency of the winds and
currents the waves have stocked the islet with its marginal
vegetation, the fruit pigeons have been unconsciously stock-
ing its interior with huge trees, that have sprung from the
fruits and seeds they have transported in their crops from the
neighboring coasts and islets. The soft and often fleshy fruits
on which the fruit elas subsist belong to numerous species
of trees. Some of them areas large even asa hen’ S egg, as
in the case of those of the species of Canarium (‘‘Ka-i”), which
have a pulpy exterior that is alone digested and retained by
the pigeon. Amongst other fruits and trees on which ineee
pigeons subsist, and which they must transport from one
locality to another, are those of a species of LE/@ocarpus
(‘toa’), a species of Laurel (Litsea),a Nutmeg (AQristica), an
Achras, one or more ee of Areca (Palm), and probably a
species (of another Palm) Aezéia,’”
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Referring to the notes on Ficus aurea, published in
your issue of May gth, it may be interesting to record the fact
that to my personal knowledge this tree is” quite common on
most of the islands, and that it is occasionally found on the
mainland of the west coast of Florida, as far north as Tampa
Bay. A specimen, almost equal in size to the famous Key
West tree, stands on Sneade’s Island, at the mouth of the Man-
atee River, and there is another on the opposite point (Shaw's
Point) almost as large, while specimens with an entire stem-
diameter of from two to four feet are not uncommon. It is
quite plentifully found on Terra Ceia Island in Tampa Bay, on
Anna Maria, Long, Sara Sota, and Casey's Keys, and I remember
having seen it often on the Charlotte Harbor.keys, the Chock-
aliska Islands, etc.
Some of the Florida nurserymen have been propagating and
selling the plants for the past four years. A quicker and easier
method of propagation than from seed, is from cuttings.
During the rainy season of our Florida summer, every cutting
strikes readily without artificial heat, in one or two weeks.
An advantage of Ficus aurea when used as.a decorative plant,
is that it is not such a slow grower as Ficus elastica.
The fact that this tree has not been reported before from the
west coast is an indication of the botanical exploration still
needed in Florida. The impression seems to prevail that
the west coast of Florida is uninteresting, and certainly its
plants are very imperfectly known. In Chapman's “ Flora of
the Southern States,” for instance, three of our most. con-
spicuous species of native Cactus are not mentioned : Cereus
variabilis, found all along the west coast from Punta Rassa
southward, in dense masses and almost impenetrable jungles,
the terrorof the settler who tries to plant a tomato patch on
new ground; it is also found on the east coast, I cannot say
how far north. Another Cereus, thought by some to be C
colubrinus, but which seems to me to be entirely different,
and which is found quite frequently along the coast from
Tampa Bay, as far, at least, as to Key Largo; and Opuntia
Tuna, with which our whole coast and ranges of keys fairly
bristle ; Indian Key especially presents a chevaux de Srise of
this plant which is appalling.
Among our native species of epiphytal Orchids, -Azden-
drum rigidum and E. bidentatum have only been recently
known to botanists. Cyrtopodium punctatum has been found
at Caximbas and at Chockaliska on the west coast, as well as at
Miami.
Manatee, Fla., May erst, 1888. P.W. Reasoner.
[These new stations for Florida plants are interest-
ing, especially as indicating how much _ field-work
must still be done before the plants of the Florida
peninsula and their distribution are thoroughly knowm
Botanizing in southern Florida has always been and
June 27, 1888.]
is still attended with great expense and many serious
discomforts. Every year, however, adds new species
to the Florida flora, and new facts relating to the range
of Florida plants, especially of those of West Indian
origin. Our correspondent can render a real service
to American botany by carefully exploring the west
coast from Cedar Keys to Caximbas Bay, which, as he
suggests, is, so far as the plants are concerned, the least
known part of Florida. This is now one of the best botani-
cal fields in the country in the prospect it offers for new
species, or species new to the United States.—Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Many years ago a nurseryman in Nebraska had_ his
stock devoured by grasshoppers and failed to pay us. Two
years ago last autumn he wrote us that he had a very large
stock of Green Ash seedlings that were very fine, and that he
would load a car with 250,000 of them in exchange for his
note that we had held for over ten years.
The trees were dug early in November, 1885; they were
longer than usual in transit. Our books show that we paid the
freight November 28th, but as our freight bills are not paid
until the latter part of each month, this does not establish the
exact date when the plants were received.
Mr. Geo. Ellwanger called on us in June, 1886, and was sur-
prised to see nearly 100,000 of these trees piled up in bundles
of 200 trees each, covering a space about eight feet long,
six feet wide and about three feet deep in one corner of our
trost-proof packing shed. We sent Mr. Ellwanger a bundle
from the same lot of trees in the spring of 1887, after they
had lain another year undisturbed. This wasa greater sur-
prise than ever, and to surprise him even more than last
year, we send him another bundle to-day by mail from the
same pile, thirty-one months from the time the plants were
dug. No earth or other material has touched them during
these thirty-one months, except the earth floor and a quantity
of forest tree leaves laid over them when they were placed
in the packing house in November, 1885.
We send you also a package from the same lot. The wide
doors have been left open this cold, backward spring, and I
see the buds have started. I have had the doors closed and
directed our packer to send you a package from the same pile
next May. Robert Douglas.
Waukegan, III.
[The plants have been received from Mr. Douglas. They
are in excellent condition ; the wood is perfectly fresh and
healthy, and the buds are all alive. We do not recalla
case of arrested vitality prolonged during so many months.
—Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—When we consider the large number of horticultural
magazines, seedsmen’s catalogues and other sources of horti-
cultural knowledge, it is difficult to account for the popular
misinformation concerning the names of plants, the manner
of their propagation and reproduction, their habits and their
uses. This ignorance is not by any means confined to the il-
literate. Cultivated people in city and country seem ready to
believe any absurdity relating to plants, and to accept any
name that is given them, as genuine. More surprising still, we
find the daily newspapers circulating the most absurd state-
“ments, as, for example, we are told in a certain Boston daily
that ‘a horticultural novelty is a Peony which has caught the
hue, shape and perfume from a Rose which overshadows it.”
A leading New York newspaper gravely gives its readers the
following information relative to floral fashions: ‘Pink and
yellow are the favorite colors this season, the Bowarria or Paris
pink being especially popular.” The following item has been
going the rounds of about all the papers in the country:
“Seedless raisins are obtained by burying the end of the vine
in the ground when the Grape is half ripe. This prevents the
formation of seed and the full development of the fruit, but it
ripens all the same, and has a delicious flavor.”
Such nonsense would be laughable if it were not disgraceful.
In no other department of a daily newspaper would such
ridiculous blundering be tolerated. Each paper has its musical
critic who can pick oratorios and operettas to pieces without a
slip of the pen. Articles are written on fashions in dress,
where the reporter trips through Youghal lace, guipure and
appliqué without ever a misstep. The papers would not dare
to’ publish under these heads any such stuff as they do regard-
ing horticultural and floral matters.
Garden and Forest.
B15
It would seem that the horticultural and floral interests in
this country are large enough now to insist upon greater accu-
racy when matters of interest to them are reported. There is
no good reason why information of this kind should not be as
carefully prepared as that relating to dress, music, the drama,
or any other department of society news.
If the horticultural press would treat these misstatements
and blunders with the prompt ridicule which they deserve, I
believe that a much needed reform would soon be effected.
Boston. William F. Stewart.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir..—If your correspondent who recently wrote of the Norway
Spruces in the Central Parla would visitGreenwood Cemetery [|
think he would find new occasion for complaint. All through
the cemetery half-dead Spruces injure that effect of successful
care and vigorous life which, without them, would be so satis-
factory. And it they seem obtrusive in the park, even apart
from their unhealthy condition, such is still more the case in
the cemetery, where they have been planted in the most inap-
propriate and inartistic way among groups of fine old native
trees. Yet they look worse, perhaps, along the approach to
the main entrance. Here a long row to the right of the road
lift their thin, spindling, black and decaying forms close in
front of some flourishing Silver Maples. As the Maples are
there, the Spruces are unnecessary. They are already injuring
the growth of the Maples, and the dreariness which they give
to the scene is anything but desirable in a cemetery approach.
Brooklyn, June rst, Lot-Owner.
Periodical Literature.
The Book Buyer for June opens withan article by Miss Edith
Thomas called “Pleasant Ways Through Wood and Field,”
which is worthy of its attractive title. It is a good example of
those little ‘‘ prose poems” with Nature for their subject, to
the growing multiplicity of which we have already referred as
among the happiest signs that the American people is redeem-
ing itself from the old reproach of being a people without true
sentiment, keen appreciation of beauty, or delight in the
“unimproved” works of God.
Lippincott’s Magazine for May contains a pleasant anony-
mous article entitled ‘“Among My Weeds,” in which the
author tells how she turned a “barren bit of eartn on the top
of Meridian Hill, near Washington, into a delightful spot, simply
by helping Nature to do the work in her own way. The
existing ‘crop of stones” was removed from the surface and
piled into heaps and a crop of ruddy Sorrel immediately ap-
peared. Then Raspberry bushes were encouraged to grow
along the fences and around the heaps of stones. | Wild flow-
ers sprang up and a very little attention brought them to
beautiful development. Mullein-stalks grew twelve feet tall
and showed unsuspected charms of line and color, and ‘ decent
treatment”? made of a Pokeberry a bush ten feet in height,
“Jaden with berries that would make at least a barrel of blood-
redink.” The writer tells with pardonable pride of the way in
which passers-by stopped to admire her ‘weed garden,” and
her charming account of it should give comfort and inspira-
tion to those who think they must hire a gardener and exhaust
a florist’s catalogue if the surroundings of even the simplest
country home are to be redeemed from barren nudity. As
she truly says, the weeds of one country are often florists’
favorites in another; and the lesson of her article will be re-
inforced if the American reader will glance through the pages
of those English trade catalogues where so many of our
despised roadside and pondside weeds are recommended as
both easy to grow and very beautiful when grown with a little
care,
Notes from the Paris Horticultural Exhibition.
Or of the striking features of the excellent exhibition this
year was the tuberous Begonias. M. Robert, of Vésinet,
had a wonderful collection of these plants, which have re-
ceived so much attention in France. The flowers, both single
and double, were very large, and the colors were superb,
ranging through every shade of red, pink, orange and yellow,
as well as the purest white. A group of eleven hybrids of
Begonia Rex and B. Diadema demonstrated in a remarka-
ble way the possibilities with these plants. The collection
of Roses. was large, embracing about three thousand plants.
Among the Tea Roses, Charles Lévéque, Sunset and Mar-
quise de Viviens attracted the most attention, while Cap-
tain Christy, among the hybrids led off, with Madame de
216
Watteville, Comte de Paris, Gloire de Margottin, American
Beauty, Victor Hugo, Duke of Edinburgh, and others follow-
ing hard after. In the Polyantha Roses, Ma Paquerette and
‘Mignonette were very best. A curious orange-yellow single
Rose, Ma Capucine, was among the conspicuous favorites.
The best collection of Orchids was shown by Messrs. Sander
& Co,, of St. Albans, England, and it won the Grand Prix
@'Honneur, offered by the President of the Republic, for the
finest exhibit. .
An excellent collection of Clematis was sent by M. Cristen,
of Versailles, of which the following were the best: Paul
Avenal, Eugéne Delattre and Lady Caroline Nevill, of the pur-
ple sorts, and Marie Boisselot and Miss Bateman among the
white ones
The Rhododendrons were in great variety and well grown,
while the Azaleas, both 4. mollis and Ghent varieties, were
superb. A collection of Kalmias was only fair. Not as much
is made of this plant in France as should be. Especially
good were a group of double Petunias, one of Ericas, one
of Maidenhair Ferns (Adzantum), to which should be added
an interesting collection of ‘Carnivorous Plants” from
Messrs. Veitch, of London.
The cut flowers and fruits, with very few exceptions, were
not remarkable; but the show of vegetables was excellent,
especially the different salad plants and the Asparagus. An
odd feature was a quantity of Mushrooms actually growing.
Paris, May 28th, 1888, Ts Ds
Notes.
According to the Woman's Fournal, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe
was recently presented in Ventura, California, with a Lily stem
which bore 134 blossoms,
Dr. M. T. Masters, editor of the Gardeners’ Chronicle, has
been elected a corresponding member of the Institute of
France (section of botany) in place of the late Asa Gray.
At the recent meeting of the Association of American Nur-
serymen, at Detroit, Mr. George A. Sweet, of Dansville, N. Y.,
was elected President, and Mr. Charles A. Green, ot Rochester,
Secretary of the Association for the current year.
The Bulletin of the Société @’Acclimatation in Paris men-
tions the fact that a large consignment of Oranges from Aus-
tralia recently arrived in London in good condition. As the sea-
sons are reversed in the Southern ‘Hemisphere, Oranges there
produced may supply the European market when the crops
of Spain and Algeria have been exhausted, and it is asserted
that if packed in sawdust, or enveloped in paper impregnated
with an antiseptic preparation, they may be almost indefinitely
preserved.
The wife of Monsieur de Nadaillac, a famous French Orchid
collector, was a very skillful painter of flowers, and four large
volumes, containing water-color pictures from her brush, rep-
resenting more than 300 species or varieties of Orchids, has
recently “been presented by Monsieur Delessert to the library
of the Museum of Natural History in Paris.
The Revue Horticole recently noted the extent to which fruits
and vegetables are now being exported from America, and
gave as one reason why they can be sold at sufficiently low
prices the fact that their cultivation is greatly specialized. In
illustration a Celery farm at Kalamazoo, Mich., is cited which
covers 2,000 acres of ground, produces each ‘day, during the
season of six months, nearly fifty tons of Celery, employs
1,800 workmen, and directly or indirectly supports some 3,500
persons.
The following uncredited item is going the rounds of the
horticultural press :
At a recent horticultural meeting flowers were exhibited
in a glass filled with water and fitted with a wide and flat
stopper. To the stopper the flowers were attached and then
carefully introduced into the water in the globe, the stopper
completely filling the mouth of the globe and being wide
enough to stand safely. By turning the “whole arr angement so
that it stood on the stopper, the flowers were left completely
surrounded by water. The water magnified the flowers and
a pleasing optical illusion is the result, Flowers thus im-
mersed will keep twice as long as those in the air.
A German resident of Barcelona recently published the fact
that severe attacks of influenza—exactly like those which we
call in this country ‘‘rose”’ or ‘hay colds ’—have afflicted the
Garden and Forest.
[JUNE 27, 1888.
members of his family year by year in spring, and that he has
at last traced them with certainty to pollen dust from the Plane
trees which surround his home. A German scientific journal
thereupon declares that the evil influence of Plane tree pollen
upon the stomach, throat, eyes and ears was a well known
fact in antiquity, both Dioskorides and Galen having called
attention to it. That German scientific men will acknowledge
that an influenza may be produced by pollen dust of any kind
will surprise many American travelers; for many must remem-
ber their experience with German physicians, who have laughed
the idea to scorn, refusing to believe in the periodicity of the
attacks from which their foreign patients suffer, or in the po-
tency of the cause to which those patients attribute them.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, Fume 22d.
Business has quieted down among our florists, but it is not yet at the
usual summer ebb. The demand from suburban districts is just be-
ginning, for some resorts have opened, and many cottagers are giving
lawn parties. Hybrid Roses are all out-door grown, and show general
imperfections in flower and foliage. Ame rican Beauties are by far
the best. A few Baroness Rothschilds come in good shape, but are
small. The rangein price of hybrids is a long one, as they cost from
15 cts. to 50 cts. each, Selected ones hold at $6.00 a dozen. Marechal
Neils, Brides and Mermets bring $1.50 a dozen. The latter are small
and pale. Perles, Niphetos and. Souvenir d’un Ami are $1.00 a dozen.
Gen. Jacqueminot Roses are decidedly poor and are $1.00a dozen. Fine
La France Roses bring $3.00 adozen. Peeonies cost 15 cts. each. White
ones are in good demand. Gladioluses are $1.50 a dozen spikes.
Callas are scarce and cost $3.00 a dozen, the same as Lilium longiflorum.
Fancy Carnations with long stems cost 50cts. a dozen. Garfields and
Heintz’s White sell for 35 cts. a dozen. Mignonette costs 50 cts. a
dozen, and Lily-of-the-Valley 75 cts. Field Daisies are 25 cts. and
Pansies 35 cts. adozen. Sweet Pea blossoms cost 35 cts. a dozen.
These with Moss Roses, which are down to $2.00 a dozen, are the
choicest flowers in stock. Sweet Alyssum, finely grown, is sold for
35 cts. a dozen sprigs. Smilax, which loaks thin and sickly, is 30 cts. a
string, There is some demand for Rose Geranium foliage, which is
sold for 25 cts, a bunch,
PHILADELPHIA, June 22d.
Trade is now very dull. What flowers are sold are disposed of in
the morning. First-class flowers are very scarce. The hot, dry
weather is very severe on them, both under glass and out-of-doors.
Stephanotis is quite plentiful, but is used only in designs, or as bouton-
nieres, for which latter purpose they sell at from 15 cts. to 25 cts. per
spray. Out-door Roses are nearly over. American Beauty, grown
under glass, sells at $3 per dozen; La France, Mermets and Brides,
$1.50; Perles, Sunsets, Niphetos, Mad. Cuisin and Bennetts, $1. Water
Lilies are 10 cts. per bunch of three flowers. Sweet Peas, Corn-flowers,
Nigella (Love-in-a-Mist), and Forget-me-not, 25 cts per dozen. Paea-
nies cost from 10 cts. to 25 cts. each. Carnations, Crimson King,
Buttercup, Grace Wilder and the scarlet varieties, are 25 cts. per
dozen. Gardenias are 25 cts. per flower. Field Daisies, 25 cts. per
dozen, Single Dahlias, $1 per dozen. Lz/izm Candidum, $1.50 per
dozen. Gladiolus, 15 to 20 cts. per spike. Smilax, 50 cts. per string.
Asparagus, 75 cts. Adiantum fronds, 35 cts. perdoz. Candytuft and
the double white Feverfew (Pyrethrum) is largely used in set pieces;
so also is Spireea and the white Snowball; these are rarely sold alone.
Boston, Fune 22d.
Out-door Jacqueminots are coming in freely, and are unusually full
and good, with bright, clean foliage. They cost $1.00 and $1.50 per
dozen. Hybrids are not in yet, but a few warm days will bring them
on in full blast. White Roses are very scarce and have been in great
demand for weddings. Cooks and Brides are worth $2.00 to $3.00
per dozen, and good ones are hard to find. Good Niphetos are also
scarce, at $1.00 per dozen. The annual school and seminary gradua-
tions always make June a busy month for the florists, as the custom
of sending basketsand bouquets of flowers to the graduates has be-
come very general. Mermets, Bon Silenes, La France and other pink
Roses are very abundant and are worth 75 cts. to $1.00 per doz.
low Roses, such as Perle and Marechal Neil, are notso plentiful, costing
from $1.00 to $1.50 per dozen. Carnations are greatly overstocked and
can be boughtin any and all colors for 25 cts. perdozen. Pzeonies, Irises, ©
Syringas and other out-door hardy flowers help to make the florists’
windows attractive. Among the prettiest blossoms now seen are the
bright yellow Coreopsis blooms. These bring 50 cts. per dozen. The
first lot of pink Pond Lilies has just come, and these can be had con-
tinuously for the next two months; $3.00 per dozen is the ruling price.
Lily-of-the-Valley of the best quality i is $1.50 per dozen. Some of the
florists are making a specialty of the Sprays of Allemanda with its —
bright yellow flowers, and Bougainvillea with bright pink clusters.
These vines make beautiful table decorations. They are worth $5.00
per dozen sprays. Cattleyas cost $1.00 per flower. These are about
all the really choice varieties offered. Mignonette, Marguerites,
Stocks, Pansies, etc,, are of poor quality and cheap.
Ce he eT a ee eee Poe ee
Vel
;
Aa ia
a eee ete ae
JuLy 4, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY LY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrrFice: TripnunE Buitpinc, New York.
e
Conducted by . . . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
EpiroriaL ARTICLES :—Prospect Park—The Artistic Aspect of Trees. I:
RV OMATiseN OLGe mervareialate ctele niciavateisin oit/a.staie't¢-are% sions aS steisiap¥ ina 6.5.0/010.28 sleiiieaisiate's 217
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter. .....-.2...-2--:0eses 0% WW. Goldring. 219
The New York Flower Mission, .......6....secesese0 Mrs. F, A. Benson. 220
Piant Norges :—Notes Upon Lilacs (with illustration)..................- Ge S:35. 220
A Tropical Garden (with illustration)
Tue Foresr :—The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico. V....... C. G. Pringle. 226
CORRESPONDENCE
Recent PLanT PorTRAITS.........+ a0
IN ORES peed ?ais,:cisiseisiaisie cise v\eietern.c,c's.no sista :
Rerait Flower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston................-. 228
ILLustrations :—Syringa oblata, Fig. 39
A Tropical Garden
Prospect Park.
ROSPECT PARK, in the City of Brooklyn, is one of
the great artistic creations of modern times. It 1s the
best expression of the creative powers of masters in the
art of landscape-making, who, more fortunate here than
elsewhere in features of natural beauty, and especially in
a native growth of majestic trees, were able to produce
an urban park unsurpassed in any part of the world in
the breadth and repose of its rural beauty.
The condition of this great work of art, which, under
the most favorable circumstances, could not attain its
full beauty and usefulness for another century at least,
is, in some respects, deplorable; and if we can judge
by the contents of the twenty-seventh report of the Brook-
lyn Park Department, the ideas held by the Board of Park
Commissioners with regard to the responsibilities of their
office, are not calculated to inspire confidence in its future.
The plantations in many parts of the park, were made
with a view to results that could only be obtained by a
gradual and discriminating thinning-out of many trees and
‘shrubs originally planted thickly. This has for years been
shamefully neglected. The Commissioners have at last
been impressed, however, by the immediate results of this
neglect, and have determined to make up for the neglect
of their predecessors. Their report gives no sign, how-
ever, that they have proceeded with any understanding
of the original motives of the plantations, that they have
desired to understand them, or have given them any con-
sideration. All they say of their doings, at least, indicates
the contrary.
Let us consider what they are likely to accomplish. An
urban park is useful in proportion as it is rural. The real,
the only reason why a great park should be made, is to
bring the country into the town, and make it possible for
the inhabitants of crowded cities to enjoy the calm and
testfulness which only a rural landscape and rural sur-
roundings can give. This is why a large park is better
than many smaller ones, and why all other objects must,
Garden and Forest.
2n7
in a great park, be subordinated to the one central, con-
trolling idea of rural repose, which space alone can give.
A park is useful as a playground, or as a breathing space
in a city, or as a picnic ground; it may be made interest-
ing by the plants which it contains, or by the equipages
which throng its drives; but its real object, its highest
claim, to take rank among the best productions of modern
civilization, is found in the rest of spirit it can bring to the
souls of the weary dwellers in cities. It was with this
feeling and with this understanding of what a park should
be, that Prospect Park was designed and executed, and
anything which is done to lessen its usefulness in this di-
rection is a calamity which persons who only look upon a
park as a good place in which to play ball, or drive a fast
horse, do not readily appreciate.
To the expression of rural repose in a park, three things
are supremely necessary ; first, a considerable extent of
actual space of natural landscape; second, indefiniteness or
mystery of the outlines of the actual landscape space,
obtained by curtaining off with natural bodies of foliage
such outside objects as the eye would otherwise rest upon;
third, by subordinating necessary artificial objects within
the park so far as practicable to its natural elements.
The easiest way to destroy the rural character of a park
and limit its apparent extent is to open its borders so
that outside objects can be seen from within. ‘There is
danger that the Prospect Park Commissioners, in their
unadvised cutting, will do this. The thinning-out of plan-
tations like those in Prospect Park, where so much depends
upon unity of expression and harmony in composition, is
a matter of such delicacy that it cannot safely be entrusted
to any one but an expert trained in the consideration
of the necessities of similar cases. If the Commissioners
appreciate the responsibilities which they have assumed in
taking charge of such a creation as this park, they will
inaugurate a systematic thinning of the plantations under
some competent authority, and not trust their own
inspirations.
Particular attention was given in the design for Prospect
Park, to providing proper accommodation for the enjoyment
of out-door concerts. The principal artificial feature of the
Park, is the noblelake; in thislake and close to the most pic-
turesque part of the shore a little island was made to serve
as a music-stand, while on the adjacent shore a wide and
beautifully planted promenade, unsurpassed in extent and
completeness of arrangement, was to offer to pedestrians
every opportunity to listen to the music, which the occu-
pants of carriages might hear equally well from two large
gravel concourses, specially designed for this purpose.
The most costly work upon the park was used in the
decoration of these arrangements. Extensive refresh-
ment-houses, fountains, seats, broad flights of stairs,
superb terrace-walls of sculptured stone with bronze orna-
ments—all were designed as parts of one scheme embody-
ing the purpose of assembling great bodies of people,
within hearing distance of a central point. The outlines
of the lake for a long distance were determined with refer-
ence to this purpose, bridges were planned, and boat-
landings and approaches from all directions laid out with
reference to it. The expenditure for the purpose must have
amounted to several hundred thousand dollars. The de-
signed use of the arrangement was delayed until the trees
planted for shade should have grown to serve their purpose.
Now that they have done so, the Commissioners state
that they have satisfied themselves, by an experiment,
that the acoustic effect of the music from the point in-
tended would be a failure. There are few questions more
difficult and with regard to which ordinary architects and
ordinary musicians are more in doubt, than that of the
minor conditions by which the effect of music is heighten-
ed or marred. What recognized master in the science of
acoustics the Commissioners employed, what variety of ex-
periments were made, to what extent they were carried,
and upon the verdict of what jury of experts their decision
was reached, is not to be learned from their report. The
218
conclusion announced is simply that the scheme, the requir-
ed outlay for which had been almost entirely made before
that time, has been abandoned; and that the Commis-
sioners have built a permanent music-stand under the
shadow of a trimmed-up old natural wood, in a part of
the park to which the original design provided no suitable
approaches, having in view the maintenance of the se-
cluded sylvan character which it originally possessed.
The construction which the Commissioners have here
erected combines, they state, the purpose of a storage
house, of a music-starid, and of a battle-monument, the
latter being realized by giving its basement the semblance
of a fortification.
The noble plaza outside the principal entrance of the
park is described by the Commissioners in their report as
a ‘‘great failure, suggestive of Siberia in winter and Sahara
in summer,” and it is suggested to convert it into a gar-
den after the fashion of the Public Garden in Boston. It is
evident that the Commissioners do not understand the
motives which led to the creation of the plaza, which is
really one of the great features of the park, and which pro-
vides, among other things, a proper place in which great
public meetings can be held outside the park itself, To
those who have seen the effects of public meetings upon
the London parks, the establishment of this broad paved
plaza will seem a wise provision indeed. It greatly facili-
tates, too, the entrance of carriages intothe park as the
currents of street traffic approach here upon lines coming
from six different directions, which without the plaza
would create hopeless confusion.
But itis not necessary to cite other examples of the
mental condition of these Park Commissioners as displayed
in this remarkable report.
Enough has already been said to show how great the
danger is which constantly threatens not only Prospect
Park, but all our public parks, and how great is the neces-
sity that the people who inhabit our cities should fully ap-
preciate and understand the real objects for which parks
are created. Until the public is educated in all that
relates to parks, and until its interest in them can be
stimulated and maintained, it seems impossible for an ar-
tist to make a design for a public ground, with any hope
that his plan will be realized. Let the motives of sucha
design be studied and adapted with the greatest care; let
them be elaborately discussed and illustrated and explain-
ed; evenif the public approves and endorses them for years
and millions are expended in putting them_into execution,
the time will come, as it has now come in Brooklyn,
when a body of men, with no higher claims upon the con-
fidence of the public than their predecessors, will enter
upon their duties, either in utter ignorance of what those
duties really mean, or with the purpose of ignoring the
original motives which governed the construction of their
trust, and of seeking for excuses to build a new park upon its
tuins. This is a matter of more than local significance
and importance. Every park in this country, great and
small, has suffered from the causes which are now
threatening Prospect Park, and every park must inevi-
tably suffer from the same causes, until public interest
and public intelligence is so educated in these matters
that the prevalent conception of the responsibilities ot
Park Commissioners: shall be much more serious and
enlightened than it is at the present time.
The Artistic-Aspect of Trees: I.—Form:
ANY persons profess themselves lovers of trees and
find much real delight in shadowy forests, varied
plantations, and well-developed isolated specimens. Yet
most of them would be surprised if they were asked
whether they had ever studied the aspect of trees from the
artistic standpoint, and very few give proof that they have
held this standpoint even unconsciously to themselves.
Nevertheless it is only by studying trees, whether con-
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 4, 1888.
sciously or unconsciously, from the artistic point of view,
that we can arrive at a realization of the peculiar character
and beauty of one species as contrasted with others, or of
the individuals of a single species when seen under dif-
ferent conditions. Only thus can we learn really to ap-
preciate trees, though science may teach us how to un-
derstand them ; and only when we really appreciate them
can we thoroughly enjoy them or use them to the best ad-
vantage.
From the artistic point of view trees have three charact-
eristics which may be separately considered—form, texture
and color. It is of form only that we shall speak just now.
The first element in the form of a tree is its general
outline, its contour, the silhouette it makes when relieved
against the sky or against masses of trees of other kinds.
The outline peculiar to a given species may vary a good
deal, of course, in different individuals; but in all full-
grown and well-grown individuals it will be so nearly the
same that the typical shape of the species may often be
expressed in a very simple diagram on paper. An isosceles
triangle with a broad base, for instance, gives the typical
outline of the Spruce ; a similar figure, but with swelling
sides, gives that of a freely developed Hemlock ; the White
Elm would fill a vase-like figure supported by a straight
line for the stem, the Hickory an elongated oval, the
Sugar Maple a much fuller oval, the White Birch a very
long and slender oval, and the Oak a figure approaching
more nearly toa circle. In other cases the form of the head
is more irregular, as with the Silver Maple, for instance,
the typical shape of which would require to be expressed
in a diagram of broken outline. But even in such cases
this shape may be easily imprinted upon the memory, and,
once imprinted, the pleasure of looking upon a new speci-
men of the tree is greatly increased by one’s knowledge
of how nearly it coincides with, or how far it departs
from, the typical form of the species to which it belongs.
But a tree’s general outline is by no means the only
thing which determines what an artist would call its
form. Its structure is almost of more importance than
its outline in determining this, as within comparatively
narrow limits its structure does not vary, while its outline
may be greatly affected by a hundred accidents of position
and experience. The branches of a tree may droop as in
the Spruce, or spread at right angles as in the Cedar of
Lebanon, or sharply ascend as in the Lombardy Poplar,
or weep as in the White Elm; and between these ex-
tremes almost as many variations in branch-direction will be
found as there are kinds of trees to examine. Each varia-
tion gives a tree a different form, the peculiarities of which
are increased, of course, by such other facts of structure as
the greater or less number of branches giving greater or
less density and uniformity of surface to the head. And
each of these differences of form means a difference in
the expression of a tree—a difference in the character of
its beauty, and, therefore, of its appropriateness to a given |
situation. A tree of regular, formal outline has beauty of —
a sort wholly unlike that of a tree with an irregular, bro-
ken outline ; and the same is true when we contrast one
that has many main branches dividing again into many
minor ones, and, therefore, a dense, compact head, with
one that has fewer branches and a more open and broken
surface.
The average size to which the trees of a given species
are apt to grow is, of course, another element to be con-
sidered in studying tree-forms. This is so obvious a char-
acteristic than even the least artistic eye will note it, the
most thoughtless planter will take it somewhat into ac-
count. But if we may judge by the results we see all
around us in places where an intelligent landscape gar-
dener has not been employed, few persons pay any atten- |
tion to other characteristics of form. As an English writer —
said not long ago, it is lamentable to see how even the
most enthusiastic amateur lovers of trees ignore those
considerations which are “the commonplaces of the land- —
scape gardener.” Mere chance or at most a thoughtless,
Juty 4, 1888.]
abstract preference for some kind of tree seems much
more often to have determined planting than a clear
realization of intrinsic characters accompanied by reflection
with regard to the appropriateness of one character or
another to a special spot. We have known a would-be
planter to ask for Elms, and yet not know whether he
wanted American White Elms, which would grow up
into vase-like, drooping forms, or English Elms, which
would assume shapes almost identical with the shapes
of Oaks. If a single tree is wanted in a conspicuous
position a Sugar Maple is chosen, perhaps, because
Sugar Maples are known to be ‘‘ good trees,” although
it would be less well in place with its roundish head than
a Hickory with its taller, narrower shape, or a Hemlock,
sweeping the grass with its branches. It is the same
when trees are set in masses—little thought is given to
the way in which their forms will contrast one with
the other, and a distressing confusion results where
pendulous Birches, spiry-topped Spruces, round and solid
Horse-Chestnuts and straggling Silver Maples work in con-
cord only in a single way—each to prevent the others
from appearing well and to deprive the plantation as a
whole of unity, grace and effective expression.
But even when facts of outline are borne in mind, facts
of structure are constantly forgotten. Yet these are of
particular importance when a tree is placed in isolation,
Almost any kind of contour is agreeable in an _ isolated
tree, but in certain situations it makes a vast difference
whether the eye rests upon an almost unbroken surface,
like that presented by the Horse-Chestnut until it has
reached a great age, of upon a surface which an artist
would call boldly and effectively ‘‘modeled’”—a surface
diversified by those alternations of light and shadow
which give variety of form within the limits of the general
contour.
Of course no rules can be laid down in writing with re-
gard to the employment of trees of various forms. The
only way to use them well is to know them well; and
the only way to know them well is to study them long
and carefully. With scarcely a possible exception to be
found, nature plants her trees with an artistic eye ; andby
studying hermethods we may learn how to form our own.
From the methods of intelligent men we may also, of
course, often learn the same lesson, while from those of the
less intelligent, we may gain, if we examine them in the
tight way, at least the knowledge what not to do. Taste is
the guide we need to help us, and taste means the cultiva-
tion of our own perceptive powers, not the learning of
cut-and-dried esthetic formulas.
A movement has been started to induce the Canadian
Government to establish a forest-preserve about the head-
waters of the Muskoka River, which flows into Lake
Huron, and of several of the important streams which feed
the Ottawa, and which rise in the same region, Island
Lake, the head of the Muskoka, being not more than half
a mile distant from Otter Slide Lake, from which springs
the Petewawa, a feeder of the Ottawa. This is a pic-
turesque and well-wooded country, abounding in lakes
and streams and swamps, and still frequented by game
and game-fish ; it is, moreover, one of the most important
in Ontario as a natural reservoir. The proposed reserva-
tion embraces a territory of 330,000 acres, exclusive of an
area of about 60,000 acres more of water. What the pro-
moters of this scheme desire is that the government should
create a public forest and define its boundaries; and ap-
point a forester and assistants to take charge of it; and
cut the timber as soon as ripe under proper rules and regu-
lations. There can be no doubt that the preservation of a
great forest area at the-headwaters of such important
streams would be an immensely advantageous and profit-
able investment for the Canadian Government, not only in
the influence it would exert upon the water supply, but in
Increased and permanent lumber crops, which good man-
Garden and Forest.
219
agement would insure. This is a matter which should
appeal to all Canadians interested in the development of
their country, and one which the people of the United
States will watch with interest, as an example of what
must be attempted in this country if our forests and
streams are to escape the extermination which now threat-
ens them on every side. It is proposed that the Ontario
Reserve shall be known as the Algonkin Forest.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
The wealth of hardy tree and shrub bloom this season
is marvelous, and as we are always seeking for causes in
gardening we are inclined to attribute the profuse flower
crop to the long period of hot and dry weather last sum-
mer, which naturally tended to ripen thoroughly the growth
of open air vegetation. The charm of beauty of a richly
planted English garden at this time of the year could not
probably be rivaled in any other country, our moist cli-
mate being so exactly suited to the majority of trees and
shrubs from temperate climes. A walk through the gar-
dens at Kew just now, which contain representatives of
nearly every known hardy tree and shrub, is a great pleas-
ure. There you see more clearly now than at any other
season the wealth of exotic growth from every temperate
country. You see how largely we are indebted to the
floras of China and Japan, of Chili and of other regions of
South America, of Central Asia, and of southern and cen-
tral Europe. But from no country have our gardens de-
rived so much of their open air beauty as from the vast
North American continent, which we might say has sup-
plied us with fully two-thirds of our ornamental trees and
shrubs. The list I jotted down at Kew a day or two ago
of showy flowering trees and shrubs from North America
would alone make beautiful a large garden. Its range of
color, of size and habit of growth is so wide that one might
plant an exclusively American garden in a most artistic
way. The term American garden in England has long
been a misnomer. It is commonly supposed that the com-
paratively few members of the Heath family, the genera
Azalea, Rhododendron, Kalmia, Ledum, Andromeda and
the rest of peat-loving plants, comprised all that is worth
planting of American shrubs. Happily, however, Kew is
showing the public by good culture many others that
deserve higher popularity, and our nurserymen are grow-
ing wise and propagate the best things largely so as to
render them easily obtainable. I note a few of the North
American shrubs now in bloom, which are undeservedly
neglected by landscape gardeners and other planters in
England. :
There is not a lovelier shrub than the Rocky Mountain
Bramble (Robus deliciosus), and of late years it has proved
itself perfectly hardy, though for a long time only grown
against walls. It makes wide spreading bushes which
now are lit up by a profusion of great saucer-shaped flow-
ers of snowy whiteness like single Roses. The large nur-
series are now getting good stocks of it. Pyvrus coronaria,
though such an old introduction, is rarely seen, though for
the beauty of its flowers it has few rivals among ornamen-
tal Pears and Apples. Its profuse crop of large rose-col-
ored, semi-double blossoms, deliciously fragrant, render -
it in bloom one of the finest of lawn trees. The new
Neviusia Alabamensis is flowering abundantly against
a warm wall at Kew. Though not a particularly
showy shrub, it is elegant in bloom, the flowers being in
tufted feathery clusters of a pale yellowish green. The
Californian Ribes speciosum, called here the Fuchsia-flow-
ered Currant, is a very beautiful shrub, particularly as a
wall covering, though quite hardy enough as an open
air bush. There is no Ribes like it that I know and the
blossoms look uncommonly like those of some of the old
Fuchsias. Very charming in many an English garden now
is Choisya fernata, called the Mexican Orange Flower, the
220
blossom being so much like that of the Orange, though it
lacks the perfume. Itis not thoroughly hardy, but as a
wall shrub is excellent, the more so because evergreen.
The Snowdrop tree (Halesia /etraplera) flowers timidly at
Kew, but this is, I think, because the dry, sandy soil does
not suit it. I imagine it would do better planted near the
edge of a lake or stream in the same position as one would
plant a Catalpa or Deciduous Cypress. It is extremely
pretty in bloom, the name Snowdrop tree being most ap-
propriate. One of the Viburnums (Jl. prunzfohum), called,
I think, Black Haw by Gray, is a showy shrub at Kew,
the large, white flower-clusters being like that of Laures-
tinus. I consider it a good ornamental shrub. The Amer-
ican Judas tree (Cerces Canadensis) is poor compared
with the European Judas tree (C. Sthquasirum), so that I
will not attempt to extol its merits. C. Chinensis is also
flowering side by side with the other two, but it is like-
wise inferior. The common Judas tree is one of the
prettiest spring flowering trees we have, being now literally
smothered with brisk bloom. Other American trees that
help to make our lawns and shrubberies beautiful now are
the Red Buckeye (#sculus rubicunda), the Amelanchier,
some of the Thorns (Crategus), Magnolia acuminata and
MW. Fraseri, the latter being scarcely inferior to the noble
M. grandiflora of the southern States. The glorious race
of Hybrid Azaleas and Rhododendrons are scarcely at
their best, being fully three weeks behind their usual date
of flowering this year. W. Goldring.
London, June 1st.
The New York Flower Mission.
HE eighteen years’ work of the Flower Mission has demon-
strated to those interested the usefulness of flowers
among the sick, poor and degraded.
The New York Flower Mission was established three months
after the one in Boston, which was founded by members
of the congregation of Rev. Mr. Hays, in 1870. A Flower
Mission in San Francisco, California, has been in operation
several years, organized on plans sent from the New York
Mission. Americans living in Japan, who were interested
in the work here, have one in successful operation there.
And now children of the Tokio Flower Mission, the children
of high-class Japanese officials, in company with their little
American and European cousins, go out to distribute among
hospital patients the flowers that have a healing influence.
The mission was originally established to distribute flowers
among the hospitals, but soon there were requests for nose-
gays from the Homes for the Aged, the Insane Asylums and
from the sick and poor in tenements. And now nurses, bible-
readers and all sorts of missionaries call at the Mission rooms
for a basket of bouquets to give out at the dispensaries, or to
carry to those in distress.
Flowers come in from all directions within a radius of a
hundred miles of the city. They come from private gardens,
from Sabbath-school societies, from guilds, and King’s Daugh-
ters. They are carefully assorted and packed, and are
brought free of cost by express companies. The room of the
Mission is furnished by All Souls’ Church, and the total ex-
penses last season of the New York flower mission from May
until November was but $30.
The distribution of flowers takes place on Mondays and
Thursdays, when the flower girls are anxiously awaited at the
institutions and places where they are expected. There is an
endeavor made to please the fancies of those in confine-
ment by selecting for them flowers for which they have a pre-
ference. The blind choose the blossoms that are strongly per-
fumed, such as Lilacs, Tuberoses and Honeysuckles. Colored
people prefer the gaudiest flowers, while children beg for
wild flowers, fruit blossoms, Field Daisies and Sweet Clover.
Germans make requests for Geraniums, which they propa-
gate; Peonies, Tradescantias and Ivy ; strawberry boxes filled
with growing Ferns give great delight to persons of this na-
tionality, as do Pfingster blossoms. The French ask for
Violets, Pansies and Mignonette.
Men have their share of the flowers taken to hospital pa-
tients. They are received by them with the same eager-
ness shown by women. Flowers are particularly requested
when important operations are to take place, as they are
known to give fortitude and hope. Their influence upon
the insane has been so soothing, that the keepers of the
Garden and Forest.
[July 4, 1888.
mad-house on Blackwell's Island made especial request last
season that their annex for the raving patients should receive
flowers as often as possible. Insane men were formerly neg-
lected, but this year a particular request has been made that
flowers be sent to them as well as to the women.
It has in many instances been shown, when slips and plants
have been given to the poor in tenements, that they have
awakened an interest and given healthful occupation to some
intemperate member of the family, who has in this way been |
diverted from drink, and it appears that the love for flowers is
a strong remedial force when mind or body is weakened or
diseased.
The officers of the mission propose to extend their work
through the winter season if they can enlist the aid of florists,
to supply them with growing plants during the time when
the cut flower distribution would be impracticable. They
would give out cuttings and small plants from depots establish-
edin localities where the poorest people live. They would give
printed instructions how to treat the plants and offer a prize
for the best results with these plants in the spring. The
wholesome effect of plant-culture, it is hoped, might worka
beneficent influence in the homes of the vicious. It is pro-
posed to give an exhibition for the benefit of the mission of
the plants presented by it and grown in humble homes. In
time this project will undoubtedly be carried out.
It has been observed that the poor Germans who beg for the
“Flowers of the Fatherland,” to grow in their windows, as
reminders of home, show the most interest in their cultivation,
and are the most successful growers. In the German hospital,
the sick have dried their flower bunches and made paper bags
to preserve them in. Those who are hopelessly ill haveasked
that their flowers be buried with them. . In the day nurseries,
the little toddlers forsake their toys for a flower, and betray
extreme delight when one is given to them. It is said that
flowers are better than monitors to keep the children in good
order. £. A, Benson,
Plant Notes.
Notes Upon Lilacs.
ILACS, especially many of the garden varieties of
Syringa vulgaris, are met with wherever hardy
shrubs are cultivated; but there are several species of the
genus, which, although possessing ornamental qualities of
the highest order, are rarely seen in gardens. It is pro-
posed to figure from time to time a number of these in
these columns when proper material can be obtained for
the purpose, in order that they may become better known
and their beauty appreciated.
The genus Syrimga is composed of about a dozen spe-
cies of shrubs or shrub-like trees distributed from south-
western Europe through central Asia and the Himalayas
to Mongolia, northern China and Japan. They have op-
posite entire or rarely pinnately-divided, smooth or
slightly pubescent, deciduous, or in one species persistent
leaves, a terminal thyrsus of small, generally fragrant,
lilac or white, regular, monopetalous flowers, with a cam-
panulate, irregularly dentate calyx; a corolla, with a long or
short cylindrical tube and a four-lobed limb, revolute in the
bud; two stamens inserted below the mouth of the tube,
with short included, or subulate exserted, nearly extrorse
anthers ; an included style, with a slightly or deeply cleft
stigma; a two-celled ovary, with two minute suspended
ovules in each cell, a subterete oblong capsule flattened
contrary to the narrow partition, two-valved, the valves
almost conduplicate; and pendulous compressed seeds,
with slightly winged margins, a thick membranaceous coat,
fleshy albumen and flat cotyledons.
The species may be grouped as follows:
: § EUSYRINGA.
Tube of the corolla long; flowers pur ple.
* Leaves green on both sides.
1. S. vulgarts, L. Leaves smooth, long-petioled, cordate
or ovate-cordate, contracted into a slender point ; inflor-
escence often in pairs from the ends of the branches ; calyx
irregularly four-tubed, glandular puberulous; limb of the
corolla concave, the lobes cymbiform ; anthers included ;
fruit smooth, ovate,
Jury 4, 1888.]
Syringa vulgaris is a native of the mountainous region of
central Europe from Piedmont to Hungary. It has been a
favorite garden plant for three centuries, and has produced
in cultivation a great number of varieties with more or less
dense inflorescence, and with flowers varying from purplish
red to pure white. Double-Howered and “plotched-leaved
varieties are cultivated. The leaves of this species and of
all the varieties are often greatly disfigured in the United States
during the summer and autumn months by the attack of a
white mildew,
2. S. oblata, Lindl. Leaves broadly cordate or deltoid,
sharply acuminate ; thyrsus short and broad, often in
pairs from the ends of the smooth or slightly puber ulent
branches ; flowers large, appearing just before or with the
unfolding of the leaves ; calyx irregularly dentate, the
teeth obtuse or sublanceolate, the tube slightly glandular ;
lobes of the corolla round and flat; anthers included; fruit
smooth-ovate, acute.
Garden and Forest. 221
is not known in
, Fortune in a garden at
Abbé David in gardens near Pekin.
in this climate indicates its northern
differs but slightly in botanical characters
of S. vulgaris, a geographical variety of
Syringa oblata (see illustration on Ne page
a wild state; it was first discovered |
Shanghai, and later by the
Its perfect hardiness
origin. oblata
from some forms
which, it should, perhaps, be considered, although, from a
garden point of view, quite distinct. Here it flowers ten or
twelve days earlier than the earliest varieties of S. vulgaris,
and its thick leathery leaves, which are never attacked by mil-
Fig. 39.—Syringa oblata.
dew, turn in the autumn to a rich dark russet-red color, a
character which should be taken advantage of by hybridizers
to secure a new race of Lilacs with the large inflorescence
of S. vulgaris and the foliage of this Chinese plant. S. od/ata
is a stout spreading shrub here, now eight or ten feet high,
flowering profusely every year. There is a white-flowered
variety, which has not flowered here.
3. S. Chinensis, Willd. Leaves ovate,
or rounded at the base or often contracted
obtuse
long,
acuminate,
into the
222
slender petiole; calyx campanulate, irregularly four-
toothed ; tube of the corolla long and slender, the obtuse
lobes of the limb spreading with inflexed margins, some-
times mucronate; anthers included; stigma two-lobed ;
fruit oblong, acuminate, smooth.
Syringa Chinensts, Willd. Berl. Baum., i. 48.
Lilac Varina, Dum, Cours. Bot. Cult., ii. 547.
S. Rothomagensis, Nouv. Duham., ¢. lviii.
S. dubia, Pers. Enchyr., i. 9.
S. correlata, A. Br. Sitz. Gesell. Nat. Berlin, 1873, 69.
This plant, although long cultivated, is not known ina wild
state. It is believed to be of Chinese origin, and it is not un-
common in the gardens of Pekin. In general appearance, in
the shape of the leaves, the size of the flowers and in
the period of blooming, it is intermediate between S vulgaris
and S. Persica. This is one of the hardiest and handsomest
shrubs in cultivation, producing its enormous rather lax clus-
ters of flowers in the greatest profusion. There are varieties
with rosy purple and with white flowers.
4. S. Persica, L. Leaves ovate, lanceolate, narrowed
into an acute, sometimes mucronate point, entire or rarely
pinnatifid, the base contracted into a slender petiole;
thyrsus loose, the flowers spreading; calyx with four
obtuse lobes; tube of the corolla long and slender, the
ovate lobes with inflexed margins slightly spreading;
anthers included ; fruit linear, obtuse or apiculate, smooth.
Syringa Persica has long been an inhabitant of the gardens
of Persia and India, whence it was introduced into Europe
and America. Itsnative country, however, was long unknown
until it was met with by Dr. Aitcheson, of the Afghan Bound-
ary Survey, who found it ‘‘a very common shrub on the low
and outer hills near Shalizan up to nearly 7,500 feet."* Varie-
ties with lilac and with white flowers are common. 5S.
pteridifolia is a variety in which the leaves are deeply laceni-
ate.
* Leaves pale on the under side.
5. S. wllosa, Vahl. Young shoots smooth, slightly
striate-angled, conspicuously marked with oblong white
spots; leaves broadly obvate-lanceolate; contracted at the
base into a short, stout, grooved petiole, and with scab-
rous margins and conspicuously reticulated veins, the pale
under side, especially along the principal veins, covered
with long, slender, scattered hairs; thyrsus elongated,
narrow and often interrupted; calyx smooth or slightly
pubescent, the short, obtuse lobes much shorter than the
tube ; tube of the pale, rose-colored corolla slender, four
times the length of the calyx, the oblong lobes with
oe inflexed margins erect or spreading ; stamens in-
cluded.
Syringa villosa was discovered near Pekin about the middle
of the last century by the French missionary, d’Incarville. _ It
was found in the same region by David, and plants raised
from seed sent to the Arnold Arboretum from Pekin by Dr.
Bretschneider are now growing here. To this species should
perhaps be referred, as M. Franchet hints in his paper upon
the Chinese Lilacs,+ S. Fostkea and S. Emodi, which, as he
points out, cannot be separated from d’Incarville’s plant either
by the shape of the leaves, the character of the inflorescence,
or by the shape and size of the flowers. In the Himalaya plant
(S. Emodi), however, the long, white hairs which cover the
under side of the leaves of S. vé//osa, are replaced by a minute
puberulence on the mid-rib, which is even less developed on
the leaves of S. Fosikea. The bark, color and markings of
the young shoots and the habit of these three plants are iden-
tical, although in S$. ¥osikea the leaves are narrower than in
the Chinese plant, but not narrower than those of many Hima-
laya specimens. The plants of S. Yosikea, now widely dis-
tributed in gardens, have all been propagated from a single
plant discovered in a Hungarian garden, but not known to
be wild in Europe, and probably of Asiatic origin.
6. S. pubescens, Turcz, Leaves ovate, three or four
ribbed, cuneate at the base, one and a half to two inches
long, pale-green above, pale below, the mid-rib distinctly
pubescent; calyx smooth. with short, triangular, some-
times minutely mucronulate lobes; tube of the pale,
rose-colored corolla very slender, six times longer than
* Four Linn. Soc.; xviii. 78.
t Observations sur les Syringa du nord de la Chine, Bull Soc.
Philomath 2 de
Paris, July, 1885. pe tet aa
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 4, 1888.
the calyx; the lobes of the small limb short and oblong ;
fruit obliquely oblong, verrucose.
§ § sARCOCARPUM.
Leaves persistent.
7. S. sempervirens. Leaves coriaceous, short-petioled,
ovate or suborbiculate, entire; cyme few-flowered; calyx
cup-shaped, obscurely crenate; tube of the short corolla
white, three times as long as the calyx. The lobes finally
reflexed, thick, obtuse; anthers inserted in the middle of
the tube; style slightly bifid; fruit drupaceous, with two
cells; one abortive, the other containing at maturity a
single, oblong, irregularly incurved seed.
Syringa sempervirens, Franchet, Bull. Soc. Linn., Paris,
No. 77, p. 613, was discovered by the French missionary, the
Abbé Delavey, at an elevation of 7,500 feet in the mountains
above Tapintze in Yun-nan. It has not been introduced into
cultivation,
ee oe
§ § § LIGUSTRINA.
Tube of the corolla very short; flowers white.
8. S. Amurensis, Rup. Leaves ovate or oblong, obtuse
or acuminate, contracted into a long, channeled petiole;
thyrsus densely flowered; calyx sub-membranaceous,
smooth, irregularly toothed ; tube of the corolla included
in the short calyx; the lobes obtuse; fruit oblong, obtuse,
smooth.
Syringa Amurensis is a hardy shrub six or eight feet high,
with white, fragrant flowers ; a native of Manchuria.
g. S. Pekinensis, Rup. Leaves ovate or deltoid, obtuse
or acuminate, rounded at the base or contracted into the
long, slender, channeled petiole, dark green and opaque
above, lighter on the under side; thyrsus densely flow-
ered ; calyx obscurely denticulate; tube of the white
corolla barely longer than the calyx; fruit smooth, linear-
oblong, acute, or slightly beaked at the end.
Syringa Pekinensis isa native of the mountains of northern -
China, where it was' discovered by David. It is growing in the
Arnold Arboretum, where it was raised from seed sent by Dr.
Bretschneider from Pekin, but as yet has shown no disposition
to flower. It is here aslender, tree-like shrub, perfectly hardy,
and already ten to twelve feet high, with long, graceful,
flexuous branches, covered with a smooth, yellow-brown bark,
not very unlike that of a Cherry tree. A plant with distinctly
weeping branches appeared among the seedlings raised in the
Arboretum.
10. S. Japonica, Maxm. Leaves broadly ovate, acu-
minate, contracted into a sharp point, rounded or slightly
cuneate at the base, smooth above, villous-pubescent on
the under side ; thyrsus many-flowered, calyx puberulous
denticulate; tube of the corolla included in the calyx, the
lobes thickened on the margins, apiculate; the smooth
fruit oblong, obtuse.
Syringa Faponica is a native of Japan, It has been culti-
vatedin the Arboretum for a number of years, where it makes
a handsome small tree.
11. §. rofundifolia, Decne. Leaves orbicular, abruptly
acuminate at the end, cordate or rounded at the base;
panicle many-flowered; calyx membranaceous, slightly
denticulate, tube of the corolla included in the calyx, the
lobes ovate, obtuse.
Syringa rotundifolia, Decne., Nouvelles Archives du Mu-
séum, ii, 44, is a native of south-eastern Manchuria, and has not
yet been introduced into cultivation. CSaSs
ee ee a eee
A Tropical Garden.
HERE was published in one of the early issues of
GARDEN AND Forest an illustration showing the en-
trance of what may be called, perhaps, a typical New
England garden, or rather of a garden in which some of
those forms of plant life typical of the vegetation of
north-eastern North America—the White Pine, the Hem-
lock, the Oaks, Maples and the Hickories—are conspicu- |
ously displayed as Nature often groups them. Our illus-
tration on page 223 of the present issue represents the
entrance of a garden almost at the other extremity of the
JuLy 4, 1888.]
earth, and about as unlike a New England garden in the
nature of the plants which adorn it as it is possible to
imagine. It is the entrance to the Botanical Garden at
Peradenia, near the famous city of Kandy, in the Island or
Ceylon, where for seventy years the British Government
has maintained one of the most important botanical estab-
lishments in the tropics. The Mahavelli River flows round
the garden, which occupies a horseshoe-shaped peninsula
among the mountains, and which on the land side is pro-
tected by impenetrable thickets of Bamboo. The climate
is admirably adapted to insure the vigorous growth ot
tropical plants, which are found here of a vigor and size
rarely attained in other tropical gardens. Peradenia differs
widely in arrangement from most of the so-called botani-
cal gardens of the world. The plants are not huddled
Garden and Forest.
223
thirty buttresses, from which huge snake-like roots spread
out over the surface of the ground for a distance of one or
two hundred feet. It is the ‘‘Snake-tree” of the1
The collection of Palms in this garden, from bi
the new worlds, is very large, and not the
latives.
th the old and
least remarkable
is the native T alipot Palm (Cor vpha umbraculifera), which,
unfortunately, does not appear in our illustration. No other
tree, perhaps, presents a more striking and remark:
spectacle than the Talipot when it shoots up its giant
inflorescence high above the top of the mountain forests in
which it grows. The trunk is perfectly straight and pure
white, like a marble column, supporting at its
often one hundred and fifty feet from the ground, a crown
of fan-shaped leaves, which, on fully grown specimens,
have a surface of 150 to 200 square feet, and from which
summit,
,
A Tropical Garden.—See page 222.
together in formal beds, but are grouped naturally through
the garden, which is about one hundred and fifty acres in
extent, and produces a broad, park-like effect. The great
clumps of different species of Palms near the entrance will
serve to indicate how the most important natural groups of
plants are managed in this truly noble garden, and to show
to our readers some of the beauties of tropical vegetation.
The large tree, the top of which appears at the left of the
picture ‘abov e the Palm in the foreground, is the Ficus elas-
“ica or Rubber-plant, so commonly grown in this country
as a small pot-plant for the decoration of livi ing rooms. In
its home in the tropics it attains the size of a “noble forest
tree, often a hundred feet in height, with an enormous leafy
crown borne on branches spreading out horizontally forty
or fifty feet from a ponderous stem, supported on twenty or
once in the life-time of the tree—generally when it is sev-
enty or eighty years old—shoots up a pyramidal inflor-
and covered with
escence thirty or forty feet in height,
countless myriads of ‘small yellow-white flowers. When
the seed is ripe the tree dies. The ‘‘Ola” paper of, the
Cinghalese was made from the leaves of this tree; and all
the old Paskala manuscripts in the Buddhist monasteries
on the island were written with an iron stylus on paper
made by boiling narrow strips of Talipot leaves. Weshall
hope on another occasion to illustrate some of the remark-
able plants in the Peradenia garden.
“ Everything made by man’s hand has a form which must be
beautiful or ugly: beautiful if itis in accord with nature and
helps her; ugly if it is discordant with nature and thwarts her.
224 Garden and Forest.
Cultural Department.
Celery.
a is probably the most important of all our garden crops.
tcan be used every day in the year; from September till
April as blanched Celery, and from May till August as green
Celery for flavoring soups. An abundance of blanched Celery
can be found in. the New York and other city markets in July
and August, but it is Kalamazoo and not Long Island Celery.
We have tried hard enough to have good blanched Celery in
summer, but have always failed, the crop being destroyed by
rust. W hy not grow it in moist land, as they do in Kala-
mazoo? We have tried that, and on the naturally moist or
wettish land it has rusted far worse than in good, common
garden soil,
The White Plume is amost excellent Celery for use from Sep-
tember till New Year's, and as it is self-blanching, and the
blades, as well as the stalks of the inner leaves, become white,
it has an uncommonly handsome appearance. Although it is
said that this variety needs no earthing up, we find that bank-
ing lengthens the stalks and renders them much more tender.
Golden Heart is a most excellent all-round variety, dwarf, and
suitable for early or late crops. New Rose is much like London
Red. The pink tinged Celeries are seldom esteemed cs highly
as the white ones, but they are the finest flavored and capital
keepers. Boston Market, regarded so favorably around Bos-
ton, and there grown with all its sprouts, is not so great a
favorite here. Its best characteristic is that it keeps well. In
growing it but one head should be allowed and all the sprouts
rubbed off at planting time and then again before the banking
is begun. Henderson’s Half Dwarf is an excellent sort for use
before March, but does not keep later. The Golden Self-
Blanching is after the style of White Plume, only yellow, and
in no way to be preferred. The giant Celeries require too
much room, are unwieldy to handle, are poor keepers, and
their leaf stalks are often hollow.
Seed of Golden Heart sown in a flat in the green-house
about the end of January, and the seedlings afterw ard pricked
off into other flats and then into a cold- frame, are now planted
out in rows three feet apart in the garden. These now furnish
a good supply of leaves for flavoring. But they will be of no
use for white Celery; if kept for this purpose most of them
would run to flowerand all would rust. A March sow ing gives
the earliest white Celery here. The main crop was sown ‘April
26th in a well prepared out-door bed, and the seec llings -are
now up in their second leaf and fit for pricking oa into beds.
We never transplant directly from the seed bed, but first prick
off the seedlings four to six inches apart into well prepared
beds, there to remain till planting time. By this means well-
rooted, stocky plants are secured. The main cropsare planted
out in July and as the ground is ready; sometimes it is August
before the planting is over. Celery succeeds Marrow Peas,
early Snap Beans, Potatoes, Cauliflower, Cabbage or Straw-
berries. For the crops we shall use before New Year's, we
line off the ground in rows four and one-half feet apart and
throw out the ground in the rows to a depth of six inches and
toa width of ten inches. This gives us ample room for earthing
up the crop, and the tre enches are handy for holding manure
and water. We manure broadcast for the spring crop and in
the row for the Celery. Planting on the level has been tried
here, but with indifferent success. For Celery to be used after
New Year's we plant in the same way, but in rows only three
feet apart; this is because the late crop should not be earthed
up, except to ‘handle’ it, before it is packed into trenches to
keep through the winter.
One of the chief points to observe in growing Celery is that
from the time it germinates till it is packed away for winter it
should never suffer by drought.
In banking up Celery in fall some discretion should be used.
Celery banked up in August whitens in three to four weeks,
that banked up in September in four to six weeks, but that
banked up in October will not whiten before New Year’s, if
then. Do not bank up Celery all at one time, but a little ata
time, and never “handle,” bank or store Celery when it is wet
or damp, else rust or rot may overtake it. Celery to be used
before Christmas should be banked in Septembér, but avoid
banking or handling late winter Celery before the beginning
of October. September a and October are the best growing
months for Celery.
Our Celery is wintered in trenches on a warm, sunny slope.
The Celery is in single rows, and the trenches are as deep as the
Celery is long, the plants being packed up close against each
other. Four "of these rows, each nine inches distant from the
other, are formedinto a ridge in order to lead off the surface the
[JuLy 4, 1888.
rains of winter. And to further keep them dry in winter, we
cover them with boards. We also use salt hay and forest tree
leaves to exclude hard frost from the ground. The Celery
keeps in this way in these trenches till the spring thaws set in;
then it is lifted out, all decaying matter cut off, and it is buried
again, but this time above ground, with earth between the
plants and shutters over them. Celery in plenty was kept in
this way up till the 7th of May. But towards the end of April
Celery weakens perceptibly.
Now, while these dates are au very well for Long Island, in
less favorable localities Celerv seed should be sown propor-
tionately earlier.
It is a fact that Celery is often spoiled in preparing it for use,
by washing it. In order to have Celery in its finest condition, as
egards crispness and flavor, it should not be washed or
robbed of all its roots till immediately before it is prepared
for table. Washing and dressing. Celery before sending it to
the kitchen orsome two or three days before using it, as hap-
pens when it is sent to town, may make it look well, but it
surely injures the flavor of the plant.
Glen Cove, L. I. W. EF.
Spathoglottis Kimballiana—This is a handsome and very
remarkable Orchid, very rare, and the finest of the genus. It
is now in bloom with W. S. Kimball, Esq., of Rochester, N. Y.,
in whose honor the plant is named. It flowered for the first
time in England some six weeks ago in the collection of Sir
Trevor Lawrence, and has been awarded a first-class certifi-
cate by the Royal Horticultural Society of London. Its flowers
are as large as Phalenopsis grandifiora, and of a very pleasing
yellow color, being borne many together on a fine erect spike.
It was discovered in 1886 by I. Forstermann in the Malayan
Archipelago, who first (from a distance) thought it a yellow
Phalaenopsis, so great was the resemblance of “the flowers to
that species. It is sparingly found growing on rocks in a very
moist situation.
Oncidium pulvinatum.—This fine Oncidium, introduced many
years ago, is now rarely met with in collections, having been
discarded of late years by cultivators, owing to its cultural re-
quirements not being successfully carried out. A grand speci-
men in fine health is now flowering in the well kept collection
of H. Graves, Esq., Orange, N. Te It has four stout, many-
branched spikes densely laden with upwards of 1,200 flowers,
lip being of afine bright yellow, the sepals and petals beautifully
marked with dull chocolate. Pot culture and intermediate
house temperature suit this species admirably, with a good
supply of water during active growth.
June Notes from the Flower Garden.
OUBLE-FLOWERED herbaceous Pzeonies find a place,
and generally a prominent one, in all old country gar-
dens, where they spring up and flower and die down yearafter
year. Single-flowered Pieonies, although much more beauti-
ful, are less often seen, and gardeners in this country are only
just beginning to appreciate them and to realize that among
them are some of the very finest of all hardy herbaceous
plants. Nearly two dozen species or sub-species of Paeony are
known, natives of southern Europe, northern and western
Asia and western North America; of these all but one are
herbaceous. Many of the species have long been cultivated,
especially P. albiflora, a Siberian plant, and P. officinalis, from
southern Europe, and they have given rise to numberless
varieties, both single and double flowered, and with petals
varying from pure white or pale pink to deep scarlet. Many
of the : species have probably never been cultivated in this
country, and no one has yet made here anything like a com-
plete or even a representative collection of the best garden
varieties. Such a collection, could it be properly studied and
correctly named, would be of great service to gardeners, and
would well repay systematic study. Certainly there is no class
of hardy plants of so much beauty which are so inadequately
known in this country. The most beautiful single-flowered
Peony here, in a very small and badly-selected collection, is
P. albiflora, with deliciously fragrant, pure white satiny flow-
ers, four or five inches across, two or three being produced ~
sometimes from the same stem. Vesta, a seedling, raised
evidently from the last, has immense pale pink flowers, shaded
delicately with rose, and when fully expanded ten or twelve —
inches across. Abyla has smooth, rosy pink flowers, three
inches across, and is a less desirable plant than Galopen, with
much larger pink flowers, but not otherwise distinguishable
from it. ‘Algeria has dark purple-red, satiny flowers, “and Gor-
dens, very “handsome, large, spreading, dark purple-red
Jury 4, 1888.]
flowers. Ranunculiflora was in bloom ten days earlier than
any of these; it is a form no doubt of P. officinalis, with rosy
red, not very large nor distinct flowers. I do not pretend to
vouch for these names, which are those under which the plants
were imported from Europe.
The showiest herbaceous plant just now in flower in the gar-
dens in this neighborhood is a very fine variety of the Cau-
casian Poppy (Papaver bracteatum), raised several years ago
by Mr. Francis Parkman, in which the flowers are large—
seven or eight inches across, deep blood-red, and handsomely
marked on the inside of the petals with a dark purple-black
eye. It is a very hardy plant, which, when once fairly estab-
lished, spreads into a broad mass, from which the stout, naked
scapes rise to a height of two to three feet. This Poppy rarely
produces seeds ; and is propagated by root cuttings, taken in
the summer, before the plants begin their second or autumn
growth. The young plants are best grown in pots, until they
have attained considerable size, and then, as they transplant
badly, they should be planted without disturbing the roots
where they are to remain permanently.
Vincitoxicum acuminatum is a Japanese plant, with twining
stems two or three feet long, softly pubescent, long green
leaves, and loose axillary, long-stalked clusters of pure white
star-shaped flowers, which it continues to produce during sev-
eral months. It is rather an interesting addition to the list of
hardy summer-flowering perennials.
Gillenia trifoliata, the Bowman's Root of southern woods,
is an excellent plant in the herbaceous border, where it makes
a wide, graceful mass of slender red stems, two or three feet
high, covered with light, three-lobed leaves, and many pretty
white-petaled flowers in loose panicles from the ends of the
branches.
Allium ceruleum, a Russian species, is a good border or
rock-garden plant, with showy, compact heads of bright blue
flowers, which, individually, are not large. It is perfectly
hardy, and well worth cultivating for the peculiar color of the
flowers. Another Onion (Ad/ium Moly), a native of southern
Europe, and a very old garden favorite, still holds its own
among all the more recent introductions of this family. A
‘mass of this plant, when the bright yellow flowers, which ap-
pear in compact. umbels above the broad leaves, are open, is
always a pleasant sight, which year after year will be renewed
without care or trouble.
Vancouveria hexandra isa low herb, belonging to the Bar-
berry family, and a native of the North-west coast, where it
inhabits the moist, shady Coniferous forests. It takes kindly
to cultivation here, and has now spread over a considerable
space among the rocks in the shadiest part of the rock-garden,
where now it is throwing up in great profusion its tall, naked,
slender flower scapes. They are often two feet high, and bear
near the summit a number of small, white, nodding flowerson
long, slender, filiform, drooping pedicles. The thin, pale
green leaves are composed of two or three stalled, obtusely-
lobed leaflets, which possess in themselves no little beauty.
But the handsomest flower in the garden, and one of the
handsomest of which the North American flora can boast, is the
great red and white Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium spectabile). It
is not a rare plant at allin Northern bogs, and one of the easiest
of all the terrestrial Orchids to cultivate, either in the open
border or in a pot, but no other Cypripedium can compare
with it in beauty, and it quite puts to shame all the high-priced
tropical species and the innumerable and never-ending gar-
den hybrids wnich Orchid-growers now produce so easily.
Cypripedium spectabile is a downy plant, with leafy stems, a
couple of feet high, bearing one or several pure white flowers,
with an inflated, prominent, rosy-purple lip. There is not a
garden which cannot bemade more attractive by bringing into
it this charming plant. =
Boston, June ene P Be
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
| ane Rocky Mountain Raspberry (Rudus deliciosus), although
one of the first of the central and southern Rocky Moun-
tain plants known to botanists, having been discovered in 1820
by Dr. James, the surgeon of Long’s expedition, has only been
in cultivation a few years, comparatively, and is still very little
known in gardens. It is one of the handsomest and hardiest
of the early summer-blooming shrubs. Like the well known
Rubus odoratus and Rk. Nutkanus,it has simple leaves and large
flowers. &. deliciosws has erect, arching, graceful stems four
or five feet high, covered with light brown or gray striated bark.
The bright green leaves are borne on slender red petioles one
’ and a half or two inches long. They are two inches or more
in diameter, fe torm-orbiculsy, rugose, three to five lobed,
Garden and Forest.
225
sharply serrate, tomentose pubescent when young like the
calyx and the young shoots, which are also red. The erect,
few, generally one-flowered peduncles, are long and slender.
The flowers, when expanded, are nearly two inches across, and
pure white. They resemble miniature Cherokee Roses, and
present a charming appearance when they cover the arching
branches of the plant. The fruit is small, composed of three
or four dry, tasteless carpels; and the delicious flavor, to
which the plant owes its name, was developed doubtless in the
imagination of the hungry botanist who discovered it. This
plant may be easily raised from seed, which is produced here,
but not very abundantly, or by cuttings ; it is perfecily hardy,
and will thrive in any exposure and in any good soil. Stronger
shoots and better flowering wood are obtained by cutting out
the old stems after they have finished flowering, thus stimu-
lating the growth of vigorous young wood.
The Nine-Bark (Physocarpus, or, as it is more generally
known, Sfir@a opulifolia) is a familiar plant in the gardens
and along the borders of woods and streams in the Northern
States. It will not be in flower here for two or three weeks
yet, although its near relative from another continent, Physo-
carpus Amurensis of Manchuria, where it was discovered in
1856 by Maximowicz in the mountains along the Amoor River,
has been flowering here for several days. It is a large shrub,
with stout erect branches, six or eight feet high, covered, like
those of its American congener, near the base with loose bark,
separating into numerous thin layers. The ample leaves are
broadly acuminate, three to five lobed, and sharply serrate.
The large, white, long-pediceled flowers, three-fourths of an
inch across, with conspicuous purple anthers, are borne in
rather loose subracemose corymbs, terminal on lateral red,
leafy young branches, produced in great profusion from the
stems of the previous year. The Manchurian Nine-Bark is a
very hardy, free-growing shrub, rather coarse in appearance
and habit, but well suited to grow in the shade or to produce
bold, effective masses of foliage in large shrubberies or on
rocky banks.
Among Spireeas, two species now in bloom in the Arboretum,
Spire@a alpina and S. cana, are rarely seen in gardens here,
although possessing very considerable merit as ornamental
plants. S. a/pina, like S. Thunbergii and S. prunifolia, belongs
to the section of the genus in which the corymbs of flowers are
produced from the ends of very short lateral branches. Itisa
graceful plant, three or four feet high, with slender, arching,
flexuous, angled stems and linear-lanceolate leaves which are
sharply acuminate, pale green, entire or sometimes sharply
serrate towards the apex. The handsome corymbs of white
flowers are produced in great profusion, and in size and general
appearance are not unlike those of the well-known S. Cantonien-
sis (Reevesiana), in which, however, the inflorescence appears
at the end of long lateral branches. S. a/pina is a native of
the mountains of Siberia and Mongolia. It is very hardy here
and soon grows into a handsome specimen. .S. cava is a
very peciehle species with erect, round, pubescent branches,
growing here toa height of from three to four feet. The
leaves are elliptical, sillky, villous on the lower side, entire or
sometimes with three or four sharp teeth at the end; the
small, many-flowered corymbs are borne at the end of long
leafy branches of the current year. It is a native of Croatia and
Dalmatia. S$. Sauranica, a larger and less pubescent plant
and not rare in gardens, is considered a variety of this plant.
Among the early Viburnums in flower is V. dilafatum, a
common Japanese plant not uncommon also in central China.
Here it is a low, wide-branching shrub, now three or four feet
high, with rigid spreading branches, covered with very dark
gray bark; handsome ovate or obovate leaves three or four
inches long, rounded or sometimes abruptly acuminate at the
end, sharply and conspicuously serrate above the middle, other-
wise quite entire ; bright yellow-green above, paler on the
under side, with very prominent mid-rib and primary veins.
The under side of the leaves, especially along the veins,
petioles and young shoots, are densely covered with short
white tomentum. The small, creamy white flowers are pro-
duced in a wide, open-branched, long-stalked cyme, from the
end of short, leafy branches. The orbicular-ovate fruit, which
is not produced here very abundantly, is scarlet. This is a
very hardy plant, not showy in flower, but worth cultivating
for its handsome foliage, which, when bruised, has, as
does the wood, an exceedingly strong and disagreeable odor.
Viburnum pubescens, although rarely seen in gardens, is an
exceedingly beautiful species in cultivation. It is a compact
shrub, two or three feet high, with rigid, erect branches and
ovate, taper pointed leaves, remotely and sharply serrate, except
near the base, conspicuously pinnately veined, the under
side, as well as the young shoots and very short petioles, soft
226
pubescent; the flatcymes of small, white flowers, which, in
cultivation, are produced in the greatest abundance, appear at
the ends of the young branches. The fruit is dark purple or
nearly black. Viburnum pubescens is found along the borders
of woods from western Vermont to Wisconsin, extending south
to New Jersey and Kentucky. It is very hardy and flourishes
in good garden soil. Like so many North American shrubs,
it has been too much neglected as a garden plant.
And this is true as well of the Sheep-berry, /76urnum Lentago,
a very handsome, small tree, or tree-like shrub, which some-
times attains a height of twenty-five or thirty feet, with a clear,
straight trunk, supporting a round compact mass of foliage.
It has large ovate, sharply pointed leaves, three or four inches
long, closely and sharply serrate, and borne on long margined
petioles, which, like the buds, are covered with brown scurf.
The broad flat cymes, four or five inches across, of small, creamy
white flowers, are sessile. The black, oval fruit, half an inch
long, ripens in the late autumn, and has an agreeable, but rather
insipid flavor. The wood of this species has a most disagreea-
ble odor. Viburnum Lentago isa common northern plant,
widely and generally distributed from the shores of Hudson
Bay to Georgia and Missouri, attaining its best development
far north, and found generally in deep, rich soil, along the
borders of swamps or streams, or on high rocky ridges. The
compact habit of this plant, its handsome foliage and showy
clusters of flowers, entitle it to general cultivation.
Viburnum macrocephalum, of which the form with all the
flowers sterile only is known, is not often seen here. It was
discovered by Robert Fortune in gardens at Shanghai and
Chusan, and has always been rather a favorite plant in Eng-
land. Here it is perfectly hardy and flowers every year, al-
though it does not grow with any vigor, or produce its cymes
of pure white flowers, which are generally mistaken for those
of a white-lowered Aydrangea hortensis in much profusion.
It is a low shrub, with rigid, wide-spreading branches, covered
with smooth, light gray bark, and rather small, pale, oval
leaves, with small remote teeth, and covered on the under
side with stellate pubescence. It is usually grafted on Vbur-
num Lantana, and must then be constantly watched to prevent
the stock from sending up suckers, which rob the plant of
what little vitality it possesses here.
Among plants of recent introduction of the very first class,
from an ornamental point of view, must be mentioned Lon-
tcera Alberti, a dwarf Honeysuckle, discovered a few years
ago by Dr. Albert Regel in the high mountains of eastern
Turkestan. It is one of the Bush Honeysuckles, and is a
low, smooth plant, with long, slender, spreading, pendulous
branches, which only rise a foot or two from the ground, but
soon make a wide, graceful mass of light green foliage. The
leaves are deciduous, opposite, glaucous, linear oblong, ob-
tuse, entire, or with one or two teeth near the base, from an
inch to an inch and a half long, and are borne on short peti-
oles. The fragrant flowers are produced in pairs on short
axillary peduncles; the cylindrical tube of the rosy lilac cor-
olla is four times longer than the calyx, with a spreading limb
ot five nearly equal, ovate-elliptical lobes, about three-quarters
of an inch across when expanded. Lomnicera Alberti is a per-
fectly hardy plant of easy cultivation; it is admirably suited for
the margins of shrub beds, where its graceful branches can
spread out over the turf, for the rock-garden, or for covering
rocky banks. :
Lonicera Maximowicsi is another handsome Bush Honey-
suckle now in flower. It is a native of the mountain forests of
eastern Manchuria. Here it makes a neat bush, with upright
branches three or four feet high, covered with pale gray bark.
The leaves are light green and shining above, paler on the
lower side, which is covered with long, slender hairs; they
are an inch anda half or two inches long, and hardly exceed
the slender peduncles, which bear two bright, rose-colored
flowers, the limb deeply two-parted, the upper division three-
lobed. This is a very hardy plant, worth a place ina large col-
lection of shrubs. rie
June rsth.
The Forest.
The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico.—V.
URNING away at last from Chihuahua and the region
stretching along the line of the railroad far north-
ward and still farther to the south—a region made familiar
by two seasons of diligent searching out its scanty vegeta-
tion over wide and weary desert areas of mountain. and
Garden and Forest.
[Juty 4, 1888.
plain—a region rich only in the matchless tints of its land-
scape and the floods of white sunlight overspreading all—
we set out joyfully for a fresh field amidst the western
Sierra Madre.
Following the route of Wislizenus, the early explorer, on
his involuntary journey from Chihuahua to Cusihuiriachic,
as nearly as a wagon road can follow a bridle trail in its
devious course over the mountains and through their cafions,
we cross three chains of mountains with intervening plains
or valleys of such character and bearing such forest vege-
tation as has been described. Beyond Carretas our road
mounts a high mesa, whose marginal bluffs are covered
with an open growth of low Oaks and Junipers of the spe-
cies already mentioned. The gullies, which cut into the
mesa from every side, are occupied by the same growth,
and from the gullies the trees scatter out over the adjacent
mesa for a short distance ; but they appear to have been
unable to gain a foothold on the central area of the mesa.
Some ten miles further on, however, where the mesa,
gradually ascending, terminates in a broad ridge, its sum-
mit, as well as its slopes, is covered with a thin forest.
Here, then, in our journey up to the mountains we have
reached, at an elevation of 6,000 feet, the timber line.
Descending from the mesa by a steep and tortuous grade,
our road enters a wooded cafion of a pine covered range,
and winding up through it, crossing its swollen stream
thirty times in a distance of seven or eight miles, threading
its narrow intervales and clambering over its frightful
ledges, brings us after a journey of seventy-five miles to
the old mining town of Cusihuiriachic, noted among bot-
anists as being the place where Wislizenus was held _pri-
soner of state, as he styled it, from Sept. 13th, 1846, till the
3d of March following, restrained during most of that time
within limits five miles from the town.
La Bufa towers over the cafion, through which straggles
the town, a sharp peak whose summit is little less than
8,000 feet elevation, the highest point of the divide within
view. Southward the divide lies amongst a broad belt of
mountains, confused and abrupt upheavels of porphyritic
rock, covered with forests of Conifers and Evergreen Oaks,
which to eyes grown weary of the bare ranges to the east-
As the slopes of the Bufa and the.
ward, seem luxuriant.
hillsides of its immediate vicinity have doubtless suffered
deforestation from an early day, to supply the needs of the
town and its mining furnaces founded in the beginning of
the eighteenth century, it is probable that Wislizenus, who
had no time for collecting on his forced ride from Chi-
huahua, in those forests first made the acquaintance of
Pinus strobiformis, P. Engelmannt and P. Chihuahuana,
three species published by Engelmann in Wislizenus’ Re-
port of his Mexican journey. The Arbutus mentioned by
Engelmann in connection with these Pines nearly answers
the description of A. petolaris, HBK.; the Juniper may
be either /. occidentahs, Hook., var. conjugans, Engelm., or /.
pachy philoea, Torr., both of which are of common occurrence
in this district; and the dwarf Evergreen Oak is perhaps -
Quercus oblongifola, Torr.; but the mention of a Thuya
must have been an error. That Wislizenus should not
have secured specimens of Quercus hypoleuca, Engelm.,
Q. grisea, Leibm., and Q. fulva, Leibm., even on the Bufa
common with small specimens of several of the above, sur-
prised me ; as did the finding, during my stay of five days
in that vicinity, of more than a score of herbaceous plants,
which have remained undescribed until recent years. But
this shows the unfavorable circumstances, lamented by
Wislizenus, under which his remarkable collection was
gathered.
Northward from the Bufa for a few miles the divide is
but a broad swell connecting two great plains, which are
more widely separated farther north, where the divide rises
again to an altitude of perhaps 9,000 feet. The plain lying
east of the divide sweeps down beyond the horizon to the
/aguna of the deserts near the Rio Grande; that to the west,
twenty or thirty miles wide and one hundredand fifty long
north and south, rimmed on one side by the divide and on
Jury 4, 1888.]
the other by the Cordilleras, is the great basin of the Papi-
gochic, or upper Yaqui. Fifty miles away in the north-
west, looking across this plain and beyond a blue moun-
tain chain which it bears, we see a lofty crest of the Cor-
dilleras, which is the goal of our journey.
C. G. Pringle.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I am a litile surprised in reading the interesting notes
on the Ginkgo tree in your last number that no mention is
made of the specimen on Boston Common, which has a his-
torical interest worthy of record. It formerly stood in the
grounds of Gardiner Greene, Esq., on what was then Pember-
ton Hill, now Pemberton Square. After his death the estate
was sold, and a condition of the sale was that this tree should
be preserved, as there was then but one other in the country,
which was the one you allude to as planted by Dr. Hosack. I
remember perfectly seeing the tree on its way to the Common
in 1834, or perhaps 1833. It was then some thirty feet high,
and was transported on a low four-wheeled truck built for the
purpose, and was planted on the Beacon Street Mall, directly
opposite the house at the corner of Joy Street, to which Mrs.
Greene had removed from Pemberton Hill.
Its removal was a subject of general interest at the time, as
the papers announced that it was a very rare tree from Japan,
a region almost as little known to us then as the moon.
It still lives and thrives, and its site has been rendered classic
by the pen of the “Autocrat,” as it is the starting point from
the Beacon Street Mall of the ‘‘ Long Path,” to which he makes
such touching allusion.
There are some fine specimens of the Ginkgo in Providence;
but when I last saw them, five or six years since, they still pre-
served the stiff habit you describe, though they were some
fifty feet in height.
| one Se H.W. S. Cleveland,
Minneapolis, June 8th.
[The old Ginkgo on Boston Common is well known to
many of the older inhabitants of that city. It is now not
more than forty feet high, and is not a large or a fine tree
for its age, having perhaps never entirely recovered from
the effects of the removal; it has for many years been
crowded and overshadowed by neighboring Elms, and
many of its branches are dead or dying. It has never
taken on the graceful habit which this tree assumes at
maturity when growing under favorable conditions. —Ep. |
New York, Sune 18th, 1888.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I have noted with interest the remarks of ‘“ Philo-
dendron,” in your issue of June 11th, on the conditions of the
Norway Spruces in Central Park.
About a year ago the authorities of the park became alive
to the necessity of removing dying, deformed or crowded
trees, and since that time 6,215 trees of this objectionable
character have been cut down. Of this number 760 have been
Norway Spruces.
The effects of this work may be seen along the west drive
of the park, and particularly on Fifth Avenue, between Sixty-
fifth Street and Seventy-second Street. In many places no
replanting has been found necessary, as the original growth
was sufficiently dense to allow a considerable margin for thin-
ning-out. In other places, such as the bank on Fifth Avenue,
just referred to, a new plantation has been established, con-
sisting of shrubs and trees such as Spirea opulifolia, Phila-
delphus grandiflorus, Lonicera fragrantissima, Cornus san-
guinea, Viburnum dentatum, Betula alba, Pinus Strobus, Pinus
Mugho, Picea orientalis, Pseudotsuga Douglasii, etc.
The park authorities have frequently been criticised for the
radical cutting-out thus undertaken, and it has been thought
best to remove the least healthy wees first and cultivate
intelligent public-sentiment in regard to this cutting by man-
aging it in such a way as to prevent a striking appearance
anywhere of denudation.
Several large groups of diseased Norway Spruces are
marked for removal during this summer and autumn, and
by another spring 1 think there will be few of these objection-
able Spruces left in the park.
SAM, PARSONS, JR., Superintendent of Parks.
Garden and Forest.
227
Periodical Literature.
Harper's Magazine for July contains an article by Mr. F. H.
Spearman called ‘The Great American Desert,” describ-
ing those districts, formerly known by this name, which are
now largely under cultivation and furnish support to a rapidly
growing and prosperous population. It differs from many
articles on the newer regions of the Great West we have read
in being sensible as well as emphatic—in being neither a pes-
simistic tourist's chronicle, nor a panegyric concocted in the
interests of land schemers, railroads, or the “boomers” of
embryo cities. One paragraph we are glad to quote as rein-
forcing opinions already voiced in the editorial columns of
GARDEN AND Forest. After speaking of the way in which the
great vexed question of the rainfall has been discussed by
‘‘experts who know absolutely nothing about the actual facts
in the case,” and by residents who are eager to explain the
increase in rainfall, they assume, by all sorts of ridiculous rea-
sons, Mr. Spearman shows how no perceptible increase in
the amount of rainfall need be assumed to account for the
increased humidity of the soil. ‘It is certain,” he says, ‘that
the buffalo grass sod which has covered these plains for cen-
turies has become as impervious to water as a cowboy’'s
slicker. Hence the rain never penetrates it, but rushes off the
‘divides’ in a fury to reach the rivers. Any one who has
seen it rain on the plains can understand something of the
deluge which covers the entire prairie to the depth of twelve
to twenty-four inches during summer showers. It is easy to
comprehend then how the numerous cafions in Kansas and
Nebraska are cut by the eagerness of the flood to roll east-
ward. But when the prairie.sod has once been plowed, the
soil absorbs water like a sponge. After a day’s heavy rain
there is no mud visible in a plowed field; the moisture soaks
downward to great depths, and the soil retains it through
weeks of dry weather afterward, sustaining its crops without
additional rain for a wonderful length of time. It is at least
reasonable to suppose that under this changed condition of
large portions of the soil, which now absorbs rain instead of
shedding it like a rubber coat, the climate retains its atmos-
pheric moisture better, and the rainfall becomes more regular,
less falling at a time, but falling oftener. This change may
account, too, for the heavy dews which of late years have been
remarked in this country—a thing absolutely unknown ten
years ago. The upturned soil parting with but a little of its
moisture every day, it returns to it at night, well nigh as re-
freshing as a shower.”
One of the illustrations which accompany Mr. Spearman's
article shows a rude rustic bridge, built of logs, and, apparently,
ropes, which is most interesting in the way it reproduces the
construction of the vast bridge of stone and iron that stretches
between New York and Brooklyn.
In Mr. Chas. Dudley Warner’s ‘Studies of the Great West,”
in the same number of Harfer, he speaks of the Central Hos-
pital for the Insane of the State of Illinois as having ‘‘a large
conservatory of plants and flowers,” which is ‘rightly re-
garded as a remedial agency in the treatment of the patients.”
His description of the plan of Indianapolis, which its inhabi-
tants are fond of calling the ‘ Park City,” is interesting.
A third noteworthy article in this magazine is one by Mr,
Peter Henderson on the ‘Street Trees of Washington.”
Recent Plant Portraits.
Botanical Magazine, May.— DENDROBIUM CLAVATUM, @.
6993; a magnificent species with large, orange colored
flowers nearly three inches in diameter across the se-
pals, which, as well as the much larger orbicular petals,
are spreading; the uniform or almost circular limb of the
lip deep purple, margined with golden yellow. It has
tufted, pendulous stems, two or three feet long, and short,
broad, elliptical leaves. Although long known to botanists
and one of the earliest discovered of the golden flowered In-
dian Dendrobes, this plant is here first figured in all its great
beauty. It must not be confounded with Roxburgh’s plant of
the same name—the D. su/catum of Lindley, a much more
common species. 9 bo
ALLIUM SUWOROWI, ¢. 6994, a tall, handsome species from
central Asia, where it was discovered by Dr. Albert Regel on the
Kirghis desert and. near Bokhara. The tall, stout scape spring-
ing from a basal rosette of glaucous-green leaves, bears a
large, long handsome, dense umbel of dark mauve-colored
flowers.
ALPENIA OFFICINARUM, 4. 6995; ‘‘the subject of this plate, the
‘lesser or Chinese Galangal,’ was formerly in great repute as
228
an aromatic stimulant amongst the Arabs and Greeks, and for-
merly in western Europe, but is now banished from the British
Pharmacopeeias. The plant that produced it was unknown
to botanists till 1867, when Mr. Sampson, accompanied by that
excellent botanist, the late Dr. Hance, of China, discovered it
near the village of Tung-sai, on the peninsula of Lei-chan-fu,
opposite the Island of Hainan itself.” Its nearest affinity is the
well-known A. culcurita, and Sir Joseph Hooker is inclined to
believe it to be referable to that plant.
DOUGLASIA LA&VIGATA, ¢ 6996, an alpine plant from the
mountains of Oregon.
PASSIFLORA VIOLACEA, ¢. 6997; a free blooming, green-house
climber, believed to be a native of Rio Janeiro, It has three-
lobed leaves and handsome lilac flowers, on solitary, slender
peduncles, six to eight inches long, upcurved toward the end.
RHODODENDRUM ARGENTUM.—Revue Horticole, May 1.
CHRYSANTHEMUM BARON D’AVENE and C. JULES BARIGNY.
—kevue Horticole, May 1. Two new varieties raised by M. T.
Délaux, the first a cup-shaped flower with rose-violet petals,
those in the centre much lighter, almost white ; the second of
the Japanese class, with narrow rose-colored petals.
SALIX BALSAMIFERA, Figs. 1-5, forma typica; Fig. 6, var.
vegeta, Fig. 7, var. lanceolata ; Fig. 8, var. alpestris.— Bulletin
Torrey Botanical Club, May.
THE GERMAN PRUNE.— Canadian Horticulturist, May. One of
the most generally cultivated fruits of central Europe—the
German Prune—has been found to give excellent results in
some parts of Canada, where its more general cultivation is
now recommended.
ERYTHRONIUM GRANDIFLORUM, var. ALBIFLORUM.— Garden-
er's Chronicle, May 5. A little known, but very handsome
plant, of Oregon and Washington Territory.
VITIS PTEROPHORA, Gartenflora, May 15th.—A handsome
Brazilian species, with green and red leafy branches, from
which descend remarkable red cordy branches, forming at
their extremities, where they can reach the water, great masses
of rootlets like the tail of a horse. The branches produce from
their extremities at the end of the season of growth elon-
gated tubers, formed by the lengthening and swelling of asub-
terminal internode. These tubers are five or six inches long,
green and fleshy. They finally drop off, and reaching the
ground produce, under favorable conditions, new plants. The
tendrils of this plant are equally curious. They are slender
and forked, and provided at the end of each fork with an ad-
hesive disk. When the tendrils reach a support the disks
adhere to it and greatly enlarge ; and if the support will admit
of it the tendril will embrace it, secreting from its surface a
viscid tissue which glues it fast to the supportingsurface. The
flowers are green and inconspicuous. There is an earlier
figure of this plant in the Botanical Magazine, t. 6803; and it has
been figured in the Gardener's Chronicle as Vitis Gongylodes.
Notes.
The Second Annual Session of the Texas State Horticultural
Society was held at Denison, Texas, last week.
According to European dispatches to the daily press, im-
mense tracts of forest land in Sweden have been recently
swept by fire. The town of Sundsvall, on the Gulf of Bothnia,
is said to have been almost entirely destroyed by the flames.
The Rose and Strawberry Exhibition of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society was held at Boston on the 26th and 27th
of June. The exhibition of Strawberries was finer than it has
ever been before. The Roses, on the other hand, although
shown in great abundance, were somewhat inferior in quality
to those of last year. A nice feature was a collection of forty
or fifty species and varieties of single Roses, for which there
seems to be a growing appreciation. Besides Orchids and a
generous display of cut flowers, there was a good collection
of flowering shrubs, the most attractive of which was an 47-
dromeda speciosa. A noteworthy plant was a faultless speci-
a ot Rhynchospermum jasminoides, which was over six feet
iigh.
The passion for Orchids is developing in Germany, although
more slowly than in England and France. A large number of
the plates published in the various German horticultural pa-
pers are now devoted to representations of new or rare Orchids,
and although previous auction sales had been so unsuccess-
ful that for two years none had been held in the empire, one
recently organized in Berlin by an English firm, amid many
predictions of failure, proved entirely satisfactory. The trade
were large buyers and inany new-fledged amateurs made very
extensive purchases. ;
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 4, 1888.
The official programme for the horticultural section of the
Paris International Exhibition of 1889 was issued in January.
There is to bea permanent exhibition, lasting from May 6th
to October 31st, accompanied by eleven special exhibitions of
five or six days each. Some of these last are to be open to all
classes of exhibits pertaining to the section of horticulture,
while others are to be more restricted in character. All ex-
hibitors who desired to make plantings this spring were to
send in their applications before the 11th of February last, but
for those who desire to plant next spring the lists will be open
until February Ist, 1889.
The State appropriation for the expenses during the current
year of the Department of Parks and Gardens in the City of
Berlin amounts to 159,278 marks—about $40,000.
The official report of the wine production of France during
the year 1887 shows a total result of 24,333,264 hectolitres.
This is a falling off of three and one-half million hectolitres as
against the year 1886, and is less than the average production
of the last ten years taken together. The chief cause of de-
cline is attributed to the increasing ravages of mildew and the
Phylloxera, although certain western and southern depart-
ments had also to contend against disastrous weather, From
Algiers, on the contrary, the report is encouraging, a notable
increase being shown both in the extent of land planted with
the vine and in the amount of wine produced. The cider
harvest in France was also a good one, more than 5,000,000
hectolitres being produced in excess of the production of the
year 1886,
Retail Flower Markets.
NEw York, Fune 2gth.
The Rose crop of this locality has been demoralized by the protract-
ed heat. Hybrids are small, colorless, and lonse-petaled. American
Beauties have been less affected, and La France are fine. A few Gen.
Jacqueminots are arriving from Newport, and sell for from $1.00 to
$1.50 a dozen. Marechal Neil Roses are scarce andsmall. They cost
$1.00 adozen. Catherine Mermets continue poor and are 75 cts. to
$1.00 a dozen. Niphetos and Brides cost $1.00 a dozen, and fine Mde.
Cuisins the same. Perles and Souvenir d’un Ami bring from 75 cts.
to $1.00a dozen. Hybrid Roses cost from 25 cts to 30 cts. each. Puri-
tans bring from 15 to 25 cts. La France are $1.50 and $2.00 a dozen.
Orchids cost 50 cts. a flower for Cattleyas, and 10 and 20 cts. a
flower for Oncidiums. ‘There are from 15 to 60 flowers on a spray of
the latter species. _Gladioluses are 10 and 15 cts. each. Peonies
grow scarcer and bring 10 and 15 cts. each. Lily-of-the-Valley
from Newport arrives in small lots. It is 75 cts. a dozen.
Carnations bring from 35 to 50 cts. a dozen, Longiflorum Lilies
and Callas cost 20 cts. each. Pea blossoms bring 25 cts. a dozen, and
Heliotrope and Mignonette 50 cts. a bunch. The latter is very slender
and ragged. Smilax costs 50 cts. a string and 4o cts. a yard. Field
Daisies are 25 cts. a dozen. Moss Roses bring $2.coadozen. They are
so fully open that they can no longer be classed as ‘ buds.”
PHILADELPHIA, June 29th.
The very hot weather which prevailed during the latter end of last
week seriously affected the flower trade, and, even during this week,
which is somewhat cooler, the demand is very limited. Transient trade
is done only in the early morning or late in the afternoon. Amongst
Roses American Beauty is superior to any other. Prices for Roses vary
very little from those reported in last issue—which may, in short, be
stated from 50 cts. to $3.00 per doz. Sweet Peas still continue to be
in demand, at 25 cts. per doz. The Cornflower sells at the same
price; the blue variety being most in demand. The only notable
feature in novelties is in varieties of Coreopsis, which sells at 25 cts.
per dozen. Water Lilies (Vymphea Odorata) are plentiful and also cost
25 cts. per doz. Carnations are still obtainable at 25 cts. per doz.
Smilax costs from 40 to 50cts. perstring. <Asparagzs tenuissimus is in
fair demand at from 50 to 75 cts. per string. Ferns, especially Adian-
tum cuneatum, are often asked for and sell at from 25 to 35 cts, per doz.
Boston, Fine 29th.
There is very little to be said about the cut flower market at the pre-
sent time. Out-door Roses are just at their height and crowd every-
thing else to the wall. On the street corners everywhere one sees
great banks of Jacqueminots, Luizets and Hybrids in variety which
are offered at five for 1octs. Indoor Roses are very poor. The grow-
ers do not make any effort to produce good Roses under glass now,
and many of them have cleaned out their houses and planted their
young stock for next season’s business. White Roses are still in de-
mand, but there is nothing of the kind in the market worth buying.
Carnations are abundant, cheap, but of inferior quality. Pink Pond
Lilies sell well at $3.00 per dozen, Lily-of-the-Valley is offered in
best quality at $1.50 per dozen. Gloxinias of glorious color and form
are $1.00 per dozen. These are especially effective tor basket work,
but as cut flowers also they are very desirable. Mountain Laurel,
which is iust in flower, is used extensively in large decorations.
‘
Jury 1 1, 1888. ]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TripunE Buitpinac, New York.
Conducted sb yiiewisoret terete. 6s ce) 3) es) oe Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT /NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
EprrortaL ArticLes :—Farmers and Forestry.—The Artistic Aspect of Trees.
Tee Re XTUL es —- NOt ja ceteseirio sa alvientctesis Saisie 0% wivicleicivieit e's alaisle esitic.eisjeisie 229
Palms in Central Florida .-P. W. Reasoner. 231
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter. .......+...00eeseeeee eee W. Goldring. 232
New or Litre Known Prants :—Philadelphus Coulteri (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 232
Piant Norgs :—Novelties at Baden-Baden ..........2.202000000+ Max Leichtlin. 233
Schizophragma hydrangeoides—Benthamia Japonica...........0--00000: 233
suheieherokee Rose (wath Uustra tion) jesse eisieetid ssiseiniwesaincicisiacice siuleics 234
Cuitrurat DEPARTMENT :—Canterbury Bells...............055+ William Falconer. 234
Myosotis dissitiflora—Rockets—Hardy Lady Slippers........+....0eees 235
OTCNIG INGLES sectaersje aya te sie eietalo\aiate stare lo'era (ties: siainerainitiateiaie sin(e aiecoistess F, Goldring. 235
Notesitromithe- Arnold Arboretum. csisieecle.s c.ei-iviseinie vs:s1siplatein(s'oiaiea nye dare ave H 236
Tue Forest :—The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico. VII..... C. G. Pringle. 238
I ORRESEON DENCE senie niivete(elieraisieleiets cirieaisiaicters ete larsisie'@ b/o'satas spre he siernie sicve(aiclsiee ion sla sieves 238
IEERIODIGA GMS TERA TURES claisom eisis tiele sie/cisie s1a.0'6 6in.nslsieie a:sion sieineis.c's sisieaicieis a.eeiasele ace 239
SSPE GS eae ete stale ett lelalalrtate otk wicyotat dslalntsielnin‘ela sists esl oll ali wal cniciciele vivicie’sieisieiove at's sine 240
Rerait Frower Markets :—New York, Philadelphia, Boston,.........+-..+.++ 240
Ittustrations :—Philadelphus Coulteri, Fig. 40.........0cceeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeees 233
SU NenGheron ce Ose memes vanseensire ra tne s snc ae cng waleicie stas eleaicnae oes 235
Farmers and Forestry.
R. A. C. GLIDDEN communicates to the Rural
Home some sound advice to farmers in regard to
their wood-lands, and very forcibly points out some of
the harmful falacies in regard to forestry, which now too
often find a place in periodical farm literature. A great deal
of injury has been inflicted upon the material prosperity of
this country by irresponsible utterances of writers and speak-
ers upon subjectsrelating to forestry, and farmers especially
have come to look with suspicion upon any advice in re-
gard to the care of woods and wood-lands. Such arti-
cles, therefore, as the one we have referred to, in which
the facts are plainly and forcibly stated that the planting of
trees upon farms will not increase the rain-fall, and that
trees, like other products of the soil, must be cut when
they reach maturity, cannot be too often written or too
carefully read. We cannot, however, endorse Mr. Glid-
den’s statement that there is less and less demand each
year for timber and that other materials are replacing it.
Statistics show a wonderful increase in the amount of
timber consumed in this country, and while the price of
poor, half-grown, brash or knotty timber of all sorts, and
of inferior fire-wood, has diminished in some parts of the
country, good material of certain varieties of lumber have
advanced in price in a remarkable manner. This is true
especially of the high grades of white pine, of black
walnut, hickory, cherry, white ash, and of other choice
hard woods. The prices which these woods now com-
mand show that they are becoming scarce, and indicate
clearly in what direction farmers can increase the value of
their properties by a little systematic attention to trees
and their cultivation. This is especially true in the case
of farmers living in parts of New England and of the
Northern and Middle States, where the soil is of a charac-
ter which makes the cultivation of trees its only profitable
employment. Much has been said about the decadence of
New England through the abandonment of its farms, but
in all New England there is not an acre of good land
Teally suitable for tillage, which, once cultivated, has been
Garden and Forest.
229
allowed to run to waste again. What has so seriously
injured New England agriculture, and brought agricultural
ruin to its people in many towns, is, that land, which was
only fit to produce trees, and which, if managed with the
wisdom of true economy, never would have been stripped
of its forests, has been cleared. This has often been done
at great expense, and then at the end of afew years of
unprofitable cultivation, such land has had to be aban-
doned. And what was true in New England a century
ago, later, and in a greater degree even, has been true in
northern New York; and to-day the same wasteful and
short-sighted system is working incalculable mischief in
Michigan and in other western States.
The profitable use of lands in the eastern States which
cannot be cultivated to advantage is a problem which the
farmers sooner or later must solve. Our agricultural popu-
lation cannot always continue to go west; the best land
west of the Mississippi has been occupied, and not an in-
considerable portion of it has already been greatly injured
by thoughtless methods of cultivation. As population
increases it must depend more and more upon the soil
east of the Mississippi for its support; and the prosperity
of the country will be great or small as this soil is used
wisely or wastefully.
It is a well established principle in countries where the
science and the practice of agriculture are much better un-
derstood than they are in the United States, that all land
suitable for tillage shall be cultivated and that all land
which cannot be profitably tilled shall be covered with
trees. No tree is allowed to interfere in the arable land
with the best development of its field or garden crop; and
the poor soil is planted again as soon asa crop of trees
has been taken from it. The boundary between farm and
forest is rigidly drawn and strictly guarded.
A German farmer would as soon allow his cattle to
range in his wheat fields as in his forests, which often
prove the most profitable part of a European estate. In
this country the wooded part of the farm is not cared for
nor protected in a way to maintain and increase its value ;
it is always used as .a pasture in spite of the well known
fact that cattle are fatal to a forest; the trees are either all
cleared off at once, without reference to their reproduction,
or are so carelessly selected for cutting that the character
and composition of the woods are ruined. More care is
taken now than formerly to prevent and check fires in the
woods, but the damage done to forest property in this
country by fire is still an alarming item in the national
waste account.
No system of agriculture can be long successful and
profitable which ignores the necessity of cultivating trees,
and which does not recognize the fact that much land in
every country can only be made profitable by means of
trees. The precepts which should be often repeated
to farmers are not that trees produce rain or that trees are
sacred objects, which cannot be cut without offense to
man and nature. The lessons they must learn, if they hope
to compete with the farmers trained under more enlight-
ened systems of agriculture, are that sterile, rocky, hilly
ground cannot long be tilled profitably ; and that such
land can only be wisely used to produce trees ; that the
pasturage of domestic animals in woods or on land only
suitable for the growth of trees, is an expensive and
wasteful system, as unsatisfactory from a pastoral point of
view, as it is fatal to the forest; that trees are as much out
of place in the strong level lands really suitable to perma-
nent tillage as cattle are out of place in the woods. And
they must learn, too, that wood-lands can only be made
profitable when the same care is given to the selection of
trees with reference to soil and climate as is bestowed
upon the selection of grain and other crops, and that the
rules which Nature has established for the perpetuation of
forests must be studied and obeyed.
The belief in the value of forests is increasing in this
country ; and there has been a marked change in this re-
spect during the last ten years. It can hardly be expected,
230
however, that the discussion which this interest has
evoked will bring practical results to American farmers
until they learn the lesson, which experience alone can
teach, that much of their want of success in farming can
be traced to the use they have made of the natural
conditions with which they have found themselves
surrounded.
The Artistic Aspect of Trees. II.—Texture.
NE thing to be considered when a tree is viewed from
the artistic standpoint is its form, which, as we have
explained, means its size, its contour, and the character of
its surface as determined by the number and disposition
of its branches and the consequent massing of its foliage.
Another thing to be considered is its texture. By this we
mean the character of its masses of foliage as determined
by the manner of growth of the lighter spray, and the pro-
fusion, shape, disposition and tissue of its leaves. We
know what differences of texture—of real or apparent
solidity and of surface effect—may be produced, for ex-
ample, by different methods of weaving silken threads—
resulting now in silk, now in gauze, now in satin and
again in velvet. Analogous differences nature produces
in the weaving of the leafy coverings of her trees; and
they play almost a greater part in determining the effect
of these trees than even varieties of form. If, for ex-
ample, a Spruce and a White Pine were exactly the same
in contour and in the disposition of their foliage into
masses, the longer leaves of the Pine and their arrange-
ment in clusters instead of in rows would give it a wholly
different effect because a wholly different texture, while
the feathery spray and leafage of a Hemlock would ap-
pear quite distinct from either. Even between trees of the
same genus, as between different species of Pine, very dif-
ferent textures are produced by variations in the length,
the rigidity and the number of their leaves. With decidu-
ous trees the case is the same. An infinite variety of tex-
ture is found even among species closely allied with one
another, and, when leafless, very similar in effect. Leaves
may be large or small, numerous or comparatively few,
clustered or scattered, held erect or horizontally, or in a
drooping manner; they may have simple outlines, or be
conspicuously cut or toothed or lobed ; may be thick or thin,
stiff or pliant in tissue ; may be smooth or rough or shin-
ing of surface. A variation in any one characteristic greatly
alters the general aspect of the foliage, and as there are so
many characteristics which may be combined and recom-
bined afresh, it is not strange that Nature’s weaving process
should result in innumerable varieties of texture.
Upon these varieties depends the expression of a
tree, quite as much as upon varieties of form or varieties
of color, unless, indeed, color be so peculiar as to be no
longer green and form so eccentric as to be hardly nor-
mal—as in the case of fastigiate or weeping trees. A tree
is sturdy-looking or graceful chiefly by reason of its form ;
but such varieties in sturdiness as may be expressed by
the words severity, sombreness, majesty, picturesqueness,
and such varieties in grace as may be expressed by the
words fragility, weakness, delicacy, lightness — these
spring in very large part from the texture of its foliage.
Small leaves, and especially those which are small and
elongated or small and quivering, do more than light color
to give a tree the aspect of fragility and a feminine kind of
grace, while large and simple leaves almost of themselves
imply a masculine air, and large, simple and thick-textured
leaves mean a certain majesty even in a plant so small
that it is considered a shrub, A small Magnolia, for exam-
ple, has more dignity than the largest Honey Locust. A
Catalpa is more masculine-looking than a Willow of even
the largest size; and if we imagine the thin tissue of its
leaves exchanged for a thicker, stiffer tissue, we can easily
see how its dignity would be still further increased. Even
the difference in substance between the foliage of the
American and the European Beech—the latter being some-
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 11, 1888.
what stiffer and much glossier—makes a difference in the
expression of the two trees; and there is a great contrast
in expression, despite much similarity in form and _ struc-
ture, between the White Oak, with its large, round-lobed,
dull-surfaced leaves, the Scarlet Oak, with its deeply cut
and glossy leaves, and the Willow Oak, with its very
small and simply outlined and still glossier leaves. <A
uniform texture—caused by comparatively small leaves,
regularly and thickly distributed over the branches—gives
a tree a quiet, restful look, while a broken, spotted texture,
caused by sparse, scattered and conspicuously cut leaves
(as in the Sycamore), gives it an unquiet look.
All such facts, the ‘‘commonplaces of the landscape
gardener,” should be noted and appraised by every
one who aspires to merit the title of a lover of trees. There
are none richer in possibilities of pleasure to the cultivated
eye even if actual work in the way of planting is not in
question—for while forms vary much in trees and colors
vary much, textures vary more; among smaller woody
plants individuality chiefly depends upon them; and
while their variations may seem less striking than those
of form and color to the careless observer, they soon grow
to be equally conspicuous with the growth of the observing
and the appreciating faculties.
When planting is in question, however, they are of
great importance. Itis almost as bad to group trees inhar-
moniously with regard to their textures as with regard to
their forms. Any artist would know that trees which are
quiet and restful in effect may be used in larger masses,
and will less conspicuously affect the appearance of their
neighbors than those which are spotted and restless of
aspect. He would know, too, thatitis better to relieve a light
and feathery tree against a group of more solid foliage than
to reverse the terms of the combination. He would know
that the massive, uniform surfaces which make a good
background are less pleasing in an isolated specimen stand-
ing near the eye. He would know that the great, glossy,
leathery leaves of the Evergreen Magnolia are just what is
wanted in one spot, just what is not wanted in another,
and that while the trembling leaves of the Aspen, or the
drooping, fringe-like texture of the Cut-leaved Birch, unfit
it for many positions, they make it especially valuable for
others. He would know that with every change of posi-
tion and environment comes a change in the effect of the
texture of a tree—that while one sort will look well in full
sunlight, another will look better in a shadowed spot,
another overhanging a stream, another set close against
the walls of a house. An artist feels all this in advance if —
his profession be landscape gardening ; and he feels it at
least in intelligent appreciation of existing results if it be
some other branch of art, for it is every artist’s habit to ap-
praise all he sees for the three properties of form and
texture and color. But how few amateur planters feel
it in advance; how few lovers of trees judge their own
or their neighbors’ places with such tests in mind! Even
when questions of form and of color are somewhat re-
garded, questions of texture very seldom are. Yet a culti-
vated eye is as much distressed by seeing a rigid-looking
Pine or a solid Sugar Maple where a feathery Hemlock or
a delicate Honey Locust might better stand, as by seeing
a Purple Beech where harmony calls for a green one, or a
lofty Hickory where good composition demands a low
and spreading Dogwood.
The trees in the Central Park, in this city, have not looked
as well as they do just now for a number of years.
of the early summer have all been favorable to a vigorous ©
and healthy tree-growth.
ception of the half-dead Norway Spruces, which are covered -
with red spiders, are unusually free of insect pests.
American Elms have made a remarkable growth, and when
planted under favorable conditions, are now objects of
great beauty. The American and European Lindens are
The —
cool, late spring, the abundant rains of May and the heat |
zi
The)
z
*
:
3,
|
Most of the trees, with the ex-_
Jury ir, 1888.]
very fine, too, and several species are now covered with
their fragrant flowers. The two Silver Lindens (Ziha ar-
gentea and 7. petiolaris) are striking and attractive in habit
and in the pleasing color of their foliage. No foreign trees
are better entitled to a place in our plantations than these
two European Lindens, of which many finespecimens exist
in the Park. The six thousand trees which have been re-
moved from the Park during the past year are not missed.
The work, as far as it goes, seems to have been judiciously
planned and executed. No one would now suspect that a
single tree had been cut; and the Park plantations and the
general appearance of the Park would be immensely im-
proved if thirty or forty thousand trees were removed dur-
ing the present year. They would no more be missed than
those already cut are missed. Dying Conifers still disfigure
the Park in all directions ; everywhere fine trees are in dan-
ger of being ruined from overcrowding, while the re-
moval here and there from the plantations of inharmonious
elements, as where, for example, trees with light and
feathery habit are too closely associated with round- headed,
compact trees, would add immensely to their natural and
harmonious appearance. Thereare cases, too, where trees
of peculiar rarity or interest should be freed from encroach-
ing neighbors, that their full development and long life may
be insured. This is the case with the Asiatic Elm (U/mus
pauviflora), which stands near the Seventy-second street en-
trance from Fifth Avenue. This is without doubt the largest
and finest specimen of this rare tree in the United States.
It is a specinien not only of extraordinary interest, but of
great and peculiar beauty. It now forms one of an inhar-
monious grou} of three trees. On one side it is being
pushed out of .hape by a common Tupelo or Sour Gum
tree, while its bianches on the other side are stunted by
a common Eurcpean Maple. It is hard to imagine a
more incongruou® or less pleasing combination of trees;
and it is clearly for the interest of the Park and of the
public that the Maple and the Tupelo should be cut away
and that every opportunity should be given to the Elm to
spread its branches out freely in all directions. There
are hundreds of just such cases all over the Park where
interesting and valuable trees are being ruined in this way;
but in the particular case to which we venture to call the
attention of the Park authorities, the prominent position of
this beautiful tree and the great interest which it excites
among all persons who know it, seem to warrant us in
urging prompt action to insure it from further disfigurement.
S v7 c
Palms in Central Florida.
ROBABLY in all the United States there is not such a col-
lection of’ Palms growing in the open ground as that of
Mr. E. H. Hart at Federal Point, Putnam Co., in this State.
Dr. Richardson, of New Orleans, has a good collection of
hardy Palms growing in the open ground, but the extremes of
cold experienced there are much greater than those of Mr.
Hart’s location, and only the most hardy species can be
safely planted out.
The approach to Mr. Hart's residence is through the Orange
grove, famous throughout the South for the number and ex-
cellence of the varieties of fruit grown, and containing between
the Orange trees hundreds of the choicest exotic fruit trees,
flowering and ornamental shrubs and Palms in the greatest
variety. It is of the Palms more especially that I now wish to
_ speak.
_ Overlooking masses of Magnolia fuscata, Rhincospermum
jasminoides, Olea fragrans, Azaleas, Tabernemontana, Alla-
manda, and other beautiful plants, one’s attention is first at-
tracted by a group of different species of the genus Phenix in
front of the house. The tallest of these is a magnificent speci-
men of P. sylvestris, the wild Date of India, with a trunk some
twelve feet in height and a total height of twenty feet. (It
must be remembered that none of Mr. Hart’s Palms have been
planted out more than fifteen years, and most of them during
the last ten years, so that in many species stem development
has not even begun.) This beautiful tree had bloomed, and a
spike of fruit was developing at the time of the extreme cold
of 1886; this, of course, was destroyed, and no flowers have
‘appeared since, Close by isa Phenix Canariensis, witha short
Garden and Forest
231
trunk, and still more elegant leaves than those of P. sylvestris ,
the leaflets are set closer together, making a very compact and
beautiful leaf. Another specimen, though smaller, is Phenix
vinifera, amore tender species, which suffered badly during
the winter of 1886, but is still a very handsome and thrifty
plant. Among the Orange trees are two elegant plants of
Phenix rupicola, a most graceful species. The handsome
recurved leaves are a rich golden-green color rarely seen in
any Palm. These plants are about five feet in height,
this species never forming a tall trunk. There are other fine
specimens of the different species of Pkanzx in different parts
of the grounds, especially in what was once the garden, but is
now a thicket of Palms. We noted also Phenix tenuis, P. pu-
mila, P. farinifera, P. Senegalensis, P. spinosa, P. reclinata,
P. dactylifera (the common Date Palm) and others. In striking
comparison with the vigorous, healthy and remarkable growth
of the various species of Phenix, we remember a tiny plant of
Copernicia macroglossa, ten years old, and with one little leaf,
not more than an inch high.
Directly in front of the house is a clump of the slender little
Cane Palm (Rhapis flabelliformis). The stems of this minia-
ture Palm are about three-fourths of an inch in diameter and
two or three feet high. It suckers freely like a Bamboo, and
the clump now contains fifty or more distinct stems. This
plant was little injured by the cold of 1886, and is ordinarily
quite hardy.
The neat, trim little specimens of Chama@rops throughout
the grounds are very beautiful. Among these are C. spinosa,
C. Humboladtit, C. arborea, C. elegans, C. tomentosa, C. Martiana,
C. Fortunet, C. humilis, C. Sinensis, C. farinosa, C. humilis
robusta, C. robusta, C. excelsa, C. excelsa macrocarpa, our na-
tive C. hystrix (or Rhapidophyllum) and others. One of the
largest of these is C. vodust¢a, which has reached a height of six
feet, with a trunk three feet high. Many of them have beauti-
ful little silvery leaves and small slender trunks from three to
five inches in diameter. All are perfectly hardy in this lati-
tude, so far as cold weather is concerned, but C. Aumz/is and
one or two others do not, while small, support our summer
sun very well. C excelsa has rich green leaves, without the
silvery tint so often seen in the other species.
Among other Fan-leaved Palms is a splendid collection of
Sabals. These are usually hardy ; even the species whose na-
tive home is in the tropics. One magnificent specimen of 5S.
umbraculifera has attained a height of about fifteen feet, with
over six feet of trunk. It has a beautiful spreading crown of
leaves resembling those of our native S. Pa/me/fo, though with
longer and stouter petioles, and thicker, firmer texture. A
specimen of .S. dealbata is about six feet in height. This has
produced seed on a spike ten feet high. There is a fruiting
specimen of S. longipedunciulata, with the flower-spikes ex-
tending far above the leaves after the manner of Sabal Adan-
sontit. A fine specimen of Sabal Mocini, from the highlands of
Mexico, has proved somewhat more tender than the native Cab-
bage Palmetto, the foliage having suffered in 1886. There are
in this collection also Sabal Havanensis, S. Ghiesbrechtit and
S. cerulescens, all in good specimen plants.
Mr. Hart has made a great success with Washingtonia ro-
busta, one of the California Fan-Palms, of which he has several
fine trees. The largest is fifteen feet in height, with about six
feet of trunk; it throws out a new leaf every two weeks, and
is indeed a beautiful specimen ; the red wax-like spines and
richly-tinted leaves and petioles make it one of the handsomest
and most desirable Fan-Palms I have everseen. Washing-
tonia filifera (Brahea or Pritchardia filamentosa), the southern
Californian Palm, is very distinct. Although Mr. Hart has
beautiful specimens, they are deficient in vigor as compared
with those of W. robusta. Brahea edulis and Brahea glauca
are represented in smaller specimens.
Perhaps the most elegant Palm in the whole collection is a
ten-year-old Diplothemium campestre. It is not more than four
or five feet in height, but the beautiful plume-like leaves, sil-
very on the under side, and the leaflets delicately curled like
those of an ostrich feather, make up in beauty for want of size.
The genus Cocos is well represented in the more hardy spe-
cies; a specimen of the quick-growing and handsome C.
flexuosa is twelve feet high ; the most hardy species, perhaps,
of all pinnate-leaved Palms, C. australis and C. campestris, are
represented by many thrifty young specimens. C. Yatai, C.
insignis, C, Romanzofiana, C. Normanbyana, C. Gaertneri and
C. Blumenavia are represented in small specimens; C. péz-
miosa, a species with long, drooping, light-green leaves, appears
in a good-sized specimen.
I noticed a small plant of Zivistona altissima, another of L.
Fenkinsiana, and a splendid specimen of L. Hoogendor pit four
or five feet high. In front of the house is a magnificent
222
specimen of Z. Chinensis, about eight feet high, that has
formed a considerable trunk already. Near by is an Acrocomia
selerocarpa about four feet high, raised from a seed planted
eight years ago, and which did not germinate for four or five
ears,
‘i A $ubea spectabilis, twelve years old and not over a foot
high, though apparently healthy, seems to warrant the asser-
tion that in Chili, its native country, this Palm is one hundred
years old before it produces flowers and seed.
Areca rubra, A. sapida and other species of this genus are
grown with the protection of a shelter made of slats placed
several inches apart, in order to afford partial shade and pro-
tection from frost.
A good specimen of Oreodoxa regia, the “Royal Palm” of
southern Florida and the West Indies, has been protected
through several severe cold snaps by headless and bottomless
barrels slipped down over the leaves and around the trunk,
and then filled up with earth.
Many other Palms are represented in small specimens, but I
have noticed most of those that have attained any size.
Cycads, too, are well represented. First and foremost there
isa noble specimen of Cycas revoluta, about fifteen years old,
and in the healthiest possible condition. Scattered in various
places throughout the grove and grounds are at least as many
as a hundred more small specimens of the plant. Zamia
integrifolia, our Florida species, is there, as well as the rarest
exotic species, like Macrozamia cylindrica, M. Dennisoniz,
Dioon edule, Cycas circinalis, Macrozamia terrestris, etc.
In a few years the ‘Palms of Federal Point” will be well
worth a long journey to see. -
Manatee, Fae 3 P. W. Reasoner.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
N my last letter I spoke about the many beautiful
American trees and shrubs that were now making our
open-air gardens so gay with bloom. IJ ought to have
finished the list by recounting the charms of the numer-
ous Oriental plants which enrich English gardens. Chi-
nese and Japanese trees, though not so hardy and so
suitable for our climate as American, are, nevertheless,
invaluable, and if some of them are killed in a severe
winter, the choice is so great that we can afford to leave
aside the tender things in making a selection. Just past
is the glorious Yulan (M/agnolia conspicua), which has been
the attraction of many a garden, and this year, owing to
the lateness of the season, it has been more beautiful than
ever, having escaped the late frosts and cold winds. Of
the several forms of it there is none to equal in purity
the snow-white form, whose flowers have not the faint-
est trace of color. A large mass of this was exhib-
ited at the Royal Horticultural Society a short time ago,
and though surrounded by the rarest and showiest Orchids
and other plants, every one who saw them was capti-
vated by their chaste beauty. Quite recently I saw at
Mr. Anthony Waterer’s nursery at Woking a large bush of
another white eastern Magnolia (JZ. s/ellata or MZ. Halleana,
as it is also called). It was standing out in the open en-
tirely without shelter, and every bloom was as pure as if
grown under glass. These two Magnolias are among the
loveliest trees one can possibly have in a garden. The
LExochorda grandiflora, otherwise called Spirea grandifora,
from north China, is a shrub that is rapidly becoming
popular with us since it has proved to be quite hardy. At
one time it was always planted against a wall, but now
one sees great bushes of it eight or ten feet high and as
much through. The snow-white flowers, an inch or more
across hang thickly wreathed on every branch. and, in
contrast to the tender green foliage, are delightful. The
Japanese Apples have been exceptionally fine this season.
I do not know if they are much planted in America, but
here there is such a growing demand for them that nur-
serymen cannot keep apace with the supply. The best of
all is undoubtedly Pyrus (Malus) flortbunda, and one of the
finest of all flowering trees. The profusion of its flowers
and buds renders it most striking at this season, especially
before the deep crimson buds expand into shades of deli-
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 11; 1888.
cate pinks. I plant this beautiful tree wherever I can,
knowing well how hardy it is, and how rapidly it makes a
picturesque, though small, tree. In old gardens like Kew,
the Chinese P. sfecfabilis, a very old introduction, has been
very attractive in oloom, but it is not nearly so valuable
for ornamental planting as P. floribunda, neither are the
varieties Zoringo, Kaido, Rivers? and flore pleno, which I put
in the same category as the Siberian P. baccafa, which has
the additional value of its cheerful crop of autumn
fruit. Pyrus Maulet is one of my chief favorites among
dwarf shrubs. Its flower color, a sort of orange red, is
incomparable, and just now, when this peculiar tint is in
harmony with the pale leaf green, the shrub is charming.
It is admirable for planting on the margin of a group of
our old friend, Cydonia Japonica, on a lawn. By the way,
there are some splendid forms of the Cydonia now, but
after seeing a full bloom review of them at the Knap Hill
nursery, I think that there is none to compare in richness or
brilliancy of color with the sort called cardinalis, whose flow-
ers are big, of fine shape and of a glowing crimson. Then
for purity, the variety nivalis is unmatchable, being far
better than the so-called white (alba), which has traces of
color. All the other sorts, so far as I can see, range be-
tween cardinalis and nivalis, and the only one I should
select besides them w6uld be rosea.
The Japanese Snow-ball bush (Viburnum plicatum) de-
serves all the praise you see written of it, for it is unsur-
passable in its way. I saw it the other day in the Coombe
Wood nurseries flowering profusely in an exposed border, -
every bush being a mass of white. The ‘‘balls” of flow-
ers are larger than those of the common JV. Opulus s/eriiis,
and whiter, while the plant is dwarfer, and particularly
suitable for a select shrubbery. I have recently seen the
double Wirsaria sinensis, and do not think much of it
compared with the glorious single kind, which for the
last few weeks has met one at every turn on mansion,
cottage and bower, clad with a profusion of mauve bloom,
The double kind is not so showy, because the flowers
seem doubtful about opening themselves widely, and
though when fully expanded they may last longer, in good
condition, than the single, I do not think that that point
compensates for the lack of profuse bloom, brightness and
elegant growth. When I was in Belgium recently I heard
some nurserymen discussing the merits of a new variety
of Wistaria which is ‘‘coming out.” It is said to be won-
derful, far eclipsing the long-spiked W. mudfijuga and other
sorts, its racemes being a yard long, I shall watch its
advent with interest. :
London, June 8th. W. Goldring.
New or Little Known Plants.
Philadelphus Coulteri.
ROBABLY no flowering shrub is more popular with
common folk, after the Lilac, than the ‘‘Seringa,”
especially the European form (Philadelphus coronarius),
with creamy, fragrant flowers. Our own species, with
larger, pure white flowers, but much less fragrant (P. gran-
diflorus and P. tnodorus, with their varieties), are also favor-
ites, and very common in yards and shrubberies. Others
are scarcelv known. The Californian P. Gordonianus is
sometimes to be found in gardens, and it has large
flowers and is very handsome in cultivation. The very
similar P. Lewisi’, which ranges from Oregon to north-
western Montana, is a free bloomer, and probably its equal
inevery way. The two species of western Texas and New
Mexico, P. microphyllus and P. serpylifolius, are dwarf in
habit and have much smaller leaves and flowers.
The species of which a figure is here given, is from
northern Mexico, where it was discovered by Coulter many
years ago, and again by Professor Sargent in 1887 on the
foot-hills of the mountains near Monterey. It equals our
common species in height, with slender, drooping branches,
and leaves which have a dense, white pubescence cover-.
JuLy 11, 1888.]
ing the under surtace. The flowers are mostly solitary
along the branches, an inch broad or more, and very
fragrant.
The relationship of the genus Philadelphus is interesting
enough to be worth mention. With Hydrangea and
Deutzia it belongs to a saxifragaceous tribe (Hydrange)
which is limited to the northern temperate zone and mainly
to eastern Asia and eastern North America. Philadelphus
is exceptional in having one species in Europe and two
upon the Pacific coast, in addition to the eight more east-
ern species and the two of eastern Asia. Hydrangea, on
the other hand; has but three species in eastern America
and thirty or more Asiatic, while Deutzia is wholly Asiatic.
The remaining genera are all very small, of a single spe-
cies, or rarely two in each. Of these we have Decumaria
in the Atlantic States, Fendlera and Jamesia in the Rocky
Mountains, Whipplea in Utah and California, and Carpen-
teria, also Californian. One genus is found in the Sand-
wich Islands, and the five others all belong to eastern
Asia. It is a curious fact that the //ea Virginica is our sole
representative, and almost the only representative on this
Continent, of another similar and as large a tribe whose
home is in the southern hemisphere, scattered likewise
Garden and Forest.
23
2
5
x
two feet more and the color is brilliant golden yellow.
We are accustomed to see Papaver orientale in several shades
of scarlet and blood red, but there is now a sport in rosy
lilac. Lathyrus Sibthor pi is not a new plant, but it is seldom
seen and it deserves a place in a choice collection. Its
flowers are of a uniform, bright magenta-red and appear in
great numbers. Gundela Tournefort is a rare Persian plant,
not showy, but a great beauty ; the thistle-like leaves are
deeply cut out, rather spiny, of a bright green color with
conspicuous white nerves; the flowers are chocolate and
yellow, a very curious combination, but most striking.
Lindelofia longifolia is a showy herb, sending up a dozen
stems to a height of two feet, each clothed by numerous
lance-shaped leaves and terminated by a cluster of ultra-
marine blue, Forget-me-not-shaped flowers. Pu/monaria
Daurica is a dwarf alpine; a tuft of lance-shaped leaves
mounted by panicles of pretty bright blue pendent flowers.
Poligonum spherostachyum, a showy plant from Sikkim,
continuously puts forth from amidst bright green, longish-
lanceolate leaves, its charming rosy crimson flowers.
Armeria undulafa has pure white heads borne on long un-
dulate stems. Gladiolus vinulus, grown in a frame, is a
very pretty small-flowered species which will be much
—
Fig. 40.—Philadelphus Coulteri.—See page 232.
mostly in small genera through western South America,
the islands of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, Australia
and South Africa. But Itea is the only genus of this tribe
that is represented in eastern Asia also, and our own species
finds its nearest relative in one peculiar species of Japan.
we W,
- Plant Notes.
Novelties at Baden-Baden.
PART of the terrace-like rough walls in my garden
is clothed in blue, violet and crimson-lake by the
various varieties of Aubrietia, the crimson-lake-colored
A, Leichtinit being very conspicuous. Jris albicans, a
native of Cyprus, isin the way of Z Germanica, but pure
white, very rich, and deliciously sweet scented. De/phi-
mum Brunonis is a dwarf, very large flowered Himalayan
species ; the flowers are grayish blue, very downy, and
strongly musk-scented. remurus aurantiacus is one of the
showiest species. The scapes aresome three feet in height,
the spikes of the thickly set flowers take one and a half to
valued for bouquets.
feathers.
It is creamy white with crimson
Max Leichtlin.
Schizophragma hydrangeoides.—This interesting Japanese
climbing plant is now flowering finely in the garden of Mr. S.
B. Parsons, at Flushing, Long Island. It must not be con-
founded with the ‘Climbing Hydrangea’ sometimes seen in
American gardens, which, although distributed under the name
of Schizophragmaa few years ago, is an entirely different plant
(Aydrangea radicans), with dark green, finely serrate leaves,
and broad, flat-topped inflorescence, the outer or radiating
flowers, as in other Hydrangeas, with three or four enlarged,
petaloid sepals. Schizophragma has much paler and more
deeply heart-shaped leaves, with reddish veins and petioles,
and a much deeper and more prominent serration. The
flowers are arranged in a loose spreading, many-branched
corymb six or eight inches across, each branch terminated by
a pure white petaloid, oval leaf, nearly an inch long, corre-
sponding to the petaloid calyx lobes of the ray-flowers in Hy-
drangea, but with onlya single division developed, and with no
other trace of the flower remaining. The small, perfect flowers
are greenish yellow, and, although produced in great profus-
ion, are not showy, the beauty of the plant consisting in its
very handsome foliage, and conspicuous petaloid calyx lobes,
234
Schizophragma is found in the elevated valleys of the moun-
tains of Japan, where it climbs over rocks and the trunks of
trees to a height of eight or ten feet. The Japanese name,
Tsuru demari, signifies the Climbing Snowball, a name which
describes the general appearance of the plant. It is well
figured by Siebold and Zuccarini in the “ Flora of Fapan,” ¢. 26,
while a figure, Hydrangea radicans, will be found in the Bo-
tanical Magazine, ¢. 6788 (under H. fetiolaris). These two
climbers are important additions to the small number of plants
hardy here, capable, like the English Ivy, of attaching them-
selves firmly to the trunks of trees by adventitious roots de-
veloped on the stem and branches.
Benthamia Japonica is probably flowering for the first time in
the United States in the Parsons nursery, at Flushing, Long
Island. It may be described as a dwarf Flowering Dogwood, in
which the flowers are not produced until after the leaves have
attained their fullsize. Itis a compact shrub, six or eight feet
high, with bright green, elliptical leaves and compact heads of
small yellow flowers, surrounded by tour pure white, satiny,
petaloid bracts as long, but much narrower, and more sharply
pointed than those of the Flowering Dogwood. . This is a very
interesting and important addition to the list of showy-flower-
ing shrubs, hardy in the Northern States, where it seems des-
tined to become a conspicuous garden ornament. It is one of
Mr. Hogg’s introductions, S.
The Cherokee Rose.
N extra-tropical regions with temperate climates it is the
injurious weeds of foreign countries and not the useful
or ornamental plants which, as a rule, become naturalized.
A hundred old-world weeds, at least, injurious to our crops,
are now as much established, and in some instances more
widely distributed, in the United States, than in their own
homes, while of plants useful to man there are not proba-
bly half a dozen foreign plants naturalized in this country.
The most conspicuous examples of useful plants now
thoroughly established in the United States are the Bar-
berry on the New England coast, the so-called Japanese
Clover in the south, the Oat in California, the Wild Orange
in Florida, and the subject of our illustration on page 235,
the Cherokee Rose (Rosa dewga/a), now thoroughly natural-
ized and widely distributed through a large part of the
south Atlantic and Gulf States. It is acommon plant in
many districts of southern China and Japan, but it is not
recorded how the Cherokee Rose first reached America, in
whose garden it was first planted, or how it escaped to the
woods and took such ahold upon the soil that it acquired
the name of the tribe of Indians which once occupied
much of the upper country in what are now the States of
Georgia and the Carolinas. Michaux, the French botanist,
found it in Georgia late in the last century so thoroughly
naturalized that he mistook it for a native plant and first
published it in his North American Flora many years be-
fore it was known as a Chinese plant at all. Elliott speaks
of it in his ‘‘ Sketch ofthe Botany of South Carolinaand Geor-
gia,” published in 1821, as having been “cultivated in the
gardens in Georgia for upwards of 40 years, under the name
of the Cherokee Rose.” It is a shrub with long flexible
branches which may be trained to a height of 15 or 20 feet,
but which if left unsupported fall to the ground and take
root. This habit, its vigorous, rampant growth, and the
stout, sharp, incurved prickles with which its branches are
armed, admirably adapt the Cherokee Rose to form
high hedges, which, if left unpruned, soon form thickets
twenty or thirty feet through, into which no animal will
penetrate. There are hundreds of miles of such hedges
lining the highways in different parts of the Southern
States, and nowhere are they more beautiful and luxuriant
than in that part of western Louisiana watered by the
Achafalaya and the Téche. When in bloom the Cherokee
Rose is an object of much beauty, its pure white, single,
fragrant flowers, two or three inches across when expand-
ed, contrasting charmingly with the dark, shining, ever-
green foliage. There are few floral displays in this
country more delightful than a long vista bordered with
great masses of this graceful plant in full flower. The
Garden and Forest.
[JULY 11, 1888,
Cherokee Rose is an excellent subject to train over the
roof of a cool green-house at the north, where, if it can
be planted out ina border, it soon attains a large size and
produces every year during the month of February an
abundant crop of flowers. Our illustration is from a pho-
tograph taken recently in Florida, by Dr. R. H. Lamborn;-
it shows a hedge of this plant from which the long pendu-
lous branches have been removed in order to keep it within
reasonable bounds.
Cultural Department.
Canterbury Bells.
OF these grand, old-fashioned flowers we now (middle of
June) have a very fine display—some 150 plants in full
bloom in one belt. Although single plants are very beautiful,
their excellent effect is attained only when a large number of
them are grown and massed together, like Paeonies, Poppies
and Coreopsis. They come into bloom when herbaceous
Peeonies and Oriental Poppies have passed their best, and be-
fore the gorgeous Kaempfer’s Irises begin to flower, and they
are in perfection at the same time as June Roses, Deutzias
and the large flowered Philadelphus.
Canterbury Bells are true biennials and of the easiest possi-
blecultivation. We have never succeeded in flowering them the
first year from seed, and although they will sometimes live
over for another year after blooming, in the same way as
Foxgloves and Holiyhocks, they never are satisfactory when
so retained; far better treat them strictly as biennials. But
they are not quite hardy, and this alone is the reason why they
are so seldom seen or grown in our gardens. We sow the
seed in flats (shallow seed boxes) in a cold-trame in June or
July, and soon after the seedlings appear they are pricked off
into other flats, and after a few weeks planted out six or eight
inches apart each way into frames ora narrow bed in the open
garden. Sowing in flats is a matter of convenience rather
than necessity, as the seeds are very small, and if sown
in the open garden warm sunshine would be likely to
burn them, or heavy rains wash them out or cover them
too deep. The cold-frame is also only a convenience in the
same way, and by shading the sashes and ventilating at the
same time, we have init an excellent place for starting seeds
in summer. It is not well to sow the seeds in spring; if
sown early the plants grow into large masses before summer
is over and are very apt to rot offin winter. Many years of
practical observation convince us that midsummer is soon
enough to sow Canterbury Bells.
Before hard frost sets in lift the plants and transplant them
into cold-frames, in the same way as is done with Pansies, Vio-
lets or Lettuces, and, according to the size of the plants, some
six to eight inches apart. If the plants are vigorous and leafy,
shorten back the leaves a good deal so as to keep the plants
from touching each other; when too close they gather and
hold moisture on the surface of the leaves; and then the
crowns rot off in winter. But avoid coddling or keep-
ing them warm; just cover the glass with a few inches of
straw and ventilate in bright or warm weather. But keep a
strict watch on the frames for field mice. These little and
extremely destructive rodents gather to the frames in winter
and cut the plants all to pieces. A few Peas or grains of cere-
als, dusted over slightly with Paris green and buried half an
inch deep in the ground, is a very good bait for the mice.
Towards spring expose the plants quite freely in order
to render them hardy and retard their leaf growth, and as soon
as the ground out-of-doors is free from frost and mellow
lift and transplant them to the garden where it is desired to
have them bloom. In lifting cut the ground between the
plants lengthwise and crosswise, and in this way you can lift
them with large unbroken balls.
There are many kinds of Canterbury Bells (Campanula Me-
dium), single and double; also the cup-and-saucer forms
known as calycanthema; and in color they range from pure
white to rose and blue, but the shades of purple, violet and
blue prevail. And while all are beautiful, the double ones are
most esteemed, and of the doubles the calycanthema varieties
are preferred. The finest variety we have ever grown is caly-
canthema rosea, and the next most beautiful is C Mauve
Beauty. Butitis desirable to have a variety of colors, and
from a packet of mixed seed of each of the above sections—
namely, single, double and calycanthema—there will be a great
variety of colors, but there should be a special packet of
calycanthema rosea seed.
_ and should be generally grown.
Jury 11, 1888.]
Canterbury Bells are not only most excellent plants for
garden use, but as cut flowers for house decoratior, where,
as in the case of halls, large masses are required, we have
nothing better, and they last well when cut. We.
Glen Cove, N. Y.
Myosotis dissitiflora.—Although this beautiful petetnial For-
get-me-Not does not come in early enough for Spring bedding,
owing to the loss of the previous year's flowering growth
during winter, yet it does excellent service in brightening up
the garden during the interval between spring and summer
bedding. For the front line of herbaceous borders, and round
and about shrubberies, as an edging, it is charming. It will
bloom all through the summer, but later its brightness be-
comes somewhat obscured by the blaze of summer bedding
plants. It differs from J7. alfestris, which is really an annual
—having the inflorescence proceed directly from the root-
stock—by flowering, and rooting all along its decumbent
stems, any of which quickly form a plant when separated.
Garden and Forest. 35
species we are not all successful, though it is very plentiful in
the woods about 200 yards away. The large and handsome C.
spectabile will soon be in flower. This kind delights in deep
beds of swamp peat and. moss, in light situations, This, as
well as the yellow kind, make excellent plants for pot culture,
can be forced readily, and will remain in good condition for
many years with simply an annual top-dressing of moss and
peat. hee
Orchid Notes.
Thunia alba.—As more than half a century haselapsed since
this Orchid was introduced, and as it is easily propagated, it
is surprising that more of it is not grown. We have a large
batch in flower now, and we find it exceedingly useful for cut
flowers and for decoration, both for the conservatory and for
the dwelling house. They can be had in flower within two
months from starting, and to make a good plant for general
decoration, eight or ten bulbs should be put into an eight-
The Cherokee Rose —See page 234.
Rockets.—The old double white and purple varieties are now
in bloom. They are among the handsomest of hardy plants,
The flowering stems resem-
ble, and equal in beauty, those of a well-formed Brompton
Stock, and remain in bloom much longer. They require only
a good loam—if heavy so much the better—and a little shade.
They are propagated by cutting back any flowering stems
which may start towards the fall, in order to encourage the
development of offsets, which should be removed and kept
over winter in a cold-frame for safety,
Wellesley, June 16th.
T. D. Hatfield.
Hardy Lady Slippers.—One of the principal features of the
out-door garden just now is several large patches of the yel-
low species of this interesting family. Some of these clumps
are bearing seventy to eighty flowers. Cypripedium pubescens,
the larger variety, does best with us planted in a friable loam
in partly shaded ravines. On the other hand, C parviflorum,
the smaller variety, likes a good deal of peat, being a bog-loving
kind, but disliking too much shade. One fine patch planted
by the side of a gravel path has outgrown its bounds, and
where it has encroached on the walk the flowers are smaller
and lose the dark brown of the petals. A few plants of C.
acaule are in flower, planted among Kalmias, but with this
inch pot. The bulbs or stems usually grow from two to four
feet in height, and terminate in a drooping raceme of pur
white flowers, beautifully penciled with purple andlilac. These
will last in perfection from two to three weeks. To grow this
species well itshould be accorded very liberal treatment, potting
in well drained pots in a mixture of equal parts loam, peat and
moss witha good sprinkling of sand.. Little water should be
given until the growths are a few inches high, after which they
may be kept very wet; a good top dressing of moss and cow
manure will be beneficial, as well as liquid manure applied
three times a week. The warmest house should be given
them, and the plants should be constantly syringed overhead.
As soon as growths are finished, the plants should be ripened
in’a cool, airy house, giving abundance of water until all the
leaves are dropped; after this scarcely any water need be given
except to keep the stems from shriveling. All the roots die
every winter, consequently they will need to be shaken clean
out, the old roots cut off and potted in fresh soil ev spring,
as soon as new growths appear. To propagate this species
the stems, in the spring, should be cut in lengths of four to
five inches and inserted in pots of equal parts sand and leat
mould, and put ina close frame until the buds are well ad-
vanced, when they may be treated the same as the older plants.
There are three to four other species belonging to the genus,
236
but differing from this one only in the markings and color of
flower, and requiring the same treatment. They are natives
of Burmah.
Phalenopsis Parishtii—An exceedingly choice little Orchid
with thick, fleshy roots and distichous tufts of pale green
leathery leaves about four inches long. The racemes, which
are large for the size of the plant, bear eight to ten flowers, less
than an inch across, sepals and petals pure white, lip three-
lobed, the lateral ones small, yellow, with purple blotches, the
front one broad, flat, and of deep amethyst purple. It is an
exceedingly free blooming kind; the smallest piece will. pro-
duce at least two racemes, and the charming contrast of color,
in the dense mass of flowers, renders it very attractive. Itisa
native of Burmah, and grows best on block or raft of wood.
It should at no season be allowed to be dry, and delights in
abundance of heat and moisture in the growing season.
Miltonia Phalenopsis.—This is the smallest of the half dozen
species popularly known as Odontoglossums, but now referred
to Miltonia. It has oblong, compressed bulbs, bearing narrow,
grass-like leaves about a foot long. Strong bulbs will produce
three to four spikes, each bearing three to four flowers, pure
white, the broad pandurate lip having two large broken
blotches of purplish crimson. This species is a native of
Guatemala, and is thriving with us under the treatment recom-
mended for AZ. vexillarium,
Phalenopsis speciosa Imperatrice is a distinct variety of a
very showy species, producing panicles of bright rosy purple
flowers, excepting a white tuft of hairs on the apex of the lp.
The back of the flowers 1s faintly striped with rose.
Another choice and rare variety is Christyana, in which the
purplish flowers are banded with pure white. These, with the
type, are native of the Andaman Isles, and therefore need the
warmest house, and should at no time be allowed to become
dry. Sphagnum moss, with a few lumps of fibrous peat, is
the best potting material.
Dendrobium Dearei is one of the best of recent additions to
this large genus, The racemes, usually eight to ten flowered,
proceed from opposite the axils of the leaves or from the old
leafless bulbs, in profusion, bearing comparatively large, pure
white flowers, relieved with just a dash of pale green on base
of lip. These will remain in perfection fully four months, and
apparently without injury to the plant. The old bulbs, though
adding nothing to the beauty of the plant, should be allowed
to remain on, as they will continue to give racemes for many
years. The cultural requirements of this species has not been
generally mastered, as good examples are the exception. It
does well in the warmest house the whole year, being satu-
rated with water during growth, and at no time being very dry.
It requires little potting material. ee’
Kenwood, N. Y.
Ss
F. Goldring.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
Ledum latifolium, the Labrador Tea, is now covered with its
handsome heads of white flowers. It is a dwarf evergreen
shrub, which grows in cultivation to a height of one or two
feet, with erect, very leafy stems, and oblong, linearleaves with
revolute margins and covered on the under side with ferrugine-
ous wool. An inhabitant of cold swamps, it is a peat-loving
plant, and a good subject for the margins of Rhododendron
beds. Althougha plant from the far north, being found from
Labrador to Puget Sound, like most broad-leaved evergreens,
it is the better in this climate for a slight winter covering.
The Sand Myrtle (Leiophyllum buxifolium) is also in flower.
It isa handsome dwart evergreen shrub, only a few inches
high, very common in sandy Pine-barrens from New Jersey to
Florida. It has minute, oblong, veinless leaves, and profuse
white or rose-colored flowers in terminal umbel-like corymbs,
made conspicuous by the brown or purple anthers.” The
variety (var. prostratum) which is found only on the summits
of the Roan and other high Carolina mountains, where it forms
dense wide carpets, flowers here nearly two weeks earlier. It
is hardly more than an inch high and has deeper green leaves
than the New Jersey plant.
Among all the Mountain Ashes, American, European and
Japanese, none is so handsome as Pyrus sambucifolia, the
most northern of the American species and only just reaching
the eastern United States on the highest of the New Eneland
mountains
s and the shores of Lake Superior. The oblong-oval
divisions of the leaves are much broader than in the other
species ; the petioles and peduncles are a brighter red and the
fruit is much larger and higher colored. It makes a fine
tree in cultivation, especially far north; and in the gardens of
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 11, 1888.
Minnesota and Wisconsin, where it is often seen and where it
soon grows into fine large specimens, it is, in autumn, an ob-
ject of surprising beauty. It is rarely met with at the east,
however, although well suited to the climate of New England
and New York ; and its more general cultivation is worth the
attention of nurserymen. Itis in every way the superior of
the European Mountain Ash, which is the species found in
American nurseries.
Daphne alpina, a native of the European Alps, is very hand-
some when covered with its pure white, abundant, fragrant,
sessile flowers. It is adwarf shrub, not more than a foot high
here, with deciduous leaves. It requires a slight winter pro-
tection to insure an abundant crop of flowers, as the plant is
not entirely hardy here.
Fendlera rupicola is an interesting plant of the Saxifrage fam-
ily, related to Deutzia, and a native of our Texano-New Mexican
region, being found growing sparingly in the rocky crevices of
river bluffs from the Guadaloupe to New Mexico. It is a low
shrub, two to four feet high, with small, opposite, entire,
sub-sessile leaves, and large white, showy flowers with long,
conspicuous stamens, solitary on the extremities of stout
lateral branches. Fendlera is perfectly hardy here, and a real
acquisition to the lis of dwarf garden shrubs which can be
grown in this climate. ;
Among Barberries with racemose flowers of the v#lgarts
section are several species or varieties in the collection worth
more general cultivation. Berberis Canadensis is the only
native representative of the family in eastern America. It is
a graceful and very hardy shrub, a native of the mountains of
Virginia and Carolina. It isin every way a smaller plant than
LB. vulgaris, which it otherwise closely resembles, except that the
teeth of the leaves are less bristly pointed and the racemes
are fewer flowered; the berries are oval, while in the Euro-
pean plant they are oblong. It is a perfectly hardy plant,
which will grow wherever the common Barberry will thrive.
Berberis Sinensis, a native of northern China, is one of the
most ornamental of the whole genus, especially when the fruit
is ripe. Itis a graceful plant, four or five feet high, with long,
slender, flexuous branches, quite loaded at this season of the
year with slender racemes of small yellow flowers. The
leaves are small, spathulate or linear obovate and quite entire,
or on young plants with scattered teeth ; the fruit is the largest
and most brilliant in color produced by any Barberry in the
collection, while, unlike Berber’s vulgaris, the foliage turns in
autumn to brilliant orange and scarlet.
Berberis emarginata is a Siberian species, and one of the
latest to flower in the collection. It has lanceolate-obovate,
ciliately serrate leaves, and racemes of pale flowers. Ltisis
worth general cultivation for the beauty of its autumn foliage,
which far exceeds that of any of the Barberries here in the bril-
liancy of its coloring. There isa very distinct variety of the
common Barberry in the collection trom Afghanistan, with
stout erect branches, and spathulate leaves four or five inches
long, borne on long, slender petioles; and another from
Hakodate, in Japan, with bright coriaceous leaves, and pale
flowers in semi-erect racemes.
Berberis umbellata, a native of the Himalayas, is ‘@ very dis-
tinct late blooming species, quite hardy here, and of no little
ornamental value. The long, graceful, sparingly leaved
branches are bright red, as are the slender three-parted spines,
slender peduncles and pedicels. The peduncles are erect,
three inches long or more and twice the length of the obovate-
oblong, entire or slightly toothed, mucronate leaves, which
are dark-green above and pale on the lower side; they bear
near their summit a racemose umbel of long-pediceled, large,
pale yellow flowers. The upright, umbellate inflorescence
is quite unlike that of any other Barberry in the collection.
Berberis Cretica is still later in bloom. Itis a species from
Asia Minor and quite hardy here. The drooping racemes of
pale yellow flowers are rather shorter than the oval, entire or
somewhat serrated leaves. It has stout, erect stems, three or
four feet high, armed with short three or five branched spines,
and soon forms a dense compact mass of handsome, dark-
green foliage. It is well worth general cultivation.
Berberis concinna, a yeautiful and very distinct little species,
is also in flower. It was. discovered many years ago in the
Lachen Valley of the Sikkim-Himalaya, at an elevation of 12,000
to 13,000 feet, by Sir Joseph Hooker, whointroduced it into cul-
tivation, and who published a description and figure (4 4744)
of itin the Botanical Magazine. It does not, however, seem
very well known in gardens, and was not included by Lavalée
in the catalogue of the plants in the Arboretum Segretzianum,
or by Mr. Nicholson in his excellent “ Dictionary of Gardening.”
Berberis concinna is a small, low bush, with erect or spread-
ing bright red branches, one or two feet high, armed with
attractive in the garden.
JuLy 11, 1888.]
slender three-parted spines, and covered with small, spinu-
lose-toothed leaves, one-half to three-quarters of an inch long,
dark glossy green on the upper side, snowy-white and
glaucous below. The pedicels are longer than the leaves,
drooping, solitary and one-flowered. The flowers are globose,
pendant and deep yellow in color. The fruit, which is de-
scribed as large, oblong and bright scarlet, has not been pro-
duced here. erberis concinna appears to be perfectly hardy
here, a fact which would seem to indicate that many of the
plants of the high Himalaya region may, with proper precau-
tions in the way of protecting young specimens until they are
fully established, be made to contribute to the beauty and in-
terest of American gardens. This little Barberry is certainly
a gem among dwart flowering shrubs, and for the beauty of
its foliage alone it should find a place in every rock-garden or
on the borders of every shrubbery.
One of the most distinct and desirable of exotic Thorns is a
north China and Magnolia species, Crategus pinnatifida,
common in the neighborhood of Pekin and often cultivated
by the Chinese. It is a variable plant, especially in the size
and color of the fruit and in the character and amount of the
pubescence on the leaves and young shoots. Here it is a
small bushy tree, with dark green, shining, deeply cut and ser-
rate, oval leaves, two to three inches long by half as much wide,
borne on long, slender petioles. They are slightly rufous-
hairy on the under side along the mid-rib and on the long
slender pedicles of the large flowers. This species is hand-
some at this season, when the pure white flowers makea
veautiful contrast with the rich shining foliage; but it is even
more showy in autumn when it is covered with its large,
scarlet fruit. This Asiatic Thorn is perfectly hardy here,
and like all the north China plants which have been tried in
the Arboretum, it seems admirably suited to the climate of the
Northern States.
Caragana spinosa is a slender shrub, a native of Siberia,
with handsome, yellow, pea-shaped flowers, and long, flexible,
graceful branches, upon which the adult petioles, developed
into long, strong spines, are persistent. The leaves with two to
four pairs of linear, glabrous leaflets, and spiny stipules, are
small, pale green and rather inconspicuous. This is a very
hardy plant, recommended as a good subject to use in making
dwarf impenetrable hedges, a purpose for which its long
branches and long, stout thorns seem to well adapt it.
Caragana pygm@a and a variety with pendulous branches
known as C. fygmea gracilis are pretty little shrubs, one or
two feet high, with slender spiny branches covered with small
leaves composed of two pairs of linear, glabrous leaflets ap-
proximating near the end of the short petiole, and handsome
large solitary yellow flowers. C. pygme@a is a native of Siberia
and has long been known in gardens, although rarely seen in
those of this country. It is perfectly hardy.
_ Styrax Americana is one of the most graceful of North Amer-
ican shrubs, and when the slender branches are covered
with its drooping, pure white, bell-shaped flowers, borne in
slender axillary racemes, few plants will compare with it in
delicate beauty. It is rarely cultivated, however, and little
known in gardens. Although a southern plant, not being
found growing naturally north of Virginia, it is quite hardy
_ here and blooms freely every year. It is a common plant
along the margins of swamps and in low ground, where it
reaches a height of from four to eight feet.
Attention has been called in earlier issues of these notes to
the value of Hudsonia ericoides as a dwarf rock-garden plant.
The second of our northern species, H. ¢éomentosa, is equally
é It is a dwarf, hoary plant, only a few
inches high, with narrow leaves, closely pressed and imbri-
cated on the stems, very common on the sea-shore of the
New England and Middle States and on the shores of the
Great Lakes. Every morning during the blooming period of
two or three weeks the plant is covered with a sheet of golden-
yellow flowers, from which the petals fall by two o'clock in the
afternoon, fresh flowers opening each day. ‘This plant, like
the other species, requires some care before it is thoroughly
established in the garden, but once established, it will spread
rapidly, and soon make a broad, handsome carpet.
Stephanandra (from two Greek words signifying crown and
male, in allusion to the disposition of the stamens) is a genus
of two or three Japanese shrubs, with the general habit and
appearance of Spiraea, to which they are closely related. S.
flexuosa, introduced a few years ago by the Messrs. Veitch, is
the only species in cultivation. It has slender, flexuous
branches, which here attain a height of three or four feet, with
incised or lobed, cordate, ovate leaves, often colored with
purple, and compound racemes of small white flowers. This
is a graceful and handsome shrub, which is not very hardy,
Garden and Forest.
237
however, here, even when carefully covered, and the stems
are often killed back to the ground, but grow up again vigor-
ously, It is now flowering on such stems as were not killed
during the winter.
The Stagger-Bush (Andromeda Mariana), a native shrub,
found along the Atlantic seaboard south of Rhode Island, in
low, sandy, wet situations, and very common and covering
extensive tracts in some parts of Long Island, is now in
flower. It is one of the handsomest of the Andromedas. It
attains a height of two to four feet, and has deciduous, rather
coriaceous, and shining oval leaves, and large, pure white,
bell-shaped, nodding flowers, in clusters, from axillary buds,
crowded on the naked branches of the preceding year. The
foliage of this plant is popularly supposed to poison browsing
animals. It is easily cultivated, thriving best in deep loam
mixed with peat, and is perfectly hardy. Its near ally, Leuco-
thoé racemosa, a common plant, found near the coast in damp
thickets from Massachusetts far south, is also in flower. Less
showy than the last-named species, it makes in cultivation a
neat, compact shrub, with erect, rather rigid branches, cov-
ered with oval-lanceolate, bright shining leaves, and erect
racemes of small, cylindrical, pure white flowers. It will
flourish in peaty loam, and grows and spreads rapidly.
The great Flame-colored Azalea (Rhododendron calendula-
ceune) is in flower, rather later than most of the garden hybrids,
in which its blood is mingled, and which do not surpass it in
the splendor of its orange and flame-colored, odorless flowers.
It isa common shrub in the Alleghany forests from Pennsyl-
vania southward, where it often grows in great masses, light-
ing up, at this season of the year, the lower slopes of the moun-
tains with sheets of flame. It is quite hardy in cultivation
here. No North American plant surpasses it in brilliancy of
bloom, and few are better worth a conspicuous and permanent
place in the garden where the soil is suited to its wants. Lime-
stone is fatal to it, as it is to all Rhododendrons,
Rhododendron punctatum, the smallest of the species of
evergreen Rhododendrons, which are found in the Alleghany
Mountains, is in bloom. It is a graceful shrub, with recurved
or spreading branches and narrow leaves four or five inches
long, covered, as is the whole plant, with scurfy, resinous
scales. The rose-colored flowers, nearly an inch long, in lax,
few-flowered clusters, are developed later than the shoots of
the season, among which they are almost hidden. This is,
therefore, a much less showy plant when in bloom than the
hybrids, or varieties of A. Catawbiense, in which the new
shoots from the base of the terminal flower-bud are not de-
veloped until after the flowers have expanded. It will never,
therefore, be a very popular plantin gardens.
The Alpine Rose (Rhododendron ferrugineum), a dwarf spe-
cies, rarely a foot high, from the high mountains of Europe,
with minute, dark green, shining, evergreen leaves, thickly
beset on the lower side with ferrugineous dots and beautiful
bright scarlet flowers, is in bloom. This is a hardy plant, well
suited to find a conspicuous place in the rock-garden, and,
from its many associations, one of the most interesting of the
European shrubs. A good covering of Pine branches in win-
ter will protect the foliage from burning, and insure better and
more abundant flowers.
Ethionema coridifolium is a pretty little plant from Asia
Minor, which does not attain a height of more than six or
seven inches, and with only the lower part of the stems really
woody. It has minute, pale, glaucous, crowded leaves, and
terminal, crowded racemes of bright, rosy, lilac flowers. It is
very hardy and an excellent rock-garden plant. 2 ¢hionema
(from two Greek words signifying scorch and filament) isa
genus of the Mustard Family (Crucifere), distinguished by its
winged and toothed stamens. The other species, of which
there are two or three, are annuals and perennials.
Lonicera oblongifolia is one of the dwarf Bush Honey-
suckles of the northern United States, which is worth a place
in the garden, It has slender, upright branches, four or five
feet high, oblong leaves, and rather large pale yellow flowers
on long, slender peduncles, the corolla deeply two-lipped and
fully halfaninch long. It is found in cold, deep bogs from
northern New York to Wisconsin and far northward. It
takes kindly to cultivation here, however, and thrives in ordi-
nary garden soil. :
Spirea corymbosa is a dwarf species of the Alleghany
Mountains, found from Pennsylvania to Virginia and Ken-
tucky. It grows to a height of one or two feet, and has pale,
oval leaves, cut-toothed towards the apex, and large, hand-
some, terminal, compound corymbs of white flowers, which
are now just expanding. y ;
Famesiais a genus of the Saxifrage Family, which commem-
orates the labors of Dr. Edwin James, who, when surgeon and
238
botanist to Long’s Rocky Mountain Expedition in 1822, dis-
covered in the mountains of what is now Colorado, the only
species-— ¥. Americana. It isa perfectly hardy shrub, with
slender, erect stems, two or three feet high, the young
branches, as well as the peduncles and calyx, clothed with soft
hairs. It has small, opposite, pale, serrate leaves, canescent
on the lower side, and few-flowered, axillary and terminal
cymes of pure white flowers, nearly a third of an inch across
when expanded. Aithough not very showy, this is a good
subject for a rock-garden or the margins of a shrubbery.
June 2oth.
The Forest.
The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico.—VII.
WO miles beyond Cusihuiriachic our road escapes
from the difficuties of the canon and mounts to the
open plain at an elevation of 6,700 feet. Whenever on
our drive from this point to the Sierra Madre we pass low
ranges, or the bluffs of dry ravines, or of watered valleys,
we find their slopes covered with Oaks, the species Quer-
cus grisea (Q. Emory? being left behind at this eleva-
tion), and, scattered amongst these, perhaps, a few Pine
trees, commonly Pinus Chihuahuana, more rarely P. ma-
crophylla, also. The Papigochic River, as the upper
Yaqui is called, flows northward along the eastern base of
the Cordilleras for a hundred miles, receiving the numer-
ous streams that issue from their cafions, until a little
below the town of Temosochic it turns abruptly to the
west, cuts a gorge through the mountains, which has
never yet been explored by man, and in a distance of
about fifty miles to the plains of Sonora falls not less
than 4,000 feet. As we follow its course to the ford near
Tonachic ranch, coming up its eastern bank from the
old City of Guerrero, we notice on the mountain-sides
opposite us striking evidence of the severity of the
drought, which prevailed over the plateau during the
first half of the present year, in broad belts of dead Pines,
which still hold their brown foliage. Our Mexican friends
assure us that there was scarcely any snow on the moun-
tains last winter, and that the little lakes of the plains,
brimful of water as we now see them, were for months
dried to the bottom. Coming to the ford we find on the
low rocky hills and bluffs of the eastern bank both Pzzws
Chihuahuana and P. mycrophylla, equally numerous with
the Oaks; and above the bluffs of the western side on the
edge of the plain stand the largest specimens of Pinus
Chthuahuana that I ever saw, magnificent trees three or
more feet in diameter and sixty feet in height. In this
situation their roots find a deeper and more fertile soil
than usual, yet having the drainage which they require.
Beyond the river and these wooded bluffs a few more
miles of treeless plain, interesting, however, with its wav-
ing growth of grass in numerous species, and we enter an
open forest of Pinus mycrophylla, whose elevation is
7,000 feet, and whose level floor is hidden, not with
shrubbery, but with grasses and other herbaceous plants.
A little within the forest, at the abandoned site of a saw-
mill, our wagon road comes to an end, and there, beside
a clear stream which flows past the base of the first moun-
tain bench, we rear our tent, turn loose our mules to revel
for weeks amidst the luxuries and forage of the neighbor-
hood, and ourselves proceed to explore the abundant
and strange vegetation by which we find ourselves sur-
rounded.
We see the mountain-sides everywhere deeply furrowed
with cafions, some of which are walled high with rock,
through all of which, now that the rainy season is pass-
ing, tumble noisy torrents. Through one of these canons
—one a few miles south of our camp—the Avrovo Ancho,
or Broad Cafion, whose stream has cut quite through this
outer range and drains valleys of the interior, leads a mule
trail to Yoquivo and the villages and mining camps be-
yond, a lone mountain trail, seventy-five miles it may be,
without a human habitation. Each divide between canons
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 11, 1388,
leads, by an exceedingly irregular course, perhaps, yet
with unerring certainty, up to the summits five miles dis-
tant.
Climbing by one of these ridges to the highest ledge
which frowns over our valley, the altitude of which, as
indicated by an aneroid, is 9,875 feet, we scan with de-
light the plains and the jagged mountain chains, over
which we have come, the latter appearing blue through
the faint haze with their thin mantle of forests, evergreen
Oaks and Pines, the former dotted frequently with gleam-
ing lakes, and traced by streams whose course is made
more plain by straggling lines of trees, Cottonwoods in
the lower valleys and Pines and Oaks on the higher por-
tions—a pleasant land, which might be a fruitful and a
prosperous one but for the lack of rain sustained through-
out the year; a region now held by a meagre population,
who cannot safely plant their homes except along the
rivers, and who maintain a precarious existence by grow-
ing, by the most primitive methods, after the deluge of
midsummer rains, crops of Corn and Beans on_ their
nearer lands and tending a few herds on the wide areas
beyond.
Looking north and west and south we behold, how-
ever, only a sea of mountains, none appearing loftier than
the one upon which we stand, everywhere covered with
forests, noble forests of Pine crowning broad summits,
dense growths of Pine and Spruce and Oak shading the
northern slopes and darkening the valleys and cajions,
and even the dry ridges and sunnier slopes hidden under
close growths of the more dwarf species of Pine, Oak,
Juniper and Arbutus. This is the great forest of Mexico, a
belt 50 to 100 miles in width and 800 miles in length,
the chief source in the future development of this coun-
try of its lumber supply, then to be brought out by rail-
road trains, not, as we saw all along the road by which
we traveled, on the backs of donkeys and mules, or, at
best, in the ponderous carts of the country, with wheels
hewn from trunks of trees, and drawn invariably by three
pairs of oxen. C. G. Pringle.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Not long ago I visited a green-house where a won-
derful display is made of old and common plants all devel-
oped into well grown specimens. The high back wall was
covered with the galvanized wire netting now so cheap
and so well adapted for training plants; it was well
covered with plants not commonly considered as cliinbers.
The first in. the row was a specimen of the old Oak
Leaf Geranium, Pelargonium quercifolium, which was six
feet high and nearly as many broad, though grown in an
eight-inch pot. It was completely covered with clusters of
bright purple flowers, and was really a revelation of beauty to
one who had not thought of the ornamental capabilities of this
plant. Then camea specimen of Adbutilon vexillarium (Meso-
potamicum) covering about fifty square feet of the trellis, and
hung with countless red and yellow flowers. I learned, for the
first time, what anadmirable plant itis when wellgrown. <Asga-
ragus tenuissimus, inanother place, wandered uncut, with shoots
ten to twelve feet long, adding a feathery fringe to the Abu-
tilon. Then came FYasminitum grandifiorum, filling the air
with its odor, and finally, at the end of the table, the much
neglected climber, Lophospermum scandens, covering a large
space with the cheerful green of its foliage and its wealth of
rosy-purple flowers. On the centre table were Fancy Pelar-
goniums and Fuchsias, such as were seen at horticultural
exhibitions before the Ferns and tropical plants absorbed all
the space. The Pelargoniums from last fall’s cuttings, and in
ten-inch pots, were masses of bloom, four feet high, and so
sturdily grown that no cluster of stakes was needed to support
them, while the Fuchsias, from January cuttings, were pyra-
mids five feet high and loaded with flowers. The only plant
in the way of a novelty was a large specimen of the double
white Petunia, Mrs, Dawson Coleman, which promises to be
a great plant for florists’ use in summer. In another house
was a collection of Begonias of various sorts, all given space
for full growth.
and four feet in diameter, covered with flowers from bottom
Here were a Legonia coccinnea, six feet high |
JuLy 11, 1888.]
to top, B. attida alba, nearly as large, with flower clusters as
large as a man’s hat, and #&. Rex in many varieties, in eight-
inch pots, with such a massive growth that I could not clasp
hands around them. In this house the wire trellis’on the
back wall was covered with Smilax, which filled the air with
the delicate odor of its flowers. A fine plant of Clerodendron
Thomsone in a border at one end is intended to take the place
of the Smilax, and an immense Sougainvillea glabra grows
enormously, but has not yet bloomed well. The intention is
to root-prune it and build a wall across the border, so as to
confine its roots and insure its being kept dry in winter. If
this is done it will probably next spring make an object worth
going a journey to see.
I will not take space to write of the Allamanda, Signonia
venusta and other old-fashioned plants that were flourishing
in roomy quarters, but it occurred to me that the skill of the
‘true gardener was shown as effectively in producing noble
specimens of common, though beautiful, plants, as it would
have been in coddling a vast and crowded collection of dimin-
utive novelties.
Albemarle County, Virginia. WF. M.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—To the “Notes from the Arnold Arboretum,” in GarR-
DEN AND FOREST for May 3oth and June 6th, permit me to
add a few comments from a Western standpoint.
While the description of the fruit of ARzdes alpinum as “large,
handsome, scarlet, insipid” will apply perfectly to the wild
mountain form, it does not describe the cultivated varieties
found in gardens throughout eastern Europe. At the agricul-
tural college near Moscow, Mr. Gibb and I found large planta-
tions of Dwarf Juneberry, and adjoining them quite as large
plantations of red and black varieties of Rides alpinum. The
fruit of the Currants was nearly as large as that of the June-
berry, and we thought superior to it in sprightliness and flavor.
We have distributed some of the cultivated varieties found at
Moscow, Orel and Varonesh, Russia, and shall expect reports
in the near future.
Ribes aureum makes a handsome and more fragrant shrub
at the West than in the moister air of New England, but we
have a variety which is stronger in growth, handsomer in
foliage and flower, and, we think, better in quality of fruit than
the species. This we received from Dr. Fischer, of Varonesh,
as Ribes palmatunt.
Bush Honeysuckles are, as a rule, at home in our climate.
Lonicera chrysantha, L. Xylosteum, L. nigra, L. Ruprectiana
and the named varieties of Z. Zarfarica, such as splendens
speciosa, grandiflora rubra, grandiflora alba, bicolor, luteo-
virginalis, etc., are specially fine in habit, and flower on our
grounds. It may be of interest to note that some of the sup-
posed varieties of the common Tartarian Honeysuckle seem
to be derived from a fixed and distinct type of the species
found in east Europe. To illustrate: We received from Pro-
fessor Sargent in 1880 a packet of seed of L. splendens. From
these we have grown over one hundred seedlings. While they
vary in color of flowers from pure white to all shades of pink,
the habit of growth, expression and shape and color of the
leaves closely resemble the L. splendens. This, joined with
the fact that we met with varieties like the splendens in habit
of bush and size and color of the flowers, will favor our idea
that all of our named varieties of the Tartarian Honeysuckle
are not derived from the same primitive forms.
The primitive form of the flowering Almond of Siberia
flowers with us profusely very early in the spring, and the
blossoms seem to endure a temperature several degrees be-
low the freezing point. Last spring they were loaded with
beautiful pink blossoms in March when water near them was
‘covered in the morning with ice half an inch thick, yet the
flowers showed no trace of injury, and the bushes were well
loaded with Almonds, from which we now have growing
plants. We-also have a pure white variety of the Siberian
Almond that is almost perfectly double. These are valuable
in the parts of the West where the common garden varieties
do not stand the winters. FL. Budd,
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—The discussion of the alleged poisonous properties of
the Ailanthus in a recent number of GARDEN AND FOREST
calls to mind a circumstance that fell under my observation in
northern New York. It was decided to remove an Ailanthus
which stood near a dwelling, on account of the popular preju-
dice against the tree, and for the same reason it was found
difficult to find a man who would undertake the job. Finally
one was engaged and he spent a day in cutting the tree down,
commencing among the branches, At night his hands and
Garden and Forest.
239
face began to swell, his eyes became closed, and for several
days he was confined to his house suffering severely.
The sap of the Ailanthus is probably as poisonous as that of
the poison Oak and poison Elder, which belong to the same
alliance. If this is so, it is reasonable to suppose that the pol-
len of all three affects certain persons in like manner. I knew
a person to remove from a certain locality where Rhus venen-
ata was abundant, on the advice of a physician, because at the
season of its blooming he was always attacked with violent
symptoms of Rhus poisoning. In Virginia and neighboring
States the Ailanthus runs wild in old fields.
Jacksonville, Fla., June x1th, 1888,
A. A, Curtiss,
Periodical Literature.
In Longman's Magazine for June will be found an article by
Mr. Frederick Boyie which is in some sort-a continuation of
the one on Orchids to which we called our readers’ attention
some weeks ago as having been published in the same perio-
dical. This time Mr. Boyle’s title is ‘* An Orchid Farm,” and
the place to which it refers is the establishment of the Messrs.
Sander at St. Albans not far from London—the largest and
most famous establishment for the importing, growing and
selling of Orchids in the world. The author modestly con-
fesses that no words can give a full idea of it, much less a
distinct picture of the treasures which it contains. Yet his
words certainly give us a clear general idea of the extent of
the place and of the business there transacted, and a brilliant
if necessarily vague sketch of the surprising charms of its con-
tents. These, in so far as beauty and variety go, will be easi-
ly imagined by all who are familiar with Orchids, yet the
masses in which they are shown are almost inconceivable.
When we read of twenty-four successive houses, all of them
at least 180 feet in length and the narrowest 32 feet in breadth,
some given over to the sorting of new arrivals and the early
stages of cultivation, but most of them filled with growing
plants, we begin to realize the exactness of the word “ farm”
as Mr. Boyle applies it. And when he speaks of one house
devoted almost entirely to Odontoglossum crispum in which
twenty-two thousand pots have been counted, and of another
300 feet in length which he saw filled full of Cattleyas and
allied genera all in bloom, we begin to see why he hesi-
tated over an attempt at description. Many such facts as these
he gives us, together with startling computations as to tne
value of the contents of this or that house and the magnitude
of the orders constantly received and immediately filled. He
also describes how the immense consignments of plants from
all quarters of the globe are daily received and dealt with—
amid manifold dangers from lurking scorpions, centipedes
and poisonous ants—and traces some of the processes of cul-
tivation. Andthen he notes some of the more remarkable
individual plants which the establishment contains. A Lelia
alba, for example, which he saw, bore 211 blossoms, and a bas-
ket of Lelia anceps measured three feet across. A mass of
Catasetum was lying ready to bloom just as it had been
brought from a Guatemalan forest—four feet by three in dia-
meter and eighteen inches thick ; anda Ca¢tleya Mossie meas-
ured, in solid bulk, not including its leaves, five feet in height
and four feet in thickness. This, a single plant and nota
group, is said to be the largest Orchid ever brought to Europe.
It grew on a tall tree near the hut of an Indian, whose private
property it was and who long refused all offers to purchase it,
but finally succumbed to the attractions of a beautiful rifle
added to those of a large sum of money. Following his Or-
chids into their native haunts, Mr. Boyle speaks of the regard
in which they are held by the South American Indians and of
the way in which they garland their lonely forest churches
with thickets of bloom, any one of which would be a treasure
to the European amateur. Butit is impossible here even to
hint at all the entertaining facts which Mr. Boyle has inter-
woven with his account of the famous ‘‘farm” at St. Albans.
After all, however, much as we may admire Orchids, there
are other things which more nearly touch our hearts, anda
perusal of such an article as Mr. Boyle’s affects us somewhat
as does a long stay in the hot-houses where they grow—we
are glad to feel a breath of fresh air again, and rest
our eyes on the simplegreens of the temperate zone. Fortu-
nately Longman’s Magazine affords the reader a chance to do
this, for following upon the Orchid article we find one
called “In the Woodlands” by the Rev. M.G. Watkins. It has
not the poetical flavor of many similar articles which appear
from month to month in our own magazines, but is very
charming none the less in its glances at the woods and flow-
ers of England; and here and there it gives proof of a more
acute perception of the artistic properties of trees than the
240
ordinary lover of nature often reveals. For this reason it may
be read with profit as well as with pleasure, and we may echo
the wish for America which the author earnestly expresses for
England—that a School of Forestry may soon be established.
In speaking of the advisability of beautifying country roads,
and not only city streets, by the systematic planting of trees, he
says that ‘In some parts of North America every citizen is
compelled to planta certain number of trees—say six or a
dozen—at his marriage or coming of age.”” We trust this may
be true, but should like to be told of the exact locality in which
the rule is in force, especially as the words ‘‘coming of age”
strongly suggest that some English mind has invented a friendly
fiction to our credit.
Notes.
Ripe Tokay and Muscatel Grapes were in the Yuma (Cali-
fornia) markets as early as June 13th.
According to the Santa Barbara Herald, the crop of Pam-
pas plumes will be heavy, and already buyers are offering
to take them at good prices. Not infrequently the profit from
an acre has reached the sum of $1,000.
Cherry trees were sprayed with arsenites at the Ohio Experi-
ment Station soon after the blossoms fell this spring, and the
result was that very little wormy fruit appeared, while on check
trees, where the spraying was ornitted, the curculio did much
damage. Analysis of fruit a week after spraying showed no
trace of poison. Spraying witha solution of lime was also
tried, but it proved much less effective.
After the funeral of the Emperor William, in Berlin, the
wreaths and other floral devices which had been sent from all
parts of the country were exhibited in one of the rooms of
the Hohenzollern Museum. They numbered more than 2,000,
and consisted not only of fresh flowers, bnt also of Palm
and Laurel garlands, of arrangements of Immortelles and
Edelweiss, of gilded Oak leaves, and of foilage simulated in
gilded or silvered metal.
From the discussions at the late convention of nurserymen
in Detroit it was evident that the majority of members did not
approve of reducing the postage on “ plants,” and objected to
adding this word to ‘‘seeds, cuttings, bulbs and roots,” in the
billnow beforeCongress. Theargument was thatsending small
plants through the mail interfered with the prices that must be
asked by agents, and a large proportion of the business of
nurserymen was transacted through agents.
Professor Budd is experimenting on a large scale with seed-
lings from the Russian Apples which he has imported. A
series of crosses between the Russian Apples and certain
American varieties have been made and the crossed seedlings
are now growing. Many pure seedlings from the Russian
Winter Apples are also growing. The hope is that varieties
may be secured which will endure the trying summers and
winters of our north-west region, and, at the same time, have
the good quality of some of the more tender kinds.
Both branches of the Philadelphia City Council have voted to
include the historic Bartram Garden among the Small Parks to
be established under the ordinance of which mention has
been already made in these columns. This means that the
land cannot now be sold for any other purpose and that it may
be taken by the city whenever it may choose to appoint a jury
to assess damages, or that it may be taken by any responsible
body of citizens who ask the courts to name a jury for this
purpose and agree to pay for the ground as the jury may esti-
mate its worth, or as may be arranged with the owners with-
outa jury. In case an association of citizens take the matter
in hand the city would without doubt respect the wishes of the
donors as to how the garden shall be cared for. If the city
pays for it the garden will remain at the tender mercies of city
officials, who cannot always be trusted to treat such a posses-
sion with either the reverence or the good taste which its im-
portance demands. Still, that so much has been accomplished
1s a matter for gratitude, and thanks are due in an especial
manner to Councilman Thomas Meehan, the Chairman of the
Sub-committee on Small Parks, for his labors in this behalf.
The statement which has been going the rounds of the
papers that the old Endicott Pear Tree, planted by Governor
John Endicott about 1630 on his farm in Danvers, Massachu-
setts, was dead, has no foundation in fact. This venerable
tree is stillalive and in a fairly vigorous condition. It now re-
sembles in habit a low, wide-spreading Apple tree. <A few
years ago the trunk was split by a storm, which caused it to
lean over the iron fence which protects the tree from cattle; it
Garden and Forest.
{Jury 11, 1888.
then sent up from below the split a strong, vigorous shoot,
which gives it its present bushy appearance. This tree was
never grafted, as suckers from it produce the same inferior
fruit as the main branches. Another famous Pear tree, known
in Salem as the ‘‘Orange Pear,” and supposed to have been
planted about 1640, is still alive and flourishing in a garden in
that town. The soil and climate of Essex County seem fa-
vorable to longevity in Pear trees. The ‘Cogswell Pear
Tree,” in the Town of Essex, is more than two centuries and
a half old. John Cogswell brought the seed which produced
this tree from England in 1635. This tree, which stands in the
open field back of Mr. Edward Lee’s house, near the founda-
tions of John Cogswell’s first house, still bears fruit, which is
used for preserving.
Retail Flower Markets.
New York, July 6th.
Roses continue scarce, and are of poor quality. So rare indeed are
all good flowers that all choice bouquets are set off with Orchids.
Paul Neyrons are best of the Hybrids. American Beauties are very
small and one-sided. Selected Hybrids are almost too poor to use, and
cost $3 and $4adozen. Maréchal Neils and General Jacqueminots ar-
rived in small lots from Newport. They cost $1.50 a dozen. La
France Roses are scarce and small. They cost $1 and $1.25 a dozen.
Lily-of-the-Valley sells for winter prices—$1.50 a dozen. There is
little of it unless to order. Lilium longiflorum and Callas cost $3 a
dozen. Gladioluses, $1.50 ; Pansies, 25 cts. ; Buttercups, 35 cts., and
Daisies from 15 to 20 cts. Pea Blossoms cost 25 cts. for a small clus-
ter. Mignonette is of bad quality and in light demand at 25 cts. a
dozen. Peonies are out of bloom. Florists receive plenty of steamer
orders, but really have not the flowers to fill them. For the dinner
given at Delmonico’s to the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough the
favors ordered were not supplied, because it was impossible to get
any Roses. Tamarisk foliage is used with good effect in tall designs.
PHILADELPHIA, Fly 6th.
Good flowers, and especially good Roses, were never less abundant
than they now are. True there is littke demand for flowers at this
dead season. The ‘*Commencements”’ are all over, and most of the
flower-buyers are out of town. During recent years flowers have been
used with less profusion at school commencements, but this year a
decided improvement was noticeable in the demand, and certainly
there are few occasions where they can be more appropriately used.
Sweet Peas are still asked for, and are in fair supply. Zinnias are
becoming more plentiful, and are catching the public fancy, owing to
the improvements in them within the past few years, The tints and
shadings in some of the flowers, though over showy perhaps, are
really very beautiful and distinct. Rudbeckia may be obtained in
limited quantities from the fields. It is figured in a recent number of
The Art Interchange, and labeled ‘The Black-eyed Susan!’’ without
any indications of its botanical name. It is frequently called the
‘«Cone Flower,” and sometimes the ‘Buckeye Daisy.’’ Carnations,
excepting white varieties, are fairly plentiful, and sell at 25 cts. a
dozen. Sweet Peas, Zinnias and Rudbeckia also sell at same price.
There are some few Mrs. John Laing Roses to be had at $1.50a dozen.
Meteors, though not at all plentiful, cost the same, La France, Mer-
mets and the Bride cost $1 to $1.50. Perles and Sunsets, 75 cts. to $1.
The demand for Asparagus tenuissimus and Smilax has fallen off con-
siderably, though there is very little change in the price. A few
flowers of that pretty wild pink Orchid, Calopogan pulchellum, are
brought from New Jersey, and sell at 50 cts. a dozen. The orange-
colored folygala lutea, from the same State, are offered at 25 cts. a
dozen. The two latter flowers have not been noticed in this city be-
fore. They will remain popular as long as they are in season.
Boston, Feely 6th.
The month of July is the dullest in the year for the florist. School
graduations and social gatherings, which make a demand for cut
flowers, are all finished ; the fashionable season at the seaside resorts,
which sometimes gives a little life to the business in midsummer, has
not yet begun, and were it not for the ‘steamer days’’ and an occa- _
sional funeral, florists might as well lock up their shops. The season
that has just closed has not been remarkable in any way; nothing
striking or decidedly original has been introduced in the way of floral
designs, and the only characteristic thing to say of the season is that it
began late, and that the average price of cut flowers was considerably
lower than ever before. Roses in midwinter were not up to the
average either in quality or quantity, but otherwise the condition of
the trade has been generally satisfactory. Among the best selling
varieties at present, and in fact all through the season, are the Grace
Wilder Carnations. It is a remarkable hold which this Carnation has
taken of flower-lovers and buyers. The pink Pond Lily seems to be
as popular as ever as a summer favorite. Gloxinias, Cornflowers and
the golden Sweet Sultan are all among the popular flowers of this
month, Out-door Roses are still plenty and cheap, the street ped-
dlers handling the most of them. A few Sweet Peas and Asters are to
be seen in the florists’ windows. There are no settled prices that are
worth quoting. All is grist that comes to the mill just now, and no
reasonable offer is refused.
—T
}
Bie
jury 18, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFIcE: TrisuNE Buitpinc, 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 18, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
: PAGE.
EpirortaL Arvictes:—Water Lilies.—The Artistic Aspect of Trees. III:
GOOG Paiste te tersiewiscipieisie che eisinais scree Ania. Laer weeeetesinnie edie ae ssielse aes 241
Among the Pines in June........--..0ceeeeee cess eee es Mrs, Mary Treat. 243
Window Gardening..........+-+++- .. 9% D. W. French. 243
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.......... ...W. Goldring. 244
New or Litr_e Known Priants :—Amelanchier oligocarpa...... Sereno Watson. 245
Prant Nores :—Two Interesting Willows..........-.seeeeee cee e eee e este tence 246
Pyrus salicifolia........sseeseeseeeeseeeeee HBR ccd o Ae odccsoueentpenis 246
CutturAL DeparTMENT :—The Vegetable Garden. . . William Falconer. 246
How to Grow Quinces......... SHOR eon eno 00 SHOCICNIAM CTT 247
Orcnip Notes ;—Orchids in Bloom at North Easton, Massachusetts.......4 A. D. 247
Odontoglossum nebulosum.—C y pripedium Parishii.—Dendrobium chry-
sotoxum suavissimum,—Angracum falcatum......... F. Goldring. 248
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum............-ccesesecceccscceescecesenes 248
Tue Forest :—Notes on the Longevity of Coniferous Tree Seeds,
Robert Douglas. 250
MEDRRESEONDENCE waeisisuaiciem o6 tesieieioica < cicleciccs iar ences.
250
Hardy Fruit Trees. . , 252
RECENT PUBLICATIONS Mereteteetsle sete oretis ote erarehn + <:sie\ertateletspalauslaisls. d7e'ia'e martes 55'S 251
ERYODICATBUTERATUORE Genie sinisletaGs si ctelsimicuie.c)e.6 0 5 <4, viaisiolsishalne'vigiemalaia tee nimiaiaieisiacmins 251
Tes aS Beene eee lotatalais ely ere fele ve iesnie (arcing = spelainia,x ece.n1e;0 dja ia, 0 clsaipininin's sieieieie lev 6(ss,=1die isi i0:< 252
ILLusTRaTions :—Water Lilies in the Garden at Buitenzorg....
Amelanchier oligocarpa, Fig. 41
Water Lilies.
HERE are no plants perhaps which can be cultivated
in the United States with less trouble and with more
pleasure thau Water Lilies; and certainly no plants create
_more admiration when they are seen in perfection.
The natural conditions here are peculiarly favorable to
them. Shallow ponds with muddy bottoms in which the
burning rays of our summer sun raises and maintains the
temperature of the water to almost tropical heat, are com-
mon in many parts of the country. Our native Water Lilies
flourish in such ponds, which may be made the home, too,
of numerous hardy exotic species, and in which gorgeous
tropical varieties may be set to flower during the summer
months. ‘Tropical Water Lilies are grown in heated tanks,
too, under glass in some gardens; and they are often
grown in out-of-door tanks which can be heated by pipes
from the green-house boiler, if the tenderest species or very
early flowers are wanted. Some of the finest varieties can be
as successfully grown ina tub of watersunk ina city yard as
in the most elaborately constructed and heated tank ; and
tubs of these plants plunged in the basins of fountains
make the most appropriate and by far the most beautiful
ornaments which can be used in such situations. Water
Lilies are plants for the poor as well as for the rich ; and
their decorative capabilities are almost limitless. The
number of species with handsome flowers is already large,
and as several species hybridize freely, it is probable that
we cannot form an idea even yet of the beauty which in-
telligent cultivation will develop in these plants.
The true Water Lilies (Nymphea) may be divided into
two classes: those which expand their flowers in the
morning, closing them in the afternoon, and those which
bloom only at night. Among those of the first class, none
is more lovely than the common fragrant White Lily of
the Eastern States (V. odora/a). Its pure white, deliciously
fragrant flowers are not surpassed in delicacy and in real
beauty by any of the more highly colored and showier
flowers of the tropics. This plant is very easily established
in muddy, shallow ponds by simply pushing bits of the
Garden and Forest.
241
root down into the mud, and it is one of the best Water Lilies
to grow in a tub, when if planted in very rich soil it
will produce an abundance of flowers all summer long. In
the autumn the water should be turned off and the tub
stored in a cellar or pit out of the reach of hard freezing.
There is a pink flowered variety of the common Water
Lily found in a pond in the town of Sandwich in Mas-
sachusetts. The flowers are much esteemed and sell
for high prices, although really far less beautiful than
the white ones. It is as easily cultivated as the typical
plant ; and when transplanted into other ponds it still
produces its pink flowers. Nymphea tuberosa, a native
of the region from western New York to the Missis-
sippi, where it inhabits shallow ponds and sluggish
streams, is a handsome species with tuber-bearing
roots, large bold leaves and pure white flowers, sometimes
ten inches across. They are quite devoid of odor, how-
ever, and although this is a very hardy, free-growing
plant, soon spreading over large areas, it has not the charm
and will never supersede its humbler eastern rival. The
yellow flowered Water Lily of Florida is hardy too at the
north, and will flower abundantly if a warm situation and
deep soil are selected for it. It is not a very showy plant,
however, and the interest which it excites lies in the pale
yellow color of the flowers (an unusual color in Water
Lilies), rather than in their beauty, and in its history. For
years it was only known by the picture joined to one of
the plates in Audubon’s ‘“‘ Birds of America,” while its ex-
istence was doubted and denied. This sketch was
made by the lamented naturalist, Leitner, one of the
first victims of the Seminole war, and it is only within
recent years that it was made known to botanists through
the exertions of our associate, Mrs. Treat, by whom and
by Mr. Curtiss it was introduced into cultivation. An in-
teresting article from Mrs. Treat’s pen, in which the finding
of NV. flava is described, was published with illustrations
in Harper's Magazine, volume 55, page 365.
The European Water Lily (W. a/ba) is hardy in the North-
ern States, as are its varieties V. alba candidissima and rosea.
The first of these varieties is the most beautiful of the Euro-
pean Water Lilies. It has large, pure white flowers with
more waxy petals than our common Water Lily, and when
grown under favorable conditions of soil and temperature
itproduces its flowers during a longer period. They are
quite odorless, however, and these plants will probably
never be cultivated here except by persons who desire to
form a general collection. More attractive is the dwart
Water Lily of China and Siberia (V. pygme@a)—a hardy
plant with miniature fragrant white flowers which remain
open only during the afternoon.
The number of tropical Water Lilies is large. A few of
them can be grown in the Northern States in artificially
heated tanks only, but some of the finest flower freely in
shallow ponds if they are started in heat and then trans-
planted into large boxes or tubs of rich soil, which should
be plunged, when the water has become warmed by the
sun, without disturbing the roots. Many of these too
make excellent tub plants, producing flowers profusely
through August and September.
The Victoria Regia, first cousin of the Nympheas, the
great Water Lily of the Amazon, although generally
grown under glass outside the tropics, will, if treated as
an annual, and started in early spring in heat, flower at
the north in an open heated tank, and produce its enormous
leaves and great white flowers in luxuriant profusion.
In the Southern States it needs no artificial heat to de-
velop its beauties ; and we may expect to see, when it is
better known, the sluggish streams of Florida and Louisiana
become splendid by the presence of this, the noblest of all
aquatic plants. Some idea of the beauty which may be
given to southern ponds and streams through the cultiva-
tion of Water Lilies can be learned from our illustration
(see page 245), taken from a photograph of one of the
small lakes in the famous botanical garden at Buitenzorg,
in the mountains of Java, upon which the Victoria Regia
242
and several of the larger tropical Nympheas are floating,
while in the foreground there is a great mass of the Indian
Lotus.
Among tender Water Lilies which flower by day by far
the best known in our gardens is the blue-flowered species
from the Cape of Good Hope, WV. scuéfoha. Itisa handsome
plant, with bright blue flowers, and very easy to cultivate.
In gardens it is sometimes confounded with M cerulea or
NV. cyanea, synonyms of the tropical Afiican WV. s/e/ata,
which the ancient Egyptians prized so highly and so often
engraved on their monuments. Another blue-flowered
Water Lily, which is probably only a variety of this last,
is known in gardens as WV. Zanszibarensis ; it has larger and
darker flowers, and is one of the finest and very best of all
the Water Lilies in cultivation. Varieties are known with
darker and with lighter flowers.
Among tender Water Lilies which flower at night are V.
Lotus, an old world tropical species, with large, pure white
or sometimes red flowers (WV. rubra). It is the Lotus sacred
to Isis, and famous among the Egyptians, who, in spite of
its sacred character, made bread from its seeds and dried
roots. It is one of the first of the tropical species culti-
vated in Europe and one of the handsomest. It is a parent
of many hybrids, of which the most showy and the best
known is V. Devoniensis, one of the triumphs of English
horticulture ; and hardly surpassed in the brilliant color of
its large flowers by those of any other Water Lily. ™.
rubra and JN. denfafa, now considered forms of WV. Lotus,
although quite distinct from a garden point of view, are
exceedingly attractive plants, and this is true of the Ja-
maica Water Lily (VV. amp/a), with its yellow or yellow-
white flowers. There are many more of the true Water
Lilies in the tropics, but it is unnecessary to enumerate
them here.
But the Nympheeas are not the only aquatic plants
with attractive foliage and handsome flowers, and no
collection of these plants will be complete without their
near relatives, the Nelumbiums, the Sacred or Water Beans,
with their broad, circular leaves, borne above the water on
tall, stout petioles, and great, fragrant flowers, standing
high above the leaves. There are two species, the yellow
Nelumbium (WV. Zufeum), a native of our Western and South-
ern States, and now naturalized in a few places in the East,
notably in the Connecticut River below Hartford, and in
the Delaware below Philadelphia, and in New Jersey.
The American Nelumbium has handsome yellow flowers,
sometimes ten inches across, and farinaceous tubers,
which, like the seeds, are edible, and once furnished to the
North American Indians an important article of food. The
second species, V. speciosum, is a native of India. From
time immemorial it has been looked upon as the emblem
of fertility, and has been cultivated by the Egyptians and all
the people of the East. It is the Egyptian Bean of Pytha-
goras and the Sacred Lotus of India. The lovely, delicate
white, sweet-scented flowers, tipped with pink, which in
one variety are pure white, stand high above the pale
green leaves, and are not surpassed in beauty by those of
any other plant. It is easily cultivated, and the fact that
it has already become thoroughly naturalized in one pond
at least in New Jersey excites the hope that this fine
plant will some day be as much at home in the waters of
the Middle and Southern States as it is in those of China
and Japan. At the North it should receive the treatment
necessary to insure the blooming of the hardier of the ten-
der Nympheas, although its more vigorous growth and
rambling habit demand a separate compartment when it is
grown in a tank with other plants, which otherwise it
would soon exterminate.
The list of aquatic plants with handsome flowers and
foliage is not by any means confined to the Nympheas and
the Nelumbiums, but enough has been said, perhaps, to
draw attention to the pleasure which may be derived from
the cultivation of this class of plants which are within the
reach of any one who can afford a tub of water and apiece
of sunny ground large enough to hold it.
Garden and Forest.
III.—Color.
ie be forms and the textures of trees having been
briefly noted as they appear from the artistic point
of view, it is time to say a word about their colors.
The color of foliage is more or less affected by its
texture. Given leaves of a certain tint of green, the
tree will seem darker if its head is massive and dense
than if it is feathery and infiltrated with light. It is, of
course, the general color effect, and not the color of a
leaf separately considered, which concerns the student
of nature’s beauties and of the planter’s tasks.
Among the varieties which nature creates when clothing
her trees in her usual livery of green, an artist would
distinguish varieties of tint and varieties of tone or
‘‘value.” The green of foliage may be of a_ bluish,
or a yellowish, or a grayish tint, and, keeping this
tint, it may vary from a very pale to a very dark
tone. Again, the effect of a tree may be compounded
of the different colors shown by the different sides
of its leaves—may be a mottled and not a simple
tone; and it is always affected by the surface-character
of the leaves, a smooth and shining tissue giving a tone
quite unlike that produced by a dull or woolly tissue,
even though upon examination the same shade of color-
ing matter be discovered. And then, when her greens
are exhausted, nature falls back upon other colors and
gives us such an eccentric thing as, for instance, the
Purple Beech. :
If, as we have said, it is impossible to learn how to ap-
preciate and manage the forms of trees from written rules
and counsels, it is still more impossible thus to learn
with regard to their colors. Among artistic powers a
feeling for color is the one which depends most upon an
innate gift; and, though like all the others, it may be
cultivated with success, a process of practical self-cul-
ture—of constant observation and comparison and ap-
praisement—is the only one that can much avail. .The
trouble with most of us is not that we could not see the
difference between harmony and disharmony in colors
if we tried, but that we do not try. We do not really look
at what we see. We accept what nature—and too often
what the planter—sets before us, and neither reflect
whether it is good or bad, nor stop to analyze the reason
even when we are quite sure which it is. Although,
however, reliance must chiefly be placed upon the cul-
tivation of eye and taste, whether the aim be apprecia-
tion merely or action too, a few general principles may
be explained in words.
As with qualities of texture, so with qualities of color,
restfulness and dignity are more often desirable, and are
desirable in larger quantities, than restlessness and fra-
gile grace; and it may be broadly said that dark colors
are more dignified than pale ones, and that the most rest-
less of all are those which are mottled instead of simple.
The unquiet look of a Silver Maple, for instance, as com-
pared with the restful look of a Sugar Maple, depends as
much upon the varying color of the under and upper
surfaces of its leaves, as upon their more lace-like
shapes and the more straggling form of the tree itself.
The Artistic Aspect of Trees.
The former is the better tree of the two to supply a lively _
accent in some situation where this is desirable; the
latter is the better: to use in large masses, or to place
as a single specimen where a strong yet quiet note would _
be the right one.
A second point which may be indicated is that it is
safer to place two tones of the same tint together—as a
dark and a lighter bluish-green —than to associate two
different tints—as a bluish with a yellowish green.
[JULY 18, 1888,
Yet 9
the most effective combinations, when they are rightly ©
made, are those which owe their charm to contrast §f
rather than to concord. Still another point is that gray-
ish greens are those upon which dependence may best be
placed for harmonizing strong notes of other kinds—ap-
proaching most nearly to those neutral tones upon which ff
Jury 18, 1888.]
painters on canvas put such reliance. We may some-
times see the fact illustrated towards evening, when a
plantation which is inharmonious in color under bright
light becomes harmonious simply by the fading out of
one or two of its tints into grayish twilight hues.
Again it may be remarked that when a tree is not
green at all—when it is purple, for instance, like the
well-known variety of Beech, or red like some of the
Japanese Maples, or blue like the Colorado Spruce, or
bright yellow like many cultivated varieties of shrubs—
it should be used with peculiar care and a discretion
amounting to the most rigid parsimony. It is like the
red cloak which the landscape painter is so fond of using
—invaluable, sometimes, if set in exactly the right place,
but by no means always desirable, and always ruinous
if wrongly placed or over-emphasized. Finally, all ob-
jects which come in visual contact with our trees must
be considered as affecting their own colors. A tree
which would look well against a background of dark
rock might not look as well lifted against a background
of sky ; and one which would harmonize with a brown
or a white house might not harmonize with a red brick
house. The sheen and color of water, too, and its re-
flecting powers, demand that its borders be very care-
fully treated. <A bright tree which gives a welcome
accent in itself might give a distinctly over-emphatic
accent if doubled by reflection in a sheet of water; and,
in general, moderately dark, or grayish, or whitish trees
best sustain this reflection. We are right, for once, in
our fashion of placing Willows near water; not only
their feathery texture but their tender and often neutral
colors fit them well for such situations. If we imagine
a large White Willow changed to a vivid yellow-green,
like that of the Box Elder, we feel at once that its fit-
ness for the neighborhood of water would be seriously
impaired. Of course in the autumn the case is different;
then all tones are changed to more vivid ones ;_ bright-
ness is the characteristic quality of the landscape, and
the brighter the reflected note, the better it often appears.
It should also be remembered that the color of its
foliage is not the only thing which determines the color of
a tree. Its trunk and branches are often very apparent
and are sometimes very striking in color. The foliage
of the Canoe Birch would not, of itself, make it a very
conspicuous tree, but its dark glossy leaves with their
paler under sides, in contrast with its pure white bark,
make it so very striking that it is difficult indeed to
place it harmoniously. The lighter hue of the foliage
of the Silver Birch is also accentuated by the whitish-
gray of its bark, as the mottled appearance given the
Sycamore by the shape and disposition of its leaves is
accentuated by the mottled color of its splitting and
peeling bark. There is no end to the varieties of com-
bination thus presented for the planter’s use, and while
each one renders his task more complicated and difficult,
each affords him a new chance for some specially beau-
_tiful effect if he can learn how to use it rightly.
Among the Pines in June.
HE Pines in June are fairly ablaze with color. Gor-
geous masses of broad-leaved Laurel forming dense
thickets, are scattered here and there, and the intervening
spaces abound with the showy Dogwood (Cornus florida),
and wild roses fill the air with a delicate perfume.
The Japan Honeysuckle (Zonicera Faponica), has found
its way among our native shrubs and threatens to strangle
them. It extends over quite an area on either side of a
small stream. I have watched its progress with much in-
terest for ten years past, and to-day it is one mass of
bloom, clambering over poison sumach and a great many
other shrubs, and even large trees like the Sour Gum and
Swamp Maple. Not one of our native vines can compete
with it. Even the vigorous Ampelopsis is hidden beneath
this wealth of foliage and flower.
Garden and Forest.
243
The Cinnamon-fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) grows here
in great luxuriance. ‘The sterile fronds are above my
head, standing out in graceful curves, perfect in outline,
with not a broken or straggling frond. Such a magnifi-
cent bunch growing near our door would well repay
the time and labor bestowed upon it. Our two other Os-
mundas are also here, as well as the two Woodwardias,
and the sweet-scented Dicksonia, and several Aspidiums.
The rare very local Schizea pusilla, belongs exclusively
to our Pine-barrens. I find it a few miles from home
surrounded by many other choice plants—Pogomnia divari-
cafa and P. vertcillafa being among the number.
Our ponds and streams are now beautiful with white
Pond Lilies, and the little Lake-flower (ZLimnanthemum
lacunosum), is scattered among them. It has small, shin-
ing, heart-shaped leaves, often variegated with white and
yellow, and clusters of white wheel-shaped flowers are in-
termingled with the pretty leaves.
The Water-shield (Brasenia pelfata) is also in the same
pond, and its oval, shield-shaped leaves float among the
Lilies and Lake-fiowers. The flowers of the Water-shield
are of a dull-purple color, and its stems and buds are
coated with a thick, transparent mucilage.
The inflated Bladderwort (U/icularia inflata) is mixed
with the other plants, floating on the water, and when free
from them it goes where the wind wills it, with its cluster
of bright yellow flowers standing above the water and
carrying within its curiously formed bladders hosts of tiny
larvee and animalcules. The purple Bladderwort is here
too with violet-purple flowers. The bladders on this are
very abundant and quite unlike those of our other species.
Under the microscope they are curious and beautiful ob-
jects.
The long-leaved Sundew (Drosera longifolia) is growing
in the more shallow parts of the pond. . This species more
than our others, has the power of adapting itself to its
surroundings. Some of the stems are more than a foot
in length, with a cluster of purplish leaves raised above the
water and covered with reddish bristly glands that exude
a transparent, glutinous fluid which glistensin the sunshine
like dew-drops. Many unhappy insects have been lured
by the fascinating glitter and become hopelessly entangled
among the bristles, and the leaves have rolled entirely
around some of the victims. And for what purpose? | It
surely cannot be for lack of nourishment.
The Arrow-head (Segi//aria) grows along the margins of
the pond. Some of the forms are very firm, with large,
broad, sagittate leaves, which in other plants are simply lan-
ceolate. The Arrow Arum (Pelfandra Virginica) is in com-
pany with the Sagittaria as well as many other charming
plants, and altogether the Pine Barrens are very far from
being barren of beauty in these early summer days.
Mary Treat.
Window Gardening.
N the summer of 1882 I attended in London the annual
Flower Show of the Westminster Society for promoting
gardening among the working classes.* The exhibition was
held in tents located in the College garden of Westminster
Abbey, and a band of music added to the attractions. A small
admission fee was charged. Many of the plants were admira-
bly grown, and would have been worthy of a prize anywhere.
There was a large attendance of orderly people, many of them
evidently of the poorer classes; also a large sprinkling of
richer people. The most interesting event of all was the
presentation of the prizes. Ona platform inthe openairanum-
ber of ladies and gentlemen might have been seen, among
them Dean Bradley and the late Earl of Shaftesbury ; the lat-
ter, as had been his custom for many years, presented the
prizes. The fortunate ones came up one after the other to
receive the awards from his hands; and it was a sight not soon
to be forgotten. It was evidently a great pleasure for the Earl,
for he hadapleasant look and a kind word forall, and especially
for the children.
Hodder, in his “Life of the Earl of Shaftesbury,” in speak-
ing of the interest that the Earl took in this Flower Show,
*The late Dean Stanley was President of this Society.
244,
says: ‘‘The flowers, humble and simple enough, breathed
whispers of strange histories. Some were reared in furtive
hours in crowded slums; some came from the work-house,
and many from the parochial, national, infant, Sunday and
ragged schools; some from the kitchens of domestic servants
and the quiet homes of working people. The advantages of
these flower shows in a_ social aspect were many. They pro-
vided a source of simple recreation, and gave a new interest
in home by adding unwonted cheerfulness to the comfortless
rooms of the poor, They became the means of drawing at-
tention to some of the social wants of the working classes,
such as the need of fresh air, ventilation and more space.
They taught them simple habits of forethought and prudence,
for if they would win the prizes they must purchase their plants
long. beforehand, and expend money and time on what might
only bea probability of success. Their chief good wa& that
in watching the growth and progress of the flowers under
their care the children and their parents were brought into
close contact with something pure and innocent and beautiful;
something that should speak to the better part of their natures
and tell them of Him who has made the earth beautiful and fair.”
Lord Shaftesbury believed there was nothing among the
secondary means of instruction for the people to surpass win-
dow gardening and flower culture.
The love of plants and flowers on the continent of Europe
is perhaps more universal than in England even. Hurst, in
his. ‘Life in the Fatherland,” says: ‘But while the universal
pains bestowed by the affluent on plants of the rarest and most
beautiful variety is admirable, the almost paternal care lav-
ished by the poorest and-humblest on such flowers as they can
have is touching. The family that is crowded into a single
story of a small house is sure to have each window, however
small, occupied by flowers. They are healthy plants, too, for
they seem to be always in blossom and the leaves are of the
freshest verdure, In the narrowest streets and lanes, in town
as well as country, there is a love of flowers and a skill in
training them into thrift and beauty, confined to no class or
condition, and exhibited alike by small children and very aged
persons.”
Many of these foreigners who come to this country bring
this love of plant life with them. I have in mind a German
woman in this city, whose plants are always the envy of the
neighborhood. I asked her once how it was she succeeded so
well when others failed under nearly the same surroundings.
She said: ‘She did not know; only she thought she must
love the plants better.” I think this German woman was right
imher conjecture. No one can expect to be a really success-
ful grower of plants unless he really loves them. Who can
read that charming story of ‘“ Picciola,’’ by Saintine, without
believing that a plant reciprocates the love bestowed upon it!
This plant, prison grown and cared, became almost a human
being in its power for good. Among the well-to-do classes in
America the love of flowers is undoubtedly increasing year by
year, and as a proof of this notice the large sale of flowers in
the stores and on the street, and the flower-beds so carefully
planted and watered by the occupants of the country house.
There is, however, need of an effort to spread a greater love
of plants and flowers among the poorer classes. Largely it
must be done through the children by example and education.
The public and the’ Sunday school should do what it can in
this direction. Something has vais been done, notably in
Boston, where many of the churches give pot plants to the
children at Easter, and this custom is increasing. This
seems far preferable to the old plan of giving only flowers,
which so soon wither and decay. The plants also look very
pretty as a decoration to the church. In one Sunday-school at
least prizes have been offered for the best plants brought back
the next Easter, thus encouraging the children to care for them
during the year.
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society has for several
years offered prizes for window gardening to children eighteen
years old and under, The value of these prizes has ranged
from 50 cts. to $1.50. The effort of this Society to popularize
the cultivation of flowers by encouraging children in the love
and care of plants deserves high praise.
Iam not aware that any other society has made any similar
attempt. Something more, however, should, I think, be done
by our Horticultural Society when the prizes are awarded.
Why not distribute the prizes on an appointed day when the
officers of the Society might be present; and why not select
some competent person to address the children and present
the prizes to each child personally? This, I think, would have
an encouraging effect and stimulate them to greater efforts in
the future.
Boston.
F. D. W. French.
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 18, 1888.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Létter.
6 ie fortnightly exhibition of the Royal Horticultural
Society held yesterday was an unusually full one,
and the number of new and rare plants was larger than it
has been for several meetings. This being now just the
height of the Orchid season, there were many good things
exhibited and not a few were submitted to the committee
for certificates. Perhaps the loveliest of all the Orchids
shown, certainly the rarest and most valuable, was Catleva
Wageneri superba, which may be best described as a white
form of C. Afossie, a large bold flower, with broad sepals
and petals and a wide shallow lip. The whole flower is
pure white, excepting the large blotch of citron-yellow on
the labellum, which, however, does not mar the chaste
beauty of the blossom. This particular plant represented
a much finer form of Wagener’s Cattleya than has yet been
seen, the flower being larger and of better form, and fully
justifies the additional name, superba. The specimen came
from the unrivaled collection of Baron Schroeder and
bore over a dozen flowers. Another Orchid that excited
some interest and received a first-class certificate, was a
new Phaleenopsis, recently named P. gloriosa by Professor
Reichenbach. It is, however; so much like P. amabilis,
that one might easily mistake one for the other. - In both
the foliage is tinted with a purplish hue, and both have
large white flowers, with the lip stained with vinous
purple. It was exhibited by Messrs. Low, of Clapton,
and their manager, Mr. Casey, tells me that it is a
freer growing plant than the old P. amabilis and a much
freer flowerer, and if this turns out to be the case every-
where, it is an acquisition, undoubtedly. | Messrs.. Low
also showed a form of the new Cypripedium bellatulum,
for which they received a certificate at the last meet-
ing. The variety is called roseum, because the flowers
are distinctly washed or stained with claret purple on
their exteriors. Though I do not agree with the principle
of certificating mere varieties that exhibit only a slight
deviation from the types, I think that if this coloring in
the flowers of this Cypripedium is constant, it will be a
beautiful Orchid. The intimate relationship between C
bellatulum and C. Godefroye is as apparent as that between
Phalenopsis amabilis and P. gloriosa, and many are of the
opinion that the points of distinction, from a cultivator’s
standpoint, are weak. <A fourth Orchid, certificated on
this occasion, was an extremely fine form of Odonfoglossum
nebulosum, called excellens, exhibited by Messrs. Sander &
Co., St. Albans. I have never before seen such a fine
variety, the only approach being that named pardinum,
which I remember seeing in splendid bloom in Messrs.
Backhouse’s nursery at York some time ago. The excel-
lens variety has flowers fully a third larger than the type,
with the broad sepals copiously marked with large spots
of purple, which, not being confluent, makes the flower
very pretty. The typical O. nebu/osum is one of the finest
of Mexican Orchids, and, in our moist climate, it can be
grown to perfection.
glossum Halht named magnificum won a certificate.
and petals and an extraordinarily wide labellum, while the
colors, pale-yellow ground and coffee-brown markings, are
richer than in ordinary O. Hadhi.
Pollett an amateur,
Orchids near London.
A very beautiful new Japanese shrub was shown by
It was shown by Mr.
who owns a choice collection of
Messrs. Veitch of Chelsea, to whom a first-class certificate e
was worthily awarded. This was Sfyrax Obassia, a
dwarf shrub, having leaves of rounded outline as large as
those of Catalpa, and bearing drooping racemes, six inches
or more in length, of pure white flowers, resembling
those of a Philadelphus or Mock Orange. Judging by the
number of flowering branches exhibited, it must be a free” :
flowerer, and it is certainly one of the most beautiful
A remarkably fine form of Odonto- #
Them
flowers are much above the usual size, and with broad sepals _
Jury 18, 1888.] Garden
and Forest.
Water Lilies in the Garden at Buitenzorg.—See page 24r.
shrubs that has been shown fora long time. It is said to
be quite hardy in the open air in the Coombe Wood
nurseries near London, hence it isa most valuable acquisi-
tion. Messrs. Veitch also showed flowering twigs of the
pretty Shrax Japonica (considered by some to be a form of
S. serrulata virgata). The flowers of this species are white,
also, and, as they hang thickly on the twigs, they remind
one of our old favorite, the Solanum jasminoides. This
Styrax is also hardy at Coombe Wood.
The hybridization of stove Anthuriums has been carried
on in Belgium to a great extent, and has resulted in a
multitude of hybrids, some few of which are excellent and
decided improvements upon their parents. The principal
species that have been used in hybridizing are A. Andre-
anum and the old A. Scherszertanum. One of these new
hybrids was shown yesterday by M. Linden, of Brussels,
and the committee gave it a first-class certificate. It is
called A. Desmehanum, after one of the Ghent nursery-
men. ‘The plant is a good deal like A. Andreanum in
growth, having similar heart-shaped leaves, and also a
heart-shaped flower-spathe about four inches long, but,
instead of being of the usual bright scarlet, it is of the
deepest blood-red-crimson, a color not hitherto seen
among Anthuriums. It is certainly a break from every-
thing yet produced, yet it may be only a seminal form
of A. Andreanum.
A new Sarracenia named S. Wilhamsii was shown by
Mr. B. S. Williams and was certificated. It is a hybrid
between the dwarf S. purpurea and one of the tall pitch-
ered species, such as S. flava or S Drummond. The pitch-
ers are about fiffeen inches high, of massive size, and
very handsomely shaped about the lid and mouth. They
are of a cheerful apple-green, marked with a tracery of
heavy crimson veins. Though we have such a large
number of hybrid Sarracenias, there is certainly room for
such a handsome sort as this. W. Goldring.
London, June r3th.
New or Little Known Plants.
Amelanchier oligocarpa.*
LL of the American forms of the Shadbush or June-
berry have long been grouped together as varie-
ties of one species, dA melanchier Canadensis. Of late years
the western species, A. a/uzfolia, which was figured in a
recent number of GarpEN anp Forest, has been recog-
nized as distinct. <A figure is now given of one of the
eastern varieties which seems to be equally worthy of
specific rank.
Unlike our common Shadbush, which is often found in
dry, open woods, this is an inhabitant of cold swamps
and mountain bogs, and is found only northward, trom
Labrador and Rupert’s Land to Newfoundland, New
Brunswick, northern New England and New York, and
the shores of Lake Superior. It is a low shrub, rarely
more than from two to four feet high, and the smooth
* A. oLiGocARPA, Roem. Syn. Monog., iii. 145. A low bush: leaves oblong or
rarely oblong-ovate, acute at cach end, sharply serrulate, glabrous ( newhat
subescent when young); flowers one to four, long-pedicellate ; petals obovate ;
at dark purple, obovate to short-oblong.
246
and mostly oblong Jeaves are acute at each end and usu-
ally very finely serrulate. The long-pediceled flowers
are solitary or in pairs, or rarely three or four in a
raceme,
oblong or linear, and the fruit is large, dark blue-pur-
ple, with a heavy bloom, and often nearly twice longer
than broad. It is sweet and with a more decided flavor
than the ordinary Juneberry, which is globose and crim-
son or purpl sh red.
A word may be said in regard to the specific name
which is here adopted, inasmuch as some botanists, who
are disposed to make the claim of priority override every
other monsderatien in. nomenclature, may assert that right
for a supposed earlier name, A. sanguinea. But the
Pyrus sanguinea of Pursh, the Aroma sanguinea of Nut-
tall, and the Amelanchier sanguinea of De Candolle and
nearly all later authors, have no connection with this
species. Roemer’s name, based upon the A/espilus Can-
adensis, var. oligocarpa, of Michaux, who was the first to
notice its peculiarities, must take precedence.
Sav,
Plant Notes.
Two Interesting Willows.
HE Hoary Willow (Salix candida), a dwarf white shrub,
two to five feet high, with narrow lanceolate leaves,
densely covered, as well as the young shoots, with a white web-
like wool, and with beautiful rose-colored catkins of flow ers,
is a rare plant in New England, where it is only known in
one station in Essex County, Massachusetts, discovered a few
years ago by Mr. John Robinson. Further south and west it is
more common. This little Willow, although an inhabitant of
bogs, is easily cultivated in ordinary garden soil. Its flowers
and its foliage entitle it to a place in any garden.
Another interesting plant is Se/ix balsamifera. It was
first discovered more than half a century ago among the
White Mountains of New Hampshire; and later in British
America, from Labrador to the Saskatchewan, by Drum-
mond, Dr. Richardson, Bourgeau and Macoun. | It: was
long unseen in the White Mountains, but in 1879 was redis-
covered, and is now known in several places, thanks to the zeal
of Mr. Edwin Faxon in exploring the White Mountain Flora.
It is “a much and irregularly branched shrub, four to ten
feet in height, sometimes growing in clumps of thickly-set,
straight, upright stems one to two inches in diameter at the
base, not much branched till near the top; bark of old stems
rather smooth, dull gray, branches olive, recent twigs reddish-
brown, or on the sunny side shining chestnut; leaves ovate,
or ovate-lanceolate, two to three inches long, one to one and
one-half inches wide, broadly rounded, and usually subcordate
at base, acute or acuminate, at first very thin, sub-pellucid, and
of a rich reddish color; at length rigid, dark green above,
paler or glaucous beneath and ‘beautifully reticulate veined,
glabrous on both sides or with a few scattered silken hairs
when just expanded ; margin glandular-serrulate, petioles
long and slender, stipules noticeably absent throughout, or on
the most vigorous shoots minute and evanescent ; aments
borne on slender leafy peduncles ; densely flowered, very
silky, obtuse cylindrical, one to one and one-half inches long,
scales rosy, anthers at first re ddish, becoming deep yellow ;
female ament less silky, becoming very lax in fruit two inches
or more long ; capsules rostrate ‘from a thick base, the con-
spicuously long and slender pedicels six to eight times the
length of the nectary ; style short, bifid, stigmas spreading,
thick, two lobed.” This description i is taken from an interest-
ing notice of this Willow in the May number of the Bulletin of
the Torrey Botanical Club. It is from the pen of Mr. M.S.
Bibb, to whom Mr. Edwin Faxon writes, ‘ With just now the
fertile capsules opening and coalescing into huge, soft balls of
whitest wool, almost hiding the beautiful red and maroon
leaves of the growing tips, it is certainly the handsomest
Willow I ever saw.”
Salix balsamifera takes kindly to cultivation and is now well
established in the Arnold Arboretum. Fe
Pyrus salicifolia—There is a remarkably fine specimen of the
Willow-leaved Caucasian and Siberian Pear in the old nursery
grounds of the Messrs. Parsons at Flushing. This plant, one of
the hardiest and most ornamental of the family, is rarely
seen in our gardens. It is a small tree, sometimes twenty or
Garden and Forest.
The petals are broad and obovate, instead of
[JuLy 18, 1888.
twenty-five feet high, with spreading or pendulous branches,
and narrow, silky hoary leaves, which make it a pleasing and
conspicuous object throughout the season, while the white
flowers, often tinged with pink, which appear rather later than
those of the common Pear tree, are very beautiful, There is
a variety with decidedly pendulous branches which is one of
the most desirable of all the small weeping trees.
New York. D.
Cultural Department.
The Vegetable Garden.
()°P plants of Globe Artichokes produce heads about ane
Ist of July, and last in good bearing condition for several
wecks ; the plantations set out last spring, if from divided
crowns, afford a succession, but if from this year’s seedlings
they may not bloom till next year. In order to keep them
in good bearing condition, cut off all heads as soon as they
are fit to use, even if they are not wanted for use. Among 2
Jerusalem Artichokes pull out all shoots found outside of the
hills; this gives larger tubers than when the plants are allowed
to grow ina thicket. The tubers will not be large enough for
use before September. :
Asparagus beds should have a good cleaning and the plants
should be left to grow at will. If the larvae of the Asparagus
beetle has appeared i in the beds, in the morning when the
plants aré wet with dew dust them with Paris green and plas-
ter of Paris in the same way and proportions as for Potato
beetles on Potatoes, but be careful that no other vegetables, as
Lettuce, Snap Beans or Cauliflowers, that may be grown near
the Asparagus, are touched by the poison.
Sow Snap Beans at least once a week till the middle or end
of August. They are e, according to the weather, a seven to
nine weeks’ crop—from sowing till gathering. The Golden
Wax varieties are considered the tenderest, but no yellow-
fleshed Snap Bean looks as well upon the table as green-
fleshed ones. Valentine and Mohawk, both green- fleshed
sorts, are of first quality. If the vines of Lima Beans fall away
from the poles tie them up. Keep them clean and well hoed
to induce quick growth and early fruiting. The main crop
generally comes from the 7th or 15th of August and continues
in bearing condition till destroyed by frost. Try to keep upa
eure ly of Peas till the Limas come, but this is sometimes hard
to do, as after the middle of July mildew overtakes and de-
stroys the Pea crop. About the middle of July to Ist of
August put in afew sowings of Peas, to come in about the
middle to end of September. Use early or second early Mar-
row Peas, as Alpha, McLean’s Advancer, Veitch's Perfection, -
or Bliss’ Abundance, and avoid late Peas, as Champion of
England, Telephone and Omega, or round Peas, as Daniel
O'Rourke. The American Wonder is a very good Pea in its
way, dwarf habit, excellent flavor, but it does not bear enough
or last long enough in usable condition to pay tor growing ‘it.
Blue Beauty—a new Pea—has done exceptionally well this
year. It was sown April 11th in well enriched sandy land, and
we began picking the Peas June 2oth. Vines two and one-half
to three feet high, very prolific ; pods round, compactly filled
with large green peas, averaging five in a pod; peas of excellent
flavor, and we continued to. pick for six ‘days. Another new
Pea called Quantity, and which is after the fashion of Abund-
ance, has also behaved very well. Sown April 11th, we began
picking fromit June 25th. Vines three to three and one-half
feet high, very prolific; short, well-filled pods, containing five
to six peas of capital favor. The great English Pea of last
year, Royal Jubilee, sown April rth, fit to pick June 29th; has
very large, flattish pods, containing some seven peas, large and
of fine Havor, Vine three to four feet high. It isa fine,
showy Pea, but not good enough to crowd out old favorites.
The Cabbage tribe now requires particular attention. _We
have had Wakefield Cabbage since the first of June, now Early
Summer and All Seasons, but at this time of year when Peas
and Cauliflower abound, Cabbage is not in much demand.
Set out Cabbage and Savoys for “Fall and winter use. If trans-
planting is delay ed they are not likely to form solid heads for
pitting in winter. Plant out Brussels Sprouts as soon as pos-
sible ; they should be in condition for use from September till
Christmas. Of Cauliflower set out a main crop now, and
again early in August. This last setting is to be lifted and
heeled into cold-frames in November for use during the
winter months. These plants like rich land. They usually
follow early Sweet Corn, early Potatoes, Beans and Peas. But
it often happens that we have not ground enough ready for
them in July, and if we leave the plants i in the seed beds they
will get long-stemmed and overgrown, and when set out suffer
-very quickly at this time of year.
Jury 18, 1888.]
a good deal and take a long time to recover themselves. This
can be avoided by lifting and potting the young plants at once.
Use four or five inch pots, and plunge them to their brims and
close together in an open plot out-of-doors. And if-there isa
probability of the plants being late, pot them off in this way,
and it will help them greatly. . When potted plants are set out
they grow straight ahead without ever wilting. The earliest
Cauliflower and Cabbage plants should be pot-raised; they
should be almost half grown in pots before the land out-of-
doors is fit to plant. Sow some Dwarf Green Curled Kale now
for plants to set out in August. Any empty spaces can be filled
with Kale. There isno need of its attaining mature size be-
fore winter; if even half grown it is very good. Before frosty
weather sets in it may be lifted and heeled in close ina cold-
frame for use during winter.
Sow a row or two of large-leaved (not large-rooted) Chic-
ory for use for salads in winter. If sown much earlier it goes
to seed. :
The main crop of Carrots and Beets should not be sown be-
fore July. Carrots may be sown any time in July anda few
the ast of August. The
short stump-rooted Carrots
are better than the long
ones. Carrots sown now
keep tender all winter long,
but Carrots raised from
April and May sowings be-
come so hard and flavorless
before winter that they are
only fit to feed to stock.
When to sow Beets must
be regulated by the place
and season. Here the pro-
per time is late July and
early August. Beets are
only wanted just large
enough, say two to three
inches in diameter, for use,
solid and tender. Large or
early sown Beets are apt to
be foggy inside and unfit
for table use. And as it is
with Beets so is it with Tur-
nips. Winter Turnips
should never be sown here
before the middle of Au-
gust, because they are
hardier and have a longer
season of growth, to the
second or third week in
November. Purple-top
Round Globe and Strap-
leaf Turnips are very good.
Sow some Parsley now in
a cold-frame for use in win-
ter. That sown now will
yield nice leaves from
November till May or
June, whereas the plants
raised from spring sowings
will nun to flower after Feb-
ruary.
Keep up a regular supply of Lettuces by frequent sowings
and plantings. here is no Lettuce that will not run to seed
\ Grow in rich soil and
water abundantly in dry weather. But as this is a
“quick ’’ crop, use as a catch-crop between rows of other
vegetables rather than as a main crop of themselves. In the
same way make a small sowing of Spinach and Radishes
every week. Itis useless at this time of year to make large
sowings or plantings of such short-lived crops as are Spinach,
Lettuces or Radishes.
Keep up a succession of Sweet Corn. Moore’s Concord
gives excellent satisfaction, and a little may yet Le planted
every week.
Cut back Melon vines that wander beyond their proper place,
and if they grow so thickly in the hills as to threaten to smother
one another, do not hesitate to thin them out severely. Sow
some Cucumbers in a cold-frame. Of course, if sown out-of-
doors now, they will have time enough yet to mature their
fruit before cold weather sets in, but about the end of August
aphides usually attack and destroy the vines. In the open
ground it is difficult to overcome this pest, but in frames they
can be destroyed by a free use of fresh tobacco stems or
powder, keeping the frames shut up at the same time.
Garden and Forest.
Fig. 4r.—Amelanchier oligocarpa.—See page 245.
247
Cucumbers for pickles are best grown in the open ground.
For pickles, growers hereabout are very partial to Nichol’s
Medium Green.
Glen Cove, N. Y. Wim. Falconer.
How to Grow Quinces.
M R. CHAS. L. JONES, of Newark, N. J., has had unvarying
success with this fruit and his trees have now been in
bearing thirteen years. For several years he has gathered
from each tree from 400 to 450 Quinces, and last year the aver-
age was 475 toatree. Mr. Jones asserts that any one can
grow Quinces ina city back yard: and he gives a full explana-
tion of his method of culture ina recent number of the Rural
New Yorker. The first injunction is not to stir the ground
deeply near the tree. The Quince throws out many fine feed-
ing roots near the surface, and these should be encouraged,
fed and protected. Hence the ground about the tree, to a dis-
tance as far as its branches extend, is undisturbed, except to
keep down the weeds, which are cut close to the surface with
a push-hoe. Late in au
tumin a dressing of barn-
yard manure is given, and
in early summer a mulch
of salt hay or other coarse
material is added. This
keeps the fine roots moist
and cool and_ furnishes
them with food.
The next essential is
proper pruning. This does
not mean an occasional
thinning out of the branch-
es as they become crowded.
Indeed, as the tree is often
deficient in foliage, no thin-
ning out is practiced, but
every spring the new
growth all over the tree is
pruned back or ‘headed
in,” so as to leave but four
or five buds. This means
that from two to four feet
of wood is cut from every
thrifty shoot. As a result
of this treatment, the entire
outer surface of the tree is
literally covered with fruit
of good size and quality.
It is a slow and tedious
operation to pick off the
young seed pods from
Rhododendrons and Aza-
leas, but it pays to do it.
If the pods are allowed to
mature the new _ shoots
which spring from lateral
buds just below the terminal
inflorescence often make
a feeble and unsatisfactory
growth, and fail to set flower
buds, the strength of the plant going to the perfection of the
seeds. . The operation, if performed as soon as the plants are
out of flower and before the stem becomes hard, is quickly
done by pinching out the whole flower cluster just above the
new shoots, although some care is necessary not to remove
these also. Of course, if the new growths are broken or mu-
tilated, there will be no bloom on them the following year.
ne 7:
Orchid Notes.
Orchids in Bloom at North Easton, Massachusetts.
HE collection of F. L. Ames, Esq., is worthy of note at this
season, containing as it does handsome specimens, many
of them unique. On entering the Orchid houses one passes
through ahandsome reception room, recently erected for the ac-
commodation of visitors, into a large span-roofed structure
too feet long containing chiefly Cypripediums and Cattleyas.
A few days ago the former were remarkably gay. Worthy of
note among them was a handsome plant of the rare C. Schroder@
with six stout spikes bearing ten large, well formed flowers,
a sight not easily forgotten. Among other well grown
and healthy plants were examples of C caudatiwm Wallisii,
248
sometimes called the white CG
strong growths and four fine flowers, the
fully twenty-one inches, of C. Vettchiz with seven bold
flowers, and an exceptionally fine variety, C. prestans, with
enormous flowers and broad foliage of stout leathery texture ;
of C. @nanthum, a grand specimen, promising a fine display
of bloom; of CG Ar thurianum, with eleven strong growths,
together with five plants of C. Arnesianum, (a albopurpur eum,
C. Fairteanum, C. tonsum, C. Druryt, C. Sedeni candidulum,
C. Petri, C. selligerum majus, C. Morganie, and numerous
other rare species. The Cattleyas were showing a marked im-
provement, the foliage having a dark green appearance, and
quantities of newly made roots were spreading over the pots
and baskets in all directions. Mr. Robinson, the gardener , at-
tributes this to the abundant supply of air he gives the plants,
the atmosphere in the house being always fresh and invig-
orating, a point he considers essential if strong growths and
well formed flowers are to be expected. Several specimens
in grand condition were noted, amongst them a plant in
full bloom and with 100 bulbs of the rare Cattleva Wagnerit,
the showy C. Reineckiana with twelve flowers and in fine
form, also two magnificent specimens in full bloom with up-
wards of 200 bulbs of Cattle ya Skinnert. The rare C. Triane
Leeana, C. Triane Osmanii, Lelia bella, I.. Perrinii alba, L.
callistoglossa, L. grandis, with large specimens of L. purpurata,
Ess elegans and L. ele ‘vans alba, are all in superb condition. One
of the finest examples i in cultivation of Sodralia xantholeuca
was in bloom, its large yellow flowers affording a delightful
contrast with its dark green foliage. With the Cattleyas were
noticed a handsome plant of the scarce Celogyne Dayana with
six fine spikes, aspecimen of Dendrochilum ‘glumaceum, anda
striking variety of Calanthe masuca, the mauve color of its
flowers being unusually dark. The Pleiones occupy a shady
position of the same house, where they receive an abundant
supply of water during growth. Thunias also were in fine
health. The rare 7. Veitchii,ahybrid between 7: Bensonia and
T. Marshall’, is in bloom and very attractive, certainly a
splendid acquisition to this desirable genus. The Vandas and
Erides in this collection grow very rapidly, and among the
former are specimens of Vanda Sanderiana, V. cwrulea, V.
Lowti, V. suavis, V. tricolor, and the recently introduced V.
Amesiana, Aerides Leonii expansum (in bloom), A. edoratum,
A, Fieldingi, A. crassifolium and others were represented by
fine specimens. Many hybrid Odontoglots of the Alexandra
type were growing tree ly in the house set apart for this genus,
also large plants of Oncidium macranthum w ith stout growths,
and a fine healthy group of Masdevallias growing rapidly, in-
cluding amongst others a fine plant of the rare Masdevallia
Carderi, with examples of JZ Fraser?, a hybrid between AZ.
tenea and A. Harryana, strong plants of AL Schlimii, M.
Veitc hii, and several plants of the curious and interesting AM.
Chimera.
June 2oth.
twelve
tails measuring
caudatum, with
A, 2,
Odontoglossum nebulosum.—This is a pretty Mexican Orchid
belonging to the maculatum group, site round, compressed
bulbs, and short, broadly lanceolate leaves. The scapes which
spring from the young growths are erent about 1o inches
long, and bear six to eight flowers. These are about three
inches across, pure w hite, with the whole central portion spot-
ted with greenish brown shaded toa red brown on the outer
circles. The crest is yellow and column white. There is a
variety called candidissima in which the spots are absent. QO,
pardinum, a species spotted more thickly than the average,
has been long introduced, but does not seem to be very
popular for some cause. It is easy to grow, requiring the
same treatmentas O. crispum, except that it needs a longer rest
and much less water during this period. Odontoglossum
Walisti purum is quite distinct. In growth it resembles O,
roseum, \yut has rounder and larger bulbs and longer leaves.
The raceme is slender, drooping, and bears some twelve
flowers. These are about two inches across, not unlike a
good variety of O. Sanderianum. The pandurate lip is beauti-
fully fringed, rose purple, bordered with white. It is a native
of the mountains of Venezuela and grows well with the treat-
ment required by the other species.
Cypripedium Parishii, a striking species with leathery, dark
ereen leaves. The stout, hairy scape bears three to six flowers.
The sepals are pale green or straw color. Petals four to six
inches long, drooping, narrow, and very much twisted, vinous
purple in color. The lip is green, stained with purple. This
species is not so amenable to cultivation as most of the
genus, doing best here
of heat and water.
Dendrobium chrysotoxum
in light potting material with plenty
suavissimum.—This flowers
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 18, 1888.
much later than the type and differs from it in having a dark
maroon blotch in centre of the golden yellow flower. “It pro-
duces many flowered racemes from the top of the clavate,
deeply furrowed bulbs, and will continue flowering from the
old bulbs for many years. It makes a grand plant for dec-
orative purposes and is very useful for cut flowers. Coming
from the hot plains of Burmah, it requires considerable heat
to make good bulbs. These must be thoroughly ripened by
exposure to sunlight and air, taking care not to burn the
leaves during the resting season. Only enough water should
be given to keep the bulbs from shriveling.
Angr ecum falcatum.—This is a small, compact Orchid, with
narrow dark green leaves about three inches long, from the
axils of which are produced many flowered spikes of pure
white fragrant flowers, with a spur about three inches long
also white. A. densuim may only be a variety of this. The
leaves are shorter, broader and more erect. The flowers are
white, as in 4. falcatwm, but with much shorter spurs. These
two kinds are native of Japan and are generally supposed to
require a cool house, but they are doing well here in the East
India house, F. Goldring.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
Y far the most beautiful of the American Andromedas is
A, speciosa, It is a native of the coast country from
North Carolina to Florida, where it is found along the borders
of the Pine-barren ponds, and, in spite of its southern origin,
is perfectly hardy and at home here. _ It is a low shrub, never
more than three or four feet high, with bright green foliage,
which, in one variety (var. pulverulenta), is chalky- white, with
a dense glaucous bloom, The flowers are pure white, a third
of an inch deep by as much wide when expanded, and appear
in large racemed fascicles, on naked branches of the preceding
year. This charming plant has been in cultivation since the
beginning of the century, and once wasa great favorite in
English gardens. In this country itis rarely met with in culti-
vation, in spite of its many attractions. Itis now blooming
copiously.
Not less attractive in its way is Philadelphus microphyllus,
the smallest of the family, and a native of the mountains of
southern Colorado and New Mexico, whence it was introduced
into cultivation by the Arboretum a few yearsago. Itisa
twiggy shrub, with slender stems two or three feet tall, with
broadly ovate, hairy leaves, half an inch long, dark green and
shining above, pale below, and small w hite, deliciously fra-
grant Howers, which no one who has ever climbed over the
cliffs above the Grand Cafion of the Arkansas in the early days
of July, will ever forget. Philadelphus microphyllus is per-
fectly hardy here, and an excellent little shrub for the rock-
garden. The earliest Ceanothus to flower here (where
none of the handsome California species are hardy), and ten
or twelve days earlier than the common New Jersey Tea (C.
Americanus), is C. ovalis. It is a common western species,
only just reaching New England on the eastern shores of Lake
Champlain, and probably very rarely cultivated, in spite of the
fact that it is a useful low shrub, two or three feet high, of
compact habit, good foliage, and handsome, white flowers,
which come later than those of most shrubs—a valuable
quality
It is the habit of late and continuous blooming through the
summer which gives value to the Allsaints Cherry, a Euro-
pean plant of very uncertain origin. It is a handsome dwarf
tree, with long, pendulous bri inches. In nurseries it is gener-
ally grafted standard high on the common Cherry, when the
branches soon sweep the ground. It produces through the
season large, white, solitary flowers, on long, drooping stems,
ripe fruit “and flowers appearing on the ‘tree at the same
time. The Allsaints Cherry makes a very pretty specimen
for a small lawn or garden. It is very rarely seen in this
country,
Acanthopanax spinosum (Aralia pentaphylla) is now in
flower. It is avery hardy Japanese shrub, which attains a
height here of eight or ten feet, with wide spreading, arching,
pale gray branches, armed with stout, solitary prickles, and
covered with bright green, shining, five-parted leaves, tive or
six inches across, and borne on long clustered petioles.
The small green flowers, in axillary, long-stemmed umbels,
are not show y, and the value of this plant lies in its graceful
habit and handsome and abundant foliage. It is an excellent
subject to plant on a rocky bank.
Rosa repens is probably a form of the common and widely
distributed European Field Rose (2. arvensis), although
abundantly distinct for garden purposes. It has trailing,
prostrate branches, eight or ten feet long, handsome dark
Ek Syl
Jury 18, 1888.]
green foliage, and small, pure white, single flowers, solitary
or two or three together. It continues to expand its flowers
during several weeks and is one of the most attractive of the
foreign Roses in the collection. It is well suited to plant on
banks or among other shrubs, where it can send its long
stems freely over them, or it is an exceedingly attractive plant
when trained to a tall stake or to a pillar.
Many of the American Greenbriers (Slax) are handsome
climbing plants. They are never cultivated, however, although
some of the strong growing species can be made to serve a
good purpose in preventing access across the boundaries of
parks or pleasure grounds. Neither man nor beast will try to
break through a well-grown mass of the tough, horribly
armed stems of the common Greenbrier, or Bullbrier (.S7¢/ax
rotundifolia), one of the handsomest plants in leaf found in the
Atlantic forests,
Another species peculiar to the south, S. Pseudo-China,
is blooming here now, and although its stems are unarmed,
or nearly so, they are so tough and become so interlaced, that
passage through them is almost impossible. It soon spreads
from the tuberous root-stocks, sending up stems ten or twelve
feet long, covered with large, dark green, ovate-oblong, sharply
- pointed leaves, the small clusters of greenish flowers and
handsome black fruit on slender stems three or four times
longer than the petioles. There are still several species of
these interesting plants to introduce into cultivation and much
to be learned of their horticultural capabilities.
Several of the Viburnums and Dogwoods of the Northern
States are now in flower. Among them are shrubs which
are unsurpassed in beauty of foliage, or of flowers, or of fruit.
They can all be easily cultivated and all thrive in any variety
of soil and in all exposures. Where great masses of low
foliage is needed in public parks, or where shrubberies are
liable to suffer from neglect, as in city squares, or on railroad
embankments, or where the adornment of country roadsides
is undertaken, these and other native shrubs should be se-
lected for the purpose, rather than exotic garden plants, which
always require considerable attention to keep them in good
order, and which, often fastidious about soil, are liable to be
attacked by insect and fungoid enemies. Our common native
shrubs, however, are very rarely cultivated. A few years ago
they were completely unknown in nurseries and entirely neg-
lected by planters. Some attention has been drawn to them
lately, but they are still rare in nurseries, and it is impossible
to obtain them in large quantities. Such plants are easily and
quickly raised, and a demand for them will soon create a sup-
ply. Attention has already been directed, in an earlier issue
of these notes, to the beauty of Viburnum Lentago. —Among
the species in bloom a few days later are Viburnum dentatum,
the Arrow-wood, a compact shrub, with erect branches eight
or ten feet high, ample, sharply toothed and strongly veined
leaves, and broad, peduncled cymes of white flowers, which
in the early autumn are followed by bright blue, handsome
fruit. Viburnum cassinoides grows six to ten feet high, in the
northern swamps, which are its home. It has handsome,
leathery, opaque, or dull, ovate, generally entire leaves, and
broad, flat cymes of yellow-white flowers. ‘This is one of the
handsomest shrubs in the»Northern States. _ It is easily culti-
‘vated, and soon grows into a round-topped, spreading’ speci-
men, flowering with the greatest profusion. Viburnum aceri-
folium is a smaller plant than either of those already men-
_ tioned, rarely exceeding a height of three or four feet on the
rocky wooded hillsides where it abounds in the northern
States. It is a plant of compact habit, producing freely
small, long-stemmed clusters of white flowers, but its greatest
beauty is in the rich, deep claret color which its handsome,
three-lobed leaves assume late in autumn.
Among the native Dogwoods now in flower the handsomest,
perhaps, are C. alternifolia, a shrub-like tree with wide
‘spreading branches anda flat top, the alternate leaves crowded
toward the ends of the branchlets, and open, wide cymes of
pale yellow or white flowers, followed by deep blue fruit, with
reddish stalks; and C. circinata, the round-leaved Cornel, a
compact shrub six to ten feet high, with green, warty-dotted
branches, large, round-oval, pale green leaves, four or five
inches across, woolly on the lower side, flat cymes of rather
large flowers, and light blue fruit. This is certainly one of the
most attractive of all the Cornels.
Cornus paniculata, the Panicled Cornel, a tall, spreading
shrub, often ten or twelve feet high, with smooth, gray
branches, taper pointed, ovate-lanceolate leaves, and cymes
or panicles of pure white flowers, which are produced in
the greatest profusion, and quite cover the plant at this sea-
son. The handsome fruit is white. This is a very common
and widely distributed northern plant found along the borders
Garden and Forest.
249
of streams and abounding on the margins of lowland woods
and thickets. No shrub is more easily cultivated, and none is
better suited to grace a park-plantation in the Northern States;
Cornus stonolifera, the Red Osier, with its bright, red-purple,
annual shoots, and long, pale foliage, is a useful plant for gene-
ral planting. The flowers are pale yellow, produced in small,
flat cymes, and have the merit of appearing later than those of
most of the Dogwoods. The fruit is whitish or lead color. It
is a very common northern shrub, found in the wet borders ot
swamps and in low woods. The habit of this plant of spread-
ing by prostrate or subterranean shoots, and thus quickly
forming broad clumps, which sometimes reach a height of six
feet, makes it a useful plant for covering rapidly the ground
among trees or larger growing shrubs, while its brilliantly
colored branches add interest and variety to a plantation in
winter. But by far the handsomest native shrub now in flower
is the common Elder (Sumbucus Canadensis). It is such a
familiar object in every northern landscape that few persons
realize that the Elder possesses all the qualifications of an or-
namental plant of the very first class—hardiness, vigorous and
rapid growth, good habit, pleasing foliage, handsome and con-
spicuous fragrant flowers, opening at a time when nearly all
trees and shrubs have passed the blooming period; and fruit
even handsomer and more conspicuous than the flowers which
precede it. Few plants are better worth cultivating in a large
garden or park, and yet, with the exception of the ugly yellow-
leaved variety, it is seldom cultivated ; and most gardeners of
the modern school would consider it a weed to be extermin-
ated if, by chance, it should spring up along fence lines, where
birds often sow it, and where, if the ground is moist, it soon
forms splendid masses of shrubbery. There is a form with
deeply cut leaves which will interest persons fond of novelties,
or of plants of peculiar or abnormal growth.
The very latest of the Thorns to bloom here is an American
species, the so-called Washington Thorn (Crategus cordata),
now in full flower. It is a handsome small tree, sometimes
twenty-five feet high, and perfectly hardy here, although it is
a southern plant, not found growing spontaneously north of
Virginia and Kentucky. In the mountainous parts of these
states and of those further south it is a common inhabitant of
rich woods. It has brightly shining, broadly ovate or trian-
gular, deeply cleft, serrate leaves, on long, slender petioles,
rather small flowers in simple corymbs, and small, but very
showy, bright scarlet fruit, which hangs until the early winter.
The autumnal coloring of the foliage, which does not change
until very late, is brilliant and beautiful. Crategus cordata is
one of the most distinct of the American Thorns, and one of
the best small trees which can be planted in Northern gardens
and shrubberies. It blooms only a few days later than Cra-
tegus tomentosa, an Alleghanian and western species, which
must not be confounded with some of the pubescent forms of
C. coccinea, to which many recent writers upon American
botany have improperly referred this Linnean species, which
does not occur in the Northern and Eastern States east of west-
ern New York. C. somentosa may be readily distinguished from
any of the forms of CG. cocciea, not only by the fact that it
flowers many weeks later, but by the pale gray branches,
almost entirely destitute of thorns, by its thicker and more
pubescent leaves, without glands, gradually contracted into a
stout, margined petiole, and densely pubescent on the under
side, as are the calyx. and stems of the inflorescence. It
may be distinguished, too, from forms of C. coccinea by its
broader and looser corymbs, and by the extremely disagreeable
odor of the flowers, and by the smaller, oblong, upright fruit,
which does not ripen until long after that of C coccinea has
fallen to the ground. C. fomentosa is perfectly hardy, making
in cultivation a small, handsome tree, with spreading branches
and rather a flat top. The orange tints which its leaves as-
sume in late autumn are attractive.
It is hopeless to undertake to unravel the confused synony-
my of the multitude of garden forms of Philadelphus, or
even to refer them to wild types, so mixed has been the blood
of the different species through years of cultivation, and so
unstable are many of the characters depended on to separate
the different species. It is well to record, however, that the
earliest to flower in the collection, by ten or twelve days, is the
Manchurian and Japanese plant known as P. Schrenkit, and
now considered by Maximowicz as one of the varieties (var.
Satsumi) of the very variable and widely distributed P. coro-
naria, the common Syringa of gardens. By far the hand-
somest of the early flowering Syringas in the collection, how-
ever, is that known in gardensas P. sfeciosus. It is a tall, erect
growing plant, covered with large, pure white flowers, and .
evidently a hybrid ora variety of the American P. grandifiorus.
June 30th. .
250
The Forest.
Notes on the Longevity of Coniferous Tree Seeds.
OUDON says European Larch seeds will not germi-
nate after they have been a few months out of the
cones. Our experience proves that they will germinate
perfectly well eighteen months, and passably well thirty
months, after leaving the cones. The belief seems to be
general that White Pine seeds become rancid and will not
germinate after the first season. Our experience proves
that they will germinate thirty months after leaving the
cones.
I think further experience will prove that the seeds of
Colorado Conifers, and seeds of coniferous trees in all dry
climates, will preserve their vitality still longer. We had
a sack of Pinus ponderosa seeds from which we sowed five
years in succession, and, to all appearance, they germi-
nated the fifth year as freely as the first. Seeds of Picea
pungens and Pseudotsuga Douglasw have germinated with
us, apparently, as well the third year as the first. I regret
that we had not seeds to try the experiment longer.
Practice has changed wonderfully during the last half
century in this direction, and now, instead of keeping
seeds in the cones, they are taken out as soon as the cones
are gathered and dried, yet some writers on forest subjects
still recommend keeping the seeds in the cones till time for
sowing. But how can Fir seeds be kept in the cones?
The cones fall in pieces as soon as the seeds ripen. They
will hold together, it is true, if collected before the seeds
are ripe, but in that case the cones will become mouldy
and injure the seeds. There may be a few species of
Pines which will keep longer in the cones than out,
such as Pinus Banksiana, P. contorta and P. tuberculata,
which hold the hard, dry cones on the trees for many
years; but these are kinds which are seldom, if ever, used,
and of little value. The White. and many other Pines,
the Spruces and Arbor-vites, hold the cones on the trees for
a short time after the seeds have ripened, but they shed all
the seeds as soon as they are ripe, in August, September
and October. I do not see how the seeds can be benefited
by being left in the cones after they have ripened, nor how
they can be kept as safely in cones as in bags.
It is fortunate for the forestry of this country that seeds
of forest trees can be kept for years in this manner, other-
wise a succession of plants could not well be kept up,
for forest trees do not produce seeds every year, even
when the seasons are favorable. In the year 1884 I
scanned the White Pine trees closely from the head of
Lake Michigan to the New England coast, thence from
Rhode Island north to the Canada line, thence through
the Adirondack Mountains, along the Black River, and
into the White Pine regions in Pennsylvania, and saw no
trees producing cones. We then sent a collector up into
northern Wisconsin and the Michigan peninsula, but he
found that the trees were not producing seeds. It is
often the case that when forest trees fail to produce
seeds in one part of the country they are abundant
in another locality; but in this case the only excep-
tions I heard of were one locality in the Lower Provinces
of Canada, and the cultivated trees west of Lake Michigan.
What is true of the White Pine is measurably true of all
other forest trees, and now, when so much is written on
the subject of forestry, it is surprising that so little is
written on this branch of the subject. Even if the seasons
are all favorable one can hardly expect a crop of White
Pine seeds oftener than once in three years. One year
is needed for the blooming of the male and female flow-
ers and the fertilizing of the embryo cones, the next year
for the growth of the cones and the perfecting of the seeds,
which draws so heavily on the vitality of the trees that
they require the third year to recuperate and form blossom
buds to continue the blossoming the year following.
Wherever I had an opportunity to examine, as in New
England, on the Adirondacks, and in the Pine belt in
Garden and Forest.
[Jury 18, 1888.
Pennsylvania, I found the trees all well set with em-
bryo cones, and our collector reported the same for
the region south of Lake Superior, and as these embryo
cones were already fertilized we were certain of a crop of
seeds the next autumn. Of course new seeds are safer
and better than old seeds, and will germinate quicker.
We make it a rule to sow old seeds thicker than new,
and either to sow them earlier or soften them by soak-’
ing before we sow them. Robert Douglas.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I have been starting a small plantation of forest trees
and meet various difficulties. I would like some of your prac-
tical correspondents to let me know how seedlings are intro-
duced into large plantations. White Ash, forinstance, reaches
the ground in the spring and is about the size of _a knitting-
needle, Box Elder, Elm, Mulberry the same, Cottonwood
only a little larger. Do planters trust fifty acres of these set
four feet apart to horse cultivators with ordinary drivers? I
have hard work to get a man who can see them when_work-
ing with a hoe. Are the prairies free from weeds? Are
large plantations of nuts made in the fall of the year or of
acorns ?
I have tried a few acres, but find the nuts are so late to sprout
that the weeds hide them, and am almost tempted to plow the
whole ground early in the spring and cultivate it to get rid of
weeds, and expect that the nuts not having started willbe none
the worse; otherwise keep the nuts ina pile till spring. I find
Ash and a good many other seeds very hard to get started ;
hardly one planted last fall or early this spring is yet showing
this Second of June. Ash, Maple and Cherry seeds in the
ground since last spring were up a week ago. Perhaps other
readers will be interested in a reply. 7 7
Norwood, Ontario. G. Af. Grover.
[White Ash, Box Elder or Elm seedlings the size of
knitting-needles are too small and weak for forest plant-
ing. One year old first-class seedlings of Ash or Box Elder
should be the size ofa lead pencil or larger, whilesecond-class
seedlings of the same age sold in nurseries at about half
the price of first-class seedlings, although generally con-
sidered too delicate for general planting, should be at least
three times the diameter of a knitting-needle. White Elm
seedlings one year old reach a height of from twelve to
twenty-four inches the first season, but are more slender
than Ash or Box Elder in proportion to height. It has
been demonstrated by Mr. Robert Douglas, who has suc-
cessfully planted and grown more than a thousand acres
of forest trees in the rich prairie soil of southern Kansas,
and by other tree growers, that one year old seedling trees
can be planted and kept free of weeds with horse _cultiva-
tors in the hands of ordinary laborers. In Mr. Douglas’
plantations, except in the case ofa few acres, no cultivating
whatever has been done by hand. The secret of success
in forest planting of this sort is to get the sod thoroughly
rotted before the trees are set, to use only strong, well se-.
lected plants, and to keep the weeds under from the start.
If the young trees once get smothered in a growth of
tall perennial prairie weeds the case is hopeless, and there
is nothing to do but to plow the whole plantation up and
make a new one. Itis practically impossible to raise a
forest on rich arable land by planting acorns or nuts where
the trees are to stand. Grasses and weeds will smother
the seedlings as they appear, or will so hide them that it
will be out of the question to cultivate the field without
destroying the trees. Nuts can only be planted success-
fully, in this country of vigorous weeds, in light sod land
where the growth of the grass will not overtop the young
trees, or among other trees which partially shade the ground
and prevent the growth of weeds. If a forest of Oaks or
Walnuts is to be raised on prairie or other rich land, year-
ling or two-year-old transplanted seedlings should be set
and thoroughly cultivated until they shade the ground
and prevent the growth of weeds. In an article printed
in Number 2 of Garpen anp Forest, Mr. Douglas gives
practical directions for raising different forest trees from
seed.—Ep. }
JuLy 18, 1888.]
Hardy Fruit Trees.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Under this heading I have read with care the suggestive
paper, by Mr. F. W. Burbidge, in the Gardeners’ Chronicle,
and the editorial notes on it in GARDEN AND FOREST. The ar-
ticles are timely and well meant, but the whole facts as to the
character of the fruits of the Volga, and their singular capacity
for adapting themselves to exceedingly varied climates, are
not given.
As to the size, beauty and quality of the Apples of the Volga
from Kazan to Sarepta—a distance by the river of near one
thousand miles—I will only say that they willsurprise the hor-
ticultural tourist who examines and tests them as we did in
the autumn of 1882. If we were confined alone to the many
varieties of the Oldenburg, Aport and Skanka families they
would givea list difficult to equal in England, though in quality
they are far excelled in the United States.
. As to their adaptation to varied climates a few examples
may be profitably considered. Taking up the latest edition of
Hoge’s Fruit Manual, we find that ten varieties of the Russian
Apples, several of them from the Volga, are declared to be
perfectly satisfactory in tree, foliage, habits of bearing and
character of fruit in England—viz., Borovitsky, Sugar Loaf
Pippin, Alexander, Constantine, Peach, Malakovna, Red
Transparent, Red Astrachan, Court Penduplat, White Astra-
chan and Muscovy. Again, at Pomona, in south California,
I found five varieties of Russian Apples—some of them from
the Volga-—perfect in tree, foliage and fruit, standing among,
so-called, American sorts that were dwarfed and scrubby in
tree, and imperfect in foliage and fruit. Their thick foliage
and pubescent fruit seemed to perfectly fit them to endure the
great summer heat and the great changes in temperature of
the day and night. In the upper valleys of California we also
find the Sweet Anis of the Volga—perfect in tree and fruit—
growing beside the Orange and the Fig.
Still again, so far as tried, the Russian Apples, Pears and
Cherries stand the summer heat of Alabama, Florida and
Texas better than any other varieties except those of China.
To all this we must add that, next to the Siberian Crabs, the
Apples of the Volga endure the trying summers and winters
of Minnesota, north Dakota, andeven Manitoba, most perfectly.
7. L. Budd,
Recent Publications:
Agriculture in some of its Relations with Chemistry. By F.
H. Storer, S.B., A.M., Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in
Harvard University. 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. 529 and 509. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
The lectures comprised in these volumes were delivered
originally to small classes of students who represented two
distinct types ; (1) young farmers and the sons of farmers fa-
miliar with ordinary farm practice, but desirous of acquiring
some knowledge of the sciences upon which the art of agri-
culture rests, and (2) city-bred men, often graduates of the
academic department of the University, who intended to
establish themselves upon farms, or to occupy country-seats,
or to become landscape gardeners. The lectures, therefore,
were not prepared for advanced students in chemistry, and the
most abstruse of them are easily within the comprehension of
one who has a fair elementary knowledge of that science.
This does not imply that the more profound problems in agri-
cultural chemistry are ignored, for these are clearly and ex-
actly stated, and the results of the most recent and trustworthy
‘investigation, both in Europe and America, are set forth with
ample detail. Indeed, we know of no other work in which
those fundamental problems of chemical science, upon which
the practice of agriculture is based, are moreskillfully grouped
and presented. And this fact makes it the most instructive
and helpful manual that has appeared in this country since the
publication of Professor Johnson's ‘ How Crops Grow” and
“How Crops Feed.” Naturally enough the subject of fertilizers
with their modes of action upon various soils and crops occu-
pies large space, but this does not exclude the careful treat-
ment of such subjects as Tillage, its Purposes and Processes ;
The Movements of Water in the Soil ; The Atmosphere as a
Source of Plant Food, and The General Relations of the Plant
to Soil and Air. This means not only that the lectures are of
interest to farmers and gardeners, but to all persons who are
attracted by the mysteries of vegetable life which are con-
stantly going on about them.
There are few forehanded farmers who do not read some
agricultural paper, and the teachings of the best of these jour-
nals are usually abreast of the advance in scientific discovery.
But in addition to these indispensable aids we can think of no
Garden and Forest.
251
better book to keep lying within easy reach than this one of
Professor Storer’s, Every day the thoughtful farmer is con-
fronted by difficult problems in actual practice, and for nearly
every one of these will be found a reference in the very com-
plete index to these volumes. The book has, to our knowl-
edge, proved of signal service in just such cases as a manual
of daily practice. It would be a great advantage to every coun-
try home if its owner would place himself in just such rela-
tions to this book. If the true requirements of plant-growth
were better understood we should see fewer hungry lawns,
and spindling trees, and sickly shrubberies, and famished gar-
dens generally. Some of the students to whom these lectures
were delivered were in course of training for the profession of
landscape gardeners, and knowledge like that imparted here
should be an essential portion of the equipment of every artist
of this kind. This knowledge, however, should not be con-
tined to landscape gardeners or to those who till their acres for
profitonly. Country life loses half its charm to those who take no
inquisitive interest in the processes and conditions of plant-life
and development. The owner of a country-place who cannot
give intelligent directions on methods of enriching his land with
plant food and making that food available, or on the best me-
chanical preparation of his soil for a given purpose, or on the
kind of cultivation best adapted to special cases, may derive
some pleasure from his possession,as may the owner of a yacht
who has noskill to sail her. But the keenest delight in a rural
home only comes from an intimate acquaintance with the soil
itself and an intelligent appreciation of its possibilities of pro-
duction. To such a one the lawn, the pasture, and even the
kitchen garden, offer fields for experiment and study that are
ever fresh, and a new interest is added to every plant that
grows for ornament or use. No safer guide in the wholesome
studies above alluded to can be found than this manual, so
that it can be commended not only to thoughtful farmers, but
to all others who find recreation of mind and body in the
abounding vegetable life of the fields and in searching for the
laws under which this life is ordered.
Periodical Literature.
In the May number of 7he Portfolio is given the first install-
ment of a long description of Charlecote Hall in Warwickshire,
the courtyard of which was pictured in GARDEN AND FOREST
afew weeks ago. The text is partly architectural, partly his-
torical in character, and the illustrations are numerous and
pretty. The largest among them will especially interest our
readers, as it gives the reverse of the view with which they are
already familiar, showing the house from the terrace-walk be-
yond the courtyard wall. The second installment of the article
does not appear in the June number of the magazine, but will
doubtless not long be delayed; and in it we hope to find a
description of the park which Shakesperean legend has made
so famous.
In Good Words for June Mr. Grant Allen writes a pleasant
chapter on ‘‘ The Breadstuff of the Desert.” His subject is of
course the Date Palm, and in a lively and popular way he
gives much information with regard to its manner of growth
and the multifarious uses to which it is put. As he explains,
this tree does much more than furnish the Arab of the desert
with his chief—almost his only—artiele of food. ‘ He eats it,”
says Mr. Allen, ‘‘ he drinks from it, he lives under it, he burns
it, he buys with it whatever he needs from other regions. It
is his all, his estate, his heritage, his banker.”” Fortunately for
him it grows best where no other tree will thrive ; and by one
of nature’s seemingly deliberate economies, it ceases to grow
well where other trees begin to flourish. The article is ac-
companied by a number of illustrations, but no one of them
reveals the full beauty of the Date Palm as it stands in the
memory of all who have been fortunate enough to see it in its
African home—at once majestic and lovely, noble in its sim-
plicity of form, yet consummately graceful in the way it yields in
varying degree to the varying touches of the wind. A north-
ern tree which is sturdy enough to be called, under any con-
ditions, stately and majestic, always keeps its sturdy air, pre-
serving an almost unyielding trunk even in the strongest
wind. But the trunk of the Palm is superbly dignified in its
apparent rigidity when a light wind tosses its feathery crown,
yet bends deeply to a stronger wind, gaining grace for the
moment by some sacrifice of majesty. It is this constant
change in air and expression, this alternation of the effect of
strength with the effect of pliancy, this look as of now dom-
inating the elements and now being dominated by them,
which makes the Palm so attractive to the traveler's eye and
does so much to compensate it for the fact that it finds no
other tree in the wide, level landscape,
252
Notes.
Prices of cut flowers are so unsteady at this season, that our
weekly reports of the Retail Flower Market will be discon-
tinued until the Fall trade begins.
The place for holding the August meeting of the Society of
American Florists has again been changed. The society will
meet in the Cooper Union and the exhibition will be in Nilsson
Hall.
The florists and gardeners of Boston and vicinity have
planned for a holiday on July 24th. It will take the form of an
excursion down the harbor on a steamer, with a short landing
on one of the islands. ‘he affair will be under the auspices
of the Gardeners’ and Florists’ Club.
It appears from a recent issue of the Revue de la Horticulture
Belge that the flowers of the Locust (Robinia Pseudacacia) are
considered a delicacy for the table in Europe, being served
in fétés, The flavor is pronounced delicious. The flowers
of the European Elder (Saméucus nigra) are sometimes used
in the same way.
A convention of the Cranberry-growers of Cape Cod will be
held in the town of Sandwich during the present month for
the purpose of discussing the necessities of this already im-
portant and rapidly developing industry, and especially to
devise methods for the more general introduction of the Cran-
berry crop into European markets.
It is gratifying to note the constantly increasing use of the
Gloxinia as a florists’ flower. It has been adopted generally by
the florists of Boston as a standard variety in their summer
stock. Its rich coloring and graceful form recommend it for
use in floral designs for all occasions. It is very easily bruised,
but if handled carefully will keep for a long time.
Good blue flowers which can be used for cutting purposes
are never abundant, but more blue is now seen in the win-
dows of Philadelphia florists than usual, because the beautiful
Delphinium formosum is now at its best and a prime favorite.
A tew of these Larkspur sprays with any yellow flower, es-
pecially with Roses like Perle des Jardins, Maréchal Neil and
Sunset, ora sprig of it in a cluster of Aguilegia chrysantha,
produces a most charming effect.
Professor Asa Gray left by will the copyrights of all his
books to the President and Fellows of Harvard College, for
the benefit of the Gray Herbarium, on condition that proper
provisions be made for their renewal and extension by new
editions, continuations and supplements as might be neces-
sary to increase and prolong the value of the bequest. His
herbarium, unequaled in North American plants, and library,
he presented to the college many years before his death. ~
In the collection of Orchids in the recent exhibition in Paris,
which won for Sander, of St. Albans, the Grand Prix d’ Hon-
neur offered by the President of the Republic, was a noble
specimen of Catéleya guttata Leopoldi, more than four feet
high by as much across, and bearing more than a hundred
flower-stems, splendid great specimens of Lelia purpurata,
and innumerable forms of Odontoglossum crispum, O. vexil-
larium, O. Harryanum, and of Cattleya Mossie and C. Mendelt.
All the plants remaining on the estate of the late C. M.
Hovey, at Cambridge, Mass., were sold at auction on Monday,
July 9th. Many of these plants were seedlings, and rare speci-
mens collected by Mr, Hovey during nearly half a century,
and with which he never could be induced to part. The sale
attracted many buyers, mainly florists, from all parts of New
England, and prices realized were good, considering the condi-
tion of the stock, of which the greater part gave evidence of
sad neglect.
The Promenade along the shore of East River Park, in this
city, will be a useful and attractive feature of that work. It
will be twenty-seven feet wide, and but a few feet above the
mean water-level, so that the cooling influence of the tides,
which always flow swiftly at this point, will be most grateful
in summer weather. When the walk is extended along the
entire shore, including the newly acquired addition to this
Park, it will be large enough to accommodate great numbers
of visitors from a district which will soon be densely populated,
A common European Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum)
is now pretty thoroughly naturalized in some places in the
Eastern States and_is likely to become a troublesome weed
here. In Greene County, in this State, it has already taken
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy- 18, 1888.
almost complete possession of some fields, and as this plant
spreads from stoloniferous, underground stems, it will proba-
bly spread as fast and be as difficult to eradicate as the White
Weed or Daisy. It is a hairy plant, with a cluster of narrow
leaves near the ground anda simple naked scape a foot or
more high, bearing a head of deep orange-colored or flame-
colored flowers.
In commercial horticulture all good flowers are scarce, es-
pecially white ones. This is partly due to the hot week in late
June and partly to the fact that this is ‘‘ between seasons ” for
those who grow flowers for the wholesale market. Thatis, the
Rose plants, for example, which did service last winter and
spring, are now thrown out, and younger plants and new soil
are introduced, and the success or failure of the supply next
winter is often determined by the treatment of the stock at
this critical period. Sickly plants, badly prepared soil, a
lack of watchfulness now, mean a scant crop of inferior flow-
ers next season.
A prominent nurseryman stated, recently that the reduction
of freight-rates on nursery stock brought about by the efforts
of the committee appointed by the American Association last
year would save to customers and the trade $50,000 during the
present season. The reduction applies only to stock packed
in boxes and thus puts a premium on proper packing. Such
stock is now carried as third-class freight, instead of first-class,
as it was formerly rated. Some of the arguments used to
secure this concession were that boxed stock can be roughly
handled without injury; that when transported with ordinary
dispatch itis in no risk of damage, and that the carrying of nur-
sery stock brings in time more freight in the shape of fruit.
M. Beurdeley, in a report made recently to the Horticultural
Society of France, invites the attention of horticulturists to the
results of his experiments with male and female plants of
Asparagus. He finds the former the more productive, seventy-
six shoots having been produced by twelve crowns of the
female plant, or an average of nearly six and one-half shoots
for each crown, while twenty crowns of the male plant yielded
244 shoots, or an average of over twelve shoots from each
crown, The experiments were only carried on during a sin-
gle year, but this is a subject of such practical importance to
gardeners, that, as the Revue Horticole, from which this in-
formation is derived, suggests, they should be continued
on a larger scale and during a period of several years.
A correspondent of the journal published by the Soczété des
Agriculteurs in Paris sends some interesting information with
regard to the very large trade done in Cauliflowers from Ros-
coffand other places in Lower Brittany. He says that every
day, tor a period of about two months, seventeen or eighteen
trucks, each holding about four tons of Cauliflowers, are dis-
patched from four or five stations, thus making a total of over
4,000 tons of Cauliflowers during the two months. Abouta
thousand plants go to the ton, and the average price is
$17.00 per ton, or something under $70,000 for the whole lot.
The bulk of them are shipped at Nantes for Bordeaux and the
southern markets, or at Cherbourg and Havre for England,
though a great many trucks go to Paris. An enormous profit
in this trade is made by the middlemen, and the correspond-
ent not unreasonably asks whether, with a litthe manage-
ment, a large proportion of this might not be secured by
the growers themselves.
At the Cincinnati “Exposition the American Forestry Con-
gress exhibits a section of a Tulip tree with a chronological
table of its history, showing that the tree began its life when
Queen Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558, was a stout sap-
ling when Saint Augustine was founded, and gave respectable
shade when the Pilgrim Fathers landed in New England.
When La Salle saw it on the banks of the Mississippi in 1682 it
had become a tree of royal stature; when the United States
began to exist as an independent nation it was four feet in dia-
meter and when cut for the Cincinnatti Exposition it had added
another foot to its diameter, being five feet in 330 years. The
Forestry Congress also exhibits a chart with many instructive
illustrations of the present condition of our forest interests,
both state and national. The Division of Forestry of the De-
partment of Agriculture exhibits at the same place a collec-
tion of forest seeds; sections of 1oo of our most important
forest trees ; 200 volumes on the subject of forestry in dif-
ferent languages, showing that there is such a literature ;
thirty-six heliotype pictures illustrating the effects of defores-
tation and the mode of reforestation in the French Alps, and
a collection of tools used in European forest planting and
management.
#
Jury 25, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY LY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFicE: TripuNE Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by. <) 6 3% en te . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Eprrorrat ArticLes :—The Arid West and Irrigation.—Trees in Washington.—
Note
The Gardens of the Alhambra....... .C. HY. Blackall. 25-
ForEIGN CorRESPONDENCE :—London Letter... .........0. ese eeee ees W. Goldring. 255
New or Littte Known Pranrs :—Phlox Stellaria (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 256
A New Station for Lilium Grayi............0..-e0ees John Donnell Smith. 256
Cutturat DeparrMentT :—Vineyard Notes from Southern New Jersey,
Alex. W. Pearson. 256
The Fruit Garden...... ....£. Williams. 257
The Vegetable Garden .W.F. 258
EM Gt Mt aria sree sew veces sinc
¥ ‘Douglas. 258
Cut Flowers in Midsummer. . William Falconer. 258
Phlox Stellaria
Prant Notes :—Japanese Iris (with illustration) ..........-00-.eee eee oe 250
Notesitrom the Arnold Arboretunts). sciicicocc scecwecs cesneseserice senncc F. 260
Tue Forest :—The Long-leaved Pine.. ..Dr. Karl Mohr. 261
(EORRESPONDENCE:: « sieleie cisiss scene sc aneds 262
EPRIGUIGAT SOI TERATU Ra a-(= ildialaiaia stasis'sis.oie's'sts ie 54-sje'ersie wisisisievs asl B’e/ss0% wise aia <a ere 263
GEN Te AN TMEOR DRAIISic creraiiciais'a'siaiaiolainie,6i0ciesa 6-4-5 ss disteleimaisinieemibe cele es Sache steele 263
Ittusrrations :—Phlox Stellaria, Figs: A Dtelety farsa. issn aie .
FASBeCtOf | ADANESE UCIStsa vice cna scneus avs > sinesens muy Crs ees eee sevins an
The Arid West and Irrigation.
HROUGHOUT the greater part of a region covering
something like one-third of the total area of the United
States, not including Alaska, the annual rainfall is so small
that, except in spots here and there, the land is not ara-
ble unless artificially watered. This region has its west-
ern boundary at the Sierra Nevada, and, in some portions,
at the Coast Range of the Pacific; it comprises the country
from the northern to the southern frontier, including the
great basin between the Sierras and the Rocky Mountains,
the high plains to the eastward of the latter, and a large
portion of western Texas. Until within a comparatively
few years the most of this great expanse has been known
only in the vaguest way and it was regarded as a hopeless
desert, fit only for mining, or, in a limited way, for cat-
tle ranges. To be sure, over a generation has passed since
the Mormons turned the heart of this region into a rich
garden, and for years Utah has possessed a population
sufficient for statehood, so far as numbers are concerned.
Utah has afforded a practical example of what might be
accomplished throughout a large proportion of this
region, much of which is even superior to the Salt Lake
Valley in natural advantages of climate and water supply.
But our people have been slow in applying the experi-
ences of one locality to the requirements of another, and
the Mormon lesson long went unheeded.
Now, however, this region is well penetrated by trans-
continental railway lines and their branches, and its char-
acteristics have become more widely known. ‘The most
of the lands of the national domain that are arable under
natural conditions are now occupied; the crowding im-
migration has pressed its front ranks well forward into.the
arid belts, and called attention to the capabilities of the
land there. The next chapter of the greatest migratory
movement of modern times, the settlement of the Ameri-
can republic, will be the more complete occupation of the
Pacific slope and the filling up of these great inland arid
regions that recent investigations show to have been well
inhabited by a sedentary aboriginal population. The de-
velopment of the resources of a third part of our national
Garden and Forest.
253
territory, suddenly found to be of great value instead of
substantially worthless, is therefore a matter of vital im-
portance and demands careful consideration as to the
most efficient means of carrying it out. Even though but
a fractional proportion of the entire area should prove fit
for cultivation, it would still very considerably extend the
ee as capacity of our country, for history
and prehistory both show us that irrigated lands sustain
the densest of populations.
Although irrigation has accompanied the tilling of the
ground from time immemorial, and probably, “indeed,
gave birth to agriculture, and therewith civilization itself,
and while vast regions of our own continent were in pre-
Columbian times made fertile thereby, still it has been
comparatively unknown to the American husbandman
until very lately. Now, however, its advantages are be-
ginning to be perceived even beyond the confines of the
arid districts. In the extensive market gardens about
Boston, for instance, it is becoming universal, and in the
east we may expect to see it applied with profit not only
to many branches of horticulture, but the enormous aug-
mentation of grass-growth which it produces will proba-
bly cause it to be introduced wherever practicable on the
hay farms that constitute the chief agricultural interests in
some of our Northern States, just as it has long been prac-
ticed for the same purpose in Germany and other por-
tions of Europe under conditions of precipitation similar to
ours.
Within the past few years irrigation has made enor-
mous advances in all quarters of the great arid region of
the west, and it is estimated that there are now over 14,000
miles of main canals, with over 200,000 miles of lateral, or
supply ditches, representing an outlay of many millions
of dollars, and bringing thousands of square miles under
cultivation. Great enterprises have been carried out, and
others are in execution, or have been conceived, in Colo-
rado, Kansas, Montana, Idaho, Utah, California, New
Mexico and Arizona, and the transformation in the aspect
of extensive tracts in these states and territories has been
magical. There is no better field for capitalists to-day,
insuring large and certain profits, than in the carrying out
of irrigating works in those parts of the United States.
Unlike railways, the operating expense is slight. The
development of the arid districts would undoubtedly be
much more rapid were it not for the fact that the con-
struction of canals, dams, etc., except where the natural
opportunities are exceptionally easy to be availed of, re-
quires an original outlay far beyond the reach of the
average settler, and can only be effected either by the aid
of capital, or through co-operative work, which is rarely
practicable among settlers, except in the case of colo-
nies, as illustrated by the admirable examples set by the
Mormons in this respect.
The greater portion of the arid west is fortunately
adapted, in its physical conformation, to the making ara-
ble, through irrigation, of a large and widely distributed
proportion of its entire surface, consisting, as it does, of
alternations of mountains and valleys. New Mexico
and Arizona, particularly, are characterized by detached
groups of mountains rising from broad valleys, forming
great and uniformly sloping plains. These mountains
cause precipitation ‘and distribute the rainfall over the
plains below, where it normally runs to waste in the
great gullies it has worn in the land. Were it possible
to store up all the rain that now flows away, every inch
of these regions might be made productive. While that is
impracticable, much more can be done in this way than
is now hardly dreamed of. It is safe to assert that in all
this region there is hardly a mountain chain or group
where, in the neighboring plains, irrigation may not be
practiced toa ereater or less extent, It even seems by
no means visionary to look for the day when, through
various means available to modern ingenuity, the arid
west will be made as proportionately productive as is the
Atlantic slope, the dry uplands of the former utilized for
:
a
3
254 Garden and Forest. [Jury 25, 1888.
various desert products, such as fibrous plants and other
growths now deemed worthless, and for sheep pasturage,
etc., thus corresponding to the uses of the rocky hills
and pastures that form a large proportion of the area of
the latter section of our country. Valuable uses are con-
stantly being found for land once worthless—as in the
Cranberry bogs of Cape Cod and the great Henequen
plantations of sun-parched'Yucatan. Some time the day
may come whef it will be said: There is no desert!
The encouragement of irrigation will hasten that day for
our country.
Trees in Washington.
R. PETER HENDERSON, in the last number of
V Harper's Magazine, describes the tree-planting
which has been accomplished in the City of Washington
during the last fifteen years. No less than 120 miles of
streets, or 240 miles of trees, have been planted in that
time ; and in no other American city has street planting
ever been attempted on anything like the same scale, or
has produced results immediately so satisfactory. An ex-
amination, however, of the list of trees which have been
planted, shows that the Commission who have controlled
these plantations have been governed by the desire for im-
mediate effect rather than for the permanent embellish-
ment of the city. White Maples, for example, line fifty-five
miles of streets, or nearly one-half of the distance planted ;
sixteen miles are planted with the Cottonwood, and ten
miles with the Ash-leaved Maple or Box Elder. These are
all excellent trees for the prairies of Nebraska or Kansas,
where trees are needed that can grow rapidly in a dry soil,
and where all other considerations are secondary to imme-
diate results, but they are entirely out of place in a city of
the architectural pretensions and of the climate of Wash-
ington. They are trees with brittle branches, and neither
long-lived nor in any way suited to adorn the capital of a
country like the United States, rich in trees unsurpassed in
beauty and variety. Indeed, it would be difficult to select
three deciduous trees in the forests of this country less
fitted for this particular purpose. They are very easily
and quickly raised ; they are readily transplanted, and they
grow with great rapidity. They soon become unshapely
and unsatisfactory, however, and any city where the
streets are planted with them will have a cheap appear-
ance, whatever may be the character of its buildings. The
number of fine trees which could be used to adorn appro-
priately the streets of Washington is considerable. The
Tulip tree is perfectly at home in that climate. It is one
of the noblest trees of the American forest. There are
few more beautiful trees anywhere. The Commission
have planted only 1,712 Tulip trees. Some of the
American Oaks are admirable street trees, notably the
Pin Oak, the Red Oak, the Willow Oak, the Scarlet Oak
and the Shingle Oak. These all thrive in the neighbor-
hood of Washington,-.and they are all trees which can be
easily grown and transplanted. They grow rapidly, too,
as does the Tulip tree, although less rapidly in youth than
Cottonwoods and Soft Maples, but they go on increasing in
beauty for a century, and might be expected to last. in
Washington for a much longer period even. The Commis-
sion have planted 273 Oaks all told, including some worth-
less European varieties. Only 832 Sugar Maples have
been planted, although this is one of the best street trees
in the United States, while ten miles of Norway Maples
have been planted, in spite of the fact that it is in every
way an inferior tree, and often disfigured in this country in
summer by thrip. The White Poplar of Europe is one of
the ugliest trees ever introduced into this country ; 1,863 of
these have been set along the Washington streets, or 600
more than the number of Honey Locusts used; yet the
Honey Locust is an excellent street tree—in many respects
one of the best which has ever been tried in this country
for the purpose. The trees to which we have here called
attention—and there are many others which might have
been selected in preference to those employed by the Com-
mission—have all been successfully planted in towns in
different parts of the country. In the town of Flushing, in
this State, for example, where, perhaps, more than in any
other in this country which we can now recall, there are
lessons in street planting to be learned, both in regard to
what trees to plant and what trees not to plant, there are
rows of noble Tulip trees, and Pin Oaks, Willow Oaks and
Lindens, which speak for themselves, and show how beau-
tiful a well planted street can be made.
The trees planted in Washington have been badly se-
lected, and the permanent results of these plantations can-
not fail to be disappointing; the methods, however, of
planting, of pruning and of protecting the trees adopted by
the Commission, as described by Mr. Henderson, are
admirable, and far ahead of anything which has been done
in urban planting in this country. It is not surprising,
therefore, that the immediate results obtained are so
satisfactory.
T now seems probable that the postage on seeds, cut-
tings, bulbs and roots will be reduced to at least
eight cents a pound, which is half of the present rate, and
the Postal Improvement Association, to whose efforts
this reduction is largely due, still hope that the rate may
be ultimately fixed at four cents, as it was made originally
in the Senate Bill. By some oversight the words “ plants
and trees” were omitted in the bill, and it is to be hoped
that it will be amended so as to include both of these,
although, perhaps, the word ‘‘plants” would cover the
entire case. It is a matter which should not fail for lack
of definite language, and certainly there is no sound rea
son why plants should not share the advantages ac corded
to seeds and bulbs. If the Government can afford to
carry one it can equally afford to carry the other. And
there are special reasons why plants should have the
preference. They are more perishable, and in places re-
mote from express, the mails offer the only chance for
speedy delivery. It has been urged by some nursery-
men that a lower rate of postage would encourage the
dissemination of undersized trees and thus injure the busi-
ness. But with postage at one-half or one-fourth of the
present rate, much larger trees could be sent for the same
amount. To the argument that packages of small trees
or shrubs are too bulky for convenience in the mails, it
may be replied that we have seen mail packages of forest
tree seedlings which occupied less space than the same
weight of ordinary seeds or bulbs. In short, if cheap
postage on seeds, bulbs and cuttings is a measure of
public utility, a similar reduction on plants must prove
even more beneficial to the people at large, and the Post-
office Department can carry the latter with as_ little
trouble and expense as it can carry the former.
We have reason to believe that the forest tree seedlings
posted in one dollar packages by Robert Douglas & Sons
have had a marked influence on forest planting. These
seedlings are now growing in hundreds of places where
nota tree would have been planted but for the oppor-
tunity thus afforded by the mails. We can think of no
agency more effective in stimulating an intelligent and
practical interest in forest planting than these cheap mail
packages, and the enterprise deserves all possible encour- |
agement.
If the reduction of postage on plants will enlarge this —
business in forest tree seedlings it will confer a benefit on |
the whole country, and certainly it would be a public ©
wrong to neglect this interest while favoring others no |
more deserving, to say the least. If plants were over- |
looked by a mistake in framing the bill, there ought to be ©
little difficulty in correcting it. If the word was left out —
advisedly and for the sake of crippling one branch of |
business in the interest of another, there is still more urgent |
reason why the people should demand its restoration, —
in the name of fair dealing, as well as for the general —
good.
where in the world.
Jury 25, 1888.]
The Gardens of the Alhambra.
N our studies of landscape architecture we are so in-
clined by influence and tradition to turn to French,
English or Italian examples for inspiration and guidance,
’ that much of the work in other countries is lost sight of
or neglected, although affording excellent opportunities
for study. Spain, in particular, is almost unknown to the
landscape architect of to-day; yet the work which the
so-called barbarian Moors left behind them in that won-
derful country is, in some respects, hardly excelled any-
The Alhambra of Grenada is the
best known and one of the most pleasing examples of
_ the manner in which the Moors could treat a site with
— little natural promise. The city of Grenada is built ina
ravine, following the course of the Darro, and spreading
out into a plain at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. The
last spur of the mountains was utilized by the Moors in
the creation of a palace and gardens so beautiful of their
kind that even the builders were fain to claim a celestial
interposition in their behalf.
The street leading to the Alhambra turns from a broad
plaza and winds up to the monumental gateway marking
the entrance to the palace grounds. Inside of the portal
the busy world and its cares seem to disappear, and one
breathes the atmosphere of a fairy land which only Irving
could rightly describe. Indeed, when in the midst of the
gardens, it is at first difficult to say in just exactly what
the charm consists. There is certainly no attempt at reg-
ularity. On the contrary, there is a studied irregularity
observable on all sides. There is a wealth of green foli-
age, which is carelessly massed about the roadway so as
to half disclose its charms and awaken the imagination, or
scattered in a seemingly thoughtless manner along the
base of the beetling cliff, or clustered on the brow of the
steep, inclined roadway leading to the towers. Even the
water, which is such a necessary adjunct to all Moorish
work, is introduced in an irregular manner. On each side
of the road is a dancing, babbling brook, cooling the air
and cheering the senses, while tiny waterfalls shoot out
unexpectedly from the side of a cliff, to suddenly disap-
pear into a yawning underground conduit. All this work
_ is entirely artificial, but it is so completely in accord with
its surroundings, so thoroughly artistic in thought, that it
possesses the unstudied charm of nature’s best examples.
Altogether, the outer gardens of the Alhambra are as
delightfully planned an entrance to a realm of fairy land as
could be imagined. The Moorish landscape work and
_the picturesque mysteries of the palace are revealed little
by little. There is no general vista, no all-embracing view,
but the imagination is leftto picture whatis dimly revealed
through the trees and across the fountains and under the
wide arches, while, as in all Moorish work, the attention
is held by unexpected beauties and half-disclosed attrac-
tions. This is the key note of the whole arrangement:
to awaken interest by unexpected surprises and half-con-
_cealed vistas.
-_ The gate-house at the entrance to the inner portion of
the Alhambra is an ingenious bit of Moorish arrangement,
grand and imposing in general aspect, but adapted to its
semi-military purpose. The passage makes two sharp
bends in the thickness of the ponderous mass, so as to
effectually mask the way, and emerges beyond the gate-
house into a steep roadway flanked by heavy battlements,
disposed in such a manner as to block the view on all sides
except towards the summit, where the Vermilion Towers
close the vista with their picturesque solitude. The road-
way ends in a broad, open terrace, with the old Moorish
_ Wine Tower on the right and the ugly Renaissance struc-
ture erected by Charles V. blotting out the site of the orig-
inal entrance to the Moorish palace, while all across the
front of the terrace is a magnificent prospect over the
ravine and along the banks of the Darro towards the vega.
It is impossible to say exactly what wis the original
plan of the Alhambra gardens. Undoubtedly the terrace
Garden and Forest.
255
was much larger and there was a more magnificent en-
trance to the palace; but the large terrace, with quiet,
shady avenues leading from it, was probably then, as
now, the central feature of the scheme. The Moors hada
rare faculty for understanding how to adapt their work to
natural possibilities. ‘They never neglected an opportunity
to make nature help out art, and with their keen, poetic
appreciation of beauty of form and color, it is not sur-
prising that the Alhambra should be soswonderful in its
charm. C. H. Blackall.
Boston, Mass.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HE most fashionably attended flower show of London
is that of the Royal Botanic Society, Regent’s Park,
but yesterday’s exhibition offered a new proof that while
great floral exhibitions are increasing in popularity in pro-
vincial towns, their glory in London is fading before the
increasing counter-attractions on every hand. The chief
features were, first, the Orchids, which have seldom been
seen in greater abundance or of better quality; and sec-
ondly, the hardy, herbaceous flowers, which made quite as
fine a show, and certainly seemed to have a greater at-
traction for the crowd.
For many years these summer exhibitions at Regent's
Park have carried the palm for tasteful arrangement and
splendid specimens. But I looked in vain for the fine
Clematises of Jackman, the gigantic trained Roses of Tur-
ner and the Pauls, the huge specimen New Holland plants
from Jackson and others, and many more fine things which
used to adorn these summer shows. Exhibitors say it no
longer pays to show these things, and, therefore, we must
be content with more easily grown plants, such as Pelar-
goniums, tuberous Begonias, Calceolarias and Petunias.
The present all-absorbing interest in Orchids is, no doubt,
largely accountable for this state of affairs, and this ex-
plains why many persons here would not grieve if the
Orchid fever should subside a little.
New and rare plants are generally sent in large num-
bers to this society’s show, because exhibitors believe their’
plants stand a better chance of receiving certificates than
at the Royal Horticultural Society, where the judges are
more numerous and more critical. New Orchids were very
plentiful, no fewer than nine winning certificates, and
out of these I select a few of the best. An extremely
pretty new Phalenopsis named A?zmbalhana (after one of
your orchidists) was shown by Messrs. Sander, St. Albans.
To describe it one must compare it with P. Suwmatrana. It
has flowers about one and one-half inches across, yellow se-
pals, and petals heavily marked with regular, transverse
bands of coffee brown, while the narrow, woolly-surfaced
labellum is stained with purple. This is an exquisite
little Orchid and was well worthy of the award.
A variety of P. speciosa named Imperatrix won many ad-
mirers, as it was so beautifully colored, the whole flowers
being uniformly tinted with crimson carmine. The spike
was unusually long, and branched, and carried numerous
flowers about one and one-half inches across. This is
quite a gem in Phalenopsis.
Some superb Cattleyas were shown by Low, of Clap-
ton, chiefly varieties of C. Mosste and C. Alendeliz. The
deepest and most richly colored form of C. J/ossie I ever
saw was named Claptoniensis. The flowers were above
the average size, petals and sepals intensely deep rose-
purple, lip almost a crimson, without veins or spots, and
no trace of yellow or white whatever. A form of C. J/en-
deli? called Firthii is a decided ‘‘break” in this species; as
the broad, white petals have a conspicuous blotch of pur-
ple crimson (much after the same style as Backhouse’s
C. Triane), while the lip is very large, broad and superbly
colored. Another form of C. Afosstz named Gigantea was
certificated, its chief merit being its large size, but a variety
of C. Mendelt named H. Little struck me by the splendor
256
of its colors, which are too subtle to describe. The beau-
tifulnew Cypripedium bellatulum was shown by no fewer
than four different nurserymen and all obtained a certifi-
cate for it. Sander’s Odon/oglossum cordatum splendens is
remarkable for the intensity and richness of its flower
colors, and connoisseurs might think a great deal of one
he showed called O. Coradinet hemileucum.
A large crop of new tuberous Begonias from Messrs.
Laing of Forest Hill and Messrs. Cannell of Swanley were
certificated, and all were very beautiful, as were the Pyre-
thrums and Peeonies of the Messrs, Kelway. These Be-
gonias are still popular here, and though one would think
that the public had been surfeited long ago with ‘‘ novel-
ties,’ among them new sorts are as eagerly sought
after now as they were ten years ago. Pyrethrums are
also very popular, being such fine border flowers, brilliant
and varied in color, and so valuable for cutting, as they
last such a long time in water. Moreover, the plants have
such a long flowering time and by a little management
arich autumn crop of bloom may be obtained. Messrs.
Laing, who make a great specialty of Caladiums, showed
several new sorts which the judges thought quite distinct
and good enough for certificate. What to me was most
interesting at this show was a large gathering of new or
uncommon shrubs from Messrs. Veitch. They had a host
of specimens, chiefly cut branches of things that had not
been shown before. Among them was the cut-leaved
form of the scarlet berried Elder (Sambucus racemosa vat.
serratifola), which was as elegant as many stove plants. I
have watched its behavior in one or two places, both
last year and this, and it seems a very hardy and vigorous
shrub. Lleagnus pungens maculatus has leaves of a bright
yellow, broad margined with green of various shades. £.
macrophyllus, a new species from Japan, is a handsome
shrub with broad, ovate leaves, about four inches long,
bright green above and quite silvery beneath. One can
imagine its beauty in the shrubbery when every breath of
wind turns up its leaves and makes the whole bush look
like silver. I shall keep this novelty in view, as it will be
invaluable in landscape gardening.
Senecio eleagnifolia is a distinct evergreen from New
Zealand, with ovate leaves of leathery texture, deep green,
with a whitish tomentum beneath. It is well named, as it
looks more like an Eleeagnus than a Groundsel. It is pre-
sumably quite hardy at Coombe Wood, near London.
Araha Maximowicsi is a beautiful shrub that has proved
quite hardy at Coombe, and I hope it will be so in all parts
of England, as it is so distinct from other open-air shrubs,
having quite a sub-tropical aspect. It is of tall growth, has
deeply palmate leaves (five to seven lobed), dark green,
with reddish brown leaf stalks. It is a stately plant, yet
more graceful than the common Araha Sieboldi (Latsia Ja-
ponica), which is perfectly hardy about London and south
of it. A. Maximowicsi is, I believe, a native of Japan, and
is the Acanthopanax ricinrfolium of Decaisne. The Japan-
ese Maples, chiefly forms of A. polymorphum, with
feathery foliage, were shown in large specimens by Veitch,
and the rich hues of the coppery-tinged forms had a
charming effect. Golden-leaved shrubs, such as Neidlia
(Spire@a) opulifolia aurea, Diervilla aurea, Jasminum vulgare
aureum, together with cut-leaved sorts like Alaus incana
imperialis, Rhus glabra laciniala, gave the group a bright
effect, and showed how attractive a tasteful arrangement
of hardy tree and shrub branches can be made. Perhaps
the most valuable contribution in the way of new hardy
trees at the show was a golden form of Zhuyvopsis borealis
(Chamecy paris Nutkaensis), exhibited by Messrs. Slocock,
nurserymen at Woking, Surrey. The young shoots were
of a rich golden hue, and one can imagine what a grace-
ful treea large specimen would be on alawn. The original
form of this tree is so valuable in ornamental planting that
this golden form is most welcome, although, as a rule, I
have no particular leaning towards golden or silver forms
of Conifers. :
June arst.
W. Goldring.
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 25, 1888.
New or Little Known Plants.
Phlox Stellaria.*
HE peculiar little Phlox which is figured in the
present number is one of the rarest eastern species.
It was first discovered by Dr. Short, of Louisville, Ky.,
in 1829, upon the precipitous limestone cliffs of the Kentucky
River, though the exact locality is unknown. It has since
been found at Fountain Bluff on the Mississippi, in Jack-
son County, Illinois, and by Dr. Gattinger, of Nashville,
in the Cedar-barrens of Tennessee, in Rutherford and Craw-
ford Counties, growing among sphagnum.
It is a low, slender, spreading perennial, perfectly gla-
brous, with narrowly linear leaves and rather large scat-
tered flowers. The lobes of the pale blue or nearly white
corollas are distinctly bifid. The specific name has refer-
ence to this resemblance in flowers and foliage to some
species of Stellaria. It blooms in May or early in June.
Another very similar species, P. bifida, is found on the
prairies of Illinois and Missouri. It is distinguished
by a minute pubescence, and by the deeper division of
the lobes of the corolla into two or three oblong or
nearly linear diverging segments. mS.
A New Station for Lilium Grayi.
LOSE upon Dr. Watson’s recent prophecy in GarDEN
AND Forest, that the habitat of this Lily would prove
to be not restricted to Roan Mountain and the Peaks of
Otter, has followed its discovery by Mr. H. P. Kelsey in
an old field on the banks of Linville River, not far from
the little village of that name at the foot of Grandfather
Mountain, N. C. The station must be very. different
from the two subalpine ones previously known. He sends
half a dozen plants, collected July 1st, which are readily
identified with those that grow under the Alders and Rho-
dodendrons of the Roan Mountain, ‘“ Bald,” and with Mr.
Faxon’s excellent figure in GARDEN anp Forest.
Haltimore<iad, John Donnell Smith.
Cultural Department.
Vineyard Notes from Southern New Jersey.
Wee prospect for a Grape crop hereis, at this date (July 9th),
reasonably hopeful in those localities unvisited by the rose-
bug when the vines were in bloom. Where the rosebug came
in force there is nothing left to be harmed by rot or mildew—
the vines are fruitless.
The rosebug first appeared, formidably, on my farm on May
22d, 1887. For fifteen years I had seen little of these insects,
but had heard of vineyards infested to the entire destruction of
the Grape crop for the past ten years. In 1887 the rosebugs
seemed to swarm from these old homes, and invaded the
Vineland tract, consisting of about 34,000 acres. Some farms
escaped, but it is proper to call the invasion general, and
it was literally an invasion. The insects do not appear simul-
taneously everywhere, but they spread from the nidus where
the broods are hatched. Thus, in 1887 they first appeared on
the west side of my farm, and there swept over 3,500 vines, —
not leaving a single blossom to forma Grape. They seemed
moving from the west, and did not reach a vineyard of 6,000
vines on the east side of the farm until about the time of the
limit of their existence. Hence these vines escaped their de-
vastation. Nevertheless, the farm east of mine was infested
with rosebugs, and they seemed to increase in destructive effect;
towards the east, on this farm, also. Probably this was another |
swarm. The general tendency of movement of these insects
seems to be towards the east.
Of course I tried to repel this onset ; applied all sorts of in- —
The bugs |
For several days four men constantly labored ~
to save the clusters on those 3,500 vines, but not one was left _
secticides, but really made no effective defense.
had their way.
to pick in September !
*P. Sreccarta, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad., viii. 252, and Syn. Flora, ii. 131. I
ennial, glabrous ; stems slender, tufted, or creeping at base, low and branching;
Per- |
;
es
leaves linear, one or two inches long, rather rigid, eae ciliate at base; flow- —
ers scattered on rather long peduncles, pale blue; coro
a-lobes narrowly cuneate,
bifid at the apex; ovules solitary,
fungus diseases of the Grapevine,”
Juty 25, 1888.]
This spring (1888) I arranged beforehand to meet the inva-
sion. Commissioned by the United States Department of
Agriculture as “Special Agent in the section of Vegetable
Pathology, to make experiments in the treatment of the
and “to report on the
same,” I had in the conduct of these experiments made the ac-
cidental observation that certain preparations of copper-sul-
phate seemed distasteful to the rosebug, which abandoned
vines to which this poison had been applied. With the hope
that I might have discovered a remedy, I compounded, early
in May, the various formulas of copper-sulphate designed as
preventives of vine diseases ; applied them to the Experi-
ment Vineyard, and also May 2oth,
so far as opportunity permitted, to
other of my vines which had been
devastated by rosebugs in 1887.
June 5th, 1888, the rosebugs came
again; where they were worst the
previous year, they most abounded:
this year.
Those vines sprayed with the
copper solutions May 29th were
the least infested. Whether this
protection was due to the presence
of the copper-sulphate on the
leaves and clusters, or whether the
absence of the bugs from these
poisoned vines was merely ac-
cidental, I cannot say. However,
on a patch of ‘Concords (1,500
vines), about Ioo yards distant
from those which were sprayed
with the copper, the rosebugs took
the entire crop! I lacked the time
to take care of this vineyard. The
vines were simply pruned and
fastened to the stakes. The ground
was not even plowed. When the
rosebugs had full possession here
(about 500 bugs to the vine), I ex-
perimented with insecticides. I
sprayed two rows with a solution
of London purple, two rows with
a solution of Paris green, both
strong enough to badly burn the
foliage. A row was dusted with a
“bug powder,” which has been
advertised, and another row with
another powder. The remaining
rows of the vineyard were sprayed
with the various copper-sulphate
solutions which I had _ previously
employed on other vines. In ad-
dition to these treatments I ex-
hausted my knowledge of chem-
istry and the toxicological pharma-
copeeia in attempts to combat the
insect. No benefit came from
anything tried. When the rose-
bugs were done not a grape was
left! Last week I had the vines
grubbed out.
The vines which I-have saved
(and they are several thousand,
now loaded with fruit, and which
were infested with rosebugs) are
trained on a single wire trellis.
Anticipating the advent of the enemy, and for fungus disinfec-
tion, I had the ground beneath this trellis scraped smooth with
hoes. When the bugs pervaded these vineyards I sent men,
armed with broad wooden paddles made of half a barrel stave,
along the rows. A sharp tap of the paddle on the underside
of the wire would cause the bugs to fall to the smooth surface
of the ground beneath; another sharp stroke of the paddle
disposed of them finally. In this manner we daily went over
some 10,000 vines for two weeks, and killed rosebugs by the
bushel, and in this way I consider I have saved the crop I have.
This bug-killing can only be effective in the early part of
the day, say up tog A. M. Disturbed suddenly in these early
hours they will fall to earth and lie still; laterin the day they
will take wing,
From one small Grapevine, badly infested, I took pains to
catch in a basin of kerosene (which kills the insect) and to
count the number of rosebugs, There were 1,627! Next day
T inspected this vine again, and. rosebugs were as plenty on it
Garden and Forest.
Fig. 42.—Phlox Stellaria.—See page 256.
257
as at first! I have a white Rose for which these bugs have.a
fondness. When this bush bloomed the rosebugs deserted
the neighboring Grapevines forit. I have counted Ioo bugs
ona single flower, clustering over it so as to hide it. I made
this bush a ‘martyr to science,’ and drenched and sprayed it
with all known insecticides, including the bichloride of mer-
cury. I powdered it with all the powders, from white helle-
bore to carbolated lime. Riley’s Kerosene Emulsion caused
the bugs to fly away promptly, but they were back again in an
hour, and in spite of all my applications they devoured every
rose on the bush.
I conclude that the only practical way of getting rid ef them
(and this at times will be imprac-
ticable) is to crush them.
There is a comfort, however,
to be drawn from a visit of rose-
bugs to the vineyard—its pro-
prietor is relieved of all anxiety
concerning the black rot.
As for me, I have got past
Scylla, and am now worried about
Charybdis. I have forty or fifty
tons of Grapes yet, and the black
rot has appeared! Concerning
this, what we have done to prevent
it, and what we purpose to ac-
complish, I will leave for another
letter. We have modified practice
in prevention of rot and mildew
this season, but it is yet too soon
to speak otherwise than hopefully
of the patient.
Vineland, N. J. Alex. W. Pearson.
The Fruit Garden.
6 sete setting of new Strawberry
beds is now in order. With
good plants from = one’s own
grounds, a favorable season, and
proper care henceforward a good
crop may be reasonably counted
on next year. Sink two or three-
inch flower pots in the ground till
the rims are even with the surface,
upon each one place a ‘ joint”
from a runner and hold it down
with a stone. When well rooted
sever it from the parent plant and
turn it out of the pot into the place
intended for it.
Potted plants from one’s own
ground are worth double those
purchased from a distance, many
of which are not allowed to get
sufficiently rooted before they are
sentout. In such cases good “layer
plants’’—as plants rooted naturally
are termed—are far better.
Beds of three rows, fifteen to
eighteen inches apart and the
plants the same distance in row,
make a very convenient bed for
asmall garden where the culture
is by hand entirely. It is not a
bad practice to mow off the tops
of old beds, especially if they have
been troubled with the rust or blight of any kind, and when
dry burn them where they fall. If evenly spread over the bed
the fire will not injure the crowns of the plants, and will de-
stroy the fungus and perhaps some insects at the same time.
Ina few weeks the new growth will presenta vigorous, healthy
appearance, and the plants obtain a rest that seems beneficial.
Raspberry and Blackberry canes should have been behead-
ed when two or three fect high so as to make them stocky
and branch low. The ends of the branches themselves
should be pinched off once when they are four to six inches
long, This doubles the bearing capacity of the plant near the
trunk, enabling it to bear its burden with greater ease than if
left to grow unchecked.
It is not always safe to pinch these branches more than once,
for fear the after growth will not mature sufficiently to pass
the winter without injury. It should all be done this month,
and is unsafe if delayed later.
Grape vines should be w atched for insect depredators and
258
black rot, and all affected berries should be picked off and
buried or burned. It dropped on the ground the spores of the
Phoma mature and are on hand to renew the attack next season,
Bagging Grapes is growing in favor among amateurs, but it
should have been done last month to insure safety. It would
not now save berries from rotting if the infecting germs are
already present, but it will protect against the depredations of
birds. Ly, Williams,
Montclair, N. J.
The Vegetable Garden.
ie marking off the rows for Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts,
and the like, draw drills as if for sowing Peas and plant in
these. The drills are useful in holding water and after a
hoeing or two are leveled up. In setting out these plants,
Lettuces or other crops, do so in dull we eather or in the after-
noon in sunny weather, and after planting give a good soaking
of water. In planting ‘Leeks, dibble them in moderately deep
and also in furrows. — By planting them in furrows and draw-
ing the earth up to them as they advance in growth, the long
white necks so desirable in this vegetable are secured. Toma-
toes are now in vigorous growth, Thin their branches and
shorten their laterals a little to give the fruit the benefit of a
free circulation of fresh air, and thus, in considerable measure,
prevent rotting, but do not expose the fruit to sunshine, else
they may get scalded. Perfection, Acme, and selected Tro-
phy for summer, and Winter's Early x for foreing in
winter, are capital sorts, but there seems to be a good deal
of confusion in the names of Tomatoes, and, indeed, the
Tomatoes intermix so much as often to lose their varietal
identity. - As soon as early Potatoes become ripe, which is in-
dicated by the stems dying off, lift them and use the ground
for some other crop, as Celery, Cauliflower, Carrots or Straw-
berries. Should early Potatoes remain in the ground after
they are ripe, a soaking rain succeeding dry weather will start a
second growth, and thus render the tube rs of interior quality;
on the other hand, in storing these early Potatoe s, great care
must be used; a cool, airy, moderately dark place is necessary,
and the tubers should be stored only insmall bulk. It is not
advisable to raise any more of a very early Potato crop than
can be disposed of before September.
In order to maintain vegetable crops in their most vig-
orous condition, the ground must be kept clean and well
stirred about them, whether it be diy or moist, only do not
stir the ground in wet weather. In many large gardens
the plow is used; in most private gardens the hoe is used,
In summer. cultivation, plow shallow or hoe deep is
good advice, for it takes very deep hoeing to be as deep
as. shallow plowing; and in summer weather, when the
ground is dry and hard, deep hoeing, although hard work, is
very necessary. In clean ground, raking is as good as hoeing
and much quicker work. The long, steel-toothed, bow-rakes
are most excellent tools for this work; they tear through the
surface soil in fine style and leave it loose and mellow: they
also root out and expose to the killing influence of warm
sunshine all young weeds that may be germinating. Where
the rows are narrow and the ground hard, and it is necessary
to break-it deep, the Hexamer or prong-hoe is an excellent
implement. WF.
Glen Cove.
The Fritillaria.
HEN taking a few notes amongst the bulb gardens in
Haarlem “and its vicinity, I v isited, amongst others, the
celebrated hardy plant nursery ‘of Messrs. Krelage & Sons, in
Haarlem. At that time—end of April—the leading feature in
the nursery, besides the ordinary Hyacinths, Tulips, etc.,
were the Narcissus and Fritillarias. “The last-named have
been cultivated here for many years, and a very large space
of ground is set apart for the varieties of / meleagris. Itisan
old” English garden plant, and one that was much esteemed
when exatiG plants were scarcely heard of. There is some
variety of coloring found amongst them, from pure white, or
white with a ereenish tinge, to the usually maroon-purple
checkered varieties. Probab ly the numerous forms in the
possession of Messrs. Krelage have been produced by cross-
ing other species with it. The deep yellow ground on some
might claim the parentage of Moggridgei, and others that
of F. Pyrenaica, but it may not be beyond the art of the hy-
bridist to produce the whole of them from the common spe-
cies—F, meleagris, Some varieties are very tall and vigorous,
others are dwart and not at all free in growth ; but, like deli-
cate children in some families, they may be even more
valued on that account. ; :
There might be good stocks of some half hundred varieties,
Garden and Forest.
[JULY 25, 1888.
and I went carefully over them, noting the most distinct -in
growth and flowers. The colors range from pale yellow with
scarcely any markings upon them to rich chocolate heavily
checkered. Theresa Schwartze is a pale form, marked with
brown on yellow ground; Paul Kruger is glossy chocolate,
heavily checkered ; Arentine Ardensen, greenish-yellow,
checkered reddish- brown; Mr. Dullert, crimson-brown,
heavily checkered ; Siege of Haarlem, greenish- yellow, slight.
ly checkered a reddish-brown color ; David Bles, yellow,
faintly checkered red—a dwart-growing variety; Stieltjes,
heavily checkered maroon and yellow—a vigorous plant;
Van Lerius, medium, blood-red checker, vigorous in growth;
Alma Tadema, pale ereenish- yellow, with rosy-red and me-
dium-sized checker; Rembrandt, maroon-crimson heavily
checkered; EH Krelage, heavily checkered chocolate-red
on yellow—an excellent plant; W. J. Holdwijk, rich maroon-
crimson, heavily checkered. The above area dozen of the
best varieties which I noted in the collection. Some two
years ago this firm sent a selection of them to be inspected by
the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, and
these were greatly admired at the time by some members of
the committee, and selections from them were awarded certi-
ficates, but cut flowers that had made a long journey, and
were crumpled and faded, gave
the flower, and the effect produced when seen in masses of
varied colors,
Fritillarias are grown without much trouble, their place
being in the herbaceous border, where they should be planted
in groups, and allowed to remain undisturbed for several
years. A deep, sandy loam, moderately moist, is better for
them than a light, shallow, or gravelly soil.
I have grown several distinct species in pots, also the white
and ordinary forms of /. meleagris, with success, the flowers
being greatly admired, coming as they do before any are in
flower outside. Repotting should be done annually, ‘but the
bulbs themselves should not be disturbed until in the course
of time they become too numerous, and therefore crowded.
—J. Douglas in Gardeners’ Chronicle.
Cut Flowers in Midsummer.
LTHOUGH out-door gardens may in midsummer be
bright and gay and pretty enough, cut flowers for in-
door decoration are also needed in abundance. We cannot
gather blossoms from Coleus or Alternanthera and House-
Leek beds, for these plants in pattern beds are not allowed to
bloom; and we should not gather the flowers from the Gera-
nium or Heliotrope beds, because the more blossoms these
plants carry in the beds, the better do they serve the purpose
for which they have been planted. But in mixed borders or
reserve gardens should be grown an ample quantity of such
plants as yield a generous supply of flowers that are desirable
and well adapte d for cutting. While at all times during the
summer we may have many sorts of flowers, there are always
a few sorts in their season that are in more demand than
others, hence should be grown in larger quantity. This is
often a matter of taste; different persons have different prefer-
ences. Just now the main crop of cut flowers consists of
Sweet Peas, Mignonette, Heliotrope, double white Feverfew,
Hollyhocks, small-flowered Sunflowers, Drummond Phlox,
scarlet Pelargoniums, Rose Geraniums, annual and perennial
Coreopsis, Nasturtiums, Candytuft, Eheman’s Canna, and
the narrow-leaved, yellow Day Lily (Hemerocallis gramini-
folia). These may be supplemented by a great variety of
other flowers—for instance, Zinnias, French and African Mari-
golds, Ten-week Stocks, Indian Pinks, Garden Pentstemons,
Verbenas, Poppies, Larkspur, Bellflowers, Veronicas, Cosmos,
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and many Lilies, as Z.
auratum, L. longiflorum and L. Humboldtii. Euphorbia corol-
lata and Gypsophila paniculata are now in their prime and
very useful for adding a light and airy effect to other cut
flowers. Although Dahlias are regarded more as autumn than
summer flowers, they may now be had in tolerable abund-
ance. The earliest planted Gladicluses are in bloom. JZont-
brietia crocosmieflora Nas beautitul, orange-colored flowers
and should be grown in quantity for summer flowers. — It is
tender, but wintered in a warm frame or cool green-house,
and pegs and planted out-of-doors in summer, it grows and
blossoms very freely. Unlike most other bulbous plants
used for Bet oe gardening, it should be kept growing all
winter. In the same way the finer Cannas should be ‘kept
erowing somewhat in winter, if we wanta large increase of
stock,
In order to maintain the crop of flowers in their best condi-
a poor idea of the beauty of -
FR ee FO eR ey eee Eee ee eee ee eter wee
=
JuLy 25, 1888.]
tion, keep the ground scrupulously clean from weeds and the
earth well loosened about the plants. Remove decaying
leaves and flowers, support very neatly, with string and stakes,
all plants requiring the same, prevent overcrowding, and as
soon as perennials have done blooming cut them over, so as
to give the other occupants of the borders more room. As
soon aS Drummond Phlox, Mignonette, Stocks, or other an-
nuals are past their best and begin to appear seedy, remove
them, fork over the ground, and at once replant with Mari-
golds, scarlet Salvia, Zinnias, Drummond Phlox, or China
Asters previously prepared tor this purpose; or sow some
Mignonette, Sweet Alyssum, or other annuals that will have
plenty of time yet to grow and bear a good crop of flowers be-
fore frost may destroy them.
Many people havea passion for saving seed. _ This is well
enough and our own saved seeds are just as good as those we
buy, but the question is, Is it worth while? Plants bearing
seed occupy room that might be used by plants coming into
My
reed
Garden and Forest.
259
Phlox Stellaria, of which a figure is published on another
page of this issue, is an excellent rock-garden plant, making
handsome carpets of pleasant green, which, in the latitude of
Boston, where this plant is perfectly hardy, are covered late in
May with flowers quite unlike in color those of any other Phlox
in cultivation. It spreads much less rapidly than the Moss
Pink (Phlox subulata), but its habit is very similar, and it
is propagated in the same way by cuttings or by division. CG
Plant Notes.
Japanese Iris.
NE of the most attractive features in Mr. John L.
Gardner’s beautiful garden in Brookline, Massa-
chusetts, is the bed of Japanese Iris (/ris lewgata or Kem-
pbfert), which forms the subject of our illustration.
A Bed of Japanese Iris.
flower, and seeds of common flowers cost very little. Of
course, it is well to save seed in the case of extra choice or rare
varieties, or of sorts not easily obtained, or of expensive kinds
that we can save with little trouble. Another point in
seed-saving is this: In private gardens the choice blossoms
are used as cut flowers, and whatever are left to go to seed are
the lateral, second-rate, or poor flowers, which give inferior
seed; seed-growers, on the other hand, assiduously preserve
the best flowers for seed, cut off and throw away the poor
flowers, and root out and destroy all plants bearing poor
varieties of flowers.
Watering plants in dry weather requires attention. It may
be impracticable to water all the plants in the garden, but we
should give, and that liberally, to Dahlias, Asters, and such
others as suffer much from drought. Never water plants while
the surface of the ground is hot or the sun is shining brightly
on them; and in giving water, give enough to penetrate deep
into the earth, William Falconer.
The plants, which were selected in Japan with great care
by Mrs. Gardner, represent the best named Japanese
varieties. They are arranged according to color, in
the Japanese fashion; each row across the bed
ing of one variety, those with white flowers at one end,
and then all the intermediate shades to the dark blues
and purples at the other end. The bed is sunk eight or
ten inches below the surface of the surrounding lawn, and
is furnished on one side with a perforated water-pipe so
that the plants can be irrigated during the growing sea-
It is eighteen inches deep and consists of a rich
cow -Manure,
consist-
son.
compost of loam and thoroughly rotten
and every year it gets a good top dressing of manure.
Every pleasant morning after the middle of May the
water is turned on at nine o’clock and allowed to run till
three or four o'clock in the afternoon; by that time the
260 Garden and Forest.
bed is thoroughly saturated and covered to a depth of two
or three inches with water; the supply is then shut off
until the next morning. Some of the varieties, under this
generous treatment, grow to a height of five or six feet,
and have produced flowers fully ten inches across, and
surprising in their profusion and beauty. While irriga-
tion is doubtless necessary to develop the greatest per-
fection of the Japanese Iris, it can be successfully grown
in this country in ordinary seasons in any good garden
soil and without artificial watering. Very fine flowers
have been produced without special treatment by Mr.
Parkman and other American growers, who have raised
good seedling varieties of this plant without giving to it
more care than is required by other Irises. The Japa-
nese Iris is one ‘of the handsomest of the whole genus,
and, when in flower, one of the handsomest of hardy
perennial plants. It is beloved by the Japanese, who
make holidays to visit the Iris beds when the-plants are
blooming, and who have devoted infinite pains to its
improvement. The flowers are hardly surpassed in deli-
cacy of texture or in beauty of color, but they do not ap-
pear here until July, and the hot sun soon fades them.
The blooming season may be prolonged by the use of an
awning placed over the beds during the day, but it cannot
be denied that this plant flowers too late here, and that
its period of beauty is too short in this climate ever to
make it a great popular favorite. It is hard to imagine,
however, anything more beautiful than a mass of these
many tinted flowers like that which our illustration rep-
resents, and which certainly has no equal in the United
States, either in the varieties which it contains or in the
perfection with which they are cultivated.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
oe European Privet (Ligus/rum vulgare) is in bloom.
This is such an old-tashioned shrub, and such a com-
mon one, having long remained the favorite hedge plant in
the Northern States before Conifers were as much planted for
hedges as they are now, that few people realize, perhaps, what
a valuable plant it is or how numerous are its claims upon the
attention of the planter. There is not a shrub more hardy,
or one less fastidious in regard to soil; it blooms profusely
at a season of the year when comparatively few shrubs
are in flower; it is little affected by drought, and therefore
invaluable for planting under or near large trees, which
quickly exhaust the moisture in the soil, and so make it
difficult for other plants to thrive near them ; and in autumn
it is covered profusely with handsome black berries, which
remain bright and unwithered upon the branches until the
new leaves appear the following spring. The Privet, like
the Barberry, has gradually become naturalized in some
parts of the Eastern States, through the agency of birds, no
doubt, and seems to adapt itself now to its surroundings as
completely as any American plant; and, like the Barberry,
itcan be planted in connection with our native shrubs with-
out raising any question of want of fitness or naturalness
of grouping or composition. Several varieties are cultivated.
There is one with yellow fruit, which has now become natur-
alized in the neighborhood of Boston. There is one with pen-
dulous branches, which, when grafted standard high, makes
an excellent small weeping tree; and there are forms with
erect growing branches, giving to the plant a fastigiate habit,
and with golden, blotched leaves. i
Ligustrum Ibota is a Japanese and north China Privet, anda
valuable, hardy shrub, of graceful habit, just now covered with
flowers. It has erect, softly pubescent branches, ovate-ellip-
tical, obtuse leaves, and a slender thyrsus of small white
flowers, with a long and slender corolla tube. It is a variable
species ; at least there are two forms here of what is evidently
the same species, one with leaves two inches long on short
petioles, and a slender, erect inflorescence three inches or
more long. In some collections this is known as Ligustrum
Amurense, under which name it is very well figured and de-
scribed by Carriére in the Revue Horticole for 1861, p. 352. The
other variety has leaves rarely an inch and a half long, more
oval in outline and with shorter petioles, while the inflor-
escence is less than an Inch long, few-flowered, and often
one-sided and nodding by the curving downwards of the
peduncle.
fera, itis handsome in winter with its purple branches. It has
[JuLy 25, 1888,
Ligustrum ovalifolium is another Japanese species belong-
ing with the last to the section of the genus with long-tubed
flowers. It has been of late years very widely distributed in
American gardens under the name of “4. Californicum, or the
California Privet, a name which -it perhaps owes to the possi-
ble fact that it reached eastern nurseries first from California,
where it has been very generally cultivated for several years.
It is a hardy and free-growing shrub, with erect branches,
five or six teet high, covered with handsome oval or ovate-
elliptical, bright green, shining leaves, which do not fall until
late in the winter. The small white flowers are produced in
abundance. Like all the Privets, it is easily propagated from
cuttings—so easily that it has become a great favorite with
nurserymen; and certainly no other shrub of such compara-
tively recent introduction has been so widely and generally
cultivated in this country.
Not the least attractive adornment of many old-fashioned
New England door-yards is Sfire@a sorbifolia, Unfortunately, it
is rarely seen nowadays anywhere else in this country, foritisa
noble plant, forming, with generous treatment, a great massof
dark green foliage, six or eight feet high by as much through,
and now covered with immense panicles, fully two feet long,
of small white flowers. The leaves are pinnate, with red-
dish stems, fifteen to eighteen inches long, and composed of
about ten pairs of acuminate, sharply serrate leaflets, with
prominent veins. The flower clusters are produced on the
ends of vigorous branches of the year, which often attain
a length of three feet before the flowers appear, and are quite
red. Itisacommon and widely distributed Siberian species,
reaching Japan, and the earliest to flower here of the plants of
the small section Sordaria, which some botanists now sepa-
rate from Sfir@a as‘a genus. They all have pinnate leaves
and large terminal panicles of white flowers. They are
Asiatic, generally Siberian, with one species confined to the
Himalaya and one in Mongolia or northern China. S. Lind-
Zeyana, the Himalayan species, a handsome plant in English
gardens, where it sometimes attains almost the size, and the
habit of a tree, is not hardy here, being cut down to the ground
every winter, and never flowering.
Spirea Faponica, as defined by Maximowicz and made to
include S. callosa and S. Fortunei, is an exceedingly variable
species, widely distributed from Japan (where it was first
made known) to northern China and the Himalayas. It con-
tains forms (especially those referred to S. Fortuiez?) of very
considerable garden value, and among those in the collection
here some are in flower from the end of June until frost. One
now in flower and the earliest is of Japanese origin and seems
identical with the plant figured by Hooker in the Botanical
Magazine (t. 5164) as S. Fortune. It is a spreading, flat-topped
shrub, four or five feet high, with reddish glabrous branches,
the young shoots puberulous, dark green leaves, paler on the
under side, five or six inches long, elliptical-lanceolate, with a
long acumen, and glandular serratures. The flowers are rosy
purple, arranged ina lax, flat cyme with slender spreading
branches and more than a foot across. The disk, as is the
case with the flowers of all the forms of this species, is provided
with a row of small, sub-erect red glands. It is a hardy, free
growing plant not particular about soil; and one of the
best of the forms of S. faponica. ;
The opinion is frequently expressed that the European
Heaths are not hardy in this country, or that they are difficult
to manage. There is a large collection of these plants in the
Arboretum, where they grow well and flower freely every
year.. They are planted in an exposed, sunny position, and
in soil with which a considerable amount of peat has been
mixed, and they receive in wintera covering of Pine branches.
Young plants—and this is true of many garden shrubs—flower
better than old ones, and it is found advisable to renew the
collection occasionally with new plants. The earliest of the
summer-blooming species in flower is Erica Tetralix. Itisa
dwarf plant of grayish hue, six or eight inches high, with —
minute, ciliated leaves arranged in fours and pale red flowers
in terminal heads. It remains in bloom nearly all summer.
The hardy heaths are all capital rock-garden plants and they
make good edgings for beds Of larger evergreens.
The Silky Cornel (Cornus sericea) is one of the latest of the
North American Dogwoods in the collection to flower. The
remarks which have been made in earlier issues of these notes
regarding the value of our larger growing native shrubs for
planting in public grounds, are as applicable to this plant as to
the other Dogwoods and to the Viburnums. | Like C. s¢olonz-
ovate pointed leaves, silky downy on the under side, close,
flat, rather small cymes of yellow-white flowers and pale blue
fruit. Itis very common at the north along the borders of —
I ee ee ee
JuLy 25, 1888.]
swamps and in other low, wet places, where it forms a wide
spreading bush eight or ten feet high.
Rubus odoratus, the Flowering Raspberry, is another useful
native shrub. It has upright stems four to five feet high,
covered with bristly, glandular hairs, three to five lobed leaves,
and handsome, dark rose-purple, clustered flowers, more than
an ineh across when expanded. It is a common northern
plant, spreading rapidly here in cultivation by underground
shoots, and soon formingalmost impenetrable masses of dense
stems and foliage, now gay with bright colored flowers.
It thrives, too, under trees, and is one of the best plants to cover
shaded ground rapidly in situations where such a tall grow-
ing plantcan be properly used.
Rubus Nutkanus, which resembles the common Flowering
Raspberry in foliage andin general habit, but with white flowers
is not hardy here, and is killed down to the ground every year,
and therefore does not flower. It is found from the shores of
Lake Superior and westward to Puget Sound and British Col-
umbia. :
Itea Virginica is now in flower. It is adwarf shrub, rarely
- more than a couple of feet in height. The simple, upright,
_ terminal racemes are not very showy, but it is an interesting
plant as the representative of a peculiar tribe of the Saxifrage
Family, and it flowers when shrub flowers are less abundant
than they were a month ago. It grows in low, wet places from
New Jersey southward near the coast.
The three species of ex belonging to the section Prinos
which are found in the Northern States are now all in flower.
Their chief ornamental value no doubt consists in their showy
fruit, but they are not without attraction in flower, especially
I, levigata, which is much the rarest species, and which may
be distinguished from the common Black Alder (Z. vertici/lata)
by the long stalked sterile flowers, and by its larger fruit, which
ripens somewhat earlier in the autumn. They are both easily
cultivated, and worth much more attention at the hands of
gardeners than they have ever received for the brilliant and
abundant fruit which covers their branches in winter. The
Ink Berry, “ex glabra, is a handsome evergreen shrub, with
black berries. It occupies considerable tracts of sandy soil
near the coast from Massachusetts southward, notably on Cape
Cod and on Long Island, andit is often found along the borders
of ponds and streams in the Pine woods, where it grows much
taller (four or five feet sometimes) than on the exposed sea
coast. ‘This is one of the few broad-leaved evergreens of the
Northern States ; it assumes a compact habit in cultivation ;
its foliage and its fruit are both handsome; yet although it was
introduced into England one hundred and thirty years ago,
and has always been grown in foreign nurseries, it is practi-
cally unknown in American gardens, and its value seems
to have been never appreciated by planters in this country.
Andromeda ligustrina is not a showy flowered species, but it
can be used, perhaps, with advantage, to give variety to a plan-
tation of native shrubs, and it will thrive in low, wet ground,
where it reaches a height of eight or ten feet and produces at
this season of the year an abundance of racemose-panicled,
rather small, pure white flowers. The ovate-oblong deciduous
leaves turn brilliantly in autumn.
One of the most beautiful of our native Roses now in
bloom is Rosa nitida. It is rather a rare plant, found
from Newfoundland to eastern Massachusetts, and although
distinguished and described long ago and even introduced
into Europe early in the century, it has been but little known
in this country, and has, until quite recently, been confound-
_ ed with other species. It is one of the most distinct, never-
theless, of the American Roses, and may be known always by
the red shoots, thickly beset with slender red spines, barely
stouter than the red prickles. The leaves are bright green
and shining, and make a charming contrast with the bright,
rose-colored or red flowers, one anda half to two and a half
inches across. Rosa xitida inhabits damp swamps and
other low, wet places, but transferred to the garden, like
most of our native Roses, it grows freely, soon making
a broad mass of foliage and flowering with the greatest
profusion. There are few shrubs better worth a place in the
garden.
Alyssum gemonense is a dwarf under-shrub, a native of
southern Europe, and quite hardy here. It grows a few
inches high, and the base of the stems only are woody. They
are covered with small, lanceolate, entire leaves, clothed with
grayish, stellate down, which gives thema velvety appearance.
The yellow flowers are produced in close, terminal cymes,
which quite cover the plants giving to a mass of them a
showy appearance, which they retain during several weeks.
This is an excellent dwarf rock-garden plant.
July 3d. - Pie
Garden and Forest.
261
The Forest.
The Long-leaved Pine.
She widely distributed tree (Pinus palustris) forms almost
exclusively the immense forests of the lower Southern
Pine Belt, which with scarcely any interruption cover tens of
thousands of square miles. It furnishes not only enormous
supplies of valuable timber, but is also the chief source of
the resinous products of North American forests. It is there-
fore first in importance amongst all the trees of the southern
division of the Atlantic forest region.
From the northern confines of North Carolina, the forests of
Long-leaved Pine extend in a belt, varying from go to 120 miles
wide along the coast of the Atlantic States, to Florida, crossing
the Peninsula to the Everglades, and from western Georgia
following the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the bluffs of the
Mississippi River. One vast forest of Long-leaved Pine covers
the belt of gravelly and sandy drift soils from 5 to 25 miles in
width, which traverses Alabama from its eastern to near
its western borders. On detached patches of the same for-
mation such forests reach in thatstate the 38th degree of north
latitude at an elevation of about eight hundred feet above
the sea. West of the Mississippi River this belt appears be-
yond the alluvium of the delta on the drift covered uplands.
The magnificent forests of Long-leaved Pine of the western
Gulf region stretching from the Pachita river to the valley of
the Trinity in Texas and from the thirty-second degree of
north latitude to the savannas and marshes of the coast are
unsurpassed in the luxuriance of their growth and their timber
wealth.
Provided with a powerful taproot, the finely shaped trunk of
this tree rises in the fullness of its growth toa height of 100
to 115 feet, with a diameter of 24 to 32 inches near its base,
and free from limbs to one-half or two-thirds of its length. The
massive, horizontally spreading limbs, rarely exceeding 20
feet in length, divide into short gnarled branches, forming
an unsymmetrically shaped head which affords but a scanty
shade to the ground beneath. The leaves to the number of
three in a sheath of a rich glossy green and from 8 to 12 inches
in length, are shed during their second year, and therefore
with the increasing shortness of the axis of annual growth are
crowded at the extremities of the otherwise naked branches
in dense tassels or tufts. The edges of the bracts being
fringed with fine, long, silky hairs, provide the densely crowded
leaf buds terminating the branches with a soft covering of
silvery white, by which this species is readily distinguished at
first sight from its nearest allies.
The flowers, situated near the apex of the young shoots of
the season, make their appearance early in the spring. The
staminate flowers in great abundance and chiefly on the lower
branches, discharge their copious pollen here about the mid-
dle of March. The pistillate flowers being chiefly confined to
the upper part of the tree, are fully exposed to fertilization by
the pollen of other individuals. They are in some years much
more abundant than in others, and at times almost entirely
wanting fora series of years, to the complete failure of the
crop. The long, slender, slightly bent cones ripen during the
second year, and shed their seeds late in October. These af-
ford a rich mast eagerly devoured by many denizens of the
forests. If at thisseason the weather continues wet and warm,
the seeds sprout in the cone and the crop is lost.
After fruitful seasons, which are observed to happen at in-
tervals of 3 to 4 years, seedlings spring up in the openings of
the forest wherever the rays of the sun can reach the ground,
the seeds sprouting soon after having fallen. In the follow-
ing season the plantlet produces dense tufts of its secondary
or foliage leaves, the stem scarcely rising above the ground.
During the succeeding three or four years its growth is very
slow, being rather directed to the early development of a
powerful root system. At the end of that period the tufts
of the leaves of the young Pines scarcely reach above the sur-
rounding herbage. The simple stem having by this time at-
tained a certain thickness, now increases suddenly in height.
In the course of the following years irregular branches are
thrown out which, somewhat before the tenth year, begin to
form regular whorls. Trees ten years old average twelve feet
in height. During the next fifteen years growth proceeds at the
niost rapid rate. At the age of twenty-five years the trees average
from forty to forty-five feet in height, with a diameter rarely
exceeding ten inches. Ata hundred years of age they meas-
ure from seventy to eighty feet in height, which during the
next half century increases to over ninety feet, with a diame-
ter of sixteen to eighteen inches three feet above their base.
From this age to the second century of its life, the Long-
262
leaved Pine furnishes merchantable timber of the required
standard, that is, logs twenty-four feet long and fifteen inches
across the smaller end. Trees furnishing square timber in
lengths from thirty-five to fifty feet, with a uniform diameter
exceeding fifteen inches, show trom 250 to 300 rings of annual
growth.
Under such conditions of growth and under the continually
increasing strain to which they are subjected to meet the de-
mands for their products, the reproduction of these Pine forests
is not keeping pace with their depletion. Considering the
ever-increasing drafts upon them under wasteful and de-
structive methods of management, considering devastation
caused by the tapping of the trees for their resin, and the
damage inflicted by recurring forest fires and by live stock in-
volving the total destruction of the young growth, the pros-
pect of their maintenance seems hopeless and their destruction
cannot be long delayed.
Other causes are contributing to the same result and weaken
the chances of the Pine for survival in its struggle with com-
peting species during the earlier stages of its life. If the re-
moval of the original growth of Long-leaved Pine happens to
be succeeded by a series of barren years, the soil is overgrown
by a stunted growth of deciduous trees which completely
shade the ground and exclude forever the offspring of the
Long-leaved Pine. ‘Towards the northern limits of the Pine
belt where the Long-leaved Pine is associated with various
deciduous trees, with the Short-leaved and the Loblolly Pine,
it invariably succumbs in the struggle to gain a hold on the
soil. In the damp flat woods of the coast plain from Georgia
to the Mississippi River it is replaced by the Cuban Pine, the
Loblolly Pine taking possession of the lands thrown out of cul-
tivation,
According to the returns obtained for the few years at the
points of export, the products of the Long-leaved Pine in
lumber, square timber, and naval stores shipped annually by
water and by rail to foreign ports and distant domestic mar-
kets, represent fully twenty million dollars. And this sum
would be vastly increased if the value of the same products
consumed near the centres of production in charcoal, railroad
ties and lumber of inferior quality were estimated.
Mobile, June rst, 1888. Karl Mohr.
Correspondence.
Prospect Park.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I was delighted to see your recent editorial calling at-
tention to the beauties of Prospect Park and the dangers
which threaten them. Too few people in Brooklyn, not to
speak of New York, realize what a paradise of beauty lies at
their doors. The distance which must be traversed, largely
over bad pavements and through rather disagreeable pre-
cincts, before a New Yorker is able to reach Prospect
Park, is sufficient to explain, perhaps, why a far more
beautiful park than the Central Park is so seldom visited by
those who throng the drives and walks of the latter. But even
the accessibility of such sea-side resorts as Coney Island seems
insufficient to account for the indifference of the residents of
Brooklyn. Ihave never visited Prospect Park on Sunday, but I
am told that even then it presents a very different appearance
from the crowded condition of Central Park, and on a week
day its wide roadsalmost empty of vehicles, its immense lawns
trodden but by a few scattered children, and its shady out-
door restaurant occupied by scarcely half a dozen persons,
are in strong contrast to the populous gaiety which one sees
not only in the park of New York, but in those of Chicago,
Philadelphia, and, I fancy, all other great towns but Brooklyn,
One cannot help grudging Brooklyn the possession of the
finest park in the country, and cannot help fearing that it will
suffer at the hands of Commissioners who are so little re-
strained in their acts by any strong sentiment or interest on the
part of the public.
It seems, however, as though the injury thus far worked had
been more in the way of acts of omission than of acts of com-
mission. In every part of the park one sees plantations which
loudly ery for thinning—which have already suffered much
and in the next few years will suffer very much more, from
overcrowding. In some places, moreover, the presence of
dead or dying Conifers—chiefly Spruces and Pines—conspicu-
ously mars the effect of lovely landscapes. But not nearly so
many such trees were planted here as in the Central Park,
and, consequently, the total injury to their effect which they
work is by no means so grave,
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 25, 1888.
The present Park Commission, however, as your editorial
states, has resolved upon a more vigorous course of action
than that pursued by its predecessors, and it is time to keep
one’s eyes open for faults of commission. It has, indeed,
been asserted from more than one quarter that they are already
conspicuously apparent—that, for example, the bordering plan-
tations of the park have already been so badly treatedin some
places thata view of the shabby encircling streets is admitted.
{ doubt whether these charges are just. There are certainly
a number of places to be found where the bordering planta-
tions are so thin that they may be said hardly to exist; but in.
all those I found during two visits made to the park for the
especial purpose of examining into this point, their thinness
seems to be due not to the cutting out of vigorous trees, but to
the gradual decay of the plantations. The Conifers largely
chosen for this particular purpose stand to-day as miserable
perishing little trees, hideous in themselves and pervious to
the eye in every direction. Perhaps much cutting has in truth
been done in placessuch as these, but if so, it is probable
that it has been merely in the way of removing even worse
specimens than those which remain. No soul alive would be
so foolish as to cut down flourishing trees and leave such lit-
tle forlornities as these. The remedy for the nudity of such
spots is not to be found in the careful preservation of their ex-
isting growths, so much as in sweeping them away and plant-
ing de novo with trees better fitted to survive and grow into
effectual screens. Ofcourse there may be other spots along
the borders of the park where flourishing plantations have
been massacred, but I failed to find them.
As regards the abandonment of the original scheme for put-
ting a music-stand on the little island near the terrace, I think
your words will be re-echoed by all who know Prospect Park.
The effect of music heard upon or across the water is pro-
verbially beautiful, and the promenades and concourses on
and near the terrace lie in such a way that I cannot conceive
there would be any bad acoustic results. It should be
remembered that the music rendered in such a place as this
is not, as a rule, need not be, and, in truth, ought not to be, of
that serious and subtile sort which demands for its right un-
derstanding the acoustic properties of a well-built, enclosed
auditorium. Itis heard, generally speaking, by a different
class of music-lovers from those who pay for admittance to
such auditoriums ; and, whatever the class, it is listened to in
a different spirit. Persons who are eating and drinking or
walking, driving or rowing out-of-doors, demand music which
is merely a pleasant gay accompaniment to their actions and
their conversation—music of a light character, and of a sort
which does not demand perfect acoustic conditions any more
than it demands close and exclusive attention. Of course even
under these circumstances music distresses instead of pleases
the ear if it is heard as intermittent puffs of sound broken by
lapses of silence or if only its strongest notes are perceived.
But except in a strong wind there seems no reason why this
effect would be produced by aband playing on the island; in
a strong wind it will be produced in any out-door situation
where large masses of foliage exist; and that such masses
should exist is essential for the comfort and pleasure of those
who are to listen. The best place, acoustically, for a music-
stand, would be in the centre of the largest open lawn that
could be found ; but who would care to stand or sit in the sun
to enjoy good acoustic properties thus supplied ?
New York City. George Cumming.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I have three Sycamore Maples transplanted three
years ago, apparently in a_ thriving condition except that the -
bark is falling off—beginning at the ground, the disease creeps
up the trunk. Is there any treatment that will save the trees?
Nahant, Mass. APG
[The spread of the disease may perhaps be checked by
carefully cutting away any decayed matter which may be
found where the wood has been exposed by the falling
away of the bark andthen covering the whole of the ex-
posed portion with a coating of coal-tar which can be ob-
tained from any gas works. A covering of straw wrapped
loosely round the trunks to protect them from the hot
summer sun will be helpful to these trees. Vigorous
growth should be stimulated by cultivating at once the
ground about the trees, which should then receive a good,
thick top-dressing of old, well-rotted manure, which will
not only enrich the ground, but will serve as a mulch and
check evaporation ; and next winter or in the early spring
Jury 25, 1888.]
the branches should be shortened in one or two feet all
over the trees ; or if they are already large more of the
branches even can becut away with advantage.—Ep. |
Nymphza tuberosa in Eastern Waters.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Recently Mr. E. D. Sturtevant, of Bordentown, N. J.,
the well-known Water Lily expert, called my attention to the
fact that the Water Lilies growing near my home were not
the familiar Mymphea odorata, but the western form, J.
tuberosa. 1 have gathered a number of rhizomes and many
flowers, and find that the former all have the rootstocks with
compound and single, spontaneously detaching tubers, as
given by Gray as characteristic of VV. ¢tuberosa. The flowers
are much less strongly scented; some nearly inodorous and
have no pinkish tinge.
Leaves, flowers and rootstock are all, as a rule, if not invari-
ably, smaller than the dimensions given by Gray, and suggest
that the plant found here bears the same relation to the true
NV. tuberosa that NV. odorata, var. minor, does to the true WV.
odorata; so it might be called NV. éuberosa, var. parva.
The nearest recorded locality for WV. ¢uvderosa is Meadville,
Penn., fully 300 miles as the crow flies.
The MWymphea odorata grows most luxuriantly about Morris-
ville, Pa., opposite Trenton, N. J., and in various localities in
the neighborhood of the city mentioned. It is a curious fact,
therefore, in plant distribution, that this western form should
be found here in central New Jersey, and only, I believe, over
a very limited area. Charles C, Abbott.
Trenton, N, J., July 7th, 1888.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—In your article on Prunus pendula, in No. 17 of GARDEN
AND FOREST, you state that the meaning of the Japanese
name /fosakura is pendulous, Permit me to say that
that is hardly a literal translation of it. The first syllable, /7o,
means thread, twine, raw silk, and the like, and the word
sakura is the name of the Cherry tree; hence /osakuva would
more accurately be rendered the Thread Cherry Tree—having
reference to its long thin branches. °
_ Referring to Dr. Hepburn’s Dictionary of the Japanese Lan-
guage I find the ordinary word for pendulous, having refer-
ence to a tree with pendulous branches, is Shidar/, and is
illustrated by the word Shidari-yanagi, the name of the Weep-
ing Willow. Imayalso state that [sent Prunus pendula to
Messrs. Parsons & Sons as early as 1874 or 1875, with whom it
has been flowering for several years’past.
New York, July 7th. Thos. Hoge.
oS
Periodical Literature.
In the Fortnightly Review for June Mr. Oswald Crawfurd
writes ina very charming way of ‘Summer Time in Rural
Portugal.” The picture he paints of country life in this beau-
tiful but little known corner of Europe is an attractive one all
through, but the most attractive parts of it are those which re-
veal the peculiarities of its gardening art. “The three sum-
mer months,” writes Mr. Crawfurd, “are so hot, and mostly
so dry, that gardening in the north of Europe fashion, with
turf, and flower-beds put out therein, is possible but not easy.
Perhaps it is for this reason that Portuguese gardeners are
_ about the very worst and most ignorant in the civilized world,
—knowing almost nothing of potting, and soils, and cuttings,
_and grafts, and forcing, and the management of ‘glass,’ . ae
yet the gardening traditions of the Portuguese, in spite of their
ignorance, are good, and much of their gardening doctrine
sound. No Portuguese, either in practice orin theory, would
admit, for instance, that monstrous proposition which every
English gardener insists upon as a postulate too obvious for
argument, namely, that a garden is a place for flowers as a
turnip-field is a place for turnips. The Portuguese gardener,
to judge by his results here, considers, and I think justly, that
flowers are indeed very pretty adjuncts and ornaments in a
garden, but of infinitely less importance than the walks, the
shade of branching trees, the greenery of leaf and spray, the
cooling breezes in summer, the warmth of the sun in winter,
and at all seasons the golden fretwork that the sunlight makes
upon the ground through overhanging” boughs.” As almost
everything in this part of the world isa survival, Mr. Crawfurd
explains, so are Peninsular gardens survivals of the Moorish
ideal of what a garden should be, modified by the require-
ments of the country and climate. The ideal of the Moor in
Garden and Forest.
262
the hot and arid lands of his nativity means as much ‘shade
and coolness and moisture” as can be obtained,—thick bowers
and vistas of foliage, plashing fountains, trickling rills, and
“creeping Roses and Jasmine bushes to beget the perfume
that his soul loves.” In Portugal ‘so much shade is not
wanted and the garden is more open,” yet in the matter of
predominant foliage as well as in many matters of arrange-
ment and decoration, Moorish ideas are still clearly percepti-
ble. ‘The Oriental delights in the intricate interlacing of
flowing lines and arranges his Box edgings in elaborate ara-
besque patterns. Those who know Spain know the Escurial and
must remember the exquisite tracery of the great Box garden
there, like the gold wire rimsin rich c/o/sonné enamel. Another
survival of Moorish times is the wall running by the garden
paths, hand high, faced with painted tiles (azz/ejos), along
whose top is scooped a deep furrow filled with garden earth
and planted mostly with Carnations, Pinks and Gilliflowers,
or the dwarf scented purple Iris of Portugal. All these plants
love the drought; and so set their flowers can be plucked or
smelled to without bending the back—an ingenious device of
the ease-loving Oriental.”
“In such pleasaunces as these,” the author continues, ‘as
Lord Bacon says of his own ideal garden, is to be found ‘ the
greatest refreshment to the spirits of men,’ and indeed I know
no other commodity of a garden whatever than to reach this
end.” Then he proceeds to contrast such pleasaunces at
length, and with strong expressions of reprobation for the
northern ideal, with ‘‘the unlovely receptacles for flowers cut
out in the turf, bare earth, dreary, like new-made graves for
nine months of the year, swept by the east wind in winter,
‘burned up by the sun in summer, and in late spring the con-
tents of green-houses turned into them to make a tawdry un-
harmonized display of color” which almost invariably do duty
for gardens in England. ‘I freely confess,” he adds, ‘ that
it humiliates my national pride to contemplate the pleasure
gardens of my English friends ; even to pass by train In sum-
mer-time through the land and see no garden that is any ‘re-
freshment to the spirits’ save those of the cottagers.” It is
impossible here, however, to follow Mr. Crawfurd through his
analysis of the appearance of such gardens as rule in Eng~
land (and, of course, in America as well), or of the causes
which bring it about. We can only say that his words are full
of instruction and pass to his concluding paragraphs, which
contrast the summer-time effect of the open country in Portu-
gal and in England. Inan English June, he says, while the
garden is ‘poor and bare.and overtrim,” the wood is rich and
beautiful in its luxuriance. In Portugal at the same season
the garden is shady and luxuriant, but the country is burned
bare of all flowers save the Cistus, and almost the only trees
which appear are the forests of great Stone Pines. The love
for such forests, which seem at first to an Englishman dry and
dreary and solemn things, grows with time; but it is always a
different love from that inspired by a northern greenwood.
“Tf the Pine forest has its charm it must beas the higher kinds
of music and the subtler sorts of literature have theirs, only
to him whose taste is instructed to the point of receiving the
higher and subtler impressions. An English woodland . . . is
charming in its way, a very ‘ pretty and purling stream’ kind
of thing ; but it is as one of Strauss’s waltzes to a symphony
of Beethoven compared with the austere beauty of the great
Pine forests of Portugal,”
Recent Plant Portraits.
LISSOCHILUS GIGANTEUS, Gardener's Chronicle, May 19th.—A
terrestrial Orchid, discovered in the Congo country by Wel-
witch. The peduncle of this wonderful plant is said to reach
in its native country a height of sixteen feet. It bears a lax
raceme of large yellow and green flowers twice the size of
those of Warrea tricolor. In his work on “The Congo,” Mr.
Johnston gives some interesting particulars relating to this
extraordinary plant. He says:
“In the marshy spots, down near the river shore, are masses
of that splendid Orchid, Zissochilus giganteus, a terrestrial spe-
cies that shoots up often to the height of six feet from the
ground, bearing such a head of red mauve, golden, scented
blossoms as scarcely any flower in the world can equal for
beauty and delicacy of form. These Orchids, with their light
green, spear-like leaves, and their tall swaying flower-stalks,
grow in groups of forty and fifty together, often reflected in the
shallow pools of stagnant water round their bases, and filling
up the foreground of the high purple-green forest with a blaze
otf tender peach-like color.” oe ;
Pinus HALEPENSIS (Catkins and Stamen), Gardener's Chront-
cle, May 1gth.
264
ERYTHRONIUM HENDERSONII, Gardener's Chronicle, May 26th.
—A very beautiful species recently discovered in Oregon, with
pale purple flowers.
SENECIO CRUENTA, Gardener's Chronicle, May 26th.—An in-
teresting figure showing the original Cineraria, with examples
of its modern development at the hands of florists.
HETEROSPORUM ORNITHOGALLI, Gardener's Chronicle, May
26th.—One of the so-called brown moulds, closely allied to
the fungus which causes cracks in Apples and Pears, which
has attacked and destroyed the Ornithogalum in some places
in England.
Notes.
An international Horticultural Exhibition will be held at
Cologne from August 4th to September tgth.
Professor Count Solms-Laubach, who succeeds Du Bary in
the chair of Botany at Strasburg, will in future conduct the
Botanische Zettung.
It is proposed to hold an International Exhibition of Botani-
cal Geography, next year, in the city of Antwerp, similar in
general scope to the exhibition of a like nature given several
years ago in Copenhagen.
The American Forestry Congress and the Southern For-
estry Congress will both meet in the State Capitol at Atlanta,
Georgia, on the 12th of November, the former in the Hall of
Representatives and the latter in the Senate Chamber.
Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, the editor of the Gardeners’ Chront-
cle, and Vice-President of the Jury of Awards at the Interna-
tional Exhibition of Horticulture, held in Ghent in April last,
has been created a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold by the
King of the Belgians.
Mr. W. Y. Klee, State Inspector of Fruit Pests for Califor-
nia, has received a consignment of the parasites which destroy
the cottony cushion scale in Australia. Experiments are in
progress to ascertain whether the parasite will prove equally
destructive of the scale in California, and if so, this natural
foe of the scale will be cultivated with a view to hold in
check the ravages of this pest of Orange groves.
Saturday, July 14th, was ‘Iris Day” at Horticultural Hall,
Boston. The display of /ris Kempferi was very fine, those
shown by C. M. Atkinson, gardener to J. L. Gardner, Esq., be-
ing especially remarkable for size and variety. Edwin Fewkes
& Son exhibited four seedlings in this section, which were
equal to the finest imported varieties. President Wolcott
showed cut blooms of hardy Larkspurs which were simply
grand.
Mr. E. S. Carman has succeeded in producing several hy-
brids of Rosa rugosa, fertilized by various Hybrid Remontants
and Tea Roses, and one, of which the male parent is Harri-
son’s Yellow, was the first rose to bloom on his grounds at River
Edge, New Jersey, this year, and has been in flower ever
since. The flower has from thirty to thirty-five petals, which
resemble in color those of General Jacqueminot. The odor
is most delicate.
In the largest nurseries in France not a harrow, cultivator,
plow, tree-digger or horse is to be found. The digging is all
done with a spade, and the stock is delivered to the packing-
yard in wheelbarrows. The ground is manured heavily, the
fertilizers being carried on the backs of women, who are paid
40 cents a day of twelve hours. These facts are from an ad-
dress by Mr. Irving Rouse, of Rochester, read at the late
Nurserymen’s Convention.
The Association of American Cemetery Superintendents
will hold its next meeting in Brooklyn, N. Y., on Sept. 5th.
The object of this organization is to exchange ideas on the im-
provement and beautifying of cemetery grounds. The officers
are: President, Charles Nichols, ‘‘ Fairmount,” Newark, New
Jersey; Vice-President, F. W. Higgins, ‘‘ Woodmere,” Detroit,
Mich.; Treasurer; L. J. Wells, ‘‘Greenwood,” Brooklyn, New
York; Secretary, A. H. Sargent, ‘‘ Glendale,” Akron, Ohio.
One of the most attractive features of the weekly free exhi-
bitions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is the dis-
play of wild flowers. Several ladies make a specialty of
collecting and exhibiting these throughout the season, and as
they are correctly named, the botanical name as well as com-
mon name being given, the instructive value of the exhibition
is considerable. They attract as much attention from visitors
as do the more showy garden flowers and exotics.
The white variety of Platycodon grandifiorum is now in con-
siderable demand as a cut flower on account of its adaptability
to use in formal designs. Some florists object to it because it
Garden and Forest.
[JuLy 25, 1888.
looks like a paper flower when on a short stem. There is a
purple variety, and occasionally the flowers come parti-
colored. It is most effective when the spikes of both colors
are set in vases, with the white kind predominating, and
with a dash of scarlet to give life to the arrangement.
The Daisy-like flower of Chrysanthemum segetum is occa-
sionally seen in the windows of Philadelphia florists, but not
so often as it once was. It isa common wild flower in Europe,
where it is sometimes called the Yellow Cornflower, the same
name that is applied to Centaurea suaveolens. This Chrysan-
themum is quite pretty when it first opens, but when left on
the plant a few days the centre grows out of proportion to the
outer or ray flowers. It is an annual, and when once estab-
lished comes up every year, becoming in time a weed, but
nota difficult one to exterminate.
At the late meeting of the California State Board of Horti-
culture, Mr. B. M. Lelong, the Secretary, made an interesting
report on Olive culture, which has become one of the regular
industries of that State, and is destined to grow largely, since —
the production of Olive oil can hardly be overdone. Thereis —
always a demand for pure oil; but Mr. Lelong procured in San
Francisco five brands of oil, labeled Pure California Olive Oil, —
which were far from being pure. One contained no trace of
Olive oil, and consisted of lard and Cotton-seed oil. Two
others had but to per cent. of Olive oil. Another registered
30 per cent. Olive oil, 35 per cent. seed oils, and 35 percent.
lard, while the best sample contained more than 50 per cent. 7
of adulterants.
In a private letter, Colonel Pearson, whose experience with
the rose bug is given in another column, writes that the Black
Rot appeared in Vineland on the 25th of June on varieties of
Grape most subject to attack. After considerable damage, the
disease seemed to subside, but appeared again July 12th. So
far, the Concords have suffered worst, and one-half of them
are destroyed. Ives are suffering more than usual, so are Nor- -
ton’s Seedling, while Moore’s Early are nearly all destroyed.
Of fifty varieties on his grounds, only Noah, Elvira, Conqueror
and Iron-clad have entirely escaped. In the ‘“ Experiment
Vineyard,” up to the 16th of July, the copper-sulphate seems
to have been an efficient preventive of the Grape Rot as well
as the Mildew. '
Whether or not plants have the power of taking nitrogen
from the air is not only an interesting question, from a scien-
tific point of view, but it is one of immediate practical bearing.
If this costliest of the elements of plant food can be obtained
from the air itwould be of the first importance for farmers and
gardeners to know what plants have this-power, and under
what circumstances they can exercise it. This is one of the —
problems to which Professor Atwater will give his attention as _
Director of the newly established Storrs School Experiment —
Station, Connecticut, as he explains in a preliminary bulletin. —
Professor Atwater has already paid much attention to this
question, and he is inclined to believe that leguminous plants, —
at least, have the ability to secure a portion of their nitrogen —
supply from the air. 4
The Oak-pruner (Stenocorus putator) is noticed to be un- —
usually abundant in some parts of the country. The beetle —
deposits its egg in the axil of a leaf stalk or small twig near the _
extremity of a branch of either a White or a Black Oak; the
grub when hatched eats its way through the pith, up the branch ©
for a considerable distance, and then, in order to reach the |
ground, cuts off the branch, which is sometimes aninch through. —
In order to destroy the grubs, which are capable of inflicting —
serious injury, the branchesshould be gathered up and carefully —
burned, or if they are not very abundant they can be cut out ©
of the branch and killed. It is not an uncommon sight this
year to see the ground under large Oak trees covered with the —
ends of branches six inches to three feet long. They should —
be gathered up daily and the grubs destroyed. ;
The Royal Tuscan Society of Horticulture, established in
1854, numbers nearly 700 members. It has had a marked in- —
fluence in encouraging improved methods of cultivation of |
fruit, flowers and vegetables through its exhibitions. The —
Tuscan School of Pomology and Horticulture, established in —
1882, is under the direction of Professor Valvassori. Its object —
is to train fruitand vegetable gardeners. The course of study, —
which is theoretical and practical, extends through three years. —
Boys between the ages of fourteen and seventeen are admitted, -
preference being given to the sons of small farmers. There ~
are five professors, with an inspector and two gardeners, and, —
at the present time, thirty-two pupils. The school possesses, —
for purposes of practical instruction, an orchard and flower
and vegetable gardens, The entrance and tuition fees are ex- |
ceedingly low,
ee Te Oe
—
ee ee
Aucust 1, 1888.]
GARDEN AND “FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrrFice: Trisune Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by . . . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Eprrortat ArticLes :—Hardy Trees for a Trying Climate.—The Onteora Club
and its Chance for Usefulness.—Not
The Squares of Paris (with illustration)........-.....-.
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter... .........0.ee.seeen eee
New or LittLe Known Pants :—Magnolia Thompsoniana (with illustration),
Cc. S. S. 268
CurtruraL DEPARTMENT :—Herbs for Seasoning.............-0.0005 W. Falconer. 268
Straw Derry; NOLES st ipieie sci! wejajsaiesieincs + ease oa
Some Floral Novelties.....
Bio leg bce ONES seciaccat detislelertncre/a so s-\eie einem eaemiant as
Coelogyne Dayana.—The Rock-Garden
ELST eUay Ul) Oaks Sime oraniiarelateg. ci Gi pis'e's 5°. 0.86. jsate aPamionaeterese 8, (aiein's Giaceateie, 5:5 Serer
Prant Notes :—The Double-Flowered Chinese Crab Apple (with illustration),
Gy SaS: a7e
Notestromithe Arnold, ArDOretuin (..:scs,.c0,s/ cae eelseels s106 #1616 2. s'8)8i6 sista sie Se F. 272
Tue Forest :—The Forests of Europe as Seen by an American Lumberman,
HY, C. Putnant. 274
IE GH ESPON DEN Gltectater<ists cicieralaisicteie rie Waa e\a\elelsie,s 4 5.0.08 scam eoemettsiete cies. (vita sees Suntec 0s 274
Recent PusBLicaTIONS....-
PeriopicaL LITERATURE. .
Recent PLanT PorTRAITS ...... -
INIGNES: bas rentesUn CEASE Deon pe Ree
ItLusrrations :—Plan of a Paris Square.
Magnolia Thompsoniana, Fig. 43......-..+.++
The Double-Flowered Chinese Crab Apple, Fig. 44
Hardy Trees for a Trying Climate.
BRUPT transitions between extremes of heat and
cold, and of dryness and humidity, render the cli-
mate of the prairies a trying one for many forms of plant
life. This is especially true of fruit trees and other plants
which have originated under the milder skies of western
Europe or in the more equable climate of the Atlantic sea-
board. During a few years past the orchards of the North-
west, planted largely with trees derived from foreign stock
but which will flourish in the East, have suffered so severely
as to convince fruit-growers that hardier races of trees must
be planted, or their industry must be abandoned. How
to secure these hardy trees is the problem upon which
many active minds are now at work. The importation of
varieties from climates similar to that of the prairies is be-
ing tried on a large scale. Apples, Pears, Cherries and
other fruits from the central plain of Europe have been
widely distributed, through the efforts of Professor Budd
and others. But many close observers and experimenters
advocate, as a preferable plan, the breeding up and im-
provement by selection of the wild fruits already found in
the West, just as our most vigorous Raspberries and Grapes
have been produced from native species.
methods will prove helpful; but long and patient study
will be needed before a race of trees is produced with
constitutions sturdy enough to resist the severities of the
climate and at the same time yielding fruits so delicate in
quality as to satisfy an educated taste. The work of
improving fruits and producing those adapted to any given
locality will devolve largcly upon nurserymen, and _ it
must, in the main, be a labor of love, for the profits arising
from study and experiment of this sort are remote
enough. In the course of his admirable address at the
late convention of American Nurserymen, at Detroit, Mr.
C. L. Watrous, the President, dwelt upon this theme at
length, and our readers will thank us for quoting this in-
structive extract :
{ The cycle of unfavorable seasons, seasons of extreme heat
in summer and extreme cold in winter, which have proven
so destructive to nurseries, orchards, and, in fact, to all species
Garden and Forest.
Perhaps both |
265
of fruit-bearing trees and plants in many parts of the West,
seems to have run its course, and the lessons taught by it
may more than compensate for the losses. It has been ob-
served everywhere that varieties of trees and plants indigenous
to that region, or descended from such indigenous forms,
have suffered least, if at all. In regions where all fruits de-
scended from forefgn ancestors have been crippled, the na-
tive forms and their derived varieties have suffered little.
Among fruits, the Apple, most important of all and wholly
of foreign ancestry, has suffered most grievously, the Cherry
and Plum, also of foreign ancestry, suffering the next heaviest
losses. Our Grapes, east of the Rocky Mountains and outside
of green-houses, being largely of native ancestry, are still
ready for business or pleasure. The Raspberries, Blackber-
ries, Strawberries and Gooseberries, all of native stock, are
ready for use. Happily for the country, all these last named
fruits have been so thoroughly emancipated from their taint
of foreign ancestry as to be thoroughly reliable throughout
all the regions indigenous to their wild relatives. It only
needs that painstaking and conscientious men shall originate
new and better adapted forms in every locality whose condi-
tions render such labor necessary, and shall seek out and
propagate such promising chance seedlings as may from
time to time appear, in order that each botanical region may
have an abundance of varieties well adapted to its needs.
Throughout all of the great empire known as the north-
west, native forms of the Plum have now almost or quite sup-
planted the foreign stock. The Cherry and the Apple still
remain to be carried through the same course of evolution,
by seedling variation, that has already been passed through by
the Grape, the Raspberry, the Blackberry, the Strawberry and
the Gooseberry. A glance into the list of the venerable Amer-
ican Pomological Society will show how very few years have
been spent in changing the lists of approved sorts from foreign
to native names and the different native species into what now
supply so largea share of the most pleasure-giving and health-
sustaining part of our national diet. The same broad road to
improvement is open in case of the Cherry, and especially of
the Apple. At the risk of seeming extreme in this regard, I
am willing to go on record before you all, as saying that I be-
lieve sufficient progress has been made to justify a confident
expectation that within the lives of young men who hear my
voice to-day, the common and universally propagated varieties
of the Apple throughout the great north-west will be the de-
scendants of the native Crab Apples, indigenous to the glades
and thickets of the prairies, which have through ages unmeas-
ured and immeasurable by any standard of ours, by variation
and natural selection, adapted their race to every vicissitude
of their climate and soil, as none of foreign ancestry ever can,
except by the same measureless course of adaptation
through seedling variation.
This is not all as visionary as it might appear. Already
have been exhibited two different varieties of Apples bearing
unmistakable proofs of legitimate descent from native
thickets, which have excited favorable attention. In many
different places careful and zealous experimenters are devel-
oping these, by cross fertilization and otherwise, with high
hopes for the future. There is no reason why the Cherry
should not tread the same king’s highway towards pertect
adaptation. I hold that a perfectly adapted Grape or Apple
should bear its fruit,and, with proper care, be as long-lived
as its wild brethren in the thicket. Why should not this be
so, as well as that the civilized brain-worker should, by proper
living and care, not only live as long in useful activity, but
far outlive, the days allotted to the savage roaming the
forests and prairies of the same region ?
The considerations here urged regarding the superiority of
native forms of fruit-bearing trees and plants, apply with no
less force to trees and plants for ornament, shade, shelter and
timber. The best authorities now agree that American trees
are the best for America. The foreign trees with which so
many of the older parks and pleasure grounds of the East
were planted, from lack of suitable and cheap trees of our own
native varieties, are steadily failing, when their days of greatest
use and beauty should be just upon them. One of the most
eminent authorities in America, in considering these failures,
has lately said in bitterness of heart, that if these losses and
failures, as lamentable and almost irremediable as they are,
will only teach men the folly of proclaiming the worthiness
and adaptability of any foreign tree or plant, before it has had
a trial of a time extending at least through a period equal to
the natural life of a single individual of the species, these losses
and their-lessons will not have been too dearly bought. ;
Every nurseryman in the nation should feel his responsi-
bility to himself and to his generation, not only to do what he
266
can towards originating new and more perfectly adapted
varieties of fruits and plants, but also to be on the watch for new
and promising forms of chance origin, and to see that each
has adequate trial and honest judgment in at least its own bo-
tanical region. After due trial and proved worthiness the
promising varieties will be propagated by grafts, buds or
layers, and disseminated at first in their own botanical re-
gions, and afterwards in other regions, if found able to endure
the changes. I fear the most of us have very inadequate
ideas of the strain put upon the vitality of trees and plants, by
transplanting them to different conditions of climate and soil.
Ina late most admirable report of the State Geologist of Indiana,
is the statement and proofs of the fact, that there exist within
the boundaries of that one state no lessthan seven distinct and
welldefined botanical regions, each marked by a preponderance
of certain native plants, and the absence or scarcity of others, as
shown by the lists submitted. This should be a lesson to
each of our fraternity, teaching him to test the favorites of dis-
tant regions with no more than hopeful distrust, and to prove
them well before proclaiming them to his friends, his custom-
ers, as worthy of confidence and the investment of money.
By allowing the glamour of a foreign name and the decep-
tive haze of distance to cloud their judgment, many honest
men have had more prophecies to ‘take back” than have
added to their reputations. Carefuland intelligent experimen-
tation is the daily duty of the nurseryman. The government
experiment stations now provided for in every state, must be
aided and largely guided by members of this fraternity in
matters horticultural. The task of bringing our promising
wild fruits into the realm of civilized usefulness, by change of
condition, seedling selection, and cross fertilization with allied
forms of native or foreign ancestry, already highly developed,
may with especial fitness be vigorously pushed there. It is
for our members to furnish the material for experiments and
to give freely of their advice and experience as to ways and
means most promising of good results. There is no reason
to doubt the permanence of these experiment stations nor
their generous support by the government, two considerations
which entitle them to be used as the head centres of horti-
cultural experimentation in every state, with the full and gen-
erous support and aid of every one interested in this work.
The road 1s long, too long for individuals, but with properly
directed effort, so that no steps be lost at these permanent sta-
tions, we know that the gains must be substantial and certain
from year to year and from generation to generation.
The Onteora Club and its Chance tor Usefulness.
NUMBER of capitalists in this city have recently ac-
quired possession of a tract of land more than 1,000
acres in extent occupying the slopes of the mountains near
Tannersville, in one of the most picturesque and interest-
ing regions of the Catskill country. Their object is to
provide for themselves and their friends retired and pleas-
ant sylvan homes in connection with a small hotel. ‘There
is nothing strange or unusual in this; it is what has been
done a hundred times before in different parts of the coun-
try. The fact, however, that the care and development of
the forest which still covers their land should form any
part of a general scheme for the improvement of the pro-
perty, or that the forest should be considered at all under
these conditions by business men, isa matter of very con-
siderable interest, as indicating the advance made in this
country in the education of the public with regard to the
forest and the part which it plays in the economy of nature.
Ten years ago, a body of capitalists buying a tract of land
for the purpose which has led to the formation of the
Onteora Club would hardly have entertained the idea that
the care and improvement of the trees which they hap-
pened to find on their purchase was a good business in-
vestment, or that such property was valuable in propor-
tion as it was permanently covered with vigorous and
healthy forests. That they now value the trees, and not
only desire to preserve the forest from further encroach-
ment, but to improve it, isa sign that the words which have
been spoken in this country of late years for the forest and ~
for forest-preservation have not been spoken quite in vain;
and that at last business men can realize that there is more
money in taking care of trees than there is in ailowing
them to be destroyed,
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 1, 1888.
This is only a straw, perhaps, but it is a straw showing
that the tide has turned, and that the time will come in
America, as it came long ago in every other civilized
country, when the value of the forest will be recognized,
and the laws upon which the life of the forest depends
will be clearly understood and freely obeyed. The
leaders in the forest movement must not forget, however,
that their task is only just begun. They may have kin-
dled a feeble spark of interest in forest-preservation ; but it
is in serious danger of being extinguished, unless they can
continue their work with unabated vigor and enthusiasm
and with broader and more exact knowledge. They must
remember, too, thatit rests with them not only to teach
the people of this country what forests are and what will
be lost in their destruction, but that they must furnish
definite instruction as to how these forests are to be pre-
served and developed. These are subjects upon which
our people are supremely ignorant. It is easy to say the
forests must be preserved; it is much less easy to ex-
plain how this is to be accomplshed, or what practical
measures must be applied in any particular case to pro-
duce certain results. General laws of forest management,
perhaps, are not difficult to lay down, but special treatment
for special cases can only be reached by experience based
on experiments, carefully conducted through long periods
of time. Such experiments are just what the Onteora
Club and other associations are in a position to carry
on, and they are what this country needs in order that
systems of forest management may be devised and proved
by the test of time. Such associations certainly have it
in their power to perform an important public service in
adding to our slender stock of exact knowledge concerning
the best methods of forest management for the United
States, and while doing this they can at the same time
greatly increase the value of their property.
It is not easy to explain why certain plants look dis-
tinctly in place in certain situations and why other plants
look as distinctly out of place in the same. situations.
This is a matter which nature perhaps has settled for us.
It is certain at any rate that combinations of plants other
than those which nature makes or adopts, inevitably
possess inharmonious elements which no amount of famil- —
iarity can ever quite reconcile to the educated eye. Ex-
amples of what we wish to explain abound in all our
public parks, and especially in Prospect Park in Brooklyn,
where there is more of nature than in any other great
park, and where along the borders of some of the natural
woods and in connection with native shrubbery great
masses of garden shrubs, Diervillas, Philadelphus, Deut-
zias, Forsyfhias and Lilacs, have been inserted. These are
all beautiful plants. They never seem out of place in a
garden; but the moment they are placed in contact with
our wild plants growing naturally as they do, fortunately,
in the Brooklyn park, they look not only out of place,
but are a positive injury to the scene. It is not that their
flowers are too showy or conspicuous for such positions.
The flowers of some native shrubs like the Elder, the
Flowering Dogwood and the Viburnums, are as showy as
those of any garden shrub. The reason is rather that we
have become accustomed to see certain plants adapted
by nature to fill certain positions in combination with
certain other plants in a given region; and that all attempts
to force nature, so to speak, by bringing in alien: ele-
ments from remote continents and climates, must in-
evitably produce inharmonious results. Landscape gar-
deners have rarely paid much attention to this subject, or
sufficiently studied nature with reference to the harmoni-
ous combination of plants in the construction of scenery,
and especially of scenery intended to produce upon the
mind the idea of repose. Nature, nevertheless, is the
great teacher to which the artist who would hope to imi-
tate her, however crudely, must ever turn for instruction
and for inspiration.
Aucusr 1, 1888.
The Squares of Paris.
NE of the best features of the park system of Paris
is the number of small squares scattered about in
the different quarters of the city. The parks themselves,
especially the larger ones, are at such great distances
from the crowded centres of population, that the working
classes, except on Sundays and holidays, seldom have a
chance to visit them, so that these squares admirably
serve the purpose of keeping the children out of the
streets, and of allowing the poorer people, in the few
hours of leisure they have during the week, to get a
breath of fresh air and a glimpse of green,
A stranger, on first entering one of them, marvels
as he sees how neatly they are kept while so thickly
crowded with visitors, reading, working or playing. In
plan they are usually quite simple, as the accompanying
diagram will show. A broad gravel walk, ten or twelve
feet wide, following near but separated from the bound-
ary by occasional shrubbery plantations, encloses a quiet
piece of lawn sufficiently open to get a glimpse through
to the opposite end, but planted on the sides with trees,
shrubs and foliage plants.
f
oa
52
a ONG
¢ CH i Bo, —
BS oe
SEAT E'S Tse Fe AT
Plan of a Paris Square.
There are few attempts at fancy gardening, but much
care has been taken to select hardy shrubs and plants ~
with the view of avoiding bare and empty beds during
the winter. The condition of the turf is everywhere ex-
cellent, for water is freely used, and suitable small play-
grounds are provided for the children, which serve the
purpose of keeping them off the grass. These play-
grounds, which are an admirable feature, are generally
formed by simply widening the walks in the corners and
_ planting enough trees there to afford ample shade. There
are always one or two flower beds, which are kept bright
and attractive during the spring and summer by a con-
stant succession of showy flowering and foliage plants.
Permanent seats are provided, but not in sufficient num-
bers to accommodate every one, but for a very small
sum a chair for the whole morning or afternoon can be
hired and you can move it about at will.
The only serious fault in all these squares is the stiff
-and formal appearance of the shrubberies. Almost with-
out exception these plantations are in the form of regu-
_ lar figures—circles, ovals or ellipses—and they are always
planted on slight mounds. These two facts detract very
much from any effect of naturalness, and it seems a
great pity that, when it is so easy to give a varying
outline to the groups, it has not been done. It would
also be an improvement to plant the borders of these
beds with plants or shrubs of low, half trailing habit,
and thus, in a measure, hide the sharp, stiff outline be-
tween the turf and the dug ground of the bed.
Of course, there are many variations from the typical
plan. The Square des Batignolles contains about three
acres and is one of the largest in Paris. It is situated
on sloping ground, with an open lawn in the centre,
through which runs a small winding stream, which
broadens out into an almost circular pond at the lower
end. The course of this stream, in order to make a
attle variety, is occasionally interrupted by a group of
Garden and Forest.
207
rocks, which cause it to widen out into small pools, the
margins of which are attractively planted with aquatic
plants.
The Square des Arts-et-Métiers is on quite a different
plan. Here a broad walk runs down the middle, giving
a fine view of the building at the further end. It is sur-
rounded by a handsome stone balustrade, and following
this, on the inside isa strip of turf and shrubbery about eight
feet wide. All the rest of the surface, with the exception
of two fountain-basins, is of gravel, and is thoroughly
shaded by eight rows of large Horse-Chestnuts, whose
branches touch each other, and thus form a very dense
shade over the whole. Seats are provided here in plenty,
and as it is one of the most crowded parts of the city,
it is always full of people.
The Square du Temple is one of the prettiest of all
the Paris squares, or would be if the attempt had not
been made to adorn it with statues. There are four
of them here, and they detract much from the quiet and
repose of the place. At the upper end there is a small
cascade falling over artificial rockwork into a rather too
formal pond. The trees in this square are exceptionally
good.
These are a few of the more important squares, but by
no means all, for in Paris there are no less than seventy
breathing places, not counting the boulevards and
other tree-planted streets. They are usually most at-
tractive spots and teach a lesson which might very well
be copied in many of the crowded cities of our country.
Henry S. Codman.
Paris.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
MONG the plants certificated at the last meeting of
the Royal Horticultural Society, the greatest nov-
elty, in my opinion, was the Japanese shrub, Cesa/pinia
Japonica, shown by Messrs. Veitch, and which has proved
quite hardy in Coombe Wood unprotected. It has leaves
about a foot long, divided into small pinne, like a Mimosa
and very elegant. The flower spikes are borne at the
tips of the shoots, and are erect, about eight inches high,
carrying numerous flowers in a loose way. They are
about an inch across and of a brilliant yellow. The
whole spike so closely resembles that of one of the Cas-
sias (C. arciura) that one could scarcely tell the difference
without close inspection. The flowers are so showy and
the foliage so elegant that the committee were unanimous
in awarding a first-class certificate, and every one looks
upon it as a valuable addition to hardy shrubs. Another
first rate, hardy, Japanese shrub, with evergreen foliage,
from Messrs. Veitch, was certificated. This was Daphni-
phyllum glaucescens. It has a dense, bushy erowth (about
three fect in height in the plant shown), with leaves re-
minding one of Rhododendron Catawbiense, but larger and
thicker. They are pale green above, and of a glaucous
hue beneath. The specimen shown was not in flower,
but there are flowering plants of it at the Coombe Wood
nursery. The berries are said to be ornamental, but I
have neither seen flowers nor fruit. I have seen the plant
for some years past growing in exposed places, and be-
lieve it will prove a valuable evergreen shrub here, and
probably it may be hardy on the coast and in warm districts
of the United States.
A graceful variety of the grass Zulalia Japonica likewise
came from Messrs. Veitch, and received a certificate. It is
named gracillima, and most appropriately. The leaves
are very long, not more than one-sixth of an inch broad,
and elegantly recurve on all sides. The mid-rib is white,
as in the variety univittata, though, perhaps, not so pro-
nounced. There was but one opinion among the com-
mittee, and this was that the new grass was a real
acquisition. :
Only one Orchid received a certificate (a fact worthy of
note), and this was the new /pidendrum atropurpureum
268 Garden and Forest. [Aucusr 1, 1888,
Randi, or, as some of your readers may prefer to call it by
its synonym, £. macrochilum Randi. It is one of the
evergreen Epidendrums, with egg-shaped bulbs andstiff, nar-
row leaves, and a densely-flowered, erect spike. The
flower, about 144 inches across, has olive green sepals
and petals, and a broad, wedge-shaped lip, pure white,
with carmine blotch in the centre. The perfume is de-
licious, and another good point in it is that the flowers
endure a very long time, several weeks, in fact, if kept
cool and in a dryish house. There is not such a great
difference between the old £. macrochilum, pure and sim-
ple, and the new one, but the latter seems much freer in
growth and flower. It was shown by Sir Trevor Lawrence,
who also showed, besides other choice Orchids, a marvel-
ous specimen of Dendrobium Bensonie. It consisted of
about a dozen pseudo-bulbs, each fifteen inches high or
‘ more, and every one was densely covered with bloom.
But alas! it was an imported plant, and never again will
the bulbs put out such a wealth of bloom.
An addition to the numerous race of green-house Rhodo-
dendrons has been made by Messrs. Veitch, who have
done more in the improvement of this race of shrubs than
any one else. They first intercrossed the Malayan 2. mudt-
color Curtisi, a small flowered species of dwarf, straggly
growth, with another species named AR. Zeysmanni, which
has large, bold, pale yellow flowers, the result being a
variety called Queen of Yellows. They have again crossed
this with 2. Curtis, and obtained a splendid novelty called
Hippolyta, which is quite a ‘‘break” as regards color.
The value of &. Curftisw lies in its rich carmine crimson
colored flowers and this tint has been infused in the cross
with Queen of Yellows. The flowers of Hippolyta are of
beautiful shape and of a color as rich as those of its parent.
We shall have to wait a few years before we can realize
what this superb race of Rhododendrons will be; we
want to see them on specimens a yard across. I saw
some of the older sorts not long since in Fisher's nursery
at Handsworth, where these Rhododendrons are grown to
perfection.
The display of fancy Pelargoniums was remarkable and
the peonies of Messrs. Kelway of Langport still more so.
Two thousand blooms were shown, many of them as
large as a child’s head, of richest color, and a fragrance
rivaling that of a Tea Rose. But one new Rose was shown,
a beautiful single flowered one, sent by the Rev. H. Dom-
brain under the name of Striped Briar. The flowers are
as large as those of Rosa canina (Dog Rose), of a deep
and pleasing rose-pink with splashes and flakes (not
stripes) of white, while the foliage was scented like that of
the Sweet Briar. But the experts said that it was not a
variety of the Sweet Briar (2. vubiginosa), while others
thought it was, so it was decided to send the specimens
for identification to Kew. Everybody at the meeting was
charmed with it. W. Goldring.
London, July 2d.
New or Little Known Plants.
Magnolia Thompsoniana x .
HE interesting and handsome Magnolia figured upon
page 269 of the present issue originated, according to
Loudon, in the nursery of a Mr. Thompson, at Mile End,
in England, eighty years ago. There are colored figures
of this plant in the Bo/anical Magazine (¢. 2164), in Hilairé’s
‘“Klore et Pomone Francaises,” v., 4.451, in Reichenbach’s
Exotic Flora, 4 342, andin the ‘‘Sertum Botanicum,” v., ¢.
28; but none of these are good or do justice to its beauty.
It has been considered a large flowered variety of JZ
glauca (var. major, Botanical Magazine, 7. c.), and by some
authors a hybrid between JZ glauca and AL Umbrella. It
is probable that the latter supposition is correct, as, although
the leaves of JZ Thompsoniana cannot be distinguished
from those produced on a vigorous plant of JZ glauca,
the leaf buds are quite glabrous and destitute of the
silky hairs which cover those of that species, while the
broad, strap-shaped, reflexed sepals, and obovate-oblong
petals, contracted into a narrow claw, distinctly belong
to Mf. Umbrella; the flowers, rather more than six inches
across when fully expanded, being intermediate in size
between those of the two species. They have, on the
other hand, the delicious fragrance peculiar to the flowers
of AL glauca. So far as I know, JZ Thompsoniana does not
produce fruit; and it is a curious fact that it is much less
hardy and much less vigorous than either of its sup-
posed parents, suffering here always, unless carefully
protected in winter, and rarely rising above the size of
a small bush, although Loudon, in his ‘‘Arbore/um,” pub-
lished in 1838, speaks of trees at Mile End more than
twenty feet high. I shall be glad to see fruit of this
plant and to learn if it grows more vigorously in Europe:
than it does in this country. Our illustration is from a
drawing made by Mr. C. E. Faxon ofa flower from Mr,
Parkman’s garden in Jamaica Plain. It shows the three —
sepals reflexed before the full expansion of the petals.
Co Sia.
Cultural Department.
Herbs for Seasoning.
INT, Sage, Thyme, Parsley, Chervil, Savory, Tarragon, —
Basil, Marjoram, Chives and Shallots are the herbs |
most generally used in the kitchen, but in books and catalogues
a number of others, Clary, Samphire and the like, are included,
though they are very seldom used. Some of these herbs—Par- _
sley, Mint and Chives, for instance—are indispensable in the —
smallest cottage gardens, and nearly all are grown and called
for in large private gardens. But apart from their utility as
herbs used as seasoning, most of them—say Sage, Thyme,
Sweet Basil, Marjoram and Winter Savory—are favorite garden
plants, and are grown, like the Sage for its pretty flowers in
June, and the Thyme for its fragrance at all times.
Spear Mint is a hardy perennial easily grown in any good —
moist garden soil. Ifincrease is wanted dig up a clump and ©
divide it and replant. The same plantation “will last for years. ©
In order to have green Mint early in the year lift some roots ©
in November, plant them in shallow boxes and in January or ~
February bring these into the green-house; or plant a few —
clumps In a warm frame.
Sage is a hardy perennial easily raised from seed sown in
spring. The same plants are good for many years, but in
order to have vigorous stock it is well to renew them every —
few years, and for this may be used some of the many self-
sown seedlings that come up every spring about the old
lants. :
x Lemon Thyme is a very sweet herb, a hardy perennial,
easily raised from seed sown in spring, and lasts for years;
but itis well to renew it every second or third year. The —
broad-leaved English and sand Thymes are not as good for —
flavoring as the Lemon Thyme.
Curled-leaved Chervil is a short lived annual very much ~
used by French cooks. It should be sown two or three times
a year, and in some part of the garden where it may be al- 2
lowed to sow itself, as it always grows better in this way 4
=}
al
A
than when hand sown. Seeds overa year old will not ger-
minate. That sown in fall survives the winter perfectly. |
Sweet Basil is a fragrant annual, easily raised, but only oc-
casionally called for; “indeed it is worth more as a sweet- a‘
smelling ornamental ‘plant than for use in the kitchen. Sweet
Marjoram is a Slender growing annual, but easily raised from >
seed. It is useda good deal, and more esteemed for flavoring —
than Pot Marjoram, which is a hardy perennial, and a small,
neat growing plant, but not very hardy. |
Summer Savory is an annual of slender growth, but easily
grown in light rich land. Winter Savory is a small plant, — |
a perennial, ‘and not hardy here, but raised from seed sown
in springit soon forms neat little plants. TheSummerSavory
is the one most esteemed for flavoring. Tarragon is a
hardy perennial and much used by English. and French cook
It is a vigorous growing plant, spreading at the root a good deal
and loving rich soil, Although the clumps will last for years,
it is best to lift, divide and replant them every second or third
year, to invigorate and keep them within bounds. 4
Although the plain leaved Parsley is the best flavored, there
is, so little difference between this and the curled-leaved varie-
ties, that most persons prefer the Moss Curled, on ace
count of its pretty appearance in garnishing. Celery is use
ful all the year round. So long as blanched Celery is on han
|
Aucusr 1, 1888.]
ni
{
Garden and Forest.
269
Fig. 43.—Magnolia Thompsoniana ><.—See page 268.
—from September till first of May—that will do, but during
the summer season a supply of young plants must be main-
tained to furnish green leaves for flavoring.
Chives are very hardy and easily grown and multiply ex-
ceedingly. They are the earliest of our garden plants to start to
grow. Lift, divide and replant them at least every second
year. A few clumps will suffice. For winter use lifta few in
the fall, plant them in shallow boxes and bring them indoors.
Shallots especially with French cooks, are more esteemed
than any other member of the Onion Family; they use the
small pear-shaped bulbs—or cloves, as they are usually called—
whole. Planted in spring in rows fifteen inches apart, four or
five inches apart in the rows, and three inches deep, in
rich ground, they grow and increase very satisfactorily here.
They are kept over winter like Onions. While some or most
of these herbs should be grown in all well-regulated gardens, a
few plants—Parsley, Celery and Shallots excepted—of a kind
are enough. And in order tohave them tor use in winter or at
any other time when not growing green in the garden, a part
should be gathered and dried. Just as they are coming into
flower is the best time to cut them, then tie the plants into
small bundles and hang them up to dry, W. Falconer.
270
Strawberry Notes.
HE Strawberry season of 1388 came far short of fulfilling
its early promises in this region. The season opened
about two weeks later than the average, as our first picking of
any account occurred on the 15th of June, though the berries
began to color on the roth, and the last picking was made
only a week later than usual. With few exceptions the crop
was light. Probably the peculiarity of the season had much
to do with this, but the chief cause in my own case was the
brown rust, which rendered some varieties absolutely worth-
less. Some years ago I fancied that certain weather conditions
favored the deve ‘lopment of this fungus, but it appeared this
season under conditions directly opposed to those heretofore
considered favorable for its growth.
I am inclined to think now that the young blood of new
varieties of vigorous habits is for a time less liable to suffer
from this cause than our older sorts. But this is by no means
certain, and the subject is one well worthy of study and inves-
tigation at the Experiment Stations. If there is any remedy
to prevent the ravages of this disease it is one that I have
never tried, Aside from the dam aging effect this fungus had
on the quality of the fruit, it seemed that berries generally of
all varieties, even from healthy plants, fell short of reaching
their highest quality, and this view was corroborated by the
opinion of many others.
Prince, Jersey Queen, Sharpless, Manchester and Crescent
are still standard sorts, and the latter, for vigor, health and
productiveness, can be depended upon. Manchester seems
more and more inclined to rust. Among the newer varieties
the Davis is so nearly a reproduced Sharple ss, that no one
could separate plants or fruit if put together. Jewell, so
large and attractive, shows such a tendency to rust on my
grounds that I shall have to give it up. May King has proved
vigorous, healthy and productiv e, a bright, attractive berry of
good size and fair quality. Belmont, large, showy and of good
quality, but like the Sharpless, not an abundant cropper.
Henderson and Cornelia are not of much account, either in
growth or in productiveness. Cohansey must be abandoned
as worthless after two years’ trial. Whatever it may do else-
where, in this part of New Jersey it refused to make a respecta-
ble growth.
Among varieties fruiting the first time this season is the
Jessie, which is promising, and, so far, healthy. The ber-
ries are of fair size under ordinary culture, and the quality is
good; perhaps further trial may prove it very good. As I
only saved about twenty per cent. of the plants set last season,
I had but a limited show of fruit. I think it will do to plz unt
more of it. Another one fruiting here for the first time is the
Pearl, which is as promising in all respects as the Jessie. The
berries were quite as large and handsome, with a general ten-
dency to a retlexed caly; x, a feature I always admire—and in
quality it does not suffer in comparison with the more highly
extolled and widely known Jessie,
At the exhibition of the American Institute Farmers’ Club,
on the 21st of June, Mr. H. H. Alley, of Hilton, N. J., made a
fine show of a dozen seedlings of prodigious size and bearing
qualities, conspicuous among which was one named Hilton,
which the judges endorsed as ‘‘very large and firm; color,
scarlet; good shape; sub-acid;_ good flavor ; said to bea great
bearer.” Mr. J. J. Davis, of Washington, N. J., also exhibited
five of his seedlings, remarkable for size and appearance.
Those numbered to and 20, very dark crimson, were preferred
by the raiser. Both had been ripe for two w eeks but the ee
thought his No. 25 the best, of which they report as follows
“A very firm berry; color, very bright scarlet ; quality, good ;
flesh very firm and solid; very promising.” 'E. Williams.
N. j.
Montclair,
Some Floral Novelties.
Salvia prunelloides, from the Jorullo Mountain, Mexico, used
to be grown in our gardens years ago; then it became lost to
cultivation, and has only this year been re-introduced to gen-
eral cultivation. It is asmez ll-growing, perennial species, ten-
der here, but it can be enjoyed in perfection if treated as
an annual. It has small, pz ile. green leaves, and small, bluish-
purple flowers. It is not striking or beautiful enough to
become a favorite in gardens, and, probably, it will soon
drop into oblivion again,
Torenia Fournieri, var. White Wings.—Zorenia Fourniert is
now a familiar annual in gardens and well worthy of cul-
tivation. It forms neat bushy plants, eight to ten inches high,
which are covered with pretty violet- blue flowers all summer
long. In White Wings we have the exact counterpart of the
Garden and Forest.
[Aucust 1, 1888,
species, except that instead of being violet-blue, the flowers
are white. It comes true from seed. While it is a distinct
and desirable variety, of the two, judging them as they are
growing and flowering here side by side, the blue one seems
preferable.
Salvia coccinea is an old and common inmate of gardens,
and is, most always, treated as an annual. The typical form
grows four feet, often five feet high, and, unless staked, its
wand-like branches are apt to break down by their own weight.
But the dwart variety known as var. fuwitla, about half
the height of the old form, is a comely plant and the one now
usually | grown. A new variety, with pure white instead of
scarlet flowers, and known as var. /actea, has now been
sent out. We find it of medium size, and just as free a grower
and bloomer as the old scarlet flowered varieties. But, except
for variety’s sake, neither the scarlet nor the white forms are
desirable enough for small gardens ; among scarlet Salvias
S. splendens still remains the most useful sort.
Zinnia liniaris is a pretty little species from Mexico now in
bloom with us. It is of dwarf, bushy habit, has slender, nar-
row leaves, and bright golden-yellow flowers, and, like nearly
all Zinnias, seems to be a free flowering plant. Its flowers
remind one of those of Z. Haageana. But in its present
condition it is not likely to become a popular arden plant.
Sent out this year. W. F,
Glen Cove. ——
Sinnis Pzeonies.
HE Peonies have been exhibited in excellent condition at
the metropolitan flower shows this year, the double
varieties of P. albifora being numerous and very good, and
the colors of the most varied kinds. Some of them are deep
purple, purple-crimson, crimson, pink, delicate rose, blush
white, etc. Amongst them the single forms of this species
were very attractive to the visitors. They were distinct in
character from the double varieties, and are certainly more
elegant.
The many species now in cultivation in our gardens form a
noble and distinct feature in May. We grow thirty-three spe-
cies and varieties of species, but this being a rather late sea-
son they were not fully in flower until the last week in May.
Although not much known at present in English gardens, they
were cultivated many years ago, and some of the prettiest of
them have been longest known.
P. tenuifolia is a very elegant plant with finely divided leaves,
distinct from any other. The large crimson flowers with yel-
low stamens are very striking. It is figured in the Botanical
Magazine (tab. 926), where itis stated to grow ‘naturally in
the “Ukraine and about the precipices on ‘the borders of the
Volga,” etc. The first to flower with us was P. peregrina,
another crimson-flowered Levantine species with large bold
leaves, but not so striking as those of some kinds. It was
cultivated by Miller, and also by Mr. Salisbury at Brompton.
The next to open its flowers was P. decora, not the most hand-
some species, but the flowers were a distinct purplish rose.
The downy leaves of P. mollis are distinct from those of any
other Peony; the flowers deep purplish red; anthers bright
yellow. P. aretina and P. aretina Baxteri are ‘two o good sorts ;
the first has rosy crimson flowers, and the variety Baxtert
crimson ; they flowered about the same time. The common
P. officinalis in its inet state was very pretty, the flowers
being of a rosy tint, the petals rather crumpled. This plant
was cultivated in England as long ago as 1548. In Parkin-
son's time single and double forms were cultivated. The
variety a anemonzeflora flowered with us also. In. this variety
the flowers are purplish crimson, and the yellow stamens are
replaced by numerous purplish filaments. Both are figured
in the Botanical Magazine, the latter at tab. 3175. The plant
had been sent froma certain Prince de Salm Dyck about 1830.
P. anomala came next inorder; the flowers crimson, set off by
lanceolate leaves. It is not very striking as a garden plant,
but interesting as a distinctform. It is figured i in the Botanical
Magazine (tab. 1754), where it is termed the jagged-leaved
Siberian Peony. It is stated to perish in our gardens in win-
ter, not from cold, but from wet. In our garden it stands
wellenough. /. £modi was next in order ; it has large cream-
colored flowers with golden anthers. It is also a Lotanical
Magazine plant, figured in 1868 from a plant grown at Glasne-
vin by Dr. Moore. It is said to be more tender than any
other species, being a temperate Himalayan plant from Kumaon
to Cashmere. P. ¢riternata has flowers of good form, rose-
colored. This is distinct both in leaf and flower. ?. peregrina
compacta and Aysantinaalso flowered with this group, and are
distinct from the species. All the above flowered the last
_ since.
— is now in flower, and though not as large and showy as its
AucusT 1, 1888.]
week in May and up to the 6th of June, when the following
were noted: P. huszilis, a dwarf species with rosy purple flow-
ers and yellow stamens, the plant dwarf and compact; ?.
Wittmanniana, creamy white, very distinct. This is supposed
to have yellow flowers, and was introduced so long ago as
1842. It was discovered by a certain Count Woronzoff in
Abeharia, as stated in the Bofanical Magazine, where it was re-
cently figured. Dr. Lindley also stated that 25 guineas were
demanded fora plant of it. P. Sro¢er? had rich crimson flowers
_ with yellow anthers, the plant dwarf and distinct. P. Browzéi is
very distinct; it is planted in the rock-garden, and is a neat-
habited little plant, but so far we have failed to flower it. P.
Russi had well formed crimson flowers, with a mass of
bright yellow anthers; the leaf and plant distinct. The true
_P. albifiora and varieties ~/aciniata and riubescens flowered
freely, and are the most beautiful amongst the single Pao-
nies.
They are all very easily grown, and I do not care to coddle
them up in pots; even the little ?. Browzi7Z takes its chance out-
of-doors. The border where they are growing has been deeply
trenched and well manured. Some decayed manure was
also placed on the surface during the winter, but even this is
not necessary, as they seem to be all perfectly hardy. They
need only to be left alone and will in time grow into large
specimens, and the distinct foliage as well as the flowers look
well amongst those of other herbaceous plants in a mixed
border, F. Douglas in the London Garden.
Celogyne Dayana.—This is a very handsome Orchid, with
inflorescence much in the way of C. W/assangeana, but it differs
in the growth in having long, narrow, pyriform bulbs, bearing
two oblong, acuminate leaves. The racemes are pendulous,
sometimes three feetlong and many-flowered; a plantin flower
with us now has eighty-four flowers on three racemes; as
seen in this condition it forms a particularly attractive object.
The flowers, about two inches across, are of a light ochre
yellow, while the lip, of the same color, is curiously marked with
dark brown. Itis a recent introduction from Borneo, and is
named in honor of the late Mr. Day, a great lover of this
class of plants. This species requires very liberal treatment
during the growing season, and to insure good spikes of
bloom, it should have a thorough rest, by reducing the water
supply to a minimum. ;
Ly gopetalum (Promene@a) citrinum, a charming little Orchid,
growing inacompact mass three to four inches high, both
leaves and bulbs being of a grayish-green color. |The droop-
ing scapes bear a single flower of rich yellow, with a blotch of
crimson in the front. This is a species that is not often seen
in collections, and yet it will well repay cultivation, being ex-
tremely free flowering, and taking up so little room. It grows
freely in the Odontoglossum house in equal parts of peat and
moss, baskets being preferable to pots. It was introduced
about fifty years ago from Brazil.
Cattleya Gaskelliana.—Numerous examples of this fine
species are now in flower, and we find it very valuable for
filling up the gap between the flowering of C. 7yzan@ and C.
Eldorado, as it is much freer to bloom than C. Gigas, which is
in season now. It is undoubtedly only a geographical form
of C. Warneri, which it closely resembles, though there is
a great variation in the color of the flowers. They are
usually of a pale amethyst, with a deep purple blotch on the
front lobe of the lip. The form with white flowers is very rare.
This species was introduced from Venezuela about five years
Cattleya speciocissima, also from the same locality,
congener, it is very attractive and exceedingly welcome at this
dull season. F. Goldring.
Kenwood, New York.
The Rock-Garden.—It too often happens that gardeners leave
the filling up of vacancies in the rock-garden until after the
bedding season is over and then plant in what odds and ends
are left. This seems to show a lack of interest in a depart-
~ment of gardening which deserves careful attention, if at-
tempted at all. In summer-time plants in the open air are far
more appreciated than those under glass. We see bedding
plants all the winter in the green-house and all summer in the
flower-garden proper, and, to say the least, the rock-garden
should be keptas natural as possible by planting only what is ap-
propriate. Thebest thing todo inthe abovecase is to grow afew
showy, dwarf annuals, and fill them in as vacancies occur.
The following are useful for this purpose: Zinnia Haageana,
Nierembergia gracilis, Statice Suworowt, Phacelia campanu-
laria, Ionopsidium acaule and Limnanthes Douglasii. The
latter plant can be had in bloom very early in spring by
sowing in August or September, and is often used for
Garden and Forest.
271
spring bedding. All the above may be raised in heat,
or in the open border after the tst of May. The list might
be supplemented considerably, but these we find sufficient
for our purpose. T. D, Hatfield.
[The introduction of bedding plants like Scarlet Geranium
or Coleus into the rock-garden for summer decoration is
not more inappropriate than the use of showy flowered
border annuals for the same purpose. Plants of either of
these classes cannot fail to produce inharmonious
and therefore unpleasing and unsatisfactory effects in con-
nection with the proper inhabitants of the rock-garden,
which by a judicious selection of hardy plants and by the
free use of hardy Ferns can be made attractive and in-
teresting throughout the season.—Ep. |
A Good Rose.—Among the comparatively recent additions to
the list of useful Roses, ‘‘ Papa Gontier” seems to be growing
in favor on account of its many good qualities. Some fault has
been found with it, because of its having lost too much. of its
lower foliage during the latter part of the winter, so as to ren-
der the plants rather unsightly. But though this feature has
been noticed in a number of cases, yet it has not been proved
to be a characteristic of the variety, because there are many
exceptions to the rule. In some instances it is quite possible
that the plants may have been overwatered, or perhaps they
may have beenkept too warm ; either of which would be likely
to produce such a result. However, the fact remains, that
Papa Gontier will be largely planted during the present season,
and will also be much used for summer-flowering, both out-of-
doors and under glass. The flowers are not only much larger,
but have much more substance than the old and popular
Bon Silene.
This subject of summer flowering suggests the reminder
that one who wishes to cut Roses of fair quality during the
summer months, must give his plants attention at the proper
time, and not allow the weeds as well as the Roses to take
care of themselves after he lets out his fires in the spring. Ex-
tremes of temperature should be avoided in summer as in
winter, and thorough, though careful ventilation, and plenty
of water, should be given in bright weather, if mildew is to be
avoided. W.
Weeds.—At this season of the year the principal and most
important operation in the garden is the destruction of weeds.
Labor and money will be saved if all surfaces of exposed soil
are stirred so frequently that the germinating seeds of weeds
are killed before the plants appear above ground. It is hard
to realize this always, or to command labor enough ina large
garden to make it always practicable, still it is the only eco-
nomical way in which to deal with weeds, In the case of
Purslane, for example, if the plants are allowed to grow large
enough to make any appearance above ground, they have to
be hoed or pulled up and then raked into piles and carried
away and burned or buried deep, or they will root again after
the first shower, and the work will have to be done over
again. The Purslane, the Shepherd’s Purse, the Chickweed,
and some other weeds, flower and ripen their seed in a sur-
prisingly short time after they appear, and if the gardener
allows them to get any start of him his land will soon get full
of their seeds, which will live for a long time under ground
and germinate as soon as cultivation brings them near enough
to the surface. Theoretically, there never should be a weed
of any kind in a garden, but in this climate of hot suns and
frequent rains there will always be more or less of them.
They should not be fed, however, to pigs, as is often done, as
the seeds then get into the manure pile and so increase the
work of succeeding years. In large gardens vegetables
should, wherever possible, be planted in rows, so that labor
may be saved in cultivating them and in destroying the weeds
by the use of horse power.
Armeria vulgaris is an old-fashioned garden plant which
thrives in almost any soil or situation, but succeeds best on a
moist subsoil. It is so common in some parts of England
that it is used as an edging for walks in the same way as the
lovely Gentiana acaulis is used in Scotland. There are sev-
eral beautiful varieties and all make capital rock plants. The
colors vary from white to pale rose and rosy purple, 4. dfan-
thoides, A. juncea and others are classed as specifically dis-
tinct, but when grown side by side, raised seedlings of each
show every conceivable intermediate form, with regard to
habit and color of flower. They must be propagated by divis-
ion if the types are to be kept constant. L, 2D, Ef,
N
a |
h
<
Plant Notes.
The Double-Flowered Chinese Crab Apple.
UR illustration represents a flowering branch of this
ornamental tree, the Pyrus spec/abilis of Aiton, a
native of northern China and an old inhabitant of gar-
dens, although now less cften planted in this country
than some of the forms of Pyrus baccata, especially
those of Japanese-garden origin, of which one of the
most useful was figured in an earlier issue of this journal
(6), and from which Pyrus spectabitis may be distinguished
by its persistent calyx lobes, which remain upon the
fruit until it decays.
The Chinese Crab Apple, as seen in gardens, 1s a small
shrub-like tree, twenty to twenty-five feet high, with rigid,
upright, light gray branches, oval-oblong, finely serrate,
leathery leaves, dark green above, paler on the under sur-
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 1, 1888.
Loudon’s remark of the Chinese Apple that ‘‘no garden,
whether large or small, ought to be without this tree,” still
holds good, notwithstanding all the introductions of the
last half century. Cx Siaise
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
Genista tinctoria, the Woad Wax, isa dwarf European shrub,
one to two feet high, with creeping root-stalks, and upright
branches, clothed with dark green, simple leaves, and now
terminated with spicate racemes of handsome yellow flowers.
It is a plant of no little beauty, very tenacious of life, and
capable of spreading rapidly, under favorable conditions, over
large areas. Insome parts of Essex County, in this State, it
has become thoroughly naturalized, and has taken pos-
session of thousands of acres of rocky upland, from which
it is practically impossible to exterminate it, and which is
thus ruined for pasturage or for tillage. These hills, when
the Woad Wax is in flower, seem to have been covered with a
Fig. 44.—The Double-flowered Chinese Crab Apple.
face, which, as well as the petioles and young shoots, is
covered, especially along the mid-rib, with a_ short,
fine tomentum. The flowers are semi-double, nearly
an inch across when expanded, pale rose colored, fading
white, and much lighter colored than the large, showy,
bright red flower-buds. They appear here the middle ot
May, and are produced with the greatest profusion along
the entire length of the branches in sessile, many-flowered
umbels. - The fruit, which rarely sets here, barely exceeds
half an inch in diameter; it is round and somewhat angled,
or often oblong, and when fully ripe of a dull yellow color,
and hardly edible. The Chinese Crab is propagated by
erafting on the common Apple tree. ‘There are excellent
colored figures of this plant in the Nouveau Duhamel
(vi., 4 42, f. 2) and in Watson’s ‘‘ Dendrologia Britannica
(i., 4 50, the flower with the normal number of petals).
golden carpet, and present an appearance quite unlike any- |
thing which can be seen in any other part of the United
States. There isa tradition that the Woad Wax was iniro-
duced into the United States by Governor John Endicott, of
Salem, who planted the famous Pear tree which still bears
his name, and one of the pioneers of American horticul-—
ture, whose garden and farm were well known in the colony
before the middle of the seventeenth century.
foreign shrub has taken such complete possession of so large
an area, or has so entirely driven out the natural occupants of
the soil.
and branches, have been y
produce a yellow color, although it does not appear to have
been cultivated for this purpose, and it was probably the
beauty of the flowers which gained for it a place in Governor
Endicott's garden, and so led to the ruin of the Essex hills. A
variety of this plant, with taller and more slender stems, and |
There ©
is, [believe, no other instance in the United States where a |
All parts of this plant, especially the leaves —
used in Europe by dyers to —
Aucust 1, 1888.]
which does not bloom until several days later, is the var. S7-
birica, once considered a distinct species. This variety,
according to Loudon (‘ Aréoredum,” ii. 584), attains, in its
native country, a height of five or six feet. Here it barely
exceeds two feet. Two plants grown in the Arboretum as G.
lata (elata?) and G. dumatorum are clearly the same as the
Siberian variety. Some attention has been given of late years
to the Woad Wax by planters wishing to cover exposed or
sterile ground with a low, hardy, fast-spreading under-shrub.
Itis well suited for this purpose, but care should be taken
that it is not planted in situations whence it can overrun and
take possession of valuable land, as it will prove a diffi-
cult weed to exterminate when once it has fairly established
itself.
Cytisus nigricans is one of the most desirable of the dwarf,
yellow-flowered, hardy shrubs of the Pea Family, which
blooms at this period of the year. It reaches here a height of
a couple of feet, with erect, slender, twiggy branches, delicate
leaves with three leaflets, pubescent on the under surface, as
are the young shoots, calyxes and pods, and elongated, slen-
der, terminal, erect racemes of bright flowers. The whole
plant turns black in drying, a fact to which it owes its specific
name. It is a native of central Europe, and has been culti-
vated on account of its beauty for more than a century anda
half, although rarely seen in American gardens. Cytisus
capitatus is in bloom at the same time. A less graceful plant
than the last, it is not without its value. Its habit is compact
and good, the flowers, in dense, terminal heads, are showy,
and it remains in bloom during several weeks. The erect
branches, two feet tall, are hispid, ike the broad leaflets. It
is a native of the mountainous parts of southern Europe and
has long been known in gardens. :
Free-growing, twining plants, perfectly hardyin this climate,
are not very abundant; the introduction, therefore, of a plant
of this character of the first class, like Actinidia polygama, is a
matter of some importance. Actinidia (from a@séiz, a ray, the
styles radiating like the spokes of a wheel) isa genus of Asiatic
plants, many of them twining, of the Zerustremiacee or
_ Camellia Family, of which Gordonia and Stuartia, two genera
of woody plants found in the Southern States, are the North
American representatives. They have simple deciduous
_ leaves, axillary clusters of white, fragrantflowers, and a fleshy
fruit composed of the coalescing carpels. Five or six species
are described. Several Japanese species or varieties are culti-
vated in the Arboretum, but none of them except A. folygama
have been sufficiently tested yet to warrant any statement of
their merits. A. Jolygama is a strong-growing, vigorous plant,
which in good soil will soon reach a height of twenty feet or
more, and cover a large space with its vigorous branches,
which are densely clothed with handsome, dark green, coria-
ceous, broadly-acuminate leaves, three or four inches long,
with sharp, slender, remote teeth, and contracted into a long,
slender point. With the exception of a few hairs on the under
side of the mid-rib, they are quite glabrous, and are borne on
stout, bright red petioles half theirlength. The white, fragrant
flowers, half an inch across, make but little show, being almost
concealed in the abundant foliage. The fruit, which has
ripened in several gardens in different parts of Massachusetts,
is as large as a pigeon’s egg. It is edible and has an
agreeable flavor; and is said to be esteemed by the
Japanese. The Actinidia, however, will be cultivated in this
country for its bold habit and handsome foliage rather than
for its fruit.
Aithough they produce far less showy and conspicuous
flowers than their Asiatic congeners, the two North American
species of Diervilla or Bush Honeysuckle, are worth growing,
especially in wild parts of the garden. JD. ¢rifida is a com-
mon northern shrub, found from Newfoundland to the Saskat-
chewan, and extending through the Northern States to Ken-
tucky and the Alleghany Mountains. It often forms dense,
low masses of shrubbery on the borders of the forest. It has
ovate-oblong, petioled leaves, and axillary peduncles, bearing
three small flowers, with narrow, funnelformed, yellow
corollas. D. sessilifolia (the D. splendens of many foreign
collections) is a handsomer plant, with sessile leaves, and
many-flowered cymes of larger and more showy yellow flow-
ers. It is much more rare and much less widely distributed
than the first species, being confined to a few localities on the
high mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, where it
inhabits rocky woods and banks.
Few ornaments of the garden are more beautiful or more
satisfactory than the old-fashioned twining Dutch Monthly
Honeysuckle, once common on every cottage porch, but now,
for some reason, greatly neglected and rarely seen in thiscoun-
try, Itis a variety of the common European Honeysuckle or
Garden and Forest.
edo
Woodbine of England (Loxitcera Periclymenin), which some
authors call the var. Belgicum. It has smooth, purplish
branches, oblong-oval leaves, dark green and shining above,
and pale on the lower surface. The deliciously fragrant flow-
ers, in terminal heads, are reddish or purple on the outside
and yellow within. This plant is perfectly hardy, and remains
in flower nearly all summer.
Cornus aspertfolia is in bloom. It is a western and southern
species, with the habit and general appearance of C. stozoli-
fera, but the branches are brown instead of red, and roughly
pubescent, as are the leaves on their upper surface. This is a
tall, hardy species, but not better in any particular for general
planting than our common Eastern Dogwoods of the same
class.
A Japanese Bramble (Rubus trifidius) is worth a place in the
garden on account of the rose colored petals, which make
the flower-clusters showy at this season of the year. It is a
robust, vigorous plant, with semi-erect stems, clothed with
ample, deeply divided leaves. More popular asa garden plant
will be, no doubt, the double-flowered variety of the common
European Bramble (Rudus fruticosus), with its large double or
semi-double white flowers, tinged with pink, in which a large
part of the stamens have developed into petals. In common
with nearly all the innumerable varieties of the European
Bramble, it isa very hardy and vigorous. plant, growing and
spreading rapidly. The variety upon which the leaflets are
deeply cut and divided (Rubus daciniatis) is a handsome
plant, useful for covering rocky banks and other waste places
in the garden ; it might be seen more often to advantage in
this country.
Among the late flowering Spirzeas now in bloom, the most
showy is S. Douglasii. Itisanative of the North-west Coast,
from Puget Sound to northern California, and with two eastern
American species (S. sadicifolia and S. tomentosa) forms Koch’s
small section SPiraria, distinguished by its panicled flowers.
S. Douglasti has simple erect stems, three feet or less high,
covered with oval or oblong, coarsely serrated, simple leaves,
densely coated on the under surface with white tomentum,
and terminated with a dense, elongated panicle of very hand-
some, bright rose-colored flowers, which remain a long time
in perfection. This is one of the showiest of the late bloom-
ing shrubs in the collection. Sfirea salicifolia, the Meadow
Sweet of the Eastern States, is a variable and widely distribut-
ed plant, being found in eastern North America, where it
bears white flowers sometimes shaded with pink, and from
western Europe through Siberia to Mongolia, Manchuria and
Japan. In the old world variety the flowers are pink or rose
colored. A great deal of attention seems to have been paid
to the cultivation and improvement of this plant in some parts
of Europe, more especially in Russia, and many varieties
(under innumerable names) have been sent to the Ar-
boretum from the St. Petersburg and other Continental gardens,
Some of these show traces of the blood of S$. Douglast, and
many of them are distinct in the color of the flowers, and in
their time of blooming, several weeks elapsing between the
time the first and the last of the series expand their flowers.
The strongest growing and perhaps the showiest of these
varieties is that known in many European gardens as S. Bethle-
hensis, a vigorous plant, probably a hybrid, with large, showy
panicles of flowers. 4S. Bil/ardi, raised many years ago by the
French horticulturist whose name it bears, is worth culti-
vating also for its showy flowers. ;
The last of the Spindle-trees (Zuonymzuts) to flower here is the
North American Burning-Bush or Wahoo (£. atropurpureus),
a tall shrub or shrub-like tree, found from western New York
to Wisconsin and in the Southern States. The flowers are
small, very dark purple, and not showy. In the autumn, how-
ever, when it is covered with itsabundant bright crimson fruit,
drooping on long peduncles, this little tree is a beautiful
object, although less showy, perhaps, than some of the
varieties of the European Spindle-tree, in which long cultiva-
tion and careful selection have developed large and showy
forms of fruit. The Wahoo (which must not be confounded
with the Elm (Udmus alata), which is popularly known in the
Southern States as ‘The Wahoo”) is a not infrequent inhab-
itant of old-fashioned American gardens.
Northern swamps are now white with the flowers of the
Swamp Honeysuckle, Rhododendron (Azalea) viscosum, the
last of the whole family to flower here, and well worth a place
in the garden, on account of its late and deliciously fragrant
clammy flowers. It is found from Maine to Kentucky, but
generally near the coast, and sometimes grows to a height of
eight or ten feet. It requires the same treatment and can be
grown as easily as the other plants of its class.
July rth. Ff
274 Garden and [orest.
The Forest
The Forests of Europe as Seen by an American
Lumberman,
U HILE in Europe in 1885 I noticedin Germany, par-
ticularly on the lower Elbe, the Spree and gen-
erally over the old worn out lands, that much was being
done to preserve the old and replant new forest trees in
regions from which 200 or 300 years since the forests
had been destroyed. At the schools of forestry intelligent
men asked, ‘‘ Why do not you Americans learn by our er-
rors and do something to save your forests now?” The
only reply I could make was that I hoped we might be-
gin to save before we were driven to it by necessity as
other nations have been.
The new forests over Prussia from Hamburg by way of
Berlin through to Breslau and in the circle with the
distance from Berlin to Dresden as a radius are doing well.
It is common to see plantations ely of pine of from
forty to six hundred acres ten, fifteen, thirty-five and fifty
years old, all within a few miles oF each other, the dit-
ferent heights of trees on the land-lines sharply showing
their different ages. Some of the older trees are sixty feet
high and eighteen to twenty-five inches in diameter, all
growing very even and thick. These plantations are kept
clean, with the lower dead branches broken off for use by
poor people as fuel, and all this on land that looked light
and as if it had been run out like the ‘‘old fields” of the
Carolinas and Virginia. Many of those new forests in Ger-
many were being cut clear for the timber, lumber and
wood, others were being preserved with the best trees cut
out and sold under care of foresters. The land itself was
being revived and was approaching a virgin condition
again. ‘These new forests now furnish the timber of the
country.
In the forests of Saxony and Bohemia, up the Elbe and
Spree, more particularly of Saxon Switzerland and up the
river Elbe into Bohemia, I visited some twenty or thirty
mills that were sawing timber grown upon the streams
tributary to these waters. Some good trees were worked
up here thirty and thirty-six inches at the butt end, and cut
the whole length, say sixty to seventy feet long. In the
larger mills the whole log is run through gang saws, and
then the product is tied up as one log by itself and so
sent to market slab and all. The saws used were thinner
than ours. Very small logs, too, often no more than
five inches in diameter, are cut. The price of this lumber
was no more than it is in the Middle or New England
States, but of course the Europeans use less lumber than
we do. From an extensive examination of Germany,
Austria, Belgium and north-eastern France, northern
Switzerland and the Duchy of Baden, I should say that
under the wonderful care and intelligence of the present
system the forests were quite keeping up with the demand
for the common lumber-wants of the country, and some
even being shipped to Portugal, Spain and the Mediter-
ranean. I visited the saw mills on the Necker and the
Rhine, climbed the Feldbere and the Taunus, and saw
foresters carefully cutting and sawing the windfall trees and
planting a new one for every tree taken out. The Govern-
ment is doing so much for the forests everywhere. In the
little province of Baden, smaller than some of our New
England or New York counties, over 100 men are employed
and paid by the Government to care for the woodlands. In
Saxony and Bohemia I went to the homes of the foresters
and found some of them experts in various branches of
natural history. The heads of departments were graduates
of some school of forestry, and they were advanced as they
deserved and held their offices for life or good behavior.
The Germans have waited until their timber was cut off
before they began to replace it, but they are now prosecut-
ing the work with rare patience and skill.
In the summer of 1887 I visited again the British Isles,
and. examined the lumber industry of the eastern coast,
[Aucust 1, 1888.
of Edinburgh particularly. I saw much of the lumber
of Norway and eastern Russia as it was brought into
England. There is little large or wide timber left in those
countries. Much the same process of stripping forest
areas has gone on there as in the countries before named.
There is much less timber in Norway, Sweden and Russia
available than is generally supposed and its quality is
poorer—sound enough, but hard and full of knots, very
much like the lumber of lower Europe. Evidently the
virgin forests of the north temperate zone are in North
America. ‘The impression created by the European forest
examination made by me in 1885 and 1887 is this: Trees
will grow if properly planted and cared for, but it is like
the first attempts in raising the tame grasses from ithe old
farms of the east in the virgin prairies of the west. ‘The
soil seems rich enough to. grow Timothy, but the culti-
vated grass will not flourish until the wild “nature” of the
soil is subdued by many plowings and trampings of the
tame cattle; even so, when land has been stripped of
woods and worn by farm crops, it is hard to re-cover it
with forest. Just here the aid of science is needed. Here
is work for the schools of forestry that have done so
much for France and Germany. ‘The forest restoration
of Europe is due to science, and is accomplished by men
trained for the purpose.
Again the more regularly distributed rainfall of western
Europe, especially in the north and Baltic countries, is
more favorable to the restoration of forests than in
America generally, though in some parts of Europe the
soil is so much worn out it is almost impossible to
make trees grow. Indeed, all over Europe, and especially
east and south of the Mediterranean, and over most of
the older settled portions of the Eastern Hemisphere,
it seems to have been the especial mission of the Aryan
race to destroy and remove the forests from the face of the
earth.
In the lumber yards of England, Scotland, Hamburg,
Bremen, Antwerp and France I saw much of the timber
from America. Our forests are drawn upon to supply the
waste of centuries in the old world. It is time we began to
think of husbanding our own resources. | A.C. Putnam.
Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Correspondence
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—The writer was much interested in the editorial,
“Hardy Fruit Trees,” in your issue of June 27th, especially
as the conclusions reached coincided closely with those
reached in my thesis on ‘The Crossing and Hybridizing of
Fruits,” prepared for graduation last year at the lowa Agricul-
tural College. In American fruit-breeding recourse-has been
had as yet ‘to native species only in the case of Grapes, Rasp-
berries, Plums and Strawberries. The results have been very
encouraging, but avast field of work: still lies fallow. Even
with the fruits mentioned, much work remains to be done with
the local forms found in the extreme north-western Prairie
States. The Prunus Americana of the eastern and southern
States differs greatly in hardiness from the same species as
found in Dakota. ‘This illustrates the fact that the coming
orchard and small fruits of the extreme north-western section
of the Mississippi valley must originate from the local form of
the native species and from varieties imported from similar
extreme climates, such as Russia, where many centuries of
natural selection have weeded out the tender plants.
Our native species of Cherry, Apple, Gooseberry, etc., all lie
untouched, awaiting the hand of the horticultural experi-
menter. Of the work done in preceding centuries we can
take advantage by crossing and hybridizing, which, in fact, are
only methods of ‘abridging the process of evolution, by intro-
ducing potent causes of variation. In all cases cultivated spe-
cies from as extreme climates as possible should be used to
infuse the desired quality and size.
Besides those mentioned, a considerable number of other
native species, such as the Papaw and Persimmon, may be
improved by cultivation, selection, and, wherever possible, by
hybridization.
This is a proper field of work for the new Agricultural Ex-
periment Stations, and is attractive alike from: a scientific as
Ss
OTe ae ae
Aucusr 1, 1888.]
well as a practical standpoint. It would contribute greatly to
our knowledge of the limits of species.
The writer last year sent circulars of inquiry to a large num-
ber of experimenters in the United States and Canada, and thus
collected a considerable amount of valuable information bear-
ing upon this subject. The general opinion greatly favored
crossing and hybridizing as a means of improving our fruit
trees and plants.
The work with Russian and American Apples, Cherries and
Plums has been begun by Professor J. L. Budd at the lowa Agri-
cultural College, and gives promise of valuable results.
N. E. Hansen.
Atlantic, Iowa.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I have been interested in the discussions relating to
terraces and verandas and other additions to dwelling houses,
and have been waiting forsome one to suggest a better ar-
rangement than any yet mentioned. This is a terrace with a
tiled floor anda frame over it, upon which, during the sum-
mer, an awning can be let down in the day-time and rolled
back in the evening, while the whole upper structure can be
entirely taken away in winter. In summera terrace of this
sort will be cooler by day than one that is not shaded, and in
- the evening it will be cooler than a veranda, because there
_ will be nothing overhead when the awning is rolled back. In
the winter a veranda shades the windows, and the removal
of the frame and awning from the terrace freely admits the
sunshine, when every ray is needed.
With such an arrangement the terrace can be turned into a
summer conservatory for many of the tender evergreens
and other plants that would perish under the broiling sun,
and for any fine green-house plants, like specimen Palms or
_ plants in flower. Jef
i" Newport, R.I.
\
|
lis
I
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
_ Sir.—The Itasca Basin, mother of the Mississippi, proves as
full blooded as her offspring has indicated. A timbered sur-
| face, with porous soil seldom frozen and deeply underlying
clay beds, collects the drainage of many square miles and pours
| this sheet of spring water into the lake and its feeders. Every
drop in this ideal reservoir is needed for navigation, manufac-
| tures and city water supply.
Clearing the land will cause deep freezing and quick melting
of the snow, running the snow water off on the surface with a
| freshet.
Clearing has commenced, and this land will be stripped, un-
less we learn to feel, with the Swiss, that the trees which hold
| the avalanche bleed when they are cut. TT, B.A
ia
Recent Publications.
| Homestead Highways.
|ton : Ticknor & Co.
| Mr. Sylvester, who dates his book from Quincy, Mass., but
whose memory dwells amid the hills and woodlands of New
ampshire, found many pleased readers, a few years ago, for
alittle book called “ Prose Pastorals.” The same title might
just as well have been used for his present volume, which,
pecoush its seven chapters dealing now with nature chiefly
and again chiefly with rural mankind, preserves as the key-
te a spirit of calm, open-eyed, sensitive and not unpoetic
editation. ‘‘An Old-Fashioned Festival” treats in a fresh
and charming way of the oft-described scenes of Thanksgiv-
g¢ Day and ‘‘A Winter Resort” pictures the country school.
But the chapters on out-door life are perhaps still more at-
tractive, notably the two on ‘‘ Running Water’ and on “A
Snug Corner” of the woods in winter.
By Herbert Milton Sylvester. Bos-
In ‘ Society tn Rome Under the Cesars,” recently published,
Mr. W. R. Inge, M.A., speaks of the parks and gardens of the
omans in the first century as follows: ‘Partly from want of
ippreciation of open park land, partly from paucity of shrubs
nd flowers, neither park nor garden was in keeping with
e splendor within [the poeeel: The flowers were of simple
nds and lacked variety, but they were grown in large quan-
tities, for the graceful custom of wearing garlands, and even
he rites of religion, made a constant and plentiful supply
ecessary. Roses, Lilies and Violets were the only flowers
Itivated on a large scale. Green-houses and hot-houses for
flowers and fruits were first introduced in our period, and,
of course, were soon very common. Winter Grapes and Mel-
ms were grown under glass, and we hear of forced* Roses
©" Festinate”” Mart., 13, 127. See also on the subject Mart., 8, 14; 4, 21, 5.
Garden and Forest.
275
and Lilies. Fruit trees were planted, sometimes among other
trees, sometimes in orchards. The Romans were well sup-
plied with fruit. They had several kinds of Apples, no less
than thirty sorts of Pears, Plums, Peaches, Pomegranates,
Cherries, Figs, Quinces, Nuts, Chestnuts, Medlars, Mulberries,
Almonds and Strawberries. Their ornamental trees were few
in number, and this doubtless led to the artificial shaping,
before alluded to, which was carried to absurd lengths at the
close of the first century. The garden was always intersected
by a path, which could be used for riding, walking, or taking
the airina litter. Porticoes for lounging in the open air, and
elaborate baths, were comforts .not likely to be forgotten in
Italy.”
Periodical Literature.
Dr. C. C. Parry, the distinguished botanical explorer, con-
tributes to the June number of the Overland Monthly (also
issued separately) an interesting account of Rancho Chica,
General John Bidwell’s California Ranch, on the lower Sacra-
mento, near the site of the historical Sutter’s Fort. It has long
been known as one of the best and most productive farms of
the Pacific Slope, abounding in features of natural beauty and
famous for the hospitality of its enlightened proprietor. Dr.
Parry describes pleasantly the history and the situation of
Rancho Chico, the native plants which adorn it and the crops
it is made to bring forth. The Ranch is situated in one of the
best fruit producing regions in the state. ‘‘The Fig and the
Olive, the native Walnut and its Asiatic relative, flourish in un-
restrained luxuriance. There is no other section in which the
Cherry bears more plentifully or with greater certainty of re-
turn.” One tree in the orchard produced last year nearly a
ton of fruit, which sold for an average of ten cents a pound,
making nearly two hundred dollars as the return for a single
tree in one season. ‘In May the Apricot begins to yield its
golden fruit, and before its day is passed, Apples, Pears,
Peaches, Plums, Almonds, Nectarines, Prunes, Quinces and
the endless variety of Grapes come one after another to fill
their places in an endless round. Aside from table Grapes,
all the vineyard product of the ranch is made up into raisins.
There is something in the quality of climate and soil that is
peculiarly favorable to the culture of the Malaga, and the
finished product is sweeter than the average and far excels the
more famous Fresno brands in the thinness and tenderness of
skin.”
There are 25,000 acres in General Bidwell’s farm, and some
idea of its fertility and of the extent to which it 1s cultivat-
ed, will be gained from the following enumeration of the
average crops which it produces: 100,000 bushels of wheat
and 50,000 bushels of barley; 1,000 tons of hay ; the meat pro-
duct requires the slaughter of 300 cattle and 1,200sheep; adairy
of 150 cows produces a gross income of $1,000a month. The
cannery turns out 370,000 two-pound cans of fruit, not including
great quantities of dried orchard fruits. During the height of
the truit season more than 500 persons find employment on
the ranch. The most interesting of the numerous illustra-
tions joined to this article is that of a noble specimen of the de-
ciduous White Oak of California (Quercus lobata), knownas the
“Sir Joseph Hooker Oak,” in honor of the English botanist who
visited General Bidwell during his journey in this country in
1877. The photograph from which the illustration is made was
taken in winter, and exhibits the graceful pendulous ramification
of this tree much more satisfactorily than we remember to
have seen it depicted before.
Recent Plant Portraits.
Botanical Magazine, June.—CATASETUM BUNGEROTHI, 4
6998 ; a very striking, free-blooming Venezuela Orchid, with
flowers varying from white, the hollow of the spur ochreous,
though pale yellow-green to golden.
KOEMPFERIA SECUNDA, ¢. 6999; a common plant in the Khasia
Mountains, south of the Assam valley; it has loosely tufted,
leafy stems, six to ten inches high, with terminal, few-tlowered
spikes of showy rose-colored flowers.
HUERNIA ASPERA, 4 7000; Hernia is an African genus, dis-
tinguished from Sfapelia, which it closely resembles in habit,
by its campanulate corolla. The plants of this genus are all
south African, with the exception of the species here figured,
which is from Zanzibar. Its interest is botanical rather than
horticultural.
PALICOUREA NICOTIANAFOLIA, ¢. 700I.
CASSIA COQUIMBENSIS, ¢. 7002; a glabrous shrub, very com-
mon in the neighborhood of Coquimbo, in Chili, with axillary
276
cymes of conspicuous yellow flowers an inch and a half in
diameter. It belongs to that section of this enormous genus
in which the seeds are parallel to the septum in the two-valved,
flattened pod.
ARAUCARIA CUNNINGHAMI GLAUCA (cones of), Gardener's
Chronicle, Jane 2d.—From the fine specimen of the glaucous-
leaved variety of the ‘‘ Morton Bay Pine,” grown in the Tem-
perate House at Kew. It is an important Australian timber
tree, forming vast forests in the valiey of the Brisbane River.
SABAL PALMETTO, Gardener's Chronicle, June 2d.—A view of
a fine group of this well known Florida tree, growing at Jupi-
ter Inlet, on the east coast, from a photograph by Mr. James M.
Codman, in the Kew Museum, although credit is not given tor
it to that establishment.
PINUS CANARIENSIS ; Gardener's Chronicle, June 7th.
YUCCA FILIFERA, Gardener's Chronicle, June 16th, f. 97 and
too; from photographs by Mr. James M. Codman in the Kew
Museum (also without credit) and already published in Gar-
DEN AND FOREST (April 11th, 1888).
Notes.
The Second Annual Meeting of the Illinois State Forestry
Association will open at Springfield, in the State House, on
the morning of the 8th of August.
Seven and a half tons of grapes to the acre is a good aver-
age yield for a California vineyard, although ten tons an acre
is not an unusual crop, and, in a well authenticated instance,
fifteen tons an acre have been produced.
Professor L. H. Baily, Jr., of Cornell University, sails for
Europe the last of August to visit experiment stations and
study the horticulture of the countries he visits. A leading
object of his trip is to collect data for the completion of text-
books of horticulture, which he now has partly written.
The annual excursion of the Gardeners’ and Florists’ Club,
of Boston, was a great success, and the gardeners, who have
now well earned a little leisure after the labors of spring
planting, thoroughly enjoyed their sail on Massachusetts
Bay and their visit to the various islands and other points of
interest.
At the weekly meeting of the Massachusetts Horticutural
Society on July 21st,a new white Pansy was shown, which is
quite a novelty, from the fact that it is semi-double, the
stamens having been changed into petals. It is of good sub-
stance, free flowering and entirely white. It will prove an
acquisition for the commercial florists.
Sweet Peas have been greatly improved during the past few
years. New colors of remarkable clearness and brilliancy are
being constantly introduced. These fiowers are great favor-
ites at Newport, Bar Harbor, and other eastern summer re-
sorts, and in no part of the country are they grown so suc-
cessfully as in the vicinity of Boston, where they are used by
the florists in great quantities. ;
Dutch bulb-growers having found that the sale of cut blooms
of Hyacinths and Tulips, which at one time were sent to the
London markets in immense quantities from the bulb-fields of
Holland, interfered with the sale of bulbs, they have formed
an association, the members of which agree not to sell the
flowers of these plants. A boycott is established against
members of the association who infringe its rules. More than
2,000 bulb-growers have already joined this association.
The railroads have manifested an unwillingness to grant to
delegates to the meeting of the Society of American Florists
at New York City the reduction in fares usually given to such
gatherings. But, nevertheless, all indications point to an im-
mense gathering, and the coming convention will certainly
be the largest meeting of florists and gardeners ever con-
vened in this country. Programmes and all information may
be obtained by addressing Secretary Wm. J. Stewart, 67 Brom-
field Street, Boston,
The Fruit Growers’ Association of Ontario held their sum-
mer meeting on July 11th and 12th at Picton, Prince Edward
County. Rev. Geo. Bell, LL.D., of Queen’s College, King-
ston, read an instructive paper on Canadian Forests, and the
subject of improving fruits by hybridizing and selection was
treated by Mr. P, C. Dempsey, of Albany. The meeting
was largely attended, and leading specialists in various de-
partments of fruit and flower culture and in forestry partici
pated in the discussions. i
Garden and Forest.
[Aucust 1, 1888.
Hon. Sidney Root, President of the Atlanta, Georgia, Park
Commission, sends us the photograph of a fine Willow-Oak
tree now standing in the grounds of E. W. March, Esq., of
that city. It was carried. from south-western Georgia in 1858,
when its trunk was not as large as a musket-barrel. It now
measures seven feet six inches in circumference three feet
from the ground, and its branches extend over a circle
seventy feet in diameter—a remarkable development for a.
tree thirty-three years from the acorn.
The New York Forestry Commission has revoked all the
custodianships under which the islands of Lake George have
passed into the control of a few private individuals. Many of~
the men who were made custodians of the islands have built —
fine houses, and made extensive improvements upon them,
under authority granted by the Land Commissioners. The —
action of the Forest Commission will cause some hardship to
the persons who have had the use of the state’s property, —
but it will be approved by public sentiment. j
A recent bulletin of the Ohio Experiment Station gives the
most effective methods used in the Prairie States to check the
migrations of the chinch bug. But after all the trapping in —
furrows, burning over stubble, pouring a line of coal tar about
fields liable to invasion and other precautions, the devastation _
by this insect can hardly be held within bounds while the
weather is dry. Professor Forbes estimates that in southern
Hlinois the losses from the depredations of the chinch bug, —
during five years past, have reached $25,000,000. j
The fondness of the Germans for planting memorial trees —
is wellknown. Lindens are most often chosen for the pur- |
pose, this tree having gradually usurped that place in the af- —
fections of the Germanic people which was once held by the
Oak and being now considered the national tree. On the oc-
casion of arecent visit paid by General Moltke to the Spath
nurseries near Berlin, he planted an American Linden, of the
variety which is known in German nurseries as Zilia Ameri- —
cana Moltket. Near the spot it occupies Prince Bismarck |
planted a few years ago a specimen of Zilia argentea—the |
beautiful Hungarian Linden to which reference was made in |
the article on the trees in Central Park recently published in |
this journal. ;
Some excitement has been caused among Orchid grow- —
ers in London by the breaking up of several large co
lections. No fewer than five of these have been or wi
be dispersed within a few weeks. The first was that of
the late Mr. John Day, a genuine Orchid lover, an assiduous |
collector of all classes of Orchids, popular or merely ‘“ botani
cal.” It was a collection rich in species one seldom see
except in botanical collections. Then followed the smali, bu
very choice and exceedingly well grown, collection of Dr.
Duke, a devoted amateur anda true lover of his plants, and
the fine collection of Mr. Southgate, at Streatham. Immedi
ately after was sold the celebrated collection of Mr. Philbrick,
an eminent lawyer, likewise a great lover of his plants, of ©
which he hada wide and intimate knowledge, and the fifth
by far the most extensive and most important, is that formed
by Mr. Lee, at Downside Leatherhead, in Surrey. This Down
side collection is immense and wonderfully rich in all that is-
choice among Orchids, and for the most part admirably culti
vated. The first portion has been disposed of at public auctio
and it will take eight days to sell the entire collection.
The death of the Rev. E. P. Roe, at his home at Cornwall-
on-Hudson, on the tgth of July, deprives us of a collaborator
who, we hoped, would do much during many years to come ©
to interest and instruct our readers. Although Mr. Roe’s
reputation rested most largely upon his labors as a novelist,
his horticultural works would have sufficed to win him so
popularity had they been his only productions. The b
known of them is, perhaps, ‘‘Success With Small Fruits,”
originally published in the Century (then Scribner's) Magazine,
and afterwards issued in book form with the same beautifu
illustrations ; but others of almost equal merit are “The Cu
ture of Small Fruits” and ‘“ Play and Profit in the Garden.”
was not as a dilettante that Mr. Roe wrote on horticultu
subjects. From the year 1874 until his death he was in bu:
ness as a nurseryman and fruitgrower at Cornwall, and his
books were the outcome of practical experience, and chro ni
cled actual, long continued successes. His flourishing gar-
dens and orchards were one of the sights of Cornwall, and tl
generous hospitality with which he met all who were interest
in like pursuits with himself will long be remembered by
hundreds of his visitors. Mr. Roe was but just fifty years
of age when he died, quite suddenly, of an attack of angina
pectoris. Ja
mo
wis)
Aucust 8, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY LY
THE GARDEN AND. FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrrFice: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by . . age? vistas . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N., Y.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1888.
NEW YORK,
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Eprroriat ArticLes :—Irrigation Problems in the Arid West.—The Forests of
Maine.—Wild Flowers in City Markets..........
The Exhibition of Wild Flowers (with illustration)...C Z. Wiis, MD. 278
sPhethloraron the MlOrid ay Gy Si cccce occ cw scat vous cist eias eeroic A. H. Curtiss. 279
ToreiGn CorrESPONDENCE :—London Letter. .......se.eeeeeeeeee eee W. Goldring. 280
New or Litrte Known Piants :—Cypripedium Californicum (with illustration),
Sereno Watson, 281
PUANTS NOTES ‘—CwoO Rare Orchids... .ssenecsseecsssencs Emily Louise Taplin. 281
CurruraL DepartTMEnNT :—Strawberries... .- Win. Falconer. 282
‘The Currant and its Cultivation... 2. Willianis, 282
The Vegetable Garden.....-02- cesses sats ama epee Wee By ner el 283
Some Floral Novelties—Orchids in Bloom....... Rode ana ect ara E}
The Olive Tree (with illustration)..............0.. ais dee SOUL
Notestfromthe:ATnOld: Arboretum ss cis sdte ocisme co ccsie sists cennsets eevee F. 285
SPHEV HOREST shew nite, Fine in: Great, Britauns.sisscieaisicejc.s:e aicicicysisjaiteres ete 286
CORRESPOND ENCEccste tia vielnista:a/alolelsin aio e'a Sieimininine 5. 5:5\6:2'6 5.0'61=,clelai4.4 615 \sjace'siee\a S,e/eieis ord) a1s.2.ee. 286
PerriopicAL LIrERATURE..
NOTES (3 owas ieloneisss
ILLUSTRATIONS Wild Flowers for Exhibition
Cypripedium Californicum, Fig. 45....--..+-++++++
Olive Tree in the Garden of Gethsemane ............ccee cece ee tense ee ees
Irrigation Problems in the Arid West.
N a recent issue we considered the potentialities of
the arid regions of the far west under irrigation. How
best to develop these, how best to make fertile and popu-
lous this vast extent of country, is a question of national
importance. It deserves the attention of both national
and state or territorial governments. Much has already
been done by individual and corporate effort in the making
fertile of large tracts. Large as is the amount of land
that has been thus brought under cultivation, it is but
sample of what may be done with comprehensive, syste-
matic undertakings. There must eventually be carried
out works of such magnitude that private means can hard-
ly be looked for to take them in hand until their assured
practicability has been demonstrated and the attention of
great capitalistic enterprises is turned towards the field, as
it has towards the construction of railways on a continen-
tal scale. The utilization of the waters of important
streams that come under the jurisdictions of more than one
state or territory involves considerations of equity, and
often the harmonizing of conflicting interests, in a way to
call for the participation of the national government, as
well as does the fact that, the greater portion of the land
to be improved belongs to the national domain. The
splendid work accomplished in India by the British gov-
ernment in the construction of thousands of miles of great
irrigating-canals, with the result of making India a strong,
and possibly dangerous, rival of the United States in the
wheat-markets of the world, gives an idea of the field
open to our government. Not until the precipitation from
the mountains of the arid region is spread over every pos-
sible acre of the plains, can the subject be regarded as set-
tled. It has been urged that the national government
appropriate large sums for the construction of irrigating
works on an extensive scale in connection with the princi-
pal streams; but this policy seems undesirable, for under
our present system it would almost surely lead to wasteful
expenditure, if not ill-devised schemes. The best means
seems to be some method of encouragement to private
capital. This might be done either by special acts
adapted to particular cases, or by a general law applying
Garden and Forest.
277
to all irrigation projects beyond a certain magnitude. This
method has been certainly most beneficent in its applica-
tion to: railways, for without the encouragement thus
given, chiefly in the shape of land-grants, the railways
would not have been built and the country would have
remained undeveloped and unsettled; the national lands
consequently worthless. The railways now need no such
encouragement and they build readily through that por-
tion of the country without it ; therefore it would be gratui-
tous to give them a bounty for doing what they are eager
to do, and the land-grant policy has very properly been
abandoned. It would probably, however, be a good
policy for the government to encourage, for the present,
the construction of extensive irrigating works, by grant-
ing to the parties undertaking them alternate sections
of the land thus improved. Otherwise it might be many
years before such needed works were undertaken. Gov-
ernment land now absolutely worthless would thus be
made very valuable, with rich and prosperous populations
created in the wilderness. To guard against possible
abuse, it might be provided that the improved land thus
obtained by the companies should be sold to settlers at
certain fixed and reasonable prices. In this way, for in-
stance, the enormous flow of the Colorado River—the diver-
sion of which for irrigation involves peculiarly difficult and
costly engineering—might be utilized, and millions of acres
in the Mohave and Yuma deserts and on the Sonora mesa,
in California and Arizona, made fertile.
The state and territorial governments have a concern in
the matter no less than that of the federal government,
their function being administrative, as well as incentive
like the latter. It is of such immense importance that the
irrigating works should be constructed and operated to the
best possible advantage of the public, that, in the states
and territories of the arid regions, boards of irrigation-com-
missioners are more essential than even the railway com-
missions that have almost universally become the rule.
The whole subject of irrigation should be entrusted to these
commissions, whose office should be advisory as well as
regulative. Colorado ranks probably foremost in having
adopted an enlightened system of this kind, and is reaping
the benefits in the shape of a remarkable growth of her ag-
ricultural interests, which are placing the state on a more
secure foundation of prosperity than mining, which has
been her chief industry, could ever do. The state is divid-
ed into twenty-six water-districts, with a water-commis-
sioner at the head of each, in charge of all matters con-
cerning irrigation. The state engineer has supervision of
matters relating to his department. The laws of the state
provide methods for regulating outflow and distribution, for
organizing enterprises either on a joint stock or co-operative
basis, the supervision of water-rates, and the adjudication
of disputes.
California also has a well-devised irrigation code. The
irrigation laws of Arizona are modeled on those prevailing
in California before revision, with some modifications, and
need improvement. The irrigation laws of New Mexico
are substantially the same as when the territory was a
Mexican province. For the development of its great re-
sources a thorough remodeling is needed.
In each state and territory there should be, under the
supervision of the irrigation commissioners, a thorough
topographical survey of the water-supply, actual and poten-
tial, indicating the best lines for canals, the amount of flow
in the various streams and the amount that would go to
waste without storage, the spots in the valleys and among
the mountains where the water of either permanent streams
or of torrents may be husbanded by impounding, and
where water may be obtained either by artesian or ordinary
wells. The knowledge thus given would be of enormous
value in promoting the development of irrigation, for set-
tlers could proceed with confidence to utilize the resources
pointed out, saving them much uncertainty and possible
loss. Therefore such a surv ey, however costly, would
pay for itself manifold.
278
.
The study of irrigation methods should be a leading and
particular feature of those agricultural experiment- stations
established by the aid of the national government in
the arid states and territories. For the most part the pre-
vailing systems are characterized by great extravagance
in the use of water, so that with proper economy the
present supplies could be made to irrigate a much
greater area ; in some instances probably even twice as
much. The best means for the prevention of waste can
be studied and pointed out at these stations, and, when
ascertained, their adoption should, in the interest of the
public, be made compulsory. The products most suitable
to irrigation can also be determined at these stations. Ir-
rigation is particularly adapted to horticultural operations.
Fruit trees, for instance, require a very much less quantity
of water than either grain or grass crops, and while yield-
ing a greater return of profit to the acre, a much greater
area may be cultivated from a given supply of water. It
is probable that some method of sub-irrigation can be ef-
fectively adapted to fruit-culture, since the economy of
water would repay the increased cost, while the large re-
turns from fruit-culture in those regions would warrant the
considerable expense of preparing the land. Sub-irrigation
would almost entirely prevent the loss by evaporation,
which is enormous in those regions, and, moreover, it
would probably offer a remedy for the malarious condi-
tions so apt to accompany irrigation, for the water
would be absorbed beneath the surface, instead of generat-
ing malarial germs or gases through the decay of vege-
table matter in surface- evaporation under a hot sun. The
best means for preventing evaporation in the storage-basins
and in the flow of distributing canals, should also be
studied thoroughly at these experiment-stations.
With the entire subject considered, and the results car-
ried into practice in the way we have indicated,*we shall
see an agricultural development in the arid portions of our
country that will give them rank in fertility, wealth and
high civilization with the famous old cultures once de-
veloped under similar conditions in the valleys of the
Euphrates and the Nile.
Occasionally some uninstructed person speaks of inex-
haustible forests, but by this time it should be pretty gen-
erally understood that a forest can be made to yield in-
definitely only by restricting its average annual production
to its annual increase. The forest products of Maine, for
example, diminished alarmingly after the White Pine and
Spruce in that State had been recklessly destroyed for many
years, and the entire extinction of its most important in-
dustry was threatened. But the people of Maine have
learned a dearly bought lesson, and realize now that forests
can be destroyed, even though they may have appeared
inexhaustible, during the lives of one or two generations
of men. The Maine forests are not managed in accordance
with the rules of scientific forestry as these are understood
in European countries, and beyond question the practice
could be improvedupon. Nevertheless, this practice is based |
upon the laws of nature and the necessities which arise
from existing conditions, andit is upon these that any sys-
tem of forest management, however elaborately its details
may be worked out, must rest primarily. The Maine lum-
berman has learned that excessive and unrestrained cut-
ting, supplemented by fire, will destroy any forest, and that
a forest from which only the ripe trees are cut at stated
periods, while the remainder are-carefully protected and
allowed in their turn to reach maturity, will continue to
produce indefinitely, and to pay handsomer returns in the
long run than it would under the usual American custom
of indiscriminate cutting without regard to future produc-
tion. The changes w hich have been gradually taking
place fora number of years in the management of the
Maine forests have already borne fruit in their improved
condition and increased output. They restore to the Pine
Tree State its position as one of the most important of the
Garden and Forest.
[Avucusr 8, 1888. -
lumber producing states, not in the actual product of the
mills to-day, but in the promise offered by more intelli-
gent forest management of a steady and constant sup-
ply of logs in the future. If the present ruinous practice
continues to prevail in Michigan, in Wisconsin and Minne-
sota, it will not be many years before the annual timber
crop of those three great states will fall below that of
Maine, and perhaps of some of the other New England
States. It is not easy to overstate the importance of the
system of forest management which is now being worked
out in the Maine woods, and which is all the more likely
to succeed because it is based upon experience. Its |
eventual success means prosperity for the State; its —
failure practical ruin for a large part of it. Other States q
can learn much from Maine; and especially that by the —
patient application of a few sensible rules—rules which
nature herself teaches—and by the use of a litle, fore-
thought and a little common sense, a forest can be —
made more surely and permanently productive than.
property of any other description.
ae ent eo
As we said some weeks ago, there is a growing love
among the people of our cities for cut flowers of every
description and every grade of costliness. For every
variety of flower sold in "the shops ten years ago, a dozen
varieties may now be counted, and for every street vender
who could then be seen, a whole troop may be seen to-
day. At first it seemed as though the street vender merely
sold at a lower price the stale or refuse stock of the florist
—little button-hole bouquets or half-withered bunches of
Roses. But he has enlarged his field of enterprise with the
growth of patronage, and numberless hands must now be
at work for him in suburban gardens and meadows. The
Lilacs shown on the street this year were remarkable for
quality as well as for quantity, and an especially welcome
fact has been the advent of wild flowers in unprecedented
quantities. The first to appear were ‘‘ Pussy Willows,” and
then Marsh-Marigolds, which abounded at every step and ~
were sold in large bunches for five cents. Since then we -
have had Buttercups, Field Daisies and Laurel in quanti-
ties, and, a greater novelty, the False Spikenard (S7lactna
racemosa). Pitcher Plants and Magnolias have been offered,
and every wild flower which may easily be procured will
follow in due season until big bunches of Black Alder ber-
ries take the place of flowers. In addition to wild flowers,
common garden flowers—Pinks, Paeonies, Roses, Sweet
Peas, Corn Flowers and a host besides—began to appear
in profusion as soon as the Lilacs were past, so that the
New Yorker, even of slenderest purse, has been able to
enjoy, almost as well as his country brother, nature’s
pleasant tokens of the passage of the months.
ee eae ee ee
The Exhibition of Wild Flowers.
HAVE frequently exhibited a small collection of wild —
flowers at fairs. They always excited an unexpected —
interest, however rude the collection may have been. At
first I used herbarium specimens, placed in bundles ac-
cording to their orders or genera, with cards attached con-
taining the botanical as well as common names. But in
this way they required constant watching to prevent dis-
placement and destruction by careless visitors.
Recently, however, I have resorted to the woods and
other places for wild flowers, and have exhibited them,
generally with much satisfaction, in their fresh state.
My conclusion is that the following method is not only —
neat, showy and simple, but calculated to stimulate a de-
sire in many persons to study the names and botanical —
arrangement of our native flora: 4
Take an ordinary table two or three feet wide, and as —
long as you please—say six to twenty feet. Tack a green —
or red colored muslin strip around the table to form a cur- —
tain, reaching to the floor. Cover the top with white
paper. Then at a crockery store you can usually borrow
Aucust 8, 1888.]
as many goblets as you need. Fill these nearly full of
clean sand and enough water to fill the interstices nearly
to the upper surface of the sand. Then put in your best
selected plants, as shown in the illustration. The labels
are written on cards about 11%4x2¥% inches, inserted in
a split at the top of the holder, which is about eleven
inches long and less than one-quarter of an inch square.
These holders can be made of any wood that will split
straight. Our redwood answers well.
Thus we have one species in each goblet with a number
ofspecimens convenient for examination. (See illustration.)
Do not crowd the plants, and keep the goblets clear of each
other. Many a fine display is spoiled by trying to show too
many things in a small space. Some taste is necessary in
arranging the goblets on the table as to height, color, ete.
Here in California we
at all seasons have
enough wild plants in
flower for a nice show.
In the wet sand in
these goblets the flowers
will keep several days
—some for two weeks
—such as the Calochor-
tus, GEnothera, Godetia,
Chlorogalum, Trifolium,
Aquilegia, etc. Some
of the grasses are beauti-
ful, and placedin goblets
as above, willthrow out
their flowers in little tas-
sels, which remain for
several days unchanged.
These wild flowers in
a flower-show contrast
beautifully with the cul-
tivated ones, and furnish
an excellent illustration
of. the difference -be-
tween the wild and the
cultivated.
C. L. Anderson.
Santa Cruz, Cal., July, 1388.
* [Collections of wild
flowers have been an in-
teresting feature for a number of years at the exhibitions of
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The flowers are
generally crowded together in bunches and placed in nar-
tow vases of water. They soon wilt when treated in this
way ; and the collections lose much of the beauty and at-
tractiveness they would possess if more taste could be dis-
played in their arrangement and in grouping the different
varieties. Dr. Anderson’s suggestion is one which might
be tried with advantage at Eastern flower shows.—Ep. |
Wild Flowers for Exhibition.
The Flora of the Florida Keys.
BOTANICAL survey of that unique portion of out coun-
try known as the Florida Keys confirms an opinion that.
would naturally be formed after studying a map—namely,
that the flora of these islands is nearly, if not quite, identical
with that of the coast region of the neighboring Antilles.
Among the very few species which botanists do not know to
grow elsewhere—though it is probable that they may be found
in more southern regions—is the newly discovered Pseudo-
phenix Sargentii. This interesting Palm is confined to two of
the keys, namely, Elliott's and Long, which are over fifty miles
distant from each other. On account of the small number of
these trees and the precarious conditions under which they
pow, they might have disappeared wholly from the world but
or their timely discovery by Professor Sargent and the enter-
prise of Messrs. Reasoner Brothers, of Manatee, in obtaining
plants and seeds for cultivation.
The renewed interest which this discovery has awakened in
a region which has long been famous among naturalists and
lovers of nautical adventure, seems to warrant a brief account
of some botanical observations on these islands made by me
Garden and Forest.
279
during several cruises since the year 1880. A botanical sur-
vey of the Reef Keys reveals several marked characteristics,
of which the three following are most important:
Ist. The number of species is small as compared with simi-
lar areas elsewhere, the total number being about 230, which
is scarcely one-fourth of the number that is usually to be
found in a region of similar extent.
2d. The proportion of woody plants (trees and shrubs) is
large, being one-third of the whole number, while in the State
of Florida as a whole the proportion of woody to herbaceous
species is as one to seven.
3d. The species, as a rule, belong to tropical or sub-tropical
orders, or to orders which are most largely represented in
more southern latitudes. Thus we find five species of the
Myrtle family, which is not represented in other States, and
there are fourteen shrubs and trees of the Cinchona family,
while but one is found in other States. On the other hand,
there are no representatives whatever of those large and im-
portant orders, Ranunculaceae, Caryophyllacea, Saxifragacee,
Onagracee, Umbellifera, Polemoniacee and Liliacee, and but
one each of the Crucifere, Rosacee and Amentace@, each ot
which orders has from 140 to 270 representatives in the United
States.
These peculiarities are easily accounted for. In the first
place, these keys present no material differences of altitude
and latitude, and very little as regards soil, and differences in
those three respects are the leading factors in determining the
richness or poverty of the flora of any section. On these
islands there are no hills or mountains, no brooks or rivers,
no valleys or fresh water swamps, no clay, loam or siliceous
sand, The soil consists throughout of coralline and sede-
mentary lime-rock, calcareous sand anda little mould resulting
from the decay of vegetation. The rocky soil is permeated by
veins of brackish water, and neither salt nor lime is favorable
to great diversity of vegetation.
There is lack of silica for grasses and sedges, and the condi-
tions do not favor that luxuriant growth of Ferns and Orchids
which might be expected in this latitude. On the mainland,
around the Everglades, there are forests more tropical in ap-
pearance thanany on the keys. Asregards natural vegetation,
the keys improve all the way from Key West to the upper end
of Key Largo, and there is a corresponding improvement in
their adaptation to farming or gardening purposes.
_As the best lands for cultivation are those that support the
best forests, the latter have been destroyed, in great measure,
by the clearing of land, the favorite Pineapple crop being one
that is continually calling for new land. Fine old forests of
Mastic, Mahogany, Crab-wood and scores of other interesting
trees have been cut and burned to make room for plantations,
and of some of the rare trees it is doubtful if any specimens
are now to be found on the keys.
The botanical characteristics of all the Florida Keys, with the
exception of one group, are essentially the same, the variety
of species and difference in development being governed by
varying elevation and fertility. The inner shores of the keys,
and portions of their outer shores, are covered with almost
impenetrable thickets of Red Mangrove (Rhizophora), among
which are interspersed the Black Mangrove (Avicennia) and
the Red and White Buttonwoods (Conocarfus and Laguncu-
laria). Inside of these and on more exposed shores are spe-
cies of Coccoloba, Mimusops, Bumelia, Eugenia, Pithecolobium,
Genipa, Cesalpinia, Facguinia, Erithalis, and a few herba-
ceous plants.
On shores composed of the sand which results from the
wear of corals and shells are found banks of the ashy-hued
Sea Lavender (Zournefortia gnaphalodes), the greener Bay
Cedar (Suriana maritima), Borrichia, Cakile, Euphorbia gla-
bella and trichotoma, and certain coarse grasses. Inside of the
litoral thickets, where there is more or less protection from sea
winds, we come to rugged fields, cultivated or neglected. If
cultivated, they afford a sufficiency of weeds and grasses to
satisfy the botanist,. but when allowed to lie waste for a year they
become impassable by reason of the astonishingly rank vege-
tation which takes possession of them, everything being en-
tangled and bound together by vines.
The chief natural impediment to locomotion in this almost
tropical region consists in the abundance of tough and woody
vines, and of trees which grow mainly in a lateral direction,
sending out long, slender and often thorny branches near the
ground. Several species vary in habit of growth, being shrubs
in open ground and high-climbing vines when growing among
trees. Such examples go to prove that the climbing habit is
attributable to an attempt to reach direct sunshine, without
which few plants can perform the important function of seed-
bearing or reproduction.
280
There is no cause to fear the extermination of any herba-
ceous or shrubby plant, or of many trees, for the planters are
constrained to leave skirts of forest around their clearings to
protect their crops against the much dreaded hurricanes which
sometimes visit these shores. For this reason none of the
keys appear to be denuded of their forest covering, though
we often perceive that the torests have receded a considerable
distance from the outer shores. On the inner shores, and in
many other places where the ground is too low for cultivation,
the trees are secure against destruction.
There is a group of keys, to which allusion has been made,
which presents a singular contrast to the range as a whole, in
physical as well as botanical features, Throughout their whole
extent of nearly one hundred and fifty miles in length the keys
lie nearly parallel with the coast, but on the western side of the
open waters called Bahia Honda, in a direction south-west
from Cape Sable, there are several long keys whose trend is
almost at a right angle with that of the other keys—namely,
from north-west to south-east. The vegetation of these is
strikingly different from that of the other keys, and most re-
sembles the vegetation found on the mainland south-east of
the Everglades.
This group of keys is covered with low and thin forests com-
posed of Pinus Cubensis, Thrinax argentia and T. parviflora.
The Pine is wholly lacking on the main range of keys. This
and the Palmetto, which is represented by a few trees on Key
Largo, are the only trees common to the southern and _ north-
ern extremities of Florida. The Scrub Palmetto (Saéal_ser-
rulata) also occurs on these piney keys, and slender specimens
of the Wax Myrtle (AZyrica cerifera), which on the peninsula
attains tree-like proportions. ‘These four species, with two or
three herbaceous plants, are the only ones common to the keys
and the northern portion of the state.
A person who is acquainted only with the vegetation of
more northern states, or with that of northern Florida, in tra-
versing these keys will find scarcely a tree or herb identical
with or even resembling those with which he has been ac-
quainted. He may hear familiar names in use by the inhab-
itants, such as Cherry, Mulberry and Cedar, but on examination
he will find the species thus designated to be entirely different
from those which he has known by such names before. The
curiosity is piqued at every step by some unfamiliar and in-
teresting form of vegetation, and if the tourist be accompanied
by one of the inhabitants he will learn much of the popular
lore regarding names and uses, for these people are remarka-
bly intelligent in regard to the vegetable and animal life of the
region they inhabit. It will be found that almost all the adult
inhabitants come from the Bahamas, that nearly all the trees
and other plants are common to those islands, and, in short,
that these islands have much more in common with the Lesser
Antilles than with the Florida mainland.
A tour of the Florida keys reveals nature and society under
such peculiar conditions that any one who has never visited
this insular region may rest assured that there remains in
store for him at least one source of novel and enjoyable expe-
rience, though he may have traversed the mainland of the
United States from Maine to California. As regards conforma-
tion and soil, the inhabitants and their pursuits, the surround-
ing waters and the marine life they support, these coral
islands differ essentially from all other portions of our vast
country; but in no particular do they present so striking a
dissimilarity as in the vegetation which covers them.
Jacksonyille, Florida. A, Al, Curtiss.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HE Rose Show season began in London with a great
exhibition at the Alexandra Palace in the last week
of June, and rather early for exhibition blooms. On nearly
every stand were fine flowers of Lady Mary Fitzwilliam,
not a new Rose, and yet not common in cultivation, one
of Mr. Bennett's great successes. Everybody is charmed
with the Rose, its large size, superb form, and delicate, soft
pink color. Then, again, its vigorous growth and free
habit of flowering make it a first-rate garden Rose. — It
will certainly in time divide honors with the beautiful old
La France, with which an uneducated eye always com-
pares it. Asport from Lady Mary is called Lady Alice,
which, I believe, originated in the Cheshunt nurseries. It
differs from its sister Rose in color only, or rather in the
absence of color, as the bloom is almost a pure white.
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 8, 1888.
The best white hybrid perpetual at the show was Violette
Bowyer, but this, as well as other white Roses, like Mer-
veille de Lyon, will be better later in the season. A very
rich-colored Rose is Ulrich Brunner, which still may be
called a new Rose, and one that is likely to become a
favorite, as the ‘‘build” of the flower is admirable.
Among the newer Tea Roses were Madame Cuisin and
Madame de Watteville, both of which differ from most
other Teas in color. Their flowers, instead of being en-
tirely of one tint, have the petals exquisitely washed or
flushed with a clear pink, while the form in both is perfect,
especially in the halfexpanded stage. Ladies fix upon
these two Roses at once, and that is not a bad test of
their merits. Grace Darling, another of Bennett’s seed-
lings, was very fine, the richness of the color, a clear
pink, being most pleasing. This is a Rose of the high-
est merit, not only for exhibition, but as a garden Rose.
I saw to-day a bed of it, and every bush (there were a score
or more) was literally covered with bloom—good, well-
formed flowers, fit for exhibition. ‘The habit of growth
and foliage also being so vigorous, leaves nothing to be
desired. It has been in flower in the open since the first
week in June. Anew Tea, shown by Mr. Prince, of Ox-
ford, named S, A. Prince, has flowers of fine form, pure
white, and scented strongly. It is, of course, premature
to speak of its merits from exhibition blooms alone.
The new hybrid (also one of Bennett's) named Mrs.
John Laing, was marvelously fine, as may be gathered
from the fact that it took the first prize in the class for any
kind of Rose. This Rose is a triumph of English Rose
raising, and will tend to refute the prevalent idea that good
new Roses can only be expected from the Continent. I
have this week had a private view of a very beautiful
new Rose, which Mr. Bennett has named Cleopatra. It is
a true Tea, and if ] were asked to compare it with an old
sort I should say it was most like Catherine Mermet. But
it is different, because finer in size, in form, in colorand in
perfume. Itis one of the deepest ‘‘built” Teas I have
seen, and the petals are large, of wonderful substance, as
if chiseled out of some hard material. The color is a soft
rose pink, with a suspicion of buff in the tint, and therein
lies its peculiarity. The flowers, three parts open, are.
matchless in form, and the perfume is exquisite. Cleopatra
has been seen by a few people only, but all agree that she
is a veritable queen among Roses. I also saw at the same
nursery the lovely Princess Beatrice, which has always
seemed to me one of the very best of Tea Roses, and yet I
was told the other day by an American nurseryman that
it was considered of no value with you. But surely the
flowers cannot have been seen in perfection. It could
scarcely have had a fair trial, seeing that it was only sent
out last June. The flower is large, the form perfect, the
scent unsurpassable, and the color delights everybody. In
fine blooms the outer petals are yellowish white, washed
with rose, the inner all closely packed, an apricot yellow
deeper towards the centre. The leaves have ruddy-
tinged stalks, and are broad and of a very deep green
color. If I were confined to a select dozen Tea Roses,
Princess Beatrice would certainly be one of thems Another
new Tea that has been talked about a good deal this sea-
son is Sappho, which Messrs. Paul, of Waltham Cross, have
exhibited. I should compare it with Madame Berard, the
near relative of Gloire de Dijon, as the blooms are alike in
color, though different in form. Sappho has _prettily-
shaped flowers, very full and deep, and of a warm apricot
yellow, and perfumed with the delicious scent character-
istic of the old Gloire de Dijon. As a pot bush it is un-
commonly vigorous, and the large number of flowers and
buds show it to be a free flowerer.
This year has brought an exceptionally large crop of
new varieties of the Polyantha Roses. Bennett has sent
out two named Golden Fairy and Little Dot, which look
uncommonly like twins. Both have tiny, very double
flowers of a deep apricot tint, flushed with pink, but
Golden Fairy is the lighter of the two, and the half-open
Aucusr 8, 1888.]
flowers look like the buds of W.
A. Richardson, as the color fades
at the edges of the petals, and
gives that soft gradation of tint
which all admire in the Richard-
son Rose. These fairy Roses are
favorites with the florists already,
as they work up so nicely as but-
ton-hole bouquets. The Cheshunt
Pauls have shown a pretty new
miniature Rose, called Red Pet,
which is really a pigmy China
Rose. The color is bright crim-
son, and though the blooms are
not up to the florist’s ideal, they
are very telling on account of
their color and profusion,
W. Goldring.
London, June 30th.
New or Little Known
Plants:
Cypripedium Californicum.*
es species of Lady's-Slipper,
from the Pacific coast, is notable
for its large leafy bracts and for the
number ot its flowers. The stem is
sometimes two feet high, with nu-
merous leaves, which continue to
the top, with little reduction in size,
the upper bearing in their axils a
single, nearly sessile flower. The
sepals and petals are greenish yel-
low, short, and nearly equal in
length, the two lower sepals united
into one, and about half an inch
long. The saccate lip is but little
longer, and is white or tinged and
spotted with pink. The species is
common in the mountains of north-
ern California, growing in the open
woods in damp soil or swamps.
S.W.
Plant Notes.
Two Rare Orchids.
RCHID lovers have been inter-
ested of late in the simultane-
ous blooming of two rare plants in
the possession of Messrs. Siebrecht
& Wadley, at New Rochelle. The
one, Zygopetalum Sedeni, formerly
belonged to the Morgan collection ;
the other, a white variety of Ca/¢leya
Gigas, is certainly unique, since it is
the only specimen known to exist.
It came with a lot from Siebrecht
& Wadley’s collector in Colombia,
who reported that there was a new
species among them, but the mark
for identification was lost in transit,
and the plant was not known until
it flowered last season. This year
it is much increased in strength and
size, and now bears four spikes of
bloom.
The flowers are held boldly erect;
the petals and sepals stand out, and
are pearly white. The lip is large,
crinkled into a little frill around the
edge ; it has a slight mauve tinge, like a delicate reflection.
The throat is pale yellow, while on each side is the yellow eye-
like spot which characterizes C. Gigas. There are four or five
*C. CALIFORNICUM, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad., vii. 389; Bot. Calif., ii. 138. Pubes-
cent, leafy ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, the upper narrower and acuminate ;
flowers three to six, on short pedicels in the upper axils; sepals greenish white,
broad, acute, one-half inch long, the lower united to the apex, about equaling the
narrower petals ; lips slightly longer, oblong-obovate, white or pinkish, pubescent
within at base ; capsule reflexed.
Garden and Forest.
Fig. 45.-—Cypripedium Californicum.
flowers on each peduncle, large and showy. C. Gigas is
generally regarded as the finest Caé¢/eya known, and this
new variety certainly deserves high rank among those with
dale-colored flowers. It is probably the most striking novelty
in Orchids now in the country.
The rare Zygopetalum Sedent is an interesting garden hy-
brid, the result of a cross between Z. Maxillareand Z. Mackayi.
It has narrow lanceolate leaves, and strong spikes of singularly
282
dark flowers. The sepals and petals are dark purplish brown,
having a regular border of pale green ; there are no bars, as
in the case of the parents. The ‘broad, round lip is of a bril-
liant purple, veined at the margin ; the ruff a bright bluish
purple. It is very distinct from any Other Zygopetalum, though
approaching Z, Mackayi in habit.
This plant was originally imported by Mrs. Morgan, but it
never flowered until in the hands of its present owners
New York. Lemily Louise Taplin.
Cultural Department.
Strawberries.
V IE have tried most of the leading kinds of Strawberries
here and have now twenty -eight varieties in our trial
bed, but never have had a better Strawberry tor our ground
than Sharpless. It is a vigorous grower and retains its ‘foliage
in good condition throughout the summer; it is a heavy
cropper, and its berries are exceptionally large, handsome
and well colored, and with us it always ripens to the tips.
But, except under high cultivation and in deep, rich, moder-
ately moist land, it is not as desirable as some others. Our
first berries this year were pronounced by connoisseurs as
‘most delicious,” but this quality in Sharpless is unusual. In
May abundant rain fell with no very high temperature —
just such weather as is most suitable for Strawberries ; June
opened dry and warm, the best weather for ripening fruit,
and to these causes are attributed the fine quality of the early
berries. But the 16th of June brought hail and rain, and
soon after the Sharpless berries assumed their characteristic
sourness. Henderson, Hovey, Belmont and Wilder are of
much better quality, but each one of them with us has some
fault—lack of vigor, uneven ripening, srnall fruit, or other
drawback—and even Louise and Mineola, both delicious ber-
ries and raised not far trom here, do not, after a two years’
trial, warrant us in using them for a main crop. Asa heavy
cropper and for use as preserves, the Crescent has been our
favorite; but in its fresh state it is much more acid than
Sharpless, and not nearly so large or handsome. For fine
quality and aroma, our American varieties are not as good as
the European Strawberries, but, unfortunately, these are of
no use here. All the finest English varieties have been
imported and grown on this place, and every one of them has
been a failure.
Farmers and market gardeners, as a rule, grow their Straw-
berries in the open field, in rows two and one-half to three feet
apart, and after the first year allow the runners to grow and
remain, so as to form matted beds. But we have no room
for horse cultivation. Farmers genere ally plant their Straw-
berries in spring; we always plantin August. And from this
planting we not only get an excellent crop of fruit the next
June, but we always get our very finest and largest berries
from these young plants. And we so manage it as to renew
half of our plz intations every year; the young or one-year-
old plants yield the finest berries, the two-year-old plants
the heaviest crop.
Strawberries for home use should have the very best
ground in the garden. Plan inspring where the next Strawberry
Bed i is to be made, and then plant the ground with Peas, Snap
Beans, Cauliflower, Beets, Onion-sets, or any other early crop
that has time to mature and be off the eround before the end
of July. It is not advisable that Strawberries should succeed
Strawberries, still we have a piece of deep, moist land, so well
adapted tor Strawberries, that we have cropped it with them
continuously for several years, but, notwithstanding the most
liberal treatment and annual renewing, the plants are showing
signs of enervation, and are not now as luxuriant as they used
to be two or three years ago. After clearing off the summer
crop apply a coating, two to three inches deep, of well-rotted
farm manure, then “double dig the ground with forks, being
careful to break it up very fine and loose and keep the manure
not deeper than four or five inches under the surface of the
ground. Now measure and mark off the patch in rows twenty
inches apart by drawing drills an inch or two deep. You may
plant at once or delay till your plants are ready or convenience
will permit.
Set out the plants eighteen inches apart in the rows, or, if an
extra heavy crop is desired the first year, instead of setting
them out singly set them out two together. Water well after
planting, and in the event of dry w eather, continue to water
the plants two or three times a week while the drought lasts.
The stronger the plants become before winter sets in, the
larger the. crop of berries they will bear next summer.
Throughout the fall keep the young plants free from runners
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 8, 1888.
and the ground perfectly clean and well hoed. About the
middle of November break up some barn-yard manure fine and
scatter it broadcast over the Strawberry ground, say an inch or
more deep. Then again, about the middle of December, or
after a firm frost sets in, and betore lasting snow may be
looked for, scatter some sea thatch, sedge or salt hay two inches
deep over the plants, and so as to cover the whole patch. This
mulching and covering prevents the plants from being thrown
out of the ground by. trost, and also saves the crowns and
leaves from | being injured by hard frost, searing frosty winds,
or warm sunshine.
In field. cultivation this straw covering is allowed to
remain permanently, and the Strawberry leaves and flowers
come up through it in spring, and it also serves as a summer
mulching to kee ep the fruit clean. This is not our plan. The
covering is removed early in April, the ground is cleaned
and cultivated two or three times, and then about the
1st of May mulched again withstrawy material. In cultivating
the ground use a prong-hoe; this loosens and breaks up fine
the ground between the plants and allows a ready ingress
for rain and air. Its effect upon the plants is shown in their
vigorous condition. Of course, any time betore the fruit be-
gins to ripen is soon enough to apply the summer mulching,
but by doing so early in May there is not the danger of i injuring
foliage or flowers, which there would be were it delayed till
the end of the month.
Strawberries usually begin to ripen here about the toth
of June and last till the end of the month; this year we did not
pick our first dish till the 14th of June, ut they lasted till the
4th of July. Some days betore they begin to ripen the cat-
birds and robins are particularly voracious and peck every
softening truit. In private gardens, where
shelter among fruit and shade trees, shrubs, bushes and vines,
they are more numerous and destructive than in the open
fields. We circumvent their attacks by erecting a temporary
frame around and over the beds, and spread over it some
netting, as described on page 176. As soonas the strawber-
ries are gone the frame is removed. The netting is folded
up and laid indoors till the first of September, when it is
brought out to cover the grape-vines ; the stakes are needed
at once for Dahlias, Hollyhocks and Sun-flowers.
After the busy season is over the one-year-old plantations
are thoroughly cleaned; weeds and straw mulch are removed,
and the surface is loosened with a prong-hoe, care being
taken not to injure the runners. This allows them to root
readily. The two-year-old plantations
removed at once.
Before the end of July many of the runners are large and
sufficiently rooted for setting out, and, the ground being
ready, had better be transplanted at once. By using potted
runners we can plant at any time, in dry or moist weather,
and if the ground is not yet ready for the new plantation, we
can lift and store the pot plants close together somewhere by
themselves, and, in this way, are enabled to strip and clean the
plantation from which they were taken. We use three and
one-half and four inch pots; a double row of these is plunged
in every second alley to the depth of half an inch below their
brims; half fill them with sandy soil, then place a runner crown
in each pot, bending the thread of the runner in too, and then
fill up with the same sort of soil. It is very easily a and quickly
done. The runners root readily in the fresh soil and in four-
teen to twenty days have filled the pots with roots, and
may then be severed from the parent plants, and the pots
lifted out and removed from the beds. From this time till
fruiting time next summer not a runner ora weed should be
allowed to grow in the plantation.
Glen Cove, N. Y.
Wm. Falconer.
The Currant and its Cultivation.
HE currant crop has been a good one and the demand has
been equal to the supply. It is not strange that so
excellent a dessert fruit when fully ripe and so fine a
canned fruit either alone or with raspberries for winter
use should be in heavy demand. And yet in too many in-
stances the quality and size of the fruit is allowed to Suffer
from the attacks of the Currant worm when a little hellebore
and its timely application will prevent the loss. It is no un-
common spectacle even in gardens ordinarily well kept to see
Currant bushes entirely stripped of their foliage, and the fruit
ripening prematurely exposed to the full rays of the sun, in-
ferior in size, and deficient in flavor. Such fruit is not fit for
table use in a fresh state, neither can it be as good for canning.
A tablespoonful of white hellebore to a two-gallon pail of
water sprinkled on the bushes, will rid them of the pest and
the fruit will ripen in perfection.
these birds find
ee eS es iy ee ep nes Se net
are dug out and
Garden
Aucusr 8, 1888.]
Of course there is no danger from the use of this drug even
to those who hold that the flavor of fruit is impaired by wash-
ing. It is surprising, by the way, that water in the form of rain
and dew does not rob a currant of its flavor, while dipping the
cluster into cool clean water is said to have such a deleterious
effect upon its quality.
Satisfactory crops of currants are only possible with good
culture and a soil enriched with plenty of manure. The old
Red and White Dutch varieties will produce fruit that will
compare favorably insize with more modern introductions. The
large fruit of the Cherry and Versailles Currants will depreciate
in size by neglect and the productive qualities will be seriously
impaired. Asa rule I have found the latter to be the more
productive of the two, while the White Grape is the best of all
in quality. For the last decade these three varieties have been
the most popular ones before the public. Some four years
ago when Fay’s Prolific was announced the claims for it were re-
garded as extravagant, but now after it has been duly tried it
has been found to be one of the few new fruits which’ justified
the rosy promises of the advertiser. Those who had the
courage to try the new fruit in a small way regret now that
they did not venture to buy more. Such a fruit is a fitting
monument to any man’s memory. A White Currant of as
fine flavor as the White Grape with the other merits of Fay's
would be a welcome addition to the list.
In Black Currants we have not found any great improve-
ments. The most recent addition we have tried is Lee’s Pro-
lific, but the improvement over the old Black Napies is very
slight, ifany. While young there is a semblance of increased
size and productiveness, butit does not seem so apparent after
the bushes reach maturity. The demand for this fruit seems
on the decline. Its peculiar pungent flavor and aroma are
disagreeable to most native Americans, but when made into
jellies or preserves it is distinctly good, and its various pre-
parations are supposed to possess valuable medicinal pro-
perties.
Some years ago the late Shelby Reed, of western New York,
sent me several samples of wiid Currants and Gooseberries,
natives of the great western plains of Colorado. These varied
in color from black and red to yellow. ‘They were of good
size and very productive. Whether he attempted to improve
or acclimate them at his home I do not know, but I consider
the field a fine one for experiment, and well worthy the atten-
tion of those who have the time and inclination to enter it.
Montclair, N. J. £. Williams.
The Vegetable Garden.
ONTINUE to sow Snap Beans once a week in rows two
to two and one-half feet apart. About the middle of
the month sow French Etampes in rows eighteen inches apart
and in a warm, sheltered spot; should these not be likely to
ripen betore frost comes, frames and sashes may be placed
over them about the middle of September. Sow Bliss’
Abundance and McLean's Advancer Peas in rows two feet
apart; they will not need brush. Plant out Savoys, Cabbage
and Cauliflower as ground becomes vacant. In localities
where this planting will be too late Burpee’s Extra Early Ex-
press Cabbage will yet form good hearts; it isa very quick-
heading kind, Give Celery, either in the seed-bed or planted
out, abundance of w ater; this'is a plant which, from
sowing till harvesting, should never know what drought
means. Use rich land and mark it off into rows three to tour
and one-half feet apart, according as the Celery is needed for
early or late use; if for early use it must be earthed up full in
the rows, hence needs more room than it for late, when
handling only isnecessary. Sow a little Chervil in some odd
corner for use in fall and to live over winter. Thin out
Chicory plants to an inch or two apart in the rows. Cory was
our best early Corn; sown late in May, it was ready for use by
the middle of July. Marblehead was afew di iys later, but of
better quality. It is too late for fresh plantings of Corn now.
Egg plants are now swelling fruit. Do not let them suffer
from drought and keep the } potato beetles hand picked. A
succession of Cucumbers may still be raised in frames. In
the case of the vines out-of-doors, pick off all mature fruit,
even if they are not wanted; by this means the old vines will
continue longer in bearing. Scatter fresh tobacco stems under
and about the vines to dispel aphides. | Prevention is better
than cure. Melons are now setting and swelling their fruit.
Take pieces of boards, say four by six inches, and place one
under each melon to keep it off the damp gr ound. Staves of
old cement barrels are good for this purpose. Keep open
pathways between the rows of hills for convenience in mgather-
ing; if the vines are allowed to grow together, we are apt
and Forest.
283
to tread upon and destroy them in gathering fruit, pulling out
weeds, or in doing other work among them,
Sow Lettuces for succession and plant out a little every
week. Some Endive may also now be sown for plants to be
used in November. Endive is not in demand, it good Let-
tuces can be had, but full-grown plants of it can ‘be easier
kept in cold-frames in winter than mature Lettuces.
Keep seed Onions growing as longas possible. The ground
after them will be in good time for Strawberries or Spinach.
Potato and Top Onions and those raised from sets, also Gar-
lic and Shallots, are now harvested. Tie them into bunches
and hang them up, orcrop them close and spread them out
on the floor or shelves in some dry, airy building.
Get ina main crop of winter Beets. © Sow in rows eighteen
inches apart. Treat Turnips in the same way, only they may
be sown a week or fortnight later than Beets. Some people
like winter Radishes—that is, such sorts as Scarlet Chinese,
which are grown into good sized roots, and gathered and
stored in moistish sand in winter like Carrots or Turnips.
Large roots are not desirable; those of about one and one-
half to two inches in diameterare large enough. Sown about
the 25th of August, we get capital roots for storing; in less
favorable localities they should be sown ten days earlier. But
they are notas desirable as the succulent French Breakfast
and Wood's Frame? which can be kept growing in frames or
ereen-houses during winter. Finish sowing winter Carrots ;
if sown later than the first weel of August they are not likely
to be large enough before frosty wez ither sets in. The Half-
Long Re d Stump. rooted is an excelent sort. Among Toma-
toes, Farquhar’s Faultless was our earliest to ripen this year,
but it is a very uneven, deep-ribbed sort. Early King Hum.
bert and Volunteer were about two days later than Faultess ;
the Humbert, although extremely prolific, has not the large
size or round form of the beautiful Volunteer. Early Ad-
vance came nextin point of earliness; then Acme, and then
the other varieties all about the same time. GL.
Long Island,
Some Floral Novelties.
Larkspur, Stock-Flowered Rosy Scarlet, is a new variety, with
single, but often double, flowers, of a rose, rose-red or rose-
pink shade. Itis as free-growing and free- blooming as any
other annual Larkspur, and it comes true from seed, but
while there is in this variety a new shade of color among
these Larkspurs, we do not get in it anything very striking
or of much importance,
Statice superba is an annual species from Turkestan, sent
out this year. In habit and general appearance it some-
what resembles. Suzvorow?i, “which appeared a few years
ago. Its foliage is sinuately cut and lobed and produced in
flat rosettes, while from the middle of these tufts arise much
branched or plumose spikes of small, pale, rose-purple
flowers. But, so far, it is neither as pretty nor as vigorous as
S. Suworowii, at least, so it appears here, and the two
species are growing together.
Drummond Phloxes have, of recent years, been considerably
OMe especially in the increased size and brightness and
variety in color of the flowers; this large-flowered race is now
known as grandiflora. Florists have succeeded in doubling
the flowers of a white, and also of a red, variety, but the
doubling is only semi-double, and, as regards the beauty ot
the flowers, it is more of an injury than a benefit, The double
white comes fairly true from seed, but of the double red
only asmall percentage come double. Under the name of
grandiflora fimbriata, there is a purple-flowered variety, with
fimbriated or notched edges and a narrow edging of white,
but, except as a novelty, it is of little value; the color is too
poor. Evolved from this fimbriated flower and now dis-
tributed under the name of cuspidata, comes an extraordinary
flower; each lobe of the corolla is furnished with one long,
narrow, pointed segment and two lesser ones, and all bor-
dered with a narrow, white band. But here again the color is
only dark violet-purple. It is also distributed ‘under the name
of Star of Quedlenburg. Its singular appearance makes it a
striking novelty, but, so far as beauty, showiness or general
usefulness is ‘concerned, it is not as good as the common,
plain-flowered varieties. A large proportion of the plants
come true from seed. There is also a dwarf race of Drum-
mond Phloxes that are indispensable in their way; they are
used in beds and borders with much neatness, but their greatest
usefulness is as pot plants; for which purpose they are admir-
ably adapted and largely grown by some florists. WF.
Ay ater
PAA Hi
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 8, 1888.
Olive Tree in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Orchids in Bloom.—Le@/ia cal/istoglossa.—This Orchid is so
named from its gorgeous lip, which rivals even that of its near
relative, Z. ded/a. In shape it is much like that of ZL. purpur-
ata, with a fine undulated margin. The color is a rich purple
shaded to maroon, the pale yellow throat being streaked with
purple. Itis the result of intercrossing Lelia purpurata with
Cattleya Gigas. In growth it much resembles its seed parent.
The flower, appearing when the growth is only half matured,
is large, of a delicate rose color and delightfully fragrant.
This hybrid is as yet very rare, but like the majority of hybrids,
is so free growing that it cannot fail to be moderately plentiful
ina few years. A warm house, with plenty of water while
in active growth, should be given it, with only sufficient
water to keep the bulbs from shriveling during the winter,
and like all other members of this genus the roots should be
allowed to ramble at will.
Celogyne pandurata.—This curious Orchid is now in flower
with us; the remarkable combination of black and green in
the flowers being so rare render it a very interesting species,
The racemes bear eight to twelve pale green flowers about
three inches across, the pandurate lip being irregularly streaked
with black. It is an extremely free growing kind, often flower-
ing twice in one year, and should be kept in a warm house all
the time and liberally supplied with water. Baskets are best
suited for it, filled with charcoal, and very little peat and moss,
as it dislikes much material around its roots. It is a native of
Borneo.
Kenwood, N. Y. Ia, Goldring.
ihe Olive: liree:
HE Olive tree has in all ages been celebrated as a
special gift of Heaven and as the emblem of peace
and plenty. The wild and the cultivated Olive were
mentioned in the earliest books written in the He-
brew language; it was one of the trees of the prom-
ised land of Canaan; and it was a branch of this
tree which the dove sent out by Noah brought back into
Aucusr 8, 1888.]
the ark. The Olive was cultivated by the ancient Egyp-
tians, and by the Greeks during several centuries before
the Christian era. They brought it probably from the
southern part of Asia Minor, where extensive forests of
the wild Olive still exist; at least this is the opinion of
M. Alphonse De Candolle, who, in his ‘‘ Orig7ne des Plantes
Cultwées,” has collected what is known of the early his-
tory of the Olive tree. Whatever region may claim the
honor of being the first home of the Olive, it has now
become widely distributed, primarily by man, and second-
arily, and very considerably, no doubt, by the action of
birds, being found in a more or less wild state from the
drier regions of India through the Levant and the whole of
‘the Mediterranean Basin to Portugal, Morocco, Madeira
and the Canary Islands, where De Candolle doubtfully
suggests it might have been carried by the Phcenicians.
The Olive (Olea Huropea) is a tree with a short, stout
trunk, three to six feet, or even more, in diameter, divided
afew feet from the ground into a number of large branches.
It reaches, under favorable conditions, a height of forty or
fifty feet. The bark, which is gray, is quite smooth on the
branches and on the trunks of young trees, becoming
rough and deeply cleft on old trees. The leaves are
opposite, persistent, coriaceous, lanceolate-acuminate, less
than an inch long on the wild plants, an inch and a half
to two inches and a half long on some of the cultivated
varieties. They are entire, dark green on the upper, and
covered with a pale tomentum on the lower surface.
The small white flowers appear in axillary racemes
equaling the leaves in length. The ovoid fruit of the
wild plant hardly exceeds a red currant in size, while
in some of the cultivated varieties it is considerably more
than an inch long. Not more than one or two fruits de-
velop then from each raceme, although in the case of the
wild plant there are often six, or even more. The fruit,
which in most of the best varieties is black when ripe,
is covered with a smooth and shining skin, covering a
soft green pulp filled with oil, and adhering to the hard,
oval, oblong stone, pointed at both ends, and consisting
usually of a single cell by abortion, and containing a
single oily seed. As might have been expected in the
case of a plant carefully cultivated for centuries in dif-
ferent countries, and by different races of men, many
varieties of the Olive have been developed. No less than
thirty-two such varieties are described systematically in
the Nouveau Duhamel (v., p. 70, 4 25 to 32), where by far
the best account of this tree, its economic uses and the
methods employed for the preparation of its products,
may be found.
The Olive flourishes in regions of small rainfall and
in the most arid and barren soil, preferring that which
is strongly impregnated with lime; but it will not sup-
port more than a few degrees of frost. Henry Laurens, a
merchant of Charleston, in South Carolina, introduced the
Olive into America about the year 1755. It is recorded
that his trees bore fruit, ‘‘ which was prepared and pickled
_to equal those imported.” There are fine Olive trees
on the southern end of Cumberland Island, off the Georgia
coast, which bear fruit every year, and which must be
nearly a century old. The climate, however, of the
southern Gulf States, is not well suited to this tree, but on
the Pacific coast in southern California, where it has grown
for more than a century about some of the old Catholic
_missions, it is perfectly at home, and the cultivation of the
Olive and the manufacture of Olive oil is one of the most
promising of the younger California industries. The
ancient Olive tree, which is illustrated upon page 284 of
this issue, is of peculiar interest. It is a venerable and
characteristic specimen of a tree which has few rivals in
its usefulness to the human race, while individually it is
one of the best known and mosi interesting trees in the
‘world. It stands in the Garden of Gethsemane, at the
base of the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, and is known
as ‘‘The Tree of Agony,” being popularly supposed to
have witnessed the vigil of the Saviour.
Garden and Forest.
285
Notes From the Arnold Arboretum.
“ CHRUB,” or Strawberry Bush, as Calycanthus floridus is
commonly called, was once considered an essential
feature of every old-fashioned garden ; and its fragrant, dark
brown flowers are perhaps known to as many people as those
of any American shrub. There are, however, two other spe-
cies of this genus with the same brown and fragrant flowers,
which are not often cultivated, although they are hardier than
C. fragrans, which in severe winters is often killed down to
the ground; and which flowers here early in June, or some
time earlier than C. devigatus and C. glaucus, which are
now in bloom here. The tormer has large oval leaves,
gradually acuminate at the apex, green on both sides, and only
slightly rugose on the upper surface. In C. g/aucus the leaves
are narrower, and considerably larger than in the other spe-
cies, pale below, with a few hairs along the mid-rib, and
rugose on the upper surface. It has large flowers, and rigid,
upright branches, which are sometimes six or eight feet high.
The three species are natives of the Alleghany region from
Virginia to Tennessee and Georgia, C. /evigatus extending
as far north as southern Pennsylvania. Gardeners have too
long neglected this last species, which is one of the most de-
sirable of all hardy summer-flowering shrubs.
The shrubby Cinque-foil (Potentilla fruticosa) is one of the
most widely distributed plants of the north temperate zone,
being found through the northern portions of North America,
in many parts of central and northern Europe, and through
central and Russian Asia to Japan. It isa dwarf and branch-
ing shrub, two to three feet high, an inhabitant of low ground,
and just now a conspicuous object, with its large, terminal,
pale yellow flowers. The leaves are pinnate, with five to seven
pairs of crowded, pale, silky leaflets. The short, flowering
branches die down annually, but the base of the stems is truly
woody. This has been found a useful plant in the Arboretum
forforming masses of low shrubbery among trees, as it spreads
rapidly from underground shoots, soon taking complete posses-
sion of the ground. It may, however, become, like CGevztsta
tinctoria, a dangerous weed if allowed to spread indiscrimi-
nately. It has indeed already overrun and utterly ruined con-
siderable areas of mowing land in some parts of Berkshire
County, in this State, and in Connecticut, where farmers find it
almost impossible to eradicate this plant, and where it is known
as ‘“Hardhack.” Potentilla tridentata is another woody spe-
cies now in flower. It is found sparingly on the New England
coast north of Cape Cod, on the coast of the Great Lakes and
upon the summits of some of the high mountains of eastern
North America. It is a low, spreading plant, only afew inches
high, with handsome dark green and shining, palmate leaves,
with three wedge-oblong divisions, coarsely three-toothed at
the apex, and loose cymes of white flowers, half an inch across.
This is an excellent plant for the margins of the rock-garden,
as it remains a long time in flower, while its foliage is orna-
mental throughout the season.
Among the Leguminous plants now in flower, Amorpha
canescens, the Lead Plant of the western prairies, is by far the
handsomest and best worth notice. It is a spreading bush,
two or three feet high, softly canescent and hoary throughout,
with pinnate leaves, composed of fifteen to twenty-four pairs of
minute leaflets and spikes of handsome bright blue flowers
aggregated in a terminal subsessile panicle. It is found on
dry and sandy prairies from the Red River of the North to
Texas, and its presence is popularly supposed to indicate the
presence of lead-ore. It is an admirable and very hardy
plant in cultivation, remaining in bloom during several weeks.
The Lead Plant is rarely seen in gardens, however, although
one of the first of our western plants known to botanists ; and,
although it was introduced into England as early as 1812, no
figure of it was published until 1882, when it appeared’ in the
Botanical Magazine (¢. 6618). In the same volume of this Maga-
zine appears the figure of another plant of the Pea Family,
Lespedeza bicolor, now in flower. It is a native of north-eastern
Asia from Manchuria and northern China and Japan, and is con-
sidered one of the most beautiful of the hardy shrubs intro-
duced of late years into cultivation. Lespedeza bicolor is a
slender, leafy shrub, four or five feet high, with slender, elon-
gated and very graceful branches, three-foliate leaves on long,
slender petioles, with oblong, obovate leaflets, and axillary or
rarely terminal drooping or sub-erect racemes of showy rose-
colored flowers, an inch long, which are described as some-
times white or violet. This is a perfectly hardy plant and re-
mains a long time in flower. ;
A Heath-like plant, Dadecia polifolia, is in flower. It
is a dwarf shrub with slender ascending branches one or two
feet high, covered with small, narrow leaves, which are dark
286
ereen on the upper surface, and snowy white below, and large
white, purple or rose- colored nodding flowers arranged in
loose terminal racemes. ‘St. Dabeoc’s Heath” is a native of
south-western Europe, where it sometimes covers barren and
gravelly wastes ; and it is found in one or two stations in Ire-
land. Here it is a delicate and not very hardy plant requiring
careful protection in winter and frequent renewal; and in
spite of its beauty it can hardly be recommended for general
cultivation in the climate of the eastern United States.
Rhamnus Frangula is a widely distributed European and
Yorth Asian plant, closely related to the Carolina Buck-
thorn of our Middle and Southern States. It is a tall, erect,
unarmed shrub, growing to a height of eight or ten feet, with
slender branches, handsome, glossy, pale green foliage, and
small, axillary, yellow flowers, which are followed by rather
conspicuous fr uit, which is at first green, then bright red, and
finally, when fully ripe, quite black. This plant continues to
produce flowers in great profusion all summer long, and is
covered during several months with flowers and with fruit in
all stages of development, a peculiarity which, as well as its
handsome foliage and entire hardiness, should give this Buck-
thorn a place in collections of deciduous shrubs. The wood
is known in England as black dogwood, and in common with
that of other species of the genus, has a considerable employ-
ment in the manufacture of gunpowder. Another plant which
flowers here from the middle of July until the coming of frost,
and which produces flowers and ripe fruit simultaneously, is
the Chinese Lycium (ZL. Chinense), near relative of the well
known and familiar Matrimony Vine of all old-fashioned gar-
dens (L. Luropeum). It has long, pendulous, or prostrate,
armed branches, ten or twelve feet long, ovate-acute, dark
green leaves, ré ither large pale purple flowers, and abunds int,
show y, bright scariet, oval or oblong fruit, which is nearly an
inch in length. This is a free growing and very hardy plant,
admirably Suited to train upon pillars or over trellises, and in
every way more showy than the European Matrimony Vine.
Attention has been directed in an earlier. issue ‘of these
notes to the great value of Spzr@a sorbifolia as an ornamental
plant ; mention must now be made of a variety of that plant
cultivated here under the name of S. 7odsolskia, a name not
referred to by Maximowicz in his monograph ot Spiraea, and
here applied to a plant probably of garden origin, and
which only differs from \S. sordzfolia in its much smaller pani-
cles of flowers, and in the fact that it blooms from two to three
weeks later. It is an equally hardy and desirable plant.
Aralia hispida, the Wild Elder of northern woods, may per-
haps be considered a shrub, as the base o the stems are truly
woody. It is a useful plant, largely grown in the Arboretum
for covering the ground under trees and larger shrubs, for
which purpose its habit of spreading rapidly, by means of
underground shoots well adapts it. It deserves notice, too,
as a purely ornamental plant; the foliage is bold, the li rge,
compound corymbs, composed of umbels of yellow flowers,
make it conspicuous during the early weeks of July, and these
are followed in autumn by ‘showy, deep purple fruit,
Rosa setigera, the Michigan or Prairie Rose, is in flower.
Itis a widely distributed species, being found from Ontario
and Wisconsin to Texas, South Carolina and Florida; and the
only American Rose with climbing stems. It is the origin of
the Queen of the Prairies, Baltimore Belle, and other doub le
flowered climbing Roses, and in its single state is one of the
most beautiful of our climbing plants, “with broad and hand-
some foliage, and broad, flat corymbs of large flowers, which
are sometimes nearly three inches across, and deep rose color
when first expanded, but turning nearly white before fading.
The Prairie Rose requires rich, deep soil and generous treat-
ment to develop its greatest be: uuties, but when well grown it
surpasses in beauty any of its progeny. ee
July 21st
The Forest.
The White Pine in Great Britain.
Mr. A. D. Webster, in arecent issue of Zhe Garden,
makes the following interesting statements in regard to the
White Pine (Prmus S/robus) in England, called forth by
Dr. Mayr’s article upon this tree in the. first number of
GarDEN AND Forest. ‘They are all the more interesting be-
cause itis now very generally believed by English planters
and nurserymen that this tree does not flourish in that
country, where for some reason or other it is certainly
much less frequently seen than on the continent of Europe.
“Next to the Corsican Pine (P, Lavicio), |consider the White,
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 8, 1888.
or Weymouth Pine, whether as an ornamental tree or for eco-
nomic planting, the most valuable of the many Pines that have
yet found their way into this country. The woods at Gwydyr
Castle, in North Wales, and of many other places that I could
name, amply substantiate Mr. Mayr’s remarks as to the great
value of the Weymouth Pine as a rapid timber-producer, and
likewise as to its yielding under similar conditions to the
Scotch Fir (P. sylvestris) a far greater amount of wood than
that valuable and much-cherished tree. Let us look at these
Gwydyr specimens and compare their rate of growth and
bulk of timber with that of the Scotch Firs with which they are
associated. Unfortunately, we do not know when these trees
were planted, but one thing is pretty conclusive, that the
whole wood, which crowns a shingly- soiled hill in the roman-
tic and picturesque Conway Vale, was planted at or about the
same time. The Weymouth Pines are now what might in
truth be termed giant specimens, for Iam under the mark in
stating that the average height is fully go feet, and the girth of
the flae-pole- like stems between eight feet and nine feet
at a yard from the ground. Straight as ship masts describes
well their appearance, they being smooth, nicely tapering,
and destitute of branches for about three-fourths of their
height. About the biggest Scotch Fir in the same wood is be-
tween seventy feet and eighty feet in height and with a bole
fully seven feet in eirth. ‘Wére we to touch on cubical con-
tents, the differences in these two species of Pine would hard-
ly be credited, and should any one feel inclined to doubt the
genuineness of these statements, Mr. McIntyre, agent on this
historic Old Welsh estate, will gladly vouch for their accuracy.
The soil at Gwydyr is of a rocky, shingly nature, largely inter-
mixed with the richest of vegetable refuse, fairly moist at all
times, but without stagnant water. Situation not sheltered,
yet not fully exposed. On another estate in Cambria I have
measured specimens of the Weymouth Pine 57 feet in height,
and with stems fully 50 inches in girth at a yard up, the trees
being only thirty-one years old.
“Rt 1,200 feet above the level of the sea, at Strathkyle, in
Ross-shire, the Weymouth, in conjunction with the Corsican
and several other species, is doing well and making rapid pro-
gress. Then look at the Longleat trees. which are fully ninety
feet in height, not long drawn-up poles, but huge stems fully.
eight feet at breast high. I will say no more “about how it
succeeds in this country, for that it does well I am quite con-
vinced.
“But some may ask, What about the timber? for plenty of
foreign trees do fairly well in this country, and yet are value-
less as timber-producers. I also know something of this, and
am able to speak of it in terms of the highest praise.
“ The timber, judging from the specimens I have hada chance
of converting into boards, is of exceptional quality, being clean
and very easily w orked, of a desirable color, and, from experi-
ments instituted five years ago, of a lasting nature.”
Correspondence.
To-the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I should be grateful for some advice as to the best
plants and shrubs for the adornment of a small place at Fal-
mouth, on the southern extremity of Cape Cod. Excepting a
strip of the original ground, the land has been reclaimed from
asalt marsh. The place seems too limited to justify the call-
ing in ofa profe ssional landscape gardener, but Iam inclined
to spare no pains to make the planting effe ctive. Fi
Falmouth, Mass.
[Our correspondent, in common with nine hundred and
ninety-nine persons in every one thousand, who want
to treat a small piece of ground to the best advan-
tage, makes the mistake of thinking that ‘‘the place seems
too limited to call in the aid of the professional landscape
gardener.” A trained artist is needed to develop the pos-
sibilities of beauty, convenience and usefulness in a small
as well as in a large piece of ground, and his knowledge
and ingenuity may be more seriously taxed to make the
most of a plot of ground containing a few hundred square
feet than of a a park of hundreds of acres, It is, of course,
quite outside our editorial duties or aims to give specific
instructions or advice about laying out or planting particu-
lar places. Such advice to be of any practical value must
be based upon exact knowledge not only of local condi-
tions and surroundings, but of the taste and wishes of the
proprietor in regard to the character of his place and of the
Rete
Vibe) -
Tal gk
sip gare
hoe
2 eal Ot eke
fone ere os a
Aucust 8, 1888.]
amount of money he is able or willing to spend on it. It
may be said generally, however, that this particular loca-
tion, in common with many others on the shores of Cape
Cod and at other points on the New England coast, is ex-
ceedingly exposed tovhigh, cold winds, and that the soil is
thin and light, and therefore seriously affected by droughts
in all but exceptional seasons. Trees, even if they could be
made to grow at all in a position so near the shore, would
not be very satisfactory, and a lawn of close-cut turf had
better not be attempted, as it would be pretty sure to be
burned brown all summer long, and to be anything but an
object of beauty. Much of the New England coast-region
is unsuited for gardening, as that term is popularly under-
stood, an art which finds expression in trim lawns and in
beds of plants with colored foliage. The art of true garden-
ing consists in making the most of natural conditions, and
not in attempting the impossible or the unnatural for the
sake of imitating the fashions of other countries. A large
-part of the region in question is covered*with broad ex-
panses of shrubbery composed of dwarf Plums and Vibur-
nums, Huckleberries and Blueberries, Sumach and Wild
_ Roses, Bayberry, Sweet Fern, Inkberry, Smilax and other
dwarf shrubs, combined together in natural masses unsur-
passed in their peculiar way in any other part of the world,
and which are bright and fresh from the early days
of spring until the autumn frosts make them blaze with
new beauty. Itis from among these native plants of New
England that the material for the embellishment of the
grounds of New England sea-shore homes should be se-
lected, and the combinations of these plants which Nature
makes are those which must be studied, if the best which
these homes can be made to express in beauty is to be at-
tained. Let any one compare a mass of the native shrub-
bery sweeping down to the shore on Mount Desert, or on
the southern shores of Cape Cod, with the ordinary im-
proved grounds which may be seen about the villas in
these places, with brown lawns and sandy walks, with
here and there astunted Scotch Pine or a Cut-leaved Birch,
and with beds half filled with forlorn Geraniums or dried-up
Coleus, and he will see that large expenditures of money,
when not directed by adequate knowledge and taste, may,
in attempts at gardening, expel from a spot naturally
beautiful ail its native charms, without supplying anything
in their place—either artistic or pleasing.—Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I notice in your issue of June 27th that our company is
credited with the introduction of that beautiful Japanese shrub,
Symplocos paniculatus. Will you allow me to state that Mr.
Thomas Hogg was the introducer, and we only the dissemi-
nators. Mr. Hogg brought from Japan so many beautiful
things which have produced no profit, either to himself or to
us, that all due credit should be accorded to him. Iam the
more anxious that this should be done here, since I have never *
been able to get the American introducers of new plants from
Japan recognized in English periodicals. I sent a painting of
the beautiful Magnolia parviflora to an English paper, with a
careful description taken from a flower before me, and naming
~ Mr. Hogg as the introducer. This description was ignored, a
very meagre note took its place; and while we were recog-
nized as the senders of the painting, Mr. Hogg was entirely
ignored as the introducer. This experience was repeated in
the case of the Hydrangea named for him, and in the case of
the Japan Maples, the whole collection of which was sent to us
by Mr. Hogg. I mayadd Dr. Hall was treated in the same way.
Flushing, L. I. Sam'l B. Parsons.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Throughout Minnesota and Dakota, along the north
side of railway embankments, the south side of railwe ay cuts,
and on breakings that have lain a year or more, little trees
come up and grow until weeds and grass form fuel enough
for a fire to kill them.
On the prairies and plains these seedlings are not abundant,
but still they do come up.
I believe that if fires could be kept from running over the
land, with occasional tree claims to furnish plenty of seed,
trees and shrubs would soon come in and improve this coun-
try very much,
Mandan, Dakota, July 13th. PTB a
Garden and Forest.
287
Tc the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Reference was made in GARDEN AND FOREST, July 18th,
to Locust and Elder flowers being used in Europe as delicacies
for the table. Of the Locust I cannot speak from experience,
but I can of the Elder. The flowers of the common Elder,
stripped from the stems, are excellent ingredients in waffles or
“flannel” cakes. These flowers add a delicious flavor to the
cakes and are considered healthful. People who are not
quite <esthetic enough to live on the perfume of Lilies, may
find in Elder blooms a seasonable diet. H, V_A.
Palmyra, N. J.
Periodical Literature.
In the Popular Science Monthly for July is an article by Mr.
Grant Allen, even more attractive than the one on ‘“‘ The Bread-
fruit of the Desert” to which we recently called.our readers’
attention. This time his subject is ‘‘ Gourds and Bottles” while
his place of observation is again the north coast of Africa.
The great family of Gourds (Cucurbitace@) is known to us in
this country through our cultivated Melons, Pumpkins and
Cucumbers, and through a few wild species none of which
produces a fruit of any great size. But the fruit of the true
Gourds of which Mr. Allen writes, is familiar not only through
imported dried specimens made to serve as bottles, but
through the innumerable pottery and porcelain imitations of
these bottles which are so characteristic of the art of every
southern and eastern nation. Part of Mr. Allen's article is
taken up with a discussion of the way in which, after having
once learned to make vessels of the dried Gourds themselves,
men learned, first to strengthen them with a coating of baked
clay and then to use the clay by itself while kee ping the
original shapes ; and in showing how all the varieties of
Gourd-like shapes we know may have sprung from direct
imitation, since the Gourd naturally assumes many diverse
forms and may be made to assume a still greater diversity by
being constricted during its growth. But much space is also
given to a description of the habits and manners of growth of
the plants, and of the different ways by which cross-fertiliza-
tion through insect agency is achieved in different species.
In the same number of the Popular Science Monthly Professor
Byron D. Halsted writes of ‘Botany as it May be Taught” ina
manner so sensible and suggestive that his article ought to
attract the attention of all teachers and students in this branch
ot knowledge. Its value is vastly increased, of course, by the
fact that he’ explains methods which are not merely theoreti-
cal, but which he has successfully put in practice with large
classes of young men and women in the State Agricultural
College of Iowa. A third article which may be noted in this
magazine is Dr. Manly Miles’s on ‘ Lines of Progress in Agri-
culture,” while among the minor contributions is an interest-
ing one on ‘ Flower Farming” for the production of essences
in “the south of France, and “another on the manufacture of
India-paper from the fibres of Hemp, Mulberry-bark and simi-
lar substances.
Notes.
The death is announced of Giuseppe Inzenga, a well known
authority on Fungi, who was Professor at the University of
Palermo.
Mr. David Allan, gardener to R. M. Pratt, Esq., Watertown,
Mass., has a number of fine plants of the showy Désa grandi-
Jiora in full bloom.
A single plant of Ampelopsis tricuspidata, on Camden
street, Boston, covers completely the front of a three-story
block of houses for a distance of one hundred and twenty-five
feet.
From Newport are now coming Hydrangeas with blue
flowers and Sweet Peas of the Butterily variety with lilac
edgings. These are now extensively used by florists of this
city in choice designs. ;
In the absence of White Carnations, Asters are largely used
by the Boston florists, during the summer months, in making
up designs. One large grower averages, at the present time,
three thousand Aster-blooms a day.
Mr. John N. May, the well-known Rose-grower of Summit,
New Jersey, is not prepossessed in favor of the Rose, Mrs.
John Laing, owing to the muddy color of its blooms after
they have been cut twelve hours or so. Nevertheless, he
is devoting his largest house to its cultivation, and will give
it a fair trial.
288
A dozen plants of the new Cypripedium bellatulum, recently
described in this journal, were exhibited by the Messrs. Low
ata late London flower show. Every one of them bristled
with flowers, tending to prove the floriferous quality claimed.
for the plant by its introdu
A statue is to be erected to the memory of the French bot-
anist, Planchon, in the town of Ganges, not far from Montpel-
lier, and in the centre of a Grape growing region, once devas-
tated by the Phylloxera, to whose investigation and to the
study of the Vine he largely devoted the last years of his useful
life.
The Royal Horticultural Society of London will give no
more certificates for new varieties of tuberous Begonias.
The committee holds that something like perfection has been
reached in this direction, and that hereafter not an individual
variety, but the particular strain of varieties, should be com-
mended. :
The remarkable specimen of the new variety of Cadtleya
Gigas, described in another column, has been added to the
rich collection of F. L. Ames, Esq. Although it had been in
bloom quite three weeks when it was sent to North Easton,
the flowers were in perfect condition when it arrived at its
new home.
Six thousand bushels is the average annual crop of pears
yielded by three of the larger orchards in Essex County, New
Jersey. This year the crop will hardly reach two hundred
bushels. The failure is attributed, by some fruit-growers, to
unfavorable weather when the trees were in bloom, which
prevented the proper fertilization of the ovule,
Some idea of the dependence of Great Britain upon French
gardeners will be gained from the fact, published in the Fournal
of Horticulture, that during the year 1885 there were shipped
to England from the little port of Roscoff, in Brittany, 11,107
tons of Potatoes; 4,060 tons of Onions; 4,000 tons of Cauli-
flowers; 1,800 tons of Artichokes.
Probably the largest specimen of 7odea bardara,a Fern with
a thick, woody stem, peculiar to Cape Colony, Australia and
New Zealand, ever sent to Europe, has recently been received
at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It weighs nearly 600 pounds,
and the stem, from which spring sixty clusters of fronds, is
four feet high, six feet long, and nearly four feet wide. It is
said to be in good condition.
It is claimed that the first exhibition devoted exclusively to
the Chrysanthemum was held at Toulouse, and that more than
6,400 flowering specimens of this popular plant were collected
at the exhibition which took place in that city three years ago.
An exhibition of these plants, under the auspices of the Societé
@ Horticulture de la Haute-Garonne, will be held there this year
from the 15th to the 18th of November.
In the Grass and Forage Garden at the Storr's School Agri-
cultural Experiment Station, Connecticut, are growing seventy-
tive species and varieties of grasses, legumes and other fod-
der plants ; besides this, a number of sods have been set out.
The farmers of the State are invited to send samples of sod
from old meadows and pastures, six inches square, with a
view to test the different grasses from all parts of the State.
A letter to a daily paper appealing for contributions to the
New York Flower Mission, the work of which was recently
described in our columns, states that on a single day last
month 11,425 bunches of flowers were distributed among the
poor and sick. Another centre for the reception and distribu-
tion of flowers has been opened at Police Headquarters, 303
Mulberry Street. Wherever gifts may be sent it is desirable
that they should be enclosed in old boxes or baskets which
need not be returned. Itis hardly necessary to add that fruits
will be as welcome as flowers.
On the day of the late Emperior Frederick's funeral (June
18th), the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the botanist Karl
Sigismund Kunth was celebrated inthe Jerusalem Church-yard
at Berlin by the Botaniaal Association of the Province of Bran-
denburg, IKunth’s reputation rests upon his labors in describ-
ing the plants collected by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé
Bonpland, upon the examination of the Passalagua collection
of vegetable remains from Egvptian tombs, and especially
upon his classical “ Enwmeratio Plantarum.” Wunth was
well known in his life-time asa student of garden plants and for
many years was Professor and Vice-Director at the Botanical
Garden in Berlin, His death occurred in the year 1850.
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 8, 1888.
The Revue Horticole calls attention to the fact that the formal
arrangement of plants has been abandoned in the flower-beds
seen this year in the city of Paris. Such beds are now ~
usually surrounded with aforma! row of plants of one variety; |
the remainder, except in the case where the bed is divided H
into compartments by means of lines of color, being en- —
tirely filled with various combinations of flowering or foliage
plants, grouped naturally and without formal arrangement. _
Some of the combinations of the plants, made by the Paris-
ian gardeners, are far more attractive than the formal ribbon-
border style of arrangement so universal in the United ©*-tes
and in England.
A correspondent of a San Francisco paper in Paarl, in Cape
Colony, says, that the Colony annually exports about 50,000
cases of Everlasting Flowers, worth some twenty dollars a
case, half of which go direct to New York and Boston. The
flowers are gathered by the Kaffirs, chiefly in the Draken-
stein Mountains, about fifty miles from Cape Town, and are
brought to the country storekeepers, who’ dry them in long
sheds, from the roof of which they are suspended in bunches
in order that the warm wind may pass freely among them,
The Kaffirs go out in families in the gathering season, and
the women and children do most of the work, which is by
no means easy, as they must follow unfrequented paths, and
their half-naked bodies are sadly bruised by the stones and
thorny bushes among which the plants are found. A certain
amount of actual danger is also involved in the work, as
life is often risked to obtain choice specimens growing on the
verge of precipices.
A telegraph wire is the last thing one would expect to sup-
port vegetation of any kind; yet a traveler in Brazil writes to
a German horticultural journal describing a crop of Mistletoe
which he found clothing the wires not far from Rio Janeiro.
Ata distance, he says, the wires appeared fringed with what
he supposed were the leavings of a recent flood. But a per-
ception of their height soon removed this idea, and upon ex-
amination the fringe proved to be composed of thousands of
little Mistletoes, firmly fixed to the wires from which they de-
pended. Many species of this family flourish in Brazil, and
some of them, called “ Bird-weeds” by the people, thickly in-
fest fruit-trees and other cultivated plants and bear large ber-
ries which are greedily devoured by birds. These seeds are
deposited on the telegraph wires in the birds’ droppings and
quickly take root, and although the plants perish, naturally, be-
fore very long, they are succeeded by others, and the curious
Mistletoe fringe is perpetuated. y
A private letter from the chairman of the California For-
estry Commission speaks encouragingly of the work already
accomplished by the commission, Important additions to the
forest map have been completed during the present season ;
the nurseries established a few months ago by the commis-
sion, under the charge of Mr. Thomas H. Douglas, already
contain 300,000 young forest trees for distribution through the
State, while lands valued at from $60,000 to $80,000 have been
presented to the commissioners by private parties to enable
them to inaugurate and carry on experiments in forest plant-
ing. Satisfactory progress has been made also in stopping
the stealing of timber from Government and State lands, and
the setting of forest fires, which have long threatened the very
existence of the California mountain forests. The efforts of
the commission have had, however, the result of forcing
lumbermen and speculators to take up Government timber
lands, and the sales of such lands during the last year are un-
precedented in amount.
Ata recent Saturday exhibition (July 28th) of the Massachu-
setts Horticultural Society, a collection of Achimenes shown
by Mr. N. T. Kidder, of Milton, attracted much attention.
Better grown, cleaner and better flowered plants have proba-
bly never been seen in this country. The collection contained
specimens of Mauve Queen, with very large flowers of great
substance, and the handsomest variety shown, although not
so covered with flowers down to the base of the stems as
some others, Carl Schurz, Grandiflora, Longiflora, Bronzoni,
Dazzle, Admiration and Eclipse. Achimenes, although they
are less commonly seen here than they were a few years ago,
are excellent plants for the summer decoration of green-houses
and conservatories. To the same exhibition a splendid plant
of Sobralia macrantha, one of the noblest of terrestrial Orchids,
was sent from the garden of Mr. John L. Gardner, It was
more than seven feet high, with a dozen and a half ofits lovely,
great, purple, aromatic flowers expanded. This is one of
the few Orchids which combines stately habit, handsome and
abundant foliage, and showy flowers.
AUGUST 15, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY LY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrrFice: TRipuNE Buitpinc, 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 15, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
: PAGE,
Epiroriar Artictes: — Work for the Experiment Stations.--Notes from a
French Garden.—A Protection Against Forest Fires..........-0..0.-0205 289
Slereats Tesi) Mi ate ererersiatnic tera cre, $0570 ei 2 04, Fie ee tetatetete giles Mrs. Mary Treat. 290
ForEIGN Coxkresponnence :—London Letter.......--...0.eeseeeee eee W, Goldring. 291
New or Lititz Known Pants :—Rhododendron brachycarpum (with illus-
PeeL ELD] eee eed e ete teh clay erste oiaNs cishessiaycle Ss cfs aur icine sis iale Syafee, icleinusiereiCcs: anos. 2O2
CurturaL Department :—The Fruit Garden. . -£, Williams. 292
PAWDIG Wr MIG TRIN OGMS p a:elatein{z/aete/a'ss 6 6.6.¥,0 [sce e'elelneins 2-65 ss aleloaiens bdiac sme o W. 293
Christmas Roses—Lychnis—Ripen the Wood—Orchids in Bloom—Sur-
Piecillape——Celer yas sacsis sc viaicis owisie: awe sormele.cs cesta swedidesba sa\sie ie'as 293
Pianr Nores :—A Manchurian Bird Cherry (with illustration)........... C. S. S. 295
sUhetucopedn Wake-PlOW er nosc.0 vescasicis session» ess snc Chas. C. Abbott. 295
Malformation of Cabbage Leaf (with illustration). . . Ff. H. Knowlton. 296
Notes iromrthe Arnold ATDOretum «sx cise s'ssietcsie olt'ew'eiscicivesianee~ ciesee e's F. 296
Tre Forest :—The Forests of the United States..........-.sseeee H.C. Putnam. 297
(CORRESPONDENCE or eicic'y.ecis sie .ccsis's sions sitio nvciee cove seuss ctsisscr esse 298
Recent PurvicaTions.... 299
Recent Prane Porrralts.... 299
INOTEE) ono oop BOBO SORT SUEGEUH UH ADEE CTE: HeEeecen OLA Sart ann 300
Intusrrations :—Rhododendron brachycarpum, Fig. 46 .....-.-++.++++ 293
Prunus Padus, Fig. 47 : cone 295
/ Maltormed Cabbage Leaf, Fig. 296
Work for the Experiment Stations.
LANT breeding bears the same relation to horticulture
that stock breeding does to animal husbandry. The
advance of modern horticulture is most marked in the in-
creased number and improved quality of varieties, and
in this direction lies the brightest hope of future progress.
The study of soils is the task of the agricultural chemist.
The study of plant diseases falls naturally to the botanist,
and that of insects to the entomologist. But the study
of plant development is the legitimate field of the horti-
culturist, and here he may expect his highest achievement.
And yet the systematic pursuit of plant breeding is
scarcely compatible with practical horticulture. Its results
are too slow, too costly and too uncertain to offer
_ pecuniary reward, yet the labor itself requires a high de-
gree of scientific knowledge and skill. It is just here that
the Experiment Stations should come to our aid. They
should develop a new class of specialists, whose entire
time should be devoted to the work of plant improvement.
This labor can undoubtedly be best advanced by judicious
_ cross-fertilization, and the art of crossing should be re-
_-garded as the first requisite in this new profession. The
_ desultory and unsystematic, and even haphazard, efforts
that have been made in this field of experiment in the past,
have yielded such truly valuable results that we are
_ abundantly justified in hoping for greater results, from
_ the pursuit of cross-fertilization in a thoroughly scientific
-manner.
Many are now looking to our Experiment Stations for
_ achievements in this very field, and indeed some success
has already been attained in it. But the vast amount of
_ time required in the work of cross-breeding, when done
systematically, makes it impossible for the regular horticul-
turist of the station to accomplish much in this direction.
‘Those who have not attempted it have little idea how
tedious and trying is the actual work in this direction. A
_ half day’s patient labor will often yield but a score or two
_ of pollenized flowers. Many of these may fail. But with
_ those which live the labor has but just begun. The fruits,
which contain the coveted seeds, must be carefully
Garden and Forest.
289
watched throughout the season in order that they may not
be lost. The following year the plants must be grown,
their characters noted and selections made. It will often
happen that, after a generation or two, the progeny of a
single cross will have become so extensive and will offer
so many promising lines for selection, that it will prove no
small undertaking to keep informed of its current history,
and the horticulturist who has much other experimental
work on hand will be tempted to give up in despair.
A moment's thought will satisfy any one that a specialist
at cross-fertilization need never lack for work—at least not
after the first season. Different plants are in blossom at
various times from early spring until autumn. Then there
is the growing of the crossed plants, with the careful study
of their characters, that those worthy of further trial may
be selected. In order to possess the ability to make such
selections wisely, the workman must be thoroughly con-
versant with existing varieties. This would require much
patient observation and study. The winter season could be
profitably spent in writing out the results and studying the
records of what others have accomplished in the same
field. With a green-house at command, much could be
done to supplement the summer’s work.
It is to be hoped that the directors of some of our Ex-
periment Stations will appreciate this opportunity that lies
open in the department of horticulture, and will make
provision for a specialist of the kind here pointed out. But
the mistake must not be made of supposing that any man
who chooses to apply is competent for the position. On
the contrary, it is a labor in which few men can be ex-
pected to succeed. It demands a considerable knowledge
of botany, a thorough knowledge of horticultural varieties,
and the ability to read accurately French and German lit-
erature. But most important of all, it requires a man who
has a genuine love for the work, without which success in
_ experimentation is quite impossible,
Notes from a French Garden.
The following extracts from a_ personal letter lately
received by the editor of this journal from M. Charles
Naudin, director of the Gardens of the Villa Thuret in the
south of France, are of general interest :
“We have hada very severe winter in Provence; the cold has
lasted much later in the spring than usual, and many plants
have suffered in consequence; but with the month of May the
heat returned, and many young trees, Eucalypti and others,
which I feared were entirely dead, now show signs of life
again. Such severe tests have their uses, as they establish the
hardiness of plants, which otherwise might not have been
thought capable of supporting ourclimate. You will be glad to
hear, perhaps, that the gigantic Yucca filifera* flowered here
profusely during the month of May. Its enormous panicle of
flowers, more than three feet long, descending in a white
cascade from the top of the plant, was the admiration of
all who saw it. We have five well-grown specimens of this
remarkable Yucca in the garden here, and among them there
are one or two which flower every year. Vucca Treculiana
and Y. Draconis, which almost rival it in size and beauty, also
flower here every year.
“You sent mea few years ago seeds of Heteromeles arbuti-
folia;+ They grew well and the young trees are now in flower,
It is a valuable addition to our southern gardens. The
Olneya Tesota, the seed of which was sown a couple of months
ago, are doing well, too. I have sent the seeds of this inter-
esting tree to a large number of gardeners in southern France
and in Algeria.
“ Nothoscordum fragrans,an American plant, is now natural-
ized in the entire Mediterranean Basin; it abounds in this gar-
den, where it propagates itself; and what is still more remark-
able, this plant is now completely naturalized in Mauritius
and in the Island of Bourbon, whence bulbs have been
sent me under the name of JAZd/a Borbonica. It is used there
as a vegetable. ;
“T have lately received from Bolivia seeds and tubers of a
* See GARDEN AND Forest, pages 78 and 79, Figures 13 and rq.
t [A small evergreen tree of the Rose Family peculiar to the California coast,
where, in the autumn and winter months, when coyered with its handsome red
fruit, it makes a conspicuous object.—Eb.]
290
new species. (?) or variety (?) of Potato, under the name of
Solanum Pureka. The tubers, which are said to possess an
excellent flavor, are smaller than those of the ordinary culti-
vated Potato and their shape is peculiar. The plant barely
differs, however, in habit and in its flowers from Solanwm
tuberosum. Isita variety oraspecies? And, after all, what
isa species for the botanist of to-day? The conception of
specific limitation becomes confused in proportion as the
knowledge of natural science increases. And this remark is
applicable certainly to the different plants of the genus Pwh-
meria (China Grass, Ramie). We cultivate here, and both
are now in flower, B. ¢enactsstma and BL. nivea,; while there is
aoa! species (?) here quite unlike either of them. And I
learn, by a letter just received from the botanist Balanga, now
in Tonquin, that there are in that country several species of
Behmeria, some cultivated and others wild, from which the
fibre is extracted. I believe that there are still important dis-
coveries to make in this genus of Urticacece.
“While there are some North American trees which adapt
themselves perfectly to our Mediterranean climate, there are
others which cannot be made to grow here. This, for exam-
ple, is the case with Carya myristiceformis, of which you sent
me-nuts four or five years ago. The plants, which are not
three feet high yet, are alive, “but they grow with a slowness
which is discour aging, and the feaves are more yellow than
green. This perhaps is the effect of the soil rather than of
the climate. Some of the other Hickories do a little better
here.
“Our success with a Bolivian plant, J/utisia viciefolia,
which is considered a specific against pulmonary complaints,
is certainly astonishing. This curious Composite—which
might, judged by its foliage, be mistaken for one of the Pea
Family—has proved perfectly hardy here, passing the winter
without protection and flowering freely, and, apart from its
supposed economic properties, it is an interesting ornamental
plant. It wil’ certainly succeed in your Southern States—Vir-
ginia, Carolina, F lorida, if really a remedy for con-
sumption, its inupauclicn where will be a matter of great
importance.
“Tam trying now, for the third time, to cultivate Lespedeza
striata, which heretofore has not succeeded in Provence.
It is probable that the climate here is too dry and too hot for it.
I have sent seeds to Brittany and into the south-west of France,
where perhaps this most interesting forage plant will grow
more successfully than it does here.
“ You are wise indeed to protest in your journal against the
destruction of forests. If the American people, so ready to
destroy their trees, could only see the consequences of forest
destruction in southern Europe and in northern Atrica—the
ground scorched by the sun in summer, overflowed and swept
away by torrents in winter, the excessive droughts which de-
stroy all crops, the drying up of streams, the vast and expen-
sive public works necessary to provide means for artificial
irrigation, etc., etc., they would understand perhaps better
than they do now w hy nations should preserve their forests,
and especially those which cover mountains. Forests are
needed in the valleys, too, to furnish lumber and firewood,
without which a civilized people cannot exist.”
The fact that the tops of Pine and Spruce trees cut in the
Maine woods can be utilized in the manufacture of paper-
pulp has more than local or mere industrial significance.
The fires which do such immense injury in the Coniferous
forests of this country can generally be traced to the tops
and branches of trees, left by the lumbermen behind them
in the woods. These by the middle of the following sum-
mer become perfectly dry and afford the very best ma-
terial to start a great fire with, in case a careless hunter or
tramp or berry-picker drops a lighted match or a spark
from his pipe into it. In Europe there is a demand always
for such minor products of the forest ; and the material it-
self pays for the cost of gathering up every part of the
tree which the lumberman cannot make tse of, to say
nothing of the increased safety this gives to the
forest, and to the priceless surface coating of decaying
vegetable mould which fires consume. No one in this
country has wanted the tops and branches of trees, and
lumbermen have preferred to take the chance of almost
inevitable fire rather than pay the cost of having the woods
cleaned up behind their operations. ‘The upper part of the
main trunk as well as all the branches
Garden and Forest.
and chips and all
[AucusT 15, 1888.
unsound logs, the whole amounting generally to a third of
the whole bulk of the tree, has been left in the woods to
burn or rot; whilein the case of Hemlock it is only within
a comparatively recent time that any use of the tree ex-
cept the bark has paid. In some districts in Maine now,
however, the tops and large branches of the trees are
gathered ; and the wood, from which the knots and sap-
wood is first removed, is thoroughly steamed to extract
all resinous matter, and then ground into dry pulp. If it
is profitable in Maine to do this, it will doubtless prove
profitable in other parts of the country; and one of the
principal causes of forest fires may perhaps in time be eli-
minated in this way.
The Pines in July.
EAUTIFUL flowering plants greet us at every
step in our midsummer walks through the
damp Pine-barrens. Conspicuous among the shrubs
is the Sweet Pepperbush (Cleéhra alnifola), now cov-
ered with lovely racemes of white, scented flowers,
and with it the White Swamp Honeysuckle (Azalea vrs-
cosa) is exhaling and blending its fine edor. The flowers
of the Swamp Honeysuckle are in large, showy clusters.
Some plants bear pure white flowers, while others have
pink or pale rese-colored blossoms. Wild Roses still
bloom among the other shrubs, and the Button-bush
(Cephalanthus occidentalis) is too pretty to be passed by
without mention. Its round head of fragrant white flow-
ers and its foliage are both attractive, and I never pass it
without adding some of its sprays to my wild bouquet.
The ponds are more beautiful this month than last.
Their edges are fringed with a tall growth of rushes,
sedges and grasses, which sway in the wind, revealing
the flowers that hide among them. Charming Orchids
are here, more beautiful than many exotic rarities which
costa king's ransom, .The Grass Pink (Calopogon pulchel-
Jus), with a scape of from six to twelve showy, rose-pur-
ple flowers, is in the height of its beauty, as is also its
ever-present companion, Pogonia Ophioglossoides, with
paler rose-colored, sweet scented flowers. And the White-
fringed Orchis (Habenaria blepharigloiis), with its many-
flowered spike of pure white flowers and cut-fringed petals, —
is surpassingly lovely. The Yellow-fringed Orchis (4%
ciaris), with bright, yellow-orange flowers, is handsome,
too, and each makes the other appear to the best advan-
tage.
must not be left unnoticed and overshadowed by its more
pretentious relatives. It is not so abundant as the others,
and must be sought for, which makes it all the more
charming when found.
All of these Orchids, with many other native species, —
will grow and thrive finely in a tub sunk in the ground, ~
where they might be fit companions to the Water Lilies
lately desci ibed in an editorial in Garpen anp Forest. :
They will grow in any common garden soil, but where |
it is practicable it is better to fill the tank or tub with
the soil from their native haunts, and also to cover the —
surface of the ground with sphagnum, to give it a natural |
bog appearance; and the sphagnum will act as a barom-
eter, telling when to apply water. 3
One is surprised to find how many of these plants can
be grown in a small space. Wecan havea constant suc-_
cession of charming flowers from early spring until late —
autumn, with no care after they are once established but —
to add water in times of drought.
The Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is just coming —
into bloom, and the Pickerel-weed (Poniederta cordata) —
holds up its spike of blue flowers in striking contrast with
the gorgeous scarlet of the Lobelia. Everywhere under
foot are masses of bright, orange-colored flowers of
Polvgala lutea. And the large, showy, pink-purple flowers
of Meadow Beauty (Rheava Virginica) mingle with it. A
little in the background stands our superb Lily (Leium
superbum), which lifts its magnificent pyramid of nodding ©
And the smaller Yellow-fringed Orchis (4 crisfa/a) _
Aucust 15, 1888.]
flowers far above my head. Many of the flowers are
beyond my reach, but I can look up into the bell, and see
‘the dark purple spots on its lining of orange. No more
stately Lily grows in all the world. A little beyond, on
dry, sandy soil, is the Orange-red Lily (Z. Philadel-
phicum), with erect, bell-shaped, reddish flowers, also
spotted with purple, while an exuberance of the glowing
Butterfly-weed (Asclepras fuberosa) fairly illuminates the
landscape. ‘This plant is well named, for myriads of but-
terflies are contending for its sweets.
The Wild Bean (d/fvos fuberosa) clambers everywhere,
covered with dense racemes of fragrant, pea-shaped flow-
ers, while just beneath it trail the yellow clusters of the
Pencil flower (Sfylosanthes elator). Were, too, are seen
the great purple flowers of the Beach Pea (Lathyrus
mariimus), and the dense clusters of yellowish-white and
pink flowers of the Goat's Rue (Zephrosia Virginica),
creeping modestly about decayed stumps.
The little Partridge-berry (A/i/chella repens) carpets the
ground, and its delicate and fragrant flowers of white and
pink are strung along in pairs among the glossy little
leaves. And here blooms the Spotted Wintergreen (Chim-
ophila maculata), one of the most beautiful of modest wood-
plants, with nodding fiowers of waxy pink, while near by,
beneath a thick erowth of Chestnut Oaks, are great clus-
ters of its pallid” relative, the parasitic Indian Pipe (Jfono-
tropa unifiora).
And now I detect the anise-scent from the crushed
leaves of the sweet Golden-Rod before I see the flower,
“which has already opened. It is the advance guard of
autumn, announcing the approach of that tidal-wave of
blue and gold that will cover all the waste places as with
a sea, and make them more glorious in the dying year
than they were in all the time of spring promise and sum-
mer ripeness.
Vineland, N. J. Mary Treat.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
Stropholirion Californicum of Torrey is the most remark-
able among the many hardy bulbous plants at present in
bloom in the Royal Gardens at Kew. It is singular in
growth, unique so far as I know as a bulbous plant
possessing a tall twining flower scape.
has now several scapes fully five feet high, and perhaps
six feet when untwisted, and each is surmounted by
a dense umbel of delicate rose-pink flowers of a peculiar
shape, the perianth segments being saccate. There are no
leaves to the plant now, so that the naked scapes have a
strange appearance, twisting from left to right round stout
stakes. It is perfectly hardy at Kew in light soil and
seems to get stronger every year. It is not known much
in a general way, though it is quite a ‘‘commercial” plant,
as some of the nurserymen here term showy plants. It is
nearly allied to Brodizea and Brevoortia.
Hleuchera sanguinea is another western plant (intro-
duced five or six years ago) that has proved itself a hardy
herbaceous plant of the highest value. Many are of my
opinion that it is the finest hardy plant brought to this
country for many years, because it has so many good
points, being hardy beyond a doubt, rapid and sturdy of
growth, not fastidious as to soil or situation, neat in
growth and bearing a prodigious crop of the loveliest
flowers. They are borne in paniculate spikes about a
foot high, are small and bell shaped, and droop on slen-
der stalks ina most graceful way. The color is a deep
crimson coral, totally unlike any other flower of a similar
class, anda color, moreover, which everybody admires, and
especially for cut sprays and for vases. The foliage, like
the rest of the Heucheras, is evergreen, of rounded out-
line, with shallow lobes. It is a native of northern Mex-
ico, and was introduced in commerce by Mr. T. S. Ware,
of Tottenham. I have just seen a large specimen of
Garden and Forest.
The Kew plant-
291
it in a border, carrying quite a sheaf of bloom. — It
blooms for several weeks, beginning about the middle
of June.
Romneya Coultert—I have just seen this glorious Cali-
fornian Poppywort in flower in Kew gardens. It may, for
aught I know, be a common plant with you, but with us
it is one of the rarest and choicest border flowers we have
One need not be an enthusiast to admire its great satiny
blossoms of snowy whiteness and adorned in the middle
with a tuft of stamens like a golden tassel. There is
such delightful harmony, too, between the glaucous and
much divided leafage and the blooms. It has the reputation
of being a ‘‘ miffy” plant—that is, it wants much attention
and then often does not reward us by behaving well. The
best specimen I have seen of it was in a lady’s garden in
Surrey. This was four feet high and a yard across, bore
many stems and many flowers, and so enraptured was I
that I sat by the plant an hour. It is assuredly worthy
of the stir that is made about it, and who could begrudge
time and labor to bring such a fine flower to perfection?
It would be wrong to call it a hardy plant; it is not strictly
so, and I put it in the same category as Carpenteria,
Calochortus and many other lovely plants from California.
The Blue Poppy of the Himalayas (AZeconopsis Wallichi’)
is now the pride of many a hardy-flower lover. It has
just commenced to unfold its stately pyramid of buds and
will continue to bloom for several weeks to come. Among
hardy plants this Poppy is unique in the color of its flowers,
and no plant resembles its habit of growth. Itis generally
described as a perennial, but really it is but biennial in
duration, as it develops its growth—a tuft of deeply pin-
natifid leaves—the first season from seed, flowers ae next,
and then dies. ‘The leaves are a foot or more long, of a
pale green and densely covered with tawny brown hairs.
The flower stem rises from three fect to even seven feet in
height, according to the strength of the plant; it is gener-
ally much branched, and is loaded with a multitude of
blossoms and buds. The open flowers are bell-shaped,
two inches across, and of a peculiar shade of pale blue.
The buds begin to open from the top downwards, the
contrary being usually the case in plants. It is a perfectly
hardy plant, but requires a spot sheltered from cold winds.
The pale blue is the original color of the flower, but there
is a variety with deep pee ales flowers named
var. fusco-purpurea, and of this Mr. G. F. Wilson, the
celebrated Lily grower in Surrey, had some fine blooms
the other day. Mr. Wilson showed me at the same time
a stem of the Caucasian Lily (Zidium Szovi/zianum) measur-
ing fully seven feet high, with a dozen of its handsome,
primrose yellow flowers. There was also a stem of JZ,
Hlansont, six feet high, carrying eleven flowers. ‘These are
average examples of the growth which Mr. Wilson gets
in his Lilies, which are the admiration of all who see
them.
The Sweet Pepperbush (Cledhra alnifola) in pots. —I fancy
I omitted to mention in my last letter the fine display
made by Messrs. Veitch of this American shrub at the last
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society. A dozen or
more compact little pot bushes, averaging about two feet
high and as much through, and each carrying a large num-
ber of flower spikes, were shown. The elegance of the
bushes, their feathery spikes of white flowers, deliciously
scented, attracted attention, and though such an old shrub
in English gardens, I willsay common shrub, it was known
by comparatively few. Few persons have seen it grown as
a pot plant. If it could be forced into bloom ez arly in the
season it would be charming for the green-house, asis also
the Fringe tree, Chionanthus Virginica, which Messrs.
Veitch showed in flower in pots in March.
Very interesting is the new race of late-blooming Azaleas
derived from the lovely A. occidensalis of California, which
for many years was only to be found in choice collections
here. ‘The development of these hybrids is due to Mr.
Anthony Waterer, at whose nurseries I lately saw i
beautiful and promising plants in bloom. The typical 4.
292
occidenfal’s does not differ widely from other American Aza-
leas, such as A. calendulacea or A. nudiflora. It is decidu-
ous, with bright green, shining foliage, and grows here from
four to six feet high. The flowers are either pure white or
stained with a ruddy tinge on their exteriors, while there is
always a conspicuous yellow blotch on the upper petal.
The fragrance is powerful and delicious. Usually the
flower cluster is small and loose, and this is one of the de-
fects Mr. Waterer has endeavored to remedy by intercross-
ing with his finest trussed Azaleas. The many new hy-
brids thus obtained have the characteristic features of A.
occidentalis, with the large trusses and large and finely formed
flowers of the fine early sorts. Moreover, some beautiful
varieties have been obtained at Knap Hill by intercrossing
Asalea mollis and A. occidentais. At one time it was
thought that such a cross would be impossible, but Mr.
Waterer now has plants with the peculiar characters of
both species, in foliage and growth as well as in flower.
One variety, to be known in future as Mrs. F. L. Ames, has
large trusses of snow-white flowers, with nothing to mar
their purity save a delicate stain of yellow on the upper
petal. The foliage is intermediate between that of the
parents, while it loses nothing in fragrance. As the raceis
yet quite young, only the exceptionally fine sorts have
been named and there are great expectations from the
multitudes of unnamed seedlings. At the present time
(July 7th) the Californian Azalea is flowering in perfection
in Kew gardens, while all other sorts have been out of
bloom for ten days or a fortnight. .To prolong the Azalea
flower season, which is unfortunately much too short, is
one of the worthiest efforts of hybridists, who should be en-
couraged by such good results to proceed further.
A new Passion-flower, a fine hybrid, is now blooming
in the Royal Gardens, Kew. It is a cross raised by Mr.
Watson, the Assistant Curator, between the hardy Passz-
flora cerulea and the Brazilian P. Raddiana. The flowers
are larger than those of P. Raddiana, the petals and fringe
longer, while the color is carmine, suffused with blue,
which, though perhaps not so bright and pleasing as it is
in the parent, is a lovely color. The growth is very grace-
ful, the long shoots hanging down four or five feet likea
curtain, and each thickly “wreathed with flowers. It is
likely to prove much hardier than P. Raddiana, which
requires a stove, and as we have so few green-house
Passion-flowers this novelty is a great addition. It is
proposed to call it Passzfora Kewensis, so as to hereafter
fix its birthplace.
Very beautiful is the new Californian shrub, Carpenéeria
Californica, against one of the old walls at Kew. It is
one of the loveliest of all open-air shrubs, as no other bears
such large, snowy flowers. The saucer-shaped flowers are
quite three inches across, and the tuft of lemon-yellow
stamens serves to emphasize the purity of petals. As many
as a dozen buds and open flowers are on some of the
branches. They are borne quite at the tip, and in moon-
shine shine like satin. It is a pity that this shrub is not
hardy enough for culture as a bush in England generally,
though in the Isle of Wight and the Devonshire coast it
does not need the protection of a wall. z J
London, July xgth. : W. Goldring.
Little
Rhododendron brachycarpum.
HIS handsome and exceedingly hardy species of Rho-
dodendron is a native of Japan, whence it was
brought to this country with many other new plants by
Mr. F. Gordon Dexter, of Boston, in the neighborhood
of which city it has since found a place in Mr. Parkman’s
garden, without, however, having attracted the attention
which its hardiness and the peculiar color of its flowers
seem to justify.
Rhododendron brachycarpum* is a tall, wide branching
~* R. brachycarpum, G. Don, Gen. Syst., iii. 843.—DC. Prod., vii. 2, 723.--Gray,
Men. Acad. Arts and Scz., vi. 400.—Maximowicz, Rhododendra Asie Orientalis, 22.—
Franchet and Savatier, Anum. Pl. Yap., 2. 288.
New or Known Plants.
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 15, 1888.
shrub, which, in its native country, sometimes attains
the height of ten feet. It has the habit and general ap-
pearance of the North American 2. Ca/awbhiense; the leaves,
however, are terminated with a stout, short mucro, and
are covered on the under surface with a fine, silky, rufous
tomentum, while the flowers are pale yellow or cream
color, the upper lobes of the corolla handsomely spotted
with green on their inner surface. It is widely distributed
in the mountain regions of northern and central Japan,
covering vast tracts on Mt. Fudsi-yama above the limits
of tree-growth, just as &. Caf/awbiense covers the upper
treeless slopes of Roan Mountain in North Carolina.
Rhododendron brachycarpum is hardier in this climate
than the Carolina plant or than many of the hybrids de-
rived from that species, especially those with light col-
ored flowers ; its foliage is not burned or injured during
the most severe winters even, and its flower-buds never
suffer. These facts suggest the possibility of creating a
new race of garden Rkododendrons with light colored
flowers and hardier foliage than any we now possess, by
mingling the blood of this Japanese species with that
of some ofthe Catawbiense varieties. Grass:
Cultural Department.
The Fruit Garden.
OOSEBERRIES of foreign origin do not thrive in this coun-
try generally, and of native varieties, the Cluster or
American Seedling and Houghton (Red), the difference be-
tween them being very slight, were almost absolutely success-
ful till the introduction of the Downing, Mountain, and Smith’s
Improved. These being much larger than the preceding
kinds and quite as free from mildew, rapidly superseded them
and have held the field undisputed for ten years at least.
In point of merit they stand in the order named. The latter
has never amounted to much here. The Mountain (Red) is
the most vigorous grower, less productive than the Downing
anda trifle. smaller, but ‘the Downing has been the leading”
Gooseberry in every respect for us. It now has a formidable
rival in the Triumph, a berry a third larger, as vigorous and _
productive apparently, and of a greener color. As we use
Gooseberries for canning or marketing in a mature, but yet
unripe, condition, these qualities answer every purpose. Those
who have become disgusted with attempting to grow the for-
eign kinds on account of their mildewing propensities need
not hesitate to plant any of these American kinds through the
dread of this pest. The new Industry Gooseberry, so highly
commended, has proved a total failure with us. The plants
could be persuaded to live a year or two and make a feeble
attempt to grow, but they finally gave up the struggle without
yielding a single specimen of fruit. This was one more proof
that the plants of native origin are the only ones to trust. As
a dessert fruit when ripe the Gooseberry is little used, but so
long as pie holds its place as an article of diet, canned Goose-
berries will alw ays be in demand.
Of Blackberriés, besides the old reliable Kittatinny we have
the more recently introduced Early Cluster and the Erie. Be-
tween these two in point of earliness there is little to choose.
Erie is the larger, but like the Lawton, it needs half its weight
in sugar to be palatable. The Cluster is not so intensely sour,
but most Blackberries have this defect unless they are thor-
oughly ripe, and it is impracticable to leave them on thecanes
till this stage is reached, because then the bees and wasps begin
at once to prey upon them, These raiders are good judges ot
quality ; they never attack a Blackberry until it is fully” ripe.
The Snvder is hardy and very productive, its small size being
the chief objection to it. There is little choice between Snyder,
Taylor and early Harvest. After all, the Kittatinny is the best
one of the whole tribe we have ever seen or tasted. That it
is so liable to the attack of the Orange rustis a great pity. A
Vineland correspondent writes that he has the finest crop of
Missouri Mammoth he ever saw of any variety, excelling
even the Wilson, Jr.--a choice variety in that region. This
Missouri Mammoth was tried here a score of years ago, but
failed to show any striking merit. The old Dorchester, now
very seldom met with or heard of, was one of the most satis-
factory ever tried on our grounds. It was early, of fair size and
good quality, not as rich as the Kittatinny, but it was never
deceptive ; if it appeared ripe it was ripe. It was only mod-
erately productive asa rule, but in one exceptional season it
Aucust 15, 1888.]
yielded an enormous crop. It certainly is worth a trial once
more alongside of the newer varieties.
The Strawberry season was about ten days late in its arrival
and departure. Chestnut trees are usually in full bloom July
4th, but this year did not reach that condition till the 16th, and
yet the handsome and eyer welcome little Doyenne d’Ete Pear
was on time, giving us the first ripe specimens on the 2oth of
How shall we account for such differences ?
EL. Williams.
July as usual,
Montclair, N. J.
a
Garden and Forest.
293
Madame Ferdinand Jamain, but whether an old or a new
variety, it has become decidedly popular, and apparently has
come to stay.
An addition to this short list of summer Roses may possi-
bly be made in the future by including the new Tea Rose Me-
teor. This brilliant colored variety, with its fair-sized flowers of
bright crimson, has not proved a complete success for winter
forcing, being apparently a shy bloomer at that season, but it
appears to be of good constitution, and will most likely prove
Fig. 46.—Rhododendron brachycarpum.—See page 292.
A Few Summer Roses.
ARIE Guillot is probably the most satisfactory white
Rose for summer use—its large, finely formed flowers,
of good substance, keeping their character even in very wamr
weather. But though superior in hot weather, it is not equal
to The Bride or Niphetos during the winter season. And the
old favorite, Perle des Jardins, is decidedly the best of its
color as a generally useful variety, though it has received
some hard criticism during the past two or three seasons on
account of its partial failure. But its bad behavior in many
cases is probably due to the treatment it has received in
former years, and there is little doubt but that it has lost
some of its original vigor from hard forcing for several suc-
cessive seasons. When young plants are propagated from
this more or less exhausted growth, it is reasonable to sup-
pose that they will lose a portion of their vitality. However,
we have not yet found a variety capable of entirely supersed-
ing it (the Perle), and therefore it still remains a standard sort
among the vast array of good Roses.
As a red variety, American Beauty, or as our European
cousins persist in calling it, Madame Ferdinand Jamain, is one
of the best, its fine, full flowers being alike useful to the ama-
teur and to the trade-grower. As to the name of this variety,
we have no special opinion to offer, though several clever
rosarians have agreed that it is the Rose originally sent out as
valuable as a summer variety. An opinion has been ex-
pressed by an experienced cultivator that this rose should
more properly be classed as a Hybrid Tea, and from its habit
and appearance there seems to be good foundation for this
opinion, but since it was introduced here as a pure Tea Rose,
it has been so termed by the writer.
A few general remarks in regard to treatment may not be
inappropriate.
In the first place free ventilation when
the nights are chilly, as frequently happens in the latter part
of the summer, a corresponding reduction should be made in
the ventilation, and in bright and dry weather frequent and
thorough syringings should be given—twice a day is not too
often. — :
A watering with liquid manure about once in two weeks
will also be found beneficial, and in very hot weather a slight
shading with very thin whitewash, or some similar prepara-
tion, will improve the quality of the flowers.
Of course a prompt application of sulphur will be made
when mildew appears. ad 0 Pt
is essential, but
Christmas Roses at Christmas are yet a novelty in America.
The problem of raising them here in sufficient quantity and
cheaply enough for forcing has not yet been solved. Perhaps
this can never be done in the open air in the Northern States
For trade purposes, it is necessary to import from Holland
204.
and Germany, where they are raised in large quantities easily
and cheaply, A mistake often made is importing too late in
the season. They should not be shipped later than the Ist of
November, or the flower stems push in transit, which is most
undesirable. On arrival, the crowns, with leaves yet on,
should be boxed and stored in frames and slightly ‘shaded
until the rst of December, when they may be taken indoors
and kept under benches free from drip until the flowering
‘stems appear, when they may be exposed to full sunlight.
A night temperature of over thirty-two degrees, Fahrenheit,
is sufficient, with plenty of air during day-time. Thus treated
the flowers wil, come Clean, and with that natural and charm-
ing pink tinge which is so desirable.
Christmas Roses may also be planted in frames slightly
covered with leave es, and ke pt from freezing by an abundance
of outside pz acking, in addition to mats and shutters. But in
this way‘there is difficulty in giving light and ventilation.
Sometimes light and air cannot be admitted for dz uys together.
And the flowers do not come so fine, so abundantly, nor in
such good condition, being often spotted. A pit with a false
bottom and having a single pipe beneath would, I think, an-
swer the purpose for forcing well. Treated as ordinary hardy
subjects, having only the protection of a few leaves, Christ-
mas Roses never bloom until spring here, and then very
poorly,
Lychnis.—This genus is widely distributed throughout the
northern hemisphere, and includes some of the oldest culti-
vated plants ; allare of easy culture. Lychnis alpina is a dwart,
neat and pretty plant for the rock-garden, forming cushions
about six inches high, surmounted by corymbs of rosy flowers.
Although naturally perennial, it is little better than an annual
here, usually dying after having ripened its seéds. Seedlings,
self-sown, flower the following year. Z. Chalc edonica is a fine
border plant. It will hold its Own almost anywhere. Seed-
lings bloom well the first year, and during the course of two or
three years form large chimps. This is one of the few scarlet-
flowering, hardy plants, and on that account is an attractive
and prominent object wherever planted, when in bloom. Z.
coronaria is a very free, pretty, pink-flowered, border biennial.
It is rather strageling in habit, but has handsome, grayish-
white foliage, and remains in bloom a long time. It sows it-
self freely. LZ. diurna (Bachelor's Button) is a common
plant, growing wild in Europe everywhere. The double form
only is worth cultivatir It is propagated. by division. Z.
flos-cuculi (Cuckoo Flower, Ragged Robin) is a well known
plant, growing wild in ‘Hoe meadows throughout the north-
erm hemisphere of the old world. The double form is an ex-
cellent border plant. Z. fulgens, v. Haageana,is a very hand-
some plant for either border, rock-garden or for bedding. The
flowers are wheel-shaped, often two inches across, in color
varying from scarlet to white and purple. If the seed-pods or
capsules are kept picked off it will bloom all summer. Seeds
sown now, or later, and the plants taken into the green-house
in fall, and kept pinched for a-while, will make bushy plants
and bloom well during the winter. ZL. vesfertina is a com-
mon wild plant in Europe and Asia, The double form only is
worth growing, anda very desirable plant. it is. This variety
does not admit of division, forming buta single root-stock, and
must be propagated by cuttings, a ‘slow and tedious process in
this case, as the pipings are hollow. It is only young shoots,
taken from the main stem in spring, which will grow. This
plant is a continuous bloomer. It is in flower now, and will
remain until frost, and if taken up carefully and housed would
bloom most of the winter. The double flowers are the purest
white and night scented. They are largely used for bouquet
work in England. It grows eighteen inches high.
ty Hatfield.
Ripen the Wood.—Professor Johnson, in ‘‘How Crops Grow,”
lays down the fundamental principle that ‘the amount
of food assimilated is not related to any special times or peri-
ods of development, but depends upon the stores of food ac-
cessible to the plant, and the favorableness of the weather to
growth.” The farmer, and more particularly the tree planter,
can control the conditions favorable to growth in large meas-
ure, and he should so manage his cultivation of trees as to
encourage early grow th, leaving a long season for the matur-
ing of the year's s wood. Throughout the west, as a rule, the
early spring is marked by freque nt. rains, followed in early
summer by comparatively dry weather. Constant cultivation,
however, will keep the soil moist and in fine condition for
growth during the month of June and well into July. The
habit of measuring cultivation by the number of plowings
given is a bad one. Cultivation is only thorough when it
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 15, 1888.
keeps the soil immediately below the surface moist, whether
two or a dozen plowings are necessary.
During this season of rapid development the tree is assimi-
lating more food than is needed for immediate use. After
culture has ceased, a portion of the extra food thus prepared
will be used in maturing the delicate shoots—the cell walls of
such parts will be thickened and strengthened, or, in common
parlance, the wood will become well ripened. The greater
part of the surplus food will be stored in the young growth,
ready for the use of the buds when they begin’ to develop in
spring.
It is a prime necessity that the tree’s store-houses be secure
—that the new wood be well ripened. Late cultivation pro-
longs the period of growth, and hence retards the maturation
of the shoots produced. If growth be too much prolonged
the tree has no opportunity to mature the young wood, and
winter killing is the result. Throughout the north-west cultiva-
tion of orchards and young forest plantations should cease by
the middle of July, or the first of August at the latest.
Chas. A. Keffer.
Dakota Agricultural College, Brookings, July 25th.
Orchids in Bloom.—Angracum Scottianum isa comparatively
new species, differing from the other members of the genusin
possessing narrow, terete leaves and stem. The slender pe-
duncles spring from the axils ot the leaves, and bear two to
three pure white flowers. The spur is yellowish and four to
five inches long. This plant does well with us in the Phala-
s-house in a basket of moss, being liberally supplied with
water “all the year. It is. very free flowering, and lasts a long
time in perfection.
Cypripedium Stonei is a superband very distinct species, and
was until recently somewhat scarce, but is now quite plentiful,
and many fine specimens may be seen. The flower scapes are
often two to three feet long, and bear three to four very hand-
some flowers. It not only should be in every collection, but
would be found very useful to the florist for cut flower pur-
poses. There are two or three good forms of this species, but
the choicest is the very rare variety, Alatytenium. This we
have never yet succeeded in bringing to bloom, but we find
the plants grow best in a compost consisting of equal parts of
loam, peat. and moss, and being native of “the warmest parts
of Borneo, they should have strong heat, with plenty of water,
and should not be overshaded.
Oncidium Papilio majus.—This variety is a vastimprovement
on the type both in color and in size of flower. The narrow
upper segments on some now in bloom are: fully four and a
half inches long. The yellow lip is two and a half inches wide,
with a very broad, orange-red band, It is a native of Trinidad,
and grows equally well with us in both the cool and warm
house on blocks of wood. The old flower spikes will continue
to produce flowers for many years. a :
Kenwood, N. Y. 1a. Goldring.
Surface Tillage.—At no season of the year is cultivation be-
tween the rows of growing crops more important than during
the driest and hottest of summer weather. The chief reason
for stirring the surface now is that this operation preserves
the supply of soil-water for use by the rapidly growing crops.
Incidentally the weeds are killed, and one great injury iIn-
flicted by weeds themselves is robbing the crops of the water
they need. Deep cultivation is harmful now, not only because
the ground is full of roots which would be mangled by the
plow, but because it throws up the moist soil from below,
and exposes it to the influence of sun and drying winds. But
many experiments have proved that a shallow stirring of the
surface tends to prevent evaporation from the soil. Evapora-
tion takes place at the surface, and it goes on more rapidly in
compact ground, because, as is supposed, of the continuous
capillary connection between the surface and the deep soil-
water, which is constantly rising. A shallow hoeing of the
peste breaks the continuity of this capillary system and cov-
s the open mouths of the tubes with loose earth, which acts
as a mulch and prevents the escape of the water into the air.
Whether this generally accepted theory is true or not, it is
certain that the : xperience of every farmer and gardener has
proved that surface tillage is a great help to crops in time of
drought. In our climate crops could utilize much more water
than the average supply during the growing season, and it is
of prime importance to see that all waste is prevented. —S.
Celery of any kind, whether self-blanching or not, is much
more crisp and tender if banked with earth. A good way of
preventing the earth from sifting in among the stalks, is to
wrap each plant in a strip of butcher's paper, say from eight
a a
ae eee
AuGusT 15, 1888.]
to ten inches wide. Witha garden trowel earth enough to
hold the papers in place can be easily managed; then the
plants should be hilled up almost tothe top of the papers.
This plan is recommended tor early Celery and is not much
more extra work than the tieing up practiced by gardeners.
Care must be taken to hold the plants erect while putting on
the papers.
Pittsford, Vermont A, W.
Plant Notes.
Manchurian Bird Cherry.
UR illustration represents a flowering branch of
form of Prunws Padus, doubtless of Manchurian
origin, as it was raised from seed sent many years ago
to the Arnold Arboretum from the St. Petersburg earden
as Prunus Maackii, a Manchurian Bird Cherry, with ‘pubes-
Garden and Forest.
295
any of the European Bird Cherries. No plant of its class
in the collection aaa this Manchurian tree in the size and
beauty of its flowe It grows with astonishing rapidity and
is perfectly hardy; ar although plants here are now nearly
twenty feet high ‘and have flowered regularly for several
years, they produce no fruit. In regions where late spring
frosts, which would prove fatal to the ea arly shoots and
leaves of this tree, do not occur, it will prove an import-
ant and interesting addition to the lst of small, hardy,
ornamental trees. Gide ws
The European Lake-Flower.
Mrs. Treat’s notes (GARDEN AND Forest, No. 21) on
June flowers in the Pine regions of southern New Jer-
sey, mention is made of our pretty Lake-flower (Lemnan-
Fig. 47.—Prunus Padus.
cent foliage and young branches, while those of this plant
are quite g elabrous and show no trace of the glandular dots
which cover the under surface of the leaves of that species.
The old world Bird Cherry is a small tree widely distrib-
uted through the forests of northern and central Europe ; it
is found in the Caucasus and in the mountains of Afghanistan,
and extends through Siberia to Kamtschatka, Manchuria,
Mongolia and to Japan. The variety here figured is re-
markable in the fact that its leaves appear fully ten days
earlier than those of any other tree in the Arboretum, a pe-
culiarity which gives to it no little interest andsome value
as an ornamental tree, apart from its very marked beauty
when in flower. The racemes of large white flowers, which
are deliciously fragrant, appear here earl yin May, fully two
weeks earlier than those of the earliest of the American
Bird Cherries, Prunus Virginiana, and long before those ot
Shemum lacunosum). This plant is extremely rare about
here, I judge. I can find no record of its occurrence in
the field notes of local botanists, and have heard of but
two limited localities where it has been found growing ;
and now it is wanting in both of these. Probably it was
never an abundant plant ; but the European species (Z.
nvmphccoides) is pretty sure to become common enough
in the near future, and possibly will crowd out some of
our native aquatics. It is not a bad exchange if it replaces
our American plant—that of foreign gold for native silver 5
as the Z. nympheoides bloom is ‘‘of a golden yellow color,
beautifully fringed, and stands erect lil ce the Water Poppies
(Limnocharis).” There is a washout in a corner of my
pasture meadow, in which Nelumbiums, Water Lilies and
other choice aquatics are now growing, and where the
golden Lake-flower was represented i a single plant
296 Garden and Forest.
that had kept within bounds, notwithstanding the predic-
tion of Mr. Sturtevant, from whom I obtained it. ‘ Had
kept within bounds” is no longer true of it. Not long since
a dog plunged into the pond and tore this one plant into
a dozen bits, and now ever y oneisas flourishing as a Green
Bay tree, and several are blooming as though the disruptive
process was a suitauilank to flower production. Two of the
fragments of the original plant are far out in the trackless
marsh, hidden by a jungle of native plants, but these are
no check to its progress ; and the European Lake-flower is
an established fact. If it will not prove mischievous, long
; ara
se athe Chas. C. Abbott.
Near Trenton, New Jersey
Malformation of Cabbage Leaf.
HE specimen from which the accompanying drawing
was made was grown on the farm of Mr. Thomas
Hume, in Alexandria County, Virginia. It belongs to the
Early York v: wiety,
THY Dy and has been ob-
WY IQN served in’ several
\ ; plants. Malforma-
[4 tion of this charac-
ter, although well
known, is far from
common. Masters,
in his ‘ Vegetable
Teratology” (p. 313),
says: ‘In cabbages
and ‘lettuces there
not untrequently
occurs a production
of leaf-like proces-
ses projecting from
the primary blade
at a right angle.
Sometimes these
are developed ina
tubular form, so as
to form a series of
little hornlike tubes
or shallow troughs,
as in Artstolochia
Sipho. At other
times the nerves or
ribs of the leaf pro-
ject beyond the
blade, and bear, at
their extremities,
structures similar
to those just de-
scribed.” The exact
significance of this
curious growth is
not well known,
+) nor indeed is the
means of its pro-
duction. Masters
inclines to regard
it as a dispropor-
tionate growth of some portions as contrasted with others,
whence is usually produced a depressed cavity.
FH. Knowlton.
ThHolm Det
Fig. 48.—Malformed Cabbage Leaf.
National Museum, Washington, D. C.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
HE three American species of Hydrangea are now in
bloom, They are all useful garden shrubs, although
the introduction of some of the more showy flowered Japa-
nese species has no doubt caused gardeners to overlook them
of late years. Aydrangea arborescens is the earliest to flower
here by a few day S; and, as an ornamental plant, is the least
interesting and attractive. It is the most northern American
represent ative of the genus, being found from northern New:
Jersey to Wisconsin, and southward through the Alleghany
region. It is a vigorous shrub, sometimes six or seven
feet high, with coarse, ovate, pointed and sharply serrate
leaves , pubescent along the principal veins, as are also the
young ’ shoots, and rather small, fat cymes of yellow-white
flowers, which in the most common form, are nearly always
perfect. Varieties (var. cordata, oblonga and le a) are de-
scribed by Torrey and Gray ./7. M. America, i, §91) in which
more or less of the flowers are sterile, with caeroett petaloid
[AucusT 15, ‘1888.
calyx-segments, but none of these, so far as I know, are in
cultivation. They would be welcome additions to the
Arboretum collection. Mydrangea radiata (the H. nivea of
some collections) isa handsomer plant than the last. Itis a
native of the mountain country from South Carolina and
Georgia to Tennessee, where it sometimes attains a height of
six or eight feet. It has large, ovate, cordate, acuminate and
sharply serrate leaves, dark green and velvety above, silvery
white on the under surface, and fastigiate cymes, in which
the marginal or ray flowers are all sterile, very large and pure
white. Individuals vi ary considerably in ‘the degree of white-
ness of the tomentum which covers the under surface of the
leaves. This is a perfectly hardy plant of very considerable
horticultural value. But far more showy and one of the finest
of all Hydrangeas is H. guercifolia, a native of Georgia and
northern Florida, where itis found in the middle country,
occupying the rocky banks of streams, and growing some-
times, under favorable conditions, to a height of fifteen or
eighteen feet, with almost tree-like habit. It has large and
variously lobed or sinuate, minutely serrate leaves, sometimes
twelve or fifteen inches long, tomentose when young, the
upper surface finally quite glabrous. The flowers a appear in
large, crowded, thyrsoid panicles with spreading branches
bearing here and there clusters of pertect flowers, and at the
extremity a large sterile flower, which, when first expanded,
is dull white, turning reddish before fading. The handsome
foliage of this plant turns in the autumn toa deep, rich claret
color. It is, unfortunately, not perfectly hardy in New Eng-.
land, and rarely attains any thing like its full size’ here, although,
if planted in ‘partially shady Situations, it will flower every
year and soon spread over a considerable space. The only
Hydrangea which resembles H. guercifolia in its panicled in-
florescence is A. paniculata, the most common of the Japa-
nese species in a wild state, and the only Hydrangea which
ever becomes really arborescent. A variety of this plant (#7.
. paniculata grandiflora), with enormous panicles, on which all
the flowers are sterile, long a favorite among the Japanese, is
now one of the most common shrubs in American gardens,
where it blooms during the month of September. The form
of this species in w hich the terminal flowers only, as in
guerctfolia, are neutral with enlarged calyx lobes, is, how-
ever, now in flower. In Japan it is a tree or tall shrub; here
it makes a bush five or six feet high, with rather ridged
branches covered with elliptical-ovate, sharply pointed leaves,
sharply serrate only above the middle, roughly hispidulous
on the upper and pubescent on the lower surface along the
principal veins, as well as the petioles, young branches and
panicles, Although far less showy than its. better known
variety, Hydrangea paniculata is a handsome and exceedingly
free flowering “plant, which has, moreover, the merit of
blooming at a season of the year when flowers are not abund-
ant. It was sent to the Arboretum by the Messrs. Parsons,
of Flushing, and is still very rare in gardens.
Calluna vulgaris, the Heather of Europe, which is not rare,
although very local, in Newfoundland, and was first discover-
ed gr owing wild within the limits of the United States in the
town of Tewksbury i in this State by Mr. Jackson Dawson, is now
in flower. It isa dwarf, compact, Heath-like shrub, one or two
feet high, with short, obtuse, opposite leaves, densely crowded
and imbricated on the wiry branches, and long, slender, ter-
minal, spicate racemes of rose-colored flowers, with a colored
calyx and bell-shaped corolla. There are varieties with white
and with flesh-colored flowers, and one in which the
flowers are double, as well as varieties with golden and with
silver colored leaves. The Calluna is one of the very best of
the dwarf hardy shrubs, it is an_ excellent rock-garden plant
and it is useful to form low edgings. It is a good bee-plant,
too, and it remains long in flower. In Europe it is largely
planted to cover rocky : ‘and exposed hill-sides and to furnish
shelter for game.
The most interesting shrub, however, in bloom this week,
is Stuartia Pentagyna, the only American representative of the
Tea and Camellia family which can be grown in New Eng-
land. Itisanative of the mountains of North Catling and
Georgia. There is a second American species, S. Virginica,
found in the coast regions from Virginia to Florida, but not
hardy in the Northern States, and three Japanese species are
described. Two of these are growing in the Arboretum, but
they have not flowered yet. Si pentagyna is an erect shrub,
ten or twelve feet high, with oval or ovate-acuminate, entire
or mucronately serrate, deciduous leaves, and large, axillary,
sub-sessile flowers, three or four inches across, with creamy
white petals, deeply crenulated on the margins, and resem-
bling those ‘of some of the single Camellias. This plant, in
spite of the fact that it has been cultivated for more than a
AuGusT 15, 1888.]
century, is rarely found in gardens, where, indeed, {tis so rare
that no common or English name seems to have come into
use for it. The Carolina Stuartia is, nevertheless, one of the
most attractive of hardy summer-blooming shrubs, and _ it
should find a place in the smallest and most carefully selected
collections. It is a plant of rather slow growth while young;
and it needs to be fully established to develop all its beauties.
It is found to thrive in a compost of peat and loam, enriched
with an occasional dressing of well rotted manure.
Buddleia is the only member in the collection of the Log-
aniace@, a family of which the best known American repre-
sentative is the so-called Yellow Jasmine of the Southern
States (Gelsemium), and its only hardy representative among
woody plants. There are two species here—JB. Lindleyana,
of China, and B. curviflora, of Japan. They are very similar,
and as these species appear here they seem merely slightly
marked varieties of the same plant. The stems suffer in se-
vere winters, being sometimes killed quite down to the ground,
but they always spring up again, and flower profusely at this
season of the year. They are three or four feet high here,
covered with large, ovate, sharply serrate, pointed leaves, and
handsome, terminal, recurved racemes of purple-red flowers.
But the interest in these plants is rather botanical than horti-
cultural, and they will probably not be very often seen in
American gardens, where many better plants are more at
home.
And this is true of Grewza parvifiora from northern China,
a member of the family of which the Linden is the chief rep-
resentative, and one of the plants for which the Arboretum is
indebted to Dr. Bretschneider. Here it is a low shrub, two or
three feet high, often killed to the ground in severe winters.
The leaves are ample, with three prominent veins, unequally
serrate, dark green and hispidulous above, pale and canescent
on the lower surface. The small yellow flowers are borne in
dense umbels, on stout erect peduncles opposite the leaves,
which quite hide them from view. This interesting plant has
no horticultural value.
Vitis (Cissus) indivisa is a handsome American species,
now in flower. It is well suited for covering trellises or walls,
although rarely met with in cultivation. I7ti/s indivisa is a
vigorous growing plant, with stems fifteen or twenty feet long,
climbing by means of tendrils. The leaves are four or five
inches long, heart-shaped or truncate at the base, coarsely and
sharply serrate, but notlobed. The panicle of flowers is small
and loose, and the berries barely exceed a peainsize. It isa
native of river banks from West Virginia and Ohio southward,
and one of the hardiest and freest growing plants of its class.
Periploca Greca is a useful plant, too, for covering trellises,
and for use in situations where a plant of very rapid growth is
needed. It belongs to the Milk-weed family, and is a native
of south-eastern Europe and the Orient, whence it was intro-
duced into the gardens of western Europe fully three centu-
ries ago. It has handsome bright green and shining ovate, or
ovate-lanceolate, opposite leaves, five or six inches long, and
small flowers, green without and purple on the inside, borne
in loose, long peduncled corymbs. Twenty feet is not an ex-
cessive growth for this plant to make in a single season, but
as it continues to grow late into the autumn, the wood does
not always ripen, and the stems are then killed back, but
only to start again the next spring with renewed vigor.
The development in late years of various garden races of
Clematis, with very large and showy flowers, has had a ten-
dency to cause many interesting and useful species of this
plant to be neglected by gardeners. Three of these, however,
now flowering with many others in the collection, are worthy
of notice from a strictly horticultural point of view. They are
Clematis coccinea, C. graveolens and C. integrifolia, Clematis
coccinea, a native of Texas, is a smooth, slender vine, climbing
to a height of six or eight feet, with three-foliate, dark green,
and rather coriaceous leaves, and solitary, nodding, bright
scarlet, ovoid flowers an inch long, and borne on very long,
erect terminal peduncles. The thick, coriaceous divisions of
the perianth are strongly reflexed, with the interior surface
clear, bright yellow. This plant, in spite of its extreme south-
ern origin, is perfectly hardy here, and must be considered
one of the best of recent introductions by all who see its
abundant and showy flowers. Clematis graveolens, sometimes
improperly called C. Oréentalis, in gardens, a name which be-
longs toa Levantine plant, isa yellow flowered species from
Chinese Tartary and the high passes of the western Himalayas.
It is a smooth, graceful plant, climbing to a height of eight or
ten feet, with slender, obtusely-angled branches, variously
divided pinnate leaves, with petioled ovate or lanceolate leaf-
lets, long, slender peduncles exceeding the leaves, and bear-
ing a single clear yellow flower, an inch or more across.
Garden and Forest.
297
The heads of fruit, with their long, feathery tails, are ex-
ceedingly ornamental, remaining upon the plant until win-
ter. This is a perfectly hardy plant, thriving in any good
garden soil, and one of the most desirable and attractive of the
small flowered Clematises. Clematis integrifolia is a native
of eastern Europe and has been cultivated in gardens for
nearly three centuries. This plant grows two or three feet
high only, and the bright blue flowers are much smaller than
those of the Hybrid Clematises of the Jackman race, which
flower with it, but they are as handsome, if not as con-
spicuous, and they are produced in equal profusion; while
this plant is quite free from the diseases which, in this coun-
try, sooner or later carry away suddenly and unexpectedly all
the hybrid Clematises, and which make them so thoroughly
unsatisfactory here. ee
July 2oth.
The Forest.
The Forests of the United States.
F the lumbermen of the United States will take the Ninth
Volume of the 10th Census reports and read the estimates
and statistics on the standing timber of the United States
and compare with them the amount of timber cut and sold
in the past eight years, in connection with careful estimates
being now made over the same ground in the timber states
of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Oregon,
Pennsylvania and Maine, they will be convinced that time
has proved our estimates to have been approximately
correct. The careful examination of that Census work,
especially the object lessons presented by the maps of Forest
areas, Will give, too, some knowledge on timber matters.
In Wisconsin, for example, the estimate in 1880 of standing
Pine was some forty-one billion feet board measure, of which
fifteen billion was in the Chippewa Valley. The eight years’
cutting and the present amount ofstanding timber, estimated
now at less than ten billion feet, show the 1880 estimate a fair
one. Again the Redwood of California was estimated in
the Census report at twenty-five billion ; there has been an
annual cutting of some three hundred and twenty-five
million since; the present estimate being about twenty
billion feet, and including much that is not very available.
It is claimed that Michigan has less than thirty billion left,
and the amount in Minnesota is probably about eight or
ten billion feet. Since 1880, the available timber in the
southern timber States, from the Carolinas around to and
including Texas, the country of the Long-leaved Pine has
been more thoroughly explored and estimated, and the
available timber has been purchased largely, mostly by
northern lumbermen who know the value of timber, and
who, having sawed up or sold out their own, have bought
this cheap pine and cypress as an investment, paying about
twenty and twenty-five cents per thousand. These estimates
and more careful reports of expert woodsmen do not add
to the Census figures. I think, on the whole, the last
report is generally the smaller. On the Pacific Coast,
ereat changes have taken place in this respect. In Cali-
fornia, up to 1880, little, if anything, was known of the
amount or value of the Redwood of the coast or of the
sugar pine of the Sierras. Now the former is all in hands
of second and third parties, mostly owned by practical
lumbermen who will hold and manufacture it. The sugar
pine we may calla ‘‘reserve,” as it can only be reached
by long flumes. In Oregon there is not much change.
In Washington Territory, especially about Puget Sound,
there has been a decided advance in values, new mills
have been built, large companies have been organized
who are purchasing timber from the railroads and from
Government and are preparing for extensive manufactures
of the Fir and Cedar. ‘To say that there is of the Firs,
Cedars and other merchantable timbers in Washington
Territory, Oregon and in the Pend d’Oreille Region of
Idaho, five hundred billion feet, would I think, judging from
an extensive examination made in 1882 and 1883, and from
reliable sources, be low enough; that it will much exceed
this estimate when cut, unless fires destroy it, is my
belief. In the Middle States of West Virginia, Kentucky,
298
Tennessee, and in parts of Ohio, extensive bodies of the
hard woods remain not much encroached upon. Still the
steadily advancing prices, the greater demand all over the
United States and from Europe for inside house-finish,
agricultural implements, etc., show that these woods are
getting more scarce and valuable.
North of us in Canada, lumber does not seem to cut the
figure it once did. The inexhaustible forests of the dis-
tant regions have shrunk considerably under the more
critical examination of timber buyers and their explorers.
The Spanish River country, the North shore of Lake Supe-
rior, the vast ‘ Limits” of the Lake of the Woods and the
Rainy Lake river country, do not materalize in timber as
represented by the Canada Company who sold the foreign-
ers the ‘‘ Limits.” Winnipeg and the country westward is
largely supplied now from the rivers in Minnesota that
empty into Rainy Lake and the Lake of the Woods. The
lumber is manufactured on the Canada Pacific Rail Road
and sent over the road to Winnipeg and beyond. These
are facts. I have no timber to sell, no reason to under-
state amounts, but Isimply wish to make a fair statement
based upon long study of the present condition of our
forests which contain timber of commercial value.
Having referred in a former letter to European supply, |
will add that the countries of Australia, China, Japan and
Mexico already draw from us largely for lumber, their
native supplies being mainly in almost inaccessible moun-
tain regions. Mexico has considerable timber, but it is
inaccessible at present, and it must probably remain so for
a long time.
So we may congratulate ourselves here in the United
States that we still have in our forests a wonderful inheri-
tance, of a value that if estimated would run into the thou-
sands of millions of dollars, and all this not covered up in
the ground, but in plain sight and upon its surface.
Now, being forewarned by the experience of the old
world, let us learn something. The Interior Department
at Washington tells us, after more than ten years’ trial of
the Timber Culture Act on the prairies of Minnesota, Da-
kota, Kansas and Nebraska, that it is a miserable failure,
though it agreed to convey for nothing one hundred and
sixty acres of the best soil in the world to every man
who could or would succeed in making ten acres of
trees of any kind grow upon the land, after eight years’
trial. They don't raise the trees. In after years it may
be done, but so far the act is a failure, and should be
repealed.
What we should learn is to preserve the forests we have
by proper legislation, by educating and appointing foresters
of intelligence to care for them, by publishing information
on the subject—practical information, such as farmers and
timber owners can readily understand and apply. Ameri-
can youths should be taught in school and at home that no
fires must be allowed to run and that cattle must not run
at large among young trees. District and graded schools
should be supplied with collections of woods, and pupils
should be encouraged to study them.
We appropriated millions upon millions of dollars’ worth
of land in 1862 for agricultural colleges. One million acres
of this,was taken in Wisconsin alone, and mostly for, the
benefit of other states. The Cornell University of New
York took five hundred thousand acres of this Pine timber.
Much of this land is to-day worth $50 or more an acre for
its timber. The same is true of Michigan and Minnesota.
Henceforth the Government should in justice to these three
states give to them outright the proceeds of future sales for
the establishment of schools of forestry and to pay trained
foresters to care for the forests. The same should be done
in the southern timber states. An explorer in Alabama
writes me, ‘‘I can buy for you in this state very finely-
timbered Pine lands at Government price, $1.25 per acre.”
Why not advance the price, if the Government must have
the $1.25 per acre, to $2.50 per acre, and give Alabama the
$1.25 taken from the speculator, and let her have a school
of forestry? All over our land we are losing millions by
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 15, 1888,
ignorance and carelessness on the subject of forest fires.
‘The people do not realize itat all, especially in our Western
States and Territories. In Oregon, Washington Territory,
Montana and Idaho, among the Firs and Yellow Pines, the
fires are doing the most damage. I have seen millions of
acres made bare by fires that were the result of careless-
ness along the railways in Washington Territory and
Idaho. The very fact that a Government forester was
ranging the forests about Puget Sound, the Columbia and
Willamette Rivers would have a good influence in every
lumber camp and along every railroad. I have seen one
burning started by a gang of railroad workmen in Wash-
ington Territory that destroyed over one million dollars’
vorth of timber. This fire never would have occurred if
such carelessness had been made criminal by law, and if
an officer of the Government had been within reach to
enforce it.
There is no question but that if $250,000 a year even
were properly spent in care of forests and forest education,
it would add millions to future forest values.
Hf. C. Putnam.
Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—About thirty years ago a gentleman imported many
thousand trees from France and presented them to Dartmouth
College.
They consisted of Norway Spruce, White Spruce, Scotch
Pine, Austrian Pine, European Silver Fir, Larch, Linden, Ash,
White Birch and Mountain Ash, English Oak, Norway Maple,
Honey Locust and English Elm.
The Norway Spruces are as fine of their age as any I have
seen in this country, and give promise of extending their up-
ward growth eight or ten years longer. The European
Larches are very fine and thrifty, and although they have not
made as rapid growth as in northern Illinois and Wisconsin,
on land of the same quality, yet in one essential point they
are more promising than any others in the country, 2. 4,
they are perfecting their seeds, and young Larch trees are
coming up freely around them. The European Larch trees
producing seedlings stand on a cool, steep, northern slope,
and from this I inferred that they possibly produced perfect
seeds further north, and wrote to parties in Minnesota to
whom we had furnished Larch trees many years ago, and
learn that trees planted less than twenty years ago have
seedlings springing up freely around them, some now over
six feet high, while in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois,
Iowa and Wisconsin they have never been known to pro-
duce perfect seeds. The specimen in the Bartram garden at
Philadelphia, over 100 feet high and over 1oo years old, was
never known to produce a perfect seed.
Austrian and Scotch Pines are doing as well as I have seen
them either east or west of here, but poorly when compared
with White Pines in this vicinity. European Silver Fir is an
entire failure. Even where well protected, it is not over four
feet in height, killing back every winter. European Linden is
hardy here.
A few English Oaks in well protected situations have made
stems four or five inches in diameter. Where exposed they
form a bush six or seven feet high. English Ash and English
Elm kill back more or less in winter, according to exposure,
and there are no good specimens. Norway Maple stands bet-
ter than these, but does not endure the winter as well as at
Milwaukee. European White Birch is quite athome. Euro-
pean Mountain Ash has apparently been planted quite freely,
and many seedlings have sprung up where the original trees
stood, but not a specimen nowremains of the original planting.
The Honey Locust stands the winter, and makes a fine tree.
White Spruce (Picea alba), of which there are a great number,
were imported with the others. It has been much admired,
and has been supposed to be a foreign tree. Every one is a
fine specimen, and all are uniform in color, being very glau-
cous. I am inclined to think that they belong to a variety
known as Ccerulea, which was propagated extensively in
French nurseries thirty years ago. Certainly I never sawa
hundred White Spruces so uniform in color before. They all
give promise of making durable trees. e
I have made an examination of the native as well as the
imported trees here. I measured an American White Elm,
planted in 1790, which is fourteen feetin circumference four feet
from the ground, Sugar Maples of unknown age are over nine
AvuGusT 15, 1888. ]
feet in circumference. A White Oak in the cemetery measures
more than twelve feet in circumference, A native Mountain
Ash—fitty-eight inches in circumference three feet from the
ground—a beautiful tree, stands in an old Pine-stump fence,
in perfect health and loaded with fruit.
The White Pines and Hemlocks are magnificent hereabouts.
Nota Red Pine tree to be found in this neighborhood, so that
a comparison cannot be made between this Pine and the
Scotch and Austrian Pines. Canoe Birches over six feet in
circumference of trunk are not uncommon.
The Norway Spruces, Austrian and Scotch Pines no doubt
added much to the beauty and interest of this plantation for
many years, as they grow so much faster than our natives
while young. Ifa similar plantation were to be made now, a
judicious mixture of White and Red Pine and Hemlocks should
be added to take the places of the Norway Spruces, Scotch and
Austrian Pines, which could be thinned out as occasion
requires.
Z Robert Douglass.
Hanover, N. H.
[Seedling European Larches, although not in large
numbers, have appeared in the plantation of this tree
made many years ago by the Jate Richard S. Fay, near
Lynn, in Massachusetts. An account of this plantation,
one of the largest and most successful ever made in the
United States with exotic trees, will be found in the Re-
port of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture for
1875.—Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—My lawn at the sea-shore extends from the house to
the water's edge, and is exposed to the south-west winds. It
has run to sorrel and weeds, and must be rejuvenated. Will
you kindly tell me threugh your columns the best thing I can
do with it, so as to have a fair turf by June 15th, next year, and
not disturb it before the middle of September, this year.
What is the best seed to sow and the best dressing to use ?
The soil is good. Theoph. Parsons.
Mattapcvisett, Mass.
good lawn within the
The seed should be sown this autumn, and,
[It is not an easy matter to make a
time specified.
if possible, it should be in the ground before the middle of
September, or as soon after as possible. Break the
ground up deeply. Cover with well-rotted manure at the
rate of thirty to fifty tip cart loads to the acre. Harrow this
in deeply with an Acme or spring-tooth harrow. Roll the
ground and harrow again, repeating the operations until
the soil is very finely pulverized and yet firmly com-
pacted. Sow Kentucky Blue Grass and Rhode Island
‘Bent at the rate of at least four bushels per acre. Then’
sow Timothy seed at the rate of a peck to the acre; rake
all in lightly and roll again. Timothy is nota lawn grass,
but the seed can be had pure and it germinates quickly.
It will make a fair show before winter sets in, and next
spring can be cut over several times before June 15th. This
cutting will keep down the Timothy, and prevent its
growing coarse and strong while the Blue Grass and Bent
are becoming established. The last two will ultimately
crowd out the Timothy, which is only needed for its early
effect. Withoutit the grass would be unpleasantly thin next
spring. It would be well to give the lawn a top dressing
of fine manure after the ground freezes, to remain all win-
ter as a mulch, and for its fertilizing effect—Ep. ]
Recent Publications.
Trees and Tree Planting.—By General James S. Brisbin.
New York: Harper & Brothers.
This work will meet a friendly reception from all who are
interested in forestry as a national question, It is a vigorous
protest against the reckless waste of the forests of the coun-
try, and an appeal for the exercise of intelligence and patriotic
prudence in the treatment of trees. General Brisbin’s love of
trees—by which the book is inspired—has been life-long.
Some of the most pleasant passages in the volume are those
in which he recalls the impressions made upon him in boy-
hood by the mountain forests of Pennsylvania, his native
state. It was not, however, until in the course of his pro-
fessional travels he had seen the savage and inhospitable
sterility of the plains, that he was awakened to the importance
Garden and Forest.
299
of the part played by the forests in their relations to human
life and industry. An incident which he relates in his intro-
duction suggests vividly the exhilaration of mind produced by
the first sight of living trees after long exile in the western
waste. “For four years,” he.says, “I had lived on the plains,
surrounded by sage-brush and sand, never once seeing a
mountain or forest. Then I was ordered east with troops to
Kentucky. We had been running very fast all night in the
cars, and in the morning, just as Twas washing in the sleep-
ing-car, I heard the s soldiers in the forward coaches cheering.
I asked the conductor what was the matter, and he replie dL,
‘The soldiers are cheering the trees,’ We all hastened to the
doors and windows, and there, sure enough, we found we
were running through a grand old Kentucky forest.
Even the children clapped their littke hands and crie d
‘Oh, mamma, see the pretty trees !’”
General Brisbin’s book does not pretend to be an elaborate
treatise on the scientific aspects of the subject; indeed, ina
modest sentence he in effect disclaims for it at the outset any
such character. This prepares one fora certain readiness on
his part to adopt theories which are not considered tenable by
the more cautious investigators. Nevertheless, the scope of
the work is large, and it contains a great amount of valuable
information, industriously collected from anumber of sources,
of varying authority. The opening chapters deal with topics
of a general nature, suchas ‘ Fore st Destruction and its Conse-
quences,” “ Effectof Forests ona Country,” ‘‘ Danger of Timber
Famine,” ‘‘Shelter Belts,” etc. A short chapter entitled ‘‘Fam-
ous Trees of the World,” is full of entertaining information.
The greater part of the volume is devoted to a description of
well-known trees, both native and foreign.
It is significant of the growing interest in forest production
and preservation that one who is presumably without technical
training in the art of forestry or in the sciences upon which
the best forest practice is based should have been led to pursue
this line of inquiry. The perusal of this book cannot fail to
arouse and stimulate concern regarding one of the most ur-
gent problems that confront us as a nation at the present day.
out,
Messrs. Hyde & Co. of this city have just published an ex-
cellent ‘‘ Road Chart” for the suburbs of New York. It covers
not only Manhattan Island, but Staten Island, Kings and
Queens Counties in Long Island, the mainland of New York
State for a long distance north of the city and beyond Tuxedo
to the west, portions of Fairfield County in Connecticut, and
the New Jersey country further west than Morristown and
further south than New Brunswick ; and it distinguishes be-
tween good and poor driving roads, indicates those which are
fit only” for foot-travel, marks the character of the land as lew,
marshy, etc., and names the owners of the chief country-
places included in its wide circuit. Such a map should open
up the beautiful districts around New York to hundreds of
urban and suburban residents who have hitherto been dis-
couraged from personal investigation by the difficulty of as-
certaining just where and how to go and just what attractions
await them by the way.
Recent Plant Portraits.
Botanical Magazine, July.
MACROTOMIA “BENTH: AMI, ¢. 7003; a stout, hairy herb, of the
Borage Family, with dark, maroon-purple flowers, in a large,
terminal thyrsus; a native of the western Himalaya and of
Cashmere, w here it is common at great elevations.
ASPHODELUS ACAULIS, 4 7004; a pink-flowered Asphodel,
from Oran and Algiers, with arte flowers arranged in a lax
corymb, the peduncle nearly obsolete, and the general habit
of the plant like that of Ornithogalum umbe latum.
ILLICIUM VERUM, Zz. 7005; ‘“ The plant producing the true
Star Anise of China is here for the first time figured and de-
scribed. For many years the fruit so called was supposed to
be that of Wcium anisatum, the Skimmi of Japan, or of LZ. re-
ligiosum, supposed to be a native of China, but which is
identical with Z anisatum of Linnzwus and Loureiro. ;
The first person to recognize the fact that neither Z. anisatum
of Linnzeus or of Loureiro could be the true Star Anise of
China was Dr. Bretschneider, who called-attention to the fact
that the Japanese plant was a reputed poison and that this had
been confirmed by Eykman, who, in a paper published in 1881
in the Mittheilung der Deutsche Gesellschaft fiir Natur- und
Volkenkunde Osten Asien (Heft, xxiii. 23), had experimented
with and given the name of Sikimine to the poison. é
In his ‘Notes on Botanical Questions Connected with the Ex-
port Trade of China,’ printed at Pekin in 1880, Dr. Bret-
schneider calls attention to a Report by Mr. Piry on the trade
300
of Pakhoi for 1878-9, which contains interesting particulars
regarding the Star Anise. Of this he says it is brought to this
port for exportation from the province of Kuangsi via Kin-
Chow, and that it is produced in two districts—Lung-Chow,
on the borders of Annam, and Po-se, in the West (or Canton)
River, close to Yun-nan.
“The Star Anise was, according to Hanbury (Pharmaco-
graphia, Ed. 2, p. 22), first ‘brought to Europe by the voyager
Candish about the year 1588, and was first described by
Clusius in 1601 from fruits procured from Loudon. It seems
afterwards to have been imported via Russia (and hence
called Cardamomunt Siberiense, or Annis de Siberie), and was
used by the Dutch in the seventeenth century to flavor bever-
ages. From China it is exported into eastern Turkestan under
the name of Chinese Fennel, and in China itself it is called
Pakio nui hiang, or cight-horned Fennel; the fact being that
though commonly compared with Aniseed, the taste is really
more like that of Fennel, so that the name given by Redi in-
1675 was Faniculum sinense.
“In China the Star Anise is employed as a condiment and as
a spice, and it is still used to flavor spirits in Germany, France
(where itis the flavoring material of Anisette de Bordeaux) and
Italy. In England, according to Hanbury, it is used only asa
substitute for oil of anise.” “ verum has small, globose
flowers, without the long, spreading, inner, perianth-
segments of £ anisatum or religiosum, or of our southern
L, floridanum, belonging to an entirely different section of
the genus.
C@LOGYNE GRAMMINIGOLIA, 4 7006; a graceful species, with
short basal scapes, bearing two or four white flowers, with a
three-lobed lip streaked with purple; a native of Moulmein
and the representative of a section of the genus widely dis-
tributed through the mountain region of India.
CYPERORCHIS ELEGANS, ¢. 7007; this isthe Cymbidium elegans
of Lindley, a Himalayan species, with handsome yellow flow-
ers an inch and a half long, arranged in a long, dense,
pendulous raceme. There are two species of Cyperorchis,
this, and the fragrant, white-flowered C. Alastersti.—Botanical
Register, 1845, ¢. 50.
Notes.
Sixteen bushels of nuts were gathered last year from two
English Walnut trees planted thirty years ago in Contra Costa
County, California.
The fine specimen of the California White Oak (Quercus
Jobata) upon General Bidwell’s farm, known as the ‘Sir Joseph
Hooker Oak,” to which reference was made on page 275 of
GARDEN AND FOREST, has a trunk diameter of seven feet and
three inches, while the branches spread one hundred and forty
feet.
American inventors are invited to send for competition to
the Exhibition of the Imperial Society of Austrian Pomologists
apparatus to be used in the cultivation of fruits, and in their
subsequent disposition by pressing for beverages, drying,
packing and other methods of preservation. The exhibition
will be held at Vienna from September 29th to October 7th.
An interesting sight on the grounds of Mr. Peter Hender-
son, Jersey City Heights, isa field of Linia Beans, which are
also strictly Bush Beans. The plants are erect, from fifteen
to eighteen inches high, and bear up sturdily under a heavy
load of short, though well-filled, pods. The beans are appar-
ently identical with the small variety of the Lima knownas the
Sieva.
Insect Life is the title of a new periodical bulletin devoted
to the economy and life-habits of insects, especially in their
relation to agriculture. It is published at Washington, and
edited by the entomologist of the Department of Agriculture
and his assistants. Professor Riley announces that it will be
issued as regularly as an ordinary monthly, and will complete
the first volume with the year. ‘
Throughout a considerable district in northern New Jersey
the potato-tops have been dying before they reach maturity,
and many fields of late varieties will not yield half a crop.
Mr. Carman, of the Rural New Yorker, has found that the de-
struction is caused by the Cucumber flea beetle, an enemy
easily overlooked on account of its small size, and one, too,
not suspected of being capable of causing so great damage.
Professor Riley reports the imported Asparagus Beetle (G-io-
ceris asparagt) as gradually spreading southward. Following
the coast and the water-courses, it was found four years ago
at Cherrystone Creek, Maryland, and in 1886 it had reached
Old Point Comfort. Inland it spreads more slowly and never
damaged Asparagus beds in Washington until 1887. The
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 15, 1888.
most southern inland point where it has been reported is
Falls Church, Fairfax County, Virginia.
The Paulownia has so long been familiar in our Middle
States as a tree of large size, that it seems curious to read ina
German periodical an enthusiastic article describing, as a
noteworthy object, a tree of this species which has attained a
height of five and a half metres. Weare told that it blooms
each season, but that year by year it develops smaller leaves
and has probably passed itsprime. The first Paulownia which
bloomed in Europe was one in Paris the flowers of which
appeared in 1842.
A page ina recent number of the “/ustrirte Garten Zeitung
of Vienna is devoted to praise of the Niagara Grape and de-
scriptions of the success which has attended its cultivation in
this country. Three years ago, the author states, specimens
of its fruit were exhibited at a Congress of the Fruit Growers
of Lower Austria and a local grower was induced to attempt
its production by the same cross from which it had resulted
in America. His young vines already look so well, it is added,
that their fruiting is awaited with extreme interest.
About thirty miles in a south-westerly direction from Paris,
in the old town of Rambouillet, is a so-called English garden,
which dates from about the year 1780. Here is a grove of
fully one hundred of our Southern deciduous Cypresses (7a.ro-
dium aistichun), which are probably the finest to be seen in
Europe. They are growing in a low, moist piece of ground,
perhaps six acres in extént, and well suited to their develop-
ment. Inthe spring their bright green colors and gracetul
forms make a strikingly beautiful picture. In the ‘ French
Garden,” on the other side of the famous chateau, isanavenue
of the same kind of tree, about 400 yards long, in which many
of the trees measure four feet in diameter.
There have been in Germany during the last twelve years
sixteen scientific stations devoted to the investigation of me-
teorological and other phenomena connected with the forest.
At the Eberswald Station observations have been taken during
a numberof years for the purpose of determining the difference
in the temperature of the soil in the forest and in the open
ground. Two posts were established, the first in a grove of
Scotch Pines forty-five years old, and 375 feet from the open
ground, the other at a point 795 feet from any wood. At each
of these stations readings of the thermometer have been taken
daily at 8 A. M. and at 2 P. M. at the surface, and at depths
varying from six inches to four feet below the surface. The
results of these observations may be briefly stated to be: that
the temperature of the soil at the different-depths averages
one degree higher in the forest during the winter than in the
open ground, and that it is nearly three degrees cooler in
summer, so that the extreme variations of the soil are four
degrees less in the woods than in the open ground; that the
forest has the same effect upon temperature as depth below
the surface has—that is, it retards and modifies extremes, and
makes variations slower and more regular in their appearance
and disappearance. A full account of these experiments and
others carried on at these stations can be found in the annual
reports which Dr. Mutrich has published since 1875, and
which can be obtained from the Berlin bookseller Springer, 3
Monbijonplatz.
The feature of the Saturday exhibition of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society on August 4th consisted of several large
collections of Sweet Peas. The finest flowers in twelve un-
named varieties were shown by Mr. W. Patterson, gardener to
Mrs, Charles Francis Adams, of Quincy. M. B. Faxon, the
Boston seedsman, staged twenty-five named varieties, of
which the finest were Black Purple, with dark, rich, purple,
nearly black flowers of fine substance and color; Butterfly,
light, clear lilac; Painted Lady, pink and white, clear and very
delicate ; and Invincible, dark, clear scarlet, and by far the
handsomest flower in the collection. Many of the newer
varieties are lacking in clearness of color, and give evidence
that too much attention has been given to the development of
large flowers at the expense of clear selt-colors. Sweet Peas
are now great favorites with the public, and the windows of
Boston florists often contain beautiful displays of this flower,
tastefully arranged with Maidenhair Ferns, Summer Carna-
tions and trailing Asparagus. At the same meeting of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society Mr. James Comley, gar-
dener to Mrs. F. B. Hayes, of Lexington, exhibited the flowers
of a number of interesting hybrids between Mymphea cyanea
and WV. dentata, showing a considerable variety of form and
several distinct shades of color, from pale to very dark blue.
These are the first flowers from several thousand hybrids
raised by Mr, Comley, and seem full of promise for the devel-
opment and improvement of Water Lilies.
Se
AuGust 22, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TripunE Buitpinc, 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 22, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Epiroriat_ ARTICLES: —The Society of American Florists.—Spring-Flower-
ing Bulbs.—Lombardy Poplars in the Eastern States.—A Wood Picture.. or
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter...............0cseeeeues W. Goldring. 303
New or Lirrre Known Prants:— Magnolia hypoleuca (with illustra-
TLONl Pe tstcaistetererlerere prateis ¢ spieeicsieecs sath as bse Speeds. SOe
Currura, Derarrmenr:—The Vegetable Garden.—The Plum.—Ferns for
Basket Culture.—Whitewash for Rose-beetles.—Gentians.—Sweet Peas.. 305
Orcuip Norges :—Cattleya Bowringiana.—Anguloa uniflora—Oncidium ma-
fGen th Wit Nam eabetentete racets aee cisatt gy eect cats acces Sek Re ne ee eee era cae 308
Pant Notes :—The Victoria Regia—The Home of. the Jacobean Lil
qualis Indica.—Clematis Davidiana
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum
Tue Forest :—Farmers and Foresty
NS ORRESPONDENCEss<cisscass ca vscec sacs
Periopicar LigexaTURE...........
INGRES 6286 Go eRe SEBO SG IORPEe Bao SGH CIE eee Tere ama ae re
‘
IttustRations :—Magnolia Hypoleuca, Fig. 49
Hardy Bulbs Blooming in the Grass
The Society of American Florists.
HIS association, although young in years, has already
become, in the broadest sense of the word, a national or-
ganization, embracing in its membership the most promi-
nentcommercial growers of plants and flowers in every state
of the Union. Subordinate societies, known as Florists’
Clubs, have been formed in many cities, and the frequent
meeting of these clubs and their vital connection with the
parent society make an organization strong and efficient
to secure with certainty and promptness every advantage
that comes from co-operative effort. Primarily, itis a trade
organization, created and developed for the benefit of that
_ rapidly increasing class who have a business interest in
growing plants and cut flowers. Ina genuine sense, how-
ever, the influence of the society reaches all who love
flowers and cultivate them, and this influence, so far as we
know, has been for good only.” In some cases, it is true,
the formation of a Florists’ Club has been followed by the
sudden death of the local Horticultural Society, but socie-
ties with such feeble vitality have little excuse for surviv-
ing. There is no essential conflict between the trade-asso-
ciations, whose work lies-in one special direction, and the
horticultural societies, which occupy a broader field for
purposes other than commercial. The two associations
should be mutually helpful, and all the more so when each
is held strictly to its distinctive work. Certainly a horti-
cultural society falls short of its highest aim when it is
managed so exclusively in the interest of trade that the
establishment of a florists’ business club in its neighbor-
hood leaves nothing for it to do.
Horticulture, in the fullness of its meaning, is a domain
which this association and its offshoots do not attempt to
occupy, and yet while working in their restricted field and
for a special purpose, the meeting of the florists here in
annual convention this week has awakened more general
attention than any similar gathering in recent years. This
is partly owing to the fact that the promised attendance
will be much larger, that the subjects announced for dis-
cussion are of greater practical interest, and that the exhi-
bition of plants, flowers and florists’ appliances will be
Garden and Forest.
301
more varied and extensive than at any former meeting.
But behind all this is the additional fact that flowers and
floriculture have a deeper hold upon the affections of the
people every year, especially in New York, the centre of
the most important Rose-growing district in the country,
and the market in which more cut flowers are sold than in
any other city on the globe. The cultural questions dis-
cussed will be an education to amateurs as well as to the
members, and so will all information relating to the special
habits and uses of different plants, to the use of insecti-
cides, to the construction of green-houses, and to other mat-
ters of practice. Ina wider sense every discovery made
and every forward step taken, that will prove helpful to
the members from a business point of view, will also be
of advantage to the buyer, as it enables him to secure
plants and flowers with less trouble and expense. The
reduction of postage on plants, seeds and bulbs, for exam-
ple, which has just been effected, largely through the
labors of this organization, will make it possible for all
who buy plants to secure larger ones and more of them at
the old rates, not only through the mails, but by express as
well, for express charges will be reduced as they come in
competition with the post.
To the members themselves the value of these gatherings
can hardly be overestimated. The production of flowers
under artificial conditions, and at unnatural seasons, to-
gether with the weakening effect of high cultivation and
the inbreeding of varieties, have inevitably developed dis-
eases and pests hitherto unnoticed or unknown, and in the
study of these difficulties a comparison of experience by
men from widely separated regions is an invaluable aid.
Nor will this interchange of experimental knowledge be
confined to any single topic, but will be found of value
throughout the entire range of commercial and cultural
practice. And again, the instruction thus imparted will
not be derived alone from the formal addresses and the
still more suggestive discussions that follow them. One of
the leading plantsmen of the country recently stated that
a suggestion dropped by a fellow member in a casual con-
versation at a meeting of the Association in Chicago had
enabled him to save thousands of dollars in glazing his
green-houses alone. Apart, then, from the recreative and
social features of this meeting, from the instruction and
pleasure offered by the exhibition, which will illustrate
the most progressive practice in every department
of floriculture and floral decoration, and the advantages
that come from travel and enlarged acquaintance, the in-
timate association for days together of several hundred
alert business men, engaged in the same pursuit and
studying the same problems, must tend to give every
member fresh ideas, quicken his spirit of enterprise and
broaden his mental horizon.
The Society of American Florists has already accom-
plished enough to justify the hopes of its founders, to merit
the good will and command the respect of all who are in-
terested in floriculture. It is under the guidance of intelli-
gent and progressive men, and it is destined to wield a
still more important influence as the great industry which
it represents continues its wonderful growth. It is only
when we consider how largely the public is dependent
upon nurserymen, seedsmen and florists for instruction in
practical horticulture, and to what extent the buyer’s selec-
tion of varieties is controlled by the illustrations in their
catalogues, the trees, shrubs and vines in their trial grounds;
the floral displays in their shop windows, and the discus-
sions in their societies, that we begin to realize the public
importance of these gatherings. Fortunately the tendency
of these meetings, so far as they are educational, is to-
wards greater simplicity and naturalness in the way of
decorative planting and floral arrangément. A steady
progress in this direction is manifested in the trade from
year to year, and if the time should come when the leading
members of the Society are not as conspicuous for good
taste as for business enterprise and ability, it will not be
the result of the deliberations at these assemblies.
302
Spring-Flowering Bulbs.
ie is the season of the year when the catalogues of
the Dutch bulb-growers should be carefully studied,
and when people should determine what bulbs they will
plant for the decoration of their gardens in spring and
where and in what manner they shall be planted. The
bulbs need not be placed in the ground until October or
even until November, but it is well, in all that relates to the
garden, to take time by the forelock, and not to put off the
planning of planting operations until the planting time ac-
tually comes. And if the bulbs are imported direct from
one of the great Dutch bulb-farms, as is the most satisfac-
tory and economical method if many plants are needed,
six weeks at least will pass after the order is sent before
the bulbs arrive, so that if it is sent late in the present
month or early in September, the plants will not arrive too
early for autumn planting.
The cultivation of hardy spring-flowering bulbs is one of
the most delightful, as it is one of the most satisfactory of
all forms of gardening. Many of the plants classed under
this head yield flowers which no inhabitant of the tropics can
excel in delicate charm or in gorgeous splendor. No plants
are more easily cultivated, and none give so much pleasure
for the small amount of money which they cost. Many of
them increase and multiply without care, beyond the first
planting, and, once established, go on flowering year after
year almost indefinitely.
There is a charm in these early spring flowers, appearing
among the melting snows, the first indication that the long
winter has come to an end, which each year grows stronger
and stronger, and which no other feeling inspired by thé
contemplation of Nature’s workings ever quite resembles.
Men tire of the most splendid Orchids of the tropics, of
the masses of color which modern horticulture spreads over
the Chinese Azaleas, of all the garden show and gorgeous-
ness of these later days, but who has ever tired of a Snow-
drop or a Daffodil in early spring ?
There is a much larger variety of hardy spring-flower-
ing bulbous plants than are usually met with in American
gardens, which, by a proper selection, may be made gay
or interesting with them from March until July, or from the
time when the earliest Snowdrops and Crocuses appear,
until the blooming of the so-called Spanish and English
Irises in mid-summer. Many new species and varieties of
the Crocus have been introduced into gardens of late years,
and the blooming period of the plants of this genus has, in
this way, been materially prolonged. Among Squills there
are many charming flowers blooming in succession during
six or seven weeks. The number of different Narcissus which
can now be grown is almost endless. The attention which
has been bestowed upon these plants of late years in England,
by botanists and by gardeners, is one of the most interest-
ing phases of modern horticulture. It has resulted in the
reintroduction of many species of Narcissus long lost to
gardens, and in the production of many new hybrids of
more than passing interest and value. The Tulip and the
Hyacinth are too well known -to need mention here > eX-
cept to call attention to the fact that many of thespecies of
Tulip, which have been described at different times in the
columns of this Journal, exceed in beauty as they certainly
do in interest, those of the more familiar garden races.
They should find place in every garden, with quantities
of Narcissus and Squills, Alltums and Snowdrops, Snow-
flakes and Crocuses, Frittilaries and Dogtooth Violets,
Ornithagalums and Lilies-of-the-Valley. There never was
a garden in which there were too many of these plants, or
in which some corner could not have been found which
might have been made more attractive by their presence.
Persons who have only seen spring flowering bulbs in
formal garden beds can form but a faint idea of the pleas-
ure which can be got from them when they are planted
in natural groups or masses along the borders of wood-
walks, in the fields among grass, or in the rough and un-
kept parts of the garden. Our illustration upon page
Garden and Forest.
[AucusT 22, 1888.
306, representing a quantity of the Poet's Narcissus, and
of one of the late blooming tall Squills (S. campanulata),
grown in this way near a wood-walk in a garden in
Massachusetts will serve, perhaps, to give a slight idea
of how such plants can be properly associated together,
and how their greatest charm and beauty can be brought
out.
All bulbous plants, however, cannot be satisfactorily
used in this way. A garden Tulip or a garden Hya-
cinth planted in the grass appears as much out of place
as a Dock in a trim parterre; but all the Narcissus look
better in the grass than in a border, especially the Poet’s
Narcissus, and the Jonquil.
tive when planted in this way than in formal beds or as
edgings; although they harmonize less perfectly with their
surroundings than Squills, all of which look their best when
allowed to run wild. Many bulbs last longer and increase
more rapidly when left to themselves in this way, than
when planted in borders, from which it is often necessary
to remove them. It is essential, however, that all these
plants should be allowed to thoroughly mature and ripen
their foliage. They cannot, therefore, be planted in grass,
which is cut early in the season, and even if this were not
Crocuses are more attrac- |
the case, such plants springing from closely cut turf look —
less at home and less natural than when they grow among
tall grasses or the wild plants which are found along the
borders of woods or on rocky banks. These bulbous
plants delight almost universally in deep, rich soil, and if
they are to be naturalized, and are expected to flower year
after year, and to increase, it should be provided for them
when the bulbs are first planted. If this is done, no further
care or attention need ever be paid to them; and every
year when they bloom, the fortunate possessor of a gar-
den in which such plants thrive, will rejoice with a new
and ever increasing joy.
Mr. John Kenrick established in 1797 a commercial nur-
sery of ornamental trees in Newton, Massachusetts. Two
acres, a large piece of ground for such a purpose at that
time, he devoted to the cultivation of the Lombardy Pop-
lar, which was about the only ornamental tree for which
there was any demand in those days. It is worthy of re-
mark that the Poplars which Mr, Kenrick and others
propagated and distributed by thousands and by tens of
thousands early in this century have now nearly all dis-
appeared. Here and there a decrepit and half dead Lom-
bardy Poplar may still be seen in the Eastern States, but
their beauty is a thing of the past, and each year reduces
their number. It is not old age alone which affects
them, for young trees, after growing during a few years
with vigor and rapidity, perish by piecemeal, branch after
branch falling away without any apparent cause; and it is
not the climate of America which is fatal to this tree, for it
is disappearing in Europe in the same manner. These
trees abounded in France, in Germany and in Italy half
a century ago; now they are comparatively rare in those
countries, and the specimens which remain are not more _
healthy than those seen in the United States. It is not
improbable, therefore, that the Lombardy Poplar will dis-
appear entirely. All the individuals of this tree, whichis |
considered an abnormal form of the Black European _
Poplar, have descended probably from one or from a com- —
paratively few individuals whose peculiarities and weak- —
nesses of constitution have thus been handed down from ¥
individual to individual without change, and without the
infusion of new blood which plants derive from cross-fer- —
tilization among individuals of the same species, or by the |
hybridization of nearly allied species, and without which —
no race can endure for any considerable period. Cases _
are not unknown where plants propagated exclusively —
by division, for the purpose of perpetuating some pecu- —
liar characteristic not transmitable to their offspring in the
natural way, have entirely disappeared; and this will —
probably prove true, sooner or later, of many trees of ©
bh ae Fy
re Se Es
AucusT 22, 1888.]
abnormal habit like the Lombardy Poplar and of trees with ”
peculiarly cut or variegated foliage, although there is al-
ways the chance that seedlings will appear with similar
peculiarities to renew the race with fresh blood. The Pur-
ple Beech, for example, so potent is the peculiarity to
which it owes its name, often comes true from seed ;
but individual peculiarities of this sort are not, as a rule,
very firmly fixed in the case of trees, and cannot be de-
_ pended upon to repeat themselves with much certainty.
' monstrosities in which modern planters
blessed with feeble constitutions, and are
It is fortunate that they cannot, and that many of the
so delight are
doomed to dis-
appear entirely off the face of the earth. But the failure
of the Lombardy Poplar is not a blessing. Planted as it
was a hundred, or even fifty, years ago, in all possible
situations, without regard to its surroundings or to the po-
sitions in which it was placed, it did more, perhaps, than
any tree which has ever been planted, especially in some
parts of Europe, to disfigure the landscape. There is no
tree, however, which can take its place, or which can
so quickly send up a tall, slender shaft to break a low
or monotonous sky line. It became an _ unpleasant
feature in the landscape only when it was used without
judgment and without discretion.
A Wood Picture.
E are sometimes told that Nature hides her
choicest products from all but those who are
willing to search for them in the more secret recesses of
her great laboratory of beauty—that she spreads indiffer-
ent things before the indifferent world, and reserves her
loveliest for her true lovers. But the charge is hardly a
just one. Generally speaking, the most beautiful plants
are not the rarest. It is truer to say that to many eyes
the rarest will always seem most beautiful, simply because
of their rarity.
But if we speak not of the things which grow, but of
the way in which they grow—not of Nature’s productions
as such, but of the arrangements, the compositions, the
pictures into which she weaves them—then we may
confess that no one understands her power who is fa-
miliar only with roadsides and meadows and the trodden
paths of the woods ; and no one who, in more secluded
places, takes account of the large things but overlooks
the small. In the heart of the forest or the depth of the
swamp or by the tangled margin of the lowly rivulet we
“must search amid Nature’s litile things to find what she
can do in the way of producing varied, delicate, subtile
and tender effects of beauty. One such effect I found
not long ago which seemed to me to deserve descrip-
don quite as much as any of the conspicuous features
of the very beautiful Catskill country I was visiting.
In the heart of a moist hillside forest, chiefly composed
of young Beech trees, thickly bestrewn with large
boulders, and carpeted with rich patches of Fern, I found
a smooth, gray trunk set close to a low, rounded rock,
beside which the Ferns grew in tall, feathery tufts. The
top of the rock on the side furthest from the tree sloped
gradually into the ground, and was covered with green
_ Mosses and a tangle of Strawberry vines, from which the
scarlet fruit hung profusely in scattered bunches. Close
to the tree the rock was bare, but in a hollow of its sur-
face the large-flowered Wood-sorrel (Oxalis Acetosella) had
taken root, forming a great cluster of drooping, heart-
shaped leaves spangled with white, starry blossoms deli-
cately veined with pink. A fissure in the stone began
near this hollow, passed around to the front of the rock,
and slanted across its face to the lower corner beneath
the Strawberry vines, and all along this fissure the Oxalis
had spread so that a garland of leaves and _ flowers
seemed to have been thrown around the stone. No artist
could have imagined anything so exquisite—could have
chosen materials which contrasted so effectively yet har-
Garden and Forest.
393
moniously in form, texture and color alike, or could have
disposed them with such skill that there should not seem a
leaf too many ora flower too few, a line out of place, a
color too strongly emphasized, a detail of any kind that
might be altered without detriment to the general effect.
And what artist could have executed any idea with such
delicate completeness that the closer one looked the more
beauties one discovered ?
It is things like these that one finds in the woods for the
looking, but never finds unless one looks. Stones and
Beech-trees and Ferns, Strawberries and Moss and Sor-
rel, are common things enough, but it is only where
Nature i8 most quietly at home, where the foot of man
comes seldom and the hand of the flower-gatherer has
not trespassed, that she perfects such lovely pictures with
common materials, and shows them to us in their dewy,
fresh completeness. M. G. van Rensselaer.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HE interest of the meeting of the Royal Horticultural
Society on July roth was centred in the new hardy
plant, Ostrowskia magnyica, which has flowered for the first
time in Europe in the nursery of Veitch & Sons. This
plant has been pronounced by such men as Herr Leicht-
lin, of Baden-Baden, to be the finest of all the Campanula
family, and these great expectations have been realized, as it
turns out to be a grand piant, and certainly not rivaled by
any other herbaceous plant of a similar description. When
full grown it is from four to five feet high, with the fleshy
root-stock of many other campanulaceous plants. The
short stems rise erect as straight as a gun barrel, and the
large, sessile leaves are arranged in whorls at intervals of
afew inches. Surmounting each stem is a huge flower,
fully six inches across, in form like a shallow cup, and
deeply divided into eight lobes. The color is a delicate
mauve, traversed with a network of pencilings and vein-
ings of a deep purple, while here and there the color
deepens. The flowers look at first sight more like those
of a large Clematis than a Campanula, and it is scarcely
credible that such a plant is hardy. Lovers of hardy
flowers are in raptures about it, and a brilliant future is
predicted for the plant. The vote for a first-class certifi-
cate to it was unanimous in committee. It comes from
central Asia, in the Turkestan region, and its introduction
is due to Dr. A. Regel, who, above all other men, has made
us acquainted with the vegetation of this comparatively
unknown region.
Among the new Ferns, one named Gymmnogramna
Pearcet robusta, is the embodiment of elegance, and is
perhaps the most delicately beautiful of the genus. This
variety is remarkable for a stronger growth than the type,
and is so different that one would not be likely to confuse
the one with the other. The fronds are cut very finely,
and being of a peculiar shade of bright green are most at-
tractive. This was shown by Messrs. Veitch. A crested
form of the well-known green-house Fern, Preris “remuda,
was deservedly admired. Every one knows how graceful
the original is, and though this new sport does not gain in
elegance, its tasseled pinne give it a singular appearance.
As the fronds are long and recurve, it is thought to be
highly ornamental, and one that will take with the
market growers. j
Messrs. Veitch again showed a large collection of their
new seedling green-house Rhododendrons of the Javanese
group, and the committee selected for a certificate a very
beautiful sort called Souvenir de J. H. Mangles. The flow-
ers are very large, compared with older sorts, of good
shape and color, and of thick texture; they are a lovely
salmon-orange.
Messrs. Paul had splendid blooms of their new dark
Rose, Grand Mogul, which already holds a high place
among deep crimson Roses. Itis as fine as A. K. W illiams
304
in form, is very full and of good build. The color is of the
deepest and richest, and the perfume very sweet and pow-
erful. Duchess of Albany is a sport from La France, and
differs in no way from the old sort except in a greater
depth of color.
Allium Pedemontanum, the finest of all the ornamental
Onions, was beautifully shown by Mr. Ware, of Totten-
ham, and though an old plant now, it had never before
been exhibited in such perfection. Nobody would take it
for an Onion, so very unlike one are its drooping heads of
bell-shaped flowers of a rich, deep violet purple, which,
moreover, are devoid of the objectionable garlic odor that
accompanies others of the genus. It comes from Pied-
mont, and no doubt it is quite hardy in America, where it
will be considered, no doubt, among the choice bulbs for
the rock-garden.
There are few American visitors to London _ inter-
ested in gardening who do not pay a visit to Mr.
Cannell’s nurseries at Swanley. Itis one of the few great
nurseries in this country where soft wooded plants of all
kinds are grown exclusively. They are for the most part
green-house plants, and some of these are grown on a
large scale. There is now a bewildering array of plants in
the height of their flowering season, but undoubtedly
the leading attractions are tuberous Begonias, single and
double Pelargoniums, Cannas, Gloxinias and Fuchsias.
The Begonias‘are truly wonderful, and though we are
accustomed to see the cream of the new varieties at the
Royal Horticultural exhibitions, one can have no idea from
these of the effect of a great houseful. The race of Swanley
Begonias is remarkable for sturdy and compact growth,
enormous flowers, in outline as near a circle as possible in
a Begonia, and yet Mr. Cannell says he shall not cease
raising new sorts until he can strike a true circle with a
compass from the centre to the outer edges of the petals.
The colors, too, are as remarkable as the growth, for the en-
tire gamut of tints, from the most brilliant scarlets and
the deepest crimsons to pure white and clear yellow, is
represented, and yet this dissatisfied nurseryman will not
rest contented till he gets a blue or apurple Begonia. The
half tones are to me the most charming, especially those in
which there is a mixture of yellow and scarlet, or, as some
call the tint, yolk-of-egg color. Ina new group recently
raised and appropriately called ‘‘Picotee edged” the petals are
white or some delicate tint, with a strongly marked edging
of rich color, such as crimson. Others, again, have scarlet
crimson or pink petals with a conspicuous white centre.
I am afraid I shall be accused of exaggerating if I state that
I measured some of the single Begonias and found they
covered over six inches of my rule, and some of the double
ones which look more like Pzwonies than Begonias, are
over five inches across and make dense globular masses of
petals like satin rosettes. There are perhaps more admir-
ers of the double than the single varieties, but for effect in a
mass the former are not in it compared with the latter
as any one may see at Swanley with houses full of each
side by side.
Another class of plants in full blow at Swanley is the
hybrid Cannas. These are quite new to most people, who
will scarcely believe that such a glorious race of plants
have evolved from such insignificant material as the old
Indian Shot (C. /ndica). Probably other species of Canna
have been used by the hybridist in the production of this
new race. These Cannas have flowers as large as those
of aGladiolus, and on account of their irregular flowers,
they pass very well for Orchids in a cut state. The colors
are very strange. Odd mixtures occur among them, such as
bright yellow spotted with crimson, Indian or Venetian
red edged with yellow, crimson flaked with orange, and
such like combinations. I could pick out from the Swanley
collection a score of varieties in which these strange colors
occur, and all the plants bear noble foliage and are very
floriferous. The houseful of Cannas had a very fine effect,
as the large leafage, itself of various shades of green and
purple, acts as a foil to the tall spikes of brilliant hued
Garden and Forest.
[AucustT 22, 1888.
flowers. The Cannas are planted in free soil (not in pots)
in a warm, moist house, and the luxuriant growth and
abundant bloom show that such is the proper treatment.
Mr. Cannell catalogues the new hybrid Cannas as the
“coming plants,” and I believe he is not far wrong.
London, July 2oth. W. Goldring.
New or Little Known Plants.
Magnolia hypoleuca.
UR illustration on page 305 is the. first which has been
published, with the exception of that in the Japa-
nese book quoted below, of this handsome Magnolia,
one of the largest, and the most northern of the eight
species found in Japan, and, econgmically, the most use-
ful, probably, of the entire genus. Magnolia hypoleuca*
is a common tree in the rich forests which cover the moun-
tains in the southern part of the northern Island of Jesso.
Here it attains a height of sixty feet or more, with a trunk
diameter of nearly two feet. In habit, if we may judge
from the largest plant in this country, it more closely
resembles Jf macrophylla than any other American
species, with the same erect trunk covered with smooth,
pale bark, and the same wide spreading branches. The stout
brown branchlets are conspicuously marked with the round
leaf-scars and narrow, stipular rings; and the large,
pointed, glabrous leaf-buds resemble those of the North
American JZ Umbrella. The leaves are alternate, or some-
what sub-verticellate toward the ends of the branches ;
they are broadly obovate, a foot or more long, six or
seven inches wide, obtuse, or sometimes shortly cuspi-
date, rounded at the base, and borne on stout petioles
an inch and a half long. They are dark green and
glabrous on the upper, pale and covered on the lower sur-
face with short, scattered, white hairs, which are longer and
more numerous on the prominent mid-rib and twenty to
twenty-four principal veins. The creamy white flowers
exhale a delicious fragrance, which may be described as a
combination of those of Wintergreen (Gaultheria) and of
Banana fruit; they are six or seven inches across when
fully expanded and appear in New York late in May or
early in June. The leathery, petaloid sepals and petals
are obovate-spathulate, rounded, or sometimes slightly cuspi-
date. The stamens and carpels are imbricated on a short,
thick receptacle, the brilliant scarlet filaments adding ma-
terially to the beauty of the flower. The fruit, which I
have not seen, is described by Siebold and Zuccarini as
elliptical in form.
The wood of Alagnola hypoleuca is straight-grained,
easily worked and dull yellow-gray in color. It is the
wood commonly used by the Japanese in the manufacture
of objects to be lacquered; it is preferred for sword-
sheaths, and the charcoal made from it is used in polish-
ing lac.
Magnola hypoleuca was first sent to this country in
1865 by Mr. Thomas Hogg, and planted in his brother’s
garden in Eighty-fourth Street by the East River, in this
city, which for many years was the most interesting spot
in the United States for lovers of Japanese plants.
This tree is now twenty-eight feet high, with a trunk
thirty-one inches in diameter three feet from the ground ;
and it will be a misfortune if the improvements now being
made in that part of the city necessitate its destruction.
The northern and elevated range of this species, and
the fact that Mr. Hogg’s specimen has grown so rapidly
in an exceedingly bleak arid exposed position, seem to
indicate that this tree will prove hardy in the Northern
and Middle States. It has been largely propagated by Mr.
S. B. Parsons, at Flushing, Long Island. We are indebted
to the Superintendent of Central Park for the specimen
from which our illustration was taken. CAS:
* Magnolia hypoleuca, Siebold and Zuccarini, Faw. Nat., n. 349.—Maximowicz,
Bull. Acad, Sci., St. Petersburg, viii. 509.—Franchet and Savatier, Enum. Fl. Jap.
1. 17:
M. glauca, Thunberg, FI. Jap., 236 (not Linnzeus).
“ Kwa-wi, Arb., vol. 2, fol. 2, sub. Tan pakou ; Fonoki.”
AUGUST 22, 1888.]
Garden and Forest. 305
Fig. 49.—Magnolia hypoleuca.—See page 304.
Cultural Department.
The Vegetable Garden.
VEGETABLE gardening is very well done around Boston
and the gardeners there try to have everything of the
best. Just now, in early August, Tomatoes are beginning to
ripen, Peas are moderately plentiful, Celery has been planted
out, and of Beans, Corn and root crops there is a full supply.
Charles Sander, gardener to Professor Sargent, maintains a
capital succession of vegetables. For Sweet Corn he uses Cory
for early, and Crosby’s tor the main crop. He grows more of
Livingston’s Perfection Tomato than of any other. He is partial
to Dewing’s Turnip Beet and claims to get an even strain of
red-fleshed roots. My experience has been different; I have
always had some crimson-red and others a good deal banded
306
with white. Although white or striped-fleshed Beets may
taste as well as crimson fleshed ones, they do not look as well
upon the te ible, and the refore $ should not be used. For Snap
Beans he uses Mohawk, \ ralentine and Black Wax. For On-
ions, Silver Queen, Red Globe and Yellow Danvers. For Cel-
ery, White Plume ‘and Boston Market. He earths up White
Plume to make it tender, and sprouts Boston Market to
confine it toa single head. Nearly all the private gardeners
grow Boston Market to one head, and grow it for a main
crop. Now thisisa troublesome way. Golden Heart is just
as good a Celery as Boston Market and it generally confines
itself to one heart and by using it we do away with much of
the labor ee in sprouting. But, Boston Market keeps
best of all Celeries; we usually have it till the end of April.
Market gardeners usually plant Celery in single rows, private
gardeners often in double rows and in trenches a fe w inches
under the ground level. Mr. Robinson, of Easton, had his
Celery on the lev el, because he thinks thisa preventive of rust.
But no matter whether it is planted on the level or in shal-
low trenches rust will appear, and where land is dry and sandy
it is essential to plant in shallow trenches to help retain moist-
Garden and Forest.
[AuGcusT 22, 1888.
covers the canes with earth in winter, and with this treatment
finds it hardy enough. He would be willing to confine him-
self to Sharpless and Belmont for Straw berries, the latter being
the best in quality.
Glen Cove, N. Y. Wm. Falconer.
The Plum.
HE cultivation of the Plum in some sections of the coun-
try when confined to the foreign varieties, is getting to be
quite as precarious as that of the Gooseberr y, and hereabouts,
at least, it is more uncertain than that of the Peach. If the
trees grow they produce a crop of black knots. If they bloom
freely and seta full crop of fruit it too often rots before it
ripens. We only manage to save the fruit by canning it as
soon as it approaches maturity, And yet the time was 5 when
the older of the improved varieties, such as Washington, Jef-
ferson and Yellow Egg, yielded good crops, while Damsons
and Blue Gages came up in our yards spontaneously and bore
Aentgeoed If this Plum rot is due to a fungus similar to the
Grape rot we might discover some remedy or employ the
Hardy Bulbs Blooming in
ure, for the great point in Célery growing is to keep it moist
and in vigorous growth from the time the see dlings appear
till the plants are stored for the winter.
Mr. Sander considers Fotler’s Champion Erfurt one of the
best Cauliflowers. Sown about the first of February, and
grown along in pots, then planted out in spent hot-beds, twelve
ee ints to a three by six foot sash, he begins cutting C wuliflower
early in May. Veitch’s Autumn Giant does not do well with
him. It does very well here and gives good heads from Oc-
tober till Janu. ivy. Of course if it he is not hearted before frosty
weather sets in it is lifted and heeled in close in cold-frames
Mr. Sander finds Christiana the best of all Musk Melons; it
never fails to bear and ripen a heavy crop of fruit. Hes save
his own seed from the finest early fruit. About New York
Christiana isa most uncertain variety, seldom of any good
whatever with us. Hackensack is our most reliable variety,
but itis a large, melon. Emerald Gem has been very
itisfactory for the past few years. Surprise is our best red-
fleshed meion.
Mr. Sander grows Cuthbert and
ries,
,
coarse
srinkle’s Orange Raspber-
rhe latter is somewhat tender, but he lays down and
the Grass —See page 302
same or similar means to stamp it out.
ject tor our mycologists to study.
Until the growing of choice Piums is attended with less risk
than at present, it is well worth while to pay some attention to
our native varieties, of which the Wild Goose is the most
prominent and widely known. Its advent was heralded with
great promises, but so many different types have been palmed
off on fruit-growers that the results have been more varied
than satisfactory. The general complaint was unproductive-
ness, and this was fing ily attributed to defects in the flowers,
and the remedy proposed was to plant it among other kinds
that would supply the deficiency in pollen. My. original tree
stands among a number of other kinds amply able to furnish
all needed pollen, and yet it has never been more than fairly
productive, and this year is almost an entire failure. The fruit
is of an attractive scarlet color, an inch and a quarter in length,
with across diameter a trifle shorter. It is not a very desira-
ble dessert fruit, but does very well for cooking and preserv-
ing. Other trees, sold under the same name, bear fruit not
more than half the size. The name Wild Goose is therefore
no guarantee as to what the fruit will be.
Here is a good sub-
- AUGUST 22, 1888)]
From sources apparently trustworthy we hear of native va-
-rieties much superior to the best of those we have grown
under the name of Wild Goose, and it would not be surprising if
our best and most reliable Plums were in time developed from
this native stock, Ihave tested but one other Plum of this class,
the Reed, which originated at Hightstown, New Jersey, some
years ago. It is a splendid scarlet or crimson fruit, perfectly
round, and aboutan inch in diameter. Itis also a regular and
abundant bearer, so much so that I have counted on a crop in
advance with certainty until this season, when, for the first time,
it has failed. Like the Wild Goose, it is not of first quality,
and will not compare with Bevay or Green Gage, but it is better
than no Plumsatall. Mr. J. W. Kerr, of Denton, Maryland,
“has about forty varieties of these *P-ums on trial, accord-
ing to the Delaware farm and Home, and among them are
‘some of much promise. Near Carbondale, Pennsylvania,
some years ago, I saw profuse crops of Plums in many orch-
ards. The trees were all seedlings, I was told, that came up
‘spontaneously, reproducing themselves with little or no varia-
tion. They were of the Damson type in size and color, and it
was said that the crop was not an unusual one.
Here seems to be a field for the enterprising hybridizer. If
-adash of blood from some of our choicest kinds could be
worked in with our sturdy native stock, a strain of this fruit,
better adapted to our soil and climate, or, at least, better able
to repel the attacks of tungus-disease than any we now have,
might be produced. peg
Montclair, New Jersey. EE. Williams.
Ferns for Basket Culture.
HILE the use of Ferns for decorative purposes has large-
ly increased of late years, and especially for house
decoration and as an adjunct to cut-flower arrangement, yet
_there are many most interesting species which seem to have
- been neglected, or rather have ‘hot received the amount of at-
tention “they deserve. Some of these are particularly
adapted to basket-culture, and it is hard to find a more grace-
ful or beautiful object than a well-grown Fern- baskct, eat
filied either with one variety alone, which is the best plan, or
_with several sorts. Some Ferns are more attractive when
-grownin this manner than in any other, as their habit of
growth is exhibited to much better advantage when suspend-
ed from above. One or two examples from the charming
‘family of Maidenhair Ferns should lead the list. ;
Adiantum ciliatum is decidedly one of the best fine-growing
basket Ferns we have. Its gracefully arched pinnate fr onds are
‘from twelve to fifteen inches inlength, slightly pubescent, and
sometimes pinkish when very young. The fronds of this
species, like those of A. caudatum, which it somewhat re-
sembles, are proliferous at the apex, and consequently when
the young plant appears on the frond it should be pegged down
so as to encourage it in rooting, and in this way the entire sur-
face of the basket nay soon be covered. A. dolabriforme is
another excellent sort for basket use and very distinct in ap-
pearance, having pinnate fronds from one foot to eighteen
inches in length, the rachis being black and shiny in the full
grown fronds. The color of the pinne varies from a delicate
green in the young fronds to very dark green in the matured
growth. A. dolabriforme is also proliferous, anda rapid grower,
_so thata good specimen may be soon obtained. Another genus
of Ferns, several of whose species make good subjects for
basket culture, are the Davallias, the following being among the
most useful for this purpose. D. dissecta, a well-known and
free-growing variety with tripinnate fronds from one to two feet
in length; VD. pentaphylla is also a very handsome and distinct
species, having glossy green pinnate fronds from ten to twelve
inches long, w hich by their bright appearance give a charming
effect to the plant. Itis an evergreen, and though ‘a native ot
the Malay Islands does very well ina temperature of fifty-five
to sixty degrees. Another very pretty sort is D. Zyermannit,
when well-grow n. It has tripinnate fronds from six to eight
inches in length, dark green in color when full grown, but in
a young state the fronds are often marked with silvery pink.
Among the stronger growing Ferns. suitable for basket
work, we may mention Nephrolepis pectinata and N. tuberosa,
also the “ Stag’s Horn Fern,” Matycerium alcicorne, the strange
growth and oddly shaped fronds of which are alwa ays inter-
esting. All of the above list are of free habit and easy culti-
vation, and may readily be grown in a temperature of from
fifty-five to sixty degrees.
eee hein. chiet requirements are shade and an abundance of
water when well established. As to soil, a compost of equal
parts of light loam and peat with a fair proportion of sand and
. a little broken charcoal will be likely to give a good result.
Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin.
Garden and ‘Forest 20
~I
Whitewash for Rose-beetles
EFERRING to Mr. Pearson’s experience in fighting Rose-
beetles, as related in a late issue of GARDEN AND For-
EST, let me present some notes of an experiment under-
taken by Mr. E. A. Dunbar, an extensive fruit-grower of Ash-
tabula County, Ohio. Last year he sprayed his Peach-trees
with Paris green mixtures, of various strength, when the
Peaches were half grown, to stop the ravages of the Rose-
bug, continuing, in some instances, the application until the
foliage was half killed and dropped off; but the bugs were
not diminished, and seemed rather to thrive on the poison,
Hand-picking was tried, but with unsatisfactory results.
Early in June, this year, I advised him to try s spraying his
Grapes and Peaches with a mixture of a peck of air-slaked
lime to a barrel of water, putting it on so thick that the foliage
and fruit would be well coated with lime when the water
evaporated. :
In a letter, written July 23d, Mr. Dunbar sé
A thorough application of the remedy advised was un-
doubtedly the means of saving many dollars’ worth of
fruit. The Rose-bugs appeared this year about
June 12th. One application ‘of a coal-oil emulsion to a few
Grape-vines and Rose-bushes killed most of the bugs which
were there, but others soon filled their. places. I. then
mounted a Field force-pump on a forty-gallon cask, set on
a stoneboat, and slaked about a peck of lime for each barrel of
water, and the motion (of the boat) kept the lime in suspension,
One man worked the pump, and another directed the spray,
on one side of one row of Grape-vines at a time, as fast-as
the horse walked down the row, and wesoon had the vineyard
thoroughly whitewashed, and the lime well on the fruit under
the leaves. I was disappointed at first in apparent results, as
the bugs continued to be quite numerous, but after a few
days they vanished, having hurt the Grapes very little, and |
have a heavier crop than for several years past. Few Rose-
bugs had attacked the side of my Peach-orchard nearest the
house, and therefore I did not visit the further side for sey-
eral days. When I did the bugs had already destroyed many
Peachés. I at once whitewashed the Peach-orchard in the
same manner as the vineyard, with the exception of one row,
and the bugs all emigrated to that row in the course of a day
or two. The whitewash showed quite plainly after several
hard rains, and one application was sufficient.’
I think the effectiveness of the application would have been
increased had a small quantity of crude carbolic acid been
added to the lime-water. No danger to the foliage need be
apprehended trom the application ‘of any amount oflime. At
this station this season I have had the fruit and foliage of
some Plum-trees thoroughly coated with lime for w eeks, and
they appear even brighter and healthier than those not treated
in this way.
Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. M. Weed.
Clarence:
‘
Gentians are plants that should be more generally grown.
Nearly all are hardy, as far as enduring cold goes. They
merely need enough cover to prevent them from being
heaved out by alternate freezings and thawings as the winter
breaks up. All need a moist subsoil. Though they succeed
well in, deep. loam, a little peat seems to be beneficial to such
species as G. verna and G. Bavarica and two or three other
alpine species.
Gentians are impatient of removal or division, I have
failed more than once in trying to establish G. Burseri, G.
lutea and _G. punctata, all grand yellow-flowered species,
from the European Alps. The finest specimen of G. lutea
I ever saw measured five feet high when in bloom. It had
been planted in peaty loam, with brick rubbish added, when
a seedling, and had taken three years to mature sufficie sntly for
blooming. Most Gentians are slow in reaching the flowering
stage. G. cruciata and Be affinis will sometimes flower the
first year from seed. Pneumonanthe, G. asclepiadea and
(Ge seplempda require a years.
In order to insure the germination of Gentian seed, it had
better be sown in the fall, and wintered over in a frost-proof
frame. The time it will take to come up is uncertain. Seed
of G, septemfida sown in the fall, will germinate fully the follow-
ing spring, but if kept dry until spring and then sown, it will
come up ‘ina straggling way all summer long, and will not
fully germinate until the next spring. So itis with most of
them, some even requiring: three years for seed to germinate.
G. cructata and G. affinis are the only species, so far as I
know, which will germinate quickly after being sown in spring.
G. Pyrenaica and G. verna are at home in moist meadows
and seldom do well in cultivation if removed from the grass
308 Garden and Forest.
which forms the turf in which they grow naturally. G. Bavar-
ica is a swamp species, growing and flowering beautifully if
the groundis kept spongy with water, and it is the vem ofall the
dwarf species. The ultramarine blue of its flowers cannot be
surpassed, The lovely G. Kurroo, from the Him: vlayan moun-
tains, is the only one which seems partic il to shade.
These notes embrace most species in cultivation, but there
are many other beautiful species, and varieties of those named
above. T. D. Hatfield.
Wellesley, Mass.
Sweet Peas.—Of the new varieties of Sweet Peas sent out this
season the following have come under my notice: Autocrat,
Caprice, Autumn Tints, Venus, Beauty, Apple Blossom, Bo-
reaton, Blue Bird, Johanna Theresa, Capt. Sharky and Tricolor.
Of these, Apple Biossom, Boreaton, Capt. Sharky, the variety
under the two names, Blue Bird and Johanna Theresa, and
Splendor, seem to be distinct. Autocrat is identical with In-
digo King, Caprice with Princess Beatrice, Autumn Tints with
[AucusT 22, 1888.
many seedsmen. Sometimes old varieties are sent out under
new names, and it is worse than annoying to pay for Peas at
the rate of two cents and a half each, and then find that the
same variety can be bought for twenty-five cents an ounce.
Newton Highlands, Mas A, H, Fewkes.
Cattleya Bowringiana.—This Cattleya has not received the
attention due to it, although it is one of the finest introductions
of late years. Its blossoms are chaste and very beautiful, fif-
teen of them being often borne on a single spike and that
during the winter months, when Orchid flowers arescarce. The
se pals and petals are mauve-tinted rose, the lip being of a rich
crimson and the throat yellow. It is a native of Guatemala,
where it is found growing luxuriantly on the bare rocks, en-
joying full sun the greater part of the year. Very little com-
post, therefore, is needed about the roots of the plant, but a
good supply of air and light should be given its period of
growth.
— Anguloa uniflora.—This fine Anguloa was discovered by M.
The Victoria Tank at ‘‘Sandyside,” Yarmouth.—See page 309.
Orange Prince, Venus with Vesuvius, Beauty with Invincible,
Carmine and Tricolor with Capt. Clark.
Apple Blossom, as grown here, does not agree with the in-
troducer s description, which was, ‘An improved Painted
Lady.” Itis a large, fine flower of a rosy carmine e color, edged
and blotched with white. Boreaton is very distinct and fine.
The standard is broad and smooth, of a dark bronzy color, with
darker veins, the wings are purple shaded bronze. One of the
finest dark Peas grown, Blue Bird or Johanna Theresa, has a
fine, large flower, with bronze standard, and bright, bluish-
purple wings and flowers freely. Capt. Sharky ji is a good
variety, which seems to bea sport from Painted Lady. ~The
standard is exactly the same as in the latter, but the wings are
rosy carmine. Splendor is indeed a sple ndid variety, with
very large, fine flowers of a deep carmine-rose color. It is one
of the very best.
The trade-names of Sweet Peas are very confusing, and some
varieties are sold under three or four different names by as
Linden when collecting in the mountains of Colombia. It is
an Orchid of very easy culture, producing its white blossoms
with the young growths during the months of June, July and
August, and they remain in perfection (if placed in a cool
temperature) for nearly a month. They are so fragrant thata
small plant will fill the house with perfume. During growth
all Anguloas require copious waterings, and as they are liable
2 become infested with scale, this pest should be closely
vatched. Should no signs of this insect appear, they can be
Gene off by dipping the plants occasionally, say once a
month, ina weak solution of tobacco-water,
Oncidium macranthum.—This handsome Orchid, owing to
the difficulty in obtaining sound specimens, will always re-
main, more or less, a rare plant. Its bulbs being soft, ‘decay
very quickly when packed in the close cases ‘used for its
transportation to this country. It makes a fine Orchid for
exhibiting, producing large blossoms in the early spring on
very long spikes, often measuring six to eight feet in length,
AucusT 22, 1888.]
each individual flower being fully three and a half to four
inches in diameter, and of a bright olive-brown and yellow
color, remaining in perfection for two or three months. It
enjoys a very moist and cool atmosphere, being found at a
very high elevation in its native habitat. Imported plants of
this Oncidium require very littke water until new roots
appear, or they will decay very quickly. Good drainage,
with fresh sphagnum and fibrous peat, are essential to the
best results. A.D:
Plant Notes.
The Victoria Regia.
UR illustration on page 308 represents the Victoria
tank in Miss Simpkins’ garden in Yarmouth, Massa-
chusetts, where, under the direction of Mr. James Brydon,
tropical Water Lilies are grown in great variety, and with
greater luxuriance and success than in any private garden
in the United States.
Besides the Victoria tank, which is thirty feet in diameter,
and heated by pipes brought from a neighboring green-
house, there is a large octagonal tank fifty feet across de-
voted to the cultivation of tropical Nympheeas, and filled
during the summer months with M Devoniensis, N. Lotus,
NV. dentata,. N. cyanea, N. Zanzibarensis, and other species
and varieties. Flowers of immense size are produced in
this tank, in which the water is kept heated to a tempera-
ture of not less than 80° by means of pipes brought from
a boiler specially devoted to this purpose, and to heating a
small tank-house used for keeping the Nymphea roots
over winter and for propagating the rarer varieties. A
third and smaller tank, which is not heated, is devoted to
the white European Nymphea and to the pink variety of
the common Eastern species, which, with the generous
treatment here given to it, produces flowers which are
nearly double the size of those found growing wild in the
neighboring towns of Barnstable and Sandwich.
The Victoria Regia, which is rightly considered one of
the marvels of the vegetable kingdom, is too well known
to need any description here. It has been in cultivation
for more than forty years, and flowered for the first time
in the United States as long ago as 1853 in the garden of
Mr. John Fisk Allen, of Salem, Massachusetts, who exhib-
ited it that year at different meetings of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society.
The Victoria is found in the tributaries of the large rivers
of tropical America which flow into the Atlantic Ocean
from British Guiana to Bolivia, having first been detected
in 1801 by Haenke in the Rio Mamoré, one of the upper
tributaries of the Amazon, in Bolivia.
The seed from which was produced the plant which ap-
pears in our illustration was planted in January last by
Mr. Brydon in a pail of rich soil, plunged in a small
green-house tank of warm water. The young plant was
shifted once, and early in June, having outgrown its quar-
ters under glass, was planted out in its present position.
The tank during cool days, or when there is a high wind,
which tears the leaves, is covered with a cotton awning
stretched over a frame, placed some feet above the water,
the sides of this temporary structure being closed with
tight-fitting shutters. Treated in this way, the Victoria will
continue to produce its leaves and flowers until the middle
of September, and is expected to ripen seed.
Our illustration serves to show that the stories of the
wonderful supporting power of the strongly-braced leaves
of this plant are not without foundation.
The Home of the Jacobean Lily.
.] T is with some surprise that I hear that bulbs collected
last autumn on the foot-hills of the Cordilleras of west-
ern Chihuahua, having flowered at Kew prove to be
Sprekelia formosissima. So near our borders! The
bulbs were found about six inches deep in light brown
soil of ledges or rocky hills, dry situations, where
the plants were not crowded upon by many other
Garden and Forest.
309
species. Buried at this depth it is very likely that the bulbs
are out of reach of frost. The plants were in leaf through-
out the autumn, and grew sometimes singly, often in
clumps, sometimes even in beds, which, at flowering
time, probably when the first rains come early in July,
must be a brilliant sight. C. G. Pringle.
Quisgualis Indica.—This beautiful Indian climbing plant—
the Rangoon Creeper—although introduced into cultivation
early in the century, is now rarely seen in gardens, in spite of
the fact that it is one of the very best of all warm green-house
summer-flowering climbers. It has simple, bright green,
strongly veined, sharply pointed leaves, four or five inches
- long, and axillary and terminal racemes of thirty to forty
flowers. They have along, slender, green, tubulous calyx, three
to three and one-half inches long, anda spreading corolla of
five petals, an inch and one-half across. The petals are pure
white when they first expand, turning a bright orange-red the
second day. As the flowers open in succession, each cluster
contains both white and red flowers, which contrast beautifully
with each otherand with the brilliant foliage. The flowers last
along time when cut, and are admirable for decorative pur-
poses, especially in the evening, as few flowers light up better
than those of the Quisqualis ; and it is remarkable that florists
have so long neglected this plant. It does not bloom freely
when the roots are confined ina pot, but when planted out in
arich border with plenty of room, it will soon cover a space
twenty feet square, and produce bushels of flowers from June
until October. After the flowering period it should be cut
back hard to the old wood; and asitdoes not start to grow again
until towards spring, it does not shade or interfere with the
plants placed under it in winter. It is absolutely free trom
all insect pests. There is a second species, Q. parviflora, from
Natal, which is not in cultivation.
Quisgualis is formed of two, Latin words, gz7s, who, and
gualis, what kind, a name bestowed upon the plant because
botanists were for some time in doubt to what family it be-
longed. It is now considered a member of the Combretacee
represented in the North American Flora by two litoral
trees of semi-tropical Florids, Conocarpus and Laguncularia.
Dd.
Clematis Davidiana isa free-flowering, herbaceous species
from northern China and Mongolia, with stems two to three teet
high, large foliage and sessile axillary clusters of pale blue,
tubular, deliciously fragrant flowers, which continue to appear
from the Ist of August until frost. They lasta long time when
cut, and are esteemed by the few persons who know this
plant for indoor decoration, on account of their peculiar color
and for their fragrance. This, as well as two other closely
related autumn flowering, herbaceous Clematises, C. fubu/osa
and C. sfans, are well worth-.the attention of florists with a
summer and autumn trade. G
Notes From the Arnold Arboretum.
HE Sumachs, as the different pinnate-leaved North Ameri-
can species of Rhus are popularly called, are all valuable
ornamental plants. Aus venenata is the first to bloom, its
drooping racemes of inconspicuous flowers appearing in June.
This is the most virulently poisonous plant found in the United
States. It has much beauty, however; and the coloring of its
autumn foliage surpasses in brilliancy that of almost every
other native plant, and makes it late in the season the chief
ornamentof many swamps in the Northern and Eastern States.
The Poison Sumach is followed a few weeks later by the
great Stag-horn Sumach (A. typhina), a small tree, widely and
commonly distributed through Eastern North America; and
one of the most ornamental of all American plants in foliage,
in flower and infruit, and especially in the coloringit assumes in
autumn. It is not often planted in this country, for the reason,
perhaps, that people rarely bring into their gardens the wild
plants, which they see in their daily walks, but in Europe,
especially in Germany and in France, it is seen everywhere—
in city squares and parks, about the railway stations, and in the
gardens of the rich and of the poor. And next to ubiquitous
Locust (Robinia Pseudacacia), itis the American plant which
now finds most favor in the eyes of European planters.
The flowers of the Stag-horn Sumach are followed by those
of the Smooth Sumach (&. glabra), which is blooming just
now. It is a handsome shrub, with smooth and glaucous
branches; smooth leaves, consisting of many narrow leaflets,
which are pale on the lower surface, and immense terminal
panicles of yellow-green flowers. It is found on rocky or
310
barren soil, and is the smallest of the American species, rarely
rising to a height of more than ten or twelve feet. There isa
variety of this species (var. /acinzata) now frequently seen in
gardens, in which the leaflets are deeply laciniately cut and
divided. It was discovered many years ago in the woods in
Chester County, Pennsylvania.
The flowers of the Smooth Sumach will be followed in ten
or twelve days by those of the so-called Dwarf Sumach (A.
copallina), which may be distinguished from the other Ameri-
can species by the winged margins of the leaf-stalks, and by
the brightly shining upper surface of the leaflets. This plant
is dwart only in name, or rather only at the North, where it
sometimes covers extensive tracts of sterile, gravelly soil; but
at the South, and especially west of the Mississippi River, the
Dwarf Sumach becomes a considerable tree, surpassing the
other species in height and in the size of its stout trunk. This
is a variable species, especially in Texas towards the south-
western limits of its distribution, where botanists recognize one
or two well-marked varieties.
The Button Bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) is in flower. It
is a stout shrub with erect branches, eight or ten feet high,
with ovate or lanceolate, pointed, pale yellow-green leaves, and
conspicuous spherical pedunculate heads of small, white
tragrant flowers which remain in bloom for a long time. This
is a widely distributed plant, from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
and in Eastern Asia, growing in low wet ground, often sub-
merged, along the borders of streams and ponds. It grows
well, however, inc ommon garden soil, although it will be
found most useful when it becomes necessary to plant low,
wet and undrained pieces of ground, where it will harmonize
well with Alders, dwarf Willows and other water-loving plants.
The last of the Spireeas in flower is the Hardhack or Steeple
Bush (S$. fomentosa), familiar to all northern eyes. It is a
handsome plant, which, were it not so common, would be
more often seen in gardens. S. éomentosa has erect stems,
twenty or thirty inches high, covered, as well as the lower sur-
face of the ovate serrate leaves, with a dense brown tomentum,
and terminated by a dense panicle of short, crowded racemes
of small, bright rose-colored orrarely white flowers. It is found
in low, swampy ground, where it spreads rapidly by under-
ground shoots ; it is not particular, however, about soil, and
thrives as well when transplanted to the garden or to dry up-
lands as in wet ground.
The flowering of SPir@a tomentosa is preceded by only a few
days by that of a white-flowered form of S. Yafonica, often
met with in gardens under the names, S. ca//osa alba and S.
callosa Indica. It is a useful dwarf hardy shrub, remaining
many weeks in flower and probably of Japanese or north
China origin. It has erect or slightly spreading, somewhat
grooved and angled, dark chestnut-brown stems, twenty to
thirty inches high, lanceolate, sharply pointed, deeply serrate
reticulately veined leaves, dark green above, pale and quite
glabrous below. The rather small corymbs of small white
flowers on the extremities of lateral branches form a wide and
somewhat racemose corymb, often a foot or more across.
The late and long continued blooming period of this plant
makes it a valuable addition to the list of hardy summer
flowering shrubs,
August 6th. Ff.
The Forest.
Farmers and Forestry.
a no branch of agriculture, perhaps, do the people of
the United States so need instruction now as in all
matters relating to the care and improvement of the
woods and woodlands connected with farms. It is almost
a universal custom with American farmers to neglect this
part of their property, and to be satisfied if the wood lot
furnishes a little pasturage to their stock and a scanty
supply of half rotten or worm eaten wood for the kitchen
stove. The following article upon this subject, which is
reprinted from a recent issue of the Canadian Horticul-
turist, is full of wise suggestions, as valuable to the
farmers of the United States as they are to those of Canada:
“The study of forestry for the purpose of preserving those
small remains of our wild woods now left on most farms will
probably be the first practical attention given to the subject.
When so little is known of forestry it is not surprising that
every farm owner. has a different theory, not distinct enough,
however, to make many of them take any real care of their
wood lots, or to say anything about it unless applied to.
Garden and Forest.
[Aucust 22, 1888.
“It is generally admitted that the forests ought not to be
pastured, and there may be a few lots from which cattle are
excluded ; but I have not heard of anything more being done,
and it would be hard to say what should be the next advice to
farmers or forest owners. [I notice in the last report on prize
farms in Ontario, it is said that on one of the best of them the
wood lot was cleaned up and carefully seeded to grass, and
that, since the farm has been drained, the black Ash trees are
dying. This is a management which seems contrary to all
principle of forestry, as far as concerns the growth and life of
the trees; for the first requisite in forest life is to keep the
ground fully shaded—so much so that grass cannot grow—
to keep it moist and free from packing, or the tracking of cat-
tle, and to encourage such a growth that drying winds may
not enter.
“It seems to me that as soon as a wood gets so thin that
grass is seen its effectual growth is done, and it would pay
better to cut off one or more acres and convert into good
meadow land, and if need be to plant out an acre of old field
with seedlings from the same or other forests.
“T do not find in the best forests more than fifty large trees
per acre, and we know that Maples or other trees at eight feet
apart (680 to the acre) can be grown till they will make half
a cord of wood each; and if they are thinned judiciously,
or, in any case, if really in vigorous life, they will increase
faster than any old forest. :
“To preserve a wood lot, if the trees are only of a fair size,
thick enough, and few or no dead tops showing, I think it will
answer the purpose if it is fenced into one of the ordinary cul-
tivated fields; what pasturing with cattle may occur in a
rotation will not likely injure it, as they will not touch trees if
they can get anything else to eat.
“Tf very open and exposed to winds it would be well to en-
close the bush with a fast-growing hedge, and in any really
open place put in seedlings till the ground is properly covered.
Any enclosed wood I have seen soon gets such a growth of
young trees about the margin that it is hard work to get
into it, and if the main trees are not too old, will, in time,
make a heavy bush.
“But I have no intention of doing this, unless, on a careful
survey, the bush turns out better than it appears at a glance.
After counting out the large dead tops, the swamp Elms, hol-
low Basswoods, and short-lived Ironwoods and Balsams, there
will hardly be enough worth saving, and these woods have
been overrun with stock so long that the undergrowth
amounts to little. I intend, therefore, to close off the old brush
gradually (keeping stock out in the meantime) one or more
acres at a time, as may be needed for fuel, etc., and then in
proper place for forestand shelter, or on the land inconvenient
to cultivate, begin a new forest by planting out regularly just
such trees as I want for fuel, manufacturing or protection, to
be ready by the time the old forest has been cut away.
“Tf the growing trees are of a valuable kind, and the owner
has skill and patience to begin and carry on a judicious thin-
ning, an old forest can be rapidly improved, but I fancy most
proprietors will leave to a thoughtless employee to do the
wood cutting; and it often happens that to pick out inferior or
dying scattered trees will make the wood dearer than to buy it,
and it may do serious injury. _ I find it stated in a late Ontario
report thatan owner removed the worthless Elms from a lot
and soon after found that he had done too much thinning, for
the other, and, what he thought, valuable trees, ceased grow-
ing and soon began to fail, and, as a rule, it will be safer to
depend on the new planting for the future forest, at least on
such small lots as our farms will retain.
“To me itis much more encouraging, for in laying out the
forest, the various trees, the Maple for fuel; the Hickory, Ash
and Oak for the factory; the Cherry, Basswood and Walnut
for indoor use; the Pine and Cedar for outside, I feel as if I
were furnishing the property with an attraction for myself
and future owners, more than by the biggest castle I could
find room for on the highest hill.”
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—In an upland sink-hole, more than a mile distant from
the river, I have recently found the Golden-club (Ovondtium
aguaticum), A careful examination of the spot showed that
Indians had once lived on the margin of the little pond ; and
the question arises, did these people plant the Golden-club
in the shallow waters before their wigwam doors? It is, I be-
lieve, strictly a tide-water plant, and the chances are slight that
birds could have transported the seeds from the river or
‘ecient
Up
AuGusT 22, 1888.]
nearest creeks, where, by the way, it is not abundant. On the
other hand, it is well known that the Indians made use of the
plant as food. (Vide Kalm’s “ Travels in North America.”) |
In May, 1887, I spent a few days in May’s Landing, Atlantic
Co., New Jersey, and while boating on Great Egg Harbor
River, I suddenly came upon an island of about ten acres in
extent, that was densely covered with this plant. It was in
full bloom, and the tide being out, the effect was grand. At
high water, neither the leaves nor flower-stalks were visible.
The high western bank of the river, here, too, was once the
site of an Indian village, and I have often asked myself the
question, if the Orontium island of to-day is the outgrowth of
an Orontium plantation of two centuries ago. Our Delaware
Indians were to a far greater extent than is generally supposed
an agricultural people, and to many, I am sure, it would be
interesting to know how far there still remain traces of their
labors in this direction. In the former instance, I am inclined
to believe, we have such a trace ; but so far as the island is
concerned, I withhold opinion. Nothing botanically need sur-
prise one who ever wandered about May’s Landing. The sin-
gle street and court-house yard of which is shaded by one
hundred and twenty-one magnificent white oaks. It is called
a ‘pine barren,” but there are hundreds of acres near by that
are Nature-planted gardens. Think of it! On ‘Children’s
day” the village church was decorated with fifteen hundred
stalks of Xerophyllum.
Near Trenton, New Jersey.
Chas. C. Abbott.
(The Orontium is a common inhabitant of the wet and
swampy borders of ponds, from the neighborhood of
Point Judith, Rhode Island, southward, generally near the
coast, but is by no means a tide-water plant.—Eb. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—The recent discussions in your columns concerning
the value of the Norway Spruce as an ornamental tree give
fresh evidence of the truth, so often repeated, that advice must
be suited to localities. I have often observed the unsatisfac-
tory, unsightly specimens of Norway Spruce in eastern gar-
dens; especially in those near the sea-coast or about large and
smoky cities, and I haveas often seen admirable specimens of
the tree in Michigan and some adjoining states. It is true that
this tree is coarse and somewhat harsh in expression, yet it is
less objectionable in these features than any other large grow-
ing, coniferous evergreen, which is suited to our general con-
ditions. It is easy of culture, takes well toa variety of soils,
and even when left entirely to itself, makes a comely and at-
tractive tree. .To be sure, it loses some of its characteristic
beauty with great age, but in this respect it is not inferior to
any other Conifer which has been tried in Michigan. Upon
the grounds of the Michigan Agricultural College there are
many handsome specimens thirty years old which show no
signs of failing. These trees are forty feet high, a foot and
one-half or more in diamater at the base, and perfect pyra-
mids of dark, yet soft, green, with an attractive display of light
and shade.
But these trees have not been allowed to grow unchecked.
Every year or two the main branches have been clipped at the
ends with a Waters’ pruner, causing the pyramid to fill in
and tending to preserve the richness of the lower limbs. An
essential operation is thus to nip four or five inches from the
pushing shoots of the Norway Spruce every June. It does
not appear to be well understood that tolerably old trees of
_this Spruce may be rejuvenated by a vigorous heading-in. _ I
have seen an old Spruce, which, having become scraggly,
was severely cut back. This cutting took place some six or
seven years ago. Four or five feet were removed from each
main branch and the leader was cut off. For a couple of years
the tree presented an odd appearance, but there is now no
trace of the treatment to the ordinary observer.
The Norway Spruce varies greatly, fully as much as does
the Sugar Maple or the Elm. It is particularly desirable for
windbreaks and for single specimens at some distance from
the residence. It is true that the tree has fallen in general
estimation, even at the West, from indiscriminate planting,
yet it has still a foremost place in the affections of our people.
Michigan Agricultural College. Eek Bailey.
[It is, of course, possible that the climate of the interior
of the Continent may be better suited for the Norway
Spruce than that of the Atlantic seaboard. Thirty years,
however, do not suffice to test an exotic tree in any par-
ticular locality. Norway Spruces thirty years old in the
Eastern States are often at their very best, and handsome
Garden and Forest.
311
and attractive objects; it is not until they are from forty to
fifty years old that they begin to fail here at the top and
then gradually perish.
It is a good rule that the adaptability of any foreign
tree to any particular climate and soil cannot be safely
determined until the tree has grown continually in that
climate and soil for a period of time equal to the average
period of its life in its native country.—Ep. ] :
Periodical Literature.
In Blackwood's Magazine Mr. Coutts Trotter is publishing
from month to month an interesting series of articles called
“Among the Islands of the South Pacific.” His concern is
chiefly with the condition of the native inhabitants of the vari-
ous groups he has visited; but incidentally he gives many
charming pictures of their wild and cultivated flora. For ex-
ample, in his last published chapter, on the Tongan (Friendly)
and the Samoan Islands he writes: ‘It would hardly have
occurred to us to introduce cricket if there had been no turf
to play on, and yet the natives speak of the introduction (ac-
cidental) of our grasses as a grievance. One hardly under-
stands the objection, for the grass sward surrounding a Tongan
village gives it, for English eyes, its greatest charm ; but their
ideal of tidy surroundings is the bare ground with every green
blade grubbed up. One sees a well-kept Samoan village thus
treated, and no doubt, amid the tropical luxuriance of vegeta-
tion, it gives a soigué look, and the frequent showers prevent
annoyance from dust; but it is not our idea of ‘Sweet Au-
burn.’ Other plants besides the grasses have been acciden-
tally introduced by ships and are a very serious nuisance,
spreading everywhere and taking forcible possession of other-
wise useful land. The worst, perhaps, are one or two malvace-
ous plants (Sida sf.), growing from two to four feet high and
so thick that you can sometimes hardly get through them. The
Canna Indica, too, very conspicuous with its bright red flow-
ers and covering acres of ground, only appeared in Tonga a
few years ago.”” And, Mr. Trotter adds, two imported British
plants have become very common, the little yellow Oxalis and
the Sow-Thistle (Soachus). Around many of the native
houses are “ enclosed gardens, fenced with Bamboos or with
the Croton-oil plant, and always beautiful trees, mostly with
showy blossoms, as the Barringtonias and Inocarpus and
Terminalia, besides Coco-Palms and Oranges and generally
some fine spreading Banyans. You generally find
pig-sties, often overgrown and shaded with the double white-
flowered Datura, a mass of blossom.” Of the Tonga coun-
try Mr. Trotter says that it is delightful for riding and walking,
as the green roads traverse the forest in all directions and
“this is never quite impenetrable, much of it indeed having
at one time or other been under cultivation. The monotony
of color, a‘common reproach to tropical forests, does not ex-
ist here. Besides the variety of foliage and of blossoms,
chiefly white, on the trees, themselves, you have masses of
varied colors—Crotons and Coleus, a profusion of Convolvu-
lus, of Clitorias and other Peas, and Beans with stout wooden
stems, with many other creepers. Not the least
beautiful among the trees are the varieties of Citrus.
Notes.
The Puritan Rose has not been planted very largely in
the neighborhood of Philadelphia for next winter’s supply.
It is probable that a National Orchid Society will be organ-
ized here this week, while so many lovers of these plants are
in the city.
The large panicles of white flowers now so abundant on the
Hydrangea paniculata grandifiora are in considerable demand
in the flower markets of this city. The flowers are cut with
long stems and arranged in tall vases, with spikes of Gladiolus
and occasionally with the Golden Rod.
The crop of the popular Pink Pond Lilies has been un-
usually small this season, owing, probably, to the continued
cool weather. These beautiful flowers are grown for the
market exclusively in small ponds on Cape Cod, where they
originated. The demand for them exceeds the supply.
A farewell dinner was given to Mr. W. A. Manda, the re-
tiring gardener of the Harvard Botanic Garden, on August
1rth, by his friends and associates in the gardening fraternity.
There were many expressions of regret at Mr. Manda’s de-
parture, and of hearty wishes for his success in his new field.
Sig
Rudbeckia laciniata isa grand subject for massing by the
side of brooks or lakes. It grows to the height of five or six
feet. The yellow ray florets droop, while the cone-like centre
is larger than that of A. Airta—resembling a lady’s thimble.
It grows wild in limited quantities near Chestnut Hill, Phila-
delphia.
In experimenting with some insecticides, Professor Forbes
found that for Curculio on Plum, Peach or Cherry, one pound
of London Purple to one hundred pounds of water was ef-
fective. When used in a ratio of one to fifty the foliage was
injured, and when used in aratio of one to 200 the curculio was
not killed.
South-western Michigan has become one of the great
peach-growing regions of the United States. The strip of
land where this fruit finds most favorable conditions is but a
few miles in width, but it extends along the shore of the lake
tor half the length of the State.
A Palm tree, seventy years old, four feet in diameter and
sixty feet high, was lately removed from the grounds of a Mr.
Saunders at Los Angeles, California, to the grounds of the
Wolfskill Station of the Southern Pacific Railroad. A body of
earth ten feet square and six feet thick was taken with the
roots. The apparatus used was similar to that used in moy-
ing buildings.
The exhibition at Columbus, Ohio, which will celebrate the
centennial of the State this coming autumn will include a col-
lection of some 700 species and varieties of trees and shrubs
planted by Messrs. Thomas Meehan & Son. None of these
plants will compete for any premium, and it is to be hoped
that visitors will appreciate the opportunity for instruction
thus liberally offered.
The cut-flower trade lasts for only six weeks at Bar Harbor.
Sweet Peas are very popular there this season, especially the
light-colored varieties. Many of the stone walls surrounding
the cottages are planted along the crest with Nasturtiums and
other flowering vines, producing a beautiful effect. The
“Pine and Palm” is one of the most artistically furnished
flower-stores in the country. The cosy little office in the rear,
with its great stone fire-place, is much admired.
One corner of the famous Luxembourg Garden in Paris is
devoted to the cultivation of Apples, and contains an assort-
ment of 232 varieties. About the first of November of each
year the harvesting of the fruit is completed, and the Apples
are divided into three lots. The lot which includes the finest
fruit is a perquisite of the Prefect of the Seine ; the second is
given to the Val-de-Grace Hospital, and the third is sold to
the restaurants of the city. The orchard is also useful as a
source for grafts, which are distributed without charge.
Fine varieties of Sa/piglossis sinuata are seen this summer
in the windows of some Boston florists. The flowers of this
showy Chili annual have been greatly improved of late years,
especially by French gardeners. The colors, which range
from dark purple and blue to clear yellow, and are variously
striped, are now “fixed,” and come true from seed. The
plants are easily and cheaply raised, and the flowers, which
last well when cut, make an attractive and very useful addi-
tion to florists’ material.
On Saturday, August 11th, the Garden Committee of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society paid a visit to the beau-
titul estate of R. M. Pratt, Esq., at Watertown, Mass. They
were conducted through the green-houses and grounds by
Mr. David Allan, the head gardener, and as this is one of the
best kept establishments around Boston, the visit was one of
great pleasure. Among the interesting objects shown by Mr,
Allan were several large trees in whose trunks or large limbs
decayed cavities had been filled with elastic cement, thus ex-
cluding the air, and in every case the bark has begun to close
up over the cement, with indications of health and vigor.
The La France Rose is a greater favorite with flower buyers
in Philadelphia than in any other city. Rose-growers for that
market like it, too, and some go so far as to say that it is the
most profitable variety they can grow. There is an increase
in the number planted for next winter’s blooming over last
year, which may have a tendency to make it cheaper. Its one
fault with the grower is a liability to ‘black spot,” which it
shares with W. F. Bennett, American Beauty and Puritan.
The Hybrid Teas are more inclined to black spot than any of
the true Teas or Hybrid Remontants. Is this tendency in
American Beauty to be taken as evidence that it, too, is a
Hybrid Tea ? :
Garden and Forest.
[AuGusT 22, 1888.
Lelia Eyermanit is a noteworthy acquisition recently intro-
duced by F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, England, and named
by Prof. Reichenbach, in honor of Mr. J. Eyerman, of Easton,
Pa., who is an ardent anda most enthusiastic grower of Orchids.
The plant is distinct, although resembling LZ. majalis. Its flower
spikes are remarkable, having conspicuous well developed
leafy bracts at the base of the flower-stems. Several flowers
as large as those of Lelia Gouldiana are borne on a single
spike, with sepals and petals of a rosy purple, and lip of a rich
crimson with a fine white throat. Their fragrance is very
pleasant, resembling that of Orchis coriophora.
In these days of ‘decorative art” it is interesting to learn
that exotic plants are said to have been first cultivated in
northern Europe at Paris, for the purpose of furnishing the
embroiderers of the time with new and effective patterns.
Constructions of glass were used for the purpose and as early
as the thirteenth century were to be found in several places
beyond the Rhine. Albertus Magnus, the famous ‘ school-
man,” and Bishop of Ratisbon was accused of magic by his
contemporaries on more grounds than one, but one was his
ability to make plants grow and bloom in winter. In’ Janu-
ary, 1247, he entertained the King of Holland at Cologne, and
a feature of the occasion was the exhibition of his forced
fruit-trees and blooming plants.
A minute hemipterous insect, 7riphleps insideosus, closely
related to the chinch bug, is doing considerable injury among
some of the Chrysanthemum collections near Boston this
summer by piercing the ends of the shoots, causing them to
“‘go blind” and the leaves to curl up and wither. The insects
are so small and move so rapidly that it is almost impossible
to see them, much less to catch them, and there seems no
way to destroy them without injuring the plants. Pieces of
cloth, which are kept saturated with kerosene oil, and bound
around the ends of slender stakes, stuck in the ground among
the plants so that the saturated cloth is about ona level with
the ends of the shoots, seems to have the effect of driving
away the insects, or, at least, a part of them, and may be the
means of saving many flowers.
Mr. L. W. Goodell, of Dwight, Massachusetts, has flowered,
this year, a plant of Furyale ferox, a native of India and
China, and, next to its near relative, the Victoria, the largest :
aquatic plant known. Like Victoria, 1t is an annual, with
spiny, strongly-ribbed, circular leaves, fully two feet across,
and armed flower-stalks and calyx, but the flower is violet in
color, and not larger than that of the common wild Water
Lily. This plant is said to flower freely in the open air in
Pekin, where the climate is not unlike that of our Northern -
States, so that there is a chance, at the South at least, that it
may become naturalized. Otherwise it will not be very often
seen probably in this country, as the flowers are neither
sufficiently interesting nor sufficiently beautiful to justify any
great trouble or expense in raising it. They are less beau-
tiful than the flowers of the Victoria, which many of the
Nympheeas tar excel in charm and beauty. Mr. Goodell ex-
hibited sections of the leaves of the Auwvyale before the Massa-
chusetts Horticultural Society on the 11th of August.
Those horticultural visitors to New York this week who are
interested in trees should make a point of seeing the Magno-
lia hypoleuca (see page 305 of this issue) on Eighty-seventh
Street and East River, and the Japanese Elm (Udmus farvt-
folia) in Central Park near the Seventy-second Street en-
trance from Fifth Avenue, which was also brought to this
country by Mr. Thomas Hogg. These are certainly the two
most interesting exotic trees on Manhattan Island, and they
have, of their kinds, no equals in size in the United States, or
perhaps in Europe. Prospect Park, too, in Brooklyn, should
be visited. The public havea very inadequate idea of that park
which is the most beautiful in the United States, and which is
considered by good judges to be the best example of a large
city-park now existing. Horticulturalists will find in it many
rare and interesting trees. A specimen of the green-leaved
Japanese Maple (Acer polymorphum), near the restaurant, has
no equal, perhaps, in the United Statés, in size. On the main
drive beyond the lake is certainly the finest specimen of the
rare Acer pictum (A. letum and A. Colchicum rubrum of
some authors) in cultivation. The two Silver Lindens (Zia
argentea and T. petiolaris) are conspicuous features in Pros-
pect Park, and may be seen there in greater profusion and
beauty than elsewhere in the United States. The number of
good specimens of some of the rarer Conifers in the Park
is considerable also.
Pe he
Se a neon ee
I
f
ai
AUGUST 29, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrick: TrRinuNE Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by Professor C. 5. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1888.
VAGE.
Epiroriat ArricLEs:—The Florists.x—The Manufacture of Cypress Shin-
gles.—Injury Done by the Hairy Caterpillar of the fiidacon k Moth.... 313
House at Honmoku in Japan (with allustration|iecseaedscs ssc ssteesaces 314
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter. --W. aes srs
Mr. Kimball’s Orchids. . - .A. D, 316
New or Litrte Known RS Se eathronitin! ‘Hendersoni (with “ilustra-
Bok ies ca «1 eA ote Sonnet SW.
- Robert T. Fackson. 3
The Cultivation of Mushrooms.... - Wm. Falconer. 318
The. Veretable Garden. wi... vsctaec 2+ 5 319
Green-house Stages and Orchid Houses—Lenten Rose:
» PLant Notes Pr imula Rusbyi
The “Sour” or “ Pie Cherry Z z
Leave AS NEW eROSGecciisiniea.: abc <een tis srarecd guereeeGreiew ye ona eieseasG oscars
320
EDHLEMELORISTS (CONVENTIONS: sieeccice cle cne esas seen ssaad 321
Roses from the Grower's Standpoint. Bor
From the Essay of Mr. H. H. Battles 322
The Cultivation of Palms......... 322
Nomenclature ......... ile 323
Convention Notes 323
Nores..... eee area eaters inte te a etatetnt phar sine aa, {aca ks lein:h sya. SPaRPIetIm mate bite poepe-saraels, 0.8 Sate 324.
ILLusTRATIONS :—Erythroniuim Hendersoni, Fig. 50... SEP iy
EL OUS rat tats ON 1110 ]Gtiey 1M) cl YAM Nierersoretaravsoaia/op,<10)a: erefe wistay ateharape/eteecio’a snaiafelera\ ste. s7<70 <cars 319
The Alor ists.
HE Florists of the United States have every reason to
be satisfied with the meeting of their Association
which was held in this city last week. The attendance
was larger than at any previous meeting of the Association;
and the attention which it received from the press and
from the public of this city is certainly gratifying in its
indication of the growing interest of the community in all
that relates to the cultivation of plants and flowers. The
papers read, and the discussions to which they gave rise,
were far above the average of such productions. They
show that the Florists of the United States are an active
and intelligent body of men fully alive to the necessities
of their business, and fully determined that if its growth of
the last ten years is not surpassed in the future, it shall be
by no fault of theirs. Some of the treatises were filled with
practical information relating to the gardener’s art, and as
such, they cannot fail to be real additions to the knowledge
of horticulture as practiced by men who make the gentle
art furnish them with daily bread, and which fierce com-
petition compels them to practice with strict economy in
_the true meaning of the word. Such papers the public had
a right to expect, but at similar meetings they have rarely
listened to papers of a tone as elevated and grasp as broad
as that of the President, Mr. Hill, of Mr. Halliday, and
Mr. Battles, of Philadelphia, whose sensible remarks re-
lating to the artistic aspects of the florists’ business, and
the necessity for greater simplicity of floral arrange-
ments than now prevails, should be carefully read by
every. man in the United States whose business it is to
supply the public with flowers. Mr. Hill pointed out the
injustice which many raisers of new varieties of plants
suffer at the hands of rivals who obtain a new variety and
then,
their own coining ;—an imposition from which the public,
especially that part of it which buys ‘‘new plants,” suffers
as well as the florists.
The earnestness of the Association in its efforts to secure
a better nomenclature of florists’ flowers than now exists is
shown by its action in imposing upon its members an as-
Garden and Forest.
perhaps, send it out again under a new name of
313
sessment for the purpose of creating a fund to detect and
expose florists who willfully sell varieties under false names.
Mr. Halliday’s paper upon nomenclature points out the
confusion which exists in the names of florists’ flowers —a
confusion by no means confined to them alone, but per-
vading the names of all cultivated plants. The committee
appointed by the Association to revise the names of
plants will doubtless inaugurate a much needed reform in
this matter, at least in the case of those plants most im-
portant from a commercial point of view, and determine
names which the Association, with its powerful organiza-
tion and influence, will be able to impose upon the trade
without very serious difficulty.
The question of obtaining from Congress the enactment
ofa law permitting trade-marks or copyrights to be taken
out for the protection of the rights of raisers of new flowers
was not brought before the Convention. The question of
copyrighting new flowers is not altogether a new one, and
has been discussed in different European countries at
various times, as well as in the United States. The right
of a man to enjoy the results of his labors is as true when
the product is a new flower as when it is a new book ora
work of art. The intelligence, thought and study ex-
pended in growing a new race of garden- -plants or new
varieties of such a race is as great as is required to produce
a book; but as long as the raiser of new plants must lose
all benefits of these creations of his brain as soon as he sells
the first individual, and so puts it in the power of his com-
petitors to reap the benefits which should belong to him,
the principal incentive to the production of new plants does
not exist. This is a subject of such vital importance to the
future of horticulture, here and everywhere, that we ven-
ture to suggest to the Executive Committee of the Asso-
ciation that it deserves careful consideration at their hands. _
The horticultural exhibition held in connection with the
meeting was disappointing, and cannot be taken as an
example either of the actual condition of horticulture in
this vicinity or as a fair representative of the florists’ busi-
ness of the United States. The display of florists’ ma-
terials—the tools of the trade, so to speak—was large and
varied, but these are objects in which the trade and not
the horticultural public are interested Of the products of
the garden there was nothing certainly to indicate that
this exhibition was held in one of the largest and most
important commercial centres of the world, where the
trade in flowers has reached a development unknown
elsewhere in modern times. Of plants there were practi-
cally none, with the exception of a well-grown and
well-selected collection of Caladiums from Mr. G. W.
Childs’ garden near Philadelphia. Gladioli were exhibited
in considerable numbers and variety, but they were ihe
Gladioli of twenty or twenty-five years ago, and showed no
trace of the brilliant blood of the new races which our
hybridizers, following the lead of the French, are now
creating by crossing various species of these fine flowers.
The large and interesting collection of Orchid flowers sent
from Mr. Kimball’s garde en lost much of its attractiveness
and value, for the public, at least, from the fact that they
were arranged - ioe taste, and that the different
varieties were unnamed. Among the small collection of
of Barbarosa and Muscat
fruit staged, splendid examples
garden of Mr. M. A. Os-
of Alexandria Grapes, from the
born, of Mamaroneck, must be mentioned, Specimens of
Nelumbium, from the pond near Bordentown, in New
eae where this plant is now fully naturalized, served to
ecall Mr. Sturtevant’s service to American horticulture, in
Pcine the possibilities of Water-Lily cultivation known
and the beauty of these Howers appreciatec d in this coun-
try. Lilies-of-the-Valley and Lilacs are not attractive ob-
jects in August, and, while it may show ingenuity to
flower such plants in the summer, the practice is not one
to be commended.
The number of made designs was smaller than might
have been expected at an exhibition arranged under such
auspices, and, on the whole, they were less objectionable
314
than such designs usually are. One or two of them
showed taste and knowledge.
But the exhibition, after all, was not the essential part
of the convention, and the fact that it was not a representa-
tive of horticultural progress in the United States, takes
away but little from the general success of the convention,
which showed that the florists of the United States are not
behind any other class of business men in this country
in enterprise and in intelligence, and that they realize the
responsibility of their position toward the public as edu-
cators in many matters of decoration and taste.
The manufacture of cypress shingles has become, of
late years, an important industry in the south and south-
western States. According to statistics collected by the
Southern Shingle Association, the product of the present
year exceeds that of 1887 by about forty per cent., reach-
ing a total of 520,000,000. ‘These figures include, proba-
bly, a part of the shingles manufactured by hand, as well
as most of those produced in the mills, but not all. The
domestic manufacture, on a small scale, of cypress shin-
gles, has long been a favorite occupation of the negroes
and poor white people living in the neighborhood of the
Cypress swamps, and the total number made in this way
is large, although it is practically impossible to collect
anything like complete statistics of the product of indus-
tries carried on in homes. It would be safe, probably,
to add, however, several millions to the figures published by
the Southern Shingle Association. No statistics, unfortu-
nately, of the amount of cypress lumber manufactured, are
now available, but that it has greatly increased of late years
there can be no doubt. Each year makes the value of
this remarkable wood better known and more generally
appreciated, and as white pine of the highest grades be-
comes more difficult to obtain, cypress must replace it at
the north in many employments where a light, resinous,
straight-grained and very durable wood is demanded. The
supply of cypress is by no means inexhaustible. The
swamps of the south and south-west still contain very
considerable bodies of this. tree (Zaxodium distichum), al-
though those in the most available positions and of the
most convenient size for the mills, have already been cut
along the principal streams and from the neighborhood of
centres of population. It is true, too, that while the
Cypress only grows in deep swamps, incapable of drain-
age, and therefore destined to be covered always with
trees, that it is not reproducing itself very extensively any-
where, and that the Liquidambar and the Cotton-Gum are
gradually replacing it. The value of the Cypress, too, as
a timber tree, is seriously affected by a dry-rot, a species of
Dedala, which is especially destructive in the great bod-
ies of this timber, which occupy the river-swamps of
western Louisiana and the adjacent parts of Texas. It is
evident, therefore, that the Cypress forests are not des-
tined to take a prominent and lasting position in the
timber supply of the Continent, and that they cannot be
depended upon to furnish indefinitely, or even for any
considerable time, their present output. The best substitute
for southern cypress to be found in any considerable
quantity in the.American forests, is the wood of the so-
called Red Cedar of the North-West Coast (Thuyva gigantiea).
It is an enormous tree, widely distributed, generally near
the coast, from northern California to Alaska, where,
fortunately, it reproduces itself freely, and grows, while
young, with astonishing rapidity in the moist climate of
the region to which it is confined.
The trees in Boston, especially the Lindens upon the
Common, were greatly disfigured during several years by
the hairy caterpillar of the Tussock Moth (Oreyia leucos-
“wgma). It has done less injury during the past two or three
years, although the leaves of some Horse-Chestnut trees in
the Public Garden have been destroyed by it this season, but
now the trunks of many of the trees on Commonwealth
Garden and Forest.
[Aucusr 29, 1888, :
Avenue and in the Public Gardens and Common are lit-
erally covered with the white hairy cocoons of this in-
sect. Late in the present month or early in September
the mature insects will emerge and the females will de-
posit their eggs upon the cocoons. Next season the cater-
pillar willhatch, and from present appearances, unless active
measures are taken now to destroy them, there will be enough
to devour every leaf upon every tree in the city. Now is the
time to prevent this by destroying the cocoons, which can be
done easily and quickly with a brush made of stiff wires
or with a sharp-pointed stick. An industrious man or boy
can destroy the cocoons upon the trunks of a large.
number of trees in a day, and the sooner industrious men
and boys are set about it, the better.
House at Honmoku in Japan.
HE photograph from which our illustration (see page
319) was drawn seemed to us of especial interest
as displaying a Japanese solution of a problem very
similar to that which often confronts a builder on the rocky
shores of New England, especially north of Cape Cod,
and on the borders of many of our inland. lakes, This
problem is to place a country-house on a _ rugged
shore to the best advantage, while preserving, as far as .
possible, the natural character of the spot. It is only of
very recent years that it has been so much as considered
in this country. We have been much too anxious to imi-
tate, under wholly different conditions, the country homes
of Europe, and, in particular, of England. We have
wanted to surround our houses with green lawns, well-
kept flower-beds and trees symmetrical in shape and
planted in accordance with the supposed laws of land-
scape gardening as practiced in countries all parts of
which have long been subjected to cultivation. And we
have too often tried to secure all this in actual defiance of
natural conditions, and at the sacrifice of natural beauties
which, to a really cultivated eye, would have seemed of
priceless value. We have too often sacrificed the chance
for a beautiful, wide outlook over the water by placing
the house so far from the brink that lawns and drives
could encircle it; have cut away the native growth of
tree and shrubs—rough and straggling, perhaps, but pic-
turesque and precious for that very reason—and replaced
them by nursery specimens; have planted gardeners’
flowers in the stead of nature’s beautiful wild products,
and in the end, after a vast expenditure of time, pains and
money, have succeeded in producing merely a bad imi-
tation of an English villa, unattractive in itself, and utterly
out of keeping with the landscape environing it.
Fortunately, tastes are changing, and one of the chief
facts to be placed to the credit of the architectural profes-
sion in America to-day is the fact that it has developed a
keen sense for the diverse natural beauties of our country, |
and an admirable power of adapting its constructions to
the site and the surroundings at the moment in question.
It is getting to be recognized as a binding esthetic rule
that a house shall conform itself to site and surroundings,
and that these shall not be defaced to suit the character of
a design abstractly evolved on paper, or tortured into the
semblance of something which foreign hands had created
under very different conditions. Many American homes
exist, built within the last ten years, which are as worthy
of praise from the point of view of appropriateness and
picturesque charm as the Japanese house in our present
picture. Some of them we hope to illustrate at a later
day ; but the Japanese house is meanwhile shown as evi-—
dence that the most thoroughly artistic nation of the mod-
ern world endorses the idea we are trying to explain. It
will be noted that this house is placed quite at the edge
of the cliff, so that the most extended possible view is ob-
tained ; that every tree which could be preserved in build-
ing it has been preserved ; that the wild aspect of the spot
has not been interfered with, and that the constructions of
man, alike in the house itself, and in the fences, steps and
AUGUST 29, 1888.]
other surroundings, have been kept as simple and unob-
trusive as possible. Picturesqueness is not the only quality
to be prized, either in architectural or in gardening art ;
and it is a quality which, if forced into life where it does
not naturally belong, is distressing to every cultivated eye.
But when nature gives us picturesqueness in so clear and
pronounced a form as here, the architect must accept her
leading or ruin the effect both of her work and of his
own. And spots quite as distinctively picturesque as this,
and very similar in character, abound, as we have said,
in many parts of our pine-grown, rocky coasts, and de-
mand analogous architectural treatment. Naturally, to
advise direct imitation of a Japanese house in America is
no part of our desire, yet it may be said that the general
architectural idea embodied in this house is far better
fitted to adaptation in this country than most of those
European models upon which we have so largely drawn
in the past.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HE finest Orchid which secured a certificate from the
Royal Horticultural Society at its meeting on July
24th was Caétleva Amesiana, from Baron Schroeder’s match-
less collection, and probably the largest specimen in
existence of this rare plant, it having been one of the
gems in Mrs. Morgan’s collection dispersed at New
York some time since. It is a hybrid, raised five years
ago by Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, between Cuatleya
crispa and C. maxima, and in growth it resembles most
nearly the first named parent, the bulbs being stout and
tall. The flowers are so strikingly like those of the superb
C, Exomensis that the difference between the two hybrids is
not readily detected. The sepals and petals are broader
than those of C. crispa, are less reflexed, and, instead
of white, are of a delicate mauve tint. The labellum is
broad and shallow, and exquisitely frilled at the margin.
In color it is of the richest purple-crimson on the lower
part, while the upper half is pure white, which serves to
emphasize the intensity of the crimson. The specimen
shown bore half a dozen spikes with three and four flowers
on each, and therefore well deserved a cultural commend-
ation.
Another exquisite little Orchid certificated was Sacco-
labium celeste, from Mr. B. S. Williams. Comparing it
with the well-known SS. curvifolium, it has the same thick,
channeled leaves, strongly recurved and arranged in
two ranks. The cylindrical flower spikes are about
four inches long, quite erect, and consist of a crowd of
small flowers with sky-blue sepals and petals and a lip of
rich purple-blue. It reminds one of Vanda cerulescens in
flower-color, and is quite unique in this respect in the
‘genus Saccolabium. It is supposed to come from Moulmein
and was first known under the name of Rhynchostylis
calests.
Anguloa Ruckert alba, though certificated, did not get
a unanimous vote, as some of the committee thought it no
better than A. uniflora and A. virginals, both white flowered
species. ‘The Albino does not differ from the original 4.
Ruckeri, except in absence of color, the flowers being quite
as large and of pure ivory whiteness, very beautiful,
as if carved out of alabaster. The powerful spicy odor of
this “Anguloa is objectionable to some persons, while
others like it. A. MRuckeri, var. retusa, was also shown
by Mr. Dorman, but it does not differ much from the
typical form and is not nearly so fine a variety as 4.
Ruckeri sanguinea, with blood-red flowers. Messrs. Sander,
of St. Albans, showed two new Orchids, both beautiful, but
scarcely in condition to show their merits. One was Bollea
Wendlandiana, quite a new species and distinct from others
in color of the flowers. In growth, foliage, size and shape
of flower it resembles the old B. celestis, but the color
‘is a soft lemon yellow of various shades, with not a
Garden and Forest.
379
trace of the plum-purple tint which characterizes most of
the Bolleas. The other Orchid was Lela Eyvermanniana,
supposed to be a natural hybrid between Z. mayatis and L.
aulumnals. In bulb and leaf it resembles the former, but
the flower is most like that of Z. autummnals in size, shape
and color, which is a soft mauve-pink. A very marked
feature of this novelty is the bracts, which, instead of
being membranaceous, are leafy and green, andI know no
other Zeta that has this pees
Among new green-house plants the most important was
a variety of Javanese Rhododendron, with snow white
blossoms as large and as fine in truss as any of the
numerous hybrids which Messrs. Veitch have raised
and exhibited of late has There has been no lack of
varieties with flowers of all shades of crimson, yellow and
pink, but a white-flowered variety has long been sought
for. Now we have it, and its value cannot possibly “be
overestimated, as a race of white-flowered green-house
Rhododendrons, which will, in time, prove a “great boon
to those who have to supply a demand for white flowers,
especially in winter, when these Rhododendrons naturally
flower most abundantly, may now confidently be ex-
pected. This novelty is appropriately named Purity.
Two new Roses won certificates, a noteworthy fact, inas-
much as the committee are always cautious in certificating
new Roses. One of these was shown by Messrs. W. Paul
& Son, of Waltham Cross: It is named Duchess of Albany,
and is a sport from La France, differing in no way from
that favorite variety except in color, which, in the Duchess,
is several shades deeper, while its petals preserve the charac-
teristic curl which shows the paler pink inner surface and
adds so much to the flower’s beauty. The committee has
now had flowers of it before them at consecutive meetings
and they feel confident that it is a good Rose. The other
new Rose was from the other Paul’s of Cheshunt, and is
named Paul’s Cheshunt Scarlet. It was not put forward as
an exhibition Rose, but merely as a garden Rose, and is
chiefly remarkable for its intensity of color, the perfect
shape of the flowers in advanced bud stage, the compact
dwarf growth of the bush, and its floriferousness. The
flowers shown certainly bore out all the points the raiser
claims for this Rose, and'I am acquainted with no other
whose color so nearly approaches to a true brilliant scar-
let. It is no doubt a seedling from one of the vivid scarlet
Roses that have had their origin in the Cheshunt nurseries.
One of the most important exhibits of the meeting in the
opinion of many was the new lpia Stuartia Pseudo-
camelha, shown for the first time in bloom by Messrs. Veitch,
from their nursery at Coombe Wood, where it has proved
itself hardy as the North American representatives of the
genus, S. Virginica and S. pentfagyna. The Japanese is a
good deal like the latter in flower, but most reminds one
of the North American Gordonia pubescens. The leaves
are lanceolate, acuminate, slightly toothed about four inches
long. The flowers are produced from the leaf axils and are
three inches across the outspread petals, but as these do
not open widely the flowers look smaller than they are.
The petals are broadly ovate, ivory-white and silky on the
exterior faces and therefore shine like satin. The tufts of
pale yellow stamens harmonizes beautifully with the warm
white blossoms. The shrub is a very free flowerer, for the
twigs shown, which were only a few inches in length, bore
numerous flowers. The species is aptly named as the
flowers remind one of a single Camellia, and the foliage is
not unlike that of the Tea plant (C. ¢he:fera).
Three new Ferns received certificates, two being crested
forms of British species. One was named Lasfrea montana
ramo-coronalus having the pinnee ending in a dense crest,
and the end of each frond also broadly crested. The
other was a _ crested Hart's Tongue, Scolopendrium
vulgare cristalatum, and so dense is its crest that it looks
like a tuft of the finest garnishing Parsley. Both are
good varieties of hardy Fer ns, but w vhether they are real
acquisitions, considering the thousand and one ater
forms we already have in cultivation, I cannot say. The
316
third certificated Fern was the pretty No‘hoclena Muellert,
which has slender fronds a foot in length, with rounded,
olive green pinnee, covered with brownish scales.
London, July 24th. W. Goldring.
Mr. Kimball's Orchids.
6 Oe the kindness of W.S. Kimball, Esq., hosts of
visitors have been able to see a remarkable display of
Orchid-flowers in his great collection, as many as 500 names
having been registered on the visitors’ book in a single day.
At the time of our visit we found in the Cattleva-house an
abundance of flowers, and suspended from the root was a
fine example of the beautiful Ca¢asetum Bungeoothi, bearing
on a stout spike, eight well-developed blossoms of ivory
whiteness. It is really a lovely Orchid, and one of the finest
introductions of late years. The sepals and petals measure
five inches across, and the lip, which is broad and ot wax-like
substance, is beautitully undulated ; the column is. peculiarly
constructed, standing out boldly, and breaking the flatness
which the lip would otherwise present. In the same structure
is the new and extremely rare Spathoglottis Kimballiana in its
full beauty, the brilliant blossoms reminding one of a golden-
yellow Phalanopsis. The plant had two fine spikes, on which
were thirty fiowers, many of them fully open, and presenting
avery showy appearance. Another Orchid, rarely met with
in such perfection, was a well-grown Oncidium Lanceanum,
with five large spikes, bearing, in the ageregate, 100 rich-
colored flowers, and emitting a delightful perfume. A°su-
perior variety of this Orchid named O. Lanceanum (Laurenci-
anum) was flowering. It differs from the ordinary form in
the lip, which is of a deep violet with a pure white lobe, which
makes it most effective. Oncidium Fanceriense was at home
in this house, judging from the handsome, many-flowered
flowers panic enon the plant. Its chocolate and yellow
flowers have a rare attractiveness.
The Cattleyas and Lelias were in vigorous growth, the enor-
mous bulbs having produced quantities of well-developed blos-
soms in all the colors, ranging from pure white to the richest
purple. A gem among them is a well-flowered plant of the
rare C. Schofeldiana, with unusually large blossoms, the
sepals and petals being of a pale yellow, densely spotted
with rich crimson, and a white lip with numerous. violet-
purple lines. Several plants of the striking, scarlet-Howered
C. superba splendens were in bloom, as were large speci-
mens of C. guttata Leopold’, with enormous, many-flowered
stems ; quantities of the easy-erowing C. Gaskelliana were
here in perfection, and many fine examples of C. Dowzana
were displaying the yellow of their sepals and petals, and the
purple and orange of their lips. C. Avendelii was bearing full-
sized blossoms out of season, with many noble plants of C.
Mossi@ and the pretty C. bicolor.
The Leelias in this house were represented by handsome
specimens of Z, elegans; the rare L. Rothschildiana, the free-
blooming Z. marginata and quantities of the winter-blooming
L. anceps were already pushing their spikes for later bloom.
A plant of Calanthe veratrifolia among the Cattleyas carried
hundreds of pure white flowers above its dark green foliage.
Phajus bicolor was flowering with some large specimens of
Anguloa Ruckeri, with its blood-red blossoms and the golden-
yellow flowers, A. clowesi?, and near them was the old but rare
Oncidium micropogon, with dull chocolate and yellow flowers
on erect stems.
Dendrobium Famesianum, D. th yrsiflorum, D. Farmeri and
the pretty Epidendrum patens, with its many-flowered spikes,
formed a very attractive group. Another chaste Dendrobium,
of recent introduction, called D. hercoglossun, was conspicu-
ous,with quantities of rosy-pink flowers the full length of its
pseudo-bulbs. This is, perhaps, one of the finest of the genus.
Several plants of the new Odontoglossum Harryanum, with
enormous blossoms, showed great variations. ‘In many in-
stances the ground color of the sepals and petals were hand-
somely veined with golden yellow. Brassavola verosa and B.
Jineata displayed their creamy flowers to perfection.
The splendid masses of Cypripediums, for which this col-
lection is so famous, enlivened the house with their quaint
blossoms. Amongst others were a splendid example of the
rare Cypripedium Schrodere, with enormous flowers; a large
plant of the beautiful C. Curéisiz, the recently-introduced C.
bellatulum, and very many more of the rarest and most beau-
tiful species and varieties.
In the house set apart for Vanda cultivation several remark-
able kinds were blooming, including Vanda tricolor, with its
large, bold flowers; V. suavis and its variety, Roelianii,
and the large rose-flowered V7. eres. But the most promi-
Garden and Forest.
[AucusT 29, 1888.
nent plant in this house was the rare Renanthera Storez, with
eighty-tour expanded flowers. Its blossoms were exceed-
ingly beautiful, of a brilliant scarlet, each individual flower
measuring fully three inches in diameter. Other Renantheras
were also in bloom, including A. hystrix and R. matutina,
with its lovely orange and red flowers. Here, also, near the
glass, was Phalaenopsis Reichenbachiana, a species rarely met
with except in the, most select collections. In shape the flower
resembles P. Swmatrana, the sepals and petals being creamy
yellow, barred and spotted with dull chocolate. Several full-
Howered specimens of P. violacca, with highly-colored flowers,
together with P. grandifiora and P. Esmeralda, were sus-
pended from the roof, The Saccolabiums and /Zrides oc-
cupy the same house with the Vandas. Their stout, erial
roots were spreading in all directions, indicating that the
proper treatment here is provided for them. A very hand-
some plant of Saccolabium (S. Plumei Dayana), with its rich
markings ; and the old, free-blcoming #rides guinguevulne-
rum, With its bright magenta purple markings were noticeable.
The Odontoglossum house was still verv gay, the heat of
the past few weeks having shown but little effect upon the
plants, there being in flower several broad-petalled varieties of
O. Alexandre and the yvellow-Howered O. Schleitpertanum.
Here, too, was Onctdium Limminghet, with its numerous
chaste yellow and chocolate blossoms, and a grand plant of
O. serratum, with a spike measuring some ten feet in length.
Masdevallias were also represented by the curious AZ Chz-
mera, M. Reichenbachiana and others. One of the most inter-
esting features connected with this vast collection is a splendid
group of Orchids of purely botanical interest. Here their
fortunate possessor has amassed an endless variety of the
most curious and interesting species, many of them unique,
procured from various parts of the globe.
In the large Water Lily house few Orchids were blooming
except Lelia anceps, having expanded blossoms, probably
owing to the house being closed to gain the temperature for
the giant Water Lily, ’cforta Regia, which was growing rapidly,
and in the early part of September its enormous blooms are
expected to open, when it promises to be well worthy of a
visit. Some very fine Nympheas enlivened this structure with
their charming flowers, including, amongst others, WM. Zaz-
stbarensis, NN. cerulea, N. dentata, N. Devoniensis and WN.
odorata. Mr, George Savage, the energetic and successful
gardener, has for some time adopted the use of glazed pans
and pots for the Orchids entrusted to his care. It was very
surprising to see the Dendrobiums and Cattleyas especially,
with their numerous roots, clinging to the outer surface of
the pots, clearly indicating that glazed pots are in no way
injurious to the plants. It also economizes a great amount of
time and labor, their neat, clean and healthy appearance
leaving nothing to be desired.
Rochester, N. Y.
ALD,
New or Little Known Plants.
Erythronium Hendersoni.
ROBABLY the handsomest of all the Dog-toothed
Violets is the recently-discovered Oregon species,
which is here figured. While it is as graceful in habit as
the common one, the bright and strongly colored flowers.
are more striking and attractive in their beauty. The
petals have a very dark purple and somewhat blotched
centre, which is surrounded by a band of yellow, and be-
yond this they are pale purple. The filaments are also
purple, and the anthers are brownish. The flowers vary
in number from a single one to three or four, usually quite
large, with the petals, which are about one and a half
inches long, more or less recurved, and becoming decidedly
so with age. The leaves are mottled, as in most of the
species. i
Aside from the coloring of the flower, this species is
characterized by the peculiar form of the appendages at
the base of the inner petals. These appendages differ in
form in different species of the genus, and in some are
wholly wanting. Here the petal is very abruptly and
almost hastately expanded above the very short claw, and 4
the angles are thickened and somewhat saccate. Toward
the median line there are two sub-globose, inflated ap-
pendages, which, with the filaments, almost close the ori-
fice of the flower. The bases of the inner petals are so
broad as to be nearly contiguous. The outer are narrowed
Aucus? 29, 1888.]
more gradually downward, and are wholly naked.
Another character to be noted is simple, club-
shaped style, bearing a very shortly three-lobed
and somewhat cup-shaped stigma. This character
it has in common with two other species (LZ) ceé7-
num and £. Howell’) of the same region, the com-
mon eastern Z. Americanum, EL. propullans of Min-
nesota, and an unnamed Texan species, otherwise
much resembling Z. a/bidum. All our other species
have linear stigmas, including the eastern 2. a/bi-
dum, £. purpurascens and £. Hartwegt of the Sierra
Nevada, and a confused group of several imper-
fectly known species common in the mountains ‘
from Montana and northern Colorado to the Pacific.
These cannot be clearly defined until they have
been carefully studied from living specimens. All
are worthy of cultivation.
£. Hendersoni is a native of the mountains of
south-western Oregon, where it was first collected
in 1887 by Mr. L. F. Henderson, of Portland, and
Mr. Thomas Howell, of Arthur, Oregon, SS. VW
Cultural Department.
Cultivation of Native Ferns.—I.
T is the purpose of this series of papers to consider
the cultivation of native Ferns which are hardy
or nearly so in the region about Boston.
The Ferns considered, embrace all those found in
New England and therefore most of the species
found in the Middle-Atlantic and North-eastern
States. A few native species not found in New Eng-
land are included, as they are of interest to the horti-
culturist and are nearly or quite hardy.
The only work on the cultivation of Ferns published
in this country is an instructive little book by Mr.
John Robinson, entitled ‘Ferns in their Homes
and Ours ” (1878). This book treats of the cultivation
of Ferns indoors and out, their propagation, classiti-
cation, life-history, etc. It contains references to the
literature of the subject and lists of Ferns for special
purposes. For descriptions and figures of native
Ferns the reader is referred to Professor Daniel C.
Eaton’s magnificent quarto work in two volumes,
entitled ‘““The Ferns of North America’”’ (1879-80).
Both works are published by S. E. Cassino, Boston.*
The cultivation of hardy Ferns as a class, has re-
ceived very little attention in this country. They are
seldom grown at all, and very rarely in the variety
and pertection which it is possible to obtain from
this beautiful and fascinating group of plants. Some
object to Ferns because they are flowerless plants.
Most species do depend entirely on their foliage ef-
fects for their beauty; but these are so rich, so
delicate, so varied, that Ferns may well be considered
most desirable plants in a garden. The spring holds
forth no greater charm for the lover of nature than
the keen pleasure to be enjoyed from watching the
unfolding crozier-like fronds of growing Ferns. Some
are strong and woolly, soft to the touch, others are
covered with chaffy scales, the charm of which is
irresistible, though difficult to describe ; some again
are smooth, some are green, others reddish-brown.
Each kind is characteristic and has its own peculiar
grace and beauty in the young as well as in the
matured frond.
To the admirers of Ferns there is no need of up-
holding their desirable qualities for cultivation, but for the sake
of those who are not familiar with them, a few may be men-
tioned. Ferns are excellent plants for filling up shady, dark
and damp spots where other plants would utterly fail. Speci-
men plants make beautiful foliage effects. Clumps, carpets
*“ Our Native Ferns and their Allics” is the title of an inexpensive book, with
descriptions, but few figures, by Lucicn M. Underwood, latest edition (1888). For
New England species, “ Fern Etchings,” by the late John Williamson, is a desira-
ble book. Itis most beautifully illustrated by etchings executed by the author.
Published in Louisville, Ky. (second edition, 1879), but now, it is beheved, out of
print. Neither of these works treats of cultivation. There are many works
on British and European Ferns. ‘Two small and desirable books to a cultivator
are: (1) “British Ferns and their Allies,” by Thomas Moore, George Routledge. &
Sons, London and New York. (2). ‘* ‘The Fern Garden,” by Shirley Hibbard,
Groombridge & Sons, London, 1870. ;
Garden and Forest.
oly
Fig. 50.—Erythronium Hendersoni.—See page 316.
or individuals, either by themselves or mixed with suitable
flowering plants, especially herbaceous and native species,
make most attractive features in a garden. Even the land-
scape gardener who seeks for large effects, cannot afford to ig-
nore our native Ferns. Massive clumps of Ferns trom two to
five feet high or more, according to the species grown, may
be easily obtained by good cultivation. The value of stitch
clumps, often of truly sub-tropical effect, can hardly be exag-
gerated for such positions as the border of shrubberies and
wooded locations.
It is popularly believed that Ferns are difficult to cultivate,
requiring very special conditions and treatment. In the main
this may be said to be entirely incorrect; a tew kinds, which
318
\ is jeDIO
\ Q
are spoken of hereafter, require special treatment, and a few
have resisted attempts-to-eultivate them successfully, but they
are greatly in the*méinority: They are net 6nly in the minor-
ity, but they comprise, forthe most part, those\species which
moisture, isa good place
he finest specimens get
It of the day. ‘A six-foot
The
k's\Ferns, with the. exception
are rans only occasionally in}
weathe
A border
grow or haw
one should
be improved
eral rule. G
ayimanureias a top dressing in) the
h in®spring. \They will. respond kindly to
dwell established specinjens of many, of
the large spéciés will “become. rich, luxuriant growing plants,
which will compare favorably with ithe very finest speciméns
to be found growing natufally. A's @\ winter cavering for deli-
cate Ferns in the open ground, Salt marsh grass, straw or
leaves may be used; for all thy anctalleg ed
such treatment
/ mature is
desirable. Some Ferns, mostlytha'smallér andi nore delicate
species, itis best to plant with peat \or leaf, ould about the
roots. Such additions, though not neces
be advantageous to all species. BLS
Besides those Ferns which are perfecthy, he
many species from the New Engle
would doubtless
M, therd jare
yell as from
rive if they
on accéunt
Ouble. This
2 bed which
late in the
land do not
our North-west. and from Europe, whichiv
have an extra protection in winter, and
of their beauty and interest, well r
protection is best given by having sud
can be covered by a cold-frame in wit ter,
autumn after the ground has slightly trozk
uncover except for occasional examfhation {i
is entirely removed in early spring!before t
The kinds for which this and other Special ¢
will be noted in the discussion of spectes later!
It may be well to state what is meant by hardiness or want
of it in the discussion of native Ferns. Thos@/\hich live suc-
cessfully in the open ground in this vicinity fg hout any win-
ter protection other than a slight covering,'§
monly used for hardy, Iperbaceous plants, considered
hardy. There are/jother Ferns from warmé/@r more pro-
tected localities>or perhapsicollécted in the sappelocality with
perfectly haf species, which, ‘as ‘a matter of \experience, are
found to be\not perfectly, hardy! These eithe Naot stand
most winter§, or a\very severe winter, like the/past one, will
carry them off.-4 The want of hardiness may be due ‘tovseveral
causes. The fitstiand( nhost natural cause is that theyneed
more warmth than‘@ur) cold yyinters afford thenvinan wy
tected garden. hey may, {come from dense woot va
shaded cliffs, where, naturally, a winter covering! of’ show
protects them from the vicissitudes of changing temperature
to which they are Subjected inary open’ garden, or, again, they
may be plants a little difficult to cultivate, which may be grown
sugcessfully,,howewer, if only spared the tying period of oun
changeable, |New) England ..wintersi;ioThe, summen heat ds
semetimes, considered. .the cause iof| failuressin j cultivating
plants, but with, Ferns, if, in.dryoveather sufficient, waten.is
stipplied this. cause need not beiconsideredy | syiisa aio Sioa
1 es Wohent Tho fackson., it
banistde yliass 3d
in
Wah as is com-
yBosiony wore esissy2 sili
dove to sulev
fs courserald Strawbenrin hieds) should oto bes dllawed ito
ib 1998
ioikw hbuid wal clooriogar yids wel of bine od yore 4b
Garden jand Forest.
bhi sa
‘species’
ich ‘soil, good culfure/ and old, well?
bases 29, 1888,
Wolly ine) 2841 (os Teyouk
The Cultivation of Mushrooms.
bstan ylodw sis bae biswawvob yilsubsry siom
boiler, anda, fayr- inch, bot water, pipgralong eagh side off th
t Mushrooms from the end. ol
f AE a‘
i
ern eeaene Mush rooms are quite, peniat hy is aS
ai
Mot
yor (A
not’ be
indeed, wherecthéy:cam be kept (dryaind teimperately) warny,
Absolute.darkhessvis not atall mécessaty, but! shelter fron
windy drawehts and shadé. trom sunshine! are’ nedessary,
The out-door cultivation: of Mushroéms;‘practicedan Europe,
is not practicablezhere.s es 2u191 ybisdl fo moisviluo sat
The beds may: be oftany width! or length <convenieht and
about twelve vinchesi deep: vInv making then shake bthe
manure loosély, so las (to spreadqiteevenlyi them beat oritread
it down verytirmly. (In av few sdaysithe: heat wills probably
rise to. 120% or) 1259) butoletoits subside: to Too’ orothereabou'ts
before planting:thd spawiniio yioiline basqesb ob esiosqe j2oW.
We have usedithe: Englishobriékdand: French! flakesspaway}
the English-gives Jarg¢ér Mushrooms’ and) the! French? whiter
ones, but!we'i prefer: the ibricks)15 Whenethe!\ bed lis! iy proper
condition :fér spawning, obréak up isome | brick-spawn “intd
pieces aboiit:two inchesisquare/and plant these pieces intd thé
sufface of the/bedy:three: inches'deépy andin-rows' about nine
inches apart eacly way...Pheriismooth ovemthe surface tof the
béd and pacloit firmly, as before, Some ten days iaftemptant
ingithe spawn apply-a coating!of fresh loam! one'to Awd linches
deep over:the bed andibeatiit down: smoothand firm Ens
deavor to miaintaina ‘steady temperature of60% day land night.
A higher:temperatiire nvay: hasten the''cropyod lower-one
retard it, but we have had, with a temperaturevof !60% thé
best success.to bse on, 2i sod) e131 to zstimmbs sil oT
“Should the (beds sbe¢omeidry) sprinklés them: with tepid
water, but-do not ive endugh’ to: soak! through ‘the soiland
inte) thesmanure,:or! the: waters may rot the:spawn> | Ventilaté
very caréfully, {:-so:longas the latmospherelis siveet very little
ventilatiqn, isi mie¢ededy Never’ venitilatesto ‘reduce! ‘teh perat
ture. Avoid an over high artificial temperature ;, if itruns
highé# than’ 60° Without, fire-heat, ventilate. ta, purify.the.atmos-
phere .rathemthaw todower the temperature.” 14 Patt i H a
“We gather fle “Mushrooms just as’ thelty Sills Ure purstihgs
if notigathered.aintil the heads, are.spread-out they:turn dark
soowiatter being edt and arg tougher and of pooret Aayor than
younger plastgy oh coer en
pitod sud
birch)
Polit -
A
:
a
‘
a et ne ee ee re
AUGUST 29, 1888.
8881 es Teu0UA
As a Mushroom bed w ill only last in good bearing condition
for about three ~veéks, 4! Sudcession of Beds ist, pe? Kept Up
in order to have a continuous crop. Many #fowérs'séf'axec-
ond /crdphtroenas their beds, but? hayvesabw, avs -found sid better
tasclear, out the, deds jas soennas: the first) crop: is lovier tand
Tepes thena with; ney, beds, than, to; 3 pon thesunees-
tainly of a.secc 1d)¢ pilin MG fEGOUgs 7
BGlen Gove: Deter firm
mn ee het
~ibbs PREM! ‘egétable' Gar én!” treet
ijsl ae ae Iq 40 jeil silt Of non
re ance Of, Lit na and, Snap, Beans Corr Astichoke 3,
aul how en Sr ayner ach, Tomatoes Lettu FEB) TS at CLQPs
and Meld} hg, hee now ie found “in every toarden.”. nd as
the last sowings of Peas, Snap Beans, Corn, “Carrots, Be ets and
paupnipatiiaver beenarnkxede, ‘and the late’c rps off oPCabt Nie Fe Hhali-
flower and/Celery!jilantedy ibis Gly! nebeksary RaW to! keep thie
rot ‘eleam antl! Well leit etré sours AgY drow thy aS mut A
if allaw rols cl {
=p) ay
(1° IY
ner 3A
Se
ol eee sil}
a ee
Qe
: ‘ 7S
-1sM mow ganinw jnsbaoqgesi105 ae BOTS QIB sibiodqodé
ail) to silsv sldsdoiq 911} of notiastis allsoygige a uotndkGlin
fisoaaiM 19q¢ ie ot ot erslijee sdt to oaraa flu ai Jaslg
{VISL {1 otto gjamilo s1svee 9odt at eoebod aot vallsyv
re tie 7 Gey) Ia athe ,yquns FQPS; at, Gary ts ‘and: Bee Si by
reed
gethoutt three, nghes. in, thetows and Eymnipsabeut tomy,
ep Sai Hull oatiqndl thro yaw. aypall, flosyering, plants iof Gar
Parsaips..o4 albity and,.Scqrzonenas Lift, B,
eee actly Tipesand store them
coh ay byt een dark, phages Af, the Brion, GrOp. Pas int
heen Tae S58 abgnd re) iia, soan ap itiszeady. jshheyashites
oe Hons, If rig: qut-of-dopts. asnume a.greenish qcolory;
bu df igh indo OOF: I ALITYs) AIRY shed, they prefain their,
mblepchin: Gathin Gut pid Gy Gkraspedssier wintes, Boe
also yot Wg BPRS RE Fatty and SEE ds; of, iNasturtiums tor,
pickles. Plant arsle y in cold- ‘frames
ee Glings recently s SQW1y II frames. . in, a moderately
een oe wing bP? i ) HAt Liha te NS i oe ae ivi
THIS: sow ENE & Ve any abun Wance. 0 fine, AVES aii, osm
Leal athe SAQNS
paall -bulls ny; ay
for Winter use, and thin
be HOP) fete re teresa winter Su phi, had ‘better Hot be. sow
ti mM ehe's econd re thi ind Ww eck, Of § epte mere, bhe Spinagh-
3Garden, and, Forest
BLO
leaf smaggotis usually very idagtrygtls e inthe fall, and I know of
ho remedy exce pe a change, of eround for, the, Spinach.crop.
The maggot iZShe rally appa us in August. or. September_and
continues tg infest the, crop throughout the winter; during the
late. § Spring | and, summer montis, it disappears... About. this
time ‘of ye ie uppits begin to be destructive to kitchen garden
Crops ; thy pr Ce it att nearly planted Lettuce ss. to’ the groundyand
the’ ‘Owing. points out of the young Snap, Beans; as.a, pre-
ven ive, dust some=soot, or alt slaked lime. over, the, plants,
when r ibbits, will not touch them.
aes J@ Gl-sisgl ! !
UGreen-house Staged and Orchid Housés Mr. Hunnewell is re
leh: thesstugesiin/se vera] of his ereen-houses, Te pli acing the
old with i new ‘ones! middle of irr! alid>'Geinerit.” “The
tables: atevetecement. supported by Taitun along the centres
dfcthé houses theside-wallseare of Vceme nit inst “ad of Brick,
asus frenierally the and thé Istages ‘for the’/plants” are
Bide
case;
Japan-—7See pags | 8% sd to i
1 DSS
yd} lo ernimios
ANOS 90 {y Jo 9nHo at b rfl i3°V
stale; step fas shion,and made, ef! Mati iron, strips itis se sttips
é shout one anc one;-fourtlinches jwide.,by, one-fourth inch
Y same. ¢ sef edge wis} and, about, one. or one and
ascael inehes s apart, inofhers flat and about half an inch
anane While! hd doubt those Set Edgewise form the strongest
stagey still MeOH pri8h the gardener! prefers’ those ‘set’ fat? as
they aresttong’ enough’ Tforcall ordinary | purposes and mich
more dasily cpainted.sd hese stages) dmothe! Orchid: houses,
haye;tanks . Ob AVE ter, unden thiem {both;consnthe, sides! jand
centre pt, fis Houses, Phe amiddle, tank sis, ef, cement, two
or) ‘more E deep, « openy at the, top, and extending all th
way Her! ine 14) 1gILe. A hat we ater ype : aid. through
it! Tele witer! Bnd this. ‘AY increase ‘evaporation, if
need ode NEATH artis Speaks iy Much praikeCGt this plan, Put
soimesptheb:shillecbolchidists dishikeligucPhére lisa! detached
and deepen tank atone end of theihouse: imnwhicly the: warm
water fron). the-stage tank; maybe wun fon watering the plants),
320
The side tables of the cool Orchid house are of cement and
trough-shaped above so as to hold a few inches deep of water.
Over this a flat iron staging made of the same material as de-
scribed above is laid and Supported on iron rests, which are
placed in the water so as to afford no chance for vermin, such
as cockroaches, slugs or wood-lice, to get to the plants.
Mr. Ames’ Orchid house stages are also of cement and iron,
but there are no open water tanks or troughs under the plants ;
a coating of gravel is laid over the tables and kept moist. The
luxuriant vigor of Mr. Ames’ cool Orchids is a good in-
dication of genial eee It isa very long, lean-to structure
facing the north, nine feet high at the back, eight feet wide
and four feet high in front. The pathway is three feet wide
and alongside of the back wall, and the bench, which is five
feet wide, is all on one level, in front. But as such a wide
stage must necessarily be unhandy, recesses in the bench
three feet wide by two feet deep occur, with eight feet intervals
all along the pathway.
The inside back wall is covered with
netting “to hold some sphagnum, and is kept a living carpet
of dwarf Selaginella. The pathway is of cement. Ventilation
is admitted all along the roof at the top, and in the front wall
ventilators nine by fourteen inches occur at distances of
twelve feet apart. The house is heated by steam with six rows
of one and a half inch pipes under the bench, WF.
Lenten Roses.—These are hybrids and varieties of species
of Hellebore which bloom during Apriland May. They are
far more satisfactory as hardy plants in America’ than Christ-
mas Roses. A good, deep loam, partial shade, plenty of
water during the growing sei ason—April and May —and a cov-
ering of horse litter, for the purpose of protection in winter,
is all they require. The flowering stem in 4. Evlebris niger is
produced directly from the crown in the form of a one, rarely
two, flowered, leafless scape. In the Lenten Roses the inflor-
escence is much branched ; the secondary branches bear two
or three flowers, and are alwe AyS accompanied by almost stallx-
less, yet normal, leaves. The flowers are spreading, or cam-
panulate, and vary in color from white to slatey purple, with
sometimes a mixture of both, and prettily spotted. Oe
is by division, which should always be done in spring ; by
seeds, sown as soon as ripe, and kept over ina cool Rene to
be brought into the green-house to germinate in spring. Some
of the best are A. atror ubus, H. Caucasicus punctatus, H.
Colchicus, H. Olympicus, H. or ‘ientalis and its varieties, many
of which are sold under s specific titles, such as, H. ortentales
antigquorum, one of the best, with flowers w hite, sottly toned
with pink and gray ; 1. orte ntales guttatus, white, and. one of
the earliest and best for cutting, being quite equal in beauty to
a Christmas Rose, but not lasting so long when cut. The
hybrids raised by F. C. Heinemann and others are mostly with
#. orientalis, the seed-bearing parentand the foregoing species.
The best are: Albin Otto, Commissioners Benary, Bec,
Heinemann, Hofgarten, Inspector Hartweg and Willy
Schmidt, the latter being robust in habit, with pure white
flowers, which should mz ake it valuable to the trade.
T. D. Hatfield.
Plant Notes.
Primula Rusbyi.
cL ite inquiry of an English correspondent concerning
the habitat of this new Primrose prompts me to send
to GarDEN AnD Forest a note on the beauty of the plant,
its discovery and habitat.
Early on the morning of the 4th of May, 1881, I had left
my camp at the end of a wagon road in one of the cafions
of the base of the Santa Rita Mountains of southern Arizona,
had mounted successive heights—the grassy slopes covered
with a sparse growth of Oaks and Arbutus, the breezy
ridges crowned “with Pines, and the more difficult steeps
dark with the Douglas Spruce—and was clambering pain-
fully up the long, bare crest of Mount Wr ightson, the
monarch of that mountain group, when I was Teanimated
by the exclamations of delight of my young assistant,
then a little in advance, over the prettiest flower.he had yet
seen in Arizona, as he declared. I found it tobe a Primula.
It was much smaller than P. Parry? of the mountains of
Colorado, but so nearly answering to the description of
that species, that I puzzled over it, as T collected it again
and again on those summits, trying to learn if it was really
distinct, until Mr. Greene named it and described it from
Garden and Forest.
[AucustT 29, 1888.
specimens collected by Mr.
August following.
Its habitat is the meagre soil of bare ledges and the verge
and shelves of cliffs of summits of 7,000 to 10,000 feet
elevation. Its range from the mountains about Clifton,
New Mexico, southward along the Cordilleras certainly as
far as 200 miles beyond the boundary.
The beauty of this Primula must make it a choice addi-
tion to the list of plants for rockeries, etc., and the fact that
along the northern limits of its distribution it must be ex-
posed to much freezing is a guarantee of its hardiness.
Rusby in New Mexico in
The “Sour” or ‘ Pie Cherry,” is a conspicuous object dur-
ing the last weeks of July in central and northern New Hamp-
shire, where a farm house is rarely seen without a clump of
this low spreading tree or bush along the garden walls. It
isa variety of the old Morello Cherry, a form of Prusus Cera-
sus, The bright red fruit hanging upon long stems is very
ornamental and as the birds do not relish its acid flesh
it hangsalong time. Formerly the Sour Cherry was very
generally cultivated through the Middle and Northern States,
but the Black Knot, to which this plant is subject, has nearly
exterminated it, in spite of its habit of spreading by suckers
which it throws up vigorously in all directions. According to
Darlington, it had almost entirely disappeared from Pennsyl-
vania ‘early i in the century, and it is now unknown in south-
ern New England, although it was a common garden plant in
that part of the country thirty or forty yearsago. In the prairie
states, too, it has had .to succumb, and it is now apparently in
northern New England only that this once common and famil-
iar plant can be seen in this country. The New Hampshire
plants are sometimes infested with the Black Knot, but they
are often quite free from it; and there is every appearance
that they will survive there many years longer. The Morello
Cherry is sometimes ten or even twenty feet high, with slen-
der, graceful branches, spreading out horizontally and forming
a round bushy top. The leaves are one and a half to three
inches long, on slender petioles rarely aninch long. The fruit
stalks are “usually solitary, sometimes in fascicles of two or
three. The fruit is fleshy, acid, rarely more than a half or two-
thirds of an inch in diameter, bright red or nearly purple
when dead ripe. Formerly this wa 1s considered the best Cherry
for cooking, and was highly esteemed in the manufacture of
“Cherry Bounce.” ; S.
Aralia Cashimerica,—This is one of the noblest and most
stately hardy herbaceous plants of recent introduction. It
forms a mass of dark green foliage, six feet high by as much
through, and in August bears narrow terminal racemes, three
or four feet long, composed of numerous umbels of white
flowers. The leaflets of the immense compound leaves
are four or five inches long, hispidulous, sharply serrate,
broadly acuminate, prominently veined, with a pale lower
surface. It is anative of the mountains of Cashmere and of
Afghanistan, where the botanists of the late Afghan Boundary
Commission found it in the Birch forests of the Malana valley
at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet. It would be difficult to
find a better subject among herbaceous plants for planting
singly on the margins of a lawn or shrubbery. Avalia Cashi-
merica is perfectly hardy, and may be easily raised from
seed, which it produces in great abundance. Dd,
Shepherdia argentea.—A correspondent writing from Man-
dan, in Dakota, calls attention to the probable value of this
plant, the Bull Berry of the settlers in the upper Missouri
valley, for hedges in the severe climate of the northern
plains. ‘The Shepherdia grows on the Missouri bottoms,
where it is sometimes overflowed, and where it reaches a
height of twenty-five feet and is somewhat diffuse ; it is most
abundant on the steep bluffs of streams where there is not
much grass, but it appears also on the summits of some of
the highest and driest buttes in this vicinity, where it is short
and compact. Itseems to grow slowly. “Isolated clumps ot
these bushes are beautiful. The red berries are gathered and
used for food by Indians and by whites, and are said to make
good jelly.” The Skepherdia is hardy at the east, and, when
covered with its bright red fruit, extremely ornamental.
A New Rose.—In the report of the July meeting of the Bel
gian Botanical Society, M. Crépin gives a full account of a sup
posed very fine new species of Tea Rose, which has been dis.
covered by General Collett on the mountains between Birmah
and Siam, It has a pure white flower, five inches in diameter,
ee ee
+ a ae
AucusT 29, 1888.]
and differs from the common Rosa chinensis, Facg. (KR. indica,
Auct.) by its single-flowered inflorescence, entire outer sepals,
unarmed floriferous axis, and very large flower. It may prove
to be an extreme variety of R. chinensis, but at any rate culti-
vators should look after it. It is fully described in M. Crépin’s
paper under the name of Rosa gigantea, Collett MSS.—Gar-
deners’ Chronicle.
The Florists’ Convention.
Extracts from Papers Read.
FROM THE PRESIDENYT'’S ADDRESS.
“What we need, and what our profession demands, is a
‘training school for our children and the young men who are to
follow in our footsteps, where shall be taught a scientific and
technical knowledge of the things pertaining to plant life
‘and plant growth, in their relations to soil, and heat, and
water. Our need, and the need of the young men who are to
follow, is such an education as will enable us to analyze soils,
and to know, scientifically, their constituent parts, and their
relation to the fibre and tissue of a plant; to be able to detect
deleterious and injurious substances, to check and control the
chemical action in soils, to adjust to a nicety the proportions of
heat, food and water. Our most successful men are often
confounded and amazed at their own failures, and can seldom
assign an intelligent reason for the same. Often in the same
house, under apparently similar conditions, with the same
kind of soil, failure attends, where, in former years, was had
abundant success. Instances of this kind abound on every
hand, and we are all familiar with them. This need not be,
for with a right education and proper training—such as I hope
awaits the young men of the future—these problems, so seri-
ous and difficult to ourselves, will, to them, disappear as the
dew before the morning sun. This knowledge, so desirable
and important, can only be imparted by specialists and teach-
ers devoted to such work. Industrial and scientific education
is making remarkable progress the world over, and we, who
have the good of the profession at heart, must see to it that it
ds kept abreast of the times. With all our boasted achieve-
ments in plant growing and flower production, the fact
remains that it has been wrought out by an enormous
waste of time and physical force. How to correct this, is
the question uppermost in the minds of many thoughtful
- florists. -
“Mr. Thorpe, in his address to you at Philadelphia, ex-
pressed a desire that at no distant date there might be estab-
tished a National Experimental Garden; if to that could be
united a school for the special training of persons for our
vocation, where a practical and scientific education would
be imparted, such an institution would prove of incalculable
benefit to every member of the trade.”
Mr. Hill suggested, as an incentive to experiments in hy-
bridizing, that the Society should offer liberal prizes for new
plants of American origin, and closed with some sound ad-
vice on commercial integrity, from which we quote :
“Those desiring the good of the profession, and who have
its welfare at heart, have entered solemn protest against the
dissemination of plants under false names. This abuse,
which has grown out of avarice and a lack of moral princi-
ple, must be checked. We must not, we cannot afford to
pass this matter by ; the fact remains that the most unblush-
ing frauds have been perpetrated on an over-contident public.
Commercial probity, uprightness in our dealings with our
pations, is one of the things this Society must insist upon,
until this blight which has fastened itself upon our calling is
eliminated and destroyed. There must be no uncertain
sound issue from this body of men on this particular subject.
“The renaming of plants must not be overlooked. We
must hold inviolate and sacred the right of any man or
woman to name the plant through whose skill, patience and
care it has been produced; and not only that, but we must,
by the moral force of this Society, render secure his or her
right and title in the same forever. No one has the right,
either through caprice or malice, to change or attach any
| other name save that given it by its disseminator. '
“ Another suggestion in connection with this subject may
with propriety be referred to. Where the translated name
from a foreign tongue is used, the original should follow in
parenthesis. I question the expediency of using translations,
butifit must be done, it is only right and proper that the
original shall follow. To do this will certainly allay suspicion,
and would prevent the unsuspecting from making duplicate
purchases.”
Garden and Forest.
321
ROSES FROM THE GROWER’S STANDPOINT.
This was the subject of a paper by Mr. Edwin Lonsdale, of
Philadelphia.—After stating that the first essential in the case
was that the Rose could be profitably produced, the speaker
discussed at length the value of different varieties:
‘Bon Silene is a very old favorite, and is still one of the most
profitable varieties in many localities. Its fresh pink color and
ideal shape commends it to all flower lovers, and its produc-
tiveness will keep it on the list for some time tocome. The
day has gone by for high prices, of course, but it will continue
in steady demand.
“Catharine Mermet commands the admiration of every one
who sees it. Its delicate coloring, delicious fragrance and ex-
quisite form has made ita deservedfavorite. Untoriunately, not
all of us can grow it profitably. Manyadmit that they are com-
pelled to grow it, but it does not pay. It requires special treat
ment to bring out its paying qualities; andis very much inclined
to run to blind wood if grown in too light a soil. It prefers a
rather stiff, though porous, soil, for no Rose is more impatient
of excessive moisture at the roots, and a night temperature
of not higher than fifty-five degrees produces the finest
flowers. ‘s
“The Bride is asport from the last named variety, being iden
tical with it, excepting in color, which is white. It has estab-
lished itself as one of the best white Roses we have. Of course
it does not compare with the Puritan when at its best, nor with
Niphetos for productiveness; but it can generally be depended
upon to bring a fair price when delivered in good condition.
It has almost entirely displaced Cornelia Cook, and will hold
its own forsome time to come.
“Niphetos, it has been said, will be grown when all the white
Roses now in cultivation have been forgotten. This is per-
haps going a little too far; but it goes to show in what esteem
this Rose is held, either by itself in a bouquet, or in “set”
pieces, for which purpose no Rose is better adapted. For
productiveness, taking quality through the crop, [ think if
leads them all.
“Much was hoped from the Puritan ; and these hopes had
some foundation; but, alas! experience has demonstrated that
the majority of the many buds formed produce imperfect
blooms. After the experience of last winter, it cannot be
placed on the list of Roses likely to prove profitable.
“The advent of the now somewhat old and famous Perle des
Jardins marked a new era in Rose culture. Hitherto Safrano
and Isabella Sprunt were the standard sorts grown, with Bon
Silene. Maréchal Neil was only grown in a few localities, but
the Perle was accorded a place in every establishment,
and it caused many florists to turn their attention to Rose
growing. It will be a long time before the Perle is super-
seded, and, for general purposes, it remains one of the best
we have. However, it is true that some of our very best
growers do not find it profitable, because of so many flowers
coming malformed. It is believed by some florists to require
a more porous soil than most varieties do, and a night tem-
perature of from 60° to 65°.
“Sunset is a sport from the last named and requires the same
treatment. It has entirely superseded Safrano, and its off-
spring, Ned Falcot, and is likely to be more popular in the
future than it has been in the past.
“Papa Gontier has not been in general cultivation sufficiently
long for all growers to learn its requirements thoroughly, or
to bring out its good qualities. That it has established itselt
as a favorite amongst flower buyers there is no doubt. Its
long stems and good foliage would give it high rank, even it
its fine color were not so desirable. The tendency to lose its
leaves in winter, however, is against it, and if this tendency
can be overcome it must be considered a first-class variety.
“Souvenir d'un Ami is another very old Rose and never
much of a favorite as a cut flower. Its popularity is evidently
on the wane in New York, possibly because of the preference
for larger Roses.
“La France bounded in popular favor suddenly as a winter
bloomer. Its adaptability for forcing must have been discoy-
ered about the time Mr. Bennett's Hybrid Teas were intro-
duced, to which class La France undoubtedly belongs. It is a
ereat favorite with all flower lovers, and, generally speaking,
profitable to the grower. More than a dozen florists have told
me that it has been the best paying Rose they grew. La
France, and, in fact, all Hybrid Teas, under which head may
be classified Duke of Connaught, William F. Bennett, Count-
ess of Pembroke and a few others, are more susceptible to
the attacks of Black Spot than the true Teas are. “As a pre-
ventive of this, avoid too much moisture during cool weather.
The fall months, before it is thoughttime to start a fire, are the
worst for this class of Roses.
322
‘No Rose ever created so much attention in this country as
the William F. Bennett. The high price paid for half the stock,
and the peculiar restriction placed upon it, aided in whetting
the appetite of all florists, especially when its color and form
were known. Ithas been one of the most valuable Roses intro-
duced into our list of winter blooming sorts for a number of
years. The $5,000 paid for the Rose proved to be a good ad-
vertisement, and few of those who invested in it when first
distributed ever had cause for regret. It is a hard Rose to
get started on account of its free blooming tendency, but by
persistent disbudding, when planted no more than three oF
four inches deep in rich, light soil, on a well-drained table,
is one of the most profitable varieties grown. — It vequites
more heat than most of the Teas, and seems to improve in
constitution every year.
“Madame Cuisin has had a hard str uggle to gain the recogni-
tion to which it is entitled. It isa distinct type from the class
generally in use for cut flowers in winter, being somewhat
short i in petal, and if cut too soon it has a diminutive appear-
ance; but when allowed to get two-thirds open, at which time
it is at its best, it has the appearance, to those unacquainted
with it, of being ready to drop. It is, however, one of the
best varieties for keeping in the whole list.
“Mademoiselle de Watteville belongs to the same class, but it
is larger, and lighter in color. It is sometimes called the
Tulip Rose, because the e« Iges of the petals are doped with a
darker shade of pink. It has been planted quite extensively
for the New York market, but whether it will prove a wise
investment or not remains to be seen,
“American Beauty is perhaps the most remarkable Rose on
the list. A Rose of its size, form and fragrance, and at the
same time a perpetual bloomer, is indeed a great stride on-
ward. Some may feel that it is more of a boon to the re-
tailers than to the grower; certain it is that good flowers of
it would never sell at wholesale for less than $25 per hundred
so long as the fires are going. It was introduced to the
American Seen just when. the | large Hybrid Perpetual Roses
had become fashionable, and flower buyers wanted them at
all seasons of the year. American Beauty has relieved the
retailers from all anxiety, for it is obtainable from Janu-
ary to September. A houseful of these plants, when do-
ing well, is a splendid sight ; their large, finely formed, sweet-
scented, pink Roses, borne on shoots several feet high,
would make even its severe European critics change their
tone. It is easy to understand why it is condemned over
the sea, because it is useless out-of-doors even here, and in
winter time under glass, in that sunless climate, it could not
open its blossoms with any degree of satisfaction, It seems
to do equally well in solid beds and tables. It will stand
much heat and moisture when in good health, and seems to
do better the third year after planting out than the first. The
plan of bending down the strong shoots seems to be the
best for this Rose. It causes flowering shoots to break from
the base, which generally produce fine blooms.”
FROM THE ESSAY OF MR. H. H.
“Every person engaged in growing plants should know the
first principles, at least, in botany. Last winter, while talking
to a grower who had been in business all his life, as had he
father before him, I asked him a few questions about hybrid-
izing, thinking [ would try to instruct myself by getting some
good, prac tical ideas. He said “he did not take much stock
in it, and thought it better to let Nature take its course and let
them cross themselves.” It occurred to me that an argument
like this was on a par with advising faith cure to a disabled
man when the most skilled and advanced surgical operation
was necessary. Darwin was hardly of this gentleman’ s way of
thinking ; he made a great many experiments in hybridizing
he speaks of the sev renth generation of plants, and crossing
them when grown under different conditions ; of the strugele
for existence among them, the effect of climate on repr oduc-
tion, the sleep of the pla ants, self-production during sleep, the
influence of gravitation upon them, the power of digestion, their
movements in relation to their wants and the diverse means by
which they gain their subsistence. A great many of the sub-
jects seem to be of no practical use, but putting our minds in
this channel is what elevates, not ‘only ourselves, but those
with whom we come in contact, and in order to do this we
must first become interested in botany. On this subject there
is no better teacher than the late Professor Asa Gray, whom, it
is said, no one has ever yet approached, in the rare art ‘of
making purely scientific theories and dry details popular and
interesting. From his charming elementary work, ‘ How
Plants Grow,” to his more elaborate “ Manual,’ there is one
simple, concise, and yet exhaustive, method of treating the
BATTLES.
Garden and Forest.
4
[AucusT 29, 1888. —
various grades of the science. Flowery rhetoric, beautiful
figures, lofty speculations and romantic fancies are discarded,
and in their place is a simplicity of statement, a transparency
of language and an enthusiasm which lights up every page.
The leading scientific men of this country and Europe have
awarded the highest place in the galaxy of botanists to Professor
Gray. :
Now, for the dealer to know the habits and requirements of —
plants would be very useful and interesting; but there are
other subjects which demand his attention first. He comes
directly in contact with consumers, not only caters to their
wants, but stimulates the demand for flowers by the judicious
handling of them. Surrounded by the most beautiful colors,
the most exquisite forms, and the ‘most delicious fragrance in
nature, one of the first thoughts of the dealer should be the
artistic arrangement of flowers. Taste, toa very great degree,
is a matter of education, and the study of color, form and —
position should be carefully considered ; the knowledge of a
few of the laws of color are absolutely essential to the intel- —
ligent arrangement of flowers.” 4
“After stating the laws to be observed in the proper mingling |
of various colors, Mr. Battles gave several rules for practice,
like the following: ‘If you have a blue vase, use orange
tints, if a green one, use red. If you are obliged to use flowers
that do not harmonize, separate and relieve them with white
ones. Be careful of reds, which are the most trying colors.
It is not unusual to see an expensive design or basket in which
is some choice tone of red, say a Jacqueminot Rose, where —
the effect is entirely destroyed by a few red Carnations on
Bouvardia, which would have been much better thrown —
than put into the design.
“The study of color is a beautiful and interesting one and
does not lack text-books ; the subject is exhaustively treated
by Chevreul, ‘On Color,’ who is at the head of Gobelin’s Tap-
estry works, and has made this subject a life study; also in
G. Field’s ‘Chromatograph,’ which has been modernized by |
J. S. Taylor, London. There is a delightful book on color, too, —
by A. H. Church.’
THE CULTIVATION OF PALMS.
Mr. C. D. Ball, of Holmesburg, Pa., read a paper on ‘‘ Ferns,
Palms, and Decorative Plants," from which we take the {
following : 2
“Nearly all Palms are propagated from imported seeds, —
which, if obtained fresh, are not difficult to germinate. Or- _
ders should be placed early enough to insure getting new
crops as soon as possible e after being gathered. Some varie-
ties soon lose their vitality, and the sooner they are planted
after being received the more likelihood there will be of good _
results, In sowing I use five or six inch pots, filling them
about one-third full of broken pot or charcoal for drainage. 3
The soil used should be a mixture of about equal parts finely:
sifted peat and loam, to which a little sand is added. The ji
seeds can be planted thickly, almost touching each other. —
They should be covered with from half an inch to an inch ©
deep, according to the kind and size of seeds, and the surface |
pressed firm and smooth. Then plunge the pots to the rim |
in cocoa-fibre ina warm house, where a fair bottom heat can |
be maintained. The soil should be kept always moist, but not ©
wet, or the seeds are likely to decay before they germinate. |
By plunging the pots in the manner recommended it can be.
kept in this condition without frequent watering. :
“The time required to germinate varies under different con
ditions and with different varieties. Some kinds, such as |
Areca lutescens, Latania Borbonica, Cocos Weddeliana, etc.,—
usually take from one to two months before the growth shows ai
above the surface. The young plants should not be potted off
too soon; it is better to leave them until they are thoroughly |
rooted and the tops are well up. Areca lutescens, Kentias rand
some others of this type should be left until the second leaf |
appears. When ready they should be potted off into as small-
sized pots as will contain the roots without injury. A two or
three inch rose-pot I prefer, on account of the long, stiff roots
made. The soil should be about the same as that used for the —
seeds. After potting they should be placed in a close, warm
house. Yet great care must be taken in watering; the roots
and foliage are tender, and easily damped off if kept too wet.
The best “plan is to plunge the pots in cocoa-fibre, fine ashes
or something similar. A more even temperature can b
maintained at the roots aiid the soil can be kept moist with-
out frequent watering. A little bottom heat is of great help to
the plants until they have become established.
«The second shift should not be made until they are welll
rooted through and somewhat pot-bound, and then to the §
eS
tebe ae
SET,
AUGUST 29, 1888.]
next sized pot only, using about the same kind of soil as be-
fore, although it is best not to sift it now. The larger pieces
can be chopped up sufficiently fine to use, as Palms like
open, fibrous soil. At the next shift, and from that time on, I
lessen the quantity of peat to about one-third part, and add a
small portion of fine, well-rotted cow manure for all the
stronger rooting varieties. With most of the more rapid
growing varieties the plant will now have reached the four-inch
pot stage. This can be attained by proper handling in
about one year from the time they were taken from the seed-
pots. From now on the same precautions should be taken
not to over-pot or over-water at the roots. Good drainage in
the pots is always essential as the soil must be kept pure and
well drained. “While growing, all Palms require frequent
syringing over the foliage, especially during the spring and
summer months. In winter littlhe or no growth is made and
water should not be applied so liberally. About the middle
of February they should be thoroughly overhauled, as this is
the time they will want to move forward again. Those re-
quiring more pot room should be shifted into a pot a size
larger; very often, however, it is better to shake the old soil
out and repotinto the same sized pot if it is found that the roots
are not perfectly healthy and there are not plenty of them.
Care should be taken at every potting that no part of the
stem be buried. The plant-base must merely rest on the sur-
face of the soil. The roots should never be cut, as with some
varieties it might prove very disastrous.
“During the spring and summer the growth of the year
should be made, and shifting on should be done, whenever
required, before fall. Plenty of moisture and heat is necessar y
te get a good growth, and syringing, once or twice a day, and
water thrown on the paths on “hot, sunny days is advisable.
Sufficient ventilation should not be overlooked, as pure air is
essential. Even during the summer it is often well to keep
the fires going slowly, to maintain an even temperature.
The houses should be kept well shaded, as Palms will not
stand the full sunlight. The foliage is easily affected. A few
applications of manure water during the summer will be very
beneficial with most varieties. ;
“Tf wanted for fall sales they should be hardened off before
that time by gradually lowering the temperature and admit-
ting air more freely ; it would not do to send them out in a
soft condition.”
NOMENCLATURE.
The purpose of this paper, prepared by Mr. R. J. Halliday,
of Baltimore, was not to correct the botanical names of plants,
but to enforce the advantages of uniform names of plants in
trade.
“My idea,” said Mr. Halliday, “is to correct floral nemencla-
ture, and to abolish the high-sounding names which are be-
stowed on plants, so that we can understadingly buy from
and sell to each other. The best way to accomplish this, |
believe, would be to appoint a committee of twelve reliable
men to classify and regulate nomenclature. The committee
would do much towards removing existing abuses—fixing
correct names in place of misleading ones. In catalogues and
classifications the scientific, as we ell as the popular name of a
flower, should be given on all occasions. The omission has
‘been the source of much annoyance. Suppose we have a
Fuchsia named Souvenir de Prince Albert, imported from
France, under this florist’s name. Some one, not satisfied
with the name, changes it to Babbling Brook, in order to have
something different from his brother florists. Is not the pub-
lic deceived by suchacourse? Heliotrope Madame Blomage,
imported from Europe and here re-named Snow Wreath, was
ordered back by Cannell, of Swanley, England, who had it
already under its proper name. He was so. angry with us for
our Yankee trick, having the plant in abundance, that he
named it White Lady, and not a few American florists paid a
fancy price for it under the latter name, although, by this time,
it had become well known and cheap in this country under
two other names. There are many cases similar to this.
What is the proper name for rose Ball of Snow—is it an
American Seedling, or is it Boule de Neige, of French origin ?
If the latter, I w ould like to catalogue it with both names,
one in italics, as many persons believe this to be a new
‘Rose, French growers say, Only one of our Yankee tricks!
We do not want a bad epee en abroad. Is the Geranium
White Swan an American seedling, or is it La Cygne, which I
imported two years ago? If the latter, would not your com-
mittee recommend catalogues to give the French and Eng-
lish name in brackets ?
“To remedy this, as I have said, a committee of twelve men,
Garden and Forest.
_dollars,
323
of whom nine should agree before a verdict is formed, would
be a step in the right direction, The beginner in the
business wants authority for what he sees displayed in our
catalogues and heralded over the country in magazines and
newspapers. We want fewer names and more distinct kinds.
Catalogues are becoming a jumble anda reduction is needed
in plant names. Every florist should have the right to name
his own seedling ; this right should be preserv ed Pand no one
allowed to re-name it and place it on the market under any
other appellation. This Committee of Nomenclature which |
propose should be empowered to pass on lists of plants sub-
mitted by members of the association at its annual meeting.
Such species and varieties as in its judgment are entitled to
the approval of the Association, should be recommended when
at least nine of the members concur, and the list should be
official upon approval by a majority vote of the members
present at any general meeting. It should also be the duty of
the committee to declare, ie *n the same plant is sold under
different names, which name shall be adopted; to make lists of
Roses and other plants that are identical, although they have
been known under several names, and to settle ‘all questions
brought before it as to the correct names of plants, where the
name may be questioned or a dispute arise.
Convention Notes.
In his address of welcome, Mr. John N. May gave the fol-
lowing graphic illustration of the growth of the trade in flow-
ers in “this city: ‘‘ About the year 1840 Isaac Buchanan, who is
still in active business, carried daily his available stock in a
large basket, to be sold at what is now the head of Wall Street,
and he then considered it a good day’s trade to take in two
while three dollars was an extra large sum for one
day’s sales. As late as the year 1871 two members of the
firm of Pennock Bros., of Philz idelphia, then, as now, the lead-
ing cut flower dealers of that city, came to New Y ork insearch
of rosebuds for the Assembly ball, and, after pe nding three
days here and visiting all the principal growers, returned with
fitty-nine buds. Contrast that fact with the trade now, when
the daily average of rosebuds sent to this city amounts to over,
30,000, and when, instead of plants being brought to New York
in baskets, more than one hundred large wagon loads aresent
every market day, in the spring, to the West Street market
alone, not to speak of the supply at the innumerable stands
dotted all over the city.”
Mr. Charles T. Starr, of Avondale, Pennsylvania, said:
“Among Carnations I consider the Century and Portia
the best red varieties ; Grace Wilder leads in pink; Buttercup
is still by far the best yellow, though several others have their
strong: claims, and may do best in some sections. Chester
Bride is the finest of variegated colors, of decided character
for that class, and among the white kinds we use Kinzies, as
the finest of late ones. Peter Henderson does well when old
or early propagated plants are used, and Snowden when
grown from cuttings made from the ends of the blooming
stalks, just before they show bud. The new white called
Availiain Swayne seems to combine the good qui ilities of the
two last named, and promises to be the ‘finest white, for this
section at least. Soil seems to exert such an influence on the
growing of Carnations, as also does the construction of torc-
ing- houses to bloom them in, that it will be very difficult to
make a list that would suit all circumstances. Judicious ex-
perience is the only safe guide.”
Mr. Benjamin Gray, of Malden, Massachusetts, said it was a
happy coincidence that the kinds of Orchids profitable for
florists’ use are all of easy cultivation. The best sorts, easily
obtainable, are Lela autummnalis and S. albida, Cattleya Triane,
Celogne cristata, Calanthe Veitchi, C. vestita rubra and C.
vestita lute, Dendrobium nobtle and D, Wardtanum. lt to
these we add Cypripedium insigne, C. Harristanum, C. villo-
sum and C. Spicerianum, Cattleya Bowringiana and Odonto-
glossum Alexandre we have a list which will give us succes-
sion of bloom from November until March, the. season during’
which Orchid flowers are in greatest demand. The kinds
named may all be grown in the same house, with the excep-
tion of the Calanthes and Dendrobiums, which re quire a high
temperature, with plenty of water while growing, and should
be kept cool, with enough water to prevent them from
shriveling while at rest and until the buds are formed, when
they may be brought into the house with the others, a few ata
time, for succession of bloom.
In reply to the question whether propagation from blind
shoots had a tendency to render plants less floriferous, Mr.
James Pentland, of Baltimore, replied, ‘‘ Emphatically, no, and
324
this after an experience of fifty years. J. N. May
added, that in a recent test, he had Screen 300 plants—
Catharine Mermet Rose s—from blooming shoots, which were
the finest and strongest he could find in his house, and also
300 plants from what is usually termed ‘blind wood.” He
continued: ‘Do not understand that this wood was taken from
little weak shoots. It was taken from good, firm wood, with
healthy foliage. Asa result, I have failed to see a particle of
difference in the produce of these plants. Iam convinced
that, so long as we propagate from good, sound wood,
whether it be blind or blooming, we will get as good a plant
in the one instance as in the other.”
Here are a few sentences from the address of Mr. Battles
which florists should remember: ‘‘ When a gentleman wishes
to send a very large and expensive bouquet, the salesman
should advise sending the flowers loose in a box (which can
be arranged prettily), t that the lady may select the ones she
wishes to wear. A practice which is not quite ex-
tinct, is that of making handles on corsage bouquets, and
covering them with tin foil: the sooner this is done away with,
the better. : How many people have very unhappy
recollections of funerals where they have been surrounded by
ghastly designs and stifling odors. Lettering on
designs has been greatly overdone. I would advise strongly
against it; often customers insist, but, if left to your taste, de-
cide against it.”
“Three years ago,” said Mr. Robert Craig, ‘the La¢ania Bor-
bonica, in six-inch pots, found tardy sale, in New York and
Philadelphia, at 75 cents each. The increased demand for
that class of plants is such that now they readily bring about
twice that amount, and the supply is not nearly equal to the
demand. In fact, the demand for these plants has already
influenced the price in Europe. In several recent importa-
tions at least twenty per cent. has been added to the price.
This is an indication that the increased use of Palms here
has been felt abroad, even with vast quantities there grown.
[ am sure that this price and demand will continue to grow,
because we cannot get these grand effects trom any other
class of plants.”’
Mr. M. A. Hunt, of Terre Haute, Ind., in replying to the
question, ‘‘ What varieties of Roses introduc BG, within the last
two years are worth growing for winter forcing ?” said that
“ Almost without an exception those which gave great prom-
ise have proven failures for this purpose.’” He had found an
exception in the case of a littlke Rose not very generally
known, but which can be highly recommended to those
who are in a position to make up their own work, though
not, perhaps, for shipping for any distance. He referred to the
Primrose Dame. Although not a strong grower, it is a very
productive Rose, finely sh haped and, either in the bud or open
Rose-form, is one which is very desirable.
Halls for exhibiting plants, flowers and fruits are better, as
well as more cheaply constructed, without board floors
Plants can then be arranged in groups on raised banks or in
depressions of various forms best adapted to the character of
the different objects to be displayed. Where green sod or
moss can be easily procured a better effect can be produced than
when plants are staged on tables. Besides this, water, which
is always needed in abundance in such exhibitions, can be
used to much better advantage with such an arrangement.
For fruits and cut flowers, side tables in most halls can be
neatly arranged just under the windows, in which light such
things are best displayed.
Mr. Ernest Asmus, of West Hoboken, N. J., said, that among
Hybrid Perpetuals for early forcing, say from December
until February, light colored varieties are the most suitable.
His choice of six was Anna Alexieff, Anna de Diesbach,
Mrs. John Laing, Magna Charta, Achilles, Gounod and Madame
Gabriel Luizet. For “late forcing, the best among light colored
Roses are Paul Neyron, Baroness de Rothschild, Merveille de
Lyon, Mabel Morrison, Captain Christy, Victor Verdier, Mar-
quis de Castellaine, Henry Schulthers and Ulrich Brunner ;
and, among dark ones, Gen. Jacqueminot, Prince Camille de
Rohan, Louis Van Houtte and Baron de Bonstetten.
A good market Chrysanthemum must have a strong, vigor-
ous habit, with branches able to sustain the flowers erect, and
fine, healthy foliage. The flowers should be large and well-
developed, and not more than two or three on a spray. The
colors should be distinct and unique. There is a strong de-
mand for the finest possible flowers, as compared with the
smaller pompon varieties. This suggests that growers would
do well to pay more attention to quality than to quantity.
Garden and Forest.
[AucustT 29, 1888
A prize of $500 was offered by Mr. Peter Henderson for the
best herbarium, to consist of not less than 500 species of native BS
plants, arr anged according to their natural orders. This prize
is to be open 1 for competition to gardeners or the sons of gar-
deners, or to any one engaged in the trade asa grower or seller
of plants, who is also a member of the Society, Mr. Hender-
son’s offer was accepted unanimously with a vote of thanks.
Mr. John Smith, of Yonkers, gave it as his experience that
slate, when used for benches, exercised no deleterious in-
fluence on plants. Indeed, plants on slate benches were
much less liable to attacks from various pests than plants on~
benches of wood, which afforded harbor for insects and ver-
min, besides encouraging the growth of harmful fungi as they
decayed.
Mr. Thomas Cartledge, of Philadelphia, said that only —
Roses with long stems and good foliage could be sold to ad- —
vantage. A large and perfect flower with a short stem and ie
poor foliage did not satisfy customers, and would not sell as’
readily or ‘for as good a price as a fair or ordinary flower, well —
furnished with good leaves and a long stem.
“To keep down the ravages of snails among Ferns no better
means can be employed ‘than Lettuce leaves, Potatoes, or.
Turnips hollowed out. Perhaps Lettuce leaves are the best. Y
The snails creep inside the leaves during the night, and remain —
there until morning, when they can be gathered up and
destroyed.”
The following officers were elected for the next year: Presi-
dent, John N. May, Summit, New Jersey; Vice-President, W.
J. Palmer, Buffalo, New York; Treasurer, M. A. Hunt, Terre ©
Haute, Indiana; Secretary, William J. Stewart, Boston,
Massachusetts.
“The American Florist is a power that deserves our hearty
support. It helps us, and the gentlemen connected with it
deserve great credit.”
The moment of spontaneous and genuine enthusiasm
came when John Thorpe, the founder of the Society, was led
upon the platform.
Notes.
At the meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society,
August 11th, Mr. B. G. Smith, exhibited a basket of fruit of the
Wilson Jr. Blackberry, a variety raised by the late Judge Parry,
of New Jersey, by crossing the Wilson with the Dorchester.
The fruit is very large, handsome and regular, and of good
flavor, although lacking’ somewhat the delicacy of the Wilson,
which was also shown in great perfection. :
The flowering of Stwartia pseudo-camellia, a Japanese
species, in the Veitch nursery in England, referred to in
our London Letter, seems to have been one of the horticul
tural events of the London season. This plant was distrib-
uted in this country many years ago by the Messrs. Parsons
and flowered profusely this season in the garden of Mr.
Charles A. Dana, at Glen Cove, N. Y. A drawing of the
flowers of this plant has been made, and will appear in
future issue. !
Mr. Walter E. Coburn exhibited before the Massachusetts —
Horticultural Society, on the 11th of August, a collection o
no less than 200 species and varieties of wild flowers, includ-
ing thirty-seven species of grasses and sedges in twenty genera
These collections of wild Howers are exceedingly interesting
and instructive features of the weekly free exhibition of the
Massachusetts Society.
Hybrid Gladioli of the Gaxdavensis race are grown in great
quantities, and generally in considerable perfection, in the
neighborhood of Boston, where there are some large com
mercial collections. The w eekly exhibition of the Massachu
setts Horticultural Society (August 18th) was largely devotec
to these flowers. The wet season, however, has not been —
favorable to them, and the exhibition fell short of those o
several other years, both in the beauty of the varieties shown
and in the excellence of individual specimens. The rare an
lovely yellow-fringed Orchis (Habenaria ciliaris) was shown
in ereat profusion “and i in excellent condition in Mr. Hitchin’s |
collection of wild flowers. Another interesting feature of
this exhibition was great masses of Sadbdatia chloroides, o
of the handsomest of American plants. It is common
Plymouth, Massachusetts, and at other points along the Al
lantic coast, and is seen sometimes in the windows o
the enterprising Boston florists. It should find a ready sal
as the beautiful pink flowers are delightfully fragrant, and re
main fresh for some time when cut, while unexpanded flow
buds will open in water after the plants have been gathered.
SEPTEMBER 5, 1888. ]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST’ PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TrRipuNE Buipinc, New Yor.
Conducted by . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.
TABLE. OF CONTENTS.
7] PAGEs
EpiroriaL ArvicLes :—Sentimental Objections to Felling Yrees.—Irrigation in
the Arid West.—Value of Iris pabularia.............
The Treatment of Slopes and Banks (with illustration) FC. Olmsted. 326
July on the Shores of Buzzard’s Bay......:.. Vrs, Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 327
A Bridge in the Thiergarten, Berlin (with illustration),.................. 327
ForEIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter. .......... 00. cece ee eee W. Goldring. 328
New or Litt_e Known Prants :—Spirzea pubescens (with illustration), ..C.S, S. 330
Cutrurat Departmenr :—Cultivation of Native Ferns—II...Xodert T. Fackson. 330
Early Apples.... te este ctor op ic vx ste a Pee £. Williams. 331
Hyacinths for Forcing. «William Falconer. 332
MNiotesstromithelArnold:Arboretwm sess ts.sce acide ences caasee se scsees F. 332
Tue Forest :—The Care of Woodlands - 333
(CORES OREN (5p haa onan HOSS OE Hn ga DE ech nara ae co aan eet ics tee 335
Arsars CES NAMM ES ULES CAUTSLCUIN Sale ctl cloves ttsie ets hae 'SosSis ara p aoa’ s vusut gS RUnapete atoms gfetsnfets fo alsfor ate aves 335
SINUS: ome rerereletererere tet ts oie ateiuig siete retsisinteis. 0/074 $ p dsis\die (5:0 2.6 ¢ o1c Ualmieyratstaniois # afsiatersaleistaseys tinie. ce 336.
TitustRaTions :—Good and Bad Slopes, Fig. 51........ sees ee eee ce eeee ee rees 326
A Bridge in the Thiergarten, Berlin Chea #20: 329
Syorkaeaiey yoyhlerasfereio lpi tes tte ane eee IMR orc cicina ome ae he eee eRe 331
Sentimental Objections to Felling Trees.
T hardly needs special affirmation in these pages that a
fine tree or group of trees is of itself an object to ad-
mire and to preserve with reverential care. And yet cases
often arise when the removal of a noble tree is demanded
on grounds distinctly higher and broader than those upon
~which the affection and respect for it are based.
It is our frequent inability to recognize such cases for
what they are, and our unwillingness to act in them even
when they are clearly recognized, which prove that our at-
titude towards trees is sentimental and irrational. Whether
a tree is or is not a fine example of its kind is a question
subordinate to the broader one whether it hurts or helps
the general aspect of the scenery in which it stands,
whether it enhances or detracts from the beauty of neigh-
boring things ; whether, in short, it stands where it ought
to stand, or, on the contrary, where something else or
nothing at all ought to stand. In almost every possible
case a tree is a part of a larger whole, and it is a funda-
mental axiom in every search for beauty that the interests
of the whole must take precedence of the interests of any
of its parts.
— Ifa group of trees is incongruous in form or color, and
could be made harmonious by the removal of one or more
individuals, there should be no question as to their re-
moval, no matter what intrinsic claims they may have to
admiration. It may often be a difficult task to decide
which ones to sacrifice; but it is a task which should be
entered upon without sentimental or superstitious com-
punctions. A bleeding stump may almost make a heart
bleed for the moment, but this is a wound that will quickly
heal under the influence of the increased beauty of the trees
which remain. In like manner, when a single tree or a
whole group is detrimental in a wider way, when it hides
a still more beautiful tree or group, or a fine middle dis-
tance, or a lovely stretch of horizon; when it hides any-
thing which would be of distinctly more value than itself
in the scene, or when it gives an uncomfortable look of
crowding and of excluding air and light, it should be
sacrificed. And a like result will be sure to follow—quick
Garden and Forest.
325
forgetfulness of the vanished charm will follow upon the
revelation of still greater charms.
It is impossible to take even the shortest walk abroad
without seeing many places which would be vastly im-
proved were one or more trees cut down. Yet even when
the desirability of their removal is confessed by their
owner, how difficult it is to persuade him to raise the
axe! The house may be damp and dreary ; other and
perhaps still finer trees may be concealed from sight; all
outlook upon a delightful prospect may be shut off; in-
jury may be worked in a dozen different ways, and yet
‘“‘because he loves the tree” it must remain. If he
really loved trees and really cared for beauty in general,
it would hurt him more to see the tree where it was
palpably out of place than not to see it at all.
But if it were only when fine trees are concerned that
this super-sentimental spirit was revealed, it would be
easy, at least, to comprehend its existence. It appears,
however, almost as often when the most ill-grown, fee-
ble and ugly specimens are in question. For example,
as has recently been pointed out in several letters pub-
lished in these pages, hundreds of Norway Spruces, so
far decayed that they are all but dead, disfigure our parks
and cemeteries. No one professes to admire their condi-
tion or to believe that it has possibilities of improve-
ment. Yet there is sure to be an outcry if a proposal to
cut them is made. They are trees, and therefore sacred.
The fact that the general effect would, in any case, be
better without them, and that they are halfdead them-
selves, does not impair their sanctity or render the would- -
be cutter anything less than a heartless vandal.
It is the same in private grounds—one is daily driven
to wonder why this or that perishing Spruce or Pine is
preserved, and to accept in a spirit very far from acquies-
cent the answer that it is because the owner ‘‘is fond of
trees.”
It is quite time that unhealthy sentiment should give
place to a genuine and sturdy respect for trees. There
can be no true advance in the popular love for trees
themselves until the public shall distinctly appreciate the
difference between a fine tree anda poor one. And there
can be no true advance in gardening art until we are
clearly convinced that the beauty of a whole is more im-
portant than the beauty of any individual thing, and are
firmly determined to act carefully and discreetly—yet
boldly, too—upon this conviction.
The appropriation by Congress of $250,000 to be used to
investigate the extent to which the arid western portions of
the United States can be made fertile by irrigation, and for
the selection of sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic
works necessary for the storage of water for irrigation and
for the preparation of maps in connection with this work,
is a wise and proper one. It has already passed the Senate,
and will probably be agreed to in the House. There can
be no question of the wisdom of this investigation. It
is the beginning of one of the most important works
ever undertaken by the government of the United States.
It is believed by Major Powell, the Director of the Geo-
logical Survey, that fifteen per cent. of the arid region
within the limits of the United States, or an area of
150,000 square miles—that is, an area equal to more than
one-half of the total area of the land now cultivated in
the United States—can be reclaimed for agriculture and
made to produce valuable crops permanently by means
of irrigation. The promoters of this scheme must bear in
mind, however, that the forests which cover, more or less
densely, the mountain ranges of western America, from
which the water for irrigating purposes must be brought
into the valleys, are natural reservoirs; that they hold
back water which would otherwise cause floods and tor-
rents which no structure of masonry will be able to with-
stand; and that by checking evaporation, which consumes
such a large part of the rain which falls on the western
326
interior portions of this continent,they largely increase
its value. As long as Congress permits the devastation
of our western mountain-forests to go on unchecked
and unpunished,. efforts to secure a comprehensive and
permanent system of irrigation for the western States and
Territories can never succeed. Reservoirs are valuable
adjuncts to the forest in maintaining a water supply for
large irrigating enterprises; but unless the forests are
preserved, as an initial step, permanent and valuable
results cannot be hoped for.
A recent issue of the Revue Hortcole calls attention to
the great value of the little known J/ris pabularia, the
Krisham of Cashmere, as a forage plant. This plant, it
appears, will flourish in the driest and most arid soil, and
once established it cannot be exterminated. The leaves,
which attain a height of twelve to sixteen inches, are
eaten by cattle either green or dried, the same plant
producing two or three crops of leaves in a season. It
is recommended that the seeds should be shown in beds,
and then that the young plants should be set very early
the following spring where they are to remain. They
should be planted in rows ten inches each way if
the soil is very poor, and fifteen to twenty inches apart
in richer soil. A thorough watering will aid the plants to
make a good start, shouldit be dry when they are set. It
is doubtful if 2ris Pabularia will prove hardy in the Northern
States, but it should certainly be tested in California, and
-in our dry south-western region, where, as well as in
Florida, it may be destined to play an important part in
the rural economy of all that part of the country. Seed
can be obtained from the Messrs. Vilmorin, of Paris.
The Treatment of Slopes and Banks.
fa is a common mistake, where a road or a flat surface
of turf is to be formed at a different elevation from
that of the adjoining ground, to give the bordering banks
too nearly the form of inclined planes, and to make them
too steep, as ataéc inthe diagram. Such slopes at the
outset, while all about them is raw, are comparatively
neat, and they can be formed cheaply by unskilled la-
borers, with little guidance or thought on the part of those
in direction. They are objectionable, first, because it is
difficult and costly to keep them in good order. On such
steep slopes, the drainage is either too quick, in which case
the grass upon them suffers from drought, or, on the other
hand, subsoil water finds an outlet through the bank, mak-
ing its surface soft and easily washed. Such a bank, there-
fore, needs to be protected by the best possible turf. But if
the slope isin “kept” ground, it is difficult to form or main-
tain good turf upon it. Neither scythes, lawn-mowers nor
rollers can be used to advantage, nor are manures apt to be
evenly distributed upon it. Consequently, the turf soon
falls into bad condition. If the ground is pastured, as is
often desirable in case of a park-like treatment, cattle go-
ing up or down the slope poach and gouge it. In either
case the grass soon grows in tufts, and the character of a
continuous web of turf is lost. Storms wash out the soil
between the tufts, and then freezing and thawing and
further washings soon bring the whole surface to a sorry
condition,
By lessening the inclination of the surface, difficulties
of the class thus explained may be overcome. But there
will remain, however, another and a more important ob-
jection to banks in the form of regularly inclined planes
in most situations. They are stiff, formal and plainly ar-
tificial. Recognizing that they are so, it seems to be often
| supposed that the only revision of them necessary to a
satisfactory result will be secured if a surface can be
formed of a single, uniform, convex curved cross-section
—like the front part of an upholstered, spring-seated sofa
—made to meet the road or grass-plot at an abrupt angle,
as one would trim down the edges of a pie before baking.
(Shown by the line de in the diagram.) Such a slope is
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.
really not less formal than an inclined plane. To make
it less so, the top of the slope may be thrown back from
its base further at some points than at others. Butit will —
yet have a very unnatural aspect. |
The reason of this is less difficult to understand than |
might be supposed, judging from the frequency with
which such banks are seen in very costly works of land-
scape gardening, so-called. :
A continuous body of good turf implies a continuous
body of deep, friable soil. If the effect of a single rain-
storm upon a body of such soil thrown up in a pile of con-
vex section is carefully observed, it will be seen that a
portion of the soil is washed out upon the adjoining level
surface, obliterating the angle where the original slope
met it, and making the lower part of the slope concave.
(Shown by the lines 77% in the diagram.) The longer the
bank of soil remains bare and subject to the wash of rain,
the more it will spread at the bottom, and the less will
remain of the original convex section.
TIITITT
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Fig. 51.—Good and Bad Slopes.
Further than this: as a natural bank of loam rarely oc-
curs that is of uniform consistency throughout, the action
of the weather upon it will seldom produce a curved slope
of the same cross-section at all points,.and its outlines
will, consequently, become varied and informal.
The lesson to be learned from observation of Nature in
this matter is that it is a safe general rule, in making a
sloping bank, to give it an ‘‘ogee” cross-section. (An
“ogee” is an architectural term, meaning a moulding the
upper part of which curves outward and the lower inward,
or, more broadly, any reversed curve, such as ‘‘ Hogarth’s
line of beauty,” used in school copy-books for the stems of
many of the capital letters. It may be illustrated, in a prac-
tical way, by grasping a thin elastic rod with one hand at
each end, and then bending one up and the other down.)
The line fg / is a regular ogee curve, the concave portion _
JS & being equal in length and shape to the convex portion —
gh. Asa rule, the proportions of the curve should be
varied from time to time, so as to produce an undulating
surface—eraceful, if grace is a quality to be desired in the
locality, but in all cases informal and natural. <A slope
may have at one place a cross section like 7 72 in the -—
diagram, in which the concave part of the slope 7 is
shorter than the convex part mm, while a short distance
away the slope may resemble the line o fg, in which the
relative importance of the concave and convex parts is
reversed. :
The diagram illustrates another principle in regard to —
slopes. Ifa broad, grassy surface had to terminate atasteep
slope, falling to a road or fence, it would, presumably, be |
best to connect the broad surface with the steep one by ©
means of a long convex curve, as at #7, completing the. |
desired ogee slope by a short convex curve, as at 7m. On —
the contrary, if the broad, grassy surface had to terminate —
at a steep slope rising to a fence, terrace, shrub border, or —
other marked boundary, the concave curve ought to pre- |
dominate, as in the line o fg. In other words, the slope,
SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.]
if open and grassy, in either case ought to appear to be
a part of the larger surface of turf, unless there was some
obvious reason to the contrary. In making a steep slope
on the downhill side of a road, there ought to be, if possi-
ble, a nearly level space between the edge of the road and
the beginning of the steep slope of from five to fifteen feet,
partly to satisfy the eye as toa sense of danger of acci-
dentally driving down the slope and partly to make it
_appear as if the road had been built upon a natural shelf
or terrace. The latter reason applies equally to a slope
on the uphill side of a road. In either case, the distance
and shape of the slope should be varied from time to
time, taking advantage of the configuration of the adjoin-
ing ground, or of the existence of rocks or trees, as sug-
gestions for determining where to widen the space be-
tween the slopes and the road, or to make them more
gentle. J. C. Olmsted.
Brookline, Mass.
July on the Shores of Buzzard’s Bay.
OMPARED with central and western Massachusetts,
this south-eastern portion of the state is, of course,
deficient both in striking landscape features and in trees
of noble size. One goes to Berkshire, not to Plymouth
County, to find beautiful views, in the popular sense of the
word, and finely developed specimens of trees of many
species. Yet the true lover of landscape beauty, as well
as the lover of nature’s minor productions, does not fail of
satisfaction here. Ours hardly looks like a sea-shore—it
wears rather the aspect of the shore of a great quiet lake,
for beaches are few and narrow, and almost everywhere
vegetation comes close down to the salt water. But pret-
tiness, if not grandeur, results from this fact; and even
when the water is out of sight there is a great deal of
charm in our moist meadows and sandy heath-like tracts,
our thick, low-growing forests everywhere encircling tiny
ponds or larger lakes, our ubiquitous, picturesque stone
fences, and the low, unpainted gray cottages, which harmo-
nize so well with them and with the character and tone
of the landscape in general.
Our trees are few in number, and the two which are
most prominent in the more westerly parts of Massachu-
setts—the Sugar Maple and the Elm—are wholly wanting,
in a wild estate. White and Pitch Pines, Scarlet Maples,
the northern Oaks, Gray Birches, a few Tupelos, an
occasional Sassafras, and shrub-like Junipers—these are all
we have; and few of them are of large size, for the woods
are almost altogether ‘‘second growth,” and in some
places clearly show by the lines of overgrown stone-wall
which intersect them that they cover what were once
cultivated fields. Yet here and there one sees White Pines
of grand build and no inconsiderable height forming stately
groves devoid of undergrowth ; and in all other places
the young trees compensate by their graceful habit and
felicitous intermingling for whatever they may lack in size.
The real richness of the district lies, however, in its
shrubs and herbaceous plants. The Heath Family rules
in the land and to say this is to say enough in its praise.
The place of the long-vanished Mayflower is not un-
worthily filled in July by the Wintergreen. Huckleberries
and Blueberries of many sorts, from the tallest to the
lowest, hung out their exquisite white bells by myriads all
through the first part of the month, while, as the season
has been a late one, the Andromeda is but just past its
prime. Mountain and Sheep Laurel have both been
blooming in great abundance, and the latter—after a fash-
ion which many flowers have hereabouts and which Mr.
Burroughs once remarked upon—has been deep and bril-
liant in color to a degree seldom seen elsewhere. The
‘White Azalea is going, after having filled the swamps for
weeks with its incomparable perfume, but Clethra is fast
getting ready to fill its placé. Several Pyrolas are now in
bloom, the most abundant being the Shin-leaf; the two
Chimaphilas are flowering ; and those who like the corpse-
like Indian Pipe may find it in abundance.
Garden and Forest.
327
These are by no means all our Zyricacee nor are the
Ericaceé our only boast among blossoming shrubs. The
four species of Hex—Holly, Black Alder, Ink Berry and
Ll. levigata—are just dropping their pretty white blossoms.
The Viburnums are covered now with green’ fruit which
will soon grow pink on its way towards blackness, and be,
for awhile, almost more effective than flowers. The But-
tonbush is in bud, mingling everywhere with the Alder
clumps. The day of the Elder-blossoms is not yet quite past
and we have them in abundance, while nowhere could
one find Wild Roses with flowers more thickly crowded
or richer and deeper in hue. Two Spireeas—Meadow
Sweet and Steeplebush—are everywhere; and, in short, the
only shrub one misses for which one looks on the New
England coast is the Barberry, which, common further
north and also in Connecticut, seems to have passed us en-
tirely by in its welcome work of colonization.
As for our herbaceous plants, maritime and other, their
list is too long to tell, even although August rather than
July is their time for flowering in greatest variety. One
of the prettiest is the Spreading Dogbane (Apocynum an-
drosemufolium), with its blood-red leaf stalks, and drooping,
white, bell-shaped flowers. The Tall Meadow Rue is still
in bloom, and with it one occasionally finds the curiously
ill-scented form of the purple Thalictrum (var. ceriferum).
The Virginia Anemone occurs, but less finely developed
than further west. Lilium Philadelphicum is just going
out of flower as the great Turk’s Cap Lily is coming in. A
month ago the low grounds along the shore were blue
with two species of Iris, and their humbler cousin, the
Blue-eyed Grass. To-day they are spotted with the yel-
low Star Grass, and spiked with the tall white Aletris. It
is a great country for Milkweeds, for Composite, for
Evening Primroses, for Potentillas, and, of course, for
Rushes and Sedges. Several Polygalas are now in blos-
som and the pretty little wild Flax. And as for Orchids,
we have just had meadows pink over broad spaces with
Calopogons, intermixed with which were spikes of the
still more graceful and lovely pink Pogonia. Two or
three greenish Habenarias are coming into flower, and our
white one (Habenaria blephariglottis, var. holopetala) will
soon be present in large quantities, together with, in lesser
quantities, both species of Goodyera.
There is nothing new or striking, I know, in this cata-
logue, and perhaps its greatest interest may lie in the fact
that I confess it so incomplete as to be hardly a catalogue
at all—for wha iI wanted to show was that, unassuming
though our district is, there is good reason for our liking it
so well. The only thing I have to note which may be un-
expected, is that in addition to the common Green-brier—
Smilax rotundifolia—S. glauca grows here in great abun-
dance, although by rights (I mean according to Dr. Gray)
it should, not venture further north than southern New
York. Even this is hardly news, as the plant had already
been found by Mr. C. E. Faxon on Blue Hill, near Boston ;
and even if it were news I could not claim the credit of
the discovery. It would belong to a haunter of these woods
whose eyes are a good deal keener than mine. It may be
worth while to add that our Pines, which last year bore no
seed, are this year full of ripening cones—both the
White and the Pitch Pines. M. G. Van Rensselaer.
Marion, Mass.
A Bridge in the Thiergarten, Berlin.
HE Zhiergarten in Berlin is, without doubt, the finest
large public park in Europe, and it seems doubly
beautiful and valuable as it forms a veritable oasis in the
flat, sandy and generally treeless surroundings of the Ger-
man capital. It was laid out in accordance with the plans
of Knobelsdorf, the architect of Frederick the Great, about
the middle of the last century, and, in accordance with
the taste of the time, partly in a formal way. An open
space, peopled with many statues, which was called “The
Star,” because it was the meeting point of a number of
straight-lined alleys, formed its central feature. But the
328 Garden and Forest.
largest portion of it was, nevertheless, left in forest, and
the alterations subsequently effected have consistently
looked towards the preservation and development of its
natural charms. As it now appears, it is the model of
what a great public park, to be used by the inhabitants of
a populous city, should be—amply provided with spacious
concourses, drives and promenades, adorned with works
ofsculpture, many of which are indeed intrinsically poor, but
almost all well placed and appropriately environed, and
yet, over the greater part of its surface, presenting to the
eye a constantly varying succession of natural-seeming
landscape effects. No contrast could be greater than that
presented by the most formal and the most natural por-
tions of this park. Here we have the long, straight drive,
which leads from the Brandenburg Gate to the confines of
the suburb of Charlottenburg, and there deep, bosky glades,
wild-looking little lakes, or passages of forest scenery ap-
parently as “untouched by the hand of man as though the
city were a hundred miles away. Yet there is no dishar-
mony between part and part, for the transition from one to
another is rightly managed, and instead of an impression
of unmotived diversity, we gain an impression of unity in
variety.
The illustration herewith given is from a photograph
which represents, not one of the wildest corners of the
Thiexgarten, yet one in which, although the work of man
conspicuously y appears, natural character has not been de-
stroyed. The bridge, called the “Lion Bridge,” from the
figures which support it at either end, serves for foot-pas-
sengers only, and if less beautiful than some others, is in-
teresting as showing that at least a comparative degree of
beauty and an air of simplicity and appropriateness to
rural surroundings are not impossible of achievement by
the use of iron. The natural development of the trees has
in no way been interfered with, and the vista of distant
plantations, which the space between them affords, is
much more beautiful than could be shown in a picture
of this size. But the chief point to which we wish to call
attention is the management of the water. ‘Too often we
see the streams and pools in parks brought into more or
less formal shapes and bordered with a stiff line of stone or
concrete; or, even when this is not the case, kept “tidy”
by constant interference with the natural growth of the
grasses or shrubs which border them. Formally shaped
and bordered ponds have, of course, their place—as ele-
ments in a design the general character of which is for-
mality. But when a natural landscape aspect is desired,
the water should be as naturally treated as the ground. In
this picture we see the results of such treatment, partly
due, of course, to natural causes, but partly, no doubt, to
intelligent, fostering care. No words are needed to explain
how beautiful are the irregular borders of this pool, and the
rich, encroaching growths of its aquatic plants. To pro-
duce, or to preserve, such effects as these, is the highest
art when harmony permits them—it is the art which con-
ceals art, and thus equals or surpasses Nature herself in
the impression it produces.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
NCESSANT rains have played havoc with out-door
gardens; flowers are not only later by a fort-
night or more, but the crop of bloom, except on
hardy s shrubs, has been poor. Strawberries have been
almost a total failure, and bush-fruits, especially Rasp-
berries, are a poor crop, and insipid in flavor. A wet
summer, however, is not an unmixed evil, and we shall
enjoy the benefit of it next season, for out-door vegetation
of every description is growing in a marvelous way.
Ornamental trees and shrubs are making such growth as
we have not seen for years, and large fr uit trees, though,
as a rule, borne down with fruit, are forming vigorous
shoots,
[SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.
Under glass the effects of a sunless sky for weeks in
succession are not so apparent, and this is particularly
noticeable in the great gardens and nurseries, where a
large variety of plants is grown. Our great national gar-
den at Kew, for jiiecaiige: has been grez atly benefited by
the wet season, and both in the open air and in the
houses I have never seen the vegetation look finer, and
even at the present time, when the flower season is usu-
ally considered on the wane, the gardens beam with beau-
tiful, rare and new plants in flower, so numerous that I
shall devote the present letter to mentioning some of the
most noteworthy among them.
Among the Orchids a few rarities are in bloom, the
choicest and most beautiful being Sobrata leucoxantha, a
new species of which only about half a dozen plants are
said to be in the country. In growth it resembles the
dwarf form of S. macrantha, and. the flower is almost as
large. being four or five inches across. The sepals are
snow white, as are also the petals, which are broader,
while the labellum has a circular lobe exquisitely frilled,
and of a bright, clear yellow. Its flowers differ from
those of the other new Sobralia, S. «antholeuca, the sepals
and petals in the latter being yellow, while the centre
only is white. Like its relative, the common S. macran-
tha, it succeeds well in the Cattleya house. The charm-
ing little Phalenopsts Marie, which was discovered by
Mr. Burbidge while traveling for the Messrs. Veitch, is
in bloom. It belongs to the Sumatrana section ; has
long, green leaves and short spikes of small flowers.
Their color is w hite, heavily blotched with coffee-brown;
and with a narrow, filose labellum stained with purple or
amethyst. It is also one of the rarest species. I ought to
mention the wonderful success obtained at Kew in flower-
ing the great moth Orchid, P. grandiflora. A few years ago
this could not be even grown in a healthy state, but now
it grows like a weed and flowers abundantly. The plants
are grown in upright cylinders about a foot high, made
of strips of teak wood, and filled with drainage-material,
with only a little compost of peat-moss and “charcoal at
the top for the plants to get a root-hold in. The speci-
mens in some of the cylinders carry five spikes, with
from twelve to eighteen flowers on each. This magnifi-
cent display, numbering two to three dozen spikes in all,
has been enjoyed for the past two months. The little
Cypripediums of the niveum group are in flower together,
and one may see what affinity there is between C. mveum,
C. concolor, C. Godefroyve and C. bellatulum Though
they merge, as it were, into one another, there is no ques-
tion but that they are distinct from the gardener’s purpose.
C. bellatulum is very heavily spotted, and is a rounder
flower than that of the C. Godefrove, and is, therefore,
at once distinguishable.
A rare Ipomea, named /. Hardingei, is in bloom in
the tropical Water-Lily house, and a very beautiful plant
itis. This is said to bea hybrid, one of its parents being
the common /. paniculata. The flowers are similar in
size, color and form to those of the parent, but the leaves,
instead of being digitate, are bilobed, larger and hairy.
It is a rapid growing stove-climber, and is capable of gar-
landing a roof or pillar in a charming way.
A new water plant, £ichormia fricolor, is in flower at
Kew for the first time. In habit of growth it closely re-
sembles £. azurea, the leaves being cordate, bright green,
and with swollen petioles, but the flowers are not so fine.
The lower petals are rich purple, the upper ones pale blue
with yellow centre, and are borne on erect spikes about
two feet high. On seeing it I at once compared the
flower with those of the common Schisanthus pinnatus,
the resemblance being very striking. It is only valua-
ble for growing w ith tropical Water Lilies and other
aquatics.
A tropical bulbous plant, Memanthus Katharine, is now
in full flower, and a more brilliant or imposing summer
flowering bulb for the stove is notin cultivation. From
the great globular bulb it sends up a stout stem bearing
SEPTEMBER 5, 1888. ]
numbers of broad, long leaves, and overtopping these
is the huge head of flowers, like a half globe of scarlet
stars bespangled with golden tipped stamens which pro-
trude from them. It lasts in bloom for some weeks,
and amidst the usual surrounding greenery of a plant-stove
stands out a conspicuous object. It came from the west
coast of Africa, and therefore delights in heat and moisture
in its growing season. It is certainly a plant to note
by those who look for brightly-flowered stove plants in
August. Another highly commendable stove bulb is
Crinum giganleum, from the same region. Its flow-
ers, produced in an umbel of from five to eight on a stout
Garden and Forest.
329
three or more flowers on each stem, and has been
in bloom for a month past. Similar to this variety, but
not so fine, is that named eximia, and there is another
called major, all of which will, perhaps, in course of time,
be grown in place of the old sort.
Among other flowers of the week here worth noting are
the following : /mpahens Hookeri, the new tropical Bal-
sam sent out recently by Mr. Bull. It is in all respects a
stove plant of the first rank, easily grown, of vigorous habit
and a profuse bloomer. The flowers are large and of a
brilliant carmine-magenta. Like its relative, / Sultant, it
is already largely grown in this country, and may be
on Fe
ll
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i
i
Ni,
i
I
\i
ta
JASN
A Bridge in the Thiergarten, Berlin.—See page 327.
stem from two to three feet high, are nearly six inches
across, pure white and with a fragrance like that of va-
nilla. It is of the easiest culture, and remains in bloom
for weeks. Its specific name is misleading, as there are
several Criniums to which this would be a pigmy jn size.
Of quite a different type of beauty is the A/f//a biflora
from Mexico. It is a slender growing plant, with nar-
Tow, grassy foliage and wiry stems rising about a foot high
and carrying one or more flowers. These are about
two inches across, perfectly star-shaped, of snowy white-
ness and fragrant. It is very beautiful, and lasts in
beauty a long time during the present month. At Kew it
is grown in pots, and treated as an ordinary half hardy
bulb, as it has been found useless to plant it in the
open ground. It is quite worthy of any extra attention
bestowed upon it.
Another green-house bulb of surpassing brilliancy is a
variety of the common Vallola purpurea named magnifica.
It is altogether larger than the type in bulb and leaf,
has a taller and stouter flower-stem, and flowers nearly
twice the size. They are funnel-shaped, of a glowing
vermilion, with conspicuous white centre. It carries
found in all the best gardens. Another of Mr. Bull's re-
cent introductions is Ar7s/olochia elegans, one of the pret-
tiest in flower and most elegant in growth in the genus,
and while most of the species are too large for ordinary
houses, this may be grown as a small trained pot-plant.
The peculiar shape and strange color of its flowers make
it an object of interest in a plant-store. Those who want
a continuous and abundant crop of cut flowers should get
the Bolivian Dipladenia (D2. Bolmensis). — Its large, fun-
nel-shaped flowers are snow-white, with only a blotch
of orange in the centres. ‘The plant is a climber, graceful
yet vigorous, and continues in bloom for weeks in suc-
cession. This and the lovely little Passifora Kermesina,
of which I lately made a note, are two of the best stove-
climbers, and if planted close together they add to each
other’s charms. In the green-house one of the
climbers is Rhodochion volubile, an awkward name for a
most exquisite plant. At this season it
rafters or pillars of a cool green-house with
purple, bell-like calyxes, with deep crimson
—corollas. It is of the simplest culture in large pots or
when planted out in free soil.
best
festoons the
wreaths of
almost black
339
One of your delightful Magnolias, JZ g/auca, or Swamp
Laurel, has been in bloom for a month past, and the
beauty of its ivory white cups and its delicious fragrance
are a surprise to us. Our wet weather has appar-
ently suited it, for I have never seen it so fine as it is this
year. Uusally the flower buds become scorched on dry
soils before they have time to expand. hae 5
London, August 8th, 1888. W. Goldring.
New Little Known Plants.
Spireea pubescens.
HIS dwarf Spireea is a decided acquisition to gar-
dens, flowering, as it does here, from the tenth to
the fifteenth of May, or two or three weeks earlier than
the well-known S. /r?/oba, which it resembles in habit,
although smaller in all its parts. Its flowers, as are
those of that species, are produced in dense, umbellate
corymbs from the ends of short, lateral, leafy branches of
the year, and quite cover a considerable portion of the
main stems. These are slender, terete, zigzag, slightly
pendulous, two or three feet high, the shoots of
the year densely covered with pubescents. The leaves
are ovate-acute, sharply serrate above the middle or
somewhat three-lobed, puberulous above and densely
villous-pubescent on the under surface, especially on the
midrib and two or three principal veins. . The inflores-
cence, as pointed out by Maximowicz, is quite naked, with
the exception of a line of hairs on the ventral sinus of the
follicles. This plant must not be confounded with the
S. pubescens of Lindley, which is referred by Maximowicz
to S. Chinensis, which is considered by Mr. Hemsley the
same as the S. dasyan/ha of Bunge, of which he remarks,
‘S. pubescens is certainly very closely allied, yet easily
distinguished by its narrower, less distinctly veined
leaves, having longer hairs on the under surface, and
glabrous flowers.”
S. pubescens * is a native of the mountains of northern
China and Mongolia. The plant from which our illus-
tration on the opposite page was made, flowered in the
Arnold Arboretum this year for the first time. It was
raised from seed sent some years ago, by Dr. Bretschneider,
from Pekin. GUS OSs
Cultural Department.
Cultivation of Native Ferns.—II.
OME very delicate native Ferns which are difficult to culti-
vate do well grown in pots and wintered in a pit. In
summer such potted Ferns may be sunk in a bed of coal
ashes in a shady place. A frame tor petted Ferns, alpine
plants, ete., which has proved successful, is made as follows :
A large shallow box, with loosely fitting bottom, is raised on
logs about ten inches from the eround. Stones, broken c rocks,
etc., are laid on the bottom of the box to the depth of several
inches, then covered with several inches of sand. The pots
are sunk in the sand. This gives perfect drainage, which is
a primal requisite, and no earth worms get into the pots on
account of being raised from the ground.
In potting Ferns use plenty of broken crocks for drainage.
The mixture of soil advised by Mr. John Robinson is peat,
leat mould from the woods, mason’s sand and virgin loam,
equal parts. He says cocoanut refuse may be used instead of
leaf mould. The admixture should be light and porous, with
no tendency to hold stagnant water. — It should not be sifted.
Charcoal broken in bits and crushed is a good thing to mix
with soil for Ferns, as it tends to counteract any injurious
results from excessive moisture.
Few of the Ferns we have to consider require pot-culture,
and for more detail on this subject the reader may profitably
consult Mr. Robinson's book on Ferns—referred to in the
first article of this series.
It is often desirable to establish in pots choice Ferns which
haye been collected, before. planting them in the open
ground, especially if collected at a very unseasonable time,
see pubescens, Turez; Bull. Soc.
Petrop., vi. 93. Franchet, Pl. David, 106.
in Jour. Linn. Soc., xxii, 227.
Nat. Mose., v. 190. Maxim.,
Act. Hort.
Forbes & Hemsley, Exim,
Pl; China,
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.
Much pleasure may be derived from fine native Ferns potted
and kept in the house for summer decoration. Onoclea,
Struthiopteris, the Osmundas, large species of Aspidium and
Adiantum, are particularly suitable for this purpose,
In cultural directions, a word should be said about rockeries.
Rockeries, as commonly made, are unsatisfactory, They are
too apt to be made ot rocks with a little soil, whereas “they
should be large bodies of soil, with rocks buried and cropping
out on the surface. Rockeries are frequently built to a con-
siderable height above the surface of the adjacent soil; in
fact, much too high, as they then require excessive watering
to prevent their drying up. Fora small rockery of four to
eight feet in width twelve to eighteen inches, or, at most, two
feet, is quite high enough forthe highest parts. That is quite
sufficient to give the varying elevations desirable for different
kinds ot Ferns and to give a pleasing effect.
All of the Ferns considered, except those specially noted,
can be grown pertectly well without rocks, and in so far they
may be considered superfuous. In my garden there is no
rockery, properly so called. Stones and rocks of considerable
size, however, may be laid on the ground and half buried in
Fern-beds, giving a good effect and helping materially to
retain moisture by covering the soil.
The moist, cool surface “of rocks makes a grateful surface
along which the roots of Ferns, and other plants as well, like
to creep. At the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, some ‘deli-
cate species, such as Asplenium viride, Pellea gracilis, etc.,
are grown very successfully in niches of rock-work, with very
little soil, although plentifully supplied with moisture, and
covered with sashes in winter.
Rocks may be used with great advantage and moderate cost
on a natural bank or steep incline, and in such places are most
adinirable,
Directions for making rock-works
Robinson's “Alpine Flowers.” *
It is to be understood that we are considering rockeries for
growing Ferns and for au garden effects, not rockeries of
sufficient dignity to give landscx ape effects; for these special
studies are required.
The propagation of Ferns of the class under consideration
is generally an unimportant affair, as they are, tor the most
part, comparatively easily obtained from the woods. They
may be propagated by dividing the crowns or running root-
stocks during the dormant season, in autumn or early spring.
They can also be propagated from spores. For directions
for this last method, see Mr. Robinson’s book. Ferns are
seldom much troubled by insect pests. Qzoclea senstbilis is
the only Fern which attracts insects to any extent. Garden
slugs sometimes do damage to the smaller species.
Ferns may be purchased | ‘froma few collectors and dealers in
this country, but by far the most interesting way, if possible,
is to collect them one’s self. It vastly increases the pleasure to
be derived from the Fern garden to have each specimen a
pleasant reminder of the woods, mountain, valley or swamp
where it was collected. Seek out some rich locality for Ferns,
and with a beginning thus made, a good collection may soon
be built up. ‘Fortunately, some otf the most desirable species
tor cultivation are also the commonest.
Ferns are best transplanted in the dormant season, but they
may be moved successfully at any time of year. For the be-
ginner early autumn is a good time to collect, as the dormant
season is approaching, and yet the various species are ‘easily
recognized, as the fronds have not yet dried off.
It is not necessary to consider the season incollecting Ferns,
for they can be transplanted at any time with scarcely ‘the loss
of a single plant. Success in transplanting most native Ferns
is so certain as to be a foregone conclusion, if reasonable
care is given them.
When collecting get up all the roots possible and pack in
slightly moistened sphagnum moss for transportation. In de-
fault of sphagnum, any moss, fern fronds, leaves or grass
will do, if the journey is not a long one. Excessive moisture
is objectionable in packing, as it induces the Ferns to throw
out a weak, sickly growth. The tronds may be cut off with-
out permanent injury, if it is necessary to save space in pack-
are to be tound in
ing, although it is best to leave them on, especially with ever-_
green species.
To show the extreme hardiness and vitality of Ferns, it may —
be mentioned that some years ago, in midsummer, several
species of Ferns were collected far from home.
tops were cut off, the roots wrapped in moss, and for eight
weeks they were carried in a hand-bag, without the loss ofa
single specimen.
* “Alpine Flowers for English Gardens,” by W. Robinson, F.L.S.
Them
Again, in Covent Garden Market, London, —
dry roots of Ferns are exposed for sale and grow perfectly —
London, 1879. —
SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.]
well, notwithstanding the fact that they are quite dry and have
few or no roots w hen sold.
In digging up Ferns a stout trowel is good, a dull, stout,
broad-bladed knite is better, and best is a tool sold in London
shops, but easily made by any metal worker. — It is a gouge-
shaped piece of steel riveted firmly to a hard wood handle ;
the tool is eleven inches long and one and one-half inches
broad. It is invaluable in collecting wild plants, as it is strong
and narrow, so that it is easily inserted into crevices; it is
halt knife, half trowel... A sharp spade and a hatchet or strong
knife are of value in collecting roots of some Jarge Ferns.
Boston, Robert T. Fackson.
Early Apples
BOUT thirty years ago I purchased a number of trees of
the leading kinds of Apples in order to study their quali-
ties and their adaptability to my soil.
Garden and Forest.
331
dations. Although a tart fruit, and one which may with pro-
priety be called a Sour Harvest Apple, it will not compare in
size or quality with the apple generally known by that name
in this state, which is the Primate. This, in perfection, is un-
questionab ly the best e: irly apple we have. Its se
July and August, and it lasts four or tive weeks. Its defects are
extreme liability to insect attacks and its tendency to become
aSONn 3S 1n
watery. Its crisp, nde flesh and fine flavor, added to its
earliness, render it a great favorite in spite of the above objec
tions. If there are locations where it is exempt from these
drawbacks it cannot fail to satisfy the most fastidious. It is
also an early and ila bearer. |
The Red June is a very handsome fruit, and the
erect grower, but ue apple lacks the tender crispness of the
others, and is subject to the apple-scab, which sometimes
mars a great nee of its surface. This year, however, they
were finer and more beautiful than ever. The Duchess of
Oldenburg is a large, fine-looking fruit, a little later than any ot
tree a fine,
Fig. 52.—Spiraea pubescens.—See page 330.
Among the early kinds
planted there were Red Astrachan,
Early Harvest, Early Joe,
Summer Rose, Keswick’'s Codlin,
Duchess of GIenb aT Carolina Red June, Primate and Saint
Lawrence. These trees are all alive to-day, and a failure to get
Apples every season from some of them has never occurred.
Of the above named, the Codlin is the least desirable, though a
prolific biennial bearer. The fruit is too acid and low in quality
either for dessert or for cooking. Astrachan is also quite sour,
but a far better Apple to eat than the Codlin—earlier, hand-
somer and better in every way. Its chief demerits are its
liability to rot early, and its habit of growing in clusters, which
affords a fine nesting place for the « sodling “moth and other in-
sects. If they could be thinned _ till single Apples took the
place of clusters, it would no doubt obviate this difficulty to
a great extent, and, perhaps, when spraying the trees with
arsenites becomes general, we shall have less to fear from
these insects. Early Harvest comes in at the same time, and
though less acid, is smaller, and not so liable to insect depre-
the preceding, and though not so desirable as a dessert truit,
is an admirable Apple to follow these for
It generally grows very smooth, much more so
chan, Codlin or Primate. It ought tobe a good market fruit,
owing to its fine size and attractive appearance. The Primate
is too tender in this respect, and needs to be handled more
carefully than eggs; the least pressure mars the delicate skin
and injures its appearance.
The Saint Lawrence is in season at the same time as the Old
enburg, and isa better Apple, being crisper, milder and more
cooking purposes.
than Astra-
highly flavored. The flesh is white “and tender, often streaked
or veined with red. Its season is in August, just after Sum-
mer Rose is ripe. It is an abundant biennial bearer. The
only objection I have ever found against it is that it does not
last long enough.
Early Joe proved to be Summer Rose, a small to medium
sized Apple of fine quality and handsome appearance, the
largest specimen reaching a diameter of two to two and a
332
half inches. They are remarkably handsome, always sound,
smooth and fair; indeed, a wormy one is hard to find and
blemishes of any kind are rare. What peculiar properties
the tree possesses, why it should escape insect attacks and
always present the same smooth and wax-like appearance in
the midst of other varieties badly affected, is another unsolved
problem. This fact, together with its other good qualities,
increases my appreciation of it every year, so ‘that, all things
considered, it commends itself as the best Apple of its season
that I have grown. The smallest specimens of an inch in
diameter are as perfect as the larger ones, which is not true
of any other Apple with which I am acquainted.
Since writing the above the report of the United States
Department of Agriculture has come to hand, in which the
chief of the Pomological Division has this to say of the Sum-
mer Rose: ‘In my opinion this little favorite surpasses Caro-
lina June, Early Harvest, and all other early Apples. It is as
early as any, begins to bear soon after planting, and seldom
fails to carry a full crop, even when most varieties fail. The
tree has a beautiful, round head, the branches are stout but
not heavy, with very distinct gray dots upon the new growth.
It is essentially a family Apple, beginning to ripen with the
very earliest, and continuing for about six weeks. Itsells well in
market, butis more especially a dessert variety. It originated
in New Jersey. Size: small, two to three inches ; shape: flat
to round, regular; surface: very smooth; color: white, with
stripes and splashes of the most delicate tints of carmine ;
dots, very small; basin, wide, abrupt and rather deep, regu-
lar; eye, small and colored ; cavity, narrow, regular, not rus-
seted ; stem, usually quite short; core, large, closed, regular,
meeting the eye; seeds, numerous, short and plump, light
brown; flesh, w hite, with rarely a tint of pink next the skin ;
fine-graine d, tender, crisp, juicy, except when over ripe ; fla
vor, sub-acid, very pleasant ; quality, as good as the best of
the early kinds; season, June to August, in the Central
States.”
In conclusion, let me call attention to the unusual preva-
lence this season, among the early apples, of that insidious
enemy, the apple maggot. The Jersey Sweet has been unfit
for any ‘thing but stock food for years past from the presence
of these insects, and Golden Sweets have been nearly as bad.
This season Primate, Astrachan and Early Harvest have been
affected. The increase of this pest gives abundant cause
tor alarm, and measures must be sought for checking its
progress, or our early apples are doomed.
Montclair, N. J. E. Williams.
Hyacinths for Forcing.
ELECTIONS should be made and bulbs secured as soon
now as possible; the sooner ordered the better the stock
will probably be, and the prices are not likely to be lower.
Besides, one of the chief points to observe in forcing Hya-
cinths is to have them potted early, so as to give them a long
season to fill the pots full of roots before winter sets in.
Well-rooted Hyacinths usually throw up perfectly developed,
strong flower spikes; poorly-rooted bulbs produce mal-
formed spikes or often fail altogether; indeed, no poorly-
rooted Hyacinth is fit for early forcing. Many growers pot
Hyacinths for succession, say, a lot about the first of Sep-
tember, and others at intervals of three or four weeks till the
end of October, but this plan has no advantages. Some varie-
ties naturally flow er earlier than others, and, ~ with a judicious
selection of varieties when forcing time comes, and by in-
troducing the earliest kinds first to y the forcing-house, a con-
tinuous ‘supply can be maintained from the first of Febr uary
till April.
The deep Hyacinth pots are the best, but ordinary flower
pots are good enough. One bulb in a five-inch pot, or two
or three bulbs in a six-inch pot are sufficient. In this way
Hyacinths can be used to advantage as pot plants in the
window or green-house. But florists who grow Hyacinths
for cut flowers only, seldom pot them at all, but grow them
in flats, three to four inches deep, and of any convenient size.
The bulbs are set one or two inches apart.
Any fresh, fibrous, loamy soil, such as is used for pot-plants,
will answer for Hyacinths, but a little extra sand helps it.
Rotted sods, with one-fourth its bulk of well-rotted cow
or barn-yard manure or leaf soil and one-fourth of sharp pit
or river sand, is a capital compost. Be cautious about using
much manure in the soil; rather apply stimulants from the
surface after the bulbs are started in the forcing-house. And
never use fresh, wet or pasty manure.
All bulbs will grow and bloom well if in potting they are
buried in the soil, as is the practice with Freesias, Alliums
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.
and Crocuses, and nearly all of them will flourish as wellif the
bulbs are partly above ground, as Cyclamens and Hyacinths
are usually grown. In potting, place the Hyacinth bulbs two-
thirds their depth i in the soil, and throw a dash of clean sand
under and about them to induce ready rooting and lessen any
tendency to decay.
After potting them water from above through a fine rose
and place them close together in some cool place (but not
under trees) out of doors, bank them over with four or five
inches of earth, sand or ashes, and let them stay there till
November, when they may be taken indoors to a cool part of
the cellar or shed, aud there again covered with earth, cocoa-
nut fibre, half decayed leaves, or other material, but the
covering now need not be so deep as it was out of doors.
Never allow trost to reach the bulbs; at the same time
keep the temperature of the place where they are stored be-
low 45°.
By the first of January some of the bulbs will begin to grow a
little. A few of the most advanced may then be brought into
the green-house, and kept tor the first eight or ten days ina
shady place and in a temperature of 45° to 50°. After that time -
remove to a warmer temperature, say 60° to 65°. But until
growth advances pretty well, do not place them ina light, sunny
place; it is a good plan to invert a flower pot over newly
exposed crowns for a week or more, till the follage and
flower spike grow up a litthe and assume a greener color.
High, collar- like bands of stiff paper or tin are used for the
same purpose. After the Hyacinths come into bloom it is
well to remove them to a moderately cool room or green-
house, say 45° to 50°, in order to stiffen the stems and prolong
the duration of the flowers.
Catalogues are filled with varieties of Hyacinths, and it often
is hard to choose the mostserviceable sorts. Those mentioned
in the annexed list are all excellent and well-tried varieties for
cultivation in pots. The double varieties are not as desirable as
the single ones, and there are not many good yellow varieties.
SINGLE- FLOWERED HYACINTHS. — White. — Alba maxima,
Baron Van Thuyl, La Grandesse.
White, with rose shade.—Grandeur a Merveille.
Light red.—Charles Dickens, Fabiola, Lord Macaulay, Mrs.
Beecher Stowe.
Dark red.—Amy, Garibaldi, Pelissier, Von Schiller,
Blue.—Charles Dickens, Czar Peter, Leonidas, Lord Derby.
Dark blue.—General Havelock, King of the Blues, Sir Henry
Barkley, William the First.
Yellow.—lIda, Bird of Paradise, Obelisk.
DOUBLE-FLOWERED HYACINTHS.—White.—Florence Night
ingale, La Tour d’Auvergne, Prince of Waterloo.
Rose.—Grootvoor: st, Lord Wellington.
Dark red.—Louis Napoleon, Sans Souci, Waterloo.
Light blue.—Blocksburg, Rembrandt, Lord Nelson.
Dark blue. —Garrick, Laurens Koster, Louis Phillippe.
Yellow.—Goethe, Jaune Supreme. William Falconer.
Glen Cove, N.Y.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
Tilia dasystyla (T. euchlora of C. Koch, a name which he ~
thought more appropriate than the much ‘older one of dasys- —
zyla), is certainly, in foliage at léast, the handsomest of all the —
Lindens. The ample leaves are thick and somewhat leath
ery, dark, deep green and beautifully shining on the upper |
surface, while the lower surface is paler green, with rathe
small tufts of light brown hairs in the axils of the veins. The-
young branches are conspicuous from the bright green of the
bark which covers them. This tree is a native, probably, of
the mountains of Asiatic Turkey and of the Caucasus. It is
not very often seen in cultivation, although of late years i
has been somewhat planted in Berlin and other German cities, -
and it is occasionally met with in English nurseries. Here |
the plants, although still young, are perfectly hardy; they have’
not flowered yet, and, of course, give no idea of the habit this —
tree will assume here, or ot its probable value in American
plantations. Has any one else planted this tree in the United
States? If so he will confer a favor upon the Editor of this
journal by communicating to him the results of his experi
ences with it. 4
The Sorrel Tree, or Sour-wood (Oxydendrum arboreum),
sometimes called also the Lily-of-the-Valley tree, on account —
of the shape and color of its flowers, is now blooming. It is
the Andromeda arborea (the first name) of some of “the old
collections. The Sour-wood is hardly more than a tall shrub_
at the north, here rarely attaining a height of more than ten or
twelve feet, but in the south, in the mountain forests of Caro
lina and Tennessee, where it grows in its greatest perfection, —
SEPTEMBER 5, 1888. ]
it becomes a slender tree, often fifty feet high. It has decidu-
ous, Membranaceous, lanceolate leaves, four to six inches
- long, and an inflorescence consisting of a spreading panicle of
one-sided, drooping, many-flowered racemes, terminating the
leafy branches of the season. The pure white, bell-shaped
flowers are a quarter of an inch long. It is surprising that
this beautiful plant is now so rarely found in gardens. Its
handsome, white flowers open at a season when few trees are
in bloom, while the brilliant colors, unsurpassed, perhaps, by
those of any other American plant, which its leaves take on
in autumn, make its cultivation doubly desirable. The name
Oxydendrum is derived from two Greek words, signifying
sour and tree, and relate to the acid flavor of the leaves.
Another plant peculiar to the mountain forests of the
Southern States, and’ too seldom seen in gardens, Clethra
acuminata, is now in bloom. It is a tall shrub, sometimes
eighteen or twenty feet high in the high southern valleys,
but at the north rarely attaining half that size. It has large
leaves, four to seven inches long, and nodding, solitary
-racemes of yellow-white flowers, shorter than the caducous
bracts. This plant is perfectly hardy here. Itis less beauti-
ful, however, than the northern representatives of this genus,
the familiar Sweet Pepperbush, which just now is the chief
ornament of northern swamps, which it enlivens with its lus-
trous, dark green foliage and handsome, upright racemes
of pure white, spicily-fragrant flowers. This is one of the
handsomest shrubs found in North America ; it is easily cul-
tivated, and thrives in any good garden soil. Some attention,
of late years, has been directed to the value of the Clethra as
-a garden plant, and itis now tound occasionally in commer-
cial nurseries.
Callicarpa purpurea, a member of the Verbena family, is now
in flower. It is a shrub three or tour feet high, with erect
and rather rigid branches, opposite, ovate-acuminate leaves,
and axillary cymes of small, inconspicuous purple flowers,
which would hardly entitle this plant to a place in the garden.
The inconspicuous flowers, however, are followed in the au-
tumn by numerous bright purple glossy fruit which quite
cover the branches, making this plant and the ather species
of the genus exceedingly beautiful and attractive objects.
Callicarpa purpurea is a widely distributed plant from Japan
to India, and is practically hardy here. The stems are some-
times killed back in severe winters nearly to the ground, but
they always spring up again in time to produce the late flow-
ers which do not appear until the early weeks of August.
There isan American species of this genus (C. Americana)
found from Virginia to the Keys of Southern Florida, generally
near the coast, Texas and the West Indies, which unfortunate-
ly isnot hardy at the north, as it is in fruit a more showy
plant even than its Asiatic congener. Cadlicarpa is de-
rived from two Greek; words, meaning beautiful and fruit;
and these plants are sometimes called French Mulber-
Ties, for no very apparent reason. The Japanese species is
easily cultivated, requiring no special soil or treatment ; and it
can be easily raised from seed, which are produced in abun-
dance and germinate freely.
Rosa Beggeriana, var. genuina, is a wild Rose of central
Asia which has the merit of keeping in bloom here all sum-
mer long. Its introduction into cultivation is due to Dr. Aitch-
ison, botanist of the late Afghan Boundary Survey who found
it ““acommon shrub at the western extremity of the Kuram
district and throughout the Hariab, in vicinity of streams and
water courses; it is also very common near cultivation, where it
forms natural hedges along the various channels of irrigation,
at an altitude of from 4,000 to 9,000 feet. It forms a bush of from
four to six feet in height, the latter in more favored localities.
When in bloom it is covered with a mass of pure white small
flowers. The fruit is little larger than an ordinary pea, at first
orange-red, when fully ripe of a deep purple-black. The
shrub is briar-scented. This species is employed, as well as
R. Eglanteria and R. Ece, the Gooseberry, and Hippophe, in
forming hedges in the Hariab district ; and is much browsed
by cattle, especially goats.’”*
This Afghan Rose forms here a stout, tall bush, five or six
feet high, with slender and rather flexible branches, without
prickles, and sparingly armed with slender, slightly recurved
spines. The leaves, which are composed of three or four pairs
of small, oval, sharply serrate leaflets, are pale gray-green.
The hardiness of this plant and its habit of blooming continu-
ously throughout the season, make it a useful, as well as an
interesting, addition to single Roses.
There is no genus of plants hardy here which contains so
many shrubs, with handsome flowers appearing in August, as
Hypericum or St. John's Wort. There are a number of Ameri-
*Aitchison, Your. Linn. Soc., xix, 161.
Garden and Forest.
333
can species in flower in the collection now; but as drawings of
several of these have been made, and will be published in
future issues of GARDEN AND FOREST, they need not be
named even at this time. A few foreign species, however, are
worthy of mention. The handsomest of these is A. calycinum,
a native of south-eastern Europe, and popularly known as
Aaron's Beard or the Rose of Sharon. It is a dwarf plant,
spreading rapidly by creeping, woody root-stalks, with simple
stems, barely a foot high, and large, crowded, ovate or oblong,
obtuse, dark green leaves, covered with small pellucid dots.
The flowers are bright yellow, three or four inches in diameter,
two or three together, upon the summits of the branches, or
sometimes in corymbs of five or six. In England this plant is
often used to cover the ground in shrubbery beds, for which
purpose its compact habit, almost evergreen foliage, and
power to spread rapidly, admirably adapt it. But, unfortu-
nately, here it is not entirely hardy; and the stems, in spite
of winter protection, are often killed back to the ground. The
roots, however, survive the most severe winters, and the an-
nual killing back, while it prevents the plants from spreading
and so largely destroys their usefulness for clothing wide
stretches of naked ground, does not prevent them from
blooming every year, or destroy their beauty for the herba-
ceous border or the margin of the shrubbery. The only
Japanese shrubby species of Hypericum is A. patulum (77.
furalum of some collections). It is a hardy plant here, with
slender, smooth, spreading purple branches, not more than
two feet high, ovate-acute, entire, revolute leaves, and usually
solitary, pale yellow, somewhat cup-shaped flowe Although
less showy than some of the American species, 1. patulum
is one of the most delicate and graceful of all the Hypericums,
and one of the best of summer-blooming shrubs for the
rock-garden, ;
Androsemum hircinum (Hypericum hircinum), the Goat-
scented St. John’s Wort, is a very showy plant in flower, with
erect stems, two or three feet high, winged branches, ovate-
lanceolate leaves, somewhat emarginate at the base, their
margins glandular, and very large, pale flowers, with nar-
rowly acuminate petals and long styles. The strong and dis-
agreeable odor of the flowers, to which this plant owes its
common name, makes this species, in spite of their profusion
and individual beauty, less attractive than many of the other
St. John’s Worts. There is in the collection a dwarf variety
(var. minor), a compact and handsome little plant identical
with the species, except that it is smaller in all its parts.
Androsemum hircinum is a native of southern Europe from
northern Spain to the Grecian Islands, and, in spite of its
southern origin, is perfectly hardy here.
August 13th. ie
The Forest:
The Care of Woodlands.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I read a great deal of the importance of planting forest
trees and of maintaining forests, but I can find no definite in-
struction for the care of woodlands. I have two hundredacres
of fine wood, but it yields me nothing. How is this property
to be made increasingly productive? Can you give me some
practical advice or tell me where I can find it ?
Baltimore, Md. Stewart Brown.
[No question is more often asked the editors of this
journal than how natural woods should be treated in order
to make them yield the greatest profit. It is, of course,
impossible to do more than explain a few of the general
rules which can be universally applied in the manage-
ment of woods, with the understanding that each par-
ticular piece of woodland or forest requires special study
and special treatment, dependent upon its character and
condition, the nature of the soil upon which it stands,
and the crop which it is desired to obtain from it. A
forest of deciduous trees—especially in this country, where
a large number of different species are almost universally
associated together—is more difficult to manage than one
composed of Conifers, which usually grow gregariously,
and are, moreover, little dependent upon artificial thin-
ning and pruning. The operations of scientific forestry
are all directed to the perpetuation of the forest. They
are based on the principle that trees can be grown on
certain land more profitably than any other crop, and that
this fact being established, rural economy demands that
the forest should be a permanent fixture on such land.
334
The operations of thinning, cutting, planting and sowing
are all directed to securing the natural reproductions of
the forest with the least possible expenditure of money,
to which the element of time is properly considered sub-
ordinate. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule,
as in the case of a forest of Conifers growing upon a level
sandy plain, when it is often more economical to cut
down all the trees, grub up the roots, and replant, than to
allow the forest to reproduce itself naturally by means of
self-sown seeds
The deciduous forests or bodies of woods now found
in the more thickly settled portions of the Eastern and
Northern States, and generally connected with farms, are
usually of twoclasses: (1) Woods composed almost entirely
of old trees, belonging to species of comparatively little
economic value, the trees valuable for timber or for fuel
having been cut from time to time when needed on the
farm or to bring in a little money. The excessive pastur-
age to which all such woodland is subjected has prevented
the growth of young trees to replace those which have
been cut, and has destroyed the undergrowth which pro-
tects seedling trees, checks evaporation from the surface,
where the forest-floor is not densely shaded, and by pre-
venting the blowing away of the fallen leaves, helps to
increase its coating of vegetable mould. Such woods,
when they are not injured by excessive pasturage, often
suffer by the rooting of hogs, which destroy many young
trees, and, by selecting the sweet seeds of the White Oaks,
the Chestnut and the Beech, and discarding the bitter
acorns of the Black Oaks, are, in some parts of the
country, gradually changing the composition of deciduous
forests. The trees which remain in these old woods often
show, in dead branches and dying tops, the effects of
injudicious thinning, and of the exhaustion which exces-
sive pasturage brings, sooner or later, to every forest.
(2) Coppice-woods—that is, woods composed largely of
suckers, or the growth from the stumps of trees previously
cut, it being the custom in some parts of the country, es-
pecially in New England, to cut a piece of woods clean,
leaving the old stumps to furnish a fresh supply of trees.
The disadvantages of this system are, that stump-shoots
never make as long-lived or valuable trees as seedlings ;
that as each old stump produces several shoots, these are
crowded together so that no one of them is able to grow
into a good tree; that some species of trees produce
shoots from the stump more freely and more vigorously
than others, so that if left to themselves, these species
must eventually occupy the ground, to the exclusion of
all others. and that, as a stump loses its power to produce
shoots, after two or three crops have been taken from it, a
wood treated continually in this way must either disap-
pear eventually or change the character of its composition.
Animals are not less injurious to the coppice than to the
wood in which old trees have been left standing; they
devour and break down the young shoots or root them
out entirely.
The first thing to be done, if a piece of deciduous
woods, whatever its character, condition or extent, is to be
improved and made permanently profitable, is to exclude
from it rigorously all browsing animals. Then the owner
must decide what sort of trees he desires his woods
to be composed of principally. The nature of the soil
and the character of the native vegetation should primarily
determine his choice, which may depend secondarily, how-
ever, upon the purposes to which his forest-crop is to be ap-
plied, and upon probable future local demands for timber.
In European countries, where the number of species of trees
growing naturally is very small, the scientific forester is rare-
ly compelled to occupy himself with forests composed of
more than two different deciduous trees, the Oak and the
Beech, but in American forests, where sometimes twenty or
thirty species of more or less valuable trees are closely asso-
ciated together in small areas, the difficulties of forest man-
agement “are greatly increased, and we havestill to learn how
a mixed forest of many species can be most profitably
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.
worked. At present, at least, the owner must select the
most valuable species among those which grow the most
freely on his ground, and then, the crop being thus decid-
ed upon, devote himself to the development and the suc-
cession of the individuals of those species. The nature of
the crop being thus determined upon, all the trees, in
the case of woods of the class first described, not belong-
ing to any of the species which are to be perpetuated
and which have passed their prime and therefore cannot
be profitably left standing, should be cut. The condition
of a tree can be roughly decided by an examination of its
top; when the upper branches begin to fail, it is a sign
that it is no longer in a healthy condition or capable of
producing much more material. A treein scientific fores-
try is considered ripe and ready for the axe when the bulk
of its annual increase of wood diminishes or does not in-
crease. This information is easily obtained by means of
a simple mechanical contrivance which enables the forester
to measure the exact thickness of the annual deposits
of wood without injury to the tree and so to determine
accurately the annual increase of material. If oldindividu-
als belonging to the species to be perpetuated in the
forest exist, they should be left to bear seed, from which
the future forest is to spring; and the condition of these
old trees can often be greatly improved and their lives
considerably prolonged, by cutting away all dead branches,
by shortening the others, and by reducing the heads. This
process not only i increases the vigor of the individual, but
allows the light to penetrate to the forest-floor about it, and
so enables the seed which falls to germinate and grow.
Young trees, if any exist of the species selected, must from
time to time be freed from the encroachment of undesira-
ble neighbors, and the seedlings, which will soon appear
after animals are excluded from the forest and light is ad-
mitted by the removal of decrepit or useless trees, must
be thinned every few years. Gradually, as the young trees
crow up, the remnants of the old forest may be removed—
first, the unpruned trees of the non-selected species, not
cut when the improvement was undertaken, and then
finally, and after the ground is sufficiently stocked with
seedlings, the old seed-bearing trees of the selected sorts.
The management of a coppice, with the exceptions that
there are no old trees to remove, and that the ground is
already stocked with a growth of shoots all of the same
age, is practically the same. The variety of trees of which
the woods is to be composed being determined upon, their
growth must be encouraged, and the others removed.
When several shoots proceed from a single stem only one
should be left to grow, unless it is found that a particular
forest can more profitably produce posts or railroad ties
than timber of larger dimensions, in which case better re-
turns are often obtained by allowing several stems to grow
up together, A mixed system is often found the most pro-
fitable in the treatment of a wood originally coppice. A
certain number of trees are, at the outset, selected to
erow to maturity. All the rest of the shoots are then cut
away to allow these selected trees to grow without inter- _
ference, and thus to get a good start. The next crop of ©
stump-shoots grow up, preventing the growth of side
branches on the standard trees, but without interfering —
otherwise with their development, and serving as an under-
growth and protection to the forest floor. The old stumps,
after two or three crops of coppice-wood have been taken,
cease to be productive, and the ground which they filled,
unless it is too shaded by the standard trees, is finally
occupied with a growth of seedlings.
There should be in a perfectly healthy and satisfactory |
forest three stories of vegetation, soto speak. rst. A growth —
of tall trees, near enough together to insure the develop- |
ment of tall, straight stems, without low side branches, |
which destroy their value for timber; but not so near that
their heads exclude all light from the forest floor, and so-
prevent the growth among them of other plants ; 2d. A
crop of younger trees growing under and among the last,
either of the same species or of some valuable species
SEPTEMBER 5, 1888. ]
capable of supporting shade, and which will replace the
older trees When these reach maturity ; and 3d, a growth
of low undershrubs and seedling trees covering the forest
floor, holding the leaves which fall from above, and con-
taining the material for future forests. The task of convert-
ing the most neglected and unpromising piece of woods
into a forest of this character is not difficult in this climate.
It requires only a short time comparatively, but it cannot
be done without labor, and without careful study of trees,
their nature and requirements.—Ep. |
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—The admirable words which have appeared in
GARDEN AND FOREST upon the gardener’s art have given
birth to these thoughts which, perhaps, are worth a place in
your columns:
The right of landscape gardening to be acknowledged as
one of the fine ar ts, will not be denied by those w ho have
taken time and pains to consider what is comprehended in
those two words.
The first and vital element of success in landscape garden-
ing, hes in the character and intelligence of him who under-
takes it. There must be in him an intense, innate love of
nature which cannot be repressed—a love which delights in
all her beauties, which would bind up all her wounds, and
which sympathizes in all her varying moods. _ It is a reality,
and bya strange instinct nature recognizes the fact and adorns
herself for the true hearted.
Successful floriculture and arboriculture demand an affec-
tion as genuine and self-denying in character as the culture
of a little family in the home nest. Care, watchfulness, ten-
derness, are the elements of success, and in both cases the
lack of them is not only painfully obvious, but a sure cause of
failure. We are close akin to the fauna and flora of earth.
There is an idiosyncrasy peculiar to the creation of land-
scapes. The painter, the sculptor and the architect all deal
with dead materials. Every touch of the brush, every stroke
of the chisel, will produce effects which will remain until age
disintegrates or untoward circumstances destroy them. The
landscape gardener deals with living materials, he is en rap-
port with them, there is a mutual “affinity, and if the artist
proves faithful to his trust, he will achieve a living picture.
His designs are planted, not painted, and it may be. they will
not reach their perfection for fifty years or more. They are
designs which prefigure the future, and are unique prophecies.
. We must also consider the breadth and extent of his work.
A skilled painter may require years to perfect a painting of
extraordinary size. What then shall we say of a stretch of
canvas (so to speak) of hundreds of acres, every foot of which
must be covered with the embodied thoughts, conceptions
and imaginations of the artist ? Unfortunately for him, a park,
especially in cities or in their immediate suburbs, can rarely
be chosen for original beauty of situation, or facility of adapta-
tion to his plans. But there is a worse living hindrance—
park commissioners and politicians who insert themselves
between himself and his designs like gravel between cog-
wheels.
His whole work must be conceived in accordance with the
laws of nature, and developed in the most perfect and enticing
forms. In his creation no unsightly shadow of ugliness will
be tolerated by way of contrast or relief. Contr asts indeed
‘there must be, but such only as come from differing forms of
beauty. Delicacy and grace are heightened by boldness and
ruggedness.
There is another consideration which adds to the complexity
of the work of a landscape gardener. No duplication, how-
ever attractive the original device may be, is allowable. No
groups of trees or rocks, no lake or dell, can ‘have its
brother,” save in their natural relation to each other. The
broad highways for carriages, the bridle paths and the foot
paths, must be all kept severely separated, as the glimpse of a
neighboring walk would be an unpermitted suggestion of
limitation.
All these paths must abound with points of beauty—dis-
tant views through long vistas, distant views suddenly re-
vealed, groves whose rich, thick foliage forms a leafy screen,
indicate paths, cunning snuggeries and “delectable bowers ”
which those dear ones seek who are all in all to each other—
and not the least beautiful, the wondrous effect of light and
shadow on rock and fen, on flower and shrub, on lawn and
coppice.
Garden and Forest..
Fess)
But this same landscape gardener is also an architect, a
“ ponti~fex maximus,” not in the magnitude, but in the number
of his bridges and in the variety and appropriateness of his
plans. All this wealth of beauty and comeliness is to be
created—born out of the fullness and richness of the imagina-
tion.
Itis a work which none but a true artist could possibly de-
sign and achieve. C. Allen.
Providence, R. I.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I have read the two articles on Prospect Park with
interest. Their value is impaired by the fact that they seem
to be based upon information obtained from the report of last
January, or prior to that date. Since January the Commission
has been reorganized, and the criticisms upon its spirit and
purposes were not pertinent at the time of the publication of
the two articles. Alfred C. Chapin.
Mayor's Office, Brooklyn, August rst, 1888.
[The criticisms to which Mayor Chapin alludes were
directed to the ignorance and indifference which are re-
sponsible for the deplorable mismanagement of Prospect
Park as indicated by the twenty-seventh report of the
Brooklyn Park Department. Since the publication of that
report the Park Commission has been reconstructed, as
the Mayor states, and as suggestive of the spirit and pur-
poses with which the members of the new Board will
endeavor to discharge the important duties entrusted to
them, the Mayor's s letter will be read with extreme gratifica-
tion.—Ep. }
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Although Washington Square is partially encircled by
fine residences, it is seldom crossed by their occupants, and,
forming the boundary line between up-town and down-town
streets, is frequented almost solely by what are called the
“lower classes.” Indeed, one part of it is popularly known as
the ‘‘ Tramps’ Retreat.” But do these facts supply any reason
why the park should be neglected by the authorities and pre-
sent a very different aspect from- either Union or Madison
Square ? If it is frequented chiefly by the poor, and, there-
fore, by large numbers of persons to whom it offers their only
chance for refreshment and the enjoyment of any approach to
natural beauty, should not particular care, instead of a con-
spicuous want of care, be its portion ?
A Down-town New Yorker.
Recent Publications.
Historie des Plantes, par H. Baillon, Paris, Librarie Hachette
& Co. The ninth volume of this classical work has appeared.
It is devoted ‘to a study of Aristolochiacee, Cactacee, Mesem-
bryanthemacee, FPortulaceea, Caryophyllacee, Chenopodiacee,
Eleatinacee, Frankentacee, Droseracee, Tamariacee, Salica-
cee, Batidacee, Podostomacee, Plantaginacee, Solanac e@, and
Scrophulariacee. This volume, like its predecessors, is
illustrated with beautifully executed wood-cuts, quite equal to
any of the.same character that have appeared in recent
French botanical works. Higher praise cannot be given to
them.
Number 155 of the Fournal of the Linnean Society (vol.
xxiii.) is devoted to a continuation of Forbes and Hemsley’s
useful catalogue of Chinese plants, prepared in the herbarium
of the Royal Gardens at Kew, and which is now brought down
to Composite. Great interest is attached to this catalogue,
because it contains the new plants recently discovered by
Henry and other Englishmen in the central, ‘mountain region
above the great cataract of the Yangtse, or about 1,500 miles
fromthe coast. This region, which until recently has been quite
unknown, botanically, proves to be extraordinarily richain new
genera and species, and with the Yun-nan district to the
south-west of it, of whose richness the Abbé Delavey has
already given us a good idea, is now the best field for botani-
cal explor: ition. It may be expected, too, to furnish a large
number of hardy and interesting plants, especially trees and
shrubs, to European and American gardens, as the climate,
judged by the latitude and elevation of this region, is proba-
bly not very unlike, although somewhat less humid than that
of the high Alleghany Mountain region of our Southern
States. Mr. Hemsley describes, in the present issue of the
catalogue, seven new species of Viburnums, of which one is
said to attain a height of thirty feet, anda new tree with the
336
flowers of a Viburnum, but with digitally compound leaves,
for which a new genus, Actinotinus, is proposed (Hook, Ic.
pl. xviii, 4 1740). No less than six new species of Lonicera
are described, of which one at least, ZL. fuchsioides (t. 9),
recalling in general aspect some of the Andean species of
Fuchsia, should prove a real addition to garden shrubs.
There are interesting additions, too, to Ruwdiacee@ and
Valerianacee, although proportionately less numerous than
those already mentioned, and of much less horticultural in-
terest. The publication of this catalogue cannot fail to stimu-
late the study of botany and the collection of plants by
European and American residents in China, where, with the
single exception of central Africa, there is now certainly more
to learn about plants than in any other part of the world.
Notes
Petunias and Drummond's
ding at New England sea-side. resorts.
seem to flourish in the salt air.
M. Naudin finds that Aucalyptus coccifera, EF. anigera and
E. cordata are the hardiest of the great collection of Euca-
lyptus tested by him in the gardens of the Villa Thuret.
It is said that Mr. Gladstone owns a large tract of land on
the Canada shore, commanding a fine view of Niagara Falls,
which he refused to sell when the Canadian Reservation was
formed.
Phlox are used largely in bed-
Both of these plants
It is stated in ature that one of the largest Pine trees (P. sy
vestris) ever grown in Sweden has recently been cut. It meas-
ured over 120 feet in height, and was 12.5 feet in diameter two
feet from the ground.
The fact that the dried fruit product of California has in-
creased from 5,070,000 pounds in 1883 to 26,605,000 pounds in
1887, gives some idea of the marvelous development of the
fruit-growing industry of the State.
The Wisconsin State Horticultural Society offers liberal
premiums for seedling Apples which will endure the trying
climate of that region, and energetic search for chance seed-
lings that may be hardy is being made, with efforts to learn
their history.
Hieraceum aurantiacum, the European species, which has
proved a troublesome weed to farmers in some parts of this
State, especially in the neighborhood of Albany, has now
appeared in Marion, on the shores of Buzzard’s Bay, in
Massachusetts.
A correspondent, writing to an English horticultural journal,
describes a specimen of Hydrangea hortensis that he saw ata
flower-show at Chichester. It was growing in a twelve-inch
pot, and bore too heads of bloom, many of them as large as
those commonly seen on single-stemmed market plants.
From the last annual report of Sir R. Schomburgh, director
of the Botanic Garden at Adelaide, in South Australia, just re-
ceived, it appears that the so- called Japan Clover (Lespedeza
striata), now such an important and valuable forage crop in
our south Atlantic States, does not promise to be valuable in
south Australia, where the climate, doubtless, as it is in the
Mediterranean Basin, is too dry for it.
The discovery of two new enemies of the Asparagus beetle
is announced in the Annales de la Société Entomologigue de
france—one of them an internal parasite, which doubtless has
had an important influence in controlling the numbers otf the
beetle. In making a note of this in Insect Life, the editors say
that up to the present time nota single natural enemy of this
insect has been discovered in America, although the beetle is
doing much damage and extending its work over a larger area
every year. The obvious suggestion is made to import this
parasite from France and give it a chance to prey upon the
beetles®
As one might expect, a poet who loves nature, often, ina
word or two, depicts the character of a tree or flower more ef-
fectively than do pages of commonplace description. For ex-
ample,tin speaking somewhere of the Larch, Wordsworth
notes the beauty of its vivid light green in early summer and
then remarks upon the contrast this offers to that ‘“ death-like
character in winter” which is so peculiarly its own. Certainly
if we were to choose from the vegetable world an image not
ot deadness merely but of death itself, no tree would be so < ap-
propriate as the Larch. But it took a poet’s eye and pen to
see and record the fact.
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 5, 1888.
Ata recent meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, we
read in Zhe Garden, Dr. Masters showed ripe fruits of a
curious monstrosity known as the Plymouth Strawberry. ‘It
is an alpine Strawberry, in which all the parts of the flower are
more or less represented by leaves. The plant was mentioned
by old botanical writers, but afterwards disappeared, or was so
completely ov erlooked, that its very existence was assumed to
beamyth. Of late years, however, the plant has reappeared
in several gardens, and the correctness of the old writers has
been vindicated.”
Florists are learning that arrangements formed of a single
kind of flower, or of two or three ‘kinds at most, are often in
better taste than those in which many varieties are combined.
But in disposing of our garden and wild flowers in summer we
too often tail to recognize this fact. Once in a while, however,
one sees an arrangement that could not be bettered. For ex-
ample, an old lady recently delighted her neighbors in a Boston
horse-car by the beauty of an open basket she carried. It was
filled exclusively with white and pale pink Sweet Peas, not too
closely crowded together, above which rose a cloud of the
tiny, delicate white ‘blossoms of the garden Galium.
The current number of /zsect Life gives an experiment
which seems to prove that the white grub, so destructive of
lawns, can be easily controlled by the ordinary kerosene
emulsion. A white grub (larva of Al/orhina nitida), had been
killing the grass on the Capitol grounds at Washington. The
soil was infested to such a degree that an average of six worms
were found to every square foot of surface. The ground was
treated with the kerosene emulsion, diluted fifteen times, and
kept soaked for some days. The result was the destruction of
the grubs, with no injury to the grass. No doubt the ordinary
white grubs (larvee of Lachnosterna) would be affected in the
same way. .
Mr. A. A. Crozier writes to Agricultural Science to advise
the growing of samples of grasses and other forage plants in
hills, rather than in small plats or short rows, as is usually
done. This brings the kinds near together for comparison, —
yet leaves them distinct so as to readily catch the eye. Thea
quantity is sufficient to identify the species, and as the plants
have better opportunity to develop, the habit of growth is
better shown. The hills should be tar enough apart to per-
mit horse cultivation, for land is cheaper than labor. The
kinds planted will be likely to be so prominent in the hills
that ordinary hands may be entrusted to weed them. As |
usually grown, grass plats become so filled with weeds that _
their value to’ the public is greatly impdired. It is well in |
planting to leave vacant spaces for kinds to be afterward ob-
tained. These may be occupied temporarily with duplicates.
or with other crops.
The exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society
on August 25th was notable for. the display of seedling Gladi- _
oh, which has probably never been equaled in the United —
States. Mr. J. Warren Clark showed a large collection of his
new seedlings, in which were a remarkably large proportion
of light colors, and the much-sought-tor yellows. This ‘col-
lection showed, to a marked degree, the influence of the
blood of G. purpureo-auratus, or ‘rather of its offspring, the
so-called Lemoine race, in the handsome, dark-colored blotch —
on the lower segments of the perianth, which has always been
supposed to mark the descendants of that species. . Mr.
Clark’s collection was remarkable for uniformity of excel-—
lence and striking variety of color. Mr. W. E. Endicott, of
Canton, exhibited eight Gandavensis and four Lemoin seed-
lings, with flowers of extraordinary size and beauty. In a _
small collection staged by Mr. H. B. Watts, of Leicester, was_
a seedling raised from a Lemoine v ariety crossed with a Gan-
davensis which showed no trace of the dark blotch which has
heretofore been an unfailing indication of the potent Furpureea™
auratus blood—an exception worthy of record. Mr. R. Taj
Jackson, of Dorchester, showed a number of seedlings obal ra
tained by crossing varieties of G. Gandavensis with G. draco-—
cephalus, a species trom the Cape of Good Hope, with brown-_
ish-yellow flowers. This new race, although hardly ‘fixed ’
as yet, is full of promise. The plants are wonderfully vigor-
ous, growing to a much greater height than either of their
parents, and flowering freely, The coloring of the flowersis, as
arule, brilliant; and they all show the Dracocephalus parentage
in the hood-like upper divisions of the perianth, and in the
long, narrow, central lobe of the lower division. The im-.
provement of the Gladiolus and the raising of new seedlings _
now largely occupies the attention of some of the most in- |
telligent and progressive horticulturists of New England. i
SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFicE: TRIBUNE BuiLpiInc, 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 12, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Epiroriat_ Articles :—The Responsibilities of Florists and Nurserymen.—
Substitutes for White Pine sswlectee i sieucesss sae aneneis Boor ee pao nna 33
Flowers in Japan.—I. (with illustration) ..+ Theodore Wores. 33}
A Protection for Artificially Fertilized Flowers (with illustration),
E.S. Goff. 339
ForREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.....-..+seeeeeeeeeeee eee F. Goldring. 33
New or LittLeE Known Prants :—Lycium pallidum (with illustration),..C. S. S. 340
CutturaL DepaRTMENT :—The Cultivation of Native Ferns.—IlIl.,
Robert T. Fackson. 340
Plums for the West....... Baie ie citie sla xyote’a.n‘c'n\ ik aieierafona) Professor F. L. Budd. 342
The Kitchen Garden .... re William Falconer. 342
September Rose Notes... -.W.H. Taplin. 342
@rchidiNotesiemee taraieis seissisiew sired . -F. Goldring. 343
Notes tromithe Arnold: Arboretum: %siewsiiss sd! slesisioleres o> eileen esje e's suisse % 344
Tue Forest :—Européan State Forestry..........00.ceeeecsceeees B. E, Fernow. 345
CoRRESPONDENCE :—The Boston Public Garden—Street Trees in Washington—
PUNE Pole Weeds faccasisiewiseicccaesis ae soca Sete c-ethGs than fp ivisaswis 345
FMEGE NIMBLE ICA TIONS seiiomisisianigie elsiniaias (cing 1-11 ais wvatilee sein esse seelakmasaetnesaaa 347
Recent PLant PorTRAITs.. 347
NOTES ditiaisc eicieves ns slsiesieestivsieesieieesassis = g40
ILLusrrations :—Sack for Protecting Artificially Fertilized Flowers, Fig. 53.... 339
UMA ITT gyoal AU Tape Pd eb ators aad ‘siaiare, slaia,cis mss soipiaipledetaceis #itlcsis/eisjete s v,coM sees. © 341
Asa panesesblower Viendels: BaSkel, vi si.0sssenil ss meciemiae shoes ake tars 65 343
The Responsibilities of Florists and Nurserymen.
N a late issue attention was invited to the important
influence exerted by florists, seedsmen and nursery-
men in forming the public taste in horticultural matters.
In some directions this influence becomes almost abso-
lutely controlling. It is the florist, for example, who de-
cides for all, except a few inquiring amateurs, what kinds
of cut flowers and plants shall be used for the decoration
of homes and what kinds shall remain practically un-
known. Now, no one can wield an influence of this sort
without a corresponding obligation, and in this light the
growers and dealers in plants and flowers owe it as a duty
to their patrons to see that the public taste is developed by
being fed on what is good. Especially is this true when
they are called upon to decide for those who are not ina
‘position to decide for themselves which of the old favorites
among our plants and flowers shall retain their place in
popular esteem and which shall be replaced by newer
rivals; which novelties shall be accepted as genuine
additions to our sources of enjoyment and which shall be
rejected as undeserving of favor.
The desire for novelties as such—for things new, irre-
~ spective of their intrinsic excellence—is a strong passion in
the human breast, and one upon which a trader of any
kind is tempted to play. Although we owe to this passion
for novelty much that we have gained in all departments
of human effort, its results have nowhere been of unmixed
good; and in the department of horticulture evil results
have often marked its gratification. Consider the prodig-
ious degree to which the lists of cultivated Roses and other
flowers have been enlarged. Every season brings new
claimants for favor to the front; rivalry in the introduction
of novelties often prevents a thorough testing of the merits
of older plants; novelty rather than beauty is often their
chief merit; and if they are generally cultivated it can
only be at the sacrifice of other kinds. There is no room
for all these thousand varieties either in the nursery, or in
the florist’s shop, or in the purchaser's home; and though
the public has undoubtedly something to do with deciding
which shall be grown and which neglected, the florist’s
power is infinitely greater. Many persons who buy have
Garden and Forest.
3a7
no taste at all in such matters; others are willing to submit
their taste to the florist’s judgment with regard to beauty ;
and if the florist makes, not beauty, but mere novelty, his
criterion, the average buyer will but too readily fall in with
his mood.
Sometimes, it is true, the public is wiser than its pur-
veyors anticipated. For example, an attempt was made
last winter to introduce into the New York and Philadelphia
markets certain horrors called ‘‘dyed flowers ;” but they
soon disappeared from view, and we were told, upon in-
quiry, because ‘‘the public did not care about them.”
But when it comes to more delicate questions—as the
difference between Rose and Rose—we cannot, and per-
haps ought not to depend upon the public taste ; and the
florist must necessarily know more and should have an
acuter feeling for beauty than his patrons. If, in recom-
mending plants or flowers to his patrons, he should consist-
ently make beauty his criterion, and pride himself upon
supplying the most excellent varieties in the most perfect
condition, rather than those which are ‘‘ very expensive
because they are new and scarce,” he would, in the
long run, distance his competitors. He might miss a
chance now and then of making a temporary ‘“‘ great
success ” with one novelty or another, but taking month
with month and year with year, he would be sure
of the best class of custom, and the most of it. The
truth is, we think, not that the public, in theory, cares
less for beauty than for rarity, but that it finds it harder
to be sure of getting it. A purchaser, devoid of confi-
dence in his own taste (and most purchasers are of this
sort), knows he can trust a florist when he says a flower
is new or rare, but is by no means so sure he can trust
him in matters of taste; and in default of the certainty
that he will get the most beautiful possible thing, takes
the most singular or expensive. If conditions were differ-
ent, his choice, we believe, would be different, too; and
thus it is that our florists’ responsibility in this direction
is so great.
Naturally, we have not the slightest wish to decry that
constant, vigorous and often costly search for novelties
which yearly enlarges our sources of enjoyment by giving
us newly-introduced species of flowers or newly-cultivated
varieties, which are often real acquisitions. It would bea
misfortune, indeed, if we were to be forever restricted to
our present list of flowers, long and rich though it is.
All we wish to say is that there is danger as well as
promise in the search for new things, and that the florist
should try to preserve us from the danger while bringing
the promise to right fulfillment. The private green-house
and garden of the botanical enthusiast; the experimental
station established by public or individual munificence—
these are the places for the perpetuation of plants whose
interest lies in their rarity or singularity, rather than in
their beauty of form, their splendor or delicacy of flower,
or their richness of perfume. Beauty and sweetness in
all their myriad varieties are the things that the public
really wants, and these the florist should endeavor to sup-
ply. A feeling for real excellence should guide and inspire
the enterprising search for novelty, as it should be the
only test when the acceptance and perpetuation of a
novelty is in question.
We are glad to acknowledge that their past history
gives us reason to believe that the florists and nurserymen
will not disappoint us. As arule, our florists’ shops have
always contained more good things than poor ones ; more
that are recommended by their excellence and fewer by
their mere rarity or costliness. Every year shows an im-
provement in the quality of the flowers offered and in the
effectiveness of their arrangement. We see no cause to
doubt that our florists and nurserymen will continue to
grow in taste themselves, and in a consciousness of
their responsibility as agents in the elevation of the taste
of the nation; and these words have been written less
as words of needed warning than as words of friendly
recognition and encouragement.
338
HE price of White Pine stumpage has increased enor-
mously of late years—several hundred per cent. insome
instances, as the great forests of this tree approach nearer
and nearer to extermination ; but while the price of the
finished lumber has also increased, it has not yet reached
the point which will exclude it from many of those uses
for which it was once almost exclusively employed in
this country. White pine lumber is high enough, how-
ever, to cause anxiety among lumbermen, and to compel
them to find some cheaper and more available material to
take its place. The most immediately available wood for
this purpose is yellow poplar, as the wood of the Tulip
tree is called commercially. It is light and soft, straight-
grained and easily worked ; it stands well, and when it is
not painted it turns with age to a deep rich color. Nash-
ville, in Tennessee, has always been the important manu-
facturing point for this lumber, as the Tulip tree is found
in its greatest perfection along the banks of the streams
which flow down the western slope of the Alleghany
Mountains ; and south of the Ohio and north of the Gulf
States it has always been the best local building material.
The attention which is now paid to yellow poplar, how-
ever, is much more general, and the manufacturers
of this lumber are active in their efforts to secure logs
and regulate the price of the manufactured lumber. But
yellow poplar is not destined to play any very im-
portant or leading part in the lumber supply of the United
States, and the future of the business is hardly worth con-
sidering. The Tulip tree does not form forests by itself, and
is not even a considerable element in the forest anywhere.
The trees are often very large, but they are widely scat-
tered, and the most accessible have already been cut.
There are still great quantities, in the aggregate, of this
timber standing, but much of it is now almost too inac-
cessible for profitable manufacture.
Bass-wood, or linden, a soft and easily worked wood,
which is found in considerable abundance in the extreme -
Northern States, is now used to replace white pine in the
manufacture of mouldings and similar objects, for which
itis well suited. The quantity of bass-wood, however,
is too small to make this tree really important as a
factor of the national lumber supply.
Much attention has been paid in late years, as has al-
ready been explained in these columns, to cottonwood,
southern cypress, and sweet gum as_ substitutes for
white pine. Sweet gum will probably be very largely
used before many years, and for some purposes, like
flooring strips, it will make an excellent substitute for
white pine. The supply, too, is large, and it is likely to
last, as the Gum tree grows on land which cannot be used
for agricultural purposes.
But the real substitutes for white pine, or rather the only
trees now growing on this continent in sufficient quan-
tities ever to take its place, are the Long-leaved Pine of the
Southern States, and the Oregon Fir of Puget Sound.
These are the trees upon which the American people
will have to depend during the twentieth century, or un-
til they are exhausted or a new crop of White Pine grows
up in the Northern States and in Canada.
Flowers in Japan.—I.
HERE is no country in the world where flowers are
so universally beloved asin Japan. They are insepa-
rable from the life, art and literature of the people, and to
deprive the Japanese of their flowers would be to take the
sunshine out of their lives. They are enjoyed equally by
high and low. The richer classes, in the seclusion of their
well-kept gardens, can feast their eyes on the beautiful,
while the poor have the benefit of the public parks, gar-
dens and flower-shows, and the poorest of the poor devote
afew cents of their earnings to the gratification of their
taste. ;
But in Japan, where everything is characterized by
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.
extreme simplicity, the people are consistent in caring
more for the beauty of individual flowers than for the
effect of large masses. The graceful and refined lines of
a few well arranged flowers and twigs are a never-ending
source of pleasure to them and no desire is shown to make
a vulgar display of great quantities of blossoms. The
art of flower-arrangement, which forms a part of the edu-
cation of girls of the upper classes, has simplicity for its
foundation. It is divided into a number of schools or
classes, and a long course of study is required before one
can become proficient in either of them. Nothing in the
arrangement of flowers is left to accident or to individ-
ual taste; it is governed by rules as fixed as those which
govern music.
A great variety of flowers follow in constant succession
through the different seasons. The snow has hardly dis-
appeared when the early Plum, the prime favorite of all,
bursts its buds and is hailed with welcome by the de-
lighted people as the first token of the coming spring.
Great gardens or groves of old gnarled, moss-covered Plum
trees abound in and about the cities, and thither in the
blooming season the people resort em masse, dressed in
holiday attire, to enjoy an esthetic feast under the trees
and drink fragrant tea. Here they give vent to their de-
light by inscribing poetic sentiments, too brief, perhaps, to
be called poems, and hanging them on the branches of the
Plum trees. The Cherry blossoms follow the Plum in
quick succession before its latest-blooming varieties have
disappeared. The Cherry (Sakura), which almost rivals
the Plum in popularity, has many different varieties, sin-
gle and double, white and pink. But all these trees have
the same peculiarity—they bear no edible fruit. They are
planted for the flowers only, and so dense is the growth
of these, that they resemble great pink and white clouds
when seen from a distance. In Tokio the favorite resorts
for the people in Cherry blossom time are Umeno Park and
Mokojima, the latter being a road which runs along the
banks of the Sunida River. Great old Cherry trees line
both sides of this road for a distance of five miles, and the
branches, meeting overhead, form a perfect canopy of
dense blossoms. In the park at Umeno are many excep-
tionally large trees, some of a variety which resembles
the Weeping Willow in habit, and covered with innumera-
ble small pink flowers. Some of these trees are from four
to six feet in diameter. At all these resorts temporary
tea-houses or refreshment booths are erected. A favorite
beverage is Cherry tea, made from last year’s blossoms
which have been dried and put away for the purpose.
Among later flowers the Wistaria, Peony, Lotus, Azalea,
Iris and Chrysanthemum are the chief favorites. The Wis-
taria is seen at its best at the celebrated temple-garden of
Kameido (Turtle Well) in Tokio. The place derives its
name from an old well over which is placed an immense
stone turtle. The Wistaria vines are very old and the
stems of some of them measure two feet in diameter,
while their racemes of flowers, when in greatest perfec-
tion, are from four to five feet in length. They are trained
over trellises on the borders of the lake, which is filled
with enormous golden carp that come to the surface at the
clapping of hands to be fed by the visitors.
The Lotus grows naturally and abundantly in all the
moats and ponds in and about Tokio and throughout cen-
tral and southern Japan. » The leaves appear on the sur-
face of the water about the beginning of June, and grad-
ually rise until they stand from four to seven feet above
the surface, measuring from two to four feet in diameter.
The flowers appear about the beginning of August, and
continue throughout the month. After the petals have
fallen the seed-pods continue to grow, and, while green,
form a favorite article of food, as do the long, white roots,
which are eaten as vegetables For Buddhists the Lotus
has a somewhat sacred character, and it is often cultivated
in the ponds of the temple-gardens by the priests, who
use the flowers for altar decorations. Buddha himself is
generally represented seated on a Lotus flower, and it
SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.]
.
enters very extensively into all forms of Japanese art and
decorative work.
The Iris is also a favorite among favorites, and a well-
known tea-house-garden at Mokujuma, near Tokio, is cele-
brated for its annual display of these flowers. The plants
are grown here in beds and ditches, somewhat below the
surface and partly filled with water.
Flowers are distributed among the people by means of
perambulating flower-sellers, and by flower-fairs. The
seller goes about the streets carrying two huge bamboo
baskets swung from a pole across his shoulders. These
baskets (see. illustration, page 343) are divided into a
number of different compartments, each containing a dif
ferent variety of cut flowers or leaves. The carrier is
sometimes almost hidden by the great mass of flowers
and foliage he bears. Yet the construction is light, easily
carried, and, like all the articles produced by this people,
at once simple, practical and artistic. The common people
are the vender’s patrons as well as the rich, for, as I
have said, the most indigent will buy a few fresh flowers
with which to beautify their humble homes.
The flower-fairs or shows take place at fixed dates alter-
nately in the various wards or districts of the city and are
held at night. Throughout the preceding afternoon one
may see great numbers of farmers and gardeners from the
suburbs and the country dragging in their carts filled with
all kinds of flowers in pots, as well as with large trees and
shrubs with their roots roughly tied up in coarse sacking.
When they reach the site of the fair their wares are ar-
ranged as temptingly as possible on either side of the street,
trees and shrubs at one end and flowers at the other. In-
numerable lanterns and torches illuminate the scene. With
twilight the first customers straggle along, and by night
the streets are crowded with a good-natured, happy throng
of men, women and children. Then the bargaining be-
gins, for it is well known to every purchaser that it is the
custom to ask from five to ten times as much for the ob-
jects offered as the seller expects ultimately to obtain.
When the price of a dwarfed Cherry-tree covered with a
mass of buds is asked, the gardener answers promptly
‘fone yen, fifty sen” (a yen is divided into roo sen). The
customer shows no surprise, but gravely offers twenty sen.
And after many exclamations of ‘‘ Impossible, honorable
master,” feints of departure on the part of the would-be
‘buyer, offers to accept intermediate sums, and enthusiastic
praises of the beauties, visible and invisible, of the speci-
men, it is sold, perhaps, for twenty-five sen. Plants are
very cheap on these occasions and for a modest sum one
can get enough to stock a small garden. But opportuni-
ties for the enjoyment and purchase of flowers are not the
only attraction of these fairs. Booths for the sale of candy,
cakes and children’s toys; performances by trained mon-
keys, birds and dogs ; jugglers, musicians and sellers of
refreshments surround one until the head is in a confused
whirl. But amid all this crowding, noise and bustle the
greatest good nature prevails and a more orderly crowd
cannot be imagined. As they return to their homes, each
person with his burden of sweet-smelling flowers, accom-
panied by joyous laughing children, one feels that they are
indeed the happiest people in the world.
New York. Theodore Wores.
A Protection for Artificially Fertilized Flowers.
ASCINATING as is the work of cross-fertilizing flowers,
there are some annoyances in it that destroy a consid-
erable part of the pleasure. One of the worst of these is the
difficulty of inclosing the flowers in sacks after they have been
operated upon. The small paper sack, such as seedsmen
use, is made of such stiff paper that it is sometimes difficult
to tie it about the stem of a flower. without injuring some of
the delicate organs. Then, after it is attached, itis so heavy
that it not infrequently breaks the flower stem, particularly in
windy weather. It is quite troublesome, also, to untie the
string when it is desirable to remove the sack for the
pollenation. Sacks made of tissue paper obviate some of
the objections, but they introduce another—the thin paper
Garden and Forest.
ooo
is so readily wet through by the rain that it will not last.
Some of these difficulties are obviated by the following de-
vice: Make small sacks of a very thin, oiled paper, such as
nurserymen use for wrapping plants to be sent by mail. Cut
them out after a small seedsman’s package, as a pattern, leav-
ing the little lappel at the top which, in the ordinary package,
is used for sealing it up. Then place a short piece of fine
copper wire across the sack, just at the base of the lappel, and
paste the latter back over it, as shown in the drawing. This
wire serves as a substitute for the string. After the sack has
been slipped over the flower, draw the two sides of it
——— together with the thumb
and finger of the left hand,
so that the stem of the
flower is directly between
the thumb and _ finger.
Then, with the right hand,
bring the edges of the
sack together and with-
draw the left hand, and
pinch the neck of the sack
snugly about the stem,
thus closing it, while the
wire prevents it from
opening. Then fold down
the corner of the sack.
The operation requires
considerably less time
than it takes to describe
it, and less than half as
Fig. 53.—Sack for Protecting Artificially long as it takes to tie a
Fertilized Flowers. string about the neck ot
the sack. This sack can be taken off as readily as it is put
on; it is very light, so that the wind does not cause it to
break the peduncle of the most delicate flower ; it does not
become wet by the rain, and it possesses the additional ad-
vantage that the paper being translucent, by simply looking
through the sack toward the sun, one can readily see whether
or not the ovary has commenced to swell, and thus detect it
the operation has been successful. Different sized sacks
should be provided to accommodate different sized flowers.
For the smallest flowers the sacks need be but an inch wide
and two inches long.
I corresponded with a well-known manufacturer of paper
bags in New York, to see if such sacks could be cheaply
made. In reply, I received some very nicely made duplicates
of the sample sent, with the wires inserted, and with the in-
formation that they could be furnished at $1.25 per thousand.
Geneva, N. Y. £E. S: Goff.
DWH N
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
ARON SCHROEDER sent some flowers from a few of
his choice Orchids to the exhibition of the Royal
Horticultural Society to-day. One of these was the ex-
tremely rare Saccolabium Heatht, which, until lately, was
quite unique in cultivation. It is a white variety of S.
Blumet, from which it differs in no way except in the
snowy color of its flowers. The spike shown measured
fully fifteen inches in length and every tiny white bloom
looks like a miniature bird. The perfume is delightful.
This rarity came to view a year or two ago by a chance
in an importation of the ordinary S. Blumer, and the lucky
possessors of it, Messrs. Heath, of Cheltenham, sold it to
Mr. W. See, of Downside, Leatherhead, and he disposed of it
to Baron Schroeder, retaining, however, a small piece in
his possession. This small piece has been secured, I hear,
for one of your great American Orchid growers, so that
there will. be one plant of this Orchid in Europe and one
in America. I cannot adequately describe to you the
chaste purity of the flower, and, though I am not an Orchid
enthusiast, I greatly admire this one. Another choice
Orchid from the Baron’s garden was Lelia callistoglossa,
one of Messrs. Veitch’s finest hybrids, it being a cross be-
tween LZ. purpurata and Catileya Gigas, and I have no hesita-
tion in saying that it is the most splendid Lelia or Cattleya
in cultivation. The flowers are larger than those of any
C. Gigas I have seen; the sepals and petals are broad and
do not curl, as in Z. purpurafa, and in color are a soft
340
mauve-purple, while the labellum, which is fully two
inches across, is of the deepest crimson purple. A four-
flowered spike from the Baron of that wonderful hybrid,
Cop pnailin Morgan, showed what a grand plant it is
when grown to perfection. It is a cross between C
Stonet and C, Veitchi, and is exactly intermediate between
the parents, the chief attraction of the flowers being the
broad, prolonged petals, which are heavily spotted with
black on a pale ground. The very distinct and beautiful
Cattleya Schroederiana was shown in flower. This flower
recalls C. dolosa, being about the same size and form, and
of a uniform, pale mauve-purple color. It is a dwarf
growing plant, with pseudo-bulbs about four inches high.
Another choice Cattleya was C. Chamberlaini, a hybrid
between C. Dowrana and C. guttala Leopoldi. The flowers
are about the size of those of Lela elegans, and have plum
purple sepals and petals, and a labellum of the deepest
carmine-magenta. The exquisite little Lelia Balemanniana,
the hybrid between Sophronitis grandiflora and a Cailleya
of which Baron Schroeder is the only possessor, was
shown in perfection, much finer, indeed, than when exhib-
ited here for the first time. The flowers are some two
inches across, with sepals and petals of a deep rose pink,
or, to be more exact, the color is like that of Odon/oglossum
roseum, While the small lip is crimson, with a golden
centre. This priceless little Orchid is, perhaps, the rarest
in the Dell collection. One more Orchid is worth noticing,
and that is CaMleya granulosa asperata, a large flower,
with olive green sepals, blotched and spotted with choco-
late, and a “broad and flat lip of crimson-purple, marbled
with white. I have dwelt upon these Orchid varieties
because I think it will interest those of your readers who
are collecting Orchids, and because we have so seldom an
opportunity of describing them.
Celogyne Sanderiana, exhibited at an earlier meeting
by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, and certificated, is worthy
of mention after these varieties as, without exception, the
finest of all the white-flowered Coelogynes, and Orchid
lovers look upon it as a grand addition to showy Orchids.
In growth it is not remarkable, having globular- oprong
bulbs as big as a hen’s egg, and long, deep green leaves
The drooping flower-spike carries “about half a cece
flowers, each three and a half inches across, with white
sepals and a broad labellum, spotted and barred with
yellow. No details were given of its native country, but
it is presumably an Eastern plant.
Messrs. Cannell, of Swanley, showed several new double
varieties of Begonia, of which one was singled -out as
worthy of a certificate. This was called C. Stowell, and
has flowers four inches across, very double, of a pleasing
cherry rose color; the habit of growth is dwarf and sturdy.
A new variety of the Oriental Poppy, Papaver ortentale, was
certificated. It is called Blush Queen, and instead of the
flowers being fiery scarlet, as in the type, they are a pale
pink, with black centre. It is a very striking plant and is
looked upon as a great gain to hardy herbaceous plants.
Among a number of border Carnations one only was con-
sidered worthy of a certificate. This was a sort called
B. H. Elliott, and has medium sized and very full flowers,
with yellow petals flaked and tipped with crimson.
Messrs. Paul, of Cheshunt, showed a good collection of
cut Roses, among which I noted a few that I thought good
although not much known. These included that lov ely s sort,
The Bride, which I believe we have to thank an American
for. It was shown splendidly and a grower told me he
thought it would turn out a first-rate autumn Rose. An-
other was American Beauty, also from your side, and
likely to become a favorite here. It is a free bloomer,
with petals of good substance and of a rich plum-crimson,
if I may so describe an indescribable color. | Lady Darn-
ley is a new Rose that is a good deal talked about here.
It reminded me of Marie Baumann, though it is different
in color somewhat and the form is not so flat. Silver
Queen, one of Wilham Paul’s novelties, is coming to the
front. It is a pale pink sort, with flowers of excellent
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.
form and substance. His Queen of Queens, too, which
was sent out a few years ago, has been shown well this
season, and promises to be a good late Rose. Other new
Roses I noticed to-day in fine condition were: Mlle. Eugéne
Verdier, a Tea variety, and Souvenir de Mad. Alfred Vy, a
hybrid perpetual of a plum purple color. — It is almost too
early for the second crop of Rose bloom, but if the present
favorable weather continues, there will be some fine dis-
plays at future meetings. £. Goldring.
London, August 14th, 1888.
New or Little Known Plants.
Lycium pallidum.
F the seventy species of Lycium known to botanists
only ZL. vulgare, a native of southern Europe, the
well-known Matrimony Vine of all old gardens, and Z.
Chinense, are commonly seen in cultivation. Two north
African species, Z. A/rum and L. barbarum, are sometimes
cultivated, although the plants seen under the latter name
can usually be referred to the Chinese species. The genus
Lycium is widely distributed through the dry, extra-tropical
portion of the world, with two principal centres of distri-
bution, one in southern Africa and the other in the dry
regions of western South America, from which several
species extend into the territory of the United States, from
California to western Texas, with one species in the south-
ern United States, and another in the Sandwich Islands.
None of the species of south-western North America,
which are all rigid, spiny shrubs, often forming a consid-
erable part of the, shrubby desert-growth, have ever
been seen in gardens, with the exception of the one figured
upon page 341 of this issue—Lycimm pallidum*—which has
now been growing in the Arnold Arboretum for several
years. Itis the largest flowered of the North American
species, and one of the first known, having been discov-
ered in New Mexico by Fremont, in 1844, on the Rio
Virgen, one of the tributaries of the Colorado River of the
west. Itis notarare plant, being found also in Arizona
and in southern Utah. Lycium pallidum, in cultivation,
forms a spreading bush, two to three feet high, with ashy
gray, tortuous, somewhat pendulous branches, sparingly
armed with long, slender, rigid spines. The leaves are
very pale, spathulate and oblanceolate, an inch or two long.
The flowers, which are solitary, or sometimes in pairs
from the axils of the leaves, are borne on slender pedun-
cles, rather exceeding in length the deeply five cleft
calyx. The funnel-form corolla is nearly an inch long,
with broad and rounded lobes, slightly pubescent in the in-
terior towards the base. It is green, sometimes tinged with
purple. The berries, which are bright red when ripe, are
nearly half an inch long. ‘This interesting plant, as well
as a few others, from the dry interior region of south-
western North America, has proved, quite unexpectedly,
perfectly hardy in the Arboretum, where it flowers regu-
larly every year. C Sass
Cultural Department.
The Cultivation of Native Ferns.—lII]I.
HE cultural directions which accompany the following list
of native Ferns are based upon personal experience in
growing the various species, with the exception of cases
otherwise noted. When special directions are not given, the
cultivation described in an earlier article is recommended.
In the arrangement of species and nomenclature the classifi-
by Profes-
cation given in ‘The Ferns of North America,”
sor Daniel C. Eaton, has been followed. The measurements
of species have been taken from plants under cultivation.
They are maximum measurements of available specimens,
but not greater than may be
established plants under good cultivation.
given in italics are from Professor Eaton’s work, as the species
*Lycium pallidum, Miers. 1/2. S. Am. Pl. 11, 108, ¢. 67.—Torrey, Bot. Mex. Bound.
Surv. 154.—Gray, Proc. Am, Acad. vi. 45; Syn. Fl. N. Am. i. 238.
reasonably expected from —
Measurements |
SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.]
are not at present in the writer’s collection or other accessible
ones. Ail species not otherwise designated are indigenous
to New England. 5
According to Professor Eaton, there are 149 species of
Ferns indigenous to the United States. Of this number fifty
or more-species and many varieties may be cultivated in this
vicinity in the open ground or with the protection of a cold-
frame in winter.
The list of Ferns which are hardy, or nearly so, could doubt-
Jess be much extended by species and varieties from the north-
western States, Europe and Japan. In this direction there is
a good field for experimenting. i
Polypodium vulgare. This common evergreen Fern does
not grow very Juxuriantly in cultivation. Transplant in tufts
or sheet-like masses from the rocks or logs on which it
grows naturally and plant under similar conditions in the gar-
den. In planting do not bury the running root-stocks beneath
the surface of the soil. Leaf-mould. Eight to eleven inches.
Polypodium Californicum. A handsome species which does
well with the protection of a frame in winter at the Botanic
Garden in Cambridge. Native of California. Nine inches.
Pellea gracilis. A tiny gem, one of the rarest, and most
difficult Ferns to cultivate. Plant in pots with plenty of
Garden and Forest.
341
Adiantum pedatum. This peautiful Fern, the Maidenhair,
is already in high repute, so there is no need to sound its
praises. The ebony black stem and exquisite foliage are
known everywhere. This species is easily cultivated, and the
fronds attain their greatest beauty in moist, shady spots. — It
isa very useful Fern for cutting, and a supply is easily main-
tained for any moderate demands. Leat-mould. Fronds,
twelve to sixteen inches broad.
Lomaria Spicant, This very striking and handsome ever-
green. species is easily cultivated, but, unfortunately, is not
perfectly hardy. A native of. the far north-west. Peat and
leaf-mould. Frame. Fertile fronds, thirteen to eighteen
inches; sterile fronds, shorter.
Woodwardia angustifolia. A rare and very handsome
Fern, with bright green, distinet foliage. It is hardy, but is
not very easily grown, and is safest with the protection of a
frame in winter. Peat and leaf-mould, Fifteen inches.
Woodwardia Virginica. Dark foliage, handsome. Culture
as for the last species, but is more easily grown. Ove ¢o three
feet.
Asplenium viride. A yare, charming, dwarf Fern.
the following species, requiring the same culture,
Cambridge measure four inches.
Close to
Plants at
Fig. 54.—Lycium pallidum.—See page 340.
drainage, orin niches of rocks in a cool, moist corner of rock-
work frame. This species would probably do well in a Ward-
ian case in a cool green-house. Specimens at the Botanic
Garden in Cambridge measure three inches.
Pellea atropurpurea is a very distinct and attractive ever-
green Fern. Easier to cultivate than the last species, but
thrives under the same conditions. Eleven to thirteen inches.
Cryptogramme acrostichoides is a rare, attractive, little Fern,
easily grown in pots with old mortar. It would doubtless
do equally well in a frame. Indigenous to the far north
and north-west. Sterile fronds, three to four inches; fertile,
six to seven and one-half inches.
Pteris aguilina, or Brake. This commonest of all Ferns
is capable of the most splendid results under cultivation in
rich, highly manured soil. It has been grown to the height
of nearly six feet, and the fronds: laid flat would probably
have exceeded that length. Unfortunately, the bed was
moved last autumn, so that measurements of finest growths
cannot be given. It is a little difficult to transplant, but when
it gets established it spreads tremendously, and becomes a
nuisance in thickly planted borders. Give it plenty of room,
with high culture, and it will become one of the prides of the
garden. Fifty-six to sixty-four inches.
Asplenium Trichomanes. One of the most exquisite of all
our dwarf species. It does not do well in the open border;
but thrives in cool, damp niches of rocks and in pots. Ever-
green, Peat and leaf-mould. Frame. Four to four and a halt
inches.
Asplenium ebeneum. Narrow and comparatively tall ever-
ereen fronds. A very attractive species. Peat, leaf-mould,
and a frame in winter, as it is not very hardy. If planted in
the open border give abundant drainage. Eight to ten inches.
Asplenium angustifolium. This rare and handsome species
is one of the most distinct of our native Ferns. Fronds,
tall, light green, once pinnate. The most desirable of the
large Aspleniums, and of easiest culture. Twenty-four to
thirty-three inches.
Asplenium Ruta-muraria. One of our tiniest Ferns and
difficult to grow. The finest seen in cultivation was at Kew
Gardens, where some rocks, with specimens growing in
pockets, had been moved bodily from the woods to the gar-
den. It may be grown for several years by potting carefully,
with plenty of broken limestone drainage. One fo fwoand a
half inches.
Asplenium thelypleroides. A tall, dark green species.
Desirable, and grows very freely. ‘Thirty to thirty-four inches.
342 Garden and Forest.
Asplenium Filix-femina, This common species grows
in strong, fine-tufted masses, and likes a rich soil. It gets
rather shabby during the summer, and_ therefore should
not occupy a very conspicuous position in the garden. A new
growth may be induced in midsummer,,. without injury to the
plant, by cutting off all the fronds close to the ground, when a
new lot will soon take their place. This Fern is a very varia-
ble species, and in England a large number of varieties are
cultivated in gardens. Fifty-four varieties are offered in the
catalogue of one of the English Fern-growers. Many of these
varieties are distinct and well worth growing. Two and a halt
to three and a halt feet.
Scolopendrium vulgare. This beautiful and distinct Fern,
known as the Hart's-tongue, is extremely rare in this coun-
try, and it is best obtained from dealers, or from England,
where it is common. It is not indigenous to New E neland,
but is found in New York and some other parts of the country.
It requires the protection of a frame in winter. Peat and lei if-
mould are advantageous to its successful cultivation. In Eng-
land large numbers of varieties of this protean Fern are
cultivated; but they are not, for the most part, partic uli ae
desirable, ‘unless a8 curiosities. Moore* describes sixty-
varieties with reniform, incised, curled and contorted fronds ot
every conceivable shape. Thirteen to seventeen inches.
Camptosorus rhizophyllus, The Walising Fern, This in-
teresting species receives its name from its habit of forming
little plants at the tips of the fronds, which take root, grow,
and in their turn form plantlets at the tips of their fronds, and
thus a carpet of Ferns may be formed, Not difficult to grow
in pots or in a cool, moist spot, with peat, leaf mould and
lime rubbish. Evergreen. Frame, five to seven inches.
Phegopteris poly podiviaes. This desirable Fern spreads
rapidly, and makes a low, carpet-like growth of much beauty.
It is the earliest comer in spring, “having well-developed
fronds when other Ferns are just pushing up their graceful
forms. Of easiest culture. Fifteen to eighteen inches.
Phegopteris hexagonoptera. A species much resembling
the above, but of larger and richer growth ; does best with
protection of a frame in winter. Fourteen to seventeen inches
Phegopteris dryopteris. This very beautiful dwart species
is one of the most desirable small Ferns for cultivation, as it
is easily grown and spreads quite rapidly, making a lovely
light green carpet of delicate fronds ; leaf-mould. Eight to
twelve inches.
Phegopteris calcarea. An attractive species of low stature;
succeeds with a frame in winter, and may be hardy. Found
in the West. Peat and leaf-mould. Four to eight inches.
Aspidium Noveboracense. A pretty Fern; fronds light
green; delicate. Twenty to twenty-four inches.
Aspidium thelypteris.” A marsh Fern; distinct, with deli-
cate, thin fronds, very pretty. Twenty inches.
Aspidium Nevadense. A rather tall, handsome species,
with bright green fronds. A native of Pacific Slope. Frame.
Two feet.
Aspidium cristatum. A tall, narrow, rigid Fern, sub-ever-
green, peculiar in its erectness of habit. A handsome and
very desirable species of easy culture. Twenty-five to thirty-
four inches.
Aspidium cristatum, var. Clintonianum. One of the rare
Ferns, and also one of the finest for cultivation, attaining great
height and strength under favorable conditions. Two and
a half to three feet. Robert T. Fackson.
Boston.
Plums for the West.
HE notes of Mr. Williams indicate cumulative troubles in
attempting to grow the Plums of western Europe and their
seedlings, and a growing interest in our native Plums and
their crossed se edlings. "At the west the foreign Plums have
measurably failed from the beginning of prairie settlement,
and our farmers have been constantly experimenting with
selected native varietics. As a rule, the Miner, Wild Goose
and other sorts of the Chickasaw family have failed to perfect
paying crops of fruit, though loaded with blossoms annually.
The variety giving the best satisfaction in the way of hardi-
ness of tree, pe rfection of foliage and regular habit of bear-
ing is the Maquoketa. Although plainly of the Chickasaw spe-
cies, the original tree was found growing at an early day on the
Maquoketa River in_ eastern Iowa. Itis rather later in ripen-
ing than the typical Wild Goose, and fully its equal in size and
quality of fruit.
The varieties of the P. Americana family that have proved
hardiest in tree, best in foliage and most continuous in bear-
* «The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland.” By Thomas Moore, F.L.S. London:
1857.
[SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.
ing during the past twenty years are De Soto, Wolf and
Wyant. Even frosty weather during the blossoming period
does not appear to prevent a full crop of fruit on these sorts.
On mature trees, well cared for, the fruit is large enough,
handsome enough, and good enough to compete, in Chicago,
with the best varieties shipped in from the South, or even
from California, where fruit is usually picked prematurely.
We have many other native Plums that seem to have
special local merit, and in time they may take the place of the
three sorts named. The traces of curculio are found on
many specimens of these varieties, but the larve so rarely en-
ter the fruit, that full crops of perfect, or nearly pertect, fruit
are the rule, and failures the rare exception.
And now let me direct attention to the varieties of the
Plum found north and east of the Carpathian Mountains in
Europe. Tourists who are judges of fruits will not hesitate to
say that the Plums of eastern * Poland, northern Silesia and
southern Russia are equal to those found in western Europe.
Some of these on trial at the West promise to be hardy in
tree, pertect in foliage and early bearers of good fruit, not
liable to rot or to the ‘attacks of the curculio. As an instance,
I have to-day tested the fruit of the Black Prune of Russia. It
is a number of days earlier than Wild Goose, and larger,
firmer in flesh and better in quality, for any use, than “the
latter. It is this year absolutely free from marks of the cur-
culio, and its thinness of foliage will not be favorable for the
rot. Though very thick and firm, its leaves are narrow and
small, so that the fruit is fully exposed to the air, and even to
the sun at intervals. This thinness of foliage seems to char-
acterize the east Europe Plums, even the wild Plums and
54 es of Tolea bluffs.
Prunes of the Volga bluff ¥. L. Bude.
Ames, Iowa.
The Kitchen Garden.
OLD frames should now be made ready for use. The last
days of September or earliest days of October often bring
a slight frost, enough to scorch the tops of Snap Beans and
Tomatoes, Peppers and Egg Plants. Now, if proper fore-
thought has been exercised, ‘these crops will be grown so that
it will now be an easy matter to protect them with frames.
Place the frames over the crops at once, and pile the sashes
near so that they can be put on quickly. Sashes three feet by
six are the handiest for general purposes, and for these four-
sash frames are most convenient. These frames are twelve
and a half feet long, five feet ten inches wide, eighteen inches
high at the back, and twelve inches high in front, and made of
pine. These can be carried from place to place by two men,
and are used for covering from September till May, and stored
up one above the other, four or five deep, during the summer
months, or in winter when not in use. Temporary frames
may be readily constructed by driving some short, stout stakes
into the ground along the back and front of a bed of vegetables
six feet wide, and nailing boards (two deep) against these
stakes. A light frame- work, shaped like a sash, but covered
with ‘ Plant- protecting Cloth” instead of glass, is lighter,
easier to handle, and almost as effectual as glass sashes in
saving v egetables from early frosts. But as sashes or frames
cannot be used for all vegetables, sheeting is a fair substitute.
It can be spread over the ‘plants at night and held in place by
boards or by spadefuls of earth on the edges. Go to a
newspaper printing office and get the calico cloth that has been
used in cleaning the presses. Tti is very strong, one, often two,
yards wide, and in lengths perhaps of five to ‘seventy feet. It
is just as good for this purpose as new, clean calico. Sew these
strips into sheets nine or twelve feet wide, and any length to
suit up to forty or a hundred feet. Such a sheet is a capital
thing to spread over a bed of Tomatoes or Snap Beans to”
save them from an early frost. William Falconer.
Glen Cove, N. Y. —
September Rose Notes.
S the cooler nights of autumn have come, more care
should be taken in watering and ventilating the young
Roses planted out in the Rose houses during the summer
months in preparation for winter forcing. They should now
be both rooting and growing freely, and ‘becoming thoroughly
established, so as to stand the strain of rapid winter growth.
And in watering, of course much depends on the weather,
though regular syringing should be given just as often as the
weather permits. But, when through any oversight the
watering of the Rose houses shall have been postponed until
late in the afternoon, it is perhaps better to omit it entirely for
that occasion, if the night promises to be cold, rather than to
have the plants so drenched with moisture that the foliage has
no opportunity to dry before the sun gets up the following
SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.]
morning. Or if the plants should be watered under such cir-
cumstances, a light fire should be made in the boiler, so as to
dry the house somewhat during the night. Some discretion
should also be shown in the matter of ventilation, as no hard
and fast rule can be laid down for this operation any more
than for watering, the state of the weather being all-important.
Proper care should be taken that the tender young growth of
he Roses is not exposed to cold currents of air, else mildew
villsurely appear. It is a well-known fact that some varicties
tre much more tender in this respect than others, Catherine
ermet, and her charming offspring, The Bride, being
hmong the most susceptible to mildew. In fact, it is some-
imes rather difficult to keep the former perfectly clear of
ungus at this season of the year. Still, a judicious applica-
ion of sulphur will work wonders in this respect. But while
tis quite necessary that the airing of the houses should be
Qvatched, it is not intended that the Roses should be cod-
Bled, or kept too close. Give them plenty of fresh air, with
@roper care in other respects, and the result will be seen in
he sturdy growth, and the bright, vigorous foliage, that are
ure forerunners of good bloom.
Garden and Forest.
A Japanese Flower Vender’s Basket.—See page 338.
343
It may be mentioned here that another contestant has en-
tered the race for popularity among the Roses for winter
blooming, in the form of the new Tea, The Gem, so-called pro-
visionally by its introducer, a grower in the vicinity of Phila-
delphia. The Gem is of uncertain origin, as the intro-
ducer is not positive whether it is an entirely new variety or
simply an old sort re-discovered.
It somewhat resembles
Marie Van Houtte in. growth, but is claimed to be far
superior to that variety, the flowers being about the size of
Perle -des Jardins. and ivory-white in color, frequently
tinted with blush or pink in the centre. But as it has not yet
been thoroughly tested, it would be best to reserve a positive
opinion as to its merits until a longer experience has proved
its qualities. WV. H. Taplin.
Holmesburg, Pa.
Orchid Notes.—Paphinia cristata belongs to a small genus,
which is now included in Zycas’e. All the species are dwarf
and bear large flowers in proportion to the size of the plants. P.
cristata is the oldest, but is by no means _plentiful—probably
on account of the difficulty in growing it well. It is a very
344
handsome kind, The flowers, usually two, are borne on pen-
dent racemes, and are three inches across, plentifully barred
and striped with purple on a white ground. The lip is thick
and fleshy, purplish-brown in color, and terminated by a tutt
of white bristles. It grows here in shallow pans in a mixture
of peat and moss. It ‘should bein the warmest house, liberally
supplied with water, and at no time allowed to getdry. P.
grandis and P. rugosa are also in flower, but do not vary a
great deal trom the foregoing, except that the former has
much larger flowers,
Cologyne Sfeciosa is not. often seen.
inches high, its ovate oblong
erect; leathery leaf. The flowers, usually two on an erect
spike, are yellowish-green, about four inches across. The
large oblong lip is very handsome, reddish-brown, except the
front portion, which is pure w hite, and beautifully fringed.
There are also two prominent crests running nearly the whole
length of the lip. It is nearly always in flower and growth, and
should be accorded very liberal treatment and be kept in a
warm house. Another species now in flower, but differing
largely trom the foregoing, is C. corrugata, so named from its
wrinkled bulbs. The erect racemes proceed from the young
growths, and bear four to six lovely white flowers, about two
inches across. The lip has a deep orange blotch on the crest
and longitudinal lines of reddish-brown in the throat. Coming
from the Khe isya hills, it may be grown with the Odontoglos-
sums, and, like them, delights in abundance of water, but care
must be taken not to over- pot it.
Trichopilia grata is avery pretty and useful Orchid, resem-
bling 7. fragrans, and, like it, is very fragrant. The sepals
and petals are yellow-green, the large, pure white lip being
marked with a blotch of yellow. The racemes are strong,
somewhat erect, and four to six flowered. It grows admirably
under the same treatment accorded the Odontoglossums, but
should be kept somewhat drier after growth is natured.
Odontoglossum Harryanum is one of the latest and best
additions to this large genus. ~Owing to liberal importations,
itis now quite plentiful, and may be seen in nearly every col-
lection. It appears in many forms, and no two drawings of it
are alike. That it is very free-flowering in its native state
there is evidence in the stout, dry spikes on the imported
plants; and imported bulbs produce good spikes, but I have
not seen good spikes on home-grown bulbs. The plant in
flower with us is from the first importation to England. It is
erowing freely, and increasing in size of bulbs, with the AZZ
anne vexillaria, and under the same treatment, but I think
it would flower better if given more sunlight and a drier at-
mosphere. In growthit much resembles O. hastilabium, The
flowers are very handsome, the sepals and petals being of a
chestnut-brown, the former barred and tipped with light yel-
low; the petals are Bek with purple and tipped with yellow;
the front lobe of the | ip is pointed and pure white; the crest is
yellow, while the base is heavily striped with light purple.
Kenwood, N. Y. °F. Goldring.
It grows
bulbs being
about eight
‘terminated by an
Notes From the Arnold Arboretum.
HE number of trees or shrubs which flower in this climate
after the middle of August is not large. The most im-
portant of them, from an ornamental point of view, is the so-
called Japanese Sophora (Sephora Faponica). This is one of
fhe first trees from Japan cultivated in European gardens,
having been introduced into England as early as 1763. It is
pretty “generally distributed through the eastern provinces of
China, both wild and ina cultivated state ; and it is now sup-
posed that it may have been one of several plants long be-
lieved to be natives of Japan, but really Chinese, and introduced
by the Japanese in their gardens. Sophora Faponica is a
round-headed tree, forty or fifty feet high when fully grown,
with cinnamon-brown, scaly bark, “and wide- spreading
branches, those of recent years covered with bright green,
lustrous bark. The deciduous leaves are composed of seven
to thirteen pairs of oblong-ovate, acute leaflets, an inch to
an inch and a half long, dark green and opaque on the up-
per, and paler on the under surface. The small, creamy-
white, pea-shaped flowers, are arranged in large, loosely-
branched, terminal panicles, which about the middle of August
often quite cover old specimens. Probably the largest speci-
mens of this tree in Europe are the one in Kew Gardens, one of
the first plants brought to Europe, and the still larger and more
shapely tree near the palace of the Petit- Trianon at Versailles.
The finest Specimen in America perhaps may be seen in the
Public Garden in Boston, although it might be expected
to grow more rapidly and to a lar rer size in the Middle States.
Sophora Faponica is now used in Italy to a considerable ex-
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.
tent as a street tree, notably in Milan, where some of the
new boulevards have been successfully planted with it. Its
habit adapts it for such a purpose, as do the lightness of the
shade, which its pinnate leaves produce, and its habit of flow-
ering late in the summer, when flowers are more valuable
than they are earlier in the season. Young plants, however,
do not flower very freely, and this tree requires age before
it develops all its flowering capacity. The Chinese cultivate
this tree largely in some districts forthe sake of the “Imperial
yellow dye” obtained from the flowers.
Another Japanese tree is now in flower, It is the Japanese
variety of Aus semialata (var, Osbeckii). Rhus semialata isa
widely distributed species from Japan, Formosa, and northern
and central China to the Himalaya and Khasia mountains.
This tree yields the Chinese galls of commerce, which are
believed by the Chinese to possess valuable medical proper-
ties. The Japanese variety, in which the petioles are broadly
wing-margined between the leaflets, is the only one in cultiva-
tion. Itisaround- headed tree, eighteen or tw enty feet high, with
smooth, gray bark, and spreading branches, those of the year
covered with a rufous pubescence. The leaves are fifteen or
eighteen inches long, composed of four or five pairs of ovate-
oblong, sharply pointed, serrate, nearly sessile leaflets. These
are six or seven inches long, subcoriaceous, dark green and
shining on the upper surface, pale, and covered, as are the
petioles, with a soft, rusty pubescence, which is more devel-
oped on the prominent mid-rib, and fifteen or sixteen primary
veins. Thesmall, greenish-white, short-pediceled flowers are
produced in large, terminal, many-branched panicles. The
male plant only is in cultivation in this country, so far as I
know, and the fruit has not, therefore, been seen here. It is
described as flattened, and densely covered with short, purple
or white pubescence. The foliage of this Japanese Rhus as-
sumes in theautumn the most brilliant orangeand scarlet colors.
This character, its neat habit, late blooming and pertect
hardiness make this one of the most desirable of the small
ornamental trees of recent introduction.
Two North American species of Clematis, with cylindrical
flowers and semi-woody climbing stems, remain an bloom
here all summer long. “They are Clematis cr tspa and C. Pit-
cheri. The former is a native of river-swamps from North
Carolina to Texas. This species is well marked by its mem-
branous foliage with lax venation, and by the conspicuously
undulate margin of the upper part of the sepals, which, when
the flower is fully expanded, are reflexed from below the mid-
dle. The flowers are solitary, on peduncles rather shorter than ~
the leaves, an inch and a ‘halt long, bright purple and very
fragrant. The leaves are very variable, ~ternate or pinnate, —
the leaflets often deeply lobed, especially those near the base _
of the stems. There is an excellent figure of this plant in
Lavallée’s ‘Les Clématites a grandes Fleures” (é. xiv.), and —
there are figures in the Botanical Magazine, 7, 1892, and in the |
Botanical Re cister, t. 60. It isthe C cordata, Botanical Mag-
azine, ¢. 1816 ; the C. cylindrica, Botanical Magazine, t¢. 1160,
and the C. Miorna of Andrew's Botanical. Repository, £5, 76
Clematis Pitcheri is found in the country west of the Mis- |
sissippi River from Missouri to northern Mexico. It may he —
distinguished from the last species by its thicker and some-
times almost coriaceous leaves and smaller flow ers, which are
much darker in color, destitute of perfume and borne on
peduncles longer than the pinnate leaves, which are com-
posed of two to four pairs of ovate, obtuse, generally undi-
vided, but sometimes three lobed leaflets. It is well figured
by Lavallée, “7. ¢., 4 xv.,” who also figures, ‘7 xviii., ” under
the name of C. Sar. -genti, mere form of this species with
rather small flowers, ced from seed distributed from the
Arboretum. The fact that these American cylindrical flowered
Clematis are perfectly hardy, and that they continue in bloom —
during several months, make them of considerable garden —
value, although neither of them are as showy nor as desirable,
perhaps, as garden plants, as the scarlet- flowered C. coccinea —
referred to in an earlier issue of these notes. :
But a far more valuable plant, from an ornamental point of —
view, is the common Virgin's Bower, of all eastern North —
America (Clematis Virginiana), which flowers here during the —
month of August. it’ grows naturally in low, wet places, —
along the borders of streams and sw amps, sending its long, —
climbing stems over bushes and low trees. The creamy |
white and very fragrant flowers are produced in great pro-
fusion in loose, axillary clusters, making this plant, next to
the Clethra, the most attractive and interesting of the native
shrubs which bloom here at this season. ‘The fruit-clusters, —
with their long and conspicuous feathery tails, which suc-—
ceed the flowers in autumn, add materially to the orna-
mental value of this plant. The Traveler’s Joy (Clematis
—
SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.]
Vitalba), a widely distributed species of central and southern
Europe, and very similar in general appearance to C. Virgin-
zana, but with white flowers, is, on the whole, perhaps, more
attractive as an ornamental plant.
August 2oth. _ re
The:, Forest.
European State Forestry.
| ise State Department has done a good piece of work in col-
lectingin one volume the reports of our consuls on ‘‘Fores-
tryinEurope.”* This volume contains a great deal of interest-
ing and valuable information, but, unfortunately, shows the
lack of an editor, who might have sifted the relevant from the
irrelevant, and by condensation and the avoidance of unneces-
sary repetitions might have brought out the prominent features
which are of value to the American student. There are also
found some misleading and sometimes erroneous statements,
which are due to misconceptions of the real situation on the
part of the consuls.
This is, perhaps, not easily avoided, for it requires a consid-
erable and intimate knowledge of the conditions prevailing in
the different European states in regard to their forest manage-
ment—and the difference in these is great—in order to be able
to properly present the facts and to generalize from them.
The ideas which in general prevail in regard to the activity
of the governments in Europe with respect to forestry are
more or less erroneous, and the present publication is hardly
apt to set them aright.
There is a belief that the forests of Europe are mostly in the
hands of government, or at least under government control.
What is true fora very small part of the country is made to
appear universal, and thus the misconception arises.
From a survey of more than three-quarters of the European
forest area, including that of Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
Italy, France, Spain, Russia, Sweden and Norway, we may
draw, then, the following conclusions as to the position which
_these states take towards forestry interests, and correct the
erroneous views existing in this respect.
1. The governments, excepting in Russia, own the smaller
part, in many instances only a nominal area of the forest
lands—namely, altogether not more than sixteen to twenty per
cent. of the total European forest area.
2. Private individual owners enjoy their forest property
almost everywhere without interference on the part of the
government.
3. Communities—villages, towns and cities—and “ eternal
corporations, like churches, colleges, etc., very often own large
tracts of forest land as common property. Over these the
state, in many cases, exercises supervisory powers, with a
view of preventing the waste and depreciation of this common
property, acting gwasz as guardian or trustee, as in other cor-
porated interests. Wherever supervision of private forest
property is exercised it is almost always done only after full
demonstration that the common welfare, the interest of the
many as against the few, demand it, and full indemnification
for damage sustained is given in every case.
4. The idea of State supervision in given cases where the
danger to the community from forest devastation or destruc-
tion is demonstrated, is not an old but a decidedly modern
one, having found expression in legislation only within the
last twenty to thirty years ; mostly within the last fifteen years.
While in all other directions of economic life European goy-
-ernments are working towards non-interference and libera-
tion from government restrictions, in the question of forest
management the opposite tendency is developing, the neces-
sity for such government supervision on account of various
peculiarities of forest property and forest management being
more and more recognized.
All European governments, without exception, have felt
themselves in duty bound to encourage and aid proper forest
management and all efforts at reforestation. This is done :
(a.) By setting a good example in the management of the
forests belonging to the State.
(6.) By offering an opportunity of acquiring the necessary
knowledge in forest schools and encouraging the employ-
ment of trained foresters.
(¢.) By aiding and encouraging reforestation, where it ap-
pears necessary, with active financial aid.
It may be stated as of special interest tous that nowhere in
these States exists there a bounty system, and where it did
exist, as, for instance, in France, it failed to produce the re-
sults looked for ; while the supplying of plant material, free of
”
* “Forestry in Europe.”—Reports from the Consuls of the United States.
Garden and Forest.
345
cost or at the cost of packing and transportation, and encour-
agement by the advice and suggestions of forestry officers, or
a direct money expenditure for specific purposes of re-
forestation, have everywhere been practiced with gratifying
results.
We also see that the conviction is gaining ground among
governments and private citizens, monarchies and republics,
that the forests located in certain places serve a more far-
reaching and important purpose than that of mere supply of
material. Such forests, called protective forests, are, never-
theless, managed with a view of obtaining the material ; in
such manner, however, that the forest influence may not be
disturbed. Forest preservation, in the sense of keeping for-
ests intact and preventing the utilization of their material, is
practiced nowhere ; it is protection against damage and dev-
astation and proper management that is meant by forest
preservation. :
Washington, D. C. B. FE. Fernow.
Correspondence.
The Boston Public Garden.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—There is so much that is good in the Public Garden
in Boston, and its possibilities of improvement are so great,
that it is incumbent upon any one who cares either for gar-
dening or for the best interests of the public to raise a voice
in criticism of its present condition in behalf of the better con-
dition to which it might so easily be brought.
Its situation in the heart of the city, and in connection with
the Common, is fortunate. Its architectural surroundings are
more agreeable than those, for instance, of any small park in
New York. Its surface is perceptibly, yet gently, modeled,
just as one would wish to have it. It embraces a pretty sheet
of water and contains many trees, which, although not yet of
very large size, are good and promising specimens. In short,
the blocking-out of the garden, so to say, is excellent, and if
the details ot its execution were as good, it would be one of the
most charming urban spots in the world. But, it seems to me,
these details are so unfortunate, that it is a warning rather than
a model.
For some of them the authorities now in charge are not re-
sponsible—for the stone coping which surrounds the water to
the injury of naturalness of effect; for the statues, which are
far from being satisfactory works of art, and for the bridge,
which is not only ugly in design, but almost big and heavy
enough to carry a railroad. These details it might be difficult
to change. But something might be done to mitigate their
defects; the bridge supports and parapets might be clothed
with vines, and the masses of shrubbery around the pond
might more often be brought down over the coping to the
water’s edge.
It is, however, details of more recent origin, which most
seriously injure the beauty of the spot—details which come
under the head of gardening proper. Let us stand for a mo-
ment on the bridge and see what the outlook offers.
Do we find unity or harmony in any direction? I think no
fair-minded observer can say, Yes. The bridge itself crosses
the long pond about midway of its length, and forms part
of a straight walk which traverses the garden from west to
east. Winding paths diverge from this straight walk in all
directions, and the first thing we note is that there are far
too many of them, and too many wide, graveled spaces
where they intersect. Public convenience does not demand
so great an expanse of gravel, and beauty is greatly les-
sened by the degree to which the lawns are cut up, and
unity and reposefulness of effect are thereby injured. Next
we notice that there is far too much color in the land-
scape. Green is the color with which nature paints a land-
scape of this soft, intimate sort, varying it with innumerable
shades, but always keeping the medium shades preponderant,
and using the lightest and darkest, and above all the brightest,
for accentuation only ; sprinkling it with the vivid hues of flow-
ers, but keeping these likewise subordinate to the general
soft, verdurous tone. Of course, in a garden man cannot
follow nature’s example with strictness. As he must inno-
vate upon her disposition of surfaces, so he may upon her
use of color, but never to such a degree that her ideal is
altogether lost to sight. Now, in the Public Garden, color is
much too profusely used, alike in the way of bright or varie-
gated trees and shrubs, and in the way of brilliant low plants
and flowers. And it is also badly used. Look off towards
Boylston Street, for instance, and the most conspicuous object
is a group of trees on the edge of the water, a Golden Poplar
346
between two very light-colored Willows—the combination
ugly in itself, and not properly softened by masses of a
soberer hue. And then look in every direction at the scores
of formal flower beds planted solid with the crudest hues that
the ingenuity of the gardener’s craft has been able to produce.
Were nine-tenths of them aw ay the garden would profit im-
mensely, and the value of the remainder would be as greatly
increased. There is often a place for such beds in a garden
design, and in the Public Garden there is a very good place.
The long, straight path, taking in the conspicuous ‘bridge and
ending at Washington's statue, is a formal feature dictated by
convenience, and ‘might appropriately and with good effect be
bordered throughout with formal beds. Thus the garden
would be enlivened, yet its more natural parts would not be
disturbed, and the taste of the public for such beds would be
as well met as by the multitude of beds which are now mis-
placed. Misplaced they are indeed. Nowhere can one walk
a hundred steps without coming upon a new one, nowhere
can one look in the hope of finding a restful verdant view
without seeing them scattered about at random in the most
glaringly false situations. Nor is it easy, upon examination,
to find one of them which is intrinsically good in color. The
Coleus ‘Golden Bedder,” with its vivid, impure yellow tint,
and the “Crystal Palace Gem” Geranium, with its cherry-
colored blossoms in contrast with yellow-green leaves, are
among the most hideous products of recent “horticulture, and
some of the Alternantheras are almost as bad. Yet it would
be impossible to count the hundreds of these plants which
have been employed ; and even when better ones are used
they are seldom well combined. Greatly as the modern gar-
dener loves the bedding-out system, he has small idea_ of
the possibilities of beauty it might possess in hands guided
by a good eye for form and color. The “crazy quilt “seems
to be “the work of art which he most earnestly-de sires to rival.
There is, however, at least one instance in the Public Garden
of a really good design—the central panels, to north and
south of the border which. encircles Washington's statue,
and which is chiefly composed of those succulent. leaved,
low-growing, formally-shaped plants (Sedums and Echeverias)
which above all others are adapted for the purpose. Here
the combination of a brown-leaved Oxalis, starred by a few
small yellow blossoms with the pink-streaked blue-grays of
Stone Crops, is admirably accomplished as regards both line
and color. If the edging close to the statue and the interven-
ing Palms were remoy ed, and if all the panels of the border
were as good as these two, the arrangement would be a
model of excellence, alike in execution and in application.
But these formal beds of gaudy color are not the only things
which help to make the Public Garden as restless and inhar-
monious as possible. Wherever, on the edges of the lawns,
there is not a bed, there is sure to bea tropical plant utterly
out of keeping with its environment—a Screw Palm, an
Agave, a Yucca, an Auraucaria, a Draczena, or an India-
rubber tree. Or if not one of these, then a tree or shrub with
vivid leaves or an eccentric form. Looking northward from
the bridge, for instance, one sees, to the left of the water,
first a vase filled with an intermixture of hardy and tropical
plants, then a Golden Poplar, a yellow Retinospora, a Kilmar-
nock Willow; then a Golden Elder in a pot, backed by a small
English Elm, another Golden Poplar, and a wand- like Irish
Yew; then a little Weeping Willow, and a half dead, pendulous
Purple Beech, overhanging an immense bed of Coleus, in the
shape ofa double horse- shoe; this between the winding path
and the water, and across the path another big bed casually
placed on a sloping piece of lawn and flanked by an India-
rubber plant and a Draceena that looks a good deal like a
broom on end—all within the space of a few feet, in a spot
where surely some natural arrangement was called for, and
all in no sense combined or disposed, but spotted about at
random. It is needless to ask where is the peacefulness, the
repose, of such a landscape passage—where is its sense, its
beauty of any sort? It has variety enough and to spare, but
no trace of unity; contrasts of the most “elaring kind, but no
faintest shadow of h: armony.
thing else, and nothing looks well in itself being so palpably
out of place. Of these poor, misused, forlorn looking tropical
plants, something the same may be said as was said of the
formal beds—both because they are known not to be natural
products of our clime, and because they are formal, architec-
tural, in expression, their place is in combination with archi-
tecture. On the bridge, or by the pedestal of a statue, some
of them might look w ell. Mingled with shrubberies, or iso-
lated on a lawn, they are ruined themselves and ruin. their
surroundings.
More than this might be said of the defects of the public
Garden and Forest. :
Nothing helps the effect of any-”
[SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.
garden—something, for instance, of the many vases which
are also isolated on the lawns and even in the middle of the
pond; of the plot which is filled with Aloes, Agaves and Cacti,
in futile imitation of a Mexican garden, crow ded together so
their own forms do not show, and as out of place here asa
giratfe between the traces of a Boston Herdic; of the rock-
garden built up under an Elm tree, in a flat situation, and filled
with another heterogeneous mixture of inappropriate plants.
But all I wish to do is to beg the many lovers of nature and
lovers of art who daily cross this garden to stop a moment
and ask themselves whether it is really as it should. be, and,
as well as I could, to indicate the point of view from which
such an inquiry should be made. And for this purpose surely
enough has been said. M. G. Van Rensselaer.
Marion, Mass.
[The Public Garden in Boston has many defects, and
it certainly does not represent, as might perhaps be
expected, the true and actual condition of the gardening
art in this country, as judged by its best examples. It
must be said, however, that the garden has been greatly
improved under its present management, and that in sev-
eral respects it is much less objectionable than it was a
few years ago. It is now much better kept in every way
than formerly ; the number of flower-beds has been re-
duced, and several useless walks have been done away
with. The radical faults with the garden have come
largely from an entire disregard of any fixed or estab-
lished plan for planting, if any one has ever had any such
plan or any clear or definite idea on the subject. Flower-
beds have been made, and trees and shrubs have been
stuck in year after year, not as a part of a carefully studied
plan, but haphazard, here and there, or wherever a piece of
open turf seemed to offer an opportunity to place a horti-
cultural novelty. The result has been that the garden is
now spotted over in every direction with the most incon-
gruous, and often the most absurd, plants, and that there
is nowhere, in a garden of twenty-five acres, a single
quiet stretch of turf or a single spot where the eye can find
repose. This feeling of a want of restfulness, too, is in-
creased by the fact that the boundaries have been left
too much exposed, so that it is impossible, within the
garden, to obtain anything like a feeling of being in the
country. The cost of maintaining the garden is enor-
mous; much of this money could be saved and the garden
immensely improved, if half the flower-beds and a great
many of the walks were turfed over. The bedding
gardening, both spring and summer, while perhaps no
worse in design and execution than that seen in Hyde Park
and in Battersea Park in London, certainly is not artistic.
The plants are not always well selected and the combina-
tions of colors are often appalling. The truth is, that the
artistic arrangement of bright colored flowers or foliage
plants in masses, whether they are Tulips or Coleus and |
Scarlet Geraniums, requires great artistic feeling, long
practice and rare good judgment. Gardeners rarely pos-
sess the first of these qualities, while artists, who might
make harmonious combinations of color, lack the techni-
cal knowledge and the interest in such combinations.
The strongest argument against the bedding out system
as a system is found in the difficulty of finding men
who can do it in a truly artistic manner. The French
make such combinations of color better than any
other people, but even in Paris really good com-
binations of colors are rather the exception than
the rule. English work of this sort, as might have
been expected, is certainly far inferior to the French,
while outside of Chicago, and possibly Pittsburgh, there is
nothing so bad in the United States as the bedding in the
public “and many of the private English gardens. Another
objection to elaborate bedding gardening—and this is true
as well of any absorbing specialty in gardening—is that it
inevitably leads to the neglect of other departments. The
Public Garden well illustrates this. Constant daily atten-
tion is given to the flower-beds, which are weeded and
pinched and cut religiously, while the grass is allowed to
be overrun with weeds, the edgings of the walks are
SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.]
neglected, insects swarm upon the trees, and the pond and
fountain-basins are foul and filled with rubbish. The
tropical plants stuck about the garden, to which our corre-
spondent calls attention, are a new feature, which, with
the hardy and half-hardy shrubs, plunged in pots wherever
a place can be found for them, only serve to decrease its
‘beauty and diminish its real usefulness. The money
which it costs the city to buy these plants, and build and
heat the green-houses in which they must be stored in
winter, might be spent more wisely in destroying injurious
insects or in cleaning the filth from the pond. The Boston
Public Garden is visited by thousands of people every
week. Its educational importance, therefore, is great—
greater, probably, than that of any other garden of its size
in the United States. It is a misfortune, therefore, not only
for the people of Boston, but for those of the whole
country, that it cannot be made to express the real mean-
ing of what such a garden should be. —Ep. ]
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Referring to the article on ‘“‘ The Street Trees in Wash-
ington,” in Harper's Magazine for July, let me say that nine
years ago I examined these trees in company with the late Dr.
John A. Warder. We thought it a good idea to plant these
common, rapidly-growing trees to make shade, while valuable
trees, that grew more slowly, were being established, and re-
gretted that they were planted so closely as to give insufficient
room for the permanent trees that we supposed would be
planted between them to take their places. It seems from Mr.
Peter Henderson’s rernarks that these trees were intended to
remain. Of the 63,014 trees planted, 43,914 are of Silver Ma-
ple, Box Elder and Poplar. The climate of Washington would
admit of a selection of street trees that could not endure the
climate of our Northern cities. In that climate especially trees
should be selected which hold their leaves fresh in the late
summer months. The Silver Maple, Box Elder and Poplars
(over two-thirds of the whole number planted) are certainly
not the best that could be selected on that account. Compare
‘them in this respect with the Sugar Maple, the Cucumber tree,
“Magnolia acuminata,” the Tulip tree, the Oaks and many
others.
The foliage of the Silver Maple is poor in the late summer
compared with the above named, and, besides this, the
branches are brittle, and the trees are disfigured with broken
and dead branches before growing old. The foliage of the
Box Elder is quite dense and rich in color early in the season,
but never fresh in the latter part of the season after it has
reached the age of twenty-five or thirty years, and especially
away from the margins of streams. Nearly all the Poplars,
with the exception of the Lombardy, are a nuisance in the
‘streets in early summer, shedding their down like rain upon
the just and the unjust.
If longevity is taken into consideration, how will the Silver
Maples, Box Elders and Poplars appear when fifty years old ?
Here where I write (Hanover, New Hampshire) the White
Elms and Sugar Maples, a hundred years old, line the streets,
and are noble trees still. Does any of these 43,914 trees com-
pare with the White Elm? Will any one of them endure the
_city smoke better than the White Elm? I am not finding
‘fault with what has been done, I only wish to call attention to
what has not been done. No trees would make a shade
quicker nor so cheaply as these 43,914 trees, and if they shade
the streets for even twenty years they will have paid their way,
but it is already time to arrange for filling their places. Seeds
ot trees of valuable and durable kinds should be sown now, the
trees grown and transplanted, with plenty of room, so that
they will be strong and vigorous before being planted into the
intermediate spaces. Then the soft-wooded trees can be cut
back on the sides, more or less, allowing the newly-planted
ones room to become well established, and by that time the
White Maples, Cottonwoods and Box Elders will be in a failing
condition. Robert Douglas.
[This letter was written before Mr. Douglas had seen an
editorial article on the same subject in this journal.—Ep. |
‘To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—The quotation from an article entitled, “ Among My
Weeds,” inarecentissue of GARDEN AND FOREST, brings to mind
some “ weeds” of my own cultivating—among them the Poke.
It is a matter of wonder that the Poke has not a place in beds
where strong, vigorous plants are growing. It is an exceed-
Garden and Forest.
347
ingly distinct and picturesque plant. The rich colors of its
stem and its graceful manner of growth are especially notice-
able. A marked trait is, that on the same spray, where the
berries are ripe, there will be not only green “berries, but
flowers and buds. The stem of the spray alone is remarkable
for beauty. I have stripped them of the berries and arranged
them in a vase-bouquet, and every one was desirous of know-
ing what the new and rich-colored thing was. So with the
flowers, which are unique and pretty. A party of visitors once
gathered around a plateau of flowers in which I had arranged
the Poke blooms, and were curious to know what sort of Wax-
plant it was. The odor of the plant is not pleasant, but this is
slight in the flower, if at all noticeable. 1 raised my crop of
Poke from seed, butas the plant is perennial, it will come
up from year to year, faithful to the appointed time.
Palmyra, N. J.
Lf, Ves
Recent Publications.
Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information. — Royal
Kew, No. 19, July, 1888.
This, the last number of the useful publication which has
reached us, like its predecessors, is filled with valuable infor-
mation. — It contains, among other articles, the following: On
Bhabur Grass ({schemum augustifolium), with a figure, a plant
closely resembling the well-known Espartu Grass in habit and
in qualities, which make it valuable in the manufacture of
paper. Bhabur Grass is a native of northern India, where it
grows on dry, bare slopes, and is used mostly in the manu-
facture of cordage. It is believed that this plant, were it culti-
vated on a large scale, might become important in furnish-
ing excellent material for paper-making, and that it can be
easily cultivated this paper gives abundant evidence.
(2) On the Cayman Islands, a group of three small islands
Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac—situated in
the Caribbean Sea about 200 miles west of Jamaica, and rarely
visited by travelers. They contain, however, a population of
more than 4,000 persons, who are described as temperate,
strong, tall, healthy-looking people, chiefly white or colored,
“and who are doubtless descended from the original settlers
of the last century.” The population of black people is com-
paratively small. The vegetation of their islands is similar to
that of Jamaica, as are the crops, which are principally Sugar-
cane and Cocoa-nuts.
(3) On the Prickly Pear in South Africa, being a discussion
of the best methods for exterminating the Prickly Pear from
South African fields, and of the uses to which these plants can
be applied, by Prof. MacOwen, director of the Botanic Garden
in Cape TowninSouth Africa. It is based upon the rapid spread
of the Prickly Pear, as one or more species of Opuntia are
called, in all dry regions of the Old World. These plants are
of American origin, but they are as much at home in the Old
World as on, their native Mexican plateau. They render the
land they occupy worthless for all purposes of agriculture,
and it is becoming, therefore, a matter of real importance to
determine how such plants are to be effectually eradicated at
a small cost, or if they cannot be-eradicated, how they can be
profitably cultivated.
There are also articles in this issue upon Valonia (the
acorn cups of Quercus A®gilops), of which large quantities
are imported annually into England from Greece and Asia
Minor, and upon Star Anise—///ictum verunt.
Gardens,
Recent Plant Portraits.
CATTLEYA WALKERIANA, Revue de 1 Horticulture Belge, June.
Rhododendron MAIDEN'S BLUSH, Revue de 1’ Horticulture
Belge, June; one of the earliest of the race of green-house
Rhododendrons raised by the Messrs. Veitch, and derived
from Rk. Favanicum.
HAKEA LAURINA, Budletino de la R, Societa Toscana di Orti-
cultura, June.
Rose BARDON Job, Yournal des Roses, May; a handsome
Tea Rose, with semi-double scarlet flowers, raised from the
well known Gloire des Rosomanes by Narbonnard & Sons, of
Golfe Juan, and recommended as a strong-growing pillar Rose,
or for bedding.
BAHIA (ERIOPHYLLUM) CONFERTIFLORA, Garéenflora, June
15th; a half shrubby Californian Composite, with small heads
of yellow flowers.
CHANACTIS TENUIFOLIA, Gardenflera, June 15th; a loosely-
branched, diffuse Composite from the coast of southern Cali-
fornia, like the last, of little horticultural interest.
ANTIRRHINUM NUTTALLIANUM, Gartenflora, June 15th; a late
348
California species, with slender, sprawling branches, small
leaves, and minute purple flowers, of no interest as a garden
plant.
TRICHOPILIA LEHMANNI, Gartenflora, July Ist.
ZYGOPETALUM BRACHYPETALUM, var. STENOPETALUM, Gar-
tenflora, July 15th
ASTER ALPINUS, var. SPECIOSUS, Gartenflora, July Ist; a
stately variety of a well known and widely distributed plant,
discovered by Dr. Albert Regel, on the high mountains of
central Asia.
GLOXINIA GESNERIOIDES, Charles Schubert, Wiener dlustrirte
Gartensettung, June.
IRIS KOROLKOWH, Gardener's Chronicle, July 14th.
PINUS SABINIANA, Gardener's Chronicle, July 14th; the well
known Digger Pine of California, figured from a specimen
grown in ‘the gardens of the Villa Thuret, at Antibes, in the
south of France.
OSTROWSKYA MAGNIFERA, Gardener's Chronicle, July 21st; a
wonderful Campanulaceous plant, discovered by Dr Albert
Regel on the mountains of Chanat Darwas, ineastern Bokhara.
“Ttis a hardy perennial, with tuberous roots. As shown, the
stem is three feet in height, green, sprinkled with small red
spots, with four-leaved whorls at intervals. The leaves are
glabrous, rather fleshy, shortly stalked, oblong-acute, coarsely
toothed. The inflorescence is cymose, the flowers. on long
stalks, at first pendulous, afterwards nearly erect ; when fully
expanded they measure five and three-quarter inches in diam-
eter. The plant, despite a paleness of color in the flower, is
certainly one of the finest herbaceous plants ever introduced,
and as there can be no doubt as to its hardihood, and little or
any as to its adapting itself readily to cultivation, it is sure to
become a popular favorite.”
The plant from which this illustration was made was exhib-
ited by the Messrs. Veitch at a late exhibition of the Royal
Horticultural Society of England.
Notes.
A young Apple-tree in a yard on Washington Street, near
Eggleston Square, Boston, was in full flower on the 2d of
September.
Mr. Albert Koebele, an agent of the Entomological Division
of the Department of Agriculture, has sailed for Australia to
study the parasites affecting the cottony cushion scale, especi-
ally in the interest of horticulture in California.
It is expected that not more than one million pounds of
tobacco will be raised in Egypt this year, although, an the aver-
age, thirteen million pounds have been produced in former
seasons. The decrease is owing to the recent action of the
Khedive in putting a tax of $157.50 on each acre of ground
devoted to this crop.
At the late convention of Florists a resolution was adopted
to the effect that it would be of great advantage to the trade
if manufacturers would unite to ‘make pots of unitorm size,
and members of the Society are invited to sign a circular
stating that henceforth they bie) ose to use no other pots than
those of the standard size ac lopted by the Society. A copy ot
this circular is to be sent to all the potters in the country.
Mr. John J. Thomas reports in the Country Gentleman that
an orchard of Bartlett pears, in which the trees were sprayed
with Paris green, show scarcely a defective specimen of fruit,
while on another tree, forty rods distant, which was not treated
with the poison, nearly ev ery pear is disfigured by the codlin
worm in the core and by the curculio on the surface. The
Bartlett pear, from its earliness and texture, is particularly
hable to attacks of the curculio.
Mr. F. W. Burbidge describes, in a recent issue of the Lon-
don Garden, an interesting specimen of the Sycamore Maple,
with bright red fruit, growing in a garden near Dublin: ‘The
tree itself in growth resembles the type, but the leaves are
smaller and of. a more shining or glossy green, being glaucous
behind. The leaf-stalks or “petioles are bright red, and the
fruits, instead of being in dense or short clustered racemes of
a greenish hue, are borne i in long-stalked clusters, and are red,
verging on crimson when fully exposed to the sun.”” Nothing
is known of the history of this tree.
In speaking of the Rose American Beauty at the Florists’
Convention, Mr. Edwin Lonsdale said that it could be ob-
tained from January till December, and not Septembe Tr, as was
reported. The fact that it can be had at all seasons gives this
Rose a special value, although, in order to give a fair profit,
where artificial heat is needed, it ought not to ysell at wholesale
Garden and Forest.
(SEPTEMBER 12, 1888.
for less than twenty-five dollars a hundred. Mr. Lonsdale
finds that in some cases it does better the second year after
planting. American Beauty is at this time the main depend-
ence of New York florists for long-stemmed Roses, and brings
at retail from three to four dollars a dozen.
The Revue Horticole, in- a recent issue, calls attention to
oe ternata, which it considers the most desirable of all
early spring- flow ering shrubs. It is a Mexican evergreen, be-
longing to the same family as the Orange, with beautiful, dark
green, shining foliage, corymbs of numerous pure white,
deliciously fragrant flow ers, which are produced in the great-
est profusion “during the months of April and May. The
flowers remain fresh for a long time when cut and are well
adapted for bouquets. This plant is not, unfortunately, hardy
in the Northern States, but it would probably succeed anywhere
south of Virginia, or in California, where it will, doubtless,
find itself perfectly at home.
Hybrid Gladioli were again the floral feature at the meeting
of the Massachusetts Horticulture il Society, held on the 1st of
September. Mr.
able collection of seedlings shown the previous week; and
Mr. James Cartwright, of Wellesley, sent an equally large
collection of almost equal merit. Indeed it would be
difficult to say which of these two collections contained
the largest number of really valuable varieties. Mr. Hun-
newell exhibited a dish of twelve Late Crawford Peaches
from his orchard-house. The twelve weighed six pounds six
ounces, the largest measuring eleven and % a half inches in cir-
cumference and weighing eleven and a quarter ounces. Such
a dish of Peaches, it is safe to say, has never been seen in
Boston before. A dish of Red Bietigheimer was conspicuous
in a large collection of summer Apples, exhibited by Mr.
Samuel Hartwell, of Lincoln. This is one of the largest and
handsomest of the summer Apples, with a smooth, - whitish-
yellow skin, beautifully shaded with red. Its firm texture and
sub-acid flavor, however, make it a better cooking than dessert
fruit.
The second annual convention of the Association of Ameri-
can Cemetery Superintendents was held in the Clarendon
Hotel, Brooklyn, last week. At the meetings on Wednesday
and Thursday a number of papers of great merit were read
on important subjects of practical interest. Among them were
the following: ‘An Ideal Cemetery,” by Mr. F. Eurich, of
Toledo, Ohio; ‘‘ Landscape Gardening in Cemeteries,” by ‘Mr.
R. D. Cleveland, of Minneapolis, a son of. Mr. H. W. S. Cleve-
land; “Lawns,” by Mr. W. Salway, of Cincinnati; ‘ Roads,” by
Mr. O. C, Simonds, of Chicago; ‘‘Green-houses and Flowers,”
by Mr. J. E. Barker, of Boston. The members of the Board of
Officers—whose names and addresses have been given in an
earlier issue of this journal—were unanimously re-elected. It
was decided to hold the next convention at Detroit, in the
third week of August, 1889. This association is an organiza-
tion, the existence of which is full of promise for the better
ordering and management of American cemeteries, and it will
doubtless have an increasing measure of support from the
superintendents and trustees of cemeteries throughout the
country.
Every one who has visited Montreal in August will remem-
ber the enormous Cantaloupe Melons and their fine flavor.
They are almost round, flattened at both ends, deeply ribbed;
the skin green and netted, and the green flesh very thick.
After some ineffectual attempts by Boston dealers to import —
these Melons, the growers about that city have been making ©
experiments with them,
has achieved a
and Mr. W. H. Allen, of Arling eton,
striking success. According to the American
Cultivator, he imported his seed direct from Montreal and —
In |
started them under glass with a moderate bottom heat.
fact, he kept the melons under glass as long as he could.
One important point in their culture is to water the vines
freely, yet after the Melons commence to form, the fruit should
not be wet. The growers in Montreal place a small pane of |
cheap glass under each Melon to prevent contact with the —
earth.
always
worthy concern in Montreal. Mr. Allen produced fine, ripe-
specimens this year as early as August Ist, two or three —
weeks earlier than the ordinary Cantaloupe.
largest and most perfect-shaped Melon of the variety ever
seen in Quincy market for three dollars. It weighed nearly
thirty pounds. He sold them by the box at one dollar and |
twenty-five cents each, weighing ‘eighteen to twenty pounds —
to the melon. The price soon dropped to one dollar each —
and is now about seventy-five cents.
J. Warren Clarke duplicated his remark- -
Mr. Allen and other successful growers about Boston |
import their seed each year direct from some trust: | |
He sold the |
sea
VJ
SEPTEMBER Ig, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFice: Trinune Buitpinc, New York.
Gondtcted! by? 4s se. 3, er cas mas . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N, Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY
, SEPTEMBER 109, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Eprroriat ArvicLes :—The Rejuvenescence of Old Trees (with illustrations).. 349
Flowers in Japan.—ll......... sescdcceesscssnse Lnegdore Wores.
A Woodland Trag Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselacr. 3
ForeiGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter .............eseeeeeeeee W. Goldring. 351
New or Littie Known Prants :—Pseudopheenix Sargenti (with iustrations),
GSES. 352
CutturaAL Department :—The Cultivation of Native Ferns.—IV.,
Robert T. Fackson. 352
WMitcheBulbscecereGiiceca cs soe csw deere feces lecc sreeapmesineance ee CL. Allen. 354
The Vegetable Garden.
Fay’s Prolific Currant—China Asters—A
Notes fromthe Arnold Arboretum ....2..00+ cooascsserecssssee meaetstts
Tue Forest :—A New Forest Law in Russia—Planting the Dunes...... ...... 357
CoRRESPONDENCE :—Suggestions for Making a Tennis Lawn—Shrub Notes. 357
RECENT PUBLICATIONS..+.cescsccecscccecescseetectensec en seerscecnte ease eeeees 359
INODES so siceeiciaecre cecccisiswcsientses sciceests Na aes aes - 360
Ittusrrations :—Methods of Pruning. - 349
Pseudophcenix Sargent, Fig. 55........-+ 26353
Fruit of Pseudophcenix Sargenti, Fig. 56........0.--s05+ see Seman dialer are 355
The Rejuvenescence of Old Trees.
HE fact that old and apparently decrepit deciduous
trees can be rejuvenated by judicious pruning, is
not well understood in this country, where old trees,
which might perhaps be made to live a century or two,
are often allowed to perish unnecessarily. The death of a
tree can generally be traced to a gradual failing of vigor
due to insufficient nourishment, or to internal decay, the
result generally of neglect. The first indication of danger
usually appears at the top, and when the upper branches
of a tree begin to die, it is a sure indication that, unless
radical measures are taken to check the trouble, it can
only live a comparatively short time. Vigor can be re-
stored to a tree in this condition by shortening all its
branches by one-third or one-half of their entire length.
The only care needed in this operation is to cut back each
main branch to a healthy lateral branch, which will serve
to attract and elaborate, by
means of its leaves, a sufficient
flow of sap to insure the
growth of the branch. This is
essential in good pruning, and,
if neglected, the end of the
branch will die back to the
first lateral branch or bud _ be-
low the cut, leaving a point of
danger to the tree. Care,
too, must be taken to shorten
the branches in such a way
that the lowest will be the
longest, that the greatest pos-
sible leaf surface may be ex-
posed to the light. Figure 1
will serve to show how an
ancient Oak should be pruned
for the purpose of increasing
its vigor.* The vigor of a
*We are indebted to the Trustees of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting
Agriculture for permission to reproduce these figures, which are extracted from
onsieur A. des Car’s work upon Tree Pruning, of which an English edition was
ublished in 1881, by the Massachusetts Society, under the title of ‘‘A Treatise on
runing Forest and Ornamental Trees,” a work in which the whele theory of
pruning is clearly explained and illustrated.
Garden and Forest.
349
tree depends upon the power of its leaves to elaborate
plant food. The larger the leaf surface exposed to the
light,*the greater will be the vigor of the tree. The object
of pruning, therefore, is to increase leaf surface. If half of a
branch of a decrepit tree, bearing small and scattered leaves,
is cut away, the leaves which will grow upon the half
which is left will be so large that their total area will often
be more than double the total area of the leaves upon the
whole branch before it was cut. The truth of this state-
ment can be easily verified by cutting down to the ground
in the spring a feeble seedling Oak, or, indeed, any young
seedling tree, when a tall, vigorous shoot, twice the
height and diameter, perhaps, of the slender stem it re-
places, will appear at the end of a few months, and,
although this shoot will only
produce a few leaves, its
ereater vigor is due to the fact
that a larger leaf surface is pre-
sented to the light by these few
large leaves than by the more
numerous smaller leaves of the
original plant. The vigor, too,
of a tree, can be increased after
it has been pruned by a good
top dressing of well rotted
manure, or of fresh soil applied
over its roots ; and trees grow-
ing on banks can often be bene-
fited by deepening the soil on the lowerside. A large body
of plant food can thus be supplied without burying any
part of the trunk and without injury to the tree.
The internal decay by which so many old trees perish,
through inability to resist the influence of storms, is
caused by dead branches allowed to remain upon the
tree or from the stumps of branches left in pruning. It is
an almost invariable custom in this country, when a
branch is cut from the stem of a tree, to leave a stump a
few inches long, as shown in Figure 2, The end of this
branch, as it has no lateral shoot to insure a flow of sap,
is not healed over with a new formation of wood and bark,
and soon dies. Decay thus begins, as appears in Figure
3, and this decay gradually extends into the interior of
the trunk, as shown in Figure 4, ruining the tree for any
useful purpose, and so weakening the supporting power of
the stem, that a severe gale will prostrate it. This decay can
be prevented by cutting off dead branches as fast as they
appear, and by cutting living branches, when it is neces-
sary for any reason to remove them, close to the trunk or
close to a lateral branch. The secret of good pruning
lies in cutting close, so that the wound may heal by the
formation of a new growth over the cut surface. No
matter how large it may be necessary to make the
wound, no branch stump, large or small, should be left in
pruning. <A coating of coal-tar applied to the wound as
soon as made will serve to pro-
tect it from moisture, and will
not interfere with the formation
of a new layer of wood.
Pruning, so far as the trees are
concerned, can be done at any
time, except in very early spring,
when they are gorged with sap
and ‘‘bleed” more freely than
at other seasons of the year.
The autumn, however, is found to
be the best time for such work.
There is more leisure now than
earlier in the season, while the
coating of ice which often, in this climate, covers the
branches of trees in winter, makes it difficult and danger-
ous to work among them.
Three men at least are needed to prune a large tree
properly, and to manage the long, heavy ladders which
this operation makes necessary. One man stands at a
little distance from the tree and directs where the cuts
Fig. 3.
350
shall be made; the second man uses the saw, which must
be attached often to a long handle ; while the third holds
one end of a rope fastened to a belt on the man in the
tree, and passed over a branch above his head as a pre-
caution against a fall. Nearly all our forest trees bear
severe pruning of this sort, and improve under it. De-
crepit Red, Black, White and Swamp Oaks, Black Birches,
Beeches, Hickories and Elms have been pruned in this
way in the Arnold PERT where many of the trees
in the natural woods were perishing from pasturage and
neglect. They were bayered with dead branches, the foli-
age upon them was thin and poor, and their dying tops
showed that they had but a short time to live. It was
important to preserve many of these old trees until a new
growth of self-sown seedlings could be brought on to re-
place them and a covering to the
forest floor grown. <A portion of
these old trees are pruned each
year, and those which were op-
erated upon first, or six or seven
years ago, show, in their dense,
dark-colored folhage, compact
habit and vigorous growth, how
pruning can, without fresh soil
and without the aid of manure,
put new life into feeble and dying
trees,
It often
that when
: trees have grown together thick-
ly, as in a forest, they are destitute of lower branches.
When such trees are thinned, as often happens in the im-
provement of grounds, single specimens are left with
long, straight stems, and without foliage except at the
very top. Peak trees, from the point of view of orna-
mental gardening, are ugly objects, and are, moreover,
liable to blow down in the first gale.
But there is no deciduous tree, however tall and un-
sightly it may be, which cannot be gradually converted
into a handsome, branching specimen, by the aid of a saw
and a pot of coal-tar.
happens
Flowers in Japan.—ll.
HE nurseries of the gardeners who supply the Japa-
nese with the immense quantities of flowers, shrubs
and trees they demand are scattered about in the suburbs
of the cities. They are well kept and contain a great
variety of plants, the most valuable of which are usually
very old, dwarfed trees. Singular objects, which are
greatly prized, are very old trees, which, to all appear-
ances, are quite dead, but still retain sufficient vitality to
send forth a few fresh blooming shoots each spring. Good
specimens of such trees are not common, and, on several
occasions when I found an unusually fine one, I was told
by the gardener that it had been in the possession of his
family for two or three generations. Rarity, in Japan, as
elsewhere, constitutes a virtue, as I found with regard to
some of the most highly prized and expensive plants I
saw, the chief recommendation of which was by no means
their beauty. A small plant, consisting of half a dozen
coarse, Pampas-grass-like blades, was pointed out to me
by a gardener as one of his most valuable possessions,
his price being 300 yen (about $250). Upon observing
my look of astonishment, he assured me that this was
not at all an unusual price, and that in former times he
might have sold it for double that amount. I was some-
what incredulous, but I learned later, on trustworthy
authority, that this was not a fictitious value. These
gardeners also arrange flower-shows in their gardens
from time to time. One of them, whose place I frequently
visited, held an annual Paony exhibition, which enjoyed
more than a local reputation. The potted plants were
placed under a light bamboo awning which extended
around three sides of the garden. The flowers were
placed on step-like shelves, which showed off each plant
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER Ig, 1888,
te als
distinctly. The exhibition was always announced by the
newspapers and was generally largely attended. Over 200
varieties, each represented by the most perfect specimens,
were shown. ‘There are also numbers of private gentle-
men who devote themselves to horticulture and who give
annual exhibitions of their productions.
But the most wonderful and elaborate displays of this
kind are given every spring and autumn by the Mikado
at his private gardens in Tokio, the former being devoted
to a view of the Cherry blossoms and the latter and most
attractive to a Chrysanthemum show.
Of late these entertainments have assumed a semi-
European character. Four years ago, when I attended
one of them, the Empress and her ladies appeared in the
picturesque and unique old court dress, but now that has
been superseded by the European style, which, as can
be imagined, deprives the occasion of much of its former
charm and interest.
The entertainment is given in a large park-like garden,
where a collection of the most varied and perfect speci-
mens of the Chrysanthemum are on exhibition, A num-
ber of light, neatly constructed bamboo sheds are
erected, and underneath, on the tiers of shelves, specimen
after specimen of every possible variety of this favorite
flower is shown in the greatest perfection. These plants,
each in a separate pot, bear only two or three flowers
each, the others having been nipped in the bud in order to
bring the few remaining ones to the greatest develop-
ment. There are, however, a few exceptions, consisting
of plants each of which bears several hundreds of very
perfect, though smaller, flowers; and, as the stem of
every individual flower is strengthened by means of a
fine strip of bamboo and drawn by a thread in a position
to show it to the fullest advantage, they seem even more
numerous than they are. One of the causes that have
tended to make the Chrysanthemum such a favorite, may
be the fact that it is the last of the long series of Japanese
flow ers, and continuing until covered by winter's snow,
The Chrysanthemum also forms the Mikado’s official crest. |
Another exhibition of the Chrysanthemum, consisting |
of large figures, made up entirely of, these flowers, of
different colors, is v ery popular with the masses. Several —
months in advance of the Chrysanthemum season the 7
frame-work of great figures, ranging from life-size to thirty —
feet in height, is constructed of wood and bamboo. Over _
this frame-work is a covering of rough wicker-work which —
outlines the forms of the figures. The head, hands and —
feet are made of papier maché, colored like life. The —
wicker-work interior is then filled in with great quantities _
of Chrysanthemum plants in bud. If, for instance, one of -
these figures is to be represented in a white garment, —
then the whole surface of the figure is filled in with —
white flowers. If embroidery is to figure thereupon, the |
effect is produced by variously colored flowers—yellow
to represent gold, etc.—and as the embroidery generally —
consists of floral designs, it is readily produced by flowers —
of the shade required. The plants are placed inside of —
the wicker-work covering, with the thickly massed buds_
protruding, while the roots are inside. The interior space —
is then filled with earth, and when the solid masses of
blossoms burst into bloom, they form a most harmonious —
glow of color, and so skillfully are they arranged, that_
the effect, at the proper distance, is quite deceptive, and
gives one a very fair representation of richly embroidered
costumes. a
These figures are arranged singly and in groups, and
represent, as a rule, mythological and historical charac-_
ters. <A favorite among these characters is the great hero, |
General Benke, in the act of slaying an enormous dragon. |
Another represents a fair courtesan in rich attire, accom-
panied by her little maid, who stops and gazes with con-—
sternation at an old priest who slowly approaches, and >
prophetically holds a grinning skull before her. A junk~
of almost natural size, with life-size figures, generally
forms one of the most elaborate representations. Wrestlers |
cn ee a i ne a
glue,
~weaker-seeming prevail ;
SEPTEMBER Ig, 1888.]
in life-like action, solemn gods and goddesses, without
number, are here presented in floral attire, to the ad-
miring multitude who flock in thousands to the spot.
New York. Theodore Wores.
A Woodland Tragedy.
O the conscientiously scientific student of Nature
everything that grows may possibly be of equal inter-
est at all times. But I think that for all desultory ob-
servers like myself there is sure, from week to week, to
be some new thing which, at the moment, specially
touches the fancy and seems more interesting than
everything besides. A while ago I was all for the
Heaths. Any one of their kindred seemed enchanting,
and nothing else seemed half so much so. Just now
the Sundews have taken their place in my affections.
Drosera rotundifola is our common species. This, of
course, is one of the things that must be looked for; but
if one looks it appears in a hundred spots, each of more
fairy-like loveliness than the other. ‘Tiny islets of moss
set around with low Blueberry bushes in half-swampy
meadows are its favorite stations, where it forms little
clumps of half a dozen plants. But I have found one
spot where it grows in much greater profusion. Far
back from the high-roads, through a_ wide-spreading
growth of young trees and thickly intermingled shrubs—
a growth too young as yet to be called a forest—runs an
abandoned road, green now over all its length, and often
to be traced only by the fact that it lies a little lower
than the general surface of the ground. Along this road,
ata place which is swampy after rain but dry enough in
time of drought, the moss is tangled with Cranberry vines
and spotted with patches of Sundews, while if one stoops
and lifts the curtain of shrubs and creepers which over-
hangs the little foot-high embankment on either side, its
face is found to be clothed for yards with the round, red,
bristly little leaves, each tiny hair bearing its drop of
like a diamond awaiting some Titania’s ear. Of
course the fact that these miniature, jewel-like arrange-
ments are murderous arrangements is what makes them
so attractive. Modest and retiring though it is, this tiny
plant gives us a chance to see a bit of the great world-
drama called the struggle for life in vivid action. Al-
though we know that one plant always lives by the death
of another, we do not often see this truth in clearly visible
shape. When we do, as when a Dodder is sucking the
life out of some tender stem, we suddenly find our interest
in vegetable development intensified ; and when it is not
a plant but an animal that succumbs, the interest grows
positively tragic in strength. We may poison or catch
flies by hundreds in our rooms and never think of such
words as fate or the struggle for existence—the forces in
conflict are too unequal. But watch a little, lovely Sun-
dew leaf when a tiny fly alights upon it, sit patiently for
some thirty minutes until the insect disappears in a tight,
little, red, clammy fist, and the whole panorama of the
world’s history seems to unroll before the imagination.
Perhaps it is because here the usual results are reversed,
and, animal and vegetable forces coming in conflict, the
perhaps it is simply because we
seldom think of plants as acting at all, and suddenly find
them in what looks like conscious effort; but, whatever
the reason, it must be a dull mind that is not thrilled
with a sense of the interdependence of all created things,
of the awfulness of Nature’s methods, the irresistible force
of fate, the iron rule of the law that nothing can live but
by the death of something else, when he sees a Sundew
clasp its victim. Do such words sound too big for so
small a drama—for a catastrophe which can be hidden by
the curl of a Fern-tip or the fall of a Blueberry leaf? If
so, it is because you have never looked: long enough at
tiny things to realize that what we call size counts for
nothing in Nature’s mind, whether beauty or significance
be her aim, and have never, while realizing this, seen a
Sundew catch a fly. M. G. van Rensselaer.
Marion, Mass.
Garden and
Forest. esa
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HE trial plots in the gardens of the Royal Horticul-
tural Society at Chiswick, a few miles from the centre
of London, are now full of interest to gardeners and all
interested in fruits, flowers or vegetables. For years the
Society has made trial of important flowers, fruits and
vegetables in order to test their qualities. They invite the
principal nurserymen and seedsmen to send collections of
particular classes, including their novelties, and all are
grown under as suitable conditions as is possible, so that
a fair test is given to all, and as the garden of the Society
is neutral ground, the trials have much value both to
tradesmen and to the gardening public. The subjects vary
from year to year. Sometimes it % Peas among vegeta-
bles; Strawberries among fruits; Pelargoniums or Begonias
among flowers, the subjects being chosen according to
their importance, their popularity or the state of. the
nomenclature of their varieties. By these means one is
able to see and inspect in a small area a collection of
many varieties, and in this way comparison of qualities
can be easily made. These public trials also furnish a
check upon the nomenclature, especially in reducing
synonymy. For instance, last season, Tomatoes were
put under trial. There was a multitude of named varieties,
but at judging-time the Committee found so many identi-
cal that the number of distinct kinds was very small. This
is good work, as it enables the amateur to select the best
and shun the worthless sorts.
Among the subjects under trial this year in the way of
flowers are China Asters, Ten-week Stocks and bedding
Lobelias, and I have to-day been included in the Com-
mittee whose work it is to judge these. We found an
enormous array of China Asters and Stocks, probably a
hundred named sorts, all growing side by side in lines
precisely under the same conditions, raised at the same
time and planted out simultaneously, and all received the
same cultural treatment. The principal exhibitors WEES
of course, continental firms, as we do not in England save
our own China Aster or Stock seeds. Messrs. vileveria:
Andrieux & Co., of Paris, and Messrs. Benary, of Erfurt,
sent most of the seeds for trial, the collections of both
being admirable, and it was difficult to say which was best.
One who had never seen great collections of these flowers
would be astonished at the great diversity of stature, of
habit and of'color among them. The practice of the Com-
mittee is to denote the qualities of the subjects by marks.
Thus, one mark is given for good habit of growth, one for
form of flower, one for richness, distinctness of color, and
so on; but, as arule, only those sorts that can command
three points—that is, are good in habit, in flower and in
color—are considered, and the three marks are taken as
equivalent to a first-class certificate.
The Ten-week Stocks were a difficult class to judge, as
there is such a difference in habit and color among them.
I will not attempt to enumerate all the varieties which were
counted worthy of a triple distinction, but will select a few.
The best of all were comprised in the tall, large-flowered
section. The spikes of bloom are massive, and the fow-
ers perfect rosettes, while for profusion of bloom and com-
pactness of growth they are faultless. The selected sorts
were blood-red, sulphur- yellow, lilac, violet, light violet
and purple, all of which were sent by V ilmorin. Benary’s
collection contained some very charming colors, and what
pleased me most were the subtle half tones, which, I fear,
many, who like only distinct and bright colors, would not
admit into eardens. One called Ash- gray was a peculiar
shade of grayish purple, quite indescribable; another called
Chamois was a soft fawn tint, and others called Lilac Rose
and Mauve Purple are most beautiful. The difficulty is to
find names for them all. The attempt to describe the
colors by the names is often a failure, while to give fancy
names to each would be absurd and lead to confusion.
Some of the dwarf sorts were exceptionally fine, the plants
352
being not more than six inches high and complete masses
of bloom, and one double white variety was singled out as
the best of all the dwarfs. ‘The Wallflower, cleaved sec-
tion, which have shining, not hoary, leaves (as in ordinary
Stocks), are a failure as far as this trial is concerned, and
so is what is called the Dwarf Bouquet section. They are
not to be compared with the tall and dwarf double-flowered
sorts. F
Among the China Asters we found only a few that were
in a fit condition to judge, the plants not being in full
bloom, But these very e early kinds in full bloom just now
are of great value, as they prolong the China Aster season,
and what we want is a ve ry late strain which would extend
the season over six or eight weeks. The dwarf strains
are very popular, as they are compact in growth and ex-
tremely floriferous. A few uncommonly fine ones received
to-day the full number of marks. Among these in the
Dwarf Chrysanthemum section were: Crimson, Scarlet
Red, Rose and White, all with large,.full flowers, abund-
antly produced on plants about nine inches high. There
is also a strain called the Dwarf Queen, ranging through
crimson, Carmine rose, purple and white. But the most
beautiful Asters, in my opinion, are yet to bloom, and we
shall inspect these a fortnight hence. These comprise
the Peony-flowered, Tall Chrysanthemum-flowered, Vic-
toria, Pyramidal, Quilled Pompone and Cockade sections.
These China Asters seem to become more popular every year
since such fine strains have been obtained. They are
capable of producing very beautiful effects in the flower-
border and require the simplest culture. The present
moist season has suited them well, as they have seldom
been finer at Chiswick.
No advance whatever seems to have been made lately
in improving the bedding Lobelias, as the varieties on
trial, including novelties, do not show any improvement
over the old strains.
A collection of Tomatoes is again on trial and a won-
derful display of fruiting plants is to be seen. The princi-
dal house (100 feet by 30 wide) is crowded with plants in
beds and trained to upright stakes. They range from six
feet to ten feet high and are profusely hung with fruits,
though only to-day z00 pounds had been cut. Of the
almost countless varieties two stand out prominently as
the finest of the collection. One is called Horsford’s
Prelude, an American variety, having been sent by Messrs.
Horsford & Pringle, of Vermont. It is a wonderfully
productive sort, the fruit numbering as many as a dozen
or more in a cluster, hanging at regular intervals all up the
stem. The fruit is of medium size, smooth, bright red,
very succulent and of good flavor. It is pronounced first-
class, and is likely to supersede all others, especially for
the market. | The other favorite sort is Perfection, known
under numerous aliases, for it is so good that every firm
seemed anxious to call it their own Perfection. It is a
very large sort, with perfectly smooth fruits, very fleshy
and well flavored. It is showy, and therefore gains a
point upon Prelude, though it is not so productive. The
value, however, of such a fine fruited sort, is that the
fruits fetch fully a penny a pound more in the market
than the small kinds, like Prelude, which sells at the
moment at six, while Perfection sells at seven pence per
pound. A prolific sort is President Garfield, called also
King Humbert and Chiswick Red, but it is nowhere, now
that Prelude is in the field. All credit is due to the
American seedsmen for sending us such a valuable fruit.
London, August 24th, 1888. W. Goldring.
New or Little Known Plants.
Pseudopheenix Sargenti.
N the 19th of April, 1886, in company with Mr. C. E.
Faxon, Mr. A. H. Curtiss, and Lieut. Hubbard, of the
United States Navy, I landed from the Light-house Tender
‘‘Laurel” near the eastern end of Elliott's Key, one of the
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 19, 1888.
larger of the Florida Reef Keys, at the house and Pineapple
plantation of Mr. Henry Filer. Our attention was at once
directed to a solitary plant of a small pinnate-leaved Palm,
left standing in the clearing,which,at first sight,was mistaken
for an Oreodo: va, but the large orange-scarlet fruit atonce _
showed that we had stumbled upon a tree unknown before _
in the North American Flora, and quite unlike any of the
species of Palms known to us. Specimens of the fruit, which
was not, unfortunately, fully ripe, were sent to Dr. Wend-
land, of Hanover, who provisionally pronounced our Palm
to be the representative of a new genus, for which he pro-
posed the name of Pseudophenix. ‘A short account of this
discovery, with the announcement of Dr. Wendland’s new
genus, but without characters, was published in the issue
of the Bolanical Gazelle, for November, 1886, but it was not
until a year later that I received through Mr. Curtiss ripe
seed of the Pseudophenitx, which was sent to Dr. Wendland,
who has drawn up from it generic characters. *
Pseudophenix Sargenti is a slender, low tree, twenty to
twenty-five feet high, with a trunk ten to twelve inches in
diameter, and abruptly pinnate leaves four or five feet long,
the pinne lanceolate-acuminate, twelve to sixteen inches
long, bright green above and glaucous on the lower surface.
The branching spadix appears from among the leaves ; it
is (in the only specimen seen by me) thirty-six inches long
by thirty inches broad, the main and secondary branches
light yellow-green, flattened, and the latter thickened at
the base, especially on the upper side, into an ear-like
process. ‘The three-lobed fruit, often one or two-lobed by
abortion, is a half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter,
pele orange-scarlet, and very showy. Only the withered —
remnants of the flowers have been collected.
A few individuals were discovered scattered through the
woods in the neighborhood of Mr. Filer’s plantation, and,
late in the same year, a grove of them was discovered near
the east end of Long’s Key by a gentleman from Bay —
Biscayne whose name I cannot recall. There are about
200 plants, large and small, in this grove, which is repre-
sented in the illustration upon page 353, from a photograph
made by Mr. James M. Codman at the time of our visit to
Long’s Key in the spring of 1887. These are the only sta-
tions where Pseudophenix is now known, but as the flora
of the Florida Reef Keys is Bahaman in its constitution,
and probably in its origin, it would be a singular fact if |
this tree was not found in some of the Bahama group, the
plants of which are still very imperfectly known.
The figure of the fruit (see page 355) is engraved froma |
drawing made by Mr. Faxon. CASS:
.
=
Cultural Department.
Cultivation of Native Ferns.—IV.
Aspidium Goldianum.—As Eaton says, “ This is one of the —
very finest and largest species of the Eastern States.”” In even
choice collections this species will always be one of the prides
of the owner on account of the size, color and beauty of the-
fronds and comparative rarity of the species. Itsearlysummer _
growth is tipped and bordered with vivid golden green. The
mature frond takes on a deep, rich green of much beauty.
Rich soil. Two and a half to four feet. Fronds on one fine
specimen measure four feet two and a half inches.
Aspidium filix-mas.—A_ strong, fine-growing, half-ever-
green species of great beauty. Under high cultivation this
produces splendid masses of fronds. Thirty to forty inches.
Aspidium marginale,—An attractive common species. The
half-evergreen fronds grow in a handsome vase form. Grows
finely in rich soil; but will grow in extremely poor and dry
situations. Eig hteen to tw enty-nine inches.
* Pseudophanix Nov. Gen., Herm. Wendl. Gaussiz affinis.
Fructus s¢7pitatus drupaceus cerasiformis aurantiacus, e carfellis 1-3 globosis”
stigmatum residuis basilaribus vel in fructibus lobatis lateralibus vel centralibus, —
epicar pio coriaceo, mesocarpio grumoso, endocarpio tenuiter vitreo-crustaced.
Semen liberum subglobosum erectum, hilo basilari, raphe adscendente ztringue
ramis 2-3 M anifestis curvatis, albumine aequabili ; enbryo basilaris.
Fl, fem. in fructu: calyx parvus pateriformis leviter 3-denticulatus,
ovata obtusa, viridia v¢/racta. Staminodia 6. 2anifesta apice atropurpureo. :
— Palma me diocris, erecta, foliis pinnatisectis, segmentis durtusculis ima bast
valde replicetis.
Species 1. P. Sarxgent7, Herm, Wendl.
Petala 3
Elliott’s Key, Florida.
SEPTEMBER Ig, 1888.]
Aspidium spinulosum.—This common and handsome sub-
evergreen Fern is one of the mainstays of the Fern garden. In
good soil well established plants send up abundant fronds toa
good height from the stout root-stock. Of easiest possible
culture, growing finely even in poor and dry soil. Two to two
and a halt feet. The varicties intermedium and dilatatum are
both as desirable as the type. A fine plant of the latter variety
measures thirty-seven inches in height.
Aspidium Boottii.—Very close to A. spinulosum. Remarks
and culture the same as for that species. Two and a half feet.
Aspidium fragrans.— This rare Fern is difficult to culti-
vate; one can hardly expect to grow it more than a few years.
Evergreen. Plant-in rather dry, well-drained clefts in rocks,
and cover with a frame in winter, or plant in pots wedged
in with stones. Peat and leaf-mould. Four fo ten inches.
Garden and Forest.
BOS
Aspidium aculeatum, var. Braunti.—This rare and beautiful
sub-evergreen Fern is one of the choicest of our natives for
cultivation. Fronds deep, rich green and chaffy ;
easily grown. Fifteen to ne inches. The type of this
species and the closely related Aspidium angularc, natives of
Europe, are both very handsome and desirable Ferns to culti-
vate. They do well with a frame protection in winter, and
may be perfectly hardy, as is our variety.
Cystopteris fragilis.—A very charming. little
culture, Will thrive under very various ¢ onditions of moisture
or sunshine. Nine to twelve and a half inches.
Cystopterts bulbifera.- This, when well grown, of the
most beautiful and interesting of our native Ferns. It wants:
moist, cool spot, and then will develop fronds of avin assing
grace and beauty. It increases very rapidly by bulble ts,
very distinct,
Fern of easy
is one
Fig. 55.—Pseudophcenix Sargenti on Long’s Key,
Aspidium Lonchitis.—This handsome evergreen Fern is,
unfortunately, difficult togrow. Peatand leaf-mould. A native
of the far north and north-west. Frame. Six fo eighteen inches.
Aspidium acrostichoides.—A very fine Fern in cultivation,
its thick, glossy, rich evergreen foliage being fine by itself, or
as acontrast with lighter green species. The variety Incisum
is very handsome, deeply cleft individuals being almost
suggestive of Holly leaves. The fronds of this species are
used by the trade extensively in winter in making up bou-
quets, and it might, therefore, pay to Brow, it commercially.
Eighteen to twenty- two inches.
Aspidium munitum.—A handsome evergreen species from
the north-west, well worth cultivating. Not hardy ;- but at the
Botanic Garden in Cambridge it does swell with a frame in win-
ter. Fifteen to eighteen inches.
Florida.—See page
sian
best
which fall to the ground and root freely. The bed
be thinned out and the plants reset occasionally to get the
results. It is very fine grown at a little elevation, as on a
moist bank or portion of the rock-work; the graceful fronds
can then show off to greatest advantage. Twenty-four to
thirty inches.
Onoclea sensibilis.—This Fern is very desirable on account
of its distinctness and possibilities under cultivation. It might
be overlooked by a cultivator on account of its commonness ;
but it would be a great mistake to omit it from the Fern-gar-
den. The broad, ligh t green frond is an objectof great be auty,
intermingled w ith darker species, and with good c ulture attains
fine proportions. Two anda half to three and a half feet.
Onoclea Struthiopteris.—This splendid Fern is capabte of pro-
ducing very grand, almost sub-tropical effects, when well
354
grown, and in quantity, or as a single specimen plant, forms a
striking object in the Fern-garden, In spring the pinne of
the young fronds overlap one another in a graceful fashion,
suggestive of the form seen in well curled ostrich plumes.
Gradually the fronds push up until they attain a height of
four feet or more in fine specimens, and spreading out in a
vase-like form from the abbreviated, tree-like base, make truly
splendid Fern effects. The brown fertile fronds come up in
midsummer and give a pleasing contrast to the green, sterile
fronds. It increases rapidly by sucker-like, running root-
stocks. These should be dug up occasionally and planted
elsewhere, or otherwise disposed of, as they will interfere with
the main plants if allowed to remain, Four to four and one-
half feet.
Woodsia glabella and IV. hyperborea are delicate little Ferns,
growing naturally in shaded clefts of rocks trickling with
moisture. They would be both difficult to cultivate, and had,
perhaps, best be attempted in a Wardian case in a very cool
green-house. Only IV. hyferborea has been grown by me
or seen under cultivation. WW”. glabella. One to four inches ;
W. hyperborea, Two to six inches.
Woodsia Mlvensis.—Grows in dense clumps of extremely pretty
chaffy fronds. When young the fronds are almost silvery
froma thick coating of chaff. Plant in well-drained, sunny
spots, with rocks. Very attractive in cultivation. Two to five
inches. ‘
IWoodsia obtusa.—A very pretty Fern, not difficult to grow.
Peat and leaf-mould. A plant at the Botanical Garden in
Cambridge measures ten inches.
Dichksonia pilosiuscula.—A handsome, desirable species,
Fronds quite tall, light green, sweet scented. A fine Fern for
covering bare spots with a dense, carpet-like growth. Grows
freely inany situation. Two and one-half to three feet.
Lygodium palmatum.—This, the Hartford trailing Fern, is
one of the most striking and attractive of all our native spe-
cies. Rather difficult to get established, but, judging trom a
fine clump in Dr. Henry P. Walcott’s garden in Cambridge,
it does well after it is established.* Two feet, growing taller as
the season advances.
Osmunda regalis.—A fine Fern, very distinct from the two
following species. In spring the fronds come up, of an ex-
quisite reddish brown, passing into green, and the brown
stems are covered with a bloom. The color and form and
grace of the young fronds’ have an indescribable charm.
Later the fronds push up till they reach a size entitling this
Fern to highest rank amongst the showy native species. The
popular name of Royal Fern was given to this species in
England, where it attains a much greater size than in this
country. Moore, in ‘* The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland,”
says it attains the height of six to eight or even ten to twelve
feet in damp, sheltered situations. A splendid specimen,
seen growing in an artificial bog at Kew Gardens, towered
above the head ofatall man. In cultivating this fine Fern,
as well as the two other species of the genus, secure the
largest roots possible and plant in the dampest spot in the
garden; a natural or artificial bog will be found best adapted
for their needs. The specimens measured are grown in
ordinary garden soil; but even then good results may be ob-
tained. Three to three and one-half feet.
Osmunda Claytonania.—The sterile fronds of this species
are quite similar to those of O. c/nnamomea, but the fertile are
combined ina single frond, witha sterile portion unlike that
species. It isa very handsome Fern, particularly when in fruit.
Culture the same as for O. regalis. Forty to forty-six inches.
Osmunda cinnamomea,—One of the finest and most distinct
of our native Ferns. The delightful woolly fronds come up
in spring strong and vigorous, with a beauty peculiarly their
own, In early summer the fertile or flowering fronds, as they
are called, form a fine cluster of -einnamon-brown spikes in
the centre of the vase, forming tall, green fronds, producing
a very fine effect. In autumn the fronds commonly change
to arich reddish or golden yellow. Culture as for O. regalis.t
Three to three and one-half feet. These measurements
could doubtless be much exceeded under favorable cireum-
stances.
The Botrychiums are a difficult group to handle, and I
have never seen them successfully established under cultiva-
*The species is considered as indigenous only to the United States; but, curi-
ously, Dr. Walcott’s plant was sent to him from Europe, and was said to have
come from Japan.
1 O. cinnamomea is the only Fern, as far as observed, that seems to be truly
affected by cultivation, The lower divisions of the pinnae in several plants in the
er’s collection are produced and are themselves pinnatifid. Eaton notes this
as occurring sometimes in Juxuriant wild specimens. The character varies in
degree or may be wanting in different seasons on the same plant. A plant of the
yariety frondosa also varies in different seasons and individual fronds in showing
its varietal characteristic.
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER Ig, 1888.
tion. Fora year they will grow well, and sometimes two or
three years they survive ; but they eventually become smaller
and smaller and soon disappear. Many plants known to the
horticulturist will not bear transplanting, and this may be
such a case, so that if grown from spores where they were
to remain, Botrychiums might be successfully cultivated.
Botrychium Virginianum is the strongest and tallest of our
species, and Mr. Robinson says it is the easiest to cultivate ;
it would, therefore, probably be the best species to attempt to
grow by means of spores. Leaf-mould and peat. Eight to
twenty-four inches. Mrs. P. D. Richards, of West Medford,
has grown Botrychium ternatum, var. dissectum, in pots suc-
cessfully for a limited period. There are four other species
of Botrychiums indigenous to New England, but they are
omitted, as no cultural remarks can be made concerning them.
Ophioglossum vulgatum,.—This Fern, like the Botrychiums,
may be considered difficult to cultivate. It may be grown for
a short time in pots in peat and leaf-mould, and perhaps, with
similar treatment, in the open ground. 7wo to twelve inches.
In the following lists the Ferns not indigenous to New Eng-
land are designated by an asterisk, and an interrogation mark
signifies that a Fern questionably belongs to a list, and that
it may more properly be considered under one of the other
lists.
Perfectly hardy Ferns, easily grown and desirable for gen-
eral cultivation ;
Polypodium vulgare. Aspidium spinulosum and va-
Preris aguilina. rieties.
Adiantum pedatum., as Bootit,
Asplenium ebeneum ? io acrostichoides.
ue angustifoliune. fs ss var.
u Thely pteroides, 71CTSUML.
tF Lilix-femina and sf aculeatum, var.
Brauntt,.
Cystopteris fragilis.
varieties.
Phegopterts polypodioides.
hexagonoptera ? ae bulbifera,
Dryopterts. Onoclea senstbilis.
Aspidium Noveboracense. “ Struthiopterts.
ay Thely pteris. Woodsia Ilvensts.
nt cristatum., a obtusa.
« " var. Clin- Dicksonia pilosiuscula,
fonianune. Lygodium palmatum 2
e Goldianum, Osmunda regalis,
" filix-mas. us Claytoniana.
v marginale, ss cinnamomed.
Ferns requiring the protection of a frame in winter, but
easily grown with that care :
Camptosorus rhizophyllus.
Phegopteris hexagonoptera.
oe calcarea,
*Polypodium Californicum.
*Lomaria Spicant.
Asplenium Trichomanes.
Me ebeneume. *Aspidium Nevadense.
*Scolopendrium vulgare. he 9 Me munitum,
Ferns more or less difficult to cultivate, and best grown in
pots, or with the protection of a frame in winter:
Can ptosorus rhizophyllus,
“ atropurpurea, Aspidium fragrans.
Cryptogramme acrostichoides. * “ Louchitis.
Woodwardia angustifolia. Woodsia glabella,
Pellea gracilis.
a Virgtnica, hy per borea.
Asplenium viride. Botrychiums.
i Ruta-muraria. Ophioglossum vulgatum.
Boston, Robert T. Fackson.
Dutch Bulbs.
peers, Tulips, Crocus, Narcissus and the like now
claim attention. Complaints are often made that these
bulbs do not succeed; they either winter-kill or fail to pro-
duce such. flowers as the catalogues promise, or such even
as are seen when the bulbs are grown in pots, and every year
comes the repeated question, ‘*Why did we fail?” For the
failure there may be many causes, and the first is the neglect
to plant the bulbs atthe proper season. While these bulbs
all require perfect rest, when they may be kept as dry
as seeds, it does not follow that they can remain out of
ground beyond a given time without injury. For the best
success all Dutch bulbs should be planted by the first of Oc-
tober, and, if worth planting at all, it should not be deferred
until November, because by that time they commence growth,
and when.-this goes on in their dry state their vitality is im-
paired. :
The next cause of failure, and the most important of all, is
SEPTEMBER 19, 1888.]
the general impression that these bulbs are hardy. Hya-
cinths, Narcissus and many other Dutch bulbs are not hardy,
and are not so considered by those who cultivate them for
sale. In Holland the beds are mulched with the reed, so com-
mon on the borders of their canals, so that it is impossible
for the frost to penetrate the earth at all. This precaution
is needed in this country more than in Holland, because of
the constant and severe changes of temperature. Our ex-
perience has taught us the necessity of mulching so
thoroughly that frost cannot even enter the ground, much
less reach the bulbs. With this precaution we can grow the
Hyacinth as successfully as the celebrated Dutch growers,
although we have more, in the way of climatic changes, to
contend with, than they.
A great difficulty i is the marked change in temperature so
common in April or May, when the flowers appear. Some
suitable covering for the bed should be at hand, ready for
use when required, and thrown over the plants when there is
danger of a severe frost.
The best mulching we have ever tried, and the most natural
one, is newly fallen leaves, always abundant in the garden ;
cover the bed to the depth of a foot, and keep the leaves from
getting scattered about by a layer of evergreen boughs ; if
these are not convenient, use brush of any kind or old boards:
whatever is the easiest to obtain is the best to use.
The Polyanthus Narcissus is still less hardy, in fact it will
not endure freezing, and therefore must be carefully protected.
Tulips are hardy, but they will produce far finer blooms if
moderately protected, and the same may be said of Crocus.
Fig. 56.—Fruit of Pseudopheenix SargentiiSee page 35
é—Section of a an
a—Portion of a. panicle (natural size).
d@—Embryo,
c—Seed, showing raphis.
The most suitable soil for Hyacinths is a light, rich, sandy
loam or clear sand; but they will do well in any good garden
soil. To grow them to perfection, however, special treatment
is necessary, and no plants require more care to keep them
from degenerating than the Hyacinth. They are strong
feeders, ‘and the soil cannot very well be too rich, if they
are to produce strong spikes of flowers. No fresh or rank
manure, however, should be used on any account. Thor-
oughly rotted manure from the cow-stable is the best, and it
should be placed a foot below the surface of the bed.
In making beds for Hyacinths the ground should be dug to
the depth of at least fifteen inches, and proper provision
should be made for effectual drainage, Six inches of man-
ure should be placed at the bottom and covered with four
inches of soil; upon this place the bulbs, say five inches
apart each way. If the soil is heavy and tenacious, cover the
bulbs with a little coarse sand, then cover the whole with soil
so that the crowns will be at least five inches below the sur-
face. Hyacinths can be grown fairly well without this care,
but perfection of bloom, for which every cultivator should
strive, requires all the care here recommended.
The selection of the bulbs is, toa considerable extent, one of
individual taste as regards colors and variety of form, but a
few rules can be laid down for general use. Choose the
heaviest and most solid. Size is not of so much importance,
except for forcing in pots or glasses, when the largest and best
should be chosen. For the open border, medium or small
bulbs are preferable, as they will remain longer i in the ground
Garden and Forest. 355
od
without division, giving annually fine spikes of bloom. The
cost of second-sized- bulbs is considerably less than larger
ones, and that, too, is a point in their favor.
As a spring flower for garden decoration nothing can sur-
pass the Tulip. The finest varieties of these bulbs can now be
obtained at prices that will permit their general cultivation,
and with a little care they willrapidly increase. The Tulip de-
lights in the same soil as the Hyacinth, and it should be pre-
pared i in the same manner. The bulbs should be placed tour
r five inches below the surface, according to size, and it is
important that each variety should be put in at a uniform
depth to insure simultaneous display. Tulips will do well
planted any time before the ground freezes up. They do bet-
ter by far if planted much earlier—in fact, as early as they can
be obtained.
The hardy varieties of Narcissus, now very popular, should
be planted in quantity, especially in those spots where it ap-
pears naturally at home, such as under the shade of trees and
in shrubbery borders. There is now an awakened interest in
the many forms of double and single } Narcissus (Daffodils),
and they are certainly most effective garden flowers. All the
varieties should be grown in’ clumps and patches in every
spot which is suitable and vacant. In any out-of-the-way
place large quantities of WV. poeticus should be planted for a
supply of cut flowers. Their graceful appearance renders
them peculiarly valuable for this purpose, and if cut when
partially opened, they will develop in water and last for many
days. In planting be guided by the size of the bulb, allowing
four or five inches between small sorts, and five or six inches
between the larger varieties. Bulbs of Narcissus may re-
main undisturbed for many years, and annually i improve in
the quantity and quality of the bloom. Soil is a secondary
matter with the Narcissus; a moderately heavy one is to be
preferred, but they will grow almost anywhere.
The Crocus must be planted early to succeed. If kept out of
the ground until November it will never regain its lost vitality.
Plant in September if possible, and in no case after October.
These bulbs will grow in any soil, and do fairly well for many
years undisturbed. Make the soil very rich, cover the bulbs
two inches, and protect the same as Hyacinths.
Snowdrops are about the earliest spring flowers, and par-
ticularly desirable because of their willingness to bloom under
all circumstances. It seriously injures these bulbs to remain
long out of ground; therefore plant early, about two inches
deep, and, if po ssible, where they may remain undisturbed for
many years. In moist, shaded places they will form dense
masses, completely driving outall other herbaceous vegetation.
Crown Imperials can only be grown to advantage in gar-
dens, and stately plants they are. They demand a ‘rich, light
soil and an open position. Carefully protect against frost, for
although frost hardly injures the growing plant, the bulbs are
always. injured by freezing. C..£, Allen:
Queens, N. Y.
The Vegetable Garden.
Cye plants of Globe Artichoke now show many dead
leaves and flower stems, which should be cut and re-
moved. Have the frames, sashes or other protectors ready to
place over the Snap Beans, Cucumbers and Tomatoes, to save
them from frost. If Brussels Sprouts show no te ‘ndenc y to
sprout pinch the points out of a row of them; this will induce
them to form side sprouts early, but these et uly sprouts are
not likely to be solid; only those that appear naturally
can be depended on. If Cabbi ives or Cauliflowers are hearting
too soon, pry up the plants a little with a digging fork, then
pack the ground solid about them again; this checks their
growth. ‘Kee p young Carrots, Beets and Turnips thoroughly
clean, and hoe them every week. Sow a little Chervil for use
in spring, and, if desired for winter, sow some in a frame.
Sow some Corn Salad in a frame in rows six inches apart. As
this isa small growing vegetable it should be sown thickly.
German Greens can be sowed in rows, fifteen inches apart, In
rich but well-drained ground out-of- doors, for use in spring.
This crop should be lightly mulched with sedge, sea thatch or
dry leaves in winter. E rfurt Cauliflower and Wakefield Cab-
bages were formerly sowed about the 2oth of September to be
wintered i in cold-frames and planted out for early spring crop,
but we are more successful with plants raised in the green-
house or hot-bed in February or the 1st of March. But in the
Southern States fall sowing is still much practiced. Early
Celery should be earthed up as required, but banking the late
winter crops should be delayed. Never handle Celery while
itis wet with dew orrain. Putina large sowing of Lettuces
for winter use. Sow them out-of-doors and early in October
prick them closely into a cold-frame, Salamander is the best
356
for use before Christmas; after that, Boston Market; but both
must be sown now. — Lettuces planted out in the open garden
after this time of year will not be likely to mature before frost
destroys them, but, if planted now, the halt-grown Lettuces
can be lifted into the frames in October. It isfrom the frames
thus filled that our supply of young plants is drawn for hot-
beds between November and February.
Winter Spinach should be sown now.’ If it is to be left un-
covered over winter, sow the Prickly-seeded; if it is to be pro-
tected by frames or mulching, the Round-seeded will be just
as good and rather more prolific. The soil should be rich, and
have a warm, sunny aspect, sheltered from cold winds, and so
well drained that water cannot lie upon it in winter. If in the
open garden the rows may be fifteen inches apart. The
ground set apart for Winter Spinach has been occupied dur-
ing the summer by green-house, winter-flowering plants,
which we are now lifting and potting. Last year we used
ground that had been cropped with early Melons. Field mice
are so numerous and destructive here, that it is useless to try
Spinach in the open ground and mulch it in winter; we cover
our crop with cold-frames. The land is marked off in strips
eight and one-half feet wide; this gives strips six feet wide tor
the frames, with two and one-half feet for passages between
them. Seven rows, ten inches apart, running lengthwise, are
then marked off to each string of frames, and this leaves a few
inches between the outer rows and the sides of the frames.
The frames may be laid down now or in November, but must
not be covered with sashes till sharp frost occurs. Spinach
sown now will yield a good picking in about five or six weeks
after sowing, but, except to thin it where it is too thick, it
should not be picked clean. During the winter months there
is no need to exclude frost altogether ; sashes, straw mats and
extra sashes or shutters over the mats in the case of very severe
weather, will answer, if in early December the frames are
banked with earth, leaves or manure. ‘
Onion sets are often planted in fall so as to save time in
spring. Thisshould be done early, so as to get them well
started before winter setsin. Use light, warm, dry soil, and
plant in rows marked off four inches deep and a foot apart.
Yellow Danvers, Red Wethersfield and Southport White
Globe are good Onions for this crop. To insure a good crop,
these Onions should be mulched in winter to prevent ‘‘ scald-
ing” and frost heading, so, taking all things into considera-
tion, it is better not to plant out any in the fall, but wait
till early spring. Many gardeners sow a bed of Danvers
Onions early in September and mulch it in winter, to supply
green Onions carly in spring. Wm. Falconer.
Glen Cove, L. I.
Fay’s Prolific Currant.—The commendation of this Currant
by Mr. Williams, in the issue of GARDEN AND Foresr for
August 8th, is none too emphatic. In my experience with the
newer small fruits, I find it is the one which meets all the
claims made for it by its originator and propagator. And,
by the way,is Mr. Josselyn, its propagator, a descendant of the
Josselyn who, in 1672, published ‘New England Varieties of
Red and Black Currants"? -
About six years ago I purchased a single plant of Fay’s
Currant for one dollar, and, in my ground, it has justified
all the promises made, and wherever I have seen it grow-
ing in New Jersey it has been far ahead of the Cherry or Ver-
sailles in production, while in size and quality it is their equal,
to say the least. :
[have a dozen bushes propagated from the original one,
and this year have picked eighty-four quarts, or an average of
seven quarts to each plant, the bunches of fruit being from four
to five inches long, while many measured fully six inches. The
space between the base of the stem and the first berry greatly
facilitates the work of picking and saves the fruit from being
crushed. The Cherry and Versailles set their fruit close up
to the old wood, and in a compact mass, which makes picking
difficult.
In size I find Fay’s as large as the Cherry or Versailles in
their best condition, more full of juice and of superior quality.
I never found a Currant so satisfactory for jelly and table
use, and, if picked at the right time, it makes more jelly and
in less time than‘any other variety. In fact, I have discarded
all others. It may be doubted whether any expert, with his
eyes shut, could distinguish the flavor of Fay’s and the
Cherry at their best, while in appearance Fay’s far excels all
others.
With berries half an inch in diameter, and bunches from
four to five inches long, and the bushes literally loaded, it
would seem that perfection in Currants had been reached.
But it possesses one more good quality, namely, that all
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 19, 1888,
sound wood grown this year will beara full crop next year.
There are no dormant buds, and, in this respect, it differs
from other varieties. Chas. L. Fones.
Newark, N. J.
China Asters.—Comet maintains its reputation as being one _
of the most beautiful, large, rose-purple, spreading-petaled
varieties. But while each plant produces about a dozen flow-
ers, only a few of them are of full size and perfect. Dwarf
White Queen is the best white Aster here. It is small, but
not bunchy in habit ; very free flowering, and the flowers are
large, full-double, pure white, and the most of them are large _
sized. It is earlier than most other varieties, and the plantsin
the row are of perfectly even size. Itseems to be aselection —
from the Chrysanthemum-flowered section. The New Dwarf —
Crimson Queen is, except in the color of its lowers, whichare |
purplish-crimson, an exact counterpart of White Queen. Dia-_
dem is anew type of Aster, anda novelty of this year. It is
a compact-growing, upright, much-branched variety, with
small, crimson-purple flowers edged with a band of white. —
Our plants are now in bloom, and the poorest of any Asters ©
of any type we have. The flowers are very imperfect, and —
the white band indistinct. After the type has been properly |
fixed and the band well defined, no doubt this will become a _
desirable flower. Triumph is one of this year’s novelties. It
is a dwarf, compact, tree-blooming variety, but later in bloom-
ing than other China Asters. It is described as “eight or
nine inches high.” ‘The flower-heads are from two anda half —
to three inches across, very perfect in form, with incurved —
petals of a pure scarlet when first expanded, changing to
satiny deep scarlet.” Our plants of it are now in bloom, ~
and are about nine inches high, compact, with ten or fifteen
medium-sized flowers on each, and these flowers are of a
bright purplish-crimson color, and not scarlet at all in any
stage of their growth. Did any one ever see a scarlet-_
flowered China-Aster of any sort? (ERC:
Asclepias atrosanguinea aurea is one of this year’s novelties. |
It is described as a Bolivianspecies resembling 4. Curassavica
‘“‘in habit, but is much more effective ; its numerous flowers,
borne in large, dense umbels of a deep blood-red, with a-
golden-yellow corona or centre.” This plant and A. Curassa-_
vica are growing along-side of each other, and are now in
bloom. They are both from seed sown in the green-house
last spring, and the seedlings planted out in the open garden,
where they now are blooming. The flowers of the A. atro-
sanguinea aurea are of a deeper and brighter color (exactly as
described above) than those of A. Curassavica, but, except in-
this slight variation in color of blossoms, the two species, so-
called, seem to be identical. Lf.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
Vitex incisa, which is now in flower, is a small, bushy tree
or tall shrub, with erect branches, which are covered with —
compound, digitate leaves, composed of five to seven lanceo-
late, deeply pinnatifid leaflets, and terminated with spike-like
clusters of handsome blue flowers. The stems are sometimes
killed back in severe winters here, but as the flowers are borne -
on the new growth this does not interfere with the blooming
of this really desirable plant. It is a native of northern China,
where it seems to be common on mountain-sides. The well
known Chaste-tree (Vites Agnus-Castus), a native of the country
surrounding the Mediterranean, is not hardy in the Northern
States. The other Asiatic species, of which there are two in
Japan and a third in northern China, are not in cultivation
probably. ; 7
Panax sessiliflorum is a native of the Amoor country. It is
here a stout and very-hardy shrub, with erect, unarmed
stems, three or four feet high, and covered with pale brown
bark, upon which are many small, darker, wart-like growths.
The ample, yellow-green, ternate leaves are borne on long,
stout petioles, and quite cover the stems from the ground up-
ward. The flowers are small, with dark purple corolla and
stamens, and are aggregated in spherical heads, which a
borne on stout stems in short, erect racemes from the axils ¢
the upper leaves. This plant has been in bloom now for more
than a month, and it will continue to produce its handsome
heads of flowers until the appearance of frost. This pecu-
liarity, the neat, compact habit and great hardiness, make this
a desirable garden plant. Its real claim, however, upon t
attention of planters, lies in the fact that the flowers are fo
lowed by heads of shining black berries, which remain upo
the branches bright and fresh until the appearance of the new
leaves in spring. The number of shrubs which carry their
SEPTEMBER Ig, 1888.]
fruit fresh through the severe winters of the Northern States
is so small, that any addition to the number is welcome.
Clematis Flammula, a native of southern Europe, is a well
known garden plant, having been cultivated for three cen-
turies at least. It is a vigorous grower, and its pure white,
fragrant flowers are not, perhaps, surpassed in beauty by those
of any of the small-flowered, summer-blooming Clematises.
A variety of this, a more vigorous and freer- blooming plant,
is known in nurseries as C. Flammula robusta. It should find
a place in every garden in which there is room for a rampant
climber capable of covering in the course of a few years a
space twenty feet or more square. The stems grow late in
the season, and so are often killed back in severe winters; but
this pruning only increases the vigor of the plant, and stimu-
lates it to a stronger growth, and more profuse, although
a later, blooming. ‘Here the flowers are just opening, and will
continue to appear until destroyed by cold weather. Mr.
Dawson finds this plant slow and difficult to propagate either
by layers or cuttings.
Clematis Pieroti is flowering in the Arboretum for the first
time. Itis a pretty, delicate Japanese species, with small white
flowers and pinnate leaves, the pinne sharply and deeply ser-
rate, with prominent veins, covered with short, oppressed
hairs, which appear more sparingly on the upper surface.
This is an interesting and rather valuable addition to the
list of summer flowering, climbing plants, although in habit
and in flower it is not unlike our native C Virginiana. It
blooms, however, several weeks later. C. Prerofz is appar-
ently perfectly hardy. ;
Cissus Faponica is one of some _ twenty-five Asiatic,
African and Australian species which constitute Planchon’s
section Cayratia, distinguished by the inflated corolla, with
spreading petals, devaricately branched cyme, and by the
annual stems proceeding from large, tuberous roots, which, in
the case of C. Faponica, are able to support the climate of
our Northern States. The stems are four or five feet high,
sharply angled, climbing by means of stout tendrils. The
leaves are three to five foliate, long petioled, dark green and lus-
trous. The sub-axillary cymes of flowers are long peduncled,
widely, dichotomously branched. The flowers are short pedi-
celed, the base of the corolla distinctly swollen, with ovate,
triangular, pale rose-colored petals. The truit, which is hardly
as large as a pea, is crimson. This is a widely distributed
plant from Japan through many of the East Indian Islands and
New Caledonia to tropical Australia. It has little value as
an ornamental garden-plant, but much interest as represent-
ing acurious form of the Grape Vine.
September 3d. Te
The Forest.
A New Forest Law in Russia.
HILE our own Government refuses to take any ju-
dicious action looking towards the preservation of
our forests, or, to state the case more correctly, while
public opinion here is not sufficiently educated on the
subject to command its expression in intelligent laws, or
to enforce such laws even if they were enacted, the other
nations of the world are making efforts to save themselves
from the disasters which follow unchecked and unregu-
lated tree cutting. The latest Government to adopt meas-
ures for saving its forests is Russia, where, for generations,
timber has been recklessly felled and forests plundered.
It has long been admitted that stripping the forest cover
from the sources of her streams has brought serious
changes in the physical and climatic conditions of the em-
pire, one of which is seen in shallower harbors and water-
courses. To restrain these evils and restore better condi-
tions so far as may be, alaw has been enacted, which is
warmly commended by the best organs of public opinion,
so that the work of the Commission created by the law is
more likely to be carried on with spirit and energy and not
in a superficial or perfunctory way. Some of the features
of the law are outlined in the following letter from the St.
Petersburg correspondent of the London Zimes :
“The new law just promulgated extends to all forests,
Government, communal and private, which are to be planned
out by a special commission appointed by the Ministry of
Imperial Domains, and are to be designated protected woods,
The timber thus to be protected may be roughly divided
under the following heads: (a2) Growing in shifting sand and
Garden and Forest.
coy
obstructing its encroachment on seacoasts, navigable rivers,
channels and artificial water courses; (6) sheltering towns, set-
tlements, villages, railways, high roads, post roi ids, cultivate d
land, and equally such the removal of which might aid the
formation of shitting sands ; (c) protecting the shores of navi-
gable rivers, channels and watercourses from landslips, over-
flows and damage from floating ice; and, lastly, timber and
underwood growing on hillsides, cliffs and slopes, if such be
found to avert landslips, detachment of rocks, the formation
of snow avalanches and rapid torrents. The measures for
carrying the foregoing into effect are intrusted to a commis-
sion, w hich elaborates plans not only for the preservation of
standing timber, but likewise for the planting of saplings and
the proper and regular thinning of forests, With regard to
private woods, the measures issued by the commisson are to
be applied with the consent and co-operation of the proprie-
tors, if possible. If, however, the latter are opposed to such
measure, the property is purchased by the State at a certain
valuation and the necessary plans carried out. The owners
have the right, within a certain period, of repurchasing the
property for the same price, but with the addition of the cost
of introducing the measures and six per cent. per annum on
the capital. In other cases the necessary steps can be taken
without purchasing the property at the expense of the propri-
etor. To enforce the observance of the rules laid down by the
commission, new penalties have been promulgated against
transgressors, particularly as regards plunder of timber,
which is carried on throughout the country to an incredible
extent.”
Planting the Dunes.
ROM Calais to Hamburgh is a long stretch, but for nearly
the whole distance the coast line consists of loose sand,
now forming flat “links,” with a sparse but botanically very
interesting vegetation, now blown up into picturesque, irregu-
lar hillocks, held together, more or less, by creeping grasses
and other plants. In some parts of Kent, in Suffolk and Lin-
colnshire, the same conditions prevail, but on a smaller scale.
However pictorial, or however interesting to the naturalist,
such land is, agriculturally, mostly a sterile waste, and it is
therefore with no surprise that we learn that the King of the
Belgians has interested himself in the matter, and ‘has ap-
pointed a commission to study the best means of planting the
dunes. Weare the less surprised at His Majesty’s interest in
the matter, as some years ago we were eye-witnesses to the
process of digging out His Majesty’s villa at Ostend from the
sand which had accumulated during the winter above the
level of the ground floor windows. The plans for plant-
ing the sand hills between Ostend and Blankenberghe have
been executed by M. Van der Swaelmen, of Brussels, They
are so contrived as to insure protection from the prevailing
winds, and when carried out will ultimately form picturesque
woods with winding paths, good roads, and other conven-
iences, which will insure not. only an increased agricultural
value to the land, but, what is nowadays the most paying of
all crops, a crop of villas facing the sea. Those who remem-
ber the delightful wood w hich extends from the Hague to
Scheveningen will rejoice that there is now so good a chance
of the formation of a similar wood between Ostend and
Blankenberghe, a distance of 6 to 7 miles. So far as we
are able to judge, M. Van der Swaelmen’s plans are admirably
adapted to the ‘desired end.— Gardener's Chronicle.
Correspondence.
Suggestions for Making a Tennis Lawn.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—May I ask you tor some instructions about laying down
a tennis ground? Being a novice, I should like explicit direc-
Gee as to leveling, seeding and other details.
Petersyille, Michigan. ge &
{Minute and explicit directions for making a tennis
lawn cannot well be given that will apply to every
case. The question of expense, to begin with, is often the
most important element of the problem; but even if this be
a minor consideration, there will, usually, be other limita-
tions to meet which good judgment and experience will be
required. The climate is the main difficulty that has to be
contended with in this country, and the mistake most com-
monly made is insufficient and superficial preparation of
the soil before seeding or sodding. This error not only
358
greatly increases the expense of maintenance, but pre-
vents the attainment of the best results even with the
best of care-taking. With a soil of proper texture and
sufficiently fertile, it is only required to follow the direc-
tions which have been given in former numbers of this jour-
nal for making a good. lawn, taking special care to have it
firm and level. It often happens, ‘however, that a tennis
court is wanted where the soil conditions are unfavorable,
and then the proper preparation of the soil may be a difficult
and expensive task. ‘This preparation of the soil involves
two distinct qualities—its mechanical condition and _ its
chemical composition. The soil should be porous enough
to absorb sufficient rain water, and to afford ready passage
for roots, and yet compact enough to prevent the water ab-
sorbed from quickly draining away and evaporating too
rapidly ; and it should, also, be so firm as not to be stirred
up by the grinding action ‘of feet upon it, which would
otherwise break the roots and crowns of the grass. In
short, the soil should be porous, and yet have a “binding i:
quality. Sand is porous, but will not bind. Clay will bind,
but is not sufficiently porous. A proper mixture of the two
will produce the mechanical quality desired.
It is safe to assume that most soils need enriching. For
this purpose there is nothing better than rotted barn-yard
manure. But it is often more economical to add a mixture
of properly prepared peat, muck or leaf mould and com-
mercial lawn fertilizer, than to use barn-yard manure ex-
clusively. The question as to how much manure should
be added to a soil is so much one of expense and judg-
ment, that no definite rule can well be given. An ordinary
farm field, in fair condition, may have manure, at the rate
of twenty cart loads to the acre, plowed in when it is laid
down to grass, and a top-dressing of a like amount every
three years or so. Ornamental grounds of large extent, in
which a better result is desired, and yet in which a careful
economy must be observed, may have at least twice that
amount plowed in at the start, and an annual top-dressing
of half as much to the acre may be applied. A tennislawn
or any other ground upon which turf is to be maintained,
that is subject to much wear, may, however, well have
more.
The soil of a tennis lawn should be deep, that the roots
of the grass may easily descend to nechanen ground
moisture, just how deep, up to three or four feet, be-
ing a question of expense. The topsoil, or mould,
and subsoil of good quality, taken together, should
extend to that depth if practicable, in order to retain
sufficient moisture to last over droughts. It is more
economical in the long run so to prepare the soil in the
beginning as to store up natural moisture, than it is to
supply it artificially upon the surface when needed.
In some instances, however, there will be, at times,
too much natural moisture in the soil, and under-
drainage is the remedy for such cases. In the case of stiff,
clayey soil, another and very important advantage in
under-drainage is to make it more porous and pervious to
roots. Drainage is best effected by laying land tiles at least
two inches in diameter, at a depth of three or four feet and
thirty or forty feet apart, care being taken to give them a
sufficient pitch and a proper outlet.
For deep preparation of the soil, trenching should be
resorted to. This process consists in throwing back the
topsoil on a strip from three to ten feet wide, so as to ex-
pose the subsoil, which is then dug up and turned over,
or thrown back if it is desired to work more deeply. The
lumps are pulverized, clay or muck mixed in, if the origi-
nal soil is too sandy, or sand and peat, if too clayey, and
stones, stumps and roots of large size thrown aside, and
all necessary grading and leveling done. ‘Then the topsoil
of the next strip is thrown upon the strip of subsoil thus
prepared, great care being taken to sift out all the roots of
weeds and coarse grasses. And so on.
It not infrequently happens in New England and other
parts of the country that have been subjected to glacial
action and deposit, that both the topsoil and subsoil con-
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER Ig, 1888.
sist of dry, coarse sand and gravel, upon which it is almost
impossible to maintain good turf, after the ordinary prepa-
ration, without an extraordinary amount of manure and
almost constant watering during dry weather. In sucha
case, it is an economy to throw back the soil strip by strip,
as for trenching, and to place at a depth of three or four
feet below the surface a layer of clay about six inches
thick, which may be putin dry, if broken to a fine powder,
or, which is usually easier, it may be wet and ‘‘ puddled ”—
that is, worked into a comparatively homogeneous mass
of mud. In either case it forms an impervious bottom to
the lawn, thus preventing the rain which falls or the water
which is applied from settling down too deep for the roots
of the grass to reachit. The sides should, of course, be left
sufficiently porous to allow excessive moisture to drain off.
Another case would be where the soil was almost pure
clay, and where no muck or sand or finely divided min-
eral matter could be obtained without excessive cost. In
such a case, the ground having been thoroughly under-
drained, the usual way is to mix in almost any sort of
vegetable fibre, such as leaves, half decayed twigs, leaf
mould from the woods, sods, weeds, the tops and refuse
of vegetables, and the like.
After the subsoil has been thoroughly prepared, the
topsoil is manured and deeply harrowed several times.
The ground should then be leveled, rolled and allowed
to settle. Ifthe previous work has been well done, the
settlement will be uniform ; if it is done late in autumn
the ground will become none too firm during the winter,
and it should not be deeply plowed, but harrowed and
leveled as early in spring as it can be worked. If good
sod can be procured, the court will be ready for use as
soon as the grass is green. The sods, of equal thickness,
should be rolled down very firmly, to bring the grass-
roots in close contact with the soil. It is a good plan to
sow the seed of Kentucky Blue Grass and the finer varie-
ties of Redtop upon the sod as it is laid, and to repeat this
sowing every spring. <A dressing of some ‘‘complete”
fertilizer—that is, one that contains nitrogen, potash and
phosphoric acid—can also be applied every spring; or
fine manure can be spread over the lawn-in autumn, to be
raked off in spring. In case no sod can be procured,
the seeds of the grasses above named can be sown after
the ground is leveled and rolled, then lightly raked in
and rolled again. Ifthe seeding is done in early spring,
the court can be used the same summer; but no seeded
lawn is at its best the first season after sowing. Seed can
be sown in early September, if the preparation of the soil
has been made several weeks before, so as to allow time
for settling.
No pains or expense should be spared to obtain the
purest and freshest. seed, which can best be done by
applying to reputable dealers, who have sufficient call
for it to warrant them in keeping it. Much disappoint-
ment has come from using inferior seed. —Ep., |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I was pleased with your description of the Shepherdia
argentea, and its bright, eatable berries. We grew it abund-
antly forty years ago, but found that it hada bad habit of let-
ting its branches get ahead of its roots, causing the trees
to fall over when ten or twelve feet high.
A notable object here now is Citrus frifoliata in fruit. It
bids fair to make one of the best hedge plants. Let me add
that Berbderis Thunbergit makes a good hedge; but, in place of
all hedges, give me a fence covered with Lonicera Halleana.
It is a compact mass and as fresh now as in June. The inevi-
table gap spoils the hedge, but does not hurt a belt of thick
shrubbery, which gives flow ers at various seasons. The value
of autumn flowers is worthy of consideration. A specimen of
Tamarix Chinensis, as high as the house, is now waving here
its graceful racemes of delicate colored flowers to the slight-
est breeze. It has been blooming since July and will continue
blooming until frost. The large orange flowers of Jecoma
erandifior a are now at their best and very showy. When
grownas a pillar it is most striking, and, in time, will make a
tree to support itself.
SEPTEMBER 1g, 1888.]
' The new variety of Magnolia parviflora is now blooming
for the second time this season. For it the word exquisite is
no exaggeration. Fancy the pure whiteness and the outer
petals of Lucharis amazonica, with a closely clustered centre of
stamens of bright carmine. Add to this a strong perfume of
Magnolia glauca, tempered with banana, and the result will
justify the epithet. Sfir@a bullata is now blooming here
for the second time this season. The foreign papers are
just pronouncing upon its petite beauty, and yet it has been
in the market here for thirteen years, having been introduced
by Thomas Hogg. S, B. Parsons.
Flushing, N. Y., Sept. rst.
Recent Publications.
A Manual of Orchidaceous Plants.—Part Ul. Dendrobium,
Bulbophyllum and Cirrhopetalum. James Veitch & Sons,
London, 1888.
The third part of this important work is devoted to an
account of the different species of the genus Dendrobium, oc-
cupying 91 of the 102 pages, the remainder treating of the two
small allied genera, Bulbophyllum and Cirrhopetalum. Like
its predecessors, this part contains numerous illustrations
both of individual flowers of many of the species and of fine
specimen plants. Maps of south-castern Asia, including the
islands of the East Indian Archipelago and of Australia, show at
a glance the geographical distribution of the principal species
of Deudrobium, an essentially old world genus, of which £/7-
dendrum may be taken as the new world representative. The
genus, following Bentham in the Gezera Plantarum, is divided
into seven sections, only the fifth and seventh of which
contain plants of horticultural value, most of the showy
flowered species seen in gardens belonging to the seventh
(Eudendrobiums). A hundred species, arranged alphabeti-
cally, with many varieties, are described, as well as fourteen
artificial hybrid Dendrobiums ; for many of these last Orchid-
lovers are indebted to the Veitches’ indefatigable enterprise and
patient experiments, as we have had occasion to remark of
another genus in an earlier notice of this publication.
The present part closes with cultural instruction, based upon
long and unrivaled experience, and contains much interesting
matter relating to the discovery and introduction into cultiva-
. tion of many of the species described. Its value, however, asa
working manual forthe botanist or the horticulturist, would be
greatly increased were the species numbered, if each part were
not paged separately, and if reference numbers had been
added to the illustrations. As now printed it will be practi-
cally impossible, almost, to quote this work in subsequent
publications.
Quince Culture.—An illustrated hand-book for the propaga-
tion and cultivation of the Quince, with descriptions of its
varieties, insect-enemies, diseases and their remedies by W.
W. Meech. New York: Orange Judd & Co. 1888.
This little manual, as the author explains in his preface, is
intended “to furnish all needed information for the profitable
cultivation of Quinces in all places where they will grow.”
That the author has accomplished this task satisfactorily
all will agree with us in thinking who read the plain and prac-
tical information upon the subjects which he undertakes to
discuss. And the public will heartily endorse Mr. Meech's
wish ‘that this fruit, for which there is no substitute, be no
longer only a luxury within the means of the rich, but become
so common and abundant that it may be enjoyed by all.” It
~ is certainly a remarkable fact that so little attention, compara-
tively, has been given to the cultivation of this useful fruit in
the United States, and that when it has been grown, so little
care has been paid to the proper management of the trees,
that will repay generous treatment as to soil and careful prun-
ing. And yet, Quince culture is so simple a matter that its
essentials were all comprised in a brief article in this journal
on the 18th of July last. That there are not now, however,
more than a dozen varieties of the Quince worth cultivating
(of these three or four of the best are of African origin) is
not due to the fact that attention has not been devoted to
the improvement of this fruit, but rather to its fixed char-
acter, which Mr. Meech seems to have overlooked. The
Quince, of all the fruits cultivated by man during the past
twenty or thirty centuries, is the least modified from its wild
state; indeed, the flavor of the wild Quince of Persia varies
but little from the best varieties of western gardens.
Whether it is ever to lose its harsh flavor and become a
dessert fruit is a question which future generations of
Pomologists must decide. The improvement of the Quince
offers a useful field for horticultural effort.
Garden and Forest.
359
Periodical Literature.
uf fate city of Ghent has long been famous as one of the great
horticultural centres of the world, and its people are now
chiefly known for their love of flowers and their successful and
profitable cultivation of them. The following historical facts
relating to the early horticultural development of this Belgian
city, which owes much of its present prosperity to horticulture,
collected by the Revue de l Horticulture Belge, and published
at the time of the great quinquennial exhibition, lately held
in that city, has, therefore, more than a local interest :
1366. On March Ist, 1366, the Burgomasters passed an order
that the flower merchants’ stands should be placed in
the seed market. (The gardeners of Ghent were not an
independent guild, but are supposed to have been con-
nected with the fruiterers’ corporation. At Bruges there
was a guild of market gardeners.)
Hector de Costere, a Captain from Ghent, on his return
from a crusade against the Turks, brought the first
Shallots from Escalon, and also the Coxzvolvulus tricolor.
Isabella, wife of Christian I, King of Denmark, and sis-
ter of Charles V., sent gardeners from Ghent to teach
the Danes how to sow seeds and cultivate plants and
flowers.
After the conquest of Tunis, Charles V. had a collection
of Cappadocian Tulips, and one of Roses, among which
was the purple Rose of Tunis, planted in the garden of
the Cour du Prince in Ghent.
A young monk, P. de Rijcke, brought a collection of
new and rare plants from South America.
Fritillaria imperialis (The Crown Imperial) and Lz//um
candidum were introduced and cultivated for the first
time in Ghent.
William de Blasere, Burgomaster of the city of Ghent,
and owner of the best known collection of Orange trees
in the sixteenth century, introduced the cultivation of
Cucumbers. He built the first hot-houses which are
mentioned as having been glazed and heated in the
country.
1600. When in 1600 the Archdukes made their grand entry into
Ghent, the Abbé d’Ername presented to them, among
other gifts, two magnificent Chama@rops humilis. These
trees were planted later in the botanical garden, where
one was still alive at the beginning of the present cen-
tury. The trunk of this tree enabled Morren to il-
lustrate the peculiar structure of Palm-stems, and is
still in the botanical laboratory of the University at
Liége.
The monk Reyntkens, from the Abbey of St. Peter at
Ghent, a great lover of flowers, went to Lille to buy
plants. They asked him over sixty-five francs, am enor-
mous sum at that time, for a root of Cyclamen Persicum,
In one of his works Reyntkens credits the moon with
being the cause of the rise of sap in plants.
The Gazette de Gand announced the first public sale of
plants. Anemones, Ranunculus, Hyacinths and Tulips
were sold.
A French nurseryman from Orleans came to Ghent with
a great variety of fruit trees to sell.
Rhododendron ponticum, imported from Gibraltar, was
planted at Ghent for the first time.
A gardener named Tontje Verstuyft exposed his flowers
for sale on a Sunday in June in the Place d’Armes. He
returned the next Sunday, and was followed by others.
From this period dates the flower market, held in the
Place d’ Armes every Sunday during the summer season.
Up to this time the auction sales of plants and flowers,
which took place regularly, rarely attracted others than
local horticulturists and amateurs, but when in 1774 a
gardener, Judocus Huytens, went to England and re-
turned with new plants, others, inspired by his exam-
ple, did the same.
On the presentation of a report by Charles van Hulthem
and Dr. Bernard Coppens the government and munici-
pality established a botanical garden on the spot occu-
pied by the kitchen garden of the monks of St. Benedict
in the Abbey of Bandeloo.
1675.
1742.
1749.
1763.
1772.
1773-
1797.
In Chambers’ Fournal for August, a chapter on “ Eucalyptus
Honey” says: ‘The existence of this particular honey was
made known in 1884 by a French traveler, M. Guilmeth, who,
while exploring the island of Tasmania, noticed at the summit
360
of one of the Eucalypts a peculiar formation which appeared
to bea gigantic gall.” Discovering it to be a hive, he pro-
ceeded to cut down the tree—a specimen which measured
seven metres in circumference—and upon tasting the honey
discovered, to his surprise, that it ‘‘ possessed the characteristic
odor and flavor of the Euc ilyptus essences.” Samples sent to
France excited the greatest interest. It was found upon
analysis to contain about sixty-two per cent. of the purest
sugar, and more than seventeen per cent. of the essential con-
stituents of the Eucalyptus—eucalyptol, eucalyptene, cymol
and terpene—all of which play an important part in the thera-
peutics of to-day. Attempts to produce a similar honey by
chemical processes have proved vain, as the ingredients
gradually separate and volatilize off. The honey itself, there-
fore, is believed to be destined to become an important me-
dicinal article, for, given in small quantities, it has already
proved very efficacious as a mild stimulant and a remedy for
diseases of the throat and respiratory organs. Its antiseptic
qualities make it valuable also in such diseases as typhoid, and
it promises to replace, to a large degree, cod-liver oil. Unfor-
tunately, the bees w hich produce ‘the Eucalyptus honey are
natives of Australasia only, and all attempts to acclimatize
them in Algeria and France have been unavailing. In one
Algerian district, where the tree has been naturalized, all the
flowering crops were cut off, a year or two ago, to ascertain
whether the bees of that country could not be forced to make
honey from Eucalyptus blossoms ; but the only result was the
starvation of the bees, and for the present, at least, the sole
source whence the honey can be obtained is Australasia.
Here, however, it is said that its production will be unéertaken
as a regular industry.
Notes.
The new Strawberry, ‘Early Princess,”
is highly com-
mended by fruit-growers in Minnesota.
Monsieur H. C. Baillon, the distinguished French botanist,
has recently been promoted to the grade of officer in the Or-
der of the Legion of Honor.
Mr. Charles Nichols, Superintendent of the Fairmount Ceme-
tery, Newark, who is President of the Association of American
Cemetery Superintendents, states in a recent letter that the mem-
bership of the Association has been nearly doubled this year.
The extent to which horticulture is pursued for pleasure
merely in Belgium, is shown by the membership list of the
Ghent Horticultural Society ‘‘ Harmonie.” In the City of
Ghent alone it counts 2,000 members, and of these only 30
are professional gardeners.
The largest cea ara yet found has vet been discovered,
says the Amador, California, Sen¢ine/, near the headwaters of
the Kameah River, ona small basin earrounaed on every side
by a wall of rugged rocks. The hunter who found it in this
almost inaccessible little valley reports that the tree’s circum-
ference at a point as high as a man could reach was 160 feet.
Professor Buckhout, of the State College, Pennsylvania, has
planted two small plots of ground with forest trees for trial
purposes, in connection with the Experiment Station of which
Dr. Armsby is Director. One of the plots is on Tussey Moun-
tain, rough and stony, and fairly representing the land which
must be dealt with in re- foresting the mountain districts. The
other is on the college grounds.
Colonel Pearson writes that the Bordeaux Mixture has
proved an efficient preventive of the black rot of the Grape,
as well as of Grape mildew. The formula for the mixture,
as used this year, is, copper sulphate, six pounds; lime, four
pounds, with water to make twenty-two gallons. The lime
and sulphate are dissolved separately in hot water, and mixed
afterward. With the Eureka Sprayer, made at Vineland,
one man Can spray five acresa day. If experience cor robo-
rates these results elsewhere, the Grape crop of the country
can be saved from these two diseases at a trifling expense.
Mr. A. S. Fuller states, in Orchard and Garden, that
although white varieties have long been known among the
native ‘Blac Kkberries, Black Caps, and, in rare instances, among
the low bush Huckleberries and Juneberries, there is no
record of an albino of our wild red Raspberry (Rubus strigo-
sus). Twoor three years ago, however, a white Raspberry
was detected in McKean County, Pennsylvania, and Mr.
Fuller announces that it has fruited with him this sum-
mer, the berries being about the same size as the common
wild Raspberry ; but of a mild flavor, and, in color, almost
white, with a slight yellowish tinge when fully ripe.
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER Ig, 1888.
Dr. Richard Wettstein, according to the Gardeners’ Chronti-
cle, has published in the Proceedings of the Imperial Academy
of Science of Vienna the results of his observations on the
leaf structure of various reputed hybrids, such as Pinus
Rhetica x, a hybrid between P. montana and P. silvestris ; P.
Neilreichiana x, between P. nigricans and P. silvestris ; and
also various Junipers. The anatomical characters of the
foliage of the hybrids in every case are intermediate between
those of the reputed parents, and hence lend confirmation to
the opinion that the forms examined are really of hybrid
origin.
The production of the true Attar-of-Rose was long confined
to the Orient, the Levant and the more southerly Balkan
provinces. But during recent years the Roses best adapted
for the purpose have been largely planted in the more south-
westerly parts of Europe, and oil of a good quality has been
there ee arte One firm in South Germany, for example, im-
ported, not long ago, 15,000 plants from Bulgaria; but the
opportunity for such purchases will not again occur. The
Bulgarian government, alarmed at the prospect of a competi-
tion which would seriously impair one of the most considera-
ble sources of the country’s revenue, has made more string-
ent a long-existing law against the exportation of Roses, fixing
asa penalty the confiscation of the seller's real estate.
Mr. C. G. Pringle has completed the collection of wood
specimens of the peculiar trees of the lower Rio Grande valley
for the Jesup collection in the New York Museum of Natural
History, and has now returned to Chihuahua for the purpose
of continuing his investigation of the flora of the Sierra Madre.
He has succeeded in securing for the museum fine specimens
of Helietta parvifolia, Keberlinea, Condalia obovata, Acacia
flexicaulis, the Ebony of the Mexican Boundary, 4. Gregegii, A.
Farnesiana, Pithecolobium brevifolium, Fraxinus cuspidata,
Leucena pulverulenta, Cordia Boessieri, Parkinsonea Texana,
P. aculeata, of the undescribed Palmetto which abounds
on the banks of the Rio Grande below Brownsville, and of a
very fine new Poplar, which is probably quite generally dis-
tributed from Saltillo, in Mexico, to southern New Mexico and
Arizona. Mr. Pringle was able to secure for the Kew Museum
a large trunk of the gigantic Vacca filifera.
“A very beautiful dinner-table decoration,” says The Gar-
den, ‘‘ was lately arranged entirely with three varieties of sin-
ele Roses. In some of the slender upright glasses were
flowers in various stages of Rosa macrantha, and in others
of Hebe’s Lip, while below were bunches of the exquisite and
delightfully fragrant R. Brunonis. The flowers, having been
cut in the proper stage, lasted well for two days.’ Arrange-
ments such as this, of a single kind of flower or of two or three
closely related kinds, are ‘certainly in much better taste as
table decorations than the masses of mixed blossoms we often
see, especially when the summer flower-garden offers its end-
less varieties for our use; and delicately shaped and colored
flowers like single Roses, with their correspondingly dainty
foliage, are better in place than the coarser or showier flowers
which are usually considered ‘“ more effective.’’ Neither in
the linen, the glass nor the china with which we furnish our
tables is showiness considered the most desirable quality ; nor
should it be in the flowers we employ.
When the English:took possession of the island of Cyprus
it was annually ravaged by grasshoppers to such a degree
that its crops were hardly worth consideration. In five years,
and at a cost of only some $300,000, the insects were almost
destroyed, and it now costs but $8,000 a year to keep the land
free from their ravages. The method used to such good
effect is now being tried, with results which promise to be
equally satisfactory, in Algiers and Spain. When a column
of grasshoppers is known to be approaching, a screen formed
of cotton cloth, about sixty yards in length and one yard in
width, is stretched in front of it, sometimes in a straight and
sometimes in a V-shaped line. Along the upper edge of the
cloth a strip of oiled or varnished stuff is sewn, over which
the insects cannot crawl ; and in front of it great pits are dug,
the borders of which are encircled by strips of zinc slanting
downward. These pits are soon filled with the grasshoppers,
which are trampled down by bare-footed natives, and buried
under earth with which disinfectants are often mixed. Ac-
cording to Le Génie Civil, it is estimated that this year four
hundred millions of grasshoppers were thus destroyed in
Algiers by the middle of June. It is needful that the screens
should be spread in the early morning, when the insects, be-
numbed by the night cold, are unable to fly over it, and that ~
men should be employed to keep the column as compact as
possible.
SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: Trinune Buitpinc, 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, SEPTEMBE
R 26, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
oe Wee PAGE.
EpiroriaL Arricies :—The Forests of California.—The Proper Use of Herba-
GEOUSEE ari lS sonra mitety eisioreis\nic siayeimielorass nines isisietsie sieiatnattrsiaie esl teete sein. 8 666 361
AUSUStin the:PINneS.cccs aa. sees nes a -Mrs. Mary Treat. 362
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter .... Wm. Goldring. 3
New or Litrte Known Pants :—Deutzia parviflora (with illustration)...C S. S. 36
36
3
2
CutturaL Department :—The Species of Gladiolus............. W, L. Endicott.
Dv ow
pea Vere tab Sanden mstwrerjetsrsielnve se =.c'v sie <-ainielsie o/9/s chaeeisisere.e Win. Falconer. 36
Orchids—Ranunculus--Roses—Quinces on Apple Stocks—The Peach
Wits) Low Savacaterata cayote trates (sa 0 ci <tovaisis 2/5 <ta's.a;s.e aic!s' ce gral g eteletaererstnl daiotetesale/b e's telco 366
Piant Notes :—Nympheea tuberosa (with illustrations)..............0.05 C. S. S. 368
Tue Forest :—Forestry in California. I 6
CORRESPONDENCE........0002.000
RECENT PUBLICATIONS......+..
ILLUSTRATIONS :—Deutzia parviflora, F
Root-stock of Nymphzea tubero
INV MPN dca tUDETOSAy Pils GO mein scsis eam sists sca sepzpeeaian sistale age seie mien cele
The Forests of California.
E begin this week the publication of a series of arti-
cles upon forestry, in its relation, principally, to
the natural conditions of our Pacific coast. ‘They are from
the pen of Mr. Abbot Kinney, the President of the For-
estry Commission of the State of California, whose oppor-
tunities for studying the actual condition of the California
forests and the attitude of the people of that State towards
them have been exceptional.
Perhaps nowhere in the world—certainly nowhere on
this continent—is the preservation of the forests so import-
ant to the welfare of the entire population as it is in Cali-
fornia. The physical conditions of the State are pecu-
liar. It is made up of two mountain ranges running
parallel with the coast, and inclosing a long, narrow val-
ley, with many smaller, lateral valleys. The rainfall of
the year is irregularly distributed, and is entirely wanting
during the summer months, so that artificial irrigation is
essential for many crops of the field, the orchard and the
garden. The water for artificial irrigation must be brought
from the mountains, where the snows of the previous win-
ter, melting slowly under the protecting shadows of the
forest, afford a constant and sufficient supply. If the for-
ests which cover the mountains are destroyed the snow
will melt more rapidly than it does at present, and the
water will seek the valleys, not gradually, but suddeniy
and rapidly. The result will be that the water essential
for irrigation will be wasted, and that the short rivers of
California, with their precipitous beds, will be converted
into torrents every spring and summer, and will gradually
carry the soil and the rocks from high mountain-slopes
down into the valleys, which, sooner or later, will be
buried past redemption.
The future prosperity of California—the very existence
of the State—is dependent, therefore, upon the forests
which clothe her mountain-sides. These forests are still,
in large measure, the property of the general government,
and it is within the power of Congress to take measures
for their protection. The disregard of the people of Cali-
fornia for the property of the national government in that
state, and for their own future prosperity, is a matter of
Garden and Forest.
361
notoriety. Year after year vast herds of sheep and cattle
and horses have been driven from the valleys at the begin-
ning of the dry season to feed in the mountain forests.
Long ago they stripped the forest-floor bare of every par-
ticle of vegetation, except the thorny chapparal bushes,
and devoured every seedling tree. The sharp hoofs of
sheep and goats have cut out the roots of perennial plants
and worn deep, narrow paths across the mountain-sides,
down which water can pour unchecked to the rivers. But
this is not the only danger which the pasturage of the na-
tion’s forests in California has inflicted. As grass and bushes
disappear from over-feeding, the shepherds set fires in
the woods to burn away the trees, and so increase the pas-
turage area. The smoke of hundreds of fires may now be
seen from any of the high Sierra summits, and it is merely
a question of time, under existing conditions, when these
forests will have disappeared forever. For forests do not
reproduce themselves as easily in the dry climate of west-
ern America as they do in all the Eastern States ; and if
these mountains are once stripped of their tree covering,
and the soil is allowed to wash away, their restoration will
be the affair of centuries.
The commercial value of the California forests, although
secondary to their mechanical value as reservoirs of
moisture, is still very considerable. The Redwood for-
ests, to be sure, are doomed, and no action of the gen-
eral government or of the state government can be made
operative soon enough to save them from extermination.
The quantity of redwood which remains is comparatively
small, the forests are too easy of access, and their product
too valuable to make preservation possible, even if the
people of California could be made to see the necessity for
action in this matter. The Redwood belt of California
contained, for its size, thirty years ago, by far the most
valuable body of soft timber in the world; in less than
thirty years more, Redwood trees of large size will be as
rare and as great curiosities as the giant Sequoias are to-
day, and California will have lost her most valuable
inheritance.
High up on the slopes of the Sierras, however, there are
immense quantities, in the aggregate, of sugar pine still
remote and inaccessible, which the general govern-
ment might well attempt to save for future use when the
white pine of the east, the cypress of the south, and the
redwood of California have all disappeared before the
recklessness of American methods. For in the Sugar Pine
belt of the Sierras will then be found their only substitute,
not in quantity, but in the quality of the material it can
furnish.
If the general government of the United States ever
makes the attempt to protect the forests which are found
upon the national domain, it is in California that the experi-
ment should be begun, because in California the forests
are more essential to the welfare and development of the
state than in any other part of the country.
The proper use of herbaceous plants, with more or less
showy and conspicuous flowers, in the adornment of parks
or of lawns—that is, outside of the flower-garden proper, in
which such plants are the most useful and attractive feature
—isa matter requiring much judgment and skill in the selec-
tion and in the use of material. Indeed, there is no form of
planting, perhaps, which is more difficult to master, and
which is, within certain limits, at least, more disastrous
in effect when it is not well done. That this is not an ex-
aggerated statement, an examination of the attempts which
have been made in recent years to introduce these plants
into the Central Park in this city, or in the Fens in Boston,
will show. Clumps of the Funkia or Day Lily, in itself a
beautiful plant, well suited to the flower-border, for which
its round and formal mass of foliage well adapts it, placed
in front and in connection with loose masses of deciduous
shrubs in the Central Park, produce the worst effect, de-
stroying simple sweeps of turf and all idea of naturalness,
while the spotting about of single plants of Peony and
362 Garden and Forest.
other garden plants in front of shrubs, or often in the -
lawns at a considerable distance from shrubs, detracts from
rather than adds to the beauty of the park. Indeed, it
would be vastly benefited if all such inharmonious
elements were cleared away and greater simplicity and
naturalness allowed to prevail. All such plants are clearly
out of place outside the flower-garden. In the Fens, asa
part of the new Boston Park system is called, where the
attempt is made to connect a salt marsh with the roadway
surrounding it, by means of slopes planted in imitation of
nature, the effect has been curiously marred by the intro-
duction among the shrubs of great numbers of showy
flowered perennials —garden Phloxes, Carpathian Hare-
bells, great masses of brilliant Monardas, Yuccas from the
sandy fields of the South, and many more incongruous
and inharmonious plants, which seem curiously out of
place on the margin of a New England salt-marsh.
There are herbaceous plants, however, which, if used
with discretion, can be made to add to almost any land-
scape, however natural its motive or simple its com-
position. We have already pointed out in these columns
how several varieties of bulbous plants can be used
naturally on the margins of woods and shrubberies with the
most charming effects, but there are many more robustly
growing plants, especially among those which flower at
this season of the year, which, if used sparingly, in con-
nection with shrubbery, can be made to play an important
part in the decoration of parks. Those herbaceous plants
which, when fully grown, approach shrubs in outline, are
the best for this purpose, and generally can be used with
safety in connection with shrubs. The Flora of North
America abounds in such plants—perennial Sunflowers,
Silphiums, Rudbeckias, Vernonias, Asters and Golden Rods.
No country in the world possesses so many handsome
plants of this sort as North America, but they are little
known yet except by a few botanists, and their really
great decorative value is not appreciated. There is
nothing in the habit of such plants which jars-upon the
most refined taste when they are planted among shrubs,
while their flowers, which appear long after those of nearly
every shrub have disappeared, light up the shrubbery bril-
liantly. Even these plants, however, should be used
cautiously and never in great masses, in connection with
shrubs. <A shrubbery in the United States in late Sep-
tember on the borders of which are blooming, just in the
right places, a Silphium and a Vernonia, a Sunflower, or
one of the great Rudbeckias, is an object not easily
forgotten.
August in the Pines.
ie is late in August, and waning summer has held
some of her choicest floral treasures until now. On
the borders of a pond stands the handsome Sabbatia
chloroides, its loose panicles of deep rose-colored flowers
showing to best advantage against the delicate green of
the grasses and sedges about it. Two other species of
Sabbatia are near by—S. danceolata, which has a flat pani-
cle of white flowers, and S. séel/aris, with rose-purple
corollas almost as beautiful as the first mentioned; the
flowers, however, are smaller.
And here among the grasses is the rare Coreopsis rosea,
with yellow florets and rose-colored rays. C. lanceolata is
also here, with bright yellow flowers, and rays an inch or
more in length. Both species are not only beautiful here,
but they will help to brighten any garden, for they take
kindly to cultivation.
The pretty Mist-flower (Conoclinium calestinum) is just
coming into bloom. Its corymbs of blue flowers are as
fine as any of the garden Ageratums, which it closely
resembles. The climbing Hemp-weed (AZkania scandens),
with flat corymbs of pale pink flowers and halberd-shaped
leaves, is twining over bushes, and hanging out from the
main plant are many graceful, drooping sprays swaying
in the wind,
[SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.
The bright orange flowers of Polygala lutea are more
abundant this month than last. These, together with the
Mist-flower and sprays of the climbing Hemp-weed, form
a charming combination for house decoration.
Our Pine-barren Gentian (Gentiana angustifiora) is just
beginning to open its lovely, blue, funnel-shaped flowers.
The corollas are two inches in length and quite open. It
is almost as pretty as. the Fringed Gentian—the queen of
these flowers—which has a wide range from New Eng-
land to our Barrens, and probably further south.
The Shell-flower (Chelone glabra), which also has a
wide range, finds a home in the Pines, and its compan-
ion, the Monkey-flower (Afmudlus ringens), is here, too.
The Purple Gerardia is abundant among the grasses, and
is one of our beautiful plants that does not make itself at
home in gardens.
Tall plants of the large, showy Rose-mallow (Aibiscus
Moscheutus), with corollas six inches or more across, are
standing like sentinels over their more humble neighbors.
Some of the flowers are white with a crimson eye ; others
are pink and rose-color. The plants and flowers are
larger and more stately than the Hollyhocks of our gar-
‘dens.
Many shrubs and trees are beautiful now in their
mature leaves and fruit. J/agnoha glauca, with its shin-
ing, glossy leaves, and red, cone-like fruit, is more hand-
some now than when in flower. The leaves are perfect,
neither insect nor fungus have marred their beauty, and
nothing can be more charming for house decoration in
large vases than small branches of this Magnolia, with the
central fruit surrounded by the rich foliage. The leaves
of the Sumach (Rhus copallina) are also of the deepest
shining green. They have not yet taken on their rich,
autumnal tints, and are as perfect as the Magnolias—
neither moth nor rust hath corrupted them.
The treacherous poison Sumach (2. venena/a) is hold-
ing out its tempting, beautiful foliage. To many persons
itis harmless, but to me it is a virulent poison, and I can-
not restrain a cry of fear as I come suddenly upon it,
whereupon a boy near by, who is catching frogs, calls
out: ‘Tain’t pizen; Ihave eat it lots o’ times,” and then
he pulls off a handful of leaves and vigorously chews
them. On expostulating with him he clinches the argu-
ment with, “I kzow ’tain’t pizen. Pop says it won't
pizen a chicken.” And with lofty scorn for my terror, he
continues to chew the leaves so harmful to me, while
pursuing his amphibious game.
The Pine-barren Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius),
with narrow, long, almost grass-like leaves, is in bloom.
This is a very marked and distinct species, and I have
never noticed that it hybridizes with any of the other
Sunflowers. Some of the plants are six to seven feet in
height, full of bloom and very attractive. It does fairly
well in cultivation.
Passing from the damp Barren to the dry, sandy woods,
I find the Yellow Gerardias (G, flava and G. quercifolia)
in flower, with inflated tubes somewhat of the form of our
garden Foxgloves. Fine plants of Rudbeckia fulgida are
also in bloom, which are always attractive, with their
bright, orange-yellow rays, and dark, rounded disks. And
here, too, is the Golden Aster (Chrysops?s Marianna) and
the showy Double-bristled Aster (Diplopappus linarifolius),
with numerous violet rays and many narrow leaves along
the entire length of the stems.
The Blazing-star (Ziafris scariosa), with long spikes of
rose-purple flowers, commands our attention by its erect
and stately bearing, while in contrast with it, the Rattle-
snake-weed (//reracium venosum) holds its rosette of leaves,
which are beautifully veined with purple, close to the
ground. From the midst of the leaves rises a slender,
naked stem, which branches at the top into a loose
corymb of pale yellow flowers.
Away back from cultivated ground, by the side of
an old, deserted, nearly obliterated wagon-road, is the
Pimpernel, or Poor Man’s Weather-glass (Anagalls arvensis),
SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.]
claiming a place among our flowers, and the wonder is
how it ever came here. But it is closing its pretty, scar-
let flowers, telling us that rain is coming and that our
ramble must end. Mary Treat.
Vineland, N. J.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
Olearia Haastii—This New Zealand composite shrub is now
among the most attractive ornaments in English gardens, for
of late years it has been used largely in gardens, large and
small. A few years ago one could only see it in botanical
collections, but, since it has proved hardy everywhere, the
wholesale nurserymen have taken it in hand, and it has be-
come diffused throughout Great Britain. In a garden in Kent
I have this week seen enormous bushes of it completely
whitened with its small Daisy-like blossoms. In one case it
was quite seven feet high and as many across. When large it
is not such a compact bush as when only a yard or so high,
but its leggy growth can be corrected by hard pruning in
spring. It is a capital evergreen, and one that stands a smoky
atmosphere well, and is therefore much used now in town-gar-
dens. I do not know how many degrees of frost it will stand,
but during the severe cold in 1879 and 1880, and also last
year, it was unscathed with the thermometerat+12°. [imagine
it is hardy enough to endure the winters of your Middle States.
Small plants are used with fine effect for lawn-beds, mixed
with some bright-colored plant that flowers at the same time,
such as Gladiolus Brenchleyensis, whose brilliant scarlet spikes
make a fine contrast with the white blossom. When out of
bloom it reminds one of the Balearic Box.
Salvia azurea grandiflora, which goes also by the name of SS.
Pitcheri, is one of our most useful green-house flowers in
summer, and is now in perfection. It is an easily grown pot-
plant, or it may be planted in the open border, though it is
liable to be winter killed sometimes. We have nothing to
compare with this Salvia when in perfect bloom. Its spikes of
bloom, of the richest azure-blue, are often six inches or nine
inches in length, and as the flowers open in succession the
plant is attractive for weeks. The plants may be kept from
year to year, but early spring-struck cuttings make fine
flowering plants by summer, and are more vigorous and
flower freer than old plants. Some very charming effects may
be produced in the green-house by grouping this Blue Sage
with some graceful white-flowered plant, such, for instance, as
Francoa ramosa, which flowers at the same time. As this
Salvia is not mentioned in Gray’s Manual, I presume it is a
native of Mexico, hence its tenderness. [Salvia azurea, var.
grandifiora, is a native of the south-western States from
‘Mississippi to Kansas, Colorado and Texas.—ED. |
A good garden Rose is one called The Pet. It does not grow
more than a couple of feet high, makes a wide-spreading mass
of shoots, clothed with broad, deep-green foliage, and every
shoot terminates in a huge cluster of small white flowers,
which, ina bud stage and till half opened, are of a delicate
rose pink. It is becoming a great favorite in English gardens,
as it is found so useful for cutting.
Lilium auratum is exceptionally fine this season when
planted in light soils. The long continuance of heavy rains
seems to have suited it wherever the superfluous moisture
could drain away quickly, but in heavy soils, even where
special lily-beds are prepared, it has been a failure. It is very
impatient of stagnant moisture at the root; on the other hand,
a moist atmosphere seems to favor a strong growth. In Kew
Gardens, at the present time, this Lily is magnificent, inter-
mixed with Rhododendrons in a deep, peaty soil. In many
cases the stems are six feet high, as thick as a broom-handle,
and bear enormous heads of flowers, many of them fasciated.
The finest varieties, too, of Z. auratum have showed well this
season. I saw, the other day at Veitch’s, the splendid variety
named Platyphyllum, which has leaves twice as long and
broad as the type, and with flowers nine inches across, with a
broad band of gold down the middle of each petal. The variety
Cruentum, or, as it is often called, Rubro-vittatum, I have
seen very fine lately in several gardens. The broad band of
crimson which runs through each petal of white renders it
an extremely showy plant. All Lily-growers on this side,
by the way, are anxiously awaiting the time when Parkman’s
Lily (Z. Parkmant), a magnificent hybrid between Z.
auratum and L. speciosum, will be obtainable by purchase.
When I was at the Knap Hill Nurseries last (Mr. Anthony
‘Waterer holds the entire stock of this Lily) I was told that
it would be distributed soon. The stock looks very strong
Garden and Forest. 363
and it seems to be a very robust grower. Your readers may
not all know that Parkman's Lily was raised by Mr. Francis
Parkman, the historian, twenty years ago. It has flowers a
foot across, in shape like those of ZL. auratum, and every
petal is a brilliant crimson, broadly edged with white and
with a gold band down the centre of each. Other Lilies
will be envious when this one appears.
A Hardy Banana is an interesting novelty. It is a species
of Musa from Japan, growing in the open air in Messrs. Veitch’s
nursery, and is likely to prove perfectly hardy in England, inas-
muchas it has withstood the frosts of the past few seasons with
but little or no protection. It has as large leaves as the com-
mon Banana, but its growth will, I think, be more like that of
the Abyssinian Banana (AZwsa Ensete), The value of a hardy,
noble-leaved plant cannot be overestimated, for with it our
gardens, without much cost or trouble, may be made to
assume a sub-tropical aspect.
London, August 18th, 1888, Wm, Goldring.
New or Little Known Plants.
Deutzia parviflora.
HE fine Deutzia of which a picture appears upon
page 365 of this issue, although but little known in
gardens, yet is by far the most beautiful of the three or
four species now cultivated. It is a native of northern
China and the Amoor ‘country, and was sent a few years
ago from the St. Petersburg garden to the Arnold Arbore-
tum, whence it has found its way into a few of the princi-
pal collections of the United States.
Deutsia parviflora is a stout shrub, with upright stems
four or five feet high, covered with exfoliating brownish
yellow bark, and sharply serrate, dark green, elliptical or
lanceolate leaves, which are pale and conspicuously retic-
ulately veined on the lower surface. The corymbs of
handsome white flowers appear here generally during the
first week of June, and are produced in the greatest pro-
fusion, quite covering for several feet the upper portions of
the stems. Maximowicz, in his revision of the genus
Deutzia, describes nine species. They are all Asiatic,
three belonging to the temperate Himalaya region, two to
northern China (of these the large-flowered D. grandiflora
should be a real acquisition in gardens) and four to Japan.
There is a very complete analytical drawing of D. parvi-
flora (2. iii., Figs. 18-32), in Maximowicz’s Revision, pub-
lished in the tenth volume of the AfZémoires de 1 Académie
des Sciences de St. Pétersburg, 7™¢ série, x, and it has been
figured by Regel in his ‘‘ “Vora Ussuriensis” (7. v., figs. 7-
14) and in the Garfenflora (1862, 4 370).
It is one of the hardiest and most desirable of the
Asiatic shrubs of recent introduction. OMEN RSY,
Cultural Department.
The Species of Gladiolus.
HE genus Gladiolus, as at present defined, includes about
ninety species. The latest authoritative review of the
family to which the genus belongsis in the “Genera Plantarum”
of Bentham and Hooker, and this differs considerably from
Mr. Baker’s in the sixteenth volume of the “Journal of the Lin-
nean Society,” under date of 1878 ; and as we go backward
along the line of botanical literature we find very great variety
and even confusion of views as regards the genus. Species
of Ixia, Anomatheca, Watsonia, Acidanthera, Tritonia, Babiana,
etc., have been considered Gladioli by various authors, and
many now called Gladioli have been preyiously referred to
Homoglossum, Watsonia, Geissorhiza and other genera. ;
The genus is somewhat widely dispersed. Though by far
the greater number of species are South African, one, G, il-
lyricus, strays as far to the north and west as the New Forest
in England, and others are found on the Mediterranean coasts
and islands and as far eastward as Persia and Afghanistan. A
few occur on the western coast of tropical Africa and a few
on the eastern, while three or four are indigenous to Mada-
gascar. ; ae
This wideness of range indicates great dissimilarity of con-
stitution and requirements among the species ; accordingly
we find some that flourish with vigor under cultivation and
others that die away in spite of all our pains ; some that will
endure, unprotected, the rigor of a New England winter and
364 Garden and Forest.
others that will tolerate no frost at all. As the hardiness of a
plant, however, does not depend upon temperature alone, the
native country ‘of a species affords no sure indication of its
ability to withstand severe cold.
The species of the north temperate zone are not, as a class,
as showy as the tropical kinds; yet, in their way, they are very
beautiful, and, as far as I have tried them, perfectly hardy. Ac-
cording to Baker’s enumeration there are fourteen of these
and several well-marked varieties. Few of these are in culti-
vation, though some of them are very desirable, especially the
purplish blue G. Kotschyanius of Persia.
I find that G. Byzantinus, G. communis in its three varieties,
G. imbricatus, G. Lllyricus, G. segetum and G. triphyllus with-
stand the cold of our winters very well, though the last named,
a Cypriote species, is a little tender unless in well drained soil
and even then it is better for a covering of leaves. It will be
found, indeed, that all of these kinds will do better with some
protection; and, in fact, without it will increase very slowly, if
at all.
The African species are the most satisfactory for horticul-
tural purposes, being, in the main, more beautiful than the
others and generally * very easy of cultivation. A few of them
attain the height of stalk and something approaching the size
of flower of the gorgeous garden hybrids so generally cultivat-
ed under the name of G. Gandavensis.
The following species are best treated as the hybrids
just mentioned; that is, planted in the open ground in May
and taken up again in October. They may be “kept in boxes in
a cellar where the winter temperature is about 40° Fahr.
G. purpureo-auratus.—This is a native of Natal. It has
stiff, narrow and somewhat glaucous foliage, anda slender but
rigid flower-stalk about three feet high. The flowers are
from six to ten, of a peculiar shape, the upper segment being
curved over like a hood. They are not large, an inch and a
half being the average brez idth, and are yellow, with blotches
of a color between crimson and purple. The ground color is
by no means as strong and pure a yellow asin the figure in the
Botanical Magazine (¢. 5944), but rather somew hat. greenish.
This species is likely to be better known in its offspring than
in its own person, for it is one parent of the ‘ Lemoine hy-
brids,”’ so-called, which are remarkable for their vivid blotches
and their peculiar shape ; both of which characteristics are de-
rived from the species under consideration.
G. purpureo-auratus seldom seeds from the influence of its
own pollen; such, at least, is my experience, for though I
grow a great many every year in one mass, from the seed of
which I “have raised many hundred plants, I have never had
but two seedlings which did not show the influence of the
Gandavensis varieties growing nearthem. . This species forms
a great many bulblets which lie a little way from the old corm,
to which they are joined by short connectives. They have a
thinner coating than those of the Gandavensis sorts and start
into growth more readily. ‘This is the hardiest of the African
species. I have known it to come up for several years
among the grass in a mowing-field.
Gi jor ibundus.—This is a very pretty low-growing kind,
bearing from ten to twenty blush-white flowers on a stem
about eighteen inches high. These are never fully open as
we are accustomed to see Gladioli, but retain a halt-closed ap-
pearance. They are usually somewhat crisped along the edges.
G. cardinalis.—A very brilliant scarlet and white species of
low stature and great bez uty. The bulbs of this, as well as of
the hybrids of which it is a parent, viz., G. Colvillet, ramosus,
pudibundus, candidus and incarnatus,w ill not endure being kept
long out of the ground ; at the same time, if left in the soil late
in the summer they will make an autumnal grow a to which
the winter will be fatal ; they ought, therefore, to be lifted a
month after flowering and replanted in October either in a
frame or inaraised bed of earth with a thick covering of
leaves, :
G. cruentus.—This is a magnificent species from Natal. Its
manner of growth is very peculiar, for, while many kinds
may be put into the ground on their sides or tops, as well as
on their bases, the shoots arising perpendicularly from the
soil, the shoots of this species appear to grow straight away
from the centre of the corm and hence enter the air at all an-
gles. The foliage is drooping, unlike any other kind, while
the bulb is dissimilar to all others, being bright yellow, ‘almost
globular and scantily covered with a very thin papery husk.
The flowers, though few, are very showy, deep crimson with
an irregular band of white across the three lower segments,
They are four and sometimes five inches across. -
G. cruentus has one bad fault; it is a very late bloomer,
This can be offset by early planting by those who can plant
when they please.
[SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.
G. psittacinus.—A peculiar and not very showy species. It
has short, rigid foliage and flower-stalks about two feet high.
The flowers are yellow, thickly dotted and lined mahogany
red; throat yellow. The flowers are narrow and appear to
only halfopen. Seedlings from this vary somewhat, though
unmixed with any other kind. Among twenty raised from
pure seed there are six which differ considerably from their
neve though plainly G. pszttacinus, and nothing else. One
two of these are very handsome. This species and the
next increase more rapidly, both by bulblets and by growth
from the buds of the old corm, than any others I have seen;
unhappily, they are the least desirable.
G. dracocephalus.—A very tall species (four and one-half or
five feet), with a spike of narrow, inconspicuous flowers,
green, spotted and grained with dull red. This, on my grounds,
never has perfect anthers, and I have never been able to geta
grain of pollen.
G. Saundersii.—This very beautiful species is offered for
sale by nearly every dealer, and is, presumably, better known
than most others. Its foliage is short and quite glaucous; the
flower-stem not high and its flowers large and very showy,
being scarlet mottled on the lower half with white; their
form, also, is very elegant. Taken for all in all, this is one of
the very best species.
The following being small in bulb and plant and flower,
will give most “satisfaction as pot plants. They should be
grown in four or five inch pots in light, rich soil, and
should, for the most part, be potted in late autumn.
G. tristis—Like very many of the African species,.this has
narrow, almost rush-like foliage. I have been most pleased
with this plant when I have potted the bulbs in autumn and
kept them through the winter in the green-house, though like
many, perhaps all, of the tender species, it may be success-
fully carried through out-of-doors if deeply planted in a dry
soil and well covered with leaves. With me it blossoms in
April, the flowers being four or five, comparatively large, of a
light creamy tint, sprinkled with small dark spots, and
strongly fragrant from dusk to dawn. How excellently
adapted to insect fertilization! How plain that it is fecundated
by some nocturnal moth allured by the large light flowers,
whose powerful fragrance exists only during the hours of
darkness ! Unhappily for the theorists, who know so well
why fragrance was given to flowers, however, Gladiolus tristis
is perfectly self- fertilizing, It does not depend upon noctur-
nal or diurnal insects, but ev ery blossom, even when pro-
tected from insect visits by gauze, will forma capsule of per-
fect seed. From such I have raised scores of seedlings. It
is to me evident that perfume is not always (even if ever)
provided to insure fertilization by means of insects.
G. recurvus, called also G. ringens, is best treated like G.
tristis, as it is a weakly-growi ing kind. Its flowers, though few,
are very pretty, being of a shade of lilac approaching “blue,
with a whitish throat.
G. gracilis.—A slender plant, with two or three lilac and
black flowers. Though apparently hardier than many sorts, it
is too delicate for the open ground.
G. cuspidatus.—Another rush-leaved kind, with flowers of a
singular shape. Their segments are very long, narrow and
twisted. Color, creamy white, blotched with purple and
yellow.
G. villosus.—l received this three years ago and have been
very unsuccessful with it, having seen, so far, but one flower.
This was borne ona stalk ten inches high and was of a pink-
ish color. The entire plant is covered with short, fine hairs.
Hence itsname. This is not the G. Azrsutus of Jacquin, but of
Ner.
G. Milleri is a pretty species of small stature, with light yel-
low flowers.
G. alatus.—I have tried this species many times, but all
in vain; it will not flower nor can I keep it. The bulb starts
readily enough and so does the seed when obtainable. I have
now over a hundred seedlings three years old and no larger
than a grain of rice. If we may trust the published figures,
this is one of the most beautiful species. Its colors are scar-
let, yellow and orange.
G. sulphureus, considered by some to be a variety of Badz-
ana stricta, is a small species, but robust enough to maintain
itself in the open ground. Flowers few, yellow, but of a
deeper shade than the name implies.
G. Watsontus.—This is called by Baker a species of Homo-
glossum, a genus not admitted by “Bentham and Hooker. I
have had it only during the present season. In April I re-
ceived fifty bulbs of it from the Cape of Good Hope, some of
which I found had started into growth. I potted them and
they bloomed in June. The foliage is plaited in four strong
SEPTEMBER 26, 1888. |
Garden and Forest. 305
i
Fig. 57.—Deutzia parvifloraa—See page 363
folds. The flowers are of intense vermilion color. <A
very desirable kind.
G. carneus. —At least four different plants have borne the
name. Iseem to have the one figured in Rédoute’s ‘ Li//a-
cee.” Itis pretty, though not showy. The ground color is pink
with darker blotches on the lower segments. I have known
an
this to endure a severe winter out-of-doors and blossom well
the following June. I preter to cultivate it in a pot.
I have many other species which I have not yet seen in
flower, and of which I do not now wish to speak. At some
future time I hope to describe them from my own knowledge.
WW. &. Endicott.
Canton, Mass.
366 Garden and Forest.
The Vegetable Garden.
1D s the week of the Florists’ Convention leading seeds-
men of the city had special exhibitions of flowers, and
some of them of vegetables as well, in their stores. In one of
these the display of vegetables was excellent in itself, and, as
everything was carefully. and legibly named, the interest in,
and usefulness of, the exhibit, was thereby much enhanced.
The mammoth Sugar Corn showed its superiority. It is a
capital Corn, with large, well-filled ears and white fruit, but
rather too big for table use. Most people prefer smaller Corn,
like Squantum. Cucumbers showed nothing better than White
Spine. Under the name of White German were exhibited
large, white-skinned Cucumbers; but either for market or
private use the green-skinned Cucumbers only can become
popular. A large and beautiful specimen of the new Water-
melon, ‘‘Green and Gold,” cut open, was exhibited. The flesh
is solid throughout, and of a butter-yellow color, and the rind
quite thin. But no matter how delicious this Melon may be,
the popular Watermelon must have red flesh and black seed.
Kolb’s Gem is such a Melon. It was exhibited, cut open, along-
side of Green and Gold. The Hackensack was shown as the
standard green-fleshed Muskmelon in the neighborhood of
New York, and so it is. It is a large-fruited variety, rather
coarse, but of good quality. The vines are vigorous growers,
and bear a heavy crop of large, even-sized fruit, and it shows
’
[SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.
largest Pepper, and no doubt will become the most popular
variety. Celestial Pepper, a variety introduced from China
three years ago, and first distributed this year, was also
shown. The fruit is under medium size, green at first, chang-
ing to yellow tinged with purple, and ripens off scarlet. It is
as pungent as most other Peppers. It is extremely prolific,
and the fruit stands upright on the plants instead of nodding,
as is the case with most large Peppers. It will hardly gaina
foothold in our gardens except as an ornamental plant.
White Velvet was the conspicuous Okra. This is a new
variety of dwarf habit, and with long, round, white pods. But,
except in fixing the dwarfness of Okra, I question if we have
lately made much progress in it. I sowed all the popular
varieties May 24th last in rows alongside of each other. On
July 25th we were picking from Dwarf Density, but not from
any of the others. We did not begin picking from White Vel-
vet till August.
A green plant of the new Dwarf Sieva Bean was shown full
of seed-pods, In its line it is a decided acquisition. With it
we can enjoy these delicious Beans without the bother of
poles. The Dwarf Lima Bean was also exhibited full of green
pods. A really dwarf Lima will be one of the most desirable
vegetables ever introduced. We cannot reasonably expect to
gather as heavy a crop of Limas from dwarf as from pole
plants, nor that the dwarf plants would continue as long in
bearing green Beans; but for many amateurs these dwarf
I!
Fig. 58.—Root-stock of Nymphaa tuberosa.—See page 368.
less tendency to premature decay than any other variety.
Among salmon-fleshed varieties, Emerald Gem has no supe-
rior; indeed, it is as good in quality as the much-lauded Euro-
pean varieties grown in warm green-houses there, but which
cannot be grown satisfactorily out-of-doors in this country. It
is not a large Melon, but its flesh is exceptionally thick, sweet,
buttery, and ripens up to the thin rind. Indeed, Emerald
Gem as a red-fleshed, and Hackensack as a green-fleshed
Melon, are our standard varieties around New York.
Among the many Tomatoes, Acme, Perfection and Trophy
were as handsome as any. Mikado was the largest, perhaps,
and a yellow-skinned form of it was also shown; but although
yellow-skinned Tomatoes, such as Green Gage and Golden
Queen, may have their special uses and friends, the popular
Tomato must be red-skinned, and of round, even outline. An
uncommonly large, reddish-fruited variety, named President
Garfield, of very uneven form and many-ribbed, showed
plainly what ought to be avoided among Tomatoes. The
Dwarf Champion Tomato, sent out last year as a new variety,
has round, even, fair-sized red fruit, and is really a desirable
sort. Itis of more compact growth than the other Tomatoes,
and quite prolific, butit willnotstand erect without supportsany
more than any other variety. Thirty-seven dishes of the Puri-
tan Potato occupied one table, and represented the products of
every section of the country—Maine, California, Texas, Georgia
and other. states. The Georgia tubers were the finest. This
is a new Potato, raised by Mr. Coy from seed saved from
Beauty of Hebron in 1882. The tubers are white-skinned and
of the form of the well-known Snowflake. The Beauty of
Hebron also originated with Mr. Coy. Ruby King was the
Limas will be valuable, because they will do away with the
annoyance of getting and keeping and setting up bean-poles.
Glen Cove, N. Y. Wm, Falconer.
Orchids._Phalenopsis Mari@.—This is a somewhat rare
species, very strong in growth, producing a drooping, branched
spike bearing a number of white flowers, barred and blotched
with amethyst, the crimson lip being edged with white.
Coming from Borneo, this plant requires abundance of heat
and water, and should at no time be allowed to become dry.
It seems to do far better with us in a tall cylinder than in a
basket. The roots running to the bottom and forming quite
a network, both inside and out, we use scarcely any potting
material in the cylinders, but water overhead three to four
times a day.
Lelia crispa.—-Plants of this useful species are now in full
beauty. Though an old and comparatively common Orchid,
one seldom sees it in good condition. It is often too much
coddled and grown too hot. All the best-grown and well-
flowered specimens I have met with were grown under cool
treatment, and some of the spikes have had ten or twelve
flowers, and very large, while the usual number is but five or
six. Itis a beautiful Orchid, and did it but flower in midwin-
ter would be highly prized by florists. The flowers are five to
six inches across, pure white, and much curled or twisted.
The lip is a rich crimson, edged with white, and beautifully
crisp. It will grow well under the same treatment accorded to
L.anceps, and, like it, prefers not to have its roots atall confined.
The white variety of Z@lia elegans may be had in flower
nearly every month in the year—that is, 1f the plant be very
il Seat dc ei
bt Seles Se
SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.]
large, as the growths never appear all together. The indi-
vidual spikes are very beautiful, and when cut, necd only the
addition of a few Ferns to make a handsome bouquet. This
variety requires an intermediate temperature, abundance of
air, and as much sunlight as can be given without burning the
_ leaves.
Garden and Forest.
367
tion to its great beauty it is interesting as being the first hy-
brid Cattleya artificially produced. Lile all of this section of
two-leaved Cattleyas, it is very difficult to keep in good condition
for a long time, but it is now growing freely in the warmest
end of the house. It should be kept somewhat cool and dry
during the resting season.
)
Ws
1 f
KE ( n\ ~~
lowe)
NO!
Fig. 59.—Nymphzea tuberosa.—See page 368.
Cattleya hybrida picta.—This is a very pretty hybrid between
- £ullata and C. intermedia, in growth partaking of an inter-
mediate character, while the flowers are more in the way of
C. guttata, being of a pale olive green, beautifully speckled
with purple, the petals being margined with pale r Sy Mauve,
The front lobe of the lip is a deep purple, the lateral lobes and
the column pure white. This isa very rare plant, if not the
only specimen, while the typical hybrida is now lost. In addi-
Phalenopsis Esmeralda,.—This is a small-flowered but very
attractive Orchid, and very useful, because flowering at a sea-
son when every flower is appreciated. It produces racemes
from one to two feet long, sometimes branched, bearing
eighteen to twenty flowers of a beautiful amethyst color, last-
ing along time in perfection. There are many varieties, the
best being Regnieri, with larger and brighter-colored flowers.
We have been most successful with these plants when grow-
368
ing them in a mixture of peat, loam and leaf-mould, with a
little sphagnum moss, and potted in either pots or pans. They
should have strong heat and abundance of water during
growth, and should “be ke pt very dry during the winter. They
can be very easily propagated. The stem, which is made very
quickly, may be cut into lengths of about an inch, potted into
small pots, and put into a close frame. Every piece will break
and make a nice plant in one season. f, Goldring.
Kenwood, N. Y.
Ranunculus.—Representatives of this genus are found in all
temperate regions of the Bae The majority are natives of
the northern’ hemisphere. Lyalli comes from New Zea-
land; 2. cortusefolius from “ie mountains of Teneriffe; 7.
bulbosus, R.acrisand &, aguatilis are found in every temperate
part of the globe, though probably, in many cases, naturalized.
All enjoy a moist soil. ~ General neatness of habit and the free
production of bloomscharacterize all the species ; andalthough
the flowers, which are nearly always white or yellow in color,
are often small, yet the neatness of their arrangementand sym.
metry of form always make them attractive. "The majority are
adapted for culture in the rock-garden.
The Persian and Turban forms of 2. Aszaticus were once
largely used for spring bedding. It used to be the pride of the
old-time gardeners to ‘do them well.” The art of doing them
well now seems to be lost. It is a long time ago since I saw
an unbroken, compact bed of them. Success is best at-
tained by spring planting, especially in this country. As soon
as the foliage begins to turn yellow they should be taken
up and care efully ‘matured in moderately moist sand. We
must expect failure as long as we keep cutting them over as
soon as past blooming, and otherwise disturbing them in order
to plant Geraniums, Coleus and other summer bedding plants.
It is further necessary to have the soil previously enriched—
say, with a surface dressing of manure in the fall: Manure
freshly put on in spring encourages the millepeds, which prey
on bulbous plants when at rest, if left in the ground, It would
be better if all bulbous plants were taken up after ripening.
A selection of the best kinds for the rock-garden include ZX.
acris, fi. pl., otherwise known as 2. sfeciosus, pl. a good
double yellow; 2. amplexicaulis, with large, pure white flow-
ers and glaucous foliage; A. anemonoides, of Awart habit,
flowers white, pink- tinted, almost stemless, with elegant,
glaucous, much-divided foliage. R. #icaria is the common
Pilewort. In some parts of “England it is a common weed,
growing under trees where grass refuses to grow. Under cul-
tivation it is quite a pretty “plant, its flowers coming double.
R. fumariefolius has elegant Fern-like foliage, and small,
double yellow flowers. &. sficatus is a very rare tuberous.
rooted species from northern Africa, adapted only for culture
in the green-house. If only for its being a distinct and pecu-
liar Buttercup, it is worth growing; but it has handsome pal-
mate foliage, and large yellow f flowe ers, appearing and flower-
ing only in the fall and winte r,and dying down towards spring.
—_ T. D. Hatfield.
Roses.—Pot-grown Hybrid Perpetuals for early forcing should
now be ripening their growth, as only solid, well- “ripened
wood may be depended on tor this purpose. And in this
ripening process some care is necessary, as they should not
be allowed to become so dry that the wood shrivels, as such
a condition works injury rather than benefit to the plants,
and usually results in a-weak growth and few flowers when
forced. Hybrids grown in the open ground during the sum-
mer, and lifted in preparation for ‘winter forcing, are fre-
quently better if held back so as to come in as a second crop;
the pot-grown plants being used for the first, as the roots of
the latter are likely to be in a better condition to stand the
extra exertion of early forcing. If regular Hybrid houses are
used, in which the Roses are planted out in solid beds or cn
benches, the growth will be more readily matured by stripping
off the sashes “during the summer months and leaving them
off until cold w eather, provided the season is not too “damp,
as in the latter case the shoots remain too soft and sappy for
early work. And in the planting of such houses it is well to
group the varieties used, so that the earliest sorts may be
planted in one house, or section of a house, and those more
obstinate in regard to forcing may be placed by themselves in
another section, to be used for a later crop, thereby insuring
a succession of bloom. For instance, such Roses as Anna
de Diesbach, Magna Charta and possibly Mrs. John Laing
may be used for early flowers, to be foliowed by Paul Neyron,
Baroness Rothschild, Mabel Morrison, Captain Christy and
Alfred de Rougemont, and a number of others equally good
for this purpose, if it is thought desirable to use a more
extended list. One variety in ~ particular, the ever-popular
Garden and Forest.
- Yes, he
[SEPTEMBER 26, 1888,
General Jacqueminot, should certainty be added to either or
both catalogues, for, when properly managed, this old favorite
may be flow ered as early as any of its class Be A ee
Philadelphia, Pa.
Quinces on Apple Stocks.—A correspondent wishes to know
whether he can grow Quinces on Apple stocks by the root-
grafting process, and whether the quality of the fruit would.
prob: bly be affected ?
can grow the Quince in this way. The so-called
Meech Quince thas been propagated by tens of thousands in
this way. Whatever effect this mingling of blood might exert
upon stock or graft can hardly be ‘know n, but the effect on
the fruit would “probably be slight. The Quince is generally
and readily grown from cuttir in moist soils. Its tendency
is to make a mass of fine fibrous roots. The Apple makes no
such mass, and if its roots were the sole dependence of gratt
and stock the growth would probably be affected. But as
both stock and ‘eratt are planted below the surface of the
ground, the Quince would eventually root, the Apple stock
acting as a support or starter till the Quince roots were pro-
duced. This is the result in the case of Dwarf Pears on
Quince stock. When the Pear stocks root above the Quince,
the trees become standard Pear trees, and the Quince stock
finally dies or becomes so enfeebled as to be of no further
use, because, perhaps, their natural rooting place is near the
surface. Whether this would be the final result of the Apple
and Quince union I do not know, and I hardly think the prac-
tice has been tried long enough to determine. My experience
with Pears on Apple stocks is that they make a feeble growth
for a few years, and finally die. The incompatibility is fatal.
Time and experience with the uncongenial affinities of Pear
and Apple has tended to materially modify the Dwart Pear
craze, so popular twenty-five years ago, so that its most zeal-
ous advocates are seldom heard from now, and some have so
far revised their opinions as to declare they would not plant
them asa gift. In conclusion, I think it safe to say that the
practice of root-grafting the Quince on Apple is only admissible
is case of rare or scarce varieties. 2. Vi
The Peach Yellows—A case is cited in Orchard and Garden
where a Peach tree standing ih rich ground showed this spring
every symptom of the yellows. Ei wily in July a quart of mu-
riate of potash was forked into the soil about it with magical
effect. New and healthy foliage began to appear, and within
a fortnight after the application the tree appeared in good
health. This corroborates the experience of many peach-
growers in New Jersey, who have found. potash, as recom-
mended by Dr. Goessmann, a sovereign remedy for many trees
apparently afflicted with the yellows. Indeed, so often has this
cure been repeated, that many peach-growers in that state do
not believe that there is any such disease. The only disease
they fear is starvation. On the other hand, peach-g -growers
in Michigan are thoroughly convinced that such a “disease”
exists, and that it is incurable. Indeed, laws have been
enacted to enforce the destruction ot affected trees, and |
thus prevent the spread of what is considered a most dan-
gerous contagion.
~ Perhaps, under the circumstances, it would be well to refrain
from enforcing the law to exterminate diseased trees until the
potash cure had been tried. Admitting the existence of a
cvenuine disease, it is not impossible that a lack of some con-
stituent in the soil may enfeeble Peach trees, and give them
the same appearance as that of trees affected by the disease. —
If an application of kainit or other form of potash will save the
trees and renew their vigor when in this condition, it would be
well to try the potash remedy before the more heroic one is —
resorted to. SS
Plant Notes.
Nymphea tuberosa.
HE figure of this handsome Water Lily which appears —
in the present issue is the first which has been pub- |
lished, unless the doubtful MW. reni/ormuis of De Candolle, :
figured by Delessert in his ‘‘/cones Selecte” (ii, 3, 45), is
really t the same plant. MN. /uberosa was first made known
by Paine in his “Catalogue of the Plants of Oneida
County, New York,” published in 1865. It may be dis-
tinguished from the common species of eastern North —
America (N. odorata), with which, doubtlessly, it is often
confounded, by the thicker root-stock (see Fig. 58), bear
ing spontaneously-detaching and often compound tubersam |
by the much larger and more prominently veined leaves, |
green on both faces, and which, when fully grown, are.
SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.]
often raised above the surface of the water on the stout
petioles; and by the much larger flowers, four to ten inches
in diameter when expanded, the petals proportionally
broader ‘and blunter than in M odorata. The flowers are
scentless, or almost so. The fruit is depressed-globular,
with few globular-ovoid seeds, barely enclosed in the aril
at maturity.
NV. tuberosa is the common Water Lily of Lake Cham-
plain and of the waters which flow into it. It has recently
been detected in a very depauperate form near Trenton,
New Jersey, by Dr. Abbott, and it occurs at Meadville,
in Pennsylvania. These are the only places were it has
been noticed near the Atlantic sea-board, but it is said to
be common from western New York, west and south, but
its distribution is not yet at all well known. It is one of
the most beautiful of all the Nympheas, and by far the
most beautiful of those which can be grown in the North-
ern States without artificial heat, equaling M odora/a in
the delicacy of its petals, although the flowers lack the
delicious fragrance of that species.
N. tuberosa is easily cultivated; indeed, when once
established, it increases so rapidly by means of the
detaching tubers and by seed, that it is sometimes difficult
to keep it within reasonable bounds.
The flowers (on cultivated plants) open about eight
o'clock in the morning, and close in pleasant weather
between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. They
open twice or sometimes three times if the weather is
overcast. Cys. 8.
The Forest.
Forestry in California.—l.
HE first business thought of a practical person in looking
at a forest is, What are its products worth—that is, w hat
can be made out of it? For the products of the forest enter
into the life of every one. The varnish of the artist, the rub-
ber, the gums, the resins of commerce, the barks of the tan-
ner, the corks of the vintner, the handles of our tools, hoes,
plows, etc., our dye-stuffs, our wagons, the ties and cars of our
railroads, fences and telegraph. poles, furniture, wharves,
boats, ships, and in America, even the houses we live in, are
largely the product of the forest. Few people appreciate what
the annual drain on our forests is; even such small things as
matches consume great amounts ‘of lumber every year; char-
coal and fuel are a great drain on our forests; even coal is but
a fossilized form of wood. Nuts, fruits and medicines, such
as cocaine, quinine, etc., cannot be overlooked. When we
thus consider the products of the forest, it will not be a sur-
prise to learn that these were estimated in the United States
for the year 1880 at $800,000,000. The last government statistics
at my command show some of our principal crops to have
been :
Wheat, . $474,291,850
Cotton, 280,266,242
Gold and Silver, : “Ee 74,400,000
Goal... 5 : . 5 94,500,000
Iron Ore, 20,470,000
It will thus be seen that the economic value of our forest
products is nearly double that of wheat, more than ten times
that of gold and silver, and forty times that of iron ore.
The census, the agricultural reports, the recorded observa-
tions of intelligent men, as well as the individual expe-
rience of every one who has by travel become acquainted
with the country, show that the consumption and de-
struction of our forests now so far outruns their reproduc-
tive capacity, that at the present rate in a few years we shall
have no forests at all, and their vast crop, valued at $800,000,000
a year, must disappear from our census books, We are eat-
ing into our capital and providing for no renewal of it. It is
not alone the good lumber and firewood taken that we must
calculate on, but the waste that accompanies it, and the de-
struction annually caused by fire. These the best authorities
state to be even greater than the drains of commerce.
Forest fires destroy every year millions of this, the people’s
property, and blacken and mar the landscape. Besides, the
lumbermen, in the prosecution of their business, waste fully
aS much timber as they use. In my visits to Mendocino
County, and other centres of lumbering activity in this state, I
have seen Jeft to rot or burn large portions of the trees felled,
Garden and Forest.
369
and again and again I have seen magnificent trees felled and
left untouched because they did not fall right, or for some
other trifling reason. In this way much lumber is wasted and
firewood enough is annually destroyed to supply the whole of
Calitornia for years.
Besides the waste, this déérzs in the oft-recurring fires makes
an intense flame and heat, endangering all neighboring forests
and destroying, often entirely, and always much of the woods
they traverse; and also the humus in and above the earth. It
may be well to s say just here to those having lands to clear that
it has now been demonstrated thoroughly, that burning over
land destroys the best part of the soil, and thus per manently
injures its producing capacity. The hotter the fire, the deeper
it destroys the soil. Experiments in Canada show that a hun-
dred years of repose and forest action will often not re-estab-
lish the strength and fertility of the soil passed over by hot
fires.
Besides the regular lumbermen, who operate on a large
scale, there are numbers of individuals engaged in makin;
shakes, etc., who use only selected trees, chiefly the Sugar
Pine, which in this state reaches a great size, is very valuable,
but does not readily reproduce itself, To be used advan-
tageously for this purpose, these trees must be in certain con-
ditions, which can only be told after they arefelled. Thus thous-
ands of trees, and of the very best, are annually felled and found
unsuitable, andlefttorot. Atthe best these men only use about
twenty feet of tl 1e magnificent trees they cut, the rest being waste.
The Sugar Pine is fast disappearing. The tan-bark men also de-
stroy great numbers of trees, taking only the bark. I have
.seen in this state, in one place, woodmen destroying trees
cutting off only the branches for firewood, and leaving fies
trunk and bark unused. In other places the lumbermen Teave
the branches and firewood, and taking only the trunks; again,
tan-bark men leave the entire trees, using only the bark, It
may not be a crime to allow such unnecessary waste, but it is
unmitigated folly to be thus throwing right and left a prop-
erty that brings us in $800,000,000 a year.
The forests. are also much injured by sheep and goats that
are driven into them fora few weeks’ pasturage - these destroy
the young trees and pack the ground so that it cannot so
well receive and hold moisture. Besides this, the shepherds
often deliberately set fires to open the country, or, as they say,
to improve the pasture, thus destroying, in one season, more
lumber, fire-wood, etc., than the value of all the sheep and
goats and their products that have or ever will visit the scant
mountain pastures.
Every considerable government of Europe now has its
forestry department. Every one of them gives a net reve-
nue. The system pursued is nearly the same in all. By it
the forests are preserved and increased in area; at the same
time the maximum of fire-wood and lumber consistent with
this preservation is taken out; no waste is allowed.
The revenues from these departments show that a large,
properly managed forest is a source of income. Saxony has
a net annual income of $3.25 from each acre in her total for-
a area. Alsace-Lorraine about the same. British India,
although a new convert and under heavy expenses, had, ac-
cording to the last returns in my hands, a net income from
her forest lands of over one million dollars.
All the European governments, save England, which is
exceptionally situated, have forest departments served by
men instructed in forest schools, some of which are cele-
brated, such as those at Hanover, Aschaffenberg, Minden and
Nancy, each department giving more or less net revenue. In
Austria, Italy and France considerable works in forest plant-
ing, from which little or no direct revenue can be expected,
are being done.
Such desolate places as the Karst, in Austria, and the Landes,
in France, are thus being reclaimed. Trees are also being
extensively planted on the water-sheds of rivers and torrents:
in the first case the object i is to re-establish regularity of flow
in the streams, and in the second by preventing the rapid de-
livery of heavy rains from bare surfaces, to reduce and
eventually end the destructive action of rivers which are
either beds of bowlders or glittering wastes of sand, or rush-
ing torrents of turbulent water, chargeq with mountain débris
and carrying destruction in their course to the valley lands.
These works of the foresters are productive to the nation,
but show no revenue to their de epartment, a fact that must
be taken into consideration in the economic management of
forests. But some of these works have become remunerative
The Pine plantations on the south-west coast of France, about
Arcachon, to reclaim the desolate Landes, are of these. In
that section the sand dunes of the coast were rapidly advanc-
ing on the interior in hills over 200 feet high ; fields, houses,
37°
villages and even church steeples were entirely buried out of
sight. Major F. Bailey, R.E., in a recent trip to the Landes,
speaks of his guide tying his horse to the projecting point of
one of these covered church steeples.
The planting of these forests near the coast, together with
the preliminary work necessary to establish their growth and
stop the rolling sands, cost the French government about
$40 per acre. Tracts in these torests are now rented for
five years, with the privilege of cutting selected trees and
tapping others for resin, at a price equaling about $70 per
acre. It will thus be seen that under even adverse circum-
stances a scientific forest management, designed for protec-
tion to a country rather than tor direct profit, may be made re-
munerative.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—The article, with illustration, in GARDEN AND FOREST,
July 11th, assumes, not without reason, that Rosa levigata
is a foreign species, introduced and naturalized through a
large part of the South Atlantic and Gulf States. Neverthe-
less, it seems to me that, in the absence of positive proof of
its introduction, it is still a question whether Michaux was not
correct in considering it a native. The plant was known as
the Cherokee Rose at least a century ago, and this fact seems
to indicate that it found its way into the white settlements
nearer the coast from the Cherokee country in upper Georgia
and the Carolinas. More than fifty years it was known in cul-
tivation at Salem, North Carolina, and vicinity, where the
evergreen foliage sometimes suffered from the severity of the
winters. The tradition there was that it had been introduced
from the ‘Cherokee Country,” having been brought by
Moravian missionaries of Salem, whose stations were in the
region which has since become famous through the battles
fought in the late war—Mission Ridge, Lookout Mountain, etc.
Elliott, in his ‘‘ Botany of South Carolina and Georgia,” pub-
lished in 1821, speaks of it (as stated in the article referred to)
as having been cultivated in the gardens of Georgia for up-
wards of forty years, therefore as early as in the years of the
Revolutionary War. If introduced from abroad, it must have
been when the settlements of Georgia had scarcely reached
the upper country—Savannah having been founded in 1733—
and it is difficult to conceive that it should have been desig-
nated from the first as the Cherokee Rose if it reached the
country through the lower settlements, and that it should
have become so common and well-established about one
hundred years ago that the careful and experienced observer,
Michaux, ‘‘mistook it for a native plant.” Was he not right?
On referring to Grisebach's ‘ Flora of the British West
Indian Islands,” I find Rosa /evigata given (on the authority
of an old friend of mine) as “ naturalized in Jamaica,” and he
adds, ‘‘introduced from China and Japan.” The question
arises, Was it not rather introduced in Colonial times from
Charleston or Savannah, when intercourse and trade were
frequent? Although the plant flourishes luxuriantly in the
mountain regions, it exhibits unmistakable evidences of its
introduction from abroad. More than fifty years ago it could
be met with near houses, and usually covering stone-walls.
It was not regarded as a rare plant or of recent introduction,
the persons inquired of usually being ignorant of the way it
got there. In the year 1848, passing a deserted coffee-planta-
tion in the interior of the island, among the mountains, I
came upon what had evidently at one time been a hedge of
Cherokee Rose. The plants had spread and flourished until
they covered a space twenty feet broad, and formed a mass
higher than a man’s head on horseback, probably outdoing
those in the illustration by Dr. Lanborn. The shining foliage
and the hundreds of pure white Roses formed a beautiful sight
—all the more striking and surprising because (with the excep-
tion of Rubus Famaicensis) it was the only representative of
the order Rosacee I had met with in a flourishing and ap-
parently naturalized condition. Trees that had grown up
spontaneously, and the deserted and decayed buildings, in-
dicated that cultivation had been abandoned for many years—
probably not less than twenty—but there was the long, straight
line, indicating unmistakably the original hedge.
° And it was
this hedge idea (the use to which the species is generally put
in the Southern States) which seemed to me, at the time, a
reason for thinking that the plant had been introduced direct
from our own country, and not from England, whence it must
have come, if not from the United States.
If, in the island of Jamaica, under the most favorable con-
ditions, and after many years, it is unmistakably evident that
the plant was introduced, is it likely that in Georgia, where
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.
the plant, if introduced, could not possibly have been an in-
habitant longer than I found it in Jamaica, it should have out-
grown the evidences of its introduction so as to deceive
Michaux into regarding it as a native ? :
Among flowering plants, as you know, there are instances
of geographical distribution quite as remarkable. Looking at
Grisebach’s work the other day, I observed, among the Or-
chidee, Phajus grandifolius, unmistakably a native of the
mountainous parts of Jamaica, also ‘‘a native of tropical
Asia to Hongkong.” And taking up Gray’s Manual, to de-
termine, for a young friend, the perennial herb Phryma lep-
tostachya, common in our woods, we found the remark:
“Also in the Himalayan Mountains.”
On the whole, therefore, is it not still to be proved that
Rosa levigata is not a native of the south-eastern United
States, as well as of the region corresponding in climate in |
astern Asia?
cae RET F. R. Holland.
Hope, Indiana.
[Botanists have long held the opinion that the Chero-
kee Rose is not an American plant. Although thoroughly
naturalized in some parts of the Southern States, it is not
found remote from actual or ancient settlements, and
the fact that it does not occur at all in the upper country,
once the home of the Cherokee Nation, must dispel the
belief that these Indians introduced it to the coast settle-
ments. The fact that it has not become as firmly estab-
lished in Jamaica as in the Southern States would be ac-
counted for by the difference in the climate of these two
regions, that of Jamaica even at high elevations above the
sea being too hot for a Chinese plant. Is it not possible
that a ship trading from China to Charleston, or some
other American port, may have brought this Rose direct
to this country, and that it may then have been taken to
Jamaica from this country? Or it may have been intro-
duced first into Jamaica and then brought to this country.
Rosa levigafa seems to have been cultivated in England,
however, as early as 1759.—Ep. ]
Recent Publications.
Flora of the Hawaiian Islands: A description of their Phane-
rogams and Vascular Cryptogams, by Wm. Hillebrand, M.D. _
New York: B. Westermann & Co.—This is a description in
English of the plants of the Sandwich Islands, written by a
German physician who resided on the islands during a period
of twenty years, which were principally devoted to a critical
study of their flora, although, having mastered the language,
he practiced medicine in Honolulu with great success, holding
besides several important offices under the Crown. The
Hawaiian Islands are more remote from any continent than
any group of similar extent; the character of their flora, there-
fore, and its relationship with other insular and with conti-
nental floras, are matters of extreme interest. As might be
expected, the flora of these islands, in which ‘‘a single day’s
march will carry the traveler from the tropical heat of the
coast to the region of perpetual snow,” or where, by crossing
an island, one may go from a climate with a rainfall of 180
inches to one of 30 inches, is rich in genera; and from their
isolation especially rich in endemic species. Dr. Hillebrand
describes 844 species of flowering plants, distributed in 335
genera, and 155 vascular cryptogams in 30 genera, making 999
species in 365 genera. Notless than 115 species, weeds in culti-
vation, escapes from gardens and accidental arrivals on the
shores of the islands, have become fully established since these
islands were discovered, and 24 species are supposed to have
been introduced prior to the coming of Europeans. Eight
hundred and sixty species, therefore, divided among 265
genera, or 3.25 species to one genus, are indigenous to the
islands. Of these 860 species not less than 653 or 75.93 per
cent. are endemic, 250 of these species belonging to 40
endemic genera. In the Hawaiian Flora are forms whose
relationship can be traced to the plants of the South American
continent, to those of Mexico and Australia, and to Polynesia.
The shrubby Lodeliace@, of which there are four or five en-
demic genera, with fifty species, some of which are trees
of considerable size, forming perhaps the most interesting —
and remarkable group of plants in this flora, have their
nearest relatives in the South American Andes. The
Australian flora is represented by Acacias and Metrosideros,
the former quite Australian in their peculiar structure ;_
while Cy/andra, a Polynesian type, is represented on these
islands by thirty endemic species. The most generally
SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.]
distributed and the most valuable timber trees of the islands,
although now fast disappearing of merchantable size, are
Metrosideros polymorpha and Acacia Koa. The former,
which is the most generally prevailing tree on the islands,
between 1,500 and 6,000 feet elevation, produces a
very hard wood, highly esteemed for fuel, and sometimes
used in building. The Acacia, Dr. Hillebrand considers the
most valuable tree on the islands. The wood makes excellent
fuel, and is much used for building and for cabinet work, for
which its beautiful grain well adapts it. It was from the trunks
of this tree that the natives cut their great war-canoes. Conzi-
er@ have no representative in this flora, a fact much less re-
markable than that, besides the Cocoanut, there is but one
genus of Palms (Pritchardia, a Polynesian genus of three spe-
cies) with two species. Some interesting plants in the
Hawaiian flora are a Dock (Rumex gigantea), with a woody
base, which grows up among the trees of the forest to a height
of forty feet ; a Geranium, with a stout trunk, twelve feet high,
and the shrubby or arborescent members of the Lobelia
family, with fragrant flowers. Dr. Hillebrand, who left the
islands as early as 1871, did not, unfortunately, live to see his
book passed through the press, and his notes upon the distri-
bution of species and the various aspects of the vegetation of
this group of islands are left in a fragmentary and unfinished
condition; and it is to his son, Dr. W. F. Hillebrand, of the
Smithsonian Institute, that the last cares of publication have
descended.
The ‘Outlines of Botany,” written by Mr. Bentham, to pre-
cede the British and Colonial Floras, prepared in the herbarium
of the Royal Gardens at Kew, is joined to the present work.
Periodical Literature.
Chambers’ Fournal for July contains an interesting article on
“The Kola Nut,” which is an abstract of an address delivered
before the Fiji Agricultural Association, combined with ex-
tracts from Mr. T. Christy’s book on ‘‘ New Commercial Plants
and Drugs.” Thetree which bears this nut is the Stercudlia
acuminata, a native of the west coast ot Africa, between
Sierra Leone and the Congo, and cultivated in the East and
West Indies. It begins to bear in the fourth or fifth year after
planting, but does not produce a full crop until it is ten years
old, when its yield averages 120 pounds of seed. Two col-
lections of seed are annually made, one in the autumn and
one in the spring months. ‘When the fruit is ripe it takes a
brownish-yellow color, and in this condition dehiscence of the
capsule commences along the ventral suture, exposing red
and white seeds in the same shell. : As many as
five ripe carpels may result from a single flower and these
may each contain from five to fifteen seeds; but insome cases
carpels are found containing only a single seed. The seeds
removed from their envelope weigh a from five to
twenty-five or twenty-eight grammes. The epidermis is the
principal site of the coloring matter, and beneath it is a tissue
‘consisting of a mass of cells gorged with large starch gran-
ules, comparable to potato starch. It is in these cells that
the alkaloids, caffeine and theobromine, are found in the free
state.”
In preparing the seeds for transportation, they are removed
from their husks, freed of their skins, carefully picked over,
and packed in large bark baskets lined and covered with
leaves of Bol (Sterculia heterophylla). Wt these leaves are
constantly kept moist and the seeds are picked over and re-
packed about once a month, they may be kept in good condi-
tion for long periods, and are, in fact, thus transported from
near Gambia and Goree to the Soudan or Timbuctoo, and
thence to Tripoli or Morocco.
The value of the Kola nut is great, both as an article of
food and asa medicine. It contains five times as much caf-
feine as tea and more even than coffee, and is a remedy for
nervous complaints, heart troubles and digestive derange-
ments. Prepared as chocolate, with sugar and vanilla, it is
ten times more nutritious than cocoa, and the use now made
of itin English hospitals confirms the verdict of the natives
of west Africa, who are accustomed to depend largely upon
it for subsistence in long caravan journeys. In the interior of
the country it is so highly prized, that a dry powder formed
from it is purchased by an equal weight of gold dust. Its
uses here are not simply dietary, but, so tosay, social. An
interchange of white Kola nuts between rival chieftains means
peace; of red ones, a challenge. Proposals of marriage are
made with white Kola nuts, are accepted in the same man-
ner, and refused with red ones. Oaths are administered by a
person stretching out his hand over Kola nuts while he swears,
and eating them immediately afterwards,
Garden and Forest.
371
The Kola tree grows in low, damp or even marshy ground,
and will flourish from the sea level up to an elevation of a
thousand feet. Its cultivation is strongly recommended by
Mr. Christy, as it is more easily raised than the Cocoa
plant, and as the superior nutritive qualities of its fruit become
better known, the demand for it rapidly increases.
Naudin, in the Manuel de 2 Acclimateur, speaking of the
properties of the Kola, calls attention to the fact that it is
often confounded with a false Kola called Kola méle, or ‘ Bit-
ter Kola,” which is produced by a shrub of the Guttifere
(Garcinea Kola), which grows in the same regions. The
mistake is often made by “the natives, although the properties
of the two nuts are quite different.
Recent Plant Portraits.
BEGONIA GERANIOIDES, Audlletino dela R. Societa Toscana adi
Orticultura, July; a white flowered South African species, of
botanical rather than of horticultural interest.
SPATHOGLOTTIS AUREA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, July 28th; from
the plant which, under the name of Sfathoglottis Kimballiana,
recently received a certificate from the Royal Horticultural
Society of London. ‘Theculturaltreatment it requires is much
the same as that afforded to the genus Bletia, the material
used in potting being turfy, yellow loam, peat and sphagnum
moss, with a little silver sand added—the Spathoglottis being
terrestrial plants. Spathoglottis aurea was first sold at Stevens’
rooms by its importers, F. Sander & Co., in September, 1886,
with a glowing, but it must be observed, an accurate descrip-
tion. It forms an admirable companion to the beautiful
Spathoglottis angustorun, which is the same in general
appearance, but white and rose, and the rather smaller bright
Rose, S. plicatum.”
CLEMATIS COCCINEA, Revue Horticole, August Ist; an ad-
mirable figure of this now well known Texas species.
Botanical Magazine, May, TREVESIA PALMATA, 7008; ‘one
of the most conspicuous features of the tropical jungles of the
Central and Eastern Himalaya, Assam, and the hot, humid
regions of the Khasia Mountains and Chittagong, where its
slender stem, crowned with terminal whorls of spreading,
broad, fan-shaped, long-petioled leaves, rising above the her-
baceous forest undergrowth, at once attracts attention.” The
greenish white flowers, in long peduncled panicles, are not
showy, and emit a heavy, disagreeable odor.
ECHINOCACTUS HASELBERGII, ¢. 7009; a dwarf species of un-
known origin, three inches in diameter, covered with slender
spines, and producing small orange-red flowers.
SARCOCHILUS HARTMANNI, 4 7o1I0; a delicate Orchid from
the mountain forests of Queensland, with white flowers three-
quarters of an inch in diameter, the sub-similar sepals and
petals handsomely blotched with red near their base.
ARISTOLOCHIA WESTLANDI, Z 7o11 ; a large-flowered species,
native of southern China.
NARCISSUS PSEUDO-NARCISSUS, var. JOHNSTONI,
native of the neighborhood of Oporto.
HEUCHERA SANG UINEA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, August 4th.
STYRAX OBASSIA, Garde ners’ Chronicle, August 4th: - a well
known and hardy Japanese species, and, so far as the foliage
is concerned, the hardiest of the genus. ;
t. "70I2";' a
NEPHRODIUM TUERCKHEIMH, Sotfanical Gazette, ¢. 11, July,
1888 ; a native of Guatemala.
CYRTOPODIUM SAINTLEGERIANUM, Gardeners’ Chronicle,
August 18th; ‘“ this may be regarded as the showiest form of
the variable’ C. punctatum, trom which it does not seem to
differ in botanical features; it is, however, far handsomer
than the general run of the species, and the bracts, which are
highly developed, are barred and blotched with chestnut-red
of the same bright hue as that seen on the yellow flower-
segments.”
STUARTIA PSEUDO-CAMELLIA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, August
18th.
PROLIFEROUS STRAWBERRY, With flowers produced from the
side, Gardeners’ Chronicle, August 18th; an interesting figure
as illustrating the true character of the strawberry, which is
not a berry, as is popularly supposed, and not even a fruit,
but the swollen and enlarged end of the flower stalk, the true
fruit of the strawberry being the small dry stones, improperly
called seeds. That the strawberry is really an enlarged stem
the buds developed from the side of the specimen figured very
clearly show. One of these is so perfectly organized that it
has leaves, the commencement of a runner and a perfectly
developed terminal flower.
SALIX PHYLICOIDES, Botanical Gazette, July,
kan and East Siberian species of Willow,
1888; an Alas-
372
Notes.
Apples are now being shipped from California to Aus-
tralia.
The Japanese Stuartia, which is just now attracting atten-
tion in England, was exhibited in this city by Mr. Samuel B.
Parsons as long ago as 1877. It was introduced into this
country some time before by Mr. Thomas Hogg, to whom we
are indebted for so many Japanese plants.
At the great exhibition of the Peninsula Horticultural
Society at Wilmington, several fruitgrowers made most
attractive displays of the fruits of the entire season, the earlier
ones being preserved by cold storage. Of Peaches, for ex-
ample, the whole list was represented, from Amsden’s June
down to the very latest. The specimens were large and finely
colored.
Mr. Thomas H. Douglas, Head Forester of the California
State Forestry Commission, writes that Catalapa speciosa is
very promising as a timber tree in San Diego County. The
trees do well on sandy hills without irrigation, outgrowing
even the Eucalyptus on such soil. Catalpa bignonivides is
distinctly inferior wherever compared with speciosa in
Southern California.
About two thousand acres of land are now devoted to
Strawberry culture in the neighborhood of Centralia, Illinois,
and from this point as many as 190 car-loads, or 2,097,600
quarts of berries have been shipped in a season of twenty
days. The largest Strawberry field contains thirty acres, but
the smaller ones pay better in proportion, and nearly every
back yard in Centralia brings in pocket money.
Mr. Wim. Goldring, our London correspondent, has lately
been commissioned by the Gaikwar of Baroda, one of the
native princes of India, to design and carry out some im-
portant landscape works, consisting of gardens and _ pleas-
ure grounds around his palac es and some public parks and
eardens in other parts of his dominions. Mr, Goldring will
spend the winter months for the next three years in India, and,
in the course of his studies, will visit many of the notable gar-
dens of that county. Descriptions of these gardens, together
with notes on Indian horticulture and forestry, will be pre-
pared by Mr. Goldring from time to time for GARDEN AND
FOREST.
There now seems to be little question that an efficacious
remedy for the Black Rot of Grapes has been found in certain
preparations of copper sulphate. The experiments carried
on under the direction of Professor F. Lamson Scribner, for
the Department of Agriculture, have been characterize d by
great care and thoroughness, and if the results hoped for are
realized, they will prove of incalculable value to all Grape-
growers where the Black Rot and Mildew have been destruc-
tive. If this treatment will enable us to grow the varieties of
Vitis vinifera, which has been impossible heretofore on
account ot these dise Ses, Professor Scribner’s work will have
a still greater practical importance.
Two years ago Mr. Carman, of the Rural New Yorker, suc-
ceeded in fertilizing the pistils of the Raspberry with pollen
from the Black berry, and planted the seeds which resulted
from this union. Of the eighteen hybrids secured, three have
fruited this year. One of them is a vigorous plant with large
leaves, nearly thornless canes, and, to all appearance, a Rasp-
berry with yellow fruit of medium size and of the quality of
the Caroline. The second bears a red berry resembling the
Hansell in size, color and quality. The third plant resembles
a Blackberry, with flowers like those of a Raspberry, and
bearing jet black berries with a Raspberry flavor. All the
plants ‘bear some imperfect berries, and, judging from their
behavior this year, do not promise to be of much economi-
cal value.
The meeting of the Brooklyn Park Commissioners last
week was invested with a peculiar interest from the fact that
the advisability of engaging Messrs. Olmsted & Vaux as
Landscape Architects Advisory came up for discussion. A
letter from these gentlemen was read stating the conditions
under which they are prepared to give their services to the
Board in that capacity. It was urged by those who favored
the measure that inasmuch as Messrs. Olmsted & Vaux were
the original designers of Prospect Park, it was fitting that
w Ase $200,000 are to be expended for its permanent improve-
rent, these artists should be consulted as to the develop-
het of the plan. Dr. Storrs expressed the views of the
Commissioners who appreciate the value of special training
Garden and Forest.
[SEPTEMBER 26, 1888.
when he said that they clearly needed the counsel and advice
of men who have given their lives to the study of this kind of
work. The matter was laid over until a future meeting,
when a definite form of contract will be presented for accept-
ance. Some difference of opinion was manifested, and the
final decision of the Board will be awaited with interest.
The current number of the Ar¢ Review contains an article
by Mr. George Forbes, called “The Picturesque Adiron-
dacks,”” w hich is well adapted to convince readers who have
never visited this region of its great value to the people as a
sanitarium in the widest sense of the word—as a place of re-
cuperation and refreshment for body, mind and soul. As
his title indicates, Mr. Forbes’s aim is to disclose the beauty
of the Adirondack country rather than its economic value. It
. not his purpose, he explains, to inquire into the matter of
ts “ prodigious importance as the ultimate source and reser-
ae of the water-supply of the State, and into the corollary
question of its Forestry-laws.” Yet he cannot refrain from
asking whether, even if ‘its esthetic charms” were alone in
question, they do not “demand a legislative enactment that
shall make the entire section a State Park, as free to the peo-
ple of this and other States as are the Niagara Falls Reserva-
tion and the Yellowstone National Park ?”
The Weekly Press (Philadelphia) has been collecting through
its correspondents some interesting data as to big trees in
various parts of the country, and measurements of remark-
able trees in fourteen states are published in the number for
August 22d. Among these are a Live Oak in Marion County,
Florida, with a trunk circumference of thirty-one feet, and a
spread of branches of nearly 139 feet; a Sugar Maple in Brad-
ford County, Pennsylvania, with a girth of sixteen feet, and
branches spreading eighty-three feet; an Elm in Shinnston,
West Virginia, with a girth of twenty-seven feet three inches,
a spread of branches of 123 feet, and a total height of 110 feet;
a Chestnut in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, v With a circum:
ference of twenty-five feet three inches, and branches spread-
ing eighty-eight feet; a ee in Wabash County, Illinois,
with a girth of fwenty- eight feet, and a Sassafras at Johnsville,
Pennsylvania, with a circumference of thirteen feet six inches
three feet from the ground, a spread of branches of thirty-
five feet, and a total height of forty-six feet.
At the Sixtieth Annual Exhibition of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society last week the display of out-door flowers
was not so large as usual, owing to the protracted rains, but
the quality of those shown was of the best, and the arrange-
ment of the cut flowers and green-housé plants was better
than usual. Fruits were exhibited in great profusion,
although Apples and Pears were not so abundant as in former
years. They were exceptionally free, however, from fungus
and b Heht, Vegetables were shown in great abundance and
variety "and not a single poor specimen was seen, and the
fifty dishes of pertect Tomatoes placed together presented a
mass of color unequaled in the hall. Among the ornamental
plants, the collection of Orchids and green- -house plants con-
tributed by Messrs. Pitcher and Mz anda, of Short Hills, was
noteworthy. A magnificent specimen Latania Borbonica from
Mrs. Francis B. Hayes was conspicuous in the upper hall.
Mr. L. W. Goodell made an attractive exhibit of Nympheas
and other water plants, and a fine specimen of Nepenthes with
twenty pitchers was sent by George McWilliam, gardener to
Mrs. J. Lasell. A great group of green-house plants from Mr,
Nathaniel T, Kidder contained the six specimens for
which the prize was given to his gardener, William J.
Martin. Thomas Clark, gardener to Mr. Brooks, showed,
among other fine plants, a Czbotium princeps which took the
first prize for a Tree Fern, and A. J. Wheeler, gardener to Mr.
J. H. White, contributed an admirable collection, including
an Acalypha of remarkable color. A collection of native
flowers from Mrs. P. D. Richards was one of the most inter-
esting features of the display, and Mr. James F. C. Hyde sent
thirty. -eight varieties of cultivated native Asters, two of them
cros -bred seedlings, and a large and finely colored Gentiana
Andrewsit, which he had cultivated. An instructive collec-
tion of plants, ornamental and useful, came from the Har-
vard Botanical Gardens, including specimens of the Olive, Log-
wood, Coffee, Pepper, Papyrus, Cinnamon, Mahogany and
many more. The value of this collection was greatly in-
creased by the complete and accurate labeling of the plants. —
Among cut flowers, the new Rose, Madame Watteville, was —
shown by Norton Brothers, some of the best new Cannas
and tuberous-rooted Begonias by Edwin Fewkes & Son, and
well-grown Dahlias by Edwin Sheppard, John Parker and
George S. Tuttle.
OcToBER 3, 1888. ]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: Tripune Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
Evrrokiat Akricies:—The Artistic Aspect of Trees,
other Tropical Plants.........
A View in Central Park, Minneape
Ona Sand Ridge in California..... .
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter
New or Litrte Known Piants :—Rhododendron (Azalea) Vaseyi (with illus-
PACLOM) sitetsinirlaratesiaieiaisseraisisisjeinjee sore) ciwie' 4.» ¥ 0.d wavere-akiele-aser@eirinlesr er tia’s Gua Sea
CucruraL Department :—The Vegetable Garden ..... ... Wim. Falconer. 377
PATITUTINIL EAD [DLE Siatsneryeretstatnaiete:§ ciate ioisieh's.¢ 018 ¢.a.c.0 Bb asalsieielerseyejeieisie ers LZ. Wilkams. 377
1, MD. 37:
Wm, Goldring. 375
Gann acrectusieestasiistele iss ass patneneeitssislerst nce B70
Chrysanthemums. ; ---- Arthur H. Fewkes. 378
(Gleicheniaseaasctwec ence: spre Site vis tise. iavig/victelerintaisiyieinies lian, Ldn, DIL: 37
Orchid Notes—K nipbophia Corallina—China Asters...........000 cee ue 379
ireetoOREST:--l orests:in Californias [lo c2s cise scscccemassasswacens os cereede ce 380
CGRRESPONDENCE :—Ulmus effusa—Onteora Club—Burr Oaks........ 0.000000 05 381
UME GEN TMEUBLICA TIONS crate ssuicntariiaielass aietave'sisia}é sia /s'eisisic's osaiafele wisinieloratater diate cisiersiate’a 'e @ ep 8:0 382
IPERIOQIGALMICUEE RAMU RE a staraiciatsastelersicleistele a/sieiais.sieisssis i014 bale eeebe catclajeivies mise alee oars s'6 3
Exutpitions :—Window Gardening in Boston,
INGIES = scien sie
ILi.usrRATIONS :—Rhododendron (Azalea) Vaseyi.... .... ..-.-..
AUViemian Central Park, MInneapolisiy ieee soijessaee news aeXess seb nee ons
The Artistic Aspects of Trees:--IV.
ORM, texture and color—these we have noted as the
three qualities to be considered when trees are studied
for their artistic value. :
If, in ornamental planting, we used only the materials
which nature supplies in the neighborhood of our homes,
no one of these qualities would seem of more interest in
the planter’s eye than the others, or would offer him more
chances of making mistakes. But, as a result of the efforts
of generations in introducing exotic species of trees and
in perpetuating casual natural eccentricities as well estab-
lished varieties, color has been brought into greater rela-
tive prominence in the nursery than it assumes in nature’s
workshop. ‘The planter is therefore more apt to be struck
by varieties of color than by those of form and texture;
and as a rule thinks more of the effects which he can pro-
duce with them, and commits with them his most frequent
and conspicuous mistakes. If a true artist could always be
employed when a work of landscape gardening is in ques-
tion, then the development of our numerous and striking
nursery varieties of color—which include tones of purple,
red, blue, white, and especially yellow in a score of dif-
ferent degrees, and many striped and mottled effects as
well—-might be counted wholly fortunate; for, of course,
the wider the range of an artist’s palette, the more numer-
ous will be the kinds of beauty he can produce. But
color is the most difficult of qualities to manage, the most
revengeful when managed wrongly ; and, in the hand of
the ordinary planters the varied material of to-day means
merely a greater confusion of tints, a more painful degree
of unrest, spottiness and ugliness, than would have been
achieved had the materials from the neighboring woods
been adhered to. Too often, in small grounds especially,
it seems as though the aim had been to do away as far as
possible with medium green tones and to set upon a carpet
of vivid emerald turf as many trees of strong eccentric
hue as could be collected.
the landscape is pretty well preserved and bright or varie-
gated trees and shrubs are used simply as accents here
and there, too little thought is given to placing them where
they will be emphatic yet not disturbing, too little to the
Garden and Forest.
Even when the general tone of
373
question of their beauty as distinct from their mere novelty
or eccentricity. As a rule it is better to avoid striking
colors altogether and keep to the quiet medium tones of
green. These offer variety enough to satisfy a cultivated
eye in the majority of cases; and if an emphatic note is
really needed, it can be supplied, where the general effect
is softly harmonious, by means of something less brilliant
than a Golden Poplar or a Purple Beech. Such trees as
these have their place in gardening art; but an amateur’s
eye is hardly the one which can be trusted to find it. For
the amateur, in short, the safest course is the best one to
follow, although it may not be the one which an artist will
always follow in his search for the highest and most indi-
vidual kinds of beauty. If a dull tree stands where a
bright one would have produced a better effect, we may
feel that a chance has been missed. But if a bright one
stands where harmony required a dull one, then we feel
that an actual sin against good taste has been committed.
The art of the gardener has likewise greatly increased
variety in the forms and in the textures of trees, giving us
pyramidal and weeping shapes, and finely cut or fringed
foliage, in a perpetually increasing flood of ‘‘ novelties.”
Here again the amateur is apt to be seduced into thinking
that novelty means excellence, that eccentricity means
charm; is apt to plant what he selects without regard to
harmony of general effect, and to select in the interests of
curiosity rather than of a love for genuine beauty. And
here again it may be said that the safest course is the
wisest one to follow. Normal shapes can hardly be so
distressing, however they may be combined, as abnormal
ones are sure to be if there is the slightest error in their
combination.
Of form it may, furthermore, be said that a tree is not
well understood until it is understood in all the stages of
its growth. The typical shape of a young tree often dif-
fers very greatly from the typical shape of the same tree at
maturity, and this again from its typical shape in old age ;
and, in planting, regard must be paid to the question
whether an immediate effect or a long-postponed effect
ought to be most considered. For example, a tree set in
isolation on a lawn in full view from the house ought to
be beautiful in youth and at the same time give promise of
beauty (perhaps of a different kind but still appropriate) in
later years ; whereas in planting a belt or wood in the dis-
tance, the principal trees should be so chosen that they
will look better and better the older they grow, while pre-
sent effect may be chiefly considered in others which are
destined to be cut as development progresses.
Texture varies less with the passage of years than form.
Color is practically persistent year after year, but varies
from month to month; and this fact should also be borne
in mind, There are some trees, like the Yellow-wood, for
instance, which are of a medium tint in the middle of sum-
mer, but of a yellowish green in spring, and it is unwise to
place them where during a few weeks they will not look
well, even if later on they assume a harmonious hue,
Autumn effects should also be more carefully considered
than they are; but to speak of the possibilities which are
open to an intelligent planter in this direction would re-
quire a long chapter instead of an incidental paragraph.
Large Palms and other tropical plants grown in tubs or
large pots are now often used in this country for the decora-
tion of the lawns of country places or of some of the
fashionable cemeteries, where costly glass-houses are
maintained on purpose to store these plants in winter. No
system of garden-decoration is more expensive, while few
of the devices of modern gardening are more displeasing
or unsatisfactory in their results. Palms, with very few
exceptions, when placed out-of-doors in this climate soon
become shabby ; the foliage is torn and injured by the
slightest storm, and having been produced in a damp and
shaded atmosphere, soon turns yellow when exposed to
the full blaze of the sun. But the most perfect specimen
looks out of place on one of our northern lawns. — It injures
374
the appearance of the trees and shrubs with which it
is thus brought in contact, while these quite destroy the
beauties of the Palm. Contrast of this sort is not beauty,
and the result must always be unfortunate. Such plants
have no place in the cemetery ; and the money they cost
could be directed with greater advantage in caring for
hardy trees, and for the grass, which is too often neglected
in such places. In private gardens they are appropriate
and splendid objects for the summer-decoration of protected
terraces and piazzas, as their graceful lines harmonize
always when brought into close connection with archi-
tecture; but the true way to enjoy Palms and many other
plants as well in this country is in a summer conservatory
or tent, which can be spread over a terrace or a portion
of the lawn in immediate connection with the house.
Such a tent can be made to supplement the house ina
delightful manner, forming an out-door apartment
in which Palms and other foliage plants will thrive,
and in which many flowers show their greatest beauty.
Such a tent can be made attractive here during five
months, and in such tents the tropical plants which
are now allowed to disfigure, during the summer,
many a fair scene should be gathered for their own
and for their owners’ good. But incongruous and
out of place as Palms look in an American landscape,
the effect produced by planting Agaves, almost universally
called Aloes here, upon the turf of a lawn, is even worse ;
and when a number of these plants are packed close to-
gether in a circular bed the effect is grotesque beyond
description. These, of all plants, are the most architectural
in outline. Naturally they grow in a country and in situa-
tions so dry that there is never a vestige of grass near them.
Standing out among the dry, bare, sun-scorched rocks of
the Mexican mountains, they are often beautiful objects,
filling the traveler with amazement and delight; but an
Agave growing out of a trimly-mown lawn of grass is
something which the imagination of a person who had
only seen these plants as nature displays them could never
picture. But they have their use in our modern gardens.
No other plant can so appropriately or handsomely deco-
rate the balustrade of a terrace or the steps of a great
building. Whenever they can be used directly in connec-
tion with buildings they are in the right place. No other
plants which can be properly used in such situations can
so well support the heat and drought which full exposure
to the sun entails, and there are no plants which, when
used in such situations, give such universal satisfaction,
It is evident that the decoration of gardens can neve
attain to its greatest possibilities until plants are more
generally studied than at present in their homes, and in
special relation to their natural surroundings.
HAT is now Central Park, Minneapolis—a pleas-
A ure-ground for pedestrians only, of some thirty
acres in extent, in one of the best residence
the city and surrounded by costly houses—was, no longcr
than four years ago, a piece of low, undrained pasture
land. On one side of this pasture was a pond-hole,
perhaps a hundred feet in diameter, surrounded by a
broad margin of bogs, and from this the water oozed
through marshy ground, over which it was hardly possi-
ble to walk dry-shod at any season. Upon the area
through which the pool found its outlet, as well as upon
its borders, there was neither tree nor shrub until three
years ago, when the park planting was begun, and the
Swift transformation w hich has been effected here can be
partly understood from the illustration on page 379, which
gives a view of a portion of this marsh as it now appears.
The pool and bog were excavated to form a lake, four
acres in extent, and some of the earth was used to construct
in it an irregular island. In addition to the natural
springs found here, an artesian well was sunk from which
three hundred gallons of pure water are delivered every
Central Park, Minneapolis.
Garden and Forest.
quarters of
[OCTOBER 3, -1888.
minute, so that the lake is well supplied with living
water. That no hint of artificiality appears, however,
either in the island or the lake, can be well imagined from
the natural treatment of the shores, as seen in the illustra-
tion.
The view is taken from a point on the lake-shore oppo-
site to the lower extremity of the island, and looking
through a narrow channel between the shores of the
island and the lake, with the island on the left. Above the
island the opposite shores-of the lake approach each other
until they are near enough together to be spanned by the
bridge shown in the illustration, while the larger portion of
the lake lies still beyond. T he shrubs, which are massed
so effectively on either shore, were taken from neighboring
swamps and woods three years ago. Conspicuous among
them is the Red-berried Elder, whose arching branches
admirably fit it for a position on the border of the water.
Among other shrubs which overhang the lake are Sumachs
and Red-twigged Dogwoods, while further back are Snow-
berries, Button-bushes and other wild shrubs. The tops of
distant trees, which form a portion of the sky-line, are on
the further shore of the lake. These trees were also taken
from neighboring woods, and, although they were large
specimens, they have been so well cared for that their
growth, like that of the shrubbery, has been exceptionally
strong. When it is considered that artificial lakes and
islands are always
they are to be invested with any charm of naturalness, the
success of this attempt will not be questioned, while the
rapidity with which the artist's idea has grown into an
interesting picture is certainly unusual.
This park was designed by Mr. H. W.S. Cleveland.
On a Sand Ridge in California.
NE day, about the first of June, 1888, I wandered in
search of wild grasses to the summit of one of the
foot-hills of the Santa Cruz range of mountains, some six
miles back from the coast. It was a sandy hill, seemingly
barren, but rising out of the white earth were many plants,
undoubtedly natives, in the full glow of summer growth.
This ridge, and in fact most of these mountains, are com-
posed of sandstone, shale, and diatomaceous earth—a
stratified oceanic deposit. Here we find fragments of
shells, bits of bones of marine mammalia, teeth of sharks,
fragments of echinoderms, ete. In the shale, or ‘“ chalk
rock,” as it is commonly called, are immense quantities of
a few hae of diatoms, and spicules of sponges. There
is enough lime, magnesia, and the like, to act as a slight
cement in holding the particles together. Some of the
“shale,” however, has a flinty hardness, and looks’ much
like flint. It contains some silex and aluminum.
There are numerous perennial springs of cold water
among these hills. In some places there are bituminous
oozings, and occasionally a mountain-spur of sandstone
completely saturated with asphaltum. This material is
used quite extensively now for covering the streets and
sidewalks of our towns and cities. It answers an excel-
lent purpose, because it is indestructible, and a good ma-
terial to wall or drive over.
Wherever there are valleys or basins there are trees of
all sizes, and many species, from the Manzanita, four
or five feet high, to the tall Redwood, 100 to 200 feet
high. Geologically all this region belongs to a com-
paratively recent period. The fossils are ‘mostly of the
same species as those now living in the Bay of Monterey.
Of the plants growing on this apparently barren ~
sand ridge I might make a long list—much longer than
would at first seem possible. Within fif fty steps of where
T stood on the summit of the little sand ridge I noted with
my pencil about twenty-five species. I did not stoop to
examine the smaller kinds.
I will mention a few of the most attractive.
of Ceanothus (CL cuneasus), ee Lilac
A species
as it is known in
counted difficult of construction if
OCTOBER 3, 1888. ]
a
California. It is a very pretty spreading shrub, six to
eight feet high, with smooth, thick, reticulate-veined leaves,
one-half to one inch long, often with a notch at the apex,
darkish green above and glaucous underneath. The flow-
ers are in globular clusters about one inch in diameter,
white or pale blue, and fragrant. When in bloom it is a
charming shrub as it grows on these hills. Another bush
touching the Ceanothus is a Manzanita. (Arcéos/aphylos
tomentosa). It is an evergreen and exceedingly variable
plant, no two being of the same color of foliage. Chame-
leon-like, it varies with season, locality and stages of
growth. Its dark reddish trunk (most frequently in clus-
ters) is always gracefully crooked and ornamental. In
June the flowers have all disappeared, and the little ber-
ries, one-fourth to one-half inch in diameter (little apples,
their name signifies in Spanish), green, red and brown in
color, hang in pretty clusters among the old and new
leaves.
In such places the California Poppy (£’schscholtsia Cal-
fornica), is seldom wanting, and it was present here with
its inimitable yellow flowers on long stems, which gener-
ally find support among the branches of some dwarf shrub
such as the Chamisal (4Adenos/oma).
I found here, also, a very pretty Cichoriaceous plant in
full bloom (Malaco/hrix obfusa), with its radical leaves
spreading on the clear sand, and scape-like, branching stems
bearing beautiful yellow flowers, next in richness to the
Poppy. I brought home some of these, which contin-
ued for two weeks to open out each day and close at night
their pretty flowers.
Among the several grasses I will mention the one most
prominent; a beautiful and stately Blue grass, Poa fen-
uifoha of Nuttal. It is beautiful because so unexpected
and out of place in such a locality. Growing in bunches,
two or three feet high, with numerous slender, often pur-
plish leaves, it tempts one to try the experiment of plant-
ing a lawn, or making a Blue Grass farm on some of
these sand ridges ! More improbable things have been
done; for instance, in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco,
where roving sand hills and Alaska winds have been
tamed down to gentle slopes and genial breezes, by the
aid of certain trees for wind-breaks, and a skillful selection
of other plants adapted to the holding of the sand and
staying the air currents.
At present our sand ridge only serves the slightly useful
purposes of keeping pure the native plants, of storing up
some heat from the sun during the day to temper the night
breeze, and producing a few mouthfuls of forage ‘for
grazing cattle. /
What its full capabilities are, must remain for future ex-
periment. It is certain a vineyard can flourish there, for
that has been demonstrated near by. Some day probably
certain forest trees may grow on these sand slopes, to sup-
ply timber for future generations, to preserve and equalize
the water supply, and to protect orchards and farm-lands
from the too violent sweep of winds that sometimes blow
from the north and west.
Santa Cruz, Cal., July, 1888.
GOL:
Anderson.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HERE was an abundance of flowers to-day, for the
most part from the open air, at the meeting of the
Royal Horticultural Society, and the unusually large num-
ber of first-class certificates awarded is proof of the excel-
lence of the novelties. The chief feature of the exhibition
was a magnificent display of Gladioli from the famous
growers, Messrs. Kelway, of Langport, in Somersetshire.
I do not know whether Gladiolus Gandavensis is grown
much in America, though I imagine that they could be
grown to perfection i in your hot summers. If they are not,
they should be, for there are few flowers that can surpass
the splendor and the stateliness of a perfect Gladiolus, such
Garden and Forest.
370
as James Kelway can produce. Of the 500 spikes dis-
played not one was under eighteen inches in length, and
every one carried a score or more of expanded flowers and
buds, every flower being three to even four inches across,
as perfect in form as the most exacting florist none de-
sire. The colors of these Gladioli have an extremely wide
range, showing every gradation of tint, from the most
glowing scarlets and crimsons through the most male
shades of pink to the purest of whites. Some are penciled,
lined, flaked and blotched in the most subtle way, and all
have their petals of wax-like texture, the crystalline cells of
which sparkle on their surface like gems. This is not an
overdrawn picture of what Kelway’s Gladioli are to-day,
and I thought, when admiring them this morning, how
odd it is, not to say perverse, that flowers of such marvel-
ous beauty should be neglected because their market value
is not so great as that of Orchids and other expensive
tropical flowers. Of the hundreds of spikes shown to-day
the majority represented old varieties, but a large number
of new seedlings were shown for certificates, and of these
the Committee selected the following six sorts : Cebes, bril-
liant cherry-crimson, quite a new tint; Magas, white, deli-
cately penciled with pink ; Micon, upper segments blush
white, flaked with pink, lower segments pale primrose-
yellow, a distinct break in color; Accia, vivid scarlet,
with lower segment white ; Bullion, pale yellow, flaked
delicately w ith « carmine, and Mago, carmine-crimson, with
white lower segment. All these have massive spikes and
large flowers of perfect form. Others could have been
chosen that worthily deserved a like award, but the prin-
ciple is not to be too lavish with certificates For the next
two or three meetings Messrs. Kelway will show an array
of Gladioli such as this from their broad acres at Langport.
Double Begonias, from Messrs. Cannell, of Swanley,
were another feature to-day. A large group of new
seedlings were shown, all with flowers as double, and,
in many instances, as large as good double Hollyhocks,
but only two were chosen for certificates; one, named
Mrs. Lynch, with rosetted flowers, four inches across, of a
clear rose-pink, and Mrs. Lascelles, very large and double,
pale cherry-carmine. These both have vigorous growth
and good habit. From Swanley also came some new
single Begonia, and the Committee found themselves
bound to deviate from the usual rule in not certificating
seedling single Begonias for the sake of one called White
Lady, whose flowers were of such faultless shape— that is,
they were ‘almost, if not quite, circular, and of snowy
whiteness—in fact, it is one of the best, if not the purest,
white single Begonia yet raised, Among the others were
some with orange-red or flame- colored. flowers, which
were very showy.
For the first time this year Messrs. Cannell sent a selec-
tion of the splendid new varieties of Canna, to which I
have referred in one of my former letters. Those shown
made an exceedingly fine display, and the large, bold-
looking foliage, like small Banana-leaves, seemed to set
off the glowing colors of the flowers to great advantage.
The curious, unsymmetrical form of Canna flowers adds
to their beauty, and the uninitiated public look upon them
as Orchids. Four Cannas, the pick of a large group,
were certificated. These all rejoiced in French panies
thus indicating their origin. Admiral Courbet has large
flowers, with bright yellow petals, Beet y and profusely
blotched and spotted with blood-red ; Capricieux has flow-
ers with bright orange-red petals, conspicuously and pret-
tily edged with golden-yellow, a most striking sort ; Fran-
cisque Morel has flowers of a deep crimson, and Madame
Just I should describe as nankeen color, it being that pe-
culiar mixture of red and yellow that nobody can intelligi-
bly describe. To these four I should have added one
called Felix Crousse, also with singular orange-red flowers
These hybrid Cannas are unquestionably the coming flow-
ers, as they are invaluable for winter bloom. With a little
management they can be made to bloom in summer and
winter continuously. At Swanley they are grown in an
376
intermediate temperature, planted out in free soilin a long,
narrow, span-roofed house.
Dahlias have made their first appearance at the meet-
ings, and for the next two months we shall be surfeited
with novelties among them. ‘To-day there were many
new sorts put before the committee, but very few were
considered good enough for a certificate. In my estima-
tion the finest sort, and one that will prove of most value
in the garden because of its distinct color, is one called
Beauty of Brentwood. It belongs to the so-called Cactus
Dahlias, and has flowers of the same size and shape as
D. Juarez, but the color, instead of scarlet, is a beautiful
shade of carmine, or perhaps some would say, carmine-
magenta. It is certainly a most telling flower, and one
that will make its mark. It received a unanimous vote.
‘Two single Dahlias from Messrs. Cheal, of Crawley, won
certificates. One was Victoria, with white florets edged
broadly with deep red, the other with broad flat florets of a
pale pink edged with buff—a most strange combination of
] } g s
colors, hence its value as a_ break; but as it only won
a certificate by a majority of two votes, you may glean
that it did not please every one.
The pretty little white Campanula tsophyila alba was
awarded a certificate. It is not a novelty, but was par-
ticularly well grown and flowered. It is a beautiful plant
for a suspended pot in a green-house or window, but is not
quite hardy in England in the open air.
Mr. B. S. Williams made a fine display of Orchids in
flower, and one was singled out for a certificate. This
was the rather rare Odontoglossum Karwinski. It has a
long flower spike, dull-colored sepals and petals, and
broad labellum colored with various shades of reddish
purple, but it is not what one would call an attractive
Orchid. Mr. Williams’ group was rich in Orchids that flower
at this season, a rarest among them being Cypripedium
Sanderianum, porphyreum ressellalun, C Ashburtonie,
var. superbum i and beautiful), y ch bartonite evpan-
sum, Cattleva aurea, Pachystoma / Peretti (a great
rarity and very pretty), Caleva Lidorado alba and splendens,
Cypripedium ananihum superbum, Dendrobium Goldrer, all
of which are worth making a note of as being among the
finest of the comparatively few Orchids that flower in the
latter half of August. Two new Maidenhair Ferns were
shown also by Mr. Williams. One was Adiantum
colpodes roseum, which has its young fronds of a coppery
red hue, the other a crested fronded variety of A.
Capillus-Veneris named A. Versaillense, a crested, parsley-
like Fern. This was awarded a certificate, but the vote
was not unanimous. One of the several new varieties
of Delphinium shown by Messrs. Kelway won a certifi-
cate. It is called Horus, and has a massive spike of large
flowers, deep indigo blue, centered with white.
London, August 24th IV. Goldring.
New or Little Known Plants.
Rhododendron (Azalea) Vaseyi.
MONG the additions which have been made of late
years to the Flora of the United States, few plants
have a greater scientific and horticultural interest than the
beautiful Rhododendron figured upon page 377 of the
present issue of this journal. Its nearest American a ly is
the Rhodora. In eastern Asia, however, there are two or
three species of Rhododendron, with the campanulate,
irregularly bilabiate corolla which characterizes Rhodora
and this species, which is very like the sub-alpine
Japanese, 2. Albrecht, ‘The discovery, therefore, of 2.
Vasey? added, as Professor Gray at once pointed out,
‘another to the now very numerous cases of remarkable re-
lationship between the China- Th areas and the Alleghanian
Horas.” Rhododendron Vasevi has been so eee de escribed,
that it is only necessary to add to Professor Gray’s and
Mr. J. Donnell Smith’s remarks * upon this plant that Mr.
® Rhododendron Vaseyi, A.Gray, Proc. Am. Acad., xv. 48; Bot.
—John Donnell Smith, Bu//.. Torrey Bot. Club, xv., 164
Gazette, viii. 282.
Garden and Fores
[OCTOBER 3, 1888,
Faxon, from whosedrawing our illustration is made, notices
that the upper or posterior lobe of the corolla is exterior in
the expanded flower, a peculiarity we have been unable
io detect in the flowers of any other Rhododendron.
R. Vasey? is a tall shrub with slender branches, fifteen
to eighteen feet high, with bright, clear pink, precocious
flowers, marked towards the base of the upper lobes of the
corolla with numerous’ darker spots. They are quite un-
like in color, and appear much earlier than those of other
American Azaleas. &. Vaseyt was discovered by Mr.
George R. Vasey, in 1878, near Webster, in Jackson
County, North Corolina ; it was afterward found in Cash-
iers Valley, South Carolina, directly in the rear of
the house long occupied, during the summer monihs,
by the Hampton family, where it grows in great lux-
uriance with 2. arborescens, occupying the low banks of
a small stream ; and during the present season it has been
found again, this time by Mr. 8S. T. Kelsey, upon Grand-
father Mountain, in North Carolina, only two or three
miles from Louisville, ‘growing everywhere in clumps
and patches on the southern and south-eastern slopes, at
4,500 to 5,000 feet elevation, but most abundant and vig-
orous in moist situations, and is associated with 2. maaz-
mum, LR. Catawbiense and Kalmra latifolia.” R. Vasey
takes readily to cultivation, flowering freely when not
more than a foot high, and promises to be perfectly hardy
in the climate of Boston. (Gx Sues
Koelreuteria bipinnata.
ONSIEUR FRANCHET contributes an interesting ac-
count, accompanied with an illustration of the new
Koelreuteria of western China, to a recent issue of the
Revue Horticoie. tis one of the most important, from a
horticultural point of view, of the numerous discoveries
of the French missionary, Delavay, who alone, and remote
from all Europeans, has been able in the short space of
four years to double the number of Asiatic species of cer-
tain genera. ‘The field of his observations is a very limited
one, not many square miles in extent, yet he has detected
in this small region of the mountains of Yunnam no less
than thirty-two new Rhododendrons, and as many new
Primroses and Gentians.
Kelreuterta paniculata is a well known, small, orna-
mental tree from northern China, with large compound
leaves, consisting of from six to ten pairs of leaflets and
large panicles of yellow flowers, which appear in July.
Ty ‘he new Keelreuteria,” Monsieur Franchet points out, ‘‘is
ree distinct, as may be judged from the following
description :
“Kelreuteria bipinnata, Franch., Bull. de la Soc. Bot. de
France, xxxiii., 436, 4.93 Avery vigorous tree, sixty feet
high ; leaves twenty-six inches long by twenty-four inches
broad at the base, doubly pinnate; pinnze coriaceous,
alternate, distinctly pediceled, nearly glabrous, dark green
above, pale on the lower surface, oval-lanceolate, sharply
serrate. The flowers resemble those of AY panzculata; they
are bright yellow in color, the narrowed base of the petals
purple, and are produced in enormous, compact panicles.
The capsules are broadly oval, always obtuse, sometimes
nearly round, two and a half inches long, turning purple
when fully ripe. ‘The seeds are black, the size of a small
pea.
‘CK. bipinnata, grows in the forest of Ta-ling-tin, above
Tapin-tza, in central Yunnam, atan elevation of more than
5,000 feet. It flowers at the end of July, and the fruit is
ripe in the autumn.
“Ttis a remarkable tree on account of the size of its
leaves and the abundance of its flowers. In the autumn
its appearance is unique with its immense e panicles of large
purple pods. It is probable that this new species will
grow in cultivation as freely as its relative, but the experi-
ment has not been tried yet. ‘The seed germinates freely,
and the young plants grow rapidly. Even if the climate of
Paris should prove too severe for this tree, it will no
OcToBER 3, 1888.]
doubt thrive admirably in western and central France.”
The climate of Yunnam is probably not very unlike that of
the mountainous portions of the southern United States, and
there is a probability that many of its plants will grow in
the climate of our Middle States, if not further north on the
Atlantic seaboard. One of the most interesting of Monsieur
Delavay’s discoveries is a large evergreen Magnolia, almost
identical with JZ grandiflora of our Gulf States. The be-
havior of this tree in cultivation will be watched with the
greatest interest, as it may be expected to prove much
hardier than the American species, which is confined to
the sea-coast, and never extends into the mountains, or
Gas. S.
even the upper middle districts.
Fig. 6o.—Rhododendron (Azalea) Vaseyi—See page 376.
Cultural Department.
The Vegetable Garden.
ONTINUED wet weather has caused rank growth in Celery,
Cauliflower, Beets, Turnips, and other young crops, and
an unusual plumpness in Snap and Lima Beans, and vigor in
Corn, but it has been very detrimental to Tomatoes and Mel-
ons, causing them to ripen slowly and witha marked tendency
torot. In fact, the whole season has been irregular and back-
ward with several crops. A fair crop of Globe Artichokes is
usually due in September from plants raised from seed in
early spring, but this season, so far, only two plants among
sixty have produced heads.
Prepare tor frost. Tomatoes, Snap and Lima Beans, Corn,
Garden and Forest.
oT
Cucumbers, Egg Plant, Peppers and Squashes are vegetables
that will suffer trom the slightest frost. Cauliflower, Brussels
Sprouts, Celery, Spinach, Parsley, Peas, Lettuces, Endive,
Beets, Carrots, Turnips and Radishes are not injured by slight
frosts. But do not handle these crops in frosty weather, no
matter how hardy they may be. Have frames, sashes, plant-
cloth lights, sheeting, mats or other protecting material at
hand for use in case of need. Heavy or.cold rains are injuri-
ous to Cucumbers at this time of year, therefore itis well to
keep covered with sashes all the time and tilt these up a little
in the warm part of the day. If any gaps occur in recently
sown Spinach rows seed can still be sown in the vacant
spaces. The recent heavy rains have packed the soil so
firmly, and, in many cases, buried the seed so deeply in the
ground, that it has rotted. Have a good stock of young seed-
ling Lettuces to prick off thickly into
frames, and half grown plants with
which to fill up the frames for winter.
Earth up the Celery that is to be used
before New Year’s, a little at a time,
and always in dry weather and when
the leaves are perfectly dry; and
“handle,” that is, draw some earth in
around, the late Celery, so as to give
the heads a compacted rather than
spreading form. In earthing up, pack
the earth firmly around the heads so
as to exclude water from running down
and settling among the leaf stalks.
Keep root crops clean and keep the
hoe at work among the young Beets,
Carrots and Turnips, but do not lift
any of these for storing before there
is danger of hard frost—that is, about
the middle of November here. Gather
Squashes under cover in an open airy
place where they will be free from
frost. Have the Potatoes in a dry, cool
place, but where the frost cannot reach
them and where itis dark enough to
prevent the tubers from becoming
green. Ifcellar room is lacking, Pota-
toes may be stored in pits out-of-
doors, but the pits should be shallow,
well ventilated, and covered thinly at
first, and so arranged that water will
readily drain away from them.
Clear away all dead, dying or spent
vegetables, and keep the Melon ground
clean from decaying fruit. Melon
vines and Potato and Tomato vines
should not be thrown into the hog pens,
but should be wheeled to the rot-pile,
as a foundation for compost; but old
Cabbage, Cauliflower, Lettuces, Beans,
and all other vegetable matter which
pigs are fond of, and which decays
quickly, can be thrown into the pens
with much benefit to the animals and
capital returns in the way of a mass
ofrich manure. In cutting over As-
paragus in November, burn the old
stalks to destroy the beetle as far as
poeple. Sas me Ee
Autumn Apples.
OLLOWING closely the early Apples
named in a previous article comes
Maiden’s Blush, a very handsome
Apple, with a waxen skin and a blush that any maiden might
envy. The tree isa good grower and yields well; the fruit is
generally smooth and perfect, fine for dessert or cooking, and
keeps in good condition longer than the earlier sorts. I have
kept specimens till January, but only as objects of curiosity, as
they lose their flavor after a time. Another fine Autumn
Apple, though of an entirely different type, is the Gravenstein,
a handsome red striped Apple, of larger size and higher quality
than the Maiden’s Blush.
The Porter represents another type, being a conical golden
yellow Apple, of fair to large size and excellent quality. The
tree is an abundant bearer, though hardly as vigorous in
growth as the two last named. Its season is from September
to October,
The Fall Pippin, when in perfection, for size and excellent
378 Garden and Forest.
quality is, unquestionably, queen of all the autumn Apples
with which I am acquainted. The tree is of spreading
habit and good growth, but it does not bear as early or
abundantly as the trees already named. The fruit, too, is
liable to apple scab, which mars its beauty. Fifty years ago it
was grown extensively in this vicinity under the name of the
Vanduyne Apple, and I can remember earning my first money
with other boys who were employed, at fifty cents a day, to
hand-pick the Apple crop of a neighbor and pack the Apples
in single-headed barrels, for carting to New York. But the
old trees have disappeared, and now it is difficult to find a
tree of mature age. Nevertheless, the excellence of the Fall
Pippin should insure a place for one tree in the smallest col-
lection of autumn Apples.
A strong competitor of the Fall Pippin is the Orange Apple.
The tree is a better grower and much more productive. The
fruit is nearly or quite as large, on the average, and fully as
handsome, being really ‘‘Apples of Gold,” smooth and fair to
look upon. When first ripe they are a trifle too acid to suit
some tastes for dessert use, but when they become mellow
the acidity mellows, too, into a most agreeable flavor. This
is at all times an excellent cooking Apple and eagerly sought
for by all who know it. This Apple has been confounded
with the Fall Orange of Massachusetts and the Lowell or
Greasy Pippin, which Mr. Downing records as distinct from
the Orange, although this name is sometimes given to it.
There is also an Orange Pippin grown quite extensively in
New Jersey which I think is different, but Iam not so familiar
with it that Ican assert this positively. The Orange Apple,
according to Mr. Downing, originated in this State, and is
emphatically a New Jersey Apple; in fact, I do not remember
of meeting with it elsewhere. Its season is trom October to
December. E. Williams.
Montclair, N. J.
Cannas.
HEMANN'S Canna surpasses others in its magnificent
proportions, and in the abundance and persistence of its
elegantly disposed, showy flowers. No other plant in the gar-
den displays as great luxuriance in one season's growth. For
amass of it here, twelve feet by forty-five, and now impene-
trably thick, and grading from five feet high at the outside to
nine feet high in the middle, the plants were set out April
3oth, singly, and twenty-four by thirty inches apart, in rich
ground, They made very little fresh growth before June, but
since then they have grown amazingly, and have been con-
tinuously in bloom since early in July. I have never known
this Canna to mature seed. When set out the plants consisted
of one to three shoots each, and now they show from five to
eleven stalks to'each clump. Last fall, when it was touched
by trost, I cut it over at the ground, and, in order to secure a
large stock, at once divided the crowns into as many pieces as
there were eyes, and these were planted quite close together
ina frame heated in winter by a hot water pipe enough to keep
frost out, and were left there till planted out. While they
were in the frame their leaves were cut back two or three
times before planting-time, as they were growing up against
the glass, but it did them no harm, and when the plants were
set out they were fairly well rooted. All new and rare Cannas
can be treated in the same way.
The old forms, such as Warscewiczii, Discolor, and the like
can be stored on a dry shelf in the cellar, and left there from
November till April unmoved, but we cannot keep Canna
Ehemanni in that way. It will not bear to be completely
dried off with impunity, nor will Canna flaccida.
Premices de Nice is the best tall-growing, yellow-flowered
Canna. It bears branched spikes of clear yellow blossoms
that rise well above the foliage. Nouttoni forms a grand com-
panion plant to Ehemann’s, but it does not grow so tall nor has
it such massive foliage. Its flowers are large, showy, and of
a rich crimson color. Adolph Weick is another brilliant-flow-
ered sort, but of more compact habit than those already men-
tioned. If fine foliage is desired more than blossoms we have
nothing better than Robusta perfecta,
Within the last few years a new race of Cannas, popularly
known as Gladiolus-flowered Cannas, has appeared. They are
of quite dwarf or of moderate size, and have deep green,
glaucous green, or bronzy crimson foliage. The flowers are
unusually large and of many shades of yellow, terra cotta,
orange, crimson and crimson-scarlet, and are really showy
and beautiful. Emile Leclaire is a good representative of this
class. It has large, golden-yellow flowers, spotted with crim-
son and scarlet, and pea-green foliage.
In the great flower fields at Queens the other day I noted a
large assortment of these handsome Cannas in bloom, Among
them were:
[OcToBER 3, 1888.
Admiral Courbet.—Green foliage; flowers large, yellow,
with reddish-brown markings. This variety was awarded a
first-class certificate by the Royal Horticultural Society at
London, August 28th last.
Francisque Morel.—Green foliage; and showy, vivid
scarlet-crimson flowers. This variety received a similar award
by the same Society, and at the same meeting, as did the last
named.
Edouard André.—Crimson foliage; deep red flowers.
Gerard Audran.—Green foliage; flowers reddish or terra
cotta color.
Francois Lapente.—Crimson-shaded foliage; dark purple
stems, vivid red-crimson flowers.
Guillaume Coustou.—Green foliage, very strong; flowers
yellow, spotted with red, fine.
Revol-Massot.—Green foliage; rich reddish-crimson flow-
ers, streaked with yellow.
Princess de Lusignan.—Green foliage; reddish or terra
cotta colored flowers.
General de Neigrier.—Crimson foliage ; crimson-scarlet
flowers.
B. Cousaneat.—Green foliage; vigorous habit; orange-scar-
let flowers. GxC.
Chrysanthemums.
EFORE the appearance of the chilly nights of late Septem-
ber it is well to have all Chrysanthemum plants under
cover, as the cold nights, following the warm days, check the
young growth and prepare the way for mildewed foliage and
poor flowers. While it is a wise plan to keep the plants in the
open air as long as possible, they should be securely housed
in a light and airy structure before there is any possibility of
frost, for, although the plants are quite hardy, the young buds
are very tender, and often a slight frost, when they are just be-
ginning to show, will ruin a whole crop of flowers. The house
should be one that will admit an abundance of light and air,
for good plants cannot be grown if either of these is wanting.
When placed in the house the plants should have plenty of
room—that is, they should not touch each other, but stand so
that there may be afree circulation of air about them, and as
soon as possible after they are under cover measures should
be taken to prevent mildew, which otherwise may spread rap-
idly, to the great injury of the plants.
The most efficacious means of preventing mildew is fumi-
gating the house with sulphur, but the grower should be
warned that he is dealing with a very dangerous element if
carelessly handled. Ordinary sulphur when evaporated is not
injurious to the plants, but when heated above a certain de-
gree it is converted into a very different thing—sulphurous
acid—which is exceedingly destructive to living plants. Our
method of applying the sulphur is by evaporating it over a
small oil stove in a common two-quart agate-ware stewpan, _
filled about one-third or one-half full of flowers of sulphur.
The wicks of the lamp are so arranged that the sulphur will a
boil without burning. As long as it does not catch fire it is
safe, but the moment it does so the sulphurous acid is formed,
and the house will be quickly filled with the choking, irritating
gas, and the plants will appear asif they had been scorched by
a severe frost. When simply boiled the sulphur is thrown off
much like steam, and will crystallize in very minute particles
upon every part of the plants, thoroughly eradicating every
particle of mildew; and if this is repeated occasionally the |
plants can be kept entirely free from it. :
As soon as the buds get large enough to be easily handled
the plants should be disbudded, using a penknife with a small, 4
sharp point. No setrule can be laid down for this operation,
but generally speaking the plants set more buds than can be ~
brought to perfection, and the superfluous ones should be re- —
moved if large and perfect blooms are wanted. Many varie- —
ties will form a full, strong bud at the extreme end of each —
shoot, with several smaller ones clustered close beneath it. —
voted to developing the one left atits extremity. Soon after the |
taken away, so that all the energies of the branch can be de- ;
plants are housed they need stimulating by some quick fer
tilizer to bring the blooms to perfection and keep the foliage
ereen and fresh. Liquid manure made by leaching stable —
aa |
manure will answer all purposes, and should be applied rather
weak, and quite often while the buds are forming. In fact,
once a day, when the plants are badly pot-bound, will be none
too often if it is applied in a weak state. :
x
OCTOBER 3, 1888.]
Ordinarily, artificial heat will not be needed in the house
until the nights become cold enough to freeze or during cold,
rainy. weather, when a little heat will be found useful in drying
the air. Arthur H. Fewkes.
Gleichenias
OOD examples of the various species of this lovely genus
of Ferns are not so often seen.as they should be, owing
in part to the limited stock of some of the species, and con-
sequent high price, and in part to the fact that some difficulty
has been encountered by amateur cultivators in persuading
them to make a strong and healthy growth. When given
proper treatment. they soon make exquisite specimens, and
wear a more aristocratic air, so to speak, than almost any
other class of Ferns, with the ‘possible exception of some of
the monarchs of the family, such as the Cibotiums, Alsophi-
las and Dicksonias. As to what this best treatment should
be, there is, perhaps, some difference of opinion, but I will
venture to give in outline a treatment which has proved rea-
A View in Central Park,
sonably successful. The soil should be rather coarse and
composed of good turfy loam and fibrous peat in about equal
proportions, with about one-sixth of coarse sand. A little
broken charcoal isa desirable addition to the soil, as it tends
to keep it in a more wholesome condition. The Gleichenias
being naturally shallow rooters, it is better to grow them in
pans than in pots, and, in either case, to give them plenty of
drainage, as their roots rarely go deeper than four or five
inches below the surface. Good drainage is essential, for,
though they like an abundance of water when in full gr owth,
yet they are very impatient of any stagnant moisture at the
root. A light syringing over the foliage should be given early
in the day, : and is beneficial during dry, hot weather, helping
to keep the plant clear of thrips. ‘In regard to temperature,
the mistake is often made of keeping them (the Gleichenias)
too warm, a night temperature of 45° to 50° being quite
warm enough for most of the species during the w inter sea-
son, and in summer they should be kept as ‘cool as possible
by shading and plenty of ventilation. The best time to give
them a shift in pots is early in the spring, before the growth
commences, as, in common with a majority of Ferns, the
Garden and Forest.
379
Gleichenias do not like to have their roots disturbed after the
new growth begins. The. propagation of this interesting
genus is attended with some little difficulty, because most of
the species do not produce pig in quantity, and, therefore,
division of the rhizomes is the plan adopted to increase the
stock, an operation that should be carefully done, so that each
piece has as much root as possible attached, else it will be
found hard to establish them. As to the best sorts to grow,
it may be said that they all are beautiful, but the ee. are
among the most free in habit and easiest to manage: G. flad-
bellata, a strong-stemmed and large-fronded species from
Australia; G. dichotoma, a charming companion plant for the
above, its light green pinne making a good contrast with the
darker tints of its neighbor. Among the finergrowing species
G. dicarpais, perhaps, the best, closely followed, however, in
points of bez uty, by G. Spelunce, both of the last named being
natives of Tasmez ania, and all the sorts mentioned are best
grown in a cool house, where they will make a much
stronger growth, and are not so likely to become infested with
insects.
Minneapolis.—See page 374.
This list may be extended considerably, but the species
named are among the most satisfactory. WH. Taplin.
Orchid Notes.— Odontoglossum
Orchid is very similar in habit to the
rium, having longer lanceolate foliage of a
green. It should be grown in a much warmer
than the last named species, the warmest end of the C )
house with abundant moisture suiting it to perfection. The
plants, during growth, require every attention, as thrips
often attack the m, and when they once infest the igi it is
difficult to dislodge them. Fre quent syringings and dippings
once a month ina weak solution of soot and tobacco water,
will usually keep the plants free from this pest. When well
grown this Odontoglossum will produce its flowers twice a
year. These flowers are borne on erect scapes, three to five
in number, during the months of March and April, and re-
main in perfec tion a long time.
Angrecum Leonti.— This is a native of the Comoro Islands,
near “Madagasc: ir, and was introduced by M. Leon Humblot,
who has already enriched our collec tions with many choice
Reslit.— This handsom«
beautiful O. vexilla-
much lighter
temperature
Cattleya
380 Garden and Forest.
and rare species. It was found at a very high elevation,
where the atmosphere at all seasons was cool and moist. It
is a free flowering species quite distinct in habit, differing en-
tirely from others of the genus, having long, falcate leaves of
a leathery texture, from the base of which stout, erect stems
are produced, each bearing as many as twelve handsome
blossoms of ivory whiteness, with tail-like spurs, measuring
from six to nine inches in length. The flowers, which appear
in February and March, are very fragrant, and, if removed to
cooler quarters, will remain several weeks in beauty. These
plants do not enjoy so much heat as the majority of Angra-
cums, but should occupy a light and airy position in the
Cattleya house, and, if suspended in baskets or pans, will be
found to thrive and flower freely in a mixture of clean, fresh
sphagnum, anda small quantity of rough, fibrous peat.
A. D.
Kniphophia corallina.—This is a free-growing, free-blooming
form of A. A/acowen?. On March 6th of last year (1887) I
sowed some seeds of it in a pot in the green-house, and in
due time pricked them out into a flat, which I kept in a cold-
frame allsummer. Last October [ transplanted them from
the flat into a frame from which frost had been excluded in
winter, and thence into rich ground out-of-doors last spring.
They made very little growth last year, but they have grown
vigorously this summer, and nineteen out of twenty-three are
now, or have been, in bloom. As aruleseedling Kniphophias
do not bloom till the third year from sowing-time. As
nearly all the varieties are highly decorative plants, and
especially useful for late blooming, we should treat them
tenderly over winter. By mulching them deeply with dry
leaves we can preserve them over winter in the open ground,
but it is safer to lift them in fall and winter them ina cold pit,
cool green-house or cellar. If an increase of some particu-
lar variety is desired at lifting time, we may shorten hack the
long leaves, then divide the crown into as many parts as we
can separate with good roots to each, and plant these close
together in a frame from which frost is excluded, in the same
way as we do with Ehemann’s Canna, and plant them out in
the open garden in spring. VEsL.
China Asters are among the most useful of garden annuals.
They are not only beautiful in form and color, but their lasting
qualities add much to their value. The cut flowers do not
easily wilt, and revive quickly in water when they do begin to
droop. Early flowering China Asters mature much more
quickly than the later varieties; but to prolong their lives
take up a few of the choicest plants, place in small flower-
pots, water well, and keep in the dark for a day, and you will
soon have a living bouquet of rare beauty for in-door decora-
tion, giving far less trouble than cut flowers, and remaining
fresh and in bloom for weeks. The pots can, of course, be
concealed if desired. A plant of Dwart Bouquet taken up just
in time to save it from the frost bloomed last year for five or
six weeks, the opening buds often presenting curious varia-
tions of color and greater delicacy of tint. :
Pittsford, Vermont. — 3 G. A. W.
The Forest.
Forestry in California.—I1.
N California a number of small tree-plantations have been
made, and, I believe, with very satisfactory results. Sev-
eral small groves of Locust trees have been reported as hav-
ing proved profitable, the wood being sold for wagons, etc.
The only figures Iam able to give, however, apply to planta-
tions of the Eucalypfus globulus. One case is that of Mr.
Robt. C. E. Stearns, of Berkeley, who reports on a plantation
of General Stratton, made in 1869; twenty acres were cut
when eleven years old, every item of expense was noted, and
a rental of $5 per year was charged for the land. The net
returns on the twenty acres were $3,866.00, Another case is
that of Mr. George A, Nadeau, of Los Angeles.
His figures are : -
EXPENSE.
Cost of trees at time of setting, per acre, ; . $7.50
Labor of replanting, per acre, : 3 . : 5.00
Cultivation, per acre, 5% : , ; : . 5.00
Rental of land for seven years at $3 per acre, . 21.00
Expense for seven years, total, per acre, : : $38.50
INCOME.
Thirty-five cords of fire-wood per acre, at $3 per
cord in the tree, : ; ; : 105.00
[OcroRER 3, 1888.
Total expense for ninety-seven acres, . $3,734.50
Total return, A ‘ ; ‘ . - 10,185.00
Net profits, j : : : ; 6,450.50
California experience shows that tree-planting is profitable
within reasonable periods, and gives returns as soon as some
orchards, while requiring less care and less first cost.
From these points it-will be clear that, looking at the forest
in the most commonplace and most narrow practical view,
scientific management is both advisable and necessary.
Without it, this immense crop of the forests must disappear,
to the great detriment of the country.
While these considerations would doubtless be deemed
fully sufficient to a business man to warrant a change in our
forest policy, looking to the preservation of the woods from
waste and fire, and to the maintenance of their natural repro-
duction to replace the legitimate demand of trade, there
are still other reasons of more pressing force which demand —
forest-preservation. These are the sanitary and climatic in-
fluence of forests, and still more their effect on the agricul-
tural productiveness of the country through the precipitation
and distribution of moisture controlled by them, and their im-
portance in equalizing the flow of streams and in maintaining
springs. The sanitary influence of forests is well understood
by investigators. It will be well, however, to give a few illus-
trations on this point.
The Roman Campagna in ancient times was covered with
woods and groves. From it sprang one of the hardiest and
most forceful races of the world. We must therefore infer
that it was a healthy locality. Since the clearing of this dis-
trict, and through modern times, the Campagna has been one
of the most deadly miasmatic regions of Europe. Within
recent years considerable plantations of trees have been made
upon its desolate wastes. One of the largest of these was
made upon a large estate near Civita Vecchia. The trees
were principally Eucalyptus. The amelioration in the health
of the locality was prompt. Whereas laborers only remained
on the estate in the day and departed to safe places at night,
losing much time in traversing the long distance between their
work and their shelter, after the growth of the trees they
were able to remain with impunity in the district itself.
Another plantation on the Campagna was made by the
priests at the grand church of St. Paul. The benefit to the
health of the fathers was in this case equally marked ; the ma-
larial fevers have become less frequent and less deadly.
The Island of Cyprus was formerly celebrated for its luxury
and refinement; it contained a large population and wasat that ~
time, at least in its mountainous parts, covered with forests, -
It has been cleared and is now a desolate island of bare rocks,
with a few cultivated valleys. It is subject to virulent forms.
of malarial disease, and contains not a hundredth part of its
former population and none of its prosperity. Since the
English occupation forest plantations have been commenced
ona large scale, but it is too soon to know their effect.
The shores of the Mediterranean show numerous cases
similar to these. The island of Mauritius is still another,
but we do not have to leave our own country to prove
this count. The records of the huntsmen and adventurers
who first traveled the wooded western States of America
make no mention of malaria as a dreaded malady. The
record changed when the settlers came ; these cut the trees,
and it was then, and only then, that malaria became the
scourge to humanity that it is in parts of the United States.
While this evidence cannot be held as conclusive, still all
experience seems to confirm it. The planting of belts of
trees in malarial districts protects localities previously sub-
ject to malarial influence. It must be understood, also, in this
connection, that the clearings in the western States were a
necessity, malaria or no malaria.
Many diseases common in open countries are rare or
absent in wooded ones, wherever considerable village pop-
ulations exist, as in the Black Forest of Germany. The
death-rate in the communities of the Black Forest is lower
than that of any other part of Germany. Consumption is the
disease which, amongst civilized nations, counts the greatest
number of victims. In forests this dreadful malady is prac-
tically unknown. This fact is now so well recognized by
medical men, that they send their patients, even in a climate
like that of northern New York, to the Adirondack woods as a
cure, to remain not only in summer, but in winter also. The
beneficial effects of the Pine forests at Arcahon, in France,
and in our southern States, have been availed of in phthisis.
Fog, it is now known by a number of well regulated experi-
ments, is impossible without dust of some kind in the air. In
this connection it may be well to call attention to the explana-
tion of our California coast fog. In summer the upper
OctoreR 3, 1888.] Garden
rents of air are from the coast to the sea. These are charged
with dust, which gradually drops out of them, as they lose
force on leavi ing the land.’ This dust falls into the sea atmos-
‘phere, which is charged with moisture, and fog is the result.
Fog is irritating to those with weak or defective lungs. In
forests this dust, with moisture surrounding it, is sifted out
by the foliage, and fogs in forests are always. modified, and it
the exposure be favorable , are entirely eliminated. Fogs do
not occur in dense forests.
Trees all have some odor and many a balsamic and agree-
able one. Of such trees the Pines, Firs, Cedars, Eucalyptus
and Laurels, Bay and Camphor trees are the best known.
The emanations from these have, in general, a sedative effect
upon the nervous system, but a stimulating one on the vital
functions. These classes of trees are health- giving to the
human being, and, to an equal degree, they are “fatal to germ
life. The importance of this effect will be recognized when
we reflect that many diseases are caused and transmitted by
germs. Insects will not congregate upon pitch, camphor,
myrrh, etc., and the burning of these and many other tree
products, as the leaves ot Pine or Eucalyptus, stupefies and
kills insects and germs. Some vegetable products, as pyre-
thrum, are more noted and deadly than others.
The philosophy of the attraction that pleasing odors have
for man is well worthy of study. The taste or instinct for
them is as useful as its complement, the dislike for bad smells,
which enables us to avoid infected places.
In the tree the sap mounts from the roots in a crude state,
composed of water (oxygen and hydrogen) and a slight admix-
ture of earthy salts; it is carried to the leaf, when it is elab-
orated by the chlorophy! or minute grains that give the leaves
their green color, when carbonic acid is absorbed from the
air, and oxygen is liberated from the sap by the decomposition
of the carbonic acid. Carbonic acid has a debilitating effect
on man, this the tree absorbs; while oxygen is man’s life, and
this the tree gives.
Trees, while preservative of moisture in dry situations, have
a great drying power when moisture is excessive, as in
swamps and malarial lands. Few persons realize what an
extraordinary amount of moisture a tree is capable of evap-
orating into the atmosphere. The evaporation takes place
through the stomata of the leaves. Of these mouths, 90,000
have been counted on the lower side of the Cherry Laurel
leaf, which is devoid of stomates on the upper side; on the
leaf of the Lilac 160,000 have been counted. There is a great
diversity in this respect amongst plants. The only experiment
with which I am acquainted ‘relating to the amount of evap-
oration which can take place through leaves of trees is that of
Marshall Vaillant quoted by J. C. Brown. He took a branch of
an Oak and placed it in a vase full of water. He measured
the water lost through its leaves and considered himself en-
abled to conclude that the tree from which this branch had
been detached would emit into the atmosphere in twenty-
' tour hours upwards of 2,000 kilogrammes of water, equal to a
little more than 5,000 pounds. The abnormal condition under
which this experiment was made must cause it to be consid-
ered as only an indication of what may take place under nor-
mal conditions.
A flow of sap from wounds made in trees for commercial
purposes is another indication of this power of taking up
water. Pine trees tapped for resin, Camphor trees for cam-
phor Gum and Rubber trees for rubber, show a great flow of
sap, but I know of no measure having been taken of it. But
_ measures have been taken of the flow of the Sugar Maple (Acer
saccharinum) and the yellow Birch (Betula excelsa). Emerson
cites a Maple six feet in diameter that yielded thirty-one and
one-half gallons of sap in twenty-four hours, and Marsh cites
one in Warner, New Hampshire, two and one-half feet in
diameter, which yielded twenty gallons in eighteen hours; Dr.
William cites a large Birch tapped in Vermont, the flow of
which was measured from time to time for four or five w eeks.
The sap ran at the rate of five gallons per hour, progressively
diminishing. The total yield was estimated at 1,890 gallons.
The flow from these trees was only from one or two auger
holes and was insufficient to immediately injure the tree.
When we consider the number of trees which thrive ona
single acre we may perceive how important their collective
action may become. Trees drain a soil in still another way.
Their roots penetrate into the soil and make permeable strata
that would otherwise be impervious to water. The channels
made by the roots become a means by which surplus water
finds its way into substrata, from which it appears later as
springs in lower situations. The life activity of plants pro-
duces on the oxygen of the air a condition known as ozone.
When in this condition oxygen is opposed to germ life, and,
and Forest. 381
consequently, to all forms of putretaction. From these
points it can be understood why a district is healthier in
forests than whenit is cleared. The more complete the
clearing, the more complete the change. There are other
beneficial influences of trees on health, some ot which are
discussed under another head, such, for instance, as their
electrical influence, their equalizing tendency on winds and
temperature, and their maintaining effect on springs, whereby
wholesome water is secured. Abbot Kinney.
Correspondence.
Ulmus effusa.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—l do not know whether you remember a tree which
particularly attracted your notice during your last visit to Ber-
lin. Large, fine and old, it was, nevertheless, no real giant
Teg; but was attractive through the peculiar form of its head,
which, as I was able to tell you, was characteristic of the spe-
cies, and not merely of the individual. Irefer to an Elm on the
banks of Lake Tegel, opposite the island of Scharfenberg,
which rose tall and “lonely from the edge of the wood.
It seems best to retain for this kind of Elm the name
of Ulmus effusa, which Wildenow gave it in the year
1787, and which appears as the oldest of published names,
although that of U. pedunculata had been given it by Fouge-
roux three years previously, and had been read at a meeting
of the French Academy of Sciences, but never published.
Other synonyms are U. ocfandra and UV. ciliata. The species
belongs particularly to the province of Brandenburg. At least
I have never seen such enormous examples in any other partot
Germany, or the neighboring countries, as grow on the banks
of the Spree and the Havel. The trunk attains the size of
an Oak and a far greater height. Specimens seventy or eighty
feet in height are not uncommon, and there are some of at least
100 feet. In old age it forms sharp, protruding ribs at the base
of the trunk, which have deep concave recesses between
them. These natural buttresses evidently greatly increase its
power of resisting storms and render effectual help in the
struggle for existence. Higher up, the trunk becomes more
cylindrical, although always. inclined to be irregular, and shows
an abundance of young shoots, especially w here the tree
stands on the edge of a wood. Branching generally begins
only ata considerable height. But it is difficult to describe the
head, which is a wonder of picturesque beauty, easily sur-
passing in this respect all other trees in Germany. It must be
seen in winter to be fully appreciated, although even at other
times it makes a marked impression. The branches bend and
twist in the strangest curves, often even more fantastically
than those of the Oak. Sometimes they shoot outwards, some-
times bend back, and let the playing light penetrate to the very
depths of the head. The higher its ‘crest, the more enchanting
is its shape, the more it combines grace with power, the more
the slender young shoots contrast with the robust forms of the
branches. ‘At last it is a whorl of thin, flexible ramifications
that droop and hang somewhat like the branches of the Weep-
ing Willow, although not so low. High up over all, however,
tall leaders spring out, which add variety to the top. In short,
the shape of the head is almost impossible to describe in
words. Itis quite different in effect from that of the much
more familiar U. campestris, Its foliage is the least attractive
part of U. effusa, It cannot be called beautiful, and if com-
pared, for example, with the glossy foliage of ae Linden, has
a certain poverty of appearance. The rather large, one-sided
and unevenly-toothed leaves are rough to both eye and touch,
are not very closely placed, and form a surface of dull, dead
green. But seen from a distance these defects do not prevent
this Elm, wherever it stands, from being an ornament to the
landscape. As with all other species of Elm, its blooming pe-
riod is very early. Its fruit ripens in the month of May, and i is
produced in very great profusion, so that its first green in
spring is due to the | fruit and not to the leaves. The effect is
extraordinary. Seen from a distance, the brown masses of
hanging blossoms give the illusion of autumn coloring. Then
follows the transparent green of the unripe fruit, and the leaves
do not finally appear until the fruit begins to ripen and add its
shading of brown. Although chickens and other poultry
greedily devour the seeds of this Elm, its spontaneous distri-
bution is considerable.
effusa belongs cee to Middle Europe, Germany
tepaie the centre of its are In Sweden it is not to be
found, nor in Italy, except alone the northernmost limits of
Lombardy. In its wild state, in ‘the province of Brandenburg,
it likes the damp, deciduous woods and the swampy banks ot
462
streams, and especially of lakes, so that Gleditsch appropri-
ately called it the Water Elm. Almost all- our village
Elms belong to this species, and in such places it is more
common than-any other tree, and vies in size and beauty
with the Linden. It is a pleasure to see these giant trunks,
sometimes of enormous circumference, shading the village
streets or standing in the farm-yards, and serv ing as supports
for the farmer's tools. In these places the accumulation of
animal matter is probably one of the causes of its fine devel-
opment. Without its Elms a Brandenburg village would
hardly be conceivable. They are far too plentiful, however,
even the oldest among them, for us to fear any marked
decrease in their numbers.
Elm bast was formerly used for tying plants, but has now
been superseded by Russian L inden bast, and in many gar-
dens by African Replica (?) bast. Yet it is still used in some
villages around Berlin for tying beans to the poles, as it is
considered more flexible than any other fibre.
Even Rossmueller, in his celebrated book on ‘' The Forest,”
confesses never to have seen any variety of U. efusa. In this
respect it forms a great contrast to U. campestris, which is so
rich in varietie "A specimen raised and growing in Berlin,
however, has parti-colored leaves. Seedlings have also been
successfully raised to form pyramidal trees, which remind one
of U. Exontensis. Specimens of this sort are to be found
in the new public cemetery of Berlin, near Friedrichsfelde.
In measuring the Elms of this species in the province of
Brandenburg, | have found the maximum to be a circum-
ference of six to seven metres and a diameter of about two
metres, Such dimensions permit the conclusion that the age
of these trees reaches back into dim antiquity.
As an avenue tree, for which it has been most successfully
used for a long time in this country, it can be warmly recom-
mended to our American friends, more especially as it thrives
in very scant soil, provided it is not too dry or too compact.
Bolle,
[Ulmus effusa has been considered by some botanists a
variety of U campestris. Carl Koch, however, whose
knowledge of European trees was perhaps unrivaled,
agreed with our learned correspondent in believing it to
be a distinct species (‘‘ Dendrologie,”’ ii. 419). The oldest
published name of this tree, antedating by three years
Scharfenberg, Prussia.
that of Willdenow, appears to be U. fews, of Pallas
(‘‘Flora Rossica,” i. 75, 4 48, f. F.), published in 1784.—
EDe i)
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—The kind notice of the Onteora Club (the official title
of which is ‘The Catskill Mountain Camp and Cottage Com-
pany "’) ina recent number of your paper tempts me to write
you a few words with regard to the condition of the forests in
our neighborhood.
The original growth upon this section of the country con-
sisted of large Hemlock trees. These were robbed of their
bark some eighty y years ago by the tanners from whom Tan-
nersville takes its name, and the ruins of whose long-aban-
doned and almost forgotten tanneries may still be seen on the
banks of the streams in the various ravines of Greene and
Ulster Counties. After the tanners had secured all the bark
they could utilize, whatever of good lumber was left was
secured by lumbermen, who rafted it, where possible, into
the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The mountain streams have
perceptibly diminished in size, undoubtedly owing to the reck-
less destruction of these large tracts of forest. So many years
have passed since this destruction was effected, that a new
growth now covers most of the slopes, and there is very little
of that nakedness of aspect which so distresses the eye in
many parts of the Adirondacks. Yet this new growth is itself
in danger of destruction, for many of the mountains are being
fast despoiled of their young timber by the chairand furniture
factories which now abound in our vicinity. Our woods con-
sist chiefly of Birches, Beeches and Maples, the original
Hemlock forest having, in no case, started again in the
ond growth. The Beeches seem the most hardy and _ pertina-
cious, growing in some places: in dense thickets so closely
8, g
that it is impossible to force one’s way through them.
to look alter the trees on our own land
It is our intention
as carefully as we can, cutting out all the dead trees, trimming
off dead limbs as close to the trunks as possible, and we utching
the undergrowth with a view to its futureas part of the forest,
We shall also use our best endeavors to influence local public
opinion with regard to forest preservation; and I may note,
as a matter of minor interest, that we have already planted
Garden and Forest.
[OCTOBER 3, 1888,
long stretches of roadside with shade. trees, choosing the
indigenous Maples for this purpose. Dunham Wheeler,
Supt. Catskill Mountain Camp and Cottage Co.”
a15 East lwenty-third Street, New York.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Burr Oak grows in the bottoms in this region, but I have
never seen it cultivated. Its timber is valuable and we would
like to plant it on tree claims, but do not know how to take
care of it. Will vou kindly inform us ? Ais Ss
Jamestown, D. ‘I
The Burr Oak grows in Dakota. J have examined it on
the Red River, the James, and on the Missouri, in Dakota,
but from observation and after diligent inquiry, I have
learned that it is brittle and of litthe value compared with
Burr Oak timber from further south, where this is quite a
rapidly growing tree. In northern Dakota it grows very
slowly, much too slowly, where I have noticed it, to make
it a profitable tree to plant. Even the acorns of the Burr
Oak, near Jamestown, are not as large as hazel nuts, while
further south, where this trée is fully developed, the acorns
are quite as large as hickory nuts.
Collect acorns as soon as they fall from the tree in
autumn, and keep them in moist sand or earth during
winter. Sow thickly in drills, and let the seedlings stand
i or not more than two, years, in the drills. Shorten the
tap-roots before planting. Many writers claim that tap-
rooted trees will never reach their greatest development
unless the root is preserved. Experience teaches, however,
that the root-pruned tree will soon make a larger and more
symmetrical tree than the seedling which has not been
transplanted. Examine the stumps of native Oaks ten’
years old, or those that are fully grown, where they have
been extracted by a stump-pulling machine, and you will
see that the trees which depended the shortest time on
their tap-roots have the best balanced roots, and conse-
quently grew into the best specimens. Rober’ Douglas.
Recent Publications.
The Tuberous Begonia; tts history and cultivation.
trated. Edited by B. Wynne.
This is the first of a series of popular works upon subjects
directly connected with gardening, which the proprietor of the
Gardening World, a \. ondon periodical, announces. The im-
provement of the Tuberous Begonia is certainly one of the
most interesting achievements of modern gardeners. It
seems only yesterday since these plants were first made
known, and yet the flowers of no other class of plants, per-
haps, have ever been so essentially modified and so im-
proved from the florist’s point of view at least, in such a
short space of time. It was not until 1864 that the first of
these plants was discovered in Bolivia by Mr. Richard
Pearce, a collector of the Veitches ; and it was not until three
years later, at the Paris Exposition, that this plant was ex-
hibited and subsequently described as Begonia Boliviensis. In
1865 Mr. Pearce discovered, in. Bolivia, “the yellow-flowered
species which bears his name. Two years later this indefa-
tiga@ble and successful collector discovered, in the mountains
of Peru, at an elevation of more than 12,000 feet, Begonia
Veitchiit. Unlike B. Boliviensis, which has small, drooping,
narrow-petaled flowers, the Peruvian plant had flowers much
more nearly round in outline, and as the progenitor of the
modern varieties with the much prized circular flower, its
introduction was important. egonia roseflora, a native of
the Andes of Peru, reached England in 1867. This species,
although one of the parents of some of the early varieties, has
never played a very important part in the improvement of
these plants. Begonia Davisti, discovered by a Mr. Davis
while collecting in "Peru for the Veitches, did not flower in Eng-
land until 1876, and did not appear in commerce until nine years
ago. It is a dwarf species with bright scarlet, erect flowers,
and smooth and glossy foliage, chars acters which, when it is
crossed with strains derived from B. Veitchii or B. Boliviensis,
it has succeeded in transmitting to its offspring; and itis said
that nearly all the newer single-flowered varieties, as well as
the new race of dwarf, upright, double-flowering varieties,
owe their best qualities to 2. Davisii. Begonia Clarkei is only
known from a plant discovered in an English green-house,
but is believed to be originally from Peru. It is less hardy
Illus-
OcToBER 3, 1888. ]
than the other tuberous-rooted species, and has been little
used by the hybridizer,
From these six species, none of which had been seen in
European gardens until twenty-one years ago, the whole race
of Tuberous Begonias, single and double, is descended. The
fact is interesting as showing the influence of one commer-
cial establishment upon modern horticulture, that five of
these six species were discovered and introduced into culti-
vation by collectors of the house of James Veitch & Sons,
which has done more than any one single agency in the last
fifty years to increase the number of plants cultivated in gar-
dens. The earliest hybrid Begonia was raised in their estab-
lishment by John Seden, w hose skill as a hybridizer is com-
memorated in many genera, by crossing B. Boliviensis with
an unnamed species, it issaid. Other varieties soon appeared,
and good strains were raised by English and continental
growers, and it may be said by American growers also.
It is needless to attempt to describe all the varieties of these
plants, or to mention the different crosses to which they owe
their origin. This information, and much sound advice about
theecare and cultivation of these plants and the use to which
they can be put, and other information concerning them, will
be found in the little book whose title we have given above.
Tuberous Begonias have many claims to popularity. the
color of their flowers varies from the most intense scarlet to
pure white, and to various shades of yellow.
of neat and graceful habit. There is no plant, not even the
scarlet Geranium, which, in flower, can produce a more gor-
geous mass of color, or that can be used. more effectively” for
certain decorative purposes. A blazing sun will not cause
them to wilt, and the severest and most protracted rain-
storm will not dim nor destroy the beauty of their flowers.
A green-house is not needed to keep them over winter, as
tubers enough to plant an acre or two may be stored in a
moderate sized drawer. Tuberous Begonias, however, have
their drawbacks. As cut flowers they do not last well, as the
petals soon fall; they are practically useless for exhibition
purposes, because they lose their flowers in traveling. In-
deed, when the plants are grown in pots, it is almost impos-
sible to move them about for conservatory or interior decora-
tion. The Tuberous Begonia is essentially a plant which must
be let alone, and allowed to remain where it has grown. The
plants are now universally popular in England, and are seen
everywhere in the great private show gardens and_ public
nurseries ;—where entire ranges of glass houses are devoted
to their cultivation, in public parks and in the humblest cot-
tage gardens. In this country, for some not very apparent
reason, they are much less frequently grown, and yet the
climate is better suited to them than that of England or of
any part of northern Europe. The reason may “be that we
have not yet passed beyond the Scarlet Geranium stage, a
disease which seems to have nearly run its course in Europe,
orit may be that, as they are not good exhibition subjects,
gardeners do not like them, and that, as they are not good for
cut flowers, commercial florists cannot make use of them.
The American public, at any rate, really know very little as yet
of the possibilities in beauty and usefulness of Tuberous
Begonias.
Periodical Literature
In the August number of the phere Rundschau
(a German periodical published in this city), Dr. Carl Mohr,
of Mobile, prints the first of a series of etGeles on “The
Distribution of Plants through the Agency of Animals,” a most
instructive and interesting ‘chapter, dealing with plant-migra-
tions in the eastern Gulf region of the United States, in so y far
as they have progressed w ithout conscious action on the part
of man.
The district Dr. Mohr’s survey includes stretches from west-
ern continental Florida to the Mississippi and northward to the
limits of the States of Mississippiand Alabama. Here, he says,
more than 250 species of plants are known to be foreign in-
truders among those of native origin. Two-fifths of them have
so accommodated themselves to local conditions that they may
now be regarded as fully established in their new home.
These belong i in greater part to the flora of northern Asia and
Europe, and in lesser part to that of the Mediterranean region
or to the warmer zones of the eastern and western continents.
Following in the footsteps of immigration, they remain for the
most part confined to the vicinity of settlements, although
some of them have spread abroad into the outer wilderness.
Many of them are troublesome weeds which, coming from
Europe, are now found over the whole of North America, to
such a degree that it is sometimes difficult to decide whether
they are naturalized or native. Foreign grasses are also found
Garden and Forest.
The plants are /
383
in great variety, some of them having come without visible
help from man, while others, like Sov chum vulgare, have been
first planted and then spread abroad through the agency of
birds. Among plants of tropical origin, Richardsonia scabra
is noted as having spread, in the last forty years, over the
whole sandy region near the Gulf, and as now extending
into the highland districts of Alabama. This, the Pigeon Weed
or Mexican Clover, makes excellent hay, and is a real acquisi-
tion to set against many serious nuisances.
Lespedeza striata, the Japan clover, a native of eastern Asia,
offers a remarkable instance of rapid migration. First noticed
near Charleston towards the end of the fifties, it was found at
Macon in 1865, at Augusta in 1867 and at Montgomery in 1868,
growing densely on the fields which had lain untilled during
the war, and spreading into adjacent uncultivated regions.
In 1869 it had reached Mobile County, in Alabama, having
made the journey from near the Atlantic coast in a little more
than four years. The war prepared the place for it; wandering
cattle sowed its seeds in their excrement, and it now furnishes
fodder of good quality in large quantities.
The Ailé inthus tree of China is fully naturalized in the Gult
region, as is the Cherokee Rose, which, although some ob-
servers believe it to be a native, Dr. Mohr declares to be
an immigrant from the same country.
Many plants, especially from tropical regions, have been in-
troduced in ballast and cargoes to the neighborhood of coast
towns. Some of them have wandered inland and become
firmly established; others are still local or even sporadic.
Birds and eattle have brought others from western America,
some of real value; and birds, again, have brought others
from the West Indies, while the track of industry. is strewn
with immigrants. In Prattville, Alabama, for instance, an
interesting colony of Mexico-Texan plants has established
itself in the vicinity of a wool factory, their seeds having been
brought from the shores of the Rio Grande in the fleeces.
Hlelentum te nutfolium was first noticed by Dr. Mohr, growing
in a street in Mobile, in 1878. Since then it has spread through
Mississippi and Al: ibama northward for two hundred miles,
crowding out the native plants and subduing the foreign
weeds. Its home is in the Indian Territory and the western
parts of Arkansas. It is a pernicious weed, spoiling fodder by
its bitter taste ; but the same district has sent to the Gulf States
the Chicasaw Plum, which is now so thoroughly naturalized
that it is often believed indigenous. Its distribution, like that
of so many other plants, is attributed, even by the unlearned
inhabitants, to the agency of birds.
Of course the interest of Professor Mohr's article is greatly
decreased by the necessity we have been under of omitting
the catalogues of plants Which he gives in great numbers.
We can do no more, however, than wish it may be translated
entire for the benefit of those who do not read German. It is
not only instructive and most interesting in itself, but, as he
rightly believes, valuable as_ illustrating, with definite and
varied facts, the manners in which vegetable transmigration
has been carried on during countless ages in the past.
Ewhibitions.
Window Gardening in Boston.
HE Window Gardening Exhibition at Horticultural Hall,
September 15th, was most interesting and instructive as
showing the progress of this admirable work. A marked im-
provement was shown in the condition of the plants as com-
pared with those exhibited in 1887, and the large attendance
of visitors and the number of contributors are most encour ag-
ing indications of even better results in the future
Nearly 200 pots and more than too collections of cut flowers
were on the tables. The display of W. E. Coburn, comprising
forty varieties of wild flowers, and arranged with admirable
taste, was a marked feature. The plants of nine exhibitors
were deemed worthy of special mention as of superior excel-
lence, and there were besides about seventy small gratuities
Beas nted to exhibitors.
A slight collation was served at twelve for those whose
homes were distant, and was greatly enjoyed by about sixty
children, mostly girls. The admirable de portment of the
young people was noted by all, and was most gratifying to the
Committee, who have given their services to this" enterprise
with the purpose of refining and elevating the tastes of the
young, providing innocent and usefulemploymentand making
homes more che erful and happy.
It may be set down as an educational fact that a child cannot
daily care for a plant, study it and watch its de velopment,
and lear to love it, without a decided moral and spiritual
improvement.
384
An attractive feature of the exhibition were two microscopic
apparatus, contributed by the inventor, Mr. Stiles Frost. This
instrument surpasses all others in the ease with which a
flower can be observed, magnified and analyzed. It can be
put into position and toc used almost instantly, and is so sim-
ple that a child of ordinary intelligence can use it effectively.
These instruments were surrounded by a throng of deeply
interested little Bostonians, who could not withhold their cries
of delight as they saw a flower, which before, to them, was
only a mass of color, distinctly unfold under the glass its ex-
quisite structure, texture and be auty, opening anew realm in
the world of flowers.
During the summer there have been several local exhibits
in other parts of the city, the most successful being at Orienta
Hall, in Roxbury. Perhaps the most important work of the
Committee has been in supplying plants to those that wish
them.
These are furnished at cost, delivered free at some conve-
nient distributing point. They are specially propagated, and
great care is taken that every plant is of superior quality and
certain to ower under proper care. L.M. C.
Notes.
The second annual exhibition of the Society of Indiana
Florists will be held at Indianapolis from the 13th to the 16th
of November.
The joint meeting of the American Forestry Congress and
of the Southern Forestry Congress will be held at Atlanta,
Ga., on November 29th instex alot November 12th, as formerly
announced.
Harper's Weekly for September 22d contains a four-page
illustrated supplement on “Irrigation in the Arid West.” The
paper was prepared by Richard J. Hinton, and it presents, in
a clear and attractive way, the most interesting phases of the
great material problem Which must soon engage the attention
of American legislators.
Some new seedling Gaillardias are mentioned as most
promising among the plants in the early September exhibi-
tions in London. The Gaillardia has already become a
popular border flower since its great improvement during
Feat years; but these new varieties are very double and
quite distinct from the single sorts. One of them, made up
of tubular florets of bright red and gold, is spoken of as most
showy.
The students of the Miller Manual Labor School of Albes
marle County, Virginia, as a part of their botanical training,
have prepared a collection of the native woods of their county,
including more than eighty specimens, for the Richmond
Exposition, The woods are prepared in blocks, in radial sec-
tions, with neat labels, giving the botanical and common name.
The extent of the collection illustrates the richness of the
forests of the foothills of the Blue Ridge in arborescent
species.
Professor Budd, in the recently published report of the
Ohio State Forestry Bureau, says, that his e xperience with the
Honey Locust for fence lumber ‘dates back some twenty- five
years. Fence rails of that age nailed on posts have outlasted
three sets of posts and two sets of Red Oak rails, and the
Locust rails are yet mostly good. The rails were split and
nailed on in June and July. Posts made trom Locust timber,
seasoned one summer before setting, and mixed with White
Oak posts treated in the same way, lasted equally well.
Ot the Viburnums, none are now more showy than the
High-bush Cranberry, as its brilliant scarlet fruit lights up its
heavy foliage. The neat Arrow-wood (I. de ntatun) is also at
its best now, with its large clusters of blue fruit and its shining
leaves. The dwarf Vl. casstnoides, with pink and blue berries
among its deep green leaves, makes a good companion tor
the others, and when planted on rich soil is hardly surpassed
by any other shrub of its size. These Viburnums, beautiful
during spring and summer in flower, foliage and habit, are
doubly useful for the new charm they develop as their fruits
ripen in autumn.
A correspondent of Walure, writing tron Noumea, in New
Caledonia, upon the dispersion of seeds and plants, records
the fact that thousands of acres of pasture-land have been ab-
solutely ruined on the island by the spread, through the
agency of birds, of a species of Lantana, introduced by the first
Catholic missionaries sent to the island, as a hedee-plant to
surround their property at St. Louis, or Conception, The
arden and Forest.
[OcToOBER 3, 1888.
history of the ‘ Gendame plant” is not less interesting. It is
an Asclepiad of which a seed was brought to the island
from Tahiti by a Gendame in his pillow. T he Gendame shook
out his pillow, the seed, with its silky attachment, floated off,
fell upon suitable soil, germinated, and now the “ Gezdame
plant”? has injured the island as much as the missionaries’
hedge
Mr. E. S. Carman, of the Rural New Yorker, early this
spring undertook to raise Potatoes at the rate of 700 bushels
per acre by planting them in trenches. These trenches were
eight inches deep and one foot wide. The bottom of the trench
was loosened with a prong hoe, and the cut tubers were laid
one foot apart in the row. Then a thin layer of soil was placed
over them and a dressing of sulphur added to discourage the
cut worm. Mapes’ potato fertilizer, 880 pounds per acre, was
placed below the potatoes and the same amount above. Last
week the crop, in five rows each thirty-three feet long and
three feet apart, was harvested. The first row yielded at the
rate of 684 bushels to the acre, the second at the rate of 605
bushels, the third at the rate of 1,076 bushels, the fourth 299
bushels, and the fifth 253 bushels, the entire plot yielding at
the rate of 583 bushels per acre. The Cucumber flea beetle
had injured all the tops, and especially those in the last two
rows, which were of an early variety.
The managers of the Pennsylvania Railroad recently passed
a resolution that all the bridges of short spans on the road
should be rebuilt in brick or stone, instead ot iron. They were
actuated by purely practical considerations relating to the
recent increase in the weight of locomotives which the im-
provements of the past few years have brought about, and
the consequent inability of the iron bridges to bear the strains
to which they are now subjected. But in commenting upon
their ret The American Architect and Building News
rightly says: ‘Aside from their greater safety, however,
bridges ‘of masonry have the esthetic advantage of being
usually interesting and often very beautiful objects, while
iron truss bridges have never yet been endowed with any-
thing more than an engineering attraction. The roughest
stone arch across a roadway presents a beautiful combina-
tion of lines, a fine contrast of light and shadow. and a
picturesque effect of landscape beyond, together with an ex-
pression of quiet durability which is more needed in our
architecture than any other quality. Already our
country railway stations, under professional care, are fast
becoming transformed from hideous sheds covered with
clapboards into charming buildings of stone, picturesque,
solid and convenient, often quite rich ly decorated, and gen-
erally surrounded by pretty and well-kept gardens. The
better class of these new stations in this country are far
more beautiful than those of foreign roads, and if the design
of the bridges could be brought up to that of the roads, the
line of every well-managed road would furnish a route of
considerable architectural interest.”
It is well known that a difference in luxuriance of growth
shows, not only in the size and shape of plants, but also in
their color, individuals which are well nourished being of a
darker green than others of the same species which obtain
insufficient food. Butitis seldom that a knowledge of this
fact is turned to good account in so curious a way as has
recently been done by a German archeologist, who has re-
cently been excavating the remains of the Roman camp of
Carnuntum, near Altenburg, a small town on the Danube be-
tween Vienna and Presburg, ‘It appears,” says the London
Times, “that Professor Hauser, ever on the alert, had for a
month past observed the color of an extensive corn-field,
which varied in every part. He found an elevated post of
observation, and, after a week's close attention, declared it to
be his opinion that the corn-field was growing over the site
of an ancient amphitheatre. His drawings showed that the
oblong centre piece was somewhat concave, and the corn
was quite ripe in that part, because there was so much soil
between the surface and the bottom of the theatre. Elliptical
lines of green, growing paler the higher they rose, showed the
seats, and lines forming a radius from the centre showed the
walls supporting the elliptical rows of seats. The Professor
waited impatiently for the corn to ripen, and the moment it
was cut the excavations began. They have shown that the
almost incredible suggestion was perfectly correct. — Six
inches below the soil the top of the outer wall was found, and
from there the soil gradually grew thicker until the bottom
of the arena was reached, the pavement of which is in perfect
condition, From the theatre a paved road leads to the Camp
of Carnuntum, As soon as the theatre has been entirely
freed of soil covering it, all the measurements will be taken.
OcToBER 10, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.
Conductedubye crac ce 6) (ap ee. . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER Io, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE,
Epirorrat. ArvicLes :—Forestry Commissions,—The Ailanthus ...........-.++ 385
Notesirom:a: Naturalist:in MEXICO, v's sec. cs.sisiea ste os bivieees or A. F. Elwes. 386
ForEIGN CorRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter .....--2...eeeeeeeeee Wm. Goldring. 387
New or Litrte Known Prants :—Tigridia Pringlei (with illustration)
Sereno Watson. 388
Cutrurat Department :—The Vegetable Garden .. Vm. Falconer. 389
The Flower Garden..
Prant Notes :—The Weeping Pinus ponderosa (with illustration)......
G2Si S302
Origin’ of the Le Conte Pear ........ 00006 neh Siaiete arctasisetetters James Hogg. 392
‘ Tubular Cabbage Leaves (with illustration)........Professor L. H. Bailey. 392
Tue Forest :—Forestry in California. II]............ sees eee eee Abbot Kinney. 392
CorrESPONDENCE :—Forest Planting in New England—The Habitat of Black
Walnut—The Natural Arrangement of Plants—The Extreme Hardi-
Me SSO TMC OS eect eisiac oc ciottcteneisietenc)ete'seieialar qcie's wiaiereieineicie suse ater eteraia
PERIODICAL LITERATURE...
Recent PLanT Portraits
Exatsition:—The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
DNS SBatitate ete ratet ete efetee ote elininisorsto,oin sib slate ata’aca (o/s inin stn diouiayeiateiawisce ata’ sluclejnie vine sislesess 396
ILLusrraTIons :—Tigridia Pringlei, Fig. 61 .... ... +++ 389
Pinus ponderosa pendula, at Wodenethe, Fig. 62 ++ 39
MalformedGabbage’ Weal, Big. /63\.20 vecec ccs ane tes cicis et oposite Coonnee 392
Forestry Commissions.
HE preliminary reports relating to the forest-wealth
of the United States, published by the Census Office
six OF seven years ago, gave rise to a very general discus-
sion in the public press upon forests and their complex re-
lations to the welfare and development of this country.
The most visible outcome of this discussion, perhaps, was
the appointment in a number of states of Forestry Commis-
sions for the purpose ‘‘of preserving the forests;” and the
question has been asked us more than once by members
of these commissions how they can perform their
duties so that the communities which created these com-
missions can derive the greatest benefit from these new
organizations. In other words, what can Forestry Com-
missions in states like New Hampshire or Kentucky or
Pennsylvania do to save the forests in those states? The
answer is not an easy one to give. The states in which
these Commissions have been appointed own no forest-
land whatever, with the exception of New York, where the
state holds great bodies of wild and forest-land, and of Cali-
fornia, where land has been presented to the Commission
in order to enable it to carry out various experiments in
silviculture.
So far as New York is concerned it is evident enough
what the Commission ought to do. It controls or can
control nearly 800,000 acres of forest-land; laws, still in-
adequate, certainly, although far in advance of those in any
other state, enable them to protect this great property ; and
they are freely supplied with money for this purpose. It
is within the power of the Commission, therefore, to put
into practice some of the well known rules under which
forests are protected and developed. If the Adirondack
forest—or those portions of it, at least, which the state
owns—is allowed to suffer, it will be the Commission and
the Executive who appointed it who will be to blame.
In other states, where there are no state-forests to admin-
ister. and in which the Commissions are almost always
left inadequately supplied with money, itis not easy to see
how they can exert their influence directly. Administra-
tive powers they cannot have, for no state-forests are
Garden and Forest.
385
placed under their control; and the time has not yet come
when private owners of forest-property will turn it over to
be administered by state-officers. It is evident, therefore,
that the field of usefulness for these commissions is lim-
ited, and that their work must be advisory and educational.
They must become, if they are to justify their existence,
the teachers of the people in all that relates to the forest.
The Pennsylvania Commission, backed by an active
society interested in forestry and equipped with a special
organ devoted to disseminating information relating to the
forest, has already made a beginning in this direction.
But its efforts, as is natural in a new organization, lack
system ; and this is true of the educational work attempted
up to the present time by the Commissions in other states.
As our advice has been asked, we shall be permitted,
perhaps, to say that the Forest Commissions of the different
States and their friends and all others interested in this
country in the question of forest-preservation, will ac-
complish nothing until they unite together in the adoption
of some general scheme for educating the people of the
United States in the questions relating to the forest. What
is needed in this country now is such a discussion of the
forest-question, such an awakening of the intelligence of
the American people to the importance of the forest, that
it will be possible to secure (1) legislation from Congress,
under which the forests upon the national domain may
be administered for the good of the whole people of the
United States for all time, and not for rings of contractors
and timber thieves whose only interest is to cut every
stick of timber, and then, after the forests are utterly ruined,
abandon the land to hopeless worthlessness. Such an
awakening is needed to secure (2) the enactment of laws
in every state, under which forest property may be made
secure from depredation and needless fires, and a condition
of public intelligence which will make it possible, in the
case of the forest, to subordinate private interest to the
general good. But before this time comes the public of
the country must learn that the welfare of the public is
often dependent on the forest of the individual, and that
if the individual is allowed to do with it all he may wish,
he endangers the community. The time probably will
come when the farmers of the United States will realize
that the pasturage of animals in their woods is not only
an injury to themselves, personally, but to the whole
community, and will consent to forego this privilege; and
they will learn that the clearing of the water-shed of a
mountain stream or lake may bring incalculable injury
to persons whose names they have never even heard.
But the mental development which will make intelligent
legislation upon such subjects possible can only come after
long years of discussion and education. In inaugurating
such discussion and in stimulating such education State
Forestry Commissions will find their real and only field
of usefulness, and failing in this they will show their
unfitness for existence.
The Ailanthus.
“WRITER in a recent issue of the Rural New Yorker
calls attention to the beauty and value of the much
abused Ailanthus tree for planting in city streets. It is in-
deed one of the best trees that has ever been tried for this
purpose, either in this country or in Europe, and no exotic
tree, with the exception, perhaps, of the White Willow, has
yet shown such capacity for adapting itself to the peculiari-
ties of the American climate. The only possible objection
to the Ailanthus is that the flowers of the male plants have
an exceedingly disagreeable odor to some people, and that
the pollen is supposed to produce catarrhal troubles. But,
as the writer in the Rural New Forker points out, this ob-
jection can be very readily obviated by raising plants from
root-cuttings taken from the female plants only, and by
avoiding the use of seedlings, among which there might
be expected to be as many males as females. As the
Ailanthus grows rapidly from cuttings, a supply of plants
386
can be secured quickly in this way. A moderately severe
pruning of the male trees made in the spring every second
year will generally have the effect of stimulating growth
to such an extent that the trees will not flower.
Our contemporary hardly does justice, however, to the
great economic value of this tree, which is surpassed, in
the value of the material which it yields, by few North
American trees; and certainly there is no tree which
can be made to grow in the United States which can pro-
duce so much valuable wood in such a short time. The
wood of the Ailanthus must be compared in heat pro-
ducing properties with white oak, black walnut and birch.
It is less valuable than hickory, but hickory—the best fuel,
all things considered, our forests furnish—makes a no more
agreeable, although a somewhat hotter fire, than ailanthus,
which burns steadily and slowly without snapping, giving
out a clear, bright lame and leaving a good bed of coals.
The amount of ash left after the combustion of the wood is
remarkably small. The great value of the Ailanthus, how-
ever, as a source of fuel supply, lies in the fact that it makes
wood, even in poor soil, more than twice as rapidly as any
of our trees which produce fuel of anything like the same
value. The fact has not been demonstrated by experi-
ment, but it is safe to say that an acre of ground planted
with Ailanthus would yield at the end of thirty years more
than twice as much fuel, in bulk and in actual heat pro-
duct, as the same piece of ground planted with Hickory or
Oak.
Ailanthus wood, in spite of the rapid growth which this
tree makes, is both heavy and very strong. It neither
shrinks nor warps in seasoning, and as material for the
cabinet-maker it has few superiors among woods grown
without the tropics. In color it is a clear, bright yellow,
and although coarse grained, it can be made to take a fine
polish.
Take it all in all, for hardiness and rapidity of growth,
for the power to adapt itself to the dirt and smoke, the
dust and drought of cities, for the ability to thrive in the
poorest soil, for beauty and for usefulness, this tree, which
the Abbé d'Incaville brought back with him from China
more than a century ago, is one of the most useful which
can be grown in this climate.
Notes from a Naturalist in Mexico.
| cee impressions of a new country are often deceptive,
and Mexico is such a large and physically varied region,
that it would take months of travel to see even the most inter.
esting parts of it; but having now passed through about 1,500
miles of the republic, the impressions made on one who has
spent years in Eastern travel, but had never seen the New
World, may not be without some interest. A tropical country
without tropical heat or vegetation is, perhaps, what one
would be inclined to say, and “certainly the really tropical parts
of Mexico, as regards natural productions, are very small as
compared with the bare and treeless highlands. One might,
however, say the same of India if one went from Peshawut to
Bombay in the cold weather, and, as Wallace has so well
pointed out, really tropical vegetation requires conditions
which only exist in limited areas “of the east.coast and larger
parts of the western slopes of the highlands of Mexico.
From El Paso, on the United States frontier of New Mexico,
to the City of Mexico, one passes for sixty hours, at a a slow
railway speed, through interminable plains of an elevation
varying from 4,000 to 8,000 feet, bounded by low, treeless and
desolate-looking mountains, without seeing a single town of
any real importance, a single glimpse of forest, or a green
spot of earth excepting what is made so by irrigation; and the
few small rivers crossed on the route are half or quite dry.
The only striking plants seen from the railway are gigantic
Yuccas and a few species of Opuntia, Cereus and other Cac-
taceous plants ; but even these are not half so numerous or
varied as one supposes from the great numbers which exist
in the northern part of Mexico. When at last one arrives at the
so-called Valley of Mexico—which is nota valley in the usual
sense of the word, but rather a high-lying plateau, containing
large lakes which receive the drainage of the hills around,
and have no natural outlet—one expects to see a view of un-
paralleled grandeur, but this is, like many other popular im-
Garden and Forest.
(OcTOBER Io, 1888.
pressions, by no means the case. The distant cone of Popo-
catapetl and the more picturesque mountain of Ixtacciluatl,
which, though somewhat lower, has more snow at present on
it, are no doubt very high and remarkable mountains ; but
their distance, the haze through which they are seen and the
want of beautiful foreground in the view, make the scene, in
my opinion, infinitely inferior in grandeur and in impressive-
ness to many of far less reputation, both in the Alps, the
Pyrenees and the Himalayas. As to the climate, one must
not be too critical at this season, especially when one has just
left a winter of unusual severity, both in the United States
and Europe, but it is not my idea of a tropical or even a very
nice climate. Bright sun and continual almost cloudless sky,
cool air, even cold in the morning, with glare and dust, are
the characteristics on the plateau and highlands of Mexico
for five or six months of the year. Pine forests, which I had
always expected to find one of the features of the country, are
diminishing yearly through the unchecked devastations of fire,
charcoal-burners, goats and sheep, and I have not yet seen
a tract of forest which has not been much injured in this
way, or of which the more accessible parts have not been, in
a great measure, destroyed. To find this one must go up to
8,000 or 9,000 feet on the slopes in the environs of the City
of Mexico, so tempting to a naturalist at this season. We
lost no time in going on to Orizaba, about two-thirds of the
way in distance ‘to the east coast, and at little more than half
the elevation of Mexico City. Here, in the midst of Coffee
plantations, Sugar Cane and Bananas, with the volcanic peak
of Orizaba 17,000 feet high at a short distance, one can find,
by looking for it, some really charming bits of forest, but
always in deep gorges or barrancas, and never in easily acces-
sible situations. Birds, as in the Valley of Mexico, are
numerous and varied, but not especially striking in color, size
orform. Butterflies are fairly numerous, but ‘mostly belong
to the family of Hesperidz, which alone are common at this
season. Moths, excepting a few day-flying A°geriade, are
scarce, and other insects, excepting Dragon- flies, not very
showy or numerous. Orchids are fairly abundant, but few
showy ones are now in flower, and though the gardens and
plantations round the town are ‘full of beautiful, showy plants
in flower, of a more or less tropical character, such as
Hibiscus, Erythrina and Datura, yet most of them are exotics.
A fortnight’s stay in Orizaba enabled me to explore the
environs pretty thoroughly without finding a single spot
within five or six miles which could be called a_ first-class
collecting ground, though, at the same time, I feel sure that
Orizaba would yield a very large number.of plants, birds and
insects to a resident collector. Tuxpango, about three hours
to the south-east, is the best place I found, and here are some
very picturesque waterfalls and a lovely tropical gorge, with —
some fine Coffee plantations under the shade of the forest,
which pleased us more than any spot yet visited. On the
mountains around Orizaba, which, however, are very steep
and pathless, there are some rich and interesting spots in
which I found a few fine plants and rare insects ; but the sky,
though generally bright in the morning hours, usually clouded
by noon, and the weather was not nearly so hot as one would Ay
expect in latitude 19°, at 4,000 feet elevation. |
Going on from Orizaba towards Vera Cruz, one passes through |
avery rich and fertile country, where Bananas, Pineapples, —
Coffee and Sugar are largely grown about Cordoba, and here |
5 |
in the plantation of M. Tonel, a Belgian gentleman, who has
been settled in Mexico for many years, I saw a large number |
of species of Palms, and very many interesting and beautiful
tropical and sub-tropical plants. Indeed, [should say this was
by far the most interesting garden in Mexico, as the proprietor
has a Belgian gardener, “and goes to much trouble and ex- |
pense in making his plantation rather a botanic garden than
an ordinary Coffee plantation. But still there is no virgin |
forest until one gets on towards Attoyac, where the railway
passes through some scenery of the true tropical character, |
and in the few hours I was able to spend here I saw whatIhad |
been hoping for so long. As, however, Attoyac is said to be *
very unhealthy at all seasons, and there is no accommodation i
for a stay, I could only regret my inability to give ita thorough |
exploration, though probably there is no great amount of nov- —
elty to be expected, this part of Mexico “having been better —
worked by naturalists than any other. Below Aittoyac you get 4
into the dry plains bordering the coast, which are, for the most 4
part, covered with low, thorny or scrubby forest or coarse, —
wiry grass, and infested with small insects called pinolillos,
which, judging from the amountof precaution and trouble the A
inhabitants take to get rid of them, must be very disagreeable
indeed. A gentleman who got into the tram-car on our way
up to Jalapa, two stations out of Vera Cr uz, had got amongst
OcToBER 10, 1888.]
these pzzolillos in passing through some bush, and spent over
half an hour, with the assistance of several other passengers,
in picking them out of his clothes. A magnificent yellow-
flowered tree, figured in Brologsa’s ‘Centrale America,”
was the most conspicuous ornament, at this season, of these
dry, low-country jungles, for I can hardly call them forests,
and here alone have I as yet seen Palms growing as a con-
spicuous feature in the scenery, though several dwarf and
slender climbing Palms were common in the gorges about
Orizaba and Attoyac, together with two fine plants belonging or
allied to the M/usace@, both in flower at this season.
Vera Cruz, though unusually cool and healthy for the time
of year, owing to the heavy northerly gales which have pre-
vailed during most of the month of March, and which account
for the cloudy, cold weather at Cordoba and Orizaba, is not a
place that would tempt any one traveling for pleasure to stay
in; and as its hotels are detestable, we lost no time in getting
off to Jalapa, which lies on the eastern slope of the mountains
about fifty miles north of Orizaba. The old road up to Jalapa
is said to give an excellent idea of the gradual change of cli-
mate and vegetation from the coast upwards; but if this is
true, I cannot say the same of the new tramway, which takes
one over the forty miles and 5,000 feet of ascent in about
eleven hours, mules being the motive power, as on many
other lines in Mexico. The first half of the way is all through
the dry coast jungle or chapparal, as it is here called, full of
Mimosas and other thorny trees and bushes. Bromeliacee are
very conspicuous and abundant, as in most parts of this re-
gion, and several very fine arborescent Bonaparteas and
gigantic Cereus were common at about 2,000 feet. But on the
whole line there is not a single mile of forest which can be
called fine or luxuriant, and water is so scarce that the vil-
lages on the route-are both few and poor. One fair-sized
river is crossed at Puente Nacional, and here we saw some
lovely Howering trees, though the speed of the mules, except
on steep ascents, did not allow much botanizing. A very
graceful, feathery Bamboo, growing about fifteen feet high, ap-
peared at about 3,000 feet in one place only on the road, grow-
ing gregariously among shrubs and trees, but beyond this I
saw nothing very striking. When we got up to about 4,000
feet, an open, grassy country, with occasional trees, and small
groves in the ravines, was entered, which, through the in-
fluence of a small, driving rain and dense mist, made the
country look more like the Highlands of Scotland than Mexico;
but, notwithstanding the cold, hedges of wild Pineapples
showed that the mean temperature must be high. Jalapa
itself, when reached, is decidedly the most enjoyable place
of residence for a naturalist that I have yet seen in America.
The climate is damper and cooler than that of any place
of similar elevation I have seen. There are numerous bits
of very charming country of varied character within a walk
of the town. A very tolerable hotel, curé, and law-abiding
inhabitants, a capital naturalist’s servant, named Alyssio Tru-
_jillo, who accompanied us for some time, and can both shoot
and skin birds well, and fine weather, all combined to render
our stay at Jalapa a bright and delightful sojourn. There is
between Jalapa and Coantepec a good deal of real virgin
forest, abounding in plants, birds and insects, and having at
least two broad and good roads through it, without which
collecting in a virgin forest is so difficult and incomplete. At
this season the forest, which consisted largely of Planes,
Oaks, Liquidambers, and other trees of a temperate aspect,
was dry and pleasant to go aboutin, and numerous small clear-
ings in it made a variety which, if not carried to the extent
which it generally is, is favorable to all animal life. On the
north side of the town, at about an hour’s distance, is a delight-
ful park-like grazing country, covered with groves of trees,
and intersected by richly-wooded gorges, a very paradise for
birds, and having in fine weather a perfect climate, though it
is said that the rainy days in the year outnumber the fine ones.
Farther on towards the north we did not go, but Mr. Godman,
who spent a month in and about Misantla, three days’ ride
north of Jalapa, describes the deep descent from the table-
land to the dense forest as very fine, and the country extremely
rich and productive to a naturalist. North-west of Jalapa is the
Cofre de Perote, a volcanic mountain 13,000 or 14,000 feet high,
with fine Pine forests on its slopes, but at this season the high
country was too cold to visit for collecting purposes, and Iam
unable to say whether the Pine forests on this slope are as
much damper and richer in herbaceous plants and accompa-
nying insects than those of the central plateau, as one would
expect them to be. We returned from Jalapa to Cordoba on
horseback, aride which, for varied vegetation, beautiful scenery,
and general interest would be hard to beat in Mexico; and
though on two of the five nights spent on the road our lodg-
Garden and Forest.
387
ings were of a very primitive character, yet a lady was able
to enjoy it thoroughly. Some of the barrancas—five crossed
on this ride—are very deep and perpendicular; two rivers
have to be passed on rafts, the horses swimming or wading,
but the ride along the edge of the Barranca de los Pescados, as-
cending from 2,000 to about 5,000 feet, on the second day, has
many very fine views indeed, and the peak of Orizaba, both on
this and the next day, is an object of culminating importance.
In the Oak forest between Las Balsas and Pinea Bromeliacee,
Orchids and other Epiphytes were in the greatest abundance.
I gathered thirteen or fourteen species of Orchids in an hour
from the low trees without getting off my horse. This was
between 3,000 and 4,000 feet, but a few miles further on we
got into a region where, though the forest was much finer and
denser with green undergrowth, Orchids were not so numer-
ous or varied.
We saw a fine dark crimson Hibiscus, with a trailing habit,
in this part of Mexico only, and a splendid Gesneriaceous
plant of great size growing in the damp, shady ravines, to-
gether with many Tree-Ferns and other large and handsome
Ferns, which seemed more abundant about San Bartolo than
anywhere I have yet been. In fact, we thought San Bartolo as
good a place for collecting as any in this part of the country.
It is charmingly situated in the midst of a good deal of virgin
forest, at about 5,000 feet,and within easy reach of deep, hot
gorges full of purely tropical vegetation, and close under the
high slopes of the Volcano of Orizaba.
Beyond Huatusco, where we slept on the third night from
Jalapa and found very fair quarters, the country becomes less
broken and picturesque, though still very pretty. Returning
to the high plateau of Mexico, we found the contrast between
the dry, dusty, windy climate and the region we had just left,
even more striking than at first. Round Pueblo, where we
stayed a week, there is little or no indigenous. vegetation,
except here and there on dry rocky hills and in the few places
where the soil is too poor for cultivation. The Malinche, an
extinct volcano of 13,000 feet, is covered on its lower slopes
with stunted Pines, which are fast succumbing to the attacks
of the woodman and charcoal burner; but the only spot where
we have found any forest at all likely to contain much of
interest is at El Pinal, about twenty-five miles out on the rail-
way leading to Los Llanos, and here are a good many birds
and insects quite different from those yet seen, and some
Vaccinig and other plants, which are apparently quite at home
on the dry sandy granite, of which these hills seem to be
mostly composed.
Cirencester, England.
Hi, F. Elwes.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
GOOD number of first-class certificates were
A awarded to new and rare plants and flowers at
the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society to-day, the
most important of which was the Nepaul Lily (Lilium
Nepalense), which has flowered here for the first time in
cultivation. It was introduced and shown by Messrs.
Hugh Low & Co., of Clapton. It is distinct and beautiful,
and its certificate-vote was unanimous. The only Lily
with which I can compare it is the rare LZ. polvphylum,
also a native of the Himalayas, which is somewhat similar
in growth and flower. The stem of Z. Nepa/ense is slen-
der, about three feet high, sparsely furnished with short
and rather broad, deep green leaves. Each stem is termi-
nated by a single flower, which is about four inches across,
and with sepals and petals reflexed. The ground color, an
intensely deep purple-crimson, is mottled with yellowish-
white, and the tips of each petal are of the same pale color.
It cannot be termed a showy Lily, but it has a peculiar
form and color which every one admires. Mr. Baker, the
authority at Kew on Lilies, had never before seen it in
flower, though he knew it well by descriptions and illus-
trations. Itis anative of the temperate portions of the
western and central Himalayan region, and it may not
prove a perfectly hardy plant in England. If, however, it
is not hardy, it is a beautiful green-house Lily.
The certificated plant next in importance was the ex-
quisite white-flowered variety of Oncidium ornithorhyn-
chum, an Orchid as rare as it is beautiful. It is the coun-
terpart of the typical form now common, except that the
388
flowers instead of being pink are of ivory whiteness with
golden-yellow crests. They possess the same delightful
perfume which some compare with the scent of newly-
mown hay. The flowers are small, but very numerous,
and are borne on a loose spike which drops in a graceful
way. The exhibitor of this treasure was Mr. B. S. Wil-
liams, of Holloway nurseries.
The lovely Romneva Coulter’, of California, introduced
over a dozen years ago, was exhibited for the first time in
flower to-day, though it has flowered several times in
various gardens of late years. Mr. T. S. Ware showed it
on this occasion, and its beauty so won the committee
that its certificate-vote was unanimous. [This plant was
described in the issue of this Journal for August 15th.—Ep. |
A variety of the well-known Cape bulb, Zritonia aurea,
with crimson blotches on the orange-red sepals, was
shown by Mr. James O’Brien, and received a certificate.
It differs from the typical form chiefly in the color of the
flower. The crimson blotches are conspicuous, and in-
crease its beauty. This Tritonia is one of the showiest of
bulbs for the green-house during August and September,
and in some of our southern gardens it is perfectly
hardy.
Eremurus Olge,a noble Liliaceous plant introduced a
few years ago from Turkestan, was shown by Mr. T. S.
Ware, and received a certificate as a first-rate hardy herba-
ceous plant. All the Eremurus have long narrow leaves
like an Asphodel or Kniphofia, and produce tall spikes
crowded with small blossoms. £. O/g@ has a flower-stem
rising from three to five feet in height, and for fully half
its height is furnished with small white flowers. The
flowers expand from below upwards, and as from six to
nine inches of the stem carry expanded flowers at a time,
it is some weeks before the spike is exhausted. It is
quite hardy here.
The Chrysanthemum season has already commenced,
the first new variety being shown to-day; it was so
fine that no hesitation was made in certificating it, not-
withstanding the many fine early varieties we have. This
sort is called Mrs. Hawkins, and is a sport from another
fine variety called Wormig’s Yellow. The flowers of Mrs.
Hawkins are from five to six inches across, very full but flat,
the florets being long and narrow. The coloris a rich golden
yellow. The vigorous growth, fine habit and floriferous-
ness of the novelty had a good deal of weight with the
committee. From this date onward to February and
March we have Chrysanthemums at every meeting, so
that we might well say that their season extends through
half the year.
A very finenew white Carnation named Madame Carle was
certificated on account of its free growth, abundant bloom,
fine form and the purity of its strongly perfumed flowers.
It is a first-rate market variety, as it flowers almost constantly.
The exhibitor was Mr. May, one of the chief growers for
market, who also showed finely flowered specimens of
such favorite sorts as Miss Joliffe, pink; Dr. Raymond,
crimson-clove; Pride of Penshurst, yellow; and Anda-
lusia, which last is considered the finest yellow of all for
market, as it is hardly ever out of flower. The color is
not so pure as that of Pride of Penshurst; but the flower
is finer and fuller, while the growth and habit is vastly
superior.
A new hybrid Dianthus named Splendor was certificated
as a first-rate border plant on account of its dwarf, com-
pact growth, profusion of bloom and rich color. It is a
cross between JD. Heddewigi (generally treated as an an-
nual) and the Sweet William (D. barbatus). The progeny
is quite intermediate both in growth and flowers, which
are about one inch across, with fringed petals and borne
in loose clusters. The color is an intensely deep crimson
with mottlings of black on the petals.. The exhibitor of it,
Mr. R. Dean, also showed a double white variety of D.
Heddewigi called Snowdrift, with flowers of remarkable
purity.
Among the crowds of new Dahlias put before the com-
Garden and Forest.
[OcToBER 10, 1888,
mittee, including double, single and cactus varieties,
there was but one considered worthy of a certificate.
This was a single Dahlia named Mikado, a large well-
shaped flower of a bright Indian red streaked and tipped
with yellow. It won a certificate by a narrow major-
ity, as some of the committee, myself included, consid-
ered it by no means beautiful. In Kelway’s collection of
Gladioli there were numerous new seedling sorts set up
for certificates, but only two were selected. These were
Castro and Besler, the first having enormous flowers of a
delicate carmine-pink tint with white centre and lower
petal, while the second was a smaller flower and spike,
vivid crimson-red flaked with a deeper tint. The hun-
dred or more spikes shown to-day were, if anything,
finer than those shown a fortnight ago, the splendor of
which I alluded to in my last letter.
Besides the first-class certificates awarded, there were
two Orchids that received botanical certificates, which
mean that although the plants are interesting botanically
or are rare, they do not, in the opinion of the floral com-
mittee, possess sufficient merit for general cultivation.
These Orchids were Disa graminifola and Leta (Trigont-
dium) monophylla, both of which, in my estimation, pos-
sess exquisite beauty, though small in growth and flower.
The Disa is a South African species, having tiny tubers
that send up very slender flower-stems before the grass-
like foliage. The flowers are less than an inch across,
but are of a lovely purple-blue color, which is so rare
among Orchids. The Leelia is a pretty plant, too, of
tiny growth, somewhat like a Sophronitis. Its flowers
are about one and a half inches across, and of a bright
orange-scarlet. Though so small, ‘this Orchid is one of
those for which extravagant prices have been paid, per-
haps more on account of its rarity than its beauty.
Lilies formed a conspicuous feature in the show, and
of Z. auraium alone there were probably a hundred spikes,
representing numerous varieties. Our king of Lily-grow-
ers (Mr. G. F. Wilson) brought some wonderful specimens
of LZ. auratum rubro vittatum, the variety with enormous
flowers with each white petal broadly banded with blood
ted. He also had huge stems of L. aura/um, var. platy-
phyllum, with flowers nearly a foot across, while from
other gardens came the Virginale variety, whose flowers:
are devoid of the spots and blotches seen on the petals of
the ordinary kind. The various forms of the Tiger Lily, Z.
thgrinum, were also in their full glory on this occasion.
W.. Goldring.
London, September rth, 1888.
New or Little Known Plants.
Tigridia Pringlei.*
HE Tiger-flower, the well known Zigridis Pavonia, a
native of the valleys of southern Mexico, early at-
tracted the attention of the Spanish conquerors, and be-
came known by reputation under the name of Zig77dis flos”
long before it had been seen by any botanist. It was first
described by L’Obel (Lobelius) in his Plantarum AMstoria,
published at Antwerp in 1576, where he gives a very
rough but recognizable wood-cut of the plant from a
colored figure which he had received from his friend,
Joannes de Brancion. Hernandez also describes it in the
Historia Plantarum Nove Hispanie (1651), giving the same
Latin name, /%os #eridis, and the Aztec name, Oceloxochill.
He speaks of it as growing in gardens and cultivated
fields about the City of Mexico, as though it were culti- |
vated both for its flowers and for its edible bulbs. These
descriptions, however, were so incomplete, that Linnaeus ©
was unable from them to place the plant systematically,
and he made no mention of it in any of his works.
*T, PrInGLeI, Watson, n. sp. Bulbs small, with fusiform roots; stem slender,
one or two feet high, bearing two or three winged-plicate leaves and a single —
Hower; spathe-bracts three inches long, inclosing the peduncle; perianth with a
ched within with crimson, the sepals two and a half inches -
campanulate base, ble E
long, with a reflexed scarlet limb; petals broadly cordate or reniform at base, the
narrower triangular-ovate, acute limb not spotted; stamineal column one anda
half inches long, the stamens five to seven lines long and equaling the style
In them
pete at
mk Pl Ro
ray \
branches, which are clett to the middle; capsule narrow, very obtusely angled,
two or three inches long by three lines wide.
~ OcToBER 10, 1888.]
later years of his life he received many contributions from
Dr. José Celestino Mutis, of Santa Fé de Bogota, especially
of figures illustrating the flora of that region, and among
them was included this species, which Mutis appears to
have received from Mexico and to have cultivated in the
botanic garden founded by him at Santa Fé.
Upon the
‘
I
ve any my
\
i ; ‘in
SNe
ei
) rm
aug nis ih
UM
‘\\ pe
Fig. 61.—Tigridia Pringleii—See page 388.
data thus furnished, the younger Linneeus referred it to the
south African genus, Ferrarza, and published it in 1781 as
F. Pavonia. The genus 7igridia was founded upon it by
Jussieu in 1789. It was soon after introduced into Eng-
land, where it first bloomed in 1796, just 220 years after
Garden and Forest.
aT
ey
Mp
389
the description by L’Obel, and on account of its brilliant,
though fugitive, flowers, it has maintained its place in gar-
dens ever since.
This species is the-only one hitherto known belonging
to the true Zigridia section of the genus, having large
flowers and decurrent stigmas. Several forms are now to
be found in cultivation, varying scarcely at all in the form
and relative size of the parts of the flower, nor, I think, in
the general character of the markings, but very greatly in
the coloring. The section Seafonza, with much smaller
flowers, and capitate or less distinctly decurrent stigmas,
includes half a dozen species, natives of tropical Mexico,
with one in Peru and Chili, and none of them common in
cultivation.
T. Pringlet, which is the subject of Mr. Faxon’s drawing
for this number of GarpEN AND Forest, is a recent dis-
covery made by Mr. C. G. Pringle in the mountains of
Chihuahua, much farther to the north than any other spe-
cies has ever been found. As the figure shows, it is very
closely related to 7. Pavonia, and if color alone were to
decide, it might be considered a variety of it, though differ-
ing markedly even in that respect from the old species.
The base of the sepals is blotched (rather than spotted)
with crimson, with a border of orange, the reflexed blade
being of a bright scarlet-red. The petals have the base
blotched and coarsely spotted with crimson, with a well
defined, deeper-colored, brownish margin, the blade
orange, tinged with scarlet, but not at all spotted as in
T. Pavonia, The more essential difference is in the form
of the petals, which have a broadly cordate or reniform
base, with a much narrower, small, triangular-ovate, acute
blade. The sepals also are smaller and more oblong in
outline. In cultivation at Cambridge this season the bulbs
commenced to bloom in July and continued to flower for
several weeks. ae W;
Cultural Department.
The Vegetable Garden.
PINACH, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Celery, Lettuces
and root crops will now form the bulk of our seasonable
vegetables from out-of-doors, but where precautions against
frost have been taken, we may still have Snap Beans, Toma-
toes and Cucumbers. There has been frost in this neighbor-
hood, but on account of our proximity to the sea, there was
none here. Our vegetable supply is still unbroken. — Ever-
green and Squantum Corn sown June 26th are still yielding
good ears; Cory and Early Marblehead sown July 19th and
July 23d are just about fit for use. These last two kinds were
planted for use in case the larger varieties did not continue
tender till the end of the season, but so long as any of the
first three can be had in fair condition, the extra early sorts
are not wanted. On the 23d of July I sowed some Golden
Tom Thumb Pop Corn, and the ears are now (October Ist) not
only full, but the kernels are hard and the crop almost fit to
gather. It matures more rapidly than any other that I have
tried.
Snap Beans are still excellent. Mohawks sown August
oth are now in use, and Valentines sown the same time will
be ready ina few days. Calico sheets are spread over these
when frost is threatened. Snap Beans were sowed on August
13tli, to be covered with frames and sashes about the end
ot September or just before frost. These sowings consisted
of Earliest Red Valentine, Thorburn’s Extra Early and Early
Etampes. Both the Valentine and Thorburn’s are now in
bloom and podding nicely, but neither of them is yet fit for
use; the Early Etampes, however, are not only in bloom,
but a large number of pods are in excellent condition for
the table. By banking around the frames with earth or
manure and covering them over at night with mats or thatch,
this Bean crop can be preserved in good condition well through
October.
The Turnips now in use were sown August loth; they are
Purple Top, White Globe and Strap Leaf, and are about two
inches in diameter, tender and solid. _ Old or overgrown Tur-
nips are very poor vegetables. As Turnips will have good
growing weather till November, many of these sown August
roth will be too big for keeping over winter, but others, sown
a fortnight later, will be better for winter use. The Turnip
390
Beets, namely Egyptian and Eclipse, now in use, were sown
July 18th, and the same sorts, sown. July 27th, are also fit for
use. But Long Blood Beets sown July 27th are not yet fit for
pulling; they need a longer season of growth.
Water and Musk Melons, Cucumbers and Squashes are now
past bearing and should be cleared off the ground, — As soon
as Corn, Tomatoes and Snap Beans. have been bitten by frost,
they, too, should be cleared off the ground. Limas are very
tender. Where they have been grown thickly together it often
happens that while the tops get frozen, many fresh leaves and
young Beans along the stems escape unhurt; in such cases
it may be well to Jet them alone till they are ‘eut down by a
more severe frost.
Celery has grown finely this season; the recent cold
weather has suited it exactly, but, until the last week of Sep-
tember, we could hardly get dry weather enough to permit
the earthing up of the crop, and to bank it up while it is wet
causes it to rust and rot.
Frame crops now demand attention. Itis useless to sow
Radishes out-of-doors or in cold frames after this time of year.
We must raise them in hot-beds or in agreen-house. Wood's
Early Frame, French Breakfast and Early Red Turnip are capi-
talsorts. Snap Beans, Tomatoes and Cucumbers here have
been covered with frames. and sashes, and in the event of cold
nights, mats or thatch will be spread over the glass. Some
earth or manure has been banked up against the frames to
help keep them warm. A few weeks hence these frames
and sashes will be at liberty for use in covering Spinach and
Cauliflower. Fill up all spare frames with Lettuces, keeping
ne large plants in frames by themselves and the small ones
by themselves. But be careful at this time of year not to
keep frame crops close and warm, else they will perish dur-
ing severe weather in winter. A temperature which just
escapes frost is the best for large Lettuces, and a few degrees
of frost will do no harm to small Lettuces, Parsley or Cabbage
plants. Wi. Falconer,
Glen Cove, N. Y.
The Flower Garden.
T often happens that after our first frost some bright, warm
weather comes, and Dahlias bloom out again quite gen-
erously. But after tender plants are sharply nipped their par-
tially recuperated beauty seldom compensates for their un-
gainly appearance, and it is often better to clear them away at
once, Bulbous and tuberous rooted plants should be cut over
close to the ground, and brought indoors and stored away for
the winter , each kind acc ording to its nature. The ordinary
Cannas when lifted may be shaken free from earth and stored,
one deep, on a shelf or floor in a dry, frost-proot cellar or
shed, or under a green-house bench, but the finer kinds, as
Ehemanni, should be placed on a moist earthen floor or
planted in earth in a green-house or warm frame—anywhere
where they may be kept growing. Dahlias may be treated as
common Cannas. Montbrietias may be lifted and kept dry
ever winter after the fashion of other bulbs, but it is better
to keep the roots in moist earth, either in pots or boxes, or
planted out in benches or frames. Green-leaved Caladiums
live well enough when wintered in the same way as Dahlias,
only itis unsafe to keep them in a temperature lower than
45°. Tuberoses should be kept dry and warm; but Mr.
Michels, of St. Louis, has found that the new Albino Tuberose
must be kept growing in winter in the same way as Ehe-
mann’s Canna. Last’ winter he lost three-fourths of those
he dried off in the usual way. Tigridias should be tied in
bunches and hung.in a shed tor some days, sometimes weeks
and then the bulbs, with stems stripped off, should be stored
on shelves; but inallcases preserve them from frost, also from
rats, whic hia are very fond of them. Rats are also very fond of
the tubers of the fancy-leaved Caladiums. Young bulbs of Gad-
tonia(Hyac inthis) candicans are hardy enough, but old bulbsrot
in the ground in winter. But as lifting and savi ing them indoors
over winter are very little trouble, it is the safer. plan to prac-
tice. Gladioli should be treated like Tigridias; but all the
bulblets about the base of the large bulbs should be saved.
These bulblets, sown next spring in drills about twelve or fif-
teen inches apart, and as thick as dwarf Peas, will, most of
them, bloom when two years old. Bessera elegans may be re-
lieved at once of its leaves and stem and the bulbs wintered
in paper bags oronshelves. JJilla bifora may be treated in
the same way, except that it does not keep as well in a dry
state as inslightly moist earth. Of these last two bulbs and of
Cyclobothra flava there is likely to be a scarcity in the market,
owing to some trouble at the source of supply in Mexico.
Ismene calathina and Amaryllises may be lifted and kept dry
Garden and Forest.
{Ocrorer 10, 1888,
over winter, or in slightly moist earth or sand; in a tem-
perature of over 45°... Tuberous Ipomeas, Erythrina roots
and Daturas that have been grown and flowered in sum-
mer, may now be shortened back and kept dry over winter,
or, better yet, in moist earth, or Jaid on an earthen i ri
Silenes——Among these are pretty perennials, biennials and
annuals ; nearly all are hardy, easy of culture, and excellent
plants for the rock- garden. A soil composed of loam, peat
and sand is most favorable for their growth. They will not
thrive in heavy soil or in the shade. They can be propa-
gated by seeds, division or by cuttings. S$. acaulis forms a
neat evergreen cushion, with white flowers. S$. alpestris
grows about six inches high, and its white flowers are borne
in abundance. S, Elizabethe is a rare and beautiful species,
rather tender, with large, deep rose-colored flowers. S
Hookert has large pink flowers, two inches or more in
diameter. Coming from California, it is not hardy here. 5S.
maritima, fi. pl., isa very tree-lowering, double white variety,
like the type in every other way. It isa neat trailer, its hand-
some, glaucous-green foliage clothing the stones completely.
S. pe ndula, var. compacta, is the variety so much used in Eng-
land for spring bedding. It is most effective when planted
amongst yellow Tulips or blue Hyacinths. S. Peansylvanica
is acommon native, but very pretty species. S. Schafta tlow-
ers at a season of the year when all other Silenes are past. A
mass of it in the rock-garden here was strikingly beautiful in
late August. It is one of the best, and although it winter-
killed with me in New Jersey, it proves quite hardy here! wabhe
flowers are a lovely pink-purple. S. Virginica, the Fire Pink,
is one of the most striking, and one of ‘the few hardy plants
with clear scarlet flowers. LD. Hatfield.
Wellesley, Mass.
Rose Cuttings.—It is now claimed that blind wood of Roses,
if made into cuttings, will produce equally floriferous plants
with those made from flowering shoots of the same varieties,
and, judging from some extended tests made by good growers,
this seems to be an established fact. This view is exactly op-
posite to that held by many growers in former years, and
though contrary to the traditions of the trade, yet it seems to
be quite reasonable. When blind shoots are used for this
purpose, they should be clean, healthy pieces, such as are tre-
quently produced by Catherine Meérmet, The Bride and
other varieties during the winter; for, though both of the
above-mentioned Roses are very free in regard to bloom, they
also make a considerable amount of non-flowering wood in a _
season, and this growth, when in a healthy condition, makesa _
desirable addition to the cutting-bench. There are some con- —
servative growers who still prefer to make cuttings only from
shoots which have produced flowers, but it frequently hap-
pens that some difficulty is found in procuring enough wood
ot this class at the time when it is wanted most, and-therefore
itis advisable to put in all the healthy wood at command, as’
weak or sickly plants can easily be discarded if any such are
found at the time of planting. And when it is thought desira-
ble to have a stock of young Roses for early sales, or for Su
mer use, it will be found best to commence putting in cutting:
as soon as they can be obtained in the fall; for. instance, in
October or November, or earlier if suitable wood is to be had
without injury to the crop, because plants struck at this time,
and shifted on as it becomes necessary, will be in good con- —
dition for early planting the following season. Of course
these remarks will be understood to apply cep eee to Roses
of the Tea class, such as are used for forcing
Philadelphia. : W, —
Gladiolus-flowered Cannas.—We quote the following from
The Garden, London, in addition to what was said last week ~
concerning these plants, because we believe they have a most
promising future : ‘
“This very expressive name has been given to a new
class of Cannas conspicuous for the beauty of their
flowers, which much resemble those of a Gladiolus in
form and size. Hitherto, with a few exceptions, the Cannas
have been grown more for the beauty of their foliage, —
which imparts to them a very dignified aspect, and is, more-
over, quite distinct. Usually, plants which are grown for
beauty of foliage alone, do not produce very striking
flowers, and it has been so for many years with the Cannas,
but these new varieties, which are of French origin, show evi-
dence of a rapid and marked improvement, which probably
will continue, and we may shortly look for something quite
OcropER 10, 1888.] Garden and Forest.
SPSS ie acc
Fig. 62.—Pinus ponderosa pendula, at Wodenethe.—See page 392.
Startling in this direction. We recently noted some in flower
at Tottenham, especially good being Victor Hugo, a variety
with dark leaves, and large, bright red flowers, equal in size to
those of Canna Ehmanni, and Edourd André, with flowers of a
deeper red, but quite as large; Queen Victoria, with spotted
yellow flowers, was also good. The Cannas do not receive
half the attention they deserve. Where their culture is prac-
ticable, they are most effective in the open air in summer,
and serve an admirable purpose by carrying the eye gradually
upwards from the dwarfer subjects usually employed in the
392
embellishment of the flower’garden to the taller forms of tree
and shrub life. They will also be found very useful when
grown as specimens in pots for conservatory decoration, and,
by reason of the hardiness and texture of the foliage, their
beauty and freshness last a long time. We owe all the best
of our Cannas to the French, and itis to be hoped they will
continue in their good work of improvement, and give us
some varieties that, for beauty of flower, will eciipse anything
previously seen. The varieties above referred to amply show
the capability of improvement.”
Plant Notes.
The Weeping Pinus ponderosa.
HE illustration upon page 391 represents one of the
most interesting coniferous trees which can be found
in the Eastern States. It is a specimen, and the only speci-
men which is known, of the well known Yellow Pine of the
Pacific forests (Pinus ponderosa), in which all the branches
have assumed a decided and permanent weeping habit,
giving to this individual a grace of outline quite unknown
to the Yellow Pine in its normal form, This tree, with a
number of others, was imported from the Knap Hill
Nurseries in England in 1851, when only a few inches
high, and planted by Mr. Henry Winthrop Sargent in his
garden at Wodenethe, in Fishkill-on-Hudson, in this State.
It is now fifty-nine feet in height, with a trunk diameter,
three feet from the ground, of twenty-one and a half
inches, and it is still growing rapidly. The origin of the
seed from which this tree was raised is unknown, although
it no doubt came from Oregon or California, as the seeds of
trees were not collected on the mountains of Colorado until
several years after this Pine had been planted on the banks
of the Hudson. Its perfect hardiness, therefore, must be
taken as an exception to the now generally acknowledged
fact that the Conifers of the Pacific-coast region are unable
to support, for any length of time, the climate of the north-
ern Atlantic States.
But the real interest in this tree is not found in its grace-
ful and unusual habit, or in. its hardiness, but in the
fact that it was planted and beloved by the man to whom,
more than to any other, Americans owe their knowledge
of cultivated trees, and who, for nearly half a century, de-
voted himself, with an energy and enthusiasm which no
disappointment ever dulled, to experiments in tree culture.
The friend and pupil of Downing, he extended the fame of
his master, and by his example, his precepts and advice
inspired what is best in American gardening of to-day.
This pine may well serve to keep green the memory of
Henry Winthrop Sargent, and to remind the present gener-
ation how much it owes to his disinterested labors in their
behalf.
A picture of this tree was published in the Gardeners’
Chronicle, of London, August 24th, 1878, from a photograph
taken in that year. Our illustration is from a recent
photograph by Mrs. Winthrop Sargent, to whom we are
indebted for its use. CoS:
Origin of the Le Conte Pear.
AC page 268 of the Report of the United States Agricultural
Department for 1886 Mr. John L. Harden, of Walthour-
ville, Ga., makes the following statement in regard to the
origin of this Pear:
“Major John Le Conte, of New York City (and afterwards of
Philadelphia), in the year 1850 had a number of fruit trees and
other plants put up for his niece (Mrs. J. L. C. Harden, my
mother), of Liberty County, Ga., ata nursery in New York or
Philadelphia (most probably New York), and among them was
a rooted cutting of what was marked ‘Chinese Sand Pear.’
Major Le Conte was informed by the proprietor of the nursery
that the Pear was only fit for preserving, as it never matured
in this country. Contrary, however, to expectation, it matured
in Liberty County, and proved to be a fine, productive Pear.
The original tree is now owned by my mother's heirs, and is
still vigorous, although not cultivated in any way,and produces
from ten to twenty bushels each year.”
This statement enables me to clear up the mystery of its
Garden and Forest. :
[OcTopeER 10, 1888.
origin, Some six or seven years previous to 1850 my brother,
Mr. Thomas Hogg, obtained from Messrs. Potter Bros., of
Providence, R. I., a plant of Pyrus sinensis, the Chinese Sand
Pear, or Snow Pear, as it is called by some. This plant was
grafted ona stock of Pyrus communis, our common Pear. It
was planted out in the nursery at Yorkville in a plot of ground
devoted to testing new varieties of fruit trees, and was sur-
rounded by a number of Pear trees of different varieties. In
due course of time the tree fruited, and from the seeds thus
obtained young trees were grown, one of which was given to
Major Le Conte, and isno doubt the tree noticed by Mr. Harden.
It is doubtless a hybrid, produced by the pollenation of a
flower of the Sand Pear with the pollen of some one of the
surrounding Pear trees. I remember that there was one tree
near by with fruit very much the shape and size of the LeConte,
but I cannot recall its name. The Sand Pear tree we had bore
large ,apple-shaped fruit, the stall being deeply inserted, of a-
deep orange color, somewhat russeted
and thickly studded with raised brown
dots. The skin felt as though sanded
over by these dots. Otherwise the fruit
was very handsome to look at. Dorr
and Dr. Lindley describe the fruit of
the Sand Pear as warted, bony and gritty,
but the fruit of our tree was in no wise
warty or bony, being only gritty. It was
not edible, but made a fairly good pre-
serve, and always ripened its fruit. Mr.
Harden is mistaken in saying that
Major Le Conte was told that it would
not ripen its fruit.
My opinion is that our climate, or
its being grafted on a common Pear
stock, had something to do with ame-
liorating the character of the tree we
had, and rendered it more susceptible
of hybridization. It is a very unusual
instance of the effects of hybridization,
as the product is so very unlike the
mother tree, that if the latter were not
known there would be great doubts as
to its being one of the parents, judging
by the fruits.
an ornamental tree. It has long shoots
of agreenish, changing to purple, color,
thickly dotted with white spots; large,
lucid, almost evergreen leaves; and large
white flowers slightly tinged with pink.
Fames Hoge.
Fig. 63.—Malformed
Cabbage Leaf.
New York.
Tubular Cabbage Leaves.
HE interesting monstrosity of Cabbage leaf described and
illustrated in GARDEN AND FOREST, p. 296, is essentially
the same, evidently, as the Brassica oleracea, costata Nepen-
thiformis described and figured by the elder De Candolle in
Trans. Lond. Hort. Soc., v.12. A monstrosity of similar char-
acter, but involving the whole first true leaf of a Cauliflower
plant, was observed by the writer this year, Itis here figured,
L. H, Bailey,
The, Forest
Forestry in California.—IIL.
OREST economy is slow in its returns, a new growth for
timber requiring, many years, which is discouraging to
short-lived man; consequently, men cut forests for commer-
cial purposes, but it is rare, indeed, that a forest is ever
planted. So also much of forested land in new countries
must be cleared as population increases, irrespective of the
demands of commerce and whether the result be health or
sickness.
But there is a point, variable according to the climate and
topography, beyond which the destruction of forests dimin-
ishes the capacity of the country to support population, and,
while at first increasing the arable area, in the end’ diminishes
this through the action of torrents in washing the soil from
some places and covering others with sand and bowlders,
while at the same time the whole country becomes more
exposed to extremes of flood and drought and the climate
more variable and unfavorable to agriculture, the winds
stronger and the springs less reliable and often extinguished.
It is by educating the people in these truths of the effects of
excessive and unwise forest destruction that we must hope to
I may add that the Sand Pear is quite
;
re
se
ea
4
ae
OcToBER 10, 1888.]
save our forests. The time has come for this intelligent
American people to follow the lead of France, Germany,
Austria and the civilized powers of the world in averting, by
timely measures, a great disaster. I shall now briefly set forth
the manner in which the beneficial effects of forests in agri-
culture are produced.
The normal evaporation from bare land is much in excess
of that from lands in woods, An experiment made with two
jars of equal size, covered with wire gauze to protect thenr .
from flies and insects, one set under a bush and the other ina
place sixty feet from the surrounding trees, but thus protected
from wind, showed the evaporation in the open to be more
than double that under the bush, the exact figures being:
bush jar, .863 evaporation; jar in the open, 1.854.
Mr. W. Blore, who made this experiment, calculated that, in
the 102 days of average dry season at the Cape of Good Hope,
the excess of the evaporation from a burned or bare district
over a bush or forest covered one would be 384,000 gallons
per acre, or 384,000,000 gallons for a thousand acres.
Other experiments in England show that the evaporation
from an open vessel in a room is eight inches in a year,
while in a field or open place it is estimated at between thirty
and forty inches. The soil ina forest being protected by the
trees to acertain extent, and thus under cover, we may infer
that evaporation would be less under such conditions than in
an exposed place. It is a matter of common observation that
roads running alternately through woods and open country
remain longest moist in the woods. Railroad cuts show the
same difference; houses in forests are damper than those in
the open. These facts go to show that evaporation from the
soilis slower in a forest than elsewhere. The only exception
to this is where water isin excess. The evaporation activity of
the trees is then excited to such an extent as to neutralize
their protective effect upon the moisture in the soil itself.
Thus trees in a swamp have a draining effect, while upon dry
soil they will maintain humidity.
Nothing is better authenticated, both by scientific and gen-
eral observation, than this last effect. In California we have
learned to help the soil and maintain moisture by making the
soil a mulch for itself by cultivation, that is, by keeping the
surface pulverized. But this artificial process is unprofitable
upon the steep mountain sides, where our forests are of most
importance. Such an attempt would only result in the wash-
ing away of what soil there is on the mountains. In this con-
nection it may be well to note the value of thorough cultiva-
tion. The driest soil contains thirteen per cent. of moisture.
Schubler’s experiments show that soil that weighs about
ea thousand tons per acre, when thoroughly pulverized and
completely dried, will absorb from the atmosphere in twenty-
four hours :
Sandy clay, - - -
Loamy “ - - -
Stiff oe - - - Thirty-six “ «
Garden mould, - - Forty-five ‘“ “ Ly
- Weare all familiar with the absorptive capacity of common
salt. Carbonate of potash has also notable affinity for moist-
ure, but it is the humus of the forest that possesses this
power more than any other soil, absorbing to again give off
from two to four times its weight in water. Forests mulch
the ground under them. It therefore becomes plain, that
forest fires, when not destructive to the trees, diminish the
capacity of the forest for retaining moisture. The trees also
protect the earth under them from the heat of the sun. Soil
in the open is raised in temperature by the sun at a depth of
one foot, fifteen degrees more than ina forest; consequently,
the abstraction of moisture is correspondingly larger in the
open. The difference is as 130 to 1,000 in favor ‘of the for-
est. On the other hand, the experiments cited by Marsh show
that in winter soil has been frozen to a depth of six feet ona
bare knoll, while in the adjoining forest the soil was uniformly
above the freezing point. This is most important in Califor-
nia in our high mountains, for rains upon frozen ground
must run off without penetrating. So bare places would not
act as reservoirs for later use, while the forested land would.
Forests protecting land from excessive heat, protect the
snows from rapid melting. The last place from which snow
disappears, at the same elevation and isothermal line, is the
forest. To the irrigators of parts of central and southern Cali-
fornia this is of great importance, for, with the forests, the
snow water of spring and early summer is long maintained,
while without them the melting of the snow must be more
sudden and the water resulting from it flow off in floods, so
itis dissipated and the life-giving water is gone when most
needed.
Another effect of forest action is that the snows in them
Twenty-six tons of water.
Thirty «e “a “
Garden and Forest.
393
melt from the ground side most and thus can reach the con-
duits that supply the springs, while snow upon frozen ground
melts from above and runs off rapidly. The desiccating effect
of winds is often great. Our dry winds in this State do much
damage to fruit trees and dry the grain in the milk, diminish-
ing the crop. Forests have a modifying influence upon such
winds. In fact, a dry wind cannot originate in a frosted coun-
try, and, as it passes over forests, is diminished in intensity;
even a belt of trees will have a pronounced protective inf flu.
ence on crops and trees to leeward of them and for some
distance to windward also, for the trees bank up the air on
this side, as is known by hunters, who, in striking a light,
place the shelter of their hand on the lee side, having the light
in the direction from which the wind comes.
Trees protecting the ground from the rapid radiation of
heat, prevalent in bare places, diminish frosts. Thus a plant
under shelter of a tree is less likely to be frozen than if it were
in the open; but trees protect in this respect in another way.
Megucher's experiments in Lombardy show that trees, like
animals, maintain a constant temperature, that is somewhat
modified, doubtless, as it is in animals, by hibernation. This
temperature for trees is fifty-four degrees; forests in a coun-
try, therefore, have a similar effect to the sea. They maintain
a more even degree of humidity and of temperature and
equalize the climate.
The deposit of dew is more copious upon vegetation than
itis upon the soil. Experiments show the di fference to be
more than double ; the exact figures are: for grass, 4.75; fora
white surface, 2.00.
In walking through grass or bushes after a dew the moist-
ure will be apparent as compared to bare land. Fogs and
mists are to a considerable extent condensed by the foliage of
bushes and trees, and drip from them to the ground. On
misty mornings I have frequently been wet through when
walking i in the. chapparal of the Sierra Madres, w hile on the
bare hillsides no moisture was visible. AtSanta Monica where
I spend the summer, on foggy days the trees may be observ-
ed to drip with water, and in thick fogs the drip is so con-
tinuous as to suggest rain as it drops on the fallen leaves.
Abbot Kinney.
Santa Monica, Cal.
Correspondence.
Forest Planting in New England.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I have on a farm here some acres of land affording but
poor pasturage, some of which is grown to bushes and some
little clear land formerly devoted to grass. I have been led by
GARDEN AND ForEsT to consider the advisability of devoting
the land to forest plantations of Ash, Chestnut or White Pine,
If I am not trespassing too much on your time and kindness,
will you please tell me what books or publications would be of
service to me in learning the best method of planting and the
result of experiments made in the planting of forests in New
England.
My land differs from the sandy soil of the Cape, where I
think successful experiments have been made, in being
stronger and of a kind considered good grass land. Whom
would you recommend as an expert in the matter ?
Truly yours, William Simes.
Petersham, Mass.
[There is no American Manual of Arboriculture, and the
foreign works upon this subject, based upon conditions
dissimilar to those which prevail in this country, have
little practical value here. The general principles of tree
planting, however, applicable to the United States as well
as to Europe, will be found in ‘‘The Forester,” by James
Brown, published in Edinburgh, 1882, and in “‘Arboricul-
ture,” by John Grigor, Edinburgh, 1868. There are papers re-
lating to tree planting in Massachusetts, i in the Reports of the
Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture of that State for
1875, 1878, 1882 and 1885, and there is much information
upon this subject, valuable and otherwise, scattered through
the reports of Agricultural Societies and Boards of Agricul-
ture of almost all the Northern and Western States. The
most interesting plantations of forest trees made in Massa-
chusetts are those of White Pine in Middleborough, Rayn-
ham and Bridgwater, of which an account will be found in
the Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society
for 1885; the Pitch Pine plantations in Orleans and in other
towns on Cape Cod, of which a description will be found
394
in the report of the Connecticut State Board of Agriculture
for 1877-78; the large plantations of foreign trees. princi-
pally Larches, Norway Spruces, Scotch Pines, Oaks and
Birches, made by the late Richard S. Fay, near Lynn, and
by Mr. Joseph S. Fay, at Wood’s Holl. There is also an
instructive plantation of European Larches on Mr. J. D. W.
French’s farm in North Andover, which was described in
the first issue of this journal; and in East Greenwich,
Rhode Island, large plantations of Larch and White Pine
have been made during the last ten years upon the farm of
Mr. H. G. Russell, where these trees have made a satis-
factory growth upon sterile and apparently barren land.
Land which is strong enough to grow good white ash is
too good for pine, which will grow to a large size on dry,
eravelly ridges. The land which our correspondent de-
scribes would probably grow either chestnut or hickory,
both valuable woods, for which there is an active and
increasing demand. Chestnut and Hickory trees can be
raised by planting the seed where the trees are to remain,
and are, therefore, more cheaply raised than Ash or White
Pine, which must be transplanted trom the nursery. — If
the land in question is fenced, so that animals can be kept
off of it, and planted in the spring with chestnuts and
hickory nuts, it will be covered in a. few years with
these trees, and many others, which will spring up spon-
taneously in great variety, as soon as cattle are kept out.
The nuts for planting should be gathered as soon as ripe
and at once mixed with sand to prevent them from drying,
as drying destroys their power to germinate, and stored
in a cellar from which the frost is excluded. In the spring
when the frost is out of the ground, a man can plant the
nuts very rapidly by making a hole about an inch deep,
or a'little deeper for large nuts, with an ordinary walking-
stick, dropping a nut ‘into the hole and then pressing
down the soil over it with his foot. The nuts should be
planted three or four feet apart, but when the ground is
very rough and rocky, they will have to be put in with-
out regard to exact distances and wherever the best soil
can be found.
There is no man in the United States who has had a
longer and more varied experience in tree planting than
Mr. Robert Douglas, of Waukegan, Illinois, and his advice
in such matters can be adopted in perfect confidence. —
Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Black Walnut is not native north of Niagara, but has
been raised and produces nuts as far as Quebec. Will the
wood of this or any other tree be likely to prove sufficiently
sound for manufacturing purposes when grown north of its
proper habitat? There is no experience in Canada _ to
show this.
T. M. Grover.
Norwood, Canada,
[Trees can generally be induced to grow in cultivation
much further north—that is, in a colder climate—than that
in which they are found growing spontaneously, and
when the change is not too ereat they may produce
sound timber. The continental distribution of plants be-
ing regulated, to a large extent, by temperature and moist-
ure, the fact that any tree, like the Black Walnut, for
example, is not found growing spontaneously north of a
certain latitude, shows that this i is the limit where, unaided
by man, this particular tree has been able to maintain
itself in the struggle for existence, whichis constantly going
on between all organized beings; and that if moved be-
yond that limit and deprived of man’s constant assistance,
it will be in great danger of being compelled to succumb,
sooner or later, to unfavorable conditions. For this reason
it is wise to select the native trees of any region to plant
for timber in that region. It is impossible to predict that
any others will reach maturity and produce valuable ma- ’
terial. —Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—It gives me pleasure to note that GARDEN AND FOREST
constantly advocates the use of more natural forms in the ar-
Garden and Forest.
[OcTOBER 10, 1888.
rangement of plants for the embellishment of public and pri-
vate grounds. Such articles as that on the planting of hardy
bulbs in the grass cannot fail to bear good fruit. How many
barren spots there are that need such a brightening up at
spring-time as only a few Daffodils can give them. And why
should not some of our native hardy plants be used in such
places ; for instance, the Blood-root, Dicentra or Hepatica, and
for later blooming the Columbine, Mandrake, Meadow Lilies,
Golden-rod and Asters. I have found that these wild beauties
easily adapt themselves to a place seemingly most unfavora-
ble for their life and growth, so I can easily imagine what:
might be accomplished were they distributed over larger
grounds, The woods are not always easy of access, but we
can bring a bit of them close to our homes.
I have noticed at Kew what might be termed a perpetual
garden, which your readers might easily imitate, or even im-
prove upon, by vaakine a still bolder departure from the con-
ventional. There is a ‘serpentine wall, lined on either side by
banks of rock-work four or five feethigh. These are planted
with English hardy plants as well as Lilies and other bulbs,
and many of those that come under the general head of alpine
plants. They are scattered about quite “naturally, and are so
arranged that there is an abundance of bloom throughout the
season. To those possessing rocky grounds this suggests un-
limited possibilities in the formation of a natural garden of
great beauty, and one that offers a large return for a very little
labor.
Brooklyn, N. Y. Fi SeAe
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—In an interesting article on ‘Cultivation of Native
Ferns,” by Robert T. Jackson, in your journal of the 5th inst.,
some examples are given of ‘the extreme hardiness and
vitality of Ferns,” to which I can add a perhaps still more
remarkable illustration.
About ten years ago a lady living in New Zealand sent me,
by mail, covered with a piece of brown wrapping-paper and
tied with a string, six roots of New Zealand Ferns. When I
received them here in California they were, of course, abso-
lutely dry and apparently absolutely dead ; but wishing to test
the matter, I poured some tincture of gum camphor into
warm water and sprinkled the Ferns with the mixture, leaving
them lying upon wet moss for twenty-four hours, after which
I planted them in pots. One plant of Pellea falcata
commenced to throw up new fronds in a few days after its
receipt, and is still growing in my conservatory.” I do not
remember how much time was occupied in_ the ‘transit, but I
think it was about three months, as the facilities for rapid
communication by mail in those days were greatly inferior to
those of the present time.
Santa Barbara, California, September, 1888. Lorenzo G. Yates.
Periodical Literature.
The leading article in 7e Cosmopolitan for August is Mrs.
S. B. Herrick’s on ‘The Romance of Roses.” The author’s
aim has been to trace the continuance and explain the strength
of that preference for the Rose above all other flowers which
has distinguished every people to whom it has been well
known ; and, together with a great deal of romance, she gives
us many interesting facts. The most interesting are perhaps
those which reveal the use the Romans of the Empire made
of Roses—a use which makes our utmost extravagance seem
positive parsimony. When we read of floors carpeted with
fresh Roses a foot deep, covered with a fine netting that the
guests might walk upon without disturbing them ; of a single
feast given by Nero, when a sum equivalent to ‘$100,000 was
spent ‘for the Roses alone; of water parties at Baiz, where
“the whole lake of Lucina was covered with Roses, which
parted before the moving boats and closed after them as_ they
passed ;” of Lucius Verus sleeping upon cushions of net
stuffed with freshly-gathered Rose-leaves, and of Heliogabalus
demanding that his couches, beds, floors, and even porticoes,
should be kept perpetually cov ered with them—how can we
think that we are extravagant in our use of Roses? At first
the Roses required in Rome were imported from Egypt, but
later on a sufficient supply seems to have been grown in Italy,
where, according to Ovid, they were made to bloom twice a
year by means of hot water, carried, as other writers explain,
in pipes, much after the manner of to-day. The love of me-
dizval ages for the Rose has become proverbial, and it
expressed itself in many court as well as popular customs.
’ For centuries before the reign of Louis XII. the peers and
dukes of France, and even the King of Navarre, were obliged
to present Roses, in their season, to the Parliament of France
OcToBER 10, 1888.]
as a symbol of the suzerainty of the King; and the right to
represent them at this ceremony was eagerly disputed for
among the highest nobles of the realm. Similar tributes were
frequently exacted by minor suzerains, and even in real estate
transactions a Rose, ora bushel of Roses, often appeared as
part of the payment or an equivalent therefor. The Golden
Rose, which the Pope still annually bestows upon some one
whom he desires to honor, was first given in 1366. The form
of the present was chosen as significant of the fragility and
evanescence of life, and the indestructible, incorruptible ma-
terial as emblematic of the immortality of the soul. At least,
Mrs. Herrick tells us, ancient writers thus declare; and,
whether it be accurate or not, the explanation is a poetical
one. The drawings by the author, which accompany this arti-
cle, are both faithful and poetic ; the others are less good, and
the colored plates are beneath criticism.
Blackwood's Magazine for August contains an interesting
article called ‘‘In a Garden of John Evelyn’s”’ which unites a
sketch of Evelyn’s lite with a description of the garden which
he assisted in laying out for a friend—one of the Howard
family, who afterwards became the Duke of Norfolk. This
garden lies at Chertsey, in Sussex, about thirty miles from
London, and in the neighborhood of Wotton, Evelyn’s old
home. As Pope and Addison worked in the eighteenth cen-
tury, so Evelyn worked in the seventeenth, and still more in-
fluentially, to popularize a love of nature among his country-
men. Pope's and Addison's efforts tended to turn men away
from the formal towards the natural style of gardening. In
Evelyn’s earlier time, landscape gardening, in the meaning we
now attach to the word, had notas yet been thought of. Never-
theless the truest love for nature and the most admirable
taste characterize all his works on gardening, and the formal
gardens which he loved are by no means to be confounded
with those which, later in his own century, were mere ar-
rangements of clipped trees and regular walks crowded with
a mass of artificial constructions. His taste had been trained,
during many years of foreign travel, on the beautiful early
gardens of Italy, and something akin to them he tried to pro-
duce i in England, with a wise regard, however, for differences
in climate, habits of life and artistic conditions. The garden
at Chertsey is said to be better preserved than most others of
its time, and the description given of it in Blackwood is cer-
tainly most attractive. “It is perhaps an ancient pleasance
more than a garden such as belongs to the present day.
The growth of years has but added to its charm, and has pro-
duced the grandeur of the trees, which must be the chief at-
traction toa pilgrim to the shrine of ‘Sylva Evelyn.’
There is as much shade as sunshine around us here. . :
Few signs of modern taste have entered; ‘bedding out’ and
those monsters of horticulture known as massifs are un-
known. There is not a single ribbon-border anywhere, nor
beds of tropical plants. Here is a space set apart for
a rose-garden, and the Roses have had their way in it for
years. ‘Trellised arbours lead to it, and the entrance is dark-
ened by overhanging clusters. Below the rose-garden the
ground slopes to the margin of the stream. =) therevare
thickets along the stream and many a winding wall below tall
trees and all kinds of flowering shrubs overhanging the
stream. We notice fewer brilliant effects than tender colors
and sweet scents, except at intervals, where great scarlet Pop-
pies flaunt in the sun, contrasting with yellow Day Lilies, or
spires of blue Lupin or white masses of golden Crocus catch
the sunshine in early spring. And here and there among their
more cultivated sisters there is space for a wild flower to find
shelter. . Here is a group of Ilex trees, whose shadow
falls upon some old brick-work, and flights of stone steps
which lead up to the chief attraction and crowning feature of
the garden, a broad, grassy terrace, stretching in long per-
spective for a quarter of amile. Half way down its length i is
a semicircular recess and a pool of clearest water covered
with Water Lilies and dark with overhanging trees, which hide
the entrance to the grotto; and rising over all the
splendid group of Firs. . On the old walls which
bound the terrace on the left there is a delicious mingling of
fruit and flowers.
Recent Plant Portraits.
ONCIDIUM LIETZEI, var.
August 15th.
PLAGIANTHUS LYALLI.
a malvaceous shrub or low tree, with handsome white flowers
three-fourths of an inch across. ‘This will probably make an
AUREO-MACULATUM. Gartenflora,
Garden and Forest.
Gardeners’ Chronicle, August 25th ;°
395
interesting and valuable addition. to the list of hardy
shrubs which can be cultivated in gardens in our Southern
States.
SCHOMBURGKIA TIBICINIS, Gardeners’ Chronicle, August 25th.
Botanical Magazine, September :
SPATHOGLOTTIS VIEILLARDI, 4 7,013; native of the Sunda
Archipelago and New Caledonia; a robust species, with hand-
some pale lilac, or nearly white, ‘flowe rs, two inches across.
Caraguata Andreana, ‘t. 7,014; native of New Grenada; isa
showy Bromeliad, discovered by Monsieur Ed. André on the
Cordillera of Pasto during his memorable South American
journey, and introduced by him into cultivation.
Masdevallia Mooreana, ¢. 7,015.
NARCISSUS BROUSSONNETIL, “7,016; ‘this is a very curious
plant. It is just like the white Tazetta Narcissi (/¢alicus,
Panizzianus, etc.) in habit, leaves, perianth, stamens and
pistil, but the corona is very nearly or entirely obliterated. It
was carefully studied by the late Jacques Gay, one of the most
painstaking ‘botanists who ever lived, and his conclusion was
that it ought to be regarded as forming a monotypic genus. It
was first found about ee beginning of. the century in the neigh-
borhood of Mogadore by Broussonnet. Nothing more was
heard of it until 1873, when specimens were sent by Dr.
Leared to the late Daniel Hanbury. Now it has been intro-
duced alive, and was flowered last winter both at Kew and by
Sir E. G. Soder at Flone. It will probably not prove hardy in
the open air in England.”
ERYTHRONIUM HENDERSON], ¢, 7,017, recently described and
figured in this journal (p. 317).
Exhibitions.
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
HE fifty-ninth annual exhibition of this society, held in
Philadelphia last week, was not as large as some of its
predecessors, but for the number of remz urkable specimens
displayed the show has not been surpassed tor several years.
Probably the finest plant in the hall was a Kentia Forsteriana,
exhibited by Wm. Joyce, gardener to Miss Baldwin. Its
foliage is very ¢ clean and bright and the plant is fully twelve
feet high. Specimen plants of Latania Borbonica, Cycas
circinalis and Pandanus Vettchii followed hard after this in the
order of merit. A remarkable Cissus discolor, covering an
oval frame four feet high, well furnished with foliage, some
of the leaves measuring quite nine inches long, was exhibited
by Robert Wark, gardener to C. H. Clark. An Alamanda
Schottit, also grown on a frame and wellset with flowers and
buds, showed blooms quite four and a half inches in diameter.
It was exhibited by Wm. Frederick, gardener to W. W. Fra-
zier, of Jenkintown. Thomas Long, gardener to A. J. Drexel,
exhibited a well-grown specimen of that miniature Palm, Ziv-
ingstonia bien and its beauty made visitors regret that it
was so scarce and costly. A specimen of Cocos I ‘eddelliana,
exhibited by Mr. Joyce, is six feet high and in fine condition.
Chas. Ball contributed’ a well-colored plant of the variegated
Pineapple. Three fine plants were shown of Davallia Fiji-
ensis, a Fern that was grown by a Philadelphia florist for
ten years before it was named and distributed by W m. Bull.
It was sent to the Philadelphian by a friend who visited the
Fiji Islands.
The collection of fifty Caladiums from ‘ Wootton,” the
country-seat of Geo. W. Childs, were tine examples of good
culture. John M. Hughes, the gardener to Mr. Childs, de-
serves great credit for this display, as it occupied nearly one
side of the hall. Hugh Graham’s son received a first premium
for six fine specimen plants of Maranta, and Chas. D. Ball took
first for a grand collection of twenty-five specimen Ferns,
including the finest Adiz intums, Davallias and Gleichenias.
Henry A. Dreer exhibited Aristolochia elegans, a novelty
from Brazil. Itisa grand vine and certain to become popu-
lar, if, as is claimed, it will bloom the same season from seed
sown in the open air in spring. Mr. Dreer also exhibited the
finest collection of tuberous-rooted Begonias ever seen in
Philadelphia. Many of ‘the flowers measured four and one-
half inches in diameter.
The tank of Water-lilies contained examples of Vymphea
Zanszibarensis, N, Devoniensis and Nelumbium speciosum,
anda smaller tank was filled with the comparatively new
Pontederia Crassipes, from British Guiana, with blooms re-
sembling at first sighta pale blue Iris. Cut Roses of admirable
quality for the season were exhibited by Edwin Lonsdale, Craig
& Bro., Pennock Bros. and Coles & Whiteley. Some Mz dame
Cuisins were particularly fine. The Gloxinias and Petunias
exhibited by Henry A. Dreer and the daintily arranged Pansies
396
and single Dahlias by O. R. Kreinberg were well worth the
attention they received.
The wild flowers collected by Allen Barr were well chosen,
but they lost some of their educational value because they
were not named.
The Cattleya El Dorado, which is a beautiful pink, was
thought by many retail florists to be one of the most desirable
for use in the arrangement of flowers. Pennock Bros. exhib-
ited a large urn and Heron & Nesbit a vase of cut flowers,
both of which received special premiums, and Miss Anna A.
Bisset won the first prize for a cross and wreath. Archibald
Lawson, gardener to H. H. Houston, Chestnut Hill, exhibited
some very handsome grapes, the clusters of White Nice, Santa
Cruz, Prince Albert and White Syrian being particularly fine.
The attendance was only “ fair.” It is strange that an exhi-
bition as good as this should ever lack a generous attendance
in any of our large cities. But the question how to make
horticultural exhibitions meet expenses, is one that too many
of our oldest and best societies are still compelled to consider.
HI. H. Battles.
Notes.
Florida Persimmons are sold as a novelty by New York
fruiterers for 60 cts. a dozen.
Autumn leaves from New Jersey thickets are tastefully com-
bined by NewYork florists, and sold by the dozen or the cluster.
Dill and Fennel have never been brought in such quantities
to the New York markets as they have this season. There is
also an increased demand for Tarragon.
Mr. William Court, well known to many American horti-
culturists as an agent of the Veitch Nurseries, died suddenly
of apoplexy, in London, on the 17th of last month.
The finest Crawford Peaches are now coming from Balti-
more, where they have been kept back in cold storage-houses.
They ‘sell for $4 a crate, and for 75 cts. and $1a dozen.
Mr. J. A. Lintner estimates that there are in the United States
1,000 species of insects which are injurious to fruits, and of
these 210 are known to live at the expense of the Apple-tree.
For some reason trees and shrubs are later than usual in
assuming their autumn colors, but for a week past Berberis
Thunbergit and B. Sinensis have fairly glowed with the bright-
ness of their orange and scarlet.
A Pearl River plantsman is bleaching the tops of Russia
Turnips, which are a hot-house delicacy abroad, and which
are prepared for the table much the same as Sea-kale. These
and Cauliflower, also forced in hot-houses, will be in market
about Christmas.
Professor James argues that it is quite as legitimate to ex-
pend Federal money to prevent the soil from flowing down
mountain sides and filling up rivers as it is to expend money
for clearing out their channels when once filled ; and that it
ought to be permissible to expend Federal money to protect
the stream itself, ifit be proper to stock and re-stock it with fish.
Fuglans Manchuricais a most promising nut tree from Japan.
A tree in the Arnold Arboretum, from seed planted in the fall
of 1879, has this year borne two bushels of nuts. The fruit is
larger, more nearly spherical and less rough than our com-
mon butternut and is of very good flavor. The nuts are
borne in clusters with from six to thirteen together. The tree
has borne now for five years, and, besides the valuable crop
it yields, it gives good promise as an ornamental tree.
The 7ribune, of San Luis Obispo County, California, reports
some wonderful yields of Onions in the valley of the Arroyo
Grande. The product of one acre was w eighed, and amounted
to 66,905 pounds, or more than thirty-three tons. This would
be by measurement 1,194% bushels. One of the Onions
measured seventeen inches in circumference. A Radish in
the same valley is said to have weighed thirteen pounds,
being twenty-one inches in girth and thirty-eight inches long.
The report of Mr, J. H. Hart, the new superintendent of the
Trinidad Botanic Garden, tor the year 1887, has appeared. This
is one of the richest, as it is the oldest, of the botanic gardens
in the British West Indies, having been continuously main-
tained during a period of seventy years. Its usefulness is
now likely to be greatly increased under Mr. Hart's manz age-
ment, which is first directed properly to the permanent es-
tablishment and arrangement of an herbarium, without which
no botanic garden can “be operated. The task is the more im-
portant as Trinidad possesses a flora of great variety, combin-
Garden and Forest.
[OcToBER 10, 1888.
ing West Indian and South American plants, besides many in-
digenous to the island.
Experiments recently made by Prof. Schubeler, a Norwe-
gian plant-geographer, confirm the belief that most plants
produce much larger and heavier seeds in high northern lati-
tudes than in those further south, the difference resulting
from the prolonged influence of light consequent upon the
length of the summer day at the far north. One of the most
remarkable instances he noted was that of Dwarf Beans,
which gained sixty per cent. in weight when taken from
Christiania to Drontheim, a distance of no more than four de-
grees ; and another was that of Thyme, which, taken from
Lyons to Drontheim, gained seventy-one per cent. All our
cereals likewise show a marked increase in weight when
grown at the far north.
The new museum building of the Royal Botanical Garden
in Breslau, Germany, was recently opened. With its fittings it
cost about $50,000, and it contains, in addition to the large
rooms in which the collections are arranged, a library, a lec-
ture-room with seats for loo persons, an apartment for the
Institute of Plant Physiology, another of a large size for micro-
scopical work, and a number of smaller ones devoted to dif-
ferent purposes. The collections include an herbarium; a
collection of woods, seeds, fruits, specimens prepared in alco-
hol, and pictures of the most useful exotic plants, so arranged
and catalogued that the general public may be interested and
instructed ; a colonial botanical collection ; ; a phyto-palzonto-
logical paecion: and a collection of cryptogams. The
Director, Professor Engler, invites correspondence with a
view to the exchange of “duplicates.
Bulletin No. 2, just issued by the Forestry Division of the
Department of Agriculture, contains several interesting
papers grouped together under the general title of the
Forest Conditions of the Rocky Mountains. Some idea of the
depredations upon the National Forests, and the powerlessness
of government Officials to prevent them, can be formed from
the extracts here given from Reports of the Commissioners of
the Land Office. Professor James writes of the relations of
the Government to the Forests, showing that there is abundant
precedent, if any were needed, to justify state and national
legislation for protecting our forests. The Report of Colonel
Ensign gives an account of the forests in the various states
and territories in the Rocky Mountain region. George B. Sud-
worth writes of the forest flora of the region, giving an arti-
ficial key to facilitate the identification of the principal species,
a work which would have been more useful if all the known
species had been included. The needs of the Yellowstone
Park are considered by Dr. Arnold Hague, and Mr.
Abbot Kinney writes of the forests of some of the Southern
counties of California. A summary of legislation for the
preservation of timber or forests on the public domain
is given by Mr. N. H. Egleston. The effect of the climate
of Colorado upon trees is discussed by Mr. George H. Parsons,
and Mr. Fernow writes of the formation and preservation
of snow slides and avalanches.
Writing from Rome, in the Christian Register, Miss Augusta
Larned says: ‘‘One of the most beautiful of the old cloister
gardens is attached to the sumptuous church of St. Paul’s
Outside the Walls. The whole garden is filled with
Roses and sweet herbs. In the middle stand the old well and
the sun-dial, but everywhere the pink buds and blossoms are
turned towards the sun. The midday warmth brought the
odors of Lavender, Rosemary and Mint—scents all the brother-
hoods seem to love by instinct. Such depths upon depths of
peace and quietude filled this monkish Rose-garden I felt I
could sit there for hours and muse on a skull without getting
too strong an odor of our mortality. For the glorious Italian
spring triumphed over death and decay. The pret-
tiest monastic garden I have seen in Rome adjoins the church
of San Pietro in Vincoli, where the ‘Moses’ of Michael An-
gelo and the ‘Saint Margaret’ of Guercino are to be seen.
The monastery is now turned into a school for en-
gineers ; but the polite attendant is always ready to open the
elass door and let you into a grassy nook planted with tall old
Orange trees, covered with the golden fruit, into which the
Banksia Rose has clambered with a perfect tempest of blos-
soms, while spring flowers and blooming shrubs fill it to over-
flowing, run riot over the paths, and ets themselves in vast
nosegays against the dark green and golden background. A
pair of rooks were fluttering i in the shrubbery, the first I had
seen, and bright green lizards slipped away between thestones
of the old wall. The silence and freshness were indescribable;
and, as usual, the vanished brotherhood had left a savor of
sweet, old-fashioned herbs behind them.”
OcToBER 17, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TrisunE Buitpinc, New York.
onducted by-. «4 sss «© « . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Eprromiat ArticLes :—Sentimental Objections to Felling Trees. H.—The Michi-
an Jack Pine Plains.—The Virgilia or Yellow-wood......+....-.+5+ 307
A California Garden (with illustr tration)
The Serpent Mound Park.. recess .. Charles C. Abbott.
English Flower Gardens .....-...--2+see+eeeecececeees stent eeeecteceeees 399
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter ....-. 060+. .ee cess eee W. Goldring. 399
New or Littte Known Priants:—Rhododendron (Azalea) arborescens (with
FID ULE) ase s ce asece esisinfleicleisyeids’y s.0.0 sis 4 G56 5 0 cileisisistecicicin 425s e's C.:S. S: 400
CucturaL Department :—Winter eae Bia Je) see -E. Williains 400
The Flower. Garden.. (Hoc BSRE A BEAN OOPS COL CIRC dG: (Gs: 402
| Arthur ‘H. Fewkes. 402
William Falconer. 402
eee F. Atkins. 403
tity Goldring. °
A Few Choice Ferns
Removing Raspberr
Tue Forest :—Forestry in California. IV......... 6.65 cess eeen eee Abbot Kinney, 405
TEE RESPONDEN CE pmeiesaianeen ccs « saeis esieeclan na kic/h 6.0 6.0.6 Sineeere eM a rainy ereie ifs cys nicl 406
PME CENTMEIANTE PORTRALT St acisia'y sain cis iple's(e oftia s:a\e'esa vive ate late slanerarelelciaiatalelurne'e)<'s'p 6
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
INOS Mere ey= la) teia/elais'wsie\e(ete"s sia gi (o o°e)s\e'are susibie wieie's)
Ittusrrations :—Rhododendron (Azalea) arborescens..
Flower of Iris laevigata... .-..+.eeeseeseeee ws
_View i inthe “Arizona Garden,” MONLY. 1.5005 tiles sate baste eG nlsle 6 Hees
Sentimental Objections to Felling Trees.—I1.
E spoke recently of that unwise and sentimental
affection for trees, which so often interferes with
their removal when removal would mean a conspicuous
increase in the beauty of their surroundings; and we
argued that its false basis is shown by the fact, that it is as
_ often exhibited in the case of decayed and unsightly trees,
as in the case of those which, in themselves, have a
clear title to admiration.
But the most unfortunate effect of this unwise affection
remains to be mentioned. The spirit which condemns the
axe when the interests of general beauty require it to be
raised, refuses it likewise when the interests of the trees
themselves make the demand. Every walk we take
through public park or private grounds, shows us not only
many cases where beauty of general effect is injured by
superfluous trees, but as many where the trees themselves
are injured by overcrowding. Trees which have started
spontaneously, or have been carefully planted by a land-
scape-gardener, in such a way that while young they
agreeably clothed the spot and usefully nursed one
another, have been allowed ‘to grow into spindling groves
or tangled thickets, which are not beautiful as a whole
and contain not a single satisfactory specimen of tree-
development.
Here, for example, is a solid clump which has no beauty
of outline and no variety of light and shadow, and in
which the colors of the different species are mixed ina
confusion that is not true contrast. Thinned out in time,
_ we might have had instead a smaller number of fine speci-
_ mens, each graceful in form, each contrasting agreeably in
color with its neighbors, and all together making a group
or a little wood which would have pleased not only by its
beautiful outlines; but by its evidence of healthy growth
and luxuriant development. Here, again, is a line of trees
which were intended to form a screen to shut out some
unsightly object or to conceal the limits of the place.
When first planted it did form such a screen, although of
_ inconsiderable height, and with judicious thinning it might
_ have remained a screen while its height increased. But
Garden and Forest.
397
left unthinned it has grown into a spindling row of bare
stems, which carry poorly developed heads of foliage far
in the upper air, while between them the undesirable
object can be clearly seen. In still another place we find
two or three trees growing so close together that their
branches meet and the grow th of each has been checked on
the side towards the other, Of course when they are of the
same, or of related, species, and stand very near indeed to-
gether, the effect may be agreeable, as being the effect of a
single large head, supported by two or three stems. But
even when they are of the same species the effect is often bad
if the stems are so far apart that we clearly realize we have
two or three poorly developed specimens where we might
have had a single one in beautiful development. And it is
a distressing effect indeed when the trees are of different
species, and inharmonious one with the other. Quite
as often as not this is the case when man’s hand has
done the planting. It is no uncommon thing, for example,
to find instances where a tapering evergreen and a round-
headed deciduous tree have been allowed to grow so close
together that their alien forms and colors and textures are
absolutely welded together in a union as unnatural to the
mind as displeasing to the eye.
It is no new grief to w hich we thus give voice. Doubt-
less there has never been a time when, by unthinking per-
sons, it was not regarded as, under any circumstances, a
crime to cut down a tree. Certainly the literature of
gardening art echoes the complaint of the landscape-artist
of to-day, that no difficulty with which he has to cope is
as great as the difficulty of making an owner thin
out his plantations at the proper time and in the proper
way. Brown, the famous English landscape-gardener of
the last century, has for eenerations been bitterly abused
for forming close, round, hard clumps of trees and spotting
them about on lawn and meadow. But there is no doubt
that he intended these clumps to be thinned, so that they
might eventually resolve themselves into lighter, more
varied and more graceful groups. Therefore, when we
read of ‘‘Brown’s clumps” as synonyms for what should
be avoided by the planter of to-day, it is not Brown him-
self but his clients who are really put in the pillory.
It should be remembered that no landscape-gardener
can protect himself against a similar fate by planting only
those trees which he would like to see in the full-grown
group or wood of later years. In the first place, few
owners would be content to see the spot for a long period
merely dotted over with small, isolated trees; in the
second place, young trees must often be planted closely
for mutual protection against wind and cold; and in the
third place, 7 no one can predict with accuracy how any
given tree will grow, a margin must be left against pos-
sible contingencies, not only of life and death, but of
peculiarity in development. A planter can hardly imagine
in detail the group he wants, and then plant for that group
and for nothing else. The best he can do is to decide
upon the general size and character of his group; plant in
such a way that the probability of getting something near
to it in effect will be insured; and then watch his planta-
tion, and thin it out in accordance, on the one hand, with
his own wishes, and, on the other hand, with the peculiar-
ities of his developing trees.
Of course such a process as this needs care and thought
and taste. But it is just this fact that we desire to impress
upon our readers—only by the exercise of care and thought
and taste, not only in the act of planting but continually
afterwards, can really beautiful results be achieved in any
branch of gardening art. After a plantation is made, then
the real work of creating it has merely begun; this work
must be prolonged for many years, to preserve the beauty
of the trees as individuals, no less than to preserve the
beauty of the general effect of the scene; and it must very
often consist in larger part of the judicious cutting out of
individuals which are not only superfluous but detrimental.
Yet the hardest task of an artist is to persuade an owner to
cut down trees which were never intended long to remain ;
398
and generally it is harder still for an owner to persuade
himself to sacrifice a tree of his own planting, even though,
by his own confession, it would be far better out of the
way.
In the upper part of the lower Michigan peninsula and
in the upper peninsula are numerous sandy, barren plains,
sometimes called Jack Pine Plains from the prevalence of
the Jack Pine (Pinus Banksiana) upon them. ‘The largest
of these barrens occupies several hundred square miles,
and there are others nearly as large. It is believed that
these barrens are due to the continual burning of the forest,
originally, perhaps, first prostrated by tornadoes. The
surface is almost entirely destitute of vegetable-mould ;
and often it is nothing but a mass of shifting sand, upon
which plants are unable to obtain a foothold. The
cheapness of these lands has had the unfortunate effect
of inducing many emigrants to settle upon them. Hun-
dreds of abandoned homes testify to their worthlessness
for agriculture, and stand as witnesses of misdirected labor
and disappointed hopes. It is now, however, proposed
by the State of Michigan to demonstrate by scientific ex-
periment the value or the worthlessness of these Jack Pine
lands. The State Board of Agriculture has established an
experimental farm upon land given for the purpose by the
Michigan Central Railroad corporation near Grayling, in
Crawford County, in the heart of the Jack Pine region.
The problem to be solved, as stated by Professor R. C.
Kedzie in Bulletin No. 37, from the Experiment Station
connected with the Agricultural College of Michigan,
which is devoted to this subject, is this: ‘‘ With a light,
sandy soil of very porous quality, in a northern climate
subject to late frosts in spring and early frosts in autumn,
and liable to midsummer drought, with no fertilizers ex-
cept marl, salt and plaster, can any methods of tillage or
kinds of crops bring these plains into profitable cultivation
for ordinary farming, stock-raising, or fruit production?”
A thousand years of tree growth, if fires are kept away,
may restore some of the lost fertility to these lands, but that
any method more rapid in its workings can avail to make
them profitably productive, hardly seems probable—a
view which more than one settler who has seen his
hard-earned savings melt away in an effort to make
this land bear fruit, will, we imagine, gladly indorse.
It is right, however, to demonstrate by actual experiments,
carried on by trained investigators, whether such lands
are really worthless, lest the tide of emigration, beguiled
by offers of cheap homes, may still continue to press in
upon these barren sands.
The following remarkable statement, which has been
going the rounds of several of the special journals devoted
to the lumber industry of the country, will give some idea
of the popular ignorance in regard to trees in this country.
The tree referred to is the Virgilia, or Yellow-wood, of
which a description and illustration were published in this
journal on the 18th of April. The Virgilia is a rare tree
in a wild state, although it is not confined to the neighbor-
hood of Nashville, being found more or less abundantly
from Kentucky to Cherokee County in North Carolina,
and it is now one of the most generally planted and
best known ornamental trees in the Northern States:
Within a radius of sixty miles of Nashville, Tenn., there is
found a tree that is supposed to be the shittim wood of Bible
fame. Celebrated botanists from all over the country have
examined the trees and agree that they grow nowhere else on
the globe. They have decided that it is the shittim wood of
which the tabernacle was constructed, mention of which is
made several times in the Bible. The tree is medium-sized,
with very dark, smooth bark, and the wood is of a bright gold
color. In early spring the trees are laden with long white
blossoms, closely resembling great ostrich plumes. There
seems to be no doubt about the identity of the trees, and it is
remarkable that they are found only in this small area, and so
few at that.
Garden and Forest.
[OcToBER 17, 1888.
A California Garden.
“TRAVELERS who visit the Hotel del Monte, at Mon-
terey, are always interested in the strange garden
filled with curious forms of vegetable life, generally
spoken of as the ‘‘ Arizona Garden,” which the proprietors
of this establishment have caused to be collected there
from the extreme southern parts of the State and from
Arizona.
Our illustration of a part of this garden upon page 403,
gives an idea how succulent plants can be grouped together
harmoniously, and of the value of such plants in a dry
climate like that of California, where green turf cannot be
maintained during the summer months without constant
watering. The two tall cylindrical plants on the right and
left of the picture are young specimens of the tallest of
all the Cactus family, Cereus giganieus ; between these, in
the background, is a plant of the noble desert Palm of
southern California, Washingtlonia fiifera ; and still further
in the background may be seen part of the group of
Monterey Pines (Pinus tusignis) which surround the hotel
—one of the very few natural growths of this tree—which
is one of the least widely distributed of American Pines,
although it is now, however, very generally cultivated in
the Pacific States and in central and southern Europe.
The Serpent Mound Park.
HE traveler who happens to be passing along the excel-
lent turnpike from Hillsboro to Locust Grove, in Adams
County, Ohio, is likely to be surprised when his attention is
called to a prominently displayed sign-board, near the eastern
end of Brush Creek bridge, with the legend: ‘‘ Entrance to
Serpent Mound Park.’’ One is not prepared for any such
announcement. The surrounding country gives no sugges-
tion of a park, to one who drives for miles through a succes-
sion of thrifty farms, and an occasional, sleepy, cross-roads
village. If we accept the implied invitation of the sign-board,
and enter the grounds, other notices, conspicuously posted
for our guidance, will be observed, and naturally we follow
the pointing of one which directs to ‘‘ The Serpent.” A wind-
ing road leads to the summit of a broad plateau that, at pres-
ent, is anything but park-like, for reasons to be mentioned
later, but still every vestige of the former farm surroundings
is wanting. The old worm fences, with their wealth of weeds,
have been removed, and in their stead many small trees of
different species have been recently planted. But the claim of
the spot to be considered a park does not rest upon this small
showing; finished pleasure grounds are not lacking, and a _
grove of oaks and maples, with both a sweet-water and a sul-
phur spring, is now available for picnic purposes, and, I
may add, is well patronized.
Passing by both these finished and unfinished portions of the
park, we proceed to “The Serpent,” now lying directly before
us. Upon a jutting tongue of level land, that reaches into,
and one hundred teet above, the beautiful Brush Creek
valley, rests that mysterious earth-work of an unknown
people—a serpent, fourteen hundred feet in length, with
closely coiled tail, gracefully curved body, and widely gaping
jaws. Beautiful as it is in itself, our interest steadily increases
as we look upon it, from the fact that it antedates all history.
Since its discovery and description by Squier and Davis, in
1847, the spot has been often written of, and more theories
have been broached concerning its age and origin than there
are curves in its tortuous length. This has not been to the —
advancement of American archeology directly, but it has
led to the purchase and preservation of the mound by the
Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, of
Cambridge ; and now it is not only available for all future —
students of ancient America, but its surroundings, some
seventy acres, have been set apart as a public park, and so are
of interest to the readers of GARDEN AND FOREST.
I have spoken of the unpark-like condition of the high
plateau, through which the main drive passes. The present
disturbed condition arises from the fact that every inch of the
ground is being carefully explored for traces of the serpent |
builders, and the results so far go towards the establishment
of the view that the people who erected the earth-work were _
not historic Indians—Cherokee or Shawnee, as has been —
asserted—but a race akin to, if not identical with, the ancient
Mexicans. ButI will not further trespass upon the work nor
anticipate the conclusions of Professor Putnam, who is
OcTOBER 17, 1888.]
conducting these explorations in a thorough and able man-
ner.
The setting apart of a considerable tract in the midst of a
rich farming district, as a public park, in connection with the
preservation of this invaluable relic of the past, was a most
happy thought ; and additional educational interest centres in
it from the tact that Professor Putnam has established here an
arboretum on a limited scale, by having planted specimens of
the many trees native to the region, thus returning it to the
conditions obtaining previous to the advent of the white man.
As years roll by, this beautiful spot will undoubtedly be-
come more and more attractive, and the wisdom of the
establishment of the Serpent Mound Park will be univers-
ally acknowledged. Letus hope, therefore, that the efforts now
being made to preserve other equally interesting traces of a
forgotten people, in Ohio, may be likewise successful, and
not one but several such parks be the boast of the people of
this thrifty State.
Beechi Mond Packs Ohio. Charles C. Abbott.
English Flower Gardens.
I? is pleasing to see the increasing love and extended culti-
vation of hardy flowers, but the improvement of English
flower gardens by their use proceeds very slowly. In many
places the flower garden is still sacrificed to bedding out and
presents the same meagre assortment of plants, the natural
consequence being that in summer English flower gardens
have great similarity of aspect, with few features of real in-
terest. Each season brings the same monotonous form, with
perhaps a little variation of style.
Pattern gardening was and is the greatest enemy to both
gardeners and gardens; to gardeners, because, owing to the
lack of material that would readily lend itself to this, many
present-day gardeners are under the idea that beautiful flower
beds cannot be made with hardy flowers; to gardens, because,
in all situations and on different soils, each of which is capa-
ble of supporting some distinct types of vegetation peculiar to
itself, the same subjects have been used. Hence the ultimate
outcome, formality and sameness. We do not meet with so
many of the complicated carpet enormities as in former days,
but there is still room for vast improvement. Itis too much
to expect owners of gardens to undertake the work, although
there are a few exceptional cases where this has already been
done. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people who think and
admire, and, without a doubt, would appreciate a change
which tended towards the improved embellishment of flower
gardens by the use of an increased variety of hardy plants.
Before this can be done a much wider knowledge of plant life
will be needed. We want originality and the capacity to evolve
new ideas. Itis the lack of knowledge of the inexhaustible
resources of Nature that is the root of the evil; and how can
it be otherwise while young gardeners are trained under
glass alone, and are scarcely brought into contact with hardy
flowers, trees or shrubs ?
A judicious and proper selection is of great importance. A
few beautiful bedded-out gardens have been made, against
which little reproach could be urged, but they have been care-
fully planted, and they have been beautified with a greater
variety of summer garden plants. The mass of flower and
gorgeous color has been toned down by graceful foliage and
refreshing greenery. To one beautiful garden of this kind
there are hundreds sacrificed to about half a dozen subjects,
that were grown twenty years ago and are still grown now.
During the present summer I was shown over a place which
‘had the reputation of being fairly good, and after having
walked around the flower garden and been asked to admire
the usual scarlet, yellow and blue monotony, I found only one
feature of real interest, and that in the kitchen garden mixed
border. It was a large group, covering several square yards,
of a very fine form of the white Campanula Persicifolia. The
distant effect was very charming. The flower garden is the
true home for all such flowers as this, and many more might
be easily selected. :
The beautiful garden of the future will be adorned with
hardy flowers planted in open natural groups instead of the
old dot-a-plant-everywhere system, that rendered the mixed
border so unsatisfactory, and did not give a true idea of the
capabilities of many of the subjects planted therein. An ideal
English garden should have beautiful flowers for at least nine
months out of twelve. We want lasting interest, a garden
with vegetation that changes with the seasons, but is not de-
fined by them. Week by week, month by month, some fresh
charm should appear, some new picture unfold to view.
The garden of hardy flowers is equal to this.—Zhe Garden,
London.
Garden and Forest.
390
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HE Oleander (Nerium Oleander) is now among the
glories of southern gardens, especially in Italy.
The other day I strolled through one of the famous gar-
dens on the banks of Lake Como, and in that paradise of
flower and fruit nothing delighted me more than the large
Oleanders, covered with blossoms as large and as double
as Camellias. I had never before seen this plant in per-
fection, for it cuts a poor figure in English gardens. We
cannot give it the roasting sun-heat and cloudless skies
that seem so necessary to its perfect growth, but I believe
that in the United States it would flourish as it does in
Italy, since you could give it the summer-heat it wants,
and its protection in winter, when grown in portable tubs,
is not a great undertaking. Of some dozen distinct sorts
seen in Italy the difference consists mainly in the color of
the flowers. Besides the deep rose-pink, which is com-
mon everywhere, I saw a variety with pure white single
flowers, one with flowers double white, a double deep red
called Splendens, a double rose, a large single, copper-
colored (Cuprea/um), a pale yellow, double and single, and
a very rich rose-purple named Professor Duchartre. Other
unnamed varieties were quite as fine. On inquiry I found
that the bushes received litthke or no attention. They
were for the most part in large square tubs, and all looked
as if they had been undisturbed for years. Each season a
slight top-dressing of manure and soil was given, more to
fill up the tubs than to benefit the plants, and all the atten-
tion given was frequent watering, the Oleander being a
very thirsty plant. In some places the tubs are put under
shelter in cold weather.
The Shrubby Mallow, as Aibiscus Syriacus is commonly
called in English gardens, is one of the few hardy shrubs
at present in bloom, and very attractive it is when in
flourishing condition. ‘To do well it must have a deep,
moist soil, the richer the better, and if, in addition to this,
it is sheltered and partially shaded, then it is a beautiful
shrub in autumn. There are now a multitude of varieties
in our gardens, most of them with very uncouth names,
and many of French origin. There is, however, a great
sameness in the majority of the sorts, the prevailing color
being a kind of purplish rose, with crimson centre. In a
large collection of sorts at Kew I singled out the following
as the most distinct: Puniceus plenus, Rubro plenus, Albo-
plenus, Coeruleus plenus, Ardens and Duc de Brabant. In
Mr. Anthony Waterer’s nursery at Knap Hill there is a fine
display of bloom, two of the finest sorts being Totus albus,
a pure white variety, very beautiful, and Coeleste, whichis
the nearest approach to a true blue Hibiscus that has been
obtained. The flowers are large, single and of a rich pur-
ple-blue, quite a different tint from that of any other sort.
The great value of the Syrian Hibiscus lies in its autumn
flower, and that is why it is always planted in English gar-
dens, whether the conditions are suitable for it or not.
Lemoine’s Hybrid Montbrietias are now found to be in-
dispensable autumn flowers, being so graceful in growth,
so profuse in flower, and so bright and rich in color. The
first hybrid which came to us a few years ago, under the
name of Jf. crocosmiefiora, was the result of intercrossing
M. Potist (a Cape species, with wheat-ear-like spikes of
‘small red and orange flowers), with the well-known old
Tritonia (Crocosma) aurea, with large bright orange-red
flowers. The hybrid combined the character of the parents
in a remarkable way. Its flowers became larger than
those of AZ Poltsi, but quite as numerous, while the color
was intermediate and more pleasing than that of either
parent. It was, moreover, soon found to be much hardier
than Z! auwrea and could be left out in the open border in
winter like J£ Poéfsi. This original hybrid, JZ crocos-
mieflora, has now become a popular garden plant with us;
in fact, is quite common, and especially as a pot plant in
green-houses. Its sheaf of waving flower stems in August
400
and September makes it very beautiful, and as it continues
in bloom for weeks, its value is enhanced. M. Lemoine,
the famous hybridist of Nancy, has raised other hybrid
Montbrietias, one of which I saw the other day in Mr.
Wilson’s garden at Weybridge, under name of Gerbe d’Or.
It is like the older AZ crocosmieflora, except that the
flowers are of a pure rich yellow, instead of orange-red,
blotched with crimson. It is very beautiful, and though
it has not come into general cultivation, it is certain to
become popular, especially as a green-house plant.
Lvora Dufii.—Vhose who want a really fine stove plant
for autumn flowering should become possessed of this
evergreen shrub, introduced a few years ago from the
South Sea Islands. In my opinion, it is the finest of all
the Ixoras, for though it does not produce such a number
of small flower clusters, its huge heads of bloom have an
impressiveness which places it in advance of all others.
A well grown plant is about four feet high, with large,
deep green leaves, and it produces, at the extremity of each
main shoot, an enormous cluster, often nine inches across,
of deep scarlet-crimson flowers. It generally begins to
flower early in August and lasts in bloom for several
weeks. It is of simple culture under ordinary warm-stove
treatment. It is grown to perfection at Kew in the Water
Lily house, w hich is always moist and warm, and it
has been the admiration of visitors for weeks past. It
is a stock plant in nurseries and is known also by the
name Z! macrothyrsa. W. Goldring.
London, September 2oth.
New or Little Known Plants.
Rhododendron (Azalea) arborescens.
HIS beautiful Azalea was first made known to bot-
anists by Pursh, in his ‘‘ Flora of North America,’
published in 1816. He had found it in the mountains of
Pennsylvania, and in Bartram’s garden at Philadelphia,
where John Bartram, who was, therefore, its real discov-
erer, had planted it many years before. Neither the elder
Michaux, who traversed over and over that part of the
country where this species is most common, nor Fraser,
who had explored the Alleghany Mountains some years
before Pursh visited that region, seems to have noticed it,
although it is hardly possible that they would have over-
looked so common a plant, which they, perhaps, con-
founded with 2. wrcosum.
It is stated in Nicholson’s “ Dictionary of Gardening ”
that Rhododendron arborescens was introduced into English
gardens in 1818, but it has probably never been very well
known in Europe, and was soon lost, perhaps, from
gardens, Our figure upon page 4or is, at any rate,
the first which has been published of this plant, which,
through the agency of the Arnold Arboretum, has been
distributed within the last five or six years among many
of the principal American and foreign collections.
Rhododendron arborescens is a tall shrub, with slender
branches, sometimes fifteen or twenty feet high, and obo-
vate or oblong-oblanceolate, slightly coriaceous leaves, cilio-
late on the margins, bright green and shining on the upper
and pale on the lower surface. The flowers are white or
tinged with rose, the long, slender tube of the corolla, and
the conspicuous, narrow calyx-lobes somewhat glandular
bristly. The brilliant scarlet stamens and pistil add to the
beauty of the deliciously fragrant flowers, which are not
viscid like those of its nearest American relative, the
familiar Swamp Honeysuckle (2. wscosum). They are
later than those of other Azaleas, not appearing until July,
and are often obscured by the shoots of the year which
precede them, a habit which lessens somewhat the value
of this species as a showy garden plant. The leaves, in
drying, exhale the perfume of newly mown grass—a
character which has not been noticed in other Azaleas.
Rhododendron arborescens is a native of the mountain
region from Pennsylvania to South Carolina and Ten-
nessee, where it is frequently found in great abundance,
especially among the foot-hills of the high mountains
Garden and Forest.
[OcToBER 17, 1888,
of North Carolina, bordering and often overhanging the
smaller streams and filling the woods in early summer
with fragrance.
It is perfectly hardy in the Arboretum, where it re-
ceives no special treatment, and flowers freely every year.
a C. USGS
Cultural Department.
Winter Apples.
HE Baldwin is the most satisfactory winter Apple, as well
as the most popular variety in this vicinity, and yet in the
southern part of this state it is regarded as a fall Apple, and
esteemed only as such. I confess its record for keeping quali-
ties is not as good here as it was once, but its size, beauty, —
flavor, and fine bearing qualities render it a general favorite
notwithstanding. 4
The universally popular Rhode Island Greening is: still a |
great favorite, but it does not grow as smooth generally as the
Baldwin. Neither does the tree grow as well. Its reputation
as a keeper is also on the wane; and this will apply to all of
our Apples once famous for long keeping. It was not unusual
years ago for farmers to have a generous supply of Apples in
April and May, a thing now very rare indeed. The cause or
causes contributing to this changed condition give rise to
much speculation, but no conclusion that is generally accepted ~
has yet been reached. Possibly new varieties may be devel-
oped in the future that will occupy the positions in this respect
once held by our old-time favorites.
Smith’s Cider is a very popular winter Apple in Pennsyl-
vania and southern New Jersey. The Apple is of fair size;
the trees bear young, and when grown are immensely product.
ive. The fruit is of fine quality and keeps well. It promises
to do well in this section of the state.
One of the best winter Apples I am acquainted with is
Peck’s Pleasant. High-flavored, productive, and a good
keeper, it very well fills the place once occupied by the
famous Newtown Pippin, a variety long since superseded _
by others better adapted to our locality.
Northern Spy is also a fine, high-flavored winter Apple, but
the tree is rather tardy in bearing and the fruit is very
liable to grow imperfect, and rots to such an extent as to im- ie
pair its value. '
Fallawater is a large Apple, a young and abundant bearer;
very popular in some portions of Pennsylvania, but of late I
hear complaints that the trees fail early. The fruit is not of
first-rate quality. ;
Ben Davis, a popular Apple in the West, gives good promise
here of early productiveness. The truit is fair, handsome, of
good size, and keeps well, but the quality of the fruit is ‘far
below that of the varieties already named. :
Winesap, a beautiful red Apple, of excellent quality, of
medium size, has proved one of the best keepers.
Yellow Bellflower is also a fine-looking and good-keeping
winter sort. It seems among winter Apples what the Orange
is among autumn ones, the chief objection to it being its
large core.
Wagener stands near the head of all the winter Apples Iam
acquainted with for quality; of medium size, with a tender, |
crisp, fine-grained flesh. .
In southern New Jersey the Roman Stem is a great favorite, ©
an Apple the farmers always keep tor their own use. At the
Mount Holly Fair two years ago there were about fifty plate
of this Apple on exhibition, entered for the prize offered for
the best plate, which shows how extensively it is grown there. —
Iam not aware of its trial in this section.
For a sweet winter Apple which is wanted for baking
Talman Sweet is probably as good as any; but the winter
sweet Apple of this region is the old-time Canfield, the stand-
ard winter Apple of our fathers and grandfathers, a very pro-
lific sort, and one that will stand more rough handling than
any other. A bruise on the Canfield will dry up; on any other
it will rot. This Apple still holds its place in the affections of
the farmer, though it is a poor Apple for dessert or cooking.
Its great merit is “for cider. Its old-time consort, the Harrison, 3
once so popular, and the richest of all Apples, has failed so
completely of late years that a tree of it is a great rarity. Its
present status affords a fit answer to the question, Do varieties
run out or degenerate ? These two Apples were the founda-
tion in years gone by of New Jersey’s well-earned reputation
for “Newark cider,” vast quantities of these Apples being
crushed together and distributed widely through the Newark
market. There was a cider-mill on every third or fourth farm, :
but nearly all of them long ago fell into decay.
I have only given the names of leading Apples of established 3
Ccroser 17, 1888.]
Fig. 64.—Rhododendron (Azalea) arborescens.—See page 400.
character and reputation. But besides these, and other less
prominent ones, it is well to remember that every section has
local varieties of real merit, especially adapted to their soils,
and quite as profitable, if not of such fine quality, as any of the
newer sorts. Many a good Apple has not been honored with
Garden and Forest.
401
book registry nor described by an official pomologist. These
old and valuable varieties should not be neglected and allowed
to disappear. Every man who owns an orchard or an Apple
tree should know how to graft and bud, and see that these
choice old-time varieties are not forever lost. The old Pom-
=a
Ss
Se wen 3 aes ae
ee
——
402 Garden and Forest.
pey, or Victuals-and-Drink Apple, was a great favorite here
years ago, and would be as welcome to-day as ever, but I do
not know of a tree in existence in this neighborhood, and it is
doubtful if it could be had in any nursery. Other varieties are
disappearing in the same way, and the loss seems all the more
annoying when it is easy with a few buds or gratts from one ot
these old trees to puta new head on a young tree and preserve
the old friends. L. Williams.
Montclair, N. J.
The Flower Garden.
OTWITHSTANDING the sharp frosts last week our gar-
den still shows many bright flowers. The Meteor variety
of the Pot Marigold, from summer sowings, is in capital bloom,
and likely to last for a month to come. Sweet Alyssum is as
white and fragrant as ever; so, too, would be the Mignonette
were it not for the very wet September just passed. The
double white Feverfew is in good bloom a second time, and
Tritomas will remain in full glow till Thanksgiving. Half the
crop of buds of the handsome Japanese Anemones have not
yet opened. What a pity this plant is not earlier and hardier,
Sedum Sieboldii is pertectly hardy here, and its best bloom is
in October. Sweet Violets are beginning to bloom, and the
Eschscholtzia will display its golden flowers till snow comes.
Maximilian’s Sunflower is the finest species of its race at this
time of year.
Hardy herbaceous perennials may now be _ transplanted.
Tuberous-rooted species, like the Peeonias, Liatris and Monks-
hood, may be planted now as well as in the spring, and early
spring flowers, like Moss Pink, Aubrietia, Seponaria ocymoides
and bulbous plants do better plantedin tall than in spring. Col-
umbines, in particular, do better when planted in the fall. But
summer and fall blooming plants, like Veronicas, Phloxes,
Helianthuses, Japanese Irises, White Day Lily and the like,
should be planted in spring, especially if these plants are to
be divided, with the view of increasing the stack or reducing
the size of the parent clump. Somewhat tender plants, like
Japanese Anemones, Conoclinum, Acanthus and Gnothera
spectosa, should never be disturbed in fall except to be re-
moved to a cold-frame or other favorable quarters. If they
have any chance at all of surviving the winter, it is as estab-
lished roots, and not as newly-planted stock. s
Long Island. GG,
Japanese Iris (Iris laevigata) from Seed.
LTHOUGH this Iris may now be infported direct from
Japan in a multitude of beautiful varieties, the raising
of new ones from seed may be made profitable as well as in-
teresting. When left to their natural development they pro-
duce but little seed, and the varieties obtained from this are
ordinarily no better and usually not as good as the originals,
but when carefully hand-fertilized nearly every flower so
treated will produce its pod of seed, and a large percentage of
the flowers will be better and most of them quite as good as
the parents. By actual count it has been found that of seed-
lings from hand-fertilized flowers, forty per cent. were varie-
ties worth preserving, while of plants from seed produced
naturally but six per cent. were good. It is desirable to have
some varieties to flower earlier in the season, and this may be
accomplished by a careful selection of seed from those that
first come into bloom, Already we have plants which begin
to flower in the latter part of June, and we still had fresh
flowers on the roth of August. Few garden flowers can boast
of a much longer period of bloom than this.
That the raising of seedlings is not only interesting to the
amateur, but may be made profitable to the nurseryman, is
quite evident from the quantity of seed produced, which will
average, from well fertilized flowers, about fifty in each pod,
and when properly treated the young plants will be large
enough to flower the second year, and a large stock may be
secured in this way with much less labor than it can by divis-
ion, The process of hand-fertilization is quite simple after
one has carefully studied the flower and located the essential
organs. Upon examination, the Iris flower, inits normal form,
will be found to be composed of nine distinct pieces or divis-
ions, arranged in rows of three divisions each, one within the
other. The two outer rows make up the six divisions of the
perianth, the three outer are spreading or drooping and
the three inner are smaller and stand erect. Inside of these
again are three more divisions resembling somewhat the
petals in form, but as close examination shows in reality the
styles, with the stigmas near the apex in the form of a thin lip,.
the surface of which is covered with minute hairs. By pull-
[OcTORER 17, 1888.
ing back the petal-like tips of these styles the lip-like stigmas
will be readily seen. Lying close beneath the styles, but con-
nected at the base by the short and stout filaments with the
tube of the perianth, will be found the anthers, which are long,
lance-shaped organs, with the pollen contained in narrow
cells along their margins. Nature, in providing for cross-fer- -
tilization, has so arranged the flower that the pollenis ready |
for use and gone fully a day before the stigmas are in proper _
condition to receive it; in fact, the pollen is ready for use
before the petals begin to unfold, and it is a wise plan for the
operator, after deciding what pollen he wishes to use, to take ©
the flowers just as soon as they begin to open and cut out the
anthers with a sharp pointed pair of scissors or small pen-
knife, lay them away in folded papers or envelopes, marked
with the name of
the variety from
which they were
taken, and keep
them for future |
use; the pollen can _
be kept im perfect —
condition in this —
way for a week at
least, andanabund-
ance of pollen may
thus be had when
the stigmas are
ready to receive it.
This is an import-
ant precaution, for
a very small native
bee (a species of
Halictus) ison hand
as soon as. thea
flower shows the
smallest opening,
and will have the
anthers well clean-
ed of pollen by the
time the flower is
cas
See
fully expanded. It
would lookasifthe —
flower was made to 2
be fertilized by the
bumble-bee> or a
some similar in- a
sect, .but in this
“country, at least,
: or the flowers are sel-
Fig. 65.—Flower of Iris levigata, with the perianth dom visited by the
remoyed. A, anther, P, pollen cells. O, ovary. larger bees, hence
oy ENS the scarcity of seed |
when the plant is left to itself. When the flower first opens, _
the stigma will be found closely folded back against the style; —
but by the second day. the upper edge will have been de-
tached, and falling downward, the upper surface will be ex-
posed and is now ready to receive the pollen. A small
camel's-hair brush will be found the most convenient instru-
ment with which to apply the pollen, which is done by simply
taking off a quantity with the tip of the brush and lightly dust-
ing the upper surface of the stigma. :
The figure represents a flower with the perianth cut away, |
showing the three styles, one of the stigmas (S) and one of —
the anthers (A). q
The good effects of this fertilization will be noticeable very
early, for not only is it apparent in the flower when produced, _
but the pods are usually much finer and larger than when —
accidentally fertilized. The seeds germinate quite freely if
planted, as soon as ripe, in good soil and carefully watered. —
For soil in which to plant the seeds I prefer well decayed
leaf-mould in shallow boxes, from which the young plants
are transplanted to the open ground the following spring.
Arthur H, Fewkes.
Newton, Mass.
Chrysanthemums.
E grow these largely for cut flowers and for out-door dec-_
oration. They are raised from cuttings rooted in the
green-house in spring and planted out in May, in well ma-
nured ground, in rows three feet apart by two and one-half
feet apart in the row. In summer they are cultivated, watered
now and then in very dry weather, and tied up with one stake _
to each plant. About the end of August or in September we-
select and pot the plants most desirable for furnishing good a
flowers and late ones in the green-house. Our largest supply S|
OcTosER 17, 1888.]
of flowers comes from out-door plants, but if wet, frosty or
windy weather renders the out-door flowers unfit to pick, we
have a supply in the green-house; also when severe frost de-
stroys the out-door crop, as it usually does between the z2oth
and last of November, late green-house plants are then most
welcome.
About the end of September or first of October we empty
some beds—warm, sunny, sheltered beds against the south
side of the house—of their tender summer occupants and fill
them with Chrysanthemums, lifting and planting them with
as good balls of earth to
the roots as can be had
and crowding the plants
pretty closely against
each other so as to form
a solid bank. The Chrys-
anthemums not only live
and blossom as well as
if they had not been
transplanted, but they
lose very few leaves. As
planting proceeds they
are well watered, and
they are afterwards kept
well watered both at the
root and overhead.
In another warm, shel-
tered place we set out,
about the first of October,
a large solid bank of
Chrysanthemums — con-
taining several hundred
plants for cut flowers.
A light wooden frame-
work is erected over this
bank, and in the event of
wet or frosty weather,
calico clothis spread over
thisframe. Here we can
have fine flowers from
the end of October till the
first of December.
Raising Chrysanthe-
mums from seed is very
pleasant work. During
the last five years we have
raised hundreds in this
way and nearly all have
been beautiful. The
majority have single
flowers, stilla large num-
ber have semi-double
or double flowers, and
of many shades of white,
yellow and red. But of
all these hundreds of
seedlings only three have
been worth perpetuating.
The amount of rubbish
annually — distributed
among new Chrysanthe-
mums is simply appall-
ing. Of sixty-two new
kinds we bought last
year we have thrown fifty
away, as being not only
poorer than old varieties
of the same types and
colors, but not worth
growing. We greatly feel
the need of some cent-
rally situated, competent
and responsible body of
horticulturists to whom
new Chrysanthemums
and other flowers could be submitted for their opinion; sucha
body as the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural
Society of London. A first-class certificate from such a body
would mean something. In fact, even here in America,
horticulturists regard a first-class certificate by the Royal
Horticultural Society as the highest award a plant can have,
and we buy such a plant with full confidence that we are
getting something distinct from anything else in its way
and also something well worth growing. a
Chrysanthemum seeds germinate in seven to nine days and
Garden and Florest.
View in the ‘Arizona Garden,” Monterey.—See page 398.
403
the plants grow readily. Sown in the house in March, the
plants will be big enough to set out in May, and they will
attain a large size during summer. They will show flower
buds in September, and all will bloom in October or
November of the same year. We have now 150 plants in
one bed which have been raised from seeds sown last
spring. They are larger than the named varieties which
have been raised from cuttings; all are now full of buds,
and in form and foliage they are distinct from one another.
Glen Cove, N. Y. : William Falconer.
The Cultivation of
Phalaenopsis.
Te would be a great
mistake to class all
the Phalaenopsis with
the easy-growing Or-
chids, as there are sev-
eral which I have never
yet seen in a luxuriant
condition. Nevertheless,
some of the species are
amongst the finest Or-
chids known. They all
flower treely, and con-
tinue a long time in per-
fection. I never found
any difficulty in cultivat-
ing P. amabilis, P. ante-
thystina, P. Esmeralda,
P. grandiflora, P. inter-
media, P. leucorrhoda, 7.
rosea, P. Sanderiana, P.
Schilleriana, P. Stitarti-
ana or P. violacea. Ot
P. Schilleriana 1 have
many leaves made _ this
season which measure
from fourteen to cighteen
inches long and from
three and a half to four
and a half inches wide,
and I am justified in ex-
pecting some verystrong
spikes of flowers.
Thespecies of Phalz-
nopsis are best grown in
baskets, as a more equal
supply of moisture can
thus be supplied to the
roots. I always re-moss
them in April or May,
and re-basket any that
require it. Every pre-
caution is taken with the
heart of the plant to have
it leaning over the edge
of the basket, so as to
prevent any drip from
entering, as decay is
pretty sure to result.
When the plants are re-
mossed all decayed mat-
ter should be removed,
and clean potsherds,
with large pieces of char-
coal, should be returned.
A large piece of charcoal,
so placed as to protrude
through the moss, is
beneficial. The roots will
cling to it tightly, showing
their relish for it.
Phaleenopsis cannot endure a low, narrow house. They
must be close to the glass; but all other conditions being pro-
vided for, the more spacious the apartment, the better they
will thrive. I take my largest specimens and hang them in
the south end, where they will get the benefit of the light and
warmth from the sun. They get asyringing underneath the
baskets every bright morning in order to thoroughly moisten
the roots, and they need enough water to keep the sphagnum
moist, but not saturated. Syringing the leaves is a great mis-
take, as it tends to make them soft, so that they lack that
404
leathery appearance which gives promise of the strongest
bloom. As a rule, the plants are over-watered at the root,
while too little moisture is given in the air, The flower-spikes
should always be supported in some way, for if allowed to
sway to and fro they will probably break many roots and
loosen the plants.
[ have found water charged with fertilizing ingredients, such
as ammonia, salt, guano or phosphates, very beneficial when
applied a few weeks after the baskets have been re-mossed.
Every care should be taken in ventilating, as Phaleenopsis will
not endure chilly air. Fresh air should be admitted by the
ground ventilators, especially in windy weather. '
Shading should be carefully attended to, as the burning rays
of the sun would soon destroy them when the leaves are
young and unaccustomed toits heat. They should always be
kept perfectly free from insects, and if thrips appear a slight
fumigation with tobacco will be needed. The night tempera-
ture of the house, from the 1st of November until the rst of
May, should be 60°; during May and October it may be 65°,
and during the summer it should be kept at about 70% The
day temperature should range from five to ten degrees higher,
according to the force of the sun. ~£, Athins.
Staatsburg-on-the-Hudson, N. Y.
A Few Choice Ferns.
ITHIN the last few years a large number of beautiful
Ferns have been introduced, many of them useful for
cutting, and a few unexcelled for basket culture. The culti-
vation of Ferns is becoming more and more an important
branch of horticulture, and a few commercial establishments
have already confined themselves almost entirely to these
plants. The old and justly popular kinds will always take
the lead for general trade purposes; for finer work, and
especially for conservatory decoration, the newer kinds will
always be sought for, One of the latest introductions, and the
best in its class, is Mephrodium rufescens tripinnatifida, a large
fern with fronds about four feet long, arching, wavy in out-
line, the pinnae: being very irregularly divided, light green, and
covered on both sides with a reddish chaff. The stipes are
reddish-brown and covered with a woolly coat of the same
color, and the general appearance of the fronds gives one the
impression of ostrich plumes. This plant is suitable for
baskets, and makes a magnificent pot-fern; and for cutting
purposes, where large fronds are needed, it is excellent. It
thrives in a warm green-house, growing rapidly in rich, well
drained soil, and requires anabundance of water. It is troubled
at times with a soft scale, which may be prevented by constant
syringing. It increases freely by the adventitious buds on its
numerous stolons, which may be taken off as soon as they are
able to take care of themselves. ;
Davallia tenuifolia Veitchii is an elegant fern and admirably
adapted for basket culture. The fronds spring thickly from a
creeping, wiry rhizome, and are about eighteen inches high,
arching, with the pinnz very finely divided, giving to the plant
an airiness quite unrivaled. In color the fronds are pale
green, while the stipes have a reddish tinge. It grows freely
in an intermediate temperature, in a light compost composed
mostly.of peat. Itshould never be allowed to become dry;
it is easily propagated by division of rhizome or by spores. ~
Grymnogramma schizophylla belongs to the silver Ferns,
and is vasiform in habit, with very finely divided, drooping
fronds. It is one of the most graceful of the whole genus. It
is recommended for basket-work, but does best with us in
pots. This may be owing to the damp shelf on which the pots
stand. The fronds are proliferous, and the young plants may
be taken off, pegged in pots of sand and watered lightly until
root action is well advanced. If these young plants are not
needed, the beauty of the plant is much enhanced by leaving
them on. The variety Gloriosa is much more vigorous than
the last named, the fronds are longer, broader, but not so
finely divided. Both kinds delight in abundance of heat and
water, but if the foliage is wet too much the farinose powder
will soon be washed off. A large proportion of loam in the
soil will be found beneficial.
Among the new Maiden-hair Ferns, Adiantum Williams? is
probably the best. It is a strong-growing kind, with fronds
about two feet long, which while young are covered with a
yellow dust. It grows freely in an intermediate temperature,
and will very quickly grow into large specimens. The mature
fronds are good for cutting. A strong soil will be found best,
especially when permanent specimens are required, and lib-
eral applications of manure water are beneficial.
Adiantum Victorie is a valuable addition to the dwarf-
growing section, The fronds are about nine inches in height,
Garden and Forest. .
([OcroBER 17, 1888,
with few pinne, and the pinnules are large, with finely ser-
rated edges. The general appearance of the plant is that ot a
dwarf A. Farleyense. It should be noted that to keep this
Fern in good health it should be often broken up. The
fronds grow so thickly together that large specimens are apt
to rot at the centre.
Adiantum Pecottii is a charming little plant, about six inches
high, much in the way of A. ée//um, and, like this fine spe-
cies, will be found very useful for general decorative work.
Among the many varieties of Adiantum cuneatum that
named Grandiceps is one of the best. In this Fern the fronds
are terminated by a tassel-like appendage caused by the fas-
ciation of the terminal pinnz. It is a splendid kind for baskets,
and young plants in pots will be found superior to the species.
It may be raised and will come true from spores.
Adiantum Weigandii, of American origin, is a handsome,
robustspecies, which can be grown both in a warm and a cool
temperature, and will prove an excellent kind where heavy
foliage is needed.
Nephrodium Rodigasianum.—This is a very elegant Fern of
vasitorm habit, with broad, arching fronds, two to three feet
long, of dark green color. The pinne are long, deeply and
irregularly cut, with somewhat wavy edges. It has decided
preference for a cool house, and requires liberal treatment in
respect to soil and water. It grows rapidly, and is easily
raised from spores. Unfortunately, the fronds are too brittle
to be of any use for cutting. F. Goldring.
Kenwood, N. Y.
Removing Raspberry Canes.—It is still debated whether this
should be done soon after the fruit is gathered or left till later
in the season. I have for years cut them as soon as conve-
nient, after the berries are picked. My reasons for an early
cutting of the old canes are that, having served their purpose,
they are of no further use, and if allowed to ripen and mature
till a natural death follows, they are a useless drain upon
the soil and the vitality of the plant. If removed, the young
canes receive all the nourishment furnished by the roots, and
should be better developed and matured as a consequence. It
is also easier to cut off the canes while still green than when
dry and dead. Hand-shears are preferable to a knife, avoid-
ing the pull, which sometimes lifts the whole plant, when the
canes are hard and dry. y
The opponents of early removal claim that these old canes
are an aid to the maturity and development of the young
canes; that it is Nature’s way, and therefore right. It is also
claimed that if left till spring they afford needed protection
during the winter to the young canes. Thére is a show of
reason in the protection theory, but as the injury is very apt
to occur in early spring, after the old canes are removed, the
benefit becomes less apparent, and is more than counter-
balanced by the draught on the plant in the process of ripening.
The above remarks will apply also to Blackberries, the worst
of all the berry canes to handle.
Geraniums, Crane’s-Bills—These include some useful bor-
der and rock-garden plants. All the kinds in cultivation, with
one or two exceptions, are hardy in this country. The alpine
species will require good drainage, but the others will grow
almost anywhere. Geraniums have a long flowering season,
and bloom more or less from early May until frost. This is
the case, particularly, with G. sanguzneum, Plants are easily
raised from seeds or root-cuttings, and they hybridize freely.
The best alpine kinds are G. argentum, with silvery foliage,
and pinkish flowers with darker veins; G. cinereum, resem-
bling the spreceding, except in having greener foliage and
darker flowers; G. macrorhizon, with purple flowers anda
woody rootstock; G. sanguineum, a trailing species, with
pretty blood-red flowers and blooming from spring till fall.
This plant always looks neat and is very easy to grow. Its
variety, Lancastriense, is equally handsome, with pink flowers
and darker veins.
Amongst the border Geraniums are some very handsome
ones. G. collinum, purple; G. Lbericum, blue; G. Lbericum
palaty petalum, violet and veined; G. phaum, very dark blue,
with a white spot at the base of each petal; and G. pratense,
notably the double blue and single white forms—all bloom in
spring, and make a considerable display while they last, and
again in the fall, though not so abundantly. G. Endressit,
rose, one of the best and very useful for cutting; and G. Ar-
mentum, one of the noblest ofall, growing sometimes four feet
high, with dark crimson flowers, bloom all the season. The
common Geranium maculatum grows in swamps, and on
dry banks as well, though less luxuriantly. 7. D. Hatfield.
Wellesley, Mass.
OcroBER 17, 1888.]
ihe Forest.
Forestry in California.—IV.
The effect of forests on rainfall is not as yet sufficiently
determined. The total rainfall of the world would, per-
haps, be no less were forests not in existence, but it seems to
me that an examination of the subject must lead us to con-
clude that the distribution of the rainfall is affected by them.
Forests continually operate to equalize temperature. The
capacity doubles with a mean increase of °23.4 between the
freezing point and 100 degrees fahr. Thus in the spring and
summer the cooling effects of forests on temperature must
diminish the water-holding power of the-air. In walking or
riding, every one must have noticed the difference in heat
between a bare verdureless spot and the shade of trees. This
difference is observable even in walking from a dusty road to
a grass-covered lawn, thus indicating that the variations of
temperature do not depend upon the shade alone. Conse-
quently a current of air saturated for a sandy waste would of
necessity, in passing through a forest, part with some of its
humidity, owing to the lower temperature. It is for this rea-
son that we see clouds gathered about mountains, when the
valleys are under a clear sky.
I have often sat upon the sandy coast of Egypt and watched
the sea breeze, full of clouds seaward, clear itself on reaching
the coast: all the atmosphere over the water fleeced with
clouds, while to landward all was sunshine. Our own coast
breezes show the same phenomena; the foggy winds of San
Francisco soon become the clear breezes of Sacramento, be-
cause the temperature of the latter will not permit the moist-
ure to remain condensed.
I have records of many observations made in our Central
States showing that the summer rains are more frequent in
wooded districts, and usually follow timber belts and water
courses.
There are also a number of observations on record showing
that the electrical effect of trees may play an important part
in rainfall. Trees attract electrical discharges, as is known in
the case of lightning, and coupling this fact with an experi-
ment made with a collander so fine that water merely oozed
through, from which, on the application of an electrical cur-
rent, the water poured out of the small apertures; we must
conclude that the effect of trees on rainfall through electricity
may be considerable.
Whatever the effects of forests may be on the amount of
rainfall, it is beyond doubt that their influence on its delivery
is of the first importance.
Trees offer innumerable obstacles to the running off of
rain. Their foliage obstructs the force of the rainfall; when
this reaches the ground it is impeded by the fallen twigs,
leaves and the labyrinth of roots and the humus; by the latter
it is rapidly absorbed and held as ina sponge. The roots, at
least when decayed, form channels into the lower soil,
These impediments cause the water to flow very slowly, and
prevent it from gullying out the land and forming accumula-
tive channels. Thus the rain has time to sink into the earth
and to replenish the subterranean reservoirs of the springs.
The waters percolating out of forests never carry earth in
them, as is the case on lands denuded of vegetation. The
rate of delivery of a given rainfall from a wooded water-shed
is much slower and is much longer continued than from a
bare one. The importance of this will be understood when
we recall the French experiments at St. Phalaz. At that place
there are two water-sheds of nearly equal area and inclina-
tion ; the one wooded, the other not. From the first proceeds
a nearly perennial stream, from the other a dry gully. The
period of delivery of flood waters in the first is five days, while
in the second the period is only six hours, and it is but fair to
presume from the stream in the wooded one that it is a de-
livery of water that months before fell in rain, which amount
of water falling upon the other water-shed augmented its
flood.
The first of these water-sheds causes no destruction to the
roads nor extensive erosions of the banks of the stream, while
the floods from the other wash away the bridges, destroy the
roads and roll gravel and boulders into the valley.
Supposing ten billion gallons of water to fall within a given
time upon each of these water-sheds. From the first the de-
livery will extend over a period of five days, or 120 hours,
some of it being permanently retained to supply the springs
and stream ; while from the other the ten billion gallons will
flow off in six hours with scarcely any absorption into the soil
itself, consequently the delivery of water during a given mo-
ment during the flood must be twenty times greater in the
Garden and Forest.
405
denuded ravine. Every second of prolongation of water de-
livery diminishes its height, force and danger.
It is in denuded and mountainous water-sheds that torrents
are formed, The undetained waters rapidly form channels
and erode the land, carrying earth, sand, gravel and boulders
in their flow. As the inclination of water-sheds diminishes, the
débris is dropped, first the boulders, then the gravel, then the
sand, and last the earth and clay.
Standing upon the dykes of the Talfer torrent at Botzen, in
the Austrian Alps, I observed the dry bed of the stream to be
on a level with the roofs of the three-story houses at Schlan-
ders, Kortsch and Lais; the church steeples are lower than
the bed of the Gadribach. The water-shed of the Durance, in
France, was formerly wooded, as we know by the records of
the lumbering corporations that operated upon it. For years
it has been denuded, and the river now varies from a vast
bed of pebbles and sand to a furious torrent. It has covered
more than two hundred thousand (200,000) acres of one of
the formerly most fertile valleys of Provence.
In Southern California the same causes are already produc-
ing the same results. Fires have been set and are being set
by sheep men, which burn the brush and forest and prevent
new growth. New torrents in unexpected places have formed,
and the old channels, such as the Tejunga, Santa Clara, San
Gabriel, etc., are more subject to floods than formerly with
the same rainfall. 7
When we contemplate what has happened in other coun-
tries, we cannot but perceive that the mining débris of our
central valleys is nothing to what must be expected from tor-
rential action from such a chain of mountains as the Sierra
Nevada, with its easily disintegrated formation, should it be
denuded of vegetation, and the snows be unprotected and the
rains undetained.
The principal sources of danger to be anticipated in this
direction are the fires which annually do more and more dam-
age, and the over-pasturage of the mountains, which packs
the earth, destroys the humus, and, through the hunger of
the half-starved sheep, causes the destruction of the natural
reproductive power of the forests by reason of the eating by
these animals of the young trees. As has been said, it
cannot be doubted that the sheep-men in our mountains do
every year a hundred times more damage to the lumber, to
the streams and springs, and to the retentive power of the
water-sheds than the scanty mountain pastures are worth.
Sheep-pasturage should be regulated as it is in Europe and
confined to particular forest tracts with such limitations as
the condition of the forests requires. In this way the moun-
tain pastures could carry more sheep than now, for under the
present system both forests and pastures are being destroyed.
The secondary effect of denudation of mountains and the
consequent formation of torrents is the diminution of springs
and streams in their summer flow. The rains rushing off
rapidly have no time to sink into the subterranean reservoirs,
and consequently the springs must fail.
Col. H. H. Markham, a Congressman from Southern Cali-
fornia, who introduced the Forestry Bill prepared by the
California Board into the last Congress, in a letter to me, says:
“Twas born, raised, and have always lived in a timbered
“country, and have watched the effect of timber upon natural
“water courses, and I am thereby fortified in my belief that
“your position is correct. My brother owns a farm in She-
‘‘boygan County, Wisconsin, a county heavily timbered. He
“built a single mill on the creek passing through his farm and
‘‘ran it by water-power, but as the land surrounding him be-
‘came shorn of its timber and cultivated, the stream dimin-
‘ished and soon became dry. He sold and purchased another
“tract in the next county north, and when I first saw sheaotel
‘1861, there was a stream running through it containing suf-
‘‘ficient water to allow him and others to float double length
“railroad ties by the hundreds down it to the market. The
“surrounding country was rapidly cleared, and within six
“years the stream became dry, with ‘no water, except in rainy
“seasons.”
California uses much water in irrigation, and in the south
pays high for the fluid for domestic use. The value of water
here, already considerable, must increase with the population.
Consequently it is of vital importance to preserve at least the
present capacity of the mountain water-sheds, to retard the
melting snow and the delivery of rainfall, so that torrents shall
not form to destroy the valley lands, and the springs and
streams be maintained.
The State of California has no practical forest-system, neither
has the Federal Government. The forest lands of the state in
private hands are beyond the control of the State Board of
Forestry, and the State School-lands and Government-lands in
400
forests are common to all for entry, pasturage, etc. No forest
officer has any control over them,except to arrest for setting fires
in the woods, and even in this the circumstances are so adverse
to fixing the responsibility for these fires, that, with the utmost
eftorts, ‘tew arrests can be made, and fewer convictions had.
The state sells its land without any reference to the timber
upon it. Practically all the school-lands in timber in Cali-
fornia are mountainous, and are unsuited to agriculture.
Where timber-land is bought in this state the timber is all that
it is bought for, and after this is cut it is usually abandoned for
taxes, if, “happily, all the school payments due the state have
been made. On the school-timber sections, in many cases,
wood and lumber has hitherto been taken without so muchas
a by-your-leave from any one.
This Board is, as far as we know, the first official body to
ask for an accounting for the school from the wealthy firms
who have taken such timber. We havea special agent and
assistants now in the field collecting evidence in these and
other forestry cases by affidavits. The amount of money in-
volved is very considerable, and belongs to the schools. We
are obliged to proceed through the Attorney- -General of the
state, and hope to secure his co-operation in our work.
The United States land-system only allows a man to acquire
160 acres of forest-land. This is far too little to warrant the
building of a modern saw-mill, consequently lumbermen have
either cut timber without title to the lands, or used ‘‘dummies”
to obtain by fraud and perjury what they required. There are
doubtless cases in which lambermen have good titles.
The government has for some time had special agents on
the coast to secure evidence against illegal cutters of timber.
These officers now have a great number of cases on hand, tor
the practice of robbing the government lands has been
general, One case, that of the United States vs. The Sierra
Lumber Company, for $2,000,000 worth of stolen timber, is
now on trial, and another involving 600 fraudulent land entries
in Mendocino County, in the interest of one foreign firm, is
before the courts. These are the leading cases of each kind.
These lands are almost all worthless except for the timber on
them.
At present there is no management over pasturage here.
Robbed and burned everywhere, This is our forest-land
system. <A few special agents report, a prosecution or two is
started, but the government attorneys, from some cause, bring
few to trial. Fraud and illegality is at a premium in the lum.
ber industry, and the honest man can hardly tell what to do in
it to live and follow the law. Such a system, with such results,
must be bad. A vast property is being squandered, the
country endangered, and the citizens tempted to violate the law.
What the timbermen want is the timber, not the land.
What the people in general need is that the water-holding
power of the mountains shall be preserved. A sensible forest-
system can sell the timber, while preserving the reproductive
power of the forests and the forest itself as to its water-
holding capacity, just as is now done in South Australia, India
and in Europe. The forest-land ought not to be sold; not
another toot of it should be sold by the state or by the federal
government.
Santa Barbara, Cal.
Abbot Kinney.
Correspondence.
Hardy Trees.
HE introduction of ornamental trees from Japan during
the last ten or fifteen years has claimed so much atten-
tion, that it is a matter of interest to determine what limitations
of growth are imposed by the often severe climate of the
northern United States and Canada. In the vicinity of Mon-
treal the species specially worthy of note at this time are
Ginkgo biloba, Circidiphyllum Faponicum, Actinidia polygama
and Paulownia impertalis. With the exception of Actinidia,
these are all growing in the grounds of McGill University.
The situation is directly at the foot of the Mount Royal slope,
and opens out on the east, but is well sheltered on the west.
The adjacent buildings afford a somewhat additional shelter
on the south, while the surrounding trees seem to break the
force of the wind from all quarters.
In October, 1881, a Ginkgo was brought from Rochester, For
a tew years the growth was slow, but it has gained steadily.
After eight summers and seven winters the tree now shows
an increased strength, which promises well tor its future
growth, and gives assurance of its probable hardiness.
Although the rate of growth has probably been much
slower “than in its native country, the tree has attained a
height of fourteen feet six inches, with a girth of seven inches
Garden and Forest.
[OCTOBER 17, 1888,
at one foot from the ground. During the past summer the
main shoot made a growth of four feet four inches—much in
excess of the growth of former years.
A second specimen, received from Mr. Charles Gibb, from
a locality about forty miles south-east from Montreal, was set
in May, 1884, and has now attained a height of seven feet six
inches and a circumference of 3.25 inches at one foot from the
ground. In each of these cases there has been no winter-
killing, and the trees appear to be well established.
The Circidiphylum was planted in May, 1882. In seven
seasons of growth it has reached a height of twelve feet four
inches, and a girth of seven and a half inches at one toot from
the ground. In this case, also, there has been no winter-killing,
and the tree appears well established and hardy.
The Paulownia was planted in October, 1881. The stems
have been killed to the ground each year, but the growth of
ach season has proved | larger than that of the preceding, and
this year reached a height of tenfeet. The roots, which are quite
hardy, appear to be gaining strength each year, and the plant
is quite as well established as the one growing in the Botanic
Garden at Cambridge.
The Actinidia referred to was imported from Amherst,
Massachusetts, three years ago, and planted by Mr. Gibb at
Abbotsford. The situation is at the foot of Tamaska Moun-
tain, having a south-eastern aspect. The soil is an open
gravel. A slow growth the first year has been followed by a
luxuriant erowth “for the last two seasons, and there is every
reason to consider the plant quite hardy.
These facts may derive additional interest from the follow-
ing considerations :
Montreal is situated in north latitude 45° 30’ 17’, and as
shown by the records of the College Observatory, based upon
observations for the last thirteen years, the mean annual
temperature is 41.72° F.; relative humidity, 74.3; rainfall,
26.90 inches ; and snowfall, 125.3 inches. The lowest temper-
ature recorded since 1880 was “26° F., which occurred in the
years 1882 and 1887. It will thus be noted that all of the
plants under consideration have, once at least, been brought
under the influence of a temperature many degrees below
that to which they are subjected in their native country.
Paulownia is a species essentially belonging to central and
southern Japan, and therefore to a much “lower latitude than
this. Ginkgo is common throughout the empire with the ex-
ception of Yeso, where it is rarely seen in the southern ex-
tremity. It may be regarded as not extending above the
forty-first parallel. Circidiphyllum — is abundant through
northern Yeddo, and is everywhere found in the woods among
the foot-hills of Yeso. Actinidia also abounds in the same
region, so that both of these species extend northward
to the latitude of Montreal. Yet it must be borne in
mind that the insular climate of Japan, even so far north
as 45°, is much less severe and far more equable than here,
while the snowfall is practically the same—the meteorological
records for Sapporo, latitude 43° 3° 57’’ N., for the last six
TES eT y tae f =a Ss.
Tinted saber age ta oy as D, P. Penhallow.,
Ostrowskya magnifica.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Allow me to correct, for the sake of history, a slight
errorin one of your late London Letters. This plant flowered
for the first time in Europe in 1887, in my little garden at Baden-
Baden, from whence the big plants have “passed into the
hands of Messrs. Veitch & Sons. It is as hardy as any weed,
and, though pushing early, the young shoots are not harmed
by frost ; it is not particular as to soil, but prefers sandy loam,
which in any case must be deeply worked, as the root, when
reaching full size, descends to a depth of two feet in the
ground. Great care must be taken in handling the roots, be-
cause they are exceedingly brittle and a rough touch may
cause them to decay. p :
Baden-Baden. Max Leichtlin.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Is there any better way to rid squash vines of those
ugly white worms than to hunt for them and destroy
them? My gardener says that if the seeds were planted later
the worms would not trouble them. But, in that case, we run
the risk of the frost, which caught my vines this year before
the squashes were ripe. What shall 'do—take the chances of
frost, or fight ? A, W.
Concord, Mass.
[Plant when the ground is warm enough, say the mid-
dle of May, and cover the hills with boxes over which
mosquito netting has been tacked. Leave the boxes on
OcToBER 17, 1888.]
until the leaves begin to crowd the netting, then remove
them and place among the plants corn cobs dipped in
coal tar. Do not allow the tar to touch the plants. Re-
dip the cobs once a month until the middle of September.
This treatment will ward off all foes except, perhaps, the
Squash bug (Azasa ¢ristis), and this is rarely so abundant as
to work much harm.—Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I am inclosing a portion of my piazza for a conserva-
tory. The sashes are so arranged that they can be taken away
in the spring. The exposure of this conservatory will be
south-east and one of the house chimneys passes up through
it. I write to inquire about the best method of heating in an
inexpensive manner. Is there any small stove made that I
can use which will be fairly free from the escape of gas, and
with some provision for the evaporation of water, “that the
heat may not be too dry? P.B. Fi:
New York, July 26th, 1888.
[It is not practicable to satisfactorily heat a conserva-
tory with a stove or without hot water or steam pipes.
Hitchings & Co., of this city, make a base-burner boiler
which is efficient for small work and economical. _ It
heats hot water pipes, and the plan of putting them in
should be entrusted to the maker of the boiler or some
capable engineer.
There is also a heater much used for warming brooders
in Hammonton, N. J., where many young chickens are
raised in the winter. It is the plan there to introduce
fresh air warmed by passing over pipes of hot water.
The apparatus is simple and inexpensive, and would,
no doubt, answer the purpose of our correspondent. — It
is manufactured by Bramhall, Deane & Co., of this city.—
Ep. ]
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I was at Charlestown, New Hampshire, during the
summer, and saw growing Alfalfa, forty pounds of the seed of
which had been sent from Colorado and planted there. It had
been cut once, and was ready to cut again, and would proba-
bly yield five tons or more to the acre during the season. As
is well known, it is a very valuable crop for cattle, sheep and
hogs in California, and planted on rich, damp land gives large
returns. Iam told it could be used to great advantage for en-
silage, and would like to inquire through your journal why it
is not generally grown in the Middle States and parts of New
Enel ?
Hgland Franklin Hunt.
Boston, Mass.
{Crops of Alfalfa larger than that reported by our cor-
respondent are not rare in the Middle and New England
States. At the New York Experiment Station it starts well,
does not winter kill, gives two, and even three good crops
a year, thrives on the heaviest soil and endures drought
admirably. The New Jersey Station reports that Alfalfa
can be cut three or four times a year for five or six years
in succession, yielding as heavy a crop per acre as fodder
Corn. A gentleman near Boston writes that he cannot dis-
pense with it as a soiling crop. And yet, for some reason,
the use of Lucerne has never become general, although it
was successfully cultivated nearly 100 years ago in the
Middle States. The fact is that it very often fails. At a
farmers’ meeting in Schenectady last spring, Colonel F. D.
Curtis replied to some one who marveled that this plant
was so generally neglected by saying, that once in about
twenty years agricultural writers unite to commend Lu-
cerne and quote many instances of success. But the fact
that the plant soon drops out of notice again is proof that
it lacks some quality essential in a first-class forage plant.
Secretary Guld, of Connecticut, says that repeated trials
have been made with Lucerne in that state, but they have
all resulted in failure. Still, the occasional successes are so
striking that the plant is worth trying in a small way on
every farm. Some authorities hold that an open, porous
subsoil is essential to the best growth of this plant, which
roots very deeply. The complaint is often made that a
good “catch” of seed cannot be secured. But this could
be remedied by care in preparing a well pulverized but
ig:
Garden and Forest.
407
compact seed-bed. It is often sown broadcast, but the
young plants are small and feeble, and easily smothered
by weeds. The seed should, therefore, be sown in drills
that are far enough apart to admit cultivation between the
rows until the plants are established. Probably a lack of
cultivation and sowing the seed on a soil that rests upon
an impervious hard pan, are the most frequent causes of
failure. But, after all, it must be admitted that agricul-
tural authorities are not prepared to speak with positive-
ness of the conditions which are essential to success with
this crop.—Ep. |
Recent Plant Portraits.
16th ;
Eucalyptus calophylla, Revie Horticole, September ;
the Australian Red Gum, which Monsieur André recommends
for general cultivation in southern Europe, for its ornamental
qualities.
Cattleya labiata, var.
15th.
Quesnelia Wittmackiana, Gartenflora, September 15th.
Pentstemon rotundifolius, Gardeners’ Chronicle, September
8th.
Pinus Pyrenaica (vera), Gardeners’ Chronicle, September 8th.
Arauja graveolens, Gardeners’ Cronicle, September 8th; a
beautiful, white-flowered stove-climber, closely allied to and
requiring the same cultivation as Stephanotis.
Rhododendron Collettianum, Gardeners’ Chronicle, Septem-
ber 15th ; a dwarf species from the Kuram Valley of Afghan-
istan.
Convolvulus tenuissimus, Gardeners’ Chronicle, September
15th.
Chironia peduncularis,
22d.
Pentapera sicula, Gardeners’ Chronicle, September 22d.
Passitlora Miersii, Gardeners’ Chronicle, September 29th.
Ursinia pulchra, Gardeners’ Chr ontcle, September 2gth.
Ruapellia grata, Gardeners’ Chronicle, September 29th.
Botanical ‘Magazine, October, Howea Belmoreana, ¢. 7018 ;
this, the Kentia. Belmoreana of many gardens, is a small and
graceful cool-house Palm from Lord Howe's island, off the
eastern coast of Australia.
Rhododendron Collettianum, 4 7019; an alpine white-flow-
ered species, from the high Afghan mountains, introduced by
Dr. Aitchison ; of considerab le. horticultural value.
Iris Alberti, Z. 7020; a handsome species, with large, bright
lilac flowers, lately discovered by the Russian botanists in the
mountains of Turkestan, whence it was introduced into culti-
vation by Dr. Albert Revel, whose name it bears. Its botani-
cal interest is considerable, as Mr. Baker points out, in its
rudimentary crest and fully-developed beard down the claw of
the outer segments of the perianth, thus forming a connecting
link between the sub-genera, Pogoniris and Evansia.
Disa racemosa, ¢. 7021; a very “handsome Cape species, with
bright rose-red flowers.
Asarum macranthum,
magnifica, Gartenflora, September
Gardeners’ Chronicle, September
¢. 7022; a native of Formosa.
Recent Publications.
Entomology for Beginners, for the use of young folks, frutt-
growers, farmers and gardeners. By A.S. Packard, M.D., Ph.D.
New York: Henry Holt & Co.
The modest title of this book hardly
scope. Many amateur entomologists who are neither young
folks nor beginners will find instructiv e hints to aid them in
collecting and rearing insects, in preserving and dissecting
them for study, mounting them for the microscope and pre-
paring them for the cabinet. It is for beginners, however
that the book has been primarily prepared, and those w ho
wish to enter upon a course of serious study cannot find a
better treatise upon the elements of entomological science.
According to the classification adopted, the class of insects is
divided into sixteen orders , beginning with the lowest or wing-
less order, Thysanura, and ending with the most complicated
group, the Hymenoptera. This agrees not only with the suc-
cession of insects so far as this is known in eeologic time, but
it probably coincides with the order ofe volution. This change
in classification seems to grow naturally out of our increased
knowledge, but Professor Packard points out that the adop-
tion of a ‘larger number of orders is most convenient in view
of the great number of species now existing. There are
something like a million of these, and it is unnatural to crowd
them all into the old Linnewan orders. The chapter on
does justice to its
408
“Economic Entomology,” gives brief accounts of the more in-
jurious of the insects which annually destroy perhaps $100,-
000,000 worth of the agricultural products of the country, to-
gether with the best means of checking their ravages.
Throughout the entire work there are abundant references
to other books, and there is a valuable classified catalogue of
the books needed by the entomologicalstudent. The copious
glossary and full index adds much to the practical value of the
book, and altogether it ought to prove useful as a text-book
for schools and colleges, “and especially for aeficultural col-
leges, and it will no doubt encourage a more general and
more careful study of the modes of life, the transformation
and the structure of insects, than has yet been given to the
subject in this country.
Notes.
Apple blossoms are not unknown in autumn, but they are
rarely seen in profusion. Mr. Dawson writes that in the last
week of September one tree of Pyrus baccata was nearly
covered with bloom.
The experiments made in the cultivation of the Cinchona
on Mount Bavi, in the French province of Tonkin, having
proved entirely satisfactory, it is now proposed to establish
large plantations of these trees there.
The Philadelphia Chrysanthemum Show, which opens on
the 13th and closes on the 16th of November, promises to be
unusually fine, both in cut flowers and specimen plants. The
cut Roses at that time will also be finer than are now to be
had.
The French Society of Acclimatation recommends the cul-
tivation of Crocus Haussknechtii, a Persian species for the
production of saffron, on account of its superiority over the
common C. sativas generally cultivated in some parts of the
Levant for this purpose.
The old Scotch Rose (Rosa spinosissima) is now the most
attractive of the black fruited kinds, and the wonderful shades
of orange and scarlet worn by the hips of &. rugosa, RK. actcula-
ris, R. rubrifolia, R. alpina, R. cinnamomea, R. subglobosa,
and R. nitida, ought to insure a more general use of these
plants for the beauty of their fruit alone.
Mr. P. W. Reasoner died at his home in Manatee, Florida,
of yellow fever, on the 17th of September. Mr. Reasoner,
who was only in his twenty-sixth year at the time of his death,
was one of the most active and progressive horticulturists of
the South, and had already won for himself a reputation
which extended beyond the limits of his adopted State. He
was a welcome and valued contributor to the pages of this
chart
We learn from the Gardeners’ Chronicle that, under the
name of 7he Orchidenne, a society of amateur Orchid-growers
was founded in Brussels on the 23d of September. The ob-
ject of the new society is to foster “the t aste for, and promote
the culture of, Orchids. This is to be effected by meetings
and monthly exhibitions, lectures, and by «a great annual
exhibition, the first of which will be held next spring. There
are seventy foundation members in the society.
The most interesting feature of the horticultural display
made in Springfield, 1 Massachusetts, last week, in connection
with the Bay State Agricultural Society's Exhibition, was a
collection of 250 varieties of Potatoes, including many seed-
lings, staged by Mr. G. C. Bond, of Holden, Massachusetts,
and raised without other fertilizer than the Soluble Pacific
Guano, manufactured by the Pacific Guano Company, of
Boston. It is believed that this is the largest and most in-
teresting collection of Potatoes ever exhibited by one grower
in the United States.
The interest now taken in the cultivation of new and rare
Orchids in this country, and the prices which Orchid growers
are willing to pay for them, is illustrated by the fact that deal-
ers are willing to incur enormous expenditures to satisfy the
demands of the trade. Messrs. Siebrecht & W adley, of New
York, have had for nearly a a year a collector tre weling i in Brazil
for the special purpose of obtaining a ee of the rare
autumn-flowering form of Cattleya labiata, besides other
collectors constantly seeking for novelties in different regions
of Central and South America.
Boye great Orchid growing establishment of the Messrs.
Sander, at St. Albans, England, of which mention has often
been made in our columns, has had a branch establishment
Garden and Forest.
[OcToBER 17, 1888. i
in this country for the past two years, their business being
conducted in Jersey City, under the superintendence of Mr. I.
Forstermann. Mr. Sander recently arrived in New York,and
has selected a site at Summit, N. J., where he is building a z
number of Orchid houses. It is his purpose, before returning
to England, to visit all the fine collections of Orchids in the
western as well as in the eastern States. |
Symplocos paniculata, a fine Japanese shrub which was de- |
scribed while in bloom in “Notes from the Arnold Arbore-
tum,” is now thickly covered with berries in small bunches.
The fruit is a bright ultramarine blue, and makes the shrub ~
conspicuous among those which are valued for ornamental s
fruit. Another comparatively new shrub, Panax sessilifolium, |
is now showing large heads of deep black fruit, which hangs
on the branches long atter the large compound leaves have —
dropped. The old-fashioned Snowberry is one of the few
shrubs with white fruit. When growing in a deep, rich soil.
it has a rare beauty in autumn, and is a graceful plant at all
times.
Some exceptionally large trees, of which mention was re-
cently made in Ze Garden (England), are: A Yew tree in the
churchyard at Down, which, at three feet from the ground, has
a girth of twenty-eight feet,and preserves its branches and
fohage well, although its stem is hollow and crumbling ; a
Purple Beech at Holwood House, which, at three and a half
feet from the ground, measures eleven feet, with a height of
fifty feet anda branch spread ot seventy-five feet diameter; a
Cutleaved Alder on one of the Hollydale lakes, which has a
circumference, at a yard from its base, of six feet and a branch
spread of forty-five feet diameter; and an Ailanthus (a tree
which is not often seen of large size in England) which grows
at Down House, the former residence of Charles Darwin,
and measures six feet and nine inches at two feet from the
ground. A Eucalyptus, which was planted in 1880 in the
eardens of Earl Jersey at Baglan House, is noted as having
already reached a height of tw renty -nine feet.
No shrub has been more popular this year than Hydrangea
paniculata grandifiora, It has appeared in every direction,
grown in pots and in beds, in single specimens and in groups
often of very great extent, in cottage gardens and on villa
lawns, and profusely in almost every large country place.
Very showy when in bloom and blooming late in the season,
it has certainly strong claims to the favorit has won. Yet it -
should, perhaps, be called an effective rather than a really
beautiful plant. To some eyes the singular Color of its ower
panicles, shading from cream color to a dull pink, is its great-
est attraction; but to others it wears an unwholesome look, as
though a tint which should be stronger, or, at least, clearer
and purer, had been imperfectly developed. This, however,
is a question of taste. The only sure fact is that it is very
possible to have too much even of a good thing, and that in
certain places—as at Newport—there hare undoubtedly been
too many of these Hydrangeas. In passing a hundred villas
it became very tiresome to see a hundred successive clumps
of so conspicuous a plant.
Ata meeting of the Social Science Association, held in Sara-
toga during the first week of September, a paper was read by
Dr. Lucy M. Hall, of Brooklyn, on “ The Sanitary Condition of
Country Homes.” Sixty-five farm-houses of an average type
had been carefully examined by the speaker in the New Eng-
land, Middle and Western States, and the conclusions drawn
from her survey are well worthy of note, both by the farmer,
who lives in such homes all the year round, and by the inhab-
itant of cities who depends upon them to furnish himself and
his family with refreshment for mind and body during the
summer months. Over half these houses, Dr. Hall asserted,
were built on wet clay soil, and it seldom appeared that any
regard whatever had been paid to questions of subsoil and
drainage. Fifty-five per cent. of the houses, again, were too
closely ereaed. sunlight being excluded from almost all their
windows or from every one. Piazzas were likewise too exten-
sive, their roofs still further excluding air and light. Nor had
the character of shade-trees been more carefully considered
than their number and proximity. Barns and stables were
found in much too close connection with the house, their
average distance being in New England not quite twenty-nine
feet, The result of all these various ways of disregarding
sanitary conditions was shown by the “Clinical history” of
these sixty-five farm-houses for a period of several years.
Fifty-five per cent. in New England had a record of typhoid
fever, and ninety-three per cent. of lung troubles and diph-
theria, while rheumatism was everywhere.
OCTOBER 24, 1888.]
CSRDEN AND “FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TrisuNeE Buitpinc, 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 24, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
EprrortaL ArvicLes :—Taste in Florists’ Arrangements.—What is a Tree ?—
Planting for Autumn Effect.—A More Natural Style of Gardening... 409
BVVALTICL O Wan GP CLETIS isluteiaye cjeinis asia bicinipa/esniecsys « 4 a.aca 6. e\eturaiaje}ae wiaiejels- ©. C.L. Allen. 410
The Rainfall on the Plain Professor Geo. E. Curtiss. 411
Parks and Squares of United States Cities. ...........0..005 Charles Eliot. 412
New or Littte Known Pianvs:—Phlox nana (with illustration). Sevexo Watson. 413
re NY CURING Ce Ginette ale el ieislcia’ sin si ietmes.s%s,tseih, nale ssa'sicis sialptatastelesstsaiciase'sstie | spine 413
aia Gal ede ALA
Piant Nores :—Syringa pubescens (with illustration)..... :
C. R. Orcutt. 414
Some Useful Plants of Southern California............2..055
Stuartia pentagyna.—Aralia spinosa.—The Seedless Barberry.........- 415
Cuvrurac DeparTMeNtT :—Manure Wm. Falconer. 416
IR@SEG S30 a CaaS Shen Tease HESS PNCDDOCUT EERE Ly ce OO ae ae ee ert W, 416
Tue Foresr:—New Forest Law for Italy... .....-....seeseeeeeeee B. E. Fernow,. 417
CoRRESPONDENCE :—Foreign Plants and American Scenery,
Fredérick Law Olmsted. 418
ILLusTRATIONS :—Phlox nana, Tig. 66, .
VEL Sai PUDCSCEMS PUP Odes alse ge aie cieie's:0-< 000 éioiwisierets mesinisiesibieisre ss pikieisisin's ae
Taste in Florists’ Arrangements.
OT long ago we stated that florists and nurserymen
might exercise a wholesome influence on public
taste by paying greater heed to the intrinsic excellence of
flowers and plants than to their novelty only. Another
way in which they can render service in the same direc-
tion is in their arrangement of cut flowers and decorative
plants. Public taste has greatly improved in this matter
during -the past few years, and the fact is chiefly
owing to the influence of our florists, who have
offered their customers better and better things before
they were conscious of wanting them. The use of ‘set
pieces” is growing less common; the wiring of short-
stemmed flowers, once the universal rule, has been largely
abandoned in favor of loose, natural-looking arrangements
of long-stemmed blossoms, as much more durable as they
are more beautiful ; boxes of cut flowers, left for arrange-
ment to their recipient's hands, are, perhaps, more fre-
quently chosen for gifts than anything else, and whatever
the disposition that is made of flowers, the necessity of
an intermixture of foliage to subdue and harmonize their
colors is becoming more clearly realized.
All these welcome facts are largely due to the develop-
ment of good taste in the florist himself. Yet there is
much still for him to learn—many needed lessons which
he can impress upon the public. It is important, for ex-
ample, that when the selection of loose, cut flowers is left
to him, such varieties shall be chosen as are not merely
individually fine, but well adapted for association with
each other ; and that attention should be paid to durability
as well as to beauty. Of course, when arrangements for
some special occasion, as a dinner or a ball, are in ques-
tion, momentary effectiveness may outweigh other quali-
ties, under the circumstances; but, in general, flowers
should be so disposed that they can be preserved for a
reasonable length of time. The demands of beauty alone
would suffice to enforce this advice. We are so well
aware that if cut blossoms are deprived of moisture they
must immediately perish, that we involuntarily feel a sen-
sation of distress which interferes with our enjoyment of
their effect when they are visibly deprived of it. To place
Garden and Forest.
409
them in baskets filled with moss is sensible, and therefore
atisfactory, but to tie them on the cover of a basket or in
bunches on the handle is not sensible, and therefore is in
bad taste. A true lover of flowers, receiving such an ar-
rangement, is tempted at once to take it apart and save
the flowers—and to have his work immediately pulled to
pieces cannot be a florist’s wish.
As regards the association of foliage with flowers there
is still much to be learned. It does not suffice that the
green selected shall be charming in itself; it must suit the
character of the flowers it accompanies or the effect will
not be good. Asparagus fenurssimus and Maidenhair Fern
are both lovely things, but neither of them suits all kinds
of flowers, as the fashion of the moment seems to declare
Delicate flowers harmonize with the delicacy of such foli-
age; but the same is not true of the massive Roses and
flaunting Orchids, with which we constantly see it
erouped. The foliage of the flowers themselves is the
best guide in the selection of that which shall be arranged
with them. Itneed not be literally this, but it should be
something analogous in character; and the cultivation
and introduction of various kinds of foliage suitable for as-
sociation with the flowers we most commonly employ in
winter is a work worthy of the best energies of some
intelligent florist.
‘“«Set pieces ” are, however, the most difficult things with
which a florist has to deal. Theoretically they are all
wrong; in fact they seldom seem even approximately
right ; and there are probably many lovers of flowers who
wish they might be forever banished from sight. On some
occasions they may seem to be indispensable, and then
they should be as simple as possible in both form and
color. A wreath or cross or a flat bunch from the top of
which graceful sprays of foliage project, is infinitely better
than a broken column, an inscribed cushion, an anchor,
or any of those innumerable devices in which flowers are
used, not for the sake of their own beauty, but to portray
some object more or less allegorical. A wreath all of
Violets or Pansies or white flowers, or of white flowers
sparingly intermingled with those of a single color, is far
more beautiful than one in which several colors are inter-
mixed ; one or two varieties of white flowers are far bet-
ter than many varieties ; and even in a ‘‘set piece” care
should be taken to secure at least an approach to natural-
ness in the placing of the blossoms, and to display the
beauty of their individual forms by some intermixture of
foliage.
It need hardly be added that in any case when flowers
are employed for decorative purposes, reliance should be
placed on their beauty exclusively, and no attempt should
be made to enhance it by the addition of other factors,
as, for example, stuffed birds or masses of ribbon.
We are ‘glad to be able to say that no florists in the
world show to-day so much skill and good taste as ours.
Nowhere, except in Paris, is there even an approach to
the beauty of the flowers which we can buy in winter, or
of the arrangements which we can have prepared for us.
If we look, for instance, at the illustrations in English and
continental horticultural papers we find them about on a
level with those which were common here some ten or
fifteen years ago; the ‘‘fancy basket” is there still in its
prime, especially in Germany, and the most grotesque
and puerile devices are praised as marvels of ingenuity
and charm. We are far ahead, in our appreciation of
simplicity and naturalness, if we take the testimony of our
horticultural literature and the work of our best florists as
the standard.
What is a Tree?
HIS question, although often asked, is not easily an-
swered. There are shrubs so tall and so vigorous
that they may well be considered trees, and there are trees
so low and of such feeble growth that they hardly deserve
the name of trees. Really there is no hard and fast line
410
which separates a tree from a shrub, and any classification
of plants which attempts to separate trees from shrubs must
be purely artificial, and, therefore, unsatisfactory. The
best definition of a tree we have seen, and one that goes a
long way towards answering this perplexing question,
was presented by Mr. B. E. Fernow to the Botanical Club
of the American Association, at its recent meeting at Col-
umbus. ‘‘Trees are woody plants, the seed of which has
the inherent capacity of producing naturally, within their
native limits, one main erect axis, not divided near the
ground, the primary axis continuing to grow for a number
of years more vigorously than the lateral axes, and the
lower branches dying off in time,” is Mr. Fernow’s defi-
nition of a tree, and it is a sound and philosophical one,
Planting for Autumn Effect.
Planting with reference to making the most of the
autumnal change in the color of the foliage of many of
our North American plants, and to producing brilliant
pictures by harmoniously grouping together trees and
shrubs which are specially beautiful at this season of the
year, is a matter which has received as yet little attention.
The field, nevertheless, is an inviting one, and a careful
study of the material at the disposal of the American
planter for the production of autumnal effects will well
repay the landscape-gardener and the planter. Different
species must be studied with reference to the colors they
assume in autumn, and if the best results in picture-mak-
ing of this sort are to be attained, the peculiarities of
coloring in individual trees must be taken advantage of.
With some kinds of trees, and they are often the most
brilliant at this season of the year, like the Flowering
Dogwood, the Tupelo and the Liquidambar, all individuals
assume the same autumn livery, and there is little choice,
therefore, between individual trees in this respect. In
others, individuals differ greatly in the time of the turning
of the leaves and in the colors they assume. Every one
has noticed, in the case of the Sugar Maple, that on some
individuals the leaves are all golden, while on others a
portion are scarlet, or that sometimes the leaves on a
single branch turn scarlet while the remainder of the tree
is still green. Individuals of the Scarlet Maple differ even
more than Sugar Maples in this respect. On some the
leaves are pale yellow; on others they are green with
scarlet margins ; others are brilliantly scarlet ; in western
Massachusetts there is one tree of this species, now known
from one end of the Commonwealth to the other, whose
leaves turn from green first to deep, dark purple, and then
to the most brilliant scarlet. There are individuals of the
White Elm whose leaves barely change color at all before
falling ; in others they are bright yellow for many days.
Individuals of the White Ash vary remarkably in this way.
The leaves upon some trees turn to a deep, bronzy
purple peculiar to this Ash, while in others they turn pale
yellow and never show the real autumnal beauty of the
tree. The Scarlet Oak is generally constant in its autumn
colors ; but individual White Oaks vary considerably, and
the Black Oak varies still more.
It is noticed that the autumnal coloring of an individual
tree, or even of a particular branch of a tree, is constant.
If the leaves on a particular branch of a Maple tree as-
sume a particular color one year, they will continue to do
so, year after year, as long as the branch exists. If the
leaves of a certain Oak are more brilliant than those of
any of its associates, they will continue to be so year
after year. Autumnal effects of foliage, as a whole, vary
in different years, but whether, as a whole, its brilliancy is
greater or less, certain individuals will always excel others
in effects of color.
Planters, therefore, can well select and perpetuate these
individuals in the same way that trees with abnormally
colored leaves, like the Purple Beech, or with unusual
habit of growth, like the Pyramidal Oak, have been per-
petuated. The nurseryman who will propagate by graft-
ing Maples or Oaks or Elms, selected with reference to
Garden and Forest.
[OcToBER 24, 1888,
the autumnal tints of their foliage, will open the way to
more effective plantations than have yet been made in this
country, and will reap the reward of his intelligence and en-
terprise. The field, so far as we know, is entirely a new one,
The English are gradually being led—if we may
trust the words of many writers in their horticultural
journals—to abandon that bedding-out system which has
long almost exclusively prevailed in their gardens, and to
give more attention to hardy plants and informal arrange-
ments. Asareaction in taste almost always, at its out-
set, leads those who favor it into extreme opinions and
statements, we are not surprised to find that many of these
writers go too far in their condemnation of carpet and
pattern beds, granting to them no beauty and seeing no
situations in which their effect is appropriate. Such is
the case with a writer in a recent number of Zhe Garden,
whose interesting article is called ‘‘ English Flower Gar-
dens.” Nevertheless, much that he says is well felt and
well expressed, as the following brief extracts will show:
“Tt is evident that there is a growing taste for a more natu-
ral style of planting and a freer use of hardy plants in our
flower gardens. It takes time to break down prejudices, even
when they have little to recommend them. A transition
period is necessary in many cases, and this we have been
going through lately, as shown by the use of ‘dot’ plants on
our hitherto flat and monotonous beds; but even this is not
satisfactory, and the whole system must be swept away to
make room fora better. Many and great are the difficulties
which beset those of us who have at heart the better planting
of our gardens. While deprecating the sameness and _pat-
terns of the bedding-out system and the extensive use of
tender plants, we must not run to the other extreme and ex-
clude many of our best plants on the plea that they will not
stand our inclement winters out-of-doors. As well discard
those hardy annuals which will not reproduce themselves in
the soil where the seed fails without some sort of preparation,
and the perennials, which want an annual division and an
occasional renewal or manuring of the soil. Variety
is one of the great charms of the garden, of which we must
not lose sight, and I, for one, should be sorry to discard
many tender things. Who is there amongst us, having once
seen a good bed of Heliotrope, would be induced to do with-
out it in the garden? And yetit is one of our most tender
plants. But there are other gardens which have none
of this formality, or where it can be easily swept away, and
these are the places that gladden the hearts of those who are
striving to give us something better than lessons in geometry,
or in making thousands of plants look as nearly as possible
like one. In these we shall see artistic grouping of flowering
and ornamental foliaged plants here, there and everywhere,
except in the positions most often selected, where they break
up and spoil a fine stretch of landscape. There are
many gardeners who thoroughly understand the requirements
of the plants under their care; but all are not able to make
the best use of the material at hand, and before our gardens
can be made beautiful this knowledge of plant life must be
combined with the eye of an artist and the means of carrying
out the requisite work. The great dislike to change arises
from the fact that unhappy combinations may result in some-
thing offensive to good taste. The average ‘bedding-out’
gardener makes exact copies of some beds seen elsewhere and
is safe. But this is not possible or desirable in artistic gar-
dening, the end and aim of which should be the production
of beautiful living pictures not seen quite in the same way
elsewhere; they should be, in fact, masterpieces instead of
copies.”
fi Bee practice of decorating windows with growing plants is
growing in every part of the country, and a great diver-
sity of taste is displayed. In some places we find, in a box
that occupies the window-sill, a miniature flower garden, as
great a variety as possible, and so crowded that individuality
of form or color is entirely lost. The result is simply con-
fused color, which is anything but pleasant. In another
section we find boxes filled with Coleus, and where but one or
two colors are used the effect is very good. With but one
variety of Coleus, and the plants well grown and kept in
proper shape, a window-box can be made beautiful. In
other places we find boxes of Palms, Draceenas and the lke,
and these are often beautiful. Again we see boxes filled
OcTOBER 24, 1888.]
with Ferns, and for shaded places nothing can be better. The
Fern family is very large, but its members are usually con-
genial, and harmonize well together. It is an interesting fact
that each town has a predominant style of gardening and win-
dow-gardening. Every one apparently follows the first strik-
ing example, and this emphasizes the importance of a good be-
ginning. If the local florist makes a tasteful display, or some
of the pioneers in planting give object-lessons in simplicity
and naturalness of material and arrangement, the town will
show this influence for years in attractive streets and lawns.
In London more good taste is displayed in the arrangement
of window gardens than in any city or town I have ever
visited. The first thing that attracts attention is the contrast
of positive, well-defined colors ; the next is the plainness of
the boxes that contain the plants. These are conspicuous for
what they do not show—color ; in fact, they are made to hold
the plants, and not to be seen. The plants principally used
are the Paris Daisy (Chrysanthemum frutescens), Shrubby Cal-
ceolaria and some semi-double scarlet Geranium. The ar-
rangement is quite simple. Usually there is an outer row of
the Yellow Calceolaria; through the centre are, say, three
scarlet Geraniums; the remaining room is filled with the
Chrysanthemums. For window gardens, as well as for pot
plants, the English florists grow the Chrysanthemum to per-
fection ; they keep it dwarf and stocky, which is done by cut-
ting well back when young, and never advancing the plants to
a pot more than six inches in diameter. Occasionally a little
Lobelia may be seen in some of their arrangements, but this
only tends to intensify the other colors, making each more
prominent.
These boxes are simple and inexpensive, and for effect
nothing can surpass them. All the plants are not only
adapted to the purposes for which they are used, but suc-
ceed admirably in their climate, making a cheerful contrast
to the soot-colored houses. The use of these boxes is very
general ; in some of the streets nearly every house has its
window-garden or box of flowers; I noticed many houses in
which every front window had its ower-box. Flowers are not
confined to the balconies of the great houses. In the humbler
houses of the middle and lower classes the windows are
bright with bloom. Only a few plants are seen in any one
house, but wherever seen, the Chrysanthemum is the pro-
minent plant, and, as there grown, a better need not be looked
for. Gr, Allen.
The Rainfall on the Plains.
O demonstrate satisfactorily the occurrence of changes in
climate is one of the difficult problems of meteorology,
yet widespread beliefs in the occurrence of such changes have
become prevalent in this country, and are firmly held by large
numbers of the people.
Of such generally accepted beliefs is the one prevalent inCon-
necticut—that the spring is much later than it was a half cen-
tury ago. The older farmers relate that when they were boys
it was customary to begin planting corn on the day following
General Training day, whereas, now, this stage of the farm
work is delayed by the prolonged winters to a much later date.
A similar popular belief in a climatic change, current west
of the Mississippi, is that their rainfall is increasing, and the
cause of this increase is attributed to the extension of cultivation.
The widespread prevalence of this general impression is of
itself an interesting and important fact, and claims the most
respectful attention. For, if founded in accurate, although not
~ on instrumental, observation, it will have a razson d'etre that
will go far to establish its truth. My own inquiries, however,
have shown that, in general, the current belief in an increase
of rainfall does not rest so much on observation as on a falla-
cious argument. Based upon the reports of early explorers,
all the country west of the Missouri was believed thirty years
ago to be a ‘Great American Desert,” in which agriculture
would always be impossible because of the insufficiency of
rain. Eastern Kansas was then settled, and yet, for the first
ten years, few believed that the frontier of settlement could
ever be extended west of Topeka.
The stream of immigration, however, has pushed westward,
and, as yet, no absolute limit has been reached. Holding to
the essential truth of their old assumption, the older settlers
explain this westward advance of agriculture as having been
rendered possible by an increase of rainfall gradually produced
by the tillage of the soil and the growing of trees. But this
argument is fallacious because of its defective premise. The
possibilities of the country for agriculture were underestimated
by reason of the lack of the proper experience for forming an
opinion. Cultivation has greatly added to the economy of the
Garden and Forest.
All
rainfall, and has rendered possible the growing of crops on
previously barren ground. Growth of grasses, tree planting,
the prevention of disastrous prairie fires and general cultiva-
tion—these are the agencies that have wrought a change in the
conditions of agriculture in Kansas.
All the change that has taken place may have been effected
without an increase in rainfall of a single inch. The evidence
of a change in the amount of rainfall cannot be concluded
from changes in agricultural possibilities that have been
brought about by an indefinite number of interacting causes,
but must be based on direct and trustworthy observation.
The observational data available as evidence on the subject
are very meagre, but conflicting views as to the conclusions to
be derived from them have been abundant. During the past year
especially there has been an active revival of interest in the
question, and a galaxy of eminent writers has taken part in
the discussion.
Upon the negative side of the question relatively little has
been written, and for the reason, no doubt, that the burden of
proof rests with those who believe in the increased rainfall.
Ex-Senator Dorsey, in the Worth American Review, says:
“Nothing is more idle than the talk that can be heard on all
sides respecting the rainfall increasing within what is known
as the arid region. The rainfall has been accurately recorded
as far back as 1847 at Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Bent, Colorado;
Santa Fé, New Mexico; Fort Bridger, Wyoming, and Salt Lake
City. These records show that there has been no increase
whatever in the past forty years.
“I challenge those who persist in claiming that what is now
known as the arid region will sooner or later become produc-
tive by the natural rainfall to show a single instance anywhere
on the surface of the earth where such a result has been at-
tained. There has been no such climatic change on this or
any other continent.”
The five stations quoted by ex-Senator Dorsey as exhibiting
no rainfall, are, however, with exception of Fort Riley, and
perhaps Fort Bent, quite outside of the district over which
the increase is generally believed to have taken place, and
so are not pertinent evidence in the case. The observations at
Fort Riley extend back to 1854 (not 1847), and exhibit an in-
crease of two inches in the average annual raintall of recent
years over that of the first decade.
A similar conclusion to that of Mr. Dorsey has been pre-
sented by the eminent geographer, Mr. Gannett, ina recent
article in Science, which has already received notice in the
columns of this journal. He divides the observations from
each of twenty-six stations (mainly in Kansas and Nebraska)
into two equal terms, and adds the yearly rainfalls in each
term separately. These two sums show no appreciable dit-
ference, whereupon he concludes that the observations show
no increase of rainfall. This method pursued by Mr. Gannett
might easily fail to show an increase of rainfall even if one ex-
isted. One-half the stations have short series of from three to
twelve years in length, while the remaining are from twelve to
twenty-eight years. If there has been an increase of rainfall
it is to be discovered by separating the observations so that
each portion shall cover different periods of time. Thus, if it
is desired to ascertain whether the rainfall has been greater
during the past ten years than during the period from 1840 to
1850, observations taken recently must be compared with those
taken during the earlier period.
It is difficult to see how the mixture given by Mr. Gannett
can possibly throw any light on the subject.
Mr. Charles Francis Adams, in the New York Vaéion, and
General Greely in Scéence, are each disposed to believe that the
rainfall has increased, but do not give any reasons that can
properly form the basis of an argument. General Morrow, in
an address on October 5th, 1887, at the Sidney Fair, advocated
the popular view of an increase of rain due to cultivation,
with the following argument: ‘I have always thought that
there was an abundance of moisture in the clouds of the inte-
rior section of the country, but that conditions favorable to its
precipitation in the form of rain and dew were wanting. The
earth and the sky are reciprocal in their relations. They give
to and take from each other. A parched desert having noth-
ing to give in return receives no moisture from the passing
clouds.”
This is an attractive, poetical view, but it can be considered
as a valuable argument upon the question only after it has
been shown to have a rational, physical foundation.
The most valuable contribution of the year, in my opinion,
is that by Professor Harrington, in the American Meteorological
Fournal for December, 1887. A careful comparison of the
rainfall charts, based on the recent Signal Service observations,
with the charts contained in Blodgett’s ‘Climatology of the
A12
United States,” showsan unmistakable westward advance of the
isohyetal lines over the western plains. By this rnethod all of
the data up to 1855, consisting mainly of the records at the
military posts, is utilized for the first period, and the Signal Ser-
vice records from 1871 to 1883 for the second period. "The cer-
tainty of the conclusion seems, therefore, todepend mainly on
the degree of accuracy with which the meagre data available in
1855 tr ruly represent the average rainfall of so great a district,
and on the comparability of these quite different series of ob-
servations. Asa test of the latter question Ihave examined the
contemporaneous records made at Fort Leavenworth and at
the Signal Service station in Leavenworth City for the twelve
years from 1871 to 1883, and find that the average annual rain-
fall observed at the fort was 33.0 inches, while that at the Sig-
nal Service station was 38.5 inches. To what this large dis-
crepancy between the two sets of observations is due is not
easily determined, but its most probable source apparently lies
in the greater care exerted by the Signal Service to measure
small rains and showers. If this be the true explanation, it
applies to the comparison of ali fort records with Signal Ser-
vice records, and the conclusion of an increase of rainfall
obtained by Professor Harrington would be quite vitiated.
The observations from Fort Leave nworth extend over nearly
fifty years, and thus constitute the most valuable series west of
the Mississippi River. This record exhibits an increase of two
inches in the mean of the last two decades over the mean of
the first two—an amount almost too small to be considered as
giving evidence of any real or important climatic change In
fact, the rainfall record in mz any eastern cities shows an increase
much greater than any that can be found in the West. In
Philadelphia during the past forty years the measured rainfall
has increased six inches, and at Providence and New Bedford
eight inches. Has cultivation of the soil, tree-planting, rail-
road building or settlhement been the cause of this large in-
crease ? And if not in these eastern cities, why is it so certain
that they have been the cause of the possible increase of an
inch or two in Kansas?
If setthkement and cultivation and forest-growing can measura-
bly increase the rainfall, how is it to be brought “about ? ? What
is the rationale of the process? Who has shown that the as-
signed cause is adequate to produce the effect claimed for it?
These important questions are seldom squarely faced. After
very caretul study of all the arguments and data that I have
found it seems to me that the evidence of any material increase
of rainfall in the West is very inconclusive, and, second, that,
if such increase should occur, there would be, with our present
knowledge, no sufficient evidence of its being due to settle-
ment and cultivation. Geo. £. Curtiss.
Parks and Squares of United States Cities.
HE nineteenth volume of the Final Reports of the
Census of 1880, only lately distributed, completes the
“Statistics of the Cities of the United States,”’ and enables us
to view the condition of 180 cities of the Union in respect to
those necessities of modern town life—public parks and
squares.
Two hundred and ten cities are enumerated. Of these
thirty make no report concerning their public spaces, and may
perhaps be presumed to own none, while forty state outright
that they possess no public grounds whatever. Some sur-
prisingly large towns appear in this latter class; for instance,
Paterson, New Jersey (population, 51,000), Scranton, Penn-
sylvania (46,000), Wilmington, Delaware (42,500), Wheeling,
West Virginia (31,000), Trenton, New Jersey (30,000), and
many smaller but bustling places like Fort Wayne, Indiana,
Poughkeepsie, New York, and Topeka, Kansas. Since the
Census year several of these forty cities have taken steps to
provide themselves with public spaces of one sort or another.
Turning now to the 140 cities which report one or more
public erounds, we notice first the universal abuse of the
word park. It is applied to every sort of public space,
from the minutest grass-plot to the race-track or the fair-
ground. The strict meaning of the word is completely lost.
Hereafter we shall have to speak of country-parks when
we wish to designate those public lands which the word
park alone ought by rights to describe—z.e., “lands in-
tended and appropriated for the recreation of the people by
means of their rural, sylvan and natural scenery and
character.’ :
Country parks are sometimes of small area, as when some
striking glen, or river-bank, or cafion is preserved in its natural
state (would this were oftener done !)—but generally an area of
at least fifty or one hundred acres is required to provide a
natural aspect. Smaller spaces can satisfy many of the de-
,
Garden and Forest.
[OcTOBER 24, 1888,
sires of the crowded city people—can supply fresh air and -
ample play-room, and shade of trees and brightness of grass
and flowers—but the occasionally so pressing want of that
quiet and peculiar refreshment w hich comes from contempla-
tion of scenery—the want which the rich satisfy by fleeing
from town at certain seasons, but which the poor (who are
ota eae in the country) can seldom fill—is only to be met
by the country park. If a few of the twenty-six cities which
paporied themselves in 1880 as possessed of large tracts of
land have put these lands to uses for which small areas would
have served as well or better—if they have given them over to
decorative gardening, to statuary and buildings, or to other
town-like things—they have made (unless the circumstances
are peculiar) an extravagant mistake. For large open spaces
close to cities are excessively costly, and one ‘such interferes
with traffic in far greater degree than «do many small areas, so
that no town can properly “afford to own a large tract unless
for the express purpose of providing refreshing natural
scenery.
The SOS oe ee table of the twenty-six cities which re-
ported park lands of fifty acres and upwards presents curious
contrasts. The first column gives the number of inhabitants
per acre of park—which is the basis of the order of the names
—the other columns the population and the park acreage :
18 Macon, 13,000 720
22 Council Bluffs, . 18,000 600-+-104-+-90
166 Detroit, 116,500 700
172 St. Paul, 41,500 240
175 New Britain, 13,000 74
176 St. Louis,. 350,500 1,372+276+180+158
182 Binghamton, 17,500 96
222 San Francisco, 234,000 1,050
280 Bridgeport, 28,000 50-++50
281 (Chicago; 2 503,500 593+372+250+200+ 1854180
309 Philadelphia, 847,000 2,740
310 Baltimore, . . 232,500 693+ 56
410 San Antonio, 20,500 50
417 Omaha, 30,500 73
442 Buftalo, 155,000 350
508 New Orleans, 216,000 250+175
680 Portland, Me., 34,000 50
685 Cincinnati, 255,000 206-++ 164
833 Indianapolis, 75,000 go
907 Fall River, 49,000 54
g40 Allegheny, 79,000 84
1o1g Providence, 105,000 103
1122 Brooklyn, 567,000 505
1213 Albany, g1,000 75
1400 New York, 1,206, 500 862
3424 Boston, . 363,000 106
Little Macon’s large park was the gift of the State. It is
mostly in large forest trees. Boston, at the other end of the
list, boasts ‘uncommonly attractive suburbs, which have
served some of the purposes of a park ; but she has lately
begun work upon a real park of more than 600 acres.
Of small public grounds there appears to be an equally
various provision, ‘In New England many cities possess the
remains of old town commons—for instance, Nashua (13,000)
has forty acres in North and South Commons, and New-
buryport (13,500) has the same ; while Boston, Salem, Lynn
and other places own larger or smaller areas ot like origin.
At the founding of Philadelphia, five public squares of
about six acres each were carefully reserved ; but the exam-
ple of the founders has been wotully forgotten by the
builders of the great city of to-day. Savannah has done bet-
ter, for she has continued the city-plan devised by her first
colonists, and in 1880, with a population of 31,000, she had
thirty acres in twenty- three public spaces, besides a ten-acre
park and a twenty-acre parade ground. About the worst
case reported is that of Pittsburg h, a city of 156,000 inhabitants
and possessed of less than one and one-third public acres—a
contrast to Buffalo (population, 155,000) which reported, in
addition to the Park, fifty-six acres in the Parade, thirty-two
acres in the Front and forty-two acres in eight pieces. Com-
pare also the following :
Troy, New York (57,000), one acre.
sixty-five acres in five pieces.
Kansas City (56,000), two acres.
twenty-five acres in seven pieces.
Auburn, New York (22,000), One acre.
forty acres in four pieces.
And the remarkable case of Lawrence,
seventy-three acres in five pieces.
We have no fixed rule for the proper ratio to population of
Richmond (64,000),
Akron, Ohio (16,500),
Salt Lake (21,000),
Kansas (8,500),
OcToBER 24, 1888.] <
the acreage or number of public squares, but
itis safe to say that while a few of our cities
are well provided for, a majority are still very
badly off. New York is now tearing down
buildings to make room for public gardens.
Philadelphia, also, is endeavoring to make
up for her past carelessness. Smaller places
should secure the necessary lands before the
cost becomes intolerable. A word in con-
clusion as to the laying out of public squares
and gardens. The problem is wholly distinct
from that of the country-park. Here and
there, to be sure, is found a small public
ground of such strongly marked shape and
character that it by right rules its surround-
ings, whatever they may be—as the Back Bay
Fensin Boston calla halt to the city structures
—but small grounds in general are neces-
sarily dominated by the formal lines of the
streets and buildings which enclose them, and
they must generally be shaped to a corre-
spondingly formal plan. Every hope of a good
general effect hangs on the securing of a
good general plan. The famous Public Gar-
den ot’ Boston, recently criticised in this
paper, fails of fine general effect because its
trame-work or ground-plan was never thought
out as a whole—as a design. The handsome
and costly gardening which is to be seen there,
the gorgeous beds and the fine specimen
plants, cannot be fittingly displayed—can only
be promiscuously scattered as they are—so
long as the ground-plan of the garden remains
ore o
pe oamongrel thing it is. Charles Eliot.
New or Little Known Plants.
Phlox nana.*
HIS species presents one of the com-
paratively rare instances of great di-
versity of color in the wild state of an
otherwise well defined species. From the
readiness with which, in very many cases,
color-breaks are induced in cultivated
plants, it is very evident that color alone is
of no value for distinguishing species. But
in the ordinary course of nature, such vari-
ations are the exception, and species are in
general, considering their capacity for
change, wonderfully constant to their colors.
The Phlox Drummond, in its native state,
is said to be ‘‘red, varying to rose, purple
and white,” while under cultivation the
range of tints has been greatly extended.
P. nana shows not only various shades
from red to white, but is remarkable in
being sometimes of a pure bright yellow,
a color not before known in the genus,
though occurring in Gilia and Polemonium.
In cultivation, therefore, there would seem
to be here the possibility of obtaining rare
combinations of colors, in what is in other
respects, also, a very pretty species.
The plant is a rather low perennial,
loosely branching from a somewhat woody
base. Itis a native of our dry south-western
territories, from western Texas to southern
Colorado and westward, and both purple
and yellow forms were collected last year
by Mr. C. G. Pringle in the mountains of
Chihuahua. S. W.
Orchid Notes. _
Cattleya Exoniensis.—This superb hybrid was raised
many years ago at the Exeter Nurseries, England, and was
named after the city where it originated. The parents are pre-
sumed to be Lelia crispa and L. purpurata, as the habit and
*PHLOX NANA, Nutt.; Gray’s Synoptical Flora, ii, 134.
Garden and Forest.
413
Fig. 66.—Phlox nana.
inflorescence of the plants present an intermediate character
between these two species. The flowers are about six inches
across, and vary in color from almost white to a delicate rose,
The sepals are narrow, while the petals are broad, with wavy
edges and somewhat twisted at point. The lip, somewhat
long, narrow, and much crisped, is white, with the middle lobe
of the richest purple. The throatis yellow, streaked with purple.
414
This very fine plant is generally acknowledged to be one of
the best of the genus, the exquisite lip being excelled only by
C. callistoglossa,a hybrid also of L. purpurata. C. Exoniensis
has always been in great demand, and it commands very high
prices, but it will never become at all common unless new
plants are raised trom seed. Much care is required to keep
this species in good health for any length of time, and when
the plants attain any great size they seem to become exhausted,
and require to be broken up into small pieces and started again
in small pots. The usual Cattleya treatment will suit it, but
it should be in the coolest part of the house.
Phalenopsis Lowii.—This is avery distinct type of Phale-
nopsis. It is found growing on bare rocks in Moulmein, ex-
posed to the full sun and subjected to extreme rains in the
growing season, and so dry at other times as to cause it to
lose its leaves. Butin cultivation the plants never attain the
strength and vigor to withstand such treatment, therefore
every effort should be made to retain the leaves through the
winter, This species grows very freely, producing abundance
of roots. These seldom adhere to the block or basket, but
spread in all directions, being often erect, consequently scarcely
any potting material is required. It should have abundance of
water at all times and the warmest and lightest part of the
1ouse. The flower spike is about one foot long, purplish, and
ears five to ten round, light-rose flowers, one and a half
inches across. The lip is narrow, of a deep rich purple. The
column is very peculiar in shape, being bent downwards and
prolonged into a proboscis-like appendage. Phalenopsis
amethystina is also in flower. This plant is seldom seen, but
the flowers are very pretty, and also interesting as being the
smallest of the whole genus. It grows freely on blocks or in
vaskets with sphagnum moss.
Mesospinidium vulcanicum.—This attractive Orchid is now
properly placed among the Odontoglossums. It is well worthy
of cultivation, bearing slender, erect racemes of bright, rosy
flowers, twenty to thirty in number, and about two inches
across. The ovate, compressed bulbs have two stout, erect
leaves, about six inches long. This plant is often seen in poor
condition. Coming from the cool regions of Peru, it requires
the same treatment as the Odontoglossums, especially as
regards water, which should be given in abundance.
Keawood, N. Y. ve Goldring.
Lelia elegans.—Some of the choicest and most beautiful
varieties of this fine Lelia are now forming a very attractive
group in the collection of Mr. F. L. Ames, of North Easton,
Massachusetts. The plants are in a high state of cultivation.
The most striking of them is a well-flowered example of the ex-
tremely rare and showy Lelia elegans prasiata, having pro-
duced, from three stout growths, twenty-one handsome blos-
soms of great substance, size and color, and one of the finest
forms we have seen, One spike was very remarkable, having
borne as many as nine fully expanded flowers of considerable
dimensions, the two others bearing six flowers on each. In
color this variety is quite distinct from the ordinary type, hav-
ing dull magenta-rose colored sepals and petals, with a broad,
flat lip of adeep magenta-purple, whichis very striking. It
also emits a very powerful fragrance. Another very scarce
variety is specially noticeable, named Z. elegans Turneri,
which is represented by a splendid, well-flowered specimen,
This variety proves itself to be an excellent companion to the
former, developing its blossoms at the same season of the
year. One of the handsomest of all has just passed flowering,
called Lelia euspatha. This is supposed to be a natural
hybrid between Z. elegans and L. purpfurata. It differs some-
what in shape of flower, the color of its sepals and petals
being of a fine rose, while the lip is a rich velvety purple. All
the above varieties should receive the same treatment as
Lelia elegans, with ample light and air while making their new
growths. For years to come this Lelia will be one of the
rarest of the genus, as it is rapidly becoming extinct in its
native country, only very small plants being procurable, and
that only after diligent search. A. 2):
Jersey City.
Plant Notes.
Syringa pubescens.
UR illustration upon page 415 of this issue repre-
sents a flowering branch of this very distinct and
beautiful north China Lilac, which has now flowered for
two years in the Arnold Arboretum, having been
raised there from seed, for which that establishment is
indebted to Dr. Bretschneider. Syringa pubescens is one
Garden and Forest.
[OCTOBER 24, 1888.
of the most distinct and most floriferous of all the Lilacs,
being literally covered here, early in June, with its short
panicles of small, long-tubed flowers, which are pale rose-
colored and most deliciously fragrant. As seen in culti-
ration, it is a compact shrub, three to five feet high, with
upright, slender branches, and rather small, ovate leaves,
cuneate at the base, one and a half to two inches long,
bright green on the upper, pale on the lower surface, the
midrib covered with pubescence. S. pubescens is a
native of northern China ; it is perfectly hardy, and one of
the most attractive and beautiful of new introductions to
our shrubberies. CESS:
Some Useful Plants of Southern California.
Romneya Coulteri.—Few will ask why this magnificent
flower was made after once seeing it in tull bloom—for the
delight of their eyes will satisfy them. The Rcmneya Poppy
is one of the most regal of our native flowers, and no flower
yet introduced in our gardens excels it. Growing along
the water courses on our southern border, southward to
near San Quintin Bay, in Lower California, it wastes its
sweetness and pure white loveliness unseen and unknown,
except by afew. The wax-like flowers often exceed six inches
across, the white petals set off to advantage by a centre of
golden stamens. The stems grow from four to fifteen feet in
height, rising above the surrounding brush, and when seen
covering large areas and in full bloom the plant is not readily
forgotten. Not content to occupy the fertile valleys, it seeks
the most secluded cafions as well and often dots the hillsides,
climbing far up the mountain-sides away from the reach of
any but the most enthusiastic botanists. It seems to delight
in these high, sterile locations, where it is thoroughly pro-
tected from the winds and is not likely to be disturbed. In
cultivation the flowers become much larger and more wax-like,
and it has long been in demand in Europe, where it was very
early introduced, In addition to its horticultural attractions it
possesses strong qualities of great medicinal value, which
may secure for it a place in the materia medica when they
are more fully investigated. It has long occupied a_ place
among the medicinal herbs of the Indians of Lower California.
Simmondsia Californica.—This is a very common shrub in
the southern part of the State, extending southward in the
peninsula of Lower California. It was found by Dr. Veatch
on Cerros Island, and was figured from that locality in one of
the bulletins of the California Academy of Sciences. It forms
low, oval bushes along the sea coast, often less than a foot in
height when exposed to the ocean winds, and with its stiff
leaves and branches and dense foliage forms impenetrable
thickets in less exposed situations. The foliage is of a glau-
cous hue, blending harmoniously with the reddish soil on our
hills and mesas, and in sharp contrast with the dark, olive-
green foliage of the common Rhus, with which it is often
associated. It rarely attains a height of fifteen feet, with a
trunk diameter of four or five inches. Sometimes one stand-
ing alone forms a very symmetrically shaped tree, but it
usually forms an oval mass with its dense foliage. The Sim-
mondsia, as an ornamental shrub, is likely to meet with pop-
ular favor. Growing in fertile valleys and on barren hills,
along exposed sea-cliffs and on the brink of the great Colorado
desert, and equally tenacious of life whether in a situation of
perpetual summer or where exposed to the snows of winter, it
may be presumed that it will prove both hardy and easy of
cultivation. The Simmondsia is a prolific bearer of an edible
nut resembling an acorn both in size and shape. The resem-
blance is still further increased by the persistent calyx which
forms a cup for the fruit. When ripe the outer envelope
splits open and ‘liberates the nut or nuts enclosed. They
have a pleasant flavor, and I have frequently enjoyed eating
them without any injurious effects. I am not aware that
they were eaten by the Indians, but probably they formed an
important article of food with them.
Prunus ilicifolia.—The Oak-leaf Cherry is one of the char-
acteristic shrubs of San Diego County, and might, with nearly
equal appropriateness, be termed the Holly-leaved Cherry, as
the foliage issomewhat between that of our Shrub Oaks and
the Holly. Itis not rare both near the sea-coast and on the
higher mountains bordering the sterile Colorado Basin, and
some seasons it proves to be a very prolific bearer. Near the
coast I think it is oftener barren than in the interior, but
it grows rather more luxuriantly in some of the sheltered and
fertile cafons near the ocean. As an ornamental shrub it is
highly appreciated, especially for hedges, and is extensively
planted for that purpose near Los Angeles, I am informed,
ie leeks
stead
i
SRE EROS AEA. DAA
eos Fs
he
OCTOBER 24, 1888.]
The glossy, dark evergreen foliage is always pleasing, and its
dense, prickly character is an excellent feature. The fruit is
of a dull, rather deep red when mature, oval in shape, often
rather blunt at the ends, and an inch in length. A bush
loaded with the fruit is a tempting sight, but it is “rather agegra-
vating to find the pulp scarcely an eighth of an inch thick.
The stone forms the larger part of the fruit; but it is
Garden and Forest.
415
Stuartia pentagyna, one of the most beautiful, when in
flower, of North American shrubs, is described, in works
upon American botany, as a native of the mountains of Geor-
gia and the Carolinas. It is nowhere very common in these
states, being confined principally to the banks of streams
running eastward from the Blue Ridge. Now it appears that
its real home is on the w estern foot-hills of the Big Smoky
Fig. 67.—Syringa pubescens.—See page 414.
still worthy of notice, and finds its champions among our
country people, who calmly state that they prefer it to the
grape. A basketful may be quickly gathered at the proper
time if the season has been favorable, mand possibly were not
other fruits so abundant it might become of use for the table.
I think I have seen it stated that the experiment of grafting
cultivated Cherries on to this species has proved a success.
If true, it certainly is of great value for cultivation, where it
would be difficult to make other trees or shrubs grow success-
fully. Had we an agricultural experiment station in this section
of the state it would bea proper subject to investigate.
San Diego, Cal. GeO cle.
Mountains of Tennessee. Here this shrub literally lines the
banks of all the small streams tributary to Pigeon River (which
must not be confounded with the Big Pigeon, a more import-
ant stream further north), almost to the exclusion of other
plants, forming nonce thickets, sometimes fifteen feet or more
high. ‘
Aralia spinosa, the so-called Hercules Club or Angelica
Tree, must be seen, too, on the western slopes of the Big
Smokies, if its true beauty and character are to be under-
stood. It is very common between three and four thousand
feet elevation, growing in the richest soil in the neighbor hood
of streams and sringing up frequently along the fences of
416
mountain farms. It attains a height of thirty or thirty-five
feet, with a trunk sometimes eight inches in diameter, wide-
spreading branches and a true arborescent habit. One ot
these large specimens, crowned with its enormous panicles
of black fruit, is an object of remarkable beauty. The flowers
are deliciously fragrant, recalling those of the common Lilac,
and are highly valued by the mountaineers for their honey-
yielding qualities. S.
The Seedless Barberry (Berber?s vulgaris asperma) 1 never
saw in such perfection of fruit as 1 saw it to-day in a Hamp-
shire garden. It was one of the most beautiful sights I ever
enjoyed in an autumn garden. There was a dense bush,
eight feet high and as many in diameter, and every branch was
loaded with hanging clusters of long berries of the most bril-
liant scarlet, which, with the foliage yet green, made a striking
contrast. This seedless Barberry, though nothing more than
aform of the common Barberry, is very superior in berry to
any other. Theseare without seeds, very succulent, and make
a better preserve or jelly than the other sorts. But as an
ornamental shrub of the highest merit I would direct atten-
tion to it, for I can imagine nothing more beautiful on a lawn
ona gray October day than such a bush of it as I saw to-day.
It is an old variety known in the days of Philip Miller, who
named it, and also by DuHamel, who, according to Loudon,
spoke of the merits of the fruit for preserving. It is from
this fruit that the celebrated Confitures d'Epine vinette are
made at Rouen. It is not common in English gardens, and
seldom seen in nurseries. - -
The Missouri Currant (27zbes Missouriensis) is at this season
more conspicuous than at any other, for now its foliage, on
the point of falling, is dyed with the most brilliant hues of
crimson, blood-red and yellow. 2. aureum also colors well,
but is not so striking as the other, which is now grown
largely at Knap Hill by Mr. Waterer expressly for planting for
autumn effect. W. G.
London, October 3d.
Cultural Department.
Manure.
UST as soon as crops are cleared off the ground we should
cart or wheel out the manure on to it. When only a part
_ of the ground can be cleared at one time, we can draw out
the manure on to that part, and at the same time leave a heap
of manure where it will be handiest for the yet uncleared
part. So far as kitchen garden crops are concerned it matters
little what sort of farm-yard manure is used, but for the cab-
bage tribe truck-gardeners have a prejudice against hog-pen
manure, as they think club-root is more prevalent in land so
manured than when cow or horse manure is used. Cow
manure is preferred for light land and horse manure for
heavy land. On light soil, hen or pigeon manure should be used
very thinly, and always composted with earth or other absorb-
ents, and rather in spring after growth commences than in fall.
We use a large quantity of New York City stable-manure and
find it excellent. As manure accumulates during the summer
months we pile it up into solid heaps of any convenient length
and breadth, but not over four or five feet deep, and drive
the carts or wagons over the heap to compress the manure
and save it from burning. Five feet may seem very deep,
but as the manure rots it shrinks, so that what is five feet in
May will probably be nearer three feet in October. The
burning dries and deteriorates the manure, hence the ad-
vantage of shallow piles which catch and hold the rain. —
The manure-piles should be covered in summer with loam,
when it can be conveniently procured. The horse-stable
manure that accumulates during the summer we treat differ-
ently, having an eye to mushrooms in winter and hot-beds in
spring. The main object is to keep it dry, to prevent heat-
ing and rotting. We clear it away every day from the stables,
therefore, and heap it into a high conical pile, which will shed
the rain, so that the manure will turn over in fall almost as
dry as straw in the barn. In fall wesshake out the droppings,
wet them, and treat them for mushroom beds. They will
heat violently and make good material for that purpose,
though not as good as manure that has accumulated in a
stable-celar or has been kept under the horses’ feet in box-
stalls for several days, so as to be well soaked with urine.
Now this strawy litter that had once been wetted in the
stable, then dried and kept dry in the pile, will, if wetted, piled
and turned, make capital heating material for hot-beds ; in-
deed, if we did not save the summer manure in this way we
should be very short of hot-bed manure in spring. True, tree
leaves, if gathered in fall, stored dry and kept dry over winter,
Garden and Forest.
[OcroBeR 24, 1888.
then wetted and heated in spring, are useful for hot-beds after
the middle of March, though they have not strength enough
for earlier beds.
Before carting out the manure on the land, we always turn
it over and break it up fine, so that it shall spread well and be
easily dug or plowed into the ground.
Itis also well now to prepare manure and compost for
mulching lawns and trees. Pretty well rotted farm-yard
manure turned over loosely and broken up fine is capi-
tal top-dressing material for ordinary purposes, but in the
case of impoverished lawns compost is better than plain
manure, and should be applied in double or treble the quantity
that we should use of manure. This compost consists of
good loam and well-rotted, broken up manure in equal parts,
or alittle more of the loam than of the manure. Prepare a
heap of this now by throwing the loam and manure on the
pile together, then before it is used, say in November
or December, turn it over to thoroughly mix and break it
up. Some people have a strong repugnance to the use of
manure or compost as top-dressing for lawns, claiming for
it unsightliness and a bad smell, and they urge the use of
commercial fertilizers instead. Now, no one would think of
using fresh hog-pen or other malodorous manures as top-
dressing. In the case.of well prepared manure or compost
a bad smell is barely perceptible, and after the first snow or
rain there isno smell. The other objection on the ground of
unsightliness is amply outweighed by the benefit of the top-
dressing to the lawn. The dressing not only acts as a fertil-
izer, but also as a protection in winter, a consideration of the
utmost importance in the case of short-cropped lawns, subject
to freezing and thawing. We have many acres of lawn; the
surface soil of which is little other than well-manured sand
with a somewhat loamy skin which has been formed by re-
peated top-dressings of compost, and the subsoil is sand.
This lawn keeps a sod of grass that could not be retained by
means of artificial manures. On a Jot of eight acres, also of
very sandy soil, which was formerly top-dressed with manure
every yearand cut for hay, there has always been a fair first crop,
andin the event of a moist Summer, a good secondcrop. For
two years we have pastured this lot, and the crop of grass—
Red Top, mostly—it bears is extraordinary. Proper artificial
manures are excellent in their way, especially in giving a brisk
start to grass on loamy land, but for light or sandy land barn-
yard manure seems to be preferabie.
Glen Cove, N, Y. Wm. Falconer.
Roses.
HE hybrid Tea Rose, W. F. Bennett, seems to be coming
into favor in some localities this season, though many
growers, after giving it one season’s trial when it was first
introduced, were ready to discard it. Butit is probable that its
peculiarities were not thoroughly understood, and that the
general failure with it during its first season was due to that
tact.
The present opinion seems to be that this variety requires
a special treatment, and that when properly handled it will pay
for the trouble. When in good condition it certainly is a
beautiful Rose, both in form of bud and in color.
It has been found that two-year-old plants almost invariably
produce better flowers and have stronger and more rapid —
growth than yearlings, and in view of this fact a different sys-
tem has been practiced with the Bennett, in several instances,
from the usual mode of forcing Roses, and with better results.
As is well known, in many of the large Rose establishments,
all, or nearly all, the houses, are replanted each year. The
Bennett should be treated on the same plan, with this marked
difference, that with the majority of varieties young stock
struck during the preceding winter should be planted; but
with the Bennett the old plants may be lifted out of the beds
or benches in which they have been growing for one season,
and potted up into four-inch, five-inch or six-inch pots, as the
size of the plants may require. This lifting operation should
take place about March, and the plants grown afterward in the _
same manner as young stock, until the usual planting season —
arrives, when they should be replanted in fresh soil in the-
beds. With reasonable attention, they will make better growth
and produce correspondingly better flowers than they did
during the first season. E
It may not be advisable to repeat this treatment with the
same plants after the second year, as the plants may be too ~
much exhausted after having been forced for two successive
seasons to respond to a third trial. Of course it may be said —
that there is nothing newin this operation, and that it hasbeen —
long practiced by a certain class of florists. ;
OCTOBER 24, 1888.]
Still it may be a desirable piece of information for some one,
when applied to the culture of the Bennett, and as such it is
now offered. There has also been some difference of opinion
as to the best temperature in which to grow the Bennett, and
it may be stated that, in the experience of the writer, the best
flowers have always been found at the coolest end of the
house, where the temperature would not average more than
50° during cold nights. W.
Philadelphia.
The Forest.
New Forest Law for Italy.
cs Italy, on the 1st of May, 1888, a new forest law went into
effect, in which full recognition of the established truths
regarding forest influences, and the highest statesmanship,
are both discernible. Although this new law is not as thor-
ough-going as some of its advocates had desired, it is based
on sound and liberal principles, recognizing individual rights,
but recognizing, too, the right and duty of the State to pre-
vent any exercise of individual freedom which injures the
community at large.
The Government forests in Italy (116,000 acres, according to
latest returns) comprise only 1.6 per cent. of the total forest
area; the balance of over "7,000,000 acres belongs to com-
munities, corporations and private owners. The forest law of
1877, recognizing the need of government protection to the
agricultural interests, which were being injured by forest de-
vastation and denudation of mountain-sides, had placed
nearly one-half of this area under ‘forest bounds,” or Govern-
ment supervision, namely, ‘‘all woods and lands cleared of
wood on the summits or slopes of mountains above the upper
limit of Chestnut growth, and also those that from their char-
acter and situation may, in consequence of being cleared or
tilled, give rise to landslips, caving in, avalanches, snowslides,
and may, to the public injury, interfere with water-courses
or change the character of the soil, or injure the local hygienic
conditions.”
In the latter case (hygienic considerations) it was optional
with the communities to apply for Government interference,
the communal or provincial forestal council having to deter-
mine whether the application should prevail, and the com-
munity being bound to indemnity the proprietor for any
material damage that might result to him from having his
property placed under ‘forest bounds.”
Where reforestation was considered necessary, it was to be
done at the joint expense of the Government, the provinces
and the communities, and the right to seize, for reasons
of public utility, in order to replant, was given to the forestal
committee or council in each province, if the proprietor
refused to do the work himself.
Under this law there were created forestal committees in
thirteen provinces, with a yearly fund of $4,000—one-half con-
tributed by the general Government, the other half by the
province—while the Forest Department tried to promote
reforestation by giving premiums, distributing plant mate-
rial and furnishing gratis advice through its foresters; the
Government besides obligated itself to contribute two-thirds
of the cost of retorestation to the reforestation associations,
the formation of which was encouraged by the law.
Of the 76,000 acres, which were found to require reforesta-
tion for reasons of public satety, there were reforested during
twenty years, from 1867 to 1886, under this and previous laws,
22,000 acres, the Government contributing $85,000; the prov-
inces and communities, $95,000; private owners, $35,000; the
Government. had, in addition, furnished 8,000,000 plants and
260,000 pounds of seed, free of charge. This was, indeed,
slow progress, due to the absence of properly constituted
authority to advance the work.
The devastating floods of the year 1882 produced a favorable
feeling for more energetic measures, and the present law has
been the result; a law evidently drawn with care and worth
pudying by our forestry reformers in devising measures soon
to be needed here. It may certainly be considered the best
law now existing in any country, for securing the benefits re-
sulting to the community at large from a continuous forest
cover of mountainous districts, liberal in spirit to individual
owners, and yet placing the rights and welfare of the many above
the willful and regardless exercise of private property rights.
The essential feature of the law, comprising twenty-one
articles, may be briefly summed up as follows :
Article 1 declares the retorestation and *re-sodding of moun-
* The Commission which investigated the working of the French reforestation
laws for the purpose of framing this law intelligently shows the value of re-sodding
for purposes of binding the soil and regulating waterflow to be illusory. The
decision whether reforestation or re-sodding is to be resorted to, is left to the For-
est Administration.
Garden and Forest. 417
tains and dunes as a means to restore their usefulness and to
regulate mountain streams, a public and urgent necessity, to
be undertaken under the charge of the Department of Agri-
culture. A list of the territory to be reforested, with estimates
of the cost, is to be prepared by the Department, in co-opera-
tion with the Department of Public Works, and to be sub-
mitted to the owners of the land, who may make their objec-
tions to the proposed Government supervision, through the
forestal committee of the province. If the Department, with
the advice of the forest counselor and the counselor of pub-
lic works, decides for Government supervision, the land falls
under the regulation of the forest protective law of 1877,
and their reforestation and management, under Government
supervision, becomes obligatory. (Articles 2 2304s)
The owners are permitted to associate themselves in order
to undertake the work of reforestation co-operatively, and if
the owners of three-fifths of the reforestation district, with a
taxable value of at least one-half the total tax value, declare
for association, it is legally so constituted. | Yet association is
not obligatory to the owners who wish to keep out of the asso-
ciation. They must, however, share in the general work and
expenses, by which they may be benefited, or else they can
be expropriated with suitable compensation by either the
Government or the Association. This right exists also if they
do not comply on their own property with the general plans
of work. The owners in association contribute according to
the tax value of their property and so do those outside the
association for the general work—road making, binding of
torrents, etc. Such associations are to have the same rights
as associations for irrigating purposes and may borrow money
at the low interest at which the soil-credit institutions of the
State are loaning. (Articles 5 to Io.)
The Forest Department is to contribute to the extent of
three-fifths of the total expense of the work of reforesta-
tion to associations and private owners, upon the condition
that the plans for the work prepared by the Department
be followed and the work be done in the specified time.
Where the owners do not consent, or fail to do the work, the
Department has the right to expropriate under the common
law and perform the w vork alone. (Articles 11 to 16.)
The tracts thus acquired by the Government may be sold
again before or after the work of reforestation is perfected,
and the owners may reclaim their property within five years
after reforestation, by paying the price paid them, together
with the cost of work and interest on the same (Arts. 16and 17);
The plans and regulations for the reforestation and man-
agement of the reforested grounds are prepared by the For-
estry Department, to w hom, yearly, a special fund will be ap-
propriated for this work upon the basis of its report. (Arti-
cles 18 and 20.)
Article 19 allows the Department to restrict and regulate
pasturage for the purpose of securing the soil and young
growth in all mountainous districts, w vhere such regulation
seems called for, but it must pay a compensation to such
owners as they are periodically prevented from grazing their
cattle, and for any other damage in the use of their property
they may eventually suffer.
It appears, then, that while the necessity for energetic
measures is fully recognized, the law is careful to respect, as
much as possible, individual rights. Free-will is allowed to
determine the associated efforts, the Government simply
determines the method and manner of work which it subsid-
izes, and undertakes the work itself only when private interest
opposes itself to the common necessity. In Italy, as with us,
the national idea is against the State owning property, and
therefore the provision for selling the reforested area or
returning it conditionally to the former owner, while under
the French law, under similar circumstances, only a part of
the expropriated property can be reclaimed from the gov-
ernment.
The proposition to release, as in France and Switzerland,
the reforested land from taxes for thirty years was, after a
lively debate, voted down, and the contribution to the work
ot three-fifths of the cost was substituted; the more reason-
able motion, that the owners of land in the valley, who are de-
cidedly benefited by the work on the mountains, should con-
tribute towards it, was also lost.
The Department has already prepared the surveys and
working plans for forty provinces, which contain an area to
be reforested of 261 ,074 acres, at an estimated cost of $4,-
640,000, while the remaining twenty-nine provinces will in-
crease the area, it is estimated, to 534,728 acres, and the cost
to a round $12,000,000.
Thus Italy finds it necessary to tax herself in order to avert
losses and dangers which the improvident clearing of moun-
418
tain slopes has brought upon her, while we, unable to learn
from these experiences, allow the timbered lands of our pub-
lic domain situated on the western mountain-ranges to be de-
stroyed or sacrificed without adequate returns, and with the
assured effec t of i injuring the agricultural lands below, which
depend upon irrigation, and therefore upon the hydrologic in-
fluences of the forest-cover on the mountains. The failure to
provide the appropriation of a few thousand dollars for an
effective forest protective service now, will most certainly
necessitate the expenditure of as many millions tor reforesta-
tion in a not far distant future. B. k. Fernow
Washington, D.C.
Correspondence.
Foreign Plants and American Scenery.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—In GARDEN AND Forest of August Ist, page 266, the
law seems to me to have been laid down that the introduction
of foreign plants in our scenery is destructive of landscape
repose and harmony. No exception was suggested, and the
word harmony was used, if I am not mistaken, as it commonly
is in criticism of landscape painting, not of matters of scien-
tific interest; not as it the question were one of what, in mat-
ters of literary criticism, is called ‘the unities.’
That a fashion of planting far-fetched trees with little dis-
crimination has led to deplorable results, no good observer
can doubt. That these results are of such a character that we
should, from horror of them, be led, as a rule, in our land-
scape planting, to taboo all trees coming from over sea, many
of your readers will not, Iam sure, be” ready to admit, and if
no one else has yet offered to s say why, I will ask you to let me
assume that duty.
Suppose anywhere in our Northern Atlantic States an aban-
doned clearing, such as in Virginia is called an ‘ old-field ;”
suppose it to be bordered by the aboriginal forest, with such
brushwood as is natural to its glades and skirts straggling out
upon the open;—suppose that mixing with this there is a more
recent, yet well advanced, growth of trees and bushes sprung
from seed, of which a part has drifted from the forest, a part
from a neighboring abandoned homestead, while a part
has been brought by. birds from distant gardens, so that along
with the ni itives, there is a remarkable variety of trees and
bushes of foreign ancestry;—suppose a road through more
open parts of the old- field, and that on this road a man is pass-
ing who, having lately come from New Zealand (or the
moon), knows nothing of the vegetation of Europe, Asia or
North America, yet has a good eye and susceptibility to the
influences of scenery.
Now suppose, lastly, that this man is asked to point out, one
after another, so that a list can be made, trees and bushes i in
an order that will represent the degree in which they appear
to him to have an aspect of distinctiveness ; No. 1 being that
which stands out from among the others as the most of all
incongruous, er daar gis un issimilating, inharmonious and
apparently exotic; No. 2 the next so, and so on
The question, as we understand it, is essentially this:
Would all of the trees and bushes that had come of a foreign
ancestry be noted before any of the old native stock ?
Some of them surely would stand high on the list, and some
of much popularity, such as Horse Chestnut and Ginkgo and
numerous sports of trees in themselves, at least, less ob-
jectionable on this score, as, for example, Weeping Beech and
most of the more pronounced weepers ; most of the Japanese
Maples, also, and the dwarf, motley-hued and monstrous sorts
of Conifers.
But, all? or, asa rule, with unimportant exceptions? So far
from it, to our eyes, that we doubt whether, even of different
species of the same genus, the visitor would not point out
some of the native before some of the foreign—some of the
American Magnolias, for example, before any of the Asiatic.
We doubt if the European Red Bud, the Oriental Plane or the
Chinese Wistaria (out of bloom) would be selected before
their American cousins. It appears to us that Audus odoratus
would be noticed before Rubus fruticosus. Passing from the
nearer relatives, it seems to us likely, also, that many of the
European and Asiatic Maples, Elms, Ashes, Limes and
Beeches would be named a/¢er such common American for-
est trees as the Catalpas, Sassafras, Liquidambar, Tulip,
Tupelo and Honey Locust; that the American Chionanthus,
Angelica, Cercis, Ptelia, Sumachs, Flowering Dogwood, Pipe-
vine and Rhododendrons would be placed before some of
the foreign Barberries, Privets, Spireas, Loniceras, For-
sythias, Diervillas or even Lilacs. We doubt if the stranger,
Garden and Forest
[OcToBER 24, 1888,
seeing some of these latter bushes forming groups spontane-
ously» with the natives, would suspect them to be of foreign
origin, or that they would appear to him any more strange and
discordant notes in the landscape than suchcommon and gen-
erally distributed natives as have been named. We doubt i
Barberry, Privet, Sweetbriar and Cherokee Rose, which, i
parts of our country, are among the commonest wild aheubes
or the Fall Dandelion, Buttercups, Mints, Hemp Nettle and a
dozen others, which, in parts, are among the commonest wild
herbaceous plants, though it is believed all of foreign
descent, would ever be thought, by such an observer, out
of place in our scenery because of their disreposeful and in-
harmonious influence. ‘Two hundred years hence are not
Japanese Honeysuckle, ‘“ Japanese Ivy” and “ Japanese Box”
(Euonymus radicans) likely to be equally bone of our bone in
scenery ?
The forest scenery of northern Europe is distinguished
from most of ours by greater landscape sedateness. It is to
be doubted if many of the trees that come thence to us,
judiciously introduced among our own, provided they
are suited with our climate, will not often have more of a
quieting than of a disturbing influence on our scenery.
We have much ground which it is difficult and costly, with
any plants natural to it, to redeem from a dull, dreary, forlorn
and tamely rude condition. There are parts of the world
where, in ground otherwise of similar aspect, plants spread
naturally, of such a character and in such a manner, that the
scenery is made by them interesting, pleasing and stimulating
to the imagination—picturesque, in short. Heather, Broom
and Furze are such plants in the British Islands. ~It happens
that neither of these has yet flourished long with us, though it
is said that Broom appears to have gota foothold in some of
our exhausted tobacco lands. But if we cannot have these, it
does not follow that nowhere in the world are there plants
that would serve the same purpose with us. If any such
offer, should not every American give them welcome? ?> The
Woad-waxen is a plant inferior to those above named as an
element of landscape, but superior in cosmopolitan tough-
ness. Asa matter simply of scenery is such heroic settlement
as it has effected (it is often winter-killed to the ground, but
not to the root), upon the bleak, barren fells back of Salem,
as lately described in GARDEN AND FOREST, a misfortune ?
We believe that to most persons it adds (and otherwise than
through its floral beauty) much to the landscape charm of
these hills, while detracting nothing from their wildly natural
character.
Again, may we not (as artists) think that there are places
with us in which a landscape composition might be given a
touch of grace, delicacy and fineness by the blending into a
body of low, native tree foliage that of the Tamarisk or the
Oleaster, that would not be “supplied in a given situation
by any of our native trees ?
Is there a plant that more provokes poetic sentiment than
the Ivy? Is there any country in which Ivy grows with hap-
pier effect or more thriftily than it does in company with the
native Madrona, Yew and Douglas Spruce on our north-west
coast? Yet it must have been introduced there not long since
from the opposite side of the world. Would not the man
be a public benefactor who would bring us from anywhere
an evergreen vine of at all corresponding influence in land-
scape that would equally adapt itself to the climatic conditions
of our north-eastern coast ?
Imagining possibilities in this direction, let us suppose that,
from remote wilds of Central Asia or Africa, we should be offered
ap herb, or a close-growing, dwarf, woody plant like the Leio-
phyllum, as it occurs in the Carolina Mountains, that would
form a sod with a leafage never rising more than three inches
from the rootsand never failing in greenness or Elasticity, dur-
ing our August droughts. Would not the ma atting of many a
large, quiet, open space among our trees, with such a plant,
favor harmony of scenery much more than it is ever favored
by the result of the best gardening skill, aided by special fer-
tilizers, lawn mowers, rollers and automatic sprinklers, in
dealing with any of our native grasses? Such an acquisition
we may think too improbable to be considered. Butis it really
much more improbable than, 200 years ago, would have been
a prediction of the present distribution in some parts of our
country of Timothy Grass, Red Clover and Canada This-
tle, or in other parts of Bermuda Grass, Alfalfa and Japan
Clover?
Before agreeing that no addition can be made to our native
forest, except to its injury, we should consider that trees for
landscape improvement are not solely those that please sim-
ply from their fitness to merely fall quietly into harmony with
such as are already established. Trees would be of no less
OcroBER 24, 1888.]
value to us that, being adapted to our climate, would supply
elements of vivacity, emphasis, accent, to points of our
scenery, such as we see happily produced by the Upright
Cypress and the horizontally branching Stone Pine when
growing out of Ilex groves on the Me diterranean. And this is
a reminder that some scholar has said that we can form little
idea of what the scenery of Italy was in the time of Virgil
from what we see there now. This because so many trees
and plants, which were then common, have since become
rare, and because so many, then unknown, have since be-
come common. Is there reason for believing that the
primitive scenery of Italy was, on this account, more pleasing
than the present ?
The large majority of foreign trees that have been intro-
duced with us during the last fifty years, and which have prom-
ised well for a time, have been tound unable to permanently
endure the alternate extremes of our climate, but that there are
many perfectly suited with it we have abundant evidence.
Does the White Willow flourish better or grow older or larger
in any of the meadows of its native land than in ours? Was
it not under this tree that the most American of our poets
sung of the family of trees, ‘Surely there are times when they
consent to own me of their kin, and condescend to me and call
me cousin,” forgetting that, if so, it was the case of ‘‘a certain
condescension of foreigners”? How is it with the English
Elm, the Norway Maple, the Horse Chestnut? The Ailanthus,
the Paulownia, ‘the Pride of China, all introduced from Asia
within the memory of living men, are spreading as wild trees
and elbowing places for themselves in the midst of our native
forests. The Eucalypti, from Australia, have come, in thirty
years, to be a marked (not generally an agreeable) feature in
the scenery of California, ‘and while the climate of our
Atlantic coast does not quite agree with the Hawthorns, in
Oregon, notwithstanding its greatly drier summer, they seem
to be as much at home as in Kent or Surrey.
But on this point of the adaptability of many foreign trees
to flourish in American climates, only think of Peaches, Pears
and Apples. Frederick Law Olmsted.
Brookline, September, 1888.
[Mr. Olmsted’s letter should be read with the greatest
care and attention. No man now living has created so
much and such admirable landscape, and no man is better
equipped to discuss all that relates to his art. The posi-
tion which GarpEN AND Forest has taken upon the ques-
tion of composition in plantations made with the view of
landscape effect is embraced in the following sentence,
extracted from the article to which Mr. Olmsted refers :
“Tt is certain, at any rate, that combinations of plants,
other than those which nature makes or adopts, inevitably
possess inharmonious elements which no amount of
familiarity can ever quite reconcile to the educated eye
This sentence was written with special reference to the
fact that in Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, various showy
flowered garden-shrubs of foreign origin had been massed
among native shrubs growing apparently spontaneously
along the borders of a natural wood in the most sylvan
part of the park. The effect which this combination pro-
duced appeared to us inharmonious, and therefore less
pleasing than if the plantation had been confined to such
shrubs as may be found growing naturally on Long
Island in similar situations. How far the idea of
harmony in composition in landscape is dependent
upon association it is hard to say. Mr. Olmsted acknowl-
edges that trees like the Ginkgo, the Horse Chestnut and
the Weeping Beech would look out of place in an Ameri-
can landscape—that is, trees which have no prototypes in
our natural, native scenery. But would the inhabitant of
New Zealand or of the moon, whom we suppose to be
totally ignorant of the vegetation of the north temper-
ate portions of the earth’s surface, find anything to jar upon
his feelings in seeing a Weeping Willow or a Ginkgo or a
Horse Chestnut growing with and among Hickories, ‘Tu-
pelos or Sequoias, which may be taken as the three pe-
culiarly North American trees? Probably he would find the
combination an appropriate and pleasing one, and no feel-
ing of inharmoniousness would ever cross his mind. For-
eign trees with American prototypes, like the Beech,
Linn, Red-Bud, Plane, from which they can hardly be dis-
tinguished except by botanist, do not jar upon the
Garden and Forest.
419
sense of fitness when used in landscape planting here, be-
cause for all intents and purposes they are the same as
our own species, except that, as a rule, they never grow
here as vigorously ; and, therefore, are less attractive ob-
jects. ‘The European Oak, if it would grow here, might
replace the American White Oak, which it closely resem-
les anywhere, and this is true of almost every European
tree which has an eastern American representative. We
certainly did not intend to convey the idea that all Ameri-
can trees could be associated together harmoniously. One
of the broad-leaved Magnolias of the southern Alleghany
Mountains would appear as much out of place, from our
point of view, in a northern landscape, as any tree from any
foreign land could possibly do. This same Magnolia,
however, amid the broad-leaved evergreens and luxuriant
growth of the southern forests, seems to form an ap-
propriate and necessary feature of the forest scenery.
The fact that the Barberry in New England, the
Cherokee Rose, the Pride of China tree, or the Ailanthus
in the Southern States, when these plants are naturalized,
and have been familiar objects for generations, do not look
out of place in the landscape, confirms our idea that fitness
comes not from similarity or dissimilarity of form or color
or texture, but from mental association. When we have
seen certain plants growing together often enough and
long enough—that is, when ‘they have been ‘‘ adopted” by
na ture, to quote our own words—we become accustomed
to the combination. It is only new and startling combi-
nations which shock our mental susceptibilities. There is
nothing more startling (and whatever is startling can form
no part of a restful landscape) than to come upon an
Apple-tree, as one may sometimes do in parts of New Jer-
sey, growing in the midst of a thick Pine woods, and show-
ing that the land had once been tilled. But if Apple-trees
grew in our woods, and we had always seen them there,
the combination would not seem an unnatural one.
The truth is that great masters of landscape construc-
tion can combine material drawn from many climates and
many countries into one harmonious whole, but the mas-
ters of the art are not many, and the planter who is not
sure of his genius can wisely follow nature in her teach-
ings of harmony in composition. Had this reservation
been made in the article referred to, our statement that
‘all attempts to force Nature, so to speak, by bringing in
alien elements from remote continents and climates, must
inevitably produce inharmonious results,” would, perhaps,
have been less open to criticism.—Ep. ]
Notes.
Among Mr. Carman's hybrids between Rosa rugosa and
the Hybrid Perpetuals, one has nearly thornless canes, and the
foliage is clustered, remarkable in form and very dark.
The Chrysanthemum Show of the New Jersey Floricultural
Society will be held in Orange, at the Harrison Street Rink, on
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, November 7th, 8th and gth.
At a late exhibition in London were displayed flower
clusters of Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora wore than one
foot in height and almost as broad, and they were cut from
specimens “planted i in May last.
The New York Chrysanthemum Show will be held on the
corner of Broadway and Fourteenth Street, in a large tent,
properly heated. The exhibition will probably open on the
seventh of November, and continue for a week.
Experiments at the lowa Agricultural College Station seem
to prove that when infested land is plowed up in order to
bury the chinch bug, the furrow, to be effective, must be cut
six inches deep, and when the land is not too hard, an inch or
two deeper is advisable.
The City of Boston has recently acquired from the Com-
monwealth, through the Board of Harbor and Land Commis-
sioners, about twenty-four acres. of ground in the South Bos-
ton district, for the benefit of the public. It will be laid out at
once, largely with reference to its use as a playground tor
children, ‘all the central portion, or fifteen acres, being left
open for that purpose.
420
The heavy storm which passed over Washington on the
16th of September did much damage to the green- houses both
at the White House and the Botanic Garden. Many trees in
the Botanic Garden were likewise injured and three well-
known ‘memorial trees’ destroyed. The Garland Elm,
planted by the present Attorney-General, was split in two; the
Buckeye, which was transplanted a number of years ago from
the grounds of the late Vice-President Hendricks, was up-
rooted: and a Robinia, which commemorated President Gar-
field, was laid prostrate.
Professor Budd believes that alternating varieties in the
Cherry or Plum orchard favors regular fruitage. A variety
that might prove to be a very poor bearer when depending on
its own polle n supply, may be found regularly fruitful when
intermingled with other sorts. In our climate, if the weather
during the blossoming period is hot and windy, a variety may
mature and waste its “pollen before the stigmas are ready to
receive it. In such the pollen of adjoining sorts may perform
the needed work with the aid of the insects or the breeze.
The current issue of /izsect Life gives credit to W. W. Meech,
of Vineland, N. J., the well- know n author on Quinces, for
the discovery that the ways of the common beetle (A/lorhina
nitida) are not altogether bad. He found the adult beetles
eating the fungus Restilia aurantiaca upon his Quince trees.
They. even alighted upon it in the basket when he was gather-
ing the fungus, and ate it greedily. Mr. Meech says “ for this
meritorious service I desire they should have full credit as
among the insects beneficial.” This beneficial habit, however,
is more than counterbalanced by their appetite for fruit, to
say nothing of the damage done by the larva.
A correspondent of the Springfield Republican considers the
Se square miles comprised in the Annapolis and Gaspereau
Valleys of Nova Scotia destined to become one great Apple
orchard. One-tenth of this area is now planted with Apple
trees, over one-fourth of these being young trees, and from
5,000,000 to 10,000,000 barrels will be annually produced in ten
years. Under competition between American and English
buyers the Apples sell for from three dollars to five dollars
per barrel. About half a million barrels of Gravensteins, Bald-
wins, King of Tompkins, Nonpareils, Russets, Ribston Pip-
pins and other choice varieties are now produced and ex-
ported every year. The fruit is of the best quality, the trees
yield from three to seven barrels each, and trees are being
planted at the rate of from 100 to 10,000 annually on each
Apple farm.
According to the Country Gentleman, this season has been
a favorable eos in many places for heavy crops of Apples and
Pears. The s blossomed abundantly, but the fruit, when
about a qué aes grown, began to drop, to the great discourage-
ment of owners. This proved, however, the best thing that
could have happened, especially to Rhode Island Greenings,
and to the Sheldon and Lawrence among Pears. It effected
an excellent thinning of the fruit, and what remained devel-
oped into such fine specimens as are rarely seen. An expert
estimate placed the quantity of Greenings in a portion of one
orchard at forty bushels, and there afterwards proved to be
more than a hundred bushels. For an estimate of five bush-
els of Lawrence Pears there were twenty-four. The Sheldons
were superb and the Seckels large and fine. This result
could be reached any year when an abundant crop is set by
artificial thinning, without any diminution of the number of
bushels.
The government has decided to abandon and sell the
Custom-House and Sub-Treasury, on Wall Street, in this city,
because of the insufficient size of the buildings and the ereat
value of their sites. In the recent report of Mr. Kiryer, United
States Superintendent of Repairs for New York, it is recom-
mended that land for the erection of new buildings should be
taken on Battery Park, or, preferably, the Bowling Green.
Certain local newspapers have interpreted this to mean that
Mr. Fryer would like to see the buildings placed zz one or the
other of these parks, but we prefer to believe that his recom-
mendation merely refers to sites facing upon them. After all
that has been said of the deplorable lack of bre athing- “spaces
in the lower part of New York, and in face of the Mayor’s Ss wise
advice that they should be at once increased in number, it
seems preposterous that any one can seriously think of saving ©
eovernment money at the expense of any of the little parks
which now exist. ‘The outr age perpetrated by the national
authorities in placing the Post-Office where it stands, has not
yet been, and never ought to be, forgiven. And a sister build-
ing on the Bowling Green or Bz tte ry Park would never, we feel
sure, be permitted even by our long-suffering fellow citizens.
Garden and Forest.
[OcTOBER 24, 1888.
It is interesting to learn from English newspapers that Gen-
eral Prejevalsky, a distinguished Russian Ss is about to
try for the third time to reach the capital of the ‘‘ Dalai Lama”
in Thibet. Although this town—Lhassa—is only 300 or 400
miles from the frontier of India, not more than six or seven
Europeans have ever set foot in it—and of these not one is
alive to-day. The Russian general's first attempt was made
through Mongolia and occupied three years. He was then
forced to turn back when within twenty days’ journey of
Lhassa. About three years later, in 1876, he tried for the
second time, but was again unsuccessful. Now he will make
the attempt by the way of western and south-western Mon-
golia, and expects to be absent at least two years. The im-
portance of his travels to naturalists is shown by the facts that
trom his first expedition he brought back five thousand speci-
mens of plants, together with large collections of mammals,
fish and insects ; and that, taking all the collections together,
about one-fifth of his specimens were found to be new to
science. The country over which he will travel is extremely
difficult and dangerous, and many of the tribes are fanatically
hostile to Europeans. If he accomplishes his attempt, his
account of Lhassa will excite the greatest interest, and if he
returns in safety, even without reaching the capital, important
additions to scientific knowledge may be expected.
The largest and finest collection of Orchids ever offered at
public sale in this country by a nurseryman or dealer was dis-
posed of by auction at the rooms of Young & Elliott, of this
city, on Tuesday of last week. The sale included the entire
stock which Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, England,
had collected at their establishment in Jersey City, and con-
sisted of more than 1,000 lots. The total amount realized was
about $7,000, and it would have been considerably more it
the sale had been concluded. The day was too short, how-
ever, and some 200 of the lots catalogued were not reached.
Asarule satisfactory prices were obtained, but some of the
very finest Orchids sold for less than their real value. This
was true of the superb specimen of Vanda Sanderiana, which
brought only $230. The original plant of Cypripedium Boxallii
atratum, which was certificated by the Royal Horticultural
Society of England, sold for $160; Cypripedium Chantinit, Phil-
brick's variety, brought $160, and a wonderful specimen of
Cattleya Mossi@ sold for $145. Perhaps the Cypripediums,
all things considered, were sold to the best advantage. It
was noted that the bidding was quite as brisk when darkness
putanend to the sale as it was at the beginning. It was
noted, too, that a larger proportion of the plants than is
usually the case went to the trade about New York and Phila-
delphia, showing a confidence on the part of alert dealers that
the demand for Orchids, and the best Orchids, is steadily
growing in this country.
Referring to the popular idea that sulphur placed in holes
bored in the trunks of trees will be dissolved and carried
by the sap to the foliagein such quantities as to render it offen-
sive to insects, a recent Bulletin of the Massachusetts Agri-
cultural College Experiment Station says that it has been
found upon cutting down trees which have been plugged
with sulphur that the material remains unchanged for many
years. It is added that while we are spending so much effort
to prevent injury to our trees from borers we certainly ought
not to make holes in them many times larger than those made
by any known species of insect. In “order to ascertain
whether sulphur in soluble form can be introduced into a
tree so as to affect the fungus growths causing rusts, blights
and mildews, some large Rose “bushes, badly mildewed, were
treated with saturated solutions of potassium sulphide, hy dro-
gen sulphide and ammonium sulphide. The liquid was
forced into holes bored in the main stem with a small gimlet,
and the orifice was plugged with grafting-wax. At “first a
slight improvement in the amount of mildew upon the leaves
was noticed, but in September all the bushes but one were
dead, presumably from the effect of the holes. Until further
trials are made, this experiment indicates that while there may
be some promise that antiseptics introduced into the sap cir-
culation may prevent the growth of fungi, some safer means
of introducing the solutions must be found. From the nature
of the case it is hardly possible that any substance can be
introduced into the circulation in sufficient quantities to affect
insect life. Professor Maynard, who prepared the Bulletin,
suggests that an inspection be made _ next season of the Elms
in Boston which were bored and filled with chemicals last
spring to make the leaves distasteful to beetles. Careful
weighing would determine how much of the powder had
es aped ‘from the hole, and analysis could detect the presence
of any excess of sulphur in the leaves.
OcToBER 31, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFicE: TrisuNE Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by <1; <i ve, « . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Epirorrat. ARTICLES :—Autumn Work Among the Trees.—West Indian Fruit
Growing.—The Lime Tree on the South Florida Keys................ 421
The Charles River at Wellesley (with illustration) 42
GaliforniasWoodsiin AUtUMMN A isaccse aves Seawaheasine dw. L. Greene. 422
The Centennial of the Fuchsia.... .. Ed. André. 423
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter...........ceeeee cece ee W. Goldring. 424
New or Lirrce Known Prants :—Hibiscus lasiocarpus (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 425
CutturaAL DEPARTMENT :—The Cultivation of Ferns.,............0006 C.D. Ball, 425
Herbaceous Plants in Frames........ saielphlae -. +. William Falconer. 427
OT ENIGMN IO tesimeerslericecialeita.csiajeisicte ne ctx ay c.cio sv «cites metorsiniare slate Ff. Goldring. 428
Native Asters as Garden Plants...... -Arthur H. Fewkes. 428
Mg ID eWaOUt ROSES eissseicciiee sie cia\eis reels. § 803.2668 Curemeeer ens W. H. Taplin. 429
Hardy Perennials—The New Tea Rose, Madame Hoste—C
purea—The Franklinia—The Loblolly Bay.............
Tue Forest :—The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico. VIII....C G. Pringle. 429
allicarpa pur-
Pes ROLGSI SiO UeluttrOp Gani cfeicrcisie\s sleloisie"sieio-e-.0.0.0'0¢ a's qeralie ees 6 sixicinie ere sicnsnisis + 430
CoGRRESPONDENCE :—The Responsibilities of Florists—The Exhibition of the
Architectural League—Japanese Iris from Seed.............0.00000- 430
ANB Sse rtetetetateia role ala evetalays etsia(d(a olstataisia)stotatslasiecsisie x #-6'<3ip.a.a\ateietetatatemtasieasismiicie sip © cieisis iei=
ILLusTRATIONS :—Hibiscus lasiocarpus, Fig. 68. .
sbhe Gharles River at WleSle yess sa ctacesasen Fi 6 ANCOR ots aE
Autumn Work Among the Trees.
LL planting north of the latitude of this city is most
safely done in the spring. Further south the long
autumn enables trees, planted when the leaves are ripe, to
push out new roots and establish themselves before the
ground freezes. But where cold weather follows close
after the early frosts a tree planted in the autumn has no
opportunity to develop new roots, and therefore loses not
only the advantage it would have obtained in a more tem-
perate climate in an early and vigorous spring growth, but
it is forced to endure the severity of the winter without the
aid of roots in active working condition. Trees planted in
the autumn do not always die in the Northern States ; but
they are more apt to suffer than those planted in the spring;
they are often blown over unless carefully supported ; and
they are frequently heaved by the frost or thrown out of
the ground entirely. But for all the operations connected
with the planting and the care of trees, except the mere
setting them in the ground, the autumn is the right time.
All planting plans should be completed, and all stock
selected, at this season, and the ground to be planted should
be prepared and ready to receive the trees. Our springs
are so short and the rush of spring work is always so
pressing that it is impossible to properly prepare the
ground for planting unless it is done during the summer
and autumn. This is the time, therefore, when northern
planters should decide what trees they want to plant next
spring, and just where they will plant them. It is the
time to select and order nursery stock; and if the planter
has any facilities for protecting plants through the winter
in a cold cellar or pit this is the time to obtain them from
the nursery, rather than in the spring, when nurserymen
are crowded with orders, and too busy to devote proper
time and attention to digging and packing their trees. The
ground being prepared, the exact position of each plant
determined on and the plants on hand, the mere setting
them in the ground is the work of a short time. The man,
moreover, who is thus prepared beforehand for spring
planting can take advantage of the first suitable weather,
and get his plants into the ground as soon as the frost is
Garden and Forest.
421
out and it is dry enough to work; while if he waits for
material ordered in the spring, very often it will not be re-
ceived until after the trees have started to grow, and warm,
dry weather has set in. In a climate like that of our
Northern States, where summer follows hard after winter,
and where spring is almost unknown, there is no other opera-
tion of the farm or of the garden which demands more
carefully planned preparation—more forehandedness—
than tree-planting.
The autumn, too, after the leaves have begun to fall
from the trees, is the best time to study plantations with
the view of determining which trees should be removed,
and which of those which are to remain need pruning.
The actual condition of a tree—its health and shape, and
its relation to its neighbors—is best determined after the
leaves, or many of them, have fallen; and if trees are to
be marked for the axe, it should be done now, and before
really cold weather or snow makes the critical examina-
tion of each individual practically impossible. The au-
tumn, too, as has been explained in a recent issue of this
journal, is the best time for all pruning operations intended
to rejuvenate old trees or to bring unsightly ones into
shape.
The man, therefore, who has trees, should devote some
portion of these autumn days to determining how he
can improve them by thinning or by pruning, or, if he is a
planter, in deciding where his next spring’s plantations are
to be made, and what they are to be made of.
West Indian Fruit Growing.
LAR GE part of the September issue of the Kew Bul-
letin of Miscellaneous Information is devoted to the
consideration of the fruit-producing capacity of the Island
of Dominica, a subject of very great interest to Americans
in view of the immense development, in recent years, of
the tropical-fruit business in the United States and of the
probability of its much greater development in the future.
From its earliest settlement Dominica has been celebrated
for its fruit. As long ago as 1791 great quantities of
Oranges and Lemons of excellent quality were sent from
the island to England and the United States, and some of
the neighboring islands, less fortunate in natural condi-
tions, were supplied from the Orange groves of Dominica.
Sixty different fruits, indigenous and exotic, are described
as reaching perfection on the island, which ‘‘of all the
British possessions in the Lesser Antilles is now regarded
as having the best promise of the development of a large
and remunerative fruit trade, not only with the United
States and Canada, but also with Europe. The islands
lying between Dominica and the mainland of North
America, with the exception, perhaps, of the small colony
of Montserrat, are not adapted for the cultivation of most
of the tropical and sub-tropical fruits, by reason of the
droughts to which they are sometimes subject. Thus it
happens that Dominica is the nearest fruit-producing island
of the Lesser Antilles to the United States and Canada, and
it is also the nearest of the West Indian fruit islands to
Great Britain. This is an important fact in regard to the
future of the fruit trade between Great Britain and North
America and the Lesser Antilles, for with so perishable an
article as fruit even a few hours’ curtailment of an ocean
voyage means sometimes all the difference between profit
and loss. Possessing a fertile soil, unsurpassed in any
other part of the world, an abundant rainfall, and a wide
diversity of climate, owing to the mountainous nature of
the country, the capabilities of Dominica for the culture
of tropical and sub-tropical fruits can scarcely be over-
estimated.”
In spite of its natural advantages the fruit business of
Dominica is still in an unsatisfactory condition, the value
of the total fruit exports for the year 1887 having been un-
der $50,000, which is about three times, however, the
value of the export ten years before. This is due no doubt
to the want of energy and enterprise on the part of the
422
planters, who seem to. take matters very much as they find
them, and are satisfied to conduct their business as it was
done a century ago, to the neglect of modern methods and
improved varieties. ‘This is especially true of the Orange
business throughout the West Indies, which largely de-
pends for its supply of fruit upon ‘‘trees which have
grown up, in most cases accidentally, in gardens, in odd
corners of estates, and by the roadside.” That West In-
dian Oranges are as good as they are is only an indication
of the fitness of the soil and climate of the Antilles for the
production of this fruit. If half the energy and intelligence
which have been directed to the improvement and cultiva-
tion of the Orange in Florida could be given to perfecting
this fruit in islands like Dominica or Jamaica, the result
would be astonishing, both in the quality of the fruit pro-
duced and in the profits of the business. The little island
of Montserrat, now the principal centre of the Lime-juice
industry, shows how profitable tropical fruit-growing can
be made when carried on under ordinarily g good methods.
This business on the island is constantly increasing, and
has already assumed very important proportions, and
Montserrat Lime-juice is now sent all over the world.
It may be added, in this connection, that the Lime-tree now
grows spontaneously on the south Florida Keys, producing
fruit of large size and the very best quality. The climate
of these islands is better adapted to the cultivation of this
fruit on an extensive scale than it is either for Pineapples—
which, although grown there in large quantities, suffer
during cold winters, and are very inferior in quality to
those raised in the West Indies—or for Cocoanuts, which
have lately been planted largely in south Florida. The
Cocoanut, it is true, bears fruit at several places on the
Florida coast, but the fruit is small and not of first-rate
quality, and can never compete with that brought to our
markets from Honduras and other Central American coun-
tries. Lime-juice factories on Key West or on the shores
of Bay Biscayne might be made profitable investments,
and would do much to develop the resources and_ pros-
perity of southern Florida.
The Charles River at Wellesley.
HE Charles River, which pursues a very devious
course through the eastern part of Massachusetts
and empties into Boston Bay, is, of all the rivers of
New England, the one that is richest in poetical associa-
tions. ‘The Hudson, with the grandeur of which it would
be foolish to compare the humbler loveliness of the
Charles, is more widely known through prose descrip-
tions, and has not failed of its meed of poetical praise
as well. But the Charles is so intimately associated with
the lives and writings of so many poets, that even the
Hudson hardly appeals as strongly to those who know
and love the literature of our country. Our illustration is
given to show the character of the stream at a_ point
considerably removed from that where it becomes the
broad estuary so well known to every one who has vis-
ited Boston—a point where it is truly the Charles of the
poets. And the picture should have a double interest, as
revealing how much a view of this sort may gain by be-
ing set, so to say, in a frame. This particular bridge,
which serves to carry the water which supplies the City
of Boston, is not especially to be commended for archi-
tectural beauty—its curve is somewhat too widely spread
and the size of its arch-stones is hardly sufficient to give
the desirable impression of sturdiness. But it serves the
purpose of a frame for the landscape well enough ; and it
need hardly be added that effects analogous to those pro-
duced by its arch can be produced, when openings of a
less diameter are in question, by the skillful planting or
cutting of trees. Take away this frame, and we have a
pretty “bit of river, but scarcely a picture; and a picture
may be made of the simplest outlook which has any ele-
ments of beauty, either natural or artificial, by supplying
Garden and Forest.
[OcToBER 31, 1888,
a frame of the proper size and in the proper place, no mat-
ter what materials may be chosen for the purpose. Even
a rustic gateway may be so built as to serve this purpose,
and in the shaping and disposition of the windows of a .
country house results of this sort should be more often
considered than they are.
California Woods in Autumn.
LTHOUGH California lies wholly within latitudes which,
in other lands, give marked changes of the seasons,
yet here neither spring nor autumn is very definitely charac-
terized ; autumn less so than spring , if that may be called a
vernal season which begins in November or December,
comes to a halt in January, thence gradually advancing to
its perfection in April, a half year after it begins.
Between July and November the face of nature undergoes
but little change ; and only the eye of the artist or naturalist
will perceive the transition to autumn. The Dahlias, the
China Asters and the late Chrysanthemums are in the gar-
dens, blooming at the right season, too, and these give a little
of the autumnal aspect to village and home, especially where
late autumn fruits are ripening on the trees, and eastern Elms
and Maples, planted along the streets, are shedding the yel-
low or brown leaf. But out among the hills it is scarcely so.
The native trees, even to the Oaks, are chiefly evergreen ;
and even such Oaks a are really deciduous retain their foli-
age in full color until the dark rainy days of December, bar-
ing their gray trunks and branches not until the ground be-
neath and around them is bright green with fresh growing
grass like that of spring.
There are, nevertheless, some autumnal wild flowers in
California ; and even a few trees whose altered foliage im-
parts, in September, an autumnal aspect to the tree- clad
slopes of all mountainous and hilly districts. Wherever, in
the near or distant landscape, a patch of deep yellow comes
out in contrast with the dark but vivid green of Oaks and
Bays, one knows it must be a clump of the native Maple (Acer
macrophyllum) ; a tree distinguished from all others of its
genus by the uncommon size “of its leaves, which, in Califor-
nia, are half a foot broad on thrifty trees, in Oregon even
larger. It nowhere makes upa forest, or evena small grove,
by itself; only two or three in a place, or, at most, an inter-
rupted succession of them, ranging up and down the course
of a ravine or brook, are what one sees of this species in its
native wilds. The foliage ripens and turns to yellow long in
advance of the earliest frosts, so that before the equinox ‘it is
in its richest and decidedly autumnal ¢ garb.
In the higher Sierra only, and chiefly toward the northern
boundaries of the State, occurs a smaller Maple (Acer gla-
rum), the leaves of which acquire an almost crimson hue as
the autumn days advance ; but this species is never met with
in the more settled, western regions of California, with which
we are concerned. The only red leaves here are those of
the Wild Grape (Vitis Californica) and of the everywhere too
prevalent Poison Oak (Aus diversiloba). This last is alto-
gether distinct from its east American analogue, having
foliage of firmer texture and more rounded outline. In its
autumnal dress it is truly beautiful, but this is taken on, at
least in some parts of the country, as early as August, before
we begin to think of the fall of the year. The same is true
of another small deciduous tree, the native Horse Chestnut
(4&sculus Californica), whose fading leaves of yellow and red-
brown are sufficiently autumn-like, in whatever more elevated
districts they do not fall before the end of summer.
With Asters and Golden Rods, Pacitic North America is not
well furnished. . In the western parts of California we have
but two or three species of each; and the most common
of the Golden Rods (Solidago Californica) is almost gone be-
fore the autumnal days begin. One of the Asters (4. radu-
Jinus), a white-flowered, low species, with a simple flat-topped
corymb crowning the leafy stalk, is met with along the bor-
ders of roads and thickets, but scarcely elsew here. This also
comes near being a summer flower; but it is in pretty con-
dition in the early part of September. The blue-flowered
species (A. Chilensis) is taller and more showy, quite like some
of the eastern Asters, and it flowers quite late, growing chiefly
in low, half marshy erounds, not far back from. “the sea.
The characteristic autumnal wild flowers of California are —
the various species of Madia and Hemizonia, known in every- —
day life by the not very promising appellation of Tar Weeds.
With an abundant resinous hairiness, such as most of the
kinds are invested with, they are not pleasant plants to handle
or to walk among; but they g grow in masses, on open hill-sides,
OCTOBER 31, 1888.]
by streamlets in the woods, in stubble fields by acres, their
white or yellow flowers giving color to miles of territory, but
only in the early part of the day; for their broad and handsome
rays, at least those of most species, wither like the corollas of
Morning Glories, or Four O’Clocks, as soon as the sun is in
mid-sky. The tallest species (Vadia elegans) is a strikingly
showy, Coreopsis-like plant, altogether neat and graceful,
however offensive its tar-like stickiness is to the touch. The
rays, one inch long and deeply three-lobed, are of a lively
yellow, with a velvety red base. The heads are borne loosely
and somewhat pendently at the ends of slender, almost leat-
less branchlets, the main stem standing six feet high or more.
No lover of things beautiful can fail to admire the uncommon
grace and coloring of this Madia, as it lightens up the
roadsides and banks of streams through miles of mountain
forests.
Afar from the fields and waysides, in deep mountain shades,
where, after the drought of more than half a year, the stream-
lets are still flowing, one may find in October fine masses of
flowers and ferns; not strictly autumnal plants, yet such as, at
least, have the faculty of putting forth just now a second and
a truly autumnal display of color. Such are two or three
species of Mimulus. We shall find no scarlet to match that of
the Lobelia of eastern brook-sides, but the A@mulus car-
dinalis is scarcely inferior to that; and the banks of AfZimudlus
inodorus, often two feet high, and seeming like an overgrown,
large-flowered and scentless Musk Mimulus, are a charming
sight.
“Another plant, one of the Saxifrage tribe (Boykinta occiden-
talis), with most elegant foliage and loose panicles of white or
pinkish flowers, lingers in bloom from June until October.
Here, too, the brilliant pendants of Euonymus and the large
red globes of Cornel berries (Coraus Nuétal/ii), and the fall-
ing acorns of the California evergreen Chestnut Oak, all
blend their sweet influences, and make us feel that, even in
California, there are autumnal days. Edw. L. Greene.
Oakland, Cal.
The Centennial of the Fuchsia.
= there is one plant which has reached the maximum of
popularity it is certainly the Fuchsia. Every one knows
this charming shrub, with its highly-colored flowers. In
winter one finds it in the green-houses; it decorates our
homes in spring, and in summer it adorns our gardens, and
it may be seen in every window.
It is just a century since the first Fuchsia (Fuchsia coccinea)
was introduced into Europe. Since that time travelers in the
mountains of tropical America have discovered numerous
varieties and. brought back specimens. A. De Candolle, in
the “ Prodromus,’ mentions twenty-six species, which number
was increased to forty by Dietrich in his “ Syzopsis Plantarum.”
Now there are fifty distinct species known.
As tothe number of varieties which are the result of the cross-
ing of these species it is impossible to get even an approximate
idea. Mr. Porcher, in the fourth edition of his work on
Fuchsias, published in 1874, describes or mentions more than
joo varieties, selected trom the most beautiful. Few plants
lend themselves so readily to hybridization. We cannot dis-
cuss these varieties here, as it would require a volume to
mention them even, but it may be interesting for some of
our readers to know the primitive type of the varieties which
they cultivate, or, at least, the groups to which they belong.
We shall briefly summarize, therefore, the different Scorer
under which Fuchsias have been arranged, with a short de
scription of the species which have been introduced.
De Candolle adopts the following classification :
FIRST SECTION,
Calyx-tube cylindrical or obconical, narrowed above the
ovary ; leaves opposite, verticalate or rarely almost a!ternate ;
ovules in two ranks in each cell.
1. Breviflore.—Tube of the corolla as long as or shorter
than the lobes, stamens included.
2. Macrostemonee.—Tube of the corolla as long as or shorter
than the lobes.
3. Longifiore.—Tube of the corolla two or three times as
long as the lobes.
SECOND SECTION,
Tube gibous at the base below the ovary; ovules minute,
grouped without order about a central placenta; leaves
alternate.
_ This section included a single species only, & excorticata,
when De Candolle published his monograph.
Garden and Forest.
423
FIRST SECTION.
1. Breviflores.—This group is composed of species with
small flowers, nearly all of which are in cultivation.
I, CULTIVATED SPECIES.
F. microphylla, a handsome shrub, with numerous devari-
cate branches and abundant small red flowers.
F. lycioides, one of the first species introduced. Brought
from Chili by Menzies about 1796, and now rarely cultivated.
F. thymifolia, a species near /. microphylla, trom which it
may be distinguished by its nearly entire pubescent leaves
and by its greenish sepals.
F. bacillaris, a dwarf species, with bright rose-colored
flowers, the petals broad in comparison with the sepals.
FF. cylindracea, with cylindrical flowers.
F. acinifolia, with very small leaves.
1840, and now lost from gardens.
II. Species NOT INTRODUCED.
F. tetradactyla, Guatemala.
F. Notaristi, Mexico.
£. spinosa, Chili.
2. Macrostemone.—In this group, which has few representa-
tives, there are a small number of species in cultivation.
I, CULTIVATED SPECIES.
F. Magellanica (fF. macrostemma, Ruiz and Pay.), first in-
troduced under the name of / coccinea. Several forms of
this plant have been described by different botanists as species,
and have been introduced into cultivation. Among them are
F. conica, so named on account of the shape of the calyx; /
globosa, named from the shape of the flower buds. Accord-
ing to Don, this variety was raised from the seed of /. conica.
It is possible, if this plant is only a variety, that it was ob-
tained accidentally, although it is certainly found ina state of
nature. Some authors are of the opinion that it is a native
of Chili, and I have found it myself in May, 1876, in New
Grenada. It is the only form of /. Magellanica that I saw
growing wild. There is reason to believe, therefore, that itis
not a hybrid, and the fixity of its characters will cause it to be
considered, perhaps, a species. /. discolor, F. gracilis, and
its variety, /. decussata, F. recurvata, I. araucaria, are also
considered to be spontaneous varieties of /. Magellanica.
The hybrids of these varieties obtained by cultivation are
now innumerable.’ To this section also belong /. coccinea, a
Brazilian species (Botanical Magazine, t. 5,740), which was for
a long time confounded with /. Magellanica ; F. arborescens,
which looks like almost anything rather than a Fuchsia; F.
racemosa and F. syring@flora, varieties of this species, which
is a native of Mexico; / alpestris, a Brazilian species, with
large leaves and inconspicuous flowers, rare; F. peniculator,
near F. arborescens, was introduced from Guatemala in 1856,
and is rarely seen in cultivation.
II. Species NOT INTRODUCED.
F. ovalis, of Peru; F. pubescens, Brazil; &. integrifolia , ©.
radicans, Brazil; F. verrucosa, New Grenada.
Ill. Longifiores.—A group containing the largest number
of species, most from the north-western part of South
America, and corresponding to Endlicher’s sub-genus
Fuchsia.
Introduced about
I. SPECIES IN CULTIVATION,
F. corymbifiora, a species with large leaves and terminal
clusters of dark red flowers. There is a variety with white
flowers. ; ;
F. Boliviana, a species near the last, and introduced into
England about a dozen years ago, and about which little is
known. ; ; ; :
F. fulgens, a showy Mexican species, with denticulate leaves
and long vermilion-colored flowers hanging from the extrem-
ity of the branches. ' ;
F. dependens, near F. corymbifiora, but with smaller leaves
in fours. ;
F. apetala, a species with apetalous flowers, less known
than the following. ;
F. merantha, discovered in Peru by Mathews, and by Lobb
in Colombia, who sent it to Europe. Its flowers, without
petals and with a very long, dark-reddish purple calyx, are very
beautiful; unfortunately the plant is delicate. f
LF. petiolaris (FF. miniata, Planchon and Linden), a native of
New Grenada, with axillary flowers with a purple vermilion
‘calyx and small red petals.
F. bensta, a species near the last, with vermilion-orange
undulate petals; discovered by Humboldt and Bonpland, in
New Grenada.
424
£. serratifolia, a handsome shrub, with bright, rose-colored
axillary flowers. This species, a native of Peru, has furnished
our gardens with many varieties.
L. spectabilis, introduced from Ecuador about 1848; distin-
guished by the length of its reddish-purple calyx tube. The
spreading petals are vermilion.
L”, splendens,a Mexican species, with the reddish-purple calyx
tube contracted at the base, with green sepals ‘and yellowish
petals. .
£. cordifolia, discovered in Guatemala by Hartweg, who in-
troduced it into Europe. Near /. sflendens, from which it
may be distinguished by its cordate leaves and longer
flowers.
fF. pendulifora, a recent introduction; the flowers in axil-
lary and terminal clusters; the calyx-tube crimson flushed
with chestnut.
L, sessilifolia, a handsome shrub with long racemes of pen-
dulous flowers, and with oblong-lanceolate, sessile leaves; a
native of Colombia.
fF. simplicicaulis, a species near L. corymbiflora and F. de-
pendens ; calyx-tube bright rose-colored ; petals scarlet.
Lf. triphylla, the oldest species of Fuchsia known ; flowers
axillary and in terminal clusters of a uniform scarlet; leaves
in threes.
F. caracaseelsis (F. nigricans), is no longer in cultivation.
F. ampliata,a superb Peruvian species, with large, ver-
milion flowers.
I]. SPECIES NOT INTRODUCED.
LI. confertifolia, Peru; F. Hartwegi, near Huambia; &
hortella, Colombia; F. sylvatica, Ecuador; F. umbrosa,
Ecuador ; /. canescens, Colombia and Peru; /. seabrinscula,
Peru; /. agavacensis, Peru; /. ampliata, superb species of
Peru; &. guindiensis, Quindio; F. longiflora, Andes of Q.,
rare, beautiful species to introduce; /. loxrensis, Peru; F.
corollata, Colombia, a very ornamental plant ; / curviflora,
Colombia; /. denticulata, Peru; F. memlezanacea, Caracas ;
&. salicifolia, Peru.
SECOND SECTION,
In this section, for a long time, one species only was
known; it was cultivated under the name of © excorticata.
Its strange Hower was more peculiar than attractive, and it
has been almost entirely dropped. To this species another
has since been added under the name of /& procumbens, also
interesting solely on account of its peculiarity. These two
species are natives of New Zealand. An intermediate form
between &. excorticata and F. procunibens, also found in New
Zealand, and called by Hooker / Colensoz, had not been in-
troduced, This last Fuchsia concludes the list of known
species.
In traversing the mountains of South America, pre-emi-
nently the country of Fuchsias, [ met with a number of these
species, and was able to secure numerous specimens,
amounting to twenty-two varieties. Sixteen had been gath-
ered by travelers before me, two are new, and four cannot
be decided upon, as the specimens are incomplete.
My new species are (1) /. vudcanica. Branches, leaves and
peduncles covered with short, thick, white, bristly pubes-
cence. Branches rounded with short segments, sessiles, or
nearly sessiles, leaves, in threes or fours, elliptical or obovate,
abruptly pointed, sparsely toothed, flowers few, solitary,
axillary ; peduncles short; ovary oblong, calyx red (?) bristly,
especially in the young flowers, tube slightly curved, gradually
enlarging from the base to the summit; lobes oval-triangular-
acuminate; corolla glabrous, bright cherry-red, petals rounded,
a third shorter than the sepals, stamen and style exserted.
Volcano of Azufral (Colombia).—This Fuchsia is related to
f. ampliata by the character of its flowers, but differs from
it in a remarkable pubescence, perhaps unique among
Fuchsias, and by its sessile leaves and by many other cha rac.
ters. (2) /. scherffiana.—Rounded branches, delicately bristled,
leaves opposite or alternate, petiole with short bristles, full
grown blade lanceolate—oblong, acuminate, very obscurely
toothed, scilliate, with short bristles on the midrib and second-
ary ribs of the upper side, and on the midrib of the under
side; almost glabrous elsewhere. Flowers few, solitary
axillary ; peduncles slender, covered, like the oblong ovary,
with a few short hairs. Calyx almost glabrous, ovary red,
tube narrow and cylindrical from its base for a third of its
length, then gradually enlarged and again cylindrical ; lobes
oval-lanceolate, long-pointed; corolla, scarlet; petals, oblone-
elliptical ; the point round cuspidate, a little shorter than the
calyx. Stamens and style exserted.
An intermediate species between F. fetiolaris and F.
triphylla, distinguished from the first by its very elongated
Garden and Forest.
(OCTOBER 31, 1888.
leaves with rather short petioles, its oblong ovary, its smaller
sepals and its glabrous petals without hairs; and from /
triphylla by its more elongated leaves and its flowers, which
are few, larger and not in clusters at the ends of the
branches.
The sight of the beauty of these flowers as they grow in
their native land awakened the desire in me to see them more
widely cultivated. By new crossings of wild species, inter-
esting hybrids would certainly be- obtained, and old varieties,
of which the characters always turn in about the same circle,
would be rejuvenated. Ed, André, in Revue Horticole.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
S autumn advances the fortnightly gatherings of the
A Royal Horticultural Society become more and
more confined to open-air flowers; and hot-house plants
and flowers, especially Orchids, are fewer at each meet-
ing. At last Tuesday’s show the flower exhibits consisted
mainly of Dahlias, which were represented by every class,
and made a brilliant display. To these were added a mag-
nificent group of hybrid Cannas from Messrs. Cannell,
about which I wrote some time since; some excellent late
Roses from the Waltham Cross roseries ; a large and most
interesting group of Pitcher plants (Vepenthes) from Mr.
B.S. Williams ; and a marvelous array of that splendid
bulbous plant, Nerine Fothergili major, from the garden
of Baron Schroeder, which is as famous for its Nerines as
for its Orchids. Fruits are, of course, one of the predomi-
nating features of the autumn meetings, and on this occa-
sion Messrs. Veitch exhibited a fine collection, rich in va-
rieties of Plums, Apples, Pears, Figs and other fruits,
which proved a great attraction.
The certificated flowers and plants were more plentiful
than usual, most of them being new sorts of Dahlias, chiefly
of the show and fancy classes. I will not attempt to de-
scribe them fully, that being nearly impossible, as they differ
so slightly from each other and from older sorts, while their
tints are in most cases so subtle that one cannot invent
terms for them. Ofthe true show and fancy types, the large
and globular flowers with shell-like florets arranged with
aultless symmetry, a large number were considered worthy
of certificates of the first class. Of these Mr. Turner, the
famous Dahlia raiser and grower at Slough, sent the fol-
lowing: Maud Fellowes, white florets tipped with purple ;
Admiration, crimson tipped with white; Hugo, crimson ;
Agnes, rich yellow. From M@hother raiser came John
Cooper, a large and superbly shaped flower, buff flaked
with purple. The well-known Dahlia growers, Messrs.
Keynes, of Salisbury, secured a certificate for their Mat-
thew, an orange-yellow flower. The Pompon or Bouquet
class was represented by numerous new sorts. Mr, Tur-
ner’s certified sorts were: Vivid, scarlet; Juliette, pale
yellow tipped with bright red; and Lothair, orange-red
and crimson ; while Messrs. Keynes showed Little Ethel,
white ; Little Darkie, maroon crimson (almost black) ;
Whisper, yellow tipped with buff; Eurydice, purple tipped,
with pink florets. ‘The Juarezii, or Cactus flowered section,
which is perhaps at the present time the most popular
class of Dahlias among us, was represented by some new _
sorts of distinct and sterling merit, but only two were con-
sidered worthy of certificates. These were both from
Messrs. Keynes; their names being Honora, a large
flower of a bright, clear yellow; and Panthea, a deli-
cate shade of buff yellow. Most numerous of all the
classes, because so easily raised, is the single Dahlia, of
which there was an endless array of new sorts submitted.
The committee, however, do not award certificates for
single flowers, except in special cases, because there are
already in cultivation such a multitude of really fine kinds
of all colors. The only sort certificated on this cccasion
was one called Lady Montefiore, a finely shaped flower
with broad, flat florets of a clear yellow tipped with
crimson.
“cession.
OcTOBER 31, 1888.]
Among other plants certificated was Geoffrey St. Hi-
laire, shown by Messrs. Veitch, one of the finest of a new
race of hybrid Cannas which has been brought into notice
recently. It has broad and large leaves of a rich, dark,
vinous purple tint, while the massive spike of large
flowers is of a brilliant orange-scarlet. It is one of
the finest of those recently exhibited. When well grown
it is fully five feet high, and makes a stately, fine-foli-
aged plant, and, like the others, flowers for weeks in suc-
A second Canna certificated was that named
Paul Bert, shown by Messrs. Cannell, of Swanley, It is
not such a fine variety as the last named, but its brilliant
scarlet-crimson flowers, borne on large spikes, were very
effective. It is a fitting companion to the several new
varieties for which Messrs. Cannell have won certificates
this season. There is, without question, a bright future
for this new race of stove and green-house plants, which,
in a warm and dry climate, would flourish out-of-doors.
Nerine excellens, a bulbous green-house plant of great
beauty, was worthily certificated. It is a near relative of
N. flexuosa, a delicate growing kind with wavy petals,
whereas the flowers as well as the trusses of N. excel/ens
are larger and are of a soft rose pink barred with crimson
red. It is as easily grown as the rest of the Nerines.
A Himalayan Lily, Litum Wallichianum, came, as did
the Nerine, from Mr. Ware’s nurseries. It is an old and
tolerably well known Lily, but not of the highest merit,
inasmuch as it is capricious under culture. It is. not
hardy enough for open air culture exclusively, yet
it dislikes artificial warmth. The flower itself is beauti-
ful, being about eight inches long, with a slender tube
and a wide-spreading mouth. The sepals are of ivory
whiteness, but the tube is greenish. - It grows about
a yard high, and each slender stem bears a solitary, fragrant
flower. It is a Lily for specialists ; not for general culture.
A very handsome Composite from Colorado, As/er
Townshend, or. as it is also called, A. Bigelovi, proves
itself one of the finest of all our hardy Michaelmas Daisies,
and the committee did right in stamping it with a certifi-
cate of merit, though it can scarcely be called a new plant,
having been in English gardens for over a dozen years.
It has flowers about two inches across, with a broad, yel-
low disc, and long, narrow ray florets of a bright purple.
It blooms very freely, numerous flowers being borne on
the slender stems, which rise about two feet high. It is,
with us, a true, hardy perennial of the highest merit.
Another Composite, also a hardy, herbaceous perennial
from Mr. Ware, was certificated. ‘This was a semi-double
variety of the now well known Harpalum rigidum, a North
American plant, one of the finest hardy perennials we have.
The new kind (named Semi-plenum) has large flowers, with
the florets so much multiplied as to appear to make a
double flower. It is quite as vigorous and as free flower-
ing as the type, while the yellow is brighter.
The last certificated novelty was a narrow-leaved form
of the common garden Beet, named McGregor’s Favorite.
The leaves. are about an inch broad by six inches long,
and of a deep, bronzy crimson.. The habit of growth is
tufted, and not so coarse as that of the common edible
Beet. It was certificated purely as an ornamental plant,
as it is thought that it will be useful for the flower garden,
especially in working out designs.
Among the other exhibits, the most noteworthy was a
fine group of hardy shrubs from the Messrs. Veitch, which
comprised such choice things as Crafegus Pyracantha
Lelandei, with branches thickly laden with scarlet berries,
brighter and more numerous than in the old kind;
Berberis Thunbergi, which, however, was not shown
in fine condition, the berries being few and the bushes not
in vigorous health ; Daphniphyvllum glaucescens viridis, a
variety with greener leaves than the type and quite as
handsome. Among the cut Roses were blooms of such
lovely sorts as The Bride, Sunset, Papa Gontier (which
has at length reached us from America), Grace Darling,
Grand Mogul, Lady Mary Fitzwilliam and Madame Gui-
Garden and Forest.
425
noisseau, all of which are new or little known sorts that
carry excellent autumn flowers.
Mr. B. S. Williams’ group of Pitcher plants represented,
for the most part, the pretty hybrids raised some years
ago by Mr. Taplin in New Jersey. These are at once re-
cognized by their small, neatly shaped pitchers, generally
highly colored, and always borne in profusion. Those
named Williamsi, Hibberdii, Amabilis, Morgania and
Henryana are typical of this fine hybrid race, and are
becoming quite popular in English hot-houses, being so
much more easily grown than other Pitcher plants.
Goldring.
r
London, September 30th. W.
New or Little Known Plants.
Hibiscus lasiocarpus.
HE present figure represents one of a group of tall,
large flowered American species of Hibiscus, which
have been somewhat confused. Their distinguishing
characters, as they have been defined by Dr. Gray, con-
sisting mainly in difference of pubescence and color, are
such as cannot well be shown in an illustration, so that
our figure might be referred nearly as well to any one of
the species as to another.
The swamp Rose-mallow, AH. Moscheu/os, is the most
common of these, being found through the eastern United
States, more frequent in brackish swamps and near the
coast, from New England and Lakes Erie and Ontario to
Florida and eastern Texas. Its pubescence is wholly
fine, dense tomentum, without any villous hairs, the upper
surface of the leaves being nearly-or quite glabrous. The
flowers are white or rose-color, with or without a crimson
base, and the capsule is glabrous or nearly so. The
leaves are ovate to lanceolate and acuminate, rounded at
base or somewhat heart-shaped, the larger ones usually
three-lobed.
H, inmcanus is very similar, but has sulphur-yellow
flowers with a crimson base, and the leaves appear to be
mostly ovate-lanceolate. It is found in the swamps of
South Carolina and thence to Florida and Alabama, but it
has been very rarely collected. Its distinctness from Z.
Moscheutos and from the following species was recog-
nized by Dr. Gray from specimens cultivated last season
by Mr. Meehan.
Hf. lasiocarpus has its leaves nearly equally tomentose
on both sides, or rather more coarsely so on the upper
surface, and the bracts of the involucre are ciliate. The
capsule also is more or less densely hirsute. The leaves
are, perhaps, more frequently cordate at base than in H,
Moscheutos, but the flowers are of the same color. This
species ranges from the coast of Georgia to Louisiana
and southern Illinois and westward. The extreme west-
ern form (var. occidentalis, Gray ; H. Californicus, of Kel-
logg), of Chihuahua and the swamps bordering the rivers
of California, differs merely in the leaves being more uni-
formly heart-shaped at base, and the capsule pubescent
rather than hirsute. This is the form which is represented
by Mr. Faxon in our illustration. Rene
Cultural Department.
The Cultivation of Ferns.
PiERNS are propagated by the spores or seed and in
some varieties by division of the plant itself; while
with others, such as many of the Davallias and some
other varieties that produce creeping rhizomes, the run-
ners are pegged down and allowed to root, when they can
be easily separated from the parent plant. A few others,
Aspleniums especially, form small bulbils along and at the
end of the fronds, which can be removed and rooted, or can
be rooted first and afterwards separated. Those varieties that
produce spores freely and can be readily increased in this
way, are by far the most valuable to the commercial grower,
and as the great bulk of our Ferns are so propagate d, I shall
speak of this method only. Nearly all the Adiantums, the
Pteris, Onychiums, etc., the Ferns most useful for florists’
work, can be quite easily propagated in this way. Yet the
426 Garden and Forest. [Ocrorer 31, 1888.
\ \Y
FP
Fig. 68.—Hibiscus lasiocarpus.—See page 425
work is rather tedious, requiring care and labor, and many
disappointments may be experienced. The collection of the
spores at the proper time is the first and all-important matter.
This can only be done by close and frequent examination of
the fronds—the dark color of the sori, and, if closely examined,
the bursting of the sporangia or cases containing the spores,
will indicate when they are ripe and fitto remove. The fronds
should then be cut and carefully wrapped in smooth wrapping
paper, placing the packages in some warm, perfectly dry
place. After a week or so the spores will have shed, when
they should be sifted clean, and either sown immediately or
stored away in tightly corked vials until ready for use. The
sooner they are sown the better, however, as those of many
varieties soon lose their vitality.
-OCTOBER 31, 1888.]
I would recommend spring and autumn as the best times to
sow most varieties of Fern spores—those sown in the early
fall will make plants for spring and summer sales, while the
spring sowing will make stock for fall and winter. Some
rapid growing kinds, such as Prer/s tremula, should be allowed
two or three months’ less time, otherwise they will become
too large for use. The soil used should be about three parts
peat or leaf mould, two parts loam and one of sand; this
should be sifted fine and then baked, so as to destroy any
insects or other seeds that are sure to be in the soil, which, if
allowed to grow, would soon crowd out the minute Fern
plants.
Shallow pans, six inches square and two inches deep, are
preferable to anything else. When the time for sowing ar-
rives, the pans should be prepared by placing a thin layer of
broken pots or charcoal in the bottom for drainage. They
should then be filled with the prepared soil and the surface
Atter thoroughly saturating the soil
pressed firm and even.
(
leg i,
Garden and Forest.
427
close for a week or so after being potted and should never be
allowed to become dry. After this first potting I use soil of
about two parts peat, three parts loam and one of sand. It is
not sifted now, but thoroughly mixed and chopped sufficiently
fine for use. A certain portion of peat is preferable, yet when
this cannot easily be procured, light fibrous loam and sand
will answer very well ; when Ferns are wanted for the fronds,
it is really better than lighter soil. The fronds will be harder
and keep better after being cut.
When once established in thumb pots the Ferns are com-
paratively safe, and the care is merely a matter of potting on
as larger plants are required. Starving for want of a larger
pot will seldom kill them; they can be kept along time, if
necessary, in this condition, and then, if shifted on, will
start ahead immediately and make the best kind of stock in a
very short time.
Established plants should be allowed plenty of fresh air and
water when the weather will permit, keeping the houses well
wig
|
m
The Charles River at Wellesley.—See page 422.
with water the spores must be lightly dusted over the surface,
This one watering before sowing will generally be sufficient
until the green scum, denoting the first stage of growth, ap-
pears, especially if the pans are placed an inch or so apart in
the rows, so as to leave space for watering between. Water-
ing overhead should not be practiced if it can be avoided
during the earlier stage of growth. After planting the pans
are arranged in a close, well shaded frame. They should be
kept close until the pan is covered with the mossy looking
growth, the sash being raised only a little every day to permit
a change of air. If the weather should be wet and hot, more
air should be admitted; fungus and damp must be prevented,
if possible, and, as growth advances, more air should be
admitted until the time arrives when it will be necessary to
close the sash only during the sunny and dry part of the day,
and then only partly. The plants must never be allowed to
get dry, but should be kept moist, although not too wet.
When large enough, my custom is to transplant small clumps
into other pans. This is done as a precaution against damp
and fungus; when crowded together they will damp off very
easily, and, besides this, many plants will be crowded out.
The transplanting causes some trouble, but it pays, for, when
less crowded, the young Ferns make much better headway.
When sufficiently rooted, individual plants should be sepa-
rated and transplanted again into pans and should be left
there until well enough rooted to pot off into thumb pots.
For the first potting the soil should be about the same as
that prepared for the seed. The young plants should be kept
shaded during the warm months of the year. In winter much
less water and no shading is required. If kept too close and
dark, then the condensation of the moisture in the house will
cause the foliage to damp.
This applies only to those easily cultivated varieties of Ferns
that are grown in large quantities to supply the store trade
Some of the choicer kinds—those that can only be propa-
gated by division, for instance—require far more careful hand-
ling.
Adapted from an addressat the Florists’ Convention, by C. D. Batt, Holmesburg, Pa
Herbaceous Plants in Frames.
MONG what are known and grown as hardy herbaceous
perennials are many kinds of plants that had better be
wintered in cold-frames than trusted to the uncertainties of
the weather in open borders. Some of these, for instance
Lobelia fulgens and Pentstemon Hartwegi, are not quite
hardy here ; others, as Hedleborus niger and Cyclamen Euro
peum, although hardy enough, can only be enjoyed when
grown under cover of houses or frames where we can have
their blossoms clean and perfect; and althotigh Axemone
Faponica and Verbena venosa can be mulched with sufficient
care to protect them from any injury by frost, it is much less
trouble to lift the roots that are needed and save them ina
cold-frame. Tritomas and Pampas Grass, too, may be
mulched with dry Oak leaves deep enough to exclude any
frost from the soil; but here again there is a danger that
water may collect around the crowns of the plants and rot
4a
423
them, and it is safer to lift them with good balls of earth, and
keep them in cold-frames or pits. Wallflowers, Hollyhocks
and Canterbury Bells are among the commenest flowers in
European gardens, but rare in ours because they are not quite
hardy True, with a mulching of dry leaves we may preserve
them fairly well, and it sometimes happens that they sur-
vive the winter unprotected ; but in order to preserve them
surely and in good condition the frame must be re-
sorted to, especially in the case of Canterbury Bells. The
place in which a plant is growing in the garden often has a
ereat deal to do with its hardiness. Double-tlowered Dais
and Primula Faponica, for example, growing in open, exposed
situations, would probably be winter-killed, whereas if grown
in somewhat sheltered places, as in the neighbor hood ot light-
rooting shrubs, they. would be hardy enough. But in any
case the frame is the safest place for them. In ill-kept gar-
dens and in wild places many plants will survive the w inter
that bd ie surely perish in prim, well-kept gardens. In
neglected gardens, after the gloy of summer is over, the
plants are Sisveemnded and the weeds allowed to grow; the
old stems are not cut over from the Paonias, Larkspurs, Ve-
ronicas or Pentstemons, and when the tree-leaves fall they
gather and compact themselves around these plants, and are
there retained by the stems, broken and bent over them by
the winds. This is the best and most natural protection, for
the stems arising from the crown of the plant prevent the
leaves from becoming a solid, wet mat over the crown in
winter. This is the way wild plants are preserved. But in
tidily-kept gardens w he re an accumulation of dead stems and
loose tree-leaves is not toler rated, the hardy plants, after be-
ing cut over, must be mulched with a dressing of rotted man-
ure, ora thin layer of thatch or sedge, while Santolinas, Acan-
thuses, scarlet Anemones, Gibraltar Candytuft, AZyosotis dissi-
tiflora, Helianthus multiflorus, Alstrcemerias, young Snap-
dragons, Stokesia cyanea, herbaceous Erythrina, Senecio pul-
cher, Salvia Pitcheri, Libertias and Zauschneria, and all others
of whose pertect hardiness there is any question, should be
removed to cold-frames.
These fraines should be in a warm, sunny, sheltered part
of the garden, and on slightly rising ground, With a south or
south-east facing slope, so situated as “to drainage that no wa-
ter can lodge about them or run towards them. For such
frames pine plank or hemlock boards are best; spruce rots
out inacouple of years. As hemlock warps and slive rs; the
upper board all around should be pine plank, and under that
hemlock will answer. Pine cross-bars drilled along the
middle should be used for the sashes to rest on. The three-
by-six-feet sash is the best and handiest made, and for this
sash the frame should be five feet nine inches wide inside;
this allows asolid rest for the sash, and the water can run
off without wetting the frame. For ordinary use a cold-frame
bm 1 A :
need not be deep, twenty inches at the back and ten inches in
but even this should not all be
front is a serviceable depth ;
above the ground lev el—twelve inches at the back and six
inches in front is high enough above the outside level, and
even then the frame should be banked up solid to the top
with earth or ashes to keep all snug and warm. The more
pitch the frame contains, the better will it shed the water and
the warmer will it be in winter,
In filling these frames plant thickly, keeping the tall-grow-
ing and evergreen plants towards the back, and the low-
erowing ones near the front, and use light rather than rich
soil, This is merely a winter store-house, and nota place to
encourage growth and blossoms, as is the case with frames
tilled with Pansies, Primroses, Forget-me-nots, Crown Ane-
mones and Violets, which are to grow and bloom during the
winter months,
Glen Cove, N. Y.
n
William Falconer.
Orchid Notes.-
Cattleya Bowringiana.—This comparatively new speci
now becoming popular, and is likely to prove a great ac-
quisition by filling the gap between the summer blooming
Cattleyas and the early Percivaliana or Triane, In erowth
and inflorescence it somewhat resembles the old C Serie
but the flower, though a little smaller, is much superior in
color, while the lip is enriched with a broad band of dark
purple. The flowers appear before the growths are quite
matured and last three weeks in perfection. It is a free
grower, emitting a perfect mass of roots from the peculiar
swollen base of the bulb. It should have strong heat and
abundance of water during growth, but requires a long rest
in a cool house, and should be started as late as possible
in the spring, so that the flowers may appear in the early win-
ter months.
Garden and Forest.
[OcrobER 31, 1888:-
The rarest Orchid in flower with us now is Angrecum cau-
datum, a native of Sierra Leone. Though not at all showy,
the greenish brown of the flowers, contrasting so bee
with’ the snowy whiteness of the lip, and the grotesque a
rangement of the long-tailed flowers on the raceme, render it :
attractive and interesting. It is of erect growth, with thin,
drooping leaves, about one foot long; it is growing freely
here with the Vandas (which, by the way, we accord more
heat than is usually reeommended for them), in a basket filled
with moss and charcoal. Black thrips will soon disfigure the
foliage, unless care is taken to keep it well supplied with
water at root and copiously syringed during favorable
weather,
Another species from the same locality is in flower, Azgr@-
cum distichum, one of the smallest of the genus, producing
stems about six inches high, with very short, fleshy, deep
ereen, imbricate leaves, from the axils of which the flowers
appear. These are very small and pure white, but so numer-
ous that a well grown plant will often be one mass of bloom.
Basket culture is best suited to this plant, with a compost of
half peat and moss. Pegging down the stems will cause them
to break freely at the heel, and so quickly make a bushy
plant.
rides quinguevilnerum.—Though nearly half a century
has elapsed since the introduction of this Orchid, it has never,
until recently, been plentiful. It grows more freely than
many of its congeners and may be depended upon every year
to produce its handsome racemes of flowers. — It is probably
the showiest of the whole genus. The flowers are yellowish
white, much speckled with purple, with five large blotches of
the same color, which suggests the name. The flowers are
also fragrant. A very rare variety, named Farmeri, is en-
tirely devoid of any markings. This plant is from the Philip-
pine Islands, and, ‘consequently, should have heat and water
liberally given. To avoid spot, care should be taken that
the temperature be not low when the plant is wet.
Kenwood, N. Y. F. Goldring.
Native Asters
i is only within the last few years that our native Asters
have been considered fit subjects for the herbaceous gar-
den, although in England they have been long appreciated,
and Michaelmas Daisies, as they are there commonly called,
form a part of the stock of the best nurseries. Flowering as
they do, very late in the season, it cannot be denied that their
decorative value is of the highe st order, for they defy cold
weather, and are but little injured by the fall rains. Long
after their more tender rivals have succumbed to the severe
frosts these Asters bloom away as though they rejoiced in the
chilly weather, and seem many times more beautiful from the
contrast with their brown and frost-bitten neighbors. If we
have made a judicious selection of species and varieties, and
exercised proper judgment in planting them, the garden will
be a source of pleasure for a long time after the more costly,
and often less beautiful, exotic summer Pa have been cut
away.
But the value of these plants does not lie entirely in their
sturdiness and their ability to prolong the season of flowers,
for they have an intrinsic beauty that compels our attention.
Few people question the beauties of the perennial Phloxes as
they are now grown, but we have to look back but a few years
to find these much-admired plants represented by a few dull
purplish-pink and white varieties, with small flowers and nar-
row petals. In their wild state the lowers ot Phlox paniculata
and P. maculata (the parents of our garden varieties) are quite
inferior to many of the wild Asters, which undoubtedly are
fully as capable of improvements, for, naturally, most of the
Asters vary to a surprising degree, and, by careful searching,
one may find varieties far superior to the types, and these
should be carefully transplanted to the garden. It is best to
collect them while in flower, for the best varieties may then
be selected, and by transferring them to nursery rows they can
be tested before placing them in a permanent position.
Out of the great number of species native to the United
States the following are among the most useful: Aster Nove-
Anglia, with large, deep blue- purple flowers, when given good
cultivation, is a grand plant, growing to the height of six or
seven feet, and literally smothered with its showy y blossoms.
Its variety, Roseus, is identical in every way except color,
which is a bright rosy pink, 4. /evrs has deep violet flowers,
like small Cinerarias, and will grow to the height of five feet.
A. Novi-Belgti is very variable, both in habit and flowers, the
best varieties being very handsome and useful. In color the
flowers vary from pure white to deep purple, A. turbinellus
as Garden Plants.
OcroBER 31, 1888.]
is very graceful in habit, with slender, much-branched stems,
the large lilac-colored flowers appearing late in the season.
Other satisfactory kinds are 4. Shortit, A. undulatus, A. cordi-
folius, A. patens, A. BaeialD A. oblongifolius, A. amethysti-
nus, A. plarmicoides, A. linarifolius, with its white variety, 4.
ericoides, A. vimineus, A. mullifiorus and A, dumosius.
They need about the same treatment as would be given to
the perennial Phlox, many of them doing much better when
thinned out annually, as they are subject “to. mildew if grown
too thickly, especially if they are somewhat shaded.
Newton Highlands, Mass. Arthur H, Fewkes.
Mildew on Roses.
How best to prevent mildew, or to clear the Roses of this
troublesome fungus after it has made its appearance, is
a question that often confronts the grower, and particularly at
this season of the year, when the sun is still strong at mid-day,
and so heating the houses that considerable ventilation is
necessary to reduce the temperature. This operation often
results in an attack of mildew upon such plants as may have
been exposed to a cold draught.
Among the many remedies for mildew, sulphur, in one or
another of its many forms, is always found most efficacious,
and it is used in a variety of ways. The flour of sulphur has
been used for many years for this trouble by dusting it over
the mildewed plants. This mode of using sulphur is undoubt-
edly good at times, but in my experience. a better way is this:
Take of moderately strong tobacco-water, one gallon ; add to
it four ounces of sulphur, then boil the mixture for thirty
minutes or a little longer. After it has cooled add one part of
water to every three parts of the mixture, and syringe the
affected plants. In bad cases a second or even a third appli-
cation may be necessary on successive days. This mixture
also tends to keep down green fly, thereby doing double duty.
Another mixture in great favor with some growers is su]-
phate of lime. A good recipe for this compound i is the follow-
ing: Take of fresh’ lime, five pounds; of sulphur, five pounds,
and of water, six gallons. This should be boiled down to two
gallons. After which it should be allowed to settle, and only
the clear liquid should be used at the rate of half a pint of the
sulphate to an ordinary watering-pot of water. The plants
should be syringed with the latter mixture on two or three
successive afternoons.
Sulphate of potassium has also been highly recommended,
in the proportion of half an ounce of the sulphide to two gal-
lons of water, and applied in the same manner as the preced-
ing mixture. The unpleasant odor of the potassium solution
may sometimes prove to be an objection, however.
Still another way of using the ordinary sulphur is by
sprinkling or painting it on the pipes, the heat from which
causes more or less of the sulphur to pass off into the atmos-
phere in the form of vapor. This latter method is hardly to
be recommended for general use, for, unless used with great
discretion, the vapor may be strong enough to bleach’ the
flowers of many of the pink Roses, such as Catherine Mer-
met, La France and Bon Silene, and in this way may do almost
as much harrn as the mildew. As the above-mentioned Roses
are also affected by tobacco-smoke, the mixture of tobacco-
water and sulphur previously mentioned will be found par-
ticularly useful in just such cases.
Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin,
Very few so-called hardy perennials are sufficiently hardy to
endure a northern winter without protection of some kind.
This is what should be expected where many kinds we grow
come from southern latitudes as well as from the temperate
regions of the Old World. Truly herbaceous plants, such as
tall Phloxes, Delphiniums, Asters and Helianthus, which die
down completely, need the Pacinos of stable manure, since
in gardening operations, for the sake of neatness, we must
remove from the ground the tops, or refuse, of the plants, which
are their natural ‘protection. Others, again, mostly biennials,
such as Foxgloves, Sweet Williams and other species of Dian-
thus, Gaillardias, Geums, Canterbury Bells and Pansies, retain
their foliage naturally, and when not removed to frames
should be protected by leaves or pine needles to prevent alter-
nate freezing and thawing. The same plan should be adopted
with alpine * plants, some of which are truly herbaceous, such
as Adonts vernalis and Ranunculus of different kinds, while
the majority are evergreen, such as dwarf Phloxes, Veronicas,
Cerastiums, Arenarias and Iberis.
There are also many kinds, of which stock is required,
which can be taken up and propagated during the winter. All
such as we can push into growth and get cuttings from, we
Garden and Forest.
429
bring into the green-house about February rst. Others we
divide up and pot about March Ist, keeping them in the green-
house only long enough to start them, and then place’ them
in frames until the eround is open for planting. The cut-
tings—Phloxes, Veronicas, Silene rupestris, Salvia Greggi,
Onothera Missouriensis, Mon: irdas, etc.—we put into boxes,
partly filled with sand, and covered with a sheet of glass ;
when rooted we gradually harden them off to be planted later
in nursery beds.
ursery bec T. D. Hatfield.
Wellesley, Mass.
The New Tea Rose, Madame Hoste, is likely to prove the best
of the year for cut flowers i in winter, under glass, and suitable
both for the amateur and the commercial grower. It isa
French Rose, and it was sent out for the first time last Novem-
ber, and has, therefore, had no very extensive trial in this
country. It plainly possesses all the good qualities of a Rose
for winter blooming. It is very large, though opening freely,
and has not the least suggestion of coarseness. Its form is of the
best, and its color is the’ only thing to be urged against it. It
is neither yellow nor white, but may be described as cream
color, deepening to a darker shade towards the centre of the
flower. It is so beautiful in every other respect that it must
work its way into public favor. The plant is a vigorous
grower and a free bloomer, and we may expect it to do well
out-of-doors in some parts of the country, since it is well
spoken of by English horticulturists who have tried it in that
climate.
Van bie
Philadelphia.
Callicarpa purpurea is particularly handsome just now;
indeed, it is the only time of the year when it is. The
flowers are so very small as not to be worth considering, but
following them are berries in clusters of about twenty to ‘thirty
each, which in September and October are of a violet-purple
color. As every leaf axil has a bunch, and the branches are
sometimes two to three feet in length, bending over with the
weight of fruit, it is an uncommonly beautiful sight.
The most strikingly beautiful tree, in flower at the present
time in the vicinity of Philadelphia, is the Franklinia (Gor-
donia pubescens). It flowers when but a few feet high, com-
mencing in August, and continuing until freezing ~ weather
stops it. There are many fine specimens, hereabouts ; one of
the largest, a layer from the original tree in the Bartram gar-
den, is at William De He art's, Fitty-fourth Street and Woodland
Avenue, Philadelphia. It is about twenty feet high, and at the
present time (early October), loaded as it is with its large,
single, white, Camellia-like flowers, it is an unusual and beau-
tiful sight. The tree can be increased by layering. If good
soil be placed about it, and the layer not disturbed for two
years, a strong, well-rooted plant results.
Referring to the notes sent you in the spring in regard to
the hardiness of the Loblolly Bay (Gordonia Lasianthus), I
would now add that one of the plants flowered September
15th. May not this be the first instance of its flowering
out-of-doors so far north? The blooms, while in general
appearance like the better known G. pudescens, are but about
half the size. The leaves are thick and shining, and not
unlike those of Photinia serrulata, Nearly all of the twenty-
five plants set out last year survived the winter, though
injured more or less. Having now become better estab-
lished, they will doubtless get through the next winter more
easily.
Germantown.
Foseph Meehan.
The Forest
The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico.—VIII.
Lngelm., the species which, next to
P. Chihuahuana, grows s at the lowest elevation, is the first
tree to claim our attention as we proceed to consider in
detail the composition of the forests of the Cordilleras.
On all the ranges about the divide we have seen it scat-
tered with the species last mentioned ; but in some locali-
ties among these ranges it must be more multiplied, since
there are several saw-mills in the region. About the base
of the mountains on the foot- hills and in the valleys
amongst these it is by far the most abundant Pine ;
whilst over the gravelly plain bordering the foot-hills it
spreads out for a few miles to the exclusion of most
Pinus macrophylla,
other trees. Because it makes a larger growth and
yields clearer lumber than P. Chihuahuana, is more ac-
cessible than P. Arizonica, and far more common than 2,
430
strobiformis, it furnishes nearly all the lumber now cut in
the region, the two mills of the vicinity drawing their sup-
ply from the plain. In the deeper soil of the plain, where
it attains fullest development, its diameter is from one and
a half to more than three feet, and its height from forty to
seventy feet. Never standing crowded on this plain, its
branches are ample. As these begin low on the trunk,
the majority of the trees afford but one or two saw-logs.
The character of its bark is equally variable with that of
P. Arizonica and P. ponderosa, and is undistinguishable
from that of these two species, in trees of middle age
being dark and more or less furrowed; in mature speci-
mens reddish, smoother and reticulately cracked. Vigor-
ously growing trees in open situations, the symmetrical
outline of their broad heads closely filled out with dark
green foliage, to which its long leaves (ten or fifteen inches
long) give a massive look, its summit distinctively an ogee
arch rather than a dome, present an appearance of unusual
beauty.
Here on the Cordilleras we seem to have reached the
centre of distribution of Pzaus Arizonica, Lngelm. In this
great Mexican forest this species seems to take the place,
in respect to abundance, wfde distribution and value as a
timber tree, held in the forests of the western United States
and British Columbia by the closely related P. ponderosa,
Dougl. It ranges through 3,000 feet of elevation from the
valleys and cafions of the base to the highest summits.
In the deep cafions and fertile valleys it is unsurpassed in
size, showing lofty, clean stems three feet in diameter ;
on the summits it is still a noble tree, and, taking scarcely
disputed possession of these, it there forms close forests.
Its lumber seems to be prized by the Mexicans equally
with that from P. macrophylla ; but, because the trees are
mostly found at a greater elevation, it is far more difficult
to secure.
Pinus strobiformis, Engelm., as far as I have observed it,
appears to grow scatteringly—a few trees scattered along
canons, a lone specimen here and there on high, cool
slopes, or a few on the ledges of summits on the skirts of
belts of P. Arizonica, Such, also, is my recollection of its
habit (if we refer to this species, Engelmann’s P. reflexa)
on the mountains of southern Arizona. Nowhere have I
yet seen a good grove of this Pine. Its short horizontal
branches and tall stems give it an appearance exception-
ally slender fora Pine. A diameter greater than two feet,
I think, I have never seen exceeded, while its height equals
that of any of its companions. As it is one of the White
Pines, with characters of bark and leaves closely resem-
bling those of P. Svrobus, its lumber, if obtainable in any
amount, would doubtless be found of the best class.
Pinus Chihuahuana, Engelm., appeared scattered abun-
dantly over the lower benches and foot-hills, a small,
slowly-growing tree, as usual, and here safe from the
lumberer’s axe.
Only one other Pine, seen by me as yet on the Cordil-
leras, remains to be described, Pinus cembroides, Zucc., the
Mexican Nut-Pine, which, like the related species, P. edudis,
of New Mexico; P. monophyla, of Utah, and P. Parryana,
of Lower California, contributes largely to the sustenance
of the Indians by its large oily seeds. For any other pur-
pose this tree is comparatively worthless. Its habitat is
the warmest and most arid slopes and ledges with meagre
soil, where even P. Chihuahuana will seldom crowd upon it.
Occupying together with a few shrubs such open situa-
tions, it branches near its roots, and forms a rounded top,
whose breadth equals its height, which is from fifteen to
twenty feet. C. G. Pringle.
The Forests of Europe.
i lige French Ministry of Agriculture has issued some inter-
esting statistics respecting the distribution of forests in
Europe. The total area of Europe laid out in forest—exclusive
of Turkey, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, omitted in the
official statement—is set down at 286,989 million hectares, or
about 708,862 million acres; that is, about 18.7 per cent. of the
Garden and Forest.
[OcToBER 31, 1888,
total area of Europe is forest land. In proportion to its total
area, Great Britain and Ireland has, of all countries in Europe,
the least extent of forest, amounting to only 4 per cent. of its
surface, and, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants,
enjoys, by far, the least allotment of forest, amounting to only
0,036 hectare, or 0,089 acre, z.e., considerably less than the
tenth of an acre to each inhabitant. The country in Europe
next lowest in the forest scale is Denmark, with 4.8 per cent.
of forest land, or 0.09 hectare to each inhabitant; that is to say,
in Denmark there is an average of between two and three
times the extent of forest land to each inhabitant that there is
in Great Britain and Ireland. The third of the countries of
Europe in the ascending forest scale is Portugal, with 5 per
cent. of forest land and 0.11 hectare to each inhabitant, z.e., an
average of three times the amount of forest land to each
inhabitant of Portugal that is allowed to each inhabitant of the
United Kingdom. | Holland has 7 per cent. of forest land and
0.05 hectare to each inhabitant, or about one and a half times
as much as to each inhabitant of the United Kingdom. The
country in Europe possessing most forest is Russia in Europe,
with 200,000 million hectares—zZ. ¢., 37 per cent. of its whole
area and 3.37 hectares to each inhabitant—that is, each inhab-
itant of Russia in Europe has an average of nearly 94 times
the extent of forest land allotted to each inhabitant of the
United Kingdom. In its percentage of forest land and the
amount of forest to each inhabitant, Sweden, however, stands
still higher. With 17,569 million hectares of forest, Sweden
has 39 per cent. of its land in forest, and so 3.84 hectares of
forest to each of its inhabitants. Norway, with 24 per cent. of
its area in forest, allows each of its inhabitants an average of
4.32 hectares of forest, or 120 times as much as is allowed to
each inhabitant of the United Kingdom. Hungary has 29 per
cent. of its area in forest, or 0.58 hectare of forest to each
inhabitant. France possesses 9,888 million hectares of forest,
or 17.7 per cent. of its total area, and so allowing 0.25 hectare
of.forest to each of its inhabitants—nearly seven times as
much as is allotted to each inhabitant of the United Kingdom,
—The Garden,
Correspondence.
The Responsibilities of Florists.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Your recent editorials on the responsibilities of our
florists seem to me a word spoken in season. It is true that
our florists have done much to improve the taste of the pub-
lic, but there is still much for them to do. -It does not need
that one should be of a great age to remember when no taste
whatever was shown in the arrangement of our winter flow-
ers. Solid, flat or spherical or conical constructions of wired
flowers, massed together without foliage and with no regard
to the shape of individual blossoms, were the only bouquets
in use. The first novelty in the right direction came from
Boston in the shape of bunches of long-stemmed flowers,
chiefly Roses, which, even in other cities, were called ‘‘ Bos-
ton bouquets.” Eagerly accepted by the public, they soon
ousted the formal bouquet and their influence was quickly
perceptible in arrangements of all other kinds. To-day, as
you say, one can buy flowers in no other part of the world so
beautifully arranged as we can buy them here, except, per-
haps, in Paris; and even Paris is behind us in the matter of
variety. The Germans arrange their growing plants more
tastefully than we do, but of the artistic possibilities of cut
flowers they have duller perceptions, and the practice of wir-
ing is far more extensively practiced than in America.
Nevertheless, it is only in a few of the best shops in the
larger cities that taste is displayed. Our best work is very
good, but our worst—and there is still’a great deal of it—is
undeniably bad. A long list might be made of “floral designs”
recently produced and viewed with satisfaction by their
authors and the public, which would seem too bad to be true in
a community which calls itself civilized. Not long ago I saw
carried through the streets of New York on the wagon ofa
florist a horse about half life-size, composed of white Immor-
telles, with the saddle and harness of colored flowers anda
flowing mane and tail of Pampas Grass. I am told that at the
funeral of an expressman in Boston there was, not long ago,
displayed a large trunk of white flowers bearing, in red, the
poetic legend “C, 0. D.” I know of a florist in Chicago who
wrought for a funeral a white pillow in the centre of which was
a purple horse-shoe, and who could not be brought to perceive
the grotesqueness of thus placing the symbol which means
“Good luck to you.” And here is a quotation from a Boston
paper describing a device which was sent to the bier of General
Sheridan and called ‘one of the most beautiful” of its kind:
OCTOBER 31, 1888.]
“The piece is nearly six feet high, six feet long and four
feet in width, and represents ‘Gates Ajar.’ In the centre are
two large pillars, from which are hung two gates. Joining the
pillars is an arch, having in the centre a cross and crown. Sus-
pended from the arch is a pure white dove, and on the top of
each pillar is a large star. Looking through the open gate and
picket fence is a representation of the Garden of Eden, in
which flowers, roses and ferns abound in artistic profusion.
On the right corner is a beautiful bouquet of roses tied with
satin ribbon. Across the front is the inscription, ‘Light lie
the earth on thee.” Some 4,oo0 Asters and a large number
of Crimson King Carnations, Chrysanthemums and Roses
were used in making the piece, which will be sent as the gift
of a number of United States Senators.”
So long as pretentious abominations of this kind are created
how can we really congratulate ourselves on our taste? And
who could look at the use that was made of flowers last
Decoration Day, and feel that, as a people, we had a proper
sense either of the beauty of flowers or of the meaning of the
word decoration in its general sense ?
I know that it must be extremely difficult to do really well
on public occasions like this, when a hundred hands must
help to dispose of a myriad gifts of all possible varieties and
degrees of beauty. But the fact is not that we did not do really
well, but that we did so very badly, that, in New York, at least,
as I can say from careful observation, few examples could be
found where a spark of good taste was apparent. Here not
the florist, but the public at large, was perhaps responsible ;
and doubtless in the case of many of our worst ‘‘ set pieces,”
like the expressman’s trunk, the purchaser gives the idea, and
the florist is simply charged with its execution. Butin many
cases the florist may be to blame; and in all, I believe that a
word of discouragement and better advice from the florist
would change the current of the purchaser's wishes. It is
hard to say, in this as in all other matters, just how the law of
supply and demand affects the results we see. But, as one of
the public, I wish to emphasize your statement that if florists
will consistently point in the right direction the public will
surely follow. If it likes bad things, it is because it has not
seen enough good ones to know the difference. The taste of
our people is not naturally bad ; it may be uncultivated. Show
them excellence, and they will admire, and when they next see
ugliness they will recognize it for what itis. Anything really
lovely is sure to find a welcome even from the casual passer in
the street. The most tastefully arranged florists’ windows in
New York are those which people stop to notice—not the
windows which contain the greatest amount of novelties or the
most striking flowers. An example of this fact struck me
forcibly last winter. Many windows, filled with a profusion of
costly blossoms, tastelessly heaped together, were unremarked,
while there was a constant crowd around one which showed
nothing but a mass of Ferns and other green, and in the centre
a large plain blue vase, in which stood half a dozen branches
of pink-flowered Japanese Plum.
Marion, ye renee M. G. Van Rensselaer.
The Exhibition of the Architectural League.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
_ Sir.—The Architectural League of New York announces
that its fourth annual exhibition will be held in December. In
connection therewith a competition for the gold and silver
medals of the League will be opened to all architects and
students under twenty-five years of age residing in this
_country. A similar competition, organized last year, dealt
with the designing of ‘*A Clock Tower on a Village Green,”
and called forth some excellent drawings. The problem
chosen for this year is ‘The Tomb of a Celebrated Architect.”
Admirably adapted to reveal the artistic skill and taste of those
who will compete, as distinguished from their mere “ origin-
ality” in impulse and audacity in execution, this problem is,
moreover, one which, in the results we may anticipate on the
exhibition wall, should be of particular interest to landscape
architects and the public at large.
As has often been pointed out in GARDEN AND FOREST, our
cemeteries are, in theory, one of our chief titles to respect as
landscape gardeners and lovers of beauty; but, in concrete
fact, they often fall below the ideal at which they aim. In no
point is success less often achieved than in the erection of
large and costly structures—vaults above ground, shafts,
architectural monuments or sculptured figures—commemora-
tive of an individual or a family. Year by year such conspicu-
ous memorials arise in growing numbers in the burial-grounds
near our large towns. In Greenwood, for example, there are
very many, some of home manufacture, and others imported
from Italian workshops. But, varying though they do between
Garden and Forest.
431
the extremes of severity and ornateness, they seldom wear an
aspect which even moderately satisfies the eye or corresponds
with the sentiment which should prevail in such a cemetery.
When they are not too gloomy to seem like monuments of the
Christian dead, they are too frivolous ; and even if the general
effect is nearly right, the inartistic execution apparent upon a
near view destroys much of their claims to approval. Some
of the fagades to vaults excavated in a hill-side look like ice-
houses or coal cellars, others like the homes of Egyptian
mummies. Some of the family tombs imitate little heathen
temples, others suggest kiosks, and others soda water foun-
tains. When sculptured figures are used, the hand of the
stone-cutter rather than the artist is most frequently revealed;
and the plainer shafts are too commonly devcid of the only
qualities which could make them works of art—beauty of pro-
portion and grace of profile. They might be taken as relics
of some long past stone-age rather than what a community
can secure which has architects to do its bidding. Ido not
doubt that there are other good large monuments in Green-
wood, but the only ones I can recall at this moment are the
graceful Gothic tomb which commemorates those members
of the Brown family who perished years ago in the wreck of
the ‘‘ Arctic,’’ and the Stewart tomb near the main entrance,
the sculptured decorations of which were designed by Mr. St.
Gaudens in his earlier years. This, which is a fagade merely,
the vault being excavated in the side of a bank, hits the right
medium, I think, between over-sombreness and frivolity ; the
sentiment of its decoration is Christian, and in execution it is
a work of art. It is dignified but not pretentious, beautiful but
not obtrusive.
If the sculptor or the architect, in the true meaning of the
words, were more often employed in similar work our
cemeteries might speak with honor to the living as well
as the dead. The coming exhibition of the Architectural
League ought to mark a noteworthy step in this direction.
Of course, as the competitors will be students and not practiced
masters, the designs it shows will not prove—they can merely
indicate—what good work we might secure in the way of
mortuary monuments. Yet there are many men of skill and
taste even among our novices in architecture, and doubtless
some of the coming designs will be intrinsically worthy of
much praise. The programme wisely guards against excep-
tional extravagance in design by prescribing within compara-
tively narrow limits the size of the tomb and of the lot upon
which it shall stand; and although a tomb appropriate to a
great architect may not give us with precision a type which
would serve for ordinary mortals, yet its peculiarities may
very likely be confined to its decorative motives alone. There-
fore I venture to bespeak for the exhibition the notice of all
who are concerned in the improvement of our cemeteries,
and who believe that the way to improve them is to bring in
the artist where the artisan has ruled too long.
New York. George Cumming.
Japanese Iris from Seed.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—In GARDEN AND FOREST, No. 34, page 402, Mr. A. W.
Fewkes has an important article on raising Japanese Irises from
seed. My experience differs from his in regard to the fertility
of flowers which have not been artificially fertilized. Last
year I bloomed ten plants for the first time. The plants were
not large ; one bore buta single spike of bloom, and many
flowers were cut. From the seed which set and ripened from
insect fertilization four hundred plants were raised this sum-
mer. During the present year some flowers were artificially
hybridized; but those not so treated have, in almost every in-
stance, developed full seed-pods. My culture does not differ
essentially from Mr. Fewkes’, so that no reason for the dis-
crepance of experience can be suggested other than a possible
sause in the difference of locality.
Boston.
Robert T. Fackson.
Notes.
The delicate and fragrant flowers of Clematis crispa are still
opening in considerable abundance. The vine has been in
bloom five months.
Mr. S. H. Vines has been appointed Professor of Botany at
the University of Oxford in place of Professor J. B. Balfour,
who was recently called to Edinburgh.
Owing to the reduced state of the funds at command of the
California State Board of Forestry, the offices of Botanist, En-
gineer and Special Agent have been declared vacant from the
Ist of November.
432
According to Professor N. S. Shaler, the value of the arti-
ficial manures manufactured in this country from mineral
phosphates already amounts annually to $30,000,000, and the
industry is but at its beginning.
The oldest Rose bush of which there is any authentic record
is growing against the old church at Heldersheim, in Ger-
many. Fight hundred years ago, it is said, Bishop Hepilo
caused a trellis to be erected to support it. The main stem is
thicker than a man’s body.
The extraordinary force exeried by growing Fungi was well
shown the other day ina New Hampshire ville age. It was no-
ticed that a cone about seven inches in diameter was rising in
the middle of an asphalt walk. Beneath it a Mushroom was
discovered, which had cracked and raised a solid stretch of
asphalt two inches in thickness.
Five new experimental stations for the study of Sorghum
and its manipulz ation are being organized by the Agricultural
Department in Washington, One of them will be in New Jer-
sey, one in Louisiana and three in Kansas. Thea appropriation
for the work exceeds by $100,000 that of any previous year.
Dr. Neale, of the Agricultural Station at New Brunswick, N. J.,
has spent the past summer studying European methods of
sugar manufacture
Vilmorin & Co. recently exhibited before the Société Na-
tionale @ Horticulture de France the fourteen varieties of
Gladiolus Gandavensis, which long experience shows to be
the latest blooming of the innumerable varieties grown in the
neighborhood of Paris. They are named: Abricoté, Atlas,
Béatrix, Coquette, Docteur Fontan, Gallia, Médicis, Etna, Mi-
mos, Rosini, E. Souchet, Eugene Scribe, Sceptre de Flore and
Ambroise Verschaffelt.
Two of the three huge and ancient Oaks which have stood
for centuries near the ‘Bush Mill,” in the neighborhood of
Frankfort-on-the-Oder, have recently perished through the
effects of storms. The last to fall measured over twenty-one
feet in circumference. Its top was blown off by the wind, and
although the trunk was still sound, the Forestry authorities
decreed that it should be felled. The one which remains has
a circumference of twenty-three feet.
The large Bald Cypress (Zaxodium distichum) in the old
Bartram Garden, West Philadelphia, is still alive, though ap-
parently near its end, as but a few live branches exist near its
top. A recent measurement of this tree, at four feet from the
ground, gave twenty-seven feet as its circumference. Ata
distance of about twenty feet from the trunk, along the ground,
appear numerous ‘ knees,” which always ‘excite curiosity in
those who have not seen the trees in their native places.
The Countess of Kenmare has planted a large collection of
Australian trees in her beautiful grounds near Killarney, in
Ireland. As a proof of the mildness of the climate in’ this
region, it may be noted that a Dracena australis tlowered
this season near Cork, after having been grown in the open
air for seven years, and reached a height of fifteen feet. The
head of bloom lasted in all its beauty for two months, and
measured three and one-half feet in ‘height by three feet in
breadth.
The bad taste sometimes displayed in this country in the
conception and arrangement of floral designs is quite as often
and as conspicuously shown in other lands. For example,
among the set pieces recently exhibited at a horticultural
show in Cologne, there was one which represented a life-size
baby in swe iddling clothes, and another in which a swan was
figured by means s of the detached petals of Water Lilies. Be-
yond this last, misplaced ingenuity could hardly go ;. for, to
dismember the flowers employed, is, of course, to * deprive a
result of all title even to the name of a floral arrangement.
The fruit growers of Sutter and Yuba Counties, California,
after twenty-five years’ experience, do not speak favorably of
irrigation. Atarecent meeting of the Sutter Horticultural
Society many of them bore testimony against the practice.
Instead of the use of water, they urged the use of cultivators
and pulverizers in orchard and vineyard, which was regarded
as better, cheaper, healthier, and certain to produce richer,
sweeter and better flavored fruit than artificial moisture. The
fruit grower, like the wheat grower, must plan to meet aver-
age conditions. He cannot plan for extraordinary seasons, or,
in other words, he cannct create costly irrigation works that
may not be needed once in twenty years. Besides, the driest
hills and vales will not produce a bountiful crop of fr uits with
the most abundant artificial water supply every year; kind
nature will have her rest occasionally.
U
Garden and Forest.
(OcToBER 31, 1888,
Professor Maynard, of the Massachusetts Agriculture Col-
lege, finds the Worden by far the best Grape to plant for profit
in New England. It is equally hardy, productive, and of as
good quality as the Concord and more than a week earlier.
We find it a decided improvement on the Concord in quality.
Protessor Maynard pronounces the Brackman more vinous In
quality and nearer the perfect Grape than any variety except
Iona. It ripens with the Delaware, but is not quite as sugary.
In foliage it resembles the Clinton and it has not mildewed.
The fruit of the Iona is of excellent quality, but it is tender,
with foliage liable to mildew and fruit to rot. If subsequent
experience confirms the last two seasons’ trial of the Brack-
man, which so closely resembles it in fruit, this Grape will
prove a valuable addition to New England vineyards.
One of the finest gardens in India is that of the Nizam of
Hyderaban in the Dekkan. The horticultural skill of thecountry,
developed by centuries of experience and lavish expense, has
been taxed to the utmost to produce the labyrinths of shade,
the brilliancy of color and the clouds of perfume which all
Orientals love. Thick plantations and shrubberies are com-
bined with gorgeous designs, composed of bright-colored
flowers, which, we may believe, Oriental taste has made more
beautiful than those we commonly see in western countries ;
and a large use is also made of small plants in pots. An idea
of the magnitude of the garden and the expense of maintain-
ing it may be gathered from the statement that it contains six
million potted “plants, each of which is watered every day. A
natural arrangement seems to have been adopted for the
most part, as a recent writer in Harfer's Magazine speaks of
“miniature lakes . . . laughing nooks, now a bit of
jungle and now a broad and bea utiful open space, where the
distant view was enchanting.”
The 7imes-Democrat, New Orleans, states, on the authority
of our consul at San Salvador, that the fibre of the Banana is
one of the valuable products of the soil which is now largely
suffered to goto waste. This fibre, which may be divided
into threads of silken fineness, extends the length of the body
of the tree, which grows without a branch from ten to fifteen
feet high, and has a circumference at the base of two and a
half to three feet. In Central America, the fibre, with no
preparation except drying, is used for shoe strings, lariats and
cords for all purposes. In its twelve months of existence, the
Banana trees bear only one bunch of fruit, but from two to
four or ten trees spring from the roots of the one that has
fallen. At home the bunch of Bananas is worth fifteen cents,
and the dead tree nothing, though, if the supply were not in-
exhaustible, the latter would be worth ten times the value of
the fruit to a cordage factory, paper-mill or coffee-sack
maker. The Banana leaf, with stems of the toughest and
finest threads, is from two and a half to three feet wide, and
ten to fifteen feet long, and serves the native women of San
Salvador as an umbrella in the rainy season, a carpet on which
to sit, and a bed on which to rest.
Bulletin No. 39, from the Department of Entomology of
Michigan Agricultural College, contains an admirable account
of the summer's experiments with insecticides. It has been
demonstrated that it pays to spray Apple-trees with London
purple to protect the fruit from the codling moth. The spray-
ing should begin as soon as the blossoms have fallen. If the
poison is applied earlier it endangers bees and other insects
which help to distribute the pollen, and it may do harm to the
honey. One application is enough unless a heavy rain fol-
lows, when it is well to spray a second time. One pound of
the purple to 100 gallons of water is strong enough mixture,
and the second application should be weaker. Several good
pumps and spraying nozzles are described _ It is found that
the same poison applied two or three times is of advantage
against the curculio. There is a probability that lime- water
will accomplish the same result, as has been explained in this
journal. If so, this will be preferable to the arsenites, as it
does no damage to the leaves, and it is better to avoid the use
of poisons when we can. It has been found that air-slacked
lime, to which has been added some crude carbolic acid, will
repel the attacks of curculio. Professor Cook substituted plas-
ter for lime, and found it more convenient, as it did not fly so
badly as the lighter lime. He used one pint ‘of the crude acid to
Too pounds of plaster, and with this both Cherry and Plum trees
were dusted from a tall step-ladder. The mixture should be
applied just as the calyx is falling from the fruit, or just as the —
curculio begins to lay its eggs. The Plums and Cherries on
thc trees thus treated were “practically free from worms, and
the application did no harm to the trees. The same remedy
would probably prove successful against the curculio on Pears
and Apples, butit would hardly prevail against the codling moth,
tes LS
art?
ee
NoveMBER 7, 1888. ]
“GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY bY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: Trinune Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by . . . Professor C. S. SARGENT,
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE,
Evrromat Arrictes:—Do Not Spare-the Axe.—Piazzas.—Entrance to the
Temples at Nikko, Japan (with illustration)............... cscs eeeeeee 433
Whe Pinestin'October...2.00..-+-- ses Mrs. Mary Treat. 435
ForeiGN Corresponvence :—London Letter............0000 ese es W. Goldring. 435
New or Littte Known PLants:—A White-Flowered Cattleya Gigas
(with illustration), 436
CurturaL DeprartMent :—The Propagation of Conifers....... Jackson Dawson. 436
MheuviesetabletGarden vccgicec sccciec ss 6 sists ss savcceie dele William Falconer. 438
Roses—Schizostylis coccinea—Helianthus Maximiliani
Notes:from the Arnold Arboretum........ ...cssssesees
Tur Forest :—The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico. IX....
-C. G. Pringle. 441
CorRESPONDENCE :—The Mountain Laurel—Gorse and Scotch Heather in New
Eneland—UTheDesimuchon Of ANS... a sesso acl cee cee cectaconsiesses 442
Saeco Fe NB EAT Tal CATION suteletevetctalalate alate (olersia‘ue‘asa\p/x 9's » 9:4 sin ol aie(e ofalteneioeyeleieerelsoy aii sista sis’ 443
PER GUN DML CANT AOR DR AUES scien ciaia's wie «claw ae. a'n.sidva d 6.06 ara'ere guislalgents serbrelnibsleraisie nie fa adie, 443
SESE Somtmnnetatateiereialataem dip icieisisie-d sia t’sis.c,stots!s:sue'i¥é C.47s018 sie.dieereeinoes
ItLustraAtions :—A White-Flowered Cattleya Gigas, Fig. 69 .
Hntrancertothe Demplesat Naki, Japans siss.s nsec eesitermisnadicersneea gens 3
Do Not Spare the Axe.
FE. have often alluded, in these columns, to the im-
portance of thinning plantations, and more than
~ once called attention to the causes which prevent people, es-
_ pecially those who profess a deep and sincere fondness for
trees, from cutting them, when cutting is essential, if the
- beauty and health of other and more important trees are
to be preserved. It is not easy, indeed it is practically
impossible, to lay down rules which should govern the
thinning of plantations made and maintained for orna-
ment. Thinning is an operation requiring judgment, and
_ judgment in such matters can only come with long experi-
ence, and areal knowledge of trees, their characters and
requirements. Each case, where it is a question of remoy-
ing a tree from an ornamental plantation, must be studied
on its individual merits, and no rule can be formulated to
cover a number of cases. We speak now merely of trees with
reference to their effect upon other trees, and not of trees
as forming a part or parts of a landscape. The cutting of
trees for the purpose of improving a landscapé effect or for
purposes of mere convenience, as where a tree casts too
dense a shade over a dwelling house or other building,
presents different problems, which we shall not undertake
to consider at this time. | What we want to insist upon is,
that it is impossible to have fine trees unless light and air and
space are provided for them, and that the right amount of
these can only be determined by persons familiar with
trees and their requirements from the hour of planting. If
a number of trees are huddled together no one of them can
ever develop into a handsome and symmetrical specimen,
and not only are those trees which have been allowed to
grow in youth with sufficient space about them the most
beautiful, but such trees are the most vigorous in old age
and the longest lived. Some trees require more space than
others for their best development from an ornamental
point of view. Some are most beautiful when they stand
entirely alone as isolated specimens; there are others
which grow together into harmonious masses of foliage.
A Beech is a far more beautiful object when its lower
branches sweep the ground, than when it exposes a tall,
\
bare trunk, the result of overcrowding and insufficient
light.
s
j
A White Oak standing alone upon a lawn is val-
Garden and Forest.
433
uable in proportion as it has retained its lower branches,
and as these rest upon the turf, while the naked trunk
of a White Oak in the midst of a large plantation is one of
the most beautiful objects which our forests afford. A sin-
gle White Pine or a group of these trees, without lower
branches and with tall and naked shafts, are handsome
and natural objects anywhere, while the moment the
lower branches of a Spruce ora Fir perish, the beauty of
these trees, as ornaments for the lawn, is destroyed for-
ever. No one, therefore, will be able to thin a planta-
tion with real success unless he is familiar with the
appearance of the trees with which he is to deal at all
stages of their growth and has a clear idea of the effects
they are intended to produce as they approach maturity.
There are other cases where cutting down trees requires
neither profound knowledge or great judgment, as when
a really fine tree—or what might in time, with a little care,
develop into areally fine tree—is ruined by the too close
proximity of a neighbor possessing neither beauty nor
value. How frequent such cases are, any one who looks
at trees with the least critical eyes must see. Certainly
there are few fine specimen trees to be seen in this country
in comparison with the immense number which have been
planted during the last fifty years. This is due to the
fact that people are unwilling to use the axe. Either
they refrain from cutting altogether, or they delay cutting
so long, that the damage is done, and the tree which ought
to have grown into a noble, widespreading specimen, is
left stunted and misshapen. Examples of this neglect of
the requirements essential to the growth of a fine tree can
be seen on every hand. It is not necessary to look beyond
the parks and squares of this city to find abundant evi-
dences that the axe is not often used freely or judiciously.
Of the thousands of trees planted on our public grounds,
but few have been granted the opportunity for free develop-
ment, and but few have attained the dignity of stature and
expression which they might have reached. The popular
clamor is against cutting down a single tree, and year after
year starved and often half-dead specimens, destitute them-
selves of all beauty, present or prospective, are allowed to
encroach more and more upon others, which only need a
little space and a little light to become objects of the high-
est civic pride to future generations of New Yorkers.
The lesson which every man who controls trees, whether
they be few or many, great or small, should learn, is that
whenever he sees a really beautiful, well developed and
symmetrical tree, its perfection is due to the fact that it has
had, either by accident or by design, sufficient room in
which to grow and develop its beauty. This lesson can-
not be repeated too often, and until its force is fully appre-
ciated, and until a tree out of place is considered a weed,
and destroyed as promptly as other weeds should be
destroyed, ‘fine trees will continue to be as rare as they
are at present. That they are rare, any of our readers
who will examine with critical eyes at this season of the
year, when the leaves have fallen, or are falling, their own
trees or those which grow upon any public highway or
pleasure ground in their neighborhood, will be able to see
for themselves. This is the season of the year to study
trees with the view of removing all those which are in-
juring their more valuable neighbors.
Piazzas.
OTHING is more characteristic of American country
L houses, as contrasted with those of other northern
lands, than their large covered piazzas. These have been
developed in answer to as distinct and imperative a
national need as ever determined the genesis of an archi-
tectural feature. Our early colonial ancestors did without
piazzas, for their habits of living and their architectural
schemes were alike imported from England and Holland,
and amid a strenuous people occupied with sterner prob-
lems than how to live most agreeably, it was naturally
some time before that gradual modification of habits
434
which is inevitably brought about at last by new climatic
influences, could express itself in architectural language.
No colonial house had anything that resembled a piazza.
If we find one attached to such a house to-day, it is an
addition of later date—as is the case with the well-known
Longfellow house in Cambridge.
But the introduction of the classic fashion in architecture
meant the erection of porticoes, and the addition which
they made to comfort has never again been dispensed
with. When classic forms were abandoned in favor of
what has been dubbed our ‘‘vernacular” style of archi-
tecture—when little ees gave way to plain, square,
box-like houses with gabled youtathe portico vanished,
but its Nea was taken by a modification of the veranda
which had long been in use in all southern lands. We
speak of the course of things in our Northern States; at
the South, where Spanish influence was felt, verandas
and balconies seem to have been used from the earliest
times.
When we say a ‘‘vernacular” style of architecture, we
mean one which has been the unaffected outcome of
universal needs and desires; and, therefore, whatever its
defects from an artistic point of view, must have a large
measure of practical fitness to recommend it. Many
factors of such a style must persevere if progress in art is
to mean more beauty and more fitness too ; and, in fact,
widely as we have departed from the plain, box-like
house in recent years, our best new country houses are,
in many respects, developed from them, and most notably
so as regards the constant presence of the piazza, Con-
siderations of sentiment and art excuse and make good
its absence to the owner of an old colonial house: but
when a new house is desired it is a clearly recognized
necessity, even though some colonial scheme may be
closely followed in other respects. Only in very rare
cases do we see piazzas dispensed with by an owner
who cares more for the odd pleasure of copying with
exactness an inapprepriate foreign model than for building
himself a really comfortable home.
Certainly no really comfortable country home can exist
in our land without a piazza. Even on our most northerly
borders the heat of our summer atmosphere and the
strength of our sunshine make exercise in the open air,
to the extent to which it is practiced in England, for ex-
ample, a sheer impossibility. Nor, for similar reasons,
can we sit with comfort on the lawns of England or the
uncovered terraces of France, or in the arbors, placed at
some distance from the house, which are so characteristic
of German villas. We must have a wide and open yet
covered space, closely connected with our living rooms,
where we can pass our ‘hours of rest and many of our
hours of occupation too. How necessary it is we read
in the fact that, when well arranged, the piazza always
becomes the very focus of domestic life and social inter-
course—as central a feature in summer as the parlor fire-
side is in winter.
But itis hardly needful to-day to affirm that an Ameri-
can country house without a piazza in is in every sense a
mistake and a failure—that it palpably lacks fitness and
therefore must lack true beauty in the eyes of intelligent
observers. It is more needful to protest against the ex-
cessive use of piazzas than to urge their erection. When
their value was first fully < appreciated it was believed that
they could not be too freely used. A house of any im-
portance most frequently had three if not all of its sides
encircled by them, and their breadth was often as exces-
sive as their length. To-day a reaction has begun to set
in, and most fortunately. Piazzas on all sides of a house
mean that all the rooms are darkened and that direct sun-
shine can nowhere enter the lower floor, This considera-
tion is important even when a house is meant merely for
summer use ; and it is all-important when winter as well
as ee comfort must be secured. Again, experience
will always show that with very extensive piazzas only
certain portions are commonly used, and that other por-
Garden and Forest.
[NOVEMBER 7, 1888,
tions might be removed and never missed. And, finally,
as one of the most difficult of current architectural prob-
lems is so to treat the piazza that it will seem an integral
part of the house tcp of a mere attached shed, it will
be understood that the larger it is, the harder becomes the
task. If we look at our best recent houses, we find that
the main piazza is confined to one side, or, placed on a
corner, partly encircles two sides ; and there can be few
cases in which more than this is needful.
But for this to suffice the piazza must not be considered
as amere adjunct to an interior which may be planned
without regard to it. Success in its arrangement will de-
pend upon choice of exposure and outlook, but also upon
the way in which it is connected with the interior. Ifa
piazza does not command the best view or has not sufficient
light, or, on the other hand, admits the sun too freely, it
will be a perpetual exasperation to its owner; while if it
is not easily accessible from the most commonly fre-
quented rooms, it will not fulfill its whole purpose. And,
again, a want of thought in placing it may need-
lessly injure the rooms, ‘excluding light and sun where
they are most to be desired. In short, the piazza must
be considered from the very outset as an integral portion
of the house, and at every step in the planning a careful
compromise must be made between its claims and those
of the interior. Of course no gencral rules for its arrange-
ment can be laid down, In some cases there may be but
one possible position in which a piazza can exist ; in others
the advantages of a certain exposure or a particularly
charming point of view may be of determining weight; —
while in others again there will be a much wider latitude
for choice. The only rule is to consider all claims to-
gether from the very beginning, and to know clearly ©
which ones, by reason of the habits and tastes of the
owners, ought to be most fully met, if compromise of any |
conspicuous kind is necessary. Naturally the claims of —
the piazza should have more weight when a house is i
meant only for summer use, than when it will be lived in |
| the year round. i
Entrance to the Temples at Nikko, Japan.
HE illustration on page 439, drawn from a photo-—
graph, shows the first or outer gate leading to the
memorial temples at Nikko. They were erected in honor —
of Eyeyasu, the founder of that Tokugawa dynasty, ©
which is more commonly called the dynasty of them
‘“Tykoons,” and contain his tomb. :
The avenue which leads from Utzunomia to Nikko— ae
distance of twenty miles—is lined on either side by a_
double row of tall and stately Cryptomerias. Their —
branches, joining overhead, form a compact arch over —
the whole distance, and they have stood for 300 years— |
since the temples were erected by Eyemitz, the grandson —
of Eyeyasu. At the end of this avenue, as our picture |
shows, rises a low terrace, upon which more of the great
Sonics
stand, forming a eee fraine, with their great,
for the oe but richly ‘colored. pivlarnes ‘the simplicity
of the terrace its steps and balustrade, seems excessive, —
pethaps, to Westen, taste, in view of the rich adornment i
But it is a Be
should le a ie to more sidberate ones, and that the
place where display should not be made is that which _
is most conspicuously presented to the public eye. From _
this standpoint the design of the terrace is excellent, and
the great stone lanterns at either side of the steps give
just the needed decorative accent.
The temples at Nikko are considered the finest in Japan —
and their site is famous for its natural charms. ‘© He~
who has not seen Nikko,” says a popular aphorism, ‘‘does —
not know how to use the word beautiful.”
NoveMBER 7, 1888.]
The Pines in October.
T is past the middle of October, and several light frosts
have cut the more tender herbage, but we still find a
good many charming flowers and plants. The Asters and
some of the Golden-rods are beautiful now, but the great-
est number were in the height of their beauty in Septem-
ber. The New England Aster is still beautiful, and its
flowers are more brightly colored in the Pines than in
most other localities. Occasionally we meet groups with
great masses of rose-colored corymbs, and others of deep
violet and purple. ‘This fine Aster takes kindly to culti-
vation, and graces our garden with its bloom long after
Dahlias and “other fall flowers are blackened with frost.
These garden clumps are from seven to eight feetin height,
with many-branched stems, each stem and branch ter-
minated with a dense corymb of bloom. ‘The stems are
sufficiently strong to stand erect without stakes. The
brilliancy and sweetness of the flowers attract hosts of
butterflies, among them the beautiful Painted Lady (Pyvra-
mers cardut) and the Red Admiral (P. A/alanéa).
The Silky Aster (4. concolor) is another handsome spe-
cies, which grows in the more dry barrens. It has slender,
wand-like stems from two to three feet in height, which
sway gracefully among the grasses, displaying its showy
raceme of flowers. The rays are violet-purple, and very
numerous, and the stems are crowded with grayish silky
leaves. A. spectabilis is just now in its prime, and is one
of our handsomest Asters. It is a low-growing plant, not
more than two feet high, and, when planted about a group
of New England Asters, its deep blue rays make a striking
picture. Another pretty, low-growing species is A. nemo-
ralts. This grows in the damp barrens, and has Hlac-
small leaves with revolute
grow here which are worthy
purple rays and numerous
margins Many other species
of notice and cultivation.
The Golden-rods have been unusually fine this autumn,
and some are still in bloom. One of the most beautiful is
Solidago sempervirens, with smooth, fleshy leaves and
spreading panicles of deep golden blossoms. Its habitat
is the salt marshes, but it grows here—some twenty-five
miles inland—in many places. No doubt the seed has
been brought in salt hay, which is fed to stock and often
used for mulching. 8. e//piea is another beautiful species
growing in the damp barrens, now brilliant with bloom.
The leaves are smooth and shining, and the flowers are in
dense, spreading racemes. Numerous other species grace
the roadsides and neg lected fields, here as elsewhere, mak-
ing the ‘‘closing out” the most splendid display of the
year.
The large Bur-Marigold (:dens chrysanthemoides) is
still in bloom among the Sedges in the wet barrens. It is
showy and handsome, the deep golden-yellow rays being
an inch or more in length. Near by, the pretty Ladies’
Tresses (Spiranthes cernua) are scattered among the
grasses. This litthe Orchid has pure white, waxy flowers
spirally twisted around the stem, and deliciously fragrant.
S. graminea and S. gracilis are also here, each with their
several varieties. The species- seem to run together, and
are a puzzling group to the botanist. Possibly this mixing
is due to the work of insects which visit the flowers, and
carry the pollen masses to other plants, fertilizing one
species with another.
The False Rocket (C/eome pungens) is established among
our native plants. A stout, much-branched specimen,
with long spikes of handsome purple flowers, was grow-
ing where white sand had drifted around it. It was much
/ more vigorous than some others found in damp soil. The
leaves and stems had lost none of their mephitic odor in
this poor soil, and therefore it was not a desirable addition
to our wild bouquet. The Swamp Maples and Sour Gum
or Tupelo, and the Liquidambar, or Sweet Gum, together
with the lower-growing trees and shrubs, have a ‘prilliancy
of color which cannot be excelled in any part of our
country ; but, unfortunately, we lack the roll of hill and
Garden and Forest
435
valley, the foundation of cliff and mountain-side for the
proper display of this grand picture.
Many. trees and shrubs are now beautiful with their
ripening fruits. The dark foliage of the oe is in fine
contrast with its scarlet fruit. The Black Alder (ex vert
cilla/a) is conspicuous with its deep red, Apher ed fruit, and
the fragrant Wax Myrtle (AZvrica cerifera) is full of its gray-
ish, waxy berries. Inkberry and Sumach, Ampelop-
sis and Smilax, all help, with fruits of varied form and
color, the beauty of the dying leaves, and make our
woods and fields more beautiful, if possible, in October,
than they have been at any other season of the year.
Vineland, N. J. Mary Treat.
Foreign Correspondence
London Letter.
O-DAY’S meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society
was in strong contrast to that a fortnight ago,
when the hall glowed. with the colors of a thousand
Dahlias. The hall was very dull, a sharp frost a week ago
having promptly put an end to the Dahlia season once
more. The eee of the Dahlia continued but three
weeks this year, and if all our seasons were so cold,
sunless and ae as the present we should abandon the
cultivation of this flower altogether. The gteat feature
of the meeting to-day was a marvelous exhibition of
Ferns, chiefly stove and green-house kinds, sent by Mr.
H. B. May, of Edmonton, one of the chief Fern-growers
for Covent Garden market. The collection numbered
hundreds of plants, representing the very finest Ferns in
cultivation, and included not only such kinds as are
grown specially for market, but a host of others, many
of them rare, that could not be seen elsewhere than in
the largest collections. Mr. May has for years devoted
himself specially to these plants, and has succeeded in
raising many varieties of the highest excellence, among
them being such _ beautiful kinds as Adiantum Regine,
Preris Cretica Mayi, P. serrulata cristata compacia, en
tremula flaccida, P. tremula elegans, P. tremula gran-
diceps, all of which he grows largely for market, and
which, no doubt, are known now in American gardens.
The five named first have received the highest awards of
merit from the Society. Passing over a crowd of species
and varieties that would be uninteresting to the general
cultivator, I was anxious to know the kinds Mr. May
grows most extensively for Covent Garden, and as these
may be useful to some readers, I append ‘the list. For
cutting—that is, for cut fronds gathered in convenient
sized bunches—the following are most largely uscd:
Adianlum cuneatum, the common Maidenhair Fern grown
thousands ; 4. Wihamsz, with the fronds powdered
with gold; A. elegans, a form of A. cuneatum, with longer
and larger fronds and smaller pinne. The list of the
kinds grown for sale in pots includes, besides the forego-
ing, A. “sculum , A, Regine, very dwarf, with young fronds
coppery red; Preris Cretica albo- lineata, P. Cretica Mavi, P.
serrulala major, a robust growing variety; P. serrulata
cristata compacta; P. argyrea, with silvery marked fronds ,
P. tremula, and its several varieties, all favorites in the
market; Cyr/omium falcatum, capital as a room Fern, as
it withstands dust so well; Phlebodium aureum, Lomaria
gibba (when small), manera palmata, Onychium Japo-
cutting) and Asplenimm bulbiferum pane
its varieties), which is the most useful of all the Asple-
niums for market. These comprise most of the kinds
grown specially for Covent Garden, and this list has been
compiled from years of experience, and is rarely added
to, as few new Ferns possess the requisite qui alities for
nicum (also for
market, which, first of all, must be elegant, then robust
and easily and quickly grown into plants of salable size,
and, moreover, must be easily propagated. They must
also ‘‘ carry” well—that is, they must not be liable to in-
jury from rough usage in ge tting them to the market and
by the treatment they receive there
43 Garden and Forest.
Among the few plants and fiowers which won first-class
certificates was one Orchid, the beautiful little CaWeva
porphyrites, supposed to be a natural hybrid, but be-
tween which species I cannot say. It is a small grower,
with slender pseudo-bulbs from six to eight inches high,
carrying a pair of leaves. The flowers are about four
inches across, with rather narrow, purplish rose sepals
and a beautifully formed lip with rounded lobe of an in-
tense maroon crimson. It is an- exquisite little Orchid,
and Baron Schroeder, who exhibited it, prizes it highly.
Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, showed, in their choice group,
a new hybrid Pitcher Plant named Nepenthes Dicksoniana,
in honor of the late Professor Dickson, of the Edinburgh
Botanic Garden. It is a cross between MW. Veidchu, which
has large, handsomely-shaped pitchers with broad grooved
rims, and, in color, a pale green, and JW. Rafflesiana, the
well-known species, with its large pitchers boldly blotched
with blood-red on a green ground. The hybrid partakes
of the characters of both parents, but is handsomer in
shape than either, as large as M. Vedchi, and more beau-
tifully marked than any form of W. Reafflesrana. It is, more-
over, a very strong grower, as most hybrid Nepenthes
are, and forms pitchers freely, which is a great recom-
mendation. A new Maidenhair Fern named Adiantum
Waltont diffusum, was worthily certificated, as it is a most
elegant Fern and a robust grower. The original 4A. Wa/-
fom: reminds one of a tall growing form of A. cuneatum,
with small, deeply cut pinne. The variety Diffusum dif-
fers in its larger fronds and more spreading habit. Both
this and the : pe originated with Mr. W alton.
An early C chrysanthemum named Elsie was exhibited
by the well-known grower, Mr. Stevens, of Putney. It is
a large flower with narrow, reflexed florets, very full and
of a delicate straw color (some call it primrose), just such
a tint as every one admires. The certificate was voted
unanimously, a good criterion of its merit. Another new
Canna, so bold and handsome in foliage, so brilliant in
flower, that it quite captivated many of the committee,
also won a certificate, but it was not so fine as some
hat Messrs. Cannell have shown previously. Its name
is Ulrich Brunner, and it has brilliant scarlet flowers
with green foliage. It was shown by Messrs. Veitch. A
group of double flowered Begonias from Messrs. Cannell
was next passed upon, and two. were singled out as
worthy of certificates. One was Mrs. Stuart, with flowers
of a rich, clear yellow ; the other General Chubet, of a
beautiful rose cherry. Both have a dwarf, sturdy growth,
the blossoms being of enormous size, very double, aid re-
sembling double Hol lyhocks more than Begonias.
The other exhibits worthy of notice included a new
Rose all the way from Elsinore, in Denmark. The
blooms were much damaged, and several were of the
opinion that the variety was identical with La France;
but as the blooms came through Mr. Paul, of Wal-
tham Cross, who, of course, knows Roses. as well as
any one, the committee reserved their opinion until they
see good blooms early in the season next year. It was
named Hybrid Perpetual Denmark. Messrs. Veiich had
in their group some noteworthy plants, such as a basket-
ful of admirably grown and flowered Specimens of Bou-
vardia President Cleveland, which is considered to be
the finest of all the scarlet single Bouvardias. Its color
is very brilliant, and the flowers and trusses are both
large. The same firm also showed Amasonia calycina (A.
pumicea), a new stove plant with scarlet bracts, and long,
pale yellow flowers that are produced in continuous suc-
cession for several weeks in autumn and winter; Ama-
ryllis Autumn Beauty, a hybrid from A. reficulafa, with
large, pink flowers alw ays produced in autumn when no
other Amaryllis is in bloom, and Begonia John Heal, a
charming little winter flowering Begonia, obtained by
crossing B. Socotrana and B. insignis. It produces an
abundance of rosy carmine flowers, which, in contrast to
the large, pale green foliage, is very beautiful. It is justly
looked upon as a first-rate winter flowering plant.
[NoVEMBER 7, 1888,
Baron Schroeder's gardener, Mr. Ballantine, showed cut
blooms of two choice Orchids, Lelia Dominiana and Lelia
Novelty. The first is a cross between CaMleya Dowiana
and C. Lvoniensis, and it is strange that this mingling of
two Cattleyas should make the hybrid a Lelia, but so it
is. It has the large, bold flowers of C. Dowzana. lilac-
rose sepals, and a broad lip of the richest crimson
purple, not a trace of the characteristic golden tint of C
Dowiana being present. This is one of the rarest of all
hybrid Orchids, and very few plants of it are in existence.
C. Novelty is a hybrid between Cattleya marginata and L,
elegans. It is a good deal like C . porphyrites, but the tube
of the lip is pure white, which is a strong contrast to the
crimson lobe. Some plants of Advantum Farleyense, said
to have been raised from spores, were shown by Mr.
Goldby, of Brierfield, who states that he sowed the spores
on February 23d last year, and the sporlings appeared —
soon after. If this statement is correct, it tends to dis- —
prove the theory that this beautiful Maidenhair Fern is a
hybrid, and never produces fertile spores.
W. Goldring.
London, October gth.
New or Little Known Plants.
A White-Flowered Cattleya Gigas.
HIS very interesting novelty, of which an illustration
of the only plant now known appears upon page 437
of the present issue, was collected by Mr. Francisco Tima-
notiny for Messrs. Siebrecht & W adley, in Medellen, United
States of Colombia, during the autumn of 1885, and has
been successfully flowered by them during the past sum
mer in their Orchid establishment at New Rochelle. near
this city. The sepals and petals of the flower are pure
white, while the large, full lip is white, delicately shaded [
with rose, but preserving the two faint yellow eyes |
characteristic of the species, from which this variety does
not otherwise differ.
The plant has been added to Mr. F. L. Ames’ rich col
lection of Orchids, where it is now making a vigorous an
satisfactory growth.
Cultural Department.
The Propagation of Conifers.
ANY propagators of Conifers put in cuttings and do thei
grafting between early August and October, but while
some succeed, many more fail. My experience is that the
very changeable weather of our late summer and_ early
autumn renders this work most difficult then, because greate
attention is needed to keep the degree of temperature and |
moisture uniform than itis later in the season. Many Coni- —
fers, it is true, will root at any season, but it is nearly
impossible to persuade others to root during the hot weather,
In the winter season the plants seem to have stored up all th
material ready for use in making a new growth, so that they
are in better Condition to form callus and roots than at any
other time. There is also less evaporation under glass i
winter than there is in hot weather, and by artificial means
we can control the conditions of heat and moisture more
easily. In fact, the more steady the cold weather in winter, —
the better is the chance of success in propagating hard-woo
plants.
A green-house is essential for the propagation of ever
greens in winter as far north as Boston. The cuttings can b
put in an ordinary propagating bed, in pots or in boxes. Fo
large lots, I prefer shallow boxes, and for smaller quantitie
pots are chosen, since they can be more conveniently r
moved without disturbing the roots. In any case, go
drainage must be secured with potsherds or coarse grav
covered with moss or peat to keep the sand from sifti
through. The cuttings should be collected, if possible,
mild day s, and when not frozen. If not used at once, th
can be kept i in damp moss, in a cool place, fora week or more
eitioat| injury. Ifthe cuttings must be gathered in freezi
weather they should be buried in damp moss for several hou
before they are used. The cutting should be made with
heel, using a sharp knife, and it should be from two to four
inches long in most Evergreens, As soon as made, the cut
NOVEMBER 7, 1888.]
tings should be put in so closely as to touch each other, and
a good watering should be given to settle the sand well
around them. They should then be placed on benches in a
cool house, where the temperature does not rise above 45° at
night, or ten to fifteen degrees higher during the day. In
sunny weather a slight syringing once or twice a day will be
needful, and they should be shaded if necessary. They
should be kept at this low temperature for one or two
months, or until well calloused, when the temperature can be
increased by 10°, and it a slight bottom heat can then be given
it will hasten the rooting. About the middle of April they
will, in most cases, be well rooted, and as soon as the weather
is settled they can be hardened off in frames with a slight pro-
tection, and if planted out in frames by the middle of May,
they will be established by autumn, and will need no protec-
tion until the ground begins to freeze. Choice varieties, as
soon as they are rooted, should be transplanted into boxes ot
Garden and Forest.
437
Sciadopvtis also roots well, though slowly. All varieties of
the Box can be treated in the same way as Conifers. /lex
glabra and /, Aguifolium root well from cuttings of the current
year’s growth, and the former can be put in at any time from
Yovember till February ; but 7 ofaca should be put in early
in November and kept ina close frame until well calloused,
which requires from two to three months.
ye taken trom a fruiting plant if the berries are an object,
and the same can be said of all plants of the Holly family.
While most Conifers, except Pines, can be propagated rea-
sonably well from cuttings, stronger plants can be obtained
Cuttings should
xy grafting, but many gardeners who do not hesitate to
graft the most tender plants seem afraid to make the trial
with Conifers. With few exceptions they are easier to graft
than many hard-wood plants, although more time is required
o complete the union. In grafting, the first consideration is
he proper selection and preparation of stocks.
These should
Fig
light soil, and grown during the summer. under glass. They
should be wintered in cold pits, and transplanted into beds the
following spring. Among the Conifers I have successfully
treated in this way are 7huya occidentalis and its varieties,
Chamecy paris (Retinospora) obtusa, C. pisifera, C. plumosa and
and its varieties. Such Junipers as the Irish, Swedish, Douglas’
Golden and other varieties of common Juniper, ¥. fapontca
and some varieties of ¥. Virginiana, Picea nigra pumila, P.
excelsa Gregoriana, P. pungens, P. Omorika and Abies concolor.
I find the best time to put in cuttings of most evergreens
is from the middle of November to the middle of January.
I have tried several hundred cuttings of Picea pungens, giving
them every possible care, and yet lost all but two in a hun-
dred of them, while of those put in in January I have saved
fully one-half. In taking cuttings of Picea I find the smallest
wood the best. I have not been successful in propagating
varieties of the common Hemlock from cuttings, although
cuttings of Japanese Hemlock (7suga Steboldiz) root well. The
Ginkgo roots readily from hard or soft cuttings.
g. 69.—A White-flowered Cattleya Gigas.—See page 436
be potted, if possible, inspring,and plunged ina sheltered situ-
ation where they can be watered during the summer; and at the
approach of freezing weather, they should be put in a cool
cellar or pit where they can be kept until needed. They
should be taken into the house two or three weeks before the
time of grafting, so that the sap may be well started. Where
the stocks have not been prepared in spring they can be pot-
ted in October or November and put in a cool green-house,
where they should be syringed daily in fine weather and kept
in a temperature of not less than 50° at night, with a little
bottom heat, if possible. As soon as the new
side of the pots the grafting may begin.
But besides having the stocks in good condition, it is a mat-
roots reach the
HS
ter of importance to know what kinds to select for the differ-
ent species and varieties. For all Firs, seedlings of Adzes
pectinata or A. balsamea make the best stocl For the
Spruces, the Norway is the best and most isily obtained,
although the White Spruce makes good stocks. It is, how-
ever, more difficult to procure. The common Hemlock
438 Garden and Forest.
is the best stock for 7suga Steboldi: and tor varieties of 7.
Canadensis, For the Retinosporas, Lawson's Cypress and
other species of Chamezecyparis, together with ZLébocedrus de-
currens, the common Arbor Vite, and the White Swamp
Cedar, make good stocks, but plants of this class do better on
stocks of the common form of Chamecyparis pisifera, This
last roots readily from cuttings and makes good stock in two
years. The common Red Cedar is the proper stock for all
species and varieties of the Juniper except ¥. occidentalis. I
find no better stocks than White Pine for all Pines of the five-
leaved section, while for the two-leaved Pines, the Scotch Pine
is generally used, although the Red Pine would be better if it
could be easily proc ured. Some three-leaved Pines, like P.
rigida, P. Teda and P. ponderosa, do quite as well, so far as I
have observed, on this same stock. Varieties of the common
and Japanese Yews graft well on seedlings of the common Yew.
Thuyas do well when grafted on stock of common Arbor
Vite. The Western Larch, the Japanese Larch and varie-
ties of the European Larch gratt readily on this species,
but I have not been successful with Psendolarix Kaempfert on
the same stock, nor on Larix leptolepis. Sometimes it will
make good growths for a year, but, with me, it gradually dies
out.
Tusually begin to graft Conifers late in December, and can
graft with success, if need be, until the first of March. After
that time they are more difficult to manage. The very best
results are secured trom December to February. The mode
of grafting depends much upon the time of year and
other conditions, but I-have found the simplest method the
best, although other ways may be tried for experiment’s
sake. The side or veneer method is most easily learned, and
has this advantage over cleft grafting—namely, that if the graft
does not take at the first operation, the stock is not destroyed
for the season, but the operation can be repeated on another
side or a littlke lower down. In making this graft a smooth
place should be selected on the stock, and a slight downward
cut should be made with a thin-bladed knife a few inches
from the base of the plant, cutting entirely through the bark,
but, if possible, not into the wood. Then the blade is in-
serted two or three inches above, cutting a thin slice off the
bark down to the cross cut below. A similar slice is cut
from the scion and the end of the scion is cut with a slight
angle on the opposite side to fit into the lip of the stock.
The two are then closed together, care being taken that the
cambium layers come in contact with each other. They should
then be bound firmly with strands of bass ruffa, or other soft
tying material. The grafted plants are then laid on their sides
in a close frame which has been previously prepared by put-
ting in a few inches of sand or moss. No wax is needed at
this season. For the first tew weeks the frames must be kept
close, and the plants need a slight daily syringing in fine
weather. When they show signs “of knitting together, which
will be usually in two or three “weeks, a little air may be given,
and after the house is closed, the sashes may be raised for
several hours, and finally air may be given them all night,
The grafts will need looking over ‘occasionally 10 .SEG that no
ties are cutting through the stock or scion. If they are, loosen
and retie. Union will be effected easily in from five to eight
weeks, although in some species a longer time is needed. “As
soon as the grafts are established they should be taken from
the frames; “and the tops of the stocks should be shortened.
They should be set on benches in the green-house and treated
as other plants. Do not cut the stock back closely until the fol-
lowing spring ; this is especially necessary in the case of Pines
and Spruces ; many plants are lost by heading back too early.
As soon as the weather is settled in May, the plants can be taken
from the green-house and plunged in beds. If the roots are
matted they should be carefully separated and spread
out, for when once the roots of Conifers are pot-bound,
unless they are separated, they will Gontinue growing in a
contracted way, and many valuable trees have been lost
from this cau When evergreens have been grafted and laid
on their sides in damp sphagnum, and covered several
inches, they require much less care, and a few moments’
neglect will not be felt as it would otherwise. A few years
ago, for experiment’s sake, | grafted 100 stocks of Picea
pungens and laid them on a side bench which was covered
with six inches of sphagnum. I then covered the grafted
plants about one-third of the way up. These were syringed
lightly once or twice a day in sunny weather, and the tem-
perature of the house was kept at about 50° at night, the moss
being on a slate bench over the pipes which were kept at an
even temperature of 65°. The result was ninety-two strong
plants without the aid of a double frame. Some nurserymen
seeing the experiment have tried the same with equal success
[Novemper 7, 1888.
I was first led to this method by accident. I had a corner
filled with moss, and late one evening buried a few plants
that had been grafted. Then I forgot them until I had oc-
casion to remove the moss, and found that the plants had
taken well. This led to further trial, which has proved of
considerable value to me.
Arnold Arboretum. Fackson Dawson.
athe Vegetable Garden.
AC tender crops, as Snap and Lima Beans, Egg Plants,
Peppers and the like, have been destroyed by frost, and
are now cleared away and ‘the ground they occupied manured
and dug. But many crops are not yet gathered, and it often is
inconvenient to manure and dig a piece of ground lately oc-
cupied by a tender crop—like melons, for example—till the
hardier crops, as Parsnips, growing in conteyers plats, are
also removed, Asparagus tops have been cut, cleared away
and burned, and we are now manuring and digging the ground.
We plant our Asparagus deep enough to allow us to plow or
dig over the crowns without touching them. The stumps of
the stems which are left in the ground cannot now be re-
moved, but in April and before Asparagus cutting begins they
can be pulled out with the greatest ease. Were they left in
the ground in spring they would be in the way of the knife
used in cutting the crop for use. Asparagus can be planted
now as well as in spring, Gn the level and only a few inches
deep; but if planted in trenches eighteen inches deep, as the
large market growers do, then planting had better be deferred
till early spring.
It is now time to attend to the lifting, topping and storing for
winter of the root crops. Pull up.the Beets, and save the nice,
well shaped, tender ones, Large, coarse, old roots are not
worth saving for culinary use. In cutting off the leaves do not
cut quite close to the bulb, else it will bleed, and never cut off
the end or tap root. Lay them on the eround i in heaps of one
or a few barrelfuls, and cover them with tops or straw
enough to exclude frost, with a shutter over that to protect
them from rain, andleave them here for a week or ten days to
sweat. Then bring them into the pit, cellar or other winter
quarters; do notstore them for the winter in large bulk, else they
will rot. In order to keep them plump and fresh pack them in
open, narrow, well ventilated bins in the vegetable house, and
use a good deal of ordinarily moist sandy soil thrown in among
them. Treat Carrots in the same way, only the leaves can be
cut close to the roots and they may be stored in large bulk it
desired, Although Carrots keep fresher when packed i in sand
orearth, this is not at all necessary. Parsnips may be treated
as Carrots. Butas Parsnips lose much of their favor when
kept out of the earth, we pack them in sandy soil and in this
way retain their good taste. Salsify, Scorzonera and Skirret
should be treated like Beets. Do not crop them close. Treat
Turnips in about the same way as Carrots. Much difficulty is
often experienced in keeping Jerusalem Artichokes from rot-
ting in winter, but with proper care they keep very well. The
tubers mature slowly and should not be lifted till late in the
season. Then store them on the ground in very small bulk,
covering them with some straw and a little earth, or a shutter
over the straw to keep the tubers dry. At the end of a week
or two store them in the root-house in small bins and with
plenty of earth or sand among them. Horseradish is another
root that should now be lifted and stored in sand or earth. If
not kept in this way it wilts and loses much of its pungency.
In preparing it for storing, cut off the tops, also the thong roots,
which are not large enough for culinary purposes, and save
enough of these long, straight, fleshy roots for sets for next
year. Instead of having sets two or three inches long, have
them eight or ten inches long.
In lifting and storing root crops, be particular not to remove
them at once into their winter quarters unless they are excep-
tionally congenial. Never store away roots that are wet or in
any way decayed. See that the root-house is dry overhead
and at the bottom, that it is moderately dark ee well venti-
lated, and that it can be kept unitor miy cool, say about 34°
to 40°. Never store roots of any kind in ‘large ‘jails
Turnips, Carrots and Potatoes, of which we usually have the
largest bulk, may be successfully wintered in out-door pits.
We alw aysstore hundreds of barrels of Carrots in this way: the
pits are five feet wide, six inches deep and of a length to con-
tain the crop. The Carrots are heaped up three feet high
along the middle. Some thatch is spread over the roots, then
a coating, some eight to twelve inches thick, of earth, is placed :
over the straw. Drain tiles, as ventilators, rise from the root
of these pits every five feet. :
It is not well to lift root crops, except Potatoes, before sharp
frost occurs, and even then we should not cover them up
NOVEMBER 7, 1888. |
thickly till near the time when settled wintry weather sets in.
Many root crops—Parsnips, Salsity, Scorzonera, Artichokes
and Horseradish, for example—are perfectly hardy with us,
and keep better and retain their quality better when left in the
ground and lifted and used as required. — But this is impracti-
cable. We may leave a part of each crop in the ground til
early spring, if so desired, but as it is advisable to have the
ground completely cleared of summer crops, manured anc
plowed or dug in fall, this work could not well be done
if some of each kind of roots were left growing in the grounc
till spring. :
Roots of Sea Kale, Dandelions, Sorrel and Chicory, for win-
ter forcing, should be lifted now and stored in sand in the root
house for use as desired. . In topping them, we are carefu
never to cut into the crown, as it is the leaf and not the roo
that is used. As the winter advances we keep up a succes-
sion of these vegetables, planting the roots thickly in soap
Garden and Forest.
439
should be avoided at all times during the winter, and especially
with Papa Gontier and Niphetos. Both of these Roses are very
susceptible to excessive watering, and will soon show its
etfects by an unhealthy appearance and the loss of a large
portion of their foliage.
Another trouble the Rose-grower has to contend with at this
season, or has to contend with to a greater extent at this sea-
son than during the summer months, is the disease known as
“black spot,” or ‘black mildew,” an insidious and most pel
sistent enemy to healthy Rose growth, and though well known
in appearance, Rose-growers seem unable to entirely prevent
its ravages, especially among the Hybrid Teas. Various
modes of treatment have been adopted for the purpose of
preventing or curing ‘‘black spot,” and with various degrees
of success, the most approved method at present being that
of keeping the affected plants rather dry at the root, and at the
same time giving them a slight increase in temperature. This
erar
k
ee cone rr
Entrance to the Temples at Nikko, Japan.—See page 434.
boxes placed in the Mushroom house or other quarters, where
a temperature of 60° or over is maintained. — And when they
start to grow, in order to have the tops well bleached and
tender, we invert other boxes over those in which the roots
are growing. William Falconer.
Glen Cove, N.Y. =
Roses.—A close watch should be kept at this time of the
year for the first appearance of red spider on the Roses,
because, when taken in time, the spider may be exterminated
before much injury has been done. Unless very carefully fired
during the changeable weather of the autumn, the houses on
some occasions may get too warm at night, and when this
occurs the foliage of the Roses becomes weakened and an
easy prey to the spider. Thorough syringing, with a good
pressure of water, is the most effectual method of dealing with
red spider, and by using a good head of water the stream can
be used to much greater advantage on the foliage without
giving an undue amount at the root, which latter condition
seems a reasonable treatment, from the fact that the spot
almost invariably follows excessive watering, when the latte;
is coupled with a close, moist atmosphere. It is also well to
remove. the affected leaves as much as is possible without
actually stripping the plants, as it is most likely that the growth
of the fungus is encouraged and spread about by the decaved
leaves falling on the ground. In fact, cleanliness will be found
to. pay in the Rose-house at all times of the year. This disease
has given most trouble among the Hybrid Tea
such as LaFrance, Bennett, American Beauty, and others of
similar character, and from the preference it has shown for
this class of would seem as if there was some
special defect in their constitution, which laid. them open
to its attacks. Either this is true or else the prevalen
mode of growing them is defective. Possibly the decidu-
ous habit of the Hybrid Perpetuals may have something
to do with the peculiarities of the Hybrid Teas, though the
latter class is usually understood to do better when treated
Roses,
Roses, it
440
as Teas, than when grown by the methods adapted to
Hybrid Perpetuals. Ww,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Schizostylis coccinea.—We are now enjoying the flowers of
this beautiful South African plant. It belongs to the Iris
family, and is commonly known as ee ¥ lag or WKaffir
Lily. It always blooms in fall, especially from October till
December. During the winter months it requires the protec-
tion of a cool green-house or warm frame, but throughout the
summer months out-door treatment. Rich, moist soil and a
sheltered, slightly shaded place suits it best, and it may be
grown in pots or planted out in summer, and lifted and potted
in September. In order to have it in its greatest luxuriance,
however, it should be planted out permanently in a frame
from which frost is excluded at all times. The flowers are
crimson, one and a half to two inches across, and closely
arranged on spikes after the fashion of some Gladioh.
Propagation is easily effected by means of division in spring
or early summer.
Helianthus Maximiliani.—This is the finest hardy perennial
Sunflower now in bloom. It grows from seven to ten feet
high, and just now (in late October) its long, wand-like
stems are terminated for two to three feet of their length with
bright golden-yellow flowers closely set to the stems. The
whole plant is rough-hispid; the leaves are alternate, scab-
rous, lanceolate, acute. The species is indigenous to the
“Prairies and plains west of the Mississippi, and from the
Saskatchewan to Texas.”” It spreads a good deal at the root,
but not nearly to the extent that most other perennial species
do, There is a current idea that it is not quite hardy, but we
have never known it to show any signs of being tender. We
find that growing it for several successive years in one place
in the garden debilitates it, no matter how much manure we
give it. It should be transplanted to fresh ground every
second or third year if it is to continue at its best estate.
GG:
Notes From the Arnold Arboretum.
SEVERE and sudden frost in the middle of September,
following six weeks in which the rainfall was almost with-
out a parallel in amount in eastern New England, and during
which the sun was rarely seen, destroyed the foliage on many
plants, and has greatly impaired the beauty of many others,
which, ordinarily, at this season of the year, are more beauti-
ful than at any other. Fruits, too, have ripened badly, and
many shrubs, native and foreign, are almost destitute of ber-
ries, which are often more attractive than the flowers preced-
ing them. It is probable, moreover, that the damage inflicted
by. the unusual wetness of the season will not be fully felt until
next year. Unripened wood, and the wood of comparatively
few plants is thoroughly ripened, means that many plants will
be killed back during the winter, and that those which bloom
upon this year’s erowth, even if it is not killed, will not pro-
duce many flowers next spring and summer. Plants, there-
fore, of doubtful hardiness, should be protected this winter
with unusual care; and even those which have shown them-
selves perfectly hardy for years will be all the better for a little
protection during the cold weather, in view of the unusual
climatic conditions of the past season. There are some plants
in the collection, however, which are very beautiful now, and
itis perhaps well to mention them, for if a plant assumes a
brilliant autumn coloring this year, it may be depended upon
to do so under the most unfavorable conditions.
The foliage of the common Barberry (2. vilgaris), of Euro-
pean origin, loses its leaves late, and aftera very slight change
of color. This plant, naturalized in North America, has not
changed its character in this particular with its change of
home, and in New England still lacks autumnal brilliancy of
leaf. But the common Barberry is a plant of wide geographi-
cal distribution. There are growing in the Arboretum speci-
mens of Manchurian and of Japanese origin, The former,
which in some gardens is known as B. Amurensis, is now
bright with orange and scarlet, while the Japanese plant is still
more brilliant and more beautiful. The fruit of this last is
smaller, and borne in shorter racemes than upon the European
plants.” For its foliage, if for no other reason, the Japanese
Barberry should be better known in our gardens. Still more
brilliant is the autumn coloring of Berberis emarginata, a
Siberian plant, closely related to the common Barberry, and
perhaps to be considered as a mere geographical variety of it.
This is certainly one of the most desirable of shrubs, consid-
ered with reference to the autumnal coloring of the foli iage.
Berberis Thunbergii is very beautiful, however, at this season
of the year, and ‘the large and conspicuous fruit, solitary, or
more rarely umbellate, remains unshriveled upon the branches
Garden and Forest.
[NoveMBER 7, 1888.
until the appearance of the new leaves in spring. The grow-
ing popularity of this plant is certainly well merited. Ber beris
Chinen sis, the most graceful of all the Barberries in this collec-
tion, is still perfectly green. Later it will be clothed in bril-
liant hues. There is a difference, however, in the autumn
coloring of different individuals of this group, the plants
which originated in the mountains of northern China being
the most valuable in this respect. The fruit of this species is
unsurpassed in sizeand brilliancy of coloring and in thelength
of the long, graceful racemes, which now fairly weigh down
the slender, pendulous branches. The pretty litthke Himalayan
Berberis concinna has turned brilliantly, too, to orange and
scarlet, and so has our only eastern American representative
of the genus, Berberis Canadensis, a rather rare Alleghany
plant.
Many of the North American /yicace@ are now striking and
beautiful objects. None are more beautiful than the common
high-bush Blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, which, when well
grown, is sometimes eight or ten feet high, and a stout, thick,
wide spreading bush. It is impossible to describe the splen-
dor of the scarlets with which, at this time, its leaves are
tinged. They are fairly dazzling. This plant is beautiful when
in flower; its fruit is handsome, abundant and of excellent
quality, and among North American shrubs there is none
more brilliantin late-October, It is easily transplanted from its
native swamps and hillsides to the garden, where it thrives in
good soiland grows with more rapidity than most plants of
its class. More than other Blueberries, too, it shows a ten-
dency to vary in the size, shape and quality of its fruit. Any
attempt to improve the Blueberry by selection, with the view
of adding it to the list of cultivated fruits, should naturally
begin with this species. Simply as an ornamental garden
plant, it deserves a place in every garden, and it is surprising
that gardeners have so long and so generally neglected it.
Two Huckleberries, Gaylussacia frondosa and G. dumosa, are
very brilliant just now, and, like all the Vaccinia, should find
a place in gardens where attention is paid to planting for
autumn effects of color. And very brilliant, too, is the Sour-
wood, Oxydendrum arboreum, which is hardly surpassed in
color at this season of the year by any American tree. Here |
it is scarcely more than a ‘tall bush, but in the forests, which
cover the sides of the southern Alleghanies, it becomes a fair-
sized tree, rivaling the Flowering Dogw ood and the Tupelo in
its scarlet leaves, the effect of which is increased by the long
compound racemes of yellow fruit hanging from the extremi-
ties of all the branches. This tree is often planted and greatly
esteemed in Europe, where it has been known for a century yat
least. Here it is little known by gardeners and rarely seen in
gardens.
The leaves of Rhododendron Vaseyi, recently figured in this
journal, have now turned to a deep, dark crimson, a character
which will increase the value of this beautiful and interesting
addition to our garden flora. The wood, in spite of the wet
season, seems thoroughly ripened, and the plants are well set
with flower buds.
Cornus florida has, as usual, turned to a deep, rich scarlet,
and Cornus sanguinea is hardly less attractive, with its broad |
leaves now the so-called old gold color, with the margins of
a deep scarlet. The habit of “this plant is exceptionally good
when it is given room for the free development of all its
spreading branches; and the bright color of its bark makes it —
an agreeable object in winter after the leaves have fallen.
Viburnum acerifolium, one of the commonest of the native
species in hilly and in northern regions, shows some pink in
the prevailing scarlet of the autumn tints of its leaves, which
are not surpassed in brilliancy by those of «any other Vibur-
num. This plant has a neat and compact habit of growth —
and handsome black fruit, which make a pleasant contrast
with the foliage. The foliage of Viburnum pubescens, which
is another rather small growing. native species, worthy of a _
place in every garden, turns toa 1 deep and very rich dark pur-_
ple, which is quite unlike that of any other shrub in the col- |
lection. It contrasts admirably with some of the species, like |
the last, with brighter foliage. :
The Witch Hazel, the latest of all our shrubs to flower, is.
now in full bloom, the pretty yellow flowers being partly hid
den by the ample leaves, which have turned to orange, anc
will fall before the petals. This autumn color of the leaves 0
this American plant does not appear in those of its Japanese
congener (Hamamelis Faponica), which shrivel and fall while
still green. Fothergilla alnifolia has brilliant golden leaves
just now, while those of the Japanese Photinia villosa, figured
in an early issue of this journal, are now of a brilliant scarlet. ;
A better acquaintance only confirms the value of this plant for
garden decoration.
Novemser 7, 1888.]
Some plants are valuable because their foliage is able to
resist frost, and to keep green and bright very late in the
autumn. The common Barberry is a conspicuous example of
this sort; others are Akebia guinata,a handsome Japanese
climbing plant, related to the Barberries, and the well-known
Japan Honeysuckle. The leaves of most of the Japanese
plants in cultivation turn in the autumn to the same colors
which their American congeners assume, but in the case of
these two plants, both of which, in more temperate climates,
retain their foliage until spring, the leaves remain green until
killed by severe freezing; and this is true of nearly all
European shrubsand of most European trees, Acer platanoides,
the Norway Maple, being the only one of the common
European trees which assumes here anything like brilliant
autumn tints of color.
Few shrubs are in flower. Flowers may still be found,
however, in considerable profusion upon Daphne Cneorum, a
plant which remains in bloom almost continuously during the
season. Few shrubs produce more attractive or more fra-
grant flowers, and were it only a little more hardy and a little
less slow to propagate, this Daphne would be one of the most
desirable of all low under-shrubs for the garden-border or for
the rockery.
The Japanese Honeysuckle, or that variety which is very
generally known in American gardens as Lonicera Hallii, is
still sparingly covered with its deliciously fragrant white flow-
ers, which turn yellow in fading, and which ‘nothing but the
most severe freezing ever entirely destroys.
The latest growths of the Texan Clematis coccinea are still
covered with the bright and handsome scarlet, bell-shaped
flowers, peculiar to this species—a remarkable fact in the case
of a plant of such southern origin, which would hardly be ex-
pected to be hardy in the New England climate. The capacity
to bloom late adds very considerably to the really great orna-
mental value of this pretty plant.
Flowers may be found still upon the Japanese Rose (Aosa
rugosa), especially upon plants of the white-flowered variety;
but this, perhaps, is accidental. This fact, too, increases the
value of this plant, which seems to possess all the qualities
which make a plant valuable in ornamental gardening. It is
hardy, and it grows rapidly ; the handsome and fragrant flow-
ers, varying on different individuals from deep dark red to the
purest white, are produced almost continuously from early
spring to late autumn. The foliage is unequaled among
Roses in luxuriance and in the depth and brilliancy of its dark
green, which in autumn turns to intense shades of crimson
and orange, The large and abundant fruit is not less showy
than the flowers, while, more than all other Roses, it is free
from the attacks of injurious insects. Care must be taken,
however, to select plants of good varieties. Very inferiorones
are often sold in nurseries, hybrids probably of this species
and Rosa cinamomea, which are not worth planting.
There is a variety with double or semi-double flowers, which
shows traces of the blood of some other species, but it is net
worth a place in the garden. The best of a large number of
varieties in this collection are one with very dark red, single
flowers, a seedling raised by Mr. Dawson, and the pure white
single-flowered variety. fs
October arst.
dhe Poresr
The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico.—IX.
Suntperus pachyphiwa, Torr., one of the noblest of Amer-
ican Junipers, not rarely attaining a diameter of three or
four feet, and a height of fifty, admirable for its symmet-
rical and compact habit and large reddish brown fruits,
ranging through the mountains of southern Arizona, New
Mexico and Texas, is at home on all the ranges about the
divide and throughout the Cordilleras forest as far south,
probably, as the ‘state of Jalisco, From the cafions of the
mountains about Chihuahua to the highest summits of the
Cordilleras, it ranges through nearly 5,000 feet of eleva-
tion. Attaining its fullest development in rich and water-
ed cafions, it nevertheless mounts in smaller specimens
to high and dry slopes and rocky ledges.
On the driest crests of ridges near the summits, where
the soil was little more than disintegrated porphyry or
granite, grew Juniperus lelragona, Schlecht., branching at the
base and sending up several bushy stems to the height of
ten or twenty feet oftener than taking the form of a tree.
Even nearer the summits, but standing with other trees
Garden and Forest. 441
in better soil, I found the other Juniper, Z. occidentalis,
var. conjugens, previously mentioned as common on the
summits of the dry ranges of the centre of the plateau.
With Junipers so common and widely distributed over
Mexico, it would seem that the supply of railroad ties
need not be imported from far northern swamps at a cost
of a dollar apiece.
Pseudoisuga Douglast, Carr., the Douglas Spruce, as
might be expected, was found in high cafions with a north-
ern aspect, not exceeding here Pinus Arizonica in its di-
mensions, and with it Abies concolor, showing a diameter
somewhat less.
Above these on the cool talus of cliffs were occasional
belts of Aspen, Populus /remu/oides, so familiar to northern
eyes, here a slender tree only a few inches in diameter.
Quercus grisea, Leibm. —Nine-tenths of the Oaks of these
mountains “would seem to be of this species. It mingles
with the He yee Pines on the plains at the base, it
predominates. over the Pines and all other bag: on the
foot-hills and facaips and it straggles after the Pines up
the slopes to the very summits. ‘Only in the canons that
are deepest and wettest does it yield place to other species.
In these Quercus reticulata, HBK., reaches proportions
gratifying to behold to one who, searching the Santa
Rita mountains of Arizona for a specimen for the American
Museum, saw but a single specimen worthy to be called
a tree, that growing by a spring far up towards the sum-
mits, and only got down by great labor. All through
these wet canons and far up their sides, if it can have the
shade of cliffs, this Oak habitually makes a tree of good size.
Mounting the ridges, however, it diminishes in size in
direct ratio to the amount of water in the soil, till on their
arid crests it assumes the form of low bushes, and forms
thickets of chapparal. It is my impression (1 would like
to see the test made), that the wood of this species most
nearly of all Mexican Oaks approaches in quality that of
our White Oak, Q. a/ba, and, if seasoned with due care,
might be employ ‘ed in carriage work.
Quercus hy poleuca, Engelm. p also flourishing in the canons,
but spreading more commonly than the last over the
cooler benches and slopes, makes a larger tree, one not
rarely two or three feet in diameter. This is one of the
most attractive of Oaks, in open situations showing a
symmetrical outline with close evergreen foliage, deep
green and glossy above, white or fulvous-tomentose be-
neath. :
Quercus fulva, Leibm., appeared less frequent than the
above species, and was only seen on the lower benches
and ridges in warm exposures. It is but a small tree in
its best development, seldom more than a foot in diameter
and thirty in height. With its great leathery leaves it pre-
sents a striking appearance.
Arbutus Xalapensis, HBK., was found sparsely scattered
over these mountains in a great. variety of situations, and
was seen on the ranges as far eastward as Chihuahua. Its
diameter of one or two feet is disproportionate to its
height. Of stooping habit, throwing out long tortuous
branches without regard to symmetry, it assumes gro-
tesque forms; and with its white bark, on the branches
mostly smooth, its evergreen leaves and pink flowers,
succeeded by scarlet berries, it is a tree of unique ap-
pearance.
Another JZadrona, Arbutus petiolaris, HBR. (2) was not
scarce, though confined entirely to the northern verge of
ridges, and cool, dry soil for med of disintegrating porphy Ty:
This tree is rather smaller than the last, but resembles it in
appearance, except that its entire bark is smooth and red-
dish, and its leaves broader, serrate and pubescent.
There was a surprising paucity of shrubbery in these
forests among the Oaks. I call to on only Ceanothus
Fendlert, Gray, C. asureus, Desf., var. ) parvifolus, Wat-
son, on rocky hills, Arcéostaphylos a HBK., in dry
situations with Pinus cembroides, and Spircwa discolor, Pur sh,
var. dumosa, Wa/son, about the ledges of the summits.
Charlotte, Vt. C. G. Pringle.
442 Garden and Forest
Correspondence.
The Mountain Laurel.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—lI have a desire to introduce the Mountain Laurel on a
place about fifty miles south of the White Mountains, in New
Hampshire, but have been told by skilled gardeners and
others who have given particular attention to the subject, that
it is practically impossible to transplant, or to propagate it from
cuttings. I have planted the seed (a year ago), but, as yet,
with no results. If any of your readers could give any hints
or information on this subject, it would be much appre-
ciated. A, L. Dow.
Brooklyn, N. Y., October 15th, 1888,
[The Mountain Laurel (A@mz2a lattfoha) is easily trans-
planted from the woods. Young plants, not more than
eight to twelve inches high, should be selected for this
purpose. ‘They should be ‘carefully dug during the lat-
ter part of September or in October, and if they are to
be planted at a considerable distance from the place
where they have grown, the roots should be enveloped
at once in sphagnum moss and the plants packed in
boxes or barrels. They will need protection during the
first winter, and should be set thickly in the ground, in a
cold-frame or cellar, or, if there is no opportunity to pro-
tect them in this way, they can be heeled in in some
sheltered situation and carefully covered with leaves and
evergreen branches. In the spring the plants should be
set in nursery rows and cultivated during the season. In
the spring of the third year they will be “large and strong
enough to bear transplanting into the positions they are
to occupy permanently ; after that the plants will require no
further care or attention. The Laurel grows in almost all
soils except those strongly impregnated with lime, but in
cultivation it flourishes most freely ina well-drained compost
of sandy loam and peat. The Laurel may also be raised
from seed, but the young seedlings grow slowly and re-
quire special care, so that persons unfamiliar with the
business and without special facilities for raising seed-
lings, are not recommended to adopt this method of ob-
taining plants. The Mountain Laurel is grown largely in
some European nurseries, and fine bushy plants, a foot
high and as much across the branches, covered with
flower-buds, can be imported and delivered in this city
or in Boston in quantity at about thirty cents a plant.—
Ep. |
Gorse and Scotch Heather in New England.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Can you tell me whether the Furze, or Gorse (Ulex
Europeus), will stand the winter on the coast of Massachu-
setts, in a rather exposed situation ?
And will any of the Scotch Heathers live in such a situa-
tion? Will you give me the botanical names of such vari-
eties ? Papa ca eg
[The Gorse was planted quite largely several years ago
in Massachusetts, on the Island of Naushon, lying be-
tween the mouth of Buzzard’s Bay and the Vineyard
Sound, for the purpose of covering the ground and pre-
venting the drifting of loose sand. It lived for a
number of years, and plants may still be seen upon the
island. It never spread much, however, and in severe
winters always suffered. It cannot be considered hardy
in New England, and its cultivation is not recommended
except as a garden-ornament in sheltered positions, or
where it can be carefully covered and protected. The so-
called Scotch Heather is Calluna vulgaris, a ue heath-
like plant, with handsome purple flowers. It has been
found growing spontaneously in one locality in Massa-
chusetts, and it is not rare in Newfoundland and far north-
ward on this continent. Its true» home, however, is in
northern Europe. Although a hardy plant, it cannot
be recommended for planting in exposed situations on the
New England sea-coast, as it often suffers in severe win-
ters when not carefully protected. The plant which most
[NovemBeErR 7, 1888,
resembles the Gorse, at least in flower, which is really
available for planting on the New England sea-coast, is the
European Woad-wax (Genis/a “incloria), a low efit of
the Pea family, with bright yellow flowers. This plant
now occupies many hundred acres of sterile, hilly land
near Salem, in Essex County, Massachusetts, near the sea-
coast. It spreads rapidly, and when once it has taken
possession of the soil, no other plant can dislodge it.
‘The appearance which these hills present when the Genista
is in bloom is striking and beautiful, recalling more
clearly to the mind a Gorse-covered moor of Europe than
anything which can be seen elsewhere in the United
States. The Genista, however, has proved itself a dan-
gerous and persistent weed in Essex County, and there
is always danger that it will, when planted, spread over
and ruin valuable land. It is only beautiful while in
flower, being quite insignificant during the remainder of
the year. There are such a number of dwarf native
shrubs with beautiful flowers, or with handsome foliage,
which can be used for covering rough and exposed sit-
uations ‘along our coast, that it does not appear neces-
sary to look to foreign countries for plants for this pur-
pose. Plantations made of our native Roses, the Bay-
berry, the dwarf Sumachs, the different Blueberries, the
Beach Plum, the Hudsonias, the dwarf Cherry, the dwarf
Viburnums, the Sweet Fern, are suitable and appropriate
for the New England coast. Such plantations, made
without the aid of human hands, may be seen in many
places along the shores of Cape Cod and Cape Ann.
Nature, with all the wealth of material at her disposal
in more erated climates, has never made combinations
more harmonious in color, or more suitable to their
surroundings. They put on in autumn, too, after the
beauty of the spring and the summer have vanished,
a richness of color which gives to our coast scenery, at
this season of the year, a character peculiarly its own,
and so beautiful that the mere suggestion of introducing
into the scene any foreign element which cannot heighten
and must diminish this distinctive charm seems undesira-
ble, to say the least.—Ep. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I have been greatly annoyed by ants in the house,
where they swarm through kitchen and pantries, and on the
lawn, where they construct unsightly little rounds, and craw]
over every one who dares to sit on the grass. What is the
best defense against this invasion ?
Lancaster, Pa. : es
[First find the ant-hills which harbor them. This is
not difficult if sharp watch is made of the directions in
which they travel. Professor Cook, of Michigan Agricul-
tural College, then attacks them by sinking a crow-bar
into the centre of the mound till it reaches the level of the
lowest gallery in the ants’ nest. Halfa gill of bisulphide
of carbon is then turned into the hole, and a shovelful of
clay is at once thrown on and trodden down compactly.
This holds in the poison fumes of the volatile liquid, and
soon destroys the last ant. In the latest Bulletin of the
Massachusetts Agricultural College the same advice, prac-
le is given “by Professor Fernald. A large ant-hill,
sarly six feet square, next to the underpinning ofa house,
was doing much damage. The ground was undermined
so completely that a person walking over it would sink in
quite deeply, and the grass on the hill was nearly dead,
Holes were made witha small stick, about fifteen inches
apart and six inches deep, and two or three teaspoonfuls
of the bisulphide were thrown into each hole, after which
the holes were closed and the earth pressed down by step-
ping onthem, ‘The treatment was successful. The clos-
ing up of the orifice seems to be essential. Bisulphide of
carbon is a chemical preparation that can be found at any
a ug-store. It has a most disagreeable smell. The bottle
in which it is contained should be kept tightly stopped, as
it quickly loses its strength when exposed to the air. The
fumes should not be breathed while using it, because
NOVEMBER 7, 1888.]
they are injurious as well as disagreeable... As it burns at
a temperature of 107° Fahrenheit, it should be kept away
from fire.—Ep. ]
Recent Publications.
Annual Report of the Division of Forestry, Department of
Agriculture, for 1837: B. E. Fernow, Washington, 1888.
The Forestry Division of the Department ot Agriculture
was organized chiefly as a bureau of information, and the
report before us, while giving an account of the methods by
which this educational work has been carried on during the
year, contains much besides that will afford instruction, pro-
voke inquiry and stimulate interest. Like its predecessor,
this report contains few statistics, for the good reason that the
department has not at command the elaborate machinery
needed to secure accurate figures. Some imperfect data in
regard to the amount of forest planting i in the West are given,
and Mr. Fernow takes occasion to note that many reports of
tree-planting in the prairie states are misleading exaggera-
tions. Even when the number of trees planted is accurately
given, they often include those set by the roadside and about
dwellings ‘for ornament and for shelter belts, as well as those
inforest masses. But scattered trees can never make’a forest,
and it is unfair to divide the whole number of trees planted
by the number required to the acre under the Timber Culture
Act, and consider the result as the acreage of artificial forest.
And even if the acreage planted under this act were correctly
stated, we have no know ledge of the present condition of the
trees, or what per cent. of them will be likely to live and
thrive. Mr. Fernow rightly insists that we are using up our
wood crop more rapidly than it reproduces itself. Those who
doubt this swift reduction of our supplies because of our still
abounding forest wealth and because it is true that in some
parts of the country the wooded area is increasing on aban-
doned farm land, should remember that even w here there is
no absolute denudation the forest may deteriorate in quality,
and that the new crop that is springing up on the old fields is
quite inferior to the original growth.
This report deals mainly with a different class of subjects
from those treated last year. The chief value of the last
year’s report was in the section which set forth the principles
of forestry proper. The most interesting portion of the
present report is that in which is outlined a system of study
and original investigation with a view to place the practice of
forestry in America ona rational basis. It is argued that if
the Division of Forestry is to accomplish the most worthy
results, it is time that it took a step in advance of its old work
of compiling doubtful statistics, of recounting what has been
done in the Old World, and of exhorting our people not to
squander the forest w ealth of the country. All of this was
needed, perhaps; but what Mr. Fernow calls ‘missionary
work” can safely be left to the public press and to the forestry
associations of the different states. What is now needed is
exact knowledge—such knowledge as can only be gained by
careful experiment and study. It is to suggest the lines upon
which such inquiry should’ proceed, and to make a proper
co-ordination and subordination of the various fields of investi-
gation that the topics have been grouped into systematic
arrangement.
It may be that experience in studying and teaching will
suggest some modification of this schedule, but as it stands it
serves a good purpose in presenting to readers, who have not
given serious and continued thought to the matter, an ad-
equate conception of the wide range of subjects to which the
American student of forestry can profitably direct his attention.
And very plainly it would be to the general advantage if
the Department. of Forestry, the agricultur al colleges, the ex-
periment stations and private investigators should devote
themselves, according to their several ‘lights and abilities, to
researches of the kind here indicated. It is true that forests
have been and will be successfully planted and managed, and
forest crops profitably harvested by men who know little, in a
scientific way, of the life history of the trees they plant and
fell, and still less of the general distribution of our forest
flora or of the technological properties of different woods. It
is equally true that there have been entire generations of fairly
successful farmers who have had little or no exact knowledge
of the sciences which underlie the practice of agriculture,
But no one will contend that our agriculture has not been im-
proved materially in recent years by the published results of
scientific research. Farmers now talk intelligently of nutri-
tive ratios and of the proper proportions of nitrogen, potash and
phosphoric acid in their fertilizers, and it is this knowledge
which makes our agriculture progressive and full of prom-
Garden and Forest.
443
ise. Itis not too early to begin the systematic study of for-
estry with the same purpose. It will be years, indeed, before
the same care will be given to the production of forest crops
here that is used in some countries of Europe. Our time for
strictly scientific forestry has not yet arrived. But hi ars will
be required before we shall be able to collect the facts and
experience we shall need, when the refinements of forestry,
with its close calculations and intensive methods, can be
practiced to advantage.
To this exposition of a plan of comprehensive study, Mr.
Fernow adds some suggestive paragraphs on experimentation
in the forest, the nursery and the laboratory, together with
observations meteorological and climatic. The successful
practice of the future must be based upon methodical experi--
ments conducted persistently by men of scientific training.
In no other way can data be furnished that will enable us to
answer with confidence such elementary questions as : What
is the best time to thin? At what period of growth can the
forest crop be most profitably utilized ? How do the finan-
cial results of natural reforestation and artificial planting
compare? Mr. Fernow indicates the lines which these inves-
tigations are to follow, and illustrates, by examples, the kind of
knowledge that is to be gained in this way. The entire
section is most valuable as affording popular instruction
upon points to which general attention has not been directed.
The report also contains a brief summary of the condition
of the forests in the several states, notes on a few timber trees,
certain bulletins which the division has issued during the year
and much miscellaneous matter. Altogether, it admirably
accomplishes its purpose to disseminate information, and it
cannot fail to instruct the class of readers which it will reach
and give them a clearer conception of the importance of the
problems i in forestry which now confront the country and of
the proper means to employ if they are to be satisfactorily
solved.
Recent Plant Portraits.
PYEROCARYA FRAXINIFOLIA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, October
6th; a hardy tree belonging to the Walnut family, bearing in
long, graceful racemes small hard nuts with broad, mem-
branous wings. The finest specimen of this tree in the
United States is believed to be in the Harvard Botanic Garden
in Cambridge. There is a second species, a native of Japan,
P. stenoptera, now sometimes cultivated, and of very con-
siderable promise as an ornamental tree.
JUGLANS MANDSHURICA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, October 6th ;
a hardy Walnut from Amurland, closely related to the North
mend Butternut ( ¥. céveria). This interesting species has
been an inhabitant of the Arnold Arboretum for a number of
years, ripening large crops of fruit there every vear. Itisa
tree of compact and handsome habit, of considerable orna-
mental value, and the nuts are of a sufficiently good quality
to make it quite possible that this species may in time become
of value asa truit tree in the Northern States, and in other
regions where the English Walnut cannot be grown suc-
cessfully.
PSEUDOPH(CENIX SARGENTI,
13th.
LILIUM NEPALENSE, Gardeners’ Chronicle, October 13th; a
handsome Lily from the Central Himalayas, requiring green-
house cultivation. The flowers are described as greenish on
the outside, with the interior of the perianth an intense red-
crimson color, with light greenish tips.
Gardeners’ Chronicle, October
Notes.
The Chrysanthemum Show of the Massachusetts Horticul-
tural Society will be held in Boston on 14th, 15th and 16th of
November.
No less than 150 species of Primrose, divided into sixteen
sections, are recognized by the German botanist, Pax, in his
recent monograph of this genus.
The Forestry Congress in Atlanta will meet on December
5th, and not, as previously announced, on November 2oth,
which is Thanksgiving Day. The Southern Passenger Asso-
ciation, which embraces all the railroads south of the Poto-
mac, and, on this occasion, the Pennsylvania system, so far as
New York, has arranged for round-trip tickets to the great
National Exposition in Augusta, Georgia, at one fare, and will
grant stop-over tickets to attend the Forestry Congress in
Atlanta. As the northern and southern societies will be con-
solidated in Atlanta, a large delegation is expected on De-
cember 5th. Full particulars can be had by addressing Mr,
Sidney Root, Atlanta.
444
In the rich prairie soil of the Kansas Agricultural Experi-
ment Station, where fertilizers and yard manure proved of
little value, an application of salt at the rate of 300 pounds to
the acre, increased the yield of wheat perceptibly.
Mr. T. S. Brandegee has discovered this summer P2nus Tor-
veyana growing upon Santa Rosa, one of the small group of
islands which lie off the Californian Coast in the latitude nearly
of Santa Cruz. The discovery is an interesting one, as Pinus
Torreyana has been considered one of the rarest and most
local of American trees, being known formerly only in one
very restricted locality in the neighborhood of San Diego,
California.
Great baskets of the Fringed Gentian, the loveliest of all our
late autumn wild flowers, appear this year in Boston in the
hands of street flower-sellers. It would be difficult to con-
ceive anything more beautiful than the dark blue of this deli-
cate flower when thus seen in great masses. Very attractive,
too, are bunches of the bright. colored fruit of the Roxbury
Waxwork (Celastrits scandens), sur rounded with Kalmia leaves,
which appear just now very popular with people who pur-
chase flowers in the streets of Boston. Every few minutes a
woman may be seen with one of these bunches on her dress or
in her hand.
The tropical plants which have filled the two large vases in
front of the City Hall, in Boston, have been replaced with
Chrysanthemums in full bloom. The effect is excellent. The
decorative value of the Chrysanthemum is only just beginning
to be appreciated in this country, and they will grow in popu-
larity as they become better understood. They c san certainly
be used with great advantage in this way, and if early flower-
ing varieties to be followed. by those w hich bloom later, are
selected for the purpose, there is no réason why vases and
many garden beds, especially in cities, cannot be made at-
tractive for at least six weeks after the frost has destroyed the
beauty of more tender plants.
The gelatine which is contained in the ‘ edible birds’-nests ”’
of the Orient, and which, of course, is what constitutes their
nutritive quality, was once se be ae to me a secretion from
the salivary glands of the bird its ift. But
it has been “proved to be a Sea- weed, Ww hich the bird often
brings from long distances. Mr. J. B. Steere, writing recently
in the American Naturalist, describes a visit which he paid
under the guidance of professional nest-hunters to the caves
where these birds build in the Philippine Islands. They build
in utter darkness, and it takes about a month to complete a
nest. This the hunter must secure before the eggs are laid,
otherwise it would naturally be unavailable for culinary
purposes.
A correspondent of the Revue Horticole, writing from Nancy,
speaks enthusiastically of the new race of hybrid Gladioli
obtained in the famous horticultural establishment of Mon-
sieur Lemoine, by crossing G. Saundersi with the so-called
Lemoine Hybrids, obte ‘ined by mingling the blood of G. azvreo-
purpuraius with some of the varieties of G. Gandavensis.
The shape, size and the markings of the flowers of this new
race are said to be marvelous and to display a beauty hereto-
fore unknown among Gladioli. It is probable that one or
two of these varieties will appear in the new edition of the
Lemoine catalogue and will be offered for sale. Some of the
seedling Montbretias, raised in the same establishment, are
said to show great improvement in the form and in the color
of the flowers.
The general introduction into commerce of lumber manu-
factured trom the Gum-tree or Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) is
hindered by the practice of sqgme dealers of attaching false
names to it, with the idea of disguising its real character. In
England it is sometimes called Satin Walnut in the trade; in
this city it can be found under the name of Hazel-wood ; and
it has appeared as Arkansas Redwood. Gum is a valuable
wood when its peculiarities of excessive shrinking and warp-
ing are guarded against by proper methods of manufacturing
and seasoning, but it gains nothing by having false and mis-
leading names attached to it. And in the same way Sycamore
lumber is just as valuable when it is called Sycamore as when
it is called Satin-wood, as is sometimes the case in eastern
markets.
Colonel Pearson states, in the Philadelphia Weekly Press,
that the cost of treating an acre of Grape vines with the copper
sulphate solution, which has proved efficacious against both
the black rot and the mildew, need not exceed, for labor and
material, ten dollars. The solution which he uses is known
as the Bordeaux mixture of copper sulphate and lime, the
Garden and Forest.
[NovEMBER 7, 1888.
formula for which was given in the issue of GARDEN AND
Forest for September roth. This mixture is a whitish liquid
resembling somewhat thin milk of lime, and the precipitate
should be constantly stirred as the vines are sprayed through
a Cyclone nozzle. The first application should be made before
the vine-buds open in the spring, and in seasons favorable to
the growth of the rot fungus, it should be repeated every
three weeks. For a certain protection against the rot, every
cluster and every berry must be reached by the spray, and
this can be easily accomplished with the machinery now at
command,
Early grafting of the Cherry in the open air is always recom-
mended, and dormant buds are considered necessary in graft-
ing under cover. The advice is well founded, but the true
reason for it is rarely given. If the stock is as-forward in
growth as the scion, a union of the two can be made quite late
in the season. The essential requisite is that the wood of
both should be in the same condition. Ina late bulletin of
the Iowa College Experiment Station, Professor Budd cites an
instance where it became necessary late in April to take up
several valuable Cherry-trees loaded with fruit buds. All the
scions were cut off down to the two-year-old wood, and set on
Mazzard seedling roots in the graft-room. The grafts were
put in the nursery a few days later, and over ninety per cent.
of them made strong growth. In this case the buds were
started, on one variety, so as to exhibit the points of the em-
bryo leaves, yet the roots taken from the cellar had started
fully as much. If the seedling had been kept dormant in the
ice-house, probably not a single scion would have united with
them. This principle applies to all top-working in the open
air of Apple, Pear, Cherry, Plum, etc. If the work is deferred
until the buds on the stocks are well started, the scions should
be about equally advanced.
In 1883 Professor Budd imported one-year-old Cherry trees
of such varieties as he considered promising for the north-
west, from the valley of the Moselle, in eastern France, and
eastward to the Volga, in Russia. The trees have, so far,
proved as hardy as our native Plums, and many of them
fruited heavily this year. The fruit is satisfactory in quality
and color, but not in size. The smallness of the fruit may
have been due to the strong growth of new wood, induced by.
severe cutting for scions in autumn. Ina late bulletin Profes-
sor Budd recommends that these trees be headed low, and
adds that, evenin western Europe, low cordonand bush training
of the Cherry is becoming common. In eastern Europe, in sec
tions remote from large bodies of water, all stone fruit trees
are headed low. In the Volga region the Cherry is grown in
bush form, with several stems like the Currant or Gooseberry.
Experience has also favored very low stems, or even bush
form, in all the prairie states. Often the stems are fatally
injured when the twigs show no discoloration. Fortunately,
many of the east Europe varieties favor the shading of stenis
by their pendent habit of growth. But even with “these it is
best to have low stems, the lower the better.
A hundred years have passed since the Botanic Garden at
Calcutta was established, and Dr. George King, the superin-
tendent, joins to his lastannual report an interesting historical
sketch of this famous institution. It was founded by the East
India Company, upon the recommendation of one of its
servants, Colonel Robert Kyd, who became the first superin-
tendent, holding the position until his death in 1793. Among
his successors appear the names of many distinguished bota-
nists, of whom the best known are Roxburgh, the author of
the earliest Flora of India; Wallich, whose three volumes
upon some rare Indian plants are among the most sumptuous
in botanical literature, and Dr. Thomas Thompson, the co-
worker with Sir Joseph Hooker in Indian botany. The garden
has been of immense service in making known and distrib-
uting Indian plants and in the introduction of useful plants,
like the Tea and the Cinchona, into Indian cultivation. The
garden was devastated by a terrible cyclone in 1864, and a
second cyclone, a “few years later, almost ruined the few plants
which had escaped the first. A troublesome weed, Jmperata
cylindrica, then spread rapidly over the ground of the whole
garden, which had become exposed to the sunlight by the
destruction of the trees, and when Dr. King was appointed
superintendent in 1871, it wasin a miserable condition, He has,
however, entirely replanted the garden with reference to
landscape effect and erected new conservatories and a new
building for the immense herbarium, principally of Asiatic
plants, which is connected with the garden, and which is con-
stantly enriched with new collections. It is said that of the
trees which were growing in the garden in 1867, the great
Banyan tree is the only one now left standing.
PO ee RS he ey a ae
YP eA,
NoveMBER 14, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFice: Tripune Buitpinc, New York.
Gonductede by. sticks les: =) Shits . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
EpitroriaL ArTIcLEs :—Chrysanthemunmis.—Piazzas, I]...........02005 eeeeeees 445
A Glimpse of Nantucket .....-...0.-6, 2.06 Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselacr. 447
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter .................000 05 W. Goldring. 448
New or Littte Known Piants:—Rosa Nutkana (with illustration).
Sereno Watson. 449
CurturaL Department :—Vegetables in Frames .-. William Falconer. 450
Notes from.an-Amateur's Gardens. ...+cs-secesee sacs satseceicisoetsns « W. G. 450
Shall We Plant in Fall or in Spring?. E. Williams. 451
Nerine Fothergilli—Soil for Roses—Out-door Roses—Orchid Notes—
Two Beautiful Stove Bulbs 451
Piant Nores :—Spirza trilobata (with illustration) cere 55
Notes:from the Arnold Arboretums iiss sss.ceescsencctesisinesedecsecsses F453
- Tue Forest :—European Forest Management.........+.++ eeeee- B.F. Fernow. 454
HorricutturaL Exuipirions :—The New York Chrysanthemum Show......... 455
phe Germanto wii xMiDitions siecs vince c/s 5 <iee sive o<:cieremwteeinbels’eisis cie'e seca ais 456
The Flower Show at Orange, New Je + 456
INOS Nees raterolwa’s(oleie waisle iciaiaciecoeins 4 - 456
IttusTRATIONS :—Rosa Nutkana, Fig. 7o. + 449
Spireea trilobata, Fig. 71 - 452
Chrysanthemums.
HE remarkable popularity of the Chrysanthemum in
3 recent years can hardly be classed among those
transient floral epidemics, so many of which are on record
-in the history of horticulture. The rage for Sunflowers
and Daisies, with many another ephemeral caprice of this
sort, died out as suddenly as they arose, not because the
_ flower which chanced to be the prevailing fashion had no
merit, but because an exaggerated or fictitious beauty and
value were claimed for it. The interest in the Chrysanthe-
mum has had a slow and steady development, and it is
based on the genuine worth of the flower. It appears
at a time when rivals are few and its blooming period
_ extends over a long season. It ranges through a series of
rich, mellow tones of color, and no flower lends itself
more readily to the production of decorative effects. In form
ithas the merit of symmetry, without a hint of rigid for-
-mality or any chilling suggestion of artificiality, such as
characterizes a double Dahlia or a prize Camellia. No
other flower equals it in the diversity of form which it
assumes within the limits of perfect proportion. Each
variety and class of varieties shows such a marked indi-
_viduality in the shaping and arrangement of its parts, or
such a delightful waywardness in the curving and twisting
ofits florets, that one can examine a hundred flowers and
never find the outline of a single one repeated. When it
_is remembered, too, how much of promise for the future of
_the Chrysanthemum there is in this free habit of blossom-
ing outinto novel and graceful forms, we can rest satis-
fied that not even the Rose will more securely maintain its
position as an established favorite among flowers.
The history of the Chrysanthemum’s development from
its earlier and more simple garden forms, is most inter-
esting. It will suffice for our present purpose to note that
Loudon, in his Cyclopedia published in 1824, speaks of
numerous varieties ‘‘recently obtained from China,”
_where the flower had long been cultivated. He enumer-
_ates forty-four varieties, of which few are now to be
found in cultivation. The Large Lilac is one of those
_ which still may be found in old gardens on Long Island
Garden and Forest.
445
and in other parts of this state. Perhaps several of them
still survive in old places still further south. Some of them,
like the Tasseled Yellow and White, the Yellow Waratah
and the Golden Lotus-flowered, would be appreciated now
if they could be re-introduced and cultivated under
approved modern methods. Samuel Broome, in 1857,
published a list of the varieties then growing in the Temple
Garden, London, and among them were 184 varieties of
what was known as the Chinese Chrysanthemum,
eighteen Large-flowered Anemones, 140 Pompons or Lili-
puts, and thirty Anemone Pompons. Of these, there are
found in collections to-day, twenty-five Chinese, eight
Chinese Anemones, twenty-one Pompons and ten Ane-
mone Pompons. It is hardly twenty-five years since
flowers belonging to the Japanese section were introduced
to general notice. It was in 1865 that the Gardeners’
Chronicle reported that Mr. Veitch had sent home ‘three
very distinct forms, evidently the representatives of many
beautiful productions yet unborn,” Two of them had
peculiar ligulate ray-flowers, all or nearly all of which were
drawn out into extremely narrow, sharp terminations, now
and then inclined to fork. The third was of quite another
kind, close-headed, incurved, with all the florets divided
into two irregular and unequal lips. The now famous
Grandiflorum was sent by Robert Fortune to John Standish,
of Ascot, and shown by him as early as 1862. At the
same time were exhibited Laciniatum and Japonicum,
the former spoken of as a ‘‘distinct Japanese variety of
the Chinese Chrysanthemum with white flower-heads
composed of fringed tubular petals.” The report speaks
of the latter as being remarkable for its slender, tubular,
curved florets. How all these peculiarities have been
intensified since their introduction, and fused together
into new combinations, is made plain in any ordinary col-
lection to-day.
Enthusiastic cultivators in this country recognized the
value of the Chrysanthemum long ago, but it is scarcely
more than seven years since this flower first attained
its real popularity here. Mr. H. P. Walcott, in Boston,
Mr. W. K. Harris, in Philadelphia, and Mr. John Thorpe,
in New York, were most conspicuous in bringing it
into public favor. The importation from Japan, by
Waterer, of some fifty varieties, in 1883, many of which
were most distinct and beautiful, gave a new impulse to
hybridizing, and now the new kinds that appear every
year are almost numberless. At least 10,000 tried seed-
lings have been on exhibition for the first time this year.
The diversity of form and color displayed is almost infin-
ite, and the various strains have been so intercrossed that
the seeds from a single flower-head will often produce ex-
amples of the types most widely separated in structure and
size, together with intermediate and kindred forms. The
strong propensity of the Chrysanthemum to variation has
been of great advantage to the originators of new varieties,
and, by careful selection, the improvement in color
has been as striking as the changes in form. Shades
and tints which were unknown in this flower a decade
ago are now common. Maroons, crimsons, rose, pink
and buff have all become more decided. The markings
of parti-colored flowers upon the tips and along the mar-
ginal lines have become more distinct, and the production
of a scarlet flower is not despaired of by those who have
done the most to bring out the newer and formerly un-
known shades. It is small wonder, then, that exhibitions
devoted exclusively to Chrysanthemums have been held
in at least a dozen of our cities this year, while only four
years ago Boston, New York and Philadelphia alone had
such displays.
No one can prophesy in what direction the next marked
improvement in the Chrysanthemum may be looked for;
but, judging from the past, striking variations from the
forms we are now familiar with may be expected. Those
who studiously note the development of new seedlings are
quick to mark the appearance of slight peculiarities, for
these may be the forerunners of distinct types. For some
446
years the appearance of hair-like growths from the under
side of an occasional floret has been observed, but they
were never sufficiently numerous to give any character to
the flower. But last year the remarkable variety, Mrs.
Alpheus Hardy, which was figured in the first number of
this journal, was found in a Japanese importation, and in
this each floret was thickly set with these slender growths,
giving an entirely new character and expression to the
head. Up to a comparatively recent time the section
with laciniated florets invariably had small heads, which
did not show distinctly this characteristic. Some of the
newer varieties of this type have florets three inches long,
with four or more bifurcations, and spreading at least to
three-quarters of an inch in width. In many cases the
florets, for two-thirds of their length from the disc, are
tubular, and then branch abruptly into their particular
toothed forms. And the disposition of the florets is quite
as interesting as their shape. In many cases their ar-
rangement is flat ; again they are reflexed; while in others
still I they are incurved and confused into a globular mass
of slender shreds, which often show the upper and lower
surface in each floret. But slight modifications of these
characters are needed for the origination of a new class
of Chrysanthemums as distinct as any heretofore produced.
But whatever the forms with which the Chrysanthemum
may be endowed in the future, we may feel sure, from what
we know of its inherited tendencies, that the flower will
continue to show that freedom and fluent grace of outline
which so strongly commend it to the taste of the time.
Piazzas——ll.
FE explained last week that there is no need for
piazzas so extensive as those which a few years
ago were commonly attached to our country houses. Their
full purpose may be served in almost every possible case
if they are placed only on one side of the house, or on a
corner, so as partly to encircle two sides. The interior is
thus left more free for the admission of light and sun, and
architectural effect is improved, while convenience is am-
ply considered. Especially is this true if the covered
piazza is supplemented by other external features.
Indeed, the chance to secure such features is in itself
sufficient reason why piazzas should not be too large. In
a house of the old piazza-encircled type it was difficult, for
instance, to emphasize the chief entrance, which, if a home
is to have the right effect, should always be hospitably
prominent. Upper balconies, which are often so useful as
well as pretty, could not be well placed above the long
piazza roofs. Terraces were hard to treat, and that delight-
ful feature, the Italian loggia, was impossible, at least on
the ground floor.
Of late we have begun to employ these other external
features with the happiest results in the way of comfort
as well as beauty. The front door is accentuated by an
independent porch, often usefully extended over the drive-
way. Upper balconies are attached to the chief bedrooms
or thrown out from any window which chances to com-
mand a particularly attractive view. Uncovered terraces
of turf or of stone are formed where needful, and a portion
of the piazza itself is often left uncovered, supplying a
pleasant place of resort when dull weather or autumn cold
renders a roof unnecessary, and delightful at night in
warmer weather. And loggias are seen in both the lower
and the upper stories.
No architectural innovation is more to be commended
than the use of the loggia, which may be described as a
recessed piazza—a piazza set back into the body of the
house, flanked at either end by the walls and covered by
the projection of the upper story. In Italy it does not
usually appear on the ground floor, for there this floor is
not devoted to the chief apartments; but its effect is
just as good when it is adapted to our own customs of
building and living. In certain very exposed situations
the piazza may well be entirely banished in favor of a
Garden and Forest.
[NovEMBER 14, 1888,
loggia, and in others a small open piazza may be effectively
supplemented by a larger loggia; while in almost every
country house at least a little loggia should be intro-
duced either up-stairs or down. Our climate is so very
variable that too careful a provision can hardly be made
for changing winds and skies and temperatures.
Another useful device is a terrace protected by a trellis
over which are trained vines that will soon form a thick
summer covering, while their naked stems will in winter
admit light and sun to the rooms behind. Or an awning
may be used if its effect is preferred, or if there is danger
that the vines will harbor too many mosquitoes, It has, in-
deed, a certain advantage over vines in that it may be
rolled back in dark weather and supported on movable
posts, which can be taken down in winter. Of course
neither of these expedients really fills the place of a true
piazza, for although they screen from the sun they admit
the rain ; and if they are of great extent they detract from
solidity of effect in the house. But a small vine-covered
terrace is never inadmissible, and a small awning is rarely
offensive ; and they may at least be recommended as sup-
plements to a true piazza, or even as substitutes for it in
houses occupied throughout the year and in positions where
a permanent piazza-roof would be a serious inconvenience.
We have already said that the pleasing treatment of
piazzas is one of the most difficult of current architectural
problems. It is true that charming houses with long
verandas have been built for generations in certain south-
ern countries. Butalthough we may get valuable hints from
them, they cannot be used as models. Ours is not a
truly southern climate, but one in which almost tropical
heat alternates with almost Siberian cold. Our more
complicated habits of life demand more complicated
ground-plans than those which serve, for instance, for
an Indian bungalow, and every deviation from a simply
outlined and low-roofed form makes the right architectural
use of piazzas more difficult. Yet until within quite recent
years the problem was hardly recognized as such. No at-
tempt was made so to unite the piazza with the house, in
both form and material, that it should seem an integral
part of it, and not a mere attached shed. Whatever the
material of the house, the piazza was built of wood, and it
was simply tacked on to the walls without the slightest _
thought of union, Its roofs had no relation to the roofs of _
the house, and its forms were very slight and fragile—the
jig-saw running riot in a vain effort to adorn it, but no se-
rious attempt being made to build it beautifully. To-day
we see a very great change for the better. The piazza is
treated—with more or less success, of course—as part and
parcel of the house. It is borne by a solid substructure
instead of by isolated posts which allow the cellar walls to
be seen, or by a chicken-coop lattice. This substructure is
often continued around the piazza as a solid parapet, some
three feet in height, which has both artistic and practical
merit, for it increases solidity, and therefore dignity of ef —
fect, and it screens the feet of the occupants from the wind
and protects them somewhat from the gaze of passers while _
interfering not at all with coolness or with freedom of out-
look. If the house is of brick or stone the same material is 4)
used to build posts of the piazza, or if wood is employed, —
simpler and more artistic forms are chosen for them. And |
it is covered by an outward sweep of the main roof of the |
house, or by such a disposition of an independent roof —
that it may play a conspicuous and harmonious part in the sy
general outline of the building. On houses of the revived ©
colonial type the piazza naturally has a flat, balustraded 4
roof, which may be utilized as an uncovered balcony | i
for the upper floor, or some parts of it may be roofed in —
again as an upper piazza. Difficulties are hardly as great, _
perhaps, when a flat roof can be employed, as whena —
steep one is required by the fashion of the greater roof |
above. Yet, whatever the scheme, we here and there find —
instances, in ever-increasing number, where it has been —
thoroughly well managed. ‘Of course an ideal degree of —
success is seldom seen as yet, and many of our new houses
NOVEMBER 14, 1888.]
are quite as ugly in their own way as the shed-encircled
boxes which preceded them. And they are, perhaps, even
more distressing to the eye; for the old house had at least
the merit of frank simplicity, while the new one has often
the great demerit of seeming a labored effort after as much
eccentricity as possible. Yet, taking good and bad to-
gether, the general improvement which has marked our
architecture in recent years can nowhere be more clearly
read than in our country homes. And it is a most signifi-
cant proof of the genuine, vital and promising character of
our progress that these homes should have been so greatly
improved, not through the direct imitation of foreign mod-
els, but through the development of indigenous fashions,
and the incorporation—despite difficulties which might
easily have been thought insuperable—of the “vernacular”
piazza.
A Glimpse of Nantucket.
OR many years the population of Nantucket has been
steadily declining. Counting nearly 10,000 souls in 1840,
it does not count 4,000 now. And these may be held to rep-
resent a ‘selection of the unfittest,” for year by year the more
energetic and intelligent youths of the community have gone
to seek their fortunes in the outer world. Meanwhile, until
quite lately, the island has been scarcely thought of in the
outer world save in connection with bygone whales, and has
generally been described as a_ featureless expanse, inter-
esting simply as a bit of sandy wilderness isolated in a wilder-
ness of waves.
Now, however, a change has come—not, indeed, over the
numbers or the spirit of the natives, but over the minds of
those whom they call ‘‘offislanders.” Summer tourists have
discovered the cool, bracing equanimity of the Nantucket
climate, the homely picturesqueness of its quiet town, and its
rich facilities for bathing, boating and fishing ; and they fiock
to its shores in increasing thousands summer after summer.
How the islanders lived before this influx began, some twelve
years ago, it is hard to imagine, for I have never seen a place
more destitute of signs of an attempt to earna living. There
is now no whaling, which is largely the fault of external circum-
stances; but there is scarcely any sheep-raising, and this must
be the fault of the islanders themselves. Great flocks once
pastured over the island. Wool was then the main concern
and was chiefly used at home. But now, with improved means
of transport and the summer immigration, it seems as though
a little energy might make the raising of mutton profitable.
Agriculture is almost as non-existent as sheep-raising.
Nearly the whole population lives in the town anda few dis-
tant villages. Farm-houses are few and widely scattered, and
the cultivated fields which surround them are rough and very
scanty. Inthe town and along the edges of the shore the
summer colonists are likewise gathered, so that a mile away
from this shore one can fancy one’s self a hundred miles
away from anything that approaches to human activity,
wealth or progress.
More negatives must still be used before I can begin to tell
what does exist in the central regions of Nantucket. In the
first place, there are no stones. Knowing that the island was
- formed during and after the glacial epoch, and is a mere mass
of ‘‘drift,””, one does not look for the bed-rock of the main-
land to which, for a time, it was attached. But it seems more
reasonable to expect those boulders which are strewn over
the whole surface of New England, and nowhere more thickly
than along the coasts nearest to Nantucket. Yet they do not
exist. Broadly speaking, the island is divided into a higher
eastern and a lower western portion of almost equal areas.
The latter I had no time to visit during a brief two days’ so-
journ; but many hours of diligent driving showed me the
whole of the eastern portion, and I could count on my fingers
the stonesI saw. Of course, this means that there were none
of the picturesque walls which I had left behind in Plymouth
County, and which are to be found again on Block Island a
little to the westward. But, from a practical point of view at
least, the lack of such walls does not greatly matter. Where
there is so little to fence in, only the lover of beauty need re-
gret the lack of good fencing material.
Finally, there are no trees on Nantucket, except those which
have been planted in the streets of the town, and some scat-
tering plantations of Pitch Pine which were made about forty
years ago midway between the northern and thesouthern shores.
The farm-houses stand naked and alone, and even along the
many little lakes and ponds one sees neither groves of trees nor
Garden and Forest.
447
thickets of shrubs. The so-called Pine woods, moreover, are
almost caricatures of the term. There is no more dauntless
and long-suffering tree than the Pitch Pine, but it can seldom
have struggled with greater difficulties than on Nantucket.
No individual rises more than ten or twelve feet above the
soil; all are grotesquely distorted by the fierce sea winds ;
many are scarred and embrowned by the touch of fire, which
starts readily and runs persistently in the dry matted grass ;
and they look, in consequence, like a collection of ancient
dwarfs, not like young woods with possibilities of further
growth. Yet from even a little distance these woods actually
seem to deserve their name, for everything vertical ‘tells’
with extraordinary force in this landscape, where vertical
things are very few, and where slight inequalities of surface,
therefore, give the look of far horizons to spots quite near at
hand. The eye is so entirely deprived of help in its calcula-
tions, that even experience does not soon teach it how to com-
pute distances or dimensions. The first mistake I made was
to exclaim at the presence of a great hotel in the middle of a
moorland wilderness, the building being, in fact, but a farm-
house of moderate size. And after several such mistakes,
with a full sense of the likelihood of error, 1 pronounced a
pair of isolated objects to be tall chimneys about five miles
off and found them merely tombstones not a mile away.
These groves of gaunt yet dwarfish Pines, then, are the
only trees which meet us outside the town, although we are
told that White Oaks once grew in certain places large enough
to be used for building purposes. The earliest local records
speak of ‘‘meadows, woods and uplands,” and one district
bore the name of the ‘‘Long Woods ;”" but a full century ago
the island was represented as ‘‘ wholly destitute of firewood,”
and dependent, as it is to-day, on Cape Cod for its supply. In
the town a great deal of planting was done in former years.
When we stand on one of the railed ‘‘roof walks” that are so
characteristic of a community which perpetually went down to
the seain ships, the panorama of gray roofs is interspersed with
an almost equal quantity of foliage. The Elms havestood their
long battle with the sea wind fairly well, but more interesting
are the Ailanthus trees, which quite as frequently appear.
One-sided, as a rule, and often naked of foliage save towards
the extremity of their branches, their gray bark and _ pictur-
esque structure harmonize admirably with the gray pic-
turesqueness of the old unpainted houses; and their foreign
air seems appropriate in a place which once was filled with
trophies of every kind from many a distant shore.
But the real interest of Nantucket hes in those wide tracts
away from the high sandy cliffs where, as far as the eye can
reach, no tree is in sight. The prospect is peculiar even to
eyes familiar with Block Island and the eastern portions of
Long Island. At Block Island the surface undulates per-
petually and abruptly, is thickly bestrewn with boulders and
shows scarcely any vegetable covering save a close, yellowish
grass. At Montauk there are also wide, boldly rolling
stretches of such grass; but others where white sand _ is
spotted with great tufts of Hudsonia, and others again where
moisture has produced beautiful thickets of shrubs and _ veri-
table little forests filled with many species of trees. But at
Nantucket the surface is either quite flat for miles or gently
rolling in long swells ; the ponds are encircled merely by a
border of sedges and tall grass, and seem to have no effect
upon the soil beyond; there are no reaches of naked sand,
and few where the grass is not thickly beset with flowering
plants. Where it grew most abundantly it was filled in Sep-
tember with Asters and Golden Asters and Golden Rods and
Everlastings—all stunted by the wind to a few inches in
height, but vigorously blooming—and with purple Gerardias,
showing larger and more deeply colored flowers than I had
ever seen elsewhere. But the most characteristic and charm-
ing tracts were those which bore no grass, but were covered
by a close growth of low undershrubs and trailers—Hudsonia
of both species, Bearberry and the Broom Crowberry. Acres
upon acres in one direction were covered with the last two
alone, alternating in large patches and growing with splendid
luxuriance, the Bearberry clothing even the sides of the road
with a thick mat of glossy leaves and dark red fruit, and the
Heath-like Crowberry rising in dense miniature evergreen
thickets, and contrasting exquisitely with its neighbor. A
prettier combination I have never seen, and it is hereby
recommended to the owners of sandy sea-shore places as an
excellent substitute for a turfed lawn. It is as delightful to
walk upon as to look at, owing to the springy, Heath-like
quality of the Crowberry stems. Hudsonia did not grow with
as much luxuriance as at Montauk, yet it was often beautifully
effective here and there. I was told that the true Heather
(Calluna vulgaris) could be found in a few spots on the island,
448
did one know where to look, and its name is included in the
list of native plants printed in the local guide-book,
This list—-compiled by Mrs. Owen, of Springfield, Massachu-
setts—reveals how rich the island flora is. From the botan-
ist’s point of view the abandonment of sheep-raising must be
accounted fortunate. For, as another contributor to the
guide-book writes, when sheep were allowed to roam at large
over the commons, it was only by the most diligent seeking
that the botanist obtained perfect specimens of any flowering
plant. ‘One feeble specimen of the blossom of the Hudsonia
tomentosa could be found in perfection where now, freed
from the sheep, its yellow flowers are to be had for
the glancing. Even the varieties of the Golden Rod,
which furnish the rich covering to our commons at times,
were not a familiar feature, though known and specified by
the scientists of the island.”” Then it must have been true
that Nantucket was a barren waste to the eye; but it is truer
to say at this present time that itis a garden of flowers from
summer's end to end.
And, according to the belief of many persons whom I met,
it might be made a wealth-producing garden, too. The soil,
it is said, would be well adapted to certain cereal crops, were
it only manured a little; and, even now, the vegetables it pro-
duces are of excellent quality. It seems as though there
must soon come a time when these vast tracts of now un-
profitable land will be turned to some account, perhaps by a
revival of energy on the part of the islanders, perhaps
through the advent of ‘ off-islanders’’ intelligent enough to
seize the advantages of a spot where a house, with considera-
ble land about it, may be bought for one or two hundred dol-
lars, and where the rapid growth of a summer population must
create anenormous demand tor market-garden products. But
the time to see Nantucket is before thisdayarrives. Already the
aspect of the town and of many parts of the shore has been
grievously altered by the tourist throng; and when the savage
simplicity of the interior shall have been softened beneath
the plow, Nantucket will look a good deal like the rest of the
world. To-day, when one turns his back upon the shore, it
seems unique; and toan eye which can appreciate a landscape
where almost all the conventional attributes of “natural
beauty ” are wanting, it seems uniquely attractive—or perhaps
a better word would be, impressive. A splendid sky and the
breath of a tearing wind tell us of the splendid sea, even when
it lies out of sight. Seldom in civilized regions are we swayed
by such a sense of breadth, vastness, freedom and the spon-
taneous action of elemental forces. Seldom do we see such
beauty of color created with factors of such simplicity. And
everywhere under our feet is the wide carpet of flowers and
herbage in endless variety, in perpetual harmony and loveli-
ness. The mainland is more picturesque; Montauk is
grander; Block Island is more singular in surface conforma-
tion. But nowhere else on our coast is there so broad an
expanse of uncultivated land, so simple as regards large fea-
tures, so varied as regards those otf minor size, so impressive
in a general view, so interesting to the eye of minute exami-
nation. M. G. van Rensselaer.
New York.
“ The practice of leveling the surface has done much mis-
chief both in park and pleasure ground. When from
any circumstance spare earth is to be disposed of in the
pleasure ground, itis usually applied to the filling up of any
hollows that may fortunately exist; whereas it should gener-
ally be used to increase any indications of undulating forms,
as even the smallest variety of this kindis highly advantageous.
It will be safer for the unpracticed eye to increase the existing
varieties of the ground rather than to create new ones, the
arrangement of earth for this latter purpose being an operation of
considerable difficulty ; whereas a moderate degree of caution
cannot well fail in the former.”—[W. S. Gilpin’s “ Practical
Hints on Landscape Gardening,” London, 1832. |
‘Wherever Nature has herself glorified a country and made
a picture bounded only by the horizon, as in many parts of
Switzerland, Italy, Southern Germany, and even our own
Silesia, Jam strongly of the opinion that park-works are super-
fluous. It seems to me like painting a petty landscape in one
corner of a beautiful Claude Lorraine. In such places we
should content ourselves with laying out good roads to make
the fine points more accessible, and here and there the cutting
of a few trees to open vistas which nature has left closed.
Around the house, however, we wanta pleasant garden ina
limited space and in contrast with the surrounding country.
In such a garden we no longer seek the variety of nature, but
rather convenience, agreeableness and beauty.”—{Puckler-
Muskau, 1834.]
Garden and Forest.
[NoveMBER 14, 1888,
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
E are now fairly advanced into mellow autumn, and
the atmosphere of the horticultural world here is
more than usually fruity. Little is talked about in matters
horticultural except fruits. One hears of fruit-growing
companies to be started and of fruit-growers’ associations,
while fruit conferences and fruit exhibitionsarecommonin
London and the provinces. We seem to have suddenly
become aware that England is pre-eminently a fruit-
growing land; that we have wasted millions in buying
fruit from the foreigner ; that thousands of men have lost,
or rather neglected, opportunities in making bulky fortunes
by fruit culture for market. Some enthusiaSts go so faras
to say that fruit-growing for profit is the only panacea for —
the depressed state of the farming interests in this country.
Mr. Gladstone and other great men have pronounced in
favor of extended fruit-farming, but even this does not
appear to excite the stolid nature of the British farmer,
who smiles mildly at the new ‘‘ fads,” and keeps on grow-
ing corn and meat as his fathers did before him. ‘‘Why
allow Americans to send us the best Apples that the mar-
kets can supply, when we can grow fruit as fine as
theirs?” This is one of the stock phrases of the pro-
moters of fruit-growing companies, so that if anything
really solid results from all the present excitement about
fruit-farming, it will be a straight hit at Americans, who
have taught us how to grow, how to select and how to
pack Apples in order to reach our markets in as fineacon- —
dition almost as if just gathered from the trees. ButAmer- —
icans have nothing to fear from this passing fruit talk, at
least for many years to come. It does very well to fill in |
a quiet interval, for nothing serious, I fear, will result from
it, and when, next month, gardeners and others are en-
grossed in their Chrysanthemums, we shall hear little of _
fruit-farming except from the few who have real interests _
in the movement. The companies just started for fruit- |
farming are evidently believed in, for the Rothschilds and —
other great people have taken shares in them freely.
There previously had been some minor fruitexhibitions —
and conferences held at the Crystal Palace and other —
places, but the chief event in this way is now taking place —
in the garden of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chis-_
wick. During all this week there has been a great gather-
ing of those interested in fruit, fruit-nurserymen and_pri-_
vate gardeners chiefly, very few actual fruit-growers for
market. There is a very large exhibition of Apples and |
Pears, numbering over 5,000 dishes, the bulk of them very |
fine fruits, from all parts of England and Scotland. But —
you see there only a repetition of the large exhibition of —
Apples in 1883. The same collections of fifty sorts and |
so on; very fine examples, no doubt, of very fine varieties, |
but that is all. There is a great ado made about correc
nomenclature, as it is loftily called, and little wrangles —
among gardeners about the proper names of such and such.
a variety are not infrequent. I will not attempt to detail
the exhibition, as I know it would be of little interest to”
your readers. It is nothing but an exhibition, a fine show
of the leading sorts of Apples grown by English gardeners _
for the gentleman’s kitchen and table. I did not see one
collection of sorts grown. exclusively for market. There.
was not one exhibitor who sent a half a dozen sorts, and.
said: ‘‘'These sorts are, in my opinion, the best to grow
for the market. I live in Sussex ; my soil is a deep loam
resting on gravel ; the situation is exposed and high, not sub-
ject to late frost.” This is the kind of information that would.
be really useful, for you would get the opinion of a prac-
tical man from a given locality, and we should see t
sorts he has selected as suited to his particular market. T
same could be done in the case of selections for priva
gardens, which must necessarily be larger. It is acknowl-
edged that we have far too many sorts of Apples; the lists of
every large fruit-nurseryman are quite bewildering to the
amateur who wishes to select a few of the best. What we
NovEMBER 14, 1888.]
want to know is the process by which Americans
found out that the Baldwin, the Newtown Pippin and
other standard American Apples were the best for the mar-
ket, and then see if we cannot find a selection to equal
yours. I frequently have to make selections of fruits for
new gardens, and I have sometimes been asked to plant
nothing but American sorts of Apples, for ‘‘ You know,”
say my clients, ‘‘there is no English Apple to come up to
a Newtown Pippin or Baldwin,” and it is hard to tell them
that Apples cannot be grown in this country in such per-
fection as they can in the United States.
The papers read at the Chiswick Conference took a
Garden and Forest.
449
New or Little Known Plants.
Rosa Nutkana.*
HE most showy of our western Roses, as well as the
most clearly defined, with the exception of the deli-
cate Rosa gymnocarpa, is the Nutka Rose. It has the
largest flowers and the largest fruit of any of our species,
and its armature is liable to become on occasion the most
formidable.
It is frequent along the Pacific coast from the Alaskan
peninsula to the Columbia River, where it was first col-
lected by Menzies upon Vancouver's visit to that region,
om
Vu,
fy
Y,
Yj
jf _F
fle ol Ny)
1
|
Fig. 70.—Rosa Nutkana.
more practical turn than the exhibition, and some sound
information was conveyed in them, as also in the discus-
sions that followed the reading of each. All these papers
will be collated in book-form and published by the Society,
and which reminds me of the thorough way in which
the reports of your leading horticultural societies are car-
ried out. Let us hope that this present effort to establish
fruit-farming in these islands will take root, and tend to
make us more of a fruit-eating nation than we are at pres-
ent. I was told the other day, by an American who has
resided in England, that an American eats ten times as
much fruit as an Englishman, W. Goldring.
London, October zoth, 1888.
and somewhat later by Haenke at Nutka Sound. It ranges
eastward from the coast through the mountains near the
boundary to north-western Montana, and thence southward
into Utah. Itis rather stout in its habit, and with rather
broad foliage, very rarely nearly spineless, usually armed
with broad, flat spines at the base of the leaves, and occasion-
ally, especially the young shoots, with scattered prickles.
The spines are either straight or recurved, and sometimes
they become larger even than they are represented in our
figure, and very numerous. As usual in our Roses, the
pubescence is very variable, the leaves being either per-
~#Rosa Nurxana, Presl., Epimel. Bot., 203; Watson, Proc, Am, Acad., xx. 341.
450
fectly glabrous and bright green, or softly pubescent, and
very frequently resinous-puberulent, in which case, as in
other species, the teeth are usually also glandular-serrulate.
The inflorescence is ordinarily wholly smooth, hispidness
occurring but rarely on either the pedicels or any part of
the flower. As in all the other species of that region, in
distinction from most of those of the Rocky Mountains and
the East, the sepals never have lateral appendages or lobes.
The fruit is globose or somewhat depressed, of a bright
scarlet, and often over half an inch in diameter.
Our figure has been drawn by Mr, Faxon from a plant
grown at the Arnold Arboretum. Ss WE
Cultural Department.
Vegetables in Frames.
MONG the vegetables now in frames are Lettuces,
Radishes, Parsley, Endive, Chives, Spinach, Dandelions
and Sorrel. All trames containing these should occupy warm,
sheltered places, with a full sunny exposure, and beso situated
that snow or rain-water will readily run away from, rather than
lodge about, them. The more sunny and sheltered the ex-
posure, the better will the vegetables thrive and the less cover-
ing will they need to exclude frost. See that the frames are in
good repair; that all parts fit properly and snugly; that no
openings are left at the ends of the rafters or elsewhere in the
frames for the searching winds of winter to find. And see
that the sashes are well glazed. If they are not perfectly water-
tight, take a sash-brush and some thick white paint and run
along the sash-bars, so as to close up any apertures by the
edges of the glass through which water may drip. Have the
frames well banked around with earth or coal-ashes, or if you
use manure orleaves, lay a board on top of these to keep them
dry.
While it is well to have the ground in which these frame
crops are growing moderately moist, it should not be kept
soaking wet, as must be the case where frames have been lett
open to the recent incessant rains. Therefore put on the
sashes in the event of wet or snowy weather, keeping them
tilted up to afford abundant ventilation. When frosty weather
comes the sashes may be shut down, for, while it is unwise to
keep vegetables in frames close and warm, freezing them does
them no good, and hard frost hurts them. Store-vegetables —
like young Lettuces that are being kept for transplanting later
into hot-beds—should not be protected from light frosts, for
the hardier they are, the better they will keep till required for
transplanting.
The best covering we can have for frames is straw mats and
light wooden shutters. These mats are made of long, flail-
threshed rye-straw and marline, and of a length and breadth
to suit. We make ours four feet wide, seven feet long and
three-quarters of an inch thick, running five times lengthwise
with marline. So long as these mats are kept perfectly dry
they are a capital protection against frost, but if wet, frost soon
finds its way through them. Under light wooden shutters
they can be kept quite dry, and two mats thick and a shutter
over them is good enough protection in a sunny place against
twenty-five degrees of frost. There is a current idea thata
heavy shutter is a better protection against frost than a light
one, but this is contrary tomy experience. I like light wooden
shutters, of half or five-eighths inch pine stock, tongued
and grooved, and put togetherin white lead; or, if the stock is
thoroughly dry and well seasoned when the shutters are being
made, and the boards are put together as tight-fitting as possi-
ble, they will swell and become perfectly water-tight in damp,
wintry weather. Three feet wide and seven feet long is a con-
venient size for use and to handle. Besides mats and shutters,
we also use a good deal of sea-thatch for covering up our
frames in winter.
It is now generally conceded that for Lettuces, Radishes
and other vegetables which we wish to gather every day or
two in winter, frames are but a clumsy device, and the alert
market gardeners who supply New York City with winter
salads are fully awake to this fact. In the neighborhood of
Springfield, Jamaica and other parts of Queens County, the
truck gardeners have abandoned the use of frames for winter
salads and vegetables, and, instead, have erected large ranges
of low roofed green-houses, in which they grow their crops
with so much certainty and so little trouble, that they are not
only able to hold their own against competition with the
South, but they regard their green-house winter crops as the
most profitable part of their gardening. Progressive florists,
Garden and Forest.
[NoveMBER 14, 1888,
too, are using cool green-houses instead of frames, and they
would not do this if it did not pay them. One large grower
here is most emphatic in his opinion of the advantage and
profit of green-houses over frames for winter work, and the
multitude of frames he has cleared away recently, and the
multitude of green-houses he has built in their places, is
pretty clear proof of his confidence in houses. The vast
amount of labor expended in covering and uncovering trames
almost every day, the expense of the materials used as
coverings, the very much greater wear and tear of frames
than of green-houses, the inconvenience of cropping and
gathering in widwinter, and the risk of losing a crop by close
confinement in a long period of severe cold weather, are
disadvantages well understood by practical men. No
wonder, then, that the market gardeners and florists, whose
bread depends upon their crops, are, on account of keen
competition, obliged to give up the laborious, vexatious and
unsatisfactory winter-frame for the green-house.
Glen Cove, N. Y. William Falconer.
Notes from an Amateur’s Garden.
Gia horticultural experiences of amateurs have usually
very little interest for professional florists, who work
under different conditions and with different objects. To
other amateurs they may, however, be acceptable, even if
somewhat trivial in character. From this point of view I offer
some brief notices—fruits of my own experience.
LIncarvillea Olg@.—This plant was: introduced from Turk-
estan by Dr. Regel, and has been much lauded by dealers. In
this climate it is perfectly worthless. The flowers have a rose
color and come out in slow succession, one opening after
another has fallen. As flowers they do not compare for one
moment with good Antirrhinums, far less with even ordinary
Pentstemons. The plant is hardy here in Newport; its leaves
are fine both in color and form, but its habit is bad, as it is
not distinctly a vine but yet requires support. The sooner
it disappears from the catalogues, the better. Possibly it might
yield a valuable hybrid with Zecoma radicans.
Montbretia crocosmiaflora,—l find that this fine hybrid bulb
is hardy in the light soil of my garden when well protected
with leaves or straw.. On comparing plants from four bulbs
which had been kept all winter in sand in a cold-frame and
well covered with leaves, with others which had been left in
the open ground but protected as above, I could find no
appreciable difference. The horticultural world owes Mr.
Lemoine a debt of warm gratitude for the creation of this
beautiful plant. Of the seedling varieties which I have seen,
Gere d’Or is the finest, a fine, clear yellow replacing the rich ~
vermilion-red of the parent flower. Then the plants yield
seeds in the greatest abundance, though they do not always
ripen well in our long, cold’autumns.
Tritonia aurea.—This beautiful plant has not been rendered
superfluous by the introduction of its hybrid progeny. It is
not hardy here even with protection, but goes through the
winter extremely well when taken up late in October, covered
with dry sand, placed ina cold-frame and then covered well with
leaves. It may be transplanted to the open border in May,
by which time it will have made long, green shoots in abun-
dance. It flowers profusely and fora long time. The other
parent of Lemcine’s hybrid, A/ontbretia Pottst, goes through
the winter here in the open ground when well covered with
leaves. It is pretty, but I think not worth cultivation.
Lemoine's Hybrid Gladioli.—These also are perfectly hardy
here when well protected with leaves or straw. My finest
plants were grown ina mixture of pure sand and pure leaf
mould without manure of any kind. Many stalks were five
feet in height. I have begun to hybridize them with G. Saza-
dersit, and hope in due time to communicate my results.
Hybrids between G. Saundersit and various forms of G.
Gandavensis were some years ago produced by Mr. Max
Leichtlin, but they have never, so faras I am aware, been
offered for sale. Of quite a number which I received from
Mr. Leichtlin, all but one gradually sickened and died. The
one which remains, closely resembles the parent, G. Saunderstt,
but the petals are not reflexed. The flower is very large and
fine, nearly or quite four inches from tip to tip of the
expanded petals. It has recently been stated in the London
Garden that these hybrids have also been taken up by Mr.
Lemoine, and Mr. Leichtlin’s name is not mentioned in
connection with them.
Zephyranthes candida.—This very charming and desirable
bulb is well known and requires no description in this place.
The bulbs do not ripen in our cool autumn, but the plant
remains fresh and green till far into November. I find that it
‘
.
NoveMBER 14, 1888.]
is only necessary to take up the clumps of green leaves and
new bulbs, cover them well with sand and put them into a
cold-frame well filled up afterward with leaves. In the spring
the clumps are almost as fresh and green as when first put
into the frame. Transplanted to the open border, they grow
freely, and produce their pure white, lily-like flowers in great
abundance from. about the middle of August until they are
again taken up, unless cut down byfrost. Few bulbs make so
many offsets. Clumps of Zephyranthes candida interspersed
with Colchicums make very attractive beds. In the absence
of other bulbs the clumps should be planted quite near each
other, so that the fine green foliage may completely cover the
ground.
Newport, R. I., October 2oth.
Shall We Plant in Fall or in Spring?
“Tpeee proper season for planting trees and vines is a ques-
tion.on which people differ materally, some insisting that
the fall is the very best time, and others advocate the spring
with equal vehemence. Experience leads me to believe that
the condition of soil and the subject to be planted has more
to do with results than the particular season at which the work
is done. Much of the loss is directly traceable to the treat-
ment which the trees or plants receive during the interval from
the time of their removal from the nursery until they are
planted. I have seen evergreens lying on the ground during
the noon hour, with roots exposed to the rays of a blazing sun
and drying winds, and I have too often seen choice trees
and plants similarly exposed while the so-called gardener was
getting ready to set them. No wonder failure follows such
treatment. In fact, Evergreens thus exposed had better be
thrown on the brush-pile at once, to save the labor of setting
and the vexation at the certain loss. The roots of trees and
plants of all kinds should be exposed as little as possible and
never allowed to become dry. This is especially true of trees
and plants having fine fibrous roots, which soon wither and
die of exposure in a dry atmosphere ; fleshy and woody roots
are not as susceptible, and will endure more exposure with
less apparent injury.
Another serious cause of failure is the digging of trees and
vines before the wood is sufficiently matured. Nurserymen
anxious to commence operations in the fall sometimes yield
to the importunities of customers and dig trees before the
leaves have fallen, in which case they are generally stripped
off by hand, entailing extra work. Such trees, especially Peach
trees, are often killed if exposed during the winter. For this
reason I prefer spring planting for the Peach, unless the trees
can be dug and planted late in the fall, after they have fully
matured, Fall planting, then, is quite as safe. Spring is, also,
the best season for planting evergreens. It is well, in fall
planting of trees or even vines, to raise a mound of earth about
the trunk, and mulch with a little coarse manure. Thiscourse
is especially applicable to vines or small plants with superficial
_ roots, for these are much more apt to be lifted out by the action
ofthefrost. The earthing up turns the rain and snow-wateraway
from them, and on ground infested with mice it is a good pro-
tection against their attacks. The soluble portion of the ma-
nure finds its way to the roots, while the manure itself is a safe-
guard against the piercing winds and severe cold. This
mound of earth should be leveled down in spring, and the
manure replaced around the stem of the plant, to serve as a
mulch, and keep the ground cool and moist.
This earthing up process is also a good support to the tree
in preventing its being swayed about by the winds, although
to keep trees erect till established they should be staked and
tied. Another advantage of planting in autumn is that there
is then less hurry and rush than there is in spring. The
ground also can be worked in the fall into a condition not pos-
sible to reach in spring, because if it is so wet as to become
packed and hard the action of the frost will disintegrate it,
while soil in the same condition, and worked in spring, will
not become mellow at all during summer. Wet and unfavor-
able weather in springs such as the last interferes with and
often prevents contemplated planting, and hence it must go
_ over till another season, and a year is lost, while if done in the
falla year is gained. Fall is the best season for purchasing,
even if the stock is not planted, because, while the assortment
is unbroken, the purchaser stands a much better chance of
W. G.
_ getting the varieties he wants.
In heeling in trees to be kept over for spring planting some
sheltered spot should be chosen and care should be taken that
the earth is well settled about the roots, leaving no air spaces.
If any danger of injury threatens, a few evergreen boughs
against the tops will greatly add to the security of the trees.
Garden and Forest.
451
The careful planter will take but few trees or plants at a time
from the package, keeping their roots covered from sun and
wind till the last one is in the ground. With due precautions
in what may seem unimportant details, the percentage of
failures would be hardly worth notice, let the work be done in
autumn or spring. The anxiety and desire for quick results
as an atonement for past neglect often induces .the planter to
get extra-sized trees, but unless such trees have been fre-
quently transplanted and are well supplied with fine roots,
time is never gained, and trees are often lost. The inex-
perienced and impatient are slow to learn this fact.
Montclair, N. J. L. Williams.
Nerine Fothergilli—This is a gorgeous bulbous plant, and
one that requires but a small amount of care and attention,
while the fact of its flowering at this season, when so many
summer-blooming plants are on the wane, is an additional
merit. Many people fail to flower it in a satisfactory manner,
but year after year at Baron Schroeder’s it is, during the au-
tumn, one of the most conspicuous features. One great
cause of failure in the cultivation of these plants is that many
people dry them off after flowering ; whereas they really make
their growth during the winter and early spring, and require
all the light they can have at that season, instead of being
placed underneath the stage in the vain hope of inducing
them to go to rest. Where the plants are in good condition
the beautiful, bright, rich vermilion-colored flowers will be
now at their best, while the glaucous foliage is also effective.
Besides the rich coloring of the blooms, they appear over-
spread with a lustre like frosted gold, which is remarkably
striking. The soil best suited for this Nerine is good, fibrous,
rather heavy loam, with a little leaf-mould and a liberal ad-
mixture of silver sand. These plants dislike being disturbed
at the roots, so that they should not be potted unless it is ab-
solutely necessary. Thorough drainage is essential to their
well-doing. In the case of plants that are now flowering, they
should, when the blooms are over, be still kept in the green-
house in as light a position as possible, where they may be
allowed to stand till about next May, by which time they will
be in quite a dormant condition. If they have been well ex-
posed to the light, the bulbs will be plump and hard. Then
a very good plan is to turn them out-of-doors and stand them
where they will be fully exposed to the sun, such as at the
foot of a south wall or in a narrow border in front of a glass
structure. Wherever they are put, care must be taken that
worms do not enter the pots, for they will play great havoc
with the plants, not only destroying the drainage, but also
making the soil in such a state that itis absolutely necessary
to repot, and this considerably lessens the chance of the bulbs
flowering. If they are roasted up in a sunny spot, and only
watered about once a fortnight, they will by about the end of
July commence to push up their flower-spikes, when they
should be taken into the green-house or a cold-frame, and
those that are showing flower must be from that time watered
when necessary. If the spikes are not visible the plants are
better if kept dry for a little longer, and if watered too freely
before the blooms are seen, a large crop of leaves often re-
sults at the expense of the flower. The major variety of
Nerine Fothergilli is the largest and most imposing of the
genus, but all are very beautiful, and well worthy of a little
special care and attention.—7he London Garden.
Soil for Roses —If not already attended to, it should be
borne in mind that a good supply of soil will be necessary for
next year’s operations in the Rose houses, and that now is
the time to secure it, for when stacked up at this season and
allowed to remain until needed for use next June or July, it
will be found in the best condition for working. The soil, for
this purpose, should be a good loam of medium consistency,
such as is usually found in an old pasture, from which a
layer may be taken about as thick as a spade will cut, includ-
ing the sod. By medium consistency Is meant a loam, not
very sandy, nor yet entirely composed of clay. When it is
too stiff it requires more preparation to fit it for successful
Rose culture, and, also, more careful applications of water
and of fertilizers. The sod for this supply should be stacked
up in a neat pile, about four feet in height, with some good,
short stable manure, in the proportion of one load to six of
sod, the latter being placed grass side down, so as to assist
the process of disintegration. Rose-growers differ as to the
best manure to use for this purpose ; but probably a majority
are in favor of using that composed of equal parts of horse
and cow manure, besides which, many add a small proportion
of good bone-meal to the compost, before taking it into the
Rose houses,
452
In some of our large cities, where florists have no sod at
command, they resort to somewhat different methods, for
while their compost heap may be similarly constructed, they
also utilize their old soil by seeding it with grass, so as to pre-
pare a sod for future use. This mode of procedure seems to
have some disadvantages. One is, that it must necessarily
take a considerable time for this partially exhausted or soured
soil to regain its former good qualities; a second and more
serious one is, that when the old soil has been taken out of a
house infested with the Rose bug (dramigus Fuller’), there is
some danger of increasing and perpetuating this formidable
pest, from the fact that it has net been positively demon-
strated that its larvee are-destroyed by frost, and, therefore, it
would seem to be decidedly the safest plan to use only new
soil for the Rose bed.
Some experiments have been made to test the hardiness ot
the Rose bug, but, so far, the result has not been conclusive,
and it is understood that further experiments will be made
during the coming winter, so that another. year will furnish
us with more definite knowledge on this point. Ww.
Philadelphia. -
Out-Door Roses.—An Indiana correspondent writes about
these as follows: Mrs. John Laing is really a very fine Rose,
equal to American Beauty in the number of blossoms it bears,
Garden and Forest.
[NoveMBER 14, 1888.
ofa pallid blue. The flower stalk is two feet long and bears from
fifteen to twenty flowers. Vanda Sanderiana wears a differ-
ent appearance, having fine, bold flowers from four to five
inches in diameter, which last in bloom about six weeks.
Cypripediums are out now in great force; the most beautiful
at present in bloom are the following: Cypripedium Parishii,
C. Stonei, C. calophyllum, C. tonsum, C. Harrisianum, C. Fair-
rieanum, C. Spicerianum, C. Haynaldianum, C.marmorophyllum,
C. Sedeni, C. vexillarium, C. conchiferum, C. purpuratum
(Kimball's variety); C. Sedent candidulum, C. Roezlii, C. Law-
renceanum, C. obscurum, C. Spicertanum 1 consider the most
beautiful of the lot and the most useful, though C. vex7llarium
isa great favorite of mine, and if it were more abundant, it
would make a spirited rivalry forthe first place. C. Fairrieanum
isa little gem and worth more than its weight in gold, not more
than six being in this country. Renanthera Lowii (or Vanda
Lowi7i), a very rare Orchid, is now in bloom, its long flower
spike holding from forty to sixty blooms. This is a remarka-
ble plant, having two dissimilar forms of flower on the same
spike—that is, the two flowers at the base of the spike are of a
different color from that of the others—which strange contrast
gives it a distinct value.
There are a great many other Orchids in bloom in
the way of Cattleyas, Epidendrums, Oncidiums, Zygope-
talums, Pleiones, or Indian Crocus, Dendrobiums, and
Fig. 71.—Spircea trilobata.—See page 453.
and the average is betterin quality. American Beauty is very
fine, if budded, but does not succeed with me on its awn roots.
Lady Helen Stewart and Earl Dufferin have the merit of grow-
ing well, but neither of them blossomed with me this season,
although they were large plants when set out last spring.
Folkstone comes nearer to La France, as a bedder, than an
other hybrid Tea; [like itvery much. Puritan, as a failure, is
fully equal to Her Majesty. Ihave tried it now for the second
season, and have not yet had one perfect Rose from it. I did
not get one pertect bloom on Her Majestyin three years. Nearly
all Roses do better for me if budded—that is, if theyare budded
low, say within three inches of the crown of roots. Ihave
just finished planting fifty newly purchased kinds, most of
them being budded; but in more than half of them the bud
was at least six inches above the root. As I always, in plant-
ing, set the bud three or four inches below the surface of
the ground, it will be almost impossible to set the roots
of these in good soil.
Orchid Notes.—The most beautiful in bloom now, as the
season opens, is Vanda cerulea, with erect scapes, and flowers
quite a number of botanical curiosities that are very pretty.
Oncidium iridifolium is one of the smallest and also one of
the rarest; a beautiful dwarf, about two inches in height, re-
sembling a small Iris in growth, with bright, large, yellow
flowers.
Rochester, N. Y., October 3oth.
Geo. Savage.
Two Beautiful Stove Bulbs have been in flower lately in the
Palm house at Kew, and both deserve attention in private
gardens. One is the Ceylon Crinum (C. Zeylanicum), a robust
looking plant, with a big bulb and long channeled leaves.
Its stout flower-stem bears about half a dozen lovely blos-
soms, with the white petais having a broad crimson band
running down the middle of each. Being large, the cluster
is very showy, and lasts a long time before fading. The
other bulb is Pancratium speciosum, than which no flower
could be more lovely or more fragrant. It is also a large
plant, with broad, luxuriant-looking, evergreen leaves. The
flower clusters rise above the foliage, each stem bearing
several snow-white blossoms, with long, narrow petals and a
web-like cup in the centre. Both plants are easily grown ina
NovEMBER 14, 1888.]
stove, and may be readily obtained from nurseries. It is
a pity that plants like these, possessing such wondrous flower-
beauty, should be neglected for the sake of novelties not half
so beautiful.— The London Garden.
Plant Notes.
Spirea trilobata.
Spirea trilobata, of which a flowering branch appears in
our illustration on page 452 of this issue, has been cultivated
in gardens since the very first years of the century. When
the graceful, pendulous branches which sweep the ground
are wreathed in early June with their clusters of white
flowers, few plants are more beautiful or more generally
admired. It isa wide-spreading, open bush, which is rarely
more than three or four feet high; and it is one of the very
best shrubs which can be used on the margins of a shrub-
bery to connect taller plants with the grass of the lawn.
Spirea trilobafa is a widely distributed plant, being found
in Turkestan, Siberia, Mongolia and northern China. It is
one of the very few plants which will not be out of place
in any collection of shrubs, or in any garden.
Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.
ae most beautiful plant now in this collection, so far as
its fruit is concerned, is Lycitum Chinense, a Chinese
species with semi-prostrate or vine-like branches, eight or ten
feet long. From these spring, at nearly right angles, rigid,
lateral branches, one or two feet long, and these are fairly
loaded with bright scarlet, oblong fruits, about half an inch
long, contrasting finely with the leaves, which are still
bright green and shining. The end of each main branch is,
as it were, a broad and leafy raceme, two or three feet long,
of brilliant fruit. The fruit and the leaves remain upon this
plant until destroyed by really hard freezing. Among fruits
which are ornamental at this season of the year should be
mentioned forms of one of the Asiatic Apples, Pyrus pruni-
folia, one of the parents, most authors affirm, of the so-called
Siberian Crabs. The fruit of Pyrus prunifolia is golden yel-
low on some plants, and bright scarlet upon others. It is an
inch ortwo in diameter, and hangs upon the branches long
after the leaves have fallen, retaining its form and its brilliant
colors well into the winter. This species, or its varieties—for
the so-called ornamental Apples are so changed by long cul-
tivation, and perhaps by the crossing of the different species
and varieties, thatit is rarely possible to find exactly the wild
type of any of them—is far more ornamental in fruit than the
more commonly cultivated varieties of P. daccata, the fruit of
which, distinguished by the deciduous calyx, is smaller, and
less persistent upon the branches. The foliage of the Asiatic
Apples falls early and without change of color, so that it is for
their flowers rather than for autumn effects that these plants
are really valuable. But one of the Asiatic Pears, Pyrus
Sinensis, often known as the Sand Pear, is not surpassed by
any other tree in the deep rich scarlet and purple tones of its
autumn leaves. This isa plant of excellent habit and rapid
growth; itis beautiful when in flower; the fruit has consider-
able value for culinary purposes, and the leaves turn more
beautifully in the autumn than those of any other fruit-tree
which I can now recall. It is a tree, therefore, which might
well be seen in gardens more generally than it is at present.
Another eastern Asia Pear, P. befulifolia, loses its silvery
-. white leaves early, and without any change of color.
Few Spirzeas are valuable on account of the colors of their
autumn foliage. Many of the species, especially the Euro-
pean and Siberian, lose their leaves early ; but S. prunifolia,
of which only the double flowered variety is known to botan-
ists or in gardens, one of the least attractive of the entire
genus, both in habit and in its flowers, is now beautiful in the
brilliant orange and scarlet of its autumn dress. Sfirea
Thunbergit is still green, but its leaves will turn to rich colors
at the end of another week or two. This is almost the very
latest to change of the shrubs which take on bright autumn
colors, just as it is one of the very earliest of all shrubs to put
forth its leaves in the spring, and among the earliest to
flower. Few shrubs, all things considered, are more beauti-
ful than this Japanese Spiraea, and few can boast of more good
qualities. Here its only fault is found in the fact that the ends
of the branches are sometimes killed back in severe winters.
Among European shrubs, none assume such attractive
colors in autumnas do some forms of the common Spindle
tree (Euonymus Europeus), although in the richness, or,
rather, in the depth of its autumn tints, their American con-
Garden and Forest.
453
gener (£. atropurpureus) surpasses them. Much more beauti-
ful, however, than either the European or the American spe-
cies in this respect, is the Japanese &. a/ata. Forms of this
plant vary here; but there is one in the collection upon which
the leaves assume in autumn a clear, rose-pink color, which
resembles that of no other plant I can recall, and which makes
it one of the most interesting shrubs that can be grown,
wherever attention is paid in planting to autumnal effects. The
fruit, however, is small, and not to be compared in brilliancy
or in beauty with that of the European plants, which are con-
spicuous objects in the shrubbery through the autumn and
early winter months.
We spoke, when the plants were in flower, of the beauty of
a Japanese Cherry, Prunus Pseudo Cerasus. Its value as an
ornamental plantis heightened by the fact that its leaves turn
at this season here to orange and scarlet. Among small
trees of comparatively recent introduction into our gardens
not one gives better promise of real ornamental value.
A feeble growth and not particularly good habit are the only
drawbacks in this plant, and these are compensated for by its
abundant flowers and handsome foliage.
The Japanese Maples are certainly at their best in the
autumn, when the colors which some species take on are
almost unsurpassed. On the whole, Japanese Maples cannot
be considered a great success in cultivation here. Occasion-
ally a tairly good specimen of Acer polymorphum or Acer
Faponicum may be seen, butnone of the race seem possessed
of very robust constitution, and all of them, although hardy
enough as regards cold, are apt to perish suddenly, or branch
by branch, without any apparent cause, during the summer.
The nearer the plants approach the types of the species, the
more saitsfactory they seem to be, and the green-leaved and
the purple-leaved A. polymorphum are more reliable here than
any of the abnormal forms of this species, and of A. Faponti-
cum, which Japanese gardeners have been collecting and per-
petuating for centuries. But Japanese Maples are such really
beautiful objects at this season of the year, that one is
tempted to recommend their more general use in gardens,
in spite of all the disappointments which have followed
their cultivation, and of the miserable sun-burned appearance
many of the varieties present before the autumn kindles their
color into a blaze. A week of such beauty may well compen-
sate for many disappointments.
Few Maples turn more beautifully than the shrub-like Man-
churian form of Acer Tartaricum, which is sometimes known
as Acer Ginnala, but it has the serious defect of losing its leaves
early and before most other plants have made their finest
autumn show.
There is great difference in the behavior of the various
species of Lilac in autumn. The leaves of the common Lilac
never change color at all, but remain green until very late
and then turn black and fall. The Persian Lilac behaves in
the same way, while the leaves of S. Chzzensis turn toa pale
yellow, without beauty. The leaves of S. Fafonica and S.
Amurensis fall early in October and without changing color,
and this is certainly a defect in these plants as garden orna-
ments. S. villosa behaves in the same way, although the leaves
persist a few days longer than upon the two species just re-
ferred to. The leaves of S. Pekinensis remain much later upon
the plant, and then turn a light, but not very clear yellow. The
leathery leaves of S. 0b/a¢a, the only Lilac worth consideration
for the autumn coloring of its foliage, are still green. A little
later they will turn to a deep rich claret color of unsurpassed
beauty.
Female plants of the Black Alder, /ex (Prinos) verticillata,
are now conspicuous objects, covered with their bright red
fruits. There is a plant in this collection with yellow fruit,
but this is less showy than the common forms, and hardly
worth cultivating except as a curiosity. The leaves of the
Black Alder turn black before they fall, and without any pre-
vious change of color, while on an allied and comparatively
rare species, //ex levigata, which may be most readily dis-
tinguished by its stalked fruit, the autumn coloring of the
leaves is bright yellow. These two Hollies are well worth
general cultivation for the beauty of their fruits. They will
thrive, although swamp plants, in any ordinary garden soil.
Some of our native Viburnums are worthy of mention at
this time. The most conspicuous, perhaps, although its foli-
age, having first turned orange and scarlet, has now nearly all
gone, is the cosmopolitan /. Opu/us, the most showy of the
genus in fruit, which is large and bright red, remaining for
many weeks upon the branches until devoured by birds, who
seem to attack it only when other food becomes scarce. The
broad and handsome leaves of V. dentatum, one of the most
ornamental species of the genus in habit, foliage, flowers and
454
fruit, are now dark bronzy red upon the lower parts of the
branches, while those nearer the ends are still green and lus-
trous. V7. nudum and V. cassinoides are both beautiful in the
autumn, their deep green leaves first shading into purple, and
then turning to the color of claret wine. V. Lentago and V.
prunifolium are handsome objects, too, at this season of the
year, when their leaves have turned from bright green to
orange and purple.
There is a great difference in the behavior of the different
Roses in regard to the change of foliage. Most Old World
species lose their leaves without any change of color at all.
Rosa rugosa is an exception to this rule. Rosa spinosissima,
the Scotch Rose, is another, although the colors which its
leaves assume in the autumn are not very striking. The spe-
cies which inhabit western North America lose their leaves
without any change of color, while those peculiar to the eastern
part of the continent change more or less brilliantly. 2.
nitida and R. lucida surpass them all, and there are few shrubs
upon which the autumn foliage is more persistent or more
beautiful than upon these two Roses. Masses of them, cov-
ered with ripe fruit, and fairly glowing with the deep tints of
their leaves, are not surpassed just now in brilliancy by any
plants in the Arboretum.
The foliage covering the long, wand-like branches of Axdro-
meda Mariana is intensely scarlet, while that of Leucothée
racemosa is not less attractive, although a large proportion of
green is still seen among the shades of red, which in a few
days will make this one of the most beautiful of our native
shrubs.
It is worth noting, perhaps, that the leaves of Quercus den-
fata, a species of eastern Asia, of much promise here as an
ornamental tree, turn bright orange and scarlet, not a very
common combination of autumn colors among Oaks; that
while our North American Yellow-wood (Cladastris tinctoria)
is a beautiful object in the autumn, from the bright, warm
yellow of its leaves, the eastern Asia representative of this
genus loses its leaves fully two weeks earlier without any
change of color; and that among the Larches the most beau-
tiful in autumn coloring is the Japanese Larix leptolepis, upon
which the leaves are now a clear canary-yellow, and much
brighter than those of either the American or the European
species. The leaves of Pseudolarix, one of the hardiest and
most beautiful of exotic Conifers, turn to a deep orange hue in
the autumn. They fell from the trees, however, several days
ago.
October 20th. oe
The Forest.
European Forest Management.
E hear much reference to the excellent forest manage-
ment prevailing in European countries, and on the other
hand, the statement that the application of such management
would be impracticable with us, and that we cannot learn
much, 1f anything, from European practice. Both statements,
I fear, are mostly made without definite knowledge of the sub-
ject and without proper consideration. It would be of interest,
therefore, to briefly state what the principal features of Euro-
pean forest management are, and wherein its introduction is
unsuitable to our conditions.
We shall have to discern between forest management by the
state and by individual owners. The former, which at-
tempts, and, to some extent, represents, an ideal forest
management, is carried on upon considerations of the general
welfare, of continuity and regularity in material supplies, and
upon other considerations of national economy; while the pri-
vate forest management, imitating mostly the methods of the
state forester, works mainly for the highest profits, and only to
a limited extent recognizes the desirability of a regular and
continuous revenue from the forest. Of course forest man-
agement is differently developed in the various states and por-
tions of the same state, according to the general development
of the country and its local needs. While in north-eastern
Prussia, where forest land abounds and population is not very
dense, the management is more or less crude, in the western
parts a careful and intensive working of the forest takes place.
In general we may say that in Germany, and especially in
Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony, the science of forestry is the
most highly developed.
The essential features of a well regulated forest manage-
ment, and the principles underlying European, especially
German, state forestry, may be briefly stated as follows:
1, Forestry is regarded as much a business as agriculture ;
it means the growing of a wood crop. %
Garden and Forest.
[NoveMBER 14, 1888,
2. A proper economy in a densely populated country re-
guires that all the agriculturally valuable soil should be, as far
as possible, turned to agricultural use; the wood crop is, there-
fore, the crop with which to utilize the poorer soils ; agricul-
tural lands devoted to forest growth are becoming a rarity.
3. A propereconomy requires that every portion of the land
be made productive; therefore, when the crop is utilized, a
new crop is planted or its natural reproduction is secured.
4. Different timbers have a different capacity for reproduc-
ing themselves naturally; the natural reproduction is therefore
either encouraged or artificially supplied; the reproduction is
expected either by sprouts from the stump (coppice), which
method is resorted to, however, only for the production of
smaller sizes for fire-wood and tan-bark; or it is expected from
the seed, when proper preparative cuttings in the old timber
must be made, and after the young plants have come up, light
and air must be gradually given them by removing the old
growth; or, thirdly, after the old growth is removed (clearing)
the new crop is sown or planted—generally the latter.
5. Mixed plantations, especially of Conifers, as dominant
growth mixed with deciduous trees, have the preference, in
planting, for varjous reasons which it would take too long
to discuss here ; experience has shown which are the proper
mixtures, the rapidity of height-growth and the varying capa-
city of shade or light endurance possessed by the different
trees being the criterion in their choice for mixture. Close
planting is practiced, because the shading of the soil, which
prevents evaporation, is of prime importance, and because
in a close growth, within limits, the trees grow more rapidly
in height, or, at least, straighter, forming clean boles, and
are not so apt to spread into branches.
6. But few trees—not more than ten or twelve—are pre-
dominantly used in German forestry; Pine, Spruce, Fir,
Beech and Oak, one species of each, being the principal
ones. Contrary to statements made by various writers, the
bulk of the German forests—probably fully two-thirds of them
—consist of Conifers, and the planting mainly concerns itself
with Pine and Spruce, Beech groves are usually reproduced
by natural seeding, or more rarely by planting in bunches ;
Oak is introduced by sowing the acorns or by planting one to
three-year-old plants on deeply cultivated plats; on better
soils larger plants are used, and for tan-bark coppices often
the roots alone are planted. For Pine, the rule is to clear
small strips, followed by planting with one and two-year-old
(not transplanted) seedlings, after cultivation with the plow
and subsoil plow or simple preparation of the soil by the
hoe. For the Spruce, also, clearing in.moderately wide
strips, with subsequent planting, is the rule ; but sometimes
the reproduction is by natural seeding. For planting Spruce,
transplanted plants or else bunches of from three to six plants
ina bunch are used—the latter method, however, is losing
ground. Larches are planted only as single individuals in
intermixture, never in pure growths or clumps, as when so
planted, it has been observed that they fail and are apt to die
early. The other woods are generally used in admixtures,
but occasionally in pure growths on special sites, as, for in-
stance, the Alder in overflowed swamps and the Birch on
safety strips along railroads.
7. In the management of the crop, thinning out is the prin-
cipal operation. Cultivation with the plow to subdue weeds,
etc., is rarely resorted to. This thinning is done first when
the crop is eight or ten years old, and is then periodically or
annually repeated. Farmers get their fire-wood by these
thinnings. The object of the thinning is to give more light to
the crowns of the remaining trees, in order to stimulate di-
ameter-growth after they have attained a good height-growth.
The thinning must never be so severe that the soil is de-
prived of shade for any length of time. Sometimes when
too many trees have been cut out, or under certain other cir-
cumstances, it becomes necessary to put in an undergrowth
(underplanting) for the purpose of shading the soil ; the clean-
ing out of undergrowth—shrubbery,; not weeds—-practiced
sometimes in this country, is a useless if not an injurious
proceeding.
8. The annual crop is composed of the annual layers of
wood which the trees form each year. As these cannot be
harvested, an accumulation of many of them, that is to say,
trees of proper size fit for use, are cut, while the younger ones
remain to grow on. On large forest areas it is desirable to
have annually, or at least periodically, the same amount of
cut or revenue. In the state forests, therefore, and those of
large estates, these amounts are as much as possible equal-
ized from year to year, or at least from period to period. The
ideal equalization may be conceived in this wise. Assuming
that the most profitable growth is attained in Ioo years, as
AEA ES OE
ie a
NoveMBER 14, 1888.]
°
may be the case with a White Pine forest, and we have 1,000
acres under management, then we might cut every year ten
acres of too-year-old wood, or periodically during every pe-
riod of ten years, 100 acres of such wood. After the forest
has been brought under this kind of management (which
theoretically would require too years, although in practice the
process is much modified) we should then have a forest con-
sisting of Ioo sections of ten acres each, from one to 100
years old, each differing by one year of age, or if periodically
treated, ten sections of 100 acres, each differing by an average
age of ten years.
If reproduction from seed is expected, we might cull over
even a larger area, making our periods longer. But this
culling differs from that practiced in this country. Instead
of taking out the best trees first, leaving the inferior or less
valuable ones, the culling is done entirely with a view of se-
curing a good new growth, and takes the inferior material first;
the best trees are rather left to provide the seed and to gain
in proportions, making the most valuable material after they
are thus exposed to increased light influence, and they are re-
moved only as the young after-growth requires. The adjust-
ment is practically very much more complicated, since in the
same forest area some timbers on certain soils will come to
their best production earlier or later than the general period
of rotation, assumed at 100 years. The small owner, of
course, utilizes his crop when it is at the most profitable age
financially, and this varies greatly in different localities; but
he looks to its proper reproduction by cutting, so as to secure
a vigorous young growth from natural seeding or sprouts, or
by replanting after the clearing.
g. Neither the firing of the woods or the browsing of cattle
in young growths is considered advantageous to the wood
crop and strict regulations in this respect are enforced with
good effect.
10. The age at which the crop is utilized differs greatly, ac-
cording to the use to which it is put, the climate and soil on
which it is grown and the kind of trees of which it is com-
posed, and the need and profitableness of the market. The
coppice is cut in rotations of ten to thirty years, sometimes
even forty years; the longest rotations prevail in Alder and
Birch forests in the eastern (colder) provinces. For Beech,
which forms the most valuable dominant growth of broad-
leaved trees, in the timber forest 90 to 120 years are re-
quired, the longer rotation in the mountainous localities
and in the eastern (colder) provinces. For Pine and Spruce a
rotation of from 60 to 120 years prevails (mostly 80 to 100
years), the longest period for the better soils of the eastern
provinces, which are capable of producing good building
timber. Alder and Birch in the timber forest will be cut in
forty to sixty year rotation, and Oak, which is rarely found in
pure or extensive growths, but is grown as prominent admix-
ture, is kept over for 140 to 160 years; if ‘‘undergrown”’ in
time, sometimes 120 years will produce the desirable sizes
and qualities. For tan-bark coppice, it is cut in rotations of
ten to fifteen years.
11. Coppice management is practiced in small wood lots
and on thin soils, while in protective forests in high, exposed
mountain districts a management of culling (or selection) is
the rule. The State forests are, as much as possible, man-
aged as timber forest, while small forest owners prefer a com-
bination of timber forest and coppice called ‘ middlewald,”
which we may render into ‘‘standard coppice.” In some
localities the communities or small owners practice a combi-
nation of forest growing and agriculture. After the forest is
cut the ground is, for a few years, utilized for agricultural
crops, before or even while being replanted to forest; and the
economy of this system, with its good results, if properly
carried on, will recommend it to our forest growing farmers.
If itis asked, “Is forest growing profitable in Europe?” the
answer must be, ‘“‘It depends ;” it depends on what is called
profitable and upon the situation. Considering that the
European forests are now pretty nearly culled of all their vir-
gin timber and are relegated to the poor soils and waste
places, they are probably profitable enough investments.
The German forests, for which pretty reliable data are at
hand, yield an annual net dividend of $57,000,000 from 34,000,-
ooo acres of forest reserve, being considered a three per cent.
investment, the soil being valued at $400,000,000 and the
standing wood capital, from which the interest is drawn an-
nually, at $1,600,000,000.
steady occupation during part of the year, at least, and the
soil is utilized to its best advantage, with security against the
ills of disturbed climatic and hydrologic conditions. Surely,
to the nation, forestry is profitable, whatever it may be to the
single individual. BE. Fernow.
Washington, D.C.
Garden and Forest.
Over a million men find useful and .
455
Horticultural Exhibitions.
The New York Chrysanthemum Show.
one experiment of holding this exhibition ina large tent
has proved successful in furnishing a better and more
evenly distributed light than that found in any of the halls
which the New York Horticultural Society has used for the
purpose in former years. Besides this, the plants and flowers
retain their freshness longer under the cool and well venti-
lated tent than in the close, dry air of a hall. This is especially
true of the cut Roses, which were displayed in considerable
numbers and were of the best quality. All the standard
varieties were exhibited by Mr. John N. May and Mr. J. H.
Taylor, together with the newer favorites, like the Bride,
American Beauty and Madame de Watteville.
The display of single cut Chrysanthemum blooms was much
superior to anything of the kind ever seen in this city, and,
perhaps, the fifty howers shown by Wm. Tricker, gardener to
Judge Benedict, of Staten Island, were the best that have ever
been exhibited in this country. This collection was largely
made up of American seedlings, many of them comparatively
new, and after examining them one could well believe, with
Mr. Robert Craig, that the best twelve American seedlings of
last year were superior to the best twelve originated in Eng-
land or France. Mr. Tricker’s collection, which won the first
prize in competition with another remarkably good one
shown by Mr. J. H. Spalding, of Orange, New Jersey, gained
much in popular interest from the fact that every flower was
plainly labeled. Near these choice specimen blooms was a
large collection of Chrysanthemums, cut with long stems
and arranged in vases by Mr. John Henderson. They were
not entered for competition, but they attracted much attention
on account of their fine quality, and gave a striking illustration
of what can be accomplished with good garden varieties under
good garden cultivation only.
Among the cut flowers were many fine seedlings, but very
few were sufficiently distinct to deserve mention as improve-
ments on existing varieties. The beautiful silver cup offered
by Mrs. Andrew Carnegie for the best American seedling, was
properly awarded to a splendid variety named after her, and
shown by Wm. Hamilton, of Allegheny City. The head is of
great size, the upper side of the incurved florets being a very
dark crimson, and the lower surface of the same color near
the base, but turning to “old gold” at the tip. The stock of
this plant is owned by Mr. John Thorpe, from whose collection
Mr. Hamilton secured the seed. Another fine seedling is
Mrs. Levi P. Morton, now owned by Mr. Robert Craig, of
g,
Philadelphia, but raised by Mr. Thomas Jones, of Short Hills. It
is rosy pink with an open centre and about nine inches in
diameter. The florets are tubular at the base, and as they are
white onthe under side, a distinct zone of white surrounds the
disc, which, together with the graceful arrangement of the
slightly incurved rays, make a most attractive novelty.
Of the new Chrysanthemums of foreign origin, the one named
Mrs. Alpheus Hardy excites the greatest interest. It is ex-
hibited by Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, of Short Hills, New Jersey.
It has somewhat changed from its form last year, the hair-
like growths on the florets being more thickly set and downy
than in the specimen from which. the illustration in the first
number. of this journal was taken. The head seems frosted
over with glittering white, and altogether in form and finish
it is the most striking variation from old types of the Chry-
santhemum that has been produced for years.
Very interesting, too, was a group of nine specimen blooms
sent by E. Fewkes & Son, of Newton Highlands, Massachu-
setts. These varieties came from Japan in the same collec-
tion with Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, and they all have distinct
merit. One of them, Kioto, is a fine yellow, belonging to the
incurved section, but with florets whorled and coiled in a
novel way. Medusa, another, has long white petals, so nar-
row that they can almost be called thread-like, which hang in
a disheveled way that certainly is not beautiful. The value of
this variety, however, lies in the fact that it is another break
into a decidedly novel form, and it therefore gives promise of
usefulness in originating a new and distinct strain when
crossed with other varieties.
The specimen plants, particularly those which were tied and
tortured into artificial shapes, were, as a rule, inferior. Only
one or two of the so-called standards had any real beauty.
The plants naturally grown, like the half dozen for which Mr.
Thorpe received a prize, were altogether more attractive.
Those plants, too, which were rooted in summer and carried
a single bloom upon stems from one to two feet high, were
particularly fine. Any one of them, of average merit, would
have been considered a marvel five years ago.
456
Besides the exhibitors named above, Peter Henderson, Geo.
Maclure, John Dallas, of Fairfield, Connecticut, and E. Asmus
received prizes. A special prize fora group of Orchids, among
which were fine specimens of Catasetum Bungarothit and
Cypripedium Spicerianum was awarded to Messrs. Pitcher &
Manda.
The Germantown Exhibition.
MOST successful exhibition of Chrysanthemums was held
in Germantown on the 8th and gth instant, an ample fund
for premiums having been provided by the patrons of horti-
culture residing there. Parker’s Hall was crowded with plants
of the best quality. As a rule, they were not so massive as
those seen at the shows in Philadelphia, but they were all
well grown. Michael Sammon, gardener to Mr, J. M. Shoe-
maker, contributed three plants, each of which measured four
feet across and were perfect inevery way. The varieties were
Source d'Or, Duchess and Puritan, and the last named carried
450 expanded flowe The collection of twelve plants, which
took the first prize, consisted of General Anderson, Purple King,
Shakspere, Bend d'Or, Cullingfordi, Christmas Eve, Gloriosum,
Mrs. G. W. Bullock, Duchess, Mrs. Frank Thompson, Dr.
Sharpe and Tokio. They were shown by W. Beasley, gar-
dener to Mr. Benjamin Homer, and they were remarkable for
their perfect foliage from top to bottom, as well as for general
good culture. Of the numerous seedlings, few, if any, could
be considered improvements upon varieties already grown,
but two unnamed ones deserve mention. One was in the
fine collection of Robert Carey, gardener to Mr. Thos. C.
Price, and the second was in that of John McCleary, gardener
to Mr. W. Weightman. Both flowers belonged to the Japa-
nese class, the first being pure white and the other yellow.
For cut flowers, the first prize was awarded to Joseph Shaw,
gardener to Mr. J. Campbell Harris. Inthe competition open
to nurserymen and florists, the principal premiums were
awarded to Thomas Meehan & Son and Woltemate
Brothers. Felt
The Flower Show at Orange, New Jersey.
HE regular fall exhibition of the New Jersey Floricultural
Society was held last week at the Rink in Orange, New
Jersey, and, as usual, it was noteworthy for the excellent
quality of the plants displayed. There was an abundance of
Palms, Ferns, Crotons, Marantas, and the like, which were
grouped with much taste and skill. The collection of Orchids
from the nurseries of Messrs. Pitcher & Manda was unusually
rich and varied, containing no less than fifty varieties of
Cypripediums alone. The Chrysanthemums inall the classes
were the best ever exhibited by the society. The plants
trained as standards were commended by the judges as
superior to any which have been shown this year. As this
was the first exhibition this year of the Chrysanthemum, Mrs.
Alpheus Hardy, the flower proved one of the chief attractions
of the show and was constantly surrounded by enthusiastic
admirers.
The principal prizes were taken by J. Crosby Brown, Geo.
J. Ferry. William Barr, E. P. Wilbur, of South Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, Messrs. Pitcher & Manda and John N. May.
Some fine clusters of Niagara and Brighton Grapes were
shown by E. & J. C. Williams, of Montclair, New Jersey.
ss
Notes.
A forest fire raged for nearly three weeks in October among
the mountains of Santa Clara and Santa. (Cruz Counties,
California.
The proceedings of the Convention of the Society of Ameri-
can Florists, held in New York last August, have been promptly
published, and make an instructive volume of nearly 200 pages,
We are sorry to say that the news has just come from St.
Petersburg of the death, at Tashkend, of General Prejevalsky,
the famous geographer and explorer of Central Asia, to whose
proposed expedition into the heart of Thibet reference was
made in these columns a few weeks ago.
Experiments at the Amherst College Station indicate that a
wash of Portland cement, of the consistency of common paint,
will adhere to the bark of young trees during winter, and when
mixed with Paris green, will serve as a protection against mice.
Mr. John Thorpe states in Zhe American Garden that out of
385 seedling Chrysanthemums raised by him this year, thirty-
seven had bloomed before October 18th, and not a single one
was worth keeping. The seeds were saved from the best
varieties, and yet he can hardly expect five flowers of superior
Garden and Forest.
_ fice for
- culture has been mastered,
[NovEeMBER 14, 1888.
quality, and will be satisfied if he secures a single one that isa
real acquisition.
A curious development of Lapageria alba is noted in The
Garden, of London. A large plant in the green-house at
Arundel sent up this year a long shoot from the ground which
terminated in a close, umbel-like cluster of more than twenty
flowers. The same paper describes a Fig-tree of the Brown Tur-
key variety, growing at Kingdon Hall, which covers the wall to
a height of eighteen feet, and extends fifty-four feet in a lateral
direction. It annually bears and ripens a large crop of fruit.
The National Chrysanthemum Society of England has just
issued a new catalogue—the third prepared under its direction.
It forms a volume of sixty-five closely-printed pages, exclusive
of the preface, and includes a historical account of the Chry-
santhemum and its fairoducton into culture. About 2,000
species and varieties are named and described, although nov-
elties of this year’s introduction were excluded, as their title to
be considered distinct varieties needs further establishment.
The late Professor Edward Tuckerman left a valuable col-
lection of books and papers relating to Lichens to the library
of Amherst College, where it will be kept separate from the
other collections as a memorial of the donor. The librarian of
the college, Mr. W. T. Fletcher, wishes it to be known that
supplementary contributions to the collection will be wel-
comed. And he is in hopes that a fund may be secured to
maintain it by additions and repairs. About $1,000 would suf-
the purpose. Professor Tuckerman’s collection of
Lichens, unrivaled in North American species, and containing,
of course, all his own types, has been acquired by Harvard
College through the efforts of our associate, Professor Farlow.
At the lowa Experiment Station some interesting observations
have been made on the different varieties of Indian Corn, from
which the conclusion is drawn that those which have a large
number of blades on the points of the husks are the more fruit-
ful, probably because this extra leaf surface enables them to
assimilate a larger proportion of plant food. It also appears
that the leaves of the various kinds show marked differences
in the relative amount of chlorophyll-bearing tissues. Other
things being equal, itis probable that the power and quality
of the leaf for food assimilation depends upon the amount
of available chlorophyll it contains, and therefore a micro-
scopic examination of the leaf-structure of any variety will be
a help in estimating its comparative value.
The trade in Christmas-trees and greens grows larger year
by year. Thirty years ago a Christmas-tree was seldom seen
except in some home of the richest class, and the adornment
of churches for the festival season was confined to the Catho-
lic and Episcopal denominations. But the immense increase
of our German population has popularized the Christmas-tree
throughout the length and breadth of the land; and with the
waning of old Puritan ideas the decoration of churches of all
denominations has become customary. The extent to which
materials tor these purposes are now required is shown by the
fact that a single dealer in New England last year disposed of
10,000 Christmas- trees, 25,000 yards of wreathing and 800 bar-
rels of evergreen spray. The smallest trees that are sold
bring, on the ground, ten cents apiece, while the largest—
twenty- -five to thirty feet in height—bring from $4 to $6.
French papers have recently contained summaries of the
report of the Minister of Agriculture, Monsieur Viette, upon
his tour through the wine- producing departments of France.
Of the departments of Hérault, Gard and the Gironde, he says
that the flooding of vineyards has had admirable results, and
that renewal of the vines by means of grafting upon American
species as stocks has proved successful. Grafts of French .
vines upon American stock have the advantage, it is claimed,
of ripening their fruit earlier, and of being more productive
without loss of delicacy in the fruit. After long experiment the
way has been discovered to renew a vineyard. in three years,
if the necessary preparations are made. In Heérault this has
almost everywhere been accomplished, and in Gard it is
rapidly progressing. Vines planted in sand cover wide
expanses, and everywhere an excellent harvest is expected.
Hérault, which produced seventy-five million gallons of wine
last year, is expected this year to produce more than a hundred
millions, while forty-five millions are anticipated from the
Gironde. Mildew as well as the phyiloxera is being success-
fully combatted, and now, it is affirmed, the problem of viti-
from the cultivator’s point of ©
view. Economical questions alone remain for adjustment.
A strict enforcement of the rules for the inspection of foreign
wines on the frontier is recommended, as well as new regula-
tions to control the manufacture of wine from grapes that are
not fresh.
ici God
NOVEMBER 21, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrFicE: TRIBUNE Bui_piInG, New York.
Gonducted, byw) «i =. eis =< @: 6 . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
"ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 215 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
EpiroriaL Arvicces :—A Novel Project for a Public Park (with illustrations)—
The Manufacture of the Oil of Sassafras..........ceeeseeeeseees 5
Double Stocks
Entomotocy :—The Red Mite on Trees.
New or Littte Enown Prants :—Berberis Fendleri (with illustration).
Sereno Watson.
CuLruraAL DeparTMENT :—The Vegetable Garden............... Wm. Falconer.
When and How to Prune Grape-vines (with illustrations)....2. W7llams.
Rose Notes....... pects
Hardy Pereni ve Hatfield.
Orchid Notes F. Goldring.
Notesttromthe Arnold Arboretum esis sac. sae ees soaessios s citis se eeise snes ¥.
Tue Forest :—The Forest-tree Plantation of the University of Illinois.
T. F. Burrill.
GOR RESPONDENGE fa aivictarsiiisisiela(sis/i[e/t'a sia oie siasce siassesiaieeee's sen
PeriopicaL LirERATURE
Horricutturav Exuisirions :—The Philadelphia Chrysanthemum Show. . i
Ihsan themunisiateeOstoMierscis st pestis Sta cies -njnemieeeesiercleiatalssi eles
ItLustRaTions ;—Views in the Proposed Buffalo Park..
Methods of Pruning Grepe. vines (Figs. 1, 2 and 3)
Benberi sehen lenght oe atecmettetcia rs <4 ssisier arisen
Design Map of South | an, Biiitel lO cctas oa.s.%'6 5.5 cee ea estenee eles
A Novel Project for a Public Park.
HE Park Commissioners of the City of Buffalo, in this
State, having been asked by the Common Council
to consider the practicability of forming a park upon a
given site south of the town, have obtained the opinion of
Messrs. F. L. and J. C. Olmsted, landscape-architects,
upon the question. This opinion, in the form of a pam-
phlet illustrated with small sketches and accompanied
by a plan, gives a definite and remarkably original and
interesting form to the project.
It is needless here to summarize the reasons given by
the authors why Buffalo should have another park, or why
the site in question should be selected. As they show, it
is an extremely discouraging spot, from the ordinary
landscape-gardening point of view, but it has certain dis-
tinctive advantages, and it seems to be proved that there
is no better site available, and that a way to adapt this
one can be found which will make it both useful and
attractive.
The site borders upon Lake Erie and the unobstructed
view of the water which it will offer is, of course, a fact of
almost priceless value in its favor. It can be reached from
the heart of the city by navigable water and by four lines
of railroad already in operation. No buildings or cultivated
grounds of importance exist to make its acquisition costly,
nor is it fitted for agricultural use. But, on the other hand,
the surface is quite flat over nine-tenths of its area, and
shows no rocks, trees or other valuable natural features.
It lies but little above the surface of the lake, and is, conse-
Garden and Forest.
==. may wish to hire them
proposed to breed aquatic birds and grow interesting
457
quently, half-swampy and liable to be submerged at sea-
sons of high water. The gravel beach and low shifting
sand dunes that edge the lake rest upon a stratum of
black muck, which is constantly washed out, and thus the
shore is rapidly wasting. And no facility for the landing
of visitors faa boats is oe plied by nature.
Turning now to the plan, w hich we reproduce on page
463, we find that it is aropaeed not merely to conquer the
natural disadvantages of the site, but actually to base the
scheme upon them. The main tract, lying between the
shore and the railroads already referred to, is about 240
acres in extent, and nine-tenths of it lies below the level of
the lake at high water stages. At its western extremity,
however, along the lake, there is a considerable piece of
ground which lies several feet higher, and another high
strip runs along its southern boundary, while the railroad
embankment protects it on the east. Thus it can be flooded
only from the northern and from a small portion of the
western side. Here it is proposed that it shall be pro-
tected by a levee four and one-half feet high, along
which, on the northern side, a tree-planted street may be
carried.
The high tract towards the west is to be planted asa
green, forming a park-like expanse of turf, about twenty
acres in extent, with groups of trees aboutit. This will
afford an excellent playground, and near by will be an
athletic ground, with running tracks and other facilities
for exercise, three acres in extent. A road for general
traffic will cross the park from north to south between the
green and the athletic ground, and it will be encircled
by drive-ways, with ample spaces for the congregation
of persons on foot and in vehicles where the roads approach
Lake Erie.
The remainder of the tract in question, about 120 acres
of flat and swampy land, is to be turned into a lake with
very irregular borders, dotted with islands and promon-
tories. To effect this, it will suffice that the ground shall
be excavated in certain places and the soil taken from
these heaped upon the remaining portions, while water
from Cazenovia Creek is drawn into the excavations,
flooding them to the desired height and then passing out
into Lake Erie, thus insuring perpetual renewal and fresh-
ness. The largest island will be connected with the shore
near the north-east corner of the park by a little foot
bridge and is intended to be used for picnics. Its surface’
will “be four or five feet above the water level and planted
with shade trees surrounding open spaces of turf. Three
smaller islands, which can only be approached by boats,
will be reserved as picnic- -grounds for private parties who
And upon still smaller ones it is
plants, their shores being protected from disturbance by
spaces of shallow water.
Of course, all this implies a park where boats will be the
chief means of conveyance. But, as the report explains,
this fact by no means militates against the wisdom of
the project, for, in all cases where similar schemes have
been adopted, their success is emphatic. At Stockholm,
for example, and in our own country, at Detroit, there are
parks accessible only by boats, yet they are quite as gen-
erally used and approv ed of, as any which have a more
usual character. In the case of the Buffalo park ample
facilities for walking and driving are provided, but it is
believed that its boating facilities may prove its greatest
458
attraction. To secure these it is proposed to build an
artificial haven on the shore of Lake Erie—two parallel
piers extending outward to a point on the lake, where at
low water a depth of seven feet exists. It is expected
that the existence of these piers will cause a sand-bank to
form on their southern side, and, supplemented, perhaps,
by a wall, will protect the shore from further wasting. In
this case, a good beach for surf bathing will be secured,
and, on its inward side, facilities for still-water bathing in
the artificial lake can be provided. The piers will admit
of the approach of steamers of sufficient size coming from
the city, and the passengers they land can thence make
the circuit of the park on foot or in carriages or by means
of boats. For the latter purpose it is intended that row-
boats shall be provided, and also public packet boats, in
the shape of steam or naphtha launches, which will suc-
cessively make the tour of the lake, landing passengers
where desired. This tour, owing to the winding nature
of the water-passages, will be nearly four miles in length.
On the eastward side of the railroad tracks it is thought
that, should the state authorities agree, a rifle-range may
well be established. A new one is needed in the vicinity
of the town, and its association with the park would be
a great advantage to those who would use it. In the win-
ter the range could be flooded for skating, and toboggan
shutes put up near by, while there is ample room beyond
it for all the accessory buildings that would be required.
Thus the proposed park would be not merely a pleasant
resort, but a great and varied public playground, including
many features which we have nospace tonote. The extra-
ordinarily skillful way in which, in other works, Mr. F. L.
Olmsted has united usefulness and beauty, is one of his
highest and most peculiar titles to respect as a landscape-
architect; but his talent in this direction has never been
more clearly displayed than in the present scheme. It
seems as though no out-door amusement in which mod-
ern youths and men indulge had been forgotten ; yet all
are provided for without injuring the beautiful effect which
such a park ought to have. Nothing could be prettier
than the effect we may predict for this scheme, if it is as
well carried out as it is now sketched on paper. The
greatest variety in outline, disposition and planting will be
aimed at in the arrangement on the main shore and the
many islands. Each rod of the four-mile water journey
will reveal new combinations of water, land and foliage,
while the views from the green, with the varied scene to
the eastward and the broad expanse of Lake Erie to the
westward, will be of unusual charm.
Of course the beauty of the intended result would not
fully reveal inself at once, for time must be allowed for
trees to grow where to-day there arenone. But how much
intelligent planting can accomplish in a very few years,
we showed not long ago when we illustrated a portion of
the park that Mr. Cleveland recently designed for Min-
neapolis, and in all such schemes ultimate excellence
rather than immediate effect is naturally the prime consid-
eration. Of course, too, this would bea costly scheme to
execute ; but its projectors show that it would not be too
costly for the consideration of wise city-fathers, either as
regards the expense of actual construction or the future
annual expense of maintenance. From the artistic point
of view the idea is one that we cannot help desiring may
be put in execution ; for its intrinsic interest is great, and
an idea of just the same kind has never before been car-
Garden and Forest.
[NoveMBER 21, 1888.
ried out by a landscape-architect. And, from the material
point of view, there ought, in a city like Buffalo, to be no
serious objections made.
In a separate report the Messrs. Olmsted discuss the
question of the driving approaches to the proposed South
Park ; but as the subject could be clearly understood only
by those familiar with Buffalo, it does not seem advisable
to refer to it here. Ourillustrations presenting views in the
proposed park as well as the plan, are reproduced from the
Messrs. Olmsted’s report, and they serve to show how
attractive a park of this character might be made.
The manufacture of the oil of sassafras is becoming an
important industry in some parts of the country, especially
in the Southern States, where this tree is common. Only
the roots are used ; they are chopped up into small pieces
by a machine constructed for the purpose, the oil being
then distilled from the chips by the aid of steam. About
one gallon of the oil, weighing nine pounds, is obtained
from 1,000 pounds of the chips. The uses for which the
oil of sassafras can be employed are numerous and varied.
It is a favorite perfume for soaps and candies ; it is used.
as a solvent for different gums, and as a liniment. It is
also very largely employed in the manufacture of several
popular proprietary medicines. The importance of this in-
dustry may be expected to increase rather than diminish, as
the Sassafras and the Persimmon are the two trees which
are spreading most rapidly over the old and abandoned
fields throughout the Southern States outside of the Pine
Belt proper; and at present prices good wages can be
made by digging out the roots.
Double Stocks.
ANY are the theories that have been promulgated as to
the cause of the production of double flowers, but few
indeed have been the practical experiments made with a view
either to confirm or confute the assumptions that have been
so freely made. But now we find a record in the f¥ournal of
the National Horticultural Society of France which bears so
directly on the point, that we shall be doing our readers a ser-
vice by calling attention to it. The record is taken from one
of the reports of the German agricultural stations—institutions
practically unknown here. The report in question bears the
name of Dr. Nobbe—a sufficient guarantee of the credit that
may be assigned to the experiments.
At the outset the point is clearly raised by the inquiry as to
the reason why seeds of herbaceous plants, improved by cul-
tivation, show a tendency to produce double flowers? Is
there any appreciable relation between the nature and con- —
dition of the seed and of the flowers which result from their
development? In the horticultural department of the experi-
mental station at Tharaud an attempt has been made to find
an answer to these queries. For this purpose the common.
stock was selected, as completing its development in the —
course of one season. Twelve distinct varieties were selected
from the establishment of M. E. Benary, of Erfurt. Of each
of the twelve varieties Ioo seeds, as nearly alike as possible,
were chosen. These seeds were placed in Dr. Nobbe’s ger-
minating apparatus, and submitted to a continuous and uni-
form temperature of 20° C. (= 68° F.). After four days some |
of the seedlings (which must have germinated at once) were ©
removed from the apparatus, and placed in the open ground.
The other seedlings, which came up after four days, and be-
tween four and nine days after the commencement of the
experiment, were thrown away, so that the seedlings reserved
consisted of two classes—one in which the germination had |
been accomplished within four days, and the other those in
which germination was not appreciably commenced till after
the ninth day. We need not give in detail the arrangement
for the accurate comparison of the two sets of seedlings—
suffice it to say that the seedlings were eventually transferred _
to large pots, and placed side by side, half of the pot being |
occupied by those of slow growth, the second half by the
quickly developed seedlings. Moreover, some of the two —
sets cf seedlings were placed in large, others in small pots ;
some in sterile, sandy soil, others in rich soil, care being —
always taken to make the experiments rigidly comparable. In |
all, nearly 600 seedlings were thus under observation. In _
each case the time of the first appearance of the flower-bud
was duly noted, and the period when the first flower opened,
NOVEMBER 21, 1888.]
From the large mass of statistical details so obtained the gen-
eral result was arrived at, that for each variety the period of
time between the sowing and the appearance of the first
flower-bud was long in proportion to the slowness of germina-
tion. In some cases an interval of five or six days was no-
ticed between the seedlings of the two categories. The vigor
of the plant was uniformly superior in those cases where the
germination was rapid, and, moreover, when subjected to
analysis, the amount of dry matter as distinguished from water
was always greater in the quickly than in the slowly developed
lants.
B But the most remarkable results are those relating to the
production of double flowers. In all the varieties the propor-
tion of double flowers was greater in the case of those that
germinated quickly than in the case of the laggards. Ten
plants of one variety with violet-brown flowers, grown rapidly,
produced all double flowers, while eight plants’ of the same
variety, which had germinated slowly, produced all single
flowers. The following figures convey other striking illustra-
tion of the facts now mentioned. Of one hundred plants
belonging to nine different varieties, the proportion of double
flowers, according to the period occupied in germination,
was as follows:
. . . Doubles. Singles.
After rapid germination......... ¢ sas OZ 50 17.44
After slow germination .........:2.. 27.03 72.97
It may be suggested that the superiority might be attrib-
utable to the varying influence on the same seeds of light,
heat or moisture ; but the experimenters reply that the ten-
dencies exist in the seeds themselves, for the two categories
of seedlings were exposed to identically the same conditions,
and yet showed the differences already mentioned. More-
over, although those seedlings which were grown onin sterile
sand were much less vigorous than those grown in good soil,
they, nevertheless, showed corresponding inequality as re-
gards their flowers. Again, next to never was a single flower
found in the spikes, bearing from ten to thirty double flowers
and conversely.
Lastly, hybridization shows that the seeds contain in them-
selves, unaffected by other conditions, the essence of what
will be manifested in the plant later on. It must be added
that there is in each variety a special tendency to produce
double or single flowers, as the case may be. There are
some which, however treated, never yield any but single
flowers, while others produce almost, or quite exclusively,
double flowers, and are, in consequence, doomed to disap-
pear.
These results are so striking that we cannot but think our
great seedsmen will repeat the experiments in due season,
and avail themselves of the valuable information thus placed
at their disposal.— Gardeners’ Chronicle.
Entomology.
The Red Mite on Trees.
i the second number of this journal (p. 30) Professor A. S.
Packard has a note on ‘‘The Red Mite on Verbenas,” in
which he describes the character of the injuries committed
by this minute insect, and gives a summary of the most effi-
cient remedies known. It is usually considered and spoken
of, by gardeners and horticulturists, as being most trouble-
some and injurious to plants in green- houses and conserva-
tories, and occasionally to shrubs, etc., growing in the open
air.
With the exception of the two instances quoted below, I do
not know of any record of its injuries to large forest or shade
trees in this country.
In Europe it is mentioned by several writers as attacking
the Linden. In ‘Economic Entomology, Aptera,” by Andrew
Murray, those found upon the Linden are given under the
name otf Tetranychus tiliarum, and they are said to ‘‘occasion-
ally occur in such numbers as almost to denude the trees of
their foliage.”
During the past summer, and also in 1887, I have found
these little pests attacking, and quite seriously injuring, the
foliage of large trees in.the Arnold Arboretum, and on the
parks and streets and other places about Boston.
The White Oak (Q. a/ba) seems to have suffered more than
~ any other, but all Oaks, both native and those that have been
introduced from foreign countries, have been more or less
attacked. Those trees with very smooth, shining leaves seem
to be least liable to injury, but by no means exempt, as the
foliage of Quercus rubra, Q. coccinea and others very often
showed too well. I have found the mites living almost ex-
Garden and Forest.
459
clusively on the upper surface of the leaves of all the Oaks, spin-
ning a very slight web, which is almost invisible, but the
existence of which may be proved by brushing the leaf with a
camel's hair brush and thus accumulating the webs. In some
instances a few were found on ‘the under side of the leaves,
but these seemed to be stragglers.
The effect of their work on the Oak is to give the foliage a
general dusty aspect, the leaves become yellow ish or grayish
above, with lighter patches here and there, and they are fre-
quently so much injured as to become twisted and turned, as
if scorched. On some Oaks, such as Q. palustris, the leaves
become of an even, dull, ashy color all over the upper sur-
face.
It should be stated here that the blotched yellowish or
dusty appearance of the Oak leaves is not always entirely
produced by the red mite, but is very often caused, either
independently, or with the assistance of the mite, by a
hemipterous insect, Corythuca arcuata, which may be found
on the under side of the leaves, from which they suck
the sap with their slender beaks. The delicate wing-covers are
flat, meshed and scale-like, of a white color, with a dark band
across the base and another at the tip, but the dark spots vary
in different individuals and are sometimes very faint or entirely
lost. The body is black and the largest specimens are about
one-sixth of an inch in length. They usually feed in groups,
causing the opposite upper “side of the leaf to become gray or
yellow. On very many Elms the foliage ae had a “dusty,
grayish look, which, upon close examination, has proved to
be the work of vast numbers of the red mites living upon both
sides of the leaves, but, generally, most abundant on the lower
surface.
They live chiefly on the under side of the leaves of the
Maple, which either turn an even yellowish gray or become
thickly dotted.
They are to be found on the Linden, Ash, Locust and other
shade trees, and on the Apple, Plum, Cherry and Peach. The
amount of damage done to these trees has not generally been
serious enough to attract much attention, but I have seen
vigorous young Plum trees lose all their leaves during
the month of August, entirely owing to the work of myriads of
red mites upon them.
I have found them in large numbers on the American and
European Larches, on the “Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis), and
also quite common on Arbor-vite, Spruces, Junipers and
White Pines. The foliage of the Larch assumes a dead,
brownish appearance when seriously attacked, while the
leaves of the Hemlock become of a dull ashy or dirty white
color.
In the American Entomologist and Botantst, April, 1870
(Vol. 2), p. 180, Professor C. V. Riley says of the mite: “It is
best known in the green-house, but likewise does much dam-
age in dry seasons on trees (especially evergreens) in the
open air. It thrives best in a dry atmosphere, and we have
found no difficulty in getting rid of it by a free use of its natu-
ral enemy—water. If a little soap is mixed with the water it
will be more effectual.”
In the oe Report of the State Entomologist of
Illinois” (1884), p. 117, Professor S. A. Forbes says “In June
the foliage of the Larches in the grounds of the University at
Normal, were seriously affected by the red spider (Ze¢ranychus
telarius, L.), some of the trees seeming likely to die. On one
of those worst infested we tried the effect of spraying with
kerosene emulsion made with soap and diluted to contain two
and one-half per cent. of kerosene. The insects were greatly
reduced in number by a single application, but not all killed.
The trees soon revived appreciably, as compared with those
not treated.’
In examining the mites on different plants, I find that there
seems to be a marked variation in their color on some kinds
of trees and shrubs. In most cases they are of the typical
brick red color, varying in intensity on different plants as well
as in the age of the mites. These are usually described as
light yellow when young, becoming darker as they grow
older.
Some of the Elms on Boston Common and the streets of
the city were very badly infested, and, in some cases, almost
completely defoliated, during the latter part of the summer
by this or a similar mite, w hich seems to be of a yellow ish
green color in all stages of its growth.
2 At least, on seve! ral young trees, from ten to fifteen feet in
height, which were literally swarming with mites, so that even
the limbs and trunks were covered with their fine w eb, I was
unable to find any specimens of a decidedly red color. Those
found on the Butternut were also pale yellowish green. On
the White Ash (Fraxinus Americana) they vary considerably
460
from the type in color and in the greater amount of web spun.
They are yellow, inclining to orange, with what appear as
dark spots, of varying size, on the body, but which is probably
the food within seen through the transparent skin. Whether
any of these variations may constitute separate species or
varieties remains to be determined by some specialist.
The past season has been unusually damp and cool, yet the
mites have been very abundant, and have shown remarkable
hardiness and tenacity of life in prolonged cool and wet
periods. Dry seasons are said to be most favorable to their
increase, and, if this is so, they may yet prove a serious an-
noyance to the landscape-gardener. Trees with very thick,
tough leaves, such as the Oaks, may be able to withstand their
attacks without showing material injury, but the effect pro-
duced is certainly not pleasing from an artistic point of view.
2 G. pols
New or Little Known Plants.
Berberis Fendleri.*
Arnold Arboretum.
HE common Barberry, which is so abundant in many
places, especially on the hills of New England,
though not a native, is our best known representative of
the true Barberries. Its bright foliage and not ungraceful
habit, its usually abundant, drooping racemes of yellow
flowers in spring, and its still more conspicuous bright red
berries in autumn, make it decidedly ornamental. Our
native species resemble this very closely in most respects.
Berberis Canadensis, not at all Canadian, as its name would
indicate, is confined to the Alleghanies, and is common on
stream-banks from Virginia to northern Georgia. The
leaves are paler than in &. vulgaris, and somewhat glau-
cous, the flowers are smaller and in much shorter racemes,
or nearly corymbose, and the fruit is shorter and more oval
or almost globose.
The &. #endlert, of which a figure is given, belongs to
the more southern portion of the Rocky Mountains. It
was first found by Fendler forty years ago in the moun-
tains near Santa Fé, and has since been collected a little
farther to the east on the upper Pecos, northward near
Taos, and at the forks of the Rio Grande in southern
Colorado. It is of rare occurrence within this limited
range. The true Barberries, therefore, which in the Old
World extend across the continents of Europe and Asia
from England to Japan, are restricted in America to two
small mountain districts on the eastern side, being replaced
in the west and south-west by the Mahonia section of the
genus, and reappearing in South America as evergreen
shrubs, of which the cultivated B. Darwini is an example.
The leaves of &. Fendleri are green and lucid, while the
stem and branches are purplish and shining as if var-
nished. The flowers are as large as in B. vulgaris, in
racemes an inch or two long, and at the base of the calyx
are a number of smaller, but conspicuous, red bracts. This
species flowered in the Botanic Garden here in 1880.
Sieve
Cambridge, Mass.
Cultural Department.
The Vegetable Garden.
HE two great dangers which threaten vegetables that have
been lifted and stored early are too much moisture and
too much protection. They should be kept dry overhead,
cool and well ventilated. Cauliflower, planted out about the
Ist of July, is now in full head, and another crop, set out
from pots about the end of the month, is showing flower; that
planted after Potatoes early in August is later, but the appear-
ance of the hearts gives promise of heading soon. As frost
injures the hearts of Cauliflower, in the case of well-developed
heads we break a few of the outer leaves and bend them over
the hearts to protect them ; undeveloped heads are so encir-
cled with leaves as to have protection enough. But it is un-
safe to trust Cauliflowers out-of-doors after this time of year,
and we are now lifting and storing it in cold-frames, to be cov-
ered with sashes, mats or thatch as occasion requires. In
preparing these frames we are particular to have them ina
sheltered situation, to save covering in winter; and we make
the pit two feet deep at the back, and eighteen inches deep
~*B. Fenptert, Gray, Pl. Fendl., 5; Rothrock, Wheeler’s Rep., vi. 60.
Garden and Forest.
[NOVEMBER 21, 1888.
at the front, banking it with the earth removed from within the
frame. The plants are then lifted, stripped of their rougher
outside leaves, assorted according to their stage of growth,
and planted closely together in the frame. As the heads may
not have room enough if the plants are set perfectly upright,
the stalks are made to lean, the several rows overlapping each
other shingle-fashion. By assorting and storing according to
their ripeness, we may begin at one end of the trames and cut
clean towards the other, and avoid picking out a head here
and there as it matures. And this lessens labor in covering.
Late Cauliflowers—that is, plants just showing signs of head-
ing—will, when treated in this way and protected from frost,
develop flowers during the winter, and be ready for use in
January and February, and sometimes continue till March,
when they are highly appreciated. The Erfurt—and some of
its varieties, Snowball, for instance—are the best kinds we have
this year. Leonormand’s and Algiers have not given as good
satisfaction as they once did. About Riverhead, in Suffolk
County, where Cauliflower is grown in large quantity for New
York City markets, the Erfurt has come to be the main crop
cultivated.
Brussels Sprouts are much hardier than Cauliflower, and we
leave them out-of-doors till severe winter weather is likely to
set in in December, then we strip off their rougher leaves, lift -
and heel in the plants close together in a pit, shed or cellar,
where they can have light and be kept cool. They usually
grow so tall they are awkward to store in ordinary cold-
frames. We also have good success with them by lifting and
heeling them in quite close together in a warm, sheltered spot
out-of-doors, and where we can conveniently construct about
them some sort of a temporary shelter—of evergreen branches
oftenest.
Cabbages we leave undisturbed so long as there is no danger
of the ground freezing hard, say till about the end of Novem-
ber, and often December. We winter them in several ways:
The mature ones, with heads down and close together, in out-
door trenches ; somewhat younger ones, with heads up and
stored in frames after the manner of Cauliflower, or with heads
up and close together in a shed or cool cellar, or in a bed out-
side six feet wide, and covered over with some sea-thatch,
Oak leaves or evergreen branches. When stored outside we
cannot always get them in winter, and therefore for every-day
use it is more convenient to have some ina cellar, shed or
frame. When packed together with heads up they are apt to
grow a little in winter and burst open, but this does not happen
when they are bedded with their heads down. Flat Dutch and
All Seasons are capital late Cabbages, and the Drumheadsare _
good, but sometimes a little coarse. The Savoys are the finest —
of all Cabbages for family use, and they are as easily grown as |
are the plain-leaved Cabbages. The Drumhead Savoy is the
variety mostly grown for winter work.
Curled Kale is a capital winter vegetable, and easy to handle
because it is very hardy, and half-grown plants are as good as
mature ones. Kale can be grown as a catch crop any time
after July. Extra Dwarf Curled Erfurt is the finest variety I
know. It really is dwarf, much curled, and hardy. Many of —
the so-called Extra Dwarf Curled Kales have umbrella-heads |
and stems two feet long. About the end of November lift —
and replant closely, and when the ground freezes throw
a few dry Oak leaves about them, and over these some
evergreen branches. The Kale is always better for use —
after sharp frost; but sunshine and cutting winds in winter —
need to be guarded against, as they burn the curly leaves.
German or Siberian Kale, like Spinach, is usually sown in ~
September in rows twelve to eighteen inches apart for use as ©
greens inspring. After the surface of the ground is frozen an —
inch or two deep give it a slight mulching to protect it from ~
sunshine, wind, very severe cold, and from being heaved out —
of the ground by frost in winter. Mulching before the ground ©
is frozen over only invites field mice, which are very destruc-
tive to all covered crops in winter. "
In this latitude part of the Celery crop should be stored some
time in the latter half of November, according to the weather.
Where several thousand heads are kept over out-door trenches
or ridges will answer, but where only a few hundreds are to
be wintered they should be stored in a shed or cool cellar. |
When the winters are severer than they are in New York,
large growers have regular Celery sheds. For out-door win
tering dig a long, deep, narrow trench in a sunny and well-_
drained space, say twenty or twenty-four inches deepand nine-
inches wide. Then lift the Celery, keeping all of one sort and
all of the same size or earliness together, and stand the plants_
in these trenches in a single row, but as close together as they —
can be packed, filling in the soil and packing it firmly as the
storing proceeds. Before storing, all sprouts and diseased
NovEMBER 21, 1888.]
leaves should be removed from the heads. Never touch
Celery to earth it up or to store it when it is wet or frozen, If
one trench is not enough to contain the supply, prepare
another alongside of, and about nine orten inches distant from,
the first one, and fill up in the same way. We run four of
these trenches on one ridge, which is some seven to ten
inches high in the middle, so as to throw off the water readily.
We protect these ridges from frost with board coverings, and
in severe weather use leaves, litter or thatch as an additional
protection over the boards. As it would be impracticable to
open these trenches every day in winter for a few heads of
Celery, they should only be opened occasionally, and then a
two or four weeks’ supply taken out at a time, and brought
into the cellar and stored upright in a prepared bed in a cor-
ner, or in boxes or halves of barrels. Celery is fairly hardy,
and should never be covered too thickly. Never mulch the
ridges till they first have a thin coating of frosty earth over
them, and apply the mulch a little at a time rather than the
full amount at once. Snow isa warm covering, but when a
heavy coat of snow begins to thaw, shovel it off of the ridges,
for snow-water is very penetrating, and the Celery must be
kept dry. ;
Use the White Plume and Golden Self-Blanching first, then
whatever kinds are now most blanched, leaving the red-
tinged and green Celeries for latest supply. For all purposes
we have nothing better than Golden Heart.
Glen Cove, N. Y. Wm, Falconer.
When and How to Prune Grape Vines.
OTWITHSTANDING all that has been said and written
about the numerous systems of pruning and training the
Vine, few operations of the garden are practiced with so little
intelligence. Many professional gardeners need no instruc-
tion in this matter and others are above receiving it. But to
amateurs and novices it may be well to say, that the chief
point to remember is, that the cane producing fruit next year
is grown on this year’s cane.
Fig. 1.
February was formerly considered the best time to prune
Grape vines, but of late years fall pruning has rapidly grown
in favor, and November is now chosen for this work by
expert vine-dressers. The milder weather that is apt to pre-
vail and the absence of snow make it far more comfortable
for the operator, and vines that have been overtaxed and
failed to mature their fruit can be treated with better judg-
ment when theircondition is fresh in the owner's mind, than
if the work is deferred till February, when their condition
may have been forgotten.
Another reason for fall pruning is, that the removal of sur-
plus wood allows the vine to devote all its energies to more
thoroughly ripening the remainder. The maturing and hard-
ening of the wood is not complete when the leaves fall,
neither is all wood apparently ripe sufficiently so to pass the
winter uninjured. This winter killing of the young and im-
mature wood is the strongest argumentin favor of winter
pruning, its advocates claiming that no mistake can be made
then, as all wood that has safely passed the winter up to that
period will continue to live. _ This is true, but the loss of any
wood after pruning is generally too insignificant to be worth
considering.
Unless these canes have attained a diameter of three-eighths
of an inch-or more, they should be cut back and the process
repeated till they acquire that size. Vines thus treated will
make canes of much greater value than if they had been
allowed to grow and had been left to themselves.
The lateral branches that start on these canes should be
shortened in to one leaf as they appear, thus forcing the ener-
gies of the plant into the main canes.
The vines are generally ready for trellising and training on
any system that is decided upon the second season after
Garden and Forest.
461
planting and may be allowed to beara bunch or two of Grapes.
Many persons are so anxious for fruit that they allow the
young vine to overload itself and thus receive a check from
which it often takes years to recover.
The vigor and growth of vines vary so widely in different
varieties that some require closer pruning than others, and it
is on this point that intelligence and judgment are needed.
Fig. 2.
Short pruning gives increased size and fine clusters in a small
space. Doubling the space may result in doubling the num-
ber of clusters, but not the weight of the crop.
The ground where vines are planted should be naturally
dry or made so by drainage, and sufficiently fertile to insure a
good growth. Those who have doubts on this point often
propose to dig in plenty of stable manure, to which I say, No!
unless it is thoroughly decomposed. Otherwise put iton the
surface as a mulch and the fertilizing properties will find their
way to the roots. Coarse or fine bone can be placed in direct
contact with the roots without injury, and almost any of the
standard commercial fertilizers nvay be worked into the soil at
planting time, but unfermented manures should be placed
on the surface. 7
The best vines to plant are those one and two years old,
the roots of which should be shortened in to about ten inches
in length. When older *
vines are wanted by
impatient people they
should have been trans-
planted yearly, so as to
be supplied with weil
branched fibrous roots,
which this shortening in
process secures. Such
vines, properly planted,
will bear a full crop
earlier than the younger
ones, but, in two or
three years, the latter
will overtake them.
A stake should be set
with every vine, and
one, or, at most, two
shoots, allowed to grow
the first season; they
should be tied to the
stake at intervals.
What is known as the
Kniffen system of train-
ing, and its improve-
ment, are the simplest
of any I have ever tried,
and they have, there-
fore, become more widely adopted perhaps than any other.
The cut (Fig. 1) illustrates the system at a glance. The
vine on the left shows the original idea, pure and simple;
that on the right the improvement, which consists of growing
two trunks, from near the ground. The sap being divided
462
there, each head must get its allotted portion, while in the
othercase the upper head would be apt to get the lion’s share
on account of its tendency to flow to the highest point. The
arms, which are renewed every year, being in a horizontal
position, the buds start with more general uniformity than
if they were more upright. The trellis is inexpensive, and
is adapted to vineyard or garden. In the latter wood slats
can do duty instead of wires.
Fig. 2 gives a view of a vine as it appears before pruning,
and Fig. 3 the same vine after pruning. The canes forming
the arms are the ones nearest the trunk of the vine, and are
cut from five to eight buds long. If longer the buds nearest the
trunk would be apt to start too feebly, and fail to acquire suf-
ficient vigor for next
years arm; but if only
tive or six buds long, a
very uniform growth is
obtained. By stopping
the growth of these
young canes at the sec-
ond or third leaf be-
yond the last cluster of
fruit, the size of the
cluster and. canes is in-
creased, and the base
buds are fully develop-
ed, so that the one near-
est the trunk generally
makes as good a cane,
and produces as good
clusters as those farther
away; and the fruit year
after year is kept ina
smallareanear the trunk
of the vine. The chief
objection to the system
is thatthe wind and rain
will sometimes break
off the tender shoots
while young and grow-
ing rapidly. To prevent
this Ihave used an extra
wire six inches above
the arms, to which the
young canes are secur-
ed, thus preventing any
loss from this cause. I
have taken this fall from
single vines thus trained
from twenty to thirty
pounds of fine fruit,
which satisfies me en-
tirely as to quantity.
£. Williams.
Montclair, N. J.
Rose Notes.
AMERICAN BEAUTY.—
The strong growth and
upright habit of this
Rose make it conspicu-
ous when planted out
in the same house with
other varieties. On
good, healthy plants of
this variety the shoots
will often attain a height
of six to eight feet, and
usually terminate in one
very large bud, the latter
having taken a good while to develop, but generally proving to
have been well worth waiting for. After this terminal flower
has been cut, it has been found best to tie down the shoots, so
as to induce the lower eyes on the plants to break, this
process usually resulting in more numerous flowers from the
secondary growth than would otherwise be secured, though
in some instances the individual flowers may be smaller than
those of the first crop, This Rose, in common with a majority
of the Hybrid Tea class, being subject to attacks of “black-
spot,” should be watered carefully, so as to keep the roots in
as healthy a condition as possible. This fangus spreads
much more rapidly on those plants which have defective
root-action.
PERLE DES JARDINS,—In many cases the first crop of flowers
Garden and Forest.
Fig. 72.—Berberis Fendleri.—See page 460,
[NovEMBER 21, 1888.
of this standard sort will have been cut by this time, and it will
be necessary to thin out some of the weak and comparatively
worthless growth around the bottom of the plants, so as to
allow more air and light. At the same time it is advisable to
give a little encouragement to the new growth by the applica-
tion of fertilizers, preferably in a liquid form, although good
results may also be obtained from a top dressing of manure.
An objection has been urged against the latter method by
some growers, however, on account of the greater difficulty
of regulating the amount of moisture at the roots of the plants
when the surface of the soil is covered with a coating of
variable thickness and consistency. But whichever method
is adopted in the culture of this variety, it would be well to
keep in view the opin-
ions expressed by sev-
eral of our leading Rose
growers, to the effect
that the malformed buds
frequently seen on Perle
des Jardins during the
winter months, are
largely due to too liberal
treatment or over-
feeding.
PAPA GONTIER.—It
seems evident that this
Rose can be grown to
better advantage in a
house by itself, where
this is practicable, tor
when grown among
other varieties its pe-
culiarities may be for-
gotten, andit may suffer
from too great heat or
too much water, when
the growth is sure to
become weak and the
leaves fall off rapidly.
Papa Gontier is natur-
ally a strong grower and
quickly responds to pro-
per treatment, giving a’
plentiful crop of its
handsome buds in rapid
succession. During the
past summer it has re-
ceived’ much praise
where it has been tested
out-doors, making
strong growth and pro-
ducing large and highly
colored flowers.
THE BRIDE has also
made a place for itself
in the foremost rank of
Roses for winter use,
and when afforded treat-
ment similar to that re-
commended for its
parent, Catherine Mer-
met, it usually produces
a greater number of
flowers of the same
graceful form, and with
the additional advant-
age of being white, and,
therefore, of much
greater general utility.
In fact, this is now
claimed to be the most
useful white Rose in general cultivation, W.
Philadelphia.
Hardy »Perennials for Autumn.
‘PHEEE of the best hardy plants for autumn blooming are
the common Aster Nove Anglia, Anemone Faponica—
both pink and white varieties—and various species of Knipho-
fia, commonly known as Tritomas. I think it would be worth
the trouble to prepare a bed for these specially to bloom to-
gether. The Aster is quite hardy, increases rapidly, either by
seeds or division, and requires no further care. Anemone
F¥aponica cannot be relied upon here to endure the winter,
nor even farther southward, in New Jersey, though Mr.
Vick, of Rochester, reports that it is quite hardy with him,
NoveMBER 21, 1888.] Garden and Forest. 463
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464
and it. would be interesting to know whether protection beyond
snow covering is given, and, if so, what kind. Neither can
the Kniphofias be relied upon to endure the winter,
Mr. Harris, gardener to Mr. H. H. Hunnewell, tells me he
used to keep them through, until the last few winters, when he
has lost them, by tying their leaves up in the shape of a cone,
and putting a few leaves around the plants. He also states
that they were hardy many years ago in the Annapolis Valley,
Nova Scotia. However, the safest way is to store both Ane-
mones and Kniphofias.
The propagation of Anemone Faponica is quite easy. The
strongest crowns or roots are planted for blooming the same
season in the ordinary border, and the small roots are put into
nursery beds, where they will grow large enough in one season
to bloom the next year. Any piece of root will grow. Here
in Massachusetts, with September frosts, it is necessary to
start the plants in pots, either in moderate hot-bed or ina
green-house, to hasten the blooming period. Anemones,
planted three in a ten-inch pot, make fine specimens for hall
decoration. It is safe to water them three times a day during
the summer.
Kniphofias are raised from seeds or propagated by division.
They thrive well in a deep, rich loam, and require plenty of
water during dry weather. They require a fully exposed
position or they willnot bloom well. Kniphofias are generally
called Tritomas in the trade, and most of those sold are A.
aloides or its varieties. It is seldom, however, that the varie-
tal rank is given to any of them—all being entered in the cata-
logues as species. This causes much confusion. Nicholson,
in his ‘ Dictionary of Gardening,” has, no doubt, been as care-
ful as possible not to give any varieties of A. alotdes specific
rank, but some of the species I believe are only varieties.
But it is hard to pronounce positively, since the authorities
are not given. A. carnosa and K. Leichtlinii, from trustworthy
dealers, grown together, proved to be identical; so also did
K, Burchelli and K. Roopert.
Of the varieties of A. alofdes, Media does not differ from
the type. Grandis and Grandiflora, both noble plants, are
identical; so also are Nobilis and Saundersii, though some-
what inferior. There is also a very handsome hybrid with
the pretty little AY Macowani, known as 7ritoma media Maco-
want. kK. caulescens is so very distinct that it might pass for
a Draczena as regards habit of growth. It forms a decided
stem, and does not bloom until four or five years old, and then
from the axils of the leaves, not terminally. I consider A.
Macowani and its variety Corallina the best for this district.
They bloom early and continuously, produce seed in abund-
ance, and are very easily raised by that means, blooming the
second year. No other Kniphofia is so useful for cutting
tor house decoration, the varieties of A, a/ozdes being alto-
gether too coarse. T. D. Hatfield,
Wellesley, Mass.
Orchid Notes.—Odontoglossum grande.—This species bears
the largest and showiest flowers of the whole genus, and is a
desirable plant for any collection, as it is easily grown and
produces its flowers at a very welcome season. It was dis-
covered about fifty years ago, growing in dark ravines in
Guatemala, and therefore cannot be classed among the cool
Orchids, but will be found to require the temperature of the
Cattleya-house. Fora potting compost we use a mixture of
peat, fibrous loam, rotten leaves and moss in equal parts, tak-
ing care that the pots are thoroughly drained. While in
active growth the plants require plenty of water; after this is
finished they should be rested in a dry atmosphere, and given
no more water than necessary to keep the bulbs plump. The
racemes appear as soon as the growth is finished, bearing six
or seven flowers, the lanceo'ate sepals of which are yellow
barred with brown. The petals are brown on the lower half
and bright yellow on the upper; the pale yellow lip is
blotched with red. Saccolabium bigibdbum is a pretty and
somewhat rare species of close-growing habit, bearing linear-
oblong leaves about seven inches long. From the axils of
these are produced very short-stalked racemes with about a
dozen pale yellow flowers. The lip is curiously saccate and
triangular, white, with a yellow centre, while the edge is ex-
quisitely frilled. It is a native of Rangoon, and grows well
with the Phalaenopsis.
Phalenopsis intermedia Portei,—This is a choice, and, at
present, exceedingly rare Orchid. When first introduced it
was thought to be a natural hybrid betwen P. rosea and P.
amabilis; and to prove this Messrs. Veitch & Sons crossed these
species and succeeded in raising a seedling which proved to
be identical with those received from. their native country.
This same seedling is in bloom with us now, bearing a large,
branching spike. In growth it much resembles P. amadilis,
Garden and Forest.
[NoveMBER 21, 1888,
while the inflorescence presents an intermediate character.
The flowers are roundish and about two inches across ; white
suffused with rose near the base. The lip—the great attrac-
tion—is of a rich, dark purple. This hybrid is exceedingly
free flowering, in fact it is difficult to keep a strong plant
from being always in flower; but this should be prevented or
the plant will soon become exhausted. It grows freely with
the usual Phalaenopsis treatment. The crossing of this hybrid
with its parent, ?. amabilis, has resulted in the production of
that fine hybrid, F. L. Ames.
Vanda insignis is an old, but little known plant, and until
recently it was very rare. For some unexplained reason, it has
always been confounded with the slender-growing, narrow-
leaved variety of V7. ¢ricolor called insignis, but now that the for-
iner plant is once more in cultivation, the difference in growth
may easily be seen, especially in the leaves, which are much
shorter and more rigid in the genuine species. The racemes
bear some seven flowers about the size of those of V. tricolor,
but they differ a good deal inshape. The sepalsand petals are
brown spotted with chocolate, while the lip.is large and spread-
ing, and of a uniform light rose. It is a native of the Island of
Timor, where it grows on low trees much exposed to the sun,
resting for along time during the dry season. In cultivation
it grows and flowers freely with the usual Vanda treatment.
A beautiful and rare variety named Schroederi has light yel-
low sepals and petals, and a pure white lip. :
pat) Ne Ys P P P F, Goldring.
Notes From the Arnold Arboretum.
[ee aces shrubs or trees which still possess beauty of
foliage or of fruit after the 1st of November are not nu-
merous in this climate and are therefore valuable. There
are still a few in this collection; and these can be mentioned,
perhaps, with advantage to persons contemplating the forma-
tion of new shrubberies. The Yellow-root of the Alleghany
Mountains, Zanthorhiza apitifolia, a low shrub, specially valua-
ble on account of its spreading habit for the margins of shrub-
beries and for clothing the ground among larger plants, is still
covered with leaves, which are now brightorange colored. The
small brown flowers of this plant, which appear in slender
drooping racemes contemporaneously with the unfolding
leaves, are neither showy nor ornamental. The real beauty
of the Yellow-root is in the late autumn, when brightly colored
foliage is not common.
Berberis emarginata, which has been mentioned more than
once in these notes, is now at its best, and it is hard to imagine
any shrub with more brilliant or strikingly colored foliage.
Berberis Chinensis is very brilliant, too, but B. Thunbergit has
already lost its leaves entirely. The fruit will remain, however,
upen the branches bright and unshriveled until spring, and
considerably later than those of the last named species, which
on the whole, although still almost unknown in gardens, is a
more graceful and desirable plant and unsurpassed among
Barberries in the beauty of fruit. 5
Spirea Cantoniensis, which is often known as 5S. Reevestana
and of which there are a single and a double flowered variety
in cultivation, is remarkable among Spiraeas for the persist-
ence of its leaves in autumn. They are still quite green and
fresh, with only a slight change to yellow in the case of a few
growing low down upon the stems. It is one of the most or-
hamental of the whole genus, although here unfortunately it
is not quite hardy, losing the ends of the branches in severe
winters.
Parrotia Persica, a native of the south and south-west coast
of the Caspian Sea, and nearly allied to the Witch Hazel, is now
abrilliant object, with its broad, golden colored leaves. This is
a tall growing, robust and hardy shrub, which is not very often
seen in American collections, although worth growing for the
handsome coloring of its autumn foliage. Neither the flow-
ers nor the fruit are at allshowy. A second species, P. Fac-
guemontiana, a native of the Himalaya from the Indus to the
Ravi, does not appear to be in cultivation. This plant is in-
teresting from the fact that its tough and pliable twigs are
used to make the swinging twig-bridges over the great Hima-
laya rivers. Among Viburnums, /. cotinifolium is now the
only one which needs mention. It is a stout and spreading
species, a native of the north-west Himalayas, where it grows
between 4,000 and 11,000 feet elevation, and closely allied to
the European V. Lanéana. Its broad ovate or rotundate leaves
are just turning toa deep, rich vinous red color, This plant
has not flowered here yet, but the persistency of its foliage
and the beauty of its autumnal coloring make it a desirable
addition to the list of hardy shrubs. :
Cornus sanguinea is the last of the Dogwoods to hold its
leaves and its bright black fruit, This is the common Dog-
NOVEMBER 21, 1888.]
wood of Europe; it is a hardy, fast-growing shrub, but of no
great ornamental beauty. Loudon’s suggestion that its specific
name is due to the bright coloring of the foliage in autumn is
not a very fortunate one, if we can judge by its behavior in
this country, for no plant retains here green leaves more per-
sistently.
The Washington Thorn, Crafegas cordata, is still a brilliant
and beautiful object, with its small, bright red fruit and orange
and scarlet leaves. This is one of the most rapid growing and
desirable of all our Thorns as an ornamental tree, and it is
free or nearly so from fungus attacks, which ruin the beauty
early in the season of many Thorns. Formerly it was much
more generally planted, especially as a hedge plant, for which
purpose it is well suited, than at present. It is one of the most
desirable of the smaller North American trees for ornamental
planting. The foliage, however, of C. ardorescens, is still more
brilliant, surpassing here this year not only all other Thorns,
but nearly every plant in the collection. C. arborescens is
found in the south Atlantic States rather sparingly, and again
west of the Mississippi River from Missouri to Texas. Like
many of the other Thorns, it is most common and most fully
developed in the valley of the Red River; here it is, when in
bloom,a conspicuous feature of the region, bordering the low,
wet prairies and the banks of streams, sometimes reach-
ing a height of forty feet, with a round, wide spreading top.
The bark of the trunk is much lighter colored than that of the
other species, and the flowers, although small, are produced in
the greatest profusion. The fruit is small, hardly larger than
a pea, and bright red. Itis rather a surprise that this plant
should prove hardy here. So far, however, it grows vigor-
ously and rapidly, and its further development will be watched
with muchinterest. The astonishing and unsurpassed color of
its foliage at this season of the year, should give this Thorn a
place inevery garden where it can be grown successfully.
Quercus Georgiana is one of the rarest plants found growing
spontaneously within the limits of the United States. Itisa
low spreading bush, with leaves not unlike those of the Scarlet
Oak, with smooth and shining saucer-shaped cups, and oval,
globose acorns, and it is found nowhere else than upon the
summit of Stone Mountain, in Georgia. This interesting shrub
is perfectly hardy here, and just now its leaves are of the
most intense scarlet color.
The genus Smilax is only represented in the collection yet
by three species. Of these, S. Pseudo-China still retains its
dark green leaves, which show no signs of turning to any other
color betore falling. The leaves of S. rotundifolia, the com-
mon Green- or Bull-brier, were brilliant scarlet and orange a
few days ago, although now they have nearly all fallen, while
those of S. g/auca are just turning orange. These are all use-
ful and handsome plants, and were they less common, they
would be often seen in gardens, especially the Green-brier,
which is one of the very best plants which can be used in
this climate to make a shrubbery, or a boundary wall impene-
trable and impassable.
Among North American trees, none, perhaps, retains its
foliage green and fresh so late in the season as the Nettle tree,
Celtts occidentalis. The leaves are all upon the branches still,
and only here and there show a tinge of yellow. This is not
a common tree east of the Hudson River, but further west and
south, and especially in the far south-west, it is one of the lar-
gest, and most widely and commonly distributed of our native
trees. It varies remarkably in habit and in the size and shape
of the leaves, and botanists have at different times, for this
reason, applied to it several different names, believing that
there were several species, although it is probably wiser to con-
sider all the different formsas included in one variable species.
Sometimes it is a low bush only a few feet high ; sometimes,
especially in the Mississippi Valley, it is a tall, wide-spreading
tree, with rigid branches, and a tall, straight trunk; in the
valley of the Rio Grande it is low and wide-spreading, resem-
bling an Apple-tree, with a short trunk and round head.
Upon the banks of the Hudson River, opposite Newburgh, in
New York, it grows with a slender trunk, and long, graceful
and pendulous branches, which give to these trees, in this par-
ticular region, a character peculiarly their own.
It is certainly remarkable that this tree is so little known
to horticulturists and so rarely planted. It is easily raised and
grows rapidly. It is readily transplanted, and it is not at all
fastidious about the soil in which it grows. It is an excellent
tree to plant upon the lawn or along the road-side, and yet it
is practically unknown in nurseries, and in the east certainly
itis never planted—a fact which can be partially explained,
perhaps, that it resembles somewhat, although a smaller tree,
the Elm in habit and general appearance, and so has never
become familiar to persons who are not botanists. Fe
November 6th.
Garden and Forest.
465
The Forest.
The Forest-tree Plantation of the University of
Illinois.
HIS timber-tree plantation was begun in 1871 and covers
about fifteen acres, with twenty-five species. The land
was originally prairie, the usual deep, black, loamy soil, but
varies considerably in richness and drainage. During thirty
years previously the land had been used in ordinary farming,
had never received manure of any kind, but was still good
enough over the greater part of the area to produce average
crops of Corn—say, fifty bushels to the acre. A part, however,
was not so good. This last is upon the highest and naturally
best drained portion, where, without manure, few field crops
would satisfactorily grow. The lowest parts are too wet in
spring-time for early tillage. Tile drains in this part would, if
put down three feet, carry water at least halt the season.
None, however, have been laid. An open ditch across the
plantation is the only artificial outlet for water. This does not
usually dry up until after midsummer. The latitude of the
place is a few miles north of the fortieth parallel.
The trees are in north and south rows—those first planted
four feet apart; the later ones, eight feet apart. The earlier
plantings were made two feet; the later, mostly four feet apart
in therows. Thinning has been practiced from time to time,
by removing alternate rows among those at first four feet
apart, and by cutting away from one-half to three-fourths of
the trees from the rows. As the stand was originally good,
the trees are now quite thick upon the ground.
The following table gives the kinds and quantities of trees
and date of planting, together with the average measurements
of the trees, on July 27th, 1888 :
- a ae E — =
Se4|) 5 Pale
au| Eau 8|3s8| oO
4 | Ba iS | 5 oa =" =
8) Fs e | « Po eal ee
"| 28 Be} 8 @iee) 8
g & wayP ey §
= . an
Ailanthus......¢.... 2 | 4x8 | 1881 | 2 20.41 9. | x
Neyo} | poise arc | 3] 4x4 | 1876-7 455 23.5|11.2| XX
Ash, Green SaPaew ae © } 3. | 2x4 | 1871? 3 IsO.7i2T. |) See
Black Walnut....... | 4 2x4 1873 4 B71 127-27 coo
Box IGE ys fas es wete © ‘ 2x4 | 1877 Seed 34.9]18. | XxKX
Ae Setar lees ye: wk 2 31.5|19 x
atalpa, Hardy..... | 4 | qx8 | 1881 2 Pian GB Copal tp venve <<
Catalpa, Tender.....| 3 2x4 | 1871 2 \32. 123i oe
ence REGvin cn ce cel "y acd pe |:2+3. ft. | i xo
Chestnuts... ccc cesess 2x4 | 1871 2 Py eel PT ee
Elm, American...... i | 2x4 | 1871 2 37s lizger7i xe
Hickory, Small Nut..| 2 | 2x8 | 1880 Seed. 6. | 3.7| XX
Hickory, Large Nut.) 2 | 2x8 | 1880 | Seed. 9.6] 5.7], *x
Honey Locust.......| 4 | 4x8 | 1882 2 |18. |'9.2) XxX
LE chic tie sere yh tee ee 2 2x4 | I87I I 39.1/28.71 XXX
inden jac bisa aks cos 1} 4x8 | 1881 6 |23.2|12 o.4
Maple, Ward... | 2} 2x4 | 1873 | 3-7 25.5/12. | xxx
IME PIE SOLt ranks '3-< 27s | 2 | 2x4 | 1871 3 \53-8/30.1| XX
ood sain he sae { 4x8 - 4 Ove 5: | oe
Osage Orange....... 1 | 2x4 | 1871 2 27.9|16.
Pine, Austrian yea A | 4xq 1872 g-12 in. 28.2)19.7| epee
Pine, Scotch....... ; +] 4x4 | 1872 1-2 ft. 33.3|23.5| XXX
Pine. White... v.03. | I | 4x4 | 1872 12-15 in. |30.4/20. | XXX
Spruce, Norway..... } | 2x4 | 1872 12-15 in. |38.5|17.2| XXX
Willow, White...... J | 2x4 | 1871 | 3 54.8]30.2] XXX
' |
In the column showing the present condition of the various
kinds of trees one X denotes poor; two, fair, and three, excel-
lent order. The last are thrifty, fine in shape, and in every
way promising.
This comparison of the degree of successful growth among
the different varieties is perhaps the most instructive thing in
the plantation. It is easy to see that some kinds thrive when
planted quite thickly in blocks by themselves, while other
varieties, which may succeed in the open ground or in mixed
plantations, fail if thus crowded by trees of their own kind.
Another table, giving costs and receipts, will be found inter-
esting. = It will be seen the latter are very small, mostly from
sale of the young trees for transplanting. There should also
have been a small credit for stakes and poles used on the
farm, for which no account was kept. So far nothing can be
said in favor of the undertaking for profit, whatever may be
the ultimate outcome. Surely fuel cannot be profitably grown
in this way when the best cord-wood sells for $5.00, delivered,
and good bituminous coal for $3.50 per ton. Ordinarily, the
thinning has been done for the product cut away,
466
Q
oe eae) 6
a 2 2 | &
g. ss Ss a 3S
of By S g =
o 2 aT 77 | wo
t = @ en | en
; aa is
AMUSE, oho < Siete wom $10 40 spaici Pye hve pace Lick dfomeosnaptete
W\sj0) cee target eee 50 00 | $25 20| $15 oo] $90 20)........
Ashi, Gre@nes a5 eicccene 5 | 76 94 42 58] 190 63) 310 15] $35 00
Blatcle Waltititi. yes. otewre 24 00 8 50/21 14 I wOdil wonevtcere
Bak Bidets cy. ieawi we cue 2 OO MG eee II 00 13 00 20 00
Piutlernnl oc iiciraws aa 20 40 3 43 24 23 4S) OO) eh ocupen
Catalpa, Hardy......... 2 0O 5 50 6 50/14 00 8 00
Catalpa, Tender ....... 21 77 A 17) 43,37) “G9 31) = co
SCT TRE) sti i tuesosecaceess. [iy 'gs8 Soave cust @ummteretect Morya -g Gk 4 | efor d lergutstats| Somme
TEST UE a wee een: «chery anal 30 00 6 79 TA, 65) 57 Ag ce easareeys
Bim, American, 4s... 4 76 3.95) 10 36) | 19) 10) 7 00
Hiclory, Small Nits...) 3°50 Maen GOO) W050). 4g eee
Hickory, Large Nut .... #50) baer 9 00 PSO ee erm
HTONE VOCUS i Go esis i st 10 00 6 40 OOM YE AO een te
EME Gear emre ait aiitet 98 09 21 20) 189 44| 308 64 2 50
LB oVSKs 10 Chaar cara mee ts neste rar TO 0O 6 40 5 60 20 00 3.2
MVE TO ELAMC ga /eGivig.sidse bo 20 00 10 60| 20 26 50 86) 65 oo
Vigne SOL ides poli | 8 16 (Tae Wd ns cova) mee] 1) [eer
Oak, Burr.... veresey iis 15 00 6 00 2 00)" 23:00) ..0 ozhes
Osage Orange ......-5+: 5 44 4 78 14 I4 24 34 5 00
TUNG FAUSTIAN Ys 5i5.99-2-4/0 9 30 00 | AAO). 'O0 36)" 303 96)- 2 ona:
FANG; SCOUCH § eater ees 5 we 30 00 425} 4814} 82 39 2 50
Pine, White............ 122 49 9 85} 250 45) 382 69
Spruce, Norway....... 29 94 7 45 34 92) 2 31 30 00
Willow, White.......... 8 00 457| 27 49] 40 16| etd
‘LOIS 56 ws ecenne ca $637 30) $192 28 $1029 79)$1846 87 $183 25
i
Among the trees which flourish when planted by themselves
are the Conifers in general, the Sugar Maple and hardy Catalpa.
The European Larch is planted in long rows, reaching from
the driest to the wettest portions of the soil. On the first ithas
done magnificently well. The trees are now about eight feet
apart each way, evenly distributed, uniform in size, beautiful
in shape, and thrifty in growth. On this part of the ground
they average ten to thirteen inches in diameter of trunk. On
the lower and richer land they are practically a failure, not
from the richness of the soil, but from the excess of water.
The White Pine is quite as promising, and thrives remarka-
bly even upon the wet soil, The trunks are straight and tall,
vieing in friendly rivalry to reach the sunlight above them,
and beneath excluding it by the density of their shade.
The Norway Spruce also does well, and on the low as well
as the higher ground, while the Scotch (Riga) Pine comes in
as a fair second to these three of the first and finest growth.
But the Scotch is not so agreeable in company. Those gain-
ing the advantage crowd out the weaker plants to a greater
extent; the limbs show the same tendency among themselves,
and thus a few large side branches live longer, and _ulti-
mately form larger knots than are found on the trunks of the
other kinds.
The Austrian Pine is the least successful among the Coni-
fers, owing principally to a fungous disease affecting the
foliage.
The hardy Catalpa stands at the head of the list of flat-leaved
kinds for quickness of growth, erect, symmetrical shape and
durability of wood. The other species, Catalpa bignonioides,
is too often injured by the winter to be successful. The Hard
or Sugar Maple grows slowly when young, butafter the first ten
years rapidly overtakes some of the more precocious kinds.
Both the Maple and Catalpa thrive excellently in close asso-
ciation among themselves, their dense shade keeping the
ground beneath free from undergrowth of all kinds. This is
only partially true of the Black Walnut. While it is marked
among the thrifty and promising kinds, the trees will evidently
do better in mixed plantations, as usually found in nature. Its
shade is not very dense, but its vigorous roots will not let
many other trees have much chance near by, A proper
selection and alternation is sure to be useful in this case.
A mistake was made in the Ash trees. White Ash (fraz?-
nus Americana) was to have been planted, but the nurseryman
who sold the seedlings and the committee who bought them
were alike unable to distinguish this species in the seed-bed
from the Green Ash (/raxinus viridis). The same thing often
happens among those whose business it is to handle trees and
nursery stock, but this no less makes the blunder a bad one,
and one that surely ought to be avoided. But the Ash trees
generally thrive greatly better in mixed plantations, and the
Garden and Forest.
[NoveMBER 21, 1888.
Green Ash conspicuously so. The average diameter of the
trunks of those planted in a block by themselves, about eight
by twelve feet apart, seventeen years old, is seven inches,
while some of these same trees, taken as thinnings from the
rows and planted elsewhere, are nearly double this size. In
the block the trees are also very irregular in size. The
smaller ones are not killed outright, but have little vitality and
make slow progress. Among no other kind of tree is there
so much undergrowth of vines, shrubs and weeds. They are
evidently incapable of utilizing the sunshine in any such ex-
clusive way as the Pines and Maples.
In the same way the Osage Orange is a failure. A speci-
men left here and there in a hedge does remarkably well for
some years, and even thickly planted in a single row the trees
are fairly successful ; but they have badly disappointed many
in their poor growth in the plantation. Planted originally two
by four feet apart, they have from time to time been thinned
to about eight by eight feet. Now, at the end of sixteen
years, they averaged only five inches in diameter of base of
stem. Neither are the trees in good shape for timber pur-
poses, being crooked and scrawly in trunk and limbs.
The White Willows reach skyward above all the other trees
and for summer fuel probably lead the list. It may be that
for special manufacturing purposes this wood will be worth
growing. The soft Maple (Acer dasycarpum) stands next the
Willow in height, and makes clean, straight trunks with a
e canopy of foliage above.
ee asia pis T. F. Burrill.
Correspondence.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
I have an Osband’s summer Pear-tree, one-third of which
has been grafted into the excellent Reeder variety. In the
summer of 1887 the tree began to blight somewhat, and has
continued to do so through the summer of 1888. “As yet the
Reeder portion of the tree has not been affected (with the pos-
sible exception of one small twig). Fearing that I may lose the
tree, and desiring to preserve the Reeder variety, I propose
to graft it (the Reeder) into other trees. Will it do to take the
scions from the healthful Reeder portion of the blighting
FRED
tree A. D. Morse.
Amherst College, Mass.
The Pear blight is caused by ALcrococcus amylovorus,
Burrill, and can be transferred from diseased Pear-trees to
healthy trees by natural contagion or by inoculation. If
the Reeder portion of the tree of our correspondent has
already one twig affected with Afcrococcus, it would, of
course, be unwise to take grafts from the immediately ad-
jacent branches. It is probably safe, however, to attempt
grafting with the more remote twigs of the Reeder portion
of the tree. At any rate, if the object is to preserve the
Reeder variety, it is certainly better to attempt to graft
other trees with the apparently sound shoots of the Reeder
portion, than to trust to the tree already grafted, a part of
which, at least, is known to be diseased. It would, of
course, be better still to procure grafts from other localities
now free from the blight. It is to be hoped that our cor-
respondent has before this cut off and destroyed the
blighted branches on his tree. We Goi
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—In the issue of your paper for October 3d, in the
description of Rhododendron Vaseyi under ‘New or Little
Known Plants,” I noticed a mistake in regard to the locations
in which it has been found growing. It was stated that it was
“found in Cashier's Valley, South Carolina,” etc., subsequent
to its being discovered by Mr. Vasey, near Webster, in Jack-
son County, North Carolina. Cashier’s Valley is in Jackson
County, North Carolina; and from the best information I
find that R. Vasey? has not been detected outside of this state,
and only in two counties—Jackson and Mitchell. It may be
of interest to add that 2. Vasey has been found growing quite
to the top of Grandfather Mountain, at almost 6,000 feet eleva-
tion, and in this high location it seemed to be perfectly at
home, being vigorous and flourishing.
Highlands, N.C. Vekhd ae Kelsey.
[By an oversight, the name of the town near which 2.
Vaseyi was found during the present season, appeared in
our description as Louisville. It should have been Lin-
ville. —Ep. |
bana?
a
NOVEMBER 21, 1888.]
Periodical Literature.
N a recent number of Mature are summarized a series of
articles, written for Les Missions Catholigues, of Lyons, in
which M. Armand David, a Lazarist missionary and distin-
guished man of science, recounts the scientific gains which
have accrued to the world through the labors of Catholic
ecclesiastics in the East. Few persons realize how great
these gains are—how much self-sacrificing energy has been
spent by missionary priests in studying the flora and fauna of
the regions where their proselytizing work is carried on. In
China especially their labors have been invaluable. To speak
of botany alone, the first work of importance on the flora of
China, published this year at the expense of the French gov-
ernment, in two finely illustrated quarto volumes, describes M.
David’s own collections, and is called “ Plante Davidiane.”’
Although it contains only a small proportion of the plants
native to the empire, it deals pretty fully with those of the
' northern provinces and the Mongolian mountains, and adds
largely to the list of the discoveries of English and Russian
explorers. Many important European genera—like the Tre-
foils, for example—are not found in China, but many Ameri-
can plants have their representatives which are not repre-
sented in Europe—as Pavia, Bignonia, Aralia and Dielytra. A
pretty plant (Nanthoceras sorbifilia), much cultivated in Pekin,
M. David found growing wild in Mongolia, and successfully
introduced into France. Another find was Davidia involu-
crata—a comparatively tall tree with large leaves, for the in-
troduction of which, we are told, a considerable reward has
been offered by an English amateur. M. Delavay is another
missionary who, inspired by M. David, and, like him, helped
with government money, is exploring with much success.
His residence in the almost unknown province of Yun-nan
gives him a good field for work, and the collections he has
sent to France are the most important yet received, and will
soon be published with M. Frauchet as editor. Where only
one Chinese Primrose was formerly known, M. Delavay has
raised the list to more than thirty. Instead of four or five
Chinese Rhododendrons, forty-five have been made known
through his labors and those of M. David. Several new
species of Vine have also been discovered, among them one
(Spinovitis Davidiana) found in a wild state in the central
mountains of Tsin-lin, is noteworthy as having its stems
covered with spines. Many other priests devote much of
their time to forming collections for the French museums,
and it would be difficult to overrate the sum total of their
services, which, moreover, have been as great with regard
to the fauna as with regard to the flora of the East.
Horticultural Exhibitions.
The Philadelphia Chrysanthemum Show.
gee Chrysanthemum Show of the Pennsylvania Horticul-
tural Society, held in Philadelphia last week, was espe-
cially strong in the number and quality of the plants exhibited.
The floor of the spacious hall was filled, and almost every
plant was worthy of mention for its healthful appearance and
its abundance of well-devel6ped flowers. The general effect
of this mass of color was admirable, and it was heightened by
the garlands of Laurel, the Palm branches, the evergreen
boughs, the bright-colored autumn leaves and berries, the
bunting and Japanese lanterns, with which the walls and bal-
conies, stairway and stage had been decorated by the Florists’
Club of the city. There were fine examples of plants struck
in summer and carrying a single bloom, but they were com-
paratively few. The cut flowers were of excellent quality, and
while no single fifty equaled Judge Benedict's collection in
New York, there were many more of them, all told, and the
general average was better.
The finest plants in the hall were specimens of Marvel, Gran-
diflorum, Lucrece (new), Mrs. Frank Thompson, Mrs. C. H.
Wheeler, Mrs. A. Blanc, Cullingfordii, M. Freeman, Robert
Cranford, Bride (new), Mrs. William Bowen (new, brighter in
color than Mrs. C. H. Wheeler, but resembling that fine
variety), Mrs. William Singerly, Mrs. Joyce and Puritan. All
these make the strong. growth needed for exhibition speci-
mens. Some of the varieties with most beautiful flowers,
like Mrs. J. J. Bailey and Mrs. J. Wanamaker, do not grow
large enough.
Among the noteworthy seedling plants exhibited was an
unnamed variety grown by H. Surman, gardener to Mr. E. W.
Clark. It is an improvement on his seedling, Mrs. E. H.
Clark, which won the highest premium in 1887; a second was
shown by William Jamison, anda third by Robert. G. Carey,
Garden and Forest.
467
gardener to Mr. J. C. Price, of Chestnut Hill. The finest seed-
ling plant was a specimen of the Mrs. W. K. Harris, the flower
of which has been mentioned.
The most notable cut blooms exhibited here for the first
time, and remarkable for size, color and quality, were Mrs.
Alpheus Hardy, which has already been described in these col-
umns ; Mrs. William Kk. Harris, shown by Mr. Harris—of great
size and substance, and probably the finest yellow Chrysan-
themum yet produced; L. Canning, pure white, Mrs. M. J.
Thomas,.blush white, and E. H. Fitler, bright bronze yellow,
incurved and distinct in form—the last three shown by Craig &
Brother; Lilian B. Bird, the largest Hower with tubular florets,
and Kioto, chrome yellow, shown by E. L. Fewkes, Newton
Highlands, Massachusetts ; Wootton, white, shown by John M.
Hughes, gardener to Mr. George W. Childs; and Mrs. Car-
negie, John Thorpe's wonderful variety, for which a gold
medal was awarded. The silver medal went to Robert Craig,
for Mrs. Isaac C. Price, a beautiful yellow of large size and dis-
tinct form.
The premiums were very liberal. A prize of $100 was
awarded to J. W. Colflesh for the twelve best plants. A
second prize of $85 went to John Kinnear, gardener to Mr. J.
J. Bailey; a third of $65 to Gordon Small, gardener to Mr.
William H. Singerly, and a fourth of $50 to Mr. W. K. Harris.
There were many other special money prizes, gold and silver
medals and silver cups. The principal awards, besides those
already named, were made to William Tricker, gardener to
Judge Benedict, of Staten Island, William Dewar, P. Conlan
and Gebhard Huster, gardener to Mrs. Heyl.
The attendance was unusually large, and altogether the
exhibition can safely be described as the most successful of
its kind in the history of this venerable society.
Chrysanthemums at Boston.
T the exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Soci-
ety, which opened in Boston on Wednesday of last
week, prizes were offered for Chrysanthemums alone, and yet
both halls of the Society were well filled with plants and cut
flowers. On the stage at the farther end of the large upper
hall was displayed a collection of sixty plants from Edwin
Fewkes, arranged in a sloping bank, the colors being admira-
bly blended and contrasted. Along the entire length of the
front of the stage was a bright terrace of cut flowers. In the
centre of the hall were the various plants in competition for
the prizes for specimens, while around the sides were the large
groups in the twenty-plant class. Altogether, the scene pre-
sented to one looking down from the gallery was really bril-
liant. Asarule, the plants were notremarkable. They were
fairly good, however, and were commendably tree from arti-
ficial training and unnecesary staking and tying. One of the
most remarkable plants in this hall was a seedling of an un-
usually deep orange color shown by Dr. Walcott, who also
contributed flowers from other seedlings of conspicuous
merit. Several of these were from seeds of Mrs. Wheeler,
and one, a sport from Nil Desperandum, was a large, full,
creamy white.
The cut specimen flowers surpassed, in size, variety and
beauty, the best shown at any former exhibition. Two lots
of twelve, contributed by Miss Simpkins, of Yarmouth, were
superior’in uniformity of excellence to anything in their class,
and won both the first and second prizes.
Very striking were some ot the novelties shown by Fewkes
& Son, of Newton Highlands, especially those from the Japan-
ese collection sent originally to Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, and
including the famous variety named for her.
These flowers have attracted much attention in other exhi-
bitions this year, and some of them rival the Mrs. Hardy in
beauty, although not in novelty of form. A seedling from
Mrs. Wheeler was shown by Mr. E. A. Wood, which is even
richer in color than that admirable flower, and which has the
additional advantage of being very double to the centre. Of
the cutflowers in vases, mention should be made of some
blooms of Cullingfordii and Jardin des Plantes. They were
grown by Mr. C. J. Power, of South Framingham, and as dis-
played on long, strong stems, they showed a grace of form
and richness of color which nothing short of the most intelli-
gent cultivation could produce. é
The principal prizes, except those already mentioned, were
awarded to E. W. Wood, Mrs. F. B. Hayes, Joseph H. White,
Mrs. E. M. Gill and P. Malloy.
A superb specimen of Cypripedium insigne was exhibited
by W. H. Martin, gardener to Mr. N. T. Kidder, of Milton,
The plant bore ninety flowers, and perhaps no finer one was
ever grown.
yn
468
Notes.
Hill & Company, of Richmond, Indiana, received the leading
prize at the Chrysanthemum exhibition at Indianapolis.
Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, of Short Hills, New Jersey, have
lately secured a white flowered variety of MJasdevallia Harry-
ana—the only plant of the kind known to exist.
The banquet at the opening of the Chrysanthemum exhibi-
tion in Philadelphia last week was pronounced a most enjoya-
ble and successful one by the many visitors who were present
at the hospitable invitation of the Florists’ Club, of that city.
The Proceedings of the Annual Convention of American
Cemetery Superintendents, held at Brooklyn in September
last, have been published in a neat pamphlet. The papers
read and the discussions which followed contain much inter-
esting information and sound doctrine.
German horticultural papers note with surprise the number
of the florists who attended the recent convention in New
York, and with still more surprise the distances over which
many of them traveled to be present, ‘‘some of them actually
coming three thousand miles”! According to their witness
it was the largest meeting of horticulturists that has ever
been held in the world.
The trustees of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting
Agriculture voted, at a recent meeting, upon the request ot
Mr. B. E. Fernow, to contribute $100 towards the cost of the
exhibit to illustrate the forests and forest products of the
United States at the Paris Exhibition of 1889, which the officers
of the Forest Division of the Department of Agriculture
are preparing.
We are apt to think that the cultivation and naming of nu-
merous varieties of fruits is a comparatively modern practice.
But how far from true is this belief may be ‘shown by the fact
that between the years 1598 and 1628 Le Lectier, Royal Pro-
curator at Orleans and a famous pomologist, collected in his
garden 262 varieties of Pears. In 1628 he printed a long cata-
logue of fruits, and caused it to be circulated with the request
that cultivators would inform him with regard to all varieties
as yet unknown to him.
According to the /lustrirte Garten Zettung, of Vienna, no
less thana hundred varieties of the Beech are known in gar-
dens. The most recently introduced variety, called Augus
sylvatica conglomerta Bandrilleri, has twisted, almost rolled-
up leaves, and a very short, dense spray. A favorite tree
for street and formal planting in Germany is the so-called
“ Bullet Acacia,” which has a tall, straight stem, surmounted
by a dense spherical head; and the new Beech is recom-
mended as a good substitute for this Acacia, as it can be
grown to a similar shape without the use of shears, its leaves
appear earlier in the season, and it often retains them through-
out the winter.
Chrysanthemums of great beauty are sold this year in the
streets of Boston in surprising numbers. A bunch of flowers,
such as hardly existed in the United States five years ago, can
be bought now for fifteen or twenty cents from the itinerant
flower-sellers seen in all the most frequented parts of the city.
The improvement of the Chrysanthemum and its growth in
popularity is one of the most remarkable and encouraging
signs of horticultural development in the United States. It isa
cea whether this flower does not have a stronger hold upon
popular favor in this country than even the Rose, But if this
is true, itis only temporary. The Rose has held its own for
centuries. New favorites come and go, but in the long run
the Queen of Flowers maintains her. supremacy in all ‘lands
and among all people, and she will continue to do so.
Of Winter Apples for market in New England, the Baldwin,
Rhode Island Greening and Hubbardston continue to hold
supremacy, and last winter the Rhode Island Greening, for
some unknown cause, ae better than the Baldwin. | Pro-
fessor Maynard reports, in a late bulletin of the Massachusetts
College Station, that the Pewaukee, a seedling of the Olden-
burg, possesses all the vigor and productiveness of its parent.
The fruit is of good size, striped and splashed with red and
covered with a deep b loom. It isa late keeper, of fair quality
and has borne heavily every year in the college orchard.
Sutton Beauty, owing to its fine flavor, its be auty “and its pro-
ductiveness, 1s slowly finding its way into orchards. — Its
medium size injures it in competition with so populz wa variety
as the Baldwin. The Red Russet, too, is gaining favor for
the vigor and productiveness of the tree and the beauty and
long- keeping quality of the fruit. The tree is as sturdy as the
Baldwin and the fruit keeps as long as the Roxbury Russet.
Garden and Forest.
[NovEMBER 21, 1888.
Some exhibitors of Chrysanthemums endeavor to keep the
blooms fresh for six or eight days, but to have them in the
best condition on a given date they should not be cut earlier
than four days before that date. Mr. E. Molyneux states in
The Garden, London, that varieties of the darkest shades of
color—chestnut, bronze, deep lilac and rose—lose their fresh-
ness more quickly than the lighter colored varieties, while
primrose, yellow and white keep fresh the longest. The be-
ginning of decay can best be ascertained by feeling the lower
florets. These should be crisp and solid, not soft and flabby.
The blossoms should be cut when fully developed and witha
stem at least twelve inches long, so that a small portion of it
can be cut off every day. Place the stem in a bottle of water
to which salt has been added in the proportion of a teaspoon-
ful of salt to a quart of water. The flowers should be placed
in a cool, slightly darkened room having a dry atmosphere.
The Pomological Institute of Reutlingen, Germany, consists
of two branches, a preparatory and a high school. The pro-
gramme of studies to be pursued in the high school during
the coming winter half-year has just been issued, and is of
interest as showing how systematically and thoroughly horti-
culturists are trained in the Fatherland. Botany, with the
morphology and. anatomy of plants; pomology, drawing—
each of these is to be studied during four hours each week.
Two hours each are to be devoted to vegetable gardening,
the theory of horticulture, geognosy and geology, chemistry,
the care of woodlands, arithmetic, and the conduct of busi-
ness. One houra week is given to the means of preserving
fruit from insect depredations, and the remaining time will be
filled by practical work, experimental demonstrations and
practice with the microscope. As aids to oral instruction the
institute is supplied with model gardens, nurseries, orchards
and plantations of small fruits, an arboretum, a forcing-house
for fruit, green-houses of other sorts, a rich natural history
collection, a large library, and maps, pictures, apparatus and
models of every kind.
In spite of the fact that unexpected early frosts some-
what injured the Cranberry crop of southern Massachusetts, it
is expected to reach greater proportions than ever before.
The largest annual shipments are made from the town of
Wareham, at the head of Buzzard’s Bay, where nearly 18,000
barrels were packed last year. One bog in this vicinity covers
500 acres. Prices vary much, according to the season, but it
is estimated that ina good yeara cultivator who understands
growing, harvesting and packing his berries may count half
his receipts as clear profit. Wisconsin and New Jersey also
grow Cranberries in large quantities, the former state some-
times producing double the yield of Massachusetts. But
owing to the difficulty of protecting the western bogs against
frost their yield is very uncertain, having varied during the
past few years from as ‘few as 13,000 to as many as 132,000 bar-
rels. In Massachusetts, where innumerable brooks and rivers
traverse the Cranberry districts, the bogs are surrounded by a
system of ditches and dams so that they can be quickly
flooded to a depth of several inches, and the berries thus pro-
tected against frost. The quality of the so-called Cape Cod
Cranberry i is also considered better than that of the western
fruit, and has been largely exported even further west than
Chicago. The harvest is usually completed about Thanks-
giving time.
A horticultural firm in Holland recently received from its
agents in Java a specimen of the gigantic Orchid, Grammato-
phyllum speciosum, Bl. Accompanying it was a description
of a plant growing in the botanical garden at Buitenzorg, in
Java, w hich we quote from the pages of the Gartenflora.
“This plant now displays twenty-eight flower-spikes, which
average eight feet in length, and some of which bear as many
as seventy blossoms, about fifty blooming at once. The
flowers measure six inches across, and each petal is
three inches in length by one and one-half in breadth.
The color of the sepals and petals is yellow with
brown spots, while the comparatively small lip is purple
streaked with brown. The stout flower-stalks stand mostly
erect, as do the heavy pseudo-bulbs, some of which are as
much as ten feet in length. As is the case with most Orchids,
the flowers remain a long time fresh. The plant is a native
of the forests of western Jav a and of some of the other islands
of the Indian Ocean, although it is nowhere very common.’
Grammatophyllum speciosum was introduced into Europe by
the Loddiges, and flowered in their nurseries during the year
1852. There is a figure of the rather imperfect flowers of this
specimen in Paxton’s Flower Garden, ¢. 69, and there is a much
better figure in the Botanical Magazine, 4, 5157, from a plant
which flowered in England in 1859.
NovEMBER 28, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
OrrFicE: Tripune Buitpinc, 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, NOVEMBER 28, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Eviroriat Arvicies :—Injuries to Shade Trees.—Pine-fibre Matting.—Paper
from the Wood of Red Cedar
UN GW Otel te cstersiag Bak is cella soisicisraig’s alsin -Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 470
mhe.)apanese Plums—Uhe Satsuma. = « snecesseds qeestececsecs D. B. Wier. 47%
New or Littte Known Pvants :—Pentstemon rotundifolius (with illustration),
Sereno Watson. 472
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter. ....... 22.02. 0eee vee ee WW. Goldring. 472
Cutturat Department :—The Flower Garden...... . Wm. Falconer. 472
New Hardy Hybrid French Gladioli........ W. BE. Gumbleton. 474
MeELrnsHOn the WINdOw (GATE ccc. po0.0 05 snes a e/siasis ate bale wretiects CL. Allen. 474
Cosmos hybridus—Pancratium speciosum—Cymbidium Hookerianum,. 474
OCEHICSHMIN CW) VOLK oie seie rete cnceis.n scien ba.c/sv.s 0:0 seis eseieemiciem ceiecistos cre 0 A. D. 475
RUE aati eA £3 Peeters mpc tets ol oka Var 6.0 fa) oars dseschoYa’s's 205, ¢"wacnsasn arse vite ehemerenmenieias aloe ere G. C. 475
Prant Notes :—The Live Oak (with illustration) ............0..eee2 cee C..S. Si. 476
SEHR ORES —-OW1SS MOLESO LAWS vise, cinecinnss:s ¢.s'o-s'0.0 sine oseienins clenreitie ce «cise tine 9-005 477
Sonus oNDeNce The New York Chrysanthemum Show—Paulownia Impe-
rialis.
HorrTicu.rurav Exuipsirions :—The Short Hills Orchid
Show—Autumn Flewer Show in New York
IE CHNGMISTIA NT SOR TRATDS e.aysiasaiersiccleisj\eisia'n7se sims icra aa tae etwientalcts cise e/aiettaiciareic ie
and Chrysanthemum
ItLusrRations :—Pentstemon rotundifolius, Fig. 73
The Live Oak (Quercus virens), Fig. 74........006
Injuries to Shade Trees.
HAT a well-formed, vigorous tree is worthy of re-
spect and consideration, is a fact of which it is to
be hoped no reader of GarpEn anv Forest is either ignorant
or unmindful. There is one point, however, to which
public attention should be called, viz., to the danger aris-
ing from the removal of large branches of sound trees,
either intentionally, by wholesale pruning, or by the vio-
lence of winds and storms, without proper subsequent care.
If a branch is in the way, few persons now hesitate about
cutting it off, no matter how large it is, and it is not a rare
thing in our thickly-settled towns and their suburbs to see
trees which have been reduced to two-thirds, or occasion-
ally to one-half, their normal dimensions, by indiscriminate
trimming. Or it may be that a superannuated family
mansion has been sold for a few hundred dollars and
removed to the outskirts of the town, to be transformed
into a tenement-house which is to be made to pay several
hundred per cent. io the shrewd purchaser. That is, per-
haps, none of our business. But it does concern us if the
house has to be dragged through a mile or two of streets,
crashing and tearing off the branches of shade-trees on
the way. Recently a three-hundred-dollar house did much
more than three hundred dollars’ damage to trees during its
slow passage down the streets of a city, which need not be
named.
In the first place, by such acts of violence, or even van-
dalism, the beauty of the trees is diminished, and they
become not only unsightly, but also less valuable as
shade trees. That is evident to every one. But the more
serious evil of which I would speak is one which is not
recognized at the time. The trees are not killed at once,
to be sure, but the open wounds made by breaking or
cutting off good-sized branches are just the places in which
the spores of many destructive fungi lodge and grow. So
long as the bark remains as a covering of the wood, such
spores do not readily find an entrance to the wood itself.
Of course, there are some fungi which destroy trees by
entering the leaves or roots. But the fungi now referred
to are rather certain toadstools, punk-fungi and_ their
allies, which, while they do not grow upon the leaves and
Garden and Forest.
469
not usually on healthy roots, often attack open wounds
where the wood, exposed to the action of the weather,
becomes naturally somewhat rotten. Once established in
such places, the mycelium of these fungi makes its way slow-
ly but surely into the adjoining healthy wood, until, in com-
paratively few years, the whole tree becomes diseased.
The mycelium is not annual but perennial, and bears, on
the surface, repeated crops of toadstools or punk, as the
case may be. Knowing this fact, one should hesitate
before cutting off large branches, and so endangering the
life of the tree itself. We know the dangers from open
wounds in animals, and we must also recognize that they
are dangerous in plants. If one wishes to be convinced
of the truth of these statements, he has only to walk along
the streets of any town in late summer, and notice how
frequently toadstools and punk are growing on the scars
where branches have been removed. “If the wounds are
of some years’ standing, and have not been treated, as all
wounds upon trees should be treated as soon as made,
with a coating of coal-tar or paint, he will probably also
find rotten spots on the trunks themselves, in which fungi
are growing, which have developed from the mycelium
that has penetrated into the trunks from the old scars.
In this connection one should notice the wounds caused
by the bites of horses fastened to trees. In thickly settled
regions this evil is a serious one, and householders should
be compelled by law to place some protection around the
parts of the trunks of trees on their sidewalks likely to be
injured by horses. Oxford Street, in Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, affords a good illustration of the evil. For some
distance the trees have been bitten by horses, and on the
side of the trunks facing the street there are large wounds,
which are not only unsightly, but which have also caused a
disturbance of nutrition to such an extent that the trees are
sickly, and, in some cases, apparently dying. The health
of trees which are for the benefit of coming generations
as well as our own should not be endangered by the care-
lessness of those who now live near them,
Uses are constantly found now for minor products of
our forests which, until recently, were considered value-
less. A conspicuous example of this fact is pine-fibre
matting, which is manufactured, in North Carolina, from
the leaves of the Long-leaved Pine (Pius palustris). The
industry is a new one, comparatively, but it has already
become important, and it is likely to grow as the value
of the matting made from Pine leaves is better known.
A bagging material is also made in the same way, which
can be used for covering cotton-bales. This fact is now
creating much interest in the cotton-producing States, be-
cause the price of jute-bagging, which up to the present
time has been the only material used for covering cotten-
bales, has been enormously increased by the manipulation
of a combination of importers who control the supply, and
who have formed a jute-bagging trust. It is now believed
that Pine-leaf bagging will prove the best substitute for
jute. Should this expectation be confirmed, the produc-
tion of this article may be expected to be very large in
the course of the next few years.
The green Pine leaves, collected in the forest for the
purpose, are purchased at the factories for fifteen cents the
100 pounds. They are first cleaned, and then placed in
large iron cylinders set on end and surrounded with
steam-pipes. They are then thoroughly steamed, the
vapor being conveyed through pipes into an ordinary dis-
tillery-worm in an adjoining building. Pine-leaf oil, a
valuable antiseptic, is obtained in this way at the rate of
about one-half gallon for 100 pounds of leaves. The
leaves are then boiled to remove the silica, which is found
in their outer covering, and which can be used in tanning
leather. The leaves are next boiled again and bleached,
and are then ready to be dried, which is done in machines,
by means of which all moisture is evaporated from them.
The fibre is then ready for manufacture, and is put up in
burlap bales weighing twenty-five pounds. The Pine-leaf
470
fibre has also been found valuable by surgeons in the
treatment of fractures and in dressing wounds. It is an
excellent disinfectant, and probably many other uses will
be found for this long-neglected product of the forest.
From a note in the Laghsh Mechanic and World of Sci-
ence it appears that the paper manufactured from the
wood of the Red Cedar (/uniperus Virginiana) has been
found useful for underlaying carpets and for wrapping
wool, furs and other articles liable to be injured by
moths, which are driven away by the peculiar odor of
this wood. The wood from which this paper has been
made has been the waste of pencil factories; but if
it is found to possess the value which is attributed to it,
the establishment of pulp mills in parts of this country
where the Red Cedar abounds will, no doubt, prove an
exceedingly profitable enterprise. The Red Cedar is the
most widely distributed of North American trees. It is
found growing, often in great abundance, from Canada to
Texas, and from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the
Pacific. In some parts of the country, especially in
Florida, where the best pencil wood has been procured,
and along the valley of the Red River in Texas, it grows
to a large size, with tall, straight trunks, which yield
straight-grained lumber of high quality. More often the
trunks of the trees are short, often contorted and filled
with knots, and, therefore, unfit to manufacture into lum-
ber, and up to this time have been of very little value,
except for fence-posts and inferior railway-ties. If Cedar
paper, however, is really valuable, the trees which have
been considered worthless can be profitably utilized. In
the central and in the eastern parts of the States of Kentucky
and Tennessee there are hundreds of square miles of rocky
and sterile soil—Barrens, as these lands are known locally
—covered almost entirely with Red Cedars, which, if they
can be profitably manufactured into paper-pulp for this
special purpose, will give a much greater value to these
lands than they have ever been suspected of possessing.
Newport.—I.
THINK the first thing that strikes a foreign visitor to New-
port must be the singular way in which evidence of lavish
expenditure mingles with signs of an almost pauper disregard
for appearances. Such contrasts often reveal themselves in
America, but seldom so forcibly as here. The town to which
the great colony of costly and ambitious summer villas is
attached, is much less neatly kept than is the rule in New Eng-
land, and certain of its outlying streets—constantly traversed
by pleasure-seekers in gorgeous equipages—are a veritable
offense to the eye. At one step.we pass from little palaces,
surrounded by exquisitely kept grounds, almost into ‘‘ Shanty-
town” itself. Norare striking signs of carelessness absent,
even though we keep strictly within the villa districts. Even
on Bellevue Avenue the borders of the road are left untended
to a degree which, in Lenox, for example, would not be toler-
ated for a week; and where a vacant lot occurs, its fence isa
tumble-down, weed-grown affair, that a respectable farmer in
a rough country village might blush to own. I have heard it
said that Newport, despite its claims to art and taste, to ele-
gance and fashion, is, as a whole, a vulgar-looking place.
The term is too harsh, yet there is some excuse for its appli-
cation. In many places we seem to read a regard for what is
visibly one’s own combined with a disregard for what is every-
body’s; a love of display united to a lack of public spirit,
which should certainly not characterize a refined community.
The best part of Newport is the beautiful Cliff Walk, which
runs for more than three miles on the edge of the lifted rocky
shore, passing villa after villa set back beyond verdant lawns.
An old public right of way has most fortunately kept this walk
open and free, although the land all belongs to the villa-own-
ers; and the appearance of brotherly concord between neigh-
bor and neighbor and generosity towards the public, which it
seems to reveal, added to its intrinsic charms, has made ita
frequent theme for praise with foreign writers on landscape
gardening and the arrangement of country towns. Here, at
least, no signs of carelessness appear. The soil along the
cliffs is, by nature, thin and poor, so it requires an immense
amount of care and money to make and keep these lawns,
although the damp climate favors the work. Well kept and
Garden and Forest.
a
[NovEMBER 28, 1888.
fresh they are, indeed. ‘“ And no wonder,” I heard a lady ex-
claim, ‘tor when there are signs of a drought, the owners
come forth and water them with their tears.” The statement
that the particularly beautiful turf which covers the two or
three acres of acertain gentleman is annually taken up and
rolled away in his cellars over winter, is an equally amusing
fiction; yet this [heard told more than once, with an accent
which almost implied belief in its truth. |
Beautiful and appropriate as are these lawns on the land- |
ward side of the Cliff Walk, a mistake has perhaps been made
in continuing them on its seaward side, where they skirt with
a very narrow border the rough rocky edge of the cliff, or are
carried down the slope for a considerable distance in places
where the rocks lie lower. In such places as these they have |
too much the look of earth-works for defense; and every-
where they unite but poorly with their bold rocky finish. The _
pathway might better, perhaps, have been taken as the bound-
ary line for the lawns, and the spaces beyond, whether wider
or narrower, treated in a naturalistic way—made to look as |
though the hand of man had not tampered with their original
covering. F : ; 3
The fierce sweep of the sea winds in winter is, of course,
injurious to the growth of trees in such exposed situations as
those along the Cliff Walk; but shrubs and flowers can be
made to grow with great luxuriance. The lapse of five or six
years has surrounded many of the newer houses with rich
thickets of tall shrubs and even with trees of considerable size;
and year by year veritable carpets, in the shape of formal beds
of bright flowers and foliage-plants, are spread out around
them. These beds deserve admiration from the merely cul-
tural point of view—nothing could be better, as far as luxuri-
ance and neatness are concerned. Nevertheless, I think they
may be counted as another item to excuse the cynic who
speaks of bad taste in connection with Newport. Bold effect-
iveness, rather than beauty, seems, as a rule, to have been
sought for alike in their composition and in their disposition.
As arule, their colors are crude and inharmonious, and they
are multiplied out of all reason and placed where they do the
greatest possible harm to the etfect of the grounds as a whole. _
The fact is doubly to be regretted, for Newport is the very |
place where formal bedding might often be used to the best
advantage. Nowhere do we see so many houses of the most _
formal and dignified character standing close to a road oreven |
a street, and surrounded by very small grounds. In such
cases a formal disposition of the grounds might well suggest
itself as the most appropriate. But to be good in effect the
scheme should be consistent. Formality. should reign and _
rule, not merely occur in certain features. But, instead of a
straight-lined roads and paths and regular arrangements of
shrubberies, clipped hedges and formally shaped trees, with
which pattern-beds and borders would be in true accord, in- |
formal schemes are seen where landscape effects are sim-
ulated in miniature—where winding drives and paths are |
flanked by “natural” groups of trees and shrubs and tall |
flowering plants—sadly interfered with, often, indeed, wholly _
ruined, by a profusion of flat beds and borders, rigid in out-
line and gaudy in color. No outlines can be too formal for
such beds, if they are graceful in their own way and if the
general scheme sanctions formality; and no colors too bright,
if harmony in contrast has guided their selection. But I
think we may look in vain at Newport fora place in which —
all these conditions are respected. a
There are exceptions, however, to the generaland excessive _
use of bright set beds and borders. Here and there—as inthe _
pretty grounds of Mr, Sheldon, on Narragansett Avenue—a
small expanse of lawn is nade the most of by plantations _
which merely fringe its borders, and lies in refreshing peace- al
fulness, undisturbed by notes of gaudy color. Mr. Goelet's
large place, again, where this avenue meets the Cliff Walk,
needs the removal of but one or two beds to make it per- i
fect. There is no other house in Newport at once so beauti- 4
ful and so appropriate in its beauty,and none so charmingly
connected with its grounds. When I saw it the wide lawns ©
were in perfect condition, rising into a low, grassy terrace all
around its base; vines had grown upon it to just the right ex-
tent; a few formal plants in pots appropriately adorned its-
steps, and the masses of green which decorated the piazza |
towards the sea were undisturbed by over-prominent notes |
of color—a single yellow flower-pot giving just the one —
needed touch of brightness. ae
This, I think, is a type of what a Newport house should be ~
when its grounds are comparatively large, and when a further a
air of spaciousness and country freedom is given them by an —
open seaward prospect. But it would be less appropriate on
a more contracted site with no frontage save towards a street. —
a AK
Sc
he ane et Ck
55 ll
NoveMBER 28, 1888.]
Here villa-architecture, properly so-called, is more appropri-
ate—houses which shall be neither city residences of the
usual pattern nor true country houses, but midway between
the two. No one can find fault if a Newport house, no mat-
ter how small its grounds may be, is itself large and costly.
It must be this, in very many cases, or it will not fulfill its pur-
pose. But itisa mistake to imitate in its fashioning either
an English type of country house, which needs a stately park
aboutit, or the boldly picturesque shape of some American
country home which commands a wide prospect over
picturesque acres of its own. Dignity is required, and, to a
large extent, symmetry also; an air of sumptuousness and gen-
erous accommodation combined with a certain reserve as of a
building near its neighbors and near the public gaze. The “ col-
onial”’ style, which of late has been so extensively revived in
many parts of the country, seems to offer, perhaps, the best type
for such a house. And it seems as though here of all places
we might expect to find it used, as the old town of Newport
was one of the chief centres of colonial art. Nevertheless,
new “colonial” houses are conspicuous by their absence.
The only one I noticed is apt to be overlooked by the transient
visitor, lying, as it does, in one of the older streets, half hid-
den by trees. This is the beautiful brick house built not
long ago by Messrs. McKim, Mead and White for Colonel
Edgar. It is as entirely appropriate to its place as is Mr.
Goelet’s house, and the difference between them is all the
more instructive since the same hands designed the two.
The back of Mr. Fiske’s house on Ochre Point is charming
in both form and color—a happy relief in its lowness and its
quiet browns from the towering outlines and strong tones
which too often meet the eye. But its best feature is the
wall of beautiful pinkish stone which connects it with the
stable and the street. It was a wholly fortunate idea to edge
the base of this wall with a narrow border of bright-hued
plants, as they enliven the prospect but do not disturb it, be-
ing thus closely connected with architectural forms. And
this summer the vines had grown upon the wall, as upon the
house itself, to exactly the right extent—softening and adorn-
ing but not wholly concealing the surface. The great trouble
in some places is to make vines grow; the great trouble at
Newport is to keep them within bounds. The recent intro-
duction of the so-called Japanese Ivy has already meant in
many places the entire concealment of the forms beneath it.
When these are bad the result is a happy one—a seeming
wall of verdure is certainly to be preferred to an ugly fence or
foundation story. But when the forms and colors are good,
then their concealment detracts from beauty, while the vines
themselves look best with a visible background. On Mr.
Fiske’s house, and on Mr. Goelet’s as well, it will be a pity
if the vines are ever allowed to exceed their present estate.
On many other houses one might wish them to grow to the
very chimney tops. M. G. Van Rensselaer.
New York.
The Japanese Plums—The Satsuma.
SINCE I wrote of the Kelsey Japan Plum, Batankio (or Batan-
: kin, as some call it), last month, I was so fortunate as to
find young trees of that mostcurious of fruits, the Satsuma Plum
of Japan, or, as it is now quite generally known, the Japan
Blood Plum, in fruit in the grounds of the University of Cali-
fornia at Berkeley. The tree isa much stronger, smoother
grower than the Kelsey; leaves smoother and more lanceo-
late, wide in the middle and narrowing to each end; twigs
stout, long and smooth. The fruit is round, with a deep
‘suture on one side; dark dull red, with bloom, flesh dark,
bright crimson or cherry red; skin very thin, with no acerbity;
flesh or pulp very fine grained, very juicy, abundant free
blood red juice; when fully ripe, melting and delicious. We
may say, first best in quality to eat from hand when fully ripe.
The Plum, when first mature, is quite firm, and will prove a
good long shipper. When over-ripe, it becomés very soft, but
still juicy, and not mushy. In size, the Plums examined were
about the size of the native Plum known as Miner, or about
the size of the well-known Green Gage, but it is said to grow
much larger. The stem is longer and more slender than that
of the Kelsey, which is very short and thick fora Plum. The
pit of the Satsuma is quite small for the size of the fruit,
roundish, somewhat pitted and corrugated.
This Satsuma very closely resembles in tree, leaf and growth
a Plum tree sent east from California under the name Ogon,
which proved quite hardy with me in Illinois in our severest
winters, much more so than the Kelsey, and it may be that
some of these fine fruits may do well in the great north-west.
Since I wrote of the Kelsey last month I had some of them
stewed for sauce, and found them very nice served in that way.
Garden and Forest.
471
Many young orchards in different parts of this state of the
Kelsey have fruited for the first time in quantity this year, and
all report them very productive and profitable. The keeping
qualities of these Plums are truly remarkable. I have before
me a very large specimen of the Kelsey, gathered when
fully mature, one month ago yesterday. It is yet perfectly
sound,
That the Kelsey is quite near to the Peach in many of its
peculiarities is plain to any one who will examine it critically.
It has the stem and pit of the Peach. The pit is corrugated,
pitted and shaped like that of the Peach, and the kernel has
the same skin and flavor, and fully bears out the view that I
had long ago formedfrom observation, namely : That we may
expect, and that we now have, hybrids between nearly all the
different species of the Almond family, and that we may look -
for very valuable future results from such hybrids.
Hybridism brought about by skillful artificial means should
be continually striven for, though we may have 10,000 failures
for each success. Given our fully hardy native Plums as a
base—they lacking somewhat in self-pollenization, making
them easy to experiment with in this line—should give the
north-west in time some good, fine hardy fruits.
The high mountain regions of northern California have
some fine native Plums that may prove of value in this work.
But it is best for those who work for the great north-west to
stick pretty close to the wild Plums of the northern part of
that region. Some of them are really fine, valuable fruits
in their wild state and capable of endless improvement.
The Plums proper, those of the European type, are not
proving as profitable in California as the other members of the
Almond family. They nearly all do finely and bear enormous
crops of magnificent fruit, but are too acid when canned or
dried, except the Prune section. Of these the sweet, raisin-
like French Prune, the Petit Prune de Agen, is grown in great
quantities, and is still being more largely planted than any
other fruit. The tree isa strong, healthy, handsome grower,
wonderfully productive ; the fruit very sweet and easily dried
into the Prune of commerce. The crop is very regular and
certain. An item.before me gives the yield of an orchard in
Tulare County, only four years old, at 300 to 500 pounds to the
tree. At the lowest price Prunes have sold at on the tree this
season, a cent and a quarter a pound, and at the lowest figure
of product as given, to wit, 300 pounds, we would have a net
return from this orchard of $375 an acre, and this in Tulare
County, which, twelve years ago, was considered a worthless
arid desert.
But give the exceeding rich soils of these so-called deserts a
little good water from the mountains and we have at once the
fruit growers’ and fruit tree and vine paradise, where nearly all
the fruit-bearing trees and plants will grow and thrive wonder-
fully, and where great commercial fruits, such as the Raisin
Grape, Prune, Peach, Nectarine, Apricot, Fig and Pear, can
be perfectly dried in the open air cheaper and better than any-
where else in the world where they can be grown with suc-
cess. And thisis notall. Inthe hot, dry, even morning air
of the great Joaquin Valley, but very few of the insect ene-
mies, so injurious to fruits, can propagate, and none—yes, we
may say #owe—of the destructive moulds, blights and rusts,
so destructive in moist climates, can there exist. Sun-
dried fruit there is as perfect, from these reasons, as the very
best evaporated fruit east.
Over 500,000 acres have just been redeemed from the sway
of the Jack rabbit in Merced County, by the great Crocker and
Heffman canal, costing a million anda half of dollars. This
adds that amount of the very best of soils in one of the
best fruit regions in the state, in a fine, healthy climate.
D. B. Wier, in American Florist.
“Gardening, in the perfection to which it has been lately
brought in England, is entitled to a place of considerable rank
among the liberal arts,—it is an exertion of fancy, a subject for
taste ; and being released now from the restraints of regularity
and enlarged beyond the limits of domestic convenience, the
most beautiful, the most simple, the most noble scenes of na-
ture are all within its province ; for it is no longer confined to
the spots from which it borrows its name, but regulates also
the disposition and embellishments of a park, a farm, ora rid-
ing; and the business of a gardener is to select and to apply
whatever is great, elegant or characteristic in any of them,—to
discover and to show all the advantages of the place upon
which he is employed ; to supply its defects, to correctits faults
and to improve its beauties. For all these operations the ob-
jects of nature are still his only materials."—From Thomas
Whately’s ‘Observations on Modern Gardening,” London,
1770.
472
New or Little Known Plants.
Pentstemon rotundifolius.*
O the red-flowered Pentstemons, which are among
the most ornamental species of this showy genus,
Mr. Pringle last year made an interesting addition, of
which Mr. Faxon has.now given us an excellent figure.
As found growing from the crevices of cliffs in the moun-
tains about Chihuahua, with its large panicles of scarlet
flowers drooping over the rocks, its habit seems very
unique. In the character of the flowers it appears to be
most nearly related to P. centranthifolus of Southern Cali-
fornia and Arizona, having the same narrow, tubular
corolla, with a nearly equally lobed, erect limb, though in
this respect it is also much like P. Lafont The plant is
very glabrous and glaucous throughout, woody at base,
and the stem quite leafy. The thick leathery leaves are
rounded and entire, and, except the lowermost, are closely
sessile. Penfstemon rotundifolius flowered during the pre-
sentseasonin the Royal Gardens, Kew, from seed collected
by Mr. Pringle. SW,
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
HE season has come when not a single important
class of plants is in full bloom. I went through
some of the great nurseries this week, and was surprised
to find them so flowerless. Chrysanthemums, which from
November through the winter occupy the attention of
all gardeners, have, it is true, a few very fine forerunners,
which tend to enliven our green-houses, and it is satisfact-
ory to see that every season brings new early varieties of
this flower. Frenchmen seem to be very active just now
in raising new October-blooming sorts of the Japanese and
other large flowered sections, and at the meeting of the
Royal Horticultural Society on Tuesday last there was
quite an array of new varieties, of which four only were
considered worthy of first-class certificates. Having re-
gard to the enormous number of varieties now in cultiva-
tion, and the obvious difficulty in comparing the new with
the old, the committee are wise in not awarding certifi-
cates precipitately. Of the four certificated, the finest by
far was one called Sunflower belonging to the Japanese
section. It has large flowers and very long florets, which
hang gracefully like a tassel. The color is the brightest
yellow imaginable. It was shown by W. Holmes, the
Secretary of the National Chrysanthemum Society, who
considers it not only the finest early yellow, but one ofthe
best of all yellow Chrysanthemums of its class. Another
first-rate novelty is Lincoln’s Inn. It is a large flower with
shortish florets, which area rich, brown crimson on the upper
side, and yellowish below. Edwin Molyneux, also certifi-
cated, isa large and not very beautiful flower, being coarse
in the opinion of many. It is like that named Comte
de Germiny, but is of a brighter chestnut-crimson. The
fourth sort was Magicienne, with large flowers and reflexed
florets of a reddish orange hue. Besides these a fifth
sort named Capucine was selected on account of its flori-
ferousness. The flowers are small, the color bronzy
orange, and the habit of growth good. It is called a
‘«decorative variety.” Among the other new sorts shown
I singled out the following (all Japanese sorts) as the best :
C. J. Quentus, pink ; Charlotte de Montcalrier, long florets,
pink ; Madame C. Souchet, chestnut-crimson, reflexed ;
Othello, yellow and crimson; C. Wagstaffe, good, large,
pure white; T. Stevens, pale pink; Mad. Louise Leroy,
white and pink ; and C. Delmas, crimson. Some of these
were scarcely forward enough to allow us to judge ade-
quately of their merits, and consequently were passed
over by the committee
A few Orchids of exceptional interest were shown, and
three of them were certificated. The most remarkable was
the Cattleya Lamberhurst Hybrid, a cross between C
*P, RoTUNDIFOLIUS, Gray, Proc. Amer.
Acad., xxii. 307.
ser., iy, 264, £, 32.
Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3
Garden and Forest.
[NovEMBER 28, 1888.
citrina, which always grows downwards, and has large,
wax-like flowers of deep yellow, and C. zn/ermedia, a well-
known old species. The hybrid has its growth with a
decided downward tendency, the flowers are not so large
as those of C. civima, the sepals and petals are blush-pink,
while the labellum is prettily marked with rose-pink and
white. Though not a gorgeous Orchid, it is extremely
pretty, and possesses a great interest for growers. An-
other new hybrid, also raised by the late Dr. Harris, of
Lamberhurst,wasCatleva Harrisii,a cross between C.Mendelit
and C. superba. In this case, too, the characters of the
parents are strikingly blended in the cross. The flowers
are about as large as those of C. superba, and resemble
those of that species in form. The sepals are rose-colored,
the broader petals deep rose, while the lip is a beautiful
crimson-carmine. These two hybrids came from Baron
Schroeder’s rich collection at Egham, and are extremely
rare. Another certificated Orchid was a new Oncidium,
shown under the name of O. Afanter:. It is a supposed
natural hybrid between O. Forbes? and O. Marshalhanum.,
It much resembles the first named in growth and in flowers,
though there are evident traces inits features of the showy
yellow of O. Marshalthanum. It will, no doubt, prove a
valuable plant if it habitually flowers in October, when
Orchid-houses require enlivening.
One of these Orchids came from Messrs. Veitch, who
also won a certificate for their new Javanese Rhododendron
named Yellow Perfection, which is far the finest pure
yellow sort yet raised. The truss is enormous, and the
flowers are two inches across, with broad, overlapping
petals which are of the clearest chrome- -yellow. Messrs.
Veitch themselves think that this is one of the greatest
strides they have made in this race of green-house Rho-
dodendrons. These shrubs are now a most important
class of green-house plants, and, since their culture is be-
coming better understood, they are becoming popular .in
all good gardens. In an intermediate house, not an ordi-
nary green-house, they require the simplest treatment,
and they may be called perpetual bloomers, as they sel-
dom are out of flower. At Veitch’s nursery one can see,
at the present time, a large house full of flowering speci-
mens, representing a large number of sorts, every one
beautiful. In color some of the older kinds have not been
excelled by the newer hybrids. None are now more pleas-
ing in color than the old Taylori, one of the earliest
hybrids, and Princess Royal, also one of the first. But
the improvement has been in size of truss and bloom, as
well as in the shape of the flower. I look upon these
Rhododendron hybrids as one of the best among the many
great things accomplished by the Veitches during the pres-
ent generation, and their name willalways live in connection
with these beautiful plants. The great desideratum now
is a new Rhododendron of a distinct color which would
hybridize with the present race. W. Goldzines
London, October 25th, 1888.
Cultural Department.
The Flower Garden.
S our garden is on the north shore of Long Island, it is not
visited by frosts so early as are those of our more inland
neighbors, and this year has been exceptionally mild. Until
to- day, Noy. 15th, but two slight frosts have occurred. The
garden, therefore, is still gay with the blossoms of many plants,
Chrysanthemums are now in their glory, and make a
maenificent dispay where massed in banks against the south
side of buildings, and even in open garden beds where they
have been grown all summer. Wind and rain batters them
about and injures the flowers if left unsupported, but where —
well tied up to a stake, the flowers are held steady and
kept clean, and arein fine condition. Under out-door cultiva-
tion the colors are deeper than when the flowers are produced sy"
under glass, and in the case of some white-flowered varieties ru
With
Elaine, Fair Maid of Guernsey and some other whites, how- |
like Domination they display quite a lilac or purple tint.
ever, this rule does not hold good. Among our finest out-door —
varieties this year are Gloriosum, Gloria Mundi and Golden ~
Dragon, yellow; Elaine, Jessica, Falconer’s Early, Domination |
re RES oe ae
NoveMBER 28, 1888. ]
Fig. 73.—Pentstemon rotundifolius,—See page 472.
and Mrs. N. Hallock, white; Julie Lagravere, Cullingfordii and
J. Delaux, crimson; Lakme and R. Walcott, red; Brazen Shield,
Source d’Or, Early Red Dragon, and Incomparable, golden
bronze; and Roseum Superbum, Mrs. Talford, Admiration
and M. Panchenan, shades of purple. For .an abundance
of blossoms the named varieties are far inferior to our
this-year’s seedlings. Some of these are poor enough and
some ‘are good, but the unusual vigor of the plants and
‘the. immense masses of flowers they are bearing more
than compensate for their ordinary quality.
Garden and Forest.
473
A few years ago a large-flowered form of
Chrysanthemum segetum, the European Corn
Marigold, was introduced by seedsmen as a
novelty. Although it isa very bright and pretty
flower, it is a bad weed, and self-sown seedlings
come up all about the garden where the old
plants grew. Just now it is one of the brightest
flowers in our garden, and the frost has not hurt
it a particle.
The Meteor variety of the Pot Marigold is finer
now than it has been before this year. It is from
midsummer sowings. This flower, Mignonette,
Sweet Alyssum, Pansies and Czar Violets, keep
on blooming throughout the month of Novem-
ber, or even longer if they are not subjected to *
more than seven to ten degrees of frost. Zinnias
and Heliotropes have been destroyed by frost,
and African Marigolds, of which the Eldorado
strain is a good type, have been considerably
injured. The dwarf striped French Marigolds,
however, keep on blooming as if it were yet
only September, instead of November. Frost
injures the flowers, but the unopened buds es-
cape, and soon bloom out and renew the display.
Among Gaillardias all the annuals are so far
past as to be not worth keeping longer, but the
handsome large-flowered varieties of G.. aris-
fata are still in excellent bloom. Two Cen-
tauridiums, C. Drummondit and C. Texanum,
both yellow-flowering. composites, have been in
bloom since midsummer, and are now in finer
flower than they have been at any former period.
Coreopsis coronata and C. tncforia still supply a
fair display of blossoms, but all of the other
annual and perennial species are done blooming.
Rudbeckia bicolor from June sowings is very
showy and full. £7igeron speciosum is yielding
a fair second crop of flowers; so, too, are the
Red Valerian, Double White Feverfew and In-
dian Pinks, Summer sown Snapdragons have a
few good flowers, and Zagetes lucida is finer
now than it has been all summer.
The dwarf blue Alkanet is very fine; so, too,
is Cosmos bipinnatus. For October flowers this
Cosmos is one of the finest things ever. intro-
duced to cultivation. It blooms abundantly ;
its flowers are large, showy white or rose-purple,
and last well when cut. The greatest fault of
this noble Mexican annual is its habit of bloom-
ing so late in the season and its tenderness, for
a degree of frost will ruin it.
One of the brightest and prettiest red flower-
ing plants now in bloom in our garden is A/oxsoa
Warscewitcsit. It can be treated as an annual
raised from seed sown in spring and planted
out over summer. It is now blooming more
copiously than it has been at any other time of
the year. Slight frost does not hurt it. Drum-
mond Phlox is still abundant, but the plants are
mildewed, and therefore the flowers are cur-
tailed in proportion.
Christmas Roses (felleborus niger) seem to be
a little early this year; bunches of white flower-
buds have risen some eight or nine inches above
ground, but none of them are quite open yet.
~ Most of the summer tender vines have been
killed down and cleared away. But M/anettia
bicolor is still studded all over with yellow-tipped
scarlet flowers, and purple blossoms hang thick-
ly upon the J/aurandia Barclayana growing on
afence. Cobe@a scandens raised from seed sown
last March has run more than twenty feet over
and along a high trellis fence, and is still full of
its purple bell-shaped flowers and drooping seed-
pods. A stretch of Lobb’s Nasturtium (77op@o-
lum Lobbianunt) along a fruit-tree border in front of a south-
facing wall -had the. leaves scorched a little by frost, but
all the flowers that were protected by the peach shoots and
Nasturtium foliage are bright and perfect. ; a
Spheralcea Emoryi is a little plant which is still in good
bloom, as it has been fora long time. It is a hardy perennial
from the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, and has small
terra-cotta red flowers in copious quantity. Perennial Lark-
spurs, Tritomas and Salvias still yield some flowers.
Glen'Coye, L. I., Nov. 17th. Wm. Falconer.
474
New Hardy Hybrid French Gladioli.
AVING again, during the summer and autumn now draw-
ing to a close, grown, for study and comparison with
older varieties, the set of ten new hybrids of the Purpureo-
auratus crossed with Gandavensis race, distributed towards
the close of last vear by M. Victor Lemoine, of Nancy, some
notes as to their respective merits and beauties may perhaps
induce others to cultivate these beautiful and easily-grown,
hardy, bulbous plants. The comparatively cold and almost
sunless summer we have had this year has in no way inter-
fered with, but has indeed been far more suited to the growth
and perfect blooming of these plants than the torrid season
and long drought to which they had to submit last year, which
prevented many of the varieties of that year from coming to
perfection at all. The ten varieties belonging to 1888 are:
BOUSSINGAULT.—This commenced to bloom on August Ist,
and isa very strong grower, producing three flowering bulbs
from one. It has medium-sized, creamy yellow flowers, with
most distinct and beautiful, clearly-marked lower petals, the
outer half of which is deep canary yellow, the inner half
deeply feathered maroon. This beautiful variety, also Louis
Van Houtte and Oriflamme, were well figured on the colored
plate appearing in the Paris Revue Horticole for May 16th, 1888.
DE HUMBOLDT is a vigorous-habited variety with good- ~
sized Howers opening well together on the spike, and thus
showing a good many flowers in full beauty at the same time.
The color is a deep rosy salmon, with clear yellow under-
petals, distinctly blotched with light maroon.
EMILE GALLE is rather a slender-growing variety which, in
the bud state, promised to be of quite a novel shade of violet
not hitherto met with in these hybrids, but on the expansion
of the flowers they proved to be washy and pale in color, thin
in texture and deficient in form. Only the lower petals are
beautiful, being of a deep shade of violet with a thin line of
gold down their centre. It is quite possible, however, that
this, being quite a new break in color, may prove the parent
of many beautiful varieties in years to come.
EUGENE LEQUIN is a variety of medium height, with pale
lemon-colored flowers distinctly marked on the lower petals
with broad blotches of velvety carmine, and is altogether an
extremely pretty flower.
E. V. HALLOCK is a vigorous growing variety, and one of the
most beautiful of the whole series, with large fully opened
flowers of a clear, pale shade of canary yellow, the three
lower petals clearly and evenly blotched with pale carmine.
This should be in every collection.
Le Horta.—A rather weak-growing variety, with flowers
under the medium size, of a pale shade of red. The three
lower petals are yellow, distinctly blotched with carmine, and
the centre one edged with pale red. The flowers of this
variety may come larger on a stronger plant.
MIRABEAU.—A rather weak grower, with large, well-ex-
panded flowers of a somewhat dull shade of yellow, faintly
flamed with carmine, and with broad and most distinctly
marked blotches of deep maroon on the lower petals.
Louis VAN HouttTe.—This is a rather dwarf-growing variety,
with medium-sized, well-expanded flowers of a pale yellow
shade of color, faintly blotched with carmine on the lower
petals. The flowers open well together on spike.
ORIFLAMME.—A vigorous, tall-growing variety, with branch-
ing flower-spike, and producing deep rose-colored flowers,
blotched with carmine on the lower petals.
Victor Massr.—This is a washy, indistinctly colored and
worthless variety, which did not, I think, deserve a name.
The seven varieties distributed at the end of 1886, and
which I was unable to describe adequately last year, were:
Mons. A. THIERS.—This is a very’preity variety, of rather
vigorous habit, with medium-sized, well-opened flowers, which
are rather far apart on the spike, of a clear shade of deep rose,
flaked with carmine. The lower petals are clear canary
yellow, edged with rose and blotched with maroon.
MARQUIS DE SAPORTA is a variety with medium-sized scar-
let flowers, with a lighter throat, and are closely set on the
spike and open well together. The lower petals are rather
indistinctly faked with maroon-yellow.
MONTESQUIEU is a tall and vigorous grower, with large,
well-expanded, light red flowers, flaked with carmine. The
lower petals each bear a distinct and pretty flame of deep rose
color tipped with yellow.
DE CHERVILLE.—This is a vigorous grower of medium
height of spike, with flowers rather under medium size, of a
rather dull shade of deep rose color, somewhat indistinctly
flaked with maroon and yellow.
BRACONNOT.—A variety of medium height and not very
Garden and Forest.
[NovEMBER 28, 1888.
vigorous habit of growth, with medium-sized blooms of a
deep shade of scarlet, prettily flaked with canary-yellow on
the lower petals.
Gounop.—A rather weak-growing variety, with flowers ofa
rather dull shade of yellow, faintly shaded with rose color.
The two lower petals are evenly divided between deep velvety
maroon and clear canary-yellow, the latter outside. i
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU.—A variety with pale orange-
scarlet flowers distinctly blotched with carmine on the lower
petals; each blotch is edged with pale yellow. This is an
exceedingly pretty variety.
M. Lemoine again sends out this winter fifteen more varie-
ties of this race of hybrids. He has not, however, yet been
able to get up sufficient stock of the beautiful new race of
hybrids he has obtained by crossing G. Saundersi superbus
with some of his own Purpureo-auratus race; of these he
hopes to be able to distribute one or two varieties towards
the end of next year. Another foreign nurseryman, M. Otto
Freebel, of Zurich, has also obtained some bright and pretty
hybrids between G. Saundersi superbus and G. Gandavensis
which he hopes to distribute shortly.
W. E&. Gumbleton, in The Garden, London.
Ferns for the Window Garden.
NE of the most common causes of failure in window gar-
dening is unsuitable selection of plants. In fact, this is
the principal cause, for, where man can live, some species of
plants will thrive. After the Chrysanthemum is out of bloom,
scarlet Pelargoniums, or some other flowering plants with
bright colors, are generally selected for the window-garden,
These cannot succeed where we cannot or will not allow
clear, full sunshine. The living-room rarely affords this sun-
shine, which is necessary to the production of vivid color.
Most plants that have reveled in full light and pure air
during the summer soon lose the bloom of health when
brought into the living or sleeping room; they lose their
strong, fleshy leaves, they become emaciated, and -sicken
and die.
For rooms where there is but little light, where the sun
makes only a formal call once a day, Ferns will thrive luxu-
riantly, and the more beautiful species appear to thrive the
best.” As a family the Adiantums surpass all the others in
eraceful beauty, and of the species few can compare with the
noble A. Farleyense or the delicate A. gracilis. These two I
have grown with perfect success in the room of an invalid,
when at times there would be but little light and hardly any
full sunshine during the entire winter. So well did they suc-
ceed, that in spring they would have been given a prominent
position at a Fern exhibition. In the same situation no flow-
ering plants could be induced to grow; in fact, none were
wanted, for none areas cheerful or restful to the weary eye as
the delicate Adiantums. Some of the Adiantums make charm-
ing basket-plants; conspicuous among them is 4. Edgeworthi,
whose delicate fronds, when young, wear a lovely pinkish hue,
gradually shading into a pale grayish-green,
If a climbing plant is wanted for the house, the Fern family
will furnish this, too, in the Lygodium scandens, and a more
beautiful plant, or one more easy of management, cannot be
found. While it is a favorite in the green-house, and most
useful for decorative purposes, it is well adapted to house-
culture, as it requires but little light, and is not injured by gas
or furnace heat, so fatal to most plants. It is a rapid grower,
and with proper management can be made to complete its
growth in summer, after which it can be introduced into any
moderately cool room in the house, where it will remain an
object of beauty the entire winter. There are scores of Ferns
besides those named that are adapted for the house during
winter ; in fact, most Ferns do well, but none, I think, are as
beautiful as the ones noticed. In using Ferns for the window
one caution must be observed. Well-established plants must
be secured to begin with. In their young and growing state
they require a more humid atmosphere than the house
affords, a condition that is not essential when the plant is fully
develo ;
ee Ne Y. C. L. Allen.
Cosmos hybridus.—This valuable plant was introduced some
years since into this place and is now a conspicuous ornament
of many humble cottage gardens. It is, perhaps, a hybrid of
C. tenuissimus, but, more probably, only a garden variety. This
plant grows here toa height of six or seven feet, but I have
seen specimens at least eight feet high. The finely cut leaves
are very attractive. The flowers—pure white or pale rose
colored and single—are about two and one-half inches in
Wi
tg ea
get
4
NoveMBER 28, 1888.]
diameter, with crimped and fimbriated petals, and are pro-
duced in great abundance in terminal bunches. They have
a pleasant, faint odor, but can hardly be called fragrant. The
plant is easily grown from seed, which may be planted in the
open ground in May, though it would certainly be much bet-
ter to plant early in April in a hot-bed. Judging from the
plants which I have myself raised, as well as from all those
which I have seen, it would be very advantageous to pinch in
the shoots at an early period of growth, so as to make them
more bushy and to cancel the tendency toward a somewhat
loose and sprawling habit. Here, in Newport, Cosmos
hybridus begins to bloom early in October. My own plants,
which were raised from seed grown in the open ground about
May 2oth, are now, November oth, in full bloom, and yield a
daily supply of charming flowers, worthily succeeding Azze-
mone Faponica alba and rosea, which the large blossoms
somewhat resemble. Though a Mexican plant, Cosmos
hybridus resists the early autumn frosts remarkably well.
Dahlias were cut down by frost in my garden ten days since.
In the absence of any information as to the parentage of this
plant, I suggest that, possibly, some fine dark colors could be
obtained by hybridization with C. difinnatus. The great value
of the plant as a late autumn bloomer will soon lead to its
general culture. W. G.
Newport, Rhode Island.
Fancratium speciosum belongs to a genus which is not
grown so extensively as it deserves. The plants are mostly
of easy culture, and with little trouble will produce abundant
flowers. P. sfeciosum is one of the best of the genus, pro-
ducing, in early winter, large umbels of pure white and very
fragrant flowers, which last a long time in perfection. Even
when out of bloom the plant is quite handsome, each bulb
having four to six large, ovate, deep green leaves. The new
leaves appear with the flower-spikes, and until they are thor-
oughly matured the plants require very liberal treatment—
strong heat and abundance of water—and if the pots are well
filled with roots, liquid manure should be given regularly.
During the summer months the plants may be set out-of-
doors ina shady spot and kept as dry as practicable without
causing loss of leaves, which I think are better retained as
long as possible. For potting material a mixture of sandy
loam with a little leaf-mould will be found good. Pot firmly,
and use large pots, so that repotting will not be necessary for
some years.
Cymbidium Hookerianum is now bearing three racemes of
flowers. In habit it much resembles C. giganteum, though
much smaller; the leaves are a dark green, with streaks of
yellow near the base. The semi-pendent racemes spring from
the base of the matured bulbs, bearing about a dozen
large flowers of a yellowish green, with the straw-colored lip
blotched and spotted with crimson. The front lobe is very
crisp. This species was introduced in 1866 from the Sikkim
Himalaya, and should be grown in the cool house, with liberal
waterings during active growth, and should at no time be kept
dry. We use a compost—loam, peat and sand in equal parts.
The plant grows very freely, but seldom blooms, and the
flowers here are probably the first that have been seen in
America. fF, Goldring.
Kenwood, N. Y.
Orchids in New York.
pee fine collection of Mr. Hicks Arnold on Eighty-fourth
Street, in this city, occupies a lofty, span-roofed structure,
which formerly was filled with Palms, Ferns, etc. The tem-
perature of the house is kept as near as possible from 60° to
65° by day, and 10° lower at night. The plants have made good
growth during the past summer, and promise abundant flow-
ers. Orchids in bloom are rarely seen in quantity at this sea-
son, but at a recent visit I observed several worthy of note in
flower, and among thema beautiful form of Cattleya Dowiana,
with rich, well-developed blossoms, the sepals and petals being
of a charming buff-yellow, the broad, dark purple lip hand-
somely veined with the brightest golden-yellow. A specimen
C. Gigas, suspended from the roof, had produced five flowers
of great size and of good substance, and the plant still has six
newly-made flower-sheaths, which in a few weeks will make a
grand display. Other Cattleyas soon to flower were fine plants
of C. Skinnert alba, C. Triane alba, the deep purple-flowered C.
Lawrenciana, a strong-growing plant of the pretty yellow C
luteola, and a number of C, 7yiane@ and C. Mendelit, Well-
grown plants of Lelia Perrinii, in position near the glass, had
a number of sheaths, and several were already in bloom.
Lelia purpurata and L. elegans were represented by strong
specimens, and a plant of the showy Lelia Patinit, which had
made very stout growths, was well furnished with flowering
Garden and Forest.
475
sheaths. In habit this Lelia resembles Cattleya Skinneri, and
is a species of easy culture. Quite a fine selection of Cypripe-
diums were growing very rapidly on the north side of the
house, and among many others was the beautiful C. Morgane,
a plant of C. grande, with foliage ofa remarkably robust charac-
ter; C. e@nanthum superbum, the new Hybrid C. Godseffianum,
said to be across between C. hirsutissimum and C. Boxalli ;
C. foinbud; C. almum, strong plants of C. Curtisii,; C. Leea-
num superbum, showing flower; C. Shlemit album, C. Vettchii,
C. prestans, C. Lawrenceanum biflorum in bloom, and a fine
example of C. aléopurpureum. A number of Dendrobiums
were looking at home at the warmest end of the house. Speci-
mens of D. Wardianum were just completing their new sea-
son’s growth, having bulbs measuring some four feet in
length. A plant of D. nodile Sanderianum, said to be the finest
of all this section, was doing wellina teak basket, having made
a very stout lead, and with it were plants of D. Ainsworthii
and D. Leechianum, both scarce and very showy. Flower
spikes were showing in quantity on well-grown plants, of
Phalenopsis, including P. Sanderiana, P. Schilleriana and P.
amabilis, and the lovely P. tetraspis, with its blossoms of :the
purest white. A beautifully-grown specimen of Angrecum
Scottianum had just passed flowering, having produced as many
as thirty snow-white blossoms. A large plant of Angrecum
eburneum was specially noticeable, with twelve strong spikes
from four sturdy growths, and during the months of January
and February will make an effective show. Vandas and
fSrides were hanging in numbers from the roof, and were
pushing their roots to the outer surface of the baskets, enjoy-
ing the moist and warm atmosphere so beneficial to them. A
fine example of Vanda cerulea had produced a stout spike,
and will bloom very shortly. Several well-grown plants. of
wLvides Lawrenciea, Al. Sanderianum, A°. Houlletianum and
others were exceptionally fine, with foliage of a very deep
green. The Odontoglossums that were enjoying this tem-
perature were O. Roesliz, O. vextllarium, anda plant of the
chaste and pretty O. Warscewiczii, which was rooting freely
in a glazed pan, and suspended near the glass in close prox-
imity was a large plant of O. Phalenopsis in bloom, its white
and violet-crimson markings strikingly effective. A lean-to
structure of small dimensions contained a group of the cooler
species, including some strong plants of the Odonfoglessum
crispum type, O. Pescatorei, O. crestatellum, several already
being in bud.
During the past summer a number of plants were subjected
to out-door treatment with very satisfactory results. <A light,
open, frame-work structure, some twenty-five feet long by ten
wide, was erected on the lawn, with a stage for the plants three
to four feet from the ground, the only covering being a sheet
of the thinnest canvas to protect them from the direct rays of
the sun. Above this was fixed another roll of very stout
cloth, nearly water-proof, which was immediately let down
when cold winds or storms were expected. In this way
the tollowing plants, amongst many others, have made rapid
and unusually fair growth, viz.: Odontoglossum Alexandre,
O. Pescatorei, O. citrosmum, O, grande, O. Rossii, O. Harrya-
num, all the varieties of Lelia anceps, Oncidium ornitho-
rhynchum, O. tigrinum, O.incurvum, O. varicosum, O. Mar-
shallianum, O. sphacelatum, O. Cavendishianum, Lelia au-
tumnalis, L. albida and L. majalts, Ada aurantiaca, Cypripe-
dium insigne and its varieties, Celogyne cristata, Lycaste Skin-
nerit, L. avomatica and Masdevallias in variety. The plan is
very cheap and simple, and is well worthy of a trial, as it
will be the means of preserving many of our cool-growing
species during the extreme summer heat, which is so detri-
mental to the growth of the plants. Ae:
The Lawn.—Should time and weather permit, lawns should
now be raked clean with wooden rakes, so as to remove
stones, dead grass, and leaves. This lessens the work in
Spring. And-in spots where the grass has been choked out
by Sorrel, Mouse-ear Chickweed, common Chickweed, Creep-
ing Speedwell, or Moss, rake off as much of the weeds as pos-
sible witha steel bow-rake, then mulch over the places with a
heavy dressing of manure or compost. Rotted cow manure is
the best for this purpose, as it is full of seeds of pasture
grasses, and these come up so thickly in Spring that it matters
little whether the bare spaces are resownor not. If lawns are
to be top-dressed with manure, this is the proper time to do it,
for in frosty weather carts can be driven over them without
leaving wheel-prints in the soil. The dressing should by
all means be scattered as it is hauled out on the grass,
otherwise a stiff frost may come and prevent its being
spread at all this season. Let the manure used for dressing
be old and rotted fine, Go G,
476
The Live Oak.
HE Live Oak (Quercus virens) is a familiar object to
all persons acquainted with the vegetation of our
south Atlantic and Gulf States. It is a large tree, although
rarely growing toa greater height than fifty feet, with a
short, thick trunk, sometimes seven or eight feet in diame-
ter, and spreading, curved .and often twisted branches.
The trunk, which is covered with a deeply furrowed and
very dark bark, often divides near the ground into several
large branches, as in the characteristic specimen which
appears in our illustration below, and which is growing
near New Orleans. Sometimes the trunk does not divide
until it has reached a height of twelve or fifteen feet, when
it sends out immense horizontal branches which have
Garden and Forest.
[NovEMBER 28, 1888.
ascends to an elevation of nearly 8,000 feet. Itis found on
the coast of Guatemala and in Costa Rica. The Live Oak
attains a great size and is very common upon the Sea
Islands of the Carolinas and Georgia and upon the adja-
cent mainland. It is common, also, upon the Gulf coast
east of the Mississippi. The distribution of this tree is
interesting and not easily explained. Abundant on the
humid coast of the south Atlantic States, which must be
taken as the region of its greatest multiplication and devel-
opment, it is able to endure the extremely arid climate
of western Texas, where few broad-leaved trees can main-
tain a foothold. There are but two trees, moreover, so
far as is now known, belonging to the real North Ameri-
can flora, which extend into the tropical climate of Central
America—the Live Oak and Pinus Cubensis. . The latter,
Fig. 74.—The Live Oak (Quercus virens).
been known to shade a space more than a hundred feet: in
diameter. The leaves are from two to three inches long,
oval-lanceolate, obtuse, with entire and strongly revolute
margins, or sometimes, upon vigorous young shoots,
sharply toothed. They are coriaceous, dark green and
lustrous on the upper, pale and pubescent on the lower
surface, and remain upon the branches for twelve months,
falling as the leaves of the succeeding year unfold. The
cup is top-shaped, hoary, long-stemmed, and encloses the
base only of the oblong, dark chestnut colored or nearly
black acorn, which rarely exceeds an inch in length.
The Live Oak is found growing in the neighborhood ot
the coast from southern Virginia to Mexico; in Texas, west
of the Trinity River, it extends into the interior, often as a
low shrub, as far as the high mountain ranges in the
western part of the state and into northern Mexico, where it
although it is not found quite so far north as the Live Oak,
is confined to the seaboard from Carolina to the Missis-
sippi, and then reappears upon the coast and on the uplands
of Honduras and on the Guatemala coast.
The value of the wood of the Live Oak in ship-building
was recognized soon after the settlement of the Southern
States, and after the acquirement of Florida by the gov-
ernment of the United States, it created a number of reserva-
tions upon the west coast of the peninsula for the purpose
of maintaining a supply of this wood for naval construc-
tion. Itis very heavy, hard, tough and strong, of a light
brown or yellow color, and susceptible of a beautiful
polish. The large branches, often growing nearly at right
angles with the trunk, made the strongest and best ribs for
large ships which could be found; and at -one time there
seemed a probability that all the large specimens.of. this
NovEMBER 28, 1888.)
tree would be destroyed for this purpose. The substitution
of iron for wood in ship-building has saved, however, the
Live Oak. The trees are too hard and too difficult to cut
down to make them very available for fuel; and the wood,
although unsurpassed in beauty by that of any other
American Oak, is not much used in cabinet work, for which
it is well suited, owing to the difficulty of working it.
‘*The Acorns,” old Mark Catesby iells us, writing more
than a century and a half ago, ‘‘are the sweetest of all
others ; of which the Indians usually lay up store to thicken
their venison-soop, and prepare them other ways. They
likewise draw an Oil, very pleasant and wholesome, little
inferior to that of Almonds.”
The Live Oak is perhaps the most ornamental of all
North American trees in cultivation. It grows very rap-
idly when young, more rapidly, indeed, than most Oaks ;
it thrives in nearly all soils, even when its roots are
washed by sea-water during periods of high tides; but to
develop all its beauties it should be planted in deep allu-
vial soil or upon the Carolina phosphates. A few old
avenues of noble Live Oaks, and some single specimens
in different parts of the South, especially in the coast
region of South Carolina, are certainly the most stately
and majestic trees which men have planted in North
America. : GASIcS:
The Forest.
Swiss Forest Laws.
ITs Report of Mr. Conway Thornton to the British Foreign
Office, on the Swiss Forest Laws, is a careful and interest-
ing piece of work. From.a summary which appears in a late
number ot /Vazure it is evident that from a very early date the
various cantons endeavored to preserve the forests. Thus, in
1314, the authorities of one forbade ‘‘the felling, floating or
selling’ of timber from the Sihlwald; in 1339, another forbade
charcoal-burning near the chief towns. Industries using
wood were restricted in their operations; the laying out of
new vineyards was prohibited under heavy penalties for cen-
turies; and finally, during last century, the use of uncloven
vine-props was forbidden. The exportation of timber took
place only under great difficulties, and even the removal of
timber from one place to another in Switzerland was, until
1848, very much restricted. In 1376, Zurich forbade clearings
to be laid down in pasture, and Fribourg would not allow
sheep-pastures to be established in clearings. Goats were not
permitted to be let loose in the woods; and rosin-scrapers
were excluded from many of the forests. None of these
numerous decrees appear, however, to have had much effect,
the very number of them testifying to their powerlessness to
check the evil.
In 1702, prior to which date attention was paid solely to the
maintenance and protection of the timber, the Government
appointed a Commission to inquire how the forests might be
best preserved, enlarged and improved; and subsequently
issued a decree carrying the recommendations of the Com-
mission into effect. In 1725, Berne followed the example of
Zurich, and published forestry orders, which contained direc-
tions for the cultivation of timber and for permanent improve-
ments. Similarly, in other cantons, improved systems were
introduced; the compulsory planting of marshy meadow-larid
was decreed; a season was set apart for felling, the growth of
Oaks was recommended, and the formation of clearings was
forbidden. In 1755, an excellent forestry code was drawn up
by Joseph Wilhelm, Prince-Bishop of Bale. About 1760, two
scientific societies—the Physical Society of Zurich and the
Economical Society of Berne—made great efforts to introduce
improved knowedge of woodcraft into Switzerland, and with
this object they made strong representations to their respective
Governments, and the Forestry Decrees of 1773 and 1786 were
the results. The substance of these decrees may be stated to
be the surveying of forests, the appointment of officials who
would supervise planting, experiment on exotics, and help in
teaching a more scientific system of wood cutting. By means
of these measures some real progress was made, which, how-
ever, was stopped by the general confusion during the begin-
ning of this century ; but when peace was restored, the Hel-
vetic Government turned their attention again to the forests,
which by this time had suffered severely. Soleure was the
first to starta system under which technical instruction was
given to two citizens from each woodland district, the better
Garden and Forest.
477
qualified being chosen foresters. From this time until 1830,
forest laws were drawn up universally, prescribing the modes
in which timber was to be felled.
In consequence of the disastrous floods in Switzerland in
1830 forest laws were more generally enacted and more rigidly
enforced than they had ever been before. The number of
officials was increased, and great attention was paid to their
training. In fact, the spread of the science of forestry in
Switzerland dates from this period. At first the people
thwarted the officials in every way, but, becoming gradually
enlightened as to the utility of the government measures, they
ceased from actual opposition. Even the most backward of
the cantons began to realize that their true interests lay in the
preservation ot the forests, both as a commercial speculation,
having regard to the advancing price of timber, and as a sup-
port tor precipitous ground, and on account of its domestic
and national uses.
Hitherto the students trained in forestry had been sent to
the schools in Germany, but in 1855 the Confederation estab-
lished a Forestry School, in which henceforth Swiss students
were educated in the art of woodcraft and the kindred
sciences. In 1858 a searching inquiry was made into the sup-
posed connection of the forests and the course of the moun-
tain torrents, and, as a consequence, the state aided the School
of Forestry in their efforts to plant anew the ground where
springs abounded, and officials were appointed for this pur-
pose. With regard to these officials, mention of whom occurs
in all the forest laws of Switzerland, we first hear of them in
1314, when, as in subsequent centuries, they were supposed to
be aided by the inhabitants, every one of whom in a wood-
land district was sworn to disclose any breach of the decrees
which came to his knowledge. The ordinary forest-keeper
was generally nothing more than an intelligent wood-cutter
but when it was seen that some technical teaching was neces-
sary, the skilled man, and, later still, the man witha knowledge
of natural science and mathematics, was always preferred. In
1868 the disastrous floods gave a fresh impetus to the spirit of
inquiry into the action of the forests on the rainfall and the
course of the torrents; and in the revised Federal Constitution
of 1874 an article was inserted giving the Federation control
over the forests and waterways, and authority to interfere in
any way they may think fit. Under this article two officials
were appointed—the Federal Inspector of Forests, and also a
sub-Inspector. The Forestry Societies unanimously adopted
a programme which, being presented to the ie Council,
was embodied in the Forest Law proposed by the Council in
1875. This proposed enactment led to much discussion in the
Assembly, but was finally passed by both Houses. The dis-
trict to be subject to the law included not only the high moun-
tain ranges, but also the hills bordering on the plains, as
sharing. in the protection afforded against floods and ava-
lanches by the works which were intended to be undertaken
in the former. The district included a tract of country in all
about sixty per cent. of the whole of Switzerland, or 6,750,000
acres, about 15.8 per cent. of which was forest land. It was
decided that the rights of private owners should not be
infringed except in case of necessity—that is to say, where the
woods of private owners were ‘ protecting’ w oods ; in other
words, where, on account of their position, they might have
an influence on the climate, avalanches, landslips, etc. Each
canton was required to maintain an efficient staff of officials ;
and to each individual who had received technical training an
area of about 17,500 acres was assigned if in the plains, and
25,000 acres on the mountains. All the woods under official
supervision, including, of course, private woods which came
under the class ‘protecting’ woods, were to be demarcated,
all clearings were to be immediately planted afresh,and where
necessary new forests were to be created, the F ederal treasury
bearing from thirty to seventy per cent. of the cost, or, in the
case of replanting protecting w oods, from twenty to fifty per
cent., according to the difficulty and the importance of the
works, which were always required to receive the approval of
the Inspector-General before the Federal subvention was
granted. Anything which might endanger the utility of the
forests was strictly forbidden; cattle were not allowed to graze,
nor could leaves be collected except in fixed spots. To this
enactment was added a ‘Réglement d’Exécution,’ which pro-
vides, among other things, tor the course of education to be
given to each student of forestry by the canton to entitle it to
the Federal subsidy. Instruction must be given in the follow-
ing subjects: (1) Forest-surveying and measurement in detail;
calculations of the dimensions and value of single trees, and
of outlying tracts o wood ; road-making ; safeguards against
avalanches, ete. ) Study of the different kinds. of timber and
of noxious So oe “(3) Elementary knowledge of soils, and of
478
theircomponent parts. (4) Fundamental notions of the laws
of climate and meteorology. (5) Cultivation and care of for-
ests. (6) Book-keeping and other general branches of instruc-
tion valuable for under-foresters. The Federal Government
pay the teachers, who are appointed by the canton, subject to
the approval of the Federal Government.
At the outset there were great difficulties in carrying out
the Forest Law. There is not now in the cantonsa uniform
organization for carrying it out; and Dr. Fankhauser, one of
the highest officials of the Forest Department, does not think
that such an organization is possible, having regard to the dif-
ferences in position and ideas of the various cantons. At the
present time each canton possesses in a measure its own
scheme of forestry organization. There are, however, two
main systems in existence in the Federal district, the first of
which prevails in the central, eastern and southern parts of
Switzerland. Each canton is divided into districts of from
17,500 to 35,000 acres each, and over each district the canton
places an officer who has received scientific training ; under
him are the keepers and deputy foresters, chosen by the own-
ers from among the students of the local forestry school, and
paid by them. Each deputy has about 3,000 acres to take care
of, and has but to carry out the orders of his superior as to
felling, clearing and replanting. In the next, however, a dif-
ferent system obtains. Here the country is far less mountain-
ous, and the inhabitants industrial rather than agricultural in
their pursuits. In these cantons the district forester has from
7,500 to 17,500 acres under him, and in this district he marks
out all the fellings to be performed, and in fact does every-
thing but the manual labor, which he leaves to his inferiors.
In this district, where timber is very high in price, and the
opportunities of sale numerous, the country is frequently
reaftorested by private individuals, while in the other cantons
the state is forced to do nearly everything.
The salaries of the forest officials vary very much in the
different cantons, but even in the best paid districts the remu-
neration is very modest. Under-foresters receive sometimes a
fixed salary, sometimes only daily wages when employed. If
the former, the sum varies from $125 to $250. If the rate of
pay is per day, which is unusual, it is generally fixed at $1.
District foresters usually receive from $440 to $560 a year. In
Uri, however, $600 is given, and in a few places as high as
$800 per annum. Cantonal forest inspectors receive from $600
to $900 a year, besides allowances, which are always given to
the higher officials when traveling on duty, with the cost of
the journey.
Correspondence.
The New York Chrysanthemum Show.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—A flower show is hardly the place to see plants at
their best. In the garden, in the field, in the green-house, or
even in the hving room they look better than when massed
together, bottled, labeled, and stiffly contrasted in a crowded
exhibition. Of course there is room for improvement in the
arrangement of exhibitions—beauty might be considered a
little more without any sacrifice in the way of convenience.
But as it is we usually feel: These are beautiful things, but
how much more beautiful they must be under other condi-
tions.
This is especially true when Chrysanthemums are in ques-
tion. As isolated blossoms some of them—not all—are very
beautiful. But they need number and a particular kind of
arrangement to appear at their best; for decorativeness, effec-
tiveness, is their prime characteristic. Nor when we turn
from the isolated blossorn to the growing plant are we fully
satisfied. The rather ragged habit of the Chrysanthemum
and the comparative sparseness of its foliage seldom result in
a plant which, however excellent from the cultivator’s point of
view, is a really beautiful object or shows its blossoms to the
best advantage. To my mind the right way to see them is
cut with long stems and arranged in a tall and capacious ves-
sel. The bunch must be rather large, or the full stateliness of
the flower and glory of its color will not appear; yet it must
not be crowded together or the beauty of individual blossoms
will be lost. Stiffly stuck in moss Chrysanthemums never
look well; and massed in a tight layer on a low dish they
scarcely look better. No matter how many of them there are
the grouping should be Hight and open, that the combined
grace and dignity of the spray with its many heads may not
be concealed. And a tall vessel is better than a lower one, as
more harmonious with the stately effect they can produce.
Garden and Forest.
[NovEMBER 28, 1888.
Nor is the material of the jar beneath consideration. Clear
glass is not desirable, as it is with Roses, for Chrysanthemum
leaves and stems seen in the water. are devoid of grace ; nor
should showy colors be permitted, which would detract from
the effect of the flowers. Green cut glass, or white or blue and
white china, or brass or silver—these are the best possible re-
ceptacles. Usually the bunch can be so graduated that its
own foliage will suffice ; but in no case should very delicate
foliage be added, for the Chrysanthemum is certainly not a
delicate flower. Of course as Maiden-hair Fern is now so high
in favor it is often used with Chrysanthemums; nothing can
be much moreinharmonious than its effect, yet a basket thus
composed took a second premium at the recent exhibition in
New York. 7
But if a lover of beauty could tie his attention down to indi-
vidual blossoms a wonderful amount of enjoyment awaited
him in this exhibition. It seemed as though Nature herself
might there acknowledge man’s supremacy, seeing what he
had made out of the suggestion she gave in her first
Chrysanthemums. What splendid miracles of development
he had brought about, and along how many different lines !
There were no true scarlets among the endless colors, but
there was every other kind of red and brown and pink ; many
purples, scores of yellows; no blues, but some yellows
that were almost green ; and whites in infinite variety. And.
now these colors were pure and solid, now flashed and
streaked in the most indescribable ways; and now the one
ruled on the under side of the petal, a quite different one
above, and yet each kept its perfect purity. Anything more
gorgeous than the contrast of red and yellow thus produced in
the Mrs. Wheeler, or anything more brilliant than the flashed
red and orange of the Lord Byron, it would be impossible
to find; while I thought I had never seen a flower of so rare
and exquisite a pure yellow as the Golden Dragon. As to size,
there was everything, from things as smallas a gold button to
things almost as big asa Cabbage. And shapes differed as
widely. Some were as flat as a plate, some as round asa
ball; some as solid as Artichokes, some so fragile they looked
as though a breath would blow them apart. There were flow-
ers with large, strong petals, and flowers with delicate, thread-
like petals; with short ones and long ones, straight or spirally
twisted, curling in or curling out, or lying in a flat row around
a solidcentre. There were Chrysanthemums like little English
Daisies, and like Peonies, and like Suntlowers, and others
that one could hardly tell from Dahlias, and others, again,
that suggested nothing in the world but Chrysanthemums
determined to be as eccentric as they could. , It was amusing
for a while to try and pick out the most beautiful ones, but
the attempt was soon abandoned in despair, for there were ©
so many types one’s standard of beauty changed at every
step.
Of the three great novelties of the year, Mrs. L. P. Morton
may be a great triumph from the cultivator’s point of view;
but from that of the mere “lover of loveliness,” it seemed a
failure—not pleasing in its color, which is an impure pink,
oddly variegated with a dull white, and in disagreeable con-
trast with the greenish-yellow centre; and not pleasing in
its form either—which resembles that of a halfdouble Sun-
flower.
The Mrs. Carnegie, on the other hand, is superb—a perfect
expression of the incurved type, neither so full as to be
hard nor so loose as to lose form and dignity; variable in its
manner of growth, moreover, so that no two blossoms are
identical inshape, while all are beautiful; of the most magnifi-
cent dark-red shade, and truly wonderful in size. But the
most beautiful of all—the most beautiful Chrysanthemum that
exists—is the famous Mrs. Alpheus Hardy. Here again is
the incurved type, a little fuller than in the Mrs. Carnegie,
but not too solid, and not in the least stiff or artificial look-
ing. The color is the most pure and radiant imaginable white,
and the singular down on the petals adds much more than one
might imagine to their beauty. This down is called “hairs,”
I believe, by scientific writers, or even ‘‘a glandular growth.”
But it is down to the eye of ignorance, and the petals look like
nothing so much as the tufts which grow at the base of the
wing of a swan. It has often been said of Chrysanthemums
that the best of them lack the indefinable quality we call
charm. They are splendid flowers, beautiful flowers, but
devoid of sentiment, not charming, not poetical. No one will
say this again who has seen the Mrs. Hardy. Just the addi-
tion of this downy covering to its pure white petals gives it
delicacy, charm and sentiment; makes it as poetical as a
Water Lily or a Rose. George Fleming.
[Our opinion as to the merit of these novelties has
NOVEMBER 28, 1888.]
been already expressed. The flowers of the Mrs. L. P.
Morton were cut from the original seedling plant, and
the variety promises to be of good form and color. The
Mrs. Alpheus Hardy is most interesting as a novelty.
Unlike many novelties, too, it has a distinct and genuine
beauty. We should hesitate, however, before pronouncing
it the most beautiful Chrysanthemum in the world.—Ep. |
Paulownia Imperialis.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—In 1876 I purchased a strong root of this tree and
planted it in good soil with an eastern exposure, quite well pro-
tected on the west and north. The object was to confine the
annual growth, from year to year, toasingle stem. It made
a growth of eight feet the first summer, which was cut
back nearly to the ground the next spring. As soonas the
buds had pushed, all but one were rubbed off. By June Ist
this had made a growth of one foot. Afterwards, to ascertain
its rate of growth, it was measured on August 5th and again
on the 12th. The growth was precisely thirteen inches. Sep-
tember 23d the stem had attained a height of fourteen feet,
and measured, at a foot from the ground, three inches in
diameter. The massive petioles averaged sixteen inches in
length and nearly an inch in diameter. The leaves were
about nine inches apart, and the largest measured ten feet
three inches across. All of them were nearly as large,
except those at or near the top. Those splendid leaves
stood many a hard wind without being much torn. The
shoot towered up, during the middle and latter part of the
season, above the surrounding foliage—a singularly odd and
by no means unattractive object. Year after year, either in
the spring or fall, this shoot of the preceding season’s growth
was cut off near the ground. In 1878 it made a growth
nearly as great as in 1877, but during every succeeding year
the growth was shorter, until, in 1887, the stump put forth a
feeble shoot or so, which perished in a few weeks, and the
plant was dead.
The above notes may interest those who read Professor
Penhallow’s remarks respecting the Paulownia in GARDEN
AND Forest of October 17th, page 406: ‘“‘ The Paulownia was
planted ee Canada) in October, 1881. The stems have
been killed to the ground each year, but the growth of each
season has proved larger than that of the preceding, and this
year reached a height of ten feet. The roots, which are quite
hardy, appear to be gaining strength each year, and the plant
is quite as well established as the one growing in the Botanic
Garden at Cambridge.”
I fancy, from my own experiment, that the Paulownia will
not stand being cut or frozen back many years in succession.
Bergen County, New Jersey. £E. S. Carman.
Horticultural Exhibitions.
The Short Hills Orchid and Chrysanthemum Show.
HIS exhibition was really the formal opening of the United
States Nurseries at Short Hills, New Jersey, and the fact
that plants were displayed at home instead of being stagedin a
public hall, gave it an additional interest to professional visitors.
The eighteen houses already built were filled with vigorous
plants arranged with much taste and skill. This collection is
already remarkable for Cypripediums, of which it includes 360
species and varieties, many of them rare or unique. Masses
of C. insigne, in its various forms, filled the first house, among
them being C. zasigne Chantinii, superb in shape and color,
Philbrick’s famous variety, and an extraordinary novelty with
a corrugated lip, the upper part of the pouch being fluted ina
most interesting way. Next to these were forms of C. Spiceri-
anum, of which the variety #Zgrescens is noticeable for the rich
dark color of lip and petals. Here, too, were C. Leeanum, one
of the rarer hybrids, many examples of the beautiful C Har-
vrisianum, C. leuchorrodium, C. Dayanum, C. dilectum, C. Hay-
naldianum, C. Calunum, C. Morganie, C. lo grandis, and C.
Arthurianum.
Near the Cypripediums was the beautiful yellow variety of
Odontoglossum Rossii, this plant, we believe, being found only
in the Short Hills collection. Flowering specimens of 0.
crispum Alexandre, Oncidium Crameri, and the fragrant
Zygopetalum Mackayii were grouped near each other. Few
Lzlias were in flower except a very dark form of ZL. Autumn-
alis and the delicate little Z. Eyermani, the new hybrid of
American origin. Oncidium splendidum, somewhat injured
Garden and Forest.
479
by previous exhibitions, was still interesting, since it so rarely
blooms. Other well-flowered Oncidiums were O. ornithorhyn-
cum and O. incurvum. A collection of Lycaste Skinneri
showed all the varieties from crimson to pure white.
Next in importance to the Orchids were the stove plants,
and foremost among these was the great display of Anthur-
iums. A collection of these plants lately secured from a Swiss
grower includes specimens in the fowering section which are
unique and as yet unknown to commerce. Crotons, Ne-
penthes, Draczenas and Ferns fill up other houses, some
of the specimen Crotons being unusally fine. The cool houses
showed a wonderful array of Primula obconica, and there was
a houseful of good Cyclamens.
The Chrysanthemums alone would have sufficed to make
an exhibition, but the chief attraction was a houseful of the
Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, which has been so often described. The
flower shows well in a great mass, although its absolute purity
of color produces an effect that is almost dazzling, but visit-
ors never seem to tire of admiring it.
Large numbers of professional and amateur horticulturists,
some ot them from distant states, visited the exhibition
during the week, and Messrs. Pitcher & Manda are to be con-
gratulated on the uniform admiration expressed for their
establishment and all its appointments.
Autumn Flower Show in New York.
ESSRS. SIEBRECHT & WADLEY have been successful
in their venturesome experiment of holding a flower
show at this season in which the Chrysanthemum is not the
chief attraction. The collection at the Eden Musée consisted
mainly of plants used for decoration, and they were grouped
with striking originality. The prim little Japanese Garden,
with hedges of Arbor Vite and graveled walks, beds of Roman
Hyacinths, Pansies, Marigolds, Carnations, Stevias, Cylamens
and Primulas, interested many visitors. Many neat effects
were produced in the recesses along the walls, one nook
being filled with well-grown Heaths, another with dwarf
Orange trees, some with Orchids, others with stove plants,
while Nepenthes and Stag’s-horn Ferns were hung about to
the best advantage. A splendid specimen of Livtstonia hor-
vida made a fine background for one of these groups, and
other show plants, like the great Cyathea dealbata and the
wonderful Alsophila, a pair of superb Seaforthias and a fine
Areca lutescens, were effectively placed amid a bewildering
abundance of tropical rarities. Besides the profusion of
Orchids and decorative plants, cut Roses of the more fash-
ionable varieties and of exquisite quality were scattered
among the Ferns, and in addition to the ever-present and
always admired Mrs. Hardy, there were some excellent
Chrysanthemums. Mr. John Henderson, Mr. Barr, of Orange,
and Wm. Tricker, gardener to Judge Benedict, sent many of
the best of these. The flowers of Mrs. Jessie Barr, a white
of superb form and substance, Sunset, which is worthy of its
name, Gold Lace, an odd laciniated yellow, and Mrs. Munn, a
duplication of Mrs. Frank Thompson in creamy white, were
the most striking.
The exhibition was well attended, especially by people of
fashion. Very rarely has there been collected and displayed
in this city so great a variety of choice plants in such excel-
lent condition.
Recent Plant Portraits.
TEA ROSE, COMTE HENRI RIGNON, Fournal des Roses, Sep-
tember ; a handsome, free-flowering hybrid, with pale copper-
colored petals, delicately shaded with rose-salmon on the
margins.
LALIA PURPURATA, Revue de l Horticulture Belge, September.
AZALEA INDICA, MISS E, JARRETT, Revie de 1 Horticulture
Belge, September ; a variety raised in the Van Houtte nurseries,
with very large single white flowers, faintly tinged with green ;
evidently a plant of very considerable merit; it received the
first prize at the quinquennial exhibition at Ghent in 1883.
PITHECOCTENIUM BUCCINATORIUM, Budletine R. Soc. Toscana
ai Orticultura, September.
ACALYPHA TRIUMPHANS, L’ M/lustration Horticole, August 31st.
PHALANOPSIS SCHILLERIANA, L’Mllustration Hor ticole, August
TSt:
DENDROBIUM MACROPHYLLUM, L’/dlustration Horticole, Au-
gust jist. :
VRIESEA WITTMACKIANA, Gartenflora, October 15th; a hybrid
between V. Barilletii and V. Moneniana, these two species
appearing also on the plate.
SYRINGA EmopI ROSEA, Revue Horticole, November tst.
480
Notes.
A feature of the recent Pomological Exhibition in Vienna
was a special display of fruits ill adapted to local cultivation,
and labeled ‘“ warnings.”’
The death is announced of a famous Dutch horticulturist,
Joshua Valk, who for no less than fifty-seven years was con-
nected with the botanical garden in Leyden.
The shipments of Beans from southern California to eastern
cities has already reached fifty car-loads. Orders are still
coming in, and there is likely to be a brisk movement of the
crop eastward for two months to come.
The Marshall Pear is a comparatively new variety, which
ripens some ten days later than the Bartlett. Specimens of the
fruit received from Mr. P. H. Foster, of Babylon, Long Island,
were bell-shaped, of good size, with a smooth, thin skin, which
is beautifully russeted. The flesh is white, juicy, and of excel-
lent flavor. The tree is said to be vigorous and productive,
and altogether the Pear seems to be a real acquisition.
It appears from a recent issue of the Southern Lumber-
man, eee Se in Nashville, that the soft, spongy wood of
the knees, peculiar growths upon the roots of the Southern
Cypress (Zaxodium distichum), is sometimes manufactured
into razor-strops, which are pronounced more effective than
the leather-covered, stiff strops in general use. It is neces-
sary, however, to keep them protected from dust, which ad-
heres readily to the soft wood, and soon becomes embedded
in the grain, ruining it for this purpose.
At the late Chrysanthemum show in Philadelphia, Mr. W. K.
Harris exhibited a plant upon which twenty distinct varieties
had been grafted and all were in bloom at the same time.
This suggests a new line of work, inasmuch as such plants
would be objects of great popular interest at exhibitions, if a
proper selection and arrangement of colors were made. It
may be questioned, however, whether a plant bearing several
different kinds of flowers possesses any value except as a
curiosity. Whether some varieties of feeble growth would
be improved if grafted on a more robust stock can be ascer-
tained by experiment.
A memorial to Alexander Humboldt was recently erected in
the so-called Humboldt field, one of the new parks of
Berlin. As a statue of the great naturalist already stood in the
centre of the town, the new monument was given a very dif-
ferent form. From all parts of the Province of Brandenburg
the largest possible erratic stones (glacial boulders) were
brought together and arranged in imitation of a terminal mo-
raine. In their vicinity curious stones of many other sorts are
grouped, and one bears a simple inscription telling that the
“monument” was erected in Humboldt’s honor by the city of
Berlin. Our correspondent, Dr. Bolle, has long been actively
engaged in forwarding this movement.
Mr. C. S. Burt, President of the Bourbon Lumber Company,
of Baton Rouge, La., lately informed a correspondent of the
St, Louis Lumberman that his company are at present drag-
ging, from a swamp to one of their mills, a number of cypress
logs felled by General Jackson’s army in 1812, and used at
the time for closing the Manchac River. Mr. Burt says the
bark and sap have rotted off from the logs, but that the heart
wood is as good as ever, and the finest quality of lumber is
obtained from these logs. The S¢. Louis Lumberman has on
exhibition in its office a cypress picket top from Baton Rouge,
La., which was exposed to the weather sixty-three years,
without showing marked signs of decay.
It has sometimes been stated that the worst monstrosities in
the way of formal planting which disfigure some of our west-
ern parks—figures of men and animals and even portraits of
various celebrities—should be charged to the bad taste not of
native American, but of German, gardeners. The statement
seems to find some support in the fact that at a horticultural —
exhibition held not long ago in one of the smaller German
towns, a portrait of the Emperor William I., four feet and a
half high, was displayed in bright-leaved plants ; and in the
further fact that none of the parks of our eastern towns, ex-
cept in Pittsburgh, where German influence is less strongly
felt than at the West, are deformed by similar horrors.
The importance attached to landscape gardening enter-
prises abroad is shown by the fact that when it was proposed
last year to alter and enlarge the public park at Lisbon an in-
ternational competition was opened for the purpose of secur-
Garden and Forest.
ing the best possible plan. Large prizes were offered for the
three most satisfactory plans, which were to become the
property of the municipality After the jury had made its pre-
liminary selection, twenty-six plans remained in its hands,
among which the final choice was made. The first prize was
awarded to M. Henri Lusseau, the second to M. Henri
Duchéne, and the third to M. Eugéne Deny, all being French
artists. Two French and one German artist received honor-
able mention. Moreover, a pamphlet, carefully prepared by
a distinguished French expert, was published, in which the
nature of the problem and the character of the designs sub-
mitted were fully explained by the aid of numerous drawings.
Prince Schwarzenberg, who recently died in Vienna at the
age of eighty-nine, was the most conspicuous and influential
of the many Austrian noblemen who have concerned them-
selves with horticulture. He was chiefly instrumental in the
establishment of the Imperial Horticultural Society, and its
first exhibition—the first flower-show ever opened in Austria
—was held in his green-house in the year 1827. Elected the
first President of the young society, he held the position until
his death, a period of sixty years; and during all this time
devoted himself with the greatest energy and amiability to
furthering its interests and exciting a love of the gardener’s
art in his fellow-countrymen at large. His beautiful grounds
were freely opened to the public, and special exhibitions were
often held in them. The last exhibition he arranged, during
the summer of this year, was to display his beautiful collec-
tion of Gloxinias, a flower which, according to the testimony
of German journals, is not yet as well known in that country
as with us,
A recent number of Garéenflora reproduces from Professor
Schuebler’s work on Norwegian trees—‘ Viridarium Nor-
vegicum, Norges Vaextrige”-—an illustration of a curious
“Recumbent Birch- tree,” which stands, if the word is appro-
priate, on a mountain side about three miles from Christiania.
The trunk is something over six metres in length and thirteen
centimetres in diameter a foot above the roots. Upon leav-
ing the ground it bends towards the left, running horizontally
for a short distance; then it makes an abrupt reverse turn and
runs towards the right close to the surface and partly reclining
upon it, Near the elbow thus formed a branch rises erect in
the shape of a normally-formed tree, with a tall, slender trunk.
Five similar branches succeed this at regular intervals in
similar tree-like development, the last forming the turned-up
termination of the recumbent trunk. As there is no trace
whatever of minor branches, the effect of these six separate
trees springing, seemingly, from a dead log, is extremely
curious. The first in order is about fifteen feet in height and
the others graduate down by regular degrees. The trunk
must have been prostrated in very early life, and the branches
assumed their singular shape—at once normal andabnorma]l—
through the natural action of what the German paper calls
“negative geotropism.,”
The success and usefulness of the Botanical Garden in
Adelaide, Australia, are made very plain in the recently pub-
lished report of the Director, Dr. Schomburgk. The garden
was founded in 1855, and at first included only forty acres,
originally an open forest of huge Eucalyptus trees, covered in
the rainy season with a thick undergrowth. Fifteen acres were
laid out as a little park, with lakes and brooks and a little hall
for horticultural exhibitions. Now this park has been en-
larged by the addition of forty-eight acres, and the whole gar-
den includes 140 acres. A large palm-house has recently been
built; water is abundantly supplied from the town reservoirs;
a Museum of Economic Botany has been constructed, and a
botanical garden planted. The cost of maintenance is less
than £5,000 a year, while the utility of the establishment can
hardly be overrated. It supplies a charming place of popu-
lar resort in a climate where such a place is especially re-
quired; and it has largely served the practical interest of the
province by experiments in cultivation and by the distribution
of plants and seeds. Vines have been imported from France,
and their usefulness in Australia tested ; Sorghum has been
introduced; Guinea grass (Panicum giganteum) has been
proved well adapted to local culture, and Ramie or China
Grass eee nivea) has been proved unsuitable. During
the special Jubilee Exhibition held last year 12,973 different
species of plants were shown; among those in the green-
houses were 180 species of Palms, 396 Orchids and 465 Ferns.
The highest temperature recorded in the garden during 1877
was 111.2 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade; and the amount of
rainfall was 25.7 inches, a remarkable quantity, for in the pre-
vious year only 14.4 inches had been measured.
[NovEMBER 28, 1888.
yt
"oer ae wa ee
:
i
DECEMBER 5, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TRIBUNE BuiLpinc, 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, DECEMBER 5, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Eprrokial Arricces :—Natural Beauty and the Landscape Gardener.—List of
the Writings of the late Professor Gray.—Rochester’s New Park
Commission. —An Experimental Fruit Garden at Louveciennes,
France
Newport—ll... rs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 482
Chinese Horticulture in New Vor sienltis Jame lMiSSi Pat LeRQer. 483
New or Littte Known Ptants fsWeldasithiens, nicole (with illustrations),
W.E. Endicott. 484
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.........ceeeseee eee seees W, Watson. 484
CurruraL DeparTMENT :—Summer Apples in New England, 7. 1. Hoskins, are 485
Greenshouse:Glimbers) for'Cut Mowers. 5. 0</sisjscsssicmictraps sislessae cjeae- ae . 487
al Se ete rettevpte ele his njole[als\a‘a (ais, siaid'c sinia(sidie-s ¢.0's nio..a'o4 pleieioale siajstersts's (EE ditn, 488
Top-dressing for Trees — Pruning Trees — Pruning Shrubs—Out-door
INIOREE). posGaboodacRaos ca ended dnoe Sena n Bao oeeaeticncag cach - 492
ItLustRaTions :—Acidanthera bicolor, Fig. 75- 486
Acidanthera bicolor, grown ina tub, Fig. 7
Natural Beauty and the Landscape Gardener.
N the Century Magazine for October was an interesting
article called ‘‘An English Deer Park,” by Mr. Richard
Jeffries, a well-known writer on the beauties of nature,
who died, we believe, before his words were in print.
Chief among the attractions of the fine park to which he
refers—without giving us its name or indicating its local-
ity—is its naturalness of aspect. ‘‘ Happily,” he says, ‘‘the
place escaped notice in that artificial era when half the
parks and woods were spoiled to make the engraver’s
ideal landscape of straight vistas, broad in the fore-
ground and narrowing up to nothing. Wide, straight
roads—you can call them nothing else—were cut
through the finest woods, so that upon looking from
a certain window or standing at a certain spot in the
grounds you might see a church-tower at the end of
the cutting. Many common highway roads are
really delightful, winding through trees and hedge-rows,
with glimpses of hills and distant villages. But these
planned, straight vistas . at once destroy the
pleasant illusion of primeval forest. Happily,
this park escaped, and it is beautiful. Our English land-
scape wants no gardening ; it camno/ be gardened. The
least interference kills it. The beauty of English wood-
land and country is in its detail. There is nothing empty
and unclothed. Nature is a miniature painter,
and handles a delicate brush, the tip of which touches
the tiniest spot and leaves something living. The park has
indeed its larger lines, its broad, open sweep and gradual
slope, to which the eye accustomed to small inclosures
requires time to adjust itself. ‘These left to themselves are
beautiful; they are the surface of the earth, which is always
true to itself, and needs no banks nor artificial hollows.
The earth is right and the tree is right; trim either and
all is wrong.”
These words have doubtless been read by many ot
our readers ;
Garden and Forest.
_ be done.
and as they are prettily written and savor or »
481
means the same thing as a love of the beautiful in nature,
they have perhaps deceived many into agreement with
the ideas they voice. We are glad, therefore, to be able
to quote from another English writer (in the pages of
The Garden) an excellent statement of what we conceive
to be a better point of view in such matters. Criticising
the paragraph we have cited, this writer says :
“*Our best natural landscapes certainly want but little
gardening, but it zs possible to garden them. The least
interference with Nature always kills it, as Jeffries wrote ;
but, then, a little assistance—a little enrichment—is some-
times better than the ‘masterly inactivity’ which heseems
to recommend as everything. Man likes to adjust himself
to Nature, and often must do so, while the true gardener
can help Nature wield her paint-brush, and he will also
touch the tiny spots and leave ‘something living’ and
beautiful wherever he goes. The great landscape gardener
merely helps Nature to do her work quickly and easily,
and that he can do so is past all doubt. Throwing up
unnecessary terraces and scooping out unnecessary ditches
over which unnecessary bridges are thrown is not garden-
ing. If Nature puts a brook or a river, then the bridge isa
real human want, and may be supplied with good effect ;
rarely or never can it be done otherwise. It is not in doing
things that the landscape gardener’s art is most fully illus-
trated. Some of his greatest triumphs have been achieved
in knowing exactly what to leave alone.”
But even these words would not leave upon a reader's
mind exactly the impression which we conceive to be the
right one. The right impression with regard to landscape-
gardening we conceive to be this. There are very many
beautiful spots on earth, but very few of them are beau-
tiful in a way that fits them, untouched by art, for asso-
ciation with the homes of men. A _ primeval forest
would be a priceless possession on some distant part of
an estate; but to permit it to come up close to a splen-
did dwelling would be an offense against appropriateness
and harmony, and therefore against beauty. A forest is
not a park, and to make a park art is needed. Whether
it is made by a process of addition or by a process of sub-
traction matters nothing. It needs as much art to disen-
gage a beautiful landscape from encumbering details as
to create one from the beginning. If certain English
landscapes are so beautiful, and at the same time so ap-
propriate for dwelling-places, that it seems sacrilege to
touch them, it is because man has been at work over the
whole surface of England for many centuries. Primeval
effects nowhere exist where the country wears its typically
English look. In our own land we seldom find English
landscape effects near where we wish to build our homes.
The reason is obvious, and so likewise is the necessity
why we should be more careful than the English to call in
the aid of art.
Moreover, while in the majority of cases those natural
effects which Mr. Jeffries loved are the best ones to desire,
there are certain cases when the straight roads he con-
demns are very beautiful, and when formal features of
other kinds may well accompany them. Everything de-
pends on appropriateness and harmony. What is good in
one case is bad in another; and no computation of the
average number of cases when a thing is good or is bad
can help to determine its excellence when a eiven problem
is in view. And finally, it will be confessed that in cer-
tain places where men must live Nature is not beautiful.
Then the artist may well interfere with her intentions
and create a loveliness of his own. Then he may make
brooks and rivers if he can induce her to help him, and
alter the surface of the ground, and decide what trees
shall grow upon it and where. In short, it is only a ques-
tion of degree. Everywhere and always the artist is
needed. He has first to decide whether much or little
should be done, and then to decide in what manner it should
If he does not understand the art of gardening
he will create ugliness, not beauty ; but this is not to say
that ‘‘love of nature” which most people are apt to tain thet the art itself should be condemned.
482
HE list of the writings of the late Professor Asa Gray,
chronologically arranged by his associates, Professor
Goodale and Mr. Sereno Watson, have been reprinted, in
pamphlet form, from the American Journal of Science, in
which they formed the appendix to the thirty-sixth vol-
ume. The long list, which occupies forty-one pages of the
Journal, is conveniently divided into three series—the first
being devoted to ‘‘ Scientific Works and Articles;” the sec-
ond to ‘‘Botanical Notices and Book Reviews,” and the
third to “Biographical Sketches, Obituaries, Necrological
Notices,” etc. Asa Gray was born in 1810, and his first
contribution to science was published in 1834, and, curi-
ously enough, was devoted to mineralogy, a subject in
which he was early interested, but soon abandoned
entirely. His publications, thus early begun, were con-
tinued almost up to the hour when he was struck down
with the illness which ended that long and brilliant
career, which is the pride and glory of every educated
American, _
In a period of fifty-three years, in 1839 only is there no
entry of a publication fromhis pen. The book notices and
reviews were begun in 1841 in the American Journal of
Science, with an account of a ‘‘ Report on the Tea Plant in
Upper Assam,” and were continued, uninterruptedly, with
the exception of the year 1851, until the winter of 1887.
Taken as a whole, they furnish the best account of the
history and development of the science of botany and of
botanical literature during this period which has ever been
written, just as the biographical sketches and necrological
notices, begun in 1842 in the Amerzcan Journal of Science,
give the best account of the principal figures which
passed from the botanical stage during a period of great
botanical activity, in which Charles Darwin was changing
the whole current of scientific thought.
The number of Professor Gray’s publications, as dis-
played in this list, and the immense and varied field which
they cover, must appear stupendous, even to those persons
who were best fitted by opportunity to judge of his vast
knowledge, his wonderful mental activity and surprising
industry; and the astonishment will be all the greater when
it is remembered that his work was of the very highest
class, and that it was coupled with constant and engross-
ing professorial and administrative duties.
The value of the chronological list is greatly increased
by the addition of a very complete index, occupying no
less than twenty-five pages, of two columns each, pre-
pared by Mr. A. B. Seymour. The list, thus supplemented,
will be found invaluable by all working botanists, especially
those interested in American plants, but, unfortunately,
the papers to which it serves as a guide are widely
scattered in publications which are practically inac-
cessible to the ordinary student. The time, however, is
not, it is to be hoped, very far distant, when Professor
Gray’s scattered papers, and especially the bibliographi-
cal ones, if they cannot all be republished, will be gath-
ered together and reproduced for the benefit of botanists.
No more useful,. appropriate or enduring monument,
with the single exception of a permanent endowment
for the support and increase of his vast herbarium—the
great controlling interest of his life—can be erected to the
memory of Asa Gray.
A Park Commission of twenty-one members has been
formed at Rochester, New York. Among them we note
the names of the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese,
Doctor McQuaid, Mr. William Barry, of the Mount Hope
nurseries, and Mr. William Kimball, who has one of the
finest collections of Orchids in the world. The number
of commissioners is excessive, but the board has already
taken two steps from which we should infer that its work
would be unusually well done. First, it has elected as its
President an eminent physician and sanitarian, Dr. Edward
M. Moore, the President of the State Board of Health of
New York; second, before acquiring any land it has
separately taken the professional advice of eight men of
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 5, 1888.
experience in the management of public parks—Mr. H. W.
S. Cleveland, of Minneapolis; Mr. Calvert Vaux and Mr.
Samuel Parsons, Jr., of New York; Mr. F. L. Olmsted and
Mr. J. C. Olmsted, of Brookline; Mr. William McMillan, of
Buffalo, and Mr. W. S. Edgerton, of Albany. It has oc-
casioned some surprise that each of these gentlemen, after
making the circuit of the city, should, without conference,
have fixed upon the same three localities as most desirable
to be secured for park purposes. One of these is a body
of high ground commanding a superb distant prospect, a
part of the site being a tract of land of fifty acres which
Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, the well-known nurserymen,
have presented to the city ; another, a piece of the cele-
brated Genesee meadows above the city ; the third, a por-
tion of the great wooded gorge of the Genesee below the city.
A French pomologist, Monsieur H. Beer, has estab-
lished at Louveciennes, not far from Paris, an experi-
mental fruit-garden, in which 4,000 Apple and Pear trees
have already been planted, among which are many Ameri-
can varieties scarcely known yet by name even in France,
but which are now to be tried upon a sufficient scale to
test satisfactorily their merits. | With these Monsieur Beer
has imported from this country plants of some of the earliest
and best known varieties of French origin with the view
of determining whether these varieties have undergone
any change in the character of their fruit during the period
they have been subjected to the American climate and
to the American methods of cultivation. The result of this
experiment will be watched with much interest by pomol-
ogists here and abroad.
Newport.—lI.
HERE is as much variety among the fences at Newport as
among the houses, and the fact is very conspicuous, as
properties are so small that one form of barrier is perpetually
giving place to another. It can hardly be said that a fence
which seems exactly.right often appears ; sometimes it is too
pretentious, more often, perhaps, not dignified enough. In at
least one case we find a massive stone wall, some eight feet
in height, which would be admirable for the protection of a
large park, but seems out of place encircling a few acres in a
thickly built settlement, and sins against that neighborly free-
dom of prospect which is beauty’s sole salvation in such aset-
tlement, and is generally preserved at Newport. And in many
cases we see, on the other hand, a cheap wooden paling, with-
out dignity or beauty, surrounding expensively kept grounds
and a house of the most costly kind. But here and there
we find admirable devices. For one of the best we must
look again to Mr. Goelet’s place, which has a very low, but
broad, stone wall, built of rather thin slabs of slate in a way
which hits just the right medium between over-precision and
carelessness. A rustic fence recently put up on Bellevue
Avenue is very well designed and pretty, but perhaps a little
too rural in effect for just this situation. Low brick walls are
sometimes used, but I saw hardly any which had the beauty
possible to this material. Hedges, and especially those of
Privet, grow luxuriantly at Newport, and are often employed.
Without exception they are well tended, but sometimes they
have been allowed to grow so thin that the eye can penetrate
them everywhere. No matter how neat a hedge may be, it is
certainly a failure when this is the case.
With entrance-gates the case is the same ; sometimes they
are too mean in effect, sometimes self-assertive and showy
beyond all reason. Perhaps the most satisfactory is the fine,
tall gate, with wide, lateral wings, of wrought iron, which
admits to Mr. Van Alen’s new house. It is of Spanish work-
manship, and, from the design, seems to date from the middle
of the last century; but fashions so often persisted in iron-work
after they had died out in architecture, that it is hard to feel
sure of its exact time. The pattern is at once strong and
very light, and the gate is just what it should be to stand at
Newport—very elegant, yet comparatively simple, and not at
all suggestive of mere display or of excessive powers of pro-
tection. It is to be hoped that it may inspire others to em-
ploy this beautiful material. Iron-work as good as this in
design, and better in execution, can easily be obtained to-day
in America. Better in execution, I say, for last-century iron-
work is a combination of welded and riveted pieces, while our
best, like that of still earlier centuries abroad, is welded
DECEMBER 5, 1888.]
throughout, and therefore more durable. Nothing better for
a Newport wall could be imagined than a low plinth of brick
or stone, surmounted by a light iron trellis. The idea struck
certain owners some years ago ; but that was the age of cast,
not wrought, iron; and the results are by no means what
they would be if well executed according to our present lights.
The oftener one visits Newport, the more one is impressed
with the beauty of the Casino, built, like Mr. Goelet’s and
Colonel Edgar's houses, by Messrs. McKim, Mead & White.
Here, indeed, is something we may be willing to show a
foreigner as a measure of our good taste and of our success in
artistic independence. In its erection a wholly new problem
was triumphantly mastered. It has no prototype in this coun-
try or in any other, yet it is so perfect that we can hardly be-
lieve it was not the final outcome of a long series of tentative
efforts—so appropriate to place and purpose, so consistent
from end to end yet so varied between part and part, so
thoroughly artistic, so delightfully pretty. If there is anything
it needs, it is the more careful planting out of the fences in the
second court. These might easily be made to disappear be-
hind vines and shrubberies, and the charming effect of seclu-
sion which reigns in the first court be thus reproduced, in a
different way but with the same completeness. Otherwise
the planting is excellent. There are trees and shrubs enough,
yet not too many, and no formal beds except in just the right
spots. The wide lawn in the first court is free from their in-
trusion, but on either hand, as one enters the gateway, filling
the angle between the front building and the wings, is a large,
gracefully designed, and pleasingly-colored bed. Thus closely
connected with architectural forms, and in a place palpably ar-
tificial (in the best sense of the word) from end to end, no
features could be more appropriate ; and they give just the
needed amount of bright color to the softly verdurous general
effect.
The most interesting work now in progress at Newport is
the laying-out, under Mr. Olmsted’s direction, of Mr. Freder-
ick Vanderbilt’s place, which occupies a point on the cliff at
the turn of Bellevue Avenue. The Cliff Walk, just after bend-
ing from a southerly to a westerly direction, here swerved a
considerable distance inward to skirt a rocky ravine with steep
sides, which breaks the line of the cliff. To regain the space
it occupied, and carry it to a more agreeable distance from
the house, a bridge has been built over the ravine quite at the
edge of the cliff’ Lying, I should guess, about thirty feet
above the water, which breaks in beneath it overa rock-strewn
bed, this bridge is of the simplest possible construction, with
small irregular voussoirs in a single round curve. But for this
very reason it is both appropriate to its place and admirably
picturesque; and the way in which passers will be relieved
against the sea and sky, when seen from the house, will make
their passing an advantage to the scene rather than an annoy-
ance. I am told that the owners are considering whether it will
not be well to adopt a scheme for treating their grounds which
will be an entire novelty inthis partof Newport. This scheme
would confine the lawns and garden shrubberies to the en-
trance side of the house, and treat the entire seaward slope in
the most natural possible way. This portion is largely com-
posed of visible rocks in varied shapes of the most interesting
and picturesque character, and it certainly seems as though
to plant it with low native shrubs and creepers and wild flow-
ers, simulating, as far as possible, a spot which has not been
planted at all, would be the best device. If the house stood
farther from its neighbors—on a portion of the shore where
conventional, gardenesque treatment has not yet intruded—
there could be no possible question about the matter. But it
has been objected that just here, with conventional methods
of treatment on either hand, harmony will be injured by any
deviation from such methods. The place has, however, a
comparatively wide reach of water front, and, lying on a point, is
isolated from its neighbors to an unusual degree ; the ravine,
the bridge, and the beautiful rugged rocks seem to demand a
picturesquely natural arrangement of its surface; and I think it
is certainly to be desired, if one loves either the best kind of
beauty or the truest kind of appropriateness, that the new idea
may be carried out. But only if there is to be no attempt at
compromise. The scheme should be natural throughout or
gardenesque throughout. A striking witness to the futility of
trying to combine the two results is already shown on that
portion of Ochre Point where, on the seaward side of the Cliff
Walk, the space is broadest and the rocks are most conspicu-
ous; and it would be a thousand pities were this, perhaps
the most beautiful spot on the whole Cliff Walk, to be muti-
lated in a similar way.
Mr. Olmsted’s hand shows again in the drives which, within
the past two or three years, have opened up the interior of the
Garden and Forest.
483
southern portion of the island beyond the districts thus far
built upon and behind the Ocean Drive. Here the ground is
hilly with bold and beautiful high rocks, offering building sites
of a very desirable kind—with no sea fronts, it is true, but with
the most superb distant views of land and water. The new
roads are admirably disposed for convenience and beauty;
but it is a matter of regret that the spaces, usually of trian-
gular form, which are formed here and there by their inter-
sections, should have been carefully turfed and planted ina
conventional way with young trees and shrubs. Rough grass
and Huckleberry bushes and Sumach would have been more
in keeping with the character of the landscape as a whole. _ It
is to be hoped that those who may hereafter build in this
neighborhood will carefully and artistically preserve its char-
acter, and not strive to subdue its rugged and individual charm
to that neat prettiness which prevails in the level districts
nearer town. M. G. Van Rensselaer.
New York.
Chinese Horticulture in New York.
N experiment in Chinese vegetable gardening near New
York has established results of some consequence in the
course of four years. This industry isconducted with increas-
ing extent on Long Island, chiefly at Woodhaven and at Astoria,
with the section including Ravenswood and Steinway, at short
distances beyond. The product from these novel gardens,
which are known as the Far yuen, is already a considerable
item asa market supply. It fairly provides for a class of con-
sumers who prize their native vegetables as people accus-
tomed to a largely vegetable diet and who may obtain in
New York no less than twenty Chinese varieties of vegetables
fresh from western soil.
The foo gua is one of the most abundant of these products
seen in market. This is the M/omordica Charantia or Balsam
Pear, sometimes identified erroneously with Egg Plant, and
being in other cases confused with the Cucumber, the Wong
gua of the extended list of edible plants familiar in China.
Like the Balsam Apple of the East Indian species of the Mo-
mordica, this is a curious trailing plant, with ornamental
foliage and peculiar fruit. Its intertwining, matted vine, cov-
ering the ground on which it grows, is dotted with small yel-
low flowers, unfolding continuously until late in autumn. Its
fruit, which is sold by weight, resembles the Cucumber in size
and general contour. The surface is marked thickly with
rounded, oblong formations of varied sizes, raised somewhat
like embossed patterns in decorative work. The seeds, in the
form of little discs, are figured on each flattened side, as with
engraved designs. These are perfectly ripened in Long Island
Chinese gardens, where they are dried for use in wide, shal-
low forms of baskets. The sliced fruit, dried in a similar
manner, is a medicinal provision. The Foo guza is a specially
valued product as used in gastronomical combinations of
varied nature. Whether fried with chicken, to form an epi-
curean dish, or chopped and mingled with pork or cooked in
some extraordinary manner with codfish, it is equally the
delight of Mongolian consumers. x
The Sing gua is another of the ornamental Gourds with
remarkable fruit not unfamiliar to botanists. This is included
in the genus Luffa, of which ten species have been described.
It was formerly classed with the Cucumis, from being found
allied with it in some of its characteristics. The Luffa acu-
tangula is the Chinese variety introduced; the fruitis produced
in abundance for the market. In its general shape this is
somewhat like the long-necked Gourd, but with ten sharp exte-
rior ridges distinctively marking it in the direction of its length.
Its luxuriantly growing vines are trained over poles and trel-
lises, forming lengthy masses of foliage. The yellow flowers
continue to appear in the autumn season with the well-devel-
oped fruit, which is fully ripened in tropical latitudes only.
This product, which is of a sweet taste, is largely used for
soup in Chinese cookery, and, in other cases, is prepared
like Squash. When very young it may be eaten uncooked, like
Cucumbers. As with other varieties of its species, the inner
portion of the fruit is spongy, and, when old, forms what
may be used as asponge. The one variety indigenous to this
continent is largely represented in such form in the shops.
The network formation of the inner substance of the fruit
when ripe, is sometimes eighteen inches in length and three
inches in diameter. From recent experiments this fruit,
known popularly as the Sponge Cucumber, and variously as
the Cloth Gourd, the Towel Gourd, the Bonnet Gourd and the
Egyptian Bath Sponge, has been brought nearly to maturity
near New York from seeds planted in the open ground.
The product in the variety reaching Chinese gastronomists
in New York amounts to several hundred pounds a year.
484
A vegetable in great demand is the Mustard Green (Quon
guat), which is obtained in large additions in pickled form
among Chinese importations. This is greatly prized for its
flavoring quality in the composition of varied soups and stews.
A kind of green, growing like a Lily, inthe water, is the Own
choy, with a triangular form of leaf and a hollow stalk like the
Bamboo. A variety known as Yex choy, meaning lamb’s
quarter, is cultivated, and the Sve choy, the white-green, with
green top and white stalk, is another of this series. The Zong
choy and the Long na boe, or snowflake green, are additional
varieties on trial.
The Ho lan doe, or Sugar Pea, is satisfactorily developed for
the market, and the String Bean, the Doe goe of the Chinese,
attains a length of two feet under favorable conditions, or
about half that of its native growth. The white Turnip, while
sweet and tender, is of smaller size than in China or in Cali-
fornia. This is of lengthened form, with a weight of possibly
fifteen pounds as an indigenous production.
The Chinese Spinach (Soe choy) grows much _ larger
here than our common garden species. In full growth
its clear white stem is about the ordinary size of the Celery-
stalk. Itis tender and succulent, growing in the rich soil of its
new location. The /on7 gua, or Pumpkin, of this introduction,
is of lengthened form, resembling a club. The Foo low woe
may be easily identified from familiarity with any other varie-
ties of the Gourd. A more peculiar variety of its species is
found in the Boe gua, or crescent-shaped white Cucumber.
Two kinds of Citrons are produced in diminutive size com-
pared with the growth of the species in China or in Cuba,
where the largest specimens of the fruit may weigh fifty
pounds or upward. On Long Island the average weight is
about two pounds. One variety, with furry exterior like the
caterpillar, is known as the Don gua. This is largely used in
soup, while the Z7¢ gua is preserved in the form of sweet-
meats. The Lettuce is produced in some quantity as Shang
choy ; Celery as Hon kon, and Yuen si is Parsley of a high
flavor, and corresponding value.
All vegetables are sold in the Mott Street market-places by
weight. The exhibition of these is made in baskets, and with
single specimens hung by strings outside the doors of Chinese
groceries. The production is managed with great care and
diligence, the methods being those of China, with only such
natural modifications as may be indicated in connection with a
fresher soil and with implements of improved varieties in
some part adopted. s
New sy I E. T. Lander.
New or Little Known Plants.
Acidanthera bicolor.
HIS plant, which is figured upon page 486 of this
_ issue, belongs to the Iris family, and although the
flowers are not as brilliant in color as those of some of the
species and varieties of the nearly allied Gladiolus, it is an
interesting and valuable addition to the list of bulbs which
serve to make the flower-garden attractive during the sum-
mer. The bulb is small, not exceeding an inch in diameter,
with Gladiolus-like foliage and a lax flower-spike two or
three feet in height. The flowers, which are deliciously
fragrant, especially in the evening, are long tubed and
somewhat pendulous, with a creamy white perianth,
marked with broad, chocolate-brown blotches. This
plant requires the treatment given to the tender species
of Gladiolus, except it is found to prefer a somewhat stiffer
soil. It can be propagated by seed or by the small
bulblets which it produces in great numbers.
The illustration upon page 487 represents a number of
these plants grown together in a tub, which bloomed
during the month of October in a garden near Boston.
It serves to show the value of this plant, and several others
of the same class, for the decoration of conservatories or
living rooms, after the frost has destroyed the beauty of
out-door gardens.
The flowering time of nearly all these plants can be
retarded by starting them late, and, in this way, they can
be got to flower, with the protection of a frame or cold
pit, considerably later than their usual period, and at
a season when flowers are not abundant.
The genus Acidanthera was established by Hochstetter,
and the plants which are included in it are distinguished
Garden and Forest.
[DecEMBER 5, 1888.
by their pointed anthers, as the name implies. Ten or
twelve species, natives of central or southern Africa, are
now referred to this genus. A. bicolor* was first collected
by Shimper in Abyssinia and was described as long ago
as 1844, although it has never been very well known in
gardens, and no figure has been published of it, with
the exception of the early and not very accessible one
quoted below. W. E. Endicott.
Dorchester, Mass.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
LTHOUGH the past season has been considered
unfavorable to Chrysanthemums, yet the quality of
the flowers has, so far, been very satisfactory. The Japanese
kinds were exceptionally good at the exhibition of the
National Chrysanthemum Society, held this week in the
Aquarium at Westminster; indeed, all the cut blooms were
considered fine. But we have too many names for these
plants, and the proposal that has been made to reform
this matter by holding a special exhibition for the pur- |
pose next November, comes none too soon. Next year
will be the centenary of the introduction of large-flowered
Chrysanthemums into Europe, and it is proposed to cele-
brate it by an exhibition of an exceptional kind. This
would afford a good opportunity for dealing with the
name difficulty. Roughly, we have about a thousand
names for Chrysanthemums, and new ones are added by
the dozen annually. You in America are held responsible
for a good deal of double naming, more especially among
the Japanese kinds, for you import new kinds direct from
Japan. These you give your own names to, We get
them, too, from Japan, and name them, and afterwards
find that some of ours are identical with yours. How-
ever, a few new ones have lately been raised in England
that are good and well marked Such is Stanstead Sur-
prise, with very large flowers, the petals of good sub-
stance, curled and colored rich crimson, fading to pink,
the under-side being silvery ; Alpha, Album Fimbriatum,
William Holmes and Mrs. J. Wright are others. But the
flower of this year is Edwin Molyneux, ‘of which some
gigantic blooms were shown at the Aquarium, and
were greatly admired by the crowds. Probably the desire
for big flowers is a little absurd. They are certainly lack-
ing in beauty when seen on the plants, and on the exhi-
bition table they are misleading. After all, the right place
for a flower is on the plant which bore it, and the best
Chrysanthemum is that which makes the prettiest picture
as a whole.
The most striking of the newer Orchids flowering now
is Cattleya Bouringiana. This plant is certain to become
as popular for winter flowering as its near ally, C. Skinner,
is for spring. These two species resemble each other very
closely ; in fact, much more so than many others which
are recognized only as varieties. Still they are distinct
enough in their seasons of flowering, and C. Bouringiana
has the advantage in that it blooms when Orchid flowers
are scarce. It requires the same treatment as C. Skinmner?,
and is one of the freest of all Cattleyas in respect of growth
and flowers. The latter are rose-purple ; the lip, which
is funnel-shaped, being maroon-purple with a white blotch
in the throat. Cypripedium Elhothanum is the latest of Mr.
Sanders’ grand list of new introductions. This enterpris- —
ing nurseryman has done more to enrich Orchid collec-
tions than any other importer of recent years. Within a
very short time he has introduced C. Sanderianum, C.
Rothschildianum and C. Elhottianum, a magnificent trio,
certainly. The last is named in compliment to Mr.
Elliott, of your city. It has the habit of C. Svoner, and
very large handsome flowers on scapes about a foot high,
The dorsal sepal is one and one-half inches wide and two ~
# Aidanthera bicolor, Hochst. in Regensb. Flora, 1844, 25—Bouche & Wittm., in
Berlin. Monat., xix.,12t., 1. Baker in Your. Linn, Soc., xvi., 160.
/xia Qartiniana, A. Rich, Fl. Abyss., ii., 310.
Sherospora gigantea, Klatt in Linnea, xxXiv., 699.
DECEMBER 5, 1888.]
and one-fourth inches long, white, lined with crimson ;
the petals are white, blotched and lined with crimson,
narrowed towards the apex and about six inches long ;
the pouch is like that of C. S/one?, ivory white, veined and
tinted with rose. <A thousand plants of this new introduc-
tion will be sold by auction on the 16th inst. Phajus
callosus is a recent addition to the Kew collection, and is
now in flower. It has the habit of P. grandifolus, but the
flowers have yellowish-brown sepals and petals, and a
funnel-shaped white labellum, which changes to cream-
yellow with age. This species, together with P. Wallichn,
P. bicolor and P. grandifolius, should be in every collection
of tropical Orchids, as they grow and flower very freely
under ordinary treatment. Such kinds as P. fuberculosus
are too expensive to procure, too difficult to grow, and
too prone to die suddenly for most Orchid growers, albeit
they are exceedingly beautiful when in flower. We havea
Cypripedium mania in England—indeed, one might safely
say in Europe—and there are evidences of its having
spread to America, for a ee plant of C. Marshaliia-
num was lately purchased at an auction here for an Amer-
ican collection, the price paid being 150 guineas. In my
opinion this plant has little to recommend it save its
hybrid origin, and its being a little less beautiful than one
of its parents, C. concolor, and a little more attractive than
the other parent, C. verus/um. Hybrids which are ugly to
look upon, which none save those affected with the mania
would waste a second glance upon, realize ridiculously
high prices. The consequence is that every grower of
Cypripediums has begun to cross Aer and hopes for some-
thing new. Ina few. years we shall have as many named
Cypripediums as we now have of Chrysanthemums, for it
appears that every hybrid is dubbed with a new name.
In an article on the culture of Phalaenopsis which lately
appeared in Garpen anp Forest, it was stated that P.
Lowi was apt to lose its leaves in winter, and that it
required a livht position. This pretty species is grown
very well at Kew, last year producing branching ‘spikes
nearly three feet long, with over thirty flowers on each.
The treatment there. for it is as follows: House, a hot,
moist, rather shaded one, with the plant suspended near the
glass. It 1s fastened on a teak raft with a good layer ot
living sphagnum about the roots. During summer it is
watered daily; in winter the moss is kept green. The
leaves remain on the plant all the year round, and strong
spikes of bloom are produced annually.
Mr. Cannell, of Swanley, has introduced and raised
many very useful flowering plants, but it is questionable
if he has ever made such a lucky-hit as with his new Be-
gonia Octavie, of which he had a magnificent group at
the Aquarium show. The flowers are exactly like good
blooms of Gardenia Fortuner, quite as white, as full, and ot
as good substance. ‘The plants are scarcely a foot high,
freely branched, and the racemes are erect and many flow-
ered@alittis only by examining the leaves that one is as-
sured of the correctness of the name Begonia for this
plant. Flowering in November, it becomes doubly valu-
_able.
These new Begonias, which the Messrs, Veitch have
obtained by crossing the distinct winter-flowering 2.
Socotrana with some of the tuberous- rooted kinds, are un-
like other Begonias in several important particulars. The
most valuable is that of holding their flowers for several
weeks, which if cut and p laced in w ater will last at least
three weeks. I have proved this with flowers of B. Soco-
trana, as Well as of its progeny. ‘The best of the latter is
John Heal, which has rosy-crimson flowers. Winter
Gem is another good variety, and I hear there are several
new ones of the same race which are described as con-
siderable improvements on those named.
Ipomea Horsfallie, I. ternata and 1. Briggsi are three
first-class, stove, winter-flowering climbers. The first is
an old favorite, its large axillary bunches of brilliant rose-
crimson flowers being admirable in every way. The
second is sometimes known as £ Zhomsoniana or ‘the
Garden and Forest.
485
white Horsfallize,” and was introduced a year or two ago.
It resembles the first named in habit, but the leaves are
thicker in texture, and have three instead of five divisions;
the flowers are large and pure white. / Briggsi is a va-
riety of 2. Hor sfalliz, and is characterized by” its smaller
flowers, which are deep rose-colored. These three species
are now bearing hundreds of flowers in the stoves at Kew.
Cacti are not popular in English gardens. Opuntia
Rafinesqux is grown by a few, but most of these plants
are practically unknown here. Probably you have in
America other kinds than the Opuntia mentioned, which
would be hardy in England. Information on these would
be specially interesting to English readers of GARDEN AND
Forest.
November oth. W. Watson.
Cultural Department.
Summer Apples in New England.
of fae planting of Apple trees must have been begun in the
very earliest years of the settlements at Plymouth and
Boston, if we are to believe the statements, taken from old .-
records, of the large quantity of cider made before these set-
tlements were ten years old. Doubtless most of these trees,
if not all, were grown from seeds brought from their old
homes by the settlers. Grafting was but little known or prac-
ticed, and even up to the beginning of this century, and in
many parts of the country considerably later, seedling orchards,
in which only here and there were trees producing fruit of
edible quality, were the rule.
It was, doubtless, a good thing in the end that such a great
number of seedling trees was allowed to grow and bear tr uit,
since among these. have been found nearly every popular and
profitable Apple now grown in this country. Foreign varieties
have never gained any great foothold in ‘New Engle and, and,
with the exception of Russian Apples, valued especially for
their hardiness against the severe cold of northern New Eng-
land winters, they are not likely to do so, because very few
of them equal our own best sorts in all that makes these fruits
desirable.
Up to 1840 commercial orchards, except for cider, were al-
most unknown, nearly every family, even in the cities, grow-
ing fruit enough on its own grounds for a home supply. It
vas the easy “intercommunication between the residents of
the larger places which first popularized and extended the cul-
tivation of the best known sorts of fruit. In all villages were
sons and daughters of farmers, who rapidly spread the knowl-
edge of choice fruits to the homesteads trom which they
sprang, and, as the interest grew, small nurseries were estab-
lished near the towns for the propagation of these selected
Apples. In this way a lively spirit was awakened, and be-
tween 1835 and 1850 orcharding, as now understood, had a
very rapid growth and development, During this time and
afterwards, the springing up of the Washingtonis in temperance
movement led to the destruction of I: irge ‘humbers of the old
cider-orchards, and, though some such still survive, most of
the orchards in New England now mainly consist of grafted
trees:
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society did a most useful
work in disseminating a knowledge of good sorts of fruit, and
although modern means of transportation were unknown, yet
all through the settled region—in every village and hamlet—
there were some persons who managed to secure, grow and
extend the knowledge of the best varieties. During that time
most of the Apples were selected which still constitute the
standard list, both for commercial and home use.
The first summer Apple that became widely known was the
Early Harvest, styled by Downing ‘the finest early Apple
yet known.” Before its advent the American Summer Pear-
main was considered the best early Apple, though in Maine
the English Sops of Wine, known there more generally as
Bell's Early, was found to be more suited to the climate.
Shortly afterwards the William's Favorite, which originated
within the present limits of Boston, began to be known, and it
now takes the lead as a choice market variety. Every-
where the Harvest was planted, but in very few places has it
ever grown perfect fruit long. While the trees are young this
Apple i is often very fine, but in afew years the sc abbing and
cracking fungus gets a hold upon it which is rarely broken,
For this reason the Harvest has never been much of a mar-
ket Apple in New England. The Pearmain has almost passed
out of cultivation, and. is rarely seen upon the street-
stands, which contain mostly the Red Astrachan, The
486
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 5, 1888.
Fig. 75.—Acidanthera bicolor.—See page 484
Favorite requires high culture to bring out its merits, but
so grown it takes the first place in the better class of fruit-
stores, though inferior grades are freely sold on the street.
The new Russian Apple, Yellow Transparent, is beginning to be
seen, and, as it is so easily grown, and comes so soon to
bearing, it is likely to rival the Favorite in popularity. These
two Apples are about of one size and shape ; the one a solid,
rich red, and the other a clear, straw yellow. Among the
summer sweet Apples the Sweet Bough stands first; but sweet
dessert Apples are comparatively little in request, and not
common on the stands orin the shops. I give the name by
which this Apple is commonly known, though Downing gives
preference to Large Yellow Bough. I frequently hear it
called still ““Sweet Harvest,” though not so often as when
it was more often sold with the Early Harvest. As we go
northward we find Sops of Wine and Red Astrachan—the first
in Maine, and the other all through Vermont and New Hamp-
shire, as well as Maine. In Vermont, especially in the Cham-
plain Valley, the Summer Pippin (locally known as “ Paper-
skin,” and elsewhere in the State as ‘‘Champlain”) has great
DECEMBER 5, 1888.]
popularity. This Apple is large, handsome and excellent in
quality. In northern Vermont its season extends into Septem-
ber. Away from Lake Champlain it is not much cultivated, and
is comparatively little known elsewhere in New England, being
more especially a New York Apple. I think it nowheregrows
so large and fair as on the Champlain shores and islands. Its
New York synonyms are Haverstraw Pippin, Nyack Pippin,
Geneva Pearmain and Walworth. In Massachusetts the
Foundling occupies about the same season as the Summer
Pippin, while the Duchess of Oldenburgh comes into market
before August expires.
Garden and Forest.
487
can be no doubt that some of our finest Apples; especially
among the summer sorts, require high cultivation to be perma-
nently productive and profitable. These trees produce as
large fruit as later sorts, and in equal abundance. It is rea-
sonable, therefore, that they should be well fed and cared for,
and the fruit properly thinned. When these things are
done the fruit is larger and fairer, and the trees maintain their
vigor much longer. The profit, in all fruit-culture, comes
from the largest and fairest fruit, and this is not gathered from
neglected trees.
Newport, Vermont.
T. H. Hoskins.
Fig. 76.—Acidanthera bicolor, grown in a tub,
The Early Strawberry, Early Joe and Primate are seen as
summer Apples quite frequently in New England, but mostly
imported from states south and west. In Maine, two native
Apples of merit—Cole’s Quince and Moses Wood—may be
classed as late summer, though mostly maturing and mar-
keted after the first of September. In northern Maine, New
Hampshire and Vermont the Yellow Transparent is the only
Apple which ripens its entire crop before September. :
The Summer Apples of Rhode Island and Connecticut in-
clude all of those in favor in the states north, with the addi-
Hon of a number of sorts which would there be rated as ‘early
all.”
In regard to what is known as the failure of varieties, there
Green-house Climbers for Cut-flowers.
Clerodendron Thompsone.—This handsome and showy plant,
belonging to the scandent section of the Clerodendrons,
isa particularly useful climber for cut-flower purposes, being
most effective for basket-work or dinner-table decoration,
where its bright crimson flowers, with their pure white calyxes
and their naturally graceful habit of growth, produce a charm-
ing effect. It is of easy culture, but it produces better and
more abundant flowers if it has a season of rest to properly
ripen the wood. C. Zhompsone does best when potted in light
loam, to which is added a moderate quantity of dry cow or
sheep manure, and an occasional watering with liquid manure
A488
will also improve the growth. It should be grown in a warm,
light house, with just shade enough to pr revent the foliage
from scorching, and it needs frequent syringing to keep down
red spider, This treatment should be persevered in until
August or September, or later if desirable, when the supply
of water should be gradually decreased until the wood has
ripened and the foliage dropped off. The period of rest
should be from two to four months, after which it may be
started into growth again, and will soon give an abundant
crop of flowers. Probably the easiest method of propagation
is by root-cuttings, made by cutting moderately strong roots
into lengths of from one to two inches. These should be
placed in pans of light soil, and the pans should be set in a
cutting-frame or ona bench having some bottom-heat. Here
the roots will soon start, just as some of the Bouvardias,
Aralias and other plants do when similarly treated.
Stephanotis floribunda.--The handsome, dark green, glossy
foliage, and pure white, fragrant flowers of this excellent
plant are well known, and its free habit of growth makes
it one of the most useful of white-flowered climbers. It will
grow very well in an intermediate house, where the tempera-
ture ranges from fifty-five to sixty degrees, and, if space can
be spared for it, it will grow more rapidly when planted out
and the shoots trained on wires attached to the roof of the
house, but if itis not convenient to grow it in this manner it may
be put ina pot or tub and trained on a balloon trellis. The
soil most suitable for it is composed of light loam and peat in
about equal proportions, with a liberal < allowance of sand and a
little broken charcoal, and in mixing the soil it is better not to
break it up very fine, as the plant does best in a rather coarse,
open soil, and needs free drainage. The Stephanotis is
readily propagated, either by cuttings or from seed, but some
growers prefer cuttings, on the ground that the plants so pro-
duced are more floriferous than seedlings. The cuttings
should be made of moderately hard wood, and if given some
bottom-heat they will emit roots in a few weeks.
Passiflora racemosa (princeps) is another beautiful climber,
and when well-established it produces its bright red flowers all
the year through. The long and graceful flowering sprays of
this plant are specially adapted for ‘draping around large flower-
vases or for mantel-decorations ; and used in this way they
are very striking and effective. This plant is also of easy
culture, its chief requirements being good drainage, a mod-
erately light soil and a temperature of about sixty degrees.
Watering with liquid manure at intervals during the grow-
ing season is beneficial, and care should be taken to prevent
the mealy-bug from gaining a foot-hold, as when this pest
becomes established on plants of this class it is difficult to
exterminate it. Passiflora racemosa may be increased by cut-
tings or by grafting, and in the latter case either one of the
free- growing Tacsonias or one of the other Passifloras of
rapid. crow th, such as P. Raddiana (Kermesina), may be used as
a stock. Grafted plants usually make more rapid growth
than those on their own roots, and therefore that plan for
increasing them is generally adopted. é
Philadelphia, Penn. W,
Soils.
é fepcoy importance of special soils for the different genera or
species of plants is often overrated, and the different
formulas found in the cultural instructions of various cata-
logues and works on horticulture are often useless or mislead-
ing. These specific directions as to soils have frightened
many persons from growing plants both in the open air and
in window gardens. American writers are comparatively free
from mistakes in this direction; but in nearly every foreign
publication on this subject the "peculiar soil in which each
plant should be grown is carefully described, and too often
the mirtures recommended can only be obtained at an ex-
pense that amounts to prohibition. It often happens, too, that
the directions laid down with such care are ludicrously use-
less, for our climate at least. For instance, an English writer
asserts, ‘To grow Portulaca well it should be given a soil
composed of “turfy loam, leaf-mnould, well-rotted manure in
equal parts, and a little silver sand added.” For a plant that
comes up so freely everywhere as to become a troublesome
weed, this attention seems quite unnecessary.
The simple preparation of the soil according to rule would
require a considerable amount of labor, even though the ma-
terials were at hand. Few persons would think of taking so
much trouble for a choice and costly plant, much less for
those that thrive in neglected places.
The fact is, that where common vegetables will grow, flow-
ering plants ‘will grow, and if the books sa ay turfy loam, and
you “have a clayey soil, or a sandy loam, put in your seeds,
Garden and Forest.
{Decemeter 5, 1888,
bulbs, plants or trees without fear. Hoe frequently and thor-
oughly, and good fruits and flowers will be the result. It is
true that some soils are more productive than others, or are
easier or more difficult to till; some require more manure
than others; and yet any soil that will produce good Beans,
Beets or Potatoes will produce flowers as well. And soil that
is best for vegetables in the garden is best for plants in pots.
Exhausted soil will not produce good garden crops. You can
no more draw from the soil without making deposits than you
can from your bank. If you overdraw in either case your
drafts will be dishonored. And as the amount of soil in pots
is of necessity limited, it should in all cases be made strong
and rich. The best soil for this, or any other purpose, is well-
rottedsod, and thiscan be procured anywhere. Takesods from
the road-sides or meadow, pile them up in any conve-
nient out-of-the-way place, and let them rot, and you will
have all the elements that contribute to the growth of plants.
The best time for this work is in early spring, when the turf is
fresh and green; then the roots will die quicker than at any
other time. It is by no means necessary for the roots of the
grass to become thoroughly rotted ; all that is required is to
have them killed, as the growing p lant will feed upon the old
turf as fast as it is decomposed. Plants grown in this soil will
be strong, healthy and floriferous. A more rapid growth will
be induced if a liberal proportion, say one-fourth, of well-
rotted manure is added, in which case more weeds and
worms must be contended with, but all trouble will be repaid
by the increase in quantity and quality of bloom. Young
plants intended for summer blooming in the garden should
be grown in soil without manure, if itis naturally rich and not
too heavy, Plants grown in such a soil will be healthy, and
when planted out in the garden, they. will have strength to
assimilate all the food prepared for them, and will make a
far stronger and more rapid growth than if stimulated at the
outset ina very rich soil. The most successful Rose- growers
use nothing but rotted sod for young plants, and the almost
universal satisfaction their young stock gives, is due to this
fact alone. The largest plant-grower in this country, if not in
the world, has but one soil for everything, but one compost
heap, and that is rotted sod. No doubt good peat or leat
mould will benefit a stiff, clayey soil for many exotic plants,
and certain plants indigenous to a given soil and locality will
thrive better there than anywhere else ; yet the soil in which
any plant is found in its native state isnot always necessary for
its perfect development. Indeed, many plants will not suc-
ceed as well in a soil that is natural to them, when they are
grown in a different country, where climatic influences are
different ; for instance, the Cactus, or, at least, most of the
genus, is found growing in arid wastes, but, introduced into .
green-houses, they will not thrive in the soil brought from
their native habitats. The different atmospheric surroundings
make a different soil necessary. Earth and air must work in
harmony together to produce the plant.
Again, it is true that all plants cannot be grown equally
well ina clayey or ina sandy soil. But your soil will need no
more manipulation for flowers than it does for vegetables.
Work well the soil you have, give it food if exhausted, drain it
thoroughly if wet, but do not 'be discouraged in planting bulbs,
seeds or shrubs, because you have not some special soil rec-
ommended in the ¢ catalogues and trade journals,
Garden City, New York. C. L. Alten.
Top-dressing for Trees—Now is the time for top-dress-
ing around evergreens and other choice trees and shrubs.
First clear out dead grass and leaves from under the young
Conifers, as they afford a favorite lodging-place for field mice,
which are so destructive in winter in gnawing off the bark of
trees. And in place of what is removed return a dressing
of rotted manure under and around the trees. At Mr. G. W.
Childs’ place, near Philadelphia, I lately observed that a heavy
dressing of manure, and sometimes of loam and manure,
was being strewn under and around the trees, whose splen-
did vigor is ample testimony of their appreciation of this
generous treatment.
Pruning Trees.—Now that the trees are leafless, we can
readily see where branches cross and rub each other, where
some project too far, where the trees are too thick or are
lopsided, and we should prune accordingly. Avoid heavy
pruning. Cut off clear all stem and root sprouts. And where
itis necessary to cut off large branches, saw them off short,
then smooth over the cut with a sharp knife or small plane,
and paint the wound to exclude moisture and prevent rot.
In some trees, Lindens particularly, we often find diseased
branches ; cut these quite out at once, for there is no cure
for them, In other cases, branches of Yellow-wood, Willow
ne ae
DECEMBER 5, 1888.]
or Thorns are badly infested with bark-scale, and I have never
found a sure, practical cure for this pest except by cutting out
and burning the affected branches. This scale sometimes
takes such full possession of Lilacs as to compel the sacrifice
of the plants. In the case of Oaks, Beeches, Maples, and other
large trees which no longer need pruning to regulate their
erowth, we can do little now, because the dead twigs and
limbs cannot be readily distinguished among the leafless
branches. Cutting these away should be attended to when
the trees are in full leaf. Where it is necessary to remove
trees in order to open vistas, or for other purposes, the trees
should always be rooted out and not cut down; the stumps
should never be left in the ground. Sometimes beautiful
views across the country can be seen over the tops of a
clump of trees. See toit that these trees are headed so low that
they do not intercept the view in any way.
Pruning Shrubs.—In pruning shrubs we wish to preserve
symmetry of form and promote vigor, and at the same time
to secure a profusion of flowers. Shrubs that bloom in
spring on the previous year’s wood should not now be pruned,
but rather after they have done blooming. These include
Daphne, Forsythia, Bush Honeysuckle, Japan Quince, Red
Bud, African Tamarisk, Corylopsis, Snowball and the early
blooming shrubby Spireas. But such shrubs as bloom on the
current season's wood should be pruned now, and in some in-
stances quite severely back. These include Hydrangea panicu-
lata, Lespediza bicolor, Altheeas, Chinese Tainarix, Stuartias
and the like. Desmodium penduliforum, Hydrangea radiata,
H. arborescens and Callicarpa purpurea seem to do best when
cut down close to the ground every year.
Out-door Roses.— Roses should not be pruned at this time of
year except to cut in very long shoots, If pruning is deferred
till spring, we can cut back into the living wood, where the tips
have been winter-killed. Prairie Roses and other climbing
varieties grow late in the fall, and these late-tormed, sprawl.
ing growths should be cut away or tied up, for tidiness’ sake.
If Rosa rugosa has outgrown its bounds, dig around it deeply
and remove all suckers; these make capital plants for a fresh
plantation. Also save the seed hips and sow them now in
boxes of sandy soil in a pit or green-house, or if you do not
want them yourself, exchange them with some neighboring
florist for something that you may need. Although this Rose
reproduces itself freely from suckers and seed, “it has never
. become very plentiful. Moderately tender Roses, that need a
little protection in winter, can be bent down and covered with
earth. But, usually, a good mulching of littery manure over
the roots, or, if the shoots are bent down, over them as well,
will suffice. Evergreen branches laid over the bushes are
also a good protection. Tea Roses are safer if lifted now and
heeled into a frame or potted and plunged in a frame till
spring. Hermosa, Mrs. Degraw and some other Bourbons
get cut back to the snow line or near it every winter, but this
does not seem to injure them, and, when pruned in closely,
they throw up vigorous, free blooming shoots, WF.
Glen Cove, New Sale
‘he Forest:
Do Forests Influence Rainfall ?
\e I could find the place on the earth of which it was first
and emphatically said, “It never rains but it pours,”” Iam
convinced that it would be a plain largely deficient in forest-
growth. For, if there be an influence upon moisture condi-
tions of the ‘atmosphere exerted by forest areas—and such
areas must not only be of sufficient size, but also densely
enough covered to exert their proper influence upon tempera-
ture and moisture within and without—it consists, I believe, in
a more equal distribution of precipitation with reference to
space and time.
In the end, what does it matter whether it is by increased
precipitation that the forest benefits the field, or whether the
same physiological effect is produced by increased relative
humidity in other ways, or by raising the water level and in-
creasing or advantageously disposing of the available water
supplies through favorable ground-water conditions or surface
channels ?
As this question of forest influences is one which, to a
great extent, underlies the demand for national interest in the
forestry problem, it may be of advantage to review briefly the
methods which have been employed to solve the question.
Space will not here allow a critical consideration of the value
of each method, which may be done at some future time.
As is natural, the first suggestion that a relation between
climate and forest-areas exists, came from general observation.
Garden and Forest.
489
History testifies that districts once surrounded by verdant
groves, with fertile soil and favorable climate, have become
inhospitable and desert wastes, with treeless mountain-sides,
and the conclusion follows that there is some connection
between the forests on one hand and fertility and genial
climate on the other. This method of proving the proposition,
which has been the most popular, and is still largely in vogue,
may be called the historico-statistical. Among the eminent
men who have used this method may be mentioned Du
Monceau, Reaumur, Buffon, Humboldt, Arndt. It is not to be
entirely discarded now, but its results must be adopted with
caution, for not only are the reports of the facts in many
cases dubious, but the inferences are not always reasonable.
About the middle of this century, with the development of
physical, and especially meteorological science, a second
method was applied. This method “attempted, upon a theo-
retical basis, to discuss and reason out the assumed rela-
tion by employing the accumulated physical and meteorologi-
cal data, which, scanty at first, has lately been considerably
increased. Among the prominent meteorologists to employ
this method first was Becquerel. The results of this method
have brought us considerably forward in the determina-
tion of the direction in which an influence would be possible,
or even probable ; and while it has not been able to either
prove or disprove satisfactorily the existence of this influence
nor advanced cur knowledge of its degree and quality, it has
cleared the way for a more scientific consideration and inves-
tigation of the subject.
“The next step and method of demonstration employed was
the mathematical one, using numerical data which had either
accumulated independently of the question or were specially
provided for the purpose. We have here to distinguish two
methods, a wholesale and a retail one, if I may so express it,
or, more scientifically speaking, the one using large av erages
and comparing data from extensive areas, though not specially
provided tor this end; the other comparing data obtained for
the purpose in limited localities by direct detail measurements
within and without forest areas. The latter method, which I
call the retail one, is the one now largely adopted by German
investigators.
The first attempt to obtain, for the settlement of this ques-
tion, a series of exact, methodical observations, dates back to
the year 1864, when Dr. Ebermayer, Professorat the University
of Munich, constructed the necessary apparatus, and with the
aid of the Bavarian Government and Forest Administration
established in 1866 the first three double stations, where a set
of meteorological instruments were observed within a forest
area, and another set simultaneously in a field. In the follow-
ing year the number of the double stations was increased to
six. In 1869 Switzerland followed with three stations ; in 1870
Italy established a station, and in 1874 to 1877 Prussia entered
upon this tield of work, having now sixteen stations in connec-
tion with the forest experiment stations; and to-day quite a
number of double stations are collecting data in all parts of
the country.
The points of observation at the Prussian stations are chosen
200 metres (about 664.5 feet) distant from the edge of the forest
within and without. An enormous amount of material has
accumulated, but as yet has not been summarized or turned
to account. It is difficult to see how anything else can be
demonstrated by it than what is already known—namely, that
the meteorological conditions within the forest are different
from those prevailing without. Whether the forest conditions
are communicated to the open field, and to what degree, if at
all, can certainly not be proved by the data obtained. By
establishing points of observation in the field at varying dis-
tances, it might have been possible to demonstrate the presence
or absence of climatic interaction between forest and field.
In the wholesale methods, which use data obtained over
large areas independently of the special objects of this inves-
tigation, we may again discern two ways of handling them:
the one comparing the data found during various periods at
the same stations and bringing them in relation with forest
conditions existing at the various periods; the othercomparing
data obtained simultaneously from stations situated differently
as regards other climatic influences. The first method has
been employed by Mr. Gannet and Mr, Harrington. Mr. Gan-
net endeavors to establish by a combination of data that
neither for Ohio, which has been largely cleared, nor for New
England, which is said to have largely increased its forest
area, nor for the Prairie States, which. “contain more timber in
recent times than formerly, can a noticeable difference in
rainfall be demonstrated. In fact, however, he only proves
that his method leads to no certain result for lack of adequate
data to work upon. Mr. Harrington’s method fails to be con-
490
clusive for the same reason—lack of proper data. He arrives
at the opposite result from that of Mr. Gannet for the same
region by comparing the position of isohyetal lines constructed
for two different periods about thirty years apart.
The second class of wholesale methods, which compares
data simultaneously obtained from stations differently situated
as regards forest conditions, has -been lately employed by the
eminent Russian climatologist, A. Woeikoff. He chooses an
area in northern India, which is partly a treeless region and
partly densely wooded, and is otherwise uniformly situated
with reference to other climatic influences, He concludes
from his data that, at least for sub-tropic regions, a forest cover
has the effect of reducing temperature extremes and increas-
ing precipitation.
Woeikoff further investigates whether the influence of the
forest upon the climate of surrounding areas may also be
proved for latitudes of thirty-eight to fifty- two degrees north—
all the West European Continent—and he pr oceeds as follows
Taking the temperature of July as that of the warmest
month, and assuming that, on the whole, the temperature at
the Atlantic coast is lower and rises toward the interior of the
continent, he compares the temperature ofa number of places
situated near the fiftieth degree, the observations being all
taken outside of the forest. To bring them upon a uniform
fone for comparison, he assumes an ‘increase of temperature
of 0.5 degrees, centigrade, for each degree of latitude to-
wards the south, and a decrease of 0.7 degrees for every hun-
dred metres of altitude. By an easy calculation he then ob-
tains the mean July temperatures for every station in this
line, reduced to exactly fifty degrees, north latitude, and 200
metres of altitude.
The result is that in this series a rapid rise of temperature
appears from the Main River, eastward, then a considerable
reduction in the eastern and western Bohemian stations,
where large forest areas prevail, while in the Bohemian basin
the temperature is higher, as it is also in Silesia, and again
much lower in the well-wooded Carpathian Mountains of
Hungary. The apparent influence of these large wooded
areas is still noticeable in east Galicia as far as Kiew, where
the neighborhood of forestand morasses works in the same
direction, while in the Steppes the highest temperature is
reached.
In the same manner a series of stations lying on or near
the forty-sixth degree are treated, reducing their July temper-
atures to the theoretical temperatures for the forty-sixth de-
gree and 200 metres of altitude; and another series of stations
is worked out tor the forty-fourth degree in Croatia, Bosnia,
Herzegovina, Dalmatia, and here the heavily wooded Bosnia
is found from twenty-five to forty-five degrees cooler.
The results of these comparisons lead the author to con-
clude that in the western part of the continent large forest
areas influence the temperature of neighboring localities,
and interrupt the normal increase of temperature from the
Atlantic Ocean into the interior of the continent to such an
extent that even regions far in the interior have a cooler sum-
mer than those nearer the sea.
He concludes further, not only that there exists a climatic
influence of the forest, but that it exerts itself over considera-
ble distances according to the size, kind and position of the
forest areas; that, therefore, forest- planting or deforestation
offers a means of changing a climate considerably.
Another modification of this method has been employed by
H. F. Blanford, and by Dr. Brandis, late Forest Inspector-Gen-
eral of British India, by comparing the records overa confined
area (61,000 square miles and 600,000 acres, respectively) dur-
ing a decade of forest destruction and a decade of forest
protection under government regulations. In both cases a
progressive increase of rainfall is observed in the second
period, until the mean increase within ten years has been
twenty per cent. and twelve and one-half per cent., respec-
tively, for the two areas thus reforested.
The latest interesting, instructive and quite novel applica-
tion of the wholesale method is that employed by Dr. F. J.
Studnicka, Professor of Mathematics at the University of
Prague. It consists in comparing the rain records of stations
differently situated as regards forest conditions, after the rec-
ords have been reduced to a theoretical quantity which cor-
responds to the altitude of the station. To understand the
significance of these observations, the reader should refer to
a map of Bohemia, and note its peculiar geographical posi-
tion, being a basin shut in on all sides by high mountain
ranges, inclosing an area of about 20 ,000 Square miles,
This basin has been covered with a net of over 700 rain-
gauge stations, for the purpose of obtaining accurate data of
the quantity and distribution of precipitation over the king-
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 5, 1888,
dom. Uniform ombrometers (rain gauges) were used and
very carefully placed. As at present organized, there is one
station for every thirty square miles. No other country, I be-
lieve, can boast of such a service. Although the time of ob-
servation at most stations has been short, and the averages
would have been more accurately represented by an extension
of observations for ten to twelve years, yet the last four years
of observation, for which all stations furnish data, according to
the author, represent two extreme and two average years, and
are therefore quite useful.
The very large mass of material permitted a sifting out of
doubtful observations without impairing the number available
for the construction of a rain-map of Bohemia, showing by
isohyetal lines seven rain belts or zones, the lowest belt show-
ing an annual rainfall of less than twenty inches, the second a
rainfall of less than twenty-four inches, the third of twenty-
eight inches, and so on.
Sufficient material was on hand from which to calculate the
influence of altitude on the increase of precipitation, although
for altitudes above 1,600 feet the material is not considered
reliable. Yet the general law is well shown that with the alti-
tude the quantities of precipitation increase in a retarded pro-
gression. This progression is calculated by forming zones for
every hundred metres of altitude, grouping the Stations in
each, calculating the mean elevation and also the mean pre-
cipitation as observed for each; then by dividing the differ-
ence of precipitation in the neighboring two zones by the
difference of altitude, the amount of precipitation which cor-
responds to each one metre of elevation within that zone is
found. With this figure the average amount of rainfall which,
theoretically, belongs to each station, according to its absolute
elevation, can be approximated by adding to or subtracting
from the mean precipitations of the zone the proper correc-
tion for the number of metres between the actual altitude of
the station and the mean altitude of the zone.
And now comes the application of this method to the ques-
tion in hand. The author argues that if the actually observed
differs considerably from the theoretically calculated rainfall,
this is an indication that special influences are at work. He
finds now that of the 186 stations which he subjects to scrutiny
these offering the longest and most trustworthy observation),
forty-eight show a considerable excess of the observed over
the ‘theoretically expected rainfall, and he finds also that these
stations are situated in the most densely wooded portions of
the kingdom. The increased rainfall on the forty-eight sta-
tions is so considerable, that enough of it may be credited to
other local causes, as, for instance, to the height and form of
a mountain range on one side or the other, and still leave a
large balance to be accounted for. Besides, the greater
amounts of rainfall at these stations have been used in cal-
culating the averages for the altitude zones, magnifying, there-
fore, these averages, so that the difference between the calcu-
lated rainfall and the actually observed rainfall appears smaller
than it really is.
iE xpressed i in percentages of the amount of precipitation a
large increase is shown for several localities—as much as
fifty-nine per cent.—and it would seem that so great an in-
crease would not lose its significance as bearing upon the
main proposition, even after every reduction for other influ-
ences 1s made.
Especially important appears the comparison between two
stations near the rain minimum, for the influence of the forest
is here plainly shown. B. E. Fernow.
Washington, D.C.
Correspondence.
Latinized Names of Garden Plants.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—I take the liberty of applying to youas an acknowledged
authority on botanical nomenclature, for information. I find
that there is in the formation of a certain class of botanical
hames a great diversity of practice existing among the various
writers for horticultural papers and those who prepare cata-
logues of plants. Is there any reason why I should write Ains-
worthii, Warnerii, Forstermannii, Nilsonii, Parishii, Roebellenii,
Sallierii, Schlimii, and at the same time write Regnieri, Barteti,
Boxalli, Sedeni, doubling the final -i in the one case and not in
the other?
Linden, of Brussels, in his Zizdenia uses the single i in all
such instances. Sometimes in the same ee I find the
same name formed at one time with a single -i and at another
with the double. If you can give in your valuable paper any
rule for the formation of these words you will greatly oblige
Yours very truly,
Short Hills, N. J. Fames R. Pitcher.
DECEMBER 5, 1888.]
[This question cannot be answered more clearly than by
quoting the following extract from the Code of Nomencla-
ture adopted by the American Ornithologists’ Union, and as
applicable to botanical as to zoological names :
‘In Latinizing proper names, the simplest rule appears
to be to use the termination -ws, genitive-z, when the name
ends with a consonant; . . and -2us, gen. -2, when
it ends with a vowel, as Lavreille, Latreilit, etc. Since
proper names for species, however, are used mainly—and
we recommend that they be so used exclusively—in the
possessive case, a still simpler and now generally adopted
rule is to add an z to the name; as La/reille, Latreillet ;
Hale, Halet; Baird, Baird’; but euphony may in some in-
stances require the fuller form, and here, as in many other
instances, is the case where an author has the opportunity
of displaying his good taste.”
The habit of Latinizing the names of garden varieties of
plants—whether the result of natural variation or of arti-
ficial hybridization—is to be deplored. A much more sim-
ple and appropriate method is to use an English substantive
to designate such plants, whether it be the name of the
individual who originated or made known the variety, or
otherwise. The general adoption of such a system of
naming garden plants would simplify enormously the con-
fusion which now exists in the nomenclature of garden
botany.—Ep. ]
Recent Publications.
A Provisional Host-Index of the Fungi of the United States.
By W. G. Farlow and A. B. Seymour. Part I. Polypetale.
Cambridge. August, 1888. Privately printed.
American mycologists and all students of American Fungi
will find much needed assistance in this catalogue, which its
authors have prepared and printed in the belief ‘ that an
approximately complete list of our parasitic species and their
hosts would aid materially in the advance toward a more
accurate study of our mycological flora, and would tend to
lessen the amount of indiscriminate species-making which
has already become a serious evil’’—a result certainly most
devoutly to be prayed tor by all botanists. The host plants
are grouped by families according to the system adopted in
the “Genera Plantarum” of Hooker and Bentham, genera and
species being arranged alphabetically in each family and
each species being followed by a list of the parasitic Fungi
found upon it. :
Diagnoses Plantarum novarum Astaticum, by C. J. Maxi-
mowicz, extracted from the Bulletin of the Imperial Academy
of Sciences of St. Petersburg. The seventh part of this work,
‘which is invaluable to all students of the botany of the coun-
tries of eastern Asia, and more especially of Japan, has
recently appeared. It contains descriptive and critical
remarks upon several new or imperfectly known species, an
enumeration of the species of (dictum, Scorzonera, Androsace
and Gratiola. An account of the large and widely distributed
genus Pedicularis, into which are admitted nearly 250 species,
occupies a very considerable part of the present issue, and
is the most complete and comprehensive which has yet
appeared.
A Synopsis of the Medical Botany of the United States, by
J. W. Carter, St. Louis, 1888.
This is a list of the plants of North America which enter
more or less regularly into the American Pharmacopceia.
There are, the author tells us in his preface, 1,300 species and
varieties of such plants, divided among 140 natural families
and 620 genera. The list of these plants is published without
characters or geographical distribution, and with the very
briefest possible allusion to their medicinal properties, and it
contains apparently no information not found in recent edi-
tions of the standard American Dispensatories, although the
compact grouping of the species under the different genera
will be found, perhaps, an aid to ready reference.
Recent Plant Portraits.
Botanical Magazine, November.
PHAJUS WALLICHII, ¢. 7023; one of the stateliest and largest
flowered of all Orchids, widely distributed in the tropical
portions of southern India, and not rare in cultivation.
The flowers vary from chocolate-brown to pale primrose
color.
Garden and Forest.
491
PLUMUS FRAGRANS, ¢. 7024; a small Chilian tree of little orna-
mental value, but remarkable for the delicious fragrance of
its foliage and wood. It is valued in Chili for charcoal mak-
ing, the wood being considered superior for that purpose to
that of any native tree. The dried leaves and twigs are occa-
sionally used medicinally as a stimulant. The bark is used in
tanning and the aromatic fruit is edible. Plumus belongs
to the small order, Monimiace@, the plants of which are
found in tropical America and Asia, Australia and tropical
Africa.
IRIS KOROLKOWI, ¢ 7025; both the type and a bright lilac-
purple flowered variety (var. concolor) of this very handsome
Turkestan Iris are figured.
CALANTHE STRIATA, 4. 7026; a native of Japan. The sepals
and petals are cinnamon-brown with golden edges, internally,
golden yellow on the outer surface.
AGAVE ELEMEETIANA, ¢. 7025; forming, with A. attenuata,
a peculiar section of the genus, with broad, entire soft leaves.
Itis a native of Mexico and has been in cultivation for nearly a
quarter of a century. ;
/ESCULUS TURBINATA, Revue Horticole, November ist, Figs.
120-124; M. André here figures and describes the fruit of this
interesting Japanese plant from the specimen in the Arbore-
tum Segrezianum, which is believed to have been the first
plant in Europe to produce fruit. 4. ¢urdinata, as it appears
at Segrez, is a small, low stemmed, round headed tree, of
compact habit, with leaves not unlike those of the common
Horse-Chestnut. They are paler, however, on the lower
surface, upon which the veins are more prominent. The
fruit is sub-spherical, flattened on the upper surface, slightly or
not at all turbinate, barely more than an inch in diameter,
and produced three or four together in short, stout-stemmed
racemes. The Horse-Chestnuts of eastern Asia, of which
three are described, are still very imperfectly known.
DIOSPYROS VIRGINIANA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, November
3d; a portrait of the old and very fine specimen growing in
the Royal Gardens at Kew, and believed to have been pre-
sented to George III. by Archibald, Duke of Argyle, ‘ the tree-
monger.” In another illustration a piece of the bark of the
Persimmon is represented in a most admirable and satisfac-
tory manner.
Meetings of Societies.
Pennsylvania Forestry Association.
HE annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Forestry Asso-
ciation was held in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening,
November 27th. The report of the Council of the Associa-
tion was a full and interesting review of the work of the
Association and of the efforts for the advancement of for-
estry throughout the country. Among the facts set forth
were these: The membership has increased to 450. Twenty-
five counties are represented. The new members have been
interested and liberal. With a view to employing a compe-
tent agent to deliver lectures on Forestry throughout the
state, it was decided to raise a fund of $5,000, and sixteen
members have contributed $440. Some progress was re-
ported in the movement to convert certain small open spaces
of Philadelphia into city parks. Encouraging interest has
been manifested in the Michaux course of lectures, deliv-
ered by Professor Rothrock on ‘Trees from Florida to
Maine.” Itis proposed to publish these, with illustrations,
in Forest Leaves, the journal of the Association. There was
increased observance of the spring Arbor Day by the public
schools in tree and vine planting; the autumn day was im-
proved by in-door instruction.
The Treasurer reported $1,181.60 as the amount received
during the year. An address to the American Forestry Con-
gress at Atlanta was adopted, and it was resolved that the
Council be empowered to send a representative to the Con-
gress. A paper on “Forest-Planting in Virginia,” by Mr.
Burnet Landreth, proved to be a practical and valuable
record of an experience of eighteen years in tree-planting on
a 5,000-acre tract in tide-water Virginia. It was decided to
publish the address and give it wide circulation.
Governor Beaver entered the hall just as the exercises
were closing, and expressed profound interest in the condi-
tion and preservation of the forest area of the state, and
spoke of his appointment of a Commission to attend the
National Congress at Atlanta.
The officers chosen for the year were: President, Burnet
Landreth ; Vice-Presidents, John Birkenbine, Thomas J.
Edge and Jeremiah S. Hess; Secretary, Mrs. J. P. Lundy;
Treasurer, Charles E. Pancoast; Council at large, Mrs. Brinton
Coxe, John P. Lundy, D.D., and Thomas H. Montgomery.
492
Notes.
During the past summer, a box of Carnations, sent from
Providence, Rhode Island, to England, arrived at its destina-
tion with the flowers still fresh and fragrant.
At the Rookery, near Bromley, Kent, there is a Chinese
Wistaria trained around the outer wall of a vinery and an-
other wall running parallel to it and inclosing a piece of
ground in the shape of a parallelogram. The longest branches
which make this circuit have grown to a distance of 4oo feet.
Tomatoes were introduced into Europe early in the seven-
teenth century, but for a long period were grown merely as
ornamental plants. Despite the attractive appearance of the
fruit, ii was extremely repugnant to those who attempted to
eat it, and the fact is perpetuated in the botanical name,
Lycopersicum, which means ‘‘ Wolt’s Peach.” Indeed, in Ger-
many and some other parts of Europe, it is only within very
recent years that the Tomato has won general recognition as
a palatable and wholesome article of food.
Rosa rugosa, and the allied species, Rosa Kamtschatica, are
being strongly recommended just now in England for the
formation of hedges. They grow in that country with surpris-
ing rapidity and vigor, and develop so thickly close to the
ground, that a single row of seedlings soon forms an impene-
trable barrier, while the showy fruit and the beautiful flowers,
which continue to appear after the fruit has reddened, and the
glowing autumn colors of the foliage render such a hedge at-
Pane to the eye for a large part of the year.
. André, ina recent issue of the Revue Horticole, calls
aheneoe to the value of mie semperflorens gigantea, a
hybrid between ZB. ducida and £#. semper florens, and its varie-
ties, rosea and Kermtsina, for the winter decoration of living
rooms and conservatories. The foliage of these plants is
thick and lustrous, and the pink or red flowers borne in large
clusters continue to appear in the greatest profusion during
the entire winter. Few plants can be cultivated more easily
or are better suited for the purpose for which M. André com-
mends them.
Professor Atwater has been placed in charge of the new Bu-
reau of Correspondence with the Agricultural Experiment
Stations at Washington. Bulletins will be issued, setting forth
the results of experiments in this country, and these will be
distributed among the stations. Specialists in this country
and in Europe will be engaged to compile articles on sub-
jects about which information is needed for general distribu-
tion. Another function of the Bureau will be to furnish Con-
gress with information when legislation on agricultural matters
is contemplated.
The death is announced of Mr. William H. Crawford, one of
the most noted amateur horticulturists of Great Britain. A
very rich man and a bachelor, he was, we are told, “ person-
ally of an ascetic temperament, but unsparing of expense
when a good cause—charity, plants, books or pictures—was
concerned.” He may almost be called the creator of the
Botanic Gardens attached to the University at Cork, and his
beautiful place, Lakelands, near that city, is widely noted for
its splendid collection of rare trees and shrubs from all tem-
perate countries.
Wolfia microscopica, a species of Water Lentil native to the
lakes of India, is the tiniest of all known flowering plants. It
has neither stem, roots nor leaves, but consists of a fan-
shaped body prolonged below into a root-like bladder, which
serves to keep it in an erect position. From this bladder
others develop, and so rapidly, that although a single plant is
hardly perceptible to the naked eye, its offspring may in a few
days cover a surface of several square yards in extent. In
spite of its exiguous proportions and simple structure, the
plant bears true flowers, although likewise of the simplest
kind, each consisting of a single stamen or a single pistil.
The Marysville (California) Appeal has been collecting opin-
ions from fruit-canners and shippers as to the desirability of
irrigation for fruit. A wide diversity of judgment appears,
but the general sentiment seems to be that fruit from trees
not irrigated will keep better and endure long distance trans-
portation more safely. Fruit from irrigated orchards is larger,
fairer, better colored ; but, being more juicy, it goes to pieces
more readily. Some persons who prefer non-irrigated fruit
for shipping, believe that in the same regions irrigated
fruit is best for canning, drying and local use. Whenever it
is possible by cultivation and thinning to conserve enough
ground moisture to perfect a crop, irrigation is not generally
advised. When it is practiced, great judgment should be
exercised. When trees are watered copiously up to the time
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 5, 1888.
of the fruit harvest, it is said that quality and flavor may be
sacrificed for size and color. Winter and spring irrigation is
commended, and to have its best effect the land should be
well fertilized.
The new law regulating the forests of Russia, with a view to
their preservation, went into effect on the first of last January.
The law applies to all Russia, including the Caucasus and
Poland, but not-to Finland, which has its own forest laws. The
rights of property are not unnecessarily interfered with, but the
new law provides for the control and management of the for-
ests of individuals where the public welfare seems to demand
it, and the cutting down of such forests is prohibited when it
might endanger the best interests of the whole community.
A commission is created in each province, with the Governor
at its head, for the purpose of administering the law and pro-
tecting the rights of property-owners. As might have been
expected i in the case of a law of this character, ‘its application
has been beset by many difficulties growing out of the conflicts
between agricultural and forest interests and the unwilling-
ness of the people to submit to any control in the manage-
ment of their property. The law, however, is considered
successful, and its application may be expected to increase
immensely the material prosperity of the Empire.
It is well known that a great majority of the insects most
destructive to vegetation w which now infest this country have
been imported from foreign countries and naturalized here.
The unusual destructiveness of these species is generally
accounted for by the fact that their natural enemies are not
imported with them, so that their reproductive powers have
freer play here than they had where such natural checks
occur. But in a recent number of /zsect Life, Professor Riley
adds, as an additional reason, that most of such species are
introduced from Europe or the older civilizations where, on
evolutional grounds, it is natural to suppose that they are the
very species which have become accustomed to the civilized
conditions induced during so many centuries. In other words,
the species which most abound and have most successfully
accommodated themselves to such artificial conditions, have,
in the geologically brief period of man’s pre-eminence, ac-
quired S dvantaeee over species which have not been sub-
mitted to such environment. The former, when brought
into competition with the latter, under such conditions, rapidly
outnumber them and get the upper hand.
Every one has been writing about Chrysanthemums of late,
but no one more interestingly than ‘ Listener,” of the Boston
Evening Transcript. The yellow Neestma, for instance, one
of the season’s novelties from Japan, he says, ‘‘is the Chry-
santhemum of Chrysanthemums—the loveliest of all the tribe,
as well as the most characteristic, the most typical. :
Its fluffy gracefulness, its long, slender, slightly curved petals,
each like the line of Fusiyama’s curve, are intensely Japanese.
One wonders whether the Japanese formed their art on the
basis of this flower, or whether the flower was developed into
its present form by contact with the Japanese genius.” This
praise is not too high nor is the admiration expressed for the
variety in color and form shown in every large exhibition of
Chrysanthemums. ‘The most striking feature of the exhibi-
tion, taking it as a whole, is, to the amateur without profes-
sional knowledge of the Chrysanthemum, the delicacy of the
prevailing colors, What a marvelous effect of color,
and what a preponderance of delicate shades,
especially i in light yellows and delicious pinks. The
strange and unusual tints in almost all the exhibits it
would be impossible to dwell upon, they are so infinite. There
were many who stopped to admire the Elihu Vedder sort of
pink of a Chrysanthemum called the Monsieur Freeman,
and overon the other side of the hall there was a tiny
flower, growing in myriads on a big bush, that copied the
homely ‘tint of the Red Clover, that has blossomed for a week
under the summer sun. One may stand aghast, in a
general sort of way, at the infinite varieties of the Chrysanthe-
mum, but he cannot get a better idea of the scope of the
flower, so to speak, than by comparing a certain big Peony-
red flower of the species, which must be at least six inches
across, and which has great, coarse, outward curving petals
anda vacant, brown- red expanse in the centre, with
a little yellow flower on a big bush which bore the name of
La Vogue—a bad name, because there was not the slightest
trace of mcdieness about the little flower. The big red
flower was all gloom and severity in its aspect; the little 1G
low flower carried with it an air of positive gaiety. :
Probably there were 200 of these smiling little blossoms on
the bush and every one was a distinct inspiration to merri-
ment.”
DECEMBER 12, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: Tripune Buitpinc, 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, DECEMBER tr2, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
: i PAGE.
Eviroriat. Arvictes :—The Artistic Aspects of Trees. V.—Vhe Forests of the
White Mountains in Danger.—A Supplementary Volume to Bossier's
“ Flora Orientalis.’—A National System of Irrigation ae4O3
EbhevPinesrim MIG-NOVEMbEM ais or «n.000 6 « sie eiss cei: Seenele Mrs. Mary Treat. 494
ForEIGN CorRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter...... W, Watson. 495
New or Litrte Known Pvants :—Berberis Fremonti (with illu tion),
‘ Sereno Watson. 496
IDEN tSte MOM LOU GILOl LUSizecaralar s-sieieiia,s e's «ia sieivleitlsisisleisislninaiaterers C. G. Pringle. 496
Cutrurat Department :—Mushrooms... see. Vimn. Falconer. 497
Fruits for Cold Climates......... . 1. A. Hoskins, M.D. 498
Our Native Plums FW. Kerr. 498
Orchid Notes... .F. Goldring. 498
Autumn Flowers......-. one ‘ -Max Leichtlin. 499
Piant Notes :—Elzeagnus longipes (with illustration) CS. S. 499
MHEG OREST,-—P Oreste Planting. in Virginia « viseesisioieaeimensinieely vieecitinie even veavere's 500
CORRESPONDENCE :—Horticultural Exhibitions....... 0... ee cceeceeccee cence eeiee 501
Pinus sylvestris 502
IREGENTPEUBLIGATIONS ‘vase cic etesaale ves. se suceas ss ad Meier aictatesenieet ay (a etalsieCs Ta otaioin 502
IRERIODICATMLITERATURE tise: teis'o(s «diss viele aissateiaiere's a)s:aeielacsie saiepleiainisiaited cies eifciee bbe. 502
Recent PLANT PorTRAITS..-... 503
Nores 504
IttustRations :—Berberis Fremonti, Fig. 77 =s 497
Sea STU SHON STP GS ple eg7 8 as sig. aia:nio's wisiels-o'si tau 'e cciatni chalatels swleraterels eaters se eisiere 499
The Artistic Aspects of Trees.—V.
HE knowledge we need to gain, if we are to utilize to
the best advantage such opportunities for planting as
present themselves to us, is not a mere knowledge of the
various forms and colors and textures that we may find in
trees—it is a knowledge of trees themselves. Each species,
each variety, presents itself to us as a whole made up of
three blended elements, and it is the whole as such with
which we should strive to familiarize ourselves. We must
learn, not which tints or shapes in the abstract harmonize
with others, but which trees are, from the point of view of
beauty, fitting to associate with others. We must learn
how each one looks in all the stages of its growth, at vari-
ous seasons of the year, and under differing conditions of
light and shade, of nearness and remoteness. Ifa certain
tree seems out of place, we must be able to say not merely
why we think so, but what other tree might better have
been chosen. And when a spot is to be planted, we must
be able to picture to ourselves how it should be filled, not
in vague harmonies of abstract hues and shapes, but in
definite mental portraits of actual trees.
Too often a much lower degree of knowledge than this
is thought all-sufficient. Too often it is supposed that
when one can recognize the trees he most commonly
meets and call them by name, he really knows them. But
he does not unless he can see them, so to speak, when he
does not see them—unless he can recall the elements which
make up their individuality and appreciate vividly their
special qualities. We all can recognize our friends when
we meet them. But something more than such knowledge
as this is needed by the painter when he wants to compose
a picture of many figures or to draw a face which shall
have a given expression ; and something more by the con-
noisseur, if he is properly to estimate and thoroughly to
enjoy the artist’s work. And as the painter and the con-
noisseur study and assimilate all they see, so too should
the landscape gardener, and, no less, the lover of nature, if
he wants to understand and enjoy to the full all that is
offered him either in the unassisted work of nature, or in
that which nature and the landscape-gardener have pro-
duced in partnership.
Garden and Forest.
493
To study art as a preparation for the study and appre-
ciation of Nature may seem, at first thought, a reversal of
the right order of things. But it is in reality a wise course.
If an artist were never anything more than a mere recorder
of natural facts, a mere reporter in prosaic speech of things
actually seen in this spot or that, his results would still be
of service, enlarging our field of observation by the addi-
tion of his field and preserving for constant examination
effects which are transitory in nature. Buta true artist is
something much more than this. He has at his command
the power to preserve general truth of effect, and yet ac-
centuate certain special truths more forcibly than, to our
eyes, Nature has presented them. This power of interpre-
tation in one man’s work makes this thing more plain than
Nature made it; in another man’s it makes another thing
more plain, and in the combined work of all makes Nature,
as a whole,.more plain, more vivid, more impressive. No
matter how carefully and patiently we may study Nature
in herself, we do not appreciate her to the full until we
know what the great artists of the world have seen in her
—how her forms, her textures, her colors, have appeared
to eyes, tastes and feelings which by birth are clearer and
keener than those of the average man, and by incessant
training have been developed to a still higher degree of
power.
In the study of form especially familiarity with landscape
painting is of infinite value. Colors are so transmuted on
canvas, and their variability from hour to hour in Nature
is so different from their permanence in a picture, that to
know what they really mean in Nature we must study
them there. But forms are less variable in themselves,
and are transferred to canvas with less intermixture of hu-
man personalities ; and in no way can taste be so readily
cultivated with regard to them as by astudy of good land-
scape painting. Here it is that the painter’s poetic power
comes to help us—the power of idealization—of seizing
this or that idea of Nature and expressing it more perfectly
than, in this warring world, she herself is often able to ex-
press it. Colors so beautiful as those we find every day in
Nature we seldom see approached in paint; but forms
more perfect than those we are apt to see alive we con-
stantly see on canvas. ‘This is true even of the pictures of
to-day, when of all artistic qualities form is the least highly
valued; and it is even truer of the pictures of elder genera-
tions. The great classic masters of landscape—Claude,
for instance, and Poussin and Ruysdael—are most valuable
to the student of form in Nature; and, fortunately, their
works can be as profitably consulted from this point of
view in engraved productions as in their actual presence.
Of course, it is not as text-books that they can be con-
sulted, but as stimulants, as cultivators of the taste, as
teachers of the great lesson, what is meant by beautiful
forms, by satisfactory association of textures, by strong or
graceful.contours, by effective or subtile contrasts of light
and shadow, by variety in unity, by diversity in harmony,
by breadth, simplicity, repose and charm. ‘These things
they teach—not just what or how to plant in any possible
given case; but these things we must learn in advance of
any planting if we are to make a work of art of the result.
It is stated in the New Hampshire papers that prepara-
tions have been made to cut 6,000,000 feet of Spruce
lumber this winter from the forests which lie about the
base and cover the lower slopes of Mount Washington, the
most important and the most frequently visited of the New
England mountains. Six million feet of lumber is not a
very large amount. It might be cut, if proper care was
taken in doing it, out of the White Mountain forests with-
out inflicting upon them any serious injury, and without
in any way impairing the ralue of the White Mountain
region as a reservoir of moisture, or as an agreeable and
health-giving summer-resort. But care never is taken, or
only very rarely, in. American wood-cutting operations,
and it is a foregone conclusion that in this case it will be
494
followed by disastrous fires, which will render useless what
is now of great value.
The great reservoir of New England lies in the forests
which cover the White Mountains and the elevated regions
which surroundthem. This is also one of the most valua-
ble and most generally frequented summer sanitariums in
the United States. Its forests make it valuable. When
they are gone its value as a natural reservoir is destroyed,
and its value, with its beauty, to summer visitors andsum-
mer travelers, will disappear. These forests are the prop-
erty of individuals, and no one can deny their right to cut
them off if they think it is for their advantage to do so.
Opinions may differ whether it is for the advantage of
forest-owners to manage forests in such a way that three-
fourths of their property is allowed to go to hopeless waste;
but there can be no doubt—no question, that it is for the
interest of the public that the White Mountain forests
should be perpetuated in all. their beauty and usefulness.
The best investment the State of New Hampshire can make
would be to buy up all this forest-region and hold it per-
petually as a forest-reservation. The money it would cost
would come back many times over in abundant water sup-
ply, and in the yearly disbursements of thousands of vis-
itors from beyond the borders of the state. The railroads,
too, which carry White Mountain visitors, and the owners
of the hotels who feed and keep them, might do worse than
secure control of this whole region and manage it with the
view of making it perpetually attractive, which would
mean perpetual preservation of the forests.
Whether, however, this region is purchased by the State
of New Hampshire, or by a corporation holding it as an
investment to be managed with a view of drawing from it
the largest possible returns consistent with stability, it is
certain that unless one of these plans, or some other, look-
ing to the permanent safety of the forests, can be adopted,
this region and its usefulness will be ruined.
Monsieur Buser, the custodian of the Candolean herba-
rium, has just published a supplementary volume to Bos-
sier’s ‘‘ Flora Orienfalis,” containing the results of the latest
investigations made upon the plants of the vast region
covered by the work of the famous Swiss botanist, who
died in 1885. A most interesting and appreciative notice
of Bossier’s life and of his contributions to science, from
the pen of his compatriot, Dr. H. Christ, precedes the
strictly botanical portion of the volume, which is further
enriched by a portrait of Bossier. There are views, too,
of the bust of Bossier erected in the Botanic Garden in
Geneva by his sister, the Countess Agénor de Gasparin,
and of the building containing his herbarium, one of the
largest and most valuable in Europe, now the property of
the city of Geneva.
The name of Bossier, one of the most distinguished of the
group of systematic botanists who have produced Floras
of great natural regions, will not soon disappear from the
annals of horticulture. It was Bossier who discovered,
during his first Spanish journey—afterwards described in
one of the most delightful books of botanical travel—upon
the summit of the Sierra Bermiga, near Estepena, the beau-
tiful Spanish Fir (Adres Pimsapo), which he introduced
into cultivation the same year; and among humbler
plants for which our gardens are indebted to his zeal it is
only necessary to mention the lovely Chionodoxa Lucile,
which he discovered among the melting snows on the
alpine summits of the western Tmolin, above Bozdagh,
in Asia Minor, and which he dedicated to his wife, the
companion of some of his early journeys. Bossier was a
most successful cultivator of alpine plants, and his rock-
garden, which he established as early as at his
country place of Valeyres, at the foot of the Jura, must
have been one of the most interesting ever made. The
journeys of his later years (and the number was astonish-
ing, in view of the vast amount of literary and herbarium
work which he accomplished) were undertaken for the
purpose of securing rare plants for his garden for which
1852,
.
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 12, 1888,
he laid under contribution all collectors and all coun-
tries, and the plants others could not find, he went in
search of himself. Here were mingled plants from the
Rocky Mountains to the Himalayas, including those from
every mountain chain of southern Europe and of the
Orient, which no one has ever known, botanically, so well
as Bossier. He cultivated, too, a large collection of exotic
Orchids at his winter-home on the shores of the lake, near >
Geneva.
An appropriation of $100,000, to enable the United States
Geological Survey to begin an investigation into the prac-
ticability of inaugurating a national system of irrigation,
by which it is hoped that immense tracts of lands in the
Western States and Territories, now barren and worthless,
can be made available for agriculture, was included in the
Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill passed at the last session
of Congress. Major Powell has estimated that the territory
which can be reclaimed for agriculture by irrigation is equal
in extent to the whole area now cultivated in the United
States. Itis impossible to determine, of course, whether
his estimate is correct or not, but it is safe to say, with all
due allowances for over-confidence in the possibilities of
irrigation, as applied in western North America, that this
new enterprise of the government is one of the most im-
portant, if not the most important, it has ever undertaken,
and that eventually the national wealth must be increased
by it enormously. Homes will be created for millions of
industrious and prosperous families, and the natural
products of the country will be increased enormously,
itis safe to say. This appropriation, to which not a dozen
members of Congress, probably, ever devoted a moment's
consideration, seems destined to mark a new era in the
prosperity of the nation.
The Pines in Mid-November.
HE foliage has mostly disappeared from deciduous trees
and shri ubs, but many herbaceous plants are wonderfully _
preserved. They escaped the light frosts of October, and the
unusual warmth of November has endowed them with fresh
vigor, so that in chosen spots among the Pines we still find
many beautiful flowers. Some of the Asters, and even Golden-
rods, are blooming still. But one of the most delightful sur-
prises is a bed of blue Violets—a form of Viola cucullata. Not
even in the spring-time have I ever found plants blooming
more profusely than these. The flowers are large and bright
blue, and, together with their leaves, make charming bou--
quets. But the most attractive novelty is a little patch of the
violet Wood Sorrel (Oxalis violacea) in ‘full bloom. It is under
an old Pine tree; and standing well up above the dry needles
which carpet the ground are a good many pretty flower-
scapes, with several bright blossoms on each, but not a leaf
has made its appearance. I shall keep watch of the future be-
havior of these plants. Next spring they will show probably
nothing but leaves.
Another handsome flower is the Soapwort Gentian (Gentiana
Saponaria), with half-closed corollas, but bright and beautiful
with its smooth, deep green leaves, some of them inclining to
a purplish tint. And near by is its small relative, Bartonia
tenella, stillin bloom. This little plant has small, inconspicu-
ous white flowers, but in the middle of November the most
insignificant flower that braves the Fibs: commands our
admiration for its sturdy character. I also find fair specimens
of Polygala lutea in flower, and a species of Xyris. at
The foliage that still clings to many trees and shrubs, which ah
seem half inclined to be evergreen, is an interesting study.
The leaves of the Swamp Magnolias, especially the younger _
ones, are as bright and shining as in midsummer, and those of —
the smooth Alder (Almas serrulata) and Sweet Fern are still —
abundant, fresh and green. The leaves of the Wax Myrtle
({tyrica cerifera) are now deliciously fragrant, and show no _
signs of loosening their hold. Indeed, like the Sweet Fern in a
sheltered spots, the shrub is nearly or quite evergreen, and <
holds its foliage well into spring.
In all my pleasant autumn rambles I have found nothing — v
more beautiful than the running Swamp Blackberry (Rubus —
hispidus). Its delicate tracery of stem and leaf are laid over a
bed of damp green moss. The foliage is charmingly colored
in crimson, scarlet and purple.
e
4
:
we
i
as
DECEMBER 12, 1888.]
The slender stems or long runners are quite free from
prickles, and wind around among beautiful clumps of the
Pitcher-plant, which are also gorgeously colored with crimson
and purple veins. The bright cups of the Pitcher-plant are so
flower-like, that they lure many insects into their depths, from
which there is no escape. Two or three species of Lycopo-
dium wind in and out among the moss, now hidden entirely
from sight and again reappearing to throw up fertile spikes
from a few inches to more than a foot in height. Standing a
little in the background is the narrow-leaved Cat-tail (Zypha
angustifolia), which adds a special grace to the whole picture.
This species is more rare and delicate than the common Cat-
tail (7. datifolia), which grows in stagnant ponds and swamps
throughout the United States. There is as much difference
between these two Cat-tail flags as between the large Blue flag
(fris versicolor) and the slender Blue flag (Z. Virginica), both
of which grow near by.
The Groundsel-tree (Baccharis halimifolia) is now conspicu-
ous with its long, white, silky pappus. Although it belongs to
the largest order of flowering plants, it is the only one in this
vast order, in our temperate climates, that attains the dignity of
treehood. In the Pines it grows from ten to fifteen feet in
height, and in autumn is a very marked feature in the land-
scape. The copious pure white pappus with which the fertile
plants are enshrouded, at a little distance look like a mass of
white flowers, strangely out of season in their rich setting of
autumn foliage.
Two or three species of Dodder are now brought into view
as the leaves of their supporters have withered or fallen.
Cuscuta glomerata is the most notable, as its knotted cords
strangle and sap the life of its foster plants until they are
dwarfed, prematurely fade, and finally die. This species
usually attacks the Composite, and sometimes other herba-
ceous plants. It starts from the ground like any respectable
plant, and for awhile is self-supporting, and is quite attractive
In appearance, with its bright orange stems. But it soon
attaches itself close to some other herb, gives up its hold upon
the earth, and relies entirely upon its host for support. Another
species (C. tenuiflora) attaches itself to the shrubs among the
Pines. This species has the appearance of twining more
loosely than the former, and climbs higher on its foster plant.
Attractive plants are still found in the more exposed places
on dry sandy soil. Among them is the smailer Pinweed
(Lechea minor), a pretty little Heath-like plant growing in
masses, but each plant is worth examining by itself, as its
small single stem spreads out into numerous branches, giving
it the appearance of a miniature tree. The branches and foli-
age form a dense mass a foot or more across the top, and the
foliage has now taken on a purplish hue, making it very pretty
and effective.. These little tree-like plants are less than a foot
in height, and grow in the most unpromising soil.
fludsonia tomentosa is another little bushy Heath-like shrub
about a foot in height, and covered with small persistent gray-
ish leaves, giving the plant a hoary look. This, too, grows in
the sand, even when it is so loose as to drift before the wind.
Very often considerable patches of the plant are covered up in
this way, and remain so until the wind from another direction
blows the sand away.
Vineland, N. J., November 17th. Mary Treat.
The source of the superiority of good landscape gardening
lies in the artist’s removing from the scene of his operations
whatever is hostile to its effect or unsuited to its character ;
and, by adding only such circumstances as accord with the
general expression of the scene, awakening emotions more
ps more simple and more harmonious.—Uvedale Price,
1790. ?
To range the shrubs and small trees so that they may mu-
tually set off the beauties and conceal the blemishes of each
other; to aim at no effects which depend on nicety for their
effects, and which the soil, the exposure, or the season of the
day may destroy; to attend more to the groups than to the
individuals ; and to consider the whole as a plantation, not as
a collection of plants, are the best general rules which can be
given concerning them.—Zhomas Whately, 1770.
It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that Nature is to be
followed, not spoilt at the expense of labor and ill-employed
wealth, not strangely and violently disfigured in the effort to
embellish. All gardens cannot be planned after some one
pleasing model. The special character of the ground must be
regarded. By attending to this we shall be more faithful to
Nature, and a greater number of gardens will be beautiful
without being servile copies.— IV. S. Gilpin, 18 32.
Garden and Forest.
495
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
OTATO disease has been exceptionally virulent in England
this year. Few kinds have escaped, many have suffered
very severely, while insome districts the crop has been almost
totally destroyed. Weare no nearer a disease-proof Potato
than we ever were, and as the wild tubers are said to be
affected by it, there seems little hope in that direction. But
the simple plan recommended by Professor Jensen, of Copen-
hagen, which is nothing more than high earthing in autumn,
appears likely to prove a palliative at least. This has been
shown recently by some experiments made at Chiswick, and
which have been watched and reported upon by Dr. M. T.
Masters. In August a portion of a plot of the variety School-
master was high moulded, and another portion treated in the
ordinary way. They were lifted on September 29th and care-
fully examined, the result being, that of those moulded in the
ordinary way twenty-six per cent. were diseased, and that
only ten percent. of those moulded high, in accordance with
what is known as the Jensenian treatment, were affected.
Orchids in November are either asleep or preparing for their
spring display. Of course, there are Cypripediums and a few
odds and ends besides, but, at this time of year, Orchid-
houses are dull. Of new kinds, we have two forms of the
richly colored Cattleya aurea, which are named C. Massaiana
and C. chrysotoxa. The former is a supposed natural hybrid,
C. Gigas being the other parent. The sepals and petals are
rosy-lilac, the lips being large, crimson, with golden reticula-
tions and two eye-like blotches of yellow. C. chrysotoxa isa
very robust and large-flowered form of C. aurea, with the
colors clear andrich in tint. Both kinds are Sander’s introduc-
tions. Lelia Perrint, var. alba, is a form with flowers wholly
snow-white, without any purple or yellow markings on the
labellum. The leaves of the variety are larger and broader
than in the type. It was introduced by Mr. Sander, and is now
in the famous collection of Mr. R. H. Measures, Streatham.
The fortnightly meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society,
held on the 14th instant, was devoted almost entirely to
talk about the affairs and future of the society. Very few
plants were exhibited, and of these only the following were
noteworthy: (1) Malayan Rhododendrons.—The extraordinary
success attained by the Messrs. Veitch in hybridizing and
cross-breeding among plants of all kinds is very well attested
by the marked improvement made in the habit, colors and
variety of this section of Rhododendron. From two or three
comparatively poor flowered species, obtained from Java and
the Malay regions, at least a score of beautiful hybrids have been
raised by the famous Chelsea firm, and.all in the course of half
adozen years. Flowers of a dozen of the best sorts were sent
to the meeting last Tuesday, amongst them being white, pink,
crimson, nankeen, canary and salmon colors. These plants
are easily grown, they flower freely, and the blooms last a
month or more. (2) Lelia Victorta,a hybrid raised by the
Messrs. Veitch from JZ. crispa and L. Dominiana. It resem-
bles the former in most points, differing chiefly in the form
and color of the labellum, which is oblong and spreading in
front, undulated, and colored rich maroon-purple. I have
seen forms of Crispa almost as good. It obtained a first-class
certificate. (3) Chrysanthemums Mrs. Garner and Avalanche,
which were certificated. They are both Japanese, the former
very full, five inches across, rather flat, the petals narrow, and
colored deep yellow, tinged with bronze; the other is also
large, globose, very broad in petal, and of the purest white.
They were from Mr. G. Stevens, of Putney. (4) Flowers
of Nympheas sent from Kew, where these plants are
well represented and successfully grown. Those shown
were all forms of the gigantic . Lotus, the best of them be-
ing the seedling named Kewensis. The new tuber, Stachys
tuberifera, was also certificated. At presentit has little to recom-
mend it, but it may be developed into a useful vegetable. The
potato had not much to recommend it when it first came to
England.
Kew has the following plants of interest in flower: (1) Aez-
nedya Marryatte.—lf your readers are not acquainted with this
plant, permit me to recommend it strongly as a first-rate
green-house climber. Planted ina bed of rich loamy soil, it
grows very rapidly, soon covering a large space with its long,
gracetul branches. For training over pillars and rafters
it is invaluable. The younger branches are pendent, a yard
or more long, the leaves trifoliate, each leaflet ovate and two
inches long, and the whole plant is covered with soft, silky
hairs. The flowers are in short axillary corymbs, on stalks an
inch long, each bearing four flowers, something like Sweet
496
Peas, and of the brightest scarlet color. - Like all the Kenne-
dyas, it is Australian, The Kew plant has been known to
flower profusely for at least six months at a stretch. (2) H7zd-
bertia dentata, which is another green-house climber of great
attraction. It has oblong leaves about three inches in length
and colored deep chocolate; the flowers are large, single and
golden yellow. During winter this plant makes a pretty dis-
play. (3) Senecio Ghiesbreghtii, which is used here sometimes
tor out-door bedding in summer, but it is of greater value as
a flowering plant for large conservatories in winter. The
stem is stout and from six to ten feet high, with large ovate
leaves a foot long, and enormous terminal corymbs of deep
yellow flowers. It is planted in the beds in the Kew conser-
vatories, and is in grand condition now. No doubt you culti-
vate this plant in your gardens, as itis Mexican, but it may not
be utilized with you as a winter-flowering subject. (4) Dahlia
imperialis, which is another giant composite from Mexico.
In the gardens bordering the Mediterranean it attains magnifi-
cent dimensions, and at Kew it grows to a great size
largest plants are twelve feet high, with a stout single s
clothed with very large decompound leaves, those at “the base
of the stem being about a yard through. The flowers are in
large spreading panicles, very numerous on well-grown
plants, and each one is six inches across, somewhat cupped,
the single row of petals broad at the base and gradually nar-
rowed to a long point; they are white, with a faint tinge of
purple, the small cluster of disc-florets being yellow. As this
plant blooms in November and December, it is valuable for
the decoration of large houses. At Kew it is started early in
spring in a litthe warmth, and then placed outside when the
weather is warm enough. It requires a little heat in October
and November to bring the flowers to perfection. (5) Befaria
glauca, which is an interesting green-house shrub. introduced
to Kew a year or two ago from the Andes of Peru. It flowered
for the first time last year, and a plant of it is again in bloom.
The habit is that of a Rhododendron, the leaves are about two
inches long, glaucous beneath, and the flowers are in terminal
spikes. The plant is only three feet high, with one stem, but
this bears a cluster of seven erect spikes, each nine inches
long, and bearing a score of Howers, which are bell-shaped,
one inch across, and rose-colored. This plant is known here
as the Andean Rhododendron. It is Ericaceous and evergreen.
Out-of-doors there is, of course, a scarcity of flowers, but we
have three little attractions which deserve mention. They
are: first, the autumn-flowering species of Crocus. The Kew
collection of Croci is exceptionally rich, and they are arranged
in two groups, the one autumn- and the other spring-flow. er-
ing. Until only a year or so ago the autumn Croci were un-
known in English horticulture he re, but, thanks mainly to Kew,
they are rapidly < appearing in all good gardens. Of course, the
display in the autumn depends very much on the nature of
the weather, and in November it is seldom favorable to tlow-
ers. Lately, however, mildness, with a little sunshine now
and then, have favored us, and consequently these Croci are
good justnow. Amongst them are white, lilac, mauve, pur-
ple, blue, and variegated. Altogether there are about thirty
species of Crocus which flower ‘between August and Decem-
ber, the first to appear being the pretty C Scharojani of the
brightest orange color. The cultural requirements of the
species which bloom in autumn are exactly those of the better
known spring-flowering kinds. The winter Daffodil (S¢ern-
bergia lutea) is another pretty and easily grown hardy plant
which flowers at this time of year. At Kew it is planted in
borders and bogs, where it never fails to develop its large,
bright yellow, Crocus-like blooms. Close to it, or growing
mingled with it, is the crimson-flowered Winter Gladiolus
(Schizostylis coccinea), and the combination is pretty in effect.
I suppose every one knows the value of the Schizostylis as a
winter-flowering plant for the green-house, but is not often
seen in a border out-of-doors. At Kew it remains in bloom
till December, unless the frost is very severe, or there is a
long spell of heav y fogs. Is Hippophae rhamnoides used as a
garden plant in America? Here it is native, and consequently
not often met with in gardens. It is the Sea-Buckthofn of
every-day people. Planted on the edge of the lake, so that its
roots are constantly under water, this “shrub i Is a great success
at Kew, every branch being now ‘weighed down with the enor-
mous crop of bright ye ellow berries. Iti is easily grown, and
flowers and fruits freely every year. Being dicecious, how-
ever, one must be careful to get both sexes and plant them
near each other, or no fruit will come. The berries have a
strong styptic flavor similar to that of the Oleaster, to which
the Sea-Buckthorn is closely related. Crategus Lelandi, a
form of the well-known Pyracantha, isa new addition to win-
ter-berried hardy shrubs. It is useful as a pot plant, owing to
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 12, 1888.
its habit of fruiting freely when only a few inches high. Large
specimens are now a gorgeous picture of the brightest orange
scarlet, the berries crowding on the branches much more than
I have ever seen the old Pyracantha do. Whether grown
against a wall or as a specimen shrub ona lawn, itis a perfect
success. We are indebted to the Messrs. Veitch for-its intro-
duction. W. Watson.
November 16th.
New or Little Known Plants.
Berberis Fremonti.*
HE Mahonia section of the genus Berbers is the
exclusively prevalent one upon the western side of
our continent, ranging from British Columbia to Central
Mexico, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Moun-
tains and the Gulf of Mexico, and is represented by half a
dozen or more species within the limits of the United
States. It presents also an exception to the general rule of
resemblance of the eastern-Asiatic flora to our Atlantic-
coast flora rather than to that of the Pacific, inasmuch as
several species of this section are found in Japan, China
and the north-eastern borders of India, and nowhere else
in the Old World.
Mahonia differs from Berberzs proper in the full develop-
ment of all the leaves, and the consequent absence of
spines (which in the common Barberry are abortive, pri-
mary leaves), and in the pinnation of the leaves, which
consist of one or more pairs of leaflets upon a common
petiole. This petiole is jointed at the base of each pair of
leaflets. There are no differences of importance either in
the flowers or fruit, and it is easily seen how the Barberry
is simply a Mahonia with undeveloped foliage, the pri-
mary leaves being reduced to a cluster of spines, and the
secondary pinnate leaves to the single terminal leaflet
which is always jointed upon the very “short petiole. The
leaflets in Mahonia are always evergreen and spinosely
dentate, usually rigid and glossy, and often strongly
reticulate-veined. The berries are globular, or nearly so,
and often blue or nearly black. The species most fre-
quently met with in cultivation are the well-known
“Oregon Grape,” the B. aguifolium of the Pacific Coast,
and B. Japonica from Japan. Several other species are
doubtless as well worth cultivation.
Berberis Fremont, the characters of which are well
shown in Mr. Faxon’s figure, is a shrub growing from five
to fifteen feet high, found in the arid regions of the south- —
west from Texas to Arizona and Lower California. It is
very peculiar in the character of its fruit, which at maturity
becomes dry and inflated, inclosing six or eight seeds.
What appears to be a form of this species, with compara-
tively broader, elliptical and less spiny leaves, occurs in
central Texas, and was named by Mr. Buckley &. Swaseyz.
Little is known respecting it. S. W.
Pentstemon rotundifolius.
F this plant, which was figured and described in the
issue of this journal for November 28th, Mr. Pringle
writes :
In the autumn of 1886 was found hanging quite in
the manner of rock-brakes, from thinnest seams of dry
granitic cliffs (on their sides least exposed to the sun),
among the dry mountain chains southward from Chihuahua,
a most singular Pentstemon, of so much beauty that
Dr. Gray, when naming it as above, desired that efforts be
made to bring it into cultivation. Seeds were accordingly
distributed to botanic gardens, but in consideration of the
strange habitat of the plant, i it was with slight hopes of
success. The plant is evergreen, with short “stems which
branch freely ; its leaves are broad, very thick and
leathery, glaucous ; its flowers tubular, scarlet. ;
On its dry wall of rock, through winter frosts and the
long term of fierce heats and absolute drought, when it
*B. Fremont, Torr., in Bot. Mex, Bound. Surv., 30
DECEMBER 12, 1888.]
would not seem possible for its roots to gather a particle of
moisture, yet never dropping its leaves, this plant main-
tains an existence for many years, a remarkable example
of adaptation- to environment. When the rains begin,
whether it be in March or not until August, it puts forth new
branches and flowers, and continues to bloom while the
atmosphere retains any considerable degree of humidity.
Nature’s plan
for disseminat-
ing and perpetu-
ating the species
amidst condi-
tions sO excep-
tional is also in-
teresting. How-
ever pendant
the stems, the
dehiscing cap-
sules are held
upright by a
bending of their
pedicels ; there-
fore a strong
wind is required
for the dislodg-
ment of the
seeds, a wind
which will
sweep them
along the face of
the cliffs, and
haply plant one
here and there
inan open seam.
It must be that
all the seeds
which fall upon
the soil perish ;
for I have never
seen a plant
growing in soil
about the dozen
localities for this
species repeat-
edly visited by
me. Restricted
in its habitat to
so uncommon
and austere con-
ditions, the
Species is, a
would be ex-
pected, extreme-
ly rare. I have
not yet secured sufficient material to place it in my dis-
tributions of Plante Mexicane.
if7)
x
Cultural Department.
Mushrooms.
NUMBER of market gardeners on Long Island have for
some years been growing Mushrooms for market, and
many others are now building cellars for this purpose. Mr.
Abram Van Sicklin is the pioneerin this business, and perhaps
the largest grower on the Island. Not only has he large and
commodious cellars devoted to the cultivation of Mushrooms,
but he also grows them in his salad-houses in beds under the
benches on which the Lettuces are grown. In these houses
the beds are now made, and extend the whole length of the
houses, often a hundred feet or more, and under the middle
and side benches. Butas the night temperature of 40° to 45°
required for Lettuces now (last week of November) is too low
for Mushrooms (55° to 60°), the surface of the beds is cov-
ered over with salt hay. The heat of the manure in the beds
is sufficient to spread the spawn, and the hay saves the surface
of the beds from the chill of a low atmospheric temperature.
Garden and Forest.
Fig. 77.—Berberis Fremonti.—See page 406.
497
Mushrooms grow as well under a hay or straw covering as
they do without it, but it is much more troublesome to gather
them when covered. In Mr. Van Sicklin's cellar the beds are
long and flat, arranged on the floor and on berth-like shelves
above the floor-beds. He uses English brick-spawn, but has
also used the French flake-spawn. He has made his own spawn,
but, all things considered, believes it is cheaper and safer to
use imported spawn, although the crop is uncertain at best.
Mr. Denton, of
Aqueduct Sta-
tion, is a succegs-
ful grower of
Mushrooms who
has no green-
houses, but two
large cellars. The
one now being
filled is some
twenty-four feet
square and about
seven feet high,
with a dry earth-
en floor. The
beds are about
four to five feet
wide and arrang-
ed lengthwise on
the floor, with
narrow passages
between them,
andtwoshelf-like
beds are fixed
berth-fashion
above each floor-
bed, and at equal
distahces from
one another. The
bottom beds are
floored and the
shelves for beds
are made and
faced with rough
hemlock boards.
An iron. stove
and a line of
sheet-iron
smoke-pipe is
used for heating
the cellar.
The manure
used is the ordin-
ary stable man-
ure from Brook-
lyn, which is haul-
ed home on the
return trips from
market. This
manure costs
twenty-five cents
a wagon-load in
3rooklyn. After
a pile of it has accumulated the most strawy portions are
shaken out and the rest thrown into a pile in a large shed
to ferment. Here it is turned as often as necessary to pre-
vent burning; after it is in active ferment it requires turn-
ing every day till the violent heat subsides, which may be
in three weeks after the manure was brought into the shed.
Mr. Denton has better success with his beds made up of loam
and manure than when manure alone is used. Therefore,
when the manure is in good condition he adds about one-
third of its bulk of common field loam, mixing all well: to-
eether before making the beds. The beds, especially the shelf-
beds, can be made firm more easily when this loam mixture
is used, the manure alone being too springy to pack well.
The facings, or sides of the beds, are one board, or ten inches
wide, and therefore the compost can hardly be more than
eight inches deep at first, if space is left for coating it over
with loam after spawning. Mr. Denton finds most danger in
allowing the manure to become too warm after the beds are
put up; at the same time he likes good lively manure to be-
gin with. When the temperature falls to go® he spawns the
beds. He uses both French and English spawn, and buys the
imported article. While the English spawn may yield the
largest Mushrooms, he thinks that those produced from the
French spawn are, in proportion to their size, heavier and
498 Garden and Forest.
more solid. In about six weeks after spawning he expects
Mushrooms, A temperature of about 60° is maintained, but
with an ordinary iron stove it is not an easy matter to keep up
a steady temperature. And the stove heat, too, is apt to dry
the earth on the surface of the beds, in which case they are
freely sprinkled with water, but enough is not given to soak
through to the manure. -
While generally successful, Mr. Denton’s crop varies a good
deal in different years. Two years ago from these two cellars
he gathered 2,200 pounds of Mushrooms, while last year his
crop from the same space was less than 1,700 pounds. He is
inclined to give a good deal of credit for the heaviest yield to
the freshness and sweetness of his cellar that season, as he
had it thoroughly cleaned out and limewashed in autumn
before he made up his beds.
The one thing about Mr. Denton’s arrangement that seemed
faulty was the parching stove. A hot-air apparatus seems
out of place wherever plants of any sort are grown, be they
Mushrooms, Roses or Orchids. Besides, here is a big iron
stove occupying a space which might be devoted to part of
another floor bed and two whole shelf beds. A base-burner,
hot water boiler and two three-inch hot water pipes run around
inside the cellar, would seem preferable. The pipes could be
run close alongside one of the shelves and would not be in the
way at all, and any danger of their overheating the edge of
the bed by which they were running could be averted by hav-
ing a temporary board set alongside of them, making the shelf
two boards high instead of one. No deep stock hole is re-
quired tor these little boilers; they can be run on the common
level of the cellar, and could be set into a niche in the wall
four by six feet square. Two hods of coal a day will heat 300
feet of three-inch pipe. Surely this is better than any stove,
and the first expense is the only one, for such an apparatus is
simple and durable. We heat our Mushroom houses with
this kind of boiler and hot water pipes, and nothing could do
the work more effectively. Wm, Falconer.
Glen Cove, N. Y.
Fruits for Cold Chmates.
T must be set down as a rule that a fruit-tree should be of a
variety that will endure all weathers in the place where it
is planted. It must be hardy enough to stand the test winter;
otherwise, just when the owner is looking for a first full crop,
he may find only a dead tree.
Experience has proved that the fruit-trees of western Europe
and their seedlings will not, as a rule, endure the winter
climate of similar latitudes on the American Continent. All of
Europe north of Rome is north of Boston. Boston is nearly
the extreme north limit of the Peach, Plum, Quince and Apri-
cot; and of the Apples and Pears of north-western Europe very
few can be planted with profit more than too miles north of
Boston. Seedlings from these do not, as a rule, show more
resistance to cold than their parents. So seldom do they, that
those of us who have had most experience at once suspect
that such a seedling is an accidental cross with a hardier
variety, like those of Russia and Siberia.
The Russian tree-fruits are undoubtedly of hybrid origin.
Those of Poland and the Baltic provinces are much mixed and
crossed with west European species. But, working eastward in
the empire, le and less of this blood is found; and in the
valley of the Volga and the Steppe region the influence of
north Asia stock preponderates. It is from these trees that
we get our most perfect ‘‘iron-clads”’ of all the tree-fruits.
Our north-eastern states and provinces require hardiness
against cold alone; but in the Prairie States this is not enough.
Intense summer heat and drought, and the fatal sap-blight,
must also be encountered there; and trees for that region
must thus be triply clad. The fruits of the Russian and Asiatic
steppes furnish the best material to meet these contingencies.
As New England lies mostly on the latitudes of southern
Europe, so Canada lies mostly on the latitudes of Russia and
Siberia. Not only climate, but the length of seasons and of
days, should be considered in estimating the value of fruit
trees. The winter Apples of Russia are many, but south of
45° they are only early winter or fall sorts. This lessens their
value for our Northern States; but as they can be grown
among our tender long-keepers, there is a fair probability that
iron-clad crosses can be obtained that will prove long-keeping
below latitude 45°.
Unquestionably many European trees are, in their seedlings,
gradually adapting themselves to the American climate. The
law of the survival of the fittest is all the time in operation,
and interested parties are finding along the northern limits of
our orchard region (and even within it) seedling varieties
which show unusual resistance against cold. After trying
[DECEMBER 12, 1888.
several hundred of the hardiest Apples of southern Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts in vain, and
after coming to believe that there were no iron-clads among
Massachusetts Apples, it was accidentally discovered (at the
Centennial, I believe) that an Apple which I had received from
Canada as the Strawberry of Montreal, is really the Found-
ling, which originated in Groton, Massachusetts.
Now that an interest has been aroused by the partial suc-
cesses already attained, hardy seedlings are being sought out
and tested all along our northern borders and in Canada.
Scott's Winter is one of the Apples thus obtained, and though
not an Apple of high quality or large size, it is a reliable
keeper and a useful fruit, not only in itself, but as a beacon of
hope for the future.
As for the Pears and stone fruits, the future is pretty secure,
not only from the improvement of our native species of the
last, but in the importation of the highly satisfactory Russian,
Siberian and north Chinese varieties. I see no reason to
doubt that, by discoveries already made, the orchard re-
gion on this continent can be extended from two to three
degrees of latitude northward. That this is a wonderful gain,
as the result of scarcely two decades of effort, is manifest;
and there is more to come, for the work is scarcely begun.
Newport, Vermont. T. H. Hoskins.
Our Native Plums.
HAVE made a specialty of Piums of the American and Chi-
casaw varieties tor sixteen years, and since 1874 have never
failed to havea crop of plums—even the unprecedented winters
of '80 and ’81, which killed the Peaches here, while buds were
dormant, failed to kill the Wildgoose, Moreman, Miner, or
Newman Plums. An ordinary crop is the exception ; an enor-
mous one the rule. This season on very light, sandy soil, my
Wildgoose trees—twelve years planted—averaged six crates of
thirty-two quarts each to the tree, which netted in Baltimore
$1.60 a crate—the price ruled lower than usual because of the
immense peach crop. With such experience a little enthusi-
asin may be pardonable. Asa point of profit, there can be no
comparison between these plums and varieties of the Euro-
pean species. With the latter, unceasing watchfulness and war-
fare against insects, ata time when labor of all kinds is press-
ing upon fruit-growers, is the price of a crop, while with
varicties of the Chicasaw or American species, one longs for a
more industrious breed of curculios to help in thinning out
the crop. Among the most profitable varieties with me may
be named Lone Star, Mariana, Wildgoose, Indian Chief, New- _
man, Quaker, De Soto, Robinson, Rollingstone, Golden Beauty,
Moreman, and Wayland—named in the order of ripening.
The number of varieties has increased rapidly within the last
five years; such only are named as have had sufficient trial on
my grounds to establish their value. The trees of the Ameri-
can varieties are more upright and much less scraggy in
growth and habit than are those of Chicasaw parentage. Asa
rule, success with this class of Plums is rendered much more
certain by alternating varieties in planting, because the stigma
and stamens mature at different times in the blossoms.
As yet there seems to be no limit to the variations in seed-
lings, the Wildgoose being the parent of most of the varieties
now cultivated. Six or eight years before his death Charles
Downing suggested to me the possibility of obtaining a free-
stone Plum by crossing some of our native varieties with the
Peach. Accordingly, I used the Wildgoose as the female and
Troth’s Early Peach the male parent in a trial to effect this end.
The result was a real cross, so far as habit and appearance of
the tree are concerned, but a genuine mule in point of repro-
ductive powers; flower buds in abundance there have been,
but they never expand. Since that I have approached a free-
stone variety pretty closely by using pollen from the German
Prune upon the Richland Plum.
In my long study of native Plums, I have never found any
evidence that the Mariana is a cross between the Chicasaw and
some cultivated Cherry ; neither do the facts in my experience
lead me to believe that this alleged origin will bear the light
of investigation. One fact alone seems to invalidate this
claim: Neither the Wildgoose Plum nor the common Cherry
can be successfully grown from cuttings, while the Mariana
strikes almost as readily as a Willow. Fi Weer
Denton, Maryland, ee
Orchid Notes.
Evides Rohannianum is a choice Orchid, and much su-
perior ‘to any other of the Suavissimum section of the genus,
to which it belongs. Itis one of the recent introductions of
Sander’s, and is still somewhat rare. The racemes are some
two feet long and densely flowered. The flowers are white,
tipped with purple, the side lobes of the lip being citron yellow,
DECEMBER 12, 1888.]
and the spur spotted with purple. The value of the
flowers is enhanced by theirdelicious fragrance. The plant is
arobust grower, andis doing extremely well with us in a wood
cylinder, “where abundance of water can be given the roots
without ‘danger of rotting them.
Trichosma suavis deserves a place in every collection, if
only for its remarkable fragrance. But the flowers are very
pretty, too ; creamy white, with the side lobes of the lip striped
with crimson, and borne on terminal racemes. The slender
terete stems are about one foot high, surmounted by two broad-
ly lanceolate leaves. This species is a native of the Khasia
hills, evidently in situation where it has abundance of
water, for in cultivation it can hardly get too much if the pots
are kept well drained. A mixture of sandy peat and moss is
a good compost for it, and a cool house is ‘most suitable.
Vanda Sanderiana is now in flower with us. It is a mag-
nificent Orchid, by far the handsomest of this large genus,
and fortunately is now becoming more plentiful. In habit it
resembles both V. cerulea and V. suavis, The flowers are
Garden and Forest.
499
Autumn Flowers.—The United States should be the country
par excellence for ICHAEU ag Daisies, but, perhaps, these
pretty autumn flowers are not so much valued as in E urope.
Among the numerous spec ies and varieties of the old world,
Aster Tbericus deserves all praise i itis a native of the Cau-
casus and very much resembles A. Amell/us, but the flowers
are much better in shz ape and outline, bright blue with a tinge
of purple, all opening ne arly at the same time, forming an
even umbel of nearly a foot across; its height is about two feet
and it flowers in September. Co/c hicum Speciosuim, var, maxi-
mum, is now very showy, its numerous, bright-purple flowers
being fully five inches across. C autumnale albo pleno isa
gem “among late-flowering bulbs; its perfectly double, well-
shaped flowers appear in numbers and last at least three
weeks. A clump of Snowdrops in full flower is an uncom-
mon sight just now, yet G. alanthus Olge Regine has been
blooming since the first of October, to be followed by G. nfva-
lis corcyrensis during November and December.
Baden-Baden. Max Leichtlin.
Fig. 78.—Eleeagnus longipes.
borne on short, stout, axillary racemes, of a roundish outline
and about four inches across. The color of the upper part is
a delicate blush, while the lower is greenish-yellow streaked
and suffused with crimson. The small concave lip is pur-
plish-red. Being a native of the Philippine Isles, it requires
strong heat, light and abundance of water during ‘erowth.
A close rival to the foregoing and belonging to the same
section is Vanda caerulea, an older kind and much more plen-
tiful. In this plant the racemes are longer and more loosely
flowered, bearing twelve to twenty flowers; in color, lavender
or light blue. This is a very unusual color among Orchids,
and were this plant more easily § grown it would become very
popular; but, unfortunately, its cultural requirements are not
generally well understood, and only rarely is it seen in really
good condition for any length of time. It comes from the
higher regions of the Khasia hills, and therefore requires
comparatively cool treatment. It should also have plenty of
light, abundance of et during growth, and a very long
St Ww ou rnvelne S 2a V.ES*
ps eer! S grees F, Goldring.
Plant Notes.
Eleagnus longipes.
R. CHARLES WRIGHT, the botanist of the Wilkes
expedition, detected this plant at Simoda in Japan
more than thirty years ago, and its characters were first
macs known by Dr. Gray in his now famous and classi-
cal paper upon the Flora of Japan, read before the Ameri-
can Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1859.
Eleagnus longipes is a low shrub in cultivation, only a
few feet in height, although it is said to become a small
tree sometimes in Japan. The branches are unarmed or
sometimes beset with spines, angular, and covered with
small, rusty-brown scales. The leav es are somewhat coria-
ceous, oval-oblong, contracted into rather a blunt point,
smooth and dark green above, and covered on the lower
surface with a dense silvery white pubescence. The small
500
yellow flowers solitary, or more rarely two or three to-
gether, are borne on long slender peduncles. ‘They are in-
conspicuous, but the fruit, which appears in our illustration
upon page 499, is exceedingly ornamental. It ripens in July,
and is oblong, half an inch or more long, bright red, and
covered with minute white dots. This plant may well
be grown for the beauty of its fruit alone, which, more-
over, is juicy and edible, with a sharp, rather pungent,
agreeable flavor. Both the size and the flavor can doubt-
less be improved by careful selection, and it is quite within
the range of possibility that it may become a highly es-
teemed and popular dessert and culinary fruit. To some
persons, even in its present state, the flavor is far prefer-
able to that of the Currant or the Gooseberry. The plants
are very productive, as our illustration shows, and they are
easily raised and perfectly hardy. They possess, moreover,
the merit of carrying their leaves bright and fresh well into
winter. Coss 8s
The Forest:
Forest Planting in Virginia.
T the recent annual meeting of the Pennsylvania
Forestry Association, the President, Mr. Burnet
Landreth, delivered an instructive address, from which
we are permitted to make the following extracts. Other
portions of the address will be published in subsequent
issues of this journal:
In 1870 the senior member of my firm, who had been fora
long lite a collector and planter of trees for ornamental
purposes, till he had established a noted collection, decided
to plant a forest ona large area of old farm land in eastern
Virginia, on the lower Chesapeake, where we held about
5,000 acres. The annual rainfall there is forty-nine inches;
the relative humidity, both during summer and winter, sev-
enty-three; the maximum temperature, 103°, the minimum,
1°,above zero. The windinsummer, south-west; in winter,
from the north.
Of this tract, about two-thirds were in original and second
growth Pine, with some hard w aud interspersed, Ee
decided to plant the open farm fields, and follow upon the
stump-land, as the forest was cut off. Experience had made
clear to us the wonderful reproductive capacity of the soil of
tide-water Virginia, in reclothing itself with the natural Pine
of that region—the Loblolly, or old Field Pine. Still we
thought it ‘might be profitable to establish forests of trees,
both evergreen and deciduous, not common to that section,
which would promise to be more profitable than the ordi-
nary Virginia Pine. Among native deciduous trees found
there were the Chestnut, W alnut, Ash, Oak and many others,
not occurring, however, in for ests of one variety, but always
mixed. So we concluded to tr y the experiment of forest-
planting which, if not profitable to us, might, at least, serve
as a guide to others in that portion of Virginia. Accord-
ingly, after preparation in 1870, in 1871 we planted 100 acres
with the nuts of Black Walnut, depositing the nuts at one foot
apart in open furrows drawn eight feet apart. We followed
this by planting eight acres with Chestnuts.
The next year, 1872, we continued planting both seed and
seedlings. Of seedlings, we set out 30,000 Black Locusts,
5,000 Southern Cypress and 5,000 European Larch. These
we planted in solid blocks, four feet by four apart, inténding
that they should prune themselv
In 1873 we planted four bushels of Locust seed, twelve of
Chestnuts and one-eighth of a bushel of Larch seed.
In 1874 we putin 150 bushels of Black Walnuts, ten of
Hickory Nuts (Carya tomentosa), twenty-two of Chestnuts,
one of European Larch, ten of Catalpa (C. dignonioides), three
of Poplar, three of Pecan, one of White Oak, and one-
eighth of a bushel of Italian Sumac. Of seedlings, we set
out 2,000 eastern Catalpas, 5,000 southern Catalpas, and 75,000
Black Locusts.
In 1877 we set out 10,000 Catalpas, 1,000 White Ash, 15,000
White Pine, 1,000 Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga Douglasit).
In 1879 we set out 40,000 Catalpa speciosa, 1,000 C.
Kampferi, 150,000 C. bignontoides, 10,000 Ailanthus, and 3,000
Douglas Spruce.
Since the last date, 1879, we have set out a large number of
Catalpas and this winter shall have 100,000 see dlings to plant.
Now, the result of all this has been much disappointment,
but not despair.. We were first disappointed in the Black
Locust plantations. The early groves had reached a height
Garden and Forest.
[DeceMBER 12, 1888.
of twelve feet, the later ones, of course, being smaller. In
the larger tracts the trunks were stocky, straight and limb-
less, the upper branches all interlaced, forming a solid roof,
so that the midday sun seldom reached the alleys between
the trees. They gave promise of a fine Locust forest, just
such as we had pictured, but hardly expected to realize.
But one September the Locust-tree Borer descended in
swarms upon our groves, laying millions of eggs, which
produced myriads of erubs, and by the next midsummer,
every tree was ruined. Wecut them down and pulled out
the roots with oxen, the expenses of removal being twenty-
five dollars per acre
Next), the European Larch gave out in the trunk, the
main stem breaking off at about twelve feet in height.
This tree had never ‘promised well, however. It thrives best
upon dry, rocky soils; ours was a sand, with clay subsoil.
The Southern Cypress next failed, except in wet bottoms.
Of Hickory and Pecan, the nuts planted were, to a large ex-
tent, stolen by the squirrels, woodchucks and field mice, and
those that did vegetate made such slow growth that we
plowed them out “and replanted the ground with Catalpa.
The Tulip Poplar was not a success, as the rabbits and field
mice during winter ate off from the tender seedling the
sweet, juicy bark, and destroyed nearly every plant. The
White Oak acorns were largely stolen by animals, which also |
ate the bark of the young seedlings as they did that of the
Poplar. The Italian Sumac, planted for its leaves, still
stands, but the percentage of tannic acid in its foliage is not
greater than in the leaves of the wild Virginia Sumac ; and
therefore its cultivation offers little hope of profit.
In short, with us, Black Locusts, Deciduous Cypress, Eu-
ropean Larch, Hickory, Pecan, Tulip Poplar, White Oak,
Osage Orange, Wild Black Cherry, Ailanthus, White Ash,
Mulberry, and some others, have all failed.
Our successes have been principally in determining which
varieties were not profitable to plant; and in this respect we
have prospered famously. Our other successes, such as
they are, have been achieved with four trees—Catalpa, Black
Walnut, White Pine and Douglas Spruce.
Of the Catalpa we have abandoned several tracts, and,
after most serious ravages by stray cows, half wild pigs
rabbits, squirrels, mice and fire, have about 200,000 neem
ranging in height from two to twenty feet, according to the
period “of planting. They stand in rows six feet apart, many
of the rows a quarter of a mile long, and promise to make,
in time, fine forest studies, if not eaten up, for the Catalpa,
too, has its insect enemies. Two years ago every tree was
denuded of its leaves, within a period of.a month, by the
ravages of the Catalpa Sphinx (Daremma catalpe). These
have’ gone, but they may come again and may stay. Still,
this contingency of destruction by insects unavoidably at-
taches to the Culture of any forest tree. Of the Catalpas
there are two types cultivated for forest purposes, the east-
ern and the western, indicated botanically as C. dignoniotdes
and C. sfeciosa, the latter being the most approved.
The tree is as hardy as a Chestnut, of quick growth, the
trunk and limbs, by reason of its resistance to decay, being
valuable as fence-posts, gate-posts and mud-sills. I have a
piece of gate-post w hich stood in place 100 years, and it is
in a perfect state of preservation,
The timber when sawed takes a fine polish, and is hand-
somely marked in its cellular structure. The. Catalpa has’
been used in the West for railroad-ties, and possibly it.
makes serviceable ones; by some enthusiasts it has been
extolled as superior to the White Oak, but that is folly. A
first-class tie must have other merits than ability to resist
decay from moisture. The catalpa tie is deficient in power
to resist the hammering of the rail under passing trains, and
it is deficient in that adhesive power upon railroad-spikes
possessed by white oak or chestnut. In oak very careful
tests have proven that as much as a pull of 4,000 pounds
is required to draw out a spike driven five and a half
inches. In catalpa the adhesive power is not one-half of 4,000
pounds,
The second deciduous tree which we have planted in
large number is the Black Walnut. In tide-water Virginia
itis found wild and of noble proportions. Our seedlings,
however, have grown very slowly. For the first six or seven
years they grow but a little more than four inches a year,
and it is only when they become very deeply rooted that
they appear to start off vigorously. The lowland soils,
however, are not adapted to the development of the best
Walnut timber, the wood produced there being too full of
silex. It will not polish as smoothly as timber grown
upon a soft prairie soil. It is stronger and better suited for
ts) ase
DECEMBER 12, 1888.]
the legs and rounded portions of furniture, but, as a rule,
does not furnish handsome paneling. Our Walnuts, of
which we have 150,000 left, after as many have been de-
stroyed and others abandoned, do not impress us as of
much value, and for the present we shall plant no more.
Our attention was directed to the White Pine as flourish-
ing upon our particular soil by a wild settlement of these
trees in the midst of one of our Yellow Pine forests. Here
we founda parent tree, ninety feet high, grown probably from
a seed dropped by a bird of passage, possibly from far-off
Maine. It has germinated, reached maturity and developed
seed, which, falling around, has in turn germinated and
developed seed- bearing trees, till now the growth of several
generations of trees stand in concentric circles. This natural
group clearly indicates that soil and climate were hospitable
to the White Pine. The results of our own plantations, in
addition to this example, make it quite evident that the
White Pine can be grown successfully, The principal diffi-
culty with p lantations of this tree lies in securing a stand in
the first instance, as a large percentage of the se edlings die.
The Douglas Fir I consider the best of the two’ ever-
greens. It grows as rapidly as the White Pine, and if it
escapes the ills of forest life and reaches maturity, it will be
more valuable. One of its merits is early maturity. Its
long, tapering and light trunk particularly suits it for ship-
spars, while the older trees reach vast proportions and form
a. trunk far surpassing the White Pine of Maine. This
tree for Eastern plantations should be grown from Colo-
rado seed, as the Oregon variety is not so ‘hardy.
I would recommend that the White Pine and the Douglas
Fir be planted in alternate rows, so that in case of destruc-
tion of either variety by insect depredations or soil in-
fluences, there may be a chance for the remaining variety to
reach maturity. Indeed, all plantations should be mixed
for the same reason, but they must be mixed judiciously.
After eighteen years of practical forest- planting ona small
scale, I conclude that for the particular region of tide-water
Virginia—and I think I may venture to say as well for tide-
water Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina—there are
only four trees to plant; I conclude, also, that it is very
questionable if it be profitable i in that region to plant at all,
so long as the Loblolly Pine will spring up in every field just
as soon as annual cultivation ceases How the seeds get
there I cannot tell, but they will spring up in the centre of a
one-hundred-acre field simultaneously with their appearance
upon its tree-fringed borders
This Pine will start without plowing, and it will grow
under the most adverse circumstances. It will take care of
itself in spite of wild hogs and stray cattle. Fire is its worst
enemy. In twenty years it will make twenty cords of brick-
yard fuel, and for ev ery year thereafter an additional cord
or more, till at forty years it will cut fifty cords of first-class
wood ; the only expenses being the taxes, which altogether
do not equal one-half of one per cent.
Correspondence.
Horticultural Exhibitions.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—Whenever | attend horticultural exhibitions in different
cities, the question comes to my mind: Are they managed
properly ? Do we use the material to the best advantage,
not only from an educational, but from a financial point
of view? Ihave before me a number of reports of horticul-
tural societies. Turning to the lists of standing committees, I
find the names of men who have made national reputations
for themselves in the learned professions, in art, in science
or in various branches of business. Turning to the list of ex-
hibitors, I find many names equally famous. In both cases they
are men ofrefined and cultivated tastes; men who have proved
their ability by their success. Again, I turn to the treasurer's
report, and, without going into details, it appears, as every one
knows, that the exhibitions rarely prove financially successful.
What are the causes of this failure,and what are the rem-
edies? There are plenty of standing committees. Possibly they
have been standing too long. There are plenty of good push-
ing men on them “who are successful in their own business,
Why are they not successful here ?
Is it because they are held back by some of the older mem-
bers who cling to ‘‘the good, old methods”? If it is a lack of
money, this, I believe, could be overcome by personal sub-
scription, if the members could show the public any ad-
vanced ideas that would be beneficial. The wealthy gentle-
Garden and Forest.
501
men always seem very glad to do their part in contributing
their specimen plants
ee me to suggest :
That the entire hall in which an exhibition is to be held be
teated to a thorough cleaning.
That it be profusely decorated with Laurel wreaths,
ees branches, evergreen trees and other greenery, from the
entrance to the dome. In most cases I believe enough en-
thusiasm could be aroused among the members to contribute
to this in the shape of labor, material or money.
3. That the tables, benches and staging, in every instance,
be covered either with paint, moss or evergreens, instead of
with bare, broken, rough and age-stained boards.
4. That i in front of these tables, instead of allowing the ne
and horses to show or attempting to hide them with paper,
would suggest usingsome kind of cloth with eyelet holes eed
with screw-eyes, which could be used a number of years.
5. That proper vases be obtained in which to show cut
flowers, and that these should be always kept clean, and _par-
ticularly so if transparent.
6. That exhibitors of Grapes be re equested to hang all
Grapes, and that the amount of “ bloom” be a strong point in
judging, while those that have been carefully polished should
be barred.
7. That if vegetables are to form a part of the exhibition,
none but remarkable specimens be admitted.
8. That if enough social influence could be brought to
bear, the first night be devoted to ‘ Society,” with lady
patronesses anda “banquet and bouquets for the patronesses
only. I have no doubt but that the tickets or invitations
could be disposed of at five dollars apiece. The day follow-
ing should be open to all at fifty cents apiece. Every part of
the house would have to be opened toaccommodate the crowd.
That if “Society” could not be induced to participate
(which is hardly probable, as there are so many fashionable
people connected with horticultural societies), a2 number of
influential ladies be induced to interest themselves as a
Ladies’ Committee.
to. That a little money be expended upon the local papers,
which are always very kind, even to inferior shows. Make the
exhibitions worth illustrating, and they will give you hundreds
of dollars’ worth of advertising.
1. That two orchestras be engaged to give promenade con-
certs at fixed hours and music at frequent intervals. Some-
times barely enough money is realized to pay a single band.
Have enough music to pay for itself.
12. That all plants be named properly with both botanical
and common names. Mark the Peristeria elata the Holy
Ghost or Dove Plant; Mepenthes, the Pitcher Plant; Platyce-
rium Hilli, the Stag-horn Fern. A little description of these
flowers would attract a great deal of attention. A child can
see the resemblance, and it would interest all, while hereto-
fore they have been passed by almost unnoticed.
13. That exhibitors of cut flowers should be required to have
them renewed or freshened up from time to time, and that all
watering of plants should be done early.
14. That few complimentary tickets should be given out.
15. That all exhibits, and especially those of cut lowers and
designs, should be judged by “ points.” If one plan could be
adopted all over the country, judges from other states would
be preferable.
16. That premiums should be liberal, and awarded with the
greatest care.
17. That if at any time during the exhibition the attendance
is not too large, complimentary tickets be sent to different
schools interested in botany, which would prove valuable
from an educational standpoint.
18. That the managing editors of the city papers should be
notified of the efforts that are being made to make this the
grandest display of ph ants and Awers ever offered by this
society ; : that the ‘society ” people of the city are taking a more
active part than for merly, and that it is expected to be one of
the social events of the season. That a committee of well-
informed men be appointed to receive all reporters, not only
to repay them in a slight way for their kindness, but to aid
them in their work, that a technically correct report may be
given of the exhibition.
. That fora Chrysanthemum show the decoration should
be most elaborate. :
Japane se vases, rugs, screens and lanterns
would be very appropriate.
Philadelphia. H. H, Battles.
502
Pinus sylvestris.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—There are several specimens of the Scotch Pine upon
the college campus here, and in most instances they are
making a good growth. During the three seasons before the
present one the trees have borne cones in abundance. This
was strikingly true for 1887, and this spring the trees were
conspicuously loaded with the old cones. These same trees—
and there are several of them close by—this spring produced
an unusually large number of staminate blossoms, but an ex-
tended search failed to reveal any pistillate clusters. We have
scores of Scotch Pine trees upon ourornamental grounds, and
among them all only one has been found this season bearing
cones of this year’s growth, and upon that there were not over
adozen. The striking contrast between the thousands upon
thousands of cones of last year, and the almost total absence
of them this season, has led to this note, with the hope that
some dendrologist may assign the cause. Is it a case of over-
bearing in 1887 and recuperation this season ?
Byron D, Halsted.
Agricultural College, Ames, Ia., November 15th, 1888,
Recent Publications.
Handbuch der Forstwissenschaft, in Verbindung mit A.
Buhler, R. von Dombrowski, W. Exner, H. First, u.
herausgeben von Tuisko Lorey.
630, 614, 576, ss. Ttibingen, 1888.
Dr. Lorey, the learned professor in the University of Tu-
bingen, has completed his work upon Forestry, which
appears under the title which we have reproduced above. It
occupies three stout volumes, and is rather an encyclopedia
ot forest science than a mere manual, in which different de-
partments are fully treated by different specialists, among
whom are found the names of some of the most distinguished
professors in the German and Austrian forest schools. With
them have been associated several practical forest experts in
the preparation of this work, in which will be found a pre-
sentation of the different branches of science applicable to the
management of the forest and of the methods of sylviculture
adopted in the different countries of central Europe.
The first chapter, trom the pen of Professor Weber, of
Munich, is devoted to forest statistics; the distribution of
forests in the different European countries, and an examination
of the historical causes which have developed their actual
present condition. To this Dr. Weber adds an exhaustive and
most interesting account of the influence of the forest upon
climates, the flow of rivers and the composition of soils.
The second chapter, by Dr. Lorey, is devoted to an examina-
tion of the question of instruction in forestry in the different
countries of the world, including statistical information relat-
ing to.schools of forestry and forest experimental stations, with
the courses of study and the organization of all such establish-
ments,
Protessor Schwappach, of Titbingen, devotes the third
chapter to a history of European forests and of European syl-
viculture, covering the period from the earliest days of mod-
ern civilization to the present time.
The fourth chapter is a treatise upon geology, mineralogy
and chemistry, as applied to sylviculture, from the pen of
Professor Ramann, of Eberswald.
The fifth chapter is devoted by Professor Luerssen to a
forest flora, in which are described the ligneous plants native
of Germany, together with such herbaceous plants as are met
with in the forest and all the cryptogamic plants found grow-
ing upon trees in Germany, and often the cause of serious
diseases among them.
Professor Lorey, in the sixth chapter, discusses exhaustively,
methods of natural and artificial forest reproduction, to
which is joined a study upon the creation of nurseries.
First, Director of the Forest Institute of Aschaffenbure,
treats in the seventh chapter those questions which relate to
the injuries inflicted upon the forest by man and by the
lesser animals, including insects, by parasitic vegetation, and
by the fall of meteors. A second part of this same chapter is
devoted by Forster, Chief Forester at Gmunden, to a discus-
sion upon torrents and avalanches—that is to say, upon the
art of mountain restoration as it is technically known.
Professor Exner, of Vienna, examines in an exhaustive man-
ner in the eighth chapter the properties of different woods
from a purely technical point of view—their color, grain,
specific gravity, odor, density and elasticity. In the ninth
chapter the head forester at Hildburghausen, Stétzer, dis-
cusses the uses to which different woods and barks are applied,
a Wi,
In dreien theilen, in 8vo.;
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 12, 1888.
methods of sale for forest products, the seasoning of timber,
and of the harvesting and preservation of seeds. The second
part of this chapter, by Professor Buhler, of Zurich, is devoted
to a description of various forest products used in agricul-
ture—forage, the bedding for domestic animals and manures.
Professor Schuberz, of Carlsruhe, treats of the transportation
of forest products ; while the chemical composition of wood,
its artificial preservation and the manufacture of paper-pulp,
charcoal, wood-acid and resin, form the subject of a fourth
division of this chapter, from the pen of Professor Schwack-
hofer, of Vienna.
Hunting and fishing and fish-culture occupy the ninth
chapter.
Professor Lehr, of Munich, discusses in the tenth chapter
capital and the formulas which must be followed in determin-
ing the relation of capital invested in forest property to its re-
turns, relations which must be known in order that the most
advantageous methods of forest managementin different cases
may be adopted. This is followed in the next chapter by an
explanation by Professor Guttenberg, of Vienna, of the theory
and practice of the measurements of the contents of timber in
a forest, with tables showing the increase of different trees,
both as solitary individuals and in masses.
The theory of forest management is developed by the di-
rector of the Forest Academy at Tharand, Professor Ju-
deich, in the tweltth and most interesting chapter of the
whole work, in which is explained broadly and clearly the
principles upon which modern scientific forestry is based.
Protessor Schwappach explains, in the thirteenth chapter, the
organizations for the maintenance, in Germany, of forests be-
longing to the State, the Communes, and to individuals, while
in the fourteenth and final chapter, Professor Lehr treats of
the forest from the point of view of national defence and pub-
lic wealth.
We have described at length the contents of this remarka-
ble work, which is certainly the most comprehensive in scope
and the richest in information that has yet appeared concern-
ing the forest in its complex relations to modern society. In
it are displayed very fully the actual condition of advanced
knowledge in regard to the forests of Europe ; and it stands
as a worthy monument of the learning, industry and _ perse-
verance of the German officers who have made forest science
what it is. The student of forests and forestry will find
in it unlimited sources of information, but it is as an en-
cyclopedia and not as a manual, as its title would seem to
indicate, that Professor Lorey’s great work must be consid-
ered, and like all encyclopedias, it loses something in the ab-
sence of unity of treatment and expression—an inevitable fail-
ing when a book is written by several authors working inde-
pendently. But the book upon forestry is yet to be written, in
which a master mind, having gathered all the facts which
science has been accumulating during the past two centuries,
exposes them in one compact, logical and well-balanced
treatise.
Periodical Literature.
Attractive descriptions, profusely illustrated, of the environs
of Vienna, are published in the October and November num-
bers of Westermann's Monatsheften. Vienna has grown with
great rapidity during the past two decades, and the greatest
intelligence has been displayed in laying out and planting the
new quarters, and utilizing the possibilities which they offered
for securing variety as well as beauty to the result. No finer
streets exist than the encircling boulevards, laid out along the
line of the old fortifications of the town, which are collectively
known as the “ Ringstrasse;’’ and in some of the suburbs
villa-architecture, with all that it implies in the way of horti-
cultural embellishment, has been brought to a very high de-
gree of perfection.
In the Avantic Monthly for October is a pleasant, poetical
little pastoral in prose by Sophia Kirk called ‘‘ Pasture Herb
and Meadow Swath”’—one of those witnesses to the develop-
ment of love for nature and of the literary gift, to which we
have referred more than once already as noteworthy proofs
in the progress of American culture. In the ‘‘Contributor’s
Club,” in the same magazine, is a brief but suggestive paper
which enforces the fact that the more one knows the world
the more pleasure it gives—that, in fact, we do not really en-
joy it because we do not really even see it until we have.
learned for what and how to look. It is hardly needful to
remind our readers that Mr. Burroughs has often preached
from this important text; but too many teachers cannot join’
their voices with his in the effort to persuade people that the
ite
DECEMBER 12, 1888.]
study of natural science is far from being a dry pursuit, dead-
ening to the esthetic feelings—that it is, instead, a pursuit
which, rightly followed, will deepen those feelings by giving
them more and finer nourishment.
In the same magazine for November is an article, called
“A November Chronicle,” by a well-known naturalist, Mr.
Bradford Torrey, which should be read by every one who
fancies that summer must be really over because the almanac
says itis. Who would believe, except upon evidence as good
as Mr. Torrey's, that in the course of a Massachusetts No-
vember of average inclemency, seventy-three species of wild
plants, representing twenty-two orders, were found in bloom?
The list is given in full and is as varied as it is interesting.
The great family of the Composite is most prominent with
several species of Asters and Golden-rods, with Dandelions,
Yarrow, Tansy, Cone-flower, Everlastings, Burdock and a
number of others. But the Pea family is also well repre-
sented; the Pale Corydalis and even the Deptford Pink
appear, while the Witch Hazel brings a single shrub in among
the humbler plants. The places where most of the finds
were made are described for the benefit of others who may
wish to conduct autumn exploring expeditions, and also the
relative profusion in which the various species appeared,
some being very common, and others, of course, only isolated
belated examples. Naturally the sea-shore proved the best
hunting-ground. The list might have been increased, Mr.
Torrey adds, had it been made to include garden-flowers, like
the Pansy and the Larkspur, which he saw by the road-sides.
But it was only of the veritable wild-flowers that he took
account.
In the Gentleman's Magazine for November is an ex-
haustive, instructive and very interesting article called ‘ Qui-
nine and its Romance,” by Mr. Alexander H. Japp. The title is
not badly chosen, for the history of the Cinchona tree, as the
source of one of the world’s most valuable medicines, has cer-
tainly been a strange one. The precious powder was first
brought to Europe in 1639 by the Countess of Chinchon, wife of
aviceroy of Peru. Her name is, of course, the origin of the bo-
tanical name by which the great genus is now known, while
quinine is derived from the native Peruvian term gzzna,
and “ Jesuit’s bark’ was long a familiar appellation, for the
reason that the drug was long procured through the hands of
Jesuit missionaries. It was a full century after the drug was
known before the tree itself was discovered by a European
—by Jussieu, in 1739. And then all the specimens which Jus-
sieu sent home having perished, it was another century before
growing trees were seen on European soil. These were
specimens of Cizchona Calisaya grown in the Jardin des
Plantes, at Paris, from seeds sent home in 1846 by Dr. Wed-
dell. Attempts to cultivate Cinchona trees were made in 1852,
in the Botanical Garden of Calcutta, but were unsuccessful,
and the Indian government therefore sent the well-known
botanist, Clement Markham, to South America in 1860, to
seek for seeds of the various species and learn how ney
might best be grown. The history of the wanderings
of Markham and _ his companions is one of the mat
interesting chapters in the history of botanical explora-
tions. The many species of Cinchona trees are con-
fined to the tropical regions of the Andes range, between
about nineteen degrees south latitude and ten degrees north
latitude, where they ¢ grow on the mountain slopes and in wild
ravines, and their discovery was attended with the greatest
hardships and dangers. But it is impossible here to do more
than indicate the contents of Mr. Japp’s paper, which, besides
much historical information, gives, also, an account of the
methods now employed in ‘India, in growing Cinchona
trees, in gathering the crop of bark and in preparing it for
market.
A recent number of Pefermann's Mitteilungen contains an
interesting account by Baron Eggers, the well ‘known explorer
of the botany of St. Thomas, of a journey into the interior
of San Domingo, illustrated by a large map of the districts tra-
versed, from Puerto Plata on the northern coast southward to
Santiago and La Vegas, and thence over the mountain-range
south- eastward to Pico de Valle and south-westward to May-
dama. Although the first part of the journey was along the
chief route of communication between the seaport and. the
interior, the roads are so bad as to be passable only for pack-
horses even in the drier seasons, while in the rainy winter all
communication is often suspended for weeks together.
The first Pines which he saw were at a he sight of 590 feet
above the sea level, and on the crest of the El Puerto range,
at a height of 1,700 feet, they formed a magnificent forest
Garden and Forest.
503
almost unmixed with other trees. The species is the same
as that which occurs in Cuba—Pinus occidentalis, it extends
up the slopes of the Sierra del Cibao to the summit—about
7,750 feet. Its range in altitude is, therefore, unusually great,
although itseems to reach its greatest deve lopme ntata height
of about 4,600 feet. It is more particular, however, in re eard
to soil than climate, flourishing only where coarse chalk "and
red loam mingle in the subsoil. When these conditions are
changed, the ‘Pine disappears and deciduous trees take its
place. As the undergrowth consists only of sparse shrubs,
low-growing Ferns and Grasse s, progress in the high mountain
districts was found less difficult than in most other unex-
plored tropical regions. The chief obstruction came from
frightfully heavy and prolonged thunder storms. In Jara-
bacoa, a village of 800 inhabitants, the church and the houses
are built of small planks of Ovreodoxa oleracea and thatched
with the leaves of the same Palm. Theinhabitants are chiefly
occupied with Tobacco culture. In this ne ighborhood Baron
Eggers found the so-called Nogal-tree (Fuglans Famaicensis).
Further south and up to about 3, 100 bn elevation the Pine
woods contained a thick growth of Davillia aculeata, while the
Manacle Palm (£uferfe) looked strangely side by side with
Pines, and Bromeliads, with brilliant red leaves, grew
upon the stems of the Conifers. In high districts, where the
Oreodoxa does not grow, the houses are built of Euterpe
planks and thatched with grass, no attempt being made to use
the excellent wood of the Pines. The summits near Pico del
Valle are covered in greater part with grass growing in thick
bushy clumps, scattered through w hich are numberless small
stones and some large rocks. Here and there are low thickets
formed of shrub-like Composite, Ericacee and ot Garrya
Fayeni, while between the rocks grows a yellow- flowered
species of Scrophularicea, a half-creeping Andromeda, and a
multitude of plants which recall northern climates, such as
Hieracium, Alchemilla, Galium, Chimaphila, Pteris, and,
along the brooks, Ranunculacee and Carex. On the flints
which are strewn about here and there, a small-leaved Loran-
thus with rosy flowers is Conspicuous.
Few other botanical details are given in Baron Eggers’
paper, which is rather a geographical than a botanical treatise.
Nevertheless, it will interest all who care to learn about the
general aspect and the local peculiarities of a little known
country.
Recent Plant Portraits.
CASALPINIA JAPONICA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, November 3d;
a Japanese shrub, with yellow flowers, introduced by the
Messrs. Veitch, and interesting as the only representative of a
generally tropical genus, likely’ to be hardy in northern gardens.
ENKIANTHUS HIMALAICUS, Revue Horticole, November 16th;
a representative of a small genus of plants of the Heath
family, closely allied to Andromeda, and peculiar to the
Himalaya, southern China and Japan.
The figure is from a plant which is described as hardy in
the neighborhood of Paris, and which had been received
from Japan, two facts which suggest the Japanese 2. Fapont-
cus, rather than £. Aima/aicus, which is found in the hot and
humid valleys of the Sikkim Himalaya.
ANGRCUM SANDERIANUM, Revue Horticole, November
16th; one of the most graceful and attractive of the small-
flowere d species of this genus, and a native of Madagascar.
TOXICOPHLHA SPECTABILIS, Revue Horticole, November
16th ; fruit.
VOCHYSIA GUATEMALENSIS, Botanical Gazette, xili., ¢. 23.
PITCAIRNIA TUERCKHEIMEI, Botanical Gazette, xiil., ¢. 24.
CROCOSMA AUREA, var. MACULATA, Gardeners’ Chronicle,
November 17th; a variety of a well-known plant, with
orange-colored flowers, the segments of the perianth
marked with a ele ee red spot, and declared ‘‘to be the
finest form of the variable Crocosma aurea that has yet ap-
peared.” “It grows to a height of three to four feet, and
single stems cut with their graceful leaves and placed in
water, for in-door decoration, open their buds for weeks in
succession,”
MANXILLARIA
17th.
EUCALYPTUS VIMINALIS, Gardeners’ Chronicle, November
24th; from aspecimen grown on the Island of Arran, which
has grown from the see d to a height of thirty feet since 1872.
CALANDRINIA OPPOSITIFOLIA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, Novem-
ber 24th; a native of the coast mountains of northern Cali-
fornia.
PINUS PINEA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, November 24th ; a por-
trait of the old species of the well known Italian Stone or
Parasol Pine of Italy in Kew Gardens.
FUSCATA, Gardeners’ Chronicle, November
504
Notes.
During the year which ended on April 1st, 1888, the Gov-
ernment nurseries of Berlin distributed 105,778 young trees
and shrubs, to be used in adorning the city and its suburbs,
and 82,686 flowering and foliage planis. The nurseries
which supply plants for the use of the city now contain
nearly 4,000,000 specimens and are steadily being enlarged.
Ata meeting of the New York Academy of Science held on
December 3d, at Columbia College, Dr. H. N. Jarchow read a
paper on the training of foresters in Europe, and the eco-
nomic success that has been attained in forest culture there,
and Professor E. B. Southwick, Secretary of the New York
State Forestry Association, gave a brief history of what had
been accomplished by that body.
Among the interesting plants detected by the Abbé Delavey
in Yun-nan, and recently sent to France, there is a Fig
(Ficus Ti-Koua), with edible fruits of the size and color
ofa Lady Apple, according to the Revue Horticole, which
grow and ripen under g ound. The plant is a shrub, with
trailing, sem1- subterranean branches, and large obovate-ellip-
tical leaves. The Figs are called by the Chinese who eat
ourd.
them 77-Aowa or earth :
A collector recently sent out by Dr. Dieck, a well-known
German nurseryman and dendrologist, reports that the Rose
hitherto sold in Europe as the true source of attar, and called
“Rose de Kazanlik,” is not to be found in the vicinity of Ka-
zanlik at all. The true Roses for the production of attar, he
says, are Rosa alba suaveolens and a variety of Rosa Gallica,
Specimens of these plants he has been enabled to send to
Germany, in spite of the strict laws which now prevail in the
Danubian provinces against the exportation of attar-producing
Roses.
It is well known that the slopes of Krakatoa, in the Strait of
Sunda, and the regions around its base, were wholly desolated
a tew years ago by aterrible volcanic eruption, which covered
them so deeply that all seeds as well as vegetable growths
were destroyed. Almost immediately, however, it is said,
Nature began to repair her ravages in a way that most inter-
estingly illustrates her processes in early geological epochs.
Fresh water Alga soon covered the wide stretches of cinders
and pumice-stone, forming a glutinous layer in which seeds
could take root; anda couple of years after the eruption Ferns
and Phanerogams had everywhere established themselves,
the species being similar to those which take possession of
newly formed coral islands.
An important horticultural exhibition will be held next year
in Berlin, and will be open to all nations. The schedule of
prizes contains 235 classes of stove or warm house-plants,
377 classes of green-house and hardy plants, besides classes
tor fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, tools and machines used
in horticulture; and there will be a section in which the classes
include the morphology, anatomy and growth of plants; physi-
ology, useful and poisonous fungi ; ‘officinal and economic
plants, plant geography, etc. The exhibition is expected to
bring out the close relations which exist between architecture
and horticulture. Visitors to Berlin, moreover, will have an
opportunity to examine some of the finest examples of land-
scape gardening which can be seen now in Europe.
The attendance at the annual meeting of the American
Forestry Congress, held at Atlanta last w reek, was unusually
large, and the papers read and the discussions of topics pre-
sented were of the most instr uctive character. The officers
elected for the year were: President, Governor J. A. Beaver,
Pennsylvania; Vice -Presidents, H; G; Joly, Ouebecs J.D. Wi.
French, Boston; Charles Mohr, Mobile ; “Herbert We Ish,
Philade Iphia; George H. Parsons, Denver; Recording Secre-
tary, N. H. Egleston, Washington ; Treasurer, Charles C.
Burney, Philadelphia. Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the For-
estry Division of the De partment of Agriculture, was com-
pelled to decline the office of Corresponding Secretary,
which he has most ey filled since the organization
of the Congress, and J. B, Harrison, of New Hampshire, was
chosen as his successor,
Mr. Meehan tells the readers of the Coustry Gentleman that
in an old Indian village of Alaska, the people used to carve their
genealogies on huge poles before their doors, by means of
hieroglyphics. One generation cut its crow or its bear, or
whatever the tribal style may be, on it; and so on, one above
another, generation by generation, to the top. They do not
do it now, but the moss-grown and neglected old poles, some
two feet thick and perhaps twenty feet high, are still stand-
ing. On the tops of these poles, Hemlock mand Spruce trees
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 12, 1888,
have sprouted and grown; great bushy trees, ten or fifteen
feet high, and as handsome as any seen in a nursery. In
some cases the roots have gone down through the old poles,
twenty feet or more, to the ground, splitting the poles open
and exposing the roots, which perhaps will be, when the old
poles rot away, real trunks to support the trees.
It is said that American competition has greatly interfered
of late vears with the resin industry of the districts of the
Gironde in France, at one time the chief support of a large
portion of the inhabitants. About a third part of the land in
the department once consisted of barren sandy wastes
called Landes upon which nothing but Pines would grow.
Pinus maritima was planted in large quantities, and despite
the recent falling off of the trade in resin, it still affords
many sources of. revenue, the most important of which is
the furnishing of pit-props for use in the English mining
districts. One hundred and seve nty-five thousand tons of
these props are annually exported. Young trees are also
sent to England in large quantities to be employed in paper
making ; railway sleepers and telegraph poles are sup-
plied for many parts of France, and an illuminating oil is
made from the resin, which readily finds local buyers, as it
burns well, is even cheaper than kerosene, and, moreover,
is non-explosive.
According to a correspondent of Zhe American Architect
and Building g News, seven crops of forage are annually gathered
from the plains of Lombardy. The district is naturally well
watered, the great reservoir of the Alps being near at hand
and a number of rivers traversing it on their way towards the
Po. But a natural supply of water would not suffice, dur-
ing the long, hot summer of Italy, to preserve the plain in
such a phenomenal state of fertility. A vast expenditure of
labor and skill has for ages been devoted to works of irriga-
tion. Atleast as early as the twelfth century they were well
under way, under the direction of the monks in a branch
house of the monastery of Clairvaux, which had been estab-
lished by St. Bernard near Milan. During Renaissance times
they were carried on by some of the greatest architects of
Italy, Leonardo da Vinci, for example, having conceived the
idea of connecting the Mincio and the Tessina by means of a
canal. And to-day the whole plain is a net-work of canals
and reservoirs which cannot be exhausted by the fiercest
drought.
Among recent devices for preserving timber is that advo-
cated by ‘Filsinger, who recommends impregnating the wood
with a weak solution of aluminium chloride. Another sug-
gestion is, that a solution of gutta-percha, obtained by a mix-
ture of two-thirds gutta-percha and one-third paraffine heated
together until the gum melts, shall be forced into the cells of
timber from which the air has been previously exhausted. The
gutta-percha, as it cools, hardens and completely fills the cells.
But the latest suggestion is that of Von Berkel, who proposes
first to impregnate wood with a saturated solution of lime
water or milk of lime. The board is then dried and placed
in a vacuum cylinder and impregnated with a mixture of
silicie acid and mineral oil or some ather fatty or bituminous
substance, by pressure applied for a considerable time, when
a process of petrifaction takes place anda kind of asphalt rock
is formed within the wood cells. The industrial value of this
invention has not been demonstrated yet, although the possi-
bility of using water gas for these purposes, of which Von
Berkel’s plan appears to be only a modification, has long been
recognized.
There seems to be no end in England to the making of hor-
ticultural societies. The attention which the English give to
minor branches of the art is shown by the flourishing exist-
ence of a National Auricula Society and a National Carnation
and Picotee Society, both of which hold well-attended annual
meetings and large exhibitions. Speaking of the Auricula,
The Garden recently quoted from a book published in 1764 to
prove that evenat this time this flower was high in public
favor. Indeed, the author of the book in question said of the
Auricula that it was ‘formerly the pride of English gardeners
and florists,”” whose success in raising new seedling varieties
greatly excited the envy of their Dutch rivals. But there could
have been nothing to complain of in his own time, for he de-
clared that he had known good new seedling Auriculas to sell
for seventy guineas apiece. As The Garden. remarks, ‘When
we consider. the value of money in those days as compared
with the present, this does seem an enormous sum, for there
could have been no gambling with so perishable a plant as
there was with the Tulip in the days of the Tulip mania in
Holland.” <A single guinea is now considered a very high
price for a new Auricula in England.
DECEMBER 19, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TrRIsUNE BuiLpinc, New York.
Conducted by . . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
AY, DECEMBER 1g, 1888.
NEW YORK, WEDNESD
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE,
EpiroriaL Artictes:—Forests and Civilization.— Christmas Green. —The
Value of a Planin Works of a Rural Character.—Horticultural Col-
lege in Swanley.—The Manufacture of Spools
The Sissy of ohortia(withrillustration):§ << ctiane clea peste sieieo,
h
Plan of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University (with illustration)......++++++ 507
ForREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.....-...+e-ee sees ee eve ee W., Watson. 509
The Washington Oak at Fishkill (with illustration). ........0...ee sees eee eeee ee SII
Cucturat Department :—New Chrysanthemums..............-+ H. P. Walcott. 511
Japanese Chrysanthemum, Lilian B. Bird (with illustration),
Arthur H. Fewkes. 512
RN eEMVE ela Dl] Galen aise a.cinicietas'esess.0:e)ers1s,< nisieisieisie’sial cjateletttele Wm. Falconer. 513
Rose Notes are ... WH. Taplin, 513
ONGHIGGN OleSie arcretayersteta'algjaia:cis aeie's:< Siais-aia mara a(ainis'winaetel ols eolave (eine wemeln A. D. 513
CorRESPONDENCE :—Improvement of North American Fruits... Charles Naudin. 514
RECENTHPUBLICATIONS, diasisw(a.cicnis aeie sins 10 0/0 ciajne « anclejsiejaie inicio @ ieisineisie! ocisinnipiciee onic 514
PerropicaL LirERATURE 515
MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES : 515
IN OES Mette eletars sale, s1o 515 6feiors (a1 ateta(a'e’aa\ela( assis 210° 6614 wisse'eio.eie Aletajeieis|6.asia’aleila e/=/tasetale +. 516
ItLustrations :—Plan of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, Fig. 79.... 508
Bhortiarealscitolia, Big. BOiecceese sacs 00 c-ncianeneacdidaus eevee 509
The Washington Oak at Fishkill, Fig. 81 ee. 510
Chrysanthemum, Lilian B. Bird, Fig, 82.........ceeeeeeeeeeeescensceenees 512
Forests and Civilization.
HE essential facts, principles and ideas of the sub-
ject of Forestry have not yet become a part of the
mental possessions of the people of this country. It takes
time for any new subject to obtain a real place in the
mind and consciousness of a nation. Just and practical
thinking in regard to our forest interests and their rela-
tion to the national welfare is possible only after a consid-
erable acquaintance with the facts upon which the science
and practice of Forestry depend. Some degree of famil-
iarity with the subject is necessary to enable people to
recognize its real nature and importance. Opinions
which have no basis of knowledge are of slight value—
are, indeed, hardly worthy of the name; and some know-
ledge of elementary facts and principles must be domesti-
cated—made at home—in the minds of the people, in
order to prepare them for intelligent action regarding our
forest interests.
We have not yet reached this stage in the development
of our national intelligence in relation to this subject, and
much iteration and illustration of the truths which have
been established by observation and by the experience of
thousands of years, will be required before they become
a part of the national consciousness ; before these truths
can be assimilated and incorporated into the mind and
habitual thought of the American people. This indis-
pensable repetition of the essential facts and ideas of the
subject must be urged, and an impression produced, as
rapidly as possible, as the process of the destruction of
our forests does not wait for the necessarily slow advance
of popular intelligence.
All the money that has been obtained from the Adiron-
dack forests might have been gained without injury to the
woods themselves, leaving every acre still clothed with
prosperous and productive forests. But, by reason of
ignorance, indifference and mismanagement, much of this
region is to-day almost as completely and irrecoverably
ruined as if it were covered a thousand feet deep with
boiling lava. The people who are interested in great
schemes and enterprises for irrigation in the western part
of this country appear to be mostly unaware of the essen-
Garden and Forest.
505
tial fact that if the forests of that region are destroyed,
there will be a great loss of the water needed to carry out
any plan or system whatever.
When the pine supply of Wisconsin and Minnesota is
exhausted there is likely to be a very considerable move-
ment of the population out of the states which have de-
pended upon this region for lumber. Other sources of
supply will be too far away, and the increased cost of
timber will make the difference, for many thousands
of people, between being able and not being able to live
in that country. Ifthe people thus evicted by irresistible
economic conditions should all go out at once, the spec-
tacle would be impressive and dramatic. But, as the
movement will take place gradually, few persons will give
it attention or recognize its cause. Yet the results in the
end must be the same.
The ultimate and inevitable effect of the destruction of
our forests will be the impoverishment of some regions
of our country; and, as a consequence of this wanton
and hideous waste of our national resources, millions of our
people will be compelled to live on a lower plane of civili-
zation, and with less means for physical subsistence
and comfort, and for development in all that constitutes
civilized life, than would have been accessible to them if
our forests had been intelligently cared for. There is no
subject which at present more urgently requires the atten-
tion of journalists, educators and statesmen, and of all
thoughtful men in this country.
Christmas Green.
VERY morning for a week past the steamboat Minnie
Cornell, from Keyport, New Jersey, has come to her
pier loaded with ‘‘rope” and ‘‘fancy green.” ‘‘ Rope” is
the trade name for the cables made of Club-moss and oc-
casionally of Hemlock spray, and used for looping into fes-
toons or twining about columns in Christmas decorations.
“Fancy green” includes the wreaths, stars and other de-
signs, manufactured chiefly from the leaves of Holly,
Laurel and Rhododendron, together with Mosses, green or
gray, from Oak trunks and Cedar boughs, scarlet berries of
the Black Alder, the bluish gray fruit of the Juniper, the
scarlet and orange fruits of the Bittersweet, not to speak of
Grasses dried and dyed in fearful and wonderful colors.
The little steamer has more than once carried 60,000 yards
of the festooning material, and 1,500 dozen stars and
wreaths at a single trip, and the entire amount of ‘‘ rope v
brought to this market during the season would reach from
New York to Boston. The very first Christmas green sold
in this city came from Keyport. Some forty-five years
ago the wife of a Monmouth County farmer gathered
enough Ground Pine to fill a sheet with the four corners
tied together, and shipped it on a sloop with her poultry.
It proved a lucky venture, and ever since, the people of
Monmouth County have held almost a monopoly of the
industry, although both the species of Club-moss most
largely used, Lycopodium dendroideum and L. complanatum,
were practically exterminated from that region years ago.
They are still abundant, however, in Connecticut, some
parts of northern New York, and Massachusetts, and are
shipped to New Jersey in such quantities that large dealers
buy them by the ton, and the manufacture of these festal
wreaths and cables gives employment to the wives and
daughters of many farmers after the fall work on the farm
is over.
The trade in Christmas-trees began in 1851, when Mark
Carr yoked up his oxen and hauled from the Catskills to
the steamboat landing on the Hudson two sled-loads of
young Balsams, and paid a silver dollar for the privilege of
selling them on the corner of Vesey and Greenwich Streets.
At least 150,000 trees have been piled up along the docks
of the North River during the last week, and since the days
of Mark Carr manya dealer has been glad to pay a hundred
dollars for a corner privilege for holiday trade in Christmas
trees. About half of the trees this year come from
506
Maine, the remainder from the Berkshire Hills, the Black
River country in the Adirondacks, and the Catskills. Good
trees in the Catskills are becoming scarce, however, and
the woodsmen of those mountains are looking elsewhere
for their material. Short jointed, stocky trees with perfect
whorls of branches at the base of each annual growth, are
the most sought for, and the Maine trees, as a rule, com-
mand rather higher prices than any others. The trees
come up thickly where hard-wood timber has been cleared
away, and if they are cut above the second or third joint,
one of the limbs soon turns upward and becomes a leader
to furnish another Christmas-tree. In this way the same
land is cut over several times. Fortunately the Balsam Fir
is about as nearly worthless for any other purpose as any
of our native trees, and therefore the waste of cutting so
much young timber is not serious. A few Black Spruces
come among the Firs, and Hemlock boughs, which, oddly
enough, are made to do duty as Palm branches in some
church services, are in growing demand every year.
Trees from Maine are shipped as far south as Baltimore;
and of late years large quantities of Holly branches, mostly
from Maryland, since the limited supply in New Jersey is
nearly exhausted, are sent as far north as Boston. Within
two or three years the Mistletoe has been sold here in a
few shops and even on the streets, but in spite of its asso-
ciation with Christmas festivities in Old World traditions,
it has filled but a small place here in the regular market ot
Christmas green. And yet this parasite is common on the
Gum trees of southern New Jersey, and it is never so beau-
tiful as at this season with its transparent berries clustered
among its evergreen leaves.
The plan for the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, printed
upon another page of this issue, records something
more than theideas of the acknowledged master oflandscape
art with regard to a great problem. It records the occur-
rence in our country of new and vast problems which
spring from the wonderful development of commerce and
the concentration of enormous wealth in the hands of in-
dividuals often willing to use it for the public good. And
it records that the time has passed, or is fast passing, when
great projects, more or less rural in their character, are to
be undertaken blindly or without the counsel of trained spe-
cialists. The fact that an artist is called upon to lo-
cate the building and model the grounds of a Univer-
sity, to cut up to the best advantage the grounds of a
suburban land company, or to suggest the proper
approaches to a rural railroad-station, shows that the
American people have made noteworthy progress during
the last few years in artistic and economic education.
The value of a thoroughly studied plan, such as Mr.
Stanford has secured, can be appreciated only by compar-
ing it with the plans of some of the old Universities of this
country, which have been built up piecemeal, without
reference to any consistent scheme of general utility or con-
venience, and just as individual fancy or momentary con-
venience dictated. An examination of Mr. Olmsted’s plan
must show how convenience, to say nothing of appearance,
is lost, and how economy of time and space is sacrificed,
whenever ascheme of this nature is undertaken without
the aid of a carefully-prepared plan.
The United States is now taking the lead among nations
in the revival of the art of landscape-gardening, once al-
most lost from the face of the earth, and is adapting it to
the solution of some of the greatest economic problems in
modern life. The movement is still young, yet it shows
itself more or less distinctly in every public improve-
ment recently undertaken in this country, and still more
unmistakably in the growing interest and appreciation ot
the American people for all that is good, and, therefore,
beautiful, in Art applied to Nature. :
A horticultural and technical college has lately been
opened at Swanley, near London, under the auspices of the
National Fruit-growers’ League, an association formed for
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 19, 1888.
the purpose of encouraging the general growth of fruit
in Great Britain, as a remedy for agricultural depres-
sion. Immense quantities of imported fruit, especially
apples, are consumed in Great Britain, and many per-
sons claim that all this fruit, and a great deal more, can be
better grown at home than anywhere else, and the land
which cannot be used profitably in growing wheat can be
made to pay large returns if covered with orchards, and
that fruit-growing will give employment to many persons
now idle. The trouble with English agriculture is too
deep to be cured or even greatly mended through apple-
growing ; but there is no reason why the new college may
not prove a useful institution. In it, we are told, ‘‘ work
for the mind will accompany work for the body, and thus
the physical and mental faculties will be equally devel-
oped;” and, having settled the somewhat momentous
question of ‘‘ what shall we do with our boys?” it is go-
ing, so its founders promise, to provide for the future of
the young women of England. ‘The working of the new
school will be watched, therefore, with interest and anxiety
by the heads of large families.
The wood used in the manufacture of spools is an item
of no small importance already in the forest-crop of some
of the Northern States; and the demand for it is increas-
ing rapidly. The wood of the Canoe Birch is used almost
exclusively for this purpose, although the Gray Birch is used
also in small quantities. Maine, and especially Piscata-
quis County, is now the headquarters of the spool-wood
industry ; and a large number of vessels loaded with
spool-wood have sailed direct, during the summer, from
Bangor to foreign ports. The wood for this purpose must
be clear and entirely free of knots and other imperfections;
it is sawed into squares, of different dimensions, four
feet long, which are delivered to the spool-makers tied
into bundles. Several million feet of Birch timber—prob-
ably twelve or fifteen—are cut annually in the Maine for-
ests alone for this purpose. The amount of Canoe Birch
lumber standing in our northern forests is still large, and
as the trees grow rapidly up to a certain age, the supply
will not be exhausted soon, although the consumption is
now increasing much more rapidly than it ever has before.
The Story of Shortia.
UR illustration upon page 509 represents one of the
rarest and most interesting plants of North America. It
is interesting from the pecular structure of its delicate flow-
ers, its botanical relationship, and the geographical distribu-
tion of the small family to which it belongs, which, as now
defined, consists of but half a dozen genera and only nine
species, which are all, excepting the two species of Diapen-
sia, confined to eastern North Americaand eastern Asia.
The great interest of our Shortia, however, is found in the
history of this plant during the past century, and in the fact
that among all the plants studied and described and classi-
fied by Asa Gray, this little herb most excited his interest.
American botanists never think of the man whom they all
delight to look upon as their master and to remember as
their friend without thinking, too, of this humble little plant,
which properly occupied a conspicuous place upon the gift
which a few years before his death they brought to him with
words of affection and encouragement.
Professor Gray was in Europe in 1839, and in examining
the herbarium of the elder Michaux, preserved in the Mu-
seum at Paris, found an unnamed specimen of a plant, with
the habit of Pyrola and the foliage of Galax, of which only
the leaves and a single fruit were preserved, and which had
been collected, the label stated, in the ‘‘ Hautes montagnes de
Carolinie.” This specimen at once arrested his attention ;
and after his return, two years later, from his first botanical
journey into the Carolina mountains, where he had searched
in vain for Michaux’s plant, he ventured to describe it, and to
point outits probable affinities upon the strength of the scanty
material in the Michaux herbarium, dedicating it to Dr. C. W.
Short, the author of a catalogue of the plants of Kentucky,
and fifty years ago an astute observer and capital collector
of western plants, which he distributed with an unstinted
hand among the principal herbaria of the United States and
Europe.
DECEMBER Io, 1888.]
Nothing more was seen of Shortia for a long time,
although no botanist ever visited the mountains of Caro-
lina (and the number after 1866 was considerable), without
carrying a special commission from Cambridge to bring back
a specimen of Michauy's little plant, in which Dr. Gray’s inter-
est became stronger than ever when, in studying in 1858 a
collection of Maximowicz’s Japanese plants, he recognized
in that botanist’s Sczzocodon uniflorus another species of
Shortia almost identical with the Carolina plant. The Japan-
ese specimens, curiously enough, were in the same condi-
tion—that is, although the calyx and pistil of the flower were
preserved, there was no trace of either corolla or stamens.
These specimens, while they confirmed the validity of the
genus, threw no light upon the Carolina plant, which bot-
anists now huntedfor more assiduously than ever. The
keenest-eyed plant-hunters looked for it in vain year after
year in all the region in which Michaux was supposed to
have traveled ; and the search was almost given up as hope-
less, when in May, 1877, Shortia was found accidentally by a
youth, G. M. Hyams, upon the banks of the Catawba River,
near the town of Marion, in McDowell County, North Caro-
lina, at a considerable distance from the high mountains to
which Michaux’s label assigned the plant. The new speci-
men fell into the hands of the young man’s father, a pro-
fessed herbalist. His knowledge of botany, however, was
not great; andit was not until the following year that he dis-
covered, with the aid of a correspondent, what a treasure he
had.
These new specimens made when the plant was in flower
confirmed at once Professor Gray's original ideas of the
proper relationship of his genus, and enabled him to com-
plete its characters and remodel the family to which it be-
longed.*
There seemed to be nothing more left to say about Shortia.
It was figured and described and discussed, and even intro-
duced sparingly into cultivation, although its stay in gardens
was a short one; while the enterprising discoverer reaped a
rich harvest during a year or two by selling plants (and, it is
to be feared, by exterminating them) for herbarium specimens,
at extravagant prices. Professor Gray, however, clung to the
belief that Michaux’s label could be depended upon, and that
the real home of Shortia was in the high mountains. He
regarded the station upon the Catawba as an outlying post,
to which he suggested the plant might have been washed
down, and still believed that it was to be found about the
head-waters of the streams flowing eastward from the high
Black Mountain range. This region was again carefully ex-
amined, but without result, and the search for Shortia was
practically abandoned.
There is still, however, another short chapter to relate in
the history of this little plant. I visited, two years ago, in
the autumn of 1886, the mountain region of North and South
Carolina, which lies about the head-waters of the Keowee
River, the great eastern fork of the Savannah, for the purpose
of gaining, if possible, some insight into the origin of d/ag-
nolia cordata, a species which was first described in Michaux’s
North American Flora, but had not been seen anywhere
growing wild during the present century, although pre-
served and generally disseminated in gardens. Michaux left
Augusta, Georgia, towards the end of November, 1788, for
the purpose of securing a supply of roots of what he called
at that time Magnolia cordata. This was not, as I was after-
wards able to show,t the Magnolia cordata of the Flora,
founded long afterwards in Paris by Richard upon aspecimen
of M. acuminata, but the AZ Fraseri, a species which had
been discovered a few years earlier by the younger Bar-
tram, the first botanist who explored the Carolina moun-
tains. Michaux, in spite of a serious attack of fever,
reached the head-waters of the Keowee on the gth of Decem-
ber, and although weakened by sickness and hunger, and
seriously impeded by the intense cold which he encountered
in this elevated region, proceeded to explore the neighboring
high mountains in search of a supply of young Magnolia
trees for his Charleston nurseries. On the day of his arrival
he noted in his journal that he had discovered what he called a
“ Nouvel Arbuste a. f. dentelés rampant sur la Montagne.” |
had taken occasion before undertaking this journey to examine
the manuscript diary kept by Michaux during his stay in Amer-
ica, preserved in the library of the American Philosophical
Society ; and I had noted the directions he had written down
with much detail for finding his ‘“47dus¢e"—which evidently had
interested him, as it is the only plant which he mentioned in
*Asa Gray in American Journal of Science, 3 ser. xvi., 483; Annales Sez. Nat., 6
ser. vii., 171, #. 15.
tAmerican Journal of Science, 3 ser. Xxxii., 1160.
Garden and Forest.
507
the whole diary in this way—in the hope of identifying his
plant, which, as this region had not been visited again by any
botanist, might prove something new, or at least imperfectly
known. The idea that the plant might be Shortia was hardly
entertained. It did not seem possible that Michaux, un-
der any circumstances, could have mistaken Shortia for a
shrub ; and Dr. Gray, who had examined the diary either just
before or immediately after his first journey to Carolina, if he
noticed this entry at all, certainly never associated it in any
way with the plant which he wanted to find more than all
others.. Had he done so he would have visited, or sent some
of his correspondents to visit, the head-waters of the Savannah,
a region which, for some reason, never attracted his attention,
although it was by this route, following the old Indian trail
from the coast to the Cherokee country, that all the early
botanists penetrated to the mountains.
It was possible, with the aid of the journal, to find, without
much trouble, the spot where Michaux had camped in Decem-
ber, 1788, and to trace his footsteps upon the different excur-
sions which he made into the mountains from this camp.
The two torrents which he described, as descending in a
rough and tumultuous course from the high mountains to
form the Keowee, are now known as the Toxoway and the
Horse-pasture. The little fertile plain which Michaux found
at the junction of these two streams still exists, as does the foot-
path, since trodden by the feet of many moonshiners, which
led from the right bank of the river a hundred paces below the
junction of the two streams into the mountain facing the
north. It was by the side of this path that Michaux, just Ioo
years ago this month, discovered his ‘‘ drduste,” with den-
ticulate leaves, and here, ninety-eight years later, | found
Shortia.
The evidence seems conclusive that the two plants are one
and the same, or, if it was not in this exact locality that
Michaux gathered the specimen preserved in the’ Paris
Museum, it was in this immediate neighborhood, where
Shortia is now known through the subsequent explorations
of Mr. F. H. Boynton, of Highlands, North Carolina, to be
abundant,
Mr. Faxon’s drawing shows so clearly the habit and structure
of Shortia, which, moreover, has been frequently described
in purely technical journals of botany, that nothing further
upon these subjects need be writtennow. Its nearest Ameri-
can alliesare Galax aphylla, a beautiful evergreen herb, with
tall, erect racemes of small pure white flowers, peculiar to the
wooded slopes of the southern Alleghany Mountains, and the
familiar Pixie (Pixidanthera barbata) of the New Jersey Pine
barrens. There isin Japan one species of Shortia (8. w7zflora),
and possibly two, as there exists a rude portrait in an old work
upon Japanese botany, in which what is evidently another spe-
cies of Shortia, almost identical with the American plant, is rep-
resented. In Japan, too, are two species of the nearly related
Schizocodon, while in Thibet occurs Berneuxia, of the same
family of Diapensiacee, of which the type is Diapensia, with
two species, one widely distributed in boreal regions and the
other confined to the Himalayas. Gass,
Plan of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University.
ENATOR STANFORD, of California, when he determined
to commemorate the short life of his only son by erecting
a university in his memory, had the practical good sense to
call to his assistance an artist trained by long years of experi-
ence in dealing with large questions of rural and urban im-
provement. Theanswerto the problem which was given to Mr.
Olmsted to solve is found in the plan, a part of which is printed
upon page 508 of this issue of GARDEN AND ForEst. The prob-
lem was an interesting and remarkable one. No one before,
itis safe to say, has deliberately set about building a great
university, with a university town and all the appliances
thought necessary for a modern education, in a situation re-
mote from any great centre of population. Mr. Olmsted,
therefore, has had to deal with questions which are quite
unlike those found in his own experience, and for which there
are no precedents in the work of other landscape gardeners.
The ground which he has studied with reference to this
plan embraces about 7,000 acres, the map here presented
covering an area of about one mile in length by half a mile in
width. Itis situated in the San José valley, about thirty miles
from San Francisco, overlooking the head of the Bay of San
Francisco, and not far from Menlo Park, the suburban or
country-home of several prominent Californians. It occupies
the rolling slopes of the low hills of one of the interior Coast
Ranges. The heights extending above and towards the left
508
of the portion shown in the plan are covered with the rem-
nants of what was once a fine forest of Firs and Pines and
Redwoods, and over the lower ground are scattered widely
the noble Oaks which give to the scenery of the California
valleys the peculiar park-like aspect which distinguishes them
from those of the rest of the United States.
Mr. Olmsted's plan embraces, in addition to the immediate
surroundings of the University, the site for an arboretum, in
which it is proposed to gather the arboreal vegetation of
California and of other regions of the world with climates simi-
lar to that of California, and an artificially planted forest of
several hundred acres, which will serve as a model to
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Fig. 79.—Plan of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University.
A: The central quadrangle, with buildings now partly under construction.
BC: Sites for adjoining quadrangles, with proposed buildings. DE F G: Four
blocks of land of form and extent corresponding to the above, to be held in
reserve as sites for additional quadrangles and proposed buildings. H: Site for
University Church. I: Site for Memorial Arch. -J; Sites for University Libraries
and Museums, K: Site for buildings of Industrial Department of the University,
now partly under construction. L: Site for University Botanic Garden. OO O OE
Four districts laid out in building lots suitable for detached dwellings and domestic
gardens, with public ways giving direct communication between them and the
University central buildings. PP PP: Sites for a Kinder Garten, a Primary
School, an Advanced School and a School of Industry and Physical Training.
Q R: A direct Avenue between the central quadrangle and a proposed station of
the Southern Pacific Railroad, with bordering groves and promenades. Space is
allowed in the wheel way for a double track street railway.
planters on the Pacific coast. It is needless, of course, at this
time to call attention to the importance of this particular part
of Mr. Olmsted’s comprehensive scheme, or to urge the
necessity for establishing an Arboretum and Botanic Garden
in California, where all the climatic conditions are so unlike
those of the rest of the Continent, that they may be made to
play an important part in extending the sum of human knowl-
edge with regard to the trees and plants of the world. :
The leading motives of the scheme are briefly summarized
by Mr. Olmsted as follows:
The ground covered by the upper portion of the sketch, and
extending some miles beyond, is a part of the foothills of the
Garden and Forest.
{December ig, 1888,
coast range and is mainly rugged and semi-mountainous.
. .« » The remainder is a plain, with a moderate inclination
to the north-east. . . . The central buildings of the Uni-
versity are to stand in the midst of the plain. . . . This
has been determined by the founders chiefly in order that
no topographical difficulties need ever stand in the way of
setting other buildings as they may, in the future, one after
another, be found desirable, in eligible, orderly and symmet-
rical relation and connection with those earlier provided.
This point being fixed, the leading purpose of so much
of the plan as is represented in the sketch is: First—
to provide for convenient and economical use, by large
numbers, of the means of research and instruction to be
offered in the central buildings. Second—to provide, in the
arrangements devised for this purpose, an outward character,
suitable to the climate of the locality, that will serve to foster
the growth of refined, but simple and inexpensive, tastes.
Third—to favor the formation, in connection with the Uni-
versity, of a community, instructively representative of at-
tractive and wholesome conditions of social and domestic life.
The four sides of the central quadrangle are to be formed
by a continuous arcade of stone, eighteen feet in height,
twenty feet in depth and 1,700 feet in length. Opening from
the arcade are to be a series of structures for class-rooms,
lecture-rooms, draughting-rooms and rooms for scientific in-
vestigation and instruction. Each of these is to be one high
and airy story, and in all desirable cases to be provided with
special arrangements for light and ventilation above as well
as on its foursides. . . . Of several reasons for limiting
these structures to one story, the principal is, that in a build-
ing of two or more stories the necessity of providing on the
lower for any cross partitions, or for the support of any con-
siderable weight in the superstructures, has everywhere in
older institutions been found to standin the way of desirable
revisions of interior plans. It is considered that anything thus
likely to hinder the ready adoption in the future of new inven-
tions or methods and conveniences for liberal education
should be avoided. . . . The areasassigned to the second
and third quadrangles (B and C), are to be used as University
Athletic Grounds until wanted to be built upon. When taken
to be built upon, the next blocks of the reservation (D, E) are
to be substituted as Athletic Grounds, and so on. Those
parts of the reservation not in use as thus proposed, are to be
fields of the Agricultural Department of the University.
The public streets are to have borders ten feet in breadth,
planted with shade trees. These borders are to be graded and
planted at once, and all land within the limits of the plan not
to be presently occupied for some one of the purposes above
stated, is, as soon as practicable, to be closely planted. The
plantations are to be afterwards thinned before they become
crowded, and clearings are to be made among them, as, from
time to time, space is wanted for buildings. Building sites not
expected to be very soon occupied by buildings are also in-
tended to be inclosed with hedges. By these two expedients
it is hoped that the immediate surroundings of the University
may be prevented from taking on at any point the usual as-
pect of ‘vacant lots” in the outskirts of towns and villages,
which, in California, because of its dry summer climate, is apt
to be even more forlorn than in the Eastern States.
That part of the public way, divided by a strip of gardened
ground, upon which the Library and the Museum buildings
(J, J) face, is to be carried upon a retaining wall with a parapet,
making ita terrace. The five compartments immediately to
the northward, below the terrace, are to be depressed areas,
each occupied by a mass of shrubbery, over which a broad
view of the principal buildings of the University will be had
from the head of the avenue (Q). These areas would be fields
of turf were it not that satisfactory turf in California can be
maintained only by profuse irrigation, and irrigated ground, un-
less kept with extreme neatness, is liable to be a source of
miasmatic exhalations. It is considered that the University
should not have the difficulty and expense imposed upon it of
the constant mowing, rolling, sweeping and watering of such
large open spaces as would thus be made necessary. In this
and in all other respects, the landscape and the architectural
design have in view ideals that pertain rather to the south than
to the north of Europe or to the Atlantic States.
This work will be studied with profound interest by landscape
gardeners, and its gradual development will be watched with
interest by all persons interested in the spread of education
and in the growth of American civilization.
It may be added that substantial progress has already been
made in the construction of the university buildings from
plans prepared by Messrs. Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, of
Boston.
DECEMBER Ig, 1888.]
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
ps attempt to induce English farmers to plant their
fields with Tobacco instead of Wheat and Potatoes hav-
ing proved abortive, efforts are being made to induce colonial
farmers to try Tobacco for the English market. A prize is
offered by the London Chamber of Commerce for the best
specimen of colonial-grown Tobacco, of not less than 400
pounds. Without protection, however, it is not clear how
the present supply can be superseded by what must ob-
viously be an inferior article.
Begonias pay in England better than Tobacco, and I hear
Garden and Forest.
509
flowers, which are open together. The individual blooms,
male and female, attain the size of three inches or more in
diameter, and are composed of six to eight large, oval
petals, which give them the shape of Anemone fulgens or ot
A. Faponica. A riearly complete range of colors, from pure
white to scarlet, with various shades of pink and carmine, is
to be found in this new race, which produces a_ beautiful
display of bloom at a season when the tuberous Begonias
are over—that is, in November.” The most marked charac-
ter in this new race is the number of petals in the flowers,
the common ones having four only in the male flowers and
six in the females ;.the increased number in M. Lemoine’s
latest success is owing to the eight-petaled character of one
of the parents, B. octopetala.
Fig. 80.—Shortia galacifolia—See page 506.
the ze. 2, Corolla laid open, showing the stamens and staminodes. 3. Diagram of the flower.
4 Astamen, 5. Pistil. 6, Vertical section of the ovary. 7. A fruit. 8. Cross-section of a fruit. 9. A seed.—All enlarged.
1. A plant of the natural size.
we have still another race of these plants to add to those
which have become universally popular for out-door bed-
ding and green-house decoration. Mons. V. Lemoine, of
Nancy, already famous as the raiser of some first-rate
Gladioli, Pelargoniums, etc., has succeeded in crossing the
very distinct species, B. octofetala, with some of the finest of
the tuberous section. He writes to Dr. Masters: ‘The re-
sult of this cross is a magnificent one, and the new race,
‘ Octopetala Lemoinea,’ is one of the handsomest which I
have ever raised. The root is somewhat irregularly length-
ened, black, intermediate in shape between that of the two
parents. The stem is herbaceous and short, so that the
leaves seem to be radical; they are broad, undulated, of a
glossy green, with round, hairy stalks. Each plant bears
from six to eight erect flower-stalks, thick and hairy, about
two feet high, and each supporting from five to seven
Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, famous for first-rate work
among fruit-trees, the raiser of some of our finest Peaches,
Nectarines, Plums, etc., and the pioneer of house-cultiva-
tion for orchard-trees, has gathered a very fine collection of
Oranges, Citrons, Lemons, etc., which he cultivates by the
thousand, and fruits when only two or three feet high. Al-
together he has over fifty distinct kinds, which are true to
name and comprise all the very best commercial sorts. I
saw them a few days ago, and was especially charmed with
the show-house of well-fruited plants, none in pots above
eight-inch size, and some with over a score of large, beauti-
ful fruits upon them. I was surprised to find that these pot-
grown Oranges were betterin flavor and much more juicy
than those imported. Mr. Rivers supplies the colonies and
also America with plants from his nursery, which, being
grafted and carefully named, are much more reliable than
510 Garden and Forest.
(DEcEMBER ig, 1888.
Fig. 81.—The Washington Oak at Fishkill—See page srr.
those raised from seeds. Indeed, these plants, except the
Spec ies, are no more likely to reproduce themselves from
seeds than Apples or Plums are. For the decoration of
conservatories and houses in winter these small plants are
ot considerable value. They are grafted on the Lemon
when young, grown in sunny, intermediate houses, and
when the fruits appear the plants are kept in a temperature
never lower than 60°. The high, regular temperature in-
duces the formation of pulp, and prevents that abnormal
thickness and unevenness of rind which is invariable in
fruits ripened in an ordinary green-house.
The charming little Daffodil known as Narcissus monophy!-
Jus, or the White Hoop-Petticoat, is the first to develop its
pure white blooms, and they remain fresh on the plants for
several weeks. It is grown at Kew for the decoration of the
cool green-house. The bulbs are planted in a sandy, peat
soil, which is kept moist while the plants are in leaf and
flower, but quite dry when these are over, All through the
December ig, 1888. ]
summer the pots containing the bulbs are exposed to full
sunshine on a dry shelf. This is the secret of growing and
flowering the White Hoop-Petticoat.
Mr. Moore, of the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, near Dub-
lin, has added another to the half dozen or so excellent kinds
of Eucharis already in‘cultivation. The new one is a very
distinct variety of Z. Amazonica (E. grandiflora of botanists),
characterized by the purity of its flowers, those of the type
having a green tinge ‘on the inside of the tube ; there is also
a difference in the form of the three inner segments of the
perianth. The foliage is much shorter and thicker in texture
in the new one than in the type. Mr. Baker has named the
variety Mooreana. We have now, in addition to the two
mentioned, £. Sandert, E. Mastersi, EF. candida and FE. sube-
dentata, all of them large-flowered and of great value on
account of the freedom with which their flowers are pro-
duced under ordinary treatment, it being by no means un-
usual for these plants to flower three or four times in the
same year. The once dreaded mite, which is often found
on the bulbs of these plants, has proved much less deadly than
it was supposed. to be; at all events, one rarely sees bulbs
which are unaffected by it, and hosts of other bulbs besides
Eucharis are just as much subject to it. A famous Dutch
bulb-grower, on being asked if the mite did him harm,
replied that it had been on his bulbs ever since he knew
them, which was more than forty years, but it did no harm.
If a bulb sickened the mite increased, but strong bulbs were
unaffected by it. So far as my experience goes, this is true.
Cypripedium insigne Sandere is the last sensational Orchid,
a small plant, with a single growth and one flower, having
brought seventy guineas at an auction sale on the 16th inst.
It differs from the type in being devoid of spots, the pouch
and petals being yellow and wax-like, the dorsal sepal yel-
low below and white above. It was imported among a
batch ot C. txsigne by Mr. Sander.
Two of the best Orchids flowering here now are Lelia
autumnalis, with its variety atrorubens, and L. anceps in all
its numerous forms. These two species are Orchids for the
million, as they are easily grown, they are permanent
stayers when once established, and they flower freely every
autumn, lasting about six weeks in perfection,
November 23d, 1888, W. Watson.
The W ee aneton One at Fishkill.
LL strangers who visit Cambridge, in Massachusetts, look
with interest upon the remnants of the venerable Elm
tree under which Washington sat when, on the 3d of July,
1775, he assumed command of the Colonial Army. Not less
interesting from its association with the General of the American
Army, although much less well known, is the Oak which is
represented in our illustration upon page 510,
Washington’s headquarters remained on the west bank of
the Hudson, between Newburgh and New Windsor, from the
spring of 1782 to August 18th, 1783; and during this time he
crossed the river frequently for the purpose of visiting the
troops in camp upon Fishkill Plain, near the village of that
name. The most convenient landing- place on the east bank
was upon a long, low point of land formed to the north of the
mouth of Fishkill Creek, known as ‘“ Presguw'ile,” and
here, according to the tradition of the locality, under two
large Oak trees, Washington always mounted and dismounted
from his horse as he started and returned from the camp.
One of these trees appears in our illustration; its com-
panion was blown to the ground on the toth of August,
1881. The story of Washington’s connection with these two
Oaks seems to be abundantly substantiated. The Commander-
in-Chief was often accompanied on these excursions from
his headquarters to the camp at Fishkill by his Adjutant-Gen-
eral, William) Denning, whose son, also William Denning,
at that time fourteen years of age, was sometimes allowed to
join the party. The impressions made upon the boy by the
incidents of this period were not effaced; and many years
later, in 1822, after a life of travel and adventure, he returned
to the Hudson and purchased from amember of the Verplank
family the point of land, and the old Oaks, still associated in
his mind with the Commander-in-chief of the American Army
and the first President of the United States. The daughter of
the second William Denning, to whom we are indebted
for these facts, still inhabits the old mansion built on
“Presgwile” in 1813; and her life and that of her father span
the years which separate us from the days ot Washington
and the Colonial Army.
The tree is a Chestnut Oak (Quercus Prinus of botanists), still
healthy and vigorous, and standing directly at the top of the low
Garden and Forest.
But
river-bank. The trunk girths, at the present time, twenty-one
feet, and, judging from the age of its companion, which was
blown down seven years ago, eight or ten centuries may
have passed :since the acorn from which it sprang fell to the
ground.
Our illustration is from one of a series of photographs of
the old trees and the historical country places of the Hudson
River, made by Mrs. Winthrop Sargent. The photograph
brings out admirably the striking character of the bark of this
particular species of Chestnut Oak. It is dark brown, and, on
old trees, very thick and deeply furrowed, with broad, rounded
ridges; while on all other American White Oaks (that is, Oaks
which have the lobes of the leaves rounded without the
slender bristles-found on the leaves of the Black Oaks, and
whose acorns ripen in one season), the bark is thin, light-
colored, or, on some species, almost white, not furrowed, but
separating into thin, flaky plates or scales.
Cultural Department.
New Chrysanthemums.
SEue published lists of Chrysanthemums in recent years
have contained the names of so many new varieties that
the experience of any grower who has tried, so far as_possi-
ble, all the new kinds, may be of some interest to those who
are wise enough to limit their collections of this plant to the
well-tested varieties. It has been possible for me, up to the
present time, in a garden of moderate.size, to try all the
new foreign varieties and the larger part of ‘those raised in
this country. But the steadily diminishing number of really
good novelties, and the pleasant lottery of raising seedlings,
have convinced me that a more rigorous selection than that
hitherto practiced must be henceforth made.
Lemoine, of Nancy, who publishes a list of the most desira-
ble new varieties of Continental origin, gives the names of
sixty-eight Chrysanthemums new in 1887. Cannell’s list for
the same year numbers fifty-seven; and the various American
growers add at least fifty names to these.
Of the fifty-three Continental varieties of 1887, which I have
tried, coming from such successful growers as Délaux, Lassali,
Etienne Lacroix, Audiguier, De Reydellet and others, tour only
seem worth growing again; not that the rest are all bad, far
from it, but they are either unsatisfactory i in growth or not suf-
ficiently distinct from existing kinds. The four selected are:
(1) Lord Mayor (Délaux), sty led in the introducer’s descr iption
a large-flowered variety ; the plant is of moderate size and a
most profuse bearer of well-shaped, recurved, full flowers of
white color, suffused with rose-violet. (2) Alcyon (Lacroix), a
Japanese variety, with large flowers, the broad petals being
rose-carmine, striped with white, and the centre of the petals a
rose color. This variety is quite distinct from existing kinds,
and is, moreover, of vigorous growth. (3) Louis Wieille
(Audiguier) is a very e early, flowering Japanese kind, of good
growth, well covered with large mauve-violet flowers, with a
lighter centre. (4) Superbe flore (Lacroix), Japanese, appears
to me the best recent introduction of its sort. It has very
much of the habit of that always good variety, M. Délaux,
The rose-carmine, globular flowers are borne on stiff, erect
stems, and are somewhat lighter toward the centre; the petals
are twisted, and white on ‘the reverse side. It comes into
flower early and remains fresh for many weeks.
Charles Delinas (Lassali), sent out as a large-tlowered variety,
is very like Robert Walcott in form and color, but does not
appear to me equal to the latter. Mr. Cannell sent out in 1887
some varieties imported from Japan. Of these, Edwin Moly-
neux, Mr. H.Cannell and Mrs. H. Cannell are well worth grow-
ing. The first has broad petals, partially incurved, ot the Mrs.
Wheeler type—rich brown inside and yellow on the outside; the
second, in the way of the well-known old variety, Gr andiflorum,
is of a rich, deep yellow; Mrs. Cannell is of rather dwarf
growth, and has large, pure white, incurved petals. Ralph
Brocklebank, a golden sport from the old variety, Meg Mer-
rilies, has proved: a very successful prize-winner in the E “nglish
shows of this year, but did not do well with me. Avalanche,
a pure white Japanese variety, also a great success this year
in England, I have not grown and have not seen.
A number of importations in recent years direct from Japan
has given our American growers an advantage which has
been quickly improved. “The new varieties are very dis-
tinct from those previously in cultivation, and their influence is
already noticeable ina number of seedlings well worth pre-
serving. Of an importation of Japanese Chrysanthemums,
which “Howered for the first time in this country in 1884, Mrs,
N
Garden and Forest. [DECEMBER Ig, 1888,
SFU
C. H. Wheeler, Hon. = ae Ish, H. Waterer, Gloriosum, Bicolor larly good. No plant of 1887 has made so satisfactory an im-
and Lord Byron may be espec ially noted, and are all worth pression upon me, in my own houses, as Spaulding’s John
rowing. Thorpe, a Japanese flower of large size, rich, deep lake in
The most remarkable Japanese collection sent to this coun- — color. Manvel sent out by H. Waterer, a white Japanese with
try is undoubtedly that made by a Japanese named Neeseina, large violet blotch in the centre, is distinct and good. Mrs.
for some time resident here, who, on his return home, se Carnegie and Mrs. Morton, exhibited for the first time this year,
Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, of Boston, a small collection of Chrysan- are both striking and promising varieties, but should have
themums. Among them was the now celebrated plantnamed another vear's trial before they can be considered as fairly
Mrs. A. Hardy, which has created so much excitement at the — entitled to the positions now claimed for them.
flower shows of the past season. While to my mind this is cer- Cambridge, Mass., December 4th, 1888. H. P. Walcott.
mension LHR,
Fig. 82.—Chrysanthemum, Lilian B. Bird.
heel not the most beautiful Chrysanthemum in existence, it Japanese Chrysanthemum, Lilian B. Bird.
s probably the most valuable addition made in recent years 5
to this class of plants. It is apparently of vigorous growth, a (Gas variety, an illustration of which, from a photograph,
character sadly lacking in Mrs. Wheeler, Bicolor and others of ypears above, was received from Japan with the
this class, and should become the parent of many striking now faivous Mrs. Alpheus Hardy. It is a flower of the largest
novelties. Some other flowers from plants belonging to size, with a full, high centre when at its best. Although it
Neeseina’s collection are also very good. The plants now in’ resembles somewhat in form the old Glorie Rayonnante
possession of E. Fewkes & Son have not been themselves ex- in color, it is very distinct, being throughout of that cae
hibited this season, but flowers from them have been shown, and soft shade of pink commonly called ‘shrimp pink,”
and these have been especially commended, and deservedly tint quite new to the Chrysanthemum. The florets are ail
so. W.H. Lincoln, large yellow ; Lilian B. Bird, large, full tubular, or quilled, long and slender, with the ends scarcely
quilled pink flower; Kioto, largeincurved yellow, are all particu. expanded and slightly curved inward, The unique color,
DeceMBeR 19, 1888.]
large size and vigorous habit make this one of the most
valuable of recent introduction. Arthur H. Fewkes.
Newton Highlands, Mass.
The Vegetable Garden.
GLOBE ARTICHOKES.—AIl gardeners know what uncertain
plants these are. If one-fourth of those covered up in the fall
are alive in the spring we should not complain, for these can
be lifted and divided into as many pieces as there are well-
rooted divisions, and all will be good flowering plants in sum-
mer. They will come in too early, however, for October
flowers. For fall flowers seed should be sown now and the
plants grown in the green-houses till next spring. There is no
need of hurrying them, but if sown early and grown on moder-
ately, they will be sure to flower next fall. If sown in spring
and fed liberally, they often flower nicely in September and
October, but this was not the case last summer, which was
so cooland moist that few spring raised plants bloomed in the
fall.
CELERIAC, OR TURNIP-ROOTED CELERY.— Although cata-
logued and sold by every seedsman, this vegetable is not
often grown for use in private families, but it is grown
in considerable quantity by the market-gardeners around
New Yorkand may be found in abundance just now in our city
markets. The leaves are useless, the Turnip-like root being
the edible part. Peeled and sliced they are used for flavoring
soups and salads. The flavor is pronounced and agreeable,
better than that of the self-blanching leaf Celeries and as
strong as the red Celeries. Itis very easily grown. The seed
should be sown in April or May, the seedlings pricked off in
June, and planted out in July or August in rich ground in
rows fifteen to eighteen inches apart. It is often a disappoint-
ing cep, however, from a failure of the roots to reach a good
size. tored in moist sand, the roots may be kept in a cool
cellar and in good condition for use all winter long.
SPINACH.—As soon as the ground is frozen hard a little hay,
straw or thatch may be scattered over this crop to protect it
from sunshine, sudden freezing and thawing and heaving out
by freezing; but until the ground is frozen two or three inches
deep, mulch should not be used on account of the field mice.
Good Spinach can now be cut from cold-frames, if it was
sown early in September, and if a light cover of thatch has
been strewn over frames in hard, frosty weather. For an
abundant crop, the Viroflay or Long Standing is preferable,
but the market growers on Long Island grow the Savoy-
leaved. Where a little protection can be given in winter,
these varieties are as good as any other, but where grown in
the open air, and without any protection, the prickly seeded
is the best variety, as it is the hardiest.
UPLAND CREss (Barbarea).—A good deal has been written
about this plant as a culinary vegetable for the past two years,
its use being urged as a salad and as a substitute for Spinach.
After a fair trial, we do not find it any improvement upon the
other vegetables we have and can grow easily enough. But
as it is one of the easiest of all vegetables to grow, and forms
large bunches of green leaves that remain in succulent condi-
tion allsummer long, and as it does not run to flower the first
year, it may serve a good purpose as a dry weather vegetable,
or in localities where it is difficult to grow Spinach, Lettuces
or Water Cress in summer. Nothing in our gardenis as fresh
and green to-day as a row of this Cress, and it was sown last
April.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS.—These were never better than they are
this year. Not only are the Sprouts abundant all along the
stems, but they are close, solid, heavy and perfectly free from
aphides. Generally they are so much infested with insects
that many of them are not worth gathering, no matter how
well they have grown. It may have been the copious and
frequent rains during the fall months that have given us
immunity from this pest. Of two sowings, one made May
23d, another June 26th, of Tall French and Dwarf Improved,
both have done well, but-witha slight advantage in favor of the
May sowing. Brussels Sprouts are moderately hardy, but it is
well to have them under cover before December. Deep
frames, a cellar or a warm shed are good places for them.
About the end of October I erected a temporary shelter for
Chrysanthemums on the south side of a shed, using some
spare sashes; on the 1st of December, as the flowers were
about gone, the plants were cut down and removed and
Brussels Sprouts planted in their place. In storing them in a
place like this all the large leaves that grow on the stems
should be stripped off, also the larger ones that grow around
the top. When this is done the plants can be stored close
together without danger of rotting. Wm. Falconer,
Glen Coye, N. Y., Dec. 7th.
Garden and Forest.
513
Rose Notes.
NIPHETOS.—Well grown flowers of this admirable variety
are still sought for, and, under favorable conditions, it con-
tinues to rank as a useful and quite profitable Rose, though
in many instances it has been supplanted by The Bride.
Niphetos has been found to do very well on side benches,
where the space above is somewhat limited, as its habit of
growth is rather more spreading than upright. In fact,
many of the flowering shoots are inclined to be pendent,
the weight of the bud being too great for the slender shoots
to support without bending.
The latter condition is rather a disadvantage at times, and
may be corrected, in a measure, by budding this variety on
some stronger growing plant. Excellent results have been
obtained insome cases by using the Lamarque as a stock, the
plants so treated having produced large crops of good buds
for eight or ten years in succession. - But where this system
is adopted, and for such a length of time as that mentioned,
the plants will naturally need more space than is afforded by
the ordinary side bench. If grown on its own. roots, it
should be remembered that Niphetos is not a very strong
rooting variety, and, therefore, is easily overwatered, and
when once in that condition, it needs a long time to recover.
La FRANCE.—This pioneer among the Hybrid Tea Roses
has attained great popularity of late years as a valuable
variety for all seasons of the year, its pleasing color and
delightful fragrance being fully appreciated by the flower-
loving public. Itis also an excellent Rose for growing in
ots, and has givena good return for the space occupied.
he plants for this purpose should be struck in February or
March and grown on until the autumn, when a short rest
should be given to them, when they may be flowered during
the following February. Much finer flowers are produced by
this variety if the shoots are allowed to remain upright, and it
is therefore best forit to be grown in such asituation as to ren-
der tying down unnecessary. Experience has shown that the
flowers of La France should be allowed to develop almost
completely before being cut, as the outer petals will often
spread out to their full extent long before the centre ones
are ready to open. If cutin that condition they frequently
fail to open satisfactorily afterwards, and half their beauty is
lost. This Rose is too often condemned, merely on account
of the grower’s impatience.
COMTESSE DE FRIGNEUSE.—This yellow Tea, of recent intro-
duction, for which great things were promised, has thus
far failed to realize, at least for commercial purposes, the
expectations of those who have tested it. The color is
pretty and it has a pleasant fragrance, but the flowers have
but little size, and the plant itself is not very strong in
growth, and thus it is found lacking in two very essential
points. The glittering descriptions of new Roses, and the
unqualified assertions as to their value made by some of
their introducers before any adequate test of their merits
has been made, must eventually prove an injury to this line
of business. The notable failures of the past few years,
such as Her Majesty, Princess Beatrice, and, with a majority
of growers, Puritan also, has brought about a much more
conservative temper on the part of the large Rose growers,
and in future it is highly probable that many of them will
test new' varieties by the dozen instead of by the hundred.
Experience with novelties in Roses has proved very costly
in some cases, W. H. Taplin.
Holmesburg, Pa.
Orchid Notes.
Cypripedium Spicerianum.—tin the collection of Mr. De Witt
Smith, of Lee, Mass., over Igo flowers of this handsome Lady-
slipper Orchid are fully expanded, having dorsal sepals and
lips of unusual size. Only within this last four years has this
species been seen in quantity. Before that time it was exceed-
ingly rare, having been introduced about the year 1878 by Mr.
Spicer, of England, a great lover of this genus, in whose honor
the plant was afterwards named. It is a free grower, enjoys
a warm and moist position in the Cattleya-house, and should
be placed ina compost of good turfy loam, peat.and fresh
spagnum, ample drainage being very necessary. All the Cypri-
pediums in this collection are well worth a visit to see, as
they are perhaps the best grown in this country, and bid fair
to equal any that are grown in Europe. Every plant is
potted in sphagnum moss only; not a particle of peat or
soil of any description is used. Mr. Norman, the gardener,
is not satisfied with the holes put in the pots by the manu-
facturer, but manages by a_ skillful knock with a ham-
mer to enlarge them to nearly twice their size. The visitor
514
can hardly help asking whether Mr, Norman does not use
some liquid fertilizer, but that he denies emphatically.
Cymbidium Mastersi album.—My. John Wallace, of Paterson,
New Jersey, has a plant in bloom in his collection of this some-
what rare variety. The flowers are born on a pendent stem
having sepals, petals and lips of the purest white, the latter
having a yellow crest, the purple spots as seen in the ordinary
form “being entirely absent. This plant inhabits the lower
parts of the Khasia Hills, and luxuriates on old clumps of trees
where from time to time decayed vegetable matter has col-
lected. A Cattleya house temperature suits it admirably, and
it enjoys a compost of decayed leaves, fibrous loam and an
abundant supply of moisture while making its growth. During
its period of rest it should be kept dry and somewhat cooler,
Several plants of the chaste and scarce Odontoglossum Harre-
anum are flowering in this collection, This Orchid is sometimes
called a yellow O. Rossiz, but it is a supposed natural hybrid
between Q. Rossii andQO. cordatum. Some of the flowers are of
great size, and on one stout spike here the flowers were three
and one-half inches across, with markings of a very sich color.
Jersey City. ——_—_—_—_—__—- ee On
Correspondence.
Improvement of North American Fruits.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—We have cultivated for several years the wild Papaw
(Asimina triloba), and it bears fruit regularly here every sea-
son. The fruit is delicious, and to my taste the best of the
wild indigenous fruits of North America. Unfortunately,
however, ‘it contains too many seeds ; these are large, and the
amount of edible pulp is too small, therefore, in proportion to
the size of the fruit, to make it really valuable. The Papaw,
however, has not been improved by cultivation, and when it
is remembered how the fruit-trees of Europe have been
altered by long cultivation, and particularly by raising seed-
lings of good varieties, and by selection, I cannot help think-
ing r that the same results may be secured by operating in this
way with the Papaw. The result to be obtained is the estab-
lishment of a variety with a large amount of pulp in the
fruit, and, if possible, without seeds. Such varieties are
already known among grapes, pears, Japanese persimmons,
oranges, bananas, etc. This improvement, if it can be
effected, will make the Papaw a fruit of great commercial
value, and it seems to be the duty of American pomologists
and horticulturists to experiment in this direction. It would
be necessary in the first place to select among the wild Pa-
paws the varieties that seem to come nearest to the ideal
standard, to grow seedlings from them, and then to select
those seedlings which show the most improvement in the de-
ange direction. If the experiments are continued long enough
the ideal fruit will be developed, and then can be pery rpetuated
by grafts. It will need, of course, some time to arrive at any
result, but I am convinced that in three or four generations
real progress can be made.
The Loquat (Ariobotrya Faponica) is now very well known
in the south of France, but the variety which we grow is by no
means the best. A Japanese agriculturist w ho has lately
visited the Villa Thuret told me that a variety of Loquat exists
in Japan with fruit three or four times as large as the one
which we have. This variety, moreover, has only one seed,
and not three or four, as in the common varieties. The size
and number of its seeds is the only reason why the Loquat
has remained such a third or fourth rate fruit, inferior even to
the Medlar and Sorb (Sorbus domestica).
It surprises me that the Sadal Palmetto, which ought to be
one of the hardiest Palms, has not, up to the present time, suc-
ceeded in the south of France or anywhere in southern Eu-
rope. Why? What is the influence in air or soil which pre-
vents it from growing as well as many Palms do here?
The year 1888 has been the most abnormal known in Europe
since the beginning of the century, and there has been no
summer heat even in Algiers. The temperature in Provence
has been three degrees centigrade lower than the average; and
the result is that many exotics have not flowered this year, or
have flowered so late that they will not perfect their fruit ;
and there are many failures with garden and field crops due
to this lack of heat. Charles Naudin.
Villa Thuret, Antibes, November, 1888.
[There are a,few American fruits, as Monsieur Naudin
points out in the case of the Papaw, capable probably or
very great improvement. The Persimmon (Diospyros
Virginiana),as well as the Papaw, is one of them, the fruit
when fully ripe being considered by many persons, even
now, delicious.
Garden and Forest.
It varies a great deal in quality, the fruit.
[DeceMBER 19, 1888,
from the extreme south being much less austere than that
produced in the Middle States. It is sometimes entirely
destitute of seeds, and of course these seedless varieties
are the most valuable ; and there seems to be no reason
why the American Persimmon cannot in time be made
to equal the Japanese varieties in size and flavor.
There is no reason, too, why the American Chestnut
cannot be as much altered and improved in time as
the European variety has been; and the improvement of
Hickory nuts, especially pecans, offers an excellent field
for the American pomologist; nuts of all the Hickor-
ies show a great tendency to variability in size, shape and
thickness of walls, but no special efforts have yet been
made to take advantage of these variations with the idea
of developing superior nuts. Sooner or later, however,
this will be done. Pomologists have already shown what
can be accomplished with our common eastern American
plums, by intelligent selection and cross-fertilization, but
no attempt, we believe, has yet been made to improve
the common Plum of the Sierras, Prunus subcordala, a
native of northern California and Oregon. The fruit is of
very fair quality, although, of course, capable of improve-
ment by the selection of seedling varieties. The Beach
Plum, too (P. maritima), found upon the shores of the
northern Atlantic seaboard, is another plant to which
pomologists might, perhaps, direct attention with the hope
of obtaining satisfactory results. A correspondent in
Oregon calls attention to the size and beauty of a native
Gooseberry (2ibes Lobbir), and suggests that it might, with
a little care in selection, be developed into a valuable
dessert fruit. —Ep. ]
Recent Publications.
The Eulogy of Richard Fefferies. By Walter Besant.
don: Chatto & Windus. 1888.
To those who love Nature and Nature's lovers, who have a
sense for that mastery in the use of words which means high
literary art, and who rejoice when one literary artist is com-
memorated by another, this life of Jefferies may well seem the
most interesting book of the day. It would be too much to
claim for Mr. Besant that he is an artist in words to the same
degree, or even in the same sense, as Richard Jefferies was ;
but an artist he is, and he has never turned his talent to
better account than he has in writing of the brother-in-arms
whom he here commemorates. His book is a little pearl
among biographies, and it will be a jewel of price indeed if it
wins for Jefferies a wider place than he has hitherto held in
the affections of the American public. Even in his own land
he has had a somewhat limited, though enthusiastic, circle of
admirers, but heré his circle has been smaller still—because,
perhaps, here he has had more rivals to compete with.
Thoreau’s name is the best which can be cited to explain—or
rather, to suggest—the character of his writings ; and Tho-
reau’s followers have been more numerous in America than in
England. Such articles as Jefferies wrote stood almost alone
in English periodical literature ; but on this side of the ocean
work similar in kind (we do not speak of quality just now)
comes steadily from a score of pens—work inspired by a keen
love for all the minor as well as major beauties of Nature, in-
stinct with true and delicate appreciation, and cast in a per-
sonal and artistic mould.
Richard Jefferies came of good yeoman stock, and was born
in 1848 at Coate Farm, not far from Swindon, in Wiltshire.
He was a studious boy, yet loved books scarcely so well as the
great Book of Nature, lived much out-of-doors, and was taught
by his father to use his eyes upon all he saw. A literary
career early appealed to him, and at the age of eighteen he
embarked in journalism, in connection with a Swindon paper,
and almost at once began the writing of books as well. A
pathetic time then ensued, when his novels went the round of
London publishing houses, to come repeatedly back, as he
said, “like the stone of Sisyphus.”” The first mark he madein
the world was when, in 1872, he wrote a letter to the London
Times on the condition of the agricultural laborer. This at-
tracted great attention, was followed by three or four others,
and Jefferies saw himself recognized as the chief authority in
England on the agricultural questions of the day. But even
then he did not realize that his true path was opening before’
him. For several years he still preferred to write novels of
“high life” and adventure—things about which he knew noth-
ing, “rather than articles on country y scenes and country people—
Lon-
DECEMBER 19, 1888.]
things about which no one knew so much as he. The
novels were failures, however, while the articles succeeded,
so he was gradually driven, we may almost say, to the work
for which he had been born. Then for a number of years
he was a constant contributor to various periodicals, and as
fast as his essays accumulated they were republished in book
form. Among his best known volumes are ‘The Game-
keeper at Home,” ‘‘The Amateur Poacher,” “Wild Life in a
Southern County,” ‘Round about a Great Estate,” ‘‘ Nature
Near London,” ‘The Open Air” and ‘ Hodge and His Mas-
ters.” About seven years ago his health began to fail and was
never restored before his death in 1887. During the greater
part of this time BS suffered incredibly, worn “with want of
nourishment and sleep, racked with perpetual terrible pain,
and coming often under the surgeon's knife; tortured with
poverty, too, wild with a longing for the out-door life he could
no longer lead, eager to write but unable to hold a pen, ex-
ternal needs and internal cravings for expression tormenting
the vigorous mind while the body was alive only in the sense
of suffering. Yet during this time some of his most beautiful
work was done—dictated bit by bit as his pain and feebleness
allowed. One of his last essays was ‘An English Deer Park,”
recently published in the Century Magazine.
Itis hard to explain the quality of Jefferies’ work to those
who do not knowit. He kept a note-book, like Thoreau, from
day to day, andif we may judge by the few extracts Mr. Besant
gives, he seems therein Thoreau’s inferior, The accuracy, the
minute delicacy of observation, is the same, but the record is
briefer and drier, and we miss Thoreau’s poetical, philosophical
tone. But in the essays which he published he stands on
the same height as Thoreau in point of literary power—or, to
many eyes, perhaps, ona still loftier height. His style is a
marvel of ease, clearness, variety and charm, and as personal
as a style well could be. It has certain oddities—as,
instance, the dropping out of the verb from time to time—
which, with a weaker writer, we might resent. But everything
Jefferies does seems right as he does it, for whatever it may
be, it never means a lapse from graphic distinctness, from
personal charm and grace and force. Then the human ele-
ment, which is lacking with Thoreau, is very prominent with
him—it is men in nature that he paints, not nature merely, or
the soul of the single man who is gazing upon her. Very little
definite instruction is to be gathered from his pages. He was
even lessa man of science than Thoreau, and nothing could
be more naive than his way of showing that he never thought
of going to the most substantial sources of information for
that A aa of natural things which he earnestly desired to
get. “botanist friend,” or a good book of colored pictures
Sree were the aids he sought, and while acknowledging
their insufficiency, he felt no impulse to turn to the science
of botany itself. And he never tries to tell us, as John Bur-
roughs does, of all the lovely, interesting things we may find
in this spot or in that. He simply records his impressions,
now in the way of the most exquisite pictures of certain visible
objects, and now in the way of thoughtful rhapsodies which
are, perhaps, the finest things of their kind in the language—
at once the sanest and the most ethereal, the most ‘poetical
and the most human. Sometimes his poetizing instincts lead
him into work which can scarcely be called descriptive in any
of its parts; sometimes an innate artistic instinct shows with
curious distinctness, as when he refers to that method of
painting which we call “impressionistic,” which is so gener-
ally misunderstood and condemned by laymen, but which he
felt to be true, in certain ways, above all other methods; and
sometimes he is the social reformer, the prophet of the poor
and suffering, the sympathetic man ‘forgetting the beauty of
inanimate nature, almost, in the sight. of how men may
struggle and perish on her bosom. The greatest charm of
his work lies in its perpetual variety—but this fact makes it all
the more impossible for us to do it justice within our narrow
limits. It should be enough, however, to point our readers to
Mr. Besant’s biography. We can trust this to lead them
straightway to Jefferies himself as his books explain him,
showing us a man to admire and love, as well as a writer to
enjoy and an interpreter of nature with a very personal and
vital message on his lips.
Periodical Literature.
Scribner's Magazine for December appropriately opens with
a beautiful article called ‘‘ Winter in the Adirondacks,” by
Mr. H. W. Mabie. The text is pleasant reading, and shows
true appreciation of the charms of winter landscape as well
as of winter life in the wilderness. But the illustrations are of
more exceptional value. Those from photographs are well
Garden and Forest.
BIS
chosen and admirably executed; yet still better, because as
true in their way and possessing the added charm of personal
human feeling, are those from drawings by various artists.
All are similar, of course, in theme; but this fact only makes
their essential contrast more interesting. Six painters have
seen the same themes under the same conditions ; each has
painted truthfully, but each gives us a different effect, be-
cause each has put a bit of himself into the result—has felt
what he saw ina different way, and has clearly expressed his
feeling. The picture by Mr, Crane, which was chosen for
the frontispiece, is good, yet perhaps | the least good of the
six, while the charming ‘impression * by Mr. Twachtman, if
not the very best, is at all events the most individual and
charming. A single artist might have portrayed the aspect
of the woods in winter as faithfully as it is portrayed in this
article ; but no one artist by himself could so thoroughly have
portray ed their spirit, illustrated all their moods and meanings,
and very certainly no camera could.
The fact that even the midwinter numbers of our great
magazines are not thought complete without an out- door arti-
cle of one sort or another, isa pleasing sign of the growth of
our public in appreciation of nature. In Harper's. “Magazine
for December, as well as in Scrzdner’s, we find such an arti-
cle—‘A Midnight Ramble"—from the well-known pen of
Mr. Hamilton Gibson. It is not so appropriate in theme to
midwinter, we think fora moment, as the Adirondack chap-
ter. Butafter a moment we are well content, for what can
be pleasanter in midwinter than to find ourselves transported
to midsummer—shown its loveliness and mystery in sympa-
thetic words and charming pictures? Much as Mr. Gibson
has written in former days about woodland rambles, he has
found a new theme to-day. Taking us out-doors at midnight,
he shows us many old friends w ith new faces—sleepy, droop-
ing, dew-besprinkled faces, often very different from those the
sun beholds. Much real instruction is prettily given in the
text, which will tempt many readers to nocturnal explorations
with a lantern. Yet, once again, the illustrations are still
more attractive. The contrasted groups of Locust, Melilot,
Lupine and Oxalis, here awake and there asleep, are particu-
larly charming, while nothing could be more fairy-like than
the sphinx-moths among the “Honey -suckles, or more truthful
and graceful than the Nasturtiums, and, especially, the Even-
ing Primroses. He must be a happy man wl can see so
much in nature as Mr. Gibson, can write about it so well and
can picture it so daintily. Most of us would be content with
either one of his three gifts.
Meetings of Societies.
The Forestry Congress at Atlanta.
HE Forestry Meeting at Atlanta on December 5th, 6th and
7th, was marked by the termination of the existence of the
southern organization “and its union with the American For-
estry Congress. The attendance at the meetings was large,
and the people of Atlanta, the members of the Legislature,
and the officers of the city and state governments, were con-
stant and profuse in their courtesies “to the visitors. There
were pleasant receptions at the house of Governor Gordon
and other places, there were very full and accurate reports
in the leading newspapers, and the Congress and its objects
and work received from everybody the most cordial and
serious respect.
There were interesting essays and addresses by Colonel E.
T. Ensign, on Colorado Forestry, and on Rocky Mountain
Forests; by General Greely, on Rainfall; by Professor Charles
Mohr, on Forest Lands ; by Professor George F ene on
the Relations of Trees ‘to ‘Bird and Insect ‘Life ; by Mr. M. J.
Kerns, on Public Parks and Forests; by Mrs. E len “Call Le are
on the Forest Features of Florida; by Professor Eggleston, on
the Forestry Outlook; and the discussions were interesting,
though they were restricted somewhat by the feeling that the
tariff is an inflammable subject and one to be kept out ofa
Forestry Congress.
On the last “day of the session there was a tree-planting at
the Girls’ High School, in the presence of vast throngs of peo-
ple, with short addresses by members of the Congress. Offi-
cers were elected, committees appointed, and the customary
resolutions adopted. There was nothing remarkable or
striking in the proceedings, but the meeting was _pleas-
ant and interesting. The Congress represents very well the
official side of forestry in this country, the ideas and work of
the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture at
Washington. Its vitality hitherto has, in great degree, been
516
the effect of Secretary Fernow’s earnestness. He has now
relinquished the Secretaryship, in order to have more time
for his official work. It is likely that the next meeting of
the Congress will be held in Philadelphia, if the people inter-
ested in forestry there so desire.
Notes.
From a note in The Gardeners’ Chronicle of a recent date it
appears that 2,300 varieties of Chrysanthemums are grown in
the garden of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick, near
London.
The readership in botany in the University of Cambridge was
last month conferred upon Mr. Francis Darwin, a son of
Charles Darwin, in place of Mr. Vines, now professor of botany
at Oxford.
At the exhibition lately held in Paris of fruits and appli-
ances used in the manufacture of cider and perry, the first
prize for a collection of cider-apples and the second prize for
cider were carried off by English exhibitors.
At the second meeting of ‘‘ L’Orchidienne” held at Brussels
on November rtth, first-class certificates were awarded to
Cypripedium Harrisianum polychromum, from Dr. Carnus; to
Ansellia Africana aurea, from Madame Gibez; to Oncidium
Forbestt maximum, from the Count of Bousies; to Vanda ceru-
lea and Cypripedium callosum, from Madame de Cannart
d’Hamale; and to Cypripedium nitens superbum, from Mr.
Peeters.
On a wall which divides the pleasure grounds from the
kitchen garden at Warnham Court, a residence in the south of
England, a fine specimen of Magnolia grandiflora has been
trained so that it covers a space about eighty yards in length.
A correspondent of a horticultural journal, describing it last
summer, said the profusion of bloom was such that on one
portion about a foot square he counted seven fully expanded
flowers and several buds.
In some of the larger European botanical gardens—as,
for example, the University garden in Berlin and the one in
Heidelberg—the labels used for the trees are of zinc, with
the name stamped in intaglio and then defined with oil
paint. These labels are much cheaper than the porcelain
ones, more commonly seen, and are equally durable, need-
ing no care but the renewal, at long intervals, of the paint;
and an additional advantage is found in the fact that they
can be made on the spot by unskilled workmen.
Messrs. Tiffany & Co., of Union Square, in this city,
have on exhibition a remarkable specimen of petrified wood
from the fossil forest of Coriza, in Arizona Territory. It is the
section of a large tree and measures thirty-six inches in height
by forty and a half inches in greatest diameter. The
character of the bark is well preserved, and the top, which
has been carefully polished, is very beautiful in its agate-like
colors, as well as interesting by reason of its clearly revealed
markings. It is said to be the largest fossil specimen that has
been thus prepared.
As this paper goes to press we learn that Senator Stanford
has decided to devote to the Arboretum connected with the
Leland Stanford, Jr., University, as much space as is needed
to contain every tree that can be made to grow in that climate
with the aid of irrigation. The trees are to be planted in
open order, and arranged with vistas and views, so that the
Arboretum will have the features of a pleasure-ground in
addition to its scientific character. Mr. Olmsted is to make
a design of the work and Mr. Thomas Douglas is to be
superintendent of the planting.
The Largest Elm tree in Norway is supposed to be a
specimen of U/mus montana which stands in the parsonage
grounds of the little town of Eker, a few miles from Chris-
tiana. When it was examined by Schuebeler in 1871, while
he was preparing his Viridarium norvegicum, it measured
seventy-five feet in height and six feet in diameter. U. mon-
tana is the only species of Elm which grows wild in Norway,
and it never attains the dimensions of U. campestris, the
species which produces most of the magnificent specimens
found in Germany and England. ;
A Rose which flowers in the open ground in New England,
after the middle of November, is a plant worth a place in any
northern garden, even if its flowers do not possess the size or
all the substance of some more modern varieties. Such a
Rose is Hermosa, one of the Bourbon breed, which dates
back as far as 1840. Itis an abundant and constant bloomer
throughout the summer and autumn; and there are not
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 19, 1888.
many days during five or six months of the year, or until hard
freezing checks vegetation, when flowers cannot be gathered
from a well established plant. The flowers are pink and very
fragrant. The plants, like most of the Bourbons, require
some slight protection at the north.
In the horticultural papers of Germany frequent complaints
are made that too little regard is paid to mere beauty by those
who judge plants and reward their growers at public exhibi-
tions. Novelty and singularity are too highly esteemed, it is
said, and when the judge is a professional florist he is too apt
to think exclusively of the plant's practical qualifications—to
consider simply whether it is a strong and prolific grower and
can be turned to practical account for commercial use. Of
course these considerations must always be largely taken into
account, but there is truth in the remark that pure beauty as
such has likewise a right to recognition. Nor is the need that
it should be more highly esteemed confined to Germany only.
The use of benzine has been found effectual in France in
destroying the white grubs (thelarvee of the May or Dor Bug),
which often do immense damage, especially in dry seasons, to
lawns, Strawberry plants, seedling trees and other nursery
stock. Holes are made in the ground infested with the grubs
with one of the sharp iron dibbles used sometimes in trans-
planting small plants, and the benzine is poured into them.
Fifty grains of benzine are used to the square yard and
care is taken to insert it above the plane of the feeding ground of
the grubs. In an experiment recently made by one of the
French forest officers, and reported at a meeting of the National
Agricultural Society, the grubs on twelve acres were destroyed
at a cost of only $3.20 an acre.
The London papers report an interesting lawsuit lately won
by Sander, the well-known Orchid grower of St. Albans,
against the Duchess of Montrose, to recover the amount of
his bill for plants and various services connected with fitting up
the conservatories at Tifton Lodge, near Newmarket. One
item of the bill was for 1,000 Orchids which were furnished at
a guinea a plant, the seller being allowed to select what plants
he chose. The interesting features of the whole case e¢entred
in the letters written by the Duchess’s gardener to the man-
ager of the St. Albans Nurseries, and produced during the
trial. The tone of this correspondence, and the intimations
which it contains, should make those persons who know some-
thing about their own gardens congratulate themselves that
they are not entirely in the hands of their gardeners.
Attention is called in the European journals to the fact that
Magnolia Soulangeana, one of the hybrids between JZ con-
spicua and M. purpurea, bloomed this year in England during
the month of September. The second blooming of this
plant is not, however, an unusual occurrence in this country.
A few flowers appear almost every year during August and
September, and this year the trees were quite covered with
them. The flowers are much smaller, however—scarcely
half the size of those which appear in spring—and they do not
expand fully. Itis rather a curious fact that neither of the
parents of this hybrid, or other hybrids of similar origin,
notably JZ. Norbertiana, show any tendency to produce
autumn flowers. The Japanese JZ ste//ata has been known
to flower in the autumn in this country, but not commonly or
abundantly.
The Society of Amateus Photographers has recently held an
exhibition of the work of its members at its rooms on Thirty-
sixth Street, where welcome evidence was given of a growth
in artistic feeling, as well as in the mere knowledge of photo-
graphic processes. Miss Catherine Weed Barnes sent some
excellent rural views; Mrs. A. F, Arnold, a picture of Man-
groves in Florida, which was really remarkable for good com-
position and effective portrayal of the trees, and Mr. David
Williams, a large number of subjects most intelligently chosen.
Lieutenant C. P. Howell contributed a series of small pictures
taken in China, some of which were interesting, or, at least,
very amusing, froma horticultural point of view. They repre-
sented figures, apparently of life size, in which only the heads
and hands were visible, the other portions being thickly draped
with growing vines. In one, a branch had been trained asa
standard and passed through the outstretched hand of the
figure to develop above it intoan open umbrella. Of course
one cannot call such oddities works of horticultural art, but
it was certainly worth while to reproduce them for western
eyes, as nothing could be more singular or more Chinese in
effect—which means something very different from Japanese ~
in effect—than a row of these figures, standing in large pots in
the most grotesque and humorous attitudes, clothed in their
rather ragged and prickly-looking vesture of vines.
DECEMBER 26, 1888.]
GARDEN AND FOREST.
3
i
PUBLISHED WEEKLY bY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.
Orrice: TrisuneE Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by . ». «+ 2 e+ se @ . Professor C. S. SARGENT.
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y.
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Epiroriat Arrictes:—A Botanic Garden for the City of New York.—Fruit
and Vegetables Under Glass....-. ..ssseseeceeescnereeenteeeesnenene 517
Christmas in the Pines.......-... Mrs. Mary Treat. 518
Florida Oranges.... Sree iieiaoaia(eis bo, cl aa ecareraiala oan A. H. Curtiss. 519
ForeiGN CorRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.......,ceceesseeeeereees W. Watson. 519
New or Littte Known Piants :—Syringa villosa (with illustration)....C S.S.
Cuttrurat DepartTMeNT:—AutumnApples in New England. 7. 4. Hoskins, ALD, 521
A Garden of Chrysanthemums (with illustration)...... - Fohu N. Gerard. 522
PEG Gen Ss gO td ELD) Oaate ote, aretarsleleiete) ais vorebetaiais else's, niac's'a 0) cinle(cja wtulapereta(oteraialesfetalsjezst Ws
Chrysanthemums—Haplocarpa Leichtlini—Tea Rose, Madame Hoste... 523
Tue Forest:—The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico—X.......C. G. Pringle. 524
CORRESPONDENCE... 00sec ee cece eee ces cent ee eees 524
RECENT PUBLICATIONS,.... sone : = 525
IRERIODIGALMISITERA TURE: ois vaita(s cis saeco daie-riaieds.a.¢9. 0400 26
NOTES 0... cesececeeeeeees Biivie.cf.a Biarslevettob)2,b34.5;5 9.0 e)fiasae. fale 527
ILLustRATIONS :—Syringa villosa, Fig. 83 Efaidae teens +. 522
AY Gardeniol Ghrysanth mums’ sates 624.0 sis iis cislesintesaaineresy aelerniestste sec 523
A Botanic Garden for the City of New York.
HE daily papers have been discussing lately the pos-
sibility of establishing a botanic garden in this city.
The movement certainly has not been made too soon.
Botanical and zoological gardens form a part, and a very
important part, of the educational equipment of a great
metropolis ; and it is not creditable to the people of this
city that it is allowed to fall so far behind the other great
commercial centres of the world in this respect. A thor-
oughly well-equipped and well-maintained garden, carried
on upon the principles which should govern such an estab-
lishment, can exert a wonderful influence in developing
and stimulating the intelligence of the public, not only by
increasing the knowledge of plants and plant-geography,
but of all that relates to horticulture and gardening.
A good garden, however, is not an easy thing to estab-
lish. It must be something more than a mere collection
of growing plants; it cannot serve its purpose, indeed it
cannot be administered, unless the living collections are
supplemented by a herbarium and library, without which
no garden is worthy of the name. A museum, too, in
which the products of all plants can be grouped, while not
essential for the administration of a garden, is an attractive
and valuable educational feature, which should be provided
for in any comprehensive scheme of this character.
There are two reasons why botanical gardens fail to ac-
complish what is expected of them, and why, from the
point of view of popular instruction, there are so very few
useful ones. Few persons realize what a very large sum
of money it costs to found and maintain a great botanical
establishment, and the gardens of the world which are
adequately supported with proper endowments may be
counted upon the fingers of one hand. The second reason
why such gardens fail is found generally in the difficulty
of securing men in whom scientific attainments are joined
to great administrative capacity to manage them. The
man who successfully conducts a botanical establishment,
capable of influencing the intelligence of a great metropol-
itan population, must possess qualifications of the highest
Garden and Forest.
517
order, and an enthusiasm for his work which will enable
him to resist the temptations of more lucrative employ-
ment, and the opportunity of more immediate influence,
which the attainments and character of such a man are
pretty sure to bring to him. The gardens at Kew, near
London, are what they are to-day—the finest botanical
establishment in the world—not because they have been
lavishly supported by the British government, but because,
through circumstances unprecedentedly favorable, they
have been controlled for three generations by men eminent
in scientific attainment and administrative ability.
We call attention to these facts, not because we are not
heartily in favor of the establishment of a botanical garden
in this city, but in order that the people of New York may
realize that it is no easy matter to secure a good one;
that a good deal of money will be needed to support it;
and that the proper man to direct the expenditure of this
money must be something more than a good gardener or
a successful florist, if the garden is to accomplish what is
expected of it.
A garden, to be successful, like any other museum, must
be disassociated entirely from politics in order to secure
for ita continuation of management in the same hands.
This is essential. The botanic garden of New York must
be carried on without any reference to politics, and if this
cannot be done the scheme had much better be abandoned
at the outset. There is no need of any more botanical
gardens in the world run for the purpose of supplying
bouquets and dinner-table decorations for the politicians
who control the appointment of the managers; or to
serve as a means for advancing commercial or private in-
TeEnESts:
The question of a site for a botanic garden in the city
of New York presents some difficulties. There are certainly
nowhere in the Central Park thirty or forty acres that can
be spared for this purpose, or which are suitable for it. It
has been urged that a garden in one of the new parks
would be too remote from the great mass of population to
be useful, but it would not be more remote from the centre
of the city than the garden at Kew is from the centre of
the London population, which, during some pleasant after-
noons, is visited by more than a hundred thousand people.
There is an advantage, too, in having the garden as far as
possible from the dust and smoke of the city, which must
in time influence Central Park unfavorably, and which is
almost fatal toa good garden. It is probable, therefore,
that if New York ever has a botanical garden at all pro-
portionate to its size, it will have to be located in or in
connection with one of the new parks, and whether such
a garden is established in this century or not, a proper site
should be provided for it in any scheme which may be
adopted for their improvement.
There seems to be no reason now why such a garden
might not be carried on under the control of a board of
managers, in the same way that the Museums of Art and
Natural History are controlled, or by the trustees of Col-
umbia College, either independently or forming part of a
larger board. Columbia College already owns a very large
and valuable herbarium, and a very considerable botanical
library. These, in order to avoid duplication, might very
suitably serve as a nucleus for the new establishment,
The Museum of Natural History contains a special collec-
tion, the magnificent gift of a public-spirited citizen of this
town, which might well be the foundation of the new mu-
seum, and which would give to it at once a character
ossessed by no other botanical museum in the world.
But what the situation requires, if the desire for a botan-
ical garden really exists in this community, is that some
man of wealth, influence and public spirit, fully alive to
the importance of making New York a metropolitan city in
the truest sense, should appear and gather together the mate-
rial already available, raise the funds necessary for the estab-
lishment, and secure from the city a suitable location, and
such co-operation as may be necessary. When this has
been done, and the man who can organize and carry on
518
such a garden has been se
sooner or later find or develop him—New York will have
a botanical establishment worthy of its intelligence and
wealth, which will instruct and enlighten its people and
make its influence felt for good from one end of the land
to the other. The man or men who can accomplish this
will, we believe, be as worthy of the honor and gratitude
of the citizens of New York as any who have given their
time and money for its improvement and advancement.
mAN under glass were hardly to be found in any a abund-
ance or variety in the winter markets of our great cities.
Enterprising gardeners there were in private “places who
were ambitious to prove their skill by furnishing home-
grown Asparagus and Green Peas for the Christmas din-
ner; but unseasonable delicacies of this sort rarely, if
ever, found their way to consumers from commercial
growers through the ordinary channels of trade. It is
true still that many of the choice grapes, nectarines,
peaches and strawberries for city tables come from green-
houses that are not strictly commercial. It often hap-
pens that in private places fruit and vegetables are pro-
duced in excess of the family needs, and the surplus is
sold to the city dealer. But, aside from this somewhat
irregular trathc, the growing of winter fruit and vegetables
of nearly every variety for market has become an im-
portant industry, and a rapidly growing one in spite of the
fact that facilities for transporting perishable products from
warmer climates are multiplying and improving every year.
Cold-frames and pits which were originally used to
lengthen out the season in autumn and hasten the coming
of spring, were very naturally succeeded by cool houses,
which offered every advantage given by the frames, with
much greater convenience. But an apparatus for heating
such houses will not alone suffice to insure a crop of
winter vegetables. Special experience and skill are re-
quired if any profit is realized, for one may be an expert
in growing Tomatoes, for example, out-of-doors, and still
be unable to persuade his plants under changed conditions
to set any fruit. For a month past hot-house tomatoes
have been in strong demand here at sixty cents a pound,
wholesale, and this is not an uncommon price. They
have sold in this city at a dollar a pound when tomatoes
fresh from Havana were bringing seventy-five cents a
peck. This means that hot-house tomatoes have a gen-
uine value, which comes from superior quality—for this
difference in price cannot be entirely due to a mere fancy—
and that the skill to grow them well is not generally pos-
sessed by market-gardeners—or they would be more
abundant. The best growers now can produce beauti-
fully colored, well-flavored, and solid, ripe tomatoes for
winter marketing within three months from the day the
seed is sown. To accomplish this, varieties specially
adapted to culture under glass have been originated, with
size and habit of growth that insure the ereatest amount
of fruit in a given “space—th at is, with a given amount of
fuel. Expedients have been devised for insuring fertiliza-
tion so that the plants may set fruit well down to the
ground. In short, the needs of the plant under artificial
conditions have been so thoroughly studied, that a good
winter crop of tomatoes can be looked for with creater
certainty than can a good field-crop in the summer.
But even when ail this special knowledge becomes
common property, and when competition is sharpened by
a growing demand, choice fruits and vegetables out of
their season will continue to be classed among luxuries.
There are other crops which require even greater skill for
profitable production than the tomato. This is especially
true of some of the tree-fruits which necessarily occupy a
large space and are most exacting in their demands for
special attention throughoutthe entire year. Some ofthem at
flowering time even show a preference for a particular
Fruit and Vegetables under Glass.
SCORE of years ago fresh fruit and vegetables grown
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 26, 1888.
kind of insect to help them in the distribution of their pollen.
Peaches and nectarines at six dollars a dozen, grapes at
five dollars a pound, with-strawberries at five dollars a
basket (and very diminutive baskets have been selling at
that rate on Broadway within a week), are expensive articles
of food, but, from the grower'’s point of view, these prices
are not exorbitant at certain seasons of the year. Anda
vegetable as easy to force as asparagus may well command
two dollars or morea bunch, because the plants must be cared
for three or four years before they are strong enough to
produce shoots of proper size, and after one season’s use
under glass they are practically worthless. Mushrooms at
a dollar and a half a pound, green peas at a dollar fora
scant pint when shelled, snap-beans worth enough to be
sold by a count of the pods, are paying crops only when
carefully grown. Even at these high prices, every foot of
space must be employed, with a crop of one kind coming
on between the rows of another as it becomes fit to mar-
ket, and witha plant ready always to occupy every place
made vacant by the removal of another. One grower in
Jersey City, who has 25,000 square feet of glass devoted
to Radishes alone, and who is prepared to deliver 12,000
bunches a week, considers it an unsuccessful season when
he cannot market five crops between the 20th of September
and spring weather.
_ A few years ago these expensive fruits and vegeta-
bles were found only in the shops of a few retail
dealers in fancy fruits, but now the call for these products
has so increased, that nearly every variety of garden-fruit
and vegetables can be found among the regular consign-
ments to wholesale dealers. And it may be added, that
certain other fruits and vegetables can rarely be found
here, except when grown under glass. The long cucum-
bers, so highly prized by some people, will only develop to
advantage when an almost tropical climate is provided for
them. Certain varieties of European strawberries, with a fla-
vor greatly relished, are among the best for forcing, although
they refuse to flourish in our gardens. It is well known that
the varieties of Potato most highly prized in England will
come to nothing here under out-door cultivation, and an
enterprising marketman near this city has now growing in
his green-house some Ash-leaf and Walnut-leaf Kidneys, in
the hope that some one will pay him a dollar a pound for
his tubers, on account of their supposed nutty flavor, or
because they are strictly English.
After all, imagination may help to give an inflated value
to these fruits out of season, and families of moderate
means need not lack for wholesome and toothsome vegeta-
bles at any season, thanks to cold storage, quick transpor-
tation and approved methods of preserving. And there
are old-fashioned people who entertain the very old-
fashioned idea that no fruit or vegetable is ever really
pleasing to the taste except in its proper season.
Christmas in the Pines.
A ae Holly and Mistletoe naturally take the first place as
lecorative plants at Christmas iime, as they have been
from time immemorial identified with this festival; and at this
season the Holly’s ‘‘armed and varnished leaves” and clusters of
bright red fruit are at their best, and so are the clear white
waxen berries of the Mistletoe interspersed among its thick
pale-green leaves.
But there are many other charming plants to be found in the
Pines that can be used with even better effect than these. The
Laurel is much more easy to handle than the Holly, and its
glossy green leaves are
barrens,
sive decoration is required.
Myrtle should not be neglected. The glossy leaves as well as
the thick clusters of pearl-gray fruit make it one of the very
best plants to group among the scarlets of the Holly and Alder.
Some of the smaller shrubs, too, are now invested with a
rare Mae which seems more striking since the foliage of so
many of their neighbors has faded and fallen ; and this is
quite as beautiful, and they can be-
lighted up with clusters of the bright scarlet berries of the
Black Alder, which can be found in abundance in the damp —
The large, thick, shining leaves of Alagnolia glauca —
can also be put to effective use with other foli iage Swhere exten-
The deliciously fragrant Wax —
}
r
DECEMBER 26, 1888.]
especially true of the little Leiophillum, whose small shining
leaves are clustered thickly at the ends of its branches; while
among the larger trees the Cedars and Pines have more to
offer than boughs of dark green foliage. The bright gray
fruit of the one and the symmetrical cones of the other are in-
valuable for giving character to decorative work.
Where heavy massing is not desired, evergreen vines like
Smilax Walter? have a grace that is unrivaled, although it re-
quires some resolution to penetrate the thickets where it hangs
outits clusters of coral-colored fruit. The common Green-
brier (S. rotundifolia) is also beautiful now, being evergreen
here, abundant and loaded with blue-black berries. The
trailing stems, evergreen leaves and brilliant fruit of the
larger Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpum) are not to be neg-
lected. The running Swamp Blackberry has been mentioned
before in these notes, but the delicate veining and exquisite
color of the leaves upon the slender and flexible vine when
hanging in festoons against a light background seem the per-
fection of dainty grace.
The aromatic Wintergreen is also here in the greatest profu-
sion, and its leaves have now taken on various colors which
harmonize well with the cheerful red of its berries. The
Prince’s Pine (Chimaphila umbellata and C. maculata) are
among the very best of the smaller plants for decoration, es-
pecially the latter, the leaves of which are variegated with
white, while at Christmas time a rosy tinge isadded. Nothing
can be more beautiful than groups of these little plants mixed
with the deep-green Laurel.
Several species of Club-moss (Lycopodium) grow in the
Pines, and these can always be used to good advantage.
Their flexible stems are easily managed, and their foliage re-
tains its fresh look for a long time.
Groups of dry seed-pods are also effective scattered here and
there among the evergreens. The pretty urn-shaped seed
vessels of the Meadow Beauty (Rhexia Virginica), with many
others that may suit the fancy, are now found in plenty.
Surely the Pines offer abundant material for Christmas decora-
tion, but the beauty and grace with which the Pines them-
selves are adorned is indescribable. Mary Treat.
Vineland, N. J.
Florida Oranges.
pats present orange crop in Florida is twice as large as the
last, and it is a matter of no little solicitude, with all who
are interested in orange growing, to know how the markets
will bear the additional strain. The last crop sold at satisfac-
tory prices, many northern dealers coming to Florida to buy
the fruit, both in the groves and in the auction market at
Jacksonville. A home market is the ideal of the orange
growers, but it is not likely to become permanent, because
the producers will not unite on any one plan of action, but
persist in sending their fruit, each for himself, to hundreds of
commission houses in the north and west, so that buyers
stand the best chance of getting fruit cheap by staying at
home. Shippers, as a rule, expect much better returns than
they receive under the commission system. Dealers who
solicit fruit to sell on commission are prone to hold out flat-
tering inducements, which are too readily believed, while
those who come to buy on the ground have to pursue the
reverse policy, since they assume all the risks, while the
commission merchant throws all the risks on the shipper.
None realize the evils of the commission system better
than the Florida orange growers; yet nearly all of them con-
tinue to dispose of their fruit in this manner year after year,
simply because they will not unite upon some one definite
plan of action, by which they might prevent gluts at centres of
distribution and needless depreciation in prices. What is still
more important, a wider and more equable distribution of
fruit could thus be brought about, which is the only effectual
way of counteracting the effects of overproduction. There
would be no cause for present apprehension on this score if
the product of the Florida growers could be marketed in sum-
mer, but, unfortunately, it is in its prime in Winter. In Novem-
ber the fruit is not strictly marketable. If left on the trees
till spring much waste results, and in the counties north of
Orange Lake there is about one chance in three of losing the
entire crop by frost. No reliable means of preserving the
fruit fresh, after it has been picked from the trees, is
known, except by cold storage, which is probably too ex-
pensive, and when taken out of cold storage houses fruit is
said to go down quite rapidly. Californian Oranges have
the advantage of being late in ripening, not being market-
able until spring. It seems advisable that late varieties
should be sought for and largely planted in southern Florida.
Garden and Forest.
519
At presenta movement is on foot to open up European
markets tor Florida oranges. Considerable fruit was sent to
England last winter, and the returns were quite satisfactory.
This season a company in New York has taken up the busi-
ness of shipping Florida Oranges to Europe, and the results
will be watched with much interest. It appears that Mediter-
ranean fruit does not come into market before January, and
hence, that there may be good demand for Florida fruit
through December, and perhaps later. The danger to be
apprehended is that much immature fruit, shipped in Novem-
ber, may create a prejudice at the outstart which will be dam-
aging. This evil is experienced every year in the American
market, as a result of picking fruit before it has acquired
proper color and flavor, even as early as in October. Despite
persistent warnings through the Florida papers, many persons
will begin shipping as soonas the yellow hue makes its appear-
ance on the fruit. It sells well for a few weeks, till the public
has had a taste of the fruit, and then comes a reaction,
from the effects of which the market does not recover before
Christmas week.
Many advocate the selling of Florida oranges by auction in
northern cities, while some oppose it. - This system has been
pretty well tested, but the average returns have not differed
materially from those received from commission merchants;
so the latter may be said to remain masters of the situation.
It should be observed that the leading orange growers, who
have established a reputation for their fruit and have selected
reliable agents to sell it, have a great advantage over others
and realize much more satisfactory returns. Orange growers
of this class can hardly be induced to join themselves to any
general organization, and this fact is, perhaps, the greatest
impediment to any effort at combination. Those who are
naturally looked to for leadership will not respond, and a co-
operative movement that lacks their indorsement is looked
upon with distrust. It will be seen that there is something
lacking to make orange growing all that fancy has painted it,
and that while the lack may be supplied, it is much easier to
prescribe the remedy than to apply it. Possibly something
may be evolved from the experience of the present season
which will tend to advance the industry in the estimation of
those who would not follow it merely from esthetic consid-
erations. A. ff. Curtiss.
Jacksonville, Fla.
Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.
OLLOWING on a summer which was remarkable for the
absence of sunshine and heat, we are experiencing a
November of exceptional warmth and openness. Primroses,
the harbingers of spring, are flowering in the hedge-rows and
copses almostas freely as if it were March; Violets are equally
abundant; while the hardy Cyclamens, Christmas Roses, win-
ter Heliotrope, and many other plants which usually sleep hard
till January, are in full bloom. Not only the flowers, but also
the birds, are deceived by the weather, and thrushes sing as
lustily as if it were pairing time. Many deciduous trees and
shrubs still retain their foliage; bedding plants, such as
Verbenas, are still healthy and flowering. Truly this has
been a very mixed year in regard to weather.
Primula capitata is the sweetest herbaceous plant now in
flower. Its normal flowering time is May or June, but it ap-
pears to have been affected by the weather in the same way
as the common Primrose. Asa plant for an unheated green-
house it occupies a foremost place here. I have a bunch of
its purple, compact heads of flowers before me as I write, and
their powerful odor, Hawthorn-like, fills the whole room. Some
of the heads are fully two inches across and contain about a
hundred blooms and buds, the latter, occupying the centre,
and covered with white meal. The stalks are nine inches
high, rising from the centre of a tuft of healthy foliage, not
unlike that of P. vi/garis. It is Himalayan, and comes freely
from seed. The pretty, white Zephyr flower (Zephyranthes
candida) is in full blossom in a sunny border out-of-doors. It
is the only species that is happyin the open border in the neigh-
borhood of London. The other kinds, especially 2. cavinata,
are in great favor here as summer-flowering green-house
plants.
Cyrtanthus lutescens and C. Mackenti, although not the
brightest in color nor largest in flower, have proved much
the most useful of the dozen or so species which have been
cultivated here at one time or other. The genus is one of the
hardest of the Cape genera of bulbs to grow successfully in
Europe; but the above are exceptions, as, for the last two
years, they have grown and flowered most freely at Kew
520
under very simple treatment. They are scarcely ever out of
bloom, and just now they are unusually good, which is a point
greatly in their favor when considering their claims as garden
plants. C. dutescens has leaves a foot long, halfan inch broad,
green and fleshy ; the scapes are a foot long, each bearing an
umbel of from six to nine flowers of a soft lemon-yellow color
which are one and a half inches long, narrow tubular, the six
short segments reflexed, the stamens as long as the tube, the
style a littlelonger. Each flower keeps fresh over a month, so
that for bouquet, and like purposes, they would prove of great
value. C. Mackenii is similar, but pure white, the tube slightly
bent, and the segments not reflexed; the flowers measure
nearly one inch across. Ina coolgreen-house, with the same
treatment as suits Vallota, these two plants are certain to prove
successful.
Hippeastrum aulicum,— Everybody is looking after the new
and flashy hybrid Amaryllises, but no one appears to care
for the species. And yetsome of them are first-rate flower-
ing plants, with plenty of color attractions. Such a one is the
above, and when one recollects that this and A. reticulatum
are the only two which bloom before Christmas, its claims as
a garden plant are undoubted. There are some fine examples
of itin bloom at Kew now. They have plenty of full sized
foliage (another good point), the scapes are stout, nearly two
feet high, and bear each two flowers, six inches long and six
inches across, of a deep crimson color, with darker shadings,
and a green star at the base inside. The flowers have been
open a fortnight and are still good.
Orchids.—We have as many named varieties of Lela an-
ceps as of Cattleya Mossia, and some of them are as much
alike as two peas. There are good, well-marked varieties,
also, and we do not seem to have reached the end of them
yet, for the Orchid of the week is a very beautiful and distinct
variety of Z. anceps which has flowered with Mr. Sander at
St. Albans, and which he has named Amesiana, after Mr.
Ames, of North Easton, Massachusetts. The width of the
flower is four inches; the sepals, one-half inch broad, nar-
rowed to a long point; the petals, one and one-half inches
broad, also long-pointed; both sepals and petals are ivory-
white, tipped with rose-purple. The labellum is smaller than
in the type, the lateral lobes are incurved, white, with lines of
red inside, the front lobe small, narrowed almost to a stalk at
the base, and colored rich maroon-purple. There is also
a very prominent ridge-like crest running from the front
lobe into the throat which is colored bright yellow. This
variety is considered the equal in beauty of Z. anceps Daw-
soni. Its valueisshown bythe price paid for it by Mr. Sander—
200 guineas—although, in 1883, this same plant was pur-
chased from Mr. Sander for two guineas; but it had not then
flowered. Another addition to the list of sensational Orchids,
Odontoglossum Schrederianum, is also in flowerin theSt. Albans
nursery. It is an unusually stately plant, standing between
two widely distinct species, O. Karwinski and O. leve. It
resembles both in growth and has along paniculate inflores-
cence; each flower measures three inches across, the sepals
and petals are one and one-quarter inches long, one-half an
inch wide, pointed, spreading, the three upper ones curved
upwards, the two lower curved down and inwards; they are
colored yellowish-white, with large and numerous blotches of
purple. The lip is pandurate, an inch long, nearly as broad,
the basal half a bright crimson, the apical half pure white. It
is a remarkable and handsome species, certain to become a
popular Orchid for the cool house. It was introduced and
flowered in 1887.
Odontoglossum Harryanum has bounded into the very front
rank of Orchids. Itis a most delightful plant, full of charming
variety, quaint and attractive in form, fantastically yet richly
colored, and, withal, as easily grown as O. crispum, and almost
as cheap. A good garden plant ought always to be abundant
and cheap. The plant of O. Harryanum which first flowered
had but two blooms, and those not of the best, yet they made
the eyes of Professor Reichenbach twinkle with delight when
he saw them (he was staying at Kew at the time). But we
have now spikes with eight, nine and eleven flowers, and
collectors say there are even more. A fine variety with
eleven flowers on the spike is now in bloom at Kew.
Masdevallias are general favorites in England, even the
small ‘‘botanical” species finding many admirers. At Kew
we have over eighty species, about a dozen of which are in
flower now. Three of the most remarkable are, W/. macrura,
a large-flowered, long-tailed species, the sepals united at the
base and forming a shallow cup, one inch across, and then
separating into three narrow tails six inches long. Inside
there are lines and warts of a purplish color, the rest of the
flower being yellowish green; the petals and lip are very
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 26, 1888.
diminutive. The leaves are one toot long, two inches across,
thick and leathery. The peduncle is as long as the leaves.
M. Mooreana is another large flowered kind belonging to the
Peristeria and Coriacea group. The sepals form a cup one
inch across, with a prominent chin; they then separate into
three projecting tails three inches long, the lower ones united
by their inner edge and then turned outwards; these are pur-
ple, the upper one being yellow with purple lines. The lip is
large, tongue-shaped, and colored dark purple. Leaves are six
inches long, one and one-quarter inches wide, thick, fleshy, and
very dark green. The last of the trio is AZ pulvinaris. Itisa
very singular species, quite distinct from any other cultivated
Masdevallia. The scape is one and one-half feet high, purple,
clothed with close-fitting bracts and covered with a whitish
scabridity, rough as sandpaper, but slightly glutinous. The
flowers are produced on the upper six inches of the scape,
about a dozen on each scape. They are an inch apart,and |
each one is an inch long, reversed, so that the labellum is |
uppermost; the two upper sepals are united and forma boat- |
shaped hood. Inside they bear two oblong, fleshy, yellow, i
cushion-like processes, the object of which is not clear; the _
lower sepal is concave and as long as the upper ones. Color
purple and dull yellow. -Botanically, this Orchid is the most
interesting plant now in flower at Kew, but its lack of bright
color will prevent it. from ever becoming a popular garden
dlant.
Cattleya Gaskelliana is worth growing as a market plant, or,
at all events, for the sake of its flowers, which are deliciously
fragrant, beautiful in form and color, very freely produced,
and at their best in October and November. In Messrs. Low
& Co.’s Nursery at Clapton there are many thousands of this
Orchid, occupying a very large house, and from them bushels
of bloom have been cut and marketed this autumn. The
species is very easily managed, as easily as C. Mossia.
Disa racemosa.—There are only two good garden Disas,
namely, the superb old YD. grandifiora, of which every
garden possesses, or should possess, dozens, and D. racemosa.
This is arecent introduction, but it bids fair to become a popu-
lar Orchid. It is easily grown, requiring the same treatment
as D. grandiflora, and blooms abundantly in spring. Each
growth produces one or two tall spikes, each bearing from six
to twelve deep-rose flowers, which last three or four weeks.
Itis a native of the east side of the Cape.
Vanda Amesiana is a delightful plant, of which little is
known yet, but quite enough to satisfy one that it will provea._
first-class garden Orchid. It was introduced and flowered by
Messrs. Low & Co. in 1887, and a second imported one in |
excellent health has recently arrived. The narrow fleshy |
leaves are six inches long, the erect crowded spike of flowers, —
each one and one-half inches across, with pure white sepals
and petals, and a large rosy-red lip; these give this species a
character distinct among Vandas. It is also easily grown if
placed in the same house with Phalzenopsis.
London,
pee tee
z
<
IV. Watson,
New or Little Known Plants.
Syringa villosa.
N account of this beautiful Lilac, of which an illustra-
tion appears upon the opposite page, was pub-
lished upon page 222 of this journal. It is a native of
northern China, and the plant from which our illustration
was made was raised in the Arnold Arboretum from seed
sent from Pekin by Dr. Bretschneider. Syringa willosaisa _
vigorous and very hardy shrub, now five feet high here, _
by as much through the branches, with stout, erect, pale |
brown shoots, marked with white spots, broad and ample _
pale green strongly reticulate-veined leaves, and narrow, —
*
i
and rather obtuse, often interrupted clusters of pale rose or
flesh-colored flowers, which are decidedly less fragrant than _
those of the common Lilac. They appear here towards |
the end of May.
S. villosa is a valuable and desirable addition to gardens.
The only drawback which it has yet developed as an orna- —
mental plant is found in the fact that its leaves fall very
early, or after the first frost, without any change of color. |
Our plant seems identical with the one recently figured —
in the Revue Horticole (November ist) under the name-
Syringa Emodi rosea, which has flowered in the Jardin des” |
Plantes, in Paris, and was raised from seed sent also by |
Dr. Bretschneider. As was pointed out in the description
already referred to, the S. Zmodi of the Himalaya, in spite
DECEMBER 26, 1888. ]
of slight differences of habit and of the form of the leaves
is probably not distinct from the north China plant, so that
the name S. Z7vod7 should, if this view is adopted, disap-
pear in the older name of SS. willosa. CAS: 1S:
Fig. 83.—Syringa villosaa—Sce page 520
Cultural Department.
Autumn Apples in New England.
MONG the autumn apples, the Gravenstein is now de-
cidedly taking the lead throughout the southern half of New
England, as the Duchess of Olde nburgh does in the northern
half. There is no comparison between the dessert quality of
Garden and Forest.
521
these two apples, the German being altogether superior to the
Russian. Yet itis a fact that there is scarcely any difference in
their market price. I have been interested in following the
market quotations, and find that only for shipping to Engl and
does the Gravenstein lead, and
this mostly when grown in Maine.
The Maine Gravensteins are so
much superior in keeping quality
that they may be almost rated as
early winter apples. Close to the
Gravenstein in popularity with
buyers comes the Porter, but this
is an apple that bruises so easily
and is injured so greatly
ing, that itean only be grown pro-‘
fitably for a near market. The
Gravenstein was brought into New
England from Belgium early in
this century, and first propagated
in Byfield, Massachusetts. No
foreign apple ever achieved a
more rapid or better deserved
popularity in America. It is one
ofthe very few fall apples of good
size, fine ap eae e and high
quality, that can be handled, kept
and transported without injurv.
These merits have given it a posi-
tion alongside the Hubbardston
in the Boston market. Yet there
are many other fall apples grown
and highly valued tor ere use.
High among these is the Mother,
which ripens in October, pat
its season extends up to and ae
yond the holidays. Truly, as Col
says, “The Mother has no superior,
and very few equals. Yet it is
rarely on the street stands, and is
hardly known except among oid
New England families of rtiral
origin oraffiliations. The Graven-
stein and Hubbardston have gain-
ed the lead upon the Mother as a
market fruit, notwithstanding its
good size, handsome appearance
and surpassing quality. Perhaps
the chief reason for that
the Mother, as Downing notes, is
“rather too tender for shiy ment.’
This apple originated in Bolton,
Massachusetts. Next to the Mother
comes the Garden Royal (native
of Sudbury, Massachusetts), of
by bruis-
this is
which Cole says truly, ‘ Nothing
is superior,” though he adds,
market
Mother, in the
patronized by
and in the gar-
“rather small for
we find it, with
best fruit stores,
the old families,
dens of many farmers, thot
usually but a single tree. It is
produced in great perfection about
Portland, Maine, and there I have
seen it on the stands oftener than
in Boston. Garden Roval is about
the size, form and Fa-
meuse, yet they are distin-
eguishe d by the eve.
The Fameuse is a
variety in the
where it
color oat
easily
standard
market,
the name ot
Boston
goes by
“Snow.” Being a good shipper,
it comes from many directions,
and is everywhere for sale about
Thanksgiving time. It is grown
up to the northern limits of New
Eneland, where its season extends to and beyond New
Year’s day. It isa handsome, delicate apple, with a delicate,
peculiar flavor, everywhere recognized and liked, though
it is by no means a rich or aromatic apple. The tree is
hardy and productive, but the fruit is liable to spot in un
favorable seasons and localities, sometimes to the extent of
making the whole crop unmerchantable, This apple is pop
ular, and as commonly grown in Connecticut and Rhode
522
Island as elsewhere in New England, but the best and fairest
fruit comes from the Champlain valley and islands. The Fa-
meuse is of Canadian origin, and Canada has produced a vast
number of seedlings from it, some of which, though little
known, surpass it in many points. These seedlings are now
being made better known, and somewhat disseminated,
through the efforts of the Montreal Horticultural Society.
Connecticut’s bes: contribution to our list of fall dessert
apples is the Mexico, which is pretty well distributed in the
east, yet not largely grown for market. This is a small red
apple, much in the style of Fameuse, with tender flesh anda
fine, high flavor. Origin, Canterbury, Connecticut.
In New Hampshire Jewett’s Fine Red (Nodhead) takes the
lead as a fall apple everywhere, both for home use and mar-
ket. Like the Fameuse, it can be kept into the winter, but
does not long retain its remarkably fine, delicious, aromatic
flavor. This apple is also well distributed in southern Maine
and Vermont. Origin, Hollis, New Hampshire.
The Winthrop Greening is a native fall apple, held in very
high esteem in western Maine. It is large, golden yellow,
with slight russet and a tinge of red in the sun. This apple
has a tender, crisp, and very juicy flesh, with a sprightly,
luscious flavor, mildly tart. Its reputation seems to be strictly
local.
But the great native fall apple of southern New England
(extending somewhat into the winter along the northern
range) is unquestionably the Hubbardston Nonesuch, ot Mas-
sachusetts. Truly does Downing declare that this Apple is
worthy of extended culture ; and it has attained it. The
Hubbardston is found in nearly every orchard in southern
New England, but unfortunately its northward range is not so
wide as we could wish. It isa failure in most parts of Ver-
mont and New Hampshire, and succeeds only in south-western
Maine. A fine, large, roundish, oval apple, Striped and
splashed with two shades of red, with yellow, juicy, tender
flesh, mingling sweetness with sprightly acidity, it is well
entitled to class with the best, in our lists. It also has the
qualities needed fora great market apple, the tree being vig-
orous and productive, and the fruit firm enough for transpor-
tation.
In northern New England the Duchess of Oldenburgh is
planted everywhere, and produces fruit superior in size,
beauty and quality to the same variety grown further south.
Yet there is only a day or two in its existence when it can be
classed as even a tolerably good eating apple. With cold
storage it can be kept till CHWetAS: and this long-kept fruit,
losing no beauty, gains considerably in quality, so that it
brings good prices.
A favorite fall apple in the cold north-west, for home use,
is the Peach of Montreal. This variety is worthless for ship-
ping, as it willnot improve if prematurely gathered, while if
allowed to mature on the tree it bruises with the slightest
touch. The tree is vigorous and productive, and the fr uit one
of the most beautiful grown, having a creamy skin with a
lovely pink blush in the sun.’ The size is medium to large,
form conical, flesh white, delicate, very soft, juicy, subacid,
and pleasant in flavor, without much aroma or distinctive
taste.
Lyman’s Pumpkin Sweet is, I think, the most widely grown
and popular among the Fall Apples of this class. The tree is
vigorous and productive, and the fruit is especially fine for
baking, LT. Hf, Hoskins,
Newport, Vt. =
A Garden of Chrysanthemums.
NOVEMBER garden, even if filled with the most ob-
scure flowers, would make a very satisfactory ending
of the out-door season; but the illustration on the opposite
page, froma photograph taken in late November, dimly sets
forth what ev en a small garden can show at that season in
the way of Chrys santhemums, which certainly have no rivals
among autumn flowers.
Those shown at the side of the house (with the exception
of afew pots useful for filling vacancies) are grown where
they bloom, and at approach of frosty weather are protected by
cold-frame sashes resting on temporary tramework. If the
weather is very severe, a canvas curtain is dropped in front,
and the window of a warm cellar in the rear is opened to tem-
per the air. It kept dry, plants in such a position are seldom
injured, in this latitude, before their blooming time is
eee tteuee| over. The main portion of my collection, some
50 plants, is, however, more thoroughly protected from frost
ane winds by the tent shown on the right of the picture. This
has a ground area of tw venty by thirty fee ‘t, with fourteen feet
ridge, “two masts and six feet w alls. It is made of sail-duck
Garden and Forest.
[DecEMBER 26, 1888.
and is strongly roped. It is easily raised over the plat by five
men in as many minutes when the usual early October frost
threatens. The walls are clewed up in pleasant weather, and
the plants have as cool treatment as is consistent with safety.
The heat is supplied by a Hitchings Base Burner located in
the cellar, with a two-inch wrought iron flow and return pipe
running around inside the lower base of the walls. With this
arrangement the plants passed through two nights this séason,
with an outside temperature of 20° Fahrenheit, uninjured, and
much sharper weather would probably injure none but a few
in the centre of the plat. I cannot see that the light in the
tent is prejudicial to the coloring of the flowers. The walls are
up every fine warm day, and the flowers havea certain amount
of strong light in any cas If any flowers are affected they
are the pinks, which perhaps come a little lighter in the cen-
tre of the tent. Ventilation is somewhat self- regulating, as
the wall hooks on the root under a curtain, leaving open
spaces which have to be pinned up when the w eather becomes
severe,
It is no great trouble to grow Chrysanthemum plants, and I
have no general cultural theories to explain. I leave home
at eight o’clock in the morning and return at seven in the
evening, | keep no gardener, and yet find no difficulty in car-
ing for 400 Chrysanthemums, besides a considerable col-
lection of hardy perennials and other garden plants. My pur-
pose is to grow a large crop of good flowers with the smaliest
outlay of money and labor.
My practice is to plant out the slips (with a strong stake to
each) as early in May-as possible, in double rows, say eigh-
teen inches apart each way, with a thirty-inch space between
the double rows. For my very heayy soil a liberal supply of
horse-manure and bone-dust under each plant affords the
needed nutriment. The plants are in no way coddled at any
stage, the care being about the same as that given to a crop
of Corn. The ground is cultivated several ‘times and kept
loose until the surface roots < appear, when a mulch of manure
is given. Chrysanthemums are very impatient of surplus
moisture at the roots (no plants more so), and the object being
to produce stocky plants with short joints, they are seldom
watered at the roots during a normal season unless they
show signs ot being dry.
Discretion must be used in reading these signs, as some
plants with drooping foliage, lile Soleil Levant, always appear
to lack moisture. Water is usually applied overhead to keep
the foliage fresh and to induce breaks. My plants are never
os stopped,” as they almost invariably produce more stems
than are needed, and, besides this, I prefer to have them
throw their blooms high. If plants are frequently stopped,
one cannot pluck stems two or three feet long, which add so
much grace to the cut.flowers. In August the ‘plants are gone
over and tied up thoroughly, in anticipation of high winds, and
to avoid restaking the stakes are cobwebbed together With
strong twine. W hen ready to show, rails are run between the
double rows and the plants tied closely and securely back.
The aisles seem narrow, yet several thousand people passed
between them last season without injuring a plant. Disbud-
ding is the nice art of Chrysanthemum ‘culture, and is a
matter of experience and judgment. Ina general way, I pre-
fer to remove all but one bud, preferably the crown bud, from
each stem. However thoroughly one disbuds, he will wish
before the end of the season that he had removed a few more,
for only in this way can fine, characteristic flowers be had. Of
course there are exceptions. One reads in the papersefre-
quently of some one who prefers the flowers in all their
natural luxuriance, but, in actual practice, I find that visitors
universally appreciate the best productions. Six, seven and
eight inch flowers are no rarities now, and many of these
are as refined as the smaller ones, if not overdone in the cul-
ture. Fohn N. Gerard.
Elizabeth, N. J.
Ferns for Cutting.
N estimating the relative value of various species and va-
rieties of Ferns for use in a cut state, some special qual-
ities are to be considered, the more important ones being
beauty, durability and rapidity of growth. It is also desira-
ble that they should be easy to propagate, so that the stock
can be quickly renewed when the plants become weakened
by trequent use of the knife. In beauty, few Ferns, if any,
excel the Adiantums, taken as a group, ‘and several of the
varieties, notably 4. Wiegandi, last a long time when cut.
But though this variety makes a very pretty plant, it has
not the elegance and grace of A. cuneatum, A. cuneatum
grandiceps or A. gracillimum, the latter having a most beauti-
tul effect when used with shall in arrangements of white or
DECEMBER 26, 1888.]
pink flowers, its delicate pinnae appearing like
work among the flowers.
In addition to the above-mentioned species and varieties,
A. decorum may be used as a substitute for A. cuneatum, if
more convenient to do so, its strong fronds of similar general
outline being tough enough to stand considerable exposure.
In choice arrangements, those of Orchid flowers, for instance,
A. Farleyense is almost indispensable. The varieties named
are probably the most useful of this family in general cultiva-
tion, and all are easily propagated from spores, with the ex-
ception of 4. Farleyense, which is readily increased by divi-
sion,
The next in order for general usefulness are several species
of Pteris, most of which are of the easiest cultivation, while
for lasting qualities they are decidedly some of the best. Preris
Cretica and its varieties magnifica and albo-lineata keep in
good condition for several days, in water, while P. serrudata
and several garden torms of this well-known sort are very
a green lace-
Garden and Forest.
523
cutting, but in many establishments the plants are not large
ornumerous enough to warrant a free use of the knife; but
where a few fronds of this handsome species can be spared
for deeorating, it will be noted that fronds of G. dichotoma,
when placed in water, stand the test of a warm room for as
long a period as those of any Fern so used, and from their
peculiarly formed growth are sure to attract attention and
commendation.
Philadelphia, November 23d iW.
Chrysanthemums.—It often happens after Chrysanthemums
have done flowering that they are stowed away either under
green-house benches, where there is but little Hg@ht, or in cel-
lars where there is less, or are left out in the weather to strue-
gle as best they can with the elements. Good Chrysanthe-
mums cannot be had next year trom stock subjected to such
treatment. Growers who aim at fine plants and fine flowers
are now giving their stock-plants the best attention; thi
weaker kinds are placed in a cold green-house or frame, close
A Garden of Chrysanthemums.—See opposite page.
pretty, and capabie of standing a great deal of rough usage;
while if large fronds are needed for any special purpose,
P. argyea and P. tremula are among the best varieties to tur-
nish them, though they will not stand quite so long as those
of P. Cretica and P. serrulata, and they are also rather more
brittle.
After the Pteris may be placed Onychium Faponicum and
Davallia tenuifolia striata, oth of which are excellent Ferns
for either florists or amateurs, though they do not recover
from a severe cutting in so short a time as plants of the genus
first named, and in the case of the Davallia it is also some-
what more difficult to raise a quantity from spo Another
Fern frequently seen and very usetul at times is J@crolepis
hirta cristata, its long and graceful fronds being seen to ad-
vantage in large baskets and similar arrangements. I lately saw
a pleasing effect produced by the use ofa few fronds of Micro-
lepis in a basket of Chrysanthemums, this being one of the
few Ferns which may safely be used among these flowers
without seeming out of place. Some of the Nephrolepis are
also very good for our purpose, WV. exaltata and NV. davallioides
Jurcans being among the mostsuitable on account of the strong
texture of their fronds and their rapid and persistent growth.
Much might be said of the good qualities of the Gleichenias for
nernyereresyy) th
[CT STAN ACUTE, VST ES ES ERNIE |
to the light, and they are never allowed to want for water;
the stronger kinds have also good positions in airy frames
or green-houses. All are kept free from insects and mildew.
Cuttings will be made of the slower growing kinds as soon as
they have obtained sufficient vigor. The best Chrysanthe-
mums are only obtained from cuttings taken from plants that
are perfectly strong and healthy. Fohn Thorpe.
Pearl River, N.Y.
Haplocarpa Leichtlini.—I have grown this little south Afri-
can composite plant for the past three years, and am well
pleased with it as a border flower, but it is of no use for
cutting, as its blossoms do not stay open after they are cut
and removed to an ordinarily lighted room. The plants are
stemless, and form rosettes of Dandelion-shaped leaves, seven
to nine inches long, glossy above and thickly covered with
white, closely-pressed silky down beneath.. The flowers are
two to three inches across, golden yellow backed with pur-
plish-brown, showy and borne singly on scapes ten to thirteen
inches high. They shut up at night and in dull weather, The
,plant is not hardy, and ten degrees of frost will kill it outright.
Although a perennial, it seeds freely and the seeds germinate
readily, and if sown in spring they give blooming plants by
midsummer, and these plants continue to bloom uninterrupt-
edly till cut down by November frosts. William Falconer.
Glen Cove, L. I :
Tea Rose, Madame Hoste.—This is a Rose of great promise,
and judging from our own experience, it will take rank with
the most valuable of its class. It possesses a good constitu-
tion, is strong, but not coarse, in growth, and has abundant
dark green foliage. The bud is larger than that of Perle des
Jardins, and of rounder, yet finely pointed, form, while its
beautiful lemon tint is most pleasing. Not the least of its
charm is its beauty when fully open. Within the past tew days
flowers have developed here which rival the largest and most
524
perfect Maréchal Neils. There is little doubt that it will prove
a valuable bedding variety ; and as to its suitability for forcing
under glass there can no longer bea question, M. Guillot, to
whom we are indebted for this mi agnificent variety, has once
more placed the lovers of fine Roses under grateful obliga-
tion to his house. OG
. T. .
Richmond, Ind.
The Forest.
The Forest Vegetation of North Mexico.—X.
|" we continue, over the plains and amongst the foot-
hills bordering them, our examination of the frutescent
species of Chihuahua, we shall find sparsely scattered
through the chaparral several shrubs of interest in one
regard or another—Cassia_ Wishzen’, Gray, in small
clumps about six feet high, for its abundant yellow bloom
shown in April, and again after the midsummer rains
have refreshed the country ; Amsacanihus tusiguis, Gray,
a slender bush three to six feet high, for its showy light
purple flowers, which appear on the leafless branches
in March; Zizyphus lycio:des, Gray, growing in clusters
six or eight feet high, for its burden® of blue-black berries,
long persisting ; -lcacia consiricia, Benth., here merely a
shrub with tall, slender stems, for the delightful fragrance
of its flowers, growing in little yellow heads strung on the
virgate branches, which throughout several months of the
year betray to all passing near the presence of this shrub;
Lip pia lycioides, Steud., a tail and tender shrub, often sup-
ported by other species, fora similarly sweet and long
continued perfume ; Lycraurus leplocladus, Hook, 7, a low,
soft bush, for its feathery panicles of fruit; Ephedra re
furca, Torr., two to ten feet high in clumps, for its rush-
like, leafless branches ; and Ephedra pedunculata, Engelm.,
a vine-like plant climbing amongst shrubbery, for its
numerous scarlet berry-like fruits.
On the extensive sandy plain, in some parts shifting
sand-hills, lying south of Paso del Norte, Bigelovia pul-
chella, Gray, Arlemisia filifolia, Torr., and Polomintha tn-
cana, Gray, are scattered as small shrubs amongst clumps
of Mesquite. In arroyos of the plains Brickellia laciniala,
Gray, and Hymenoclea monogyra, Gray, are woody- -stemmed
plants a few feet in height. A wild Grape, lis Arizonica,
Engelm., bearing clusters of a few small berries, grows on
river banks. Two species of Baccharis, B. angustifolia,
Michx., and &. glutinosa, Pers., border streams or cover
their higher gravel. The Osier-like stems of these two
common plants, harvested before the resin-covered leaves
fall, and bound into bundles, serve as fuel for burning
tiles, lime, etc. Senecio salignus, DC., and Varilla Meat-
cana, Gray, are woody composites of the lower valleys,
conspicuous in March for profuse yellow flowers.
The low shrubs which occupy the mesas of thin soil
on a cemented foundation, previously described, are
chiefly Larrea Mexicana, Moric., and /Vlourensia cornua,
DC., the leaves of both covered with resin as a protection
against drought, and the following, whose leaves have a
velvety covering, serving the same end—Parthenium tnca-
num, HBK., Lip pia Wright, Gray, Buddleia marrubiifolia,
Benth., with round heads of orange-colored flowers, and
Leucophylum minus, Gray, whose deep purple flowers
contrast well with its silvery leaves. Quite at home
amongst these, and overtopping them, we notice Rhus
microphylla, Engelm., six or eight feet high, and attractive
with its scarlet fruits, and . depauperate state of Acacia
constricta, Benth.
Approaching finally the foot-hills by the azrevos, strewn
with gravel and boulders, through which their torrents rush
down to the plain, channels left dr y throughout most or
the year, however, we pass a straggling growth of shrubs,
the acquaintance of many of which we have e already made
upon the plain. rom the arreves we follow into’ the
gulches and cafions others, however, which better love the
hills,—Morus microphylla, Buck. , ch to fifteen feet high,
of interest as yielding fruit, though small and barely edibl et
perhaps the best wil dtr uit to be found; Preha angustifolia,
Benth., five to twelve feet, of slender, irregular habit ;
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 26, 1888.
Garrva Wrighti, Torr., six feet high, a leafy evergreen ;
Berberis trifoliolata, Moric., a Berberry with glaucous, pun-
gent leaves and the usual scarlet berries ; ‘Ungnadia Spe-
closa, Endl., loaded in earliest spring with pink flowers ;
Rhus vir cus, Lindh., approaching arborescent proportions,
with shining evergreen leaves, pink flowers and scarlet
fruits ; Lonicera albiflora, Tl. & G, awhite-flowered Honey-
suckle : ; Coloneaster ene HBK., six to eight feet high,
and. loaded with rosy-white fruits of the size of Huckleber-
ries; Loreshera phillyrewides, Vorr., six to ten feet high ;
ALimosa a a Watson, four or five feet; Rhamnus Cal-
ifornica, Esch., fifteen feet; and Colubrina Texensis, Gray,
ten to fifteen feet high
Without the canons we find preferring more open situa-
tions, on the lesser hills, Lysenhardia spinosa, Engelm.,
one to two feet; Zecoma sfans, Juss., three to six feet, bril-
liant throughout the growing season with shining yellow
flowers; Alamosa dysocarpa, Benth., and AL Pringlec. Wat-
son, both pretty, with a profusion of purplish flow er clus-
ters; Mortonia scabrella, Gray, two or three feet; dAdolphia
infesla, Meisn., spiny and almost leafless, in broad clumps,
but a foot or two high; that strange plant, Mougquiera s plen-
dens, Engelm., with virgate stems ten to fifteen feet high,
several spreading from a common crown and terminated
by a cluster of flaming red flowers; and Vanquelinia co-
rymbosa, Corr., a beautiful shrub of a few feet in height with
compact, evergreen foliage and corymbs of white flowers ;.
on the upper slopes and summits—Ceanothus Greggit,
Gray ; Cowania Mexrcana, Don, three to six feet high ; Cerco- -
carpus parvifolius, Nutt., ten feet; and &endlera rupicola,
Engelm. and Gray. .
In cafions of mountains about the Laguna c-untry were
found, besides many of the above, eee crasstfolia,
Gray, A. Berlandiert, Benth., and 4. ‘anisophylla, Watson,
n, Sp., Bauhinia uniflora, Watson, v7. sp., showy, with purple
flowers, and Randia Pringle’, Gray, with white. fragrant
flowers, all about fifteen feet high, and doubtfully to be in-
cluded among shrubs. HOP nse e ae sruticosa, Watson,
n. Sp., and Machaonia Pr mglet, Gray. 1. sp., a lovely ever-
green with white flowers, were but farce to five feet high.
Charlotte, Vt. C. G, Pringle
Correspondence.
: An Appeal for Pretty Plants.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:
Sir.—I am a vulgarian. I like pretty plants. I also like to
own them. I like to see them growing on my little grounds.
I like them just as much if they come from far aw ay as if they
were first found near at hand; and if they are very unlike
what all my neighbors have, I love my pretty plants the better
for that. T enjoy gathering around me handsome shrubs and
trees which I couldn't otherwise see short of a horticultural
park or a big arboretum. To my low taste it isn't the end
of all perfection in planting to secure ‘‘repose,” or general
sleepiness, or so refined a commonplace that nobody will no-
tice whether anything is growing near my house. I rebel
against Mr. Olmsted and you, and only a revolt will ease
my mind and temper when you go to laying down those.
austere rules of Jandscape-¢g gardening. What! May some
high artist come along, and order out of the “ground
my pluming Pampas Grass and striped Eulalias, my de-
licious Japanese Maples and the Paulownia which I cut
down every year that it may yield. me leaves more
than two feet across, my Hydrangea Grandifloras, all in a
bouncing bed, my dainty blue Spruce and delicate Deodar
Cedar, my Retinisporas, too various to describe in a letter of
protest, and my Irish Yew, black as the Sun-ray Pine is yel-
low ? Shall he make me believe that all the people who look —
over my fence as they go by and who say this lawn is the _
neatest thing in the neighborhood, lack good taste for ad-
miring a plain man’s collection of all the fine things he
could find a nice place forand make grow out-of-doors ? > Why
may I not think a dark Austrian and a light Scotch Pine set
each other off as well in Pennsylvania as if they were planted —
t'other side of the sea? Why are not that rich Nordmann Fir.
and that bland Nobilis as charming side by side as if one were
thriving unseen in the Crimea and the other were hidden away
in the Sierras ?
DECEMBER 26, 1888.]
It's of no use to goon. Iam too dull to understand why
pretty things cease to be pretty when they become strikingly
pretty. I think you have hitit with regard to the glaring calico
beds of Coleus. Some sense ought to be shown in putting
colors together ; but green is not the only color in trees worth
looking at by vulgar eyes. If you will make a pilgrimage far
out Chestnut Street, in Philadelphia, as I do two or three times
a year, just to see a purple Beech, purple as any bedding plant,
big as a house, and round as a Cabbage, with a cut-leaved,
Weeping Birch tor one neighbor and a Cedar of Lebanon hard
by in acorner, Iam sure you would enjoy these rare beauties
which, as a critic, you condemn, because they are not com-
monplace and easy to overlook. Make your high-class parks
as prim and plain as you will, but pardon common folk for
putting pretty things where they can see them grow and
where they can be proud of them. Simple Simon.
Chester, Pa.
[Our correspondent has entirely failed to comprehend
the scope and aims of this journal if he imagines that we do
not cordially share his admiration for beautiful plants. All
- those which he mentions are handsome and appropriate
objects in a garden or upon a lawn adjacent to a dwelling-
house; and if he has succeeded in grouping them so as to
bring out all their beauties with the same taste and know!l-
edge which he has displayed in their selection, his neigh-
bors have good reason for stopping to look at his garden.
But if he has succeeded in grouping them in this man-
ner he may feel very sure that—apparently without his
knowledge and perhaps even against his will—he has se-
cured an effect of ‘‘repose,” of harmony, of variety in
unity, although not necessarily of ‘‘sleepiness” or com-
monplaceness. The mistake he makes, and it is one of
very general occurrence, is that he confounds the treatment
of a yard or small garden in a thickly settled, or compara-
tively thickly settled, region, with landscape-gardening—
that is, with the development of surfaces, the treatment of
water and the arrangement of plants in such a way as to
produce living pictures on a large scale, which are success-
ful as they imitate or surpass natural effects. Whena small
garden or a small lawn forms part of a wider and more ex-
tended picture it demands a treatment which shall be in
harmony with its surroundings, or with the views,
natural or artificial, which can be seen from it. But, as
a general rule, a small garden must be treated as a unit
and independently of its surroundings; and in such a gar-
den plants which would appear inappropriate and out of
place in a large landscape picture, are not only appro-
priate, but the most desirable plants to use. A garden exists
largely for the sake of its plants; with a park or landscape
the reverse is the case—the plants exist for the sake of the
picture asa whole. But even in the smallest garden an
Over-accumulation of trees and shrubs and flowers, a con-
fusion of incongruous forms and colors, a fussy, hetero-
geneous, disorderly arrangement can never be satisfactory,
for under such circumstances the plants themselves cannot
appear to the best advantage. If our correspondent’s gar-
den is as pleasing in effect as we gather from his words, its
arrangement is orderly, no matter how unsymmetrical and
informal it may be; forms and colors are well contrasted;
each plant helps instead of hurting the beauty of its neigh-
bors, and therefore the effect is a reposeful one. That it
includes many striking elements does not alter this fact—
some of the finest, most complete and reposeful works of
art that the world can show contain very striking elements.
The whole question is not one of elements, but of their
use, and all we have tried to impress upon our readers
is that the more striking the material, the more difficult
it is to use it really well, and that material which is
not striking is the safest to employ. Given a due degree
of knowledge and taste there is no reason why all the
plants mentioned by our correspondent, and many more be-
sides, cannot be plantedin such a manner uponasmall piece
of ground as to produce an attractive and interesting garden.
The development of these plants will afford new pleasures
or new disappointments every year; and the man who
plants and maintains such a garden should be considered
a benefactor to the community in which he lives. It is a
Garden and Forest.
525
collection of plants, however, which he creates, and not a
landscape picture. Each is valuable and interesting, and
each is capable of affording real and lasting pleasure ; but
they must not be confounded, and the man who can suc-
cessfully plant, and so make the most of his door-yard,
must not think that he is a landscape-gardener. — Eb. |
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—In striking contrast with the vicinity of Lebanon, Penn-
sylvania, where the portable saw-mill, at so much per acre,
has devastated the country of its most valuable trees, I ob-
served during a recent visit to Dauphin County, Pennsylvania,
that most of the mountain land throughout an extensive
region in that part of the state is still covered with forests. As
it is too rough and steep for cultivation, it should, of course, °
be kept permanently wooded. The soil is good, and it origin-
ally produced a heavy growth of Chestnut Oak, White and
Black Oak, Hickory, Walnut, Ash and Chestnut trees. Most
of this was cut off thirty or thirty-five years ago, but where the
land is not burned over or pastured the trees are rapidly re-
produced. There are many springs and small streams in this
woodland region, and these are of great value, not alone to
the few farmers living in the small valleys, but their steady
flow is also of importance to the dwellers along the rivers
which carry these waters to the sea. Some plan for taking
care of these woods ought to form part of the education of the
people of this part of the country. They are hard-working,
sensible men and women, with a great deal of character, most
of them poor. How can they be reached and taught what
they need to know and think of and practice in regard to the
forest interests of their region and the best ways of managing
their own woodlands ? es
Philadelphia. Me BSG,
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :
Sir.—Owing to unusual rains in August and September, and
the continued warm weather, much of the vegetation here
has put on the appearance of spring. The Elms on the east
and south sides of the hills are in full bloom. The Japan
Quince and Forsythia are full of scarlet and yellow blossoms.
The Daffodils, single Hyacinths, Jonquils and Flower-de-Luces
are several inches above ground. The perennial Sweet Pea
has put outfresh sprays ; their delicate, beautiful green makes
a lovely addition to cut-flowers for the table. I have just
gathered from my garden, besides late Chrysanthemums, blue
(sweet) Violets ; Louis Philippe, Bougére, Lamarque, Duch-
esse Brabant, the fragrant, old-fashioned ‘‘ Blush-cluster ” and
pink daily Roses ; Dwarf Iris and Woodbine, of which we
have a variety that is nearly a perpetual bloomer. I have
gathered blossoms from it as late as Christmas Day and as
early as February 15th. The trumpet-shaped flowers are
scarlet on the outside and orange on the inside.
Alice W. Rucker.
College Grove, Tennessee, November 2gth.
Recent Publications.
The Origin of Floral Structures through Insect and other
Agencies. By the Rev. George Henslow, Professor of Botany,
Queen's College. 349 pages, and numerous illustrations.
D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1888.
The author has felt impressed by what he regards as the in-
adequacy of the theory of Natural Selection to account for the
diversities of form and structure in the vegetable world.
As generally understood, the Darwinian theory recognizes
(1) the fact that organisms vary from generation to generation,
the descendant differing more or less from its progenitors in
some way or other; (2) that more descendants are produced
than can, under existing circumstances, possibly come to ma-
turity, and (3) that of the variant forms, those will, of course,
stand the best chance of coming to maturity which are best
fitted to meet their surroundings. In other phrase, Nature
selects the fittest, and these survive. But the question natur-
ally arises, may not the surroundings have played an important
part not merely in selecting advantageous variations, but in
originating all variations? This question has presented itself
to the minds of many investigators in the Old World, and it
has been thoughtfully treated by Cope, Hyatt and Ryder in this
country. This is the inquiry which Professor Henslow places
before the reader in the work under consideration, and he
employs in some cases the terms which had been previously
used by the American students above mentioned,. whose
works were doubtless unknown to him.
526
At the outset we will say that the book appears to be a use-
ful contribution to the subject. It is attractive and readable
throughout, but to us it has been unsatisfactory, or, rather,
unsatisfying. The lack does not arise so much from the
method of reasoning or of statement of observed or cited
facts, as from the author’s use of terms, This may be illus-
trated by a reference to the beginning of the book. After
assuming the ideal type of floral structure, he proceeds as
follows: ‘‘We may at once consider the ‘Principles of Varia-
tion,’ as I propose to call them, in accordance with which the
different members of flowers can be altered.” ‘ There are
five principles which require special consideration. They are
usually designated by the terms number, arrangement, cohe-
sion, adhesion and form.” ‘ The above five przncifles consti-
tute the mostimportant, 72 accordance with which Nature has
brought about the infinite diversity which exists in the floral
world. There are minor distinctions hereatter to be consid-
ered, such as colors, scents, etc.; but they are of less import-
ance in investigating the causes at work which have evolved
specific and generic differences amongst flowering plants.”
This sentence, in which we have placed italics, appears to indi-
cate that the author makes no clear discrimination between a
principle and a distinction, since the first is said simply to be
more important than the latter. In other words, he employs
the term principle to express distinctive character or distinc-
tion, and yet having appropriated it for this purpose, as he per-
haps had a perfect right to do, makes it do double duty as a
law or mode of action ‘‘in accordance with which Nature has
brought about the infinite diversity which exists in the vege-
table world.” The author has probably not felt that any am-
biguity can arise from such use of terms, but the casual
reader and the careful student alike, who take up the book for
the first time, will be liable to entertain a distrust which is not
wholly warranted. The book ought to do good service in
stimulating observation and in exciting intelligent inquiry even
among those who are not botanists.
A Catalogue of Canadian Plants. Part IV.—Endogens. By
John Macoun. Montreal, 1888. :
Another part of this work, being Part I. of the second vol-
ume, covering the endogenous plants of British North Amer-
ica, has been issued by the Geological and Natural History
Survey of Canada. Itis to be followed by two additional
parts to be devoted to the Ferns, with the Mosses and Liver-
worts, and to Lichens, Fungi and Seaweeds. Considerable
additions to the knowledge of British American plants have
been acquired during the past two years, through collections
made on the shores and islands of James’ Bay, by Mr. James
M. Macoun, ason of the author of the catalogue, who him-
self spent several months in studying the botany of Van-
couver’s Island, and by Mr. G. M. Dawson, who devoted the
summer of 1887 to exploring that portion of the North-west
Territories which is adjacent to Alaska, a journey whose
most interesting botanical features have already been
described by Mr. Dawson in the columns of this journal.
The results of this journey, so far as they relate to the
Endogens, are contained in the present volume. Professor
Macoun estimates that the entire work, when completed,
will contain, including 2,500 cryptogamous plants, the
enumeration of about 5,500 species of plants, native and intro-
duced, found growing without cultivation, within the limits
of the Canadian Dominion.
Periodical Literature.
The November number of the Budletin of Miscellaneous In-
formation, issued from the Royal Gardens, Kew, contains the
usual amount of valuable information relating to economic
plants and plant products, which makes this periodical invalu-
able to all persons interested in economic botany and in trop-
ical agriculture.
The principal articles are upon the Lagos Rubber (Ficus
Vogelii), from which the following quotations are of general
interest :
“ The investigation of plants likely to yield the caoutchouc of
commerce is being carried out in west tropical Africa by
numerous correspondents of Kew. Possibly in no other part
of the world is there such a wide field for investigation of this
kind, and in recent years a considerable trade in India-rubber
has arisen through the exertions of officials and traders who
have givenattention to this subject. At present the chief rub-
ber-yielding plants on the west coast appear to belong toa
species of Landolphia. These are climbing shrubs with stems
four to six inches in diameter near the ground, but dividing
above into numerous branches, which support themselves on
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 26, 1888.
the neighboring trees. The rubber of the Gold Coast, known
in commerce as Accra rubber, is the product of Landolphia
owariensis, Beauv. This is probably the best rubber plant in
west Africa. The rubber is obtained by cutting off portions
of the bark in strips varying in length from three to ten inches.
The cuts are made sufficiently deep to reach the latex canals,
and soon the crude juice starts out in drops and gathers on the
newly-cut surface. The rubber of the Laxdolphia coagulates
on exposure to the air, and requires no other preparation other
than rolling it up into balls. ‘A quantity of the milk is first
dabbed on the fore-arm of the operator, and being peeled off,
forms a nucleus of the ball. This nucleus is applied to one
after another of the fresh cuts, and being turned with a rotary
motion, the coagulated milk is wound off like silk from a
cocoon. Thecoagulation takes place so rapidly on exposure to
the air, that not only is every particle cleanly removed from the
cuttings, but also a large quantity of the semi-coagulated milk
is drawn out from beneath the uncut bark, and during the
process a break in the thread rarely occurs.’
“Another method of collecting west Africa rubber is de-
scribed as follows: The blacks wipe off the milk with their
fingers and smear it on their arms, shoulders and breasts, until
a thick covering of rubber is formed. This is peeled off their
bodies and cut into small squares, which are then said to be
boiled in water. In European markets such rubber appears
in more or less agglutinated masses of small cubes.
“ The investigations undertaken by Mr. Millson in west Africa
are described in the following notes :
“ «Tn nearly all the native villages in the western district of
the Colony of Laros, and,I believe, throughout the colony and
the interior, are to be found large spreading trees, which have
been planted for shade in the market places, streets and com-
pounds. These trees are of the Fig family, and are called by
the natives Abba. I have measured a tree of this species of
the age of thirteen years, and found its girth, at three feet
from the ground, to be six feet four inches, and its height to
the branches twelve feet, while its total height could not be
less than fifty or sixty feet, and its foliage area a quarter of an
acre. A tree of this size ought to give large quantities of milk
if tapped at the righttime of the year. Although it was in fruit
when I tapped it, and the season being very dry, was in every
respect unsuitable, yet the milk exuded in large drops, and
flowed for a considerable distance down the trunk. Three
quarts of milk were extracted from this tree without injuring
it in any way, and I have little doubt that at any time between
the months of July and February from four to five gallons
could have been obtained with but little trouble. The trees,
however, should only be tapped on alternate years, so as to
leave time for a fresh growth of bark to replace that which has
been removed. It is difficult to form an accurate estimate of
the percentage of dry rubber that would be yielded by a gallon
of milk, but I have reason to believe from previous experi-
ments on Central American rubber trees (Castilloa elastica) of
similar richness of milk, that each gallon should give about
three pounds of India rubber. The value of the rubber pro-
duced depends largely upon the care with which itis prepared,
and I have reason to believe that the milk of this species, at
least, of the ‘“ Abba” tree, can be made to give an excellent
sample.
“ «Should the above facts be established, it becomes evident
that plantations of the ‘‘ Abba” tree would be a highly profita-
ble investment. It is planted by the simple method of cutting
offa branch and pushing it into the ground, and on account
of the facility and rapidity with which it is raised, the natives
used it largely for fence-posts. From the trees already in full
growth in the bush and towns a considerable export trade
could be readily established, and careful planting would de-
velop this trade to almost an unlimited extent.’”
In the article upon Liberian Coffee at the Straits Settlements
it appears that ‘‘as a commercial article Liberian Coffee has
not hitherto proved so valuable as was at one time supposed,
and the cultivation, though widely distributed, has not become
general in any part of the world. There are, doubtless, good
reasons for this. It has been found, for instance, that the
“cherries” of Liberian Coffee do not become soft and pulpy
when ripe, but remain hard and fibrous. Hence it has been
found difficult to husk the beans, as the machinery found suit-
able for preparing Arabian Coffee is not applicable to the
Liberian Coffee. Again, the “parchment” skin is tough and
woody in the latter, and the labor and percentage of waste en-
tailed in “ cleaning” is increased, while the actual market value
is lessened. Probably, also, in the cultivation of Liberian
Coffee the localities selected for plantations have, in many
cases, been subject to long droughts, whereas the species
evidently prefers a warm, moist climate, with abundant rains
+
DECEMBER 26, 1888.]
well distributed through the year. Should the present high
price of Coffee be maintained it is not unlikely that the culti-
vation of Liberian Coffee will prove sufficiently remunerative
to warrant further attention being paid to it.
Tea cake is prepared from a species of Camellia (Camellia
Sasangua), which ‘‘is extensively grown in south China for the
production of seeds, which produce a valuable oil, known as
Tea Oil. The preparation is very simple. The seeds are
collected in October or November, dried and taken to the
mill, where they are crushed in a circular mortar or trough by
a pestle driven through it by water power. The seeds after
being crushed are steamed, and then the mass is placed ina
powerful press, which expresses the oil. The refuse, after the
extraction of the oil, is the article known as C#'é ¢sta ping. It
is produced in cakes weighing, when dry, about three ounces
and three and a half pounds respectively. The quality of the
two kinds of cake is the same. Iam not aware that anything
besides the seeds of Camellia Sasangua enters into the com-
position of these cakes. Ch’a tsia fing is used by the Chinese
. asa hair wash and as soap for cleansing both the person and
the clothes. Itis also used for eradicating earth-worms from
grass lawns. For this purpose the cake is crushed and boiled.
The decoction is then diluted and poured on the grass, when
the worms come to the surface of the ground. Asa rule, the
small worms die, but the larger ones after a time recover.
After being picked up from the grass the worms are often
given to fowls and ducks, which devour them readily, and ap-
parently thrive on them, experiencing no inconvenience from
the effects of the C#’d ¢sta fing with which the worms were
killed.”
There are articles on the Demerara Pink Root (Spigelia
anthelmia), a plant possessing powerful drastic properties,
which renders 1t exceedingly dangerous for animals to graze
upon the ground where this plant grows. On the food grains
of India, with an analysis of the fruit of Croix gigantea. On the
Yoruba Indigo (Lonuchocarpus cyanescens). On the Trinidad
Ipecacuanha (Cephaelis tomentosa), from which it appears that
“the demand for the official Ipecacuanha is steadily increasing,
while the supply of the drug is either stationary or gradually
becoming scarcer. Inquiry is, therefore, naturally directed
to plants that may possess similar properties, in the hope that
_ they may serve to supplement or replace the drug hitherto
excusively in use.”
There are also articles on the Treatment of Vines in
France; on Huskless Barley; and areport upona series of trials
of the methods of preparing Ramie fibre, recently undertaken
in Paris under the auspices of the French Government.
We cannot find space for more extended quotations for this
issue of the Bzzdletin, which is certainly one of the most
useful of the various publications prepared in the Royal
Gardens.
The last number of Hooker's. Jcones, which appeared in
October, completes the eighth volume of the third series, or
Volume XVIII. of the entire work.
Among the plants figured in this issue, which are interesting
from other points of view than that of pure science, is the
curious Musa proboscidea, ¢. 1777; a Banana from the hills
of Ukami, in tropical Africa, about 100 miles inland to the west
of the Island of Zanzibar, the long axis of the inflorescence
hanging down, as shown from a photograph, to about one-
third the height of the stems above the ground. Parnassia
Faberi, ¢t. 1778, is a minute, but very attractive, species, from
Mount Omei, in central China, where it was discovered by the
Reverend FE. Faber at an elevation of 4,500 feet. Mex macro-
carpa, ¢. 1787, 1s a stout shrub or tree which sometimes attains a
height of fifty feet, with large, deciduous leaves and _ black
fruits. Itis one of Dr. Henry’s interesting discoveries in the
Ichang gorge of the Nanto'o Mountains, and was sent also
from the Kwangtang Province byC. Ford. It may be expected
to be valuable in cultivation. And this is true, also, of Lindera
Jragrans, ¢, 1788, another discovery of Dr. Henry’s, who
remarks, in regard to this elegant plant, that ‘‘ the leaves are
pounded in milk in the glens, and the powder mixed with
that got from the roots of Biota, in a similar way; it is
used for making Joss-sticks—sticks of incense used in
religious worship.” The flowers are fragrant. ;
Primula Faberi, ¢t. 1789, is an addition to the series of Chi-
nese Primroses which are among the most important of the
Abbé Delavay’s recent discoveries in south-eastern China. It
is distinguished by the conspicuous involucre, in which the
calyxes of the stout-pediceled flowers are almost hidden.
Lonchocarpus cyanescens, t. 1791, a native of the Yoruba
country, a region north of Abbeokuta, is the plant which pro-
duces the so-called ‘“Yomba Indigo,” which is prepared ~by
3
Garden and Forest.
527
pounding the young leaves to a black, pasty condition, and
then made up into balls for market. The dye is a fine deep
blue in color and very permanent.
Cadrania triloba, ¢t. 1792, is a member of the family to which
the Mulberry belongs. It is the ‘Silkworm Tree,” and is
known in China, where it is quite widely distributed, as the
“Tsa” tree. Dr. Henry reports ‘that it is common about
Ichang, where it is considered to be as good for silkworms as
the Mulberry, but it 1s not used so long as Mulberry leaves
can be got, because the tree is thorny and it is troublesome to
pick off the leaves. It is hence given chiefly to adult silk-
worms, and, as Mulberry leaves soon become finished, it is
much used.” The tree attains a height of twenty feet. The
leafy shoots, more especially those from near the base of the
plant, are often armed with strong, stout, axillary spines.
Achras Bahamensis, ¢. 1795, anative of the Bahainas, and No.
3837 of Baron Eggers’ recent Bahama collection. Mr. Baker
finds it ‘very distinct from the well-known Achras Sapota,
not only in the leaf, but also in the structure of the flower,
having the segments of the corolla twelve in number instead
of six, so that unless it be made a new genus, the character
of Achras will have to be materially enlarged.”” We venture
to suggest that this plant is the A/dmusops Steberi of A. De
Candolle, a common tree ot semi-tropical Florida and of the
West Indies—a view which is supported by the plate itself,
which very well shows the six-parted corolla, with the two ap-
pendages at the base of each division, and the short, triangu-
lar and nearly entire staminodia alternate with the lobes of
the corolla, which characterize Mimusop. The figure in
Catesby’s ‘‘ Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Ba-
hama Islands,” to which Mr. Baker calls attention, displays
the fruit accurately enough, and there is another figure,
although a less satisfactory one, in Nuttall’s Sylva (iii., 28, 4
go), in which the fruit of some other plant seems to have been
substituted for that of the Mimusops, which is depressed-
globular, about one inch in diameter, dark russet brown
when ripe, and barely edible.
Sir Joseph Hooker figures and describes, in this part of the
Icones, a number of Indian Orchids, principally belonging to
the genus Oberonia, a fact which leads us to hope that his ex-
amination of Indian plants for the ‘‘ Botany of India” is near-
ing completion, and that the final parts of this work, one of
the most important of the great floras to which the studies of
many years of his life have been devoted and which no hand
but his can so well take up, may soon be expected.
Notes.
The Eulogy of Richard Fefferies, which was reviewed in this
journal last week, is published in this country by Messrs.
Longmans, Green & Co.
The thirty-first annual meeting of the Missouri State Horti-
cultural Society, held on December 5th at Nevada, was excep-
tionally interesting. More than one thousand plates of fruit
were on exhibition, beside an abundance of choice vegetables
and flowers.
In the Popular Science Monthly for December will be found
a translation in full of the Marquis de Saporta’s interesting
article on ‘‘The Origin of Forest Groupings,” to which we
called attention some months ago, when it was published in
the Revue des Deux Mondes.
Mr. Weiger, of the Botanic Gardens in Adelaide, writes to
The Garden (London) describing one of the finest existing
specimens of ‘‘Fortune’s Rose.” It stands near the fountain
in the garden, was planted twenty-six years ago, and has
received no special care, although copiously watered in the
dry season. It isa veritable tree, being about twelve feet in
height and the same in diameter, while at a foot above the
ground, where it breaks into several branches, the stem
measures a yard in circumference.
Dr. Hildebrand, who recently published in Wildeman’'s Azx-
nalen der Physik und Chemie the results of his investigations
into the action of moisture upon different kinds of wood, says
that more care than is now taken should be exercised in
choosing wood for measuring-rules. Mahogany and oak are
frequently used for this purpose, but are entirely unfit for it;
maple, fir, beech and linden woods being far preferable.
With no wood, however, can absolute stability, and therefore
accuracy, be depended upon, even though polish, oil or
lacquer be applied to its surface. Air, saturated with steam,
will penetrate all but the very best lacquer, and even ivory
does not entirely resist its action.
528
The Pecan nuts now sold in some retail shops are specially
prepared for the market. Large nuts of uniform size are se-
lected and placed in an iron cylinder, which is made to revolve
by machinery. The nuts are thus made perfectly smooth by
attrition, a uniform dark brown color being given to them by
putting into the revolving cylinder some coloring substance,
the composition of which is still a secret of the trade.
A remarkable Horse-Chestnut to be growing so far north
stands at Skene House in Scotland, one of the seats of the Earl
of Fife. It is fifty-eight feet in height and its trunk girths
thirteen feet above the swell of the roots, while the branches,
in spite of the fact that they were cut back when the tree
was younger, droop quite to the ground, inclosing an open
area ninety feet in greatest diameter. It stands about 350 feet
above the sea level in a soil of deep loam resting on gravelly
clay.
It is well known that very few Ferns of any commercial
value have been left in Epping Forest or in the other woods
around London. According to 7ie Garden, however, no mercy
is shown to these plants, even in remote country districts. A
few years ago Hart’s-tongue Ferns were growing in abundance
on the old wall which formed part of the ruined Abbey of
Rievaux, in Yorkshire, and they added as much beauty to that
picturesque pile as did the Ivy that had crept in through the
windows. Last year every plant was carted away to be sold
in the streets of the large towns.
Mr. J. G. Baker describes in a recent issue of the Gardeners’
Chronicle a new Lily collected by Dr. Henry, to whom it is dedi-
cated, in the mountains of Ichang, in western China. L7dium
Henryi “in general habit most resembles Z. ¢igrinum, but the
fully developed leaves most recall those of Z. auratum, and the
narrow perianth segments those of ZL. polyphyllum.” The
flowers are yellow, the base of the perianth marked with minute
red-brown spots, three to three and one-half inches long, and
borne ina lax corymb sometimes a foot wide, consisting of
from four to eight flowers. This interesting plant, and its geo-
graphical neighbor, Lilium Davidi, are still to be introduced
into gardens.
We are indebted to the Reverend John E. Peters, of Mays
Landing, New Jersey, for a seasonable note concerning some
fine groups of Holly trees, which are remarkable even in that
region famous for the beauty of its forest trees. The trees
stand on the border of an “old field,” just where the high
ground falls away to the swampy border of a creek, so that
abundant sunshine, a light soil and a full supply of water give
them every needed condition for the best growth. They are
not of exceptional size, but they stand in distinct clusters, each
ot pyramidal shape, and since their lower branches are unusu-
ally thick and come quite to the ground, their beauty is dis-
tinct and striking. The first group consists of five trees, with
a circular base thirty feet in diameter and twenty-five feet
high, while the largest tree is only nine inches in diameter.
Many trees of greater height and girth are found near by, but
none of them approach these groups in beauty. Last year the
Hollies bore few berries, but now the bright red fruit fairly
illuminates the rich, dark foliage. Complaints are heard from
other places that the finest Hollies have been mutilated to
supply distant city markets with Christmas green. It is to be
hoped that the Mays Landing trees will be saved from such an
untimely fate.
Some of the most venerable Oaks in England stand in the
grounds of Holwood House, in Kent, a property which now
belongs to Earl Derby, but was formerly owned by William
Pitt. One of these trees is called the Wilberforce Oak, because
Pitt and Wilberforce were seated beneath it when the latter first
divulged his intention to bring forward a bill for the abolition
of slavery. At five feet from the ground its stem measures
eighteen feet three inches in circumference, while its height is
forty-two feet, and the spread of its branches fifty-one feet in
diameter. The centre of its trunk is hollow, but the shell is
still sound and well covered with bark, and the tree bids fair
to last for many years, as the greatest care is now bestowed
upon it. Not far away from it stands a similar tree, called
Pitt’s Oak, which at a yard from the ground girths twenty feet
one inch. Like its companion, it is not tall, but has enormous
branches, diverging at a height of about eight feet, and a hol-
low stem. A third example girths nearly twenty-two feet. All
these Oaks are of the variety called Quercus robur pedunculata.
A picture of the Wilberforce Oak, with the stone seat erected
to commemorate the historic interview, was recently given in
The Garden, and various other remarkable trees were noted
as existing at Holwood—among them two very large rode
Oaks (Q. suber), and an Evergreen Oak (Q. //ex)—the lex tree
Garden and Forest.
[DECEMBER 26, 1888,
familiar to all travelersin the south of Europe—the circumfer-
ence of which at two feet from the groundis nearly twelve feet.
Earnest attempts are being made in France to further the
planting of fruit-trees instead of ordinary shade trees along the
public roads. In Germany the practice is very widespread,
and has been very remunerative, the sale of the fruit proving
more profitable than the sale of the wood of timber trees. In
the vicinity of Mulhouse, says the Revue Horticole, the Cherry-
trees planted by the roadsides have, from their earliest crop,
paid the expenses of their purchase and maintenance. Every
visitor to Suabia remembers the Plum-trees, and every visitor
to Saxony the Cherry-trees, which line all the roads. As there
are so many of them the loss from petty thieving is not seri-
ous; and, moreover, the crops are sold as soon as the fruit is
set to private persons, who take measures for their protection.
When they are ripe those at a distance from the towns are
gathered for the market, while in the neighborhood of large
places a multitude of booths are erected under the trees, and
the whole population goes out on pleasant afternoons to eat
the fruit on the spot. In Japan it is the blossoming season of
the fruit-trees which draws forth the dwellers in cities; but
the inhabitants of the Fatherland seem.to get a vast amount
of pleasure from thus combining the gratification of the inner
man with the delighting of the eye as it rests upon the wide,
rich summer landscape.
A correspondent of the Evening Post, of this city, writes as
follows of Chinese graveyards: ‘The living occupy the city
and the level ground, the dead the hills. No corpse is allowed
within the walls of a Chinese city, and without, the vast ceme-
teries cover the hills, with no fence or other limitation about
them. The Chinese family which can afford it builds a ‘horse-
shoe grave,’ or bricked vault, on the hillside, with the end
built up in horse-shoe shape. Poorer people stick their dead
in shallow graves, on which a small tablet of wood or stone is
put... . . Inthe rich alluvial plains, where no unculti-
vable hills are available for burying the dead, a graveyard
resembles very much a white-ant village in Africa. The
graves are sugar-loaf mounds thickly clustered together.
While John Chinaman pays great respect to the dead, he takes
care that they do not appropriate much ground that is of
value to the living. The cemetery of a Chinese village in the
rich rice-growing districts covers very little ground in propor-
tion to the number of the graves. . . . In some parts
of China one seems to be traveling through cemeteries most of
the time. Particularly is this the case in thickly populated
districts where the topography is undulating. The ridges
where the soil is thinare then the cemeteries, and a rigid spirit
of economy has relegated the alignment of the public roads
thereto rather than through the fields. In such districts the
traveler is in the company of the dead all day long.”
In a recent number of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical
Club Mr. W. M. Beauchamp publishes an interesting article on
“Onondaga Indian Names of Plants.” Omitting the actual
names which he prints in numbers, we may quote a few of
the appended translations that show a keen sense for the more
salient characteristics of trees and flowers and occasionally a
touch of true imaginative feeling. The Hemlock Spruce is
called ‘‘Greens on a Stick;"’ the Sassafras ‘‘Smelling-
Stick ;" the Balsam Fir “Blisters,” from the look of the
bark; the Aspen ‘Noisy Leaf;” the Iron-wood ‘“Ever-
lasting Wood ;” the Water Beech ‘‘Lean Tree,” from the
unlikeness of its habit to that of true Beeches, and the
Buttonwood “Stockings,” probably because of the way in
which it sheds its bark. The Mullein is ‘‘ Flannel” or “ Stock-
ings,”’ the Wintergreen ‘ Birch-smelling Plant,” the Thorn-bush
“Long Eyelashes,” from its long thorns, and the Elder, most
poetically, ‘‘ Frost on the Bush,” while Peppermint, as express- ©
ively, is ‘‘That which makes you cold,” Poke-weed is “Color
weed,” and Poison Ivy (from which the Virginia Creeper is
not distinguished) ‘Stick that makes you sore.” The Larch
is ‘The Leaves Fall’— which shows that its unlikeness to all
other coniferous trees is appreciated; Plantain ‘‘It covers the
Road,” and the Witch Hazel ‘Spotted Stick.” Peach are called
“ Hairy,” Lettuce ‘ Raw Leaf,” Chestnut “ Prickly Burr” and
the Leek ‘A Queer Onion.” The yellow Moccasin-flower is
“Whip-poor-will Shoe,” the Marsh-Marigold “It opens the
Swamps "—surely a pretty name—and Jack-in-the-Pulpit ‘In-
dian Cradle,” from its likeness to the hooded cradles actually
used by the Indians. In many cases the Onondaga names re-
semble popular English names, as in the case of the Canoe-
Birch, the Red Maple, ‘“‘A Cap,” which means a Raspberry,
“ Three Leaves,” which denotes Clover, the Choke-Cherry, the
Bloodroot, Catnip, which becomes ‘‘Cat-eating Leaf,” and the
Partridge Berry.
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